Critical Role - C3E15 The Tunnels Below

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

Bells Hells awaken to the repercussions of their antics at the ball, but the unwanted attention of certain parties could be the key to unraveling some of Jrusar’s mysteries…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.

Once upon a time, a group of curious storytellers breathed life into epic tales set in the wide fantasy world of Exandria. This is Liam O'Brien, here to welcome you to Critical Role. We'll dive into the story in just a moment, but first, a few notes. This is the audio-only version of our broadcast that streams Thursdays at 7pm Pacificm. Pacific over on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. If you subscribe to our Twitch channel, you can watch the video on demand immediately after the broadcast.

And it's also available Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific on YouTube. And of course, for all you wonderful podcast listeners, freshly minted episodes release right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after our broadcast on Thursdays. With all that said, let's get 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.

Yep, that. Before we get into tonight's session, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning Go, Ender! Yep, that. Before we get into tonight's session, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor, Quip. Sam. Guys, let me tell you about Quip, the good habits company and their smart electric toothbrushes.

These awesome brushes have all the guiding features of their original with a new Bluetooth smart motor that connects to the free Quip app so you can track your brushing. Get tips and daily coaching, earn rewards like Target gift cards for good habits. As simple as brushing two minutes twice a day. Yes, you can earn rewards for brushing your teeth.

This is a real thing. They even sent me a free Quip toothbrush to try out and I gotta be honest, I love it so much, I'm gonna get rid of my old one. In fact, this might be tough, but in fairness to my old brush, I got to come clean and make it official. Brushy, listen.

We've had some good years together, but I think it's time, god, this is harder than I thought it would be. It's time for us to break up. Look, when we got together, it was exciting and different and wild, right? But I don't know, over the years, the electricity sort of faded, you know?

Remember that time I had a real tough show? I know, it sounded weird, me having a bad night, but I needed you badly that night. And you said you needed to recharge. I know what happens to all the toothbrushes, but does it? Does it? Sometimes I just want to be gently caressed,

but you're so loud. It's kind of a mood killer, you know? Look, you're still an amazing brush, just not for my mouth. The truth is, I met someone new, and Quip is just, we click, you know? Like, if I want to go on a weekend trip, Quip's like, yeah, let's go.

But with you, it was always like, oh wait, I got to pack all my chargers and wires and accessories and stuff. I need spontaneity, Brushy. So many wires. Listen, you were my first electric, and I'll still think about you every time I get salad stuck in my teeth.

It's not an RCA cable. Yes, it's an RCA cable. But you need to work on you. The excessive spending, the buzzing, the abrasive pressure. You need to get your head on straight. Nothing? Nothing, you're just going to look at me like that?

I'm just going to, don't you tempt me. Don't you, okay, fine, one more. Oh god, I feel so dirty now. I do, too. Just leave, just go, and don't ever brush me again. Just go! Oh, that's so stupid. Just go, keep going!

Oh my god. So that's over. What's that? What's that, Quip Toothbrush? You're right, you're right, I can be happier now. And I can start getting rewards for brushing my teeth today by going to getquip.com slash criticalrole25 and saving 25% site-wide

when I use the code criticalrole25. That's no joke, 25% off site-wide right now. And so thanks to Get Quip for supporting the show. Oh, Quip. I- No. He's going to do it. No, don't do it! I'll be back in two minutes. Well, he takes two, huh?

What's weird is he gave me that same speech two years ago with the discount code included. It didn't make sense at the time, but he plays the long game. Sometimes it's the hindsight that really brings everything into focus. Unless you thought you got something out of it. I'm glad our tech budget has improved

to the level of the can of corn from what Hot American Summer is on the level. Thank you, Quip. Thank you, Sam. Take your time. It deserves it. No! No!

Tonight's episode is also sponsored by our friends at Bandai Namco and their brand new, highly anticipated action RPG, Elden Ring. Oh my god. Ah. I'm excited, can't you tell? Not as excited as him with his new toothbrush, but, well, close.

Probably on the second round back there. Bandai Namco never got a lead in like that. Never ever. No, that's private. A new world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin, Elden Ring is a massive, interconnected adventure with countless secrets to uncover and multiple gameplay options

from single player to co-op or PvP. That's right, the classic Souls-born, you know, jumping into people's games and fucking it up scenario, it resides. It resides. It resides. The game is amazingly tailored to your own desires. With a ton of customization and crafting elements

in the original system allows for any player to forge their own unique adventure based on your personal ambitions and choices. The game is available on all platforms and you can learn a lot more and play it right now at bit.ly, B-I-T dot L-Y slash C-R, Elden Ring. And if you missed our Elden Ring one-shot with myself, Marisha, Sam, and special guests

Brennan Lee Mulligan, Christina Ariel, and Alexander Ward, be sure to check it out on our YouTube channel. Thank you so much to Amanda and Amko for supporting the show. This next announcement, I believe, is yours, Marisha. Ooh. Yeah. Yes. Good luck playing next to that tonight. Yeah. Yes.

Good luck playing next to that tonight. We are celebrating our seven-year anniversary. In just a few weeks. It's on Thursday, March 17th. Join us online on Twitch or YouTube for our 17th episode, how weird is that, of our Bells Hells campaign, per usual. Or, if you would like,

you can join your own local Critter community in a select Cinemark, Landmark, and Cinopolis locations across the United States. Really? Really! But wait, there's more. For the very first time ever, we are partnered with Cinemark in Brazil to bring the big screen experience to select theaters

in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. What?! That's good. Pretty awesome. Brazil. We got you. We see you, Brazil. For all the details, please check out critrole.com slash seven. That's critrole.com slash S-E-V-E-N.

And Liam, save me. I got you more right here. It's time for comic book news. The Tales of Exandria number four, such a beautiful run, and Vox Machina Origins number six releases this month and are the final issues of their series. The collected versions are both available

for pre-order right now. For the most up-to-date information on our comic book releases with our friends at Dark Horse, check out critrole.com slash darkhorseguide. Dark Horse Guide. Fantastic. Oh yeah. That was a lot. Thank you, Liam.

All righty, I believe that concludes our announcements for the evening. So let us go ahead and jump into this episode of Critical Role. Critical Role. Critical. Critical. It's Thursday night.

One by one we climb until we reach the top. Two by two we climb until we reach the top Two by two we fall Will we meet our end or meet our destiny? Hold your breath and roll 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 Come join us, it's time to continue our fight 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. Come join us, it's time to continue our fight There is magic and mystery from darkness Our friendship will rise When one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight Oh, get ready

It's Thursday night! And welcome back. So, last we left off, Bells Hells, since we have a name now. Hooray! Had quite an eventful evening at the Quorum's Event, here at the top of the Core Spire,

where there were fights, there were dances, there was subterfuge, there was encounters with monsters in the middle of the night. There were arrests, there were dances, there was subterfuge, there was encounters with monsters in the middle of the night, there were arrests, there were escapes. And as you all rushed back to the abode of Lord Eshteross, it became quickly apparent that Dorian's brother, Cyrus, had fucked up so deeply that both him and his brother have to skip town.

With Eshteross' help, they were both given passage onto his personal skyship, which had just finished coming into port and offloading its goods and decided to send it over to Hurtel Doré at Dorian's request, where he feels he has some familiar friends to lay low with and hopefully figure out a way

to fix these troubles from afar. In the interim, you had your own challenges to look towards, your own mysteries and dangers that lie ahead. As you watched him leave in the wee hours of the morning, you all went back to rest and decide what the next path lay for you. So first off, you all can take your long rest. Hey! Oh my god.

Bleeding out of my nose. You all come to consciousness in the... We leveled up, too, on the last game? No. Okay. Oh. No. Good job, good job. Just trying to speed run it now, is that right? Yeah, I don't think I remember.

Is that not where we're at? You all crashed at the Eshteross Manor. That's right. The chambers here, not terribly comfortable. There haven't really been guests here probably in a decade or more. The layers of dust are thick, and the accommodations require

preparation to ensure that they aren't deadly when being walked through. But eventually, after a long, intense night, you all begin to come from your rest, wake up and gather down for a breakfast meal that is being prepared by Evelyn, the assistant to Lord Eshteross. And as you all begin to gather,

you can ruminate on what has transpired and what lies ahead. Eshteross has not joined you yet. It's just Evelyn in the process of getting food prepared for you all, and you begin to gather at the table there in the main dining chamber. What kind of food is it? This would be mostly a collection of poached eggs.

There would be some croissant-type baked goods. There's some light brown rice mixed with almost like a spicy sauce, you can't quite place it. It's quite nice if a little cobbled together with the unexpected volume of people staying over. I'm so fucking hungry. What a night. Yeah, it was a lot. Didn't really eat much now that you mention it.

Why wouldn't they serve? No, never mind. Nothing. Just reminiscing. Do you think there are deadly implements in this room? Like in the dining room? Definitely. Yeah, didn't we find some hidden before?

I think so, yes. That's every room in the house. That's amazing. I'm going to look under the table. Okay, you look under the table, and there are two leather straps that are bolted in from underneath, one that contains a small buckler short shield,

at quick grasp, and the other has a thick, meaty short sword that's sharpened to an infinite point. That's amazing. Fuck yeah. They're just at the ready, and they're both right underneath where his usual dining seat is. So close. Gum, lots of gum.

Really? Yeah, it's gross. I would expect more from a guy his class. What if he has a panic room? Yeah, that tracks. Like where he goes to panic? Yeah, that tracks. Like where he goes to panic? Yeah, just like. For a little bit. A switch or something and a panel opens

and then you're in there and you're like, fuck off, I'm safe. Whoa. Yep. This feels like a panic house. So there'd be a panic room and a panic house. If we ever have a meltdown, I think this is the place to go. Oh no.

I'm into it. I feel like we did a little last night. How are y'all doing, by the way? You and Orym. I mean, I know you've been kind of attached to the hip with Dorian this whole time, so. I'm just fine. I couldn't sleep very well, but I'm okay.

Yeah, felt a little empty. I don't know, I guess we'll see. We've been together for months, so it does feel... feels like he's still here in a way. You all normally snuggle up together when you sleep, don't you? Well, we did when we were on the road, just for saving money.

Yeah, we would just pile up by a tree and just kept it up. Yeah. It must be lonesome without him. If you want to share a bed with Imogen and I, I'm more than welcome. Oh yeah. Quite a good snuggle buddy. If you want to share a bed with Imogen and I. I'm more than welcome. Oh yeah. Quite a good snuggle buddy. I'm actually pretty warm.

My bottom half. Oh yeah! Pretty cold, so maybe together. I could just put my legs. I'll keep you warm. It's great. Just have a cuddle pile. Orym's looking up at the three giant women.

Bit of a handful. Oh, for fuck's sake. Don't worry if you miss it too much. I put an arcane jewel, actually, inside of the little wooden ship. So at some point in time, it's going to explode. And if it injures the person too much, they bamf right back to me.

So I could laugh at them before they perish. So don't worry. Oh, lovely. I really want that. I just wanted to make sure he thinks of us. I'm going to insight check. Go for it, insight check. I'm just going to choose to believe this.

That's great. No way. Aw, it just makes me love you. 10, I got 10. I'm sure he still has it, too, so we're set. What only? Oh, speaking of which, I finished yours last night. Oh, presents. Here you go.

I thought of you, because it just seems like the perfect thing, but after that beatdown, I just want to let you know that you're number one in my book. This is for Ashton. Is there a practical application for that?

Wow. If you haven't thought of it, then you probably do. I have. I'm just hoping for a more up-and-up answer. It's pretty up-and-up. Is that about the size of Orym's hand? You can put the middle digit back up. It was really more for that.

Oh, or the horns. I just like that there are options, to be honest. Are you doing the shocker? Yeah, do the, that's what I was going for. One in the shocker, one in the, what are they saying? That's not how it works. Shout to the devil.

That is what Imogen does when she blasts people. Just. I shocker people. That's a, there you go. Now you got it right. I'm going to pass. It's looking real weird now. Maybe it's just, you know,

you're messing with the art form. It's got to open up. Well, it gets. You know, every region has its own shocker. They're region-specific. This is very impressive. Oh shit. Where are we getting our kit?

I just thought of some great stuff to do with this. I'm so excited. This is fine craftsmanship. You can't rush this. You can't rush it. Thank you so much, FCG. Some of these things take time, so you can appreciate it. All right. Youngin'.

You better be working on it every single night. I am. I am literally bathing in wood chips, which is the only way to go. Traps heat very well and collects odor. Your actually would be both Fearne and Orym would be the only two to clock the relatively quiet arrival of Lord Eshteross. He's wearing what looks to be a pair of warm,

it's perfect, of warm leather and fur boots for the early cold morning. Is he wearing Uggs? Essentially, yeah. Yeah, fantasy Uggs. And I love it. Yes.

He's my favorite person ever. They are comfortable. They don't match the rest of his outfit, but they also keep his approach relatively quiet as he steps into the chamber with his... And you two notice, as he enters the chamber, you didn't hear any sort of cane sounds walking along, and then you begin to hear him as he arrives.

It was definitely an intentional, quiet arrival before he enters the chamber. Good morning, friends. Good morning. Good morning. I take it you rested well? As well as could be. Understood.

Your approach was very quiet. I somehow would stay hard. And I myself wish to be difficult to kill, so. Oh. Seems like, sorry, go on. No, I was going to say, just between all the traps around this place and sometimes your stealth-lack behavior,

seems like there's lots of folks trying to maybe kill you, or at least that's what you believe. Is that, do you know who's out there trying to off you? Or is it just a general sort of suspicion? It is both a general suspicion and a handful of people I have parted ways with in the past in not the most friendly manner. Oh shit, do you have a top three

that we should keep an eye out for? Yeah, especially if we're moving about the town. It might help us to know who to avoid, or? Honestly, the least you know, the better. In fact, I think bringing you into this circle, one, is able to cause you more discomfort than ever, plausible deniability of that. Oh shit. Sorry for the uproar last night.

I feel like we made quite the impression. Pull it out of the fire. Which never takes a roll. Practically a success, I'd say. We do need to be careful, though. Those guards were eyeing you at the end. I sort of lost my cool, as they say a little. I just don't like people fucking with friends, and they were trying to go after Dorian.

Yeah, you did what you had to. I'm sorry. On a scale of one to 10, how high on the scale was that freakout? Because you were flexing. I was, I'd say a 7.5, maybe an eight. Pretty high. Pretty high.

7.5, maybe, 7.8. 7.8? Okay, that's fair. 7.8, 7.6, 7.5, I see. Okay. No low B. High B, I don't know. Did we, I know we didn't accomplish

all of the things that we were supposed to. We got a good idea, though. We did pretty good. Did we? And we got his ring on his finger. We did that. That's important. His fur is still wearing. Yeah, we got to do, we got to follow up with that, right?

Yeah, I mean, well. We also found out that Paragon's call is involved with the Nightmare King, so that's nice. That's right. Apparently, yes. Do we still have his old ring? Yes. Should we get rid of it? Fearne's been wearing it since we left.

Right, I mean, can you track objects in this world? Yes, you very much can. Well, what are you going to do with it, though? Melt it down. Well, why don't going to do with it, though? Melt it down. Well, why don't you just let FCG eat it? Do you think it's magical in any way, or is it just a ring? He goes and reaches into his robe and pulls out.

You can see there's a small, it's almost like a pocket watch with a chain attached to it, but instead it's a singular, almost red ruby lens, like a monocle that's darker, and he puts it over his eye, and you see it flicker for a second. I want that. It is not.

It's not magical? I was just going to hit it, but that works, too. It's not magical. So should we just feed it? Are you hungry? If you will destroy the ring, then by all means. Crackle and Oat Bran, yeah! Cling, cling, cling, cling.

How does it taste? It's got, there's a little sweat on it. Okay. Salt? You know what? I've never tasted anything before, so I'm just going to imagine what it tastes like. It's a little bit nutty.

And it's got sort of a smooth mouthfeel. Okay. And it's salty, but also a little bit sweet, and it's got an umami thing going on. Ooh. I think. I don't know. I don't know what any of those flavors are. But you knew that salty went with umami, right?

I've heard people say those things before. Yeah. Why have I not been feeding you evidence for ages now? Well. I really feel like this is on me. God. How is your knowledge of wine? Oh, I'm an expert.

No, no, I don't know. Dancer used to drink a lot, and so, you know, I could probably fake an order, but I wouldn't know what good wine is. It's what most people do when they order wine, from what I hear. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they just stare at it a while, swish it around, and just say,

Mm, I like this nose. It nailed it. Yeah. Well, the placement of this ring is one great success, and I can begin keeping watch on his movements throughout the city, should they begin to wander to a place of discomfort or unexpected dubiousness.

And what exactly place is that? I do not know. That's why we are tracking to see where he goes. and a piousness. And what exactly place is that? I do not know. That's why we are tracking to see where he goes. Yeah, that's fair. As an individual of his import and his business, he would likely be traveling, for the most part, just between his particular abode, various guild adjacent areas.

But if he begins to walk an individual of his stature to places of darker ambition, lowly, well, or dangerous areas, I'll keep an eye. He was at the party with Lady Emoth Cad, who turned into the Jelly Beast, so. Right.

Jelly Beast. So there's now two of these entities you've come across. Two? Have you had them? Dugger. You weren't with us yet. Oh, I think I've heard you say that name once. It was this dwarf guy who also turned into a sludge. Super mucousy. Yeah.

Same thing. Doesn't sound very dangerous. It was a joke. Do you know someone named Mistress Alana Shashadre? Do you know someone named Mistress Alana Shashadre? I do, yes. She was also talking with Treshi at some point. I don't know if that's... And Gavis. And Gavis, and then she went from Gavis to also talking with Treshi at some point. I don't know if that's...

And Gavis. And Gavis, and then she went from Gavis to go talk to Treshi. They seemed intimidated by her. I feel like she's something important. So maybe we did get some inside scoop. Shashadri comes from the mid-level Maha'anos.

I would not expect someone of their station to be involved in the Quorum, but that may be a good cover as well for anonymity. That's possible two members of the Quorum you've identified. That is useful. And you think that they are in league with Arman? A lot of chatter. It seemed like they were chummy.

Mm-hmm. Well, if we are confirming Arand's position on the Quorum, best to our ability, the events of last night are likely to only bolster his argument for the calls and statement for security here in the Wilds. Even so, I am uncertain as to why he is so heavily invested in the private mercenary corporations.

This, unless he has some deep monetary investment in them, and wishes to see a return on this investment. I looked into his thoughts. While he was dancing with Fearne, he did have a strong connection with the Nightmare King. He said he was getting sick of all these fey creatures. He was very untrustworthy of them. I couldn't imagine why.

Then Paragon's call came to you. Yes, they did. Because you were dressed like the Nightmare King. Yes, they did. Interesting. So perhaps Treshi's gotten a bit deep with deals for a particular interest and is having a hard time untangling it.

Could be. If we find this emoth, maybe we could get more answers. Where do you think this emoth might be? Probably squeegeeing down a sewer right about now. That is disgusting. Yeah. She was calling for Mother. Oh, that's right.

She was calling for what? Mother. Said something about Mother healing her or... She also mentioned working with Dugger as well, right? We dispatched Dugger, right? We did, we did. But she got away. Both came from the tunnels that go to points below.

Both of them had the little shade creepers. Were they both on the same spire or no? The lantern, no, the core spire. We were at the... The ball was the core. The ball was the core and the... Spire. We were at the Core Spire. The ball was the Core. The ball was the Core and the, Duggar's Horn was the Core. And Duggar's Horn was in the Core

because it was right up the street from our house. The first interaction you had with Duggar, if you recall, was in the Lantern Spire. It was in the Lantern Spire. And then he worked in the Smolder Spire. He was seen going to the Smolder Spire to work, yes. So our house is in the Lantern Spire, not the Core Spire?

Your house is in the Core Spire. Yeah, and we fought Dugger in the Core Spire. You did. Right. Okay. But the first time you encountered him when he was in the inn. It was the Lantern Spire. Yes. He was on first, though. Okay.

So there are tunnels in at least two or three spires. Maybe they connect? They've all got tunnels. Oh, yeah. I bet there's something big underneath all of the spires, maybe they connect? They've all got tunnels. Oh yeah. I bet there's something big underneath all of the spires. So a powerful noblewoman has been corrupted by these Shake Creepers. You battled with Lady Emoth and she escaped with the knowledge of what you look like.

Yes. Huh. Mm-hmm. What house is she from? What family is she with? Not terribly up to speed with the Garda home. They are a very miremachran house that has been relatively fresh in the scene here. I believe they migrated away after the Apex War,

once belonged under the Stratos Throne. They come from the fields there, which rows a bunch of cattle, and seal goats, and things as such. But their business here has diverged from that. Those business interests were left behind. I was under the impression that they were looking for an inn to begin to make a mark here.

They themselves have been relatively on the outside, if you will. Did they leave the livestock thing behind on purpose? I do not know. It just strikes me that, what was her name, Shashandre? Amarna Shashandre. She's a livestock Mahonrat. That's what she told me.

So maybe they're connected in some way there? Or competitive. Either way. Well, and then she was there working with Cyrus to rob from all of the families. There was something important, wasn't there? Something important they were trying to take. Did Cyrus say what it was?

Cyrus. Did he say what it was? Did he give you the information? Cyrus might not know the full story. I got talked to mostly rather than talking at people. How was your night? Well, General Ratanish made it very clear that he knows it was us that fucked up everything at the Nightmare King's lab. Us or you?

Us. Oh. I don't think he's going to do anything about it. I don't think he's that interested, but he's certainly working for people who are. Do you think he would tell Treshi? I think Treshi would tell, I think they know, personally.

Yeah, we're kind of in the middle of it. I don't think they know about this, but. This meaning? Yes. Yeah. This arrangement. We have an even lower profile than we were before. Hmm, great. Bestiorebility.

Who knew you could piss off so many people in one evening? Fucking amazing. You do. You do that all the time, great. Best to your ability. Who knew you could piss off so many people in one evening? It's fucking amazing. You do that all the time, yeah. This feels like a record. Well, no, I take that back. This feels like a record at the pure amount of money that somehow we have pissed off. Normally the people I piss off don't have anything. There was a lot of money that exchanged hands, though.

I think a lot of people made money off you last night. That's fair. God, they could hire a lot of people made money off you last night. That's fair. God, they could hire a lot of people to fuck with us. Jesus. Well, if we can keep an eye on Treshi's movements, if we can bring some sort of proof, catch him that handed in some way, and bring this to...

have a few individuals here to have a few individuals here that may have adjacent connections to the Quorum, if are able to oust Treshi as a bad faith member, especially with any sort of evidence. What if he's not a bad faith member? You mean like, what if the rest of the Quorum is going along with his plans as well?

Well then, the Wilds are fucked and we should abandon ship. Oh. I tend to think that there is still, this society is worth fighting for. That's so sweet. It's very sweet. I cannot read if there is sarcasm

dripping from your statement. Sorry, I interrupted. Foolish as my optimism might be, I do know good people who try to guide this town, this valley. The entire Wilde's in a good direction, and many people rely on that goodwill. I think it's worth fighting for.

And I refuse to believe that the good things that do happen in this city would happen should the entire Quorum be as corrupt as Armand. But I could be wrong. It would not be the first time. Certainly wouldn't. Do you know of any entrances into the middle of the spires?

Any way to get in there? Beyond the small passages that you've noticed, them utilized for passage, your best bet would be either mining inward from the base of the spires, looking for mines that might push deeper into the spires. Nermatown, maybe? I don't know. Which one? Nermatown, maybe? I don't know.

Which one? Nirmatown? Quarry, Smolder Spire. It's possible. I think I pronounced that right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Nirmatown. Yes. Okay. Did you get the sense

when you were knocking around in his head that Treshi is feeling in over his? I'm sure making a grab for power, but is he getting more than he bargained for? He seemed uneasy. He didn't like the Nightmare King, for sure. Wish I could remember everything else. You know, it was a little overwhelming at the party. I wish I could remember everything else.

