Critical Role - C2E80 The Folding Halls

Episode Date: October 17, 2019

The Mighty Nein recover from their encounter with Obann and head to Nicodranas to seek Yussah's guidance, but find more than just a meeting awaits them...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're Dungeons & Dragons! Before we get into tonight's- wow. Before we get into tonight's episode, we have some quick announcements to get through, beginning with our sponsors for this evening. Sam, if you would do the honors of our first sponsor today. Our sponsor today is Skybound Games and their release of enhanced versions of classic D&D video games to consoles this fall and

winter. I thought it would be fun to get a temporary tattoo of the word skybound across my face, but I did not realize I'm extremely allergic to henna, so my face is a little bit swollen right now. Despite my advertising injury, the show must go on. Pat, Pat, Pat. Help him. Skybound is releasing classic D&D video games like Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights, all coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One for the first time. Oh, yeah.

So I got a prednisone shot to take down some of the swelling, but it turns out I'm also allergic to prednisone. My hands are twice their normal size, which means I can give an even bigger thumbs up to Planescape Torvent and Icewind Dale, which will be launching on October 15th. Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, which includes Baldur's Gate 1 and 2,

and Siege of Dragonspear also launches on October 15th. Is the bandage in his eye? And Neverwinter Nights launches on December 3rd. Oh. Nope. When they told me, I pumped my fists with excitement and I broke my arm. I'm in a lot of pain, but you know what won't feel bad?

Buying these enhanced editions, which you can do either digitally or at retail. Find out a lot more at bit.ly slash beamdog underscore EE. I think I need to go to the hospital. Back to you, Matt. Thank you, Sam. Legitimately actually really excited for these releases. What are you? Can you breathe, Sam?

Oh. I will always see this when I play Baldur's Gate now. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Sam, and thank you, Skybound. Following up with our second sponsor and sponsors with us since beginning of campaign,

two of our friends at D&D Beyond. Fantastic online digital tool for character creation, campaign management, and all sorts of other awesome D&D elements there. You can check them out at dndD Beyond. Fantastic online digital tool for character creation, campaign management, and all sorts of other awesome D&D elements there. You can check them out at dndbeyond.link slash Critical Role if you haven't yet, because it's cool.

All right, so on Tuesday, October 15th, which is next Tuesday, the first six-issue run of our comic book series, Vox Machina Origins 1, the first volume, will finally be available in trade paperback. Yeah! At your favorite local comic book store or retail shops. We're also bringing back the standard edition hardcover

to our online shop. If you weren't around and weren't able to grab that the first time it came out, we'll have that available for a short time. More info will be available at critroll.com on Tuesday of next week, so keep an eye out for that. For those who haven't seen it, Undeadwood, our special four-part supernatural Old West miniseries

GMed by, being the game marshal, the GM of this one, by our fantastic friend Brian W. Foster, will premiere on Friday, October 18th at 7 p.m. Pacific on our Twitch channel here. The VOD will be available immediately Pacific on our Twitch channel here. The VOD will be available immediately after on our Twitch channel for subscribers and will be on YouTube the following Sunday. So keep an eye out for that as well.

Fantastic guests, a very awesome time on that game, so excited for you guys to check it out. Such facial hair. Such facial hair. Too sexy. Yeah, I didn't shave my beard much earlier. I did that pre-suit, maybe. Oh yeah, you looked good. Yeah, yeah, I'll forgive your sins.

Yeah, it was worth holding onto the facial hair for a little longer. Yeah, it was good. And today, if you haven't seen it yet, we shared a special unannounced reward for our recent Kickstarter, meaning unofficially announced as part of the Kickstarter, but we talked about it because Sam offered it up spontaneously for our Kickstarter campaign earlier this year

for The Legend of Vox Machina. And we took Travis through the Fears Gate, or Fear Gate, haunted house in Simi Valley and filmed it for our and your pleasure. Mostly ours, let's be honest. Mostly ours, yeah. So many things. If you missed a video, stick around for the break or check it out on YouTube, on our YouTube channel.

Once again, huge thanks to all of our fantastic Kickstarter supporters for allowing this crazy series to come together and for this man to be punished for all of our enjoyment. It's okay, you don't need to see it. That's a good warning there is during the break, there will be scary clowns, so if you have a problem with some scary clowns,

you could probably walk away for about 10 minutes. Fair enough, good call on that Taliesin. Why couldn't I get that warning? The funny always the scary. Yeah, generally. Laura, you had some announcements? Oh, why, yes, I do. Check out this.

What? What is this? What is happening? What happened? No, I was just doing it. I told her to move cameras. Look at these pins, you guys. Oh! Yeah, so we've got these amazing Chibi pins. Part of our amazing series that we're doing of Chibi pins.

Those are designed by the wonderful Jenny Park. Then on the other side, you can see a Mighty Nein crest and a Vox Machina crest. And the Mighty Nein crest, as seen behind Matt Mercer, was designed by Crystal Sharp, who is phenomenal, and you can check them out in our store right now. They're so cute. We saw so many critters in New York, and they were rocking these pins,

and we immediately grabbed them and smothered them with love. I am very excited about the chibi line. Yeah. Very excited. Fantastic. I'm really excited about jumping into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Oh, I'm sorry. The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends

And the DM to guide you And they rise from the flames For the battles ahead Villains beware Cause you're about to be dead They got magic and flair They got falchions and cunning They don't see over there

There's a monster incoming Inspiration is waiting Rise up, don't think twice Put your fate in your hands Take a chance, roll the dice Roll the dice Critical Roll the dice

Critical Roll the dice Critical Roll the dice Critical Roll Critical Roll Can you answer the call Digging deep in your soul As the legend unfolds Now it's your turn To roll!

And welcome back. So, last we left off, the Mighty Nein, having long lost one of their compatriots, Yasha, to the will of some entity or cult under the name the Angel of Irons. You've been seeking out the individual Obann who seems to be gathering figures of Exandria's past, champions of the Betrayers.

Having collected one called the Laughing Hand, unintentionally with your aid, you begin to hunt down the next venture after an attack on the Cobalt Souls Archive in Zadash, discovering the intent of Obann to raise another champion. Apparently one known as the... The Inevitable End. The Inevitable End. There you go. Oh fuck.

Yes, the Ketergeist. You transported, through the aid of your ally, Shadowhand Essek, to the center of the Lotus Den, Greenwood, where you managed to work your way pretty much at the same pace, or overtake their trudging towards the Wraithroot Tree, which you had discovered held the last portion of the long-sealed entity, this Catergeist.

Unfortunately, crashing through the trees was enough to alert them of your presence. A pre-dawn chase took place thereafter, upon which you had managed to temporarily charm the Laughing Hand and send him off the scent. He's good. Chasing down Yasha and Obann to the Wraithroot Tree, Obann, through a very lucky roll,

managed to draw the heart from the center of the tree that he required, and a failed attempt to pick the skull from his side meant that he had acquired both artifacts he required. Reaching down, grabbing Yasha and all of her fallen Esomar glory. They both vanished, leaving you to deal with the Wraithroot Tree.

Fleeing from the center of this darkened, pre-sunrise battlefield, you went ahead and teleported yourselves towards the capital dynasty city of Rosohna, where you, the Mighty Nein, have to figure out the next step in your journey. So, returning to the center of the Dark Elf City here in Xhorhas,

quietly trudging your way past the guards who have become familiar with your comings and goings by this time, you make your way quietly back in the wee hours of the morning to your home in the firmament. Entering your abode in the shore house, you close the door behind and exhale for what seems like the first time since your arrival.

Well, that fucking sucked. I mean, to be fair, we got very, very close. And then we got our asses handed to us. I'm really fucking tired of shit running away from us. It does happen a lot. I'm tired of losing. Yeah. Is it us, you guys? Maybe.

I... What do you mean? I think so. Maybe we thought we were bad ass and maybe we're not bad ass. Oh, I was thinking that people hate us. Oh, well. That might also be part of it.

Because people, yeah, they don't like us. Well. We're part of it. We're just people, yeah, they don't like us. Well, we're also not really, like, we don't really belong anywhere. We keep moving so much. I don't know if we're not bad-ass, we're just not very lucky. Well, it's not like we set out to do any of this, right? We were thrust into this

and have been finding our way as we've been going, but I mean, the only real consistency is that we've been doing this together, but. I think we have spent a long time just learning how to trust each other somewhat. Maybe it's time we trust someone else. Who? Exactly my thought.

We've been managing our own problems and our own expectations and just asking people to let us wander in and out of what they need with no real commitment, no humility. So you're saying we align with Obann and destroy the world? I mean, he's really powerful.

He's very powerful. He's got to do it. He's the person to do it with. Sounds like he's winning. He's very powerful. He's the person to do it with. Seems like he's winning. He's got Josh on his side. That's what's better than the winner. What I think Caduceus or Caleb was talking about. I mean, it could be like a free trip to the Plane of the Abyss.

We could travel, you know? What were you thinking, gentlemen? There's a... There's like a... There's a, there's like a, there's a tiny bird. A hummingbird. Well, it's even, it's. A sparrow.

There's tiny birds that live on the back of larger animals and just eat the bugs that live on the specific larger animals, there's rhinoceroses and otherwise, and the birds require the insects that live on this specific animal, and the birds require the insects that live on this specific animal, and the insects require the animal that they sit on. I'm talking, I think we need an ecosystem.

I think we need somewhere that feeds us and supports us, and I think we need allies, real allies, people that we've invested in other than ourselves. We need a rhinoceros. We need a rhinoceros. We are fairly capable people, but the forces in play are larger than us. Two separate nations, and whatever this goose chase is

that we have been hunting down across the continent for weeks, months, I can't keep up with Obann. None of us can, obviously. We, uh, I don't know if either of these two groups are going to be able to turn away from their own interests long enough to see the bigger picture, I don't know,

but we need to invest in somebody and hope that they invest in what we see. We need to find somebody that doesn't have that what? I don't know. You're talking about a third party, someone outside of the Dynasty or the Empire. Someone like us. We've tried to talk to the Dynasty

and they brush it off and say we're out of war. Talk to the Empire, they've done the same thing. I mean, the Cobalt Soul, who I thought was supposed to listen to me. They didn't offer any help. They fucking hate us. Well, I mean, to be fair, we kind of screwed with them just a little. Listen, that is fair.

I think you don't even have to remind us of that. We have pissed off everybody. I still got holes in both of my... I think it's important to remind us, actually, that. We have pissed off everybody. I still got holes in both of my. I think it's important to remind us, actually, yeah. Oh god, and that's all. I'll get this dress cleaned eventually. I can see maybe some use in

dancing with the one we brought and talk to Essek or the queen herself, probably Essek, and see if we are done being vetted, and if we can get some assistance in a way that we think would be useful, or to get them to pay attention to what we seem to be like the only ones who are paying attention to. You know, that's what's the worst that can happen.

Either we, I mean, either we die alone or we die as a part of something, you know. I feel like we've produced nothing. I just feel like we're going to continue to be ignored. We should tell Essek we have an enormous debt to pay, as he likes to remind us, but who would this third party be if we were going to find someone outside of the Empire, outside of the Dynasty?

Other than your mom, I suppose. Well, the wizard? Yes, sir. someone outside of the Empire, outside of the Dynasty. Other than your mom, I suppose. Wizard of Nicodranas? The wizard? Yussa. Yussa? Yussa. Yussa. That guy in Nicodranas, he has the big tower?

Then we gave the happy fun ball to him. You were really good in there. You were? Oh, you were. Thank you, both of you were. And where? In the happy fun ball? Well, I mean, you were. Thank you, both of you were. And Blair. In the happy fumble? Well, I'm in the tower.

Oh, that's right, we talked too long. Yeah. We totally remember that. You did the one thing we haven't done since, which is actually practice a little humility and honesty. Yeah, that was the last time we did that. Hey, maybe that's why he didn't hate us immediately. Yeah. We also gave him a shiny present. That is right. Hey, maybe that's why he didn't hate us immediately. Yeah.

We also gave him a shiny present. That is true. What shiny present? The happy puddle. Yes, no, I'm tracking all of this. Do you have a concussion? Did you lose your memory with your class? I got dropped to those branches real fucking hard.

I'm sorry about that, Fjord. I got a little bit of a stuffy sound in the air and a little bit of a dark spot right in this part. I saw one big branch smack you right upside the head and I wasn't going to say anything. A big nap. Do you have a last name? You just can't remember it?

Is that what it is? Vlam, vlam, vlam. All right, so. Any of these parties are a gamble. The question is which is the least risky. And can we commit to it? I think we should commit to something. Honestly, this back and forth,

this playing secrets. Yeah, and the jet lag is really starting to catch up to me. It's too real. All right, so to lay out a plan of action, are we going to report in with Essek, or are we just going to jump to the wizard? I think we should tell Essek at or are we just going to jump to the wizard?

I think we should tell Essek at least about, I mean, it's in their world now, right? Isn't like... I mean, the last known sighting was, yes. I think we should at least... Tell him that we fucked up. Yeah, lay it at his feet and see what he does with it. Yeah, it could be his last chance

to pay any type of mind to it. If he shrugs us off after we say he got away, then fuck him. Do we do it? And maybe, maybe he will surprise us. Maybe we heal him? I don't know if there's any case in that. Oh no! Oh no! He's got blood coming out of his ears.

His intelligence goes down to six. No, please. Oh no. We also, I mean, we know also that there's people working against the Empire within the Empire, so we know that trust is going to be hard in here, but we've got to tell somebody something. Do we tell them now, or do we tell them in the morning? I say we tell them in the morning.

I would second that. And it actually gives me a chance to check in and see what Dairon's been up to for the past three weeks. Yeah, two and a half, three weeks. Oh god. If they're here. Yeah. Hello. Yeah. Hello? Yeah. Anybody home?

Dairon could be listening to us right now, honestly. A brief moment passes before eventually you hear no footsteps, but see a shadow appear at the top of the steps before Dairon, in full dark elf visual regalia, descends the stairs. I return. What news is there of your goings about? Hmm.

We can skip that, pretty much. Fair enough, not a problem. What's been going on here? I have been doing my research and well, my suspicions have been at least loosely confirmed. I believe I have found traces that the beacon that started this war was not taken by the Empire, but was indeed given by an agent within the Dynasty.

Do you know who? Or to what end? I do not. And not with the permission of the Bright Queen herself. This was secreted away. I would assume as such, and would not confirm as to ask such questions, would raise too much suspicion on myself. And I'm already riding the line.

Unless they were looking for an excuse to start a war? Did you get the impression this was recent or old? This would have had to have happened a year or more. Who was it? I wonder, it's somebody we met! It has to be. The people who have access to that rare, an artifact, could only be the Bright Queen and those in her inner circle,

the heads of the den? It was the old lady, I know it was! The den mothers! It was the old one. The old one, the goblin one? Yeah, that's the one! I fucking hate goblins! I knew it was her!

Except, is she good or bad? I don't understand. Who's the good person, who's the bad person? Just in general? Kind of, yeah. Like in life, you don't know? But like, if she took it from the Dynasty and gave it to the umpires, that's bad.

Or did she do it because she's good? No, I think it's bad, I think it's bad. Oh, I knew it was her, I think it's bad. Oh, I knew it! Yeah! It's bad. The other aspect of this, and part of the reason why I'm still awake is in finding this information, I was nearly found and apprehended,

and I'm hoping that I have not led a trace back to this house. With this information, I was nearly found and apprehended. And I'm hoping that I have not led a trace back to this house. Ooh! Ooh! Why would you, what? Why would you come back here if you thought you were being followed? I wasn't here, I was on another roof, but I saw you enter and begin to call out. Oh.

I'm going to go and peek through windows. I'll head up to the rooftop. I'm closing curtains. No one should be like, everything's normal, should we just pretend like we're having a party or something? I got to knock over a chair. I'm going to stop dancing, I don't know.

I'm just dancing in the living room. What do I see when I look out a window? Make a perception check. Okay. Dancing in the room. Ah, what do I see when I look out a window? Make a perception check. Okay. Dancing in the whole room? No. I imagine, like, in Home Alone, where it's like two mannequins that are just in a rooftop truck.

Yes, you may. 15. All right, and perception for you as well. 17. 17. Would you like a performance check? Sure, please. Okay. Oh, good. Get that out of your system now. Three. Three.

With a disadvantage, because there's no music. Still a three, still a three. Okay, there you go. Much like the wonderful Lorde song, Liability, you stand there dancing with yourself in quiet desperation. Don't pop and lock. Never pop and lock. That's the dad joke of dancing.

I rolled a three, I have to pop and lock! I must pop and lock! And the poop and the lock. I'm singing a Molly Ringwald Breakfast Club kind of dance. No, that's too good for a three. That's too good for a three. Keeping an eye out for a quiet 10 or so minutes among the streets,

you can see there are wandering guards of Rosohna doing their usual path, but you do not see any strange foot traffic or anything moving in your direction that would spike your alarm. Do we have a cellar? We've got a dump, right? We got a basement? We've got the jacuzzi.

We could empty it. Or we could go sit in it. I mean, we all could use a relax. Actually use the jacuzzi. I'm going to go set that up right now. Can I summon the Star Razor in my hand? Yep. Can I use one of Razor in my hand? Yep. Can I use one of its abilities,

See Invisibility? Ooh! You have an ability to do that? I know! Can I scan? That's new! Looking around, you do not see anything invisible within the radius of which you're able to see, so you feel a little more confident

and a little more assured that at least there is no unseen peering near you. Okay. It lasts for one hour. Shit. Okay. Yeah, so I'll just walk around the inside of the house as well and make sure no one snuck in after Dairon. I'm going to do a patrol as well.

I'm going to do a patrol for a little bit. Getting a really nice hop to come with a big fuck-off sword at my side. Stay on. I tell Frumpkin to mirror Beau. Are you outside? I'm inside, doing a patrol. Frumpkin will sit in the tree

and slowly walk around the tree and look for anybody fucking with the house. Okay. Or anybody fucking. You can see a lot from that tree. Fair enough. Is there anything else, Dairon, that we should know? Any details of where or how you learned this information? Where did you learn this information?

I've been following and asking questions about individuals who have been traveling for extended periods of time, moving or adjusting the placement of these beacons. I've had to masquerade as a few different individuals to make my way into some of these avenues. That's scary. You know, another half of it,

but this is the job that we are trained for. So much training. Mm-hmm. I've come to understand that the last time the beacon was under the watch of anyone before it was said to have gone missing, all of the paperwork and records of its movement had been destroyed internally. Someone is covering a trail of this.

Okay. However, the longer I'm here, the more I put all of you and what you're doing in danger. So I think I may be heading back to the Cobalt Soul myself. Oh, well. If you're going there, could you tell them I'm cool and an Expositor, and that if they could lift the ban on us?

