Critical Role - C3E104 The Cradle's Convocation

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Bells Hells meet with the Exandrian Accord in Vasselheim, where plans begin to form and connections begin to solidify... BEACON  We’re excited to bring you even MORE with a Beacon membership! Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to the shows you love completely ad-free! You’ll receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord. YOUTUBE MEMBERS / TWITCH SUBSCRIBERSTwitch Subscribers and YouTube Members gain instant access to VODs of our shows, moderated live chats, and custom emojis & badges:  https://www.youtube.com/criticalrole/join  https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole     "It's Thursday Night (Critical Role Theme Song)" by Peter Habib and Sam RiegelOriginal Music by Omar Fadel, Hexany Audio, Ghiya Rushidat, Karam Salem, Neal Acree, and Colm R. McGuinness"Welcome to Marquet" Art Theme by Colm McGuinnessAdditional Music by Universal Production Music, Epidemic Sounds, and 5 AlarmCharacter Art by Hannah FriederichsAnimated Introduction by Kamille Areopagita, Kevin Areopagita, Mark Adams and Peggy Shi Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources

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. Play Dungeons & Dragons! Okay, well, our first sponsor of the night, in case you can't tell, is a collaboration between Critical Role and Among Us. Sam, why don't you tell us about it?

Sure, Matt. That's right, we've teamed up with Intersloth to design a CR-themed cosmetic pack, aka Cosmic Cube, for the game called Gilmore's Curious Cube. Now you can play Among Us alongside Vax, Knott, Chetney, Molly Mock, Laudna, Fern, Jester, and Artagan in the iconic game of teamwork and betrayal. The Cosmic Cube also includes Mister and Peté as pets plus unique hats featuring Sprinkle, FCG, Orthax, and more. And Impostors who equip with Chetney's cosmetics will unlock a unique werewolf kill animation

the first time Innersloth has created a bespoke kill animation for any collab. That's amazing, and I can see that you convinced the cast to dress up for the occasion? Most of the cast, Matt. Someone seated before you is not a cast member of Critical Role, they are in fact an imposter. I got you. Now Matt, can you figure out who it is?

Hmm. Yeah, Matt, can you figure out who it is? Mm. Yeah, move around, everybody. There you go. Make it nice and helpful. All right, quick, everyone roll your dice. You all have very distinct rolling styles. Here they go, here they go, okay. Okay. Ah! It's Travis!

He didn't do his little backflip thing, right? Okay, let's see it. Would the real impostoster please reveal themselves? Okay. Uh. Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay. There's one more. There's one more.

I think that's not the only imposter. Let's reveal them all. What is happening? Oh, oh! More impostors! Impostors abound! More impostors still! Oh god!

Impostors birthing! Some impostors are stuck! Help those impostors! Those impostors! Those imposters. Wait, there's still one more imposter. Okay, Liam, we got you, we got you. Okay. Liam, we got you. We got you. Liam? Liam?

Oh god. Okay. What the hell? Why am I the only one in this bloody costume? Oh, well. This is awful. I'm sorry, Taliesin, but Ray, pay up, please. Yeah, I can't believe you fell for that. Yeah, we got you. Sorry, Taliesin, but Ray, pay up, please. Yeah, I can't believe you fell for that. Yeah, we got you.

Sorry, Taliesin. Thanks, Marisha, thanks, Taliesin, and thank you to Intersloth. The Critical Role and Among Us collaboration is now live for a limited time until November 12th. Find Gilmore's Curious Cube in the Among Us store and check it out at bit.ly slash A-U-X-C-R for more info. Now I'm done venting. Back to you, Matt. Check it out at bit.ly slash A-U-X-C-R for more info.

Now I'm done venting. Back to you, Matt. Thank you so much, Sam. Oh, and thanks to the amazing crew for being our imposters. Thank you all so much. Sorry, Taliesin. Our next sponsor is Chipaku. Are you looking for high-quality fantasy maps

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for sponsoring this episode. And I believe with that, Marisha, you're up next. The VOD of our latest Everything Is content is available to watch right now on Beacon and YouTube, where Ashley and Taliesin, they sit down and they play a little turn-based naval combat in SteamWorld Heist 2. We had a good time. That's right. Yeah. The first thing I was like, what are we doing?

It was fun. Me too. We had a good time. That's right. That's right. First thing I was like, what are we doing? What are we doing? Beacon members can look forward to our next Fireside Chat as well on Monday, August the 19th. This time with Taliesin Jaffe. He's going to be answering questions directly from our live Beacon Discord. So be sure to join and stay tuned on Beacon.tv. The fireside chats are really fun, and they're nice. He may take your soul. He may take your soul if you have a question. Well, you just can't stare into his...

I only take 10%. 10% is industry standard. That's all you need to siphon? Oh, that'll do it. Your glasses look nice, man. Well, Daring to Impress also continues its Queen era with the announcement of Queen by Midnight Quarter Past, a new standalone expansion to Queen by Midnight coming November 13th. Not that far away, y'all. Creator and designer Kyle Shire and the fantastic creative team from Darrington have created a perfect entry point to Queen by Midnight, working great on its own and also adding a wealth of fun to the base game when played along with it. So this deck-building board

game of princesses locked in a battle royale brings a more travel-friendly format than the base game, which has an amazing whole set up with a massive clock tower and stuff. But this has two player rules, has tons of new bizarre cards to add to it or use along with this, as well as four new princesses with unique strategies to incorporate with your competitive battle royale. So pre-order with your friendly local game stores or hop on over to Critical Role shops for a closer look and to sign up to be notified when this beauty arrives. Liam, you're up next. Hey, guys. How about a quickie? Thest Cosmos have officially arrived in a comic shop near you. Thanks to the third person and our pals at Dark Horse Comics.

Yeah! Midst Address Unknown is a standalone issue exploring the origins of the Islet of Midst. It's Islet. Islet of Midst, providing you a chance to explore this rich world in a whole new way in a comic. Pick up Address Unknown wherever you get your comics, and in September, look forward to the next standalone story of Midst, the valorous farmer. Ooh. Hey, Laura.

Huh? You're up. Oh, you guys! Okay. What's that stuff? What's that stuff? Look, look, look, look. Laura, go on.

What? It's our healing party. What? Whoa! Oh, thank you. Oh my god. I know. What's Jester doing on there? Jester.

Oh! It's her late level. That's when she actually did heal people. Oh, got it. That's true, that's true, yeah. Yeah, I don't remember that. Look at MCD. I don't remember that at all.

Oh man. This is so beautiful. That's really pretty. Myrmidia is the artist and I am't remember that at all. This is so beautiful. That's really pretty. Remedia is the artist, and I am in love with this shirt. And it's available in the U.S., in Canada, in the U.K., and the E.U. Three out of four ain't bad. And also, if you were at the live show, you might have seen this, but it's available now in all of our shops.

That's really cute. Nice. That's a thing. It's subtle, it's cute. It's by Jordan Torrance. Jordan Torrance, shout out. Yeah! I'm going to wear the shit out of both of these things.

I know, right? I'm really excited. It's very hot, or else I wouldn't put that on right now. God, it's hot in here. It is a summer in Los Angeles. I believe that concludes our announcements. It is a summer. So, let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of

Critical Role. We climb until we reach the top, two by two we fall Will we meet our end or meet our destiny? Hold your breath and roll It's Thursday night All ye Critters come join us, it's time to continue our plight There is magic and mystery Who knows what will happen He might

But one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight From the healer to the renegade We all share the same goal Adding more allies Taking more chances Hold your breath and roll You can certainly try

It's Thursday night All ye critters come join us It's time to continue our play It's Thursday night There is magic and mystery From darkness our friendship will rise But one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight

Oh, get ready It's Thursday night! And welcome back. So last we left off, Bells Hells, after trekking to the ruins of Aeor, had an encounter with Ludinus Deleath himself, which he showed you visions to the ruins of Aeor, had an encounter with Ludinus Deleath himself, which he showed you visions of the fall of Aeor in hopes of expressing the dubiousness of the great deities that are considered

the prime beings of law and morality in this world. After trying to convince you to come to join him and the vanguard and their interests, you combated his outlook and combated each other's with some internal strife and communication. After which, Laudna's own dark passenger was triggered. And thus battle ensued with a Delilah-possessed Laudna. You defeated her. And thus battle ensued with a Delilah-possessed Laudna.

You defeated her, and while she was reduced within, used the soul anchor that you had taken from the ruins and successfully completed a ritual with Essek's help that bound Delilah into the stone, which was then bound within you, reversing the power dynamic between you and Delilah. After which, you went to go meet up with the Voice of the Tempest and the rest of the troop that was waiting on the western encampment

within the Hellcatch Valley. You arrive to find it in ruins, still smoldering, the fallen stone being picked through by Rylorans and vanguard soldier alike, with rapid reaction, teleporting to Vasselheim. There, you were able to maneuver through the city, climb the stairs that lead to the Platinum Sanctuary, where it seems a lot of dignitaries

from around Exandria are gathering, along with their compatriot armies and protectors. Upon arrival of that, Essek had to say his goodbyes for there was tenuous relations with some other figures that were present. But upon arriving here on the outskirts of this crowd that had gathered in the central forum of the Platinum Sanctuary,

you were trying to push through to get a good view. You saw people from all over Exandria here. You saw within Vasselheim itself, the Highbearer Vord, the Earthbreaker Gruun, there's the Holy Curator and the High Hierophant, as well as the Coven of the Vale of the Mentioner Ravens present. J'mon saw Ord, the leader of Ank'Harel,

and one of the great rulers of the northeastern side of Marquet is present. Keyleth, the voice of the Tempest, is present. A little battered, but other than that, looking fine. The Bright Queen of the Krynest is present. A little battered, but other than that, looking fine. The Bright Queen of the Kryn Dynasty is present. Gavis Aranda, you do notice, from the Chandei Quorum of Drusar is present. Guardian Broforbertoris,

Toforbertoris is also present from the Council of Tal'Dorei, as well as mythmaker Ki Mandozi, who you met at the encampment before it collapsed. Allura and Kima are present. A number of other figures from all over Exandria are present. As you tried to push your way through,

a massive goliath figure with oversized stone gauntlets, a bit of a paunch, and a black fuzzy beard with streaks of gray made your announcement loudly, causing the group in front of you to divide slightly and the entire chamber to shift its attention back to you in one moment. And here in that tense, awkward silence, with one occasional off in the distance,

all eyes are on you. I've got Auram on my shoulders still. Well, I really don't like this. Well, didn't mean to interrupt. Keep going. We'll catch up. Context clues. A room of grumbles begins to build up as conversation begins to sweep back

into a bit of a chaotic spin. Voices shouting out, We have to assemble our communal forces, our greatest warriors. Let us plot a unified assault like the likes have not been seen since the Calamity. Yes, yes, the army's already scattered at home. We're trying to figure out.

We understand the discomfort of such arcana is widespread within your walls, but we require approval to maneuver armed masses towards the fray and rapidly before even skyships cannot provide that sort of speed. Somebody else on the back shouts, We have unlikely powers from our disposal, allies from darker places and factions.

We have chosen of the betrayers who have sworn themselves to the cause. At which point, the Bright Queen immediately shouts out, Absolutely not! Echoes through the hall, her with her massive horned crown behind her head, and the guards slam their spears in the ground, echoing through the chamber.

Somebody else off to the side, this older woman you see with a heavy robe, goes, We have seen firsthand what their alien warriors can diminish some of our protective magics, and certain elite soldiers can prevent restorative magic altogether. How do we face such anathema?"

Another older mage, you see this long, very Vincent Price-looking human archmage with a tanned, liver-spotted exterior, very short gray hair with streaks of white across the back of it, and a red golden robe sits down. Make a history check if you're from Marquet. Liver-spotted.

You've spent a period of time in Marquet. Period of time in Marquet, or? I'll extend a period of time, like a few years in Marquet. A period of time in Marquet, or? I'll extend a period of time, like a few years in Marquet. 18? 16? 16, good. 18, I'll go with that. 19. Okay.

The two of you may have seen this figure once before, when a small historical post-Apex War parade went through the Talon Highlands. There was a small celebration at your hometown, and one of the figures there that briefly showed up but then got out as soon as they could with the lack of interest to be out in the boonies of the Highlands themselves, an individual known as Galtheid of the Ember Vigil, who is the Archmage of Sruargus, which is the capital, the apex city of the Talon Highlands, and one of the two factions of the Apex War. Galtheid of what?

Galtheid of the Ember Vigil. Ember. A figure that you both recognize, but the rest of you would not be able to make out. You also, glancing past him, you can see there is, I think I mentioned last time, you saw the two, the king and queen of Uthodurn, Queen Furnast and King Talviel

are present within the chamber as well, as you get a better view in Sweeping Cross. And other figures that wear the colors and banners of the Dundalian Empire, of the Clovis Concord. You see just this spread of fears all in the midst of this heightened conversation. Galthied, as you recognize, says, The ever-tangled mess of the solstice

continues to place stress upon the trellis of ley lines, threatening an imminent unraveling of our world's magic as long as that bloody bridge continues to hold Ruidus in place. It must be destroyed. Gavis Aranda from Jussar steps forth. Our denizens are in disarray, terrified of the solstice skyline

and the vanished red moon shaken by the whispers of war. While vanguard growth within most of our communities seem to have been stayed for the moment, we are still just discovering the insidious depths of Ludinus' influence. We need to root it out domestically before we rot from the inside. One of the other figures of one of the temples goes,

Matters at home must be finished or held, for the window of time to act directly closes imperceptibly soon. Goes back to Galathea, he says, the chaos of the Solstice still echoes, and not all communities have the resources or manpower to have our local challenges quickly wrapped up. Another figure steps forward.

Emissary Lord Gedengraf, what happens if we fail to quell the worries of divinity? If the gods destroy the Divine Gate and start another calamity? Leveling Exandria once more to using stone and bronze? What assurances do we have that the gods will allow us the chance to sort these issues before resorting to Armageddon?

The room quiets for a second as everyone hears that phrase, and the only sound that rings out in response is the echoing chuckle of Ashton across the room. A few people look back in the room and glance toward them. Sorry. Ludinus told us what he plans on doing next,

and you hit the nail on the head. Everyone looks at you of complete lack of recognition or interest, and people have that immediate glance of who the hell let this riffraff in. Keyleth steps forward to support your statement. We've many of our finest who have been out in the field, battling vanguard powers, gathering intel on their movements, seeking answers in the frozen ruins of Eiselcross

as of late. Yet our attempts to scramble through Ludinus' long-plotted chaos keeps us on the back foot. Even now, we've lost our footholds in the Hellcatch and many lives along with them, waiting for you all to get your shit together! At which point, Keyleth puts her hands out

and she raises her hands. You can see now in the center of this chamber, there are numerous thin channeled basins, almost like in the lowered central area between all of these council seats. There is an open, almost like the center of a courtroom floor. And there are these thin, half-foot long

little water canals that seem to spiral through this pattern, almost like a Celtic knot. As she raises her hands up, the waters shift up and begin to spin into a sphere. The sphere, as it spins and widens out, begins to shimmer and a vision begins to come through, like a projected scry spell seems to then gloss over this glassy surface of the spinning liquid. And what you see now is the Hellcatch Valley, the Malleus Key itself, the red beam of the Bloody Bridge rocketing up past view

and the cavernous expanse of the Tishton excavation site around it. As dust begins to build up, you see the landscape around it. Masses, impossible masses of dust and stone and earthen materials from Exandria begin to punch up from the ground, one after another, like localized earthquakes are just jettisoning bits of stone

from the very surface itself. You see as they rise up with these massive sounding cracks, thunder rolling with each impact, as everyone watches quietly, each echoing throughout the chamber. You watch as the landscape around the Malleus Key is building into a fortress. Something, someone, or some things

is magically carving a stronghold out of the surrounding landscape around the key. You see towers come to rest at odd, twisted angles, dust settling and falling to its sides. Does it broodian? It looks like it's carved from the surrounding landscape of the Hellcatch.

Is this happening real time? Is this happening real time, or is it? Does this look primordial, elemental? Make a nature check or an arcana check. Probably both suck. Who's actually capable of doing that? 14. Earth Asheri or a titan? 14.

You're uncertain. Yeah. As the rapid ascension of this stronghold begins to settle and the dust clouds begin to slowly dissipate, the vision ends and the water flashes and hits the ground before it all begins to seep into the channels once more. Was that happening right now?

That was the last thing that we saw before we were under assault. We need to work together, united, now, now, now, now! Echoes through the chamber. There's a pause as everyone looks at each other, someone whispers over shoulders. Now, now! Echoes through the chamber. There's a pause as everyone looks at each other, someone whispers over shoulders. A figure steps forward, a tall, thin, dark-skinned, burning ember-eyed figure with long, thin black hair and simple clothing. Those of you from Marquet recognize this as J'mon Sa'ord, the leader of Ank'Harel.

The voice of the Tempest is correct, and Ank'Harel is in agreement. Who else is of like mind? We are. Other hands start rising and going up. A figure puts their hand up, and J'mongi Zanon steps back. Marquis Xe'Fuludon, the Concord agrees and commits the majority of our non-naval forces

to helping wipe every last one of these moon-born heathens from the surface of our realm. Allura steps forward. That is not what Keyleth means, Marquis. There are many innocent people of and upon Ruidus who also suffer under, and the High Curator steps forward. People? They are godless creatures born in the red shadow

of the God Eater. They are outside of the laws of our creators. Ruidus born in the purest sense, and belonging not within or near our sympathies." The Bright Queen follows in off of that immediately. How can we be certain these denizens of Ruidus aren't all bent on our destruction? You speak of certainties and perspectives none of us could possibly know.

The wind in the room picks up more. Everyone looking around again, causing the rising tensions to dissipate in just a moment. Keyleth has her hand up. But we do know some among us who have seen it walked into the Crimson Storms themselves

and infiltrated their capital city. And they return to us now. As Keyleth puts her hand out towards the rest of you. From Fearne's shoulder. We've been there. We've seen its people with our own eyes. The crab begins to pull away from you a bit, and the central part of the chamber

begins to reveal itself. I use Question. Is Everoa here? You do not see Everoa currently. Make a perception check, actually. Okay. That's good. 24. 24 is great.

