Critical Role - C2E131 Into the Eye

Episode Date: April 1, 2021

After wrapping up with family and steeling their nerves, the Mighty Nein return to the frozen peaks and valleys of Eiselcross to weigh allies and plot their next course of action...Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode. Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResourcesWatch 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 play Dungeons and Dragons!

Oh. Before we get into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with the first of our sponsors, our friends at Ravensburger. Ravensburger. Sam. This episode is sponsored by our friends at Ravensburger, and the newest in their award-winning Disney villainous line,

Despicable Plots, featuring three new villains, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, the Horned King from The Black Cauldron, and my favorite, Lady Tremaine from Cinderella. It can be played as a standalone game or as an expansion for up to six players using other Disney villainous titles to expand the plot. And hey, speaking of despicable plots,

I'm going to give the cast an opportunity to weave their own dastardly web of evil on my head. That's right, fellow cast members, you're going to give me a haircut. Using this map of my head, I would like you to- Sam. No, no, no, no. We're going to go around the room, starting with Nat. You call out a number and say if you want me to use scissors

or a clipper and how short to go. You guys You call out a number and say if you want me to use scissors or a clipper and how short to go. You guys can work as a team and give me a mohawk. You could focus on one side only. You could just do face stuff. You could do a reverse mohawk. It's up to you. We do two, seven, and five.

We can just beat her the whole center of his face. Matt, you're up. You going to pull some Peter Gabriel shit? Maybe we do like that. No, like that! The clock has started, Matt. Okay! Can you get rid of all of it? No, this is Matt. Start at the chin.

I'm going to say, let's go ahead with five and let's go for the full Hogan. Yes, that's what I was going to say. Do the full Hogan. How many seconds until he's bleeding? You got to do the... Okay, okay. Be thinking of your next one, guys.

Marisha, what do you want? Okay, if we're going the full Hogan. Oh god. You're taking the full Hogan. He's so fucking gross. What else is there? Hold it up a little. It's fine.

That is really hard to do without a mirror. Marisha, what you got? Three with the razor. Three with the razor, like full razor? What do you mean with the razor? Well, I also have a little guard. Oh, no, full trimmer. Full trimmer. Yeah, zero.

Is this three? No, the other side. Wait, no, really, really? Sam! What are you doing? Oh my god! What the fuck? Give him the vanity screen so he can see what he's doing.

Wait, I have a mirror, where is it? Oh. Doesn't matter, it's gone. Who's next? Taliesin, go! Oh my god. If we're doing, you know? Yeah, clean that up a bit. Yeah, clean that up a little bit.

Yeah, there you go. I'm going to continue on to this. I'd say let's do one. I'm just going to say. One, that's the other side of your head. Same thing? Same thing. Okay. Use the zero. Who would dare do two to him?

Yeah. Oh yeah. You can hit him with the scissors. Oh yeah. All right, Ash. I hate this. I don't like it. I do. Okay. I kind of like it.

It's getting there. There's a part of me that kind of wants you to look like a D&D character right now, like a tavern keeper. Kind of, yeah. There's a part of me that wants you. You look like a D&D character right now, like a tavern keeper. Kind of, yeah. There's a part of me that wants you to take all of it off, except a poof bag. How do you? I know, I'm not going to make you do that.

I need a number. I've also got scissors. I'm liking where this is going, actually. I like where it is. Leave it where it is. Should I clean up anything on the sides? Yeah, fucking clean it up. Yeah, just clean it up.

It looks really awesome right now. It is actually looking pretty great. I wouldn't have you do this, but if Kevin's going to come in and deal with the Splodans. Just these sideburns. You don't like sideburns? Pull your ear down. Pull my ear down?

Yeah, you got to get that. There you go. Jeez. Down a little bit. This is like a scene from Brazil. That's why I love it so much. Oh, are we good? Travis, you got anything?

No, you're good, you're good. Is there like a... You look like a Mad Max character. So this side a little bit, you got a little, like a little right on this side. Kind of do the same. You're one. On your one. Is there like a secret menu, like at the coffee shop?

That's it, that's it. Get there. There you go, there you go. Well, there's his buttocks. I was gonna say, like, is there a number seven and a number eight? Yeah, I want the hidden menu. I gave you guys a chance to be villains and you were nice.

No, no, it's pretty wild. What's going on over there? Hold on, look to the right. Look at me. Okay. You got to clean up the- You've got Hold on, look to the right. Look at me. Okay. You got to clean up the... Just go straight up. There we go.

There we go. That's the daddy. There we go. You had like Giuliani drippy going on. At the top and the front. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, look at that. Now just shave an L in your chest and we're done. Wait, can I...

Do you do that for the full Hogan? I don't know what that is. No, I'm kind of looking at the sideburns. Yeah, yeah. Hey, that was, that was despicable. You look like you're working on Deadwood. Grab a copy of Despicable Plots right now at bit.ly. I kind of like it.

Bit.ly slash CRDespicable. And for a chance to win a copy of the game, head over to the official Robinsburger Twitter page. Ew. Which is at RobinsburgerNA. Matt, back to you. Wow. I mean, it's not a bad look.

He looks like he's headlining the Metallica reunion concert. Yeah, kind of, kind of. It's got a little bit of a Lenny vibe. It's got a little bit of a Motorhead. Yeah, I dig it. Thanks, kind of. Kind of. It's got a little bit of a Lenny vibe. It's got a little bit of a Lenny from Motorhead. Yeah, I dig it. Thanks, guys. I dig it. I really like it, actually.

All right, well, thank you, Robinsbury. I also do really like the little, like, you know, your little ducky shield. I can't wait to take our meetings tomorrow. But aren't they so used to saying I'm just looking different every Zoom call? That's true. That's probably a Snapchat filter that can fix it. All right.

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wide bonus when you check out using the code CRITICALROLL21, all one word, at elderwoodacademy.com slash CRITICALROLL. So go check out the campaign and anything else from the shop. They do amazing work. Enjoy and stock up. Is it sticking to the table? This is the one time, like, I'm so happy

we're not still sitting at the same table, because I would have had to fucking be next to him for that. That's true. You would have gotten beard clippings on your character sheets. I'll be itchy with little bits of hair. I'll be crawling out of my own husk. Wow. Look at you, doing manual labor.

Oh, well, you know. When this is over, I will totally shave your head. You've got to start somewhere. I will take a razor to your head. What's minimum wage these days? Is it like $40, $50 an hour? I don't know. I don't know how much people make. I don't know what money is.

Trying to get it up, trying to get it up. Just leave. Just leave. Just leave. And our friends at D&D Beyond, thank you so much for supporting us since the beginning of campaign two. Bring us home as we begin to climb towards

some intensity in the near future. If you use Discord, D&D Beyond has a bot named Avray that lets you roll dice, add your character sheet, access your character sheet through it, and track initiative right without ever, a bot named Avray that lets you roll dice, add your character sheet, access your character sheet through it, and track initiative right without ever, and track initiative without ever leaving Discord. There we go. Nailed it.

The words, got it, in one. Hell yeah. Nailed it. I was a little distracted by our gnomish friend over here. Check it out at dndbeyond.link slash Discord. That's what it is. I've made you in Warcraft before. Like, I have a gnome on a server somewhere that looks just like you right now.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Say like, whatcha buying? Yep. Whatcha buying? Yeah! Good! I dig it. And also thank everyone for joining us

live on Twitch and YouTube every week. To join our live and moderated chat community, please head over to our Twitch channel, which is the official hub of Critical Role. And Liam and Laura, you have an announcement to make. Yeah. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Laura and I, and everybody at Critical Role,

are so excited to announce our first official Critical Role novel. Yeah! Whoa! And to reveal its cover, official Critical Role novel. Yeah! And to reveal its cover, Kith & Kin, written by number one New York Times bestselling author Marika Nykamp. Tell us all about it.

I'm going to tell you this original story. We'll follow a brand new tale featuring the cunning ranger, Vex'ahlia. I know her. And the cunning rogue, Vax'ildan. It's me! And of course, Trinket, years before we meet Vex Machina, after the, oh gosh, after leaving the unwelcoming refuge of Syngorn,

the twins become entangled in a web spun by the clasp. And for the first time, Vex and Vax find themselves on opposite sides of a conflict that threatens the home they've carried with each other for years. I mean, there's things to read. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.

The cover is going to be illustrated by longtime artist, front of the show, Nikki Dawes, at NikkiDawesDraws. She's amazing. Amazing paintings. Kith and Kin will release on October 26th, 2021. This year? This year? This year. This year?

Do we still do years? I think so. What is time? You can pre-order your copy right now, wherever books are sold. For full details and for more information, head to CriticalRoleBooks.com. We have that URL?

Apparently. We're very forward-thinking. A new trash? Yeah. Wow. You guys.thinking. A new trash? Yeah. Wow. You guys. Cool. Unbelievable. That's crazy. Unbelievable. Fantasy novel. Twins.

Man. Proud of you guys. It's so exciting! Oh my god. Very cool. It's just so, because you talked about this for so long. Yep. All I want. And being the Dragonlance people, and the two of you, and the reading the books,

and it's the best. It's all connected. It's all connected. I love it. I want us to have a bookstore, and then I will work at a bookstore, and wear an apron, and give people recommendations. And we need to have a bakery in the bookstore. I mean, you need to have a bakery in the bookstore.

It's just that one book. Coffee, tea, cookies. I'm just only going to suggest Kith & Kith. This actually is a really great read. It's on the staff reads shelf. Staff reads. It's only Kith & Kith and Kin. This actually is a really great read. It's on the Staff Reads shelf. Staff Reads? It's only Kith and Kin. Yes, the only thing we sell. Just displays.

What do you got for DIY crafting projects? Well, Kith and Kin. Actually, there's a great scene. Awesome. Well, I look forward to that book in mortar. But until then, let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Stronghold's got an idea.

Roll! Roll! Critical! Critical! Roll! Roll! Critical! Critical! Roll! Roll! Critical! Critical! Roll! The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends And the DM to guide you And they rise from the flames For the battles ahead Villains beware

Cause you're about to be dead They got magic and flair They got falchions and cunning They don't see over there There's a monster incoming Inspiration is waiting Rise up, don't think twice Put your fate in your hands Take a chance, roll the dice Can you answer the call? And welcome back. SAM and LAURA And welcome back.

So last we left off, Vox Machina, having to tie some loose ends before making their return trek to Eiselcross, decided to take a turn towards the grove that was once the home and abode of Caduceus to go and check up on the Clay Clan. At that space, you got to see some folks, you got to check up a bit on these visions

that were being had. Some of you had some conversations, had some realizations and some shared shared anxiety with the adventures to come. Towards the end of this evening's final rest, the storm crashing in the distance, the darkened clouds and lightless night, the heavy rain falling all around, Yasha went out to think on the Stormlord

and the connection they've been steadily dancing around since her escape from Xhorhas. In the fits of this vision, this blasted wasteland of broken weapons and isolation, the brewing storm slowly coming towards you as flashes of lightning grow stronger and louder. You run into this storm with the final voice of the Stormlord saying,

Show me. At which point, I'm going to pull out a battle map. Oh! What? I fucking told you! This combat. Did you think I was lying? Well, I parted with what you were saying. He's going to bring out a two-foot tall statue for you to fight.

Their exclusive Build of the Month for March is available now. Oh my god. Each build includes a custom encounter bonus gift card, and of course, Dwarven Forge's hand-sculpted and hand-painted terrain. Delve into the sea cave of secrets at bit.ly slash dwarvenforge.cr. Or whatever it is. There'll be a URL.

Okay. Okay. Let's fucking do this, Junkson. Now. As you hear the words ringing still, show me. You see from the clouds above. There's thunder.

Yeah. Bits of lightning crackle and descend. Elements of heavy wisps and fog begin to gather as you see elementals begin to curl down from above. You see three creatures made of sparking electricity themselves like long serpents snaking their way down from above. I can't wait.

I can't wait. As these dangerous, burly, storm-like cloud entities begin to race down towards you, massive, angry, hammer-like fists of condensed anger racing in your direction. I would like the rest of you to look under your dice trays for a sheet.

Is that what that was? What? What did you do to Matthew? Wait, we get to yanker these things? You guys, I would fight all of you? Your job is to fight the fuck out of Yasha. Oh! I missed it!

It's like Christmas! Kill her! Marisha, what have you got? What? I got a Storm Spirit, a Large Elemental. This'll be you. That's my... Oh my god. Taliesin? I am a Lightning Spirit, Large Elemental. That is you. I am a lightning spirit. Large elemental.

That is you. I am a lightning spirit. I'm also a storm spirit. Unaligned elemental. Oh my god. What can they do? I'm lightning! There you go. I am storm.

There you go. And I am Kord, the Storm Lord. No, no, no, I'm the Lightning Spirit. That'll be you then. It's just Travis standing on the map. Yeah. Just kicking shit off of it. Fjord's like, let's go.

All righty, I would like you all to roll initiative. Ooh! Wow, Matt! All of you, independently. Wow. Wow. I'm only going to do blue dice for this. Oh, that's bad initiative. Oh, lightning would be fast.

Plus what for initiative? Dexterity is what it would be, a dexterity modifier. Without revealing anything to Ashley, these guys are no joke. No, they're not. No. Oh. Oh, they're not. Yeah. That's okay, that's okay.

You stand there amidst a crowd of broken blades of different sizes on the ground around you. No weapon in your hands. 25 to 20, anybody? What did we add, dex? Oh shit! My first roll of the night was a one. Matt, Matt, first issue of the week, we add dex? Yeah, you're dex modifier, yes.

20 to 15. 19. All righty. 15 to 10. 10. 10. 12. 12, all right. Sam. Laura.

Right, because you do get to have advantage on that. From your thing, yeah, good. All right, so. But I rolled a seven, so, you know, it takes me 10. Ooh. All right. so. But I rolled a seven, so, you know, it takes me a 10. Ooh! All right. Oh boy. 10 to five.

And you got no weapons? Five to one. Four. Natural one. Oh, you! Not my weapons, no. Ban for wings out. Going to make some fried chicken. Liam, you're up first.

Right there. Okay, well're up first. Right there. Okay, well, I will just close maybe 10 feet closer. Yeah, right there. And I'm just going to kick us off. Arc strike. Reach 30 feet. Go ahead and roll the attack. Here it comes.

Natural 20. Oh! Wow! Natural 20. Wow! Oh shit. Wow! We're going to kill Ashley. Well, yeah. I fucking told you. Oh no. It's the snitch reborn. Wait!

My dog's amazing. Okay, so that is 3d6. So here it comes. Okay. So that is 3d6. So here it comes. Okay. 6, 12, 24. That is 24 points of lightning damage. Oh wow. 24 points? Oh no.

Rage doesn't do shit against lightning damage. Wait, 3d6? Was it not? 3d6, it's what it says here. 3d6 lightning damage. Wait, 3d6? Was it not? 3d6, that's what it says here. 3d6 lightning damage. Right, 3d6 couldn't even add up to 24. It was a crit. Oh, it's right, it was a crit, I'm sorry. It's okay. You're right.

24 points of lightning damage, out of the gate. You're right. Sorry, I was caught in my own math for a second there. Oofy, okay. All right. As an arc shoots out and you feel the strike hit you and your body rocks with electricity. The pain hits you, all your muscles tense for a second.

You almost crumple to one knee, breathing heavy, and you see this serpent of electricity arcing through the air. That finish your turn, Liam? Yep. Taliesin. How far away am I from? You are right there.

You are about 25, 30 feet away. 25 feet? I'm not even going to bother moving. I'm just going to charge up another arc strike and I'm going to attack with an arc strike. Go ahead and roll for an attack. All right. That's a 22 to hit. That hits. It's not as, at least it's not a...

Nine points of lightning damage. Okay. As soon as you're reeling from the one hit, a second one hits you in the shoulder. It doesn't hurt quite as much, but you're now realizing just how surrounded you are. That finish your turn, Allison? Yep, that's everything.

Laura, you're up. Oh god. I'm going to. Enter! Jesus. I'm going to move 15 feet towards her. Can I? At least 15 feet in a straight line. I'm going to move straight up to her.

You can get straight there to her. And I'm going to slam attack her. So I'm going to turn this into a battering ram. Did I move 15 feet before I hit her? Yes, you did. You moved about 25 feet. So yeah, this is a battering ram attack. So I'm going to try to hit you with a slam attack. All right.

Battering ram! 22. That hits. Okay. Oh no. So that's 2d8 bludgeoning damage plus an additional 3d6 bludgeoning damage. Holy smokes!

Read those stats. I think you get more. Do I really? Plus five. Wait, if you didn't slam attack. Oh, and you're pushed 10 feet away from me. Okay. Okay. Okay. So 2d8.

Oh no. Yeah. You probably wanted initiative on this round. Would've been real helpful. 10 plus. You seem to roll real low on me. That's okay, I rolled low on my things. 10 plus, so that's 16 points of bludgeoning damage.

Okay. And you're pushed 10udgeoning damage. Okay. And you're pushed 10 feet away from me. Okay. Skidding across the dirt and the ground, but catching yourself as you stand there in pain. And I just stand in front of you going. So Yasha, at the top of your turn, as you're looking around, you hear.

An extreme impact hits the ground in front of your turn, as you're looking around, you hear an extreme impact hits the ground in front of your eyes, go blind from the flash of light. The ringing hits your ears. As you stand there, slowly taking in the space around you, you see on the ground, the small crater, and in the center of it, a blade that looks suspiciously like the one that you borrowed from Lady Kima. Energy sparking around it.

What do you do? It's in front of me? Yeah. Uh-oh. I wonder if I'm going to be able to use it. Okay, hold on. First things first, I'm going to fucking rage. Sam, right you are. Let's go!

Jeez. Okay, okay. Jeez, Louis. Okay, so I'm going to rage, and I'm going to reach out, and I'm going to try to grab it. As you pull it out, it comes out smoothly, and as it does, the energy arcs off of it, and this warm, vibrant light just emanates from you.

After about five feet, you become this lantern beacon of holiness, holding it in your hand. Show me love. Okay. Let me see if I can do this as well. I'm a battering ram. Okay.

Would that be considered an action, me grabbing the? No. Okay, great. Okay, so, so what I'm going to do here. All right, I'm going to go to Stormy Laura over here. Oh no! Still moving around, and I'm going to take my first slice. Go for it.

Okay. Rumble strikes or reckless? Reckless! That's what I'm talking about! Okay, wait, I don't want to use that one. I'm going to use... Ooh! 18. Ooh, that hits me.

Okay. And a one. Okay, so 18 plus... That hits me. Do I know if I'm able to use these stats yet for the Holy Ring? For this, you can. Okay. So that would be plus nine plus 18, 27. Is it a hit? Okay.

So we got these guys here. Can't I already do? Let's use this one. Okay, 36. Oh, Stormblower. Woo! Okay. Oh jeez, my math, my math, okay. These elements are crazy. 30 points of damage.

30 points of damage on that first strike. Okay. The blade carves through the air with this high whining sound. As it hits the elemental, you watch the blade barely meets resistance as it carves through. Part of it just apparates, and so now it's almost a lopsided elemental.

You see its arm begin to reform in its space, but it looks like it's taking a hit. That was your first attack. He's got a little flipper now. Flip it around and then go to the other side. I'm spinning in a circle now instead of reckless. Okay. 21.

That still hits. Okay. These are the tiniest little dice. Now Yasha knows how I feel. 21? Oh, that still hits. Okay. These were the tiniest little dice. Now Yasha knows how I feel. Okay. 21? Oh, that still hits, okay. Just wanted to double check. Little joys.

