Critical Role - C2E28 Within the Nest

Episode Date: July 27, 2018

The Mighty Nein set out to find some help to take down the Iron Shepherds, and enter the Sour Nest to engage with their enemies...(with guests Ashly Burch and Sumalee Montano!)Watch Critical Role live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

Hi there, this is Matthew Mercer, resident Game Master here at Critical Role, to welcome you to this podcast version of the show. If you'd like to watch the stream as it airs, you can catch it Thursdays at 7pm Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole or youtube.com slash criticalrole. Twitch subscribers can access the video on demand immediately after the broadcast and it also becomes available on YouTube Mondays at 12pm Pacific. Podcast episodes land right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network on Thursdays, a week after the initial broadcast. Okay, with that info dump out of the way, let's dive into the story.

Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. We have returning this week our fantastic guests, Ashley, Birch, and Somali Montano. They've been amazing. We're excited to have them back and going to see what this next adventure story is going to have. But before we get to that, we have some announcements to get through, beginning with our fantastic sponsor and friends at D&D Beyond. Sam? D&D Beyond. Everybody, two new products have been announced on D&D Beyond. The Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, alternate title is That's So Ravnica, available for pre-order now on the D&D Beyond marketplace, officially will be released on November 9th. Also, The Wayfarer's Guide to Eberron, alternate title, The Werfrunders' Gird to Erberron, available for purchase

now on the D&D Beyond Marketplace. As a reminder, anyone who already has purchased the legendary bundle can pre-order or purchase these and any future content at a 15% discount, everyone. Ooh! future content at a 15% discount, everyone. Ooh. Which is a savings baked right in. I've been using D&D Beyond for a while now, and they just redid their layout. Took me a while to get used to it. So for those of you at home using D&D Beyond,

I have a couple of tips, pointers for the new layout to remind myself where things are laid out. It's like little mnemonics. It's a weird thing. On the right side of the screen, you can remember L-E-F. So right is sort of like left. That's where loot, equipment, and features are. On the left is IAA, Insight and Awareness. I'll just write that down here. Then in the middle is ATR, which are things that you can add to roll. I have a mounting sense of dread. And right off top is MST. Oh no. Which is Make Saving Throws. That's what you add to Make Saving Throws. And that's just

Sam's little guide to how you can remember the layout of D&D Beyond. And that's it. Thank you, Sam. I hope that was as useful to you folks as it will never be to any of us. And thank you, D&D Beyond, for being an awesome sponsor. All right, so on to the next bit of business. For those who haven't seen the announcement we had today, we are headed to London MCM Comic Expo in October, actually. October 27th and 28th, Critical Role will be in London. Super excited about that. We're looking forward to meeting a lot of you European Critters out there.

We've been trying to get an opportunity to go over there for a while, so glad we finally have the chance to come and hang out with you folks across the pond. You can go to critrole.com for details on it, and we look forward to seeing you then. Also, as a reminder for next week, we will not be broadcasting an episode next Thursday. Instead, we'll be doing a live broadcast Friday evening from Indianapolis. It will be airing, this is Friday, August 3rd, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. That's 6 p.m. Pacific, so it'll be an hour earlier than what you're used to. But it'll be our live show at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis. Super excited about that. It's going to be crazy. It's going to be absolutely nuts.

After that as well, we have up on our YouTube channel now the VOD of our Vox Machina character buildout for Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire. I went ahead and messed around on stream for about an hour or so earlier this week to show you guys my interpretation of building our first campaign characters, Vox Machina, in Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire. If you want to check it out, it's on YouTube. That's youtube.com slash Critical Role. You get to watch me make each character and we hang out. I watched part of it. It was pretty good. and I might watch it again so I can actually build those characters.

I think you should. That'd surprise me. I've never really done a livestream of just myself playing a video game before, so that was a very new experience for me. Thank you for your patience. But yeah, go and check it out. Be sure to check out the Beast of Winter DLC for Deadfire is coming up soon. You can pick up the game at versusevil.com slash Critical Role. It's a fun one, so check it out if you haven't yet. A reminder that we do our Wyrmwood giveaways during the breaks, and they're going to be happening over here at the Critical Role Twitch chat. I'll go ahead and prompt you when we come to our mid-break today, but we need you to go over to the Critical Role chat to enter the giveaway, and then head on back to Geek & Sundry, wherever else you're watching. It'll be at twitch.tv slash Critical Role. And of course,

Talks Machina, our after-show discussion about what happens this week, will be happening next Tuesday at 7 p.m. Pacific, here on the Geek & Sundry Twitch and Alpha, where our fantastic host, Brian W. Foster, interviews us and makes us feel a little better about ourselves after the chaos the previous week had. I thought you were going to say makes us feel a little uncomfortable. That was the subtext I was going to go into, but I'll leave that for you, Sam. I believe that's all I have to announce. There's no merch? There's nothing merchy?

We've made announcements online and stuff. Brand new merch. Jynxin. Yeah. Jynxin merch. That's true. I'm trying to honor the memory of Laura. That's true. We're trying to get better at spursing our announcements out through other things. Oh, so we don't have to do it up here.

So we're not barraging. So me talking right now is just wasting time. Yeah, essentially. Cool, cool, cool. If you are curious about any merch stuff, we do have some new merch coming up at Gen Con. You can go check it out at KurtWall.com for all the details. And we've got some other fun surprises for folks that are coming, too. Anyway, much love. I think it's time that we dive into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Thank you. Welcome back, everyone.

So, last we left off, the Mighty Nein, who had acquired two new allies in Khang, the dwarven fighter, and Neela, the firbolg druid, had made their way to the city of Shadycreek Run. After making your way through the town, spending an evening staying at the Landlocked Lady, and getting some information about where to find info about your quarry and where your friends may have been taken to after they were captured

by the Iron Shepherd's traveling slaver's crew. You went to, hm? What are your words? They're the worst? They are the worst. You went and had a discussion at the estate Sybaritic with Ophelia Mardoon, of whom you were sent by the gentleman to interface with and do a deed for her, oh, a little over two weeks ago.

There it seemed that the intent of your job placed here in the city has aligned with your current goal of freeing your friends and seeking vengeance against the Iron Shepherds, as they currently work for a competitive family to the Mardune house. In response to them destroying parts of the trade route that the Mardun family enjoys through the center and southern sides of the Empire,

they wish you to instill damage upon their traders as well by eliminating the Iron Shepherds. You were given some ideas as to where you might find some help. You gathered your things, made your way north into the seemingly corrupted and haunted Savalirwood to seek information about these iron shepherds and where they are.

You narrowly avoided what looked to be two large, almost immensely mutated, bone-spurred bear creatures. You sought out and cased the exterior of the Sour Nest, which is the fortress that was given to the Iron Shepherds by the family that pays them and keeps them in their employ. At which point, you decided to send your new druid friend, Neela, in the form of a small mouse, over the wall, delivery via Owl, in the form of a small mouse, over the wall, delivery via owl,

in which she snuck through some portions of the fortress to gather intel and to get an idea of where you were going and what may reside within. A few close calls and some discovery of what can be expected within the interior, you made your way back safely to join your friends. I forgot about the baby.

Oh yeah. Sorry, the meal that Lorenzo was having. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, it was funny. That's just good to me. So upon accidentally spooking one of the outer guards who were walking the perimeter of the wall that surrounds the Sour Nest, you immediately picked up what you had,

fled south back through the Sabalir Ward on your way to Shadycreek Run to look for means of possibly finding more help for this endeavor when nightfall hits, and whatever else you can do to prepare for the necessary evacuation of your allies. That's where we left off. Mighty Nein, as you have charged back through the purplish-gray corrupted Savalirwood, the midday sun barely visible through slight peeking cracks through the canopy above you, leaping and hearing these large growling sounds and hoots,

you just beeline it as best you can and as quickly as you can before you breach into the outskirts of the northern side of the North Clover area. You're now between some of the nearby buildings and you immediately begin to see some of the relatively shady denizens of this north side of Shadycreek Run

that glance over your shoulder, their hooded selves watching you as you pass. You slower your gait as you're no longer fleeing, per se, but you have made your way back to the town. What would you like to do? What time is it? At this point, it'd be midday, a little bit in the afternoon. Okay.

Oh god! It's midday! What do we do? We're trying to gather allies, right? Yeah. That's the plan? Yeah, and we don't have all the time in the world, because we are trying to intervene before the worst happens.

We mentioned about going and looking to see if a Tasker would be up to it. Or there were the Taskers and then there were the other group of hired workers. The Grudge Gang, which the Taskers are a part of it. Wait, is it Grudge or Grunge? Grudge. Can I just say Grunge is a better name? So the Grudge, is it like the Grudge Gang is an umbrella corporation of the Taskers, or vice versa? Vice versa, the Grudge Gang is the overarching

kind of loose network of mercenaries that sell swords and do not affiliate directly with any of the other political powers. They're all just outside of the system within the town. The Taskers are a small subsect of the Grudge Gang that have taken it upon themselves to keep the peace to a certain extent. And did we get a sense of,

the Taskers, are they just a group like us? Like a small group? Or we don't know yet? Well, you don't know. You've had some experience here. The Taskers, best that you can surmise, you haven't had a lot of dealings with them. They're probably in the neighborhood of 30 or so,

30 to 35 people, so they're not a massive group by any means, and they're just a little thin, but because a lot of them have friends within the grudge gang and people they've worked with before, they can usually call upon friends if need be, especially if they have some coin to their side and they have a specific endeavor they need to do.

Well. Do you think we should go talk to one? Chat one up? That seems like the best option to me. I'm not sure who else we could turn to. I mean, just to play devil's advocate here, is it an issue if we get a hired mercenary group to kill another underground faction in their same town?

Is that like a- Could it trace back to Ophelia, is that what you're saying? Yeah, I don't know, it's just a weird political issue, hiring someone in the system. Maybe before we just go randomly hiring people, what do we need to make this attack? We can probably get in. And also, we're not attacking, right?

We're just going to go and try to rescue or maybe pick off one or two of them or smoke them out so that the prisoners or whatever have to leave and we can rescue, right? We're not trying to kill everyone in the motherfucking house, right? Well, this is a feeling, I? We're not trying to kill everyone in the motherfucking house, right? Well, this is a feeling, I feel like Ophelia wants us to kill everyone

in the motherfucking house. Well, I just want to get our people out. Then we are not fulfilling our responsibilities. It will be impossible to save our friends without killing them. I think she's right. We go at night, and the first step is taking care of the two, there could be more,

but two that we saw on the wall, whoever is on the wall at night, and the first step is taking care of the two, there could be more, but two that we saw on the wall, whoever is on the wall at night, silently. And then, from all you've told us, we have, this might be incomplete information, but three. There is the shithead himself, and then two, you saw? At least two eating. So three total that we know about. But then she used-

But there were many more beds. Yeah. Plus, who knows who could arrive in the time that we're gone. That is also correct. I think we need to be prepared for all of them. So, but are we going to hire muscle, or magic, or what are we trying to get?

What helps us? I miss Jester's healing spells. Maybe there's a place to buy some potions. Well, it seems like, I mean, I'm not the stealthiest person. It seems like having more numbers is a good thing. I don't know if we could create a distraction of some kind, lead some of them away, I don't know, but.

I can do that. I'm good at that. Divergence? Yes. You're very excited about this, Niala. I want to get in there as fast as we can. I mean, look, the solution might end up solving itself. Who knows who in this town is even willing to go up against the Iron Shepherds? Wait, would I know? Okay. Wait.

Wait. Wait. Wait. The place where they keep the prisoners is underground? Correct. Could we just burn down the building? Burn down the motherfucking house? It's mostly stone.

Burn down the, is there wood in there? There's elements of wood from a decoration standpoint, but for the most part, it's a stone structure. We could bring in a lot of kindling. Smoke them out! It's actually not a bad idea. Not that I think about it, though. When you were in this house as a mouse,

there was no way down there. It was a solid trapdoor. You don't know what was under it. I could hear them, but that's the only thing that I could see. What did you hear specifically? I heard voices, I remember that. I was trying to listen for my partner and my son.

I know they were the voices of the captured people, the prisoners, and I believe I heard voices as well of some of the murderers. Well, we need to peel this like an onion. We need to, I believe, get some help, get some reassurance. Outer layer of the onion is making sure we take whoever is on the walls,

whoever is keeping watch out, silently, so that we can begin anew with the building itself. I think that either you or my friend here should go in ahead of us so we have some idea of what is happening. Once in a while, I turn this one into a spider. It's slow, but that is very undetectable. And...

Do you know differently. Sorry, I'm just imagining an infiltration with a spider. Like that's feasible. Tip of the spear! Go, Froakie, go! Ow! Get him, now bite him! Lorenzo felled by a brown recluse.

Put him in his boot, in his boot! Truthfully, there are ways that I can hurt people with a spider, but I'm just talking about having a look around so that we are not walking into something different than what you saw last night. Literally anything is better than a spider, though, For that, I just want to point that out. Well, I disagree with you. I mean, they've got a lot of eyes, I get that, but I think in terms of a movement situation,

spiders are the best. I agree to disagree. Do you guys need a second? Should we take a smoke break? No, you are new. This is very typical. It's just part of the group dynamic. We're old friends. It's like, have you ever seen a debate team? They pick one side and the other, and then they just go at it for a while. There's no really debating in Shadycreek Run. Mostly insult, kill, aside from killing.

I should really start a debate club. You should really start the first one. I am a master debater. Shady Creek debaters? Side mission, let's put this on ice. Shady debaters? That's all I care about now. Well, that's our next merch piece. There, there we piece. Laura, make a shady debaters debate team shirt. Nope. Nope.

Oh my god. Okay. But we want to take numbers down, so we peel the outer layer separately, if all goes well. Then there is whoever is upstairs. The big X factor is what is beneath. We don't know how many people are underneath. If we could somehow... You said that the sleeping quarters are upstairs. If we went in the dead of night, and I know that you have a spell that can sort of lock a door or shut a door or something. If I can find materials in Shady Creek, I need gold dust. A lot of gold dust, how likely is that here? Would I know where to find, would that be

like the general store, would that have that? They may have it there, yeah. I mean, you haven't had to acquire gold dust before, but if you were to ask around, you could see if there's someplace in the vicinity that might carry it. And to first get gold dust, I would need gold. Which we would also need to hire people. We have some.

How much do we have? I have next to nothing. I have like 130. 10 gold pieces. You said 10? Oh wow. That's not a lot. Is that right? Is it 130 gold? Or is it silver that I have? They have a sack. Does J right, is it 130 gold? Or is it silver that I have? What about in the Habasek?

Does Jester have any funds in there? Oh, that's a good question. I'll reach in and see what she has. I've got a little bit of funds. Tech's throat explodes in five, four, three. Where's my, I need my thing, where's the currency on here? If you go under equipment. You don't remember your handy acronym? I need it written down. Oh, there it is. Got it.

Liam eats farts. Liam eats farts. That's right. It's right here. I have a few hundred gold. Yeah, same. Maybe we need people on the outside to take care of folks on watch. Maybe we, the onion you're talking about, maybe the outer layers are the hired hands, and then we're the ones that go in?

Yeah, it could be a group effort. I feel very confident for many of our skills, for the ones on the outside. What I am concerned about is entering the front door. What is behind. What I would like to do is go when they are sleeping and hopefully murder them in their sleep. Is the best case.

Why don't we call them out, then? Why don't we make them come outside? We have more abilities outside. But then they'll have weapons. Yeah, you know, the thing when someone is sleeping in a bed is that they are like little, little, I was going to say babies, that's actually what you have to do. Don't say that to her, especially.

Then I can't use my lightning inside. That is all I'm saying. What if we lure one of them out? Yes. For you to, you know, fry like a chicken. I would be okay with that. There's a little bit we have to play this by ear. I think we should go at night to handle things

when it is the least busy. Is there anything we're missing? We have no way of healing ourselves if we die, unless you have healing potions on you? Or maybe we can find some. I have two healing potions of greater healing. Wait, how many do we all have? She has two. I have one.

Of what? Healing potions. I have healing words. Ooh! Does that help? That does help. That's everything. I have those good berries.

Those are good. Those are great. And I can help give us extra power. If I invoke, in my clan, we have a bear spirit, known as Oktar, and if I bear spirit known as Oktar. And if I invoke the spirit of Oktar, it gives us each extra power. Oktar.

Your clan sounds awesome. Do I have to go to church or anything? No, you just have to be, I think it's within 30 feet of where I put the spirit totem. That seems strangely specific. I'm into it, yeah. Okay. Sounds good. So to Nott's point, what do we need?

We need fighters, we need magic, what do we need? I like the idea of getting some sort of fighter, especially if Neela can maybe take out that outer onion layer with the lightning. We should have found a better analogy. Then what, then an onion? Well, how about just we're going to kill the people on the wall, how's that for a metaphor?

All right, I like that. I like the idea of someone with a little bit of muscle and then maybe also another person who is adapted to healing injuries. Well, we did hear about that weird...someone said that there's some priest or something, or cleric? In the woods. Ophelia mentioned that, yeah. Yeah, so we could go see if they could give us

Aid? Or come along? Did Ophelia mention how far out in the woods that person was? Travel on foot is about roughly four to six hours, depending on how you can make your way through the terrain. And it's the same day? It's like two in the afternoon, yeah.

So we could make it tonight. I only trust that more than hiring someone from the grudge gang. Yeah, that is a good point. I feel like the grudge gang might have ties to the Iron Shepherds, or at least an inside man. Yeah, frenzies. I mean, we could try, but if all they are is a healer.

That would be amazing, though. I mean, healing potions are nice, but we need someone who can... We get killed a lot or nearly, you know. Yeah, I've seen some pretty badass priests in my day. Do I have any sense of... You have. Because she was mentioning the kind of kooky ones

out in the woods, right? Yeah, she mentioned the Blooming Grove. Do I have any sense of what that is? You've not necessarily heard of the Blooming Grove. Roll a history check, actually. This is not going to go well. Four hours and a half. 12. 12, okay, that's not too bad.

You've vaguely heard of the Blooming Grove, but it's not referred to that very often. It's more referred to as the Bone Orchard. Nice. Less fun. Yeah, nice. Mm, less fun. Yeah, you haven't been there, but from what you know, it's this kind of strange, ancient grave site that's been on the outskirts of town,

you know, a few miles out since before the town was built. And are these healers considered by people in Shadycreek Run to just be wackadoos, or are they? From what you know, from what you've heard, everyone thinks they're just strange, creepy hermits and possibly witches, no one really goes there. The people who, some folk in here tend to put on the air of not being superstitious, but the Savalirwood

carries a lot of superstition with it, and some folks, while they may play it off, still seem to get a little nervous about delving too deep into it. Well, that is a good point. I mean, if this person lives in the Savalirwoods, then they're not weak. There's a lot of crazy shit in the woods,

so they must be able to hold their own, or at least remain discreet. And they don't belong to any pact or group that we would need to negotiate with. No, they live outside of the... I mean, they're not even really related to the clans. Did we hear what religion, like what god they worship? We have no idea.

I mean, I feel like if it was one of the accepted gods of the Empire, wouldn't have to hide out in the woods. I'm kind of into this idea. We can try. Is it worth asking a Tasker first? What would we even ask? Just how much would it be to hire you for some muscle? Yeah. I mean, they're not affiliated directly. I mean, it's better for them to not be affiliated with any particular group, so. But you know, this is not a great place, so if.

Well, we're weighing two things against each other. One is expediency, because there are many people in Shady Creek who could possibly lend a sword, you know, or ability, but I think that you are correct, that there is no telling their allegiance, and I'm not ruling them out, but this person out in the woods, probably not in the pocket of our enemies. We need to come to a decision promptly. Well, how hardy would you say the mental state of your companions is?

The ones in captivity? Yeah. Oh, I thought you meant us, because we're right here. No. We can feel this, eh? The ones in captivity? Yeah. Oh, I thought you meant us, because we're right here. No. We can hear you. I know that, and it's probably pretty unstable. Would you think they'd be susceptible to

torture? Controls? Probably not. Yasha's probably okay. Jester has already turned. She's flipped. Oh, thenasha's probably okay. Jester has already turned. She's flipped. Oh, then there's no rush. Or wrapped them around her finger one way or the other. No, you know, they're actually pretty, they've got their shit together.

They arguably have their shit together way more than the three of us do. Would they look after him? Chant. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Especially Jester. Then maybe it's all right to take a little bit more time. We have to make a decision.

I mean, what time is it? Two? Two, two, pushing past two to three in the afternoon. You said it's four hours there. Four to six hours, depending on how well you travel. That's walking or horsing? That's walking. Your horse isn't going to go any faster than you through the middle of this very clustered forest.

Oh, okay. There's no path that leads to it. Risk. Power walk there. That'll get us there right around sunset. Talk to people. Power walk back. Should get us there back around, in time for, around, in time for Saturday Night Live. You know, in time. We'll be up watching it.

