Critical Role - C3E12 Make It Fashion

Episode Date: February 10, 2022

The group readies themselves for the ball while beginning to piece together a cryptic puzzle of criss-crossing threads of fate...Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode. Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResourcesWatch Critical Role live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://twitch.tv/criticalrole and https://youtube.com/criticalrole. To join our live and moderated community chat, watch the broadcast on our Twitch channel.

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

Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. We're Dungeons & Dragons! Sometimes we're also a little slow on the exit there before we go live. But before we jump into our game tonight, we do have some announcements to get through, including our sponsor for tonight,

Beadle & Graham, Sam. Oh, hey, all you trippin' billies. It's me, Bob Matthews, Dave Matthews' younger brother. And two-steppin' into this sap-ta-light is Rick Matthews Bronstein, Dave Matthews' estranged second cousin once removed. Ooh, family! Oh yes, this episode is sponsored by Beadle and Grimm's and their brand new, amazing

boxed edition of our own Tal'Dorei campaign setting, Reborn. Now, B&G wanted to hire DMB to promote their fantastic product, but Dave's a little too busy chilling with Jack Johnson, Hootie, and several of the Blowfish. But we were available! Thanks, Cousin Rick. Hootie, and several of the Blowfish. But we were available! Thanks, Cousin Rick. Anyhoo, this box is packed with exclusive items, including battle maps, that's not it.

That's a battle map, maybe? Maybe? In-world handouts. This is fabric, that's very expensive stealing, yes. Jewelry and coins. I encounter and magic item cards. A GM screen down there somewhere. I'm an old man.

And four bonus adventures. In fact, me and my second cousin wanted to sing a song about it right now. However, we are currently under a cease and desist order from Dave's lawyers. And we are not allowed to sing any of his songs, so instead, we are literally going to make a song up on the spot.

Oh god. Here we go. Sing it, water boy. Oh yeah, it's in the air, it's airborne. Yeah, Tal'Dorei, Tal'Dorei reborn. Oh, you can be the coolest kid on the scene. Yes you can. With your brand new custom GM screen.

I got some jewels. I got some coins. You better gird your loins. Oh, crap. How do I beat that? How about with a new sweet battle map? Beetle and Grimms. Beetle and Grimms.

Beetle and Grimms. Beetle and Grimms. Beetle and Grimms, Beetle and Grimms, Beetle and Grimms, Beetle and Grimms! Beetle and Grimms. I'm real bad at you right now. Well, this premium tabletop experience is available in three tiers. Oh, there's more. Oh no! The first tier is... Arcane! Arcane!

Arcane, where you get this awesome box, and then... Awakened! Terrible. Where you get this box plus either the badge pack, the badge pack or the map vault, I don't know what this is, or... Exalted! Terrible, possibly the worst.

Where you get both. Check out everything right now yourself at bit.ly slash TDR boxed, and thanks for supporting the show. Crash to you, Matt. Wow, thank you, both of you. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Robin.

I mean, Rick. I appreciate that. Robbie just diverted into Creed while you just became, while Sam just turned into full Adam Sandler character from the late 90s. Sloth and joe, Sloth and Jor. But really, this is a great box, everybody.

You should really check it out. Bobby Boucher. I love my mom like that. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Beetle and Grym. It's super awesome. What you guys have done with the book, yeah, it's awesome. Check it out. Laura, you got some announcements.

Oh shit. Okay. This is more of a train wreck than normal. Because. More than what we just saw. Somehow. That was amazing. I am here to tell you we have merch in our store, but I don't have it to show

because I might have it in the dirty laundry because I was wearing it. Imagine, if you will. Oh no! A Legend of Vox Machina t-shirt! Not just a Legend of Vox Machina t-shirt! It's not a Legend of Vox Machina t-shirt! It's black, it's got white picture on it. Oh, it's beautiful! Check it out in our store.

Oh, and we also have this amazing black hoodie! The Legend of Ex Machina. Can I put it on? We're going to paste it in, right? Can you post? Put this in my hand? Ow. No. We're going to Shapiro.

Stop wearing the merch at home! Ooh, and the back, it's got cool purple stuff on it. Wait, there's a bag? It's a back. Oh, that's a back? Check it out in the story. Can't you tell? I'm sorry. The seawork.

Improv is not my thing. Nobody's going to do this for us. Now try it on. Spakes works like a seven. Arms out like a scarecrow. There you go. Oh god, he's so good. Looks good. Yeah.

What I am excited about is, even when it's not actually here, Ashley still manages to put it on wrong in the cutest way. It is the best. I put the hoodie on, the back is here. Cover my face. That is amazing.

Can't see. Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Ashley. Sorry, I forgot the stuff. It's okay. Crash back to you, Sam. You have something to talk about. Oh, I do? Oh yes. I do. Yeah!

Guys, our animated series is out! It's out! It's out! It's out! I've seen it. Maybe you've seen it. The first three episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina are available right now on Prime Video.

Episodes four, five, and six release at 12 a.m. Pacific on February 4th. That's midnight tonight, guys. Oh my gosh. I know. So after the show, we have to watch. Staying up till 2 a.m. Staying up, yep. Hell yes. Doing it.

You should know that we're going to host our next watch party for episodes four through six this Tuesday, February 8th at 7 p.m. Pacific on Twitch. Make sure your Prime Video account is synced up to your Twitch so you can watch along with our cast and guests and ask questions in chat. It's so exciting! Dude, I'm so pumped!

Yes! So exciting! We're going to answer all the secret questions. Yes. Fantastic. Thank you, Sam. Sure. And I think that concludes our announcements for tonight. It's all over the map! All ended to frame.

All ended to frame. That concludes our announcements for tonight. It's all over the map! Poor Andy Dufresne. Poor Andy Dufresne. Zee-wha-tuh-nay-uh. And on that note, let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Yeah! Critical.

Critical. It's Thursday Night! Breath and roll. How do you want to do this? It's Thursday night. All ye critters come join us. It's time to continue our flight. 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 fight.

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. SAM and LAURA say goodbye.

And welcome back. So, last we left off, our band of heroes had been pursuing a few variable threats. You had come to Eshteross with information about this strange entity, the Nightmare King, that you had encountered, who seemed to be responsible for a lot of the chaos bursting across the city of Dru-Sar

that you have been either hearing of or present for. They also mentioned that they were under the employ of some individual named Arman. Eshteross said that this sounds like Arman Treshi, a name familiar to you in some of these other investigations. And it was said that possibly in the coming event, a ball of sorts that is being held

in under a week here in the city, there may be interest in trying to find out more about the individuals involved, if not other ventures. You okay, Marisha? Uh-huh. Okay. I'm okay. You also found the individual

that Chetney was looking for, Gurge, who gave you some information about where to find out the whereabouts of this troop of hemocraft-based warriors that had essentially found ways to keep their beast at bay, may be able to teach you. Now, with this, you're able to also speak at Eshteross' introduction

to Oshad the Anger, Brescio, and the family of which he was protecting when two of the family members were killed recently by a very familiar assassination attack. Gathering a bit of information and a direction into the Heartmoor to find more information, you also finally had a path into the conservatory

that you've been waiting for since your arrival in Jrusar. Late into the evening, you all went up and waited patiently as Imogen went through the library to seek any information that might help unveil answers about her strange, reoccurring nightmares and her odd abilities. And you found some, something at least. Possible rumors and theories

about seemingly historical recurrences of similar visions and dreams by others. And a name, a familiar one, that of your mother, Illyana Tmult, before the remainder of this one report was seen torn and missing. And that's where we left off. So Imogen, if you stand there pouring down upon the,

at least the bulk of this report tome that you were able to locate, the rest of it missing, the possible ramifications of this information washing over you, What do you do? The page or the student that's helping me? The scribe, yeah. The scribe. Can I ask him,

how could pages be torn out of this? I thought these books were protected. Takes it. This is very unusual and a great shame. I apologize. It is not often that individuals that use our space vandalize any of the pieces here. This has gone by under our noses without notice.

I appreciate the heads up. We'll go ahead and look into it immediately. Do you keep track of who checks out the books? We generally have some semblance of information. I can look into it. Maybe find out who had them last. That would be the first order of our investigation. I would very much be interested in knowing that.

That would be official school investigation. And do note, as an individual who also is seeking this information, we'd have to make record that you were the last individual with the tome as well. Sure, but you were with me. You know I didn't do it. I believe so, but I was with a majority of those

who would have had the tome as well. I'll go look into it. You were with the people that would have had the tome? It would have been myself or one of our other scribes who were specifically assigned to this portion of the library. Do you remember anyone checking this out with you? Not in some time. If you don't mind waiting for a moment,

I will look into our records. Sure. I sit there, left in the late night silence of the library, the occasional distant echoing cough or sniffle or shuffling of the other four individuals that occupy the library space this late at night. Otherwise, this open space around you is almost oppressive. You can glance up and see the tall, thin glass windows that look out into the star sky.

You just ponder over the immensity of what any of this could mean. Do I know how late it's gotten? You would gather at this point, it's well past midnight. It's not like super, super early morning, but it's like, you know, otherwise. A short time later, the scribe returns,

looking over a small, leather-bound notation book, and goes through, Oh, the, uh... Oh dear. here. The last individuals to have checked this book out were the Late Loomis twins. The who? The what? The Late Loomis twins.

Oh shit. I apologize. I wish I could be of more help, but. Thank you very much. I'm sure I'll be around more. What was your name again? Oh, Tiran. Tiran.

I really appreciate everything. Of course. It's my pleasure to have something to do this late at night, beyond just read my research. Well, have a wonderful evening and good morning. That as well. I'll escort you off. Thank you. The rest of you have been spending your time

however you can, whether it be by napping on the exterior steps of the conservatory or talking amongst yourselves. Eventually, you hear the familiar footfalls of Imogen across the stone floors, exiting the front chamber doors of the conservatory. Oh, before I leave, is Professor Kadeshia Sumal, is that,

I don't know if I said that right. Kadeshia, yeah. Kadeshia. Do they work here at the Conservatory? I am not familiar with a professor of that name. My apologies. There is no one here at the Conservatory of that name. Thank you very much. Thanks.

I found some coins in the fountain. Oh, you did? Mm-hmm. You know people make wishes on those. Well, how do you think they come true? That's wonderful, Fearne. I don't know how they come true. Oh. Anyway.

How'd you do in there? Yeah, what was it like? Did you look? I found a book about dreams and powers. It was written by a professor who doesn't work here. I need to find out. But they did a study, and my mom,

my mother was part of it. What? I don't know. It got to the, oh god, there was so much. I'm so sorry it's so late, you guys. It got to the part that was just really getting interesting. I have no idea why she was part of it. And then the pages were ripped out,

and apparently the pages were ripped out by the Loomis twins. The twins? The twins. How are they wrapped up in all this? How am I wrapped up in what they're wrapped up in? You're sure? That's what the scribe says. I don't think he was supposed to tell me that, but he did. wrapped up in all this? How am I wrapped up in what they're wrapped up in? You're sure? That's what the scribe says.

I don't think he was supposed to tell me that, but he did. All right. The plot thickens. Wait, the Loomis twins were... The ones who died. Yes, yeah, yeah, yes, but they were interested in dreams? They were interested in...

The stars, planetary bodies, celestial bodies. And that's what the book was also about. Oh, okay. The moons given power and... And that's what you were looking into? Yeah, I wanted to find out why I started getting the powers that I did. Why they timed up the way they did.

When you say your mother was a part of the study, was she a researcher or an actual person in the study? I think she was someone in the study. I don't know. Could you ask her? I don't. She's gone, Fearne. I don't know her. Like Dad, or?

I don't know her. I don't know. Did you ever know her? Did your father ever talk about this? Never. Any time I tried to bring her up, it was like he just turned off. Part of me thinks that's one of the reasons

he stopped coming around me. Once everything started changing, it's almost like he knew that he'd give something away. I just thought he was uncomfortable. I didn't know. I didn't know. I don't know. But he was keeping her a secret or something? I mean, I know she existed.

I know who she was. I don't know anything about her. Did your dad ever say anything about your mom having the same sort of gifts? Nothing like that. Do you happen to know if she's still alive, or you don't know? I thought she was...

I... I hear her in my dreams. I think it's her. Do you think that she was here, or that the book just made its way here? I think the book made its way here. They don't, this professor, this person that wrote the book, they're not here.

So maybe it's her. I wonder if we can track them down. Do you happen to know how long ago this book was made? I mean, if it was revolving around your mother. That's true. It could have been years before. I didn't ask. I'm an idiot. I didn't ask. And the book was studying your mother as a subject?

Or she was one of the- She was one of many subjects. Most universities, books that are written, research papers, they're part of a study. They communicate. If you're allowed in the library, are you allowed in the rest of the university? I don't know.

The paperwork that you were given offers you access to the The library. The premises to the level that a student would. Oh. Oh shit. access to the premises to the level that a student would. Oh. Oh shit. Maybe the university knows where this professor is. You said the book was damaged, though.

The Lumas twins. Potentially have ripped the pages out, so maybe the pages are at their house, or? Well, I mean, that's a lead, in my opinion. Yeah, and refresh my memory, the Loomis twins, Valens, they were killed? Yes. The hunger, the anger was? By a similar attack.

Right. That Orym experienced. They were in their 20s, right? Yeah. Yeah, 22, I think. Imogen, you do recall that in the paper, it did note that Professor Cadish Samal was based out of the Aedinlan Seminary in the city of Eos.

Oh, right! The capital of Eishenador. It's far to the southeast of here. Okay. Wait. One more time for the people who didn't get that, not me, though. The Aedinlan, A-Y-D-I-N-L-A-N Seminary. In the city of Eos, which is Y-I-O-S.

Y-I-O-S. And would we, just knowing that name, would you know what type of religion was being studied there, or is that a question mark? Just make a history or religion check, your choice. Oop. Seven. Seven. The best that you can recall in your travels

and knowing Marquet decently, the city of Eos is, it combats with Ank'harrel as the center of academic study and is often touted as the pinnacle of academia in Marquet. It tends to be more aloof against the rest of the political interactions across the continent and beyond. And if you aren't taking a direct route in with an escort,

the path to get there is challenging. You really shouldn't sleep on that student access. You could wander into a lab. I hear they experiment with all sorts of mind-altering shit. Get a free ride. And frisbee golf. That's true. On the quad.

Open your horizons. You know, I think I'm going to hold off on that, just because if I get kicked out before I get a chance to do any more research, I'll be kind of bummed. Suit yourself. Is this free ride theoretical or from experience? I just want to know.

I've experimented with quite a few things in my day. Sometimes it's a free ride, sometimes you pay. Who's got the map? It's behind you? Is it? You don't want that line? I don't think I do. You guys would see it poking two feet above my head.

I have the map. I assumed you were a save point. Is it on now? I don't know. You know, I have something written down. I don't know if this is important. Oh my god. You said start.

It's a good start story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, good start. The city of Aeos is just down below the map. Off the map? Yeah, it's off the map, way in the southeast direction. Yeah, there is the Hellcatch Valley between that region and where you are now. The Hellcatch Valley between that region and where you are now. The Hellcatch Valley sits central to Marquet

and is the lawless waypoint between the other major regions. Now, there used to be more sky ports, but the, what's it called, the Apex War, roughly two decades before that happened between Ishan'Adur and the Shreddo's Throne, both locations destroyed their skyports and haven't put them up since.

So right now, the only skyports that exist officially in Marquet are Ank'haral and Drusar, which has brought a lot more trade and a lot more business into Drusar ever since, but also means those two other major players in the politics of Marquet have been a little more isolated and slowly rebuilding their political outreach. I appreciate the officially that was snuck in there,

by the way. That's exciting. Fearne, you had something very important to say? Oh, yes. Well, it looks like I wrote, this probably means nothing, but a friend of Brashad's, Estani, was also from Eos, and it said we could talk to them about the attack. And I can't read the rest of what I wrote

because it's squiggles. Well, I was going to ask you, Imogen, first, are you going to spend any more hours or days searching here? Or? I mean, I was there for quite a while, wasn't I? Oh yeah, but you didn't, I mean, if you didn't find what you were looking for,

we should keep looking. I feel like that's what I was looking for. But I mean, you didn't learn about your condition or anything. I wonder if I could check that. No, I can't check the book out because I turned it in because it had ripped out pages because I'm really smart. As is the nature with most students,

the official tomes cannot be removed from the library. You are welcome to spend time copying them, which is what some students do. If not taking notes from them, there are people whose jobs are to scribe one-to-one those tomes if there are to be included to other libraries. It's a bit time intensive, but it's doable. Is it? Did I take notes on

the other people's names that I saw in there? Well, there were probably three dozen names of people that, in some way, shape, or form were contacted as part of it. Then there were a number of other names that were mentioned through history of people that were historically written to have spoken about having similar visions.

So yeah, let's say you noted a number of names as you went through. Okay. Did it say in the book when it was written? You didn't get there because it was torn out. Okay. Well, like Ash said, we could maybe double back to the Lumas house. And if that doesn't turn anything up,

there is the Heartmoor Hamlet. I mean, we need to go there anyway. It's certainly a good lead. That was where the Loomis twins were studying. That's where his patron was sending us, too. So it all lines up. That's wild. Yeah.

We're deer and wild. But that's Far Journey, right? And we have a ball to attend? Yeah. We can go after the ball? Party, then work, I think, is the way to go. That is always your philosophy. Well, it's party, then party, until you have to work.

But yes, yes, you're technically correct. That's a... All right. Well, what are some loose ends we need to do in town? Do we still need to sign this contract with Eshteross? We're asking to figure out, I assume we have to wear things if we're going to go to this thing.

Oh, right. Yeah. Got to get a tux for Pate. That I approve of. I was so prepared for that to be a bad idea. I wonder if a few days is enough time to get that custom made. If not, maybe. Chetney, do you know how to sew?

Basically, just to repair my own stuff. I can't make fancy shit. You should definitely repair your own stuff. What are you talking about? Nothing. This is all character, baby. Yeah, yeah. Very.

I can sew, but it looks like this. It's pretty gorgeous. Thank you. I don't think it's going to get us in the door, though. Even if I could find him a tiny bow tie, that might suffice. If we're sticking around, then that means that Imogen can keep going to the library

over and over and see if. Every night. Yeah, see if she can figure out what's going on in your noggin. Yeah, is there any reason to look up the other books that the Loomis twins might have checked out? That's a great idea. Holy shit. That is a very good idea. What?

Oh my gosh. That's a really good idea. It's more luck. Chetney, that's really smart. Yeah. Favorite movie, Seven, so. Favorite what? What? Huh? That would be his favorite movie. Yeah.

This would just be so sad. What's in the box? What's in the box? I can come back tomorrow night. All right. Yeah. Yes, maybe we can also find out more about other things. Other things. Yes.

A lot of other things. Are you being vague on purpose, or? No, I just couldn't think of any. Oh, cool, cool. It's late now, isn't it? Yeah, we should go sleep. It's probably somewhere close to one in the morning. Jeez. Yeah. Sleep.

There's a lot of books. Get turned up. Some readings, some potions, get ready to party, to leave town. This is all exciting. Yeah. Sleep. Get back to our...

Sleeping spire. Our tavern. Okay, so you're heading back to the Spire by Fire? Yeah. We have not checked in with Shadana in quite a few days. Oh goodness. Maybe we should sleep there tonight just to make sure she's okay. All right.

Let's try not to wake her, though. It's so late. Yeah. All right. So the rest of you go and take a room out at the, or rooms out at the Spire by Fire. So you could easily, uncomfortably fit all of you in one room or comfortably fit you within two, three. That'll run, let's say, about a gold

for the two rooms for the night. Yeah, I got it. All right. You guys are sleeping. They're modest sized. Shadana's, yeah. As you both make your way to the windowed wall and approach the exterior of Shadana's homestead, the door is closed. Okay.

We go and unlock it? We go in? Can we go in? Check for traps! Can we go in? Can we go in? Check for trap! Can we go in? What's wrong? A little crime? Does it look weird? Has she watered her flowers? Make a perception check.

Oh no! How could you be so careless? 12! 22. Wait, wait, no. How could you be so careless? 12. 22. Okay. Wait, wait, nope. That's a 13, not an 18. 16.

16, so pretty sick. 17. You realize that the door... When you take 18. So many numbers. Maybe 15. Well, I hate you. I hate you. Did you take, you, me, me.

Did you take 50? Yeah. One dollar. You find the door isn't locked. It is just slightly jammed. And it's been this way before. It's the way to match. Donnifery's lifting, push it open.

Yeah, got to fix that floor. The smell of a recently fizzled oil lantern fills the air. It is lightless in the interior. You glance inward and you can see, as the dancing lights emerge as well, sitting in the fire recliner, Shadana. Is she awake or asleep?

She appears to be unconscious. Why is he making it sound like she's dead? Can't tell if she's awake because she doesn't have a head. Oh no! It's in the bottle. Does it smell funny? Does it smell funny? No. She's breathing, right?

Is she breathing? You rolled a high net perception check. Yeah, she's breathing. She's asleep in her chair. Whoa! She's mad asleep! Myra's out of that one, man. You smell a metal smell. She's asleep.

You can't tell how regularly she's breathing. Could be shallow breaths. All right, well. Put her to bed. Yes, go lead her to bed. She half-winks up. I was wondering where you were. Leads her back to bed. She half-winks up. Well, I was wondering where you were. Leading her back to bed.

Are you hungry? I'll go to bed early. We'll chat in the morning. She goes right to bed and transitions immediately back into whatever dream had held her. I thought she was dead. Who's? Why? Maybe it's just because

I've got death on the brain. I don't know. Like, what if something we did, like, let someone hear, and then... I don't know. We got to check on her more often. Yeah, we should. She is old. She can tie at any moment.

She's just so frail. I can hear you. That's fine. I know, man, I can hear you. So you all get your long rest for the night, preparing for the following morning. Now counting from where Eshteross had told you, you're about four days from the ball. Okay. Now counting from where Eshteross had told you, you're about four days from the ball. Okay.

