Critical Role - C2E127 Sarsaparilla, Licorice, and Red Hot

Episode Date: March 4, 2021

The Mighty Nein enact a heist on the storage vaults of the Vergessen Sanitorium, but their quick caper proves more difficult and dangerous than they'd anticipated...Watch Critical Role live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://twitch.tv/criticalrole and https://youtube.com/criticalrole. To join our live and moderated community chat, please head over to our Twitch channel.

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 play Dungeons & Dragons! We play it. Oh no. Yeah. Before we get into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first of two sponsors, which is Idle Champions. Sam. Idle Champions. This episode is sponsored by our friends, I Idol Champions of the Forgotten Realms.

They are thrilled to introduce their brand new interactive livestream experience, The Unfair Seas, where players will be able to vote within the game to make decisions impacting a livestream adventure week over week. They vote. I think the audience can vote. It says the players. I think that, I don't know. Someone can vote and influence the game.

I thought I would borrow that idea and let our cast vote on how they'd like to see me perform the rest of this advertisement. Oh no. So you have voting placards. That's what these are. So for the next line of the advertisement, would the cast like me to read it,

A, while speaking in a Scottish accent, B, while clipping clothespins to my face, or C, while eating the same yogurt from that drink a few weeks ago? Don't anybody hold up the other one. This is a unanimous B. Okay, okay, okay. We're not in a distick.

No. All right. Clothespins win. Damn it. The show features a cast made up of creators playing as their champions available in the game, including V. Dave Walters, Christina Ariel, Mike Meir, and Luc Gygax.

Okay. How about your nose? Nose, nose, nose, nose, ears. Oh, nose is a good good. Ears, yeah. Oh fuck. Okay, for the next line of the advertisement, cast, please vote. Shall I read it inhaling, in song? Oh, inhaling,

in song, or in a vag? Hmm. Ooh, what is it. Wait, inhaling? I don't know. Don't think, Ashley, just hold up a letter. A B is in song. Okay, so here we go.

The next episode is next Monday at 4 p.m. Pacific time, it's true. On twitch.tv slash CNE games. Woo. Okay, good. And for the last line, cast, would you like me to perform it? A, with grapes in my mouth.

B, with Ashley and Liam shooting nerf bullets at me. Or C, with child. Please lock in your votes. It looks like B. Oh my god, Ashley! Shit! That really hurt! Get the prediction on! Finish it! Finish it!

No! We're eating it! No, we're eating it! Do it! I wasn't even looking! So jump over to Idle Champions! Oh! Oh, wait, you're going to be cool. Oh my god!

You have to reload every time? Yeah! You're super intense! So hop over to Idle Champions! Oh, that got through! That got through! That got cheeked! You got him in the cheek! Hop over to IdleChampions.shot. Idlechampions.com!

Idlechampions.com slash Critical Role to get into the game and vote for what should happen next. Are you okay? Give me your... Ah! You got me! Oh my god! Sam. Oh! You're like Johnny Knoxville in Twitch.

Sam. That really hurt! Liam's is very, very powerful. It has a motor in it. Yeah, it does. That's what they say. Sam, can we get that URL one more time? Sorry, for the sponsors? Idlechampions.com slash Critical Role

to get into the game. There we go. Thank you, Sam. How about the one that stuck in under the... That was good. That was very good. You all should have voted for Grapes because we would have shot him afterward anyway. That's true. That's true. Well, I had to get one shot in

in case you guys decided to vote again. Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Sam, and thank you, L Champions. I like this format. Maybe we'll go with it in the future. Oh my god! Poor Sam! Our second sponsor tonight is.

I wrote the fucking thing! Yeah, that's true. You only have yourself to blame. Our second sponsor for the night are our friends at D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond! It's the beginning of this campaign. If you haven't had the opportunity yet, check out the are our friends at D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond! It's the beginning of this campaign. If you haven't had the opportunity yet, check out the official tool set of D&D and of our show.

One of the things that is so great about D&D Beyond is how easy it is to make and manage your 5e characters. If you haven't had a chance yet, it's become super handy for us and our needs. You can have up to six characters for free, and with a subscription, there's no limits to how many you can make. I have a lot that I never play.

Me too. But check it out at dndbeyond.com. Dot com. Our next batch of announcements are from you, Marisha. They are. Go ahead. There's a few. Thank you so much for joining us live on Twitch and YouTube, as I'm assuming you are right now.

And if you're joining us live and you would like a live moderated community chat, come to Twitch is what I'm trying to say. Chat on Twitch. Yeah. And then in case you missed it, our latest episode of Critter Hug is now available on YouTube. Check it out to see Matt Mercer and Mika Burton. Talk to some awesome people about awesome projects in the tabletop community. Last but not least, Talks Machina. Ooh. Still a show.

How? Yeah, I know. Why? I know. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it airs this Tuesday, March 2nd at 7pm Pacific on both Twitch and YouTube. We'll be discussing most recent events, you know, like we do. If you missed the broadcast, VOD available immediately

for Twitch subscribers, Thursday, March 4th. Woo! Woo! Well done. You know, content. We're making it. That's what they said. That's what, who said?

Yeah. That's true. That's true. Thank. Yeah, that's what, who said? Kind of convenient here. Yeah. That's true. That's true. Thank you, Marisha. And with that, I think we've come to the end of our announcements. Let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. No! 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 fountains 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 to roll Welcome back. So, last we left off, the Mighty Nein, having slipped from the Tomb Takers and made their way away from Eiselcross, having bought themselves a bit of time,

went to convene with some allies and gather information and gather things to help them as they hope to return more prepared and more ready for what dangers may await them to the far north. After meeting with Yussa and Kima and Allura, you made your way to Rexxentrum, checked in and spoke with the Cobalt Soul. And after a tense engagement in the middle of a dance hall

between Caleb and Astrid, discovered an extension of the tensions here at home in the Empire and interest to perhaps utilize that point of distraction as a time to make some long-running plans viable. After scattering to finish up your shopping for the day as well, you set up for the night and left the tower to Yasha and Beauregard

to finally have their long-delayed date. And we left off at the end of that evening. So after a night of, for some discomfort, in a not-so-great chamber, others probably a little more comfortable, the morning comes to, you all begin to wake up with a variety of cricks in your neck and aches in your back,

but nevertheless, the morning is yours. So, Mighty Nein, what would you like to do? Well, I'm debating how long we wait before we go in for breakfast. You could just dispel the thing and just shoot them out in whatever state they're in right now. I have thought of the very thing, but...

They could be in the middle of stuff right now. That could be intense. I wonder how many points of exhaustion they will take. They're probably not in the breakfast room though, right? Like, we could sneak into a room off the side and just start eating. We could sneak into a room off the side and just start eating. We could also just open the door

and shout that we're coming in. And the odds of them doing it in the dining hall, you know, one in nine. Is there a sock on the door or something? No, they do know that we're coming in. Okay. Well, let's go. Okay. Yeah, Veth, come on.

You lead the way. Make it loud. Sure, sure. Fluffernyne! Hello? Hi? Hello? Now, the two of you awaken the following morning,

whatever state you wish, for however early you wish to have awakened. What are you to do? Is someone knocking? They're not seriously going to make us go answer the fucking door, are they? They can come in. I don't know why it's not locked.

Should I just try to yell? Yeah. Gotta keep my eyes closed. Come in! We're coming in! Okay, we're coming in. You are so far away from us. Yeah, there's no way.

Go on in. I'm sure it's fine. I'm going in. Yeah. All right. Crossbow out. Go on in, I'm sure it's fine. I'm going in. Yeah. All right. Crossbow out. Yeah. They can take at least a hug. Might be an errant ninja.

You never know. That's true. Send them a message, Caleb. Let them know to not be naked when we... I mean, they can be naked. If you want to stay naked, it's okay, but we're coming in. We are moving from the first floor to the second floor.

Up! Caleb, something's very wrong. Your cats look different. Yes. Something's horrifyingly wrong. They've been corrupted by magic. Is that a hot tub? Oh!

Can it stay like this all the time? Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I run over to the slide and get on the slide. Are you doing the curly, slippy one or the cannonball drop? The action park. That's film. Looks good.

Oh, it slipped in through my subconscious! I'm sure the water's clear. You can go anytime. I mean, life's short, sure. So people just start getting in the hot tub. There's a water slide. All right, yeah, go for it. All right, morning breakfast water slide, go for it. Water slide first so you don't cut the tummy.

That's right. Yeah. Awesome. I am not swimming, I'm going straight for the cat, and I lay down on one of the mats and let massive lion feet go into my back, take out all, you know, just 30 years of tension. Yeah.

And then, you know, just 30 years of tension. Yeah. And then, you know, breakfast. Okay. Later. So, what's on the docket for the day? Check-in, at the very least. Check-in? What does that mean? With who? Oh yes, with Astrid! Right, we are going to, after we eat, we'll leave here and it's fairly early, but hopefully you can reach out.

And yeah. Yeah, I'll go head her up. Can't say it. I guess we should go. Yeah, yeah, let's go. I'm hungry. I got us these awesome matching robes. I mean, this is the greatest.

Even as a hood. Oh, okay. Oh, TD! Good morning! Oh, good morning! Wow, didn't see you there. Hello. Making use of the hot tub.

I mean, it's here. Isn't it a great idea? It should honestly stay like this for forever. Yeah, I think this is something that probably should stay here forever. Can it stay, Caleb? Can it stay? Can it stay? Well, it technically can be inside that closet, or that closet, or that closet,

and come out when you need it. Just say, I want the hot tub, and then you open the doors and then it comes out. Great. Good morgan, are you rested? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gross. Gross.

Just say yes like a normal person. We just stayed up all night talking. And we got some rest. It was great. Thank you for this, Caleb. Thank you, Caleb. We got a lot of chaos going on at the moment, so. Some niceties are nice. Do you need to hydrate? Here's some orange juice.

Yeah, thank you. You, Sprigg, come here. I want you to go up and get waffles and pancakes going and a lot of bacon for Miss Lionette, please. Goes and runs off. Let's get a bite to eat, and then we will tear this shit down. All right.

Breakfast is served rather quickly and with gusto. It is a delightful meal, but you do eat a bit quickly because you sense the spell duration is coming to a close. This time, let's just sit here at the table and let it all go away. Ooh, okay. I like it. This is exciting. Have you done this before?

Like, oh, okay. Actually, no. Sorry. It's been 24 hours. 24 hours. I was thinking of the, I was thinking of the... Dome. The dome, my bad. Never mind. You're fine.

Take a relaxing morning in. Forget I said anything. I dispel the tower while everybody's in mid-bath. There you go. You all come blasting out onto the harsh wooden floor of a subpar inn. Are we still wet from the hot tub or does the wetness go away?

The water is still there. Okay. It's like the food you eat is still in your stomach. Okay. Magic's weird. Yeah. I like it. Magic, I like it. There's weird. I like it. There's hot tubs in my home, too, so. Really?

I mean, kind of. A hot spring. A hot spring at your home? Yeah. Yes! That's very serious. Hot water and cold water. And then a big one that's both.

Yeah, it's got a whole... That's great. Although I wouldn't recommend going in that one. Do both. It's, yeah, it's got a whole. That's great. Though I wouldn't recommend going in that one. Do they smell a little, sometimes they smell a little farty. They do, yeah. Absolutely. Not all of them, but a couple of them.

Mm. Yeah. So speaking of your home, are we heading that way or do you think it's okay? I think we're heading that way. All right, well, let's stop beating around the bush. Could you reach out? Yeah. Sure. I send a message to Astrid.

Hello. Solid. Have you procured the items? If so, meet us. Hold on! By the school. By the school. That's not specific. Yes, it is.

Anyway. Don't fuck us over. Love it. Ashton responds, I will meet you there. A conversation is definitely required. That's it. She says she'll meet us there,

and a conversation is definitely required. Does that mean she has them or she doesn't? What do you think? That sounds like column C, neither of those things. What if she's like, I will give them to you if you do this thing for me. Or I only could get so many cuz of something. Yeah.

I'm in love with you, but don't want to say because. Okay, well, let's go find out. Did you definitely put a time in your message to her? Obviously. Well, we message to her. Obviously. Well, we have to go there now. And wait all day until she shows up, I suppose. She's going to head over there now. Okay, okay, okay.

All right, so I take it you head over to the Academy. There is an outdoor bench by the dormitories that we spent a lot of time on, so I'm going to gamble and think that you will check there. I'm going to disguise self, because I don't want to be seen in the city. Okay. As?

Okay, yeah, you're, okay, got it. Dancing queen? That's it. Dancing queen? Hey! All right. Yeah. All right, those who can disguise, I assume do so then, similar forms? Actually, I will cast, what is it, Seeming.

And everyone except for Jester is now wearing very serious brown robes, wizardly robes. Okay. Hmm. Wizard. Cool. All right. The cloud cover's a little broken this morning. Little bits of blue peek through.

A welcome warmth to the Rexxentrum atmosphere as you approach the academy grounds and follow Caleb over to the Rexxentrum atmosphere as you approach the Academy grounds and follow Caleb over to the bench that he specified. This early in the morning, not too bustling. Looks like everyone who's here is either currently in study or elsewhere, but you wait for about 30, 40 minutes or so before you can see Astrid begin to approach.

Similar overcoat and hood, but outfit beneath is a little different. New day. Alone? Alone. Approaches and sits on the bench next to you. Good morning. Morning.

Good morning. So I've done my research for the night and I have uncovered where the bulk of the Volstok Collection of unused Veilers are. They are, however, currently kept in a small vault under the Northwest Tower on the grounds of the Vergesen Sanatorium. Sorry, Astrid, what was the name of that place?

The Vergesen. It's where he was kept. I know that. You've been there once. You guys went there once. Sam could hear that as well. Did you say it was the what corner? It was within a small vault under the northwest tower on the grounds.

The northwest tower. Okay. I like how we all write it down, but yeah. I'm not, I'm drawing. As she says this, you see she leaves a casual, casually leaves on the bench next to her this small wooden case. She puts her arm over it for the time being. I unfortunately lack the knowledge

of the teleportation rune that is anchored there. Master Ikithon tends to keep that under his control. I also lack the means of breaking into the vault. My presence there, unattended by Trent, would probably raise suspicion. Otherwise, I would go myself. Do you have any idea where the old man is today? Today?

I saw him this morning, but who knows how long he is to remain. I do not keep his day-to-day. Do I believe her? Make an insight check. Eh, 15. 15. She seems on the level, which as you can tell. She's not talking directly to you.

She's still facing away and occasionally making eye contact, but keeping it like a casual side conversation out of the sight of anyone who might be peering unexpectedly. What about Wolf? Is he in town? He is currently out on a mission, but I believe he's expected to return in the next couple of days.

Okay. That is much appreciated. Can I just do a scan of the courtyard, see if anyone's watching us? Yeah, make a perception check. I'm really good at these. Yeah. 13. Yeah. 13.

13. Looks fairly solid. A couple of ne'er-do-wells in brown robes, but you recognize them. Is there any cost for this information? No cost. Consider it a meager start to an apology.

Well, as I said, this is appreciated. And if we can pull it out of the fire, it will stand to be of good use for all of this. I would recommend our The sun is out. At night, more often than not, is when Trent, when he's to attend the sanatorium, that would be when. I watch a couple of teenagers strolling by the school grounds and watch them and say, what will you be occupying yourself with for the coming week or so? hey, what will you be occupying yourself with for the coming week or so?

Well, when Wulf returns, we have to check in and see what the next necessary thing is for us to do. And if there is none, then whatever I wish to use to entertain myself. Well, I hope to report back to you at the end of the day with some good news. I hope so, too. These are not easy to procure.

And for the number that you need, this is your best bet of what I could find. Just be careful. Do not raise a fuss. Best in and out quickly. And she taps the little box and says, the rest will be self-explanatory. And she sits up and begins to make her way,

taking a few steps before stopping, looking over her shoulder and just continues walking. Does the box immediately, I'm sure it doesn't, but does it appear dangerous in any way? Make a perception check. 15. It appears to be a wooden box,

roughly about that big, about two inches tall. It has a little metal latch on one side. It does not look particularly detailed or crafted with an insidious lock. I look around and see if there's anybody close who's not a friend of mine. And if there isn't, I's not a friend of mine. And if there isn't, I will cast Detect Magic over it. Okay.

Nothing magical. Okay. Campaign three. Yeah. There is a handful of pieces of paper that are just kind of folded. You're uncertain what's on them. You just see them resting inside the box.

Okay. I will just pick them up and pocket them for the moment. Okay. And stand and just not look at anybody, but and begin walking out of the campus. Okay. and just not look at anybody, but, and begin walking out of the campus. Okay. What do you do with the box? Just leave it there?