Go feel your Marduk! We might be able to go and get back in time, is what I'm saying, and still be able to attack tonight. To the household, yeah. I mean,, and still be able to attack tonight. To the household, yeah. I mean, if what we find in the woods is helpful enough and we feel good with what we got, then we definitely, the middle of the night is the goal. If it's a total bust, then that sucks. We could still find a Tasker.

Yeah, they don't have a bedtime. That's true. This is the longer. Two or three in the morning. Yeah, they don't go to, you know, they don't have a bedtime. That's true. This is the longer. Two or three in the morning. All right, let's go. Yeah. Are you good with that, Nela?

She seemed apprehensive. I could check my smell bag, but I trust you right now. We can take time. It's okay. It makes me feel so much better. See if it passes the smell test. Whatever makes you feel comfortable. This. See if it passes the smelter. Whatever makes you feel comfortable. This is for going to find the priest

who has special abilities for reviving the dead and healing people. Pretty good. Pretty good. Okay, this is for the Taskers and the grunge gang. She took your name for you. Oh, it's a better name. Did I mistake it?

No, no, that's perfect. Smell your bag. It was salty. Salty versus a little bit of a raw, but grounded, spicy flavor. I like that one. Let us go see the priest.

Thank you, Smellbag. You cannot argue with that. No. It's true. You cannot argue with someone who talks to a Smellbag. That is actually giving me so much comfort I cannot argue with that. No, cannot argue with someone who talks to a smell bath. That is actually giving me so much comfort over many years. I love it. Thank you. Sure, sure.

Well, shall we? Yeah, let's power walk. Let's power walk. All right. What's the one where you wiggle? Is that how I walk it? Speed walk. Speed walk, there you go. You know, like grandmas in malls?

Yeah, exactly. Around Christmas time. Are we prank-sorcising? Yeah. Everyone has their Fitbits attuned. Yeah. All right, so first off, what's your marching order, please?

Also, are our horses dead? No, we could take the horses. But he was saying that it wouldn't speed us up, but at least we horses. He was saying that it wouldn't speed us up, but at least we'd be on horses. But it wouldn't speed us up, because it's the woods. Because it's like a thick wood. Let's walk. Okay.

Who's up front, who's in the back, who's guiding what? Would I know better, potentially, where I'm going? Should I be in front, or have I never been to this? It depends. Whoever wants to guide this will be taking the survival checks to lead you through. So who wants to be? Nila, you seem to know about the woods, no?

I would be happy to. Oh yes, survival is good for me. I will walk just behind Nila. Okay, so Nila's holding that. You are relying on me. I'm very happy. Just the biggest, I'm going to stand next to the biggest bird. That's a good call. That's still reliance. Who's behind or near Caleb? I'll take up the biggest. I'm going to stand next to the biggest boat. That's a good call. That's still reliance. Who's behind or near Caleb?

I'll take up the back. All right, so Keg's holding the back. Bow in the middle, or? Nott, do you want the middle? Yes, please. There you go. Just put Frumpkin there next to it. Okay.

But Wumpkin. So, taking this moment, now you begin to head back away from Shadycreek and helming this group of ragtag adventurers you've taken onto your wing. You tread into an area of the Savalirwood you've not traveled before, hoping that your instincts, your smell bag, and the spirit of what nature has managed to maintain itself

through this corrupted wood could guide you properly to your destination. I need you to make a survival check, please. Yeah. Where is it? It's just leaning in. Just smelling it. Oh!

It was all right. 10. Is there anything to add to it? 10. 10. Okay. You still have your luck, Fj luck, unless you want to save it. Unless you want to save it, you have two more points left.

I think we should use it. Yes, I would like to use one luck point. One more luck point. 17 plus seven. Whoa, that's way better. 24. 24, okay. Well. We shall survive.

Not only do you swiftly manage to find the portions of the wooded paths that are least blockaded by thorny brambles and fallen half-rotted trees, but you also manage to help the party avoid what looks to be a few small openings that look uniquely and uncomfortably welcoming. In the midst of a wood like this, you know from your experience as well that it is not always a good idea to step where it seems most inviting when you

know the wood around you to be less so. As you crest around the second of these open groves, you notice how the ground itself seems to shift slightly, and you watch as for a moment it seems to almost pit, as elements of the dirt suck inward. You know the antlion kind of funnels that appear as sand begins to come in towards them?

The ground almost seems to sink in for a second before righting itself. And the grove stands flat once more. But thankfully, due to the survival instincts of your firbolg leader, you manage to cream past two of these patches without issue. Pushing on at a fairly intense speed, within three and a half hours, not even the full four,

you manage to make your way to an area where the color notably changes ahead of you. The somewhat still purple-gray color that suffuses most of the natural landscape within the Savalirwood gives way to a patch of what looks to be green in the distance. And this is the first sign that calls forth that warm sensation you got when you had checked this path within your smell bag.

As the rest of you begin to gather up behind Nila, the closer you get, you begin to watch as these winter trees that comprise most of this northern forest give way to almost green oaks and swamp-based plant life. The temperature, as you get to a certain threshold, begins to be not quite as biting cold, slightly warmer with each step.

Looking around immediately, the first thing that catches your eye is this large wall of what looks like tangled vines and thorns, the same purplish-gray color. The green is still ahead of you. You guys want to continue on? Anything you want to do?

You said there was a wall effect? It looks almost like a natural wall that curls up about five or so feet. In our way? In your way, yes. How far to the sides does it go? As far as the eye can see? Make a perception check. That's cocked.

I'll take it anyway. 11 plus nothing. Okay. You can see a little ways off, it seems to dip a bit. Maybe about 100 or so feet to the northern side of it. You've been traveling northwest to reach this part of the forest. And we can see over the wall? You can just see over it a bit,

as there's only about five or so feet in most places. As you get a little bit closer, you can see areas where these tangle of vines are pulled apart or have been entirely enclosed, and you see what looks to be long, rusted, wrought iron bars, a fence of some kind, a boundary that was placed long ago that has since been slowly taken back by nature.

You then begin to see that area of the wall that you had noticed, Nott, that had seemed to be bending, and the vines have actually curled over and bent it downward. It seems that whatever this little section of the forest is, whatever protective magics that once contained this outer vicinity have begun to give in to the corruption of the Savalirwood.

Should we hop the fence? One moment. I sent Frumpkin up to flit about maybe 50 feet ahead to see if there is anything ahead or from a bird's-eye view that we are unable to detect. Okay, go ahead and make a perception check for Frumpkin with advantage, because if it is, it's still in the owl form.

That is a 20, 21. All right, so as Frumpkin darts up, jumping from tree edge to tree edge, gliding through, there are numerous layers of similar walls. Three different layers, it looks like, whereas the outskirts or the perimeter of this beautiful, protected, ancient gravesite that once held this corruption at bay

has slowly collapsed inward, and a new boundary is placed. Then that boundary has fallen, and as the corruption pulls in further, a new boundary is built, and that third boundary now seems to be in the process of giving in, just like its previous constructs. Within this third area, you can see what looks to be not just a lack of snow or ice or the winter chill, but a nearly humid summer warmth, something more akin to the southern tip of the Empire or even Menagerie Coast.

It is an unexpected and extreme shift in temperature and weather. There is something unnatural or at least magical that maintains this little pocket of untouched paradise. There you can see what looks to be small pools, bits of bog, where it looks like the soft green and browns of compost fall into green,

thick algae-covered bits of water. You can see what looks to be dozens and dozens of stone tablets about a foot to two feet high with bits of script across them, too far to see, that have partially fallen or leaning, at which point Frumpkin looks around and this entire area from the outer very edge where that first perimeter wall was found to the inside

has all been graves, just most taken back by the Savalirwood as it slowly crushes whatever this location is at its source. On the far end, towards the core and the back, this location is at its source. On the far end, towards the core and the back, the northern side of this final defending pocket of uncorrupted forest, you can see what looks to be a stone building, maybe 20 by 30 feet, built as an old stone steeple.

It stands windowless, open, and the floor of it to each open window overgrown with green vine and leaf. Frumpkin is how far from me at this point? Frumpkin is about 100 to 150 feet from you. So I can only watch? Mm-hmm. I've muddied all this watching.

We're talking concentric rings? Yeah. Yeah. I think this is the place. Yeah. Yeah. Frumpkin begins to return, and a passing of one of the clouds gives more sunlight that breaks through

what was previously a very dense gray sky. As the light passes between the small breaks in the tree canopies, the green comes to light with color, numerous types of color. A rainbow of flowers, of pigments you've never really seen before begin to emerge as the light hits it. Nearly every inch of these grave sites

contain just a smattering scatter of rainbow colors across Petal and Stamun. I am beginning to think this is a little more than we came looking for, but we have traveled a ways. Is there any sign of life? I mean, other than plant life? You saw maybe a few frogs, small natural creatures that exist within this space,

but nothing that would resemble a human yet. It seems still... Well, let's go in. Let's go in. Yeah. How do we get over these things? Can we climb, though, or would we get cut to shreds? You can certainly try. How tall are the gates?

The areas where the fence has been pushed in is about between five to six feet in places, areas where it seems to have been pushed down lower to about four to even three and a half. Your friend's coat. I know it's maybe not a... You mean the tapestry? The tapestry.

I know it might hurt it, but if we drape it over. Oh, that's right. Then that's a good idea. You want to go back? But... I could try to hack it, I guess. Could it end? Jump over it? Yeah. I mean, you guys could attempt to climb and leap over.

Yeah. It's just, elements of it are thorned and jagged. This is what I used to do to hop fences back in the day. I look for a few broken down branches that might be my height. Okay, go ahead and make an investigation check. A handful. We are going on a witch hunt.

We can't go over it. We can't go under it. 10. 10, that's fair. It takes you a few minutes minutes and you find a couple of softer pieces of branch and vine that seem to have fallen to the corruption. It's interesting, you touch them and they're supple,

like vines, but they're gray and freezing to the touch. It's a very weird, unnatural feeling, but it seems supple. Before I do anything with it, I take it over to Nila. Nila, have you seen any type of blight on a plant like this before? Do you know what this is? It's cold, feel it.

You're right. Do I know what this is? Make a nature check. I love making nature check. I love making a nature check. Yes! 17. 17. You've studied and seen within the vicinity of where you grew up and where your clan had raised

you and your children, numerous types of disease and natural means of plant life succumbing to some sort of an illness or an outside force. What you can tell is this is not natural. This is not some naturally formed blight. There is some much older, much more powerful, latent reasoning for this corruption.

I do not feel safe using it. I know this is well-worn dwarf goof territory, but does someone want to throw me? That seems very derogatory. Also, you're super heavy, though, aren't you? You all want to throw me? I take the branches and I try to lay them down over the vines a little bit and give a little

less thorny of a ramp. You lean them up against it, and slowly they just bow over like a very... They hook all on their own. That's pretty good. That's just good. Good job, Beau. Yeah, look at that.

We could try to throw you. I guess it might make more sense to throw you, but I don't want to, you know. Oh, you can throw me, sure. Caleb starts to throw you. I guess it might make more sense to throw you, but I don't want to, you know. Oh, you can throw me, sure. Caleb starts to climb over. All right, go ahead and make a perception check. Okay. 16. 16.

As you carefully place your hands across the elements of vine and root, you manage to keep a keen glance for any sort of bladed, thorned, or hooked elements that protrude from the local fauna. You manage to avoid any of them from catching your coat, catching your flesh, and step leaping over to the opposite side without issue. Oh. Oh. Well. It's amazing.

He's amazing. Nobody was very, I was panicked the whole time. The thorns are almost like small races. I'm coming. Okay, well. Careful. I'm just going to dash over. You're just going to dash over?

Yeah. Make an acrobatics check. That was 12 plus 19. Okay. Caleb has shown areas, as he passed over, where you can safely climb. So the rest of you don't need to make checks. Okay.

Nott ignores this entirely and just goes leaping and flipping and attempting to make her way over. You watch as the actual fence bends slightly at the impact of foot, the iron beneath having wilted due to long-form rust and whatever perpetual weight has been placed upon it from this land, attempting to reclaim it from underneath. Nott leaps, double-flip in the air, lands on the opposite side, skids a bit as your feet hit a slight bit of the icy floor, but you manage to catch yourself, no issue.

Okay, I hold up a ten. Each of you make your way over this element of the forest, continuing on past the next two boundaries, eventually making your way into the central area of the Blooming Grove. The term now striking a bell as you look around and can see these beautiful flowers as the sun rays hit and pass.

It's almost like the color flares up once the light hits it, and then seems to gray as it passes on. But you now stand, the temperature much warmer, and there's just that stone structure ahead. How far away is this structure? From where you're standing on the interior of it, about 40 or so feet.

The tombstones that are around, do I recognize any of the language? Or can I tell how old some of these gravesites are? Make an investigation check. I found this track. 21. 21. Looking through, there are a few languages

that come through, most of them are elven, and they are very old. Some of them appear to be 100, 200, 400, 500 years old. Interesting. Whatever individuals or families or bloodlines have been interred in this space have been placed here

for a very long time, until recently. Until recently, okay. You do see one that appears to be maybe about 10 years old. Very faint elements of wear and tear. What's the name? The name on that one would be Elvish, and it would be Tyrael Kostala. Tyrael Kostala? Kostala. Tyrael Kostala?

Kostala. Kostala. She knows Elvish, but she doesn't really speak it often, so the pronunciations get a little weird. Domo arigato. So should I go knock on that door beyond? Is there a door? There is a door, yes.

How big a place is the door? The door itself is maybe four feet wide. It's a single door. It's an old wood. The bottom half of it is green with just growing moss and other bits of vegetation that are set into the relatively damp wood that it's constructed from. The top seems to be split and warped a little bit over time due to the moisture in the air. Caleb tries to creep up to a gravestone and hide behind it to get within 30 feet of the door. Okay, make a stealth check.

On the roof or the top of the, sorry. Nine. Nine. On the roof or top of the structure, are there any holes or anything? Make a perception check. 13. 13, best you can see? No, it's pretty well made. The walls and the roof all appear to be made from stone. No windows or anything?

There are windows. From what you can see, and you can only really see the front and the right side of it, what would be considered the southeast side of it from your perspective, there is a single window. It is an arched window. It looks like it may have been built at one point to hold glass or stained glass, but it is no longer there. You can see the soft, almost jungle-like flooring at the base of it has swooped up and grown over and into the interior of the structure. From best you can tell from this distance, there is no visible light immediately inside,

but there is a bit of just natural light that is coming in through the open space. Can I go over to the window and take a peek in? Stealthily? Sure, roll a stealth check. Ooh. 12. 12.

I'll take a big swig of booze and then go over and try. Okay. You begin to dart across the open space, dodging through gravestones. As you're passing one of them, there is a bit of a thorned vine that catches the back of your cloak. You get and it pulls taut before you

get yanked on your neck, slip back, and Nott slams onto the ground, giving a little sound. Cake holds up a 10. I do have that with you. I'm trying to fit. I'm trying to do a thing. At which point, there's a brief pause. All of you hold in silence,

hearing a distant bird that goes quiet. The wind passing through the trees, and you hear. Oh god. The wooden door begins to slowly open as a shaded figure steps beyond the frame. Taliesin, you're going like that again. Finally! Oh my god! We did it!

This is my stuff. You're really just a random shopkeep in the woods? It's dangerous to go alone. Take this. I'm just going to get my stuff. Would you like to describe what they see emerge from this small stone temple? From this small stone temple emerges a tall, not necessarily healthily thin firbol, who's pale and a grayish color

and has a big shock of weirdly pink mohawk hair. Don't say. No. I'm going way off the reservation here. Big shock of weirdly pink mohawk hair. Don't say. No. I'm going way off the reservation here. He's a little god, he's got a little fuzz, and he's wearing this bizarre, he's wearing this very gentle silk shirt

that's got one long flowy sleeve. He's got a cup of tea and he's just staring. I think I've only got three more cups, hold on. Steps and go back in. It's like episode one. Do you know him, Fearne? Do you know him? Do you know him? Do you know him. Do you know him, Fjordbolg? Do you know him? He is a Fjordbolg! Do you know him? I do not!

But he is a Fjordbolg! What's his name? He is one of my people! He is a Fjordbolg. This will be good. My smell bag was right again! I'm going to come out and have a little kettle set up on a little tripod, and I'm putting it down, I'm putting a big rod with a big purple chunk of amethyst on it underneath the kettle. I'm just tapping it a couple times to get the kettle to start heating up, and I'm just going to wander into the graveyard and find some flowers for tea.

Okay. Can we tag along? Do you need any help? Does he seem like he's going to kill us? Make an insight check. Thank you. You need any help there, Mr., Mrs.? 19. 19?

19. There doesn't seem to be any threat at the moment. Okay. Mr. Clay and, no, I'm fine, one second. Mr. Clay. Who's Mr. Clay? I come back with a pile of red-purple flowers and I'm grinding up, This is from Castalla.

Textile family, but generations ago, but they make very good tea now. Wait, back up a second. Are you Mr. Clay? Caduceus Clay, sit. Caduceus Clay. Caduceus. I'm going to put out the three cups

and wait for the pot to boil. Ah, hello. Is that Caduceus with a K or a C? Okay. Hi. Oh, we have to wait? Pour out the three cups. Jeez.

You have to share, I apologize. I don't drink tea. I'm going to just drink booze. I come over and sit and take one of the teas. Caleb and I will share one and I hand the other to Neela. I would love to try your tea. Please, let me know what you think. It is delicious. Only grows here. I would like to hug you.

Oh, please, come. Ava gives him a big hug. I haven't had one of these in a long time. That's nice. I am from the Gua Tao tribe. Do you know us? No. I'm sure they're wonderful, though.

That sounds just great. That sounds wonderful. Friends. You have come. Please, let me know, what can I do for you? Usually when people come here, it is because of some great tragedy. How may I alleviate your pain?

Oh, well, Herr Clay, we come to you with a great tragedy. A few great tragedies. Do you want to, or should I? Well, the first one is I think it's time for Caleb to have another bath. It's been a little bit. That's the first one. So being without a shower has been a bit of a tragedy.

Do we really have time for a comedy bit like this? No. We recently lost one of our friends. I didn't want to open the gate like that, that's why. And people who come here usually have. We aren't here to bury him. He's already in the ground. But we've come to avenge him, and we were hoping

to find some help in these parts. Avenge him? What happened? Do you know the Iron Shepherds? Do I know the Iron Shepherds? You actually have none. You would have no idea. No, I'm sorry. I really don't get to leave very often,

especially these days. How long have you been alone out here? Oh. Been 20 seasons now, 18 seasons. I try not to count it. Just gets in the way of more important things. How many seasons has it been since someone has knocked on your door like we have?

Oh, it's been about two seasons, I suppose. A little bit of business, but it's been very, very slow. Do you only gauge time in seasons? It's the only time that seems to matter. That's fair. I agree. Do you work here? Is this your place? Do you own this land? I'm so excited. Funeral director?

Most people who come here know what this place is. This is going to be delightful. I've never had to explain it. It's a graveyard. It's a boneyard. Well, boneyard is a bit crass, but yeah, this is a place where we take the dearly departed, people who have done well, and people who have lived good lives, and we put them into earth that has been touched by the Wild Mother, and in turn,

she grants them with beauty and splendor, and sometimes tea. So like a boneyard sort of a place. More like a garden. We've been tending this garden for generations. You're drinking dead people tea? Aren't we all? That is a very good point. Fair point, yeah,

that's very true. But you're cultivating dead people for good tea. Aren't we all? Yeah, okay, yeah. That's a good point. So we are very random visitors from out of the blue. We do come to you with tragedy. We do have a friend in the ground.

We do have friends who are in dire need of assistance. You help people into the ground, but offhand, do you help them out of the ground? Well, I mean, sometimes we can help people who are on the edge of death. We certainly understand that most people would rather spend their time alive than not, and that makes sense.

I certainly have no interest in shortening my life any time soon. But you can't bring someone back who's already expired. Ah, I mean, that's very tricky, and once you're dead, there's a natural order to things. There's a movement that things have to go, but in certain cases, I'm sure. Yeah, we've all read stories of the extraordinary.

But you do not have this in your wheelhouse, you're saying? Oh, I can sometimes help people, you never know. Okay, well, beyond helping our recently passed friend, how do you feel about helping people who are on the edge of life and death in captivity? Three in a cage is worth one in the dark. There are furbolgs in this group, too, that need help. They've been kidnapped, including a furbolg child.

And they might not have long to live. But they're being held by the Iron Shepherds. Who are bad guys? You don't know about us. We're good guys. We're sort of bad guys, too. We're working on it. We are not bad guys. We're doing all right.

Are you a bad guy? You know, honestly, I don't think I've really had enough experience to have an opinion on that. I'm a good gardener. What do you grow other than dead tea? I grow lilies, I grow bramble. Dead bramble. Mushrooms.

Dead mushrooms. Dead moss. If you're saying that you are able to help people back from the brink of extinction on occasion or under the right circumstances, I am going to hazard a guess that you could heal a wound in a snap, yeah? Not with an actual snap, but yeah, I can do that.

