Critical Role - C2E128 Cat and Mouse

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

With their heist uncovered and danger closing in around them, the Mighty Nein must make tough decisions to keep themselves and their loved ones safe...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.

Once upon a time, a group of curious storytellers breathed life into epic tales set in the wide fantasy world of Exandria. This is Liam O'Brien, here to welcome you to Critical Role. We'll dive into the story in just a moment, but first, a few notes. This is the audio-only version of our broadcast that streams Thursdays at 7pm Pacificm. Pacific over on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. If you subscribe to our Twitch channel, you can watch the video on demand immediately after the broadcast.

And it's also available Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific on YouTube. And of course, for all you wonderful podcast listeners, freshly minted episodes release right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after our broadcast on Thursdays. With all that said, let's get into the story. Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons.

We're Dungeons and Dragons! Why? Like that. Whoa. Whoa. Daffy Duck over there. So before we jump into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through,

beginning with the first of two sponsors, Hit Point Press. Sam. Today's sponsor is our friends at Hit Point Press with an important rebranding and launch of their site. To celebrate the new launch, for the month of March, customers who spend over a hundred bucks at hitpointpress.com, that's hitpointpress.com, will get a free hardcover Humblewood Advanced Reader copy

and free packs of their animated spells. That's free random animated spell cards, free. This promotion is live now until the end of March. Quantities are limited, so their advice to you, don't miss this deal. And speaking of good advice, we've got someone with us who gives amazing advice. As we know, Gail was a sitcom icon

and movie mainstay of the 1980s, but as it turns out, since then, she has been writing one of the most successful advice columns in America. So, thanks to Hit Point Press, Gail is here to answer some fan letters. Hello! Oh, wow. I'm going to read this first letter right here.

Gail, my ex-boyfriend started dating my sister. How should I handle it? First off, boyfriend? Ugh, groaning to the max. Do you like kiss and rub cooties on each other's stinky bods? Ugh, barf in my mouth. My advice, let your dumb sister have that dumb dork, and while they're frenching in your dad's geoprism,

just slingshot her flaming bag of dog poo into that nasty love nest and walk away from those losers knowing you just caused maximum carnage. As if! Thank you, Gale. That was great advice.

We have another letter here. Dear Gale, I have gophers in my lawn. How do I get rid of them? Oh, easy sleazy. Smack those gophies in the mouth. Let them know that's your dirt, baby. And if they don't like it, gag them with a spoon. Ha ha ha.

Pfft. And one more letter from fans. You can send these in to our P.O. box whenever. This one says, Dear Gale, my boss gave a promotion to someone else less qualified than me. Do I say something? Man, don't know why you'd be bummed out about some dumb work thing. But whatevs. You know what?

When I'm down in the dumper, I grab a six packpack of RC, pop a box of runts, and laugh my butt off at the movie Amadeus. That wigged-out piano dude kills me. The way Mozart always mad-goofing, driving Salieri to plot the young

prodigy's downfall, until ultimately Salieri realizes that in destroying his mortal enemy, he's actually depriving the world of an unwritten oeuvre of unparalleled musical genius. Old-timey people are so weird. Anyway, the best advice I can give you

is go to hitpointpress.com, check out their new site, and let them know what you think. And don't forget that promo, gag me with a spoon! Thank you, Gale. And thank you, Hit Point Press, Matt, back to you. Oh! Yes. Thank you, Hit Point Press, Matt, back to you. Oh!

Yes. Thank you, Hit Point Press, for allowing all of that to transpire. Oh, I'm in pain. Oobrah! Oobrah! Okay. Goof and heart.

And thank you to our second sponsor of the night, friends, since beginning of campaign two, to D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond! The official digital toolset of our show. At D&D Beyond, you can create your own encounters, characters, makes all your game prep super easy as a dungeon master, and keeping all your stuff cataloged as a player without having to spend a lot of time

looking for everything scattered around. Check it out at dndbeyond.link slash builder to check out what they got. Also, thank you all for joining us live on Twitch and YouTube now, which is awesome. But to join our live and moderated community chat, please head on over to our Twitch channel, where all of that glory happens.

Laura, you had announcements. Mm-hmm! I would like to introduce all of you to our brand new Hello Bees! Long Sleeve shirt! It's white. I hope you can see what's happening here because it's super cute,

and there's super cute things on the sleeves, and I love it. It's available in the Australian store right now. Congrats, Australia. It's available in the Australian store right now. Congrats, Australia. This is what they've been waiting for. Yeah. This is the thing. It will be coming to our other stores very soon,

so just keep checking in on the store so you can see when it happens. And a reminder, our Vox Machina T-shirt is available now in the UK store. Our Mighty Nein t-shirt is available now in the UK store. Our Mighty Nein lightweight hoodie is available now in the Australian store. And be on the lookout for the, I already said that part.

Congrats, Australia! Congrats, Australia! You got something first. Sorry, Quebec, and congrats, Australia. Oh no. That's the spectrumats, Australia. Oh no. That's the spectrum we've created. Oh no. That's such a headache, that's good.

I know that it's high key terror that's feeding us right now, but that was really fucking funny. That was really good. Easily top three. Yeah. Yeah. Dol Sam, baby. No, no, that was Gale, 100%. And screaming, I guess.

I guess so. Wait, I was about to say that this shirt was designed by Jordan Torrance. Oh, thank you! Yeah, Jordan! Yeah, Jordan Torrance! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! I wish you could get close in on it, because it's so darn cute.

Look and see, because this is the cutest little detail. It's really cute. Look at that little face. I know. Need some tie-dye on that. Oh yeah! I'm going to tie-dye the heck out of that. Hey, Marisha, if I give you one for me,

can you tie dye one for me, too? Yes, I would love to! I'll tie dye some for all of you, we can have. Nice! And on that note. What else can we do to delight you? No, no, no, we're jumping in. We're jumping in.

Because I think it's time for us to go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role and Critical The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends And the DM to guide you And they rise from the flames for the battles ahead Villains beware cause you're about to be dead

They got magic and flair, they got falchions and cunning They don't see over there, there's a monster incoming Inspiration is waiting, rise up, don't 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 Roll the dice

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 Welcome back. So, last we left off, SAM and LAURA

Welcome back. So last we left off, the Mighty Nein, after gathering some elements from their allies and preparing for the journey back to the Ruins of Aeor, in hopes of cutting off and ending the slow climb the Tomb Takers are making towards the center of some part of the ruin, it seemed, you wanted to try and protect yourselves

from the ever prying vision of Lucien. And as such, reached out to Astrid, Volstrucker from Caleb's past, and requested if there was any opportunity to acquire more of these devices, these magical items, these amulets that could protect from divination. Astrid was able to locate where they were kept, though it was beyond her realm to grab at the moment,

as they were currently being held in a basement on the grounds of the Vergesen Sanatorium. Now, traveling to the outskirts of the Pearlbow Wilderness on the outside of the sanatorium, you encroached upon it and made a plan, dividing into two groups, two groups that were curiously named, one of which made their way into the far distant structure

while the other waited on the outskirts, outskirts? Outskirts of the forest, guys. I got the outskirts. We've all, we've all, yeah. Problem. As that group begin to make their way through the basement, encountering guards that they then crushed,

searching about and eventually getting into the basement, encountering guards that they then crushed, searching about and eventually getting into the basement where a magical barrier prevented their continuation. Jumping magically to the other side, Jester and Veth grabbed their quarry, a container that seemed to hold exactly what they seek. And upon returning to the interior of this basement chamber, as they were about to leave,

giving the call to the rest of their group that it was time to go, the teleportation didn't function. The spells seemed to dissipate. And as the three of them, Jester, Veth, and Caleb looked back up the staircase, the only exit from the room from which they came, they were met with the face of Trent Ikithon.

Meanwhile. Who? Who? Meanwhile? Ooh! Beauregard has been on top of the tower, keeping an eye out as more and more guards swarm inward towards this location. And the rest of the group remains hidden

by a fog cloud in the nearby forest, trying to acquire the last member of their troop before themselves evacuating the premises. It's real humid in the trees. Yeah. And so, as the three of you, Caleb, Veth, and Jester look up the barely lit staircase, stepping down comfortably,

you see the sallow, jaundiced face of Master Trent Ikithon. DM? Yes? Looking at Veth and Jester, Caleb takes a Blur of Staff and grinds it through phosphorus in his hand and casts Wall of Fire between them. Casts Wall of Fire between them?

Yeah. Okay. Between us and Trent. Between us and Trent, damage side facing Trent. Okay. There is just enough room for that. Is Trent in the room with us? He's coming down the steps.

He is coming down the staircase now. So it would be sheer against me. And then we're backing up against the, we'd be up against the barrier. And radiating out damage side toward Trent. So as he looks at you and says, interesting, your first reaction is to break this wall of fire.

Yeah. Well, I guess let's roll initiative, guys. Oh! Okay! Oh no. Oh no. Just the three of them or everybody? Just the three of them right now.

Okay. Okay, 20, thank god. One. Okay. 20, thank god. One. Okay. That's not a good start. So, 25 to 20. Oh, yikes. 20 to 15. 19. Ooh! That's good.

Or 21, sorry. It's okay, get it out, get it out. Who gets it? 18 to 10. 18 over here, 18 over here. Give it a little arm shake, give it a little arm shake. There you go. I don't know why I wore a turtleneck. It's a little hot.

And Jester, what'd you get? Five, okay. Not in it. So, as the Wall of Fire That's a big wall! immediately fills the chamber. Oh! Trent goes first, because he rolled

pretty damn high on his initiative there. And the wall disappears. pretty damn high on his initiative there. And the wall disappears. Okay, okay. Okay, okay. You got to use your things. They were pretty. Yeah. Did we hear him speak? You couldn't hear it through the

of the flames around you, but you assume, as you've seen many times before, that the wall has been dispelled. Okay. As he continues to nonchalantly walk down the stairs in your direction, the flames vanishing around him as he comes into the very, very top of the chamber. Well, I am quite curious as to

what brings you here. I don't know if we're still in the order, but I throw Firebolt at him. Oh god. Okay. As soon as the spell is, the wall is down. I'm not done. Okay, so yeah. So that would be his turn was dispelling and then walking down. I'm not done. Okay, so yeah. So that would be his turn was dispelling

and then walking down. You take your turn. Go ahead and roll an attack on him. Yeah, firebolt. Maybe we should talk. I think we should maybe talk. He seems like he wants to talk. No?

But is there 17 to hit? 17 does not hit. Does not hit, okay. Smashes into the wall behind him. So as the bolt goes flying, you can see you react out, and as you fling it forward, he almost puts a hand up for a second,

and it seems like it should impact, and then just glides off to the side and hits the stone staircase behind him before dissipating. Oh, oh, oh god. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Are you staying put? Uh, yes. You're all there.

I go back into Jester and Veth. Okay, so three of you are clustered there. My turn. Now it is Veth's turn. I will watch Caleb's two spells just get totally bungholed by this guy. And I will be like, taste my magic! Good call out.

And I will cast Phantasmal Force on him. Okay. Because I'm a high level magic user. It's true. What's the spell DC? 16 intelligence. And it's an intelligence saving throw? Yes. You got it.

Modifier. No, did he roll a one? Natural twin. Oh. That was not as good as I thought. His eyes just shift over to you. Oh no, my heart is... A bonus action hide.

Behind? Caleb. Yep. Which you can do. She can as a half-wit. Which you can do. Roll a stealth check. Steal some stuff. Stealth. Ooh. This is a lot. Oh wow, a 24. 24, ooh. That's a lot. Oh wow, a 24. 24, okay.

You feel like you've, you might be hidden behind Caleb, perhaps. I'll never find me here. But you get the sense he knows where you might lose Sleepy. Jester, what are you doing? I am going to reach down and grab Veth's shoulder,

and reach forward and grab the back of Caleb, and I'm just going to try to Word of Recall again. My last big spell. Okay. He tasted my magic. I'd like, but I believe you. Did you, was that a Counterspell? It was a Counterspell.

Counterspell to you. You have to say Counterspell so I can Counterspell you. Right, I'm getting to it. Oh god. All right, so at what level do you Counterspell? Third. Third level? Go ahead and roll. Oh no, you rolled a 20.

Did you roll a 20 again? He did. I rolled a natural 20. No way! What? What happened? I think we broke Dungeons & Dragons. We broke the game.

Broken? No, we have to restart the game. Pull that blow on it? No, no, no, we start over. What happened? Better choices. What happened? So, natural 20.

He rolled a natural 20 to counterspell yours. Interesting. What is the protocol? Yeah. It's a protocol! So. To counterspell. Order of operations. Yeah.

As he steps down, you attempt to cast a spell and it dissipates. He looks over. You begin to make your incantation, grabbing your friends, begin to finish casting the spell as the energy begins to gather around and this green cloak of the Traveler begins to swoosh around to grab all three of you.

And Trent, looking over at you as this is happening, goes, This is extremely rude. I'm just asking some questions. This wasn't expected. As he puts his hand up, you see this blur in the air, the striking spear of unraveling arcana jutting from his hand that's reaching towards the spell. As you react and counter it with your own,

as they both hit, it's like two waves of similar energy hitting and then canceling out nothing. Absence. Everything that he released fails. As the cloak begins to swirl around to grab both of you, he goes, Good luck. You taught me well.

Is the last thing you say before. Oh! Oh shit! Holy, holy butthole. Holy shit. Tell me you took a picture of that dice, homie. Yeah, I got to send it around. Okay.

Oh my god. I feel like I've been doing calisthenics. It was actually a three, guys. We've been lying about the dice rolls for years. That's wild. That's wild. Legitimately, on this dice, rolled two 20s in a row, and then you rolled a 20.

That's fucking crazy. Save it for the anals of history. Oh my god. I can feel the roots of my hair. I was about to say, Laura, your hair looks very bedtossed and amazing right now. I'm yanking it. Oh my god.

Whoa. Oh man. That butt-clenching combat was powered by Dwarven Forge, by the way. We have to do Nicodranas. We're on the balcony of Veth's apartment. Oh, is that where he set this? Well, we'll get to that. Yeah, we'll get to that. Because you're one half of the equation.

I just want to say, the minute that we bamfed out, the minute we landed, I want to send a sending spell to them to let them know we bamfed. Oh god. However that happened. But there's been a moment as this element has happened. So while the three of you currently sit in the edge of the forest, lost in the cloud. You are on the top of the tower.

What are you doing, Beauregard? We technically ended the game with me sliding down and I was by the trapdoor that Jester had painted. That's correct. You are right, you are right. And I was looking in that direction, prepping my sprint to dart towards the fog cloud. Okay.

Do I see any guards? Do I see, are they pretty distracted? Do I have a pretty good straight beeline before I? Make a perception check. Before I bounce? Oh my god. Okay, 15 total. 15 total. Yeah.

Okay. You can glance forward and see amongst the dense forest floor in front of you, there is a very localized fog cloud. You have a pretty clear idea of what's there. There is a fence in your way, but it should be a simple attempt to leap over it. You will likely, if you're sprinting,

will not be able to do it stealthily, which means it may draw attention, depending on if they're still preoccupied with the giant illusory dragon, which is still roaring and clawing at the gate. Which I'm sort of banking on. So, yeah. Do you dart across?

I sprint. I haul ass. That's like 25 feet from the tower to the gate, right? And then another 25 from the gate to the trees. And then drop the second that she to the trees. And we're going to drop the second that she hits the wall. Okay. I'm going for it. We're all together.

You dart, you rush up to the side. As you leap to try and make your way over the high iron fence, go ahead and make an acrobatics check to see if you can manage to scale it without issues. 22. 22, yeah. Utilizing foot plants against the sides of the somewhat rusted iron exterior,

you can, just an abstraction, using dope monk shit, just darting up the side, grabbing and spin over the top as you do this slow motion handstand over, looking the pointed tops of it. Very low prop. Yeah. Yes. That's why I call them poodle palers. The pointed tops of it. Yeah. Yes. I call them poodle palers. The pointed tops of- Is that what they're called?

That's what my mom called them. Oh, jeez! It's fucked up. My mom's dark. Oh, little bitch! Your mom is dark. She's dark. I understand that half of your personality.

I hate you. You land on the opposite side and go rushing in towards the fog. Just as you hear voices go, Jolt! It's an illusion! Go, go! And you can see probably what looks to be about a dozen or so guards

rushing towards the front of the building. One of them glances over and sees you land and points and starts yelling as well, but they're a good 50, 60 feet from you. As soon as I see her drop on our side of the fence, I'll stop to drop the marine layer. Caduceus! With her running towards it.

Okay. You vanish. How many texts? How many texts? How many texts? A lot of texts. 137? For seconds of fun.