No. Okay. Where's the view? Caleb's leaving. I guess we should go. Yeah. Although at a reasonable distance. Yeah, I'll split off and swing wide. Okay.

You all scatter and snake back around to rejoin. It's my walk down the street. Oh, in character? Yeah. Hello. Hey. Hey. Good morning to y'all. Boozing at 7 noon. Just always partying. It's like young Barbra Streisand on mushrooms,

just wandering through Exentrum. Constant Minnelli. Constant Minnelli. It's a good band name. Yeah, it is. Yeah, right, Constant Minnelli. Where do you reconvene? Constant Minnelli.

I will just slow a couple blocks away. Okay. And let them catch up. All right. You all eventually gather up and find Caleb a little bit tucked away from the main thoroughfare. So she did not have them, but she has a place for us to go. What was in the box?

Some papers. I'll pull them back out and unfold them and see what I'm looking at now that we're away. There are three pieces of paper of different material with hand-drawn floor plans. Ooh! One of which you can see resembles the top.

Ooh, map cave! Kind of a base floor of some kind. And you've... Sorry. Make an intelligence check. Squares. Just nine plus my modifier, right? Yep. 14.

Okay. She said Northwest Tower. You recall, though you didn't spend a lot of time on the surface of the sanatorium as you fled rather quickly, you do have a pretty airtight memory, though, and you piece together the tower in question and the floor plan here is to be probably one and the same.

You also can see there's two entrances and what you gather to be a descending staircase in the central chamber. So that's ground level? Correct. Door on the tower, door on the wall at the front? Mm-hmm. Okay.

You also see what looks to be a subterranean basement level. And there are little red glyphs drawn on the ground, and there is a little note left that Astrid has handwritten that says, in very, very quick shorthand, in my times accompanied by Trent, there were wards that he would

temporarily absolve in passing through. I marked the ones I could recall. The ones, okay. Right, we'll need to dispel those. Caleb, when you studied in school together, did you guys take like a drafting class? Because like, this is phenomenal work. Like she must have sat up all night with like rulers and-

She is nothing if not thorough. Amazing. Trust me. Why the different types of paper? Is that for any reason or just for funsies? Veth, you have chemicals. Perhaps we should test the parchment itself. It could be a clue.

Yeah, a secret message written in invisible ink. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most of my chemicals were in the bag that was stolen, but I have a few left over. By the way, everyone but Jester looks like themself again because I'm a goober and I dispelled seeming when I cast Detect Magic. There you go. I'm still weird, too.

I don't know if I have my chemistry kit anymore. It means something. You wouldn't have it on you. It would have been back up holding, so you'd have to pick up a new one. Hold it up to the sun a little bit. Okay, make a perception check, or investigation for this one.

Must be investigation. Investigation, 23. And you're looking for? Hidden messages, secret glyphs, some watermark that we might have missed the first crucial. Fair enough, fair enough. gliffs, some watermark that we might have missed the first crucial. Fair enough, fair enough. You peer deeply into this paper

and confidently you discover that it is just paper scrawled upon. But she does have great, you know. Drafting. Great drafting skills. Thanks to DungeonScrawl, which, shout out to them, a great website that I've recently discovered that makes shit like this super easy than drawing it by hand, so that's why it looks really good.

It does look really good. And then the final, smaller piece. No, no, it's awesome. It is right in here. What's that? Where's that? Is that on the top of the tower? What is that? That's the bottom. Oh, the X marks the spot.

That is like a secret. You can only access it through the glyph? Is that what I'm seeing? Well, it looks like... Oh, could X marks the spot. That is like a secret. You can only access it through the glyph? Is that what I'm seeing? Well, it looks like we see places that are clearly guarded, but those are the only ones that have been marked. She's indicating that there are potentially more. Okay. So.

So where's, can we see the bottom level? I mean, the top, you know what I mean. Thanks, um. So where's, can we see the bottom level? I mean, the top, you know what I mean. Thanks, Caleb. Okay, so that's the bottom. I have such smooth hands. So where would we break into? Well, the sanatorium is full of fully trained

agents for Trent. full of fully trained agents for Trent. When I left it years ago, I had to murder a man to get by. This is very difficult. I mean, it is almost assuredly going to go pear-shaped on us. From what you can see, is this a subterranean area, or would this be underneath the tower, but near the top?

Down below. Okay. I guess we're not going invisible, flying. We could send, I mean, as much as I hate splitting us up, we could send in a smaller force of nimbly moving folks to do this. I was going to suggest the same thing.

I think we should have teams, like a lookout team and a break and enter team. And whatever we do, it should be done quickly because when things do go wrong, the place is going to be descended upon. Yeah. Dungeon Master. Mm-hmm. What do we remember from when we went to the sanatorium,

when we were looking at the beacon? Do we remember a lot of- We went downstairs, if I recall. We went downstairs. You did. You were at one of the other buildings when you were brought there. There is a central sanatorium structure, which is the massive central,

it looks like a monstrous mansion. There are two smaller mansion-like abodes on the premises. There's also, what is it? There are quaint structures. There's a generally used stone building and tower, which you vaguely saw in the distance, which matches this description here, as well as a really elaborate extravagant tower

on the north-northeastern side of the premises. I see. That you know to be Trent's specific abodes. So she's suggesting that this is in the small outskirts tower that's off of the main building? Correct. And what do we remember in terms of

how heavily guarded it was? The courtyard area of this, I mean, it has a high iron fence all around the exterior of the area where it's cleared in the center of the forest at the base of the mountain. You recall probably seeing anywhere from six to eight guards patrolling the courtyard, which is a fair amount,

but it's also a place that's largely off the map and there isn't a heavy guard there at any given point in time externally. When you went inside the one building you did go into, which is not this building, you encountered maybe three, four additional guards between different chambers and rooms, but they were also expecting the arrival

of members of the Assembly. And from what I recall, it's not like it's a prison. Part of it is used to hold dangerous people? But not the whole thing. Roll a history check. History? Mm-hmm. Eight. Eight, okay. What you recall is that, yeah, it was designed publicly to help people who either are undergoing challenges emotionally, mentally,

and they have varying degrees of comfort compared to the wealth of those that are being placed there for recovery. So yeah. And then when we were there, I think Caleb pointed out the place that he was held was a specific place. Correct.

Like a place within the place. Yes. Somewhere. You had told him a little bit about that beyond the surface level aid that is kept there, there are more dubious practices happening behind closed doors and beneath some of the structures. It's a little bit of a front for Trent's activities, yeah? Yeah. It is known as a place that-

It's known as a place, and it does serve this purpose, but Trent also uses it to cover for some of his own practices. And has different levels of activity as far as number of people, Trent, others there. There's always people on guard to an extent. And then there's moments like the one where we went, where they knew we were going to be there, they knew they were going to be there. There's always people on guard to an extent. And then there's moments like the one where we went, where they knew we were going to be there,

they knew they were going to be there. So there was a heavier presence. If Astrid is being level with us, then there is somewhat less of a presence. Should we go scout it out or make our way there? Yeah, it's outside the city. A ways. Like horseback ways,

or just walk for a couple hours ways? What would I remember, DM? It's a little bit of a jaunt. I should go look that up real fast. While you do, do you think this is a super covert stealth snatch and leave? Or is it a let's have one group create a diversion and bust out someone and make a ruckus sort of a thing?

That's a good idea. That is a good idea. You mean like bust out someone? That seems like we're committing two really big crimes. You're like setting something on fire and screaming. Sure, that's fine too. Or I think maybe a smaller unit outside making some kind of mayhem.

It is quite a bit of travel through the heavily wooded Perlbo Wilderness to get there. Like how long of a bit? Like a number of days travel on foot. Oh god. Yeah. Oh. Oh god. Yeah. Oh. But you could teleport us there.

Yes, but that means that we are, again, everything slows us a bit. But what we gain is great. We can't take days to get there. If we fly and then teleport out. How long of a flight would it be? Well, it depends on how many times you can polymorph. It's also probably,

it wouldn't save us enough time to polymorph. We'd have to use all of our spells just to get there. You know what I mean? Then we wouldn't have them on the inside. Plus, there's probably some sort of magic effect inside the sanatorium, so you can't teleport out. Otherwise, all the wizards being held there would just do the same thing. That's a very fair point.

My thought is that we want to go in fully prepared. Right. I think we have to teleport there. Is it a teleport and scout for the day and then do this tomorrow? Or do we want to try and do this today? Today. Or late night, I think.

There's always the option that if we can get out of the building, maybe you and I can use our ability to get us to Xhorhas, at least. I mean. Afterwards. Is there any reason why that wouldn't work, or? Jorhas, do you mean Nicodranas?

Nicodranas. Isn't your? Jorhas is where our Word of Recall is. Correct. I thought one of you had done Nicodranas. Okay, I just remembered wrong. I thought we did Nicodranas. Oh, wait. We did do Nicodranas, didn't we?

Yeah. We did. I think we did the lighthouse. One at the lighthouse. Oh, because I had done mine originally in Xhorhas. In Xhorhas. Yeah. And then we shifted. Oh, sweet, so it'd be Nicodranas, even better. Yeah, you have to make a lodestone for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did it, we did it.

Let's go, let's go. I do have that spell up. Me too. I want to use this discussion time and take the equivalent of a short rest to pull back a spell slot used already. Okay. Because I want to have it.

Because she means like fifth level, so. While they're resting, I'll just go pick up my antlers from the store. Okay, they are indeed ready and ready at your disposal. Okay. May I borrow the medallion again, please? Of course. I will use it to cast the spell.

All right. There will be no question. I would like to aim us, I don't know, a quarter mile, a half mile out of the place. Okay. All right. Which I would remember somewhat from running through the place. Okay. All right. Which I would remember somewhat from running through the woods.

That would be the path that you would specifically aim towards. So as you all gather around Caleb, holding on to this necklace and the memories, the odd, painful, yet also freedom-bearing memories that it's anchored towards. You mutter your incantation, and all at once,

all of you feel yourselves pulled through, like someone suddenly grabbed you by the front of your shirt and yanked you forward. And as you steady yourself with your foot instinctively hitting the floor in front of you, it hits grass and mulch and dirt, and your eyes adjust to look around you as you are immediately surrounded by thick trees.

Heavy leaf cover, canopies above, and the smell of fresh, damp earth surrounds you. Good. Yeah, this is the place. Come. I mean, we're in the woods. Should we look for the big rock? The big, the threshold crest?

Just keep an eye out, I guess. We'll go in slow circles. Okay. Out from here. So who's leading? And what is the marching order here? Caleb takes the lead. All right. I'll drop behind you. Okay, okay, okay.

Straight up, huh? Should I pass without a trace, that's immediately, or what? Maybe when we get a little closer. Yeah, I aim for a quarter mile. Okay. Right now we're, you know, maybe wait until we can see.

Just a bunch of people in the woods. Breaking through the tree. I'll hop behind Caduceus. All right. Yeah. I'll take the rear. All righty, and then Fjord and Veth, are you up in this space, then? Yeah, sure.

Okay. Who's keeping watch? All right, go ahead and roll a perception check if you don't mind. Yeah, I'm not. Just one of us? Well, I'll take the rear. I'll watch from behind. Okay, perception check for both of you. A lot of birds here. 22.

17. Too many birds. I'm suspicious. Used to creepy places with no birds, that's all. It's like... You're right. No, there are birds. Not just birds. Fuck these birds. P just birds. Fuck these birds.

Pigeons. Go away. Think a wild pyramid. Trekking through this, not even a forest path, just a space between the roots, you leading on, keeping eyes peeled, it's weirdly beautiful, You leading on, keeping eyes peeled. It's weirdly beautiful, especially given your recent journeys

to be here in the thicket of nature, of this kind, at least. Taking care with footsteps to not make too much noise, pushing past tree to tree, continuing on. You can still feel some of the morning dew residue on some of the lower-reaching plants and ferns. It's a pretty heavy canopy, but it breaks at times, and you get a bit of that sunlight.

Warmth hits your face. Short time into this walk, you see Caleb seize up for a moment. As you begin to see, just peeking through some of the nearby trees, some of the shapes of stone, and a hint of the iron fence that marks the exterior of the sanatorium.

Caduceus, do you? We're close, so we need to sneak in. Do you see anyone on close, so we need to sneak in. Do you see anyone on the outskirts? People, people. Do I see people? Make a perception check. All right.

Guidance. Thank you. 26. 26, very good. You do not see anybody on this edge of the patrolling exterior fence. Within, you can see a number of hedges that scatter a bit,

as well as tufts of heavy bush and tree. You do see what looks like the glimmer of a light reflecting off of a helmet of some kind passing one of the hedges a little ways into the actual courtyard itself, but no one's specifically at this edge. We're clear here. I can see some, it looks like security in the hedges or the hedge maze,

whatever that is. You must have gardeners. This is immaculate. Somebody's taking care of this. Yeah, everything in its place and a place for everything. Yeah, there's one over there. DM, were you describing people on the outside? This is the inside of the courtyard.

Within the black wrought iron fence you described? Correct. Yeah. Should we follow along the outside until we get to the northwest corner? Sun is there, so I would know what direction we're coming from. You guys are approaching from the eastern side at the moment.

So we have to get all the way around? We'll hike. So yeah, we'll take the time to go wide. And it's fair to assume that because we're all the way out here, there's no pedestrian traffic. No. I'm going to... Seclude it for a purpose. Should I cast Assassin's Rage? I mean, we're within view now. No. I'm going to...

Seclude it for a purpose. Should I cast Pass Without a Trace? I mean, we're within view now. I mean, maybe it's time. Yeah, I'm going to cast Pass Without a Trace. Okay. Just in time. I would like everyone to roll a stealth check, please,

as you make your way around the exterior. Make it our way. The premises. We have to stay near you for it to stay up. Oh, thank goodness gracious. Yep, same. Plus 10? Plus 10.

Yeah. 23. So you're at like 72? 31. 29. All righty. 43. Yeah.

23. He can do better. 19. Good. She can do better. 25. Okay. As Jester's spell kicks in and you begin to walk, even the faintest of foot touches

against the soil beneath make no sound, and the shadows seem to grow ever darker in your presence. Ominous at first, but welcome as you continue forward, feeling like you are near impossible to be noticed. Gliding on around the northeastern edge, you can begin to make out through the tree line and beyond the fence, the extravagant tower that is the Summer Abode, if you will, of Trent Ikithon,

a location you're quite familiar with, Caleb. Continuing on past that point, you hit the clear northern side, and keeping watch out there, there are a number of other guards you see pass, two more that cross ways, one further in, one that's keeping close to the perimeter, that occasionally glances out into the tree line.

You all pause for a moment, but feel clear like you weren't noticed. As we're walking, I just want to try and keep a beat on how many-ish guards there are and their patrol pattern, if I can. Totally. You've now noticed three. Three. What time of day is it?

At this point, it would be probably pushing close to noon. Okay. I'm going to slow our progression down for a moment. Do you have your paints handy? We can use those to get through this fence. Yeah, I was hoping. So before we get any closer, I was hoping. So before we get any closer,

I was thinking, I am open to discussion briefly here, but I was thinking, you two. No. What? I'm trying to decide who's best to go in and who's to stay. Not me. I'll stay out here. Really? But you can bamf in and out.

I actually want you to come inside. I mean, I am down for this part. I was just trying to do the cool kid thing. We appreciate it. I guess it depends on what kind of a distraction you want on the outside. If that's the way we're doing this. Are you going in, Caleb?

Yes. Yes. Okay. I think you should stay up top, Jester. Why? Well, you're good at, you're distracting. Yeah, but I'm also really good at sneaking in and other things. We are searching for something hidden

and she and I are the best at finding clues. It's the truth. Plus, think about it. I can sneak us in right now. I could get us out of scraps. What if we get trapped? I could paint us a hole and get us out. I could blink.

I could turn us all into ghosts or something. I can't do that, but I think it could be really cool. Also, if you want to do something more specific than just a hole in the fence, I could create a doorway that any number of us could walk through openly for 10 minutes. When did that happen? And put you anywhere within 500 feet.

For this fence on the outside, I was thinking of some of this. What's that? Just holding the iron bars where Jester just did a little inch here and a little inch down there, and we just remove three or four bars. That's fucking cool. What's that thing? Did you say it can get you within 500 feet?

From where I am, I can make a door here next to me within 10 feet. Since when? Another door. It's just, I've woke up with it. Whoa! I mean, look, you guys, my dreams are usually pretty private, okay? You guys pry like a son of a bitch.

