Critical Role - C3E37 From the Boughs

Episode Date: October 20, 2022

Bells Hells traverse a dark and corrupted Whitestone and face twisted traumatic shadows of the past in their effort to save Laudna's soul... Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources Watch Critical Role Campaign 3 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. "It's Thursday Night (Critical Role Theme Song)" by Peter Habib and Sam RiegelOriginal Music by Omar Fadel and Hexany Audio"Welcome to Marquet" Art Theme by Colm McGuinnessAdditional Music by Universal Production Music, Epidemic Sounds, and 5 AlarmCharacter Art by Hannah Friederichs Twitch subscribers gain instant access to VODs of our shows like Critical Role, Exandria Unlimited, and 4-Sided Dive. But don't worry: Twitch broadcasts will be uploaded to YouTube about 36 hours after airing live, with audio-only podcast versions of select shows on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Google Podcasts following a week after the initial air date. Twitch subscribers also gain access to our official custom emote set and subscriber badges and the ability to post links in Twitch chat!

Hello, bees! This is Laura Bailey, here to welcome you to the Critical Role podcast. If you'd like to tune into the show as it airs, you can watch Critical Role Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. Our lovely Twitch subscribers can view the episode on demand right away. Or you can find it on YouTube, Mondays at 12pm Pacific. And of course, for all you fantastic podcast listeners, Critical Role episodes hit feeds on Thursday mornings, a week after the episode first airs. With all that said, let's get into another episode of Critical Role. 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.

Man, at the starting end. Before we jump into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through. Beginning with our first sponsor, Cash App. Sam. We're back on a special episode of the Finger Championship Games brought to you by Cash App, the easiest way to send, spend, and save money. The number one finance app in the app store helping you invest in stocks with as little as $1 and connect your direct deposit and get paid two days early. I'm Vince McSam and when we last left off, Marisha was just about to introduce us to

the Finger Ladies of Wrestling, aka the Flo. Now, I realize last time I had named them the Gorgeous Ladyfingers, but immediately after that sketch, Marisha came up with Flo, and it sounds much cooler, so we're going to pretend like Gorgeous Ladyfingers never happened. Marisha, aka the Finger Blaster. I'm sorry. Oh.

He's apologizing for the ad already. I'm sorry. Marisha, focus, this is for Kashab. Marisha, introduce your crew. Strap on and get ready to meet Cash App Presents The Flow. First off, it's me, the one and only Finger Blaster. My superpower, strength. I warm up with 500 finger push-ups and 1,000 finger sit-ups all day. Plus, can your finger do this?

What? No! You just got blasted by the Finger Blaster! Next up on my right is Ashley Johnson. You can call me High Five. My specialty is speed, because you can't hit what you can't see. That's true.

Get it! Oh, whoa! Yes! Whoa, that was sped up digitally in post. Where's she going? High five! If you can stay alive! That's so fast!

Go back, go back. What's happening? And finally, to my left, is Laura Bailey, a.k.a. The Thumb. The Thumb? The Thumb? Yeah, baby. The thickest finger of them all that's thick with two Cs. The thumb!

That's me! I'm the thumb! And my superpower is my big, tough strength. Nope. Nope. Strength is my thing. You're the thumb. Right, I got that part, but, like, what's the thumb?

What do I do? Am I fast? No, no, no, no, no. I'm the fast one. Yeah, we just covered this. Thumb. You crush your opponent. Okay! Okay! But, no, no, no, I'm the fast one. Yeah, we just covered this. Thumb. You crush your opponents.

Okay, okay, but like how? Oh, am I impervious to pain? Let's find out. Ow! I guess you still feel pain. Sorry about that. Okay, no, that's fine. Okay, am I like, oh, am I the most flexible?

Am I the sassiest? Am I the most flexible? Am I the sassiest? Am I the evil one? Am I the heartthrob? The mysterious one? I don't know. No, I don't know. That doesn't seem like it at all. No, that just doesn't, that's thematically.

Fine, okay, I guess I'm just, hit the music, I'm the thug! Yeah! Yeah! Come on! What is it? Why do I? Who chose this? Did I do something wrong?

And those are the Finger Ladies of Wrestling! Am I done? You're done! Well, Flo, you'll be dropped into the ring next time Cash App sponsors this show. Remember the convenience of Cash App available on the App Store or Google Play. That's money. That's Cash App. Matt, back to you.

Why am I the thumb? Seriously, do I bend different? Can I change my name? Can I change my name? Matt, back to you. No, wait! This episode is also sponsored by a brand new sponsor, Blades in the Dark.

One More Multiverse Edition, a game coming out tonight. For those who are not familiar, One More Multiverse is a game developer making online role-playing games that you can run with your friends. They've just announced their partnership with the cult favorite, TTRPG, Blades in the Dark,

which is freaking awesome, to release an ambitious digital adaptation that combines the game with a pixel art video game. Just like Around the Table, you and your group can heist an art museum, you can fight on top of a train, you can punch a ghost into submission. Punch a ghost! All in amazing

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and thanks to One More Multiverse for supporting the show. Yay! Marisha. All right, guys, we're about a year into the Bells Hells campaign. No way! Can you believe it?

Which means, it's close to it, close to it, just under. It is time to unveil the official Bells Hells logo. What? Oh! That's right! Without further ado, here it is. Yeah! That's right! And, oh, wait for it, wait for it! Oh!

Oh! Oh, it's a whiskey! Ooh! That's slick. It's the little silly things that I love. Yeah. It looks so good! Love of our god, right?

And look, it's chiseled in wood! It is, exactly. That's superior craftsmanship. Superior craftsmanship. Awesome. Well, thank you, Marisha. Uh, Laura, you're up next. Oh my god, you guys, our you, Marisha. Laura, you're up next.

Oh my god! You guys, our partners, Dice Guardians, have released the first two entries in their Critical Role line, Art by Tavis Maiden. Oh yeah, who's going to go up first? You're already holding this up, so first up is FCG. It's right there.

That's the box. It's the damn glasses. You're holding the box. It's the damn glasses. You're holding the box. And this is, look, look, you can turn it on, and you can, I'm sure there's things I'm supposed to say. It holds a D20. I can't see anything with this glasses on.

You have to hit the switch and hit the button. Your bit stuff. Oh, cool! And it can go in a whole bunch of different colors so you can choose the way it lights up. Look, it keeps your dice safe. It's so cute! And look at that.

Look at that. Mine is in rainbow mode, so it will change colors all the time. They look so pretty in person, you guys, so go check it out. They're available right now. It changes colors. Yeah, that's what I just said.

I can't hear or see. Look at how cute MCG is. I currently have a terrible die in there, too. Yay. Yeah. It's a test to me. Well, I mean I currently have a terrible die in there, too. Get it. Yay. Yeah. It's attached to me. Well, I mean, you have a great die in there. It is a great die. We were super, super working with them every step of the way, so all of our notes made it.

It's just so beautiful. And a back. Anyway, check them out. They're great. Yay. Awesome. That's fun. Maybe your thumb is good at acting. Yeah. Hey!

Nailed it! Get it? Nail. All right. Oh my god. I think we need the dad jokes to be executed. Game over. No. On that note.

Oh, thank you! Let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Critical Role. night one by one 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, 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 flight It's Thursday night.

There is magic and mystery from darkness, our friendship will rise. But one thing's for sure, we never give up on the fight. Oh, get ready It's Thursday night Welcome back. Wow. Yeah. Everyone's real tense, apparently, because only one person shouted shit at me.

So last we left off, Bells Hells, after a violent incursion with Urohan Thule in the distant city of Bassuras, lost three of your troop. Were able to recover two, leaving Laudna dead and gone. But driven with hope and the inability to accept her loss, you took her body back with you to Jrusar to finish up some of the work that had sent you

to that city in the first place, returning Armand Treshi to deal with justice based on his actions, uncovering a few more morsels of the mysteries that unravels and then asking for aid from your leader, the voice of the Tempest, to possibly figure out something that could be done here. Keyleth arrives and while she lacks, at this moment,

the resources and ability to do so, instead sends your troop to the city of Whitestone, She lacks, at this moment, the resources and ability to do so. Instead, sends your troop to the city of Whitestone, where she thinks you might be able to find that hope. There, you encounter two members of the council, the Chamber of Whitestone, Percival de Rolo, as well as Vex'ahlia de Rolo. Some tense moments based on the circumstances

that surround Laudna's existence and current death. A divided idea on whether or not this is a good idea sends you all, along with Pike Trickfoot, the divine, blessed figure that is able to, seemingly, restore Laudna to life. However, it is dangerous to do so with these two souls within Laudna to life. However, it is dangerous to do so with these two souls within Laudna's body, both Laudna's and Delilah Briarwood,

who has a very bloody history with the people of Whitestone. Pike does believe there is a possibility you can separate this, and conducts a ritual to project your spirits into this dark, shadowy space where Laudna's spirit is currently held between the realms of the gods.

As you all begin to explore this shadowy expanse, pushing back the fog, you encounter what seemed to be an echo of a memory of hers, walking through dark forests and finding an old hut, hearing voices of her being chased and people coming to burn her down. You fight some of these spirits and defuse the flames before they consume the hut entirely,

the shadow of Laudna's memory vanishing. You take a moment to breathe and follow a tunnel of roots that follow deep into the ground of this strange realm below. You scout ahead quite a bit while the rest of you take a moment and then find yourself emerging from another surface, another stone-formed forest,

and then ahead of you, a somewhat cracked and desolate wall and what looks to be a twisted city beyond it, where a massive leafless tree in the center looms. And that's where we left off. Chetney, as you take in the space around you, the odd distant purple coloration that fills the sky between the black nothing

and that bit of green fog and light that just taunts you at the distance in the direction of this city, what would you like to do? Well, this looks like a dead end. All right, everybody, turn around. We're heading back. Oh. What's down there?

All right. It just says, came over. You're never going to believe it. Maybe you should come look with your own eyes. Wait a second. Anything flying around in the air or anything moving on the ground just from the ledge that I'm peeking over?

Make a perception check for me. Before I call a bunch of fucking people up here. 15. 15. Best you can tell, some of that strange purple light seems to be intermingled with that darkness that pushes beyond the boundaries of where you are, though the range of it is far further

than when you first arrived in this space, almost like it's taking form as you progress further and further. You don't see anything moving of its own accord, no other entities or beings. You just see the gentle shifting of color and mists in the dark. Well, come on up.

It's going to remind you of something, I think. Wow, it's beautiful. Right? Do you think, I mean, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you see it? Just happiness and light and love and, I don't know, maybe a little discomfort. We're looking at the same thing, right?

Eyes are open. Yeah, there's a beautiful tree and... Oh. Yeah. I understand. Right. Doesn't it look like where we just were? The city of Whitestone?

Okay, that's not... Yes, you're totally right. Yeah, it's like a Rorschach. It could be different to everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's an opposite type of a thing. Mm-hmm. Hey! Hi.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no? I mean, this is Whitestone, right? I thought so, too. Yes, it is. See, that's what it was to me. That's what I was going to say. Similar brain pants. Oh wow. Shit. Look at this beautiful place.

Okay. Two and two. Wow, what does it mean? It's so striking, the silhouettes and the shapes. At least we're a balanced group. Wait, let's get some time out. Can we see from the tree? Does it look like anything's hanging?

Can we see from there? The tree is too far from where you currently are. It's at minimum a half mile from where you are. It's just looming shape. You can see standing up beyond the clusters of rooftops that themselves are only just visible beyond the wall, which is beyond the trees. Twisted version of the walls of Whitestone.

Or beautiful. Or whatever. Yeah, just don't let any of us influence you. First thought that comes into your minds, go. Don't even think about it. The walls you see look like a hole. We're in hell. Is that pretty? Well, two, two, and two. See, we're a hell's half full type of people.

Absolutely. And you're a hell's half empty type people. With all of us peeking over little, little, don't say that, can I smell around and see if my nose picks up anything new in this space? Yeah, I'd say go ahead and make a, because you're using your scent of smell,

go ahead and roll perception. My little turtle head's poking at me. Go ahead and roll a, because you're using your scent of smell, go ahead and roll perception. Little tarpaulins poking out. Oh, okay. Go ahead and roll with advantage because it is scent-based. Natural 20. Well. Oh, really?

Never mind. That affects me, too. Well, you have trained under Hemocraft, not extensively compared to more decorated blood hunters in the world, but enough to the point where you're tuned into the essence of undeath. The scent is strong all around you. You don't pick up any specific entities or any direct points of source

beyond just this city itself. direct points of source beyond just this city itself. It's not like a, well, there is a general stench of decay, a very faint, drifting smell of rot in the air. You sense the ominous presence of necromancy strongly from the direction of the city. Necromancy, got it, got it. A scent of necromancy.

I am getting tinges of undeath, right? Ascent? Notes of? I knew it was Sephora. Notes of? Okay. Yeah, completely tracks. I think if this chick is inhabiting Laudna, my nose is pointing that way.

I mean, I see where your nose is going to be pointing whatever way you're looking, mostly. Ashton, look, let's not fight. This city is in a state that it was when Laudna lost her life originally. There's a lot we have to contend with. She said there was some messed up stuff in town, right?

Yeah, I mean, I don't know if we're... Well, this is like a moment in time. Are we in dream space? Is this Delilah's recreation? Is this Laudna's recreation? Snow globe of time. I mean, our first stop is probably the tree. Yeah, let's advance on the tree. Quiet, like.

Maybe edge around, see if we can keep cover. Also, we probably want to find a place to stop now that we know what we're dealing with. Maybe we can get berets. What? I don't know why. I just thought it would be nice. Just feeling the influence?

Cool idea. The Rorschach speaks to us all. Should we fan out? Do you want to do a firing line? I'll pull them off. Skirmish line? Yeah. Across the plaza? We're at the plaza, right?

Yeah, we just go wide. No, you're not at the plaza. You're outside of the city. Oh, we're outside the walls of the whole city? Yeah. Yes. Oh, so we're seeing the tree in the far distance. Poking out from the town, yeah. Well then, we should all remain

within eyeshot of each other, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Are you still invisible? No. You were invisible at the end of the game. I dropped it for the sake. Let's get a little further, and then at some point, we're going to have to take a short rest, but let's maybe get a little. You guys didn't take the short rest yet?

Oh, that's right, we didn't take the short rest yet. Okay. I was going to suggest, but I think it's probably not worth it, but. No, no, no. We can send messages to the ones who are keeping our tether to reality, right? Pike and Vex is down there, right?

Yeah, I think that was her name. They've been here before. Oh. They live in Whitestone, but also they were here when all this went down. Yes. Might they have some information that might be beneficial to us?

But we don't even know what we're dealing with yet. Genius. I mean, if that's a perfect mirror, yeah. But we don't even know if what we're dealing with yet. It might be a skewed version. I mean, obviously. They'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with. But I mean, when Laudna was in that forest,

people would chase her down. It wasn't crazy fabric monsters made out of darkness that came after her. It was actual people. So I don't think it's a one-to-one trade-off here. But she might be being held in a location that those folks know about that we don't. Or places where we can be safe.

Ooh! That too. Well, maybe we should just go into the city and look around first, and if we need help, we reach out. Yeah, make it to the edge. Now, how fucked up is everybody before we go? Because we're out here. I can do some healing if y'all need it. I'm not wounded, but I'm winded.

I'm feeling fine. Okay, I'm okay. Okay. Do you want to try and make for the edge of the city? Stealthy-like? I got another 45 minutes or so on the- Pass without a trace? Pass without a trace, give or take.

Okay. Let's do it. Yeah, then let's get in there. Might as well burn it. Let's go ahead and make another group stealth check for me as you approach the outer walls of the city. Okay, I'm going to use plus 10. With Pass Without a Trace. Yep. Nice.

Fuck. Natural 20 on the Whitestone. Nice. May I get advantage? Because I'm asking, but also when my companions roll a natural 20, I share their exuberance as part of my thing, and I get advantage on my next roll.

Indeed. But that's within a minute, and this is an extended stealth check, right? Yeah, but I'll consider that as part of the ability if you'd like to use it then, yeah. Thanks, guys. Ooh, I'll need it. Much better.

37. I roll a crush. I think it's the highest I've ever rolled. 19 plus eight plus 10. That's beautiful. Just you wait. What you got? 27. 27.

27. I'm 25. 25. Thanks to that second roll. 32 with a natural 20. Great. 17. 27. I'm 25. 25. Thanks to that second roll. 32 with a natural 20. Great. Oh god. 17. Ooh. 19.

Wow. Rolled a three. Or six. Or three. I rolled three. But still. Under this shadow shroud, the ground itself muffling the cracking and breaking of the shale you step across,

thanks to the presence of your Earth Genasi friend here. Pop rocks. You slowly push beyond the dense cavalcade of trees, the expanse choked by them from where you emerge from the hole, slowly beginning to let up until you come to the outside of the cracked cityscape and the roadways that fill within the wall itself,

you can see is deeply cracked. Chunks have fallen out. It looks like it's either undergone some sort of battle or it's been in disrepair and ruin for hundreds of years. Beyond that, you can see the roofs of all the buildings inside are stretched. They're exaggerated, nightmarish angles. Some look like they're pushed to fall over,

but are still holding. Others, the doorways themselves lean at odd angles, jutting at strange corners to where it seems almost like a mockery of the city that was once there. This is a bit much. Can we see the tree from here, or are we on a main avenue to the heart? The street, as you recall the City of Whitestone,

some of the main streets tend to cut right through. Looking at the main street, it seems to curve off in an immediate zigzag and is lost beyond clusters of buildings. Still just the upper edge. Still just the upper edge. You can see the faint green glow that's emanating from beneath, that's lighting up the bottom of the lowest boughs.

Does it seem like everything's made out of that same rock material that the hut was, or is this more? Looking at it, the texture of the wall, of the floor, of the trees, and you can best guess from some of the structures and buildings, seems to be the same kind of material, though there is more variation in color. The buildings themselves, you can see reds,

you can see blues, but they're all muted. They all bleed to gray and you can still see that rough, sh see blues, but they're all muted. They all bleed to gray, and you can still see that rough, shale-like texture to it. Weird. What is this stuff? I think it's the same thing as the ground. Yeah, if I take my wood chisel to it

and etch a little line in the wall, does it break away? It breaks away like it would a piece of old stone, weathered stone. But no blood begins to flow from the wall or anything. Roll, no. No blood, no blood. Should we push in?

Wait a minute. Now that we're past the wall, do we hear anything moving around in here with us? See anything? You can go ahead and roll a perception check. I'll assist you. Can we see the castle from here? Do not see a castle from here.

The darkness seems to consume whatever's behind the tree. Oh, that's a 20. It's a 20, okay. I don't think the castle matters right now. I think we're only seeing what matters. Indeed, it's the old Silent Hill from PlayStation 1. Yeah, it's the old Silent Hill from PlayStation 1.

Yeah, P1. Yeah. The draw distance is extremely short. It adds to the creepy atmosphere. There are chunks of stone jutting from places in the ground, which appear to be broken, rising and falling in place. It's like some odd seismic battering

came to this landscape, giving odd levels of the town where some buildings rise higher than others and gives this disjointed skyline to what you can see between the fog. Glancing up ahead, the building, or the walkway carves to the left. You do not hear anybody moving,

but what you do hear is a very faint rumble. Just a low. As soon as you hear that, you look up and you see roofs shifting. Then coming to stop. Is there two questions? Does it seem like that's happening in a line? Like there's something moving through the city

that's just affecting a little sphere of influence, or is it just happening randomly in the background? Roll an investigation check for me. All right. Give up. I actually deserve that. 12. 12? It's hard to pick out if there's any pattern to it.

It did seem to shift and stop. That's the best you can make out at the moment, but you don't see any particular rhyme or reason or direct line of source. One building among the others that seems weirdly important or anything like that, or just a little more? Not at this moment, no. I'm actually going to go up to a door

of one of the buildings and creak it open. I will cover you. Okay. You go ahead and grab the door knob. It's not moving. Is it a solid thing? No actual turn? Is it a saw? Is it a scrim? Is it vacant? I mean, it looks like a doorframe,

though you can see up close now, it has that faintly cracked and rough, natural stone-like texture to it that the ground and many other things here seem to carry. But is it the Warner Brothers lot? Is it a false front? Like it doesn't actually operate? Did you try and like?

Yeah. Try to open the door? Make a strength check, see if you can force it. Oh, that's not going to go well. That's tiny. What does that say? That's a 13 plus nothing. 13? Okay.