All week, all week, all week, all week, all week. Well, that went off without a hitch. That's exactly, we have no idea what happened in there, but from our end, perfection. Well, we'll see. You did pretty good. Yeah, it was very solid. We'll see. I super murdered a guy. You did?

Yeah, it was like, I don't know if I want to ever do that again. Kind of par for course. Yeah. Sometimes you need to do what you have to do. Things happen. Do we know if the others are here? I'm going to send a message to Fjord.

Get out of there! Fjord! Fjord! We're in Nicodranas! Tell Caduceus to send you to Nicodranas. Oh shit, I just got a message saying that they're in Nicodranas. They had to leave. Are we in Nicodranas? I guess that's what you heard.

We're at the lighthouse, right? Yep. Yeah, we're fine. Yeah, that's all I got back. I guess we're in Nicodranas. I don't get to send a lot of messages. I forgot you could reply. I was actually really expecting the, I don't get to send a lot of messages. I forgot you can reply. I was actually really expecting the, Oh no!

When your mom thinks she's hung up the phone. Right. There's no macaroni. With the adrenaline still pumping in your ears, in your eyes, you can have the immediate scent of fresh sea spray catches you, and you glance eyes, you can have the immediate scent of fresh sea spray catches you and you glance around and you can see the ocean splashing onto the rocks below

as you're on the outside cusp of the Wildmother Lighthouse, overlooking the harbor of Nicodranas. Ooh. Right. Well, that was a lot. They made it out. So did we. One, two, three, four. Wait, weren't we all meeting here? Yeah.

And they left before us? But I think they went somewhere else in Nicodranas. Two different teleportations. That's right. We can't have the same one. Isn't Jester's connected to the chateau? Should we head there? It was connected to,

I thought it was connected to Veth's house, if I recall. Is there any way anyone could follow us from that? Yes. Oh, really? Oh yeah. We should probably get cloaked as quickly as possible. So let's move. Which means we have to find them. Okay.

Veth's place? Veth's, yes? Sure, Veth's. While that's happening, as soon as we land and I send the message, I'm going to start digging out the necklaces from the room. Right, so as you three arrive, which was marked inside Veth's Nicodranas abode. Yeah, up on the balcony.

So you're still on the balcony, the warm air hits you, a nice little change from the colder region on the northern side of the Dundallian Empire. The tension's still crisp, and you can see Caleb on the verge of hyperventilating in the midst of that chaos. Yep. I see Jester rooting in the bag,

and I stop her for a second, and Caleb pulls them both into a very fierce hug and says, I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no sorries. I'm sorry that I got a little greedy at the end. That was probably on me. It was my fault.

I shouldn't have. It was dangerous to go in there. That voice, as she's talking to you, almost seems to echo and fade as a voice fills your mind. Oh. Now, Bren, that was uncalled for. Conversation.

See, now I'm worried. Is that the end of it? That's the end of it. You can sit and cool off. I don't know if I'm ready to talk to you yet. Oh, okay. Well, we can go down. If you want to be up on the balcony. Sorry.

I'll just sit here then, I guess. He was talking to me, like you do. I think. Let's get these on. Veth, put it on. What is, oh, oh, oh, we stole them! Yeah, that's why we did it! Oh yes!

You know, I don't really like it. It doesn't go with my, well, I mean, it's just a little tacky. All right, fine. All right, yes. All right. Yes. How many did we get? How many are in the box? Inside the box, there are 12.

Ooh! That's great! I can use them like earrings. These stack. Double can't see me. But you do have to attune to them to be functional. Yeah, yeah. Oh no! You do?

Yes. Half hour. Yep. So you have to take a short rest to attune, and you have to choose what you unattune to have it on. Ah! I'm unattuning the Ring of Evasion. What? No!

No! I know you want to go with that ring, but think carefully. I like everything that I own. I'm not attuned to it. Don't fucking say that. You're not even here. I'm talking to F ring, but think carefully. I'm not attuned to it. Don't fucking say that. You're not even here. I'm talking to Fjord in my brain. What is the item called?

It's called Amulet of Protection Against Detection and... Yeah, just search amulet of. Got it. Got it. Get it. Amulet of Pooping. We're on a mission from God. Can you send, do you think they know to meet us here?

Should we have them meet us at the chateau? They probably know here. Your mother is famous. What if he's scrying on us right now? What if he's scrying on us right now? Are you able to? We should just get really close to Caleb. Get really close to Caleb.

Are you able to talk anywhere to our friends anymore? Hold on, let me see how many spells I have left. Maybe we should just leave. Can I just peek in the curtain? Is anyone home? Because we're on the balcony? You are on the balcony, yes. So you look inside.

It's a big balcony. From as brightly lit as the exterior is, the inside looks very dark by comparison, even just having to adjust your eyes to it. But on the inside, you can see the furniture as you left it. You don't currently see anybody moving on the inside. It's locked. I'll try to pick my own lock.

Go ahead and roll. Use your thieves' tools. 21. Yeah. You go ahead and find your way in. Check for traps. You got to break them. Go ahead and find your way in. Check for traps. You got to break in. Go ahead and make an investigation check.

If you haven't broken in, you're out of place. Yeah, 23. 23. Does not appear to be trapped. You got to talk to Yeza about that. It's a risk, he shouldn't put traps. But yeah, it does not appear that anybody's home at the moment.

As you all step inside, Caleb, a voice of Trent once more finds its way into your mind. If you wanted anything, all you had to do was ask. This was unnecessary. And now I have to explain this to the rest of the Assembly. You don't know what you've done.

I am aware of the strings that are attached. Go off and tell your tales. Is he talking to you still? Yeah. Is he using all of the 25 words? He's really wasting some spells there. I think I've forgotten how to count. I have the keen mind feed. Do you want me to send him a message back?

No. No. I want this to start working. Well, yours was already attuned. Yours is working just fine. Oh, your heart or your necklace? Yes. It takes time. It takes time to turn it back on.

There wasn't much in the icebox, but there's some baby carrots and hummus. Ooh! And yes, I had some warm pabst. I start to absentmindedly eat a baby carrot. So you guys, I, um... I didn't know we were going to be

murdering everyone in there. Yeah, I sort of felt badly about it as well. I think things escalated very quickly. It wasn't just the killing, but we were really savage about it and crushing their bodies and sort of, you know, defiling them as we went. Yeah.

But they're bad people, right? I mean, they're bad people. They did horrible things, Caleb. Like, they deserve it, obviously. I regret that we did not flesh out that step of our endeavor before we embarked, but I... There are bad people in that building.

I was not about to risk your lives taking too much time. The very thing I was afraid of happening did, and I am shocked the three of us are standing here now. That said, I hope you and they can forgive me. Of course we can forgive you. It's just ourselves, you know? Yeah.

Do we even know if our friends are okay? Did they respond to the message? I heard Fjord talking. I don't think he realized he could, but he was saying, oh, they made it. We made it. He said, we made it?

Why would he say that to them? Why would he say that out loud to his friends? He said, are we in Nicodranas? Oh, okay, okay. But he didn't say where they were. No, he didn't. Where is Caduceus's? Caduceus's was over at the,

I don't know if, how much should we say out loud? Because Tyrande could be scrying on us right now. Let's just, why don't we take a walk? Spell it in baby carrots, just sort of like. It's a long thing to do. I think you can see baby carrots. Write it in the hummus. He could still see that. Yeah, I don't think baby carrots are immune to that.

Oh, tell you what, you don't have a word. Everyone knows we only scry on adult carrots. I got nothing. We'll do it after we can talk after, you know, an hour. After an hour. But, oh my gosh, you should definitely tell your family not to come back here. I don't, how? I don't know where they are.

I'll send a message. To them, but not our friends. But yeah, sure, go ahead. I already sent a message to our friends. How, Jester, today, how many more times can you do this? Just one time. Just one time. Maybe, I mean. Two times.

Okay, okay, then send, yes, please. But if things go to shit, this is all my fault. No, no, no, if it's two times, then yes, please tell my family. Okay. I feel like I'm reliving our first visit to this place. I'm going to send a message to Yeza. All right. And say,

Yes. Hey! You and the boy should not come home. I'm just letting them know! It's dangerous. I'm not counting, sorry. I know. We'll make this one long. Make this one real long. It's dangerous. I'm not counting, sorry. I know. Ooh, make this one long. Make this one real long.

Dangerous. Avoid it for a while. We'll contact you soon. Go to my mama. You're doing the spooky voice. You're scaring my husband. I don't know what I'm doing with the spooky voice. Ah!

No! Oh, uh, hi. We're, um, we're in the market. You guys want sandwiches? Wait. Not to go home? What? I don't... Oh, no.

That's the last bit you hear. I wonder if he heard to go to... Oh, no. They're in the market, you said? I wonder if he heard to go to... Oh no. They're in the market, you said? I don't want to tell you out loud! Oh, then you didn't tell me. Where are they? They're shopping. Oh, at like the market?

Yeah. Well, I can go there and get them. Wait an hour. Oh, because they can track our location? Yes. They can see you. He can be watching us right now. Anything we say will give him a clue as to where we are. You mean where we are?

In Iman? In Iman. Where we are? Over in Teldore. I love it here. Yep. It sure is nice in this city. Just a nice temperate 68 degrees.

Now, the rest of you, you were making your way towards... Making my way? We were making our way towards Veth's. Yes. At a brisk pace with them in the process of trying to attune to these necklaces and taking a breather from this. Around this time, you all begin to arrive

at the exterior door of the chambers. Who is it? The boogeyman? What? Okay, good, it's them. Come in. Oh. Oh, you're okay. You're okay. Did anyone die or get hurt?

No, we were just hanging out in the trees. I made a dragon. That goes for you, that goes for you. Oh! Yeah, we'll just sit here an hour. Don't say anything about our location. You have to meld with it, I'm sorry. How many of these did you get?

So many. So many. Guys, Trent showed up. What do you mean, Trent showed up? I saw him walking in. Whoa. Why didn't you tell us? Oh, you don't have message like, you and I saw Caleb and Yasha. You really should learn

how to do that, Beau, it's super useful. I can tell you how. Okay. I think I can only do it with her, but. Anyway. So he showed up, because he was walking and then he disappeared, and we just thought he left. What happened?

It was real touch and go. We got the items. And also some other things. We got some other stuff. And then he showed up and was like, there was a little sorcerer on wizard on sorcerer battle. Is he a wizard or a sorcerer? I don't know, he's a wizard.

One of the most powerful wizards on the continent. Wizard on wizard shit. It was crazy. And we almost died, but Jester got us out of there. Lickety-split. Did he try to kill you? Eviscerate you? Tear you limb from limb? I'm not trying to talk to him. He just talked. Honestly, we were a little trigger happy.

I was a little trigger happy for five minutes or so. It's a stressful situation and a place that stresses you out and... You going to be all right, Caleb? Yeah, yes. There were some casualties on the excursion. Casualties? I killed a few people.

We killed a few people. I did as well. You might not have if I had not led the way. I take responsibility for it. It's okay, they were bad guys. They were bad people. They were bad guys. We had to do what we had to do for the betterment of... I mean, I sort of killed a guy, too,

and I wasn't with you, so there's that. You killed a guy? Yeah, it was real brutal. But you were up on the tower. Oh, someone was up there? Uh-huh, I didn't see them. Did you give them the quick neck snap? Nope.

You beat me, too. Did you give them the old shove off the tower, quick death? I thought about it. A garrotte around the, garrotte? I think I should buy one, yeah. Did you punch him in the solar plexus and cause his heart to explode? Oh fuck, I can do that, and I didn't. No, I, yeah. Did you punch him in the solar plexus and cause his heart to explode? Oh fuck, I can do that, and I didn't.

No, I, mm. Which way did you go? You know those vials of acid you gave me like a long time ago? They're low-grade acid, yeah. He was kind of like an open-mouthed snorer type of a thing, so it just like. You fed him the poisons, the slow acid.

Yeah, that's like in his mouth. I was hoping that visual wasn't going to be true. You put the acid in his mouth? Yeah. And then you snapped his neck to mercy kill him? I did after about 60 seconds, because he wasn't dead yet. That acid is good for taking rust off of a blade after four or five days of soaking.

You poured CLR in his mouth and let him suffer. Apparently good for killing guards, too. I walk up to Beauregard and I'm not looking, I'm just 1,000 yards staring at the ground, but I just pat her on the shoulder. Oh my god, what if you two got real murder happy because of your eyes? I didn't want to kill him.

He just woke up and I didn't see him and he happened to be there. He was sleeping? I didn't kill him until he started to wake up and I felt the tower shake. It was the tower shaking that woke him up. All right, all right, all right. Everybody made it out?

We made it. Everything's okay. We're going to get Trent. We'll go back, we We made it. Everything's okay. We're going to get Trent. We'll go back, we'll get him. Just not now. About this time, a familiar voice creeps back in through a window. Oh my god, this guy! Traces of dunamancy left in this wake. I have my theories on where you might have learned this.'"

Well, now we're both double dealing. "'Why do you run, "'as opposed to talk? "'If you're worried about about Drogna, well, she's not much of a worry anymore. In every barrel of apples, there is one with a rotten worm in it. I am that worm.

You guys, he's probably talking to Trent right now. I was going to say. He's talking to Trent? He's been doing this all afternoon. Maybe we need to go somewhere safe. What's your problem? What is that? What did he say? Caleb's not having a good time, guys. What did he say? I think he is implied.

I'm a little worried for Essek. For Essek? Yes. How? I mean, Essek's half a world away. Do we need to go somewhere? Surrounded by troops. I have, Essek, I have learned some of the magic in Kryn,

and I have since reverse engineered a little more of it, and I may have used some in Ferguson, and now I think he has connected the dots. He can tell what kind of magic you used? He's the most dangerous man that I think exists in the Empire, Jester. Why does the most powerful guy have to be such a shithead? Why can't he be a nice, powerful guy?

Very good point. Why bother being powerful if you're nice? Think of all the people you could help. I don't think I used to see invisibility today. Should I? Yeah. Maybe we'll reattune to these. Right. Do we want to be in the house

where your husband and child live? No, we do not. We had an alternative suggestion that we mimed. Did you get the mime that I was giving? I did, I got where you were miming. I love miming. Yeah. So where is it? Well, after we attune,

so we'll sit here for another hour. That's the only thing. Or do we go there and then attune? I think somewhere remote or somewhere unimportant is a better place for us to go pee right now. If something happens and we're not here, we could be there, which would be a lot safer. We should see if they're scrying on us right now, though.

Okay. I'll summon the sword, have it pulse, cast the Invisibility. Make a perception check for me. I'm going to guide him so that he can be better. Okay. Natural 20. Oh, never mind.

Yeah! Damn. You can see space and time. When is the other shoe going to drop? Hey, you guys remember the last game we had where we all rolled really well for the first half and then it turned to shit? Yes, I do. Cool. Topless.

That's what I keep thinking about. Plus three, plus two, so 25. 25. As you all sit there in the darkly lit interior of the Bernardo abode here in Nicodranas, you summon the sword, focus the magical energies from it to instill your vision and glance up

right in the center of the room to see there, looking straight down upon the space, a glowing arcane sphere, a node of vision from afar locked into your location. Balls. Yep. Let's do this. Right there. Man. I can dispel it.

Yeah. You can dispel it. Huh? It'll just come back again. Damn it. They know where they live. Let's go where we're going to go. They got to move. I do dispel it. Just closed on this place. They got back again. Damn it. They know where they live. Let's go where we're going to go. They got to move. I do dispel.

Just closed on this place. They got to move. They just, I mean, they finished. It's been like a month and a half. Those closing doors are terrible things to do. Third. Third? Go ahead and roll a d20 and end your intelligence. The inspections alone.

What are you trying to do? Add what now? Your intelligence. Oh, okay, 15. 15's enough. Okay. The pace does? Let's go to the- As you're glancing up forward, you watch as Caleb brushes his hand through the air and the orb dissipates and is gone. Got it.

You know, while we're clear, tower? Tower. Yeah, we can go to Yussa. Right now. Are you okay? Which part are you not okay with? The Trent talking to you okay? Right now. Which part are you not okay with? The Trent talking to you part? Or the killing people part? Or the endangering Essek part? The endangering my family part?

Listen, listen, Bubby. Come here, come here, bring it in. This was a win! We got the things that we need to save the fucking world. This is good. Yeah. Essek is already on board, you know? And he knew what he signed up for when he got involved in all of this. I'm not. You can send him a message

and tell him to be aware, but you're not responsible for that. We did what we went in there to do. But I am responsible for your family. You? And yours. And you. And I worry

that I am the very thing he told me I was. Not yet. Not yet. And you did good. We got what we needed. Those guys probably tortured a lot of people. You know what they mean? They probably had kids.