Excuse me? And Rexxentrum and Port Damali both. Just wipe my parking tickets? You could do that. What? I'm not even going to ask. But you can't do that. You can get the bans lifted, probably, though.

I would do that after you've given them the good news of all the information that you have. I think you are very wise to have this mindset. I'll see what I can do, as I know you are prone to very curious means of reaching the end of your quest. All a huge misunderstanding. I'm sure it is. I will do my best.

I will inform of your particular advancement, as I had been intending to, that should help. I will do my best. I will inform of your particular advancement as I had been intending to, that should help. Would it be too much to ask how or who you were speaking with or overheard discussing this information with? Just so we could rule them out. To whom speaking? Yeah, like from whom did you learn that this transpired,

or was it just in research? This was in research. This was in getting, bypassing the various guardians of the interior chamber, note-taking and record keeping. At this point in time, you, in particular, Travis, glancing up off the top of the stairs, as you're watching about, there's this faint little glowing orb

that's been coasting along the ceiling, just gently floats down. Is it invisible? Oh, it's an invisible orb. Everybody stop talking. It's invisible, invisible, invisible. Ah! Perhaps it would be wise for us to not say

any more about this, this evening. Would anyone care to join me up on the roof for perhaps a beverage? I've been craving a beverage. I would just insist if you could all perhaps join me immediately upstairs. I join immediately. I'm already walking up. Sure, let's go.

Yeah, I dance up the stairs. Let's do it, it's a party after all. Here in this house. See you, Dairon. We're just having a party. So we'll start heading up the stairs. Names. I'm sorry, Sally. Is it at the top of the first landing section?

Yeah, when you first enter the building where there's the main gathering area, the foyer, before you head up the stairs, it begins to coast its way down about a foot below the ceiling. It's just very slowly moving in the direction of where you all are, seemingly following the sound. Once we get to a level that is closer to it in distance, I'll reach out and I'll fire two Eldritch Blasts at it.

Okay. Go ahead and roll two attack rolls, Bea. You know those videos of people shooting drones out of the sky? Love the Renfjord one, when someone hits it with a, they throw a lance. Do we get to use that to just pretend like we're just boring in here?

Too late. That's a lance. It's not to just pretend like we're just boring in here. Too late. That's a 24. Mm-hmm. And a 15. 15. You fire two eldritch blasts as they both slam into the side of the wall, moving through this strange orb.

He watches the back portion of the wall behind it has two holes now blown into it from the force damage of the attack. Oh, I saw that spider up there, too. Don't worry, I think you got it. That seemed excessive. I know that seemed odd. Maybe on the double, if you could join me on the roof.

Yeah, we were going to the roof anyway. Yes, let's go. This is weird. It's changed direction and is now heading towards, slowly, the path you guys are taking. Following us? Yeah. Jesus. So, like, I'm running.

Like, come on, come on, fucking follow me! What are we running from? What the fuck's going on? Come behind me, come behind me, come behind me! Can we all run like idiots? All right, you all catch up. Has it come up the stairs stairs, do we see it? It's a ways behind you guys.

I can see something that's invisible, or something, there's a glowing orb that's been following us. I don't know what I tried to shoot and it didn't hit it. A glowing orb? Yeah, it's like a glowing sphere, but I tried to shoot it and it went right through it. I bet it's spying on us. You do know from the times that you've been scrying

that the projection of your consciousness does appear as an invisible beacon, essentially. Yeah, it's a scrying bomb! How would you know that? I don't know! That's okay, if it's going to follow us, let's all pretend like we're having a party up here or we'll be so confused.

No, no, not just a party. Let's talk about our upcoming trip to Rexxentrum. Yes, of course. Or somewhere else that you guys want to visit. Who wants a cocktail? Hot on the lead. Hot on, where is it? We, it was the stairs.

I walked up the stairs. Before you dispel it, we can do things with it. Oh man. Give me false information. You walk over to the edge of the stairs. You guys are all in the little garden around the tree right now. Is that where you guys have gone?

I'm going to start making tea. Give me pulse information first, don't dispel it yet. I like that you're just shaking a cocktail bottle. Just slow down. Those fools in Rexxentrum don't know that we're coming for them. We're going to go to Rexxentrum, all right. Right, Caleb?

And we will find that beacon, just. Know that device of great machination that will be a boon for the Empire of Dildas. All right. Both of you make deception rolls, please. Or one of you can make it with advantage, since you're doing this thing. No, no, no.

We should do it. Yeah, separate. We should both do it. Because that would be so horrendous. I'm guesstimating its location to move this into its vicinity. 22. 15.

Okay. You feel confident that, to some folks, you may have been believable in your strange display of boisterous planning. Completely opposite. One of us always lies, and one of us always turns the truth. Oh, that's annoying!

All right. As you guys finish your statement, you look over and there's Caleb standing at the front, and you see the orb slowly begin to rise up to the top of the stairs. When it gets within a foot of Caleb, Caleb holds up a necklace and you watch it blink out. Is it there?

I don't see it. What are you holding? Is it coming? No, it's gone. What is in your hand? He always has that on him. Perhaps I just wasn't paying attention earlier. It's gone now, whatever it is. It's so people can't find him.

Oh, right! You have, you said, people cannot look in on you from afar. Yeah. But it's limited, so. He's coming back from his amnesia. It's good. It works. That's impressive. It's a slow recovery.

It works. Oh no! I'm so glad for you, Caleb. Thanks, God of War. Oh, how'd you get there? He has a Cure Wounds at level one on four. We need to create a rest stop. Yeah, this is going to take more than a Cure Wounds.

Is there a regeneration stream in the Doctor Who this? I'm going to aim it right at his brain, though. Cure Wounds on the inside. You have to reach through and he'll travel. I don't see it anymore. Well, so someone's watching us. We can't tell who, though, right?

That's not how scrying works, you can't tell. I mean, no. Could you? I could scry on somebody and see it. Oh no, I can't scry on anybody, I'm out of power. Is that something your god could tell us? Maybe. I think there is an above average chance

that it's someone here who knows that we returned. Hey, Traveler. Did you see who was looking at us? Traveler? Did you see that funny ball? Don't you need to be alone for that, Jester? We could find out. I could find out something about them if we really wanted.

Are you in the tree? Yes. How so? I could commune, see if, just some general idea. Were you sleeping and wanted to bet or something? I mean, we knew when we got this house that we were probably being watched the whole time. Yes, we did.

What do we want to bet on? Who do we think it is? Oh man, I wonder how many times they've done that. Probably a lot. Probably a lot. And I hope we weren't saying anything stupid when they did that. No, tight-lipped. Not a problem. When you spend all your time trying to parse

what information to put out, you're always going to be a little confused. I wonder who they were scrying on specifically. You have to target an individual? You have to target somebody, yes. I like to think it was me. It probably was not him. Probably was not. Individual or location.

Or probably was not. Or a location. So it could have just been a house in general. It seemed like it was following us, and if Caleb is able to prevent that, then that rules him out. I think we need to prevent that, then that rules him out. I think we need to assume, though, that it has heard Yussa's name,

whoever is looking. Yes. And heard us choosing. I mean, maybe, but. You do also know, from your experience with Scry, that it only really picks up information in the vicinity of where it was. And it wasn't there when you were?

And you were looking for it, right? It appeared later. I think we're safe with Yussa. After we mentioned Yussa. So it's fine. Well, that's when you used the ability. No, but he'd been using it for like an hour. When I ran upstairs.

Yes, he used it upstairs. It was running upstairs? Yes. Yeah, so it wasn't with us for a while. Visible set. All right, so let's pretend someone was watching. We should. Does that change anything? Are we still going to report to Essek in the morning?

Should. Do I think we should? Well, are you able to do your suggestion, Caduceus? I would ask three questions. We would ask, is it from someone here? If that is yes, we start naming names. Dynasty? Someone in the Dynasty. Someone we know. Dynasty, and then two names.

All right, what are our two names? Essek. Essek. The Bride Queen. Or is it the? The Old Lady Goblin. What's her name? I will look it up in my memory. Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say, give me a piece of paper so I'm together. Hold on, Nuka, I will look it up in my memory. Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say, give me a piece of paper

so I'm together. Hold on, Nuka, I'm going to look in my notes, too. I bet I can find it faster. In the meantime, I need some tea. Laelys Kryn, Miriam Kryn, Thaelys. Miriam? Sky Sibyl, Abrianna, the female goblin, Denyrium. Wow. I love all of this. So Essek and the Bright Queen are immediately gone. Sky Sibyl, Abrianna, the female goblin, Den Miriam.

Wow. I love all of this. So Essek and the Bright Queen are immediately. Hey, Sky Sibyl, old lady goblin. Yeah! Den Miriam. Sky Sibyl? I wrote it down. You did, I'm proud of you. Essek, Sky Sibyl, Bright Queen? Sky Sibyl. So.

Oh god. Is it someone in the Dynasty? All right. Oh, Jesus. Hey, wait! Hey, whatever happened to Lythir Vasun, the guy we fought that turned us in? Did we ever look him up again?

Oh, that's right. He knew what we were, and we talked him out of believing it, right? I'm going to sit down, start burning all incest, drinking my tea, incense, and getting together. Like here. Okay. You're aware of this at this point.

Though the sun doesn't necessarily rise or fall here in the center of Rosohna, it is about dawn. Oh, so we are exhausted. You're pretty tired. This is a heads up. Okay, cool. This exhausted. You're pretty tired. Yeah. This is a heads up. Okay, go. Well, this is good to do now before we crash. This is the end of me.

So while you guys are looking at the space, and Dairon returns from gathering what small supplies that she has packed up in his satchel, you finish completing your ritual in the center of the tower top of the Jorahouse, underneath the tree that you built in the Wildmother's Honor. After the incense burns, you inhale it into your nose,

and it tingles and sears the inside. Your eyes water slightly, and with your eyes closed, you can feel that warm breeze pass through your mind and over your arms and shoulders as well. We were just being watched. Was it by someone who was a member of the Dynasty? The breeze comes by once more, this time warm and affirming.

You also feel the breeze, too. Ooh! You guys are so in sync. You actually watch as both Caduceus' and Fjord's hair slightly shift to an invisible wind that doesn't exist. Ooh, an invisible dazzle. Was it Essek?

The wind grows cold. It's good. Is Essek a part of the Dynthalus? Wait, did we already ask? Was it the Dynasty? Yes. So we already ask? Was it the Dynasty? Yeah. Okay. So we're asking about people in the Dynasty. I actually am going to try something slightly different

because I think it's just too hit and miss. Does the Bright Queen know? You get the sense you may need to clarify your question. Does the Bright Queen, does the Bright Queen, which will she ask that we be watched? Is this by her command? The breeze once more becomes warm. She doesn't trust us.

Oh, I wouldn't fuck her from out of town. Yeah, I know. I wouldn't trust us, thank, I wouldn't fucking forget. We're out of town. Yeah, I know. I wouldn't trust us, thank you. All our visas are limited. That's it, that's all we get, that's all we get. Man, if she was the Traveler, we could sit down and have a whole conversation with her right now.

Let's not compare gods, all right? That's amazing. It uses every time, it's very impressive. You were there, too, when I was. That's interesting. We should have a talk about that at some point. Hellen and Breeze, come on. Like, you'd be like, dude, yeah, it's the Dinosaur.

Oh, I'm talking in wind! All right, we are really spinning our wheels here. I think maybe we should crash. Yeah. I'm going to take a hot tub and then go to sleep. Dairyn goes, just out of curiosity, where are you going and can you bring another?

Oh. Yeah. We're talking about. Is it okay to say it out loud? I don't say it out loud. I write it down in my book and I show it to her. Which is? What'd you write down? Nicodranas. Okay. And she nods. Close enough.

It's better than taking the long way by foot, so thank you. I'm going to start putting up the dome in our study laboratory. Oh, that's smart. Yeah, don't sleep in there tonight. Okay. I pull Dallin aside for a second.

Okay. As you guys are getting that all set up for the evening's rest, Dairon meets with you off to the side. Can I have my seal back? Yes, you may. It has come in very handy in getting me to the places I needed to go.

Remember. Yeah, you are. It stays between us. Of course. Beauregard. What? She turns around. Where's she going? She's leaving.

What? You know that look? You know that look? She's giving me that look every time you guys parted, but didn't feel the need to say the words, Don't die. Okay. Any more pieces of training?

Since, you know, we train for all this shit. Hmm. Some way to keep it quiet. And she calls you down to the basement area. Puts fingers to the front of her mouth and begins to quietly work you through a series of forms. The beginning process of showing you how to react to an assault or react to a movement and then briefly pulse the adrenaline in your body

through the expense of Ki to have twice the reaction or even more, depending on the situation. It's an exhausting bit, especially after an exhausting day, and as such, the training is incomplete. But the beginnings of your next stage as a Cobalt Soul Expositor have begun. Cool. I go toitor have begun. Cool. I go to bed.

Yeah. I'm going to go into Yasha's room. Okay. She's there. Yeah. She's there. I'm going to look at the mural, and I'm going to sit down on Yasha's bed,

and I'm just going to say, well, Traveler, you probably saw that we shit the bed a little bit. I know you have a lot going on with Traveler Con coming up. I know that you're probably pretty busy, but our friend Yasha's in a bit of a pickle right now, and she is having a hard time, and she's working with some really bad people,

but I know it's not by choice, okay? Because I scryed on her with your help, and you saw, too. She's trying to fight it. I know that she works with the Stormlord and stuff, but if you can just try to keep an eye out on her as well and maybe help her fight it a little bit, because I'm having a hard time

knowing that we abandoned her, okay? In the silence as you sit there and quietly mourn the frustrating circumstances surrounding your friend, you look up at the flower wall that you painted her. You swear right there in the middle of the flowers, the beautiful shapes and curls, you see what looks like a hidden dick. I didn't paint that one.

Okay. I'm going to go get into study after I wipe my face off. Okay. I'm going to go get in the study after I wipe my face off. Okay. The rest of you gather around Caleb and his hut, bed down, even within the comfort of your own house, carefully and defensively for a night's rest. You all can take your long rest.

Yeah! Touch that button, boom! Yes, confirm! Holy shit. All right, now it's just choose your spells. Spells, spells, spells. Oh, they're all bad. Pick your spells, pick your spells.

Pick your spells for travel, pick your spells for talking to Essek. Come on, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No controlling water, guys, come on. Okay. It's an eight. It's an eight. I wanted to use Melt into Stone.

Melt into Stone? Melt into Stone. Melt into Stone. Oh, Melt into Stone. Oh, yeah, that's a thing. It's bad, run! Yep. I have to fish right back out, but still, it's pretty cool.

It is. So. Oh no. You wake up, rested, safe within the final moments of the hut fading before the cover vanishes. You all find yourselves standing in the center of the arcane study with the day past noon at this point, a few hours into the afternoon at your disposal. What would you like to do?

Let's call Essek in, I suppose. Also, by the way, just rewinding a bit to our fight with Obann and stuff, next time we fight Obann, let's have one of the Counterspell people closer so that he can't get away. And also maybe the whip? The whip? We can hold him there with the whip?

That's a thing, right? Well, I think he could still teleport away. Yes, you're right. I don't know what would happen after that. Take half the whip, take me, I don't know. Either way, we win. All right. We'll also need to do a little bit of shopping

if we hope to go to Nicodranas today. Oh. Oh, you need some chalk or something? I could just run out quickly now. Sure. While we wait, send word to Essek. Yeah, sure. I will go to this. I'm going to Zayn to Essek.

Sorry, go ahead. We have to go to Essek if we have to. I don't think we know where he lives still. No, he's never told us. Before the day gets on, I will just run off to the same place that I've been to before and spend, how much money do I have? Two hundred and three.

Oh no, I'm all right. And me and Fjord will also send some requests. Fjord and I. We'll also send some requests. We'll also send some requests. I would like a drop of bitumen and a spider. I would also like a bit of fleece. Get me an eyelash encased in gum arabic. I'd like some tiny tarts and a feather.

Oh, well, role play. And another bit of fleece. A lot of fucking fleece spells. And another sort of... Maybe just give them a lot of fucking fleece spells. All right, all right. Maybe just give them up components back. Yeah, whatever, I don't want to do, I don't want to be what Fjord did last time. Give me all the components for everything.

Which as a note, too, clarifying on next, I looked it up extensively afterward, you do not need the blood to summon the demon. You need the blood if you want to draw the circle that's the second half of the spell. Got it. Another circumstance of the internet yelling at me for doing rules incorrectly, getting confused by the rules,

and then realizing I did it right accidentally, and the internet was the internet. Yes. But thank you for all the clarification after the fact, too. Guys, we love the internet. We love it. Yeah. Shopping can, oh, sorry. Give me some money.

Sure, how much do you need? Well, I'm good for the chalks that I will need for us to travel, but if you want to get some stuff, give me, I don't know, give me 50 gold and I'll give you the change. I'll give you 75, you handsome young wizard. Jesus. Keep the change!

Are you blushing? Wow. Yes. Mm-hmm. All right, I go shopping. Okay. Prices are a bit high, and things are a little scarce right now. The war effort has been placing a lot of supplies out of Rosohna and closer to Asaris and the western front of Xhorhas.

So as such, the component pouch normally costs about 25. Gold goes for 40 to get all the supplies that are needed and requested by Nott. Is the chalk pricier as well? The chalk is an additional 20 gold beyond its normal price. Dang. You give me 75, I have enough of that.

How much higher than regular? Sorry, how much chalk are you purchasing? Three doses, so that's 150 gold's worth as written in the spell. Correct. The additional 20 on top of that, so 170. Overall, okay, okay. Where are we, Manhattan? Yeah, I have it.

Okay. There's a bottle of water in it. What is it? Is this a Coke on a Eurostar? What is this? Okay. All right. All right, I hustle back once I have

a pouch full of potpourri and other bits, and I hand it over to Nott. Thank you for these bits and pieces. Did we already summon Essek, and how do we do so? Oh yes, while they were gone, I sent a message to Essek. Great. Okay. Hold on, I got to make sure I have that.

Just say a message. Essek, we're back. We really need to talk to you if you have the time, because it's super important. Also, you're super cool, we miss you. And... You float really good. As a reminder, you don't have to say all the words,

but I appreciate the effort. You want to use the maximum eight. I respect that. Exactly. Yeah, every piece of the buffalo, I respect that. Essek responds, Ah, this is good to hear. I'm glad you returned, I assume safely. I will go ahead and pass on by within the hour.

He's coming by. Excellent. Yeah. While I'm waiting for Caleb to return, can I go ahead and just use that same feature I used last night and cast See Invisibility for another hour. Okay, and you just? Just in the room.