Yeah, I don't have to snap, though. I can be really quiet when I do it. Pretty quiet, I actually have to say something now that I think about it, but. I'm going to take a guess. You don't leave here very much, do you? I left a few times, I suppose. It's been a while. I've been on my own for a while. It makes you get a little rambly. So you're stationed here? Are you allowed to leave? Well, that's a bit of a story.

My family have run this temple for generations, and I'm sort of the last one left, holding the fort down. No cousins or anything? No cousins, a couple sisters, a brother, parents, but everyone's either wandered off to help try and fix what's been going wrong or what's been put in the earth.

What's that? What's going wrong? Well, as I'm sure you've possibly noticed, and I apologize if I'm breaking some terrible news to anyone who didn't, the forest beyond my little patch of earth is a little unsavory. It's dark, it can be a bit dangerous. Don't recommend going out alone.

And it has been overtaking our temple for the last hundred years, and recently has breached the walls again. So your family's trying to fix that? Yeah, the last one to leave was my sister. She went east. So it was just you. Now it's just me and it's not much to hold down

at this point. Why do you stay? Honestly, because it's a little dangerous for's not much to hold down at this point. Why do you stay? Honestly, because it's a little dangerous for a lone person to leave, I figured I'd sit here with a kettle and wait for someone to come along and maybe see if I can make my way out of here and figure out what's been happening to this place. Oh, well, we are double lucky.

Oh, this is great, so you don't have to check in every night and be here to punch in and punch out? You could leave whenever you want? I mean, I could leave whenever I want, sure. Is there a watering system, or can you put it on a timer? Yeah, like a drip line? That's a really good idea. I mean, if you guys aren't in a serious rush,

if you could help, I'm sure we could figure out. Maybe we're in a rush, yeah, maybe. We are dealing with a time-sensitive situation. You are looking for a segue out of this predicament you're in. I feel like it's only fair to warn you, if you were to come with us, we'd be asking you to go into a situation in which

that's not very safe. Are you inviting me to come with you? Yes. Oh, yeah, sorry. Did we not, we, we, uh. We came seeking help in a mission that we're about to go on. That's excellent, you're lucky I came along then. This is going to work out really well.

Don't, it's. Well, you're lucky that I along then. This is going to work out really well. Well, you're lucky that I stayed right here so that you intercepted me, because if I had wandered off 10, 15 feet, this may have never happened. You know, he fades. So fickle. We should be very honest with you.

We are intending to do good by people who deserve it, young one, good people, but we are going to do very difficult business tonight or tomorrow. Well, I don't know if I think that anyone deserves anything, but I don't like cages, and I'm really... You don't have a particular penchant or sympathy I'm really... You don't have a particular

penchant or sympathy towards people who eat babies, do you? That seems a little specific. I'm mostly interested in trying to take care of the natural order of the world and nature itself. So does murder end up on that check? Have you ever been in nature? Yes, violence is extremely natural. Tight.

No, no, but the people that we're after have done terrible things. They have upset the nature, the balance of nature so much by what they have done. They do not deserve to live. Please come with us. I have an idea. If you can come with us,

maybe some of the fur bowls from my tribe can come help you here afterwards, can help keep the temple afterwards. Well, I don't know about deserve, but I think there's always, somewhere there's a plant that needs some compost, and I'm happy to make some more, if it'll make people happy. Was that you saying you're willing to kill people

and put them in the ground to make compost? I think so. You got a lot of rushing, you got a lot of anger. Oh man, you're seeing me at a pretty relatively calm moment, actually. Welcome to the Mighty Nein. Do you know? There's only a... Don't overthink it.

Okay. Do you know Pumat Sol, by any chance? Not. What? Is that a type of plant? Is that a? No, no. Just had to ask. I've actually already packed, I'll go get my thing.

What, what? Wait, what would we owe you for this? Do you require anything? I do, I may ask for it later. Money? You'll have it. Furbolgs do not need money. Oh, you'll have it.

Tea? I like this one. I go get my green beetle armor. The, the, the beetle armor. What? I did not come across a firbolg with green beetle armor. I think my sister made it. I'm very proud of her. It's like a chitinous-looking metal breastplate that has a somewhat pearlescent turquoise green blue tint to it

that seems to shift in the light. I got a big knotted wet looking stick that is just covered in lichen. He is also, the armor is also covered in lichen. It is just a big growing, living, wet thing. It has a big purple amethyst rock at the top of the staff. And I got a little shield also made out of beetle. Fungal armor.

Give me a minute. Okay, yeah. Just going to walk around once, take it in. If the thing that he needs from us is our blood or something, shouldn't we know that in advance? I mean, we should find out what he wants from us before we just blindly agree to this. What if he wants keg?

I figured that out. Some sort of concubine thing, I don't know. What if he's creepy or freaky like that? I'm kind of into that. Really? I'm not picky. And you know, your blood, you got some to spare. You can get more of it.

It's how your body works. What? I mean, he does not seem freaky to me at all. He seems very nice, like a normal firbolg. Okay. All right. I'm ready to leave. It's going to be a little much, but I think I can do it. I'm ready.

Hey, Clay. Did you bury a Tyrio Cossalla here? Cossalla? Yeah, him. Yeah, that's what I said. What do you think you were drinking? A C Castalla? Yeah, yeah, him. Yeah, that's what I said. What do you think you were drinking? A-Costalla.

That's, yeah. That's very close, that's good. It's always worth trying. Were you around when you buried him? Castalla family, I think we have eight in their generation. I was only here for the last two. All right.

So let me tell you about the murders we are dealing with. While we walk. Right. All right. Power walking. Yep. All right, so making your trek back through the forest, are you helming this as well? Once more? No, First I want the dinosaurs.

May I helm it with Clay? Yeah. Caduceus. Caduceus Clay. Caduceus. You can call me Clay. Caduceus. Caduceus! Caduceus! Caduceus Clay. It is decided. I have been trying not to show you this art

for over two weeks now. Okay. Caduceus, would you like to, are you wanting to help? Or Nila, I think, is asking for your help in fording this forest, as you have a little more experience. Sure. So go make your survival check with advantage. Okay. Oh, where are we going?

Back to town, or straight to the? Oh yeah, do we want to go and try and get some Taskers on our side? I mean, we have a healer now, but we still don't have. 21. 14 and a 14. Yeah, 14 and a 14. It's up to you guys. No, I do not think we need them.

You don't think we need any more help? We might be all right. Might. We don't even know what he does. I would not. He's a Frmulg. He's a Vrmulg. Yeah, but hey, Mr. Clay. What do you do? I'm going to shoot Beau with my crossbow. That doesn't seem like a very good idea.

Oh, I missed. Fire at him. 12. I'm sorry, I was just going to test if he could really heal you. The fuck? I'll shoot again with my bonus action. That's an actual 20. Go ahead and roll damage. Make me figure out how to do this.

Okay. Not a sneak attack I can catch it, too. Not a sneak attack. She was looking. Oh boy. That's 10, but it's crit. Does that do anything? Well, you double the dice that you rolled. Okay, so that's 12 plus four is 16.

You take 16 points of piercing damage. I'm going to try and catch it. Okay, go for it. Okay, I roll a d10. Roll a d10. A 10 plus my monk level, right? Which is five? I think so. Is that what it says? Deflect Missiles. Just the deflection.

One d10 plus eight. Oh, oh, oh, it's my monk level plus my proficiency bonus. Oh, so shit. No damage. So no damage. It goes right for underneath, like where the clavicle and the neck meet, and just catches it right there. Oh, but with this crossbow, when I roll a natural 20, it shoots another one immediately.

Oh! That's right! So do I have to roll for that one, or do you just? You have to roll to attack. Okay, that's a 23 to hit. So go ahead and roll damage on that one. That's amazing. Eight.

Okay, so what happens is you pull back the fire, and as it gets ready to go ahead and extend, it looks like another bolt slips up into it accidentally, and it fires two in a row. Beau catches one and goes like, Ow! And there's a second one that's jammed right into the space between two ribs. What the hell, Nott? First of all, that was cool. And this was cool! And third of all, that was a killing blow!

Now, do your thing! You could've fucking kill me! She always liked this. This seems kind of extreme. This is kind of the most extreme I've ever seen. Do your thing! Do your thing! I'm keeping this bolt.

This is mine now. Okay. You're bleeding on your- And I rip the other one out. Oh! Yeah! I put that on keeping this one, too! Keg is aroused again.

You leave. Come here, come here. All right, and I just sort of get in there. I'm just going to do Cure Wounds. I'm just, there's going to be a little bit of lichen that just grows on the wound really quickly. Don't infect me, don't infect me! It's fine. You guys!

Do I roll for that? Yeah, you roll to d8, plus your wisdom modifier. So the wound seems to close as you watch this bright. Six points of damage, six points of healing. Up by six. You watch as this bright red, pink-colored lichen, almost a mossy-type material, seems to come out of the wound and close it,

and then turn gray and then break away and crumble off, and where it is, you can see the wound seems to have closed and healed over, like weeks and weeks of healing had gone by. Okay, this should stop. You're welcome. Probably a different way we could've demonstrated that, not that. It felt very, yeah. That wasn't for you.

Never mind. They can be a bit strange, but they are good. Honestly, it's been so long since I've been around anybody, I genuinely wouldn't have been able to tell, so. In making your journey back towards Shadycreek Run, the sun does set partway through your journey. The forest goes dark, partway through your journey, the forest goes dark.

Nearly pitch black. Now, I believe all of you but Caleb have some sort of dark vision. At this point, the crickets start coming out very loudly. The distant sound of skittering and animal movements through brush and dry leave catch the outside of your peripheral. You manage to stop every now and then

as Nila puts her hand up, listening and smelling for anything nearby. Are you guys continuing at a fast pace, or are you attempting to be stealthy? Well, do we decide what we're doing? I think we're going to go straight. We're going straight to the shepherds? It's on the way.

We didn't really discuss. We got distracted. That's true. Are you guys heading back to Shadycreek or are you heading straight to the Sour Nest? Is it on the way? It's on the way. I say we at least stop by and scout it. If it's more or less on the way, then yeah, we can at least swing by. It'll add an hour or so to go into Shady Creek, because essentially, if this is Shady Creek,

we're on the bottom of the forest, and you've traveled, from your perspective, far northwest to get to the area where you met Caduceus. You're now heading back down, and the Sour Nest is on the northeastern side of the city, just outside of it, so you have to scoot and ricochet off. So we have to go through the town just to get there? No, you could go straight to the forest,

but it depends on what you want to do. If you're going straight there or if you're wanting to skim through Shady Creek, it's your choice. How long after dusk has it been? The sunset, you have about, with that roll you had made, you'll be arriving at Shady Creek around about 10 p.m. Perfect.

We are going to find somebody, just spur of the moment, tell them to come with us out into the woods to do a bit of dark business. Are you being facetious? I can't tell. No, I don't know if that's a good idea. I don't like our options at the moment. Any of them, really. I feel like we don't have, we are one more person

than when we got our asses handed to us on the road. And we thought we had the upper hand then. Now we have one more, that is better. But if we go to the town and we find a couple of ne'er-do-wells who work for coin, we are convincing them to come with us right away, into the woods, into the woods. They could introduce them. Out of the woods?

That would be the hope, I imagine, that you leave the woods once you went into the woods? That would be the hope, I imagine. Leave the woods once you went into the woods. I mean, you don't just want to sit there. I mean, that's what I do, but you know. That's what you do. I'm not sure that was really a great decision, so. Yeah. Huh.

Are you talking to us? Just kind of thinking out loud. I've had a few years to just think out loud. How old are you? How long? Oh. How many seasons old are you? Been about 100, give or take.

What, there's four seasons? Right? Or is it three seasons up here? I don't know. 25. He's between 25 and 100. That'll do. What are you thinking? I'm still afraid if we roll into Shadycreek, once again, just pointing out what we are.

Two furbolgs, a goblin, and then some kind of acceptable looking people, and someone with a reputation, well, a bi-societal standard. What a shagest cat. Look, come on. If we do that, the three of us would do the talking. Naturally. I'm just saying, the three of us would do the talking, naturally.

I'm just saying, we will draw attention to ourselves, and then we might go around asking people to kill the Iron Shepherds, and then that might draw more attention to ourselves in a town that it feels like the Iron Shepherds kind of run. Or at least have a better foothold than we do, yeah. How would this be different? That's my question.

One more person, sure, a healer, sure, but. Well, we're taking them, we could take them at night, which we did not do before. Some of them would be awake, probably not all of them. We had the element of surprise before, we hopefully have it now. They're on home turf. Home turf is big. Can I just say, again, I don't give a shit about Ophelia's request or the gentleman's offer. I just

want to get all of our friends and get out. If we can kill them, great, but if our aim is not to kill them, it makes this a much easier mission. Do you know Ophelia? Clay? No. Sorry, you just had her face like you recognized her name. I had to think a little bit about it, but no. No, you're not, I agree with you.

The most important thing is getting the people who are in that basement. The most important thing. You always got to improvise. Yes. But you're saying, go in with the plan of killing them, and then switch it up if need be. The only thing that I believe is known

is taking care of the people on that wall, anyone outside. I will send Frumpkin around to see if there is more than just these two. Then we will have decisions to make. We will need to send in Frumpkin again, or a new friend here, one of us, one of them, and make a plan from there. That is all we know now.

We need to do something, and I feel a little on edge with our numbers, but maybe more on edge by the ticking clock. Okay. Let's swing by the baddies' house and just see what's going on. Anyone in particular feel super strongly about going and getting more help,

should we put it to a vote? Do you carry a smell bag? A what? So much disappointment. She sniffs a purse every time she wants to make a decision. It's worked out so far. It's filled with things from nature that I find significant. This is a good point. What is your smell bag? That seems like a really, really good idea, actually. I should start doing that.

It helps me so much. What a good way to make a decision. What does your smell bag say? Do we go and we get more people, or do we go to the house? I do not need to check it. No smell check necessary. Make a smell check. I just want to go. It will be okay.

We have two firbolgs. I mean, she's so convincing. And Eli, I love your enthusiasm, but again, they're on home turf. They have more people than I mean, she's so convincing. And Eli, I love your enthusiasm, but again, they're on home turf, they have more people than I thought, more abilities than I thought. I mean, we hire a couple taskers, I know it's not ideal, but if...

All right, new plan. We split the party. No! Terrible idea. Half go to the house, the other half go look for more help, and then we'll meet you. What's the house going to do? Watch. No. All right, fine.

Let's swing by the house and check it out. If there's a raging party, we'll just continue on to town. If it seems dead, maybe we'll do a little recon. If the recon goes well, maybe we'll do a little insertion. Describing a date right now? If the insertion goes well, maybe we go steady. I don't know what any of that means. You will get used to it. I just laugh along now.

All right. Look, they're your people, so I'll leave it to you guys, but I don't love the odds. I know because of your abilities, if we can draw more of them outside, we will stand a better chance. We will have more power than you had last time. Let's go to the house.

We're just going to watch. Yeah. We're going to see what it's like at night, so that if we have to come back tomorrow night, we'll know what to expect. Are there more guards at night? We don't know, they could have six more dudes who come up there at night. Let's go, we'll know what to expect. Are there more guards at night? We don't know, they could have six more dudes who come up there at night.

Let's go, we're wasting time just talking. Just look. Let's go look. Okay, so you head straight to the Sour Nest? Yes. All right. So, over the next couple of hours, you make your way, scooting, as opposed to the more southern direction

you were traveling, heading eastward, carefully making your way on the outskirts of the northern side of North Clover, of Shadycreek Run, hiding Joel and making stealth checks. Shit. Disadvantage for you, Gag, unfortunately. I know. Fuck. Can I politely ask the forest to maybe just give us a round this time, just in case?

I want to talk to a couple trees and see if they'd be all right just giving us a little passage. Okay. Roll a wisdom check. All right. Wisdom save or wisdom check? Wisdom check. All right. Wisdom save or wisdom check? Wisdom check.

All right. 21. You bend in quietly, placing your hand against one of the nearby trees, the bark being cold and somewhat soft from the moisture of the snow that had melted from the day before. You feel the oppressive sense of the central nature that encompasses this Hevelier

would give way ever so faintly. So. Wait, maybe stupid idea. You guys can talk to plants. Plants are neutral. What if we lead them into the woods? What? Now you're thinking like I was. I didn't have that specific idea.

We lead them into the woods. And then what? We fight them in there. We can have the plants entangle them. I don't know. It could be a backup if this plan goes south, if they wake up or something. But if they can talk to the plants, I mean, the woods are anyone's game. They'd be fighting other creatures, not just us.

But what is it that lures the shepherds out of their hole? They won't leave. I've got fireworks. I can put a stink bomb inside. Really stinky. Not like what you call my stink pouch. That will put them in the courtyard.

It will not probably put them in the woods. We need to take one of theirs. Take Lorenzo or something. They'd have to come after him. There would be no reason for them to leave. Do I know if Lorenzo is a loyal person, would he just let someone die if they got taken? Best that you can tell, he's not a

leave no man behind type individual. Okay. He isn't. He is not. But he's a vengeful type of individual. He's definitely a fan of eye for an eye. So if we manage to kill one of them, if it. So if we manage to kill one of them, if it goes south and we manage to kill one of them, he might chase us.

Or maybe not. Or maybe not. Just, it could be a backup. No, no, that's good. Let's go. Let's go. Oh, stealth checks. So stealth checks.

First stealth check. Where's my stealth? Seven. 26. Seven. 10. 12. 20.

Okay. These are such bad stealth checks. Those are really bad rolls. Thanks to you speaking with nature, I am ignoring one of the lowest stealth rolls. Only one? But even still. Oh no!

As you approach the outskirts of the Sour Nest, you can see the clouds of the night are broken here and there, the very, very darkened night occasionally broken by the errant moonbeam that manages to sweep through the open grove where this fortress was built. The canopy itself cleared out, leaving it open for the occasional peek of white through the clouds. The same perimeter wall you see being slowly trained

across by two guards dressed in the same hooded attire as those that you previously saw, as you saw as well, bringing the three carts northward from the Gloryrun Road. As you begin to approach, Kag, unfortunately, manages to step on what sounds like a hornet's nest. It crunches into your foot, and for a brief second,

you inhale very sharply, knowing that this familiar sound, this is not the first hornet's nest you've stepped into, but thankfully a moment passes, no hornets. It was abandoned and fallen from a tree. However, you do hear a voice on the wall say, Hello? How far? About 70 feet from you.

I think we might be doing this now, so be prepared for it. Could we, I don't want to put Frumpkin in danger, but could we pretend it was Frumpkin? He shoots out or something. Frumpkin shoots up into the air and bounces off a tree. Oh, there you are, gang, you sucker. He's going to go ahead and raise a crossbow again.

Oh my god, if I kill someone again! That is a 13 to hit. What is Frumpkin's armor class as an owl? Oh my god, if I kill someone again! That is a 13 to hit. What is Frumpkin's armor class as an owl? I have an owl here. It is, that hits. Oh! Virtuosize. Shit!

That is four points of piercing damage to Frumpkin. Frumpkin is alive. Yeah! What? What? How many hit points does the owl have? Well, it's 1d4 plus one, and I rolled it last time, and I rolled a four, so it's 1d4 plus one, so.

So it's five. Yeah. So you watch as this owl just takes a crossbow bolt to the chest and is like. You hear the same voice go, Fucking hell! Phil! Phil! The fucking shot on that one's still flying! I hate this forest! It's bullshit!

You hear this voice look further away, go, You suck. Shut up! Loads another bolt into it. I was actively looking for the owl to finish it off and regain his pride. I told him to go down low to the ground. Can you bring him back? I want that arrow. Yeah, I can. I poof into Frumpkin's senses. Do I hear anything besides Phil and Mystery Man?

Make a perception check with advantage. Yeah, because of the hearing. Yeah. Oh, that's good on the first roll. First roll, it's good, so that is 18. 18, okay. Hearing the two men banter back and forth a little bit, the errant prodding that Phil seems to be giving to this individual.

Beyond that, there's the crickets in the air, there's other nocturnal birds that are starting to rouse from their slumber to go hunting through the night. From the direction of the Sour Nest, Frumpkin glances up and can see on the second floor, there are two openings you had seen previously on the second floor of this fortress on each side, and there appears to be a very faint bit of firelight, and there appears to be a shadow that passes

by one and the other, so there is somebody moving on the second floor of this. It was the inner building? Of the inside of it, yes. Okay, I snap my fingers, and Frumpkin vanishes, leaving the bolt where he was. And then I just do it again, and he's here. All right. Very wounded, but alive.

Oh. May I borrow one of your good berries? Absolutely. Is this one okay? You may take, I believe there are four or five left. I will take four. Please. One. Please. One. Two.

Four, you may keep that one, thank you. Frumpkin happily eats from the Good Berries. Thanks, Fettor. Yeah, he watches the wounds close slowly, the magic of the Good Berries healing the crossbow bolt over eventually. Oh god. Sorry, guys.

