Critical Role - C3E41 Call of the Wild

Episode Date: December 15, 2022

Bells Hells travel deep into the Gloomed Jungles with the Gorgynei to seek a godly trial that may help Chetney's plight... 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!

Good day, Critters! Travis Willingham here, and I am excited to welcome you to the podcast version of our Critical Role show. If you would like to watch the stream as it airs, you can tune in on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific at twitch.tv slash criticalrole or at youtube.com slash criticalrole. The video-on-demand versions are immediately available for our Twitch subscribers or on YouTube the following Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific. Podcast episodes are right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network on Thursdays, one week after the initial broadcast. Now that we've got all that covered, let's get this adventure going.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. We're Dungeons & Dragons! Before we get into our session tonight, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor, which is Quip. Sam?

It's me, Ludo McGillicuddy! Welcome back to the Quip public domain lounge. Is that ba-doob-a-doob-a-doob-a-doob-a-doob-a-doob. Is there something different about you, Ludo? I can't believe you noticed, Mork. It's really hard to miss. You've really blossomed into something special. Well, yes, my mouth is cleaner

thanks to Quip's new rechargeable cordless water flosser. What? It's an easy to control water flow that leaves you squeaky clean. Five dollar replacement floss tips shipped every three months, if you know what I mean. Thank you. That's a nice song, but I actually meant

how you're turning into a sunflower. I what? I'm sorry? Your body's going through some changes. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Yeah, you're a piece of work, Man Ray. You know that. The only change I've gone through is using this water flosser, which blasts away pollen.

I mean, plaque with precision. With a 360 degree rotating magnetic floss tip. Hit all the right spots with the touch of rotating magnetic floss tip. Hit all the right spots with the touch of a button, yep. That was also a very fine song, Ludo. It's just, look, your stem is really great. Those petals, you should really be proud. The words. Really be proud of how you look, man.

Ixnay on the hour flay, Magic 8-Ball, okay? I don't understand what's wrong. If Quip finds out that I'm slowly becoming a flower, they're going to drop me as their spokes crooner. Flowers don't have teeth. Look, I'm sure they'll understand. Maybe I could take over the gig for you. Nobody wants that, Mr. Mustard.

Well, until next time, folks, it's me, the very human Ludo McGillicuddy, wishing you good flossing and reminding you to get 20% off a Quip water flosser when you go to getquip.com slash criticalfloss, plus save an extra 20% on already discounted bundles. I have very human teeth because I'm a human man. I don't self-pollinate because I'm not a flower. Bye-bye, man. Uh-oh, I seem to be stuck. To your roots. Oh my god.

I'm not a flower, Manchego Cheese, I just... Manchego? Manchego? I'm actually kind of thirsty. Can you water me? I don't want to. Can you please? Oh boy, oh boy. No. Thank you. Water my body. Aim for his spigot.

Oh! Oh yes! So refreshing! Oh yes! Matt, back to you. I can't leave, though, because I'm rooted to the spot, so I'm just going to have to stay here. Okay. I'll pluck you.

This episode is also sponsored by Thorum. Down, down, down, down. Don't show that! Sit down, Sam! Sit down! You can't show stamen on Twitch. That's going to sit right there. Oh. Please, can we Photoshop in some flower blooms?

Oh my god. This episode is also sponsored by Thorum, makers of handcrafted, unique wedding bands made out of everything from meteorites to whiskey barrels, right here in the U.S. of A. Thorum has been making rings for 10 years now, and they take great pride in its amazing customer service, quality, and original designs,

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Sunflower Man. I have to do another ad. I'm trans-part of you. I like how nervous the sunflower makes you because it always shakes just a little bit. You were sleeping. I was holding a semi-squat over there because I didn't want people to see my wang.

Yeah. That's great. I can see it. Hey, we've got another sponsor tonight, D&D Beyond. Bring the War of the Lance to your table and become the hero that Crean needs. Play Kender and follow your curiosity for adventure and mischief.

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and face legions of draconians, dragons, and other servants of the Dragon Quinn. It's Quinn, right? Or Queen? Yeah. Okay, you can purchase Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen today at dndbeyond.link slash crdragonlance. Dope. Thank you, buddy.

Laura, you got a couple things to talk about, too, I believe. Yep. We've got a t-shirt! I should be. Yeah! Beauty of Exandria in motion collection. It's Ashton Graymore, Pucket T-shirt. And on the back it says? Just don't. That's pretty cool. Just don't. Here you go, Taluck Graymore, pocket t-shirt. And on the back it says?

Just don't. That's pretty good. Just don't. Here you go, Taliesin. A pocket tee. I actually already have one. It's pretty fabulous. Have we ever done a pocket tee before? The first one. Yes. The first one. Oh, sorry.

Also, this is part of the Beauty of Exandra, the Archives Collection. It's a journal sticker set. Oh! Art by Grace Berrios. Look, because we've been wanting stickers that could go in our journals, and we have all these journals.

But yes. Are those home arts? They're like little misters and little frumpkins. Oh my god. And there's all sorts of things. There's little pâtés, and then you've got these little ones that you can write your own stuff in.

I know that I shouldn't show off every single one of these things, but there's these ones and these ones, and they're all really cute. Go to the website and check them out because I love these and they sound good. I know, right? Little bits to play with. Ooh.

Look at all of these stickers. It comes with so many stickers. They'll be so great for journaling or for scrapbooking or for sticking on things. Like your son putting them on your forehead. Yes, very much. They're dead to I thought it was the Omar emoji. There's Captain Tusktooth's!

Oh my god. Go check them out! Oh my god. Awesome. Thank you, Laura. You're welcome! I think that actually brings us to the end of our announcements. So I think it's time for us 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 flight There is magic and mystery Who knows what will happen in life But one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight From the healer

To the renegade We all share the same goal Adding more allies Taking more chances Hold your breath and roll You can certainly try It's Thursday night All ye critters come join us It's time to continue our fight It's Thursday night. All ye critters, come join us.

It's time to continue our fight. It's Thursday night. There is magic and mystery from darkness. Our friendship will rise. When one thing's for sure, we never give up on the fight. Oh, get ready It's Thursday night Welcome back.

So last we left off, Bells Hells, in the wake of the loss of their friend and patron, Lord Eryx Eshteross, managed to prove they were not responsible for his demise, as well as agree to align the interests of Shashadri and the other members and or allies in and around the Quorum of Jrusar to find the one responsible,

which you are pretty sure is the same individual that you fear may be hunting you or you might be hunting them. But regardless, you are left a skyship, as it seemed Eshteross was aware of his rapidly approaching fate. After acquiring the ship, was aware of his rapidly approaching fate. After acquiring the ship, you began to head to the southeastern direction

to Eishenador and the city of Eos, the City of Flowing Light, where you have a few narrative threads to pursue, some figures you've been sent towards and some mysteries that seem to lead in that direction. In flying over, in choosing to fly over the Hellcatch Valley, a brief tussle with a chimera

that seemed to be hunting a number of cockatrices, and then eventually heading into and over the Gloomed Jungles of Aeshanador. There, you found what looked to be a ruin of some sort of a military tower. With the information that you had received from Ajit Dayal, you, Chetney, in seeking the Gorgine, the sect of blood hunters

that focus on controlling the beast of Lycanthropy within, the group has stopped at your behest. Here, you howled at dusk in hopes that they would hear you. And hear you, they did. Along this journey, you did make a sending stone call to our good friend Dorian, who did reply retroactively.

Oh, Orym. My heart aches that I cannot be there to help you. Find strength, stay steadfast. Sending you fairer winds. Is this thing on or off? That guy's got a good voice. Yeah, he does. Wow. You can listen to him really well.

So cute. Upon being nearly ambushed by the Gorgine, you prove to not be an antagonistic force to their ventures in life out here. And upon proving yourself to be one who has some training with Hemocraft and wrestling this beast within, they agree to take you to their hidden village.

Hidden village they refer to as Berenak. Here, you were introduced to a number of the civilians that also landed the protection of the Gorgidene, themselves carrying lycanthropic curse themselves. There we go. That's a phrase and a half there. I appreciate this more, Laura. I'm impressed. Oh, thank you. And upon discussing your interests,

the short timeframe you have, and the recent unexpected control over your transformation that the Ready Moon Ruitists previously did not have. You are guided to the possibility of undergoing a trial within a specific location, not far from where they stay, known as Zavrolo, the Temple of the Savage Heart.

It is believed that Sayadan, which is one of the numerous bestial spirits that claims parts of this landscape, their home and their domain, resides there. It is a holy site in which the Gorgine have taken it as part of their own meditations and rituals and various important training activities in dealing with their own challenges.

So you were given a place to stay for the night and underneath the rainfall of the evening, you all found rest. So you can complete a long rest. We threw the portable hole against the side of the tree and made it sideways. Then you held onto a few of us. Zavirola.

Thanks. Sayadaw. Yes. Maranak. Yeah, we have our... You know about correcting my phonetic disaster over here? Because I've never done check this well. So we might have some sort of a trial, is that right, tomorrow? Or he? I think Chet will of a trial, is that right? Tomorrow? Or he?

Right, we're. I think Chet will have a trial, yeah. What are you looking at, Chetney? Your destiny. Fuck it, don't take my word! Shit! I got to think of some other killer one later. I could be here for hours.

Honestly, I feel like I saved you on that one. I would feel bad. It's raining dark fucks. Yeah, pretty much. Okay. I'm stoked. I'm amped. Are you? Yeah.

It seems like most of the wearers here are a little bit younger. Uh-huh. More, you know. Went behind the ears, amateurish. I was thinking the same thing. You'd have to show them how it's done. Show me the fucking leaderboard!

Time for a new name to go up top. Who are you winking at? I'm setting the tone right now about destiny! It's coming around. Oh shit. Mm, just covered up my nerves. It's all farsen-y. Did you say that out loud? Say what out loud? It's all for sleep!

Did you say that out loud? Say what out loud? Off to a great start. Is it, wait, it's still nighttime or is it morning? What? No, we got a long rest, Matt says. We are now getting a long rest. Okay, okay, we're safe. Okay, I thought we got a long rest, okay.

I wasn't sure when you guys were jumping in, if it was before night or morning of, but. I'm carbo-loading and getting a long rest. Okay, I thought we got a long rest, okay. I wasn't sure when you guys were jumping in, if it was before night or morning of, but. I'm carbo-loading and getting a long rest. Okay, long rest. Well, didn't, um... Orym's legs are gone. Dev... Stop!

Devashila mentioned we'd be there to assist you, right? Yeah, yeah. Like a pit crew, if not more. So maybe we'll be fighting alongside of you? Hype men cheering you on. Sidekicks? Who knows? Be ready for anything, though, like we always are.

We roll D. Yeah, but if this is really a trial put in place by some sort of spirit, anything could happen. Maybe all of us will turn into werewolves. Or were-bores. Or were-bears. That would be incredible.

That's interesting. What would we be? It's who bites you? Or what you want to be? Is it whatever bites you? Or is something bites you? Yeah, Is it whatever bites you? Or is something bites you? Yeah, does it just come out in your blood? Like, I'm internally a...

Let's go around. Ashton? Well, I mean, clearly I would have to go with some sort of heavy reptile because it's the only thing that would make sense with the complexion. So, you know, like an alligator or something like that. You know?

What about you, Orym? I guess I'd go with a rabbit. Solid. A were-rabbit? Were-rabbit. Were-wabbit. Were-wabbit. Are you allowed to do, we're allowed to be things that are not actually predators? I don't know how it works.