Because you know what you're looking for, you see a squat hooded figure that is kind of amongst the Ashari that are around where Keyleth is currently holding court in the center of this forum. Okay. The tension here is understandable. Please, you're speaking without all the information.

Don't act from ignorance. Let us fill in some of the gaps. Friends, compatriots, and allies, this is the group of chosen heroes, Bells Hells, who graciously offered their lives time and time again in the pursuit of stopping Ludinus, the Vanguard, and all of these terrors that have transpired

in the weeks since. If anyone present deserves the floor to speak, it is them. Chosen. Chosen feels strong. Chosen, yeah. But willing. And there's a lot to say. We've seen even more than you know now. The room settles a bit.

Everyone shifts as you all step out a little bit to take the, as much as you want to, the central floor of this forum space where multitudes of high throne chairs and ramshackle sitting arrangements all just encircle the center of this temple floor. We start with the moon and make our way to Aeor. As we step forward, can I just pop a Divine Sense

to see if there's any celestial fiend or undead around us? Certainly, yeah. You gather your thoughts around you. No undead. No fiend. But certainly a handful of celestial throughout this chamber. Really?

You can't quite, you know the direction and it just points to crowd or groups of people on certain chairs, but you're uncertain who is what. Not at this distance. Cool. Situation on Ruidus is as complicated and faceted as things are here in Exandria. They're not one monolith of will.

There are people in control. There are people oppressed. There are people oppressed. There are people fighting. And the worst of Exandria and the worst of Ruidus are working together. It's true. You've got just as much of a diverse culture and biome and wildlife that you would see here on Exandria. It's just been cultivating for several thousands years. And it is not without knowledge of the gods, either.

All the people on Ruidus experience what we know. They know of the gods. They call this the, is it the Greenland or the Blue Dream? The Blue Dream. Thank you. They call this the Blue Dream. The Greenland. Greenland and Iceland.

Actually, it's very confusing. It's very confusing. It's just the flatter. The flatter. Enjoy the pizza. They experience our thoughts, our emotions, our joys and our sorrows. They dream our dreams? Mm-hmm.

There are children there. It's beautiful. Laudna is going to make just a silent image and kind of hold it aloft over where Keyleth is projecting her image and starts cycling through all of the people and the heritages and the races and the heritages and the races and everything that we saw,

just almost like as they're spinning and it kind of like spins and switches and spins and you see a Bormodo, you see a Ruidian, shifts again and again and again. As much as we'd like to go into all of the political structure of what we experienced, I'm afraid time is not on our side. We ran into Ludinus in Eiselcross, and what he uncovered can change everything. If you think you're fractured now,

you have no idea how bad it's going to get. You see Allura's hand out, like she's trying to grasp for a question to ask before another voice across the way, the Bright Queen, steps forward a bit. And if you would mind sharing with us what it is Ludinus has discovered that is so dangerous.

Gladly. Proof. Proof, yeah. He discovered an orb. Memories of Eor. Everything that happened leading to its downfall. Its last day. Everything that happened. Everybody that was there. The truth of every moment of it.

The gods. I start shifting the silent image to the mortal form of the Everlight. The mortal form of the Dawnfather. The mortal form of the Raven Queen. They walked on Exandria and contributed to the downfall. You see them as mortals in these memories, and it's not contained to Ludinus, not anymore. He's gonna find a way to share this to everyone on Exandria. Everyone's going to know. Just as we mortals, all through history,

they have their fallacies. A couple of chuckles in distant parts of the room. No, really, it's going to be quite divisive. You spoke of how unheard of it would be if the Betrayer gods, those worshiping them, would contribute to our cause. The Betrayers and the Prime, they work together. We saw it.

Happily. On that day. For that moment. Some of the mages of that city meant to fell gods. The Betrayers in the Primes came together and wiped them all out. They taught them a lesson. Good. They deserved it. Are we all seriously this worried about a historical truth? And you see the figure stepping forward, speaking.

This would be the Holy Curator. It is the fucking High Curator. This is Cobalt Soul. The Holy Curator. No, the Holy Curator is of the Quadroads. This is of the Lawbearer. Got it. That's motherfucker.

Historically, we know the gods worked together to destroy the city of Aeor, because it needed to be destroyed. Itself marked the height of mortal arrogance and misuse of the knowledge and power it was granted. It is a cautionary tale, the Age of Arcanum and its end. It's the height of the gods' arrogance, also, and it shows.

There's some gasps in the back of the room. Some of the soldiers swear. Are you idiots really not prepared for what people are going to think of this? Are you so fucking blind? Shave it, shave it down. Wood, shave it down. Just one step down.

Been through a lot. Forgive our friend's bluntness, but he is not entirely wrong. We have met a lot of people, encountered many folk who were swayed by Ludinus's song. Not everyone's faith is as strong as those in this city. I show images of

the gods betraying their acolytes, letting their followers die. Of the Archheart. In times of great trauma, even purely faithful can fall from the path and make alliances with unholy or terrible entities. We wouldn't want that to happen to any of your friends and followers.

And some nods in the chamber. Make a persuasion. Oh! That's unbelievable! New Breas dice. Is that a 19? Yes! That's a 19, bud. So, Mila, did you get some Ashley dice?

33. Wow. Great. The nods begin to spread a bit. There's acknowledging across the chamber, and you can see some of the individuals wearing ranked raiments of various temples steeple their fingers and get lost to a furrowed brow

in the midst of thought at the statement. Keyleth steps forward a little bit. The danger of the gods is definitely one, the danger of their reveal is one thing to be debated. The fate of those from the Red Moon, equally important. She steps aside and as she does, reveals the hooded figure you see there sitting. It peeks out from the hood towards Keyleth, and Keyleth goes,

Go on. Go on, I got you. Averroa! Averroa! Hide! You got this. Steps out the heavy waddling gate of the Bormoda, stepping out for a bit and then pulling the hood back, revealing the unique and non-exandrian musculature and physical form of the Bormoda. Squat with its two large, hulking arms and its tiny chest-curled ones up front, its thick, trunk-like legs stepping out to the center. It takes a moment for her to glance around wide-eyed. The darkened orbs of her eyes look both filled with awe and terror terror simultaneously as she almost begins to stumble into a moment of anxiety and... oh, the word escapes me for a moment suddenly. Vertigo. You watch as some movement from underneath the hood catches up and small Saita, Gona, rushes up and begins rubbing against her cheek.

Aw, soothe. One of the small arms reaches up and grabs and holds it there. Hello, everyone. Hello. My name is Ur-Varoa. Ah! Pfft.

That's clear. Amazing. I am one of the people of Ruidus that these fine individuals are talking about. It's a rugged, harsh life, perhaps, but it's the only one we've known for centuries. Inner conflict, limited resources. It's all kept the majority of our scattered clans

from truly walking in the dreaming call of Pardathos. Instead, sleeping within your dreams and longing for color and zest. Freedom. We are a very much varied, gentle lot historically, since honed to a deadly edge under the tyranny of the Weavemind over generations. These five Rylorn overlords have worked

in distant concert with Ludinus towards this very moment in time where their tyranny could spread to your world. The Blue Dream. Exandria. She looks back towards Keyleth and looks towards the rest of you. The vast majority of our people

only wish to be left alone maybe one day walk the golden fields and swim the crystal waters of your world when out from under the weave mine subjection we can be kind beautiful even just as you are all of you We can be kind, beautiful even,

just as you are, all of you. We have far more in common than not. There's this long pause and you can see some people are leaned forward and raptured, a few are just stoically taking it in. There's some whispers over shoulders. It's two individuals that are sketching intensely. Your world is, you say, is tangled in disorder? Your magic's twisted and nearing and unraveling?

None of this is coincidence, as I myself was coerced to be tangential in executing this plot. More whispers begin to circulate the chamber, self was coerced to be tangential in executing this plot. More whispers begin to circulate the chamber and you can hear the shifting of armor and handles being grasped, just in case. For that, I am filled with regret. The mess you wallow in is by design, and it is meant to hold you back

until it is too late to stop them. I can offer what insight I can to your cause to atone for my part in all this. All I ask, my mouth is so dry. All I ask is some empathy for my brethren, misguided or indoctrinated, as some of them may be. I pass out my water skin, just sneak. Feeds from the side of him.

That is all. She goes into a kneel. from the side of him. That is all. She goes into a kneel. So immediately, conversation starts going. People are talking. I was like, what's going on? Don't trust it here. Sorry, in her head, she hears,

You did great, sweetie. If I may, for the people in this room who are listening today, we are far better served trying to win the Ruidians as our allies against the small circle of folk at the top who are working with Ludinus above them. There is no need to start a war against innocents. We've already made contact

with some Ruidians on the inside who are on our side of this cause. They call themselves the Volition. They'd be willing to help, but they will need resources and our trust and loyalty from them and us to them as well. Middle to older age male in decorated robes and an endless supply of rings and jewelry with graying, blonde, long hair, steps forward, carrying an emblem across his chest of the triple diamond of the Assembly.

Speaking on behalf of the remains of the Cerberus Assembly, those who were also duped by these atrocious plottings. Insight check. Who is this? Jesus. Make an insight check. Yeah, what do they look like? I don't know, I don't trust anyone with insight. You got too many rings.

They are an older gentleman with graying blonde long hair. 15. 15. Liam's on a trail watch. He seems to be speaking loudly in a chamber. I think this guy is loud. In a chamber.

He's in this chamber. The echo is really rough. This is all possibly a grand boon, but if indeed these individuals had traveled beyond the Bloody Bridge, there is also the opportunity that they have been compromised, and this is also part of Ludinus' plot. We've worked alongside him for a very long time,

and his machinations go far deeper than even we were prepared for. How do we know we can trust these bells' hells? Some other conversation begins to brew a bit. Keyleth looks over towards this figure, who just crosses his arms a bit. More murmurs begin to get louder and louder. You can see some groups are starting to turn insular. The chatter begins to brim louder. Eventually, there is a heavy and a spark rains out from the

center of the room and flutters down, everyone stopping and looking upward as the High Bearer of Org steps forward. We all speak from places of impassioned concern and holy guidance, wrestling with revelations, all in the wake of a strategic loss. The hour grows late, and many of us are on many sleepless days. Let us adjourn for the evening,

recover our hearts and our minds, and counsel within our circles. In the morning, bring your finest war minds to the Trial Forge and we shall speak of a unified plot, as which is largely in agreement within this chamber. With a clear vision to proceed, we will return to these halls for debate and approval. This is adjourned.

Boom, for a second, boom, it's the ground. And immediately, all the groups break off, begin to divide and talk amongst themselves, gathering into each other. And you're now almost swept up. And you're not immediately swarmed by people talking towards you, but people are getting near you

and just talking amongst themselves and watching. Yeah, it's true. We're real. We will take appointments, by the way. You can find us at the, fuck, who's been here before? Where are we staying? Fearne, can you swim through to the Tempest? Thank you. Excuse me, excuse me.

Ow. Move. Step aside, Fearne, coming through. Those hooves can kick. Yeah, excuse me. Ow. Move. Step aside, Farn coming through! Those hooves can kick! Yeah, they can. You all begin to push through, and you come to Keyleth, who is there with Allura and Kima.

Allura hands together, rubbing them in Keyleth's like, I hate this place. Psst. Wait, Allura's saying this? Huh? It's Keyleth. Oh, it's Keyleth's. Like, I hate this place. Psst. Wait, Laura's saying this? Huh? It's a Keyleth. A Keyleth? Yeah. That was a Keyleth. Idiots.

He got that one. Hi, idiots. So good to see you all. So do you want the full download? Not here. We should talk more in the moor. Let's step outside. Mm-hmm. We should talk more in the moor. Let's step outside. Come this way.

I hope we didn't speak out of turn. Not at all. You were wonderful. You were beautiful. We'll need more of that shortly. We just need to come at this forum with a very clear and defined vision. Otherwise, there's open room for debate, as you've seen, and many individuals willing to pull it apart.

I hate it. You've got to make a pitch. So, not alone, not alone. And Allura goes, We have some of our finest here, and the Child Forge is a place that is well-defined in best hammering out, if you will, the best procedure towards conflict. It's a place that is looked over

by the Stormlord himself and is blessed when it comes to conflict to come. So if there was a place to forge this, this would be the place to gather a blessing in the process. Besides, I think Keen Man just really wants to hit something and she's like, you know I do, Allie. I just look over at Keyleth. I feel you. I used to live here. As you all begin to settle out a bit, the groups begin to sift outward

beyond the doors of the Platinum Sanctuary and towards the long staircase that descends into Vasselheim. Laura, is she around? She's walking with you, yeah. You know, this is, hmm, it's going to be impressive. It's kind of intimidating. There's like, every important person is here right now. A few of them.

There's others that should have been here. Oh, we'll put a pin in that. Every important person is here right now. A few of them, yes. Others that should have been here. Oh, we'll put a pin in that, that's interesting. But what kind of safety measures do we have going on? Because if something were to happen here. You mean to us while we're talking, or the whole city? The whole city. Just from that and above.

As far as I understand it here, this city has existed for a long time for a number of reasons. For one, and she points out to the perimeter wall and along the outer wall, you can see there are these small shrine-like structures that are built along the wall. This prevents anything passing through the boundaries of this space through illusion.

At least when there is intent of aggression. There are a number of wards set up throughout the city, as well as Celestial Guardians that keep watch, especially since they've elevated the recent concern of Exandrian danger. Also, we do have, and as you walk past the stairs, she points up to the sanctuary, and you see the massive rooftop of the sanctuary with this beautiful-looking silver dragon statue that's perched across the top of it. You watch as its tail...

That's a new statue. Are you serious? There are, from what I know, at least three dragons of Exandria that are part from what I know, at least three dragons of Exandria that are part of this communal discussion, two of which were in the incognito within the chamber. What? Sick.

It's me, I'm one of them. It's me. Hi, I'm the dragon, it's me. Oh, stupid. There are an entire slew of platinum protective golems also at the ready of call for. There are, I don't know the specifics, but they're very particular. I just want to say, though,

we are dealing with a thousand-year-old elf with a very old grudge and daddy issues and access to ancient tech and moon magic. So I just want to point that out. If this were a slightly different fight, would he be the one that you would be consulting about how to keep this city safe? Are you talking about Ludinus?

I'm talking about Ludinus. There is another world where this is the person who you would talk to about how to keep this city safe? Are you talking about Ludinus? I'm talking about Ludinus. There is another world where this is the person who you would talk to about how to keep this city safe. So yeah, he knows about all of the defenses. Strangely enough, Vasselheim, not huge fans of non-tangential warship-based arcana. Everything that is instilled within this landscape is through divine ritual.

So if, say, the divine magics got weakened, then all of the defense here would be the same. It is possible, but as would any magic, really. Well, the worry is, you know, the myths say that this place stood against the gods, and then, Tempest, you've told me how this place survived an onslaught by a would-be god. Yeah, damn right it did.

Hand slams on the side of Allura's shoulder, and goes, Don't throw wind at me. Yeah, we just killed her. And that massive half-giant figure that led you in goes like, Yeah, that thing up there, that big old one? Yeah.

I did that. You did that? All by yourself? 1v1? More or less. I believe him. I know this would work when I see it. Where do you think I got these? Those are impressive.

Can I just, can you hold up your hand against mine? You are the tiniest little baby hand on this nonsense. Aw! Just a little lightning. Ah! Keeps you virile. Can I get a closer look at those? Do it. What?

Bang! Make a persuasion check. Steal that vestige. Okay. Did you say persuasion? Yes. Shit, okay. 22. 22, Glogos Yes. Shit, okay. 22. 22, Grog goes. So sorry, 32.

Oh, what? A 32, yeah, yeah, yeah. Goes, I mean, yeah. And just puts them right up to your face. And this man is massive. Leaning forward, there's two massive stones, and as it, the static curls on them, you feel that flame on the inside of your soul

begin to flicker a little bit. And there's some odd tether between them. They're made from... Because cotton cheese! Primordial. The gauntlet knuckles begin to glow red. The stone's beginning to heat up. He goes,

Um, um, it's making me uncomfortable. Pulls away. Ha! That's never happened before. It hasn't? I wonder what would happen if I put them on. No. Maybe later.

What's your name? My name is Fearne. What's your name? My name is Fearne. What's your name? My name? Oh, it's some kind of legendary title. Okay. Gran Pubard Doinkold is that, one of the masters of Whitestone.

Kind of a bit too legendary warrior from Vox Molkina. Oh yes. Grogory Stonja. Grog yes. Grogory Stonja. Grogory? Grogory Stonja. Grogory. Wow. He's so eloquent!

It's just a joke! He's gotten smarter and smarter. I think he just worked for a couple years. One IQ point per year. Oh yeah. He's so refined! He's got two more syllables to his name. Oh my god.

My fair barbarian. A voice kicks in and goes like, Grogory Stonejaw, is that what you said? Sure. Okay. A voice inside goes like, and Grogory shouldn't have been drinking before this meeting.

And you see next to him this small gnomish figure that you met in Whitestone, like trick or foot. He goes, guys! Hi! Hey, friend. Hi! Sorry we were in the middle of a thing when you arrived, but it's so good to see you all.

Hi. You went to the moon? Among other places. Yeah, we really mixed it up. It was intense in there. I just showed her my Ryloren fetus. Wow. Don't break it.

That's real gross. That's really creepy. Ha! Ha! Seriously. She looks to you and goes, I'm sorry, I don't think we've met. Hi, I'm Peg Trickflame. Oh, hello, Dorian Storm.

A pleasure to meet you. Dorian Storm, pleasure to meet you, too. How'd you get pulled into all this? Well, I most certainly did not go to the moon, but these are my friends from weeks ago. We've recently reconnected. I'm learning about everything with them. He did go to Eor with us, though.

He's extremely valuable. Wow. He's part of Bell's house. Well, welcome. you to do that. It's part of Bell's house. Well, welcome. Nice to have you. Me and Grog here are just working as temporary bodyguards for two of the dignitaries present.

Which ones? You can see she looks behind her and now talking off to the side, you see Keyleth is in the process of having a conversation with Vex'ahlia. Hey. So you're like us, you see Keyleth is in the process of having a conversation with Vex'ahlia. Hey. So you're like us, you're freelance adventurers? Kind of, yeah. Like, well, semi-retired.