We can maybe use this. We could make a distraction owl that he will focus on and we could take him out from afar. Do you have an illusion that you can do that? That's a good idea. Maybe we should have done that to begin with. Well, we could potentially keep moving now if we want to, because. We got the label around. Yeah, we could potentially keep moving now if we want to,

because we know there's two on the wall. Maybe that's their MO every night, there's two on the walls. People are awake inside. What is the hour right now? I'd say at this point it's close to 1030. 1033, yeah. That's very specific.

Yeah, it is. Are you just going for that, or is that like, does that mean something? I don't know, it's 1030, oh, I'm sorry, 1034 now. In a minute, it's going to be 1035. Yeah, approximately. How about now? It's still 1034.

But it's closer to 1035, it's not a minute. I'm not going to do this right now. So we have a decision to make. Doesn't seem any better or worse from the outside, but we are outside the onion, so are we going back to town to get a little more muscle, or are we making a go of it here? All right, all right, who votes for more muscle? Let's put it to a vote.

Well, how successfully could we silently kill these two on the wall? You would be good at one. We can kill these two, I think, very easily. They're not the issue as long as you don't move. I will, I'm staying right here. But picture to me how you, I know, we can take this guy easily.

Do you fight people from afar? Not quietly, but, you know. How about you, Nila? Do you have anything that can shoot from afar? Lightning, I told you. Well, something that's not like, hey, look, we're here, we've got lightning! Poison spray. Okay. Ten feet, no.

That's not from very far. We have Beau. She's quiet. Took a tap of this. I could distract one while you go up and just... How tall's the wall? How would I be able to get on the wall? The wall is about

12 to 15 feet. It's not terribly tall. It's about five feet wide. Can I do a quick, are we walking the perimeter? If we're doing a perimeter walk, I want to look and see if there are any branches and trees that might be growing close to the wall. You do know from previously looking over it that they've cleared out the forest

about 10 feet from the outer wall, specifically to prevent anyone from climbing over into the space. I mean, I can shoot one with a crossbow. I have a sling, too. Okay. Yeah, but we have to finish the job instantly. I've got my throwing, yeah,

we've got to do both at the same time, ideally. There's got to be a team one and a team two on the guy. I mean, I've got my throwing I've got my throwing darts, but they're not super great. Your lightning, it doesn't make a storm around it, right? It's just a lightning bolt. We couldn't, you know. Controlled lightning? Make it seem like it's a storm.

Listen, you can distract him with the actual Frumpkin while I shoot. It doesn't have to be an illusory Frumpkin. I can still shoot. Yeah, you could also shoot him from the dark when he's not expecting it to happen. That's true. I mean, also sometimes maybe it's just a stormy night here in the forest.

Still must be a really bad person if you're... Who's still the worst? How far away? Are they within eyesight of each other? I'm assuming so. They are, yes. I mean, I can, if you guys, I can shoot. I got a shooty thing. I can shoot him. Okay, here's what I'm going to propose. We split up, three on one guy, three on the other. We'll do the plan that kind of worked when we were doing it on kids, and we didn't know we were doing it on kids. Me and you can throw up a bottle rocket. That'll be the signal. We attack both of the guys at the same time. Two different sides.

That's loud. We could just do message. We could send each other a message that's silent. But if it's loud and they're both dead afterwards. No, the people inside don't hear it. No, we need silence. I could create, were you going to say something? I know I'm new here, and you've obviously all got

some kind of hierarchy going here of how you work this out. Caleb's in charge. That makes sense. That makes sense. So, I suppose my question would be, what are you really here for? Because normally, if I'm looking at a complicated problem, I just think about what it is that I really want,

and then I go and I do that. We want to murder everyone inside and rescue the people who are trapped. We want to rescue the people who are trapped. I was going to say, if you had to put one above the other, if you get one thing, you get to do it. Rescue the people in the basement. So you got to get in and out of the basement.

I mean, that seems to be the conversation, then, is getting in and out of the basement. I mean, that seems to be the conversation, then, is getting in and out of the basement. I'm sure, inevitably, you're going to kill a whole bunch of people in the process of that, but as long as you're focused on where you're going and what you're doing, that may help against this wanton violence against Phil, who I'm sure is a terrible person.

He shot an owl. He shot Phil's friend. He thought it was funny, though, so he's still a dick. Yeah, that ain't funny. All right, let's split up, take these guys out. No, it's too early, we need to wait. It's 1035 at night, we need to wait till there's a sleep game. Probably 1037.

No. We wait an hour to get into position. Okay, you We wait an hour to get into position. Okay, you guys wait an hour to get into position. We watch the passing shadows in the windows. You keep an eye on it. You do watch as the two of them, they're not perfectly in line with each other, and the second floor of the complex

does block their vision of each other when they are on complete opposite sides of the wall. But sometimes one will be faster than the other, and they'll yell to the other, and they'll go see each other from the opposite sides. How far is Beauregard from you right now? How far is Beauregard from you right now? Did you wander away from me?

No, I'm right next to you. Would you rather wait till they are sleeping in their beds before we did this? Yeah. I was just trying to move things along. I don't want this one moving along right now. She makes a lot of noise. Sorry.

Yeah, we'll wait. We'll just wait an hour. She makes a lot of noise. Sorry. No, I'm, yeah, we'll wait. We'll just wait an hour. That's a good question. Or three. I'm probably going to ruin any stealthiness. You do know, from the time that you've spent here, that there is no point in which the place is unguarded from the wall.

There's no point in which there is. Meaning there are shifts. The perimeter sentinels that you see currently, there are usually two sets that switch off. Is there a time they change? There is, but you're not entirely certain what it was. You weren't really paying attention. You could take off your armor.

That's kind of what I was thinking. At least to get into place and then put it back on. It's a lot of armor. It's a lot of armor. I feel, if we are doing this, I feel we should wait till it is light at night and wait until we see those guards changed, and then wait a little bit further

for the old guards to go to sleep. Yeah, so there's a lot of sitting here and not moving. I know we are all very anxious, but we wait. Someone comes out, relieves these two, they go to bed, and then we strike all at once. Then we do your plan, it's just delayed, that's all. Okay. To the next shift change.

I could use a short rest anyway. Should we get on different sides of the facility? I think so. I think, uh. Yeah, but can't you stay here? And do what? Wait. With two other people. For what?

We're splitting up so we can take them both out at the same time. Yeah, you're just waiting till some of us are able to silently take out these people on the wall. Then we buy ourselves a little time where you can clink and clunk, you know, as we get closer. It's good that you find levity in this situation. It's important.

Then we go into the inside of this wall and take the next step. So it's not three and three, it's three and two. Well, it's two groups, and you move less right now. Okay. There. All right. Can I take a short rest?

You guys can take a short rest. And we watch. And you watch. And you wait. And we solidify our plan. Wrong spell, because you had a... That we definitely have a problem. Mercifully, depending on your intent, the clouds break for a while, depending on your intent, the clouds break for a while, and you have a clear, starry, moonlit sky overhead

that manages to create a rim light on both the wall, the structure, and the two guards. And you wait, and you wait. And we're going to take a break. Hey! Oh my goodness, I have to pee so bad. Yep. And we'll come back here in a second.

And I think at this point, I might as well just put the fortress out there. So that'll be waiting for you when you come back. Let's go back to town. I'm a firehawk. Yeah. He finally found him. All right, so we're going to go ahead and go to break for here a bit, but we have our giveaway at the break. For our fantastic giveaway tonight, we have the Purple Heart Hero Vault with the Celtic knot

design on it, which is really, really pretty. It's magnetized, open up, you can put your dice, you can put your miniature in there. I'll be giving this away at the end of the break, so go ahead and hop on over to the Critical Role chat on Twitch, that's twitch.tv slash Critical Role, and enter the keyword once. More than once and you'll be disqualified. The keyword tonight is stronghold. One word, stronghold.

So all you people in the U.S. and Canada, excluding Quebec, go ahead and throw that into the chat and we'll come back with a winner as soon as we return see you in a few minutes oh hey there Laura Bailey here to tell you all about the glorious goods we create inspired by our stories

our stores are filled with the basics like character inspired t-shirts, dice sets and pins as well as more specialty items like fancy jackets puzzles featuring gorgeous artwork the comfiest joggers and pajamas ever t-shirts, dice sets, and pins, as well as more specialty items like fancy jackets, puzzles featuring gorgeous artwork, the comfiest joggers and pajamas ever, and much, much more. There's also a few special items that support charity efforts, like our dedicated Critical Role Foundation merch. You can check out all of our regional online stores by visiting the shop tab

on critrole.com or head straight to the US store at shop.critroll.com Every purchase helps support our shows and the stories we tell. Speaking of which, let's get back to the story. A little late on the draw there, but that worked out. That was awesome. Welcome back everybody. So, before we jump into this, we have our winner

of the Fantastic Purple Heart Hero Vault. Missing out, that's going to be Elmo's daddy. Congratulations, Elmo's daddy. We'll go ahead and get your information and get that out to you ASAP, but well done. Elmo's daddy! Sounds just the same? Is that the same word?

That's about right. All righty, so. To give you a little bit of a visual representation of the size of the base of the fortress. Everybody's got a guy! That's what you see within the interior of the courtyard. The wall itself resides probably about out here. Oh, this is inside the wall.

This is inside the wall. Oh, jeez. And above that, still. Oh, there's a second floor? This is inside the wall. Oh, jeez. Above that, still. Oh, there's a second floor? There's a second floor. But it would be ridiculous to have built that also. It's like, are we really? Second floor. It's got a little board under there.

Sits right about there. It's like a layer cake. Oh, wow. To give you a little bit of perspective on that. Black dots on the outside, by the way, are where the windows are visible on the stone. So you guys are currently now divided on opposite ends of the outer wall,

watching the two guards slowly move their way around the perimeter. Have you done a guard shift yet? Shift change? Not yet. Okay. In the interim, while we're waiting for that yet? Not yet. Shift change? Okay. In the interim, while we're waiting for that to happen, I'm going to do two things. One, I'm going to cast a mage armor on myself,

and I'm also going to pull a book out of one of the holsters and spend 10 minutes changing Frumpkin into a spider. All righty. Spider! There aren't any windows on the bottom floor at all? No. No windows on the bottom floor. There is a front double door,

and there is a single door in the back that you know leads into a kitchen. Okay. Go, Charlotte, go! You're radiant! He has three hit points, so I think he's actually a bigger spider than the one you're imagining. See, he's right there.

He's very big. How big is that spider? It's a pretty big spider. Three hit points worth of spider. Yeah. That looks like a three hit point spider. Somebody could step on it and he could still go. Yeah.

That's a four or five hitter. Yeah. Get Brian Foster in here with his ping pong racket. Yeah. That's arguably terrifying. I'll give it to you. I was a little wrong. Just a little.

Okay, put it on by shoulder. I'm not terrified of it. I'm just saying it could be terrifying. Hi, Frumpkin. Shortly after midnight, you watch as two figures ascend from the inside of the wall, climbing up the different ladders that mark the entrance and exit. They both interface in a brief conversation, hushed voices, and then relieve the two previous guards, who then descend down on the inside of the courtyard via those same ladders and disappear into the Sour Nest Fortress.

So there has been a guard changeover now. It's past midnight, pushing one in the morning. What would you like to do? How are we split up, group-wise? Probably me and Caleb split. Yeah. And then... One for a bulge each. I'll take the new one. We'll take the old one.

So it would be... Table and table. Table and table. While we're waiting, I've asked the deuce. I'm already regretting the name. Are you married? No. Did you go to college?

What? How old are you, really? I don't really know how to answer that question. Why are you badgering him with questions? Well, he's a new friend. I talk when I'm nervous. Why don't you let him think and answer questions one at a time? You're right. Thank you. Sure. Well, I'm learning from, I don't know who, actually, none of us are good at this.

Neela, I guess? Neela's really good at this. Neela's pretty good at this. What am I good at? I don't know, I can only hear muffles and choice words. I think they're talking about you, though. It's okay. I pull the haversack off and say, I have a decent idea, anyway. I think that you should use this. Oh, yeah.

And much like how you spend a moment with your smell bag, you watch as Beauregard seems to focus into this strange, almost vibrant pink satchel or shoulder bag that Caleb has been carrying. What is inside? About a minute passes before Beauregard pulls back away, this strange trance passing over her. Yeah, you're good.

Wow. Death is weird, am I right? What did you do to her? So back to my idea. Yeah. Okay. Nott on the other side can probably put a bolt in that guy's throat over there. Okay.

But you can probably vault up the side of that wall, if I'm not mistaken, don't you think? How tall are you, seven foot two? Even better. Maybe seven six. But? Would you be willing to give me a boost? Absolutely.

Okay. You told me about your ability to make things quiet around you. Damn, should have gone with Hila. Make things quiet around you. Are you married? I can see you have. That's a lot of traits. Yes. Are you married? I can see you have. Yes.

I was married once. To get you up on the wall, I have the ability. Yeah, she's kind of sobered up. It works. She made a mistake. To hold him. And when I hold him, you yank him down off the wall. And then Humpty Dumpty, you know,

they can't put him back, you know how it goes. Copy. Wait, I need, I'm sorry, I need that one more time, but I'll get it in there. You are going to help Beauregard here up onto the wall quietly after you use your, you know. Pass without a trace. Whatever you call it. Yes.

And then she gets up there, and I am going to use my tricks to hold him and let her rip him off the wall and split his skull on the stones beneath. Excellent. Also, the thing that I was looking at, kind of our version of the smell bag, is this artifact that we got from an assassin

that lets you look into the creation of space and time in the universe. It's pretty complicated. Wow. Anyway. I pull out a little wire and I whisper into it to Nott and say, I think we have an idea over here, so we should probably get set.

We haven't come up with a plan yet. We'll get ready over here, give us one second. How tall is our firbolg? How tall is our firbolg? How tall is my firbolg? Seven feet? Seven to seven and a half feet. We could just copy their plan.

I mean, I can just shoot. Oh, you can just shoot. I can just shoot. But if I miss, then backup plan is boosty to you? Can you boost? I'm like 200. I'm not that strong. Plus, she's a party maker. No? Can you boost? I'm like 200. I'm not that strong. Plus she's a party maker noise, you know, like,

go, go, go, go. You can't shoot anything. I mean, I can do some magic. I have javelins. Yeah, oh, you have a javelin. I forgot I had javelins, yes, I have javelins. I guess that's our plan B, then. Yeah.

Didn't do too hot in the last one, but yeah. Is there anything that either of you can do to hold silence or assist me as I shoot this fellow? I can give you the thumbs up as you're doing it. Well, if I cast a cast without a trace, can it help them, too? You're on the other side. Unfortunately, you guys are on opposite sides. I got a Guiding Bolt, but it's very bright.

It's made of light. Let's not do that. I have some insects, but they make a lot of noise. Okay, it's fine, it's on me, it's on me, it's okay. I'll just get super drunk. Actually, I have something I can do. Well, that's happening. Where, Matthew?

Yes. DM, where would you say, in relation to this map, the two groups are? The two groups would be probably on the outskirts of the wall here and here. So like 150 feet apart, probably. Yeah, quite a distance. How far is your message worth?

Like, about that far. Okay, so we wouldn't be without a message range of each other. Message is 120 feet. About 120 feet. Hey. Okay. So when I get up there, I'm going to grab him,

I'm going to bash his head in, and I'm going to throw him down, and if he's still alive, you get him with my slay. Yeah! Because we can also just be on here. You can manage to adjust yourselves to get within range. Okay. So maybe you get up on the wall off of Niala's shoulders and you do the handhold thing, you know what I'm talking about?

I was figuring we would just be on our shoulders and we would suck up against the wall. Take out a piece of wire and send a little message right underneath him. We'll see, we'll see it. Yeah, yeah, right underneath him. Caleb, Caleb! We'll see. After, let's, provided this plan works, and after we knock down the folks,

we should, someone on each party should put on their cloak and go resume their guard pattern and keep walking around the wall. Ooh. That's a good name. That is an excellent idea. You can risk what you did. Yeah, you know.

You and I, we're good. We have this little routine. But so Beauregard can do that on this side. What about on your side? You? You're short. Keg. She's short.

She's short, but not as short as Nott. You could stand on top of me. Are these guys humans, these guards? Make a perception check. Pardon me. 20, baby. Oh, really? One of them is human, though maybe 5 1⁄2 feet tall.

The other, because of the moonlight that's coming through, you'd have a better perspective on them, even at this distance. I'd say, you'd guess, probably half-elven, or just a very thin human, about six, a little over six foot. So you have a six-foot one, and one that's five and a half feet. So maybe Furball could, you know,

hunch over and stalk around. And as a Furball, you have the ability, no? To disguise yourself. Every firbolg does, to just shrink a little bit if you want. Oh man. She says to Caleb, who tells me who tells him. Sorry! No, that's very strong.

I'm actually loving it. Yeah, I guess I can do that. Okay. I'm very strong, I can maybe hoist you. Oh, yes, you've got a plan now. Hey, we made up a plan, too. Okay. What are you doing over there? We're going to shoot the man, and then Drunky Smokey Keg is going to pick up the deuce, and he's

going to walk around. Is my nickname Drunky Smokey Keg? Oh, we're working on a better one. Nickname is three times longer than my normal name. Just pitch me some other ones. How about Keg, my normal name? It's literally one syllable. I feel like that's not a lot to ask.

Not. The plan is, I have a question for you. The plan is not foolproof, but on our side over here, if Borrigar is going to throw the asshole off the wall, if you shoot your asshole and he does not die but starts screaming, what do you do? Other than shoot him again. We have a javelin, and that is all we've got. Well, I have rope, so I could tie the rope around the javelin, shunk, and then pull him off the wall? Makeshift harpoon. It's pretty cool.

Sure, let's do it! Is that the now leading plan? Is that what I'm doing? No, no, no. I'm still going to shoot, but you're going to be ready with jabs. Okay, so I'm going to wrap this. Or you could attack at the same time. Oh yeah, that's true. Let's do that. Let's just do this.

Okay, tie the rope around the javelin. You message me a countdown, and I'll say it out loud to you. Very scared. Okay. We're going to wait for our guys to pace. The sequence of offense is that you two need to get under the wall successfully. Pass without a chance. You've got your javelin tied up, it's ready to go. It's roped.

Okay, so you guys get in place. And then, I say three, two, one. Go, pass without a trace. Three, two, one, go! Pass without a trace. No, no, no, they're in place. Are they in place? Yeah, we're going, we're going.

She's on my shoulders. I'm on her shoulders, I'm up against this fucking wall. We are doing this, I'm going to try and. All right. And then we're shooting at the same time? We're shooting at the same time. I'm going to hold and All right. And then we're shooting at the same time? We're shooting at the same time. I'm going to hold hold person until these two are right under the guard.

And I want to wait until right after he passes, and then I'm going to do some ninja stuff. All right, so. Are you just a DT? Yep. First, I need you to make a stealth check. Okay. Because you're having to move right up against the wall. This is a 10-foot clearing. I do, I need you to make a stealth check. Okay. Because you're having to move right up against the wall.

This is a 10-foot clearing. I do. And use the dodeca if you need to. That's true. That's both of you guys roll stealth check. But doesn't she get like a plus 10 to the stealth check? Is it plus 10 to the stealth check? Yeah. I give you a 20 total.

Yeah, that's great. That's great. Okay, 20. Oh shit, how did I get the same thing? Look. I cursed you. You need a stealth, too? Lucky shit, how did I get the same thing? Look. I cursed you. You need a stealth, too? Luck, you have luck. What's your total?

But you get to also add. Does that apply to her, that pass out a trick? Yeah. So you have 10. But you have a luck left. I have two luck points left, but I feel like. No, you have one, because you used one last game. But we rested, didn't we?

But we rested. It's a long rest to come back. You got one left. Farts. You got to hold that shit. I think I need to hold that. Okay, so 15 and 20. Okay, and you're going,

you're both throwing a javelin and you're firing. Okay. All right, so you both run up to the wall. You go ahead and hoist up, hanging on the edge right there. Walks past, doesn't seem to have noticed. Yes! Rolled a six on his perception.

IRL. Yes! All right. Would you both make your attack rolls, please? Because you are unseen, you have advantage on the attack. On three? No, so Caleb, seeing the game in place, would have won three, two, eins.

Go! Whole person. That is 15. 15, that hits. Yes! That's 20. Hell yes! But you said advantage. Fuck yeah.

Whoa! So that was a three. Oh wait, I thought it was with advantage, but it is. With advantage, yeah. Roll again, just in case advantage. Fuck yeah. Whoa! So that was a three. Oh wait, it's also an advantage, but it is a three. With advantage, yeah. Roll again just in case you want to crit. Nope. No, no, no, no, not at all. Just go ahead and roll your sneak attack damage

and double it on top of it. And then take another shot. And then take another shot. Okay, so that's 24 so far. 24 points of damage from the first attack. Uh-huh. Go ahead and roll damage for the javelin. Rogues. Five.