Have you been a were-her before, Orym? I'll consult the spirit of this realm and get back to you. Imogen? I mean, I would say a werehorse. A horse. Oh nay. Isn't that just a centaur?

I think it would be, or... I'm trying to imagine what it would actually look like. Just a horse head on a table. Maybe you wouldn't actually be able to walk upright, so you'd just be like. You'd just Bojack. Just a horse head on your shoulder. Maybe you wouldn't actually be able to walk upright, so you'd just be like. You're just BoJack. Yeah. Horse head. With the most beautiful purple mane.

You're just a My Little Pony at that point. I mean, even that's gone wrong, even for My Little Pony. Yeah. Consol your spirits, let me know if that's acceptable. Reception spotty, the rain fucks it up. I mean, I'd probably be like a werequokka. Oh yeah. Or like, you know,

a werebera. What's that? A bera? Capybara. Capybara. Oh! Thank you. A bera, damn. Yeah, werebera. Werebeowa. Werebeowa. Looks like a chef with a cuddly over here, okay.

FCG, get us right back on the meat-eating path. I came prepared. Oh no. A werebass. A werebass. Oh, the werebass. Yes. I want to feel the water against it. Why does it look like it has red hair?

Because that's the fur of the werebass. Oh, because that's the werewolf part. Yeah. How scary. Got it. I can't. No. Well, that's good. What about you, Imogen?

I mean, did you just pull a mat and call me Imogen? Yeah. Yep. Amazing. It's catching. You slender mug. So shit, oh no. Nervous, are we? I mean, I guess like a were-rat,

but like a big rat. Oh! So it could roll with pate. Like a were-R-U-S. Ooh. Yes. Dire, dire-rat. We're dire-rat. We're dire-rat.

We're dire-rat. We're dire-rat. We're dire-rat. Wow, what is happening tonight? I saw it, I just heard it. This is the ripping death and drama people come for. Yeah, well, this is the conversation happening from within the tree hole through the rain overnight

as you're trying to sleep, and the weird thoughts start intruding. Oh, don't even lie, you guys playing D&D at home, you've totally wondered what hot werewolf-like moth rope you turn into. You know you do it. Our audience is super horny. Let's be honest.

This is super authentic. Yep. Well, this actually begs a good question. You got bit by a werewolf. Yes. Mm-hmm. Keep going. So, and you turned into a werewolf,

so it's not like it's... I did. The beast chose me. Hmm. I guess we could talk to, who was the hot one? Hang on. Oh yeah. Hot one was Green-Eyes. The tiger? No.

Minard? The Minard. Yeah, the Minard. Maybe we could talk to Minard and be like, did he get bit by a werepanther? Yeah, sure. Did that just manifest inside? Wait, what was your first live Oh yeah, you were the fish.

Just to be clear, if it happens, you shouldn't seek out getting bit, because normally you have to be bit and then stop the rest of the biting process that leads to your death. Right, because it would just... Just eat your ass. But unless it's like, couldn't you just bite us

and then we would become a werewolf? Well, I mean, yes, but you'd- And you wouldn't be losing control or anything. You would just be doing it, you know. So a single bite can turn you? Or just a single bite can turn you? Yeah. Well, how do you?

So what's the difference between biting someone and then you kill them and then biting them and then they turn? Yeah, if you bite someone and then you kill them, they're dead. Then if you just bite them and they get away, then they turn. Yeah, if you bite someone and then you kill them, they're dead. Then if you just bite them and they get away, then they have the potential to turn. The potential to turn.

Do you have to break the skin? Yes. I can't just like. I don't know, maybe your saliva's poisoning. So you could kiss another person without turning them. Oh yeah. It's not saliva. Have you kissed anyone since you've actually? You can kiss all you want. Transformation by Hickey. A you could. Oh yeah. It's not saliva. Have you kissed anyone since you've actually? You can kiss all you want.

Transformation by Hickey. A solid hour just kissing. I got at least a solid hour in that form, you bet. Them's the rules. It's true, it's mechanically sound. What if you haven't finished by then? Oh, wow. Well, you know, disappointment.

As the morning fog has taken the majority of the surrounding jungle air, you all come to consciousness in your cold, somewhat damp tree interior. Looking out, you can see the drops of the rain that's still filtering down through the treetops and canopy, just dripping past the opening. You can see the shapes of the various little huts and constructed homesteads of Baranak.

The shadow through the fog, the shapes almost giving a dreamlike visage as you hear the sound of heavy ax falls on wood. A couple of voices in the distance. Looks like the village is awake in its own right and dealing with its morning chores. You're all a bit stiff from just being not in as comfortable sleeping space as you're used to,

but the day is yours. You know, we could just fill that hole up with mattresses. Mm. Like along the sides. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really hard to be. Dry out a bit or else they're going to get all moldy, though. Oh, yeah. It's hard to sleep on a curve.

That's weird. Sleeping on a white sack. I'll hop out and take a look around. You hop out and you see some of the civilians stopping and glancing as you make yourself briefly known here in the morning air and they go back to their errands. You do see there is a pile of packs

that have been placed out by one of the larger fire pit circles of stones. You see Uvelo, the dragonborn, the green-scale dragonborn, and Minad both over there packing materials for the day's journey. Uvelo. Are we up? Are we moving? They're packing materials for the day's journey. You, Velo. Let's, are we up? Are we moving?

I'm going to, just because I love seeing if this damages things, once we're all out, I'm going to try and wring the portable hole out, see if I can get some of the moisture out. Give it a good... Oddly, it didn't take much moisture. It feels pretty dry to the touch. That's great. All right.

I'll wander over to the campfire, just real casually, over to you, Velo. Morning! Good morning. You and your compatriots ready to make the journey eastward? Oh, I think so. I mean, do we have a time to get a bite down,

or is it game time? Well, we can definitely feast a bit before the journey. You need to keep your energy up, but the sooner we leave, the best chance we have of finding a good place to camp for the night. Oh, that makes sense. What are all the, are these packs for us? Minad finishes putting the lid,

the flap over one of these and lashes it up and goes, That's correct. We're rolling about five deep outside of you just to keep everyone safe. He's rolling five deep. Iron is fucking hot. Yeah. I'll go back over to the home. Let me rally.

We're going to try and get out early this morning so we have a chance to find a good place to make camp for the night before we lose the light. I'm ready. Let's get going. We can eat on the road. All right. You do gather your things, and there is a collection of dried Tak and meat that they have prepped universally for the trip,

if anybody needed it. But not enough to feed all of you, but enough that if a few people didn't have enough rations for the journey, they could probably fill the gap. But with that, you have Manad, Yuvelo, Anilin, or Divashila, which was the other name you were given initially from Adjit, as well as a female dwarf,

which you'd seen was the transformed werewolf when you first arrived, and Uther, who was the older human, who was the wereboar. Uvela, Uor, Manad. The werebear, we don't have the name of yet. Wait, the dwarf was a wolf? The dwarf was the bear, I thought.

No, because the dragonborn was the werewolf. That's what I wrote down. It was Sheila? But there was a tiger wolf? Technically, there were two werewolves in the group. Yeah. Oh, okay, okay. So the... Uthor was a wereboar,

and there was a female dwarf who was one of the werewolves. Okay, got it. The werebear we don't have yet. Correct. Vella, Minad, Annalyn, Uther. Yep. And we don't know the name of them.

I'll say in the evening, probably would have gotten the name Fressio. Fressio? Fressio? Fressio as the dwarf. But they've all, within a short time this morning, put on their travel armor, put on their tools, put on their cloaks, gathered the materials. They all each pick up the packs

that have been set in the pile, and the energy amongst the crew is that they're pretty much ready to move forward. Is everyone prepped? Is there anything you wish to do before you head out? How long did they say this trip to Zavrolo is going to be? About one and a half to two days, depending. Oh, wow. Okay.

We need to communicate that to the ship? Oh, that's a good idea. What were you thinking? Yeah, that's a good idea. I should let them know that. We should have done that last night. We will. I thought we did last night.

Yeah, we definitely did. Sure did. You had an extra spell slot before you went to bed last night. I could allow it. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, we sent them a message saying, it's going to be a few days. Hang tight. Don't get in trouble. All right, that's okay. We got plenty of card games. It's going to be a good time to get back safe, don't get in trouble. All right, that's okay. We got plenty of card games.

It's going to be a good time to get back safe, don't I? Unless there's somewhere else to wrangle supplies around here, which I really don't think there is. It doesn't seem like it. Glancing about, it looks like most everyone here has what they need to survive comfortably within the village, but there isn't rousing commerce

present here in Baranak. Most everything here is stretched leathers and materials and tools. For an art festival, I can buy some local jewelry. Maybe when we're back. All right. Attempts. Yeah, some food. Craft fair? Yeah. Food stalls.

With that, you see Annalyn puts her pack up and puts a short bow over her shoulder, goes ahead and taps the side of her hip where the hammer is also slung over and a leather harness that goes across the other shoulder. There's a large hammer on one shoulder and the short bow on the other. Looks at the rest of you,

you see the tangled hair and stuff damp from the moisture of the surrounding fog and mist. It brushes it back a bit and looks at the rest of you with her piercing eyes. All right, are we good to go? Yeah, you're rolling five deep, seven on our side. That makes us a way or a dozen. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

We'll workshop it. That would be very good idea, yes. All right, well. Come, follow quickly. If you fall behind, yell. The crew begins to go into a moderate jog toward the eastern side of the village. Fuck, I didn't know we'd be jogging.

Party on Mansfield. She's throwing a party all the way through the woods. Oh fuck. Goddamn it. The dense jungle immediately greets you. Cast. The evening before, when you were traveling at a brisk pace, being chaperoned by the Gorgine through,

it was a continuous series of thick shadowed trees and just following in their steps for safety. They seem to have an eye out for the challenges and various opportunities to injure oneself and were watching for you as you went. Now that you have a lot more comparative visualization on the jungle around you, it is oddly alien and beautiful.

As the fog still keeps the trees at a distance, these shadowed pillars that slowly come to form oddly alien and beautiful. As the fog still keeps the trees at a distance, these shadowed pillars that slowly come to form as you move forward, following their brisk pace. You can hear the sound of the various birds and creatures that live up amongst the canopies and the occasional insect that just coasts by your ear. But these trees themselves have this pale,

blanched bark-like color, majority of them. Along its base, this thicker black, dark gray-like bark that smoothly looks to climb up, almost like it's some sort of an oily symbiote that is wrapping up the tree. Uncertain if this is a separate symbiotic entity or if this is just part of its exterior protective shell, but these trees, these trunks,

all have their own unique patterns. They twist upward, the branches themselves reaching outward, these long, thin, almost bony extensions like fingers that reach out and hold up these vast canopies of dull grays and dark, deep purples. You can see the leaves as they fall and scatter to the ground.

It's hard to tell which are in different states of decay based on just the spread of odd and muted colors. You can see there are bursts of bright, vibrant reds and oranges at times. As you scoot by and glance, you can see there are these patches of fungus, these widespread mushroom caps, almost like a series of clustered umbrellas,

and they have distinctly bright colorations that stand out amongst the environment. Whether that be to warn from being eaten or as an invitation, you'd have to eat one to find out. As we go by, can I just grab a little one and be like, Farn? Yes.

Are these good to nibble on? Yes. You were so quick with that answer. You must really know your fungi. I do, I do. So do you want some? Sure. Oh my god.