Sorry, were the dreams any different having read the information that I did, or was it the same as it always is? Well, you don't have this dream every night. It's not a particularly intense nightmare every single time, it's just a recurring one. Okay. This was a restful It's just a recurring one. Okay. This was a restful night's sleep, comparatively.

Still, you know, your brain processing memories and pieces of other dreams. When you come back to consciousness, unable to really recall what it was that you were experiencing, but nothing as visceral and as intense as the often-recurring red storm.

We're all together again, or? Yes, you all manage to meet up once again. Breakfast is had, the date is yours. What would you like to do? Do we need a long rest? We didn't do anything, right? Mm-hmm. I don't think so.

Sleep is good. Without it, you feel shitty. So I feel like that's an accomplishment by itself. Does anyone have anything to do besides kill time before this do? There's some items that I could use, or some upgrades that I could use to perform different newer tasks.

Ooh. I'd like to go shopping as well. I would not say no. We need potions. We need some shit. Oh, are we going to go shopping? Shopping! Shopping! If we go shopping, don't go to the Prison Emporium. The Prison Emporium?

Yeah, whatever the place is called. It's a fucking ripoff. I got business there later. Oh. Oh. The Prism Emporium? That sounds probably more likely. That sounded really loaded. Do you want the expensive places

or do we want the cheap places? I mean, always cheap, but also with magic? Would Emnars have magic shit or no? I don't think we've been to Emnars yet. You have not been to Emnars yet. Emnars may occasionally, rarely have something, but it's. It's not the vibe. It's not the vibe.

Those are rare scavenged elements and they do show up. It's not the take it or leave it. Man, I'm thinking. Places that you could think of, there's the. Prism Emporium, I guess. There's the Prism Emporium, there's the... Prism Emporium, I guess. It's a Prism Emporium. There's the Trove of Marwa. There is...

Trove of Marwa. Advicts wandering curiosities and collections? Marwa and Dahlia. I don't know what that means. That sounds fun. Trove sounds fun. Also, there's a dress code, too. I don't, how do we, maybe you know.

Oh, dress code, not so much. You have to dress a certain way, but you want to present a certain air, upscale, I would say, for certain. Probably not cheap. Everyone looks nice. I think you all look nice. You look very nice. If we go into a ball, we need nice clothes.

Correct, that is correct, yes. What happens if you don't wear nice clothes? If you don't? Yeah, do they not let you in? Less so. More so you wouldn't be able to utilize the social experience of a ball. People wouldn't want to talk to you.

You'd be off in the corner by yourself and... No, no, no, no, no. Not in a good way. You're sounding this real hard. Yeah. I'm digging it. I think if you trust us, we can make you up and you could feel just at home. Trust.

All right. Yeah, that's my opinion. You want to, I mean, I feel like you have the most experience with with like performance, right? And that's what this is. We want to fit in. It's performance. Do you want to style us?

Do you want to dress us? Oh my god. Do you want to actually dress us? I would absolutely love to, yes! Yes! Wow! Absolutely. The less I can think about to, yes! through the Lucien Spire, and that brief spin that you guys were doing recently, you recall a location referred to as the Golden Veil.

It looked like a high-end clothing and attire boutique. Goddamn it. It's probably too late to get something custom made. Probably too late, yep. Do you, well, actually, most nicer places do have an in-house alterations person. It shouldn't take more than a day or two per person, and for someone with your size and stature,

not quite a bit of material to work with, so it should be pretty quick. It's better to get that worker in today, because they might need time to get stuff ready for us. Yeah. Yeah. Then even if we don't get invited to the ball, then... I don't know, your husband is just funny. He just hates it so much.

That was a shot me in the heart. It was too good. I may not know the fashions of the area or the times, but I can make sure we all look nice, the best I can do, even Chetney. Chetney, I'm sure, will look fabulous, and I can just see him in a nice little tux. Yeah, you'll be jealous, night elf.

I'll be taking numbers. You should get tails, big, long tails. That would be just lovely. I could just slip my cloak down the middle and be set. Three-quarter rule, longer torso, never mind. We'll talk about it. We pass a place, what's it called? The Golden Veil. The Golden Veil. The Golden Veil, does anyone remember seeing that?

Yes, I saw it as well back there. We could go back. It's worth popping. Sure, let's do it. Let's go. Mr. Pock-a-pee. Yes? Just in preparation for this ball, I don't want to stick out or anything, so I was thinking,

I briefly spent time as a turtle, and it was interesting because I was breathing, which was new. I was going to ask. It felt really cool, but also it felt weird because I had feet, and it was really interesting cool, but also it felt weird because I had feet. It was really interesting to propel myself around that way. I was wondering, maybe, I don't want to stick out, so I was thinking if we were to get some garments,

maybe I could get pants. Could you make wooden feet for me? They could go on the bottom of the pants so it looks like I have legs. Just hang out on either side of your wheel? Yeah, yeah, there would be a wheel in the middle and then two legs on the side. They wouldn't notice the wheel if they saw some like-

This spark's brilliant. If you put a little spike on either side of the spoke, then they would like- I can make this happen. Can you make them look like they're walking? Like a walking duck toy. What about your face? What about it?

Wow. I mean that. Inside check. Oh my goodness. Are you trying to not look like what you are? Well, I don't, I just don't want to make the event uncomfortable for all of you. So if you think that I should- What if she would never make any of us uncomfortable?

Well, no, I don't want to attract too much attention. Also, aren't we supposed to be there to be gathering information surreptitiously? Like, I don't want to make a big. You're fascinating and interesting. There's nothing where, if anything, you are a positive. I think we should move forward with the feet idea, just because I want to see that,

but not because you're perfect, just the way you are. You don't need feet. I understand. Do it for you. You all accept me. I get it. I get you. Don't do it for us, do it for you. Okay, yes. We're all going to draw attention regardless. Yeah, and I mean, worst comes to worst, Imogen's got student, though. Don't do it for us, do it for you. Okay, yes. We're all going to draw attention regardless. Yeah, and I mean, worst comes to worst,

Imogen's got student access now. If we could just find the cadaver department and borrow a face for a night, it'd be no big deal. Could you rig something up like that with your tools? I mean, yeah, I'd just get some simple stitching. Give you a smile. You know what, what'd you say? That idea happened fast.

You've done that before. No. I don't know if you could... Might need to stick it on with pitch or something. Yeah. Maybe we... Oh, hey, let's just mess up. Let's look at outfits and then we'll talk. Fucked up. I hate this. I hate it.

Just do it. I'll make you look younger. I'm here to party! We're going to use our chainsaw massacre over here. Jeez. Smiley day! Oh man. We'll work on the feet and figure out the face later, I guess.

Okay. I just start feverishly working on a new piece of wood. It's in this image of fresh cut grass with this buzz saw in a field with a leather mask on. Just going,. I put googly eyes under mine. They're a little bit of that rock. Ooh.

This is the heroic troop. Come on, make it, babe, make that move. All right, so. Yeah. You're first heading towards the Golden Veil, is that what you're doing? Or the morgue? What's that going to be? That's a good idea.

Maybe that's just some magic shit. Golden Veil, Golden Veil. Okay, Golden Veil. Okay, I take it that you're utilizing your neutral skin cloaks that were gifted by Eshteross as you traverse a city shortly after being present at some sort of a large arcane explosion at an important locale.

Yeah, you know, a change of clothes is probably wise anyway. Oh man, that's a good idea. What's that? Anyway, yeah. A good idea or a change of clothes is probably wise anyway. That's a good idea. What's that? Anyway, yeah. A good idea or a change of clothes? Kind of both, to be honest. Well, everyone go ahead and mark two silver

off your character for the travel from last night from the Conservatory. And heading to the Lucien Spire. On the gondolas and stuff? Yes. Okay. That's all right, Chutney's got me. I do, four silver. I work furiously both rides, just shavings everywhere.

You got it. Okay. Four silver, fuck. Heading back into the Lucent Spire, returning to these beautiful, immaculately kept streets and small pathways, the estates and gardens that surround you, it reminds you once again of the variation in class stepping into this space of which much more gold

seems to flow through the neighborhood. But not long afterward, do you see the locale, that is the Golden Veil, a beautiful two-story boutique that seems to hold an intricate architectural design where you can see trim placed along the windowsills. It seems to evoke almost like the building itself is an outfit, if you were to try and dress a structure. This is a very well-dressed structure.

And even within 20 feet of it, there is a perfumed smell that seems to walk through the front doors. It's not overpowering. It's apricot. Oh, it's burning. Oh god, it's burning. There you go.

Tres Bleus. Upon entering, the scents mingle a bit with nice herbal scents, and it seems to be in a slight cycle so that no smell seems to dig itself too heavily and consistently into your mind or sinuses. But within, you can see all manner of dress forms, But within, you can see all manner of dress forms,

holding all beautiful designs of fantastic silk dresses and wraps and scarves. You can see there's a whole section for hats. There are a number of dressing rooms in the back beautiful designs of fantastic silk dresses and wraps and scarves. You can see there's a whole section for hats. There are a number of dressing rooms in the back and at least a half dozen individuals rush around in the process of gathering materials. You can hear the sound of what looks to be

these mechanical machines that are currently stitching through the layered material and fine trim into an outfit as you see an impatient noblewoman standing there watching and giving notes aggressively from just over a divider. Near the front, there's an empty... My brain completely shat the bed on that right there.

There's a boy. There's a boy. There's a boy. Yep, that happens on occasion. Yay. Still loading. Still loading, yep. Just gather your party for Venturing Force. Venture's loading in.

Yep. You see a manor of cabinetry and a countertop, but there is no immediate sign of help at the ready. And as you glance around for a second, you smell first some heavy burning tobacco smell, like a thick, tarry tobacco. And a voice from behind goes, I'm sorry, can I help your review?

You glance and you can see a small gnomish woman with a grand smile across her face, wrinkles that crack at the corner of the eyes, but you can see immaculately done eye makeup with a gold, almost like a filigree curl to the end of each eye. The hair is done up in almost like victory rolls, in a way. And this, I can only describe it as

like a power suit type arrangement that sits on her. You can see there's, across the shoulder with the strap, there is a large pin cushion that rests under the shoulder, and over one arm, it looks like there is a wrap of material. Might I ask what you are looking for, perhaps? Oh, hello. Hello.

Hi, my name is Dorian. What's your name? Dorian. Puts the hand out towards you. I am Seamstress Quartel. This is my establishment, and you are coming at a very busy time. There is an event coming soon

that is keeping us front to back, but there might be room. What is it you seek? The event. We may be attending. We're not certain at this point, but. We're definitely attending. I mean, right, well.

We're new here to town and have recently been asked to attend and therefore need... Clothing, we need clothing. We all need clothing for the event. We need an array of clothing. Yes. Well. Yes. The timeline is very small on anything custom. If you want small adjustments,

that can be done within the time frame. So just pick up something you might like and we can go into measurements and alterations. Lovely, so we're free to browse, if that's all right with you? Of course. Oh, well, how fun. Great. Thank you so much.

Okay, Matt. What's in the store? I would ask more specifically, what is it you are looking for? I can give you some guidance. You do see, there is a wide array of outfits with cultural touchstones from Alaqua, Alaquas, Alaquas Exandria.

Alaquas. Alaquas Exandria. Hufflepuff. Oh man, I am running on half energy tonight. So good. But you see, there is a tire that holds the regal shoulder shelf display that a lot of noble houses in Wildemount might hold. You can see there is an element of Nordic furs

that draw from Issylra and Othensia. You can see there are a large swath of Marquesian inspirations from all across the continent, things from a beautiful jama coat tailored for the female form that has the high collar and the fold over in the front, sleeves that bunch up towards the middle forearm before cuffing at the end,

and a beautiful dress that flows up from there. You can see all different designs of Shirwani coats, also themselves, the short collar in the front and a long button-down seat which is in the front, tailored well and tight to the torso that rests almost to where the end of the thigh is. You can see there are all manner of cloaks and display designs.

There are even pins and sashes that can be customized as well with all manner of trim that are available to place upon them. What is it that you are considering for your character? Oh. Oh man. If I may just give you all one piece of advice,

since we're browsing on our own. The fastest way to get called out at an event that perhaps you don't feel like you should be there or you're feeling insecure is to try to be something that you're not. So my piece of advice is, whatever you're looking for, make sure that even though it's lovely, it's still you. Okay. That's great advice, Dorian.

That's great. Should we all wear the same thing? I would like a uniform. No, that's not how it works. Here we go. We could go with a color pattern, maybe. Something to match to say we're all from the same house, or troop or group. Oh, yeah.

What colors does Duelord Eshteross wear? Do we know what his house colors are? It's Bear Verona. One of the Eshterosses we're in. What? What have we got? I think, I don't know. Like the colors of a crest or something?

You haven't looked deep enough into his abode to consider there being a crest. You do know that he took over from a previous, the family that this whole venture was bequeathed unto had a long history. He just came into it, but you didn't see any flashy signs of coloration or crest designs that caught your eye.

Just that Kiss the Cook apron, that's it. Yeah. Yes, that was it. Yeah, I don't know what I want. I'm not sure a uniform is it, though. When I was in Uthodurn, the store that I was at was on the Deliberation disk, and there were some fancy people there. Maybe I could wear some Uthodurnian styles.

Of course, that's exactly what I'm talking about, Chetney. Yes, something with some flair that says, this is who I am, but I'm the best of where I'm from. Yeah, I left that place, the better for it. I came out on top. Yes, yes! Go look for your clothing. Where do you got anything from Uthodurn? for your clothing! Waiting anything for Ruth and Dirt!

That is possible, not a request we get often. Come with me. And she leads you off. She brings you through through all beautiful arrays of large outfits and displays to what you quickly assume might be the forgotten and or discount track. If there was one here.

She sifts through and pulls out this Fold Endeavor, blows on it, and dust billows off for a second, shakes it out, and you can see it is this awesome, layered, almost like a double coat, that it has a sash going into the front, that the trim off of it has a snow-type design on it. It looks like it's evoking the idea of icicles

on the edge of a roof. But the rest of it, you can see, has a cool pale blue coloration with ivory around the edges. There's no color to it. It's just a smooth transition down before it opens up just past the waist. Double coat, that's good for concealment.

Is this more of what you're looking for? Yeah, I'll take it. Does it come in my size? Holds it out, and it's a bit wide. You can tell at a glance, this is more of a dwarvish build for this. Shouldn't be too hard to take it in, though. What about for my head?

Is there anything matching up top? I can't keep my dome naked. We'll take you to our haberdashery floor. Come with me. The fuck? Leads you upstairs and you can see, no one comes back. Now is it for Travis's second kick.

Your face. Oh my god. He comes, jeez. Oh my god. You become Jesus Chetney. Could he come down 10 minutes later? I feel a lot lighter now! Once the wrinkles open up, I bet it would fit all the way over.

You could change your name to First Cut Chetney. So. There is a beautiful floor of all sorts of hats, from large, showy ones with feathers and wide brims, to short, almost military-looking cup-fold hats. There are some that have tassels that hang down past the back of the head, and there are some that have almost a regal point

to the front and flare out towards the back. You can see there are a number of designs here. What kind of idea do you want to evoke with your headgear? A brim is actually pretty sweet. Some wide-brimmed hat options might be just the thing, because I'm short enough that if I want to disengage from a royal conversation, I just tip my chin and I'm out.

I can gather from your presentation that you're not Marquesian, yes? No. And you wish not to present as Marquesian, yes? Correct. Then allow me. You watch as he reaches over and grabs a movable ladder and shifts it over, climbs up to a top area

and plucks off what looks to be, I mean, it's Errol Flynn-level, wide-brim Robin Hood hat, but it pulls even further out. We're hitting more Darkwing Duck level, I guess I could say. Yes! I'll take it. Sight unseen.

Very well. I mean, I've seen it. Tailoring crossed outfit coat and hat combined, the two-day turnaround for custom tailoring, Tailoring cost, outfit coat and hat combined, the two-day turnaround for custom tailoring, Yeah. 85 gold. Oh!

No! I stop. I stop. I'm going to be out of the place. You're screaming from the hound and dachshund. Ah! Told you. Oh no!

You got it? Uh. Oh, that's good, that's good. Let's start a tab for the whole group and just keep note of those items. I'm going to make sure everybody else has what they need. Very well. I'll go join the others, don't let me keep you.

And I like, yell to the others as quickly as I can. You guys! You guys! I saw it! I saw it! Are you okay? I got a coat and a hat.

It was, is anybody listening? Hmm? Do I see anybody? It was a head of high fucking gold! Oh, money. Did we not know that this was going to be stupid expensive? Maybe they have some sale items, or maybe we can talk to her.

Didn't they get that from the sale rack? Was that the sale rack? Those are a few season-ago prices. Oh jeez. God. Wait, do these places rent? Rent the rent. Western costume. to these places rent? Restroom! Western costume! Do we invisibly cringe this?

The worst! Maybe you and I could split an outfit if worse comes to worse. I go to the restroom for a while while you're wearing it, and then we switch off. I'm coming through the vent. Should we ask about the rentals? We should ask about group rates or rentals.

Rentals. Maybe I could try to use some of my magical charms to convince her to give us a discount or something. Also, also, maybe we just invest in a few of us going in, because I don't need to go in there. Truly, I appreciate the thought, but fuck! I would also take one for the team,

and as much as I want to wear pants, the alternate I was thinking of is if we cut out a little round hat for me and draped a tablecloth over me, I could be a two-top that just sort of Rolls around. Just follows you wherever you go. No one would know I was there.

You don't have to wait for a ball to wear pants. We can achieve that whenever you want. You're right. All right. I don't think it'll take much for you, FCG. Maybe a little medal or a piece of flair or something. You're amazing as is. Polish you up. Okay. Maybe the thing to do is to show you off

as a distraction so other people can slide about. Well, don't worry about me too much. I mean, I get this weird feeling that Imogen really wants to dress up, so maybe we should ask about renting? No, I really, I mean, no. So what doubts can I get for you? Ooh!

We're just browsing, window shopping, I suppose. We were curious. Yes. Can we just rent these or borrow these for the night and then we'll bring them back? With collateral? If you wish to wear them as is, that might be considerable, but anything with tailoring must be a purchase.

How should the gowns run? It depends on where it's from, the material utilized, and who the designer was, but let me show you. She shows you across what looks to be one, an almost Victorian-style dress that gives almost a schoolteacher look, but a little nicer.

This was one of the imports from Tal'Dorei. It seems to be close to your size. You also have a Balintawak, which is a beautiful dress from the southeast of Marquet. You see it has this awesome sash across the side, as well as this beautiful dress, pointed shoulders, this awesome head scarf wrap with a design across the front,

and it ends at the middle arm around there. This beautiful gold design, almost like a peacock pattern that's woven into it, and the dress itself billows out. It looks very pretty. Wow. Looks very expensive. That looks ostentatious. That would attract attention, rather than...

That looks like our entire budget. To attract attention? Yeah, yeah. How much is it? If you're wishing to take it temporarily, rental, you are saying, as is, with collateral, 10 gold an evening. with collateral. Oh god. 10 gold an evening.

Okay. How much to buy it? This? 50. Oh. Oh, fuck that, then. Okay. Sheesh. I'm not telling you how to spend your money, of course not.

But an event like this, I'm just saying, it's up there with a wedding. Or a graduation. This is a once a year at most, perhaps even once a decade event. I've never been to a ball. If you're going to spend the money on something fabulous, this is the time to do it.

Yeah. But that's just you do you, you know. Maybe Eshteross could give us a stipend. Yeah, or maybe we can find a thrift store. Or maybe we could find a thrift store. For some of us, that's a great idea. Don't fuck around with this. Get the dress.

Yeah, get the dress. You know, here's the thing. Dorian made a big- Get the dress. No, no. Get the dress. I like it. Get the dress. Not in particular. I think it's a lovely, it's obviously, no. Get the dress. Get the dress. Not particular. I think it's a lovely, it's obviously, it's a beautiful dress.

Try it on. Can she show you? Try it on, try it on. But of course we have chambers just for that. This way, my dear. Can I come out with these big, big shoes? How does she look? You know, I just... We're playing dress up when there's nothing there. They're not like bladed shoulder pads.

They just come to a nice point. Sure you legion of terror. I know. World of Warcraft style armor shoulder pads. I've only pictured World of Warcraft like... I just, you know, Dorian made a point to say, dress like yourself, feel like yourself. And I just feel like this is not going to feel like.

How about you tell me what it is you are looking for and we can try and piece it together. And for the purposes of this, because otherwise we could spend the next two hours individually shopping for each route because we'll decide whether or not this is what you're looking for. No, something else. How about you?

I didn't like how Matt described that. How about you inform me the look you're looking for? Have I mentioned I spend hours in custom creation? No, I understand, which is why I'm saying you let me know what kind of look you're looking for and how close we can get to it and what the cost would be. Just something simple, something real simple. Like a, almost like a sheath dress or, you know, like,

just... How about a kebaya? What's that? And she shows you over to this wonderful ensemble that just has a open collar design. It's a simple top with these beautiful bell sleeves and simple clothes in the front and this long dress that folds in the front,

but it's all beautifully detailed pattern. It's simple. It doesn't necessarily seem ostentatious or a grab for the eye, but still has a formal look to it. And you've seen other individuals in the city in Lucent Spire with similar such attire, so it seems like it would fit very well. All right.

Yeah, sure. Why is nobody else shopping? All right, sure, I'll do that. I'll buy that. How much is that? 35 gold. 35 gold. I'll revise my order.

I don't need the cloak or the hat because the markup got crazy. 85 of you nuts, do you have any single women's dresses? Like sleeveless, so I can put the vibe out and let them see the guns? Hmm. That can be arranged, yes. That's good, that's nice.