You mean about doorways? I mean, yes. Opening doorway? Archways. That seems like a pretty good candidate for once we're inside. Also, the doorway that I create, 500 feet away, is invisible. I mean, that's how we get in the tower, right? Why don't we just do it from here,

straight into the tower? I haven't been able to see it, but I could put you right next to the tower, and in theory, you would appear next to the tower and not be seen until you were. How long? In 10 minutes. 10 minutes. How far away are we from the tower?

10 minutes. You haven't yet gotten to the point where you can clearly see, this deep into the forest, the location that you're heading towards. You're still on the northern edge. You have a little ways travel before you'll be near the northwestern side where the tower is. All right.

How many times can you do this? I also have stone shape also, which is another option. We can make a hole and then close it up you do have to be able to see both locations that's okay, that, Fjord can get us in Jester could get you out with a little

dimension door action yes, it is easier for us to run like hell that's true I do think whoever can cast message, we need to split those two people out, because if we're having some people watching, if the guards start running in, we got to let you know. It's true.

I could stay outside if- It's so hard, though. She's a lockpick. I am. Look, we could build these teams either way and each one of us will have our own bag of tricks. It's just kind of whatever you want. What were you saying, Yashers? I could stay out here if you need.

Kill people? Yeah. But do we want to create a distraction or do we just sneak in? Maybe a distraction if things go wrong. Yeah. You just have big bags under your eyes today. It's like you got no sleep at all, like nothing. I think she is very glowing and radiant.

She looks radiant. I would call it radiant. You look like you always do. Thank you, Beau. Thanks. I feel very wonderful. I'm not sure if that was a compliment. Since high school. What? I don't think that was a compliment. Oh. Well, fuck you.

Can I say the thing? I want to say the thing. What? There are advantages to both. Advantages to both! I, you know, can't lay a score, but. Yeah, yeah. You make a strong argument

for being able to talk back and forth. We have to. If something goes wrong, then what's the point of having a lookout team? How far from the fence to the tower? You haven't spent a lot of time in that area of the courtyard. You're not entirely certain.

You might have to get a bit closer to the location to gauge that. Okay. Is there another signal? Like, if Caduceus is staying out here, I don't mean to imply that you are, but do you have other magical means of communicating? No. Like, could you make an earthquake

that shakes the earth around us or something and lets us know? Yes. I could actually do that, that's true. I can actually do that. Wow, I can do that. Come on, man! I can't do that. I might be able to do that. I think I could do that I can't do that. I might be able to do that.

I think I could do that. I could do that. Also, you can talk to me. I can do that. We've done it before. I know how to message and talk to Nott. That's true. Yeah, it works. I just, she was there and then. I could just message her and ask for a response constantly.

Oh, that's true. Or like she's saying, she could just message me. You guys have a connection? I don't know how it works, but I talk to her and she can hear me. That's incredible. Yeah. Try it right now. Right. We all forgot that nuance of the spell. We walked 10 feet away.

It also depends on how close the tower is to the fence. It's greater than 120 feet. Shit! Oh, I was assuming we were all going inside the fence. It's greater than 120 feet. Shit! Oh, I was assuming we were all going inside the fence. Right? We'll stay outside completely. How close is the tower to the fence? Well, we have to get closer to find that out.

Okay, let's stop wandering so we can at least see the tower. But what if something goes bad inside and then how do we get in there? Or, you know? I think we just make a giant mess and see how many guards we can pull away from the tower. I think we need to split at least me and Caduceus because we need to have options to get everybody out,

if possible, with our... I also do have three freedom of movement spells for the beginning of this, if that helps. Remember the glyphs. Mm-hmm, got to have people with magic to dispel. We'll need at least four of them. Nott, can you hear me? Yeah, I can totally hear you.

See, it's fine. I can hear you, too. That's why I wanted you inside. Right now, yeah. I don't have to dispel magic. Do you have Counterspell? I do. to decide. Right now, yeah. I don't have to spell magic. Do you have Counterspells? I do. I do. You have Counterspells.

That's stupid. All right, as you guys carefully, semi-quietly, approach the northwestern edge of the sanatorium grounds, you begin to see the simple stone building and the simple stone tower that rises up maybe 25, 30 feet into the air. This looks to be, especially in comparison to a lot of the other pieces of architecture

on these grounds, not as beautified. A little more of a function-before-anything-else type structure. But you do see in the exterior of it some bushes, some flowers. Looks like they're still keeping the grounds around it to try and match at least some of the rest of the beautification that takes place

and is maintained here. You do see two guards that are posted, one that's just sitting in a chair outside the door and is currently whittling away at something, weapon to the side. And you see one that's currently patrolling maybe 30, 40 feet from him, doing the rounds on the corner. So right now you only see one at the actual front of where the tower entrance is, facing in the southward way, but would be approximately here, this being south, facing this direction, and one individual

who's way over here and is currently just walking and patrolling. And where are we in relation to that? You would be over, like, way off the side in the forest, kind of barely looking through the wrought iron fence and then gauging that. The actual structure itself sits about 60 or so feet from the wrought iron fence.

Okay. And how tall is the tower? How tall is the tower? How many times? It's about 25, 30 feet, I think I said. Anything on top of the tower? No, just a flat tower. Make a perception check

if you want to see anything specific. Does it look like, ooh, yikes, that's a natural one. It doesn't look like shit. No, it looks like a tower. It's flat, there's no point or apex to it. It's just a brief, minor crenellation, flattened. And you have the iron stone, right? Bad in the rain.

I'll cut you a point. You got a lot of impacted snow on that. It's going to fall right in, right through. You know so much about home maintenance and gardening. You've seen where I live? Yeah, that's fair. Thank you. Had to rebuild that thing four times. What are you thinking, Caleb?

Maybe if we can get rid of these two somehow, we can. Guards? Yeah. Oh boy. It's, um. But if they're discovered, that can. Guards? Yeah. Oh boy. It's um. But if they're discovered, that'll give us away really quick. It's noon. Yeah. My first thought was there might be a shift change soon.

Lunch break. I don't know. Why doesn't, why don't we afford, why don't we open up the fence, why don't we open up the fence, go around to the back of the tower, I'll paint us a hole in the tower, we go in. There will be a hole in the tower. Did you say we have Fjord?

Was that part of Fjord? Well, I was going to say we could have Fjord do the door thing, but I don't know if we want to use that up already. Well, if we go this further past the tower, Well, if we go this further past the tower, do we see further guards on the other side of it? So if you go continue this way, it kind of hook around the edge

of where the fence adjusts itself to the western side of the premises. You can see beyond that, once again, the shape of the larger sanatorium central building structure. A little ways this direction, about 100 or so feet from that building, you can see one of the two smaller mansion-type abodes. Make a perception check.

24. 24. 24. You see two other additional guards that are currently just doing a walk around. So that's based on the ground that you've covered in the center of this courtyard. You've seen roughly five guards patrolling on the central to northern side.

And then there's one that is stationed outside that you noticed of this tower. So six guards total. What if we took out a couple of them, not by killing them, but what if, hear me out, here's my pitch, Caduceus just walks up to the front of the gate and says, I admire your gardening here,

and I would like to apply for a job as a gardener, and just talks to a bunch of them and tries to- I don't want to apply for a job. Well, I know you'd be lying. I think we've established I'm very bad at that. Really, really, really. I don't feel comfortable. Well, then just talk about how lovely the gardens are.

That I can do. Actually, I'd love a tour, to be honest. You could ask for a tour. They're not going to arrest you for asking for a tour. Maybe you'll get two or three of them to come over and say, what's going on? What's this cow man talking about the gardens for? I actually wouldn't mind having a tour of the gardens.

I have a thought. Question, DM, looking at the map that Astrid gave me, there's what looks almost like three little cubbies on the map. Do you know, do I know what those signify? Over here? The little teeth, yeah. You do not see from that edge. It looks like it may have been a long time ago,

like a stable portion, but you have no sight from your current perspective to see if there's anything currently hitched over there. I have an idea, quick. Come, come, come, come, come. I want to try to come back around and try to get a view of that side of the wall. So that room with the stairs drawn in it,

I'm trying to get a look at the wall outside it. That's easy to do. You guys are traversing the northern side of the courtyard here, so you can see the back half of this building pretty easy. How noticeable are these doors of yours? They are invisible to people that are looking. So you will just appear. Jester. What?

Why don't you paint a hole through the door into the wall to those stairs? She will appear outside of the tower and however long it takes. Not if the door is facing that wall to the stairs, and then we just walk right into that room. To clarify, they're not invisible. They're only visible from one side. To clarify, they're not invisible.

They're only visible from one side. Sorry, correct. Yeah. So you make the side that it would be visible facing to where you want to go. And then you would literally reach through his door and go, and we'll walk from our location out here in. That's the idea. To that room. That's pretty cool.

So if anybody was watching though, they might be able to see a hole being painted. They could, except for the giant dragon that will appear on the other side of the campus. There we go. Outside of the fence. Make a ruckus for, I don't know, a minute. You can do both of those things at the same time? Is it good, though, to do that?

Wouldn't that let them know that something was up? No, I can't. I feel like if... But Caduceus can go ask for... I can make that up? No, I can't. I feel like if... But could you just go ask for... I can make that illusion. No, but if we make that illusion and then the illusion goes away. Something more mundane.

Just to make people go, what? Something mundane, yeah. It's not real. And then you're it. Well, how about this? Am I going to be team outside? Yes. I got a fuck ton of bottle rockets left. And I'll also say,

that way we don't have to set off a distraction until one of you sends a message saying, go, go, go. Yeah, right. And we... I don't think, I think that's right. I don't think we'd make a distraction until we really need one.

Yeah, that's the way to do it. You could just be a drunk person in the woods being an idiot. I could be, exactly. DM. Yes. Tree cover, space, outside perimeter, wrought iron fence. Those are all nouns. What are the distance between the tree cover

and the wrought iron fence? The distance from the tree cover to the wrought iron fence is roughly 15 feet. And it adjusts some places, some places it gets a little closer to 10, but there has been a clearing between the fence and the trees, so that in order to get to the fence, you are exposed for about 10 to 15 feet,

depending on where you're at. So whether we set up bottle rockets or a dragon or whatever, if these guards are anything worth their salt, they'll start scanning their sectors. We could also do marine layer and just hide in a cloud of fog, those of us that are on team outside. How is the weather right now?

Would fog be weird? You're far enough north of Rexxentrum to where the clouds that are breaking up are still present, but it is still a mostly gray sky. There isn't a heavy amount of moisture. It does not appear to be heavy fog weather necessarily, but it wouldn't feel entirely out of place. Fog is a common occurrence.

And I'd stay in the tree line, not out in the open. Oh, in the trees. Makes sense, makes sense. Maybe there's a pond. They would know there was a pond. Can we come up with slightly cooler team names than team inside and team outside? Sure. It'd be like,

you know, Team Firestorm and Team... Oudie. What? Like an innie and an Oudie, like a belly button. Okay. Done. Team Firestorm and Team Audi. Is that A-U-D-I or O-U-T-T-I-D? There's no wrong answer.

So is it just me or is the last one you? Who's on Team Innie? Fjord is on Team Audi. Team Firestorm. Who's on Team Firestorm? Caleb. Yeah. And who else is on Team Firestorm?

Jester is coming in now. Yep, Jester. I think you three. Just us three? Ooh! All right. Unless you want Caleb, Jester, and who else? Veth the Brave. It just takes both of your message people, that's all.

I can cast a message every once in a while to check in on the outside. Ping. Ping. Fine. Do you guys want freedom of movement? Yeah. I don't know what that is, but sure. Because it's a cantrip, right, message? It is. It's burned a bunch of fourths.

All right. If we're going to have code names, we should also have code words. Okay. Something for if it's going well, something if it's, oh shit, come get us, and something for we're coming out. If it's going well, something if it's, oh shit, come get us, and something for we're coming up. If it's going bad, we'll say, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

There's a code word, like a singular fuck word. Is the, if it's going bad. Good. Maybe something you don't use is a comma. It's on the context. You do tend to fuck it up a bit when you're messaging. Oh. It accounts for 26% of your words, most of them. What's something you'd never say?

Avocado. Sarsaparilla. No, that's it. That's sarsaparilla I don't say. You remember that, though? Yeah, totally. Sarsaparilla's good. It's bad? Sarsaparilla's bad. No, I mean, it's fine if you don't remember it. No, but I miss out what you said. Is that what I'm saying? I like sarsaparilla's bad. No, I mean, it's fine if you don't remember it. No, but I mean, Sarsaparilla's bad.

Is that what I'm saying? I like Sarsaparilla very much. So Sarsaparilla means everything's there, okay. Yeah, Sarsaparilla's good. Sarsaparilla's good. It is. If you ever have it, it's great. It's an acquired taste, but how about licorice is bad? I was going to say licorice for bad!

Because it's terrible. It's awful! Who likes licorice? Licorice is bad. Not many people. I put it in tea, but it's got to be covering a whole bunch of other stuff. Licorice, bad. Not many people, my mom. Put it in tea, but it's got to be covering a whole bunch of other stuff. Licorice, bad. Sarsaparilla, good. Do you really?

What is? Black licorice? Yeah. Licorice means? I mean, I like Jaeger. It's like dirt. Everyone's like Jaegermeister, right? Minty dirt. No. I love it. No. You got an anise? Yeah, I love that flavor.

Get out of here. You can't be perfect. Jagerbomb? Jesus. Jagerbomb. Shit's medicine. Licorice is come save us. Okay. Sarsaparilla is good. Licorice is come save us.

And... Sarsaparilla is like, hey, things are okay. You're good to go. We really don't even need that word, usually. Like, if it's good, just shut the fuck up. And then what's we're leaving at high speed? What we're leaving at high speed is... Red hots. Firestorm.

Red? Red hots. Red hots. Mm. Red hot, red hot. Red hots. Firestorm. Red hots. Mm. Red hot, red hot, red hot, red hot. Okay. Red hot. Are we going to remember all? Wait, Tasperella. Tasperella, licorice, froth.

I feel like this is overly complicated. It is. Nope, look, we are doing right by the Cerberus Assembly, okay? We're giving them our best. It's just sad this is our best. Now, Jester, when you paint, don't paint like a Looney Tunes whore.

I'm not going to! Well, I have a suggestion. I'm sure you have great ideas, but I was thinking of a little gray curtain, the same color as the wall that's low to the ground. That way, once we go through the curtain, Or a holodeck. stays holodeck.

Caleb, I don't know if you know how these paints work, but here's the thing. If I paint a little gray curtain. Stays. Holodick. Caleb, I don't know if you know how these paints work, but here's the thing. If I paint a little gray curtain. With the little gaps. If I paint a little gray curtain, when we pull it aside, there will still be wall. No, no, you paint just the barest little bit of hole that you would only see if you were close.

You have to do details. This will take a lot longer. Yeah, a black hole is just real easy. It's one color. Yeah, I could do a, I'll make it look almost like a crack. Like, you know, like the tower's just falling apart. And some tall grass. And some tall grass.

And low to the ground, like we have to crawl through it. Yes, of course, Caleb! Just a black circle. I'm a very talented painter, so. We're already at licorice. It's perfectly manicured ground, except for this one tuft of tall grass in front of the crack. Licorice is bad. Jav is fired.

Licorice is bad. Bad on the inside, bad on the outside. Wait, is it a different kind of bad? Yeah, licorice has come save us from coming out. Also, are there any windows in this tower? Like, are we ignoring obvious points of entry that we could just, I don't know, open a window? No, no, no, we're not doing tower at all.

We're going into a solid wall to go into that vestibule with the stairs. There's no windows on that side. Okay, just making sure. I thought we were going to... I'm just asking the question. Where those teeth are, just below the teeth. The line's going to fall apart.

I can't, I don't know where my light is going. Nope. Wait. Nope. On this side? Nope, other side. Here. Almost. Now go towards the stairs.

Yeah. That wall, yep. You just went through the wall and you want to paint a hole in. Wait, you're trying to paint a hole in this wall? Yes. So where's the gate coming in? There, facing that wall.

The gate is going to face. Just so you know, this is all the inside. You guys are outside the perimeter wall here and here. So we don't see that. You don't see the other interior. Okay, we were very confused.

I asked, well, I... Everything's invisible, so it's hard. Fair enough. I said, this is the south side. You guys are on this side of the fence and you traveled around this space.

So you haven't had an angle yet where you can really see in that edge. I thought you were going to the back wall here. I misunderstood. That's still better than square one. Okay, so let's go into the wall. We'll aim for the middle,

so it'll be right across from that doorway. Yeah. You could also get that little, why am I doing it there? This is not helping, there we go. That little edge between the tower and the wall, so you have a little. Did you hit the TV? We were too busy laughing. Of course I hit the TV.