Okay. You know, run a bakery. But yeah, things are kind of crazy. It's not selling a lot of croissants these days. It's all the... And you know. That's not selling a lot of croissants these days. It's all the... And you know. That's so stupid. It's a dumb joke.

I feel like a drunkard. They're selling croissants? Would it be the goat? Everybody needs croissants. Yeah, for sure. It's the shape. Oh, that's... It's like the people that want to buy Coronas

after no business. Oh my god. Maybe dying the bread was a bad idea. We don't want your moon bread, only freedom bread. Oh my god. Aw. Anyway, I've been, spent some time here, I have some friends here,

so I'm here also just to help, heal if not get too angry around the holy people. But it's so good to see you all. I'm glad you're okay. We should also introduce Brayus. Oh, hello. Sorry, I've been just sort of nervously in the background. Hi, you're a big one!

Oh yes, yes, it's actually my first day on the job. So it's been a lot to take in, and I'm just trying to observe. You guys went to the moon? Oh yeah, yeah. We did. We don't download. We have the same moment, not that long.

I feel like we just. Sorry. Brayus is more of a recent acquisition. We don't download the apps, do we? The same moment, not that long ago. They're like retards. Sorry, I have to lie. Brayus is more of a recent acquisition. How do Brayus and Grog stack up? So how tall is Brayus? Probably slightly shorter than Grog. Grog's what, 6'8", 6'10"? Yeah. I'm like 6'6", 6'4".

You can get that. 6'4", but then 6'8"? You have the horns. As you guys are having this conversation, you do see Grog is like, trying to stand up as tall as possible and trying to get the nose and the head past the horns. He's like, we're the same height. Yeah, you're both monochromatic, too.

I do have a drinking horn at my back of holding that might go on Grog's head. You're too big now, are you? You already have a special hat in your station, also, if I recall. Actually, he reaches into his bag and he pulls out a helmet that he puts on. It has this big, bladed horn in the front. Goes, mm.

No bed. Pretty good helmet. It's a good horn. Mine's bigger. Yes, it is. Maybe we'll arm wrestle for it later. Arm wrestle! I'm sorry, did I offend you? No!

Looks at Pike. Pike's like, Putties, not tonight. And does this, and you look around, and there's just, once again, the tense energy still letting out from the room as people skydiving. Give me 10 minutes. I'll give you 12.

He gets locked in there for a minute. Got it. I've been looking on for a minute. Got it. I feel guilty, doctor! Does that mean you have 22 minutes now? Or does that mean you're just? I think I found his weakness. Pike goes, Anyway, I probably got to get him

drinking water, but it's been nice to see you all. Maybe we'll see you in the morning or something. Wait, wait, wait, Pike, just a question. Since all these people are holy and they seem to have their little cliques and stuff, before we talk to these people that we don't know very well, is there any affiliation of yours

that we should be cognizant of? We don't want to reference you or anybody else that we've met and put you in an awkward situation. Oh, I'm not really closely moved in with much anyone here. I mean, the ones you're moving with are my people. Yeah. But your armor has the,

isn't that the symbol of the Dawnfather on the chest? Oh, oh. Well, actually, this is an interesting point of order. She's not wearing the Dawnfather's plate here. She's just wearing a standard travel armor. She's... Did you skip them? Yeah, no worries.

But good looking up. Too many campaigns. I know. But she does carry the holy symbol of the Everlight around. I was like, I can talk to my temple here. I helped refurbish it a while back, but yeah. I mean, as long as you're hanging with Allie and honestly, Keyleth and Vex, you should be okay.

I don't know if you're able to split off, but we're about to dump a lot of stories about the moon, if you're curious. Yeah, come with us. We're going with the Tempest. Where are we going? Oh, well, we can download a bit, but if we're supposed to be setting up plans

tomorrow morning at the Trial Forge, then we should probably get our ducks in a row for that. So you know what? Come walk with me. I'm going to show you one of the places here that I actually do like. And so she's going to go ahead and begin stepping away. Vex'ahlia steps up.

Oh, well. I'm glad you all could join us, finally. I'm glad you're all here. Where's the little metal one? I know, she's gorgeous. Ah. What did she say? He sacrificed himself.

I don't know. No longer with us. May the rest of you be well. I'm sorry to hear that. Thank you. We made our return possible. Yeah, he saved us all. Thank you.

You take that back. No, no, I was just here. Chucky, my saved us all. Okay. You take that back. No, no, I was just here, or? I'm joking, my friend Dory. Oh, it's just me. Me and the general Bratoris are representing the Council of Tal'Dorei alongside Allura here. Though she's more with the pansoffical.

She has her pants off. The other one goes, The Arcana Pansoffical, it's a, never mind. A general bratoris. Yes. A general bratoris. General bratoris. The guardian of the Tofer, that's part of the council. Got it. Pansoffical, though. Great.

Pantosophical. But I have two more meetings before the night is done, I'll swear, I have to get to. But I will be present for this meeting in the morning. I have some thoughts. Hopefully you'll bring some as well, and we can come in here and shut everyone the fuck up. Do you mean tactical thoughts?

Because there's a little bit of an understanding that we probably need to come to before we war plan. Well, Darlington. Well, I think we would tell you that the knowledge that we received from Ludinus, regardless of how people feel about that, is an insight into who these deities are, and obviously this city is dedicated to those deities.

So I think there's a conversation about which direction this room is going to go, left and support of the deities or right without support of the deities. And that room is going to need to be split or removed from the section that is disagreeing from the other side. That room's going to go left. It's everywhere else that I'm worried about. Is Pike still here or no?

Pike is still here. I run really quickly. Everlight? Yeah. Do you? No. I didn't think so. You didn't take me for a prey of any kind.

I'm just... She was there. Be ready. Okay. She was there. The only reason I bring it up is because there should probably be some magical means to ensure we know who's telling the truth and who's not.

You heard the Holy Curator, I think, calling people out if they can trust us. We're the least of your worries. We're going to need to know who's actually saying what they mean. I have some magical means of forcing people to tell the truth. That's hot. It is kind of hot.

It is hot. How do you do that? Not the... I just sort of stare at them, flare my nostrils. Oh god, it's working. I hate this. Oh!

Also, can you remind me, are you with anyone married, spoken for? I can't remember. Are you single? You're just absolutely stunning. Oh. No, not... No. He's not talking to you, Pike.

He's talking to the pretty one. The tall one. The blue feather. Oh, oh, holy shit. The really great booze. Striking image. So meek. Who are you talking to, Wooch? Vex. Vex.

Oh, yeah. Pike is just right in front. Oh, oh! Pike, did you just? What was that? There was a solid neg with a 4.0 on the dismount. The negging was good, but then you just lost it. Oh.

I'm sorry, excuse me. Yes. Did you put in a good word with your friend there? Yeah, no. Oh darling, even if I was single, you couldn't afford me. Yes. Did you put in a good word with your friend there? Yeah, no. Oh darling, even if I was single, you couldn't afford me. Ooh! Wow. She's so cool.

Chet, she's with the guy that's in Whitestone. She was? Yes, yes. A lot of time has passed between now and then. I'm just saying, this could be end of days. We're like here together and stuff. Oh yeah, that's right! Hey, you might like to know this.

I inappropriately open my blouse up and a little titty falls out. Are you all right? It's Delilah. That's Delilah. She reaches back for... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The minute you say Delilah's name, like Keyleth's head in a swivel. Okay.

And Allura goes, Maybe the wrong time to... She's trapped. She's been trapped. Locked up. Soul anchor? Laudna's in charge? Big magic. Trapped for all time.

The finest Aeor has to offer. Vex'ahlia steps forward with Keyleth off to one side and Pike on the other as they all approach Laudna. And Vex'ahlia, looking towards the scar. Yeah. Doesn't bother Vex. Just a little bit.

Like reaches out. Huh? Really? Yes, it was a whole thing. So she's alive, but she's trapped in this little bead. Technically not alive. How sure are you that this is perhaps permanent. Well, that same stone kept Grand Demon trapped for a thousand years.

A thousand plus years, yeah. Give or take. She and Keyleth share a look. Her own pike, and she looks over towards Allura. Allura goes, Grand Demon, that... Good luck, Delilah. At which point, Max goes, Oh, I love this.

Oh, can you talk to her? Can you force her to eat bad foods? Can you do it? Is there a way to make her hurt? It's the most privileged thing I've ever heard. I can sort of, I can, it's new. I'm still figuring it out. All I'm saying, darling, is make her hurt.

Well, that's lovely. There's some history there. Can you knock on her fishbowl? Can you? Ding, ding, ding. What happens if I do that? Oh! Ah!

It just comes flying out the back. Oh, my tit! It's going downhill. Touching it doesn't do anything. Do you want to look inward? Like, close your eyes and feel inward? Yeah, sure. Give me one minute. All right.

As you focus. As you focus inward towards where the anchor resides inside you, you can feel again that but whereas once it emanated around you like a cage, now it's just the faintest little tickle on the inside. And as you begin to push inward towards the darkness, the faint... You see something shift in the shadow.

You hear the grinding of metal. And as you begin to see some of the shapes, you see a thin, frail, broken wisp of a woman in tattered robes shackled to an unseen wall, her head hanging down, look up at you with burning purple eyes. Delilah. You. I have a question. She's just staring at you.

What's your most hated food? I will find a way out of you. Okay. And I will tear you apart, fiber by fiber. I will protract your suffering for eons. Unseasoned beans it is, all right. As you pull out of the shadow, her voice gets louder. You will, I will, echoes into the darkness.

Eggs, sunny side up. It's eggs, sunny cider. She's really not happy. Now that she's in pains, she's just going to have gas for days. I might sleep well tonight. Thank you for that one. All right. Our next meeting, Allura?

God, someone has to be over. As we begin to walk past, Kima goes like, All right, see you in the morning. Get some rest. It's only going to get more annoying. Bye, Kima. He drags back. Allura gives a nod. We should spar at some point, Kima. I really like that piece you're carrying.

Hey, thanks, you too. Yeah. As they begin to descend down the stairs, At some point, Kima, I'd really like that piece you're carrying. I would. Hey, thanks, you too. Yeah. As they begin to descend down the stairs, Allura joining them, Keyleth remains with the rest of you. All right. Well, I figure it's a good time of night

to take a walk in the garden. Come with me. May I ask you a question? Of course. You seem a little uncomfortable, a little angry here. You're not a fan. I have a hard time with really any kind of bureaucracy.

And while I appreciate and respect a lot of what the temples do, and there are some wonderful people here who are leaders of the community, there are others who may have bought into their position and their influence over the tenets of their faith at times. And I... I have a hard time with that level

of contradiction. Please, god, tell me some of those titles are inherited because there's some stupid fucking people in that room. I should not be saying that, but god, they're stupid. You really should not have been saying that out loud, Ashton. Those are the heaviest hitters on this flat earth. They could squish. Rest in peace, FCG.

They could flatten the lot of us in the blink of an eye. We are fucked. They are not thinking clearly. For sure. They also need to be read in on what we have, and if we can attract them with honey instead of vinegar, it's a good place to start, but I feel you.

I already, that Holy Curator, that fucking Nimrod, his ears closed to anything that we're going to have to say. At least he's saying what he thinks. That's fair. And Keyleth, you seem in decent standing with them. I feel like we need to tell you everything, but it's going to be hard to hear. I wish I could say I wasn't used to it.

Come walk with me. And she leads your troop down the stairs, the soldiers separating a bit. Evaroa has re-hooded and has come to join alongside you. And Evaroa, still feeling a bit uncomfortable, approaches. Hi, y'all, it's good to see you. You did so good. Hi.

Probably so stressful, I hate pubs. I'm still coming down from that. Thank you for the water, I appreciate that. Wow, this is... She looks out across the white moonlit expanse of Vasselheim as the snow just begins to fall from the bit of gray clouds above. I've never seen snow before. Oh. It's gone.

Kind of magical, huh? It's kind of damp. You can taste it. Can you? Yeah. You can just get a hold of your mouth. She opens her mouth and this massive Whoa! like a run rolls outward and catches.

It mostly tastes damp. Just if it's ever yellow, just leave it. Intense! It's probably yellow, don't worry. We really got a problem with that. We really got a problem. Oh god. Orym's going to start doing it, too. God's sake.

The rest of the Zephryn guards, the two that were flanking Keyleth, also escort. You recognize both of them as some of the individuals that you've sparred with in the past that were considered blades of the Tempest. From Zephyr. From Zephyr, yeah. You all trek down the staircase back into the central city.

Here, there's a calm quiet, even if there is a tension that sits over the world, especially in the shadow of the conversation that transpired. Other groups are still moving throughout the city. People are still having huddled conversations there is a tension that sits over the world, especially in the shadow of the conversation that transpired. Other groups are still moving throughout the city. People are still having huddled conversations in street corners that have settled out.

Others are finding their rooms for the evening, stationed at different inns and spaces throughout. Eventually, Keyleth leads you to an outer, beautifully tall, iron and wood, latticed gate that opens up into this incredible interior forest, like a forest that has grown as part of the city. At first, it looks like a tree line,

but as you step through, all these coiled, small sapling trees that curve upward to produce a glowing bloom, produce these rows of natural lanterns that scatter throughout. You can see all these winding, twisting trees with their boughs and branches pushing off in different directions,

with also lanterns hanging from branches and dangling, giving this beautiful nightscape of hanging natural glowing orbs and baubles that slightly sway with every push of the wind. Snow is just beginning to collect atop the trees and the various gaps in the canopy begin to gather and give little white ashen scatterings to the walkways through. Keyleth looks about and takes a deep breath, holding her staff. Welcome to the Birth Heart. This is the Vasselheim.

This is where the Wild Mother claims the holiest of her sights upon Exandria. This is one of the places in the city that I do have kinship with. In fact, it's where she holds her staff aloft. You can see the curled and curved crook of a staff in which a gem sits gently floating in space in the center of the crook top. I have this back on loan, given the state of things. But this also is a vestige to but I share with the Hierophant of this region. So walk with me, let us talk. It's funny, I have never been a man of faith like you, but have felt her presence on our road together.

The gods are watching, even as we take our road together. The gods are watching, even as we take our tiny steps. Watching with bated breath, I'd say. She was there as well. The Wild Mother. She tore a mage's throat out with her teeth. Really? She was kind of cool. She was really cool.

It kind of makes me like her more. Then she would appear here. But you could see the warmth. You could feel it, especially when she transitioned to her godly form. You could also see it when she talked to the betrayers. From what we could tell, the Prime Deities at least had come with a plan to take some time and try to resolve it

without any bloodshed or destruction, but it spiraled out of control pretty fast, and the mortals of Aeor, just like the Primes and the deities, were not in lockstep, and some of them still held some faith. Many more were looking to tear the gods down, and short of it is,

the two sides ended the threat. What will the seraphim do when they know? So what you've seen through this vision, this memory that Ludinus has recaptured from Aeor, in your worldly minds, do you think it will move the needle? We all know that the Prime Deities are well-meaning and good, but if others see what we saw, they will have doubts, and they will know that they are complicated, more complicated than perhaps we understood. And they made rash decisions, some of them violent,

some of them rash decisions, some of them violent, some of them bad decisions, and it could corrupt the will and empathy of lots of people here. I don't know how many people want to see their gods be human. It's nice to believe they're all-knowing, but from this vision, we've learned they are not. Not even necessarily good at being human. There's a comfort in ignorance, certainly.

I was scared. I mean, we got to watch it. And I don't know. I feel like hiding it from everybody. I don't know if I like that idea. It feels dishonest that people make their own choice. I think if anything, you learned, you know, the gods aren't bad.

Yeah. They're just... As fucked up as we are. Yeah. I feel like that's a pretty good lesson. I just think the difference is, when humans get scared, backed in a corner,

we are limited by our mortal capabilities. When the gods get backed into the corner, like a feral cosmic dog. Unlimited possibility. I was dropped into the middle of nowhere with nothing, nobody, no name, and managed to make it to a very reasonable age without burning an orphanage down. If anything, I feel like that gives me a minor amount of superiority at this point. I think that's more what's at stake here. It may not turn hearts away from the gods entirely,

but even that crisis of faith at this moment would rob them of a lot of the capability they have when they need it most. They need belief. They need worshipers, right? To gain power. I remember there was talk of the Everlight losing a lot of her power because her worshipers were killed. The smart thing would be to kill all of us before we can talk to people. They certainly had that debate, didn't they? They could have wiped the slate completely clean if they really wanted to.

They tried. The fact that we know what we know is a mistake. But it wouldn't have enough time. They had to go back, be born, live a life, It's a mistake. But it wouldn't have enough time. They had to go back, be born, live a life, and then act. They didn't crash the gate down then. I don't think they'll do it now. They can't crash the gate down anymore, right? I mean, they put that gate in place

because they realized they were too present. They left. I think it's good that they left. They learned and they left. I think they could break it down again if they wanted to, though. I think so, too. They built it. And from what we saw, again, not how I feel, but many people would not ever trust them to be faithful to their own word. Yeah. Plus, not to mention the fact beyond what the gods can do, Ludinus has a god-breaking,

gate-smashing device, or at least parts of it. I imagine he knows how everybody on this bloody council will turn anyway. I imagine there are tons of realities where he's in this bloody room helping make these war plans. I'm sure he knows every thought and he knows every stupid fucking move everybody wants to make and has already planned for it.

Could have friends in the room. Or does he want us all to think he's that smart? I know he wants everyone to agree with him. So far, that's the only thing that's kept him from killing us, is he wants us to say that we like him. No. The thing that has kept him from killing us is he needs us. He needs you, maybe. Well, he knows I wouldn't help him if all of you were dead.

He seemed to be interested in Fearne as well. Yeah. It's true. Keyleth, I think you're on to something, actually. I know a lot of people in that room were talking about needing to come together and shifting blame and everything, but the math of this is really pretty simple. Ludinus is trying to say,

help me release Predathos so that the gods can be wiped out. Nobody will rule over Exandria except mortal beings. Except, as we've said, we don't know if Predathos stops with the deities. It could just wipe everything. So we have to ask ourselves, are we going to help him do that?

Or are we going to understand that the gods are not perfect beings, they are fallible, and we have to stop Ludinus and the Red Moon. But to your point, I don't know if that's actually the decision. That could just be misdirection. He could be trying to do something different entirely. It's possible.

