Critical Role - C3E39 The Momentum of Murder

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

Bells Hells must contend with the bureaucracy of being murder suspects before they can begin their turbulent travels to southern Marquet... 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, spellcasters, sages, and spectators. I'm Ashley Johnson, and you're listening to the Critical Role Podcast Network. Tap into our magical narrative by watching Critical Role as it airs on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole or youtube.com slash criticalrole. Twitch subscribers can watch the video on demand right away, or you can catch it the following Monday on YouTube. As always, Critical Role will be available right here in podcast form on Thursdays, a week after the initial broadcast. And now, let's scry into the story and see what mysteries it holds for us, shall we?

Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. We're here! We're here! We're here, going great out of the gate. Well, before we jump into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through,

beginning with our first sponsor of the night, Cash App. Sam. We're back on Flinger Championship Games, brought the night, Cash App. SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM. We're back on Finger Championship Games, brought to you by Cash App, the easiest way to send, spend, and save money, the number one finance app on the App Store, helping you invest in stocks with as little as uno dollar,

and connect your direct deposit and get paid two days early. And today, I'm going to I'll tell you what you're going to do, Vince McSam. You're going to go down in the ring because the Finger Ladies of wrestling, the Flo, are gonna curb stomp your hand to a bloody pulp. Easy, Finger Blaster.

I'll honor our bout. But it's the holiday season. So before we fight, I wanted to go around the ring and say one thing we're thankful for first. No stalling. The Finger Blaster is gonna to flick your nails off. Yeah! And high five!

Can't wait to give you the fastest beat down in your career. I'm just Thumb. Great. And what do you do again, Thumb? I don't know. I still do not know. Okay, we'll quickly say one thing we're thankful for,

sign a holiday card for the folks at Kash App, and then you can murder me, okay? Well, I guess I'm thankful for the hand health, you know, and the opportunity to show you what a piece of shit you are. Sure, sure, sure. I, of course, am thankful for the convenience of Cash App available on Google Play.

And the App Store. And the App Store. And you, the thumb? I guess I'm thankful I can bend a little. I'm thankful I can bend a little. I'm so lame. As for me, I'm thankful to have such strong, independent women in my life. Not only are the Flo incredible finger athletes, they're also role models.

Today, they might destroy my body, but in doing so, they'll only earn my respect. Aw. Okay, well, maybe, I don't know, maybe we should let it go this time. Yeah, I guess we got a little carried away. Well, that's nice to hear, and it's also nice to see that you've all signed a contract

to wrestle for me for the next 10 years for free! How could you? You monster! I'm a thug! You signed away! I signed on that side, so it doesn't count. It counts! It's a touch! She's going to be our Hail Mary.

We'll find a way out of this, Mr. McSham! We'll see you next time Cash App sponsored the show. Don't forget, when you sign up, use code CRITROLL for $15 and $10 will go to our very own Critical Role Foundation. Terms apply! That's Cash App. That's money. They told me to That's Cash App, that's money. They told me to say that.

Matt, back to you! We lost the cash. Oh no! That's some devious. No, it's reclosed. Storylines. That's money? That's Cash App, that's money. We're now required to say that.

Well, this episode is also sponsored by NordVPN. Browse the internet safely, but most importantly, freely. Even when traveling abroad, you don't want to miss your favorite content. Open the map, click on a location, and you'll be connected in seconds. It's that easy. Find streaming platforms at a lower price.

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plus four months for free. Head on over to nordvpn.com slash Critical Role to try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Thank you, Max. Also, speaking of NordVPN, we've got an incredible high-tech one-shot that tells the tale of how a few cybernetic heroes changed the internet forever.

Join us next Tuesday, November 8th, for Generation Nord. Oh no! It's so ridiculous. The long-threatened, long-waited, and Nordverse one-shot, sponsored by NordVPN. That's right, it became a joke and then it became real. Just like everything does.

We got to be careful what we say, and our very own Sam Riegel, this guy, will be the Game Master alongside some cast members, Amy Carrero, Liam O'Brien, Allura Bailey, Alou Wilson, and Christian Navarro. Christian Navarro! Plus. No, wait, we're going to say that?

I don't think we should say that. Okay. There'll be a special guest, too. There will be a special guest, and they will be so special. Overwritten by talent. Yes. You can tune in next Tuesday at 7 p.m. Pacific

on Twitch and YouTube. But wait, there's more. I'm switching gears. I'm switching gears. A reminder that we have, normally we say, but wait, there's more, it's about the thing, but there's a different, but this is a point.

This is a, this is really exciting. Reminder that we have a beloved reunion coming up. Join us for The Mighty Nein Reunited. Yay! That is our two-part reunion special airing on Thursday, November 17th, and Thursday, December 1st, on Twitch and YouTube, and in select Cinemark theaters.

So if you want to experience our chaos crew on the big screen, be sure to grab your tickets now at cinemark.com slash Critical Role. Fantastic, thank you, Marisha. Tell us! Oh, I have one. Oh right, that's cool. You do?

This week, we released, I'm doing it, we released two new Critical Role books with Penguin Random House. Woo! Yeah. Two? Yeah, we're Mecham Books. The Nine Eyes of Lucien by Madeline Rue delves into the Nine Eyes of Lucien by Madeline Rue

delves into the early adventures of Lucien and his fateful meeting with the Mighty Nein. Mighty Nein. The audiobook is narrated by our pal, Robbie Damon. It's very hard to read. All of us join him as the voices of the Mighty Nein. It's good times.

In another noun entirely, which I'm going to need everyone to be creative and use their imagination, because I do not have it. No, you do, just hold it up. I don't have it. Sure, here, I've got it right here. Oh, there you go, right there, thank you. We've got Critical Role Mad Libs.

Yay! It's so ridiculous. Critical Role Mad Libs are written by Libs Marsham. It contains 21 fill-in-the-blank stories about dice rolls, magic, art campaigns, and more, inviting readers of all ages to verb on their own Critical Role nouns. You make the ad.

Just make the ad. Be creative. I'm tired. That is so much trouble. As a kid, because I just did Dirty ad. Be creative. I'm tired. I had so much trouble as a kid because I just did dirty things. It's always dirty things. My mom found it and she screamed at me.

Now you too can scram, scream in Sam Riegel by filling in all the blanks with Laura Bailey's brain and be as perverted as you want to. It's absurd that exists. Ding! Refill Laura Bailey edition. Indeed, yeah. It's absurd that exists. Ding-dong! Refilled Laura Bailey edition. Indeed, yeah. It's just politics. I feel like there should be more.

Comic Books Vox Machina Origins Volume 3 is now available! Guys, we made Comic Books 2, created with our friends at Dark Horse Comics. This volume collects series three of the beloved Vox Machina Origins series, featuring misadventures at a Winter's Crest festival. We did that at home! Huge thank you to the creative team.

Writer Jodie Houser, colorist M. Sassy K., and Diana Souza, letterer Ariana Mayer. Find it at your friendly local comic store and check out this exclusive limited edition hardcover version found only in Critical Role shops. Look how beautiful this is. Slowly, slowly, left and right, very slowly. Oh, look at that. It's so icy, I wonder why. It comes with this amazing slip case,

commemorative print, and lots of goodies and extras. You open up the print, it's real perfect. I open the print, you open it out of stuff. It doesn't look on the back of it at all. Look at the stuff. Flip it. I know, print. You opened it out of stuff. It doesn't look on the back. You got all the stuff. Look at that. Flip it! I know, but I wanted to see it first. Ooh.

Beautiful. It's so weird. That's how it is. It's never not weird. It's never not weird. To have the session we did, it was our holiday Christmas session in the home campaign, and a collector's comeback. I still have the pen that Laura got me for Christmas.

I really like that pen. It was a very nice pen. Still one of my ultimate favorite games. That was such a great game. It was. We still have, somewhere Dork the Ox exists. Oh yeah, I got you a Dork the Ox. That's right. Travis just got us sticks and pine cones.

Sticks and pine cones. Yep. Pine cone earrings. That I also kept for a long time. Do I still put on my tree earrings? No. They're for your ears. Yeah, I know. I've been wearing earrings for a long time. So I still put on my earrings? No. They're for your ears. Yeah, I know.

I knew immediately. You're like, are these earrings? I'm like, don't you want to know? Miss Moties! That was fast. Anyway, we can write nostalgia for the rest of the night. Instead, we're going to go ahead and take it down to jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role.

Critical. Critical. It's Thursday 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 fight There is magic and mystery Who knows what will happen He might

But one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight From the healer to the renegade, we all share the same goal. Adding more allies, taking more chances. Hold your breath and roll. You can certainly try. It's Thursday night. All ye critters come join us.

It's time to continue our fight 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 We'll fly. Oh, get ready. It's Thursday night.

And welcome back. So, last we left off. Bells Hells, after losing their friend Laudna in battle, absconded through Keyleth's help, your leader of Zephrah, to the city of Whitestone, where upon asking for aid and bringing her back, discovered that she was being held somewhere by the spirit of Delilah.

You went into this odd, undefined dark space, battled the shades that took the form of memories and traumas, eventually facing the shade of Delilah Briarwood as Laudna's spirit was held within this shadow form of the Sun Tree. You battled and seemed to destroy this tree and separate Laudna from this prison state. You all were pulled out of this

and the ritual was completed in which Laudna was returned to life. After which, you finished an evening in the town of Whitestone, said your goodbyes, and then pulling in a favor that wasn't quite taken in, offered by Eshteross previously to get you to Whitestone, you returned via the Sun Tree once more to Jrusar.

Upon situating yourselves there, you grew nervous after a few sending messages to Eshteross to no response, upon which, with the help of the now living and independent-ish. Living. Issh? Ish? Living Assh? with the help of the now living and independent-ish. Living? Svark? Ish? Living ass?

Not you, I'm talking about Pate. Oh. Oh, right. Okay, okay, okay. Ouch. Now your old friend. Pate and Chetney together delved into a silent and seemingly battle-destroyed interior of the Eshteross estate. Upon searching through, seeing all manner of his traps

sprung and gashing and destroying the furniture and walls around, you eventually found, unfortunately, the cold body of Lord Eryx Eshteross. There, where he lay lay reaching with his final breath towards something beneath the bed, you found a locked chest that contained a number of letters that seemed to be labeled to a number of individuals around the city, compatriots, friends, who knows,

but one of which was labeled as Bellshel's. Looking into it, it seemed to be both a letter acknowledging the long coming shade of his lifestyle catching up to him, and the dangers that his choices eventually coming to head. and the dangers that his choices eventually coming to head. He bequeathed to you the ship, the Silver Sun,

as well as his handy cane weapon, Torment. Such a good name. But grabbing up these letters and then stealthily sneaking out of the house, you return to the rest of Bell's Hells, let them know that looks like some conversation needs to happen

about a terrible loss and the growing danger of who you think may have been responsible for this death. As you all, in the setting sun and the coming night of Jrusar, head towards the Spire by Fire, you quickly settle within the interior and I assume you're getting rooms for the night? Be smart.

I mean, yeah. How are we going to tell people? How do we let them know without making it seem like it's our fault? We have the letters. We do it one at a time. We start with people we trust. If we have those letters, they'll explain what,

especially to people who knew him, it's not like this was a fucking surprise. He's told us who he trusts. We got letters, too, so we start with them. Where was Evelyn? He said he gave her a few days off. We have like five, six of these letters. Should we send a message to her, at least?

That's a good idea. Maybe to make sure she's all right. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Not go home. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you want me to do it? How do we tell somebody that their friend has died over a... I don't think we do.

I think we meet her in person. You do meet her in person. What if it puts her in danger? Well, let's figure out where she is first. I mean, let's be honest, she'd be dead already. It's not like these people can't fucking wonder. We're not. You might be right, but one step at a time. You know, you could also disconnect the dots a little bit.

If we just tell her to extend her vacation of wherever she is, and then maybe we could send her to one of the six letter sources, like Ajah Dio or whatever, and that way she doesn't have to come across us. I mean, we're hot right now. It's heat. You risk her if we do meet up with her.

It is the noble thing to tell her in person, but also. Well, we've got to get her those letters anyway, because if she's going to help us, not only, I mean, it's more than that. We are currently probably pretty high on the list of people who probably killed him. Yeah, we want to get out of town as fast as possible, maybe. And we want to let the people who would be angry at us

know that it wasn't us. We need those letters, at least a couple of them, out and in circulation. He really trusted Mistress Seshari. I think we start with her. I think we give her all the letters. He trusted her implicitly, so I trust her to get them to who they need to,

and we keep our time in town short and get ourselves out of danger and stop endangering folks in town. Not to be cold, but we also need to figure out that transportation offer that he made us. We're going to need help. You mean the skyship? Yep. Yeah.

And Shashari is, you know, she runs a Mahan house. Shashadri, you mean? Shashadri? Shashadri. Thank you. Mr. Roshan Shashadri. Or Lana. I should have sent it to the Marksman. Mistress or Lana. I should have sent it to the Mox, but I should have sent it to the Shai.

So she's got connections. Maybe she can help us navigate that. We got him killed. No, we didn't. Don't you dare. He knew this was coming. I mean, fuck, I was thinking about it, weren't you? The minute that happened,

they were going to instantly trace it to him. He knew that, look at that house. Yeah, it says, my fate has finally caught up to me. Did violent things, some he still deeply regrets. I mean, it's connected with us, but it might not have entirely been just us. She read Orym's mind. Am I right?

That's how she knew. Imogen's right. I mean, we got our friend killed, too. And back. But the stuff that we're getting into is really, really dangerous and scary stuff. I guess if we're going to keep going,

we got to be prepared for more stuff like this to happen. Yeah. We never even got any of his baked goods recipes. Oh no, no, that's not true. Actually, he left one in the will, maple ginger cookies, very detailed. That's right. Those are my favorites. His legacy. Yeah.

There's probably a code in it. Oh! I'll take the first letter of every word and start making a list. What does it say? In a few days. Just. Does anyone speak Infernal?

It's not a consonant. This might not be fun. Oh, you do? No, seriously. That letter, we're the fucking legacy. We are not what fucking killed that man. We are the thing he set into motion

to make sure it mattered as little as possible. We are his eventual victory. We are his eventual victory. We are his fucking revenge. We are all these things. We are not the cause. We are. Might be his revenge. I have no fucking doubt. Does this mean we have to change our group name?

Yes, it does. The Revenge. Revenge. Eshteross's Revenge. The Eshteross's Reven Eshteross's revenge. The Eshteross's revenges. Eshastrius. Sometimes when you eat a lot of maple ginger cookies, you get Eshteross's revenge.

Eshteross's bosses, maybe? No. Eshteross's bosses. No. How about we don't change our name? Why wouldn't you want to rebrand us, Laura? You know, I'm just thinking. I just got a whole logo worked out on a couple pieces of wood, you know?

I even like a little stamp. Well, we're going to be carrying that weight for a long time of his loss, but I know that he'd want us to keep going. He had a target on his back already. We have one on ours. Nothing's going to change that. We keep moving forward.

Take his little time in town getting affairs in order, and then we get to it. Should I send a message to Mistress Shashadri? Any objections? Yeah. All right. All right. I will send her something. Okay. Let me make sure I have a spell stocked.

Yes, I do. Before I do, should I let her know who we are? Who it is that's sending? She knows it's going to be from me. She'll know it's from me. All right, I'm ready. Have you talked to her before like this? Yes, we've.

Well, I've talked to her before and she'll know it's me. Hell's Hell's here. No, I don't know. We don't need it. Okay. It's me. Can't mention it. Crossing the streams. How are you doing?

Okay, all right. Y'all pooping? What, what, what? Deuce. Y'all deuce. Lord Eshteross has fallen. We arrived in town to find his house in shambles. As of now, his body is still there. We have documents for you.

It doesn't take too long for a response to come through. Her voice creeps into your mind in response. This is very dire news, but I appreciate you and your forthrightness. Let us meet. Sorry, I did not. She was wasting her time. Yeah, I did not. She was wasting her time. Yeah, I don't know. I had to tablet her pill.

Yeah. Let us meet at the place of your choosing. If not, at his estate. She wants to meet at his house. That's not good. Where should we meet? Actually, here. She could come here. Would that be,

that would be a little suspicious. She's a bigwig here. She knows how to travel the town silently and inconspicuously. I mean, she's not going to make a big parade or something. Should we do an Otohan check? We just did, I think. We did at the house,

but let's pull it out here and check it out. All right. All right. I don't know who has it, but I'm going to have to. Well, whoever has it, you retrieve it for them. Glancing at it, it appears the orb is still dark, so. I don't know if it even works anymore. She might've found it. Yeah.

I say we give Mistress Shashadri, did I say that right? I'm saying it right, yeah. Mistress Shashadri. Did I say that right? You're saying it right, yeah. Mistress Shashadri, our room number here. Right? Yeah. Tell her to be discreet. Yeah, and if she thinks she can't be discreet, then in her response, she can recommend a place,

but otherwise, here. All right. I don't know what our room number is. 69. Room 69. Sure. As requested by FCG. All right, I'll use my... Yeah.