We should move. We really should go. Can we process and move at the same time? I think walk and will help. Yeah, walk and talk and walk and process. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that doesn't rhyme as well, though. Yeah. Let's talk.

And your perception stays up for an hour. I will keep it up. If I need to roll another one. Yeah, for an hour, yeah. I'll just, if I have to. Let me see if I help. As we're leaving the premises, does another orb reappear?

You do not see another one appear. Okay. So far, so good. All right. Where are you off to? Are we just going to walk around? No. For a while? The beach?

Tower. I mean, we could go to Yussa's Tower. Go to Yussa's Tower. We'll be safe there. Beachwalk to the tower. That sounds nice. Beachwalk. Tower will be safe. I've got to go to the market at some point. Although Yussa might be real super pissed at us

for bringing it there. Yeah. Well, we've done a lot of honestly sketchy things in the last day, but let's remind ourselves that it's worth getting a few people pissed off because there's something bad coming and we need to stop it. We could do that, but I worry that bringing that

to his doorstep might just end that relationship. We could walk around the marketplace until we find your family, tell them not to go home. Yep. Does our casual walking count as a short rest? Yeah, does our... Or do we need to sit and... A short rest is you have to sit,

tend to your exhaustion, drink water. You know, it's generally a sitting circumstance. Beach. I'll help look for your family in the market. De-stress and stroll. After a little bit. So good. Think mine? Yes. Where do we tell them to go, though, if they can?

Do you want to fight on a beach, hang out? I really don't. Beaches, at least we can see things coming from every direction. Yeah, that's true. Oh god, it'll probably lead back to her eventually. I was talking about, I talked about the Ruby of the Sea.

To whom? When? To, to, to what's his name? Trent? No. Yussa? Joshua? Whatever his name is. The guy. The guy that I charmed. Oh, the guard that you were charming? You were telling him details of your personal life?

I don't know what I was, he just, he was looking at me with these puppy dog eyes and I just started talking. He was looking at you with puppy dog eyes? Oh my god, Fjord, he loved me so much. Okay, so maybe we need to give three of these medallions to your mother and your family. I mean, to be fair,

everyone knows our connection to Nicodranas. They already know our connection. Anyone who would want to hurt us already knows your mother is married. That's true, that's true, that's true. Trent already knows all those things. But then maybe they need to take a vacation right now with these medallions.

Oh my god, my mom. Vacation could be good. Oh my god, my mom. Vacation could be good. Oh my god, my mom. What? I know where we can send her. To the Gentleman? Parent trap?

Yeah! Sorry, guys, you have to stay together for your own safety. I feel like we've done enough damage today. Perfect. Oh, I'm kind of into it, but that's Liam. What if she asks why she has to leave? I don't know if she's in danger because of us.

The truth. Yeah. And then if we fail in our pursuits, it won't matter anyway for anyone. Well. So how many of these medallions we have? 12. Eight for us. One for your mom.

One for Essek. Sorry, seven for us. Well, there's nine of us. One for us. How many? How many? We need seven, at least we should keep a couple handy. So if we have a few, we can bring more people with us. Exactly. We can give one to, I mean, your mom, my husband, maybe my son. Yes, your son, those three for sure.

Then we have two spares, one for Essek, one for Miscellaneous. Okay. Just on the off chance that we don't get the chance to short rest, are we sure we want the beach? I know we talked about it, but line of sight is so key in a fight. What is better than line of sight?

Something with walls. We don't even need seven of them. We only need six. We already have one. We have one, yeah. So three extra. Best to have a few extra, though. That means more people we can bring with us.

Sure. Wait, there's 12 total? Plus we have six. Now 13, including the one that Caleb originally has since the start of the campaign. Okay. I know this. So we're going to the beach? Do we want to go to the beach?

Do we want to have something that has some cover? Do you have an idea? There's this, like, the cliffs with the woods. We could do the cliff side. Cliffs is just an opportunity to fall on. Clutter on one side, cliffs on another. I don't think they're going to jump us on the beach, you guys.

Who's they? They're a thousand miles away. So were we, like, an hour ago. And they have that ability. Not all of them. Most of them. It's literally a wizard's pool. How many people? I say we go to the beach, put our back to the water. Okay.

You don't like it, Fjord. I wouldn't put the president on the beach with his back to the water. Who's the president? Put him in a building with walls. Are you just scared of getting close to Uk'otella? Well, these are wizards, right? Line of sight. But they just came from a basement with a bunch of walls. If they teleported there, that would suck.

We can't even decide where to sit for an hour. Honestly, I think maybe the reverse might be true, Fjord, because if we can see in all directions, at least we can see something coming. These people that we're dealing with can just show up next to you. It's true. Room to scatter.

Okay. I need to feel the sand under my feet. To the beach! To the beach! To the beach! All right, so you're heading to the shore side beaches. Ooh, can we pick up some of those, like, some cocktails along the way? Some of those coconuts?

Little, I'm sure there's got to be a kiosk, right? It's time for a pub crawl! Just while we're walking! With the right questions asked and enough money paid, you know, I'd say for about Just while we're walking! With the right questions asked and enough money paid, I'd say for about five silver a pop, you can ask any of the nearby tavern keeps to try and put together some sort of a drink

for you like that, yeah? Yeah, I order a little to-go rounds. Okay, there you go. Just while we're walking to unwind. It's important. All righty. Do we pass the market walking there or no? The market would probably be on the western side.

It's a little bit out of the way from a direct line, but you can go ahead and pass through if you'd like. You can try sending a message if it's within 100 feet. Can you hold a concentration? Yeah, I'll get within 100 feet. Short rest or no? Only if it has a duration longer than an hour. But at the end of that hour, but it's okay. Like, I can get within 100 feet. Short rest or no? Only if it has a duration longer than an hour. But at the end of that hour, but it's okay. Like, I can take a short rest

while concentrating on a spell. Yeah. Okay. Just if the spell has an hour duration, it'll last for as long as the short rest is. Perfect. Do I see my family in the marketplace? Okay, make a perception check. Oh, I'm good at this.

Are you with me? I'm going to assist. Guide. Okay. Do I see my family? you see by one of the exterior fountains underneath this shaded archway, flowers and a little bit of ivy on the edges of it. And you've been to this fountain before in the Marketplace. It's a beautiful little central area. On the side, you can see a little boy

with a little boat floating in the water and he's tugging on a string. And you see him, he's wearing a big hat, a hat that you've never seen him wear before, but looking at the physical behavior, you can already tell that it's a Luke, and about three feet from it, you can see another man that looks like

about Yeza's build comes up and just starts talking to him and ushering him away from the fountain. Okay, so without getting too close, I will send a message to Yeza. Yeza! It's me. I can see you.

I'm glad you're okay. Stands up straight. Turn behind you like five o'clock. But don't look at me! New spell. Can I talk back? Like the other one? You can reply to this message, yes.

New spell. All right, so you can't go home. It's been compromised. Oh. And I can't tell you where to go in case they're watching. New spell. You go to the place where Blude works. The big furry horn guy.

Yes. You can reply to this message. Okay. I'll go ahead and gather up Luc, and we'll head there. Everything all right? Everything's fine. Just the house, we might have to move. Don't look at me!

Too suspicious. Also, you need to restock the icebox, but we're going to burn the house anyway. It doesn't matter. Just go to Blued's. One thing at a time. I'll go to Blued's. I will meet you there. I will meet you there when it's safe, which will be today, very shortly.

Okay. Oh, I love you. Love you, too. He goes ahead and grabs Luc and picks up his stuff. Doesn't point you out, knows that chaos will ensue, and starts talking to Luc and takes his hand, and they both begin circling a wide arc out of the middle of this side of the marketplace.

Any orbs circling above? At this point, make a perception check. You're towards the very end of its duration, I'd say. If you tell me you're looking, I can help you. 20 total. 20, yes. You don't see anything. Okay. Okay. And now you see anything. Clear. Okay. Okay.

And now you head to the beach. Now, how far outside of town are you going to? Are you just going to the beach to the south side of Nicodranas? There's some areas that aren't directly on the dockside landscape, that are open beach, but they're a little bit out of the city into the south.

Is that where you're heading? Like, how long of a walk is that? From where you are in the marketplace, about 20 minutes or so. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Like, there's a nice little location

that's up against the cliffs, you know? It's good. Okay, 25, 30 minutes. Okay. But you all eventually make your way to the sandy edge of the shore in this space. You can see these heavier rocks, familiar as to where a previous meditation was taken

about a year or more before. You can hear the waves crashing. Wind blows in a nice breeze, good temperature. A welcome disparity between the location to the north where you had previously been and plan to return. But it's just you and one beachcomber, this older fellow with deeply tan, leathered skin, walking by in faint clothing.

He looks like he's poking through with a stick and he has a little bag on his side. He's just picking up bits of things that have washed up on the shore and looking him over and putting him in the bag and he looks over at the rest of you. Hey! Metal detector guy.

He keeps walking. Yep. Kill him! Roll initiative. I'm going to take a minute to... I'll do it, too. Are we staying here? Is this where we're going to be? I'm going to take a minute and conjure Celestial.

Okay. Oh? Are you? Huh? Are you? I'm going to... Coatl, is that what they're called? Quetzalcoatl?

C-O-U-A-T-L, I don't know how to pronounce that. Yeah, Cottle. Cottle. It's like a little serpent dragon. I say little. Like those little... It's bigger than that. Smiley? Feather-winged serpent?

It's a winged serpent. It's also invisible to scrying, which is nice. Ooh! Sassy, I like it. Yeah, it's got some, and I'm just going to tell it to quietly play in the water until someone hostile comes towards us and then defend us.

As you all settle in there, once again, Caleb will be able to find some of the sand between your toes if you pull your boots off a bit. Pulling my boots off, yeah. Yeah. As some of you aren't paying too much attention, suddenly you hear this faint crackle in the air

and you glance over as Caduceus finishes the smile and it seems like a slow-moving lightning bolt crackles through the air and as it does, it forms into this large elemental serpent that then scoots around in the air, directly around Caduceus before he guides with his hand over towards the ocean. He watches and dives into the water

and just stays there, coasting through the shallow waves. Having a little fun. I said have fun until something happens. It's not going to argue. Can I try, while we're resting, I want to try Divine Intervention with the Traveler. What are you attempting to do?

Well, I want to see if it works to see if I can ask him. Depends. Go ahead and try and see if it'll function. Roll for it. Oh god, no! 99. God dies.

So no. Get a hint of what you were attempting to ask? I was going to ask for some help with modified memory. Gotcha. As you reach out to grasp his attention, he's like, I'm sorry, it's a bit of interference at the moment. Bit predisposed, but next time. Oh, you're not, you don't want to hang out with us

on the beach? Leave a message. We're on the beach! Oh, he's. What's he doing? What was he doing? He left me. What? What was he up to? I don't know. He's predisposed. Probably, you know.

Sounds intriguing. Strangling some people, I don't know. Oh jeez. Did he do that? He did some freaky shit. You seem proud of that. All right, so what's everyone doing? Is everyone resting and attuning? And I am using the rest of, what,

like 20 minutes left of this hour to try and just keep an eye out for orbs or anything that catches the eye. Okay. Caleb is very much in shell-shocked mode, similar to how he was at the beginning of the campaign in a way that he hasn't been in a long time. And he just plants himself next to Veth on the ground

and is just staring out at the water while he matches his toes, scritches his toes in the sand slowly. I'll just hug. Hug or stay close to cuddling distance for Caleb. Anyone else doing anything during this rest or move on from there? I'm going to walk just along the coast,

away from everybody, and... Hey, everybody and hey, Stormlord. It's me, Yasha, your old pal. I... We're in a bit of a pickle. I just, I, well, for starters,

I went on a date with Beau. I don't need to tell you these things. I think I need your help. That dream. I want to be able to help my friends. I want to be able to help my friends. And I think I've given away one of my swords to this woman named Kima, but she gave me one.

That seems very cool. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I just... I don't know if you have a purpose for me, but I would like to be your, I would like to be your champion. Anyway, I'm not used to being able to have conversations like this with you. This is very different than how Jester or Caduceus talks,

but please, I would like to be the avatar of the Storm Lord. but please, I would like to be the avatar of the Storm Lord. but please, I would like to be the avatar of the Storm Lord. but please, I would like to be the avatar of the Stormlord, whatever that even means. I walk back to the group. Did it seem like Yasha was having a talk? Could I see that she was chatting to somebody that wasn't there?

Your passive perception, I'd say likely not, but you did watch her walk a little ways off and just take a little time on her own before returning. I'll stop with my French braiding of Fjord's hair. I'll finish this in a minute. What, but is it, how, did you? It's looking, I'll tie it off with a little piece of leather. It's going to, it feels like it's going to hurt.

I'll walk up to Yasha. Okay. Hi. with a little piece of leather. It feels like it's going to hurt. I'll walk up to Yasha. Okay. Hi. What were you talking about? Is everything okay? Everything's okay. I just... I don't know how you communicate with your god

and Caduceus with his, and I figure we're going to need all the help we can get. And I don't know. I tried to communicate. You have such a different relationship, but I tried to communicate with the Stormlord. Oh. Oh. And just say like,

hey, I'm here if you need me, you know? Is that what I do? I mean, I don't know how it works with everybody else. You know, Caduceus and Fjord, they talk to the Wild Mother completely different than, obviously, I talk to Artie, but... I may be able to help you. I have this.

Okay, look. I don't know if this is going to work. Okay. But here, sit down with me, sit down with me. Okay. And I sit cross-legged in front of Yasha. Okay. I sit cross-legged in front of her. And I don't know, this might be a little jumpstart.

I mean, if you really want to dedicate yourself to the Stormlord, is that what you're asking? Yes, I... I mean, he quite literally saved my life. I think it's only appropriate that I act as a champion for him. Okay. I'm going to try to cast,

I'm going to do Ceremony. Whoa. What is that? So I'm going to put my hands out and hold my hands in front of you. And close your eyes. Okay. I've never done this before, but I feel like this is going to work. Okay.

And I'm going to do Ceremony Dedication. And I'm going to say, I know you're a little busy, Artie, so if you could just maybe help send a little power my way. And I'm going to say, Oh, Stormlord. Should I repeat after you? Oh yeah, that's good.

Oh, Stormlord. Yasha is here for you! Yasha is here for you? That's me? Oh my god, that's you repeating me? No, yeah, that's good, that's good. Yes, I am here for you. I want to be dedicated to you! I want to be dedicated to you.

Make me your champion! Make me your champion! Make me your champion! Bless me with your dedication! What did you say? Bless me with your dedication. Bless me with your dedication! I'll bless you with mine. And I will bless you with mine. Yeah, that's good.

And I'm going to send my power into her hands and cast Dedication. Okay. Which is not quite the same thing, but I thought it would be a good starting off point. And it's, I'm giving you the power to be dedicated to your god's service.

So it's technically, for the next 24 hours, whenever you make a saving throw, you roll a d4 and add that number. It gives you a boost. What? But, you know, I thought it could give you that connection that maybe he'll be able to hear you

and see you a little bit stronger right now. Jester, thank you so much. This is such a great way to learn. Yeah. I mean, I don't think I'm going to be besties with him like you are with Artagan, but. You don't know, you don't know. Who knows? I'd be up for it.

Maybe he needs a bestie. Maybe he does. I think I would be a really good bestie to him if he really wanted it. And he can probably hear you saying all of it now because you're dedicated, you know? Yes, if you need just a best friend, someone to talk to, I'm here.

I'm going to, in the sand, just take my finger and make a little lightning bolt. Okay. Just leave it there. That's beautiful. Thank you. You're an artiste. The last time I think I prayed to him, I drew a dick. Because that's what you did.

And then I realized maybe I should draw his symbol. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense to you. He probably doesn't want a dick. I'll draw a dick with lightning shooting out of it, just to give it a little extra. A little flair, yeah. And Yasha, just so you know, I'm available for other ceremonies, too, if you ever wanted to do any.

Oh, what on earth do you mean? I don't know how everything went. We haven't talked, but I'm letting you know. If it went really well and things keep going really well, I'll be up for you. Thank you, Jester. Things went really well. I'll be up for you. Thank you, Jester. Things went really well. Just side note, a very wise friend once told me

that to kiss and tell would be very uncouth. So I'll just keep it inside. Maybe one day we'll talk about it, I don't know. Thank you, Jester. As you continue your rest here, at a certain point, once you have a moment to yourself, you glance over to the side and you can see Artie's sitting there, his feet in the sand as well,

looks to be himself looking up, eyes closed, sunbathing for a moment, and without opening his eyes, just goes, I did the best I could. Don't really have a extensive relationship with the actual Pantheon. Oh yeah. But you have a better way of communicating with them

than we do, right? Yeah, I've only really interfaced with one, and you were present for that, and it didn't really go my way. But at the very least, I have a little, I don't know what you would call it, a divine spotlight on our friend. Hopefully it's enough.