Aren't we supposed to show up tomorrow with some sort of plan or idea? Like a plan of attack? We're going to discuss with a number of other allies what we have at our disposal, what we know, and what we think might be the best course of action with what we have at our disposal, what we know, and what we think might be the best course of action with what we have at our disposal. Well, we should assume that Ludmus

is going to show this to the world. Do we know how? No. Oh. Did he say? No. He just said that he could. He also had abilities to spread messages across all of Exandria. I'm sure it's not hard for him

to do a little global projection. You're a bard. How do you spread messages like this? How do you spread legends quickly? I imagine it's a catchy hook. Is that how you do it? You have to have someone willing to listen first. An audience?

An audience. Mm-hmm. Like an entire populace gripped with fear and uncertainty. I just feel like they're trying to get us to choose sides again. Seems cruel, doesn't it? It does. History repeats itself. It was my least favorite subject to be tutored in, but if I recall the last time the people of Exandria made a choice, We lost two thirds of the population of this world. The only math I care about is how we save the most lives. I don't care what the gods want. I just want to save people, and I don't know how.

Tangentially related, but not the same issue. We have no idea what will happen if Ludinus pulls the trigger. Somebody does. Gods. Someone in that council chamber was saying that there's others willing to help, others who are aligned with the Betrayer Gods.

I wouldn't want to humor that idea, but if they're powerful, maybe we should consider that. That's funny, you strike me as someone who'd be really into strange bedfellows. Keyleth looks to you and goes, Having actually been to the Hells myself, I'm uncertain I'd throw in with any of that lot,

to be honest. The gods are, the Betrayer gods are acting on their own, anyway, without us. Been to all the hells? I mean, there's a few hells. That's all I wanted. I've been to a couple. A couple? Yeah. Really?

Have you? No, he's never been. I know, so why are you giving a shit? I just am curious. Don't measure your head right now. Why don't the gods bloody weigh in? Yeah, have any of the religious figures here spoken to their particular gods here?

Many of them speak on the behalf of the gods that they've communed with and continue to commune with. Has passed on any messages? As far as I understand, everything they speak is in the behest of their god. Isn't that always the way, though? I think we have to have a more frank conversation with the gods at this point.

I think they need to put some things on the fucking table. All we heard in that. What, like go talk to them ourselves? I have been to the moon. That's not a bad idea? I have been to the moon. That's not a bad idea. We have been to Eor. We have seen some crazy shit at this point, and maybe this is just, I believe everything.

I don't know if it's possible, but that seems like a pretty smart idea, actually. I don't think anyone can go talk to the gods. That doesn't seem feasible. Keyleth looks over her shoulder a bit, to a southern direction, the distant starences. It's been done with a variety of outcomes.

People have spoken directly. Not to brag here, but. Oh shit! You've done it? When I used to be part of an adventuring group like you all, we spoke to a few of the gods ourselves. Which ones? Well, someone very dear to me had a very strong connection to the Matron of Ravens. Whoa. Nice. She was cool.

She actually is. She is... Not cool. Fine. Okay. She was pragmatic. Sure. She was pragmatic. Sure. She's complicated. Oh boy, that's true. Are you talking about that feathered one?

That got turned into a little marble. Just trapped for forever. What? Sorry. Don't give. What? I was just curious. What now? What? Sorry. Key't give. I was just curious. What now? What? I'm sorry. Keyleth steps towards you. It's my character. I can bully her if I want to.

That's fine. That's fine. Fine, fine, fine. The greatest loss I've ever suffered, and the deepest wound I still bear to this day is because of her. She took from me the most important thing I have and will ever know.

So yes, she is complicated and he is gone. And he is in pain and he is in pain, and he is in that tower, in that bridge, and we will destroy it, and we will stop this. Yes, we will. Cheers to that. Maybe you'll have more reason to go talk to her. Maybe we can get him back. Maybe you can make a deal.

I have no interest in talking to her. I'd be my guest. You're here to talk to the Everlight. Okay, so wait, you spoke with her? Or the Wild Mother, or the Archer, or all of them. I've spoken with some of them, tangentially. Like, I've been around them. Other people took charge.

How? Well, there are ways to travel to different realms. But you don't want to go in half-cocked. Oh, well. Maybe. All about new experiences. I can't help but think. Yeah. You want a bow to God?

What does that mean? The priests in that room were just rattling sabers. Yeah. I can't help but think that this circle of people who have direct knowledge of that day, those days, could learn something from them, and maybe teach them something about us as well. That's certainly possible.

I might recommend maybe, maybe offering a prayer of communion in a temple first. Knock before you open the door. They seem understandably agitated, given the circumstances, and even just my brief encounters with them. As awe-inspiring as they might have been, my opinion is a bit colored over time because of it.

I'm tired of hearing stuff through a middleman. Yeah, I've been knocking and no one answers the door. We keep talking about what they think, what they say, we don't know. I used to pray when I was a kid. No one ever answered back. Sure is a lot. Well, this is the place.

If they were going to answer, they would be here. And also, with all due respect, all of those acolytes and high bearers and people with fancy titles in that room, even if they commune with the gods, who's to say that they're not twisting the words or omitting certain truths for their own? Oh, it's very possible.

The number of historical mysteries that have been buried into, locked into the vaults under this city is likely endless. But so it is with any system in power. I may not like how the Hiocracy here functions at times, I may not like how the Hiocracy here functions at times,

but I do feel that at least they're looking out for the best interests of their people and their followers. It's about convincing them that we can have both. We can take action knowing that it is in the best interest of their people. What makes you so sure? Chetney. knowing that it is in the best interest of their people. What makes you so sure? Chetney. Oh, just curious.

You went and talked to them before. Why? And what did you get from that? Wow. Like, was it just a combo, or did you need something? She looks over past the tree line that's now slightly broken to the looming shadow of that massive stone entity that's standing in the central streets of the city.

So me and my friends a while back might've fought a new god So me and my friends a while back might've fought a new god that rose on this side of the Divine Gate, a terrifying necromancer, one deeply tied to that bitch you currently have bound in your chest. You were here for that? I was part of the group known as Vox Machina.

Oh shit. Yeah, but I didn't put it together. That was, man, that was the pay-per-view. That's the giant titan over there. That we stopped, yeah. Also, you look phenomenal for your age. Yeah. Just having to say.

Yeah, thanks. That's true. It's like creams, or I don't know what you're doing. So you had to fight a god? We could not kill it, of course, but we did not know how. We tried to stop their ascension and failed. And when they became this burgeoning god,

their power began to rapidly grow with the faith they could farm and foster through fear. And that thing was one of its terrible miracles. It marched its way across this continent from buried far beneath the mountains to the frozen northwest of here. This wasn't in the menu at Taste for Teldore. No, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was the appetizer thing. It was that lava cake was really- That this god that you, or wannabe god or whatever, that you didn't kill, sent away somewhere? Where is it? We had to craft artifacts to seal it away. Divine trammels that were architected by these gods. And we had to gather the necessary materials

and forge them by their specifications in a volcanic ancient anvil forge beneath the ocean. We then had to combat it at the top, the peak of this titan, and managed to seal it with these tools. It sounds like some sort of convoluted game. It was deeply convoluted and,

honestly, over-rotten unnecessary. Talks mockingly. Over-rotten unnecessary. Just, I'm spitballing. This is a spitball. This is a bad idea. You just got to say the bad idea. What if we free that wannabe god and use him to kill Prydathos?

Oh. Is that a thing? Could we do that? Seems very powerful. I feel like there's a temperature check that had to go along with that. If this entity, whose name I will not mention here. What does it start with? It's blitzed.

If you say it three times, does it come to life? Absolutely not. Okay. Does it come to life, or? Absolutely not. I'll whisper it to you. Yeah. If this entity ascended, it would be of the same divine make that the rest of the Pantheon would be, hence why it was so dangerous. If Pardothos is an entity that devours that divine essence, it would be as useless as the others.

Oh, fair. See, now I'm beginning to understand why Ludinus thinks that if he shows this orb to the world, they'll side against the gods. You've only mentioned three in the last 20 minutes, and two, one of them you hate, and the other almost wrought the end of the world. I'm sorry, but I want to do the right thing,

but the gods seem like trouble. Sometimes there is no right thing. Sometimes it's just... If you're looking for the black and white, you're not going to find it. The Dawnfather. I know. The great god of the sun,

the glory of daylight, watches over us like a stern paternal general. I've met him and he's a peach. The Matron is a challenged, but necessary, lonely figure. The Everlight, as you've mentioned. Just a sweetie pie. Yeah, she was tiny. A once-fallen god that sees the best in those that maybe don't deserve it.

Oh, she'd even like you guys. But is a beacon of redemption in this world. Oh shit. The white light of Catha is looked upon by the Moonweaver, great goddess of illusion, shadow, trysts, hidden love, beauty in that regard. The Archheart, the god of arcana and art and creation. The one who blessed us mortals with the ability

to manifest arcane spellcraft outside of the gods' will and gifts. There are many gods, and they feel far away because they chose to be. I am not a follower of any, but if there is any that I feel closest to, we stand in her realm. And you see now, as your walk has come to a stop, there is one gargantuan tree that twists up

in the center of this massive terrace. This is the Birth Heart. This is one of the trees that are a symbol of eternal life and regrowth in Exandria. The Wild Mother watches over all that is natural, has taken on and lives with and is guardian to the spirits of nature that existed before she even arrived. Nature is fickle.

Nature can be angry, hungry. Nature can be beautiful. It can be warm. It can teach. It can take. It is a force of nature. It is what it is. Oryn grows a little bloom in his hand. Anytime you smell a flower,

you're enjoying something the gods have wrought, and the flower immediately withers and dies. As it dies around the blade, or it dies around your hand, you see this glow from seedling at your side. The flower was here before the gods, the flower would be here after. Above table question.

Wasn't it like Lava Party when the gods showed up? Lava Party? You mean like primordials? Stone, maelstrom, volcanoes going off. In some places, yeah. Isn't they tame in it? Why is your sword glowing? Make a history check. Oh, I'm a bug.

Make a history or religion check, your choice. Why's your butt glowing? Make a history check. Well, I'm a bug. Make a history or religion check, your choice. Where's your butt glowing? You should answer that. Because I got a goblin zone, you know. Is your butt on vibrate? That's a one, so I'll reroll it. Yeah, you can do that. That is real high.

That is 28. Ooh, 28. History or religion? History. History. History. You would know this because of your journey in Issylra, further cementing elements of broken history that you've picked up through the years. When the gods arrived,

much of Exandria was elemental tumult. It was landscapes that were shifting and changing, a perpetually amorphous Pangea. elemental tumult. It was landscapes that were shifting and changing, a perpetually amorphous Pangea, which they did historically tame, push to the various planes and bring it to a less dangerous space for the mortal life they wanted to craft

and see bloom and persevere. But there were also places of great natural beauty, trees and jungles and forests, the Eidolons, the natural nature spirits that you saw the cultures of Issylra beyond the religious influences of the temples of Vasselheim and Authansia worship and live alongside, that you've heard preexisted the gods' arrival. There was a natural thrum to the life of the world.

You've rolled pretty dang high. It is rumored and spoken in some of those spaces that before the gods came, life was a cycle of rebirth. The soul, upon death, would return to the world Before the gods came, life was a cycle of rebirth. The soul, upon death, would return to the world to be reborn into some other form. Wait, what? The afterlife as we know it did not exist

until the gods came and the realms of the gods were crafted. And now the spirit passes on to its divine eternity in the image of the god that it worshiped or the god of which it lived its life most followed, their tenets, their beliefs, into a beautiful celestial eternity or But yeah, so it was a lot of chaos, but there is debate as to how tumultuous it may have been. Okay, that's prehistory, right? Yeah, it's debated.

But as you're thinking this, you can feel this buzzing warmth from your sheath. Too bad. Poor Abel. It's in there. There's nothing to be done about it. I know, I know.

Standing by Keyleth, actually, it's here, so it's glowing on my back. Pull it out, because I can feel that. Is the blade? As you pull the blade out, you can see the vines and leaves that curl around the hilt of the blade all are reaching out, like small tethers

reaching towards the massive birth heart tree. That's right, we are talking about you. small tethers reaching towards the massive birth heart tree. That's right, we are talking about you. Hi. The wind picks up. In spite of the snowflakes that fall gently, this breeze is warm, and it pushes in the direction of the tree. What if you just touch the tip on it?

That's what I was going to say. Just give it a little tap. To the tree? You want me to find a knot to put it in? Yeah. Just don't sword fight her. Wood can be very inviting. Oh, I know. I don't know. There's something new about Chutney every day.

That's always the question. If I take a few steps towards the massive tree, does it change at all? If you step a few steps towards the tree, you can see the vines stretch a little further. I will touch the tip. If you step a few steps towards the tree, you can see the vines stretch a little further. Okay. I will touch the tip. No way. Okay.

So you begin to step, and it's about 50 or so feet to the base of the tree. As you begin to step out, Keyleth follows about 15 feet behind. The rest of you follow along as well. Yeah, I want to see this. Of course. I'm going to fuck that tree. I want to see you fuck the tree.

As you step towards it, you can see now, all amongst the tree, there are balconies, there are beautiful elf-designed lattice windows that are built into elements of it. This, and it is a massive trunk. Like, staring at it, you can barely make out the edges of it from each side of your periphery

when you're this close to it. It is like the base of a mountain, but a tree, with a number of doorways and gates and these little natural lanterns that turn inward towards it. As you hold the loft towards it, there is a center of knotted tree trunk that is gnarled and pushing upward,

and you see a glow of green towards one of these heavy roots. You once reached out to me another time across the ocean. You once reached out to me another time across the ocean. We could really use a frank chat with you. And I humbly ask with a sprinkle of faith, and I will turn the blade and not harm the tree,

but I will wedge it carefully between two roots there. Okay. You set the blade between the roots. I take a knee. You take a knee. The rest of you watch as Orym kneels and you hear this faint creaking sound as the root begins to shift. You watch as vines begin to extend and

wrap around Orym. Uh-oh. Like a rapidly gathering cocoon of leaves and vine. Orym. Uh-oh. Like a rapidly gathering cocoon of leaves and vine. Orym, you good? It's okay. I look so comfortable. You watch as the ground flowers sprout.

Grasses begin to suddenly rise up. Within but a couple of moments, Orym is gone from your sight in what is now a knotted cluster of wildflowers and vines, standing resilient against the falling snow. Is he all right in there? That's where I take a break.

Oh! Fuck the tree! Passive character, man! Look at it happen! Brand new character! Yeah, the Dark Souls level on this is getting a lot higher now. All right, we're in. I'm Dreyas, I'm a rhino man,

and I work for, I can't say who. I like him. Last name Rocksteady. Yeah, yeah. You here with anybody, or? All righty, we'll return here. We'll return here? We'll return here shortly for a few minutes.

We'll see you in a little bit. We'll see you in a little bit. And welcome back. So, the rest of you watch Orym cocoon against the exterior of the birth heart. As your bodies instinctively lurch to protect, Keyleth puts a hand up,

silently acknowledging to just let it happen. I knew it was you, Keyleth. Should have let that sword take you. Or Winchell or whatever his name was. Laura. As the warm sensation of the surrounding branches and vines and flowers and grasses engulf you, you begin to hear the sounds of nature around you,

the natural landscape like an evening amongst the densest of bog forests. The sound of wind rustling through tree boughs. And then eventually you feel the vines pull back from you. And as it does, you are standing in a glade, a beautiful, moonlit glade, soft white light beams piercing through numerous points in this clustered canopy

of massive, majestic, tri-pointed leaves. The sense of scale is challenging your perspective. You feel so small, but the leaves look so large in comparison, you feel big until you look down at yourself. And you are made of leaves. Your skin is green and veined with leaves

protruding from your fingers, from your shoulders. No armor, no weapons. You are just as nude as the day is long, but like you had grown from a bud, which you did. You look around you. The pullback of the nature around you are massive rose petals,

like a massive flower had opened up that you had emerged from. And here you stand yourself, but different. You take a step beyond the button. As your foot touches the ground, you can feel the breath and whisper of the forest around you.

Like you inhale, and everything around you inhales with you and welcomes you. You take a second step. It inhales with you and welcomes you. You hear the chirping of birds. The creaking sound of the tree and the wind gets louder. The vines begin to unroll from above. The canopy itself seems to expand, grow more dense. The white moonlight begins to dissipate as it's clustered

and instead a golden, sourceless light begins to fill this glade like a golden dusk color, just as the sun begins to disappear beyond the horizon. As these branches begin to expand and lower, you watch as they pull open, and from them emerges a face, a beautiful, welcoming smile, earthen brown skin, gentle golden eyes, the leaves and canopy itself, the hair that continues to tumble and curl around

as it comes down to you and meets your gaze. So massive to where you felt like you had grown yourself from a large flower, now you feel like you grew from a regular flower. You are so small, and she is so encompassing. But there's no fear, just awe. And her smile is a wordless, touchless hug. Thank you for... admitting me...

to your... realm. I know that I don't offer prayer. I've never been a follower. Though I've taken note of you. Will you talk to me? The wind curls and drifts throughout the space. The color in the eyes shift, and you don't hear words, but you feel emotions and imagery connecting through where your feet make contact with the The language-less sense is that of gracious appreciation. Acknowledgement that your path is yours

and an apology has no need here. The next sentence you feel is, and he's here with us, too. I don't know if you know this already, but my friends and I have looked back through a window in time and saw you and your kin minus the grandeur. We saw you come together.

Saw you bridge the divide with your estranged family. And soon, one that walks in the mortal realm means to show everyone that story. The golden light in her eyes seems to flicker to a silver for a moment as the warm smile turns a bit cold. The leaves rustle around her face

and seem to close like a curtain as a number of leaves begin to fall from the branches. Where the leafless branches now lie, you see a paler face, a sallow face, a flash of the face that you saw in that vision. The golden beauty of this space now seems to lose a bit of its color, and you hear the howls of hungry wolves in the distance.

The canopy continues to shift and it returns to the Wild Mother's more welcoming face, though the expression still remains darker. You watch as some of the trees behind her face begin to creak and shift and open, revealing paths beyond the wooded glade where you stand, and the face withdraws back up into the trees. Wait, wait, wait. No, no. Please.

