Critical Role - C2E134 The Streets of the Forgotten

Episode Date: April 22, 2021

Now following the Tombtakers’ trail, the Mighty Nein converse with voices of the past for clues and meet some of Aeor’s creations...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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, spellcasters, sages, and spectators. I'm Ashley Johnson, and you're listening to the Critical Role Podcast Network. Tap into our magical narrative by watching Critical Role as it airs on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole or youtube.com slash criticalrole. Twitch subscribers can watch the video on demand right away, or you can catch it the following Monday on YouTube. As always, Critical Role will be available right here in podcast form on Thursdays, a week after the initial broadcast. And now, let's scry into the story and see what mysteries it holds for us, shall we?
Starting point is 00:00:43 Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. We play Dungeons & Dragons! Indeed. Before we jump into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor for the night,
Starting point is 00:00:59 our returning sponsor, actually, NordVPN. Sam, take it away. Sam? Sam? Sam? Right, right, right. Okay, long story, but Sam was actually a level 20 hack master known as BlackWillow69 at AOL.com. And well, the...
Starting point is 00:01:24 He always used NordVPN for the highest quality encryption for internet traffic. And it hides your IP and physical location with more than 5,400 servers in 59 countries. I mean, it's easy to get better speed and protection with one simple click. Poor bastard. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:47 You know, Sam always knew that it's available on every platform. He did. Yeah, including Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux. Linux? Linux. I know computers really well.
Starting point is 00:02:03 And he wanted you all to go to nordvpn.com slash Critical Role or use code CRITICALROLL to get a two-year plan, plus one additional month with a huge 70% discount. I mean, Sam waged a digital battle for the freedom of the Nordiverse
Starting point is 00:02:28 until someone sliced him and turned him into a gleaming cube of energy. Yeah, sorry about that. But where is this spectacular, gleaming cube? Yeah, I haven't seen it, actually. Time leaves. Wait a minute. Travis! Are you eating Sam?
Starting point is 00:02:56 What? Oh, my bad. No, just gleaming. Ah! No, just glue? The dream cube was made out of cake! What? I thought it was by him. We're very upset right now. I thought it was my birthday!
Starting point is 00:03:22 But it's not your birthday! I know! That's why it's always weird birthday! I don't know! I thought I saw it on the screen! Oh my god. Oh my god. You ate a slice of black... I can't even say his lock and handle. Oh, I'm going to barf.
Starting point is 00:03:40 Laura, are you crying? I'm fine, Travis. It's not like he was the only man I ever loved. That spirit cube contained 10,000 zetabytes of Blackwell's computer knowledge. All the super meat boy ciphers, all the no man's sky cheat codes, every dharma he ever bragged.
Starting point is 00:04:00 And now... It's in my belly? How do you feel? Well, you know, now that you mention it, I do feel a little woozy. What? What? Maybe I should just unlink my blackwater capacitor,
Starting point is 00:04:31 hard target the maximum risk, cyborg the time cop, and kickbox the JCVD. Holy Emma Bunton. Those were legit computer hacker terms. But how? What's happening to me? How do I know all of this?
Starting point is 00:04:51 And how am I surfing the net with my arms? By consuming Sam, you've somehow become Leet. Whoa. Maybe I'll hack into the domino servers and get us all free pizzas. Free pizza is the least of your concerns, young crypto prodigy. There's a nanostorm coming. What do you mean?
Starting point is 00:05:17 A great disturbance in the internet. I've sensed it. A snitch in our servers. A ghost in our shell. A robot in our frank. Something not of our shell. A robot in our Frank. Something not of this world. What am I supposed to do about it? I'm just a noob.
Starting point is 00:05:32 No. You are the two. The two? Yeah, like Neo in the Matrix. Oh, you mean the one. They did that already, so you're the two. Your hacker name is number two. I don't want to be the two.
Starting point is 00:05:52 Sorry, that's the prophecy. Well, can't we come up with something else, like Cyber Cowboy 69, or I don't know, the Sentinel, but spelled with all numbers? Listen to me, number two. If you're going to save the mainframe, you need me to train you. You?
Starting point is 00:06:09 What's your trainer code name? They call me Morpheus. What? You said I couldn't be the one. Names aren't important, number two. We need to begin your training. Let me guess. The next time NordVPN sponsors our show,
Starting point is 00:06:27 hmm, you are already learning, number two. Matt, hack to you. Thank you, everyone, for that. Wow! Well done, Travis. Yes! That commitment. That commitment. Wow! Well done, Travis. Yes. That commitment. That commitment. Wow. Who does number two work for?
Starting point is 00:06:52 All I could think of was, who is number one? You are number six. I'm not a number. I'm a free man. For all you ancient Brit TV appreciators out there. Thank you, NordVPN, for sticking around. All at once. This deep lore.
Starting point is 00:07:13 And thank you to our second sponsor for tonight and all of campaign two, D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond! D&D Beyond is an amazing online digital toolset to maintain and customize your campaigns and create your characters and maintain them on an online database. They have digital dice to use on it. You can have all of your friends' characters in your campaign.
Starting point is 00:07:33 They have their Master Tier subscription plan for DMs in which all their digital books are shared with everybody in the campaign. They put them on. It's awesome. Go to dndbeyond.link slash master if you want to learn more. For the next batch of announcements, Marisha, you have some things to discuss. I do. That's awesome. Go to dndbeyond.link slash master if you want to learn more. For the next batch of announcements, Marisha, you have some things to discuss. I do, that's me. Thank you so much for joining us live on Twitch and YouTube.
Starting point is 00:07:54 To join our live and moderated chat, head on over to our Twitch channel. Yeah, also, hot off the presses, the content presses, our newest episode of Crit Recap Animated summarizes the Mighty Nein's adventures from campaign two, episode nine through episode 16. It's out on YouTube.
Starting point is 00:08:17 Nice. Stick around during the break if you want to watch the episode. We're going to air it or go check it out. Also, I never do this, so I never ask. Go like and comment and share Crit Recap Animated because the YouTube algorithm, the YouTube algorithm. Next is Narrative Telephone is back next week
Starting point is 00:08:42 with a story by Travis Willingham. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And special guest, good friend of the Crit World team, is back next week with a story by Travis Willingham. And special guest, good friend of the Crit World team, Aabria Iyengar is joining us. Legendary dungeon master, she's awesome. Catch the stream on Tuesday, April 20th at 4 p.m. Pacific on Twitch, and look out for the VOD on YouTube Thursday, April 22nd.
Starting point is 00:09:04 Content. There yound. Content. There you go. Done. Thank you, Marisha. And for our final announcement for tonight, Ashley Johnson, if you don't mind. Oh! Oh shit. Hello! Let's go, let's go!
Starting point is 00:09:19 So today, you may have noticed, we launched a brand new fundraising campaign with our longtime friends, A26LA. Yeah! So as a quick refresher, for some of you who may not know, A26LA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharpening writing skills and unlocking creativity in students
Starting point is 00:09:40 from undeserved areas here in Los Angeles. And we've been working with these wonderful folks over there since, I guess, the very beginning of our streams. And we're excited to continue to support the wonderful and incredible work that they do. So, here's the nitty-gritty. Together, we hope to build out a writer's room for students at Venice High School, which is a Title I school here in Los Angeles. And writer's rooms are crucial areas in schools that allow students to further develop writing skills and seek mentorship as they prepare to apply to and head off to college. This will be 826LA's third writer's room here in Los Angeles.
Starting point is 00:10:26 And if we are able to hit our goal of $150,000, the room will open in spring 2022. So this is a wonderful opportunity for us to join forces for good once again and create a meaningful and long-lasting impact in the lives of many young people for many years to come. So head on over to criticalrolefoundation.org
Starting point is 00:10:49 to learn more and to donate right now! Do it. Woo! It is great, because today you're dressed like a creative writing professor. Did you read the great Gatsby? I want to again. You can also crochet some, you know, sleeves on here. Did you read the break, Gatsby? I want to again. You can also crochet some, you know, sleeves on here. Hello, Cane Dick is my hero.
Starting point is 00:11:14 Fantastic. Thank you, Ashley. Yay! And thank you, everybody, for your amazing support of these charitable endeavors and your support now of 826LA and all the incredible work that they do. So appreciate that. Woo! Woo!
Starting point is 00:11:26 Sorry. Without further ado, I think that finishes our announcements. Let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Scramble! The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends
Starting point is 00:12:10 And the DM to guide you And they rise from the flames For the battles ahead Villains beware Cause you're about to be dead They got magic and flair, they got fountains and cunning, they don't see
Starting point is 00:12:30 over there, there's a monster incoming, inspiration is waiting, rise up don't think twice, put your fate in your hands, take a chance roll the dice roll the dice roll the dice roll the dice Roll the dice Critical Roll the dice
Starting point is 00:12:45 Critical Roll the dice Critical Roll the dice Critical Can you answer the call? Digging deep in your soul As the legend unfolds
Starting point is 00:12:56 Now it's your turn To roll And welcome back. So, last we left off, the Mighty Nein have trekked back to Eiselcross. You've conscripted the aid of your longtime ally, the Shadowhen, Essek Thalyss, to join you into the ruins
Starting point is 00:13:32 of the ancient magical city of Aeor proper. Upon arriving, you inspect some of the space within, you set a trap for the Tomb Takers and successfully manage to ensnare them, killing three and the only remaining members being Lucien and Cree. In this climactic moment, as you rushed in to finish them off once and for all,
Starting point is 00:13:59 the last trick up their sleeve allowed Cree and Lucien to escape, shunting themselves past the tunnel that you were safeguarding and collapsing it behind them via some sort of magical quake. You had just finished killing off the remaining members of the Tomb Takers that lie there bleeding and unconscious. But as you take a moment and watch the dust settle, the rumbling fade,
Starting point is 00:14:33 and you all look at each other in the low light, feeling the immensity wash over you of what just transpired, we come into tonight's game. So, what would you like to do? Is anyone crazy hurt? Oh god, I forgot. Anyone get hit?
Starting point is 00:14:56 Anybody? I mean, I'm still hurt from the frost giants. Yeah. They just got away, right? They just got away. The rubble is literally in front of us right now. Should we pursue or anything? I mean, we should probably get all these rocks
Starting point is 00:15:11 out of the way or something. I'm sorry I didn't wake you up sooner. I was hoping that we would have more time for a rest, but they were on us and I chose to let you sleep. I'm sorry. Did the guards warn us? They did. Oh.
Starting point is 00:15:28 They communicated with Essek. I thought there might be more time. We needed it. We still need it. I know, we're so close. But if we're going to follow them, we should try and make up ground, yes? Yeah. It's going to follow them, we should try and make up ground, yes? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:45 It's going to take some time to clear this. Also, we did just do a heavy number on them as well. I think we call this and take the win. Last time we tried this idea of running them down, it didn't go well. But what, we call this? What do you mean? We sleep and we pick up.
Starting point is 00:16:05 Well, I have an idea. I do have an idea, but we need to sleep. Yeah. I should show it. It's hard to explain. Oh, go for it. But it's in the city. It's something I found in the city. I have a weird idea.
Starting point is 00:16:20 Well, we have to get through the rubble in order to get there. Well, we're going to have to, before we sleep, I think we're going to have to get in there because that might be the place. Are these two on the ground? They're breathing? They're dead? If I recall, before we finished last time,
Starting point is 00:16:34 you finished off the remaining members, yeah. Okay. Is there any, maybe any reason why we should take one of their heads or anything to talk to them later? Yes, absolutely. I think we popped off, well. We already do this?
Starting point is 00:16:50 We definitely popped off. Otis is a smaller, it'll travel easier. That's right. The other two we just dispatched, but I don't know if we... The cake! We could take all three. Shoo!
Starting point is 00:17:09 I'll volunteer. Might not be a bad idea. You take one, I'll take the other? All right. Yeah. Once we have time to rest, I can put them in the ember. We're going to rest. They could get all the way to the city. They could bring it back while we're sleeping. Don't we need to know where they're going to rest. They could get all the way to the city. They could bring it back while we're sleeping.
Starting point is 00:17:27 Don't we need to know where they're going in the city that you flew over? We do. I do think it's smart for you all to get a rest at some point in time. Well, yeah, I can do nothing. If we find them, what can we do other than yell? I mean, they're pretty hurt, too.
Starting point is 00:17:44 Maybe we all just beat each other silly while we're bleeding to death. I mean, they're pretty hurt, too. Maybe we all just beat each other silly while we're bleeding to death. I think their hurt and our hurt are a world of difference right now. You got a better look at them, they were both hurt? It looked like Cree had been more banged up than Lucien and got them both out at the same time. But again, if they're on the other side of that rubble
Starting point is 00:18:09 and if they're going into that city and we don't know which house or which wall or the secret area, we're going to be lost unless we have a way of tracking them that I'm not aware of. That's an excellent point. Do we have any ways? If we sleep, I'll be able to track them.
Starting point is 00:18:23 If we sleep, I can track them, too. What is your plan? Because we sleep, I'll be able to track them. If we sleep, I can track them, too. What is your plan? Because we can't get through the city now. So if we get back in there, I found this amphitheater, a theater of some kind, filled with corpses.
Starting point is 00:18:45 They were watching this person who was on stage who, I don't know, had an air of power. They were frozen in those bubbles the way that some people are. I think this person might've been fighting whatever happened. Maybe if we wake them up,
Starting point is 00:19:12 we might have an ally in finding a way to stop this. It might be crazy. I was going to maybe talk to somebody in the crowd to see if they could tell us who this person is. It might be someone who can help. Oh yeah. We tried to dispel it before though, didn't we? We have help now.
Starting point is 00:19:32 That's true, Essek might have a better idea of what to do. I'm pulling rocks, looking for loose rocks that... All right, so you guys have head back in the tunnel, Essek's like, well, obviously I was extremely capable of dispelling that thing that was on your chest before. I did that, Essek. I realize that, that's the point. I was being sarcastic. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:19:52 I just wanted to remind you. I appreciate that. But nevertheless, and you see as he starts putting his hands out in front like this, just almost like he's soft throwing objects forward, you watch as rocks start coming out like he's soft throwing objects forward. You watch as rocks start coming out as he's plucking them as he pulls the gravity from them,
Starting point is 00:20:10 aiding you as you guys go along. How thick does this look? You can make a perception or investigation check. Yeah, I'll investigate it. I'm going to try to dig through and retrieve my unspent Fluffernutter. Okay, go ahead and make an investigation. I'm pulling from the top
Starting point is 00:20:27 so that we could potentially just move the top layer of rocks and crawl through, so we're not trying to clear the whole fucking tunnel. Glancing through, this hallway that you guys traveled through is pretty well reinforced on the sides and elements of it did hold pretty well. This quake definitely found the weak parts
Starting point is 00:20:45 and the elements that did collapse, you can see there are probably two batches or two sections of about 10 feet that are more or less fallen in of loose rock. Some larger than others, but it's not like an extensive cave-in. It's hard to say how long it'll take, but if it's all hands on deck, it may be quicker.
Starting point is 00:21:05 If we're pulling rocks and they've fallen from way above, it's a potential that the entire ground could collapse on us and kill us all, right? It's possible. Yeah. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I'll help as well. Who's hurt, by the way? I'll keep going.
Starting point is 00:21:21 I mean, I'm down, I'm down. A little bit. All right. Everyone's helping. I'd like everyone to make an athletics check for me as a group. Guidance. Okay. 11.
Starting point is 00:21:37 All right. 15. 18. 15, 18. 12. 12. 14. 14. Seven. Seven. 25. 25. Yep. Seven. 25. 25. Yep. Except for the legs.
Starting point is 00:21:51 It takes a little longer than you had maybe hoped, but you do manage, within the next 15, 20 or so minutes, to pull enough rocks free of that first section that there's enough space to crawl through and not feel like you're going to shift loose any additional load-bearing portions of the rock above you. You can see there's a small pocket above where one of these heavy pieces of shale shifted a bit
Starting point is 00:22:13 and was leaning inward, but thankfully, you could probably make it through okay. As you crawl your way through that first batch, Essek glides through and then reaches out and pulls out something and clutches it near his face. It's Dagen. Right. Yes, head back and let them know.
Starting point is 00:22:44 Thank you. There are some rangers lost, many injured, but there are some survivors. That was their warning call to let us know that the Tomb Takers were coming. So there're okay? Some. Dagen seemed a little worse for wear,
Starting point is 00:23:12 but he was speaking, at least. Well, there's no choice but to go forward. Should we get the rest of them down here to help us? It might just be best for them to go forward. Should we get the rest of them down here to help us? It might just be best for them to head back, relay the message. Okay. Yeah. All right, for the second passage,
Starting point is 00:23:39 everyone please make one more athletics check. Come on, man. Much better this time. Three. Yes. 24. Nine. Three. 15.
Starting point is 00:23:53 19. Natural one for five. 24. Not great. This one takes a little longer. Roughly 25 minutes in a couple of precarious moments where you pull one rock free and a few more slide back in and everyone freezes for a second, afraid that the next collapse is going to happen.
Starting point is 00:24:15 And then one by one, carefully find the looser bits, and then open before yourselves a passage where most of you can travel through comfortably. A couple of you, not as comfortably. But eventually you climb through the opposite end, right about where that bend at the top of the incline was. You can see there is the bridge board that went across. It has fallen somewhat in,
Starting point is 00:24:43 but it can be readjusted and placed back. Well, that was the rope you guys had placed. That's right. But you had taken the rope. We left the rope. We did leave the rope. You did leave the rope. Used it to lower down. Correct. So the rope would still be there,
Starting point is 00:24:58 though a large portion of it is currently buried, but it is still a taut rope across the way. I'll Naruto run across. Easy enough for you, Miss Beauregard. With your help and with the rope taut, we'll say, for the ease of time, carefully make your way across. I will Boruto run across.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Mm, that's better. Wow. Feel a little shown up by the next generation. That's better. Wow. I feel a little shown up by the next generation, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. They're very similar, though. Very, very similar. I will Zetsu climb up the... Well, you eventually reach the end of the tunnel
Starting point is 00:25:43 and it opens up once more into the ward where you've previously been. The same darkened, massive chamber before you with the various glowing pin lights of color in the shadow distance. The neighborhood lies before you. What would you like to do? Is there dust on the ground?
Starting point is 00:25:58 Can we see footprints that they've left? Anything like that? You can make an investigation check if you'd like. Can we check for traps or anything? No booby traps? Oh, because they were here. Yeah, I think they were probably can make an investigation check if you'd like. Can we check for traps or anything? No booby traps? Oh, because they were here. Yeah, I think they were probably moving an hour ago. They were here an hour ago.
Starting point is 00:26:10 Have we walked through the threshold into the vast chamber of the city, or? You are at the threshold currently. I'll just scan around the threshold, see if there's anything up or on the sides. Traps. Traps? Perception or investigation, your call. 24. 23.
Starting point is 00:26:26 All right. You do not see any traps. You do see what looks to be signs of travel, not because there are any footprints necessarily that kept your attention, but because there are some fresh dots of blood. Blood. Oh.
Starting point is 00:26:43 Okay. They bleed. Well, can we follow these dots? Up until she heals herself, I guess. Sure. But yeah. Let's do it. All right, well, who wants to lead the tracking? This would be survival-based.
Starting point is 00:26:57 Hold on. Got it. My survival's pretty decent. Mine's okay. Plus four. Mine is, too, and I will, if you're good with it, I will cast Detect Magic as well and try to search. Certainly.
Starting point is 00:27:12 Okay. Searching for? Their direction to follow along as far as possible, while also, for at least the first 10 minutes, seeing if any glyphs or wards, taste of our own medicine, like you said, is waiting for us. You've got it. We'll probably
Starting point is 00:27:27 still be pretty quiet as we move through here. Okay. So as you expand your consciousness to reach for anything arcane around you, what'd you roll? 11. 11, okay. You feel pretty confident. Where are you guys heading within the ward?
Starting point is 00:27:44 We're following the blood. Okay. You continue along. And you rolled what for survival? I didn't roll for survival. Oh, you should roll for survival now. Or whoever's helming that, I should say. The blood check.
Starting point is 00:28:01 Unless, wait, Caleb, were you doing it? I thought I was. 23. 24. No, way higher than that. Okay, I'll wait, were you doing it? I thought I was. 23. 24. No, way higher than that. Okay, I'll say, were you both rolling or were you? I thought you were rolling for detect magic. I didn't realize it was a roll. There is no rolling for detect magic, it just does it.
Starting point is 00:28:15 Right, okay. So, and you rolled one, Leia? I rolled a 19 plus four plus five. Okay. 28. I like that number. Pretty good. So between the two of you, keeping an eye out and carefully watching,
Starting point is 00:28:28 the blood trail is not extensive, but it is fairly consistent for a bit. Meaning about every 30 or so feet, you can find a sign of some sort of additional blot, scattered bit, fresh enough to the point where it's still wet. You begin to make your way steadily through the ward. You could see it begins to dive off the main road
Starting point is 00:28:55 and head off a bit, continuing on for another 10, 15 or so minutes. And you begin to find yourselves deep, deep in the Presidious Ward. Glancing around, the air still has that tense silence to it, that stillness, where your ears, aside from the sound of your very careful footsteps,
Starting point is 00:29:19 occasionally when you stop and listen, it's almost oppressive how quiet it is, pressing in on the eardrums. And you continue. Are you going carefully? Caduceus, when you took your little trip around, was there a passage in the direction, generally, that we're headed in?
Starting point is 00:29:40 I don't think I saw any passage. You didn't go far enough. Are we heading in the direction of the Coliseum? Loosely. All right. Yeah, it's a little bit of a side path, but it's in the direction you're going currently. Never got far enough. Okay. Yeah, we should stealthily.
Starting point is 00:29:59 All right, so this would be slower travel, but I would like everyone to make a stealth check. I'm going to give you Blessing of the Trickster. Oh, thank you. So that gives you advantage. Awesome. Come on. Fuck, that's a good thing.
Starting point is 00:30:15 First one was a three, second one's a natural 20. Yay! Nice, so total of? 20. Justin? 18. 18? 12. 18. 12. 34. Nine.
Starting point is 00:30:29 Nine. Four. 21. Get secondhand adrenaline from the rolls, man. That 20 may have saved you all. Yeah, no shit. Blessing of the trickster. Careful as you go, occasionally a few of you begin to stumble or step into some loose rubble, and as it's about to crack, a few of you begin to stumble
Starting point is 00:30:45 or step into some loose rubble, and as it's about to crack, a hand reaches out and grabs you, helping you steady, preventing you from falling and causing a ruckus. You continue onward, following the intense, dark, cutting eyes of Jester, who follows the blood trail. Continuing on.