Let me use some sorcery points to get back the spell slot so that I can send another message. Okay. We're at the Spire by Fire, room 69. Be discreet. Come in the back door. If you have a better location,

let us know. Terrible. Very well. Give me some time. I'll find my way there shortly. She's on her way. I'm going to go get some drinks, because I am tired and everything hurts. Any requests? Requests? I'm just going to get a bottle of whatever, never mind.

To take up to the room? Yeah, we should be in the room now. Yeah. We can't talk about what we want to talk about down there. No. Bottle of something. Yeah, we'll say the usual. If you want wine or a liquor, we'll say two gold.

200 platinum. For a nice quality one, or one gold for a standard bottle. Nice scotch or whatever. There you go. A nice, I don't know, what would it be? Yeah, nice whiskey. Wouldn't be scotch. I don't know what it would be.

All right. Yep. All righty. So? We're just waiting in the room, I guess. Should we make plans for the next step after this? Do you want to tell Evelyn not to go back to the house? Sure, I could. Yeah.

I'll send a quick message to Evelyn. Hi, Evelyn. It's Bell, hails. What am I telling her? Am I saying this? Something terrible has happened. Something terrible has happened to Eshteross. Do not return to the house.

We have a letter for her. No, don't tell her. No, never. No, I'm not just going to give her the fucking letter. She might be in danger if she goes. You're in danger, girl. Just stay safe, and you can reply to this message. It's not like rockin', you don't have to eat all of it.

Oh. I understand. Thank you for letting me know. Oh, oh no. Stay safe. I hope he's all right. Oh, now she doesn't know. That's like the worst. That's even worse.

Well, I hate being gentleman. Maybe you could tell him later. I don't know. That's like the worst. That's even worse. That's why I hate being gentle, man. Maybe you could tell him later. I don't know. I don't feel good about this. No, it's a band-aid. You really better just rip it off. You mean we want to message her back and just say? J.K., he's actually. I.

I honestly. I just was nervous to come outside. If it were up to me, I would want to know where she is If it were up to me, I would want to know where she is so we could deliver the letter on our way out and tell her in person and not over brain water. Could be worse. Yeah, because what if she goes over there

to investigate and sees me? She won't go there. She's too smart for that. Oh yeah. Although I'm not sure what can be worse than he's very dead. Where are you? That thing is always easier with eye contact,

I find, in my experience. Boy, I don't know. I say we give the letters, all the letters, to the mistress and just let her pass them out. Is there one to Evelyn? Yes, there is. That's the one I'm a little, that's the one I'm,

putting all the letters in one basket just feels a little dangerous to me. I don't know why. Maybe I'm getting paranoid. Getting? I'm getting paranoid. Getting? I'm paranoid. But am I wrong? There's a lot to be paranoid about.

We'll all know more soon. Laudna. How you doing? All right. Thanks to you all. I don't know how I can ever repay my... my debt and express my gratitude to all of you for what you've done.

There's no debt. None. It's never wished to be a burden. It could have been any of us. It was, some of us. We were all, I think, really in the mood for more of you, and since we've accomplished that, I feel like that was the intended goal,

and it worked out pretty well, so thank you. Yeah, thanks for coming back. Would've been worse to do all that work and you decide to stay away. That would've fucking sucked. Oh, I forgot about this. This necklace that we found there. I don't know if this is familiar to you at all,

but it's not mine. I just put it on so we can give it back to you. What is this? It was a necklace on, oh, and... What else did I take? Oh, some dolls that you were making. Oh, that's right. In the dream world, right?

In the dream world. So interesting point of order here. Okay, maybe this is something that's not right. As you go to reach for it, they're not there. The necklace, too? The necklace as well. I'm just... Your pantomiming skills are quite lovely.

She's been real distraught since you've been gone. Oh, yes, I have. Talking, gesturing to things that aren't there. It might take a little while. Stay close to her. That place was very strange. It was a great necklace. Really beautiful dolls that you were making. It was a nice necklace. This is where you agree with me. It was a great necklace. Really beautiful dolls that you were making.

It was a nice necklace. This is what you were going with. It was a nice necklace. I'm trying to remember. Her what? Her pockets and the head. Okay, a little bit. I thought you said her boggits. I was like, what is a boggit?

A boggit is a great word. Boggits. It's like a pocket, except it's got a little bit of water in it, so it's like boggy. Oh. Like a boggle. Where are my boggits? My next piece of work.

Keep grapes. Things like that. Okay, Bog boggles? It's my next PC. Keep grapes. Things like that. Bogglet, but lightning. Ooh! What's the necklace look like? Well, it was, I think there were three stones in it, and it was green.

There were green stone, wasn't it? I don't know. Green stone or deep red stone. Wasn't it a green stone or a deep red stone? Do you remember what you said? I may have ended up on the spot, so I'll... It had some stones in it. They were beautiful. Three stones, and yeah, that was beautiful.

It sounds like the one that my father gave my mother on one of their anniversaries. He saved up quite some time for it. Three stones to represent the three of us. I should have forgotten about that. They called you Matilda? Oh, that's right.

I was a little, yeah, would have walked into that one a little more gently, but here we are. I was Matilda. Matilda Bradberry. Matilda Bradberry. Mm-hmm. But now you're Laudna.

Yes. Was it just Laudna, or did you ever collect a few more names? Just Laudna. I forgot who I was being alone for so long, running from town to town, just being called many horrible things. Hmm.

What would you like us to call you? Laudna's fine. I like Laudna's fine. I like Laudna a lot. How about Loudna? Laudna. I'm not sure where this got crossed because you didn't call me Laudna for a little bit of time.

It's funny the way you're hitting the T, like you're treating the D like a T. I'm not sure what you're doing. So now it's just Laudna. Laudna, yeah. Laudna. Laudna, there, he's got it now. I go, I'm going to dive like Laura now. Who's Laura? All my lives. Laura was another name I was workshopping

when I was just doing it in the woods. But Laudna made more sense. I just used to sing to myself and sing to Faté and I think all the the la-la-las that I used to do alone just kind of slowly turned into Laudna. Oh, well, that's nice.

Hordador, Hordador. Hordador. Hordador. Hordador. La-la-la. La-la-la. La-ladaw. Howdy-daw. Howdy-daw. Howdy-daw. La la la. La la la. La la la.

La la la. La la la. La la la. La la la. La la la. Oh no. What a fool. La la la.

La la la. Are you a good singer? No. Oh. Certainly not. I disagree. She's an amazing singer. You get out here, croon one of these days.

I just take him and I push him down into... That is just a fey wild bargain you made there with that one. That is just, they found a way to give you everything you wanted and still make it very complicated. I kind of think it's a Fae Wild bargain. Well, I'm excited.

Can you hear her at all anymore? Yeah, it's like a day later. Not even, I don't think. Can I hear anything, sense anything, feel anything? I need to know, I desperately need to know. I need, yeah. Can I hear anything, sense anything, feel anything? I need to know, I desperately need to know. Needle. I need to know. But I don't hear anything. But you didn't, it wasn't like there was a, you know,

the sound of a Delilah engine running in the background quietly, but you don't hear anything. You still have your abilities, right? Do I? I don't know, do you? Yeah. Oh. Hit me with something. You still have your abilities, right? Do I? I don't know, do you? I don't know. Hit me with something. I mean, yeah, gentle, but go ahead.

I'd take it. Yeah, hit him with something. There's only way to know for sure. Something that was, you know, Delilah-ish. That she would take credit for. Breach team! But what if it brings her back? What if every time I try to use what she gave me, it just makes her stronger again?

Oh, that's a good point. Why don't, I mean. It destroyed her, or severed the connection, anyway. There's really only one way to know for sure. I'd say. Well, Pike said, the wonderful woman that brought you back, really. Fine.

She said that there was a little bit of something that she could still sense. Oh shit. But you're separated, I think. Just tell us what you're feeling and tell us if you feel anything that might be a problem, and if it's a problem, we'll just fucking kick her ass again.

Take care of it. But you know, when you're ready. If you're ready. Just give me some warning before you hit me with anything. Just do it. Just fucking do it. I try to make the tiniest sparks of an eldritch blast. Eldritch puff. An eldritch poof.

Oh no. That's an interesting spell. Interesting smell. Just do it. Pack of the protein, yeah. As you concentrate and hold your fingers in front of you and zone out a moment, just sensing that familiar feeling of power coursing through your arms. You watch as that faint spark of energy begins to gather

between your palms once more, just What do I feel? You feel what you're used to feeling. The presence of power, the presence of woven arcana. Your will made manifest through the various threads of the elements and the tethers of the world as you know and feel them in your blood and bones. Ashton.

Yeah? Catch. Okay. Roll 2d20s. They didn't need to attack him with it, but he did anyway. Yep. He didn't. He has to do it. 2d20s? Yep.

Take the lowest? No, those are your two attacks. You've fired two. Oh, right. Well, one was a natural one. Okay. Right, I fired two. She is broken. I think I was just, natural 17. All right, I'm done.

Pretty sure that one hits. Yeah, I'll just take it in the head. Okay, so just go ahead and roll your damage, d10+. Oh. It's for the best I've rolled all game. 19. 19 points? Yeah. 19 points? Yes. Damn.

I do 19 points with one, with one Olush Blast. Well, it's, oh no, I rolled two d10s. Okay, I'll take the lower of that because I don't want to hurt you. Whatever. Oh, I also rolled eights. I fucked all this up. I haven't been maddening in a month.

You've, I have so many hit points. I have so many hit points. Six damage. So six points of force damage. Strikes you in the head and you lean back into the arch. Ah, and I take a shot. That felt good.

Anything. Yeah, did it look different? Did it look different? Seemed different. It's about the same as what you're used to doing. All right. Did you have powers before her, Rhett? She just kind of... Oh, you had powers before her?

Mm-hmm. Oh. She just focused it. Mm-hmm. Oh. I was born with magical abilities. That's why my parents tried to usher me into a new life. I thought maybe if they harnessed and nurtured that,

that maybe I could, you know, it could be my path into a more comfortable future. That's why they were so eager to shove me out the door to the palace. Yeah. Well, that's great then. You know who you are. You're the same as you were, but oh no.

Oh no! Who is it? Is there anything? Anybody mind opening the door a little bit? We're here on behalf of Mistress Shadri. Is it the detectives? I'm... Yeah, does it sound like the Green Seekers?

It sounds like Alia. Yeah, one of the Green Seekers. I open the door just enough for them to peek in, but I'm using my boot to still hold it closed. Okay. The door opens and you see looming at the top of it, the outer half-orc form of Gus in the coat and then Olly lower below looking through.

Oh, perfect, yeah, been a little bit. So don't mean to alarm you at all. Just going through the motions that is required and been put before us, as we've been in the middle of the night, now assigned to the investigation of the murder of our lord, Eryx Eshteross. We have an escort of armed soldiers

on the outside of the Spire by Fire. We didn't want to make a scene, so we just came in ourselves. But just no funny business, or this'll turn into a scene. We just need to bring you for some questioning at the scene of the crime. Sheshedri will meet you there,

as per your conversation, I guess you had. But understand, you are very much the number one possible culprit. Ain't that right? No, it's true. Look, we're just trying to make this work our best we can for you. I don't, you seem like nice fellas.

I don't see much of a reason as to why this went down the way it might have if you were the murderers. So we're just trying our best to clear your names, right? Yeah, exactly. So you don't mind taking a walk with us? Insight check. That's at 21. 21 insight check.

Ooh, Whispers. Whispers means, need an easy gift to give your favorite DM this year? Have a kobold who seems to have everything? Give the gift of D&D in D&D Beyond. D&D in D&D Beyond. Sending a book has never been easier. Simply buy a book as a gift to check out

and send your friend to a code. No unnecessary trip to the post office. Hurry up! It's really long. dndbeyond.link slash crshop. We're having a bit of a day. Can you just say something that would, to prove to us that you actually are who you say you are? What's something that only you would know

about our time together? How's your ex doing? Oh, I took your accent. Oh, CG, we've talked about this. People are worried about it. Oh god. You guys, use the potion wheel. How are you feeling?

Center yourself. I'm confused. Where's confusion? Oh no. I can't believe it! Oh no! Take him down! I'm in the wrong campaign! You do watch Gus's face turn three shades darker

as he rubs his nose a bit. We're doing, we're friends and talking through our differences. Sorry I had to see that, but I appreciate you all being there. It's good that you're talking. It humanized you. Can you give us just one second? We're not going anywhere. We just have to collect our shit really quickly. It's been a weird night, I'm sure you can understand good that you're talking. It humanized you. Can you give us just one second? We're not going anywhere.

We just have to collect our shit really quickly. It's been a weird night, I'm sure you can understand. Thank you, one second. I close the door. We'll be right here. As you go to close the door, you hear, I'll be like, They're outside your window, so you can't escape. We know. I think we're okay.

Oops. You think we're all right? Well, I mean, their intentions. Yeah, it's actually a good thing. I mean, we have an armored escort through the city. We have an armored escort of people that we don't know. We don't know what they want. We only honestly know two of those people, so let's keep on our fucking guard.

We know Shadray. She's trusted by Eshteross, and these two were trustworthy as well. Are we taking it as best we can that this is actually part of her plan and not somebody else pushing things? Let's just be really careful. The letter to Shashadra, is it sealed?

It is sealed. Fuck. Should we read it? What if we just let him be with you? What if he's like, fuck you, bitch! I'm made out on top, now you're going down with everybody else. Oh shit. Can you do that thing

where you hold it up to the light? Does it have a wax seal? Yes. Sure, I'll hold it up to the light. Does it have a wax seal? It's folded piece of paper. I'll cast Light on my eyes and shine right through it, right in your face. Okay, it is a folded piece of paper.

I mean. Make a perception check. She is having us arrested, so I don't feel so bad about popping her letter right now. Oh, it's a natural 19, that's pretty good. Ooh. I think it's a plus one or two. 21. Perception check? Yes.

Sorry, just one, 20. Yep, yeah, it looks like it's folded paper inside. The way it's folded over, you can't make out any letters necessarily because it's multiple layers of paper, but. Chisel. Objections? No. Yes. I don't think he'd want you to do that.

He spoke highly of it. Take the letter out. What does it say? Well, looking it over, it is a letter to Shashandri that speaks on a couple of his last jobs as a mercenary. He's recalling the work that he's done for her,

the goodwill that they've had, and his- I'll stop there. Goodwill? Yeah. So it looks like it's a good letter? It looks to begin in a letter reminiscing. But it goes on further than that, if you'd like to keep reading.

Just one page? No, it's two pages. Just... Seem all right. Seems like it. He seems to be reminiscing about their past. I don't want to know. I don't want to know.

Yeah, I don't know the back page. Yeah, what's the very bottom? With honor, with love? The very bottom. You just died, Lord Eshteross. No, no, no. The very bottom ends up, it actually states bits of information

about what you guys are doing, of what you've discovered. It goes out and talks about elements of the Grim Verity. It talks a little bit about the dangers of the coming solstice and essentially says to not get in your way. Cool. I'll put it back in the letter. I cast Mending to mend the seal back together.

Finally, that spell can do something. Yeah. Mail fraud. Yes, yes. Two campaigns in a row. Two campaigns! Just read the spell! I'm just putting it right! They should just finally rename that spell Mail Fraud.

Mail Fraud. Cobra. We're going to the party. Yeah, that's, I'm so glad you're back, probably. Cobra. We got to go to the party. Yeah, I'm so glad you're back, shit. Let's get our, I guess we're going to fucking go with this. It's not like we got a fucking choice, let's just be careful. Sure. I am grabbing the bottle

and I'm going to open the door if everybody's eye contact. I'm going to use the Pearl of Power to restore a spell. Sure. What is the power word? It just works. You have to utter a power word. You do? Yeah. You do? Laura.

I have. The power word is Laura. I had a Pearl of Power the entire first campaign, and I think the second campaign, too, and I never used a Power Word. I just always assumed I could have a spell back. Lazy. Eh, I don't know.

That negates the entire campaign. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you got to start over. I'll ask it. I mean, I guess obviously the power world for the Pearl of Power is Pearl. Just Pearl? Pearl!

Bat! Bat! It's morphin' time. Yes. Hyphenated, so it's a one word. We got a lot to do. All right, let's go. All right. We can open the door.

Both of them are sitting out there with their arms in their coats, sleeves turned. Okay, great, so yeah, let's go. All right. We can open the door. Both of them are sitting out there with their arms in their coats, sleeves turned. Okay, great, so yeah, come with us. If we can get this done quickly enough, we can continue on with our night, hopefully without issue. Shall we? I think we shall.

Come on, everybody. They open a space for you to walk between them, so they can go ahead and flank you through the hallway to the exit of the Spire by Fire. Are we planning to go inside his house as we? I don't really know what's planned there. We just got the word to go ahead and loosely accompany you to the place

with a few of the assigned guard. So your orders are from Shashadri? Indeed, or at least an associate of Shashadri for rapid distribution of information, usually used in emergency circumstances here. If it helps, you're not the only ones being investigated, I assume at this moment, but you are definitely the strongest tie,

since as far as I'm aware, and we were told, is that right? Yeah, yeah, we were told that you were the ones that notified her of this supposed murder, so just do our due diligence, right? If you're finding him, there's nothing to worry about. Cool. Yeah, it just should be said that the people

that we think actually did commit the crime are very powerful. Huh. And would have no problem attacking all of us where we stand if we go to his house. To the point, and I cannot believe I am saying this to you, if you see anything suspicious, please say something immediately because we're feeling very unsafe right now.