You know, it was a little overwhelming at the party. And you were serving drinks. Yeah. Yeah, you were doing so much. You gather a general sense of carefully guarded anxiety. He was anxious. Well, maybe he got in bed with some people that he is now questioning. Maybe he's the only good guy

and the rest of them are shit. Yeah, that's it. I got one for you. The Ajit Dayal. Is that, are you familiar with that name? I do know Ajit, yes. Ajit. Ajit.

Tell me about Agit. He is of the Dyal Mahon house. He is a philanthropic sort. Oversees the Dyal Hall here in the Core Spire, which is a place of learning. I've not had personal interactions with him, but I know of his work. Cool.

I guess he runs with some crazy types. I might be looking into him more. Does he have a good reputation around Jrusar? Probably too good. Uh-oh. People like him are likely to be targeted by those looking to exploit, but he has a good heart

and seems to keep himself clean from what I know. Are we looking to exploit? No, absolutely not. No, no, no. Why? Come on, Imogen. Imogen. Sorry.

Did you see something in his head? Yeah. Oh. He was there. Oh. Fuck you. So I could probably find him at the Dial Hall at the Core Spire. Correct.

Great, sweet anus, yeah. If the shade creeper threat is growing ever dire, with Lady Emoth turned and involved with Arman in some way, I don't know if she might be enough link of evidence, if presenting, to crack open his very confident veneer. Has there been any progress on that little slimy vial sample that we gave you? You are going to have people look into it.

Indeed. You're trying to get in there. I don't know. Whites the corner, is that it? Uh, no. Thank you. Oh god! Same way you go, Favs. Yeah. Oh. Oh, crap. Oh, god! Same Wiggle vibes.

Yeah. It was indeed confirmed to be an excretion that is utilized by shade creepers and other subterranean abominations as an intent to both facilitate unnatural movement through hard tunnels. Come on!

Fucking hit you all so much. Come on! Yeah, he hit you all. This is perfect! He just gave up on the edge. He just fell. He hit you all so much. Like a time lapse of watching a plant.

Come on! Yeah. Yeah. Just staring at the checkpoints, and just blew past. A powerful plant. I was entirely... I was trying to think of how to undermine you. Thank you for saving me.

I was really, it was rough trying to figure out how to break that. Oh god. Thank you for just taking that off the table. It was studied! Oh no, there's a thread loose on my sweater. I might just, oh, I'm naked now. Helps you to move smoother through tunnels. Not enough alcohol in this cup.

Made me warm. Please continue, Hector. No, that's all I have to say on the cat seat. I am done. So that tunnel, Orym, when you went down the tunnel at Dugger's Place, when you were following after him, it was really deep, right?

It was like... It was, yeah, I tossed FCG's coin, sorry, down it and just kept going for a really long time. It curved to the side eventually. Uh-huh. Like they all do. Yeah. Pants left.

It curved to the side! But you knew the exact amount of feet it was. I remember when that happened, you remembered, you knew. Yes, it was something like 1,000-plus feet. Which is far deeper than the Core Spire is tall. Correct. From where you were at the time, likely. Fearne? Yes?

You're an outdoorsy sort. How's your knowledge of geology? Very, very extensive. Insight check. Right. Because it just occurred to me, these spires. Not a clue. This is an unusual

geological scenario we're standing on right here. Yes. Spires like this don't just spring up after an earthquake or something. They grow probably over millions of years from some sort of source underground. I don't know, out of these forms. Do you know?

Yeah, that's probably, I mean, that seems to be the main way that spires form. That's what I know of it. What sort of source might do that? Just something that gets under there and just some monster and it just A monster? Wiggles and pushes it up. A monster made the spires?

Wait, how many of the spires are there? Five. What is the organization of the spires? They look like this. No. I just assumed, yeah. There's the is the organization of the spires? They look like this. No. I just assumed, yeah. There's the core spire in the center, and then there's four additional ones

in a box pattern. They're a little off-kilter, but. Like the shocker? No, I'm just saying. I'm just trying to figure out. Here's the core spire. And then we've got those, and then the figure out. Here's the core spire. Then we've got those, and then the little ones. There's the lantern spire.

The tendons are very carefully. They seem fine. Oh god. I feel like I know. Is there a center? Could it be a hand going like this? Is that what, or a hand like this? Kind of. Like that?

Sure. Okay. I just always assumed this was just some sort of weird calamity thing that just landed here. That's weird. That is from a lore standpoint. This was, at one point, a singular mountain before it was broken into spires in some-

That's what I was going to say. Broken into spires? Oh, we interrupted Fearne. She was getting there. You must have had a thesis. I was getting there. It used to be one big one. But a monster broke in. That is correct. No. A monster called Illusion.

Yeah. It's just that there's a lot of theories about it, you know, about mountains. There are versions of theories. There are theories? Yeah. What's a popular one? Like, what's the leading theory? Oh, you know, like earthquakes and things,

or, you know, people just build them over time. Build mountains? They just keep adding some dirt and rocks. I don't believe in man-made spire change. No, yeah, I don't either. What do you believe in? Oh no! FCG's the worst! I just think we need to do more research.

We'll do a cold reboot at the next long rest. Full shutdown reboot. We'll reinstall the previous software. It's a flat-exandrier. Yeah. Oh no. Until I see it for myself. I mean, that's a little too far even for me. It's definitely oval.

Well. All right, all right. It sounds like we have to go down some hard tunnels. Or we start at the bottom of a mine or something and see if there are horizontal hard tunnels. As much as I want to do that, though, doesn't that mean staying here and being like, risk being caught, spied?

Well, if we're underground, we're not here, are we? That's true. So, need to figure out a way to get to the Heartmoor Hamlet pretty soon. Same. I mean, not, I don't have to do it soon. There's a time thing? Well, the trail could go cold. Well, what if we do that?

Because that's going outside, out of this place, right? Where everyone wants to find us. People have a short memory. They'll be much less pissed at us in about a week, especially if we're not seen here. Didn't your job have a timeline to it as well? It certainly had some preferences towards expediency, yeah.

Yeah. Well, that's fortuitous. We should just get the fuck out of Dodge for a bit and take care of these other things. Let it simmer. Let it calm. Then maybe we could find an outside entrance or something to the middle of the...

Hmm. I don't know. Yeah, I'm telling you. Yeah. Options, guys. All right. Whoa! Refresh me. Where are our, where is the mission?

Where's the Heartmoor? Over there. We're over here, and this is where we are right now. That didn't help at all. Wow. So we can go here. Ashton, where did you find me? Where were we?

Oh. Kind of over there. Yeah. I was going to say, it was a mine. It wasn't really a place. It's not going to show up on the map. How would we, I guess, how would we get to Heartmoor? I imagine we would hire, buy some horses

or rent a carriage or maybe some of the seal goats. I'm not sure. I'm sure that something could be arranged. Lord Eshteross, can you recommend best means of travel to get there? I mean, there's always on foot, which is the cheapest, but definitely not the most expedient.

There are trade carts that you could perhaps travel alongside for safety in numbers. There are caravans that often make a path and perhaps travel alongside for safety in numbers. There are caravans that often make a path through the jungles here. The Heartmoor itself does see quite a bit of trade. You could purchase horses and make the trek quicker that way. For a heftier price, you could take

flying means of arrival, Simurghs. Those are not expensive. How much would that cost? A lot. A way to avoid trouble. Yeah, but it's a price. Red Simurgh? It's also very loud. Find out what the ceiling is. Well, depending on who you talk to, it could be somewhere in the neighborhood

of about 100 gold pieces per person. Per trip. Per trip. Per trip. But we'd get there in a day? You'd get there in about two to three days with rests all the way. Oh, it's time. Two to three days. And then with taking carts and things like that,

how long would that take? About a week or so? Say probably about five to six days, yes. With a cart? Mm-hmm. Oh man. And are seal goats as fast as horses? A little bit slower. They're more used for their ability

to traverse dangerous terrain. Which we might encounter, right? We might encounter dangerous terrain. It's possible. I would say on a straightaway, the horses would win, but given some of the topography here in the wilds, it might even out in the end. Do you think we'd be all right on our own,

or is it smarter for us to go with the caravan or something? I could not tell you. It can depend. If the caravan itself is a target for dangerous things, then you are part of the target. Traveling on your own, you do not have to worry about the baggage of other people of safety nearby as well.

I mean, Silas was part of a group that attacked a caravan. Great. Maybe the goats are the way to go. Plus, I don't really like new people, Imogen and I. We don't really like people. This is the most new people I've had to deal with in a very long time.

You're all great, but I'm a little tired. Agreed. If we built the caravan, we could just use them as bait. For what? I mean, I'm not. I'd rather, you know. We're bandits. I thought we were throwing out pros and cons here.

Don't squash ideas before you hear them. I'm into it, I'm into it. Unless we think we can make some money along the way, kill two birds with one stone, and maybe escort a caravan. We could kill birds for money? Do you enjoy killing birds? I don't care for birds. You don't care for birds?

Oh, really? That's the only thing I've ever heard of that you don't like. Is there a reason why? Yeah. You don't have to get in the room right now. There is a reason why I'm wearing one of these aids. Sorry, I thought that was a bird first.

Well, you know, bird in the head, rat in the body. You know what I'm saying? I haven't heard that phrase. That's a good one. I'll remember it. Bird in the head, rat in the body? Mm-hmm. Hmm, that's like a metaphor. I've never heard you say that before, ever.

It was pate, I don't know. They've got weird dead animal sayings. Did you get attacked by birds once or something? I did. You did? Did they carry you off? No, they didn't carry me off. Did they pick at you? Their sharp beaks?

No. Their little beady eyes? No, no. They're going to die. Did they roost inside you? No. Okay. No, they're just annoying. Oh. Inside check. Make an inside check.

Get it, get it. Goddamn. 12. 12! It's a robot. The Vaan face. Well, I'm going to reset the various traps that I had taken out of your rooms for the night. Just take care of yourselves, and should you need something, let me know.

Of course. Should we check in with you in regards to Armand at all, or is that on you now? Are we out of the picture? Of course. I will be looking into it, and should something arise, I will let you know. Thank you.

Yeah, let's go find a client and get out of town. All right. Do we need to let your? The client would like to know, and they might actually already have some ideas of how we get there. Got it. Yeah! Goats, baby!

Here's hoping. Goats. I don't know if you've ever ridden a goat before, but. Partial to forces? Just a little? Oh yeah, we've got a horse girl with us. You know, it's fine. Yeah, she might be very helpful. And you can be the leader with the horse,

and then we can all be on goats. I'm also aware that horses are very expensive, and what are we going to do with them when we get where we're going, and what are we going to do with them when we get back from where we're going? I mean, usually when I do these, we just abandon the horses at some point.

Something terrible happens. That's usually what happens. Fearne would tell you that goats evolved into horses, so it's really like going back in time. Did they? Yeah, 6,000 years ago at the start of the world. I have heard that. Yeah. What have you done?

That's what I've heard. I think I've heard that, too. I believe we all came out just like this. There was no such thing as an evolution. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no! No! You didn't!

You! I'm a creationist. Well, of course you are, because you were created. Yeah, yeah. Everything gets created by a creator. But for the most part, that's not true. Anyway. No, that's not true. Anyway. No, I'm literally true.

There's literally a pantheon of gods. There is an active and vocal pantheon. Okay, fair enough. Really, really out of their favor. That's great. These fucking assholes. Prime needies are like, Yeah.

Bah! These fucking assholes. Prime needles are like,. Yeah. Bah! So, Lady Giana. Hexum? Hexum. Let's go to the Hexum house. All right, you're hooking up to Hexum? Yeah, but let's put our hoods up. She's in this fire, right? Oh yeah. Hooks and hoods up.

Oops. Okay. We're trying to disguise ourselves? I putaks and hoods up. Oops, sorry. Yeah. Okay. We're trying to disguise ourselves? I might put on the pants for this. Keep a low profile as we go to this Aspire. A few, too, just to pick. Yep. Everyone roll a stealth check, I guess.

I got my suit on. As you move along. Do we want to be super stealthy or not? Nice. No. I mean, I always do, but. Near the moon tower debacle, that would be smart, but. Oh!

What spire is she in? Dirty 20. Nice. Nine. Of course it's a fire. Eight. Lucien's fire? Oh, she's in Lucien's fire. 12. Okay. 14. 22.

24. Okay, okay. You're well done. 24. That's right. I can see you in the... Roughly two to two and a half minutes after leaving Eshteross' estate, as you begin to head along the streets, hoods up,

trying to weave through the clusters of people that are going about their business through the day in the bright, warm light of the somewhat cloud-appled sky above Jrusar in the Oediven Wilds, a figure saddles up along the right of you. You begin to notice that they're traveling almost, not lockstep, but definitely keeping a continuous flank. You glance over and you see

a tall, brow-furrowed half-orc man. A little lanky, you know, compared to some of the more brawny half-orcs that you've encountered in your more sellsword lifestyles for some of you, with a long, deep green coat. Oh shit. Oh, this guy. You glance to the left and to the other side of you, it looks to be a shorter female gnome, curly hair

and a long, similar matching dark coat. They're just flanking your troop, walking alongside quietly. Eventually, in the initial silence, it breaks as the female gnome goes, Hey, so it's rather a nice day y'all having, right? Nice weather? Sure is. It's a shiny, smiley day today.

Yeah, yeah. Good to meet you. Yeah, you as well. It's a good day, huh? Gus? Walkers. Yeah, yeah, it's a nice day to go for a walk, you know, around the city. Where you walking?

Just strolling about. Yep, just going shopping. Stretching our legs. Oh. You got all eaten out there, just going shopping. Stretching our legs. Oh. You hear that, Olly? They're just out and about, running some errands. How about yourselves? Where are you headed? They look at each other, look back at you,

and Olly goes, You know, we're heading off to this little sitting space here. Why don't you go sit with us? Have a conversation. Have a little talk. Just the two of you? Yeah.

Inside check. Make an inside check. Is Olly the half-orc or the? Olly's the small gnome. Okay. Gus is the larger half-orc. 19. 19.

A whisper? Yes. Oh shit. Oh boy. I've had a whisper for about years. Oh boy. Guys, Quip is just... I had a magical experience offscreen with Quip. We can hear it. I got so clean.

And you should, too. We all saw this couple, this duo, we all saw them at the party, right? Correct. Okay. We know who they are. Yeah, you saw them, some of you saw them the latter half of the evening, and then you all saw them as they were pulling Cyrus out

in shackles, essentially. Okay. I mean, sure, yeah, we should go talk, right? We're not doing anything, so why not? That's wonderful. Glad to hear that. It's always nice to make some new acquaintances, you know, on a nice sunny day like this, isn't that right? Isn't that right, Gus?

Completely agree. Make good friends, new friends. Do a little Detect Thoughts on Gus. It's going to work. Okay. It's just going to be the echo of what he said. Did we pick up that the other name was Olly? Yes. Okay.

So on Gus, the immediate thoughts that you get, just the surface thoughts, are, let's see how clean these folks are, see how dirty they are. A lot of intensely watching body language and expressions. Looking for micro-expressions and trying to read nervousness.

It's a lot of, as opposed to an internal thought process, it's more of definitely giving a very, very stark visual read on everybody. Do you want to delve deeper? They will sense if I fail, right? Yes. They'll know if you don't fail. They'll know if you're diving in deeper. Even if I don't fail, then I won't,

because I want to see how this conversation goes first. Okay. So they lead you off the path physically, and even though Olly's short, there is definitely a presence that is larger than their stature that you can't help but feel. They definitely walk with a confidence

and a strength of personality that befits an individual that's accomplished a lot of things in their life. As they almost corral you off the side of the main walkway to this little roadside, almost like a garden sitting area. There are a couple of benches and you can see there is an older couple that are currently sitting down

next to each other and they're reading through some small book, doing a little couple sitting space, they look up as they approach and Olly quickly goes to them and goes, we're going to have to take this bench space here. Here, get yourself a new book and pocket some coin with them. They think of it and march and they stand up and walk away, a little confused.

As they usher off, Gus and Olly gesture towards the bench. Does it look like there might be anybody else hiding the shadows? Casually checking high and low, everything almost. Perception check from both of you guys. Surroundings check here. All of them are low.

I'm just checking. We're letting this happen right now. 23, yeah. Okay. Still 11 for me, too short. Okay. 23. 23. You gauge the space here, and one,

the people, you catch a couple of individuals have a look of recognition at noticing, you think maybe at first your group. But the greenseekers. But it's the greenseekers. There is, you immediately connect that there is definitely a reputation and people are peering from a distance,

but also trying to not get in the middle of business. You do not see any other aggressive units. You do not see other wardens or wilders at the ready hiding. You do not see any roof snipers with heavy crossbows. Best that you can gather right now, it's just the two of them. That's more of a total lie.

I know, right? Okay. Gus, as she takes care of the couple, ushers you all towards the bench area. All of us sit down. Yeah, it's a very tight bench space. And he goes ahead and glances over his shoulder and you watch, he runs his finger through the air

and marks a sigil. As it does, it leaves this slight trace. As it flashes, there is a faint shimmer that surrounds you like a dome. Oh for fuck's sake. As it does, you hear all the sounds of the city, the birds, the chatter, the hooffalls on stone vanish. Oh, I like it.

And, and all you can hear is what's within this space. Oh. It's like Maxwell's spot. I hate it when it's too silent, you know? Does it take away the whispery sound of thoughts, too? Is everything silent outside of? I would say yes. Ooh. It's a weird bit of calm for you. So does this feel baffled, like a VO booth? Two, is everything silent outside of? I would say yes.

It's a weird bit of calm for you. So does this feel baffled, like a VO booth? Kind of, yeah. That odd still silence. In that moment where you all take it in, that odd crispness is almost oppressive on your eardrums for a moment until somebody shifts and breaks it.

It's almost like a welcome breath of the discomfort. Chet wraps it in. All right, I get that. So. I apologize for the sudden, abrupt, and perhaps unexpected arrival of me and my compatriot. We are interested in your business around the city.

My name is Olly. This is Gus, if you hadn't picked up that. Gus goes, hey. Hello. We're keeping an eye on some happenings going on around here. There's some weird things happening here in Jrusar. Mm-hmm.

Right? Right? Some weird things happened last night. Yes. Recognize some of the faces around here. You were there. You saw some of these weird things. You were very close to some of these weird things. In fact, all of you were two separate groups of people at an event that all

seem to be one group of friends mingling throughout the events of the evening, as well as keeping proximity to Mr. Lord Aeric's Ashtaras. We became friends very quickly. Yeah, stayed over at his place last night. That's pretty close. It was a good night. Yeah, yeah.

He's very spry for his age. It's very true. Gus butts in. What she's trying to get at is, we've been contacted and are hired specifically to figure out what, and pardon me, Marquesian, the fuck is going on around here? Ooh, I speak Marquesian.

Which fucking problem specifically? Because there's a lot of weird shit going on, so you actually would have to be a little fucking specific. I think I said that right. It's Marques's, yeah. Kind of gives you a tense look. Well, let's say there's been some recent incursions in the town

that left some structures. Unfortunately, brought a load of rubble. Some important places. Wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? Somebody mentioned it last night. Who was it? I don't know. Thought I saw the general talking about it at some point.

Do you know about any other crazy shit that's been going on? How long have you been here? Because you're really good at connecting dots, obviously. So, just curious if you've connected any further. With all due respect, we are the investigators. Oh, you're from here, aren't you?

You're here from forever? We are asking questions that we would like some answers on. Oh, you don't here, aren't you? You're here from forever? We are asking questions that we would like some answers on. Oh, you don't like me asking questions? I don't know you from my own asshole right now. Oh! Oh my goodness! So I would prefer... That's actually rude of us. I'm Laudna. Pleasure to meet you.

Charmed. That's Chetney, that's Fresh Cut Grass. Hi. Imogen over there, Fearne, Orym, and of course, Ashton. Hi. You have a motley crew, wouldn't you say? Yeah, yeah. Definitely a strange bunch.

Very egregious, ostentatious, in some ways, one would say. One of those words. I thought it was Gregorius. Gregorius also could be put on that list, yes. Go ahead and write that down. What about Sweet? I wouldn't put that on there. But what I would say is,

if these were individuals working in tougher circles, they're doing a real bad job of keeping a low profile. At least I've seen better. I mean, no offense. I'm just curious, what do you think's going on? Because there's a lot of insane stuff. This is just like. I just asked that. Yeah, I know.

You just got on this thing. I was hoping that maybe we could just find, yeah. There. If you don't mind me, Gus, taking the floor here? No. By all means, go for it. He crosses his arms and leans back. There's been a lot of strange occurrences happening in recent months around here in the O'Deeran Wilds,

specifically Jrusar. There have been all manner of seemingly disconnected, dangerous events. There have been seeming, almost terrorist-like attacks in public spaces. There have been creatures that have been found that should not exist anywhere near the biomes that normally reside within the wild terrorist-like attacks in public spaces. There have been creatures that have been found that should not exist anywhere near the biomes

that normally reside within the wild suddenly showing up in the middle of the city. There have been people going missing. There have been murders. And recently. There's been dancing chairs and tables, too. Yeah, we were talking about the furniture. We've heard those reports as well.

There was a creature that came out of a wall. Yeah, in a brick. Like the wall was trying to eat us out. Have you seen that? There's a tooth. We haven't even been in town that long. Make sure you give it back to me. So you saw this creature.

You had the tooth from the creature that you were saying to this. The wall creature. Yeah. He killed it. How did you come into the possession of this tooth? I took it out of the creature. After you were placing it? What? What it it supposed to be? I'm just asking for the frame of reference here.

It was attacking us, and we had to defend ourselves, so we killed it. That's all right, it was a good fight. Yeah. Oh yeah, this is how we met you. It was a good night. I'm a little new to the group. And Imogen's right.

We haven't been in town more than two, three months. Max, I mean, how long were we here? We were only here for a month before everyone else got here. And then we met these people the day they got off the airship. But it's a strange scenario that in just wandering into each other around here

and happen to be good bystanders that happen to kill some monsters that were responsible for all sorts of chaos that individuals that look kind of like you have been reported by some of the wilders that were present at the destruction of the Moon Tower. That is not, that is a coincidence for sure, but it's not the craziest coincidence

that we've experienced yet. I mean, we ran into each other over living furniture. Yeah. Also, we were on a date, so you can ask. Oh my gosh. Yeah, you can ask Pretty at the... The spin, the spin. The sit and spin, or the sit and spire. The sit and spin.

To corroborate our story. It's really not helping. You see Gus is like, sit and spin. No, it's called the spire. Spire by fire? No, wait, what's the other one? It's the sit and spin. Sit and swell. Sit and swell.

I mean. Pretty number. Gus chuckles. Well, it's now the sit and spin, as, no! I mean. Pretty and the ogre. Gus chuckles. Well, it's now the sit and spin, as far as I'm concerned. We went on a date with Pretty, the cook there, and he broke up with us that night. All three of them. He was sorry.

Fuck. That's a hard knock, I suppose. Isn't that right, Olly? Yeah, you're right, Gus. I think, I don't know. A lot of things here aren't that right, Olly? Yeah, you're right, Gus. I think, I don't know, a lot of things here aren't adding up. Like what? Is there an accusation coming?

Or just conjecture? Let's just say we're piecing some things together. And a few of these places, this common thread here seems to be a group of freaky folks like you. Thank you. Is there maybe another group of freaky folks around town and you're mistaking us for them? I mean, there's a lot of freaky folks around here.

There are some really freaky folks. But the specific colorations of this pattern of which you walk along, displaying yourselves as is very particular. So, and then, of course, you're present with no previous correlation with any of the nobility here of Jrusar at such a high stake event aroundside Lord Eshteross. It just seems like a lot of odd coincidence. I'm just curious, if you've ever been to the Mirror Towers,

if you were at the Moon Tower, if you were responsible for its collapse or know who is, it would behoove you to come forward with this information before it has to be extracted. We are not responsible for the collapse. Then who is? You wouldn't believe us. You don't.

You wouldn't believe. Guys, you wouldn't believe them. No, you really wouldn't believe us. You wouldn't believe us. You wouldn't believe, you guys wouldn't believe him. No, you really wouldn't. What is this thing you put around us? This is a personal interrogation dome. All right, that's fine. This allows us to speak in private. All right. Have you been doing research

and investigating on jelly people. You may have to be a little, do you know what a jelly person is? Oh boy. I don't know what a jelly person is, sorry. I thought you were the investigators. You guys are way behind. You're supposed to know more than we do, right?