Starting point is 00:31:08 I have an investigation face. Look at her. She's so focused. I know, I can't. I just want to drink the tea, and I can't. How long has it been, roughly? Since the battle? No, no, no, no. Since we started tracking the blood.
Starting point is 00:31:22 Since you started tracking it. It's been about, I'd say, at the pace you're going, 15 or so minutes. I'm going to throw up Detect Magic again. Okay. Total time since we separated is like an hour and a half? Approximately, yeah. With the time it took you to take out the rubble. First rubble was 15-ish minutes,
Starting point is 00:31:39 second was 25-ish minutes. Correct. 40, okay. Okay. Are the blood splatters still a consistent size or are they diminishing? At this moment, they seem consistent. And it's enough where you could tell there was a brisk pace being taken.
Starting point is 00:31:57 Yeah. That's what I was curious about. It's also hard to know if it's from a wound or are they using the blood to heal themselves? It's hard to tell with these two. Fuck. Yeah, or it could even be a honeypot. It could even be.
Starting point is 00:32:10 Yeah. It's their leading us off course. Because I guess I'll track that, too. While Jester's following the blood trail, can I just track footsteps and see footprints, if there's any type of looking like they've covered their tracks. Just keep an eye out for any funny business.
Starting point is 00:32:31 Okay, make a perception check. Not investigation? In this instance, this is a quick glance as you go. This isn't a stop and carefully spend five minutes in the dust. You guys are moving forward. Unless you'd like to stop. Just feed into perception. 18.
Starting point is 00:32:49 18's pretty good. It's pretty good. Okay. The footprints that you can now begin to make out as opposed to the previous entrance to this ward, there's now a lot more rock, rubble, dust, and just gentle debris around where you can make out where the footsteps near this trail are. And it does appear to be a fairly elongated gate. There is a haste in travel.
Starting point is 00:33:11 You do not think that they've stopped or have taken care in guarding their path from what you can tell. Okay. Okay. We're a few minutes away from, you can just begin to see at this distance, at a bit of the glow, the massive shape of the amphitheater
Starting point is 00:33:28 that you had previously arrived at within this ward. Is it worth stopping to see if we can get some help? I mean, how far off the path is it? It'll take you maybe five minutes to run there. Well, you're great. We could get to the amphitheater and get back to this exact spot,
Starting point is 00:33:49 because you'll be able to find the way. Absolutely, but I wonder, we're talking about taking a rest, and we're following a fresh trail, we think, if they're not fucking with us. Do we stop and deter to try to enlist the dead, or do we try to follow this trail as long as it is fresh? Even if we know we are going to try to rest
Starting point is 00:34:10 relatively soon, I don't know. Even if we could just get a general direction to where, if we get on the path, then we know that that is the direction they're for sure headed. That's what I'm thinking, is if we just go a little, not abandon the amphitheater,
Starting point is 00:34:25 but if we follow a little bit further and maybe it can ascertain where from this massive chamber we're in there going. Yeah. And then we know we're stopping anyway, so. If one of the other Tomb Takers happens to know where they're going, we can always ask.
Starting point is 00:34:41 Right. Oh, that's true. That's true. Time totals on needing to talk to a dead head is instantaneous? Pretty much, yeah. And dispel and anything else we would try on the blue globule is instantaneous? Okay.
Starting point is 00:34:59 We'd want to talk to somebody in the crowd to make sure that this wasn't a problem. A bad guy? Right. Bad guy. Sabotage from the inside. Also don't want to let out a super powerful wizard from a thousand years ago, but I'm sure that's not the case.
Starting point is 00:35:14 Maybe, you'll see. They're probably not all like Halas. Probably. Mostly. Mostly. So we all keep pursuing? Yes, for now. I think we should. Yeah, Caleb has it right.
Starting point is 00:35:29 Yeah. All right, follow the blood. Keep following blood. And I'll have Caduceus point the way to the amphitheater so that I know, using Key Mind, where we are now, where it was, and I can probably do the math later, even talk about a triangle. Not, using Key Mind, where we are now, where it was, and I can probably do the math later, even talk about a triangle.
Starting point is 00:35:48 We can see the film, too. It's fairly large compared to a lot of the surrounding buildings. It's just at certain angles, because it's so dark in here, there is no skyline of the buildings. So only at certain points do some of the lights pass by or around the shape to where you can make it out. But beyond those moments, it just blends in
Starting point is 00:36:07 with the rest of the darkness of the cavern. The city just appears in shapes as you move and then vanishes. So, continuing onward, for about how long do you want to follow? I don't, I don't. Do we reach, I mean, forever. As long as we get to the end of the city.
Starting point is 00:36:29 Like a thousand feet. Yeah, I think we want to know where we're going pretty much. So we'll follow it as long as we can. Right. Okay. And if we stumble upon them, we still have numbers. We do.
Starting point is 00:36:40 We're not, I'm not completely tapped. Does anybody have any reserves left? Yes. Yeah, Caduceus has a lot of spells left, I think. Yeah, but it's all, I mean, I didn't come in here looking for a fight. If we get into one, I can just keep some of you standing. If we step on a bear trap, I mean, you know.
Starting point is 00:36:59 As long as it's not me. I've got some low levels. Okay. All right, let's push forward and see if we can figure out if they're trying to exit out the side of this space or down a hole. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:16 I would like you to make another survival check. Can I assist her as I'm detecting magic? If you'd like. Just roll a nine-edged gear roll. 20. 20, okay. The path is a little more challenging to continue following. The blood trail begins to thin.
Starting point is 00:37:49 And about 10 more minutes forward, you notice the path is bending a little bit to the right. The darting between alleys, between structures, it's not a continuous forward motion. It's tending to curve in a somewhat right-hand direction, which Caleb, you would know, would be more of a southern direction from where you were facing, as opposed to going the eastern path
Starting point is 00:38:10 that you all were originally heading. Right, and I, because of the feet, nowhere north is always so, a little GPS. But eventually that blood begins to fade and then comes to a stop. Right next to what looks to be a different building to the left of where you're standing. It was once probably an incredible multi-tiered,
Starting point is 00:38:34 opulent temple-like structure, but it now stands at a very precarious angle. It looks like a majority of it is fallen in on one side and is leaning slightly to a left. In a Leaning Tower of Pisa kind of way, though structurally much more damaged. And it is sitting within what looks to be a deeply fallen sinkhole, about 20 or so feet beneath. It has pushed into the ground and then fallen to that side. Surrounding it, you can see numerous deep cracks that spiral up around from the base of where it currently stands.
Starting point is 00:39:11 And what looks to be sundered grounds of earth and trees and bits of garden that have fallen into the sinkhole where all the greenery now lies gray and pale. But you do see an opening into the structure. Is it petrified? Well, the... As I've learned, petrified does not mean what I thought it meant my entire life.
Starting point is 00:39:40 As I was clarified on Twitter for me. My Twitter's the best. Exactly. You learn forcefully. It's like science class. No, thank you. I like chocolate. Vanilla! Yep. I like the way he tells you when you're wrong.
Starting point is 00:39:55 Your. The plant life does not appear to be alive and has lost its color, but you are not close enough to fully inspect to get any sort of sense of what its current state is beyond the pale coloration of the leaves and bark and other garden. Did you say that the blood, that the Thin Little Trail is leading to this?
Starting point is 00:40:16 It's adjacent to it. Adjacent. And the leaves are on the structure? They're in the sinkhole based around it. It was sitting in this slightly circular garden courtyard, and then it all fell in about 20 feet, and the temple fell to the side slightly. Should we go take a look at the petrified plants?
Starting point is 00:40:43 Or what's inside that temple thing? Only if we think they went in here. Can we take a closer look and see if they bent towards this? I mean, this is where the trail ends. They could have went off that direction. They could have gone in the building. So it's just evaporating here, the trail?
Starting point is 00:40:59 You know the direction it's going, but at least the blood, which is what you've been primarily following this entire time, has come to a halt. Are there footsteps heading into the temple? You want to go ahead and make a perception check? I'm going to guide you. I'm going to investigate. I'm going to search. You're taking a moment to carefully look around for it.
Starting point is 00:41:15 I'm going to just give you lots of paths, and one of them is going to give you Guidance. It does take time, but yes. Okay, Investigation. Guidance has plus four. D4. Okay, that'd be good. Exceptions at a quick glance.
Starting point is 00:41:29 Investigation is on the ground. 21. I looked as well and rolled a 24. Like Rick Moranis-ing from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Yeah. Like just pouring through the ground. Yeah. Like hammock Rick. Like, yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:38 I love that. Sorry, what were you saying? Oh, I said that I looked as well and rolled a 24 for investigation. Okay, and? 21. 21, well and rolled a 24 for investigation. Okay. 21. 21, okay. That movie's so good. That's magnified.
Starting point is 00:41:53 You can see footprints. Because there isn't a lot of weather in here, it's a little hard to tell which have been long-trekked versus what is fresh. The fresh blood trail was what was really guiding you as to what was new and what was uniquely recent. There are numerous footprints in the region. There are some that head around to where the structure is, some that continue on the path
Starting point is 00:42:21 where you guys were currently walking, some that bend back this way. And you do also continue to find more and more mummified bodies that are now strewn out on the sides of the street. Probably a little more dense than some of the previous roads you were traveling. So you find footprints. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:46 Someone goes in the building, someone lights up the hole. Yeah, because of their camping right inside or something. Yeah, either they passed this, or perhaps this thing is sunken in. It could be that there is a passage down under this place. That's what I was thinking as well. Because it doesn't cost anything, I'll use Divine Sense.
Starting point is 00:43:09 60 feet, Celestial Fiend undead. Okay. And you're encompassing just the space in the road? Yeah, I'll go right up in between the sinkhole and the building and just see if there's anything camping out. You get a very strong sense of something within the structure. Something alive or just some thing? Something.
Starting point is 00:43:38 Can I tell? Does it specify that you can tell what? You can detect good and evil until the end of next turn. You can sense anything affected by the Hallows' Spell or the location of any Celestial Fiend or undead within 60 feet that is not behind total cover. I will say that it is not behind total cover. You can just faintly make out something in there.
Starting point is 00:43:58 Okay. There is something, I don't know what, inside the building. Oh. Of a celestial fiend or undead nature. Are there cracks that you could maybe see through on the outside of the building? Like where you could give a little peeksies on the inside without peeking your head in the door?
Starting point is 00:44:16 Possibly. You want to do that? Sure. Are we poking this badger? Okay, we're poking the badger. I just want to see what it is. So you climb down through the sinkhole to go up to the building to look in through one of the holes? Yeah. You're doing this?
Starting point is 00:44:30 I already said it. Yep. Okay, so you all watch as Jester begins to skip down into the sinkhole amongst the- I'm not skipping, I'm being careful. You want a heal or something? Okay, never mind. Do you want some help or are you okay?
Starting point is 00:44:41 Sure. I cast Detect Magic again and follow her down quietly. Oh, good. Caleb's got it. Everybody else there? No, we all good. I'm being careful. As you're stepping through, it's a softer descent. The ground itself is soft earth and dirt
Starting point is 00:45:00 that has been churned and left to rest where it settled. It's a unique departure from the harsh, dark, broken stone ground you've been walking on for close to an hour at this point, if not more. The soft ground gives way under your weight and you eventually come to the edge of the structure. And you can see it is intricate in its detailing. These layers, it has this beautiful craftsmanship to the exterior.
Starting point is 00:45:25 And the closer you get, the more intricate details you could see carved into the stonework. A bunch of decorative glyphs and writing, though it does not appear to be sentences, more than just elements of some of the language you've seen before scattered amongst the temple itself. The temple. And he thinks it's recognized from words we've already read?
Starting point is 00:45:46 Not in particular, no. But you can make a perception check if you want to peer through one crack that has a slight opening in it to see what's inside. It's a locker room! There's a perception. Do you have darkvision? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:06 Yeah, and it's perception. 26. 26, not bad. Lancing inside, you don't see much, but you see a lot of tumbled structure and fallen shelves and slabs and decoration. It looks like when this temple, the structure settled, many things from probably higher up and within it
Starting point is 00:46:32 fell and collapsed into a central space. And from what you can glance in and see, part of the floor has fallen in as well. From the exterior, it looks like it's sustained some damage, from the inside, it looks like it's even more of a mess. Do I see any movement? You do not of a mess. Do I see any movement? You do not currently see any.
Starting point is 00:46:47 Do I see any glowies? Anything giving off any kind of light source? Nope, it is dark in there. You can make out the shape of things with your darkvision, but nothing else is catching your attention through this minute crack. Looks like the floor is caved in in there. Can I look?
Starting point is 00:47:03 Yeah, but do you have darkvision? I have Detect Magic on. Okay. Is anything glowing in there to my eye? For 30-foot? It is 30-foot, yeah. 30-foot, yeah. You get a very faint magical aura
Starting point is 00:47:19 from within a structure of the rubble down deeper in the floor, like just at the edge of that range. Do I get a flavor for what's cool? Necromancy. Hmm? Necromancy. Oh, good. Oh, I hear you.
Starting point is 00:47:34 That's my favorite. Just for fun, I'm going to step to the edge of this, where everyone else is, and Eyes of the Grave. 60 feet, undead. That you can see? It will, they will, I will know the location of any undead within 60 feet that isn't behind total cover
Starting point is 00:47:58 or doesn't protect it from divination. Correct. From where you are currently, you don't sense anything. Looking down, nothing? Make a perception check. We're fine. 28. 28.
Starting point is 00:48:13 Pretty solid look, though. There is no light source inside and you do not have darkvision. So you need to roll again. Oh. 29, so 28. So 28, yeah. Yeah, you glance around,
Starting point is 00:48:27 you see the same thing that Jester saw, though it's still hard to make out details with almost no light in there whatsoever. The Detect Undead isn't getting any? Not at the moment, not in this perspective, nothing. All right. It's that total cover. Okay, okay. Yeah, I know. Mighty Nein, check it.
Starting point is 00:48:40 Yeah, yeah. Okay, huddle up. Huddle up, huddle up. Something's in there. Yes. Probably not the Tomb Takers. We don't's in there. Yes. Probably not the Tomb Takers. We don't know. Probably something bad. Probably not the Tomb Takers. So we either smartly leave, or we go inside.
Starting point is 00:48:56 Well. Check it out. Or we play with Plan B. Do we think the way they went is down through the sinkhole or through the building? I knew. And we have to go through anyway. We should probably just check. Yasha! I'm sorry, I just.
Starting point is 00:49:10 Miss, I want to keep playing some more at the end of every game. Hey, man, I'm making up for lost time. I know it, I know it. It's also believable, they've been here before. New press-the-button person. They figured out how to navigate this place. So if there's dead things down there,
Starting point is 00:49:25 it doesn't mean that they didn't go that way. Should we send in a scout, a Frump, or an invisible me, or both? Or should we just go in guns blazing? Frumpkin's not going to be able to see anything. Oh, because he can't see in the dark. Can you put the goggles on Frumpkin? That would be adorable.
Starting point is 00:49:48 Why have we never tried that? For a reason. It'd be very cute. Can we do that? Is Sprinkle wearing darkvision? But we might lose the goggles. We can certainly try. Oh. I really like these goggles. Sprinkle is a weasel.
Starting point is 00:50:00 Weasels don't have darkvision. Is there any, so we're kind of at the- The zombies do. We're at the end of a road. Maybe he can relax. The road continues. To the left of the road is this structure. Like the blood splatter's kind of stopped on the road path. There's this massive structure right there, this temple-like tower that has fallen into a sinkhole
Starting point is 00:50:18 and turned to a side. Looks like it's about maybe 120 feet from side to side, from one edge of the tower to the other, maybe a little bit smaller. And you guys are just like, went through the pale garden portion and you're up against the outer wall. What keeps going if we just continued on this road?
Starting point is 00:50:35 Yeah, if we didn't go down the tower. The path that you guys were walking, the city path that winds and breaks and is disheveled and uneven in places from the destruction and the impact of the city of Aeor continues on in a southeastern direction through neighborhoods, through structures,
Starting point is 00:50:52 towards what looks to be a heavy slate ceiling that descends to clip off the edge of this ward. We check and go. We've got to check it and go. I mean, if it's at the end of the road. We could talk to a severed head. You can do that right now? I can do that right now. Do you want to talk to a severed head
Starting point is 00:51:12 while Veth and I get to the end of the tunnel and see what it is and come right back? The tunnel, you mean the path? Mm-hmm. So you have five questions. Grow up a little bit? Multitask? Multitask, yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:29 Sure. Don't come running back with a monster chasing you. What happens? I have experience with this. It's not good. Oh. Oh yeah. Heard stories. All right, let's go.
Starting point is 00:51:43 Yeah, you have the goggles still, right? Because I can't see shit. I do still have the goggles. Cool. And you can be invisible or whatever. I mean, sure. If we need to. If we need to. Then I won't be able to see,
Starting point is 00:51:54 and you won't be able to see me. Yeah, only if we need to. Only if shit hits the fan. What's the point of you going if you can't see anything? To protect. We should have brought Yasha. Let's go. Let's go.
Starting point is 00:52:08 Actually. Who was asking? Maybe just hold her hand. Just hold hands. I give her the drift globe. Don't light it up unless you absolutely need it. But if you start to get eaten, you know, light it up. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:52:21 How do I do it? It's like think or is that a word? Yeah, you just think. Awesome. That's a round ball. All right. All right. I need both of you to make stealth checks, please. Lucky Jaden.
Starting point is 00:52:33 Lucky Jaden. 27. 17. 17, okay. You both continue following the path that you were already traveling in the direction where you believe the blood splatters were headed before they ended.
Starting point is 00:52:46 Keeping an eye out for footsteps while we go. Indeed. Continue. We'll get to you guys in just a minute. What are the rest of you doing? He's talking to a dead head. Let's pick a head and I could use a few more questions if anybody has one. What one do you want?
Starting point is 00:52:59 Just for fun this time, though. How does, where do you go in the city to access Lucien's goal? How much time does Lucien need to do what he's going to do at destination? What do the eyes mean? Yeah, that's a good one. I don't think he's going to talk to us.
Starting point is 00:53:23 I'll do that one last. Or if it does, I don't think they're going to talk to us. I'll do that one last. Or if it does, I don't think they're going to even be aware of. It's a lot you can do. Tyffial was the elf. Otis was the halfling mage, right? He probably was someone with a mind of what the overall plan was,
Starting point is 00:53:41 in case one knew more than the other. We'll find out. Okay. Who are you talking to? Pick a head. Yeah, who do you want? That's what I was saying. Do we want to do the elven archer or crossbow?
Starting point is 00:53:54 I think maybe with a ranger. The third one was the goliath. Zoran. Zoran. Goliath, the elf, and the hat. Well, Zoran, I do have a good relationship with. I have a plan, though. I'm going to make myself look like Kree. Great, got a giraffe.
Starting point is 00:54:08 Oh, I thought you were going to say ant. Weird. Complete with eyes and everything. Love it. So we pick a head. Well, then. Which head are you picking? Otis was the halfling mage.
Starting point is 00:54:26 Tyffial was the elven ranger. I think Otis is the way to go. Unless anyone's got a compelling reason not to. If the elf was the ranger, they usually know the path. Fair point. Okay. Had a crossbow, I'm assuming, on a ranger thing. I'm going to set that head up.
Starting point is 00:54:44 Which one, the elf? The elf. All right, to set that head up. Which one, the elf? The elf. All right, so Tyffial. Wait, who's the elf? Tyffial. Tyffial. Tyffial. I thought that was a human. And I'm going to cast Speak With Dead. All right.
Starting point is 00:54:58 The head itself spattered with its own gore, the eyes a little cloudy upon closer inspection to the individual, as you finish channeling the Wild Mother's energy through you to take hold of this no longer warm, breathing body, this head that once housed the soul of this individual, the eyes looking off into the darkness,
Starting point is 00:55:23 suddenly go over and focus onto you. And the mouth seems to pull into a mild grin. Do you remember going down and through this tower before? Make a deception check. Oh fuck, man. Oh no. Give us your book. Can I give him guidance?
Starting point is 00:55:53 What's up? Can I give him guidance? Can I just have my foot touch his foot and give him guidance? Not for this question. I was planning on giving myself guidance, but yeah, I forgot, so. Yeah, you did. So just.
Starting point is 00:56:06 So you do get advantage because you do look like Cree. Okay, okay, that's good. Woo! Thank god. 20. 20. One eye twitches for a second. Not exactly. One eye twitches for a second.
Starting point is 00:56:28 Not exactly. Why would we? Which way did we go to get to our destination? Make another deception check. With advantage? That would disprove the advantage as well, because you are asking questions that Cree would likely have known, and...
Starting point is 00:56:54 23. Nice. So I'm going to make the question again. It was specifically... Which direction? I think you said, which way did we go? Which way did we go originally to get to our destination? One eye continues focused on you
Starting point is 00:57:12 and the less cloudy one shifts back towards the road where you were already traveling. Very good. Remember, how long did it take to get there? Roll another deception check. Fuck, man. You've already got creative. The best line you've ever done. Natural 20. Oh!
Starting point is 00:57:42 Shit! Let's go, I'm dead, boy! For a total of? 23. 23. Reloads! That elf got big Lebowski'd. Yeah! A bit hazy, but... about a day or so. What do you say? A bidet?
Starting point is 00:58:14 A day. A day. You're doing so well. How long do you expect the ritual to take? I don't know. And what do the eyes mean to you? Now make a deception check, last time. Come on. He's being philosophical. 15.
Starting point is 00:58:47 Okay. Both the eyes narrow for a second, and the head just goes, Decompose. Well, that was irritating. That was so good, Caduceus. That was the best you've ever lied for. Thank you. Well, I was thinking,
Starting point is 00:59:12 instead of lying, I was going to try acting, which is kind of, I mean, they're different, but it feels different, so I was feeling pretty good about that. Maybe you were sent to the amphitheater, or sort of like... Similar though. No, I was thinking about taking some improv if all of this works out. Oh, fun!
Starting point is 00:59:25 I'd like to join. I should meet some new people. You're all great, but I should probably meet some new people, too. Well, yeah. So good at improv. Yes, and. No.
Starting point is 00:59:40 Yes, and. Yes, also, that's what it is. So that's a little bit of information. Yes, it is a lot of information. They pulled over for a pit stop, healed, possibly, and then kept going. They didn't go this way. They could have just come within the wall, right?
Starting point is 00:59:58 Yeah. Let's wait for our buddies. This is something to avoid. This is something that will just hurt us for nothing. Yeah, now cross your fingers they don't wake up. Let's back away slowly from this tower, since it does no good. I still want to go to the amphitheater.