All right, so that's 29 damage. As you throw the javelin up, you were shot in the next attack. 24. Roll damage for that one. Nine. Okay. I know, I know so you watch as and you yank back, make a strength check.

Come on, come on. Come on, baby, no whammies, no whammies. Ten. Ten? Ten. Yay! And you're just dragging the corpse. Ten!

Ten! Ten! Ten! Ten! Ten, right! Hand over hand, you're dragging the corpse. Ten! Ten! Ten! Ten, right! Hand over hand, you're dragging the corpse. He insta-died, just.

And then just got pulled off and then slammed onto the ground and is now being pulled through the dirt and grass. Done, instantly. For you, it's a wisdom saving throw. Natural 12 plus one, that's 13, so fail. Oh, held. So he is held. He's held? Yes. Okay.

So as soon as I see that he's held. Like locks up in place. I am going to jump up and just try and grab him by the pants and bash his head in and throw him down. Easy enough to do. Go ahead and make a martial arts attack. Technically, you have advantage because he's paralyzed.

Okay. Just a straight attack? Yep. Okay, 16, no, sorry, 15? That hits as an auto-crit because he is held, yeah. Okay, okay, okay, sorry. So roll your martial arts damage. Ah, I rolled a one.

Oh well. Plus two. Plus four, so six damage. So six damage. And you throw him to the ground. He falls and takes an additional five points of bludgeoning damage after the fall. Hits the ground. Off the wall. Off the wall, on the back side of it.

He's now face down on the ground, still held. I go, Nila, now! I take my shillelagh and just let him have it. All right. Are you continuing your attack with her, or are you just hanging this thing up on the wall? I will finish my attack right as she whacks her staff.

I'm going to let go and try and time it to where I land on the staff with her. Okay, so go ahead and swing the attack, you have advantage because he's paralyzed and prone. Okay, this is it. Go ahead and roll that twice and take the hire, adding your wisdom modifier. So 10 plus four, so 14.

Plus your proficiency modifier, which is plus three, so it would be? 17. 17, that hits. Go ahead and roll your damage. Should be a? Damage is d8. D8 plus four. But is d8 times two, because it's melee, it's critical.

Come on, Nila. Two. That's two damage. Oh, well, that's fine, we'll do that. So that's nine, add the two together, so it's nine plus four. So 13 points of damage on top of that. Right as you're slamming down, go ahead and make your next attack.

Mm-hmm. 23. Okay, with advantage. Remember, all these are with advantage because it's paralyzed and prone. 23. Okay, so go ahead and roll damage, crit. Better.

That's much better. Eight plus four, so 12 damage. You have 12 points of damage. Yeah, that'll do it. Fuck yes! So both of them, one just was enjoying the wind and then darkness forever. The other got a cramp and then just got bludgeoned from all sides after being jammed in the dirt and then expired. I was enjoying the wind and then darkness forever.

Oh, I'm so glad. Was it Bill? jammed in the dirt and then expired. I was enjoying the wind in the darkness forever. Oh, it's so sad. Was it Phil? It was the end of the Sopranos Forum, man. It was just. Phil's awake. I went to bed. It's switched, Phil's still alive. We should only leave Phil alive if we can. Just say Phil.

Hashtag save Phil. Hashtag save Phil. Phil is bad, Phil is bad. They are both done at the moment. It is silent. There was a very slight sound of both their bodies impacting in the dirt, but you're not sure if that managed to reach as far as anybody

within the interior of the Stronghold, but what do you do now in this moment? Mr. Deuce, Mr. Deuce, put on this cloak, if you don't mind. Cloth messy. And climb up onto there and just patrol around, if you don't mind. Cloth messy. And climb up onto there and just patrol around. This Deuce thing's weird, I don't know. Mr. Clay, Mr. Clay!

I do the same thing. I slip into the garden to the front. Do you think maybe we're going to want some of these clothes at some point? You can put his cloak on right now. Well, I'm really tall, but all right. I'm also going to take a look at this guy they just killed and commit his face and what he's wearing to memory, just to put it in there. Cool, no worries.

I'm going to hoist you up on top, or can you get there yourself? I mean, how tall is the? It's about 12 feet. You might want to help him. He's not the strongest person. Let's make a strength check. It's not too difficult. A million, 24. Yeah, so you just you get on top of the wall, you have the cloak on. Little rope down really quick.

Quietly, keeping an eye out. Oh, nice. You want to give me another boost real quick? Not a problem at all. All right, between your acrobatics and your ability, your height, without an issue, you get to the top. You guys now are on top of the wall, cloaked.

What do you want to do? I can go over a deuce and just give a nod. You said that out of game, and I can't say anything about it. I send Frumpkin up into the air to do a circle around the entire perimeter. Perception check with advantage, please. So does this mean that they can see

in the windows on the second story now? If they want to, they can try. Aktsain beating. Okay. There does not appear to be any person in the courtyard. Those two guards are the only two that are currently set on the outside. You can see what appear to be the horses

that were pulling the carts that are set over on the side at the moment. You can see the carts that have since been repaired and are currently just waiting in rest. You can see the front door to the stronghold, and you can see the back door. Frumpkin saw all of this, yeah? Saw the doors, all of that? Correct. I'm going to creep my way to the front door, and as I go, I'm going to cast Detect Magic. Well, you're still on the outside of the wall.

Yeah. So you have to make your way through the perimeter of the wall, which has its own front gate, which is closed. So you want to head to that. To the outer wall, yeah. Right, the outer wall, out that way. Okay.

So cast Detect Magic? Yeah. I will wait till I'm within 30 feet of the wall, and then do so. I will mutter a few words. Oh, I get it. I get a free disguise self that doesn't actually count against any of my slots. Correct.

Oh, shit. Sexy. I'm going to be a guard. I'm going to be the guy we just... Okay. That's what you have to do. I like this guy. That's cool.

I haven't done this in a while. As you give the deuce your nod, you watch as his form actually shifts smaller and matches the shape of the previous card. Cool. Cool trick. All right. Finishing your detect magic,

you do not detect anything magical of the Outer Gate. Are we reconvening? It is locked. Are we going in together? Should we do back entrance, front entrance? I can unlock the front entrance for you guys. I take my wire out and I say, Nott, are you on the ground still? Can you meet me at the front gates quietly? Yeah, give us a minute.

I'm going to rifle through the dude's pockets and go through the guy we just killed's stuff. Okay. Make an investigation check. Because you this, because you're doing this quickly. 15? 15, not too bad. Do we want to do a front entrance, back entrance? We managed to kill for about 62 gold pieces. 62? Yes. Why is he so rich? Because you caught him at the moment

outside of the town, he has his money on him. But does he have anything else useful, like keys? No keys on him, no. I'm not sure we get the gold out of our dude's pocket, too. Anything else useful, like keys? No keys on him, no. I'm not sure we get the gold out of our dude's pocket, too. I threw it on his arm. Okay, cool. Anything else? He felt safe on that wall. Anything else useful? No.

The crossbow that he had seems to have snapped in the process of his body being yanked from the top of the wall. His armor is standard leather armor. Okay. Great. Was there anything on the dude that I, his armor that I put on?

You didn't stop to check, you're already up on the wall. Yeah. Okay. I can check. If you want to, make an investigation check. 17. Do I add what? Investigation. Oh, minus one.

16. 16, okay. You find 22 gold pieces. Add it to my 10, that seems a lot. And a pack of crossbow bolts, 16 crossbow bolts. Totally useful. Waiting very anxiously for my life partner. All right. Oh, yes, let's go.

Oh, not you, you stay up there. Let's go, but be stealthy. Can I? All right, so I'd like you both to roll a stealth check with disadvantage. Okay. I wish you the best of me, but I say nine. Wait, with advantage?

Disadvantage for her, because of her armor. Oh, son of a fuck. Come on, Ash. Okay, okay. Don't go lower than that. That's got to be the worst. That was the worst. It's still not great.

Is this the worst? No. Seven plus. Seven plus five. That's pretty good. Okay, 12. Good to know. I say, behead the front gate. Okay. Going stealth as well, roll a stealth check, please.

Oh god, why did I use blade armor? I think you just want to pass without a trace on. You do, so that's plus 10. Oh, thank goodness, thank you. Lost for like 10 minutes, I think. 14. That's for an hour. Up to an hour. Up to an hour, yeah.

Okay, so it's so. Okay, so this is four plus 10. One more. Yes. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Okay. Eventually, the four of you meet towards the front gate. Seemingly, from what you can tell, no one's noticed.

From my vantage point, I'm going to see if there's anybody in the courtyard or if there's anything, since I'm up there now. Yep, make a perception check. All right. I signal to Deuce, I don't know what else to call you. Clay, if you have to. Clay. Caduceus. Caduceus.

Caduceus. 16. Caduceus. Okay. Hey, look at the windows. Two. They're nice. No! You see nobody else inside the courtyard.

You occasionally see the flickering movement. It looks like there is firelight as the source of light that's coming through the two windows on the two sides of the facility you can see. No movement yet. Okay, I'm going to slowly start pacing around towards the front. I'm also going to look into the windows.

Do I see anything from my vantage point? Make a perception check. Natural 20. Hell yeah. Thanks, Gil. Okay. You feel like you have a pretty good eye on those two sides of the interior windows. You do not see any movement yet, but you're pretty locked on.

All right, so what are the four of you guys doing now that you've met at the gate? We're at the front gate? Yes. Okay, I can get this open, but I would prefer to preserve my reserves. So can you get this door open so I can get in? I'll pick the lock. 16 plus stuff.

It's plus four, plus three, or something like that? Is that right? That's your dexterity modifier plus your proficiency modifier. Yeah, plus seven. All right, yeah. So 23. 23, okay. You take a moment, and there are two specific locks that are chained, one on each side that are closed.

The one that's nearest to you, easy enough. The one on the opposite side, you have to pull out one of your hooks, one of your metallic hooks that slips through a space in the wood and manage to pull it up on the side a little bit, and you're reverse picking it from two hooked picks from the opposite side. It takes you a little longer until eventually.

I miss being a rogue every day. Got it. So far, everything's going great. Why did you say that? We should assume that everything will continue to go great. Oh god. I pull out the wire and get it between my hands

and whisper up to Beauregard, are we good, is everything good up there from what you can see, are we good? Because it looks clear. I don't know why I did this with my fingers. Okay, now we have a choice. We could just try to go downstairs and get your friends. Well, hold on, there's another door over there.

Let's get to that door. What? The back door? What? We're at the front gate, not the middle. You guys are over there. Oh, duh, okay. You're making your way to the courtyard now. Yeah, so we have to get to that door.

This door or this door, your choice. That's the front? That's the front. Oh god, right. Laura, you can meet me at a corner, since I'm walking around the... I'm on the outer, I'm not in the center area yet, right? Technically, you guys, Beau,

you guys are walking perimeter on the outside wall. The rest of you cats are currently, essentially, over that way. Oh my god. So you guys have just passed through the gate on that side, where it's open and allowing you into the courtyard. So, if I trust you, where do we go?

There's no magic on the front door, right? Still focusing as you come inside? It's like 10 minutes, so probably like four minutes, five minutes left. Yeah, no magic that you notice in the front door of the fortress. I think that we should cut around the side and go to the back.

They would probably be expecting that less. It leads into the kitchen, too. There shouldn't be anyone in the kitchen. Yeah, okay. Okay, but wait. Can we get Beau and Mr. Clay down here as well to help? I think we should keep them for the moment to keep appearances up. Well then, in that case, can you carry Keg?

Oh yeah, could you carry me? I'd love to. Are you able to, I don't understand your people's ways, but are you able to help her the way you helped Beauregard earlier? You could use that spell that you used. The ability you had to make Beauregard in this quiet place. It's within 30 feet of her, so yeah, I think she should be good. Does she have to recast it?

But I think you have to cast it. On the people within 30 feet of you. Recast it. Oh no, that's not the side. Recast! For the duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet of you. You could drop it and do it again. Wait, for the duration?

For the duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet? Doesn. You could drop it and do it again. Wait, for the duration? For the duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet. Doesn't say each creature who is the quest, who are in 30 feet. I think it's as long as they're within 30 feet, it's like a field and then you can say yay or nay. That's my point. It doesn't say at the moment of casting you have to select it, it says for the duration, each creature you choose.

So my interpretation, I would allow somebody who were to step into the radius you could then choose. Okay, you don't need to carry. So I'll just snuggle up to Nila. I'm kind of wondering as to whether I choose Keg. So let's tippy-toe around the back door. Okay. Let's go. All right, everyone who's now making their way

around the back, make another stealth check. Am I at disadvantage now, still? You're still at disadvantage, because you're still in the air. I get to add 10. Yes. Okay, so two plus 10 plus five. I miss Vax. 17. 17.

23. 23. Hold on. Plus 10. Plus 10, whatever it is. 12. Okay. Okay.

You guys begin to head around this direction. Yeah. All right, going past the barrel pile where you had previously made your way in and out via Owl the previous day. As you guys scoot past, you hear the front door of the facility . front door of the facility.

It opens ever so faintly on the inside, and a figure peers out, having apparently heard something. You don't see that? No, we already heard something. You guys can all seize to it. We asked them if they saw anything right before we went. I didn't see that with my eyes. You see a figure poke the head out and look curiously.

Sorry. What? No. Make a deception check. Oh god. With advantage, given the fact that it's in the darkness and not an unexpected scenario. Come on, come on.

Natural 20. Oh yes. Looks past and he's like, closes the door. Oh my god. Just sweating. I'm going to have an ulcer after this game. Nah.

You guys all continue to the back of the facility. No, you're with me. We're together. All right. you guys are at the back door. I'm going to guess I have two or three minutes left on detect magic, so does the door seem clear of that? The door seems to be clear of magic. Who did I see on the front door, by the way, really? What did it look like? I don't know who it was.

From what you could look at, it looked like, looked to be humanoid, it was hard to tell at this distance, a little bit of firelight you saw. Hood was down, short black hair, looked a bit sallow, young, but probably looked older than they are. Oh, damn. No, that would've been cool. I thought of doing it.

I should've run with it. All right. So, you're like a small door. You're at the back door. Like, look, look. Back door, okay. Is there any gap between the bottom of the door and the floor that Frump can fit through right now?

There is a very faint bit that a spider can fit through, yes. Oh. In you go, buddy. Hold onto my hand, please. Oh. In you go, buddy. Hold onto my hand, please. Ooh, it's time for the unveiling of the card shop. We could do a hand chain. You're on the move.

You're not with us. Oh, damn it. Okay, so telepathically, I tell Frumpkin to crawl up the other side of the door and go onto the ceiling. All right, Frumpkin is now up, and there is a kitchen. Sandwiches. There we go. What?

There is a kitchen, you can see there is an oven. There looks to be a bunch of dirty dishes that have just piled up and haven't been washed in a while. Holy cow, the detail. But there is a path that goes to the right and further down this hallway, and there is a path that goes to the right and further down this hallway, and there is a door that leads further in. And Nila didn't tell us anything about a kitchen from her.

Yeah, she didn't. Yes. Okay. The hallway down the right is the one we want to go to, if I remember correctly. With the trap door. With the trap door, yep. Well, that's where I will set Frumpkin along the ceiling. Okay. And then when he gets to a door, he can go down the door, and under if there is a gap, and then up the door. Okay.

Steps through into this hallway, which currently ends in two more doors, this way and that way. Are all these doors so far the same? They are loose. They are loose. I mean, as far as small gaps in between, very, very tiny. A half inch for Frumpkin.

Yep. Okay. What are you going to tell him which way to go? He wouldn't be able to hear you. I don't hear shit right now. I will send Frumpkin through the next gap. Which one? There's two different doors. This way or this way? No, you can't tell him anything. to send Frumpkin through the next gap. Which one? There's two different doors. This way or this way?

No, you can't tell me anything. Here, I have a laser pointer. Here's a laser pointer, Liam O'Brien. I will do... I will do this one here. All right. Frumpkin goes ahead and moves into this chamber. Which unveils this chamber. In this chamber, you see what appears to be

a dining area of some kind. There's a fucker in there. You see there are two of the hired guards in the process of finishing an evening drink. Was it Phil and the other guy? Is it Phil? One of them is Phil. One of them is the other guy.

Looks like they're having a nightcap. Are they drunk? Two guards. They've been drinking, you have no idea if they're drunk. But Frumpkin sees the two of them hushedly chatting to each other and drinking from tankers. I will have Frumpkin back away. Oh, back away. Under the crack.

Okay. And go to the- Go ahead and make a stealth check for Frumpkin, because now you are in eyesight of- He is so little, he is so small. I know. Just one roll? That's okay.

Hold on, hold on, hold on, everybody. 14, wait, everything's crazy. I need a different browser window. What did you roll? Well, I rolled a 14, but it's better than that. That's fine, they do not see Frumpkin. They have had just enough to drink where they did not see Frumpkin.

All right. I see five. Frumpkin is going well. That spider's got a pinion, so what? Yeah, back under that door, and he will peeky-poo under the door he has not checked yet. Okay. That leads into another chamber.

A hallway. Yeah, creepy, creepy, creep. That continues down, and then seems to open into another walkway. Yeah, this door. This one here. All right. Peeky-peeky-peeky-peeky. Vumpen goes and opens into that one. It seems to lead into another hallway,

a very small chamber, and there is a couple of odd pieces of dried goods in the corners, and what looks to be a wooden trapdoor. To the bottom, okay. And no gap. Trapdoor to the bottom? Seems to be a trapdoor. Any cracks that are a half inch wide,

big enough for a spider? No. No, okay. This, I remember this, okay. And that's a wall covered by that paper there that you don't need to uncover, right? That is a wall, yes. So back out of this, I know where I am.

And I will go along the wall here. Frumpkin will crawl on the wall. You can't see where I'm pointing. Over here, on the wall over here? Yeah, yeah, and crawl around the corner and peek around the corner into that covered spot. Okay. Revealing that.

It looks, and it's really to this point, you can see, it's just this has been storage. As Frumpkin entered, this is all kitchen storage. And looking down this hall. This is too complicated for me to mutter, sir. I'm not telling everybody this is too complicated. That is the gist of what you've seen. Wow, I have the whole layout. Good job, Frumpkin.

It's grumpy. You don't know how much of this will extend. Sure glad we chose a spider. I take back mocking you for your choice. I don't hear anything and you're nowhere near me. So I will set, what I would do is send Frumpkin down this hallway, because I did not go this way yet. Okay. Yeah.

And then turning around this way, you can see the spiral staircase, the very same where you had briefly managed to dodge Lorenzo earlier in the day, heading up to the second floor. I remember this from her story, so I will continue Frumpkin up the stairs. Up the stairs? Yes.

Oh god, why? Why would you do that? And time is passing. Okay. It's not that quick. Right as Frumpkin passes that way, this door opens up, and you watch as one of the two guards heads its way, a little sloppy, but turns in. We'll make for the wall at that point. Ew.

Starts walking up and goes in, go ahead and try and step on Frumpkin. Okay, what does Frumpkin need to do? He's just armor class, right? Yeah, what's Frumpkin's armor class? Svolf. With disadvantage. That is a 12.

Okay. So goes ahead and stomps down. That's a hit point. Okay, he scurries away. No, he scurries up onto the wall, up onto the ceiling. Okay, what's the speed? 20 feet. 20 feet? Okay.

He's like, Hey, Phil! What's the problem? There's a fucking spider in here. There's a bug spider in here. There's a bug in this world, and it won't rest till he's dead. He goes and heads back into the room and comes back with these two metal tankers that are dinged up, and they both just start throwing them off to try and smash the spider.

I'm going to wake everyone up! The first one misses and just down the stairs. Matt, I don't know if this will happen in time, but what I tell him to do telepathically, because I should be close enough, 100 feet, is to go in here, through this door that's open, and over the door down the back. Once he's out of sight, I will poof him out. If that works, they might hit him before it happens. Well, the first two slams or tossing of tankards clanging loudly do not hit.

Spider's going to blow our car. It's just a spider. They both turn around and follow, like, wait, where'd it go? It's this way! How'd it kick? They both come back inside the room, trying to follow where Frumpkin went. But he disappears in the back of the door. Right, and they both look around like, shit. I can't sleep tonight without singing around here. Keep looking, keep looking.

That's the last thing that Frumpkin hears before vanishing. Oh boy. That was wild. Okay, there's, oh hi. Hi. Again. Okay. Oh, hi. Hi. Again. There's two of them. There's two of them. I pull a wire out and I aim towards my friends on the walls. There's two of them. Six seconds go by. There's two of them on the first floor. Okay, what do we do?

What do we do now? Should we go in? Do we have any sense if they're clanging, disturb anything? Make a perception check. Did you see your way downstairs? 14. You're listening right now. You don't hear anything, but you're also on the opposite side of where anybody else would be, so you have no idea. I saw what the firbolg woman told us about. There is a trapdoor not too far from us here.

