Critical Role - C2E25 Divergent Paths

Episode Date: June 29, 2018

The Mighty Nein head down into the Gearhold Prison to destroy the clockwork Gear Warden, and hopefully help a family in need…Watch Critical Role live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

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

voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons, and Sam makes noise from his phone over there, strangely. I can't turn it off! What's up? So, a couple things. One, you'll notice that we're down two players tonight. That's because apparently some babies can't wait. So there is currently a new addition to the Critical Role team right now. More information will be made available as the parents see fit, but I'm glad that I worked towards a narrative exit for them that they couldn't be there for. So anyway, I'm super excited. We love you guys so much, seriously. You're amazing. And I look forward to meeting the new one very soon. I can't smile.

Just saying, they could have held the baby five more hours. I feel like they could have. I'm just saying, then we could have shared a birthday. You had to wait 72 hours. It is the best day. It is the best day. So much is going on. My nephew's here. So many things are happening behind the scenes. It is the best day.

It's crazy. It's the best day. I'm tired, but it's great. Anyway, let's go ahead and get through our announcements real fast. First and foremost, big thank you to our returning fantastic sponsors of this campaign, D&D Beyond! Woohoo! Sam, if you don't mind.

Guys, I didn't know this. The D&D Beyond discount code 826LA is still active for the 25% off the Legendary Bundle. I did not know that. It will be expiring soon, so please make sure to check out the Legendary Bundle on the D&D Marketplace. Also, the site will be undergoing some maintenance tomorrow, Friday morning, starting at 7am Pacific. For a few hours, the site will be in read-only mode at this time, so I don't know what that means. Also, the product director, Adam Bradford, will be hosting a stream at 9 AM Pacific during maintenance with some exciting announcements. Be sure to tune in to twitch.tv slash dndbeyond to check it all out. Just for my little extra here tonight, not getting lost in the fact that Travis and Laura are having the most

magical day of their lives and Liam is gone, I wanted to pay special tribute to our little Ashley, who's leaving us for a while. I feel like she should get some love, too, on her way out the door. So I composed a song for you in the style of your favorite band, Boyz II Men. Yes. How do I say goodbye to our sweet, innocent harbinger of death, fallen angel. On NBC, you play a geek, but you play. But until then, I hope Patterson dies every day. Yay! Thank you, Sam. That's hard to do in a mustache. I can see the lack of a mustache. Are you committing to this all night?

This is what I did the first time through the campaign, so that's what I got to do this time. Holy shit. I thought this was for your opening gag. Me, too! This is what I wore this time in the first campaign. I remember. What's up, Zia? What's up with making your lip? It's so sculpted.

On this show, where Ashley is about to leave, baby Bailey-ham has just been born. Yes. I'm in the woods and we're about to move. You decided to wear that for the entire episode. I did not decide. This was put upon me by the Fates. You made that, though.

Yeah, yeah, I can't unmake it. Yep, it is a thing, congratulations. It's been a while, is the monkey smoky or the bandit? I can never remember. The monkey's here, right? Yeah. Okay, good. If something is on your face, you will get no sugar from eating sandworms. No.

All right, well thank you very much, D&D Beyond. Thank you, Sam. Couple other announcements. Because we're doing this move, there will not be a Critical Role or Talks Machina next week. So we'll be missing you guys that week. We'll see you on social media and stuff and having chats to keep us all through our withdrawal.

That will be suffering, and some of you I'm sure will as well. But we'll be back the week after that, so the second week of July, we'll be picking up with the talk machina of tonight's episode, then hosted by our fantastic Brian W. Foster. And then the following Thursday, the following episode, in which we will have a guest, maybe two, joining us. Oh. What? Okay.

Yes. Will one of them be a baby? No. I'm not that good at teaching this game. I think language is an important barrier to teaching D&D. You're pretty good, though. Yeah.

So anyway, just so you guys are aware. Also, we have, for those who haven't seen on social media, welcome, we just launched a Kickstarter with our good friends at Steamforged Games. Holy shit, that's right, that's also going on. Yeah. Every day feels like a year. So if you guys don't know, we launched a Kickstarter,

it's a short-form Kickstarter for our line of Vox Machina and Mighty Nein miniatures. So for those who aren't aware or familiar, we have an entire line of highly detailed, super high quality plastic minis of all of Vox Machina, including Trinket, and all of Mighty Nein. There are Kickstarter exclusive rewards that include Pumat Prime for the Mighty Nein and his three simulacrum, as well as we have a fantastic Tarion, Darrington, and Doty for the Vox Machina side. So go ahead and check it out. It's going to be up there for another week or so, I believe. If you can't afford it right now, you can even put a

dollar in there and we'll have opportunities down the road, hopefully, for you to jump in if you missed it the first round. Oh, cool. But when it comes down to it, you get eight minis for Vox Machina. You get the Mighty Nein minis as well, another eight minis. With Shakasta. With Shakasta involved in there. All the Pumaks as well, and the extra bonus features of Terry and Doty, all for 60 bucks, which is a pretty fantastic package for the quality of these and for the collectible aspect of it. If you like it, help

make it happen more. It's already exploded. The boxes are looking so cool. I haven't seen the boxes yet. I probably shouldn't spoil that, but it's pretty cool. Oh, that's cool. I should see that. Anyway, we're super excited about it. You guys have already blown it out of the water. If you have any opportunity to announce the time, jump in and I hope you enjoy them. So, I believe that's all the rest

of the announcements we have. I'm so emotional. So, let's bring it in to tonight's episode of Critical Role. SIGA DA BAKA DA BAKA DA BAKA DA BAKA DA Thank you. Okay. And welcome back. That was a good one. Well, that's great. So, last we left off. The Mighty Nein, in making their way northward towards their eventual goal of Shady Creek Run

to complete their second mission that they accepted from the gentlemen in Zadash, have been traversing the countryside, made their way to the city of Hubberdook, the largely gnomish cultural city there of industry and currently construction of war machines to ascend towards the conflict with Xhorhas, the east. There you saw the very hearty work atmosphere of the gnomes

and then the evening very crazy party atmosphere in which many of you dove into a hard drinking contest. You won the title of the Blushing Tankard Tavern, beating out their old champions, and woke up with terrible hangovers and realizing that most of your gold had been stolen. Upon doing some sleuthing around the town, you had bullied a couple of bullies that were pushing Rissa around, they'd been a problem for a while, sent them pinging their pants and rushing.

You spoke with Rissa's father and his tinkering inventor store in which you discovered a shiny object, a fantastic experimental hand crossbow construct of his that he would be interested in relinquishing without payment if you do him the favor of correcting a mistake he made a while back. Apparently he crafted, on the request of the Starosta of the city, a powerful gearkeeper, a construct-like entity that was meant to help the warden within the prison that went crazy,

killed a bunch of people, and they sealed it off, and it's just been there, forgotten ever since. So you said you take a look at this. Eventually, you discovered that the money you had lost had been taken by four children who currently are without parents, who've been living on the streets here in the city of Haberduck, while their folks had been sent to the prison six months before for being caught worshiping unapproved deities within the Empire. You, after having this conversation with them, retrieving your money, your funds, and leaving Kiri with them for the time being for safekeeping, decided to see if you had the possibility

to prevent them from being sent to an Empire-run orphanage in the hopes of freeing their parents in some way, shape, or form from their binds. And that was where we had left off. So. Where are we now? Are we still in the butcher? You guys have stepped out of the butcher home,

leaving the kids behind with Ciri, and you're now out in the open streets of Hapurduk, late morning, midday. What would you like to do? Is Rissa still there? Rissa is still with you. Rissa? Sorry. Okay. You said late morning, midday? So we could at least go check out this prison and do some scouting before nightfall, yeah, probably? Yeah, we were talking about planning

and then sleeping and then going. If we see those teenagers also, we should probably call them off. Yes, absolutely. Oh, the teenagers. I really would hate for our problem with them to end up coming and finding the kids. My words aren't really here right now. You know what I mean.

You just had a baby, I understand. Emotionally. Emotionally. Yeah. Yeah, do we want to leave it up to chance that they will run into those two kids or that they will not succeed or find them? At the very least, we can leave word with their employer and if we run into them,

we'll call them off. I say we send Rissa to go talk to them. Well, Rissa knows the town, though. She might be able to help us scout out this prison. It's true. Maybe we go back to their employer. We'll have Rissa meet us at the prison maybe later. She can call them off and we can head to the prison.

Why don't we have Fjord and Jester go tell their employers? Yeah, that sounds great right now. Well, maybe. Yep. Which one are you? Are you Jester? I don't know anymore. Who wants the node, by the way? Oh, yes, well, let's find out if we need it yet.

Yeah, let's hold onto it. Maybe there's going to be some sort of emergency situation. Fair. Use node in case of emergency. Not that we have a map. Jester, could we perhaps hold onto your backpack before you go so that we have that in case we need it? No, I'm going to hold on to this.

Why would I give it to you? Well, I feel it is fairly obvious, but... Okay, as you are. I'm not going anywhere. Why would I give it to you? This is my bag. I paid for it. Yeah.

Okay, so what are we doing now? I guess we're all going. This is revenge for any time we haven't let Matt go on an NPC. Sorry. Let's go take a look at this prison. All right. Marissa goes,

All right, I can go ahead and lead you to it. Can't say I've been too close to it personally, so far. Follow me. And so Arissa guides you through the rest of the shelf back to the walkway that winds down the front of the mountain to the bottom half of the city of Hepperdook. Lower Dook.

Lower Dook, if you will. Wait, are Fjord and Jester going to go call off the employers? No, they're with us. They're with you guys. Okay, okay, okay. This is Taylor-wise. You can go ahead that way if you want to to call them off, unless you want to send them on their own wild goose chase.

We're going to find those guys. They'll be fine. I would just hate for them to find the kids and then do something to the kids. How would they find the kids? They're literally on a mission to find the kids right now. Yeah, we put Caleb's alarm across it, but still. We did. Still if they get across.

Exactly, I don't know. I could maybe send him a message. Oh yes, you have that spell, don't you? I do. To the kids. Can you do it to the kids? To Fitz and Ashton. Yeah, yeah. Let's do that. Let's do that.

To Fitz. Man, that solves that problem. She quietly tugs on the symbol of the Traveler of the Holy Sun and goes like, Okay, Fitz, this is the girl with the people that were making you angry. Ooh, I have eight words left. We found it, so everything is good.

Go back to work. I think that's all of it. Go back to work! Technically, go back to work can be one word if you say it fast enough. That's true, a lot of that was hyphenated. The Traveler is very forgiving. Grammar.

Rissa leads you down this path to the Iron Lot, which is your, guided to the base of it. You've seen it as you approached, and there's the large platform elevator that rows up to the second layer. It's currently not being used. It's locked on the upper floor. As you head into that area, you can see the smokestacks are billowing strongly. Business is in the process of being done full throttle in the understanding that this coming conflict, or the now-arrived conflict on the eastern side

has put everyone into overdrive to prepare whatever sort of equipment or weaponry they can send that direction. The stuff they're making is catapults or guns? Well, from the outside, all you can see is you haven't been inside any of the warehouses. Okay. Because there is the iron lot,

and there's the assembly yard. The assembly yard is the one that's the open space where they're building these large siege engines. You see mobile carts that are either horse-drawn or powered by something you don't quite understand yet that have other large weapons attached to them. We saw bolt throwers, those giant bolt throwers, like Lord of the Rings style.

Siege towers, also kind of Lord of the Rings style. Battering ram, like every fantasy movie style, but definitely Lord of the Rings. And then huge cannons. Not very Lord of the Rings. Pirates. Cool. That's what we saw last, or that's what I think I saw. We did a perception check or something.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then there's a big factory that looks like an evil Willy Wonka factory kind of thing. Uh-huh. All right. So as you are being led down, Rys is pointing out some elements of it.

She goes, okay, so over that side is the Omni Smelter, and you can see she points over to what looks like a cluster of a dozen or so warehouses that are all scattered in a spiderweb-like formation that are connected by a series of hallways between each other and then towards a central piece. She goes, that there is where most of the foundries of the city lie, where all the various mined ingots or those imported are melted down and utilized. The foreman there is a bit of a tool. There's the Arma Vault, and she points to the far northern side of the mountain base, and you see what looks to be a 25, 30-foot-tall

by 60-foot-across iron door that is solid and jammed into the side of this mountain. It looks like it's very well protected from this glance at the distance. From what you can see, there's maybe two dozen or so crownsguard that are stationed at its base. That's where most of the funds that are saved for the uses of the city maintain, as well as a number of the not currently being used devices of war. Means of defending the city should come under attack, if you will. Points over there, you can see where most of this smoke and steam is rising from. There is this one large, almost like a

two-story black tower that is just a single column of fast-moving smoke pouring out of it. You can see areas where the smoke seems to be pulsing almost, or darkening and widening at certain places. There's the Underbellows. That's where they utilize a number of the forges and furnaces for the factories here. They've harnessed some of the volcanic activity beneath the mountain, and that maintains a consistent heat for the forges. Smells downright awful, to be honest. Over there is the Firemark facility,

and she points over to a building that looks a little simpler. It's not super tall and ominous looking. It's very plain, made of cheap metals. You notice all the buildings here are mostly metal, probably because there's a lot of dealing with heat, fire, sparks, and the last thing you need is any of these things to catch fire.

She points to the firemark facility. She goes, this is where they're developing a majority of that certain explosive and black powder-based technologies. What's that place called again? It's called the Firemark Facility. Firemark. Is it heavily protected? Oh, most everything is here.

Then right over there, she points to the southern side of the mountain base of the iron lot, to a smaller doorway, similar in shape and construction as to the Arma Vault, but it's a little more localized, maybe about 15 foot high and about 20 foot wide. That is the Gearhold Prison, the one you were asking about. The one where my father done fucked up. What do you know about that machine he built, anyway?

Have you ever seen in automaton, whether made of stone or made of clay? Come across a couple. Imagine one that's made of metal and gears, and blades, lots of blades. What, blades? Blades. Oh god. Vampire hunters. Sorry. It is covered in daywalkers, yes.

Do the blades spin? They do, the whole thing spins, actually. It doesn't have feet. It just rolls and cuts. Basically. Oh my god. And it is animated by a magical means? Partially magical and partially clockwork. Is it like steam powered, or is it?

The power source is magical, but most of its actual locomotion is done through clockwork and various internal gears. It's actually quite a marvel to behold. It's just a magical power source, then. As far as I know. It's not my mastery, it's my daft father's. So where's the source?

It's inside of it, I would assume. Some sort of source of combustion, maybe. What did your father call this robot? He referred to it as the Gearkeeper. The Gearkeeper. It was designed to be one of the threatening wardens to help quell any sort of breakouts of the prison and meant as an intimidation device

for those who attempted to rise up against their captors and possibly be its first initial run to be a defensive sentinel for the city. I mean, if these things work properly, having five or six of them just rapidly on the outskirts of the city would probably keep anyone from trying to break in here or make any sort of, you know, lawless act in its boundaries.

Unfortunately, they've only made one, and it went crazy and killed a bunch of people. So there's that. Doesn't sound like a city I'd want to live in. Yeah, that's why we're trying to fix it. And they just let it, they've cornered it into a... They sealed it off, they've been trying to get back to it,

but there's a lot of distraction, and honestly, it's out of sight, out of mind, I think. Honestly, we could just show up and say we've been hired to try and take care of it and go in and... Would anyone believe that? We technically have been hired to go in and take care of mind, I think. Honestly, we could just show up and say we've been hired to try and take care of it and go in and... Would anyone believe that? We technically have been hired to go in and take care of it. We're just working in trade. No, they know not by the city, it's by a private contractor.

I am sorry, I don't understand. You say they're too busy to deal with it. Have they got it locked away in a vault while it just stomps around? As far as I know, yeah. They had originally had it placed on the bottom floor in one section which had more of the very violent criminals and killed a bunch of them.

Not too bad. Killed a bunch of guards, that's pretty bad. And at the time, they didn't have the manpower to fight it off, so they sealed the doors and haven't had a problem since. So was anyone else left in there with it? That it maybe didn't kill? It's been there for quite some time,

a couple years at least, I think, two or three years. So if anyone was, they've expired, I'm pretty sure. Sorry. That's fine by me, but... I think we're going to have to do a little more research, but I'm feeling pretty me, but... I think we're going to have to do a little more research, but I'm feeling pretty good about our prospects. Well, the main concern is just getting in the prison.

I don't know if walking up to the front door and saying, hi, we're here to take care of your spinny death problem is going to work. We heard you have a bug problem, we're here to take care of it? Do we need outfits or something? I mean, I suggest that we wear shoes and pants, but you know.

But like Orcan man outfits, or like, do we need to look like we're official? Do you need a uniform of some sort? We could have a letter from your father, perhaps. Can we go get suits? But they don't like her father. Yeah, but they'd be perfectly happy if we, we're going in knowing full well what we're getting into.

There's no harm, no foul there. Awesome black suits. Yeah, and they certainly have nothing to lose. We are a group of people claiming we have to deal with their issue. We either die doing it, solve their problem. Heist-type maintenance workers' uniforms? Okay, you really want to break into a person. I just want to wear a onesie! Yeah, yeah. I kind of want something... I just want to wear a onesie. Yeah.

I kind of want something. I feel like we can make that dream come true. Something with a big lapel, maybe double-breasted. Sounds great. We would look so handsome, you guys. Jester leans in to Risa and goes like, Risa, do you have any examples of your father's writing? Because I can copy it pretty well.

That sounds like something that's way too smart for Laura to say. Oh! You're so lucky she's not watching right now. She should be watching. She's probably watching. I'm not right. We also, I would love to see if there's any sort of sketch

or blueprint of this thing that we could just take a look at first and maybe have a thought of our plan of attack. I can guarantee you they're not going to have any publicly available blueprints of a prison. No, I mean of the machine. Oh. Would your dad? We can certainly ask. Just to sort of see what we're getting into.

You see that spark in her eye of a good idea and then thinking about having to go back to her father. She's like, we can go on our own, if you like. No, it's fine, it's fine. I'll go. I'm used to them, it's okay. Does your dad like pastries? Does he have a sweet tooth? I imagine he does. I've seen him eat a few. Does he like pies?

Probably. Let's pick up your dad a pie on the way home. Okay. People like pies, right? I love them. I mean, I like pies, but I'm a bad example of so many things. Okay. People like pies, right? I love them. I mean, I like pies, but I'm a bad example of so many things. I really like meat pies. Meat pies, would your dad like a meat pie?

I just hear people bring pies. Fjord leans in and is like, that's good, that's good, Jester. Thank you. Beau, but that's okay, it's been a long, emotional day. Has been. Hasn't it, Fjord? Too much in my head right now, guys. It's been a long, emotional day. Has been. Has been and poured. Too much in my head right now, guys.

It's been a long day. Why, playing five characters at the same time? That's fine. This brings me back to some home games. Thanks, baby Willingham. Oh man, so much. It's been the longest day. It's been the longest day.

Sorry. We stop and get a meat pie on the way. All right, easy enough as you're wandering through the street, following the scents of food that are being cooked in advance of the current lunch hour happening. You hear a few whistles go off in the distance, and in that moment, Rissa goes,

you know, we best be hurrying before the rush hits. And you pick up a pace as you start hearing the the different steam muscles go off, and you watch a lot of the buildings begin to just swarm out with all their workers on their brief lunch break. You manage to stay ahead of most of the wave, making their way up to the top shelf of the city, eventually coming to one of the vendors on the outside

who is swarmed by about 12 or 13 different gnomes. You wait patiently for about a good 15, 20 minutes or so as they prepare and get all their meat pies ready, sweet pies ready, sell a few things. A couple of their regulars cut in line in front of you, not paying much attention or caring that you're waiting patiently. But there is a large crowd behind you

and you manage to get to the front and the two gnomes that are currently in the process of doing this up look at the rest of your group and go, oh, you're all right, interesting team. What brings you here? You're looking for pies? We got pies, want pies?

We'd like a hospitable meat pie. Single? Oh. It's not enough to go around, I can tell you. No, we might need a couple. We'll get one for us, one for him. Two meat pies, sorry, three meat pies. All right!

Turns around and pulls out three gnome-sized meat pies, which are about that big. Oh. Can we make that a double? Six! No much meat pies! Thank you. Passes them over. We have money again, don't we? Yes, we have our money back.

I throw down for the pies. Okay, we'll save for the total of that. It's maybe a silver. Okay. When the whistles blew, Matthew, did we see any guards do a shift change at the prison? Because you're rushing to get the pies, make a perception check with disadvantage at this distance.