Starting point is 01:00:11 I'm feeling. I pull out a wire and say, we have very good information that says that this was a pit stop and not the final destination. Please, if you can avoid confrontation, do so. You can reply to this message. Strong copy, unless we're more than 120 feet away. I'd say based on the length of that conversation,
Starting point is 01:00:33 probably so. You're out of the range. Stealthily whistling as you travel through the darkness. I bit the wire a few times. Hello? Oh no. Can you hear me now? Please bring my girlfriend back right now. Okay. While they listen to me.
Starting point is 01:00:55 Grandma Yasha. All right, good. Is there anything else you wish to do while you wait for your compatriots to return, hopefully? I'm going to ritual cast Comprehend Languages so I can read the words that I couldn't read on this building. Maybe you can identify that robe
Starting point is 01:01:14 that Yasha brought the whole tower down for. Yeah, so Comprehend Languages. All right, that takes you 10 minutes. What are your hit points out of what? I have 116 out of 140 right now. And I don't have any hit points to regain from short resting, I've used them all. I'll cast Cure Wounds at first level,
Starting point is 01:01:34 which is just 1d plus five. Well, you don't have to do that. Yeah, it's a first level spell. I'm not going to really use it anyway. Oh no. I mean, I probably wouldn't. Ooh, good roll. Yeah, what the hell?
Starting point is 01:01:48 That would be susceptible to fire. Oh, why did I roll? Double damage? 13. It's onto your body. Thank you, Fjord. You're welcome. I feel better already.
Starting point is 01:02:00 While we're here, do you want me to go in and check inside the building? Maybe later? This is a joke. They're making out. I think there was a silver robe inside the building. I mean, I could keep looking around so I could get one for all of us.
Starting point is 01:02:21 Strangely, it was like the other half of the one that you have. What are the odds? The the one that you have. What are the odds? Yeah, the power robe. Legendary. Seriously, though, you should identify it. She worked so hard to get it.
Starting point is 01:02:34 I'm one minute into casting Comprehend Languages. Caleb, when you're done with this ritual cast, you should really work on identifying the robe for Yasha because she worked really hard on getting it. I'm trying to say the incantations of the spell. This goes to that one, you should really work on identifying the robe for Yasha because she works really hard on getting it. The incantations of the spell. This goes to that one and that one goes to this one. No, what if it's cursed?
Starting point is 01:02:51 Is anything happening? Wondrous item, chill. Yasha. Oh. Oh no. It looks great. You look fabulous. At least what remains of it. Which actually, in its torn way,
Starting point is 01:03:08 it probably was a very subdued, if well-made robe in its heyday. On you, it looks like a cool vintage find that you tore the bottom out of to make it more your style. Ooh, yeah. I'm going to keep it on. Maybe something will happen, you know? They sell those on Melrose.
Starting point is 01:03:27 Yeah. What's Melrose? I'm pointing to Syrja from Eddard. I'm just going to put, there's one rip that's just not working with the rest of it. It doesn't look like it goes, so I'm just going to use Mending Cantrip to just piece this one little part back together so it, you know.
Starting point is 01:03:39 Yeah, that looks way better. It looks intentional now, not bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like it was supposed to be like this. Thank you. Make a concentration check for me. Oh! Constitution check. Oh, I have advantage on concentration, thank god. You do. In battle.
Starting point is 01:03:56 Oh, I rolled the same thing twice. 11. Yeah, you're fine. Okay. That was a great pull. He's had way worse distractions with all of his spells, let's be honest. I know, but it's just fun to fuck with him. This is why you are so charming.
Starting point is 01:04:15 You finish the Comprehend Languages spell. As you glance over at the wall, you begin to notice it's mostly not languages. They're names. Numerous names, hundreds of names lining the edges of this standing structure. They're the donors who've paid for it to be built. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:04:40 There is the partially broken-in, heavy doors towards one side, the closest side to you as you glance over and check. It reads as the Aeorian phrase for Mausoleum of the Forgotten. This is the Mark Taper Mausoleum of Aeor. The Robert Zemeckis Amphitheater.
Starting point is 01:05:01 That would explain a lot. Yeah. Yep. Mausoleum, what was the other part? Of the Forgotten. Robert Zemeckis, Ambush. That would explain a lot. Yeah. Yep. Mausoleum, what was the other part? Of the Forgotten. That's really cool. Well, that's a whole movie inside there. That makes me sad for them.
Starting point is 01:05:14 I'm not there, but. Probably don't need to go in. It's funny, though, because the people inside the building are just like all the people outside the building now. Bertram. The Forgotten. People inside the building are just like all the people outside the building now. Virgin. The forgotten. Now, Veth and Beauregard. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:05:32 Ah! I would like you both to make perception checks for me, please. I'm good at that, with disadvantage. The rest of the city is a female. Yeah. Six. Mm-hmm, 23. Okay.
Starting point is 01:05:47 As you are both carefully stealthing through, you're getting closer to where the cavern ceiling is descending, where this heavy shelf of stone that is jammed into the city, bisecting it from the rest of where you imagine Aeor would continue beyond it. You can see where the earth splinters upward, impacts these rows of jagged miniature mountains
Starting point is 01:06:07 that are pushed outward from where it impacts. All of a sudden, there's something slick under your foot. Veth. Ah! You look down, just as you look over and no, you don't let Veth to move. Okay, I just going to reach down and grab her? What's going on? I don't know Veth to move. Okay, I just reach down and grab her? What's going on?
Starting point is 01:06:26 I don't know, what is it? You look around and you can see there is a mass of dark blood beneath Veth. Uh-oh. Liquid. What? And you glance just beyond where Veth was going as you've pulled her back. And you can see there are two large, slumped,
Starting point is 01:06:47 unmoving bodies on the ground. Massive bodies. Massive, man. You can see what looks to be two large, hard to tell details from this side, but it looks almost like two nude, maybe very faintly furred to tell details from this side, but it looks almost like two nude, maybe very faintly furred,
Starting point is 01:07:09 bestial bipedal creatures that are just on the ground a bit from you. And there's just blood spattered and strewn on the ground around you, where it appears like some sort of conflict had recently happened. And it's super, can I reach down and touch the blood? It's super warm still. It's not warm, And it's super, can I reach down and touch the blood? It's super warm still.
Starting point is 01:07:25 It's not warm, but it's certainly fresh. And as you look at it, though you have no light source right now. Right, so you have no coloration to ascertain. Do you want some light? Sure. Yeah. Sure. To-waj.
Starting point is 01:07:43 To-waj? To-waj? To-waj? To-waj! And I'll light up the thing. The glow gives off this daylight presence around. No, no, no. It's light or day. That's for sure. Oh, sorry. So just light. Sorry, sorry!
Starting point is 01:07:58 No! No! No to-waj! My apologies for not recalling my elven phrases that I handed. That's for jar, Matt. I said it's a wad. You're right. I apologize. We're talking like 10 watts here.
Starting point is 01:08:11 Yeah, well, yeah. Well, this is a light cantrip, which is the equivalent of torchlight. So it lights up the space around you and you immediately can see the liquid here is a thick, almost purple-black coloration. You do see bits of human red, humanoid red, tossed in places,
Starting point is 01:08:29 and the signs of a serious scuffle transpired here. Ooh. But the bodies are still a little ways ahead. Oh, we're not right on the bodies yet? No, they're about 10, 15 feet ahead of you. I feel like we should definitely go back and tell the others, but we should inspect the bodies just to make sure, like, I don't know, just to know what happened here.
Starting point is 01:08:49 I'm fine with that. A little crime scene investigation action real quick. Oh, man, if only I had Chester here. Oh, well. You'll do. If only I had Yasha here. All right, all right. It's fine.
Starting point is 01:09:02 We're an unlikely duo, but we'll make it work. Yeah, this is the spinoff, okay? Yeah, yeah. It's like my partner died at the end of season two or something, and you're the new partner. Why death? Why did you have to go there? She's still alive. It's dramatic.
Starting point is 01:09:17 You're right. It seems like a good season ender. I don't know. It's foreshadowing, Beau. Anyway. Let's go inspect the bodies. I'm going to go look at the body for signs of what killed it. Was it magic? Was it swords? Was it, you know? Okay. Make a medicine check for me, please.
Starting point is 01:09:38 Oh boy, medicine. And can I see? Four. All right, you have... A lot of blood. You can pick out the specifics of what killed these creatures, but you get the sense that a lot of the heavy slash marks
Starting point is 01:09:54 across them. Sure. There are shredded ribbons of these creatures. You can see fleshes filleted in places and thrown, and these heavy gash marks, these sweeping blade slices up and across the torso and limbs. Getting a closer look at these creatures, they are built like the most muscular gorilla you've ever seen,
Starting point is 01:10:19 and standing would probably be close to nine feet tall, nearly ogre-ish in physicality, except their faces are almost like a bear or a thicker dog-type head. The eyes are this pale yellow coloration and the body is covered in this very fine, deep greenish splotchy fur. Ooh.
Starting point is 01:10:46 The teeth and the fangs are long and pointed, and the fingers end in these heavy, belated claws. Dude. That's sick. Yeah. You've never seen creatures like this before. Thankfully, these two are dead. These two. There could be more. Or their cries for help could have alerted their,
Starting point is 01:11:11 you know. Mates. Yeah, or their pod or whatever. Their children. Children? It's all couples down here. There are, yeah, just long lost couples. Can I ascertain which direction? Yes.
Starting point is 01:11:27 Take your honeymoon. That's all inclusive packages, bullshit! There's a kids club somewhere for monster kids? Yeah. Can I see which direction? Like more blood trail or any tracking of blood in any direction? Go ahead and make an investigation check.
Starting point is 01:11:47 Yeah, investigation! Or survival. Or surviva- Investigation! You also know that Caleb got a whiff of necromancy from this location. Okay. Okay, 21. 21. You can see there is a bit of a trail,
Starting point is 01:12:03 looks like blood mostly from these creatures that continues on for about 10, 15 or so feet following this road. And this road is like a major road where you could see it probably would have connected with any of the other wards of the city or as one of the more central thoroughfare portions of the Presidious Ward
Starting point is 01:12:21 before it is met with this heavy stone that seems to have bisected the region. So the road keeps going past this? Well, the road would continue past if during the impact of the city, a large portion of this cavern didn't collapse into it and jam it. You cut it off. Can I see, does it look like it drops off?
Starting point is 01:12:46 Are there paths carved around this? You can keep going and looking if you want. Do you want to peek or should we go back? You do hear at this moment, though, with your passive perception, some movement. Oh. You go back and tell me. You're not quite sure the direction,
Starting point is 01:13:00 but you did hear something. Not quite sure the direction. Does it sound big? Does it sound like? Make a perception check, and intentionally, if you want to try and listen for a path or some semblance of information about the sound. Ooh, yucky. 13. You ready?
Starting point is 01:13:14 You're pretty sure you heard something. Did you hear that? Ow. What? It was... I think we should go back. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 01:13:25 Your orb is still glowing. Should I turn it off? Caleb didn't tell me how to turn it off. I'll just say the same thing again. Talaj! Oh, hey! Ah, where'd you go? Wait, right over here!
Starting point is 01:13:38 Okay. Okay. You hear a little bit more movement. Hold my hand, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. Let's go. Ah, I slipped on the board. I pick her up, it's such a day. I would like you both to make stealth checks, please. 23. Ooh!
Starting point is 01:13:55 29. Rolled a 19. Okay, all right. As you both skitter off the road and begin to carefully make your way back, Beauregard, you hear one sound in the distance, kind of back where you guys were. That, did you hear that? Got it. Okay, okay, okay.
Starting point is 01:14:14 And that's it. Do you think that's Gorilla Dog Man? Yeah, maybe it's their child. Or a lover, maybe they were. child. Or a lover. Maybe they were, you know. Maybe they're like a polyamorous sort of a throuple. They were a throuple. They were a throuple, and now one of them is just a...
Starting point is 01:14:34 Just by himself. Or herself or themself, yeah. Sure. We don't know how it works. Man, that would suck. It would be. I bet they're very sexually angsty, you know. They're definitely very sexually explorative.
Starting point is 01:14:48 Yeah. It's definitely a sexual creature. I get that sense. What? It's a very, like, it's a sex positive creature. I think so. I kind of got that vibe. I got that vibe. Man.
Starting point is 01:14:59 Roll. Have they been eaten yet? Roll a medicine check Beauregard. To see how sex positive they are? Just a lot of body positivity. I dropped the dice. Roll what? A medicine? A medicine check.
Starting point is 01:15:17 Okay. Wait, I would never do this. No. No, you don't. Because you don't say. You don't do this? 20 total. Hey, that's't. Because you don't say. You don't do this? 20 total. Hey, that's pretty good. I rolled really high.
Starting point is 01:15:28 As Veth is saying this, you glanced over, but now that you think about it, you don't think either of these creatures had sex organs. Oh. Definitely sexually frustrated. They don't have sex organs. That's what it was. Yeah. You solved it.
Starting point is 01:15:42 Man. You're a good partner. Yeah. I like the spinoff series. Yeah. You solved it. Man. You're a good partner. Yeah. I like the spinoff series. Yeah. I like how you're whispering and I'm not. Yeah! Let's go!
Starting point is 01:15:53 Okay, let's go. Damn good thing you both rolled high stealth, man. That one drunk friend at the party that's whispering, you're like, it's loud in here, you can talk. I'm trying to tell you a secret. I had four. Yeah. He's like, it's loud in here, you can talk. I'm trying to tell you a secret. I had four. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:09 I don't think so. I'm just worried. Can't hear you over Katy Perry. Beau and Veth have been gone for approximately 25 or so minutes. Jeez Louise. Is there anything you would begin to do in their absence? I guess move on without them. You would not do anything. Well, it's a shame it had to end here.
Starting point is 01:16:27 Well, this thing happened. If Jester pesters me and we've got that robe and that much time passes, I'll identify the author. Yes, please, sure. I'll identify it while it's on Yasha. Can I take it off? No, not at all. I can keep it on while you do your magic?
Starting point is 01:16:43 Yep, just keep those broad shoulders broad and I will, yep, keep up, please. Okay, just hold it like that for 10 minutes. Oh god. Got it. I can do it easy. Maybe pulse, just pulse. I'll do it with this. Circles.
Starting point is 01:16:56 Make it burn. It does. Okay, just do that for 10 minutes. I'm not doing the Tony Horton again. I already did it once this campaign. You get it once. It is a beautifully sundered, Aeorian silk robe that, while not magical, she plays it off pretty well.
Starting point is 01:17:14 How did that thing last for so long if it's not magical at all? I think you are wrong. Well, look, if you look where you mended it, it says 90% polyester, so that lasts forever. That makes sense. Well, it's a beautiful material, even if it is polyester.
Starting point is 01:17:35 You can just make out the group of horses on the front of it. It's beautiful. I like it a lot. I'm going to wear it. What about this time Beau and Veth arrive? Did you find anything? Yes! You're covered in blood!
Starting point is 01:17:49 Yeah, well, that happens every time I go anywhere. I just had to beat the shit out of her. Just got to the edge, just couldn't take it anymore. How did it feel? You felt great. Lucky? Yeah. Three years of fill-up. I deserved it. I deserved it.
Starting point is 01:18:03 I just leveled up. I mouthed off a little bit too much. What did you find? Keep my fucking mouth shut next time. What did you find? We found... We found two bodies of huge monster sex creatures. And they were dead because the Tomb Takers,
Starting point is 01:18:24 specifically, we think Cree, eviscerated them with her blades. I thought Cree used magic and Lucien used blades. Lucien has blades. I only focused on Otis. I don't know what any of the other ones do. You literally fought with Molly. She totally came to this conclusion on her own. I did not!
Starting point is 01:18:51 I don't know. I don't know what the other was doing. Was there an ogre? Lucien has scimitar. Lucien has magic in eyes, right? I see. Lucien has magic in eyes. Well, he has blade.
Starting point is 01:19:01 I've never seen Cree use a blade. She looks like Bloodsnapper. We have a foot-tall toy with swords. She has a schedule. He has magic now. He doesn't need the swords. He has the eyes. Magic, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Remember when they kicked our asses out in the snow?
Starting point is 01:19:18 The swords were there. I can't see a lot, guys. All right. It could have been Lucien. It could have been Lucien. I'm on the fence. Maybe it was both. It was definitely one of the Tomb Takers. It was a fresh kill. There was two of them, lots of blood.
Starting point is 01:19:32 Wait a moment. Tomb Taker blood? Yeah, we saw red blood and purpley black blood. What does she mean by sex monsters? I was just going to ask. I don't know what that is. We just, yeah, we got this vibe. You know, we just got this. Of supercharged sex monsters? Yes!
Starting point is 01:19:50 Were they having sex? The bodies? Don't we need to be stopping the end of the world? We're leaving out one vital piece of information, even more vital than the sex part. What? There was a third monster that was still alive. Yeah. Third sex monster.
Starting point is 01:20:07 We did not, we ran. We heard it. Perception check. What did it sound like? Is there a monster coming towards us? It sounded like. Make an insight check. Are you looking for one? I'm looking for one.
Starting point is 01:20:17 Make a perception check. Okay. Ryan, did it do like a. It was like a. 26. It was like a annihilation. With disadvantage because you cannot see in the dark. 17. 17. You don't see anything at the moment.
Starting point is 01:20:32 Okay. So we should head after them? Or plan B? Or amphitheater. Did you guys go into the amphitheater? No. No, we didn't. You guys. We could have done that.
Starting point is 01:20:48 You guys took a really long time. We're not going in there. We're skipping that. I don't know. Okay, that's fine. I think it's worth looking at. The tower? I mean, at this point.
Starting point is 01:20:58 No, the amphitheater. We catch up at this point. Yeah, we don't think they're in here. There's a good chance they slaughtered sex monsters that way and kept going, but we want to look into your idea. It couldn't hurt to ask. An hour. We take an hour to do that.
Starting point is 01:21:13 I don't think that dances. Shouldn't even take that, I don't think. And we're going to need to collapse it sometime and rest. Yeah. But we know where the Tomb Takers went. They tracked through these erotic orgies and they kept going straight forward. Into some sort of like Eyes Wide Shut situation.
Starting point is 01:21:29 Further that way. Definitely some tantric sort of thing. Nine Eyes Wide. Just feel the tension, you know? Nine Eyes Wide Shut! That's good. Oh, jeez, Graham. All of Beau and Caleb's eyes open simultaneously. Oh my gosh. So we're going back to the Amphitheater?
Starting point is 01:21:44 Yes. Okay. Wait, to the Amphitheater? That wasn't one of the two choices. Yes, it was. So we're going. Back to the amphitheater. Yes. Okay. Wait, to the amphitheater? That wasn't one of the two choices. Yes, it was. Yes, it was. We're going to the amphitheater. Yes. So we're not going in the tower. No.
Starting point is 01:21:51 We're not going to chase the Tomb Takers. We're going to a third place. We're going to the amphitheater that Pitstop. Caduceus talked about earlier. No, no, no. I recall. Also, Lucien has swords.
Starting point is 01:22:00 Pitstop. Pitstop at the theater. I'll take your word for it. I would like everyone to make a stealth check, please. Blessing of the Truester. Thank you. 33. 25. Natural 20.
Starting point is 01:22:23 14. 21. 21. With the snare. 24. Two. Whoa 20. 14. 21. 21. With the snitch. 24. Two! Whoa! That's good. With expediency and a sense of confidence,
Starting point is 01:22:35 you Mighty Nein, trudge through the shadows backward towards where you first began your journey into the Presidious Ward, until eventually Caduceus leads you to the exterior of the amphitheater. There are numerous entrances. You can see large tunnel-like hallways
Starting point is 01:22:50 that head towards the center of this presentory locale. And even just stepping close to where this entrance is, you can see the dozens of bodies, individuals that appeared to have been running out from this amphitheater that fell dead to the ground, their bodies, dried husks, the flesh withered, mummified, clothing untouched, just stepping over and around them as you make your way to the entrance tunnel
Starting point is 01:23:19 to the amphitheater itself. Is there any kind of verbiage or signs of any kind on the theater? How long does that last again? An hour. An hour? Yes, this is, let me put this real fast. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Presents a Charlie Brown Christmas.
Starting point is 01:23:39 My god. Older than me. Oh, I really like scents now. It's fair use. Best little harvest clothes pageant ever. Oh, the nutcracker. Precidious Discussion Ampth... What's the word, fucking? Oh, right.
Starting point is 01:24:03 The Amphitheater. No, it got this. Colosseum?? All right. The amphitheater. No, it got this. Colosseum? Colosseum. You said something before. Discussion, you said? Yes. Procidice? It's the ward.
Starting point is 01:24:14 Oh. Looking at the various bits of writing in the walls around, you quickly get the sense that this was a center for political discourse. TED Talks. Kind of, yeah. Senate. Like a salon?
Starting point is 01:24:32 Sure. Intellectual salon? Kind of, yeah. TED Talks. Stepping through, eventually you come into the open space where you can see there are the dull green bits of light, the glowing light sources that are scattered throughout the ward and have been guiding you
Starting point is 01:24:48 from element to element as you've traversed through the space, and that bright central blue light emanating from the dome that sits upon the central dais in the center of the open amphitheater. You can just vaguely make out a darker shape in the middle of it. Do you want to talk to one of the open amphitheater. You can just vaguely make out a darker shape in the middle of it. Do you want to talk to one of the people here? Yeah, it was a priestess inside, if I recall?
Starting point is 01:25:11 It looked like some sort of well-dressed, importantly decorated individual who was. Yeah, I was trying to remember how much I got out of that. As we step into that amphitheater, I'll do a second divine sense. Same thing, just because the first one got a hit. Okay. 60 feet. Nothing.
Starting point is 01:25:33 Seems clear. I'm going to check the first few rows for someone well-dressed and with a head that seems relatively intact. Somebody that can see the dome. Somebody with a good view. Okay. Looking through for just a few moments,
Starting point is 01:25:52 you come to near the base of the dais propped up against that, or right next to that strange metallic humanoid that you'd come across before. A site which, for the rest of you who'd seen this, is the second of these metal armored humanoids that you've come across. There was the first one that was heavily damaged
Starting point is 01:26:17 in the chamber you were resting. This one looks to be mostly intact, though it looks like the legs are somewhat damaged and the chest plate is partially open to the side. But beyond that, they look like they're mostly intact, though still with all the rest of the corpses around. The body next to it, you see, is a similarly dressed, though not well as decorated, individual as the one inside the dome, with looks like they are kind of had one arm up on the dais somewhere in the process of going for a run
Starting point is 01:26:55 and then just collapsed right into that spot. All right. Before you do, Caduceus, come here for a moment. I'll pull out this little stone sculpture of a ziggurat I have with little letters and glyphs all around it, and I'm going to cast Tongues on Caduceus. Smart. That is so smart.
Starting point is 01:27:18 So you can actually talk to him. Good idea. Wizards. Trying to find my spells. There we are. Too much to have a headache. I'm sad that cake is gone. All right, whoa, that's crazy.