How does it taste? It's bitter. I heard that dice, I heard that. Did he roll? Yes, of course he rolled. It's bitter. It tastes not good. Oh.

Probably needs to be cooked. I probably need to roll. The flavor profile is shifting a little bit. The bitterness is giving way to almost like a citrusy sting on the back of his tongue. It's like a little bit like, like a little bit of a tangerine. A little pepper.

Cool. That's a little weird. My tongue feels so strange. Well, I'd like you to make a constitution saving throw. Yes. Chaos. Kong feels so strange. I was lucky to make a constitution saving throw. Yes. Okay. It is... eight.

Okay. One step. That slightly citrusy burning sensation begins to fill the inside of your chest. It's almost like a straight bourbon, how it burns its way down and through. It's cool. It's interesting. It's not painful.

It's not odd. As you're explaining this to Chetney, you watch as his eyebrows extend and wiggle a bit, and his features almost seem to stretch in odd ways. Oh. Oh. Hey, what's the taste proof for our lunch?

Oh, I think you're turning already. You know what? I think I know exactly what this is. What is it? You look so crazy. I'm going to keep some of this for later because I think I know exactly what this is. Hey guys, are you coming? Okay, onward ho! Onward ho!

So the combination of mist and quickly moving shadows seem to stretch at times. Trees almost seem like they're rubber banding past you. Keeping pace, you feel this giddy sensation billowing up within your stomach and you find yourself having to reach out and grab as you pull some of the Gorgianian compatriots are keeping an eye out.

You see Minad at one point catch the small of your back and go, You all right? Oh, yes. Are you all right? Quite fine. So you eat one of them mushrooms and just want to make sure you're feeling okay.

I am feeling so good. Sure you are. And did you want any? Maybe when we get back. Okay. Okay, I'm going to just stay about five, 10 feet behind you and you just keep moving. I'll just keep an eye. Why so far?

Oh, fuck. I'm not going to do anything. His orcish complexion definitely darkens slightly as he looks down. Oh. Well, just for safety reasons. Ooh. I'm not that dangerous, but okay.

It's a good idea. You see he gives a nod and glances over and you see Annalyn, who's up above looking behind, and he goes, gives a hand gesture to it. You should just go over there to her. Yes, you did. Go over there, Jyn. We'll keep moving. Okay, okay. Kind of gives you a grin.

You are effectively poisoned for the next 24 hours. Okay. Poisoned? That's fair. You're fucking poisoned! Wait, this is not a magical effect, obviously. This is not a magical effect. This is just a shroom effect.

Okay, so I'm just going to... So it's disadvantage on all ability checks? Disadvantage on all ability checks and attacks. And attacks? Oh, cool. Oh, jeez. Somebody has a means of getting rid of it. Here we go. So, pressing through the area,

you see more of these bursts of color, and the fungus does change, as well as some of the other local ferns and flora that exists around the base of these trees. The roots tangle and twist, and in between them, you can see these sections of dark red ferns and bush that seem to spread out, almost like they're

one singular bush entity that keeps reaching out further and claiming its stake in the middle of this jungle. Occasionally, you see the shadow of some sort of furred creature up in the boughs that leaps away as soon as you end up making too much noise. There's definitely a vibrant ecosphere here, and it is beautiful in some ways,

but also unsettling and not nightmarish, but just very unlike a natural space that you've walked through. At times, it almost feels like a grave shadow of a jungle, but everything here is alive and thriving from what you can tell, and the smell is earthy and fresh. Not unlike the best after rain periods

in the O'Deeran Wilds or any of the surrounding woods or jungle of Marquet and beyond. Occasionally, you hear a distant call of some creature and the Gorgine stop you and Annalyn looks outward, sniffs the air. For a second, you swear, you see her features just slightly extend into something slightly more feline before they recoil back into her.

She adjusts the path, and you begin to make a wider berth around. For the first day of travel, since they are technically guiding you, it is their ability check, but I want someone to roll for the gorgine that are guiding you towards the temple. Oh, Tar. You got it.

Make it off, yeah. You're the wolf. Ooh! Natural 20! Yeah! That's how you start it. All righty. So.

The day progresses in a somewhat, I wouldn't say quiet. There's a little banter here and there, but everyone's definitely focused on the goal at this point. There's still a slight gap of comfort, or at least a careful distance that the Gorgiani keep from the majority of your troop, both to keep an eye on you and also just

a lack of familiarity and not necessarily a strong eagerness to engage on anything personal. But another moment does happen where Anilin stops everyone. Looks around and you hear from one of the nearby bows, and you hear two more. Annalyn goes, Well, it looks like we are being hunted

by twilight tigers. Twilight? What? Tigers. She points up and you see just barely visible up on one of the thick branches of the nearby trees above there. Mirror image. Mirror image of yourself?

Yep. You see this. There's two images. This. Wasn't there always? This muscular but lithe-looking tiger, but most of its matted fur, and I say matted because it looks wet in places.

It almost has an oily, slick glimmer to the outside of its fur. It is a dark black to gray in places, and where there would be tiger stripes, there's a bright white. It's almost like a negative imprint of a tiger from what you'd normally expect to see. But the lines themselves push backward

as opposed to up and around. It gives almost a frozen and mid leap or movement. It has its own blur lines across it as it stands still and growls. You see two more begin to peer down as one leaps down into a nearby bush. Words of advice? Quadrupeds, from what we can see?

They're quadrupeds. At this point, you watch as Annalyn transforms into her hybrid form, the tiger physicality beginning to push through, those shoulders widening, the snout and teeth beginning to bear, and An shoulders widening, the snout and teeth beginning to bear, and Andalyn growls back.

You watch as Minad leaps onto one of the nearby trees and his whole body forms and cracks, see the bones reforming into the large panther aesthetic as he claws his way up onto one of the branches, leans over his tail, swinging as he. Every other member of the Gorgine go into their hybrid forms tail swinging as you. Every other member of the Gorgine go into their hybrid forms

and form a circle around your troop. Don't mind me. Do the same. Oh. I just put my hand out like Chris Pratt. Yeah. Easy, girl. You got it. As they all bear this line there around the sides,

you now see five of these massive beasts. As they get somewhat close, they're still looking about 20 feet from you, but gauging their distance nearby trees, they probably are from nose to tail about 20 or so feet. What? They are massive. They look smaller at a distance,

and then they start to come out of the corners, and they are large beasts. At least the largest that you can see nearby is about that size. distance, and then they start to come out of the corners. They are large beasts. At least the largest that you can see nearby is about that size. The others begin to curl around, and you do see the other ones are a little bit smaller than that main one.

You get the sense this might be a family, or at least some adolescent ones that are traveling with some sort of parent. As the growls continue, because you rolled a natural 20, the Gorgine, with Anilin as a leader, leans forward and growls, and you watch as the largest one then begins to stalk away.

It circles around the other four. They all, as a troop, begin to just disperse back into the mists. Within 15 seconds, it's like they were never there. They just leap off into the distant horizon of the treeline, where the fog just swallows their shattered forms. Cool.

I can only do this once a day. Oh no! Once every short rest. Once every short rest. I said to myself. Did you know, Anilin, is that right? Did you know those fellas? No.

But there are beasts like this that live out here. It is just important sometimes to establish respect in hierarchy. How do you do that? With a show of force, or did you say something? In case we need to do it. If you encounter one of these beasts, just pray. Make them recognize the alpha.

Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. They maintain their hybrid form, but begin to pick up their pace, arcing in a rightward direction off the current path where they first begin to encounter the signs of these beings. But any sort of conflict there was averted at the get-go.

And the rest of the day, before the night begins to slowly darken, the signs of sunset begin to acquire. You get the sense now that you've traveled through this portion that, depending on the weather and the day, and it's been cold, especially following the previous storm,

the mists and fog hangs for the majority of the day of your travel. Thinner at times, thicker at others, depending on the rise and fall, the topography and the root and tree-covered hills. But eventually, Manad puts up a hand and fall, the topography, and the root and tree-covered hills. But eventually, Manad puts up a hand and says, Well, I think we need to find a place to stop here and set up camp for the night.

We're not too terribly far, I don't think. You see him rubbing his hand along some of the trees and he's looking for something. He begins to continue his path around as Anilin takes her pack off and they begin to set up small semblances of camp. You can see that U fellows are in the process of putting up long, thin cords

across some of the nearby trees. Oh. Not magical cords, just tripwires? You can tell, yeah. What are you feeling the trees for? Minad's still looking. Well, when we come through, especially places that we travel to in the front,

we make sure to leave markings for ourselves. I'm just, ah, there it is, there it is. You see it looks up and there is, looks to be dual sets of claw marks that cross in an X fashion. But they're balanced, the way that they're marked in looks like it was intentional.

They're even on each side. As long as we're keeping eyes on this, this is the best way to track our way. So, you know, if anything terrible happens to the rest of us, you can find your way back to Banach. Nice, nice penmanship. That's a great idea. Yeah. The trees that look like maybe

there's something growing on them, potentially, were there trees like that within the camp? Like their actual city, or was it? Yeah, there were a few. Okay. But there are many different types of trees here. Those seem to be more prominent the further you've gone. If you want to make a nature check, actually, to see from your experience or study,

if you can pick out any specifics about them. I've got really high nature, so... This one. 11. 11. You're not certain what types of trees these are necessarily, but it doesn't look like this is a parasitic organism that is separate from the tree. The way that it's almost like a smooth secondary bark

that is built over it. Almost like how resin will harden into an amber, but if it was opaque in a smooth matte black coloration. What do you feel like to the touch? Is it sticky or? It's not sticky, it's hard. It's almost like a shell, but it looks like it seeps into parts

of the blanched, whiter gray inner bark. It does have this odd, almost climbing sense to it. If I scratch it with my nail, does it come off or is it really hard? It's very hard, but if you scratch it hard enough, you get some residue off under your nail. Just like any other bark, but it does seem to come off from almost like a powdered residue.

Interesting. You see them setting up a small camp around. There was a moment I was hoping for a were-tree. I was hoping they were trying to find the tree that actually would transform back. Trying to tickle a friend or something? Yeah, just wake up, because maybe if you're a were-tree,

you just stop for a while when the moon. Are you still? Huh? What? Do they look like they're moving to you? Yes. Wow. They're dancing. Oh. Yeah.

Your pupils are enormous. Are you weirder than normal? Oh wow, yeah, look at that. What did you do? I just ate some food. I just ate a little poof of a mushroom. A poof? Is that what it was? Off of one of these trees.

It was just a little nibble. I thought you said it was fine. It was just a nibble. All mushrooms are totally fine. You don't know anything about mushrooms, do you? I know a little bit. You know that there's one that makes you all sorts of weird at this point, I suppose.

Okay. Okay. But no, sometimes being in an altered state like this can give you insight into your own desires, your own goals, your own fears, your own truths. Sure. Is there anything on your mind that you want to explore or talk about or sing or dance or just be?

Oh, well. Who do you think is the hottest one out of all of us? That's really weird. I don't know if it's a truth serum. Maybe it's a truth serum, sure. Well, I mean, you all have your own special parts that are great. Who do you think is the hottest one

of the werewolves that we're with? You say Minot. Oh, wow. Yes, Minot. Yes. My goodness. It feels almost like a cheap answer at that point. Yeah, yeah. FCG, can you get all toad? Can I recognize hotness?

No, can you get... Do you want to say a little bit? Can you get a little trippy? Can you get toad? Yeah. I don't know. Here. I don't eat things, but maybe it will make me feel...