Yep. The knob snaps off. You look at the base of it, and it's broken stone. I've got an idea. Ashton, Orym, why don't you take your sword and try to open the door with that? If we're stuck in a door in Whitestone, you should really just try to stick a sword in it

and jiggle it around. Oh yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Can you help somehow? Yeah, I'll help, too. I'll use my wand to push with my hand or something. I think that's the way to go. You're going to go with the window? I'm going to go find a window.

All right, let's try. I'm going to need that. Gin or three. Sure, I'll hit it with my hand. I'm genuinely trying to find a window, actually. Can we see a tree? Time is a flat circle, man. Yes, you're asking?

Can we see the tree from here? You can see the tree from here, but it's a ways off. It's neighborhoods away. What? Is there a window to this house? You go, and there is a window. It looks like there are curtains on the inside. Anything peeking through?

Is it just, is it just... If I tap the glass, does it sound like glass? It sounds like glass a little bit. It's a duller. I'm going to just put pressure. Little strength check. You better hope that's tempered. I'm doing so terribly with these.

10. I don't even know. 10. You push and push on the glass and it cracks a little bit, but when it cracks, the somewhat translucent coloration, the glass-like transparency suddenly grays, and it looks like you just cracked some sort of a stone relief.

Uh-oh. Cool. Okay, well, now that answers that question. Okay. So if we find a building that does have an inside, and there might be one, that probably won't be very good cover. Follow me. What? Really? I go closer, yeah.

More in the city. Okay. You begin to push inward, and as you begin to step, all of you begin to pick up the sound, too. As you begin to move further and further you begin to pick up the sound, too. As you begin to move further and further, following the turn of the road, and the road itself zigzags rapidly, and you can see areas where it shifts.

There's more cracks and... Oh my god. Wow. What? You, Pud. What? Okay. Don't catch it on anything out there. Gotcha. There it is.

We're all tethered to cords. So fun is that I have these. Oh, don't, it on anything up there. Gotcha, there it is. We're all tethered to cords. It's so fun is that I have these. Oh, don't, but you'll kill me. Oh no. Don't do that. Because we're put here for a walk. That is, I respect it, I respect it. It's very Chekhov.

But the sound begins to grow louder. Looking up, you can see other roofs beginning to almost like the city is readjusting. Do we see some of the roofs also moving away from us or are they moving in towards our position as a whole? The ones that are nearest to you are moving. You just hear the sound in the distance and occasionally you see a chimney

vanish out of sight. Then it comes to rest again. You push forward a little further, another 100 yards or so, and you begin to hear the sound again, but the road continues to bend and wind. You're forced to go into thin alleys where buildings are too close together

and you have to squeeze by one at a time. Do they seem to be moving when we are moving? They seem to be reactionary to pushing further into the city. Does it seem like they're blocking our path? Opening a path? Or doesn't seem to be impeding us in any way? Roll an investigation check.

I'm making sure that we see the inside of Samus. 17. 17, not too bad. As you move, you do see some pathways and some roadways that should have continued that are now blocked and other paths that have now been opened or funneled into different directions. It doesn't appear to be fully barricading you at the moment, but you do get the sense that things are adjusting

based on your proximity. To that point, there is essentially a subtle skill challenge throughout the navigation of this city. So just keeping in mind, there'll be four noted successes required before two failures. Oh boy.

But I would like, if we can, have a marching order. Oh yeah. I'll go. Shet in the front? Yeah. Yeah, and I'll go behind Shet. I got a nose out for the undead. You got go. Uh, you're... Chet in the front? Yeah. Yeah, and I'll go behind Chet. I got a nose out for the undead. You got it. Undead. You know it.

Can I put the big guys up front? I'll go next. All right. And then I'll go after you. I'll go after you. It's close to midnight. Okay. Something evil's knocking at your door. FCG and Fearne in the back.

Ooh! Under the moonlight. Now you can own Chet andne in the back. Ooh! Under the moonlight. Now you can own Chetney Sings the Hits. Oh god. You try to scream in here. On five CDs. Because it's really hard. DCs are just climbing.

The city does not seem to like classic hits. So pushing forward, Chetney, you're the first one who's leading them through the initial neighborhood. Go ahead and roll a survival check for me, if you don't mind. Survival? Oh boy. Survival. I'll say survival will have the lowest DC.

You can if you'd like. Hunter's Bane? To track, well, that's tracking Fae Fiends are undead, so not this. Yeah. Kind of hardened this space here. Low DC, you said. I said low DC for survival. I gave you perception, but it's a much higher DC.

No, I'll take survival. Okay. Oh! Five. Ooh. Five. You do have, we all have those motes of things. Oh, that's right. We have potions of motes of things.

But you have to take it before. You have to drink it before you. But you lead the troop onward, pushing between small walkways, going into a back alley, underneath an arch that seems to be attached to a... It feels like it was once a livery, but you hear no horses.

You try and look into the interior. There's no hay. It's just a shade of the location. There's a hitching post outside that bends at an odd angle, and you can see a single rope hanging from it, like it's its own tiny gallows. The shifting begins to get louder.

Right as you turn the corner to inspect it, the ground bursts open, and you watch as between the the corner to inspect it, the ground bursts open and you watch as between the rock and bits of stone, bones just shoot outward in different directions, piercing the side stone walls of the buildings right in front of you and rising up about 25 feet or so, like twisted ribs from creatures that should not be this immense.

25 feet tall that curve over, that are jammed into and almost tangled with other bits of bone, sourceless, out of the ground. Then it comes to rest, blocking your path forward. What the fuck? Watch out for those! Yeah. Those are huge. I hate this.

Is it climbable or is it? You can certainly try. Want to get a better view? I was thinking of jumping on the roof, so I'll go. Yeah. Fearful. I'm going to flea jump up. Okay. Yeah. So go ahead and just roll an acrobatics check for me,

if you don't mind. Not at all. I wonder if this shit is made of the same stuff. 25. Oh, 25. So this is a series of small leaps to parkour up onto the roof. You get up onto it, land, and as soon as you glance around, you can see

the cityscape around you is wild and varied, and as it gets darker and darker towards the edges, it seems to almost be not fully formed. The shapes of buildings tend to be a little more abstract and almost blend and scatter into the darkness behind them. You can definitively see the tree now and the green fog that permeates the central courtyard

that sits in the center of the city. As you're looking past, you can see about six other buildings shift and stop. Two other ones across the way in the distance shift and move. Part of the ground suddenly sinkholes on the opposite end of the neighborhood. Dust gets kicked up and other buildings shift

and emerge out of it, like they were climbing out of the ground. Three new rooftops seem to emerge themselves, pointed outward. Do I have better eyes on the tree? I can roll a perception check. And this wasn't happening at all before we came into town?

You didn't notice it or hear it. 15. 15? Yeah, you can definitely see the tree. What are you looking for? Laudna. Or nooses. At this distance, it is very hard to make out any details on that scale.

This is a massive tree and it's still quite a ways away from you. You do see the branches of them. There's multitudes of just tangled branches, like hundreds of arms that reach out at this thing that separate into fingers, like they're clawing upward to the sky, grabbing onto each other and just reaching up in hope.

With a 15, you do see ropes hanging from them. Oh. Dozens of them just hanging and freely blowing the sourceless Breeze. So blowing, okay, okay. Is there any semblance of the castle in view? You do not see a castle anywhere. Okay.

I can see the tree from up here. I think it's got a lot of nooses hanging from it. What does a lot mean? 20 to 30. Yeah, that is a lot of nooses hanging from it. What does a lot mean? 20 to 30. Yeah, that is a lot. No lot, though. I can't tell. The whole town is moving.

Can you see a path through? I'll search for a better way, because our way is barred here, right? Yes, there's a massive wall of bones. Can I climb any higher from where I am? Am I at the Zenith of Bone? If you want to, you are on the rooftop. It's adjacent to it. Yeah, I can jump on the bones.

It's higher. It is taller, yeah. Yeah. All right, so you go ahead and start climbing this wall of bone. It is jagged. Some of the bone is blade-like at the edge. I would like you to roll a dexterity saving throw to ensure your placement is not detrimental.

Dex save is 23. 23. It's a dangerous ascent, and only for an additional seven, eight or so feet, but you manage to clamber up towards, not the full peak, because the very peak is just these pointed teeth-like ends of some of these strange rib or tibia-type bones,

but you manage to hold between two of them and glance up, and you just have a better perspective, and you can see this maze network. Unlike the city that you went to, where all the roadways and all the various walkways are designed for the ease of those who live there and passing by, this is a tangled mess. I'm going to try to suss out a way

before things move too much more. Okay. Roll an investigation check for me. Not great. Yeah, balls, that's a four. That's a four. You think you got a plan. Okay.

Map it out in your head. It's moving, it's all moving. I'm going to, are the bones made of the same stuff as the rest of the, I'm going to try and chip something off of them just to see if it's the same stuff. What are you chipping it with? At the bone wall. Yeah, what are you chipping it with, though?

Well, first I'm just going to take a little knock to see if it feels like bone or if it feels more like. Yeah, it feels like bone. I got something. You've never broken a rib before? Ha ha! You don't know what I got in here, man. Do you need some help scraping it or something?

I think I got an idea. I'm just going to pull out a knife and just see if I can just scrape off some just to see if it chip off a little bit. I just want to see what it does. Okay. I mean, it resists the knife. That is the wood of man. Yes.

It resists the blade more so than the stone material that you've seen throughout. And if you continue to apply pressure a bit, you get under one slivered mass that, as you pull, it just breaks off a little bit, like you've splintered the exterior bit. And there is a faint change in coloration and smell that you recognize as marrow.

Whoa. Whoa. Fuck. That's real. Oh, that's gross. Oh, that's really gross. Okay, I'm going to... Hey, we found something that isn't... It's actually pretty tasty. It's one of my favorites. It's the grease stuff.

We should probably get the fuck out of here. The crack in the bone begins to bleed. Oh! Let's go. Oh! What'd you say? What'd you say? The crack in the bone begins to bleed! Oh no! Did you put it in your mouth? No, we're going.

Let's get out of here right now. Where are you going? Should we take a little sample of it? Ooh, ooh, you know what? I am going to get a little bit of it in a vial. Of the blood? Yeah. What? What? Okay.

I don't know why. It's imaginary soul blood. What if it's Laudna? What if it's Delilah? Okay, okay. Okay, so you gather into your ethereal container a little bit of the bleeding bone blood. Oh god. Hold on, make a path.

I'll throw a rope down. Do you want to go over this, or are we going to back up and go around? I mean, did you get the sense that it's trying, that it is blocking a good path? Well, the roofs are... Should we go from the rooftops? Well, we could get,

we're trying to go into the center. What if we could ride one of the houses and be like, move? Laudna, make it move. Oh, I know what you're talking about. Do you have house spurs? Or? I don't know, I just, I don't know.

Is it a good idea? No, it's a great idea. Roll the house handling check. Chet, when you saw in the house, did it look like Laudna? What exactly did you see? Oh, it looked like Delilah. It looked like Delilah in the hut? Right?

No, it looked like a form, like a shadowy form. It looked like a thin female form. Yeah. And to your glance, not knowing what Delilah looks like, the form that it took was very similar to the thin body that you're used to seeing as Laudna. It looked like Laudna, but it was all shadowy. It had the posture down, though.

I feel like we're on the roofs. We're going to be exposed. That's true. That is a good point. Let's just keep moving. Let's back up and go around another house. Let's find another path. Okay, Orym, bounce down. How much is it bleeding? Is it a little blood or is it like?

It's a little trickle. Okay, that's fine. Orym, you just got a better view than us. I think you should lead the next leg. Okay, I mean, everything seemed to be shifting, but. I'll give you a little guidance if it can help. Okay, so now. Everything's the same except for Chet and Orym are switching. Indeed, so at this point, you are now helming

the first real portion of the skill check. How are you leading them in a better direction? The first legitimate check. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. Let me stay up top. I'm going to climb back to the roofs and stay low and, with a higher view,

try to direct the group quietly from above. From above. Okay. Go ahead and roll a perception check for me for this check. I guided him. If you came down, let me do it. Yeah, because I came down and changed my mind. There you go. Natural 20 plus four.

24 plus perception six, 30. Damn! That is very much a success. Okay. With you walking in tandem with the rest of the group, you can see that in the grinding and shifting of the buildings around you, near the entrance where you came in,

an area that was previously blocked has now been made open. And shouting down, not too terribly loud, but guiding the rest of the group, you leaping from rooftop to rooftop. You begin to push them back towards the entrance and towards where this is going. As you leap onto one of the final building rooftops

to get to that area and help point them directly to where it is, you feel the building begin to shift under your feet and it looks like it's pushing to close in the gap that they're heading towards. Oh jeez. The building I'm on is moving forward? Yeah. Is that what you're saying?

And it's going to cut us off? It looks like it's moving in that direction. Go on! I'm going to stab the top corner of the building. To hurt it? Okay. Go ahead and roll an attack for me. I wonder if the pathways being opened are controlled by Laudna,

and then Delilah's constantly trying to block it, like they're fighting for control. That's a big concept. A game of Stratego? 18. You stab into the stone and push past and as you jam down, go ahead and roll damage. Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What does building down believe? Just seven points of damage. Seven points of damage. Seven points. You push the blade down. It meets the hard resistance of a rooftop that you'd expect, as well as the heavily packed dirt and stone surface of ground, and then nothing.

It slips right to the hilt. Then you feel warm on your fingers as the rooftop begins to bleed, and it stops moving. I like the fuck up. It stops moving. I'll just splatter blood down on the road below. Ah! You're welcome.

Keep going. Go, go, go, go, go. Rumbling sound kicks in as you hear cracking tiles glancing behind you, emerging from the roof. More pointed, jagged, blade-like rib bones begin to jut out in your direction. There's no, I'm not, am I 10 feet away from any other rooftop? I'd say from where you are now, from where it stopped,

you're a good 12 or so feet from another rooftop. Then I'm going to leap into the road and tuck and roll and pray for the best. Okay, acrobatics check. But the rest of you are let in through this gap. It was not closed off as you emerge now into a secondary pathway. 22. 22.

Catch yourself just fine. What the fuck? It's about this time that you hear a young voice speaking down an alleyway from where you just emerged. You see this small slip of space that could barely fit Ashton at a side shoulder's positioning.

What does it say? What kind of voice? Sounds like a young boy. Andy. You getting anything off that? Mm. Yeah, I'm going to step forward away from everyone and see if I can open up my mind and see if I can hear anything.

Okay. Let me look at my specifics of the spell again real fast. Wait, let me see the features. Let me see what my DC would be. It depends on how many people I'm around, what my DC is going to be. That's to see the features. Let me see what my DC would be. It depends on how many people I'm around, what my DC is going to be. That's to have the issue, yeah. So you're around everybody.

It's a 30-foot radius. You have to get pretty far up to. So they'd have to like... That's a lot of distance. If you're okay with that, that is everybody very far away. I can see you. Yeah.

Can everybody just back up and move forward? A couple people is fine, but I mean, just step forward. So you move up a little bit, and everyone else moves back? Yeah. Okay. Oh, good. I'm great. Okay, cool. You reach out,

and you sense presences, but they're not minds. They're not singular minds that you can necessarily connect with. It's odd. You feel they're there, but once you try and connect, that surface passing by, gliding your fingers through their thoughts that you're used to doing

in crowded spaces, it's like it's empty or not fully material. You do hear, now that you're a little bit closer, though, the young boy's voice say, Well, I've been noticing you following me lately, Matilda. Why is that? Do I see a little girl around? It's coming from beyond,

like where this alley stops into a small area ahead. Matilda. Matilda. Can I sense a presence from that little boy? Can I sense a thought pattern from that little voice? From that direction you sense one, yeah. I'm just going to reach out with my mind. Oh, I can't.

Matilda. with my mind. Oh, I can't. You hear a silence and then hear him, it's okay, just making the other boys tease me on it, you know? Matilda, do you want to play a game with me? Can I wave everyone forward and start creeping forward and see who he's talking to? Are we out of, are we still at the end of? You all can begin filtering into the alley behind her

if you'd like to. You can hear the voice, and as you get closer, you could hear more of this, but you're the one who's picking up the conversation. Are we out of the time period for Pass Without a Trace? Oh, Pass Without a Trace? I'd say no. Yeah, I was going to say no, still.

Great. 28. 28, okay. You stealth up to the edge of this alley and you can see what is here, a small pocket alleyway, where multiple of these thin spaces all collide into this opening,

maybe 15 by 20 or so feet. You see this young boy, shaggy mop of red hair that barely hides the top of his forehead. His eyes peek through with a little smile. He's wearing standard, not popper clothing, but nothing noble-like. He's about 12 or 13, and you see standing across from him

a flickering shadow, a feminine form, like a young girl, with a small purple glow in the chest. And the boy looks to it like it's listening. Oh, come on, it'll be so fun. All the proper city kids play it. So a farm girl like you would really like it, I think. The shadow flickers again for a moment.

Can I reach out with my mind? Mm-hmm. Can I try to talk to her? You hear a voice in your head, very young. I don't know if I should say yes. I like him, though. The boy goes, It's called Secret Treasures. He reaches into his pocket

and pulls something out in his hand, looking towards the shadow. Don't trust him, Laudna. Why? Laudna. He's invited me to play a game. That's nice, right? Laudna, tell us how to find you.

Come home. But I like him. See, I found something that I think is perfect for you. A treasure, and I want to give it to you, but first you need to tell me a secret. It's okay, you can a treasure, and I want to give it to you, but first you need to tell me a secret. It's okay, you can tell me, and he steps in closer to the shadow. Laudna, don't trust him. Make a persuasion check.

Okay, okay, okay. He seems like a nice boy. What's the name? SAM and LAURA say, This seems like a nice form. What's the name? 23. 23. The shadow form. And as you're concentrating, it's odd, because you just see this twisting

black nether material that, as it flickers through, like an occasionally fast and occasionally slow whirlwind of darkness, you can see it, where it meets its limit, is the shape of a little girl. You still see that pulsing purple heart in the center of its chest.

In that moment, it seems to almost look to you. It looks back at the boy and then takes a step back. He goes, What's wrong? It's just a game. Come on, don't you want your treasure? Looks back at you, steps back again from the boy. Well, come on, take it! And he goes and opens his hand

and throws a fistful of dirt in her direction. And she ducks out of the way and then dissip out of the way and then dissipates into the wall behind her. The boy goes, Little shit. Can I perceive anything off about this kid? If we've been looking at this kid

for a minute out of combat, can I get a sense of its hit points in relation to mine and its armor class in relation to mine? Certainly. Using Know Your Enemy. I will say armor class is definitively less. Okay. Hit points are a bit higher.

Okay. I love a kid. Yeah. Because you look at the kid and you're like, this form, and as you're looking at it, this grim sensation grips the middle of your chest. Things are not as they seem around here. The kid turns around angrily, fists balled up,

and then walks back into the alley across from where you are all standing and glancing through. As he walks away, all the color just fades off his body, and you see this ghostly, material, ethereal form just vanish back into the city, unseen. What? I hate all of this.

Can we see where Laudna drifted into the wall? Matilda. Matilda drifted into the wall. You can. You can do want to. You see the wall where she's drifted into, yeah. Is there any mark left where she passed through? Roll an investigation check for me.

Investigation or perception, your choice. Oh yeah, that's a point. Oh no, that's... Five. Five? It's hard to really tell much of a difference in this wall. The texture and the color is so muted and odd that you don't see any particular signs of where she may have gone through.

I'm just going to reach out with my telepathic connection, because I made a connection with her, so I could keep it for up to seven minutes, four miles away, if she's still around. Four miles, okay. Laudna? Matilda?

Are you there? Yeah. I want to find you and help. Can you show me the path? I'm just playing by myself. Where are you? I'm playing in the barn. What'd you say? The barn. The barn.

The barn. Where's that? Where's the barn? The barn. Is that outside of town? Usually, but not today. Yeah. Maybe you should tell her

to not go to dinner at the castle in the future. That's a good idea, friend. Like 10 years from now? Can you see the tree, honey? Oh, the tree scares me. What does the barn look like? What does the barn look like? Well, it's red and it's tall.

It's got big doors on it. I'm up at the top of it, there's a ladder you take, and I made some dolls. Or can you hop up? See if you can find a red building. I don't know. Red building? It's colorless here. See if there's anything that looks different.