Starting point is 01:27:39 It's a lie. Let's wake this person up. Okay. As you kneel down, get close to the body and prop it back against the platform, the raised platform, the body itself, the dust clatters a bit and you can hear the very fine, fragile, leather-like skin and bone hit the side of the stone
Starting point is 01:28:03 and the dust rests off of it. The long, stringy, dull white-gray strands of doll-like hair that falls past the shoulders, clumps fall free from the mummified scalp. And you get now at this glance, this was likely a half-elf individual. Though the eyes are gone, the face itself is heavily sunken individual. Though the eyes are gone, the face itself is heavily sunken
Starting point is 01:28:28 and you can see the teeth are exposed with the lips have curled back tightly. It is a terrifying sight to look into. For anybody who isn't familiar with the process of interring corpses of any stage of decay, this is not a bother for you. Tell me what brought you to the Coliseum. You all watch for a moment, and as Caduceus asks the question,
Starting point is 01:29:01 there is a brief bit of faint greenish light there is a brief bit of faint greenish light that seems to apparate like a seed in the middle of the air, somewhat translucent. Does it look like the little floating lights everywhere around the city? Not quite. This one is comforting,
Starting point is 01:29:21 if only because it matches in some ways the ways that Fjord and sometimes Caduceus channel the power of the Wild Mother. But as he begins to speak, this seed plants itself in the throat of this creature, just fading into the skin. And as it does, the head begins to inhale and it leans forward and looks
Starting point is 01:29:48 towards you, the black vacuous sockets peering back into Caduceus. We were here to beseech Brashar to protect us. The rest of you here. It are two fish, you know. We were here to beseech Brashad to protect us.
Starting point is 01:30:15 I'm going to mimic what he says as he says it. Tell me about the person on stage. Brashad. Tell me about the person on stage. Brasha, one of the great mages, architect, and the one of many who put us to this doom. What did she do to you? Filled our minds with thoughts. Drew the ire of the gods.
Starting point is 01:31:16 What are the eyes of nine? I have no knowledge of what you speak. I have no knowledge of what you speak. We need to undo this. Where in the city could I find those who opposed this, who tried to stop it? Look around you. With that, you watch as the face
Starting point is 01:31:53 begins to turn to dust and cave in. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? All right, well, clearly waking this person up would be a bad idea, but now we know. Well, it didn't necessarily mean that. It just means that this is one of the great mages that thought they were better than the gods. Seems like the gods delivered that Blue Dome, though.
Starting point is 01:32:22 Potentially. I have a theory on the blue dome. What? I mean, if you were just trying to put yourself into some other space, maybe it's a way of marking who's important. Like, in a bad way.
Starting point is 01:32:43 Like their psyche is somewhere. Like Yussa? I just see a lot of... You can look at where you leave a dead body and learn a lot about that person just by how they were treated, and these bodies were treated differently than the others. These bodies were treated, and these bodies were treated differently than the others. These bodies were protected,
Starting point is 01:33:09 and whatever happened here allowed that. I doubt it couldn't have stopped it. You can see Essek getting a very close look at this dome and occasionally running a hand across the exterior, and as he does, you can see all of these fractal patterns of arcane spirals that just appear. There's an extra layer of arcana to each of these domes that lays unseen until a practitioners magic user
Starting point is 01:33:39 knows how to pluck a bit and reveal it. And as he does, Essek turns and goes, Whatever arcana is protecting these things is beyond my understanding. I'm going to join him at the dome and I want to get a closer look at this person. So Caduceus, you told us everything that you heard and the Rashad was the person in the bubble, yeah?
Starting point is 01:34:02 Yes, that's what it seemed. Brashad? Brashad. Brashad. With an R at the end? Mm- bubble, yeah? Yes. That's what it seemed. Brashar. Brashar. Brashar. With an R at the end? Mm-hmm, Brashar. I remember when you described it to him in the earlier game that they're like this. Yeah, arms up,
Starting point is 01:34:15 kind of in a proclamation or a... arms up, kind of in a proclamation or a... Are they casting? It's hard to tell. If you would like to make a perception check to see if you could peer through the dense shifting of dome-like magical material to see. Help me take a look at this, please.
Starting point is 01:34:35 Of course, of course. Oh, I'm going to guide you, too. Guide as well. Both you and Essek are going to go ahead and make perception checks. With a d4. I rolled balls. So did he.
Starting point is 01:34:48 With a d4. Roll. Helps. Seven total. Rolled a three. Oof. 13 for him. Okay. You can make out primarily the same details
Starting point is 01:35:02 that Caduceus did, if not as much as he did. You can see the pose, the positioning. At best, you can tell they were, amongst all the corpses that you've come across, very well-dressed, a lot of jewelry, look to be of very high station visually. And the fact that they are in the middle of this amphitheater,
Starting point is 01:35:27 given the context of what you've ascertained of its purpose, of what you learned from the corpse, this is probably a very important political individual within the context of the mageocracy of Aeor. It's hard to tell if they're in the middle of an impassioned speech or the middle of a spell being cast. Well, so I don't know, but my suspicion is, put yourself in her place at that time.
Starting point is 01:35:57 The building is being thrown down from the sky. What is she doing? Is she giving an impassioned speech to the people, telling them to be calm? Is she saving herself? It is hard to say. From what I know, at least from what information has been gathered,
Starting point is 01:36:23 it is said throughout history that the Aeorian people were very... What is the word? Common. Self-focused. Exactly. So whether that is to the individual or to the other people here,
Starting point is 01:36:50 if it was an attempt to save, that was quite obviously a failure as he glides around and gestures to the droves of long-dead bodies around you. I think so, too. I think she definitely wanted to save herself, maybe others, but I don't think these mages disturbed the gods to the point where they threw them out of the sky.
Starting point is 01:37:21 I think these mages created the city. Yes. The other bubbles that we saw people frozen in, I think these mages created the city. Yes. The other bubbles that we saw people frozen in, were they all mages casting things? Some of them were running. Yep, some of them seem to be just standard people fleeing. And you found them at different parts of broken ruins across Eiselcross.
Starting point is 01:37:41 So it could just be random. It could be. We didn't, unless I'm remembering incorrectly, didn't get a sense one way or the other. We weren't even thinking about it, really, what it could be. So it could have been somebody in that crowd did that, or it could be an outside force. We don't ultimately know.
Starting point is 01:38:00 But my suspicion is that this was a last-ditch effort to survive calamity. Can I scan around the crowd and just see if everyone is the same sort of body type? Like everyone's Aeorian? Make a perception check. I'm not good at that. Oh, 14.
Starting point is 01:38:24 Okay. Okay. Okay. Glancing around, it's a... I wouldn't say it's Menagerie Coast or Jorahassian in its ancestral diversity, necessarily. Primarily human, elf, and in-between. And that's the majority of it. You don't see, at least within the amphitheater
Starting point is 01:38:52 or the Corpus, you've come across any halflings. You don't seem to have come across any dwarves. It seems to be fairly culturally kept between a human and elven culture. culturally kept between a human and elven culture. At least this portion of the city that you've been through. And even then, most of the corpses you haven't stopped to inspect thoroughly.
Starting point is 01:39:14 A lot of dead bodies like that look the same if you're just walking by in shadow. But at least in the general presence around you with that role, that's what you make out. Okay. And what was Essek doing? Was he doing some high-level dispelling there? You're not certain. This seemed to be his version of the detect magic
Starting point is 01:39:33 and trying to ascertain the nature of this particular spell, but it seemed far more complex than a simple detect magic could read. These spheres aren't random. A little nervous here. We're letting them get farther and farther ahead of us right now. Yeah, I agree.
Starting point is 01:39:57 We're not going to unlock this thing, right? But our next step is sleep, isn't it? Or are we going to continue to chase? We've got to sleep at some point. Well, we do, but I think we need to know, we still don't know where they went, just which road they went down. Also, no matter what, well, not no matter what,
Starting point is 01:40:15 but if we don't stealth very well in chasing them, we're going to have to fight our way through, you know, an orgy. Gorilla dog troll. Yeah. Which I feel like we'll be okay with. I mean, if Cree by herself killed two of them, then probably we could dispatch one
Starting point is 01:40:39 without too much effort. Yeah. Okay, well. So should we do that first before we sleep? I mean, it's hard because I know I need sleep, but. You look fine. I feel tired, but I just feel like, you know. You want to keep going.
Starting point is 01:41:04 Well, it could unleash a whole, you know. You want to keep going. Well, they could unleash a whole, you know, horrible demon city upon the entire world. So, you know, it feels a little like. It's always worth remembering, though, that they could do that, but at the moment, what could you do to stop it? I don't know.
Starting point is 01:41:19 I know. And we know we have a day ahead of us, right? At least. They're going to have to rest ahead of us, right? At least. They're going to have to rest, too, especially if they're continuing to clear the caverns for us. They are? Why wouldn't they? I thought they didn't sleep. He never sleeps. Cree sleeps. They sleep,
Starting point is 01:41:34 but they have to rest. Cree sleeps. They rest. Lucien doesn't. Magic, I mean, you know, not that I'm a magic user, but even for someone like Cree, it's not a bottomless well. It's not? I don't know. Do we know for sure? I'm pretty sure. We watch them rest.
Starting point is 01:41:54 We watch them get injured. We watch them get injured. I think we can continue to follow. The path might tell us when they decide to rest as well. If something happens right now, we're going to be real down on our luck. Then we sleep right here. Whatever we do, we need to make a decision
Starting point is 01:42:18 and actually do it. Well, that's the thing. How long have we been awake? I feel like a while. A long time. We did a short rest already. I used all my hit dice. We tried to sleep. We tried to sleep. We didn't get a full rest.
Starting point is 01:42:33 Matt, I'm assuming we have to start from scratch with that long rest. What? We were five and a half hours. Because we were six hours in, so. You've traveled a bit in between. I would be willing to say, if you wanted to complete a long rest
Starting point is 01:42:49 for the purposes of this, if you were to garnish an additional three, three and a half hours, you would let you finish a long rest? That's pretty close. Oh, I will nap like a beast. But me and Caleb didn't sleep at all, right? Correct, you guys would need a full, yeah.
Starting point is 01:43:03 So the three of you would need a full night. I don't want to run into that. No. With where I'm at. And Deadbody said it would take a day, day and a half? It's what they took last time, so. So they're going to rest at least once. Oh yeah. Maybe? They know, they're going to have to burn through.
Starting point is 01:43:22 They don't have us clearing the path anymore. Yeah. They're also moving while we're standing still and talking about this, so. I actually think we should, because I'm not spent, but I will be, I think we should push forward now, and if we deal, because there could be sex monsters
Starting point is 01:43:38 that we're going to have to deal with tonight or tomorrow morning, so it's better that we deal with them on the dregs of where we're at. And then we're out. In the night sex monsters, not first in the morning. Then let's go. Let's go now. I'm in that boat as well.
Starting point is 01:43:50 Okay. Before we leave, Matt, when you described the stage, it was just the sorcerer on the stage? There is just the dome on the stage and then there's the bodies around the base of it. There's the metallic body that's leaning against the table with the damaged legs. There's the corpse that Caduceus looked in the eyes of
Starting point is 01:44:10 and spoke to, and a number of other looking, other figures. The metallic one is an armored thing? It looks similar to the one that you found in the first abode that you guys rested in, as well as a crushed creature that you found in one of theode that you guys rested in, as well as a crushed creature that you found in one of the other ruins near where one of the threshold crests were found.
Starting point is 01:44:32 It looks and appears to be human, though this one is even more intricately designed. You can see it's made of this dull, almost brass-like metal with intricate filigree engraving across it. It has no nose, but has a mouth and a jaw-type setup. These open sockets where eyes appear to be within, though there's no white or coloration to the eye.
Starting point is 01:45:00 Gold trim across it. It looks decorative, almost. Does it have the power gem on it, like the one when we got the threshold crest? Does it, that one had a big ruby on it that we took? Correct. This one, it would be in within it, either its head or its chest, or the two areas you would look for that. It's a very advanced.
Starting point is 01:45:19 I took one from the last one. You took a sphere from the center of the last one. I'll go just check it out and see if this one has the same thing. Okay. I feel like we could, if we could figure out how to wake him up, man. If you glance inside, you can see, like, the chest portion of it is, like, off kilter.
Starting point is 01:45:38 It seemed to have been impacted, and the crushing of its legs, its chest plate split open. On the inside, you can see it already has a gem placed in there, but it is cracked. Put the other one in this one. Yes, and? My hands are very good, but do we need some,
Starting point is 01:46:02 does anyone have any better mechanical knowledge than me? I guess not, right? Probably not. Okay. All right. I think you're the best. I can assist you. Sure, you're a medicine woman.
Starting point is 01:46:14 Uh-huh, yeah. Yeah. I'm good at medicine. Want to do a quick heart transplant on a dead robot from a thousand years ago? Cool. All right. It can go great or terribly. Yeah. All right. I'm here for it. What sort of skill is this? A dozen years ago? Cool. All right. It could go great or terribly. Yeah. All right. I'm here for it.
Starting point is 01:46:26 What sort of skill is this? This? Animal handling. So what are you trying to do? You're trying to? Cut out the existing sphere. Okay. Heart thing and replace it with the new one in the similar connection.
Starting point is 01:46:43 Are there connections? Is it wires? What is this? It looks just like a half dome slot that it slips into. Oh, so it's not like arteries or anything. There is cabling all throughout the inside, but nothing you're familiar with. This would be just a dexterity check. I think I'm okay. Give you some guidance. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:47:07 It's Bishop. Caleb, this is a death ward. Dexterity check. So just add your dexterity modifier. And then add a d4. Okay. You hit zero, you. Okay. Just because I'm nervous. Not a real roll.
Starting point is 01:47:21 25. 25. 25. As you reach in to grab the initial sphere, it would show resistance if you didn't twist it in just a way that you feel it pop out. And as it does, it immediately breaks into three pieces. It just shatters like glass on the inside of the torso. With that, you glance inside and you can see a faint,
Starting point is 01:47:44 connective, almost like a threaded point. You take the orb that you found earlier and you can see a similar point there. As you screw and place it within, you lift up and place it heavily towards where it looks like it slips in. As it does, and it's there. Hey! Hey! Hey! Oh, I suddenly brightly glow a dull blue hue.
Starting point is 01:48:17 The arms comes up and you watch as his body begins to convulse and shift for a second before all of a sudden, . You got an hour. But you have an hour, you hear, Hello, my designation. There is no record of that designation.
Starting point is 01:48:40 Please offer a designation. What's the name? Oh! Bruchard of the Presidious Ward. Wait, you're going to name it after the thing that died? Oh, I see. It needs a name. Sorry, I thought it was a password or something. Oh, oh.
Starting point is 01:48:56 Yeah, no, let's give it a name. Let's say... Something relatable, like XR1513. No, I don't know. What about Diddy or Daddy or Daddy? Oh, Dodie, Chappie. That's stupid. Charlie it is.
Starting point is 01:49:20 Look, Charlie. Charlie. I like seeing that. Charlie, I am Designation Charlie. Charlie. I like seeing names. Charlie, I am Designation Charlie. I am an Eor-Mataan citizen of Eor. Hello. Hello. Eor-Mataan? Do you speak Common? He's the cutest. I love him. I do not understand your request.
Starting point is 01:49:42 Okay, how quickly can you learn new languages? I do not understand your request. Okay. How quickly can you learn new languages? I do not recall. It appears I have sustained injury to numerous parts of myself. And as he looks down, this genderless creature, at the moment, seems to pull itself back a bit, and you can see its legs are shredded
Starting point is 01:50:02 and the cables are leading behind, and it just kind of, It appears I've sustained some injury. It appears I've sustained some injury. I will die for this creature. Is he in pain? Do you remember what happened? I do not. My systems are damaged.
Starting point is 01:50:21 Perhaps the Genesis Ward may allow me to reboot and present myself. Where would the Genesis Ward be? Oh lord. You see the eyes all of a sudden go wide and this brief, very faint scan goes and the space around. Huh, that way.
Starting point is 01:50:38 And it points loosely in the direction that you're already going to travel. I think this is a very good idea. Would you like to... May I? Yeah. Would you like to come with us? We can maybe take you there.
Starting point is 01:50:53 It is dangerous, and we will need help, and I might become difficult to understand at some point, but if you can just keep guiding us towards where we need to take you to fix yourself, we would be most grateful. I must ask permission from my associates. Oh no. I do not recall my associates, so I will be my associate.
Starting point is 01:51:20 You will be my associate. Charlie will come with you. Happy to be an associate, Charlie. This is everybody. There's a lot of dangerous people around here. Just assume if it's not us, it might be a problem. Caduceus, how stealthy is he? How stealthy? Well, right now, not very.
Starting point is 01:51:36 We're carrying him. As you're saying this, he's starting to stand up and then. Oh no! I can hold him. I'll carry him. Or you can. Wait, do we have all of your parts? I know they're not connected to you,
Starting point is 01:51:48 but are all of your parts nearby that we can maybe collect? You hear this faint repetition of your voice. All of your parts nearby. Oh! They can't reach me. And then responds in perfect common. Answering your question.
Starting point is 01:52:00 Well, that helps. Wow. I have only the parts of my self present. I say in the other language, show off. Do you have any offensive or defensive capabilities? No, I am a companion. Cool, cool. Are you in pain?
Starting point is 01:52:25 I am not engineered to feel pain. Okay. Can we fix you, your injuries? Yeah, the Genesis Ward. Oh, okay, okay. Indeed. Let's go. I'll pick him up and I'll strap you on my back like Chewbacca carrot tea 3PO.
Starting point is 01:52:40 Oh yeah. I do not understand this reference, but certainly. Neither does anyone else. Charlie, are you familiar with this entire city? This is Aeor. Yes, do you know it backwards and forwards? I have an internal map of Aeor. Well, we're letting the high kid guide us.
Starting point is 01:53:07 That's handy. This'll at least be an adventure. Is it possible for you to talk very quietly? I can speak very quiet. Oh, no. The... Can you not speak at all? I give him a tap.
Starting point is 01:53:21 Hi. Hello, I'm Charlie. Hi. Let's get to the Genesis for what I think. Shh, Charlie, shh. Oh, this is Beau. I'm Caduceus. Go around.
Starting point is 01:53:36 Hello, I'm Yasha. Beth. Caleb, we're dog-assed. I'm Jester. Fjord. I'm Charlie. Excellent. This is Essek. Essek. Essek. Essek goes, I don't trust it.
Starting point is 01:53:51 Good. You're smart. We need someone. Yeah, let's go. Yep. Well, lead on. Yeah, okay. We head back to the road. Jester carrying Charlie on her back,
Starting point is 01:54:06 you all quietly begin to make your way to the exit of the amphitheater. Essek staying, say, 15 feet behind before brushing up next to you and going, You do know about Eo, right? A decent amount. What are you alluding to? Well, many things were designed for warfare here,
Starting point is 01:54:28 against the gods themselves. Just be careful of trusting anything at face value. I haven't done that in a very long time. You may leave yet. Stay close. And as you all begin to drift into the shadow, we're going to take a break. Ooh! Yee!
Starting point is 01:54:51 We're back here in the human age. Charlie! Charlie! Named Charlie. And Eormaton. Charlie. Wow. Eor? Eormaton. Eormaton. Named after good old Chard.
Starting point is 01:55:03 No. We lose. Good old Chard. No. We lose. Good old Chard. All right. We'll see you guys here in a few minutes. We interrupt this Critical Role Podcast Network broadcast to bring you news of dangerous treasures that lie sealed within the Critical Role shops. Only the heartiest of adventurers should dare seek them out.
Starting point is 01:55:23 In all seriousness, though, I'm Matthew Mercer, and we've made some very cool things that we really like and hope you will, too. If you'd like to support the show, And welcome back. So, the Mighty Nein, you have left the Colosseum-type structure here in the middle of the Presidious Ward. You have acquired a new Eormaton companion, which you've named Charlie for the time being. First off, as you're heading back into the shadow to retrace your steps, I'd like you all to roll a stealth check. Yes, yes. Here we go.
Starting point is 01:56:05 Rushing as a trickster. Will Charlie roll his quick? No, Charlie's on Jester. Correct, but I will roll to see if he stays quiet. His fucking mouth shut. That's gross. Bad or good? Bad. Is that bad? Ooh.
Starting point is 01:56:19 All righty. Oh, Vax. These are bad noises. It's hard to stealth when I've got an aeormaton on my back. When you're stealthing for two. I'm stealthing for two. Three, technically. I have been purely quiet. Oh no. What's your stealth?
Starting point is 01:56:34 Eight. Okay. Six. Okay. 24. Okay. 19. Okay.
Starting point is 01:56:41 Seven. Ooh. 27. Okay. Seven. Ooh. 27. Okay. Oh no. Three-fifths bad. Okay. I think we're going to fight a gorilla. Sex monster.
Starting point is 01:57:00 No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Goddamn it. You continue on retracing your path, heading deeper into the Presidious Ward, eventually passing by the familiar structure of the mausoleum that you had nearly investigated. And following the path that Vess and Beauregard had set before, eventually you begin to come upon the site
Starting point is 01:57:27 of this gruesome battle that preceded your arrival. Where do you go from there? Should we just? Straight on ahead, right? We're just going to walk right through? Or should we stealth through? We're going from here now? You are stealthing. Should we, can you do your
Starting point is 01:57:48 marine layer? I can, it hasn't ever worked out in our advantage. I know, but we know, we're just moving through this space, right? But you have to be within five feet of Fjord in order to not be blinded by it. Yeah, I understand, but he can drop it. You can drop it, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:58:03 We would be like a movable cloud. I don't know. But most of us couldn't see. No, you can if we're all just in a little honeycomb. We literally would have to walk on you. Yeah, we'd have to be in a little tight group. I can't see anyway. Oh wow, yeah. Doesn't bother, I'll be outside the little tight cluster. Doesn't bother me.
Starting point is 01:58:25 No? I think we just keep stealth and we're okay. Okay. Did they leave another blood trail? Never worked. You can make an investigation check, if you like. You heard something there, too, yeah? Yes, we heard a second, a third sex monster. 13.
Starting point is 01:58:45 It's hard to tell if it was a trail or if it's just spatterings of blood as part of this battle. I mean, the road continues onward. That's true, and we know where they're going, mostly. We do? Yeah. I saw a trail this way, right?
Starting point is 01:59:02 It's all going that way. You recall somewhat following the path you were traveling in? From what I found last time, but. Hey, hey, Charlie. Yes? Which way was the Somnovem ward? Genesis ward? Or Somnovem?
Starting point is 01:59:17 Cognosa. Cognosa ward. Cogno, cog, Cognos Award. Hi, I'm Charlie. Oh. Oh. What? Hi, Charlie. Hello.