Is that really? Please. Hands you a badge. You've earned it. Wow. I feel gross. You got a badge! That's great! Like a real one? Not just like the stick? No, they're gift badges.

Oh, I see. There we go. See, look at that. Maybe some of you might be able to become an investigator yourself one of these days. We're already deputies. We got the badges from you. We've always been so nice to him. I appreciate the fact that he's a deputies. Where've always been so nice to him. I appreciate the state. Where are Sister Deputies?

Oh god. We don't take that lightly. Very well, you can pick it up with your supervisor. Look, I don't disbelieve you, but I got a job to do. So just come along. Faster the better. Please.

As you head down, you can see there's some people in the front tavern portion of the Spider-By-Fire glancing out the opening door, just asking around questions, especially as you all parade down. Asbestos not making a scene. As we walk, I look at the ball. Keep going. Okay.

Seems dark. Killed a tavern owner. Don't regret it. That's a trick. Killed a tavern ogre. Don't regret it. That's not true. That's a trick. That's not true. I'm going down, I'm going down the legend. As you exit, you can see there are six armored wilders

right at the ready. They fan out and become parts of the surrounding guard to escort you through the street. Now this part of the evening, it's not too late in the night. It's still a little bit past sunset, pushing maybe nine, 10 o'clock, so the evening energy is still picking up

or continuing from those who have taken the rest of the evening to unwind or finishing their business in the streets or going out, meeting with friends or drinking and throwing up on the side of the road. All the things you do in the middle of a raucous night. So folks are craning their heads and watching. It's not a common sight to see an armed escort of colorful individuals such as yourselves.

I was on high alert for fuckery. Understood. I was going to ask anything. Make a perception check. High alert for fuckery. Nah, that's cocked. It's a six, it's low. So that'll be... 18. 18, okay.

You definitely see eyes peeking. You see people whispering and pointing. It's not a huge deal, but it's definitely catching some attention. You don't see anything that particularly peeks your eyes dangerous or worrisome at the moment. You are then guided back to the familiar neighborhood of the somewhat affluent portion of this Core Spire region

where Lord Eshteross' estate resides. You were here not long ago. As you approach, you can see the front door is open. It looks to be about four individuals standing guard out front, also wilders, but these wear the heavier cloaks and dark green and golden blazing attire that signifies them as individuals

that work at the top of the spire, who work alongside the quorum. As soon as you begin to approach, you can see already there's a few individuals on the inside conversing. As you begin to get closer, the wilders that are stationed there acknowledge, and one of them whispers into the door.

A short time later, you see a cloaked figure step out. As she pulls the cloak back, you see the familiar face of Mistress Alana Shashadri. Glances out towards the rest of you. Thank you so much for meeting, and my apologies for these necessary circumstances. I want to get this taken care of as soon as possible, and either send you on your way or send you on your way.

But as much as it is useful to engage and converse with you with what truth you may know or truth you wish to put forward. There are better means to get to the root of this." At which moment, you see her step aside, and inside the chamber, two guard individuals have brought the body of Eshteross down into the foyer, and they've set it onto the ground.

A third figure, who's standing within them, leans forward and begins it onto the ground. A third figure who's standing within them leans forward and begins to inspect the body. You are welcome to be present, or you can stay outside, the choice is yours. I'm fine. Wait, are you going to do something with him? I'm not going to. She is.

She points and you can see the figure now leaning down, themself wearing a dark black, ruffled, thick hooded cloak over the shoulders. You see this pale, almost pearlescent skin. It is so powder white. The hair is almost like a silver gray that falls back and then tumbles and gathers in the back of the hood. No eyebrows, just smooth brow.

The features would be almost elven, but you see no sign of elven ears or points. There is something human, but more so, mystical about this figure, but also like a creepy doll in energy and immediate visage. As she leans forward, you can see she's reaching into a small pouch and is pulling out black ash

across her fingers and is drawing lines across the exposed skin of Eshteross' face and shoulders across. She's pulled back the cloak, or his jacket a bit, and looks to be muttering something beneath her breath as she stops and glances over and turns to the rest of your group. Oh, are these them?

Are these the ones that might have done it? No, no, no, no, no. We did not. But it does. I've heard that before, but we'll find no, no. We did not. But it does. I've heard that before, but we'll find out, won't we? Don't do this to him. He just, he need, don't do this to him. It's all done with respect.

This is my job. With respect? Just lying on the pavement like this? Well, I've only just begun. What are you going to do? Watch. Or if you'd like to help, hold his shoulders. Okay.

I will. You can see now she pulls from a cloak beneath what looks to be a pendant. It looks like a golden, beaked skull. A familiar pendant that you've seen worn by members of the Paragon's Call. Are you with Paragon's Call? I am not.

I am one of the Dustmaven. Worships the same god. Okay. I'm a Dustmaven, Worship's the same. God. Okay. On the dust maven wagon. As she scatters some of these ashes around the sides of it, the guards push in a little bit closer to your sides. You can see you're surrounded and flanked at this point

in a large semicircle of the guards that escorted you, as well as the four that are out front. So you are now ten trained, well-armored, to varying degrees wilders, and pushed in towards the entryway of the estate. It's still in complete disarray, and it's been barely touched beyond just the shifting of the body.

As she leans down and begins muttering, Shashadri leans over in your direction. This is the Gravemystic Weva Vudon. She is a very useful talent when it comes to dealing with the unexpected demise of important individuals. Can you get that name one more time? Avudol. Grave Mystic.

Weva, W-E-V-A. Vudol. V-U-D-O-L. V-U, Weva Vudol, good name. Good name. Mystic Weva Vudol. Vudol. Wow, how did I hear it so very poorly?

You said it like very fast. W-E-V-A. Weva. You watch as she puts her hand out in front and mutters for a moment. Her eyes, her pupils, these thin, dark pupils across the white of her eyes that bleeds into the white of her face.

Almost looks like two dark dots, just on a blank mask. Both of them just roll back, and you just see the white of the eyes, and now it's just this blank, almost featureless face. I lean over to Laudna. You should remember this one. Looks pretty scary.

Right? Yeah. Her hand out in front, the mouth turns into a smile, showing just the faint bit of shift of musculature in the face. As she turns her hand over and then tenses her fingers and lifts, as she does, the chest of Eshteross lifts up a bit,

and the head lifts up with it as well. The eyes open, bloodshot, and you can see the coagulation of the blood around the bottom of the eyes, but the jaw hangs open. She goes, When did you die? You hear the crackling sound of air pushing against dried vocal cords.

Not but the day before. How did you die? There's this weird, sickly, sweet joy as she asks these macabre questions. I was killed by the legend. And who was this legend who was responsible for your death? Legend of the Peaks, Otohan. Fjord. These strangers, and she takes her hand like this, and then as she twists her arm, the body twists

to turn and face this awful haphazard puppet-like movement in your direction as you see now the corpse of Eshteross facing towards you. Were they responsible and involved in your demise? No. Told you. Twists him back. Do you have any final requests? The chest takes one big inhale of foreign air

into its no longer warm cavity. To be interred next to Mistress Prudosh in the Lucent Memorial Mausoleum. With the final gasp of air escaping, the body goes limp back to the ground. She stands up and shakes off the remaining ash, smiles, and turns back to Shashadri. Well, I feel satisfied.

What do you all think? I lean down and close his eyes. Oh, by all means. That was fucking gross. Thank you. That was pretty neat. Emotionally, not physically. What will happen with him now? Well, I don't know.

Turns to Shashadri. Well, we have heard his final request, so we will make sure that it is taken care of. And thank you for your forthrightness. I apologize for the necessary steps. Gus, Olly, looks over to the green seekers who have been sitting in the back. They'll step forward.

Yes, Miss Shashadri, can we do something for you? You have been absolved of your necessary attentions towards this group, this Bell's Hells, I believe. Instead, you ought to look into the whereabouts of one Otohan Thul. Both of the green sneakers look at each other. Yeah, no, we're going to have to pass on that one. You see Shashadri look a bit perturbed.

What do you mean, pass on this? Gus steps forward and puts a hand on Ali's shoulder. All due respect, we, it's a bit out of our pay grade and personal experience. My apologies. Somebody else's murder, somebody else's attachment, it's your way, but we're not, we're not bounty hunters.

Shadric nods. Well, you've been spoken of well by a lot of Eshteross as skilled and competent individuals. You hunted down Treshi. Would you also be interested and capable in hunting down the one responsible for your friend's demise?

We're not bounty hunters per se, but I don't think I'm overstepping for the group to say that we're very interested. Well. Let's consider this our second contract, then. It was the first. Look, I think the treasury was the first one. Remember, she gave us a lot of money.

It's a record. It's a contract. How much? No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, it's a shared interest. Wait, do we know the Legends of the Peaks? Ota Hansen. Yeah, but the Legends of the Peaks are not known. The next name we've never heard

for Ota Hansen. What are the Peaks? Yeah. The Peaks of Jus'ah? Does it have to do with the war? It had to have been. That it would be. The, are you asking this question out loud? Yeah. Yeah.

Apex War. Indeed, during the Apex War, That it would be. Are you asking this question out loud? Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Indeed, during the Apex War, which is where Otohan established herself, she was known as the Legend of the Peaks because of her involvement with the Highlands, with the apex city known as Shrewargus, the home of the Stratos Throne.

The what? Shrewargus, S-R-U-W-A-R-G-A-S. Down here. Shrewargus. Stratos Throne, got that, you guys. Yeah. S-R-U? I do not know if I spelled that right. S-R-U-W-A-R-G-A-S.

Shrewargus. Shrewargus. I got S-R-U in my brain. Home of the Stratos Throne. We've heard that before. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The mountain range that it resides is known as the Coven Peaks,

and so she was known as the Legend of the Peaks based on the many deeds and many great, in some perspectives, atrocities it committed during the war. She committed these or she righted those wrongs? It depends on what your perspective was. For the people of the Stratos Throne, she was a hero. To those opposing her, she was a boogeyman, a nightmare.

She's a nightmare. Does the Stratus Throne exist anymore? It does. Oh. It does. Who sits on it? Where is it? I mean, that's where it is. The council sits on the,

and you would know this, Imogen, the Stratus Throne is essentially the rulership over the Talon Highlands, your hometown of Jelan. Do you remember when you were young, very, very young, you probably would, actually, your memory at this time would be very, very, very little, like early, early life memories of people running, having to hide briefly.

As you've gotten older, you've heard all the stories and you've watched whole swaths of farmland up there in the Highland Bluffs that were torched as part of the war. There are still, along the main roads, there are small strongholds and remnants and then rebuilt wash towers and military installations along the various pathways

that lead along the mountain range and out into the rest of Marquet that were part of the Shadowratos Throne's defense. So you know the rulership there, though it's called the Stratos Throne, but it's not a singular individual. It's a smaller council now. That was part of the stalemate,

was the death of the previous sovereign, if you will, helped bring things to a ceasefire. That and the eventual mutual economic ruin that was transpiring with very little gained ground or material wealth. So she could have made her way through my town at some point. Probably.

You know that Jelvan, while it is largely a farm town in the Highlands, is one of the towns that most folks pass through on the way out. That's where Mr. Faramore is. There. Yeah. So, and you've heard stories about many soldiers and warriors both staying within your village.

There was actually probably built a number of barracks and additional inn chambers and homesteads to house soldiers when they were passing through that have since gone unused and fallen to just disuse over the past 20 or so years and been repurposed. Okay. Regardless, I will work with the Green Seekers to put together the report

to the rest of the individuals who are affiliated with the Quorum, so they will be notified of this, and you will be, for the time being, unless any other circumstances arise, absolved of my and everyone else's mistrust. We'd appreciate it. Mistress Shashadri,

in addition to figuring out how to find Thule, we have some affairs we need to get in order before we can do that. We brought letters. I'm right here. And letters for you and others. We're a little concerned for Lord Eshteross' caretaker, Evelyn. Mm.

And we own an airship, sort of, now? He left us something in his documents. He left behind. Not really sure how to go about that. Let me see these. Yeah, fine. I produced the page for this one. I produced the page!

Shitty time. Just a creepy death marionette still in the room rolling. Yeah, she's still in the room. She's taking his arms and folding them over and preparing him for transport, wrapping him, quietly singing to herself as she goes about her work.

Okay. She's creepy and cool and I love her. Should we take the body to Barry or should we leave it for them? I trust that Mr. Shashadri will take care of his body in a way that he will. Okay. I will have it taken care of.

That is quite a gift, but I suppose it is right if you are indeed to be going after the one responsible for his death. If you would like, I can go ahead and speak to my associates and have this approved by the morning. I'm ready for pickup when you need. That would be great, yeah. It flew into my coffee. It's protein. Just eat it.

That's all right. He's just swimming around in there now. Is it a fly or a snake? It was a little gnat. It's a circle of life. I'm going to still drink it. Yeah, you are. Oh, he's alive! I swear!

What do I do? I feel terrible. Kill it. I can't. Well, now I feel like he lived through that. Drowning in coffee. God damn it! Okay, I'm going to kill him. Okay. No creatures were harmed in the making of this show. Oh no. Just kidding, I'm still here!

But look at that! Ah! I'm caffeinated. Yeah? Our revenge begins now. Shashabdry takes this and begins to tuck it in while looking at you just for approval. I mean, are we really?

Mm-hmm. Trusting? Mm-hmm. We have to. We have nothing else at this point but to trust. Fine! Are we also handing over these others? Yes. Yes. All right. I hand over all except hers.

I say, I opened yours, but only because you had us arrested and I don't really know you that well. Looks over the letter. I mean, did it so well? It does not appear to have been opened. Yeah, well, we got tricks. You see a little smile creep across her face.

I can see why he trusted you. Takes the letters and puts them into the same pocket of her cloak, pulls the hood up a bit. You can just do that? You can just get a letter and not open it and read it immediately? The curiosity isn't just killing you?

No, I've read many letters in my lifetime. Super important letter by a guy just murdered. Just doesn't, you can just, that will, it's just willpower, it's amazing. I would want to read it right away. It comes with experience, small metal one. Maybe you should just open it and just read it. Do you want to know what's in the letter?

No, it just bothers me. It doesn't bother you? I'm not going to read it. Don't make them anxious. You wouldn't like them when they're anxious. I understand, I understand where you're coming from. The grave mystic, Vudol, comes through the doorway next to Shashadri and goes,

He's ready for moving, and I can speak with the mausoleum for preparations, if you'd like, based on his wishes. Jeez. That, I think, will work fine. Thank you very much. DM, her HP and levels are off the charts, right? Compared to me, if I'm reading her as a battlemaster?

Crazy pro-listen skin. Oh, of Voodoole? Mystic? Yeah. Definitely higher than yours. Oh my god. Okay. Good call. Where do you work again, in case we need to do the puppeteering at some point? Well, I work throughout the city,

and if I'm doing house calls and I'm not busy, I also work throughout the wilds. You do house calls? Yes, if it's a prune. Oh, I guess that's why you're here. Okay. Do you have a card? She looks back over towards Shashadri. She is within my employ,

as well as contracted to a few other individuals who are important to the city. If you need assistance, you can reach out to us, or to her directly, I guess, if you require it. Just fascinating, that was amazing. At which point, she looks over and glances at Laudna goes, What? Hi.

To Spider-Man. Hello? You're cold. Is she cold, I was going to ask. She is not cold, she is warm. Oh. Yes. Interesting. I like you.

Okay. What's your name? This is how everybody talks to and looks at me. Let's just make a sense, a Fafnir undead. It's a little disconcerting. Does it sense which one? Fafnir undead, and can I get a scent of the mystic, please? Sure, make a perception check.

With advantage with a scent. Oh. 17. 17. No fiend, no fey, no undead. But there is, the skin itself, as pale as it is, as bits of the moonlight hit it, it's almost like there's reflective flecks across the cheek, like the surface of water that's moving.

Cool. Cat bow. Yeah. Mm. across the cheek, like the surface of water that's moving. Capa. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Aw! I don't get it. I'm, I'm, I'm... Just, it's okay to be honest and just say,

I don't like the way you're looking at me. I'm Laudna, and the way you're looking at me is a little alarming. I get that a lot. That's all right. I normally do, too. It's honestly, it's rare to put me, you know, a little off. I take that as a compliment. Same!

Wow. I'm just feeling a little strange at the moment. Yes, you look like you've had a brush with something recently. A bit darker on the edges. A bit withered. I know this.

Ooh, welcome back. Oh shit! She starts walking away. Wait, wait! As she walks away, do you? You need a bath. In her head. Did you see anything else?

She keeps walking and stops. She's not even looking at you, she's going off into the night and she stops and you hear a response. I don't know what you mean. Something else. and she stops and you hear a response. I don't know what you mean. Something else around my friend.

Insight check. Make an insight check. Do her body posture back towards you with the conversation you're not hearing? Yes. Really good insight. Oh wait, did you say it psychically? Yeah, I'm saying it psychically. But you know what? You can insight her body posture.

She's trying to waft out a fart. You're insighting that ass as it walks away. She's going to just hold it in the last 10 minutes. 21. Circles all the way around. You hate to see her leave. Oh, but you like walking. You're watching the walk of the dog. No. It's hard to tell. leave. Oh! But you like walking around. I don't want to go. No.