I'll try and stay around everyone else just to see if there are any more Asphias. Okay. About half an hour into waiting for Essek's arrival, same type of little sentry orb just floats back down the stairs. Just hanging out this whole day. It totally fucking crows.

You know, I really didn't think that the Dynasty would have such a bug problem, but it is really prevalent right now. Hmm. All right. What kind of bugs? Like, you know, ones with... Big eyes! Yes.

Might be one of mine. Many, many eyes. Like spiders? Mm! Sure, they have lots of eyes, very... Flies have lots of eyes, well, they've got big eyes at least. Right, but perhaps like one big eye on these.

Oh! A door. Oh, I'll go look. Let someone else get the door. Okay. I'll get it. How does someone work? Can I see and hear? You go to the door opens slightly, the chimes take you a little bit.

On the other side, you see Essek with two of the guards of the Rosohna Guard at the side. Hello. Wait, he's got two guards? Yes. Why has he got two guards? Wait, what? Sorry, keep going. That's about it, yeah. I apologize for the companions.

There was apparently a break in last night in some records, and as such, we're just being more careful. Oh my gosh. So, anyway. Wait outside if you don't mind. Two cards, stay exterior. Dairon's not in the room with us, right?

Dairon has nowhere to be seen currently. We haven't seen them all morning? No. Okay. I would have told them that we were doing this and to not come and hide. Dairon, you have not seen them all morning? No. Okay. I would have told them that we were doing this and to not come and hide. Dairon, you have not seen at all this morning. Okay, good. At all. Essek enters the chamber.

He's not going to come out of the tower or something? So I see you have all arrived safely. How did the venture go? Not well. It went real, real bad, Essek. I'm sorry to hear that. So are we. Yeah, we're unsuccessful again.

We seem to be in a never-ending chase after that, which we are trying to prevent. Which means Olaan is one step closer to his overall goal and potentially not on this plane with us anymore. I think given the circumstances and how how dire this growth seems to be at this individual you've been after, perhaps we put our specific endeavor

on hold while you pursue this one, yes? Pursue Obann? Here's the thing, I think we're a little bit out of our depth. He's pretty powerful, and he just woke up somebody else. The inevitable end. All right, I will put some research into this.

I already have a few operatives looking to infiltrate, to locate and infiltrate the cult of the Angel of Irons, you said it was? Yeah. In hopes of gathering more information. You have? Yes, since you gave me this information a while back. Thank you. I just didn't know if you were really listening to us or not.

I am, to be fair, and he steeples his fingers underneath his cloak, I have a lot of plates. I'm spinning it at any given point in time. This is one, and I'm now giving it a bit more prominence, so I apologize to have misled you to think otherwise, and I also apologize for my attitude yesterday. I have been under some pressure. I cannot at all.

We are trying to be of use here. Can we be of use? He looks back over the door. Your usefulness currently, by the mind of the Bright Queen, is in offering a tactical advantage or any information you've gleaned from the Empire's military movements.

You've been a great aid in that once already, and so they are very interested in anything else you've heard. Locally, I don't know what much you can do, but just speaking of the interests above me, if there's any information you can find, glean, or have heard of any sort of military movements of the Empire that could put us

in a continuous advantageous position, she would be extremely grateful. There is, I think, one thing that we could say, that there's something that, if it were considered, could be advantageous, although to an uncreative mind, it may not seem useful. There are more than two parties at work in this conflict of yours,

and I think this dual thinking is going to be the end of you if you're not careful. And I would say that we feel pretty confident that there are people within the Empire working against the Empire, and there are people in the Dynasty working against the Dynasty,

and perhaps these people are working together. If you are one of those people, and we're hoping you're not, then this information will never go any further than this, and that's the end of that, but if you're not, maybe it will make its way higher up. We feel more firmly than ever that this war is a game that these two nations are being thrust into

for someone else's purposes. Laib, I appreciate your candor. I will take this information to the right, trusted few. And only after very careful vetting on my end as well, if what you say is true, then that is very much disconcerting. Can I raise my eyes slightly and see if the sphere is still up?

I was going to insight check that. I was going to be on his. Insight check? Yeah. Go for it. Insight check and you're looking to see what? You want to see if the sphere is still up there. Yeah, it's still, it's like coasted and it's now moved kind of center of the chamber

and is kind of hovering above all of you. 19. 19? Natural 20. On the insight check? Okay. Double whispers, double whispers. Guys, pins, pins, chibi yasha. What's the total on the insight then?

Chibi Caleb insight? Because I gave myself a little, I couldn't have given myself a thing, damn it, never mind. Chibi Laura Bailey. Ooh, I would buy that. 29. 29 total insight check? Aye, it's hard to lie to me. You know more about them than they do.

I know more about you than you do. That's probably true. I keep asking you to tell me and you just won't. Skybound. Dwarven Forge. Don't hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself. The Indie Beyond. These are all fabulous, fabulous supporters of Critical Role.

By the way, can we comment on how miraculous your heal is? Yeah, you look really good. I got an adrenaline shot right now. Okay, okay. I think that one did right now. Oh good. You're 12. We appreciate that. Well. Good luck. You as well.

Should any more concrete, anything I could bring to the Bright Queen about this threat that you're after, this Obann, this Angel of Irons, whether I find it first or you do, but anything that you think could draw her attention away from this conflict and perhaps focus on this thing. They said that Cadergeist was a servant of you, of?

A Lolth. And that Lolth. Certainly of interest to the queen. He had a contract with Asmodeus. That is a strange union. I'm not brushed up on my history, but. It's referred to as an assassin for Loth. I will look into this.

We will share whatever information we can without compromising our very complicated positions. I'm certain you will. Your timing is impeccable. Best friends all the time, just think of it. Is there a certain time of day that's better for me to contact you so that maybe I'm not interrupting anything? Preferably no later than midnight, Jorah's time.

Okay, I'll ask you, you'll remember, Caleb, what time it is here all the time, yeah? Yeah. And would you like a breakfast message, if possible? Do you like your dinner messages? When do you check your emails? Quarter of the day, maybe. I don't think it would make a difference,

so whatever suits your fancy. Okay. Well, good luck. Same to you. Thank you. Don't trust anyone. Not even us. No, not if you want him to trust you.

Don't trust us. Stop, stop. She's just fucking with you. What? Right, anyway. I keep in touch. He turns around and glides his way towards the door. As it opens once more, the guards awaiting him and they exit.

Still, is the ball still there? Does that fly? Yeah. Because that thing's lasting for a long time. Is there a tennis ball on the ceiling? Because it's time to go to Rexxentrum soon, which is where we're going. Got to get more information. About the 10 or so minute mark since it first arrived,

it dissipates. All right, we'll come here. It's gone. Let's go. A good amount of scry. To Re, we'll come here. It's gone. Let's go. You're a good amount of scry. To Rexxentrum! Man. I feel like we didn't get to that one.

We didn't get shit from Obann, right? Like, Essek? I mean, Essek, sorry. I mean, no, but he is putting in the words. Yeah, I was encouraging you guys working on it. Yeah. I, um. And now, I mean, what does he give us? Yeah, it was encouraging to hear he was working on it. Yeah. I, um. And now, I mean, in theory,

it's possible that the Bright Queen heard all of that. Yeah, but we didn't say anything to incriminate him. He certainly said anything against the Empire we can provide. Yeah, and we gave him. Also, he let us know our place in things over here. We are still being kept at a distance. Seem to be on edge to me. Maybe he's been under watch

because of the things that we've been doing. To be fair, now she'll know if he's not telling her any of the stuff that we tell him. That is true. It just makes our path forward even more clear. We go where there is no dynasty and empire. We go and we find the wizard and we figure out what our next step is.

Yeah. Unfortunately, I feel like the jury is still out on Essek. I just realized I should have at least left the room for a moment and tried to isolate who or what it's. I don't think, I mean. I mean, if it's just on the Xhorhaus. Sure, but what if it's not? In the long run, it means that it

It did follow us upstairs. At the very least means that someone else knows about that conversation, which is, in the end, whether or not he's telling the truth or not, this is now possibly put him in the position where he's going to have to defend it if he isn't. It just seemed to be the thing to do, is tell the truth in front of two people

and see who commits to it. We certainly want to keep up appearances, regardless. Well, let's get going before that ball comes back. Right. I'm also very curious to see if that ball follows us. That'll be interesting. Got an hour. That'll be interesting.

Yeah, I know, that's what it's going to be. I hadn't even thought of that. Like outside this house. I can only do it for one hour a day, so. Hope you pick a good time, then. Maybe we can just constantly dis-dispel. Like around us. Just constantly be like on a spell bubble.

You know what, though, if we go talk to the wizard, something tells me that he will be able to send my toy. When we meet the wizard. When they know my worth. I think I'm already drunk. It sounds like everyone's singing. What have we been for since? Why don't we just, when we get to Yussa, we'll tell him, you know, people be scrying,

so maybe he can do a little something something. Maybe have that conversation once we've exonered the out way of the, to the scry way. I don't know what I was saying. Bob Ross us a circle. Let's do it. Where's your friends?

We should make sure they are here. Oh yeah, Dairon. Yeah, at which point. I'll start it, I'll start it. I don't want to finish it, though. Yeah, there's a small alcove underneath the stairs that descend from the second floor, and Dairon and Twiggy kind of feet kick out

and land on ready to go. Has that alcove been there the whole time? Yeah. Well, it was hidden by furniture, but I've made use of it. I throw the chair down again. I wonder if other people have ever been in there, that's when we were in the house.

That's awesome. I wonder if they saw us getting naked when we were going down to the jacuzzi. You were naked in the jacuzzi? Sure. That's how you're supposed to be. Do a jacuzzi. Sure, I knew that.

I don't know. You complete the Creation of Teleportation circle. It flashes, you watch as the sparkling light of the arcane sigil begins to rise up off of it for the brief moment that it's available. Do you guys all rush in? Yes! Just a happy little sigil.

Hey, everybody, I got the... Skadoosh just rushes through, holding a now-spilling plate of tea. A tea cake scone. Kevin! We forgot Kevin! I just envision you rushing through the old butler and Tomb Raider. You all immediately step down into a darkened stone interior space,

one you recall previously as the reception chamber for teleportation within Tidepeak Tower. Tidepeak Tower? This was up top, right? Oh shit. It was partway up the tower. Partway up, not ground floor. We didn't really announce ourselves. Yes, we did it again.

We said we would tell him. Wait, last time we did this, we called him from this room. No! So he's not here. He's not here. Oh, hey! Guess what, we're going to come here in a little bit.

We're going to be here in this tower in a little bit. Here in this tower? You mean there? Just let us know when it's good to come in. Roll a percentage dice for me, if you don't mind. Three? Yeah. A percentage dice? Percentile dice.

I rolled two 10s. Two 10s. Okay, okay, okay. I'm going to pick one of them as the 10. The pink one is the 10. 32%. Okay. The message is received, but there's no response. Well, I know he heard me. I could tell he heard me.

Should we just all wait a little bit and then jump at the same time? Yeah, let's do that. We're just around. Why don't we? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Three, two, one. Oh, fuck. We're here! Every time.

Another minute passes and you hear the faint sound of footsteps down the stairs, quickly. The door opens up. From the dark, lightless interior, something you can see framed the small figure of a goblin. There the dark, lightless interior, something you can see framed, the small figure of a goblin. There you see Wensforth, still well-dressed, he has a portly in the torso, but glasses on the face.

Who's it? Hello? Hi! We apologize for this. We sent a message a little bit ago. It said we were going to pop in. I know that he heard us, but he didn't respond. I'm assuming it's because he was.

Where's the master? Come with me, if you don't mind. Just follow me for a moment. Are we good? This way. Yeah, yeah, more or less. Does he look okay? Make an insight check. What's his name again?

Doesn't really look okay. Winsworth? Winsworth? Winsworth. Well, fucking fuck. Um, 11. 11. He looks like a goblin. He's well-dressed.

Dairon, at this point, goes, well, drops the guise of the dark elf and goes, I will make my way quickly back to the dash. This is a very interesting building. I would be very careful if you think you're going to run out of here. Well, it's sort of interesting, Winsbrough, because, oh, don't worry,

just head down to the foyer area. The door should open from the inside. The ringers. Okay. Very well. Let me know if you need anything. Easy does it. Good luck. Are you high-fiving? High-five on the way out.

High-five. High-five. We'll be in contact. Very calloused palms, like surprisingly so. Let me know about those parking tickets. There's a moment when Theron stops and looks back at you and goes. Hey. And then darts down.

Coolest stuff you guys were doing last night. James McRae in the computer. You were watching? I was in the hot tub. I was just very quiet the whole time. Cool stuff you guys were doing last night. Changed my grades in the computer. You were watching? I was in the hot tub, I was just very quiet the whole time, I was just trying not to look insane. Oh, I forgot you were there. I'm aware, I was just sitting right there trying really to be quiet.

Gross. Wends forth, this one goes, All right, follow me. Yes, lead the way, please, yeah. This way, and leads you up the spiral staircase to the next landing, and there on that landing, you can see it seems wider than the previous level of the tower was.

It almost seems to bow outward, and there are three doors. One of the doors is ajar, and he steps inside of the chamber. Just confusing you on both fronts in that phrase, sorry. Good, carry on, carry on. Into what looks to be a wide chamber of patterned wallpaper surrounded by bookshelves

and cases and tapestries. Wensworth turns around and goes, Can I ask some advice from you folks? Of course, I don't think anyone's ever done that before. Saru points to the center of the chamber and you can see, surrounded by plush leather furniture, there's a work table that's lit by a hanging glass globe emitting a bright light over a metallic sphere

Oh no. on the table. Shut the fuck up. All manner of instruments and devices and tools are scattered across the outside of it. It's a set of goggles and multiple lenses open. Yeah. The master's been delving into that object

that you gave him, spending days, sometimes weeks, at a time within the sphere. How long has he been gone this time? This time? Three weeks. I'm a bit worried. I've not heard from him. He gave me the ability to contact an ally for us to get his aid if it gets worrying.

I'm uncertain if it's been enough time, and I know he'd be unhappy if I left too early, so I'm just asking you, as the ones who gave him the ball, do you think it's okay for me to do that? Is it too early, should I wait? Wait, what ally would you contact? I don't know the name, he just gave me a Sand in Stone.

Caleb, how long were we gone? Do you remember when we came out? We were gone seven days. A week. Five days. Five days. But we made a vow that if any of us were gone for seven days, we would assume they were dead and have Five days. But we made a vow that if any of us were gone for seven days, we would assume

they were dead and have a funeral. Did we? Yes, that was a... Conversation. You see Wendel's face just drop and go pale. That's an unusual thing to remember at this moment. His master is missing. Well, look, time gets weird in the Happy Fun Ball, right? That's why we didn't know that it was seven days.

It doesn't sound like an hour to us. And no instructions on who to contact. No, he said he has the Sanding Stone. He points over off what looks like an end table off to the side of the chamber underneath one of the tapestries. You can see a smooth, polished, looks like a river stone,

but it's a light blue tint. I'm supposed to get that to ask them for help, but only if it's necessary. I don't want to have to do this favor. If the master said I'm supposed to wait longer, but I'll just, what do you think? How much does that stone look like the stone in my bag? Yeah.

It's a similar design, a different color. Okay. Do you know where that goes? No, he doesn't know. So our options are? How long are you supposed to wait, out of curiosity? I didn't say, he said when it felt right, so I'm up. When it felt right.

We're going in. So we either go in or we use the sending stone to call in someone. Can you like, like star 69 this, can you like reverse see who's on the other side of the sendingending Stone? Is that something you could tell? I was not able to before.

We're sorry, but don't be doubt. What if we do it, and then whoever's the ally, we go in with them? What if they're not an ally of us? Yeah. We don't have any allies. I'm not sure. They're an ally of the Master, so

I think they're trustworthy. Yeah. I think. Let's do it. Do we have any active enemies that we can think of other than Obann and the horsemen? Sorry, sorry. Question, question, question. The stone brings them to us or us to them?

It just talks to them. The stone just talks to them. I think it just talks to them. I'm really good at sending. Okay, so yes? Yes. You're giving me permission to use the stone? Yes.

You can say, we forced you to use the stone. Oh, perfect. Runs over and grabs the stone, and takes it and rubs the front, and goes like, Do you hold it up? Are you supposed to hold it up? Hello? Hello? Oh, hi!

Sorry to bother you, this is Wens Firth. I'm the assistant to the esteemed Archmage Yussa Aranis. I was given your stone in case of emergency, which I believe has transpired. Oh shit. I don't know, I'm with friends. Might we have a word with you? Yeah, can you put him on speaker?

I think you need a bag of gravel. Yeah, no, at the tower. Who is it? Okay, thank you. Did you ask who it was? No, I forgot. What? What the fuck? I'm nervous, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

I was saying, who is it the whole time? I don't know who it is! That's why you asked! I forgot! What did they say? Just have a drink, all right? You need to calm your nerves. It works for me every time.

You hear a faint arrival sound,? You need to calm your nerves. It works for me every time. You hear a faint arrival sound, a familiar sound to you as well, similar to the shunting sound of when you arrive in a teleportation chamber. Is that how it always sounds in here when somebody shows up? Usually, yeah. Then what does it sound like

when everybody jumps a few minutes later? It's duller. I was just creeping along and the noise made me nervous, so I ran down. Anyway, are you here, though? It's a lot duller. I was just creeping along and the noise made me nervous, so I ran down. Anyway, you hear the footfalls making their way up towards the landing. I'm going to go hide somewhere behind a book. Roll a stealth check. What are you guys doing?

I'm just going to stand here. I'm going to make myself look like Usa. All right. 32. 32. All right. Whoa. 32. 32. All right, the rest of you. You're going to stand here with a big smile on your face. Just trying to. Okay.

From the shaded interior of the landing with a faint bit of sconce light that's coming through, there's only one open window in this chamber where light's coming in from the far end and the one white orb that's hanging that's lighting up the tool arrangement over the brass sphere that you've deemed the Happy Fun Bowl.

You watch the figure enter with a bit of a huff. You see what looks to be a human woman, pale skin, light graying blonde hair that's braided back behind her with gems tied throughout each braid. Who's that? An intricate satchel over one shoulder and a long dark blue dress. Wait. Wait.

All right, what does that godforsaken god-given serpent do? No way! Is it really? Should we just let him go? No! God, for the sake of God, I'm so confused. No way, is it really? She just looks like she's in the windmill. Ah! All wizards know each other. Brain, blood, hair?

Maybe it's not her. Maybe it's not, is it her? The woman looks to be about in her mid-50s or so. It checks out! That's it, that's definitely her. Blue's a popular color, it might not be her. I'm going to background check on you, sir. It might not be her.