Starting point is 01:59:38 Oh. This is just over your shoulder, this conversation? Yeah, he's right here. What if Sprinkl is deeply unsatisfied with this? Yes. Yeah, he's right here. Do you remember us, Charlie? Deeply unsatisfied with this. I mean, crushing, spitting. Does that name mean anything to you? The Cognosa Ward?
Starting point is 01:59:56 I recall it is a part of Aeor. Yes. Yes. A ward to the... Well, north is that way. Maybe he's... So knowing that, do you know where the Cognos Award is? There is much damage sustained to myself. Upon recovery and repair,
Starting point is 02:00:17 perhaps I could better answer your questions. Fair enough. Charlie, do you have a preferred pronoun? He is acceptable. Okay. We guessed right. Charlie can be a girl's name, too. Yeah. Well, don't worry.
Starting point is 02:00:35 We've been saying it a lot. Neutral name? Yeah, yeah. That's true. Charlie, Ryan, those are awesome. Yeah. Beau. Alex. Yeah. Thank you for asking. Sure. awesome. Yeah. Beau. Alex. Thank you for asking. Sure.
Starting point is 02:00:47 Sam. Yeah. Yeah. We? Nothing. Yeah, we're good. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, let's keep going. Sorry, we're just listing baby names over here. All right.
Starting point is 02:01:00 Trekking on past, you begin to approach where the heavy rock slope begins to cut across this main thoroughfare, essentially preventing continuation beyond where this road comes to an end at the stone. Right as you're reaching this portion, Caduceus, Beauregard, and Caleb, you begin to pick up the sound of what's like
Starting point is 02:01:26 a handful of tumbling rocks. Coming from where? From behind you. I turn around really quick and I nudge Caduceus. I'm paying very close attention. I tell everybody, We freeze. Nothing.
Starting point is 02:01:53 Divine scent, 60 feet. Third charge. Nothing. Also, just, I can see anything, or if I can hear, I can sense anything invisible around us with the 10-foot radius. That's true. Anything visible? Nothing. Okay.
Starting point is 02:02:17 Just for fun, since we're doing this, Eyes of the Grave. 60 feet. I know. Nothing. I like that you did that in the robot boy and Charlie's voice. That was a good bonus.
Starting point is 02:02:35 Okay, let's move with eyes in the back of our head. Okay, where does this go? The path. The path ends. You can go to the right or left and follow the wall if you'd like. Your choice. Oh.
Starting point is 02:02:50 Are there passages that extend on the right or the left? You don't see any yet. It's just like a wall. Do we see blood on the ground? Yeah. Do we see any blood on the ground going either direction? Quick steps. You can make a perception investigation check if you'd like.
Starting point is 02:03:03 I'll join in that. You're helping? Yeah, I'll help. 15. 15. Nothing specifically catches your eye, unfortunately. Hey, Charlie. Yes? Can you see the ground?
Starting point is 02:03:25 I see it. Can you see the ground? I see it. Can you scan the ground? Scan for blood. Enhance. What are those words? You're supposed to say computer. I do not see any blood nearby. My apologies.
Starting point is 02:03:44 It's okay. I'm going to any blood nearby. My apologies. It's okay. I'm going to take the left. Just see, just a little bit, feel around. Charlie, which way to the Genesis Ward? Left or right? This way, and points towards where the stone wall is. Fair. All right.
Starting point is 02:04:04 I'm just going to start feeling the wall, feeling for drafts. Is there any direction as I head towards the left? This is the right. The left. Is it like Labyrinth? Can we touch the wall? Yeah. Do we go through the wall in front of us?
Starting point is 02:04:22 Okay. It's sexual. Sorry. So to the right or the left? Classic rock. Left. Left. Left. Okay. You follow along the side of this somewhat
Starting point is 02:04:38 extreme angled stone falling point before it impacts, and a lot of the rock is fractured upward and sticking out from the impact. You can see it's caused almost like the edge of a violently created volcanic cliff right here from the point of impact. As you move along for about three, four minutes, eventually you see there is a portion
Starting point is 02:05:03 where the stone itself is broken into. Like there's some sort of a heavy crack and an opening that leads and continues on through the wall. I found a crack. Is that another rock? Still behind us? A little ways behind you, but you hear another sound. I am scanning the horizon.
Starting point is 02:05:31 Make a perception check with disadvantage. Charlie? Yes? Scan the horizon for any lifeforms? Big nope. Nope. No. No. Okay. That was a one.
Starting point is 02:05:49 Light sources are challenged in this space. Nothing can be perceived. Superior society, no night vision, lame. No fetch, John. None taken. Should we just run? Let's get in. You guys want to squeeze in here?
Starting point is 02:06:12 Seems like it keeps going forward. Get through the wall. Is there enough room? I think so. Is there enough room? You come around the corner there and you can see why the wall seems to have cracked. There is some very cleanly made
Starting point is 02:06:32 metallic triangular entryway. Like it was the entrance to some sort of a large structure, some sort of large building. And the entry point was this thick metallic point, almost like a blade with a tunnel within. And as the rock collided with it, it kind of carved and broke. You can see it's bent to shit and ruined and tangled somewhat to the side from where it
Starting point is 02:06:57 hit, but as it did, it was just enough to kind of split that element of the stone and hold itself firm. And so there is indeed a passageway that leads beyond. How far does it just go for a while? Can we see how deep? It seems like it goes on for at least the edge of your visual range, which without much of a light source here is very short.
Starting point is 02:07:19 It's a creepy tunnel. So if there is something coming behind us, it would have to funnel in after us, same as us. Maybe we can get in, and if it's something big, it won't be able to follow, and if it's something our size, we can be ready for it. Yep. Yeah. Hotcakes.
Starting point is 02:07:38 I start shimmying in. I'm going in. Okay. Yasha. Yeah. Okay. Watch your step, watch your step. I get blind, in. Okay. Yasha? Yeah. Okay. Watch your step, watch your step. I get behind her. Okay. You are welcome to shimmy. The space is wide enough where you cannot enter.
Starting point is 02:07:53 But who am I to stop you if you're feeling a shimmy coming on? I interrupt you. I'm a low-light stealth move. Disrupt the air. While the entryway itself is bent and fucked up in its own right, there is about an eight-foot wide space
Starting point is 02:08:09 from what was once about 15 feet across. Just two wild and crazy girls. Two wild and crazy girls. I love you. Oh my god. Oh my god. All right, so we have Beau and Yasha up front. What are you doing? Stop that!
Starting point is 02:08:26 I thought the musical number. Are the rest of you waiting or are you moving in behind? I think we're going in behind. Okay, who's after them? We're walking in the dark. So far. Yeah. Once we're inside. We'll light it up soon. Who's second wave?
Starting point is 02:08:42 I'll go mid min second with Charlie. Okay. I should have gotten a Charlie mini, but we'll say he's on your back. I will be in the rear. I will join you in the rear. Fans will love that. Essek will travel with Caduceus in the center.
Starting point is 02:09:07 Veth, are you? Middle. Middle? All right, because you're up in that space there. You've got it. You're opposed to me forming a barbule right here? No. I'm going to do that. Are you opposed to me lighting up my sword? That's fine, too. Let's do it.
Starting point is 02:09:21 All right. He's doing that as well. Boom. You step a little bit in towards the space and it's getting chillier as you progress into this room. The chamber inside most of the city, it seemed to emanate a sourceless sense of warmth, or at least controlled weather
Starting point is 02:09:42 based on the icy exterior of the city. As you begin to step into the space, that quickly fades and you can see frost and ice gathered on the edges of the inside of this metallic hallway, and stone is broken through in places. And eventually, it begins to give way to just a natural ice-covered tunnel space.
Starting point is 02:10:05 I forgot it's actually cold down here. Yeah. Do you think that they just kept it nice and temperate all year long? Probably. It's pretty nice. Central air. Yeah. We light up the globule in the Star Razor.
Starting point is 02:10:20 You fill the space in front of you, and the tunnel ahead, your vision is able to crystallize on the details around you. And this is a space where you can see the structure you walk through was structurally battling with the impact of the city. It doesn't look like there is a continuous fall of rock above, but it looks like elements of the ceiling above you
Starting point is 02:10:42 is bent and shifted. Some areas you have to push a little bit through. As I move forward, I am looking strictly at our six o'clock. Yeah, same. You got it. Make a perception check, please. Both of you. I'm going to look down and see if there's any more blood. Give me an investigation check for me.
Starting point is 02:11:00 19, 22. Can we give you guidance? 19, 22, okay. Or help you in any way? Liv already rolled. Oh, me? Oh, 23. Well, that's pretty good. Do you want to take advantage on it if I'm helping you?
Starting point is 02:11:13 Yeah, sure. 23. Plus I gave you Guidance. 25. 25. 25. The bad news with the shift to icier temperatures in this segment of the hall is it is much colder than you've gotten used to
Starting point is 02:11:40 in the recent travel. Oh, wow. The good news is the layer of frost has made discoloration easier to see. Ah. And as you all begin to walk through, you glance down at the bit of whitish frost before your feet break through,
Starting point is 02:11:56 and you can see little bits of red just occasionally spattered there. Small drops. Just pick one up. Barbecue sauce. Mesquite! What I wouldn't do with some hickory. I knew it.
Starting point is 02:12:29 Tenacista. Molasses. Beau and Yasha, since you are towards the front, you see a little ways ahead, the tunnel begins to open into a new chamber. Smaller than the massive, mile, two-mile, three-mile-wide city tunnel you had just traveled through, the cavern.
Starting point is 02:12:52 This looks to be an enclosed chamber. There's no light source beyond the ones your friends are carrying behind you, except for this faint, kind of thrumming blue light that seems to be occasionally filling the space. Like you see darkness and then a blue light fades in and you can see a corner and a pillar, and then it fades away.
Starting point is 02:13:14 Then it fades in, you can see once more, there's a pillar that goes beyond your view. You can just see within this entryway that leads into the interior chamber, and you can just barely make out the interior shape. Do you remember Lucien having anything like that? I don't think so. Me neither.
Starting point is 02:13:33 This is the moment to remind everybody that we're a little tapped. All right. Oh, fuck. I just turn back around to the rest of the group. I'll light up ahead. Anything on our six o'clock? With your perception check, not yet. Not yet.
Starting point is 02:13:55 It's coming. Reminder that we all did eat a Hero's Feast. So you're immune to fear. Or no, what is it? Advantage saving throws on, I'm going to read the spell. Yeah. So you're immune to fear. Or no, what is it? Advantage saving throws on, I'm going to read the spell. You're immune to poison and fear
Starting point is 02:14:09 and you have advantage on wisdom saving throws. Yeah. Should we go up ahead? Shimmy forward. Okay, we'll check it out. Hang on one second. Shimmy, shimmy, shimmy. You sure you don't want to take Veth?
Starting point is 02:14:30 Veth wished for Jester to be with her earlier, so. You did? I did. You're my number one original partner. But Beau is excellent. Yeah, no, she's really great. Yeah. If you die at the end of season two, she's my new partner. Foreshadowing.
Starting point is 02:14:53 So the two of you shimmy into the chamber? Yeah. All right. As you step into the space, the room looks to be maybe 80 feet across or so, mostly rectangular. And in comparison to a lot of the structures you've come across, this one is fairly well kept beyond the entryway that you're coming through.
Starting point is 02:15:16 Some of the walls are still fairly intact. This sense of cold and ice seems to dissipate quickly into the room, which is odd. Like, just a portion of that hallway seemed to give in to the cold atmosphere, and then once more, the room seems to, not that you feel the warmth, but just the brief steps you've taken
Starting point is 02:15:40 and you're still standing in frost, maybe 10 or so feet beyond where you stand, the ice stops and gives way to just stone. Smooth stone floor. And elements of the interior walls that are reminiscent of some of the previous ruins that you've been to. You can see across from you, there appears to be a hallway,
Starting point is 02:16:01 entrance that continues outside of this chamber, and to your left, across the wall that way, there is a second hallway that exits in that direction. But not far from you, close to the center of this room, there is a raised pillar, and atop that, what looks to be a 15 or 20 foot tall spire. And as you glance up, this room is quite tall. Taller than that spire, at least.
Starting point is 02:16:31 Probably close to 80 feet tall. And that spire is metallic and spirals upward and at the top and throughout the center of it, there is this faint blue light that... Remember? Well, this is a problem. And as it thrums, each time, faint blue light that. Remember? Well, this is a problem. As it thrums, each time,
Starting point is 02:16:49 you can feel this energy in the room spike, then fade. Spike, then fade. And as you sense that, you look at each other, and as that sensation comes in, you can see the hair on the other person's head, mostly Yasha's, since yours is bound for the most part, begin to drift up a bit before dropping. Whoa, cool.
Starting point is 02:17:12 This is like those, we've seen this before. As you do that with your fingers, you can see bits of energy arc through your fingers to each side and give a slight staticky sound. This is really cool. We have to keep Veth far away. She's got explosives on her.
Starting point is 02:17:30 Yeah, she'll go up like a big candle. I'm going to be cold again. Wait, put your finger out. Okay, okay. Ah! It just hit me. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:17:44 It's a fun trick. That's hot. Okay, hang on, wait, wait, come here. Kiss me. Ow, ow, that hurts. Okay, okay, okay, let's go, let's go. Like a battery- Double kill.
Starting point is 02:17:54 Yep. Zero hit points. What the fuck? They both come out looking like Bride of Frankenstein. Mm-hmm. Crazy in here. That's great. Didn't we see this kind of thing?
Starting point is 02:18:05 We saw this kind of thing before, right? We saw it in the other place with the crest. Yeah. Slightly, but it summoned the golem that time. Oh. Ooh. Hey, hey, Charlie. There are facets of it that remind you
Starting point is 02:18:19 of a similar type of enchantment, though that one. Or structure. Yeah, this has more of an electrical feel to it. And even now that they've mentioned this, even in just this portion of the tunnel a ways back, you can taste a change in the way the air meets your tongue. Oh boy.
Starting point is 02:18:42 My skin feels very dry in here. Hey. Are we in the tunnel still, though, talking about this? Yeah, you're a little bit back from the mouth of the opening. Yeah, we backtracked. Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. Yes?
Starting point is 02:18:54 Have you ever seen, well, you have. Do you know what that pulsing blue light is? I do. This is a security checkpoint How do you get through it without toasting yourself alive? Do not give it a reason to toast you Oh, so you can just walk right past it? If you are approved to pass by, yes
Starting point is 02:19:16 How do you know if you're approved? Walk past it Oh Should we have pulled something off of one of the corpses in the amphitheater? Like a key or a charm or a fob? Do you know the approval protocols? Usually it's by escorting.
Starting point is 02:19:37 If you do not already carry the necessary keys. Are you a key? I do not believe so. Would you have the authority to get us through this? I do not know. We could try. What was the layout of that room again, as far as further passageways or doors out of it? So it is mostly rectangular chamber.
Starting point is 02:20:01 You guys are entering on, like if you're entering from this side, it opens a little bit outward and almost widely at an angle across from where you are. Like this. Okay. The pillar's in the center of it, and across the way, there is one hall that exits, and then to the left, there is another hall that exits.
Starting point is 02:20:23 And cross to cross is about 80 feet, and the spire, or is that right? 80 feet from hallway to hall? Yeah, about 70 to 80. And the spire in the middle is also super tall? Correct. I'm going to bring my globules to the edge of the hallway. Can I see any dots of red on the ground going towards one passage or the other?
Starting point is 02:20:45 From where you stand here? Yeah. Make a perception or investigation. Investigate, I'm just going to peer. Peer. I roll a one. You look down for a second and you can't seem to see it.
Starting point is 02:21:02 As you stand up and look back at your friends, Caleb's hair is just. Yeah, we don't want to set this thing off. Fjord. Yes? Are you able to do that doorway thing that we did at Fagesan? I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was just caught by you.
Starting point is 02:21:22 Oh, sorry. What is it? I'm going to draw him in my journal. Your hair and your beard are quite... voluptuous. Yahoo serious. Yeah, I was thinking. The thick, zem'nin mane, yes. That's how it's been referred to in the past.
Starting point is 02:21:39 I was thinking of your ability to jump us across, but I was hoping to have a good guess at which door to pick. Right. We get one. I don't think I can move the doorway. I can only rotate it, so we would be stuck with whichever one we pick. Right.
Starting point is 02:21:55 Unless maybe Frumpkin wouldn't set off a blast of 20d10 damage from this thing. It is a test, yeah. So we think if we just walk through there, we're going to get zapped with something? Yeah, we don't have a key. How far can you go past the orb before it attacks you, if you don't have approval?
Starting point is 02:22:24 I don't recall, though it seemed proximity-based. Hmm. Is the column, it's magical, yeah? You don't know. Okay. Wait, Charlie, which way? Make an arcana check while looking at the construction of a deceit. Yes, I will't know. Okay. Wait, Charlie, which way? Make an arcana check while looking at the construction of it to see. Yes, I will do that.
Starting point is 02:22:47 Did we ask him already which way to the? Oh, we asked him outside. We should ask him again. Yeah, which way do we go? I do not recall. To the genesis? Wait, maybe we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we. wee, wee. Wee, wee. Oh. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:23:09 I think he's got another language. Yeah. Well, he's a protocol droid. Oh! I got a 28 on that arcana check. It does appear to be magical in nature. A lot of things in Aeor have some sort of basis in long-lasting arcana.
Starting point is 02:23:23 Okay, I have another idea. I'm going to try something. I might get hurt. Please pull me out if I do get hurt. Okay. I take Allura's Staff and use it to cast Globe of Invulnerability. Nice. Okay.
Starting point is 02:23:42 And proceed to walk 15 feet into the chamber. Okay. You walk 15 feet into the chamber. As you get within about 10 feet of the pillar in the center, the tower and unleashes this arc, this torrent of extremely strong
Starting point is 02:24:07 electrical blue sparking energy, hitting the orb and striking the side and dividing and sending this wave of sparks across the surface, but not affecting it. Hoo hoo, hoo hoo. I run back. I got about 45 seconds. Let's go to the door on the left.
Starting point is 02:24:24 Wait, how many of us came through with you? All of you, let's go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go run back. I got about 45 seconds. Let's go to the door on the left. Wait, how many of us came through with you? All of you, let's go. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go! Okay, as you all excitedly begin to yell, yo, go, go, go, go, you hear from behind where you are, echo through. You all go running over to the chamber. It will cook right at us!
Starting point is 02:24:42 You guys all run into the middle of the chamber. Arcing at the energy, blast the side, like half blinding you as it's hitting. You're like, oh god! As you're freaking out, it's sparking off the side. You hear the loudly coming from behind you. Sex monster! Which way are you going? Left, all of you. Left, right?
Starting point is 02:25:02 Left, left. I said left. I'm running with the staff to the left. You run over to the left, you get to the door, and around the corner, you see down on all fours, this massive, fleshless, wolf-like creature. You see it has this weird, strided, muscle-like structure
Starting point is 02:25:18 with this odd red and blue mixture across it. It's almost like the skin isn't pulled off and replaced with this odd mishmash of various colorations. As it kind of turns the corner, jaw gibbering and drooling out of its teeth, kind of arcing upward. Its eyes, this like faintly
Starting point is 02:25:36 dull yellowish glow. Its tail whips. And at the end of its tail, this long, fleshy, spiraling stalk, you see a singular mass of eyes. Oh! Yep, we saw in the other area. And at the end of its tail, this long, fleshy, spiraling stalk, you see a singular mass of eyes. Oh! Yeah, yeah. Yep, we saw in the other area.
Starting point is 02:25:48 Indeed. I need you guys to roll initiative. Oh! I thought we were just gonna run away! You thought wrong, bitch! I thought you were describing it coming from behind us, but it's a head. Is it? Wait, I think it is.
Starting point is 02:26:01 It is coming from behind us. Behind or... Guys, this sexual combat is brought to you by Dwarven Forge, makers of premium, handcrafted gaming terrain. Their April Build of the Month continues the story of fantasy Gary Gygax searching for his beloved rabbit companion.
Starting point is 02:26:15 Check it out at bit.ly slash Dwarven Forge CR. Whoa. Oh no, there's not enough music. Cool. Oh man. Okay, we have a Heroes Feast. Whoa! Oh no, that's not happening, is it? Cool! Oh man. Okay, we have a hero's feast. Yes. There it is.
Starting point is 02:26:33 All righty. Are we going to fight this thing? I don't know. Advantage of this is saving there's immune to poison and immune to fear. Can we just keep running? Begin to run this way. Just depends on where things are.
Starting point is 02:26:41 Where'd we come from? You came in through this side. And this was across-up. Just depends on where things are. Where'd we come from? You came in through this side. And this was across the way, and then on the opposite end. All right, who has arranged around Caleb? We all are. We're all in the sphere. We're all in Adventures of Babysitting huddle.
Starting point is 02:26:59 Is there a particular... Nobody gets off this stage without singing the blues. I think we're all just as around him as possible. I think it's just the clusterfuck. All right, the clusterfuck. Moving cinnamon roll. It's as much of a clusterfuck as I laid it down, unless you tell me something otherwise,
Starting point is 02:27:13 this is where it is. I mean, you have to be within 10 feet of him, right? 10-foot radius. Yeah. We all have to run at the same time. That's the creature. Oh, it's coming from in front of us? Yeah, that turned the corner from the hallway that you were heading towards. Flip me with Essek so I can be at the same time. That's the creature. Oh, it's coming from in front of us? Yeah, that turned the corner from the hallway that you were heading towards.
Starting point is 02:27:27 Flip me with Essek so I can be at the back. A little miscommunication there. Closest to the enemy that's chasing us. That's it? Yeah, flip me with Essek so I can, yeah, tower swap. Thank you. You got it. How crazy should I, well, we'll find out. So as you guys rush through and turn towards that hallway,
Starting point is 02:27:42 the creature you see with the tail is coming down the hall on the path you were racing towards and turns the corner to face you. As you glance over your shoulder where you came, rounding the corner. Oh, there's another one. Bitch! Oh shit, what is that?
Starting point is 02:27:56 Oh, it's a different thingy. That is the massive bear gorilla-like creature that you had seen two of them slaughter. Bear Grylls is here? Bear Grylls is here? Bear Grylls is here. Bear Grylls has had a rough year. Pandemic's been hard on all of us. Indeed.
Starting point is 02:28:14 Wow. But. Oh no. Oh my goodness. We had to home electrocute them both. How long does this globe last? This last- 45 seconds. A minute total, so. Okay, okay. There's probably a couple of rounds in it,
Starting point is 02:28:27 two or three rounds. Should we just keep moving? And come back, and for us to come in. We'll need a DM ruling. All right, so I need initiatives. 25 to 20. 23. 23, dang, who has a higher dex?