I lean over and I just pull his eyelid open. Hi. Do you want a coconut alcoholic beverage? Beau bought a few. Please. Beau, Beau, Beau, Beau, Beau. Yeah? Do you have any extra coconut drinks?

I just offered one to Artagan. Yeah, I bought like- The Traveler, to the Traveler. I bought two extras to go. You, as you're holding him up to Jester, you look over to where she's looking towards Artagan. There's nobody there. You look back and one of your drinks is gone within an instant, like you glanced away.

And then you look over and look behind her and you can see the green cloak billowing, like this epic shot of the wind just blowing the cloak as it flaps the wind just blowing the cloak as it flaps the hood up. The sea shoreline underneath it, the distant horizon as the sun's coming down in the sky, and you just see this little

straw start slurping before it disappears into the wind. He'll never not be unsettling. Just a little bit. He's the best. Isn't he just the best? He's going on me, I will say that. Yeah, he is going on me. Yeah, right? I am hoping if we give him enough alcoholic beverages,

someday he's going to help me with that divine intervention. He'll be there in that moment that really, really, really counts, you know? Hammond. Wasted. He'll be there, Hammond. Just totally drunk. I mean, some of Nott's best moment were when know? Hammered. We'll be there hammered. Just totally drunk. I mean, some of Nott's best moments

were when she was trashed. That's not true, Nott. It is true. Your best moments are when you're sober and pregnant. I'm worthless without alcohol. Thank you for pointing that out. I'm just kidding. You're best now, it's fine. I'm fucking with you. I don't really have a taste for it anymore. It's good, it's good.

It's just, I like the sweeter stuff. Sure. Yeah. Little dessert cocktails. Yeah, some sherry. With the fruit and the flowers and the umbrellas and stuff. Yeah, white wine spritzer. White wine spritzer. Oh, he's off.

Oh no. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say a vaguely German word. Spritzer. Wolf Blitzer. No z's, no z's. Oh no. Spritzer means something in Zevnian.

It means patricide, oh no! All right. I'll finish braiding Fjord's hair once all that's done. Okay. It's a nice, it's just, you know, a cute little French braid up where your man bun is, and then it just ties off. So it still is very masculine.

Keep it out of my face? Yeah, but now, yeah. Looks really good. Yeah. Nice. All right. With your attunement complete, your short rest coming to an end, what's next?

What is next? Now we can talk freely. Time to talk, right? So these things protect us from all scrying and everything? I don't know, I haven't really shown. Divination and scrying. I'll bring them back. They're so fucking awesome. Unless Lucien is of demigod status,

which doesn't seem entirely impossible, we should be fine. This is great. In theory. Oh! In theory. I got these other things. I got these vials of... Oh man! So were they vials or crystals?

Crystals or something. Crystals. Crystals in something or just hanging out? They were just a loose cluster of crystals. A loose cluster of crystals. As you pull them out, you recognize them immediately. And your forearms begin to itch. Oh shit.

Was it the bad stuff? He holds up and you see all the little semi-invisible lines on his arms. Those were what they put in your arms? Yeah. To make you more powerful. Are they that residuum stuff? Yeah, but you'll notice my friends,

my friends, they're tattooed up. They're what? This is where he did his work. Oh. It was primarily on our arms because of somatics, but I left before whatever his plan was

could be completed, and they did not. So these... somehow led to that. Do you have some in you right now? No. I can still feel them, though. A little bit. How many did we get?

It's a quick grab. Probably like two handfuls worth. And they are green residuals? They're residuals? It's like a green-blue coloration. You're not entirely certain what material they're made of. Green-blue. I always imagine them as like rough-heblue coloration. You're not entirely certain what material they're made of. Green-blue. I always imagine them as rough-hewn little rupees.

Almost, just little jagged shards. Yeah, yeah. I pick one up and I just look at it. Do I get any type of recognizing the stone in any way, mystery-wise? Make a general intelligence check. Okay. Ooh, that was a natural 19.

So 23. 23? It's no natural stone that you've come across. I mean, you're not deeply versed in the ways of natural gemstone beyond the ones that you've encountered in your lifetime. But something about this coloration, and when you hold it up to the light in front of you

with just the horizon and the cloudless light finding its way behind the side, ever so loosely refracting through its color, you can see the imperfections in the center of it, but it does have a weird, almost unnatural pattern within the depth of the crystal. You get the sense it's probably to a certain degree synthetic from magical origins.

Make an arcana check. Come on, big stat, big stat for you. Yep, man, you know me. Know my magic. Rolled a 14, so 18 total. 18. You got a plus four in arcana? I do. Good.

It's because it's my intelligence. Yeah, just my base intelligence. It has similarities to the top of the tripod setup that you saw in Yussa's tower that Jester used when she was attempting to scry not that long before. Amplification. So you get the sense it has some sort of amplification.

Which means it does have elements of residuum in it, which give it that greenish tint when the light goes through it, but it's not pure residuum. It's almost like it's a... Battery, almost. It's crystal meth. More or less, yeah. It's a heavily refined and cobbled element

based in some way with residuum in something else. How many vials are there? Well, there's crystal shards and there's like, I don't know, 18, 20, 16? We'll say 22 shards of differing sizes. Two quick Vethangrabs full. What do we do with these? Could you grind them down? Get the residual amount of it?

Utilize it as a component? Probably, but they might be more valuable as is. Yeah, we could potentially use them like, like Orly gave us all of these. We could make tattoos out of them as well. Please, no. You don't have to. I would like to keep at least one of them as evidence.

Oh yeah, that's smart. That's very smart. He would put these things into your system? Yes, we would spend a night, though not always there, but he would, sometimes on our own, sometimes the three of us together, he would insert them into incisions he made, and it was a lot to tolerate them being there,

and then we would try to cast to see the difference. It was quite painful, but we did it gladly, so. For the greater good. Evidence to show whom? I would like to think that someone in the government or outside of it would care that this has been done to me and others like me, and likely is still being done to children like we were.

I'm sure of it. I would hope anyway. The Koboltsal, maybe? Could start there. Doesn't the Sebris Assembly dictate governmental matters in the Empire? Well, it's a negotiation between them and the king. They advise him and he makes the decisions.

That's the official story. You know, we've talked a lot about, you know, the people who run our country, and maybe it could be salvaged. Maybe there is a way to improve it. Maybe there isn't. Well, Yussa might like to look at these if we go visit him, but we should keep some as evidence.

And we can't be seen now, so we can go see your mom. Yeah, we should actually do that right away. We should make sure that the three of them are safe and figure out where we are going to send them. I think we should send them to the Gentleman. For reasons outside of just, you know, obviously they'll fall back in love. You know, he's used to keeping things very secret,

very safe. He's great with kids, I'm sure. Yeah, obviously. And no one knows about them other than you. Well, there is a problem. And no one knows about them other than you. Well, there is a problem. One other person knows about him. Cree? Cree.

Oh, Cree. I was talking about the gentleman. Oh, yeah, the gentleman is where we were going to send them. There's one other person who knows about him. Who? Eyes of Nine, all of them. Right, Cree. Yeah. Cree knows. My brain, what just happened?

Whoa. What happened? I'm getting feedback. Whoa. Wow. He's leaning into the role play for the low intent. Sleep deprivation. But you know who else knows about them? Don't ever give Caduceus those coconut drinks ever again.

They are liquored, aren't they? Oh, I might've accidentally switched up your virgin one. I'm sorry. Just because they know about the Gentleman doesn't necessarily mean that they would know that we're sending some of our family to go to be with the Gentleman for safety, because we're worried that the Empire might track them down.

The only ally we have that they really know about, though, or one of the few, is the only reason I bring it up. I mean, I think they're in Eiselcross doing their Eiselcross thing. I don't think they're... That's fair. Plus, you said Trent wanted to talk. It wasn't like he was trying to kill you outright,

or it seemed that way. What does he want? Theories only. Maybe it is as he says. Maybe he wants me as a successor, but I find that... It's what I'm scared is the case, but I find that hard to believe. Part of me wonders

if there is not some similarity between Part of me wonders if there is not some similarity between my old teacher and Halas. Yes, definitely picking up that vibe from both of them. He's old. You're a valuable asset now, especially if he knows that you know magic that he doesn't in the Dunamancy realm. And that you've survived where Vastu Ragnar hasn't.

Yep. Wow. No one feels good about the one that got away. And all of this discussion of them, they're colluding with people on the inside of the Dynasty and their research and knowledge of the Luxon. And maybe he means for me to be a vessel. Maybe.

Stray idea. I'd want to know why you would take that risk to go there and get what we got. I mean, if I was in his position, that's a big red flag. Why I would go there? Well. Why anyone would. He knows how dangerous it was for you.

He knows it's a risk. Why risk it? Why do you need it so badly? And what did you need it for? Thank you. I bet he's so curious. I'd be. If he keeps hitting you up and he keeps sending you messages, that feels like he's real pissed.

I mean, I can always send him another message, see what he wants to say, in 25 words or less. Can't backtrace a message spell, right? I don't know how this works. Not that you're aware of. Make an arcana check. You're asking the sailor? Cool.

Plus two, natural one! Are you fucking kidding me? Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Fair. Accurate. He had no idea. Accurate. He had no idea. Oh boy. Wait, I'm sorry. I probably, you all know this, but I,

and I'm sorry for bringing this up, but when you would put that into your system, would it make you stronger? Is that essentially what it does? For the duration of its, you know, its entry into my person. It was not terribly long for me. Would they, and they would remove it,

or it would dissolve? No, they would remove it and replace on another day. I'm not suggesting this at all, but going up against Lucien, would it maybe give you an advantage in the fight? No. Respectfully, those are not coming anywhere near

my person again. Of course, yeah, of course. Let's go find your family. Yes. All right. Close shave. Okay. You gather your things, abscond from the beach,

and head back into Nicodranas proper. You beelining to where within the city? The chateau. All right, so you head to the Lava Chateau. You head into the open doorways, the entryway left in its casual, anyone may enter presentation, the welcoming, warm inside with the gentle smells of incense and perfumes

greets your nostrils. Stepping within, you can see some of the lanterns set on the tables, the soft glow to light the darkened interior. You can see the staircase that leads up to the next floor, and there to the left, you can see the wide bar where I would say right now, Carlos would be currently at.

There are, it looks to be about eight patrons scattered amongst the tables. What do you want to do? I'm going to go. Do I see Bluud? Make a perception check. What the heck? 22.

Glancing across the room, you do not see Blüth. You do not have to roll very high to notice that a minotaur is not currently present within the room. But not down here on the base floor, though. I'm going to head upstairs. Okay. Everyone else following? Yeah. Okay.

Is that okay? Yeah. Is anyone, any of the customers checking us out as we go upstairs? Are we getting any? I'm making a perception check. That's a natural 20 plus. Wow. 30. 30, 30's what we got. Whoa. A 30.

I mean, most of the people at the central tables are all in the process of having made conversations. And you're an eclectic bunch as you walk through, as people notice as you pass by. Some individuals may recognize you, who have been patrons of the establishment for a protracted period of time. I hate that I can't whisper from this distance,

and I look forward to. You can text. Just FaceTime. Just text. Text. Hey, you have your ear parts in, right? This whisper is brought to you by Dwarven Forge. You mean like how I FaceTimed all of you for my butt this morning? That was amazing. Twice.

Twice, in five minutes. We jumped on to have a conversation with your butt, but your butt wasn't there. This is what we used to do at the home table. He's more of the silent but deadly type. Try to text. We used to do at the home table. He's more of the silent but deadly type. Yep. Don't mean for it to get caught while this happens. We've regressed in technology

to writing letters to each other at a table. Yep. That still took too long for my liking. Yeah, I miss the whispers. I miss people. I miss hugs. Yeah. I miss, yeah. I miss miss people. I miss hugs. Yeah. I miss, yeah. I miss you guys. I miss you guys.

Yeah. Yeah, as you head up the stairs, there at the next landing outside of the door, you do see Bluud is currently there, sitting, finishing what looks to be the crust end of a heavy sandwich and has a small plate daintily placed on his massive lap. As you begin to step up the heavy wooden stairs,

dude, dude, dude, dude, Luke begins to sit up for a bit. Mara. Can I help you, Jester? Is Mom inside? She's taking a nap, by the way. Did Yeza and Luke show up? Mm-hmm.

Are they staying in one of the other rooms? Or down this way? He points to one of the other guest rooms towards the end of the hallway, kind of just next to the bathroom, which has a new bathtub installed in it. Another quick question, friend. Who are those two over there

that are giving me the heebie-jeebies over by the door? I don't know, should I go talk to them? Um, trying to keep it low key, but we're probably being followed and they're giving me a weird vibe. Fair enough. Thank you. When he says they're being followed,

things could get real hairy real soon. So it might be smart to shut down the downstairs for a while. I don't understand. It could be bad. How long? I don't know, but we should clear it out at least for the day so nobody wanders in.

I'll go talk to Carlos after I see what's up with these strangers. Makes his way down the stairs to the bottom floor. I mean, your mom's chamber door is there. It's not locked, necessarily. Do you guys mind if I go in? She's sleeping. I'll just get her up. That works fine. I want to keep this to my side.

Does someone need to go with? He seems very capable. You should go. If you want to go make sure Blud says the right things, sure. I'll tag along with Blud, but I'll use Mask of Many Faces to change my appearance. Into? I'm going to give you resistance, just in case.

Great. Humanoid, shoulder length, black hair, black beard. Look like I work here. Okay. Low, middle security type. You just hang him to his side, or just to keep him back, or help him with the fight? Actually, yeah. What are you doing?

I'll stay within earshot, but I'll just look like I'm bussing tables or wiping things down, but just keeping. Okay. I'm going to shift into my human form, too, while I'm out of sight, just so I can walk down and keep an eye on things from a long distance. Okay, you got it.

You go ahead and make your way into your mom's room in there. You can see the doors are closed, the outside balcony window is open and a little bit of a breeze is blowing through. The silks hanging from her bed sway ever so gently and you can see her with a book still partially open across her chest and shoulder

as she's curled up for a midday nap. I'll go and lay down in bed next to her and lay my head on her shoulder. Doesn't wake her, but she instinctively goes and grabs you and pulls you in for a cuddle while she. Mama. Her eyes flutter open a little bit.

Hi. Just a second. My sapphire. I missed you. My sapphire. And her eyes shoot wide open and she just gives you a big, big hug and just pulls you in closely. The book crushes a little bit before it tumbles off to the side.

Pulls you away and looks at your face, her thumbs right there on your cheeks. I didn't know you were going to visit today. I didn't either. And it's good to see you. You too. Everything okay? Are you safe?

Yes, everything is... Everything's not okay. Mama, I have to tell you, it's... I'm going to pull out one of the necklaces. I want you to wear this, okay? Don't take it off. What is this for? It will keep you safe.

It will keep people from being able to spy on you for now. Your eyes dart towards the window. It's okay, just wear it. She puts it on, holds it for a second, looks at you. I... Jester, I hate seeing you like this. What's going on?

I don't know. There's a lot of bad things going on right now, a lot of them, in a lot of different ways. But things going on right now, a lot of them, in a lot of different ways. But, um... You could be in danger here. There's some really awful people, some really powerful, awful people that are coming after us,

and they know that I'm connected to you. And it scares me, and I know how hard it is for you to leave. But I think you should, at least for a while. I'll let you know when it's safe. Just that I... It's difficult for me to think I could be safer anywhere else. I know. I've been here most of my life.

Everyone here knows me. I know. If anyone wanted to come and harm me, they'd have to go through a lot of very powerful people here in Nicodranas. They wouldn't have to do any of that. They could just literally appear next to you. They're really powerful people, Mama. More than anything we've ever come across.

Her eyes dart back towards the window again, and back to you. Her eyes dart back towards the window again, and back to you. You can see that familiar look of shock and anxiety in her face. I don't even know where I'd go. Look, this is so stupid, I don't even know where I'd go. Look. This is so stupid, and you're going to think I'm trying to do something here,

but I think you'd be safe. I think you'd be safe with a gentleman. I think you'd be safe with Papa. I know, I know. And I haven't even asked him. I haven't talked to him at all, but he has an underground safe house. He's secret, nobody knows about it.