Seven. Seven, you have no idea. That was super smart, though. No, that's a good thought. Oh, you have no idea. That was super smart, though. Yeah, no, that's a good thought. Oh, that's good. Mm-hmm. You have your meat pies. You want to make your way over back to the Tinkertop.

I pass out meat pies to anyone who wants one, but save one. All right, so you have one ready. You guys snack as you walk along. Interesting point of noticing, as you guys come by, you do see a familiar sight for you and for those who've been in the Empire for a bit. You're familiar with this as well, Nott and Caleb.

You see a crew, it's two crownsguard that are flanking. One figure you see wearing a black cloak with gold trim that goes just past the shoulders. It's almost like a shawl or a... Brain escapes the term. But it's like a short cloak. These are the tithe collectors. Oh, yes. Taxman. They're referred to, colloquiallyially as reapers behind their back, but you see them exiting one home

and moving onto the next door and knocking. Are they heading towards the butcher? Ways away, but they're present. It seems that the time of year has come. The every six month window seems to be coming, or has arrived. Nevertheless, you travel with meat pie in hand, eventually making your way back to Tinkertop Inventions.

The door's still partially ajar. You see the faint light of the two lanterns in the back as you enter, and there in the back, you see in the process of currently sketching something down your good friend, master maker Clef Tinkertop. Oh, you've returned? Certainly great, great, good to see you. your good friend, master maker Clef Tinkertop. I have returned! Certainly, great, great, good to see you. What, uh, do you need help with?

Gift, we've brought gift. Oh, that's so kind, thank you so much. It was Rissa's idea. Rissa, for your own pop stitches. She's like, well, it was sort of a group decision. Hope you like it, Dad. He's like, It's cold, but tasty.

So anyway, he takes it and he starts eating it. You just had to tell him. Stuffing it in chunks through his gnomish maw. Getting bits of the gravy dripping off the chin. We're going to take a stab at this death machine. We were curious if you could... That's just what we're calling it. It's really, I like the description. If there's any information you can give us about the machine, just so that we're not going in cold, if you know that it has any vulnerabilities to

anything. Oh, plenty, plenty! I built the thing myself, don't worry! If you could sketch it for us so we can get a sense of where the vulnerabilities are. Oh, I've already got it. Don't worry there, friend, I'll be right back. He's never coming back. Turns around and disappears behind what looks to be a...

I could steal the crossbow and we don't have to do the mission at all. Please don't tell me that you're going to do that. I could, just saying. You hear some rustling and some things falling over, a couple of banging noises, and you hear a Damn it. Is that a signal crashing?

The man's daughter is standing here with us. Perhaps we will pass on that idea. Yeah, I can hear you, just so you're aware. I'm right next to you, little one. She's clever. No, she just has hearing. No, she's a wily one. A moment later, Kaleff returns, clutching an armful of rolled pieces of paper and prints and parchment,

and goes, here's about everything I've got on the thing. Throws it down in front of you, some of it unroll. You can see there's various stages of design. You can see the breakdown of the mechanics and the interior of this. It's extremely intricate and very, very impressive clockwork. Go ahead and roll an intelligence check. Okay, if I'm not going to be able to make heads or tails

of any of this shit. I was actually going to ask you. Do, I have questions about it as well. Yeah. Hey look, you are the one who is the most proficient with understanding systems. If you could make an intelligence check for me as well, both you and Molly. Molly was the first to grab them.

Oh, natural one. Oh, nosies! He's just eating that extra meat pie. All right, you both take a moment and look over it. One, it's all written in Gnomish. Do either of you guys understand Gnomish as a language? Does anybody understand Gnomish? No.

Secondly, a lot of the blueprints are in shorthand. The design work, while it's very beautiful to see, the actual sketching of each stage of its construction and the interior mechanisms about it are very beautiful, it is very intricate. Paying attention to it, looking it over, the best you can ascertain is there is a core, there is some sort of a device that powers it. Through the notes around it, you can see it's supposed to power for about 200 years before it needs replacing. Oh. Just wait it out. That's a good half-life.

However, around it is layer after layer after layer of what looks like metallic iron rings that are joined at certain hinge points, so they can spin and shift on the inside like a gyroscope. It's very hard to get a spell in there. Yes. It's not impossible if you pull enough of the armor away, which is the next stage, the layers of armor. There's three different layers of articulated armor that can shift and move, because on the inside you can see there are about a dozen bladed arms that at any given point in time can fold out of the armor and strike like small scythes or sickles, and then

retract inside. You are fucking crazy, Clef. That's certainly not the first time I've heard that. So, Herr Tinkertop, once we are to get past these defenses, would dispelling its arcane nature shut the machine down? I mean, that's possible. Oh, curses. I should have thought of some way of a failsafe to prevent that from happening. Well, next design. Next design. It'll be dispel-proof. Thank you for that. You're good.

The nutshell protecting that core needs to be defeated first? I imagine to a certain extent. There is a base level of insulation from impactful or various magical intrusions that could affect the core. That I did think of, but there's only really one. I should have put three.

So we start pulling plates off. He starts making notes. Start cutting our way through one specific spot. We could eventually get to a point where you could get some spells in there. Or maybe Yasha could hit it with her sword. You may have to tank this. Tank the thing?

I will certainly try. This does seem like a very good plan. Is there a front and back to this thing, or is it just a whirling dervish? The front and back is dervish. It's a great pirate word, dervish. He looks at you and goes, there is kind of, and he goes through one of the papers

and pulls it open and you can see there are kind of, and he goes through one of the papers and pulls it open, and you can see there are plates of the armor, certain plates that fold up from the inside, that they open, and there's a small lens, like a crystal-type lens, that recesses on the inside when it's moving, and then seems to push out from it to see. Okay. Good question. Can it climb? Depending on the terrain, probably.

I mean, if it's flat wall surfaces, it's not designed for climbing, it's designed for intimidation and slaughtering. Perhaps my design is a bit unfocused for the reason they asked me to build it, but ah! Next time. Climbing? I don't know. Probably not. And does it have any capabilities of attacking at range?

As far as I know, no, but it moves very fast. And these lenses, I'm assuming, regular lenses? I don't know. They can still be blinded, right? Maybe. They're made of a very thick crystalline substance. It had to be imported from up north, from the remnants of one of the old elven societies there

that specialized in making this strong crystal. Sounds super cheap and easy to break. Imported, great. Imports. It can be, it could possibly be blinded by obscuring the lens. Maybe. So I say if it can still be blinded,

it's still just a lens. So it's writing on more notes. Make sure lens can't be obscured in future design. Clef, when you were building this thing, you were building it off-site, I assume, right? No, I built it here. No, I mean off the prison site. Oh, right, right.

So you don't know any extra secret entrances or exits to the prison itself? No, unfortunately, they keep us away from all that, you know, for security reasons. So I couldn't help people break in or out, like now. That would have been very helpful. Sorry. Would it be foolish to have you speak on our behalf to Ashara Sin?

Um, I don't think they're going to let me in. Not you in, per se, but if we show up as representatives here to dismantle the machine. Yes, you're finally ready to make amends, et cetera, et cetera. And you hired us to go in and do some work. Maybe. Looks to Larissa. Larissa, would you mind bringing your old pups with you? She's like, only to the door, Dad, and you can come back.

She glared over the two of you. If that's necessary. If whatever works. Fine, come along, Dan, we'll close up behind, get your keys. Oh, I haven't been out on a proper walk with friends in some time, I haven't been out on a proper walk with friends in some time, I'm so excited.

We should get some honey or something. I bet some honey on the lens would be a real pain in the ass. He takes the last bit of his meat pie and shoves it in his mouth real fast. Do you have any honey? We'll see if we pick up something. I have honey. Of course you do.

Yeah. Oh, we had some sort of heist. Why not something darker? Yeah. You know, like ash, charcoal, black powder. I have that as well. Sorry. What do you have? I have molasses.

Oh! Hey, look at that. That is darker. Yeah. Yeah. Why do you have molasses? This is suddenly very exciting. You know, I will tell you that in a few minutes,

actually, if that's all right. Jester goes, this entire time you've been holding out on delicious molasses? I mean, it's industrial grade, it is not for baking. Are you sure? I am quite sure. Did I stutter? Is this why your skin is so smooth,

you've just been giving yourself a facial every night? It's just. What's the difference between baking and industrial grade? That is a good question, Yasha. I don't cook with it, I use it for arcane things. Yeah, magic molasses. Actually, this brings up,

how much molasses do you have? Yeah, how much you carry. That's so weird, it's so abrasive sometimes. I have about the amount of a plum. That's enough to smear a lens. I was thinking if we had a small glass jar of it, we could give it a throw. I was going to say, is that?

You could also put a meat pie in the end. I could put a meat pie on the end of one of my bolts and shoot it at it. I feel like molasses would gum up something that's clockwork, right? It could help, it depends on how strong the clockwork is. Or just like tar or something. Yeah, something steak-y.

Bubblegum. That would be even better if we could get a hand on it. Maybe on the walk we can see if we can find a tar restaurant. Rissa goes, I mean, tar is not uncommonly used in some of the industrial districts down in the Iron Lock. We do have some friends over there that we just sent their young interns away on a... Well, the Forgemasts,

the Forgemasts, they're mainly metalwork. As far as tar use, that's going to be down in the Iron Lock, and that's going to be, I mean, you're on your own there. I mean, how do we transport it? In a bucket. A very gentle bucket or pot. Heated tar in a bucket?

It doesn't have to be hot, it just has to be a little hot. It has to be a little hot. Yeah, it gets hard. Fjord goes, if only we knew someone around here was pretty decent with fire. Hey, you could heat up a bucket of tar as we walk into a prison. That wouldn't be suspicious at all. Well, we'll probably wait on that part. Once we get down.

Yeah. Yeah, once we get down. That is a good idea, Fjord. Not right away. Also, Fjord, congratulations on this, your most auspicious day. Well, thank you. I appreciate you being so forthright

and appreciative, Caleb. Yeah, get your sleep while you can, and don't use the exercise ball to rock him to sleep, because then they get addicted to it, and that's the end're a sleep life yourself. I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Did you babysit a lot as a kid, Caleb? Oh no. This is how you know so much.

There's so many walls being broken, like fourth wall, fifth wall, sixth wall, it's too deep. Matt just did a compliment on behalf of Travis. He just broke the first Matt wall. I don't think I have anything else to mention now, this is getting a little heavy. I can't love. He totally just took a thank you for not his baby being born.

This is the worst night ever. Can I remove that? No! I have been committed! I feel like at break time last time, it came off. You made it to break, I think. Let's all just pretend like it's the fourth one. Are two spares really enough? No, no, no, no.

No, don't do this to yourself. At this point, as you guys are having these awkward conversations, Clef is rushing around grabbing a coat and grabbing some other things, filling inside of his apron with various tools and utensils. He's like, oh, I could probably use that. All right, I think I'm ready to come with you.

Let's go. You all step outside, and you get about 30 or so feet from before you see Clef's pace slow. He takes another step and keeps looking around. When was the last time you left your house, Clef? It's been a while. It's starting to get a little warm. And Rys is like, he's kind of a, what's the term?

A gorophobic. Gorophobic, if you will. He's a bit of a fee on the outside. Are you sure you're all right, Dad? You can still stay. No, no, it's fine, I want to get out with my friends here. Do you need a drink to soothe your nerves? I don't, I've never had a drink at all.

I don't need a drink, but thank you. It would really help. I would, ah. How about just a huddle up? Huddle up, huddle up, let's just take it. Just us? No, we can put him in the center. And huddle around him, okay, okay.

We prefer a protective. You all get really close to him, he's like, oh, this is really warm. That's a lot of attention. No, no, no, not that close. We're making a safety bubble. Oh, all right. I mean, it could be warm. This is silly.

I take off the cloak that I've been wearing for a week or so now, and I just put it over the man's head. No, oh, sorry. It's a good thought. In a comforting way. In a comforting way. In a comforting way. In a smothering way.

Disguising appearance. Bash the camp. He takes it and pulls it over his head and goes like, Object permanence. All right. And he, let's go. And he's like, one step, two step. He's basically like Bill Murray in What About Bob

at this point. He's just concentrating on step, two steps. Basically, Bill Murray in What About Bob at this point. He's just concentrating on each step he makes, going forward, it's slowing you down a little bit, but he's making it forward and Rys is like, Oh. But you eventually make your way further and further. Walk up to the guards and say, we're here to dismantle the robot.

We are professional robot dismantlers. All right, let's do it. Who's going to be doing the talking? Well, we're going to stop and pick up some tar on the way there. Yeah, okay. I nominate the human to talk. Ah, I can't nominate Fjord.

Yeah, yeah, no. If I think Fjord would agree with that. Do you believe in me, Fjord? You know, if I think Fjord would agree with that. Do you believe in me, Fjord? You know, if I've learned anything, it's that you are full of surprises. So, by all means. All right, Tar first. Tar first, where do we go for Tar, the iron lot?

That Rissa looks, iron lot's most likely. I'll keep an eye out, follow me. She leads you guys down the switchback path once more, down to the iron lot on the bottom shelf of the city. There, upon keeping an eye out, Rissa's looking back and forth. On the outskirts of the Firemark facility, she's like, no, I don't think they're going to do much

as far as Tar goes. Honestly, a lot of it's probably based somewhere in the Assembly Yard. It's where they're making the bigger constructs and having to piece together wood exteriors. Is that far from the northern side? No, it's on the northern side of the bottom shelf. She leads you guys over to the outskirts. There's a big fence that wraps around the Assembly the assembly where you can see a lot of these thin, standing skeletal towers of metal are placed

against some constructs that are partial levels of construction. Others are empty and not currently in use. Other ones seem to have been near completion, and they're in the process of preparing and breaking down the various siege engine for transport to the east. Who's keeping an eye out to see if there's anything

that could be used like tar? Who's looking for this? I'll look for that. All right, go ahead and make a perception check, please. 18. 18, not too bad. You take about five minutes or so to case the vicinity and looking between the gates, you can see two towers over,

there is one partially constructed, wide bolt thrower cart that only has one that's currently bolted to it. You see that they're taking leather elements and tarring them around the edges to prevent any impacts from splintering the wood that's carrying it. Looks like from there, they go with a leather case

and then put metal over that and bolt it down. But in the process, they do have what looks to be a couple of small pails that have some thick, black, tar-like substance that they're putting around the edges. So, and we're behind a gate. You're behind the gate. And there's workers everywhere. There's probably, within current view

of the open portion of this side of the Assembly Yard, about 20 or so workers that are in the middle of focusing on their work at hand, but it's an open space with maybe 20 to 30 feet open between each project tower, so it's pretty open. You'd have to be creative. This is at the Assembly Yard. Correct.

I take my staff out. Okay. And I go across the gate. Why would you, no! As you do so, cross it, Rissa goes and you look on the nearby tower, maybe about 25, 30 feet ahead to the north of you. One of the gnomes at the top of the tower is currently hammering away at one of the large constructs,

a siege tower-like structure, looks over, pulls the goggles up. Hello? Good money or trade for some supplies? Piss off! Puts the goggles down. Toot, toot, toot, toot. We could just walk in and pretend to be a worker

and just grab a bucket. I thought we were behind a gate. You're locked off. Sneak in the gate. I just sneak in? I have an idea. I could summon Schmidt, and it would be a slow process, but he could carry it a couple of inches low to the ground and wait,

and then go a couple of feet and wait. What's his range? Oh, let's see. How far is it, Matt? The nearest, the one little part of the yard that they're currently using this material, it's about 60 feet away from you. Oh, that's not bad.

Like 60 to 70 from your immediate guessing glance. It is about that distance. Okay. So it might be just shy, or, let's give it a whirl, just give me 10-ish minutes. 10 minutes, oh, okay. That's not bad. I pull a book out of my holster and flip to the right page and start muttering.

Does anyone want to do anything in those nine minutes left? I'll walk around and just see if there's a way through the gate that's hidden. Make an investigation check. I'll keep an eye on the guard. Not on the guard, I'll keep an eye on the worker. 10.

10. You take the ten minutes to look through, but this part of the gate is pretty solidly locked in. It's about six and a half, seven feet tall, and it's just metal bars with a cross lattice of even thinner metal strips that are about maybe a quarter inch thick. The openings are about that big, so you can still see through portholes, but it's not quite large enough for most of you to slip through. You might be able to if you're careful and squeeze, since you're small enough.

And there are mainly gnomes working this? Gnomes, and you see a handful of dwarves, but the dwarves seem to be mostly doing oversight, supervision. Okay. So yeah, I like as a plan B, you disguising yourself as a gnome worker. Okay, let's see if Schmidt can do it first.

Can do it first. So you complete your spell ritual, you summon your unseen servant. Yeah, Schmidt, one second. You two circus people, Mollymauk. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's cute. Could the two of you do something fabulous over there? Make a distraction? Yeah. Jungle something?

Yeah, I could, we could, I could, you know, have you stand on my shoulders. We could do that thing, do you remember the vaulting thing? I'm still the vaulting thing. All right, you're going to do the thing, I'm going to do the vaulting thing. All right.

Okay. Ready? Which point is yours? Clef goes like, oh, we're going to see a performance. Yeah. Get ready. I preemptively send Schmidt over to the closest bucket. Okay, and the range on that is,

cannot get more than 60 feet from you, right? Yeah, that's correct. Okay. So what are the two of you doing? If you get near the fence, I'm going to try and jump on top of the fence. Oh, great. All right, but you don't need the front. Okay, ready'm going to try and jump on top of the fence. Oh, great. All right, but you don't need the front.

Okay, ready? Wait, you're going to jump the fence? No, this is a distraction. You're not supposed to jump in either. I'm going to jump on top of the fence. Oh god. Are you going to go in? No, I'm just going to do the thing with the razzle dazzle.

Okay, ready? All right. Oh, here's a question. I'm sorry. How wide apart, is it bars, the fence? What kind of fence? No, there are large metal poles incrementally about every 12 or so feet. In between them, it looks like there are cross lattices of an inch wide and about a quarter inch thick metal bars that weave across and form the fence. So that bucket's not going between any of that?

Probably not. Not, or would you be able to use your visible hand to lift that up and over? When Schmidt comes close enough, yes. Okay. All right, you guys are prepared? Yep. So I would like you to go ahead

and make an acrobatics check with advantage because you're being aided by Asha. Okay. I'll keep watch. Oof. Wow. Ten. Ten. As you reach down, grabbing the foot of Mollymauk with one big you lift him, he tosses in the air,

gracefully, arms out, almost like a reverse swan dive into the air, you land and Oh no. arms out, almost like a reverse swan dive into the air. You land and Oh no! Land, legs open. You manage to miss the vital areas, but it definitely racks the inside of the thigh a little bit in a painful landing. Can I try and push up into a handstand and

You manage to do so, but it lacks the presentational grace element of it, so go ahead and make a performance check, but with disadvantage from the impact. So when he crashes, right at that moment, I ask Schmidt to move the bucket three feet closer to us. Okay. Move to the ground. All right. Can I aid in, okay.

Natural 20. Oh no, no, disadvantage. Yes. 15. 15, okay. Still pretty good. So in spite of the impact, you slowly stagger back up to the top, balance yourself. And flipping back up, and I'm going to get the swords out,

I'm going to start slowly working on moving down the fence with both swords, doing a spin, and trying to actually get a little flip going, a little acromatic. Oh boy, another 10 feet towards me. I'll need you spotting, because I'm not great at this. I'm watching. All right, so this is happening. You're turning it around,

starting to work into your advantage. As this is happening, Schmidt is slowly dragging on its own. The Unseen Servant is dragging this bucket three feet at a time. I'm keeping watch for any workers who might be noticing the bucket. None seem to be noticing the bucket at the moment, but you do see about three or four that are looking over

at this very colorful, flashy, performing, nearly racked tiefling who is in the process of juggling swords in the air and doing a series of completely spontaneous performance art for no reason. Bravo! You see two of the nearby workers start looking over confused, start talking to each other. You can hear them muttering.

One of them runs off to one of the supervisor dwarves who's about 80 to 100 feet off to go tell him what's happening. He looks over and eventually you hear, as Schmidt's getting closer and closer, the bucket of tar is maybe 20 feet from the fence line. You hear a voice go, Hey, hey!

What are you doing? Get down from there! Get! You're going to jump onto you hear a voice go, Hey, hey, what are you doing? Get down from there, get! You're going to jump onto your shoulders now. Okay. So I'm going to take a jump and try and land on the shoulders. Straight acrobatics? Straight acrobatics for this.