We are running out of time. You are running out of time. The loud creaking sound comes to a halt as where the trees have shifted in the background, you can see new paths exiting the glade continue on. Oh. I turn to look behind me, hoping but not really expecting to see my friends. I don't, do I?

It's just you here. I start with this form of plant and vine and flower, this facsimile form. I start to rustle and move through whatever path is in front of me. With each step you take, those tethers of vines extend from your foot in reach, almost like your foot is extending to root itself before it even meets the ground,

much like your sword reached for the tree as you approached. And so you root yourself with each step before the next dislodges, never fully leaving the ground as you progress. As you begin to walk, the flashes of color and flower begin to bloom as you approach and almost seem to lose color as you step past.

There is a path to the right and a path to the left. Which do you choose? To the right. He chose doubt. To the right. Walking the right path, you step into a darker wood, this one feeling cold, but the wind is present. You step further into this space, and these blanched trees, they're tall, thin trunks

cracking and peeling, leaving a darkened, exposed, diseased trunk beneath. You step further in to a smaller glade beyond this, and you see a singular statue, not unlike the one where you last had your brief communion with him. Andrasar. But the statue lies cracked and fallen. You hear a sorrowful owl hoot above. While there is life present, it feels diminished. It feels abandoned. I will reach out and touch the marred statue.

Your hand touches the statue. It shudders. And falls in, crumbling into a pile of broken stone. I don't want that to happen. I worry about the balance of the world that you fostered and we live in now. We don't know what this thing is for Dathos, but I fear it is coming, and

if you mean for mortals to help maintain balance, it would be really helpful to know what it is we're coping with. And I know I'm not in mortal existence, but I will use the same force of will I do when I cause blooms to grow, and I'll touch my planted hands down into the pile of rubble and try to will growth. As you place your hands between the stones,

your fingers extend and reach out to root into the ground itself, like you yourself becoming a multi-faceted tree, finding different points of contact. As you do, you feel your fingers running deeper and extending, splintering and pushing throughout. You are becoming deeply ingrained in this space, and you will growth and life here. As you do, you sense that warmth

begin to return to the space. Blossoms begin to spread throughout within. The warm breeze picks up and you glance upward in the canopy above itself. Her face there awaits, smiling once more. The breeze encircles you. You pick up that emotion and imagery once more. You get the sense she is the custodian of this, but she acts through you. Since they withdrew, you are her instrument. She acts through you. Since they withdrew, you are her instrument.

You. As she smiles down upon you. The cheeks fall to a stoic intensity and her golden eyes burn red. The light around you turns red. It grows more and more red. You blink and you have visions, imagery of a shoreline, the waves large and crashing against the stone and rock,

an island built with towers and walls. You see shapes, massive, titan-like, walking, gathering at the edge, a strange star falling from the sky, crashing into the space. The red light grows bright, flashes once more. As you come back, you see, standing, towering over the landscape,

dozens, it seems, almost. Family. Faceless, but strong. Guardians, gods, one head of light, one enwrapped within an endless tether of scroll and script. You see shadowed visions of the Pantheon gathered around this fallen star. And two of these figures vanish. The star grows brighter and redder. You feel the fear. You see the recollection of a fear only felt once before. And with a A deal is brokered. A deal is brokered. You see mountains shift and flames plume. You watch as the sea rises,

the city this island swallowed in stone. You watch as runes and glyphs, the size of a coast, ensnare and jettison it into the cosmos. ensnare and jettison it into the cosmos. You hear the screams of those sealed within, as they are sent off into the darkened ether, you feel sorrow.

And in that flash, that moment that you watch the earth and rock heated and condensed. You know the hunger of nature. You know the hunger of the predator. You know the hunger of being abandoned, the hunger of survival. You feel but a flash of a hunger you cannot understand. It is outside of your emotional capabilities.

It is an oblivion hunger. It is primal, and it is hunger. It is primal, and it is bringing you to the brink of madness to try and understand it in that flash. Make a wisdom saving throw for me. Oh shit. I mean, succeed.

Just checking features and traits before I do that. You're on Features and Traits. Can't help you now. Okay. That is 13, which probably is a failure, right? I don't know. Well, if it is, I would want to use Indomitable. You can reroll a saving throw that you fail.

It is a failure. It's worse. Oh! Yes! I mean, no! Yay. This is such a great story, though. Dello, Dello, Dello.

Do you have Indomitable more than once? I do. can I? Does it say you have to use the second result? You must use the new roll. You can use this two times per long rest. Okay, so you have to use the new roll. Yeah, you're right. Okay. I assume I can't use another Indomitable.

That's one per roll, not two. Correct. Yeah. Correct. Uh-oh. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. That peak into an outer cosmic hunger

That peak into an outer cosmic hunger and that brief, experienced, celestial, and that brief, experienced, celestial, survival-based fear and that brief, experienced, celestial, survival-based fear that you sense within the shoes and experience of the Wild Mother in those presence overwhelms you. You hear a sound, this high-pitched sound

that gets louder and louder and louder until you recognize it. It's you screaming. You're screaming. You don't know why, but you're now realizing that you're just screaming. As the red light begins to fade back from this vision, you sense the emotion apologetic,

apologetic, apologizing, warming. The leaves surround you and pick you up like a child. You feel yourself cradled in the bowels of the Wild Mother, the warmth pulling you back from the screaming edge. The scream subsides, and you feel the tears wet on your cheek. You don't fully understand what you saw or what you felt, but it's there now.

There's something either broken in you or rooted in you, but something in some small way has changed. But she is so sorry. Very small, like an infant or a child, with a thousand-yard stare, I say this with an open heart. But I know you all to be inherently flawed. Like me. And all the children that love this world as much as you.

Whatever comes next, please let the garden grow. The warmth you feel surrounding you. You can no longer see the smile, but you feel the cheek against yours, and you sense her expressing natural, unconditional love. And then ask,

protect us. For we protect you. And together we protect this. The leaves crash open once more, and now the bright of sunlight comes in. You wince as you're now held, knees to your chest in a fetal position, cradled within these boughs, like a nest within a tree.

Now before you, you see the endless mountains climbing and spilling across the most beautiful valleys of rivers and streams and waterfalls. Jungles and swamps and forests and storms and clear blue skies. All of the beauty and terror and wonder of nature itself just stretches out for infinity beyond you. Together, we protect this wing. You feel something on your shoulder. You look over, and there, sitting next to you, made of similar green vines,

is Will. His eyes, cold and like hers, smiling from its green, brown, assimilate of his memory. Together. I hold up my hand to clasp, and together the hands erupt in little flowers that spiral down and around our arms.

I've got this. The hands and the flowers themselves now, the roots try and burrow from your hand into his, like they rooted into the forest. But he pulls his hand away and touches your cheek. We will. But I also need you to live. Be happy. Don't live your life in the shadow of mine. Eventually everything becomes one. I'll be here waiting. I'll see you soon.

The branches begin to give way, and you both begin to tumble through them like the most gentle fall into bush and branch. As you tumble, it grows darker and darker and darker and quicker and quicker and quicker until suddenly you're just drifting in darkness and nothing. The rest of you watch as the shell begins to crack and unwind, brown and curl back. I'm going to run up to the base of the tree and get on my knees and sit and watch. As the cocoon pulls away, you see Orym kneeling where he was, face likely damp.

Did we hear screaming at all from the inside, or was it just silent? No, just quiet. Your eyes blink back to awareness that you are back at the base of the birth heart. Orym. Hey. Are you all right?

Yeah. What was that? You took a meeting. You took a meeting? Okay, And? I wish I had some concrete course of action. I don't. But I do take a little comfort.

She, I look up at the tempest. She showed me a glimpse of our foe. How old it is. I think older than our world. I saw them all for a moment. The gods? And I think I saw... Predathos. And they were... terrified. And then I was terrified. And then they ripped it from the world and...

jettisoned it. So basically what we thought. Yeah. Where did it come from? Beyond the stars, I think. Like them? Yeah. Where did the people come from?

There's... people. In that vision above the board, you said they made a pact and then they locked that prison and sent it. You said heard screams. So does that mean I heard mortal screams? The city where the star landed

was encased within the stone it was sealed with. Right, so the screams were the people that went away with it. You said screams, plural. An entire civilization locked away with the entity. Like Babylon. Yeah. And that was pre-everything else. It was after the Founding, but before the Schism.

So that's when they were all still family. Seems to be. A star, huh? A falling star. Cosmic horror being. Do you trust what you saw? I do. And do you trust the person who showed you?

I'm one Ashari, but I believe what we saw in Eiselcross destroyed them as they destroyed. I believe they're broken beings, just like their descendants, just like us. And I believe that they still care to tend this world and see it grow. Then you should give a little of your faith to her. Maybe she'll give you some of hers as well in the fight ahead.

I'm gonna try to be less of a follower and more of a partner Ally maybe Sounds right. I don't believe in blind faith. Well you saw They have some work to do finding their own redemption. If we can help facilitate that, well, that'll be a miracle. And I still don't know what the hell did it do? The more you learn about the world, the less easy it becomes, Orym. The less I'm lucky, I'll be living here a very long time. SAM and LAURA look at each other. The gods you saw disappear,

did they seem in pain when it was happening? did they seem in pain when it was happening? The imagery that you got seemed more like a representation than an actual in-moment memory. Yeah. We have two figures that walked away. There was a circle of family and two winked out. Are there any twigs or branches

that seem to have fallen around this birth heart that are just on the ground? Yeah, there are plenty of branches. There are. That have fallen? Okay, well, what you do see, what is fallen is usually quickly gathered by some of the very acolytes

and then used in the creation of furniture, decor, or things. I'll show you furniture. But there is maybe two branches that have tumbled from this tree that have not been recovered yet. Oh! Let's go rogue. Can I, yeah, can I creep towards?

Yeah, just creep in. Yeah. No, nothing but a nose for sure. Yeah, just creepin' around. Yeah. I don't know. I don't think anybody knows for sure. Yeah, go ahead. Do you want to do this stealthily or visibly out in the middle of the Abundant Terrace? 16. 16, okay.

You carefully go and grab something. They're not massive. They're easy enough to put under your arm and grab. You can probably break it a little bit to make it more succinct if you want to, but there is indeed fallen wood from one of the most holy nature sites on Exandria that you've gathered.

So you can put two pieces of birth heart wood. In the Bag of Holding. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Touch the tree. Yeah. We cool. Well, if anything, this helps to know that there, at least some of them,

for the right people, are open to conversation. Did you tell her what we saw? I didn't get much of a chance. It was kind of disorienting. No, I have regrets. I fought just like them. Did she give you a weapon? Any knowledge?

The knowledge thing, yeah, she gave you a vision. Check her pockets. Is his armor fancier? What's going on yeah, she gave you a vision. Check her pockets. Is his armor fancier? What's going on? Can you turn into a tree? Ah! Ah, no! Pick him up, Dustmoth. No, armor's the same.

The blade's still wedged in there. I will remove that, generally. As you pull the blade free, the blade itself is longer than it was when you placed it in the roots. Oh shit! As you glance at the hilt and the handle, you can see the vine growth is denser,

and there are two golden gems, like two golden eyes, now looking from the front of the blade, like she's guiding its strike. Oh! Consume. Hand over the fucking thing! Hand over the fucking thing!

It's over, baby! Hey, they, they. Exalt this! Exalt that shit! So, interesting point of order here. Vestiges of the Divergents are relics of a time gone past, newly crafted items. Will forever be referred to now as,

at least for this event, Relics of the Red Solstice. Oh! Relic of the Red Solstice! Woo hoo! Cool! Now we need all of it. I was going to say, I got a God I want to bitch at, but, you know.

Relics of the Red Solstice. Solstice. I mean, it's not a major thing. No, it is, it is. Shut up, man! I'm just making sure. You know how long you're going to be in five years? I'm just saying it's not called a vestige of divergence

because historically it has just now been imbued with its power. Got it. Hey. I run over and I shove my witch's hole into the tree. But there's much loop all down, that's great. Plus me! Make a dexterity saving throw.

Woo! No, I was looking at it, too. Oh no, it's terrible, 12. 12. Hot. Whoa, hot. The at it, too! Oh no, it's terrible, 12. 12. Hot. Whoa, hot. You take 29 points of bludgeoning damage as a massive tree from the birth heart

falls from its canopy and slams onto you, pinning you to the ground. We're staring at the sword. We're not paying attention to this at all. That's so cool. I grab each branch. I try and shove it in the back of all the animals. Three acolytes emerge and go,

What was that? Oh, oh, we're so sorry! And they help get you off the branch, and they bring the branch inside. Oh no! We're so sorry. Oh! That's hot. Name it after me.

Pocket pee. Pocket pee. Pocket pee. Hold my spine on my back. I will just stand quietly at the foot of the tree a while longer and run a thumb along contours of the bark. If you would all like a place to stay for this evening, there are quarters within the birth heart.

No way. Inside? Inside the big tree. Right up in there. I'm kind of got some friends here at the birth heart. So, uh. You're a big deal in the tree. I'd have time, yeah.

There's a pun in there and I'm missing it and it's going to drive me insane. I have a, yeah. There's a pun in there and I'm missing it and it's going to drive me insane. I have a migraine and there's a pun. Oh. Yes, that sounds, if there's something to drink in there, too, in somewhere warm, that sounds right. In the tree?

Still out of it. If you'd like. Is the pun? Yes. Is it an Arborian Bee? Nope, Ar-bee-an-bee? Oh, Arborian, Arborian. No, nope. Arborian Bee? It's close, Arborian bee? Nope. Ar-bee-an-bee? Arborian, Arborian bee? No, nope. Arborian bee? No, nope. It's close.

We're going to abandon that right now. Keyleth looks back. Would you want to stay with us here? I'd prefer you to stay close, and you see Everroa still just like wide-eyed, snow gathered on her shoulders, just looking at all of you like a child that's just been brought to Disneyland for the first time.

Yep. I had no idea. No matter how many dreams you have, it doesn't even begin to compare. I'm sorry for all that's happening to you because of us. No. We're sorry for all that's happened to you. This is the pain we inflict on each other.

I'll have some berries to that. Enjoy yourself. You've earned this. You've worked really hard, and you've been really kind, and you've done more than we deserve. We'll need more work tomorrow, because you're going to be one of our plodding stars of what you've worked on, what you know, and what we can use to our advantage

in figuring out our plans of attack against Ludinus and the vanguard. But tonight you rest. All of us rest. Come. Enjoy a night in the treehouse. That's dope. Keyleth guides you all into the birth heart,

the beautiful, warm interior, these countlessly meandering and twisting halls of beautiful elven-inspired architecture and numerous odd scattered libraries. You can smell within the cooking and roasting of fruits. It's a beautiful space. And after a little bit of conversation, Keyleth does indeed manage to score you all

a large guest chamber that is too big for even your troop. Looks like there's 12 beds across this for hosting large diplomatic troops and such, but you all have a shared chamber. As you're all brought into rest, Keyleth gives a nod. I also have not slept for a day or three. I'm going to go ahead and find my night's rest as well.

We can come at this tomorrow with clear minds. I'm going to need a fireplace and a drink for a little bit before I turn in, if there's a place. Or some warm party. I want to sit and drink. Is's a place. Or some warm, hearty. I want to sit and drink. Is there a place to sit and drink? Comfortable. I can have a drink sent to you,

and there is a lounge on the second floor beneath, and she reminds you of one place you walked by. It has a hearth, but it's not actual fire. It's a non-burning magical fire. But yeah, as she. Canopy and bee. Oh, okay. Oh, canopy and bee.

Good job, Delayne. That's better. I've been thinking about it this whole time. Yeah, that was the best I have. This is good. It's the best we've had so far. Well spent. Keyleth quietly, allowing a moment of the exhaustion from the wash over her. You see, as youthful as she appears,

there is a shadow under her eyes and an exhaustion that is very visible on her as she lets it through for a moment, that vulnerable window, as she nods and leaves to her chambers for the night's rest. So. I'm going to go have a drink, sit down. Okay.

Quietly. I grab a bed, crack out my new holy branches, and I'm going to spend three hours whipping up some fucking beauties. Don't nobody say anything or interrupt me. What are you making? Don't try and steal my shit. What?

A bed? You went off to a bed? You've left us, or? We don't even have a You've left us, or? We don't have a big ass bed chamber, right? It's a massive communal chamber. In fact, I pushed two of those fuckers together. Queen bed, ha! That's mine, okay?

Chetney, while you're asleep, wood chips. I'm going to steal your sticks. All your sticks. The sticks are mine. All right. A motel six? Hey! Motel six. Motel six is pretty great. That's pretty good. Do you want to go ahead and make a,

either a dexterity check or a performance roll? I will do dex. The double tree, the trouble tree? The single tree. The single tree. 21 straight up dex roll. Yeah, that's good. All right. Very fine craftsmanship on what you're intending to make.

You can make it in half the time. 21. I'll have three. What is it? All righty. It's not a stick anymore, I don't want it. Anybody else have anything they wish to do before the evening, anything to discuss? Or we can move to a night's rest.

Plan anything for tomorrow? I mean. I don't know what the fuck to plan. I know, I wish you would've told us, anyone would've told us what the Trial Forge is. Is it just? I think they're going to try and either battle out or argue out a plan of attack, but they keep talking about taking out the Malleus Key, which it feels like either we're going to try and,

if we take that down, who knows what that does to the moon, to the ley lines, to everything else, or an incursion into the moon and trying to stop lewdness in the Weave Mine, right? Or both. Or both. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking out the Malleus Key. I think that's wise. You don't think there's anything wrong with taking out the Malleus Key. I think that's wise.

You don't think it'll destabilize the ley lines or the magic running through the world? It's got a black orb in it, is she here? No, she left. A black orb in it now? The guy with the feathers? Boy, that really pissed her off, didn't it? Won't it just restore things to the way they were?

I know, I feel like the bridge is, that's all that Ludinus knows. He doesn't know about what we found. If we can take out that bridge, it cuts off his access. And they didn't have to work again. I mean, obviously, it would be hard. They've built that entire fortress around it now. What do you figure did that?

Do you think that an army of rudis-born? I don't know. Used abilities like yours in conjunction with each other? I've never seen anything like that. There's no way the Ashari, like Earth Ashari, have turned tail and tied. Poor Primordial. I find that hard to believe.