Might have lights going on inside, something like that. Okay. Guidance! So I'll pop up. Okay. Pop up. New acrobatics check. Relatively simple. 26. 26. With eight of your friends,

you easily find a way up top. As you step to the, it's odd, the roof you step onto, the corner of it seems to almost bow under your foot. At first, you're waiting for it to snap, but it just bends. You get to the top and you can see other buildings. The city is at rest.

Nothing is shifting. All right, I'm going to try to, and I'm safe to the guidance for this, I'm going to try to spot anything that looks like a red barn in the middle of this sprawling, moving, fertile brick play. All right.

15, this is 21. Did I roll that? You did not roll that. No, that was just, you placed it. 25. 25. You peer over the horizon and there are multitudes of types of buildings.

You could see twisted temples. You can see towers that are bowing in about to fall, if they could here, even. You can see homesteads and inns that themselves are twisted and arcing, some that look like they're folding in on themselves. You see one pristine structure on the western side, about four blocks up the way.

An out-of-place, deep red barn with a faint, almost like a lantern glow from the open maw, the hayloft atop, which at this point, you now notice from the open maw, the hayloft atop, which at this point you now notice there's no lantern light in any of the other buildings. The entire city looks like it's asleep, cold, dead, except for this one warm light coming from that barn. I'll Stage Whisper off the edge of the roof.

That way. Let's go. I'm going to stay up here. Go. I'll shadow them above. Okay. I'll mark that particular roll as the second success in the skill challenge.

To push forward. Right, right. Continuing on this path, as you begin to step and move forward, you begin to hear that rumbling once more. You, glancing from the rooftop, can see other portions of the city begin to shift and move. You watch these two neighborhoods

seem to almost rotate around themselves before one of them falls inward and vanish beneath a cloud of dust that builds up around it. Emerging from that, a spire. A spire. It begins to shift over in your direction. Towards the group down below, or?

It's moving towards the neighborhood where you are. Oh great. Beelining it towards where? Oh great. Guys, big, tall thing. Big, tall thing, big, tall thing's coming our way. Should we run? Bones, bones. Yeah. Okay, run. Let's pick up a little.

Okay. You all begin to run. I would like, this is a group initiative roll to beat the will of the city at the moment, if I can have it. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Our initiative. This is everybody's initiative.

Same bonuses and everything applies. Same bonuses and everything. I have advantage. I'll reroll my open tosser and a natural one. Okay. 19. 17. 19. 17. 14. 21.

Woo! 14. 19. Whoa! Okay, why can't we roll like that when we're fucking fighting? When we're actually fighting? Yeah, that's a pretty solid group initiative check. So yeah, the average of that will beat the DC of 15. As you are now charging and darting down different alleys,

running around from roadscapes, as you move towards it, you can see the road tend to shift and move, like the ground is opening, about to swallow a section of that neighborhood, and you just dart off to the side before it manages to collapse in and begin to pull you in towards its direction. You dart around the next corner with Orym

shouting directions off the top, as loud as you're comfortable shouting in their direction. Stage dart around the next corner with Orym shouting directions off the top, as loud as you're comfortable shouting in their direction. Stage whisper! Um. Go! But as you careen around and shift down another long thoroughfare that seems slightly zigzaggy,

but you can make out that same distant lantern-like glow, you see that tower begin to emerge and as it turns towards your direction, almost like it's gliding and pushing through the ground towards you like a shark fin over the city's horizon, the edges of it begin to pierce out these finger-like bone protrusions as it begins to angle downward,

like it's about to carve downward in your direction. You run, you run, you see at a certain point, you have to choose whether or not you keep to the rooftops, which would probably be safer from the tower, but may not be able to keep up with them, or do you wish to join them on the floor? Your choice. If I'm going to lose them, I'm going to leap,

because if I'm lost, I'm fucked, so I will leap off. Okay, so another acrobatics check for me. 26. 26. Nice. Land quickly. Hey, Orym. Pick up and join the rest of them. It's all fucking German Expressionism.

Go, go, go! Darting towards it, the dark shadow of the tower begins to come into view, and as you all glance up, you hear this horrible, low, rending guttural creaking growl as it begins to bend and collapse to try and cut off the path you're taking. You all push forward and manage to just barely escape from the other side of the shadow before you feel the

in the ground behind you. You see bits of rock and bone go flying ahead of you and for a brief moment, the dust that's kicked up from it obfuscates part of your view, but you push onward and it begins to dissipate. Glancing off behind you, you can see the broken stone of the tower and there emerging from the pile of wreckage, you can see what broken stone of the tower and there emerging from the pile of wreckage,

you can see the front of teeth, like a skull that was hidden within the tower that's now exposed in the rubble. Cool. Yep. Like a big giant skull? Like a 15-foot tall skull. Holy moly.

You talking like Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, sort of? Yeah, yeah, Brittle Brick, Caligari. Classic. This is kind of a little interesting. This is a lot. Is this anything like where you're from? Yeah, a little bit. Oh?

I mean, we don't really have the bones. Well, we don't have the bones. It's a no bones day. No bones day. No bones day. Keep going. Yeah, keep going. Which way? Following your momentum, the road does push a bit. You can feel the stones slipping almost.

The edges of the road don't have the strength to attack you like the tower did, but still almost trying to shake you off one side or the other, but you continue pushing, keeping your footing, and then eventually you can see the ladder that leads up into the hayloft. Oh, we're making it? Of this barn above. Wow.

Why don't we just go, go, go, go, go? Let's go. I'm going to just talk to her as we're coming up. Okay, so you're all climbing up into the? Yes. Okay. I'll need a second. Go, commit Let's go. I'm going to just talk to her as we're coming up. Okay, so you're all climbing up into the? Yes. Okay. I'll need a second. Go, commit, do it. I'm going to help with you.

No, I've got you. I'm just going to, I'm grabbing your wheel and just putting, yeah. Give us the link. Coming up, honey. As you're climbing up the ladder, you can see heavy vine cover seems to be creeping over the top of the barn.

With every rung that you climb, the vines seem to grow and grow, consuming the sides of the building at a pace that is deeply unnatural. Not a smart idea. Do we want to back off? That's where she is, though. Get in there before it covers it up.

I'm going. Okay. So you one by one begin to enter this loft, and the scent of somewhat mildewed hay and animals, the lingering smell of manure and a fresh earth fills the air. For those of you who have spent time on a farm, it is a very familiar smell, though one you haven't really encountered in a while.

Here in this hayloft, you can see, scattered across the ground, a bunch of drawings. You see a little blanket. You see a lantern that the wick has just lit ever so faintly to give a soft glow to the interior. On the ground of this area, which looks a little more dilapidated than you expected, but still functional,

you see a spread of tools, like small tools, a cluster of rough but charming homemade dolls. They're made from twigs and hay and whatever can be found, kind of scavenged. One that looks like a little person. One that looks like a dress

that's wrapped around like a little girl doll. One that looks almost like a bird with a bunch of scavenged feathers jammed into it haphazardly to kind of form the wings, but it just kind of looks like a ramshackle bird. Then another looks like a bigger, taller woman with jewelry has been placed over it.

As they're laid out on the ground, one of them lifts up and you watch as the shadows from just beyond the lantern light begin to form up into a shape of an even younger little girl, maybe three years old. Three? It was made of flickering shadow, that same small purple light in the chest.

Is she shorter than me? Right now, yes. May I look at the piece of jewelry on the older woman doll? You may. I want to look very, not touch, but just look at the pictures, too. Ghost stealing.

What color is it? Looking at it, it's like a rose gold, gentle chain necklace, where it's just these rose gold, gentle chain necklace where it's just these very fine, soft links that give an elegant, feminine look to it as it arcs down to where the chest area would be. There's three gems, these deep set, almost like a ruby red coloration to them.

And they are, it's made for a woman, but this doll, which is about that tall, that represents the woman, you can see the shape of it. It's ragged, but you get the gist of what the sense of it was. The necklace is tied around it once and then is rested over its neck,

and it's very big over its torso. You can see a little bit of moss has been placed on top of it for hair. And at that moment, the shadow girl picks up the larger one and looks at the two and starts moving them towards each other. Hey, Matilda. Hey.

The shadow form looks at it, acknowledges your presence. You by yourself here? In her head, she hears, Who are the dolls, honey? I made a nice woman, and I made a bird that can take me away from here. We can be that bird for you.

We can take you away. Where are we going? Home. Somewhere safe. Is there a mean woman around here? Yeah. Do you know where she is? She won't let me leave. Have you seen her lately?

She's sort of out that way. Have you seen her lately? She's sort of out that way. She points off the opposite side of the open Halof door, that just beyond me, you can see, there's the edge of the shape of the massive tree. Pike said if we got her away, if we could separate them, right? Yeah. So can we just take her and go?

Maybe she'll go with you. Does she have a tether like we do? You don't see a tether like that, no. Okay. What's in the drawings? Are you asking or looking? I'm looking. We ask down at the drawings,

and they're very, very rough child sketches, shapes. Oh, these suck. You suck, mouse. Ah! A lot of them depict, what you can make out to be a family of three, like a mom, a dad, and a little girl. One of them looks like a...

I can't tell if it's a dragon or a snake with wings, but it looks like something that is traveling over the sun. You see one that shows her, like a little girl like her, with a very sad expression on her face. You see one that's just black, dark scribbles on the page, just this voided hole. Matilda?

Can you tell me about this drawing? It's interesting. What were you thinking? You hear in your mind. That's what's beyond the city. That's what everything is now. Have you tried to leave? The tree won't let me.

You're going to come with us, Matilda. We're going to go. Would you like that? You hear it. The tree bone that made the tree. Can I go back to the opening of the barn and just look out at the vines that were moving earlier and just check our surroundings

on the outside of the barn, since this conversation's happening? Indeed. Go ahead and make a perception check for me. We're in the barn. The barn is not close to the tree, right? It's closer, but it is not immediate proximity. 15. 15. The majority of the barn is currently now wrapped in ivy

that's growing denser and darker. Looking at the leaves now, getting a better look at them, the leaves aren't green. They are dark gray to black. I'm sorry to interrupt this very touching reunion. We should get out of here without the shadow. Without? Yeah. We need her. It's a trap.

She's not confined in here. Well, then let's just take her and see if she can grab her, but let's go. And I jump out. You go to jump, and now the ivy is hung down and enclosed at the exit from this barn. As you go to leap, it immediately chokes off the exit point. What do you do? Oh shit.

I'm in mid-jump. As you're about to go ahead and go for the leap. No, stop! Fuck. Watch as Morr tend to begin to rap. Want to try to cut our way out? We could try. I'm curious. Do you have a secret way out of here?

Oh no! I hate it when Chetney's right. Is the oil lamp still there? It is. I'm going to grab the oil lamp and hold it up. I don't know if threats work here, but I'm going to make one. Oh, we're going to burn ourselves in a barn?

Shh, it doesn't know that. The ivy is now beginning to expand into the barn itself from both entrances. Hammer your way out of the side or something. You're going to start hacking at it. Sure. Let's pick a point, boys.

Go ahead and roll an attack for me. The barn itself, it's made out of, you said it's made out of wood, but is it the stone wood or the wood wood? You can go and inspect it if you like. I can inspect the floor. Inspect the floor? Yeah. I mean, it looks like a wood texture.

Okay, I'll just... Chetney, is this wood or stone? No, that's true. Chetney would know. It's wood. It is wood. It's wood, okay. Tongue doesn't lie. All right, wherever you guys did something. It's wood. It is wood. It's wood, okay. Tongue doesn't lie. All right, wherever you just did some. So you hadn't cut through the vines.

Rolled damage. Yeah, it was a natural 20 for 28. 28 points of damage. No, no, that was the attack roll. That was the attack roll. What's the damage? It is five doubled, so it's 16. 16? Yeah. You carve through a heavy section of the vines and leave an opening for you, about Orym's size if you were to leap now.

Sure, I'll go. I'll be the first out. But I'm going to grab vines on the outside and try to continue to hack, hanging off the outside. Cool. You hang back. The area where you cut through begins to close up and the vines on your arm begin to wrap around your arm. I'm going to take a big, oh god.

You need to roll a dexterity saving throw to see if you can avoid being grappled by... That's a 12. That's a 12? Yeah. You just barely pull out of the grass. It's not extremely fast vines, necessarily, but you land on the outside, and now, lancing up in this dark space,

you can see it is this cocoon-like dome of black ivy that has completely entrapped the exterior of this. You can just see the faintest bit of interior lantern light from where Ashton is holding it aloft, and you can see it moving between the slight gaps in the ivy as it gets denser and denser. I guess that's it. I'm going to hit it again.

I'm going to hit it just where that opening is. I'm going to try and open it up a little bit more. Okay. A big swing. Which I have to remember my BC are down. So... 23? 23 is ahead, go ahead and roll damage. And that's...

10 points of damage. 10 points of damage. 10 points of damage. You slam into a portion of it. The hammer doesn't do as much damage as you would hope. It's impacting, but it's blunt against a somewhat stretchy, plant-based, if it's even plant-based, lifeform. And while you do push it partially open,

it's not enough for you to squeeze through without some serious difficulty, which you can try. I'm just going to open it up for other people right now. Okay. I'll try to run through. You're going to try and run through. I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw for me as you leap through the hole that he leaves. Oh boy.

14. 14. You just barely slip through. It is a bit of a fall. I'd like you to make a dexterity check again. Can I try to break it? Or sorry, an acrobatics check for me. Can I try to be under her and help break it when she?

Sure, I'll allow advantage on that then. That's so much better. 21. 21, cool. So you catch Imogen landing back a bit on your back leg, definitely breaking the fall for any damage, but you're going to be bruised. So you catch Imogen landing back a bit on your back leg, definitely breaking the fall for any damage, but you're going to be bruised.

Thank you. Just disappears. A little help here? Yep, should we all cut? All right, how about we all cut together? Small, medium, large? We'll just cut together? Sure. All right.

Tiny hand. On three. Three! Three! Three! What are you cutting? You got something to cut with. I have my Moonssiggle, yeah. An attack from each of you, if you don't mind. 24 to hit. 24 hits. 19 to hit.

19 hits. 15. 15 hits. Okay. Oh, damage. One big old d4. All right, these are all slashing damage from you guys? Mine is, yeah. Yeah. 10 points of slashing damage. All right, these are all slashing damage from you guys? Mine is, yes. 10 points of slashing damage. Oh wait, mine says bludgeoning.

You're attacking with your? Handsaw. Oh, that should be slashing. It should probably be slashing. Mine's piercing, sorry. Piercing, okay. Four points. Okay, four points.

Yours is piercing? That's what it says. Okay. Five points of damage. Okay. You all cut and mince through, Yours is piercing? So it does. Okay. Five points of damage. Okay. You all cut and mince through, and it's cutting away bits, but not as fast as it is enclosing.

And after a few moments of thrashing about, you get the sense that you're not making enough headway to improve your chances of escape. I got an idea. Oh! I drop my blade across my cheek. Fire comes up from the chisel. I try one more with fire on it this time.

I'm going to try one more also, and this time I'm going to spin my blade up with my right hand and bonus action cast Spiritual Weapon, making a second handsaw blade. Whoa! I'm going to slash like that. Okay, okay. 23 to hit on the second strike.

First one, natural one. Woo! Spiritual weapon? Uh-huh. Second one is a 14 plus something. Probably good. This is for the spiritual weapon? Yeah. Okay. 11 points of slashing damage on the first hit.

21 to hit on the second one. What's the fire damage? Oh, thank you. Six points between the two hits. And six points from my spiritual weapon. Okay, I got it. So as you carve through, the spiritual weapon seems to make a decent impact on part of it, but it is still an immense net

of now feverishly growing ivy. Not only is it stretching and filling the inside of the space as it gets darker and darker around you, elements of its tendrils are now whipping out in your direction, attempting to grasp at whatever's damaging it. Can I, from the ground, witch bolt up to the tendrils

that are closing off the hole? If you'd like to, sure. Yeah. Go for it. I'm going to go ahead and quickly explain here what happened to you as well. As you strike out, the flames flare up across it and where the edge of the fire catches it, you watch the ivy retract and pull away for a second.

It burns off and ashes fall from where the flames hit. A fire cantrip? Do you have a fire cantrip? Duh! Oh, so fire's good. However, those of you that are still up in there, which is all four of you, you all, actually, I'd like you all to roll a constitution saving throw,

if you don't mind. Sure. All group? Everyone who's inside. That's you, too. No, he's out. Ashton? No. I'm not out. Oh, no, Ashton's not out.

I thought I was, sorry. I can't tell Liam and Taliesin's voice apart. 17. 17. 17, okay. It'm not out. Oh, no, actually, it's not out. I thought it was, sorry. I can't tell Liam and Taliesin's voice apart. 17. 17. 17, okay. It's not magic. Ugh. It's a magical effect? Aren't you lonely, fuck? I'm lonely like shit. 20. Technically.

Technically. Technically what? It's a necromantic effect. So yeah, did you get it? 20? 20, great. It's technically a magical effect if you have some kind of thing. 17. 17, okay.

So the three of you lose one hit die. Oh. You lose two. Two hit? One hit die? Yes. What does that mean? From short rest? Yes. Fruit rest packs. As the vines are going to reach out and begin to crawl up your arms,

and as they do, you feel an element of your vitality just siphon out of your body. All right, everybody, get back. I reach out behind my back and I pull out a stick of dynamite. What? I hold the wood chisel to it. I'm like, get back!

Ooh! Speed up, speed up, we got to go, we're going to go! Speed the tape up, and it's just. Did you know? Yeah, I'm going to approach it. So I take it the other three of you back up with Chetney? I mean, as far as we can.

You go through all the- Big ol' smile. The rest of you turn around in the other direction. I'll hold up one of the dolls to break the thing and I heal myself. You turn the other direction. I hold up one of the dolls to break the barrier and I heal myself. You turn the other direction and the entrance where you came in from is entirely covered in black ivy. It is currently crawling in your direction,

causing you to stop for a moment right at this beat. You glance over and can see where you threw the dynamite, it impacted and the ivy wrapped around it to almost consume it, except for where the spark is. It didn't work. and an ivy wrapped around it to almost consume it, except for where the spark is. Shh. It didn't work.

It detonates. This horrible blasting sound just tears into the silence and the air around. You can see the entryway is completely blown apart and open. Your exit out in the direction of where the two other compatriots of yours are is free for the moment. Can we take the dollies?

Can we take the dollies with the necklace? Yep. Okay, so you go ahead and grab the dollies. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go! Can I get an acrobatics check from all four of you? I'm going to assume that that happened right as I was about to cast Witch Bolt. You're about to cast Witch Bolt and then you just watch it detonate.

Thankfully, far enough from the both of you where none of you take damage, but it definitely rings your ears, and you have to take a moment to pay attention. Was it a dexterity saving throw? Oh, this is an acrobatics check. Oh, acrobatics. 20, 30, 20.

20? 10. 13. Six. I'm rolling crap. It? 10. 13. Six. I'm rolling crap. It's okay. Remember that initiative that we had? That was pretty good. Fearne, you take two points of bludgeoning damage

as you land a little hard on one ankle. You take six as you land, but the piece of rock that you land on slips up from under your foot and you end up taking most of the impact on your tailbone. Ow! That sucks. That's going to leave a mark. Which is itself a stone.

Yeah. Makes a spark. Excellent use of the dynamite. I should probably get the fuck out of here. That's not what I have. Did I take damage when I landed? Sorry. No, you rolled well. Oh, okay. We should try moving towards the tree.

In my humble opinion. Quickly. Yeah, that was loud. Towards the damage? Six. Can we hear any rumbling? Is there anything attracted to that explosion? You're uncertain what's attracted to the explosion, but you do hear rumbling

as you continue pushing further into the city. Just wrecking the street. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Magnetism's all about everywhere. Yeah. General rule. You blow shit up, you run.

Yeah. Running forward. Is it a clear path? Right now, you glance towards the direction of the tree and move around to where it looks like a main street is. As you turn to spin, hoping for a straight shot, what you see is buildings going and behind on the opposite side. Structure Frogger is currently now

shifting in the path in front of you before it comes to a stop. Oh, it came to a stop. But your pathway is blocked by a large structure in front of you. Left? Left! Big fan of left. Wait, wait, wait! I'm going to flip my coin.

Oh, to figure out which way to ride? Yeah. Left. As we're running left? Left. I'm going to say, coin. Oh, to figure out which way to ride? Yeah. Left. As we're running left? Left. I'm going to say, heads right, tails left. Heads right. Right. We're already going left.