And yeah, sure enough, there are a number of dresses that could match what you're looking for. What are you looking for, Travis? Just a single dress, one piece. Kind of goes down to the floor. One piece. But I can tell, you know, I can like... Single dress.

It's a t-shirt dress. I don't know, dress pieces. One piece. I'm just going for the single garment. Color of preference? Oh, silver, like my hair. Oh my god. Gorgeous. Let me see what I can find.

Or white, you know, some people just say that's white or gray. Yeah, there is a dress that is found. Once again, made more for a dwarvish individual, so it's a bit baggy, but it can be tightened or tied inward if need be. Cinched, yeah. It definitely hits that Dupioni silk sheen to it.

I don't know what that means. A textured shine. Textured shine. I'm here for it. How much? That's really lovely. That's going to be lovely. This is a very simple ensemble. This would run you 12 gold.

Does! Sold. Very well. I head outside. That's the most Travis thing I've ever seen in my entire life. It's a scene for me. People keep working on those feets. Dorian, do you need anything?

Because you look great already. You do look fancy. Well, thank you very much. I actually, I'll save it. It's a surprise. You already own something? Of course. Of course you do. Dorian, I was looking at the, help me. Just help me, all right. Sure, sure.

I was looking at these little robe-like dresses with the furs on them. Kind just help me. Sure, sure. All right. I was looking at these little robe-like dresses with the furs on them. Mm, the fur. Can it remind me? Yes, robes with the fur. It reminds me of, you know, with the fancy women back at home and Taldura used to wear. Let me ask you a question.

Do you like it? I do. I especially like this one that's, like, got the fox on it, but it still has the fox's face. They just couldn't bother to cut the fox's face off. I love it. Yes, yes. It's so cute.

I think you should go with your instincts. You sound excited, and if you're excited, I am excited. All right. Want to try it on? I try it on. So what do you find, and what does it look like on you? It's like a wrap gown with a big belted type of situation and it's got a nice fox fur

that still has the fox's face and the tail goes around. Is it well taxidermied or not? Is it cheaper if it's not? Yes. Yeah, I'll take the cheaper one. Like that one stuffed box. Yeah.

Niskanen just pulling back a little too much. How much for the food with athrapic? You're certain this is what you're looking for, dear? I think he's so cute, yes. Very well. Is this a reject or something? No, no, it's just, it's been looking for the right owner for quite some time.

Oh. 15 gold for the entire ensemble. Great! Nice. It's good. You going to wear it out? No, I should save it. I don't want to ruin his face.

Right. Who else? Do you have suggestions? Do you have any? I don't know. Well, someone else go. I don't know. I think I have an idea of what I want. I'd like to get something made here in the city. Very well, very well.

And I'd still like to be able to move around, so definitely something that's with pants. I like a lot of the jackets and coats, the longer jackets I'm seeing here, but it's sleeveless as well, because I need to be able to move. So you're asking for more of a sleeveless, Shawani-esque design?

I think so. Very well, very well. In darker greens, if you have. That can be arranged, yes. Let me see what we have, so I will decide whether or not it is a fully custom design or just an alteration. Does that sound all right?

It sounds fabulous. All right, and she does return with what looks to be a pair of roomy pants that match the coloration of the coat that she finds. It is a sleeved coat, but she points out, the sleeves can be easily tailored to be removed, and it also can be tailored to fit your size. You can see the pants, while they are roomy,

they also pinch towards the ankle and buckle there. So it looks nice and looks comfortable, but it will also add a lot of mobility. I like it. Bring it up. Very well, this ensemble with the Alterations would run 25 gold. Fair. All right. Who else?

Out of curiosity, is there anything Kryn running around? I want a perception check. I wouldn't know what it is, I just was trying to think of a style that would actually pique interest. That perception check is below my screen. 16. 16. You do glance, and you, who have not really been

to an establishment like this to pick and choose enough, and more than just to find whatever comes your way and makes sense, you more than just to find whatever comes your way and makes sense. You do see what looks to be a very dark, deep purple-gray ensemble that has a double-breasted fold-over button-up piece. The sleeves actually probably look a bit small for your frame,

which will mean you'll just look bigger in it if you want to maintain that subtle intimidation, but it would look pretty sleek. Almost has a matrix coat-type cut to it. Yep, yep, that's what was in my head. I don't know what the fuck that is, but that's interesting. Oh, this is a Johassian import.

This is a rare find. It is not entirely inexpensive, though it is a simple ensemble. Pounds included would run 50 gold pieces. Well, I know what I told you. Fuck it. All right. Very well. Yeah.

Make more. Treat yourself. Okay. So, ma'am, I have a piece already. It's a beautiful white lace dress that I received as a gift. And do you have anything that might go with this? So it's got the hoop on the bottom, and then it's just lace all the way.

Maybe like a peach, kind of a sheer jacket with a ruffle collar. Oh, that'd be beautiful. And then big, sheer sleeves that come to here, and like a bed jacket, almost. and big sheer sleeves that come to here, and a bed jacket, almost. I think I have something just like that from one of my older associates who left town to start her own business.

Oh! And a jacket would cover up the Velcro in the back. Oh yes, that would be great. Do you have any pins or the Velcro? Now, Caterine's work is quite good, so it is a bit pricey. Okay. For this amount of yours,

the single piece that would overlap what you already have would run 45 gold. Oh! 45 gold for the one piece? But it is a delish. It is a delish. It is a delish. Yes. Cataran Delish was my associate. Oh, oh, a delish, that's a name I've heard.

Yes, Cataran Delish, well, in that case. Wow. That just happened. Come on, Valeth, come on. Pretty steep. It is delish. It's hard to find. It's a delish, I got to get it. She opened up her own enterprise in Ank'Harel,

and so as such, these are collector's items. I've heard of these. You said it was 45? Yes. Okay. Would you go down at all? Make a persuasion check. Okay.

Let's do this guy. Oh wow, okay. 22. Mm! Mm! As you're saying this, she's putting it on you and pulls out a pin and tucks it in here and tucks it in here.

While it looked like it flowed a bit, the way she's folding pin and tucks it in here, tucks it in here. While it looked like it flowed a bit, the way she's folding it and tucking it in, it almost accentuates your natural voluptuousness in not an overt way, but in a way that just, the form and shape feels better on you and matches what you had before. She sits back and looks at a pin still in her mouth, goes, It's like it was made for you.

Same way! It's like it was made for you. Same way! It's so lovely. 35 gold and it is yours. Okay, I'll take it. Fade glamour. Good. Damn. Good. 25. Thank you very much.

What was your name, Quatrell? Kim Quatrell? Quatel. Quatel. Quatel. Thank you, Quatrell. Quattel. Kim Cattrall. Quattel. I still need something.

I, I, oh, hi. I, for, for the, the person who likes to stroll around, I was thinking a pantsuit, like the one that you have on. Oh, well, I, gee, my, I have not dressed in a automaton before. This is an interesting challenge. Is this a growing need for attire for such creations?

Oh, I mean, there might be others who come out and want some clothes. I mean, I haven't seen any myself, but maybe I'm part of the wave. Very interesting. Which one of you is the master of this entity? They're all. No.

Yeah. Excuse me. Leans in. Yes. Is this just a singular outfit for your automaton? And do you know if there are others seeking as such? If this is something that is going to be happening, I would like to be on the ground floor.

Oh. As a customer, probably a loyal customer, I'm pretty sure that's something that you should get ahead of. Yeah. Tell you what, if you would mind spending some time here for us to get an arrangement of various measurements, as well as some sketches from some of my associates

for our own. Oh, you also have associates? What's your designation? I'm sorry, I do not understand your compatriot. Oh. Sorry, I misunderstood. understand your compatriot. Oh. Sorry, I misunderstood. Keep going. That is all right. But yes, if you would mind staying for a bit,

I would like to study you as an entity for which to make for. Great, great, come with me. Give us about an hour, if you do not mind. You watch as some of the other customers are coming out and she closes up the doors, escorting you out, and you are swept up by her and her associates that

this is the oddest recreation of the mouse and birds dressing Cinderella, how it's just a bunch of these various seamstress and seamstresses all measuring and marking and sketching you, and you're just suddenly the center of attention as all of them are talking to each other in various, almost seamstress code with bursts of

marquesan and laughter and asking curious questions, as they're all just studying you, essentially. They're holding up different patterns. They're trying on different coats and outfits, and eventually finishes a sketch where it's handed over to Quatel, and she turns it over towards you and goes, How about something like this?

Looking forward, it looks like a pretty decent approximation of your form, but it has a very detailed pantsuit-type setup. You can see the shoulders are actually broadened and the sleeves hang a bit before tapering towards where your wrists are and give almost this, for lack of a better term, noble drapery look to it.

Seinfeld pirate shirt? Yeah, kind of. But it does butt in the front, and there are pants that are designed to, and at this point, she points to a couple different options. Now, do you wish for these to drape alongside your rotating unit, or are you more interested in them just affixed to it?

Well, I sort of dreamed of having a leg look. You sure did. So can you talk to Chetney? He's outside. You want me to leave? No, no. Oh, well, with your own. Oh, yeah! Yes. What would you like me to say?

Well, ask him if FCG's legs are done. You can tell me in my, okay. What? No, you can just tell me in my. We've never, it feels, should I? May I? It's seamless. Oh, for fuck's sakes, I walk outside.

Done with those legs yet, old man? I mean, the general shape is there. I left room for detail. No one cares. Grab him. It would be great to have these on the end of my legs. Interesting. I bet he would. They take the next 15 minutes

taking pieces of material and retrofitting this existing outfit that they have now, in a fevered pace, altered and customized to match the design that was sketched to you. These wooden feet are affixed to the bottom of this pair of pants, and it is all placed upon you. And you look unique. I will do a little 360 spin.

The feet distract. Should we paint little shoes on them? Yeah, I think we should paint little shoes on them. And also, I think maybe we can attach the pant legs to something to wear when you wheel. To my elbows? Maybe so you can drag them, you know? I take out my red thread. Yes!

That I use and wrap them around the feet and tie them around your elbows. That's so much fun! There we go. This is incredible. I'm getting marionette vibes. It's nice. Chetney comes running and he's like, it's not finished, okay? What have they done to you?

There's a hole. I have a build for it. I'm going out now. You are going to sell a lot of these. I love it, thank you. Of course, of course. Just sign here. What is that?

This is a trade. There is no charge for this service, but the design we mark as ours. Oh. I'd be happy to. Maybe you should sign on my behalf? Indeed, B. My apologies. What does it, would you like me to read it

or just sign it? No, I'm good. Okay. Thank you so much. I believe that puts us where, so thank you. Thank you for. Can I insight check her, just to see if she's trying to get away with something? Sure, roll an insight check.

I feel like she's just wants. I feel a little shady. Oh, you know. I don't know shit. Seven. Seven. It's hard to read her. She's a good businesswoman. I also have no idea of feet on automatons.

Is that part of the design? Maybe that's the thing. I don't know. Look, I can kick. They do begin to let patrons back in, and the standard business of the Golden Veil continues from here as Quatel closes out the final elements of paperwork

and gifts to each of you, the outfits that are ready to go. What color was my outfit? I could choose. You can choose, yes. That's great. I didn't choose either. What's your color?

I think mine would just be something subtle. Like Chetney went with a silver, but I think I'd also go with a cream color. Oh, that's nice. I feel like we can all do interesting descriptions once we're actually at the ball. Have some time to think about it. That's nice. I feel like we can all do interesting descriptions once we're actually at the ball. Yeah, okay, great. Yeah, have some time to think about it.

That's great. Are you going with black? I feel like it's like a dark chocolate brown. Like, it kind of looks black. Oh, Laudna, that's lovely. But you know, when I turn in the light, you can see the brown. Yeah.

Smelting beauty. Yeah. Velveteen beauty. Yeah. Gorgeous. You could just wait until you see your friend. I can't wait to have some. I wonder if Pussy would like one of these. Possibly. I mean, Pussy didn't really have

a lot of opinions about things, but. Oh, how strange. I mean. Thank you all so much for coming. If ever any future events are to transpire and you wish to outfit yourselves with the finest available here in the Odeon Wilds and beyond, you are ever welcome at the Golden Veil.

Thank you so much for the discount. Thank you, Fearne, for sweet-talking her out of me being charged. She just, you know, she said that she might make more of these. I don't know why she would do that, but sure. She said that there might be more of you, of your type coming in to shop.

More associates. And I, yeah, what was that? Well, it's just, that's how I referred to Dancer. She was my associate. What's the designation bit? Oh, that's just my purpose. Oh, your special purpose? Yeah, just to help you living folk

make sure that you're okay. Do you remember Dan dancer's designation? No, no, she gave me mine. Oh, oh, right, yeah. Yeah, she made me and gave me my intent. Wow. I probably wouldn't know anything about that spell that was used on him to turn him into a turtle.

Would I know anything about that? Yeah. You can roll an arcana check if you want to. Sure. 16. 16? You don't know what the spell is. You've never seen something like that before. But as a person who instinctually

can figure out some elements of the weave of arcana, there are some facets of it that are anchored into your mind. You gather that it has to deal with the transmutation of one body into another. Seemingly focused on bestial shapes, but that's the extent. I just, I feel like...

spells can't turn a chair into an animal. spells can't turn a chair into an animal. Do you know what I mean? No. I don't think they can turn something inanimate, something that isn't living, into something that is. So you're saying I must be alive to be turned into something else alive?

Exactly. I don't think you give yourself enough credit. That's interesting. I don't know. I mean, I don't breathe or eat or... But you think. Is there anything you want? Sure.

Lots of things, but I want you all to get what you want first. But yeah, I want things. I need to find out who did that to my friends, you know, and figure out if I can, you know, get them some sort of, not vengeance, but just sort of justice, I suppose. I'd like to find out what I am. That would be nice. And if there's more of me. I wonder if I can research that in the library. That would be amazing.

I'm going to write it down. Okay. I can come with if you need. Maybe if I, maybe we can get you in, depending on how we present you. Amazing. I'm going to write it down. Okay. I can come with if you need. Maybe if I, maybe we can get you in, depending on how we present you. I could be a two-top, you know, just a table that follows you around.

I feel like this is some other desire that we're not talking about is your two-top thing. Like, is this? I live to serve. I'm a table cake. I'm a table kick. To be fair. Yeah, no judgment. You know, if we cut a hole

in the middle of the tabletop and put it over your head, then you'd just be a head on a table. Like, you could be the centerpiece. Oh, that's kind of cool. Yes. That's pretty cool. Could put little pieces of lettuce under you. What else do we have to do? Yeah, you have a handful of days

before the next one. Do we leave with our garments, or do we have to come back and pick them up? For those who needed heavy customization, which I believe was namely just yours. Sleep's going off. Which wasn't heavy. That'll be ready later in the day. Okay.

But most of you guys pulled existing outfits that existed from there and had the minor alterations tailored, so you'll be ready within the next day or two at most. Quick Potion of Magic run is the only thing I can think of. Yeah. Yeah. Whereabouts?

I'm trying to remember. Throes of Marwa or the Prism Emporium. Prism's kind of iffy, if I recall, right? Something specifically not in the Core Spire would be great. Oh yeah, Prism's in the Core Spire. Trove it is. All right.

So, you head from the Core Spire, which, another gondola ride, this is silver. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're terrible at this. It's how the city makes its money. Who am I covering this time? Me every time. I'm fine. Every time?

Every time. Shit. Because he took all your money. I'm fine. Two silver. Didn't you get a whole lot of money, Chetney? Yeah, I gave out some of it out, too. I don't think we ever knew that, did we?

I don't think I ever put. You didn't? Mm-mm. You two are the only ones that know that? No. I don't know. I just remember. Well, I know you found a bag. You told me about that. What was in the bag?

I just whittled away on the gondola ride. What was in the bag, Chetneyittle away on the gondola ride. What was in the bag, Chetney? Money. How much? A lot. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Enough to cover a bunch of fancy clothes?

Mm. No. How about half? You know, it's all so abstract. In your head, you hear the Alanymi Chain. Balls. Balls? Yeah, what about them?

Balls. So in your head was the truth and you were slowly whittling away at it. All right, fine, there was a lot of money in the bag. Like 80 platinum. Oh! Fuck. We're about to go search for other items.

Maybe it can come in handy. I'm very frugal. All right. Like I said, I can be a resource. Okay. I get favorable rates for loans. That's a lot of dinners. That's a lot of dinners, Chet.

But I'm paying for Gondola Riot so far. For him? Well, yeah, they paid Artana Vo 10, 30, 30 gold each or whatever. I had to pay it back. 100. 100. 100 gold. I give you, sister, 70.

70 more gold. Fuck. Shit. Do I see, when he opens the bag, can I see how much there is in there? Make a perception check. Yeah. I believe in you. Yeah, that's a 23. 23, are you trying to hide the contents of your bag?

Didn't know I needed to. No, I'm not. It's a sizable amount of coin. Thanks for the gold, Chet. You're welcome. Now, not having to gondola ride to the Lantern Spire, as there is the Fatewalk Bridge that leads you there, you push through the midday crowd

to the exterior of the Trove of Marwa, which you've seen in the distance, but haven't approached, as it looks like a building built out of a shipwreck in the middle of a city in the Oderan Wilds. So whether there was a ship here and they just hollowed it out and made a building, or they brought pieces of a ship to decorate it,

but in the middle of all these various shapes and the heights of structures in this industrial district here in the upper echelon of the Lantern Spire, you see this cocked and what looks to be upward angled, sunken ship, but out in the open air. You can see portholes along the side. There is moss growing on the edges

from the moist jungle atmosphere. You can see different plants and flowers have taken root and elements. So soft. I genuinely don't know how. I've never been in here. This is cool. Which spire are we on?

We're just never here. Maybe. I is cool. Which spire are we on? We're just never there. I take out my notepad and I just start sketching without taking my eyes off of the ship. Inspiration striking. I grab the wood, just start working. Oh yeah, it's because I never had a fire. You enter the interior,

and while it is a beautifully intricate, almost art piece-like structure, it is a bit cramped in there. It looks like everything may have actually been built out of a ship. Because it is just a crushed, low interior. You can see there are blue lanterns that give this bluish glow to the inside.

The smell is a bit musty, and you hear this single sound of a music box. Ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Bing, bing, bing. You see there is a music box in the center back of the room that's playing on its own.

Burn it down. I'm going to walk over and tap it. Okay, you tap it. Yes! Suddenly, out from behind the counter, a young human girl, beautiful dark tan skin, black hair that's cut to a bob

that's a bit scattered and wild. You can see she has her hair pulled up with a band that's wrapped behind, big leather gloves on and a bit of a smear on one arm and leans forward towards your face. Fuck. Hi! Hi! Can I help you? What are you doing?

You here? Well, first off, we're here to shop, and secondly, is this real, or is this just a deep commitment to a bit? Yes. And... Great, shopping, that's awesome. All right, wonderful.

We can make some sales today. I love it, I love it. What are you looking for? I might have some. What are you, hold on a second. And she rummages through something in the back and pulls out a canteen and just chugs a bunch of water and spills down the chin.

Anyway, so what can I do? What can I do for you? First off, I have to know your name. I don't care about a lot of people's names, but I have to know yours. Please. You first. Aaron.

Aaron. Aaron. I was trying to think of a bullshit name and I couldn't think of one. I freaked out. Aaron? I freaked out. I was Byron and then it just died.

It was a nosedive. That's so weird. That's my name, too. Ashton. My name's Ashton. I give the fuck up. I'm not good at that. I'm just not fucking good at it. Just the slightest bit of forthrightness, and we're already off on the right foot. Ashton, pleasure to meet you.

I'm Marwa Indalia. Oh. Indalia. This was my father's establishment. And kind of a junk heap, but you find a couple of fun things here and there. Last name is Dahlia. I need to come up with some bullshit names. I just have to name them.

Know them. Know them. Fuck. Is she a tween or a teen or a kid? Or like... It's your... You can't quite place the exact age, but you expect to be either somewhere around 20. Oh, 20. Very young.

An adult. Yeah, a very young adult. But there is definitely a chaotic air of a Jubilee. A child given responsibility and making the best of it. Cool. We're on the hunt for healing potions mostly, but are also just curious about whatever is interesting. Let me see what I got.

Hold on. Pulls the gloves in and begins to lift up what looks to be a latch or a trapdoor of some kind from behind the countertop and then heads downstairs, deeper into the ship hold. You begin to hear some rustling, something being pushed over,

something's being shifted, some heavy coughs. You see some dust from underneath. Eventually, you hear some dragging sounds. Comes up, you can see this new layer of soot across her whole face. Wipes the edge of the brow, sets up. I got these, I think they're healing potions. The potions, they're not normal liquid,

so I assume the prob... Want them? Fearne? Yes? Do you want to give this a sniff check? Yes. May I? You may.

What color are they? You look at one of them, and it has a dark, deep green coloration to it. The other is mostly translucent like water, except for it has this very, very faint bluish tint to it. What does it smell like? It smells like... What is a healing potion supposed to smell like?

Licorice. This doesn't smell like licorice. Cherry, like... Make a medicine check for me. Okay. Cherry chloroseptic? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ooh. Numbs are going over the top. I can feel it.

Nine. Nine? You have no idea. I'm pretty sure this is a healing potion. All right. From what I can smell. Great. There, that's what you're looking for. Okay. That's wonderful. What about the blue one?

Can I smell that? Sure, yeah, go for them. Okay. That's wonderful. What about the blue one? Can I smell that? Sure, yeah, go for it. That one, as soon as you uncork it, smoke begins to billow from the inside of it and begins to just fill the room. Close it, close it! Fuck, I'm going to leave it. The entire, you try and recork it,

and it's just pouring out of the bottle. It won't go back in. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. The entire room is now completely suffused with thick, thick smoke. Okay! Not really! I'm trying, I'm trying. It's fine, leave it.