You should see our lives. I've been here less than a week. Maybe we need to be working together. What's a jelly person? It's a person that comes out of little caves and then they. Hard tunnels. They excrete slime, and then they turn into ooze,

and then they can squish back into teeny little tunnels, too. They both shoot each other a look immediately and give a nod. And? So you're talking shade creeper shit? Yeah, that. Yes, yes. Yeah, but it's the people, too.

And it's weird. Yes, shade creepers. And it's the shade creepers, they don't have the normal eyes, right? Yes. Oh. What do you know about the shade creeper incursion? That they're everywhere? That there's holes all over this city?

They kept trying to. They keep watering into them. They robbed our kind, sweet landlord. That's how we found them to begin with. Although they did not have the crazy eyes then. And then we ran into a dwarf who was oozy. I think you need to be investigating inside the spires. Yeah, they're escaping through these holes, and then the holes are very small,

but from what we can tell, they go down thousands of feet. Thousands of feet. We can't do that. The whole reason we were at the party last night was trying to find some leads on these slimy fucks. We're amateur sleuths, if anything. We don't have the resources or training that you do. Maybe. But we are good at fat,

and we could help. We're pretty inexpensive, all things considered. I mean, we're trying to build a name here. No, no, no. Don't ever leave without a fight. Very expensive. He's just trying to be nice. I don't need money at all. I thought being cheap was a good thing. Listen, do you want to keep that tooth

and keep it for your investigations, just in case? Fearne, no. It means so much to you. Two of you. I'll give it to you just to save the world. I'll say Fearne and one other of your troop can make a persuasion check right now, if you'd like. Okay.

Maybe I'll help you with that. I can do it. Yeah, you good? You good at it? We'll see. Okay. We'll see. You're good at it. I'm great. I'm pretty good at it.

I'm a five. Yeah, I know, I know. I got a 23. That's great. Wow. Yeah, 20., I know. I got a 23. That's great. Wow. Yeah, 20. Ooh! Ooh! Wow, fuck.

It's all going to go downhill real soon. You know, all under this tooth for now, you can see there's a unique furrow to her brow. Previously, it was very much, you can see a well-practiced, well-rehearsed kind of wall of intensity to deflect any sort of read.

Now there's definitely a look of trying to reassess things. I'm going to keep your name on this tooth. Look. Shut down. Let's come clean. You've been apparently involved enough with some of the creatures around here and know enough about the shade creeper incursion

to have been following a similar path that me and my partner have been. And I get the sense that you're not telling the complete truth about the Moon Tower. Were you present? I was there. We definitely walked by. But I wasn't responsible for leveling it.

I was going after a friend. Who's responsible for leveling it? Not us. I have a name, but it sounds like a given name. I can give it to you, but it's more of a creature, really. Before you say it, you found the secret room?

Did you find anything? They both look at each other again with a smile. See, now we can talk. Now we're actually getting some trust here. We're building parts of the narrative. Yes, we have strong belief there has been foul play involved with the destruction of the Moon Tower. We have been able to uncover bits of a subterranean layer

beneath the offices there at the base floor, as well as dubious mechanisms that were destroyed and buried within. We intend to peer further into this, but we're rebuked by the wardens, and my instinct is that there calls a cover-up involved somewhere. Oh wow. They're smarter than they look.

Holy shit. Wait, who are you guys? Who hired you? Who are you working for? Maybe we'll tell you, if we can build a little more trust. Oh boy. Yeah, maybe. I mean, the thing is, if what we have to tell you involves the people that hired you, you could see how that could be a little precarious for us.

Yeah, but also understand, we don't do this for the money. We do it because it's the right thing to do. If we find out whoever's paying us is responsible for this, we don't take the money. We take them to jail. Really? No, I always prefer working with people who are in it for the money. We take them to jail. Really? No, I always prefer working with people

who are in it for the money. Then you know what they want. The right thing to do can mean fucking anything. Tell me I'm wrong. I agree with Ashton. How much poking around have you been doing with people who work in that tower? A bit.

Asking questions, keeping eyes at a distance. A lot of rumors about haunted grounds. Well. That's just superstition. I would ignore that. That's not a real thing. Looking for reason. What do you think that room was being used for?

Let's see. We're having a growing series of outside unnatural threats within the city proper. And, Lince Vergascus goes, and around this time, there's a sudden rise in interest about our outside militant force being presented before the quorum. And I don't know, it seems like there's some

underhanded political stuff going on here. A lot of money being passed behind closed doors and a lot of places being destroyed on the grounds of these same rich folk that seem to be taken care of, which is strange when our job is to investigate what happened there and we're not told we can. Well, as I'm sure you have noticed last night,

we do not really have a relationship with the upper echelon of the political structure. So we're not working with the fucking politicians. But you are working with Eryk Zesteras. We don't discuss clients. Hmm. That's weird. He replies that he's a client.

That's coming out of the front. Yeah, I mean, it's true, yeah, sure, yeah. It's just the standard answer. As you said so yourself in your head, probably. We're a bunch of bumble fucks. Honestly, if you think about it, our greatest worth in a situation like this would probably be to be experimented on,

I imagine, if someone were inclined. What do you mean by that? Break that down. I'm not offering anything. I'm just making a point that you found a weird room full of technology and weird shit's been going on and, I don't know, something doesn't add up and suddenly there's these outside forces keeping you

from getting involved. Saw you having dinner with one of the call folk, a general. I saw you having dinner with one of the call folk, a general. That asshole. Got a friend of yours? Fuck no. The general. We had never met until, apparently, the outfit I was wearing offended him.

Seems I had a creepy mask that reminded him of something or someone he, well, it reminded him of something or someone that probably nobody should know about. I wouldn't trust that one. If I might be so bold. Please. What are you after? What are you doing?

What's your goal? Not asking specifically for why you're working for Mr. Eshteross. Which indeed is an assumption. Yes, it's an assumption, I admit. But you know, a lot of signs point that direction. It just helps to know why.

Olly, is it? Olly, yeah. Well, I mean, gosh, Olly. We're just trying to do the right thing. He says that like that, but it's kind of true, all right? I know Ashton makes a big play about only working for money, but I mean. Am I wrong? I'm not wrong.

I don't know. It depends on the case. It's not always about money. Sometimes it's all about passion. Anonymous client seems like a good soul, Anonymous client seems like a good soul, you know, and trying to do the right thing as well. And I don't know, it just rang true.

In all this business with the shade creepers all over town, there's something really weird and wrong happening in this city. We're not the only ones trying to do the right thing. Also, we have a bit of a vested interest. One of our friends was killed, and we would like to get to the bottom of who did it

and how and why, and hopefully bring him vengeance. By one of the creepy shade creeper fucks. Yeah. So we're here to raise hell in the name of Bell. That's how it started, yeah. Bell's Hell. Bell's Hell. I'd like you all to make a group persuasion check.

To see if the name sticks? Yeah. Are we persuading ourselves? Yeah. Oh shit, ooh! 17. 17. Rolled a natural 19 for a 22.

Great. I also rolled a 22. Ah! I rolled a 22! Ah! Oh no. VGP was in it. 22's the new nine.

Natural one. Oh. 11. Nine, which for me is, oh no, I'm sorry, seven. Also very good for me. Great. I have negatives. Did we balance it? Did we balance it? I don't think we did.

Three 22s, a one, an 11, and a seven. One usually counts for two fails. Shut your mouth. Oh no. That's a pretty EKG spread there. I don't even know what we were trying to persuade. Was it just that our name is cool? No, that we're trying to.

It's that our name is cool, that's all we were trying to persuade. If we can get at least that. We'll slump out. It's good. You can see Gus look a little flustered and steps away for a second and walks in a circle

as Olly takes the center space. Just give him a moment. He's working through something and gets like this. Just. Okay. You see him like. Take out a piece of wood and start working. This is where they decide whether or not

they trust us or not, and if they don't, they decide everything we said is bullshit. If they do, they still want our help. If we give them a piece of information or something. All right, that's what they want. All right. All right. You want these shade creeper fucks? Yeah.

Good Marquesian. Figured out. Taken down. We may be able to align ourselves in that space. If we can give help to each other, prove trustworthy, prove that maybe a lot of these things that have been discussed today themselves

keep us in alignment. Are we going to be honorary grain seekers? Maybe a lot of these things that have been discussed today themselves keep us in alignment. Are we going to be honorary grain seekers? I did not say anything like that. That is not at all true. Olly, I did not. Do we have a little emblem or something? No, there isn't. There was not an Olly badge.

Or a little toy badge that you give to children. I'd like a cloak. Manufacture badges for us. Oh my goodness! CPOP manufacturing, Druza! You do this every fucking time. He's like, no, seriously, I did not say anything about any honorary membership.

So you're saying there's a chance. I can tailor textures, imagery, anything that's personal to you, I can make it happen. How many people are in the green sleeves? The green seekers, just you two? Green sleeves? Just the two of us. It's always been just the two of us.

It's really just the two of you? Nottie's like, and the kids you made honorary members of. It's like, shut up, that was... No, we're not honorary members! No! This is... A sticker. Do you at least have a sheet of stickers?

Stop it, stop it, stop it. Nobody can hear if this bubble's impenetrable. Just the two of us, but we make friends, we have alliances, we have aligned goals and interests. Olly, fucking back me up! Yes, what Garcia's trying to say while he's flustered and turning adorably red is that we're very good at the work we do,

and the reason we're good with it is because we know who we can work with and who we need to put behind bars. I like to think we can trust you. You got faces that say, I don't know. Run? In particular. You haven't been crushed by the cynical realities

of the world yet. Oh, well, no, thank you. You're reading us all wrong the cynical realities of the world yet. Oh, well, no, you're reading us all wrong. Yeah, I agree with that. We've just all moved past it. We came full circle twice. No, you're right. Interesting. Comedy. These folk have hope in their hearts.

I know it. That's what they're holding onto. Patches. Little patches. Allie looks over at the guys and goes, We can talk about it. I fucking love patches. If this works out okay.

But look, we've just had a conversation. They don't just give out fucking patches to anybody. Then you see the shimmering dome vanishes behind us. Like, shit, I got riled and lost my concentration. Guys, I think we're deputy seekers. No, not yet or ever. Yet. Yet. Fuck.

You see Olly gives him a little punch. He's like, are you doing it again, you assholes? It's okay, you really are making the right choice. You really are making the right choice. Where would you like us to go? What would you want us to do? What should we do? Well, we need something.

Something to pr- Chetney, step out from behind the bench. When you aggressively whittle wood like that behind the bench, it looks like something else. Yeah. It reminds me of when Charlie was behind the bench. Okay, I'm just making sure. I was a little confused.

The G and the S work perfect in this arrangement. Our children present, I just had to make sure. So. What'd you do over there, Chet? The most viable leads that we've had in a lot of these threads we've been following are you. Oh. Shit. So we need to find, if indeed you are telling the truth, something bigger.

Something that takes you out of this equation and something that we can present to show that there's something bigger. Right now, it looks like our common thread are these shade creepers and whatever the hell's going on there. Mm-hmm. Olly, what do you feel?

Should we give them some names? Oh yeah, I'm going to. Give them a name. Lady Emoth Cad last night at the party. Olly leans back. Yeah, I was eyeing that. Something about her just wasn't sitting right with me. Well, she turned into a jelly. Okay, so the jelly people are these people

you're talking about. Okay, so the Turin folk got it. All right, all right. They look normal. That's the thing. They look normal and then they. That's not a normal shade creeper thing. We've done a shit ton of research on their ecology. This is something different.

This isn't a known, they're usually scavengers. She sprouted one. They can sprout shade creepers out of their bodies. That's disgusting. It is. Oh, gosh. And she can crawl on the ceiling. And she got away last night. All of us, we couldn't even stop her.

Yeah, if you are a reputable investigative service, maybe you could help us with access. And access within the Spires. And maybe we could take some of the risks that you might not be able to. That's right. You said you already investigated a place that was in the interior of the spire. Did I hear you correctly?

Well, so yeah, Olly goes, I've been, it's hard to describe. I have a sense for things. And there's something, there's a gathering of these things, deep. Like a, what do you mean like a sense? I've been wandering the wilds a long time. I've been, I just have a sense for things.

Mm, I got it. Certain creatures, certain types. All right. So I know, I think what we're looking for is down. I'm just trying to think of places to go. We were talking about maybe hitting up, either going to the base of the Core Spire, but there's not much in the way of entrances there.

There's a lot of mines in the Smolder Spire, and I think our boy Gus here has an in there, and Gus is like, No, don't make me do that. We can find other ways. Oh, is somebody into you, Gus? Uh-huh. Not for a long time.

But the Underush Mines is the southmost in one of the larger mining operations in this Molder Spire. Undorush? Undorush. Okay. Undorush. Under, under.

That would have been my second thought. Are you going to tell us who you're working for or is that you don't trust us yet? Let's walk a while. Okay. But of all the minds that we know down there, that's one of the few that are the deepest level of one of the spires here that we have a sort of connection with.

Are we going to do that right now? Are we going to do that? What? Well, I guess you have some else better to do. Oh no, I'm just wondering if we're possibly going to go fight a giant horde of little creepy creepers. I mean, we're not going to. Okay.

Orym? Well, you caught us literally on our way to take a little excursion out for a week and then back. Oh, so you're just going to skip town after all this? Yeah. Not like that. We said we were coming back. Waiting for the heat to go down.

A lot of bad people. Heartmoor Hamlet. About a week out. Yeah, we have investigations of our own to do. We wanted to go there before the shit hit the fan last night. So it was just, you know. Well, however, if we, there's no, I mean, is there an urgency

to get to the Heartmoor? To do what? Like, we could do a quick look-safe? You want some trust gained? Let's go to your Heartmoor. Tell you what. We could do a quick look-see. You want some trust gained? Let's go to your mine. Yeah. What do you think, Olly? In spite of my better judgment, I like him. If it goes well, you can put in for some PTO

and join us in the Heartmoor Handlet, I'm just saying. Oh yeah. No, you don't have to go far. We just need something. All right. Something we can bring back. Something that could act as evidence. If this Lady Emoth, you say, is somewhere possibly down there, if we can bring her back, preferably alive.

If not, whatever we can take. If we can show this alteration in physiology that can definitely go a long way as to finding the route, especially since she's been networking. Oh, physiology. There isn't much of it left after we defeat them. They kind of combust. Yeah, they turn into flame.

And then ooze. That's a problem. Mm-hmm. So if you kill them, you can get out. Then capture them alive, maybe. Also to study, makes it tough. That would be the intent, then. Capture everything alive?

If we can. Well, if we just need one, why do we need to go down to the center of the mine for that? That's where he knows where they are. Yeah. They've also been coming from the front. They want Lady Emoth specifically. That's the thing.

Shade Creepers, they're not going to care. If we have a member of one of the Lesser Mahon houses with this physiology, that cracks this shit wide open. Where are we going to put it when we capture it? Well, we're very well learned in the art of capturing and dragging dangerous things back to those who are wanting to be with us. So you'll be in there with us?

That would be the intent, yeah. Great, great, great, great. I feel better about it already. We can get to know each other on the job. Yeah. All right, all right. How long have y'all been together? We've been working together for,

what's it now, like almost 20 years? Yeah, give or take. Stop keeping count. We've been doing this for a long time. It's like scratches. You get steps forward a little bit in the daylight and you can see the gray scruff that encompasses most of his half-orc chin.

He's got a rugged handsomeness to him. Almost like a noir detective that's been between gigs and drinking a little too much on the side. Oh my god. You don't get it. Yeah. How about you guys? How long you been together?

You said you just fell into each other's laps recently? Less than a week for me. Yeah. A little under two. Some of us have known each other longer, but the whole group, yeah. Oh, fresh faces. Look at that.

Well, let's hope these binds hold, huh? Shit gets weird. That's when you really get to see the true essence of a person. True. All right. Well, you coming?

Mm-hmm. Of course. Fuck it. Lead the way. Do we need to distance ourself from you? Is it okay to be seen with us? Anything? I think it's probably safer to be seen with us. Oh.

They both shift over to perform that same flanking position to each side of you. But keep your hoods up. I have ears on my... Kigurum. Get it out of my mouth. Oh, Kigurum. Yeah. Yeah, I just love the idea of those little wooden feet.

Yeah, you have had your daily path abruptly absconded by these investigators. They were staking us out. Yeah, they were. absconded by these investigators as they. They were staking us out. Yeah. Yeah, they were. Thankfully, they didn't seem to catch up early enough to have caught Dorian and Cyrus, it would seem. That's good. But definitely enough to wait

till your exit of the Eshteross Manor. Quietly, they guide you along the outer roads of the Core Spire to the familiar gondola that leads its way to the Smolder Spire. Pay the entry fee for the rest of you. Ooh! Of course. You can be bought for two silver, apparently.

There are some folks who are looking to get on as well, but you watch as Gus goes, Sorry, this is Quorum business, and keeps people out, so it's just your group getting onto the gondola as it closes and then begins to settle down a bit. So you have authority in all of Marquet,

or is it just Jusar? Wouldn't say it's authority, per se, but we've earned a bit of respect around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have friends in high places, people we've done favors for, previous clients. You do your job well enough, people get out of your way. You're like the best detective agency around.

Definitely one of the better ones this side of Marquet, yeah. So not the best detective agency. It would seem a little arrogant for someone to proclaim that. It would be. Sure. People prefer to let our work speak for itself. Anybody who just goes around telling people that,

I can guarantee you, probably not the best. Cool, cool. Yeah. How's the Paragon been for business? Paragon? No, we don't work with them. Best to keep it that way, I would recommend. Oh yeah, no, they're a bunch of shits. I am caffeinating and chilling at the same time. I feel you. Yes, Sam.

No. I keep looking over and I feel like I feel you. Yes, Sam. No. I keep looking over and I feel like I'm seeing the Terminator sink. Yeah. Dun, dun, dun. One side of the table will make you grow larger. We probably spent a collective couple years in and out of the Hellcatch Valley

doing all sorts of real rough business in those spaces. We've seen some shit there. We've had more than a couple of path crossings with the Paragons called. I mean, the real Paragons called, not all this gussied up bullshit. I was starting to suspect. Okay.

I'd like to think they're turning a leaf, but let's be real. They're not. They just found it's more profitable to climb your way at the political ladder. At least. A lot of people do. Yeah. I got quite some talking to, let me tell you.

Apparently. It looks like most of the swelling's gone down, so good for you. Oh. Comes to rest at the base of the spire. It opens up. You settle out, and here at the base of this Mulder Spire, the familiar, gentle,

almost faint snow of ash greets you as you step out into the late morning air. You can see all manner of carts pushing by, the squeak of their unkept wheels grinding metal on metal. You can see other cables are currently lifting small elevator lifts to higher up portions of the Smolder Spire, where looks where heavy ingots and large crates of materials where heavy ingots and large crates of materials

are being passed from stage to stage to stage, about further and further, some being lowered down. You begin to pass by the space where Gurja's temporary neighborhood, Dhammasau, was, but continue to curve further and further south until eventually, the road comes to an end. In almost like a cul-de-sac industrial district,

you can see all manner of just gray and ash and soot-stained warehouses and structures, storage facilities. There are a number of mechanical, outdoor tinkering lots where various contraptions used by the mining operations come for repairs or abandonment. Many of them, you can see, are being pulled apart

and pieces being used for the construction of other devices. There is a very bustling industry here to help facilitate the mining operations that permeate a number of the spires, but primarily the Smolder Spire here. Glancing up now, when you're this low, this is probably the lowest in the spire you've been. The base of the Smolder Spire is pretty low in comparison to some of the others.

It's only maybe 150 feet off of the base of the jungle. And you're not close enough to the edge of the road to look down, but you can definitely feel the presence of the jungle much closer from where you stand. And glancing up to see its height, as the rocks spiral and push upward, you can see the dozens of smokestacks that emerge from the rock,

just leaving these ash and gray, and in some cases, black plumes that just gather and mix with the other clouds that have been gathering in the sky, giving this odd array of different shades above you. They lead you to what you see a sign to read the Underrush Mining Operation Facility. Here, you can see the entrance.

It's heavily gated with two iron lattice-heavy doors that bar two large entrances that are about 30 feet from each other. The sign over one is visible, the other looks like it would be visible, it hasn't been cleaned in a while. There is one third open entryway between the two that looks like a garage almost,

where there's all manner of clustered mine carts and heavy, load-bearing industrial carts that are stacked next to boxes and tools and things that are jammed in here when not in use. There's about a dozen or so workers that are in the process of doing repairs, loading up elements. You can see there are a few Beast of Burdenston

sil goats themselves that are pretty beefy-looking sil goats. You can see they've been built up from a lifetime of pulling very, very heavy materials. Kind of sit at a side and just getting settled in their space for the day. That sounded so beefy. Yeah, it was beefy. I think I heard that.

Those goats are pretty yoked. Yeah. They're like pretty yoked. Yeah. They're like those yoked kangaroos. Exactly. Oh my god. You got to get some of those yoked goats. Get out of town. Riding out on a yoked goat. You can see there's a few private guards

that roam near the entrances. Y'all going to stop here for a second, and Holly leans up to Gus a little bit and goes, You ready to pull some strings, buddy? Mm-hmm. I guess there's no time like the prison. Wait here a second. Do you want a little extra boost of anything?

Like a little pep talk or a little guidance on this, whatever you're about to do? Sure. All right, I'll just touch him and give him a little guidance. You've got this. I know, I believe in you. All right, yeah, thank you, thank you.

He looks over at all, with a weird look. He looks back weird. They're really helpful. Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, thanks, nice little one. Walks up, pushes past one of the gates and approaches, and you see one of the guards goes, Um, pardon me, what is, oh.

Welcome. What can we do for the Green Seekers? Me and my associates over here, we're on a bit of a business excursion, looking into an investigation. If I could please speak with Ogdis Freeze, if you don't mind with Ogdis Freeze, if you don't mind.

Ogdis Freeze. Sounds like a Batman villain. All right, I'll go and retrieve them. Hold on just a second. God goes inside. A short time later, you see at the doorway leaning a built half-elf man, tanned, bald, with a goatee.

Not dressed like any of the other miners. He's dressed a little nicer. He doesn't have a lot of gross-hood or anything that shows that he's working physically in the mines. You have a little more of a station within, since they're leaning against things. Love my eyes, do deceive me.

Gus. It's been some time. Oh boy. Yeah. Yes. You good? Yeah. Shit. Yeah, I'm fine.

You? Yeah, I'm all right. Looks back on us like, can I ask you a favor? You're asking me a favor. Okay, okay. I think this is dead and kind then, right? Because if I need a favor, then, you know.

Look, can we just talk inside? Yeah, yeah, sure. Everyone, come inside. Friends of Gus or friends of mine, sure. Step on in. Okay. Folks. He sighs deeply and walks inside.

Gus turns noticeably almost a foot shorter just in his stature. What? Is this an ex, Gus? So maybe. That's an ex? We don't know yet, we don't know. Gus, remember, I need that attention. Hats off to Matt for doing both sides of this.

Yeah. Awkward conversation. Bird in the head, rat in the body, right? Confidence. Is that a euphemism? Confidence. The phrase. Okay. Do you want to know what he's thinking?

I know what he's thinking. Then Gus walks into the doorway. Olly follows behind, giving a quick hand motion. As you all follow suit, entering the entranceway here into the Underrush Mines. FCG. Yes? I might have steered you wrong there.

I remembered the phrase. I got it wrong. What's the real phrase? I'm a bird in the beak, but a rat in the sheets. That's a way better phrase. It is. I'm sorry, Ace. I'll keep that one in mind for next time. All right. But I like how you delivered it with confidence.

Sure. It's my favorite part. I don't know. I don't know, Ace. As the two of you close up the tail end of this entering into the mine, so we're going to go take a break. Yay! We're working with the greenseekers! With the charming, awkward miner has to say

we're just totally, totally getting pulled into a trap. Oh, no. No. This is great. Nothing bad will happen to you. Of course not. We're detectives. I don't think Gus is getting pulled into a trap. We're going to do the Indiana Jones mine cart ride. Oh, no. No. This is great. Nothing bad ever happens. Of course not. Green Seekers. Nothing bad ever happens. I don't think Gus is getting pulled into a truck.