So as many of you begin to charge to the left, FCG just arcs to the left. FCG! Turn around and I run with FCG. Turn around, turn around. Okay. Divine Conqueror! That's how this game works! Not splitting party. So FCG, turn around here. Okay. Divine Conqueror! That's how this game works! Not splitting apart.

So FCG, hearing the rumbling, different parts of the city are now mobilizing again in the distance. You're uncertain how close or how far they are. The sound eventually becomes this shifting drone. As you push forward, arcing to the left around another pathway, trying to inch your way in the direction

of where the tree is, you can just make out now the shape of it is beginning to crest over the rooftops above you, and you can start seeing the outside of where the tree is. You can just make out now, the shape of it is beginning to crest over the rooftops above you, and you can start seeing the outside of the branches now just barely visible. You're getting closer and closer to the center of the city. As you're pushing through, in the darkness, you pick up another bit of warm firelight,

another structure just down this part of an alley that has a bit of a fire glow through a window. And that's ahead of us or branching away, like off of our current path? It's along the way. It's ahead of you before you probably turn left to go further into the depth of the city. Yes. Orym silently points up at the light.

Yes. I'll follow. We've got to stop. We've got to go. What is that thing? Do we? We go. We're getting more information. I think we have to go. I think we're waking her up.

I think she's already awake. Look at this. We've been awake the whole time. Not that one. We're waking up the other one. That's the problem. I think we need to find a solution. Did you detect, you could hear her thoughts or no? Yeah.

Should we do, like, how far away from this light? Where you're standing right now, you just noticed it, probably about 60, 70 feet. You can just go closer and do what you think. She's a baby, I'm just saying. I mean, I've still got a telepathic connection with her. Okay, ask her if she's in a glowy place. It's not for her, it's for us.

I'll reach out. Did you run? You hear Laudna's voice respond, older. Sounds like her, maybe a little younger than you know her as. Oh, hello. Where are you? Who's this?

It's Imogen, I'm her friend. Oh, I'm very busy right now, I'm getting dressed. Oh no. Don't you do it, Dom fucking. Are you going to a dinner? Yeah, are you going to? Who is this? Matilda? Yeah?

Don't go. I must, I'm sorry, I'm out. And you feel the connection go cold for a second. The light's still up. The light's still up. Orym. Don't go! Don't go!

Don't go! Communication! That was the greatest thing I've ever seen. We can't change what happened back there. We can't let you handle right now. It's a distraction. You should go. What are you saying? I'm saying we can't change what happened. If we can just keep her away from Delilah,

maybe we can, maybe Delilah will get stronger the closer that Laudna is. I don't know how it works. As we keep moving to these, as we're moving towards these candlelit houses, are we moving closer to the Sun Tree? The tree. You're moving periphery to it,

meaning the direction towards the light is equidistant from where you are, but then it turns left in the direction towards the center of the city. I think it's not about changing things. I think it's about more of her. Just making more of her here. Last one we went into fucked a lot of you guys up.

All right. Mm-hmm. All right, let's skip then. One goes in. Then come on. Question for you. You knew. But did Delilah live in Whitestone? It feels like we're going through Laudna's memories.

Matilda's memories. Did Delilah live here somewhere? She didn't live down here. She lived in a castle. There's no castle. Not yet, not now. Do you have the doll still? Yeah. So you grab it.

Yeah. Go see it. Yeah. Who you showing it to? I was curious if anything had changed about it. No, it remains the same. I cheated on it. Did you grab both of them, the little girl and the little one? I grabbed all three and the bird.

All three and the bird, okay, yeah. So they all are unchanged from how you grabbed them. That necklace is interesting. I don't know. Does it look real? Doesn't look like one. It looks real. I'm... I don't want to take the necklace. And do what with it?

I don't know. Could see what happens. What do you mean, what happens? I don't know. I see what happens. What do you mean, what happens? I don't know. I'm going to remove the necklace from the doll. Okay, remove the necklace from the doll. The doll burns away into ash. Ah, fuck. That's okay.

But you got a necklace. But I got a necklace. Can you? Oh, look at the necklace. And do what? Identify it. Identify it. But it's a thing. Okay, sure, all right. Never going to stop now. Give me, I'll identify it. But it's a thing. Okay, sure, all right. Never going to stop now.

Give me, I'll identify it. Okay. It is a very well-made necklace with some well-polished jasper gems placed within it. It is not magical. It just looks very nice. Is jasper green? It can be multiple colors.

There's deep red. Yeah, as far as, this one in particular is like a dark, almost burgundy red. Can't even remember. It's a necklace. Oh, it's pretty. It's a dream. It's a ghost dream necklace. I still think this is going to be important later.

I've just decided. I still think this is going to be important later. I've just decided. I agree with you. Does it have a scent? We're going to put it on so we don't lose it. Shh! Yeah. I put it on. All right, so we're not going in there. Should I go in?

I kind of want to get in. I'm going to go in. Of course we want to. All of us want to, but we shouldn't. It's one more thing of Lagna. It smells nice. Like, it smells like a perfume. Hmm.

Roswell. It might be me. Let's, the barn tried to eat everybody, I'm just saying. Oh, we got a necklace. All right, let got a necklace. All right, let's just go. How about two of us go and check while the others stay outside? I'm going in. You're going in? I'm going in. Let's do it. You can fly.

If I'm not using the navigation. All right, so the two of you end up going up to the- You two? Oh fuck. So as the two of them rush up, which is not directly on the path where you're going, but it does pass by. So you have to move about 15 or so feet off the immediate path to go to this,

what you see now is a window. There's a glass window that the light is from the interior of a building. As you approach and glance inside, you can immediately see what looks to be a very modest farmhome interior, complete with a warm crackling fire in the hearth. There's an old cabinet that's not full,

but there's definitely some piles of dishes in there, some plates and cups. You can see a sun-bleached rug that denotes the center of the room alongside a small dining table where two of the three chairs are turned towards the center of the room. Sitting on each of these chairs,

you see an older, motherly-looking woman in a nice pale green dress with an apron, currently taking the apron off and is sitting down and pulling something off of the table. In the other chair, you see an older man with black hair, that's salt and pepper, with a big gray beard that looks like it's aged faster than his head did.

He is tanned, rough hands, and looks like he's trying to get into an ill-fitted, nicer suit than he's used to wearing. He's getting prepared. You don't hear anything. You just see them talking. You see their lips moving. The woman reaches over and takes

a folded outfit, it looks like, a piece of clothing, and holds it outward. In the middle of the room, you now notice there is a flickering bit of shadow in a feminine teenage form. Parents are sending her off to dinner. Are they going with her? Are the parents going to dinner as well?

I don't think so. I don't think they will. They don't look like anyone. The father doesn't look like anyone. You can make a perception check if you'd like. Can I assist or do one, too? Hmm? If you'd like to, yeah. Okay.

15. 15. What are you asking? If they... I don't know what they look like. I don't know what they look like. He doesn't look like Percy or Percival de Rojo. No, no, no, no, no. They're just an older, lower-class couple

from the outskirts of Highest Height. They're looking through the window. They're giving her the dress that Byerwood's is. Anything creepy? Yeah. Make a perception check. Son of a bitch! Look out, Ivy League! 17.

17, okay. Keeping an eye out, you can hear, while the buildings have stopped shifting, there is a creaking sound, a distant kind of So sweet. True, true. Just a moment.

Imogen. Whatever you're going to do, too fast. I'm just touching a glass. I hear wood moving. Imogen. Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. I'm just touching a glass. I hear wood moving. Imogen. Matilda? Think less about the past and let's try and deal with the now. Stop trying to change what happened. Change what's happening right now.

We are not time traveling. She is there. Matilda? You see the shadow form accepting this, what looks to be a nice shawl and a blouse, a simple blouse and a dark skirt, unfolding in a bit and holding it and looking at it. Can you hear me?

The shape looks over in your direction. Oh, hello, it's you. Something bad's going to happen. We're going to help you, okay? When it starts to get scary, you just come find us. We're going to get you home, okay? Roll a persuasion check. You mean like, okay, okay, okay.

Take a good one. Persuade the ghost of Laudna not to die. Guidance. Okay. Jesus. Persuasion? 16. 16, okay.

You see the shape look up at you and almost put a hand up to match yours across the glass. You see the mother stand up, get a bit huffy. The voices elevate a little bit and you could hear some of the conversation. You can now begin to make out, there's just low mutterings through the glass. Now the woman's going,

Well, we have to be ready soon. They're not going to just wait for us. Come on, put it on. We have to go. This is the best dress I have. I gave you what I could wear, but you have to make us proud. The father figure stands up and begins to finish putting on a tie that you see is fumbling with and,

I swear, Laudna. Laudna. Wait, what? He called her Laudna. Is that her mom's name? Oh. Wait, what? Oh. Wait, what? Oh.

Oh. What? We've got a deal soon. This is going to go bad soon. Oh. Oh. She's breaking. Let's keep her going.

What, do we go? Do we go? Do we stay? Should we knock? No. I think all of these creatures are not... We'll have to fight them if we break the vision. Tell her that. Tell her what? Everything's going to hurt.

The mother is now behind the shadow figure of Laudna, helping put the blouse on, getting the skirt ready, and goes, They're not your parents. My beautiful Laudna, we put the blouse on, getting the skirt ready, and goes, They're not our parents. My beautiful Laudna, we're getting you ready for this. Tell Laudna they're not her parents. Matilda, I need you to remember it's not real. This isn't real.

I need you to remember who you are. Remember us. Go ahead and just roll a d20 for me. No modifiers. Modifiers? No modifiers. So add a plus 10. Okay. Six. Six. That's good.ifiers. No modifiers. So add a plus 10. Okay. Six.

Six? Six. That's good, that's good. Yeah, we want it to be low, because otherwise your brain would explode. Okay. That is a failure in the crux of the skill checks. That's a failure in the crux. So we're now at three successes

and one failure for certain important a failure in the box. Skill checks. So we're now at three successes and one failure for certain moments. Failure, cool, cool, cool, cool. For certain moments. Okay. You watch as she takes the dresses now on her. You watch as she takes the dresses now on her. The figure looks out towards you, looks at the parents,

and then turns and heads back into the house and begins to vanish up to a distant room. The two parents look at each other dumbfounded and angry, and then both of them Uh-oh. Oh no. look towards you with the glass,

with a faint green sheen through the eyes. What do you do? Talala. We're coming for you. Oh shit. We made a promise, bitch. Ooh. They both reach out towards you,

screeching at the glass. I'm here! I was just looking at you! The glass shatters, and both of them go reaching out towards both of you. You can see their jaws elongate unnaturally as their eyes just brighten with this sickly, deep, bright green.

I'm going to immediately just sword burst. Okay. Oh boy. I'm going to cast Speak with Animals. Perfect. I panicked. Shit, that wasn't the one. Plant growth. Oh wait, no, shit.

Okay. That's wrong. So that is going to be a 15 against you, Imogen? Oh, but I have my mage armor up. So I am 15. 15, so that just barely hits. Okay. And for you, it's a 19. That hits. That hits, okay. So both of you

take 11 points of necrotic damage. So both of you take 11 points of necrotic damage. And you take five points of necrotic damage. Can we see dead things coming out the window? You both, the rest of you watch as the window shatters and these deep gray, black, slightly green tendrils of smoke seem to spear out and surround the torsos of both Imogen and Fearne.

And what are you both doing? You're casting Sword Burst? I instantly cast Sword Burst as they were coming at us. Okay. Is that a save for both of them? Is it a single target? If they're within five feet of me.

They both would be, yeah, because you guys are pretty close together. Yeah, that's a save, a dex save. Okay. That's bad. And 15? 16. 16, so they both fail. I was going to say, bad for you or bad for us?

That's five points of force damage to both of them. Five points of force damage to each, you got it. And then Fearne? Stick with animals? Yeah. Are they right in front of us or still behind the glass? No, the glass is shattered

and they're now reaching out towards both of you. As they're screaming, their bodies shifting outward, this dark necrotic energy is now swirling around you. Their bodies are now transitioning into a cloudy spectral form that is surrounding you. Poison spray. Okay.

Poisoning the undead things? Yeah, probably a really dumb thing to do. No. Okay. It's a constitution saving throw. Well, fire didn't work against them, so that, you know. We're learning. We're trying something else. So you put out the poison spray.

It doesn't seem to have much of an effect, unfortunately, on these immaterial beasts, but, you know. Good try, good try. Panic happens. Orym would sprint cannonball through the air and take a slash at each of the tendrils if they're elongated out the window.

Yeah, go for it. All right. Yeah, I'd take a swipe at the front. Try and snap one of them. Right. So actually, given this fact, everyone going into this, this is a quick Theater of Mind combat initiative. So everybody roll up fast.

So we also roll initiative? Those who are engaging in this. I will also engage. So we are rolling initiative for this little theater of the mind-y? For this little theater of the mind, we are, yes. Just to establish a quick order of how things will go. Critical Role Players presents

Combat of the Mind. All right, so 25 to 20. 23. 21. Okay, so we have one. Okay, 20 to 15. 16. All righty. 15 to 15? 16. All righty. 15 to 10?

14. All righty. 11. What were you, Imogen? I was 10. I'm 10. I'm just 10, that's all. All right, with that, so Orym, you're up first. Okay, okay, Orym spr, with that. So Orym, you're up first. Okay, okay.

Orym sprints as soon as he sees that happen and then leaps over. So I'm just going to arc over and slash once, twice over each. I got a 17 and a 24. Both hit. Okay. First one to the fern tendril takes seven points of damage,

and the imaging tendril takes nine points of damage. Nice, okay. Rebound off the wall and hit the ground. You back up and it cuts through fine, though it feels like you're cutting through the air itself. You can see elements of it splitting, dividing, and having to reform. You can see the general shape of both of these parents,

but the shapes are now twisted and pulled out and the skin's just turning into gray smoke as the faint elements of their facial features are now just discorporating into whatever their next form is, swirling around both of them. That finishes your go. Ashton, you're up. I'm going to run up and just take a big 360-degree arc and attempt to bludgeon out the tendril

that's attacking Imogen. Go for it. I'm taking two swipes. Two swipes of that one, you got it. That's a 19 to hit. Okay, that hits. Ramune! Ooh, that's good, that's 16 points of damage.

16 points of damage with a heavy as you sweep through the hammer, you can see you That's 16 points of damage. 16 points of damage with a heavy as you sweep through the hammer, you can see you carve a major chunk of its still forming physical body out. As it does, you watch it dissipate into the air around it. Give it another strike. Yeah, quick question about,

does it look like this fucked it up at all? Or is it looking rough or no? It's looking like it's hurting. All right, quick question about Chaos Burst. Do I have to call Chaos Burst before I hit, or can I do it after? I'm fine out of the way. I look at the wording on it.

Does it say upon a hit? When you hit with a melee attack, you can expend a use of this feature to deal. So you can do it after you hit. Oh, thank god, because I rolled a natural 20. That'll help. Ashton has to yell it out loud. That's true, you have to scream it at the top of your lungs.

Yeah, it acts similarly to a Divine Smite and other on a hit, you charge it with the Chaos Burst. Excellent. All right. All right. Carmina D, that's for? Theater of the mind. Of the mind.

Yeah, this is going to be loud anyway. It's going to be a little loud because it's going to be thunder damage. Let's see, it increases when you reach certain levels in the class, 2d4, it's six, 2d6, it's 14. It's a 2d6. Okay, so... Let me see, okay, so that's... 16, 17, 18, 19.

22 points of normal damage. On the second one? On the second hit. Okay. And... 14 points of thunder damage. Ooh, hit. Okay. And 14 points of thunder damage. Ooh, whoa. Okay. As the second strike hits,

it just barely glides past Imogen's face. The precision in which you strike and sweep down with it takes whatever the center of this incorporeal form is and slams it into the ground with a thunderous explosion. The ground cracks and dents from the impact of the hammer and you watch as the somewhat ghostly smoke form dissipate into the air.

I love that we're making noise every place we're going. It feels really good to hit somebody's parents. It's not like it doesn't know where we are. FCG, you're up. That was one gone? That's one gone, just this one wrapping around Fearne currently.

Oh no, all right. One midnight call. Matt, I want you to use your imagination to just imagine Okay, yeah. FCG, panicky, bounding with his wheel across, making up the distance towards them. Anguish on his face.

You have to imagine all this, because we can't show it, obviously. It's valid, yeah. Aiming his little body up towards Fearne and firing a sacred flame toward the entity around her. All righty. That is a dexterity save there. It's a dexterity 14 save.

Right, that is a natural two. That is a failure.ity save there. It's a dexterity 14 save. Right, that is a natural two. That is a failure. Hey, okay, 2d8. Get him! Yes! Six. Two. Plus, nope, that's it. Eight points of radiant damage.

It bursts around it. I think that's good. You watch as it impacts, and the creature seems to recoil away from the blast of light energy that seems to burn and consume part of its body. Where you saw it was wrapping around Fearne, one section of her shoulder is now exposed

where it seems to have pulled away from where that burst of flame was. Amazing, but it didn't die, right? No. Okay. Bonus action, remind the audience that you can become a D&D Beyond subscriber and unlock exclusive spooky character backdrops this month. dndbeyond.link slash CRsub.

That's the end of my turn. I actually used the wrong dice. I re-rolled for the thunder damage. I re-rolled the proper dice. I got 12 points of thunder damage. Is that? Okay. Yeah, sorry. I forgot to read the fine print.

That's okay. It taketh away. Good looking out, though. Still enough. All right, the finish turn? Oh yeah, that's it. Yeah, I used my bonus action. Okay. Fearne, I need you to go ahead

and make a wisdom saving throw for me. Now. I saw that happening. Okay. Now. Is this a magical effect or anything like that? No. I wouldn't say it's not a spell or a magical effect. Okay. 21.

21. As it pulls away, Fearne, you feel this swirling entity around you and suddenly your eyes go dark. The rest of you watch as it begins to push into her eyes, her nose, and her mouth. Like it's trying to force its way into her to try and just burrow into Fearne.

You take it in and you watch as it vanishes into Fearne's body. She sits up straight. And how do you expel it? Tickles. That went inside, right? Yeah. Can you make it go outside? It's weird,

I can feel it right here. Can you get it out? How? I don't know. Oh god. She watches it, pours out both of her ears before reforming up above her.

You see the weird wraith-like smoke creature angrily now reform above. Yeah! What did you do? That was weird. That was so gross. That finishes its turn. Chetney, you're up. I run up the side of the farm, get away from my bitch!

It went into her and then it went out of her? Yeah. She forced it out. Oh, she forced it. First one's a natural 20. The second one is a 17. So is that? Natural 20 and a 17. Oh yeah, both hit. Oh wow. Sweet. First one is nine plus two. That's 22 points of damage.

Six of those are fire damage. And the second one is 10. 13 points of damage. Three of those are fire. Great. How do you want to do this? Ah! I'll run towards Fearne after having blown it out of years,

and I'll literally just run up her leg, jump up off her shoulder and be like, Ha ha ha! I land on her shoulder. As you angrily cut through it, it angrily hisses as its body is just scattered in 14 different directions, and then eventually just dissipates

into the atmosphere around her. Thank you, Jett. No problem. What a team. You you, Jett. No problem. What a team. You okay, babe? I'm doing swell. Okay. And I backflip off her shoulders. I see. I want to look up stories now.

Poof! Wait, you want to go deeper? Is she still here? Guys, I think we should go do what we came here to do. Before we do any more damage to ourselves. Just a little quick look, one of us could go. Anyone need any healing or anything? I mean, I went down a little bit,

but I don't want to waste your... If you need it. Yeah, the short rest isn't really an option at this point. So we're either going upstairs to take a look to see if the shadows up there were going. The light's still on upstairs? There was no light upstairs. It was just the light of the main chamber

where you looked into the window. Is there a soft purple glow coming through the windows? I give you a Cure Wounds. You don't see a light upstairs. It just seems dead? For the moment, yeah. Cure Wounds is? The address is gone.

Five points. There's nothing in the, is there anything in, like, just looking through the window, is there anything in the living room that? Looking through the window, you can see the table, the chairs, the rug, all the interior decor of the room still remains with the little bit of firelight from the fireplace.

It looks like it's just the room left as it was. Do you want to? No objects that she handled, nothing that Laudna specifically touched, other than basic ass. No. Moving on? No objects that she handled, nothing that Laudna specifically touched, other than basic ass. No. Moving on?

Honestly, I'd rather go get rid of Delilah before we have to watch Laudna go through this again. I think we're going to see when we go to that tree. Come on. I just want more of this. Let's start pit padding. Okay. So Orym moves ahead. Everyone else following suit?