Can you be poisoned? I don't know. We'll find out will make me feel. Can you be poisoned? I don't know. We'll find out. Put it on your tongue. Let's see where this goes. That's where it's supposed to be. It's too hard. It's a meat tongue. It's not real.

Your creator should not know. Do you want some? A little bit. I think it is. It comes up constantly. I would love to feel what you're feeling, sure. I'm going to put it on the end of the tongue and I'm going to roll it in. Something Looney Tunes?

I mean, couldn't you do a mind bell? You're like crazy. Oh yeah. I could just go into your mind and feel it, but let's try this first and see if it works. Okay. Okay. This is technically what this is you're doing. Why? By introducing a natural phenomenon

to a natural space? Yes, it is actually my fault. You're right, you're right, it is my fault. Chet, if this works, the next thing is you've got to bite letters. All the experiments happen tonight. There it is. This is how we celebrate Punsaur.

You take the remainder of this chunk of cap that you had swiped as you passed by. It is soft, spongy texture to it. The top of it has an orangish, almost peach coloration to it that goes to a darker red around the edges, and the underside of it is a paste gray, almost. It has this odd mealy texture to it,

but it's dry when you touch it. You imbibe it, and it just plops down inside. Nothing to report within the first few minutes. Do you feel anything completely connected to the whole network underneath the ears? I'll touch the ground and see if I can feel anything course through me, pulse through my hands or anything.

Feels like the ground. Try taking a little more. That always goes well. Oh shit. Well, it hasn't kicked in yet. Maybe I should try some more. Nah. Nah. No. Nah. No, no.

20 minutes. 30 minutes go by. I guess I'm just not suited for experiences like that. You have a robust constitution, and you just are set up for a different version of it. Go for it. With permission.

I could go into your mind, but you seem like you're doing fine. If you want me to, I can, but I don't need to. I want you to enjoy this on your own. You're just having your own time, and that's fine. How many hours has this been going on for, by the way? At this point, no. I think four days. That's right.

Or 15 minutes, unclear. Yeah, sure. Make a constitution check. Oh! Oh! Hey! Is this a poison? Oh my god, you almost. I'm resistant to poison. Resistant to it, but are you immune?

I'm not immune. Correct. So you may give advantage on checks against poison or? Well, isn't that what resistant means? Resistant means take half poison damage. Oh, got it, got it. So I'll take the first roll. And what is this, a constitution save? Correct.

That was very good. It was 17. 17, so you do feel an odd tickle through your body, So you do feel an odd tickle through your body, almost like when you're nearing a thunderstorm and that sense of electricity is just coasting through the atmosphere and you feel that vibration through your body for a moment. It just rests there.

It's gentle and then slowly just fades, but you felt something. Yeah, that's something. I do still have that weird baggie of drugs that I have. Okay, look, we're going to a trial. Sure, give us the time to seek that, too. Well, what's a bird lady? What's a justy?

Yeah. Justy, right? Maybe for later. That's definitely for later. Seems like now's the time. When we succeed. I'm so excited that we're in the middle of the jungle, acting like a bunch of assholes. This is what I always wanted in life, but.

You know what? Actually, while you're like this, I wouldn't mind just asking you, because you might have some special insight into the world or whatever. I've been trying to commune or talk to this god, this thing, this change-bringer person, and she's been sending me, oh, oh? She's been sending me some really weird mixed signals.

Yeah. Oh. Like, when I first tried to reach out to her, Laudan died. Yes. And then, but then we got her back. Yes. And so I thought, you know, that's good.

That's a positive and a negative. And then we did, then Eshteross died. Oh yeah. And then. We gained a life. We lost a life. We gained one. We lost another one. We got an airship? A skyship?

Yeah, a skyship. Wish it was a skyship. I don't know. There's just been a lot. And then I asked for a sign while we were on the skyship and we got attacked instantly. So I guess what I'm saying is there's been a lot of positives and negatives. Okay.

And I just don't know how to interpret that. Maybe with your vision now, you can give insight into what you think it all means, if there is meaning. Well, I think there's a possibility it could all be bullshit, but maybe it also could be real. You know, that's what faith is, I hear.

Faith is maybe bullshit, maybe real? I don't know. Do you want me to see if I can connect with whatever this thing is and ask on your behalf? Because I pretty sure, yes. Can you do that? I sure can. You can? Yes. All right can. You can? Yes. All right. Give me just a moment.

See if you can reach out to the change bringer. Change bringer. Change bringer, please answer me. Make a perception check. With this advantage, because you're poisoned. Okay. Okay. Okay.

10. Okay. Concentrate and you focus and you can hear the various insects and night creatures that have begun to emerge from their subterranean holes or hideaways carved into the nearby branch and trees. The hum of them seems to almost begin to collide and swirl, and it almost creates this low rhythmic music.

Then it's arhythmic, then rhythmic again. You feel your heart almost be trying to beat in rhythm, but then it keeps changing. Your body's trying to keep up, and for a moment, you almost swear you hear a voice go, Hi. Oh! They just said hi.

Ask a question, maybe. Am I on the right path? Okay. Or do they know who I am? Okay. Hi, this is a two-part question, but do you know who FCG is, and is he on the right path?

Are they on the right path? Either way. Okay. Okay. Hi. You feel a direction from it. You look down, and on your knee, you see this tiny little black beetle that's looking up at you.

It's legs out, and it has this humanoid face, and it looks up at you, and it goes, Hi. Oh. Are you the change goes, Hi. Oh. Are you the change queen? Hi. Oh wow, I didn't know you would look like this. Did you make the decision about Laudna?

The wings unfurl as it's flying up and lands on your forehead. Then as it does, you feel this warm hug coming around you, like the embrace of a deity. You just watch this bug just. I think that the change bringer is reaching out for a hug for you. To hug you? No, you. I think that's fully accepting you.

Oh. Yeah, yeah. Metaphorical hug. I don't need to hug the bug or anything. Well, maybe you should give it a try. Give it a big hug. I'll try to not squish it. Here, I think it wants you back. All right, well, you should go.

And thanks for talking to us. Does it take to stop you here? Love you. Oh! Love you, too. Leaves a little trail of color behind it as it goes. Amazing. Aw.

Excuse me, Uther? How much time do we have left Amazing. Oh! Excuse me, Uther? Jeez. How much time do we have left before we get where we're going? Probably looking to arrive sometime tomorrow midday, maybe early afternoon. Early afternoon. Not terribly far. We've intentionally built Baranak

to be close to this temple. Our friend might've eaten a mushroom off a tree. Why would they do that? I ask that question on a daily basis. I'm not going to be like this forever. Yeah, what's the time frame? As long as you get her enough water and we can maybe get some more in her stomach,

she'll be right as rain by midday tomorrow, I think. Okay. Yeah, she's really high. All right. We'll just keep an eye on her. He gets back to whittling something. At this point now, night has definitely overtaken and the little bit of light that you have exists here

in this little campfire in the center of this jungle pocket. You can hear the crackling sound, just a little bit of warm light that fills and flickers the inside of this jungle hollow. As you're all The fire's huge! Why does the smoke keep hitting me?

Oh god! While you're all taking this moment, you have noticed off to the side, Annalyn has been just taking the hammer and spinning it a bit and practicing her own combat form. She's away from the troop. Keeping that standoffish energy.

After everyone finishes their evening meal and is settling in for the night, you, Chetney, hear the hammer in the ground and dirt next to you, and Enland leans down over your shoulder and just says, Look with me. Help, you're back.

You need any help, you need backup? I'm okay, I'm okay. She guides you a little ways out into the mists and fog of the jungle as you walk, not looking at you. She just continues to talk to you. So you have learned a few things. You have taken on some lessons of Hemographed.

Some. I feel like the basics, maybe. Show me what you can do. Show me what you got. Show me what you got. Have we taken a short rest? You would have, yes. Okay. Then I will again transform into my better self.

And I will... I don't want to do it to her. Oh, I'll take out my chisel and I'll draw it across my peck. Yeah, when you see the chisel alight with flame. Huh? Like you said, the basics.

Oh, I mean. She just stands there, leaning on the hammer a bit. So you've come here for a rapid epiphany to essentially cut the corners and acquire more of the path of the Lycan. I'll drop right back down to Chetney's size. Well, kind of. I mean, no, I was interested in learning as much as I could,

but now I'm with a group and we're taking on incredible things in the world. What I do actually matters for what seems like might be the first time. And so I feel like the more I can learn, the more I might be able to help them. But the more I keep this form, the more I feel, the more I see, and the more I can do,

I found that I can actually manipulate others a little bit, as long as they have blood. Then this was with the basics of training. You've just stumbled your way into this. Yeah. I was given an ultimatum, figure it out or get wrecked. That is a very effective teaching tool, given the circumstances. Yeah.

So you, why do you want to harness this? What is the purpose? Is it fun? Is it the rush of power, the killing instinct within? Yeah, no, I don't mean to be insincere, but it is a great allure. I'm not going to lie. I've spent hundreds of years really not being much of a threat to anyone, and it's okay.

I don't mind being overlooked, but this is an incredible gift. I don't view it as a curse. I know some might, but I view it as an opportunity to make change, to help, or to affect other areas. You know, it'll make the world a better place.

Hmm. I'll make the world a better place. You know, for as much as a small, ragged, prickly persona you maintain for an exterior, there's a soft inside and you see she pokes you in the belly. Oh. Does that bother you? I mean, you got a hard finger, yeah. You got a lot more to worry about than this.

If you continue on this path, you'll realize. What do you mean? You will always be hunted. Because we're like this? Yes. By who? People fear what they do not understand. And to be completely honest, we are the few that can live with this.

Yeah, your group, how many would you say in a year, you know, don't take to it as well? I'd say each year we have about three to four new arrivals. Three to four new arrivals. And about three to four that we say goodbye. Oh. It's challenging to maintain a society

when the very essence of what brought you together is a continuous day-to-day struggle. Yeah, I'm starting to feel that a little bit more of late. That fucking moon. Hmm. Apparently both of them in some situations, but I know we do our best to maintain an idea of this curse as a blessing.

And for us, it has allowed us to do many great things. But it doesn't mean we've conquered it. This is a struggle we will live with for the rest of our lives. And not everyone has the mental fortitude is a struggle we will live with for the rest of our lives. Not everyone has the mental fortitude to fight that long. Yeah, life can be long. It can be short, but boy, it can really be long sometimes.

Before I was leading this troop, there was the one who taught me. Ormithor. They were an old member of the Order of the Lycan, They were an old member of the Order of the Lycan, a splinter of the Clery orders, which you said you encountered. Yes. They were one of the individuals that spearheaded the creation of the Gariordas, which you said you encountered. Yes.

They were one of the individuals that spearheaded the creation of the Gorginei. I looked up to them immensely, and they taught me most everything I know. What happened to Ormothor? Ormothor? Ormothor. One day, they woke up and they didn't want to fight anymore

and let it take over. Oh. Not because he couldn't. He just grew tired. I tell you this because I want you to know that if this is indeed something you want to harness, something you want to take into this temple, you want to beseech

the beast to be a part of you, you have to learn to live with it. It's the shadow of a roommate that never goes away. I won't let go like Omithor did. If anything, the more I think on it as years pass, I think he did what he did to show the rest of us what we can never become. I appreciate you looking out for me and sharing that.