It's hard to tell. She's face away from you with her cloak on, so. Yeah. The only response, as she stops for a second, and you see the head tilt a little bit, like she's considering the question in your head, and almost with a playful smile to the voice that returns to you.

I didn't look that far. What am I looking for? What should I be looking for? What's going on with your troop? Tell me, I like mystery. She breaks out into a song. What is happening? What is going the fuck on right now?

Best NPC on the cabin. Maybe we'll meet again some other time and talk more in depth. Well, people keep dying around you, I'm sure we will. Mm-hmm. At this point, she looks over her shoulder back in your direction, unblinkingly. And continues back off.

Then she walks into a Tim Burton building. She was in the whole time. What's this? What's this? What's this? That was pretty well. What is this? Well, what a turn of events. What is this? Well. What a turn on events.

I think we need some sleep and an airship. Yeah. Is Mr. Shashadri still here? She's still here. Now she's talking with the Green Seekers. Stop it. They've left you your devices and Shashadri's talking to the Green Keepers. They Stop it! And like, they've left you your devices and Shashadi's talking to the Green Keepers.

They're now prepping the body and some of the individuals are now going through the chambers internally and they're starting to give more of a thorough search over the premise and they're starting to turn over bits of furniture and collect weapons that have been embedded in walls and things like that. I approach her and say,

we're looking to leave town in pursuit of this Thul as fast as possible. How soon can we access the airship? I cannot say since at this moment in time, the clerks that will be responsible for finalizing this paperwork do not arrive until the morning,

but once they do, it should not take too long, especially if I'm putting my name on the transition as well. So at the very least by midday tomorrow, I assume. Thank you. And if you can keep us as much out of all this as possible, the fewer people that know we're involved in this

or even honestly in town, the better. I would ask the same of you, if you do not mind. I mean, so far your association has proven to be a bit dangerous. So just know, I will not get in your way, and I look forward to your success. Before we leave, do we want one armored guard to accompany us to a new place where we have to stay,

since the previous one is totally busted for us now. We could stay at Shadana's. Is that right? I mean, anybody we know who knows we're in town might be a problem. Just stay here? Ooh, in the house? I don't know.

No, no, maybe not. I mean, it's just gore on the walls. You're not going to come back to the scene of the crime. Explosion marks. They were already here. Who's out of the Suit and the Swell? Maybe Captain Zandis would be cool with us staying on the ship.

That would be even better. Sure. Choices are yours. The Suit and the Swell might just be nice to have something that's not floating and no one's going to give us shit. Just sit in this whale. All righty. Actually, before we leave,

Orym will wander over to Eshteross and kneel down and druidcraft a single black violet and tuck it into the lapel of his jacket. Thank you, sir, we are in your debt. Trust me, we'll follow this through to the last breath. Hats his chest, rejoins the others. We're able to communicate with the skyship, but how should we get in touch with you

around noon tomorrow if this is all processed? Shasha returns, listening to this question. Well, the paperwork should be completed by now. You would go to the Eyrie Skyport. The port captain, Tang, should have the paperwork finalized and will be able to usher you towards your new acquisition. Great, thank you. If you have anything else to say to Eshteross,

now would be the time. She takes a step and turns away to give the rest of you a moment, if you like it. It's odd. This is between Bertrand, recently Laudna, and now Eshteross. This is the third solemn possible goodbye,

silently or otherwise said to a friend in this house. There's an odd peace to his face. More so than when he was found. You can see as he's wrapped a bit, his outfit now pulled forward, his arms crossed and held over the chest. His glasses cracked, but had been found and placed upon his face.

And where normally there is a deep furrow to his brow, the heavy, deep, sunken wrinkles that are set across the face of a man who's seen a lot of challenge and tension. across the face of a man who's seen a lot of challenge and tension. Now just sleeps peacefully. I'm going to check his pockets.

Oh! Make an investigation check for me. You're my favorite. Ashley Johnson. You already wrote one. Four. You all watch as Fearne gets on the ground and looks like she's hugging the body, but is very overtly rifling through the pockets of his coat.

Fearne. That's what he would've wanted. Here's the thing. She's hugging the body, but is very overtly rifling through the pockets of his coat. Firm. That's what he would've wanted. Here's the thing. I was just checking because he might have some treasures in there that we could always keep with us as a nice memory. No, I was thinking maybe we could go check out his spice rack and get some of that ginger.

Okay. He left us the recipe. I'm assuming he would like to for us to have the ginger. Be careful of traps. I'm sure they're not all sprung. Yeah, you know, not that it wasn't the most special ginger,

but maybe we could just find, I don't know, some normal ass ginger, since you just came back from being dead and this house says fuck you written all over it. Sentimental ginger. Maybe I should go so you don't go. Or, you know. That's fair. We do have a little creepy crawly

you could send in there to collect a bunch of stuff. Send that to him. What we doing? What's the plan, aye? Listen very carefully. I'm listening. I don't even got ears. No, it's not. It's a skull. Now's not the time for any of this.

There's a dead man. It's a lot of sadness, all right? Oh, sad. Yeah, be sad. Look sadder! I can't, it's bone. My face is bone. You made me.

I can't even make expressions. I don't think I can talk. It's crazy already. I know the feeling. I don't have lips. I can't even make expressions. Not that I can talk, it's crazy already. I know the food. I know I'm lips. I don't have lips or a tongue. What's this he's going to happen? Go to the kitchen. Yeah. Look at the spice rack. Yeah.

Get the one labeled ginger. Got it. What else is on the list? Do we need anything else on the list? Does Pâté know how to read? I'm sure you know how to read, Pâté, but does he know how to read? He'll be fine. He'll be fine.

Yeah! As he flitters around the edge. Are you looking through his eyes as he does this? I'll get used to it. Sure. This is a good recipe, man. This is detailed. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Wait, give it to me. I should make some for our next game.

Oh! You probably should. I was going to. Yes, please. Good idea. I was just going to stealth do it, show up with them. As he flies around the corner. There are, you can see now at this point, they're still overturning furniture. They're placing things back.

They're currently in the process of taking down information and writing deep reports about what they see here. Coasting into the left-hand side into the kitchen, you can see the kitchen, the table is busted on one side, the leg is broken from underneath, but it looks like not as much fighting happened in the kitchen. Most things that were broken were near the door

in that main table, but the kitchen itself seems mostly intact. There is one wilder that is currently in the process of inspecting the counters. And as they timeline. It doesn't exist. It doesn't exist yet. It doesn't exist yet.

Yes, it does. Nope, no. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. Oh. They'll get it eventually. Crossing the strings. What is it?

We'll just break that. What year is it? Oh, I understand. I didn't see it. I was like, but this year is, you know. Time is a weird soup. Time is a weird soup. Time is a weird soup. There's a Wilder currently inspecting

the middle of the kitchen, just glancing around for information. Go ahead and roll a stealth check for Pate using the imps. Oh god. Oh god. I should print this out so I just have it on hand. It should be in your extras. Wait, what?

I mean, you can add it to your extras. Oh, I don't have it on my extras. Well, I'll add it for you after you've done that. How do I search everything? Oh, gone. Imp. Oh, Jesus. This is going to take forever.

It's a plus five. It's a plus five. So just go ahead and roll one at a plus five. Turn right side. 16. 16. Scooting through the air, right past the wilder, who does not seem to notice him flying through

before latching onto the side of this cabinet. Pulls it open and you see the wilder hears something and goes to turn his head. Skitters underneath and is now clutching the bottom of the cabinet. The rib-based wings fold back in and clips into the shadow, and the guy turns around and looks.

Goes back to his inspecting. Quickly now. That's an amazing side-scroller, I'd probably play it. He grabs six glass bottles carefully and puts them inside the empty chest cavity with the ribs pull out from, and shoves them inside the body before heading back out of the chamber.

Comes back out to the front door. I got something! Shh! I got something. You don't have to be so jovial all the goddamn time. I don't know how it used to be anything else. Wait. No, but that's right. I shouldn't chastise you for that.

It's part of your charm, you're a whole god. It ejects these spice jars out of the middle of its chest cavity. Oh, you got the turmeric, too? Yeah, yeah. Good boy, Pate. I don't really know spice as well, and it never had time, so grab what was out front.

That's fantastic, and a cinnamon! This is great. All right, get back in here. While that was going on. I just want to kneel next to Eshteross and put my hand on his chest and just say thank you for trusting in us and

for giving as generously as you did. I know we're Bell's Hells and Bertrand did bring us together, but I feel like you solidified that. Like Orym said, we're going to make this right. I'm glad you get to be with your love now. Anybody else?

When she finishes that, Orym's going to grab one of the daggers chucked by booby traps into the wall and just yank it out, shove it on the back of his boot. Cool. All right, everybody good? Yeah. Actually, I haven't gotten another dagger

since I chucked mine at you. There's three more in the mantle there. This is going to be weird. All right, everybody good? Yeah. Actually, I haven't gotten another dagger since I checked mine. There's three more in the mantle there. This is going to be weird. Just taking out my thigh holster. Looking around, anything seem interesting in the room? Anything seem odd? I don't know, just.

Make a perception or investigation check? I'll make a d20 roll. See how together I am? Yeah, I'll make an investigation. It doesn't matter. 17. 17, not bad. I mean, the room is in absolute disarray.

It has been tossed and shredded. You can see there's this long painting, what looks to be of an old member of the Prudajah state that previously existed here, that is just shredded by multiple blade gashes. It's falling off the edge. The frame itself broken in the center.

You can see all manner of bolts on the side of the wall. You can see two of the steps are crunched inward and broken, the wood splintering. The whole room is obviously the battlefield for a very intense struggle that happened here recently. There are two wilders that are still in the process of doing their investigation throughout the room. But is there anything particular you're looking for?

Small token, something just to mark the room. I don't know. Yeah, you can see that on some of the wood carved walls, on the baseboards and the higher portion of where the, what the fuck is it called? The crown molding hits the top of the ceiling there. There are these small carved, almost like a griffin arm or an eagle talon

that is emerging. They're small, but it can be easily broken off if you want it. Yeah, I'm could be easily broken off if you wanted. Yeah, I'm going to hop up and just grab one. Snaps off easy enough with your strength. I walk over, just going to take a look. Well, it all ends up the same in the end, doesn't it? We'll get to work.

Get up and walk away. Okay. The rest of you all gathering up outside? Mm-hmm. Okay. Would you like an escort, or are you heading back on your own to wherever you're? What can an escort do for us? We're super powerful.

An escort can just go get paid to tell somebody where we are. We could just bait. Yeah. Oh my god. Is there one up front? Yeah, I mean, somebody comes in, they're like, stop, ah!

You hear the ah, and then we flee. Sure. No. No, we're just going to go. You could pay for their drinks if nothing happens. We'll buy them dinner. Are we going to Sit and Swill? Sure.

Sit and Swill. All right, heading to the Sit and Swill. So leaving Core Spire. Sit and Swill. It's a very different establishment. It's more expensive, I would imagine. So heading to the Smolder Spire, to the familiar interior of the Soot and Spill.

With inside, you can see the nice, warm, somewhat jovial interior at this hour of the night. As people have gotten right and proper toasty, a lot of the various dirt and charcoal, black-covered miners that have finished their day's work in the various spire mines are deep into their cups at this time, playing card games, telling jokes and laughing.

You can see Preah O'Medali, the female Inuit that runs the tavern, glances over as you enter and takes a signal for recognizing some of you previously in here, primarily the three ladies of your troop. It's pretty. Here? Yeah. Oh yeah, pretty's working in the back kitchen.

You want me to go ahead and let him know you're here? It's pretty late. It's okay. Will you be working in the morning for breakfast? Yeah, pretty much. He does the morning shift and does the evening shift, and then has the middle of the day on. Let's do the morning so we don't have someone we know

who can get beaten up for information later. Let's just walk through. We just need a room. Okay, we'll get you one. One room for all of you? A couple rooms, probably. Okay, two rooms. I can do two rooms, okay. That'll put you at, let's see here, what's the name?

One gold for both rooms. All right. Your chambers are gifted. You have an evening between these two chambers to talk, discuss, and or just go to rest, if you'd like. What would you like to do? Talk in the morning, or do we talk now? Yeah, go to sleep.

Okay. As you all find yourselves restful for the night, you, one, didn't wake up too long ago, because you did wake up in Whitestone when it was the morning. Oh. The time changed. Yeah, the time changed. That's what's so weird.

Yeah, so you're definitely trying to rest for a bit. It's been, you know, you've had a few exhausting days, but you're still a little wired and it takes you a little time. You'll end up staying up pretty late in your independent rooms to eventually find rest. So we'll say comparatively, unless you had any specific means of doing so,

you'd probably wake up a little later in the morning. Probably be a quarter of nine, maybe 10 in the morning. Okay. I'm all right with that. Okay. But nevertheless,

the tavern is yours, the day is yours. What would you like to do? We got a long way. You dig it a long way. Yes. You're one less down now. One less down? Minus two.

Sloshing towards normality. That's right. Silly but surely. You know something that I should have brought up? I just didn't do it. Hmm. I just didn't do it. Chat, when you brought Ashtaroth's weapon out,

yeah, it had a smell to it. It wasn't the, what was it that had that scent on it? Well, the weapon probably did too. It was the weapon, yeah. It's a toxin. Some sort of poison that Thule or her people use. Make sure that once you kill somebody, they stay dead. No take backs. I know that because the people that I lost,

that it was in them. So I'll probably bring it up. I don't know, I just choked, but I'll bring it up when we see him this morning. I don't know if they were going to make an attempt, but it's not going to work. I was wondering why we were able to do that for Laudna and not your family?

Yeah, I've been thinking about it, too, and I got to imagine, you know, we just ran in, or, but what happened in my home was orchestrated, planned. Clearly, so was Eshteross' killing. So it's just one more tool in their arsenal. So it's just one more tool in their arsenal. So if we run into her again,

it might not turn out the same way that it did. If she takes us down, it could be for good. Yeah. If she takes us down, it could be for good. Yeah, and we're not exactly best friends, so. I hate to ask such a sensitive question, but did you ever ask the Tempest why Otohan or these things tried to assassinate her? She floated theories, test of our capabilities and defenses,

and we waited for a long time for another shoe to drop. At least they did. I didn't hang around for much more than, not even a year. What did you think? I don't know. I wasn't paid to think, really. Well, you know. I wondered about it for years, yeah.

It's a good hobby to pick up. That's right. What would her getting killed accomplish? What would it look like? Well, I'm not an expert on many things, but I've overheard a lot of conversations. And Keyleth sometimes would talk to

a few people, but to the Dorolos about the ley lines that crisscross this world. I don't know. I don't know if that's somehow knotted up in the mess we're trying to untangle. That's all I could come up with. I don't know. Maybe we'll get more answers in Eos.

Yeah. What do you think that stuff is? The Icarus? Yeah. What do you think that stuff is? The, the ichor? Why would that make a difference? The way it was explained to me is that it's some sort of poison. Have we tried to identify it? Do we have some?

I think we do. There's residue. On the sword, maybe. Probably. We can look at it. I feel like we collected some when we went out to the twins. You're thinking of that.

Am I thinking of something else? Collected some? Dunamans. I don't know. Well, I don't know. Well, I don't know, letters. Do you think if you took a look at that blade that you'd be able to? If there's something on it.

Yeah. Is there something on it? Who's got the blade? Well, the weapon is his cane. It's a silver cane with the top gripping sphere. It does have blood remnants across it from, it looks like, the struggle that had transpired. Maybe he's been poisoned

before that blood was on the blade. I don't know. I can look. That'd be awful quick. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I'll look and just see. What does that sword do, anyway? That's what we're going to find out. Well, I mean, not the blood, but the-

Well, am I identifying the sword or the blood? Let's just take a look. The blood, the blood. Blood. Wow. Well, it's not a sword. It's a cane. It's a cane. It's a cane. It's a schwing cane.

Yes, it's a schwing. Canes could make schwing. That's true, yeah. I pull out the gun. Schwing! I'll identify the blood. The blood itself is, what is there is coagulated, but to a thick degree.

It's not dry, it's just lumpy and mealy. Gross. For what elements you can see close up. You identify it. Now the Identify spell. Let me check it before I wreck it. Identify spell says, choose one object that you must touch.

Is this an object? Is blood an object? If the magic is, if it is a magic item, you learn its properties. You learn whether any spells affect the item. Right. And what they are. If the item was created by a spell, you learn what spell. If you touch a creature,

you learn what spells are affecting it. Right. So we'll say for the purposes of the use of this spell, you do identify the object, but you can make a nature or medicine check, your choice, to see if you can identify any of these. I'll say as part of the identify spell being used, you could have advantage on the roll.

Okay. Sure. Natural 20. Natural 20 for a total of? 26 medicine. 26 medicine. You know, and I've researched and read, just in your off time, and have researched and read just in your off time, and it's odd, almost like a bank of memory

that you haven't accessed before. You begin to recall all these toxins, venoms, poisons, liquids, alchemical concoctions that all have aesthetic properties, degenerative properties, necrotic properties, and you're going through it all, and you feel with certainty you have never seen something like this.