Put it down. I can't see the counter. Here, follow my voice. Follow my voice. Here, all right, there, there, yes. Thank you, thank you. What is it? Okay. Good to know, good to know. I was feeling real bad, but now I feel a lot better.

Thank you for that. You're all just standing in the thickest of smoke. The very, all you can see, almost like blue fog lights, is just this diffused blue glow from the blue lanterns in here, and just the shape of your hands about this far from your face,

and the rest is just dark smoke. Are you still wearing your sword? My moonsicle? The ridiculous sword, the wall hanger that you stole? Oh, my ornamental saber? Yeah. All right, I'm going to try and take it. I mean, I have lots of things that you can try to take. I want that.

Okay, go ahead and make a sleight of hand check. That's a nine. That's a nine. That's a nine. I'd like you to make a perception check with disadvantage. In the smoke. Okay.

17. You feel the sword tug. What are you doing? Nothing. Just going to slowly back off, letting go of the sword. Just Homer Simpson back into the smoke. Shit!

Not winning today. Is it still smoky in here? Yeah, about a minute passes, and it slowly maybe begins to dissipate. While it's still smoky, I'm going to just try to grabate. While it's still smoking, I'm going to just try to grab something. Anything? Yeah. All right, roll a sleight of hand check

and roll a d6. 18. 18, you would, yeah. Okay, yeah, and then roll a d6. Okay. Okay, yeah, and then roll a d6. Yeah. Five. Five. I'm very impressed. Okay.

You reach out, and one of the nearby countertops, there is a whole array of what feels like pieces of broken or unfinished jewelry, small glass beads. There's almost like an egg-shaped, smooth glass something that has leather wrapped around it. You grab and pocket that. You just mark a glass egg wrapped in a leather cord.

It's like trouble. Yes. I'm very excited. Oh, I can't wait to eat it. At this point, the smoke begins to dissipate closer and you can see Marwa has now moved around the room and has opened up two of the portholes and it has a big, looks like a thick rug,

and it's like. When you get a better view of her now, she is rail-thin, Just this lanky young woman who you can see by the dirt in the elbows and the patches in the attire, definitely has an engineer-type look about her. And doesn't seem to give a shit about any of you or anything at the moment.

And it puts you at ease. I like that last one. Is there any more liquid left in it once you got the top back in? I don't know. I just didn't. Yeah, probably. How much for it?

That... Let me... I got to be better about this. You can always tell about how someone charges for their wares. You don't want to insult them by paying too little, and you don't want to cheat yourself by paying too much. Indeed, you seem to be a very experienced purveyor

of mysterious oddities and artifacts. Maybe. What kind of oddities and artifacts. Maybe. What kind of oddities and artifacts are we talking about? Well, I don't know. I'm just finding them. All this is stuff that I've just found, me and my dad found over the past 10 years or so. Was this your ship?

This was our ship. It was a ship. It's a weird thing. There was a wild storm about 20 or so years ago. A storm? A storm. From to the north, near the port town, just past the mountain range, and Waterspout picked up a ship

and dropped it right here in the middle of the spire. At first, there was the intent to destroy it, but well, the Mahon house that was trying to do that owed my dad a big favor, and so he asked if he can go ahead and take over the ship as opposed to demolishing it, and he said, if you can manage to make it not a genuine eyesore,

and that's what we did. So it's still an eyesore, but it's not as bad of an eyesore as it was. That's very calm. That's how it all came about. I love it. Do you have anything that's not in a bottle that you've seen do stuff?

Yes, yes. This, I got a couple things, actually. One of them's still in a bottle, is that a problem? Yeah. It's another bottle still in the bottle, is that a problem? It's another bottle. Okay. All right. This one, I did look up. This one, I do know what it does.

She reaches up to one of the upper shelves and pulls on the edge, and is tugging on this piece of leather that's just out of view, and then suddenly, something starts falling. Things start breaking, but she reaches out and grabs a couple and prevents them from breaking.

I want to use my telekinesis and try to catch one. Try and catch one? Yeah. Okay, yeah, so you manage to do so, Khabish. You're welcome. Okay, well, I was like, I can do this? Very confused. A little disappointing in hindsight, but I appreciate very confused. A little disappointing in hindsight,

but I appreciate the help. So this, and you can see it's this long, thin bottle with a small chamber at the bottom. The stopper is like a rubber type, like a dark red rubber, and it has a tassel, like a bright gold tassel that hangs from it. The liquid inside has this bright orangish-yellow, a thick liquid, and as it swirls inside,

the bottle itself is warm. She goes, This, we used to have a few of them. It's the last one I have, because one of them got us out of a jam, because I drank it, and I just shot fire out of my mouth for an extended period of time, and it was amazing. Wow. Thankfully, it only goes one way.

Yeah. But yeah, this one will run you about 200 gold pieces. Wow. That's market value. I'm like, I'm not looking to make max profit here. I'm just trying to fund some work. What price did you say it was again? 200 gold. 200. Also, got this and she pulls off the edge

of the hang on a hook, this wound, very, very nice-looking silk rope that has almost a light green coloration to it. Says, this, 50 feet of rope. Pretty useful, right? Not too bad. Takes the edge of it and chucks it up. You can see there is an opening above her

where one of the ladders leads into the next floor of the ship up there, and the rope just entice itself onto the top of the ladder and tugs on it. That's clutch. Takes itself to the very top, ties it for you. Not too bad. It's helped me in a lot of situations

I got myself in as a young tyke. But you know, I'm here most of the time now. Can it untie itself as well? Wait, hold on. No, it's true. Make it a fool of me. And she falls to the ground as it suddenly lets go and she almost hits her head on the counter

before getting up. That's cool. It's just playing with me. Yeah, this is pretty cool. Rope climbs itself, 185 gold. Steel, if I say so myself. It's a bit used, but. It's made of steel?

No, it's a steel. Could be made of steel. I don't know. I haven't looked that close. No, it's not steel. But it is a steel if you want it. That's pretty cool. That's really cool. I feel like we could use that.

I think that's a really good idea. Can solve so many puzzles. Yeah. I'll put in for that. All right. All right. I'm kind of in the market, so all right. I've seen and I've heard that you can get boots that stick to the wall and you can climb the wall.

That sounds amazing. Right? Yeah, no, yeah, if you find anything like that stick to the wall, and you can climb the wall. That sounds amazing. Right? Yeah, no. Yeah, if you find anything like that, let me know. All right, all right. What about tools? That would be so useful. Oh my god, the repairs on this place would be so much easier. Let me know if you find that.

Okay, I won't, but all right. Great. You've got cool stuff, like weapons, tools, edged objects. I'm not much of a weapons person, more of a knick-knack collector. The other thing I was going to show you, which is really cool, has a... Shit, I need to clean this place.

What does it look like? Maybe we can help you. It's a round thing about that big. It's got a leather... You know what? I have been meaning to clean for some time now. If you want to come back tomorrow, I'm going to straighten up a few things. I haven't really had anyone looking for stuff in a while.

What does that do? It up a few things. I haven't really had anyone looking for stuff in a while. What does that do? It's a fun thing. I don't know specifically what it does, but it contains a decent amount of what I'm pretty sure is blood in it, and it's still liquid inside. And from what I heard, based on the jungle witch that gave it to me,

that it's useful when it comes to spooky magic stuff. Wow. Can I help you look for it? If you want to, yeah, that'd be great. I would look around for stuff. Totally. Yeah, yeah, no, no. I usually, it's right over here with the majority of the various pieces of pottery and the small, little sculpted cherubs the older folk usually buy.

And there's, yeah. Are there any rods made of crystal or amber or anything like that? Are you asking her this? No, as I'm looking around, do I see any like? There are pieces of rod, like architecture or smaller devices that have elements that are like a crystal rod

or some sort of amber piece that could function for what you're looking for if it was extracted from the rest of the art piece and or collectible device that it's attached to. This isn't a place for magical implements, but they can be cobbled from the knickknacks and various trinkets that are throughout. Can I find a piece with a crystal rod in it?

Chetney, would you be able to take this out? A crystal rod? A crystal. Would you be able to get it out of this? Yeah, I'll smash the shit out of that, no problem. But keep the crystal intact. I need it. I'll give it my best shot. How much for this? You look at it, and it looks like an old comb-type device.

This is a crystal handle for a comb that the edge of it, the end of it, has just been rotted out and fallen through, so now it's just... A lot of this feels like a hoarder's house, in a way. Oh yeah, no, that, ooh, that's, you can... Should I just take it? Yeah, you can just take it.

It's fine, you just have it. It's not... Thank you. I just take it? Yeah, you can just take it. Okay, great. It's fine. You just have it. Thank you. I really got to clean up. Was this yours? No, no, no, it wasn't mine. That was Harold's. Oh, who's Harold?

Harold. Harold's a guy we used to travel with through the wilds. You might want to watch that. Okay. What happened to Harold? He's dead. Oh. Did something in the wilds do it?

Yeah, no, it was terrible. You should probably clean it. I will. Just out of curiosity, I don't mean to pry or anything, did you see the creature that did it? No, no, we just found what was left of him. It was like pieces, it was crazy. We have that in common now, actually.

In fact, a lot of these I probably should wash. I haven't thought of that in a long time. How long have you been here? That's probably trauma. What? Oh, trauma, you say? Do you want to talk about it or? Oh shit.

Maybe. Maybe you could trade your services for a discount. Maybe, but I'll let you continue. We can talk about that later. That's all? How long have you been here? Well, we've been here about... I've been here about five years.

My dad, been here a little over 10. All right. And where's your dad now? He's no longer with us. Oh. So I take care of the place. Was he in here at one point? Oh yeah, no, we both used to run the establishment. We travel all around the trails here.

Did he? Meeting friends of his from all across the Wilds and the Valley. Just making trades, find out what we can. Little adventures. Did he all across the wilds and the valley and just making trades, finding out what we can. Little adventures. Did he die in the wilds? No, no, he just got sick. Oh, I'm so sorry. It happens, you know.

So is it just you now? Just me. Oh. Would you like a friend? We could be your friends. That's a weird, is that a weird question? No, you're just a weird group. So, I mean, I'm not against it.

Okay, we're friends. But we did just meet. And currently the relationship seems to have been squarely in the customer-client element there. And so the timing of it does feel a little suspicious based on the fact that you are looking to acquire things from me as the peddler, the seller. Perhaps if you were to return in a non-business-based environment,

I would be a little more receptive to this extension of possible friendships. But right now, just learning from the lessons I have from my father, best to keep my distance emotionally. We'll jump past the first part, then, and I put down the amount of gold. Is it 200 for the rope? The rope is 185.

185, I count that out. Oh, okay. We're past the first stage of the courtship, and now we can work on being friends. Stage two, I'll give you four gold for the rest of the mezcal smoky bottle, whatever's left in there. That's reformant in there. Looking at it, you can see where,

after the bottle uncorked, it was emptied, and now you can see there's a little bit of this almost mercury-like viscous liquid that's flowing inside, and you can see it slowly increasing. It's like, oh, it's a little reformant, reformant about a day. Oh! So, it's like a little reform. Reform in about a day. Oh! So this is still functional, my friend.

If I'm looking at this right, what was the note? You can see it pulls up a small box of crumpled papers and notes and starts pulling through, unfolding and looking at them. It's a shoebox for sure. Yeah, it's this.

100%. Pulls up like a- Last three years sure. Yeah, it's this. 100%. Pulls up like a little. Last three years worth. Yeah, it is. This is a tax person's nightmare. It is just going through all the receipts. It's in our block. There's an ever-smoking bottle, and that'll run you 250 gold pieces.

Whoa. Fuck. I'll take it. All righty, my friend. I like your spirit. I like your money. Do you have rocks? I got some rocks, yeah. Do you have obsidian? I think I do.

How much you want? Let me see how much I would need. Give me a second. Getting into components. see how much I would need. Give me a second. Boop. Boop. Getting into components? Yeah. Have we decided that it's time for components? Well, I'm just getting ready, just in case.

Wow. Wow. We're at components. Well, he always used components. I never spoke about components. I'm a fighter. What are you doing? If they're- A sword is not a component. Yeah. I mean, I guess technically it is. All right, all right, let me...

Okay, and she heads back down below and you glance past where she's going and you can see, while it is chaos up here, there is one table down there with this immaculate spread of very delicately labeled minerals. You can see them all placed into small little jars or receptacles, and they're all independently labeled across.

It's almost like a mineral collection, if you will. She pulls out a shelf from underneath and counts out these small, looks like dark flakings of glass, and puts them into a small piece of wrapped cloth, folding over and brings it up, climbs back up the ladder and sits down. This do for you?

Perfect, thank you very much. How much is it? Fizz flakes, I'd say probably five gold for the badge. Perfect. Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you. Normally hear requests for such exquisite materials, so it's a little exciting. We'll see if it works.

While she was down there, I'm just going to have gone along the shelves of all of the messy items and just press a digitation. The dust away. Yeah, some of the items to help her clean up a little. Seems a little over well. Oh, that's pretty sweet. What are you saying?

You need anything, Dorian? I'm just amazed. This place is wonderful. I have a question. Maybe, have's pretty sweet. What are you saying? You need anything, Dorian? I'm just, I'm amazed. This place is wonderful. I have a question, maybe. Have you been knocking it out of the park? It's a ship. You don't happen to have, just purely aesthetic, pearls, by any chance?

Okay, I thought you were going to ask if it sails. I'd be like, no. No, no, no. Not in a long time. Not in a very long time. Like a string of pearls or two, or just, you know. I have pearls. They're not like a necklace, if that's what you're asking about, but I.

Ah, I could probably. Yes, do you have any? I think I have four. Four? Yeah, yeah. Four. Four, I'm sorry. No, no, don't be sorry. That's fine, that's fine. I'm okay, thank you. You don't need them?

No, no, I don't need them. I don't need them. I don't need them. What do you need pearls for? Is there a specific number, like 23 pearls that you're serving? Just the look. No, like it could be costume. You lost your father. I'm...

We have moved past that FCG. I was fostering the customer relationship. Oh my god. I'm good, I'm okay. I'm all right, I don't need them. Not at all. Anyway, how about that bag of blood? Is that somewhere?

Can we look for that? Is that the 200 gold thing? I can't find it. I am so sorry. I've been looking. Maybe it's on the ground. Come back tomorrow, maybe in a couple days. I'll see if I can pull it out of nowhere.

We'll come back. Yeah. We definitely will come back. Hot chocolate or ice cream. Ooh, we know this baker. We'll get you a pastry. Okay. I'll take pastries. You like rocks, right? I think so, yeah.

I do. Okay, cool. Just a quick question before we go. Yeah. Do you happen to have cork incense, fine copper wire, diamonds worth 300 gold pieces, a clay ziggurat model, or a jeweled horn or a glass eye? Her father died, FCG.

Her father died. From what I can recall, I got copper wire. Okay. What else was there? Cork incense. I, I got copper wire. Okay. What else was there? Cork, incense? I think I saw a little. I got cork, incense. Don't have incense. What about that little sculpture over there?

Is that a ziggurat? No, that's supposed to help you poop. Oh. You put your feet on it when you, it's a thing. Oh! Better position. I imagine something else entirely. I have feet.

This is a little... Uh-oh. That is unique. Of all the fucking things that they got, they're so broken. In my head, I can see it as the amazing thing. It's like, I can see in the right light that could look like a ziggurat.

What was the later one you were saying? A clay model of something, a ziggurat? I got clay models of all sorts. I got little piggies here. I've got kids that are fishing, little cute kids that are giving presents. They've got a little play turtle. Just a lot of really creepy little kids. A lot of people collect these around here.

Chetney, can you work in clay? Do you think you could also turn that into? Clay? I thought we had something. Well, I'm just trying to expand your mind. Wood only, baby. You're only going to work with wood for the rest of your life?

A jewel horn, a glass eye, diamonds worth 300 gold pieces. Don't have any diamonds, don't have a jewel horn. I do have a glass eye, though. That's a good choice. Slows underneath and opens a small, Don't have any diamonds, don't have any jeweled horn. I do have a glass eye, though. Size is not tight. Cracks. Slips underneath and opens a small, looks like a scroll case that's a bit moldy on one side,

opens it up and turns it a bit to one side. You hear a couple things clack together before pulling it out and sets it on the counter. You can see it's a yellowed glass eye. It's been weathered enough to the point where it's getting into that darker yellow coloration. The iris is a bright, vibrant blue, but because of the discoloration,

it's starting to turn more of a sea green. Does the same corruptor radiate extreme evil? Make an arcana check. Yeah, seriously. Delilah couldn't destroy it, but it went here. Oh, it is rolled 19. 19? Just a glass eye.

That's gross. I don't know if I've ever met this quite as much, but that thing has seen some shit, Jesus. Wow. I have been sitting on so many puns tonight. I have been keeping them to myself one hand together. I've been a good boy. For the wire, the cork, did you say incense?

I don't have incense. A wire and a cork, I got those somewhere. Wire, cork, a couple of those clay figurines would be nice. Okay, okay. And the glass eye. How much is all that together? Glass eye goes in, starts rummaging through and assembling the pieces of what she could find. There is a coil of multi-used copper wire,

but it functions for what you need. There are a coil of multi-used copper wire, but it functions for what you need. There are a number of these clay figurines that are all like, what's that? What's that arrangement of small children that you see? Precious moments. It's really, really not well-made precious moments clay figures. Hummer figurines.

Yeah. The glass eye, and then? Delightful seconds. And the cork. Cork, yeah. There's a number of pieces of cork that are pulled from long, empty jugs of dark green glass, and the corks are assembled in place.

They're like, a whole batch of five gold? I don't have any money. I've got five gold, it's covered. Dolls, doll clothing. I'm looking for doll clothing. You got dolls? You got doll clothing? Yeah, yeah, what are you in for? What? What do you need doll clothing for?

I need a tuxedo for a doll. But what? You're brilliant, that's a good idea. Bring it back around. Yes! Let me check. Dolls, I need dolls. Impress me.

Sem climbs like a monkey quickly up into the upper echelons of the ship, leaving you all to your own devices. You hear. Sounded like... Is that a parallel bar? That sounded like tableware. That sounded like tableware.

That sounded like tableware or a serving tray. Oh. Parallel bars. Shwoop! Jumps down with a heavy impact onto both of her heavy boots. Kind of gives you this look. Oh, we got the look! And lifts up from behind this ghastly fucking doll

that probably was part of the ship that was shipwrecked here. You can see this porcelain has heavy, this face has a heavy crack through the face there. The outfit that there is this formal dark attire. It's like the small boy, but the outfit itself has all manner of green crusted on the side from mold and mildew that is assembled at the edges of the material.

Where one hand is just off and you just used exposed wire just sticking in this massive, awful display. One of the eyes is stuck downward and the other one opens and looks off at the side a bit. Sets it down. It's pretty cool, huh? How much? Let's go, Stephen King. I like the fact that you're a man

who knows what he's looking for. Give you a discount. Three gold. Eight for the whole, eight for everything, then? With my stuff, too. Yeah. I think it's perfect. Is it perfect, Laudna? I've never seen anything more perfect in my life.

It's perfect, eight gold. Got it. All right. All right. Well, that was a lively, unexpected interaction for the evening. I haven't talked to anybody in four days. That felt great. Thank you. Four days.

Wow. Oh, are we getting the rope? Did we buy the rope? Yes. We got the rope. We bought the rope. What was the 200 gold thing? The blood bag? When we find the blood bag. Yeah. The blood bag is.

How much was the little green vial? Oh, that was 50 gold. Because we don't know what it was. No, no, but the green vial that we don't know what it was. I'm not quite sure what that one does, but it looks like it's got something magical to it. 50 gold, solid, we don't know what it was. I'm not quite sure what that one does, but it looks like it's got something magical to it. 50 gold solid? I don't know what it does. What do you think? 50 gold for?

50 gold, done. Put 50 gold in the card game, sure. Got it. All righty. She's an orphan, Imogen. Oh, who isn't? Yeah. What do I put down for this 50 gold? Dark green potion.

Oh, I'll have to identify it or something. First, I'll find somebody that this 50 gold? Dark green potion. Oh, I have to identify it or something. We'll find somebody that can. Okay, dark green potion. Raise your hand. I'm sorry. Raise your hand in this shop if your parents are probably dead. Thank you.

How much was that? No sympathy. Uh, that one goes through some more of the notes. Right home without it, why don't you fuck? I think from asking around, something I know is roughly around 350 gold. It's got a decent enchantment on it.

I mean, it was given to me by a freaking jungle witch, so I'm going to charge a premium. Oof. Okay. Sorry I don't have it. That sucks. I'll keep looking. Okay.

Well, this is quite the grab. Thank you so much. Of course, I'm going to eat lunch. I'm sobering up, we should fix that. Oh. I eat alone. You got to go. Okay.

Thank you. Nice to meet you, Marwa. Yeah. You two people, what do I call you? Uh. Oh, Christ. We really need to... Hell, I don't know.

I don't know what we should name ourselves. Yeah, I would... Yeah, it's cute and what we should name ourselves. Yeah, I would... Yeah, it's cute and all, but my last group did not end well, so I know we've been, yeah, no, that's... Do you think that name is cursed? It's getting close. It brings back unpleasant memories. You hear this

this whistle suddenly goes off on the side of the room. You see steam emerge from it for a second. You can now, I mean, hearing this faint clicking in the background that's mixed with the general sound outside, but you can see there's a bit of clockwork that's attached to this whistle as the steam goes up.

She goes, all right, that means I got to eat. Everybody out. Bye. Nope, nope, that's fine. Bye, friends. Bye, not yet. Have a good day. Bye. Have a good day. Goes and pushes you all out close to the door.

You hear. It locks from behind. Before I leave. day. Bye. Have a good day. Goes and pushes you all out close to the door. Here, it locks from behind. Before I leave. Oh. Yes. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Do whatever you want. Do whatever you want. Don't put it back. She's an orphan. Hold on.