All right, you go away, I'm trying you. That's a natural 20. Oh! Laying right onto Yasha's shoulder, she catches you there, and you're still, from their perspective, you jumped off of the fence and then landed behind the fence and are just kind of. I'm going to do a little side-by-side walking

to make it look like he's. Sorry, you had a great fence, and we're working on an act. Make a deception check. It's not true. How close does Mage Hand have to be? It could go now, but we can't go fast. They'll see a moving bucket.

Yeah, we don't want it off the ground. That's nine. Nine, okay. It's not that they don't buy it, they're just more caught off guard by your presence and not listening to the words you're saying. The one supervisor keeps rushing forward and goes, You know what, dearie? The rep machine's showing here! At which point you see Clef looking nervously, slips forward and goes,

Hello there, Clef Tinkertop. We're all right. We're there with me. The dwarf comes to a slow jog to a stop and goes, Clef, what the fuck you doing down here? Schmidt drags the bucket about 15 feet off to the side and it is near the base of the fence. Okay, I'll cast Mage Hand. Okay. Are people looking right now?

Yes, they are looking. It's about 15, 20 feet to the left, but they're currently focused on your group, which is gathered at the edge of the yard where they assemble all of their very powerful military weapons. We should be at separate ends of the fence right now, because I made my way down the fence with Yasha a bit. Right, right. That was about 30 feet, we'll say. Are you attempting to? I'm just going to wait until they finish their conversation. All right.

I will try to edge it a little closer still. I'd like to get it near the fence, if I can. It's actually right now, with that final scoot from Schmidt, it's right up against the fence on the opposite side. Okay, then I'm just going to wait for the right moment, and then I'll have Schmidt lift it over his head, but not yet. Okay. So at this point, the dwarf rushes up I'll have Schmidt lifted over his head, but not yet. Okay. So at this point, the dwarf rushes up to the edge

and peers through and goes like, So strange arrivals here. You got Clef and a couple of loonies just diving off the outside of our very well-protected fence, but sure. Clef, what's your business with these assholes? He's like, we're making our way to try and make right some mistakes I've made, certainly, hopefully.

He glances through with a bit of a titan gaze and goes, All right, we'll just keep them off my fence. What a lovely fence it is. Turns around and starts walking back to his post. As he starts walking, I'll nod to Caleb and try to do the lift over the fence. Okay. Oh jeez, I go.

Make a sleight of hand check to see if you can make the right timing and do so swift enough to where nobody seems to notice. Sleight of hand. Yes. 22. With that, as soon as the dwarf turns around and all the rest of the workers go right back,

simultaneously seeing that this encounter is over, turn back to their work, and without a sound, rises over the fence and is now at your disposal on the opposite end. Yeah! Hopefully this will do something. We have a bucket of tar! We're great. Part one of our plan is complete.

You set him up and he'll come down. That was fun. Look at that teamwork! Yeah, everybody contributed a little, except for Jester and Fjord. I mean, it was really good. When do they ever contribute really well? Marissa goes,

All right, that's the first part of it. What's next? I guess we head to the prison. To the prison? All right. Well, let's put the tar bucket in the haversack of holding, if that's possible, if it will fit.

Will it tip over in the bag? She takes it and slowly puts it inside. It'll fit in the larger one. Slips inside the bag, she closes it. Okay, are you sure it won't turn over? No. I don't know. Go back.

I don't want to ruin my bag. We don't have to put it in, we'll just carry it. I paid the money for it. I'm going to carry it. It's not a big deal to carry. Just carry it. We're carrying a bucket of tar. Well, we're going into Kil'aroa, that's fine.

All right, all right, all right, we'll just carry it. What'll just carry it. We're carrying a bucket of tar. Well, we're going into Killaroa, that's fine. All right, all right, all right, we'll just carry it. What else do you bring into a... What do they think they're going to do with a bucket of tar? We're already pretty weird. Carefully hands it to Yasha. Let's lean into it. Yeah.

At this point, Rissa continues pushing you now away from the Assembly Yard back into the iron lot and towards the exterior of the Gearhole Prison. There, on the outside of this doorway, you can see there's about a dozen crownsguard, mostly gnomish, two human. Looks like they're both currently decorated with a bit more detail, probably sent from the capital or at least are given a little more of import to the

outside of this guarding post. As you approach, you can see these large metal doors. There are two of them and they open in the center and there are a set of smaller doors built in the base of each of the sides. As you approach some of the townsguard, look over curiously at this interesting wayward group making their way towards the outside. Three of them begin to approach and one of the humans in the more intricate crownsguard uniform approaches,

throwing the cloak over his shoulder and you can see his hand resting on the handle of his now sheathed sword. Huh, who goes there? What is your business? his hand resting on the handle of his now sheathed sword. Huh, who goes there? What is your business? We are a contracted group of workers working for this man right here, Clef. We're here to take care of the problem

that we heard you guys had with the clockwork warden. Clef pulls the hood back a bit and goes, Hello. Guy takes a moment and looks. Make a persuasion check with advantage because Clef is helping you. Yeah, persuasive bow. Ooh, I stole this die that I got you from forever ago.

Oh yeah. It's got the little d20 inside of it. Okay, I'll take the 12 for a 13. A 13, okay. The guard steps back a bit, looks you over. All right, hold tight a second. I'm going to go ahead and summon the warden. Just a moment.

He steps through one of the small doors, opens and he disappears inside. How many doors are there? There's the two large main doors, about 15 feet tall, about 20 foot wide, and then there's smaller doors, like normal person size, almost gnomish-sized doors built into it from that point. You actually watch as the human crownsguard

has to duck a little bit to go through the smaller doorframe. He's gone for about five minutes or so and then returns and says, The Warden Helm would wish to speak to you. If you wouldn't mind stepping inside, and don't mind the escort, it's common business. What did you say the warden's name was?

It's Wardenhelm Poppin' Drukrusher. Wardenhelm Poppin'? Poppin' Drukrusher. Drukrusher. Pop Poppin Drockrusher. Drockrusher. Poppin Drockrusher. I won't. I won't speak. I'm just not going to speak. He goes like, no misnames.

Hmm. I feel that. All right, at that point, you guys are led inside the dark interior. As soon as you step into the shadow of the entryway of this prison, you go from the industrial and somewhat colorless iron lot that you've been traveling through to this very low-lit, reddish,

almost oxidized iron interior that is just shadow and torches. You can see these large support beams of metal put against the rock and stone that has been carved out of the interior of the mountain. It's just one long hallway that splinters off into a number of hallways to the right and left before it reaches the outside of your current visual range to make any more detail out of it.

At this point, as you enter, you can see about five more of the Crownsguard follow behind you and keep you all as a small pack traveling. At this point, he begins to move forward and gestures for you all to follow, saying, Hmm, whose way? Leads you down the hall, scooting to the right

and heads to the right of the very first branching hallway of the interior of the prison. Heading further down, you can see there's a few doors that are open, and on the inside they appear to be empty, or there's a few other guards. On the interior, you don't see much in the way of Crown's Guard. You see a different type of guard. Similar garb, but more drab, and you get the sense that this is an internal prison guard. This isn't part of the paid, trained citywide guard. These are the interior Haparduk prison guards. No more than maybe another 40 or so feet down, there's a doorway that's

open that leads into an office. On the inside of this office, which itself is also super darkly lit, you see two almost ember torches that give this very dull red glow on the inside of the room. It has this somewhat ominous and dreary interior presence to it as you step into this chamber. The desk is facing away from you, and there you see an older, engriseled gnome who is in the process of wearing these series of robes and cloak over him with these gold-colored tassels and epaulettes that shoot off the sides. Seems to be giving out an air of station and importance, even though it's just in the process of filing

what looks to be either prison transfers or people that have been arrested, and figuring out who's to be put in here and what, or whose business is going to come to an end soon. But he's in the process of shuffling through papers before turning around to you and goes, All right, so you have come to my prison. Stands up and turns around to you, like clicking his feet together as he does so,

attention, arms crossed. Hello? I am the Warden Helm Poppin. You have bothered me for my work, and I would like to know why. As you look at him, you can see his hair has receded almost entirely to the back, and bits of clustered gray hair on the sides. It's currently attempted to slick and comb back, and one large part of it is trying to cover the massive bald spot, but as he spins around and talks to you, with any sort of movement,

it wobbles and has to settle itself back into place. Beau. Beau. Oh. First off. I tap Beau on the back and just make her bow a little bit. You don't have to, yeah, okay. Respectful, I appreciate that. Pull her back out.

Rissa has backed away to the doorway and is like, I don't want any part of this. Yeah, same, Rissa, same. We will not take up much of your time. If you just let us in to go kill this clockwork warden that this guy made, we heard he was quite a problem. Just let us in, we'll be out of your hair, and you can get back to your work.

Faehtfot, and he looks over towards the cloaked No-Much-Forget-It side. Remember this guy? He leans forward, and you can see, as the cloak is pulled back, Clef reveals his face, and goes, Um, hello there. It's been a while. How you doing, Poppin? Interesting riffraff you bring into my home this day.

Why do people keep calling us that? To be fair, we are. I was referring to Clef! Clef, why do you come and bother me with my day's work? What do you want? You're saying something about your little mistake, your problem? Look, this guy is funding to take care of the spinning death machine

that's in your guys' basement. This should be a city-funded issue, but this guy is being a good noble citizen and funding it himself so we can come and make a quick buck and kill your death robot. Can we please just go kill your damn death robot?" Looks to Clef, is this true? And Clef cannot,

Actually, yes, I know it's been a problem for a while, and I figured about time I cleaned up that mess myself, if you don't mind. The Warden Helm stops for a second and looks amongst the rest of you. Right, okay. You have what appears to be an interesting crew of exterminators you've brought to me.

What do you want from me? I assume you have come here for trade or for looking for some sort of recompense. I would like to know what that is before we move further into this. No one steps inside here wishing to do us, how you say, charity work. Oh, of course. That makes perfect sense, and of course a man of your stature would be smart enough to know that such a thing is true. We honestly, we will admit, we may have a favor, a very minor favor, to ask if everything goes well

and we do in fact survive this encounter. In return also, we will be gathering very valuable data on how to defeat these sort of automatons which will be put into your possession and would definitely help you deliver something that could help with the war effort. This sort of data could get back to the people in charge and help them defeat machines in the future. We're trying new techniques, new ways to defeat these sort of automatons.

You look like a man who's willing to climb a ladder. I think you could go far. We'd be happy to help. War is a great time for opportunity, my friend. We may discuss, perhaps, if we can help. We have two friends who are currently in your system, and we would be more than happy to discuss a means of maybe resolving their issue with you. Not innocence, but just coming to a conclusion that is mutually agreeable.

Make a persuasion check with advantage with aiding from Beau in a very persuasive argument. Man. I love bullshitting. High fives, at least from my brows to the table. God, please, for once, in your miserable life. Ah, man, eight. Oh, buddy. Not life, just this campaign, Taliesin.

I know. Well, perhaps we can discuss, but I would like to see possibly this deed you wish to do done first. I do not wish to talk contracts with those who are about to die, if you know what I'm saying. You would hardly waste your time. Who would? Very well. He looks past you to the escort of guards that have followed you in. Lead them to the subterranean seal chamber. Allows them to encounter our issue.

And should they survive, return them to me with proof of the deed. Should they not survive, we will not speak of this ever again. Good luck. I will be here waiting to hear of your successful endeavor. No. Lead me to my work. He goes and sits back down in his chair. We're doing this now? Of course we are. to hear of your successful endeavor. No!

Lead me to my work! He goes and sits back down in his chair. We're doing this now? Of course we are, anyone want the node? If I'm going to be throwing tar at this thing, maybe I should have it? Or Caleb, who's going to be throwing? Who's going to be throwing the tar?

You with your mage hand, maybe? Yeah. I could. Caleb will heat it up. Caleb will heat it up. Caleb will heat it up, you'll throw it in, and then I'll be using some ice to try and cool the thing down once it's in there. And Yasha and I can try and pin it down. Maybe corner it.

And once it starts opening up the armor, we'll just go to that one particular plate and start ripping the hull in. Chopping the plates off. Let's heat that tower up before entering. Yes. Let's get to the door. Yeah, we'll get to the door, set the node,

set everything we need into action. Clef and Rissa balk there as you were having this conversation. Rissa goes, if it's not a problem, I'll stay here with my dad and we'll just we'll wait to hear what happens we're not much in the way of charging into the fray you don't need us

you don't need us of course you have tasked experts with this job of course and Clef kind of pushes past and goes but before you go I just want

once more to express my extreme gratitude for you putting yourself out there for my well-being. Oh, a Tinkertop never forgets these teats, and should you return safely, I will be in your debt. He bows and the cloak under the ground, and he goes, oh, he picks it back up

and bows a little less this time. Any last tips, Clef? Be careful. Yeah, it's a good one. What kind of feat does it have again? Oh, it doesn't have a feat. It rolls. Wonderful.

Ball bearings. Hamster ball. I don't see it. Ball bearing. We'll slow it down. I don't know, we'll find out. All right. All right, let's skin this cash. You guys currently have a group of six Crownsguard from the outside and a couple of

prison guards to lead you there. Take this and you'll be all right. Yeah. It's just swords. I get a good look at it, but this sounds like a fun challenge. Fjord, you got a plan? Jester? She goes, well, don't die, and if you fall over, I'll try to get you not on the ground anymore.

Uh, she can't. She won. She's out of spells. Wait, but aren't these? How is she out of spells? You guys took a long rest. Did we use a bunch? No, we took a long rest.

No. She used two Locate Objects, I know that. Those are high-level spells. They're second level, I think, isn't it? Okay. Does it say howlevel spells. They're second-level, I think, isn't it? Okay. Does it say how many spells she has left? It should.

Yeah, locate object is second-level. To be fair, I think we were going to rest, and then we decided against it. We just decided to go. Oh, it reset, but she definitely had used some. She's used two second-level spells. Locate objects. She has used two second-level spells. Locate objects. She has used two second-level?

Yeah, we'll just knock two out. We'll mark those in there. If she had another, it's fine. She's not here to keep track. Do we want her to have anything precast? I don't think duplicity will matter, but maybe a spiritual weapon already called up? Yeah, a spiritual weapon's a good idea.

Just have it already. It'll only last for a minute. Oh, then let's wait then, all right. Let's just wait. In case this all goes tits up, do we want to try to talk to these guards and maybe figure out what cell the Schusters are in? You're welcome to try.

I'm not talking to them. But someone with more charisma than me? Certainly not me. Fjord's literally the only one that could charm a guard, unless we bribe a guard. That is incorrect. Oh, Charming Caleb. I can speak when I have to.

Do some suggestion stuff? I mean, is that worth doing now? I mean, if we die, does it matter? No, but I mean, if the warden doesn't give us what we want. We can talk to the guards on the way up. Okay. Yeah. But we're in the prison.

Yeah, we're going to be in the prison when we're done. All right. That's fair. Okay. All right. This is assuming we live. How do we relax for a bit? The guards have led you away from that end of the chamber, down the hall, back to the main hallway

that enters deeper into the Gearhole Prison. Following that, down for another 80 or so feet, that main open hallway comes to an end, and you can see there are a number of other small hallways that protrude. The guards lead you down the one on the left. You can see two immediately that branch off from the far end of that main open way.

On that left side pathway, it leads to a set of stairs that spirals down to a second floor, then a third floor, then a fourth floor. The fourth floor is the bottom of these stairs, and you're now probably guessing from the time it's taken you to descend the spiral staircase, maybe an additional 100 to 120 feet below the entrance and the actual level base of the mountain.

At this point, you continue down a hallway, and you can see now there are cells to your right and left as you enter this space. The cells are very well fortified, and behind the bars in the dark, dark, dark red ember-like torchlight that faintly glows and alights elements of this hallway. As you continue down, you can see shapes,

humanoid shapes locked behind bars of all shapes and sizes. As you begin to pass, one on the right, you watch as a figure lurches up to the bars and pushes up to the edge. What faint bit of red light, you can see illuminating a face that looks scarred by a large, heavy claw mark down one side, the eye glued shut from the healing process. You can see this toothy, rotten grin underneath as a nasty smell of breath emanates from its heavy breathing. As you pass by, it says,

Hey, are you going to come back, are you? Are you going? Are you going to come back? You walk past, one of the guards takes their short sword and clings it across the metal and goes, Keep back, keep back! Mr. Schuster, you look terrible! I yell very loud to see if anybody responds to the name.

To what name? Mr. Schuster. Schuster? Okay, you listen, make a perception check. Yeah, sure. Oh! 15. 15, okay. You listen out and you hear a few voices chuckle and some shifting of people that are now making their way

to the front of the cell to see what this arriving group of strangers is, but nothing out of the expected ordinary reacting to that name. A few other figures push their way to the face and you can see men, women, you can see decrepit half-elves that look poorly nourished. You can see humans that look like they've smeared themselves with their own foul excrement.

You can see a whole nature of people that are in the process of dealing with being locked down here in the subterranean basement level of this prison. Then at the end, you come to what looks to be an iron door that is currently sealed shut with what looks to be rung after rung after rung of chains pulled through across bars, locked with three padlocks. Is this the door?

The main guard sitting there goes, there it is, and pulls out a ring of keys. When's the last time you opened it? When we sealed it. Which was? About a little over two years ago. And how big is this chamber in here? Leads down, splits in the middle,

and have two more sets of cells in the back side. Splits in the middle, two more sets of cells on the back side, so it looks like a big fork. Does it have a common way? Or is this thing patrolling halls? I don't know. Before you go to the room. And What will happen when we go inside here? Are you locking us in?

Damn right. Until we knock on the door, I imagine. Until we... With that, one latch, and one lock comes free. Pulls it off, hands it to a guard. Oh, I'm going to look at the... Second lock, comes free. The dodecahedron.

Yeah, we... While we're at it. So you go ahead and take a moment and concentrate on it. Should we heat up the tar? Let's heat up the tar. Yeah. Okay, Nott, can you lift that thing up for me?

Yeah, I can't touch it. Lift. I'll hold it since you're doing the thing. Well, it's going to scald the bejesus out of your hands if I... Okay, I'll use my enchant to hold it up. I'm also, I have immunity to flame, so, or not quite immunity, but I don't really mind flame. Well, I could semi-burn your hands or not burn Nott's.

Yeah, I'll hold it with my Mage Hand. All right, so with that, the bucket of tar is now held aloft from the floating spectral Mage Hand that Nott is controlling. Probably going to need some light in there, too. He can cast two spells. They have to be at third level. Correct. And his cantrips are?

So if he casts Armor of Agathys, it's going to take up one of his levels. Correct. And Hex would be another one. Correct. Everybody back away from this bucket. And I just crackle my hands and send a firebolt at the bottom of it. All right. So being careful not to destroy the bucket itself, which, while it is made of metal, you're uncertain of its structural integrity, but you do focus on kind of a slow burn of this flame,

kind of controlling the firebolt to be a gradual burn. As you do, you watch as the metal iron on the bottom of this bucket begins to heat to a dull orange, and to a brighter orange. After a few moments of concentrating, you can see what looks like a faint. The tar seems to be heating, and to a fairly more liquidy consistency

than its rather cold and more solid form that you found it. That is the most relaxed that spell has ever gone. At which point the third lock comes off. The guards begin pulling the chains through the loops until eventually the door is exposed. It opens and on the inside, there's a few steps that descend into what looks to be a double door beyond that. One of the doors is partially open and it is darkness with a faint red glow beyond that.

This place is creepy as shit. Yeah. I turn to one of the guards. Is there any light in there are we going to need to bring our own? There's probably some light, but it wouldn't hurt to bring your own. Especially for that one. And points to Caleb.

Yasha, could I borrow a torch from you? Yes, of course. So your hands are free to work. Yes, good idea. Here. Danke. Can I borrow a torch from you? Yes, of course. So your hands are free to work. Yes, good idea. Here. Danke. Fjord's going to go ahead and cast Armor of Agathys.

You can also have a hooded lantern if you like, if you'd prefer. So as Fjord touches the front of his chest armor, you watch as the cold air solidifies, giving this mist and bits of ice crystal protruding from his leather armor. Hope that was a good call. That'll be fine. A good foredo. All right.