Can't even glean what spectrum of magic it might fall under. It. Or whether it's magic. There is no magic to it, but it's not anything you've encountered of the natural world either in your memory banks, whatever you want to call it.

It's very odd. You feel pretty confident in your inability to figure out what this is. Huh. That's weird. You roll an add 20. Yeah. You're not making that face you make when you're confused.

I make the same face every day. Yep. I'm not making it. Matchful 20, and I don't know what it is. Oh shit. So it's either otherworldly or pre-time. Creepy friend. But you're pre-time.

Lunar, maybe? Aw. What did you just say? I said lunar. Yeah. Lunar. You're not as pre-time as Ruidicess. Ruidician. Got to make a call.

Oh. Oh my god. A hot moon. I am curious. Good. 69, 69 a minute. I O-N-I. Hot moon. I am glorious. 69, 69. Yeah, we can call right now and find out what's going on. Extra.

But you do... Hello? Oh my god. Jesus. It's even a red phone. Well played, Sam. God. The played, Sam. God. The delay was perfect.

But you do also, as part of the focus of the Identify spell, is on Turmoil itself. This silver cane. Turmoil, I thought it was torment. Turmoil. Sorry, it's turmeric. Turmeric. Turmeric. That would fit. It acts as a standard magical club

when wielded as a cane. Okay. But when the wielder gives the command word, which is done. Done. Pearl. Amazing. And wields it, the cane extends and the head transforms into a massive silver scythe blade.

It's a scythe? But it's a scythe in the other way. Yeah. That's cool. That's awesome. So it's a club this way and a scythe. No, it's like the ball is like a club. Okay. But then when you say, done, it turns into a scythe.

It extends and the ball becomes the scythe blade. That's cool. Who can use that in our group? What kind of a weapon is it? A finesse weapon? No, it effectively acts as a greatsword. A greatsword?

Who can use that? That's not Ashton? Technically speaking, I could maybe. Really, like you, Chetney. Chetney can use a greatsword? Look, I'm fucking jacked. All right, question me again. Chetney, just hold the cane and see how big it is compared to you. I mean, I'm not saying I'm fucking jacked! All right, question me again! It's like old man roping himself.

See how big it is compared to you. I mean, I'm not saying I'm dropping it. Give it the magic word and see what it looks like in your hands. What's the ball? It's just a ball? It's just a ball at the top of a long, silver cane. It's not like a wolf's head or anything? No, no. I don't know.

A werewolf holding a scythe sounds fucking awesome. I've seen that on the side of a fan. A werewolf holding a cane is also pretty cool. Super rockabilly. Put him on a... But so is Ashtar wearing a cane. I mean, it's all, I mean, everyone looks good with a cane.

Then when he changes, he's a werewolf with a scythe. A werewolf with a cane, a little putting on the roots action. I mean, he's old. Eshteross was old. Aren't you a rogue? Good! Aren't you a rogue? Only? Aren't you a rogue?

Only one level, baby. Oh, so you can still use big weapons. Yeah, I'd be hung for blood. That's pretty cool. Well, I'll take it then. Yeah, I just want to check the thing out. I want to see some stats and otherwise, but you know, just curious.

I don't have it. Did any of you still admit? Yeah, unless you're playing with it. Either way, I'm cool. Done! He watches the center of the cane seems to extend into a curve beneath your grip, while the silver ball almost seems to liquefy.

In just a split second, it becomes malleable before flashing out into this hooked silver blade. to liquefy, and in just a split second, it becomes malleable before flashing out into this hooked silver blade. You can see there's the handles on the side that all of a sudden are there. You just glance down and they appear. There's this faint, it's like a soft humming sound, like a buzz,

like a that emanates from the blade itself. You can see this strange flicker of light blue energy that ricochets back and forth along the edge of the blade. Not going to lie, it's speaking to me, but catch. You catch it. Does it change size? Is it one of those magical weapons that changes size

depending on who's using it or no? Is it just a... Sure. No, I don't know. I want to get other things that look like a weapon. For the purposes of art and design, sure, yeah. It looks great in the hands of whoever's attuned to it. Yeah, no, because it's a scythe, and they all look good.

I'll say as part of the attunement process, it does match the size of the wielder. All right, this is interesting. This is pretty interesting. Do you have the stats? Oh yeah. I feel like there's some tension here between you. No, no, no, I'm just curious.

When, you know, maybe you guys could share. Maybe one day Ashton could have it, and then the next day Chetney could have it, and that way everyone's happy. I've just never played with a knee like this before. Roll each to see who cares. It feels like, you know. Yeah, when you hit somebody with it,

there's a little something extra that happens. Oh, you were trying to take that into account. Wait, hold on. So is this in the items? It is. Can you actually find this? Turmoil, you can find your magic. But we can look over it. Yeah, we'll look over it later.

It's pretty cool. All right. I don't want there to be tension between you guys. No, no, I just don't want it to supplant your hammer. I mean, you can give me your hammer if you want to take this out. I ain't going to get my fucking hammer. Oh, I can't. No. I mean, if you want to try it out, actually, I just don't want to supplant your hammer. I mean, you can give me your hammer if you want to take this out. I can't get my fucking hammer. Oh, I can't? No.

I mean, if you want to try it out, actually, that's fine. It's a lot. I don't know if you'd be up for it. We could have a mediation session. Where we figure out who gets custody of the blade. No, Ashton can hold onto it. Ashton can hold onto it. There's a fun thing that we could do. Like mid-fight, watch this, catch!

And I throw, it's not, the blade's not out, it's just the claw. I throw it at you. Ah! You killed Jenny. Why do you always destroy things without telling us you're going to destroy the arms? There's so much death around us.

Honestly, clearly he was on the edge anyway. I was, if nothing else, he was just getting it out of the way. This is all over Scythe, Ashton, really? Well, it was actually a club at the time. He had at least three more good weeks in him. That's kind of cool. But is true Chet only has, you know, like-

No, that's actually, I'm thinking, yeah. He's got chisels. Oh, I thought you were going to say only about three weeks, but that's true, like. No, that's actually, I'm thinking, yeah. He's got chisels. Oh, I thought you were going to say only about three weeks, but that's true, too. True, very true. Yeah, no, I was just curious. Can we go get breakfast? Oh, yeah, we aren't even there.

Where are we going today? Well, we have to check and see if our ship's ready, and if our ship's ready, then we're leaving. We're going to go with the Airy Skyport. Breakfast happened. Let's have, yeah, breakfast. We ate breakfast. You head down. It's later in the morning,

so there isn't a fairly heavy breakfast crowd at this point in time. But what you do recognize as you sit down at your table for a moment is the heavy footfalls of the chef handing platters out onto the table to be distributed amongst the tables, who sets it down and you see the sweaty forehead

of Pretty as he leans out and looks across and sees the table and goes, Oh! Hold on. Comes over and grabs the plates that he set down, picks them back up, lays them out across his arm and balances it like an accomplished server who's, which is ironic, you don't really see him serve too often.

Shorthanded. Before he comes out and sits down. Good morning. Good morning, pretty lady. Good morning. Always good. Pleasure is mine. How goes things? It's just great.

It's just been a good time lately. I'm so happy to hear that. We've had a lot going on. Just so busy. Well, you got to keep your appetites up. When he scoots the plates forward, across the table. How are you? I'm doing good.

I'm working a lot and, you know, staying busy. Have you found love in your life? No, I am exploring my options. Oh, you're currently seeing somebody or a few folks? I'm currently dabbling in some social interaction. You're being honest with them that you're not looking for something serious though, right?

First conversation we had. Okay, that's nice. So yeah. Well, that's respectable. And that is living life. If it's possible, your food looks even better than it did before, Pretty. Well, now that I know it was you, hold on.

Heads back to the kitchen, comes back out, and has this tiny little, looks to be like a wooden capsule or something. He unscrews the top, sets it down, reaches in. Yes. Soppy. He flicks a couple of extra spices. A little extra flourish for my extra special agent.

That's great. Oh, of course. That's great. Oh goodness. This is your special sauce? Yes. Cool. Thank you. Thank you, Breedy. It is what it is. I got to get back to the kitchen,

but don't be strangers, please. They're all still single, if you ever change your mind. Uh-uh. Well. It would be really nice. Thank you, FCG. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine. Long-distance relationships are so hard. But you're all wonderful and you're going well.

Yeah, thank you. You don't have to. And the friendship means a lot. Ah! It's fine. And the friendship means a lot. Yeah, people don't know this is fine. He's looking over at you. FCG, like... I know, I'm just trying. Imogen actually goes,

Ah! Can't find anyone for them. It's so awkward. I have tabletop secondhand embarrassment. I haven't seen Sam beam like this in so long. I know you're just trying to be a good friend, but just let things naturally occur. All right, it's just, I feel like they don't take the first step. You know, you could learn so much from him.

And for some people, maybe they'll just find being themselves. They don't need someone to complete them. Huh? Mm. That's very wise. Yeah. Very wise. Now, I have to go drain the bacon grease. Wait, are we sitting down?

That is, oh no, no. You got to go drain the bacon grease. No, I hate it. It is not. I hate it. Well, it is now. I'm starting to fetch it out. You're using it immediately. Hey, we made fetch happen.

All right. In fact, I can't wait for our intermission to go drain the bacon grease again. Well, to that point, to that point, as you have finished your breakfast and begin heading off towards the Aerie Spire to hopefully collect one Bell's Hell's owned skyship, we're going to go to break.

We have a skyship! We have a skyship! Skyship! Yes. It's time to set your archery. We'll be back here in a few moments. See you soon. Yeah, bye. See you soon.

Why, hello there. This is Critical Role's resident art dad, also known as Liam O'Brien. We are continuously amazed at the artwork this community creates. That's why each Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific, we share a curated gallery of submitted fan art over on critrole.com. If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, visit CritRoll.com slash submit.

And thank you to all of the incredible artists who share their talents with us week after week. And welcome back. You are incorrigible. So here we are, mid to late morning here in Jrusar. What are you doing, Bells Hells? Going to the skyship. Yeah, we're heading to the skyship. All right, so you all go ahead. Yeah, the skyport. Great, so that is a two-trip gondola ride

at one silver each. Oh my god, you're still doing that? That is 14 silver. 14 silver, I got this. I got this. Thank you, Ashton. Can we just like? We're keeping an eye out for suspicious figures. Roll a perception check.

Yeah! We have a shipper's house. Can we just send like 100 gold to the city and just be like, we're done. Do we have a fast pass or something? No, just nickel and diamond you. Oh shit, I was and diamond. 17. What's that? I attacked the gondola operator.

Oh, lovely. Okay. 17 to keep an eye on. Okay, keeping an eye out as you go, perfect. Is that? I think that's a curtain closing. Oh, okay. Oh. I thought it was boring.

We all just sat here, just waiting our tunes. Letting the impending massacre go. No questions asked. We're going to die. Well, the studio's going to fall in. Yeah. Good reactions. We're not going to make it.

However, climbing via the gondola to the Airy Spire, taking in the series of events that have transpired recently, the intensity and intention that you carry, you eventually climb here to the highest point, looking back over the mostly now-revealed jungles below. The mist is seeming to have burned back for the midday sun.

Relatively clear blue sky, very little clouds to see at this point. Beyond that, you can see the serpent-wind peaks along the horizon. It looks to be three skyships in port. One that is getting ready to leave. Looks like it's headed towards a northward direction. Sure enough, there it is, the Silver Sun,

the familiar skyship that you had spent quite some time on, still locked into port. Now in the center of these expansive docks where they go ahead and lock themselves and tether them, there is the central office, which is like a small watchtower that has a staircase that leads up and looks to be an open watch space from within

where a handful of desks and most of the individuals that run the control of the various skyships coming in and out resides. You do recognize, as you've seen before, the Port Captain Tang is in the process of finishing a conversation with one of the workers there. Who's approaching, who's making the... How did we forget that we had broken the fucking ship

on the last time we were on it? We absolutely broke it, or it's just slightly damaged? Oh no, the wing's fucking snapped off. And a mast broke in half. I'm sure that's what they're important, though, to complete those repairs. We a mast broke in half. I'm sure that's what they're important, though, to complete those repairs. We break a lot of things. It's been here for a day, two days.

Two days. It's wood. Just let it talk to you. Who's going to talk to the guy? Tang. Tang. Poor captain. All right, so you both say, somebody step forward here.

Charming people, one of you. Stepping forward and, as you say, Port Captain, glancing over the side, you can see the bright-eyed Ice Fura glance over with the vest-like dress of import here with the hat that denotes their captain status here upon the sky, Port can glance over.

Hello? Hello? Good morning. Hi, you are looking for the captain, eh? Captain Zandis, yes. Uh, Captain Tang. No, I thought you were, sorry, DM, I thought you were portraying Port Captain Tang at the moment. I am.

You are. Yeah, we're looking for Tang. I'm talking to Tang. And you're looking to Tang. Why are you looking for Xandis? Because he's the captain of the Skies. Here's Tang, and I want to find our ship. I'm so sorry, sir. With Xandis. This is just.

I'm extremely confused, but that is all right. You're looking for Captain Xandis of the Silver Sun. I don't know if you got advance word, yeah. We're going to be riding this ship today or soon. Sorry. We're the owners of this ship. Right, no, this, all right, yes. This dialogue tree got weird. It'll be updated in the next patch, don't worry.

Yeah. I'm talking to this person to find another person. I fully understand that. I just thought you were going to talk to this person because we needed to talk to this person to find another person. I fully understand that. I just thought you were going to talk to this person because we needed to talk to this person. This is just juice. Uh-huh. Mama juice.

A little bit of mama juice. We're going to get all grown. It's going to be like, hey, mama, do you know what I'm doing? Go play your Nintendos. You got to get up your Nintendos. It is not a problem. It is nearly complete. We are getting all the paperwork approved and put through,

so we can have you into our system, so we know where all of your paperwork is situated. About 15 or so minutes. If you have not met the captain, I recommend you go ahead and learn to meet the crew for your journey, and then return here, and we will have it all squared away. Great, great. How are the skies today?

Oh, beautiful and clear! Look around you! It's a gorgeous day! I couldn't see it until now. I say, I'll be right here. Sorry, business. That's good since I do. Did he say if it was flight worthy?

He did not. Okay. Hope we can ask her. We can ask Captain Xandis. I mean, I don't know why you haven't asked for him already. Shh. Okay. Your engine is wobbling. No, I'm not.

I'm just taking three sips of Mama Juice, okay? No. I'm not sleeping. I'm not sleeping. I just have my eyes closed. I love y'all so much. Mama's just closing her eyes. If the doorbell rings, don't answer. So Imogen S-walks behind the rest of you.

You're heading off. It's been a tough few days, all right, guys? All right, so I take it you go approach the familiar side of the Silver Sun. It looks like some of the minor impacts and scars of recent conflict and weather are mostly still there, other than the broken mast elements that hold the sails have been repaired,

and it looks like one of the sails is being affixed to it at the moment. So it's not completely repaired, it's in process, but it's still functional. It looks like it's air worthy. Okay. Sorry, did he say that the paperwork had landed or no? We definitely need that before we go.

We got word, but pointed us to Xandas. Yeah, okay. Let's have another 15 minutes. Great. We should be good. All right. You approach the... That's my intention. You approach the edge of the Silver Sun, the stairs that ascend to the deck of the ship.

There, you are immediately greeted with the familiar face of first mate Khalil Bennett, who turns around, his glasses wide over his unwavering smile, glancing towards the rest of you. Oh, but it has been quite only a few days and you've already returned. I've been notified that apparently

there is a changing of ownership. So that's interesting and new. Yeah, we're changing the world one skyship at a time. Starting with this one. Very well. You're going to be seeing a little bit more of us, so lucky you. Lucky all of us.

I'll retrieve the captain. Darts off and heads below deck. We should promote him. Very unsettling. There's only one rank higher, though. Is that how we're promoting people now? The degrees of unsettling? Should we just have a whole bunch of captains?

Should we just get rid of Xandas? His time's over. They're wonderful. Their time. Thank you, their time. The gray-blue skin now peers out into the open sunlight as you see the familiar, bald-horned head of Xandis approaching from below,

that goes, Oh, well, hello. Welcome back to the ship that you apparently own, I guess, maybe. That's kind of crazy. What? You're alive? Hi. Oh, that's right. You're alive? Hi! Oh, that's right.

You were a cargo last time. I was cargo. Well, no, you were... Precious cargo. Yeah. Cargo. How did you transport me? I actually haven't heard that. I wrapped you in a thing. Like a gift.

Like a baby. Or, you know. Like a dead baby. Yeah, we took every consideration and they were very gracious in your transport. There were a lot of people making sure nothing bad was going to happen. Also, there was, yeah, many. We took all your stuff. Do you want your Pearl of Power back? Are you good?

Yeah, honestly, you feel like you can have it. I don't think I ever used it once. Okay, good. Well, either way, super glad to see that you're alive and back with us. It makes it a lot easier for, you know, where if you want to rest, we don't have to put you somewhere.

You just go find a place and put yourself there, which is much easier on all of us in the crew. So yay. Oh, I assume, yay. Is the ship ready to sail off to another destination? Yeah, we can make it work, yeah. No, well, we can make it work, yeah. No, just, we can make it work. What would make that work? We got you back, right?