And I would probably recognize that if I saw it. The Earth Ashari, and the manipulation of stone and rock like that, it wasn't entirely unlike it, but the means of it happening, you didn't see, like, usually it's done in smaller sections and it's over a longer period of time. This was a massive construction in a brief moment.

I guess, Matt, and I was trying to ask this earlier. Sorry, yeah, go ahead. When I was asking if it looked like Rudis, did it look like, obviously it was on Earth. Oh, the architecture of it. Did the architecture feel like terraforming that they might have done on Rudis? The architecture was reminiscent of the central structures

around the prime pillar in Kraviris. Okay, okay. So this is definitely a build of Ruidian make and experiential inspiration. Yeah, I mean. You think the Brineweaver was able to do something like that? 100%. I mean, look at what we've seen them do.

Look what we've seen you do and Otohan do. You've taken down entire city blocks with just a bunch of people. God, I wish I knew how I did it. So you're thinking these people from Ruidus are helping? Oh, yeah. I mean, oh, right. You are there. I was just thinking it doesn't bode very well for the gentleman who was making the argument of wiping them out. It sounds like...

There's a lot of Ruidus-born Ruidians who are working with Ludinus. What about the ones who aren't? Who aren't. Is Everowa with us? Everowa is currently being kept with Keyleth. Oh, is with Keyleth, okay. There won't be no wiping out with these people.

If we take out the bridge, I mean, ideally we would still be able to help those. Wouldn't that isolate them? Well, yeah, I mean, but we now know of a passage that Ludinus doesn't even know about. We found a path. Are we going to tell people about that passage? We already have.

But I mean, are we going to tell everyone about that passage? No. Unless she has. I would also just argue, though, you're talking about a pinprick in a giant levee. You're talking about... That's a one-by-one. It's a one-way road. That's a one-by-one. Exactly. If anything goes tits up on Ruidus,

we're not saving masses, we're saving few. We're doing exactly what the gods did. I don't want to kill them, and I don't want to lock them in there. That's my only question. Oh, I don't want to lock them in either. I want to help them. It just feels like Ludinus has been

two, four, six steps ahead of us this whole time. He has to be anticipating that the first response would be to destroy the bridge, right? Yeah. That's what I would do. If I were an idiot. Like them. You'd be expecting it from the Exandria side.

I wonder if we could pants him if we brought it from the Rurda side. That's a great idea. That is cool. Because there was a similar, similar, Jesus, similar structure on the moon. There was a Malleus Key mirror up there before we landed. No, actually, there was a platform for the Bloody Bridge to land,

but there wasn't a secondary key holding it on the other side. So it's a one-way water pistol? People can walk both ways, but it looks like it's held from the Malleus Key. Hop in the bridge. We've still got a backdoor. We can get in quiet. We don't have to touch that bridge again

to get in and out of there. Yeah, but what are we doing if we get in quiet, I think is the question. I think we're... I think... The bridge, yeah. I think it's the one place, yeah, go ahead. Going through Ruidus is the only way

that we could get back down in there. Yeah. That went both ways, if I recall. It does. Yeah, it did. We can go in there and we have an army that he does not expect. If we can get this group of morons to join forces with the rebellion upon the Red Moon.

I don't know, I think that does it. But once again, an army through that back door? No, just power. Not a, the army's already up there. Are you saying using the people on the moon, not bringing any of our heavy hitters through the one per entrance? I think we bring a small group,

not an entire army. The heaviest. Of heavy hitters, yeah. And to do what? To attack? To drop down into the center of their operation, where they're not expecting it. But to do what? To destroy the weavemine, or to?

Destroy the key. The Mallet's key. On the moon. There isn't one on the moon. Take the elevator from the bottom. Take the elevator down and then destroy the key. The Maui's key. On the moon. There isn't one on the moon. Take the elevator from the bottom. Take the elevator down and then destroy the elevator. Oh, I see. So go to the moon, take the elevator down, destroy the elevator.

And then basically, I don't know if there's a way out that fast, you know? It would be... We have to figure out a way of making sure that the people who live up there are okay and have a way of getting back down, even if it means rebuilding something. So for all we know, the only way to move large groups of people is through the Bloody Bridge.

Yeah. Of course, we might get into this place tomorrow and hear seven other plans. I mean, yeah. That we're not anticipating. If the Weavemind, or at least part of them, already seems to possibly be on Exandria, terraforming it, though.

I don't know, I'm just trying to figure out what destroying the bridge, like, are we past that point? Yeah, what does it do? Don't know yet. What you would recall from conversations you overheard people talking throughout the past few weeks,

since the bridge has been built, it's tidally locked, ruinous overhead in that place. Since then, in the solstice, as it continues to spin with the world, locked in, it's dragging and tensing the ley lines. And it's building up more or less pressure against the flow of magic in the world.

Which he can use to his advantage. That's what's partially keeping a lot of things chaotic and scrambled. It's also continuing to push fear. A lot of major arcanists are worried it's going to shatter the use of magic on Exandria. All these things that might work to his advantage at the moment

and might be an imminent side effect of what he's done, if not dealt with. Gotta take it out. Uncertain. But it is an estimation. We take out the bridge and we worry about saving everyone after. What were you going to say? Well, it's just concerning they're still

fortifying the bridge, right? They're not leaving it out there as something they're not concerned with. They don't know we can attack it from the other side. It's true. Unless we get up there and they've fortified the top as well. It would have to be a two-prong approach.

We would probably have to have ground forces here on Exandria to distract while we have an elite team on that side. A lot of people are going to die. We sound like the gods. We're destroying a weapon. Speaking of which, as of yesterday, we weren't really decided on whose side we were on.

Your experience, we asked you a lot about what you learned, but what did you feel? Did you meet her? Was she good? I believe she means well, but I... Does it matter? Exactly. I want to see the best in her and many of them. I wish in all of them.

But we, the world is precious and took so long to reach the balance that it's in now. The things that lewdness is doing, it's an escalation at a breakneck speed. There's no guarantees of that what he enacts will be better or worse than what the gods did. Not that I agree or disagree with you.

I really don't yet, but I've never had a guarantee in my life, not one that wasn't a lie. I'm not disagreeing. Sure, but none of us are going to say, let's roll the dice and see what happens, right? We know that sitting back and letting Ludinus ease into whatever he wants to do.

Did Ludinus say we could contact him? He would certainly call me if he wants Delilah handled. We did that ourselves pretty well. Why were you thinking? You want to talk with him or something? Of course. Communication is the key to all of this.

Honestly, I'm almost not done talking to the gods yet. I don't think the two have to be mutually exclusive. They don't. And I'm okay with us making this decision. Us? Honestly, we are worthless. We are just worthless, and I say that with love and respect here.

We are not heroes. We just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that's what makes us the perfect people for this. The difference between us and the gods when it comes to this is that we're actually probably going to die in the middle of this, where they know they're not. We are risking ourselves where they never really have. They got wind of what we feel every day. They got the tiniest taste of it and they panicked. Our lives horrify them.

And again, I don't know if that's a judgment. I don't know what that means yet. I am still grappling with my life changing so much since I met you fucking crazy people, and I'm grateful for it. But I feel like we are better equipped to think about this than anybody, maybe Keyleth is the only exception of any of those people in that room. They are aloof, they are untouched, and they have never felt helpless in their lives. I could see it in all those eyes that met me. I didn't see a moment of fear or helplessness.

You know, it's funny. When all this started, I thought it was very odd that it would be us You know, it's funny. When all this started, I thought it was very odd that it would be us doing this mission when we were so separated from the gods. Out of all of us, it was only FCG, right? That's true. But maybe that's...

I know at first. That's the important part of it. Maybe we were unbiased. Maybe we see a little clearer. Yeah. Maybe. We all had prayers, right? That went unanswered?

Yeah. Many. We've tried and tried, and we weren't heard for so long. You went to the other side and you still don't know what to do. Well, I don't know how to destroy a star. But I think I know what the right thing to do is.

It's also hard to take the room at their word. I mean, they all have vested interests in maintaining the status quo. If there was a group that would recuse themselves because they understand that their power and everything they've worked for is wrapped up in whatever they decide, that would be one thing, but... I understand the urge not to want to die, I really do,

but it is a whole nother thing when you can keep yourself from dying by sacrificing a few hundred thousand people in a fucking army. I don't want to die, but I know that's on me. I don't have a thousand people to throw at something so that I don't have to take that risk. Beyond the vested interest of maintaining the status quo of the people in the room, that extends to the gods. There's one I want to the gods.

There's one I want to talk to. Which one? The arc heart. The one who gifted us magic. He felt shame, and he wanted to die. That's how you saw him? I don't feel like he wanted to die. He asked.

Yeah, I think he was bored. I think he was bored. I don't know. I want to find out. I've known a lot of artists in my life. They are fucked up. In beautiful ways. I'm pretty normal.

Your cup would disagree with you. Gosh, you're pretty. Oh. You have to lick the eyeball. Guilt, though. I mean, as someone who's died a few times. Yeah. There are elements of it that are pretty thrilling. It's pretty crazy.

You cannot deny that it's an experience. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Where did you go? Do you remember? Do you remember? We need to stop hanging out. Married couples. We'll stop in 10 years.

Yep. What's the octuple? What is it? Octogenarians. Yeah, hold on. Getting there. Octo-niverse? Well, did you, I mean,

this is kind of a large question, but did you as Matilda worship any gods? Well, we were from Whitestone, so there's a precedent to at least give your attention or at least some reverence to the Dawnfather, but we weren't super religious, I would say. It was more of a cultural tradition. So you'd pray we would do the little spring festivals

to try and bring in good crops and say goodbye to the winter weather and worship the sun that is peeking out from behind the gray skies that's going to bless our crops with bounty. Do you think that the gods get power from that kind of worship? Or do you think they get power from genuine devotion? From what I saw at the temple that we were at

when we were separated, I don't feel like the Dawnfather was necessarily looking for real devotion. I think there was, I feel like anything would have done. There's too much pressure. Maybe it's better. What's more pure devotion than to pray for some sunshine and rain?

It's simple, but it's pure. To answer your question, Fearne, when I died, of course, it was a bit of a unique experience because I was bound by Talyla, put in her little box of a realm. Stasis, darkness. Just this aimless limbo with no certainty or guarantee or loss or happiness in any direction.

You're just floating. But from what I know of the gods, you are one of their devout worshipers. You get sent off to their little pocket realm, their little dimension, to float in the sleaze. A little speck of dust, a little mote of light, with no feeling or certainty. Seems similar, but I don't know. Who's to say? What happens to none of the above? Well, above tabletalk.

Yeah. Yeah. The question that Liam asked about before the gods got here in the Primordial Realm and how things would basically go into a cycle. Would that be said out loud to us, or was that just what? No, you heard that from the people at Hearthstone, the village you visited in Issylra,

in which the people lived alongside the nature spirits and Eidolons. Eidolons and Eidolons. Eidolons and Eidolons. It's not a part of history or the mythology. That's just what you heard from them, as they have a belief system that they say predates the Pantheon and was a life cycle like that. From what we've learned from the Eidolons,

asterisks. Everybody got a story. At least if you die and you're part of a cycle, you're, well, a part of something. So you just get brought somewhere? Even if you don't believe in that? Where am I? It seems like an awful lot of work

getting people to pay attention to you if you're just going to get them anyway. So if you don't believe in anything, and then you die, you're just floating out on your own, and then you die, you're just floating out on your own, and you're not accepted into their awesome theme park, unless you believed in that. Maybe. Theme park.

Maybe. Maybe. There's no question. Nobody really fucking knows. Yeah. They do. Do they? Raven Queen. Maybe. The matron, she would know. We can't really worry about what's going to happen

when we all die. We just have to figure out what we do while we're still alive. I'm mostly worried about tomorrow morning. Yeah, yep. There's going to be so much public speaking, maybe public fighting. Definitely public fighting.

I love public fighting. I wonder why it's happening in the Trial Forge instead of where we just were. Do we still have the ability to communicate with lewdness? Some of you can do that. I mean, I could try. To clarify. Clarify. Clarify. The meeting at the Trial Forge in the morning

is the think tank to build a plan to present back at the Platinum Sanctuary. That way, you aren't debating a plan in a public forum of hundreds of people that all have ideas. We're going with the friends to the... Yeah, you're going with the friends to the Trial Forge and a few other people with Everola.

And that's the Stormlord's place. Correct. So Irish breakfast first. Oh yeah. And then the big deal. Well, I'm wondering if we can communicate with Ludinus, if you can. And I like the idea of hitting it

from the back door up top, but Ludinus is smart. idea of hitting it from the back door up top, but Ludinus is smart. I wonder if we could declare our intentions to do a full frontal assault down here below to Ludinus and also seed to leak information of a stealthier secondary attack also here on Exandria. So he thinks that's what our backup plan is, but we're actually a double feint and we and some choice friends are the third. Yeah.

Sounds fun, but you want to try and trick the guy who's been pulling the strings for a thousand years? I know I do. I do. All right, or maybe we just let the room of people that want to attack the Malleus Key that's now been super fortified do that, and we do our own thing. Yeah, I think, I think.

That's a good strategy. Why give him any idea that there's a, that we're aware of a secondary plan? I don't want him keeping eyes at all. You know what I mean? Yeah, hopefully Keyleth hasn't told everybody about the back door. I mean, she might.

I doubt it. She doesn't strike me as someone to let loose on that. I don't think she's had time. She's been here just a little bit more than we have. Could be wrong. Maybe her immediate friend. She's probably here just a little bit more than we have. Could be wrong. Maybe her immediate friend. She's probably told people she trusts. We should rest.

We should rest and bring this up with the homies in the morning. Should I check in on anybody? Should I scry on anybody before we go to bed? Bedtime? So tomorrow we're just along for the ride. Quit drinking. Maybe.

I mean, we'll have stuff to offer. We could shape all of it. No, no, don't get me wrong, I'm used to it. But I don't think, are we really the group of people? We think it's our job to decide what happens to all of the souls for all of eternity? Who else?

I don't think it's about, to Chetney's point, what happens to the rest of the souls of eternity. I think, unfortunately, it just feels like this is a one day at a time type of a situation. If you have doubts, just know that I was hand-selected by the King of Devils. Oh boy. And you all, aligned with me, are serving his will. Oh!

Well. In that case. So you have a purpose. Do we have, can we get a coin or something? Or do you have a stamp that we could have? Could you give us little Sharpie tattoos or something so we could just? I can paint something on you, but it'll probably wear off.

I'm very well aware. You won't sear into our flesh? Random marks on my body, thank you very much. You have acid. I'm just saying. We might as well memorialize this partnership. The time that burns you. Just for you.

If you would like me to burn you with acid, I will. I think I'm here for it. Are you swearing yourself to the devil right now? I'm not sure, I'm hedging my bets. Did you see his boss in that flashback? Yeah. Fucking smart. Tomorrow will bring what it's going to bring. Let's talk about the bull in the shop here.

You want to fuck up Ludinus' shit. You want to stop Ludinus. That's great. Are you good in team situations and team building? I've been this whole day we've been together. I'm actually disturbed at how you say it. What? What is this? An entire 22 hours?

23 hours. I've made a remarkable amount of contribution at this point, I'm actually. You painted a picture of us. It was nice. It's beautiful. I can paint individual pictures if you'd like. And clever. That's beautiful. I can paint individual pictures if you'd like. And clever. That's all right.

Weren't you talking about being able to get people to speak the truth? Oh yes, I have a spell that can do that, yes. Does that work for you? I've never done it on myself. I find that hard to believe. I could try, but I don't know what it would achieve. I'm an open book. How does it work?

Does it affect one person or several? I don't know. Was it a trick? I was just genuinely curious. I think it's everybody within a field, if I recall. Is it the Zone of Truth you're referring to? It's a 15-foot radius of a point within 60 feet. And then if anyone enters that area,

they have to make a charisma saving throw. And then if they fail, they cannot speak a deliberate lie while they're in the radius. Or you can just, I believe you can just decide to let it happen, too. You don't have to make that Christmas. Yeah. Yeah.

You want to. We can totally practice this if you'd like. We used to do this at parties. It was great. Is this like truth or dare, but just truth and truth? It's truth and truth. We could add a dare element to it if you'd like. We could do truth or dare.

Truth or dare, but then you have to also like a spin the bottle situation. You just really want to play spin the bottle. Yeah, because I think it's hilarious. We're in a tree. I'd play a D&D spin the bottle. On our, maybe last night on Exandria, guys. I'm just saying. Jesus.

I'm just putting it out there. So you think we're going to die tomorrow? We'll ask a question. Maybe in the, but maybe in the next couple days. And if you don't tell the truth, you have to kiss someone. Is that right? Maybe. Sure. Or if you could either answer or kiss someone.

You're just going to kiss everybody. I will. You want some fucking answers, Eddie. That's not how these rules work. It's a vasidere. You kiss somebody or you tell the truth. You have to decide who kisses who? No, you spin the bottle to decide who you kiss.

That's true. I'm going to kiss you. You spin the bottle, you dare. Lost the truth or dare. No, no, there's truth. Why don't we forget the zone of truth and just make out? This is how the fate of the world should be decided. I mean, I'm not against it.

I'm just trying to keep things light for a little bit. I don't know if it's the time, guys. I don't know if it's the time. I do wonder what our percentage is of waking up to a world in which Ludinus has told everybody what we saw. Oh, are you dead? Nope, I'm okay. Are you dead? Nope, I'm okay.

Are you asleep already? We're about to make out. Covered in wood chip. That's why they call them the Sandman. If you're going to do it, do it, otherwise I'm going to sleep. Zone of Truth! All right, everyone in the room. Okay, here we go.

What are we doing with this? What does it feel like? I don't know, what are you here we go. What are we doing with this? What does it feel like? I don't know, what are you doing with this? What are you doing with this? What does it look like? Are we aware that it? You got to make a great decision. As soon as it goes down, it's a 15-foot radius.

Oh, yeah, make it Christmas safe? You don't have to. Or you can choose to fail it. Oh, fail it. I'm failing it. I'm going to try to overcome it. What's the DC? Oh, 18, sorry.

Oh shit, that's high, fuck. 18, damn. Wait, I just want to see if I would make it. I know, I'm just going to. I got it. What is it, a Christmas anyway? 20. Oh yeah, I definitely did, but I'm not.