Beau puts on her goggles. You got it. Eldritch Blights. As all of you are ushered past the metal door, the guards all gather on the opposite side and the lead guard lady goes, Very well, may the platinum dragon guide you. Closes the door and you hear the chains on the opposite side being locked

as you walk and turn back, looking down the six or seven feet of descending stairs before it levels into the double doors partially open and the darkness beyond. That's where we're going to take a quick break. Ah! Oh, we were about to fight! Well, we're going to go ahead and dive into that, just because if we go into a battle,

it might take a little while to take the break now. Before that, and then we can dive into it immediately as we return. Let's try diplomacy. Perfect. Yeah. Shiny blade balls are easy to talk to. Dear spinning death machine.

This phantasmagoria, I'm definitely having some. All righty, guys, so we'll be back here in a few minutes. We're going to take a five, ten minute break to get ourselves comfy, food, water, and other releases of functions. Thanks, Jessa. We'll see you guys here in just a moment. Hang tight in the chat if you want to. We'll have a couple of fun

videos to watch. And once again, if you haven't seen the Kickstarter of these awesome enemies, you can go to critrole.com for all that information. I have the links there to the Kickstarter. The guys at Steamforged have done an amazing job, and we hope you like them. All right, we'll see you here in a few minutes. Why, hello there. This is Critical Role's resident art dad, also known as Liam O'Brien. We are continuously amazed at the artwork this community creates. That's why each Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific, we share a curated gallery of submitted fan art over on CritRole.com.

If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, visit CritRole.com slash submit. And thank you to all of the incredible artists who share their talents with us week after week. And welcome back. So, wow. Wow, indeed. Indeed. So, welcome back.

Coming back into the game. You have all descended down and reached the double doors, partially opened and stepped quietly into the interior chamber of this sealed portion of the Gearhole Prison. There looks like a faint flicker of those same ember-light torches that give off faint bits of red glow, but a number of the walls seem to have been damaged. Actually, as you step inside and go to look, the doors that are behind you and the walls around you are scraped and gashed

from hundreds and hundreds of blade marks. It looks like whatever is in here has spent a lot of time just grinding around and looking for a means of escape or patrolling with its blades out over and over again. Parts of the walls have fallen in a bit and there's rubble in areas where it's starting to erode away the interior of the sealed chamber. But everywhere you look, the right, left,

and along the ground, all you see are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of blade-like grooves in the stone. That's not good, is it? This is as I've heard the kids say these days. Creepy AF. Actually, it's got eyes and not ears, I don't think. When we saw the blueprints, was there any way

for it to detect sound, or was it all visual? Without your massive intelligence drill, you weren't able to discern that information, fortunately. I'm going to zoom and cast. Hey, Jester. Let's pretend we're whispering. Okay. Maybe pass without a trace, Jester?

We can do that. Let's pass without a trace, and I'm going to light up my sword. That's a second-level spell, if I recall. That would be our last second-level spell. Wait, let's... Maybe not. Maybe not.

Maybe not pass without, let's do spirit, because once it sees us, it doesn't matter anymore. So let's not do that yet. Okay, never mind, keep going. Let's do, I'm going to just light up my swords. Both of them? Yet with ice. Okay.

So that brings me down to 49 points of hit points. 49 hit points, so that's fun. Wow, that'll be a lot of fun. Ooh! That's thrilling. There's a door over there. Do you want to sneak over and see if you can open it? Sure, sure, I'll go.

I'll sneak over to the door and try to unlock it. Over here? Or see if it's locked. All right. It is a set of prison bars. There is a gate and it is currently locked. The bars themselves, once again, you can see just rows and rows of gashes and scrapes across the metal. They're bowed in a bit from impacts repeatedly.

It's slightly bent inward. You can attempt to pick a lock if you'd like. I will pick a lock. Go ahead and roll. That's a proficiency bonus plus dexterity. That is a lock. Go ahead and roll. That's a proficiency bonus plus dexterity. That is a 14. A 14. It's not tracking the lock.

These are not easy locks to get through. They're designed to hold prisoners, unfortunately, so they're fairly hardy locks. You spend a while with it and you're just unable to hit those tumblers and it looks like it's not going to open. Make a perception check if you're looking through the bars. I sneak up behind Nott.

All right. I can open this if you need me to. I'd just like to let you, to save my shit. Oh, I mean, I don't know what's in it. Can I see, I can't see anything through it, can I? Not with that perception roll, no. You see bits of rock, you see what looks like some cloth on the ground, that's it.

Caleb, maybe save your shit for afterwards? Also, if I were to unlock it, it would be loud, so that's not good. After. Can we put some light in there, maybe take a look at what's in there? What's in that room? Yeah.

Since we have an orb up, don't we? No, we have a torch. Yeah, Yasha, you have the torch, right? Caleb has the torch. Caleb, do you want to use the torch to take a look in there, maybe? I'm keeping an eye through this hallway, and I think I'm going to slowly start scooting.

Scooting up this way? Yeah. No, against the wall. What an amazing mini. Thank you. That's quite incredible. Yeah, these are the painted prototypes. To give you a little bit of a glance

of what these will look like. There's a few changes for the final designs, of course, but these will give you an idea. All righty, so there's Molly on that side. Caleb, as you hold the torch up to the bars and look through, make a perception check with advantage. Okay. As you're falling off of Nott's lead,

and now it's a small chamber, you can make out quite a bit of detail. Oh, that's good. 19. Ooh. Good. Glancing inside, you see that whatever scrape marks that mar the interior of this main chamber, there are none within this cell. Whatever this creature, this gearkeeper construct is,

it did not manage to breach these gates. However, on the opposite side, you see what looks to amount to be three different bed setups for prisoners, some that seem to have just, either they were trying to claw their way out, or the impact of slamming on the other walls caused bits of it to fall in and collapse, and there's piles of stone and fallen earth

on the other side. You see three skeletons. Oh boy. They've been decomposing for quite some time, probably prisoners that couldn't escape and had no other way out. That sucks. That's rough. Okay, we can check this off our list, probably. Yeah.

There are some dead inmates in here. If this thing comes out here, we're all dead, so we should probably figure out a way to stop it. We could all get in that room if we have to. All right, but I can't open it. I feel like normally you don't want to get trapped in a room with something bigger and spinning with 12 blades. Yeah.

I think we'd be better off almost holding this choke point. That's the hope, but we have these other, we have some options over here. Is there anything I can see from my perspective, from where I'm standing right now? Make a perception check. Maybe you'd say that.

That's a 16. A 16? Glancing through, your darkvision is 60 feet, correct? You can just make out the details of another interior chamber. Looking within, you can see portions of the walls inside are also equally scraped apart, and edges of the fine, well-set stonework

have been marred with repeated gashes all over. It looks like beyond that there was another prison cell, but those bars have been breached as they are currently bent, gnarled, and twisted and pulled out of place. The cell beyond it appears to be open. I'm going to move up and go to the opposite side of where Molly is and peek down the opposite way, just like he did. All right. Anybody else moving anywhere?

While people are moving around the room, I whisper, just for our options here, if we want to kick this off and don't mind getting its attention, I can magically unlock this door here, which will make a sound, and then instantly lock it. So if we wanted to, we could all hustle inside here and maybe attack at a range, just as an option.

Does the door have holes? The door is open, there are bars on this. It's not a door, it's just a cage. Yes, and it's partially bent inward from the impact. It looks like it sustained quite a bit of brunt force to it over time. So that would put Beau and Yasha at a disadvantage, but the rest of us could take pot shots at it from in here.

You know, I like that idea. Maybe Yasha and I can stand and kind of hide and crouch in the corners while you guys get its attention and shoot it from a range. Because what I would be afraid of is if we were all in there and it eventually did what it did to those bars over there and busted in, and we were all sitting ducks on the inside. But if you guys- But I could be wrong.

But if you guys got in- With what I know how to do, I don't think it can do that to this door for a short amount of time. It looks like it. You have a plan. Well, I'm talking about magic. I can magically seal this door, unless it has a way to deal with that. We'll not be able to get through. That's pretty good. Let's move quickly, though.

Make an intelligence check, Caleb, if you don't mind. That is 15. 15, okay. And you were referring, I believe, to the spell... Arcane Lock. Arcane Lock, right. Impassable, until it is broken, or the spell is dispelled or suppressed. Yep.

I mean, it can still be forced open, it's just a higher DC to do so. So it's possible, but it's making a much harder door to break through. Okay. So you have a valid point in what you're saying, yes. Can I still complete my perception check and see if I see down here? Yes, you may.

Go for it, make a perception check. Not great, seven. Seven, unfortunately, even with your darkvision, it's hard to look past that way. You can see what looks to be another chamber. Your current vantage point's a little bit out of the way, and it looks like there's just not enough information. You have to get a little closer to make out the details.

Is there anything that would warrant a couple people hiding while some people got in the thing? Is there something that looks like Yasha and I could maybe hide? I'm a little at a disadvantage looking at this angle. There are some piles of rubble and portions of the walls that have collapsed inwards. Everyone's on this side of the table.

You can get up and get a little bit of height if you want, and we can also... If we went inside that room, though. Those with range. The creature would probably give up and go back into hiding until we came out, I would assume. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it would just keep pounding until you died.

You could still mage hand the tar between the bars, right? Sure. Sure. Let's try it. You don't even have to put the tar inside, it can be outside and still mage hand it. Caleb, can you still, can you lift that gate spell if we need to get it back out? Oh yeah, instantly.

All right. So Yasha, we're going to be on the outside then? Yep. That's scary and dangerous. This is scary and dangerous work. Wait, are you and Yasha going to be on the outside? Well, we don't have any range. Neither do I.

So you're going to be on the outside, too. I thought we put all the ranged people in there, draw its attention, it would attack them, and then while it's there, we can all gang up on it. Three amigos. A terrible idea. Let's go for it. So, what are you guys doing?

Yeah, let's do it. So wait, so you bruisers, you're staying out here? But we're going to kind of hide amongst this rubble on the opposite side, and you guys are going to start. Yasha, where are you moving to? Yeah, we're going to hide behind the rubble. Right there?

Yeah, and Beau as well. Beau, you're moving over here as well? Yeah. All righty. Can I get up on top of the rubble and crouch down? And I'm going to attempt to hide in the corner. It's going to be hard to hide and climb it as well. Just like a crouchy crouch.

Do about there as good as we can get there. Oh, Yasha, before I forget, I got you something. You did? I hand her one of the silk flowers from the festival. It doesn't press well, but you know. It's going to be very special. Thank you, Molly. Go for it, Liv.

You staying there? Yeah, I'm going to stay super crouched. Does Jester have her spiritual weapon out? She doesn't yet. Okay. You need to get it ready. She's going to also... Wait.

Wait what? I do not have the components I need for Arcane Lock. Damn it. What do you need? A lot of gold dust. I need for our cane log. Dammit. What do you need? No. A lot of gold dust. A lot of gold dust?

Anybody got a lot of gold dust? You could make some right now. I know, I know. Can we grind some gold really fast? Yeah. File some. Quietly, quietly. Quietly file down gold coins. Yeah.

Okay. All right, well, plan B. Never mind. That's fine. Do you want me to scout ahead to the area that you've seen? Or the cat. Yeah. Or the cat, yes. How about the cat goes to the area where Molly has seen, which, Liam, for you, is the bottom left

of the picture I sent you of the... Yeah. So where are you sending Pokken? Down here. Into the last unexplored room. Okay. No, this is the one that... First unexplored room.

The first explored room that Molly has seen a little bit of. Sorry, I was looking in my spell book and not paying attention to you lot. What were you hoping for me to do? Send a cat. We're sending a cat to take a look. Scout with cat. Kitty's cat. This may be the end of the cat. So I'm going to back as far away from that door as I can.

All righty. And I will send Frumpkin in. All right, so moving back in the corner with Beau and Yasha. Put it about there, we'll say. Ladies. You begin to focus and Frumpkin heads to the right side of the fork into the chamber

you've already looked into, towards the open cell doors that are currently pried off that archway. As Frumpkin glances past, make a stealth check for Frumpkin. Yeah. I have some shit. That is, I don't have the cat paper with me in this state that I'm in,

because I didn't know I'd be playing. That's okay. So I rolled a 15. You rolled a 15? Okay. Plus cat. Let's go with that. 15 plus cat. All right.

Frumpkin glances inside this busted cell and sees what I'm using as an interpretation of a large spherical metal object that's about eight feet diameter on any side. It looks like a series of overlapping metal plates that look almost clustered together at odd angles. You can see elements of it look scraped and dented. It looks like it's been doing some serious damage

to it over time. As it sits there resting and Frumpkin approaches, you watch one of the tiny little metal plates open. A lens pokes out towards Frumpkin, withdraws back in, the plate closes, and you watch as about six of these long, blade-like spider legs stick out of it as it pulls back and begins to roll forward

with a very extreme pace. Oh, I sent Frumpkin out of there. All right, with that point as it rolls forward, Frumpkin just manages to bam out of this dimension as the object slams into the opposite wall. You guys feel the entire chamber suddenly from the impact, and you hear the scraping of metal in the distance.

I'm going to recast the other hand and pick up the bucket of tar. Pick up the tar. Get it ready to... It rolls across the way and disappears into the other chamber. Not yet. I'm going to stealthily move forward, back where I was, across from Molly. Go ahead and make a stealth check, please.

Jesus Christ, this just got really... I have an interesting idea. Nott, where do you want to go? Towards the narrower hallway. What's the one that does stuff? Yeah, just on the edge of it. Right there? Yeah.

Okay. Do I hear any movement or anything? You do hear the same object shifting on the other side. 15. 15? Okay. Oh no. As you're there at the edge and Beau's there,

you glance in, now that you guys are close enough and you can see it shifting in there, you pay attention, you can see this other chamber is open with another cell off to the side, and you see as it slams into that door, spins around, and you watch as one of the lenses peeks around the corner right at where Beau had just moved into the far corner. Oh no!

Jester is going to, is this a good idea? Jester is going to cast her spiritual weapon and put it right in the center of the like, like. The room? Yeah, something, a big, big nice shiny object to distract. Where's Fjord going, because we're about to go into combat. Yeah, are we all pulling against the walls to try and? Where is Fjord going?

Yeah, just make Fjord kind of go by the gate maybe. Right there? Okay. Back of it, I don't know. And then Beau is going to go ahead and take out those ball bearings. Can we put Jester in the corner? Jester can back up there. Let's not kill our friends, D&D characters.

I need all of you to roll initiative. If we still have a bit of an action, I'm going to toss my bag of ball bearings and try and throw a bunch of ball bearings right here. Sam, will you take a new picture and send it to me? All right, so you throw the ball bearings out, clattering. As that happens, the legs are still out, rear it backward, and you watch as they retract as it runs itself, rolling forward in your direction, ricocheting off that wall. The ball bearings, as it grinds across the bottom,

get fired off like small impact bullets from the grinding of the metal plates and the force of it hitting. I need both Nott and Beau to make dexterity saving throws. Oh god. Okay. Oh no. Save. 21.

21? Oh wait, not with advantage, or no? Not with advantage, just a single roll. Okay, 18 then? 18, okay, you guys both manage to just duck out of the way. They don't seem to hit you. It's only a handful of them that, upon the impact of it

hitting stone and being pressured beneath, they just shoot off in your direction. Volleyball bearings don't work. So initiative rolls, guys. Okay. Roll for yourself, guys. Okay. Roll for yourself, Beau. Oh jeez. All right, and then roll for Jester and Fjord as well.

All right. I'm rolling for Fjord. 25 to 20. Hang on, hang on. So far. Sorry, sorry, another person's character? Okay, okay. 25 to 20, anybody? 20 to 15?

19. Whoa, who are you? I don't know. You are going to be, you are going to be. Yasha. But I don't know what to do, it's early on. It's going to be a lot of dodging. 15 to 10? Ooh! You are going to be, you are. Yasha. But I don't know what to do. It's early on. It's going to be a lot of dodging. 15 to 10. Fjord is 14.

All right. Beau is 10. All right. 10 to five. Seven. Seven for me as well. All right. And Jester is six.

So Caleb. Caleb and Jester wearing the same. Caleb and Jester are six, Molly and Nott are both seven. Seven, got it. All right, so top of the round, as you see it, come riding and curve around the corner and slam into that wall, the stone bends inward even further and you can see bits of the masonry

flake and fall off the ground, clattering in small pieces of stone. It turns and you can see now the six spider-like blade legs sticking out of it. Six more shoot out of the top of it and begin whirling around and spinning. Oh god. There, amongst this chaos,

you see the lens sitting right there, just barely peeking through its armored shell. With that, Yasha, you're up first. Okay. So I would like to rage. All righty. Yes. It's the time, it's the time.

And, um. Yes. It's the time, it's the time. And, um. Mm. Oh, man. Can I, do I just go in? Yeah, man. All right. This is it. Can I get to it? I know. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40,

you just barely get into its range with your Barkbeardian speed as you rush it. Anger out of your face, you draw your Magician's Judge blade in the air. Oh no. Do you have advantage? I didn't reckless. Okay. 11.

11, unfortunately does not hit. Your blade scrapes across its armored exterior, not finding purchase in any of its innards. Divine Fury, can you do only if the first? The first attack that hits. The first attack that hits. Correct. Okay. Can I use my extra attack?

Yeah, you get that every round. Extra attack. All right. Come on. Okay, okay, that's better. That's a 21. 21 hits, go ahead and roll damage. Yes! Okay. This is it.

We're so fucked. 2d6. 2d6. Kick it in the ball! Hey! Okay. 12. Yeah. So you rolled 2d6 for the weapon, 3d6 for the Divine Fury.

Oh, 3d6? Oh no, it's additional half your level, isn't it? Yeah, which is a three, plus three, right? It's 2d6 plus three. 2d6 plus three, right? Yeah, so 12. 12, and your rage damage, which is two. Oh great, so yeah, 14.

And then is there Divine Fury still, or is that? No, because that's only if the first. Well no, so yeah, 14. Is there Divine Fury still? No, because that's only the first. Well no, it's the first attack that hits. That's what I'm saying, yeah, you get Divine Fury for this hit because the first one missed, this one does get it. Okay, okay, so an extra d6. Oops.

Okay, an extra two, so 16 total. Okay. So with that, the first strikes off, the second one you bring down and you watch as the blade carves down and one of its metal arms bends off to the side and the blade actually digs into some of the gears. You watch as Yasha's blade finding its way in,

sparks go and is shrieking off and the blade gets jettisoned off. You have to hold it before it gets shot outside of it. The clockwork pushing it out of its innards, the armor plate clicks over and guards its space. All right. Okay, I'll stay. Did it lose a blade just now?

It looks like it's bent back a bit. Okay. All right, that ends Yasha's turn. Fjord is up next. Yeah, Fjord. All right, Fjord's going to cast Hex. All right. Hex! Hex. Hex, ma'am.

I'm going to hex that robot. Hex the robot. With that, the robot is a hex. Hang on, wait. That doesn't, that doesn't, nope, nope, nope, nope. It doesn't mess with the armor of Agathys. Just checking. Yep.

All right, so you do have a concentration spell on Fjord for this. So that is Hex. And then he's going to cast, he's going to take his falchion, he's going to flip it, and he's from the hilt, he's going to go pew, and he's going to cast Eldritch Blast, because I saw him do that once before. Like a from-the-hip shotgun. He did it before. I'm just ripping it off from Travis.

Two shots. Go ahead and fire twice. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew! Uh, 15? Seven plus eight? Seven plus eight, 15. You fire, the Eldritch Blast hits and actually disperses against the armor, does not hit. Ah, right, that magic shit!

He's going to try it one more time. That's balanced. Okay, that's better, 13 plus seven. 20 does hit. 20 hits! Roll a d10 plus four. Plus another d6 for Hex. Plus four. No, not a d4. Plus four damage to whatever you roll on the d10. Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, d10 plus d6. Me don't know how. Hmm. Six, sorry, sorry. Five plus four is nine damage. Plus three from the... No, that's it, I rolled a three and a two plus a four. It's not a lot of damage. Nine damage from the Eldritch Blast. Second one does manage to pierce some of its armor and you see within the interior of it,

there's a flash of green on the inside. You see it curl around from the interior, almost looking like cracks in the armor are suddenly glowing, and then no more. That finishes Fjord's action and Barna's action. What did you roll to hit? I just realized I forgot to do something. Say again. What did you roll to hit?

I rolled 21. 21. So we know 20 hits. Yep, thank you. Okay, and now, Bergerd. Is Fjord going to stay where he is? Yes. Okay. Because I'm scared. Beau is going. Beau doesn't go yet,

because it's now the gatekeeper's turn. Oh no. That's okay. I didn't know. That's all right, so. The gearkeeper. I told her a little deeper into it. Beginning of its turn, it's going to go ahead and attempt to roll over Yasha to go into the chamber.