You got to take that point back, Tal. What'd you say? I knew what he was talking about. Thank you. Yeah. I just knew you were lasering a large screen TV. What is this? I'm trying to distract people who are watching an X-Men movie. Okay. I like that you were lasering a large screen TV. What is going on there? I'm trying to distract people

who are watching an X-Men movie. Okay. I like that you were holding it up high. Like, I got it. So, but there's like the, yeah, there's the square. He's suggesting. Square in the tower and like getting right in the corner there. He's suggesting this pocket.

Yeah, this edge right there. Is what he's suggesting. Well, that's a good pocket. Because then you have cover from the tower. It's a little hidden, yeah. That'll be good when there are three people in that hallway. That's even better, yeah. Great. Ref's a good pocket. Because then you have cover from the couch. That'll be good when there are three people in that hallway. That's even better, yeah, great. Refining, refining.

We're getting it. You're red hot. Wait, no, I don't mean that, I don't mean that. So what's the plan? Okay, that's what we're doing. That's the plan, that's great. Yeah, we'll do in that little crack. Right there, you almost have to do this crevice.

Very easy visual to that edge. And Team Firestorm, when you get in that hallway and there are three guards or at least two posted up at either end, your plan is to? Fuck them up. I'm going to try to charm the shit out of them. Good call. Fuck them up with charm. Yeah. I love it.

I just wanted to make sure we were on the same team. And if the charm doesn't work! Viably ready. I have an emergency calm emotions, too, if things get weird. Oh, good. That's good. Yeah. And all of us will be able to see in right after I, maybe, paint this whole.

Yeah, and if I use it, don't anyone attack anybody. Okay. Are you on Team Firestorm, also? No, I'm in an outie. Team outie. You did this. This is killing me today. Are you casting the doorway? Whenever you're ready. My paints are ready.

I'm picking out my paints that are the colors of the wall that I see, and I got my green ready. Before we go in, Caleb, come here. Yeah. Come here. When we were at All Caleb, come here. Yeah. Come here. When we were at Allura's, she gave me some insight, some magical insight on how to protect you at all costs. So I'd like to cast,

I'd like to send you to your mind palace, if you can, to your intellectual fortress, and I will cast Intellect Fortress on you. Fuck. It's a good one. Tickles my brain. Yes. No effing thing! And it does work. Yes. As you're contemplating this,

to just clarify with you about how the paints function. Yeah. Just painting a black hole isn't going to put a hole in the wall. No, I know. I need to paint. You have to Wile E. Coyote it. Yeah, I know, I need to paint. You have to Wile E. Coyote it. Yeah, I know, I need to make it look like an actual hole. Correct.

You do not know what the interior looks like. What about a trap door, like a hinged? A hinged door or something like that is more viable. Okay, I'll do that then. Just saying, in order to make the hole function, you'd have to paint what the inside would look like from that perspective in order to make the hole function, you have to paint what the inside would look like from that perspective in order to make it punch through, which you could do if you knew what the inside looked like.

That's the challenge. Got it. When you painted a hole through the rocks to exit, you had a perspective of what was on the other side and you could kind of fake it. Right. I did it to the chapel, too. Oops, a long time ago. Probably, well. What are you going to do?

Now I know better, though, and once you know. That's half the battle. The paints work differently. It's like Garden of Eden shit, you know? Okay, then I'm going to paint a teeny tiny gray. Well, the chapel had windows. You were able to see that. Oh, good call. I'm going to paint a teeny tiny gray wooden door.

So it's like, you know, really old wood that looks kind of gray. Right. That's got the hinges on it, so we can lift it up. It's a lift, you want. You got it. A lift. Leave a little bit of grease on the hinges. Let me know when you guys are about to go through the door.

Yeah, so it won't be squeaky. I'm ready. Well, we have to do distraction, gate, paint. Do we need? No, no distraction. No distraction. Not yet. Only if needed. That's an emergency. Okay. Yeah.

You ready for the gate? Yeah. And the distraction will be? That's for Team Audi to figure out. Well. You're sure you want all of us on this outside of the fence? You don't?

I can try and get on top of the tower. To be clear, the only ones with major image, creature distraction that can be far, far, far away are he and I, and once I cast the gate, that's it for 10 minutes. If I cast something else, the gate goes away. But there's other distractions that they can just do. Yeah. Physically, but they'll have to.

Yeah. Matt, does it feel like I could climb on top of this tower? You? Could I scale it? You could totally do that. And does it look like, you said it's got a crinolated edge to like I could climb on top of this tower? You? Could I scale it? You could totally do that. And does it look like, you said it's got a crinolated edge to where I could get down? Crinolated? Do we have any on top? You don't know what the top looks like, but you're not.

Completely magicked, though, to where you touch it, something happens. Huh? You poop yourself. You know what I mean? There could be magic effects on it, so if you touch the outside, people will know. It's an alarm. Very true. We're all your bubble rockets. But I mean, yeah, you touch the outside, people will know. It trips an alarm. You're going to be shaming us outside.

We're all your bottle rockets. But I mean, yeah, you're painting the door. Beauregard? Huh? We're all your bottle rockets in? She has some. You've got some? I keep my bottle rockets on me. Okay. Where?

You're so, like, svelte-ly dressed and packed. I have lots of pouches. Okay. They're very, okay. There's another pouch there. Caleb, for an hour, you have advantage on intelligence, okay. There's another pouch. Caleb, for an hour, you have advantage on intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saving throws. Wow! Yeah!

And you are resistant to psychic damage. I'm going to have to knock. Nice. Damn. It is concentration, so keep that in mind. What'd you say? It is concentration, so keep that in mind. Okay, good to know.

It is? Yes so keep that in mind. Okay, good to know. It is? Yes. All right. So. So your team distract, your distraction then, right? Only if needed, but I can- If needed. I feel like I can get on top of this tower

and at least scout and be a lookout. Sure. So you could ping Beauregard for a lay of the land. Hmm. Okay. All right, so we leave just a foot of space between your door and the wall so that Beauregard has enough room to not go right in.

Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. No, I know. I just didn't want you flush against the wall so that Beauregard has enough room to not go right in. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. No, I know, I just didn't want you flush against the wall when you appeared there. Okay. Freedom of movement, freedom of movement, freedom of movement, guidance. Ooh! And remind me what freedom of movement gives us all?

Can't be paralyzed or grappled or? Yeah, unaffected by difficult terrain, spells and other magical effects can either reduce the target speed nor cause the target to be paralyzed or restrained. You can spend five feet of movement to automatically escape from non-magical restraints, such as manacles or creatures that have grappled you.

And just in case, your underwater speed is now your walking speed. Okay. Just in case. Who's getting freedom of movement? All three of them. I'm burning my force. Team Firestorm. There you go. And is all of Team Audi staying on the outside of the fence?

Yeah. Except for me. That's good. That's three in, one midway, and three on the outs. And then three on the outs. So I'll, if I need to communicate anything, I'll try to look at you for some baseball signals. Yep. About a two, I believe.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. I feel like this is Beau jumping into the middle of three of the Tomb Takers, but okay. Wait a minute. All of you do 60 seconds of planning. I have to go to the bathroom so badly. Oh my god, we've been trying to be so bad! We're all dying. I have to go to the bathroom so badly. Oh my god, we have to be all dying.

We're all dying. I have a question for that anyway. Hey, we can take an early break. Yeah. Early break. Let's do that. As we prepare for this mission into the sanatorium, we're going to go ahead and take an early break. So we'll see you guys here in a few minutes.

It'd be really cool if we. Why, hello there. This is Critical Role's resident art dad, also known as Liam O'Brien. We are continuously amazed at the artwork this community creates. That's why each Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific, we share a curated gallery of submitted fan art over on critrole.com. If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, visit critrole.com slash submit.

And thank you to all of the incredible artists who share their talents with us week after week. Welcome back after that brief earlier interlude. So, Mighty Nein, as you are all positioned on the northwestern exterior of the perimeter fence within the Provo Wilderness, staring into the grounds of the Vergesen Sanatorium. The Provo? Pearl Bo. Pearl Bo, okay. Pearl Bo.

Pearl Bo. Pearl Bo. I'm ready, I'm ready. The Provo Wilderness. Pearl Bo. Pearl Bo. What would you like to do? As a point of clarification, tree line to fence, 15 to 20 yards, from fence to structure is about 60 yards.

Feet, feet, feet, feet. Sorry, is about 60 yards. Feet, feet, feet. Sorry, feet, feet, feet, feet, feet, feet, feet. And that border, that 60-foot border is along this edge and the other side as well. Yeah, roughly 60 feet along this side. This edge is probably closer to 70, but this specific structure is nestled in the corner.

From the guards that we can see that are patrolling, do they seem like they walk that 60-foot space between the wrought iron and the structures in a full circle? The ones you see right now, they do not appear to be on that path. More in the inner? But who knows if they will, you know?

Fair enough. You would know from... I think you and I can burn the building down. You would assume that they probably, at some point, have to? I'll err on the side of caution, and I will adjust all of us to shift more towards the corner, so that from wherever we are on the treeline, we can see down the edge of the building ahead of us

and along the side. Both sides. Okay. 45, so you can see both. There is the ability to turn the gate as a bonus action so that we can turn it. So if somebody moves over here, I turn it so they can't see it. Oh shit.

Once per turn. Cool. Okay, okay, okay. Just got better. What? Okay. So everyone has their freedom of movements cast. One hour situated in that without concentration,

which is good. What are we doing? Are you ready? Yeah, we're ready. Caduceus, I'm assuming you don't have anything that would help me be even more stealthy, not be seen, anything cool. We're not going to do Marine Layer just yet, Team Audi, because we don't need it.

Copy. I just burped and it was so bad. What's your Marine Layer? What's your Marine Layer? Wow. I hope it doesn't drift this connection. That was a cloud. That's okay. I watched your Reed Richards get grayer. Yeah. One of my eyes... That was a cloud. That's okay, I'm good. I watched your Reed Richards get grayer. Yeah.

One of my eyes is a little foggy. You know when you get the red beer burn in your nose? Oh my god. You're ready. Very first minute, door is up, painting begins. Oh god. Okay. This is a trap. All right.

I'm going to kick it off. You got this. Three. Remind us that we have the thing that you cast every once in a while. You have the thing. Yeah, I will do it. Don't forget to check in. I always remember. I'll focus really, really intently,

and I will cast my first sixth-level spell, Arcane Gate. And 10 feet to my right in the tree cover, first sixth-level spell, Arcane Gate. And 10 feet to my right in the tree cover, facing the opening, facing towards the structure. So if you were facing the other way, you wouldn't see it. You see an archway appear in the air, filled with fog,

almost covering the surface of the portal. It's a few inches off of the ground. It sort of floats and it's opaque. You can't see through it. And I will put the other gate exactly where Caleb and Jester pointed out. Right there? Mm-hmm. Five feet from the wall.

Okay. And I will face it just directly towards it. All right. You watch as the fog that holds that space suddenly dissipates, like somebody had thrown a droplet into still water. And as it scatters outward, you see very close the stone wall in shadow

on that side of the building. That is so cool. This is so cool for it. That's pretty neat. Paint! Can they hear us through the doorway, too? I don't think so. I don't think so. Thank the Wild Mother.

Paint, young woman, paint like the wind! While Jester is painting, I'm going to put up Detect Magic now and start 10 minutes of that going. Okay. And I'm hoping, past without a trace, to seal up for another 10 minutes or so. Okay. You can roll either a dexterity or a performance check

to see the quality of your paint. I hate having to roll for this. The circle is- I hate the rules of the game that I've played for six years. The circle is two feet in diameter if it ever comes up. What's that, Mr. Natural One? Two people could go through it if you need to at the same time.

21. Ooh! 21 is very good. Okay. That'll enable you to finish it within this last 10 minute period of time before your spell completes. About six or seven minutes into you painting, Caduceus, keeping watch off to the side,

you do see one guard is starting to come from the southern side and approach towards the north edge, closer to the perimeter. Inside the? Inside the gate, but close to the gate, and would likely intersect between the structure and the wrought iron. He points it out and I'll rotate the door

so it puts its back towards where that guard could be. I quickly start painting grass a little bit higher to hide a little bit of the door. Okay, okay. Do we want to distract that guard or anything? I think we just back off and let him walk by. Okay. Okay, so you are now currently drawing.

Uh-huh. How far away is it? The rest of you notice this while she's doing this. She is leaning through the portal and painting on the wall. On the other side, where the structure is, you see an arm and a shoulder

that's just floating in the middle of the air. That's cool. Pull her out, pull her out. The portal itself is invisible, but anything that passes through is still visible. You just see this faint fog image where the cross-section is, and you just see this shoulder and a hand

that is in the process of painting out a heavier portion of the door, doing the texture on it, the gap between where the hinges are up the top, the pull part. It's looking really good. And while she's concentrating, you're not certain if she's going to finish before this guard arrives.

Just pull her out! Yeah, I reach up, I grab the back of her cloak, and I pull her back through the door. So you get pulled back on it. And I turn the door. Yep. Everyone go ahead and make a stealth check, please. You still have Pass Without a Trace? You would still have Pass Without a Trace.

Great. One to nine. Ooh. Crazy for me. 19. 15. 36. I rolled a three.

You said that with such disdain. Friendship over. This sickens me. What then? 31. Ooh, yay. Ooh. 16. That's pretty funky.

38. Okay. Okay. Go ahead with your bath, so. You all hold your breath at this perimeter. You can just hear the ever so faint sound of the gate, just like, it sounds like the faintest breeze at the proximity to you.

The guard passes by, glances out into the woods, takes a bite of some, looks almost like jerky or bark, some sort of a snack that he had in a pouch. Not very appetizing, like a dark brown mealy texture. Chews a bit, and just continues walking. Back the way he came? No, just continuing on now to the western side,

or the eastern side, so he's now passing this way. You get to a point where you feel comfortable that you'd be out of sight of him. You jump in and you finish up the artwork. As you're finishing up the art piece, you're getting close to the 10-minute mark, which is how long that gate stays up. So as soon as you complete it,

you finish the flourishes, you watch for a second as the 2D image that you've done, well shaded as it is, sets in. It's like watching something 2D get pushed into 3D and suddenly it's there. It's apparated. Did you sign it?

An artwork isn't done unless you sign it. Shoot, we gotta go. Team Firestorm, go. Go. Team Firestorm. I'll go first. I'm going to recast

Castle of the Trace on three of us. I'm huddling close to you for this jog in. It'll probably go away as soon as you're 30 feet away from me. Even just for the sprint across. Okay, I'll jump in first.

Okay. Crossbow drawn. All right, so you pull the trapdoor open and it is darkly lit inside, very minimal light. As you step and leap into the space, the first one in, make a perception check. I'm not good at that. Holy shit. Perception? 10.

Oh, come on. 10. Looks pretty safe. Holy shit. Can you stand right there? Yeah. Are you standing on the inside, or did you just open it? I think I'm inside. I'm inside the building, yeah.

Yeah, I'm inside the building. Okay. Yeah, I'm inside the building. Okay. I guess I'll come and. Clear. Clear. I'll go in last, you go. Yep, all right, I start crawling in. Okay, so you go into the space there.

Do you see anything? Look, look, look, yes. Make a perception check. It's 15 people. Natural 20. Yeah! Natural 20, nice. 15 dudes right there. You see this door being drawn the last 10 minutes?

To the immediate right of you, you see the doorway that leads towards the central chamber of the structure, the secondary doorway beyond that that leads towards the basement that is where your quarry is, and the rest of this length of hallway in the back. You can see there's a handful of tables and chairs.

It looks like a simple roll desk of some kind, but the room is empty. I have Detect Magic up. Is anything going off? Currently, no. No. Come on. Right as she goes in, I scale the wall and try and get the most out of my 30 feet of Pass Without a Trace.

Okay, go ahead and make an athletics check for me. Get it, Nartoh. That's really bad, I rolled a two. 12. Oh. Yes. 12. It's already failed. A two. It's tough.

Unarmored move, and I can climb walls. You can climb walls. Uh-huh. That's part of a monk thing. Part of a monk, yeah. Wall climb. Don't you add ten and then... I can just climb walls. I'm just a monk. No, I'm just a...

A simple monk. Just a simple monk. Just grunting like a free climber. Ah! Ah! It's the Just Got Laid modifier. Yeah, yeah. Plus what?

That's an advantage. I had a d12. Where's that ability again? That is the... It's Unmordable Movement, the water and walls. I can walk across water and I can run up walls. Yeah, to move along vertical surfaces. You know what? Then yeah, you don't even need to make that check.