20. 20 points? 20 points. All right. You're still up. I'm still up. You're still up? Okay. All right. You're still up. I'm still up. You're still up? Okay. All right. And then... I'm just a little teeny storm now.

I'm just a little poop flower. So you bonus action, action and attacks. Bonus action. You've already done bonus action to rage, yeah. Oh, yeah, what am I thinking? Yes, yes, yes, I'm done, I'm done. Okay. Following Yasha, we have Sam, Marisha, and Yoran Deck.

What's my backstory? How did I become a storm? Was I? You became a storm roughly 10 seconds ago. By the will of the Storm Lord, you now exist and are filled with an anger you don't understand against a creature you've never met. All you know is you must destroy. Okay, okay, thank you for that.

No worries. I'm prepared to make my move. I will fly towards her. And if I can, hover above. Mm-hmm, you can do that. And I'm going to go ahead. Sorry, sorry, Yasha. We'll see, actually. I'm going to unleash the Maelstrom.

Ooh! Unleash the Maelstrom. Let's do it! You must make a DC 20 strength saving throw. I have to make a strength saving throw? Yes. Okay. Oh shit. Against you? Against the Maelstrom. Against the Maelstrom. Against the Maelstrom.

It's a strength saving throw. Which you are raging, which I believe you get advantage on that. Yeah. Yes, so pretty good, though. It's cocked. Okay, 23. Ooh, you beat it.

Yeah! I point at the Stormlord. So now you only take three DC, or it's 6d6 bludgeoning damage halved, right? Correct. I happen to have 6d6 right here. Okay. Ooh, that's really good roll. Ooh, that's 30 halved, so that's 15.

Well, I think you're also halved. But it's bludgeoning and you are raging, so it's halved again. Okay. So it's a seven. Dang. Damn. That's right, you're not knocked prone. You're not pulled towards me. And that's it, that's it.

You survived the maelstrom. I point again at the storm lord. All right. Oh, if I can, as a bonus action, I'm just going to swirl around. Okay, yeah, yeah, totally. I'll allow it. Good, good, yes. Make it your own.

Angrily swirl. Make it your own. That's good, that's good. This is really good work. It's a lot of you that care. Really good cold reading. Awesome, well done. Marisha, you're up. Travis, you're on deck. I am. I don't think I am within 30 feet of her.

Am I? Can I get up to her? You can just get up to her if you beeline it. I'm going to beeline it. Maybe. Whoa, yeah. Oh man, you've got a bunch of storms around you. Would that be considered a straight line to where I can also, a battering ram?

You can, yeah. I'm a battering ram. I'm so sorry. I feel so guilty. I'mma slam into her. Do it. Roll another 10. Oh, and is there plus lines? Is that what I, oh, I rolled a natural one.

All right. Good friend. Just. Girlfriend Storm is like, but. I'm not attracted to this one. I don't understand. It's the weirdest feeling. I'm not feeling your commitment in this. You're new to being a Storm. It's a little confusing. I was just born!

You do have a second strike, I believe. Make two slam attacks in one round. Okay, yes. Oh, wait! I didn't do that. You're right. I thought the battering wave rammed. Know your character, Laura. Come on, know your spells.

Read your spells. That is a natural 19 for a 28. That hits. Mine is a 26. That hits. Mine is a 26. Ooh. That hits. All right, so roll damage. They both hit. They both hit. Okay, that's 11 points of bludgeoning damage.

Mine is halved. Halved from her, so you take five. Okay. Nine points of bludgeoning damage. Which is not halved because you raged after her. True, so nine points. You got it. How you doing? How you doing? Oh no. Standing, but. Oh no. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. I, so nine points. You got it. How you doing, how you doing? Oh no. Standing, but.

Oh no. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. I was already pretty low. Yeah, you didn't take an arrest. We didn't arrest her, I didn't. Okay, so I should preface this with the fact that you would have been at full hit points for this experience, so. Do you know where you started

this encounter with hit points? Yes, I was at 138, and I am usually at 154, so. So whatever you have now, add 16 to it. It just seems like a distant future. Yeah, I'll just heal for 16 points. Go ahead and add 16 to that.

You got it. All right, that finishes Marisha's turn. Travis, you're up. I will move forward one square. That's the voice you're going to use for this character? I'm at the front! I'm at the front! So that I'm within 30 feet and I will unleash, I didn't make this name up, Ball Lightning.

Yeah! Ball Lightning. And I need you to make a Stinkiest kind of lightning. dexterity saving throw. I make a dexterity saving throw? Yes. Okay. I have advantage on dex.

Okay. 18. That's exactly what you needed to make. That's exactly what you needed to make. That's what you needed to make. That's exactly what you needed to make. That's what you needed to make. So you take 11 points of lightning damage. Actually, I don't think it, no, I think it's a save save.

A save save? Target creature with six, on a failure, they take 2d8 lightning damage. There's nothing about if they save. Oh. On a failure, they take 2d8 lightning damage. There's nothing about if they save. Oh. On a failure. Oh, that means that on a success, they just don't take half damage.

Half damage. Wait, yep, last line. Oh, okay. All right, cool. Might have been an older version. I was about to say, because that's not on mine, but okay. And it says, but she saved, that's not on mine, but okay. And it says, but she's saved, that's it. 11 damage. Yep. You're the older version of a lightning.

That's not how they do it in my day! You know what? I rolled the wrong fucking, wait, a d, what? D8s, did you roll sixes? I rolled d6s, yes. So let me. Scratch that. So put 11 hit points back in there, and instead, you're only taking...

Get that into two. There you go, it's fine. It's fine. Eight points of damage. Even better. Okay. And slip it across the floor. I never roll d4s. That's it. All righty, finish Travis' turn, top of the round.

Liam, you are up with Taliesin on deck. Fuck me, that. Oh, it looped around. We'll back away 10 feet and I will also drop a ball of lightning. Now, if I recall, the ball of lightning actually teleported you, too. Oh yeah. Only on the six-pointer.

Only on the six-pointer, right. All right, so you're doing it as well? So I'm backing away 10 feet, but also dropping a ball. That's another DC 18 dex save for you. Go for it, Yasha. Yasha. And is that, just so I'm clear, is that just against her character? Just against her.

Does it hurt us, too, or anything? Just her. 23. 23 saves. On a failure, they take 46 lightning damage. Okay. All righty. On a failure, they take 46 lightning damage. Okay. All righty. So you stay put.

11, 15, 17. So on a failure, they take this lightning damage. That is 17 points of lightning damage. Okay. You succeeded, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, so half that. But it's lightning? Yes. Yes. So, but it- It's Yeah, so. Yeah, so half that. Eight. But it's lightning? Yes. Yes.

So, but it. It's just the spell, yeah. It's just the spell, okay, I got it, I got it, I got it. All right, does that finish your turn? That does finish my turn. You got it. All right, that brings us to Taliesin, Laura, you're on deck. Let's see where I am.

Not going to do that. I'm going to go for also a ball lightning attack. Okay. We can do this, you guys. Make another dex save, Yasha. That's a dex save. Make it rain, make it rain, make it rain.

Hey, one of you lightning bitches fly up here. We need light. I know, we get boofs. I know, we need lightning up by us. Move up close. Well, if you would communicate with your teammates earlier, perhaps. 14. Oh, what happened?

That's your deck save? That's my deck save. All right, I'm going to take, oh. Campaign three character. Right there. Oh god. Just a bunch of clouds. All right, I'm going to take, oh. Campaign three character. Oh god, just a bunch of clouds. Just blood coming out of your mouth. Is this Jeremy?

I want to go to brothel. Is there an, okay, so I'm going to teleport to the unoccupied space. Yep. Oh no. Oh. Oh, you teleported in? Yeah. Okay, we're fine. side space. Yep. Oh no. Oh! Oh, you teleported in? Yeah.

I failed to save? You Lightning? I failed. That's 20 points of Lightning. Oh! I'm so sorry. No, it's good when it hits. It's good. Ball Lightning is good. Oh.

And his next attack is nasty. All righty, finishing Taliesin's turn. Laura, you're up, and then it's you, Yasha. Oh, okay. Since I've got a lightning spirit right next to me, I'm going to slam attack it twice. Go for it. You do have advantage on these attacks

since her last use was reckless. That's right. Okay, so that is 20 on the first one. That hits. And, oh, that is a big hit. Yeah, that definitely hits on the second. Okay. 16 plus nine. So, two to eight plus one.

10 points on the first hit. Reduced to five. Thank you. And six, eight. Eight points reduced to, oh no, nope, that's a lie. Eight plus five is 13, so six points for the second. Okay, now you are next. Are you adding the extra lightning damage

for being next to him? The lightning damage is not halved, so. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. What'd you roll for both of those? Two on the second, so add an extra point of damage. Extra point, okay. One extra point and one extra point on the other one,

because I can't remember what it is. Make it two extra points. Two extra points, okay. Just to balance it out, because we don't know what that was. Okay. All right, Yasha, you're up. Oh, I am looking a little rough. Okay.

Is she bloodied? Are you bloodied? I'm bloodied. Okay. You are surrounded by roaring storms. You hear crackling lightning and angry shouting thunder, and you are just holding this blade as the darkness swirls around you. What do you do? Okay, so I need to get out of here? angry, shouting thunder, and you are just holding this blade as the darkness swirls around you.

What do you do? Okay, so I need to get out of here, even though they're going to get an opportunity, so... Wings are coming out. Yes, they're coming out! Ready to go, and I'm going to try to just pull myself up out of their reach. Okay.

As much as I can, but still, I know it's going to be an attack of opportunity. So. That's four attacks of opportunity. Four attacks of opportunities. Three, technically, because the lightning doesn't get one. Okay. Do know, as your wings pop out,

this does not take your action. And this dreamscape, as soon as you will it to happen, they tear out. The bright white wings now, the wingspan widely out, the feathers being caught up in the storms around you as the blade still matches you, the light now glowing from it and you and the wings.

So you still have an action and a move. So did you want to fly up? Okay, so yes. So I saw. Okay. Yeah, so I'm going to try to just get above them. Can they fly? I'm flying above you right now. You're flying above me. Yes.

Oh, so they can fly as well. Well, okay. Oh fuck, okay. Oh, fuck. Okay. Don't let it stop you, go for it! Okay, that's fine. I'm just going to fly. I'm just going to get up.

So I know they're going to have to take their... If you're going straight up, then three of them will get a tax of opportunity. Okay, can I wiggle? Can I kind of like... Wiggle and quiff? Wiggle and quiff? Wiggle and quiff? So there's four surrounding me, or three?

Correct. There are four surrounding you. There are three storm spirits and one lightning spirit. So can I wiggle out towards, like fly backwards? Like this way? That way? This way? Like where I'm getting away from the... Oh, this way? That way. This way? Like where I'm getting away from the...

Oh, this way? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can. You will fly up and over and you will get an attack of opportunity from these three. Choke me up! I'm going to get an attack of opportunity from all of them anyway, right? Well, if you're moving, some of them.

Or you can stay and swing away. It's your call. I'm going to stay and swing away. I'm going to stay and swing away. I'm going to stay and swing away. Okay. Because those three attacks of opportunity could take me out. Okay. Fair. All right, so swipe...

Left. Swipe left. I'm going to swipe left. All right, so to which one? The same one you've attacked previously? Sure. Yes. That would be Laura. Go ahead. Okay, okay, okay, okay. one you've attacked previously? Sure. Yes. That'd be Laura. Go ahead. Okay, okay, okay. Reckless or not? Reckless.

All right, go for it. Ooh, that was a one, so thank goodness, some reckless. That's not much better. Oh wait, 17? That doesn't hit. Ooh! First swing goes wide, no impact. It's because I'm smaller than I used to be.

Okay, attack again. Second attack. Okay, that's better. Okay, so 23. That hurts. Okay. So come here, you guys. I'm going to do Savage Attacker because that was kind of low.

Make sure I keep that. Okay, that's better. Okay, so, oh. Oh my god, math. Okay, so 31 points of damage. Okay, I'm. Are you adding the additional damage for having your wings down?

It doesn't matter, because I'm already down. So that's an additional 14. An additional 14 points of radiant damage on top of that. I'm a big zero. Oh, you're out? But when I hit zero, I do my action move, Exploding Thunder. Oh, you do?

Oh shit. I explode into a thing of lightning and all of you fuckers around me take 66 bludgeoning damage. 66? 6d6. What? Windy, no!

That's all of you right there. Yeah, I know. So hold on. Ooh! This is the best I've ever- Did you roll all sixes? Four sixes. So.

Oh my god. That's a good thing. Plus sixes, so. Oh my god! Plus six, another six, so that's five. So five times six is 30? No, five times six is 30? But we get to make a dexterity save. You have to make a dexterity save. Oh. Including Yasha.

Including Yasha. I failed. I failed as well. What's the save? 18. I failed. I failed as well. What's the save? 18. I failed. I failed. Everybody takes 30. Everybody except for Travis and Liam.

But you're raging. It's bludgeoning damage, so it's half. So 15. And you failed as well, right? I did. Yeah, so you take 15 points of bludgeoning damage. Okay. And? 30 points of damage? 30 points of damage, and you're knocked prone, everybody.

I'm flying, what does that mean? That means you're on the ground. Ah! Ah! I went out with a bang, guys, and it felt good. Ow! Explosion knocks you, Yasha, onto your ass. The wing's still out, can't catch you with your fall, but you impact the ground.

Your eyes are spinning. The pain is throbbing throughout your body. So that finishes your turn, or you still have movement. So you can use half your movement to get up if you want to. Yes, I will absolutely do that. We're prone, so we probably can't do an opportunity attack. You're prone too, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so none of them get attacks of opportunity

because they're all prone. Oh my god, amazing. Okay, thank you. So it's half your movement gone. So my other half of the movement, then, I'm going to extricate myself out of that area for just a moment. Okay, whereabouts? Let me...

Yeah. For some reason, I'm a little itchy, guys. Do you guys have something to change into? No. No. I have so much caffeine in my system right now. Let's go. I know, I know, I know.

I still want to be able to attack them with the sword. So let me just, out of striking range, maybe just backing up a little bit or anywhere that's out of striking, I can't really see where I'm at. You're right there. Okay, there we go. It's immediate. Yeah, so let me

go that way a little bit then, I think. All right, how much more movement do you have left at half speed? Half speed would be 25 feet, so. All right, so you can fly about here. Flying? No. I'll switch it up. No. Great so you can fly about here. No. I'll switch it back. Great.

Let me hang out there. Okay. So you will be flying right up here. You watch as she just darts out of the explosion, and is up in the air holding the blade two-handed, wings in the air as up above her, lightning is striking in the dark clouds, flashing and silhouetting her from moment to moment.

So cool. That finishes your turn. How far away is she from us now? Finishes my turn. Sam, you're up. How far away is she? From you? Yeah. You are right there. No, sorry, you are right there, correct?

Yeah. Mm-hmm. So she's about 30 feet from you? Okay, cool. 25, 30 feet? Please don't address me as Sam. My name is Tempest Cloudburst. Sorry, Tempest Cloudburst. I'm a human.

And I have decided I am an Italian storm. You're just growing an identity over this game. All right, I use half of my movement to stand up. There you go. And seeing her in the air, I will fly towards her, but I can only fly 15 feet. Correct.

Go on. So unfortunately, you get about, we'll say, there, flying above your buddy. You're on my head. I've already used my maelstrom attack, so I cannot do anything. All right, that finishes your turn, Tempest Cloudburst. Thank you. All right.

Marisha, you're up. Travis, you're on deck. Get off, and I shove Tempest off and stand up. All right. What are arms? And then I... That's just your bow voice. It does look like he's like... Yeah, yeah. It's just, yeah.

Yeah. I, too, will Maelstrom. Okay. All right, so. I would like to Maelstrom. So is that a, which saving throw for her, strength? Uh-huh. Do you see 20?

Ooh. Come on. I didn't even get to maelstrom before I died. Sorry. Um. This is for Wendy. 27? Said Beau.

Yeah, that'll work, that'll work. Saves. Okay. Well, you're still taking half damage. I still take damage, and then halve that because of raging. One quarter damage. You're the half of the sword lord.

Okay, that's pretty good. That's 10, 16, 20, 21. So 10 damage, 11 damage? Do you round up or down? We've downed, so 10 to five. Take five points of bludgeoning damage. Five damage. How you doing, how you doing?

Whew. That's not the one that hurts everybody around you, is it? I'm a preteen at the moment. That happens when we die, and it just happens. All right, that finishes your go, Marisha. Travis, you're up. Yeah, I think I'm this lightning guy that's right over here, right? You are, right?

I'll move within 30 feet of Yasha, just out of the range. We'll say about there. Yep, and I will send an arc strike towards. You have advantage on this because she did roll recklessly. Oh noes. That will hit with a 27.

Oh! That hits. And that will be 1d12 plus an accumulated charge. I drop that. That's going to be five. Yeah, that's a 26. Oh! Lightning damage. I'm unconscious. You are. I'm out.

But you're also a 14th-level zealot barbarian. You better fucking believe it! Okay. What does that do? Stays up and fights dead. So she is technically unconscious, but the body continues to fight. For how long? She doesn't take zero hit points to her.

Yep. With the strike, knocks her in the air, and right as she's about to fall, the wings come back with a fury. It's even angrier, blade up. You now see where Yasha's eyes, normally are the pupils, have given way to arcs of lightning that now strike out of both sides of her head,

going down as her hair begins to lift. The air around her, the static electricity is now causing it to create this halo around her. All right. You see a little bit of rain trickling down Tempest's legs. I love how you said legs, but you pointed to your face. Yep. All righty.

Does that finish your turn, Travis? You got top of the round. Liam, you're up. Taliesin, you're on deck. So should I, do I count these damage points or I'm just fighting it, basically, just unconscious? You're just fighting it unconscious right now. Got it, okay, okay. All right, my Lightning Spirit

will crackle up to the top of that peak. Up here? Yep, right there. That should be within 30 feet. And fire off another arc strike. The range is 30 feet? Yep. Just out of range. Oh, is it? Okay. Yeah, just out of range.

If you look, going back and measuring here. It's okay, the 40-foot distance from the table might have messed with my- I know, I know. Spatial. Yeah. That's fine. So with my spatial. Yeah. That's fine. So it goes wide. Okay. I know it, baby. Doesn't quite reach.

Taliesin, you're up. Let's see. I'm going to get up. All righty. Oh boy. I'm going to circle around to the left and get a nice through the storms.

Through this way, you mean? Yeah. I can't move very far, can I? That's about as far as you can move right there. Am I still within 30 feet? You'll find out. Yeah, okay. Then I'm going to you know. She's in the range for you. Yeah, okay. Then I'm going to... You know. She's in the range for you.

All right, I'm going to do another Retribution shot. Wrong pipe. Go for it. With advantage. With advantage. She's like a duck. Ugh! Yeah, she's drowning in a rainstorm.

That's a, what's that to hit? That's a... Did's that to hit? That's a... Did you do it again? Arc strike, 19. I'm just so amped, I'm drinking all of the things. I have to pee. Yasha, 19 to hit? Does 19 hit you? Yeah, yes.

Okay. Yes, it hits. That's a 1d12. Do you have any reaction things you can do as a Xelad Barbarian? For this, I don't think so. I don't. I know, I was looking. So.

That's four feet. That's four damage, it's four damage. So you lose a death save. Ooh. Wait, any damage? Any damage when you're unconscious takes off a death save. Oh snap.

All right, that finishes your turn, Taliesin. Is it like the Matrix? If she dies here, she dies in real life? No, no, no, it's like Nightmare on Elm Street. Oh my god! If she dies here, she dies in real life. If she dies here, yeah, same thing. So, Laura is out.