Why don't we go try to get down to it? Yeah, okay, that's good. We have to be very quiet. There may be murderers inside the trapdoor. Here's what we do. Yes. Here's what we do. Yes, yes, what? Frumpkin, I take Frumpkin, oh.

There's Frumpkin. I place Frumpkin on your shoulder. Yes. You have to go in this door, and I'm going to talk into your ear. I'm going to hold Keg's shoulder, and I am going to talk into your ear and tell you which way to go to get you to the trapdoor's shoulder, and I am going to talk into your ear and tell you

which way to go to get you to the trapdoor. Okay, and you have to be very quiet. By yourself? Yeah. And see if that trapdoor is open, and if it is, you will put my spider underneath, and we will see what is going on. If the trapdoor is open? If it's unlocked. Oh, if it's unlocked, okay, got it. Do not go in yourself right away, send in, send in Frumpkin to look,

and I will be watching the whole time. All right. Are you drinking to the point of intoxication? No, just one big swig. All righty. Okay, let's go. All right. Got to pick a lock first.

Or check the door. Make an investigation check on the door. 24. 24. The door is indeed locked. I will try to pick it. Go ahead and roll for that. It was a 22, but anyway. That's still a 22.

That does not work. It was a two plus whatever I said before, seven. No. You fear breaking one of your lockpicks, so you remove it. I can't do it, I can't do it. It's fine, it's fine. Ooh! Push open the door with your massive strength.

I cast. That's the noise. Oh. Hold, I cast. Can you get us in? Yeah, I cast Knock on the Door. I was just looking. Okay, as you guys are having this conversation, you see Caleb flicker his hands through the air,

his eyes focused in a distant stare for a moment. You see this strange blue energy sparkle around the outside of the doorknob, and the door opens. Wait, did you cast a spell? Oh, oh wow. Okay, that was easy. All right, all right, focus up. So what? Be careful.

If you care about me? Yeah. At every turn. Listen to me. At every turn, when you can go left or right, if Frumpkin, who will be resting on your ear, tickles the inside of your ear, it means go right. If nothing happens, go left. Inside or tickle right? Tickle means right. Nothing left. Liam eats farts, I'm ready.

You've got it. Got it. Tickle means right. I do another check just to see if I see any movement upstairs. You're still keeping tabs on it, I'm not going to have you roll just for consistently staring. Just want to make sure.

Yeah. Okay. You do see a shadow pass by the door. By? By the window. By the window? Mm-hmm. I cast Mage Hand just in case. Okay.

So what do you do? I will go through and wait for a tickle. My hand is on Keg's shoulder in case you enter. To the right is a hallway, what looks to be an open entrance that goes into some sort of a pantry or storage room. To the left is a door that leads beyond the kitchen. Tickle means right, left is nothing.

Is there a tickle? No. I will go straight. All right. You're at a door. I will go straight. All right. You're at a door. I try the door. It opens. It's not locked.

Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle. You feel a tickle? Oh! I turn right. Make a stealth check, please. His are now passing with an earshot of... That's a one. No! Okay. No! No.

No, no, no, no, no, no. As you turn the corner, part of your cloak seems to have caught the edge of one of the pots that was layered on the table right here. As you pull through, ding, pong, pong, pong, pong, pong, pong, pots start clattering. You guys watch as this whole stack of pots

start pulling off into the kitchen, at which point the door here swings open and both of these figures come rushing in. Hey, what the hell? They both pull out blades. I drop it, we're in, go. All right, roll initiative, guys. Fuck.

All righty. Oh, fuck. The rogue blew it. The rogue did blow it. Not what I expected. If you kill them quickly, then I can't. Don't die. 10? All righty, so 25 to 20?

21. All right. Also 21. I'm actually going to roll my d8 with this as well. Plus seven. 29. Sorry, 28. All right, Beau. Did the sound of clattering pans clatter outside? What do you mean? Did we hear it?

You guys would have heard it very faintly, yes. Because the door is open and it did fill what was normally a pretty still evening. Sorry, that was it. All right, that brings us to 20 to 15. 15. 18. 18, all right. All right, 15 to 10? 10. Yep.

12. All right. Wait, who was at 12? You. Okay. All right, I think that's everyone. All right, top of the combat round at this moment. Beau, you're up first.

Okay. Hearing this noise. I'm 10. You're on the wall, at this point, keeping an eye, you guys probably be at angles here. If you're maintaining control and trying to case both sides. I want to look at the window. Do I see that figure that I just saw?

Does it seem like the pots and pans got that figure's attention and they're hastily moving? You saw them move casually past one window and then move quicker past the other. Okay, where am I? You're over here on the wall. I'm over there. Because you guys have been on the wall this whole time,

so you're right over here. Okay. Essentially about that high. I am going to... Do I try and make a distraction or run? I'm going to light one of those firecrackers again, and I'm going to toss it this direction towards the front of the door.

Okay, go ahead and make a dexterity check. Natural 20! Where directly do you want to aim it? I want to try and aim it to where it sounds like there's a commotion happening at this front door to draw people this way, and not at the back. So you go ahead and throw it. It lands.

It's going to take a second for it to go off, but it definitely seems to have rolled past and over in the vicinity just past that corner. And then I want to use, I'm assuming that was my action? That was your action, and I'll say bonus action to pull it out, light it, and throw. Okay, I'm going to use my movement to just haul ass towards these guys.

Make an eye along the wall? Yeah. All right. 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. That's about as far as you can get the wall? Yeah. All right. 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. That's about as far as you can get right there. Okay. All right, ending your turn. Caleb, you're up.

I slap my hand down on Keg's shoulder and I, with a freehand stick, licorice root into my mouth and start chewing and squeeze her shoulder and you are hasted. And I will you a couple of things and I can't find my card right now, but you have a plus two to your AC. You have advantage on dexterity saving throws.

And you have an extra attack every round. Oh fuck yeah. So you can have four attacks in a single round. Very fast right now. And your movement is twice as much. Okay, so. 50 feet in turn. I start moving into the building

as far as I can, actually. All right. Behind Nott. I'll put this on the peg as a reminder. So you move in five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, right there? Right, the doorway, yeah, that's good. All right. That finishes your go. Pressing into the wall there

so that people can get by me. All right. That finishes your go. Pressing into the wall there so that people can get by me. All right. Good. One of them shuts off like, We got company! Over his shoulder behind. This is terrible. Natural 19 on the dex. He's going to move in here. This one's going to go ahead and move in as well.

They're probably going to go ahead and look up there. Right there. They're going to go ahead and move in as well. They're probably going to go ahead and... Right there. They're both going to go ahead and make attacks on Nott. First one is going to be a... That's a 13 to hit. Miss. You duck out of the way.

You see the Nott's short sword they pulled just spark across the stone, carving down the side. No impact. The other one uses that moment to try and swing at you. That's equally terrible. That's going to be, that's far worse, actually. That's a six. Yeah, miss.

Yeah, so both of them just. No effect, but they're both shouting back over their shoulders like, Hey, Troddha, company! All right, so that finishes their go. Nila, you're up first. Should I cast, should I put my spirit totem now to give us extra strength?

That's up to you. It will only get within 30 feet around, so Beau would not be covered. I'm coming into you, though. I'm coming into you guys. Yeah, so once she moves into that. Yeah, okay. What?

It's crazy. Well. I'd like to move. Nila wants to go inside. Okay. So you move inside, five, 10. As close as I can get toward the trapdoor. 25, 30, you can get right into that doorway right there.

Then can I take my shillelagh? Unfortunately, you cannot get close enough to hit them physically. You're too far away from the combat. Okay, wait, wait. Within 10 feet? Yes. One of them? Poison spray.

All right, poison spray. Yeah, that one creature does, it's a 10 feet range, okay. So it goes to make a constitution saving throw. That is a failure with a natural five, so go ahead and roll damage on that. It is a 2d12, right? Ooh. Oh, green, okay.

That's 1d12. Does this damage increase as you level up? I think so. I wasn't sure. Contraps do. Yes, it does, so roll 2d12. Ah, one. And 11.

All right, so 12 points of poison damage to the one on the left there. All of a sudden, as Neil runs to the corner, extending your hand, he watches this sudden plume of dark purplish black gas just emanates around their face, and they begin coughing horribly as it stings the inside of their lungs and throat. That finishes your turn. That brings us to Nott. Jesus. I will...

Bonus action disengage. All right. And run. Through the door that the spider told me to go through. Which one? The closed one. Two, three, all right. You go to that door. It's locked. Locked? Great, I'll go through the other door. You can use your action to try and fast pick it. It's up to you, because you can do that as a rogue.

Sure, I'll do that. I'll fast pick. Go for want. It's up to you, because you can do that as a rogue. Sure, I'll do that. All right, go for it. I'll fast pick. Go for it. Pick fast. 12. 12? It holds tight. Sure. I have any more movement?

You have currently 20 feet. I will run into the next room, as far as I can get. 10, 15, 20, that'll get you right there. All right, that ends your go. It is now Clay's turn. Wait, did she give me any bonuses?

No, right? No. Did you do your order of the totem thing? No, she did not do her totem. Aw, man, I guess I'm going to take 60 feet of running to find out what that commotion is on the other. All right. There.

Oh man. Actually, would I have gone for the front door or? No, I would have gone for the back. All right. That's what I got. All right, ending your go. Keg, you're up. So I'm, because I'm hasted, I'm going to,

can I just get right in front of Nila? Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, yeah, easily. Okay. You just dart past. As Nila's standing there. She's got another 10 feet. Yes, she does. So as Nila's standing there, finishes the poison spray,

suddenly there's this blur of speed, plate, and hair. As Keg just rushes by Nila's side, actually causing the edge of her clothing to almost ripple up and back down into place. They're both there right in your face, and they watch as you emerge. They don't even have time to process what you are. You're just a shape and anger.

And they're like, what do you want to do? I'm going to smack the poisoned one with my battleaxe. All right, go for it. First attack. 17 to hit. That hits. Go to roll damage. Okay. Then 1d8 plus four. That's eight. Eight. All right, eight points of damage. He looks hurt, like between the poison gas and that, he's hurt, he's not down yet, but he's pretty,

he's looking rough. Okay, I'm going to smack him again, this time with the warhammer, why not, just for fun. And that will be 15 plus seven, I can't do that. 15 plus seven, yeah, that definitely hits, roll damage. And then, that is 11. 11. With that, he's riding, second hit, and he just goes down like a sack of potatoes. He is on the ground, not moving, his friend sees this go.

And I have another action, so I'm going to smack him, the friend that's still there. 11. 11. This time, seeing this go down, he he dodges out of the way and your weapon scrapes across the outside of the doorframe, cutting a bit into it. You have to pull it out. You still have your bonus action if you wanted to do a fourth attack. I do want to do a fourth attack. I'm going to try again. 12. 12. Unfortunately, he manages to duck twice. The second time, he actually gleans off the shoulder, but the armor's too thick, no impact.

Should I do action surge? Yeah! We don't tell you nothing. What do you want to do? I'm going to use action surge, I guess. No, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. But I have a little bit more movement, right? You have 10 feet of movement, yes.

Can I get between him and Nott? You can move 10. You can't quite get between the two of them, but you can wedge them in the doorway. If they try and move away from you, you will get an attack of opportunity if you want to take one as a reaction. Okay. One more target.

All right, so that ends your turn. Back at the top, Beau, you're up. Okay, have I heard my cherry bomb go off? Not quite yet, because it's on initiative of 20. 12? Oh, what, amazing. Okay, I'm going to move my full speed, my 40 feet, does it get me in? Make an acrobatics check to leap off the wall.

As you. 14. 14, that's enough. You get right to the kitchen. Okay. You're just at the door, that's your full movement. I'm going to use... No. I'm going to use my action to move again to dash. Okay. Nope. I'm going to go that way.

10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. Okay, I don't want to peek around the wall. I just want to ninja dash around, and I want to get up against the wall and peek and look for anyone who might be coming around that hall. Okay, gotcha. And I, as I ran by, I went to Caleb to let him know that I was here and going that way.

You glance over just to see this quick flash of Beau disappearing down the hallway. Fabric. I'm like, I'm going to watch this way, watch for me. Caleb, you're up. Yeah, I should be able to see just over or under maybe Nila's legs or something, that one last asshole. I am going to just do a fastball special,

a firebolt at him. Is this Phil or is this his friend? Oh yeah, do we kill Phil? No, Phil's the one standing. Sorry, Phil. We're alive! We must live! So I've rolled a 15 to hit Phil.

And these guys are humans. A 15 to hit Phil. And these guys are human. A 15 hit Phil, that hits. Oh, good. These guys are humans? One of them was human, one of them looked to be half-elf. Phil is the half-elf. So you see this younger-looking guy. I rolled a 10.

I have a 10. Oh. So 10 plus. That's it, it's just a cantrip. Right, a cantrip at level five, at fifth level it does 2d10. Does it, okay. Yeah, cantrips get better at it.

13. Okay, 13 points of damage. You feel the sudden burst of warm air up under your outfit for a moment, Nila, as this fireball goes firing through from between your legs and explodes into the chest of the guard in front of you. He backs up and as you see now, the flames lick up the front of his armor

before he pats him out for a second. That finish your turn, Caleb? Part of me really likes the way fire feels. That's it. All right. Finishing Caleb's go? No, I'm going to back up 10 feet. All right. Knock the chair over as you back up.

At this point, you guys all hear echoing off in the distance. Small firecrackers are now exploding on the outside of the front fortress. Let's hope this works the way I want it to. Yes! Let's go! Throw them out. All right.

For this one, Nott, before, as you're looking off, you see a shape run past and start heading for the door. You see what looks to be- Run past where? Oh. Past it this way, you see a figure make their way to the door and put their back to it. They haven't noticed you yet.

Okay. As they put their back to the door, and put their back to it. They haven't noticed you yet. Okay. As they put their back to the door, focusing on where the sound of those fireworks go off, looks back through the doorway into the middle of the mess hall, hears this commotion and looks right to you. Wait, sees me or doesn't see me? Does see you, because you're not trying to hide.

It is a lit interior. Is that the barbarian? This is one, this is the female human barbarian that had rushed Caleb before. Previously had a great maul. However, is instead wielding what looks to be a very familiar two-handed greatsword. Wide blade with runic hilt.

The weapon that Yasha had on her. Oh. Oh, that's right, they have. Shit. However, that's her turn. That brings. Shit. However, that's your turn. That brings us to Anila, you're up. Oh shit. I want to get to the trapdoor.

Why sit here, Marley? Yes. I would like to move. Oh wait, he's not dead yet. He is not. You can barely see another individual who appears to be joining the fray across the way. One of the slavers that is responsible for taking your family. Fucking slavers. Okay. I'd like to move forward and finish off Phil.

Okay. Sorry. Mother's vengeance forward and finish off Phil. Okay. Sorry. Mother's vengeance, fuck you, Phil. Are you going poison spray or are you going? I'm going to use Shillelagh. Okay. You step in. I can feel it coming.

This is where my son and I are! Go for it, and go ahead and swing for the attack. Actually, you could, if you wanted to, I'd say I'll allow you to move in to flank with a tank that'll give you advantage on the attack roll. 12 plus? That'd be plus seven, so that'd be 18. Roll one more time. Okay, so I hit with 18 or 18. We'll take the 18. All right, so that hits, go ahead and roll damage.

That's a d8 plus four. Six. All right, 10 points of damage as you rush in. As you clock Phil on the side of his head, it slams him against the stone wall and he's like, his eyes rolling within his skull. He looks pretty heavily beamed, still conscious, but pretty badly beat up at this point.

That finish your turn? No, I want to do, now I would like to place my spirit totem. I want to do it as close to the trapdoor as I can to hopefully protect as many people inside. You have no visual, unfortunately, because this door is still closed and locked. So all you can see is what's in this room,

this kitchen, and this chamber here. You'd have no visual on the trapdoor. But I know it's there. I know it's there for when I. You know where it is, yes. I feel like I want to, okay. Yes, I'm going to do it. Red rum.

What? Whatever you want, Zucma. I don't know. Just being a nerd. Have fun, have fun. Yes, okay, so. Please, my bear spirit totem. Okay, so you my Bear Spirit Totem. Okay, so you're taking the totem? Okay.

This will protect anyone who comes within 30 feet. For the next minute, yes. Oh god. I should get rid of it. I brought you in here. Wait. Oh, she grabs her smell bag real quick. Hold on.

Your choice. I'm going to save it until next time. Okay. All right. Since I actually skipped over Phil's turn, Phil's going to, out of retribution for the attack, swing towards you, and having had no luck against you, and having not even wanted to touch this weird dwarven blur that's just destroyed his friend,

is going to swing towards you with the blade. That's going to be a 14. I'm going to think about a plenty of restarts. What's your armor class? 15. 15? Your shield deflects it off the side, no impact. All right. Phil's accepting his fate. Nott, you're up. Oh boy. Me against a barbarian? Has she turned to see me?

No, stab and disengage. Well, she has noticed you, yes. Okay. She used her turn to move and dash, so had no action yet, but went up against the front door, hearing the sound from outside, and then turned and just focused on you. Fuck. I will, um, Keg is what?

Keg is right there near the bad guy, am I mistaken? Oh, fuck that guy. He's got two hit points left. Fuck that guy. Wherever you want. I'm going to try to disable the giant larger threat than Phil, which probably won't work, but it's worth a shot. I will point at the barbarian and say, OI! I'm thinking of removing my spine, because it's only holding me back! I will cast Hideous Laughter on the giant thing.

Okay, okay. 14. 14 wisdom saving throw. It's a natural six. Falls prone. Yes! She's prone! She prone?

I took out the barbarian. Oh, hell yeah! Well, she's prone. All right. I didn't even see the miniature beyond the door. I didn't know she was there. She falls, cackling to the ground. It's just rolling on the ground, the blade falling out of her grip for the moment,

and then she clutches it back to her and rolls with it, laughing. Oh, she has it? Tight, tight, tight, tight, tight, tight, tight. Cool, cool, cool, hold on. Tasha's, at the end of its turn, it can make a wisdom saving throw. Hold on. I will send out for the duration. Okay. All right, I'm going to get out of there, run past the laughing thing as fast as I can. Oh, not that way, the other way.

25, 30. Yeah. Do I try to get her weapon, or do I keep running? She's clutching it still, you said? Yes. That would be a strength check. I'm just going to keep running another 30 feet.ing it still, you said? Yes. That would be like a strength check. I'm just going to keep running another 30 feet. All right, we're sure she'll run here? Yeah, because I'm still trying to get to where the spider told me to go.

25, 30. As Nott comes around the corner, I'm just going to go, hey! What? Hey! All right, that finishes Nott's go. Clay, you're up. Another 60 feet.

Are you jumping off the wall or going full square on the wall? I'll jump off the wall. Make a necrobatic check to try and land. That's 14. 14? Okay, you follow on me, but you get up okay. You don't take any damage. That's just that good.

30. 30. You're just coming up on the outside of the kitchen. The horse is like. Yeah. Yeah, big guy. This guy. This guy. How can he be angry at a horse?

There's no such thing as an evil horse. It's Jeff Bridges in the Big Lebowski. It's not that far off. Totally. All righty, that finishes Clay's turn. Keg, you're up. I'm still hasted, yes? Yeah.

Okay, great, so I'm going to smack Phil. Go for it. That is 18. 18 definitely hits. And nine. Nine points of damage? Yeah. Phil is down. Whack up the side of the head, Phil just crumples to the ground.

Sorry, Phil! And I'm going to run, Can I catch up to Nott? 50 feet of movement. Did you see where I went? Big boom boom, big big boom boom. I'm doing fine. 30, 35, 40. There's a Laughing Barbarian.

You have ten more feet. You can't get to Nott, but there's a Laughing Barbarian on the ground. I could dash, right? She's on the ground. No, you've already attacked. You could fucking good fellas the shit out of that woman. All right.

Up to you. Or whatever you want. Whatever you want. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I will, oh, I feel bad! I was kind of friends with her back in the day. Okay, we'll do it, okay. Yes!

Oh my gosh! She's into there. I take her for roughly 15 minutes, and then I hastily. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. All right, here we go. Fuck. She's agitated.

I think you may get advantage because she's prone. Yeah, so it's advantage in the attack. Fuck you. That was a duck. 11, no. Is her AC down? Oh no. Nope.

So the first attack, you go to swing, and she rolls over from the laughter and just hit the ground. The stone cracks from the impact. So I have two more actions. Yeah, because it was your second attack, then you have your extra attack, and then you have a bonus attack.

Oh my god. And a pasted, right? Yeah, that's how you have an additional attack. So you have three more attacks. Yes. So 20. 20 definitely hits. Still advantage on the attack, right? Yep, roll again in case you get crit. Okay, no, 20, and then? Roll damage on that.

10. 10 points of damage. Is it an auto? I mean, is it an advantage? That is a crit. It's an auto crit, but it's not an auto crit. What is the DC? She rolled a 14. Unconscious is an auto-crook. 14.