Oh, thank god. But do make a stealth check for me, please. Do I still get passed without a trace? You would, because you are right behind where she is entering. Great, 30 total. Oh my god. With no sound, the rest of you watch as Beauregard just vertically up at the top.

Makes sense. And I'm just going to tumble, roll, and flatten onto the roof. Okay. 15 guards. They're all sunbathing. No, no. Not 15, but there is one. There is one?

You roll over and look just to your left, and you see a guard that is currently perched on the edge, looking over down into the courtyard with a heavy crossbow in his lap. He's not sitting in a chair, just sitting on the ground. He does not know I'm here yet. He does not, at the moment, seem to notice you.

Get that garrote! Oh no. Have fun. We're going to eat through this guy? Sorry, not helping. Say nothing, say nothing. I want to say nothing. Do kind of want to say nothing. Do I see things to hide behind? No.

You are literally in this parapet of just an open floor, what looks to be a trapdoor that is to the right of him, that leads further down into the tower, and it's just him just perched there. He's 10 seconds away from that community. He's about a foot from you, a foot and a half from you.

Just bail, just bail. Kill him. Okay, okay. I do not want to kill him. This is really bad. Slash his throat. Oh my god, I am not an assassin rogue. If I was an assassin rogue, I would. Holy fuck. Holy fuck. Just bail!

Holy fuck. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn't plan for this? Uh, no. Do we ever? In the time that you are lying on your back, holding perfectly still, just staring at the bed, just boring a hole

into the back of this guy's head. What do I do? Just clutching the stone quietly. With your passive perception, you do hear a very faint sound. What? He's asleep? He's napping at his post.

Good boy. End him. You know what I want to do, right? You know what I want to do. Oh, Beau! Are you good? I'm not here. Yeah, no, this is... The gate closes.

Shup! I close it. Total control. The flourish is a little delayed, but... How's that agency working out for you? You can't break up with me, I break up with you. I'm not fired, I quit! Beauregard, what are you doing? Okay.

Oh my god, what am I doing? Oh my god. Do I just chill here with this guy? I love one sleeping dude has you wrapped. I'm so... Come on. Because do I kill him? Beauregard, what do you do?

I like it if she just chilled out like this. Yeah. And then at the... Oh my god. She's snoring at his post. Do you have a rope? Well, here. While you're contemplating what to do

as you stand there perfectly still, thinking real hard, looking up into the semi-cloudy sky above, the rest of you in this chamber, quiet, with very, very little light that seems to be coming in from the partially open, ever so faintly open door that leads into the next chamber.

Your eyes adjust into the darkness. You see what's ahead of you. What do you do? Beth, is this door okay? Which one, the middle one? The second one. The second one? I'll check it. Check the traps.

Investigation check. 23. And you do not have darkvision, right? I do. Oh, wait. No, that's the goblin form. I don't. Disadvantaged? With disadvantage on this. Still 23.

I mean, it's always 23. Yeah, because fucking rogues. Okay. The door is locked. Does not appear to be trapped, but it is locked. It's locked. I'll need to pick it. Okay. I told Beauregard I would check in.

Someone say Sarsaparilla to her. Unless you can't. Sarsaparilla's good. Sarsaparilla. In the middle of your tense moment, you hear, Sarsaparilla, and your ear roll fast. Sarsaparilla. Okay, she's good.. And your ear rolls fast. Zazpril. Okay, she's good, we're good.

Proceed. Okay, I'm going to pick the lock. No guidance. Too late. Dex and proficiency bonus. Sorry, thieves' tools? Thieves' tools. Thieves' tools, yeah. Disadvantage? No.

Because of your lack of sight here, I'd say no, because it's not so much sight more than it is feeling it, so you're fine. 31. Feeling it. 31. Ever so faintly creaks as it begins to push open, but it does open. I'm going to pull out.

Wait, let me see if I still have it. I mean, your stealth's still up, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're stealth. I'm just seeing, because I have that hair oil that I bought. So I'm going to use. I already opened the door. While she's checking her pack, I'm going to lean over Veth's head

and peek through and see if there's any threat in the next. Well, the door, like, you unlocked it and it just barely went. Oh, okay. It is very creaky. I'm going to put my hair oil on the hinges. The stank stuff? Okay. Yeah, my nasty hair oil.

Okay, yeah, you do. All right, so you go ahead and take a moment to apply the hair oil to the hinges. I'm into it. It creaks ever so faintly as you move it back and forth a bit, just to get it to fall within the hinges, and then opens with very, very, very minor sounds.

Nice. Nice, nice, nice, nice. Okay, now look. Still probably have five or six minutes left of detect magic. These stairs, as you step into this chamber and look inside it, this chamber is mainly empty. You can see what looks to see a couple of discarded bags of burlap. You can see a couple of discarded bags of burlap.

Like, maybe some things have been thrown in here for the time being, nowhere else to put it. But there is a staircase that descends below and does match the layout that you were given. Okay, thanks for the try. Ready? Wait, who's? Am I Iain? One, two, drei. Ready? Wait, who's? Am I ein? One, two, three. You going last?

You should go the middle because you're weakest. Okay, wait, wait, wait. I'll do another message spell this time to Caduceus, just saying, Team Firestorm, sarsaparilla. You can reply to this message. Sarsaparilla, you can reply to this message. Sarsaparilla. All good. Okay.

With me, ready? What is it? Oh no. Wasn't it like this? Didn't you do it? Wow. It's a mongoose strength again. All right, so as you descend the stairs, I'd like everyone to roll a stealth check.

Who is part of this troop. Plus 10. 25 stone. Your help? 44. There's the max. 23. 30.

All right. Quietly, you descend these stone stairs, this narrow passageway, continuing downward, it opens up a little bit bit and the stairs begin to alight. You see a bit of a light source and what looks to be an end to them within a chamber below. Do we hear anything? Do we hear anyone?

Uh-oh. Make a perception check, if you'd like. And this is where? None of these rooms are that map? Oh, it's a different map. Oh, oh, oh! This map thing is brought to you by Dwarven Forge. With the reconfigured Dwarven Forge starter sets,

you can get a feel for what their premium terrain is actually like. Find out more at bit.ly slash crit roll DF. DF! Because you're down to Forge. Dirty Forge. Are you guys listening for anything? This is where Astrid

shells us out. I didn't hear anything. So who is listening? Yeah, I am. Make a perception check. I am. Listen. Listening? Looking, perceiving. 24. Guys, we haven't had a map covered in a while.

It feels real good. That's true. Listening in, you hear the creak of wood on wood. Above us? Below you. Oh shit. Oh no. God. Get against the wall. My heart is pounding. Okay.

In the shadow. Okay. Like in the room or beyond below us? Below, inside the space, you hear a. So in this space. Woman in black. Ooh. No!

Pew, pew, pew. Love that move. Makes me scared. Smoke bomb, what do we do? I don't know where they are. I can't kill. I can't, I can't. You're still up inside the stairwell, so you can actually look into the room.

Once you were to descend, I will reveal to you what's in there. So he also doesn't have darkvision. Fuck, why are we leading this? Oh, I should have given you my fucking goggles. I'm going to reach back and just pull Jester forward to try to look into the room. Can I see anything? Wait, so those torches are not happening?

There's light down there. What you see is light, it is lit to a certain extent within the chamber. That's how, when you look down into it, you can see there's a light source. Okay, well then I'll peer around the room to see what I can see. Okay.

Make a perception check. Oh my god. That's a 10. It's a 10. You glance down and you see what looks to be a couple of torches set in the far corners, and you see two tables of differing sizes onto the right and left,

some chairs arranged around it, and you can see one individual wearing the same Vergesen Guard armor is currently sitting in a chair and snacking on a small plate of food they've nearly finished. One dude. Okay. Okay.

You tell us that. I will turn around and just do this, you know, one, and then. Can I? I can try something. What? I can try something. Yeah, go. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

I don't know what that was. What was that? Josh. He is eating to face the stairs, by the way. Like, his back is to the wall, and he's intentionally eating while keeping an eye on the entrance for the purposes of his post.

I'm going to, no. I'm going to lean around the corner just a little bit where Nott pointed, and I'm going to cast Fast Friends. Fast Friends? Oh boy. I'm still going to kill him. Going non-lethal. It used to hit him. Non-lethal.

Is that, did we decide that? Well, she did. I didn't decide that. Yeah. I know. The shaking hands. Okay. That is a wisdom saving throw?

Yes. That's what fast friends do. Okay. Sitting there eating. You finish casting the spell and immediately he goes, and looks right up at you. Does he smile? Drops the food on the plate.

Grabs his weapon. Stands up. Hi. Hi. Hi. Well, can I help you? Is there anyone else down here with you? Yeah, we've got a few posted around. What are you doing here?

Anybody in this room? Nobody's in this room, just you? It's just me at the moment, yeah. I was just keeping watch. Okay. I'm going to just come down and stand next to him for a minute. What's your name?

Oh, Fiona. Oh. Hold on, I'm going to see exactly what the spell does now that I cast it. Oh, good. Now a warning? Now a warning? Now a warning? Okay.

I can have him do something for us for like an hour. Like a tap dance? Oh, really? Yeah. Have him watch, make sure nobody comes up for him. Yeah, okay, hey,

I've got an idea for you. Okay. Go relieve the other guards. Yeah, is there anything that you know of that can help us get to a room if we need to get to it or something? Yes. Sort of confused by the question, I guess.

Like, I need help getting to a room. Can you help me get there? Well, I can walk you to it, yeah. But I don't want any of your friends to see us. It's like a room. Can you help me get there? Well, I can lock you to it, yeah. But I don't want any of your friends to see us. It's like a secret. Well, I mean, they've all got their work to do as well. Yeah. Is there a secret code that would get them dismissed

for a while, like go to lunch or something, relieve them? Don't really do secret codes here. Oh, really? No, sorry. Worst first date ever. Is there, do you guys ever leave to go have dinner or anything? I mean, yeah, eventually.

Yeah? Yeah, when sundown goes, some of us switch off and head into the barracks. Oh. A little mess space there. I can show it to you later on if you want to see it. Oh yeah, that sounds wonderful. Do as you like. Okay, tell you what, should we, I'm just going to have my friends come down here.

I have a couple of friends with me, okay? Oh, we're not supposed to have other people down here. But it's okay. For you, we'll allow it. Okay. Come on! Oh! Oh, is this the boy you were telling us about?

Yeah, yeah, he's wonderful. He seems visibly uncomfortable with your presence, but he's allowing it for her. As a note, this is concentration. You have dropped past that. I know, I know, I know. Okay, I can just tell him to sit here and not say anything for an hour. Or get a sandwich.

Yeah, do you want to take your, do you need to go to the bathroom or anything? Do you need to go find a bathroom? I guess it wouldn't hurt. If he stayed, he could tell us if anyone came down here, though. Oh, that is true. You know what? Why don't you stay here in this room? Chill like you normally do.

You know, watch the stairs, that kind of thing. If, um, if anyone, you know, you hear shouting or something, maybe, you know, come help me or something. Of course, yeah. I'll keep an ear out. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, come help me or something. Of course, yeah. Yeah, no, I'll keep an ear out. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, if anybody comes down the stairs after us, you know, maybe just, you know, talk to them, hang out with them, distract them a little bit. It will be fun.

Okay. Yeah. I can do that. All right. Yeah. Okay. I'll see you in a little bit. Okay. So, fun guy, what's your name?

Oh, Kaimi. you in a little bit. Okay. So, one guy, what's your name? Oh, Kaimi. Kaimi? Kaimi. Kaimi. That's Kaimi. He's really sweet. Yep. Guten tag. Okie dokie.

Hey, is this door locked over here? Is that the door? That door? No, it's not locked. Okay. Is it a trap? This door on the map, Astrid had marked with a sigil, so I still have Detect Magicka,

probably for another minute or two. Correct, and as you glance over, you can see on the ground, there is a faint trace of light blue scrawling that elevates slightly beyond the stone floor. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm just going to walk to the other corner, like on the opposite, I can't.

You are shooting into the sky. Shut up! Use the sink, no, the other, like back, other one. No, yes. Okay. I'm going to stand there. He looks at me. I'm going to keep talking to him and I'm just saying, come here, so he like faces me, facing the wall.

Okay. So that Caleb can dispel that magic and he won't notice it. I'm just like, come here! So he faces me, facing the wall, so that Caleb can dispel that magic and he won't notice it. I mean, he's standing there, staring at you, talking. We're just talking about stuff. It's kind of a summer job, you know. Yeah, yeah. How old are you? Me? I'm 28.

28, that's a good age. I'm not sure how old I am. That's weird. Yeah. While you're having that conversation, not after, while you're having it, I back up another 10 feet, perhaps, because I've got some range on this,

and I will attempt to remove what's on the floor. All right. Go ahead and roll a d20 and add your intelligence modifier. 10. 10. 10? Yeah. It flares up, but the sigil remains. Yeah.

Fourth level. It apparates. Veth, quickly, please, can you have a look at the store? I'll open the door and just want to make sure the door is in working order. Opening the door, peering inside. It opens up and reveals before you a darkened hallway with a faint bit of light towards the edge. Ooh. Back that way.

No people that I can see? You see, in the back of the hall, facing directly across the way in your direction, a guard sitting with a spear and a shield at the side, just sitting there, keeping post. Because you no longer have Pass Without a Trace, I would like you to roll a stealth check.

Sure. That is a 31. You gather he did not see you, but he did peek up at the sound of the door beginning to open. I'll go back into the room with Caleb and very silently just say, I!

Yeah, she's the Ruby of the Sea. It's like, she does these huge performances. She's an amazing singer. I've heard about her, actually. Yeah, you should totally come out there sometime. It would be so much fun. Oh, one day I'll probably afford it. First you, then me.

Okay. All right, I'll prepare a bolt. And I'm going to just peer around without him seeing, and Fluffernutter. Kill him. Okay. So prepare a bolt. Huh? And you're going to go ahead and Fluffernutter. No, I'm just going to shoot. Okay. So prepare a bolt. Huh? And you're going to go ahead and fluffernutter.

No, I'm just going to shoot. Okay. I'm just going to shoot. Oh my god. I'm just going to shoot. Okay, go for it. Anyway. You have advantage. You have advantage on the shot. Vibrates under me. As she is doing this,

I'm reaching into my components pouch to pull out an ingredient, getting ready to follow up if need be. You've got it. I'll take that. 19 to hit. 19 does hit. I will roll for damage, I guess. Roll all of them real high.

They got to be high. They're not. They're not. They're really not. 28 plus six. 28 plus six, 34. 34. Oh no. These are standing up. Oh no. Bonus action! Bonus action, fire again.

Okay. Two. What? Four total of? 13. Misses. Yeah. No! You freak out in fire, and this thing just skids off the wall, causing a couple of bits of stone to carve off,

and you hear the sound of metal scattering down the hallway as the bolt finds some part of the hallway. I'll cast if I can. What are you casting? You were readying it, so. Yeah, I pull out a black marble and bring it into a circle, and I cast Gravity Sinkhole, a pneumatic spell,

above him at the ceiling to pull him up to the roof. Okay. How's Kymie doing? We're fast friends. Constitution saving throw. Yeah. That's a nine.

That's my plan for right now. So go ahead and roll your damage. She's making white noise. 23. Okay. Force damage. And he's pulled towards the center. As he's standing up, getting his spear, you see him go, and he inhales, about to yell,

and then suddenly, silently, without a word, gets pulled up into the ceiling. Now, there is sound as his metal hits the stone above and cranks up. The actual metal is crushed inward. You watch as blood begins to just kind of flop out of the armor. Goodness.

And then, it hits the ground. Don't worry about that. It's fine, you know what? What happened? I don't even know. I should check that, it's my job. No, you should hang out with me. You're right, okay.

Okay. Because he's charmed these days. He recycled them. I just got to look at Caleb. Now, mind you, there are three other doors in this hallway, and that made a lot of sound. Sure, sure.

Do you want to do anything? Yeah. No, actually, let's just let this play out. What? I'm going to step just inside the door. Oh god. And wait. As the door is now open?

Just in the doorway, so that Jester's new friend can't see me. I should be able to see, with the last moments of detect magic, if there is anything at that first door on the left. I will. We're going straight to the back though, right? By the bloody guard.

Yeah. I'm going to cast a quick message to Beau, saying, Sarsaparilla Icarus! And as that happens, we cut over to you, still there on the top of the tower. I just go, same. And upon hearing this, I'm just going to roll over. I'm going to very quietly crawl,

and I want to get behind this guy. In this time, I'm pulling out these two acid vials that I got from Veth a long time ago. Okay. these two acid vials that I got from Veth a long time ago. Okay. And maybe a dagger, and I'm just having it ready, and I'm just waiting. Okay.