Yasha, you need to make an athletics or acrobatics check. Come on, girl. Okay, okay, okay, okay. You got this. You're raging, so you have advantage on your acrobatics check. That athletics is also pretty sweet, though. Okay, good advantage.

Ooh. Oh. Nine. Ooh. Oh! Nine. No. So first off, you suffer... I rolled the wrong ones. Seven points of piercing damage as it just rolls over and the blades kick into you.

Is that halved? It is halved. Is it raging? An additional three points of bludgeoning damage as you're crushed beneath its weight and you are knocked prone. So that's a total of, you said three and, I'm sorry, seven.

It was seven points of damage? Seven, four, three, so it'd be ten halved, so you take five points of damage. Five points of damage, okay. That's okay. Okay, that's fine. It does roll past here, stopping. At this point, it'd be about here, stopping at this point.

It'd be about here, I think. As it spins this direction. It's the things that drew its attention originally, which is Beau and Nott in that corner. Nott, you do get an attack of opportunity with a melee weapon if you have one, but you have your crossbow out. I probably have my crossbow out. So you don't get much of an attack there.

I'll hit it with my crossbow. Roll an attack. Improvised weapon for a melee. Yeah. A ridiculous sort of bow. 18. 18 just hits. Yes.

18 is what hits, y'all. Do I get a point of damage? You get a point of damage. Yeah! Eat it! Your hand crossbow,, you slam into it, you look back and it looks like some of the wood has splintered somewhat and you're like,

oh, it's not enough to the point where it looks like it's not going to function maybe, but it's going to need some repairs. I need a new crossbow. Yeah, you do. All right, so as it turns around, you watch as the front of it, where the lens is, the lens retracts in, the plates in front suddenly open, leaving what looks to be this open, black,

vacuous space, almost like a mouth or a gate opens in front, at which point you hear this very high whirring, winding sound. You see sparks inside and a blast of heated shrapnel. Shoots outward in a 30-foot spray. It can do that? Against both of you right there. You madman. I need you both to make a dexterity saving throw, please. Oh, rough, 12.

That's not too bad, 22. Success, so you take half damage. Okay. That is okay then. 25 points of piercing damage to you, Nott. Oh! Because I hit it with my thing, do I no longer have a reaction?

Correct. Oh shit. Now you know about the reactions. 25 points of damage. And halved for you, so you take 12. 12. That's it, shrapnel blast is done. That's the end of its turn. That brings us to Beau.

Yeah, okay. Being hit with hot shrapnel, I'm going to do a cool pole vault over Nott. Over Natt? Something like that. This way? Right. Yeah, I guess I... You're stretching the arm.

Yeah, wait, where's Yasha? Yasha's here? Yasha's prone in the ground right there. I'll get on the other side of where Yasha will eventually be. Oh, so around here? Uh-huh, so on this side of it. All right, you're moving with Namili.

All right, all right. You got it. And then attack. Go for it. Whack it with my stick, I'm going to try and jam it up in between one of those gears. You can throw the tar in the iron, so. That's terrible.

That doesn't hit, that's like 10. 10 misses, the first strike with your staff just scrapes off of its armor, no impact. I'm going to readjust and try and go for it again. That's the exact same roll. Those are two twos in a row. The second one, you strike again, this time when the blade swings outward,

and thankfully the blade doesn't hit the staff to cut the wood, however, it does the backhand impact it and prevent the blow from actually striking its body. Two twos. That's excellent. I guess I will do an unarmed attack. All right, so you're going to punch the armored spear. Frustrated that I can't get my staff up there,

I'm just going to go and try and whack it with my fist. 17, which just misses. Just misses. Or not so much miss, you hit it, but you go, ping! Oh, oh, you can feel that and fight from the knuckles to the funny bone. Do I have any more movement? From there, it's fine.

You have 10 feet. Can I back up or even get this? I'm just going to stay where I am. Okay. Finishing Beau's turn, that brings us to Nott and Nott. Oh, wait, hang on, as a bonus act- no, I used my bonus action. Fuck. Okay, keep going. That was not cool. Is its lens out? Its lens appears to be out currently, just surveying the scenario, yes. Go for the lens? Go for it.

All right. Bonus action. I will use the Mage Hand to deliver the tar right on that lens. All right. I'll say for the purposes of aiming on this, through your intention, go ahead and make a d20 attack roll, adding your perception bonus. Oh, there is no to that. That's, how do you feel about that? Well, it fell, so you'll never know what it was. 17!

17, I'll say for the purposes of that, because it's not armor you're trying to strike through, it's just trying to aim for a position, that will be enough, so With that, the tar, with a toss, all across the lens, at which point you see it, the sticky, still warm, thick tar spray onto it and get inside the interior of its armor for the moment. The lens starts and you hear what previously was,

now that it's close to you, you can hear there's hundreds and hundreds of small clicks and winding sounds in the inside. There's now a rapid as the lens is trying to find some sort of direction. It is currently blinded. Yeah! Our plan worked perfectly.

How far am I from the thing? Technically, you are 10 feet from it. Do you think I'm in melee range? Probably. The blades have a bit of reach. So you are 10 feet from it. Do you think I'm in melee range? Probably. The blades have a bit of reach. So you are technically. That's a 10-foot blade reach. Well, can we call that,

can I use my action to disengage? You can use your action to disengage, yeah. I mean, disengage generally is an action. Okay, I will disengage and run. All right, which direction? Just straight to the place it just came from. All right. You can get there? Mm-hmm.

All right. You can go one more if you want to. Sure. All right, so there you go. You can still keep it in your visual range, but that's 30 feet back, and now you spin around with your crossbow, not suffering any types of opportunity.

Okay, all right, Molly. All right, can I see anywhere where there seems to be a crack in the armor and make a... You may, yes. Or you can go ahead and try and inspect. I just want to see if there's anything that looks like a good target to just start doing some damage to.

At the moment, it hasn't taken a lot of damage, and it's hard to see if there's any. Like, to start noticing. Is there a plate open or anything at the moment near me? The only plate that's open is the one that has the lens visible, but it's really close to the body, and right now there's a blade that's spinning in its space. I'm going to try and get to the side without the blade.

I'm going to try and chop open one of the plates on the back. I'm going to start hacking away at it. Actually, even with the blades, there's I'm going to open one of the plates on the back. I'm going to start hacking away at it. Okay. Actually, even with the blades, there's an open place right now. Is there a place for me to start poking the tender insides? At the moment, not really.

It's still fresh in battle and it's still armor plates are pretty much protecting all of its. All right, I'm going to try and find one armor plate and just start going to town. All right, so where are you going to attack it from a stretch? I'm going to run to like the, I want to get this left hind quarter, plate and just start going to town. All right, so where are you going to attack it from the direction? I'm going to run to the, I want to get this left hind quarter,

so I'm just going to run over to the opposite side of the, I'm going to flake it with the lollipop. Oh, with the bloodhound, all righty. So you're going to get it right there on top of the door. All righty. So go ahead and take your attacks. All right, first attack is a natural 20. Oh!

Nice, go ahead and make your damage on that and then roll the second attack. That's 2d6 with ice damage. All right, so that's seven, 14, 15, 16, 17 points of damage. 17 points of damage, nice. Next attack with the same sword. Actually, I'm so sorry, that's the wrong sword. That's 17, 18 points of damage.

18 or so, because it's the plus one. Correct. Okay. And then the next one, with Summer's Nance again, is not quite as good. That's a 12 that does not hit. The first strike carves through, and you watch as some of the armor bends inward, and as you cut through, plates bend inward and have to try and retract to protect,

but they're getting locked in place. You've actually bent them to the point where they cannot reform this armored mesh that it can. It's like trying to correct itself, but busted in place. The second strike as you come down, one of the blades catches and parries it off to the side. No impact on the second blow.

Okay, going for a third strike. Go for it. And 14. 14 does not hit. This is a tough mother. You go to strike a third time, you do hit, but it just doesn't cut through. The blade shakes a bit and you pull back, cursing yourself.

Is it worth seeing if it's going to, well, it's blinded, so it's got a disadvantage if it tries to even hit me with an attack, so I'm going to try and back off and climb up that little rumble. For those questioning, even though it is blinded, it lowers its attacks, because some people are like, attacking things with blindness, I have an advantage.

Because it is nothing but a spinning warring of blades, and technically it has multiple forms of sight, it is not taking disadvantage, or not granting advantage on the attacks against it. So I'm going to try and crawl up that, hop up that hill really quickly. All righty. So you try and move this way? Yep.

All right, so you're hopping up this edge. As high as I can get to get out of its range. Okay, so that would be probably over here, best you can to this end. Right over there. All right. So you manage to scoot yourself up to that side climb away. It does swing out towards you. It does have disadvantage on the attack

because of the blindness. So that will bring it to a 13 to hit. Does not hit. Nice. You just managed to back out of the way. I don't have a reaction anymore. Ooh, nice. You just managed to back out of the way. I don't have a reaction anymore. Ooh, nice. All right, so that ends your turn there.

That brings us to Caleb and Jester. Do you? Uh-oh, we can't hear you. Why can't we hear you? Yeah, we can't hear you now. Oh wait, do it again. Can you hear me right now? Yes.

Yeah, okay. I'll go, but I can't see. The map is a pixelated mess of shit from my point of view. After Mollymog cleared the way, is the thing on its own? Is it in a 40-foot cube of empty space, or are any of my allies with it? No, it is surrounded. There's bow to one part of it. It's about 10 feet from Yasha and about 15 feet from Molly. It's a pretty tight from Yasha and about 15 feet from Molly. It's a pretty tight box for a rince. Yeah, yeah.

Slow is out the window. I pull out my clay cat's paw and mutter a few words, and I will pass Maximillian's Earthen's Grasp, and a soil cat's claw comes up off the ground and swipes. It needs to make a strength save. 16. Strength save. Yes. That is going to make a strength save. 16. Strength save. Yes.

That is gonna be a 15. What is your DC? 16. 16. All right, go ahead and pass the dice. And it takes 2d6 damage. Damage. So hold on.

Damage. He's now a New Zealander. 2d6. Takes a five point damage. Five points of damage, got it. Damage. So hold on. Damage to the DC. Takes five points. Five points of damage, got it. All righty, so it is held in place. And it is an action breakout. That it does, okay.

That ends your turn, Caleb, are you going to stay back in the corner where you are? If I can squish even one square further away from it, I will. All right, you are backed up into the squish even one square further away from it, I would. All right, you are backed up into the corner as far away as you can get. That ends Caleb's turn, Jester's up. What are you guys doing with Jester?

First off, we're going to have the spiritual weapon take a swipe right at where the plate's already broken and hit it again. Okay. Which is, I believe, a, where is, where is, it's a bonus action, and it's a plus seven to hit. Oh, that's not it, it's around here somewhere. There it is.

It's a plus seven to hit. Yeah, so. That's a, seven, yeah. 15. Yeah, 15. All right, that was 15 to hit. Wait, wait, wait, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. All right, that was 15 to hit. Wait, wait, wait, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Yeah, that's not hit.

The light hop swings down, and then just bounces off the armor, the spiritual weapon is not able to penetrate its armored hide. Damn it. That's your bonus action. Now as an action. I don't think this is going to do anything. Playing with your friends, D&D killers.

Yeah, I was thinking of trying maybe a... Simple Sacred Flame? We could do Sacred Flame or, if you were near, I'd say Cure Wounds. Or we could just do a Guiding Bolt. Hey, that's a classic. Mm-hmm. We're going to do Guiding Bolt.

You roll this one, because I am like, okay. Okay. So yeah. We're going to do Guiding Bolt. Guiding Bolt. That's a 26. 26 definitely hits. Go ahead and roll damage on that.

That's 4d6 radiant damage. Yes, and the next attack on it has advantage. Oh! Go ahead, Vindic. Just there. There we go. Okay. I have to see that.

Ooh! 14, is that any pluses? No, just 4d6. 14. 14 points of damage, nice. As the released guiding bolt slams into the side of it, you see the blast of divine energy explode some of the plates inward,

and now you see this glittering energy that's entwining its body, giving you a glimmer of some of the weak points to help you hit where it'll hurt the most. Does that finish Jester's turn? Do you want to stay where she is or are you going to move? She's, I feel like we should open up a little bit. hurt the most. Does that finish Jester's turn? Do you want to stay where she is or are you going to move? She's, I feel like we should open up a little bit.

I think she's going to maybe see if she can crawl over to the door so she can hide behind it in case something bad happens. Okay, so she tries to move into the door. The door actually opens and closes, Matt? Yeah. In fact, she might be smart, well, she has to keep the spiritual weapon in visual range, Matt? Yeah. In fact, she might be smart. Well, she has to keep the spiritual weapon in visual range, right?

Yeah. Okay. So she's going to just use that as some cover. Okay. Sounds good. So that finishes Jester's turn. Top of the round, Yasha. Okay, so I'm going to pick myself up. Mm-hmm.

Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick myself up. Puh, puh, puh, puh, puh. That's half your movement, so you still have 20 feet of movement. Do you wish to? Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, Great. That's right. Okay. Up the butt. Does it have a butt mat? You cannot discern what appears to be any sort of rear end or exhaust port. Does it poop? You'll find out, I'm sure. 22.

22 hits. Go ahead and roll damage on that first strike. That's a lot. Everyone poops. We can't see the spanked duck. Oh wait, no. Everybody poops unless they're an android. So, because then they must be destroyed. Oh yeah, sure, that's right. Poop-poop.

16. 16 points of damage, ooh! Cutting through bits and pieces of it, nice. That's your first strike on it, as you jam down, grinding off, you see some of the little plates pull away from it, and once again, lock, unable to push back into place. There's small places where you're starting to buckle

parts of its exterior armor. So its AC actually does go down by one. Ooh! Oh! Ooh! Okay. Okay. That's your first strike, you get a second attack.

So we now have at least a 17 more hit. That's not an advantage, right? a second attack. So now at least a 17 will hit. That's not an advantage, right? You do because you're currently flaking with Beau. Because we're flanking, bitch. Okay. Yeah. That's a 25. 25 does hit, go ahead and roll damage.

Not an extra because of Not Defying Fury. Correct. It's just 2d6 plus five. Okay, that's 11. 11 points of damage, nice, Yasha. Busting it out, all right, that finish your turn? Just a reminder that everyone is rolling at advantage while the cat's paw holds it.

Ooh. Oh. Oh, because it's restrained? Mm-hmm. Right. It's hand restrained right now. Good to know. All righty, so that finishes Yasha's turn, it's now Fjord's go.

Do a cowboy assaunter. Behind the, I go under the lollipop, and I use the magical field of the lollipop to make it like me walking through a glitter fog machine. And I walk up to him. I walk up to him. All right, so you're moving over. I walk up to him. I walk up to him. All right, so you're moving over.

I walk up. And I'm going to attack with my falchion. All right, so if you wanted. Go for it. So go ahead and make two strikes with the falchion. First attack with advantage. I'm sorry, Travis. That's exactly how we talk.

I'll take that 18 plus that seven. All right, that hits. The first attack, that's a d8 plus? Plus hex. A d8 plus four plus hex. Then I'm going to do Booming Blade with my action. Is that not how this works? No.

Okay, no, I'm just going to do damage. Booming Blade is a cantrip that only gives you one attack as part of the action, or you can take the... That's okay. Six plus two plus five, so eight plus five. All right, that's 13 damage. See my math? Good, good.

I do have, I'm so excited. I know. So as Fjord comes up, holding the falchion hand, swings down, whack, carving through, you can see the shadows of the hex helping the blade dig in that much more, you have a second attack. Okay, I was still advantage red. Yep.

Yuck, yuck, yuck. I'll take that 16. Meanwhile, Travis is somewhere singing Dear Theodosia. Yeah, somewhere he's just getting a nosebleed while this happens. Four plus four plus five, so 13. 13 points of damage? Yep. That hits again.

With that, with four just carving into it twice with the blade each time, you can see as the falchion's carving through each section, more and more armored pieces are pushing inward. Not enough to lower its AC, but it is taking more and more damage and slowly you're piercing its heavily protected exterior. Do I have any more movement? Fjord would have, yeah, 10 more feet. He's just going to back up, back to that gate a little bit.

Just one or two steps? Two, if he can. All right, still in melee. He's still in melee? It's a ten-foot range. Okay, okay, Two, if you can. All right, still in melee. Oh, he's still in melee? It's a ten-foot range. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. All right, so then it's your turn? Yep, that's Fjord's turn.

That brings us to the Gatekeeper Construct. So the lens has retracted back into its armorer and you hear the sound. The lens comes out and it has cleared the tar from its lens. Clef, you sick bastard! Damn it! So he did think of that. He pulled that out of his nose. He did! Yeah, he said he did have Vell's save, that lying old bastard.

I don't know about that. The lens retracts and pops out the backside, immediately scanning the source of what's currently clutching it in its dirt-driven arcane paw. The blade arms on the top retract in, and instead you watch as these two heavy iron spears lock into place and both go firing outward towards Caleb.

Oh no, not my sweet boy. They have disadvantage because it is restrained. That with disadvantage is going to be an 18 to hit for the first one. Shield. All right. So it misses. All righty, the second one?

16. 16 and 18, so 16 plus eight, it's going to be 24. Oh, that will hit, those will hit. All right, so the first one, your shield, you see it ricochets off and floats off in the background, spinning. The second one, however, pierces through the shield and hits you in the chest. That's going to be 17 points of piercing damage.

Good, good, good. And you are pinned to the wall. It actually pierced through your chest and is now holding you into the stone. Your movement is zero, and you are considered restrained against the wall. I'll also have to make a concentration check. You do, so go ahead and make a constitution check. With the damage taken, it has to be at least a ten or higher. Well done.

I rolled a three. No, and with that, the paw is broken. Shit. Well, it's still there, it's just not holding it. No, it's gone. No, it's gone. You've lost concentration of the spell. It did recharge its shrapnel blast. He's really wanting advantage on all my attacks. Oh, but I have Yasha Flanking. Okay.

All right, so that being the case, it's going to go ahead and that finishes its turn. It's going to stay put because now the blades now grind out again and begin just whirring and spinning around its orb-like body. That brings us to Beau. Beau, at the top of your turn, because you are within five feet of it,

you automatically take Whirling Blade damage by being in proximity. Matt, was that 17 points of damage? That was, yes. I'm also in proximity. Yes, you do, so at the top of your turn, you'll take it as well. That's six points of slashing damage to you, Beau.

Now take your turn. Five, six, six. Apply changes. D& six, six. Apply changes. D&D, be on! My mustache is falling off, so I better hold it on with another mustache. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, stop, just, just.

Fucking sim! Okay, I'm having internet problems. Yeah. Phew. Okay, I get an advantage on this attack, right? You do, because you're flanking. Okay, I'm going to try and, once again, get up in those plates.

Get up on the plates! That one's cocked underneath. Okay. Undercock. I'll take, no, it was cocked underneath, it was tilted. It was undercocked. Okay. That dice is weird for that, no, it was cocked underneath, it was tilted. It was undercocked. Okay. That dice is weird for that, because then you rolled the d20 twice.

I won't use it. All right, so roll the second one. Okay, 17 plus seven. For the second strike? I rolled both at the same, no, first strike. The first roll you have is a four on the top, so roll for your second die. Okay.

Just keep it kosher. Okay, it's still an 18. 18 hits, yeah. All right, so go ahead and make your strike with your staff. Okay. Four. Four points of damage.

Plus another four. All right, so that's eight. As your staff strikes across it, the wood of it, all damaging, doesn't seem to be having as strong an impact as you'd hope against its armored form. Because it's not magical? It seems to be resistant to something

that is not magical. Oh no. Even though I still hit, can I try and stun it with my Stunning Strike? Sure, let's go ahead and I'm pretty sure. I haven't hit anything in so long. I know, I know. I just want to stun something. I've had such bad luck the past two fights.

I'm so sorry. I haven't been such a good monk. That should be kept in consideration. Yeah, that's right, buddy. All right, so the stun is... So far we've learned today that Fjord sounds like this. Or hurr hurr hurr hurr. Because it mentions the key of the inside of your body. So far we've learned today that Fjord sounds like this. Because it makes sense that the key of the inside of the body,

there is no key, but there is a magical core. I'll say that while you strike the body, attempt to stun it, while you're not affecting the key of a soul, the key that you're expending might interfere its central energy core, so it has to make a constitution saving throw. Okay. That's going to be a 17.