But I don't know how many years I have left anyway. I can't imagine a world in which I didn't take this exciting chance and see it for all that it's worth. That doesn't mean I want to give myself over to it. That shit's fun, don't get me wrong. Whew. But

I think I'm okay with that shady-ass roommate you talked about. I think I can cohab. This is good to know, but I suppose only Sayadan knows for sure if you're of strong enough will to be let free. Oh boy. This trial, if you don't pass,

do you get a second chance? Best of three? Every trial that's granted by Seadun is tailored to the individual. Oh. So I do not know what lies before you, but I hope for the sake of you and your compatriots that now you'll figure it out.

Oh shit, that was slick. I look, I know this is a serious thing, but man, I'm pumped. Good, good. So you've picked up some blood runes. Show me your glyph work. Oh shit. My glyph work?

Yes. You know how to strike a singular rune, but that is simplistic. Carve a symbol like this, and you watch as she takes her finger and she has her thumb, which has a normal stubbed nail that she's worn down through use,

and a tiger claw seems to emerge from it suddenly and strikes a curved C shape that into your chest where you drew that cut earlier, and it hurts. But as it does, the flame on your weapon burns a little bit brighter. What was that? Glyefwork.

You instinctually have learned or picked up from your previous training the most basic of lines of power through Hemocraft. The blood itself is a very strong catalyst, but you are using it as a raw material. You are accepting it just as the most basis of mineral, as fuel for the magic. You need to practice and refine,

and then you'll be really surprised at what good you can do in this world, if that is indeed what you seek to do. That sea was amazing. How many runes are there? You watch as she takes her hand and the fingers now all have that tiger claw. She curls it together. Whoa! You feel this burning, searing sensation

in your exposed chest and you look down. And indeed, the Glyph of Castigation, the brand that you have recently learned, which has always been this very simple, semi-circular, a series of dragged claw marks in places. It looked more like a bestial brand than a glyph. When you see it burn into your chest, you look down and the claw marks seem to form a fractal pattern.

As it spreads out and then spreads out further and then spreads out further, it clicks in and glows this bright, bright red coloration. You suddenly feel this cold anchor that's drawn in her direction. That's beautiful. Beautiful attention to detail. Oh.

It's like calligraphy. It just takes practice. Now, and she dispels it, and you watch as the glyph releases on your body, and she walks over to one of the blanched trees and pulls out a pocket knife, hands it to you. Let me show you. And for the next few hours into the evening,

she begins to show you the basics of advanced glyph work, explaining to you that through practice and time, this will allow you to further develop and expand upon the basics of human craft that you've instinctually stumbled through. So thus begins a brief compounding lesson for the future. I trade her a hold-out-of-the-pocket knife unless she wants it back,

and I'll give her a detailing chisel. This is a very curious knife. Just in case I don't make it tomorrow, which I will. But listen, just something to remember me by if you really want to get serious about your detail. It's all about pressure and angle. Oh. Appreciate it.

Of course. Tucks it into her armor. Fucking pocket knife, basic ass edge. It's really nice, though. But probably well into the early morning, you go through these practices, swap a few stories, you learn a little bit about her history,

about Davishla was, what she called a name from a previous life before acquiring the Curse, and was before training amongst the Gorginae. She expresses that she was a student, actually, at the Dyal Hall of Jrusar when she was younger and knew the Dyal family growing up as a student. When the curse found her, she vanished from the city,

for obvious reasons, took the name Anilin. Yes. And did she talk about what her experience was with that first lichen? There was some sort of a, some sort of a mislabeled delivery towards the northeastern port of the Oderan Wilds. I was sent that way to visit an uncle

and they were supposed to be receiving a package, a gift. And this lichen was temporarily unleashed. I don't really know why or how, though I get the sense that it was to deal with the Ivory Syndicate, from what Agit told me. If you ever encounter a pale-ass elf with brown hair

past the ears, bright amber eyes, scar under his mouth to the left-hand side, ask if his name is Dorau. Dorau. And if it is, kill them for me. Dorau the Dead. She grabs her hammer and sits up. Well, we have a little travel to do.

Maybe she gets some rest. Cool. What were the markings? Dural's markings? Scar on the left. Mouth around there. Yes. So, night's rest comes to a close. You all get a long rest.

Long rest. The morning comes. Do they just sleep out in the open air, like around the fire? Some of them sleep out in the open air. Minad sleeps up in the tree boughs, leaning against one of the branches, keeping one eye open.

And Annalyn, you don't know where she sleeps. She never comes back to the camp. Oh. Interesting. But when you all come back to your waking selves, somewhat rested, though cold in the foggy morning here in the middle of the jungle, Annalyn has returned and is currently in the process

of throwing ash and rock over the fire to go ahead and prevent it from catching or continuing on to Ember. At this point, Minad glances around to the rest of you after a brief bit of breakfast he's had. All right, everyone, looks like we're ready to head out. We've got a handful hours until we're out there. Everyone feeling okay?

Were you able to sleep at all? Mushroom check. How are you doing? I slept, I think. Just, I just see like. Wow. It's moving pretty fast, but I'm doing great. How do you feel for your big trial? Oh, I feel good.

You feel ready? Yep. Do you, if you succeed, when you succeed, because, you know, victory isn't, yeah, it's not a, it's an attitude. It's a way of being. It's a, you got to be it. Mindset. It's a mindset. Yeah, but when you're victorious,

do you have to pick a wolf name or something? Oh. Oh, I don't know. I hadn't thought about that. I don't even know, maybe I could pick another form. No, that can't be right. I don't know. Anything's possible. No, it can't be right.

Maybe it is. What form would you pick if you could choose? We never asked you that last night. Cockatoo. He'd be really, really good, yeah. Which one would you pick if you could choose? We never asked you that last night. Cockatoo. Sure? You'd be really, really good. Yeah. They are smart as fuck. One with the color of the plume being. Yep. Fits, oddly.

Like a peach plume. And then you'd fly. Who wouldn't want to fly? Cock-a-peater. I love flying. Yep. Golly. It changes on the daily. I'm a little fickle. I don't know. I think you were a wolf. Well. Thank you, Olarm.

I appreciate that, I do my best. You can bite? Less. And if I was a cockatoo, then it would just be like nibbles. Right. Unless they don't like you, and then them son of bitches hurt real bad.

Birds can be dicks. Beaks are scary. Is Anilin back, by the way? Yeah. Anilin is back in the group. I'm going to bite real hard. Beaks are scary. Is Annalyn back, by the way? Yeah. Annalyn is back in the group. Is back in the group, yeah. That one's finished up their morning ritual.

My god. Yeah. I just have a question. We've been wondering, do you choose what werebeast you turn into, or is it? Oh, I mean. Yeah. At the moment of infection, yeah. The Great Spirit, the Lycan Beast,

comes to you and asks you to step through many doors, and each door is a different beast, and you select which door to go through. I almost went with the, The doors were there. There was about 37 of them. They're expanding every year, though. They're trying to, no, each strain carries the beast.

I'm sorry. I had dizzies. Oh, oh, oh. I saw the gullibility open and I couldn't stop myself. It's okay, it's okay. I understand, look, it was all in good fun. I feel bad now. It's don't feel bad, don't feel bad.

But yeah, it's, no, lycanthropy, every strain comes in its own variation. I don't quite know what the origins are for each one, whether they be magically created or what lycanthropy bloodline curse may have come from, but no, if you get bit by a werewolf, you can become a werewolf. If you get bit by a wereboar, you become a wereboar.

Oh. Have you ever seen a werewolf. If you get bit by a wereboar, you become a wereboar. Oh. Have you ever seen a werehorse? Thank you. You watch as him nod, furrows his brow, trying to comprehend what the hell that would look like. He goes, I don't... Herbivores in general. Yeah. Yeah.

No, as far as I know, most everything is predominantly predatory in the basis of the curse. Be real, wouldn't be all that helpful and or dangerous if you became a beast that just ravaged all the nearby plants. So that depends on the plants. I agree. Savage kickoff. But were deer?

Not so bad. As far as I know, at least. I mean, I could be wrong, I'm no expert. But you know, could always be something different. It's a big world. Moose or? Weremoose would be total right now. Scary as fuck. Oh my god, can you imagine how big a weremoose would be?

Real big. Were-giraffe? Would the weremoose shrink when they became a person? Yeah. Right? Oh man. The general order. Wurp! Right. Oh man. Well. Okay. How about you go ahead and chew on this twig for a bit

while we're walking and just keep yourself focused. I think we're gathering up and we'll start making our way eastward. Why have we never thought about giving her a twig? Fuck. Wait, is it? Did you give her a twig because it helps with the mushrooms, or is it because she looks like a deer?

Or maybe just because of the jaw, like, you're clenching her jaw. Oh. Just to help. I thought he was profiling for a moment. Sweet summer job. Thanks for the care. Sweetly, Mr. Troll.

Legitimately the very least I could do. What's the most? Oh my god. I'm just kidding, we're walking, we're walking. He darkens his shade a little more and just keeps walking. Oh shit. Woo!

Incredible. Draw it. You can take it. Continue on for a few more hours. You do sense the toxins begin to subside within your system and your vision comes back to a clearer, more controlled space. I would like somebody to roll a d20. Hey, the singing stopped.

Would you like to roll a d20? All right. Marisha Ray. Sure. Six. Six, okay. The good news is they're good trackers. All right.

So along this path, it isn't as much of a beeline as you would hope. And Anilin and Uvelo and a few other members have to stop a few times and take a few large curves from the general path as Anilin glancing about, telling you all to be quiet and stealthily follow. He says, we're starting to get near

some of the more dangerous beasts and their domains here in the jungle. The powers of this temple tend to gather attention, subconsciously, as it may be, of some of the larger civilians of this expanse. What more dangerous compared to the twilight tigers that were massive? No, they're nothing. Size isn't everything.

But. What? All right. You had to roll a five or lower to get into a bad scenario here. Damn it. Fuck. They're good trackers. But you do eventually follow them into the mid-afternoon or so,

about three or four. The mists have mostly burned off, but you can feel the temperature beginning to slightly cool as what was a very sunny sky above the canopy begins to fall back into cloud cover. And the night begins to announce itself slowly arriving. You watch as Minad turns back to the troop. Keep your weapons and what's about you. We're not too far from it, so

I guess we'll be showing you one of our little secret hideaways. Weapons and wits, what do you mean? Does it spring out at you, or? No, it's a temple, but like I said, a lot of things sometimes take up residence in there and we're not aware of who's camping up in there. Right.

Now, did we ever tell you much about this temple? I mean, no. Not really. I'm just going to cast Mage Armor on myself just to have it. Okay. I'm going to just go over to Chetney and just be like, you got this today. This is all you today, right?

Yeah. All right. I'll just give him a pat on the back and cast Death Ward on him. All righty. All right. All righty. All righty. No, you didn't tell us about the temple. I wrote down Zavralo, Temple of, and that's it.

The Savage Heart. Thank you. Yeah, it's the Temple of Searan, which is the keeper of the Savage Heart. I'll be honest with you. When I went through my trial, I saw something different than what everyone else here is. It'll be honest with you, when I went through my trial, I saw something different than what everyone else here is. It's not a singular beast,

but it seems to be a representation of the feral protective spirits of the Gloom Jungle, or at least this area of it. So I can't really guarantee what you're going to run into, but it is a powerful spirit. It's said that it looks over the order of nature, the cycle of it. It is both a protector of and a guide to

both hunter and prey. It knows that in order to live, that balance has to be struck. I think that's part of, part of why we felt drawn to this part of Marquet to begin with, and we were trying to find a home and we couldn't really find much rest up to the northwest.