I'm going to leave I'm going to leave something for her. I'm going to pull out an ornamental saber. Of the recently attacked member of the elite in the city. Weird shit shows up in pawn shops. I'm going to pull out a blue and bloody rabbit's foot. Oh, yeah.

Because it's bloody. Yeah, yeah. And I'm going to put it on the counter. Perfect. Just so she doesn't see it. Awesome, cool. Nope. I'm going to take out the glass egg and I'm going to put it on there.

And I'm going to leave. Oh, okay. That's a flex. Wow, there was some struggle there. There was some struggle. That was a flex. That's impressive. All right. I feel like we've witnessed some growth. No, no, heavens no.

After you all are pushed out into the midday sun here in the streets of the Lantern Spire, a moment later, you hear, oh, fuck, there it is! Silly me. Behind the door. But the rest of the day is yours. The rest of the next few days are yours,

and we'll return here shortly to see what comes up in the next stage of your adventures, because we're going to take a break. Oh my god. Shopping is slow. Shopping! We're so much poorer now. We've been spending some money. We've spent some money.

We've spent some money. We got some fun stuff in the interim. She was all alone. She was her own shop, just all on her own. We're on a creepy magic. I'm going to go back and buy it. I know, you're going to have to go back and buy it. I had to, I had to. I know, you're going to have to go back and buy it. I had to, I had to.

I really thought you were going to say, I drop a deuce on a front. I shit on her floor and I have to poop. Mr. Bulldog. You gave a little bloody poo. Bloody poo. Oh my, anyway, we'll see you guys here in a few minutes. Critical Role.

Why, hello there. This is Critical Role's resident art dad, also known as Liam O'Brien. We are continuously amazed at the artwork this community creates. That's why each Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific, we share a curated gallery of submitted fan each Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific, we share a curated gallery of submitted fan art over on critroll.com.

If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, visit critroll.com slash submit. And thank you to all of the incredible artists who share their talents with us week after week. Welcome back. So, the group of you have a little under after week. Welcome back. So, the group of you have a little under three days, you know, four or three days before the Ball occurs.

What else would you like to do in the interim? Balls. I think we should go, we should see if we can get back into the Lumos house and look for pages. Do you want a small group or a big group for that? I mean, it's really up to you to see what you think would be appropriate.

Yeah, I think that I could probably navigate that reintroduction, I guess. Why don't we keep it small? Why don't we just see when I go, so they don't feel like, ugh, like there's so many. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. And I would like to go research every night, if I can, before the ball, and just go back and...

You have access. Yeah. Okay. I have a question. We were in that shop, and he asked, who are you guys? I know we talked about business prior, but you don't have a moniker that you go by? Has this always been the group that you've run with?

It's been a work in progress. Everybody asks. I know, we really need to. It's bothering me, too. Our last group didn't have a name. We tried. Yeah, we tried. It's tough. It's bothering me, too. Our last group didn't have a name. We tried. Yeah, we tried. It's tough. It's really hard. You wanted to mean something.

Yeah. We didn't land on anything. We didn't land on anything. Your last group? No. We had a group of friends that we traveled with for a bit of time before we joined ourselves. Oh! Mm-hmm. Oh, that's right. Yeah, you met.

Mm-hmm. I also was part of a group before this, and so was Ashton. Did they have a name? They yeah, you met. I also was part of a group before this, and so was Ashton. Did they have a name? They did, they did. It was called the Division of Public Benefit. The D-P-B? Mm-hmm.

Fithy. Such an impressive name. The Division of Public Benefit. Yeah, a little lengthy. That's a long way to go. The Division of Public Benefit. Yeah, a little lengthy. That's a long one. The Division was what we were, it was short. Division. Division. Way to carry that forward. Yeah.

I tried to announce the new nobodies. No, I kind of... Does it bring back trauma? Yeah, what happened to the old nobodies? You told us, right? They fucked off, which is fine. But yeah, moving backward is never a good plan. I'm not a big fan of moving backward.

Forward. And you know, yeah. I mean, what thematically brings this group together? Death. Death. Furniture. Money, furniture. thematically brings this group together. Death. Death. Furniture. Money, furniture. Furniture. Why furniture?

The furniture. Because we've been killing a lot of furniture. I mean, the first time we met was because of the furniture and then Bertrand pulled us in. I almost got killed by a rug. The furnies. Who pulled you in? Bertrand. Bertrand.

I mean, that does make sense. Oh, he was this nice old man. I don't know who that is. We wanted to pay tribute to him and we haven't come up with something. Maybe it wouldn't be if it wasn't for Belle. I almost like you better if that makes you feel better. Almost?

It depends on the day. If I spend more money, will it help matters? Oh yeah. Okay. How much money you got? Well, not that much. Then no. I mean, I don't have my own fancy uniform just ready to go for a ball.

Ah, I'm sorry. I do like what you picked out, though. Thank you. It's very minimalist. I may go without a hat. I don't know. Wow. I know. You should wear something to just bring the whole thing together. I don't know. Wow. I know. You should wear something to just bring the whole thing together.

I don't put anything on this mane of love. Not even wood? You're not even going to make something out of wood? Wear your wear? Oh shit. Yeah. I don't have temptation. Wear your wears. Sleep with that. Well, it's just something to think about.

I mean, you're working for some pretty big people. Notoriety seems like it would serve you pretty well. I've met more old people with this group than I think I have in the last 10 years. That is an interesting thing. What would Bell say if he was here? What do you think, Chetney? Huh?

You're old. Old people think alike, right? Right. Yeah. Fiber is important. Does that sound like him? You'll miss your knees when they're gone. That's a good saying, yes. Bael wanted us to be the sorceress swords. Bael's sorceress swords, but. Boy, I really like the sound ofords. Bell's Sorceress Swords, but.

Boy, I really like the sound of that. It's got nice alliteration. You want something succinct. Yeah. Yeah. Hell, I don't know. Loomis twins. Something like that, Bell's Loomis twins. Yeah. Twin Bells.

That sounds like a pub. Fuck. Maybe it'll come to us in the next three days. I don't know. Well, it's almost like this is the end. Hell, I don't know. Next time someone asks, just say the first thing that whoever says something first.

We'll do that. We'll do that. We'll do that. We'll do that. We'll do that. We'll do that. Is that what you're We'll do that. Reassociation? Is that what you're suggesting? Somebody's going to say something next time someone asks and it's going to happen. Oh, okay. It's almost like there's a real problem we're having. You asked that.

I did. Why don't y'all go to investigate your papers and we'll do some thinking over the next couple days and it'll just come to us. What the focus group? We're going to have to get our... I tried the focus group. That didn't work either.

I asked everyone. I was paying attention. Who would care? Yeah, they said, you asked people and they were like, trouble and... Yes. And sweet trouble. Oh, I thought you were suggesting the focus group is the name for the group.

Sweet trouble. Not bad yet. The focus group. We are the focus group. Sweet Trouble. Not bad, yeah. The focus group. We are the focus group. Because we can't focus! The FG. He's got a comment and it's just, focus group. Focus group.

I like that. Oh, fuck us. Yeah. We'll figure it out. Bring the focus. Bring the mother, bring the mother fucking focus. You're going to investigate papers. Let's go see if we can talk to them. I'm going to work on my fucking mask.

Do we need anything else? Your what? Our mask. My mask. What do you mean? Your mask for what? Are you going incognito? Did no one else read the fucking? What are you talking about? Well, we bought clothes.

Oh, wait a minute. Do we need masks for the party? Oh shit. We just finished shopping for like seven hours. We have an all-day event. Maybe Estralis can help us. You don't buy a mask, you make it. Otherwise, it isn't yours.

Maybe. Really? That's how you imbue it with its power. No, I don't know a mask, you make it, otherwise it isn't yours. Maybe. Really? That's how you imbue it with its power. No, I don't know. I just fucking make it. I just want to make some shit out of it. Should we have a craft day? Oh, we should have a craft day. We've got a few days. Okay, we can make our masks.

Let's go shopping for supplies. I've got tons of shit at my house. Let's go, let's go. As you arrive at the, no. Yeah, let's just make this shit at my house. We've got hot glue, we've got whatever the fuck you need. Magic hot glue. Hot glue's level two, right? Magic hot glue.

Is that what level two smells like? Hot glue is such a good smell. Okay. You are not wrong. Come on, focus group. Okay, okay. Oh no, I love you! No!

Oh my god! Oh no! Oh no! No! That's pretty great. We're dying of time! The focus, comma group. No!

Oh, this is now going to be a joke forever. All right. So you are first looking towards the Mahon House of Lumis. Right, we are making our way to House Lumis. Make it a one-on-one group! Is it just you or? Just the two of us. The two of you, okay. The Mahon House of Lumis. Right, we are making our way to House Lumis. Is it just you or? Just the two of us. The two of you, okay.

In the early afternoon, traveling back to the Lucien Spire, that's a silver each. Are we getting used to this a little more, like gradually? These fucking? Yeah, 5% better. This is like the 15th time I watch you ride in these.

I've been on these for quite a while before you guys came to town. Oh, well, it's never going to change then. Look out the window. We are high. Yep. These things could snap at any moment. It begins to shake, slightly left to right. I see what I'm fucking talking about.

You think it's the wind, but you look to the back of the cart and there is a little 12-year-old boy in really good dress and a giant lollipop just going. In his head, he hears, I can find you in your dreams. He drops his lollipop. Oh.

Shit, now I feel guilty. Laudna does that shit all the time and it just, I'm kidding, kid, I'm not going to, I didn't, shit. Scart. You're fine. You're going to dream of shit. When he comes to land with the Lucien Spire. As we walk out and she looks the other way,

I look up at the kid and say, She will haunt you forever, and I walk off. Yeah, they need to be done. You walk for about 30, 40 seconds before you hear, MATT and LAURA, as the kid just goes running. You're like, what's wrong, Daniel? As you continue moving forward. What's wrong, Daniel?

You follow the familiar path to the exterior of the Loomis house. The guards are still placed, keeping watch in the main central garden area that leads into the courtyard before the house itself. Okay, before we get any closer than we are now, I have an idea. Okay. I think in this one instance,

it'd be cool if we just were real about what we want. Oh. You know what I mean? Just you're a scholar, they were scholars. It's a coincidence. They were the last people to check out that book, you believe, and we left things on a good note. So I think just in this instance,

maybe honesty is the way to go. Keep it simple. All right. All right. All right. You know, it's just because they were kind to us, and I don't feel like- Fully. And I mean, we are asking to rummage through their rooms, potentially. Right.

And so much goes south if, like, we're breaking into their house, so. Yes. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but I have a good feeling. Okay. All right. Excuse me. As you walk up to the guard

and they take a somewhat defensive stance and you say, excuse me, a voice to your left goes, Oh, welcome back. You glance over and, hidden just beyond the hedge that you didn't see, sitting on a small dark marble bench is Ella Lumas, the matriarch of the household who's currently sitting, you can see with a small metallic tray

with tea and small cups on there and is in the process of thumbing through a small pocketbook before closing it and turning over to you wearing a different but still white dress. Oh, good morning. It's fortuitous that you're out here. Am I catching you at a good moment today? This time is fine, is it? What do you need?

I'm so sorry to bother you again, ma'am. It's such an odd coincidence. I'm on a bit of a scholarly hunt, and I was working at the Starlight Conservatory. One of the books that I was researching had a couple pages missing from it. And when I asked them who the last person that had seen the book was, they said it was the twins. And it just seemed like too odd of a coincidence, almost like fate had pulled us here. And so we thought.

We thought, if it's not overstepping, we were wondering if you had any of their things left. We obviously don't want to take, but we're wondering, under your discretion, of course, if there's any of their studies or notes left, if we could possibly, possibly with you, take a look?

The Dusk Maven works in mysterious ways, I suppose. You are welcome to look. And the Duskmaven works in mysterious ways, I suppose. You are welcome to look, if you'd like. Thank you so much. And you would acknowledge this, just because you heard it from people who live nearby. The Duskmaven is Marquesian, in many places, the Marquesian interpretation of the Matron of Ravens.

Dusk or Dusk? Duskmaven.? Dusk, maybe. Dusk, yeah. Different cultures have different interpretations. While the deities largely are consistent, there are different interpretive designs and ideas of it based on culture and landscape and history. But yes, you are welcome to look about. And if you would like to escort, just for comfort,

of course, come with the guards, follow along. But leads you back towards the direction where you originally saw that observatory tower and leads you into a chamber that, you know, there is a bit pause as she opens it and takes a deep breath before crossing the threshold and then staying there before she turns to both of you and says,

For what you need. That's extremely generous of you. We're very appreciative, thank you. We'll try not to take up too much of your time. As you enter, you can see this is a, equal parts just a massive dormitory slash laboratory, if you will. You can see there were two different beds set up, arranged in different parts of the room.

There are two different floor levels, one about five or six feet above the other, with stairs that wind around to the upper portion. You can see there's a large device, a telescope-type brass contraption that descends from the tower itself and leads to an upper platform. It's a bit raised up and you can see

all sorts of manner of cranks and odd portions of the device that are used to shift and alter it to whatever the viewer would prefer. You can see there are tables for note-taking, are tables for note-taking, desk space and everything, but it's mostly all locked away and kept clean, kept thick and span.

Do you know where their most recent notes would have been? Unfortunately, I do not. I apologize, I do not follow the same pursuits they did. So I was, I did not take it as personal interest at the time. Is it okay if we leap through a little bit? I think so, for a time. Not too long, I hope.

Of course not. Are we looking for pages, yeah? Yeah, torn edges, anything you see about celestial bodies and dreams, visions? Torn pages is a good start. Yeah. Okay. Both of you make investigation checks, or one of you with advantage, your choice.

Take advantage. Okay. I hold up boxes and drawers for her, show her things. Right, but let her guide the actual investigation. Let's go, LB, come on now. Oh, Jesus. 15. 15. 14. You spend the better part

of an hour. You take 14 and a half. You spend the better part of an hour poring through what's available, looking at whatever loose notes can be found underneath small books, looking through books, looking through gathering pieces of sheet paper and scrawlings on them,

looking across the shelves. They have various other tomes that speak about astronomy, that speak about the planes, that speak about the, you know, all the various interesting and fascinating celestial acknowledgements and theories across the history of Exandria, pre and post-colonial. But nothing that matches the missing pages

that you had hoped to find. Unfortunately. What do you think? Do you? This is such an awful question. In your head, you hear, do you think it would be completely untoward to ask if their belongings were returned? That they were...

I think if you do it respectfully, that would be all right. When they were attacked, the possessions that they had on them at the time, were they returned to you? As far as I know, whatever they kept on their persons and traveled with were returned from the Heartmark to us. I do not know the specifics, necessarily.

And do not, I cannot imagine why a Stani would not return anything. So. They'd be in the same location or would they be somewhere else? Aside from what was personally on them, everything else has been placed back into this chamber. Is Estani the one who would have done it?

Is Istani the one who would have done it? Istani was a family friend who was present when they were attacked. They did not return, but they were responsible for sending them back home. All right. Our business is most likely going to be taking us in the direction of where they were lost.

If we find anything, obviously, you'll be the first to hear. Is there anything else we can do for you to repay the kindness you've shown us here today? She reaches down and pulls open the breastfold of her robe that she's wearing and pulls out a small pin that you can see was being held in there and looks at it for a second.

Show this to us, Tani. This should be enough to ensure that you are indeed a family of the house. She hands it down to you and, glancing at it, it is what looks to be the shape of an arced bow with a series of four pointed stars within the space where the string would be, and looks to be a crescent moon that almost matches the shape of the bow,

just smaller and to the back. It is a gold and silver pin. Cool. Well, I think, unless there's anything else. No, I think, thank you very much. Of course. Orym blooms out a single large flower in his hand and leaves it on the desk amidst the papers

that they're leaving behind. Thank you, ma'am. Good luck. The Matron brought us together for a reason. I do believe that. I just hope it is for the right reason, for she is many. With that, you are escorted back out past the garden

into the street to the Lucien Spire to pursue the rest of your interests. As they're walking away, he just looks up. You're a good egg. You too, Orym. That's it. All right. What else are folks looking to do as the time clicks on,

as the days progress towards the looming political event? We got this bottle of mucus. I'd like to figure out what it is. Oh yeah. Green mucus, yeah. Green potion. Oh, that's weird. Could I find an arcane shop of knowledge? I could just tell you what it is. Fuck!

You can identify things? Yeah. Oh, that's some G shit, yeah. Why did you do that in the store? I can do it once a day. Oh, okay. Do you have an identify? I have an identify.

What? As long as you don't do anything dangerous today, I'll take it. Sure. I will identify that thing. Just for you. Matthew, I think I can do this with something. I believe you can.

Something. I don't know where it is. Generation traits, believe me. Generation traits. Sure. Identify. Identify. I identify. All right. It is indeed a healing potion.

It is a healing potion? Oh, it is? I wasted it. I mean, it's a healing potion. It's great. I hope it serves you well. Well, maybe it's like a... Not ripe yet. Is it a special? Is something good?

It's a sour one. It definitely has the scent and air of... Well, you see the mask-produced healing potions that are usually funded by local government or by extremely well-refined creators of magical implements for sale. This definitely has the air of being a little more of a rural bake.

Oh, darn. They dye them red. It's not actually part of that. That's just added later. It's like for now, just put the green. Like there's sediment in there that's built up in some areas, like a dark, deep green, almost brown coloration. Would it be equivalent to a greater, a regular?

It would be equivalent to a regular. Okay, cool. But do note that it is the green healing potion. Oh, interesting. I will make a note. Maybe it has a chance of failing or something. Actually, with an identify spell, you would know all of its various capabilities.

It also makes you resistant to poison for an hour. Oh! Yeah, baby! That's special! That's better. And you got that for 50 gold. How much is a healing potion, a regular healing potion? Anywhere from 50 to 75 gold.

Yeah, sounds like Mr. Pibbs. It just dares you to drink something more noxious. Thank you, Identify. That's very handy, FCG. You're welcome, any time. Once a day. I mean, I told you that it was a healing potion, so. You did.

You did. You suggested I start working with clay. You know, we should find out with that little, oh, never mind, we never, we didn't see you take it. Shit. And you should get it back. Speaking of clay. I'll steal it again later. I don't know how it works, but I'm going to,

I don't need, do I know what a ziggurat is? I need a clay model of a ziggurat, and I've got some clay. You have some hardened clay, yeah. It's hardened clay. It's melted down? I don't know how clay works. That's not, that's not. No, no. No, no, no, no. But you can buy some clay

and attempt to utilize your skills to craft a ziggurat. It's like Play-Doh. A little hardly fat. You can't do that with Play-Doh, either. Once it's dry, it's definitely dry, like for forever. Yeah, there's no re-moisturizing. Just eat it first. There is, it's just very sad. Are you all supposed to say that?

It's never quite the same. Oh, look at this buddy. He is so pooping. He's so first. There is. This is very sad. Are you all supposed to see that? It's never quite the same. Oh, look at this buddy. He is so pooping. He's so sad. I know. Try to find some playdates. Easy enough to find in a number of very general stores, or honestly, you probably gather it from a couple of the more damp sections

of some of the alleyways. But you can attempt to sculpt your own ziggurat if you'd like. I will try. Okay, if you could roll either a dexterity or intelligence check for me, please. Oh boy, okay. What are you doing? I'm going to do dexterity plus zero.

Guidance! It's a five. Oh boy. It will function for any sort of spell usage you need that requires a ziggurat of a clay sculpture. But it definitely looks a lot more phallic than you intended. Hey!

It's a ziggurat! Oh. That's not what I would call it, but that works. How do I explain this? We're all adults here. How are you holding that right now? No judgment. I see it now.

Mm-hmm. It's balanced to the left. Yeah, there you go. It will help me focus my magic to cast a spell. Should I? The symbol of the focus group. How did both campaigns end up with a dick as their symbol?

Because we're responsible adults. We are mature human beings. Why a ziggur-rot? Ziggur-rot? Because, I don't know, I just had this feeling deep inside me. Maybe it was something that was sort of, maybe Dancer sort of...

Programmed it in you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I got a sense that I need it. Yeah, I got a sense that I need it. Did you know what your associates' names were? Mm-hmm. What? Oh, never mind.

Continue. Oh, did you attack me or something? No, I just need your help, but you can keep talking to him. You mean the people who I travel with? Well, yeah, you keyed in on the associates. Designated, dressed. Dancer. What are they called? Dancer was my maker.

She's great. We also rolled with Tarowyn. They were really cool with earth magic and stuff. Oh, cool. Ozeen was a, gosh, she was an awesome hi-yah type fighter, and also really great with water and stuff.

Then Axer was a... Used an axe. He used an axe, yeah. Oh, wow. He was a big, big surly type, had flies buzzing around his head. Oh, wow. Yeah. They're all gone now, though.

I'm sorry, I'm such a... It's all right. Earlier, Orym, you asked me what I wanted, and I would very much like to find some sort of justice for them. I didn't tell you before, but I think I remember seeing the thing that did it to them. I don't remember much, because I was coming out of a stasis,

but I did see that the creature had one eye. One eye. So I've been trying to find. A one-eyed. On the side or in the center? One eye. Oh, I mean, I don't know. Was that just too much?

It's just a blur. You know what? I wonder if we can do a thing. What's that? I'm going to cast Detect Thoughts on FCG. Okay. All right. Okay. Just open yourself up to it, all right?

Don't try to fight me on this. I won't. All right, I'm going to put my hands, both hands on the side of his face. Yeah. I want you to think. If this both hands on the side of his face. Yeah. I want you to think. If this isn't too traumatizing for you, if this is too hard, you don't have to do it.

No, it's fine. Think about the moment. Okay. Well, it was early morning when I woke up, or was roused, I suppose, because I don't think my stasis was over yet, but I came to and I saw a lot of blood and some of my friends falling.