What's the DC? Yeah. It's a 12 plus five, I'm sorry. Saves. Yeah, saves. You have another attack. Uh-huh, I'm going to do that. Still have advantage, right? You do.

Man, it would be really awesome when that monk ability that's the core of my class actually works. 17 plus seven. That hits, go ahead and roll damage for that. Second strike with your staff. Six. All right, six, that's...

Plus another four, so 10 total. Sorry. All right, so it takes five points of damage as the second strike is still somewhat deflected by the armor of its body. Can I do, since I have two hits, can I do Extract Aspects? You can. Spend a ki point. So you spend a ki point,

since we have changed our route, it does not make a saving throw, you just get to learn. I get to learn two things now? At level six, you get to learn two things. Okay. Learn one right now. Can I learn its lowest saving throw ability? The lowest saving throw ability it has would be charisma. Useless.

Not against some spells. Yeah. Hey, Molly, you want to mock this asshole to death? I think it would still go poorly, but let's see if it comes to it. Okay, I'm going to take my last attack. Okay, go for it. Still at advantage, right? Yep.

Okay, I hit with a 15 plus seven, so 22. All right. And then I have d6 now. Five damage. Five damage reduced to two. All right, this time you do hit with your fist again and it scrapes through the armor and you're bleeding at the knuckles from the impact.

It's just hard to break through its shell. Feeling so useful, you guys. This is a rough fight for a monk at level five, unfortunately. I got a crazy idea. Does that finish your turn, Beau? Poor Caleb. Yeah, I'm going to stay exactly where I am.

I'm going to stay exactly where I am. I'm going to stay exactly where I am. Okay, finishes Beau's turn. Nott and Molly, you're up. You first, please. I'm just going to scoot around and fire a crossbow at it. Go for it. That's a 15 plus seven to hit. That hits, go ahead and roll damage.

Is it within melee and stuff? It is. Well, that wasn't good at all. Hey, Mo. So that's eight. Eight points of damage? All right, reduced in half because it is an unmanageable source. That's four points of piercing to it. The bolt disappears through its armor. I'll use my Fury of the Small. That's another five points.

Are you using my friend's success to try and make me feel better? No, he actually only did four points. Sam only did four. Oh, you're trying to use my friend's failure to make me feel better. The bolt impacts and pierces through most of the armor and gets stuck there. It gets stuck in some of the gears and you see some sparks from the inside, but that doesn't fully pierce its shell. Hmm. Terrible. I will... Geez, I can't really do anything. You know what, I'll take out my last burning bolt, that might be magical, load it up and fire that.

Go for it. That is a magical bolt. Ooh, but that doesn't hit. I just wasted it, it's 14. The bolt doesn't impact, it just glides off the armor, lands somewhere in the distance, you don't know if it's retreatable or not yet. Damn it. It's impossible to take you seriously.

What are you talking about? I know, I really like, I can't even. I'm having like, I'm rooting for Nott, and then I just look at you and I feel weird. Molly, you're up. I'm going to duck back a little. Are you going to duck back a little bit? I'm going to run in and try and do

a little bit more damage in here. All righty. I'm coming in and taking three more shots. Go for it. Yeah! I got it, it's all good. That one misses. All right, so you move in to that moment there.

Go for it. That one hits, that's a 19, so. All right, so first strike just dodges, all right, moves out of the way. The second strike actually makes an impact, so go ahead and roll for that. And let's see what this is at, let's do, come on, yeah, that's okay.

Eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, that's 12 points of damage. 12 points of damage, all righty. Carves through with the second strike and the- It's a fight. And for a third, slightly less exciting attack. Natural 20. This is your offhand, so it's not a magical weapon. But it's magicked up.

Correct, so the extra right damage is magical. The actual blade will still be halved. Okay, that's fine. So roll the d6 for your blade. Mm-hmm. Get magicked up. Two plus? To three, so that's five.

Five reduced to two, so two damage plus this doubled. Well, no, sorry, the two was doubled, so it's because it was a crit. Oh, so. So four plus three is seven. Or just back to five. Sure, we'll go, so five damage, and then? And then six, because this is double.

So 11 points of damage. All right, you're watching, now the armor is reduced to 16. As you're carving away at its armored shell, it's starting to look pretty heard, starting to, you see it shifting rapidly, trying to figure out its situation and tactically maneuver best it can. I'm going to see if I can hop back up out of, am I ever getting out of melee

or am I not getting out of melee when it's a? If you back all the way up to here, you can, or all the way up to the top. You'll still get an attack of opportunity on me, though. Yes, I will. Without disadvantage now. At the moment, no. Yikes. You know, I'm going to stick around for now.

Okay. I'm just going to make sure that I'm going to keep a flanking point, and I just want to make sure that I'm like, yeah, I'm going to move a little bit so that we're spread out around it, so it has to make some decisions. Can he use the rest of his movement to work on his Jester accent?

Sure. That's going to be a lot of movement. Caleb and Jester, you're up next. So Caleb, you're currently pinned to the wall. You're muted also, I can't hear you. What comes after Jester and I in the Yasha does. Yasha does, and then the thing?

Yes, Yasha, Fjord, and then the thing. And Jester is with you. Yeah, I know. Okay, so I am having trouble thinking straight because there is a blade through my gut and or a ribcage, so I just grasp the cat's paw again. I don't try to pull myself loose, and I cast Maximil D'Earthen Paw again. Again? Okay, then. Yeah. Strength save. Strength save as the paw reaches out once more to grab it.

That is a 19. That saves. 14 plus five. Sorry, man. It's fine. All righty. So the paw, you're still maintaining concentration, but it did not seem to grasp it at this moment. All right, that ends Caleb's turn. Jester's up.

No, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that. Don't, go back. Sorry turn, Jester's up. No, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that, don't, go back. Sorry, keep going. Oh yeah. Try something offensive or something healing-based, do you think? How are you doing, Caleb? Bad.

Hmm? Bad. Bad. Okay, so unless we're going to do this, we're going to run out and cast Healing Word on Caleb. Okay, so step back through the doorway right there. Yeah, and it's a level one. All right, so a d4 plus four to Caleb.

Yes, one d4 plus four. So that's seven points of. So Caleb, you heal seven points. Yes! That's bonus action from Jester. What's next? You can only use a cantrip since you've cast a bonus action spell.

So I can. Also the spiritual weapon since you've cast a bonus action spell. So I can... Also the Spiritual Weapon? Spiritual Weapon's a bonus action. You already used the Healing Word, unfortunately. But I can use it in my action for the bonus action. It doesn't work that way. You can't up a bonus action to an action? No. Man. I'm going to try something. I can't cast anything higher than level one, either, can I?

Or a cantrip. I can only cast a cantrip at this point. Okay. I would have done that in the reverse order if I'd been thinking about things. What do I got? I've got, oh. Caleb's healed a little bit. Caleb's healed and that's good.

A little bit. Let's, I mean, do we want to try, do you think? Yeah, I think I say give it a go. Let's try Toll the Dead. All righty, constitution saving throw. Toll the Dead. Wisdom for toll of the dead. You point at one creature you can see within range and the sound of it says,

you've succeeded at a wisdom saving throw, take 1d8. It is wisdom, you are right. So that would put it at a 14, because it has no wisdom modifier. 15, so it takes the damage. If the target is missing any of its hit points, it instead takes 1d12 necropic damage. But you're level five, so it takes the damage. If the target is missing any of its hit points, it instead takes 1d12 necrotic damage.

Whoa. But you're level five, so technically. Technically. It's a fifth level character, so it's 2d12. Technically. All right. That's 17 points of necrotic damage. That for a cantrip.

Boom. It's really good. Hey, it's not too bad. Not too bad. All right, that's going to finish Jester's turn. Does she want to move? I got it, I got it, I got it. I think she's going to back up again.

Back into the door? Yeah. You got it, so Jester's just on the side there. All right, finish as Jester's go. Yasha, you're up. Okay. Oh boy. So I am going to attack with my...

The top of your turn, you take blade damage because of your proximity to it. That's 10, you take 10 points of piercing damage, so reduced to five. Reduced to five. You're a beast, you're great. Okay, okay, okay. All right, so, question. Yes.

I would like to use, try to use the Dispel Magic portion of my Magician's Judge. Now? I don't know, is that bad? I don't know, can you get in there? Is the guts exposed? Is there enough gut to hit? I mean, there are a couple of pockets

where you can see inside of it, but you don't see the power source. It's risky. Okay, I'm going to wait. You're going to wait? I'm going to wait. Okay, so you're just taking a strike with it? You have advantage because you're flanked with Beau. I think that's the best thing I've done this whole fight.

He's flanking. Some fights aren't great for every class, I'm sorry. 19. 19 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. I'm going to give it a 16 to hit for every class, I'm sorry. 19. 19 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. I only have 16 to hit, so that's not bad. Yep, 16 AC. Okay. Ooh!

17 points. 17 points, ooh! All right. Carving bash with the blade, you have a second strike, if you'd like. I would like. Would like. Does that also have advantage or no? It is because you're flanking.

Okay. Ooh. God, over and over again. 22. Yeah, that hits, go ahead and roll damage again. Okay. 15, 13, 16. 33 points of damage. Oh! Yasha doesn't mess around. All right, that finishes your turn?

Yes. All right, Fjord's up. Okay, Fjord's going to walk up. Yeah, I'm a warlock. He's going. That's what he sounds like. Hang on, first he's going to do... That's all I hear. I don't think this is a concentration thing, it's a bonus action.

He's going to do Hexblade's Curse. Correct, you can do that. It's pronounced He-X. He-X-Blade's Curse. It's so much fun to make fun of him when he's not here. I don't know. I think at some point you may need another mustache. I feel like that adds up.

I gain a bonus to damage rolls that equals my proficiency modifier. So additional three damage per strike. Damage. Should have done this forever ago. Yeah, but now you know. But I don't know. You learn the classes you go. I'm not a warlock. Exactly.

And first attack, still with advantage, right? No, you're not flanking with anybody. Oh, you're not flanking with anybody. Oh, he's not. He is not. You have to be directly across from each other. So first attack with the falchion. Yes! That's seven.

So those two attacks there. Oh wait, sorry, but I'll take it. Those first two attacks, 17 and 14? Yeah, both would hit, so go ahead and roll damage on each. So d8 plus six. d8 plus seven on each attack, plus a d6 on each. So go ahead and roll that. Six plus seven, so 13 for the first one.

Same, 13 on the second one. Nice. Starting to look pretty rough now. There's parts of it's like breaking down a bit and you see it's shaking and you see little sparks on the inside as gears are starting to connect where they're not supposed to and grind against each other. Does that finish Fjord's turn? Yeah, can he back up again?

Five feet or 10? 10. One more and I'll take an attack of opportunity, up to you. I mean. If he does an attack of opportunity, if I move Fjord back, then we get a sentinel strike, right? Technically, if he takes it. Yeah, let's do it, sorry Fjord.

He hasn't taken any damage. He hasn't taken any damage, step back. He still has armor of agathys, too. Actually, step all the way back might as well, because you can roll your run back there. I think this is as far as he can go, movement speed-wise. No, he can move back further than that.

Sure. Okay. It's not going to take him to the back of opportunity. It's currently focused on everything else around it. What? Okay, okay, okay. Okay. Master temptation. All right, that finishes Fjord's turn?

Yes, it does. All right. This entity is going to go ahead and attempt to shift back this way, I think. Spinning into there. Which means Beau, because it moves back and pushes the, Beau and Molly both get attacks of opportunity. Do I get one?

You do not, because it's still in melee with you. Do you get to try and make it not move? She does. Do I still get advantage because Flink? No, because it's moved out of that range. Okay. Yeah, that's a 17 plus seven, so 24. 24 hits, so go ahead and roll damage.

It does not move. On BB. Side and roll. That's an eight on an eight plus four, so 12 damage. It's all reduced to six, got it. And he does not move. Nope, he gets stuck there. The bane of all gems everywhere.

I don't still get to take my attack of opportunity even though that happened. No, you did not technically move out of it. It's sticky. It's one of those weird No, he did not technically move out of it. It's sticky. It's one of those weird things where he doesn't technically move beyond the range, but he tries to. He tried to, and I'm trying to make a jab.

I'll let you have it, sure. No, I'll take no advantage. You have no advantage. I thought I might be flanked. Currently, no, you need something right in that corner to flank you. That's fine, I'm up there. That's a 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24 to hit.

Roll damage. Mm-hmm. That's a five, six, seven, eight, nine. That's nine points of damage. That's the first thing I've done all damn far. Oh no, so five, yeah, nine. Well, it angrily is going to go ahead and open to do its shrapnel blast.

Yeah. Where? To Ford. Ah, Caleb! Oh no, he's dead already! Oh god! How long have you been like that? It was that powerful.

So I need Molly, Beau, Ford, and Caleb, and tentatively Jester as well. Ah, she really is. But she behind the door? Well, she didn't close the door there. She stepped into the space to maintain eye contact. Open the door on your mystery date. Yeah, so that'll...

Caleb, you have to make a dex save. Dex save? Save, please. All right. 20. Yes! That's a success. 14. That is a failure.

Roll a 19. You're getting this dual wall! Oh, that's dex save? 22 for me. Success. Oh, you're not there. I spun myself like a pinwheel. Fjord and Jester, if you could.

Marisha, do one for Fjord. Don't fight. Fjord, Gil., if you could. Marisha, do one for Fjord. Don't fight. Fjord, Gil. Oh, good, good. 17 for Fjord. 10 for Jester. Okay, so everyone saves except for Fjord. It's 27 points of piercing damage halved

to be 13 points of piercing damage to everybody. You rolled a 14. A 14, no you do not, so you take the full 27 points of piercing damage. Okay, so 14 points of piercing damage. 13. I had 27 hit points left. 13 for you.

No shit. 27 for Jester. Beau is unconscious again. How about you, KK? Low. Low. Low, okay. Low. Still pin.

Jester took a full 27. How's she? Jester took a full 27? Well, she rolled low for her dexterity. So yeah, 27 points of damage. Is that the whole, or did you not do the whole thing? All right. I'm up, I'm fine.

All right, and that up, I'm fine. All right, and that's its action. It is locked in place and it can't move. Its speed is zero, frustratingly. All righty. Caleb, I need you to make another concentration check, please, from the damage you took. What? Nothing's up.

I thought your other cat hand. That failed last time. It failed, but can you still try it every turn after, or is it a one-time cast thing? It can break out of, use the strength save to break out of it, and it exists, but if I fail my concentration check,

it goes, right? But you've recast it. The second time, it succeeded immediately. Right. But when you create it in space, it stays there. It just stays there? Yeah, and then as an action, you can cause it to try and do things. When they break out, the restraining target can use it. Great, great. Then that means it's just standing there? Right. Make a concentration check to see if you maintain the spell.

Yes, sir. Higher than a ten. 12. 12, all right, you succeed Higher than a ten. 12. 12, all right, you succeed, you maintain concentration. All righty, that finishes the turn. Beau, you're up first. Do the first thing you do, Beau. Beau first takes a... What, a death saving throw? What is the thing I do?

Well, you don't have to roll. You take damage from proximity to it, so you automatically fail a death saving throw from the blades carving into your now unconscious body. Do I roll again? Yeah, we're going to have to potion it. death saving throw from the blades carving into your now unconscious body. Shh! Do I roll again? Yeah, we're going to have to potion it. Can I take a roll I just used? Yeah, you roll your death saving throw. 14.

Yeah, so that's a failure and a success. All righty, that brings us to Nott and Molly. You want to go first? Sure. Got any thoughts? I mean, I don't have much, so I'll just walk up there, poke around the corner, shoot a crossbow bolt, do my thing. All righty.

That's a big hit, 25. It'll do, go ahead and roll damage with Sneak Attack. Ugh. Shouldn't have brought more char. 10 halved. Five points of piercing damage on the first strike. Terrible. Do you want a bonus action attack as well, or?

I guess. I mean, these attacks are so weak. Just don't know what else to do. She can bonus this in turn. I don't have anything else to do. Yeah, I guess I'll shoot another one. Why not? That hits, 23. 23, I guess I'll shoot another one. Why not?

That hits, 23. 23, go ahead and that's 1d6 plus. That's another six points halved. That's a three, all righty. It's still sparks are flying, it's starting to shake. Molly, top of your turn, the swirling blades spin around and you take eight points of slashing damage. It's your turn.

Four, five, six, seven, eight points of slashing damage. It's your turn. Four, five, six, seven, eight points of slashing damage. Oof, that's rough. Okay, I'm going to take two swipes at, and I'm going to try and move, I'm going to try and move somewhere where I'm flanking. Is there any flanking available at the moment? At the moment, for you, if you move over Beau's body. So that would be probably a...

It's a tough call. I'll let you do it. If you want to, you'll have to be standing over her unconscious body. I was about to say, is there any way that can give her a little cover at the very least? Probably not. I'll move in and then move around. Well, no, goddamn it. It's up to you. Yeah, I'm going to take a couple shots

and see how this goes. Go for it. Take those shots, Molly. Yeah, because I could use some hits that are all right. Take those shots, Molly Mock. That's what we're doing. First hit. Don't throw away your shot. I'm not throwing away my shot.

That's a 22 to hit. That hits. Let's hit that first thing. That's a 12 points of damage. 12 points of damage, all righty. Next strike. Next strike. That's definitely a hit, it's like 24 to 24.

Yep, roll damage on this one. Six, that's 10 points of damage? 10 points of damage. How do you want to do this? Oh! So lucky. The blades are spinning. I'm just going to go and I've got that one really soft blade

and I'm rolling it and I want to see that one little opening, and I want it to bend. The sword just bends and does that Chinese martial art thing where it goes and just pops all the way into the center of it. I go wrist deep into the thing. The edges of the armor scrape against your flesh, pushing and cutting past skin, causing blood to just drip down your arm.

But this is a natural state for you. As the arm pushes into the center, there's a flash of blue light in the interior of its armored shell. You see, it's almost like a glow on the inside of a cracked, dark orb. As you see, all the individual sections where the plate armors meet suddenly just glow with bright, vibrant blue-white light,

and then go dark, and the whole metal object hits the ground, all the legs go limp, and it rolls a little bit to one side, now inert and no longer functioning as a construct. Oh! That was a Chow Yun Fat moment. I got a new diamond. Apparently.

Does it look familiar, motherfucker? Oh. Is it the snitch? It's the... It's the nega sn Oh. Is it the snitch? It's the... It's the nega snitch. The nega snitch. Where did you get that? I found the place where the snitch came from,

I had them make me one out of iron. Iron. I love it. Boom, motherfucker. We'll see how it fares. It's been mid-leap, I've done okay today. X versus several. Gil has been a help today.

All righty. So, as you all take a moment, Beau is bleeding out. We're immediately going to help. Jester runs up. Jester runs up and casts Cure Wounds. Does she have the Cure Wounds? Yeah, we got first-level Leia on hand. At first level, because I feel like that's what she would do. We were getting tired of this dying thing. Yeah, we got first-level A on hands. At first level, because I feel like that's what she would do.

You really get tired of this dying thing. Like this unconscious thing. No, really, I mean, that was, you did some good stuff in there. You kept it sitting. Yasha. Yeah? Could you please come cast Pull This Lamp Post Out of My Stomach?

Yes, I go over and I'm, here. Yasha puts her foot up on the wall and with one big yank, pulls it out of my stomach. Yes, I go over and I'm, here. Yasha puts her foot up on the wall and with one big yank, pulls it out of your torso, Caleb. It was about two inches from the side of your body and thrust through your abdomen. You begin to bleed, but Jester comes over and helps close up that wound before you bleed out too much further.

I'm going to run back and see what was back over there. Yeah, I want to take a look in the other room, too, and give them a proper look. Glancing in the chamber, that is another closed gate that is bent inward from the repeated slamming of this centurion trying to make its way in. Looking past the inside, you see what looks to be

four decomposed bodies that are also. Leeming at 12? 12 hit points. Make an attempt to do so. Leeming, you get 10 hit to be four decomposed bodies that are also Leaving at 12. Go ahead and make an attempt to do so. Leave, you get 10 hit points, and you get 12. Dope! Who gets what now? You get 10. I get 12.

13. From Chester? From Chester. These prison locks are just a pain in the butt. You haven't encountered something quite so heavily fortified as these cells. Caleb, I need you to come open this door! I'm going to walk over to the door and start beating it with a sword. Could I go look in the area that's...