I spring from the shadows! Do you? Take three starts, surprise attack. I mean, what? I'm just going to watch. Okay. Suss her out. See if she's on the up and up. Hello. Hey. Hi. Suss her out. See if she's on the up and up. Hello. Um, hey.

And who you are. We are. One hand is up, nervously. More friendly. We're the Mighty Nein. The Mighty Nein. Pleasure. All right. We are friends to Yussa.

I am somewhere between an apprentice and protege to Master Yussa. We've been here for a while, and apparently you're, I'm sorry, what is your name? Well, I'm Arcanist Allura Viceroy. Oh! Give me two! Make it rain!

Oh, I'm going to cry. Master of Arcana of the Council of Tal'Dorei, and I would like to be notified as to why I've been summoned. I take it you're Wensferth, and points to the goblin. I'm like, yeah, I am Wensferth. You're the ally, I suppose. I am, in some ways, yes.

Well, it's concerning, actually, something that we gave him that's a bit of a conundrum. That he really wanted. Yes, perhaps the explanation should precede introductions. I'm so sorry, this device here, this sphere. It's called the Happy Thunball. That's a nickname. Don't exactly know what it's called,

but your friend, I assume, is within it. It is in another plane and plays with the passage of time and is expansive. It is very old. Yes, it's got a library and lots of things. And a dragon! There was a dragon, Kjell there.

Hi! Sorry. Hello. That's Nott. Nott. I'm Jester. Caduceus, hi. My name is Caleb Widogest. Beauregard.

Fjord. There we go. Now on first name basis. So this is the device you speak up and you see she leans forward on the table and moves some of the things aside, inspects it, reaches into the satchel off the side of the dress, opens it, pulls out a component pouch,

begins to take a few elements out of it and scatter it around. You can see it looks almost like a diamond dust type glitter beneath the overhead light of the orb. She begins to swirl her hand around it. You watch the dust kicks up with this invisible wind. They begin to cycle around the orb. As it does, you see her eyes glow a bright blue color.

Then all at once, they drop to the ground, and she goes, The Heirloom Sphere. What? That is the official name of the object. The Heirloom Sphere. What? That is the official name of the object. The Heirloom Sphere. It is the key to the Folding Halls of Halas. It is also known as the Archmage Bane. It's in the damned name, Yussa, you fool.

Well, notes, notes. There should be notes around here, I assume. She starts looking through papers. I go looking through papers, too. I'm going to look through papers! All right, make an investigation check, you two. Can we tell you, we've been inside this device. Oh, I have good guidance.

Too late. Too late. 15. Six. Six, okay. You're fine. Well, you've already been within the device and returned. Yes, we were gone for about five days out here, but in there, it was much shorter. Like an hour or two.

There was a chamber and then a library with books. And then you touched a thing, and then we got sucked into a dragon thing, and then we almost got killed. There was a dragon. A blue one. And you survived this thing. We did. I believe it was vanquished, but we also only saw a portion of this device.

We got the sense that the creator of this thing is, was somewhat paranoid. You could say that, yes. A very, very powerful archmage of old. Is Hamas the name of the guy who made it? Halas. Halas. Halas. Theas. It's Halas. The guy that, yeah.

Well. See, the dangers of such pursuits as this device is that they require solitary efforts. Archmages do not usually work with others, as there is a lot of covetous interest in such a device and the secrets it holds. Do you know how many powerful mages an exandria would kill for this key?

No. I don't even know how many there are. Oh, there are quite a few. Are you an archmage? More or less, yes. I belong to a circle of mages known as the Pansephical. We look to keep order and things, but we are but a handful amongst a multitude

of various moral interests. Have I heard about or read about the pan-sophical? Make a history check. Actually, I have something I've always wanted to ask. That's all right. Are you a good archmage or a bad archmage? I, uh... Thank you, Wizard of Raya.

That's a very deep question. I like to think a good archmage. Insight check just for that. Make an insight check. You insight check Allura. 21. Ooh! Oh, okay.

I need to know what needed, I just really wanted to do it. He's whispering, don't insight check Allura, motherfucker. Turns out Allura was evil this whole time and has been playing the long game. She cuts off Caduceus' hand and says, It's just business.

Thank you, good insight check, thank you. Of course. Love each other. Oh man. Well, if anything, the knowledge that he entrusted me as the ally for his excursion, and apparently you, is comforting, in some way, I suppose. Now is as good a time as any

to practice a little bit of radical honesty. He was not aware that we were coming, but we've- We did give him the ball. And we did entrust him with it, so. Well, that's good. We are here to help. Of all the multitude of individuals you could have entrusted it to,

you have made one of the better choices. Can you extract him from this ball, or do we need to go in and fetch? Give me a moment. He just pours through some of the, and would you roll for your history check? Oh, so low. I rolled a three, a 13. 13.

You've maybe had passing mention in your reading, but you don't remember or recall any of the specific information about it. And would you roll for your investigation checks again? 15. 15, and? She rolled a six or something. I rolled six. That's fine.

I understand that. So you gave him this object. Are you under his employ otherwise? What is your purpose of coming here, Ben? We work for ourselves. And we were actually here to hope to expand that relationship. It's been a rough couple.

We don't have many friends. To be honest, I think he saw, if I may be so bold, a bit of promise in us. Huh. Well, that is an extension of that comforting thought, is it not, then? Now, you've already been to this place once. Yeah.

We could guide you through it. You see, the thing, it's called the Archmage Bane for a reason. Uh-huh. The entities that would be covetous of such a device and the secrets that it holds would be covetous of such a device and the secrets that it holds would be those of my particular skill set, and assuredly, there are many defenses within

that are designed specifically to keep individuals like me and Yussa from reaching these secrets, which I assume is what has befallen him, and hopefully not to a serious degree. I think I would be less of a boon and more of a burden if I were to accompany you, but. Was he reckless to go in then, if you are so wary? Yes, I would say so.

But, you know, some folks can't help themselves when the shiny red button is before them. Shiny red button, that's what you pushed. I pushed the shiny red button. Don't do that again. I won't. We're more than happy to go in and try and retrieve your friend if you'll put in a good word for us.

She reaches into the satchel and pulls out, looks like a hand mirror of some kind, but it looks too wide to fit into the satchel. She pulls it out. It's like a silver outside. Yeah, take this with you. It should allow us some brief communication across the plains.

Only three times a day for about 10 minutes, so be mindful of it. I didn't realize my hair looked like this. We've been through some shit. I of it. I didn't realize my hair looked like this. We've been through some shit. I like it. As you're looking through, Nott, you do find amongst the notes this. Oh!

I think I found something over here! Do you need instructions on the mirror? Oh! He's been doing some mapping of the Happy Fun Ball realm. Wow, look at all these things! It's a little disjointed, but there are definitely chambers and connections between them.

Wait, where do we go? We went to the library. Can we give it to the Xerox machine over here? Sure, sure, sure, but we're going to keep it with us. There's a study, that's where we popped into originally. That's why there's so many lines coming out of it. From the study, there's the Dragon Guard exit. That's where we were.

So those are the places we've been. How do we know? A tapestry entrance, is that where we went. So those are the places we've been. How do we know? A tapestry entrance, is that where we went in? When you first arrived, there was a chamber with four tapestry across. Put that bitch on the table! Okay, okay.

Side by side! Yeah, yeah. Wait, let's take a picture of it so that we can. Oh, this shit. Oh, fuck. All right. Do you want to move it to this room? Ah! Okay. Oh my god.

There's something called the Fleshmen. Who says he's got a little bit of an artist in him? Now, interesting point of order, while this map is centered here, the paper, it seems a lot of this is unfinished, and even looking at this and looking at the notes, Allura glances at the sheet and goes, it's quite a few rooms, but that,

from what I can glean from my arcane readings, this is maybe 20 to 25% of the entirety of the Folding Halls of Halas. These names are terrible. I know, read some out, Travis. The Dreadnought, the Prison of Soot, the Crystal Mines, the Diamond Entranceot, the crystal mines, the diamond entrance. They're not all bad.

There's the guest quarters. The carving farm. Okay, that's not good. The experiment chambers. Ooh! I don't want to see them, though. Well, if he's already mapped these places out. Pretty kinky.

If his goal is... There's one that's just called the fuck room. The flesh mounds are silly. The flesh mounds of these places out. Pretty kinky. If his goal is... There's one that's just called the Fuck Room. Crazy. Those ley lines, man. Are there any instructions we need to know about the mirror when using it three times a day? Just go ahead and rub the surface of it

and call out my name. So I shouldn't do that right now? I would not recommend it. Point of order, group, for every minute that we spend debating what to do, a vastly greater amount of time is passing. Very true. Anything we need to do here now,

we need to decide it and go. Do we need anything for the inside? I don't know, I mean. You don't happen to have any health potions, aren't you, right? It did fuck us up just a fair bit. I keep one on me, and since I am staying here, let me. Is there anything obvious on the walls? Obvious on the walls? Yeah, item one.

Item one. Or that says where he would have been going to next, where he's trying to get to. I actually would mind doing an investigation check as well. Make an investigation check against the notes. I'm going to guide you. Against the notes? Yes. I'm wouldn't mind doing an investigation check as well. Make an investigation check against the notes. I'm going to guide you. I'm going to search for using our magic ship. I'll put guidance on you

if you're doing an investigation check. Come on. Roll good, roll good. Damn it! Oh, oh, is that a 20? That's a natural 20, right? That's a natural 20? Yep.

Natural 20, 20, yeah. Who's the other? Confirmed, natural 20. Natural 20. Have an investigation check? Yeah, looking for secrets. In the fucking wizard's shop. Allura produces these two punches and says to Allura.

What the fuck is that? Look at that! Says, uh. Okay. Very thirsty half-orc, very well. Oh, that's beautiful, Matt. Thank you. Oh.

Oh yeah, we just haven't had one of those yet. Yeah. Oh, maybe this is it. So you rolled a natural 20, plus your investigation equals what? Plus my investigation, plus the Guidance. 31. Oh!ance. 31. Oh! Yeah!

Okay! Do that fucking shit! Okay. Finally, my class! Looking at the map, specifically, a lot of the notes look like there's no ink on them. You can see writings in the paper, but they're designed not to be followed by anyone else's eyes, and you see a little frustration going through them,

like, he's being smart about it, and he's unfortunately not much of a paper trail. You, looking over the map as you guys are poring over it, can see there are areas in the map that the drawing, and there's a lot of tapping around specific locations, with a lot of intent and thought. You begin to see in your mind, visualize him thinking and making a lot of notes around

and focusing on certain areas of the map and looking at the various quill marks and the pressure put into the paper. The ones that gain the most attention are the Study. Oh. The Study. Okay. The Arcane Armory and the permahart chamber. Study. That's the fucking thing.

Arcane what? The study. Arcane armory. Arcane armory and the permahart. Because you rolled so high in investigation check, your brain goes permahart, permahart. Oh, there it is. It's a triangle up at the top. Yeah, permahart, permahart.

Fastest ways for the tapestry. Oh. Something about the Laughing Hand. The heart! On another plane! I told you! On another plane! I fucking told you! You did, you said it for all fucking weekend, I know. That's what a natural 20 gets you. Oh, fucking detective! Break a voracious bones!

What? What? What? What? Remember, I said I didn't have a fucking plan and I said, what if it's in the hubby phone call? I said that a long time ago! She is the best detective!

I'm such a good detective! Good job, Jester! Okay, okay, okay. We might still have a chance to get ahead of this. Wait, that's, you know what, I will say this also, there's only a few of these rooms that don't connect to another room, and the Permaheart is one of them.

And just because that's on the map doesn't mean it's going to work that way. That's true, that's true. But if we could get The Grim Heart is a room and not a physical thing? Well, if we get rid of the heart, then that means he can be killed. You guys can look over the map closely if you want.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm looking in my picture. I mean, a third study. 15 for magic bullshit? For what part? 15. Oh, looking for magic and ring items. The experiment changer. The guest quarters, the diamond. the garden, the tower machine.

So we came in. Is this just an arcana check you're doing? I just wanted to see if he had wands, spells, anything that would be useful. Okay. I'll take his shit to save him. I understand. I'm sending you guys a picture of the map.

Looking through this chamber, about a 15, you do see, behind one of the glass elements of the case there, there is a vial of liquid that catches your attention, amongst a bunch of other empty glass vials, but one of them is still full. And... Oh my god.

Doesn't mean that's where he is, though. No, that's true. But if he were. What if he's like, oh my god. But if he's a part of true. What if he's like, oh my god. What if he's a part of this? What if he is a part of this? Is there a room? What if Hala is a part of it?

What if he, because it was his place to begin with. Halas? Halas. Yeah, not Hala. Halas. Is it Halas or Halas? I can't remember. Halas is how I feel. Halas.

Is there a room on that map that says Vox Machina crossover room? No. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, though, okay. Okay. Can I do another room sweep and see if I see anything about the Angel of Irons? Does it look like Yussa's getting into some cult shit? We can ask him when we find him. Time is passing.

He's trapped in there. Four days have already gone by since I said we have to leave. We should go. Let's go in. He's not going to spend all of those four days in the fuck room, either. Okay, hang on. We have to figure out where we're going.

We don't want to just dive in without a plan. It depends on where we go in. I would also note that place is bad. Isn't that the reverse, Caleb? We have to figure out where we're going. We don't want to just dive in without a plan. It depends on where we go in. I would also note that place is bad. Isn't that the reverse, Caleb? That one would be real bad. Well, can it be only like a little bit of time has passed in there?

No, a lot of it. Because seven days had passed out here, five days had passed out here, and only like two hours in there. We were not in there that long, and people on the outside were like, where are they, they're gone. Correct, but you're not in the fun ball moment.

I understand, they're, okay, okay. So actually, Jester is correct. The quick is inside, the slow is outside, isn't it? Correct, so right now, you guys taking an hour here would take a few minutes in there, maybe. Like, you don't know the exact exchange rate of time and you don't even know if it's constant. There's a couple different options,

but we can either go to the dining hall or the study. We've been to the study, but the dining hall then leads to guest quarters. We have to pop into the study to get to anything else. We don't know where we'll pop in. We don't know. Press that fucking button. We don't have control. We don't have to control it. Let's go. I mean, I'm good at a few things,

pushing shit that gets us in trouble and then wants us to be operating. You can see Allura looking at the, as you guys are scattering around, Allura's looking at the orb and inspecting it, and you can see little beads of sweat. It's rare that you look right into the face of something designed to destroy you.

He's braver than I. You're braver than I. Oh no. Oh no, definitely not. Just blissfully ignorant. Very, very naive of you. Stupid's fine. I've been there myself. They call me brave. I'm sure you are. Okay, well, for quick context,

there's a big demon that's been unleashed called the Laughing Hand by this, or this monster by this demon named Obann on all part of this cult called the Angel of Irons, and somehow we think that this might loop into it, but we're not totally sure, so we're going to go now. You have a look of recognition in your face. No, I don't know what that is.

We'll talk when you return. Okay. What if we don't return? Let people know, okay? Then I will pass that on. We're dealing with otherworldly threats. Beep! Keep it real. Okay, bye. It's not a run, it's like a Rubik's Cube that needs to be. People know, okay? Then I will pass that on. We're dealing with otherworldly threats. Beep! Beep! Okay, bye.

It's not a run, it's like a Rubik's Cube that needs to be. I still touch it. So who wants to attempt to try and figure out, all right, the puzzle. You did it last time, right? You go up and you walk to it, and you remember. That's right, because you remember. You remember looking at the device and remember what it looked like,

and glancing at it now, its arrangement from last time you saw it is entirely different. It seems to continuously reconfigure its outer shell with each successful entry. Maybe Allura, would you not, okay, maybe Caleb. We could do this. Caleb's smart as fuck. You're pretty smart. Good with mechanical devices and mathematics and such,

but a little assist would be nice. Oh yeah, here's little assist would be nice. Oh yeah, you got it. Oh yeah, here's some guidance just for you. Allura holds onto the hand mirror out of the side and steps back towards the entrance of the chamber. I'll watch from over here, just being careful. She steps back onto the landing

and is still watching through the door, but it's just like. So go ahead and make an investigation check. So I sit down in front of it and send Caleb to sit on Allura's feet. Send Caleb? Yes, Caleb, exactly. Frumpkin, I'm stressed out by the ball. Send Frumpkin over to sit.

It would be cool if Caleb sat on her feet, though. That would be fun. Strange. Oh no. Okay, so with Guidance, come on. All right, that's strange. Oh no. Okay, so with Guidance, come on. All right, that's good. And the Guidance. Here we go. Here we go.

26. 26. Yeah, okay. You find one of the central bands is a false band and actually splits. You go to rotate it and it splits partway open. At that point, you can see there's a small little section where a button press, you click with your finger

as you do it, whirs open slightly, almost going to an ovoid shape. The whole thing reconfigures and you're like, that's strange. Looking on the opposite end, you can see there's a slight bit of exposed greenish crystal now. As you take that and begin to turn it, click, click, click, click, click,

the whole thing adjusts, and as it does, bright blue light begins to appear from within all the various nooks and crannies. It fills the chambers with a flash. That's where we're going to take a break. Oh! Okay, wait. We're back!

Okay. She's back! We did it! My heart is so full. I'm so happy. Thanks, Fog. Sorry. I figured it out.

I know it's meta, but that is such a point of favor for Yussa, that he is friends with her. Yeah. Oh. Okay, hang on. As a note, this is Yussa that he is friends with her. Yeah. Oh man. As a note, this is your Mirror of Infinite Transpondence. So you're granted by her. It can break, right? It possibly can break.

It seems like it's only three uses within a period of a day cycle. Okay. And god only knows what a day means. For 10 minutes of usage? Yeah, per use. Did I write down, so okay. So we can do three times a day?

Yeah. That's amazing. Going on a break. Going on a break. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, break. Is there a contest? We're going to break. We'll be back here shortly. We do have our Fantastic Wyrmwood giveaway. What it is?

Never mind. So we have the new Hero Vault from our friends at Wyrmwood. The Kickstarter's ended, but they are now available for pre-order on Backer Kit if you didn't have the opportunity to do so. Fantastic art on the cover from friend of the show, Devin Rue, it's amazing.

This one goes to a lucky winner who gets chosen during the break. The keyword tonight is paths, plural, P-A-T-H-S. Put it in once, more than once, and you'll be disqualified, and once again, only people in the U.S. and Canada, excluding Quebec, because stupid laws, but we'll have a winner when we come back from the break here shortly.

And enjoy Travis's spooktacular. Yes, enjoy. Bye! Great morning. I'm so tired. Yes, clowns. Yeah, scary clowns. Go ahead.