Yasha. What if we kill her? Yasha. Wait, I don't know. Yasha, it's your turn. It's my turn, okay. Yeah, what are you doing? Sorry, I was looking for the Death Sting. I'll just know that there's one is. Yeah, there's one is spent. I can't find him, okay, okay.

Okay. All right, so I, in front of me, I'm going to go for the one, the, the, yes. All right. Still in the air, kind of slightly above it? Still in the air, slightly above it. Take a swing. All right, so you move down about five feet,

big sweeping arc with your blade. Go ahead and roll for attack. Reckless or not? Reckless. Go for it. Okay, good. This is against? 28 points of damage. This is against? 28 points of damage. 28 to hit. I mean, 28 to hit.

28 to hit, this is against? I think that's Sam. I think it's Sam. I mean, hey! You want to open the little thing? So I believe that hits you. Go ahead and roll damage. Oh, you've taken some damage because of me.

Yes. It's a me. Savage attacker, because that was not good. Ooh, better. Okay, so... It's so quiet while I'm trying to count. 18. 18. 25.

Is this plus your level for your radiant? Yeah. Dude, that radiant is huge. Yeah, I rolled pretty low. Right, but I'm saying the additional 14 points for your level. For the radiant, for the wings. Every turn you get to do that once while you have your wings out, so.

Okay, so... 39? 25 plus 14, 39. 39 points of damage to you, Sam. You see a flash of light and then you wait. One, two, three. You hear a thunder blast as I'm destroyed. Ah!

My family will kill you! So that's 66. Oh, I do a cloudburst. Am I close enough to do that? Everybody, except for Liam. Within 15 feet of me. Yep. Okay.

Everybody except for Liam. Make a dex save. Look at the other trance. Ooh, big roll. 10. Ooh. 22. Do I have to Make a dex save. Look at the audience. Ooh, big roll. 10. Ooh. 22. Do I have to make a dex save, too? I don't think so. 30.

You do. I do, actually. 30 points of bludgeoning damage. Make a dex saving throw. That's all of us, right? Yep. I rolled a 19. You save, so it's worth that. So 15 bludgeoning to you.

Okay. Taliesin. I'm dead. Ugh. Yeah! It took you out? Do you explode also? I get grounded. I just go. Grounding charge.

I get grounded. I failed. All right, so you take your second death save. Okay. All right. You have three total, right? Yep. Three total, yep. Oh, cool. Did I hit you? So that was your first strike.

What's up? Does that mean she's knocked prone, too? I do have a way to heal. She never falls unconscious. Did I hit Travis when I blew up? I mean the exploding thunder. Oh, and you as well, yes. Oh, how many points was it? It was 30, unless you make a dex 18 save.

Natural 20. Damn. The bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone if you fail. Yeah. Correct. Okay. So would I fall out of the? So you would fall prone. Okay. So would Travis. So you fall to the ground.

I'm sorry, not Travis. Cyclone. You take one point of bludgeoning damage because you were, well, no, you would have been five feet up, so you wouldn't have been enough to take any damage. So you're fine. Okay, okay. But you are prone. I am prone. You move five feet, so your speed would normally be 50, right?

Yeah. It's 45. In order to get back up, you have to have that, we'll say, to 20. But you still have a second attack. I know. Get it. Get it. have to have that, we'll say, to 20. But you still have a second attack. I know. Get it. Get it. I'm just wondering if I can heal myself.

Can you heal yourself? I can. Would that take, would that restore a death save? It's an action, which you cannot do because you've already used your action to attack. Yeah, because I've already used it. Okay. Fuck it. Sorry, I'm going to attack.

All right. Just. Which one are you going after? Let's go for that guy. No. I'm going to attack. All right. Just. Which one are you going after? Let's go for that guy. No! Which guy? Oh, sorry. The two guys. The floofy. Right here? Yeah. All right, yeah.

The soft serve? The soft serve. So you get back up off the ground. Your feet are still dangling in the air as the wings and you swoop into swing. Your second strike towards? Barry. Marisha. Barry. I'm naming him Barry. Barry.

His full name is low barometric pressure, but it's Barry for short. Fuck. Sorry, I'm cursing a lot. Tempest Cloudburst is gone, but we have Barry on the field. That would be... Oh wait. 15?

To hit me? Oh no, I'm sorry. I rolled a nine. 19. Yeah, that hits. Okay, okay, okay. All right, so this is just standard damage roll. You do not get the additional radiant because you only do that once per round.

Got it, okay. I already did Savage Attacker, right, on this turn? You did. Okay, so. 15 points of damage. That is exactly my hit points, which means I explode. Oh no. Which gets you as well. Uh-huh.

So I'd like you both to roll dexterity saving throws and you go ahead and roll damage there, Barry. Okay. Body. It'd be bad if you didn't. Natural one. That'd be bad if you didn't. Natural one. That would be interesting. You have to roll above 18. You have to roll above an 18.

Okay. I literally rolled a natural one on the dex save. It's a balance. I don't have a lot of hit points. But you get advantage on dex saves. Yeah. Right? Yeah, I do. I've only been hit by my own people. 21 total again. 21 total what?

Bludgeoning damage. Jesus Christ! I only had 20 hit points! Oh no! You killed me! Thank you, baby! I probably got hurt by how you fuck yourself. Wait, so who's left?

Liam is untouched. Did you roll a dex save, though? Ashley, did you roll? Because you were in the radius, too. Oh, that's right. Ooh, I don't like this. I don't like this. I'm sorry.

Okay. Oh, good, okay. 22. She saves. That's success. But you still take half damage. Yes, I'm still taking damage. So third death saving throw.

Yes. You are dead. I'm dead. But you're still up. Oh my god. Because that's what your ability does. Rage after death. Because I'm raging. She is a dead spirit flying.

If I weren't raging, I'd be Dunzo's. When the rage ends. I might be Dunzo's. We'll find out. Well, nevertheless, that finishes that go. Travis is gone. Everyone else is gone. Liam, it's your turn. Well, I guess Shaw Cutson will close the distance.

Shaw Cutson! Right there? So handsome. As close as he can get. I'll get you about there. Yeah. I just stop and I do the matrix. He has a fedora. Just come in.

All right, go for it. You and me, kid. Winner takes all. Arc strike! Kick him! You do have advantage. 22 to hit. That hits. Go ahead and roll damage. God.

Oh no. Oh no. What are the chains? Oh my god. 12 points of electric damage. You are still dead. It's your turn, Yasha. What?

What does it mean? Okay. She's extra dead. It's your turn, Yasha. What? What does it mean? Okay. She's extra dead. Okay, so, um, um, um. Super dead. I'm going to look to make sure Stormlord's watching. I'm sure he is. He's distracted. He's checking his Twitter. He's like,

good job. And I'm going to take a swing. Or get up closer, a little closer. Arcing up, blade down, go ahead and roll for your attacks. Okay. Ooh, cocked. Cacked. Okay, I'm going to roll that. I'm not serious, you're all cacked.

That one's cacked. Okay, I'm going to roll that. That's serious. You're all cacked. That one's cacked. Okay, that's good. But reckless. Let me see if I can get a 20. No, okay. 26. That does hit. Okay. So now full damage on this first strike. It's cacked.

I'm going to roll a Savage Attacker, if that wasn't great. Ugh! Okay. 35, this is so embarrassing, counting with my finger as well. Everybody's watching. We all do. Counting is tough.

Yeah. 35. 35. That is the exact number of hit points I have. No shit! Yep. But you take four points of lightning damage from the Retribution Shock as I. Indeed, you are

with the final blow struck, the final foe scattered, the rage still pumping in your veins, your consciousness barely present, comes around to your turn. As the rage is subsiding, what do you do? I rage again. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. What did you say? I'm sorry.

It's coming to your next turn. What are you doing this turn? At the end of this turn, unless you are attacking or being attacked, you will fall out of your rage. And I'll die. Yes. So I want to continue my rage. Okay. So I want to continue my rage. Okay.

So I'll rage again. Okay. And... I want to try to fly up to where I think the storm load is, get closer to him so I can be eye to eye with him. Okay. You glance up into the sky and you can see

the clouds rolling, but the face isn't present. It's not on the surface as it once was. You just see the storm. You start flying up as fast as you can, 60 feet. You're not sure how high up it is. 30 feet flying up, fist you around. End of your next turn, what are you doing? I'm keeping going.

Even higher up into the air. Any ragers? Just raging. How many ragers do you have left? I have, well, what I have had since this was considered a full-time? You would have had full rages. Full rages, okay, so I think I've used two?

Two at this point. Two at this point, so I have three left. Okay, so you continue up, double move by dashing, I assume? left. Okay. So you continue up, double move, by dashing, I assume? Yes. Okay. Sword out, heading towards the storm, and the faster you go, the immensity of the sky above you begins to come into view,

as it just slowly begins to approach. It's further than you thought, but you're getting closer. Next round. Great, because I want to fly to the center of it. Okay, so you just keep coasting upwards, slowly spiraling as your wings take you up higher and higher. The flashes of light all around you as the blood is pumping through your veins.

The in the back of your head, that furious, zealot-like rage keeping you conscious in the spite of the fact that your body is falling into its end. You continue to swim upward. The next round comes. That's the last rage. That's the last rage.

Okay. So keep going until I want to get to the Eye of the Storm. You're close, you're close, but you got another two rounds, so before you reach the top, you're about to fall out of your rage. What do you do? Let's see how this will work.

Hang on. Can I dash? Can I? You've been dashing up. I know, I know. Okay. So the storm's going. Is there lightning still? There's lightning in the space around you, yes. And the storm is approaching you,

but you can feel the energy starting to drift. Your vision's starting to go dark. The damage you've sustained has been too strong and you're currently teetering on that line between life and death. That light that shines inside you is starting to fade. What do you do? Fuck. Okay.

Can I... I don't have to roll anything, so that's not going to help. What do you still have at your disposal? I have, well, because I have Zealous Presence, but I'm not rolling anything, so that's not really going to help with that. But...

I don't have, I don't, hold on, hold on, hold on. Oh fuck. Everybody's watching. This is great. Yeah, yeah, we're all watching you. I can't do anything. What sustains rage? Can you hit yourself? Can you damage yourself?

You can't damage yourself. The only way to get up is through. You can't Kylo Ren yourself and like, hit yourself to stay angry? Not really. Is there a way I can get into the path of lightning or something? Yeah. Go ahead and make a perception check. Come on.

Okay. Lightning rod. 18. 18. Glancing off the side of your eye, you can see some of the arcs flashing around, and you just sense the air to your left, starting to get that tingling sensation, like something's about to happen, that anticipation.

Okay, if I feel that, I want to attract it, so I hold out the sword up. So you hold the sword out, bolt of lightning arcs straight at the tip of the blade, down into your arm and your torso, and as it fills you, you scream out in what you expect to be pain. It's power, but it doesn't hurt. In that moment, you look back at the sword.

The energy's still crackling up and down the front of it. And you're sustained for the moment. And you continue to fly up. You hit the clouds and break through the heaviness of the darkness pushing past you before suddenly you open into a pocket in the center of the storm. This vacuous expanse where you're surrounded by this empty void with lightning

arcs around it like the inside of an orb. And there on the opposite side, you see the face staring at you. Crackling eyes of angered nature. Where do you find your strength, Aeryn? Oh my god. I'm so nervous. I... I... I protect. I find my strength in my friends.

I find my strength in my family and laying my life before them. Bolts of energy begin to just gather, more and more frequent, arcing all around you. The inside of this dark space begins to light up all over, hitting in the center, sparking. You're having to push against it.

It seems like a whirlwind is spinning up. The wind is pushing at you and you beat your wings as hard as you can, still teetering on that edge of consciousness. Then, protect them. And it all goes dark until all you see are those two burning, crackling eyes. Protect them. As everything goes to dark.

You take a deep breath, still sitting in the middle Everything goes to dark. You take a deep breath, still sitting in the middle of the dark mud, rain pattering down on you. You're freezing to your core. Your whole body is shaking from the temperature. You look around you and you're in the center of the grove at who knows what ungodly hour, alone. You look down at the blade you placed in the dirt. Ooh!

Um. I'll take the sword. As you reach for it, energy strikes between your hand and the blade for a moment. You pull back. And you grab it and it feels warm to your touch. I wipe go inside. Okay. You wander back in,

and it seems that most of the group is in some state of sprawled out and sleeping in this slumber party of a main area in the temple with varying degrees of consciousness and unconsciousness. You can see Caduceus and his father, Cornelius nodding off to half-drinking cups of now-cooled tea in their hands. But it's quiet.

It's peaceful. You swear, listening out, the rain seems to be subsiding gently. Listening. Calming. I'll go see where Beau is sleeping and just lay beside her and stare at her until I fall asleep.

I just roll over, being in that, when you know your significant other isn't beside you, a little lighter sleep, just roll over. You okay? Yeah, I'm okay. Okay. Hold me. I bring her in. Oh.

Oh god, you're so wet. Oh shit, I'm sorry. I take off my cloak, all the stuff, try to wring out my hair. I just warm up her arms a little bit. Okay. I'm going to clasp and hold her hands as I drift back to sleep.

Okay. May I take your long rest? I had to do something before we went to sleep. Okay, what do you want to do? I have to send a message. To Galbi. I have to send a message. To Cubby. I have to send a message to Wainsworth, Wayne's World.

Wayne's World, yeah. Right. To find out what's happening. Sure. So I'm going to try to send a message to him. All right. I'll have to do this at 4th-level, because I'm out of 3rds.

Okay, it is, well, yeah. Is that? Yeah, you can totally do it. It's late. Yeah, but when's that ever stopped you? That poor fucker. Hey, what's happening? Are you okay? Yussa sounds like screaming.

I tried to contact him and he was screaming. Are you dead? Oh god. Are you okay, please? There's a pause before. Hello. My master's still doing his journey. Sorry about that business. I think old friends stopped by.

I may have been hired, but we're safe. Okay. Okay. Doesn't even know that Yussa's fucking being tortured right now mentally. Fuck. How did he make it out? I'm going to send one more message.

Sure. Let's go. Gesund. Wait, how did you make it out? Did they hurt you? I'm talking about the old wizard. Did he hurt you? You should really wake Yussa up. No, he didn't hurt me.

I think I might've been ensorcelled to let them in, but they didn't stay long. I'm trying. Okay. Okay. Well, at least he's not dead. I don't know if I'm talking to anyone or just myself right now.

Is everybody sleeping? No, I'm with you. This is earlier. Oh, this is earlier? Okay, good. Okay. I'm still here. Okay, so that happened. Oh, crazy. I know. Okay, you go back to sleep, sorry. I think I'm going to go for a walk outside.

Okay. Careful, it sounds like there's a storm brewing. I heard some Italian thunder. Oh yeah? I don't know what that is. You go this way, I'll go that way. Yeah, okay, okay. You okay over there, Beau? Yeah, you need me?

No, I'm good. I'm going to go to sleep then. Okay. Hi, doggy. Hi, doggy. Hi, doggy. Pulling some Witcher timeline shenanigans here now. You're my favorite person. And then I had one more thing that I wanted to do. Yeah, yeah, go ahead, go for it, sure.

But no, this is earlier still. No, this one is later. We got to untangle this as we go. Fast forward in time, because I want this to be after Fjord and I went on our walk. Yeah, okay, sure. Before I go to sleep. Right. But I can be by myself. Hey, Danny's the one who's going to untangle this as we go. Because I want this to be after Fjord and I went on our walk. Yeah, okay, sure. Before I go to sleep. Right.

But I can be by myself. Hey, Dany's the one who's going to untangle this. I don't give a shit. I ain't doing the recaps. I want to wander off by myself. Okay. This corner's taken. Taiken. Okay. This corner's taken. Taken.

You have to find a little alcove in the temple. And I'm going to just say, Hey, Arty, I need to scry on somebody, okay? Are you here? I want to scry on, I want to scry on Vandran. You hear a voice go. Um, terribly sorry. Remind me who this Vandran person is.

Vandran is the guy that, you know, he was like Fjord's mentor. And Fjord, I know he's really important to him, and he won't let me check up on him, and I think I should check up on him. Then let's give it a shot. Okay. We checked up on him before,

so I know what he looks like and everything I had, like the description and all that. Correct, yeah. Okay. I'm going to cast Fifth-Level Spell. You got it, so you're going to scry on him. What's the DC? Of scry? Yeah. Okay, hold on.

Let me look. It's your general spell DC, so. Oh, then I think it's 18. Maybe we boys are dumb, right? Yeah. Yeah. As you concentrate for a second, you feel Artie's hands touch on your temples, almost like he's about to close your eyes,

like a Guess Who game, but it's just on the sides of the face. Oh, can you just give a little, a misuse-al? Why not? Then a heart. And he goes and just massages the temples for a minute. You're like, oh, that's good. He goes, hey, look at that, and then tilts your head up,

and as you do, you feel your vision jettisoned through the ceiling, up into the storm clouds. And then as you're lost, drifting on the winds of the storm, it seems endless. Just being buffeted around, not to a painful degree, but just a little disorienting, until suddenly you break through the clouds below and you can see occasional flashes of distant lightning

reflecting on ocean water. And then you blink your eyes for a second and you're in a jungle. You can hear late night jungle insects and crickets and other such creatures just all just echoing through the space. And you see a little makeshift cabin And you see a little makeshift cabin

made of driftwood with a very faint glow on the inside of it. And you blink again, and you see on the inside, sitting by a very small, almost just embers fire, an older gentleman who matches the description, facial hair a bit scraggly or a bit longer, just sitting and reading a book.

Picks up a pipe, puffs on it, sets it down, and just keeps reading, by himself, peaceful. There's nobody else in the cabin? Just him. Does his face look, I don't know, troubled or serene or... Make an insight check. Get a good one.

I'm going to use this old wood one. Oh, that didn't count because it flipped out of my hand. 15. 15. You don't sense any trouble in the face. I mean, his face is heavily marked with lines and wrinkles from just years of living in the elements, but where the creases are, in the eyes and the mouth,

they seem to not denote any sort of stress at the moment, here in this quiet night. Can I see what he's reading? You cannot. And roll a perception check, just for the hell of it. See if you surprise me.

23. The book cover you can't see because he's currently holding it in his lap as he's setting his pipe down. As you glance down, he's probably two thirds of the way through, but you get through a few of the sentences. There's something about this that seems really familiar.

Deals with returning to Menagerie Coast after she was taken. Shit, he's two thirds of the way through Tesk Love. Yes! Nice. Yes. Nice. I was going to say it as a joke. No, he's straight up reading Tesk Love.

It's a good book. Yeah. Eldrin is the coolest! Apparently the only smut novel. The most popular one. No, there's a lot of smut novels. It's just really popular. Fifty Shades of Grey. Yeah, it gets around a lot. I get it.

Fifty Shades of Green. Solid. There's nothing like... Like, I can't get a clue of where he is. Unfortunately, Scry doesn't really help out with that. Yeah. Is there a map behind him? With a big arrow that says...

You are here. You are here. Okay. Okay. All right. I guess that's all. Okay. You pull back and Artie's hands can move from the temple and be like,

all right, back to my evening and enjoy yours. Thanks for the massage. No problem. So where in the timeline are we now? We're back to, we're in Trostenwald now. Oh, okay. We're jumping back to the beginning. No!

Wait, roll forward to the sunset of the campaign. Right, okay. Let's all start saying our goodbyes and then jump back to here. Okay. Anything else? No, I'll stop taking all the time. It's okay. It's not a lot of time.

Please. Anything else? Do your thing, if you got to do it. Yeah, I can see it. Yeah, do it! If you got to do it, it's a good deal. Can I use one more message spell? If you got the spell can see it. Yeah, do it. Those are turning to it. Can I use one more message spell? If you got the spell slots for it.