We're going to do the Indiana Jones mine cart ride. It's going to be great. It should be fun. It should be fun. But which one loved him and left him? You know what I mean? Oh shit. It feels like Gus Semon really loves him. It does.

Because that's why he was embarrassed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you're a bad guy. We'll find out shortly. We'll find out. Maybe we can get the bed together. A lot of breakups on tonight's show. No, no, no. Maybe we don't want to be.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We interrupt this Critical Role Podcast Network broadcast to bring you news of dangerous treasures that lie sealed within the Critical Role shops. Only the heartiest of adventurers should dare seek them out. In all seriousness, though, I'm Matthew Mercer, and we've made some very cool things that we really like and hope you will, too. If you'd like to support the show,

please consider visiting any of our Critical Role online shops through the Shop tab at critrole.com and see if anything catches your eye. Okay, back to the show. And welcome back. So, whereas we had previously left off, you are all stepping into the Underrush Mines, behind the Green Seekers. Christ knows.

Stepping out of the daylight into the darker interior, the immediate smell of that subterranean, earthy, musky scent reaches your nose. I'm very familiar with this smell. Does it match Lady Emoth Cad's scent? No, not quite that one. Oh, not that way, okay. This is just the smell of a mineral mine at work.

Hints of an iron twinge to it. You can eventually, for the most part, pick up smells of wet earth, rock, and honestly, whiffs of sweat, as you can see, some hardworking individuals are in the process of carrying heavy minerals and materials that have been mined from below and bringing them over to numerous transport carts.

You walk through a number of small corridors. There is a central space in the middle where it looks like it divides into multiple different mining operations. You can see there are different numbers designated to each. Ogda's, you can see, walking with Gus in tow into an office off to the side. And as you all continue to follow within the chamber, you can see

what looks to be a modest office. Most of the furniture in here carries that same weird layer of soot that seems to coat the majority of outdoor elements, though. Maybe a bit lighter on the inside of the mines here, but it's still faintly there. There are four chairs available.

Not everybody can sit, but you watch as Olly goes and takes one and wherever her hands grab the edge, you can see the streaks across it where this chair probably hasn't been used in a while, and that layer gets dragged clean. I just tap one of the chairs to see if it comes to life. The dust settles a bit further,

but it does not come to life. Though I do appreciate that I've instilled you a deep fear of furniture. Never trust a chair. It's just a deep sleeper. See Ogdysk walks around the front of the desk. furniture. Never trust a chair. It's just a deep sleeper. You see Ogdysk walks around to the front of the desk, just puts a arms akimbo-type pose on it.

All right, so, friends of Gus, what can I do for you, Gus? Gus just stands there. Well, we have an investigation. I wanted to ask you some questions and see if you could give us operational access to some of the deeper-set mines here. Oh, okay. operational access to some of the deeper set mines here. Oh.

Okay. What questions are you looking to ask, Gus? Jesus. Is there anything odd, anything weird, or unnatural going on amongst the general mining operations. I cast Attack Thoughts on August. Yeah. Okay. Don't do that, Liam.

You have no spell slots, I tell you. Yes, you fill them all. Fucking Nick. All right. The surface thoughts that you get are very much in the realm of enjoying holding the power. Definitely looking to hang someone out to dry a bit.

Definitely a bit of comeuppance that is being relished. Do you want to push further? No, no, I'll just linger on the thoughts as Gus asks the questions. Okay. Well, Gus. Yeah, there've been some weird things going on. Yeah, I mean, the whole Crownset Cave system

has been shut down for months. Do you want to know why, Gus? I would like to know why. Do you want to know why, Gus? I do. Let me talk. Let me talk. What do you need from us to help us? What do you need from us to help us?

Well, one, I need an apology. You can see from sitting behind, Gus's fist just balls up and shakes a little bit before relaxing. Anything else? Yeah. Yeah, actually.

I'd like some of my furniture back. I'd like some of my furniture back. Oh shit. Gus goes, I don't got it. I don't live here. Then you can afford to pay me what you owe me for the furniture that you can't provide. This was a bad idea.

We should go, we should go. He turns around. Ognas says, See, every time, as soon as there's any sort of moment of conflict, there's no resolution, you just run. You just leave, it's great. Did you both live together? Gus stops.

Yeah, what did he not tell you? Well, we just kind of met. Oh. You make friends a lot quicker these days, aren't you, Gus? Wow. It feels really uncomfortable in here. I hope it lasts.

Good, good. I'm glad we all feel nice and comfortable in here. Well, you had nothing but good things to say about you. Very helpful, I think it was. Yeah. Make a deception check. No. Check. Chet.

Natural 20. Ooh! 23. Okay. Relationship counselor Chetney. FCG, step it up. Yeah. Wait, seriously? Uh-huh, yeah.

Vess turns around. Yeah. you know. Yeah, sure, things didn't work out, but like, you're still a decent person. Don't regret anything, you know? In the long run, we're coming to you for help, hat in hand. You know how hard that is for me, you know this.

We need help. People are in danger. Some bad shit's going down. We're here to help. How about you? What's he thinking? You get the sense he's thinking back a bit. You get the sense he's thinking back a bit.

And part of his brain's going like, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is a shakedown. What is it? What the fuck's going on here? Kind of leans in a bit. Look. The Crownset Mines have been closed. We don't know why.

There's no threats of collapse, no movement of creatures or any threats that we know of. There were no reports situated, just a redistribution or any threats that we know of. There were no reports situated, just a redistribution of the hands that were working the mines. The foreman of the mines has just kept to his own paperwork in his office.

So that's about the weirdest thing that's happened. But we don't ask questions. I don't even handle that side of the mines. But you said there was a redistribution of hands? Yeah, everyone that worked in the mines, for the most part, was situated to other operations. I moved from here. Yeah, and then the crown set's just kept closed.

What side of the mine is it that you don't mess with? What's it called? It's called the Crownset Cavern. There's a lot of the... Crownset Cave System. Yep. That's part of this mine system? Yes.

Okay, the Crownset Cavern and the Crownset Cave System. Yeah. That's part of this mind system? Yes. Okay. Crownset Cavern and the Crownset Peer System. Okay. Gus and Ogdis, I don't know you at all, but it just feels like in these sorts of situations, it's nice if you just, it breaks the tension if you just say one good thing that happened in your prior relationship,

just to one thing that you liked about the other person. Did you bring a therapist? We haven't talked in two years and you come here asking for help and you bring a fucking therapist, Gus? Are you? Gus, Gus, are you hearing what O Ogdis is trying to say to you right now?

I can sense there's some leftover resentment and unresolved hostility, yeah. Right, Ogdis? Yeah, no, I'd say he's right. I'd say you think he's right on the money. He picked up on your intent and on your emotional distress, and he's accepted that.

He might have some things that he wants to say to you as well, I don't know. Would you be able to hear what he has to say? He's not much of a speaker, are you, Gus? Gus just stands there, looking at him, looks at you. It's okay. This is a safe space. This is so great.

I feel like I'm watching reality TV. It's like couples therapy. So good. Yes, yes. It's magically fascinating watching Matt drag himself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Everyone, please, let's honor their relationship here. Look at his face. I don't know, what do I even say? Whatever's on your mind. It doesn't have to be anything big or small. Just whatever you're feeling right now, if you say it out loud, it'll feel good just to say it. Make a persuasion check.

Oh boy. Okay, okay, 15. 15. Look, my work, our work takes us all over to weird, dangerous places. I appreciate the time that we had together, genuinely, but we knew it wasn't going to be anything long-term. Right? You know?

You can speak for yourself, but I wouldn't say things like we knew. Maybe I knew, but I wouldn't speak for you. I was very clear that I had places to be and the work takes me there. Do you feel like he was very clear? I mean, look, it...

He's rolling, is he? I liked you. Hey. And it just really bothered me that it was so easy to drop everything and walk away. And Gus was like, Look, I understand that. Look, it's...

Always best to start with, I feel, or I believe, or I would have preferred. Don't say things like, you never, you know. I feel... How do I feel? I feel guilty for disrespecting the level of expectation

that you had placed upon our relationship. Oh, that's really bad. Ognas leans back. Huh. Well, I feel, to take a hint from this circumstance here, I feel that I would like to know how guilty that is,

how much of that you felt, and continuously. That's what I feel. How long were you all together? Yep. I guess I lost. Yeah. How long were you all together? Yeah. I guess I love it. Yeah. How long were you all together? Gus is like, don't. That's not a good question.

We were together for- Now what do we want to know? Oh no, I really want to know. I can probably just listen to his thoughts and get that answer if we can. We can choose what side we're on. I was wondering the same thing. I'm very invested in your relationship already.

It was a very, very intense 10 and a half months. That's more than enough time. Fjord is slushing. He can't even look. He's just puffing out his cheeks going, tracing lines in the ground with a sword. So yeah, enough time to make an investment. Yeah. Well, that's wonderful,

I mean, that you were together so long. I mean, that's meaningful. I know it didn't last, but that's, you know, you have those times to look back on fondly, and that's not nothing. Do you still have feelings for each other? What, this asshole? Fuck no. He's a lesson.

Insight check. Make an insight check. Yes! Best use of insight check ever. Do I get advantage because I can also read his thoughts right now? Honestly, yeah. Go for it. Come on, come on, come on.

Okay, okay, okay. No, that was a shitty it. Come on, come on, come on. Okay, okay, okay. No, that was a shitty one. 14. It's not terrible. 14's not too bad. It's fine. Yeah, there's probably a little lingering there, but it's hard to necessarily fully get over somebody that burned you, necessarily. Augusta's just sinking deeper into his shoulders.

What's Olly doing during all this? Olly's enjoying the fuck out of this. She's keeping quiet and just watching this with a big grin and looking back and forth. Like, you know, you can almost see the popcorn in her eyes. She's like, Oh, I think I just descended to heaven. Sorry, carry on.

We're having a moment, carry on. Okay. I'm sorry. I am. I can't say I'm proud of it, but we're different people now than we were then, and I'm sorry. That's really positive.

Ogdis, do you have anything that you want to apologize for? No, that was perfect. That was fucking great. Oh, okay. You know what? I actually think our time's up. Oh. Oh.

Wow. Wow. And I don't like to use the breakthrough word, but I think this was a lot of great progress for our first session, and we should talk about this all together another time. On an hourly. Yep. Nah.

But... I'm on an hourly. Yep. Nah. 255,000. But whatever you are, I appreciate you helping come into some sort of an understanding. It's not me that did it. It's you two. What book did you get? I don't know. I'm so curious.

I need to see your answers. Just like did you get? I don't know. I'm so curious. I need to see your answer. Just like, what order? Are either of you in a relationship right now? I mean, it's been two years. Are you both single? No, I'm, well, you understand all about this. Got us a little married to my work. Oh.

Wow. Oh, we should have cut over her head. It's a prickly pear. Is it? Ow! You can feel the heat of anger and embarrassment emanating from Gus. Yes, I can.

Ogdust goes, I'm sorry, I'm still working stuff out on this. I acknowledge this was unexpected. I acknowledge this was unexpected. I have a lot of processing, apparently, I still have to do about this. I don't hate you. I just want you to hurt a little, because it hurt me.

So what can I do to help? Oh, that's excellent. Thank you. We actually were hoping to get access to the mines by any means that you could provide. I'm going to go over and I'm going to slap Gus in the face. I just thought. That's fucking weird. Okay, just to get it out of the way.

Really? Oktis, did that make you feel better? Oh yeah. All the rest of you want to go in, you're welcome to. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Well, it's like they always say, bird on a wire, a rat in a pocket. Still true.

Rat in a pocket? That is, that is it. That is definitely a thing. I've heard that, too. After it's, yes. I can... Oh. I was going to lead you over to where

Chodan's office is. The guy that... Is that foreman Chodan's office is. The guy that's responsible for handling the Crownstead Cavern. But based on that little action there, I'll happily introduce you myself. Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Not that little bit.

So hopefully, and Leen looks over towards Olly and goes, Good to see you, Olly. Yeah, you too. I think we both enjoyed that more than you know. Well, shall we? Yes, please. Let's drink, Gus. All right. Comes around and gives a heavy pat

on the shoulder of Gus, who's still holding his cheek. He's like. I didn't slap you that hard. You slap harder, I think, than you and Leia. Oh, do I? It was a pretty sizable look. I'm really strong. You've got a good hand. I do.

And the molar's floating all over. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. I just felt like the right time. Anyway. So guides you through the open area to where the gate is,

where you can see there are two private guards posted. No wilders in this establishment. They're all privately paid for by the mines themselves as Oggas approaches, goes, As a mutual foreman of the mines here, I have authority to speak with Bruaux, and I would like to, under my name and position, vouch for these investigators and their compatriots.

This is important business on behalf of... What's on behalf of? Of the Chandei Quorum. Please let us in. Oh, yeah. Barrow? Barrow? We don't talk about Barrow.

Mm-hmm. The gate opens. Already stuck in my head. Let him inside. Continue down the hall and around the corner a bit. We don't talk about Bruh. Mm-hmm. The gate opens. Already stuck in my head. Let him inside. Continue down the hall and around the corner a bit. As you turn the corner, Chotan Bruh, that's his name.

Oh. Foreman Chotan Bruh. Chotan. Chotan Bruh. Chotan Bruh. Oh, I spelled that so wrong. Chotan? Chotan. Me too, I put Foreman Snowden. Oh, I was waiting.

I put Showden, so that's what I heard. Okay, okay, okay. Show ten, okay. Show ten. Vroo. Vroo. In this next deeper portion of the mine, you can see there are all manner of tools, pickaxes and shovels, everything.

They've just been arranged and left on the sides, untouched. You can see as you walk along, there is a faint layer of dust that has begun to gather in places. In the earlier footfalls of the troop, you can see it leaves a little pathway as you go. Here outside of the office, you can see there is a door

to which Ognis goes ahead and knocks on it. You hear muffled through it, I'm working, not to see anyone. Go away. Showtime. It's Ognis. What do you want? What do you want with me? Jesus.

He's a jelly person. He's got to be a jelly person. Maybe he is transforming. I am bringing compatriots and investigators that need to talk to you on Quorum Business. Is there a crack under the door? This is like, make a perception check. What time is it? Showtime.

Jesus. Perception? Wow, my perception is shit. 11. 11, okay. You don't see anything. Low light. Low light? Oh, no.

It's not like the lights are out in there. No, it's just not very bright. You can't really make out many shapes from the little gaps beneath there. Just open the door. Lights are out in there. No, not very bright. You can't really make out many shapes from the little gaps beneath there. Just open the door! Oh, fine. It opens up and you can see there is a older,

kind of rotund, sweaty-looking dwarf fellow is an older, rotund, sweaty-looking dwarf fellow who is currently holding a small, like a novelette in one hand. He's wiping his brow. As soon as the door opens, he looks out and sees the rest of you, sees the coat's, oh shit. What's the book?

Don't worry about it. Oh, I'm sorry. What, what, what? I was asking that. The DM, yeah. What's the book? I got caught! You have.

Who are you? Are those boobies? There we go. He's all yours. Thank you. Walks by and then gives a punch to Gus's shoulders. It's good to see you, too. Thanks, Hognes.

That is progress. That's spruce. The dwarf figure steps back. I, look, I... I'll comply with whatever you're asking about. There's no funny business here. You're not in any trouble. No, no.

Well, maybe you are. Well, back it down a bit. Just so you don't know what's going on. Yeah, just give him a second. Tell us everything you know, and we'll be your friend. Bring it down to a bit. You don't know what's going to work, right? Yeah, just give him a second. Tell us everything you know. Down to a six. And we'll be your friend. Bring it down to a six. Make an intimidation check.

I said I'd be his friend. Good cop, dead cop. Natural 20. Natural 20. Oh my god. 26 total. Oh my god. So as you do that, he goes,

and stumbles back, he trips over a stool, falls and hits the ground, and is knocked unconscious. No! No, what did you do? I go over and pick up the book that he was reading. Oh, go ahead! I'll go heal him.

I'll go rummage through his desk. Why don't we just all come in and make ourselves comfortable? Let's just make ourselves comfortable, shut the door, and have a conversation. At this point, you can see both Olly and Getsud get in, close the door behind. This is how y'all normally do it, right?

No, this is not how we usually do this. So we're doing it better? You're doing it messy. Shit. Well, we didn't know he was so clumsy, jeez. He was honestly trying to be nice. Check the rest of the space. Go check around, see if you make sure

we're the only ones in here. So don't cure him yet? No, are there any other rooms? Anybody else in here? Do the basics. What was he reading? Check for slime, check for holes. Holes.

Hole check. Holes and slime. Book check, hole check. Desk check. Secure the room. Okay, so make an investigation check for those who are searching the room. And I want to check his body

and see if he's secreting any slime anywhere. How do you know? You don't know. 24 investigation check. You don't know! 24 investigation check. You don't know. Okay. Investigations not great. 10 total. Okay.

Okay. So looking through this room, this is, just based on the general smell of the space, it seems like he just sits in here all the time. It very much smells of his body odor. There is a very stationary figure, it seems, and has probably been in this room or continuously traveling to and staying in this room

for his work days for quite a while. There's that stagnant person smell that just sits in the interior. There are a couple of small oil lanterns that are hung from each side that are marked very low. They're probably burning pretty low. They probably need to be oil replaced soon.

Other than that, it's fairly bare. There's a small table, not even really a desk. It looks like it acts as just a few small storage drawers. There are two chairs in the chamber. You can see there's some tools that are off to the side. There is a small barrel filled with torches and fuel. The book that you find at his side,

it's just a not very well-written fiction piece about people in the sea searching for a new world. Aw. What's the name of it? So mean. The New World Searchers. It's really, it's really, it's, like I said, it's not well-written. Ah, we've discovered Exandria print on demand.

Yep. And as you peer through it, you realize the back 20 pages are empty. He's writing this. And he's not very good. That's so cute! Now I feel bad. New world searchers.

Kill him. Kill him. The front cover's really decorated. I was human. Bless that movie. Really. I know. Investigating the contents of the drawers that you find there,

there's very little in there. It's like anything of importance has been cleared out of this room. Ooh, that's suspicious. There's some few writing implements. You can see there is a ledger binder, but it's empty. There is what looks to be a pile on the corner

of dry paper wrappers that have been untwisted, snack, trash. Yeah, a bunch of empty Werther's wrappers. No slime hole? Yeah, can I assist Orym in looking for slime holes? Yeah. I roll a natural 20. Oh! Damn. You knock out the hole.

No slime holes. No slime holes. Oh. This chamber is pretty sound. As you are inspecting him, he's like, the room's pretty warm, and he himself, like a person in this space, sweats, but he does not seem to be excreting

the same slime-like material that some of the previous individuals you were in to look like. That's okay. Yeah, he's clean. Before we wake him up, he seemed awful nervous to see you two. I mean, I know you've got green cloaks and stuff, but he seems a little twitchy.

I think he's hiding something in the room. Maybe hiding something in himself? Yes. She pulls a knife out. Oh god! I'm kidding. I'm fucking with you. Don't toy with me. But maybe, though. I mean, this feels less like an office or a bedroom

and more like a holding cell, like he's self-quarantining or something. Maybe. I don't know. What do you think, Es? I think we question him properly. Oh shit. Why are you cracking these cracks? Do you normally question people after you? No, I ask them nicely, and then if they don't,

I question them properly. Letters, let's get them up on his feet. I'll cast Cure Wounds and wake the perp up. Okay. Do we pat him down? Before I would. Yeah, let's pat him down. Okay.

You do find a handful of knives hidden on himself. We'll take care of those, thank you. You find 30 solid platinum in a pocket. Whoa! Chutney making it rain! Ow, ow. Based on his dress, his rather threadbare dress,

and there aren't golden coppers. There's just a solid 30 platinum in a pouch. Folly. Not in a pouch, like a money belt thing that he has affixed to the side of his outfit. Like an inner, what do they call it, fanny pack? Yeah, more or less, like a fantasy fanny pack. And the knives, just ordinary knives,

or do they look to be of excellent make or of significance? They look like they were purchased yesterday. They have seen no use. Copy that. Still have the sticker on. Yeah. So he hit the bank, he bought some knives, and he locked himself in a hole. For protection, maybe?

Who knows? You think something's coming for him. But he's not, is he running or is he not running? Let's ask him. I'll heal Chotan Brew. What's hap- Ah! It's okay, she's fine, she's fine.

She's with us. She's very friendly, in fact. Yeah. What'd you, what happened? You slipped and fell. You tripped. I was just trying to make your acquaintance. I'm so sorry. Well, you're the Seekers, aren't you? Yeah, we're all the Seekers. All of us.

Deputies, some of us are deputies. You're not very sure for me. Numbers are growing. Seekers, Seekers, every last one. Mm. All right, so you are the foreman here of the Closed Crown set, right? Yeah, right, what's of it?

It's closed. Why? I was told to close it. By who? By the owners of the company. Who are the owners of the company? Well, the Underrush family. Oh. The what? The Underrush? Underr Well, the Underrush family. Oh. The what?

The Underrush. Underrush? The Underrush family. Yeah, yeah. Generations. This has been their thing. Gus glances over. Olly gives a nod. That's good.

I don't even know, but real talk. He grabs two of the fingers off his hand and starts bending them back a bit and goes, Who? Who put you under this? He's like, and grabs two of the fingers off his hand and starts bending them back a bit and goes, Ooh. Ooh, push over this. He's like, Ah, gah! I don't know what else to tell ye!

Ah, god! Sure sounds like there's a little more info in there. Jesus. Make an intimidation check. Good god. All the worst. Boop. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.

DM powering down. 18. 18. I I don't know, it was taken care of in the underrush. I think I'm just being paid to keep it closed. Please. Who paid you?

I mean. Someone handed you the coin. Gus goes, Pink Lady's got a certain point. It's like leaning their fingers in deeper. Someone handed you the coin. Gus goes, Pink Lady's got a certain point. It's like, leaning their fingers in deeper. I'm purple. You're definitely purple. Does Gus have low light?

All right. It is true. I'm not saying too much to her. It's on her. You hear a snap. Oh! Ah! She gives a scream. Green sleeves.

Uh-oh. Holy fuck, that could have been us! Here we go. Olly leans in to put a bomb on him and goes, Now, you see, he's an aggressive one. And like you heard, there's a lot of us now. Good job. So it might be nice to answer the good, fond lady

about who's paying your bills on this one. Is it? Hey, Lucas. Ah. Stop crying. I can barely understand you. Yes. Really frustrating.

Look. I just get a package with Sequoia about once a week. People were excited it was being handled. You see there's a lot of tension in his face about crossing a line. You can do it. Oh, fuck it. Detect thoughts. I'll detect thoughts. I'm going to save yours.

I was like, oh, second level, we're so low. I'll detect thoughts. Okay. He's being very guarded. Her initial thoughts are, Oh my god, the pain! Oh, the pain! Oh, the pain!

Oh, oh god. Now if they know, if they know, they'll kill me. If they know, they'll kill me. I'll die. They'll find my body. I'll be dead. I can't say anything. I'm Tiny Tim, though.

Do you want to push? Yep, I will. I'll push further. Yeah, let's get in there. I mean, at this point. Do I roll or do they? They roll a saving throw. Okay, it's just 14 for me. Yeah, let's get in there. I mean, if it's 20, I mean. They roll a saving throw. Okay, it's just 14 for me. Yeah, it was a natural 10, so it gives him a 12,

so it does not get through. You push past. My eyes just zoom in to see if I can read anything. You suddenly feel something about your consciousness connecting past the boundaries of his, and you sense images of the mines closing off and strangers coming and giving the order, people that he's unfamiliar with.

When he asks about it, you see a memory of somebody coming and handing him a package. He says, The Treshis have ordinance here now. You expect another of these every week. Keep it safe, keep it closed. Keep it secret. Keep it secret. As you pull out from that memory, he's like,

Look, there was some mining groups that were sent home not feeling well, and we were afraid maybe it was a sickness had broken out, so we're just keeping it closed. Being careful. All right, thank you. It's okay, let him go, Gus. It's fine. We got what we needed. Treshies, Treshies. Don't okay, let him go, Gus. It's fine. Yeah, we got what we needed.