All right, yeah, so the spell has faded. Oh no. You can still attack one more time, right? She's still prone, and you get another attack. There again? Okay. Hit that motherfucker. You can take her. All right.

Get it, get it, girl, get it, get it, girl. And I don't get advantage anymore, right? You still have advantage, she's still prone. Oh, she's still prone, okay. Fuck you! 14. All right.'s still prone, okay. Fuck you! 14. All right. Barbarian? 14.

All right, so 14 does not hit. It misses by one. Misses by one. Those dice tails rolling back and forth. Really? However, you are just, you are a frightening display in front of us. Now I'm going to Action Surge. Okay.

Oh yes! Yes, girl, yes! Shit!! That's a nice roll, yes. Shit! Fuck! Okay, all right, 17. That does hit. Oh my god. Jesus Christ almighty.

11 damage. 11 points of damage, all righty. And you have one more attack from the Action Surge because you have extra. Another one? Yes, okay. Yep, because you have extra attack. Yes!

This takes six attacks. Yes, okay. Yep, it's the extra attack. Yes! By the way. This takes six attacks. I love it. All righty. So go ahead and roll your dice and double it. Double the dice. I'm gambling. You're going to hit it. I'm going to do it.

Okay, so then that's five. That's a 10. That's a 10 plus for your modifier. A 10 plus my modifier, so 14. 14 points of damage. But then I roll. What is it normal? A one d8 plus four.

Yeah, so roll a five. You roll a five, you double that to 10, and then add the four, so it's 14 damage in a single hit. So, the one final burst of interior strength and adrenaline kicks in, and you slam twice into the body of a woman on the ground, kind of wind knocked out of her. Eyes go wild for a second before focusing on you,

the anger and hatred brewing in her face as her brow furrows. I believe that's all you can do on your turn. Do you have a little bit more movement? I got ten more feet of movement? Okay, I'm going to try to get away from her, because I'm going to go... Zip.

You know, I'm going to go back. Yes! Okay. She does get an attack of opportunity on you, swings from the ground towards you. She does have prone, she has prone, so she has disadvantage on the attack roll, but she's going to try.

That's going to be 14. No, doesn't hit. It clings against the back of your armor and you vanish out of the way. Nice. Nice, nice, nice. Top of the round is Beau. Mm-hmm.

Our god. Okay, where's Nott? Nott's over here. Nott's right there on the other side. I'm going to run around. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I fire three crossbow bolts. No!

That was my 40 feet? Oh, 40 feet, sorry, so. I have 40? Five. No, no, no, I'm getting to not. There you go, that's your 40 feet. I go. Hey, girl!

Oh shit! Fireworks are, by the way, in the background, still. Pew! Have you been treating Caleb well? What? Do you need to get to the thing to pick the lock? Yeah, I think it's around that way, I don't know. Okay, I think I know where it is.

I scoop up Nott. All right, well, you're not quite against, you're like five or ten feet from Nott right now. Oh. Slipped away. That's your full movement. You have to use a dash action if you wanted to try. And you move at half speed, carrying Nott. There's nobody to attack.

I can also, I have free will and I could follow you. She just said, follow me. But then we have to wait until your turn, or I could just scoop you up and drag you a little bit and go that direction. What are you going to do? I'm going to do that. All right, so.

I'm going to dash. So you dash, that's five. I go, come here! 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35. Can you do that again? There you go, so you get, 35. Can you do that again? There you go. So you get a knot about there.

Thanks! And I'm going to spend, do I want to do this? Yeah, I'm going to spend a ki point to do that thing that makes me move fast. All right, Step of the Wind. Step of the Wind, yes. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30,

you manage to drag Nott to the door. Can I open the door? No enough room? That's where Nott was in the back. That's locked. Locked. Okay, it's through this door, though. How do you know?

Just because I ran by it earlier. Oh, okay. And I remember from Nila describing it. Oh, okay. I took really detailed notes. No second seat. I know from Nila describing it. I took really detailed notes. Oh, second season. Caleb. Oh, my turn. Oh jeez Louise. Okay, so I'm going to move forward back towards where I see Nila

in there. 10, 15, 20. That's as far as I can go. No, you can go two more steps if you want. I'm going to go towards Keg. 30 right there. Yeah. And I may do nothing, but... This new iPad is eating it on the music. What happened?

I think it's just slow. Because the old one disappeared, and now it's got a new one, and this one's just like... Disappeared? Like was stolen? I can't find the bag. DM, could I dance back and forth like this and see what I can see through that doorway? Can I see this one?

If you wanted to go there as opposed to there, I'll let you stand there. You can just barely see somebody on the ground. Oh look, there's somebody laughing and giggling on the floor? Yeah. On the floor? No longer laughing. Firebolt.

Go for it, roll for the attack with disadvantage. Okay. Big money, big money, big money. That is a 13. 13, unfortunately, strikes the stone ground and bursts into fire, no effect. Done and done. All right, and then Caleb's turn.

Shit. All right. There you go. Runs up, charging angrily, Shit. All right. There you go. Runs up, charging Angrily. It's going to go ahead and it's reckless attacks. It's going to attack twice with her greataxe against you with reckless, so it's the advantage on both attacks. The first attack is a natural 20. Okay.

All right, so that's a natural 20 on the first one. Second attack is a natural 19 plus seven. She hits you with both. First one's a crit. Jesus Christ, sorry. That's cocked. All right, so that is going to be 12 points of damage if slashing damage the first hit. The greatsword ends up striking across your chest, the impact sending you back, and haste disappears. No! Wait, why, what? Because she has Yasha's weapon.

She has Yasha's sword and dispelled it. You motherfucker. You son of a bitch. We will have words about the rules that exist. Then swings back with a second strike towards you and impacts. That's going to be, oh man, nine plus four. That's going to be 13 points of slashing damage.

The second strike against you with the Greatsword. The flash of white energy, you see the runes and the hilt suddenly spark and that adrenaline in your body suddenly fades and your body becomes super lethargic and you are stunned for your next turn because the haste has faded. I'm stunned? The haste has faded and your body is drained. It's dispelled, but the stun still happens?

As soon as haste ends, your body. That's some bullshit, Matthew. That's how it works, that's the downside of the spell, man. What did you say, but still, that's some bullshit. So I just can't do anything my next turn? Next turn, you can't do anything. Yeah, it's wasted. Fuck.

Nila, you're up. Okay. Oh man, I, you're up. Okay. Oh man, I'm going to get rocked. Don't worry, you have a totally squishy wizard standing behind you, he'll protect you. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking, yes, the wizard will protect Keg.

Sure, sure. I'm going to, I got to go toward the trapdoor. Can I go through that door? Currently, you walk up and try to try the door. It's locked. I don't have the strength to? You could try if you want to. Make a strength check.

Roll a d20, add your strength, and you're on fire. Come on, Furbug! 17. Plus two. Plus two, 19. You force your shoulder against it and it doesn't give. The feeling and the sensation of knowing

your family is nearby surges in your body and you pull back a few more steps and then charge in. With one aggressive, the door flips open. The actual handle itself breaking and snapping on the wood. It's like a mom lifting a car. Yes! With a 19, that's exactly what it is. That door is now open, and you step through and join the rest of them.

No! No! Can I still cast another one? Can I do a bonus thing? You can do a bonus action thing, yes, but your action has been used to break through the door. Okay. Now I'm going to protect the three of us, at least the three of us for now, unless I get Caleb, too, with the bear spirit.

You could drop it there, and that would affect everybody except for Keg and Clay. Ten extra hit points, advantage on strength checks. Ten temporary hit points. Temporary hit points, advantage on strength, and saving throws. Is it anybody who steps into that field now? Or is it just whoever's in the field when it drops?

Advantage on strength and what? Saving throws. Wow. When the spirit appears. So you guys do not get it, unfortunately. Okay, so you're still fucked. Yeah, so ten temporary hit points to Caleb, Neela, Nott, and Beau for the next minute. The hit points are phenomenal. No, no, it's great. and Beau for the next minute. The hit points are phenomenal. The hawk, but I...

No, no, it's great. It's a molly. It's a molly. Okay, screw it. All righty, that ends Nila's turn. Nott, you're up. I'm going to try to pick this. Is the door locked?

Did we try the door? Did you try the door? Yes, she did, the door's locked, yes. Okay, I will mage hand pick the lock as a bonus action. Okay. Terrible bonus action. Okay. Mm. Terrible. 13. 13?

The Mage Hand doesn't quite have the delicate touch. I had so bad luck with this. I know. Action! I will also try to pick the lock. Worse. Oh no! No!

Come on! This is how Molly died. You were trying to pick locks. No! No! Come on! Come on! This is how Molly died. You were trying to pick locks. I know, I don't know what's wrong with me! Maybe if we offer Taliesin's new character in exchange for our lives, we can get out of this. No one's unattached to him yet, right? I have, you have. I kind of have, too. I can roll up another one.

No, you want to roll a halfling sorcerer. Come on. All right, set your action, your bonus action. I'm attached, too. I'm not going to. Yeah, that's all I can do, right? I can just move. Yeah, you can move if you wish to. There's nowhere to move, so I'll hang out by the door, maybe try to tuck behind someone bigger than me. Okay. Clay, it's you and the horses, what are you doing?

I'm going to run in, run into the door. 15, 20. Okay, that's what I see. Oh, there's an open door. I'm going to the open door. You just destroyed the door. 30. It's so big, this was not designed for his long form.

Hey, guys. That's your movement. I don't see anything. I'm going to keep running. All right. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You walk into this chamber and you see everybody else and you also see this weird spectral bear spirit

that seems to have apparated in the center of this hallway that looks at you and goes. Mm. Hey. Can I see the barbarian through the door? They look at you and go. Hey. Can I see the barbarian through the door? You can. You glance over and take in the scene. That's your movement and your action.

So I only have a bonus. Correct. All right, hold on. I'm learning how this works. I can cast Healing Word. Yeah, yeah. On you. Phil? Yeah, no, on you, of course.

I see that this is going down, and all right, I'm just going to cast a quick Healing Word. That's a d4 plus your wisdom modifier. D4 plus my wisdom modifier. Cleric who likes to heal. That's six points, it's just six points immediately to you. Okay, thank you.

Okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay. All right. That's your turn? Yep, that's everything I got. Okay, gear up. All right, well, you know. Oh, I can, I guess I'll.

You can't do anything, it's your stun. I'm stunned, fucking forgot, never mind. That's the end of your turn. Top of the round, Beau. Ugh! Okay, it's me. Welcome back. Shit.

What's the quickest way through? Can I get through everybody and go this way? Yeah, I'm going to do that. 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. Pardon me, excuse me. So you're still 15 feet from Wollin. Okay. Can I step back a few feet?

I don't want to go that full movement. Maybe on top of the table. Can I get on top of the table? Sure, if you wanted to be on there instead. That's cool. I want to gauge it right over Keg's shoulders and go foof foof and throw two darts. Okay, you're going to attempt to ricochet off of her armor.

Go for it. Over top of her shoulders? Yeah. To the giant barbarian behind her? Yeah, hopefully. Go for it. Or ricochet, whatever's the coolest. I'm just embellishing for fun, why not?

Yeah. We'll see if it works. First one. 17? 17 hits. Actually, you have an advantage, technically, because she was doing Reckless Attacks last turn. 13, a higher one on that's a 20?

That hits. First one hits. What do these do? These do a d8 damage? These do monk, or do these? These are the... These are the... no, these still do 1d4. These are still darts, modified darts. You would need to get daggers or things that are considered monk weapons to do the damage. So it's 24. So the first one, scrap, that's five damage.

Five damage, all right. Second one with advantage still. Second one. Mm-hmm, 21. 21 hits, full damage. Ooh, that's better, eight damage. All right, five and eight. As you're there, getting your brain back in the space

and your body, the strength returns to you. You look up at the time of the barbarians, pulling back for another round of blows, the giant blade still, the edge of it crimson with your own blood, and you watch as these two serrated blade-like discs into your chest from over your shoulders. You glance over quickly and see Beau

waving to you through the doorway. I mean, I don't need to say it, but K gets a rest. All righty, that finishes Beau's turn. Caleb, you're up. I just give a wink. Yeah. I see how badly this is going. Wow.

Okay. I have a joke, I'm going to keep it in my head. This is all going much worse than I intended it to, so I'm going to tug on the glove and I'm going to slap it and send out three. Fucking fly! Get him. Beauregard, you're the monk. Scashing Ray three times on the barbarian. First one is shit. Technically, you don't have advantage on melee attacks, not ranged attacks, but it's fine. Second is a 15. First is total shit, second is a 15. Go into the LED. 15 hits.

And third is better than that. All right, so two hits. Yeah, so that is eight for the first. All right. And eight for the second. Nice! Nice. Oof.

That'll be enough. Yeah! How do you want to do this, Caleb? Yes! I have had very bad luck with people's skulls, so I am going to send the fire into her thighs and legs and burn the bottom of her torso and even the center of her being, her stomach, and make it just burn in upon itself and harden in blackened crust. You watch as she screams out in pain, the body, the flesh itself burning black instantly and cracking as she falls to the ground, screaming as the voice slowly thins out into a faint

before expiring. I need you to make a wisdom saving throw, Caleb. Wisdom saving throw, Caleb. Wisdom saving, oh, because fire. That is 13. 13. You take a moment and push through and keep your wits about you. First time that you did not go into a state. Wow.

Beau just turns around to Caleb and just goes, damn, Caleb. The firecrackers have ended. Silence comes over the fortress. Nobody else is coming? None that you see or hear. Stay alert. We're not done here.

I saw. Go back to locker picking? Go for it. I'm going to walk over to you and give you some healing. Oh, you are the best. DC is getting higher with each. 15. Total of 15?

Yeah. It's not burning through. This is a very, very intricate lock. It's obviously protecting a lot. Can I muscle my way through? Make a strength check if you want to. You still have advantage on strength checks because you're bare for the time being.

Do it, do it, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, one more. Roll one more time. Place burner? No. The door is too strong. This one is actually reinforced and seems to, knowing what it's hiding, designed to be the

strongest door on this floor. Wait for me. 12 points to you. Come, come, quickly! Okay. I follow, too. Everyone stand back, Caleb's going to do a thing. I'm going to watch this front door and make sure no one else comes down the steps.

Get the sword! Get the steps? Get the sword! Oh yeah. Get the sword! Get the sword! Oh, the sword? I'll grab the sword. Get the sword, get the sword! Grab the sword, you pull the sheath off of her back and slip into the haversack. What? No, I'm putting it in the haversack. Before I leave, could I investigate?

Oh, with someone else's sword? To see if I see anything else that's worth taking? If you'd like to, it takes a moment for you to rifle through her stuff. I'll do that. Caleb is going to find his way. Investigation. So that's a 14?

14, okay. You manage to find about 38 gold pieces on the pouch that she keeps on her side. You find another pouch that is a bunch of dried meats that have been salted and smoked like a jerky. You also find another pack that has teeth in it, just a collection of teeth, different sizes, different ages. No keys or anything like that? No keys or anything like that? No keys. Okay. I'm just going to start walking to any of the dead bodies,

or the unconscious people, they're not technically dead yet. They've bled out. Oh, they've bled out? All right, I'm going to start using Thaumagurti to start cooking them away in a big pile of mold and mushrooms. What the fuck is wrong with you? He's just returning the bodies to their natural state. It's nice to have someone who really understands

the process. Okay. I understand. Caleb, Caleb! I will find Nott, have you done everything that you could here? I'm sorry I couldn't get it open. I tried and I made noise and I should have drunk more, is what I should have done.

We all should have drunk more. It is no shame on you. I place my hand on the trapdoor. Not on the trapdoor, the door that leads into it. The door is locked? The door is locked, yeah. I place my hand on the door and I cast Knock. The door opens.

He's so amazing. Pretty good, yeah. I'm going to walk through and find that trapdoor that I've already seen through Frumpkin's eyes. All right, you go to the trapdoor. Is it open? Do you want to check it for traps? Yes, please.

All right, I'll go check it for traps. That's 28, no, 26. All right, I'll go check it for traps. That's 28, no, 26. 26. It is trapped. Hmm. It's a trap! From the underside of it. I back up about 15 feet out of this little cubby.

From the other side. There, they'll hurt them. Back up, everybody out of the room, and I'll reach my mage hands around. Or reach around. I'll reach around, give it a little tuggy with the reach around. Just pull it, just tug it until it explodes. Just reach around and tug it until it explodes. Just keep on working it. Might have to use the other hand for a while.

That one's getting tired, man. Waiting for the explosion. You just keep going until it explodes. Roll for reach around. What am I rolling? This is your, it's still another Thieves' Tool check, so it's still plus seven. 22 this time.

22, that'll do it. Yes! You know what sucks? Who watches this show, right? You manage to just lift the trapdoor enough to slide your hand underneath. There is a trigger cable underneath that has been set into a hook.

Right before it pulls taut enough for it to snap, you grab it, lift it up, put it onto his shoulder. Using the cable, you go ahead and pull it back until you find a piece of rock off to the side and hook it to it to where it maintains the tautness. You go ahead and find what looks to be another metal ring that is designed specifically to hold the trap when it's not set. It does not go off. The trapdoor opens, and

there's a staircase that descends to a lower floor. Easy as that! Is it open? It's open! Let's go in. Open it. No. I hold up Frumpkin, I place him on the edge of the trapdoor, and send him scrambling under to look. Okay.

Make a perception check for Frumpkin. I'm still watching this front area. 15. 15, okay. Frumpkin distends slowly down the stairs. There's a faint bit of torchlight in there, Frumpkin distends slowly down the stairs. There's a faint bit of torchlight in there, and you hear what sounds like whimpering, a few voices faintly whimpering.

Inside the chamber, I can show you, actually. What? Oh shit. No, you had the upstairs built, Matt. You didn't have the downstairs built. That would be too much. I'll be right back. Guys, D&D beyond. We learned so much. We learned so much about, hey Taliesin, welcome back to the

show. Thank you, it's great to be back. Will you show off your shirt? It's a little squishy. New character who dis. That's great. Last week, Taliesin was hanging like Tom Cruise in a Mission Impossible movie, just above the table, waiting to drop in. We all thought it would happen near the end of the episode, but it didn't. How does it feel to finally let that little bit of rope cut and be in the game again? I've got to say, it's been a little nerve-wracking coming into someone new. It's very interesting.

I like this guy. I like this guy, too. He's awesome. His voice is sexy. He has such a great intro. And I like pink more than purple. I like it all, so I'm a fan. Do you really like pink more than purple? Like as a person?

Yes. I can't tell if you're lying to me or not. Do you really like pink more than purple? Like as a person? Yes. I can't tell if you're lying to me or not. I was very happy when we had a pink mohawk. It was a very good mohawk. Purple's one of my favorite colors. I like purple. Is it? I like purple. Really? Purple and green. Oh, that's a favorite color.

Oh, that's my favorite. So hi, guys. I like blue mohawk. Frumpkin slowly descends the staircase and you can see what looks to be a rack that is bolted into the wall that has chains hanging from it, a few other sets of manacles, a few torture implements, long metal things that are hooked at the end, brands. There are a few spaces that are currently empty, where tools probably would normally hang, and there is another door that leads to a chamber beyond. That's where you hear the whimpering coming from.

What I don't like about this is that the asshole was sleeping upstairs, and we don't know about that at all. But I send Frumpkin along the ceiling, and through what looks like a barred gate. As Frumpkin looks within, you can see what looks to be another chamber. You can see what looks to be another hired figure, at least the same cloaked individuals you had encountered before, same attire,

who is currently sitting at the back, up against the wall, and is looking in the direction of the door expectantly. I will attempt to send Frumpkin over his head along the ceiling stealthily. All right, make a stealth check for Frumpkin. Frumpkin also noticed there is a cage in the corner that contains two figures in there.

Looks to be two humanoid figures. Humanoid, that's it? It's, with that perception roll in the low light, it's hard to tell, one appears to be larger, one appears to be smaller. Yasha and Jester. So I'm going to keep going, and you said roll a stealth check. Very good, that is a 19. I'm going to keep going, and you said roll a stealth check.

Very good, that is a 19. Okay. Unnoticing, he sits there, and just sits there waiting, arm against the wall. Frumpkin slowly makes his way through this hallway. It bends off on a corner around the side. Frumpkin continues beyond, and it curves around another corner. Here, there is an archway that leads into another room that has two more cages that contain,

each cage contains another figure. The figures in there appear to be slumped down and either unconscious or sleeping. Yeah, he pauses, he's looking for green or blue or goth. Here, you see Ruzza and Prado, two more members of the Iron Shepherds that are currently waiting there

with their eyes towards the entryway expectantly. It seems that they have been notified of your presence. I don't know, maybe the loud firecrackers going off right above and the... What do they do, those two? I'm going to get a spider! What do those two do? They're bad, they're bad.

So would Frumpkin be at the edge of that gate? Well, Frumpkin would be here. I rolled a 19 last we checked. I'm looking at their areas of assumption. As they're both standing there waiting, Prado, with a little halfling sharpshooter creep glances up he goes, takes his shortbow and pulls it up his shoulder.