Are you going to do it? I'm going to send a message to Vandran. You're going to do it! To Vandran? Yeah. Fucking shit. I'm proud of you. Where are you?

EPP. Okay. Are you on the Tusklove forums? Oh my god, I love that book! You have to tell me what you think when you finish it. Chapter 16 is so hot. Oh my goodness. And you can't, you're not with me, you can't count.

I got to count myself. Is that how that works? Yeah. Let it happen. Hello. You don't know me. Hello. But I know Fjord.

Is there anything you want me to tell him? Fjord. Is there anything you want me to tell him? Make it good. What? Tusklove rocks. Yeah. Hashtag Team Oscar. Can you wait a moment? It's Oscar and... No, he's in it. Nottna? Who's the girl's name?

Who's it be? I think it's Genevieve. Genevieve? Oh, I think that does sound right. Oh, Asuka. It's been a while. Oh, Asuka. Take me, Asuka. Wait, the heroine from the book's name is the same as Jester's name?

Yeah. That's why she loved it. She was named after that book. It's her mom's favorite book. Bah, bah, bah, bah. Rather unexpected. Well, whoever you are, just tell them to take care of himself.

Also, it's pretty good. No spoilers, please. And that's where he ends it. Okay. That's it. I'm going to go back to, you know, where the beds and stuff are, and lay down. Okay. Okay. Best troublemaker.

Chaos bomb. All right. Anything else? I'm just going to spend some time writing a letter before I go to sleep. That's it. Okay. No worries. All righty. You can take your long rest. Oh, thank god. Oh, yeah.

Oh, wait. I'm going to take it in the bathroom. Fucking A. I picked my spells. I'm excited. It's been three sessions since we took our rest. My god, it's been a while. I think it was a little while. Been a while. But as you all come to consciousness

into the still chilly, but thankfully warmer morning, now that the storm has passed, and light seems to creep across the grove, first thing, you can see everything glistening with dew. The breeze is still. And while there is still a gray sky above, it's more welcoming than it was the night before. Well, to most of you.

So what would you like to do? I'm having a bath. Having a bath? There's a hot spring. This is how I do it. Oh, yes, yes. Is it a private hot spring or is it right there out? It's big enough. Jester, do you want to go to the hot spring?

Yes. Okay, yeah, we're going. We're about to be in the frozen tundra. Not that far away. They're naturally more buoyant than other bodies of water. I'll jump around on top of it. Oh yeah. Put your feet in of water. I'll jump around on top of it. Oh yeah!

Put your feet in? Nah, I'm okay. All righty. You all go ahead and take a dip as a scattered crew within the hot spring. Let me do that thing then. Roll a d6, anyone who's getting in. All of us? Yep.

Anyone who's getting in? Roll a d6. Three. Five getting in. All of us? Yep. Anyone who's getting in? Roll a d6. Three. Five. Two. You're fine. One. You're all okay. The three of you hop into a part of the spring that is not fed by the hot water,

because it's kind of random where you get your, so it's fucking cold. Fuck this! Your neck seizes up. Just keep scooching. Keep scooching. I've got a warmth patch. Right here.

Yeah, it's good. There you go. We're in a hot spring. We're in a hot spring. I was like, what's going on? Yeah. We moved first! We can't look back now. Are you joining them in the hot spring, Caleb?

Of course I am joining in the hot spring. This has been the hottest day ever. Roll a d6. This is a long day. Three. Yeah, it's freezing. Freezing as fuck. The one I picked. Find a hot spot!

Yeah, a warm, cold spot. Over here, get over here. Yeah, we have a hot spot that's really hot out here. I deserve this frigidity. You do a cold, and then you go to the hot, and you go back to the cold, it really loosens up. Oh, I'm doing the dog paddle. It's like soaking self-flagellation.

You all eventually find some sort of a middle ground. It's a little crowded to get to the warmer spots there, but you all are enjoying that cleansing warm, hot spring experience. All right. Everyone sleep well? Everyone feeling rested? Yeah.

Wait, should we give a look-see? To what? Oh, the eyes? Did you have any dreams or anything? I mean, we're all. If you're naked in the hot spring, why don't you show us your bodies? This is the best time to look. Well, I didn't have any dreams.

I just stand up out of the water. T-pose? Any new eyes? Do we see any new eyes? Full 360? Yep. Yeah, you see everything. Between the passive perception of Caduceus and a number of other you, you do not see any additional eyes

that have gathered on your teammates. Hold on, there's one place we haven't looked. Where's that? Right here. Ah! The bottom of my foot. Ace Ventura. All righty. You seem chipper.

Hmm. Hmm? Me? I don't know, you seem a little... I like it here. Yeah, me too. I like it here a lot. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I get for my nat 20 perception, fuck it.

Fjord. Yes? I have to tell you something. Did you pee in the hot spring? Oh, doesn't everybody? No. Oh. Anyway. MATT and LAURA laugh What did you do? Is this a game? Am I supposed to guess at your gestures? I'm just going to whisper in his ear

that I scryed on Vandran. You fucking were. She sighed the bad men. You... fuck... where are... She sighed the bad man. I don't know, that's what I could get from the... Well, what did you see? He's living in a jungle, in a little driftwood house, and he was smoking a pipe,

and he was reading Tusk Love. And I sent him a message. Are you telling me a dream or something? No! And I sent him a message, and he sounded so happy and taken aback to know that I knew you, and he said that he wanted you to take care of yourself. And he also said that he loved Tusklove, too.

I have so many different emotions about this. I know. You really? I really did that. And he was reading Tusklove? Yeah! In a small hut in a jungle? Yeah, it doesn't seem real.

It doesn't seem like possible. Of all the books! I know. That one. It doesn't seem like possible. Of all the books! I know. That one. It's a real good book. Okay. He seemed happy? He seemed content, if not lonely. You didn't see where? What jungle?

No, it was just a jungle, but it was like, do I remember? It was like, we went over water, right? You remember a brief moment of water, and that was it. I remember a brief moment of water. I'm sorry, but what you're saying, we are talking about your old friend? Yes, yeah, my old captain. Reading Tasscloth.

In a hut in the middle of the jungle. Well, if anyone here did not believe in fate before today, brush those qualms aside. But it's got to be a jungle close to the water because it was a driftwood hut. Right. I told you I didn't want to scry on Pandaren. I know.

Thank you. Are you mad at me? No, no, I'm not mad. It's just we're going into this big, important thing, and who knows what's going to happen, and... I do, and it'd be fine. I suppose there was some bit of me that wanted the extra motivation, but coming out of this.

Besides, now I really, really want to find him. Okay. If only to take that fucking book away. What? No! I want to meet him now and we can have a good long talk. I know. Just about that. Okay, sure.

After I can, you know, share a few words first. Of course. Thank you. If you're mad at me, I understand. No, no, it's really hard to be mad at you. That is a universal fear. Especially look. I'm naked. You are.

And so are they. It's a close-knit group, this. Very, very close-knit. Yeah. It's fine. Okay. How's everyone feeling this morning? Pretty good. Pretty good, yeah.

Not too bad, actually. Yeah. How many of you actually believe that? I actually feel pretty good. You? I. Yeah? Do you feel good? I feel great. Did you mean it?

I did, yeah. What about you three? Well, I just left my mom. Yeah, my son died a day ago, so no, not really. Yeah. You know, if you want, it's been a night of sleep for you to think about it. I want you by our side, but

it's got to be a hard decision to make and if you want to go back, I can send you, if you want. Well, what are we doing? I mean, what is the plan? We go to Isaacross from here. And do what? I imagine we lay in wait for Lucien. Hope he hasn't beaten us there.

Sync up with Essek, figure out who's going to join us on this defensive build. Maybe figure out more about what it is. We know where that secret passage is. If we still wanted to try and go there and lay a trap. I don't think we can kill Lucien so easily, but maybe if we can pick off some of the other Tomb Takers. I could lay, you could do it too, I think.

We could lay symbols on the ground as traps, and if they wander into it, it could maybe lay an ambush, because they won't know we're there, they can't scry on us anymore. I have some thoughts. There is possibly another... Possibly another problem to worry about as well.

I think that Ikithon is aware that we have had contact with Essek. What do you mean? When we saw him, he intimated, when he spoke to me? When he spoke to me, right? He spoke to you, yeah. He intimated. He was aware of our connection.

And unless Essek is taking some sort of precautions, he is not hidden the way we are, and we might still not be finished with my old family. What does that mean? Like he's going to Eiselcross? Do we need to send a message to Essek and let him know? Yes, we do need to send a message to Essek, yeah. I mean, to be fair, Essek has done a lot

to try and seclude himself from all of this based on what he's done. He has taken some measures of defense by hiding in Eiselcross. Correct, and if he is still with his people, then he's not alone. But if we don't know where he is. You're almost definitely not done with your family.

And they were able to walk into your mother's house, looking like somebody else. They could be there now, waiting for us to walk in the door. So when we approach him, it needs to be carefully, and yes, we should talk to him before we arrive. Should I send him a message now? Well, hold on.

I want to get back to Veth's question, because the strategy for days, many evolutions of this, but we are leaving and going back to Eiselcross, and it's going to be dangerous and there will be inherent risk. You know all of this, of course, but. Yeah, of course, but I know what we're doing.

And I want to be there with you all to do it, but if we're just wandering around, you know, forgive me, but I don't want to do that. We are not wandering around. We are hopefully bringing our complicated ally on board. And we are going to lie in wait for our enemy slash friend and deal with him. We know that their plan

is to bring that section of Aeor back. So if we can stop them from doing that at the source, amazing. If we can't, we have to follow them. We have to go to the city to try to stop them there. Or the city is coming to us and we have a whole new set of problems, but either way, it needs to be dealt with

and no one else is dealing with it except for us. I'm just going to say it. Are we at all entertaining working with Master Ikithon and the Cerberus Assembly? I am. Yeah, I know. I mean, they would be as strong. We have those devices, that'll help.

But it's going to be the fucking fight of our lives, even with Essek. We could, could reach out. Where did you leave it off with him? With your old master? He's trying to reestablish. I hate the very idea of spending any time with him. Maybe we'll get lucky. He'll be killed in the fight.

Astrid, Eowulf might join. We have suspicions about where their true loyalties lie. Yeah, he's the one I'm having a hard time predicting because he does not typically put his neck out. Yeah, he doesn't really seem like a frontline fighter. This is a big deal. Astrid and Eadwulf, as difficult as that seems, would...

I mean, who are we kidding? We are grossly outmatched. We were lucky to escape with our lives the last time. We are already dealing with someone entirely compromised between both nations already. It's not like we have any kind of moral superiority or place of judgment. Well, I think, honestly, you got a bit.

I think you're willing to lean into a little bit of moral superiority. Give yourself that. But. What about a question? See what he says from afar. Maybe from much further, once we're somewhere cold. Yeah, it has merits. It has drawbacks.

I mean, I tried to talk to his pupils. Everything is potentially on the line, so. You know, a normal person, a rational person, why wouldn't they want to help if they had the courage and the ability? Maybe we don't appeal to his moral code. Maybe we appeal to his desire for power. And control.

Survival. If this city comes, yeah. Control is gone. Possibly survival is gone. We don't know what these thousands of voices want, really. He must know something already. He followed us for quite a while, yes? He also was reaching out to you.

Yes. Much more than ever before. No, I've been thinking the same thing and just not wanting to admit it to myself. Do you think you could work alongside your abuser? Oh fucking shit. For this? I wouldn't wish it on anybody, for the record.

But. For a short period of time, I can manage it. Do you think, not trying to be patronizing or question you, that you've had elements with falling into dark places and moments of stress, especially in the middle of battle, and can't have you mentally compromised.

Really need you on your A-game out there. And if you think that he could potentially drum up old trauma and old stress, I don't want to weaken you by bringing him. Ikithon is not a temptation I need to worry about. Can I insight? Sure. 17.

Straight on. I'm not afraid of you killing him. Neither am I. Yeah. But is there a possibility, though, that we would get out there and he would be tempted by all of that? He would be. Then we would also have to fight him as well.

But I think we can use have to fight him as well. But I think we can use that to our advantage. The more that we know people's motives and desires, the more we can play on that. We're going in with the advantage of knowing more than anybody, including Icithaun, including Essek, from the discussions that we've had.

No one knows more than us and the Tomb Takers at this point. And numbers are good. We need the numbers. We have them already. We need more. But also, you've always wanted to go back and reshape your past with him. And you can't, you know?

There's no going back. So this might be the closest thing that you get to change something about how he views you or how you view him. We can change something. If we survive all this, you won't be able to move forward without that. Without buttoning up that part of your life.

Let's deal with the problem on the table. We can maybe do both. Maybe. We have a bullet list of importance. One thing is required, one thing is a bonus. To your point, let's reach out to Essek, and who knows, maybe Ikithon will make this decision easy for us.

Maybe we start with Essek now, warn him of the complications, get there. See if we still, take a gut check, see if we are still on the same page and then reach out to them. So I should ask Essek, so I should say to Essek, what should I say to Essek? He may be under scrutiny now.

We're looking to smooth those ruffles out and potentially collaborate. With Essek? With the other side. The other side. Oh. Okay. And we'll be returning soon, but I think he knows that. Okay.

You have very few words. Yeah. It'd be helpful to know where he is as well. Essek? Yes. Well, I imagine Essek is probably still where we left him. Well, probably, but let's not assume. Okay. God, you're a pro.

I love watching you work. Push-ups in my pecs and my nips are just above the top. Okay, okay. This is good. Can you, for every word, flex your pecs? Okay, yeah, that's how it counts. Whoa. I always wanted to do that. Okay.

It lost everything. I know! They shake you up, don't they? I knew it! Ah! Should've had one of that. They're shaking. Let's be fair, we were all hypnotized. I mean, let's be real. The rising sun.

Everything I want to say has a lot of extra words and I don't know what, okay. Dad bod be damned. You may be under scrutiny. Why are you so angry? This tone. Oh. Does Tone need to say that? Go ahead, just come to the side. See her again on the other side.

Why is she so mad at me? Let her chat. Ikitong could know about our involvement with you. He could be coming. Maybe he can help, though. Where are you now? I like to imagine he dropped his coffee

as soon as that hit him. You are under scourging. The response comes rapidly. I'll fall you down. He's like, Zzz. This is challenging tidings. Then I cannot stay here long.

I am at the outpost. If you still need my help, we should leave soon. Soon. And that's all you get. He's super nervous. He did not like that message. He wants to leave. Like, stat, we should probably bamf in there because he's going to run.

I think he's going to bolt. He's that scared of Trent? He's super scared. Which is kind of scary. If Essek, I don't know how powerful he is. I thought he was pretty powerful. He floats everywhere, you know? But if Iggytong's way more powerful than him, whoa. Well, that and a bunch of volstruckers

heading to an outpost in the middle of nowhere where Essek might be the top dog, not great for him. That's also true. Let's go. So I can get us to the outpost. I have, hold on. Are you sure? He rustles through his bags

and pulls out a little piece of stone wrapped in parchment with a little twine on it. This is from there. This will increase our chances there There is room for error. Is there anything that we can do to help? Massage is nice. I like tea. Do we, wait, wait, before we go.

Hey, do we have mercury, phosphorus, powdered diamond, and opal? Well, I have phosphorus. Okay. I bought some diamonds. We got diamonds. They're tiny. You have opals here? You probably have opals here. This seems like a place that would have opals.

That's presumptuous, no. There's like, look at how shiny everything is. You probably got opals under the ground. No, we just clean. What are you thinking? Well, that's how I, the spell I want to do that would lay a good trap, you know? It's really powerful.

It needs opal and mercury and phosphorus and diamond powder. Maybe Essek has some? Weren't we just shopping yesterday? I know. Can we time jump? Unfortunately, you jump through time that often and it begins to really destabilize the continuum. There should be a chronomancy spell

where you can hop back to the last time you went shopping. Yeah, go get that one day. Dr. Who, the, once this is over, I'm going to go back. I'm working on it, Opal. Yep. The eight-level Bill and Ted preparation spell. Yes! I'm glad you're on the same page.

Well, it sounds like there's no opal here. Nope. I don't think so. Maybe Essek has some. Maybe they have some at that outpost. I mean, we do have residuum. Yeah? So that can take the place of opal and mercury. There you go.

We just need a lot of diamond dust to make up for it. How much? We got those, what was it, 300, 150? It was 150 gold worth of tiny diamonds. This thing takes 1,000 golds worth of stuff, but it doesn't say the portion, so it could be a tiny little amount of everything and then 999 gold of diamond-y. Calliope, you up?

Are you up? She is now. Calliope! Calliope, we're naked! Calliope, are you up? You hear something get thrown out of the front of the actual temple and then ping, ping, ping on the door. Are you up? What?! I can keep yelling or you can come out. She stomps out.

What? Well, we're in a bit of a pickle, and I was wondering if you had any components lying around, gems. I know that occasionally you dabble, if there's anything that I can borrow. What kind of gems are you looking for? I'm sure 1,000 gold. Opal looking for? I wish for a thousand gold.

Opal, opals. Opal, diamond dust. Rubies. Busteris, mercury. Things like that. You all may be a little rich from my blood, but I may have an opal or two I can check. Oh, that'd be amazing. You can get dressed when you'd like to, if you want to talk in the house.

She's messing with us, it's fine. She walks into the house. Ugh, I'm going to go collect some stuff. I'll be right back. Which spell is this you're going to be looking for? This is for Symbol. Symbol. Short time after, you do convene with Clampy,

and she has two opals worth about 100 gold each. Oh, great. They were part of a piece of armor that she had designed for herself. And so she's like, I take it what you're doing is pretty important, right? It's very important. And she gets one of her tools

and bends the metal back to relieve. And you look at them, the opals have been carved through a little bit in the center to go ahead and give them a place to slide onto the armor decoratively. And so she removes them. They might've been worth more before she had done that, but roughly it comes about 100 gold each of worth as they currently sit.

Just as an apology, I know you can go back to town and get some more. I'm just going to give her 350 gold. She takes it. A fair trade. I'm really sorry. It's fine. I could probably do a better job the second round anyway.

Are you going to use your inventory, or? Are you putting that in your inventory? No, you put it in yours. Okay. I'm paying out of my pocket. The rest of the Clay family begins to gather. Those that were there, as you all start getting your things ready, and as they all collect a cross from all of you,

Cornelius looks over and says, Well, I... It's not often we get friends in this area, so it's nice to have some friendly faces over. From what your mother tells me, So it's nice to have some friendly faces over. From where your mother tells me, you have quite a bit ahead of you. So may the Wild Mother go with all of you. Looks over to Constance,

looks at everyone quietly for a minute, and Caduceus definitely has that warm look that just reads your soul at times, that very intense, not challenging, but just exposed sensation that this person can see through any fronts you put. You see where he gets it from, as his mother makes eye contact with each of you.

And it's a very raw and emotional look of, without words, saying, Take care of yourself. And as she looks across all of you and nods, the family looks at each other and they all just step forward and give this giant embrace around Caduceus. Just all of them putting their arms around just one big family huddle.

As they pull back, Mother takes a necklace off of her neck and you see it's this beautiful gold woven cord. And at the bottom of it, there is a sculpted icon of the Wild Mother, this beautiful wreath. And you can see it's polished and it's fired, but it was once, you recognize it,

the material from the base of the pond here, made of itself in clay. She places it around your neck. That way, a little part of us goes with you, too. A little part of home. That's all I want. Thank you, Mom. Well, when you all come back,

let us know in advance and we can cook a proper meal. We'll send for some of the good southern vegetables that are harder to get up here. We'll show you our house also next time. It's really nice. They all nod, wide-eyed, and you can see Clarabelle goes like, Is that the one with the tree on top? No, no, there's another one.