I saw Dancer, her last few breaths, and she looked at the creature that was upon her, I guess. And then it turned at me suddenly, and I just remember being so scared. It looked at me with that one eye, and then it was just gone. While he's telling this whole story,

I'm going to try to dive deeper and deeper into his brain and see if I can pick up any visual cues to maybe see it more clearly than what he can remember. Okay. Focusing on the vision that's present, the words that are spoken are clearer than the image you get. There is,

I want to say a boundary of emotion, but there is definitely a type of trauma or scar within this somewhat humanoid, but also alien mind that while he is able to acknowledge these experiences verbally, it's like the memory's not letting you in. Does it feel different than other people

that I try to detect thoughts on? Only in the sense that FCG is not a typical human. The blockade isn't a second force trying to push you out, but anybody who has undergone some sort of a trauma that they're not quite ready to face, there is an instinctual protective resistance to it. And it's more akin to that. Okay.

Did you get anything? No, mostly just what you were saying. Did you see? You didn't see the creature? Did I see the creature? Weirdly, no. It was just flashes of spikes of memory. You remember campfire, you remember elements of jungle, you remember sudden movement, you remember screams, you remember the sense of fear, the shaking,

the helplessness within Fresh Cut Grass and in the aftermath. Like somebody who woke from a dream within Fresh Cut Grass in the aftermath. Like somebody who woke from a dream, but was too groggy to stop something that was already in motion. I didn't see it. I've never tried to do something quite like that before, but I'm sorry I put you through it.

No, it's fine. I do that stuff, well, I used to do that stuff all the time. You know, try to pry into people's minds and sort of see what's bothering them. So, and you do sort of the same thing sometimes. I do the same thing, but normally it's trying to find, like, thoughts, less about trying to find

visions, if that makes sense. I just got, like, flashes of what you went through. Thank you for trying, and if you ever want me to do that to you, you went through. Thank you for trying, and if you ever want me to do that to you, I wouldn't mind returning the favor. Thank you so much. I'll let you know. Don't you do it right now. No, of course not! All right.

You're welcome in my head any time you want. If you want me to. All right. Sam. No? You take two points. What'd I do? You didn't do anything. All righty. Just roll a couple of death saves.

I'm unconscious, no. You're fine, you're fine, you're fine. All right, so. But you took two points of HP? Are you going to go check out the other library? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. What else would you like?

So you're going to go ahead and do further research? I was going to do more research if I could, but I don't want to. What specifically are you looking into? I am looking into, what do you want me to look into? Well, you know, only after you've done sufficient research on whatever you're looking for for yourself. But, you know, if you just happen to stumble upon anything

about whatever you're looking for, for yourself. But if you just happen to stumble upon anything about the Briarwoods, what they were up to, having a dead woman in your head a year after she dies, how to get rid of said dead woman in your head. If I get rid of said dead woman, am I going to lose all my powers? All those things could be good. So the stuff we talked about.

Yeah, you know. And FCG, do you want to try to come in with me? I could say you're like my assistant. If you'll have me, yeah. What? You were going to look up something for me, right? Yeah. Yeah, sure, I'll come with you.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, let me give you some, if you're going to lie and say that I'm your assistant, let me give you some guidance. Oh, thank you. Yeah. All right. Okay.

So what are you looking into right now? Okay, I want to look into, number one, I want to find out if it's possible to find out what other books the Loomis twins had checked out when they were there. Okay. Actually, you know what? I'm going to go ahead and give you Enhance Ability on all intelligence checks.

Is that something I can do? Would that help your research, right? Is that an investigation? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's investigation. That's good, that's good. Fox is coming, all right. So you go ahead and head to the library. Your previous scribe is not currently working,

but the individual that you are assigned, named Iome, is a more gruff figure. You go ahead and ask them for access, roll a persuasion check with disadvantage. Do you have Guidance? I do have Guidance, too. And then Guidance, I add a four. Add a d4, yeah. 14. 14.

I am sorry that the information is specific to administration. Right. Thank you. I'm just going to look for more books then. What else are you looking at? Are you with me? Was I able to get FCG in with me?

I will say, having an automaton assistant is not entirely out of the realm of expectation. So yes, you are able to accompany. It's like having a laptop in the early 2000s. Kind of, yeah. People are like, wow, I mean, sure. Where do you get one? Maybe together. We can look for, I want to find out information

about the Briarwoods in Whitestone. Any information I can find out about them. Roll an investigation check. With advantage? With advantage, because it's spell. Come on, you piece of sh! I just need more dice. Eight.

Eight? I'm sorry, Laudna. Got to cross it. It's okay. You find historical records, which are available. They speak of Silas and Delilah Briarwood, two nobles within the realm of Wildemount that were, some accounts say exiled, others say that they were hunted beyond its borders. Angry, I just snap my fingers. I can tell.

But then were known to abscond to Tal'Dorei, where they raised a bloody incursion in the city of Whitestone, wiping out the majority of the DeRollo family and then taking over. There, they held in secret power in court over the township for the period of about five years before they were ousted and thought to be destroyed

by the heroes known as Vox Machina. Are there pictures of them in the book? And are they sexy? No, there are not pictures because you rolled too low to find the sexy photos. A 15 at least to find the sexy photos, I'm just saying. Yes. Legends of Vox Machina's a swimsuit issue.

There's the note scribbled on the side, pretty sexy. The Ghost Rider spread in that swimsuit issue was awesome. Yeah, that's very fair. Is this holographic? In the dollar bin. Look at that. Look at that cute dollar.

But yeah, and you find footnotes that apparently speak of involvement, like post-mortem involvement during the incursion of the Whispered One, also involving Vox Machina, but there has been no recorded account of that. And that's it. Okay.

Oh god. Also information about suddenly getting power. This is so similar to what I was researching before, but getting power being related to an external magic source. Go ahead and roll an investigation check. Come on. Come on, baby, come on. I'm going to also look with her.

Oh yeah, that's good. Weed and stuff. Okay, yeah, because she has the advantage. Come on. Oh, oh,. Oh yeah, that's good. Weed and stuff. Okay, yeah, because she has the advantage of being a sucker. Come on. Oh, oh, oh, oh, that's good. Did you guide me? You didn't guide me. Oh, I did not. 20. 20, good, good.

You find a plethora of books and tomes and historical accounts speaking on people who spontaneously begin to develop magical powers. There are some that speak of blood magic and lineages that carry contact with magical beings, whether it be fey, dragons, and other djinn and elementals that in the past history, there was a magical imbuement or an actual crossing of bloodlines,

in which case people who were born in later generations began to just suddenly evoke powers and abilities. There are some that speak of individuals who were experimented upon, that were cursed or corrupted by, whether it be natural situations or dark mages who intended to try and create and essentially force magical beings

and those capable of bending the elements to their will. Those speak of failures and eventual degeneration of these individuals and were considered both unethical, illegal, and practices that are essentially hunted down to prevent from happening again. There are tales of gods gifting champions and chosen ones who work and walk within a path of fate

that marks their interests, that will grant boons, but those usually come in the classically and written as a series of visions from the entity, and there is a divine nature to these gifts. It's overwhelming the amount of historical and theoretical writings that conjecture on the multitudes of sources of spontaneous power.

Anything about severing that tie? Do you lose the powers given to you? There are some that speak on the source of patrons that can pick up entities that are more powerful that aren't divine, that can grant it as an exchange, but then those also are contracts that can be breached and that tie is severed. But those are usually acknowledged

and at least bought into to a certain degree by the person. So there is a conscious level of understanding of that arrangement. Yours... It's hard to place. Based on everything you've read, it could be bloodline related. A lot of the things that you read

tend to draw you in the direction of there being something in past lineage that has just been sparked at a certain age or by a certain alliance of congruent magical alignments in the world. That may have triggered this spontaneous capability. I'm also looking for Laudna

to be able to sever that Delilah connection. If she did that, any evidence that if she severed that connection with Delilah, she would lose that? Most conversations and write-ups regarding patron-based relationships where it is a gift granted by a contract with a more powerful entity or being, say that when that contract is broken

outside of some sort of majestic, fey, double-cross, written-in-print type gotcha moment, those gifts do recede with the arrangement. There are exceptions, but they're rare, and they usually fall into the realm of folklore or fairy tales that are told to the ages of immortal outsmarting an immortal.

Those are rare or, honestly, probably fiction in a lot of cases. Okay. So I'd say there are discussions that fall in the realm of interesting conversation topics, but there is no how to break your relationship with your patron and keep your magic for dummies. Right, right, right, right.

I have so many other things I want to look up in regards to law of death, but I don't want to waste any more time. We'll come back to it. Libraries are pretty great. Love libraries. The rest of you, what else would you like to do? Look up, have conversations, ask about folks, prep.

What would you like to do? I got one. One of these nights before the ball, at night, in bed, in the Wonka-esque pile that Dorian, Orym, and Fearne sleep in one bed together. Thruffles. At 1 in the morning, Orym shifts and says, Fearne.

Are you awake? Wake up. Dorian. I'm in the middle. I can hear you. Okay, good. I want to have a pow-wow, a chat. Well, no, yeah, I'm good. I'm tired, too.

That Ira character. I knew your last name. or two. That Ira character. I knew your last name. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Is that a problem? I don't think so. Probably fine. Okay, I'm going to wake up. I'm going to wake up, and he sits up,

barely crests his head out from between the two of them because he's so small. He rolled over, barely crests his head out from between the two of them because he's so small. He rolled over, you know. Do you think it's a problem? Yeah, I mean, I'm leaning towards, yeah. He knew your last name. Are you well known? Is your family well known? Is your family well known over there?

Out there? In there? Yes. We're, I mean, we're... We're basically royalty there. Excuse me? I've never done this. Insight check. Yeah, roll an insight check. Okay. Do I believe her?

Yeah, do I believe her? Six. She's hard to read. You can go ahead and roll if you wish to feel, or you can roll just for a placebo, or you can roll for deception and just let him know what you want to let him know. Fucking god.

Jesus. Chaos. There's a lot going on over there. She just has pixies and sprites rolling out of her face left and right. Oh goodness me. What is this? 21. Fucking Fade.

Okay, okay. Fade goes. Fade goes. 10 seconds of Buster Keaton and then, wha, yeah. I mean, you know, we're certainly not... My family never held place in a court, but I mean, we're basically royalty there.

You guys have a lot of enemies. Um... What, how would you describe an enemy? Someone who wants to kill you or your loved ones. Oh. I mean, I want to say yes. Yeah. But, you know, that's everybody.

Don't you just get mad and you want to just kill somebody? You know, from. I mean, you know what I mean. It's a little bit dramatic, but. I know what you mean. Yeah. I think it's just, I mean, I think... I think it's just, I don't know.

Maybe he just, he's one of those people that could, is kind of like Imogen, you know? Who could look into somebody's mind and pick up on their person, their stuff. Didn't he smell you? Am I incorrect? and pick up on their person, their stuff. Didn't he smell you? Am I incorrect? Yeah. Yeah. He did, but Fade, we have a very good sense of smell. But he knew you, proper name by your smell.

I can only assume he smelled someone close to you. I mean, I do have a pretty strong scent. Oh. I just smell flowers. Mm. All right. It's a bit strange to me. I will say that.

I think she smells a ferret. A little musky, like Frito Paws. A little bit of Frito Paws. I love Frito Paws. A ferret rolling around in a flower bed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Frito Paws. A little musk. I love Frito Paws. I love Frito Paws. Fear rolling around in a flower bed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's nice. Eucalyptus.

Do you, do you, I guess you would have told us already, do you have any insight into what that Ira would want here? Do fey cross over a lot?

You did. I don't know. I imagine that they do, but I don't know what... I don't know what he wants. I mean, I just figured that maybe he just knew me because of where we're both from. But, I mean, he could know my parents. He could know my grandmother.

He could know anyone else in my family. But I don't know his goals. Last question. How worried do you think we should be about him? That's a great question, because it's non-specific. I mean, my gut reaction is to not be worried at all. So I don't know if that's... That ought to be fun when I grow up.

Yeah. Not a suspicious insight check, but just what the fuck is going on? Insight check. Ah, 16. Be a little worried. Just a little bit. I mean, I really don't know much about him.

I just know I've heard stories, but they're all from my grandmother, so it's possible she just, they could have dated, you know, so it's possible she just, they could have dated, you know, and then she just talked shit about him. Was just like, he's a nightmare, you know? You got an ex-boyfriend vibe from him, is that what you're trying to say?

I mean, she's dated just all types. Did you just text Zach for three minutes? Yeah. Great fucking job. He ghosted her. That's the nature. Name just goes. She's dated all types, so it wouldn't surprise me.

He was pretty cute. He was pretty cute. He had, you know, a lot of hair. What are you doing here? I'm sorry, I'm trying to sleep. Imogen just said he was cute. Ah! It's so weird, it's fucking creepy.

I mean, listen, he really should get his teeth fixed. It's one o'clock in the morning! What are you talking about? All right, all right. I mush the side of Fearne's furry leg as my pillow and my legs go over Dorian's legs and I make my little hammock that I usually do. I got to pee.

Just in that room. I give him a pat on the head. Get your own room! And Dorian, too. We'll be okay. If push comes to shove, I'll make sure to kill him. I don't know. I'll figure it out. We'll figure it out.

We'll figure it out. Trust me. Trust me. You're scary as hell, too, so I'll take it. Okay, good night. I love you guys. Love, love. Laudna. Oh god! You watch. Whoa, hold on.

You wake up as Imogen is shifting in her sleep. Oh my god. You. I wake up first. Yeah, you wake up first and see her sleep. You. I wake up first. Yeah, you wake up first and see her shifting. Oh god. I am not going to wake her up. I'm going to immediately start scribbling

anything she says, though. Keep going. The storm returns. Fuck. The storm returns. You hear the crack of earth and land pull apart in the distance as trees vanish beyond the horizon. The green, now brown and red fields falling away.

You pull at the door on the house, and it is locked, it is shut. That familiar sense of nowhere to go. Your hair is tossed painfully across your face. Your eyes burn from the impact of dust and rock and shards of glass and sand. You hear your mother's voice once again.

Imogen, run. Run far. You glance back in the storm and you see the shadow of two people holding hands. Young. You can't make out their distinct shapes, but they just stand there,

their silhouettes consumed by the storm as they vanish into the chaotic mass. Are they the twins? storm as they vanish into the chaotic mass. Are they the twins? Is what you hear from her voice. I just write down twins. And I take off running as fast as I can. You abandon the house and run the fields beyond and run, and run as hard as I can. You abandon the house and run the fields beyond and run and run as hard as you can.

Horses fleeing in the distance, you see trees falling. You hear and feel the ground shudder and break beneath you, but you run, you run as hard as you can. Her voice still echoing in your ears, fading as the sound gets louder and louder and louder and louder.

No! You wake up. Imogen. Just grab her by the hand. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to wake you up because I wanted to. Maybe there are answers. I go and I get her a glass of water.

I saw somebody again. You said twins. You said twins. How loud. Did you see the Loomis twins? I don't know. I don't know, I saw two figures standing next to each other. My mom's telling me to stay away from it.

She was talking to you. Just run. Run. Always. The twins, they... they passed some time ago. Yeah. It's not like with Bertrand.

No. I've never seen anything like that before Bertrand was the first. Do I have to see dead people now? He doesn't... Dead, yes, but it feels like there must be another connecting factor. What is this storm? What's a red storm about?

Have you ever seen one? No, I can't say that I have. I just start brushing her hair and giving her a little bit of a scalp massage. Hang on a second. I'm going to step outside and crack the door. Where are the moons right now? Looking up, it is a somewhat clear sky.

There's some cloud coverage, but it's broken. I'd say 70% of the sky is open stars. You can see that, actually, this time of night, you cannot see Catha. Catha is gone from view, probably past the horizon. You can see at an angle, the dull glow of Ruidus is,

I think we mentioned a few months from the zenith. But you know Catha will probably return the next night. Is it not full for another 15 or 16 days or so? I just also jot down where the moons are in my notebook. We're going to figure this out. I know. Is it dumb to go towards the problem? They're connected, right?

I don't even know if it was the twins. It didn't look like Bertrand, right? It didn't. It's like two relatively young adults, side by side. It had to be them. It had to be them. Your mother.

Perhaps trying to find more information on her may answer some questions. Yeah. Who would know anything about her? Your father. So far away. Seems like a lot of things are right now. Doesn't mean we shouldn't pursue it.

Yeah. Yeah. I found out the Briarwoods are from Wildemount. Really? Interesting. I don't know if that has anything to do with anything, but. The one you were talking about, from your research, different.

How power has come to be, Bloodline being one of them. Yeah. I don't know. Seems like we should just keep going back in time. Start from the beginning. Mm-hmm. We're going to figure this out, I promise.

Or at least I try. I'm so glad I found you. Me too. I don't know what I would do without you. I don't know what I'd do without you. These witches be bitches. All right. I'm going to make some tea and go back to bed in a bit. All right, I just peek in,

check in on Shadana, make sure she's still breathing. Come on, Shadana. She's still breathing. All right. Body mirror check. Yes. Laa-Boo's like your fairy goth mother. She really is.

Fairy goth mother. It's fairy goth mother, yeah. Salakadoo la minchakaboo. Bobbity boo. More of a not a meme kind of person. That's just me. All right, who else has anything they wish to situate, set up, prepare?

I would like to, oh wait, what are you going to do? I am creating a giant fucking craft project at my place. Anyone who wants to come work on their fucking mask, we got everything. I'm going to try and enlist Milo in this shit. There's going to be a little cash thrown down. I am inspired. The minute you tell Milo, it's like,

Oh, are you kidding me? Of course. Yeah, let's make some masks. That's incredible. Show the sketch, we'll get to that. Fucking weird. I'm joining this. Yes, same, same, same. I'm going to make a quick end run, and then I'm going to join in.

Does anyone get any of those crystals from the basement? Did anyone manage to grab anything on the way out of the basement? I'll give it back, I just got to. I mean, I have a crystal rod. Oh wait, well. From us getting our ass kicked. I mean, in the secret basement underneath the library,

that weird with the... No, it exploded. We didn't grab anything on the way out? Uh-huh. Fuck. That's okay, all right. Chetney? Yeah? Can you get all these nasty bristlecombe-y things off of this crystal rod?

Yeah, you just want the rod? I just want the crystal. Stand back. Within but a matter of 10 minutes, with acute intensity and precision, the rod, crystalline, has been freed. There you go. It's beautiful.

You want it in one piece? Yes, please. Oh, here you go. It's beautiful. You want it in one piece? Yes, please. Oh, here you go. All right. All righty. No, I'm going to put it in my thigh holster, next to my dagger. There you go.

All right. What did you run back to? Marwa. Marwa's? Marwa. Marwa's? Marwa's. What is her name? All righty. Yep. All right, you come back to Marwa.

I'm just running because I don't want to miss. We'll bring her some food. Exactly, I don't want to miss craft day, so I'm power walking. I threw some cash at you in case you don't have enough. Oh, you have enough, you're fine. I'm good. All right. Thank you, but I'll take your cash.

All right, you enter, and it's straightened up a little bit. I grab a pastry. Okay, fair enough. As you're snacking, full-on toast-in-the-mouth anime girl running to school in the morning, just trying to make your way. Is that Laudna?

Yeah, that's her. I am here for this! Wow! You just heard a bunch of like, save Snoop Dogg! All right, Marisha, next form of dread. You have to ask the magical girl transformation of your nightmares.

Yep. I'm all about this. Oh my god. Screams of death. The soul is curling up and forming the bow. Yes, as you enter the Trove of Marwa, you can see there has been an attempt made to straighten things up a bit.

By that, I mean things that had fallen had been shifted over this way and put into a pile that has not yet been organized. Marwa, at this point, you can see, has a plate out with all sorts of dried cheeses that she's snacking on as she has this massive magnifying glass that is affixed to a clamp-like device to the side of the counter. It's currently in the process of carefully holding

with massive tweezers these tiny little, looks like pieces of jewelry, like a gem in a fitting. And is like, I get a little too close. What you working on? Stuff. Unfazed. Ooh.

Killer. What you looking for? I brought you a croissant. It's got blueberries. And she just keeps working? It's a friend croissant. Okay. Did you find that thing?

Yeah, I did. Just give me a minute. Ting, ting. Fudge-a-ma-sickle. Okay. I'm going to take a break. Just shoves it all to the side. You hear it scattering and falling to the ground. Yeah, I found it. You want it?

How much? So 200? That'd be 350 gold pieces. You said it was less yesterday. I did not. Shake said, It's got blood in there. You like blood, creepy girl.

Woo! Ah, mystical blood pact. You want it? I really heard 250. You heard 200. 250 is much. Every smoking bottle was 250. This was 350. Ah, shit.

I did give you some gold before you left. How much did you give me? I gave you probably at least 125 gold. Really? Yeah. I'm going to do some shit. Okay, okay, okay. I don't know if that helps. It does. Okay.

Bring me back my challenge. I mean, it seems like it's fate, going from one witch to another, so are you going to buy it? I like witches. Mm! Give me a pigeon. I don't have that much on me,

but I can give you 300. Make a persuasion check. Come on, bitch. Come on, bitch. What a good croissant that was. Such a good croissant. Nonny nonny nonny. Whoa! I feel like I need to take it.

It's mine, it's 14. 14, holding it back, goes, pulls a crumb from the side of her mouth. How about this? Eats it. 300, and I'll take whatever trash you have that you don't want to take to the dump. I'll take out your trash. I don't have any trash.

Lies, look at this place. This place is filled with treasures that I just need to organize. It's not trash, you don't have an I. Trash. Oh, this friendship's gone south real fast. So that's what faces you. Look, some men call this trash.

Me, I call them treasures. I'm not saying it's all trash. I'm saying there is trash sprinkled amongst the treasure. But I like trash. I'm not dissing trash. Where would you take it? We're having a craft day. Do you want to come?