Bye! 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, and much much more. There's also a few special items that support charity efforts

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Welcome back. Before we get into the game, we do have our winner of the Wyrmwood Hero Vault. The winner is Beer Baroness WA. Thanks to Miss Washington, but Beer Baroness WA, congratulations, we'll get this sent to you ASAP. Well done. All righty.

We're in it, we're in it! We're in the happy fun ball. So. My back hurts. It's all right. It's okay. Lumbar is okay. Lumbar. The green light recedes.

The temperature adjusts. Colder than the warm Nicodranas, humid interior. It is moistureless and chilly. Glancing around yourself, you see your party standing in a diamond-shaped chamber with a corner on each side of you. The room appears to be made of like...

Oh no, no, no, what about the other part? There's a few, there's also the diamond entrance. Okay. The diamond room. It looks to be a turquoise-colored marble that surrounds you entirely within the chamber. And right in front of you, there is a doorway, and then behind you in the far corner opposite of it

is another doorway. One looks to be of silver trim, the other gold. Let's, uh... We need to make it to the garden. So I'll take a second and breathe, take a look around, just say out loud anything you see and don't necessarily touch anything.

Don't touch anything. Okay. We are going to alert each other. You look up on the ceiling. We do. Yeah. Caduceus. You see embedded in the ceiling, it's a sculpture of a tower,

but it's curving. It's curving around, almost, but not quite looping in on itself, like a giant C shape. You can see it resembling a twisted tree that's been bent forcefully into a U, with a series of smaller branches shooting off of it. But you can see within the design, windows and little doorways, and even small gears and pieces of it

that appear to be constructed. That's a lot. Whoa. It looks like almost odd leaves on a near-barren tree, seeing all the little details and dots around this curved tower that's thick in places and thin in others. It seems to defy physics or logic of any tower you've seen.

Oh, same that way. In the center of the loops, it's a large, thick, humanoid-like relief without a face. Its arms and legs sprawled like an anatomy study. Catches your attention, it's pretty odd. It's just a picture? It's a stone sculpture, like a relief. But is it moving?

Make a perception check. I will definitely get in on that. Guide me. Does that count because he bounced off his arm? I did catch it with my elbow. You did. You would have taken it if it was good, though. Would I have, though?

Yeah. Don't think I would have, but okay. I'll let you roll again, then. 20. Go for it. I'll roll the same one. Same number. Same number. See, look at that. Who he I'll roll the same one. Yeah. Same number. Same number. To the go. To the go.

To who he's meant to be. Must be crazy. I rolled 20 perception. Rolled a 10. 10, okay. It is not moving. The whole relief here is still. Anything odd about it?

Is it giving off any kind of, are there gears, the gears aren't moving, it just seems to be? Yeah, it's just stationary. Are there grooves cut in it, or does it all seem like one piece of stone? It all looks like it's about 20 feet above you. Oh, not bad.

At this distance, it looks like a carved design. What was your question? Does anything look moveable? Make an investigation check. You probably have to get closer to check that. You guys, maybe we shouldn't touch anything that we don't have a path for already, because, you know, it leads to dragons.

We should take a look at it, at the very least, it's not touched. We can figure this out. Can I look for any markings on the wall or any type of script? Sure, make an investigation check. Any form of indicators? I'm going to look at the doors

and see if I can see any identifying features on the doors. Okay. Let me know which one leads to which. Thank you. Come on, come on. Come on, this is what you do. This is what you do. Okay, well, I could do worse.

That's normally what you do. Investigation, you said? Mm-hmm. 20, no, sorry, six plus 12 is? 18. 18. Okay. Looking along the walls, you don't see any script, but as you come across the archways, you and Jester both approach, and the gold archway,

there is no door there, it is just a black space. You pick up specifically a smell under the gold archway of an earthy smell. Okay. Something that reminds you of open fields and greenery. You head back towards the silver one and there is no discernible scent.

Is there a door on that side? No, both arches are just open arches to darkness. Oh. Are we? Is anyone standing underneath that faceless face? The featureless face? I mean, it's about all of us, isn't it? It's in the center of the chamber upward about 20 feet or so.

The roof itself seems like a curved, like a stretched dome, almost. Has anyone moved directly under that? You guys arrived directly under it. Okay, oh, got it. Is there any sort of dust or dirt that's been disturbed on the floor below us? Like prints from someone that might've come before?

Make a perception check. Looks like if we're trying to get to the part of the garden. Actually, this would be tracks and make survival, that's what this would be. You need to go to the garden. It's a different monograph. Yeah. There's two ways to go. 14. 14.

There's not a lot of dust in this room. For there to be dust in this chamber, there would have to be a lot of dust in this room. For there to be dust in this chamber, there would have to be a lot of foot traffic or existing of things that give off skin flakes. Not a lot of dust in this chamber. Skin flakes are made of red. Hey Beau. Yeah? I think we're going to need a bit of you.

I got an idea. What do you need? Let me give you something. I'm going to touch you and cast Enhance Ability and give you Fox's Cunning. You have an advantage on all intelligence checks for the next hour. Yo. Dope.

Slick. One, two, three, four, five, six. Caleb. Yeah? A penny for your wizardy thoughts. Remember, you can't do anything for us. Well, the thing I'm thinking about is that I can. You're right.

This place is probably full of magical death, and I could certainly take my time room by room to reveal things to us, but each room, whether expediency or clarity, is of greater use. I feel like if I were building a thing like this, I would put the worst step further in. I feel like we're just on the, I feel like this is the lobby.

It's not necessarily worth going over it unless we can see some signs of people who have been here. If that makes sense. We have a direction. We know we should go to the garden. We may not have been doing our detective due diligence, and we have found two pathways that are the shortest way to get to the heart.

Okay. One of them will take us, they will both take us through the garden, yes. One of us will take us to the Crystal Mines. To the Dreadnought. To the Experiment Chambers. And then to the Heart Study. And then to the Dreadnought, to the Experiment Chambers, and then to the Heart Study, and then to the Heart, potentially.

Okay. Or B, to the Garden, the Tower Machine, the Golem Workshop, Experiment Chambers, Heart Study. So basically we're deciding between Dreadnought or Golem Workshop. I feel like... Dreadnought's a Dreadnought. Is there just no undiscovered route from, well, I don't know, the tapestry entrance to the Heart Study?

I don't know if we're trailblazing here, necessarily. It might be... I mean, I'm just putting it out there, of course, because who are we? The guest quarters to the dining hall to the tapestry entrance all have words in them that don't suck mortal death. True, but they might not suck mortal death

because they're not guarding the heart, both of these pathways. He's a talented artist, and there seem to be one, two, three, four little sections on the tapestry entrance, and only one, two routes out of their map so far. If we could find the one that went boop. Also, just pointing it out,

not trying to throw another thing to think about, but in my investigation check, the arcane armory and the study were both heavily poured over. Do we feel like there's any need to go to there? Probably because they lead to a lot of other things, maybe? Maybe.

Well, why don't we take the first step? We know we have to go through the garden to get anywhere. Yeah. So let's go there. How would we even get to the tapestry entrance? we take the first step? We know we have to go through the garden to get anywhere. Yeah. So let's go there. And maybe we call. How would we even get to the tapestry entrance? Where are the diamond entrance? As a note to the tapestry entrance, you guys checked, not all,

but I think three of the tapestries. One of which was the exit, one of which electrocuted a bunch of you, and another one that seemed to have, if I recall, I have to look it up, but another form of? Pain. Pain. That's right, I'm not sure. It goes, bing, boom, boom. We spent very little time in the study.

There is a tapestry you have in the dungeon. Very little time in the study before Fjord sent us to the dragon. I think, I'm excited about the garden. I feel like the garden is. Let's go to the garden. Then we can call, we can always call with the mirror. We can call Lady Alina, Alayna, Alayna?

Something like that. Something like that. Allura. I like Alayna better. Okay. The garden it is. What's the difference between these two doors? Gold and silver.

One is gold, one is silver. And one leads to the garden. Just goes to the garden. Silver and gold. The gold one. G for garden. Let's fucking do it, let's do it, let's be proactive. Yeah, I'm in touch with nature. She smells stuff on it.

She knows where we're going. What, are you impressed or judging me? It can be both. To the garden! To the garden! All right, you step to the precipice of the Golden Archway. Who steps through first?

I'm there. I'll follow. Okay, Beau leaps through. I go right after. I'll go third. You go after. Fjord jumps through, Caduceus jumps through. I go. Nott goes through, Caleb.

Okay. All right. Bye, bitches! You step through the archway, and the moment you step into it, you see this tiny little point of light, like a faint greenish-blue tint, and it opens up rapidly, and for a split second, you can see the shape of what looks to be

some sort of a lush jungle-type location awaiting you, but it's climbing at you at a rapid speed, and for a moment, trying to figure out what's up, what's down, you feel like you're plummeting at full speed from a great height. You catch your breath in your lungs, but there's no air, and then suddenly, you stumble out

with a very, very extreme amount of force tumbling across a grassy, thick jungle floor. Make an acrobatics check for me. All of you need to make an acrobatics check. Yes. That's what you roll high on? Really? Acrobatics? Natural 20.

18. 20. 20. 13. One. Whoa! You can 20. 20. 13. One. Whoa! Get down with that nature, yo. So all of you take a shoulder tumble into the momentum that carries you through this opening,

skidding, missing a few sharp rocks. Caduceus comes in, ass over tea kettle, skidding into the dirt. That's a big tea kettle. Yeah, and you do suffer four points of bludgeoning damage. Do I have to make a concentration check? You do.

Okay, four points of bludgeoning damage. So just roll a constitution check. What do you have up? Enhance ability. Yeah, thankfully I have advantage. So yeah, that's 19. 19, you're fine. I did roll another natural one, though,

but I get to ignore it. You do, fair enough. All right. So as you all adjust your bearings, you now stand within this incredibly tall room. You actually cannot see the ceiling from where you stand. Instead, you're in the center of a lush jungle with thick vine-covered tropical trees

stretching up multiple stories towards a sourceless, unchanging sunset. Wow. Soft orange and red glow peering through a somewhat muggy, humid sky above. Or it's a room. You have to consciously remind yourself that, or if you've stumbled into some other plane.

It should be a room, but it feels like a jungle. Is this where the wild things are? Could be. It's a garden, I thought, like roses. You can see amongst the dozens and dozens of immediately visible thick jungle trees, knotted in vine-covered roots and trunk. You can see the various bits of fauna and ferns

that have heavily overgrown the base and the floor, the vicinity around you. You can see past the trees to the floor, the vicinity around you. You can see past the trees to the front and left of where you landed, what looks to be a massive mountainside cliff of rock that rises up past visual sight, and you can hear the faint sound of rushing water, like a waterfall, just out of sight.

He has sketched that in on his map. It's possibly of significance. What if all this is just a big illusion or something? Just out of sight. He has sketched that in on his map. It's possibly of significance. What if all this is just a big illusion or something? It could be. Go touch some, go draw a dick on a tree. Whoa. I feel like we shouldn't touch anything.

But look at all these surfaces. As you look around, you begin to see now these soft little motes of dancing light, faintly orange, like little fireflies that glide through the air around you. dancing light, faintly orange, like little fireflies that just glide through the air around you. Does this look recognizable to anything I might have studied?

Make an arcana check. Your notes aren't connected to anything. They're free-folded? With advantage. Oh yeah. Yeah, with advantage. It is inaligned. Yeah. I'm going to leave that one there, so. 19. 19. That's going to do a six.

Okay. These, you've heard about, they're referred to as Scribe Mites. They just freely float, but around the presence of magical spellcraft or incantations or any sort of strong magical presence. They gravitate towards it to eat.

Mm. No wonder. If Allura had been here, they would've all come to her and tried to devour her. They're like lightning bugs. That piranha lightning bug. Caleb. We have an Allura. Caleb, why aren't they trying to eat you?

Are you not powerful enough? Of course he's powerful enough. He can do whatever he wants. I would just be careful, maybe not cast anything. Sorry. The ground beneath our feet, grass moving, anything adapting to our presence here? Make an investigation check.

Investigation or perception, your choice. 17. Investigation. 17? Nothing appears to be shifting or moving out of the ordinary. It appears to be just standing in the middle of a natural space.

We have to find entrances, something that will lead us to another room. Would you like to go to the mountains or to the water? Caleb did say the waterfall was on the map. Perhaps we should sketch it there. It looks like the line leading to Crystal Mines is at the top of the garden. Oh, that's a...

Maybe that is useful. Maybe we fly him up. Well, the best lead we have is his map. Otherwise, we are just picking a random direction now. Do we want to make our presence known, or do we want to try and keep it quiet? Let's try and keep it quiet here. There's grab lights that'll tear his flesh off.

That's fair. We'll head down towards the water. Sure. In the direction of the waterfall. Okay. Looking for a path. Avoiding a little. All right, can I have an Arching Order, please? Ooh!

Okay. Caleb in the middle. Caleb in the middle. Caleb in the middle. Caleb in the middle. Do we want the nature boys to walk up front? I'll keep, we can have perception in the front or perception in the back, if you want. I'll be up front with Caduceus,

since I've got his blessing right now. Okay, is Caduceus in the front or is Fjord in the front or perception in the back, if you want. I'll be up front with Caduceus, since I've got his blessing right now. Okay, is Caduceus in the front or is Fjord in the front? Caduceus and Beau in the front. In the front. You got it. Then Fjord, where are you? I will be behind them. All righty, and then Caleb after that.

And then I'll follow Caleb. Oh man, it's a mullet business in the front, Fjord. I'll follow Jester, and that's it. I will follow you. Follow me! All right. Stepping through the thick jungle underbrush, pushing past any strange, colorful ferns

or brightly colored fruit, of which there are a few plants that seem to produce some vibrant-looking delicacies. Oh man, no. It's so tempting. The soft motes of the Scribe Mites is gently floating through, not a cluster of them, but every 10 feet, there'll be two or three

that drift by, not acknowledging your presence. You go past a few trees, Neskudusis and Beau make their way around one edge. You come upon the waterfall that's cascading over rocks at the base of this mountain. You're unable to really see the source. It gets hazy further and further up, blocking any sight of the actual source of this river

or fall, but you see as it breaks over the rocks below, it empties into a beautiful pool, maybe about 40, 50 feet across. It's really pretty. Is it possible that there are things hidden behind the waterfall? Yeah, in a lot of the books that I read, that's where a lot of the lovers go,

and there's always a little secret cove, and they take off their clothes behind the waterfall. Maybe you and Fjord should go. Or maybe we should all stick together and just be, I mean, clever about this. I mean, oh, never mind, I don't know. Yeah.

Towards the waterfall. Is the water, other than the pressure from the waterfall, there's no weird movements in there? Can you see the bottom of it? Is it crystal clear? Make a perception check as you guys approach it. I'll make a perception check. I'm guiding you. Thank you.

Uh. What? All right, yeah. I can guide you. He doesn't want the guidance. It's, uh, yeah. Do we want to cast magic around here? Do we not want to cast magic around here?

Do it, have it. I would try to avoid it. I already said I was doing it, I'm sorry. Okay, so you cast Guidance and touch Caduceus. You may take your Guidance roll. I mean, it helped, too, but 17. Divine Magic. 17. Okay.

As you cast the spell and pull your hand back, there's that brief spark as you utter the phrase beneath your breath in support, and you remember, shit, and all of you glance upward, and then your mind might suddenly go, and all stop about a foot away from Jester and then keep floating. There wasn't enough of a pull to keep a source going

for the cantrip that she cast. The cantrip. There wasn't enough of a pull to keep a source going for the cantrip that she cast. The cantrip. It has to be bigger than a cantrip. Let's not test that. I wouldn't want to do another cantrip right now, you know what I mean? No. So you rolled a 17? Yeah.

All right. Looking at the edge of the water, it's murky and you can see thick algae banks, but there is what looks like the algae almost seems to turn into a vortex or some sort of a opening that continues down into darkness at the base of this pond about 30, 40 feet down. Oh.

You also do see, just beyond the edge of the waterfall, there's an area of the rocks where there's, looks like there's a slight opening that could possibly be walked beyond the water, but you're not sure if it's a cavern or just a gap. Let's check, I have a funny feeling that there's several different exits, maybe. Let's try the one behind the waterfall.

At least, you know, we might have a night. What was that? You hear this, you hear this, you hear this, you hear this little. That's just a frog. Is that a frog? Yeah. I'm looking at the bank. Okay. You see a tiny frog there on the edge.

Hey, Mr. Frog. From other sources, and you glance up towards the rocks on the edge of the waterfall, and you think you see something ducked down behind a rock. No chance. Be on alert. We can just keep this cool, isn't there? Oh no. We should stop moving.

We should start moving towards that. Towards behind the waterfall. Can't we get close to the waterfall without going along the water, or do we have to swim through? You could attempt to climb up on the side if you'd like. How big are these frogs? They're little.

You saw a handful of small frogs, but the sounds you're hearing aren't coming from the frogs in the bank. Oh fuck, good, cool, sweet, let's keep going. Yeah, move, move, move, move, move. I'm going to dash across the water. What? Okay. Probably can walk on water.

So you dart across, and as you across and make a perception check. Vrooom! What? Five, six? Six. Oh god. You go running across the way. You guys see Nott. Nott, what are you, I wouldn't just go.

No joke. The water begins to break from underneath as some large, hulking shape rises up from beneath the pond. Oh god, oh god. Why would you do that? We are going to call out our actions before we did them. Oh god. Why would you do that?

Why would you do that? I thought that there were things on the land! 24. To hit? Yes. Yes, it hits! All right. Well. We're about to watch Nighgating. I mean, we wanted to go fly fishing

while we were here, right? Let's use the goblin as bait, sure. And use your whip! All righty. Use your whip, quick! Try to catch Nott! Well, this is happening. This is happening, this is a surprise against Nott. So you suffer

18 points of piercing damage. Uncanny dodge. Okay. The reach is 10 feet. It's not like that. Nott is no longer visible as a giant green creature's toothy maw, got to use it again, collapses around Nott's form

and then comes to rest a bit in the water as green tendrils begin to wrap around. round Nott's form, and then comes to rest a bit in the water. Fucking dildo. Green tendrils begin to wrap around. I need you guys to roll initiative. I'm sorry, but that's so funny! But I thought that the things were on land! No, you didn't. You fucking knew!

You rolled across the water! He said it was on land! Beautiful, you never trust beauty in D&D. This combat is powered by Dwarven Forge, Marisha. I'm going to have to be a troll every time. I'm not being a troll! I thought that the thing was on land! Check out the latest and greatest from Dwarven Forge

at dwarvenforge.com. Look at this waterfall! As you guys are moving around the side of the waterfall here. Look how small the pool was, you. That's so good! are moving around the side of the waterfall here. Look how small the pool was, you! That's so good! Which the order of things you guys have been,

marching order would have been here. Yeah, and keep our magic to a minimum. Great, so I'll be clapping and cheering for this battle. Yep. All of us. I can hand you a weapon. Oh my god! Oh, cute!