It's the safest place I can think of. We'll probably be staying here tonight, I think. I don't know, I haven't talked to everyone, but. Okay, I can have rooms prepared. I need some time to. I know. I need some time to think. And she cups your face again

and just gives you a little kiss in the nose and, What have you done? I'm sorry. I'm not angry, I just, just worry about you. Yeah. I just want to keep you safe, okay? That's all I ever wanted, was to keep you safe.

I'm growing up. Now it's my turn. Don't tell me that. You'll make me cry. I love you. I love you, too. I'm going to go talk to everyone and see what the plan is, okay? Okay. She grabs the book and closes it and goes,

I will finish this some other time. She puts it on the edge of her bed stand. If you want to get some things together. Yeah, I would like to do that, yes. Have Blood fetch me one of our finest wines for the journey. Of course. I don't think I can make it sober. You are growing up.

Let's pull it into our hands. You are growing up, aren't you? Too fast. But more proud than I could ever think. Maybe there will be a day where there won't be people chasing you. That would be wonderful. We found this wonderful little island.

Maybe at the end of everything, we can go there and have a happy tropical home. I look forward to you showing me one day. I will. I'll be back. I'm just going to talk to everyone, figure out the plan, okay? Okay. Okay.

While this is happening. I've gone to see Yeza. As you make your way to the chamber on the side and. Probably had a very similar conversation. And that is why you must always wear these. That made me want a De Niro cry. I just, I'm... It's...

I've... I've done real bad, Yeza. I've messed up, you know? What did you do? Well, it's not just what I've done, it's I've brought real bad, Yeza. I've messed up, you know? What did you do? Well, it's not just what I've done, it's I've brought danger to you, and that's inexcusable. I thought that I could do both, you know? That I could have a fun life of adventure

and also have a family, but I can't. I can't do both, so. Look, you haven't brought danger to us. I have. Danger has been finding its way into our lives before you did any of this. But this danger I brought, and it's unforgivable,

and I know that you'll forgive me for it, and you're stupid for doing so, because it's really, it's unforgivable. He just kisses you. I mean, that's pretty nice. Veth. I mean, I'm not going to lie. I have spent so much of my life just trying to

try to be something for you, to start a business, to try and focus on my work and make you proud. And in the long run, I mean, it got us ransacked. It got you killed just from being near. I mean, it got us ransacked. It got you killed just from being near. And you came back and then the Assembly got involved. I mean, how much danger has, you know,

the choices I've made brought into our life? I carry that guilt with me, too. But, you know, since you've gone off and met your really impressive and intimidating friends, I've had a lot of time to spend with Luc. And I never thought of myself as a stay-at-home dad, but. You're really good at it. I kind of really like it.

And you're fantastic with children, you're fantastic with me, but it's just not fair anymore. So what I'd like to do very much, if it's okay with you, I'd like to fix this and help end the immediate threat. And then I want to come home and just be with you and the

boy. And if I can do that, if I can manage to do that, I will not go away again and I will not bring danger anymore. We'll find some way to have adventures together and we'll have adventures together at home, wherever we decide to make our home.

But unfortunately, I have to fix this, or help fix it. And then that's it, all right? Can you hold on just a few more weeks? Hold on as long as you need me to. I know what you're doing is important. Not just important to the world, but I mean... And he grabs both your hands and pulls you in and puts his forehead against yours and says,

I know you can't see yourself, but I've watched you glow and smile in ways I've never seen since you've met these people, since you've gone out and struck down dangerous beasts and swindled those who deserve to be taken down. Every story you come back with fills me with

a burst of anxiety and worry, but also a pride that I can't express. Part of what's really, what's been an unexpected joy for me is realizing that so many years of trying to be the man of the house, I'm much better being the support of it. And I could never do the things you do. I didn't think I could either.

So I'd be very curious to see what you could do and what we could do together. You're right. I feel much better about myself these days. And I feel like I'm almost happy with myself. But if I can just get that last step, we'll have a great time and a great life together. So thank you for waiting for me

and for keeping the boy happy. And I mean, he seems like he doesn't know what's going on, which is great. Keep it that way. I'm deflecting left and right. You're really great at that. Anyway, I think we have a plan. We're going to move you to a place that's safe. Heads up, it's weird.

It's a weird place. Wait, you've been there. Oh, we just took you there recently, actually. You waited outside. That's right. We're going back again. It's sort of like a nasty, seedy bar, but it's also run by a criminal,

but it's really, it's very safe. We think it's very safe. We're taking Luke. You're going to live there, in this bar, I guess. But you know, this is a bar too, right? So. Okay. Just for a little bit. I gave you that, I think you got that 1,000 gold

a while ago, is it back at the house? Should I just go get it and? Maybe, yeah. Okay, I'll go. I don't care that kind of change with me on the streets. Yeah, I'll go, just give me a list of what you need from the house. I'll go get it. Okay. I'll put together a list. We'll pack it up.

We'll go stay at this seedy bar for just a couple of weeks. Okay. And then I'll come home and we'll figure out what the next step is. I mean. Together. Look, I've been dragged through the tunnels under Exandria. I've seen the heights and depths of Xhorhas. I have no reason to believe that spending a little time in a seedy bar is going to be anything stranger

than this past year has brought to us. I'm excited to have you back. I know you have to do this, but please, please be safe. You don't have to be the hero. Not for me, you already are. I know. I will do my best.

No, I promise you, I'll be safe. I'll come home. I'll hold you to that. He ducks out of the way. He has a stick rod, flies by, and Luke's like, Oh, sorry! No, it was a good sneak up, good stealthing. Good stuff.

So, Mom, you promised you were going to tell me about the craziest thing that you killed? Well, there's been a few new ones since then. What? Oh boy. I mean, there's been a few new ones since then. What? Oh boy. I mean, there's baby monsters. Baby monsters was pretty, baby monster was probably pretty bad, pretty gross.

It wasn't a real baby. It just looked like a baby, but it was big, had these razor sharp teeth and it was going to kill all my friends until I jumped in front of it and sacrificed my body to protect them. Wow. As this conversation's happening.

Yasha, Caleb, Beau, what are you guys doing? I guess we're waiting outside for these guys. Yeah. So you're just hanging in the hallway upstairs? Yeah. I trailed her hanging in the hallway upstairs? Yeah. I trailed her to her home, to Beth. Oh, I'm here at the bar. They're here? Then I trailed you to their room,

and I'm waiting outside the door. Okay, got it. All right. So we're awkwardly waiting outside of people's doors. On the second floor, yeah. Being pretty useless. For a handful of minutes as these conversations are happening.

Yasha and I just make out in between people walking by. Just ping pong down the hallway. Just making out. Right, the horny teenager not wasting any moment. Yeah, I get it. Messing up all the picture frames. What about this weird staircase? We'll be safe here. Staircase would be fun.

Go under there,s, try it. It's kind of uncomfortable, but it's kind of fun. Yeah, no one's in here until after the ball team leaves. It's fine. No. That poor teacher's lounge, man. Yeah. It's fine. If this is wound down, then when you open the door,

you find Caleb standing really at attention with two books in his arms. And he says, Good evening, Mr. Bernardo. I'm here to speak to young Master Bernardo. Is he at home? Oh, he's here. If you can find him.

At which point you hear, Hello? You hear. What was that sound? Within your perception, you easily see this halfling boy jump over the bed, almost like a 70s action movie, sliding over the car hood, just jumps over the bed, folds in, and then ducks underneath the bed, and is quietly sitting there with this little toy crossbow

there, waiting in shadow. Careful, I do not have my Ring of Evasion on anymore. Mortal peril around you. I've come looking for you. May I borrow you for a word? Dang it, I thought he couldn't see me. He's a wizard, he can see through walls. That's unfair.

Yeah. But pertinent to our conversation, I go and I kneel down in front of him. Listen to me. We are going to borrow your mother for a little bit longer, but I have a bit of homework for you, if that's okay. I hope this is not too presumptuous, but I've taken it upon myself to bring you a gift.

This book is a collection of Zemnian fairy tales. Oh, not the creepy one? Well, only some of them are creepy. Some of them are quite joyful. Cool! I thought you would like them. Quite joyful. Zemnian joy.

I was raised on these. So that will pass the time in the place that you're going to be, your mother will tell you. But this book is, it's probably a little too old for you. Maybe in a year or two or three, you will be ready for it. But this is the book that I first started to understand magic.

Mom, can I? I mean, of course. Yeah, yeah, it's just like... In it. I'll leave it. We'll leave it. When Yeza says it's appropriate, then you may take a peek. I hand it down to Yeza, too, and say, yes, this is in your it's appropriate, then you may take a peek. I hand it down to Yeza, too, and say,

yes, this is in your father's care, and when he deems you ready. Yeza leans in and takes the book and goes, Then, once you've earned the ability by being a good boy and keeping your things clean and not shooting me in the rear end when I'm not paying attention or trying to get work done, then maybe in time you can look at this magic book.

And then I really laser in on the boy and say, yes, that is right. Your mother and father are very skilled individuals and a credit to the Empire. And you have a lot of potential, just like your mother. So what I want you to do is study. And one day, if you like,

if it's okay with you, looking at the father, if you want to learn, I hope you will come and find me. Make a persuasion check. Where's the one? 18. 18. For as much as he is an easily distracted child, he is entirely honed in on what you're saying

and just nodding. Okay. And the first thing I will teach you is how to see little scamps like you, the way I found you today. Okay. You be a good boy, You listen to your father. Your mother will join you soon.

Okay. You're a family of the Empire. We have to keep you together. That is what matters. Now he starts getting a little fiddly. Go hide, go hide. And he jumps off the bed again. Where did he go? He's just too good.

Oh well, hopefully I imparted my wisdom. You hear him giggling under the bed. I will see you someday. All right. All right. Then the act drops, and I'm on my heap again, and I walk away from the room. Fair enough. Well, this is transpiring.

The two of you have carefully coasted downstairs, behind Blude, blending into the environment. You're looking like you're helping busk tables, which, as you're doing that, Carlos, from behind the bar, glances over and goes, puts his fist down and starts walking over towards you. Oh shit. Which, there we go.

Hey, excuse me. Who are you? Oh, I'm new here. I'm just sort of. I'm responsible for all the hires of the establishment. I have not met you before. If you are going, I need you to leave. Just some weirdo who started bussing.

Yeah, this dude just walks in and just starts cleaning tables and taking shit. Do we even fill out the application? Are you hiring? What? Dude just walks in and starts cleaning tables and taking shit. Do we even fill out the application? Are you hiring? Not anymore, you can't just walk into an establishment and start pretending like you work there. Who do you think you are, Steven Spielberg?

Deep cut, hold on. Deep cut. I'll just, yeah, how did I get in here? And I'll just start walking the way I came from. Nervous some people. Back to the stairs. You head back to the stairs or you head up? Yep, I'm totally fucked.

As you head to the stairs, he goes, ah, ah, ah, ah. The front door? Oh, yeah. It gets turned around so easily. I start walking towards the exit. All right, as you start walking that way, are you finding a seat?

I'm keeping, yeah, I'm trying to stay within maybe hearing distance, but definitely keeping a watch on everything. Okay. Now, as this is happening, Blue is just walking through the tables, getting an eye on everybody, glancing back at you,

suddenly walking around and walks towards the outside edge. And there's the main exit doorway, which you are being ushered towards as you see Blu arcing around the side of it. And there's two individuals sitting, hoods up a little bit, but toss Scarf around the side. You can see them both,

from what you can tell, the lightning here, nobody you recognize, but they're both just have two drinks on the table, arms crossed, and they're just settling there quietly, occasionally talking to each other, and as Blue approaches, they glance up and look at him. Blue leans in. Make a perception check. Both of you, actually.

19. 20 flat. With a 20 in your proximity to the door, you can just make out some of the conversation as you're making that way. And Blue just says, I haven't seen you around here before. What's your business?

And one of them goes, Oh, we're just passing through. This is a place of drinking and sitting, right? One of them goes, Yeah, but some of my patrons don't take kindly to your stairs. So I ask again,

do you have any particular business or do you need to find drinks elsewhere? We have patrons all over. We don't need to. Take kindly to people who unsettle our usual clientele. Do I recognize the accent from those two gentlemen? It sounds loosely Marquesian, maybe. Make an intelligence check. It sounds loosely Marquesian, maybe.

Make an intelligence check. Actually, sorry, this would be insight. That's a natural 20. Whoa! What? For a 22. For a 22. What is happening? It's... You have a little bit of experience

with Marquesian and Marquesian-adjacent dialects and accents, as there is a strong element of that throughout the history of the Menagerie Coast and the cultural sharing of that space. And there are traders that do travel occasionally to and from Marquette that make their way to Port-de-Molly growing up. This is a weird accent.

It's Marquesian, but it's a little off. Hmm. As Blue begins to muscle in, arms on the table, and goes, I'm going to ask you both to leave. And they both look at each other, one goes, But we just wanted another drink. And Blue leans up and goes, Well, sorry to bother you.

Enjoy the rest of your day. And begins to make his way back to the stairs. Uh-oh. As you see Carlos over there going, Go on! Sorry. Shoo! Yeah, so, you sure? You don't need any extra?

Look, you already made a bad impression. And I hate to have to make a scene in front of all of my customers, but this is a fine establishment, so. The proper channels? All right. Yes. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Good day.

I don't have a hat. I'll go to the door and just sort of... How nice, that's fine. Look at the weather, turn around and see if I can make eye contact with Caduceus at all. It's a little hot. When you step out into the blearing light today,

the light adjustment hits you hard. You glance back into the interior, while out in the middle of the day, and it's very dark in there. Fuck. Darkvision, 60 feet. Cool. I didn't see what they said,

but I saw them do the fingers. With your perception roll, you saw the change in physicality, and you saw something, and you are very familiar with subtle magical gestures. And while this itself was not implicitly a spell, this was a very practiced, nonchalant gesture that seemed to carry

some sort of arcane connotation to it. I love Johnny Busboy Appleseed, who just goes around fussing tables in various restaurants. One day, someone will appreciate it. Yeah, I'll... You just hear the Incredible Hulk TV show music as he leaves.

He's there. I'll say he still buses today. I'll make my way out of the doorway and just out of sight around the corner and I'll shift back into my form and I'll just, I'll stay just outside of the entrance. Okay. All right. So you sit back up against the edge there.

You've got it. All right, Caduceus. You watch them both sitting. They're not looking at me, though, are they? At the moment, no. But you also don't look like yourself, either. Yeah, just checking. They're both looking towards the stairs.

At no point are both of them not trained in the direction of the staircase. Occasionally, one will glance off and take in the surroundings, but they seem to be, for as casual as the clientele are here, they are focused. And I can tell they definitely did some sort of magic-y thingy.

Seems to be. All right. Blude was getting very much in that, I don't want to have to throw you out physically when I'm about to. Like physicality leaning over the table and immediately after that gesture stood up, nodded and walked away. I'm going to...

I don't even think I got a drink, did I? No, you just sat down. Hmm. I think I'm just nonchalantly going to walk back upstairs. Okay. Once he walks up and I see him out of the corner of the eye, I stop. Hey!

What's up? What's up? We got a problem downstairs. What's wrong? Two guys down by the front door. Weird guys? Yeah, they've got magic and they are waiting for us to come downstairs.

Weird guys with magic, okay. Weird guys with magic by the door, and they are getting some bad vibes. Should we just take care of it right now? I'm thinking we're all kind of exhausted. I'm just thinking maybe we just shouldn't go downstairs. Oh, Fjord is outside, too. It's kind of complicated.

I'm really not sure what to do about it. He tried to bus a table. I'm not entirely sure what happened. He kind of got thrown out. Was he trying to be undercover by busing? Yeah, it was not a, it was a bad call. Really. Not even in the establishment, it's the least inconspicuous thing you can do.

It's the one person everyone recognizes, really. But he's learning, you know, aren't we all? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we should form some kind of plan because there are definitely people waiting for us downstairs. Do you think that they're related to the Assembly? I've got a little bit of magic left.

I've got some Hold Person. I can, if we want to get at them from the front door, if we can get down there without using the stairs, we can just find out who they are and what they want. And you didn't get any good visuals on what they look like, what they were wearing? Well, what I saw was, you didn't actually give me a good,

they're guys in cloaks? Right, fair enough. Two gentlemen in cloaks with almost heavy scarves around the shoulders with a hood that seems to be of a similar material to the scarf, wearing casual baggy sleeveless, almost like a tunic-type attire that's belted in the center with some baggier pants and some knee-high boots with some tie straps

around the top of it. They're both similar attire, but the designs and patterns and wearing is not uniform, if you will. But they're nobody you recognize, necessarily. Doesn't sound like anybody from the Empire. Well, it's not like we haven't pissed off an awful lot of people.