Yep. Okay, leaving the lit interior of this room and the fight that just transpired behind you, you begin to push onward towards the center of the city. You can hear the shifting of buildings once more. But this time, the path is opening. Oh. Oh no.

The road begins to straighten. And as you turn the corner, there is a singular roadway that leads straight to the center, where you can now see, though still a distance from you, the base of the tree. You can see the ground itself breaking up in places.

You can see where the elevated portions of the shelf that the city was built upon are pushing up and causing an odd pattern of topography around it. Bits of scattered stone and cobblestone street chunks just lay around the space where you step, but it leads into the central courtyard, the marketplace in the center of the city. There, a heavy fog with a faint green underlight

just fills and nearly enshrouds the ground at the base of the tree. Continue on. I think we've lost our surprise attack here. Is there anything we need to do to prepare for what's to come? I mean, there's going to be some... If you want to guide us before we go in. Necromantic shit.

Lots of bone, lots of ghosts. I hate this shit. She knows we're coming. It's going to be rough. Let's go. All right. You don't need any healing there, Chet? Mm. Okay, baby.

You okay? Yeah. Save it. Save it? Save it in case someone goes down. I will do my sympathetic. I'd like to remind you, as part of the spell, when anyone goes to zero hit points.

Goes to zero hit points, they're out. That's right. So we do have to keep everybody up. Fuck, that's true. So yeah, if you got it. Okay. As long as you have ways of I will. We get rid of everything you have.

Yeah, I mean, we're here to play, right? I'll pump a Cure Wounds into you, Chetney. Shit. If you'll accept it. From you? Always. Six points. I'll take it.

Oh baby, I'm riding the lightning. Maybe I should take this potion. Your astral potion, yeah. Does it work here? If you take it here, will it be gone in real life? Way to find out. Ah! Okay, okay.

Okay, so four's in there. 11, 13, 13 plus, what is it? Plus four? That's a superior. Yeah, superior would be plus four. 17 points of healing. And is it gone? It's gone. It's gone? I know, it's gone here. In real life? Eh.

Does the Kool-Aid go up the cable into the sky? Oh yeah. We'll find out when you get back. Uh-huh, uh-huh. I will do my Sympathetic Binding with Imogen and Orym and, boy, do I sense Lautna anywhere?

She's so loud. At this distance, nothing. You have no bead on where she might be. Then I will bind also with Ashton. I also reach in and I take out a potion vial that's got some gray liquid in it. Yeah. Fuck it.

Oh, you're doing it. A potion of possibility. I'm going to do it, too. Okay, so both of you drink Potions of Possibility that gives you each two motes. Eight hours. Yep. Oh boy. Seems like a good time to do it.

This is for the arthritis. Glucosamine is fucking awesome. Are you sure it's for arthritis and not for something else? Well, it helps virility as well. Okay. That's never been a problem for this whole dog. Not a bummer on him. Yep.

I have two on me, so maybe I should just down one also. I mean, this is our friend, right? As long as we have a couple left at the end of this. You have to choose when you expend the additional die roll before you make it. Like, you give yourself advantage before the roll, not after you've rolled it. It's true.

Got it. You look at the wording. You make an attack roll or ability check or saving throw, you can expend your fragment to roll an additional d20 and choose which of the d20s to use. Correct. It doesn't say before. I think you choose.

I think it acts in the way of luck, so I think you roll first and then decide if you want to. Got it. Because you can roll. Because otherwise, you're just giving yourself advantage on it. It is a decently powerful one-use item. So yeah, it's intended to be after the roll.

Cool. Luck and a bottle. I will also, bonus action, pump in, who'd pump four extra hit points to, right, hit points would help us in this situation. I think so. I mean, they're all one of us, or something. I'll pump four extra temporary hit points into you, Imogen. We were saying pump too much.

Then I will pump. You are pumped. You are. What did you expect, Liam? Yes. Who's Liam? Oh boy. Yeah. No one anywhere.

I'm always pumping. All the time. Can you just pump one person or can you pump multiple people? I can pump all of you. Are you spending things when you pump? The one who's bound, right? Who's bound to me, yes. Are you spending things when you pump? The one who's binding, right? Who's bound to me, yes.

But are you spending points when you pump? You don't know. If I would, I'm fine, is what I'm going to say. I don't need a pump. I don't need your pump, maybe. So I'll just find out. I'm spiritually connected to you now. This is your first?

First being bonded. It's pretty foul. I'll be gentle this time. Feathers only. So many points. Risking before death. All potions drinking, all prep completed for those who need anything to do.

I'm good. I'm feeling good. I have vamped out Mister when we got here. Is he still floating around, a little ball of fire? Yeah, I assume he'll be following behind. Okay. Just that single flame following you. Okay.

There's a few places where, if I take a swing, I can probably move you across the board if you can't get far enough somewhere. I've been thinking about that. Plus, just in general, advantage, advantage, advantage. Pinning anybody. Anybody else? No, but I will say,

if it looks like Delilah freezes at all, try to hit her. If she freezes at all? Yeah. What does that mean? We'll find out. What? What? What do you mean?

Is there a marching order you'd like to give a part upon me? Let's spread out so we're not all clumped together. I'll go up front. I got the nose. Okay. I'll follow next to Chetney. All righty. I'll take the edge. At a 10-foot,

like how wide of a street are we on? The street here widens out to about, let's see, about 20, 25 feet across. Then eventually seems to open up into the main town square. Then I'm going to go on the other side of Imogen. Okay. Going to row. I'm going to go on Orym's left.

There? Yeah. Reservoir dog style. I'm going to be a little bit behind Imogen and Orym, just in that little, yeah. I'm going to be all the way to the left of Fearne. Okay. Okay. So.

Ready to move forward? Yeah. Yes. Reservoir.com. You clamber in the direction of this tree. Resolute, tense. Everything you could possibly muster at your disposal in preparation of what it greets you here. As the towering shape

of the Sun Tree gets closer and closer, the fog begins to consume the floor. Just elements of the rocky shelves and bits of jutting stone emerging from the ground, breaking past the layer of fog around you, that dull green light filling the space as you go. You can see that eerie green light just

fills the entire landscape around you. You can see that towering, dreadful shape fills the entire landscape around you. You can see that towering, dreadful shape of the tree. The leafless branches tangled and climb, like stretching arms, reaching for solace and finding none. Dozens of lengths of rope just dangle from different branches at different lengths, cut or left open at the end. A flicker of dark purple sparks across the ground.

It begins to swirl into a torrent of ominous power that rises and coalesces into another shadowy form. This one, a scattered, amethyst being of swirling haze and evil presence, vaguely feminine in form, as it stands there before you. Fond memories.

We're going to go to break. Oh! Oh my bitch, you're back and we're going to be in trouble. What do you think it is? Dear Lord, Delilah's back. Fucking Briarwoods won't stay down. Ah. There's a reason why.

A bit bad. Steve, when you tether yourself to a being that lies in undeafened secrets and you make characters that are deeply entrenched in their continued existence, this happens. Goddamn it, Marisha! But yeah, we'll come back here shortly after this break and see where this takes us.

See you in a few minutes. 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, the spectral purple energy gathers in this feminine form that you ascertain is to be a representation, if not the representation, of the entity that has been residing deep within Laudna, Delilah Briarwood. You can see the outline of her face as it seems to blur at times and then come into focus once more.

At other times, you see gaps swirl up and then it has to reform. There's a confidence as her shoulders pull back, but still an intangibility to the way her body tries to tether itself into the space. Well. Interesting to see you all face to face finally. Laudna.

Do we see Laudna anywhere here? You make a perception check. That's 25. 25. Glancing quickly about the space, you can see the boulders and rock shelves of this broken center of the city. Looking through the tree, you can see the various hanging ropes

and your first expectation is to see her there, but she's not present amongst the hanging, I don't mean nooses, just hanging ropes. Above them, though, you see that faint, similar coloration to the energy that makes up Delilah's form. That very faint purple glow embedded deep into the tree's canopy boughs.

You're a bit far to see the details specifically, but you did roll a 25. You see a cage of the branches wrapped tightly around a space, forming a boundary of some kind, and that glimmer of purple energy within. I'm going to step forward and say, Ma'am,

we don't know you very well, but we've heard some about you and your past. I can say that in my experience, people who traumatize others have had trauma themselves. And if there's anything that you want to talk about or share, we will listen to you and hear you without judgment. So you've come here to offer me therapy?

If you need it, everyone could use a chance to just talk and be heard. Strange metal child! You do not know where I have been, the things I have bound, the secrets that tether through my very essence. You know not the limitations that I've broken and the eternity that awaits him,

me, and all others that walk in his shadow. You know nothing. Aren't you technically older than her? I mean, I have been killing for a thousand years. That's true. How far away are we from her? I mean, I have been killing for a thousand years. That's true. How far away are we from her? I'd say 50, 60 feet or so, and she appeared at the base of the tree.

Yeah, you just didn't know about her, did you? Well, I don't know this hymn of whom you speak, but... You haven't done anything to us yet, and we're just here for our friend. Well. You keep me well, and I keep her well.

If you truly do love your friend, then trust that I carry the same care for her that you do. So. There's no continued quarrel here. That's actually true. Sorry, I have an interesting perspective on it. Oh? Yeah, we've been watching from the outside,

but just a guess, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. You need Laudna to be alive, correct? She is the most convenient option before me, yes. Well, we need Laudna to be alive, too. So there is a shared interest there, but it depends on what kind of a deal can be struck. Because currently, she's not. That sucks for us, but I think it sucks even more for you.

I get the feeling, just instinct, might be short on options. You know nothing of the options that I consider. I have many paths to walk. And if you decide to continue to push into the space where you have no means of bringing threat, then I'll find you.

Is this where you live? Is this your home? No. This is not a place of my making. Oh? I feel like you've decorated, though, at the very least. I've certainly exhibited an influence, yes. Does that mean Laudna trapped you here

as much as you've trapped her? It is not the most beneficial arrangements for one such as I, but you do what makes the most sense. Huh. Sense. Okay, I've got a question. So you have options, lots of options, options I don't know about, I couldn't possibly comprehend, yada yada.

Why aren't you using them? What are you doing here in the subconscious of a rapidly fading woman? Why are you here? Because the fastest path to my interests lie in yours as well. Should they fail and you fail, I'll find other ways. Less convenient, more time consuming.

The choice is yours, really. Do I believe her? Roll an insight check. Thank you. 22. Damn. 18 plus one. How deceptive is Delilah Briarwood?

Pretty. Ooh, whispers! Come to me! Whispers, whispers. Dane de Biom whispers. They exist me. Whispers. Whispers. D&D Beyond. Whispers. They exist. Little Santa boy. I don't have anything to say.

I already did my ad, so I got nothing to say. D&D Beyond still exists. Still in the same place. While this conversation was happening, could I have mentally been reaching out to Laudna? Ooh. If you'd like to try. Yeah. Are you close by?

Where are you? Interestingly enough, here there's a blockage. You try and continue that connection you've had, but you feel like, at least in the presence of Delilah, you can't quite push through. The force of her here in front of you, between you

and wherever this connection would go, is strong enough to where you are obscured. I would ask to use Know Your Enemy again on Delilah, but I assume I already got eyes on Delilah with the child when I used that feature on the boy. That's a different entity. I will say the Know Your Enemy in this, this is different than watching a person walking around and talking, you know, seeing their technique,

their skill, their musculature, their confidence. This is looking at a partially apparated spectral necromancer. Go ahead and roll an insight check for me. 17. No, I was looking. 19. 19. Very good. I'll say, comparatively, armor class,

given the thin form, the immaterial form, it doesn't appear to be the most defendable, at least from an armor standpoint, though. And the other thing I'd want to know is strength relative to Orym's Big Ten? Uh, not quite as strong as you. Mm-hmm.

Okay. Now, as we stand at this impasse, may I also express that the gifts that I grant her, what a paltry example of the greater gifts I can offer you all. Ooh. There are many rewards for both capability and loyalty. And you've proven this day to be quite capable.

So, step carefully. You know, a dialogue, I think, would have some great merit here, and we're nothing if not patient. See, the circumstances surrounding us are that we might have the ability to give Laudna back some life. Ooh, especially with her, that's a air quote,

but we're not going to be able to do that as long as you are cohabitating. But she can't come back to life while you're still around, so I guess the real question would be, what is it that you need or want in this situation? I think you misunderstand the nature of our binding. As it stands, we are not two beings cohabiting a form. We are one being.

If you are to bring her back, I am to go with, and if you were to leave her dead, then so I, too. Fade till I find my next path and my vengeance along with it. I just figured with all those paths that you mentioned that if there was anything we could do to make your transition to an alternative means most optimal, then perhaps we could help facilitate that.

That's a great idea. Is there a way to break the binding? You're asking me this? Yeah. Not that I'm aware of. You're going to do an inside check. I'm going to do an inside check. She says, Natural four.

Oh god. It's hard to read. Natural four. Oh god. Hey, Dan. It's hard to read. Yeah. Understand the circumstances in which the two of us found each other were not optimal, but I'm a being who is known to adapt, and adapt I have.

Other options are there, but this is something we both want. So, go and bring us back. One more follow-up. I'm sorry to take so much of your time. I know you got busy ghost stuff to do, but we think she's awful special. And you do, too.

May I just ask what you found special about Laudna? Or why did you choose her? Make a persuasion check. Yeah. Guidance. Guidance! Maybe, maybe guidance. What's that say? Two. Okay, okay.

20. 20. Some children have a gift. I found I had a gift for learning. Her? She was one of the lucky to be born with something. But I didn't see that at the outset. She was useful.

I had to prove a point. And she was in the right place at the right time. Fate, or whatever you might call it, deigned that we meet at that time. And because of that, here we both are. So she's special because she is part of my destiny. Is she wearing anything around her neck, her necklace or anything like that?

She's not wearing anything. You just see this image. Snake. There is. Yes! They all did it! There is a feminine shape to the energy that forms her scenario, but she's not. That means titties, that means titties. She's not starting OnlyFans, all right?

On OnlyFans! Yet. She's gifted. She's got options. I don't hate that for her. No, hey, you know, it's a better option than some other thing. It's in corporeal, so you have to wait for meta. Sorry.

It's in corporeals. Makes interesting lighting, though. Yeah. I don't know, I'm still confused. I mean, there's no reason that you can't get something that you want out of this. I just keep thinking of a scenario where this all goes bad, there's a fight, you kick all of our asses,

which I'll admit could happen, although I've met a few of the people who apparently are responsible for you being here and they're a little, ugh, wow. I mean, honestly, they're not that bright and a couple of them are just assholes. But you get rid of all of us. What's in that for you? Other than, at the very least,

we'll probably get in some good punches and it won't feel good. You may have to take some time to recover for it, even if we just, you know, kick your ass two thirds of the way to sunset before you wipe us out. Or we figure out something in the middle. You keep throwing these vague things around and,

to be frank, and I hope that you take a little bit of criticism, although you don't really strike me as the sort of person who's interested in criticism. I don't feel like it's been going that well for you. Maybe it's time to shake things up. I know what it is to have a plan go wrong Well, for you, maybe it's time to shake things up. I know what it is to have a plan go wrong

and to just keep fucking pressing that same button over and over and over. I find the depths of arrogance extremely boring. Look, you try and tear me away, her soul is sundered. You bring us back, we both live. It's that easy. Either you stand here and die, or return and continue the path

if you care about her so and bring her back, or you hate me so much that you let her die, and I'll just find another way. The choice is yours. So, just to make sure that I'm clear about the whole thing, are you stuck here if Laudna does not come back to life?

Basically, we're your only way out, right? We're the most convenient way out. Please, I talked to you before. You're fading. Do you know where I'm fading to? Where? Best not to spill all my secrets. Do you want to play a game

called Secret Treasures? Not particularly. You could always tell me a secret and we could give you something. I'm dealing with children. More children. Do you know what I do with children? No.

She looks up towards the tree. Oh god. Jesus. Oh god. You put them up in a tree? If I look up in a tree? If I look up at the tree, can I see anything? Do I see that purple flicker? Roll a perception check.

Nope. Not at the moment, no. I, for one, am sold. Oh? Yeah. I think this is, am sold. Oh? Yeah. I think this is a good deal. Wait, what's the deal? Well, you know, we bring Laudna back and Delilah gets her ride,

but I think we probably need to hear from Laudna, too, which I have to say, kudos. Has been hard to find her in this place. Probably on account of all the moving buildings and protruding ribs and shit. Is she around? She's around. Would you mind if we just had a quick word

to verify her intent? I don't think that's necessary in the circumstances, and she's a bit preoccupied. Preoccupied. I actually do think it's very necessary. Yeah, we might have to insist. Because you see, even if we die here, we just pop back and go back to being sad

without our friend. But you, I know a couple of things about a bullshitter. You're a real good one. But you got the teensiest little crack. I want to help you out because I miss our friend. But you're going to have to work with us. That means hearing from Laudna, even for a minute. Roll a deception check.

Great. Natural 20. Ooh! Fuck yes! Goddamn. Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Fuck yes. Ah, before. 26. 26. Damn, man. Yes!

There's a tension in the air and the fog seems to swell strongly. You, who've seen quite a bit of combat in your time of training, you recognize the smell of an imminent strike and you begin to feel your muscles tense. In that moment, the fog blows away from the base of where Delilah's energy still holds and swirls.

If you think it will do any good, I've been speaking with her myself for some time and we've gotten along just fine. I'm speaking with her myself for some time and we've gotten along just fine. Laudna Darling. When she looks up, you hear the creaking of wood and branches pull apart ever so faintly. Now you can see that purple glow in this flickering shadow form.

Now the same body, the same shape as what you saw put on that dress in that earlier vision, the purple glow in the chest, the same purple energy as Delilah, and the tree itself almost seems to have a faint purple glow to it as the branches pull back. She's still held partially within this cage, but is now visible.

Buck-ass naked. No, she's shadowed. Okay, okay, okay. Laudna. Marisha, you want to take my seat here for a second? You can't do this! That's illegal! That's illegal! What? I'm going to take my seat here for a second. You can't do this! That's illegal!

That's illegal! You're crossing the street. What is happening right now? Oh no. Think she's rushing over right now. Oh god. She's at your house? She's driving over?

No, she's in the other room. I hear a kick. I hear front walks. I hear a dog. What is she? Is that Omar? That sounded like a dog. Where is she? Is that Omar? That sounded like a dog. Where is she?

Is she peeing? Actually, teleport. See if you can find her. Omar. It would be amazing if we heard, like, ow! She's probably dropping a deuce right now. No, I think the past few weeks, she's been on the other side of the curtain,

and tonight, because we have Omar here in the studio, she's in the other office room. Oh, watching. Somebody going to get her. I think you have to probably be here. I heard a voice. This suspense is killing me, and I know what she looks like.

She's going to be like, I wasn't watching. Comes out in full costume. Oh. Is there a psychic? Uh-huh. What? What is this? What happens?

This isn't a thing. You can't have two people over there. No! Wait, you're leaving! Oh man. Oh man. I don't know what to do. I know. It's the fun part of it.

We're off the rails, girl. Look in my world. So suddenly, you, in this dark space, reliving various elements of your trauma, lost in the expanse of cold nothing, to whatever level of acceptance or struggle that you feel, your vision clarifies and you,

it's almost like taking a breath, if breath was a thing that you dealt with. You glance beyond the cage-like branches of the tree as they open, and you hear Imogen's voice say your name. Laudna? Imogen. We're going to get you. We're going to get you. We're going to get you home, okay?

I've forgotten how much I hated here. Can you get out? Can you get out of the tree? I think that depends on you, darling. I need you to fight her. I need you to fight her. I need you to fight her. I haven't been able to fight her for 30 odd years. We're here now. We'll help.

Can we all hear her? No, no, no! Branches. Is she less than, is she 30 feet away? She's more than 30 feet away. Fuck! Is she like 150? How far away is the other one? About, I'd say, 90 to 100 feet from you.

It's an upward angle at the distant part of the tree. Okay, okay, okay. As the branches begin to close, you can step away. Oh no! What? You were the DM who upset Delilah, turned into a fart! Too late! Too late!

As the branches close once more in the tree, Delilah raises a finger. That's unsporting. Did she hear any of it? Could she hear my thoughts? Mm-hmm. Delilah Briarwood, we're going to sunder you,

and I'm going to Psychic Lancer. Yeah, let's go! Let's fucking go! Okay. Windrull initiative. Yeah! She was ready for that shit, so. This Heartstopping Combat is brought to you by WizKids Minis.