Well. Yeah, what? We got you back from Vassaris, right? It's not all that strange, really, from what I understand. Would an extra day make that more comfortable, or? We could take another day, be done with that, or we can try and fix it on the road, you know? Let's do that.

Yeah. Do we need any supplies or anything? Are we okay? Well, that's true, we're heading to Eos. That, okay. Okay. So here's my question. So, hmm.

We're going to Eos. That's quite a ways away. How long of a? It's about 1,100 miles to the south-southeast of here. Time-wise? About, I say 11 or so days. Oh. Well, it can be shorter,

but that would mean going back over the Hellcatch, which is a lot more dangerous, if you recall. Well, I mean, look at the. Remember how much shorter would it be? Two to three days shorter. How far away is the Apogee Souls? Four weeks. Oh, it's about, it's a little, about four,

a little near four weeks, I think, from now. Okay. Woof. Okay. So, I mean, it's really up to you. No, I don't think we're looking to do anything too risky. We're not in a crazy hurry, so we can take our time. Why are you talking with ellipses? Huh? Why are you talking with ellipses?

It's dramatic pause. You're trying to keep the camera on you or something. Well, listen, Ashton. There isn't a camera, we're just talking. What? There was a wall, there were four of them, never mind. Yeah, we can take our time, you know? All right, then we'll go through the proper trade routes,

which will take us around the Hellcatch Valley and eventually get this into a Shanador, avoiding most of the treacherous skies and their grounds around the valley, which will be peachy keen as far as how this wonderful baby's been taking the hits. So perfect. How soon you looking to go, then?

Well, a question. I'm not super familiar with the map. Chet, you've got the map. I got it! If we wanted to try on the way to find the Gorgine. They're on the way. But are they on the way if find the Gorgine. They're on the way. But are they on the way if we take the longer way around? What is the Gorgine?

It's in the middle of Ashenador. Oh, like in the whereabouts in the Salat in Ashenador. Like it's a big space. In the Gloom. Gloom! Man. It's a big space. In the Gloom. Gloom! Gloom! No, wait. I actually have this part written down somewhere. Going to the Gloom. It's amazing to watch.

I could keep watching it. I'll find it first. Nope. Gloom Chuggles. No. Yeah, no, that's on the way. Gloom! Fuck! No! Sorry, I get really excited.

Sometimes victories are all we have when you're 400 plus years old. Only so many victories left. Oh, you've had a frying couple days. Great, this is going to be a fun ride. I'm here for it. Let's all get weird in disguise, huh? Okay.

Yeah, the Gloom Jungle's best one on here. Perfect. No, that literally surrounds the entire northern side outside of Eos, so we got to go across them anyway. You just point out where they are in the jungles, and maybe we'll, like, can't really go into the jungle, you know, because the trees and the boats have a problem together.

So, but we can get you low, we can drop their ladders and hang out for a bit. Yeah, yeah, we'll find a spot. Maybe there'll be a clearing. I'm just asking, we don't need to switch to the shorter, more dangerous route to reach there, right? No. Okay. It's more of a C-curve.

It's supposed to be a straight route. So still same direction, just it takes a little longer, but much safer. All right. All right. It's going to be an easier way to get up and down off of an airship. Check the ball. Oh. Oh.

Check the ball. Do you have the ball? Check the ball. Did you look at the sphere? Shut up. Huh? Wait, what? It's dark. It's dark. Check your other one.

If you look at the sphere, the ship explodes. Oh! Shh. Where did you think you were going? Twist. Hold on, hold on! 11 days. I mean, it just seems like a long time.

Is it worth it to try to Nine days versus 11? shorten the timetable if Thule is doing everything that Thule is doing. Oh, you're right. We don't even know if Thule's next. What are they doing? What? Well, I mean, we don't know what they're doing next.

No, they have three more days to do it, though. Three more days to do it? What do you mean? If we take longer. We should send them a message. Two, two, two. No! I don't really want to open up that connection. Wow.

Why do you say that? Well, we're just guessing, right? But at least if you're sitting across the card table from someone, you have a chance to get a read. Maybe they'll reveal something. It's not a card table, though. It's not, it was a metaphor. It's a shootout.

We know they came here to kill Eshteross, so they're on a northward trajectory. Doesn't mean they can't turn around. And they did have all of those crates that were labeled to the Cerberus Assembly, so maybe they're heading northward. They got here faster than we did, and we got here fast.

It's true. I think she has the ability to transport herself in the same way, if not more quickly than we do. And members of the Grim Verity, Eshteross, people are ending up dead. So we're trying to talk to people. I don't know, maybe our chances are better of talking to those people if they're alive.

Yeah. I'll also be the one to point out that we got our asses handed to us last time this went through, so anything we can do between now and then to, I don't know, up our chances, might not be a bad idea. Well, we can always. Could Gine help with that?

I don't know. We can always make contact while we're on the ship. How dangerous are we talking about if we go the direct route? Well, for instance, most of the time when you're traveling the normal routes and just taking the safer spots that go over the exterior mountain perimeters

around all these various regions, you might have one bad day out of 10. Hellcatch is one out of four to five. Why don't we get there and then we can decide, right? We're not going to get there for a couple days. You mean to the Hellcatch? Yeah. Well, we have to set our route. It depends on if we're going

to the straight south on the mountain range. Let's start the divergence now. In about a day, I guess, maybe. All right. It's only four to five times worse if we go straight through. For three days. Two days. And maybe we'll get lucky.

Make it three and just call it a day. Have we ever gotten lucky? Two and a half. No. Just think of what's at stake. Not that I can really recall. No. We do have a new S-ship. It would be horrible if we destroyed it.

And your memory is a steel trap. Boy, it's a little wild up there. Yeah. I only got enough room for my escape pod for myself, so it's your call. I took the last part. I don't have an escape pod, that's ridiculous. I'm going to be checking that fucking shit

for an escape pod. Make an insight check. I think it's worth it. We do dangerous things and we take dangerous risks and that's it. Oh, 19. I would really. Oh, what's this now? I can finish the thing I said earlier?

Here's the part that I didn't read. And your friends get the book immediately. That's the part I skipped last time. ddbeyond.link slash store shop. I said it for credit. I say we take our chances and go through. Yeah. Cut down on time. We're doing it.

As long as for a couple days. Will we still go through the, pass by the Gorginae if we go straight through Hellcatch? We'll still pass over the jungles. There's a lot of jungles over there, so it's practically the same. It's just a little more direct route. How many days from Eos

would you say those jungles are? It's about seven to eight days. From the jungles to? Oh no, from here to Eos, would you say those jungles are? It's about seven to eight days. From the jungles to? Oh no, from here to Eos, sorry. From the jungles, I mean, the jungles, probably like six to seven days, about a day and a half maybe, travel once you get to the jungles to get to the city proper.

So it's nice. It's all endgame for the journey, more or less. Yeah, more or less in the same area, as far as I know. How many hours before we can set off? Well, I mean, you just need to get the paper. At this point, you see one of the, this kind of aireport courier comes up, this younger, it looks like 16-year-old, scrawny,

extremely pronounced Adam's apple, human boy, scraggly, mouse brown hair that jists around the shoulders. You can barely see his eyes, it covers the front. He's wearing a simpler version of the vest that Captain Teng was wearing and walks up and was like, Oh, excuse me, I was told to deliver this over.

Oh, thank you. Okay, I think I finished your paperwork. Thank you. Hi. Here, here, here. I love a silver. Ah! Oh.

Fuck, I always forget. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Have a silver, and I throw it at his forehead. Ow! Thanks. Picks it up and puts it in his pocket. You're welcome. Be gone. Okay.

Runs off, Santa's goes, I always told him there are ghosts around the docks. Really? Finally paid off. Oh my god, you should have told me. I could totally do a little illusion, like really mess with him. Next time you come around. Okay. You just got to give him

more silver, pay it off for him, literally. That's right, all right. Okay. Well, we got the paperwork. We're pretty much good to go, wherever we can try and do the rest of the repairs on the way, and grass-saver fingers. Are we good on supplies? The only thing we might just need,

just real quick before we leave, we got a ton of money, right? It's a good amount. Can someone fast just run and get me a couple of diamonds real quick? That would be smart to have. Didn't we get some diamonds? I don't think so.

We didn't get any diamonds? No, I think they supplied it for the ceremony. Oh. Right. Sure. What do you need, like a couple $300 diamonds? That's a dollar, yeah. Yeah. Yes. Sure, before we go, we're going to go get some diamonds.

Hey, you dress up however you want for the trip. I'm not going to judge you. Who's telling you, Matt? Oh. It's time to telecast her. I think he also says we can. Her eyes are just wandering on the road in blurry time. Time to tell, because your eyes are just wandering. Blurry.

I second you. I second you. The one in the middle. All right. We need some dynas. Okay. Well, it gives us some time for them to get supplies for the trip, too.

Great. Food, liquor, whatever. get supplies for the trip, too. Great. Food, liquor, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, for the purposes of the continuous availability of just free-roaming diamonds, which is, you know. Limited. Limited to a degree. You're looking to, I'd say you could probably acquire, and it's not like a singular diamond.

It's having to piecemeal smaller diamonds together to make this, but let's say, let's say 750 gold worth of diamonds you can compile and that's the extent of what you can find, but that's going to take you a whole another day and a half to get to the city. Whoa! Because this is going around the whole town

and trying to scrow and it takes time to shop. This is like the diamond store. How about 300 scrounge. It takes time to shop. This is the dining store. How about 300 worth of diamonds? If we went to one jewelry store before we go, we know we're going to the Fancy District and we go to a jewelry store there. Just to get one 300, or enough for 300. Cluster of 300, knock it down.

I'll say by the time the sun starts setting. Okay, that's fine. Because we have, because here's the thing. We have some diamonds in the bag. There's lots of contention about this. No, no, no, no. This is a controversial topic. We do have diamonds. We had a bag of jewels that had some diamonds in it,

but it wasn't a full amount. I fight with a sword. Oh, I crossed it out. I think we used it. I think we used it. We used it. We have two sapphires worth 300 gold total, and we have three emeralds worth 100 gold total, but we used our diamonds already that were in the bag.

So this will give us one 300, one bunch of diamonds worth 300 gold. Great. We also have a Gryffin Flying Toad. Oh, thank you. That's important. That's important. All right, sunset. Okay, so as the sun is now setting over the Jrusar Jungle, you gather what other

simple supplies you need for the journey, what food, tack, and orc. Cookies. Sure, sure, sure. All right. Just throwing that out there. Yeah, you want to make some cookies? Yeah, it's a long journey. Sure, yeah. I'll make cookies on the road, sir, sure. All right. Just throwing that out there. Yeah, you want to make some cookies? Yeah, it's a long journey. Sure, yeah.

I'll make cookies on the ropes. Perfect. Okay, we'll go for it. For the hell of it, just go ahead and roll a d20. Well, just for the sake of narrative fun, just roll a d20 and add your intelligence modifier. Make good cookies. Or it's counting on you. 11.

11, yeah, they come out fine. 10. Oh, cookies? Yeah. It's not a super high DC. Right. It's more the swing to see if they're like incredible or abysmal. These are great.

These are totally passable cookies. They're not Eshterosses, but you know. While we were at the jewelry store, is it possible to see if they have a ruby worth 400 gold? A singular ruby? I need to find a ruby worth 400 gold. It's high fantasy, but not that high. I will say roll a d20, I do Investigation.

I mean, okay. Oh yeah, I just dog shit. Just dog shit. Six. No, yeah, six. So you can find one, but it's going to take longer time. So we'll say by the early morning tomorrow. You have to wait for the shops to open

by the time you get there. For what? Some ruby. Like a fancy ruby. If I enlist Ashton's help and FCG's help, who have been in the city longer, would they know of somewhere to like? I would say they probably aren't too familiar

with any of the higher end jewel crafters. Lots of rubies! But if you want to, you can totally do it, but it'll take you by the morning to do so. So you'll spend one more night. I don't want to pull this up just for that. Why don't we just sit overnight in the Fancy District and wait for someone to walk by who looks like they might have something on them and just do so. So you'll spend one more night. I want to pull this up just for that. Why don't we just sit overnight in the fancy district and wait for someone to walk by who looks like

they might have something on them and just. Do you want to mug somebody? I mean, in general, yeah. I'm not going to mug someone. Okay. I'm going to give people. I'm going to mug somebody. Just going to give them a memory.

I really probably need more than I do. Okay, no Ruby, we're going. No ruby or one more night with rubies? I am not going to hold everybody up just so I can get some fucking ruby. Okay. Keep an eye out. It's your call. We'll keep an eye out. Maybe when you get to Eos, you could try and press it.

Yes, I need one, but yes, I will hold off. But you're holding off. Okay, last chance. I'm holding off. All right, holding off. Okay, last chance. I'm holding off. All right, holding off. Okay, so the evening begins to press on. The sun vanishes beyond the western horizon across the Serpentwine Pinks.

You get onto the ship. Materials have been set. The more the repairs have been completed, it looks like it's still one sail partially down, but they're still working on it as they go. Possibly if it has to, they can't really repair it while it's in flight, but if it were to take a break, they can try and do it when they arrive at the destination.

But they're ready if you are. Is the broken sail going to slow us down at all? It's not really going to slow us down at all? It's not really going to slow us down in the moment, but if anything, the winds get unruly, if we end up being harried by elementals, or if, I don't know, the storm comes and tries to tear us apart, then it might make it a little more difficult

to avoid some of these things or get back safely. But you know, we're not taking the more dangerous route. Yeah, yeah, you know, it's... Ah! You only live once, right? Last minute pitch. We're taking the direct route. It's faster, it's more dangerous.

You want to find a ruby. I think just one fucking ruby. Just take one night. Fix the, you said like a day to get that up and running? Yeah, if we work partway into the night and get back into it in the morning, we could have it done by about noon tomorrow. What if we threw our Chetney at you?

Our old person. Are you good at sail repairs? You have a lot of time on the ship? Does it involve wood? Parts of it do. I love working with wood. Well then, welcome aboard the Silver Sun once again, Mr. Chetney Woodworker.

Pock-a-pee, CPOP Industries. It's a growing business. I'll be here. I'll get us in time. No, half the time needed. We'll be ready by sunrise. I like his good stuff. We'll see.

All right. Compromise. We'll take the faster route, but we'll prepare for a day to make sure that we're best prepared. Okay. Okay. Then I will buy a ruby. You get another night of sleep. I get another night of sleep.

I'm less dead. Negative one. All right, so you are able to find, by the morning, the ruby that you seek. Imogen, you got your ruby. Chetney, as you are helping the crew, you are specifically helping out-of-the-deck hands Tarana and Gordy, with Khalil overseeing,

while Zanis is handling all the final gathering of materials and supplies, go ahead and make a d20 check, adding your Proficiency modifier and your Dexterity modifier. Proficiency and Dexterity. It doesn't consume anything. 19!

19, not bad at all. Yeah, you, with your help on top of the rest of the deckhands, by the time you finish your shopping by the morning and the rest of you have whatever the supplies you need before to go, the sails are pretty much repaired. They're not polished, they're not perfect, but you can always handle that down the road if need be.

But these are definitely. I work so fast, I'm covered in a blizzard of wood chips and shrapnel, but fresh nicks all over my body because it had to get done. Good job, Chetney. You cut yourself a lot. I become one with the wood in the moment, like a dance. I'm imagining him shirtless with wood chips

caught in his curly little chest yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's just there. He's rolling around on the floor. I need a hero! New old Spice Ad. While we were here at Laudna, I hand you a giant bag of gold. I was saving 3,333 gold for you

from the hoard that we got. That's a lot of gold. Yeah, well, it's what you, it's your share. Oh, thank you. Don't think I've ever seen that much money, ever. That's, I don't know what to do with this. Thank you. 3,000 what?

3,333. 3,000. All right, you crazy reprobates. You got your stuff in line, got your materials in, finished all your stealing, your thieving, anything else you're doing here in the city. Hey. When you went to get the ruby,

could you get me a couple of fancy coins? could you get me a couple of fancy coins? What do you mean? Just like... Commemorative? Yeah, commemorative coins. Like fancy-ass coins? Yeah, like gold coins that are fancy. Here, have a couple of coins. Like fancy-ass coins? Yeah, like gold coins that are fancy.

Here, have a couple gold coins. No, but I need them to equal 25 gold pieces, so it's either you stack 25 gold pieces or you give me one fancy gold coin that's commemorative. Can they do that to you? I don't know. Oh, look for that one there at a fucking jewelry store. What? Like a big-ass gold coin? Maybe.

Do you have a really expensive gold coin? I am not entirely certain. That's not really our specialty, but I have. Just give me anything that's worth 25 gold. I can look into it. Make an investigation check for me. You need something worth 25 gold. And you wanted a coin?

Well, I just assumed that that would be a thing. I've made that mistake before. What am I rolling at? Investigation once more. Oh, I wasn't going to say it. 13. 13. A little bit of a detour, but you do manage to find,

we'll say, a 25, 26 gold worth commemorative coin that has other coins melted down and it's emblazoned with the symbol of the Jrusar. Actually, specifically, the variant coin stores of Dumon. It has the Dumon logo printed into it and it is designed to be, it was once used as an emblem

of the coin stores of Dumon, but they've changed the emblem about 20 years ago, so now it's more of just a Stores of Dumon, but they've changed the emblem about 20 years ago, so now it's more of just a memorial coin of a point in history. Yeah. Dumon Memorial Coin. Yes.