Where are they sitting? Right by the front door on the right side of it. If we're facing the front door, they're on the right side. Is there a way where I can get down low and just peek around the stairs and get a visual? I mean, just help check. 18. 18, okay.

You glance down, almost spider crawl down to the edge where the floor, the base part of the second floor and the opening at the top of the rail begins to peer down into the main area and you peek in there. You can make out, based on what he's specified, the direction and the individuals, though they're a bit far to make out, too many details.

You can make a perception check if you'd like to see if you can. Are they talking? We'll find out. Are they looking straight at you? Looking at me? Oh yikes, eight. Hard to see in here. Any specifics from this distance? There's this moody lighting. Yeah.

I mean, if we want to, I feel like we've burned ourselves out a bit. My thought is to come around the back and maybe try and have a contained conversation. I'd rather know who's trying to keep track than squash it at this point. Honestly, if they wanted to tell somebody where we were, they've probably already done so.

I really hope that this isn't related to a third party separate situation that we've pissed off along the way and now it's just like something else to deal with. It feels kind of inevitable, though, at this point, that there's just not nearly enough moving parts to our current situation. Absolutely. We should just add more layers

to the cake of conversation. Did we owe somebody money or something? Was it something about the boat? I'm not sure. Probably. You said they were wearing different, would I recognize where they came from? You said we didn't catch Marquesian, did we?

No. Especially not at your perception of check. I mean, they know we're here. We could just go down there and... That's why I was thinking we could go around. Go around. Kind of have a little bit of a surprise, hey friends. So it doesn't have to be a thing, but let's have a talk.

Well. About this moment, you both emerge from your rooms and you shortly thereafter. Hey, perfect you shortly thereafter. Hey, perfect timing. Yeah. Fjord got kicked out of his disguise. Wait, what?

Well, he got kicked out in his disguise. It was a terrible disguise. So where is he now? Outside. Yeah. He's outside. I think they just were looking at him and they were like, who's this busboy? And he's not here.

He's never been here before. He was a busboy? More of a server. More's never been here before. He was a busboy? More of a server. More of a server. Yeah. I think I, yeah. There was glass. It was a thing. He had a thing that looked very serious. He was like, you don't want to go down

and get into it with one of those. Oh. Beyond the wall. Not without an apron. He was giving himself a hand. Can I look over to the side of the... But he could go in and go, wait, wait. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wait, what? They're looking at the stairs over there. They say, as I walk over to the stairs, I We take a go ahead and go, wait, wait. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wait, what?

They're looking at the stairs. They say, as I walk over to the stairs, I'm going to pull back. How many of them are there? Two. Their magic uses. Let's just go fuck them up. Let's not fuck anybody up right now. Do you need, I'll call out my son?

I think that's enough. Wait, what is happening? What? We are not starting a fight in your mom's house. So wait, there's still people downstairs? Blue didn't close the bar down? He seemed to get enchanted into leaving them alone. Oh. That's the vibe I got.

He was in their face, and then suddenly everything was fine. I'm going to back up against the wall and turn myself invisible. Okay. Oh, I'll do the same. And after I do that, I'm going to walk over to the edge and look over. I think if we can get outside

and come around the front door, maybe we can just talk to these people without having to start anything in your mom's house. Or if, I don't know where you are, if your mother is ready, do you think she'd be ready to go out the back and we could just leave? Oh, you mean without causing a ruckus?

Yeah. It's a shame I'd like to know who's messing with us. I would, too. How can we get out of here that fast? Can you teleport 10 people? Not today. Well, then we got to get rid of these people or find a new place to sleep.

Yeah, we can't sleep here. I didn't get into any scuffles. Huh, here. I didn't get into any scuffles. Huh, what? I didn't get into any scuffles. I am actually pretty great, so is Yasha. I'm pretty medium. Yeah. I mean, your visibility only lasts for six seconds,

so I'm literally just walking up to the edge of the banister and looking over as fast as I can and looking down and seeing what I can see, and then. Okay. I want to see if Blulude is at least talking to Carlos, and I want to get a look at the people that are looking at us. Blude right now is not talking to Carlos

and is actually now heading back up the stairs. What the fuck? What about the two dudes watching us? Are they just staring up the stairs? Yep, they're just watching. Can they see me invisible? Make a perception check. Very fast one.

Do something crude. 11. 11, hard to tell. I don't know what this is. That would make me do something if I were watching. Back up. Invisible panic. They would've seen it. Why don't we get Fjord back in here?

By the way, I'm over here, guys. I'll be invisible and I'll just go down there and hang out in case shit goes down. But you or Fjord or Jester can go talk to these gentlefolk and try to usher them along their merry way. And if it doesn't go well, shit goes down. All right, how about this? Is there a window on the side that I can scale down

and go around and get Fjord? Just message him. Up the staircase, there is a small window that's on the upper left-hand side of the wall that it hugs along the side. Or there is the window in the balcony in the Ruby of the Seas room. You want to talk to Fjord, is that what you're wondering?

I just figure we might as well have people flanking this situation. I can go around, meet up with Fjord. We can man the front, come in that way, if you guys want to come around this way. Have people on our sides. I pray we don't start a fight in the middle of Jester's home, but hopefully not.

We really, it was rough in there, okay? I don't want to start a fight, but I do want to know who is following us. If there's another third party group or entity or someone else who wants us dead, I'd kind of like to know. I would recommend that Fjord and Caduceus go talk to them because between his insight and this one's silver tongue,

I think maybe we can have the best chance of learning. Let me go get Fjord. You can sit by the door in case things get weird. Exactly. Can you send a message to Fjord and let him know that Beau's coming? I can't. I will lose my invisibility, but he can. I pull out the wire.

I hear that you're a busboy. I don't know what that means, but we are sending Beauregard out to talk to you. Sounds good. The two people at the table had Marquesian-ish accents. They charmed Blut. Who? What?

I relay that to the group. He said something about the people downstairs had Marquesian accents, and they charmed your Minotaur friend. Does that sound like anything that would sound familiar to us? Mm-hmm. You've come across many different people

of Marquesian background. It doesn't strike anything directly. You'd probably have to get closer and converse with them before you'd be able to pick up anything like that. All right, give me two minutes and then we can walk up on them at the same time. I'm going to open with talking. Open with talking. All right.

I'm going to slink out one of the side windows, slide down, loop around, grab Fjord. Okay, easy enough to do that with your crazy monk skills. But yeah, you manage to scale down the wall, drop down into the outside pseudo alleyway, and then scoot around to find Fjord waiting on the outside of the front.

I got kicked out. I heard. Sorry, man. It's rough for you. I'm not hiring. I was very polite. Yeah. It wasn't a bad idea. I feel burned. It really wasn't.

I know it doesn't really count, but I feel rejected. Well, you were. In, you know, a few ways. I can make it. Carlos and I, we'll come to an understanding. It's fine. So the rest of the group wants you to be the front man. The face, maybe talk to these.

Sorry, what else do I think about Carlos? What'd you say? Wow, I've never seen you so dejected about this whole situation. Yeah, nope. Wow, it really messed you up. I mean, slap me. Pop! Ooh, sorry.

I didn't have to go so hard. Noses a little to the left. Yeah. That's good. What was the plan? They want you to talk to these guys. They want you to face. Oh, great! Yes, I'm down.

Who else is in the room? I don't think, I think, well, the guy who kicked you out, Carlos, Blue. No, no, of'm down. Who else is in the room? I don't think, I think, well, the guy who kicked you out, Carlos, Blue. No, no, our group. What, is it just you and me? No, no, no, they're going to flank. We're going to. Oh, converge?

Uh-huh. Yeah. Come out of the shadows. I like it. Cut them off. Do we have a go word, or are we just going now? Apparently it was Sarsaparilla, but I don't know if I'm waiting for that cue, because they keep separating people who can't send messages. Also, yeah, we can't send anything. I can't send shit, this keeps happening.

I keep pointing it out. You want to count to 20 and then we go? Sure. One, two, three, four. I'm going to start making my way down the stairs. Making my way down the stairs. Hiding. All right. I'm going to start making my way down the stairs. Make my way down the stairs. Ah, hiding. All right.

I'm going to cast Disguise Self. 34. 34, all right. And I'm going to look like my mom. Okay. Okay, all right. In her casual coming down-down-midday, you know, attire. All right.

So you're stealthing down, would you roll? 34. 34, all right. Ever so quietly, and you begin to stroll down as Marion, a handful of patrons whisper to each other and straighten up in their seats and give a nod as you make your way down the stairs. 18, 19, 20.

Bucket. We go in. All right. You both enter the chamber. As you're walking down, you're stealthing in there. What are the rest of you doing? I'm walking down as well. Okay. you're walking down, you're stealthing in there. What are the rest of you doing? I'm walking down as well. Okay. Same, walking down.

I'm staying at the top of the stairs out of you, just listening, because I'm fucking tapped. Okay. As both of you enter from that side, and you are just looking like yourself, right? Mm-hmm. All right. Same. Both of the figures stand up.

Stand up from their chairs? Mm-hmm. Mm. I just clench my fists, go on guard. I'm going to walk down. What are they drinking? You don't see, just two kind of, it's almost like clay mugs of some kind. All right, I'm going to walk down and,

may I? Well, as you're approaching, because they've stood up as these two entered and over that space. So as you guys are all walking in, you can see them both standing up. They both begin heading towards the door. Thaumaturgy. I step in front of the door.

Yes. Door shut. I reach behind me, click, click, just lock the door. Just want a conversation. We are very, it's... Anything I'd say is going to be threatening. It's been a lot today, and I'm frankly tired of hurting people. Some of the other patrons are like,

what's going on? And they start talking. What's going on? And Carlos is like, they ask why the door is closed? Dear, don't worry about it. Come, I need to talk to you. It's important. Yes, dear. Don't worry about it. Come, I need to talk to you. It's important. Make a deception check with advantage.

So many dice. I know, I was looking for my advantage dice. Oh, oh, ow! Eh, okay. That was a ride. 25. He's still looking confused over there, but begins to walk with you.

Can I get you a drink? Do you need a refill? No drink. The other one looks to the other figure. You see that they have different heights and the smaller one just leans forward and goes, Look, there is no conflict to be had here. We are just trying to convey a message to Bren.

To Bren? And at this point, you recognize the voice speaking in a Dwendalian-Zemnian accent. A female voice. Something you've heard before at a dinner table. Mm-hmm. We have been dispatched to cut you all off. We are here to let you know

in the short time we have that you need to go. Anywhere. Anywhere, but here. If there's anyone important to you, leave with them. They both look a little nervous, and the other one, the bigger one, is looking a little impatient.

The smaller one goes, Trent is frustrated. And beyond this brief little straying, it's the most we can help you with without putting ourselves in too much danger. We were never here. And I hope we don't meet again.

You weren't sent by Trent. We were. But we haven't arrived yet. Understood. Just Nicodranas? Or is he coming here? Oh, he has a conversation to deal with the break-in at the sanatorium,

to explain away what was done without drawing too much suspicion. You know, it was odd. It was on your advice that we made the attempt that we did at the time that we did, and yet there he was. I don't know what went wrong. I didn't set you up if that's what you're insinuating. Do I believe her?

Make an insight check. I'll take that as well, since I'm sitting there. It's a 16. 16? 20. 20. I mean, through the illusion, which is its own unique layer of adjusting

to the circumstance, it's a little hard to tell, but it sounds like there is a ring of truth to what she's saying. You came here. You were told? This place. One of the surviving guards had said there was a connection with those that broke in, and so it was assumed this would be

a likely place of arrival. We do appreciate the warning. Would you be willing to let us, I don't know if we can even do this right now, but if we can wipe ourselves from your mind, would you be willing to let us do that? At this point, you see the other one steps back and goes, I apologize now.

Just a precaution for you, to be honest. There's nothing you could wipe from our minds that wouldn't absolve us of any of anything. We never saw them come in. I understand your apprehension. You, your motivation, the one that sounds like Astrid, I understand. You, however, why are you helping us? I'm not helping you.

I'm helping him. And she just gestures up towards the rest of the building. For what it's worth, his intentions are good, and if things were different, we would be asking for your help, but. But they aren't different, and our intentions are not good. So you have to go.

Thank you. They both begin to muscle their way past you, Beau, to try and open the door. I just shoulder check them a little bit as I step aside. I'm going to head upstairs. Okay. They exit out the front. I'll trail them in my invisible form just to see which way they go.

Yes. Okay. Get it. Keeping distance. Mm-hmm. Fair enough. Gather everyone, we have to leave right now. We go right now. Yes, okay. I look at... I go and collect. Yes, okay. I look at...

I go and collect Beth's family. I finish telling Carlos some bullshit about the bathroom decor that I'm wanting and I make my exit as well. We will do our best to make these arrangements for you. I mean, we just had it redone. We'll take care of it. Carlos. Don't worry.

I... Maybe we should close up tonight. I'm feeling tired. I don't want to entertain. As you wish. He seems a bit confused by a lot of what's happened here and just kind of, he seems unsettled, but begins to go through the motions of and just, he seems unsettled,

but begins to go through the motions of cleaning off spaces and talking to some of the patrons at the tables, letting them know that they'll be shuttering up. You guys are gathering your things. Your mother is still packing in the room. Your family, they have whatever's on them and they had at the market. All the rest of their main things are still at your house, including the room. Your family, they have whatever's on them and they had at the market. All the rest of their main things are still at your house,

including the money. But you are currently following the two of them. As they exit, they make their way through the Opal Archways. You can see heading kind of in a northwestern direction to a familiar district. Actually, I don't know if you were present for the event, the party that took place.

The party? Yeah, were you? Yeah, I was there. You were there. Yeah. I'm trying to remember which party members of the group were. I locked somebody on a balcony. Yes, you did. So, yeah, not that house. Yes. That's right.

Not that house, but that same region. There is one building that looks somewhat officious, but also quite elegant. And they both head to that area. And as they step through an alley, you watch as the illusions fade and it's back to Astrid and Eadwulf. Though their attire is still

kind of a similar presentation as to what you saw in the Lava Chateau. As they begin to approach the exterior of this, you see the door open and it looks like another individual, though wearing a similar attire, but having the same volstrucker tattoos across their arms. It looks to be an older woman. Looks to be half-elf, possibly in her late 40s or so.

And to the right of her, a familiar red-robed late 40s or so, and to the right of her, a familiar red-robed Trent Ikithon. Oh shit. It's easy. Fuck. All of our suspicious neurotic beliefs are real. And we're three blocks away?

Three blocks away. Oh. Yeah, about a- Paranoid, if they're really looking for you. We're not paranoid! Trent is three blocks away. Trent is here! Three blocks from the chateau.

So wait, who's the other woman, also an older member? You've never seen this woman. Never seen this woman. Another volstrucker, female elf. And you see, as they come bolting out of the structure, you can see some other members of Concordian Guard following behind, hurriedly looking confused as he just rushes by and heads towards the gate,

raises his hand, the gates open, and you see the two of them approach and give a bow, and they begin having a conversation rather rapidly. Okay, okay, I will. You're still in the alley. They just left the alley to head in towards the front courtyard, fenced off area at the front of this larger officious structure.

Okay. I'll go back a block, getting away from them. Okay. And as soon as I, I'll just run back. Okay. I'll just run back as fast as I can. Okay. We're already, I assume we're already

halfway out the door at this point. With who? Everybody. Everybody. We've got to split up. What, meet at the tower? Meet at the tower. Anyone in that building in five minutes

is dead or tortured. Everybody has to come. Okay, so we're heading to Yussa's, taking different ways to get there. As soon as I get back, you know, I... Trent's here, Trent! Trent's here, he's going to be here in three minutes. We have to go now.

Everybody out. Can you message? To who? People. Sending message? To who? People. Sending message message. I have one sending left. Who am I sending a message to? Just so we have one with both groups.

Oh, splitting up. Splitting up the people who can message each other. We're just gathering mom's stuff and grabbing her bags and we have to go, we have to go now! All right. You guys are exiting through the front? Can we? Let's take it. There is a back. I probably have, yeah. Yeah, let's go down the back. Okay.

So scooting by, rushing past, Carlos is like, you can see now, most patrons are in the process of leaving at this point, and Carlos and Balud are both closing the doors and looks back. Leave now, run, go! What? Go! What is going on? Just listen to her and go, please.

We don't have time to explain. You'll be dead before we do. Fine. The building is compromised. You will hear from us in the coming days. Go, please. All right, let me finish closing. All right, you guys head out the back door,

out into the street. I would like you all to make a stealth check. Stealth check, please. Not my best. With a mother, a father, and a child. We got to split up. All right, so we have... Two.