Bring your battles to life with Critical Role Minis available at wizkids.io slash CRMinis in your local game store. Marisha, come sit there. Come sit there while he's getting his shit. Is she about to bring out a giant dead tree? Is that what's about to happen? You kill her immediately,

and she just disappears. He's just like, Oh! Matthew Mercer! Ow. What? How did you make that? What the fuck? Oh my goodness. There comes the fog.

Oh my god. Roll for initiative. Holy shit. Roll for inertia. Holy shit. Oh my god. I forgot how Delilah fights. She Finger of Deaths?

We don't know that. We don't know anything. All the stuff. Shit. Necromancer. Yeah, it's real bad. Yeah, it's real bad. Got to be on our shit. There she is. Maybe she's weaker than she was. Maybe she's weaker than she was.

Maybe she's got different shit than she had. Is she like, hovering above the ground? She is. Fuck. She can fly. Did I get that attack before the initiative, or? No, it wasn't a surprise round or anything. But it was mental. I understand that.

She was very much ready for any sort of aggressive maneuver. So with that, shit. 25 to 20. 22. 20. 22. Who is 22? Say it again. 22. 20. 22. Who is 22? Say it again. Orym. Orym.

Oh, I didn't even roll. Goddamn it. That's the best. Anybody, who got what? 22. 20. You're the first one. Yeah, I know. 20 to 15?

19. 18. Okay, what's your dexterity? 19 for me, so I'm above FCG. What, I know. 20 to 15? 18. Okay, what's your dexterity? 19 for me, so I'm above FCG. What's your dexterity, though? Oh, it's 14. 14? Those two? Go ahead and roll. Roll against Delilah? Roll against Delilah? Feel me.

Natural one. Okay, there we go. So Orym, Delilah? Orym, Delilah, Chet. Ashton was swinging. No, Orym, Ashton, Delilah. Oh, Ashton. Okay. Sorry, I didn't hear that. Or something else on the map.

I rolled 18. All righty. 18. 18. All right. 18. Rollies? Or no, what's your good? Let's rollies. Let's rollies. Eight. Four. So FCG. Mm-hmm. And then for me, And then Fearne.

And then Fearne. Oh, she might have legendary moves. Imogen? Oh, she has legendary moves. Okay, there we go. So many legendary movements, just assuming. What is my name? Imogen was the bottom.

I'm the bottom. Fuck. Fuck. Got a plan? Fuck. Let's see if I can. We got to get some heart-pounding music going, Matt. The music's going.

Just got to turn it up a little bit. How high off the ground is? Just hovering a couple feet off the ground. Five feet. Five feet. Just hovering. All righty. Holy shit. With that, top of the round,

as you are beginning to draw in that intensity about to cast the spell, because it has, what components for it does it have? Nothing? It's just mental. It's like mental. It's absolutely mental. It's like mental. I mean, this is a spell, though. It's verbal. All I have to do is either think, though. It's verbal.

All I have to do is either think the name or say the name. It's just, it says instanta- There's no, there's no- Components? No components listed. It's just- Right, but it's still an action to cast. Yes. Yeah.

This is one of those circumstances where... Fuck it, thematically, I'll allow it. Okay. I mean, I said her name, so would have it been instantaneous when I said Delilah Briarwood? If it's just saying the name to do it, then sure, I'll allow it.

Okay. Then it's, she's very smart. It's an intelligence save. Okay. But Delilah Briar won. That is 23. Yeah, she saves against that, so she takes half damage. Oh boy.

All right, it's going to roll damage. Guard your nipples. It'll be fun doing an all-ghost game. Hi. You're Olin, right? Yep. 16 points of, oh, half. So eight whole points. Eight whole points? On psychic damage. Got it.

How do you want to do this? Wait, one, two, three, four, five. Oh wait, now I get one more dice. Oh, and that's a six. So add three points to that. Add three, you got it, okay. We're doing damage. All righty.

So that is your, we'll say your surprise go, just because the rapidity in which you had that at the get-go. Now, back at the top of the round, Orym. Okay, Orym is going to just hop onto Ashton's hammer and say, Ash, can you get me in that tree? I'm going to hold my action

to climb fucking ropes or tree or whatever is necessary if he can launch me. Okay, you got it. Cool, cool, cool, cool. So finishing that go, Ashton, you're up. I'm going to run forward a bit with Orym on my hammer. Slightly, almost dragging it behind me.

I'm going to get about right there. I don't know how far that was yet. That was 20 feet. Okay. I am going to rage like a motherfucker and Ooh, yeah, that's a four. So the rainbow lights start going off in the head. The rainbow lights start going off in the hammer.

All righty. Yeah. This is great. This is going to be fun! I'm going to swing like a shot put. Is it a shot put? It's the one where you spin around, around. I'm just going to take a bunch of spins, a hammer toss,

and whenever you feel like jumping, you can jump. Okay. All right, so you go ahead and in an attempt to leap and lunge, I'll need both an acrobatics check from you and a strength check from you. A strength check. I do not get bonuses on either of those.

Although, do I get a bonus on strength checks? I get a bonus, I get an advantage on a strength check. You do, while you're aging, I guess. 27. These both suck. Seven. Seven? I rolled two threes. Okay.

So, you go ahead and swing the hammer. You leap, and in the circumstances, whether it be just the necrotic energy in the air, the force isn't there, and as Ashton swings, the foot slips, and you arc just about 20 or so feet, instead landing. Goddamn it. It's okay.

Too high of an arc, and then landing about there. Okay. Shit. That's on me. Well, if I held to get up the tree, can I use my action to dash to the tree? I'll allow it. Okay. I will get on the roots then.

Okay. And feverishly start humping. You are now. Mm-hmm. Right up at the base of the tree. Do I still have my second attack if I just make it part of that swing, if I'm still going? Yeah, that'll do. I'm going to take a few more paces towards Delilah.

Okay. I'm going to take a... Take an attack, fuck it. Go for it. If I need Delilah Bryan, would it love to sell? Well, we're in a dream space. Maybe she went down a 11 when she died. She's a little reckless.

She's a fraction of Delilah Briarwood. Yeah, yeah. She's like me anyway. 85%. Why am I even kidding myself? I'll do a reckless attack. Go for it. All we need to do is separate them. Maybe there's a way to separate them without killing her.

27 to hit. If we can get to Laudna. 27. That hits. Kill Laudna? I actually should've added that d her. 27 to hit. If we can get to Laudna. 27 to hit. Kill Laudna? I actually should've added that d4. Puncture through. Of Laudna?

What's that? She's a spirit here. And that's 17 points of damage. And that's 17 points of damage. 17 points of damage. You got it. You can break that moat that's within her. Do I have any more movement? You have 20 more feet of movement, yes.

Yeah, let's see if she takes a reaction on me. I'm going to back up after that and flip back a little. I'm going to take my swing up, I'm going to use that and flip back. 20 feet? Yeah, I'm going to back up 20 feet. Okay. And then get ready again. Okay, so 20 feet back to there?

Yeah, a little more to the left. I mean, towards me. Towards you, like there? Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. I can't see anything. Yeah, like there. Okay. As you dart backward, without even looking at you,

you impact and swing through. It strikes, and as the hammer swings, the energy seems to almost move around it, but it still impacts and hits. As the energy scatters off, she puts out her hand and pulls it back, almost like a rubber band, and fires it off at you as a reaction.

Oh, taking the reaction. Necrotic burst towards you, which is advantage because you took that. That'll be 25 to hit. Yeah, I don't know why I was... 25 to hit. Yeah. Okay. You take. I'm going to barf.

You're rolling way better than I am, aren't you? 23 points of necrotic damage. Whoa! How you doing over there, Slenderman? Two, three! You are moved 20 feet in the direction of Delilah's choosing as this black tendril strikes up, slams into you,

and then rips you off of your feet and throws you backward 20 feet. Oh shit. Oh wait, he got hit? That far? Yes. How hard? 20 feet back. 23 points of damage. Oh no.

On a reaction. No. Oh boy. Okay. And I don't take half because it's magic. That finishes your turn? It finishes my turn. All right. So that brings us to the initial count of 20. Jaila gets a lair action. A lair action!

Of course! Of course! These nooses are going to come to life. We're all dead. No, we're fine, we're fine, we're fine. She wants to talk. She's going to be using- Look it, I see her in the tree! Yeah, who?

Laudna! She's right there. Ward of the Corrupt. Ward of the Corrupt. The trunk of the tree begins to glow a deep, menacing purple, almost black coloration. As it does, you watch as these light, sparkling little ribbons and tethers

ripple off of the Sun Tree and wrap around Delilah and form this almost ephemeral shield around her. Do we hear, All right, all right, all right. Oh no! No! The Nega Sun Tree. The Sun Tree.

If you need to speak to plants, it'll sure be a great conversation, I guarantee it. Hey, KK. It's been a while. All right, so that finishes the lair action. It's now Delilah's go. Delilah's going to go ahead and shift up about 10 feet this way.

Shit. Drifts over this direction. She's a watch. As the purple dark tethers pull away from her back into the Sun Tree. She leans upward and is going to go ahead and cast... Look at this fabulous cone we have. Yeah, we're doing Negative Energy Flood. Are you sure you want to use that one?

Yeah. Yeah, I think so. That's going to be a 60-foot range. Resent. Over here. There is no health here. So for that, you watch as the spirit, the arms begin to tense and quake in space. For a moment, you watch as the purple energy becomes a rich, void-like black,

and Delilah's spectral form lifts upward with a growl. As it does, all the cracks in the ground begin to fill with black tar. That then all shoots up at once. You all feel yourself as being pierced by a thousand pinpricks of necrotic power driving through your body in different places before taking root and then beginning

to pull away into shadow. Everybody in that radius there. That's us. That's everybody. Oh no. That's our aura. Sorry, this is a singular creature. I misread that. So instead, instead. I rewrite the rules of my spell.

Yeah. But no, this will be fun. Who do I get to pick? Don't talk like me, that's bad. I'm going to say, she's real pissed at you, Imogen. Imogen, you should roll a constitution saving throw for me, please.

God, shit. All these shadows forms up into you and just pierces through your body in multiple directions. 13. 13, that's a failure. Can you do Guidance on a saving throw? Oh, oh, oh! But I have a moat!

You do. Okay. 18? 18 is a success. Oh! One moat left. Good fucking... However it happens. however it happens.

Okay, so you only take half damage. You take 16 points of necrotic damage. Yeah. Good, good, good spend. 32? Am I 32 points of damage? No, half of it. No, I took 16. 16. Okay.

But that's how long it was going out. Oh man. As a bonus action, No! she's going to summon Undead. 16. Okay. But that's how it was going out. Oh man. As a bonus action, No! she's going to summon Undead. No. As soon as the tethers pull away from you, she raises her left arm again

and blows a kiss out in your direction. You watch this spiral of greenish energy splinter off and strike the ground where it begins to break. You watch as five skeletons begin to pull themselves out of the ground around you. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm into it. Nickelodeon.

That's what fire's for. You got a little bit of Turn Undead going on, too? Oh, yeah. Although, you know. Yeah. See how this goes. Okay, okay, okay, okay. And I love multiple enemies. That's great for Barbarians. That's going to end her turn.

Now it is the skeleton's turn. Oh shit. Oh great. Cool. Oh boy. So that was Delilah Skeleton. Correct. The skeletons go directly after her. Yeah, uh-huh. All right, so one of them is attacking you, Imogen. For 13.

15. Misses. One of them, two of them attacking you, Chetney. Both of those 19. They both hit. All right, you take eight points of piercing damage and six points of piercing damage. They both hit. All right, you take eight points of piercing damage and six points of piercing damage. Got it. Those both of them

just stab you with short swords from the sides, their bones clattering. There's going to be one of them attacking Fearne from behind for six and one of them attacking FCG for seven. Seven points of damage? No, seven to hit. They both missed. They just.

They're still skeletons. When I finish their go, Chetney, you're up with Fearne on deck. With my bonus action, I'm going to and I tear off the lower half of my body so Chetney's legs just go away and just wolf legs underneath. I start Donald Duck waddling out with a Chetney shirt.

You're a wolf cock? Yeah, I'm a wolf cock. Perfect. Then I pull the Chetney top off and tie the arms around my neck like a sweater. Never been more proud. They call him the Red Rock. That's the weirdest preppy ever. I'll go 25 feet straight towards Delilah. All right.

25 right there. Yes. Two of the skeletons get an attack of opportunity against you as you leave their combat range. That is going to be a 16. Misses. And a 20. Hits. You take another three points of piercing damage, which is reduced by to one.

Ooh, cool. I will take my chisel, give it a kiss, and I'm going to try and throw it up at Delilah. Okay. Just one throw. Go for it. Okay. So this would be using your dexterity modifier. Okay, great. 16.

16 just hits. Woo! So I'll roll that. So that's 10. Five. 15 points of slashing damage, five of which is fire. Got you. Then a question.

Yes. I've never used this before. Once per short, long rest, whenever you damage a creature with a weapon that has an active rite, you can sear an arcane brand into that creature. Brand of Castigation. Yes. Yes, you may.

You castrate. You always know the direction of the branded creature as long as it's on the same plane as you and each time it deals damage to me or another creature within five feet, it fucks it up. Yep. A little bit. Okay. Just a little bit.

You got it. It gets fucked. So you throw it and it stabs into the body and you watch as it drops out of the spectral form and as it does, this little sigil burns its way into the chest. That looks like what? Uh, ooh. Yeah. Yeah.

It looks like a profile view of a white wolf howling and a crescent moon over the top. Perfect, I love it. But the tongue's going. Delilah goes, Really? I'm working on it, it's the first time! You always remember your first.

And that's the whole shebang. Okay. Since you're right below, pretty much, you throw it up, it hits, it lands on the ground next to you. You could, in theory, pick it up and throw again if you wanted to. Really? I would absolutely love to do that.

Just because you're pretty much directly under her. Yep. Okay. 14. Again, 16. 16? Yeah. Hits, yeah, roll damage. Amazing. Wait, 14 plus seven.

No, that's not 16. Jesus, I was looking at the wrong thing before. It's a 21 to hit, so that hits. 10 plus two points. So 12 points total. Two points. Okay. So here's the thing. As you throw both these upward Yes. Two points, so 12 points total. Two points. Okay. So here's the thing, as you throw both of these upward

and you notice them carving in, causing the symbol, when they push through, that strange shield that the Sun Tree had imparted upon her seems to be absorbing the majority of that damage. You watch as it carves away with each impact. While it's still hitting her, those ribbons are almost grabbing and slowly tearing away with each hit.

Ooh, like an onion. Yes. Like an onion. Like a glove! Okay. Can I finish your turn? Yes. All right, Fearne, you're up. FCG, you're on deck. FCG, wait, you rolled higher than I did. I rollied higher. Oh, you did, right. So never, wait, you rolled higher than I did. I rollied higher.

Oh, you did, right, so never mind. I rolled that wrong. I'm going to step forward, not really knowing how this works. I'm going to address the undead creatures and say, guys, you kill to live, you don't live to kill, right? That's my advice to them.

And I'm going to hold up. I'm going to hold up the only holy thing that I have, which is this coin. And I'm going to just say, Begone, you foul creatures! And I'll turn undead. Okay. Oh, I don't know what that does. Yep. Is that your first turn undead. Okay. I don't know what that does.

Yep. Is that your first turn undead? Yeah! Yes! Yeah! Okay, okay. Let's go! Turn undead! Two panels lift up and machine guns just go.

That's one way to do it. It's just a holy water squirt gun out of either nipple. Shoulder panels open up. Okay, well, you are fifth level or higher. Technically, this can be destroy undead. Ooh. I'm fifth level? What does that mean? Or higher. Fifth level or higher,

depending on the DC of the creature. Yeah, if it's a low-level undead, they don't run, they poof. Oh. Technically, I only have four spell DCs. So what's your spell DC? It's a different thing. It's a 14. 14, so it's a wisdom saving throw for each of them. Okay. They fail.

They go on. They pop. Okay. Okay. So the one directly behind you on that far end that fails. I can't find it. Fails. Shattered into ash and bone. The one right behind Fearne. Yay!

It means something in it. Bring the change you want to see in the world. The one that's over between Fearne and Mister. That's rolling like three, four, five in a row. Yes! Now you know how it feels. Give me six. The one that's across from our furnace.

Big six? Seven, it skipped a roll. Oh! And they're rolling shit! Yay! And the one that's up against you, Imogen. Six. That is going to be a 14.

Oh! Okay, finally one of them survived, didn't it? All right, got it. I'm glad it was that one. So just describe to me how this Oh! Okay, finally, one of them survived. I got it. I'm glad it was that one. So just describe to me how this apparates out of the coin. It's a tiny coin being held in my tiny little hand,

and I'll just say it has an insanely wide ray of gigantic light that shouldn't be that big, but it's so powerful, I recoil back and I just go crazy with it and it's spraying all over the place. Perfect, perfect. You watch these skeletons turn towards it and just get scattered into nothing.

The one still stands. Okay, okay, I missed one. So that's your action? That's my action. I'll move towards the tree. Okay. All I can. Boy, people need some healing, huh? I'll move towards the tree. Okay. All I can. Boy, people need some healing, huh?

You looking rough? Two of us are. Shit. Shit. Only two people in the name. I already casted, that's a spell, Turn Undead, or is that an effect? It's an effect, it's not a spell. Channel Divinity.

You could do a bonus action. I could do a bonus action, like Healing Word. Bonus action. Bone, right. Probably have a secondary usage for Channel Divinity, too. It tends to be good shit. It's always worth knowing about. We're done.

We're done. We're done. Bonus action, what do I want? Do I want a spiritual weapon? I guess the choice is, are we trying to hit Delilah or are we trying to get to Laudna? Hit them both. Yes. Hit them both. Hit Delilah. Can't get to Laudna

without hitting Delilah. Yeah, without hitting Delilah. And we're not seeing the trick. Up it to five. Okay. Shit. That's three days of that. Fuck.

Shit, shit fuck, fuck shit. I have some secret healing. I want to be healing stuff, but it's such puny healing. It's like a d4 plus three. This isn't going to do anything. She can give us 28 points of damage. You see my dilemma.

Hey, DM, that circle's just like the remains of a fountain, right? Correct. I found it very easy. I don't know anybody. Yeah, it's just a broken portion of what was once the center of the Whitestone courtyard. My cleric build was so heal-centric. It was so good.

I will spiritual weapon and I'll try to hit Delilah. Okay. What level are you going to cast Spiritual Weapon? Just the basic. Ninth level. And what does it look like? Oh shit. What does it look like?

What doesn't look like? Oh shit. What does it look like? What doesn't she like? Let's just say it looks like... Children of your husband. Yep, there you go. It looks like this little guy right here. Yes, Pâté. Okay, Pâté. Oh, spiritual Pâté.

Spiritual Pâté is going to be like. Perfect. It's a save, or do I roll to hit? I roll to attack. Okay. I get a... or do I roll to hit? No, you roll to attack. I roll to attack. Okay, I get a... Where's my... Oh wow. We are falling apart. I get advantage on this

because he rolled a natural 20 a while ago. That's true, yeah. Okay, 16 plus six, 22 to hit. 22 definitely hits, go ahead and roll damage. Okay. Oh shit. 98. Six points of radiant damage? Oh!

Radiant damage? Well, I don't know. What is that? What is that? Oh, it says force damage. Sorry, I thought it was radiant. Does it have a little symbol next to force damage? It says force.

Okay, no start. As the pate suddenly both apparates and then swoops in towards her, the last bits of the Sun Tree tethered protective ribbons shatter and dissipate. She actually takes some damage from that. Oh, okay. We got through the shield pretty easily. That's my turn.

Okay. Yeah, this time. At the end of your turn, he's going to use legendary action to do an acrotic burst. Oh no. Angrily at you. You both destroy the shield and you destroy a lot of Oh no. Angrily at you. You both destroy the shield and you destroy a lot of the skeletons. Angrily at you!

As she floats up there, really, I had just brought them out to play. Points at you and you watch as this burst of black energy arcs towards you, the same one that you saw impact Ashton earlier for, that's going to be a 23 to hit. That hits.

That is 22 points of necrotic damage to you. 22. And you are moved 10 feet in a direction of your choice, which will be... That hurts. Did I get removed 10 or 20 feet? 20 feet. Okay. Shit. Oh, okay. Goddamn, feet? 20 feet. Okay. Shit. Okay. Goddamn, these hits are big.