Nott is not visible anymore. What is that? So. What is that? That is huge. 25 to 20. Oh, I didn't even roll initiative. I'm still in shock.

24. 20. Oh, I didn't even roll initiative. I'm still in shock. 24. 20. All right. Fudge. 20 to 15? Yeah, we're at 16. All right. Oh my god.

15 was Jester? Yeah. All right. 12. 12. 12. Caduceus. Holy shit. What the fuck is that thing?

All righty. Caduceus, you, with your passive perception. I step first to get off my fingers. You want it? No. You want the whip? No. You want the dagger? I don't want it. I want to use magic.

I want to use my vast array of spells. Did you crush the frets? Not going to. All right, so top of the round. Thorgard, as you watch this splash, and it rests itself in the water there itself, its form taking up a large portion of the pond. In fact, it may very well have been the base of this pond.

Consume Nott in one bite. Nott, you are currently considered blind and restrained. Great. Sure, sure. What are you doing, Beau? You are currently considered blind and restrained. Great. Sure, sure. What are you doing, Beau? Shit! No, he ain't not!

Then I'm going to flip forward, and I'm also going to just skip off of the water, and I'm going to come down and I'm also going to just skip off of the water and I'm going to come down and I'm going to do a front flippy kicky thingy to his face. Okay, make an acrobatics check. Yeah, okay. Trying to avoid the water. That's Krav Maga. Kicky thing.

Ah! Uh-huh. 22. 22 of you. Using your movement to move over, you flip and then land right in front of its face, which is where you're doing the impact there. So go ahead and roll the attacks.

Yeah, I'm going to come down with a big slap. Go for it. Pop, pop! Two attacks. Okay, 23 for the first and 21 for the second. Both hit, go ahead and roll damage. I'm going to use my fists here. Okay, first attack LAURA, Okay. First attack is 11 damage.

Stunning Strike. Stunning Strike. Come on, you bitch. That is a 21, 21, unfortunately. Jesus. Okay, second is nine damage. Nine damage, all righty.

Stunning Strike. That is 18. Um, nine damage. Nine damage, all righty. Starting strike. That is 18. Fuck. This constitution is high. It's a pretty beefy creature. Yep, yep. Got bonus action still. And then bonus attacktion, bonus attacktion.

I'm going to attack. Regular attack? Just a regular attack. Go for it, make a third strike. Actually, no. Did you already damage it? I did. Okay. Patient defense. Patient defense, you got it.

So you go into a defensive stance across this massive creature, which now you see it as it emerges from the water. Its glistening, green, leathery, slick hide, almost slimy as the water pours off of it. You can see this massive jaw from corner to corner is about six feet. At the top of its head, this rising arm-like protrusion

ends in three eye stalks that all blink with these ghastly-looking yellow eyes. You see multiple tendrils off of its body as its large tongue thrashes around the outside of its mouth, nowhere to be seen within its jaws. Can I get an extract aspects from that? You did not use your bonus action

to use your patient defense. Okay, okay. All right, Caleb, you're up next. Caleb is going to back away maybe 20 feet, sizing up the situation, looking at the beast, looking at the little bug motes in the air. As you move out of its combat range, one of its tentacles whips towards you as a reaction.

Oh, that was far enough away. Figuring out a force. You thought you were? Yeah, I thought I was. But you're not. But you're not. That's a 15 to hit? Shield. Okay, is that a cantrip? All right.

I'm doing it. Yeah. That deflects the attack. All the local might all of a sudden flash and glow. You have nothing yet on that point, but we'll come back. Yeah, and I'm looking at the insects as I back up, and no time to find out the present, and I slap Batguano and Sulphur together. And a massive ball of flame appears in my hands,

and I chuck a fireball through the air and set it off 15 feet up and behind Froggy. 15 feet up and behind? Yeah, so it just hits his backside. Burns his ass. Right there, you mean? Close enough to him to burn his ass, but away from the group. Gotcha, no worries.

You release the sphere. Detonates on the side of the mountain. You can see rocks go flying in the area of the tree. You hear something ignites and the tree's starting to burn and crumble inward. You hear a handful of shrieks as a couple of figures that were apparently lurking on this side are going to take some damage.

So go ahead and roll damage on that. Saving throw for him. It's a 14, which does not make it to you. No, 18 fire damage. Got you. And here come the bugs. Second. Okay, all right.

You see one burning body tumble off and hit the ground over here. A somewhat humanoid, shorter than a normal human, but a brotund-looking frog-like creature. Also, the flames managed to impact the large, hulking creature, and it didn't even attempt to move, but it didn't seem to have the impact you were hoping.

Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm. Turned to fire. That's different then. No impact, right? No, it did some damage. Oh. That's your turn? Yeah, that's my turn.

All right. Now, various glowing scribe mites in the vicinity descend upon Caleb. Caleb, I need you to make a constitution saving throw. What is this going to do? I know! Oh god. Constitution, you say? Correct.

20. 20, okay. You manage to shrug off the majority of the impact, only taking six points of lightning damage, but you watch as a cloud of 12 of them adhere to him and then spark, and in doing so, send a surge of energy through Caleb's body past the shield that he had up,

and you watch as he shudders for a second before they detach, and they fade away, seemingly sated. More seem to be slowly filling the clouded area around you, drawn towards the expenditure of arcane spellcraft. That finishes their go. Fjord, you're up. Yeah, I will, oh shit, I'll run forward and summon the Star Razor. And I will take two arcing upward swings

into mutant frog fuck. All right, you got it. Moving up, blade gleaming blue-silver across its front end, make your strikes. That is a 23 to hit. That definitely hits. And the second one is a 14 to hit. That definitely hits. And the second one is a 14 to hit. That does hit.

Actually no, 14 just misses. Yeah, 14. Sorry. Okay. Just misses. One, two, three, and another. That's 13 points of slashing damage. I'm sorry, 15 points of slashing damage. 15 points of slashing damage. You do? A lot of toys.

That's it. All righty. And that is my turn, I'll stay there. ignite in that blue light. All righty. So now you watch the blade suddenly burst into vibrant blue-white radiant energy, the runes along its blade lighting up along its edge until the tip seems to gleam, releasing the faint bit of energy it released as it was summoned and invoked.

The area around Fjord is now lit up. There's this radial, faint glow, like a blue torchlight around him. That finishes Fjord's turn. Jester, you're up. Okay, as an action, I'm going to channel divinity that they hope is not like magic, and I'm going to cast Invoke Duplicity. Okay.

Going to find out! do you want to place? I'm going to send her around to the backside of, whoops, of the frog. Like around there. Like dancing on the surface of the water? Yeah. You got it. Then as my bonus action, after seeing what happened to Caleb,

I'm going to cast Spiritual Weapon at second level. Okay. I'm going to cast it right next to him and he's going to slam the, yeah. Which side of him do you want it to be? On the outside, yeah. Right there? Yeah. All righty.

Then it's going to try to smack him upside the eyeballs on top of his head. You got it. Okay. Oh boy, oh boy. Okay. Oh boy, oh boy. Okay. The mites are gathering in your direction. We'll come to that later. Okay, that would be a 20 to hit?

20 hits, go ahead and roll damage. Okay. 11 points of damage. 11 points of damage. 11 points of damage. Do you remember when you were outside the monster? Nope. So after the duplicate of Jester appears on the opposite side,

you see one of the eyestalks curl over and glance in her direction, the other two still facing forward towards the rest of the group. As she lands, the swirl of divine energy summons the lollipop in the air as it slams into its blubbery side. And I can make it with my duplicate

like any of my spells are coming from her, so I'm hoping that. That's why its eye is turned towards it. Yeah, so I'm hoping that the casting of the spell is centered on her instead of me. That's the goal. That's the goal. All right, I finished Jester's turn. It's now the creature's turn.

Okay. That's cool. So, it's going to go ahead and make two tentacle strikes. One of its tentacles is going to reach out and slap. Actually, one of them's going to go forward towards you, Fjord, and the otheracles is going to reach out and slap. Actually, one of them's going to go forward towards you, Fjord, and the other one's going to go against Beauregard.

Against Fjord, that is a 25 to hit. Whoa, that hits. Beauregard's a 21. Disadvantage? That's right, because you have, that was a 25, so yeah, it still hit 21. Does that hit? Yes. All right, so to the tentacles,

whip each of you. That'll put it at the cheater. Oh! He made an oh. 24 points of bludgeoning damage to you, Fjord. Half because you're raging. Mm-mm, no. 26 points of bludgeoning damage to you, Fjord.

Matt. Two tentacles. When he hits me, the sword will pulse blue and he will take three points of radiant damage. Yeah! Nice. Eat it. As the tentacle slaps on the side of you, you see this blue flash of light

and it retracts with this burned, scorching mark across the side of the tip. It adjusts within the pool. You're only seeing the upper half of its body. It moves a bit, its legs kicking the water, splashing around it as it shifts. It sees Caduceus and Caleb over there rushing away. It's going to open its mouth and the tongue

is going to whip out towards you, Caduceus. Okay. Oh yeah, actually, you have to make a strength saving throw. I have to make a strength saving throw? What, is he going to grab you with his tongue? That seems fair. Come on in! Nope. Slaps into you, and it doesn't hurt so much,

it just catches you off guard, but the tongue is adhered to your chest armor, and then yanks you into the water, spoosh, next to it, and in towards its mouth, it gets a free bite attack against you as a bonus action. This guy's hard. That's a 28 to hit. A 28 to hit?

Somehow that misses, just kidding, that hits. Rolling high. Oh my god, man. That waterfall. That is... Yeah, but look at that waterfall. I know. 25 points of piercing damage,

and Caduceus is swallowed. Oh god, Caduceus is swallowed, too? Yep. Yes. Matt, did you add the cotton to the waterfall? No, it comes with it. Oh, okay. That's fucking gorgeous. Oh boy.

Also, Nott, you are in a dark, enclosed space and suffer only four points of acid damage as you are being digested within its belly. It's safer in here than out there. That's true! And right as the acid burns into you and you're starting to get yourself ready, something heavy lands on you.

Sorry. It's now both of your guys' turn. You get a squeeze. I'm going to trust that you'll get us out of here. Yeah, that's adorable. I assume I'm too restrained to get a weapon out or anything? You can get a weapon out if you want to. You can't move, your speed is zero.

Like a crossbow? Come on, you've been in an anus before. It's like, you can pull an object out, but any attacks or ability checks are a disadvantage and your speed is zero. Okay, I will jimmy the crossbow out and just shoot straight down. Okay, you're just hoping to aim

for somewhere sensitive in its anatomy. Yeah. Do I make an attack roll with disadvantage? Disadvant. Yes. 11 and a 12, both plus, this is the crossbow, right? So plus 10, so 21. That does hit. Nice! Technic world.

This is tricky. Well, no, because it's either with advantage or if you have a friend who's adjacent to it, and so it is technically distracted. Sneak attack, dammit? Honestly, I say yes, because you're shooting. There's no armor protecting its hide. You're shooting it from the inside of its body, so yeah.

Then I will hit it with six, seven, eight. Oh my yeah. Okay. Then I will hit it with, six, seven, eight, oh my god. Yeah. 26 points of piercing damage. Woo! Plus I'll add the extra plus 10 of Fury of the Small. Thank you. 36 damage. 36 points of damage.

As you reach down, and you hear the crossbow release of an impact and suddenly begins to quake from the inside. Just don't get swallowed. On your own, take me! Fight the snake from the inside out. Go to sleep, go to sleep. It does manage to keep you down, though.

Damn. Just barely on the dot. So you guys are both still kept inside. Its muscles are crushing and restraining you both. The acid's going to burn and tear away at the flesh and skin. Ooh. Rest of your turn.

I mean, I'm going to nerf, I mean, I'm going to assume that I cannot reload the thing in here. You can, it's all quick motion. You're not like, you're not tied. You're just pressing in, so you're like. I can reload? All right, bonus action, shoot again.

You're still disadvantaged on the strike, though. Yes. Oh, one and a two. Yeah. Miss. So roll again, because on a one, the disadvantage attacks you. Oh, you're right. It attacks you. Oh, that's right. In trying to get it situated on the inside, unknowingly, you set the crossbow backwards and fire.

Go ahead and make an attack roll against yourself. Attack rolls against you have advantage, technically? You have disadvantage, so no, it's just a straight roll. Well, it was a one, so I get one point of damage on myself. Oh, that's good. Okay. it was a one, so I get one point of damage on myself. Oh, that's good. Okay. It was a little teeny. Yeah.

It grazes you off the shoulder, like, ah, shit! All right. Maybe I hit Caduceus. Caduceus, your turn. Well, this sucks. I bet if you do magic from the inside. Oh, yeah. I know. They can't attack you. So, uh. Attack the frog.

Oh! Just for fun, since I'm stuck in here, can I cast a spell? Actually, there's no movement. This is verbal and somatic. There's no actual movement to this spell, so this is easy. You can still motion and still move on the inside.

You're just hunting. I'm going to cast Ray of Enfeeblement. Okay. What does the frog say? So as you begin muttering your incantation from underneath the spell, release. What's the after roll? It's a constitution save.

All right. What is that icon? Natural one. No! Even with its high constitution, natural one, so if it fails, it is enfeebled. It has a high constitution. Remember Bullfrog?

Ribbit, ribbit, bah bah bah! And then I'm going to drop the spell. It stays up even after I dropped it because it's an effect, right? That's some concentration. Oh no, I have to hold it, don't I? No, it says concentration. Okay, so I have to hold it, that's fine.

Yeah, you do have to. You do lose your advantage on your... Intelligence checks. Intelligence checks. Big deal. It's a frog. Yeah, so, and then I have a bonus action. There's not much I can do with my bonus action, is there, really?

Yeah. Uh... Yeah, yeah, I don't really have anything to do with the bonus action, so. All right, that ends your turn. Yep. Okay. You watch as a series of the mites begin to suddenly shift and gravitate towards the creature.

No fucking way. Oh my god, what happens if you get electrocuted on the inside, though? Now... walking away. Oh my god, what happens if you get electrocuted on the inside, though? Now, a bunch of similarly sized frog-like humanoids with spears and shields and clubs start rushing out of nearby trees and bushes, apparently drawn by the croaks of this larger beast

and slowly hunting you from the distant sides of this jungle. Oh shit. Mm-hmm. Oh god. Me too. Can we tell how deep that pool of water is? It's shallow-ish, right? Elements of it are about 10 to 15 at the very edge,

and then it dips down to 30 or 40 below. Got it. What is that? Oh god, there are so many of them. How do we get out of here? Sorry. I'm happy. I got two more and then we're done. Bunch of them died over here from the fireball.

Or they even had a chance. All right. These are ugly motherfuckers. This is going to rush around. 10, 15, 20. Sweet. Up to Caleb. To Caleb there. Oh god, the trees, the trees keep falling. The trees are crossing the train.

The trees keep falling. Oh boy. The trees keep falling. Down, down, down. This guy's going to do a 10, 15, 20. Can do a standing leap and just jumps without having to lose any movement and lands right next to Fjord, while this one here is going to go ahead

and throw a spear towards you, Fjord. Okay. The spear, that's a 12. Misses. All right. No issue. The one that rushed up towards you is going to attempt to make two melee attacks, one with its spear, one with its bite.

Spear attack against you. Okay. 15. Misses. It misses. The spear glances off and now it's up in your face and you can see the giant mouth, the bullfrog mouth open with sharp, jagged teeth and it's going to attempt to bite you. That is going to be a 21.

Does hit, use your words! You suffer seven points of piercing damage as that bites onto your face. And he will take one point of radiant damage. There you go. Sorry, that would have been five points of damage. You got it. The two against you, Caleb,

both making a spear strike against you. You still have your high AC. Because it's the same round. Shield lasts for the next round. They, I had 21 and 20. Both hit. Both hit? Both hit. Oh wow, even with the thing, okay.

Only to 19 with shield. Fair enough. No, no, no, no, 19. So you suffer 16 points of piercing damage from both strikes as you get speared from both sides. Oh, good. And they're both going to attempt to make a bite attack on you.

Oh, good. That's going to be a 12 and a 14. So those both miss you. The spears stab at you from each side, and as they both push in, you manage to shove them over off to the side, and they can't even find purchase with their teeth. There is the one now that's going to be on this side

throwing a spear at the illusionary Jester. Ho-ah, ho-ah, ho-ah, ho-ah. Disappears under the waterfall. Eat shit, frog person. Hold on. The one back there is going to attempt to throw a spear at main Jester. That's going to be a 22 to hit.

Ow. With that, you suffer four points of piercing damage. Okay, do I need to roll a constitution? You do. Well, no, for spiritual weapon, you do not. Yeah, it's not a concentration, but the invoked duplicity is, it's... Technically it is a concentration, yeah,

so go ahead and roll a constitution saving throw. Maintain it. Five. Oh, and I took four. No, how much did I take damage? Four damage. Well, what's your total with your constitution saving throw? Yeah, no, it's five with my constitution. It's a 10 DC base, or half the damage, whichever's higher.

Oh, okay. Where duplicity vanishes. Great. The one that threw the spear and missed it, starts celebrating, thinking he killed it, he's so excited. The eyestalk that was behind wrenches back forward in your direction. That brings us to the top of the round.

Beauregard, you are up. I'm going to keep whaling on this froggy frog. I'm going to go whack whack right in his gut and be like, puke! Damn it! All righty. Two attacks back to back here. Okay, yeah, 25 and 23.

Both hit? Uh-huh. Okay. 10 damage and 11 damage. So 21 damage total. 21 total. Both fists are, it's like hitting the side of a giant whale. Every impact, there is give, but there's so much weight and heft behind its blubbery mass that it almost hurts your hand with each impact.

But it's doing damage, and you can see it Okay. Reacting to each hit. Flurry of blows? Go for it, two more strikes. Pop pop. Beau, two more strikes. Pop pop. Beau, that's bullshit. Did you say your own name, Beau?

Fuh-fuh-fuh. 15 and 12. 15 and 12. 15 hits, 12 does not. Okay, perfect. God, seven damage, and... Give me that. Stunning strike and deets. Give me that.

Give me them deets. Stunning strike? Strike to aspects. Strike to aspects? Yes. All righty. As you draw the, after the impact of its body, you begin to align your ki with the structure of its body, and as you pull you back for that final hit and impact it, you watch the ray of the force of the impact

blubber off of it, like a ripple effect of water, Jurassic Park style. As you pull back, you realize it is resistant to fire and lightning. Fire and lightning. Okay, I shout that out to the group. Avoid fire and lightning, sorry, Caleb. We should avoid fire and lightning?