Yay. I'm letting it happen. All right. I saved it in there. There is a zone of truth. You all watch as this faint gold, like the almost imperceptible curtain of gold kind of like, bursts outward.

And while you can't see anymore, you can just feel an energy in that space. Did you just bleep like a goat? Yeah, she felt an energy in that space. Oh man, I haven't done this shit in a while. So if you beat it, you can lie? I think so. Better start beating it. I guess this will be the bottle.

Yay! Who's asking the questions? Are you asking each other? This is the most important question. Are you the Game Master? It's your sort of truth. I don't even know you people. I have always liked the bottle. Who's asking the questions? Are we asking each other? Yes! Everybody! Are you the Game Master? It's your sort of truth. I don't even know you people. I have always liked them all.

Wraith, Wraith! No, ask a question, man. Have you been happy serving the Lord of the Hells? It has been the honor of my life. Do we get to know what the other people rule? Are we aware of whether or not they? No. You don't know if they're telling the truth or not?

It has been the honor of my life, and I will. Just, if you know you failed, you cannot speak a deliberate lie. I know that some of you might have gotten the impression that I maybe haven't visited the Hells, and maybe haven't met the King of the Devils. Have you met the King of the Devils. Have you met the King of the Devils? I know that you have the impression that I haven't.

And maybe not technically. I haven't technically met the King of Lies. I know. But God speak to us in many different ways. Some wrap us in bark. Some speak to us in symbols or blood or ichor. I feel like he has reached out to me and I feel like we have a connection.

Maybe not a literal one. Nice. Good answer. Are you going to fuck us over? Are you going to turn on us at any point? Are you going to fuck us over? Are you going to turn on us at any point? Are you going to fuck us over? Maybe I should spin the bottle. All right, so there you go.

Well, it's going to take a while. It really does. It was the nearest bottle I had. What happened to the super glanzoni? Oh, wait. Oh, wait. Is this in a wild card? I don't know, right?

Don't spit it that hard if you care. Oh my god, it's still going. Jeez, we can't do this more than this. No, no, no, no, no. No! Oh! Oh. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh no, will their relationship survive?

I'm so excited. You have permission. Mainly because I wanna know what it's like. All right. Does it have weird breath? Does it smell like grass? Are you, you're human face, though. You don't have cow face.

Yes, but I'm getting a little bit excited. So my bovine features are starting to flare out a little bit. Time to ride the mechanical bull. Oh my god. Let's come on. This is a mistake. All of this was a mistake. No, this is amazing.

All right. Leading to this. Roll for kiss. Performance check? Yes! Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure.

Oh wait, what kind of a check? Is that charisma, yeah, yeah. Sure. Ah! Oh. Oh, wait, what kind of a check? Is that charisma? Performance, yeah. Performance. 21 over here. Wow! Wow. I'm giving it my all.

I'm doing all the tricks. A 13, I'm not as into it. I'm like, on you. Checks out. Checks out. My mouth is all on you. I'll bring my hand up. Okay. You ever see when a cow goes up to something and just licks sideways like that?

That was great. That was really good. I appreciate your... So glad we played this game. That was good. I don't like this rule. I want to know if you're going to turn on us. I feel like that's an appropriate...

I think that means that's an appropriate. Yes. It's a possibility. Was it like sandpaper? It's a possibility. Great. Yeah, it was. Cool. I don't like that answer. Yeah, his nose felt bigger up close. Ashton, do you agree with lewdness? No. That was a broad question.

People are complicated. There are things that he said that I think are definitely true. And I understand, because I've had a life, that sometimes the truth is its own kind of lie. So yeah, there are things I agree with. And there are things that I definitely do not. But you said no first.

I did. It's because he has to be fucking stopped. He has to be stopped. Did you spin the bottle now? No. As I answered. Sorry. You asked the next question. This is like Boulder Parchment Shears with three players.

It's really disjointed. It is really disjointed. Okay. Y'all got no questions? I'll just keep firing them out. Keep going, check. Keep going. If you got them. New kid. You have a grudge against your previous god. Do I have a grudge against the previous god?

Yes, I do. Yes, I was forsaken and abandoned by my temple and by all my fellow followers. If it came down to hurting your previous god or saving us? Saving you or hurting the platinum dragon? Yeah, I'm not saying that they're exclusive. I'm just saying that if it came down to helping a fellow mortal or just, not killing, but just? That's a good question. I will say this, my mission is not to hurt

the platinum dragon, my mission is to destroy lewdness and to save my master. And you all have been nothing but nice to me in the last day. And I know I said it would be difficult, but I don't believe I will turn on you. You've given me no reason to. And I would not stab you in the back

to kill the platinum dragon. It would be very hard to stab me in the back. It's mostly rock back there. Also, I don't have any daggers or knives. I've got some spares. Oh, lend me one. Why am I? You seem like good people.

We're people. What is it, Chet? You just look so anxious over there. Burn! What? If the Ludinus gave you the ability to save the people closest to you or of your choosing, would you conspire with him?

What, like if, like if, okay, so if he was going to say, hey, you can save all of your friends, everybody here, would you conspire with me? I rolled a natural 20. Trying to figure out how I want to answer this. For the record, you do not have to tell what you rolled, I think. That was the inside part out loud.

Oh shit. But in character. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to roll. I mean, I'm going to spin. Right, a light spin. A light spin. I'm scared.

I'm scared. Dun dun dun dun dun. Come on home. Oh, oh. Come home. Mm-hmm. Come on home. Come home. Come home to daddy. That would be Chip. Yeah! I just go over and I straddle him

and just have a big ol' kiss. Ah! Oh. But I'm also gonna try to take the branches from the birth heart that you were working on. Make a sleight of hand check, and you make a perception check. God, advantage with all that.

Well, yeah. Never miss a draw. I will say, with disadvantage, because you are the proxies. Disadvantage? No, he's a disadvantage, because. While she's doing that, I'm going to mage hand this. Are you mage-handing? I mage-handed the bottle so it would face me. No.

Did you just say that out loud? I didn't realize. She's already kissing him right now. I know, but maybe afterwards. Okay. We'll get to that in a second. Just be careful which sticks you're reaching around for. I'm just saying, we're smooching.

13. 13, would you roll? 19. 19, okay. So as this is happening, you deftly reach into the bag of holding and withdraw the birth heart twigs that you had. All three of them?

Damn. Cold. You don't have those in your pocket. It's the best kiss ever. Oh, Fearne, you kicked the bottle a little bit. Let me just, hang on. It was still rolling, it was still spinning a little bit. Just like I remember, Fearne. It was still spinning, it was still spinning a little bit. Just like I remember, Fearne.

It was still spinning, you still got it. Laudman? Then I'm just going to hold the sticks. I was about to ask you a question. Hey, Alistair. Can I go first? Yeah. Are you sure?

Yes. This is fun, but there's something that's been weighing on me since I've been back. Okay. I don't even know how to say it. I'm sorry. Are you all right? No! This is supposed to be fun, but I heard you say to Orym and to Imogen that if something happened to you where you put us at risk, that you would be willing to sacrifice yourself for all of us.

I'm sorry. If the shield were on the other foot, and Imogen were to become a vessel for if she asked me to just in the same way that I asked them well then I'll say it now if I put you all at harm do what it takes to defeat me it will be the absolute last resort. Sorry, I hate being a downer. This is what we're here for.

Do you want to spin the bottle, Dorian? Kind of, but I won't. I'm not going to. Go for it. No! I'm all warmed up now. Okay! Come on, come on. I spend it so slow.

There's really only so much you can do. Oh, yourself! No! Anything but that! Chad's lucky. No! Chad! Please!

All right, okay, baby. I'm not moving, I'm just saying, you got to earn these lips. Oh, if you didn't smell like cedar in Chestnut! I'm going to kiss him. Oh, it's my nightmare. Performance check on both of you. Oh, wait, we didn't do it.

What was the next one? What'd you get? 26. Whoa! 19. Oh! That's a good kiss. Oh my god.

These guards are fucking serious. I'm going to pull away, and I'm going to say, I fucking knew it. See? See? Throw him back on the bed. He is royalty. You know. Wow.

He's three and he's been five great kisses. I think it's like, Fern and Chetney, in my opinion, already had a lot more than a kiss. So I think for you guys, it's just going back to where you left off. Yeah. Yeah. Dorian. It's funny.

Dorian. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes. Not to bring the mood down. And you can always spin the bottle again. Sure. You haven't said much at all since your return. And in fact, you were almost quite glib, flippant about it on your return

in regards to the death of your brother. That's not for fun and games. Well, we never said that this game was going to be fun. It was my question, too. And mine. Are you running from it? Do you feel responsible? Are you trying not to process it?

And do you feel like if there is a chance at reversing it, that you would take it, even if it came at a cost? Speaking of making deals with gods. I won't be making any deals with gods. And that was four questions. Well, I'm lumping it into one. I don't hear.

One from Ashton, one from me. I'll go last. Answer how you see fit. This is not meant to bully anyone into talking about things that I don't want to talk about. Oh. I think a little laughing bullying is just fine sometimes. I don't know my place in all this sometimes,

and sometimes the way I feel feels unimportant. That's okay. I've felt like that most of my life. But when I'm with you, I feel it important. And I can't even believe you've been thinking about that at all, with all that's going on. I've gotten really good at putting my feelings where they should go, allow me to continue. But it doesn't mean I don't feel them. It doesn't mean I don't or unthinking. When we first met,

I was a liar. Really? Hm? Sexy. And a bad one. But I lied to hide what I feel and now I don't have to lie. I can just put it away. I know it will come for me one day, and I'm okay with that. There will only be one brother that I've ever had, and none of you can replace him, nor would I try. He might have been a fool, but he was kind and honorable and honest. And if he were still here

right now, he would be with us all. And we could use him. But for my part, allow me to honor his memory by doing what is right, because I know that's what he would do. And the only thing that scares me about being here anymore is that I don't know what's right or wrong anymore, and there's no one here to guide us. We are leaderless, drifting, going on instinct and love, and sometimes that is not enough.

I once told you to stay steadfast, but perhaps that was more for me. Everybody finds their strength in different ways. And a smile is mine. So thank you for asking, but I'm just fine. What was his name again? My brother? Yes. Strength in a name.

Cyrus. His name's Cyrus. To Cyrus. Mm. To Cyrus. Yeah. And to all who walk with us, and who are not walking with us. Jeez, Daryl. Someone ask a funny one.

You want some of this Burnt Heart, dog? I put some shavings in there. Fucking seeing some shit. You're an impressive person, Doran. I want to see you cough now. Yeah, smoke that fake joint. Smoke that fake joint. That's birch. Work that improv class.

Yeah. Well, I'm not going to skip this opportunity. I don't understand the rules anymore. There are no rules. We live in chaos. Oh my god, if it ends on Chet again. I'm going to laugh my ass off. Orym? Orym!

I hold it personally. I'd like to see it. Well, everyone's getting what they deserve, aren't they? You could always fight. I'm making a watch! It's going to go back. No! No! No, no.

No. Listen, listen. Listen, I mean. Pick up that little druid and give him a kiss. What are we rolling? Performance. Performance. Performance? Why is it performance? Because it's funny.

And most everyone's bad at it. This is hilarious. Oh no. This is perfect. I rolled a three. I rolled a two. This is just a nice one. This is like the two teenagers with headgear,

trying to find a way in. Well, that answers that question. Sorry about that. It just turns into a hug. Yep, yep, yep. Like an awkward peck. I imagine we try to go left, but you do, too, and then we crack our heads, and then it happens again. We accidentally kiss each other on the lips when neither intended to. Correct.

Yeah, and we're making it count. The juvenality of this is making me so happy. Well, this has been fun, y'all. Should probably get some sleep. Yeah. As we pull back from the chamber. One last thing, actually, if we're all going to sleep. I'm going to grab my bottle,

I'm going to finish my fucking drink, and I'm going to follow you, Fearne, Me? Towards where you're going, and I'm going to just have the bottle, and I'm just going to point it at you. Ooh. Once we're...

Sure, I still got a little... I'm not quite tired yet. I got a little juice. I got a little, I'm not quite tired yet. I got a little juice. I got a little. Yeah. I got a little juice with it, Sammy. Are we still in this big room? No, I've moved to the corner.

Or are you gone? Oh, they're still in the room, though. Yeah. Is it 12 beds in one room? It's 12 beds in one room. 12 beds in one room. I'm just glaring at you from across the way. I feel nothing. I'm going to just telekinetically

pick up one of the blankets on the bed and hold it up in front of them. Okay. Just give them some privacy in my private room. Yeah. Hi. Hi. Oh, wait, what, oh. Wait, is Zone of Truth still up, though?

Y'all have to tell the truth to each other as you do this. Well, if you walk to the back of the room, you should have to tell the truth. No, we're out of it. Oh, the two of you are talking. No faking. Okay, all right. How's it going?

I don't know. There's only one real way to find out. And I walk over, grab the back of your head, and it is, and just go for it. Mug it down. This is like 30 feet away from us. Yeah, but I have a blanket. There's a blanket hiding it.

That's it, for sure. Now we just see silhouettes. That's a loud conversation. I just sort of am shocked and surprised. And I'll kiss you back. I'm pickpocketing you right now. Sleight of hand. Perception check.

Perception check, okay. Guys, you're meant for each other. Perception check. Okay. Okay. 21. Shit, 15. What do you have? What are you going for?

You got three sticks. What are you going for? I was just going for something random in your pocket. Okay, so you get to decide. Okay, why don't you take... What do I have in here? Okay. Don't go for your real pockets. Well, no, no, no. I was looking, because I have a list,

and I don't have that with me. Go around it. Because I don't know where that little book went. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Okay. Mm are going to take out a little spoon. It's a little tiny spoon like this. It has a little engraving in the ladle part. And the engraving is T.J. I'm pretty sure it's T.J. So we're kissing again for this. Okay. As we break it.

I got you something. It says something on it. I'm not quite sure. Oh. So we're kissing again for this. Okay. As we break it. I got you something. It says something on it, I'm not quite sure. Oh my god, I've always been looking all over for something like this. It felt very you. This is so me. Where did you even, I have one just like this. And now I'm just going back to kissing.

Yeah. Going in for another kiss. All right, I'll go in for another kiss, too. And I'm happy to keep this up for as long as I assume. It's two more hours to the show. Yep, there we are. Yeah, yeah, we'll, yeah. Okay, great.

I just throw the blanket over top of him. Spooky ghost. Don't want to hold it anymore. We do it for you all the time! Afraid to drop the spell. Only the best friends help them soak. So anyway. Yeah. As the evening comes to a close, eventually,

the morning light begins to peer through the one solid window that's there. Since you all stayed up far later than the rest of the folks here, because you actually arrived out of time, like you had come here in the middle of the night, what was the middle of your afternoon or day. And so the rest comes a little later

and you stayed up playing, spitting the bottle, telling stories, kissing under a blanket. I'm going to add a detail, too, for when everyone goes to sleep. Just that Orym, as he lay in his bed in the small room, spends some time looking at this sword that has changed. And in the last 10 or 15 minutes before falling asleep,

he goes back to just watching Dorian sleep, which is something that he's done for a long time. Yeah. Okay. As long as he's known. The problem is Dorian's not asleep. He doesn't sleep. His back is to you.

But he just stares at the. There he is! As he's crying. Oh no! She has tear loops! Oh yeah! Oh my god! He's so sweet! Sorry!

Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Sorry! You're horrible. This is how I compartmentalize! This is my emotions. I serve them in a bento box. There's little corners for everything. That was my self-loathing. On some rice. No, that's it.

That's it, guys. All right, grab your- I'm not. It serves the same purpose. What I would love to do, this is just a very quick thing, before bed, I'm going to take the birth heart branches and I'm going to put them back in Chetney's hands in his sleep.

Because I can't take those from him. I just wanted a reminder of who's in charge here. Understood. Nice. You do wake up. Some of you more haggard than others, but rested nevertheless. It is later morning. Your twigs are in your hand.

We'll see if you're alive to recognize them. It's going to be fine. All right. Shout out. That would not be. I wanted to have it so bad. Yeah. Thanks.

Good morning, everybody. Morning. Hello. We should head to wherever the fuck the trial something something. All right, so you all head, you gather your things and you head to the Trial Forge, asking a few questions,

and some of the acolytes within the Birthheart are happily to guide you there, and it's not hard to miss. There are large black plumes of smoke that rise up from the Trial Forge itself. In pushing over to that area of Vasselheim, the Braving Grounds, you can see it's very rough and industrial in some places.

You can see the architecture itself seems a little more function over visual form beyond the massive statues of warriors, of displays of strength and contest. Eventually, following the smoke that billows upward around this area, you do see, not far from these kind of massive blacksmithies and places of mass armament construction,

you do see this incredible temple, this almost gladiatorial arena-type coliseum temple with massive stone structures of what looks like various robed monks a polyseum temple with massive stone structures of what looks like various robed monks that are themselves in various poses of either meditation or battle combat. It is ominous as much as it is ancient

and filled with a quiet strength and intensity. As you approach the exterior of it, you can see a number of other scattered protectors and guards from different factions are waiting on the outside. And Julian, who's one of the Blades of the Tempest that you recognize, looks over to you. He's a young human, maybe in his mid-20s or so.

He actually was a pretty fast climber up the ranks and trained underneath you before you went on your trek. And looks over, Orym, they're inside, they've already begun, but they're expecting you. We're late? Yes. Barely, barely. You hold on.

Of course we're late. You, you holding up? This goes to be here right now. I'm holding up as well as can be. How about you? Under the circumstances, I reach up to his arm. One day at a time, we do what we do. Truth, indeed. Good to see your face.

Cum leads you through the massive stone halls. The smell of herbs and dirt and smoke, ancient smoke that just sits across the stone here from incense braziers and various ritualistic burnings that are set throughout these halls to give them this smell of old battlefields, eternally charred. Eventually, you're brought through a few side hallways to a central war room chamber,

which has a massive circular table in the center. You can see within this room, you have Earthbreaker Groom, Vex'ahlia, Lady Kima of Ord, Allura, Queen Thrunast, J'mon Saurd, the Bright Queen, and Tovar Batoris are all present in this room around the table, as well as Evaroa is right up against Keyleth, who is the last member around this table.