You can bring whatever this is and join us. What are you making? What are you crafting? Masks. And I need to make a bow tie for Pate. What's Pate? Oh god. Just waiting for this shit. Her eyes just go wide. Laudna speaks a lot about you.

She really likes you. Three and a gold. And scoops a bunch of odd shit into a small pouch. It's like small washers and what looks to be glass beads, strange strings that have pieces of hair still stuck in them where they were tied together and pulled off, whatever they originally attached to. Make some noise.

Make some noise. For your mask day! Boom. Thank you. No worries. And every time I see you, I want you to bring me a pastry. Like in perpetuity? Like do I continue to get discounts if I do that?

Like if I never see you again, you don't have to bring me a pastry, but if I do see you again, you bring me a pastry. Every time. I'm just wondering if that's okay. Will you hurt me if I don't bring you a pastry? No, but that's what friendship is, right? Right?

Friendship is pastries. Then we're good, just keep bringing them, we're good. Okay. Okay. Have a good day, creepy girl, bye. Bye! And I go back. Perfect. And I got the egg thing.

You did. Yay! Nice. Yay! And I got the egg thing. You did. Yay! Yay! Nice. Yay! Eggman. It's creepy. Do you have a piece of paper that says what it does? Give me the paper. Do you have an Identify spell,

or do you want to just sit for an hour and attune with it to learn what it does? Oh, attune. You could attune while we're masking. I'll do that. It's an egg, I ain't going to be a shit. Okay. Or you could ask if, okay.

Yeah, run back. Just spill shit all over the floor. Whoa, shit! It's a smorgasbord! Uh-huh. I hit the jackpot. Did you blow that whole 125? And it's okay if you did.

I'm just curious. I actually did pretty good. I didn't. I still have it. I talked her down. I used a little good. I didn't. I still have it. I talked her down. I used a little bit of it, but not all of it. What are you giving me back? I'll give you back...

75. Dumb. What you have found is a blood well vial plus one. Blood well vial plus one. What does that mean? What does that mean? You can go look it up when you add it to your character sheet. Blood well vial.

Plus vials. Actually, I can tell you right now. Ah! Wow. Does it blood up? It's blood up. It's blood up. As I pull it up. As I pull it up. Blood, blood. So yes.

Nopony! Nopony! So, you, in order to attune to this, you realize the blood that's within there is an old blood, and there is a process of you adding your own blood to this vial as part of your tomb and process. Cool. So you need to expel some of the crimson within and then add some of your own. Do you have any?

Barely, not a lot. Couldn't donate two cords. And you watch as you begin to spill your blood onto it. It's pulled into the glass and what liquid was in there is expelled as ash from beneath until eventually whatever you drip into it is just consumed and is now within

and moves freely within. There's a leather cord that's pulled through the top part of the glass that you can wear. Is this safe, Laudna? I'm not sure. Yeah, I was going to ask, does that worry you? You can utilize it as a spellcasting focus, if you'd like.

So it can take the place of any material components that don't have a monetary value. Cool. And it adds a plus one bonus to your spell attack rolls and your saving throw DCs for your sorcerer spells. Oh! Dope. Sorcerer's spells. I needed that.

This multi-classing shit is tough at low levels. Mm-hmm. Plus one to my spell. Plus one to your, I needed that. This multi-classing shit is tough at low levels. Plus one to my spell. Plus one to yours, too. If you equip it into your character, it should have this thing. In addition, when you roll any hit dice to recover hit points while you're carrying it, you can regain five sorcery points.

Holy shit! Holy fuck! But you can only use that once per dawn, essentially. Once per dawn. Now for a while. Worth it. All right, all right. Great. Thongs are so bad.

So you all spend a craft day making masks. What do you make? Actually, I don't make any masks. You just see me in a pile of wood chips. Shapings everywhere, working vigorously. I say, finally, I'm done. You see, custom orders, they get priority. I want to thank you for guiding me

through that whole wardrobe process. That was a nightmare. I don't know how you do it. Anyway, as requested, here's your airship. Oh my god! Oh my god! All good. No outside materials. Made by hand.

Just for you. It's amazing. It's so light. What is this, balsa wood? What? Leave a little mystery in there. The SS Bronte. The SS Bronte! You've even carved it in the side!

It's right there. This is, without a doubt, one of the top five gifts I've ever gotten. It's fantastic. That sounds like a disappointing life, but okay. We're square, right? Square. All right. Wow.

I shall treasure it forever, and I'm going to put it. That's one off the list. We're getting even, motherfuckers. That is so beautiful. I don't know what I expected, but it was, that's impressive. That's MC-level stuff. You got to raise your expectation level.

I'm going to try to steal it. I'm going to make it easy for you to disappoint me. Immediately. Just on the table in front of all of us. 14. Make a perception check. Can we all make a perception check? She's just doing it.

She's just reaching across the table. This is for display. I put it in my pocket for sure. All right. My passive is 20. Oh boy. Five. So you, in the moment of connecting with this delightful new friend you've made,

do not notice this just vanish from the table in front of you. The rest of you all see it. It is the most overt, just reach over and grab you've ever witnessed. Did you cast some kind of invisibility spell on it? That's so neat, Chetney. I'm just holding it. Wow. It really is so well done.

Fearne! No skipping the line, that's not for you. I'm not taking it, I'm just holding it to play with it. Okay. You can play for it for... There's no watches in this realm! You can play for it for 10 minutes, Fearne, 10 minutes. Okay.

Then you have to give it back. I put a bowl of water in front of me and I put it in the bowl of water. Nice. It's an airship. Oops. And I give you a string. I tie some string around it, throw it over the...

Whoa! It's fucking dying. Dipping on us. Wait, wait, wait, bring it over here. I tie my new rope to it and I go. It fixes. It's up there. Oh, what if we can't get it back down? Oh. Bink.

Ooh! Okay. Hatsune! Oh jeez! Oh, come on! FCG, I was wondering, I was working real hard on that one and I caught myself a few times. Could you fix my fingers, please? Heal them? Sure, sure. I will bless them with eternal life.

No, I'll just. Eternal life! Use your fingers. They will last way longer than you will. I'll just be a rotting corpse. FCG, his little name is Christ. Thrust great dust. I will heal, though. Thank you.

Don't ruin his story twists later. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Now that that's out of the way, I will start carving a very delicate wood wolf mask that will go just over my eyes. Okay, cool. Awesome, I dig it. So he's working on that. Dorian, what do you craft for your mask?

Mine is made out of fabric, and I've muddled a sticky paste together and molded the fabric and hardened it to make it look like it's fabric blowing in the wind. Ooh. Fabric. Don't judge me. I love it. Laudna, what'd you make? Um, uh, yeah.

I take the trash and some scrap leather that I have. Yeah, yeah. And I mold the leather and take some of the, I gather all the hair that was in the trash pile. Yeah. And I glue it and I make a fox-like mask that matches my fucked up fox's face on my dress.

I will say, go ahead and roll a dexterity check. That's fine, stop. Dexterity check. Yeah, just add your dexterity modifier. Okay. Mm, mm! 19. 19. Yeah, just add your dexterity modifier. Okay. Mm, mm! 19. 19. It matches your fox head wonderfully,

which means it is equally terrifying. Yeah, it is. It's perfect. It's got little patches of hair on it. It's good. Great, awesome. No cadaver skin, right? So I'll just... Sorry, Beau. Not this time. Not on that level of effort.

I'll just Clark Kent it. I'll just have some big glasses. Okay. Great. No one will notice. Perfect. What have you seen, Giko? It's me, I'm right here!

Who the skull are you with? Perfect. What have I seen you do? It's me, I'm right here! Who the skull are you with? Perfect. Fearne. I'm going to make something that looks like a craft piece that a five-year-old would make for Thanksgiving or at church, where it's like, you see the white glue, you see the feathers are all askew. It doesn't look great.

Nice, nice, nice, nice. Macaroni. Well done. Yeah, macaroni. Perfect. Let me get this. I'm going to use leather and make a nice little eye one out of a cream-colored leather,

and I'm going to get some of the glass beads that I can find, anything shimmery that it creates an iridescent sort of vibe, glued all over it, scented electric. And if I can find some beads, I would love to create a little extra piece that comes around the head and comes down over the hair as well.

Oh. You got beads. Go ahead and roll a dexterity check for me. You should buy them. Good! Burn this mask. Come on! I see it from here. It's rough.

That's a cocked pyramid. Fuck this. Six. Can we, since we have a big team, can we give her some assist? She is grace. Fuck craft day. Fuck craft day.

Eight. You're fine. Fuckcrafting. Fuckcrafting. A. You're fine. Look, these are simple crafts. There's no threat to any of these. Thank you, Matt. Genuinely, all I want to know is if anyone rolls a natural one, it's going to look real janky.

That's primarily why I'm having anybody roll. If they have a semi-complicated idea, I just want to see if they royally fuck it up, and then we get to experience that. But you're fine. All right. What you got? I go sit down by Chetney, and I grab one of his discarded chunks of wood

from what he was making, and I set it down. I go into my bag, and I take out my simple set of carpentry tools. I start to carve a little wooden mask. Oh my god. It's nothing. It's super elaborate, but it's okay. It's got a cherry blossom design to it,

both the shape of it and then carved, etched into the surface of it as well. I just start singing. You've got the touch. You've got the touch. You've got the power. I'm no artist, but my mom taught me a couple of things. I have a whole new level of respect for you. We have to talk.

I have so much I can share. I'm an open book. I will read that book. Your start is good. Is that where you're leaving it? No. That's just five minutes in. I'm going to go another 20.

It's not going to be, I can't make that. Well, I mean, that's hundreds of years of experience, but if you want me to take just a polishing look at whatever you do, I would be more than happy to give. Well, can we start here, and we'll call this the beginning, and then you can give me tips as the weeks go by. I would love that.

All right. So how detailed are you going with this? I mean, I want it to look pretty, but I'm not an artist, an artisan. You're not an MC? My art is the sword, not the carving tools. We'll see about that. Roll a dexterity check. But I'm proficient in it.

You are. Ooh, a one. I'm going to roll it. Because you can do that as a halfling. Damn it, that was my one chance! That is a 23. 23. It is, even with the short time, an impressive display of attention to detail and form.

And while not on par with a master craftsman such as yourself, there is a hidden thread of talent in this little halfling here. I'm so proud. You really have a gift. Sometimes all you have to do is water the plant. You're an Ashari, right?

Yeah, I was thinking about home. It shows. May I compliment you on such a fine endeavor? Yes. Truly. I don't fuck around when it comes to wood. Game, respect, game. Well, I bow before the master.

May it serve you well. I look down at his liver-spotted head and smile. You just randomly get in your head, fucking piece of shit! Do you know what the Ashari, you know, never. You know the Ashari from the, I... Well, I remember asking after the, and he was sent to search for the.

You just threw it out there, it was just a moment. By the way, Ashton, what have you made? Well. I took some scrap leather and some scrap cloth and mushed it all together with some glue, oiled up, pressed it to my face to get a rough fucking shape. I've also slightly modded the outfit

because I'm not showing any fucking skin. Gloves, boots, whole thing, as much as I can. I'm making a big, full, I'm grabbing it and wrapping it and tying it behind my head so it covers everything but the purple crystals on my head. Everything hidden. Slicing it open, opening up the eyes, and then just using some red thread to tie it,

tie the mouth together a little bit. Yeah. Ooh. And I should, if I did it right, look like the Nightmare King. Ooh! What? Roll a dexterity check for me. Oh, you're going in.

You're going in half-cocked. Hell yeah. Guidance! Dexterity check? Yes. I'll take that guidance. Guidance. Come on. Yes. Low key, we will not be. 21.

Ooh! That is, while a creative interpretation with limited materials, for those who have very closely seen the Nightmare King in person, it definitely evokes the shape and the dread. Dog barks at me, I bark back louder. That's fucking cool.

Plus, anyone that's seen him, have a reaction. Fucking thought, aren't they? That's such a good idea. That's cool. I think I saw him in the 90s at the limelight. So yeah, no skin, just that, that big crazy ass. I just traced to my hands. Cool.

Feathers! Feathers! And feathers, yeah. Like Pan's Labyrinth. Little macaroni. Like a creepy, yeah, like a Pan's Labyrinth-y. Oh, that's turkey. Turkey. Easy enough to scavenge feathers that have fallen from Leifred the Fallen's den,

not far from where the crook house is, yeah. Okay, so masks resemble? And then real quick, I bust the doll. Okay. And put Pate in the tiny doll clothes. Yes! Good call. You should keep the doll head, though,

because it's useful. Use the whole doll. You don't want to waste it. Good use. Yeah, something. That's great. Pâté! You look so handsome. Yes, sir.

Oh, look at you. Don't you. Oh, don't you get shy. Don't you get shy. You better stop that, you're giving me a chubber. Oh, come on, Pate. I was ready to say Professor Pate, but now I'm upset. Pate. Milo leans in and goes, I kind of hate it.

And I kind of love it. Yeah. Pate, you promised you'd stop drinking. It's true. Go home, Pat's head. Both of them are very off-putting. I'm drunk. There's no lower form of comedy than ventriloquism. That's true.

Okay. To the ball? To the ball? If you'd like to, well. Yes, please. Where are you going? To the ball? No, we're going to Esht Yes, please. Where are you going? To the ball? No, we're going to Eshteross. We have to go to Eshteross first. I want to go to the fucking ball!

You go to Eshteross. It's a lot of prep. Okay. It's a lot of prep. We'll say, in prep for this, you go ahead and meet back up in the Eshteross manor. Is he breathing? Every NPC you ever encounter from now on is sleeping and you have to check.

You're just waiting to do some of the operations. You're just waiting. He's holding it under his nose. What are you doing? Yes, he is breathing. So do you go to him the day before, the day of? How soon are you visiting him? Probably day before.

Day before. Day before. Just because, what if we're not allowed to go? We haven't fully found out and we're doing all this prep work. We've got masks, we're all going to be dressed up. I know. I don't know.

Which to that point. He's like, I didn't. Oh, you wanted to go! Oh. I know. Oh no. Which to that point. It would be really cool if he's like, I didn't get tickets. Oh! Oh! All right. Roll into the chair. So, you guys waiting for the return?

So you return to Eshteross's manor and you're brought into his den where you first locked weapons with him to prove yourself worthy under the guise and tutelage of Bertrand Bell. But here, Eshteross has a table laid out and chairs arranged, almost in preparation for your arrival. He beckons you all to sit.

He goes, Very well. There are a few things we must go through, both in intent, plan, and I have been able to acquire invitations for your troop as two separate groups. Okay, two separate groups. Okay. Two separate groups.

An accompaniment of mine and an accompaniment of an individual of our creation. We have to construct a noble persona from beyond Marquet, and I will submit the necessary paperwork to ensure they know what to expect. So one of you will have to masquerade as this guest of the event.

All right, I'll do it. No! Hmm? Yeah. Who's your pretty good liar? Tell us about the guest. Just Laudna, yeah. You know, give us like a... Someone. Like an idea so we can see who matches best with it.

Well, it depends on who we are choosing. For instance, if it is to be you, Laudna, well, there is a very specific narrative we must present. Yes, yes. That would have to be a thick narrative. Yes, so probably not you. No, it shouldn't be me.

It should not be you. But. Dorian. Dorian. Dorian. Makes the most sense, doesn't it? As long as you're wearing a mask. Just because. The bounty on your brother.

We're all wearing masks. All right. Have you already procured outfits and masks? Of course. We sure have. He went to see them. Very well. He closes a trunk in the back of the room.

You had masks for us? I admire your gumption and your initiative. Fuck it, we spent all that money. We needed a craft day. We did need a craft day. Well, think on what sort of persona you would want to present us. Let's go over a few notes here.

Some elements of what to expect and what the intent is of this, our arrival. The Chandei Quorum is a council of eight allied anonymous leaders within Mahan houses and guilds throughout the Wilds. Membership to this Quorum is decided and maintained by the majority of the Quorum.

And any ousted are sworn to secrecy under penalty of death. Now, this union of faceless oligarchs works through a ninth public-facing pseudo-member chosen by the Quorum who speaks their will in public forums and events such as this, known as the Face of the Quorum. For nearly a decade, this face has been an individual known as Gavis Aranda.

They are a member of the Beautification Guild of Jrusar, keeping the city presentable. They are a charismatic and politically dexterous figure. Now, discovering who is one of the anonymous members of the Quorum is a powerful boon in these political spaces, as it allows alliances, lobbying, and business propositions in favor of one's own house and guild,

while maintaining a plausible deniability, if you follow me. This may indeed allow the chance of oneself to be voted into the quorum, should the opportunity arise and the proper alliance is made with the unspoken members. I personally despise this club-like mentality. It only seems to maintain the interests

of this unknown ruling elite at the expense of the populace that lives here, runs the city, and is the beating heart of its culture. In exposing the Quoran, and even connecting them to some of the corruption, the plagues, the common folk of the wilds, there is a chance for unrest on such a scale that reform may have an opportunity,

especially if pressured by outside allies that reform may have an opportunity, especially if pressured by outside allies like J'mon Saurd of Ank'har El, the Court of the Lambert Path of Eishanador, and even the Stratos Throne or other interests abroad. Now, I have personal interest to upset this balance and perhaps expose or discover who is part of this quorum. So, one, I have interest in perhaps learning

anyone who reveals themselves as a possible member. Now, us together, we have mentioned a deep mistrust and a series of dark connections to House Treshi, yes. House Treshi's alliances within the upper circles of society and perhaps confirmation of a member of the Quorum amongst them. I have a long-term reason to believe

that Armand Treshi himself might be a member. I'd be curious to suss out any of these connections to this Nightmare King you mention. That in itself may be enough to begin to unravel his carefully plotted place and position of power. As part of this, if not at this event thereafter, I propose you plant something on him,

something that can be traced and followed. In particular, and you watch as he leans back, his orcish face pulling out of the immediate lantern light and stepping into the shadow with an ominous look as he pushes forward this small case and lifts it. There you see, presented on this bed of red velvet, a silver circle, a loop, a ring. This is a replica ring of Amon Treshi,

the one he keeps on his left thumb. He is always seen with it. This platinum band, he has never seen without this jewelry, but this one has been enchanted and is capable of magical tracing by us. This is so cool. The challenge is for one of you, or all of you somehow, to manage to slip the ring from his hand

during this event and replace it with this. Oh god. Theedal, switch around. Good thing we got a rogue. Take the thumb, sew it back on. Take the thumb, sew it back on. Take the thumb. Are you up for this task, or shall I reach out to some of my other contacts? This is a good old-fashioned heist.

This is great. Yeah, I think we can do this. Just real quick, can I smell the room and just see if there's anything off about the people that are in here. Any scents that are unfamiliar. Make a perception check with advantage. Come on.

Shit. Chee. 17. Your wolfen senses smell the strong layer of scents through the chamber, as well as the familiar musk of Lord Eriks Eshteross himself present. Nothing else in the room seems to be wild or unfamiliar, thankfully.

Now this gala, this event, is to be held within the Chandei Quorum's chambers at the very apex of the Core Spire. It is a massive assembly hall where political gatherings and major celebrations are commonly held. Lodging is provided to all guests within the chambers as a courtesy to avoid inebriated figures of interest

in political power wandering the streets at night. I have two suites set aside to divide our troop amongst, should the need arise. Now, I was going to tell you should the need arise. Now, I was going to tell you of the attire of expectation, but it seems you've already made business of dressing yourselves for this event. Very well. Is it fancy enough, what we got?

Show me what you have. Show me what you've got. Show me what you've got. Show me what you've got. Doot, doot, doot, doot. We walk in. We walk in. He nods and takes it in with a serious judgment. You're a little dressed.

Silver, yeah. Is white the color of morning here? White is commonly the color utilized for morning, but the color can have multiple meanings. What about white with peaches and cream? Combination. That's just cute. I mean...

That's the color of a morning snack, certainly. Sure, sure. I think it's fine. It's delightfully complimentary. I have no notes. I agree. Quaker, that's the baby. All day. Oh god, I have peaches and cream for you. Peaches and cottage cheese were my favorite years.

Tomorrow afternoon, as the sun begins to set, I have had transportation arranged. You will meet here in advance to dress and prepare. You will be picked up by two silgoat-drawn carriages. Oh my god. To ascend to the peak of the spire. Oh, silgoat. How do you spell silgoat? S-I-L-L-G-O-A-T.

You've seen them throughout here. They are commonly used as the beasts of burden and beasts of travel throughout the spires and surrounding spaces because they are very sure-footed, they are strong, and they are a little easier to keep control of than horses at this elevation. Are they fast if they need to be? They're comparable to a...

Quarter horse? They're comparable to a standard pull horse. Got it. So, any questions before we begin for tomorrow night's proceedings? Do we need to bring a plate of food? The potluck? I have a serious question. Do we need to bring a plate of food? The padlock? I have a serious question.

Would we be searched for weapons? Would we get patted down? Most events like this avert weaponry to be checked in, so whatever you can confidently hide, do so. Otherwise, you will be without your weaponry. Unless allowed to by the wardens of the event.

And Armand Treshi typically has bodyguards or people around him to provide security? I assume he would be. There will be quite a number of wardens available, but many of those who can afford it will likely have one, if not more, personal guards at the event. Now, Armand is tall for a dwarf

and perhaps not as broad. He's a dwarf? Is he married? and perhaps not as broad. He's a dwarf. Is he married? I do not believe he has a partner, no. Yeah, Gurge didn't get a very close look from the back. He said humanoid, human-like, couldn't quite tell. Sure.

He's a Talford dwarf. It's Talford. The royal persona that we're going to be given, this one over here, are you going to come up with that, or is that something that we should wordsmith tonight? That's for us to discuss in this moment, or if not, by the night itself. I would need to notify them by the morning.

I've told them to expect someone, but they are awaiting my paperwork. Pick a royal name, like Pubert or something. Pubert. That's not bad. Can you be honest? You hear in your head. Pubert Boyle. I'm sorry.