You're setting out tools? Like, as an option? Not sure which! Like a fucking serial killer. You Dexter'd his sleeping girl. Straight up! White gloves. Only the most fucked-up of assassins kill their

victims with acid. He wakes up and is like, what acid aura, Dexter? I don't know how this is going to play out. Oh no. I'm so excited for this. Is he still super asleep? Is he still snoring? He's still snoring. So as you wait and prep yourself there,

contemplating the tools before you. I also pull out my bag of ball bearings, just in case. Yes, boulder parchment cheers, I've got them all. This is some ritualistic stuff. This is some before bedtime. I love it. Okay. Cutting back to you, as you're there waiting, you hear some voices.

Uh-oh. Not quite certain which direction it's coming from, and you hear the sound of metal footfalls. What are we doing now? I'll cast Silent Image. What's your Silent Image? That guard. That guard.

The crushed one on the floor that's in a puddle of blood? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to have him just stand up and just an image of him just be walking down the hall. Like he's just going back and forth, stretching his legs or something. Does that erase the body on the floor? Yeah, maybe they'll just look at him and not the body on the floor. Does not erase the body on the floor? No, maybe they'll just look at him

and not the body on the floor. Does not erase the body on the floor. The door opens. Yeah. And another guard pokes through and glances over at the illusion of the guard that you've left, which currently is walking this way down the hall.

Just goes, everything all right? He just nods. walking this way down the hall. Just goes, Everything all right? He just nods. The other guard is standing out there, goes, Shit. And he goes to run back into the room. What are you doing? I put another fissure right at that doorway.

Fissure? Sinkhole, excuse me. Another sinkhole? Pull him back into the hole. It's a bloodbath. 13. Crutch! Yeah, yeah.

One more and we have to finish. This is a horror film. 28. 28. These fucking necklaces better be there. So suddenly, as he turns to go out of the room, he gets yanked out and slams into the ceiling. I'll finish him off.

Is he still alive? He's currently yelling in pain as he's being crushed against the ceiling. I'll show him this bit. Natural 20. No! Now, you hadn't hid before this happened. No, I mean, I didn't know if he saw him, but he saw me.

Correct. So maybe not. I'd say he would be hidden in this instance if he didn't know you were there. Perhaps she's hidden by all the blood in his eyes. Fair enough. But I'll say, yeah, go ahead and take the roll with advantage.

Or yeah, you got 20, you get it. His eyeballs imploded, so it's fine. Oh my god. I've always loved a Cara. I mean, we all knew how this was going to go. Yeah, of course. Let's not pretend there were any illusions. There's always a chance, but.

But yeah. So you're telling me there's a chance. Also terribly low roll, but still 28. 28 with the crit? Oh, crit, so doubled, yeah. Or doubled the dice, at least. Doubled the dice, yeah, so that's 50. Yeah, no, he's gone.

Ah! The alien just goes, ah! Onto the ground again. There's now these two crushed. Just look at me. Damage when they hit. Okay. There are now two bloodied suits of crushed armor.

Unfortunately, my bolt, it shoots again. It's fine. You lose another bolt. It skitters down the hallway. It hasn't made as much noise as the second body covered in bloodied armor, slamming 10 feet onto the stone floor. You hear a voice come from inside that room go,

What the fuck? Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Inside the room? Are any of the guards on the outside hearing any of this, are they alarmed yet? No, you do not hear anything. Great, great, good. Sure, it's going fine.

We've talked about this ad modium. As soon as the body hits the ground? How many do you think it is? Sarsaparilla. Are you staying at that doorway? We got to go kill this guy. Wait, you told me Sarsaparilla. Who are you telling Sarsaparilla?

Yeah, you. Me? Yeah, yeah, I start stalking towards the doorway. But like with a grim expression of murder? Sure. Do you grab some blood, splatter it onto your face? I don't need it. Your new friend, Jester, is like, he's getting nervous, looks over,

so he's like, I really should get to work. There's some, your friends are knocking around over there. Yeah, they just like to have some fun sometimes. I say with like a tear forming in my eye. Don't cry, don't cry. You should have some fun too. You deserve it. You too, too. You deserve to have some fun.

Thank you. You know, I'm so glad that I came in this room first because I really like you, Kymie. Thank you, I like you too. I like you. Yeah, the show's not too bad Yeah My friend Jasper got me the job actually

Jasper, he sounds very nice Yeah, he's a good dude He's a bit dense at times, but overall he's got a good heart That's really wonderful Can you do me a favor, Kymie and just sit down and stay here at this table Don't get up at all Yeah, no worries, he sits right down You know what, close your and just sit down and stay here at this table. Don't get up at all. Yeah, no worries, and he sits right down.

You know what? Close your eyes if you can. Just stay here, okay? You got it, okay. Oh god. Should I count as well? What? Should I count as well?

Count really quietly, hun. And I just walk away. I walk down into the hallway, too. And he just quietly counting to himself for the dice close. Jester, we quietly counting to himself for the science clothes. Jester, we're about to go kill this guard. No! Can you do something else?

Well, that's a concentration, guide me. I have to really think about it. Okay, wait, let me see. I could try to distract him, or we could crush him. While this is happening, Caleb, you've walked to the doorway. You look in. Vader is in the doorway.

As you step into the doorway, you reveal what looks to be some sort of an armory. With one guard right there at the edge of the door and one that's in the back. The one at the edge of the door was ready with its blade up, and as soon as you step even close. I didn't step in, I stepped back a little. As soon as you're giving it close,

he leans around the way and goes, and goes to make a strike on you. Great, sure, makes sense. Shifting into the space. Making two attacks. An 18? Shield. Misses. Ooh, 23. Just hits.

Just hits. So the first one is deflected off to the side. You see an arcing flash of arcane energy just shooting it off to the edge. It hits the stone on the side of the door and then picks up and arcs it backward, and it pushes just through the arcane shield, just shooting it off to the edge. It hits the stone on the side of the door and then picks up and arcs it backward and it pushes just through the arcane shield, slamming into you for 10 points of slashing damage. Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

The other one is going to go ahead and rush forward. Actually, he should have a spear. He's going to come over his friend's shoulder and attempt to strike you in the space between. They're phalanxing in this little gap here. That is going to be a 20, which you still have shield up, so. Right, shield's up. Misses. Both miss.

It's just arcing off the bubble of defensive abjuration energy. Can I, can we do anything? You can roll for initiative. Now we roll for initiative. Can I run for, okay. Oh boy. You know, I have a really good feeling about this.

I think they're doing really good in there. I think everything's coming up, Caleb. We haven't heard reports of sarsaparilla. I'm feeling positive. All righty. 25 to 20. 22. 22. Nice. It's like endorphins.

Still lasting from last night. 20 to 15. 15 to 10. 13. All right. Jester and Veth, you're up first. I'm going to run forward and just, I'm going to shout at second level. I'm going to run to where I can see the guards,

like where the noise is happening. You, you're over here. You rush over to where all this chaos is happening after you told him to sit. Yeah, so I was at the doorway. Right. Yeah. So you were here at that point. So it's one, two, three, four, five, six. All you see is Caleb in the doorway.

You do not have an angle to see anybody and you see a spear pushing through from the side, but you do not have visual on the two guards. They are inside the room and you do not have advantage. Okay. Then I'm going to invoke duplicity. All righty. Where are you putting your duplicates?

I'm going to put my duplicate behind Caleb. All righty. A little bit, like five feet behind Caleb. So there's a little bit of a gap. All righty. A little bit, like five feet behind Caleb. So there's a little bit of a gap. You got it. And she's going to say, She's going to say, Hey, come on, fuck off, kids.

I don't know, she's going to say, come on, yeah. Okay. Come on, fuck off, kids. Come on, fuck off, kids! I don't know. I was just going to say, come on, yeah. Okay. Come on, fuck off, kids. Come on, fuck off, kids! I mean, hit me! I don't know. Caleb, from your standpoint, as you're now a little bit of blood now

from the gash that got you in the shoulder, you're holding your hands up and blades and weapons are shooting past you. Both the guards just go. Oh, that's, yeah. Both together just look past you like, huh? Do I have any bonus? Yeah, he's bleeding.

He's looking at these guys and just 15 years of experience causing murder to rise in his eyes, and he suddenly got like, hey! Hey! All righty. So that's your movement and your action. You good?

Yes. Okay. Finishing gestures go. Veth, what are you doing? I'll run down the hall. Probably bonus action dash. 30. From there, you can see past Caleb to the guard that's currently harrying him directly. I will try to take them out without killing them.

I will cast, I will throw some buttons and cast Hypnotic Pattern inside the room behind them. Ooh. Glowing, twisting, colorful buttons weave through the air behind them, distracting and hopefully charming them. Inside a 30-foot cube, which you can direct here. Yeah, so it doesn't hit Caleb.

It's tough in this space. It's a small space. It's a small space. It's a 30-foot cube. I'll say you can... Well, you cast it. I can't tell it to go way at the back of the room? Even at the furthest point in the room, the cube is going to fill the room and spill into the space.

You can't place the center of your cube in a space you can't see, I guess. Correct. Got it. So. 30-foot cube. I'm going to try it anyway and see if it works. Yes, you are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need Caleb and Veth to make a wisdom saving throw.

Which you have advantage. Well, you don't anymore. Correct. Right. Oh, right. Because this spell takes concentration, so it's just a single roll. I can cast it on myself? Mm-hmm.

You can hit yourself with a fireball. You can do all kinds of cool shit. Yep. Oh shit. Yep. Oh, boy. Each creature in the area, and you were in the area. Okay. It has a 16 save. Whoops. Actually, 30 foot in the back there.

You would be just outside of it, just barely. It flashes, and you're like, it catches you a little bit, and your eyes sparkle, and you shake it off. 18. a little bit and your eyes sparkle and you shake it off. 18. 18, okay. So you both manage to shake it off. Shake it off, shake it off. Never heard that song, what is that?

The one that's in the door with the sword that was just hacking into Caleb and looked past the confused Jester, looks over his shoulder, sees the flash and is now going like. How long does that last? And is just standing, staring at it. A minute.

The guard behind him sees the flash coming, closes his eyes, and looks up and is like, Come on, help! What are you doing? And he's got the spear, and he's trying to hit around his friend, who's now blocking him, standing in the space there. Okay, okay, okay. That's my goat.

All righty, that brings us to Caleb. Hold up Allura's staff and pull electricity off of it and fire a lightning bolt straight to the both of them. Okay. Oh, cold. Forgot. I forgot we traveled with a stone-cold murderer. Aiming to get in and out. This is the first use of the staff.

16 and 17. Nope. Nope. 18. 18, both fail. Jesus. That's a lot of... Somebody brought a grenade launcher to the paintball game. That sounded like an avalanche. Go, go, go! We've all met that guy.

Yeah, it was the same. We all know what the match game is. 41, 43. Yeah. You know, we're all using rentals that guy. Yeah, it was the same. We all know which kid it is. 41, 43. Yeah. No, we're all using rentals, dude. Yeah. I brought little Betty. Actually, the first guy was incapacitated, so he failed automatically, but yeah, it's same thing.

Is it worse if they're wearing metal armor? Well, they fail their saving. No, but I'm contemplating if I want to go with an old school D&D ruling that I love. Oh, bouncy bounce? Yeah. So as you release the bolt of lightning, it arcs forward through both of them,

hits the back wall, shoots back, bouncing off of it back in your direction. Both of you made dexterity saving throws for me. Yes. This is awesome. These are just guards. 14. I'll pass it with my Ring of Evasion. Okay.

I'm not doing full damage, just half damage to you, unless you make the save, which you did not. So you, with evasion, if you fail, you still get half damage. Half damage anyway, right? If you succeed. Right, okay. So quarter damage. So we'll say 10 points of lightning damage. Great.

And you just say ten points. Oh wait, I'm resistant to lightning now. What? So five points of lightning damage. Five points. Because I've got this, uh, I've got this thing. I've got Yussa's, um, Eldritch Blast, or whatever it's called.

Eldritch Blast. Blast Scepter. Oh yeah, that thing. Fancy. All righty. Are they dead? Are the guards lightning bolted to death? Here we go.

No, they're both badly hurt. Well, no, it arcs back through them, so. Oh! Oh, that's rich. Oh yeah, they're fried. There's going to be nothing left to bury out of anybody on this board. Do either of them have name tags? Maybe more.

Boy. They both fall to the ground, smoke just pouring out of the armor. As you can see, the charred flesh and skin poking through, the skeletal, the jaws stretched, eyes milky and near popping. They're just. Oh my! We are the baddies.

Smoke. Yeah, this is bad. Oh god. You're in the armory. Maybe it's fine. These are not rent-a-cops at the yogurt store. Correct. You are in the basement armory

of the server's assembly. Yeah. Okay. They do bad things here. That's it. There's still some other doors we haven't opened or explored. Caleb!

Why don't you search the room while I stand watch out here? No, we're going to keep ourselves on task. What do you mean? We're not checking every room. We're going to where we're going. What the shit in there? Shiny shit!

It's just armor, it doesn't look like magic stuff. Does it? Can you detect magic in there? I'm casting Detect Magic now, but I'm not really, I'll do a one second glance in there, but it's not why I'm casting Detect Magic. Okay, you cast Detect Magic. You walk inside and glance at the interior of this chamber.

Nothing magical catches your eye. You do see racks and racks of weapons, armor. A lot of it's missing, but there is still a fair amount of it here. This looks to be at least one armory and storage facility for the sanatorium itself. Okay. I'm going to quickly look at both doors in this hallway.

Okay. Lancing at both. Nothing catches hallway. Okay. Dancing at both. Nothing catches your eye, it's magical. Okay, I plant my hands on Veth's shoulders. We can unpack this when we get out of here. Come check this lock, please. All right, all right, checking the lock. Which one?

The one at the end of the hall that the First Guard was stationed there. All right. While they're doing that, I'll just push the remnants of the guy that was in the end of the hall that the first guard was stationed there. All right. While they're doing that, I'll just push the remnants of the guy that was in the doorway into the room and shut the door. Okay. I'll just do a quick message,

this time to Fjord, and just say, So there's like four bodies here, just so you know. There's two that are crushed balls and two that are currently fried. I'll go pick up the crushed ball body at the end of the hallway and move him into the room. Cut Amari it over. Oh wow.

Wow. Cut Amari. Okay. Scraping and leaving a trail on the stone floor. You push one over into it. It's like building the worst snowman. Oh, do you want to build a snowman? It takes three guards to make a snowman. Oh! You want to build a snowman? It takes three guards to make a snowman,

just think about that. You need one more. We have three. Oh my god. Oh my god, the art that will come from that. Yes! We need one more. You hear it?

Don't worry, we'll find him. See if you can find the dumb guards. All right. For the head. And then you close the door.elm guards. All right. For the head. And then you close the door. On our shame. You're a bit of a mess. I bury my shame. Yep.

Very similar. All righty. Checking the door for traps. How long, at this point, you're? My duplicate only lasts for a minute, so. It's already gone. All right, you check it for traps? A lot. Yeah, a lot.

Investigation at 31. It is not trapped, but it is locked. Okay, I'll start unlocking it. Okay. A lot. 29. It unlocks. It's just a little simple push-down handle,

kind of an iron handle set into the door. There wasn't a glyph in this one, right? No, it's in front of the stairwell leading down. I open. All right. Ooh. Ooh, that's a lot. As the door opens within,

you are immediately hit with the smell of caustic chemicals. Familiar in some ways, others not. Make a wisdom saving throw for me. Wisdom save. I'm not good at that. Natural 20. Yes.

Fuck, okay. Hiding off in the far corner, you see a huddled, robed figure that immediately leaps up and casts a spell at you. And you feel your brain suddenly, it begins to wince, almost like if you could tighten the muscles of your brain, your mind is trying to protect itself.

Something's trying to influence you. And then you shrug it off. The individual goes, Shit! I'll step into the room and say, Please don't attack us. I'm traveling with a murderer. Make a persuasion check with disadvantage.

I'm not good at them anyway. That's a one. Everyone roll initiative again. Please don't attack me. I'm traveling with a murderer. Murderer. Oh god, run! Just run, please!

That's a thing that usually works for me, I don't know. Yeah. All right, and... 25 to 20? 20 to 15? 19. I heard Veth say, Sarsaparilla, but it sounded like

she was either about to sneeze or crying. 15 to 10. 11. 13. They're in a tower, it's probably dusty. That's right, they're in a basement. Moldy. No one's cleaned in years. Veth, you're up first, what are you doing?