So it was, and looks up ahead to see if anyone else is watching anything beyond your group here in the jungle, briefly glances about. There was a short time during the Apex War that it became a secret military outpost for the Stratos Throne. Wait, this temple? Yes.

All right. Oh wow. Okay. It was briefly occupied and used as a basis of operations for some sort of group of operatives hoping to strike out at Eos and some of the more sensitive elements of a Shenador.

But see. Is their shit still around, or is that like, there's bits of it? You can see bits and chunks because it seems that Seadon definitely took it back herself. Fuck yeah. The beasts of the temple sent them packing and fleeing, left a bunch of their stuff behind.

We've co-opted what we could find that was useful. Not sure how much we're supposed to clean up, since some of it could be just a reminder and a war trophy for the spirits. So we just let it lie where we find it for the most part and ask for forgiveness or for permission if we find anything of usefulness. That's very fucking cool.

Wait, what? Did you, were you, how long ago was that? That's not me asking, I would know, but. Yeah, yeah, a couple of decades ago. I'll gave it. Okay, okay, okay. Says, unfortunately, when they fled, they did a bit of damage to the temple. There's elements of it partially crumbled and forgotten,

but we managed to uncover it and make do with what we could muster. And the central chamber is still pretty much there, which is good. So just to give you expectations. It's not some grandiose structure that's beautiful and standing untouched and basking in the middle of the daylight.

It is a partial ruin, but it's got its beauty intact for the most part. So this Seyad resides there? Oh, here and everywhere a little bit. And it's the remains of an outpost, and also sometimes creatures from the area wander in? Well, the temple was briefly used as an outpost before it was then evacuated.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you said even earlier than that that sometimes some of the wildlife from the area. Then the nature of the spirit of the temple just draws some of the more natural and sometimes unnatural creatures towards it by the, you know, it's a power hub, if you will, of different spiritual energies. How long have you been living in Baranok?

Oh, we've only been here for, I don't know. A lot. I don't know. That's too much. A number of years, five, six years or so since we built it. Got it, all right. We've been moving around for quite some time and heading through the continent as we go,

but it's the first time that we struck an agreement with the Court of the Lambent Path, or at least our contact there, and felt safe enough to put down some roots. It's nice. It's a nice feeling, I'm sure. Honestly, yeah. Been a while since we had a place we, I'm sure. Honestly, yeah. Been a while since we're the kind of place we can call home for a bit, so.

I know. But anyway, we often, when we're feeling like we're having a rough time with our struggles or just need some clarity of mind, we'll go ahead and make a small pilgrimage out here to the temple, whether it be independently or as a troop. And that's where we'll go through

and look for inspiration, bits of prayer, maybe ask for a new challenge from the spirit, or just leave offerings, take some time to meditate, clear our minds. It's, you know, it's part of the reason we build our village close enough to do that. It feels like one of the fewer ancient peer spots

that hasn't been co-opted or built over by some of the nearby civilization, you know? Do you always get a response from the spirit of the Savage Garden? Savage Garden? Savage Heart? I will go more. He is more and more. Do you know?

Sorry. Well, good song. Sometimes it can be my wish, it can be my fantasy. Oh! Yes. I mean, I've certainly felt it and conversed with it when I went through my initial trial, and sometimes it's just a feeling, a presence,

a protection, or feeling like something's watching out for you, as long as you show the respect that it's due. a protection or feeling like something's watching out for you. As long as you show the respect that it's due. But like I said, form can be different for whoever's reaching out to it. For those who aren't coming with the purest of intent, well, you'll see what happens to them.

Okay. Okay. Oh. Yikes. You'll see, you'll see. Are you feeling pure today? Chetney's like the least pure person. I agree. What? I'm 100% purest, Nottah.

Yeah. Pure feels vague. Does Chetney have to go in on his own? No, I mean, we're all going to be going into the temple here. We want to show you around, make sure you're not following any pit traps. If stuff starts going bad, we can try and evacuate you out of there.

But you know, I don't know what the trial's going to necessarily represent. That's for you to find out and for all of us to be at the ready, I suppose. All right. We're there. We'll be there to help you if you need it. Hope it's just endless supplies of wood. Yeah, like a carving challenge?

Oh boy. That might be it. That feels like that's probably what it's going to be. Yeah, it's probably going to be woodworking-based. That'll warm up the writers. Okay. Oh, do we get to be the judges? You have a time limit? It's a good show.

Good saying. Nott wipes a little bit of moisture and snot from the edge of his nose and goes, I'm not going to lie, that'd be a lot of fun. We'll mix it up from the usual. What a moment. Fingers crossed. I'm not going to lie, that'd be a lot of fun. We'll mix it up from the usual. What a moment. Fingers crossed. I'm with you on that one.

Anyway, keep eyes ahead. We're not too far. Within another couple hours of travel through, the pale, blanched, and blackened trees begin to transition in places. They don't fully fade away, but their density and monochrome cluster. I'm sorry.

I kicked my leg out from under me, Lord Bailey. Sorry, sorry. You see more cerulean leaves, pops of different types of trees that begin to come through the further eastward you travel. These have a deep maroon-type trunk to them. These have a deep maroon-type trunk to them.

Thinner, not as thick as the masses of the jungle trees that you've seen, but these have a thick brown maroon coloration. As they rise up, there are these almost cotton-like plumes of blue that grow out of the branches, these softer bits. They dot the landscape as you go. I've never seen trees like this.

Yeah, you don't really see trees like this anywhere outside of the Gloomed Jungles. Something about the, I don't know, something in the air, something in the soil. It's how I imagine Feywild would look. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is it? A little bit.

Yeah, I think I've seen things like this a little bit. Different colors. See, Uther comes from behind and goes, some folks are going to come out here and take some of these trees and try and sell them off land, but they don't take really to any soil or roots outside of it,

outside of magical enchantment means. It's really expensive to get any of these to keep to a garden somewhere. There are those that do, and I'm sure there's a fine business trade for that somewhere here, but marvel and take it in. You won't see much of this elsewhere.

Does it look like fey stuff that you've seen before? You can make a nature check if you'd like. With disadvantage? No, you're no longer poisoned. Whew. How do you know she's probably dropping mushrooms all the time? My nature is baloney.

Wait, why did I just roll twice? How? You're a fucking nature person. No, a seven. Maybe do you get advantage because it's about the Fey Realm and you're from the Fey Realm? No. Sure. No. No. But. No.

But good looking out. It reminds you of the Fey Realm a little bit, just the weirdness, but you've never seen these types of trees, necessarily, but it does, I don't know, the unfamiliar alien landscape feel to it does give you a little scratch of home. It feels a little reminiscent, just a little bit, but it's different.

I haven't quite seen them this color before. It's beautiful. We're here. It's the chamber. As you all begin to step behind Anilin, who'd been keeping a good 20, 30 paces ahead, who leans back to announce that and carefully ushers you up over this hill.

Beyond that, you can see this choked clearing where most of the trees keep a fairly loosely consistent pattern of density throughout the jungle with small patches that are open where either small ancient stone constructs that have fallen into piles of rock over time or gardens of dangerous looking plants that you are told to avoid as you go by

have taken root. But here, you see there are cliffs, small, jutting cliffs that begin to rise out of this part of the jungle. The topography rises and falls at times, but here you can see you're not terribly far from the base of a mountain range, but this is the first large cliffside you see rising up.

In this rocky hillside, you can see it is overgrown with numerous dark roots that spill over the top, and there are trees that rise up above it. As the roots pour down and tangle, you can see these hanging gray vines that wrap around it. As they tether down, they wind in between the roots, and it gives this odd, almost like a natural,

like a cathedral look to it built in the side of this rocky surface that itself has all manner of green and gray and brown moss that grows wherever elements of it are exposed to the rainy and damp elements. One by one, we climb into the snow. You do see. That's right, we planned that. It's nice. You do see. That's right, people planned that. You do see, oh god, I didn't even think about that.

You see, at certain portions, there are bursts of jet black and very, very bright purple fungus, different than the ones that you had consumed that seemed to almost, the purple ones pull out these long shelves. They almost reach a full two feet out at the height from the surface they extend from. The jet ones are almost like these small pods, these small puffballs that are just pitch black.

It looks almost like a void until you see some of the lichen glitter pass and you can see the surface texture of it. I feel like you should have had those ones. Okay. You also can see that there is a half-collapsed rubble of ruined stone that Crowns visibly carved, a mason structure.

It is built into the side of the rock. It has been swallowed by most of these vines. You can see there is a portion of the cliff that is cracked and stones have fallen. And where it would look like a bit of natural erosion, you can see signs of intentional carving and shaping, where softer stones are smoothed, where you can see there are shapes

that look like they are like a claw that reaches out and holds onto a stone ball that is cracked and broken. You can see there's a large, one of those large burgundy trees has fallen from the top and is half angled over. Its canopy of extremely bright blue is empty. its canopy of extremely bright blue is empty. The tree itself no longer rooted and dyed.

It is now just this reaching, extending, almost a bloodstream-looking extension of thin branches that reach out to nothing before they just fall onto the ground before it. But you can see there is a cavern beyond where it is tumbled and where some of these shapes of ancient carvings are still visible amongst the exterior. This looks to be an entryway. As the group begins to emerge from the tree line

and stepping out into this clearing towards it, Anilin turns around and addresses the rest of you. I ask all of you to be respectful. If there's anything you wish to take, make sure you ask permission. Insight check. Okay. Can I give you advantage?

What are you doing? I'm just trying to read her. Okay. See what she's thinking. I rolled a six. Total six? Well. Oh no, 12. Take advantage, because I think we're all doing the same thing.

Yeah. Yeah, we're assisting. 12. You can roll the advantage of everyone being assisted by the rest of the group. All heads just go. 20. Of course I'm going to try.

Cool, cool, cool. She's the merchant. I'm going to try to be very good. I'm really trying in my heart. That's what I'm feeling. I can't even tell if you're lying to me as Ashley Johnson right now. We'll never know.

Just because I'm curious before we head in, how big is Lin's hammer? Just because I'm curious before we head in, how big is Lin's hammer? Just because I'm... It's a hammer? Hammer envy? Yeah. Yeah. No, it's maybe about two inches shorter than yours.

Okay, but it's thicker. Stop it! 12. You're a child, Riggle, a child. No, I'd say the one major difference is the, whereas yours is an even hammer for both impacting sides. Oh, it's a war hammer. Yeah, this one has a wider front

and almost like, not quite a pick at the end, but it has a thinner point of impact so that it can be more incisive pressure against whatever it wants to hit. All right, and I probably have been watching a little, I've been watching a little bit the practice run. A little bit, yeah. I'm pretty sure, I assume it's nice and clean and well-formed.

It is. Yes, it is. I know, I'm feeding all of it to you. Don't think I don't know that. Take it, motherfuckers. Children! Okay, yeah, I'm just going to take a second and just have the... All right, cool.

Okay. Yeah. Feeling insecure, Ashton? No. I'm excited to see how this whole thing works out. Are you a little cold? Just to see how this whole thing works out. Ashton, are you a little cold? Just to see yourself. Come on. I was in the pool! Should I have mine this big?

Okay, no. As you all approach this one exposed entryway, and it looks like amongst the tree that's fallen and the roots that curl around it, there's a space about the size of Ashton. So no one has to uncomfortably reach through, is a space about the size of Ashton. So no one has to uncomfortably reach through, but you can see what may have been a larger entrance is now mostly covered.