As you step in, you can see they're already mid-discussion, and as you begin to make eye contact, you hear this, ah, perfect. We only just started a moment ago. So Everoa was giving us a breakdown of some pertinent information. Everoa, to the table, looking at everyone and looking at the rest of you as you filter in. So the Prime Pillar of Ruidus itself

is the remains of Pardothos' original form when sealed, is how it's understood on our, my home. The glass itself is extremely resilient against both physical excavation and magical alteration. What we do use as tools is either flecks that have come free from the overall interior structure or spent a long time trying to chip away and eventually make doable. Once it's left the primary glass-veined structure of the moon, it becomes more brittle and workable. But before then, it is extremely hardy.

Now, it has taken many unique and experimental designs and some recovered arcane technology from the ruins that you were all at to build devices that could work towards the core on the timeline that Ludinus requires. Now, I do not know how close they are to the core as we speak, but I do know that the Weavemind and Ludinus acknowledge through communion with Pardothos

that it lies sleeping somewhere near the center of the moon in something they refer to as the Hallowed Cage. From what I've overheard, this Hallowed Cage is likely the heavy boundary that the gods

put on Pardothos to keep him eternally slumbering. Now, Ludinus mentioned that this is what Pardothos has created the Ruidusborne for. They were the seeds that would one day germinate and return to open the cage, to come home and set him free.

Now, this activity, everything that's happening, everything that's occurring on the moon here through the Weavevine, through Ludinus and the Vanguard. Getting to this core is the center of all this. The armies, the fortresses, the psychic warlords, all layers of protection are all meant to safeguard this one final act. So that being the case,

that needs to be, as far as I understand, some important focus. Everything else, to a degree, is a distraction or a means of just, well, if they achieve that, then it's just a domino effect across everything else they're trying to do, right? So it's not much, but at least I do know that that's something that they're heavily focused on.

Dispelling or breaking apart this hallowed cage. Getting to it and then getting through it. The Proudathos isn't fully asleep. Not fully. They still hunger and call out. Keyleth looks across the table. We've also been able to look a bit

within this fortress that sprung up around the quay. And it seems like a rather extensive Ruidian army sits within and around its halls that is led on the ground by the Sunderking, Ozo Kruuth himself. That is one target, right? The Weavemind, Gil looks over to Evarua, you told me a bit about last night, is an incredibly dangerous, astronomically powerful collective of psychic alien minds.

You've seen these, you mentioned before. Do you corroborate this information? Yeah, they're extremely powerful. Do you know this weave mind to travel? And Vrogos, as far as I understand, they're rarely ever seen outside of their cathedral,

their stronghold around the pillar. They don't need to move, but if they have, it's probably for good reason. But if they have, it's probably for good reason. Their minds are so refined that they can influence many places on Ruidus without having to be physically there. I do not know enough or understand enough to know their limits, if there are any.

Their bodies were withered. They've been alive for a long time. Grynn then leans forward. If they are withered, then they can die. So that's two. The Sunderking, Ozo Kruuth, at the Malleus Key, and the Weavemind possibly also at the Key, or on Ruidus, still within the city, Kraviris. They were able to project themselves. They weren't physically there, but it certainly felt like it.

They were still very powerful, even without their physical form. You can see the Bright Queen then sitting back at the table. Then do we have a way of confirming where this Weavemind might reside? Sort of. No.

I could reach out. Didn't they talk to you? We were in the den. The Weavemind certainly doesn't know, but I could try reaching out to my mom. You know, just from the limited time we were on Roodus, we know vaguely where they are, but we didn't see them in person. Oh! We have diagrams for this,

and I get in the Bag of Holding, and I pull out that globe. As you pull out the globe and set it towards the table, everyone leans in. Keyleth smiles. Holding out on us here, but. Sorry, I thought we totally showed you this. I think I thought we did, too.

When we landed. You did, I didn't remember. Yeah. Somebody else says, Oh, well. Holding out on us. Well, I didn't see that. Who are you?

This is a private room. Get out. Get out. As they all begin taking turns looking over with an intense look, and they begin debating, all right, so this is the glass veins throughout. This is the body. Is this all true?

And Ivar-Ogo's like, as far as I understand, this is an estimation. No one has truly seen or fully explored the vein network, but we know the prime pillar and we know the glass veins that gather out throughout Rudas and different places. So this is an estimation from a number of our studying forces.

Hopefully that helps. Is this a place where the old forces. Hopefully that helps. Is this a place where the old minds burn, useful? Yeah, 100%. Everola, can I ask you a question? Of course. I wasn't with you all in Ruidus. Of all the people or beings who live there, how many of them are compelled to help Ludinus,

and how many are doing it of their own free will? Do you know? Do you have an estimation? How many are like you? How many are like those guarding the fortress? I know there are many, many who deeply dislike being under the tyranny of the Weave Mine, the Vanguard has offered promises of the Blue Dream,

of a better home. So those who aren't acting on fear, which is many, are acting on hope. But even so, there are many who, well, there are many who, well, there are many who know better and still fight within the Volition, the ones who sent you to come find me and rescue me. They're very much a sprawling network throughout Ruidus.

That was their core organizers in Kraviris, but they've been around for some time, generationally, and there are many who fall into their beliefs, but dare not speak or even think it at times, because the Weavemind is a very terrifying force. When focus can peel past deception, leave one's mind bare, and punish just as quick,

they're a terror. But perhaps without them, your people could be compelled by hope. I think so. Laura goes, All right, so we have the Sun of King Ozo at the Malleus Key, and we have the Weavemind, possibly on Ruedes. Can Ludinus achieve his goals without them? And we have the Weavemind, possibly on Ruidus. Can Ludinus achieve his goals without them? He'd have a much harder time. They've been his contacts the entire time on Ruidus. So, Roa, do you have any, I don't know if we've asked you this before,

but do you have any history of the Weavemind, of who they were? I don't personally. They're, what we know is when they, when they came to power, it was an era of prosperity for the Rylora specifically. Kind of a slow subjugation of the Bormodas,

the Quanticas, everyone who wasn't Ryloren kind of fell in line. It's hard to resist when you don't know how. Anything before was largely just cast away. It seems to be a pattern on both our worlds and looks over towards Keyleth and they all make eye contact about the gaps in Exandrian history.

But what I do understand is most everyone wishes to not be perceived by them. And the best way to not be perceived by them is to not question or balk. I still stick by what I said last night. We control the backdoor entryway. We go after the Weave Mine.

The break-in says, What backdoor entryway are you referring to? Well, I have a lot of code words for things, you know. Backdoor is the opposite of what you would expect, so. Make a deception check. Yeah. Oh! No worries.

Hey! Bright Queen smirks. If there is to be trust within the circle, and if we are to plan by putting the lives of ourselves and all of our beloved people to achieve any grand victory, it would behoove us to lay our proverbial cards on the table. Did we spin the bottle again? Yeah, well, how do we know that we can trust you?

Oh boy. She glares towards your direction, and Allura goes, We have to all trust in each other. We have shared... We have shared concerns. The Bright Queen and the Kryn have been fruitful allies since the Solstice.

And I believe, do not wish any ill will. So. Wait a minute. I want her to tell me that, not you. The room gets tense. Whoa. I want her to tell me that, not you. The room gets tense. The two Kryn defenders square off to the Bright Queen's shoulders,

and the Bright Queen puts her hand off to wave them away. My people were once cast from the light and climbed to return to it. I was there at the end of the Calamity, when we rose above the shadows the Spider Queen threw us. We walk now on the path of Vax'ath Veluxen, progenitor of all light and life. What Ludinus, sworn enemy of the Dynasty, wishes to do would send echoes that spiral out that would leave us in the most dangerous places of despair. So, while I do not, and we, do not ascribe to the worship of your temples,

we do acknowledge the mutually beneficial alliance that we have forged and should maintain. So we bid you no danger or harm. Does that satisfy your curiosity? Yes, it does. It's all I needed to hear. Very well. Love the look, by the way.

So this back door. We got a back door. We figured out a way to rule this. So Keyleth's like, Yes. Just, yeah. We got a way. Sorry.

But I mean, obviously, it's fraught with peril, and it's very, very dangerous. We've only used it once. We don't even know if it's still there, if it's been discovered, if it's been compromised. So we're playing a little close to the chest. It's also really small. It's secured.

Keyleth puts her hand up. We have to be trusting here before all is lost anyway. No, I... We received your missives and notice, and essentially, Bell's Hell's here, while they were on their intel mission on Ruidus, they discovered an ancient tether, an old portal that connected

wherever this section of moon once was to a place in Issylra at the bottom of a lake. This gate endured through the ceiling of the moon, and so is a second way in and off Ruidus. That, aside from those in this room, nobody else, we believe, is aware of. So. Sorry, guys. I fucking screwed the pooch on that one.

You're such a tactician, too! One in a hundred roll would have solved this. One in a hundred roll. She's not a sad knight. She just fell back and fell down. Queen Furnasd. That person already fucked me up. Dwarven Queen of Uthodurn leans on the table.

So if we have a back door this way, that means we can send armies on the surface of the moon and attack with them not being prepared. It's a small door. Single file, real slow. You're not going to get a whole phalanx through it. Right. And it's hard.

Vix'ali goes, but maybe some strike teams? Yeah, maybe some strike teams. Whatever you said, yeah. Strike teams. Whatever you said. Whatever you said, we agree with it. And anything we can do to so attract a...

Start forging some plans with the locals. I don't even think that. I'm coming. Start forging some plans with the locals. I don't even think that. We have the Sunder King and the Ruidian army sitting at the base of the Malleus Key, something that must be destroyed for the good of all of Exandria. We have the Weavemine sitting, most likely, either in the center of their city

or somewhere on the surface, possibly near Ludinus, though based on what we've heard here, they aren't the best of friends, just allies. That's his second target. Then we have Ludinus and his cohorts, those that are pushing towards this hallowed cage. Three targets. If any of these are assaulted,

the others will move to protect the others. Any sign, any assault, we can assume information will be immediately available to the others and set them on alert. So, what do we do? Can one work as a distraction for the others? Could. All I was going to offer is that they've heavily fortified

the Malleus Key, so they're expecting an attack there. We've already hit the interior core of the Weavemine, so they're expecting an attack there, or they'll have at least learned from it. Also, Cuth is a specific target that I don't think is expecting an offense. Well, he's at the Malleus Key. Right. He also has a Ruitous Army at his disposal. An offense. Well, he's at the Malleus Key. Right. Yeah. He also has a Ruedas army at his disposal. Are we talking about being the tip of the spear to an army?

I don't think that's right for us. I don't either. Keyleth chuckles. I might know a few old legends who might be up for joining an assault on the fortress. Besides, if it means destroying the Malleus Key, I want to be the one to do it, for many reasons. I'll see if I can pull some friends out of retirement." You see Allura curls a smile and Vex'ahlia curls a smile. Allura then says,

Well then, if we assault this as a distraction, then we'll have to have an assault on the Weavemind. That will notify Ludinus. So these would need to be simultaneous. If that's what I'm getting from you. Yeah, I mean, no military genius, but it seems the right plan. Communication's the hard part, right? Munda. Especially since we're going to need brain shielding, aren't we?

We're going to have to be as invisible as possible if we go back there. We are a known problem. Allura goes, Hmm. I think I have an idea. There are few troops in this world who have equally endured otherworldly psychic trauma and

stood in the face of the worst manipulators like they have. I just need them to return together in one piece. I may have a strike team to focus on the Weavemind. What are we doing? I was going to say, it doesn't sound like you really need us. No, that means we're going to be the one in this. Shatterteeth, Shatterteeth, Shatterteeth, Shatterteeth. We all come. Hallowed Cade. The Earthbreaker Gruun leans forward with a smile,

his massive arms rested on the table and his calloused fingers woven in front of his white beard. If this intel is correct, the vanguard's most dangerous work is happening near or beyond this hallow cage, which requires Ruitous Born to traverse. This means the infiltration team will require at least one. You have two.

That means one of you gets to stay home. I'm just joking. Keyleth nods. If the infiltration team can trek beneath the prime pillar of Kravirus and stop Ludinus from releasing Pardothos while the other forces are simultaneously engaged, then perhaps we can, for once, put them on their back foot.

The team most suited for this is likely you, Bells Hells. Of course, this is the most risk, but. You have been there. We have. You are capable. You were there with us in spirit, don't you? For the most part, but we'll need help with disguises, concealment, brain shielding.

We'll probably need some booze and some more branches from the birth heart. It's going to take a lot. That's sweet, Kush. Of course we'll do it. Yeah, makes a little sense. We need supplies. Well, you have until we walk to the Platinum Sanctuary

to back out. Because if we present this to the forum, that's an awful lot of expectation on each and every one of you. Won't they have their own warriors they want to send in? Do you think they'll go for it? Do you trust anyone who hasn't been to the moon to go there and do this carefully, with precision and understanding of the scope of what we're dealing with. I'm not really.

I barely trust the people in this room. I like that angle. I'm sure they'll have other ideas. And maybe we can tie many of them together. But they don't know about this back door and we're going to keep it to us in this room. Yes, keep it to us in this room. Button it up, right?

Whittle yourself something to look at. I asked for an acid etching and I didn't get it. No one's going to tell anybody about it? Groon. Oh shit, he laughed. I do not think you need to worry about me. I don't at all worry about you. I was just trying to, I think you're going to be so good at everything

we're going to do. See? That Salya stands up a bit. Mm. Well then. Let's hope they go for it. I hope you've all brought your talking caps with you and shine your smile a bit bright, because now we just have to convince the rest of Exandria

this is the best course of action. Did we bring our talking caps? It's a figure of speech. Figure of speech. I don't have a talking cap. Sorry, it's a, I'm a parent. So real. Did everyone go pee-pee before we asked? So real.

Did everyone go pee-pee before we asked? So we just have to take out the world's oldest living, most powerful mage. I'm into it. Yeah, look. No worries. I look to the Bright Queen again. You said, well, you don't worship any of the gods. You worship the Luxon? Yes.

Oh. Is the Luxon like Brodothos. In the way she performed? Meaning like it not being a god, but something else. In a way. The Luxon came before all else. Exandria was but a cold, black ball of nothing in the cosmos. The Luxon broke itself apart and gave life to this world, brought the elements, brought the spirits, brought everything. And now it just rests until we can bring it back together. And as she looks at the top of her staff, at the top of the staff, you see a 12-sided relic

kind of made from almost like an ivory material, very reminiscent of the object you saw in the center of the Malleus Key right before it was first engaged. Your eyes fall over towards you. I think I got one of those. I'm going to Burner Rage. Burner Rage?

Uh, got it. His head is just like a beacon. His head. I mean... I just start trying to fire it up, and the sparkles, little space, cosmos just starts flaring in my head and through my eye.

You watch the Bright Queen's eyes go wide, as well as her two compatriots. Her look of surprise turns to confusion, to curiosity, to concern. There we are, just waiting for it. I knew you'd get there. And then it's gone, it's six seconds. It's hard to describe, but I feel like I

trust them. And we will have to talk when this is done. I'm so excited. You shouldn't be. All right. I feel good. I feel good. Yeah, I feel good. Let's go make the pitch.

Yeah. If all this fails, maybe they'll have offered better options, or we can try to come up with something different. Or we just go rogue and do it anyway. I was hoping you would. Yeah! Very well.

Bellas Hellas. She looks around. Bertorius goes, This will be such a fight. Looks over to Gruun. There have been many times where I felt the Stormlord was preparing me. Here at the end of my days, this feels right. Looks over towards Allura. Are you ready to break a castle? Allura goes like, Certainly, put it that way. That's evocative.

I prefer to survive and do it from a distance. But, and Kimon slaps her on the shoulder and goes like, Oh, come on, Allie. Let's break a castle. She's like, let's break a castle. Kjellth smiles, looks over, Vex nods. Onward to the fate of tomorrow and the end of the world.

As you all begin to exit the chamber. Before we leave, I step off and look around. And I say in Gruun's head, where exactly do you go here to speak with him? You fight. Great. In his head, you see a flash of an open sandpit arena that lies in the bowels of this temple, an open space with raised platforms and stairs, statues that loom over it, broken and withered with time, and a gentle snowfall that just comes to rest on its center. It flashes back.

And you are ready. All right. I'm no fighter, but... I look forward to that. You all begin to step outside of the temple, the Trierforge, passing by the monks that are now lined up and bowing in a procession as you exit.

You being the last one that exited amongst everyone else. Feel the strike of sudden pain in your head. Oh. You feel the strike of sudden pain in your head. Oh! And your consciousness goes into a red, dusty expanse. Fuck. But just as fast as the storm is there,

it blows away. And there you stand in the middle of the beautiful green tall grass fields of the highlands where you grew up. The dream you've had time and time again, but reversed. You see the trees shifting with the breeze. You see your horse running freely.

In this vision, you hear, Imogen? Mama? You turn and look, and she's standing in the field behind you, the wind blowing her coat and hair. Imogen. And that's where we're going to finish the episode.

Oh yeah! What the hell? What the fuck? Is it her? I don't know! Oh boy, what a fun game. Why do I feel like it's not her? I know it doesn't feel like it. We'll find out next time.

Good shit, Maddy, oh my god. All right. Yay! All right, y'all good. That was some? Good shit, Maddy. Oh my god. All right. Yay! All right, y'all good. That was some interesting. Okay, yeah. So there's a lot of, okay. This is setting up an interesting setup.

Ah! I love the idea of the Bright Queen and the Tempest and the Rollo and the Laura all in the same room. They found each other. Yeah. Mm-hmm. All working together. We'll see if They found each other. Yeah. Mm-hmm. All working together. We'll see if they're working together. Oh, yeah.

I know, doesn't it feel like the Luxon is this light being? Sure feels. And then the star falling? Yeah. It feels like they're trying to make the Luxon whole again. The narrative's like, it fell and broke itself apart and gave life,

or did it fall and... Yeah. It certainly has its similarities. Buy note next time! Yep. All right, we got some things to think about and some methods of bureaucratic conversational persuasion.

My specialty. I'll go in first. It's a plot four next time. The king never kills the jesters. Let's go! Woo! Yeah, sometimes. Yeah. And we'll pick up there next week

as we jump back into this sudden vision, this daydream. Oh gosh. But thank you so much for coming with us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Good night. Oh man!