You have two houses? It's pretty crazy. She looks at her mom and dad like, when you're older, it's a long ways away. It'll be there. Well. Good luck. And they all hold hands and wait to see you off.

I'm going to go up to Constance and just ask her, if your son doesn't come back or if you don't hear from him again for a while, can you take this and send it? There's instructions on it. Can you send it to my son and to my family? Where would we find them? I wrote down where they are.

It's a dive bar in Zadash. She places it into a little side pouch that she has with other squishy bits of moss. She clasps her hands around yours. And she is, like her son, very tall. So she kneels down very low to get to your eye level and cups her hands around yours. Of course.

Thank you and I'll try to take care of your son for you. Please do. And she pulls you in and whispers in your ear, what you're doing is the definition of bravery. A mother would give anything to protect her son. I don't have that strength, but you do.

She pulls back. I'll try to live up to that. Thank you. So. One more time. Are you sure? No. But I'm going to do it anyway.

That's what we're all doing, right? Are you all sure? Yes. Well, you're the only one then. No, I'm with you right now. I'm sure I want to go. Gathering close, please. I promise to do everything in my power to get you back to Yessa and Luc.

And I have that little bit of stonework from the outpost, and I take Veth by the hand and clasp our hands together, and the stone is held between our hands. Veth the Brave lets you and I do our best to keep all these families together. And I mutter a word and we're gone. Dang, I wish they were taking us with them. Wait!

Man, how many can you carry with your wings? I can probably get a scythe across. That familiar sensation of being pulled, plucked from the point in space where you were, and suddenly thrown through invisible doors to a space in the distance. And with that, we'll take our break. Oh.

Back here in a few minutes to pick it up from here. 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. Last we left off was before break. So we're back from it. Hey, guys. Hi. Hi. The last we left off was before break. So we're back from it. Hey guys. Hi. Hi. As you are plucked from the Blooming Grove,

I need you to go ahead and roll. Oh boy. See where your feet fall. Yeah. We're fine, we're fine, we're fine, we're fine. We could want to leave the beautiful place. Can you do, can you do, what's it called? Fate Stay Night.

What is it? Fate Stay Night? Fate's Favorite. Name for more anime, more anime. Boys B. Come on. Girl in Law. KO Beast. Wolfram Big O.

Can you kamekaze yourself? Death Note. Okay, so it's, oh, that's okay. I had it upside down. 65. 65. I think it might be. Yeah, it was in the 60s.

No, I thought it was in the 30s. We're seeing if we fuse with a slab of stone right now. But butterflies. Is it butterflies? What the? What the? What happened? 65, you said? Yes. Sure.

Did he just roll? Yeah. He did. No, he put his. Put my phone down. Oh, okay. Likely story. As you're suddenly pulled from the grove, there is a momentary push, like someone's pushing you from behind

or pulling you from your sternum. You're not sure where they're coming from. And a flash, an abrupt sensation hits you all at once. Cold. No snow, but a very cold breeze. Looking around you, it is a cloudy day. But you have arrived without issue. Oh! Oh my god.

It seems to Eiselcross, because you had that object. Because that would have been a very different scenario. Don't forget to grab a rock. What? Oh, yeah! What's the ultimate timeline? Well, no, you don't know. Well, the good, you didn't, you're not on target,

I'll put you that, because as you guys land and look around you, you do not see the outpost anywhere. Okay, well, north is that way, so we know that. Okay. I can do a thing. You can just see open white snow and ice around you. Bits of the topography. I cast Find the Path. Oh, it's the only time this spell is good.

It's 100% true. It's come in handy a couple of times. Search for Grog it did. Oh, yeah, that's true. Oh, that's right. Twice. Nice situation. So as soon as we find some sort of landmark,

I know where we are, but in the meantime, I know the cardinal direction to where we're going, which is that way. It's that way. Okay, let's head that direction. So there could be a mountain in the way. We'll find out soon enough. Well, hold on a minute.

If we know where the outpost is, because it's that way, and we know where north is because of keen mind. Yes. So we should know if we are east of the outpost or west of the outpost or judging by the direction. You are southwest from the outpost. Okay. So no mountains in the west. Is that near one of the other numbers by any chance?

No. A or A2 and we're down here. Which is also where the lava river is. There's no A5 or A question mark where we are? All east, far, far east. Do we have to cross the lava thing again? There's no A5 or A question mark where we are? All east, far, far east. Do we have to cross the lava thing again? We might be on the other side of it.

Oh, good grief. Southwest could be. Yeah, we could be. That's correct. We could fly over it. Earned what I got. We could fly over it. Yeah, this is considered an off-target result. Better than in stone.

Better than a lot of possibilities there, so. In the lava. Take it where Better than a lot of possibilities there. In the lava. Take it where you can get it. Oh, but Laura wanted to go back in time and take that rock away from Liam. She did that last night before we left. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay, cool.

I switched it with another rock. How stupid to bring a rock in his coat. Why does this stone have a smiley face? Is this a pet rock? No! Well, first off, can I have a smiley face? Is this a pet rock? No! Well, first off, can I have a marching order? Oh. Well, you should leave, because, you know. I'll go first.

All right, Caduceus at the front. I'll join Caduceus up there. All righty, Caduceus and Fjord in the front. Okay. I'll go next. All righty, anybody else along with Yasha? Squishy Wizard in the middle. I'll go in the end.

Well, I know, I was trying to separate the cleric. It's not in space. You guys can be in any organization. I'll go right next to Yasha. I'll be behind Fjord. I'll bring up the rear with Veth. All righty. Squishy Wizard in the middle indeed. You've got it. You're in the book. Okay.

With the direction you're given, you are now heading in a northeastern direction. And if you get yourself just, you can see there's a mountain range to the east of where you currently are. A number of miles off. You can just see it. You can't quite tell the full distance,

but you're directing in a northeastern direction. There's no lava river that we can see between us and the mountain. Make a perception check. That's pretty good. 29. You do not see any sign of a lava river between you and that mountain range at the moment. If there's a mountain range to our east, Right.

we are probably on the right side of the Lavaroe. Probably. Yes. That would be my guess. Yeah, would we know that a little? Like, could I, would I remember that? Well, you have a map. Or we just look at the map. I remember that.

I've been looking at it. That's a happy phone call. Don't throw that! It's somewhere around here. There's nowhere really that is southwest of the outpost. I like to think Fjord's just... They would have mountain range to the east, except for one or two places,

and they're both on the good side of the lava river. We discuss as we continue walking forward. Of course. Well, as you figure out the... Oh. Too many maps. Too many maps. There it is.

There's a lot. Come on, you fucking bitch. I love watching Travis battle over that. I don't think that's it. Oh, actually, I do know how far it is when I cast the spell. I know how far it is. You do?

I do? I do. After I get the map out, you bastard. Wasn't going to say it before you had the map up. Testing the map. Yep, that's a map. How far it is and what direction it lies. All right. Right. Let me do some math here.

Because. Ashley, help me. Ish. I mean, you can give me an ish. I can help you. I got fingers to count. You can tell me in days travel if we didn't have to go over a mountain. Eight, five, six, seven, eight. There are eight maps.

I will say it's about, at your current location, between two and three days travel. Oh! Between two and three days travel. That is so much farther than what I thought. Well, yeah, we're down by Aluak's Sanctuary. Oh, we are deep southwest. Oh no.

We could be by the Aluak's Sanctuary. Yeah. Oh wow. Is that where the yetis are? That's like a steep southwest. Yeah. Should we get them to, should we ride them? No. Should we? Could we ride on yetis? We need to be doing that flying shit.

We need to be doing that flying shit. Where, how many days were we in? We were still in under a week, right? We're on like day five or something like that? Roughly around there, yeah. But better faster than shorter. For sure. Time to grind. We should fly.

Yeah. Shoot. How far away are we from the mountains right now? You're probably 10 or so miles away, maybe? So I say this is my plan, if anyone's interested. We could get to the mountains and then fly through the mountains. We just walk to the mountains.

That's half an hour-ish, 45. There's snow, it's a slope. But then we can try and fly maybe through the mountains. Why don't we just fly to the mountains and through the mountains? How long can we fly for? Actually, with your perception check, you do not see, I should've clarified,

you do not see the river of lava between you guys and the mountain range to the east. As you've had this conversation, you look and you can see it to your west. So we are on the other side of it. You are on the eastern side of it. That's good. We can fly for an hour.

So I would say we wait till we're at the base. That way we can get as far through the mountains as possible. Okay. Okay. We're southwest of the, am I forgetting where the outpost is? I thought it was where Aeor is on the map, right? Aeor's right there, then we're right here on the eastern side of the river.

So not by Aluax. No. You didn't move that far. Huh? You did not move that far away. Knowing the distance you have there, the location of the topography as you figure it out, you can kind of triangulate. So if we flew up and over the mountains,

that would cut down the time by a lot. That's three days travel? It would cut down, but you can only fly for an hour at a time. Right. So it does help. It would help, but it's not going to erase it. Yeah, depending on how many slots you burn doing it, you know, it'll maybe cut off a day, day and a half,

depending on how you do it, so. We'll take it. I would say, like, once we hit the mountains, let's see if we can just carve straight through them as opposed to walking around. When you were talking to Lucien, didn't you say he had to double his efforts? Yeah, but it kind of seemed like

maybe they found what they were looking for and were making their way. Quickly? Making their way? Yep. He strikes me as the sort of person to tell the truth in a way. Let's fly! Okay, well, I can fly. 100%. Oh, so close. We got to figure this out again.

Because I can only fly, turn two people into animals for an hour, and then from then on, it's only me and Caleb that can turn into flying creatures. I can fly as well for an hour. Oh yeah? Yasha can fly. Only for like, can fly for a minute.

10 minutes? Oh, one minute. One minute. Okay. One minute. Though not as long as an hour. Yeah. Nope, I can only fly for 10 minutes, I lied. Okay. So, say that the biggest people, maybe?

Can we polymorph into a white dragon? Probably not, huh? You can only polymorph up to a certain challenge rating? Up to a certain challenge rating, yeah. Should we just mimic what we did before? Yeah. Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah. Okay.

Even if we only do it once, it is still better than nothing. Yeah. What did we do before? I think I was a teacher. Well, eagles is faster. Eagles are faster, yeah. Yeah, it could be any beast is the help.

Any beast, got it. Okay. Who are the eagles? Well, Yasha, I think, makes sense to be an eagle. And Caleb and Jester? Yeah. Okay, so. Once we get to the base of the mountains, we'll do that, and then we'll play.

And then we split up Caduceus on one person, Veth paired with somebody. Yeah. Okay, so you're going to travel on foot to the mountain range and then transform, or transforming now? On foot to the mountain range. Yeah, that's a good idea.

And then transform at the mountains. Okay, got it. Well, I need somebody to go ahead and roll a 20 for me. Whose turn was it? Why don't we start fresh with Majority. Boulder Papershears? I'm not doing it again. Boulder Parchment. Yeah, we might've left off at you.

We might've. Yeah. Wait, I think we should all play Boulder Parchment Shears. Okay, okay, okay. Kind of eliminate together. It's fine, we'll make it work. Who are you? On three.

Ready? We'll figure it out. One, two. Okay. This is not going to work. Ah, this is rough. There's only one scissor. There's only one shears. So he wins. Okay, you roll. You win.

That's how it works. Yep. First beat's all. Check's out. Okay, we'll roll the meteorite die to crush this. Where'd you hide? A three. A three.

Oh no. Okay. Oh no. Okay. Oh yes. Remember, the eight is the dragon. Eight was dragon. Dang it. What was once a somewhat gray, broken blue sky begins to grow darker with clouds. No!

And the weather begins to grow harsher and harsher. You bundle yourselves, becoming accustomed to less colder areas, and the return to Eiselcross has been jarring, so as you bundle up and trudge through the ever-growing pressure of the snow and wind, eventually you do make it to the base of the mountain. Flight is going to be a little hard, but it can be done. Fuck. Fly or not to fly?

We have to. We have no other way to get up and over these mountains. Otherwise, we have to go around them now. What's the flying speed? 80 feet. 80 feet. So if it's halved, it's 40? Yeah. Yeah. Because of the wind, most of our speeds

are like 30 to 40 on foot. Well, you have to go as fast as your slowest person. That's true. What is the, is the wind coming from the mountains or towards the mountains? Make a nature check. That goes. Or survival, your choice. 13.

13? It is heading towards the mountains and and in a kind of, it's somewhat helpful, though it's going more eastern than northeast, so it might blow. A little jostless, but we're not going to be fighting it. Exactly. Okay. So it won't have our speed,

but we will have to be really careful. Okay. Okay. So I'll polymorph me and Yasha. I'll take care of myself. Okay. Okay. I'm going to use a little rope just to make something extra to hang on to, if that's okay.

That makes sense. Since it's windy. Bit of a bridle. Okay. We should make you with? Caduceus with, well. Caduceus with Yasha. Because of the strength, yeah. Just keeping this situated here. So who is riding on, we'll say this is Caduceus.

Jester wants to take Fjord. I'm on you. And you take Beau and Veth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Equals the weight of one of the other party members. That's true. And you take, who are you taking? Fjord. Fjord? And then where are you, Beau?

I'm riding on Caleb with Veth. Gotcha. Got it. And then you're on, okay. Okay. We then where are you, Beau? I'm riding on Caleb with Veth. Gotcha. Got it. And then you're on, okay. Okay. We are splitting up the clerics. The clerics, that's, yeah. Eee! So, whoever the flyers are, if I could have you go ahead and roll

either an athletics or acrobatics check for whatever form you're taking. You are a flyer, not a faller. whatever form you're taking. You are a flyer. God. Not a faller. I put on my goggles. You got a default. Athletics or which? Acrobatics, which would be either basically a strength bonus or dex bonus. Strength or dex.

That's your choice based on the form you took. They're the same, so I'm going strength! Oh, yeah! Terrible. Strength or dex. Whew. 22. Eight. 22. Eight. 31.

Okay. Wait, this is giant eagle stuff. Yeah. So do I not use my... No, you use the form of the E, plus three. Okay, oh, plus three only? Okay, so. Right, right, 21.

25. There's still two very high rolls versus one lower, which, between this minute skill challenge, puts you in the positive. So you do begin to trudge through the heavy wind and the snow, and as you begin to pick up, the challenge comes in not being pushed into the side of the mountain,

as the wind is taking you that way. You begin to adjust and use the blasts and the gusts to your favor, having it carry you higher and quicker, higher and quicker, until eventually you begin to coast over some of the highest parts of this edge of the mountain range. And what you can see through the casting of snow in white are all the peaks of gray rock and ice beneath.

You continue on for quite a bit until you begin to feel the spell begin to reach its conclusion. Looking for a safe place to land. Looking for a safe place to land. The three of you, anybody on your back who would like to make a perception check using your creature's form.

So roll and add your wisdom. Though I believe if it's large eagle, right? Yeah. Then those have a perception advantage, right? Oh. With sight. Correct. Okay. So go ahead and make, though, it's just a single roll

because it would be with disadvantage because of the storm. Okay, so I take the first roll then. Natural 20. Oh! Yeah! What are we adding to it again? Whatever your wisdom is. Four. Oh I take the first roll down. Natural 20. Oh! Yeah! What are we adding to it again? Whatever your wisdom is. Four. Oh, your perception is a plus four. Does the storm die? Four.

This shit is legit. So 15. Damn. All right. Damn. 20 plus. Broken. Burn it. Burn it, it's a whiff. 19. That is. Okay. Peering through the storm, looking into the forms below,

you can just barely make out a shelf of ice-covered stone that's the closest safe spot to stop nearby. And it's on the opposite side of a mountain peak to where it may block the wind from blowing you. So you head your way down toward it and then land in the soft snow, trying to find footing. It does slip a bit. The ice beneath is really hard to get a hold on, land in the soft snow, trying to find footing. It does slip a bit.

The ice beneath is really hard to get a hold on, but the wind is cut off at this angle and you find a safe spot to stop. Good work. Hi. Not bad. We may be stuck here for a little while, but at least everybody else will be stuck, too. So.

Did anybody see the Tomb-Tickers while we were flying? Did anybody see them? Oh, I wasn't looking for them. Oh, I didn't. I wasn't looking. That would've been a good idea. Shoot, sorry. No, no, no, it's fine. I would've looked, but it was really windy

and it was burning my eyeballs. Yeah, there was some weird storms whipping around. Next time we fly, we should look for them. Okay, okay, okay. So are we going for another round, or are we pulling it a day? We need to go for another round. Okay.

Let's take a, do we need a short rest? Does a short rest help? No. No, I'm just doing this for flavor. Fair. Okay, but it's only going to be me and Caleb flying now. We can still do it, right? Yeah, but we'll just move a little bit slower, I think.

One, two, three. Are we through the mountains? Did we make it through the mountains? No, you're in the middle of the mountains. In the middle of the mountains. This will be harder, but we can do it. Yeah, so you carry Caduceus, and I will carry Yasha,

and then what is left is the fort again with you, and you two with me, and that is about even. Does it look pretty rocky and rough ahead of us through these mountains? Yeah, the mountains are pretty nasty. I'll take Yasha, you take Caduceus. Okay. Just in case he's...

Okay. It looks like a lot of the mountains are pretty nasty. I'll take Jastra, you take Caduceus. Okay. Just in case he's... Okay. It looks like a lot of the mountains here, there are some softer edges, but a lot of them are these pointed peaks where ice is built up over time and has caused these spire-like points. It leads to some interesting valleys, which can be taken for shelter

if need be in a crutch moment, but you would not want to fall upon some of these mountain spires. So you're both transforming? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Let me see. Wait, hold on. I can't remember. Polymorph is Concentration.

Yes, it is. Okay. You're guiding somebody. You're going to guide concentration. Okay. You're guiding somebody. You're going to guide him. Okay. I'm on Jester. Okay. And Caduceus is on the... Yeah, so I'm carrying Lep. I'm carrying Yasha and Fjord.

And Caduceus, I'm going to carry you, and ladies, please, I think you should ride on top. Which one of you wants to ride like this in my claws? And which one of you wants to ride on my wings? I'll take claws. All right. I can carry you like you're on a chair. I can carry you by your arms.

I can carry you like, you know, like you're flying sideways, like this. What seems most comfortable? Maybe like a chair. Okay, I'll do this. Maybe just, yeah, like a little thing and then I'll swing my legs. Yeah, like a ski lift. She can fly by herself already.

For like a minute. Yeah, but if there's an emergency, you know, I can. Yeah, if I start to fall, bamf your wings out and, you know, don't die. That's why I feel like you might be safer to. Well, you can also. Fly. Okay, we're fine. I'm glad.

All right. So this is the arrangement we're going with? Yeah. You've got it. Picking back up once more. And you crest the moment where the wind hits you and you have to take a moment to adjust. I'd like to have the two eagles once again roll for me, please. Add a d4. Athletics or acrobatics,

your choice. Add a d4! Strength or dex? 19, I rolled. Did you add the d4? Do I get a d4? You get a d4. I do, too. I rolled 15. Oh boy! 15, okay.

You both manage to maintain your course in the face of this strong, strong storm. It's blowing you further east, further east. If you can keep going forward, that might be to your advantage. Might be. Does the storm sound Italian? Make a perception check.

It's-a me! Natural two. So, you know. It sounds a little more, I want to say, Austrian. Mm-mm. Sound of music. impression. I get bleeped out, Paul. I get bleeped out, Paul. I am the heir, Gjallróngan. Okay, okay. He's not a Doomtaker. Oh no! Not at all. That was pretty good.