Okay, fine. All right. Ow! Finishing your turn. Fearne, you're up. Okay. Mister, I want you to get up in that tree and go find Laudna. But on the way, throw some shit.

Okay. So yeah, I want him to start making his way towards the tree. Fingers. What's the movement, 30? I believe it's 20 feet. Give me two seconds. Where is it? God damn it. Oh, it is 30 feet.

Never mind. He can fly, too, so he can go like up in the air a bit, if he'd like. Okay. About there? Yeah, let's go there. Okay, so he'll throw some shit. I'm going to throw some shit.

Okay. Aw, I don't think that hits. That's shit. Okay. Aw. I don't think that hits. That's nine. Unfortunately, no. Okay, that's all right. He's making his way to Lawn. Okay, and then I would like

to cast Earthbind. Earthbind, okay. So it's a strength saving throw of 16. That is a 13 minus one. So 12. Interesting. Okay, so what I'm going to do. Oh, she can't find no more.

Pulls her to the ground. I'm going to put my hand out. Fuck yeah. Her strength is lower than Orym's, and Orym's is 10. Yeah. That's great to know. I'm going to put my hand out. Fuck yeah. Her strength is lower than Orym's, and Orym's is 10. Yeah. That's great to know. She's interesting. I'm going to put my hand out,

and a red thread comes out, and it's going to make its way around her neck like a noose. Shit. Doesn't even notice its arrival before it's already wrapped around. I'm going to yank her down. Shit! He watches the spirit form

gets slammed into the ground and it impacts both the mist and parts of that purple crackling energy before forming back into her form. So cool. Okay. Oh, oh. Oh. So she's not grappled, she's just stuck to the ground.

She's stuck to the ground. Yeah, she's just stuck to the ground. She's stuck to the ground. Yeah, so this is zero feet for the spell's duration, and airborne creature descends 60 feet per round until it reaches the ground. So she just gets pulled and descends. Just crushed by the melee fighters. Awesome. Does that finish your turn?

That is my turn. Okay. Matt, this is such a cool map for a game. Yeah, this is rad. You can say that now. It's too damn hot. You can use legendaryary Action to go ahead and do a necrotic burst on you.

Why do you do it? That's going to be 12. Rolled really bad. Hey! Okay. No, it doesn't hit. Releases another one of these angry necrotic tendrils towards you and you just go ahead and spin around and dodge out of the way

and use your sickle to bat it out of the direction. Yes. All right. Yes, ma'am. Finishing your go, it's now Imogen's turn. I'm going to take one step to the left. To the left. To the left, to the left. So I am directly in front of the skeleton facing me and I can see Delilah behind it.

Straight line. Okay, so you come here, yes. You can see her, and at this point, the tree is enclosing around her. You're losing your visual perspective on Laudna. Oh, not Laudna. No, no, no, no. Oh, sorry. On Delilah. On Delilah. Yes, you do.

She's Laudna. I'm Laudna. That's a troll. So I'm going to take a step, so I'm lined up. We got it. There? Uh-huh. Okay. Remember when Marisha came on the show for 10 seconds? Yeah. There? Uh-huh. Okay. Remember when Marisha came on the show for 10 seconds?

Yeah. That was cool. That was fun. Remember when she looked like she had no idea why she was being called out here? Yep. Was terrified for all of us. Yeah, she was great. She did great. I'm going to reach my hand out, and I'm going to look past the skeleton,

and I'm just going to say, give her back, and I'm going to look past the skeleton and I'm just going to say, give her back. I'm going to cast Lightning Bolt through the skeleton at Delilah. All right. Arcs through the skeleton. Go ahead and roll damage. Skeleton actually saved on its saving throw. Okay. Natural 19.

What about Delilah? Delilah. Is the dexterity save? Yes. 16. 16. So she succeeds, yeah. Fuck! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

10, 18, 25. 25? Points of lightning damage. Yes. Okay. Halved to 12. The skeleton is barely standing. The bolt goes through and you watch most of its ribs are destroyed. One arm is dangling and its jaw is gone. We didn't die?

Yeah. Jesus. I'm going to use my bonus action to regain that third-level spell that I just used. You've got it. Okay. You pull it back in, and the spell slot is restored to you. Delilah, as the lightning strikes through, you watch as she moves out of the way and almost seems to absorb some of the magic and deflect it.

As it strikes her, you do see her energy flare up and you see the Sun Tree's body flicker, almost like it's reacting in the same way. What are you doing? Okay. you do see her energy flare up and you see the Sun Tree's body flicker, almost like it's reacting in the same way. What are you doing? Okay, I am going to... You're just going to see Imogen's eyes flicker red and my arms are going to flare up.

And I'm going to call Ruidus. What does that mean? What? Oh, okay. What? Call Ruidus? I'm going to take three. Okay, go ahead and roll for damage. To yourself? I don't know.

It's got secret shit. It's a ahead and roll for damage. To yourself. I don't know. She's got secret shit. It's a lot. Secret moon shit. Secret moon shit, Travis, secret moon shit. I live with her, though. I haven't heard about this. It's crafter than Delilah is, come on.

Seven plus five, my math is 12. Okay, I'm going to take 12 points. You're not done covering. So what do you count with your hands? I should know. 12, okay, I'm going to take 12 points. I'm going to have to uncover it. I swear to god. I should know. She didn't tell me anything. Okay. Child. And 16 points to Delilah.

Okay. As the lightning bolt leaves your fingers and you watch as the strike goes through, and that moment where the form of the lightning itself, the arc begins to fade, it pulses a second time, instead with red energy that just cruises through. You watch as the bolt designs,

the marks up Imogen's arms suddenly flare a deep red. Her eyes flare a deep red, and the secondary strike impacts Delilah. You watch as her body takes the hit and the sun tree itself also flares angrily with purple energy, almost like you struck her and the tree reacted. Oh!

All right, does that finish your turn? Oh my god. Okay. Top of the round. Orym, you're up. Okay, go with me on this. Here's what I want to do. This is on the opposite side of the tree from you,

but there is about 10 to 15 feet of 45-degree angle root ramp up the side of the tree. Orym is going to bolt up that ramp, run five feet up the tree, and with those boots of striding and springing, leap, push away as hard as you can away from the tree, and with those boots of striding and springing, leap, push away as hard as you can away from the tree and grab the nearest low-hanging rope. Okay.

Then I want to use my action as he swings up into the air to flex my little halfling abs as hard as I can and on the downswing, and toss myself up and try to grab branch. Cool. I love it. That is fucking awesome. That is a high DC acrobatics roll. I would go for it. That is fucking awesome. That is a high DC acrobatics roll. I would go for it.

I'm so sorry. I'm here for it. I'm giving you Spirit Bomb energy. Guidance. That's low. Fuck. Do I get that guidance? It doesn't work that way, does it? No. Unfortunately, you have to touch them

too far away. Yeah, flex. Oh, oh, yay, yay, yay. That's 13. 13. You run and you jump and leap off the side and you go and reach for the rope and it just is a little bit out of your grasp. Instead, you push off this direction,

miss it, and end up falling, rolling across the ground, prone. Okay, do I have any movement left after that? Yes, but it'll take the rest of your movement to get back up. Fuck, all ground, prone. Okay, do I have any movement left after that? Yes, but it'll take the rest of your movement to get back up. Fuck, all right, well, spent. Earn an action to move. I don't have an action.

I mean, I can, but I want to do something. That was a cool idea. Fuck yeah. That was a very cool idea. I'm going to use my movement to get up, and if you'll allow it, I'm going to dust myself off, spit in my hands, and do the same thing again. Okay. So you're going to use your second action to run.

To run and spring, it's just movement. Okay. Just get the rope. You got it. Oh yeah. That is a 17 this time. 17 is better. So you grab the rope this time, using the momentum, swing up.

I'll say you do land in the branches, but the arc of it doesn't get you super close. Right, right, right. So you're up in this space of the tree, right? Yes. Come on, bro. Then I see her. We're coming. I promise we're coming.

And that's it. Okay. Oh my god. Finishing your go, Ashton, you're up. How far can I get down this bullshit? I want to get to that skeleton and do some damage. Over there? I also technically got all these ideas, man. Just die 40 to get you down there.

Or you could just try and jump, but it's going to be an acrobatics roll and you can get there. Can I do an athletics roll and just try and do a quick stride? Also because technically I do have a rocky terrain, doesn't bother me nearly as much as it should. I've got like- That's true, actually.

So yeah. If you want to just make a quick athletics check, it's not terribly hard. You have advantage on it with your rage. Try and just do a full leap and skip off of the stones. Yeah, nothing fancy. Just shoving off full speed. That's a 17.

Oh, you'll get you right there, and that is a success easily. You just angrily run, leap, skip off of it, and then jump full hammer in the air. And it lands down. Go for it, roll an attack. Yeah, I don't have advantage, that's okay. I'll still have advantage, say, dooming myself.

No, that's fine, 17 to hit. 17 hits, go ahead and roll damage. Do some damage. 15 points of damage as I come down and powder this motherfucker. Yeah, that'll do it. Scatters and explodes across the ground around you, freeing that portion of the battlefield.

How y'all doing? Not great. Ooh. Love the look. Bogged down a little bit. My little rainbow sparks are now starting to hit the two of you a little bit, so you're getting a little...

It's like those little, do you remember those little spinners little spinners? Those spinners? It's that exactly. I just got run in one of those. Yeah, the one they do the little rainbow sparks? So it's just going everywhere right now. Okay, so finishing Ashton's go. Oh, for bonus action, once I stop,

I'm going to pull the potion and down it. Go for it. All right. So go ahead and do that. Roll that potion. Oh, I don't have to roll that. Took the potion. Oh, the potion. Yeah, that potion. I see the motes. Okay, got you. Time for some motes. No worries. So you got that sweet motion.

Great. All right. Finishing your go, it is now back to initiative count 20. The tree just swallows Laudna into its trunk. You watch as purple light just flares from the tethers, as it pulls her in the branches, creaking loudly as it takes her in. Also, as it's layer action,

it's going to use Hungry Vine. Like the wolf. Hungry Vine. All creatures within 60 feet of the Sun Tree have to make a strength saving throw. Oh shit. Damn it. I will say you will not because you're not on the ground. Huzzah.

Wait, what are we doing? What happened? I need strength saving throw to save against FCG. Let's see. Ho bunga. Let's see. That is everyone. Cool. Everyone except for Orym,

make a strength saving throw for me, please. We'll start around here. Laura and Ashley have a d4 added to that. Is this a magical? Eight. Eight. No, sorry. Add a d4. That's better. 18. You'd have advantage

while you're in wolf porn. That's much better. Is this a magical effect? No. Okay. But good looking porn. That's much better. Is this a magical effect? No. Okay. It's a good-looking app. Add your d4. It's a natural one. Oh, never mind. Fuck. All right.

Who gets a d4? Just Laura and Ash. Anybody within 10 feet of me. Suddenly, elements of the ground, these cracks, begin to snake through in the direction of each person before roots burst out, just like my... Whoa! Whoa!

Look at that. Whoa! Did I look all your shit? Sometimes you do the extra work to make it work. The battle's so intense, it busted Matt's wrist bracelet. Exactly, just like that. They burst through, and you manage to dodge out of the way.

One grabs you, Fearne, and drags you 30 feet closer to the tree. Bullshit. Okay. Oh no. 30. Gets you about there Bullshit. Oh no. 30. Gets you about there, and that's it for you. FCG? 12.

12. You get pulled up to the base of the tree, and the roots pulse at your base. Oh no. I'm about to be sucked up, too. It will all be close. You take seven points of necrotic damage. As it pulled into the tree,

the tree glows that same purple color, and you watch Delilah's form begin to recover some of its damage. Oh, dang it. Fuck. How do we get it to poop? How do we get it out? I hate her. Ashton? Strength save? Yes.

13. God, what a team. 13? With advantage? Don't you have? With advantage, entity four. Good. I have not rolled, I've rolled maybe three times today over seven. 30, you get pulled there. Mostly threes, fours, and six.

Dragged along. Is what I'm mostly imaging. I rolled Mostly threes, fours, and sixs. Dragged along. Is what I'm mostly. And then Imogen. I rolled a three and a four. 11. 11, you also get pulled 30 feet. Something in six. Up to about there. So the roots pull

and eventually lose their grip and you're just pulled towards the tree. The tree is like, you can see through its cracks and its bark, that same Delilah energy. I don't care. That's going to finish that. It's now Delilah's turn. Oh god.

Damn, dude. Oh man, three waves of attacks at 20. Delilah is going to go ahead and Level seven, guys, level seven. shift up to the top of this area. She's bound to the ground. Yeah, she can still slide along. How long does that last?

It's only been, it hasn't even been one. Just double check. Is it for the round, or? It lasts forever. For an hour. Birthbind, no, it's Concentration, you're right. You're right. Hungry Vines. So she's, she's dead. She's dead.

Yay! That's how it works. Well, it was a great night at Clawfell. Come on back, Marisha. So its flying speed is zero. She's dead. Yay! Well, it was a great night at the pool. So its flying speed is zero. It can still move. So she still shifts away. Good god. And climbs up the side there.

She has to like, Yeah, and grips up a bit. But that's still here. You do an attack of opportunity against her. Brand of castigation. That's fucked. Ugh! 17 plus seven is 24.

That hits, go ahead and roll damage. Get her. Plus seven is nine. How do you want to do this? How do you do this? 10, 11, 12. 12 points? 12 points of damage, three, fire.

12 points of damage, you strike her out of the way, the hit impacts, the tree flares slightly. So she moves up there. She's going to go ahead and multi-attack Necrotic Burst now. She fires three of these tendrils outward at a range of 120 feet.

She's going to aim at... She's going to hit you. She's going to go ahead and go after you, Orym. Cool. Going to go after FCG, and going to go after Ashton. Oh no. Cool. So Orym.

Yeah. That is going to be a 20. Yes. That hits you? Yes. All righty. All right. It's okay. Against you, Ashton, you're doing a natural 20.

Are you sure? Yeah. Double check. Sorry. Fuck, this is going to be bad. Then against you, FCG, that's going to be a 22. That hits.

Okay, this is going to be real bad. Did you take the motes? Did you take the potion? If you have the motes, by the way, you can spend one to force the enemy to reroll, too. I rerolled that shit! Oh my god! So you're aware. That's right, I forgot that.

Reroll that shit. I don't know. I was told I activated it in this bonus set. It is a 22. Yeah, that hits. So it still hits, but it's not a crit. Oh god, yeah, no. Which is better, but you just spent one of the motes.

So for you, Orym, you take 18 points of necrotic damage. Got it, got it, got it, got it. And you are pushed 20 feet in a direction of her choice. She's going to go and attempt to tear you out of the branch. Damn it. Attempt. Attempt. Attempt two, you are in there.

I will give you the opportunity to roll a strength saving throw to try and hold onto the branch you are on. This is not going to succeed. Be positive. Be positive, you know that. Natural 20. Natural 20. Ah!

No fucking way! Come on! Yes! You've got to believe it! Fucking love it! Holy shit. I feel real bad if I said that out loud and it didn't happen.

Uh-huh. As the tether yanks, the branches bend and bend, but then Oh my god. hold you in place. Oh shit, what a fucking time to roll it. Oh god. Oh!

That's high. That could have been real bad. Yeah, man. 16 points of necrotic damage. Can I transfer suffering from myself? No. Can you? Are you in range of my 20? Yes.

Because I just got a 20. There's no roll. This is a hit. This is a hit. Okay, okay. Okay. But what if I just? Oh no. Are you at hit. Okay, okay. Okay. But what if I just? Oh no. Are you at zero? Uh-huh.

As FCG gets struck, you watch as the spiritual form that is looking around, ready to go ahead and lend more aid, and then is gone. Oh god. Uh-oh, oh god. Well. Don't like that. That was a great prop. Did we get Han here? That was a great prop. Ashton. I didn't cut it. Is gone. Oh god. Uh-oh, oh god. Don't like that. That was a great prop.

Did we get Han here? That was a great prop. Ashton. I didn't cut it. Is it Han here? That's going to be 17 points of necrotic damage to you. Boom. And you're going to go ahead and get yanked. 20 feet towards the tree.

Cool. All righty. That's going to finish Delilah's turn. Chetney, you're up with FCG, not on deck, because you're out of the initiative. Is there one more skeleton that goes, or is it gone? It's gone, it's smashed. Cool, okay.

Would you say? Oh right, yeah, sorry. SAM and LAURA, LAURA, and SAM, What's that? Oh no, this is. Go hang out with Marisha. SAM and LAURA, LAURA, and SAM, Ah! I think I'm just within 30 feet of Delilah. I think I'm 25 feet. Can you count me? Come to the dead zone, Bryce.

You are. Yeah, you're just at a 30-foot range. Cool. I'm going to burn a blood curse. Okay. And I'm going to do the blood curse of Bloated Agony as a bonus action. Oh, yeah. Okay. A creature within 30 feet, until the end of my next turn,

for the duration the creature has disadvantage on strength and dex checks. Okay. And takes one de-necrotic damage if it makes more than one attack on its turn. Good to know, okay. I am going to... For the record, you did not...

No, never mind, you're good, you're good. Oh yeah? Okay. I am going to take the chisel that I have and I'm going to... Yeah, I'm going to throw it at Delilah. And then, yeah, I'm going to throw it and then I'm going to move. Okay, so you. One throw. Go ahead and roll an attack.

We're good, we're just trying shit. Am I close? I give you Guidance. Yeah, this is at 25, that's 18 plus seven. That definitely hits for a moment. Two plus seven is nine. Do you think Guidance is a reaction or an action? I don't know, I'm just throwing it out. 16. Six points of fire, so 15 total.

15 total, all righty. And then I will move back and put myself in front of Imogen, in between Imogen and Fearne. Right there? Yes. Okay. I keep taking damage. And the idea is that because you're within five feet of me,

you have a small amount of protection from the castigation thing. Not much, but just a little bit. Cool. Just going to try and use it. Okay, yeah. Cool. Sounds good. but just a little bit. Cool. Just going to try and use it. Okay, yeah. Cool. Sounds good. Yes. A little bit of protection against what? If they try, it's not much.

It's small, but whatever. Fearne, you're up. Feeling it out. Mister's still going to make his way towards the tree. Okay. We're 30 feet. And... Get about there. Okay. We're 30 feet. And... We'll get about there.

Okay. And he's going to shoot some flame seeds at the trunk of the tree. At the trunk of the tree? Yeah. Okay, go ahead and roll damage. Okay. Where did it go? 15. 15 hits. Okay.

It's a broad barn of a tree. Okay. So go ahead and roll damage. Okay, we're going to see. I don't know. That would to see. I don't know. That would be a... I don't know. Let's do it.

Eight. Eight points. Now. As the flame seed hits, it impacts and splatters on the trunk of the tree and the flames flash and begin to burn on its side. It's a tree. It burns it a lot more than standard things

would burn from an impact. You get the sense that this tree does not do well with fire, being a dying tree. The flames, you can see it burning on the side and as it flashes and impacts, you see that purple glow flicker within. You see some of the branches shake and you see Delilah off in the corner like.

Okay. So I'm going to... I am going to cast Scorching Ray at the tree. Which parts of the tree. Which parts of the tree are you aiming for? I want to aim it near where I think Laudna is, but trying to carve some... Ooh, I don't know if that's a bad idea.

I'll say specifically, there's the boughs, there's the trunk, and there's the roots. That's fair, that's fair. Say that one more time. The boughs, the trunk, and the roots. Those are the three targets of the tree you can make. Okay. Let me just roll to see.

Roots are assholes. I don't like the roots. Okay, first hit is 18. 18? Where are these aiming, though? Because the ACs change based on the roots. I understand, okay. Let's go roots.

Okay, so aiming for the roots. You got it. Okay, that hits. Okay. The roots, the roots, the roots are on fire. Anybody have fire shit? Okay, great. All right.

I do. Great, 11 points of damage. 11 points of damage. Okay, great. All right. I do. Great, 11 points of damage. 11 points of damage. That's true. Your first ray strikes the bottom of the roots and where the flames are, they catch and begin to burn and crackle.

You can see the dried exterior of the tree beginning to blacken, and some of the roots that you've seen shift and tear through are starting to retract slightly. Is anything happening to the top of the tree? Not at the moment, no. Fuck. Should I do it?

Should I do it? Go. Okay. There's no time for timidness. I'm going to do the top of the tree. Okay. We're pot committed to this. Roll for an attack. Okay, that definitely, that's 15 plus eight.