16. 17. 34, 33. I'm going to give the Blessing of the Trickster to my mother to try to help her stealth. Okay. This is where our luck fails us. Seven.

20. 26. Ah, Marisha. Okay, two of us roll for that. Shut up, Marisha. Okay, two of us roll for that. Damn it, Ray! All right. So you are now darting through the streets, holding onto the hands of the stragglers,

pushing through alleyways and darting through individuals that seem to just watch you as you brush past their shoulders, abruptly confused and just trying to think. I just whisper to Luc like, remember what we practiced? Yeah, yeah. Do that. Okay.

Until eventually you work your way towards Tide Peak Tower. You can see the peak of it coming closer and closer into view. The sounds of the streets of Nicodranas begin to fade to once again, the sound of your heartbeat in your throat and in your ears, your eyes crisp, looking around, constantly paranoid

as to seeing any sort of familiar sight of the Volstrucker and or Master Ikithon himself as you make your way closer and closer to the tower. That's when we take a break. Oh my god. You bastard. Aw. Just one. Stop. We Aw. Just won't stop. Just won't stop. We've been playing this for years.

It's make-believe. I'm so scared. My heart is racing like crazy. My cardiovascular disagrees. Me too. This is what I've worried about since the first day we set foot in Nicodranas and it is happening. Yeah.

Yeah. At least they can't magically track us. Yeah, yeah. We have, well, was it long enough? Was it an hour? Did they have long enough with the necklaces that they? Well, they don't know who they are. We'll find out. For who? As far as? For our family members.

For Ruby. Your family members? No. Not us. Okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I don't know if they know who they are. They might not know who they are. Well, we'll see. They know who they are. There's no fucking way. They know. They know because Astrid and Eddowulf

said that they talked to the guard left behind in Ferguson who linked us to here. Oh my god, let's go to a break. It's got to be so bad. Break, break. Yep. Yes. Go to break. We're back here in a few minutes. We'll see you guys shortly. Oh shit.

Hello, Critters. This is Ashley Johnson, president of the Critical Role Foundation, our 501c3 nonprofit organization with a mission that might sound familiar, to leave the world better than we found it. We partner with other nonprofits to raise funds supporting causes that mean a lot to us. And we allocate 10% of all donations to an emergency relief fund that allows us to provide immediate assistance in the case of natural disasters or other unexpected emergencies that require quick action.

To learn more about the Critical Role Foundation and to donate, visit criticalrolefoundation.org. And welcome back. So, as you all are rushing through the streets, worried of being in pursuit of Master Trent Ikithon of the Cerberus Assembly, your semi-inconspicuous crew is pushing past street after cobblestone street,

pushing into the open quay or key, or however else you want to pronounce it. The quay. Remember that again? The quay. The outskirts of the school. You begin to approach Tide Peak Tower. Now still standing high above. You watch as you get closer and closer.

The shape itself seems to adjust with your proximity, and as you get closer, it is impossibly tall. Are we all still together? We didn't split up, right? We didn't work it out. Okay, then I'm going to send my last message of the day to Wentworth. Wentworth, okay.

And say, Hey, it's us. Open the door. We're coming to the tower. We're at the bottom. Come and open the door, please, really fast. We're here. Thank you. Oh, okay. Give me just a moment. Well, I'm saying that as we're running up, so hopefully as we approach, the door will be right.

Pass without a trace, pass without a trace. I don't have any more pass without a trace. That's fair. As you all approach and get to the base of the tower, you impatiently look around and there are some vendors that are watching this group rush into the middle of this open space around the tower. And anybody approaching Tidepeak Tower,

it's a rare enough circumstance. People tend to be a little nosy, so some people are just looking over. And as you notice them and glance about to where they are, you look back at the tower, and the door is there where it was not previously. Yes. At which point, the door opens up

and you can see the goblin face of Winsforce poking through. Hey, come on in, come on in. Out of the way! Run, run, run, run. Yes, also please remove the door as soon as we're in. Oh, of course, of course. As you all step inside, he's like, oh, oh, oh!

Malahide gives a bow to Marion and says, come in. Because you are carrying the ruby of the sea through the streets with you, which in its own right, a lot of people are, whoa, is that? This is quite a thing for Marion. Which at this point, you do notice as she comes in,

she is shaking. There is sweat pouring down her face and her complexion is much paler. Just look at me, Mama. Just look at me, okay? Would you like some help? Magical help? Certainly.

I'm going to cast Calm Emotions. Should help st... It does. It actually does have a very positive effect on her and she immediately slumps into one of the nearby sofa-like arrangements in this bottom floor of Tidepeak Tower and looks like she'd been through a marathon and is just exhausted.

And she's still clutching your hand tightly. And then eventually looks up at you with a soft smile and goes, I did it. You did it. Where are we? We're in a tower! A magical tower.

Yussa! Which point? What's this for? Let me see here. Just, oh, so, can I ask you, what's your business, is he with the master? We would desperately like for Yussa

to help us transport somewhere. Okay. It is actually quite tense, so. Well. If he's doing something, it is really worth interrupting. I understand that. He's not reachable at the moment. Is he in the ball?

He didn't go back in the ball, did he? No, no, no. After your previous conversation, he was going to go on, as he put it, an information-gathering excursion into the Astral Plane. Oh wow. Oh boy. So, and you see him going up the stairs

and giving a follow-me motion. Does he have a teleportation circle we can use? But Caleb, do you still have enough energy? That's the problem. Oh boy. Once more, we don't want to endanger you, but is this place safe, magically speaking? Yeah, I think so. We have somebody who's a, I mean,

we need to tell him what we're running from. Is there any chance you have the ability to work the circle at the top of the tower? Oh, any sort of magic on those, extremely rudimentary, sorry. What about the amplification circle? Do you have that? I could probably access that.

Let me see if I can wake up the master. And he goes and starts heading up the stairs, arcing up. Hmm. Do you follow? Yes. Yes. Okay. Heading up to the secondary floor, you come to his first base laboratory,

where you had previously spent some time with him, and where the ball of Halas, the Folding Hall's sphere, the Happy Fun Ball, is up on the counter right there. Curtains are closed, and you can see there's some general incense that has burned off, and the vaporous scent of it is fading over time. But in the middle of this chamber, you can see a lot of the tables and shoving elements

and pushed to the sides. In the middle, there is a comfortable reclined chair. And there, laying in it, hands folded in the front, lying back, eyes closed, is Yussa. And Winsworth goes up to him, the front, lying back, eyes closed, is Yussa. And Winsworth goes up to him, grabs the arm and shakes. Master.

Master. Is it company? Master. Well, don't, um. I don't know how to wake him up. I'm sorry. He's been here for about a day on his journey. Can we get a hold of anybody else from here? Do we have some, can we contact,

I don't know, Allura? I have no spells to contact anyone, okay? I'm out, I'm out. Or even is there an object, or were we talking no spells to contact anyone, okay? I'm out, I'm out. Or even is there an object, or? Where were we talking with a mirror, if I recall? That was Allura's mirror. She took it back. Do you have any magic left, Fjord?

I have all my magic. He can hit things. I can look like a busboy. We can just stay here and hope that we're... safe? I'm going to cast Command on Yussa. Oh, okay. I'm going to touch him and I'm going to cast Command and I'm just going to say,

wake up! No effect. Whatever influence he seems to be under, it is extremely powerful, and the will of his mind seems to be beyond the contact of such a rudimentary spell. Should I electrocute him? I think that may be a dangerous path to walk up. Well, unless anyone has any idea

of how to contact someone outside of here or to get us out, we should probably try to fortify this place. Yes, or move. No door. So. With a bunch of wizards coming, though, I bet they could make one. Yeah. Who's coming?

Wendsworth. Yeah. Some of the worst people from the Dwendalian Empire are on our tail, and they may come here. He's not going to like that. He hates when politics gets involved. I beg your forgiveness. Is there anything in this tower that can help us defend it?

Ah. Is there anything in this tower that can help us defend it? I mean, most of his defenses are tied to the master here. Is there any room that is off limits? Well, there are a couple that are off limits, but to everyone but the master. Maybe we should leave. Wait, we've been in some of these rooms. We've seen magical items and artifacts in his study, right? Should we at least peruse?

See if there's something there. Just see if there's something to get us out of here. Where are we? In his study now? You're in the study, yeah. He's still lying in the middle of the chamber. Let's just do a quick look-see. We'll scan the room for anything that looks that could remotely get us out of here.

Or help defend. I'm going to give you a D4 on that, too. Okay. So this is perception or investigation? Uh, investigation. All right. You're giving me what, Caduceus? I'm giving you a d4. D4. Good.

Investigation. 32. Oh! All right. And you're helping you, so? I can, if he gives me a task to look for, I can look for something, but I don't know. I'll say for the purposes of that roll,

you wouldn't be the only one searching throughout the chambers. But all of you begin to go through and Wensforth begins to, Well, careful with that. Oh, um, what were they, sort of, oh, this is a sticky situation. It's going to be fine. Oh, this is a sticky situation.

It's going to be fine. Maybe you should calm his emotions. Actually, that would give you an excuse of how you guys weren't involved because we gave you a whammy. So then you would have a very true story of how things went down. What's a whammy? I'm just going to make you feel a little better story of how things went down. What's so funny? I'm just going to make you feel a little better

about what's happening right now. Okay. Calm emotions. Oh, that's much nicer. Okay. So, yeah, if you can think of anything that might help, honestly, even if touching something would trigger an alarm that would wake him up, maybe, I don't know.

Well, you haven't been too specific. Are you just trying to defend the tower? Are you trying to go somewhere? What sort of your... Well, ultimately, we need to get out of here. Yes, best case scenario. Yes. First priority, get out. And if we can't find anything that can do that, then defend.

Ah. And with your investigation roll, he begins to help you go through some elements, and you get the sense that, for one thing, a lot of the text and a lot of the books here, everything seems to be empty. Just blank pages, but the books are old, and you get the sense that a lot of this is hidden

intentionally. But Wensworth gets an idea. He goes, I remember one thing I was cataloging maybe five years ago. Might have been used. Here, see if you can help me look for it. Of course, of course. He head up to one of the side additional towers that comes at an odd angle.

It's like a spiral staircase that gets wider and then shorter, then wider and shorter. You're climbing at an odd angle and then an upward a spiral staircase that gets wider and then shorter than wider and shorter. Like you're climbing at an odd angle and then upward bit, that you don't recall seeing from the outside. And as you head up into this area, it's like a musty attic. There are just sheets and tapestries and blankets

that all smell of old dust and mothballs and pulling through some of the areas there. You can see there's a glass case that has a little metallic emblem. Make a history check for me. Come on, Caleb. Nah, not as good as anything I've done tonight. 15. 15?

You do not recognize the emblem at all, but within this glass case next to the emblem, you see what looks to be a cylindrical, silver, or at least polished metal case, about that long. It looks almost like a cigar, if you will. And he goes, This was a gift to the master from the Pansovical.

Sort of, um... I think it might help. He just throws it in the ground. The glass case shatters open. The emblem scatters across the ground in the middle, then rolls and stops against some of the broken glass, and he. Do you have any knowledge of what this is? You did that.

Yes, yes, it was all me. Maybe. He hands it to you. Can you tell me anything about it, or is it up to me? Well, no, it was given to him by someone who jumped from place to place. The master said it was sort of an emergency. Think we have 10 minutes?

Maybe. Think? We 10 minutes? Maybe. We can try. Can you just look at it and see if you glean anything just from first sight? It's a metal case, but you do see it has a... Is it a scroll case? Scroll? It looks too small for a scroll case, but you see it's not a solid cylinder.

When you pick it up, you can see lines along the edges that do make you believe that it could be opened. Okay. Let's open it could be opened. Okay. Let's open it. No time. You don't quite see where to open it. Oh, I see, I see, I see, I see. Give it to me. Make an investigation check,

if you want, or you can do it either way. D4. 15 again. 15. You have no idea how this works. Gimme! You two, come. Gimme! All right, I will try to see if I can use

some thieves' tools to just find an edge and pry aside or see if I can. I backseat driver over Veth's shoulder and give her advantage. Okay, if you're helping her have advantage, on the investigation check, the DC is higher since this is another attempt, but go for it.

You also blessed me or something? Yeah, I'm giving you blessed because. Guidanced. Guidanced. Guidanced. Guidanced. What am I doing, investigation? With advantage? And advantage with blessed.

Mm-hmm. 29. 29. The two sides of it, you realize, have these very faint little pinhole buttons. And as you discover them, you push in both and it snaps open. And on the inside, you see a piece of vellum that is wound very tightly,

and a very, very compact scroll of some kind. I'll unfurl it. The baby scroll. Caleb leans over. As you unfurl it, it's, what languages do you speak? Just goblin and halfling. Okay, yeah, so you do not recognize the language.

Sylvan, Celestial? Nope. Deep Speech, Undercommon, Halfling, Dwarestial? Nope. Deep Speech, Undercommon, Halfling, Dwarven? Nope. Thieves, Cant? Abyssal, Celestial? Nope. Elvish, Giant, and Sylvan?

Nope. Infernal? Nope. Fjord, come on. You never learned a second language? I sit down and start working on Comprehend Languages, which will take me 10 to do. Okay. Yeah.

All right. I think we should be able to pass. As you're unrolling it still, it is very long. Like, the text continues, and as you reach this lengthy, almost three and a half foot element, it comes to an end, something falls out of the final bit,

a long metal rod that hits the ground and has this gentle, fiery, reddish ember glow to it. Is it a tuning fork? Do you know how to use this, Caleb? I'm busy making sure that I can read it, but I have a suspicion and it doesn't seem fun, but. I'm just going to show it to my mom

and see if she knows the language. Do you know what it says? Do you know what it says? I unfortunately do not know this. It's very nice handwriting. It is very beautiful. Blud! Blud, what language do you speak?

Is Blood with us? No, he did not. Is there a window in this tower? Luke, what does it say? There are numerous windows in this tower. 3PO! The room that you're in right now, no. It is like a compact attic. And by the way, the fact that you guys are all in there,

except for you, it's pretty cramped in that space. But now that you've found what you're looking for, it seems possibly, or something that might help you can bring it back down into the main laboratory. I'm going to just hover over Yussa and keep poking him in the most annoying sort of ways, like try to tickle him under his armpits, anything to try to wake him up. Okay. Does not seem to be reacting.

I'm just going to keep going. Draw a dick on his face. Well, it's not, I don't think that will wake him up. I know, but it was really funny. Okay. So, as you finish, you copy your hand languages, you read it immediately as Draconic, or a variation of Draconic.

And it is a spell scroll. Yeah. It is a Planeshift spell scroll. Planeshift is what I thought. And this tuning fork, I think, is going to take us someplace hot, but not quite as hot as this place. So who wants to go to hell or the plane of fire, or I'm not entirely sure.

Can it take all of us? Can you tell by the scroll if it can take, there's more than 10 of us here. And if we rest, someone can get us back. Yeah, that's an excellent point. We are with Yeza. We have the kidney forks, right? We do have, yeah, we have a thing tuned to this plane. Yeah. We have 10 people,

not including Bued and Carlos. Blued ran, they ran. They ran? Yeah. So it's just 10 of us. It's just three plus us. It's 10. Correct. Yeah. We're the mighty 10. You and up to eight willing creatures.

I mean, yeah, is it a good idea to take Luc into the Plane of Fire, too? We're not going to leave Luc here at this tower. That's what I'm saying. So we would be taking him someplace hot and potentially very deadly. Winds forth. Oh, we're not going to leave him here alone.

I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm suggesting we have to find another solution that's not teleporting to a plane made of flame. Can two of us go elsewhere? Who was it that gave this to you? I don't know if it was given to me in particular, it was given to the master. It was the Pansoffical, I think.

The priorities of the family members, right? Your husband and son, your mother. That's key. There are so many of us that can change our appearances. We can't be scrared on. We should split and scatter, and the family should be taken care of. I agree.

Winsforth, is there an entrance to the sewer from here? Or nearby? Because we've actually had pretty extensive journeys in the sewer beneath Nicodranas. I mean, likely. I haven't been to it. No secret access in this tower? No, where would we go in the sewer? Fair.

Do you have a shitter? I mean, yeah. Is it just like an open situation? No. Get us out of the ground. We got in last time by taking a gate through the docks. Maybe trying to travel underground and getting out of city. Who's fast and... You and Fjord are pretty fast.

Are you fast? You're fast. You're a fast runner. Not quiet, though. No. 50 feet. What do you suggest? I don't know, but I'm just trying to think. We would need Caleb to come to this other plane to get us back, and I want to stay with my family.