Oh no! Get bleeped out. Get bleeped out. It's good stuff. Motherfucker. Okay. These are my eagle's, whiskey, and Lulu. It is tougher for you to go at full speed carrying some of your folk. It doesn't slow you down at full speed. It doesn't slow you down at half speed, necessarily,

but you aren't getting quite the full breadth of this. Pretty cowardly. But you push on, you push on through the storm. By the time the second hour fades, you begin to look for another safe place and you're still above the mountain range. Straight roll perception. Yep.

I can look around for the Tomb Takers, because we were told to look. Oh, that's a good idea. I do the same thing. Yes, I'm going to help look for Tomb Takers. Okay, well then go ahead and make a single roll, because it would be disadvantage otherwise. So. All right, no Tomb Takers. Okay, well then go ahead and make a single roll because it would be disadvantage otherwise. So. All right, no tomb takers.

Seven. 19. 19. You lose sight of a safe place. It's too much snow, it's too much wind, it's too much storm. You, however, manage to peek over and you see there is this large mountain that is supposed to come into a singular peak

comes to two smaller peaks at different angles, and in that little tiny valley, it looks like there's a safe space where it's shielded from a lot of the storm. With that, you eventually find yourself land there, right in time for the magic to drop, and you safely come to a moment of rest, catch your breath, and feel safe from the freezing elements of the snow.

Okay. If you have more spell slots to use, you can give it another shot. He gets another one, yeah, yeah. We should keep going, try to get there as fast as possible, right? Yeah, as much as we can. What if we use up all our spells

and then stupid Trent shows up again and then we have no spells to fight him again? That's never happened. Don't worry, I have not been thinking about that the entire time we were in the air. They both blew up! Fade to feathers. Magic and AR can be real dangerous, guys.

Holy shit. Guess we're walking. Oh boy. Guess we're falling. Oh boy. Guess we're falling. Who's got climbing gear? High ones. Say, uh. Same arrangement?

Yeah. Yeah. All right, going up into the storm once more with these crew, go ahead and make another roll. Ooh. With a d4. Okay. 15. 17. 17, okay. 15. 17.

17, okay. Oh, d4. Yeah, 17. Oh, shiza, thank you. I don't get a d4. He's giving him Guidance. 18. I can't give myself that. Braving the strength of the storm, you guys are keeping it up pretty well.

As exhausted as your bodies have become, even within, the strain of the spell and the strain of pushing is weighing on you. You might be a little sore in the morning, but the majority of this creature's body that you're currently inhabiting, that you've magically crafted, is managing to keep itself pretty solid

on the path you're trying to go. My eagle looks like it's got some really toned shoulders. There you go. Doing a lot of P90X, like pterodactyls backing out of trouble. Oh no. Flashbacks. Wow. Oh, the flashbacks. Yeah.

Pause if you need to. Yeah. You push on for another hour or so, and the spells begin to fade. You're not through the mountain range entirely, but you begin to see the edge of it. At the very edge, the storm itself is starting to subside a little bit.

It's not as strong as it was when you first pushed into the sky, but you do not think this spell's duration will carry you to the final length of traversing this plane. I could ski down the rest. Well, I mean, I can do it again. We've done it three times now?

Yes. I mean, yeah, I could do it again. We've done it three times now? Yes. I mean, yeah, I could do it again. We're wasting higher spell slots at this point. Yes, that's correct. Oh, we got to look for a way. Well, you got to land first. We got to land. Yeah. Oh, are you sure?

Go ahead and roll perception checks for me, please. Oh, not advantage, because of the storm. 20. And their bonus is... Oh, and we get to the d Storm. 20. And their bonus is, oh, and we get to the d4 on this, too, right? I've basically been pumping it into you at this point, so. Pardon me. Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah.

Thank you. 15. You got the d4. I got a real good visual. I'm hoping for it. Nobody wants to be pumped full of d4s. That's a terrible idea. Oh, yeah. They're real sharp. They're to be pumped full of D4s. That's a terrible idea.

Oh yeah. They're real sharp. They're very sharp. Make them have a point. Oh! Aw. You do catch one safe spot. Similar to the first shelf that you came upon,

but it's smaller and slimmer, which means it's going to be a little bit of a precarious landing. Thankfully, it's just two of you trying to find the space there for the point of the landing. If you could both make dexterity saving throws for me using the decks of your bird forms. Yeah.

To see if you can stick the landing. Bird deck. Natural 20. Ooh! Wow, that's three in the past. That's pretty good. 21. Burn it. Same die? Not bad. Dunamancy die.

Apparently. It is sparkly, space. Seeune die? Not bad. Dune and Manse die. Apparently. It is. Sparkly, space. It must be destroyed. I will cast you. Cast it into the fire! Where was that from? Campaign one was gold. Constantine. Now it is. Physics.

The way it should be. You both manage to skid into it, scrape and catch yourself to the very edge before going over. Right as the spell vanishes from beneath you and all of your friendly payload fall into the snow and ice next to you. It is at a slight angle, there's an uncomfortable moment where you feel yourself give just every bit.

That slight decline makes you worried that there's a chance to just slip off and fall, but you feel pretty comfortable where you landed. that slight decline makes you worried that there's a chance to just slip off and fall, but you feel pretty comfortable where you landed. Okay, now. How are you guys doing? Kind of tired. Yeah. Us, too.

I feel like we're really grinding. You're getting a lot of wind in your face. I wouldn't be surprised if you are. A little chapped. We look down and the terrible, try and see anybody walking, making their way. Make an exception, you're making your way. Down below.

Yeah. Down below. Yeah. Six feet under down below. 19. 19. With disadvantage because of the storm? Fuck. Ah! 16. Fuck. Ah, 16. 16.

Looking around, you do not see any sign of anything beyond snow, ice, and stone. Yeah, that's all you got. I could get a personal mount. I could burn my strongest, my... What? Yeah, you've heard me. I'm going for it. You know, I could get a personal mount. I could burn my strongest, my... What? Yeah, you've heard me. I'm going for it.

You know, I could get a personal... If you need one less person, I could summon a flying creature. No, that's not it. We're good at that point of the night. It's just a matter of whether or not we want to burn, you know, fifth-level spells to do this. Yeah, we've got...

So, I mean, it's probably more important to try to get there right now, right? Burn through it. Yeah, we've got, so. I mean, it's probably more important to try to get there right now, right? Burn through it. Yeah, yeah. But after this. This is the last one? I really want to, no, I mean, tomorrow, and tomorrow, uh-oh.

Uh-oh. I want to try to be conservative with our abilities. Yeah. For many abilities. Yeah. For many reasons. Yeah. But right now, we're stuck up a tree or a mountain, so we'll go again. We'll go again. Yeah.

Caduceus, hang on to your butt. Oh, wow. Here, Fjord, get on my back before I turn into an eagle. It'll be fun. Okay. Throw another spell onto you. It blows my arms. I was about to say, yeah,

make a strength saving throw. Just the. Oh, it's the, oh! Six. Oh no. Six? Dislocate. It doesn't dislocate your arms, but you do get pushed back off of her,

hit the snow, and begin to slide. Oh! Oh! Oh no! I grab you. Yeah. Between the two of you, you catch him before he slides off the edge and tumbles hundreds of feet into the ravine below. I could have had a willow moment.

But with that, you pick up for a third bit. The storm is not as strong as it was, but it's still strong enough. I need you both, the DC is a little lower, but go ahead and both roll, either with your strength or dex bonus. With a d4. Natural 20! Oh, thank god!

What's your total? Six. Okay, the natural 20 does help. I hope so. Considered two successes versus one failure, so you're real lucky you got that. That's fucking teamwork! Teamwork! So you can watch as Caleb is starting to

have a hard time keeping pace, and you come up from behind and give a tailwind, pull off to the side, and help block the wind from hitting him. And with that, you begin to make your way down. Make your way! Oh, wow. If you had said that it was snowing,

I might say flaking its way, but. Oh no, it's evolving. You eventually begin to push through the worst of the storm, and you begin to see the mountain range below subside, leading into a somewhat familiar valley of broken ice, stone. Oh, we're already there. Yeah, that was great.

And right as the spell begins to reach its end, as you begin to descend rapidly to catch the ground at the very base of the mountain range, which is now to your south, you glance out ahead and you can see the clouds are now passing further eastward. There's a little bit of break ahead where your vision's a little better and you can see now at this distance,

a different perspective, but the same view of the massive, odd, sunken valley that houses the ruins of Aeor. All the ice spires. Do we get a cooler view of it? Does anything catch our eye now? We can see it from above? Make a perception check.

I'll join on that one. Yes. Nope. Nope. Does anything catch our eye now? We can see it from above. Make a perception check. I'll join on that one. Yes. Nope. Nope. Like 12. 13. Hmm? Damn it, Bobby. Damn it, Bobby.

Not any real additional detail, but it is definitely. What about, is the storm less now? Do I get advantage on my perception for this one? No. Sorry. Do we get a sense for how far we are? I dropped Find the Path. To do that d4 thing, I had to drop Find the Path.

It was worth it. Well done, yeah. So as you all land at the base of the mountains, forms dropped, you gather probably it's another day's travel or so, or a little less than a day's travel before you get to the outpost. So you did make some good time with that. Should we? So what time of day?

I'm sorry, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, should we just continue on through the night and get there? Let's see what the weather, can you do the house? Can you do the- Because we don't want to go into all of this exhausted. Well, we'll get there a day earlier, though, so. We can take a...

Well, if we're only a day away, then it hardly matters, I suppose. Let's see how it goes. What does the Wild Mother tell you? Does she tell you you should sleep? Wild Mother says that when it gets dark and cold, you should sleep, and then when that when it gets dark and cold, you should sleep, and then when it warms up

and gets light, you should move. Okay. I did not know that. Let's keep moving until it's dark and cold. Nature's its own language. Yeah? Is that code for go to the end of the day and rest? Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah. Good, because I am also worried about,

you know, we were talking about negotiating, perhaps, but there's a chance they will just drop on us. Yep. And you and I are fucked up. And actually with that, I'll summon the sword and cast See Invisibility, because we haven't done that once since we've been wearing these necklaces. Mm-hmm.

All right, make a perception check for me. Oh gosh, what if they're just still scrying on us? Natural 20. Woo! Give him that shit. 23. So as you pull, as the sword apparates out of your hand, Fjord,

and as you bring it ahead of you, the energy glows off and you watch as the blade begins to glow and this energy from behind Fjord's eyes begins to glow with it, and with that, your sight clicks into the spectrum beyond what is normally capable of mortals. Glancing about, you give a very keen view

and no sign of any sort of drifting, invisible, arcane orbs, viewing portals, nothing. Money well spent. Thank you. We clear billboards. Assume there's advertising. There's a blimp, but yeah. I figured that wasn't pertinent to this. Thank you, I am Bandera. Billboards. Assume there's advertising. There's a blimp, but you know, I figured that wasn't pertinent to this. Hashtag not sponsored.

Not an ad. So, what's the plan? Just to trudge until it is too dark to feel safe, and then we will plunk down. So a little bit further. A little bit further, yeah. With the travel to the mountains, the travel then to the range there.

And you guys left the Grove a little bit before noon. So you're getting pretty close to dusk. You probably have another an hour or under an hour of light before you hit night. And the days here are probably a little shorter anyway. So you continue to push and push for this final hour. As the light begins to go, so does the temperature. While it is not a raging storm, thankfully,

there is still a cutting breeze that blows through. There is no snowfall. There doesn't appear to be moisture or enough moisture in the air to exhibit any sort of storm front, but it's enough to remind you of just how desolate and biting this landscape is. As the final bits of light begin to vanish

into the blue-purple twilight horizon, the choice is yours to continue or bed down for the eve. I make one more vote to keep going. I second it. I've thirded, but I also know. What happens if something, what happens if we run into anything? Well, it could.

What happens if something attacks us here? Well, we'll be inside a house. So nothing, we either choose to be safe no matter what, or we... I say we go waste another spell slot. We go for another hour, as far as we can, and then we do the tower. We cannot do the tower. We would do the dome.

Can you, if we don't? Because I've teleported us here. Yeah, no, that's okay. Dome's good. That's fair. No eyes, no scrying, so. Okay. Unless they just happen upon us in the middle of fucking ice across.

Should be all right in the dome. It should be all right. Okay. I feel like it's your comfortability. Yeah. Dome it up, then. Yeah, let's dome it up or fly it up. One more hour. One more hour of flying. One more flight. And then dome it up or fly it up. One more hour. One more hour of flying and then dome it up.

Okay, yeah, it's a risk, but it's a small risk. Let's do it. Okay. One more hour of flying. One more hour of flying. Okay. The owls are... I mean, owls are not as strong as eagles. So I think we should still be eagles. Will you be able to see in the dark?

Yeah, that's a trade-off. That's true. Unless there's some thing we can do. Keen hearing and sight. The owl has advantage on perception checks that rely on hearing or sight, so we could listen hard. It's hard to listen at a distance.

Listen's more for proximity. Okay. And it's still storming, right? Is distance. Listen's more for proximity. Okay. And it's still storming, right? Is it like whoosh? There's a wind blowing. Yeah, it's not a storm per se, but there is a biting wind blowing. Then it cancels out.

Then we might as well just stick with Eagle. Yeah? Call it? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Owls don't have darkvision? That's weird since they're night creatures.

They do. Owls have darkvision darkvision? That's weird since they're night creatures. They do. Owls have darkvision. Darkvision, 120 feet. Then we should do owls. They don't fly as fast, yeah. Sure. Your call. Owls or eagles?

Let's do owls, let's do owls. Okay. Okay. Owl and eagles. Up here. So owls. Okay. Owl and eagles. Up here. So owls. Yeah. What's the strength value on the owl? It is 13 plus one.

Versus the eagle, which was? One moment, please. 16. Would it be stupid? Is that dumb? 16. Is that a big, that's a big difference. Would we not be able to carry the other people? You're going to be moving a little bit slower.

We've done it before, so we would know from the past. Correct. But. So if you're saying if you're only owls, you probably go a little bit slower with this group you're holding onto, just because you only move as fast as the slowest of you, but you will be able to see in the dark and have stealth bonuses when you travel.

That seems smart. At this point, yeah. That's smarter. Okay. Plus, we also already said it, yeah. That's smarter. Okay. Plus, we also already said it, so. Woo-hoo. But just want to make sure you made the informed decision, because you would know. Have you met us before?

You got to have hope, man. With that, quietly, the two owls take off. And the wind blowing helps cover any sound that may come from the already super quiet wings of these two owls. I would need you both to make stealth checks for me, please. Stealth checks? With the owls.

Owls have advantage because their feathers don't make sound when they fly, according to the- So we get advantage? National Geographic, man. No, on the stat block, does it give you a bonus to stealth? Not that I'm aware of. No, it's just a plus nine. No, and I rolled total balls.

I rolled pretty ballsy, too, but I got 13 total. 13, okay, and? Four total. Whoa! Wait. Wait, no, that's not possible. We have a plus nine to stealth bonus as an owl. Owl? As an owl.

Oh, where does it say that on the, I didn't see it on the- Giant owl, skills, stealth, plus nine, perception, plus ten. How does it not make a sound when they fly? Oh, there it is. Plus four to stealth. Yeah, it's plus four.

Okay. Wait, what? Giant owl. I'm looking at it. Skills, stealth, plus nine, perception, plus ten. What'm looking at it. Skills, stealth plus nine, perception plus 10. What you looking at? It says giant owl, large beast. I'm not looking at D&D Beyond, I'm looking at a secondary thing.

I'm looking at D&D Beyond and it says perception plus five, stealth plus four. I'm looking at a ranger's companion. I'm looking at a giant owl beast's companion. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Which is weird that it's different than just being a regular owl. And you blessed us?

In theory, I've been pumping it into you, so you should get a d4 from that. Just keep doing it. I'm going to keep pumping. Pumping it into him. Seven for me. Totally changes everything. I mean, I don't know if it's a lot different than everything else, but that sucks.

So I only rolled an eight if it's only a plus four. I rolled a two on the 20. Plus four is six. Okay, got it. Numbers. You guys. You're hard. The wind does not prevent you

from cleaving through the air without issue. Quietly, you assume you traverse through the sky in the direction that you recall will lead you closest to the outpost in the morrow. Nothing seems to pay mind in the darkness. Nothing blocks your path. Nothing catches your attention, sound nor sight. When an hour passes, you've made some progress,

but you find yourself having to land soon amongst the darkness below. because you've made some progress, but you find yourself having to land soon amongst the darkness below. Like you both make perception checks. You do have darkvision, which means you do not have to. There's no disadvantage. Exactly, but you do have advantage because of keen hearing and sight,

so you both have advantage on the perception check. That's good. So just go ahead and add the wisdom modifier, or perception, which is plus five. So much better. 21 plus that d4. That's great. That's what the owls will come in handy.

28. 16. 16. No, still, 28's pretty slick. Hoo, hoo, hoo. You do see, as you begin to come down, you are a little bit off track, but you're towards the outer kind of southwestern to south edge of the Aeorne caldera,

where the valley begins to sink a bit. And you see one shelf of broken rock that has been pushed up. And you can now on this side, which you haven't seen up close, you can see where there is almost smaller mountains and hills that are pushed up around impact, something the city likely, when it crashed,

pushed up a lot of surrounding stone and rock in the vicinity, you can see there's almost like a smaller mountain ridge along the edge. And you can see there's probably, likely, some spaces there to sleep, to keep somewhat hidden from the open plain around, as well as from the elements if needed. So with that, before the spell comes to a conclusion,

you find a spot. Okay, so we can put the dome up in one of these divots in the earth. I'm exhausted. I'm going to set about doing it, unless anyone has anything else to do. No, I think that's a good plan. I'm going to help pack some snow on top of it once it's up.

Okay, 10 minutes later, a white dome goes vroom. Cool. And I snowman the heck out of it. I have a technical question. Yes. When we're turning into creatures, should it be like the wild-shaped creature or should it be like we should choose the mount?

Because apparently all the stats are different depending on which one you choose. Because I just went with wild-shaped. Treat it like an enemy beast. Play it from the top. Just do a search for giant owl. Yeah, but you have to choose what you want to add it in, which category.

And there's Beast Companion, Familiar, Infusion, Sidekick, Wild Sheep, Mount, Pet? Mount, probably? I'd just go under monsters and search for Dying Owl. I've always done that. Oh. I'm not sure. Treat it like a rando. But I'm curious as to what that setup is there,

because that sounds kind of cool. Okay, I'll show you later. No worries. I love the picture of him, too. He's just like, no. I know, he's so cute. Not right now. The barn owls. How many licks does a tick get to the barn owl?

That's the David Bowie owl right there. Oh yeah, labyrinth is strong. All righty. So. Such a dick, Mr. Owl. You gather up and rest for the evening. Thief. Much warmer in the entirety of this dome than it has been on the journey here,

and it is a welcome shift in pace. But you rest for the night. Is there anything you want to do for the evening? We'll go ahead and cut to the morning. I just have one question, because when I examined that, when we got the collar working together in the Plane of Fire, it was under duress and exhaustion.

So I know that we powered it, but I don't know if I understand how it works. Do I need to fiddle with it more to ascertain how to operate it? Or have I already figured that out with all of my? I think you've figured it out with the tinkering you've done. It is currently functional and powered.

It would need to be affixed to somebody, which would likely involve a successful grapple. Right, manually. Correct, it would be a contested grapple. And then once affixed, it functions. Okay. Couple questions before we bed down.