That definitely hits. Go ahead and roll damage. By the time she's got to see a thing through. Yeah. I was going to try both. Okay, good. Okay. Seven points of damage.

Seven points of damage, great. As you strike the top of the tree, you see the flames burst and then catch on the branches. I'll say for the purposes of this, we have both flames on the roots and we have flames catching up. This is our type of game, you guys. Oh, don't be wrong!

We could just go through this. What's Delilah doing? Was she affected by that? You glance over and with the second impact, too, you can see the confident form of Delilah also. You strike in the roots and you watch the bottom flicker out. You strike the boughs of it and the flame catches

and you watch as part of her shoulder flickers out a bit, too. Okay. She is the tree. So I will shoot for the bough of the tree again. Okay, roll for a third attack. Come is the tree. So I will shoot for the bough of the tree again. Okay, roll for a third attack. Come on. Great. Pitching a baseball.

I know, I'm sorry, 21. 21 hits, go ahead and roll damage for the boughs again. We all deal with this. Because I'm mad. Oops! Okay. That's a five, okay. And come on. Okay, that's just six points of damage. And as I do that one, I'm just going to look right at her.

Okay. She's going to glare, and as you fire the third streaking mass of magical flame outward. Oh, is this hurting you? It strikes on a large branch. Just slams onto the ground, Ashton. You just barely, like, it misses you by five feet.

As it hits the ground, burning fire is catching in the top of the tree, and glaring at Delilah, you see this glare in her eyes as she, and you see part of where the hair, the weird ethereal portion of her head and her hair begins to untether and begin to flicker. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh, I don't know. What does that mean? What does that mean? I don't know. I mean, it's a cool visual, by the way. Are we enjoying this? I'm enjoying it. Oh yes. I mean, are the humans at the table?

Yeah. The vows are in flames and the top of the tree is beginning to burn. Hey man, there's really only one way to find out. Hmm. Does that finish your turn? There's no rule book for this place. Okay, so I am going to,

I wonder if I should stay next to, we're clumped up, but I want to stay next to you because there's safety. Not a lot. She takes a little bit of damage. It doesn't protect you from anything from her. I am going to make my way around that. Make your way.

That, I think, with... Here, behind this? Yes. Move there. Yeah. Okay, got it. All right, that finishes your turn, Fearne. Yes. Imogen, you're up with Oremond D deck. Narshes.

You can now see the roots of the tree are beginning to burn and the boughs of the tree are fires spreading wildly up amongst the branches. Nice bonus action. Okay, that's nine hit points back. Oh boy. Mm-mm points back. Oh boy. Mm-mm-mm. Oh boy. Okay.

It's over 50%. Okay. I don't know, should I hit the tree? Should I just hit the tree? Ah! How far away from me is she? Don't worry, only a beloved character hangs in the balance. Ugh. She's about 55, 60 feet from you.

Okay. I'm going to fucking kill Laudna again. Oh man. Fuck. I'm going to fucking kill Laudna again. Oh man. Are they having two proms over here? It's going to be fine. I don't know if this will work. I don't know if this is going to work. I'm going to use a sorcery point

I'm going to use a sorcery point to double my distance. Okay. I'm going to try to blind Delilah. Cast Blind on her. Okay. Yeah. So what is the spell save on that? It's a con save.

Con save, got it. That is a failure. She's going to use Legendary Resistance to... Fuck! Botch! She used the resistance, though. Yep, one down. Fucking botch. Got to burn them.

Okay. Is that the first one? Yeah. Shit, fuck. As the magic glides to her face, she wills it off and angrily looks at you and . She looks angry. She's getting pissed.

That's definitely, I think, a pro for burning the tree down. Yeah. I don't know if I have enough movement to hide from her as well, to get on the other side of that rock like Fearne did. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You just run forward and slide down to try to

hide behind there as well. All right. She's going to end the turn, use Legendary Action to Shadow Step. Teleport 30 feet. Can she still teleport with Earthbind? Okay. She just can't fly. Her flight speed is zero.

Okay, that finishes her reaction to that. Orym, you're up. Okay. With my boots, my horizontal jump with no running start is 15 feet. So what I would love to do is try to push down hard and spring 15 feet to another branch and then do it again and get my full 30 feet of movement by hopping to a branch, hopping to a branch, if I can.

It's a difficult acrobatics check, especially with now the smoke and the flames beginning to fill the branches. Natural 20. Are you fucking serious? Shut up! Let go. That fucking moon dice, man. Holy shit.

That's well. You know what? It has its moments, that's well. Aw. All right. Does that get me to the spot where she got pulled into the tree? Yeah, it would get you over to that spot. She is currently not visible in that spot.

Not visible at all. Is there anything? Is there purple glimmer through two wedges of tree? The tree has consumed her. There is, you can just see the thick tangle of heavy bark and branches that are curled over. Okay, for now, he just, in a panic, says, Laudna, Matilda, buddy, come on! You got to come walk in the sun with us!

I'm going to take two swings at the tree and try to cut through. Do it. Make two strikes. That's 15 for the first attack and 13 for the second attack. Second attack misses, but the first one, it glides off, but the first one does hit. So go ahead and roll damage for that first strike.

Shoot, I'm going to, nope. I'm just going to do a straight attack. It's going to be very little damage. That is 10 points of slashing damage. 10 points of slashing damage. As you carve through and cut past this point, the damage that's now spreading through the trees, the fire is now consuming the upper boughs.

You slash your blade as deep as you can. As you cut through, you hit some sort of life main line, remaining tether of the top part of the tree. As you cut it, you watch as some of the branches begin to like, tumbling, like the opening of a dying rose that's losing its petals. The boughs are destroyed.

Okay. As it curls open, you do not see in the space Laudna. What you do see is the space where she once was, and it comes to a point, like she was drawn deeper into the tree below. But the top is destroyed, and in doing so, destroys one of the lair actions. Ooh. but the top is destroyed. In doing so, destroys one of the lair actions. Ooh!

Also, Delilah, the feminine form that you saw, she looks back as you hack and the branches begin to fall and you watch as the beautiful, humanoid woman, piercing stare shrivels into a skull visage. These vacant holes where her eyes were,

the lips pulled back to exposed teeth, and the skeletal jaw and green flames flicker where the eyes once were. Get down! Eep! Eep, eep, eep, eep, eep, eep, eep, eep. Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. She's scared. She's going to go ahead and use,

is it the end of your turn? Yeah, yeah. She's letting her actions and neurotic burst towards you. You do have half cover being up there in the tree. That's a natural 20. Oh! Okay. That is... I was saving for something else.

42 points of necrotic damage. Oh man! You watch her angrily release the streak of Shatter Tendril, and in one instant, Orym's spiritual form just. Oh, man! Oh god! Oh god, oh god, oh god! Oh shit.

Fuck! Woo-hoo-hoo! Ashton, it's your turn. I'm playing now. I'm playing now. Smoke them if you got them. Pull out a stick of dynamite. And I just drop it right in the roots. Daintily, daintily drop. Okay.

Wait, actually, is that a bonus action or an action? What would you call that? That would be an action. The process of pulling it out, lighting it, and then throwing it. All right, I'm going to do that. I'm going to turn around, try and also join a little bit of cover. Okay. And take that run.

Over here, over here? Yeah, I'm going to head over there. Okay, you got it. Hey. I might take a step a little further away just to keep them in my little aura. Continuous burning here. Having fun placing fire up in here.

Yeah, burning. It looks cool. Give it a little hey. Then I'm going to down a quick health. How are you doing? I mean, I'm, you know. Sorry, filming is great. How will we document this? You're more helpful than I am right now, anyway.

And I'm taking it? When you're on your turn. Okay, you're just giving it to me? I can use my bonus action to hand something to somebody so you can take it with a bonus action. Thank you. Stick around as long as I can. We got to get her out.

All right. What does that dynamite do? I mean, how close did you light the fuse? Pretty fucking close. Roll it. Fire on the hole. There we go. Fire on the hole. Just loud enough for the two of you to hear it. Got it. There we go. Fire in the hole. Just loud enough for the two of you to hear it.

You got it. Let's go ahead and, what does the damage it say on the dynamite? I didn't add it to my actual inventory. You've got it? Yeah, I was just, I wrote down, sticko dynamite. Boom, boom. One, let's see, a 3d6.

So go ahead and roll 3d6 damage for me. Each creature within five feet, DC 14 dexterity saving throw. Yeah, it does not get a dex save, it's a trap. 12 points of damage, and I assume that's not helping with the fire problem. No. It explodes the base, and you see a large chunk

of where the roots hold the base of the tree cracks up the center, and you can see the char marks where it's there, the concussive blast. The roots themselves are withdrawing and look severely damaged on the cusp. Now it's your turn. All right. I finish your turn, Ashton? Yeah. All right.

Movement, action, and bonus action. Layer action comes through. Delilah's going to go ahead and, she can't use Hungry Vine again, because that was last turn. She's going to go ahead and use Ward of the Corrupt again. The trunk, the damage still stands. You see the trunk of the tree beneath the flames

swell with arcane energy once more, that purple energy, and those same ribbons reaching out and surrounding Delilah again, giving her a shield of magical energy, protecting her. So that's the lair action there. Delilah. Delilah's going to go ahead and move 30 feet this way. I get an opportunity to take my opportunity.

She's going to move around to make sure she doesn't get with the range there. She's smart enough to do that. She's going to go ahead and cast Blight on you. I need you to make a constitution saving throw for me. With a d4. Do you have an emote? I have emote.

And you have a d4 bonus to that saving throw. Can I Guidance? I don't know. I'm fucking different, so shit. What is it? How does Guidance work? I don't know. I'm fucking different. Oh shit. What is it? How does Guidance work? I don't remember. And what does it save? Constitution. Constitution?

26. 26, you succeed. So you take half damage. That's a big spend. So you take half damage. You take 21 points of necrotic damage. Oh my god. 42 is the total? Yeah. Oh my god! Blight's not fucking around.

I need more magic, I just got claws and shit. I have such a stomach ache. All right. Just poop in the chair, it'll be fine. Just relieve some of the pressure. Angrily, as she finishes drawing the life force from your body, you feel the outside of your skin begin to crack and dry.

You feel blood begin to pour out of the side of your eyes, but then the blood itself dries to your skin. The moisture is just missing from your body. As you gasp for breath for a second, oh, don't worry. This is just the beginning of what I'll do to you. That finishes her turn. I have one question.

She did a legendary action and that was her turn. So as long as she does, what? A layer action. A layer action. Never mind. Never mind. That's okay. It's okay. So, Chetney, you're up. You're turned on deck. Nipples on a horse!

Can I? I'm going to close on Delilah. Okay. She's still earthbound, right? So she's low. She is. Well, I need you to make a concentration check because you did take damage last round.

Okay. Did I take damage last round? No, you didn't. I did not. You did not. You're fine, never mind. Check. You might want to get in a position where advantage will be had, so that you're not in a line with everybody else.

Oh. Oh, like a flanking position? Yeah, I normally wouldn't mention it, but because you don't move your own mini. That's fair, yeah. I'll move around in case someone wants to come up and back. Over here? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you got it.

As a bonus action, I'll take my claws and I'll rake them against my chest and you'll see fire pour out of the tips of my claws. And on my action, I will reach back and I will sink into both sides of her ribcage, both of my hands, and I'll cast Inflict Wounds. Yes! You have Inflict Wounds?

I only have three spells. One of them's Minor Illusion, the other one's Invisibility. Go for it. So roll for an attack. Ugh! It's 15. Did you take a moat? I'll reroll with the other moat. Yes. Okay. No. Okay.

No. Natural one. Fuck! Yeah. You go, claws out, and reach forward to sink it into her body, and your hands find nothing. As they reach through,

her form evaporates in your grasp. In that moment of frustration, you glance up and you see that sunken skull face of death just . ROAR! SAM and LAURA, in a rage voice, I poop my pants. That's my all-time.

Okay. Fuck. Fearne, you're up. Fuck! turn. Okay. Fuck. Ugh. Fearne, you're up. Fuck! Okay. Okay. I have a question. Actually, hold on, I'm sorry. End of her turn, she gets Legendary Action. Is she not, like, she's only one Legendary Action down?

She hasn't used one yet, so she's going to have to turn and perform it. So she's going to go ahead and angrily Fire Anarchotic Burst at you. Yeah. Since you're right there. Whatever. Which means she has disadvantage on it because you are in melee with her.

Even so, that's still an 18. Oh, misses. Oh shit. Put my mallet out in my hybrid form, I'm at 19. That's right, yeah. Nice. So it just streaks past you. Okay. So Fearne, sorry, take your turn.

Okay. Question, I have a couple options. Can you cast another concentration spell when you're already concentrating on one? You can. You can. You just drop concentration on the first one. Oh, wow. Yeah, the first one goes away.

Okay. Okay. That's how it works. Sorry, buddy. Okay. Okay. That's how it works. Sorry, buddy. Okay. Natural 20s? No, no, no. Just anything that would've hit. Fuck.

All right. It would drop the other one. Yes. Okay, I'm not going to do that. Scorching Ray at the tree. Okay, what are you aiming for? The vows are destroyed, the roots are heavily hurt, the trunk has taken some damage. I'm going to go...

Oh man, oh man, oh man. What do you guys think? Oh, I suppose I'm close, standing close enough to you, if you're having a moment. Say that again, though. The top is destroyed. Top is destroyed. The trunk's taken some damage.

The roots have taken a lot of damage. We could get the roots out of the way completely. Okay, let's start with the roots. Let's start with the roots. All right, 20. 20 hits, go ahead and roll damage. Oh shit, I keep forgetting. Okay, 20. 20 hits, go ahead and roll damage. Oh shit, I keep forgetting. Whew.

Okay, one. Come on. Dude, it's wild just being full of blood. Fuck! Two points of damage. No! Bitch. Two points of damage. That does go to four.

Because it's double fire fire 12. Fire damage is double. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay. Yeah, so it strikes and begins to burn. The roots are now catching fire all over and are looking extremely damaged. You can see they're starting to wither and pull back.

The tree itself is wobbling a bit. All right, go on again. You also have a d4 to attack. I keep forgetting. Oh, because you're in proximity, too. Yep. 15. That hits. Oh, it you're in proximity, too. Yep. 15. That hits. Oh, it does, okay.

Okay. Okay. Nine points of damage. Nine points of damage. Nice. With that, the roots are now fully ignited. Flames wreath the base of this desolate sun tree. As they lick up the sides of it,

you can see the roots wither and pull back. The tree still stands, and there's still that pulse purple energy towards the trunk, but it is definitively in flames. Okay. You have one more, if you want to. Going for the trunk. Go for it. Want to attack? for the trunk. Go for it. I'm going to attack.

Yeah, yeah. All right, d4. Where are you? Where the fuck? Oh, here it is. Sorry. Okay, great. So that is 16.

16 hits. Okay. Great. 10 points of damage. 10. 20 points of fire damage. I know. So the last, as you to the roots, they all ignite. You hear the screeching of Delilah nearby and you look up and fire your last one at the roots.

It impacts and now flames are encircling and burning up the center of the tree. The trunk is hardy. It's where the majority of its strength and hit points are, but it's taken some heavy hits. All right. The tree is now very much in flames throughout. All right, Mister is going to take his shot now.

Or actually, you know what? I'm going to move around so I'm out of her visibility again. Just boop. Okay. And Mister's going to take his shot again at the trunk. Oh! Oh great, natural 18 plus seven. That hits. Go ahead and roll damage for Mr. V.

Where'd the one go that I like using? Anyway. Boy, I feel that. Use the same, yeah. It's like when I just burst in. It's a tiny little pool and you stare at it, wondering what the fuck happened. All right. Seven points of damage. Seven points of damage. To the trunk.

And I want him to keep moving up to where, to the, to the top of the trunk, or trying to get to where we think Laudna is, or he thinks Laudna is. Okay, gotcha. So he floats just a little bit higher up? Yes. Trying to remember

the space where she is? Yes. The flame flickers higher and higher, feeling at home amongst a little bit higher up. Yes. Trying to remember the space where she is? Yes. The flame flickers higher and higher, feeling at home amongst all the flames around the tree. Getting into the tree, like floating and getting closer, so he's, you know. You got it, okay. And that's my turn.

Great. Imogen, you're up. Oh fuck. Uh! Yeah, you're right. I'm going to just take this that Ashton gave me. Actually, at the end of your turn, she does have her other legendary action. She's going to go ahead.

Yeah, she's disadvantage the other way because you're still in melee with her. She's going to go ahead and... She's going to go for you, because that's what she would do. It's the second attack on her turn, so she'll take a whopping two points of psychic damage. That's true. Chow!

I guess I didn't take it because I'm... It's going to be a 19 to hit? I'll use that last mode I have to try to make her reroll. Okay. Natural 20. Natural 20. Natural one. Oh! Oh!

Ooh! Why is it the same face? Get a different face. I know. It's almost the same one. I thought it was 20. Ooh! Ugh! Ooh! I hate this. I am not sleeping tonight. Okay.

I'm sorry, 1d8 necrotic damage from more than one attack on its turn. Do you want to roll or me? On its turn, so it's multi-attack. Got it, got it, got it, got it. Does the necrotic damage seem like it's hurting her? I don't know, it's just the feature of this blood at point of agony.

Not a worry, we'll get to that. I was just curious. So now it's your turn, Imogen. Oh my god. Same roll. That's funny. Okay, I heal 10 points of whatever. Like, that's going to do anything. No, no! Oh!

I hit damage instead of heal! Ah! No! What was I at? I was at six plus 10, so I have 16 points of... You're real fucking lucky. Oh my god. Life changes. Jesus H. Macy.

Okay. Oh my lord. Okay, Imogen, what are you doing? Your turn. Yeah, we don't have a lot left. I'm going to step around the rock to get out of Delilah's vision. Oh my god. And I am going to,

I feel like I have to save my third level spell. For what? To get ahold of Pike if we need to. Like, I have to be able to message her, right? You're... Sure. No, I mean, we're already. Do whatever you're going to do.

I just don't want to be stuck here at the end of it. Pike is going to pull you out at some point. Even if, yeah, people are popping up. So I mean. We pop right back to the real world. I think you empty the clip. Okay. Really? Empty the clip.

I mean, do whatever you want to do, Right back to the real world. I think you empty the clip. Okay. Really? Try to remember the rules. Empty the clip. I mean, do whatever you want to do, but no point in saving something if it... My eyes are going to flare white, and I'm just going to lightning bolt the tree trunk, because it sets anything on fire that it hits. Okay. Go ahead and roll damage.

And I've seen lightning bolts split trees before, so I'm hoping that's what this is going to do. Sure. Indeed. Well, it does not get a dexterity save. It does not get a dexterity save because it is a tree. Yeah. So automatically, it does full damage. Go ahead and roll damage.

Six, seven, eight. Ah! Ooh! 12. 22. 25. 31, 33 points of fire, of lightning damage. Gotcha.

How do you want to do it? No! Oh! The tree wreathed in flames, top to bottom, the center trunk itself charred and beginning to catch Delilah, ready to just tear the life force out of each of your companions, already two scattered to the winds, you narrowly avoiding being the next target

and shunting you from this realm to help him. What do you do? I'm going to lightning bolt the tree trunk and I'm going to aim it right at the center of the trunk so I can split it straight down the middle and make the two halves crash down. Okay. The bolt impacts.

You watch as it hits the wood, splinters down the center. This corrupt, desolate sun tree. It's burned down the center as it peels back, bits of wood go splintering, flying everywhere. There's a moment where you carve down before there is a blast of impact from the bolt

hitting the heart of the tree. The trunk itself finishes dividing entirely. At that point, there is a flash of white. You see for a brief instant that shadow form of Laudna now pulled free from the center of the tree. You hear Delilah screech, No! into white.

No! Delilah dissipated? You wake up. You wake up. You wake up. You wake up, and FCG and You wake up. You wake up. And FCG and Orym, who have already woken up on the floor of Pike Trickfoot's home in Whitestone. And that's where we're going to end.

Yeah! I know who he's doing! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Oh my god!

Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! There's so much room to go fetal there. Yeah! And she's gone. Oh!

Oh, no. I have the worst headache! So. Oh god. Anyway, we'll pick up from there next time. Oh my god. We'll see what transpires in the aftermath of this conflict. Yeah, thanks for coming.

Thanks for joining us. Love you guys so much. And is it Thursday yet? Matthew Barso! Oh, hey. Ashley Johnson here, and I sure do hope you're enjoying the adventure. Remember when you first found out

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