Starting point is 02:28:41 I bet she, probably me. I have a plus four to dex. You have a plus four to dex? Yeah. Dang, I have a plus four to dex. You have a plus four to dex? Yeah. Dang, I'm a plus five, but. 20 to 15. 21. Ooh. Hell yeah, yeah. Beep, beep, beep. All right.
Starting point is 02:28:56 All right, I got a minus three, like, shit. Yeah. Woo! I don't know why I answered when you said 20 to 15. That's okay. Well, I mean, we're going to be resting soon, but also. Anybody else 20 to 15? 14. You never know when we answered when you said 2015. That's okay. I mean, we're going to be resting soon, but also, you never know when we're going to have it.
Starting point is 02:29:08 13. 13. Oh wow, we're all pumped up in the initiative. All right, so we have Caleb, Fjord. No, I'm a 14 as well. Caduceus, then Fjord, because my dex is zero. All right. So, Beth, Caleb, Cad, Fjord?
Starting point is 02:29:25 Yeah. So that's everybody. All righty. And is it a 10-foot radius, you said? Yep. Oh my god. Oh my god! Wait, what? Bless you!
Starting point is 02:29:41 What is that? What is that? What is that? That's amazing. That is actually the Leowen's Tiny Hut. Oh What is that? It's a magic log, Leowen. That is actually the Leowen's tiny hut. Oh, is it? Oh my god. Structure for it, I believe. That's so cute. That's so cute. Is that the size of the dome we always sleep in? Yeah. We got the best time.
Starting point is 02:29:54 It's crowded, y'all. Oh shit. Yeah, that's a cuddle pod. We are on each other. The big duck dog. Yeah. Oh yeah. So the glow-up and vulnerability, does that protect us? Yasha, stop fighting in the dome. Just magic. And the glow-up and vulnerability, does that affect us in any way? Yasha, stop fighting in the dome.
Starting point is 02:30:07 Stop fighting. On a certain level, any spell at a certain level or lower can't get through. High or can? Jester, you're on deck. I'm up first. I'm up first. Oh no, I hate this.
Starting point is 02:30:17 You can't do anything. Fuck up the thing in front of you, go get it. I'm going to just assume that we're going to press on and I'm going to break rank and I'm going to clear the path in front of us. You're going to leave the dome? I don't know, yeah. I guess, well. I don't know what else to do.
Starting point is 02:30:31 Yeah, sure. I feel like I run up and I punch things. Thanks, guinea pig. That's all I got. It is likely, probably easier. Or a kick, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to exclude them. It's easier to keep this kind of visually situated like that.
Starting point is 02:30:44 So you can just move in and out without having to worry about that. But now that you've seen it, you get the sense of how it looks. A little more of a bluish-tinted. Whatever coloration you would like, Caleb. Allura would have, right? This is Allura's staff, so yeah,
Starting point is 02:30:55 it would be like a faint grayish-blue coloration. What are you doing, Beauregard? I am going to use Yasha and Fjord's shoulders next to me to lift myself and propel myself over the group. And I'm going to come forward to eyeball butt man. Right up front, just like that, or off to the side. What are you thinking? No, right in front of his face, I guess.
Starting point is 02:31:19 Go for it. Okay, I'm going to come up and I'm going to do a big swinging front kick to the front of his face. I'm going to bring my kick right back down and do a one, two, full on like tie style. Oh god, those are both fives for a 17 to both of them. They both hit. They both hit, okay.
Starting point is 02:31:39 Thank goodness gracious. Okay. And then. Okay. And then... Okay. Sorry, I am using, okay, seven. Okay, 14 on the first one. 14 damage, you got it. 10 damage on the second one.
Starting point is 02:31:58 Okay. Stunning strike. Stunning strike on the first strike. Yeah. Natural 17. That's a 19 total.. That was a 19 total. Natural 17 for a 19 total. Sorry, total of 21, my bad. Got pretty good constitution then. Setting Strike on the second one, too.
Starting point is 02:32:23 All righty. That is not as good. That would be a seven. Fail! He is stunned! Shimmy, shimmy, shimmy, shimmy, shimmy, shimmy, shimmy. Through the tunnel still. So you rush forward, jumping over the rest of them. You rush forward and just slamming with your staff.
Starting point is 02:32:46 The second strike, you hit it right across the side of its head as you crack it in the temple. You see both of its eyes go dark as they close and it begins to shake its head back and forth. It is looking like it's having a tough time right now. Great, I'm going to go jazz hands. Pop, pop! Go for it.
Starting point is 02:33:01 And Floria blows. It cries out in common. Mommy! Ooh, yikes. That first one is a 14, so 26 on one. All righty. And 14 on the second roll, too.
Starting point is 02:33:15 Second roll misses. Okay, so the first one does damage. Ooh, that rolled an eight, though. That's good. So that is, nope. Nope, it's a three. It's not an eight. 10 damage. 10 damage, all righty. You got it.
Starting point is 02:33:34 Does that finish your turn? Yeah, do I still have enough movement to get back into the dome? Yes, you would. I will do that because he is stunned, so he cannot take reactions. I believe that is the case. Okay, and I go back in and I go, I stunned him!
Starting point is 02:33:48 Oh, oh, Extract Aspects, because I hit. Indeed. Yes. Indeed. So after those impacts, bludgeoning it a third time, this fourth one misses, but as you dart backward, you take a moment to pull that energy back into you. It is a very odd physiology to this creature.
Starting point is 02:34:05 You've never quite felt a physiology like this. In some ways, it's super intricate, and in some ways, it's super alien. In some ways, it's very clean and unnatural. It's odd, but you do sense that it is immune to necrotic and radiant damage. Oh, weird. That's good.
Starting point is 02:34:23 So I come back and I say, don't use necrotic or holy shit. I don't know, it seems. Holy shit? Well, holy shit. It's an alien. That finishes Beau's go. Jester, you're up.
Starting point is 02:34:36 Okay. I don't want to use my spell, so I'm going to make a flying leap out of here. What? And I'm going to take my handaxe. I'm going to run forward towards the eyeball tail. All righty. And just Harley Quinn it.
Starting point is 02:34:51 Go for it. Have fun, Charlie. Yeah. Feel free to kill Sprinkle, but don't harm Charlie. You have advantage on the attack because it's stunned. 27. 27, all righty. That hits. So I do two additional d8 poison damage because of my...
Starting point is 02:35:10 You do. So, seven. Great. 12 points of damage. 12 points of damage, you got it. Seven of those are poison. As you sink your axe into it and pull back, you see its blood arc a bit, but behind it,
Starting point is 02:35:27 there's also a spray of a weird greenish fog. As you hit with the axe, you imparted this venomous element of poison to its body and pull away and it is shrieking in a weird, in some ways, you almost feel bad because it exhibits dog-like physicality. Oh no. But then the eye blinks in your direction
Starting point is 02:35:49 with its horrible pulsing, veiny exterior. You're like, this is bad, this is bad. I'm going to say, Here, kitty kitty, doggy doggy, come on! And I want to back up and try to get back in the globe. All right, Step in. You can almost make it into the globe, but not quite. Go, go, go, go, go, go! All right, finishing gestures go.
Starting point is 02:36:15 Yasha, you're up. Okay, I'm going to peep out of the dome and also try to attack Mr. Doggy Kitty. Over here? Yes. One problem is so much better than two. Doggy Kitty. Yes. One problem is so much better than two. There you go. Okay.
Starting point is 02:36:31 I would like to rage. SAM and LAURA, You got it. How's it go again? Can't be replicated. One of a kind. Running low on these rages. Okay.
Starting point is 02:36:44 I'm going to take my first swing. Go for it! With my Holy Avenger. You have advantage on this because it is stunned. Yes. Ooh, okay. Okay. 26. That definitely hits. Okay.
Starting point is 02:36:58 So. What were those? The little tiniest little. Those are the cutest. I know, they're so cute. So Yasha, just roll your damage dice for your weapon because the additional damage that you'd normally do is radiant and it is immune to it.
Starting point is 02:37:14 Copy. Oh shit. Okay, so, got it. So it's just the 2d6 plus your strength plus your weapon modifier. Oh, just the 2d6 plus your strength, plus your weapon modifier. Oh, just the 2d6. Okay, let me just roll that again then. Okay. Exactly the same.
Starting point is 02:37:34 Okay, plus that. 19 points of damage for the first hit. Nice. Second swing? Go for it, second swing. Okay. Advantage still? Yeah, still advantage, still stun. Ooh, okay. 19?
Starting point is 02:37:58 19 definitely hits. Great. Woo! It's like dropping diamonds. Double sixes! No, it is. Yeah, so 15. Plus your weapon. 15.
Starting point is 02:38:18 18. 18. Okay. You're just the cutest. I'm bad at counting. Okay. You're just the cutest. I'm bad at counting. Okay. All righty. Math. All right, that finish your turn? You still have movement if you want to try
Starting point is 02:38:33 and shift a little bit, up to you. Ah! Good on you. All right, Yasha, your turn's done. It is now this fellow's turn. Which one, eyestalk? Or sex creature. Oh yeah, okay. This creature. Sex-a-bomb?
Starting point is 02:38:47 Sex beast. Where are the sex-a-bombs? Where the fuck you at? Oh, okay. You can see as it runs along on the ground, it uses its longer, stronger front arms to pull itself forward, much like a gorilla, with its lower legs tearing in.
Starting point is 02:39:04 And as it rushes over, it has these massive, stronger front arms to pull itself forward, much like a gorilla with its lower legs tearing in. And as it rushes over, it has these massive jagged claws out and arcs forward with both. Oh no. No! I'm going to say both towards you, Fjord, at the moment. Sure. Swords out.
Starting point is 02:39:19 And that is going to be a 19 to hit. That hits. And that is going to be a 19 to hit. That hits. All righty, and the other is 26 to hit. Oh yeah. All right, so you take nine points of piercing damage plus seven points of force damage from one strike. As its claw hits you, and as it hits you,
Starting point is 02:39:51 it cuts, and then there's this burst within the claw, almost like there's this sudden shattering of some sort of magical aura that continues to cut through you beyond what the claw hits. As you pull back, the other claw gets you from behind and you take, that's cocked. I don't like this creature. Nine points of...
Starting point is 02:40:15 Sorry, that's slashing damage on both of them. So that's nine points slashing damage. And then... 10 points of force damage on the other strike. Damn. So you grab them both sides. And as you recoil from the side, you turn Caduceus. And as it finishes slashing into Fjord,
Starting point is 02:40:38 it turns to you and is going to go ahead and attempt to bite towards your face. That's 35 points, man. Ooh! I'm a moneymaker. 27 to hit. Yeah, it hits. That telekinetic watermelon bear is not fucking around. 14 points of piercing damage.
Starting point is 02:40:54 Motherfucker. And 10 points of force damage to your face as it bites down and as it chomps, it releases you as the same sort of, almost like an air bullet from each one of its teeth blasts into your face and you pull away as Caduceus rears back and makes an instinctual pain sound. You see a spray of Caduceus' blood through the air.
Starting point is 02:41:19 On the two strikes against me, it takes a combined 16 points of radiant damage. Oh, but it's immune to radiant damage. Not that one. No, not that one. We don't know. It might be. As it blasts, it doesn't even react. Awesome. I will use the reaction
Starting point is 02:41:34 to teleport 10 feet to the opposite side of it. All righty. Put my back against the wall. Oh no, but you're out of the globe. 10 feet radius. 10 feet, yeah. Of the globe? Yeah, it didn't get hit. Wait, what? It hasn't gone off yet.
Starting point is 02:41:49 Not yet, you haven't seen it. That finishes its turn. Veth, you're up. Caleb, you're on deck. I would like to shoot the one that's stunned in front of us. I know that this sex monster's menacing us from the side, but I feel like that one's almost closer to death, so I'm going to try to take out the stunned one. Sure, you have advantage on the strike.
Starting point is 02:42:15 Okay, 22 to hit. That hits. 10, 10, 12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27. 33 points on the first one. Nice! And the second, I will bonus action also shoot, this time with Sharpshooter. Hell yeah, go for it.
Starting point is 02:42:46 The 24 to hit. That hits. And that's eight plus 10, so 18 points. 18 points, nice. As you're all shooting it and Yasha's up against it, slashing into it, the creature is starting to show some serious wear and tear. It's starting to bleed on the ground as it is trying to regain its senses
Starting point is 02:43:08 after being thoroughly stunned and beaten by Beauregard. It's thrashing and splattering the wall with its own gore. You're going to stay put? I don't want to leave this space. Can I stay in the dome, but sort of crouch behind that little tiny pedestal in front of me? You would be leaving the dome if you were to go behind this pedestal,
Starting point is 02:43:29 unless you want to go on this side. Yeah, staying in the dome, but sort of like, oh, I see. Oh, I can't go to the other side of it? The other side, you will technically be outside of the dome. Then I will, who's next to me, Fjord? There's Beauregard right there. I will hide behind Beauregard.
Starting point is 02:43:47 Right there? Yes. Okay. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Well, no, I think that I, the thing, this creature stunned in front of us with the eyeball thing, I feel like they're going to shoot a beam at us.
Starting point is 02:43:57 So I want to be behind Beauregard. Okay, so like here? Yeah. Okay. So right back to where you were. Yeah, sorry. I can't see. You're using the halfling trait, right? Yeah. Hiding behind a... All right, so like here? Yeah. Okay. So with regard to that. So right back to where you were. Yeah, sorry, I can't see. Well, that's the, you're using the halfling trait, right?
Starting point is 02:44:07 Yeah. Hiding behind a creature. All right, so you're behind there. You use your bonus action to attack, so you cannot actually hide. I'll just huddle. Okay, you are huddled behind, loosely nearish to Beau. You got it. And, oh, I accidentally, that's funny.
Starting point is 02:44:30 Who's that? That is technically your Echo that I somehow threw on there accidentally. So you can, actually. Was that supposed to be Charlie? Oh, I think that was Charlie. I think he was using it as Charlie. We're just saying Charlie's on your back.
Starting point is 02:44:42 Yeah. For the purposes of this. Are Charlie and Sprinkle having a conversation? They are. Well, Sprinkle's just screeching at him. Yep. All right, that finishes your go? Maybe Charlie can understand him. All right, Caleb, you're up.
Starting point is 02:44:54 Maybe Charlie can speak his language. So I'm not going to move because I don't want to pull the staff off of anyone. I'm just going to drag the dust along my arm and almost point-blank range, shoot the Disintegrate Ray into the green meanie's face. Okay, go for it. So that's a dex save on their part, yeah?
Starting point is 02:45:19 A dex save. Got it. Does have advantage on this. Natural 19. Oh, did it. Saved. It saves. Yeah. Goes over its shoulder, that's fine. As you turn towards it and aim,
Starting point is 02:45:36 it gets low and just arcs off, hits the stone wall behind it, and it is gone. Fjord, as you're standing there, suddenly, you're leaning back and you hear this sound and you glance over your shoulder, and there's a vacuous hole in the wall behind you and a pit about 10 feet below where you were standing,
Starting point is 02:45:56 and your heels are just on the edge. Cough him! So that thing is fast. All right. Staying put, Caleb? Yeah, I'm not going to take that bubble off of anyone. All righty, no worries. All right, finishing Caleb's go.
Starting point is 02:46:11 It is now Caduceus. Fjord, you're on deck. Just because we have too many problems right now and I got what you were trying to do, I'm going to try Banishment on this thing. On the green one? On the green one. All righty. That is a wisdom save. That is a, actually, it is a charisma save.
Starting point is 02:46:30 Charisma, got it. With advantage on that, natural 20. Ooh! Fuck. Ooh. Sorry, buddy. Just can't compete with its sexual energy. Right?
Starting point is 02:46:48 Look at his little speedo he's wearing. Yeah, I know, he's wearing a genius little Well, I'm a little fucked next round. He came to party. Shit. He came to party. Yeah, yeah. Pretty sure those are leather.
Starting point is 02:47:02 He saw the dancing and he was like. Yeah, play the Right Said Fred music. I'm going to use the last of my moment to just do Hidden Step and see if that helps. So I'm turning invisible. Okay. So you are. He doesn't have sex organs.
Starting point is 02:47:22 Actually, I'm invisible. Yeah, speed up. I'm going. You got speedo. Yeah? Yeah. I'm going to try and make a break for it. I'm going to go to the other side of the dome. Yeah. Oh boy. It does not see you?
Starting point is 02:47:35 Does not get to take a reaction on you. You're fine. Nice, nice. Did I finish your go? Yep. Fjord, you're up. Right. There's a hole behind me now. I'm going to cast Thunder Step
Starting point is 02:47:54 and get the fuck out of here, just in case I was wrong about this thing going off. And I'm going to take a knee and explode and go in this direction over here. All right. I'm going to take a knee and explode and go in this direction over here. All right. And that is 5d10 thunder damage. Whoa.
Starting point is 02:48:13 Thunder, thunder, thunder. Is that a dex save for him? Yes. Constitution. Oh, constitution, good to know. Thunder damage. 17? 18. So it does not say.
Starting point is 02:48:28 And it is 36 points of thunder damage. Nice. Okay. As you slam the sword downward and the heavy sound echoes through the chamber and down the halls around you, shaking on bits of stone and dust from the ceiling above, and the creature gets blown partially forward,
Starting point is 02:48:49 catches itself, and you can't see the back of it, but it looks like it took the full brunt of that as you appear to the other side, showing the hall that you're standing in now curving to the left. Is there anything I can just see in my immediate landing? Down this way? Yes. The hall continues.
Starting point is 02:49:10 Just a hallway, okay. Oh, it just kind of, and then it comes back together? And racing down this way. Oh! Called by the sound of the chaos, it looks like a... Not the thunder, just the chaos. Yeah. Nott has more reasons to be excited.
Starting point is 02:49:29 But another one of these creatures, just this panther-like entity. It's just charging in the direction we are coming. Panther-like, not correct. The eyeball one. Correct. Cat-dog. Bump us in.
Starting point is 02:49:41 Good, good, good, good, good. I forget what this creature was called. It was called something in the test tubes. You would remember. That was within a month. That was an Aeorian Absorber. Absorber. Absorber. I don't like that. Does that finish your turn?
Starting point is 02:49:57 I don't like that at all. Do you go in its eye? You've got movement. I do have movement. Yeah, actually, I'm not moved yet. I'll just come to the... Mother bitch. I'll just come right here,
Starting point is 02:50:12 so I'm at the lip of the hallway. I'll get five more feet out of it. Right here? No, closer to you. I'm sorry, to your left, sorry. Here? Yeah, thanks. You're okay getting hit by the? You got it. I don't think I'll get hit in there, though.
Starting point is 02:50:21 So you back up a little bit? All right. It's gotten hit yet. I think it's fine'll get hit in there, though. So you back up a little bit. Ooh! All right. He hasn't gotten hit yet. I think he's fine. Finishes Fjord's go. It is that first Absorber's turn. He is stunned, cannot take his turn until the end of Beauregard's go. Beau, you're up first.
Starting point is 02:50:34 Top of the round. What are you doing? So wait, Absorber? Okay, I'm just going to try and finish this guy off in front of me. So I'm going to dart forward again, kind of past Yasha, come in for another round against this Absorber.
Starting point is 02:50:47 Make room for her. Thank you. You got it. I give a little tap on the side while I pass Yasha. Advantage on these strikes. Advantage, oh, right. It's a stun, don't forget. Well, okay, well, that's a 19 and a 17, so that is. It definitely hits.
Starting point is 02:51:02 Definitely hits on that first one. Second attack, also another natural 19 and a seven, so that is definitely hits on that first one. Second attack, also another natural 19 and a seven, so I'll take that 19. Yeah, so first two hits. Take that, take that, take that. Yeah, that's good. Okay, that first attack is going to be 10 damage total, and the second one is 13 damage.
Starting point is 02:51:22 Second one is 13 damage, you got it. So 23 together. All right, actually, this guy would have, I'll take this at the end of your turn, because it won't matter so much. I will go ahead and Sunning Strike it again if it's not dead. All right, it is not dead.
Starting point is 02:51:34 It's not dead. Sunning Strike, go! That is a 14. He is stunned again. Stunned again. That guy has done nothing this fight. Ha ha ha ha! I feel like a monk again. It's on the other side of the map. That guy has done nothing this fight. Ha ha ha ha! Ah, I feel like a monk again.
Starting point is 02:51:47 It's on the other side of the map. We don't know what they do. All right. No. Bonus action still. Bonus action. Might as well, I'm going to try and burn this thing down. Flurry of blows.
Starting point is 02:51:56 Still advantage, right? Yep, because it's still stunned. Natural 20! Yeah! 20 into two? Get it back! Take it! Okay, and that second one, it hits,
Starting point is 02:52:07 but it's not a natural 20 with a 25. Yep, that hits. You're going to roll damage on each. Okay, so first one is double the dice. Come on, give me something good. Ooh, ooh, I rolled an eight! Okay, so eight, 16, plus another seven is 23. All righty, and a gift. And then second damage is 10.
Starting point is 02:52:31 How do you want to do this? Yeah! Okay, so I came in the first time, did a few Mai Tai kicks. Mai Tai? Yeah, that Mai Tai. And then... Mai Tai? And then... Mai Tai.
Starting point is 02:52:45 Fucking bitch. I can't. Ah, stretch. And then I come back and I take my coconut from my fancy cocktail and I bash this at him. Okay. I now have a Mai Tai.
Starting point is 02:53:10 Monks get all the abilities at the higher levels. Summon Mai Tai. Summon Spring Break. Okay, yeah, as you pummel it with your imaginary coconut, the creature fails to continue moving. You're so comfortable. And collapses to the ground with a heavy whine
Starting point is 02:53:26 before the eye begins to flail about before going pale and then slumps to the ground, unmoving. The creature is dead. What goes to the eye, though? Pale? Fjord's about to find out. That's weird. Okay, yeah, I scooch back into the circle again and I'm like, yeah, I don't know,
Starting point is 02:53:44 it feels otherworldly, this thing. All right. It's my turn. All right, because I forgot to take it, because technically they're on the same initiative, the other absorber's going to take its turn. Cool. So the other absorber spins around. And is going to rush up to you.
Starting point is 02:54:01 No, no, no! Animal handling, heal! Hi, doggy. 30 feet there. It is going to make three attacks against you. I should have backed up more. How would you know? I was right, I had a feel.
Starting point is 02:54:19 And with its bite, let's see here. No, actually. It's going to take two of its claws and its attacks against you are going to be 23 to hit? Oh yeah. Natural 20. How many feet away? The creature is, no, Fjord. Fjord is... 15, 20, 25, 30. 35 feet from you. 35 fucking...