I'm up first. We're trying to end this guy, right? I mean, we're up first, what are you doing? I'm up first. We're trying to end this guy, right? I mean, we're traveling with the Crusher over here. Wesley Crusher. Dr. Beverly Crusher. I'll do Brenatto's Voltaic Bolt as a bonus action. Charge it up. Oh wait, he can see me.

Yeah. No, I won't do that as a bonus action. Won't do anything. That's pretty good. Shit. I don't got that sneak attack. I need that sneak attack. So instead, I will... Turn around, you bitch.

Shit, I got nothing. I can't do anything. Can you hold until we do something? Yeah, I still won't get sneak attack, which is what I need. Okay, I'll just run over to him and hit him with Shocking Grasp. Okay.

Lightning and a scream. Just dive on him. Yep. He just full-on arms out, screaming. He's like,. She went, I'm here with the murderer. That's some horror movie shit right there. Oh my goodness.

This is a full horror film you're acting. Oh my goodness. So is that a spell attack to see if you hit, or is it? It is, it's touch, but I think it's a spell attack to see if I hit. Yeah, it is, it is. All right, go ahead and roll. Ooh, not great, 13.

And the whole time, Kairi or whatever is like, 29, 30. You run forward, arms out, and the individual off the nearby table grabs what looks to be a small cudgel and just hits you on the side of the arm and diverts you and you end up grabbing nothing in the air,

but you're now both engaged and it's back into the corner. Okay, okay. All right, that finishes your turn. Uh, yeah. Yeah, with bonus action, I'll disengage and use any movement to get away from him. Whereabouts are you going?

Back to the door? Onto that table to the other corner. Over here? Yeah. Onto it? Yeah, sure. Okay, sure. going? Back to the door? Onto that table to the other corner. Over here? Yeah. Onto it? Yeah, sure. Okay, sure. You leap up onto the table. Okay. Jester.

Can I run? Can I get into the room? You can use it. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. You can get into the doorway. They would have half cover from your current vantage point, if that affects anything you're trying to do, but you can just barely see them in the corner,

like holding the cudgel in the hand, and they're just watched Veth run past, and they just glance back and see you in the doorway. What are you doing? I'm going to cast Charm Person. You cast Charm Person? Okay. That doesn't undo. No, because it's not a concentration.

Charm Person isn't concentration. Really? There's a whole bunch of things you can build. You're fighting it. Pure social magic. Great. Cool. A seven and a natural 20. Oh.

So as it looks over at you, you extend the power invested through you by the Traveler, and you watch as they blink and, Not today! And I'm going to, can I duck back around the door? Nope, that's all your movement. Damn it! I'm going to lean.

It is their turn now. And seeing you there, glancing off to the side and trying to affect its mind. You weren't too much of a worry. Mind magic, it is not happy with. It's going to go ahead and cast Fireball on that doorway over there. Oh, shit.

You watch as a single red little seed goes just past the door and then detonates in the middle of the hallway right there. You don't even know if your mate is alive or not. I would like both Caleb and Jester to make dexterity saving throws, please. You guys got fireball indoors. Yeah.

21. 21, okay. Does 13 make it? No. Then I'll trigger the ring again. Okay. That's why you don't fight in a basement. Trigger the ring.

He looks way too happy. Mm-hmm. Here comes the other one. Not great rolls. 22 points of fire damage, but you have succeeded, so 11 points of fire damage to each of you. Well, that's not bad. And they're going to rush and duck behind this wall

and face towards you. They're shifting up, putting their back against it, and giving that big breath of like, all right. It's on. You're currently the issue. That finishes their go. Caleb, you're up. I saw that.

I saw it come flying out at me, and I just whipped the staff back up again and pulled fire out of it and chuck a fireball into the absolute corner of that chamber. You have to move a little bit. If I need to move forward, I will. That'll give you enough advantage point to launch it in.

Dead center of the corner to hopefully not hit Veth. Right there? Yeah. I'll say with that dead corner in there, still just barely overlaps her. Okay. So if I have Veth to make a dexterity check, or dexterity saving throw, sorry. 19.

19, I believe, is a success if it was 18. So you take... no damage because of evasion, right? Is that how it works? If you succeed, it would normally be half damage, you take none, and then if you fail, so you take none. This individual failed, so full damage on this. You do the dope under-the-desk dive.

Yeah, of course. This is the best ice. Just like in Backdraft. Yeah. 40. No, I mean, this is how a heist should be, which is just going room to room. Crunching people. Crunching and just cutting. 4-0 fireball damage. So at once, the first fireball

rocks the interior a bit. Flames begin to catch on the very edge of some of the wooden elements of that contraption on the side where you see a bunch of the liquid is being kept. Some of the glass cracks a little bit. The other fireball, through the side, beneath.

As that one hits, you can see this table and this table are now on fire. Now the edges are starting to catch. Veth, you manage to just duck out of the way. The figure that's facing you tries to blast out of the way and gets caught on the edge of it. As it pulls back, you can see they're burned black on one side of their face.

The part of their robes are now charred and curled up and starting to smoke. They're like, That finishes Caleb's go, top of the round. Veth, you're up. I know it's underground and there's stone and earth and stuff, but do we hear like a...

Oh, we'll get to that. Okay. I told you not to attack us. Now I'll cast Brenatto's Voltaic Bolt and I'll just shoot him point blank. Okay. It hits, it's 27 to hit it. That hits, yeah.

No sneak attack, but that's nine points of damage, plus another 10, 19 points of damage. That'll do it. As you lock it up, prepare, and you watch the energy arc up into the bolt, and you fire it, the person just and raises their hand like they're ready to cast a spell in retribution. As you fire it, it sinks into the bolt and you fire it. The person just and raises their hand like they're ready to cast a spell in retribution.

As you fire it, it sinks into the arm. They're like, As they look down, it just severed past the vein. Oh! They look down and the bolt went through and then went right into their chest. It had just enough force to go through and then bursts. They look at you and the energy

crackles up through their eyes and they fall to the ground. Down the stairs. Down the stairs? Because they were standing right in front of the stairs that led into the lower floor. Oh, there's four rooms that we have to get through? Did they trigger? I'm going to get downstairs.

I know there's a sigil there. Did anything happen from the sigil? Yes, actually. As the body falls and hits the floor. The last sigil. The sigil glows in the ground and then this electrical energy just spins around the room in this entire space.

I need you to make a dexterity saving throw. 17. 17 does not succeed. And it's evasion only once per round, right, as a reaction? Yeah. Well, you've had your turn since, so you still get evasion only once per round, right, as a reaction? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you've had your turn since, so you still get evasion on this.

But evasion also isn't a... I think it's just any time. It's just a thing. Uncanny Dodge is a reaction, which I will use right now. But it's an area effect, so it doesn't help. Correct. But that's a source wound. Oh, there we go, that's the damage.

Oh, there we go. that's the damage. Oh, there we go. That's not a good. Oh no. This is why you bring a cleric. Mm-hmm. 47 points of lightning damage, reduced to half because of your evasion ability. Oh yeah, and resistance to lightning.

And resistance to lightning, so that would be a quarter of that. 12. 12, there you go. Wowasion ability. Oh yeah, and resistance to lightning. And resistance to lightning. So that would be a quarter of that. 12. 12, there you go. Wow. Whoa. Caleb's just going to stalk further in, and I'm going to start to use Control Flame to put out any fires that are as a cantrip that are left in here. Okay.

To stop the whole room from exploding. I'm going to put my head in my hands. How do you do that? Because the room is starting, things are starting to ignite, and there are a whole bunch of containers with all sorts of errant chemicals that you do not know about. Smoke is bad. Yeah, and there is smoke in the room is starting, things are starting to ignite, and there are a whole bunch of containers with all sorts of errant chemicals that you do not know about.

Smoke is bad. Yeah, and there is smoke in the room, but with your control fire, you can take a moment to control it before it begins to fill the entirety of this basement. I will send a quick message this time to Yasha. So we called ourselves Team Firestorm. We've caused a firestorm.

Things aren't great. Be ready to come down here. No, no. Soon, when asked. No, no. Don't bring them down into this. Like, if we need to, we've only got one more room we need to get to. Very close, yeah.

Yeah, so just tell them to prepare to bamf out. Tell Caduceus to be prepared. Ignore that, we're doing fine. Just be ready to bamf us out of here. Okay. Beauregard, what are you doing? Is he still sleeping? Well, as you're standing there,

you feel this very, very faint, with your high perception, just this low, sub-bass rumble, and you feel the stone just ever so faintly shift. The guy in front of you goes. And it sounds like he's... Stirring. Stirring. Can I hear any clinks of armor from the guards that were patrolling out front?

Make a perception check. Oh, come on. Perception's not my, that's cocked. Not my strong suit. It's not my strong suit. 15 total. 15? You do not hear any sort of metallic clinks at the moment.

The guy in front of me is stirring? He is stirring. He's an open mouth snorer. You assume by the sound, probably, though facing away from you. He's an open mouth snorer. You assume by the sound, probably they're facing away from you. I've been prepping my acid vials. Oh! I'm so happy.

I'm going to palm both of them. They're both open. And just get in front of them. And then in one fell swoop, grab his nose, CPR grab, and dump the acid vials into his head. And then do the, get him down, get him down. Make an athletics check. Because right now you are going to a behind grapple.

He is waking up. 27. So, but you do catch him a little off guard. Yeah, he's still, yeah. I'll say advantage on this just because he's not aware that you're there. Great. Oh, that's even better, 29 total. I rolled a 19.

Woo! Plus 10. Yeah, that'll do it. So as you reach behind, you grab the nose, pull him back, whoa! Right as you put it into his mouth, I'm going to give him one opportunity to try and fight out of this. Because it is a, it's not a thing you do so swiftly.

There's a lot of resistance to it. You have him grappled now. You're now trying to place the acid. All that in his mouth. Yes, I know, I know. Natural seven, nope. That's the most Marisha thing you've done. As you hold him, you hear.

And just. I roll my body on top of his face to try and stifle the noise. Okay. Just so you're aware. You're going to get acid all over your chest. It's okay. I can take a little acid.

So you're pulling him onto the ground? Like, yeah. You're doing the roll. You're doing the pull down and slither. I're doing the roll. You're doing the pull down. I'm doing the roll, yeah. Okay, so you, we'll say you get a little bit of acid in your hands. Okay.

You take three points of acid damage. Okay. Going into the clink. But you're holding him there. Full mount. He keeps trying to escape, and he's just, it takes a while. That's the worst part. Oh!

This is the harshest. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. And I'm just trying to keep him as fucking quiet as possible. Where are the bad guys? Where are the baddies? Dude. While the rest of you are looking around the chamber, you do notice, amongst the chemicals, there is a rack,

which is a table-long torture device. There are a number of implements across the tables that are used for incisions, that are used for carving of flesh. These are the bad guys! I didn't know you were going to come at it this hard, but to alleviate you a little bit, these aren't all the best people. Yeah, dude.

The guy out front is just built from your jester love. Mind you, you don't know how much they know or engage in any of this. They would be making minimum wage. Some people just need to pay the bills, man. Exactly. Exactly. Do you think they walk past all these tongs and needles and incision-making things and were like,

oh, it's a macrame class. They are complicit. Yeah. Sure. But anyway. This may be one of the most grotesque pills I've had at the table. It's up there. It's definitely in the list.

Well done, well done. He's just trying to say kill me. You just crunched a bunch of people. Don't be a one-upper, Marisha. Oh my god. The good thing is the crunch was pretty quick. This is going to take a few minutes. Minutes?

Yeah! Maybe both of you. Acid doesn't dissolve that quickly when it comes to flesh. She noticed that he was dying slowly. She could kill him quickly. You could just push him off, too. You call it a snap?

I don't want to push him off. Give me a little snap. I could give him a snap to put him out of his misery. Sure, there you go. Sure. Good, it takes a nap. One zip for do at this point. One zip for like 60 seconds and he is still like, been. Did the head fall off because it was so weakened

from all the acid? Not yet, not yet, not yet. Okay, that was horrifying. Okay, he is. I'm dead! Okay. He's dead. All right, he's dead. You place it there and you look up over the edges,

you see one guard rushing away from the tower towards the center of the grounds. Away from this tower? Correct. Alerting people, clearly. It feels like he's alerting people. Either that or on an afternoon jog. Either that.

Maybe he thinks there's an earthquake. I crawl over, he probably does, over to the edge, and I try to signal Fjord and Team Oudie. With? Baseball signals. Baseball signals, and just say like, What does that mean? I'm just repeating it. I'm just busy making a daisy check. I've been waiting.

Beau's going to love this. I think something's wrong. Do I see any of this shit going down? I'm just going to, I'm going to just. You saw a brief scuffle, and then her coming back and just making these hand signals and looks at it. Directing the guards.

I'll see Beau doing that. And I'll try and look in the direction. And I do the forward, I do the forward. Whoop, Whoop! Alarms! This is El De De Police! Yeah. That's all I heard.

There aren't alarms in Exandria! Like that. I love it, I love it. Oh man. Because she does do this and points, I'll look in the direction. Do I see anybody? Make a perception check for me. Yeah, I'd be down. Yeah, yeah.

16. 13. One. I don't know why, I didn't really. Daisy chain. This is going to be so nice. You barely see out of the edge, you see one figure who's in a brisk jog away from this structure,

heading deeper into the center of the sanatorium's estate grounds. They're about 115 feet from you right now. Pfft. It's too far for anything. Except the annoying shot in the back that would only make it worse. I think the jig is up. We should probably prepare to get them out of here.

Okay. Do we stay here? Yeah, we stay right here. Mm-hmm. We wait until they tell us that they're teleporting out or until they tell us to distract or attack. We can let them know it seems like they've been made. Right. I'll tell Veth.

Yeah. Veth, it looks like you have been made, so you need to get out as soon as you can, get the supplies, and leave. Our thing we can be ready to do is if we see reinforcements heading towards the tower or the entrance, we need to make a distraction elsewhere. Right?

I can do major image or something, but we should be prepared to draw attention away from where they are. I'll put an earthquake. I can throw an image or something, but we should be prepared to draw attention away from where they are. I'll put an earthquake. I can throw an earthquake like 60 feet away. They're underground, so I don't know about the earthquake. Hey guys, we got him! I thought it was happening. We just got a.

Not a good help. Suddenly we're in Cloverfield. We're just getting it. We just got a. Another good help. Suddenly we're in Cloverfield. I was just saying, the whole basement collapses. Yeah, one more room. Yasha's like, Beth, we have to go.

I am. All righty. I'll start to actually shift from that. No, fuck it, I'll stay on the corner. Okay. All right, so you're all staying in the corner right now. Can I keep an eye? Yeah. Got it.

They know now. I'm just watching for the guards and trying to stay low and watch them run around. You got it. We're keeping an eye, too. Keeping an eye, yeah. The rest of you. Let's go down. Stay on task, Widogast, here we go.

You first or me first? Ain you or me ain? You with me still behind you right now. You still have the tech magic on? Yeah. The glyph is still glowing, by the way. The gif is still, oh, it's still glowing? Oh, it's still going? It's still glowing.

Well, that's, yeah, same deal, same deal. Dispel at fifth. Ooh. Glyph scatters. I'll go with Scatters. I'll go down, check, is there a door? Where you are right now, it descends into a very, very comparable amount of low torchlight. And you can see an end to the floor, so there is no door.

Oh, okay. I'll peek in, seeing if I can see anything. Go ahead and switch this out if you don't mind. Oh boy, guys, multiple maps. Oof. Multiple Dwarven Forge maps. Bitly slash crit roll DF. We still have a fence for you to get through.

If you like murder, Dwarven Forge. No, no, no, I've got a teleport spell and he's got a teleport spell. That was the point of keeping us separate. So you guys, if things go to shit, just bamf out with Caduceus and I'm going to get us out. The second Beau gets back to us, we can bamf. I can move fast as fuck, I'm good. Okay.

Looking into this space, the stairs end into just an open, kind of blank chamber. And that's what you can see. Look around for people? Mm-hmm. If you want to get down towards the top of it and glance in.

Yes. You can see two doors, heavily fortified metal doors across from you and to the right. To match the layout and the map that you were sent. One straight ahead is the spot. But the other one could have really good stuff. No.

Just go for it, what we need. All right, I'll go. I've burned through a lot of myself. We need to stay on task. It's in here. I'll check that door for traps. The one in front of us. Okay.

Don't get close, though. Don't get close! Okay, okay, okay, I'll back up, I'll back up, I'll cast Mage Hand. Okay. Your Mage Hand heads on over, and you're going to attempt to... Check for traps? Can you do that with a Mage Hand? You can't check with Mage Hand.