Do you think we're going to need to find a path again tomorrow, or should I put it away? Kind of depends on the weather. I'll keep it out then. There's other things I'd like to have. And do we want to talk to Trent tonight or tomorrow? I have messages I can send. I feel like we need to get to Essek first, personally.

That's a, yeah, that's a very good point. Should I send a message to Essek? He might not be willing to cooperate at all. Yeah. Best we defer. Yeah, you can let him know that we're close. Okay. Be there tomorrow. Okay.

So we're less than a day away. We'll be there pretty soon. How are you holding up? Don't freak out. Are you preparing for our big battle, though? Woo! I have increased the guard I have increased the guard awaiting for your arrival.

We have a lot to discuss, but the sight of you will be welcome. Hurry and be safe. He's doing okay. Okay. Okay. All right, then. Do you want to ask Vandran which jungle he's in? You want me to?

I'm going to send a message to Vandran. jungle he's in. You want me to? I mean. I'm going to send a message to Vandran. Okay. Too late. Okay. Thought you were being cute. I did, that's what I get. Stick your finger in the mousetrap. You get a little snapped. Hi. Me again.

What jungle are you in? I'm with Fjord. He's just wandering. He misses you? Am I allowed to say that? He's... I don't know if I'm supposed to say that. He misses you. Is it a verbal message or a mental one?

I don't know. Okay. I think you speak it out loud. Well, oh, that, yeah, I definitely speak it out. I was asking in my terror. Actually, that's a good question. It starts with a chuckle. Not entirely sure who this is, but I'm comfortable enough.

Somewhere near Besaft. Near Besaft? Not even really sure. I know where that is. I know where that is. It's in the ocean somewhere, right? Near the wind? That's it. Yeah, I remember it from the past,

but I can't remember why. Near the what? Near the what? He says he's near Bissaf. Shut up and plan your games! Okay, okay, okay! I'm pretty... I thought it was in the ocean. Near the Smaf?

The Smaf. Bissaf. Bissaf. B-I-S-A-F-T. B-I-S. We've passed through there or something. Did we? I remember seeing it somewhere on a map. Yeah, it's out there. He seemed unsure where he is, Fjord.

Where is it? Where is it? Where is it, Fjord? Sure. Sure. Sure. Where is it? It's the nearest island to where our ship exploded where we went down. Huh.

Maybe. Right, should have thought to look there. Would have been the first logical place to look. Where would you swim if you survived? Has he been stranded there this whole time? Oh, no, he got a book. I mean, he's been to civilization. Well, there were other people on the island.

I don't know. I'll unpack that later. Yeah. I mean, we went to sea with a copy of Tusk Love. Maybe everybody does. It's true. It's what you do. Unless it was on the ship and it was on the wreckage and washed up on the... That would be why he would read a book like that

instead of, you know, I don't know. Maybe he likes things like us. Because it's all there is? It's fine. We have things we are focusing on. Okay. We have to make it out. That's the plan. We all do.

I know we all said our goodbyes, but for watching you and your family today, and you. I don't know. I'm prepared to die, but it's not fair to them. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to save them. Dying may be involved, but prepared to do the work.

Preferably not dying. I'm not prepared to die. We got to do this. You definitely can't die. Nope. But hopefully none of us will. If I feel the need to, I will send just you back to them.

You can do that? Of course I can. Well, it won't come to that. Look how good we're doing. We've got this. We've totally got this. We're going to be fine. Made it back here. We didn't end up in a mountain. We've closed the distance an incredible time.

We're doing really good. Yeah. Eyes on the prize. Yeah. Yep. Don't use the word, but yes. If I do die, I'm not saying I'm going to, but if I do,

Yes. I promise I'll come back and haunt you guys. One by one. Ah, yeah. You'll get little surprises. It'll be so much fun. Hmm. That would be cool.

Do you have any requests? What do you mean, last requests? You'd like me to play us to sleep? No, like, is there anything any of you, if things go south, is there anything that? You're just assuming that you'll live? You'll live and be able to? I'm going to be fine, yeah.

Yeah, okay. Same here. I mean, we're just going to be the executors of your will. Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is basically, yeah. I mean, you're all going to be fine, yeah. Yeah, okay. Same here. I mean, we're just going to be the executors of your will. Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is basically, yeah. I mean, you're all going to be fine. Well, someone's going to have to marry Yeza. It might have to be you, if you're the only one. I don't think that's going to work. You have to take care of him, you're my child.

I mean, if you have any porn lying around that you want us to get rid of or a browser history you want us to clear, just say. I have a lot of eligible siblings. I'm just going to put that out there. Yeah, that's true. Definitely delete my browser history. I know my parents are eager to get rid of a couple of them.

But yeah, I mean, I think if any of us don't make it, the others will vow to take care of their families. And I mean, how to take care of their families and... I mean, do you want us to hunt down Vandran and tell him how much you missed him? Or do anything? Yes. Yes, of course. I don't think I would have to tell you that, though. I think you would do it anyway.

I would look after all of your next of kin. I know what you want. Yeah. What do you want? Yeah, do you want us to draw dicks for the rest of our lives? Aw, that would be really sweet. Should we, I mean, should we follow the Traveler? Oh no, I don't think he needs that anymore.

But do keep him some company, because he's going to be real bored if I'm, you know. I would say go visit my mom, you know. Throw some chaos into her life, it's good for her. And your dad, too? He might provide enough chaos now. I don't know. Ooh, if I'm not around, and you are,

you really have to make sure they stay together, okay? Really parent trap them if it hasn't already happened. Sure. Okay. Sure, I'll say to the gentleman that Marion is sick. You can't break up with a sick person that Marion is sick. You can't break up with a sick person, right? Yeah. And then I'll tell Marion that the gentleman is too scared to confess his love to her,

and that'll stay together. Yeah, that's perfect. Yeah. I think tricking people into staying together is always the best possible way. And then also, the other thing I think you should do is you, Caleb, if you survive and I don't. Well, that will not happen. You have to draw a dick in every single temple. Temples specifically?

Every single temple that you come across, there has to be one dick you'll leave behind. Well, I promise I will. Okay. And what about you, Mr. Caleb? Do you want us, what would be the thing that would make you happy in death? Would it be us killing Trent Ikithon?

Or? That couldn't hurt. I don't have any family other than you all. Yeah. Make sure that no more children are bent away from their purpose in life. Mm-hmm. Not as much fun as drawing dicks,

but I'm down for that. We will do it. We'll do it. Beau, any requests? I'm in the same boat as Caleb. Yasha. You all are my family. Maybe make sure TJ, my little brother, is okay. Still think him and Luke would be good friends.

I do have a request, though. I don't know what these eyes do. And I was hoping that maybe I could gain some knowledge on how to use them to our advantage, but if last night told me anything, it feels like it's just a device for Molly, Lucien. but if last night told me anything, it feels like it's just a device. For Molly, illusion. I don't know if I'll ever stop doing that.

If it goes bad, and I'm not on your all side anymore, my request is for you all to live. One way or another. If it goes bad, take me out. There's a little puff of a sparkly cloud next to me and a white cat appears and trundles across the distance of the dome, crawls into your lap and does a couple of circles

and scritches him. What do you think? I don't know, what are the odds of us waking up changed again? Pretty strong. Pretty strong. If what she's talking about does happen, if I am out of control, you will stop the problem.

I'm calling my favor. If it comes to that, you will stop me. Utterly. I made you a promise. Get them out. It won't come to that. No, we are the Mighty Nein. MATT and LAURA say, and then they all look at each other. They're all like, I'm not sure what to do. They're all like,

I'm not sure what to do. They're all like, I'm not sure what to do. Caleb, can you put Pretty Visions on the dome tonight? Caleb, can you put Pretty Visions on the dome tonight? Yeah, that would be nice. Hmm. Well. I start a small fire in the center of the dome,

which is not concentration. So a small fire starts up and globules start to slowly rotate around our heads, very, very slow, casting shadows that are constantly moving. And the fire, using control flames, begins to take one shape after another. And I just start running through things

that pop into my head. We see the crudest form of Marion and the Gentleman dancing, and we see a ship at sea. We see the fire flatten out into a plane, and we see two feminine forms at the center of it sitting on the ground together. We see a little house ringed in

by a flaming forest. We see a tall figure and a very short figure walking through a field of flaming grass. And eventually, it just turns to plain old fire and the globules dim. And in the dark, all you hear is the sound of purring in the dome. One by one, as these images fade from view,

and the sound of purring takes the interior of this safe space, you all find yourselves to come to a night of rest. Eventually, a dream-filled night comes to some of you, to others a bit disturbed asleep. But the morning does come. You have a long rest? We didn't even take watches in case you fuckers tripped out. Oh my god, we should have been at the heaven.

What the fuck is wrong with us? We're ready, we're ready, we're ready, we're ready. We're going to be, we're on our guard. Are there any footprints around? I was wiped out with your guys. I believe it, I believe it. Make a perception check outside of the dome, if you'd like. 22. 22, pretty good perception check outside of the dome, if you'd like. 22.

22, pretty good. Glancing around the space, other than the footprints that you left behind. Still there. Which are still there. No additional footprints. Cool. No new snow?

No new snow. One bonus. Any weird dreams? Any more eyes? You too. Eye check. Oh, it's cold. Yep. Oh, it's cold. Yep.

All the way, all the way. No, it's not, it's not cold, it's warm in here, it's nice. Oh, okay. I was blowing on you. You're in your frosty breath. Hey, Caleb. Scoop out of the dome. Caleb.

Anything? Reach for the sky. Anything? Look at these two skinny motherfuckers. Nothing? In the sky. Nothing. Look at these two skinny motherfuckers. Nothing? In the dome. 23. Do you see any eyes?

No eyes on either of them. No eyes. On the ones that are already there. No new eyes. Same old eyes. Eyes on the prize. Okay. Early to bed, early to rise. Let's get to the outpost. Are we flying more?

We could do one final flight. Well, let's see what the weather is like. What's the weather like? Well, you'd have to begin your journey to find out. Right now, it seems fine. Okay. There's still clouds in the sky. It's not an open, you know, cold blue sun-reflected morning. It's still. Okay. There's still clouds in the sky. It's not an open, you know, cold blue sun-reflected morning.

It's still a little gray. I'll tell you what, why don't we walk for 20 minutes and see what the weather feels like? I'm down with that. That's a great idea. Gathering your things, the dome vanishes. You all sidestep the elements of snow that have been pushed around it that Caduceus arranged,

but the dome top is pretty clean, so it's not a huge danger. And even so, overnight, depending on the weather, it would igloo anyway, so. Which I did wrong previously, as the internet has let me know. You were right, you were right, that's on me. But 20 minutes in the journey,

I would like somebody to roll a d20 for me, please. Oh, we should all. Me? Or are we all going to pull? I'm going to hang out with this one. I was the big winner last time. Both are parchment cheers. Okay. Oh, you know what? He's the only one that did a paper.

Travis, you only did paper. Parchment, sorry. D20? D20. 19. Oh no. 19.. 19. Oh no. 19. Dread. Oh no. Give it to me!

Bah bah dah bah. Oh no. Don't look at me like that. He's got the face on. No, that's a good one. 19 is good. It's fine. I want it. The weather is clear. Ah! Gray, but without issue.

No storms blowing, just a gentle journey eastward. Continuing on this path on foot, you could go and fly if you'd like to, or continue on your call. Well, if we go up, we could probably get a good look. We could get a good look. And know exactly where to go. And we could get there much faster. Save a spell. Because it's not windy.

Happy to save a spell. I go do three of us, we get even faster, because we'll be going, yeah? Yeah, repeat of yesterday. Okay, let's do three fliers. Eagles. All righty. You take off with the troop heading eastward, eyes peeled.

I would like the eagles and perhaps one additional member of the party to make perception checks, please. There is no storm blocking your vision, so you do have advantage. Go ahead and add your perception roll for the eagles. If there isn't, it's bigger. So we get an advantage on perception?

You do. Ooh! 26. 23. Nice. 22. A-wha. All right.

A-wha. A-wha. A-wha. A-wha. A-wha. About an hour's worth of travel in, you make a good bit of distance. You, Jester, and you, Caduceus, can see along the ridge of rock and stone and ice shelves that mark where this sinkhole begins

and where the ruins themselves, at least sealed beneath the layers of ice over a millennia at this point, ride and shift into the topography. Only in this high point of view can you really make out the edges of where this ruin sits in this valley. And both of you can make out the familiar sight

of that one cluster of icy spires that you remember the outpost is. You're not near it yet. You still have a better day's worth of travel to get there, but you know the direction you're going without error. And we can carve a little bit of that time out for the next hour. That'll help us get there. Yeah, that'll be good, right?

All right. So continuing on this path the next hour, you come to a landing as the spell fades and you gather you probably have another four or five hours on foot to get there. That's not bad. Seems like it. It's not bad at all. Fine with that.

Did we see anything, like any other people walking while we were flying? With your perception view, you would have. You would have seen... Actually. Yeah. You would have seen one small group of what looks to be four white cloaked figures

that are doing a journey, not leaving any footprints behind, around the outer edge, heading away from the outpost and almost intersecting the path you would be taking. Does it look like they're heading to where I know the secret entrance to be? It looks like they're following the perimeter of the ruin exterior.

Okay. You get the sense it's likely one of the outposts. All right. But you land. Are you taking the rest of this journey on foot, then? Yeah. I think so. Okay. Moving forward, you're a bit exhausted,

but you eventually make your way to that familiar cluster of spires. Within moments, you hear, Halt! And you see, coming out of the nearby snow, approximately seven individuals armed with all manner of bows, crossbows, and even one with what looks to be some sort of a rifle,

like an elongated pistol. Ooh, what? Oh, that's cool. Sand people. I hold up my little orphan Annie membership badge from the Dynasty. One of them puts his bow down, still holding the arrow in place, takes a few steps forward,

gets about 20 feet from you to glance over. Ah, they're expecting you. Ah, that's what we need to do. Come, Essek is waiting. Puts his hand up. Everyone puts their weapons down if they're ready, but they keep watch out past you, just remaining keen on the space

to make sure no one's followed you or there's any funny business, as you follow this one individual that leads you back into the center of the outpost. As we begin to approach, you can see this individual that's guiding you is, at this moment, putting on a bit of an air and a hand up of no worries.

At that point, a little bit of bustle continues between the central pathway. There's like the, of the various spires here, there's a little carved road nook between the center where most of these structures are built to face each other. So it can, for the most part, do business back and forth, unseen by the majority of the valley.

You are led to the familiar exterior of Essek's chambers. And as you approach, the door opens on its own. You step inside and you can see there, pacing back and forth, or would be pacing if he wasn't floating, gliding back and forth. Essek turns. Ha!

Friends, please enter. I've got it from here, thank you. As you all enter, the door closes behind as he curls his hand towards him. And with his other hand, he drifts out a chair, scooches forward, and he drifts down into the chair, one leg crossed over the other. I'm glad you have traveled here safely.

It is good to see your faces. So, what is the word? Are we in the chamber that had the invisible guards, or are we in his private chambers? No, you are in the chamber that has the invisible guards. I'm going to walk up and just place a hand on his shoulder. It's good to see you as well. Is his shoulder his?

It is. May we speak freely here? Is there something that should not be shared? Any of you speak Undercommon? Yep. You hear Esse LAURA say, Any of you speak Undercommon? Yep. You hear Essek say, Give me 10 minutes, please. Yep, oh, right, not to us.

And you watch as two perched guards step out of the shadows nearby, descend and exit the chamber. It closes, he waits a moment. Now we can speak freely. Well, things are considerably more complicated than when we left you, I'm afraid. This is my look of surprise.

Please explain these complications to me. So, yes, go. We have an extra, oh! I'm going to pull out the extra necklace. Put it on. This will keep you from being scryed on. His eyes flash in a familiar way that you've seen whenever Caleb has looked over a magical item.

Ah. Wonderful, thank you. Then he goes and places it over his neck and tucks it within his mantle. I'll get to that in a bit. What else? That may be useful in the days ahead of us. However,

some damage may already have been done. In an effort to hide ourselves from the prying eyes of our adversary here in Eiselcross, In an effort to hide ourselves from the prying eyes of our adversary here in Eiselcross, we traveled back to some of our homeland and acquired quite a few of those for us. We wanted to take ourselves off the grid. However, we had run-ins with

my folk, Ikithon and his protégés. So we risked much to get these, but in doing so, there was confrontation, and I am fairly certain, because of his past dealings with you, and my use of

things I have learned with you and from my own noodling, that he has put two and two you and from my own noodling, that he has put two and two together and... I'm sorry, Essek, I think that he may have got wise to you, so there is a very real chance that he has been. On that note, summon the sword, cast See Invisibility.

Watching you already. Make perception check for me. 19. 19. Looking throughout the chamber, you feel pretty safe at the moment. Those prying eyes are at least not here at the moment. Not at the moment. So what does that mean?

That means we are still on a ticking clock. We still need to keep moving. We would still be very grateful for your aid if you wish to give it to us. But we have to assume Trent and his closest, they could be showing up soon. Trent and his closest, they could be showing up soon. And we had the prickly idea,

since we are facing something so large Since we are facing something so large and potentially beyond all of us, even you, and potentially beyond all of us, even you, that in these circumstances, perhaps we should be negotiating an alliance. A temporary one, you know. It does solve a couple problems. If he's involved, then it's not just you working with him,

it's him working with you. It muddies the water for any information he feels the need to spill. Do we have those crystals? Do we ship with that simple? I mean, I've been expecting my choices to catch up to me. Maybe not as soon as I had hoped,

but as this is. Regardless, it is not safe for me to remain in this outpost. My presence here puts everyone else in danger, let alone myself, as this is not an unknown location, at least its existence. It would be safe for me to travel with you into this ruin, which I was preparing for.

I do not trust working with that man. No. I understand if you need to, but I do not think that I could be part of that. Oh, wow. I can find a place to go. I am capable of being slippery when I need to be.

And I understand if you find the capabilities of a member of the Assembly more useful given the dangers you face. And the choice is yours. Essek, we don't trust him either. The question is, one, do you trust us? And two, what we are talking about

could potentially leave your home and mine in ashes. You've committed sins in your home. So have I. You talked about wanting to make up for them. If the appropriate amount of ability and skill is not wrought against this enemy,

it could spread across every inch of the world we know. I understand this is unpalatable. My question to you is do you want to protect your home? palatable. My question to you is do you want to protect your home? He leans back. I do, but I do not... I do not think you seek the right kind of aid. Not with this man.

You mentioned that one of the Assembly already fell into the spell of whatever this thing is. Right? the Assembly already fell into the spell of whatever this thing is, right? This Cognouza. True. Then why should someone as entrenched, as selfish, as dubious, as Ikithon not wait to the right moment to take it for himself. He may very well do so.

And we are prepared to deal with that. Are you? Yeah. And your judgment of him, yes, he's corrupt. You and I know temptation is very real. And your estimation of us is very good, but it is not as perfect as you think it is,

and I pull off my coat and pull clothes down and show him the eye on my right shoulder. His eyes narrow as he looks and peers towards it. With a curiosity and a worry, his brow furrows immediately. Tell him it wasn't on purpose. I want to check one thing. Is there even a hint of recognition?

Make a perception check. Or sorry, an insight check. Good question. Insight. No, good, 24. 24. Recognition wouldn't be what I'd say. Just unexpected processing.

Okay. Fjord, we're still good in here? Anything new? Good. I propose a side venture. In the middle of all of this is to rid this world of that man.

As circumstance provides. So this alliance you promote is intended to be a trap for him. It's a perk. If we fail in the coming days, none of this even matters, this conversation we're having. If we succeed, both our homes still have their struggles with each other,

their faults, their flaws, and here's a flaw from our home. Make a persuasion check. Big one. That dice, that dice! Meteorite, meteorite. It failed you, it betrayed you in this vital moment. It's super betrayed.