Yeah, he's immune, or resistant to fire and lightning. He's got fire and lightning. Yeah. Okay, that ends Beau's turn. Caleb, you're up. I hear Beauregard shout, not to use fire, and to myself, I mutter panically, tough titty, and I reach my hands into my bag,

fingers going into a cat's cradle crusted over in phosphorus, which I slam down onto the ground and cast Widowgast's Web of Fire. A ring of flame goes around Caleb, and five chains of fire streak out at different enemies on the ground. The two frogmen next to me, the one in the distance over there,

two come around this way, one to hit Frogmen there, and one to hit the big. All righty. Holy shit. Shit. So is it dexterity saving throw now? Yeah. All righty, roll damage first.

Be pressed. Or they're like, woo! That's pretty cool, let's just leave them. Damn. Come on, Gina. Vido gusts. 32. 32, all right.

This fellow? Fails. You watch as these streaks of fire, they're almost like, imagine an extremely volatile fuse, like burning across the ground, snaking like they have a mind of their own, homing in on the target, and then like they have a mind of their own, homing in on the target. Then once they arrive, a column of flame

bursts out of the ground like a contained pillar of pure fire and death. You watch as it explodes under each of these creatures, burning, and there's shrieks ringing out. That one's destroyed, the two next to you, you said? Yeah. Failure. And failure.

Yes! True! The one next to Fjord succeeds with an 18, I believe? Yeah. All right. Was the damage total on that one? 32 total. Yeah, so 16.

He's looking real rough. Does he have something took damage from you previously from attacking you as well. One point. One point. Yeah, he's looking really rough. Well done. The one off that way, you said? No, there's one, two, three, four,

and then the big guy. And the big frog. He... Kill it. 20 takes half damage, correct? Which would be 16. Quartered for him. Yeah, so eight points of fire damage. It bursts and one of the two ice blocks look down real fast at where it's now burning charred on one end and look over in your direction.

And for his movement, he just starts running this way, going like. Which way? This, in sort of a curve around, but not close to Big Frog. Like you'd be in the- Midway between these two. 25, 30, right there?

Yeah, sure. You got it. Okay. It's now the mites' turn. Swarming on Jester, swarming on the creature, and swarming on you now, Caleb. Oh no. That is 10 points of lightning damage to each of you. Do you do con saves for this?

No, this just happens from casting the spell. 10, okay. 10 points of lightning damage to each of you. Do we do con saves for this? No, this just happens from casting the spell. 10, okay. 10 points of lightning damage to both of you. So you get the same amount of damage if you do a level one or a level five? It appears that way. Good to know. You've learned possibly something here?

Learned in the fight. There is the shocking impact on the creature right there. You watch it flash and it takes a little bit of damage, but it seems to thrash around. Even though it didn't take a lot of damage, it looks like its body is spasming from the effect of the lightning strike on its body from the mites. That was resistant to the lightning.

Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Resistant. But the mites. So that brings us to Fjord's turn. Yes, right where cool beans. I will take two more strikes with the Star Razor. I get Frog McGee.

Go for it. That's 13, that sucks balls. Wow. 16, 17, 18. Oh, actually, the first one was a 14, because it's plus two and it's glowing. 14 still misses, right? Yeah. Actually, they both hit because of reasons.

Okay. All right, I am a fan of Reasons. It seems sluggish in its attempt to resist your attacks from the previous might assault that it took. So the mites can slow you down. Reasons all day, every day. Lightning doesn't cause damage, but it does slow it? Or do the mites do extra damage to it?

Or maybe it's just the mites. But the mites didn't do that to you guys. No. 30, no. 16 plus 17. Dude, that'll make them attract. That's 35. 30, yes.

33. 33. Total. Slash. Yeah, yeah. It is looking hurt, as you now, seeing it shock and trying to pull back into the water, and it looks like it's trying to pull back to retract, you slice into its belly once. You see a bunch of this dark purple ichor spill out and darken part of the water to its side. A second slash goes upward and you actually cut into part of its lip. It's splitting down the middle and you can see the gums all

bloody and it's now leaking onto its side of its belly. Is there a foot sticking up out of the back of that maw? Unfortunately, no. Pretty deep in its stomach, and it's a big creature. Just for comparison here, you're only seeing the upper half of its belly right now, and even that's about 12 feet out of the water. So it's a big creature.

There we go. That finishes Fjord's turn, unless you want to move or anything else. No, I'm good, thank you. Jester, you're up. Okay. I'm going to hit it with the spiritual weapon. Go for it. At the same time, I'm going to run underneath

and between Fjord's legs. I'm going to reach up with my hand and cast Inflict Wounds on it at the same time. Okay. Right on the spot that he was slashing. All right, roll for an attack. Okay. Is this with a spiritual? Cocked. Spiritual weapon is what this is.

It's cocked? Yeah. It didn't look like it. It was lifted. Okay, well, that's better. That's a 21. 21 spiritual weapon? Yes. That definitely hits, go ahead and roll damage. Okay.

Six. Six points of damage, all right. And then you rush forward. You end up wading a bit into the water when you get past Fjord to push your way towards the creature. Sploosh, sploosh, and reach outward. Go ahead and roll for your attack with your Inflict Wounds.

Casting it at first level? No, at second level. Second level, got it. Ooh! That's definitely, yes, that's 27. 27, yes, that does hit. Come on. Inflict. So that's 4d6.

4d10? 4d10! Inflict Wounds, that's better. 4d10? Inflict Wounds. You got to get right up in there to do it. It's a touch spell, but man, it hurts. I had to duplicate it. I was going to do it with her, but.

16, 20. 20 points. 20 points of damage. Of necromantic damage. Necrotic damage, you got it. How do you want to do this? Oh! Oh.

Okay, so yeah, I want to get my hand up into the cut and grab onto it as I cast it and then yank down at the same time. As your fingers find their way into the strangely, grossly warm flesh exposed from the wound that Fjord left behind. And my Traveler symbol is dangling from my wrist and it's like, yeah.

As you reach in, the Traveler symbol that's dangling actually magnetically goes and plunges itself in there beneath your grip and then burns dark black as necrotic energy pulses through its body. You see dozens of veins suddenly go black around its torso, and as it pulls back, screaming, you see the black veins curling

further and further up along its body before its eyes go milky white. Its skin goes pale, and it falls over into the pool, its tentacles off to the side, itself half dangling and half sunken into the water. Quick, quick, get them out, get them out! Oh yeah, well. Is it sinking or is it stable?

Well, does that finish your turn? Oh, I guess, I mean. There's still one frog fuck. Yeah. Two frog fucks. I already used my bonus action and my, yeah. So you have a little bit of movement left, but you're actually going into the water for that.

I'd say you have five feet. Okay, you got it. Finishing your turn, the creature, you both, even though it's dead, you still take acid damage in its belly. That is nine points of acid damage to both of you. Ew. Ouch. And the body is slowly slinking

in towards the center of the pond. And I lose my concentration. Oh no, wait, wait. Not that it matters anymore. Oh, he still had my concentration. The spell is broken anyway, so. Correct. I know he's dead then. You do? Okay.

I'm going to start climbing out if it's our turn. Yes, you guys can both, on your turn, climb out of its body. You're no longer restrained, and you escape it using 10 feet of movement exiting prone. So both of you, as it's slipping in towards the water, you both leap out of its mouth, losing 10 feet of movement and stepping onto the ground

before it sinks below the waves. I was on the dozen. I'll check its pockets. All right, so you guys, both you're prone and you've lost 10 feet of movement. You still have your actions and everything you want to this turn, if anything. I'm just going to get up, you're prone, you've lost 10 feet of movement, you still have your actions and everything you want to this turn, if anything. I'm just going to get up, brush myself off,

and look at all of these things. There's three of them currently. There are frog people attacking. That's what I was going to say before. I was just bugging on the sides of their head, and they're just holding spears and shields. I'm just putting up my shield and just egging them on. Do they still look as ready to fight

now that their giant frog is? We'll find out. Mm-hmm. I guess I'll fire at somebody, whoever's closest. Closest to you right here. You're on the ground, prone. You can stay there if you want to. Stand up, stand up. That's another 10 feet, or 15 feet of movement

or something like that. 15 feet. Fire at one of them. Which one? There's three of them. There's one next to Fjord and Jester. One back here, closer to the kill. The one next to Fjord and Jester, please. You got it. Oh yeah, they're all over.

19 to hit. That definitely hits. A million points of... It had one hit point left. You get up and we're talking like Blackthorn style, shooting over the shoulder, barely even looking, firing, and you watch as it looks its bug eyes in two different directions, it goes to turn,

and then slumps into the water, rolls, and then itself sinks back under the waves. It's floating and sinking next to you, Jester, you watch it. And then I'll use my bonus action to dash across the water back to that waterfall. Whoa! No! That was the baby!

Heavy waterfall now. It's a big impact on you. Right now, you keep, like you keep. I'll just get up to the edge of the. You get up to the edge of it and it's flashing you, you're getting wet. All right, that finishes your guys' turns. These creatures turn and fucking run.

That's right. Double dash, off the board, running out of sight. What about the moids? Well, you're currently no longer in battle. They still like magic. They do. And they return to both Caleb and Jester. Well, we did the last one.

12 points of lightning damage to each of you. Oof. Gets worse every time. Let's, uh... No more magic! Let's take a second. More magic? Well, with that,

I think I'm going to look behind this waterfall. Yes! Me, too. Walk around, climb up, and just peer behind the first up this little... You look behind, and now having viewed this little gap, and you can look from underneath, the two of you triangulate, there is a bit of space behind the immediate waterfall.

There is no path to it, you'd have to move through the water, but there is apparently a gap. I will cast Shape Water. And I'll just angle the waterfall around, making a nice little pathway for us to get in. Okay. You carve it to the side, you watch the waterfall

spread open, leaving a path to a cavern behind it. Oh, wow. You also take six points of lightning damage as the motes, or the mites, shift and gravitate towards you, shocking your body, and then drifting away, sustained by whatever sort of nutrients they drew from the attack. Should we all go there? Is it a concentration spell?

It isn't. I don't think it would be. It says instantaneous. Yeah. It doesn't say. There's nothing about concentration. How long does it last? It's also a cantrip. Oh, it's a cantrip. Oh. Oh's nothing about contraband. How long does it last? It's also a cantrip. Oh, it's a cantrip. Oh.

Oh, this is shape water. Shape water. Sorry, not control water. Shape water. Correct, got you. Shape water. Where is it actually? I can make a five-foot cube of shape. Yeah. All right. I can make a five-foot cube of shape.

Yeah. All right. Got it, so now, yeah, there's no concentration worry about it. For the next hour, the opening is available. Oh, wow. My plan worked, let's go in. Is this necessarily? Can I check the door, see any markings, once again, any scents coming from it, like before?

Make an investigation check. Without advantage. Remember, there are five entrances or exits out of this, so there could be. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 21. 21. The door itself is a soft, dark burgundy-red color. The wood itself is a soft dark burgundy red color.

The wood itself is moist from the moisture that's pushed in here via the waterfall. There's a brass doorknob on it. It seems out of place against this rock wall, and the actual cavern behind this waterfall only goes about six or seven feet deep before you find this doorway. The door itself smells of fresh wood,

and looking across the front of it, there's slight carvings. It looks like the shape of hexagons, like six-sided hexagons. Or the tower machine. Would I, from our previous time in the study, recognize this wood? Does it look familiar to the doors that we saw in the study? It definitely seems in the study, recognize this wood. Does it look familiar to the doors

that we saw in the study? It definitely seems in the color scheme that Halas likes to dress in. Red with gold trim generally was what you guys found on the outfits that dropped out of the sphere when you first encountered it, as well as the portrait you saw within the study. Okay.

While you are studying, I'll tell Caleb and Beau and just generally say, I want to check the pool, and I'm going to dive into the pool where the creature fell into and just sort of scan the floor, make sure there's nothing. Okay, make a perception check. That this does go to the study. That's the wrong way.

It's the wrong way, but from the study, I thought it said Flesh Mound, because obviously, but it actually says Flesh Manned. So it might be a place that heals. Interesting. Just letting you guys know. 17. 17. You dive down, and there's this thick algae blanket,

and you pull through, and the further down you get, you can see the funneling hole. You don't see the body of the creature you had just slain, nor the one that other smaller frog creature that sunk down below it, just a dark path that leads deeper and deeper below. The water is slightly pulling you in that direction as well. I'll start swimming back up.

Make a strength saving throw. Oh, Jesus. I'm going to afford Jesus. Oh no. Oh no. No. What'd you get? Did you roll a one? Did we see him go into the water this time?

He announced it. He did. You watched him dive into the water. That's what happened. And you look down and you can see the darkness below and you're like, okay. Do you have bonuses in the water, by the way? Shit, shit, shit. Can I cast Quickly Control Water

and reverse the flow of water shooting me up out of the pool? If I'm getting close enough to that. I'll allow it, yeah. It is an ability of yours. You do maintain it through the connection to the Wild Mother. You didn't lose it because of the pact you made with her. So at the moment you begin to pull yourself drawn down

towards the base of the water, you immediately concentrate, cast the spell, and reverse the flow, and suddenly, you guys watch as Fjord disappears beneath the surface. And it jettisons him about 15 feet in the air before he comes landing into the water once more. It's bubbling up almost like a soft geyser that hasn't, you know, it got an immediate push, is now just burbling from the center.

Did you find something? Are the fucking fireflies coming? Right now, they would be. I'll duck my head back under the water and just hold under. Okay. You guys watch all the mites swarm to the top of the water and stay

about an inch off the surface. And stay there for a second before the last of of it. Look at that. How could he have done that? Big bees. Fjord, you can come out now. Fjord, you can, he's not listening.

I hit the water. Oh, that'll help. You're good. What'd you find? There was a, yeah, like another tunnel, a dark tunnel that just goes, the body is not down there. I wonder if it's the nest. Which means, okay, can I, based on the direction that we came in from the diamond entrance and the direction that we moved to the water,

would I have gathered that it seems that these doorways are a little bit accurate to where he's put them on the map? Remember when we walked in, we looked around, too. You're not entirely sure. It could be, but in some cases, they'll also seem to be arranged for space in the map as well. So you're not certain.

I'm hopping up to the next level to see what's there. I don't think it would hurt to maybe check maybe some outcroppings and maybe some tree trunks for some Jack Skelling skeleton door type shit. It is pretty sheer on this end. Make a perception check. Maybe all the entrances are around the wall.

19. 19. The cliff gets pretty sheer. About 60 to 65 feet up, you can see what looks to be a slight outcropping of stone and a small cave up there. I think I found something. That's three. But I'm going to want a rope. Maybe two ropes.

I'm real tired. That was a lot. Can I make my way over to this outcropping and just investigate this area and these trees and just see if there's anything that looks like a hidden door or area? Sure, you should do that yourself. Why? Just don't. Get sucked into something else, Fjord?

Well, by all means, come with me. Take a buddy, wherever you're going, take a buddy. I'll go with you. Okay. So Fjord and Beau, you're doing just a general inspection of the nearby trees, floor, like what? Yeah, like we're just looking for any, I don't know, any passages or anything that might have been hidden from plain view.

Okay. Either both make investigation checks or one can aid the other for advantage, your choice. Let's do it. All right. Nice. 21. 25.

25. Fjord, you spend a while. 24. As you guys are probably getting, 24? Sorry, yes. 24. You spend a while. 24. As you guys are looking at. 24? Sorry, yes. 24. You spend a while looking around. Beauregard helping you out.

You begin to fan out on this side. You go about five or six trees away and start getting a little nervous for the distance to the party. You can still hear the waterfall. You can still hear your friends or the moats still drifting around. But it's quiet.

As far as you know, bird sounds, which is weird to be in an enclosed space like this that feels like a jungle to not have the sounds of nature prevalent around you. You both looking about, both of your eyes fall on one singular tree where it looks like there's a heavy, a knot arch on the side,

like a knot hole of some kind. You get a bit closer and you can look, and it looks natural from the outside. It's maybe about a foot wide and about four feet tall. It would be difficult, but a person could probably squeeze through, and it does appear to enter into the tree. Goodness gracious, what is this?

I'm going to once again go over, investigate it. Any markings, anything that will clue me in? Make an investigation check again. This is probably the tower, right? I will get the whip out just in case. Yeah, I'm going to do that, like you're walking up to the edge of a cliff thing. Don't you have any ball bearings

you can just toss on that bitch? Well, I mean, it's a door. I could. Let me just try, let me look at it. I'm looking at it. Okay, 17. 17. Is this investigation or perception? This is investigation.

Okay, looking around the outside of the knothole, you don't see any signs or symbols or any carvings that give you any sense of what's within. From what little bit of light's coming in there, you can see the small space enters a few inches and then curves just out of sight into darkness. From this perspective, you'd have to step in a little bit of light's coming in there, you can see the small space enters a few inches and then curves just out of sight into darkness. From this perspective, you'd have to step in a little bit and look around to see where it goes

or where it continues further in. Do I step in? No, no. Okay. That's my job, I push her aside and go. I don't know what happened. All of you are in heart attack. Well, look, if we think that what goes under the water

goes to the nest, then this is either the crystal mines or the tower machine, and both of these are going to lead us to the hearth. I'm going to start climbing up that cliff to check out the cave. Okay. All right, I'm watching to make sure you don't get sucked in. Go ahead and make an athletics check for me.

I'm going to guide him. Her. Each take a door, see who gets there first. Go ahead and make an athletics check for me. I'm going to Guide him. Okay. Her. Each take a door, see who gets there first. Ooh. 15. 15? Thanks to Guidance. Not bad.

The first 20 feet or so, you manage to make your way up. There are a few rock handholds, but it is difficult. The higher up you get, the more sheer and sparse the actual handholds are, and you find yourself about 40 feet below that ridge, and starving for the next venture you can attempt again. Reach into my chalk bag, get my hands on. Going to keep going. Oh yeah, yeah.

More. 23. 23. The next 20 feet or so, while you're missing the actual handholds you need in immediate proximity, you do see one small gap. You take a breath, leap, and catch on the edge of it, dangle a bit, and then pull yourself up slightly,

holding onto it. Another leap, you catch two handholds, and you get yourself about 40 feet above. You have one more length of 20 feet. Nott, you're doing really good! Really good. You just don't fall. Can you guide me from down there?