Cool. I was in the emerald. I was expecting a Skittle. Great. All right, sorry to interrupt you, Xandis. Keep going. You could have just gotten him a commemorative plate. He wouldn't know. Could you also, when you're out,

could you get me a peanut butter protein smoothie? Ready. Silver, I got it. All right, we got our business done? Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, let's go. Fantastico. All right, that being the case, welcome on board your skyship, I suppose.

I am your humble captain Xandis once again. Happy to be working and seeing your faces. Appreciate what you've done in the past to keep us from spiraling out of the sky and exploding in a fiery wreck. So continue to do that, please. If you have any problems, any questions, any concerns, tell somebody else, I don't care.

They'll tell me. If it's important, I'll come back to you. Otherwise, hope it's comfortable. Hope you like the food. Hope you like the view. I guess let's shove off for not entirely comfortable skies. To the skies! Oh boy. What's wrong with you? With that.

There's a lot of sugar in this. God. The Silver Sun unmoors from the Eyrie Spire Skyport and begins to shift and head towards the south-southwestern direction. The familiar view of the jungles below as you begin to push outward in the direction of escape from the O'Dearan Wilds

towards the dust-covered, danger-laden realm of the Hellcatch Valley. So now we are on the journey. This is an 1,100-mile journey. The direction we're going. A little less, because we're going over Hellcatch. We are on the journey. This is an 1100-mile journey. Jesus. Really? A little less because we're going over Hellcatch. Right. No born engine.

So we'll scoot through this with as much haste as we can amass. About two bucks. Come on, White Dragon. So. Technically, you're getting into this early afternoon-ish. So the first day of travel, including a night, and the next morning,

I need somebody to roll a d20 for me. I'll do it. Nope, we got one. He'll do it. Okay. D20? You have a bunch of these. What? 10. 10, all right.

16. That's a 16. Was it 10 or a 16? That's a 16, I can't read. Okay, that's great. The first day of travel goes by swimmingly. The view over the Hellcatch from the distance, you can see it creeping upon the horizon as the jungle still is this verdant green carpet beneath you.

You can see just the distant views of elongated strips of waterfalls that are pushing off the mountain edges and vanishing beneath the canopy below. You can see the elements of the mountains pushing inward as the gorge that holds this jungle begins to press closer and closer to where you come towards the end of the valley.

Second day, who wants to roll a d-tab? Just go down the line. Which is the big one? 18. 18? Okay. You're also at zero now. Yeah, you recovered.

Yes. Yes. Second day of the journey. Do you feel more like yourself? Feeling a little bit better, yes. Thank you. Second day seems to go by. Oh! But Laudna's missing. Start over.

I was waiting for you to hear! Oh, the itch. Which, for the record, if any of these days transpire, you want to try something, have a conversation, cast a spell, but if the case may be, feel free to jump in. Other bioresist. I assume that I'm staring at my little glowy orb,

my seeking orb, quite often. Fair enough. No worries. Good to be here. Total fluff, but Orym, every morning after he does 200 squats, goes out to the front of the deck and practices the Zephyr Tom for an hour. Doing fucking Murph over here.

You got it. Living that healthy life on Grathping. For an hour straight. Yeah. Quads her from just hearing that. Nobody does that. Nobody does that, they're right, bud. All righty. The third day begins to come around,

and at this point, the very green carpet is now passing below, as you hit the sudden and hard cliff edge that drops off into the valley itself. The ever sprawling greenery and visual of bright, colorful life begins to turn to beige and gray and brown. On the edges of the mountains,

you can see the cliff sides becoming more sheer and the heavier clouds of wind and small localized dust kickups and dust devils can be immediately visible as if the topography seems to adjust in a very hard and immediate way. But you've made this journey once before. It's familiar to you.

The day goes without issue. Third day. Let's go ahead and have somebody else roll. Come on! Three. Three. I need you to roll a d6 for me, buddy. Yeah! Dang it. Yes!

One. One. White dragon. Okay. The hard rock went up and shit! Yeah, I saw it. On summer vacation. White dragon. Okay. The hard rock really helped me, shit! Yeah, I saw it. I saw it. You all on summer vacation? Oh boy.

No, so. Yeah, no, you're going to die. Uh-oh. The journey, as clean as it has been, begins to shift as an unexpected, almost unseen cloud of dust begins to fill the sky, and Zandis begins to yell out loudly across the way, Well, you chose this route,

and I guess it's already starting to get angry, so hold on tight. We're going to go ahead and push through this storm. Big dust, big wind, you know the drill. Please stay on this time. Oh god. We should probably strap ourselves in. Yeah, hold on tighter than we did in the last time.

Okay. Very tight. So in the moment, what precautions do you take? I have 50 feet of rope. I'm going to cut it into 10-foot sections. Whoop, whoop, whoop. Who wants rope? What for? I want to fucking figure it out. Here, I'll toss it out.

I tie one little corner of it to my leather harness and I find the rest and I tie it off. All right, I'll make the loop. Yeah, same, same, same. Tying down. Grappling line to tie myself to something. I'm going to use my own 50-foot rope to tether to the mast so I can move about the ship still.

You got it. All righty. Just so you guys know, when you say mast, if you remember, the skyship doesn't have a central mast. It has the side mast where the sails are on. So if you wanted to affix to one of those to give you some side motion, you can do that. Tied to one, I can cross the mast with 50 feet of rope. I can cross to the other side of the ship?

Yeah. How wide is it? It's pretty close. I have to look at it again to measure appropriately, but it's somewhere between 50 to 60 feet. So I grab a segment of Chetney's rope and I make it a 60-foot rope. Okay, okay. I take a little bit of my red ribbon and rope, and I make it a six-foot rope. Okay, okay. I take a little bit of my red ribbon,

and I tie Pate to it, and I throw him into the air, and I fly him like a kite. He goes, No! This is crazy! Oh no! He's coughing dust out of the skull mouth. Oh god.

Are you trying to kill him? He's already dead. Okay. I'm a guide! All right, so I will need a group strength check. Because of the rope, it is a lower DC. Yeah. So not terribly hard, but let's see how your luck holds out.

This is not going to be good. Nope. Nope. Nope. Oh, it's not bad for Laudna. Oh no. All right, go around the table here. Five. What? Wow.

It's a bad roll. 15. Good. Strength minus two, by the way, just a reminder, keep going. 13. Okay. I rolled a three, minus two for strength, so that's a one. Okay. I rolled three. Okay. I rolled a three, minus two for strength, so that's a one. Okay. I rolled three. Okay.

Three. Oh! 22, what the fuck is wrong with you? You flexed. Six before chills, at least. So you're tied to both masts? No, one mast. Okay, one mast.

This is why I couldn't have a leash. Got you. I have a leash, long leash. You're a tetherball. Perfect. So, and the rest of you are tied to your rope. so that I can have a leash, long leash. You're a tetherball. Perfect. The rest of you are tied to your rope. No, no, no, all of us are tied separately to the rails. Individual towers. Wrists, ankles, belts.

Okay, so you've cut up your 50-foot rope? 50 foot into five 10-foot sections. Okay, so make sure you mark that your 50-foot rope is now in its place. It's toast. Yeah. I've got a couple. For those of you that rolled under an eight, which is a lot of you.

13? 13. Okay, so what do you think? You hold on, and as the wind gusts come heavy hits, Xandis has their goggles over it. They're just like, It's all right, I got a good feelin' about this one. It's going to go great!

They quickly hit the side and spin the wheel as one big gust slams into the side to try and counteract it. As it does, the heavy impact hits. Those of you who rolled under an eight, you lose your grip and vault into the air, about to be flung from the ship before the rope cracks. Oh!

In fact, you're now just hanging off the side. Kind of whack, whack, whack onto the side of the ship. You've all been vaulted off the edge and are just now being yo-yo tossed into the side of the ship. So there's this group of screams of both pain and fear from those two. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?

I'll go ahead and Feather Fall on all of them to at least make it, maybe they're helium balloons. Okay, yeah. I think that means I'm instantly a kite. I'm on 60 feet of ropes and I'm. Yep. So the rest of them go from slamming into the side to just flinging behind, and you just go.

Oh no. I start to cast Gust immediately to try to stay on a steady path behind the rope. It's like sneezing in a hurricane. Okay, okay. It is. From your distance, too, you can see the ship's shape, but your vision is pretty obscure at this point,

and you're having to squint as hard as you can as it's tugging. For all the rest of you who rolled under that, the Feather Fall is making sure that the tension isn't being held against the rope, which is good, so I'm not going to have to roll to see if it snaps. I'll say that you don't lose anybody for this journey,

but you do, unfortunately, slow down. The storm does slow you down because of the group failure, so that adds a day of travel. Oh. Oh. Damn it, FCG. Me? What did I do? Roll the storm. You roll the storm.

Sounds pretty badass. Roll the storm, roll. Roll the storm. The pretty badass. Roll the storm, roll. Roll the storm. The storm does eventually pass. It lasts for a number of hours, and at times it's worse than others, but Sandus had to do some corrective steering along the way and blew off course a bit

and is now having to get back on track. So roughly a day was lost in the journey, unfortunately. But beyond that, thanks to your ingenuity, you didn't lose anybody overboard again. Good job, Chet. No problem. Keeping us together like wood glue. Rope is like.

Don't roll your eyes, that's how it starts. For the fourth day, I need someone to roll a d20 for me. Da-da-da-da-da-da! 18. Ooh, great. 19. 19, fantastic. I can't read either. We're, I'm old.

The fourth day seems to go by without serious issue. No storms, a little more clouded in the sky than you left the O'Deeran Wilds, but still primarily blue with tufts of white and the occasional light gray. A bit of precipitation that's not about to alleviate itself in the form of a heavy rain or storm.

As the night comes around, and you're resting throughout the deck of the ship, those of you who are on the surface notice a strange reddish glow that seems to emanate from the sky. It's a flare. Glancing in that space, you see the normally dark, ruddy shape of Ruidus is in mid-flare.

Imogen? Oh! While you're resting in the middle of your sleep, a dream of your own making, if you want to describe what dream you're in the midst of right now. A good dream, a medium dream, whatever it may be. What are you dreaming of? Oh, that's wonderful.

I'm dreaming of Laudna and I in a hut outside of one of the towns that we stayed outside of for a couple of weeks. I guess it's because of the cookies that Laudna just baked, but I'm dreaming that we're baking. Okay. Did the flare happen while we were awake? For any of you that were conscious and above on the deck of the ship, which you can decide,

and we'll say probably those two, definitely. Okay. Because if I saw it, I would've at least asked if you wanted company for your dream states tonight. Well, the flare happened while she was there. Okay, never mind. Those were up late, keep in watch. Got it, got it, got it, never mind.

As you are in the process of stoking the flames of this oven within a hut, and as you know, to cook something within a hut, which is generally made of flammable thatch, there is a very enclosed, smaller, wood-burning furnace type of a thing there. As you reach in and push for it, the heat gets really intense and you pull back

because the heat on your face is extreme. As you pull back the whole room, all the candlelight went from orange to a deep, deep red. Oh no. I'll look for Laudna. You look around and Laudna's not in the room, but the door's open. Outside of the hut, you just see a red cloud.

You have control. I'm going to step outside the hut. Okay. You step outside the hut, and there, the storm is around you. You can hear the impact of it, the hut itself creaking and elements of it being pulled away from the sheer intensity of the wind. You can just barely see the shadow of a shape

walking in the storm away from the hut and away from you. No. I chase after the figure. You chase after the figure, and you run and you see the darkened, clothed shape of what looks like Laudna, the dark hair moving into the wind, just still walking away from you. No.

Laudna? No response, just keeps walking. I'm going to will myself to move faster. Okay. You will yourself move faster, and as you're running, your feet begin to scrape and almost leave the ground, like you're occasionally touching with the tips

as you glide in a forward motion to where within just a brief moment, you are right at the back of this figure. Laudna. You reach out and touch it. You touch it, and it spins around. What was the black outfit of Laudna turns around instead is a darkened, ruffled cloak.

You see what you thought was Laudna's hair blowing was tattered shreds of some sort of, almost looks like a funeral shroud or some sort of a deep midnight cloak. As it spins around, you see this scraggly hair in a lavender-like color. Shh. That memory that unlocked,

you immediately recognize this to be the face of your mother. She looks back to you and goes, You need to run. While that's happening, Chetney, I need you to roll a wisdom saving throw for me. What? Oh, it's a move.

Oh shit. I'm your mom. Awoo. Awoo. Awoo. Do I get advantage because it's against magic? No. That's a werewolf. Oh my god, what if my mom is a were magic? No. That's a werewolf.

Oh my god, what if my monster's a werewolf? Six. Oh no! Six, six. So. You've concentrated on this at moments in the past and you've thought about it. The curse that you hold, for those who call it a curse, it is tethered to the history of Catha, and the transformations have always been pulled by that massive white silver glow in the sky.

Ruidus didn't seem to have much of an impact, but as you've been focusing and been present and more conscious of these flares, there's always just a little itch in your belly. Like you ate something that's a little off, or there's a bubble that's trying to force itself up to a burp, but you can't quite force it through. It's simple.

Forced. But this time, the itch gets stronger and stronger until you can't help but try and scratch for it. Your fingers go for it, and you scratch for the itch, and you scratch and you scratch, and you pull and you tear and you tear. Those of you who are on the surface,

which right now is Fearne and Orym, you, especially with your perception, see Chetney begin to double over and clutch his stomach. Chet? I'm going to get about 25 feet away. Chet, can you talk to me? Okay, okay.

You have to pull. You have to be free. You have to scratch the sitch. You have to scratch the sitch. There's no way. It has to be set free. It has to be free. It has to be free. The two of you watch as, from behind,

he just tears the flesh away from his torso. As you watch the skin and hair of the gnomish form flop away like a discarded costume. The woven body of Chetney emerges in an angry, aggressive howl before he spins around, the eyes now emanating a dull red glow. Who do you go after first, Chet? Whoa!

Holy shit. Who's closer? I am. Right now it's Orym. I go after Orym. Oh. All right. Throw him off the ship! Claws free, go ahead and make your attacks against Orym.

Oh wow, okay. Oh no, all right, sure. That is, yeah, these are just claw attacks. So 19 to hit? Just hits, yeah. Okay. That's only 12 to hit. Does not hit, no.

And the third with the bonus action is 20 to hit. Yep, that's two hits. That's eight points and, oh, only six. So 14 points of slashing damage and with, yeah, no, just, yeah, yeah, 14 points of slashing damage and with... Yeah, no, just, yeah, yeah. 14 points of slashing damage, yeah. But on the miss, I'm going to use my Riposte Battle Maneuver and slash back at him

under the neck. Under the neck? That hits, that's a 17 plus. That's a 25 hit. All right. Okay, so. Sorry. Yes! This is the fight I've always wanted to see.

Never heard this. Hurt or die. Okay, so. It's a plus. Your sword's magical, right? No, it's not. 16 points of damage. So it gets points of damage. No, it's not. The sword is magical, right? No, it's not. 16 points of damage. So eight points of damage. No, it's not. The sword is magical, right?

Mine, it's not. It's not. Yeah, so half damage. Wow. So as the pain strikes in, the claw marks cross your cheek and cross your shoulder. You manage to deflect one of the strikes with your shield and then come in and strike underneath. As you cut, it's like you're expecting flesh,

but you get leather. The hide is stronger than you expected. As you withdraw the blade, there is blood, but not as much as you expected for such a precise strike. All right, can you help me get a handle on this? Okay. So since you got the opening strike, I'm going to have you both roll initiative

just to figure out which of you two get to go in order. Oh, I'm going to have to manage. Nine. 15. Okay, so Orym gets to go, then Fearne, and then we're back to you. How much damage was that to me, by the way? 14. 14, yeah. Thank you.

Oh shit. Okay. Okay, so I will use a... No, I'll wait on that. Sorry, what I was about to just say. It was 14. Shit, where is all my shit? God, it's been a while.

It's been a while. All right, so I'm just going again. What, Fruitas? What? What? It's just Fruitas, though. All right, I'm going to make a goading attack. What is a flare? That is a miss.

I'm just going to do a little access here. So second attack is an 18 to hit. That'll hit because I don't have my mallet out. Okay, that is a goading attack, so you have to beat a wisdom save of 16. 16. And the weekly top 40, 13.

Okay, so anything on Fearne is a disadvantage. And you take... Four plus five is... Nine. Total of 12, so half to six. And after getting knocked back and slashing under the chin, I'll take my blade and then just shove it down

through his foot into the deck of the ship and hold a shield up in front of his fucking jaws. That's awesome. And I'll hold, no. Action surge. 18. 18 hits? Oh yeah. Okay.

Is there anything that would be helpful right now? Are we by the side of the ship or center? Just so I don't... I'd say you're closer to the center. You may have been not at the edge, but a little closer to the edge. That was near the rail. Yeah.