Make a strength check. Can't dex cut this thing? Can't just pop it in with a metal? Yasha, I need you to come kick in this door! Well, if this big thing couldn't kick it in, how's that? I'm coming. Eight. Eight, it. Aw, eight. Eight, it is not budging. You're bigger in spirit and heart.

Okay, I'll try to open the door. All right, you go over, see where Molly has failed, and you go to try and fill that void. Go ahead and make a strength check. I believe in you. I believe in you. Oh, wait! Oh. No, go ahead. It's not going to budge.

I'm going to use this, Matt. I'm going to try to bend fate and try to re-pick the lock. Okay. It's a little late, but I'll allow it, sure. I know. Why not? Go for it. It's a little late, but it'll allow it, sure. I know. Why not? Go for it. It's a lot. It's 26. 26, okay. As Yasha comes forward and slams her foot into it,

it jostles the lock just enough for you to slip past the tumblers, and with a it opens a few inches in the inside. The bottom of it is scraping against the stonework. The way it's been bashed and bent has forced it out of the frame of the door. It's going to take a bit more force to push it open enough to move inside, but you manage to do so. The three of us will get that door open. Caleb stops mid-semantic gesture and says,

Oh, fuck this, and goes back to the first door and has a short rest. Okay. Yeah, Beau is going to deliriously, still really messed up, like a drunk person doing a pointless task, is going to try and scoop up some ball bearings that she threw. And then after, maybe she picks up like 10. Make an investigation check.

Okay. One day we'll get you a magnet. Drei. Yeah. 12. How many ball bearings did you throw out? I tossed my baggie, my pouch. All right.

And did one of these things. Okay. So I'm going to get my pouch back. You get your pouch back and you manage to scoop up, you have, we'll say, 814 ball bearings. Ooh! Okay. And then after a deliriously tired of scooping up ball bearings, I'm going to stumble back and collapse next to Caleb and also take a short rest.

Okay. May I go over and see the room where this thing was staying in on the other side? Sure, so you make your way to the opposite end. Anything near the bodies? Make an investigation check. This I'm good on. One. You find...

At first you think it's dried compost, but you eventually realize, no, it's just very old human excrement. Ooh, that's poop. At some point, we'll cast Detect Magic and evolve it around. You found prison poop. Prison poop, old prison poop. Yes. Yasha, you head off to the other side

where the gate is open, and as you go inside, you can see the interior of this chamber is scraped up as the rest of them from where this sentry was attempting to just scan and break out. On the inside, make an investigation check. Okay. First time for you?

I think it is. 11. 11. 11, okay. Looking around on the inside, you take a glance, and there are these little pieces of things everywhere, some hard, some soft, and you start pulling it up, and you notice that a lot of these are just tiny, torn slivers of blanket or sheet or pillow.

The other hard pieces are tiny shards of bone. Whatever prisoners who were in here who could not keep this at bay, their remains have been time and time again ground, battered, and destroyed by this creature as it ran through, and it has torn apart their bedding and their bodies. But beyond that, nothing else of interest.

Okay. Back at the front gate, leading against Beauregard. What is that? Is that your blood? I don't know. Or is that mine? It might be yours. It's hard to tell.

Fjord pats you on the shoulder next to you and goes, hey, I just want to let you know, I appreciate what you did. Taking the brunt of it, because it didn't even hurt me. That's very true, I'm going to remember that. That's because of you. You're the best, Fjord. I know.

All righty, so what else are you guys doing? Should we retrieve the magic core or anything as proof of what we did here? I mean, the fact that we're going to leave the door open and it's not coming out, but yeah, we'll go get the core. I figure we're going to do a thorough investigation of the whole thing once Caleb can do a Detect Magic. Okay.

While Caleb's taking a moment to finish his short rest, you begin to peer inside and pull back some of the loose and armored plates. Now that the machine is not open, there's not tension holding it together, and you now see that each of these armored plates on the inside are attached to its own arm-like pull. Once it had collapsed, all the armor plates

went limp and fell open. It's almost like a tension-held bit of armor that it could expand and push out different areas to leave openings and then retract it again. It's a pretty ingenious design, and you can see why Tinkertop is a talented man, though flawed sometimes in his designs. This is pretty revolutionary.

It's like a weaponized version of one of those balls that you throw up in the air and it turns inside out. Similar to that, I guess you could say. Looking inside, it's hundreds of these little poles and gears and little servos, and a lot of them are ground and bent and damaged from the impact that you left inside. There in the center, you see a cracked open and partially destroyed, looks like a bluish crystal sphere.

That was where your final blow impacted to destroy it. Keep cutting off the arms so we can get to it and just slowly make it out. Eventually, it's yanking and bending pieces and pulling them out and things are, on the inside, with the damage you've done, it's not too hard to pry a few off, but you manage to get to it and there is

the cracked and shattered crystal core. Couple questions. So I really like some of the armor pieces that he has on his shoulders, like with the skulls and things. Is that just part of his? That's just part of the miniature. That was my representation for it, that I did not have a mini of a spherical ball made of armor.

I'm sorry, it's the best I can do for size and intimidation. Been very busy, didn't have time to make an entire mini of tiny spherical metal ball covered in flames. Sorry. It's fine, it's fine. What are you even doing? Your mustache is traveling.

D&D. Well, let's take this stuff back up to the ward. We've had a short rest, do you want to do a quick, and we'll do a quick search once you're, can you do a detect magic spell, Caleb? Yeah, I have a little bit left in me. Mollymauk, will you help me up, please? Oh, yep, no, come on. That's all right. No, here's my pillow. Fuck you, Molly. Go fuck yourself, Beau. Come on.

Okay. Come on. Okay. All right. Close me at the thing. So you do a scan of Detect Magic through the room. Over the next 15 minutes or so, you do a thorough pass around. Nothing magic catches your attention. I mean, most of the interior here is,

actually, no, that's not true. Very faint magical auras from two ember light torches that are on the wall, that faint red light that you've seen. It's essentially a very low light, ever-burning torch. Cool. I turn to Mollymauk and say, yeah, the only thing magical is here is you, friend. Pat pat on the cheek. Then I wander back over to Beauregard and I go to sleep again.

All right, come on, we're going to get you guys out of here. We're going to go. Okay. All right, you pick yourselves up and you make your way back to the heavy metal door, which on this side, as you're looking at it, you can see the heavy scraping across it as this ball's also been pushing repeatedly

into this one exit point. As you approach, it is still closed and presumably locked. Oh. We're done! Let us out! Gods! You hear some shifting behind it, and eventually you hear the familiar grinding

of chains against metal. It opens slightly and the guards peer out. You're alive. I'll hold up the glowing crystal. You should see the other one. Go check it out. A few of the gnomish guards push past and head down. Another one of the gnomish guards goes, Well, fuckingen aye. Is it done? You hear voices go, and you guys watch as the other gnomes

rush past and say, Sure enough, they killed the thing. Just like, all right. I'll just lead you back to our boss. Come on, follow me. Beauregard just goes, I just, oh, it took a lot out of us. And I pass out in Yasha's arms. Okay.

Do I buy this? You have to carry me. I got you, I got you. Okay. Fireman carries you. I kind of wanted to have an insight versus deception check on you. Make an insight check. All right. I ain't going to mess with you, I just want to know. Nope, that's an eight, unless you roll really poorly. As I'm holding her, I will cast Healing Hands. Aw.

Okay. So go ahead and roll for that. Deep tissue. Yeah. As an action agent, regain a number of hit points equals your level, so. All right. You get an extra five hit points.

You make me feel so warm inside. Come on, Nott. All right. All right. How many hit points? Five. Okay. All right. On our way out? Five. Five, okay. All five. On our way out, do I see my bolt anywhere?

Make an investigation check as you glance around the space. 12. 12? Because it's a small space, you do manage to recover it. So you get one bolt back. It did not trigger. Oh, thank god, so it only triggers if it hits?

Do you have two anesthesia? It seems if it hits a target, an intended target, possibly, or something hard enough. He rolled low enough where it didn't seem to truly impact. Okay. Make a Fu Manchu check. You guys slowly make your way, guided back by the various guards of the Gearhole Prison,

to the office of the Warden Helm, where both Rissa and her father are waiting. As they walk in, you glance over and can see Clef, who's like, Joe, how'd it go? And you look with a thing. Oh, you broke it? We did, we may need that later, sadly. I am simultaneously impressed and kind of sad,

but impressed mostly. It did work us over quite well. It was an incredible device. It really was. You could have told us that I had a protective windshield wiper device. It's more for when it's raining, or you know, I didn't think it would be for Tar, but good to know.

He makes another note in his little pad. I'm going to take the crystal back, just because I'm so sorry we may need this. At this point, you see, turning in the office vicinity, the Warden Helm pop in and says, So, it appears my guards say that you are successful in this. That is very good. I am impressed.

What is your name, if I might be of curious? We're the Mighty Nein. The Mighty Nein, all right. Good to know that the Mighty Nein can be relied upon in such situations. Are you staying in town for quite a while? I don't know how long we might be staying in town, so maybe we should go ahead and talk about that deal

while we're here. Right, right. While you're down there, I got approval for about 200 gold from the Starosta for payment. I hope that is enough. Well, to get out the shoosters? Both of them? He doesn't know about the shoosters. Oh, but you talked about getting people out.

Nope. Nope. Yeah, you did. Nope. We mentioned vaguely that we might want something. I'm curious just about what you're referring to. So we have some friends that are currently, I believe, interred here for financial troubles. Nothing dangerous, nothing violent, and we were wondering if we could make a deal

for maybe some leniency, if that's possible. Take that 200 gold, consider it their bail and time served. Also, we do have a bit of the mechanism, and with if everybody here is all right, I'm of the opinion that really, if anybody asks us, it was your brilliant idea to let us into that cell in the first place to take care of this problem.

Totally. If anybody asks, we know who is absolutely responsible for this. Yes, yes. You picked us specifically. Poppin' drill crusher. You saw something in us. Poppin' fresh.

You took a chance, and we're grateful for it. And this guy will agree to that. Right clef, and I elbow clap. Oh, of course, great deal. Well done. Sternum, it's a bit pain. Go ahead and make a persuasion check with advantage. All right, come on, man. For fuck's sake.

That's a six. Total? Six. Total? Six. Why? I don't have any persuasion. I don't know why I keep leading these. I know. Somebody should pick up,

but we don't have our talker here right now. No, you got a talker, but that's okay. He takes a keen look at you, goes over and starts thumbing through papers, goes through his books, picks one, thumbs through and goes, Schuster, Schuster, Schuster. All right, I found the report here.

He turns the page. Hmm. That looks like they were arrested for false idol worship. That is not a... This is not an undue or minor offense. Just look at it this way. One path we could take is that you are the mastermind who hired the right people for the job and everything is perfect.

The other path, we talk about how we came in and fixed things you could not. The Schusters are still to serve a two-year sentence, both of them. To pay the amount to bail them out would be, at this point, about 350 gold. With the 200 that were offered, that would put you at a 150 a bail amount, should you wish to indeed pay for these

very important friends of yours. Well, considering you have a hunk of metal down in your basement that's worth at least 100 gold worth of scrap, that I'm sure the Assembly Yard would love to have. And they will, because it's still technically commissioned originally by the prison, so we own the rights to its carcass.

However, the moment of negotiation is over. This is my price, it stands. Either you receive the 200 and walk away, or you can continue to pay the bail and they will be released. That is up to you, I am a busy man. I think that's a fair deal. Jester, would you mind settling this debt for us? Yeah, that's no problem. Jester will be happy to pay.

150 gold? 150 gold. Laura, you can text right now. Oh no! That's okay. Laura will text if she has a problem with that. Fjord can pay half since he's sympathetic. Fjord will pay half, so 75 gold each. That's true.

Fjord says, you know what? To keep him out of that orphanage? You choose. Seven, okay. So that's all right. And look at that, it's all done. That's all done. That happened. Look at that. It's beautiful. He's like, no money was spent. It's as if it never was. Assholes. She kept forgetting Knocked Up, man, right there.

Sorry. At this point, he- Kids are expensive. Kids are expensive. Kids are in deep financial pain, man. It's true, it's true. Oh man, don't I know it. He accepts the coin, shouts out to us,

he says, mic up! And this female halfling comes rushing in, says, I would like you to write a writ for me of success in clearing the lower regions of the prison under the watchful eyes of Warden Helm Poppin' Drokrasha. I thank you. Also, could we please have sent up immediately, in English, Gilda and Wally Schuster,

they are on the second level in cell 12B. They have been, had their bail paid. The halfling rushes off, some of the guards leave with her, and about 20 or so minutes later, you hear the footsteps return, and there you see this couple of, they pull forward, dirty, sallow, not very well fed, but alive,

and they both look bewildered. The man who's got thick, graying brown scruff and the hair a bit shaken from his form, he glances up at the rest of you. I don't understand what's happening. It's all right. We never understand what's happening either. Gell-Yu? Wallace?

The woman looks over. She has this long, curled and tangled brownish-red hair. She says, Is this true? We're free. Why don't we get outside and then we'll talk? Let's have a meat pie.

With that, you guide the now no longer prisoners outside of the Gearhole Prison, and as the small door opens to lead them out into the latehole Prison, and as the small door opens to lead them out into the late afternoon air, the sunlight hits them and you see them blink and wince, and then look up and smile, as this is probably the first sunlight they've seen in six months. You can see a bit of glimmer as tears begin to form

at the edge of their eyes, and the two, the couple look at each other and the two, the couple, look at each other and smile and hold each other, and look back at the two of you, or the group of you, and say, Thank you, but why? Let's just say your kids made an impression on us. Are they all right?

Where are they? They're at your house, the butcher place. Don't worry, we'll take you there. They're being kept safe by a tiny bird with a dagger. They look at you and look both frightened by the words you say, and then equally frightened by the creature they now realize that it's saying it, and then, equally frightened by the creature, they now realize that it's saying it, and go,

Right, um. Best not to think about it. Sometimes the people that help you are the least expected. I was going to say eclectic, but sure. No, I'll go without it. Thank you, thank you. Yeah. Gilder looks up.

Thank heavens for little blessings. Thank you very much. Can we go to our children, please? Yes, yes, of course. With that, you guys all make your way back up the switchback path to the Idleworks Shelf. Just as the sun begins to hit the mountains, the sky is turning to the oranges and reds

of the coming sunset. At this point, the people of the city begin to rise in energy once more as the whistles of a day's work come to a close, and the city begins to liven up once more into an air of celebration. Music blasting around you on all sides. It's like being in Vegas for more than 24 hours. You're like, no!

We made a terrible mistake. Not again. I can't do this for a third night in a row. Roll for dubstep. As you guys push through the streets now, the celebration expanding and exploding throughout the vicinity, you're still lingering hangovers from the night before mixed with your physically

damaged selves make you less jovial in this space, but eventually you make your way to the back to the location of the previously boarded up butcher shop, and at that point, it appears to be left alone, closed, locked, and as you left it. Well, your way was way more cool. It's us, open it up. You hear some shuffling and then the door opens and you can see as Austin and Gale look past

and open the door and as soon as Gale can say, your back, they look and you can see their parents right there, just smile back at them. With that, they just rush out, Gale and Austin, and just wrap their arms around their mother and father. Behind them, skittering, you see Leila and Jude. You look past and they rush up as well and hold them. Now this family unit of six all brought together again,

as filthy as they may be in their current garb and lifestyle, just hold themselves amongst the glowing of distant fireworks going off. An unknowing celebration that the city holds for this family. Behind you see Ciri shuffle out, see what's happening, and then also come forward and put her arms around the family

and looks back at you with a smile and goes, Yes, I am a good girl. Oh my god. I think we have to. I think we have to. I think we could. This could be our chance to find a good home for her. Yes, yes.

Ciri steps away from the group and looks at the rest of you and takes the dagger out and steps forward and goes, The Mighty Nein! Kiri. You like these kids? Call Kiri. Okay.

Yeah. Did you have fun with them? You know, you spend enough time with us. Beauregard and I here almost died tonight. You're just a little girl. You should be playing with these kids, not playing with us. What about you, Mom and Dad?

At this point, they're barely paying attention. They look back and say, I'm sorry, what? You have a request. A favor. In exchange. Beauregard. No, I mean, you were nailing it. You kind of did a Jinxies thing, yeah.

Fjord steps in next to you as well and goes, Look, no children should be without their parents. And we're happy to have brought you back together. So be more careful. Make sure that if you do anything that can put your kids at risk, don't. He looks over and defers back to you, Caleb. We get into trouble quite a bit. I feel guilty

bringing this young girl with us. And we've gone to great lengths to get you out, and all well, I can't speak for the group, but all I ask is that you give this girl some parents. Fjord's right.

No child should be separated from their parents. Unfortunately, this little one was. You see as the parents look at each other, and down at the kids, and the little girl, Layla, with her curled red hair goes, Does this mean she can stay? And looks over at Ciri, and Ciri looks between them and you, and is temporarily conflicted and confused, but you can see a bit of understanding wash over. Ciri reaches over and takes from her pocket the dagger.

Steps forward and turns it around, handle forward. Holds it out. You've learned. Yes, I am very sweet. She reaches down instead and pulls out the, pulls out the music box and slowly opens it after whining. That's just me.

Yeah. She's a pretty good egg. Looks up at Caleb and rushes forward and gives a big warm hug. I turn to Gilda. Shit. I turn to Gilda. I turn to Gilda and Wallace and say, look, I know another mouth to feed us a lot. It would mean a lot if you take her,

but we'll help you out. I reach in and I give him 50 gold from my stash. Should be enough to help for a little bit. Hopefully make up the difference. He accepts it and wide-eyed, I don't know what to say. Well, I stole 75 gold from my friend without him being here to speak for it,

so I feel like it's fair. She steps back and they look like they're in shock still, these strangers that have come to their aid so heavily. Ciri pulls back and looks to you. Don't eat humans, okay? Okay. Go give Jester a hug.

I know she'd be here for it. Jester, you see her arms twisted up and just the eyes filled her in, she goes, Oh. We're going to come back, right? Yes, we'll come back and check on Kiri. Be a good girl, Kiri. She gives a big hug and says,

Kiri, you're going to be so beautiful as you grow up, and this family is going to take care of you, and it's going to be your new mother and father, and they're going to have your whole family here for you, so just remember, no matter what's happening and what you're doing, the traveler is always looking over you, and we are always,

always, always thinking of you with love. Jester turns around and you can see the tears welling up in her eyes and I give Jester a hug. Just takes you in there. Fjord steps forward and ruffles the feathers in the head and says,

You're always a member. Maybe one day you'll be able to come back and use that dagger for something that's alive. Kiri turns back and looks to you. Yeah, so what's his name? I mean, I guess everyone knows at this point, so it's okay, then. And just gives you a hug.

Thank you for listening to us. Looks to Molly and gives this distant stare. I'm so glad we understand each other. Take care of them. Take care of them. And looks to you and just comes up and cuddles against your chest where she had slept the night before and.

Just scratching those feathers. The feathers fluff up a bit. Goodbye, Ciri. We will send you treasures from all of our travels. Okay. We won't miss you very much. Gary turns back and steps to the side of the kids. The family looks out and goes, If there's ever the opportunity to pay this back

or forward, we will. Thank you. You already are. Look at this handsome lot. Look like you need to be a vinyl decal on the back of a minivan. I would. I don't even know how to go there.

More fireworks go off and the whole family looks up again and there's a moment where the family has one single unit pulling Ciri into it. Gilda looks at them and says, It's been a long time since I felt the need to celebrate. How about we all wash up and go out and take you for flowers? The kids brighten up, excited, and Kiri looks up

and happily and curiously looks back. They all shuffle into the house. Last look as Kiri looks back over her shoulder. I am Kiri. The door closes. I feel really good, guys. It's nice being good people. That might be the first nice thing I've ever done.

Explains why your face is doing that, I suppose. I don't know what this emotion thing is, it's weird. It's not a good look on you. It probably isn't. Fjord, let's go find a quiet place to sleep. I'm exhausted. Fjord, as you're walking along, back to your ingos. Now, I know y'all did this because I asked you to. And you weren't sure if you wanted to.

I just want you to know that's appreciated. You went out on a limb for me and these kids. I'll remember that. Anyway, come on. So as you guys make your way back to a more solemn evening, the celebration is wild. The Blushingtanker Tavern is in the same crazy energy and music you possibly can expect, but you are too exhausted emotionally and physically.

You get a drink, find your way back to your room, and crash out hard. Long rest. Long rest to you all. The next morning, come to consciousness. Your first morning not hungover, for a lot of you, here in the city of Hubberdook. Now the city is yours to make your final business with.