Each one of the gorgine step in, and you watch as Manad keeps the caboose region waiting for all of you to enter beforehand. After you. Yeah, Chetney first. Sure. It's your party. We follow that.

I'm blind. Foddy knows. We're blind. So, as you all begin to push into the interior of the structure, whatever it may be, you immediately are hit by the smell of stale water interior of the structure, whatever it may be. You immediately are hit by the smell of stale water and damp earth and old musk, like bestial scents,

things that may have been either cast or rubbed against rock or just left to mark something passing through and claiming it as territory and to either vanish or still live somewhere in the shadow within. Cat piss smell? A little bit, amongst other natural scents. Okay, plus a couple hundred pounds.

Yeah. You can see as you step through this long, winding tunnel, the first thing you notice is there are wooden supports, like little beams in the sides that you'd see on the inside of a mine shaft to a certain extent. One of them looks like it's slightly splintered in places, but it's built into it, not quite holding

the same ancient temple aesthetic that you would expect. You can see hanging from one of its iron bars around it, it looks to be a lantern, but the glass element has been shattered. Did that scaffolding start after a delay? When we entered, there were very, very old carvings and it was a clear entrance. Correct, and as you stepped inside,

maybe about 15 or so feet, you saw this beginning of wooden scaffolding. You push through no more than maybe 50, 60 or so feet, moving past edges of this long carving tunnel. You begin to look around and see that this area might have been larger in places, but elements of it have collapsed inward. You can see there are piles of rock and stone. There's a brief moment where, instinctually,

you worry that maybe this is unstable. But most of the cliff looked solid, and the areas here that are collapsed, it doesn't look like there are large signs of heavy structural damage or long cracks that wind through, just elements of the walls that have seemingly fallen. You also, through the interior, notice bones.

Oh. You can see ancient chunks of bone, flakes and shards, things that have either been crushed through time or through many, many years, have just been stepped on until it became just a shale that once existed within a creature, with chunks of larger bone here and there.

An immediate glance not entirely certain as to what these may have belonged to, until you see the first humanoid skull. First what? Humanoid skull. Oh. But you see other skulls, too, here. You see things like wolves or coyotes, or another that looks almost like a massive feline skull. Something that may have fit like one of those

twilight tigers you saw earlier, but it is long overgrown with a moss, and you can see part of its jaw is missing, and it's partially embedded into the stones that have gathered around it. It's been here for quite some time. In fact, a lot of these bones and some of the carvings on the inside

look like they've been here for quite some time. You can see there are shapes. Nothing here is refined. There was no societal architect that came in here and renovated and built a great temple. What you see are shapes that look like beasts. It looks like a wolf head that emerges from the rock, and it looks like it's been just over time

ground into its shape, but it's rounded the edges. It's more of the essence of a beast, ancient enough to where the stonework here is interpretive and rough. You used the word ancient for the bones. Are there anything any more recent mixed in? Years, decades? You can make a perception check for me.

Do the carvings look similar? Like they're from the same time period as that statue that was in the middle of town? Jesus, no. The statue in the middle of town, you didn't take too much time to look at, but it looks like you do. I would say they're still building that statue.

Got it. That one seemed actually pretty recent, but the process seems to be similar. It's more like just rough carving away at stone and chiseling at it with tools. Natural point. Ha! Ooh! A lot of these bones look very old,

and a lot of them look like they've been either uncovered recently by someone sweeping through. When I say recently, I mean in the past number of years. But some of them look very new. Some of them look like creatures that may have died not more than a few months back, and the bones themselves look clean and smoothed over, like the insects and other creatures

that exist off the decay of beings have cleaned it thoroughly, and it's now left here as another display of the cycle of life. You also see human skulls that, like they probably have on the Natural 20, been here for a few decades. You see chunks of leather armor.

You see rusted weaponry. Any wounds in the skulls? Yes, indeed. decades. You see chunks of leather armor. You see rusted weaponry. Any wounds in the skulls? Yes, indeed. In fact, in one of the skulls, you see a series of puncture marks that look like large teeth. Oof. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Teeth, specifically. Mm-hmm. I mentioned that to the group. You also see along the walls and bits of the wood, with your natural 20, as you're now inspecting the space around, there are gashes, strikes across the wood, some that could be bladed,

some that could be claws. You do see one blade that is half still embedded in one of these archway supports, but rust has taken it extensively. Boy, it feels like a lot has happened in here. Mm-hmm. A lot. About a short jaunt in, this tunnel opens into a larger antechamber.

Here in this room, you can see there's a break in the ceiling about 40 feet above you, where you can just see a bit of the sky above. There's actually about a two or three foot hole that you can see out into the elements. Actually, from this view, you can't see any trees, but you do see almost like a single shaft of light

that breaks down and falls into the center of the room. Where the light hits, you can see there is water trickling through, whether it be runoff from the recent storm or some element of a nearby brook above the cliff drains out here, but there is a single, ever-present trickle of water that partially mists as it falls and it topples down into the middle of the chamber

where you see standing a female humanoid statue that resides in the middle of this central chamber. You see this woman clutching something to her chest in the darkened, shattered interior. There looks to be risen platforms underneath her to the center of this chamber. There are numerous other statues carving, some of what you've seen, that are standing on their own,

but some of them have fallen over and crumbled with bits of the fallen rock. This room, the more you look around, again, going to take in your eyes adjusting to the light, this room has seen quite a bit of collapse. Whole sections of it seem to have slid inward. You can see there are piles of loose stone and collapsed cavern that have have mounted up at certain edges.

Beneath them, you can see bones emerging. You can see broken furniture, bits of wood. You can see metal tools that are rusted and lost amongst the rest of broken stone and pebble. You can see a panther-like stone sculpture that has shattered into four pieces and has been overgrown with bits of vine and moss. It is quite an interesting combination

of old and new decay and nature reclaiming it all. Is there any, as we're looking around, are there any markings, runes, glyphs, pictographs, anything that looks like it was etched into this stone? Go ahead and make a perception or investigation check. 24. Nice.

24. You. 24. You do not see any runes. There is nothing carved in here that appears to resemble language or draconic magical rune, artistry. It looks like everything here is more simple, other than the statues themselves, which have a little more detail,

even the things you saw before, especially the statue of the woman in the center. But you do see, amongst the walls, sconces, a number of metal-iron sconces that are bolted into the stonework around the chamber. You watch as the Gorgine separate and begin to take out of their pouches dried wood and begin to fill the sconces and prepare them to be lit.

As they do, they go around the room and begin to light the wall mount embrasures to go ahead and begin to bring more of a flickering firelight into the chamber. As we start to get more light in here, is there any obvious remnants of the Stratos throne strewn about? I'd say, even just your passive perception, yes.

In fact, most of the broken furniture and wood and the semblances of more recent human remains that exist in here amongst the various other beasts and animal remains look like there are signs that somebody once put in tables and chairs and bunks. You're not sure how much further this chamber once went and what other rooms may have been accessible from here,

but it looks like a lot of what was brought in here by the Shadow's Throne has been destroyed, sunned, or buried, but there are broken remnants of it, reminders of it. Like barracks, mess hall, that kind of thing. Yeah, you don't see anything specific like that, at least not within this central antechamber. You see signs of other tunnels that may have gone further,

but those have since collapsed inward and are cut off. But you do see broken piles of materials. You see old leather satchel bits that are overgrown with mold and moss at this point. The green vines that have come down to that open hole now have extended across the entire ceiling and just dangled down. So about 10, 12 feet above where you're standing

to the 40-foot apex there, there is just hundreds and hundreds of vines that just hang and dangle at different heights above that one shaft of light that comes down into the center of the chamber. You can see the roots breaking through parts of the above ground and the stonework of the ceiling from whatever elements of trees still exist

above the top of this cliff. Do you have to go talk to the statue or anything? Uh, I don't think so. I'm just waiting to take my cues from the rest of the group. Romance the statue. Maybe it has to fall in love with you. Romance the stone, you say?

Yes, I do. Mm. Take Ashton's hammer. What? No, no, you're fine. No. I'm fine. You're in an aggressive place right now. I like it.

Keep it. I was enjoying the confidence. I was trying to just feel a little hiccup. I will walk towards the statue, though, and is there any sort of expression or body language? I mean, she's clutching her hands to her chest. Yeah, so as you watch it, you see this is a woman, the statue itself standing probably about six foot tall.

You see she has this majestic air about her, a plump frame, long, curling hair that goes past the shoulders and almost touches the ground around her, seems to unfurl into the ground. She's clutching what looks like a scabbard to her chest with both hands and just looking forward with this maternal,

partial smile. It's almost welcoming. It definitely stands out against a lot of the rest of this temple. Make a religion check for me. And an empty scabbard? Or is there a crosshilt and a sword in there? You do not see it.

There's no signs of a sword or anything. It's just like she's clutching a scabbard to her chest. Religion check. Why would I have advantage on that? Anybody here have a decent nature, by the way? Everybody recall lore about deities, rites, and prayers? Yeah. Okay. All right.

No. How is that possible? Whoa! A 19 and a 20. So natural 20 for 22. Woo! All righty. Damn. This is indeed a statue of Seratami,

which is the Marquesian name of the Wild Mother. Oh, okay. She represents the goddess and entity that oversees, protects, and is the through line and spiritual cord to all things natural that exist in the wild, whether it be seas or forests and jungles and everything that lives through the cycle of water to light, to prey, to hunter,

to the natural order and cycle that maintains everything beyond civilization. That is Seratani. That is the Wild Mother. And you recall when you were first discussing this temple with the Gorgine, they mentioned that this spirit, this actual savage spirit of this temple, Syahna, is a spirit entity that is either an extension of a creation

of the Wild Mother of Sarutami. As you're approaching and looking over the statue, Anilin begins to walk to you as the final bits of these torch braziers are lit. He goes, Welcome to the Chamber of Trials. This is where the hunter's Bane is granted to those within the Golgine who choose to walk the path of Hemocraft

and control this beast and harness it for the hunt. Here is where offerings are made to the spirit, Sayadan. Here, the being and the savage heart and its creator. As she gestures to the statue, you look now below the statue on the floor, there are a number of metal and stone platters

or square, almost like stone platforms and little chunks of wide shale that can be used to carry things. There's rotted fruit and bone where the meat has been plucked away, and coins and all manner of offerings that have been brought, that are clustered

and piled around this central statue. You watch as Anilyn kneels down, opens her pack, reaches in, and pulls out a bit of dried meat, a piece of platinum, and what looks to be a uniquely bright green fruit that stands out and sets them onto one of these little platters.

She sits up and turns to you as the rest of the Gorgine come and leave their own little offerings at the base of the statue. I don't know. Were we supposed to bring something? I think it's for me. All right.

This is where the balance of the gloom is watched over and maintained. You who seek to speak and commune with the spirit, leave an offering. Yeah. So I'll go over and I'll also take out two platinum, got to be showing up, and I'll also pull out what looks like a small fang,

but it's carved out of wood, intricately detailed. It's a wolf's tooth. The gum line represented perfectly. Slight cavity marks, because why would you brush your teeth? Place them. I place them at the base of the statue. We make camp here for tonight.

Oh. While we settle for the evening's turn, I believe it is your prerogative to meditate, to sit here in the antechamber and concentrate. Speak your mind, what you seek, what you wish to be rid of, and if you're lucky, the spirit's listening.

With that, Annalyn turns around and the Gorgonian begin to take out their bedrolls and choosing corners of the room. There are little pockets of the room where the somewhat collapsed stone can be cleared away and there's a few spots that look a little warmer towards the edge of the tunnel. The rest of you can do the same if you'd like.