That's a day. We would have to be there for a day. We would have to sleep there. I have an idea. What is it? You all walk away from here and I wait outside. To talk? Why? That seems like a terrible idea. What's the other idea you have?

We split up, some of us go away. Take the sewers, get out of town, you know, get out of town. On foot, the old fashioned way. Caleb, if they take you. What do we do? We can't even get back to Eiselcross without you. Unless Yussa wakes up. But even if we got there,

we can't do anything without Caleb. He's our- It's true. It's a noble thought. But we literally need to bring them. Maybe I convince them that they are needed. Maybe I convince them that there is something bigger than their petty grievances.

And what, they walk away and say, okay, you're right? Maybe I trade your safety for my obedience. There is no safety without you. One week. If they take you away,

it means the next thing we're doing is a jailbreak. Who knows how long that will take. That's super hard. I appreciate the notion. They could send you, they could send you. Or kill us, or pick us off one at a time. I don't think we're there yet. I don't know what the other solution is yet.

The other solution is four of you go to the sewers. Yep, I'm one, you're two. I'll go. Who's three and four? Or just three. I can go, I mean. We have message spells. You can reach out and find us later. We'll disappear. I'm from the Menagerie Coast. I can get us on a ship.

No problem. Go to Port Damali. Whatever we needed to do a hideout. Just make sure the family members are taken care of. You with your mother, you with your husband and your son. I'll go wherever I'm needed. We can smuggle them out. If you guys want to stay here. Is that where you were suggesting?

It was more or less where you were suggesting. Yeah, use the spell. They don't want us. They want you and they want your mother and your family to squeeze. And they can't find us. If we go with us and Jester, we won't have a healer.

Just kidding. I'll also say, how long have we been here? Probably 20 minutes at this point. I was going to say 40 more minutes and they will have attuned, since they haven't really been doing anything. They might know where we are right this moment, though. They might be outside.

Are there windows? That is fair. Is there any way to see outside of this tree? Arcane means would be preferred, rather than sticking my head through a window. Well, the windows generally can be shifted by the master, but he's not here. Oh, no. But there are windows you can look through.

You don't have a spoon that you can look into and see outside on a rotating 180-degree axis? That's a really cool item. That is a really cool item. I don't, but I'll ask the master when he comes back. I have a terrible idea. It better be a good, terrible idea. Blow up the tower?

We can hide them in the one place we know they won't be able to find them. In the ball? Just for a little while. Caduceus! Wait, what if some of us went in the ball and then we could carry it as an object through this plane-shifting thing?

That's actually... I don't think that's a good idea. I don't remember how to get out of the ball. And the problem is, is that You had to make it to an exit. The time-bending stuff. Yeah, well, just going in the ball, we had two years pass.

Weeks, it could be weeks. Well, if you're in the ball, time passes quickly. Time, it feels normal to you, how it's passing? Correct. Lucien is? If you're out of the ball, it goes quick. So a person who's clutching the ball and trying to hide it out, in this theoretical circumstance, for them, what would have been 30 minutes

could be like 30 seconds to a minute, whoever's in there. So really, only a couple people need to go in the ball so that we can carry those people through to the next thing, and then we can get those people out of the wall? Do we know how to get people out of the wall? When you went into the ball, you dropped- You know how to get out from the inside,

so somebody would have to- Go in. Would either have a spell to get them out or to find one of the exits that you're aware of. Oof. Yeah, it drops you in the study, and then it's a thing. Right? It drops you in the study. Is the Happy Fun Ball safer than going to the Fire Plane?

Well, we don't know if it's a Fire Plane. It could be the Fey Realm. It could be any plane. I love little shiny things that are red. Does the scroll indicate where the tuning fork is? No. No. The scroll is just a spell and the- And the tuning fork is the tuning fork.

Yes. Sweet. You were going to try and identify it, it would take too long. It'd take me 10 minutes. Could try and identify it. Roll it. I'll go to one of the windows. Okay. Sorry.

The tuning fork. Ditto. Is that a nervous hand? I do it when I get nervous. I think we should just get out of here. I think we're giving it too much time and they're going to figure out how to get into this tower. They do, too. It's going to be hard to get into here, but yeah.

Let's wait till we know that they know where we are. Quick question, is the tuning fork instantaneous if you read the scroll? Yes. Okay. That's the fallback. Yeah. Yeah. If they breach this tower, you motherfuckers run. That's a good idea. No questions.

But we have to be able to read the scroll, right? I can read the scroll. For the next hour. Oh, okay. Okay. We're good. Let's check the window and everything else we were saying we were doing. Oh shit. Okay. So make a perception check as you glance out the window.

And I begin to identify the tuning fork. Reduce this as well, yes, please. Yep. Headed. Okay, taking make a perception check as you glance out the window. And I begin to identify the tuning fork. Caduceus as well, yes, please. Yep, headed. Okay, taking 10 minutes. So family would go in the ball, right? 19. Or through the fork. No, no, family wouldn't go in the ball because whoever's in the ball

has to know how to get out of the ball. So we wouldn't want the family to be in there. The family would travel with Caleb and the tuning fork, and then hopefully this tuning fork takes us nowhere bad that might kill the family. If anyone goes in the ball, it has to be the most well-rested individuals who can get out safely.

But that's also bananas, because you might need the most well-rested people to defend in whatever plane this is. The exhausted people go in the ball and they just sit down and rest, because it's going to be weeks or eight hour rests. Unless a golem comes and kills you in the ball and they just sit down and rest because it's going to be weeks or eight hour rest. Unless a golem comes and kills you in the ball. Well, I can't go in the ball.

Man, this is a pickle. I can't go. Caleb can't go in the ball because Caleb needs to cast the spell. I think Beauregard has the most history and access to knowledge of arcane shit other than Caleb. Without actually being arcane, which is a disadvantage in there.

But I'm fresh. Being arcane. We figure out where this tuning fork goes. You should go in with the families to protect them and to have the knowledge to get out if Caleb can't be there to lend his advice for magical bullshit. I don't want the families to go in the ball. The families can't go in the ball.

Figure out where the door to the fuck is. The ball hasn't even been out of her house. Keep figuring out where we're going. Yeah. What do we see, by the way? Well, you glance out from the edge of the window, you look down into the courtyard. This one perspective of the courtyard,

kind of a little bit south of where you came towards the tower, but you can make out the alley that you poked through to get here. Nothing that resembles the individuals that you... Worried about? Are worried about at the moment. Are there other people? But you do hear...

What was that? That's the door. Somebody's at the door. Okay, this is your time. You hear. What was that? That's the door. Somebody's at the door. Okay, decision time. We just need to go. We just need to go. I'll go in the ball. We're doing the ball, or we're doing the splitskies go in the sewers? Or do we just talk to them?

Nope. No, we're not talking to them. Just throwing it out there just in case. If we can do this, we're doing a plan. No, we ain't talking. Into the ball. Who's going in the ball? I'll go in the ball. We're doing the? Into the ball, who's going in the ball? I'll go in the ball. We're doing the ball?

Mama is not going in the ball, be safe. I don't remember how to get out of the ball, but. We need someone who knows how to get out of the ball. Well, everyone who's been in the ball knows how to get out of the ball, right? You hear from downstairs the voice of Wensworth go, Who is it? Fucking Wensworth!

Beauregard. Don't let them in. Don't worry about fighting. These people can fight. I need your mind inside the ball. You have to go in. I think the exhausted people should go in, man. Everyone who's been in the ball knows how to get out, especially if you just stay in the study and rest. You're not the only one who is somewhat rested.

I need your mind in there. Eight people can go in this teleport spell. No more people need to go in the ball than needs to go into the ball, as long as we have people who know how to get them out. Was it the dragon room? Is that how we got out? That was one time. There's no dragon anymore.

Nope. Maybe? Probably. All right, all right. I'll go in the ball. Oh, this is such a bad idea. I mean, we just need to move now. This whole day is a bad idea.

Who all's going in the ball? You're going in the ball. If you go in the ball, you'll get dropped in the study. There's one room, it's just the dragon exit. That's it. That's the way up. It's just one room. You just have to remember which one goes to the dragon. Here, take the map. Who's going in?

I've got the map. Are you going in? I've got the map. Are you going in? Where are you going? I'll go in with Beau. All right. Oh, you guys are just going to fucking make out, aren't you? Yeah, obviously, but it's fine. You need at least one magic person to charge those glyphs in the dragon exit room.

That's not me. Oh, fuck. Deucy. I'll go. Are you sure? I'll go. You don't have any magic. It's going to be days in there! Okay. At this point, you hear Winsworth saying,

I understand, but the must is not currently available. Can I take a message? We have to open up the fucking bar. How do we do that? I open it. We're going to give you one day. You're not out in one day. If it's one day for us, is it like a week for them?

Or is it the opposite? What is it, Matt? Will you explain that again? The time dilation, time goes by quicker when you're inside the sphere than it does outside. So if it's a day outside, how long is it inside? It can be many, many days. Okay. Many, many days on the outside.

So we could bring them back in 30 minutes and maybe that's a whole day. Yeah, on the inside, it could be many, many days. Okay. Many, many days on the outside. So we could bring them back in 30 minutes and maybe that's a whole day. Yeah, on the inside, it could be many, many days. Correct. Long time passes on the outside, while less time passes on the outside. The times you've been there, you've been like, oh, I've been here for a day or so, and you left and everyone's like,

you've been gone for two weeks. Oh, that's what I'm saying. It's the reverse of what we're thinking. That's bad. Oh, then I'm useless in there because I've got no spells. I shouldn't go. But we need someone magical to... I thought it was the other way around got no spells. I shouldn't go. We're also trying to be in pollution. I thought it was the other way around,

so then we can't do that. We could just teleport and scatter. Because then we could be fucked in there for weeks and then we miss everything. Well, no, no, no, no. No, sorry. To clarify this, because I feel like this is going to be communication.

Time passes faster when you're in the ball, like meaning in the real world. So what should be like an hour or a couple of hours inside the ball is a day outside of it, approximately. I have to look at the math again. Right, that's right. So whoever's outside of it,

the people inside the sphere, time goes by quicker. So in theory, you could get a short rest or a long rest in the inside of the sphere for an hour outside of it. Does that make sense? And I don't think anybody would, if you were inside, I don't think you would miss what's going on outside

because we could bamf you out. It's the opposite of what you're saying, Matt. If an hour goes by outside, how many hours go by inside? No, many more. That's what I'm saying, yeah. Then it is favorable. A long rest inside the ball. Yes, time is. That's what I'm saying, yeah. Then it is favorable. A long rest inside the ball.

Yes, time is going faster inside the ball. Gotcha. So, sorry, time is going fast. It's like one of those weird things to describe. Because the way the architecture on the inside of the sphere is currently set, and nobody's found the device that controls the passage of time in there, currently it's set to accelerate the passage

for anybody inside the sphere. That's why Halas basically wanted to skip through history for a period of time, if you wanted to keep it in that four memento. So if you get a rest, you would get a short rest. Yeah, it would be like an hour inside the ball would be a day outside of the ball. So whoever goes in is not going to be able to.

Yeah, if you take the longest in the ball, it'll be days outside. Because I remember Yasha thought we were dead because we went inside the ball for two days and she was like, you were gone for a week. Correct, sorry. I was thinking of the idea of, if you're using the ball to try and get people

out of harm's way, as long as people are outside, necessarily, they could help them out, but it depends on how quickly the people on the inside can make their way to the exit. How many spells do we need to activate the dragon room? If you can go into the ball and beeline for the exit. Any level? You don't rest. You go as quick as you can to the exit.

That means that a day or so will pass for us. I just used Eldritch Blast on both of them and they charged up and it fed to the middle. Or do you remember how to do it. Yeah? Okay, and then you guys are going to go to Fuckall and rest for a day? Yeah. Yes.

I've got the map, I'll go in with you. You three. Yes. Okay, and we're taking the family members. No! No! You're staying out! You go now! Do not take my son into that ball! Put us in the ball! Better hope the ball isn't as bad as wherever we're going.

Or hell. Ball or hell. So it's you three and Fjord, right? Jester, Fjord, Beau, and Yasha going in? Is that it? I need to go in. You hear, Excuse me, I'm sorry, you have to go! You can't come in here!

I'm opening it. I'm retracing my steps with the operation of the ball. I'll send a quick message to Wensforth, saying, Wensforth, thank you so much for this. We will make this up to you. And then I guess we go. Make an investigation check. That is a 24. 24.

Actually, you would have advantage on this because you had done this before. Yeah. Oh, this is the ball. Less. Less. But I'm guiding you. Guiding me? Well, if I'm allowed the guidance,

the highest roll would be 27. 27, okay. I only have to say that in advance. Because you traced the elements here, and there are multiple solutions to this in some degree, but the one that you know, at least will bring you to a familiar space, you go ahead and start shifting the things.

Eventually the ball clicks in, and at that point, and you would know that it is a radial thing from where it happened before. So for those who are not going into the sphere, you would know as he's doing this to step back. Oh. Do I need to step back or not? Well, step, whatever, it's a radius around the sphere.

Hand me that fucking thing. I toss it to Fjord and say, turn that dial on the end and then press in on the bottom. Ready? Us three, right? Boom, boom, boom. Them two? All right. Look, watch this. Just one, two, three.

Yeah. You. Just us. Bye. Us three. Us three. Yes. Okay. All right. Do it, open the back. I did it.

Open the door, open the door. I grab the ball and hold onto the ball. Woo! The ball. Oh yeah. I will use the scroll instantaneously to open the gate. Okay. It is a six second casting time. Okay. Oh is a six second casting time.

Okay. Oh my god! I think I can steal a few things from the room. So as you complete the final bit of the puzzle, it clicks in, the light brightens up and there is a sudden flash, and everyone who is in the proximity of Fjord, who had chosen to go into the sphere, are gone,

and the ball just onto the ground. I run over and grab the ball. I'm holding onto the ball. All right. And you are currently going through the scroll? Yes. Reading it, reading it. As you're reading it, the fork is heating up and heating up and heating up. And it almost begins to burn your hand

as you're pulling it down. But it's a pain you're familiar with. And as you go to complete the spell, the door entryway opens up and you see they're darting in. You see Astrid, who looks over and hand out, you know the presence here.

This is the at the ready for a Counterspell. You finish reading. The rod begins to glow brightly. And all of you feel yourselves being pulled from this reality as her hand goes limp. She let us go. Again. It's like Rolf in Sound of Music.

And, because that's a fun cutting point, I'll go ahead and end it there for the night. Oh! Where are we? Where are we? Are we home? Find out in a week. Yeah. I know where you are. We'll figure it out live. Cool. Yeah.

Good to figure it out as we go. It's better to find out live. That's what I figured. I was like, I could keep going, but I think we're right around the three hour mark. Oh, that's cool. And I think it's a fun beat to pick up on next time. My bowels!

I know, my back is hurting from clenching. We ran our butts off today. Yeah. Oh, god. This was intense from start to finish. This was high octane. That was such a fun idea. I hope it pays off. I hope we don't lose three members of the party

to the astral plane. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty fucking clever. I was like, huh. We'll see how it pans out. If only we had a holocaust card. Sorry, not to get too in the weeds about that time passage thing. Oh no, no, no, no, no.

No, it's important, yeah. That's out of story. That was entirely out of story. I'd like to think we were all arguing amongst ourselves of, no, time moves fast. Dude, you remember, time moves fast. Yeah, I feel like we were all arguing the same thing, and then because we kept arguing about the same thing,

I felt like I was explaining it wrong, and it turns out I ended up explaining it wrong while trying to re-explain it. Yeah, anyway, we got there eventually, and that's what matters. If you think about it, is time even real? It's a construct, man, just like this golem over here that's about to eat our face.

Man. This all started with one errant fireball. Wow. Man. Wow. You guys just booked towards the exit now and it should be more or less fine. Theoretically. Sure. Theoretically.

Yeah, everything feels fine. That shit probably moves around. Yeah, that's a thing. There's a lot I didn't get to see in the Happy Fun Ball. I really wanted to see the Crystal Mines, maybe one stop wouldn't hurt. Oh! So to clarify, to clarify the notes here, so we have it. Who went into the Happy Fun Ball? Beau, Yasha.

Beau, Yasha, Fjord. It's that fish date. You got it. Yeah, yeah. And then everyone else traveled to wherever it seems that Rod is attuned to. All righty. Ah. Child and mother and father in tow.

Rock and roll. Fantastic. Well, we'll pick up from there next episode. Thank you all for joining us. We love you very much. And is it Thursday yet? Good night. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure.

To help new listeners discover the show, please give us a rating and review on whatever podcasting app you're listening on. Until next time, is it Thursday yet?