Treshi, Treshi's here. Don't say it loud. Oh, sorry, well, I mean, he knows already. But now we know. His eyes are wide, like. Does he realize that you're here? I didn't say anything. No, you didn't say anything.

You're good, you're good. You're safe. Minus your fingers. Sorry about that. We're going to need access to the mines. That is, if you want to see any of this again. Choo choo choo choo. There's a bunch of wood chips.

Still holding his hand. And as he's looking at the coins, Gus's hand reaches over and grabs the broken finger. He's like, and Gus just goes, Hey, little man's got a point. You want your money back. We need access. And might even do you a favor.

Fix this. And pops it back and he's like, Okay. Look at that. We got two here. That's why I'm thanking you. Why am I thanking you? Oh. We got what heroes here. That's why I'm thanking you. Why am I thanking you? Oh.

We need to, can you do anything? Sure, sure, sure. Are we done here? He's going to give us access, right? Yeah. Right? I'll heal him right when we think about it. Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah. Maybe he went to the sea. I don't want any of this anymore.

Wait, how long has it, have they closed it? When did they close the mines? Are you eating right now? During my interrogation? This is a blow pot. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's jerky. My mouth is probably so blue.

Pocket bacon, it's important. Yeah, so that's what you're going for. There you go. Did you eat the gum? Yeah, I'm chewing on it. Oh, okay, I thought you had swallowed it, and I was like, it's gum! It's gum.

Wait, how long have, have, have, oh no. How long? You're good, you're good. How long have they asked you to close it again? It's been a few months. That's right. I think I actually wrote that down. It's been a week, and someone can come by

and just check up on things occasionally. Okay. Okay. She hasn't been by, I don't know, in a bit. She? She hasn't been by. She. Yep. Shady.

Shady she. Mother, Lady Emoth? I'll show you. Yeah, you can come. He pushes past and walks out the door of his office. You can see, still sensing his thoughts, it is a scattering layer of, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

Kind of walks out. It's, my hands are this way. I like to imagine when you're zooming in, it's like a magnifying mirror that can zoom in to 30 times or 50, so you see every single pore of the person. Yeah, 20 miles. It's like, I don't know,

I just got this really good visual. Can you draw it later? Yeah. I draw back with Olly and Gus. Big bang. I just want to point out something that I know he's leading us where we need to go, but we have his money,

we have the physical threat of pain. Unless he stays with us, it's really not at our benefit to let him get behind us. Do you have any plans to keep him quiet and or still? Don't worry, I got this taken care of. Oh shit. So as you all continue down this path, you follow the tunnel,

and there are barricades set up in signs that say, mine's closed, no business to be conducted until further notice, other notice papers that have been placed up and all around it. Pardon me. Chotan leads you through these and then down these rough-hewn steps that go into numerous splinter-off mining paths.

You can see where this tunnel has been carved off and veins have been exploited and left dry. You can see where mineral deposits have been pulled free and any immediate worth had already been taken of the stone and rock that surrounded, and then thus more tunnels were dug deeper and further down. At a certain point, the tunnel levels out and what you see before you is a large metallic cage

and what looks to be a very thick iron chain affixed to the top of it that goes through a divot in the ceiling and a wench. A wench that is attached to a smaller version of the automatons that you see that run the cable network. Okay, okay. And this one's more egg-shaped and it's an odd design.

It has no legs, just situated there, and it has a rotating series of arms that are attached to this wench, this thick chain, there's a lot of it. You're not quite sure how deep it goes into the ceiling before it emerges, and you can see a doorway that opens to it and a platform from within.

This'll take you down. You're coming too, right? To show what's down there? I don't know what's down there. I don't go down in the mine, I just organize the workers. There's no workers, so I just sit here and keep an eye, make sure no one goes in it.

But you come here and break my fingers." And Gus steps forward and goes, Don't worry, friend, just keep an eye. And as he puts his hand on his shoulder, there's a little glimmer in his eyes. What a fine memory. Natural one. Oh!

You watch as Shokan. Oh wait, oh no, that's good. Shokan looks at him and is like, and yeah, no, help however I can. Really, just let me know. I'll be right here keeping an eye. Thanks for fixing these, by the way. It's going to take a while to heal, but they already feel much better.

So glad. Yeah, no worries. Happy to help, bud. Just shout if anybody else comes through. Shall we? Yes, please. That was impressive, I just want to say. Yeah, that was a neat trick. Yeah, these guys are good.

I can see why people are spooked. Also, you could probably do anything you want and people don't seem to know. They eventually figure it out, but we move quick. All right. Would you mind opening the door for us? Oh, hey, hey, pulls out a key and goes and opens up the gate.

It's going to be a tight squeeze for your troop. You're going to be shoulder to shoulder to all fit in there if you want to. You can just leave the keys, actually. We'll bring them back on our way out. Oh, looks like a guess. Yeah, any friends of ours? Friends of yours.

All right, here you go. Keys of yours. Anything, let me know. Nice. I've got some water, perhaps a bit of wine afterward, if you want to just catch up a bit, I guess. That's great. That'd be really nice. What the fuck did you do?

Do you have any wine right now? I can go back, if you don't mind waiting. No, we do. Okay, all right. I'll stay here, then. All right. All right. What are you seeing there? As you all pile in and tense up inside this cage, pushes the door closed. Hey!

Watch my feet! How'd you roll on my toe? Oh, her toe fell off. I got to pull it back into place now. Did it fall through the slats? Don't bend over. Are you squeezing your face through? I'm pressed.

Oh, the action's squishing me against the side. I'm doing my best right now. I don't like this thing at all. Very claustrophobic. Watch as Sheldon pats the side of the Ove-Muton, if you will. You're so much cuter than that, though. Oh, well, thank you, but.

Begins rotating the heavy layers and layers of chaining and releasing as it does. The cage room begins to descend slowly. Can't wait to read your book. I just look at it and change it. Oh, do you like it? I just saw the cover. Some of the best writing I've ever seen. How could you?

Make a deception check. Why would you do that? You know. That would be a 17. 17? Dang. Ooh! He's going to die thinking about a lie. I got a good review on Goodreads.

It's caught on a couple pieces of stone, scrapes its way past, and continues to descend. Were you saying something? Oh no, were you saying something to me? Oh, I was just checking in with you because I was reminiscent of the cable car situation. Yeah, I can't, how far down is, this one is not nearly as high as the cable car. That's not so high.

Yeah. I can't prove that. Yeah, I can't see anything down there. Can we see how deep this is? Uh-oh. Uh. Free army perception check. With disadvantage. King, king, king, king, please.

Must you ever. Six with disadvantage. How do you roll like that? I got a 24 with a straight roll because I'm at advantage for perception. Nice. And you do not have darkvision, correct? Do halflings have darkvision?

But advantage and disadvantage doesn't stack, so it'd still be a straight roll. Yeah. So it'd be a 24. Yeah. Stop it, it's creeping me out. It's terrifying. 20 years younger, isn't. It's creeping me out. It's terrifying. 20 years younger, isn't that good? Pin it back.

It's very, uh. We're all going the fair way. It's our very first Eccleston Who episode. So you glance over, because you have probably the best view, because you're just pressed against the lattice. You're going to have markings on your face, going to last for a few hours.

Ashton's butt is on my head. But glancing down the side, there is no light source below. There's just these lanterns that sit around the tops that you can just catch the edge of it, and it's just darkness about 15, 20 feet below. So you have no idea how deep it is. Well, you know what, Laudna?

I was doing just fine. Until this moment. You literally led her to that. Now I'm, um. Oh, fuck! No, it's, ugh! I shouldn't have pointed it out, I'm so sorry. Imogen, it could be 20 feet, it could be 5,000. It's really hard to tell.

Don't be nervous. Stop it! Stop it there, she'll get here. I want to get a little more depth. Remember, just, you're flying like a bird and you're landing like a rat. Use horse analogies. Horses comfort her. Flying like a bird and landing like a rat.

Yeah. A dead rat. Just like Peté. Peté lives again, in my mind. Are we there yet? The mind is dead, too. Yes. One hour later. One hour later. Yep. Yes. Yes. One hour later. One hour later. Yep. Yes.

Yes. Keeps descending. Oh my god. And keeps descending. And keeps descending for what feels like, You've got this. Oh god. You're super capable. You're the most capable person I know.

What if it breaks down while we're down there and we can't get back up? What? Ashton! What does it smell like now? Has the smell changed at all? I'd rather we're down there and we can't get back up? What? Ashton! What does it smell like now? Has the smell changed at all? I'd rather be stuck down there than fall down there. Maybe some check. You know what I mean?

With advantage because it is scent-based. No! Save that slot. Save that slot. 17. 17. The scent, it is that same subterranean, earthy, irony smell, but with a slightly seeping in mustiness but with a slightly seeping in mustiness

that is familiar. Ooh. Oh no. I think we're getting slightly closer. Getting whiffs of emoth. Oh. Oh. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh. No?

Wow. Wow. Possibly in Exandria. So. It seems like, could it be 15 minutes, 30 minutes? Who knows how long you've been in this dark light? Holy shit. And it's just pitch black?

Or do we have any light? There is a little bit of lantern light on this. Dancing lights of purpley blanchy lightning is around us. There you go. Flashing lightning? Yeah, mine are like little lightning. Crackling. Pretty cool. Cool. They're not glowing jelly bellies like mine are. Yeah, you're like little lightning crackers. Crackling. Pretty cool. Cool.

They're not glowing jelly bellies like mine were. Yeah. You're not sure how long it's been. Not because it's been that long, but just in this expanse, it feels forever. All right. Then eventually, Fearne, is that you? Sorry.

We made it, though. Let's open up and get out of here. Oh no, we can't get it open! Stop it! That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. We're stuck here forever! All right, Chetney, lead the way.

Hey. Oh yeah, I just threw open the gate. I don't know, you seem very bullish. Sure, let me follow my nose. Do you want Latt down the tunnel, or do you want... No, I don't need that. You can see he got those canine senses. A bit of coal dust that was kicked up from the impact

just comes and settles around the cage. The darkened stone down here surrounding you, you can see boxes and containers that were used for anything that was found within this mine brought here to this elevator-like arrangement, just pressed off to the sides and abandoned. You can see the path continues on ahead for roughly 60 or so feet,

and it seems to splinter a bit before your vision from the lights begins to fade into darkness. But that smell is strong. That muskiness is very strong. It's getting potent. There's a fork up ahead. A what? A case.

A fork. I'm going to cast Pass Without a Trace, then. How can you sense something so small? Shh. Sorry. That's so stupid. No, it's so good. This is just like a drilled cavern. There's no drop-offs on the sides of us

or anything like that? From your understanding, no. In fact, it looks like the path that you came through may have been some sort of a natural pocket that then this mine extended beyond. You're not sure how this massive carved shaft came to be, but the... I always look to you. Just don't look. It's just the bird and the bees.

It's the head tilt and my periphery that I'm like, goddammit. Birds and the rats. Birds and the rats. Would someone with geology experience know how this shaft was formed? Oh, yes, let me see. Should I roll anything? Yeah. Okay. And you're lighting us up still. Yeah, yeah, let me see. Should I roll anything? Yeah.

And you're lighting us up still. Yeah, yeah, I can take them down if it seems like I'm giving too much light. But for now. Yeah, nature. Nine. You have a negative nature score? Yeah. You're a druid!

I bet if we were in the Fey Realm, she would get it. Yeah, I would know. That's fire. I've never seen shit like this before. Gus and Olly fan out from the sides of the cavern. They're starting to look around the materials and beginning to notice that another smell that catches you is new,

mingling with that muskiness. It's a heavy, similar rot to what you would smell from the inside of Dugger's abode, but it's more acrid and flesh-rotty, if that makes sense. Ew. More decay. More decay. Similar to Laudna.

I get out the wooden mallet and the chisel. You might have gotten used to it. Time to get thunder and lightning ready for the storm. Smell like a dead walk. I'm going to fix my saw blade hand, Matt. Okay. Oh boy. All right. Did he just change the music?

Maybe. I'm going to get ready. I'm going to prep to cast Mage Armor, but I'm not going to cast it just yet. Well, I'll see how long it lasts. Oh, it's eight hours? Fuck it. I'm casting it. There you go.

Hey, mister. Psst. Come here. I know it's dark. Just, it'll be fine. You got it. He walks up, he gets up there, he lifts a hand out, and he just lights up a little flame

and lights up the area around you. Good boy, that's a good choice. Good job. What is your marching order, if you will? Do we need light or no? You're in second- I have it. I have, there's a light for 120 feet

I have dancing lights up, so. It's already up? Yeah. Okay. It's been up. Now, the light, they can travel up to 120 feet. It doesn't light up after that space. Right, right, right. So how far ahead of you are you keeping them? It depends on what Chetney needs.

I've got 60 feet, so if you want to stay backward, you can use it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that was... All right. I'll probably send one like 60 feet up. Okay. And then, yeah, just keep it 30 and then at us. Okay.

So you send that first orb up, gliding ahead of Chetney as he has his utility tools at the ready. Two green seekers are flanking off to the sides and are poking around some of the leftover tools. You can see there's a sludge, a familiar, almost dried, partially dried goop that is easy to recognize

along a lot of these tools and parts of the wall. As the orb drifts ahead and begins to alight where the two spaces are, you see it first. You see movement along the ground. Looks to be two, three, maybe five shade creepers coming out of the darkness towards you.

You glance up. I take my chisel and I drag it along my thigh. All right. Jesus. Is it too late to say that I trail to Chetney by 15 feet? We'll say you keep it at 15 feet. Trail there. So you see two to one side, three to the other of where this division is is and they're like, they're not rushing you.

They're just walking along the ground with their arms and legs coming towards you. The blackened cloaks that they kept on them in previous encounters are not present. They are just these slick, gray, smooth bodies with an earless, tooth-filled, wide mouth and burning eyes, just like. They're slowly crawling towards you

and you see movement above you as you see more along the ceiling. That's not loud. Some on the walls. It's like the descent. Beginning to, what you can see now is maybe 15 of them between one side, seven on one and eight on the other. Now just like,

We've got dozens above, around, and in front of us. Oh god, they're everywhere. Are they the same? Turn around and slap him in the chin. Give him a job. Give it to him. You get a sense. We're all going to die, man! We're all going to die! Game over, man!

You get the sense that the heavy impact of the cage impacting, reverberating through these halls and called. Good job, Fearne. Fool of a took! Brings in the stupidity. Let's go ahead and roll some initiative here. Oh! Oh my god!

Oh shit! Oh my god! Oh shit! Oh, I was hoping we would. Oh god! It's Christmas! Okay, okay, all right, all right, all right. What are we doing?

All right, all right, all right. All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. Oh god, you pay! Wow, that's far. Ooh, it's so free! That's a fun match. There's our cage. It's all purpley.

Yeah. Yeah. And crystal-y and beautiful. Oh, you're really sweet. There's a chain on the floor. The minis of our troop that were moved for our last one shot are not on the table. Oh no! Oh! That's okay. Get us stand-ins.

Just use what you got, use what you got. I'll see what I can find. I call a nickel. Oh no. Uh-huh. I'll be tw I can find. I call a nickel. Oh no. I'll be twig. This mini search brought to you by Quip. Where be the minis? Sam. Oh, dope! FCG will just be a toothbrush.

Like our actual minis are nowhere to be found. Stolen. Yeah. Are they under? Are they in your cubby or anything like that? I don't see them. I love that 20 feet away, there are probably five people panicking madly at the moment. Hey, see? Look at that. Yay!

Thanks, Max. This is why we have a production of people who are amazing. Max knows everything. Okay. Oh yes. All right. Gotcha. Mister.

Ooh, I'm going there. Is Mister out? Mister is out. Mister is indeed out. Let's see, are we going to the right or the left or where that splinter was? Where you were heading toward. Left!

Yeah, always left. Turns left. All righty. There. I don't know. What is the green shit on the ground? That is Orm will be on Chetney six. Okay, it's about there? Yeah, I'll put him ten feet back,

I guess, at this point. Oh no, I instantly have to pee. I know, right? Yeah, I know, I'll get it set up. Want it? Let's go. Did you have a low initiative or high initiative? I have a low initiative. I know, right? Yeah, I know. Get it set up. Want it? Let's go. Did you have a low initiative or high initiative? I have a low initiative. What's your number?

I'm a... I'm high value. I'm nine. Okay. Thank you for your patience, everyone. This Dorolo pee break brought to you by Dwarven Forge. Well, here we go. Well. Here we go. Ain't nothing but a heartache.

I'm so sorry. So, FCG, where would you like to be? I'll be right in front of Imogen. Okay. If that's all right. I don't know where Imogen was going to be. That's where she's going to be. I am right in front of her. Fearne's all right. I don't know where Imogen was going to be. That's where she's going to be. I am right in front of her.

Fearne. Spread out. Yeah. Y'all. Y'all. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Ain't nothing but a mistake.

I'm going to, yeah. I'm going to stand on that rock behind Orym. Right here? Yeah. I'm not looking outside. Nasal sink. Oh, I'm going to roll psychic damage for myself. Mister right there. Sorry.

Laudna will be back, a little bit back next to Imogen, yeah. Right here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's just pretty much where I can go, right? You can go back here if you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah,ogen, yeah. You're right here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's pretty much where I can go, right? You can go back here if you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Fucking Ashton just fucking wants to fucking go. There he is. With the weak kids. You already urinate. Yeah. That was fast. With the weak kids back there. You're not right in front of them. Got to back here quick.

All righty. Yeah, there's something in the way of the ten pointers. All right, and the... Ten hit points. You're up, Laura. Me already? No, I'm not. Side four. Wee! Hashima!

Oh my goodness. I don't know what's happening. Did we announce our initiative yet? Not yet. No, we didn't. Loosely. What happened? I can't find the minis for them right now our initiative yet? Not yet. No, not yet. Loosely. What happened? I can't find the minis for him right now, so I'll just say for the time being,

this is over here inspecting. Oh god, I'm sorry. I knew they'd turn on us. That's Olly. Bigger they are. Indeed. This over here will be Gus. All righty. Can you give us a battle hand?

Like a? Give me a rock or a bird. There you go, you can do it, I believe it. All right, 25 to 20. Dang. 20 to 15? 17. 16. All righty.

15 to 10? 11. 11. 10. Which one is higher? I'm probably Chetney. Imagine Chetney. Yeah. Oh wait, 14's your dex? Yeah. 14's my dex.

Rollies. Rollies! Nine. Ten! Oh! Whoa! Neck and neck. And you were? Ten. All right.

All right. A huck, huck, steal. Scanlan many. I have to summon a thing. Nice. So you both had 11. 11, 10. I think Imogen's nine.

Yeah. All right. Chetney, love that. And Fearne. Six for me. Oh boy. Okay. Imogen. Okay. Are you Six for me. Oh boy. Okay. And a two. Well, we don't know where Gus and Olly roll. This is intense, this battle already.

I know. Took us 20 minutes just to roll this shit. I know. Took us 20 minutes just to roll initiative. I know. Oh boy, all right, here we go. Oh, they're everywhere. Oh god. Bye. This one there, crawling on the ceiling there. Up over here.

Oh! No, I do not like it. What a feeling. Can I look back at Olly? You're rolling on my ceiling. Olly. What's your initiative? Don't forget they blow up when you kill them. Okay. Or mash them. Good call.

Fearne. Right, right. Good to know. Fuck. Fuck. All righty. Gus, remember, even though that relationship didn't end the way he wanted it, you're still a worthy person. Shut the fuck up.

Oh shit! Emotional damage! That's true. Where did Gus and Olly live? Yeah, they're these two. Or they're back there. By me and the Initiative Order? Do we not get to know that? Yeah, they're these two. By me and the Initiative Order? Do we not get to know that? Yeah, it doesn't matter to you.

But they're not invisible, right? That's just what you have on hand. That's just what I have on hand right now. I put the minis somewhere, and I'm not going to have to grab them after our original kerfuffle here. All right, all right, all right. Bear with the chaos, but if you've run a game,

you know what this is like. Listen, Matt, you did a 20-minute dramatic scene with yourself, but you just failed, so pack it up. We'll go ahead and put these in here as well. These are just more shade creepers, but I ran out of minis. Oh, I don't like those guys. Look at this mad face. It's got the crystal wings. I know, I like it.

So cool. All righty. Top of the round, we have Orym with Ashland on deck. What are you doing? Jeez, okay. I'm going to rush past Chet. All righty. To, jeez, this gentleman on the floor here. Yeah, you can get there easily. I'm not hanging back, I'm going to go to town. Let's make it a, I'm going for bonus action,

Feinting Attack, dodge the left juke, and I'll try to stick him in the side. You got it. So that's one superiority die down. Add advantage. Big rolls, 18, plus a bunch of stuff. Definitely hits. So switch.

Switch. Switch. Okay. That is three plus, five is eight plus the superiority die. 14 damage. 14 damage. And, oh, but it's two attacks

because I'm level five now, derp. Well, as you rush forward, you go and slash towards it. Yeah. All done? Oh. Oh. Burns and flashes into dark flame.

I need you to go ahead and make a dexterity saving throw. That's real low. That's an eight. That's an eight. You take four points of fire damage. Okay. You slice and then you feel the intense heat of it incinerating next to you.

Okay, I think I probably have five more feet of movement. So I'll move to the one up on the rise there. Yep, Going again. That is a 14. 14 hits. Okay. Just hits. And that is four. That is nine points of the slashing damage.

Ten points of damage. Got it. This one is prepared for you as you rush up the side and begins to back up. You manage to catch it in the shoulder and carve down its arm and it's like, but it holds its ground. Done. All right.

How much damage did you do on the first one? I should have known. First one was 14, I think it was, yeah. I don't know. All right, all right, all right. Okay, well, I'm going to fucking rage. Okay. Yeah. Let's see what the fuck was the story. He doesn't ask to rage, he fucking rages.

I fucking rages. I do not like to rage or do not want to rage. I fucking rage. Surprise, bitches! Surprise, gents. Oh shit, oh, almost, fuck. Goddamn it, so close. That's okay. So what happens?

I hit time. Okay. So that'll be interesting and not quite the one I was hoping for, but it will do. Okay. So what happens? I hit time. Okay. So that'll be interesting and not quite the one I was hoping for, but it will do. That's how it works. All right, I'm standing there. It's everything is useful in very specific situations and you just hope that you're going to hit that situation.

Okay, let's see what we got. There's two up on the ceiling? Yep. How high up on the ceiling? About 12 feet. 12, 15 feet. So a little high for me. A little high for you, yeah.

I get two attacks, though. All right, I'm going to... I'm going to run up to the one that's curling around the corner right there. I'm just going to get in the way of it. Right here? Yeah. Yeah.

You got it. I'm going to take an attack on that guy. Go for it. Momentum to swing to the side. That's correct. Trying to get him right into the wall. With a nice big turn, that's 20 to hit. That definitely hits, go to roll damage.

Oh man, it's been a while. Yeah, I didn't mean to do it. There we are. That's 18 points of damage. You splatter against the rock face. You burst into flame, make a dexterity saving throw for me, please. Mm-hmm. I have advantage on that, don't I?

You do. All right. Come on. 11? 11 succeeds, so you do not take any damage. I'm also, on the second spin, I'm going to get, since I blew up that first guy, I assume. Mm-hmm, you did. I'm going to throw my,

I'm actually going to move right onto the next one. You shift even deeper into the alley. Mm-hmm. Wham with an overhead slam. Coming in. Another smash. Chop. Fucking copped.

Why am I, why is it happening? Why is it happening? 16 to hit? 16 to hit, that hits, yeah. Oh god, all right, let's do this again. Really? Sounds hopeful. Sounds good. 10 points of damage. 10 points of damage.

All righty. So this one, you do manage to slam it overhead. It crumbles onto the ground, but pushes off and resists it. While you see it coughing a bit of its own blood, it's still standing and pushes the hammer off to the side before. I'm, how much movement have I used?