Nope. We can probably revive you if you fall, but if you don't fall in the water. Just remember, you can't use your spells to catch you because then you'll be electrocuted by a bunch of little fireflies. Says the guard! At that point, you look around you

and there are six motes drifting in the vicinity. They're cheering you on. All right. They're going to have to fall in the water. We hit the last, the Hillary step, here we go. 14. 14. You get partway up and your foot slips

and you catch yourself, your grip's starting to go. Make one more check with disadvantage to see if you can maintain and scramble up. Oh! 18 and a one. Ah! You get towards the very edge and the handhold you have breaks off

and you just plummet back, falling 60 feet downward. I'll throw that feather out, and even though it'll hurt me, I'll cast Feather Fall. You drift down, you watch upwards as Nott's body just goes into free trust fall position. That's going to hurt. It's beautiful, and the mites drifting around, it's a beautiful visage, and all the mites go

. It's beautiful, and the mites drifting around, it's this beautiful visage, and all the mites go, right there. You take five points of lightning damage, and then drift slightly fried down to safety. Is it concentration, Feather Fall? Oh shit. It is, it lasts a minute. Okay, so it's not concentration. I don't suppose if it's up, if you climb, no,

because once you've landed, it's over. Never mind. While all that happened, Caleb reached that red-themed door and inspected it to see if there was any kind of arcane writing or anything that looked nefarious or dangerous to touch. Okay, you're inspecting it for traps and danger. Okay, what's your roll?

I didn't roll anything. You're going to roll now. I need to study, right? That is 25. 25, good roll. Looking at it, it does not appear to be locked, does not appear to have any traps about the doorway. Barely audible.

I'm checking the door. Uh-uh! Try to pull it. It opens up. Frumpkin's next to me. Okay. Go in, tell me what you see. Frumpkin steps past you into the doorway, and you watch Frumpkin enter this shadow space and then vanish.

I will wait until everyone pulls me away. Okay. Hopefully he'll come back. You don't sense anything about Frumpkin at all? Mm-hmm. Should we gather up? I'm going to crawl back down and start gathering everybody, because I think we need Beau to get up to this one. Here we have Fjord and Beau come over.

What do you guys think, where should we go? Well, if it leads to the study, that's not where we're trying to go. We need to find this thing up here. Beau. I think the crystal cave is above us. There's no way you can climb it, it's impossible. I tried.

You know this shit will work on me, don't you? No, it's impossible. I wouldn't want you to fall. Please don't fall. The Traveler thinks you're really cool. Or, you know, you could just polymorph and carry us out. Validation, and I go! Or Dimension Dome. Okay, Athletics check.

Oh my god, I want to go every single place. Caleb, we're doing a thing. Which one, which one? Yeah, you should, in case. You said athletics? Yes. 20. 20. You managed to make it up actually halfway with a roll of 20. I also, you know,

unarmored movement, my movement up walls is awesome. Oh fuck! Oh, that's right. You have the same thing? I have Spider Climb. You know, I'm just going to say, you're going to get so much cool stuff when you finally go. I forgot how many spells!

You have no idea what we have on your body. Fucking amazing. Yeah, I'll say with a roll of 20 and your Unarmored movement, and following the path that Nott had skittered up, you make it up to the ledge without issue. I see where you broke off here. It's pretty good, it's like a little cavern.

Anyway, we made it. Can you lower a roll? And what's it look like? What's it look like? First, check it out. Okay, so you're standing at the edge of the cavern. You can see the tunnel continues inward about 10 or so feet before darkness takes it.

It winds down to a singular, it's about 15 feet wide and about eight feet tall, and about 10 feet or so in it, all of a sudden shrinks down like a funnel to a five-foot-t tall, two-foot wide space that you'd have to uncomfortably, or at least most people here would have to uncomfortably slump into to continue forward.

Anything around it that indicates it's a crystal-y or mine-y, like a crystal-y mine? Make a perception check. Mine crystals, Chris mines. Mine crystals flying. Count of mine crystals? Mine crystals. Nice.ines. Mine crystals flying. Count of mine crystals? Nice. Nine.

Nine? No. It just looks like raw rock and mystery ahead. Okay, I lean over. Yeah, it definitely feels like a door to another thing. You think maybe I should call Allura or something? I think we're jumping the gun yet. We don't know what we're doing yet. We need to figure out what's in that door.

Can you lower a rope or something? Yeah, Fjord and I also found, yeah, hang on, let me get out my rope. We found a hole and a knot, also probably a door to another place. Yeah, come on. Hey, don't you think, what if the tower There's also probably a door to another place. Yeah, come on. Hey, don't you think, what if the tower

entrance would be up high because it's a tower? I mean, perhaps. Yeah, yeah. I mean, but it looks that. In my dream fashion, do I see a rock or something I can loop on? No, it's a smooth cavern. I mean, I'm sure either way we can get there.

Maybe a grappling hook? What is a dreadnought? I have that. Ah. Would any of us know what a dreadnought is? How long is your rope? 50 feet. Make an arcana check. Basic. Both of you can make an arcana check.

I'm not paying attention to anything. That's right, you are down. Staring at the darkness of this door. 12. 12? Doesn't ring a bell. I'm going to jump up and try to climb the rope up there. Okay. Easily enough with Beau's help. Trace, yeah.

Yeah, that's easy, you don't have to roll for that. She's just helping you up at this point. What do we do? I do have a grappling hook, so. Help me up. I'll tie a grappling hook and set it. Yeah. I'll climb through it. So with that, it's easy enough for the rest of you guys to use the rope to climb up.

It takes a little bit of time, but you get up there. See any crystals up here or anything? No, I checked. I'm going to take a look at this thing. I'm going to go investigate. Take a smell, see what's coming out of there. Get a... You might have better luck, though. Can I go investigate the door?

That's what he's doing. 17. There's no door currently, it's just a tunnel. 17? Yeah. You're going to get way up to it. Way up to, there's no door. I know. It's just an adventure. 17? Yeah. You're going to get way up to it. Way up to, there's no door. I know. It's just an adventure. Oh, right to where it pins through.

A little bit in there, yeah. Take a smell. Smells kind of metallic. Oh, I bet it's the tower he got. My feeling is the tower. I'm feeling tower here. You bet it's the tower. That's one of the right ways.

Okay. That would be my preferred way. And if we think the other one is the study, then the one in the right ways. Okay. That would be my preferred way. And if we think the other one is the study, then the one in the knot in the tree must be the crystal mines. Or this is the crystal mines, and the one on the tree leads? No, I bet this is the tower.

It's up high. Towers are high. Well, half the tower is high, the other half is low. All right. Mines could also smell metallic. Maybe crystal mines, just like a name Maybe crystal mine's just a name, but it's just still, I don't know.

I don't know, let me see this other door here. You mine metals out of the earth. But maybe you mine crystals out of the crystal mine. Yeah, you probably mine crystals. Or a silver mine. I bet it's amethyst and and like Quartz and like Opal. If I roll to the side. Did you just climb up yet?

I'm going to start any time. Fjord will show you where the, yeah. I'll lead you over to the Jack Skellington tree. Before we go down, I'm just going to pop my head in on Caleb. Caleb? Yeah? You know, he's already been in there,

if that's where I think you're thinking about him, which means he's probably already gotten all the good stuff out of there. Maybe. You can ask him when we find him. Maybe. Don't do anything foolish. What are we doing?

We're checking the final door to see where it goes. Yeah, let's check it. Okay. Does he want to join us? He's thinking about stuff. Ask him if he knows what a dreadnought is. You know what a dreadnought is? Do I know what a dreadnought is?

Huh? Do I know what a dreadnought is? Make an arcana. Looks like a nose. Nope. A teepee with, it's a 13. 13? No idea. No. You know what the word means, but you don't know what. What does the word mean?

I don't even know that. I don't either. I don't know. Basically, it has to contain something that is dangerous, unstoppable. Oh, good. Okay, yeah, let's do the other. Let's do the tower, I think. Dreadnoughts are bad guys in G.I. Joe.

Yeah. Let's do the tower. Zartan, you know. I mean, towers are just. It goes to the tower. I think it does. All right, I'm going to take a look at that last door that you got and give it a good look once over.

Put my, put my. The one that Fjord leads you to? Yeah. Okay, so you climb back down and head over to the side. You see the same knot, and for you, it's very small. In order to even step inside, you'd have to get real low and squeeze around the corner. Get in there a bit, take a whiff.

Make a perception check. Ooh, 23. 23. It smells earthy, similar to the space around you, with a slight bit of dampness. It's dissimilar to the moisture and humid atmosphere of this jungle. I feel like I could make an educated guess. They're all right.

So let's make a, let's get together, maybe someone want a short rest or something, and we can start with Dorda and Vohlin. I mean, it's taking about 30 minutes. No, you've been investigating. A short rest would be stop and rest. So we're going to do the tower or the mines? I think we should take a short rest right here.

And then we break the door. Last question. Feels a bit weird. Last question, I know what we're going after, I guess out of game. There's a bedroom on here. Are we looking for him? Or are we just hoping to find him along the way?

We're not looking for. Usa? No, we are, but Usa's not in the bedroom, probably. Usa's probably going to the heart thing. Deeper and deeper. To explore. He could be trapped, but he could be anything. Okay, okay.

Usa with a Y. Usa. Fleshman facility, okay, yep. Tow pads. Tiger's Eye. Lapis Lazuli.. Tiger's Eye. Lapis lazuli. Is Tiger's Eye a crystal? I guess it's more like a mineral or a rock.

You guys taking a short rest, then? I guess. I think it's a good idea. You can use your hit dice to heal up a bit if you'd like. Hey Caleb, you still staring at a door? My cat has wandered off. Just waiting. Cat's wandered off. Just waiting. Cat's wandered off? Yeah.

There's no response or no return from Frumpkin after like 40 minutes. 40 minutes is how long? Okay, so after a half hour, I would go. Okay, Frumpkin returns. Well, what did you see? Okay, Frumpkin returns. Well? What did you see? SAM and LAURA,

I know, I know. No. You see familiar images of the study you had previously stumbled into when you first came through the sphere. The large stained glass window that contained, looked to be an imprint of various planes connected and shelves and the desk.

Almost no light, but a little bit of light there is in there. It looks like things have been tussled a bit. It looks like some of the, like the chair of the desk has been knocked over. While resting, I ask Frumpkin, did you see a vanity that looks like it had been hacked to pieces? Because that's where we were attacked, right?

Yes. Am I remembering? Yeah. The guts of that, and I ask Frumpkin if he saw the book that was so tempting to me before we dove in after Fjord. Right. It looked like, because all the books were locked in these large metal bars that were chained in,

the bars are open and the shelves are clear. Completely clear. And the innards of the cabinet, the mimic that you had battled, still remained on the floor where it was left previously. Yeah. So it looks like it's, best Crumpkin could tell, it's been rolled.

To whatever extent, whatever came through here. I feel so guilty. You know, as we sit here resting, it occurs to me, as we sit around here, that Miss Alayna out there has been waiting for days for us to return now. Oh jeez, you're right. Alana? Alana, it was Alana.

I should send her a message. We should definitely send her a message. Should I send her a message, or should I use this amazing mirror that she gave me? The mirror! Maybe. Communication lasts for up to 10 minutes. I can use it three times a whole day.

Yeah. So we should probably maintain contact when we go through so we can describe what we see, maybe? Oh, so like cast it, talk to her, go through the thing, and then keep talking. Yeah, so right when we decide. So you can't get too banged. Yeah, two birds, one stone. Smart, Mr. Clay.

So yeah, we'll cast it, talk to her for five minutes, and then go through. Okay, okay, okay, I like it. Clay. So yeah, we'll cast it, talk to her for five minutes, and then go through. Okay, okay, okay, I like it. Cool. To maintain. Are we ready to go through? Well, no. Caduceus, Fjord, and Caleb are still on the ground.

We've been waiting. Climb up! We're waiting for an hour. The rope is down. We're on a short rest. I don't understand that's where we are. So let's get up there. Come on up here, then. How come these guys do nothing? Just rest, then's where we are. So let's get up there. Come on up here, then. I thought you guys knew another! Just rest, then.

Okay, good. So you guys complete a short rest. Those of you who require short rest to restore themselves in certain capabilities or spells and abilities, those are restored. You've used your hit dice to heal up. What would you like to do? Drink.

Into the machine, is that the conversation we're all having, not the Crystal Cave? Right, the tower. I'll admit I'm a little disappointed, but I'm. Yeah, I know. So Crystal's a cave made of crystal. I know. That can't hurt you. And you remember when we saw a cave of crystals before

and they were so beautiful? Yeah. It was so wonderful. It was great. I would love to see something like that again. Me too. Is there anything in the information that we gleaned from the libraries that would indicate that a crystal cave is useful to us, a connection to another plane?

Maybe we can ask Allura. Maybe, you know, she's been there for like a week. I bet she's done a lot of research in the time that we've been gone, so maybe she'll know more about each of the rooms. That's true. I guess let's start it. We'll get up here, we'll start it,

and then we'll tell her where we're going. It is quicker to get down than get up. It's true. All right. DM I'll see this arcane recovery on the chart. Right. So you can get your spells on. Okay, so I'm going to do it, okay? All right.

All right, I'm going to pull out the mirror. Do it. Let's talk to Alyssa. That's all I've got. It's presented to me. Come on, Emryto. Alyssa explains it all. Allura, Allura, are you there? Talk to a Jester, quite so fair.

You watch as the reflection of your face goes cloudy for a moment and swirls and then begins to reform into the face of Allura Vysoren. How much time has passed? It's been nearly three days on this end. Wow. That's crazy. I've been doing my best to research elements here. It seems that most of Yussa's notes

were designed to not be pursued, so not much help about the actual interior research-wise. I have done a bit of research on this Angel of Irons you've been speaking about. Oh, wow. Not a whole lot to find here, though I do think I may have a divination spell that might hopefully pierce any sort of guise

or veil of secrecy that it's keeping, but I will require you to be here, and if you have any effects of a member of the cult at all, that might be helpful in gaining information. Oh yeah. But anyway, how goes it there? Please, tell me. Okay, so we're in the garden.

Right. We fought a giant frog thing. It's only been a couple hours. It's only been a couple hours here. We fought and we succeeded, and we're all healed up. We're good, we're good. So now we're deciding where to go next. We can go between the tower or the crystal mines.

So what do you think is more dangerous? A golem place or the dreadnought? Both seem capable of danger. I don't know necessarily what are in these places. I would hate to give an uninformed decision and send you to your doom. Is there anything else you can give me to help with this? I tell her on the map, the tower machine

looks like it has gears and some sort of machinery and the crystal mine, the art does look a bit like a toothy maw. Oh, it kind of does, yeah. Well, there's just the artistic expression. That's just, you know, the eye sees what it wants to see. Like the Batman does.

Laura, did you find anything while sitting there for three days that would indicate anything about these crystal caverns, crystal mines? Any further research? Best that I can tell, many of the chambers in this portion of the Folding Halls were designed specifically for Halas to reap and recover things

for his research and maintenance. I mean, looking at the spread here, it looks like there are things used for gathering materials, for rituals, for spellcraft and magical item creation, enchantments, artifact, design and development. There's a golem workshop, perhaps there is a space where he creates various servants. I don't know if you've recently come upon anyone

or any creatures of golem construction. There were a bunch of frogs. Oh yeah, that was that last time, I forgot about that. Before your time, Caduceus, we were visiting a town called the Hopperduke and we tangled with a bit of the clockwork. I was thinking of the magic cabinet. I mean, within the premises there.

If there is a golem workshop, there's probably golems somewhere. Maybe not just in the workshops, they'd be on the lookout. I bet they'll be in the tower machine. And a dreadnought? Dreadnought. She's making a history check.

I mean, there are many things that can be a dreadnought. It is a descriptive term. I can begin to research, if you'd like. It might take a little bit of time. I'll call you in ten minutes, which will be two days later for you. Judging by the time passage, so you said two to three hours? Looks to be about an hour per day transition, so keep that in mind.

Oh, wow. So far. Who knows if all the chambers are consistent. I think we should probably keep going. I think we should probably, regardless, probably just make a decision and move. In that way, at least we'll have a clear path forward. The tower machine also leads to the arcane armory,

and he has a lot of markings by the arcane armory, so maybe it's an important room. Or maybe there's some cool weapons and protections there. Yeah, so I think we should do the tower. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. What is that? You hear the crunching of natural sounds, wood and rock being pushed or plowed through.

You're up on the ledge, looking in towards the dark cavern above on the mountainside, correct? Uh-huh. Looking down amongst the brush below, you see a 10 to 15-foot-tall humanoid being made of polished smooth stone with metallic joints. The faceless and reminiscent of the creature or shape you saw embedded in the ceiling

of the chamber you arrived in, now emblazoned with runes. And where one of its hands is, you can see some sort of a claw, like an open sea-like claw. Oh, if you hang out in the room too long, the golems come after you. Well, that slows you from room to room. Let's go. Let's get out of here.

In which case, as you look down at it, you see its face look up, and there's just a single glowing sigil where its face would be that seems focused on all of you. Let's go. We go to the thing. Jumping into the cavern. You all jump through the cavern.

All right, one by one, you leap through into the darkness. The tunnel seems to almost pull you forward like a vacuum. And in that moment where your feet leave the ground, the suction being so strong, the darkness all of a sudden is lifted like you've been thrust through a curtain of some kind, and your feet find a stone floor. Looking up around you, you stand on a ledge

made of stone and metal. You look over what looks like a curving expanse, a maelstrom of black and purple clouds and swirling energy on all sides before you. An endless expanse of nothingness with little hints of distant rock just slowly drifting through the space. Sure.

Looking around behind you, you can see immense and size and nearly infinite what looks to be a pillar or a tower or a construct of strange shape and design, parts of metal and offshoot chambers and bits of heavy gears grinding and shifting, bits of what looks like brass and platinum bent around adamantine pistons,

and it curves slightly for miles and miles from end to end. Looking up on one side to the other, the immensity of it gives you instantaneous vertigo, and you find yourself instinctively getting low to the ground, holding onto this ledge. A flash of purple lightning lights up the vicinity around you. You look back to the map,

and you suddenly see that shape drawn through the center of its design. You stand somewhere along, whatever this device may be, the wind blowing and tussling your hair, the sound causing you to speak at a volume to where you can actually reach each other's ears from a distance.

That's where we'll leave. Oh! Fuck you! Yes! Oh man. Ugh! We got it. Oh god. I love it.

Wow. I love it! We got golems, we got Allura, we got a dungeon crawl, we got a map! We got to find those two doors. This is the best. Oh man. Oh man. Oh man. Why are there so many

bunch of bad powers? What's on the other side? So that's a secondary map. There's a secondary map we have to figure out. Oh, here. Well, we're in the engine of the Happy Fun Ball. Yeah, that is as much as Yussa has mapped out. Wow. Holy shit.

Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. From what you previously heard and confirmed, in a hundred or more chambers within the Folding Halls. Jesus Christ. So, we cool, we cool. We'll pick up there next week and see where this goes. We'll post this picture somewhere? Yeah, you can put it online.

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