I'm not going to do that. Just kick him off of it. I could maybe get him off, but I'm not going to do that. Just kick him off of it. I could maybe get him off, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do a tripping attack. I'm going to try to knock him down. So I'm down here, put the shield up. I've just stabbed. I'm going to then yank it out and bring it

and slash into the side of his leg and try to use the force of it to knock him down. So that is now a strength save. 19. That's safe, so you do not get tripped. That is 10 plus 18 points of damage. Okay, so I take a nine. I just slash into your ankle, and then I get it.

So I don't trip you down, you hold against it, but then I'm just going to yank and try to just dig a cut even deeper into your leg. This is the last attack. That's a natural 20. Ooh! Man! Do I get a little boost even though I'm asleep? Sure, you roll over nicely.

And I'm going to, would you allow me to, if I make this a pushing attack, to be in the same space? No, he has to be larger. Never mind. He is larger. What, is he a wolf? Isn't he wolf-sized? Yeah, I'm regular, like a...

Medium-sized. So since I'm smaller, can I get under him and use pushing attack to shove him towards center of ship? Sure, yeah, if you want to try that. Yeah, and then this gets extra sauce. That's double, two is four. Oops, oops, no, that's the wrong dial, Liam. I've been using the wrong dial this time.

Jeez, Liam. Add. I'm tied to the side of the ship, though, by a rope. Are you still tied? Are you still tied? It's been several days. It's a different time, isn't it? Oh, oh! Yeah, this is the right time. Oh, sorry. Yes. Yeah, the storm's passed, so. Why is Chippy still tied? Don't? It's been several days. It's a different time, isn't it? Oh, oh! Yeah, it's a different time. Oh, sorry. Yes. Yeah, the storm's passed, so. Why is Chimmy still tied?

Don't tell him he can stop. I'm so committed. I don't trust myself. Someone bring him some water. No. He's 20. I need water. And that last one, the final attack is 24 points of damage.

Jeez! With the natural 20. So that's 12 points of damage to you. Damn. Okay. Oh, and it of damage to you. Damn. Okay. Oh, and it was a pushing attack. Yep. Yeah. So strength save. Strength save to see. Again.

Oh, not as good, five. So you get shoved 15 feet. To the center of the deck. To the center of the deck. Towards Fearne. Do I fall? No. No, no, I'm getting you away from the edge, I don't want to kill you. Oh, gotcha.

And that's the end of my turn, finally. I just turn around. I just lift up your legs and it hits you with the shield in the back and you just you away from the edge. I don't want to kill you. Oh, gotcha. That's the end of my turn, finally. I slip between your legs and it hits you with the shield in the back, and you just stumble forward into the center of the ship. All right, as we get to Fearne's turn, you hear Xandis go, Uh, what? We'll take care of it, it's fine.

Okay. What you got, Fearne? I am going to take my staff and slam it on the ground, touch the top of it, and point it at Chet, and I'm going to cast Daylight. Yeah, so fast! Okay.

Yeah, I was probably, I was thinking that. Oh. I thought I was going to be me. I thought it was going to be me. Oh, wow. I'm going to cast it, and I'm going to put my hand out, and I'm going to say, Hey, big guy, the moon's getting real low.

My staff out. Okay, you know what? I'll allow you to make another wisdom saving throw. Okay, okay, okay. I'll waive the advantage on magic, because I like this one. 13 plus, 14. What's your? Doesn't save, 16. All right, so.

You see him try and resist. Doesn't save, 16. All right, so. You see him try and resist. This is less against your spell DC. This is against the DC of the influence that you're on. So as soon as the bright light hits and you're holding the daylight spell, you see him recoil and wince and almost claws at the woven face, leaving these trails of light blood

where he's almost clawing at his own eyes. There's a brief moment where you see the face go a little slack and the breathing go from a growl to a and you see this is having an effect, but then the eyes go back to red and the growl kicks in. So, is that your turn?

Yes. Oops. Does daylight do anything, like cause damage? Or is it just? It creates a 60-foot radius sphere of daylight, which can affect things that are affected by daylight or creatures that have sunlight sensitivity. But in this instance.

Are we sleeping through all this? Is this what's happening right now? Yeah. Okay. Oops. Yeah, everyone else. That was whoever was on the surface. Goddamn. Let me just see. I'm done.

You have to dance with the devil in the red moon box. I love it. Don't really happen until 2 AM. That's my turn. I'm going to just keep shining it on him. All right, Chetney. Who do you go after next?

I have a sword in my foot, right? No, you got pushed. I pulled that out, slashed a couple times, and then stabbed you in the back and kicked you towards center of the ship. I got the high beam in my face, so I'm going to go towards that stimuli. All right, so after Fearne. All right.

So go for your attacks against Fearne in whatever order you'd like. Because they are against Fearne and the goading attack succeeded, you have disadvantage on your strikes. I'm such a dick to you, you dick. I'm not doing this, this one's cocked. Oh, but it's a six. 14 to hit? No. Oh, I'm not doing this, this one is cocked. I bet it's a six.

14 to hit? No. Oh, I'm not. Okay. All those are about a 17. 25 to hit? That hits. The first strike, the bright light, you put forward in the face and then

strike out in the middle of nowhere. Drop hit? The last one also misses, it's a 14. Which is a hit. Which is nice. Great. So, wait, wait, wait. Ah! Five plus five.

10 points of slashing damage. Oh! I'm not thinking clearly. I'm just attacking, right? I wouldn't be doing any kind of extra shit. As far as your consciousness goes, you just have to scratch the itch. Right.

And the itch is from everywhere. Now there's light in front of you and it's making the itch worse. You have to scratch it. Yeah, I'm just picking something and scratching at it. Correct. Got it, okay. Yeah, this is. There's no thought.

This is just primal impulse and instinct. Feels good. You've been here a few times, but this is an odd timing. Got it. So with that, you manage to put the light out in front and Chetney's claws are going wide and barely missing you, and then one gets you in the middle of the stomach and chest

as you push away and you can feel the wound begin to bleed beneath. Oh, that was a tough hit. Aw. Orym, you're up. Okay, Orym starts sprinting low in an arc around Chetney to Fearne and grabs her, puts the shield around her big goat thigh

and spins her out of the way, and I do Bait and Switch and get her behind me, me in front between the two. I'll take the armor class bonus. All righty. So I'm at plus eight! Fucker! Oh my god! What's your AC right now? 27.

Ooh! Shield up. 27?! Holy shit. I rolled an eight out of eight, and I will just take two slashies. That's 18 plus stuff, so that is seven for that one.

And the second one is a 19, no, 18 to hit. That hits, too. Okay. First one misses, second one hits. Three, and that is a nine. So 16 total, have down to eight. And I just hold and play Shield Up. Chet, we're going to hit you until you heal. Knock it off!

All right. Finishing your turn, Orym. Fearne, you're up. Chet, we're going to hit you until you heal. Knock it off. All right. Finishing your turn, Orym. Fearne, you're up. Now, daylight is not concentration, so you have that on the edge of your staff. The light is right there. What are you doing on your turn? Orym, what do you mean we're going to hit him

until he heals? We're going to knock him out. Can you restrain, sleep, anything? Yes, yes, okay. Hold person. Okay, make a wisdom saving throw. I'll use advantage against magic. Because you do on this one, yeah.

Wisdom saving throw? Yep. Hmm. 18. Shit. So as the tendrils of your nature-based magic begin to extend from your consciousness and try and weave their way into the feral brain of Chetney. While they find purchase,

there is only animal instinct within and the magic is dispelled before it can reach the inside of his mind. However, you do have the daylight still up, which means make another standard wisdom saving throw. Just one roll. 16. 16. 16. 16.

16. With that, you manage to shake free this weird sensation. You were just overtaken with the need to scratch yourself, and the itch now fitters away. Oh! Woo!

Wait, wait, why? Why? Why? Why. He pauses. There's one problem. What? I'm under a certain number of hit points. Oh no. So make another one with some saving. Fade back to red.

I have to find the number. Viper armed. It's in here somewhere, I'll find it. Maybe it's really high. No, it's really low. What does it say? It's a four. I'm pretty sure that doesn't beat the DC. It does not. No.

So who are you going after? I'm between them. Yeah? Yeah, I will go after the guy that ran like a jackrabbit across the ship. With an AC of 27. There's a brief moment where you see the beast fades from the eyes,

and while the red is gone. There he is. Oh! The growl is still present. The wisdom saving throw is a DC of eight. Didn't get it. Yep. Oh, wow. Okay. But, so, make your strikes against an AC of 27.

Cool. Yeah, 14. Nope. 16. Nope. Natural 20. Literally. 16. Nope. Natural 20. Ooh! Literally. Does that beat the 20? 28. First freeze.

Well, a natural 20 automatically hits no matter what the AC is. Unbeatable. Eight, five. So 13 points of damage. Gotcha. Slashing. The first two strikes that come through,

you're just like. No, just the double. Deflecting with the shield, paring with the blade, no issue, and the ferocity overwhelms you at a point. Your defense ends up breaking back before one claw comes down and strikes you right across the side of the forehead

and along the chin. You now have that heavy shriek of warmth you could feel on the side of your face. Are we on me now? We are now on you. We're not going to do this, Chet, come on. I'm going to... No, no, no, no, no.

You're below a certain number of hit points. I'm going to, hmm. Every turn, every turn. No, I don't know, but does he look fucked up is the question. I want to use my shield to do a tripping attack and knock him the fuck down. Okay.

So that is a 22 to hit. Oh yeah. You have to beat a 16 strength save. Nope. Nope. So you're down on the ground, and then I take my blade and I spin it to the hilt's end and I go crack on your forehead. I don't want to do lethal damage.

I want to try to knock him out with this hit. I don't know if the hilt's down, I go crack on your forehead. I don't want to do lethal damage. I want to try to knock him out with this hit. I don't know if the shield, knocking him down, does that do the superior already die of damage? Yeah. Chipperty porty poop. Does that roll to two, plus, I don't know if that's an unarmed strike or if it gets anything or if it's just two.

Well, if you're trying to get him to zero, but non-lethal. The first, the tripping attack, I just want to get him down, but I'll take any damage I can get. Yeah, we're flavoring it as you just cutting that, but we can use the damage to say it's non-lethal damage. Okay, okay. Then you're going to Soldier Boy him with your shield.

Yeah, so seven, so total of nine total, non-lethal going with the shield. Okay, reduced to five. Then blade flips around, blade flips around, and then cracks right down on his forehead, I hope. Balls roll. Well, you have advantage because he's knocked down. Yeah, I do.

That hits. 16 plus a 23. Just one. Yeah. And that is four. Come on, come on. 11 points. Damage? Yeah.

Have to six? Have to five, technically. It's supposed to be lower, so it'd be four and six, so 10 total from that round. Okay. I'm going to then just move around his body so that now Fearne is there, he's on the ground in front of me,

and I'm right there, ready for whatever comes next. You got it. Flanding him! Fearne, you're up. Flanding him! Take him down! You want my body, don't I? It's 3 AM. Well.

All right. I am going to... Which one of these should I do? As you're preparing this, because you still have the daylight spell up, go ahead and make another wisdom save. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Well, actually, this isn't against the influence, so.

No. Not a lot. What did you get? Eight. Eight? So yeah. So you do manage to. Me do a me do me to pizza. Yep, so you manage to. Me do me a me to pizza.

Me to pizza. Me to pizza. So you do shake it free. You finally, like, the beast aggression that took over and carried through from whatever this odd influence was comes through, but you still have your turn. What are you doing? Take him down. I'm going to cast Entangle.

Okay. Try to keep him on the ground. Just in case. I'm doing this just in case-ies! That's a dexterity saving throw, I believe? It's a strength saving throw of 16. Make a strength save, Chetney. Yeah, no problem. Watch this.

Oh, 17, no. Yeah, 19. 19. Shit. Out of the wood planks that make up the deck, watch as these tethering vines and long stretches of gnarled roots begin to grow out and wrap around, and you, shaking out of it, instinctually pull back and tear out of them.

The fuck? But it's the first words you heard out of him. Okay, I don't hit hard, but with my shield, I just go on his head. Bunk. I look down. I'm all covered in fucking gashes. So is Orym. Fearne looks all frazzled.

Lovely. Oh no. As you glance up, the flare diminishes and there's just the dull, ruddy moon in the sky. Oops. I did it again. That's how she sounded before. I'll drop, I'll drop, I'll drop, I'll drop.

Hyper transformation. That's what she said. You're good. I'm so sorry. That's never happened before. What? What? That did that. So, that's why. I saw the flare,

and then I was overcome by this sensation, this urge to hatch, and then I'm here. I saw the flare, and then I was overcome by this sensation, this urge to itch, and then I'm here with you. Hmm. Well, you know, we learned a lot. I think we need to pay attention to the cycles of the moons. They only make sense for, you know. But I don't understand.

It's never been the red one before. It's always been. It's never been the red one before. It's always been Gatha. It's so less frequent. This is a different game. Yeah, well, maybe we have a buddy system for you at night. I'm sorry. Is this the second time? Wait. I reach out and I grab him.

I start turning him. Did I bite you? No. You? Slash me up a bit. I thought you did. I wish, but it's fine. I meant to turn me into, because I feel like it'd be super fun

to also be a werewolf sometimes. Mental note. You did slash my stomach, and I'm just bleeding everywhere because of what you just did. Someone should take care of you. I should tend to those wounds. I don't know if you know how.

So I think, I mean, maybe you do. No, I have. I'll take a little help, though. You look fine. Maybe we can just, can I lead you to my quarters? I have some things. When I, you know, sometimes the worms,

they can get infected. Yeah. I really like that idea, and I'm going to take a rain check because I don't know if this is going to happen again, and being alone with you in a room might end up with me dead. Very fair point. Orym, how about you?

Orym's already got self-made clover and moss growing on the side of his head. Yeah, I'm good. Okay. I'm going to rub some dirt on it and shake it off. I'm going to rub something else. Okay, I'm going to rub some dirt on it and shake it off. I'm going to rub something else. Okay, I'm going to excuse myself. What?

I'm going to... I'm sorry about this. If we could just keep going. It's really okay. We've all got stuff, you know? We've all got weird stuff, and that's just your thing. Cool, cool, cool. So. All right.

Sorry. We're going to chat this. We talked about this in advance. Yeah. We'll wait for it now. Wait, where's Imogen? It's the middle of the night. She's probably asleep.

Should we check on her? Probably. Aw, mother fuck. Meanwhile. Little Imogen. In the Hall of Justice. Oh, mother fuck. Meanwhile. SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and the whole of Justice. As you see into the face of your mother saying this, she steps back and the wind just whips her away,

but almost like she was just strips of cloth. As soon as the gust hits, it's like the cloak was all that was there and you watch it vanish into the storm. You glance up and, peering through the top of the dust cloud that continuously consumes the landscape around you,

you can see through it, like it's piercing beyond the limitation that it sets upon your vision. The bright, flaring moon of Ruidus above you. What do you want? No response. Otohan? Are you here? Nobody seems to be present,

which is the sound of wind. Strong, dangerous wind. I'm going to reach out my hand and I'm going to lightning strike the hut next to me and just destroy it if I can. As you reach out your arm, all the weird designs on your body, the extended tendrils of energy that seem to slowly move across your body

completely fill your arm and the bolt strikes outward. extended tendrils of energy that seem to slowly move across your body, completely fill your arm, and the bolt strikes outward as it arcs across the outside of the hut. You watch it begin to burn and darken, and as it immediately burns up, the wind carries it away like the cloak, but a moment before, and you watch as the flames and thatch

just dissipate into the storm. I'm going to kick up and fly up into the air. Okay. You head up and watch as the dust around you begins to subside slightly, further and further, that glaring moon above you. You can see the darkness of the stars. You need to come closer and closer.

You just concentrate on the moon? Yeah. A few moments later, the bright shining light of the flare dulls, and in that moment, your ascension slows, and then stops, and you begin to fall.

Faster and faster. The dust storm begins to pick up again. Faster and faster, you plummet, your hair pulling around your face. You begin to spin uncontrollably as the wind begins to kick you around. You fall and fall and fall. You spin and see the ground come towards you. No!

You wake up. Oh. You spin and see the ground come towards you. No! You wake up. Oh! Where's the door? I'm going to cast Sending on my mom. Okay. Are you there? Is that all you say? Yeah.

Imogen? That's where Antonia takes her. Oh! Oh! What's happening? What's happening? What's happening? What? What? What? What does it mean? What does it mean?

What does it mean? Is she alive? Don't do this, Stark! Fuck you! Fuck. We're changing the rules! Just by game mechanics, she's almost definitely alive. Don't minimize the bacteria!

You're alive! I'm not minimizing anything. It was fucking awesome. You're definitely Chetney's daughter. We hope that's true. Just sent your feelings. Sent your feelings, you know it to be true. Yes!

It's impossible! I am your father. No! I'm going to say ring to it, but I'm here for it. I'm your father. No! I'm going to say ring to it, but I'm here for it. I love you, brother! Father! Holy shit. Well, we'll pick it from there next, I think.

What the fuck? But until then, thank you for joining us. We'll see you next time. Ooh la la. We love you very much. Oh my god. And is it Thursday yet? Good night. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure. To help new listeners discover the show,

please give us a rating and review on whatever podcasting app you're listening on. Until next time, is it Thursday yet?