That would be? 20. 20? I'm going to back up about 10 feet just to try and get in the way of anything. There? Even a little further, yeah. Just to get in the way of anything coming for the squishy a little further, like, yeah. Just to get in the way of anything

coming for the squishy kids. It does lash out at you with its claws. Natural one. Yay! You're there for a second, and then just zip back with an unnatural speed, and it misses you entirely. Vroom, vroom, vroom.

That's right, I'm doing a little of the phasey. Yeah. All righty, that finish your go? Mm-hmm. That brings us to, little, the phasey. Yeah. All righty, that finish your go? That brings us to, okay. Uh-oh. Oh. As you are engaging with these creatures, here in the area, you can hear

other skittering sounds down the hall. In particular, you see two more, you see Orym down here, two more of them here that are clambering down. One of them looks up and then steps back. Oh no. Dropping from the ceiling, you see another shade creeper,

but it has four weird claw arms. It looks a bit mal-shaped. Oh boy. Where its humanoid, toothy front mouth-jaw area is, it's broken open into two hanging clawed jaw bits. Cool. Oh no. There.

What is that thing? It scampers towards you with an unnatural speed. Oh god. Oh no! That's fast. Up to there. Oh noes That's fast. Up to there. Oh noesies. It's going to take two strikes. Actually, no, it's going to take one strike on you.

Yeah. That's going to be 17 to hit. Nine. Nine. Off to the side. As you knock its claws, its head comes up and its two lower pointed jaws curl back in. Releases this globule of spittle towards you.

I need you to make a dexterity saving throw for me, please. Yeah. Oh shit. That is a 17. Overloaded over here. 17. You just barely duck your head out of the way as it fires off and hits the wall and just drips in this slow, molasses-like way. Acid and mucus?

You're not sure. Okay. Zero damage or half damage? No damage. Ah! All righty, so that finishes its go. That brings us now to Chetney with Laudna and Dex. But in fact, okay, can I see that shade creeper up on this ridge?

You can, yeah. Can I try and scurry up and try and get within melee of him? He's about 12 feet up against the edge of the wall and the ceiling. You could try and make an acrobatics check to run up the wall and try and strike it before landing back on the ground.

Before staying down on the ground. What about the new quickmover? Yeah. That's probably the best. Let's go, Popeye. Yeah, I'll run in for old arachnic face. Okay. Yeah. Right up there against that guy there.

I'll make two strikes against him with my wood chisel! Go for it. That's a 25 to hit. 25? Yes. That definitely hits. That's's 12. That's 17 points of slashing damage. Nice.

That five goes against me. Hold on. And the second one is 15 plus seven is 22. That hits. Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice. Three plus seven is 10, plus six. 16 points of damage. Dang, nice! That's pretty good.

Yes! My fault. Snickersnack. All righty. So both strikes with your chisel, carving deep into this creature's skin, and as you pull back, it tears, exposing muscle, and the muscle seems to tense up inside and withdraw from where the wound is.

It's an odd sight, almost like you cut open it and the inside just go and curl away from the wound. It's really gross. That's your action? It is, it's my action, and for my bonus action, I'm going to say, how the fuck did we get in this side of the cave? That's it.

Okay, finishing your go, Laudna, you're up with FCG on deck. Fucking bruh. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I, Laudna cracks a little, and I reach my hands out, and you see carbon and coal-like oil start to ooze from the sides of the cave, and she sucks it up, and Eldritch Blast!

All right. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Towards. Towards! What was the one that Orym, this one that Orym fucked up real good? Yeah, the one on the rise there. And then isn't there one lingering that Ashton fucked up?

Yep, the one in the cave. Because I can hit two now. That's true. And then when do I call twin spells? Both sides of the cave. That I can hit two now. That's true. And then when do I call twin spells? Both sides of the cave? Well, that's pretty cool. Huh? What's up? Twin spell.

Okay, so you're twin spelling this. So you're fire. Twin spell works for a spell that has a single target. So you could twin spell. Can't twin spell dual Eldritch Blasts? Nah. Damn it! But you can.

You can Quicken Spell, I think it is, where you can turn an Eldritch Blast cast into a bonus action and then do it twice in one round. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you have that. That's actually what I meant to say. Damn. I know that sounds shady, but that's what I meant.

I'm going to Quicken Spell one of them. So you have Quicken Spell as your? Yes, I do. I have Quicken and I have Twin and Quicken Spell. Yeah, so you can do meant. I'm going to Quicken Spell one of them. So you have Quicken Spell as your? Yes, I do. I have Quicken and I have Twin. Quicken Spell. Yeah, so you can do that. I'm going to do that. Okay. Okay, okay, okay. So you spend the sorcery points

and you are firing now four Eldritch Blasts. Whoa! Four Eldritch Blasts! Boom, boom, boom, boom. Blast! So let's just do these two, the two that Chetney and Orym are going after. Do I roll for each one, right? Yes.

Plus seven, plus seven on each. Oh, those are both sixes. So six plus seven is 13 and 13. 13, 13. Both missed. Oh! Right, all right, I got two more. I'm just going to do the exact same ones again.

Orym and Chetney. Son of a fucking cock. Worse, both of them, four and three. No! No! Like a widespread machine gun, Eladna comes out ready to fire and just hits. Oh gosh! Too much power. That was so cool.

That was really cool. I wanted it for you! How hard rolled that low. How it's roading for you! Ch rolled that low! I was rooting for you! Chetney, Ashton, and Orym. Ah! You just see blacked pore from Laudna's eyes and she's like, Oh, that's the sad-icker.

That's the sad-icker. I'm not crying. I'm not crying, I just. Ah! You got it, Mr. Laudna. Yeah, you can do it. Thank you. You don't move anywhere and you stay put. I'm not crying. I'm not crying. I just... You got a nice job, Laudna. Yeah, you can do it. Thank you. You don't want to move anywhere? You're going to stay put.

No. Okay. FCG, you're up. Can I move back or away? That's as far as I can go, right? I'm in the corner here? You can back behind the cage you all arrived in. Yeah, in my shame. Okay.

I will roll forward a bit down that same hallway that my friends are down. I'll turn up towards my right and a little door opens up and flame shoots out. It's a sacred flame? Sacred flame, yeah. All righty. To hit.

That is, well, I think it's a saving throw. Oh, it is. Right? Nope. Oh, dexterity 16 to save, you're right. Yeah, that is, it just rolled a 16. Sorry, it's dexterity 14 to save. Yeah, so it succeeded. Okay, so no damage or half? What does it say?

Oh boy, I got to learn my spells. Nope, just nothing. Zero, zero damage. Yep, it No, just nothing. Zero, zero damage. Yep, it's all or nothing. Okay. So you go to release it and it pulls away, and then blasts against the stone, not affecting anything, unfortunately.

Then as a bonus action, I'll cast Spiritual Weapon. Okay. And seeing... What do we got? seeing as how And seeing as how Laudna missed terribly, I will cast a spiritual image of a bullseye to try to guide her next time. And the bullseye will try to crash down on the guy, the main guy, the big, crazy ore girl.

Okay, I don't have a bullseye, so we'll just take this. How dare you. We'll take this Orb of Annihilation. Great. Big, right there? Same thing. Yeah. Sure. Can it also attack on this? Yeah, it can. Okay.

Go ahead and roll an attack. Rolling an attack. 17 plus stuff. Nice. Probably hits, right? That hits, yes. Okay, 1d8 plus three. Six plus three, nine. Nine points of damage. Fire damage. Okay, 1d8 plus three. Six plus three, nine points of damage.

Fire damage. No, something damage. I don't know what kind of damage. It's sacred damage. It's radiant. Sure. Spiritual weapon. I don't know. I don't know, Clarice. Never will.

So this target appears, and then the target, what does the target do? The target, it's like a large archery target. Yeah. It just hovers up and just bonks down on its head. Because of course. So awkward. Now it's just sitting there to help.

So you'll know where to hit. To guide Laudna's next attack. So then it's a spiritual weapon and not the actual. It's hovering down right in front of it. Perfect. It's perfect. And then you could just. Even it's confused by the actual. Oh yeah, it's hovering down right in front of me. Perfect. And then you could just like. Even it's confused by the concept.

I love it. Okay, that finishes your go. All right, with that, Gus. Gus is going to go ahead and step up a bit. He sees this crowded room here. All right. He sees even more crawling in from that side as well. Looks like there are...

With the Orb of Annihilation. Even more in that area there, rushing in. Oh, oh, oh. Wait, there's more things? There's more things came running in? Yeah, there's more rushing into that space there. And Gus is going to glance over and be like, Yeah, not today.

He's going to put his hands out for a second and he's going to draw his fingers in this strange long line, grab the edges of it, and bend it into itself. As it does, this ring of flame begins to appear. He takes it and twists it into this tiny little bead and throws it up. Shh.

There is an echoing explosion in the area as flames whip around. Fuck yes. And all of them are, I mean, we're going to roll damage here unless he rolls really low. Consumed and fireballs. Was it loud? Was it very loud? It's not quiet, but then again, none of this is.

This is no longer a stealth mission. Is it really loud? It's not quiet. But then again, none of this is. Yeah. This is no longer a stealth mission. Yeah, would you? You just let the gas hit you. Yeah. Oh jeez. 29, even if they make their save. Yeah.

Yes. Nice. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god! Oh my god! Sweet! Aoe Gus! Well, cool! Why are we on this side? After the flames revert, Gus goes, That ain't in a while.

Any more coming? Listens out on that, says he's going to finish his turn. That was hot. Imogen, you're up. Well, Gus, you did what I was going to do. Well, not quite. I guess I'll run. Oh shitballs. How many do we have over on this side now?

One, two, three, four, six, seven. But I can't get over there. I will run over that direction, so I have a line of sight down this tunnel. Okay. About there, you can definitely see this area. Okay. I'm going to shout to,

shitballs. I don't want to do it. Okay, I'll just do, I'm going to use a sorcery point and I'm going to do twin spells as well. Nice. Okay. Let's go. Aim for the bullseye!

I'm going to aim for the creepy, crawly big guy. The larger one? Okay. I'm going to aim for one of the dudes up on the wall to my right. Yeah, that one. It's that one or that one. Go for it. All right, and I'm going to cast Dissonant Whispers. All righty. What save is that?

That is a wisdom save. Wisdom save. So the large one fails. Small one. 17, actually. Oh, well, all right. Then he takes half damage. Mm-hmm.

Seven, nine. Shitty rolls. Nine points of psychic damage. Nine points of psychic damage. But the big guy has to immediately use its reaction to move as far away from me as possible. He would if he didn't die from that hit. Oh! Yes! As you release the angry torrent of psychic energy

into its mind, where you assume the mind is, and whisper into its essence, you watch as its eyes begin to bleed and begins to shake and then collapses to the ground before bursting into a roaring flame. I need both Chetney and Orym to make dexterity saving throws, please. Oh no. It's going to happen.

It's going to happen. 10. Seven points of fire damage to you. 13. Seven points of fire damage to you. Actually, no. No, 12, you made it. So that's only three points of fire damage.

Oh! Sorry. 13 made it. So that's only three points of fire damage. Oh! Sorry. 13 made it? Yeah. Great. But that one is gone. And did you roll for the other one? It says that it just take half damage. Correct, but are you rolling just one damage for each? Oh, well, I guess I didn't re-roll.

Because it is telling you two different spells. Oh, that's true. Nice. So that would be seven, 10, so five points. Okay, five points. Nice. Got it. Pick them up! All righty.

That finish, you want to move anywhere? Or are you going to stay put? I'll stay. Okay, that finishes your turn. I'll back up a little bit, if I have any more movement. You do have there about that much movement. Okay.

So it is now the shade creeper's turn. No. This one here is going to go ahead and, staying in melee, is going to whoop that way. This one's going to rush up to flank you, Orym. Damn it, Bobby. This one's going to rush up into this space here. Wow.

It leaps over the box and then just screeches as it leaps and gathers. This one here is going to go ahead and run along the wall and then leap down to get to Imogen. This one's going to run across and come after Fresh Cut Grass. A few more are going to go ahead and double move from the back that were in the fireball.

That's going to get them. Oh shit, I should have just done what I was going to do. Going to rush up to Gus and to you. You just keep moving? And this guy's going to be right there, just clogging up the space a bit. That's not a bad idea to actually move forward while we fight.

That might be a bad idea. One more in the back here. That might be a good idea. You do see one more in the back here. Oh no! That's about what you can make out. It's kind of in a pincher point. Okay. With that, we have a number of attacks here. Two with advantage against you, Orym. I'm buying it.

That's going to be a 20 to hit. Hits! And the other one is going to be 16. Yes! All right. I've sucked it up in battle for the last several, three battles at least. Someone's got to get it, right? Yeah, someone will get it.

You're pretty terrifying. Five points of piercing damage. Okay. It's like Jester. Any time I try to do anything. Plus Plus seven points of necrotic to you. Oh! Mm-hmm, okay. Can I absorb half of that damage? If you'd like to, yeah.

I will take half of that damage. It takes three and I take four? Yes. No, wait. Can I just take half of all of it, or do I have to take half of it? It's all one strike, so all the damage from that attack. 12 minus six. Yeah, so it'd be six to each. Six back, okay.

Correct. So you take six points, temporary hit points, whatever your maximum is on that. I wish I could do that. The other attack against you with advantage. That would be epic. I already did that one, that one missed. That would be the third one that's against you,

which does not have advantage, so you roll again for that. That is going to be 15. Miss. Which misses. And there's now two against you, Chetney. Parry, parry, shield. Actually, no, just one against you. Okay.

That'll be a 21 to hit. It hits. It's really high. You take five points of piercing. Okay. And then eight points of necrotic. Copy that. Which is tearing at you with the claws. Big hits. You can feel this.

Oh, these creatures, they die quick, but they can deal some damage rapidly. points of necrotic. Copy that. Which is tearing into you with the claws. Big hits. You can feel this. These creatures, they die quick, but they can deal some damage rapidly. The claws themselves pierce into your body and there is this necrotic energy that then pulses into the wound that causes it to almost tear itself even wider with each impact.

You remember the pain that strikes you each time one of these gets its claws into you. Now there's one against you, Fresh Cut Grass. That's going to be an 11. I remember that was really bad. Miss! One against you, Laudna. I'm Imogen. Sorry, Imogen. It's fine.

Hey, you understand. 23. Witches be bitches. Glad you think I'm that pretty. 23, I think it's. You take five points of piercing damage. You're the one with the big hair, right? And, oh, tip of the world, two points of necrotic. Yes.

Then those all rushed in there using their movement and actions, they don't actually get any activations on Gus or you, Ashton. That finishes their go. That now brings us to Fearne. Okay. You're up. Did Olly go yet, or is she?

Olly's in the bottom. She stood last, yeah. Actually, quick question. Is the one that's in contact with Imogen within 15 feet of me? It would be, yes. So I would like it to make a constitution saving throw.

Okay. Roll, let's say, 17. Fuck, never mind. Never mind. Sorry. Worked really well. Yeah, yeah, that's fine, 17. Fuck. Never mind. Never mind. Sorry. We're really well. Yeah, yeah. Good looking out. Yeah. Okay, so I am going to

put my hands together. Come on, burn! Yes, yes. Pull a line. Oh yeah. Ooh. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Just trying to copy what Gus did.

Sure. Then I'm going to shoot three scorching rays. A little different. Hell yeah. Just, I can't quite see behind, so whatever's close. The one in front of Imogen, the one in front of any of my people. Okay, there's one in front of Imogen,

and then there's three over here, so you can do one in front of Imogen, one in front of Gus, and one in front of Asht my people. Okay, there's one in front of Imogen, and then there's three over here. So you can do one in front of Imogen, one in front of Gus, and one in front of Ashton. Great, let's do it. Okay. So go ahead and roll for the one in front of Imogen. Well, there's one next to Orym. There's a bunch next to Orym. There's a bunch over here, yeah.

Leo. Okay, let me do one. Vulfi, you and I are alone over there. Yes, we are. Let me do... It's quite dialed. I feel like Ashton and Nott are super strong. I'm going to do the one in front of Imogen and the two down that way.

There's Fresh Hit Grass and then one over here by Orym? Yes. You got it, okay. So roll for this one. Adding your spell attack modifier. Oh wow, okay, 17. That hits. I roll for all three, right? Correct, roll for all three hits

and then we'll just roll damage from there. 18. Hits. And then? 13. 13 just misses. Oh shit. But the first two do damage. Okay. That's 2d6 to each, correct? Yes.

Okay, five for the first hit. Five for the first hit, all right. Four for the second one. Yes! Yay! Yay! Mega damage. All righty. And then, for my bonus action.

For my bonus action. Which is actually, hey, Mister, psst! Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. I'm going to have him throw a Flaming Seed of Pooh in front of the one Imogen sits closest. Okay, got it. Okay. The new housewife to the fey wife.

Shit! Just rolled a two. Nine. Damn it. Nine points of damage to him? Yeah. No, I rolled a nine for attack. Nine points of damage to him? No, I rolled a nine for attack. The attack didn't go. Oh, nine total? That misses, yeah. Yeah.

Sorry. Sorry. Poop. Tits. Good try, Mister. Good try. Good try, Mister, it's okay. On the wall of the stone, just a little burning pile of poop. Laudna and Mister just make eye contact and we're like, I feel ya.

There's a bullseye! All right, is it your turn? I'm going to say where I am, yeah. No, it's you! I'm the bullseye! I did. You did it right behind the curtain. But it was an invisible spell.

Yeah, that's true. All right, it's now Olly's turn. Come on. Olly hears this all happening, she's like, Come on, bitch. Reaches in and pulls out. There's some dust. They're going to look like.

Wait, shit, are we trying to take one of these alive? No, no, no, we're trying to take them. No, no, no, we need Emoth. Lady. Nevermind. Yeah. Destroy them. That's right. Olly reaches into the cloak and pulls out two long metal rods, like batons.

And is going to go ahead and dart this way. What? I love figures. I love figures. I love your voice. What if Olly just starts doing color guard stuff? Oh, badass shit. She's going to go ahead and whack, with an unnatural speed, dodges past

and does one heavy crack to the one that's in front of you. Like, crack from behind. That is going to be, yeah. That's going to be 18 to hit. Yeah, no, that'll do it. Nice. That one explodes and ignites. Make a dexterity saving throw for me, Laudna.

Oh, I forgot. 21. 21, that's a success. You take no damage, or you take half damage. You take... No, no, you take no damage. Olly does take two. So it explodes, and she's like,

right, right, forgot, and then spins around to go ahead and strike the one that's to the right. That's a natural 20. Ooh. Nice. That will be... Ooh. It's time for a Werther's. I want that.

17 points of damage to this one. I saw you with that. That one explodes. Oh boy. And she's just, sorry! Not much other option. Her and Gus both failed their, actually, no, Gus makes it. She takes another six points of fire damage.

Cramping them all, yep, and stretching out, yep. He's going to move into here. It happens. He's going to go ahead and strike with an offhand dual wielding strike with the third hit. That'll hit for? Xanax. Okay, not too great.

Eight points of damage for that one. Okay. So that all of a sudden. All right, we're clearing the way a little bit. Let's see if we can finish the go. At the top, Orym, you're up the way a little bit. Let's see where we finish the go. At the top, Orym, you're up with Ashton on deck. Okay, I see that target floating over this creeper with the tail on the map,

so I'm going to slash up through the creature at the target and see if I can hit it. Go for it. That is an 18 plus, that's a 26. That definitely hits. And a 14 for the second. First slash slash. Diddly-loo-loo.

Charlie first? Two, so seven for the first. And does a 14 hit? Yes, 14 just hits. Okay, a 14, yep. And eight. Seven and eight, 15 total. Nice. Falls backward and

ignites in dark flame around it. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw. Nice. Falls backward and ignites in dark flame around it. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw. Okay. I rolled a two, so that's a fail. Two points of fire damage to you. Okay, and I can do more, but I'm going to conserve. That's going to be the end of my turn. You got it, finishing your go.

Ashton, you're up. Yeah. Is a shove or toss action available if I want to grab one of these things and throw them a couple squares away or one square away? If you succeed, I'll allow it, sure. They're small enough. Yeah, I want to grab the one right in front of me

and just toss it to the right. Okay, so you're making a grapple and a throw? Yeah, just grab and toss. Make an athletics check. Athletics check. Why do I roll ones I can't read? 18, 19, 20. 27. A three.

Like with one hand, you just go and chuck it off. You said you want to throw it this way? Yep. All right. Now I'm going to run straight into it and just take the brunt of the hammer and just try and get it right through. The one you just threw? The one I just threw.

Yes. Okay, you rush over. Crack on. Reckless attack. Reckless, yeah. Reckless attack. Reckless attack. 18 plus a huge number. That definitely hits. Go ahead and roll damage. Nice.

A lot. Come on. So jealous. Oh no. Eat. Come on. So jealous. Oh no. Aw. 17 points of damage. Very good, I'm going to go. You rush and splatter it against the stone wall. Really, I'm not the one to do that.

As it impacts, there's a flash. Make a dexterity save with your sword. No, thank you for your traffic. No, Jester, no. To 15, 16, actually no, that's a, is that a 15? That is a 15, it's just hard to read, 15, 18. 18, no points of fire damage, you're good. I'm going to turn around.

The hammer takes the brunt of it as you're holding it at bay and then turn around. Yeah, as I spin, my afterimage beats me to it as I turn. Don't group up around them, for fuck's sakes, and I'm going to run in a little bit of the ways to try and start to get to that one, to get between. Over here?

Yeah, if I can. You can have enough movement to get right back into there, into the movement. I have 40 feet of movement, so. Yeah. If there's a way to get a little further. Around this way? Yeah. You can get there if you want to.

10 more feet, if possible. Further in here? Yeah, like there. Okay, yeah. It will give an attack opportunity if you rush by. Sure, take it. With advantage, because you did go reckless. Take it. That is going to be 12.

Nope. Yeah, rolled really poorly. Beautiful. Strikes out towards you, and it looks like it hits you, but you realize it's the delayed image of where you were and then it catches up to you. That's so cool! Yep, yep, yep. All righty.

Goodbye to your reaction. Indeed. Finishing your go? Yep. All righty. Dag it. Dag it? Yes. Fuck. Oh, more of them!

Yep. Oh. Another one of the large, creepy extended ones with splits in its body and the long claws, drops on the ceiling from around the corner and is going to go after you, Ashton, with advantage because of Reckless. There's just too many of them.

It's going to make one claw attack against you. Man, they're rolling real bad. That is going to be 11 to hit. So it goes towards you, and once again, you dodge out of the way. You were always off to the side. It just wasn't able to place where your location was.

His reaction, it's two hanging jaws curl in and unleash a glob towards you. Make a dexterity saving throw. No, it's a second one. It's a second one? Yeah, he went over on an ash inside. Yeah, he got... Ooh, yeah.

20. Hits the wall behind you. Once again, you just keep, it's almost like you're teleporting, but inches in your space, just out of the way of where the enemy's attacking. No, no effect on you. All right, that finishes its go.

Chetney, you're up with Laudna on deck. Am I in melee with this and this one? Yes, you are. Okay, I'll take the first swing at the one on my left. You got it. With the chisel out. That's correct. That's not great. It's going to be enough.

12. 12 points of damage? No, 12 to hit. 12 to hit that does not hit. Yes. I'll take the second one at the same gun because it would suck balls. That's a natural one.

No! The curse is moving down the line. Boy, we're all surrounded, too. That's a hum down there with some of it. Mm-hmm. That's going to be my turn. Okay. That's all I got. You got it. Can't move.

All right, finishing your go. That brings us to Laudna with FCG on deck. You see Laudna, she just rolls around the rusty cage, like the creepiest Disney princess, trying to find herself, and she just rolls around it. Then she looks at Pate, and she's like, I just, I don't know, Pâté. I feel like I'm very useful, but maybe you.

Then she starts to puppet Pâté, and then Pâté goes, Blast! Maybe he can fucking do it! So does she go back around the cage to get visual? Yes, she does. Do you want to kill a creeper? Okay, I want to hit the ones that are low.