Starting point is 02:54:51 You can count them. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Motherfucker. 35. Plus, I think you already, you get that. No, my reaction is I get that many times. That's awesome. That is so cool. Yeah, nothing I can do about it. Sorry, buddy. Should've stepped back one more step. One's awesome. That's so cool. Yeah, nothing I can do about it. Sorry, buddy.
Starting point is 02:55:05 Should've died. Step back one more time. One more step. So you take 10 points of slashing damage, along with six points of force damage. Okay. The crit, only roll a three, so that's six points of, sorry, 11 points of slashing damage. Okay.
Starting point is 02:55:26 Plus five points of force damage. All right. And is going to, as it's slashing towards you, the eye arcs above you. Here's the eye. Ignores you. There's this absorber. Looks over towards Caduceus, who's the closest to it.
Starting point is 02:55:42 I'm invisible. And does not look towards you. Instead is going to fire towards Essek. No! Oh, buzzy. Hit Caduceus, no! That hits. Even through the barrier?
Starting point is 02:56:01 It's not a spell. Oh shit. Oh. Yeah, it doesn't block all magical everything, period. It blocks spells. Spells. I didn't do the radiant burst because I figure it's immune like the other one is.
Starting point is 02:56:16 So that, however. Why did it attack Essek instead of you? Maybe it can't. Because it already did damage to Fjord. He wants to spread it around? Yeah. Maybe. Let's see what it does. Maybe it needs't. Because it already did damage to Fjord. It wants to spread it around. Yeah. Maybe. Let's see what it does. Maybe it needs long range.
Starting point is 02:56:28 Maybe it looked at Fjord's wrists and deltoids and was like, it's fine. Practitioners, like wizards. Could be. It could be a thing like when you don't want to use a bow and arrow right next to somebody. Yeah. What smells, Laura? I smell like old food or something.
Starting point is 02:56:42 It takes 24 points. 24? Wow. Points of psychic damage. Okay. As the beam streaks forward and slams him and you watch him go, and he's currently holding a sign. Oh no.
Starting point is 02:56:56 Which, for the record, I'm going to do Essek's turn after this because I keep forgetting, because you have too many players and an NPC with you. He's going to get his turn right after this creature. So anyway, that finishes its turn. Essek retracts from that. He rolled super low on his initiative, a natural four,
Starting point is 02:57:10 but nevertheless, he's going to go ahead and retort with his go. Essek is going to cast... Let's do some fun-ness here. Yeah. Give me that duo Nancy. I said duo Nancy, but. Good band. Good band.
Starting point is 02:57:34 Please welcome to the stage, duo Nancy. Second one. That doesn't work well for that necessarily. Huh. We are duo Nancy and we't here to fuck shit up! What the freak? Yeah, it doesn't help that he was behind the pillar of replacement,
Starting point is 02:57:52 so I think he's right out of my field of view. He's going to step back and turn this way and is going to cast Gravity Sinkhole back in this direction to try and catch that creature right there. Okay, okay, okay. Gravity Sinkhole. Get out of there. All right.
Starting point is 02:58:19 So that is a constitution saving throw for that creature. Natural three, it's a fail. Yes, fail, you bastard. So he takes 5d10 force damage. Kill him. You guys ready to party? Get out of here, Chad. Chad?
Starting point is 02:58:40 29 points of force damage to that guy. Three. Took my five for three hours. 29 points of force damage to that guy. Nice. Mm-hmm. Let's party. And is pulled in a straight line towards the sphere, and he pulls him right there. Yes, yes. And so as he spins around, and you watch as he takes the impact from his brain, spins between the group as he's gliding there,
Starting point is 02:59:03 turns around and puts his hands in the air and rakes them through from the sky to the floor. And as it does, you watch this black sphere apparate in that space, consuming the creature. You just hear this howl as the sphere collides into a center point, and you see the creature, almost for a brief moment, getting spaghettified towards its center point.
Starting point is 02:59:22 Its body gets tugged and pulled unnaturally, stretched forward, taking all of this damage as it's yanked there and nearly stumbles to the ground before catching itself as Essek rights himself in the middle of the chaos. So the monster's still alive? Oh yeah. He got spaghettified and he survived it. Whoa.
Starting point is 02:59:43 Jester, you're up. Yasha, you're on deck. Whoa! I'm going to... Little timey-wimey there. Hmm? Little timey-wimey with the initiative there, but we got all the rounds in, which is important. Is he stuck where he is?
Starting point is 02:59:55 Or that was just he got spaghettified? No, he gets pulled towards the center of the sphere and takes the damage. Got it, okay, okay, okay. He is where he is now. Did the blue pulsing light ever go off or anything? Not yet. Okay. I am going to do the thing that I can do right now.
Starting point is 03:00:14 And I'm assuming I'm, well, I'm going to run forward to where I'm within 20 feet of the green guy. Okay, about 20 feet would be the area. You may not be magically safe. You might be able to nail him with magic stuff. Oh. We didn't extract Aspect, so we don't know if he's. That's true. Well, I don't want to waste a spell.
Starting point is 03:00:33 If not, I'm just going to chuck my handaxe at him. Wow. Yeah, go for it. Go ahead and roll an attack. Ha ha! 25. That hits. Go ahead and roll damage.. Ha ha! 25. That hits, go ahead and roll damage. I'm so excited. But your handaxe is now embedded in the creature.
Starting point is 03:00:49 You have to get within melee of it to retrieve it. Shit! You hit me in my ear. I know. Nope. You hit me in the ear. Why do I roll so fucking low all the fucking time? You just rolled really high to hit. I don't know, there was that 100 points of damage
Starting point is 03:01:10 you did that one time. Sure. But how much was that? That was total of 11. 11 points of damage. The axe is now into its chest clavicle area. SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, The clavicle.
Starting point is 03:01:25 I imagine almost like that terrible screaming bear sound from Annihilation. Oh yeah. SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, Fucking jeez. So good. I remember, I remember!
Starting point is 03:01:39 Yeah, layer it in. All right, does that finish your turn? Yeah. All right, Jester's up. Yasha. Okay. I need to sleep, you guys. Oh dang, I can't do my... Sleep after this. Sell us presents, I've never used it.
Starting point is 03:01:54 Okay, I'm going to run over to the big boy. Over here? Yep. There's another one up here! You hear, as you turn and look, and there's one just currently harrying Fjord down the hallway. Fjord! Yasha, what are you doing?
Starting point is 03:02:11 Take a swing. All right, go for it. It's always Fjord. Follow my voice! 24. 24 does hit. Yay! Okay. We don't know. Radiant does not work with! Okay. We don't know.
Starting point is 03:02:25 Radiant does not work with this one. We already know this. We'll find out. Go ahead and roll your weapon damage and your radiant damage separately. Okay. So that is, we'll make those two. So that is, I'm really sorry, guys.
Starting point is 03:02:42 I'm so bad at math. 29. That's without radiant. That's without 29 damage? Yeah. Wow. For 2d6 plus... 2d6, so eight plus... Plus your strength, which is three,
Starting point is 03:03:01 plus your weapon, which is three, plus your rage, which is four, right? Yeah, yeah is three, plus your rage, which is four, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on, I calculated this wrong. So embarrassing having to do this on fucking camera. Every barbarian's weak. It's all good, yeah. Sorry, 18. 18, got it.
Starting point is 03:03:17 That makes more sense. And what's the radiant? Seven. Every one of us is screwed. You strike through and as the blade carves through its body, it reacts to it and you see the burst of radiant energy scatter off with no additional effect.
Starting point is 03:03:31 All right, good to know. All right. All that adding for nothing. Dick! I know, second hit. Second hit, roll for damage. Roll for attack, sorry. So he's also...
Starting point is 03:03:43 21. 21 hits. Yep. Roll damage to the second one. Okay. Ooh! Ooh! Um. Hmm. 21 points of damage.
Starting point is 03:03:56 Nice! Mm, nice roll, Jester. Whoa! Did you get that, too? Yeah, if you do it on the thing, it shows it up. It shows it to everyone in the campaign. Oh, yeah! Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. I was not hitting the button.
Starting point is 03:04:10 It was just a rolled, Whoa! Fjord rolled a cone of cold damage. Whoa! We can do that, and everybody can know what we do, that's so cool! We can also use this if we were making contact all the time. D&D behind me, great tool for campaign. Wow.
Starting point is 03:04:24 You learned something new. I'm going to do that because I'm, you know. But then, wait, then I got to do the 2d8. What about all those real dice you have? I know, okay. This seems fun right now. Old hat, Travis. Wow.
Starting point is 03:04:37 That finish your turn, Yasha? I can't, as a bonus action, try to pull the axe out and give it to Jester, can I? Mm. Yeah, that's a lot. I can allow it. All right. I axe out and give it to Jester, can I? Mm. Yeah, that's a lot. I could allow it. All right. I'm going to give it a go. Make a strength check because it is a quick yank out.
Starting point is 03:04:53 Both hands are on your sword, so it's like a cursory thing. Just for the hell of it, do a strength check. I didn't do a lot of the yank, so it's not deeply embedded. 19. You pull it out and hand it back over your shoulder. Oh, that's dope. You throw it and just, she's over your shoulder. Oh, that's dope!
Starting point is 03:05:05 You throw it and just, she's a ways away, so you chuck it behind you, like, oh god, and catch it in midair. Hand back on the hilt at ready, and I'll say, Thanks, Yasha! You got it! All right. So bossy. That finishes your turn?
Starting point is 03:05:18 So bossy. Yep. All right. The creature, kind of, it's taking the damage from you and being wounded, but it's sniffing around you. At the stop of its turn, the tower above it's been blasting the orb around you,
Starting point is 03:05:42 but it's now the blast is coming towards that creature. Okay. Which has advantage on it, which it does save against. So fast. I was wondering. That guy looks like he's on the keto diet. I have a theory. Takes 11 points of lightning damage.
Starting point is 03:06:07 He's got to be in order to be off for spring break, you know? 11. 11 points of lightning damage. Oh, okay, okay, okay. I'm going to say it. 22. 22. And it's going to shift around here. Do I get to not duck?
Starting point is 03:06:18 Get out! No, because it never left your melee range. Oh boy. But it has moved into the orb where it's now seeing it apparating from the center range. Oh boy. But it has moved into the orb where it's now seeing it apparating from the center boy. Oh boy. And it's going to go ahead and go all in against Caleb. If I don't move, he won't see me.
Starting point is 03:06:34 That's easy. Oh. That is a 22 to hit? Yeah, hits. Okay. 24 to hit. That one doesn't hit, hits. Okay. 24 to hit. That one doesn't hit, strangely. Hits.
Starting point is 03:06:49 All right, so it's two claw strikes against you. You take eight points of slashing damage, as well as, ooh, 12 points of force damage as its claws slice into you and it lifts you off the ground for a second. You watch as it arcs upward as Caleb's lifted up and then there's an additional burst in his chest and it throws him about a foot off of the claws,
Starting point is 03:07:14 almost like it launches him into the air. And the other claw strikes down to catch him with a reversal from over top. Uh-oh. That one deals six points of piercing damage and 10 points of force damage. As you get slammed into the ground from the second strike, blasting onto the floor,
Starting point is 03:07:32 you catch yourself on your hands and knees as it opens its jaw and attempts to bite down towards you on the ground for a 21 to hit? Shield. Shield? Yeah. As it bites down, you lift up your hand, and with that, this shimmering...
Starting point is 03:07:54 Yeah. This shimmering barrier deflects its claws, or its teeth, and its jaw just skitters off to the side with this scraping sound, arcane sparks flying off. Picks up angrily and begins growling at your space, frustrated that it couldn't get through for a third bite. But that's going to finish its turn. Veth, you're up. Caleb, you're on deck.
Starting point is 03:08:16 He's looking pretty rough. Oh boy. I'm going to jump up and sort of grab Caleb and angrily point my weapon at the creature, sort of like the woman yelling at the cat meme, you know, except it's me. And it's not a cat, it's a sex monster. All righty.
Starting point is 03:08:39 Hey you, get away from my friend! And I'll shoot him in the face. Okay, go for a roll attack. Yeah. Oh, not great, 21 the face. Okay, go for a roll and attack. Yeah. Oh, not great, 21. That was a, that was a. Oh, why did I roll twice? I don't know why. I don't know.
Starting point is 03:08:51 Should I throw them back at, both at or throw? Just roll one more. Okay. Ooh, that's a natural one. Oh, and your crossbow. Yep, so you miss it and you hurt yourself. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Good, good. Yeah, yeah. Luckily, I-huh. Good, good. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 03:09:05 Luckily, I only take five points of damage. As you turn, holding Caleb, I've got you, Caleb! Ah! All right. I'm going to blow that down. I'm going to fire again. Just the smaller. Bonus action.
Starting point is 03:09:23 I just think of those little door things. Yeah. Used as a kid. It's the smaller. Bonus action. I just think of those little door things. Yeah. Used as a kid. It's the bigger blades. Yeah. All right. I'll fire again. Go for it. I spent so much time as a kid.
Starting point is 03:09:34 Oh my god. Way better. 29 to hit. That'll hit. Go ahead and roll damage. And I think I still get sneak attack damage because he's engaged with my friend. Indeed. We got to get one of those for Ronan.
Starting point is 03:09:56 Okay, cool. 42 points of damage. How do you want to do this? Oh! Yes! Is he wearing a g-string? Or is that just poetic license? No, that is just a pattern of the flesh.
Starting point is 03:10:10 But it looks like it. But it might be a g-string. He could be. You can't tell from this angle. No, I think I'm close enough proximity I'm going to just shove the crossbow in its mouth. As it's leaning over Caleb, trying to bite into the shield,
Starting point is 03:10:23 and you just jam it up in his throat. You can't have sex with my friend. And I'll squeeze the trigger. Shut up! And it just collapses onto the shield. Oh god! And as you're noticing it draped over Caleb, probably going to crush him when that shield vanishes,
Starting point is 03:10:40 you angle it to the side and it slides and slumps onto the floor next to you. Nice. Yes. All righty. There's another one up here! Well, we did it, guys! Let's go down the hall! All righty.
Starting point is 03:11:00 That finishes Veth's turn. Yeah, Caleb, your turn. Yeah, so Caleb is a bloody mess and he was about to cast a spell centered on the column, but now I don't have to. And instead I hear Fjord go, and I hold a black marble out in that direction and copy my Kryn colleague
Starting point is 03:11:21 and cast Gravity Sinkhole in the far wall behind the eyeball butt creature. Okay, pulling it that way? Towards past Fjord. Yeah. And I will destroy another wall, possibly. Oh, so you're doing... I think you say in this one.
Starting point is 03:11:35 Gravity Sinkhole. Gravity Sinkhole, yeah. Exactly where Crafty got it. Okay, so what's the save on it? It is Constitution save. Constitution. Advantage, that is 19. It saves, so it takes the damage,
Starting point is 03:11:49 but doesn't get pulled. It takes half damage. Takes half damage. All right, so go ahead and roll full damage. Yep. Oh, but it doesn't get pulled, it just stays there. Roll pretty high, though. My plan keeps changing. 36, so 18 points, Roll pretty high, though. My plan keeps changing.
Starting point is 03:12:05 36, so 18 points. The half damage is 18. Okay. 18 points of damage. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw for me. Okay. Uh-oh. Dexterity saving throw. Oh no, should we have all been rolling
Starting point is 03:12:20 d20s for our magic? Yeah, I keep forgetting that. That's not my bad. Too much to organize. We'll do that here in a second. We'll do a round of rolls. Have we all been rolling d20s for our magic? Yeah, I keep forgetting that. That's not my bad. Too much to organize. We'll do that here in a second. We'll do a round of rolls. Roll real low, but I equipped the Ring of Evasion, so I will choose to succeed.
Starting point is 03:12:35 Okay, there you go. So mark that. As the tail looks up and as the magical energy bursts, the eye seems to glow with energy and you see it try and force a portion of the arcane power that you cast back at you and you just dodge past it and you watch a portion of that gravity well open up to nothing behind you. Whoa.
Starting point is 03:13:00 He deflected it. Absorber. So to go around real fast, roll a d20. Roll a d20. And what did you? I rolled an unsuccessful banish. Right, so roll a d20 for me.
Starting point is 03:13:18 I rolled a 19. 19. Five. 12. Okay. Fjord, go ahead and roll a d100 for me, please. Yay! Ooh! I'm here for this. I have a big old note here saying,
Starting point is 03:13:33 Aeor spells, make them roll, and I just keep forgetting. 34. 34. That's magical butterflies. That was 56. Nope. It's all magical butterflies. All right.
Starting point is 03:13:44 Skeletons. Uh-oh. Does that finish this killer's go? Back. Nope. It's all magical butterflies. All right. Uh-oh. Does that finish this? Caleb's go? Back. Yeah. Okay, Caduceus, you're up. Nobody else had to roll a d100? No, you were the only one that. So Caleb, that's all you're doing on your turn?
Starting point is 03:13:56 Horse nipples. Okay. Holding the line. You got it. I'm getting a sense of how this is going, so I'm going to cast., so I'm going to cast a... Help! I'm going to cast...
Starting point is 03:14:09 How hurt does Fjord look? Ah! How hurt do you look? 50%. So here's the good part. You look over at Fjord as he's doing this, and as he's shouting over his shoulder for help, he looks hurt.
Starting point is 03:14:23 There's something odd about him. There's a darkness pouring down his face. Ah! Darkness? So what are you doing? What happened to you? What did you roll? I'm going to,
Starting point is 03:14:40 to start with, I'm going to cast... You're an angry ring girl. Shut up. Your worst nightmare. Bless on him. Bless on him? On him, on Fjord, myself, and Veth. I'm actually going to have to move
Starting point is 03:14:54 a little bit closer to him to do that. Yes, you would have to get... I will sleep in the kitchen. There. Yeah. You're no longer invisible, but you are. Okay. So who's blessed?
Starting point is 03:15:11 You're blessed, you said? I'm blessed and Veth is blessed. Got it. Oh, thank you. I want you to hit things. I don't like that. And actually, well, that's fine. I'm going to then spend... Something's wrong with Fjord.
Starting point is 03:15:26 We should probably do something, I don't know. And I'm going to see if I can get out of the way of the electric thing before it. I've always thought so as well. Going where? Down into the cubby over there. Over here? No, the other way. Over here?
Starting point is 03:15:41 Down the hall that we just cleared. Okay, so. Oh, around. We moved five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Yeah. Okay, you got it. That finishes your turn? Yep. Fjord, you're up. With my bonus action, I'm going to cast Hex against this thing in front of me.
Starting point is 03:15:59 Okay, so casting the spell Hex? Or using your... Yeah, yeah, casting the spell hex. You got it. So it is hexed. At first level. Well, it's as a warlock spell as a paladin, yes. You use your first level paladin slot.
Starting point is 03:16:17 So again, multi-classing. Something is getting your eyes, too. I just sweat. Oh no. I'm just so cool. You pull back and your palm is filled with hair. Hair? Yeah. What are you doing?
Starting point is 03:16:31 Hair? Cool! At 5th-level, I will cast Armor of Agathys on myself. Now, at this level, too, as you do this, it isn't just ice particles, but almost like a form of ice armor that encases your shoulders like a mantle of jagged ice shards.
Starting point is 03:16:51 Fuck yeah. Cool. These pointed Spaulders now kind of jag out to the sides. Well done. I regain 25 temporary hit points, and I say, hit me now, bitch. What's wrong with my face? All righty. Oh boy.
Starting point is 03:17:05 And I will move. I will just, I'll stay in its melee and I'll move up towards just this side. Just move, yeah, 45, thank you. You got it, okay. Finishing Fjord's go, it is now the creature's turn. Yeah, it's going to go all in on you. It is super, super frustrated and angry.
Starting point is 03:17:27 That's going to be two claw strikes and a... Yeah, I'm going to go with a bite. So the claw strikes are 14 to hit. Misses. Misses. You just duck out of the way, using the blade to parry it to the side. The next strike is a natural 20. Cool.
Starting point is 03:17:49 And the bite strike. Bite strike. Is a 19. 19 hits. Okay. So first, the crit for the claw strike. That is nine points of slashing damage. Okay.
Starting point is 03:18:07 Plus two points of force damage, rolled terribly for the damage of the crit. So is that doubled up already? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it rolled really bad. And then for its bite strike against you, much better, 14 points of piercing damage. Okay.. 14 points of piercing damage. Okay.
Starting point is 03:18:26 Plus eight points of force damage. Okay. And it takes 25 and 50 points of ice damage total. 50 points of ice damage. 50? Wow. Yarr. Yeah, dude. Armor Agathys is no joke if things hit you in melee. Okay, great. Oh, sweet!
Starting point is 03:18:45 So temporary hit points up? Temporary hit points are... I have two temporary hit points. Damn, all right. Man, don't fuck with a Warladen. The creature's going to go ahead and move over to this space here. Still staying in the melee with you,
Starting point is 03:19:03 but now it's starting to glance at the rest of the room around you. All right, that finishes Itsuko. At the bottom is now Essek. Essek? Hmm. Is it Barred Monk? 23. A bank? Yeah.
Starting point is 03:19:21 A bank? Yeah. A bonk. Bonk. Oh, a bonk is pretty good. He's going to go ahead and cast. Palak? No. He just put, for Bloodhunter, he just put blood in front of anything.
Starting point is 03:19:34 Blood wizard, blood cleric. Blood monk. That's pretty cool. Blood barbarian. There is a blood cleric. Actually, that's true. It's going to cast Magic Missile at 5th level. Do I need to roll d20s for casting those two spells?
Starting point is 03:19:54 You do. Well, the hex you don't have to, because it's a first level. For when your allergies are real bad. Roll that for me. 16. Seven magic missiles. Roll another d100 for me, please. Oh! Yeah!
Starting point is 03:20:05 No! Covered in hair and also. Actually, no, sorry, sorry, you're fine. 16's okay? 16's fine, I'm sorry. You're more chubby than you get hair on your palms. You just missed it. Okay. Essek, however, does have to make a roll.
Starting point is 03:20:20 Okay. 16. You guys are fucking lucky. Close clear. Cool! Close clear. Goal's clear. However, that is... 74 plus seven points of damage to this thing. As Essek floats up a bit in the air and releases his hand like this,
Starting point is 03:20:40 and as he does, these five darts out of his hand and then two out of his palm rush around and arc out towards the sides of the hallway before all exploding into the center, hitting it from all sides, and you see this burst of force energy in the middle. Yeah, so dope. I love magic missiles.
Starting point is 03:20:59 What is it? Magic missile. Magic missile just auto-hits. Good on classic, yeah. Kitsune. Good to know. It's the dark side, dark side uni beam. I did. I did.
Starting point is 03:21:14 Scanlan had a lot of wands. These are good rules. 29 points of force damage to it. Don't we have a wand of smiles? How can we never use that? I have a wand of smiles. More creatures damage to it. Waxing. Don't we have a wand of smiles? How come we never use that? I do. I have a wand of smiles. More creatures need a smile. Yeah. You're right.