Oh. That we can do more things in this city? Well, you haven't gone back to the Tinkertop for half of the deal. Oh yes, that's right. that we can do more things in this city? Well, you haven't gone back to the Tinkertop for half of the deal. Oh yes, that's right. I guess we should go visit Clef. Get your Tinker toy. Who says it's mine? It could be any of ours.

I mean, mine's a little busted, though, so it would be nice. As you hold it up, it goes. I mean, I can fix that, probably. Take it away. On the way, I look for someone who wasn't the guy who hated us before selling more of those poppers, because I want to stock up before we get out of this

godforsaken town. Okay, yeah, you can get. I tag along with Beauregard. All right, you get another set of 10. Another set of 10, yeah. I think it was two copper. I will only stop if there's something interesting in a window, otherwise I figure we're heading back

to pick up the crossbow. Hey, Beauregard. Yeah, Caleb. That felt pretty good last night. Helping somebody. Oh, yeah. Do something good. Yeah, it wasn't too bad.

I don't know how. I get the sense that you have bigger plans than that, even. Cobalt. Monk. I get a sense. Honestly, I don't really have a lot of plans. My entire life has been plans being made for me. So it's kind of nice not having plans.

I ran away from the Cobalt Soul and, uh... You know, I have ideas. I don't know if ideas would count as plans. Okay, well, that's just semantics. I have a feel about you. You and change. I don't think that you and I have the same plans. But I think they might overlap. And I would be willing to help you. I'd be willing to help you under one condition. Can we agree to keep each other straight? How do you mean?

If either one of us tries to turn and do something stupid or lean a little bit more evil. Evil. Chaotic, whatever you want to call it. Surely neither of us are evil or a god. Anarchists. Let's just make a pact, if either one of us do anything stupid, that maybe we're each other's fail safes.

Yeah, I like that. I don't think I want to hurt any more people, each other's fail safes. Yeah, I like that. I don't think I want to hurt any more people, and I don't think you do either, so maybe if we keep each other from hurting other people. That's not true. I do want to hurt people, just not people I like. Let's hurt bad guys. I think I can help you.

I think you can help me. I think we can do some good here. Deal. All of you will. Deal. Skypie Five. Skypie Five. Sky Force Five. I will do my best. Ghosting.

That's some nice ghosting. Very solid ghosting. Awesome. So weird. As that's happening, you guys have reached the exterior of the Tinkertop Inventions shop. If it was possible just to buy some food also, just for the, I want to have some camping food

for the rest of the trip, just like good stuff. All right, yeah, so high quality provisions for the rest of the trip? Oh yeah, just really good food. Just meat, yeah, so high quality provisions for the rest of the trip? Oh yeah, just really good food. Stews. Just meat, veggies. If you drop a solid two gold, you have good road meals that'll last for the whole group.

Yeah. For the whole group, put five gold down there, I'd say, and you guys have some of the finest fucking food you could have on the road going north. Yep, I'm, we're going to be eating really good. Yeah, I was going to, too. All righty. So, on the outskirts of the Tinkertop Inventions shack,

you make your way on the inside, and you see, in the process of feverishly sketching out designs, Clef Tinkertop, barely look up from his page, Oh, hello, good to see you all again. Thank you, thank you for helping with that. I think based on some of these new designs I'm coming forward, they might be interested

in a new version, perhaps a new design, perhaps an update, if you will, based on the notes you gave me, so here's to hoping. Worth a shot. Worth a shot. Don't know if a lesson was learned here, but all right, let's continue on. Maybe the lesson was for us, I'm not sure. Can I help you with anything?

Well, we just came to say goodbye. We're probably rolling out of town soon. And you know, I mean, if you had an extra crossbow lying around, we'd... Oh! Right, right, sorry, I forgot entirely. I'll be right back. He goes back and rummages and pulls out

the fantastic previously displayed Tinkertop Bolt Blaster 1000 and goes, Thank you for your help. I hope it serves you well. By the way, if there's any problems, if you couldn't mind making notes, just feel free to mail them off to me so I can perhaps improve on the next iteration.

Could be the testing sort of a thing. Yeah. That would be fantastic. I'm so excited. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Nice. Sure. Woo!

Okay. Yes. Oh. That can happen. That's okay. I love it. That's great. That's very you, that's very you.

Thank you, thank you, Clef. Of course, and thank you as well. Wherever you're thank you, Clef. Of course, and thank you as well. Wherever you're off to, safe travels. Clef, maybe if in the future we come back and need a repair or something spiffy, you'll cut us a deal? I think something can be arranged. I'll be here.

And hey, I don't know if you know the Schusters at all, but if you see a family walking around, a little bird child, maybe just watch over them for us. That's a very curious series of words you've strung together, but I'll keep an eye out for you. I acknowledge that and thank you. Chorus.

Look at you becoming a people person, or at least a bird person. Fuck you, Molly. Fuck you, too. Well, if you're leaving, you should say bye, Rissa. You see behind, Rissa sits up with her goggles on and she was in the back currently working on something. She goes, oh right, you're off already, you're leaving.

We got to get on the road. Oh, well, it's been fun. We can't thank you enough, and we'll definitely come back in contact next time we're rolling through town. Do, do, I mean, thank you for showing me good time, and for getting this old coat back to some sort of interesting means of constructive work. Sure, you can certainly invent many new,

excellent devices. I'm going to leave her the drinking tokens and the... She goes, well, I mean, drinking by proxy, I'll certainly take that. They need use. I think that's fair. Well, next time, I'll owe you a round, Tal. Very much taking you up on that.

Well, be safe, take care, and until the next time. As you guys exit, you hear a say like, I don't think this design's going to work, Dad. And he's saying, oh, trust me, and the door closes behind you. That's going to end well. I think they're on the road to recovery. Something very positive is going to come out of that relationship.

Yasha. Yeah? What is on your mind, you are very quiet. You're not thinking about leaving us again, are you? Why would you think that? Well, you tend to go mum for a while, and then you're gone. You are very useful for us. We could do great things together,

but not nine of us. I hope you're not thinking of leaving. Well, I'm not at this moment. I think, and if I did, I would find my way back to you. Just sometimes things need to be done? Well, no one's going to bully you into a decision, but we're all happy to have you here. You know, my muscles are big.

They can accomplish a lot. But we do better with you around. Thank you, Caleb. I think you can manage just fine, but I will... I'm here for now. She's not going anywhere! What are you, crazy, Caleb? She's fine, come on!

It was just a feeling I had. She's here for good. I understand. What a strange feeling. What time is it? At this point, it's, well, no, you've slept through the night and you've woken up the next morning,

so it's pushing close to midday. Let's get on our way soon. Yeah, to Shitty Creek. Let's make our way. Is that where we're going next? All right, Fjord goes ahead and musters the cart. The horses, retrieves them from where they were stored during your stay here.

Are we making our way out of town? Looks like it, unless you guys have anything else planned. On the way out of town, you said when we came into town, there were some guards with pistols, with guns? Yes. Do we see any on the way out? Make a perception check as you make your way through the bottom end of the city.

14. 14. You see, in glancing through, there are two Crownsguard that walk by, both gnomish. One of them appears to be carrying a heavy sword on the back. The other one does have some sort of strange contraption, like a firearm pistol at its side. I'm going to try to steal it.

Make a sleight of hand check. Oh my god, yes! With either Mage Hand or my own hand, whatever. It's up to you. Okay. Mage Hand. All right. What am I doing?

Sleight of hand? Sleight of hand, so proficiency modifier plus your dex. Oh, 19 then. So not sleight of hand, this is dexterity check. Well, no, sleight of hand is, oh sorry, no, it's a sleight of hand check, I'm sorry. Oh, well then it's 22. 22, yeah. My brain, I was thinking of unlocking.

It glides past over you, the guard is none the wiser. Okay. It is loaded with a single shot. Great. So you have a single shot pistol with no ammunition. It's loaded with a bullet, though, right? Yes. Okay, cool. Great, that's all I care about.

All right. With that. Like you're deserted on an island to kill yourself with. In those final moments. Virus style. This campaign goes really dark suddenly. So with that, you guys head out past the fences, the artillery construction ranges, the plumes of smoke and steam,

the dual-shelfed levels of the gnomish city of Hubbarduc, with the people, adventures that you met and left behind, and forge your way on further up the Crispvale Roadway, heading towards the Glory Run Road that heads north towards Nugvarat and the Shadycreek Run. Heading on for the next better half of the day, you make a fair amount of travel before the sun eventually sets,

before you can reach the crossroads, eventually having to pull off to the side of the road to make camp for the first night there. So you head off your general curious range there, you set up a small camp. Who's taking first watch? Nott and I. Okay.

So Nott and Caleb, if you wouldn't mind go ahead and rolling a perception check with advantage, or both of you roll it individually. You go. For the advantage? No, he rolled and you roll it individually? You go. For the advantage? No, he rolled and now you. I got a nine. You got it, okay, here it comes.

Oh, big eight. All right, so you guys take your first watch. Nothing, though you're not paying much attention, nothing seems to transpire during that first watch period. You finish it without issue. The second watch comes up. Fjord goes ahead and says, I'll take it. I'll join you.

You'll join as well, Yasha? All right, so you guys take your second watch. Fjord and Yasha are currently situated there. Two of you are up. It's now pushing past maybe one or two in the morning. The fire has burned low to embers at this point, and you're both staying close for heat. Fjord's sitting there looking and goes,

I'm kind of proud of all this, you know? Me, too. I'm actually very surprised at the choices we've made, especially the choices that I've made. Yeah. Well, these folks have surprised me. A little voice goes like, Some people are trying to sleep? Sorry, Jester. But I'm awake now, so Fjord goes like, let's take a walk.

And so Fjord stands up, Jester stands up, and the three of you step away for a minute. Fjord looks up at the stars and goes, dreams have been weird. But for all the visions of darkness out there, it's good to know that somehow maybe we're all putting a little bit of light in there, too. That's a very nice way to put it.

Who knows? Maybe we'll find ourselves a path somewhere on the coast in the long run. Could show you some of my hometown. Maybe some of yours, but maybe not quite as well put together. Jester interjects at this point and goes, Well, if we do go back, I can show you if it is safe, depending on what my mom says, back at the workplaces where I grew up, the beautiful shorelines, the menage. Have you been to the coast

before? I've never been to the coast before? I've never been to the coast. Oh, it is so beautiful, it would be incredible. I've seen... And her mouth is not making noise. And you go to talk. And no sound comes out of it either.

There's a little confusion amongst the three of you. I need you to make a wisdom saving throw, Yasha. I'm closed. Close. It's loading. What'd you roll? I rolled an 11. In that moment of panic, you go to reach for your weapon, and suddenly your muscles seize up, and your body is unable to move. Your eyes glance back at Fjord,

who seems to be in the same position. The falchion apparates in his hand, but he's unable to move. Jester's the only one who's like. She turns to run for the group and impacts the chest of what looks to be a dark humanoid figure who's standing there, who grabs and holds her in place as four other dark figures emerge from the shadows around and grab and immediately put their arms around you. You try and resist from the spell effect, make another wisdom saving throw. Oh god.

In? Natural 20. Natural 20. Whoa. All right, Fjord maintains it, but all of this in absolute silence. There is no sound, just shadows and starlight. As you're now being grappled by two men, the spell breaks from you. However, they're still holding you

as you feel a gag pulled over your mouth. Probably one of them and the other one begins to throw rope around you. You're looking over the side and you can see another gag shoved into Fjord's mouth and it looks like manacles being shoved onto his arms and legs. He's unable to move. Jester tries to break free of the opposite.

Now with a natural seven. She's kicking and screaming, but there's no sound coming out. As she's pushed down, another figure comes up and throws shackles onto her, arms behind her and her legs. She's yelling and yelling, and a gag is pulled over her mouth. What are you doing?

Am I under? There's two people that are now coming to grapple you. I take out my weapon and I'm ready to go. All right, at that point, so you pull your weapon, you make an attack if you want. Yes. Okay, 25. 25 hits. Damn.

Let's go ahead and roll damage on that. Woo! She's a mad motherfucker. 18. 18 damage, woo! All right, and you have a second attack, if you like. Oh, that's a nine. Second one, your first one impacts one guy. There's a splash of blood, silent.

Once again, no sound here. The second one swings wide, the other guy captures it. He grabs your arm and pulls you in. He's going to attempt to make an athletics check against you. Go ahead and make an athletics or acrobatics check to try and not be grappled. 13. That's not going to make it. He grapples and holds you in place. The other one goes and takes

and slams manacles onto your wrist and pulls it back, wrenching the blade from your grasp. Your arms are now locked behind you into these metal manacles. Can I try to scream out in some way to the Stormlord? You go ahead and scream. Go ahead and make a straight wisdom check. Three. In that moment, as you try and scream out, your vocal cords strained by the sheer force of your voice,

no sound comes out, and looking up in the sky, there isn't a single cloud in sight, probably for the first time in weeks since you've been in this side of Wildemount. It is a clear night. No sign of clouds, no sign of storm. In that moment, as you're screaming out, the gag gets put into your mouth

and tied behind your head, at which point you glance over and you can see Jester being dragged. Now the manacles affixed to the back of her ankles and she's just being pulled to the grass, forward a few feet behind her, still unable to really make out the shapes of these hooded figures that are pulling them through

and you are shoved to the ground. Are my legs still free? Your ankles are about to be manacled. Okay. Go ahead and make another athletics check. Oh. 25. 25, all righty. With that, you manage to kick free.

They can't quite hold on it, and one figure steps forward, shorter than the others, stout looking, he starts going, oh, and his voice just dissipates as he gets closer. He needs to make another wisdom saving throw. 17. 17, all right. You're still kicking and breaking free.

They're going to try and restrain you once more. Roll one more athletics check. Eight. No, that's not going to do it. As much as you struggle right now, you're by yourself now. Looks like two figures holding you down, and a third one that is frustrated

that you've resisted a spell now a second time. They get the manacles on the back of your legs, and now your arms are held behind, your ankles are now pulled up towards where your hands are, and you are face down in the wet grass in the middle of the night, as you feel your body now being dragged by the chains. Dragged, dragged.

Your mouth is filled with the taste of the sweat that's poured down, that's soaked into the gag that's now forced into your mouth. Grass and grime and mud are grinding against your face. All you can see is the dark shadow there and the bits of star sky ahead until eventually you're lifted upright right back once more.

Immediately, you can see what looks to be, pulling this aside here, I'm sorry, I closed my note here. You see a series of wide carts, large travel caravan carts that are low-set, just covered with piles of goods. Looks like sacks and a couple of crates. Fairly sparse-looking for travel caravan crates,

but you see travel up and down the roads all the time. There are three of them with horses to the front of them. You can see about eight other figures around these carts. As you're held up there with your mouth gaped and your arms and legs bound, you look off to the side and you can see Fjord and Jester also struggling and unable

to find their way about. Jester begins to flex against it, and you can see her strong physique pushing against it, and then she gets smacked at the side of the cheek by one of the men who pulls and holds her in place. At this point, you hear a voice speak up and say, Hey, look what we found, aye? You see a dark figure step closer to you.

Glancing up, you can see through the minimal light, a human man, tall and brutish. His head is completely bald on top, revealing a scarred and tattooed design across one side that curls down into his lightly leather armored chest. His thick brow hangs over two cold, uncaring eyes. He nods in approval to these three acquisitions that you are, revealing a number of golden teeth

between his cracked lips. His muscular body is mostly obscured by a cloak and hood beyond that armor. The thug goes, Lorenzo, your instincts are sharp. We found ourselves a sudden bounty. The heavy figure, who hasn't spoken to this point, kneels down and grabs the chins of each of you.

Grabs Jester, who's now shaking with anger and fear in her eyes, looks both sides of her face, goes to Fjord and lifts the chin, comes to you and grabs your chin. The gag is right there, so you. Okay. Looks like this one here's got some spirit, too. Our prospects are good with this find.

Two divine blood and one half-beast. I'm pleased. Dawson and the others will head back. Our cages are at capacity now. He stands back up and turns around and heads back to the carts as you're all thrown to your sides again and being dragged through the wet grass and dirt,

over rocks. You can feel gashes being pulled across your face and shoulder as you're being pulled through the dirt. You're righted once more. Two more goons lift you up towards the back of this mostly empty cart, it seems, just small piles and boxes. Then suddenly your vision shifts as if you're being pushed through a curtain. These carts are piled high with cages. The open one the three of you are shoved into clings behind you. This five foot by five foot box as three of you are jammed into each other uncomfortably,

you look about inside under what looks to be a darkened tarp that covers the cages. Glancing out the side of your eye, you can see the one next to you. There are other dark humanoid figures quietly whimpering and not moving. You hear, and the horses begin to pick up speed.

As the creaking of wheels turning, get faster, and you feel the cart begin to move. That's where we're going to finish tonight's session. Was she taking him, and Fjord, and Jester, all in the same cart? Yep. Fuck. But we heard it with our passive perception.

They were in silence. They were in a silent spell. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I never went to sleep. I was watching the whole time. There'll be some dope investigating at the top when we come back. Maybe you hit him enough and you left a clue. It's possible. Oh yeah, blood. Blood. There was some struggle. Splatters, some CSI shit up in here.

We'll get a blacklight. We'll get David Caruso. We'll get David Caruso. We'll get something here. Yeah, we'll have double one-liners. The Who. It's going to be great. Oh man, what a foursome. Holy shit.

This is going to be interesting. Well. This was too much. Carrie and then this. My heart. Yes. Love you guys. We didn't kill Fjord and Jester, though, by puppeting them. We took some money, but that's a good cost for not killing them.

We did drain Laura's coffers, though. That's okay. What's that? To be fair, it's not like the money would do her any good right now. No. 75 gold? They're going to take all that, so if anything, we...

Well, she didn't take her haversack with her when she got up with you. Yeah, we had the haversack, and if you're going to DR. Really, it's our money now. You can take that up with Laura. We're holding a bundle of haversacks. I'm going to have access to this haversack for a while, I'm just saying.

Sorry. Oh boy. Oh boy, I'm going to get in trouble. Love you, Ashley. Oh god, no! She goes back to New York. You'll hop in when you can. I'll hop in when I can.

No, she doesn't, is that true? What? You're leaving? Yep. She knows that. Don't go. I know. We've been seeing each other for weeks and weeks and years and years. I know.

We're just selfish. Yeah, we are. The Skyping isn't the same, yeah? No, no, I feel like I'm in a bunker underneath the ocean. I know. The plan is to half a second of delay and that's all it takes to make me feel like. No, it's like playing D&D with General Zod.

I mean, I'm happy to do it, but it is a little weird. It's a little much. Oh, now I like, can I be Terran's champ? Bless you. Thank you, Liam, for making it. Thank you, Liam! Thank you, Matt, for making this game work with half of a crew. Rishnikov, Dungeons & Dragons.

Congrats to Lauren Travis. I'm sure they're sound asleep right now. Just kidding. Good night. Oh yeah, the dads get to laugh now. Never again. Oh yeah, just you wait, Travis Willigan. The chickens are all coming home to boost.

This is the most complicated revenge plan I've ever heard. I know, these fucking assholes are like, one of us, when are you going to join our misery? And I'm like, no! We're good. It's not misery. Sleep is all gone. No, it's not misery, it's beautiful and amazing

and incredible. I love sleep, though. We're going to go on so I can go to sleep because it's been a very long day. It's been a very long day! The day is not over! For me, at least. I know. That's a good thing. Let's move. Okay. Well, guys, we're off next week. We'll miss you then. We'll leave you on this fantastic cliffhanger

for the next two weeks, and we'll pick up from there with a guest or two, which we'll announce as we finalize the schedule. Yeah. Yeah. What means a guest or two? It means we have two guests, and one guest may have on-camera work that is waiting to hear

if they can make that first session, so we'll find out. The life of the actor. But yes, we'll have announcements soon on that. In the meantime, guys, thank you so much for coming with us. We love you, and is it Thursday yet? Good night. Oh hey, Ashley Johnson here, and I sure do hope you're enjoying the adventure. Remember when you first found out about Critical Role? Was it through a friend or a family member or maybe even through the words of a stranger in the review section of our podcast? Many listeners find our show through word of mouth

and recommendations. So please consider rating and reviewing our podcast because each review makes an impression that may just inspire someone new to give our show a try. And that, more than anything, helps to support us. Thank you for joining us on this adventure. And until next time, let us try to leave the world a little better than we found it.