Okay. There's one here, and then there's one tackling FCG right there, and there's a bunch clustered around Orym and Chetney over there. I'll for sure hit the FCG one. Okay. Then I'll try and hit this other one that's advancing.

Okay, right over there? Come on, yes. You got to be fucking, fucking me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, one's a nine, which puts me at 16. That hits. That's a lot of hits. Okay. FCG one does hit.

Good job, Pate. The other's a five, which I don't think hits. Goes wide, hits the stone, no effect. But the one that FCGG you do roll damage for. I'm just going to do that first. Double fire. I'm going to see how that goes. That's eight.

That was eight. Yes, yes, yes. Is that enough? Okay. 11. 11 points of damage. It's one of my previously torched by fern. This one impacts and just does enough as you watch it get a section of its chest blown away.

It falls to the ground, its arms reaching out before burning violently. Good job, Pat. You did it! Then I just take Pat-Tay and I redirect him. I'm going to Quicken Spell and do this again because I want this to fucking work. Okay. I'm going to go for this one again

and then get one of these that's clustered around Chetney and Orym. No damage, you're good. Okay. Okay! Oh, Jesus. Sorry. Those both hit. That's an 18 and a 10,

so 17 plus a lot. 17 plus a natural 18. Yes, it definitely hits. That's this one here a 10, so 17 plus a lot. 17 plus a natural 18. Yes, it definitely hits. This one here? Okay, okay, okay. There we go. That one, and then one of, we'll do this one. Okay. Yeah. All right. Dammit.

Pate. Okay, so the first one is 10 damage to that one. And then the next one, goddammit, the fucking ball sacks. Four. Four to that one. Okay. Then the next one, goddammit, to fucking ballsacks, four. Four to that one. This one didn't take that one. That one explodes. Hey! Rolled a one on the damage die over here.

Then four. You got it. Okay. You missed it, I did no damage on my turn. I know. Okay, that's a saving throw for both Gus and Olly. Are you a dog rider? No. Olly does take...

About a quarter. A point in priority, which isn't too bad. Okay. A quarter? Oh, not a quarter of your total. Not a quarter of the number. Does that finish your turn, Laudna? You peen horse. Yeah, can I,

do I still have enough movement to move up a little bit? Yeah. Just like a little. That's good, that's good. Honestly, right there. Just a few. Yep. Okay. That's it.

All right, finishing your go. FCG, you're up. All right, I'm going to activate my saw blade. Let's go, Hannibal. And I'll charge the one that's menacing my friends. Which one are these? You know, I'll do the one to the right. Right here?

That one hasn't been hurt yet, has it? That one hasn't, no, it's taken a little bit of damage. Oh, okay. I will scream to it, this is how the Greensleeves do it! And I'll attack, or whatever we're called. Screenspot playing. Sure. 11 plus something to hit. Green Seekers.

Yeah, that. Green Seekers. 15 to hit. 15 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. Okay. Three points of damage, plus the six temporary hit points I had from before. Yeah!

It's trending back. Zap. Yes! That one, as you buzz in, it's like. It's like a horror film, as you're just tearing into it against the wall. Then the fire burns around. I need you and Chetney to make dexterity saving.

Okay. Natural one. Natural 20. Oh! No damage to you. Three points of fire damage to you. Congrats. Are you okay? I don't know.

Then as my bonus action, I'll take the target and I'll bounce it and roll it towards the one next to Chet and I'll smash him with my- This one here? Oh wait, there's one right in front of it? Oh, I'll just hit that guy. Okay. I roll.

I never remember how to do this. Jesus. Natural 20! Woo! Hell yeah! Roll that dice. What is going on? What a craziness. So that's a six plus three, I believe, is nine. Roll the six. Oh, yes.

So that's 12 plus plus three, I believe, is nine. Roll the six. Oh, yes, so that's 12 plus three, 15. Woo! The target just entirely crushes into the ground before it burns. Need both Orym and Chetney to make dexterity saving throws. Let's go, let's go, let's go. 20, dirty 20 for me. You're good. 16.

You're good. Both of you manage to just dodge out of the way as the fire bursts around, catches the edge of your thigh, but not enough to actually hurt you. Is there anything around you that's like, shit? I'll use any additional

movement to just keep running forward. Yeah, you can do that. Or rolling forward. I'll also move the bullseye with me forward. Okay, anything back there? Anything seen? Lancing over there, you do see another of the larger ones. It's like around the corner

and it makes eye contact with you and one of the eyes seems to shift in your direction. The other one almost seems to split into two separate eyes. Ew! Before it looking towards you. That's very convenient. But it doesn't look like the one we've seen before, right? It's not Lady Emoth or anything?

It is not. Okay. All right, that finishes. Yeah, that's the target. That's the target. Have any of us used it correctly? I've used it to kill people. But we have not. No one has. Oh, you did? Yes.? I've used it to kill people. But we have not. No one has.

Oh, you did? Yes. I aimed that and flashed through to hit it. Indeed. It was great. What do we do with it? All right. You just shoot at it. We shoot at it and then it hits something else? It's my spiritual weapon. So now, Gus' go.

Gus sees that things are going pretty well, so he'll go ahead and... It's a spiritual weapon shitpost. Step forward a bit here. Shitposts. Hey, I got your back. He's going to fling his arms in a wide arc, and as he does, you see the fingertips glow orange,

and then release a firebolt towards the one that's right in front of you. Hey! Multiple firebolts, actually. The first one misses. Second one hits. Hey. Poor Jack Nicholson nodding. So that's eight points of fire damage to that guy.

I got my pencil. All righty. That finishes his go. Now we're to Fearne with Olly on deck. Fearne. Imogen? Fearne. No, no, I looked at the wrong thing.

Sorry, Imogen, you're right up. Then it's the Shaker Bristle, and then it's Fearne, and then it's Allie. I know I was ready. Good looking at it. I was ready to go. Come on, Pink! Okay. Big lady.

Here's my favorite red cola. I can see what's happening back there. Tell you what, it seems like they just keep coming down the tunnels, doesn't it? I? Tell you what, it seems like they just keep coming down the tunnels, doesn't it? I'll tell you what. Mom? I'm going to... Are we trying to go further down the tunnels

or are we trying to keep them from coming at us right now? I think we got to go further in. We don't see what we need yet. I feel like we do, too. I'm not against it. Okay. You could collapse the tunnels. Well, no, no, no, no. It would just delay us going down the tunnels a little bit,

but it would keep them from coming at us, but it's fine. Do it. That's a good thing, man. Live your truth. Do it. Yeah. Yep. Have fun. All right. What are you going to do?

I'm going to bring my forearms together. Mm-hmm. Close my eyes. I know. Shift my focus down and then flash my eyes up and all my hair's going to flare out and my clothes are going to flow up a little bit. Yes. Right here.

Oh yeah. You're just going to see a ball of storm explode in the tunnels. Oh yeah. You're just going to see a ball of storm explode in the tunnels. Ooh! That's so cool. All right, what are you casting? Seething Storm. All righty.

Oh, man, a storm orb. She's the storm lord. She's the storm lord. Storm lord made a storm orb. It's a 20-foot radius. Oh yeah, that is big. Wow. So you have to look back at the storm lord. I's a 20-foot radius. Oh yeah, that is big. Walk. So you look back at the storm lord.

I want to try to get all of these things, anything coming up the tunnels right here. Okay, you'd have to arrange yourself probably there to try and squeeze it through that tunnel ever so faintly. I go ahead and, just for my own interest, roll a d20, and add your spell attack modifier.

All right. Sounds more powerful than the Storm M'lady. Storm M'lady. Yep, there we go. Yep, knew it. Did I just fuck up? Draw a natural one? Uh-huh. Okay. No. So. Gust eyes.

Yeah, did you kill them all? No. So this is the radius you're going with here, right? Looking back that way, I was going to roll to see with the range here and having to get it. Well, no, it's not a point of explosion. It's the point you choose, right? Exactly, and it's 150 feet away from you. You know what? Then we're not going to worry about that.

Like Fireball, which is more of a little wiggly, we're fine. Okay, so. Yeah, no, this one is less like that. It's just an area of effect that happens over there. Indeed, that's on me. All right, so go ahead and roll damage on that one. What's the save on it?

It is a dexterity save. Dexterity. Anything starting a turn within that foot, it's just lightning flashing around that area. It's darkness, it's a storm, it's a raging storm in that area. So anything starting the turn in that. Shit, I really fucked this up. Lightning damage.

Then if they end their turn within that. Okay, so it doesn't do damage immediately, just creates the storm. Exactly, if they start their turn, they take damage. Got it. If they end their turn, they take damage. Okay, got it. So now that whole area is just lit up

with this crackling sound, the swirling of energy and small storm detonations and arcs of electricity. Does that finish your turn, Laudna? Laudna fucking Imogen, I'm sorry. I know, I don't know why. My brain is melted today. That's my best brain.

I'm very melty today. I'm so sorry. It's been a melty week. Yeah. That's on me. All right, Imogen, are you done? For my... How long does that last?

It lasts a minute. Yeah, okay, so that's cool. For my bonus action, is that big creature in the sphere? It is. Okay, great. Okay, then. I'm going to, ooh, for my bonus action, I'm going to... I don't know, I just want to do something with a bonus action.

Man, I feel that. Oh, well, no. Never mind, fuck it, never mind, I got nothing. That was an amazing journey. What a great turn. Sorry, I just keep remembering. I want to pull, never mind. The shade creeper that starts in that radius, go ahead and roll damage. Blow winds and trick your cheeks.

That one fails. Rage. Seven points of lightning damage. Seven points of lightning damage to him. Oh, also, if he's starting his turn within 15 feet of me, it's a constitution save. Oh, that's true. Fail. So yeah.

Speed is halved and out of reaction until the beginning of its next turn. You got it. It gets, it's able to just shift around into this space to get out of the storm zone. That's about as far as it can get. And the one over there, two more rush in, but they get into the middle of the storm

because they just charge into it angrily. Come on in. The water's fine. So those ones will take 10 points of force damage. Nice. What about the big boy on the... He's just out of it? Yeah, no, there's another. His turn was damage. Nice. What about the big boy on the... He's just out of it? Yeah, no, there's another.

Well, his turn's separate. Yeah. His turn's coming. They get there, there's one attacking you, and then there's one attacking, it's going to be Orym. So attacking you, natural 20. Ooh. Nice. So with that, it is four Oh boy. Four points of piercing.

Reduced to two. And... Really hurt me now. 18 points of necrotic. Okay. Against Ashton? Yes. Oh no! Oh, because it was like... Nope, I take that 18.

That's like rotting flesh. You're feeling confident in this one that just dodges out of the storm is feral with pain and anger, and when it rushes towards you, it manages to catch you right below the sternum, and its claw digs in and catches under the ribcage, and it hurts so bad as it holds onto you from the front.

The one that's attacking you, Orym. That's going to be a 19 to hit you, Orym. Oh boy. That's going to be a 19 to hit. It just hits, yeah. Just hits. Also, the area within that storm is difficult terrain. Yeah, that's why they only got that far. Oh, okay, cool. Nice.

What are the one that was? Oh, okay, it was the one that was right against me. Yeah, it was. Okay. It just shifted around. It moved. It was 1 quarter speed, yeah. Yeah, it moved 15 feet. Correct, because the storm had been, but it was also in your radius.

Which means it was down, its speed had been halved while it was still in. Fiddly stuff. Yeah, fiddly. Take the damage off, it couldn't even get to you. Also, all of the creatures within the storm are fully blinded. Is that right? Yeah.

Wow. Okay, cool. It's all good to know. Yeah, yeah. This is the first time, right? Yeah, this is the first time I've ever cast it, sorry. Yeah, it's all good. First time that I've dealt with it on the battlefield. Yeah, okay.

Come on, you witches. All right, so in that space, that one is just trying to get over there, but between the two of you, it has enough movement. In a storm and flashing in and out in a time loop. in that space. That one is just trying to get over there, but between the two of you, it has enough movement. In a storm and flashing in and out in a time loop. Yeah, it's not having a good time. It gets about there, we'll say.

Not quite to get into melee, but it does, and it's turn in that radius, so. Oh, great. Do I roll separately for each one, or is it? Probably. Maybe one time for all the ones that start the damage set. Okay, so that would have been 10 points.

Yeah. For that quickness. So they take it again if they stay in it? Yeah, they take it at the beginning and at the end if they stay in it. Okay. That's rough. Wow. Then. They would have taken, so he would have taken

seven points of lightning damage at the beginning of his turn and 10 points of force damage at the end of his turn. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay, cool. That's amazing. That kills him. I get out, right, to try to get out. Oh, Dan! Now I take the damage.

Dan! No, he's just that far out of your radius because he couldn't get up to you. Because of the dual movement reduction. Oh my god! He couldn't get there. You did this, thank you. Oh no. The one that's attacking you, however, that is six points of piercing damage.

Okay. And 10 points of necrotic. Oh dear, okay. Oh no. All right, Orym's looking a little, oh yeah, you are. A little weathered. That's going to finish its go. Now, Fearne, you're up.

Okay. What about that one? That one is the bigger one, which has a different Oh, that's a whole separate big guy? Oh, you're right, he was bigger than the other one. He was, that big boy? The one that just came through over there? Yeah. You destroy him. You destroy him now.

Okay. I'm going to get down from where I'm at. Okay. And just get a little closer. Oh shit, but if I kill that one, it's going to explode in front of you two. It's okay. What are we going to do? We got healers.

We're fine. Okay. Scorching Ray again. Okay. It's the this motion? Yep, man. On which ones? Okay, so definitely the one near Orym and Chetney. And yeah, that one in front of Ashton.

And two of that one? Let's do... Has that one been hit over there? That one has taken in point of damage, yeah. For real. Okay, well, I'll take the first hit to him. Okay, let's go ahead and roll the hit. Okay.

22. That hits, go ahead and roll damage. 36. Roll my teeth. Baby teeth. Yeah. teeth. Baby teeth. Teeny baby teeth. Okay, that would be 10 points of damage. 10 points of damage.

Fuchoo! Sorry, guys. Screams and burns out. I need both of you to roll dexterity saving throws again for me. Fail for me. Oh, fuck, sorry. What'd you roll? Nine. Five points of fire damage. 14. No, you're good What'd you roll? Nine. Five points of fire damage. 14.

No, you're good. Okay. All righty. Okay. You are now clear of any immediate shade creepers around you, and you're rolling two against the big one? Two against the big one. Roll twice. Two against the big one! Come on! Furny burn! 18.

Hits. Okay. I don't know if that one hits me. 13. 13. 13 misses, unfortunately. Entertaining-ty. Five points of damage. Five points of damage to that one. So the one ray destroys one,

you fire two more rays off this side. One of them hits the wall and then just dwindles before it impacts. The second one does strike the true, sending flames across its torso. All right. Does that finish your turn? Do torso. So if. Oh, come on. All right. Does that finish your turn? Do you want to move? Okay, and now,

now it's Mister's turn. It is. So he'll peek around, he'll throw a flame seed at the one in front of Ashton. Okay. Natural 18. Ooh, fun to go. Nice. Mister Mister, doing some damage.

Mista, mista. Oh, it is 2d6, oh man. It's so cheap. Oh, four points of damage. Four points of fire damage to that guy, okay. You got him. I feel like I need to move forward or something. All right.

That finishes your go for him? Yeah, and then I'm going to start. You can keep moving if you want. Yeah, the rest of my movement, I'm going to start making my way. Make your way this way? Yes. And it's 35 as my movement.

30, there you go, right there. Almost up to Fresh Cut Grass. Looking around the corner, you can see the storm still crackling from the other perspective and the one creature that's just on the outskirts of it there. Okay. All right, that finishes your go. Yep. Ollie's up. Ollie, seeing all this happening right there

in the clusterfuck that is this hallway, puts the rods away and pulls a light crossbow out from the back of the cloak, which you didn't even know was hiding there from in the bustle area, if you will. Pulls it up, fires it twice, reloading quickly and firing again at the one that's in front of you.

First, ooh, yeah, there we go. That's a 26 to hit. And then, that is great. 12 to hit, which misses. All right, but one hit does get there for six, 11, 12 points of damage to that creature. Nice. Can we see into that cloud?

It is a blind dust, just if you're in it, right? It's lightly obscured. Yeah, so it's like a crackling fog-type energy. So one of them goes, why one does strike the creature right in the center of its chest, neck area, and it seems to open up a pocket of skin. It's looking hurt. It's looking really hurt.

Before that, he goes, All right, finish that one for me. He's going to get you about there. Can Mister actually come next to me a little bit? Sorry, I forgot. What's his movement? 30 feet flying, right? Yeah, I think so. Just a little flying.

Beep, beep. That funky monkey. That funky monkey. That funky monkey. All right. That finishes Olly's go. Orym, you're up with Ashton on deck. I'm going to make this real quick and easy.

I can see that Imogen has got this handled. So I'm actually just going to back up towards Imogen as far as I can go. All right. And that's it. That's all I can do. That's all I'm going to do. Okay.

Next. You got it. Ashton. How rough is this thing looking? Looking pretty rough. And I believe I hit this thing with my, I believe it hit my comm modifier and is it affected by my time distortion? This is the one that goes,

no, that one hasn't come up yet. That was the one that died. Okay, so this one hasn't been hit by the time distortion? Not yet. Okay. That slightly changes what I'm going to do. I'm just going to make an attack. Do it. Since I'm here. I'm going to do. I'm just going to make an attack. Do it. Since I'm here. I'm going to hit it with,

just going to try and nail it where it's cracking open. Can we hit it and put it? Six, no, 16 to hit. 16 hits. Ask Gus. That's 17 points of damage. You're messy. It splatters against the side of the wall

with a shriek before igniting in dark fire. Make a dexterity saving throw for me. I duck as it comes at me. The heat from the large ones is even more intense. Yeah. Oh, 21. You're fine, though. You duck out of the way into the side of the rock

and it just burns past, singes your shoulder, and that's about it. Gross. I'm clearing. I'm going to roll around at 40, I'm going to take 40 steps into the next hallway. We'll put you out there. Yep. All righty. Finishing your go.

It is now the larger creature on that side's turn. It takes what damage at the top of the round from you? 2d6 lightning damage. Eight. Nice. Eight points of lightning damage in the storm. Goes rushing out of this. Half speed. Half speed. 15.

So that's 30 to get there. That's as far as it can get there. It's going to dash to get up to the CG. That fucked up its turn. So it just rushes towards you with an unnatural speed up into your face. Is that a big one or a normal one? That's a big one. Okay.

That's a real big one. That's all it can do on its turn because of that storm. Good job. All right, Chetney, you're up with Laudna on deck. I'll rush up to help FCG. All right, are you going around the left side or jumping up onto the boxes? Let's go around the left side, all 25 feet.

There you go. The box is made of wood. Yeah, you got to protect the wood when you can. Ooh, a perch! I've got my crimson right up. Could I try a Blood Maledict? If you want to. No! Yeah, let's try it.

I haven't heard of it. So I take 1d6 points of damage. Remember when I could do a blood malady? Three. Critical Role Campaign two. And now. So are you, what blood malady are you doing? I'm going to do the,

fuck did I go? Blood Curse of the Marked. Okay, and you amplified it? No, how do I amplify? Do I do another 1d6 if I want to? Well, okay, you don't take any damage to use the maladyngs at all. Right, okay. But if you want to amplify.

If you want to amplify, then you just, okay, then you do take the additional roll damage, which is three on there, and now all attacks against it, you double your right damage. Ooh. Yeah, and advantage. Okay, so I'll take the first of my two strikes against it.

Do it. 14 plus, I think it's seven, so that's 21. That hits. Nice. Christmas is coming, aren't they? Four plus six, 10, 12, 18, 18 points of slashing damage. Nice. Second one.

Not two natural 20! Oh my god! Oh my god! Take a fucking picture of that! That's so crazy! That's some... Wow. The natural 40.

What the shit? We back up in this bitch. That's some Search for Grog shit right there, man. Yeah, it is. That's crazy. Okay. La la la, okay. So four plus six is 10. Oh man, the pop-pops on his winter cap are just blowing.

Well, so four. Doubled. Double is eight plus six, so that's 12. 40. No, 14. 14, sorry. And then, oh, one that's 12. 20. No, 14. 14, sorry. And then, aw, one. Bullshit. 15.

And four is 19. 19. Yes. Is that really it? Do you roll three? Double all the dice or just the initial dice? Because you rolled a 20. I think I just do the initial strike and not the extra

maledict dice, or the extra. If you crit, the extra dice doubles as well. All dice. All dice. So it's five, so 10, so it'd be 24. So add five more points. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. How do you want to do this?

Yay! I run up and say, you leave FCG alone. I find the mandible mouth, and I take the witch's and I reverse grip it, and I stick it in its lower jaw, and I go, come with me, bitch! I run down his neck, through his belly.

Yeah! I go, come over here! As you charge at me, it can't make the sound that it normally does to react in pain because you have removed its ability to make sounds. So this silent spill as the creature just collapses to the ground.

As its body falls, each part ignites as it impacts beneath you. Even the gore that splatters on your hammer as you pull beneath begins to burn and sizzle. I need both you and FCG to make dexterity saving throws. Natural 20s, that is so cool. 13 for me. 17 plus five, 22.

You're both fine. Oh, cool. No issue. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Wow. Okay. Oh yeah, brutal. My element again. All righty. Does that finish your turn? It does, thank you.

All right, Laudna, you're up. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Who's left on the field? There are two creatures up that way that are obscured in the storm, but you don't really have visual on them right now. Can I see through the storm? You can see through the storm,

but where you're standing, there's no visual on them. Unfortunately, there's rock, stone that's blocking your path here. Okay. The downside of staying this far back is a lot. Yeah, no, no, no. I'll move up towards Ashton, 30 feet. 30. This is a new stance.

She's in the chair. She's evolved. Knees on the desk. No idea if she's going to be able to stand up. Yeah, yeah. She's lunging for a strike. I still can't see anything, right? Where you're standing, you can barely see one of them and he would be considered heavily obscured.

I do have a Spell Sniper. Or 3-quarters cover, I would say. I have Spell Sniper. Okay, so you would ignore that. So yeah, you can go ahead and make the attack if you want to. Yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ray of Frost. Okay, go for it.

Let's see what happens. Yeah, that's good. Are we doing Madonna again? Yes, we are. Yes! We listened to it again, it's real good. Are we doing Madonna again? Yes, we are. Yes! Listen to it again, it's real good. 24. That hits.

Go ahead and roll damage on that guy. Two and d8, and he cannot move. Ew. What is that? It's gross. It was like a white hair. That was no one's hair. I don't know whose hair, but that was. Mine from two years ago.

Eight. Okay, that's 11 plus, 11 damage. 11 damage to that guy? All righty. And his movement is reduced by 10 feet. Nice, nice, nice. All righty. All righty. And you know what? I'll... Mm! Yeah, you never know.

Mm! No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to keep having to do it. Don't waste it. I'm not going to waste it. I'm not going to waste it. It feels like Dan was on the beanie the other time you were there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. All righty. This is potentially an appetizer. This feels like an appetizer. I agree. Yeah. All right, that finishes Laudna's go. FCG, you're up. Oh man, I don't want to go into that storm. You don't have to. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. That finishes Laudna's go. FCG, you're up. Oh man, I don't want to go into that storm.

You don't have to. Yeah. Well, I will move my Spiritual Weapon in there and bash one of the fellows right on his keister. You got it. That's a great idea. The one that she just hit, or the one that we're looking at? Sure, the one that she just hit. 18 plus something hits, for sure. That hits. Straw target just flies into the storm.

Two plus three, five points of damage! Oh, wow! He explodes within the storm, burns into nothing, surrounded by purplish lavender energy crackling in the space. Purplish lavender energy. Cool. As it should be.

Well, here's where I- Swirling winds of pain. Whoa. So pretty. Oh man. Like Fro-Yo. Okay. Well, here's where I- Swirling winds of pain. Whoa! So pretty. Oh man. Like Froyo. I guess I'll move closer to the edge of the storm. Okay. Take me to the edge of the storm.

Take me to the edge of the storm? But not in it, because that'll hurt me, right? Yeah, and I placed it so we wouldn't have to go into it. Sure, sure, sure. Yeah. Like why? That little door will open up again and shoot out another flame.