If you know there's a trap there, you can disarm it. I'm coming down the stairs behind her. I still have Detect Up, and there supposedly is another glyph here according to the map that Astrid gave us. Oh. Well, here's an interesting point, which I was going to get to to paste on,

as you kind of walked down and stopped. You walked down into the chamber, and you still have your Detect Magic on? Yes. There is a magical film entirely kind of in a semicircle pattern Do you still have your attack magic on? Yes. There is a magical film entirely in a semicircle pattern around you that is filling this corner of the chamber.

They come down the stairs, too. They really protect these little things, don't they? Could you show me again, DM, where that line is? There's so many magic things in there. It's blocking both doors. Both doors. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's fancy.

Ooh, is that a slap bracelet? Just sent you to come. It's a spell thing. It's a spell slap bracelet. There you go. And what's the school of magic that I'm reading off of it? For this, it would be. That's really cool, Matt.

I don't know, this is fucking awesome. That's adorable. Little magical barrier. Evocation. Evocation. That's awesome. Put it so nicely. Is it dispellable?

And can I see if there is a difference that... Is that separate from... Do I see the glyph that is marked on the map? And if so, is that separate from this sort of line or barrier? You do see the glyph. The glyph sits right about there. And it also has an evocation energy about it. Okay.

What do you think? I'm going to try to get rid of all of this, but I'm going to have very little left. Okay. I'm going to cast Dispel at fifth on this field. At 5th? Yes. He's checking his texts.

You release the wave of unraveling arcane energy to cancel out whatever lies before you, and you watch as, and you see this as well, as what was air, a brief ripple, it crumbs across. For a brief instant, you see what looks to be some sort of a wall or a barrier, but it remains. That's good.

Yeah. Okay. How many big spells do you have left? Gotta use it. I will try it at 6th. 6th? 6th. As in gone or still there? It went away. It remains. It remains.

Oh no. I can try it at my highest level. Roll an arcana check. Oh no. Balls, 15. That's not bad. Let me double check and see if you have... Are there, is there anything?

Like, would we see any glyphs it's coming from? Or devices or sigildry or? You do not. Clockwork, nothing. Blank walls. You do recall that the times that Astrid had been here, she says, it was accompanied by Trent himself. And he himself would be, would essentially be able to disable these glyphs

when he wished to. So you can gather that some of these are probably in some way connected not to, or at least this perhaps is not connected to a device that you can see. A single person? Might be even more of an individual. Well, how do we get through with that?

Didn't you smoke a mage upstairs? I don't know if we do. We did smoke a mage upstairs? I don't know if we do. We did smoke a mage upstairs. Maybe we can try. Try what? I'm going to go back upstairs and go into the room with the charred mage. Okay. And bring him down.

Oh, the charred mage is at the bottom of the stairs. Oh, he fell. He's tumbled down, because he died right on the edge, fell onto the glyph, sparked off, and then fell down the rest of the stairway. You probably can't push him into the barrier and see. You can if you want, you can pick him up and throw him.

Yeah, I'm going to just toss him into the barrier. Should we get further back? Go up the, yeah, we'll... Yeah. We'll go up the stairs. Yeah, you go up the stairs, and then I'll chuck him down. Oh boy. Okay. That's so terrible. You go and you throw him. He up the stairs. Yeah, you go up the stairs, and then I'll chuck him down. Oh boy. Okay. That's so terrible.

You go and you throw him. He hits the barrier. You see it shimmer for a second, and the body just hits, slides to the bottom, and comes to rest. Oh. Didn't seem to damage the body. Oh.

Okay. Is there a code? Wall of Force. Yeah, but is there a code? Or does it need to, maybe if you looked like Trent Ikithon. It definitely matches some of the characteristics visually and physically to a wall of force. A wall of force?

What's a wall of force? Nothing can physically go through it. Unless what? How high is it? Does it go above the ground? Does it go below the ground? Does it go below the ground? We saw the shimmer, right? So when I tried to dispel it

Yes, it fills the entire room in that arc Do you know if it would go through the floor? Caleb? It could It's malleable, you can put it into different Do you know what shapes? It could just be simply a wall That reaches from the ceiling to the floor It's malleable, you can put it into different shapes. It could just be simply a wall that reaches from the ceiling to the floor.

It could go into a bubble, but it is aiming this way. Can someone get through it with a dimension door? Probably. Okay. Do you want to just go through? And then try to dispel the glyph on the other side? I should be able to do that now.

Okay, try to dispel the glyph. Wait, what? Magic can go through a wall of force. I could, okay. I could also try stone shape. Yeah, that's a possibility. To go under it. That would take a while, though. No, stone shape is fast.

It's an action, it's like five feet of... You tell me, you're the magic use. If it is a spherical, then you're not going to go through. Yeah, then it's pointless. So Dimension Door is probably the smarter way to go here. Okay. And are you going to try to get inside that room?

Yeah. Can't be dispelled by Dispel Magic. Oh shit! What? Read your spells, folks. What did you do? I had a way through, and I just didn't remember it. What's the new spell?

What's the way through? Disintegrate. We don't have that anymore, so you're going in. Okay. Can you go, do you have enough to go both ways with the dimension door? I do. But I can only bring one person, so I'll probably need not to unlock the door.

You're going to go into the door? Yeah, I need you to unlock it. It's probably locked. I'm going to try to first dispel the glyph through this because, do I understand the spell correctly? Only physical things cannot go through it. Nothing can physically pass through the wall. But magic can be cast through it.

Globe of Invulnerability is the reverse of that. So I'm going to try to dispel the glyph at fourth level. Okay. Did you try that already? No, I tried to do the wall. Oh. The glyph? I didn't know what I was looking at. I thought it was something else.

Begins to react to the dispel. Go ahead and roll a d20 and add your intelligence modifier. 18. 18, the glyph. Shoo! Scatters in vanish. Okay, okay. Just the glyph, butoo! Scatters in vampirism. Okay, okay.

Just the glyph, but not the wall. So the wall's there, but if you can go both ways, if you can Dimension Door in and Dimension Door out with Veth, then we might be able to pull this off still. I'm going to do that. Why do you need me? To unlock the door. What do you mean unlock the door?

You can just Dimension Door inside the door. But I can't see into the room. I don't know what's in there. I could be bamfing myself into a firestorm. You can just go two feet further into the... I'll come with you. Yeah. I'm happy to. That's just a little safer. Okay. Yeah, okay.

Dimension Door. But just go inside the room. Just take us inside the room. Why would we need to unlock the door, too? Just go in. Can't you just Mage Hand through the door? I mean, through the force wall? I don't know. Sure, I'll try it.

I'll Mage Hand through the wall of force. Your Mage Hand appears and floats over. Unlock the door. Magic Hand pass through. Okay, I'll try to unlock the door. Okay. 22. 22. The door does not unlock.

It is a sound block, and that was not high enough. Actually, it would be way less than that because my thieves tools can't go with the hand. It's just a hand. No, I think that's part of what you can do. You can use your thieves tools. You can basically carry them over. Oh, but they can't physically go through.

That's right. It would be way lower. Oh, crazy. So let physically go through, that's right. It would be way lower. Oh, crazy. So let's just go into the room. Just like three feet on the other side of the door. It's not going to be a Pit of Despair, and if it is, we're dead. One foot on the other side of the door. One foot on the other side of the door.

Foot and a half. Two feet on the other side, then kick their ass. What if it's a wide door? I'm going to put, yeah, okay. I'm going to Dimension Door. Us into the room. Into the room. How deep into the room?

How deep is your love now? Is your love so deep and shallow? Fusing with a safe and it hurts. Two feet in. You both appear inside the chamber. Oh! Is there a hole in the floor? Oh, I'm going to puke. There is not a hole in the floor.

It looks like a hole in the floor. But you do see a collection of boxes, crates, things that are just kind of sitting aside. Some of it's empty, but there are like, it's kind of like a half-filled vault. Okay, I'm going to cast. You have your haversack, right? I do. Okay.

Put that shit in. I'm going to, well, we don't know where it is. Just take it all. There's lots of shit, right? In here? You should just start grabbing stuff. Yeah. I'm going to, oh no. While this is happening. Oh no. Oh boy.

Beauregard, roll a perception check, please. What a thrill ride. Oh boy. Beauregard, roll a perception check. Oh boy. What a thrill ride. Fearke. This is the best. Oh, damn. What is that a roll for? You're a one. Perception check. Oh, okay. Oh my gosh.

I would like... You are currently distracted by the slow gurgling of the individual that is still somehow hanging on. Oh jeez. You're like, oh shit. Even after you snapped his neck? Snapped his neck? Yeah. Oh god. Poor Terok. Chemical reaction.

It's growing in there. Oh my god. Trying to think of what would distract you with a natural one of looking out is that. That'll distract you. I'm just rubbing out the acid spot, like Lady Macbeth, just. A lot of acid.

There's some pieces in there. The acid's still making a gar. Yeah. Oh god. Anyway, while that's happening, because you were keeping watch on the far corner, I have you both roll Perception of Disadvantage with the half vision you have from that corner,

since you haven't moved from your position. You don't have a great bead on the central. Motherfucker! 19? 19? Yeah, 16. 12, and that's thank you for burning a natural 20, so. Sorry. Oh. Sorry, you did say something. It's a disadvantage.

19 still, that was a natural 20. Wow, okay. You can see a group of soldiers that are emerging from one of the nearby kind of hedge openings, heading towards this structure. How far away are they? You don't see them. Oh, fuck. They are about 50 or so feet from the structure.

They are being led by a figure who is walking with a very brisk pace. You see these long red robes with gold trim. You see longish gray-white hair that is just flowing behind with purpose as he's beelining it there. Trent Ikithon is rushing towards this chamber. Fucking Astrid. We might get our wishes after all. I am going to... In the room, yeah. But I'm going to back up five feet

and I'm going to use my Channel Divinity and a marine layer will start to slowly permeate through the woods around myself, Yasha, and Caduceus. And I will cast Major Image 120 feet. If we are here at this corner, in the opposite direction and against the wrought iron fence, you will see tearing out from the trees, a red dragon comes up and smashes up

against the wrought iron fence, fire breathing through, bellowing, and the fence rattling, just spewing forth. Okay. 20-foot cube, so this is a smaller dragon to fit the wingspan. Just a red dragon, yeah. Yeah. But still tearing out

of the woods of wherever the fuck we. Just a red dragon, yeah. Yeah. But still tearing out of the woods of wherever the fuck we are right now. You got it. As it slams into it, you see the group of guards, which now you can see about four of them flanking Ikithon. And Ikithon all look over to the side, and the guards go, They get their weapons and start getting ready.

Ikithon just looks at it. Yeah, he doesn't give a fuck. Turns and keeps walking. Yeah. He's Mensa. No one can check. So you are both inside this chamber. I'm going to cast Locate Object.

Okay. For the things. The Amulets of Protection against, all right, you got it. You cast the spell and immediately, beneath a cluster of boxes in the corner, you sense numerous. You go over and knock them off to the side

and you see what looks to be a metal case, a long, thin metal case. It is locked. But you can sense within, there are numerous. Unlock it on the whole case? Can I lift it? Yeah, you can lift it. How big is it? I mean, can I lift it? Oh yeah, you can lift it. How big is it?

I mean, it's long and it's metal. It probably weighs like 30 pounds. It's heavy, but not like crazy heavy. Yeah, would it fit in the haversack? It would not fit in the haversack. Okay, then I'm just going to carry it under my arm. Grab anything else you see within reach, and I'll just shove anything else I see,

I'm going to shove in my bag, and then I'm going to cast Dimension Door. I'm going to grab things as well. Are there anything grabbable by my little dainty fingers? There's a lot of things here are currently contained in containers and such. You can make an investigation check if you want to look through. I will.

Give me 12 seconds. 12 seconds. No, that's too many seconds. Investigation check. Okay. That's 25. 25. Yeah, I'm just many seconds. Investigation check. Okay. Fuck you, go! That's 25. 25? Yeah, I'm just looking for boxes that open or traps. I'm looking for tritops.

Okay. You can see that there are no traps, but there are a number of just locked cases, different sizes. There's a big, heavy chest-type thing. There is what looks There is a smaller case that's probably about a foot high and about two feet back. The smallest case was the one that you found.

Everything else in here seems under a heavier lock and key. If she doesn't grab anything in three seconds, we're out. I'm going to, are any of them liftable by me? You can make a strength check to grab the next big guy. I'm going to try to open one of them. Okay, picking a lock real fast is going to be high DC. Give it a shot. Okay. Oh god.

That is good. 28. 28. And it opens up. On the inside, you can see what looks to be a bunch of metallic containers that are filled with crystals. Blue crystals, all about long, thin, pointed crystals.

Yeah. Okay, you just start grabbing them. Yep, as many as I can, pop them in the sack. Pop them in my pocket. As you guys are reacting, Tren'eth Ikithon see this, look back, narrows his eyes and then vanishes from sight. I'm going to grab the back of.

He vanishes, he doesn't even, he just poofs, gone. It seemed like what may have been an informed disturbance has elevated his need for haste with the appearance of an illusory dragon. Okay, Banff me out of here. I dimension Doreen, me, and Veth back to Caleb. And hopefully this works. Cast, tell him to get out.

Tell him to get out. Oh, yes, sorry. Cast it to Yasha. Red hot, red hot, we're leaving fast. Get out of here, move, get, go. I'm not red hot. I see their signal, and I run, and I just jump over the edge.

You don't see their signal. They're under a marine layer. Did you cast Marine Layer? Mm-hmm. You look over, you just see a large thing of fog. Do I see a red dragon? You do see a red dragon. And there are guards that are currently like,

they're trying to attack it, and they're backing up, and one of them is screaming and running. I'm still going to jump off of the tower and nestle near that door that Jester painted. Okay. You nestled near the door that Jester painted. You got it.

I have not heard from anybody red hot. Let's go. I have not heard from anybody. Can we message her? Nope. No! Yasha, don't! I heard you loud and clear,

and I was waiting for you. Ready for you. I'm just fixated towards that dragon in the fog cloud, just eyes peeled, waiting for anything. You got it. I said to message. I'm going to start moving towards the edge of the fog cloud.

Hopefully they will get, I'm going to try to do this, I hope it works, and I'm going to start moving towards the edge of the fog cloud. Hopefully they will get, I'm going to try to do this. I hope it works. And I'm going to cast Word of Recall as soon as I'm touching Caleb and Veth. Okay, you cast Word of Recall. Bye, see you in Nicodranas. Oh shit. It doesn't work.

No winner out with that kind of stuff, maybe. And as you can't figure out what's happening. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You hear from the top of the stairs. Oh god. He counterspelled me. Well, if this isn't extremely curious. And we're going to end the episode there.

No! No! No! Oh my god. Fuck! This is not good. Oh no, it's not. Fuck!

This is so us. No, we have to keep playing! No, we're... Depending on what transpires next, it could be very quick or very long, I don't know. So we're going to pick that up next episode. Oh god. Oh god.

Half the party with a huge archmage, half your slots gone. But at least you got those blue crystals. I got those blue crystals. We're good now. Mm-hmm. So, oh god. Weirdly, that was what did it.

It was? My greed? Yeah. And me thumping a red dragon that he knew was a good game. That too, yeah. I mean, it kept the guards off. Kept the guards off. Yeah, he wouldn't have gotten there that quickly

if he wasn't set off that there was, what was it, from his standpoint, a definite diversion. That's fair. I would've done the same thing. So we'll pick up from there next week. And half the team got told red hot, and I'm just really confused. Without you, but what the, where are you?

Oh my god! But then what are you guys going to say? You guys got to tip us off. Yeah, if you don't say anything, the minute we get her back, we're out. Yeah. Well, I've already said what we're going to say. So unless you've got another message.

Yeah, but we might have to go to the internet. We have a week to figure this out. Oh my god. You got time? Because Beau is separated. Had I not been, then we probably would have bamfed. We would already be in. I've been pinging to you, and if I see him, I mean, it's, I would.

Anyway, next time. We'll figure it out. Well. Fuck. Wow. We'll pick up there. Cool. Oh man. You got the box. Oh no! Got the box! I got some vials, guys!

Oh my god. I blame Jester. It was a weird series of events. It was the multiple fireballs to the guards managing to go and inform somebody. Was it Astrid, that bitch? I think it wasn't Astrid. I don't know.

We literally were blowing shit up inside the bit. Yeah. Anyway. That was not selfish. Thank you all for joining us. We'll pick up on this insanity next time. We love you very much. And is it Thursday yet? What a good time.

Good night. Oh, hey. Ashley Johnson here. And I sure do hope 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. And that, more than anything, helps to support us. Thank you for joining us on this adventure. And until next time, let us try to leave the world a little better than we found it.