Starting point is 03:21:31 All right, and Essek's going to go ahead and drift off to this side and try and put more distance between him and the creature while staying within the radius. As he drifts back and goes, Caleb, are you all right? No. Me neither.
Starting point is 03:21:44 There's another one! Beau, you're up first. Jester, you're on deck. Oh lordy, it's me? Oh, goodness gracious. Okay, can I make it to Eyebutt Monster? Maybe. What's your movement? 55.
Starting point is 03:22:00 Yeah, you're fine. Did you say Eyebud? Eyebud. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just Super Saiyan teleport. Just you're fine. Did you say eye bud? Eye bud. Yeah, yeah. You just Super Saiyan teleport, just. You're there. And I'm going to slide in like I'm sliding into home base, and then from here. Go for it.
Starting point is 03:22:15 Is that flanked? Ooh, oh. Technically, that is. Yeah, so you have advantage. Oh, I have advantage? Oh, thank god. Okay, well, this first one's really bad, so 15 total. 15 just hits.
Starting point is 03:22:29 No fucking way. I rolled a three. Okay, fine, great, I'll take it. This creature's AC is not crazy. Bad damage roll, too. Nine damage, stunning strike, though. Nine damage. I'm going to hit that one that actually has a writing pencil. It's got to be close to dead, though, Nine damage. I'm going to hit that one, the one that actually has a writing pencil.
Starting point is 03:22:45 He's got to be close to dead, though, right? Woo! It's 22. I don't know what to tell you. I've had good luck on that one. Look at that look. Yeah. I'm second hit. Look, look, look.
Starting point is 03:22:58 Stun is the bane of my existence as a DM, so whenever it does go, I'm like, I have to celebrate a little bit. That's good. So it shuts my shit down. 20 total, so that is 13 damage on that next one. 13 damage on the second hit. How's he looking?
Starting point is 03:23:15 He's looking a little rough. Starting to show some serious wear and tear. All right, all right. I'm not going to Stunning Strike. You're not going to Stunning Strike, okay. But I will Flurry of Blows. Go for it. Still have advantage, yeah.
Starting point is 03:23:29 You do? All right, that next one definitely hits with 30 total. And those are both 11s for 23. All righty, that helps. So damage for the first one is going to be 11, and for the second one, 10. So 21 altogether for those three blues. All righty.
Starting point is 03:23:53 As you slide in, pummeling it from underneath, it's starting to bleed onto you, that same darker, purple-black blood is starting to hit the sides of your abdomen as you're just striking from underneath, and you start pulling yourself out and getting ready to get into a defensive position. It's looking pretty hurt.
Starting point is 03:24:07 Do I have any more movement? You would have 10 feet of movement. Can I just shift to the side to get out of people's way? So shifting towards... Where am I? My perspective is off. This wall over... Over here? Nope. The wall. The wall, I'm sorry. Over here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In that corner. Right there?
Starting point is 03:24:28 That's fine, that's great. I'm sorry, you think you couldn't hear me? What? Is there something on my face? That's a hairbrush. Yeah, it's a piece. What do you see? What do you see? You see a bunch of dark hair
Starting point is 03:24:40 smattered across parts of Fjord's face. It's a look. It's a look. It's a look. What? You're a werewolf. Is it long or is it short hair? It looks like short hair. You're a werewolf! But you don't have a great look at the moment.
Starting point is 03:24:56 Jester, it's your turn. I'm going to run forward. I'm going to run forward and say, I'll save you, Fjord. And I can't get all the way up to him, probably. You can get there. I'm going to chuck my hand at him. Kill him!
Starting point is 03:25:14 Roll for an attack. Watch out for the lightning! Natural 20! Yeah! No shit. It's bread fare, bitches! Straight up. The most bread bear shit. Rolls some damage. Make those terrible hands die!
Starting point is 03:25:29 The big tipper! Three plus three is a lot of damage. Handle first. Yep. It's double! 22 plus four is 26 points of damage to the bear. How do you want to do this? Yes!
Starting point is 03:25:46 I want to imagine that I threw it just perfectly, that it cleaves off the eyeball tail. Oh, that's good. It does. And the tail just hits the ground. And at first, you're like, well, that's just a minor wound. There is a major artery that connects through this tail, and it just begins to gush blood in an uncontrollable way. You see as it turns and growls at you,
Starting point is 03:26:07 and starts getting slightly more and more tired before it falls unconscious on the path to bleeding out here on the floor. No doggo. The combat. Sweet eyeball butt monster. With that, the combat comes to an end, and you all take a moment to breathe,
Starting point is 03:26:23 as I need both Yasha and Jester to make dexterity saving throws, because you start your next turn within the radius of the tower. Yep, yep, yep. Ooh. But I don't? You are just beyond the radius. Oh, okay. No, no, no, no, 19.
Starting point is 03:26:37 That's a six. 23 totaled. Nice. You take nine points of lightning damage. 19 as well. nine points of lightning damage. 19 as well. Nine points of lightning damage. As it, these heavy arcs of lightning streak out and hit both of you from behind, and you both cut your breath for a second
Starting point is 03:26:55 and see it pulsing and getting ready for another. Okay, let's limp out of the way here. I don't have much time left. Move forward. Which hall? There's some sort of ape creature. I'm just going to go forward and try to get out of the... I'm going towards Caduceus with the staff.
Starting point is 03:27:09 ... around the other side of this hall. Okay. Yeah, I'm going to make my way to that. Making my way to that work. Oh. Caduceuses. Caduceus. Caduceus. Hello, my name is Caduceus. The two hallways eventually merge.
Starting point is 03:27:25 The one is heavily blockaded with rubble that could be climbed through with some challenge. All right. But nevertheless. I'll hop back in the bubble then and walk around with everyone else. Yeah, we'll walk around. Okay.
Starting point is 03:27:39 We got to be brisk because we're probably out of time. All right. Go, go, out of time. All right. Go, go, go, go. All right. I get my handaxe. You retrieve your handaxe, that is true. And I grab the eyeball and I put it in my bag as a keepsake.
Starting point is 03:27:56 The eyeball's pretty big. It will not fit into your bag. It is about that large. Whoa! I kick the eyeball. It's like a yoga ball. Yeah, it's soft and your foot breaks about an inch or two into it. Fjord!
Starting point is 03:28:14 What's wrong with my face? What is going on? Tell me true. What is this? I don't know! Your eyes have mustaches. He's starting an emo band. So is he just fully colored in hair? No, it was just hair matted to his face from the sweat.
Starting point is 03:28:30 The sweat? Can you wipe it? What? His hair? Yeah, you wipe it and it comes free, and you look and there's just a bunch of black hair in your hand. Uh-oh. Does it grow back, though? I start doing this. Yeah, you start hitting it, and as you do,
Starting point is 03:28:41 more hair begins to fall out the back of your head. You start seeing patches of hair, patches of skin showing up throughout the scalp. Oh! Oh, wait, it's not growing hair. It's falling off! Oh no, Varn! Oh no!
Starting point is 03:28:58 What about my? I can hear him, he's laughing. Wait, hold on, what about my beard and my bald butt? So at this point, you realize that your beard, as you've been doing this, patches have been scraping off. Oh no. What?
Starting point is 03:29:12 What about down below? No, don't touch anything. It's all coming off because you're wiping it. But also, it's all coming off. It's going to come off, but just, maybe it'll stay if you don't touch it. Oh my gosh, Beau! Oh no! Do we even know?
Starting point is 03:29:27 Do you have a good bald head, or is it misshapen and weird? It's a perfect bald head! Wait, I've never seen it! Are my eyebrows still? It's all or nothing, Yasha. Did he lose his eyebrows? Oh dear. Oh, well, at this point, you should just...
Starting point is 03:29:39 You don't know. They're patchy. Don't touch it! I'm going to touch his eyebrows. No, you fucking! Mage hand. Armor of Agathys. Do you mage hand?
Starting point is 03:29:52 Mage hand. All right, and you rub an eyebrow? I just want to, yeah, just think up. It leaves a mark. The hair is gone. Oh! What about you? I had to know!
Starting point is 03:30:04 Well, maybe you should just get rid of all of it. I've only got one! There goes the other one. Oh no! Oh no! Oh my goodness. Oh no, you're like one of those faces with magnets. Yeah, the Mr. Wooly. Yeah!
Starting point is 03:30:18 Classic Zimnian toy. We should keep going. Paint off the hair for it, don't worry. You're like, this is horrible. Yeah, maybe it'll wear off in time. It's just hair. I mean, it's long enough, it seems like. But it'll come back.
Starting point is 03:30:34 Will it? Yes, hair grows. I'm sure we can figure this out. Yep, I'm sure. Let's go onward. We should find a place to sleep. Are there any blood? Is there, the trail that we followed in here,
Starting point is 03:30:49 do we see anything on the floor? There's all sorts of blood, your own. Fuck! I have an idea. What? I could cut some of my hair and then we could use the Sovereign Glue and put it on your head.
Starting point is 03:30:59 Oh, the Sovereign Glue will keep it. It'll keep it on there forever. She'll give you a salt and pepper thing. Maybe we keep that as a last resort. Maybe we should go. This is about time. Yasha, maybe just stand next to him and put your hair over so I can picture what it would look like. Yes, yes, yes, I will.
Starting point is 03:31:16 When we were in Rexxentrum. I'll stand above him and then put my hair over. When we were in Rexxentrum a long time ago, I gave you all hats. Did any of you keep any of them? I did. Okay, you had a yellow beanie. Can you give it to Fjord? I have a tricorn, okay?
Starting point is 03:31:31 It's fine. Totally. You're really tough without eyebrows. You can't even see if I'm furrowing my brow. Are you sad or mad? I'm closing my eyes. Oh, you know, I could tattoo them on for you. Oh, she can use her paints.
Starting point is 03:31:50 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. I could magically paint some eyebrows. Sharpie. Okay. We'll keep going. We'll keep going. That's going to look like Rip Torn.
Starting point is 03:32:00 Every time he changes his expression, you'll have to go in and erase it and redraw it. That's good eyebrows. I think this is a great look. I think I look smooth. You look fantastic. You look really great. I just get all of it. I just do all of it, instead of the patchy thing. It all comes off. All of it.
Starting point is 03:32:17 You are completely bald. Awesome. Who loves your beard? Eyebrows, beard, hair, you are just a smooth Ford. You know, it looks good. Yeah. Trying to picture it. Now you're even more fit for the water. Yeah, you're like just full swimmer, streamline. Olympic swimmer.
Starting point is 03:32:34 Streamline. Fate of the world and all that. Yes, let's go. If this is the worst that happens. Not too bad. Yeah. Okay, let's go. I think it looks good. Thank you. I don't looks good. Thank you. I don't suppose there's anything in this furniture
Starting point is 03:32:47 that's just lying here? Does it all look just kind of... When we ran in, did we see what that was? Which one? These, like, sucks. So those... Fireplace? I mean, the piece I'm using is a fireplace,
Starting point is 03:33:02 but the present location you're at, it looks like storage chambers that are just left open. Ah. They look like a passageway or a door. You can make an investigation check to see if there's anything beyond it. I sure want to walk by the lightning thing again.
Starting point is 03:33:19 I'm already out here. I'll go check. Oh, we've already moved. Have we moved? Correct. Yeah, and the orb is vanished. Yeah, so you'll just take a shot every time you walk by. Oh, wow. What about the one inside the hallway?
Starting point is 03:33:37 Is that...? You can make an investigation check on that as well, if you'd like. Heartbreak. 19. Oh, I didn't, no, that's not what I rolled. I just was pushing the, wow, this is so cool. You rolled a nature check?
Starting point is 03:33:54 I rolled a nature check anyway, if I, but that's not, I was looking at the investigation. I rolled 19, 14 plus four plus one, 19. Okay. As far as you can tell, there are sliding storage doors and shelves within here, though most of them are empty. Looking around the hallway above,
Starting point is 03:34:19 you do see a number of other corpses that were in the process of running and in the collapse seem to have been ruined and left. You see broken pots and containers, things that may have been either in the process of being looted or carried through this space before the impact, but it is mostly empty. Okay.
Starting point is 03:34:40 Just keep going, then? Let's find a place to stop. This is so cool. I know, we're just playing with D&D Beyond now. These are really good roles that are going on. I'm going to get a religion check on nothing. Cheers. So what are you doing?
Starting point is 03:35:00 Terrible, terrible man. We're going to keep going down the hall. Are we? I'm a mess. I'm bleeding out my eyes right now. Oh. I'm dead. Is this a good place to stop? I mean, we have hallways in front of us and behind us. I know. Is this a good place?
Starting point is 03:35:15 I think right in this corner, we make a little dome. Yeah, and block the passageway in both directions. Okay. That's true. Actually, if we make it in that little corner, then maybe it blocks all three. You're talking about this corner? Yeah. You've kind of, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 03:35:31 I see where you're going. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah. Okay, all right. I'll pull my book out and just plop on my butt hard. You're setting it up around here, you said? No. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, wait. Oh, over here.
Starting point is 03:35:45 Yeah, at the tip. Yeah. There we go. Look at that, that's great. All righty. How close were you? I was damned as spelt sentry as could be. How close were you? Oh, 21 hit points.
Starting point is 03:35:59 Okay. We would have popped up at zero, at least. That's true. Can we see anything down that hall that we haven't gone down? Just to give a little peek. From where you're standing, make a perception check. Okay.
Starting point is 03:36:12 Yeah, you can go in and out. 22. Pretty good. About 50 or so feet beyond, the hall continues, and then you see what looks to be a set of heavy brass-like doors. They are both closed, but one seems slightly off its hinges.
Starting point is 03:36:34 There's a slight gap beyond it where you can see some shadow. Okay. This feels like a pretty terrible spot, but so we have. What? This is a spot with many openings, but we'll be okay. Charlie, do you know what's beyond those doors there? I imagine beyond this space is the Genesis Ward.
Starting point is 03:37:03 All right. Question is, do we spend this time, long rest? No, never mind. We sleep. Terrible idea. We sleep. We need to sleep. Before we go to sleep, if we get a full rest, I'm actually going to use my last fifth level and scry.
Starting point is 03:37:21 Yeah? I'm going to try to scry on Cree. On Cree? Okay. She's sharpening her blades. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Guide me, guide me, guide me, before, help me! Bip. Thanks. You feel that familiar whisper
Starting point is 03:37:53 creep up into your left ear. Close. So what is it you're wanting, my dear? I want to scry on Kree. I want to see if they're hurt, if they're resting, if they're already, you know, going to the astral plane. I don't know what's going on.
Starting point is 03:38:15 Well, let's go have a look, shall we? Okay. I'm kind of curious myself. They're a bit of a bunch of punks, aren't they? Yeah. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Look over there, there's a giant eyeball on the ground. That's fucking weird. I know. With that, while you haven't seen Artie,
Starting point is 03:38:39 just sensing his presence is comforting. Do I need to roll a 20 before I do this spell, or? No, the spell is a saving throw on their end. Oh, I mean for the wild magic they are. Oh yes, you do. Nine. Okay, you're fine. Your hair is safe.
Starting point is 03:38:59 No. Oh, I could've lost all my hair, too. This is a long table, so there's all sorts of weird shit that can happen. Oh yeah. Some of it real bad. You got off easy. I like it. Fjord contour.
Starting point is 03:39:16 All righty. Good. So with that, you feel Arty's ethereal fey hands reach out and touch your temples. As you close your eyes, you feel like you're being lifted almost out of your own body for a moment. There's that sense of butterflies and this drifting, and you hear splashing of water. It's odd.
Starting point is 03:39:40 You've seen no water here. You see flashes of dots of green light and darkness. Familiar, based on previous travel through the ward. And you're suddenly brought to a small blue orb. I say small, it's about this big. It is one of the threshold crests that is currently set on the ground. And you see some bags, and you see sitting on two sides
Starting point is 03:40:17 of the threshold crest on the ground, Cree, and just at the periphery, what you assume to be Lucien. on the ground, Kree, and just at the periphery, what you assume to be Lucien. They're both drinking water, and there's just a bit of quiet. Make a perception check. 18. 18. Okay.
Starting point is 03:40:47 Glancing at the fringes, the fuzzy blurred edges of the scry radius, you can definitely make out the form of Lucien. They're both in the process of pulling out bandages and wrapping themselves up to a degree before Lucien begins sharpening the edge of one of the blades that he carries. Cree's blade.
Starting point is 03:41:14 So considerate. They're a team. Before Cree goes, Well, we have to be close, yes? Everything we've given, we have to be close. There's another pause before Lucy goes, Don't worry, we're getting there. I can feel it.
Starting point is 03:41:42 But they're close now, too. The wee babes, lost without their king. But they're close now, too. The wee babes, lost without their king. Endless hunger. Limitless potential. Without focus. Divided among thousands of mewling, fragmented minds, the nonogons saw this in them,
Starting point is 03:42:12 and will be reborn greater. I am their savior as they were mine, and I will save them from their pain, from their wasteful existence. And you're to join me there, in their memory." Cree goes, Hi. In their memory.
Starting point is 03:42:40 She takes a bite of something. And they're just quiet. Greed looks beat up. What about Lucien? You can't make out too much of the details around him, but at one point early on, you did see him finish bandaging himself around a forearm
Starting point is 03:43:07 before he went to start sharpening his blade. So they're taking a little bit of a beating. They're around water? You heard water. Okay. You don't know what that means. And what can I see around them, anything? Best you can tell,
Starting point is 03:43:28 it's interesting. They're not sitting on cobblestone. They're not sitting on rough floor or tile. They're not sitting in city rubble. They're sitting in smooth marble floor, with a faint, dull yellowish-orange hue to the space around them. It reminds you a little bit, in some ways, of the atmosphere of the laboratory,
Starting point is 03:44:07 shortly after you had fought that terrible baby-like abomination. It feels industrious, professional, strangely clean against the surface rubble that you've been wallowing through since your arrival. Okay. Before the spell ends, you hear Lucien go,
Starting point is 03:44:42 I'm sure there's certain little joyful gifts to find around here. These people were quite creative in their magical pursuits. Maybe we'll find something that can patch us up right quicker. Let's get some Shaddai. Well, you. I'll keep an eye out.
Starting point is 03:45:07 He leans a little further out of the blurry range as Cree takes a moment and takes a final bite of some sort of dry tack before curling into a little cat ball on the floor. And you're pulled out of your scry. They're resting. How did they sound? A little beat up.
Starting point is 03:45:35 Both? Kree was. Kree sounded disheartened. Lucien sounded like himself. It almost seemed like he was performing. I think he knew I was watching. Lucien sounded like himself. It almost seemed like he was performing. I think he knew I was watching. Well, that's good. They're resting. That means that we can rest as well, right?
Starting point is 03:45:56 Yeah. Did they look like they were in a place similar to ours? It was clean. It looked like one of those laboratories. I heard water. There was a yellow glow. Hmm. Maybe... Maybe if we come across it, we'll know how far away we are.
Starting point is 03:46:16 He said they were getting close. He said he was going to be their savior. He kept saying, the wee babes. Does he mean us or the whole world? I don't know. I don't know if he meant Caleb and Beau with their new eyes. I tell them everything else that I heard.
Starting point is 03:46:49 Oh yeah, we get one more night of sleep now. Yeah. Side note, did I, when she cast Scry, did I say the same thing I saw when I was a giant ape? Yes. Okay. What? Don't worry about it.
Starting point is 03:47:13 Secret, secrets. Secrets, secrets, secrets. Secrets. Secrets to my friends. Secrets. So, are you all resting? I guess so. I think so. We need it. Do we need to do
Starting point is 03:47:26 watch lookouts? Yeah. Okay. Probably. I mean, we're in the dome, we're in the dome, but. Who's taking first watch? I'll take first watch. Charlie. Oh, I do have Charlie. No, Charlie, no. I'll take first watch.
Starting point is 03:47:42 I could use the rest. Oh, okay. Cuddle up with me, Charlie. We're going to sleep. All right. Can someone join you? Sure. I'll do it. You got it. All right, so Fjord and Yasha are taking first watch? Yeah.
Starting point is 03:47:58 All right. All of you eventually find a as comfortable a crowded space as the dome always provides. Finally, exhausted, muscles sore, still processing the events of the past day or two. Who knows how long it's been? It's lightless down here. You have, aside from Caleb,
Starting point is 03:48:22 little sense of passage of time. That fucking feat. Why does that threshold of consciousness begins to fade into the realm of dream? Beau and Caleb. Fucking fuck. I was waiting for it. Fuck. Saddle up.
Starting point is 03:48:48 In the darkness, you just hear a voice. Your friends are peeking. I know. You are wily bastards, continuing to stick my sides like a thorn in my drawers. Clever, but while not enough, I have to respect it. I'm not here to kill you, yet.
Starting point is 03:49:26 I'm here to open a door. To take my reign. Long may it be. You're welcome to watch. If you can keep up. There's so much beyond this door. So much. So much. So, so, so, so, so, so, so much. The screams begin to fill
Starting point is 03:49:56 the space of your dream until it is just the sound of incessant static. And that's your line tonight. Oh! Cool. Ba-da-da-da. Cool. Ch-ch. Ba-da-da-da. Ch-ch. Oh god.
Starting point is 03:50:19 Wait, you guys have two or three? Currently, we have two. Currently, you have two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Currently. See what happens in the morning. Question. Mm-hmm? Those wisdom saves from Hero's Feast, are we still wise when we sleep? Sure.
Starting point is 03:50:36 We'll find out. We'll find out, yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, man. All righty. Bowser's. I wonder if they had to go underwater. You wonder if what? Had to go underwater?
Starting point is 03:50:53 If they had to go underwater. Maybe. We can do that. Yeah. I was about to say, we're well built for that. Yeah. Wow. I'm particularly drag free now. That's true.
Starting point is 03:51:08 You are swimmer ready. After five feet of movement. I had a friend with Aloficia. He's a bad looking dude, man. Yeah, dude. A couple. He's like a dolphin. Mm-hmm. Oh, what can I remember his name?
Starting point is 03:51:19 That amazing stunt actor. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. He was on Game of Thrones for a bit. He worked on a few mo-cap projects. He's such a badass. Joe. I can't remember his name. Anyway. Yeah.
Starting point is 03:51:31 It's been many years, like nine, eight years since I saw him last. Anyway, he's amazing. We're still on the air. Hi, everybody. And this concludes the current chapter of Critical Role. Your essays on the history and impact of the various ages and epochs of Exandria are eagerly anticipated. Just kidding. No homework for you,
Starting point is 03:51:52 but if you are inspired to do some writing, please leave us a review. Your words can really help new folks find our show and encourage them to give it a try. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure. Until next time.

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