What? What? Wow! Wow! Shit. It is real. Wow. Essek thinks it over for a minute in quiet silence. Wow. Good squeeze. Burn it.

I understand what you are proposing, and I see the logic in it, I do. But if I am to be honest, I am jealous of the bravery and confidence you have in such things, I am still a coward. Coward? You have dared much. I have done everything for myself.

And when any of it came to bear, I have done everything I can to hide and flee. I am more than happy to go and put my life on the line for this cause. But there is something about that man and what he could bring upon me and those he... He may very well be coming anyway,

but if you want to work with him, I may have to work independently. Maybe follow. I fear I would make this messier than you need to make it work. Does that make sense? I just... I'm not saying I leave you alone, but...

We would have to work separately. Yes, of course. Of course it makes sense. There's no good answer to any of this. Absolutely not. We don't want you to be uneasy or unsettled. There'll be plenty of that to come. You must understand that we are trying to gather

every able hand and... Of course, I see the importance of that. I just know that I've also survived this long, weaving the intricacies of deceit like I have by knowing how best to keep myself out of the complications as best as I can. I have by knowing how best to keep myself out of the complications as best as I can. If you wish to work with him directly, I will not stop you, and I will help where I can,

but it may be at a distance. Maybe he's got a point. Maybe Trent is more complicated than what it's worth across the board. What more of a choice to make. Yes. Because Trent brings power and probably numbers, but of course he is untrustworthy. We all know that. Is there a way to find out if he actually has,

is following us here, if he knows where we are? If we can find out if he's coming anyway, that certainly changes the territory. I could send a message to Astrid. Tell her to cough if they're following us. Oh, also, I have a strange request. Would you mind terribly taking off your shirt? Excuse me?

Well, what's the word? I've gotten a bit paranoid, and I'd like to make sure that there's the correct number of eyeballs in this room, if you know what I mean. Make a persuasion check. That's your strong suit. I'll give him advantage and say,

Essek, if you take your shirt off, all of us will. 21. So you feel safe and comfortable. I'll help that by taking off my glove, showing the back of my hand. I've already taken off my shirt. No! Essek is very like,

No! Chips and very like... No! Chips Whitties. If it puts you at ease and you watch as he unsnaps some of the fasteners for his mantle and sets it off. He's got a real-boy stripper outfit that's just like, . Dune of Medsea! Sparkling stars.

Jamie's got a gun. Giant chest hatchet. Full-on killa-kills it, I love it. No, he takes his mantle off and pulls the sides of the robe away, and you can see he has an undershirt. It's a little, slaveless undershirt, like a darker gray silk.

And he begins to show his arms and reveal. He's being modest with it, doing it in places, so he's not just full-on bearing it all here, but he's giving a fairly thorough glance. Back and head is a big one, too. He drops it in the back a bit and shows. His hair's pretty short in the back,

so it's pretty easy to see. I appreciate that. Of course, I understand. We all appreciate that, Essek. It's this thing we're learning to do every day. Fastens the mantle back on. Well, we should prepare to at least explore the ruins shortly, we do have a decision to make on our end.

Of course, do what you need to do to feel certain in your choices. Let me know one way or the other. I will aid you however I can, regardless. It would just inform how close. If we forego trying to negotiate with him, you come with us? Of course, I was preparing to.

Okay. And is Dagen still around? Or he? Dagen, along with a number of guard, have been sent to watch the outskirts of the entrance we had mentioned. That's how girls do it, right? You just roll and cut in.

Just make a croissant, aren't you? I think that's how it works. I would, however, ask some semblance of haste, because these circumstances do put a time limit beyond just the individual you are racing, but the knowledge that Master Agithon has. I'll be here if you need me. I'm going to begin to prepare for a journey either way.

Spend some time with him. Spend a little time, yeah, with... Yes, I will do that as well. Thank you. Thank you. Can we stay here for a little bit? Just finish our conversation? Certainly. Of course.

And he drifts out of his chair and glides around and through the door and leaves you to your devices in the room. Man, Caleb, why didn't you do a better job convincing him? Oh, that was a great job, Jester. You did it fantastic. that was a great job, Jester. He did it fantastic. You did a good job. It's a tough ultimatum.

Although it's pretty simple, though, right? Happens. Simple. We're choosing between Essek and Iki. Yeah, we get one dedicated ally that we know doesn't want the thing that we're trying to keep out of the hands of Lucien. On the other side, we get more hands,

perhaps more power, but a almost certainty that they will try and keep whatever they prevent Lucien from doing for themselves. Yeah. Which means we have to find them at the end. Yeah, the last thing that we need is for some double-crossing, solid complication. I'm frustrated. I feel like we could have worked it,

but one person that we can trust is better than three that we cannot. I agree. I agree. They could turn on us in the middle of the fight. Could we at least reach out to Astrid? Find out if they're following us? Yeah. Oh, yes, and ask if maybe she could tear away?

I don't know. Yeah, the key to the Volstruckers would be that unless Trent is dead, they're still going to fight on his side. If we could fell him, then perhaps they would turn, but that's a big if, and until then, the tide would not be in our favor. We should check in with Astrid.

We could, but we need to be vague. If they know where we are, if they know where Essek is, they do. But just in case, keep it vague. Maybe ask her, are they following? And where they think we are. Well, if she's around him, she won't be able to answer. Yeah.

So we'll have to give her, like... You know, like, cough. Yeah. I'm going to figure it out, because otherwise it's going to be very confusing. We did try and throw him off the path a while ago. Cough four times if they're following us. Exactly.

Cough once if you're following, twice if you're not following, three times if you know where we are. No, that's the same as one. Yeah. Just cough. Cough if you are on our tail and don't cough if you are not.

Okay. But then how will we know if she got the message? Maybe it should be like a cough and a sneeze? Or a throat clear. Oh yeah, a broken, enough. Okay. But then how will we know if she got the message? Maybe it should be a cough and a sneeze? Or a throat clear. Oh yeah, throat clear. Yeah, throat clear is an easy thing to lay off. If they're following us, and just if they're not. If they're not. I like that.

That's not bad. Okay. Wait, before you do this, just to throw them off our tail, you can do thaumaturgy, right? Yeah. Maybe you could make it sound like seagulls are happening behind her. I don't know if that transfers.

I don't think it sends my environment. I think it's just my voice. You can still do it in the background. We can send some foley. We can make some cobblestones and maybe some- Yeah, cobblestones! Street vendors. Oh yeah, we could do some call-outs.

Hey, Dutcher! Hey, Sunderland! Oh my god. Can you walk around in a circle? Everybody. I don't need any more distractions, please. Hi, Medasha! Hi, Medasha!

Oh, I'm in 17! Seven Sunder of the wild! Well struck, my lord. Huzzah to the victor! Oh. I know. Do you even remember what we're supposed to say? Whoa, okay, let's do it.

Twice in one episode, hell yeah. We're in Trostenwald. Okay. Where did we throw them off to? I'm going to send a message to Astrid. Okay. It's me. Jester.

Hey, I don't know if you're alone. Oh, Jesus. If you're not. And you're following us. Oh no. Oh no. Great start. We did it. Yeah! Great start. Oh, I did it! If you're not hands, you're following me!

Oh my god. Now clear your throat! If you're not following us. Clear your throat if you're not following us? Clear your throat if they weren't following us, is what I said. Boo! I really hope she's alone.

Caleb's like, Boo! Boo! Caleb's like, SAM and LAURA, both, SAM and LAURA, both, There's a pause. I'm so very confused. She's alone. Round two. Yep. What did you say?

Oh no! She's alone. I'll send her another message. Holy shit, that hurt my forehead. Oh my god. I have veins between. That hurt my forehead. All the veins between my skull and my skin. What? Sorry.

I need to know if you're following us. If you know where we are. What's the plan with you guys? Hope you're alone. If you're not. Oh man. Oh no! Oh man.

We're going into an auction. This spell ingester is my favorite 10-dorix box combination this entire campaign. This is amazing. Oh my god. Oh, wow. Stop. That's your response. Evolstrucker has never disentangled from Trent before.

No one who knows what he does, how he breaks us, has shared their trauma with the world. That's the end of her response. And then she follows up with her own. Ooh, she's got her own? With the king. Imagine the threat you are to him now that you carry respect of both Crown and Crane. So, yes.

He's invested. Oh shit. I tell Caleb all of that. Invested? Break that down for her again, now that she... Yes, we're a threat because we're... Invested in both sides. Crown and cream, but that didn't answer

if they know where we are. Where we are. They know where we are. Ask. Invested means they could still be researching it? The phrase she referred to, which she explains it, a Volstrucker has never disentangled from Trent before. Mm-hmm. No one who has gone through the trauma of becoming a Volstrucker has expressed the process and the abuse

to the king or anyone outside of his employ. So you're a huge danger to him. So you're a huge threat to him. Big ol' liability. He's going to kill us all. He wants to. He has to. But if we can kill him?

We need to know where we are and if they're coming. He won't cooperate. Boy, he sure would say he'd like to cooperate, though, if we asked him. I think by her saying, yes, Trent is invested, that's her saying that, yes, they're coming after us. Well, in my opinion, that means we pick Essek as our close person

and then we hope the timing works out in our favor with them. Yes. Yeah, we need to, as we move forward, be ready for them just to be here at a moment's notice. For sure. So, you know, if we can think our way out of a problem instead of attacking it like it's an ancient obelisk

in the middle of a field, that's the way to go, because you want to have all of your capabilities. I have this. And Caleb takes out the collar. You might recognize this from our time inside of the Folding Halls of Halas. Yeah.

I've been working on it for a while. I've had a little bit of help, thank you. You're welcome. I don't think I should have this. I think one of the ladies should, and I'm not sure which, but if we can get this on his neck in that crucial moment.

With you being a distraction. We can buy ourselves some time with him. Trent's neck? Yes. What would it do? With you being a distraction. We can buy ourselves some time with him. Trim his neck. Yes. What would it do? It would prevent him from being able to use his abilities on us. Well, Beau's very fast.

Beau's very fast and Yasha's very strong. I think if we give that to Beau, Yasha can try to grapple him. And then you can throw the pillow. And I can get it on, sure. Plus you've got a lot of attacks. I do. That's true. I do.

A lot of opportunities to stun him. To attach to him just has to be thrown around and strapped? It's got to be put around his neck. And like, clicked. Like a collar on a cat. Clicked, locked, any? No magic, no activation, no word. Click it shut.

Does it take time to attune, to connect? Just needs to clasp around his neck. Okay. Boy, that's a thing. Wow. I've got some spells that might help that I've been thinking about preparing. Forbiddance, if we have a ruby around,

as an option. What does that do? It creates a very, very large field with, where teleportation is not possible. Oh yeah, the Traveler was telling me about that. Yeah, like 40,000 feet square.

That's a pretty powerful spell. What? Yep, yep. Nobody leaves, everybody stays. Nobody can teleport in or out. Nobody leaves, nobody can even plane shift. Or come into the space. You can come in, but you can't teleport in.

And you can also make it so that certain types of creatures just take damage when they enter. Good, nice questions. So that's a- Can they teleport out? I feel like you can teleport out of it. You just can't teleport into it. That's right.

It also proofs the area against plane and travel. So yeah, you can't get in by the way of the astral plane. Yeah. Or plane shift. Yeah, that plus some silence spells that are always good for dealing with magic people. Yeah. Get them in a bubble.

Symbol's pretty great. Symbol's pretty great. But Forbidden is good. I don't know if I have any. How expensive of a ruby does it need to be? It's 40,000 square feet. 40,000 square feet. So you're aware, yeah. Not a radius. Not a radius, no.

1,000. 1,000? I mean, my mama gave me my ruby necklace. Oh no. Well, if it comes to it, we'll sleep on it. I would rather not. Also something that I want all of you spellcasters to commit to memory.

When I was in there fighting Lucien, jumping in balls deep, what I was able to learn is that he is resistant to fire and necrotic, and he is immune to psychic charm, frightened and stunned. So commit that to memory. Which ones again? When we're planning our spells.

Resistant. Yeah, resistant to fire and necrotic. You know, half, not weaker there, you know? And then he is completely immune to Psychic, Charm, Frightened, Stun. Psychic, Charm, Frightened, Stun. So no mind games with him. Mm-hmm. That's good.

This is difficult. Well, we can hit him. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's good. This is difficult. Well, we can hit him. Yeah. As long as we don't stand directly in front of him. And we have some tools to help with that, too. Yeah. Oh, that's right, we do. Yeah, if we can set up shop before they arrive,

we have three, I think, of those intuit charges. The first one that we found, and then there was some in that bag. Correct. But they were that the Tomb Takers were carrying. That's psychic damage that it does, though, so it wouldn't do anything to them. Oh, nothing to them, right. But we do have the Allura, the things Allura gave us,

which keeps them from doing anti-magic against us. It'll show us. No, it shows us. It's like a blacklight and shows where he's put it down so he can see it moving through space. Yeah, it doesn us where it is. It's like a blacklight and shows where he's put it down so he can see it moving through space. Yeah, it doesn't prevent it, but it gives you some strategic information. Indicator. We're not fighting blind to it. Get it.

Are we going to start at the secret entrance that we know of, or are we going to work our way backwards to there? I feel like we should start there, right? Start there. Yeah. Start there, and are we going to work our way backwards to there? I feel like we should start there, right? Start there. Yeah. Start there, and are we going into the ruins? Yeah. We got to go into the ruins from the secret entrance

and hope that... Be in. Should we tell all of Essek's people to move away from the secret entrance so that they think they can use it? Well. So we can lead them down the correct path? I think that's brilliant, yeah.

I think the more we cat and mouse them, the better. Do we want to delve too far into the ruins? Because the ruins most likely have their own dangers to us and we don't want to drain ourselves. This is true. Climbing through it. So we certainly don't want to be waiting on the doorstep, but. My worry is that they won't use that entrance. They'll have another entrance and they'll just go around back

and we'll never even know that they already did all their shit until the city's upon us. We should have a second team. Not of us, but Essek's men at the main entrance. Or is there a main? There are guards, if I recall, at the main entrance to the temple, but I don't think anyone knows how to get to this wing

through the main entrance. Can we, out of character, review what we know, which is you had your vision, thanks to your dub role. Correct, he knows exactly where that secret entrance is. Secret entrance to it is, okay. That's where they're going to go in. That's where they're going to try first. And they don't know.

There are multiple excavations of the ruins. There are multiple entrances to the ruins, but some of them are controlled by different factions. Right. Some have been abandoned because they collapsed, possibly. Some of them are controlled by this outpost. Some are controlled by Empire interests. And they no longer know where we are or what we're doing.

Right. Yes, we can just wait for them. I feel like we'll need to see it. Any of Essek's men that are going to be a part of this are going to be dead men. So Cat and Mouse is good, but we also need to see the entrance, what's after the entrance,

and maybe a little bit further into that, depending on how much time we have. If there is a terrain that suits an ambush, we have to scope it first. It's also possible we could collapse that entrance and force them through the main one. Possible. But there's no main one, there's multiple ones.

You know what I mean? It's the one that everyone knows. Yeah. I like the ambush plan. Ambush plan is not bad. Yeah, but you're right, we need to, we're just guessing a little bit, so we need to take a look.

Here we go now? The moments we pop off those traps, they'll know. Yes. Show our hand. There could actually be something to collapsing the tunnel once they're in, so that they can't backtrack the moment they set the trap. Or as they're coming in.

And that could be something that we have Essek's men do from the outside. They just watch, let them go in, give it a moment, blast the tunnel, then hopefully spring our trap. We need to see it. We need to see it. Yeah. I got some thoughts.

Get there before them. Is there any reason for us to stay here, or should we go right now? We should let Essek know that. Oh! Who is it? Yeah, hello? It's Essek.

Oh, hey, come in. Come into your room. Wait, we're naked. The droid opens, stops, and slowly opens. The door opens the rest of its way on its own. You see he's wearing his heavy cloak with the heavy fur trim around the side for the cold weather. He has a pouch over his shoulder tucked underneath.

He has an orb that's affixed to his side that he just lifts up and it drifts above his hand. And you watch as it warms up a bit and creates this radius of warmth around. Ooh! He goes, I have a tiny need. Are you all ready to go?

I think so. As ready as we're going to be, yeah. All right. Have you decided? Yes, Essek, we are going to stick with you. We feel we can trust you more than my old teacher. Also, that guy, he can't float. You're not wrong.

You see, when you say the word trust, it's simultaneously like seeing a small hit to the heart and whatever icy bit that cracked melts away for a minute. There's a moment of him hearing the word and letting it wash over him, almost. I'm thankful for the trust you've put in me, and I hope to I'm thankful for the trust you put in me, and

I hope to make this up to you. Anyway, I'm about at such discussions, shall we? Yeah. Essek, do you still have men stationed at that entrance that we told you about before we left? I do. I have seven men and that Dagen. Oh, cool. He's with us. Fucking Dagen.

That's right. Do they have the ability to communicate with you telepathically or send a message? No, but I can send them a message. When was the last time you checked in with them? That would be this morning. Oh, great. Everything okay? So far, so good, yes.

They're growing a bit bored up there, but that's part of the job. If there's any danger, there's no way of them reaching out to you, though? Unfortunately, no. Okay. These men, are they fighters? Do they have arcane abilities as well?

They are not, based on specifically what you told me. They are trained rangers, combatants, individuals that are now ready to use the environment to their advantage. Okay. They're good at hiding? Yeah. They are extremely good at hiding. Okay, that's good. Have they been hiding while they patrol this,

or have they been openly standing guard? I would assume extremely good at hiding. Okay, that's good. Have they been hiding while they patrol this, or have they been openly standing guard? I would assume they have been hiding. That is what their specialty is. And hiding by physical means, blending into their environment, not using. Good, that might help. Hopefully will be enough. We're dealing with something

we're very good at seeing. I don't think he has an eye for that. They do have a means of communicating in an emergency. That would be, yes, a Flare Stone, but since they are not practitioners of magic, they do not have that capability. That's good. How far away is the entrance? It's a part of a day's travel from here.

Oh, okay. We see how the weather holds up, but we hope to, if we march on, part of a day's travel from here. Oh, okay. We'll see how the weather holds up, but we hope to, if we march on, a heavy march, we will arrive by or just past sundown. Otherwise, we will make camp and then arrive first thing in the morning. Okay, let's go then. Yes.

I'll need one more rest before anything happens, so that's good. Yeah. All right. 39, you're almost fulfilling your number. And he drifts out into the cold, open air of the day. Dakin makes nine, babe. Yeah, he does.

We'll follow. All right, as you step out, you can see the guard that has been stationed within this outpost has been doubled since your arrival, likely placed at the knowledge of Trent's possible arrival, but they all see you off, giving a respectful chest and hand bow towards Essek and you

as you make your way beyond the outpost and back onto the familiar white, snow-covered icy plains of the valley, cresting into the bowl that is the ruin of Eor. Oh my god. We'll pick up from there next week. No! No problem, No problem.

Well, cool. I get to bring this mini in now. Oh! Yeah! Buddy! Yay! You had choices. Pick a picture and share it with us. That's cool. I will. I'll send it to you. Look at that little war criminal.

Right? Awesome. Good game, guys. Oh man. Who among us has not handed over the most precious object in our country's possession? Yeah, who hasn't committed a little war crime? A little treason. A little patricide on the side.

Man, this is some northern crater heading into the final dungeon. Yeah. All right, all right. Well, we'll pick up from there next week. Thank you all so much 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?