It is me, yes, I'll. Yeah, why not just go as yourself? You are royalty. I... I'm not so certain with our current circumstance or my brother's circumstance. Next in line, don't fight it. Ah, no, I'd rather keep that the way it is.

I'm not going to use my real name. Should any of us use our real name? I'm thrown down. Let him know. All right. Do you have any ideas about who this other... Are we arriving together or in separate groups? We are arriving in two separate groups, one that is to accompany me

and one that is to accompany you. Oh boy. Who would you like to have in your group? I'll leave that open to the troop. But can we know each other when we get there, or is it we stay separate the whole time? We can mingle as long as it seems natural within a social environment.

Right, just like normal socializing type of thing. But we're going to make a move on this ring. That group should probably be with Eshteross because he's going to probably be able to get closer than you. Or if the new person is very interesting, maybe Armand will want to make himself known. Also true. So what type of person is Armand?

What does he value? Connections. Business. His family hangs in many different guilds and businesses within the Wilds. They primarily run most of the gold mining operations within the O'Deeran Wilds. They handle masonry, pulling from two different quarries.

Do you know what he might be in need of right now? Seems like he really is invested as a part of this Paragon's Call situation, maybe weapons? Perhaps interest in... Hmm. In employing expansions of Paragon's cult to other political ventures or locations beyond Jrusar.

Whether it be your family or a created individual, having interests from abroad that might be looking to invest in this mercenary troop might catch his attention. Yeah, I mean, if your family doesn't do a lot of trade with Jrusar, offer him the hookup. And to be honest, while I might be able to present introductions,

I can guarantee you I am probably looked with as much mistrust by some of the political elite as I look at them. You know, we could always do the usual Fearne level of pickpocketing, bait and switch with this ring situation, or maybe you have some sort of interest in his jewelry and just want a closer look. Maybe he'll hand it to you.

A little sleight of hand? They have sweets available. Maybe we get him drunk and charm his pants off. Or challenge him to some sort of game of chance where they bet jewels or something. I don't know. That's great, too. Does anyone know any good magic tricks? Just need a ring.

Is she a sorcerer? Then there's magic, and then there's magic. Illusions. So he always wears this ring as a... Is it a decorative choice? I am uncertain. He wears all of his jewelry all of the time. Oh wow.

He should always take a piece off and leave it at home. That's what they say. Why? I don't know, some dumb shit I heard. Oh. He's an ostentatious figure that prefers to flaunt his station. So we'll use that to our advantage.

Maybe, Dorian, you can also put on a lot of jewelry. Do you have any on loan? I'll be right back. He leaves the chamber, comes back a short time later with a long box with a dark burgundy, almost pillowed top, shifts it open, and you can see inside there are all number of chains

and necklaces and rings. I am uncertain which of these will fit you. As some have been affixed to my hands, and some have been affixed to my previous patrons. Do you happen to have any pearls? Like a string of pearls? That's nice. It's not for me.

Dorian was really wanting a string of pearls. Thank you. Take them. How are you feeling, Dorian? You look very overwhelmed. Scary. It's a big performance. But this is what you do.

It is. You're good at this. It is, but this feels more important than that. I'll go as myself. My real self. I think that's wise. I do, too. Wow. All right.

If we succeed in this, can you ensure my protection, my family's protection, if I put our family name on the line? He leans forward under the lantern light, his square, strong jaw clenching as he adjusts the spectacles light, his square, strong jaw clenching as he adjusts the spectacles at the end of his nose,

his strong orcish warrior presence, almost oppressive in size and demeanor. I will do everything in my power. Everything comes with a risk, and you are welcome to walk away at any time. But everything in my power. All right. I will slide the pearls back to him

and I will break away from the group and go start looking through the chest of masks that he had offered us earlier. I'm going to start rifling through them quietly. While Dorian is away, I turn to everybody else. Do you think he's okay? You think this is a good idea? Putting Dorian up for this?

I think he's the best person for the job. He is a noble. I agree. I just don't want to cause undue trauma. Then don't look at anybody. That's bad. Savage. Dorian, you hear in your head, Is this all right? It's fine. It just needs to be done.

I'll stay on that side for security. We should split up, you and me. So we can be listening to people think. Yeah. Orym? Yeah? Do you have thoughts on this idea? I think Dorian is the best person for the job.

Dorian has talked us out of 20 different situations. He's the best fit. Right. But, I don't think that we can actually, or Eshteross actually offer protection for his family? I've pulled the mask out of the chest and I look to Lord Eshteross and I go,

are there any more clothing I could look through? Indeed. Looking at the masks he has, they lack the charm and personality of what you've all managed to create. They're mainly just like a solid bronze, covering part of the face. One might curl up to one side.

They're effective. They're also not extremely ostentatious with the intent of being subtle. So the choice is yours on what you would like to take and bring with you. But he guides you up into, carefully, and he says, as you approach, or as you fall behind, follow my steps exactly.

Leads you through a hall on the far left, then makes a quick right, and then follows on the right-hand side. Yeah. Heads to a door, and you watch as he turns the knob, takes his cane, and slips it through the top of the door and holds on something, pushes the door open, and then hits a latch.

Something comes and hangs for a second. He goes, We're safe to enter. Enters the room and you can see all the furniture in this room is covered in sheets. There's dust and there are cabinets and there is a large armoire that is covered. He goes ahead and pulls the sheet off,

off to the side, dust settles in the space as he opens it. On the inside, you see hanging on the rack, there are all manner of long coats and cloaks and it looks to be at least 20 different outfits of beautiful colors, make, and design. He looks back to you. All of these once belonged to the late husband

of my previous employer and the lady of the house. You look about the right size. Take your pick. I'll just start methodically just going. What do you find? Looking through them. So the mask that I've pulled is super stern-looking, nothing whimsical about it,

but it's got a regal look to it. As I look through the clothes, I find something in the same sort of color pattern, blue that I have, but same thing. Sharp shoulders, quick lines, nothing, no flare. It's very almost militaristic, but severe, but elegant. That's a whole suit jacket thing.

I'm going to grab that, and as I do put those sort of things away, I'm going to reach into my bag and pull out the outfit that I had, which was this chiffon outfit that I had previously gotten a long time ago. Look at it for a minute, and then I'll pull out the mache mask that I had, and I'll crumble it for a minute, and then I'll pull out the mache mask that I had, and I'll crumble them both up

and throw them in the bottom of the Bureau, and leave them behind and go back down to the group. Okay. Ashtraws carefully leads you out of the chamber and back down the hall. But as you're walking alongside and head down the stairs, he goes, I think this will do.

Might not be as much fun, but it'll get the job done. Don't think you don't have to have fun. In fact, it might make you less suspicious. All right. Two drink minimum. Enough to still effectively do what you need to be done. Very well.

And it is, and he asks you to spell out the name properly to him. Oh, all right. I'll, instead of,'ll start to awkwardly spell it and I'll just write it down on a piece of paper. Second son, just like it sounds, but it's S-U-N instead. And pass it off to him.

And this is of which nobility? Nobility is a broad term. Location, homestead. Everywhere. The Silken Squall. The Silken Squall. You're of the Silken Squall. Correct. Hmm.

Won't have to press as hard as we assume. Rolls it up and hands it off to his associate. She takes it, Evelyn, and she leaves the chamber. I doubt with this there will be much of an issue. Rest, prepare, decide who is to travel with who, and tomorrow we go to a ball. So, the night is yours to rest.

Any last minute prep you would like to do before the day comes? We should just figure out who's in which group. Yeah. I'll be with Dorian. Sounds like Ashton has as well, right? It depends. I honestly think that, considering this is your play, I think you should really have final say

over who you have next to you. I think you're essentially plan A on the ring swap over rule. Sure. And then Eshteross' group will be plan B, if that doesn't work. We don't know how, I mean, we can't know how you're going to swap out the ring

ahead of time, but you should have someone with you who can distract. Correct. Someone who can maybe magically assist somehow. Or buff. Do we really have a plan, though? This feels a little bit by the seat of your pants.

It's like yada, yada, yada. Dorian gets the ring, we go home. All right. What if it's not Dorian gets the ring, though? What if it's one of you guys get the ring? Maybe it's bad. That's true. If you're talking to him, maybe one of us can distract him.

Who has great sleight of hand? Pretty good. I'm not really me. You're good. I'm pretty good with my hands. In a perfect world, we somehow knock him, get him to off balance,

get him to drop the ring, and then assist and hand it back to him and make the switch there. That's the perfect world. What if we start out with Charm, plying him with wine, getting him comfortable, and then if he gets loose enough, you start comparing jewelry.

Yeah, watch guys love showing off their watches and stuff. Absolutely. And if that doesn't work, at least he's drunk or half drunk, and we can then make it, hopefully, a little easier to go for the switcheroo. Yeah, maybe one of us can fall. So are we trying to balance?

He tries to pick us up or something. Are we trying to balance between the two parties' hotness? Like find a mean amount of attractiveness? Well, we're all super hot. Yes, yes, we're all super duper hot, all of us. Why are you looking at me? I'm just saying that. Just recognizing the alpha, I guess.

As a type for everyone. We've seen Chetney shirtless. Chetney's like the gnomish, world's most interesting man. Well, that's burned into his skull now. I don't normally drink beer, but when I do, I get fucked up. I do think that whoever is going to be in your group,

I do feel like Imogen should be with you so she can listen in. I feel like that would be, you know, she can tell us what's going on. Sure. That's true. And listen to him. Always enjoyed having you at my side. If that's the case, maybe Ashton,

with his Nightmare King mask, could be an interesting distraction. Maybe get some interesting thoughts. I am very loud, intimidating muscle, as opposed to quiet, subtle emergency muscle. I would be happy to just stand behind you and look menacing as fuck. If, just devil's advocate,

if Armand is connected to the Nightmare King, is it playing our hand too much to have Ashton standing right behind you? It might be better to have him spot Ashton in the crowd and see his reaction to it. An enforcer for each team. Orym, you said you'd like to stay with me. Would you? Yes.

All right. Fearne? Of course, I'm just trying to think of who are the best people to keep you safe. No, you're the best person to be with us. Okay. The rest of us will be on snooping and distracting duty? Yeah, we should have alternative plans.

Anything that gets hand-in-hand contact. I mean, if somebody wanted to flirt with Armand, and I don't know, say give him a palm reading or something. You know, anything that would get him alone for a second and give him a little switcheroo. We could try lots of things. Or even if you're comparing jewelry, if that doesn't work, you could go into another room

and compare scars and get naked and... Yeah? Or arm wrestling? That's closer. Worst case theory, we get FCG the face mask he needed. Yeah. All right. That's a plan.

That sounds like a plan. That sounds like a good plan. So Team Dorian is going to be Dorian, Orym, Imogen, and Fearne. Mm-hmm. Okay. Team Eshteross is going to be Ashton, FCG, Laudna, and Chetney. Does that sound about right? That's the enforcer team right there.

Hmm. Yeah, actually, we are definitely a good plan B, I will admit. That's a lot of muscle. Sneaky, strong, creepy. And doc. I'm nice. What would be the, what's our absolute

worst-case scenario fail-safe plan? Like, not just a diversion, but a calamity. And everybody's got to get out of the room and we're pulling and running and shoving and going, oh, Armand, this way. And you grab that sh- Like a fire or like a- Yeah, or like a big fucking werewolf jumps out and melts the room.

Or maybe, oh! I can make everything go dark. Ooh, that's true. Also got this bottle of smoke. Oh, yeah, yeah. Can you see in the dark? I can if I'm something else. Okay.

You know, if I can turn into something else that can see in the dark. Worst case, I can't. Just drape yourself around my neck and you can talk to me mentally and tell me which direction to go. Great, great. I'll hold onto your, you can see in the dark.

Mm-hmm. Can you become a hornet or a wasp? Sure I can. Just wondering if you could. Can you fly? Can she? Oh, it's a flying thing. I don't think I can fly yet. If he has a bee allergy. Well, I was thinking, but he could sting his hand and then, oh, we got to take that off or it's a flying thing. I don't think I can fly yet. If he has a physical allergy. Well, I was thinking, he could sting his hand

and then, oh, we got to take that off or it's going to puff up. You got to take that off. Eighth level. First reaction. Eighth level, you are in the bar. Throw him into anaphylactic shock, yes. I've always been a believer that plans go wrong,

goals always stay the same. Yeah. I mean, I could always be a beautiful cat. Seriously, we could put the ring in one hand, trip and fall, grab onto his hand, and take the ring off while we're falling, and then go, oops, I took your ring off. Here you go, let me give it back.

Sure. This is literally her in any mall of America. Get up, please get up. Stop it. I'm just playing accessories. Please stop it. Top of the escalator. You really didn't like it when I did it.

We have communication, we have a goal, I don't know what else, and we have at least some idea of a plan. I will say this, you're speaking of worst case scenarios. I've sort of seen that before. When I was younger, we had a court dance, if you call it, not quite a ball, and someone showed up unexpectedly,

and they were killed immediately. Wait, what do you mean? Immediately. They were not supposed. Wait, what do you mean? Immediately. They were not supposed to be there. There were internal secrets being shared and the guards were told to kill them and they did. Are you suggesting that one of us pretended to be killed by a guard?

I'm suggesting that the worst case scenario is not an oopsie daisy, I fell and the ring is gone. The worst case scenario is we get busted for what we are and we die. Oh, that worst case scenario. Well. That's kind of a typical one. At least you're telling the truth.

That's true. And we are legitimately your companions. Yes. Well. Still going to wear the thing? The dress? Yes. Yeah, I feel like it's very disarming. Speaking of Chetney,

I was thinking of swapping out my chisel headpiece for something maybe a little bit more sleek, but I noticed your golden weapons there. Maybe one looks like a nice little hairpin that I could slip in, in case you need it. Yeah, just get it back to me. No, I mean, it's yours. I'm just sneaking it in my hair.

Oh! Oh shit. I didn't even pick up on it. Really? And then if shit goes down, I can be like, ah, Chucky, go! My walls are high. That's a winner. I happen to know court dances as well.

So should we need to? You can lead. We could do some dancing and fool them that, you know, we've done some, we're supposed to be here. That's a good idea. Dancing, a promenade, lots of hand touching, perhaps. All of that. She's perfect. FCG All of that. See? Perfect.

FCG has legs now. Yeah. I'm going to do dancing. I'm going to need so much to drink for this. Maybe we start the ring off with you, and if things go sour, then we just improvise. That's what I think as well. All right. and if things go sour, then we just improvise. That's what I think as well.

All right. I think a good old-fashioned, ooh, your ring looks nice, can I see it? See what happens. Top you off. Blah, blah, blah. And just steal it. And just take it right off his hand? Just take it right off his finger.

How's your sleight of hand? It's very good. I'll give you a little boost, too. Practice. Practice? Yes. All right. On your, okay. I'll give you a little boost, too. Practice. Practice? Yes. All right. On your, okay. I hate it. Oh, it's.

I put my finger back into it. Yeah. I put my finger back into place. It's fine. Slurp. Oh, you want to see my ring? Well, yes, it is made of the finest platinum. I'm very rich.

Ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, wow, it looks so lovely. You can have it back. Oh, thank you. Wow, it looks exactly like the one I gave you. See? That's pretty good. Oh my god, yeah. I didn't even see it. Now, what if he doesn't want to take it off his thumb?

We'll figure it out. And we knock him out. Yeah. What would make you take a ring off? Beastie. To appraise it? To give it value? To get it cleaned?

Propose it. To... I haven't met any dwarves. Are they proud? Do they have that sort of vibe? I think everyone's their own person. You know, I don't think so. But he seems to be, with all the jewelry he has.

That wasn't a generalization. I was just saying. I think if they're ever happy, they have money. I haven't met any. That might be naive of me, but I'm sorry. All right. I think there, so that's, we know what our first play is, right?

There are multiple plans that we can pivot to. Alcohol is very important for lubrication, but there's flirtation. There's flirtation. There's flirtation. Theater troupe, drama club. Do we know what he's into? No. What type of person he likes? Do you know, Eshteross?

Because you had asked us all the time. Oh, we're not with him anymore. But he did say, I asked if he was married and he said he didn't have a partner. So I don't know. Well, we can ask that in the carriage tomorrow, just to prep. If someone starts making progress, they keep at it.

Sure, that's a good plan. No way to know until you know. If jewelry comparison doesn't go down, and Dorian and Fearne both lay it on thick, and you listen in, right? You can probably tip them off as to who should go in for the kill. We've got a lot of flavors here, surely.

Someone's taste. We've got something for everyone. That's true. And then you could say, like, hey, back off, it's not you. We should send in Jetny. Yeah, he's really into little wiry muscles. Basically the ace.

Robi. We do have something for everybody. I'll just tell him to keep twirling me when that hand's working. I haven't, I don't have, I could make a quick attachment. It might be a little rusty. What about your ziggurat?

You could also use Dr. Ziggurat. Oh my god. Maybe we should be the Grabbags. Just lots of things. We'll make it work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll also know when we get there. Sure.

Should we have a group name for this? Are we going to be announced as ourselves, though? No. In two groups? We need a fake name. Oh, two groups. Do we need two separate names? Well, I assume one will be with Eshteross. With Eshteross and his friends.

We truly could use this as our focus group. One name is the second choice, next name, first choice. Announce them both and see what gets the bigger applause. The focus group's really delicate and the second group goes and raises hell. Yeah. Two names, then. Let's come up with two instead of one.

Much easier. Focus groups. Raises hell. Raises hell. Fells hells. Fells hells. Fells hells is pretty damn good. It's pretty good. Bells? Yeah, the bells.

The bells of the ball. Ooh. Fells Hells. Fells Hells. And what was the one we bailed on a little bit? Oh, the new nobody. Is that out? I'll honestly say it's entirely possible

somebody in that room might actually have had. Then that's possible. We did used to rob people in this town. The grab bags? The grab bag hags? The nighty mime. The... The mighty mimes?

Nighty mime. The nighty mime. The... The mighty mimes? The beanie. The beanie. You know what? There was another group. We'll be fine, we'll be fine.

We don't even know if we need a group name. You got time to think on that. Okay, it's done. And we say every single one. Indeed. Fresh cut in the Pussycats. Ooh. Ooh. Lord Asheros and the Dave Matthews Band.

No! All the little and solid. I hate this. Dave Matthews Band and Adam Sandler. Yeah. I don't really think what you're saying. I know, I know. And now the dancing shall begin.

Blah! Blah, blah, blah! No! All right, blah, blah! No! All right, new campaign. Ah! Yeah, Terran. Wipe it down. Wipe it! This is how you get a TPK, guys.

Indeed. So, plans, for the most part, set. Paths decided. Goals considered. And possibilities laid out. paths decided, goals considered, and possibilities laid out. And marching. And marching. So much said.

Damn it. You rest for the night, and the next day finish your final preparations before you reconvene at the abode of Lord Eshteross to get dressed, made up, masks at the ready, approvals confirmed for your troops' arrival until slowly you hear the sounds of siligotes gathering on the exterior.

Just as the sun begins to slowly lower in the skies, the oranges and purples begin to brighten, leading into the later ports of the day into the night. The carriages await you outside. Beautiful dark woods gilded in golds and dark greens on one, the other hitting maroons and browns with bright bronze and silver accents on it, each with four siligotes to the front,

situated and plopping their way before they stop. And getting ready with their creepy-ass fucking square eyes. I go over and I Taylor Swift scream goat at it. Screams right back at you. SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, nuzzles you.

SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, but your carriages are arranged, your troops divided, and as the doors are closed by the assistance, , Fjordkins riding up around As the doors are closed by the assistance, Hush! Fjordkins riding up around the spiral streets of the Core Spire towards the top. Up. I'm so glad Eshteross

hired a makeup artist. Amazing. Need a lot of foundation for this, a lot. Up. Up. Arriving on the climbing streets at the apex of the spire, passing the mirror towers,

which currently are under heavy guard and investigation, you all just hold your breath, glancing over through the window of the carriage to see the chaos that you missed before, where the previous tower no longer stands. The roadways shift from the standard dark gray and brown stone into an alabaster white, until eventually it reveals the sprawling gardens

and trees surrounding an incredible, wide dome-like structure of colored glass that is enveloped by a spread of buildings and halls that wrap around the edges of the spire top like a lasso. The windows overlooking the Oderan Jungle and surrounding city below. Small towers and elevated walkways

connect to the Dome Citadel in an elegant tangle. The warm radiance of interior light giving it a glow almost impressive, were it not for the Prakash pyre burning so brightly in the distance from the lantern spire. Numerous other carriages before you, both pulled by beasts or arcana, circle in the arrival road ahead.

Individuals you see emerging from the carriages, gathering and walking towards the entrance to the incredible 20-foot gold arch that welcomes the invitees within. As you take in the sights, the brimming anxiety, the butterflies and worry that gathers in your stomach, you can't help but smile. It's going to be an interesting night.

That's what we'll pick up next time. Ooh, I have bubblegum. Yeah, and that's Great Ball, y'all. It's going down. Ball's out. It's going down. This is going down. So exciting. It's going to be fine.

We'll go exactly the way that we planned. Yeah, I don't know. Great. We go exactly the way that we planned. In and out. Great. Pull it. Oh man, oh man. I've got a nice bonus to my attack and saving throws, I'm ready. I have blood sacs as well.

Blood sac around my neck. Yep. It's been a minute since we've been at a ball or a dance or anything. I'm so excited. Well, friends, I'm excited to see where this goes next time. In the interim, have a wonderful night. Thank you so much for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Good night.

We got to get it! And this concludes the current chapter of Critical Role. Your essays on the history and impact of the various ages and epochs of Exandria are eagerly anticipated. Just kidding. No homework for you, but if you are inspired to do some writing, please leave us a review. Your words can really help new folks find our show and encourage them to give it a try. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure. Until next time.