Yeah, that's the last you see. Okay, there are more people down there. This is the X Factor we spoke about. How many? I saw two down there, correct? Three, right? One in that chamber, and then two in there. Right, but I mean in that Lest room it was two.

In that Lest room it was two. I did not see Leslow, so he could be upstairs. No, it's Leslow, I'm pretty sure. I didn't see El Boogie down there, so he could be upstairs or downstairs, is what I'm saying. But then you saw some prisoners? Wait, so if Dwellma's dead, we just beat the Barbarian,

Prado and what's his, and Muzar down there, that means Lorenzo is upstairs, unless he's down there, too. We do not know that. We know that there is one random shithead and two more beyond that, and I did not see Lorenzo, or Laslo, or Larkin. Lorenzo. So he's either still upstairs or deeper, further.

Yeah, he's at the behind us or down below. Or he's not here at all, and he's at the bar that he likes to hang out at called the Trench. Fuck you. It was so close, I was almost there. What about prisoners? Yeah, there was some people in cages, but I did not get a good look at them through my spider's eyes. We can't close this door that Nila just exploded, but we can put up some sort of person to watch, so some of us can go down there and snoop around and maybe kill that one guard that you spotted? Here is what I think. We have a bit of a bottleneck here at this trapdoor.

If they want to come up, they have to deal with us, yeah? Yes. So if the majority of us wait at this trapdoor and I send my spider upstairs to see what's going on, to see if our friend is up there. We can learn about upstairs, and if anyone pokes their head out of that door, they're going to lose it, yeah?

That seems like a good plan to me. Let's keep figuring things out. Okay. All right, so are you sending Frumpkin upstairs? Yeah. Any ideas, Mr. Clay? Well, I mean, could just ask him to open the door. I mean, the ruckus has stopped, and obviously somebody won this fight. We have the trapdoor open, though, right?

Yeah. But you mean the gate down there. I can do that if you like. I mean, hey, how about everyone get ready? I'm going to close it quietly, and if anyone has a look around. I mean, I can just go down and ask. I was going to mention, I do look like a guard right now.

You do, so do I. We still look like guards. Grabbing a little muck, putting it on my face, getting a little, I could just go down if you like. Why don't we bring this guard up here to us? Wait, it's true, you look like one of the guys upstairs. You could go down and tell them. But, well, you are putting a lot on the line

for people you've just met tonight. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah? Yeah. Why don't we handle this guard first, and I go, here, lift up the gate. Lift up the trapdoor. I'm going to go down. You're going down? Yeah, I'm just going to go down. You're going to bring him up? Okay.

So you go ahead and descend the stairs into this chamber. Simultaneously, Caleb will slap his hand down on Keg's shoulder and send Frumpkin on the ceiling or on the first floor towards the stairwell at the front of the building. Okay. I'm going to go down with Clay. Stay a little.

But just at the stairs, since I also look over guard. Okay, so you stay at the stairs there, Beau? Yep. All right. As you glance through, Clay, you can see the faint light in here. You can see the figures walking up to the cage, the eyes still trained on the door.

I'm just tapping on doors. All clear. We got one. It's a keg. We'll handle it, and I'm going to on doors. All clear. We got one. It's a keg. We'll handle it and I'm going to head back upstairs. Make a deception check. All right. Does he have your back?

No. All right. It's allowing him to do one. That's cocked. That was cocked. I saw it, I saw it. 16, 18. Really?

18. 18? I'm going to start heading back up. All right, I'll get back to work. We could use our help up here if you have a second. You finish up, and as you turn around and begin to send the stairs, you begin to hear what sounds like a child beginning to scream.

I tap on the bars with my staff. like a child beginning to scream. I tap on the bars with my staff. Kink, kink, kink, kink, kink. I go, wait, man. Phil, there's something wrong with Phil. I think he really needs our help. Fucking Phil, am I right? You make a deception check.

Roll fucking high, Marisha. I'm going to win for George and children. Yes! 21. No! Fucking Phil. Phil, am I right? Pulls back, you can see there's a heated spike

that's orange at the tip that he pulls out of the cage. He goes like, I'm going to head upstairs. I hate it when Phil ruins torturing hour. Goes and steps back towards the table, the back, and sets it on the where you can see there are other implements laid out. Comes back to the cage and goes,

I'll be back later. Comes to the door where you are. I step to the side, let him unlock the door. I'm heading up. Where's the door? Opens the door. As I head up through the trapdoor, I'm like, get ready, everyone,

just when it comes up, and just walking a little way past. And I go, just follow, follow him. Steps up the stairs, makes it up through the hatch. Do I? Everybody make an ambush round. He's not expecting that. Caleb is not here, he is in the spider. Oh!

Oh! I know it's good. First you celebrate. Oh shit. So is this on your shillelagh? What are you doing with this? Yeah. Okay, so.

19. 19. 15. Spidering. I've never done this before. 17 plus something. Yeah, you all hit. What did you do?

I don't think I hit. 12. All right, so go ahead and roll your d8. Eight's headed. Looks like a diamond. Six. So that's 12 plus four. 16 points of damage.

Whack, upside the head as he dizzy's off from that point, immediately going into keg. Roll damage on that one. Six. Six damage. Cart from the battle ax. Question. Is it just a straight 1d6 plus nothing?

What are you using? I was using the staff. It's a 1d8. Oh, it's a 1d8. Yeah, because it's quarterstaff. Eight. Plus your strength modifier? I was using the staff. It's a 1d8. Oh, it's a 1d8. Yeah, because it's quarterstaff. Eight. Plus your strength modifier?

Seven, because I have my strength modifier. Oh, no, eight, just because I have no strength modifier. Crack! And then. I mean, is this a surprise? It's a sneak attack, yeah. Woo! Seven plus six, 13 plus, I've been adding wrong, 18.

Yeah, that'll do it. It just comes up and just immediately and falls to the ground, barely conscious, looking up, his face bloodied and the crossbow bolt jammed into his shoulder and past the rib and he's like having a hard time breathing. I'm just going to turn him into mulch. That's okay. You watch as Clay, like,

hushing as he just slowly pushes his face in with his fist repeatedly and shield. Yeah. I'm going to drag him back. We got another suit if anyone wants one. Well, Neela, you can disguise yourself, right? Yes. You could have two guards, but. We already have two. Caleb, Neela, you can disguise yourself, right? Yes. You could have two guards, but.

We already asked. Caleb, what are you doing? Well, Frumpkin is still climbing towards the stairwell up, and I am computing everything that our druid friend told me about the stairs to see if Big Man is sleeping in his room. You coast around here. All the maps.

So many maps. We'll say for the purposes of this, you make your way through, down this hall, to the bedroom where you had previously seen Stal Lorenzo's room. Not present. No. Curls over to the next bedroom. Two beds, not present. I tell you what I'm going to do. There's not here.

I'm at the top of these stairs. Boy, it's hard to say, because the map is gone, but I think what I will do is we'll drop out of Frumpkin for a moment, and I have 30 feet of movement, so I will walk 25 feet towards those stairs. Towards the stairs where Frumpkin was? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, towards the second floor.

All right, so you're at the base, essentially, or near the staircase that leads up and out of the space there. Oh, wow. And if I'm able, I will stand on my own and go back into Frumpkin and wait. Okay. Because he is far ahead of me, Frumpkin.

Mm-hmm. And my friends are mostly behind me, but I'm okay. What's everybody else doing? Frumpkin is ahead of me. The gate's open. I want to go down. I feel like I want to stay with Caleb. Okay.

In case. So Keg is staying up with Caleb. Is that cool with you, Caleb? I'll go with you, Nila. I can't hear anything. Nila, you head down. I'm going to stand by you. Oh yeah? In case. And Clay will stay. Oh, that's great. I mean, I can't hear you, Nila. Nila, you head down. I'm going to stand by you. Oh yeah? In case, yeah.

Oh, that's great. I mean, I can't hear you. Clay, where are you? Okay, great. Come join us. I'll come down with you, that's fine. Do I feel you next to me? Yeah, maybe I'll put my hand on your head.

Do I? If I feel the dwarf next to me, I would use a free hand to jam some licorice back into my mouth and start chewing furiously, anxiously, I'm so scared of everything, and cast Haste again into the dwarf. Tight. Okay. So you have one minute before that spell goes away. One minute? One minute, yeah. I know. Yep.

So you are again on methamphetamines. Perfect. Okay. Okay. Good. So as you enter this lower chamber, you come in with a fair light. You look over on the table, and there are the implements there. You step out, and there is a moment where you touch your foot to the ground and something

gives away. You see a cable that was run through the ground go and quickly whip up the air and you glance up to see what looks to be heavy netting that contains a bunch of broken brick and stone that falls down from the center of the chamber. I need both Nott and Nila to make dexterity saving throws, please. We're not still under the influence of any sort of thing. It only lasts three. 21. 21?

11. 11. That's a failure on your point. All right, so that is eight points of bludgeoning damage to you, four points to you. As this pile of stone fills the corner, you guys manage to step off to the side and pull yourself out of the rubble. But you get the sense now that this room is definitely trapped and there's definitely

an awareness within and deeper of your presence. As you recover from this, glance up, you see the cage in the corner you had passed when you first entered, and you see a hand hanging off one of the metal bars. A tiny, familiar hand, a bit of fur that covers down and then vanishing into the faint grayish-blue tint of what is Asaar's hand. I want to go to him, to touch him, but I want to make sure that there's nothing that is going to trigger something else. Make an investigation check.

Ooh! So good, so good. That's cocked. It's cocked. Yeah, roll one more time. Yes, are we? It's almost good. Eight. Plus? Plus my witch check.

Investigation. Nine. Oh, no, Investigation. Uh, nine. Oh, no, minus one. Seven. Shit. Oh, should I use my luck one now? No, your luck is dead. No, she didn't use it last time, she saved it.

Oh, you saved it. I mean, I have to. All right, go for it. Oh no! No! Kid's dead, let's go home. Well, you still pick the one you want to, so you go with the previous one.

You don't have to take the one. I'm pretty sure that's how the luck feat works, right? Right, right, that's right. Still. Whatever, any one you want. Yeah. It hurts. From best you can tell, there is nothing,

no contraption adhered to the cage. It's just a cage. You come up close and look inside. You can see Kator, your partner, is slumped in the back of the cage, unconscious. You can see with what little bit of lights in here, as you focus, you have dark visions. You can coast through and you can see

in this unconscious phase, he is still breathing, but there are wounds and scrapes. You look and see a Tsar who's awake, who's currently just holding what looks to be he is still breathing, but there are wounds and scrapes. You look and see a Tsar who's awake, who's currently holding what looks to be some sort of a burn puncture, right in his abdomen. He looks up through you with sweat dripping down his face, goes,

Mama? Mama? Leans up to the cage and puts his hand over the outside of the bar and reaches out for you with the other hand. Twines his fingers. Mama? You came? I'm here. Mama's here. I want to heal them, in a way. Can I heal them? If you have a heal spell, yeah.

Yes. Best I can, I have Healing Word. Don't like it. So what's your Healing Word, dear son? What's the word you say that heals? Oh, what's the word I say, I'm sorry. Or phrase, it's up to you. Be well.

Be well, my son. Roll a d4. That's a very good number. Three. Three? Did I count? Yeah, I'll let it. Take it. Plus your wisdom modifier.

Okay. I think it's a plus four? Four. Yeah, okay. So he, looking really hurt from whatever injuries he sustained, you watch as the injuries slowly close up and he breathes a little heartier again and just looks at you with a renewed smile, his hands still entwining your fingers and says,

Mama, I want to go home. I will bring you home. We're going to get you out of here. I grab that cage and try to pull it apart as much as I can. Let me try to unlock it. Make a strength check, just for the hell of it. While this is happening,

can I come and watch this corridor? You are going to come in the corner as well. I want to suck up against this wall and look to make sure no one's coming around that hall. Since I still look like a soldier, I'm going to be willing to be a little visible on the corner. Yeah, actually, we both look like soldiers.

We block this corridor looking like soldiers. Okay, so you move into the corridor? Just backs to that corridor in this room. Okay, like this? Yep, like we're watching, guarding this room together. You got it? Yep. Strength check, 19, plus...

Two. Plus two. Wow. So you begin to and you watch as Nila's arms pop with the muscles filling with adrenaline and emotion, as the metal bars bend ever so slightly, just enough to maybe fit Asaar through. Not your mate, but you pull him just enough, and you reach through, and he pulls his way,

and you help him grab his shoulder, and slowly you pull your son free from the cage and into your arms. I have him again. I want to go, I want to run, I don't know what to do. I look inside and I see if there's any way that I can pull further to get Keetor out, too. The bars have gone as far as they can go,

and you just continue to pull, just the emotion in there. Your strength is waning from the physical exertion of getting even that bit of the metal open. Can I heal him? I know he has powers to help himself out of here. If I heal him? You could try, yeah. Okay.

While she does that, I'll try to jimmy the bent lock. I'm going to quickly toss it. That's a one. Sam! Oh my god! You're supposed to be good at this! Buddy. You ruined the fucking lock!

You can't blame the mother! Just for my own pain. I'm going to cast Detect Magic really quickly, just because this place has given me the creeps. Okay. All right, I'll look around for keys. I have just an auto thing I can do, apparently, which is nuts.

I got a new iPad. This thing is just crashing and falling apart the whole night. I'm going to look around for keys is just crashing and falling apart the whole night, great job. I'm going to look around for keys or something. Just around the room. Make an investigation check. Where's one of that? That's a one.

Oh my god, you need to use a new one. Did you just roll two ones in a row? Sam, we're not making money for charity. You can slow your roll here, buddy. It's a six LA guy. Where's that? Do I roll this for him? Yeah, to heal. Slow your roll here, buddy. It's your 6LA, guys. Do I roll this for? Yeah, to heal. So I'm going to just cast Detect Magic

as a racial trait, which is currently a thing you can do. The rolls are amazing. You're doing Healing Word again? Yeah. Any magic? Yeah, plus four, so five. In the immediate chamber? Yeah.

Focusing on this, you don't sense any immediate magical auras within the chamber. All right. How about within 30 feet, am I getting a ping? Nothing that you can see in the immediate area, no. Except for what? You watch as Keetor, one eye is swollen shut, the other opens a bit,

and he watches the swelling slowly goes away from that eye. It's still purple around the outside, but the swelling is diminished from the healing effect of your spell, and he looks up. My mate. He looks down at his hands and looks out and sees that Asaar has been freed. He looks out at the strange crew, looks towards both of you and

It's okay, they're safe. They came to help. Can you get out? Help me. Help, Help me. How? Tell me. He stands up in a cage. His hunched form is crammed in by this cage that was not designed for a bold body. Nevertheless, he reaches out and grabs the bars where you had started.

On three. One, two, three. He's going to make a strength check with advantage. That's a natural 17. A natural 19. I love it when it works for the narrative. That puts it over 20. Both of you get there and one of the bars comes off on one side.

He gets in quickly, puts a shoulder in it, he pushes against the other and that bends off to the side, leaving just enough room for him to push through. It takes a minute and you're helping him and grabbing his elbow and the two of you together, you feel something pop in his shoulder, but it's just enough to get his body

to wedge out of the space. He comes back out of it and just embraces you. The other arm limply hanging at one side, but he takes you in his hand. He looks down at his son and looks over at the rest of you, tired and still amongst the trauma that he suffered, there's still a pride and a silent strength to him, very much similar to that you've seen in Nila. I do not know by what grace you've come to us, but thank you. Well, we relied on your mate here.

Couldn't have done it without her. Yeah, she's quite impressive. That she is. I'm going to pet the back of your head. Now, if I was you, I'd run. What about your friends? You have a child with you. You need to get him out of here. He's suffered enough.

We got it from here. Thank you. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you. Clay. Yeah? We'll go back to your temple. Will you help these people? Will you help these friends? Yeah, I like what's happening here.

Here, come. Give him a hug. Neelie gives him a big hug. It's a thief in the road, just a little bit left. You already steeped, or is that just the? No, it's just a loose leaf. It's not a bag, it's just loose leaf. Cydor picks up a tsar and throws him over his shoulder. He's now standing up in his full form, just below the ceiling of this chamber. and picks up a tsar and throws him over his shoulder.

He's now standing up in his full form, just below the ceiling of this chamber, taller even than Clay. Thank you. Let's go home. See you soon. We'll see you later. Oh, before I forget, Nila wears a necklace of six red feathers.

Four of these feathers were people from my tribe who were taken. One for Ketor, one for Azar, one for Dumeor, one for Azar, one for Dume and one for, oh, shoot, so emotional, but I know it. Dume and Basag. Basag was one of our strongest. They took him, too, and Dume was the little one that Jumba mentioned. One feather was for me, for leaving my tribe,

to find my family. And I took an extra one because I thought I would find friends who might help me. I will give it to you. I undo the feather. Pull it off. It's a perfectly intact red feather. I don't know who will take it, but if you ever need our help,

you can come to the temple. And if by chance we're not there, but only because one of us would go back to check on the others of our tribe. We're in the crisp... I will be in the crisp veil thicket. Just go where the moss is the thickest, and I'll be there. Thank you for everything. Thank you for everything. Thank you so much. We'll find you again, Nila. Thank you. Let's go.

Good luck. Bye. You watch as the three of them, given a second chance at life and freedom, step through the doorway you entered and vanish up the stairs, the heavy footfalls dissipating as they grow further and further from you. The two of you who have been focusing,

at that point, the haste spell having coursed into your body, glance behind and see as the family steps through the kitchen door and exits. And there's only one path left to find the others that were taken. That's a relief to me. This was the best. Thank you guys so much!

I love you! I love you! You guys rock! Thank you for playing with us! I know! You guys rock! Thank you for playing with us! It was an amazing experience. One red Nila feather. Five gold points!

I have so much murder in my eye right now. I love this color, by the way, that we're getting right now. That's lovely. That was beautiful. I feel so amazing! Thank you guys for helping! I love this color, by the way, that we're getting right now. That's lovely. It's a fun one, yeah. That was beautiful. I'm so happy. Thank you guys for helping us! Thank you, you were amazing.

Thank you guys, this has been mind-blowingly fun, and it's so easy to get into with all of you guys being so, embodying your characters so well. It just is so easy. It's the best game. It's the best game. It's the best game. And I had so much fun. Oh my gosh.

You were the softness that we needed in our group. Desperately. What do you mean? Everything fits so well in the place. She was like the Charmin bear. And we were like rocks. I don't know, that's all I got. Things are really bad in the Mighty Nein

when Nott is the soft member of the group. That's so true! Oh man, we get to pick up this next phase at Gen Con. So we're going to be doing this live next time? Apparently, yeah. This is where we got to. Oh man. Exciting. Oh boy, that's going to be on this live next time? Apparently, yeah. This is where we got to. Oh man.

Exciting. Oh boy, that's going to be fun. See player characters killed live in... Are you not being sent to the grave? Wow. Man. Seriously, thank you for introducing me to this game. You were so great. Yeah. I was, you, so you. I understand why people that I me to this game. You were so great. Yes. I was used to you.

I understand why people that I know play this game. You've never played D&D? That's crazy. Sam and I were talking about bullshit before the beginning of the game, and I forget the context, but he was talking about you, and I said, no, she's never played. She played one practice game before this,

and Sam's brain went. You were so great, so confident, so much great role-playing. Amazing. I learned from you guys. I learned by watching you. Yeah, I played one, what do you call it, like a one-off. It was a three-hour one-off. With Matt? No, a dear, dear friend of mine, Tom Lommel, ran. He pulled in some friends, just so that I would have some sense, because I didn't want to, I didn't want to, he was like, your first game is going to be on Critical Role.

You need to come over and we'll play one practice round. No, you've been so great. Thank you for joining us, seriously. And for bringing a character that I think all of us are absolutely in love with. And that was a first so hard. Passing the torch. Passing the torch.

Well, on that note, let's go ahead and close tonight's game. That was all recorded? Yeah. Oh, we're still on? Yeah, no, we're still on. Oh my god, we're done! No, no, we're still going! We were cut already! No, no, no, we're not. They cut the stream.

Tell us about your politics. I totally believed you. I was like, oh, wait, are we? No, but thank you so much for joining us. You're amazing. I've wanted to have you on for a while, oh, wait, are we? Oh, no, but thank you so much for joining us. You're amazing, and we wanted to have you on for a while, so I'm glad we could make it work. Yes! Yay! It was a pleasure.

We pick up this live at Gen Con next Friday at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern. Super excited for that. Until then, guys, have a wonderful week. We love you, and is it Thursday or Friday yet? No! Bye! Bye!

Wow Thank you for listening to this episode of Critical Role If you've enjoyed this ever weaving story please consider rating and reviewing our podcast You might just inspire someone new to hop on the wagon for the journey We have plenty more stories to tell.

Stay tuned, and we'll see you next time.