He has to make a dex 14 save. That is a failure, the 12. Then he takes nine points of flame damage. Nine points of flame damage. Flame damage. You can see now, it's starting to turn around like it's about to go run back down the hall

where it came from. It's looking really hurt. Okay. Does that finish your turn? That's all I can do. All righty. Gus is going to go ahead and say, ah, nope, turn around this way. He's going to do a dash and come around to this point,

and that's about where he stands there using his full turn. Well, damn. That's going to finish his go. That brings us to Imogen. I think I'm just going to hold it. Okay, just concentrate. Yeah, I just want them to take damage

as soon as they. Okay. That finishes your go. Do you want to move at all? I guess, yeah, I don't need to keep eyes on it. So yeah, I'll walk around to the other side. Right there, the rest of the witch squad. I guess I can use my dash

since I'm not using another action. That's true, if you want to. Jontu. Jontu? All righty. Now it's the shade creeper's turn. Go ahead and roll damage for its opening turn for Starting in the Storm.

Sorry. Six points of lightning damage. That'll do it. Ooh! It burns in the storm. There currently resides no visual threat within the immediate tunnel. Cool.

What you do hear is the sound of maybe a few scurrying feet getting quieter and quieter. As in? Scared away. Uh-oh. Yep. There are some that we're approaching that have decided otherwise. Okay, that's good-ish. What do you do?

Maybe we should drop the... I think Orym's hurting a bit right now. I can take care of it for a second. Yeah, just in case they change their minds, let's leave it up for the minute that it lasts. Chetney, you feeling all right? Anybody who needs to take a second should probably take a second. You don't look too good.

Well, what's a second? A second is however long it takes to make sure you're fine. I help up Chetney. Anything on purpose. Who's hurt? Well, are we short resting, or am I just healing folks up?

If we stay here for an hour, I think those things are going to come back. If there's something you can do pretty quick, not necessarily, yeah. If there's a little gimme, like a little nudge, a little juice, FCG, help me up. Give me that sweet, sweet.

Come on, Cleric, do your job, Cleric. Sure do, I'm just trying to figure out which spells to use. Just heal the party, Cleric. Huge cobblers. There's, cleric. Do your job, cleric. Sure do. I'm just trying to figure out which spell to use. Just heal the party, cleric. Huge problem. There's two of them. So I'll use a third. Oh, I'm the cleric? Yeah.

Shit. There's a 10-minute one that should be, if I recall, somewhere in there. I'll use two first-level spells, I suppose. That's it? Can you do more? I can. I can burn one of my two third-level spells.

Don't you listen to her. Don't listen to her. This feels like some Gus-level resentment. Yeah, no, I'll tell you. One first-level spell will probably get Orym up to double digits. Yeah, but I got to do him, too. Yeah, maybe to double digits.

I'm in double digits, though. I'm okay. I'm not. He's hurting real bad. He's one hit. I'll burn the third-level spell. Ooh! Do you have the Extincter? Make sure you're using the good one,

because there's three different types of healing spells. I will use Aura of Vitality. Ooh, what is that? Hot toddy sounds so good, man. I can use six rounds of bonus actions, and every round heal them 2d6. Well, that would get me to, in a minute, would get me to full.

I'm sure, both of them. Everyone, anyone who was hurt. That's all great. Yeah, that's actually pretty cool. Do I have to come stand next to you? Yeah, we can huddle up as we move forward. Oh, 30 feet, that's 2d6 times six. Anyone. That's a lot.

That's really. Anyone within 30 feet. Huddle in, everybody. That's a great combat spell, by the way. I know, it takes an action to cast. Sure. And then I can heal as a bonus action on the next round. Oh man, I want to sit down and have so many. That's the best cleric spell

I've ever heard in my entire life. That is an amazing clutch. That is, yeah. Better than so many. That's the best cleric spell I've ever heard in my entire life. That is amazing. That's very clutch. That is, yeah. Better than, yeah. That's huge. Suck up the four points of damage you might do. Until the spell ends, the aura moves with you centered on you. You can use a bonus action to cause one,

I'm sorry, one creature in the aura. Okay. Okay. One creature. That regained 2d6. But it's up to a minute, so that's. That's still nuts. So you can heal? Yeah, every round, you can cast a spell as long as it's not Concentration.

Different people could touch until. So 10 rounds of 2d6. Okay, great. Holy shit! So you want to go round at a time. We'll do, this is going to be like hands on a hard body. Hands on a hard body. First one is 10 points to whoever wants it. Great. Wow, wow.

Let's give it all to Orym to begin with. Okay. Second one is six points. Six points. Third one is 10 points. Okay, pretty good. This is the craziest round. Fourth round is five points.

Somebody else, I'm going to back off. All right. Do I take those five? No, now you get 11. Woo! So yeah, once you get close to the end, we'll start distributing. And you get another six.

That's all I need. Okay. Anyone else needs? I'll take one more. Oh, yeah. Unless... No, you go, you go. That's 12! Shit, all right, I'm taking it, now you. Okay.

Sure. Uh-huh. I'm rolling so good, eight points. Okay. Sure. Uh-huh. I'm rolling so good. Eight points. Sweet. I got two more of these. Anyone want? You only have seven hit points. I could take seven more.

I'm fine. It's a crazy spell. Eight points. Well, they were experienced. Great. And then me. I'll do myself. Yeah. I'm back. Oh wow.

And that is Combat. Whoa! FCG. Combat. So if that was combat, you could probably get a touch. Where did that spell come from? Is that always a spell? Has that always been there?

No, it's technically, I think, if I recall, it's generally a paladin spell that you get access to as your subclass. Oh! I'm like, why didn't I ever see that before? Yeah, I never saw that shit before. What's it called? What's it called, Grass?

Aura of Vitality. Nice. But we'll just call it Happy Feel Good Time. It's... Oh my god, that's so good. That's such a good smell. That's a really good smell. That's some paladin shit?

Fuck. We've all been sleeping on paladins. I know, I feel bad some paladin shit? Fuck. We've all been sleeping on paladins. I know, I feel bad now. Next time. Uh-uh. Two of you haven't been sleeping on paladins. I don't know what I am. Wait, what do you mean you don't know what? I don't know what I am.

We'll find out. Uh-huh. After this break. No! And go to commercial. That's a fifth-level spell. Fumus. All righty. Gus and Olly dust themselves Huh? And go to commercial. That's a fifth-level spell. For sure. All right. Gus and Olly dust themselves off a little bit. Yeah, do you have any other heals for this?

That's plenty. Oh man. I mean, do you have any extra ones? Gus and Olly could take some. Oh, no, I used them all on us. Okay. I mean, I could do a healing word or something. Olly goes, if there was anything extra, but I'm good.

It was a minor injury. I'm fine, I'm fine. It's appreciated. I could take back the one I gave to myself and give it to Olly. Nope, too late. It's all good. He should have stepped. Feel free to step up and touch him anytime.

You know, if he's offering it out. With consent. Yeah. With consent. Yeah. I consent. But no, legitimately, trust me, I've had far worse than this. I'm fine. Puts the crossbow away. Okay, so what's next? They both look up towards the lightless expanse

ahead of you in the tunnel. We're here. The balls be back. All right. I mean, I know we kind of- The storm is gone. I know we announced ourselves pretty quickly. I could make myself hard to see and just go forward and see what's up there

if we don't want to kick off another deluge. Do you have darkvision? I do. That could make myself invisible. I mean. But. We're going to keep forging down into these tunnels, right?

That's what we came here for. Let's just stay a bit behind you, then. Maybe for a scout? Yeah, you okay with that? Yes. Okay. Don't go into any rooms by yourself. If you see something troublesome, you come back.

Why, do you care for me? Yeah, Chetney. You're my one true love. Don't tease me. I live for this stuff. All right. We'll meet up topside. If you think of me,

think of me falling. No, no, no. So you're doing Invisibility? Yeah. Okay. You vanish from sight. You're stealthing ahead? I will stealth ahead. Roll a stealth check for me, please.

Since it is sound-based, since you are invisible, you have advantage, I believe, right? Let's go, Sneaky Pete. 19. Sneaky Pete! 19, okay. Ash can. You can?

Ash can. Following the pathway upward, you can see where the different branches of the mines have been continued in different directions. Do you have darkvision? I do, 60 feet. Good, good. You can't look too far into each of the paths,

but you do hear the occasional skittering sound in a direction that guides you at least to where the life and the movement is happening at the moment. Following through, make a perception check for me. It says, it says, with my Hunter's Bane, it lets me spot, hear, or otherwise detect

the presence of something I have advantage. Correct. Amazing. You do not have advantage on this one in particular. Okay, just straight roll. It's honestly not great. 17. 17. 16.

Put that down. Walking through this portion of the chamber, you can see amongst the rock walls They were so tired. that viscous slime that you had seen beginning to permeate the earlier elements of this chamber growing thicker and leaving these slime cocoons in portions of the wall.

Totally aliens. Yeah. They're in the walls, man. Finding my inspiration for this yet? Oh no! No! Goddamn walls. No.

Pass over the ammunition, Hudson. Aim for the zipper, it's where they're weakest. You can see piles of equipment in certain areas, and you can glance as you pass by them, there's clothing and bone. That smell of rock gets stronger.

The temperature's warm in here, humid, almost, with the moisture that is adorning the interior space. Write your notes, Laura. Just draw your dicks. There's a noise that really sounded like a fart. It sounded like a little toot. That's all. Laura, are you drawing your dicks again?

You continue on for about 50, 60 or so feet, and you hear some more movement nearby. You can see past these two pillars into a somewhat larger and descending open path ahead. somewhat larger and descending open path ahead. As the shadow begins to pull away from your dark vision, you can now see about eight or nine more

of these shade creepers, two of them of the larger mutated variety. And they're all chittering to each other, turning in place. Some of them climb up on this one pillar in the center, and you can see where this large gathering of congealed slime is, a humanoid figure that's up into the wall and cocooned, if you will.

Oh my god. This is where the disappearing people have been. One of them pulls up onto it and paws at it, if you will, almost like it has an animal intelligence. As it does, the cocoon splits a bit and two arms pull out. You see, leaning torso-wise, out of this cocoon,

with a bit of a dripping residue that under the ground beneath it, the familiar sight of Lady Emoth Katt. Oh my god. You can see her hair itself slimed into these clumps. She leans out of it partially and takes a breath. She steps out from the cocoon onto the ground.

I know I'm invisible, but just like in the doorway encounter, I just naturally find some cover and make myself small. Makes sense. She stands up a bit. You can see there's no clothing on her, but also the body itself lacks some human features that you would expect

from a disrobed person. She stands up a bit, and you hear her clicking back and forth with these creatures. As she does, she stretches her arms. As she does, you glance, and there are these holes that open in her back, her shoulders, like almost breathing. Oh my god! As she does, you glance and there are these holes that open in her back, her shoulders,

almost breathing. Oh my god! I'm going to have to warm it. Oh no, she's sniffing for you. Yeah, someone shouldn't have showered. You smell her and she smells you. She smells the Old Spice. The Bengay. Looks loosely in your direction. In this lightless space,

you just see these pupilless, dark eyes within her face. Fucking so awful. Roll a stealth check. Come on. Oh god. Oh god. You're a dorky! Yeah, because you're a dorky. Yep.

The Werther's on you. 18. Okay. 18. I'm just going to roll. What is with this bitch? You trudge back, quickly. No, just kidding.

Okay, okay, okay, I'm here, I'm here.. Okay, okay, okay. I'm here, I'm here. Shh, shh, okay. Lady Emothcat is there, up on a column. Oh, well, that's good. She looks almost worse than before. There are holes in her shoulders and her back, and her arms are awful.

There's also another dozen or so shade creepers. It's really, really bad. Were they the little ones or the big ones? I was kind of focused on her, but I think it was the little ones. There's probably big ones in there, too. We should have our shit together. Should we draw them out here for some sort of an ambush? Well, they have more numbers than we do,

so the more narrow the tunnel, the better. Gus goes, Were they close together? Because he snaps his fingers and a bit of flame curls around his thumb. Hot. Yeah, they were. They were bunched up all around her,

but they were also on the floor. I think she's the problem, though. Oh, but we got to bring her in alive. We're trying to catch her. Right? Yeah. But would one shot from you destroy her, maybe? Or you don't know? I don't know. You're the ones who tangle with her before. We soften up the entire group right from the get-go.

That's a great idea. You're not the only one who can go invisible back. Ooh! Oh shit! Come on, doggy! Doggy! Listen. What was that? But we also have to prevent her from escaping. Yeah, so we should get in there quick.

Get it at the ready. You can see Olly reaches into a pocket and pulls out this small, almost like a semi-translucent pearl. He goes, If I can get close enough, we'll have her at our beck and call for a little bit. How far up are they?

What was it, about 100 feet? From where you are here, a little past 100 feet or so. Which means we have to all, as a group, stuff up so that we can sweep up after the image. I can't see in the dark. That's okay, you can just put your hand on somebody's shoulder. Mine, if you want to.

You're invisible. I don't think I have dark. That doesn't mean you can't touch me. I don't know where you are. Also, your girl. Let your fingers explore. I don't think I have dark. Will you say goodnight? Once everything's going,

is there any reason not to have light in there? You can see in the dark. Anyone else? You two. Yes. I feel like FCG should be in there. You can see in the dark. Anyone else? You two. Yes. I feel like FCG should be able to. Burn can? I don't, it doesn't say. Wait, is it just?

It would say, right? It would say. It features a trick. What about you two? I can't. What? Can you see right now in the dark? Oh, wait, that's not what I would say.

Okay, so. Up to a certain point. You in the front with Chet. You and Olly in the back. In a conga line. So that we can be quiet with people who can see at the front and the back. Racial traits. You soften up.

And as soon as you do, we rush in? Yep. All right. We light it up so that everyone can see. I don't think it gets any fancier than that. I didn't see anything behind her, but. Sadly, no. Damn it. That's already done for the day. Damn it. Thought we'd have

further to go. What's that? Pass. Ash is able to keep us quiet. Can't do it yet anymore. It's all going to be fucking be quiet as you can. All right. All right. Yeah, it'll be great. What are we doing? We're just all going to be quiet?

What are we doing? Sorry, we were just totally distracted by figuring out if we could see. Chetney and Gus are going to, we're going to do a conga line here to walk in the dark. I love conga lines. Chetney and Gus are going to, we're going to do a conga line here to walk in the dark. I love conga lines. Chetney and Gus are going to be at the front.

Laudna and Olly are going to be at the back. Everyone else who can't fucking see will be in the middle. Olly has the pearl, right? Or Gus has the pearl, okay. Who has it? Olly. Olly has the pearl. Gus is the one who's.

All right, switch that. Olly's at the front with Chetney. She's just going to have to be sneaky as fuck. Yes. And we just hope and pray to wherever FCG gets their power from. Steve Rogers. Self-actualization. Or maybe it's just FCG, yeah, self-actualization.

Everybody pray to FCG. Bob Ross. That's very flattering, but I think that I might jeopardize the stealthy part of the mission, so maybe I'll just hang back until I hear some scuffles going on and then I'll rush in. All right.

Can you carry FCG? I mean, technically. How heavy are they? I never weighed myself. I can pick them up, but just test it real quick. Fearne, actually, yeah. All right, as long as your servos aren't going. Do you want me to hold you for a little bit, maybe?

Mister's up on my shoulder. You can. You picked them up before. They're as heavy as a person would be of their size, because there are parts that are denser and parts that are hollow, so it all evens out to be a solid like. Mr. and FCG.

Like 175, 180 pounds. Okay, well, that's not nothing. She's heavy for the size, but still doable. Like, can she still stealth holding two creatures? We can find out. Wait, what's your stealth? Is it that bad? It's disadvantage. That's why we want to pick it.

We'll add to this as well. Because I'm invisible, she seemed to be able to lock on to smell, at least mine. So when we go in, I'll fucking run straight into the back of the cave. I'll take all their attention away from where we're coming from. All right, yeah. Okay, that's cool.

So we get up there, and then you bolt. Yeah. And once we give you 10 seconds to run in, that's your cue, Olly. Yeah. But you've got to run. Am I blowing them up first? Or are we doing? Yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm blowing them up, then you?

Yeah, I'll go ahead and I'll try and follow up then and see if I can catch them with the thing. All right. Are you running in before the blinds? That's what we're saying. I'll run ahead and I'll try and follow up then and see if I can catch him with the thing. All right. Are you running in before the blinds? That's what we're saying, right? I'll run first. I'll tell him to count to 10. Run fast. Oh yeah! Please, these knees got nice.

How's the arthritis? It's not so much the arthritis as it is the bursitis, so. It's good. It's good. All right, all right, let's give it a shot. Gus goes ahead and marks a quick, almost like a swirl and then a flick of a pen, almost, and then you watch as Gus's form turns invisible as well.

That's cool. Come on. Green sleeves, man. They're good. It's green, green seeker. That's what I said. Yeah. Green seeker. That's what I said. Yeah. Green seeker. Green grocers. All right, we going to do this?

I grab Gus's cloak and we start walking. Okay. Or whatever. Yeah, and I grab, I don't know, I grab some of Fearne's fur. I put my hands on Imogen's shoulders. All right. Get in front of you, fur. I put my hands on Imogen's shoulders. All right. Get in front of you, then. All right, I'm going to grab onto Ashton's hoodie

wrapped around their waist. Who am I grabbing onto? You're holding two creatures. You can't grab onto anybody. I've got my hand on your back, I believe, at this point. Okay, great. Yep. Oh boy. Okay. I would like everybody to make. Okay, great. Yep. Oh boy. Okay. I would like everybody to make stealth checks, please.

Do we have the advantage? Do we have anything to help us here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no advantage here. No advantage. No pass, no trace, present or no use. These rolls, guys. I'm not rolling, correct, Matthew?

You are not rolling. She is rolling for both of you, essentially. So you rolled twice. Oh. Okay, I did. I keep forgetting myself is a little better than I thought, but I'm still not that excited by it. 24, great. 19, what I rolled is a change for both of us.

No. No. Wow, you rolled the same number twice? Yeah. I rolled that same number twice also. No, you did not. Well, it was meant to be. Is it a bad one? It's not great. That's not awesome. Well, it was meant to be. Is it a bad one? It's not great. That's not awesome.

What is it? It's 11 for both of us. Good horse of you, okay. It could be seven, which is what I rolled. Oh no. Big 15. I've still got 11. Oh shit.

Over the average, right? But there's still the Green Seekers. Okay. Yeah, yeah got 11. Oh shit. Over the average, right? But there's still the Green Seekers. Okay. Yeah, yeah, come on, Olly. Gus was fine. Olly didn't roll that great. Yep. Ah! So it's almost like they weren't here. Ha ha!

So. It's okay. It's going to work out great. Carefully, your conga line of stealth progresses deeper into the lightless cavern, helmed by you and Gus, both ensuring your advance in tandem. You hear Gus just quietly beg, All right, you know the way.

You start this off. Follow my lead. Okay. You get within about 50 or so feet from the edge of where that is, and you can still see the creatures have shifted a little bit in space, but they're still gathered on the base of the pillar.

What do you do? 50 or so feet from the base of the pillar? Yeah. All right. I'm going to go count to 10. One and two and wait. So before I, three. So you're just?

I'm just bolting. Bolting? Yeah. Still invisible, but. Yeah, like making, I'm going to not head straight for the pillar, but give a wide arc to the left around the shade creepers and around the pillar that's hoisting. A banana. Okay.

Giving it a banana. Okay. Give us a banana. Dart past, not even stealth, making the noise. All the creatures shift, and they're following the sound and hearing where it goes, and some of them start shifting and skittering around

to follow in the path of where you're going. As you rush around, you can see all the different openings into small caverns that were abandoned mines or things that have sent equipment still lying around. You can see, out of quick glances out of the corner of your eyes, other shapes, like piles of people, once were people, that have since been eaten

or scavenged or whatnot. As you rush past them, hearing the sounds behind you, you get around the pillar and you can see the next path behind it opens into a much larger cavern. You do not see in that run. What? Lady Imoth. Oh!

Yes, bitch! She got away from us! The rest of the creatures were still clustered around it, but she was not one of them. As you run past and look, and you see the next open room inside, there's a faint orangish glow that very ever so faintly

lights the very rims of this open room. As soon as that happens, you hear There's a flash of warm light behind you. You hear a flash of warm light behind you as a fireball explosion detonates the cluster of creatures that have been following and pincering behind you. Pieces go flying and you hear the screeches

and screams of them from the explosion that echoes through the hallway. The handful that still remain themselves are still in flames and shrieking. As the rest of you see this light, this was the sign, you all rush in. Are you putting light into this room? No, I'm just doing that from the flames.

I guess I should, yeah. It's an explosion and the flames growl. Yeah, okay, dancing lights are up in there. Okay, you see a couple of these creatures that are like, they're hurt pretty heavily from the impact of this fireball and would likely be easily dispatched by any of your ambush-type tactics. So as your eyes are finishing out this,

glancing around, you can see Olly's sister pulls out the pearl and is looking around. There's no Lady Emoth. While this chaos is happening, you look into this large chamber and your eyes adjust, stepping in, still invisible. You can see there's almost two small workstations set inside.

You see two figures that are hunched over the tables and are manipulating things around it. Oh no, it's the nightmare king. You see this odd series of platforms, the topography in here, this is a larger cavernous space that this mine opened into. You can see there are metal contraptions

and elements where you see this area was being prepared for some sort of a mining operation and then was abandoned. You can see in the center and across the way, Lady Emoth standing there, faced away, looking up. There you see, floating above, attached to the wall, a gargantuan mass

of pulsing flesh. What? What? Like a 60-foot slug just curving across the cavern. 60-foot? You can see it shifting down the wall slightly. As she puts her hands up towards it, and as it shifts, you see at the front of it,

a figure emerge. Oh my god! It's all gone. You see almost a humanoid-like torso, but long and drawn out, extended, rake-like fingers that come from arms that could be 10, 12 feet long, and a secondary pair that curls around

and grabs the wall as it goes. You see at the front of its elongated neck this crown of bone that curls up and these black, void-like eyes. No nose and a similar open jaw filled with dozens and dozens of jagged teeth coming at odd angles and rows. You see this mat of long, black, straggly hair,

like the mane of a wild horse, but tangled and matted with grease that frames it like a nightmarish lion's mane. Okay. You hear Lady Emoth kind, Mother, we have visitors. Oh no. She looks back towards you.

I guess we'll pick up next time. Oh! Oh no! We got to fight an evil slug! 60 feet?! This is bad. 60 feet?! You take us to the nicest places. I don't have very many spells left.

Take me to the nicest places. That's almost the whole length of that thing. Like three quarters of it. There's no way we can fight that. It's stretched out across it. Oh, it's totally the queen for me. It's the length of this stage. It's like a space area.

Yeah, there's no way. Who conserved? Who conserved? A little bit. A little bit. Who what? Who conserved? I think bit. A little bit. Who what? Who what? Who conserves? You should have got four slots left.

I got a sorcery point, but I burned zero spells. Technically. Yeah, that's great. I've got five spells left and almost all my sorcery points. Maybe the pearl will control the 60-foot slug. I've got all my basics and I don't know what I'll get. We could also just run back to the elevator.

No problem. That's true. I didn't do my Form of Dread, so that's good. Get help. That'll work. That's not what we're here for. No, I don't think she's going to be scared. I'll go back and I disable you. It's going to be great. We got Gus and Olly with us.

Yeah, yeah. The Green Seekers. We'll be okay. You got some help? The Greensleeves. Well, maybe we can... What a fucking visual. Jesus! Oh god. Hiya!

Well, we'll pick up from there next week. Oh my god! Thanks for hanging in. Indeed. Thank you all for joining us, coming along for this wild ride. We'll see you next week. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Yay!

Oh, my God! Oh, hey, Ashley Johnson here, and I sure do hope you're enjoying the adventure. Remember when you first found out about Critical Role? Was it through a friend or a family member or maybe even through the words of a stranger in the review section of our podcast. Many listeners find our show through word of mouth and recommendations.

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