How big is this chamber? It's probably maybe like 100 to 150 feet across at places. It's not a perfectly open chamber since parts of it have fallen in. It has an odd shape to it, but I'd say at places it's somewhere between

close to 100 feet across, if not a little more, a little less. Okay. Are we just supposed to go to sleep now? Are you staying up all night to pray? Yeah, I think so. I'm in for the long haul. We should stay up with you, then. No, I mean, listen.

You need your rest, keep your strength. I mean, I need your help. So let's consider it like I'll take the first of a few watches, and if something goes wacky, I'll sound the alarm. But then you won't be ready for tomorrow. You'll be tired. Maybe I'll just meditate for a little bit

and then I'll come tap on you. Okay. Good call. All right, I mean, it's still late afternoon, so. Oh, good night! 3 20. It's like, you can go to sleep now if you want to. But at least the Gorgonians are setting up camp here and preparing to stay here for the time it takes

for you to complete whatever your trials might be. So the sunlight's coming through that hole at the top of the chamber. And it is sunlight. It is clearly a- Make a nature check. Yeah, okay. I mean.

Oh, wow. Five. Five. Looks like sunlight, five. Five. Looks like something like, yeah. Wow. I bet Siadon would appreciate planning and foresight, so since there's an entrance to this place, just in case when the sun goes down and the moon comes up, if that means bad stuff's coming in,

we could always lay a little trap for something by the entrance. You think it's going to come in and not appear or leap from her forehead? Drop from the ceiling? I feel like it's all of the above. Come out of the earth, splintering from beneath? Well, maybe, yeah,

but if this is the goddess of nature, all that shit's out there. Like she summons it in? Could be. All right. Could come to the floor, could be dramatic as hell. Could be a forehead beam, I don't know. So you want us to make a trap? Well, I mean, just, you know,

maybe encumber the way a little bit. Fortune favors the sexy. All right. And the prepared. I thought you were going to say the encumbered, but that works, too. There's a lot of choices, really. I don't know if I have any traps. I have a bunch of ball bearings.

Okay, sure you do. Because they are so stable. The Marisha Ray story. I have a bunch of ball bearings. Pocket full of bearings. I got a pocket full of Caltrops as well. Is that raging? It's trying to get us.

This is our all. Boo! Caltrops actually might be a really good idea, because I bet whatever's going to come in isn't wearing shades. Pocket full of bearings! Yeah, it does not strike me. Double. Yeah, it doesn't work

because it's a little bit rough. I mean, depending on the animal, too, you would just make the shoes out of the same animal. It really would just be doubling up. Hard to plan when we know literally nothing about what's going to happen. It was a five. Yeah. Five.

I'm going to go find a corner away from everyone else. Far left, far right, where are you feeling? Far left, far right, where are you feeling? Far left. I'm just going to sit down and open up my mind and see if I can sense anything in this chamber. Okay. Around us. As you expand your consciousness a bit and let the voices in that may wish to look

to press their way into your consciousness. You sense your allies. You sense the Gorgine, but nothing else of human intelligence piercing inward. So you feel confident, at least at the moment, that nothing of that level of intellect is in the immediate vicinity. All right. I look at the scribble.

Ooh, sure, why not? It's fine, I'm still there. It's always good to get a shake. It's probably done now. I mean, that's a radius of only a few miles, so. It's like 1,000 feet, isn't it? Is it 1,000 feet or is it five miles or something? I'll have a look at the details again.

It's not very long, but it's enough to the point where the fact that you don't see anything is a good sign. Do we have any extra rope? You cut up all the rope, I think. That's why I said extra. That was my rope. Chet's rope. That I burned for the group.

Do you need a rope? I was just thinking. Make a trip trap? Yeah, at the front. Anything wrote? I was just thinking to make a trip trap. Yeah, at the front. Anything comes rushing in, you can slow it down just a little bit. I still have the immovable rod. No, you don't.

I took it off your dead body. I have it. No, I have it. You gave it to me. Can I have my roll back? Yes, I will. I'm literally staring at an unquipped immovable rod. It's also in my equipment. One of you just rolled it.

I got two? I got two immoable rods right now. Let's roll these. 15. You're rolling to role play, giving back the rod. Uh-huh. 11. So I have the rod. I have a really interesting metal bar

that doesn't do anything. Fuck yeah. Wash while I come up with a great fucking plan for this metal bar. Would you like it back? I would like it back. All right, I'm unequipping it. It's all yours.

But we could, you know, I could put it on this end. We could tie a little rope or a vine and then fasten it to something on the other side and then put ball bearings up front. Sounds great. Let's, yeah, let's do that. All right, we do that. All right, as you go ahead and set up that enchu,

and there are, you see there are two splinter tunnels from where you came. There's the one you came through, and then there's one to the right of it that continues off in another direction, but you don't see any light source or anything in there. You haven't really checked it out. I warn the rest of the Gorgine

that I'm dumping a bunch of ball bearings. D&D's most dangerous weapon. Of course, yeah. You said there's another light source, but we haven't checked it out? Well, there's another tunnel. There's another tunnel. Oh! Everything was collapsed in,

but there is a separate exit. From where you're in the room, you don't see any other, and then you turn back around from where you came. It looks like there's a second entrance to the right of it, but it just continues going in the direction of where you came from, just a little bit off to the right of it, but it just continues going in the direction of where you came from,

just a little bit off to the right. Well, we should check that out. Yeah. I mean, sure. Yeah, I'll stay put. A brief glance into it, about 15 or so feet, it has collapsed. Okay. It is a filled town.

It goes forever. I'll be back in a while. Okay. As they finish lighting all the flames, you can now smell the burning of incense, a strong, pungent, almost like a sage smell with a strange acerbic, citrusy smell, and it fills the air.

It's strong, but it definitely seems to cleanse the musky scents that approached you as you arrived. As the incense smoke begins to burn throughout the chamber, Anilin turns around to you. Chetney. If you are to call upon Sayadan for guidance, you must concentrate, meditate,

offer yourself to her mercy and wisdom, shed your ego, and let your timeless nature bloom within. She steps away from the center and the rest of the Gorgine move, all five of them move to different corners of the chamber, almost forming a loose circle on the perimeter outside of it.

This is okay. I'll go, I'll sit, crisscross applesauce in front of the statue. Before you start, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I want you to succeed so, so bad, so bad. I'm just going to tap you on the shoulder and say, you got this, pal, and I'll cast Enhance Ability.

Boy, what do I enhance? What are you about to do, talk? Maybe. Wisdom? Yeah, wisdom couldn't hurt. Wisdom? All right, yeah. I'll do that. You're like, just damn it. My charisma's dog shit, but whatever.

You're installing a meditation. No, no, no, no, no, no, because you're about to be talking. Maybe. Maybe. Boy a meditation effect right now. No, no, no, no, because you're about to be talking. Maybe. Maybe. Boy, I don't know. Talking, are you feeling, are you thinking? Charisma is my lowest at it. I'll do charisma, then.

Okay. I don't know what that does. Was that a plus to something or advantage? It's advantage on all of us. Okay. Thank you. All right, I'll sit. I'll focus myself all. Okay. For how long? All right, I'll sit. Shit.

I'll focus myself. Close my eyes. Sayadan. Chet and Apocopee here. CPOP Industries. I know it's taken me four centuries to get to this point, but I'm here to make a difference. I look at your influence as a blessing, and I want to be straight with you. I'm going to use this for personal gain, but only a little bit. I've seen a lot of

shitty things in the world, and some of that stuff needs a force to push it back. I'd like to do that at times. And also, I have personal beef I'd like to squash. On the side, after I've done some good. I am willing and open to any wisdom that you could share. There's a pause. You hear this loud crunching sound.

You glance over and you see Minada sitting in the corner, chomping on whatping on a hard vegetable. Bro! It's all right. You're going to be there a while. Am I doing this right so far? I think so. Okay. Just be open, I guess, and patient.

An hour goes by. Two hours, and the tension that you felt as you arrive and set up for this begins to ease as you all settle into almost a boundary between impatience and boredom at times. Eventually, the sunlight that peeks through shifts darker, and you can ascertain that the sun sets, leading into a moonlit night from within.

Now the sunbeam, while it has faded, is replaced with a moonbeam. This moonbeam doesn't shift. In fact, Catha is not up in the sky, not at an angle that it would be visible at this point, but there is indeed a shaft of gentle moonlight that just peers through that hole above

and alights the interior of this darkened chamber. The sconce light flickering. Fucking knew it. You catch a sweetness in the air. Sweetness. A faint smell of sharp decay and honey, followed by a wave of strong iron. There's a faint smell of sharp decay and honey, followed by a wave of strong iron.

You feel a presence arrive. That's where you go to break. Oh! The presence arrived? That's Santa! Oh my god. Where Oh! The presents arrived. That's Santa! Oh my god. Where are the bees? Where are the bees? The presents!

Where-bees. It's time for where-bees. Where-bees. Shit, okay, okay. We'll come back into this after our break. It's been a little bit. We need to go to our break. Yes!

Yeah, we'll see you here in a few minutes, and we'll pick up where that left off. See you in a second. Woo-hoo! Oh, hey there. Laura Bailey here to tell you all about the glorious goods we create inspired by our stories. Our stores are

filled with the basics, like character-inspired t-shirts, dice sets, and pins, as well as more specialty items like fancy jackets, puzzles featuring gorgeous artwork, the comfiest joggers and pajamas ever, and much, much more. There's also a few special items that support charity efforts, like our dedicated Critical

Role Foundation merch. You can check out all of our regional online stores by visiting the Shop tab on CritRole.com or head straight to the U.S. store at shop.critrole.com. Every purchase helps support our shows and the stories we tell. Speaking of which, let's get back to the story. And welcome back. So, as all of you have kind of found your spaces in the chamber here with Chetney

at the base of the central statue, surrounded by other statues in various states of standing and or being toppled and crushed as the ages have taken their toll. The Gorginae have also separated to the outer edges as the darkness of nightfall has come and the singular shaft of moonlight, white and thinned, finds its way into the chamber, the water still trickling out from the top and spreading out amongst and around the central statue, with all of the offering set at the base.

And as you sit there and meditate over this time, that smell begins to change. This presence begins to hang in the air like an invisible mist that weighs within all of your lungs. You can feel this faint vibration in the ground. Not rhythmic, not thrumming, but just a continuous... Orym and Fearne, you both roll perception checks for me, please. Oh shit.

Not great. 15 for me. 19. 19. 19. You make out just faintest bit of this, but more so for you, Fearne. You almost see a wisp of a shape seem to drift through the mist

of the falling trickle of water. Almost like a hand passes through it, but it seems to shift and take its own form, like there's a glimmer of something there, like a ghost or some sort of a spectral movement. Right as this happens, Chetney, you feel emotions begin to build up from inside you that aren't your own,

images that fill your head like shapes and smoke. There's not language there, but you can interpret intent, questions to where the emotion and imagery still pierces to your heart. And you know the spirit's present. Are you hunter or prey? Hunter.

You are hunter and prey. Are you yearning for freedom or indulgence? Freedom. You are a fool. Do you see to the garden or spoil the earth? Oh shit. Shh.

Spoil the earth. You are a catalyst. Spoil the earth. You are a catalyst. I smell it within you. The blessing. The curse. The curse. Go. You feel that burning red,

for a second, you close your eyes and you can see that red flare between your lids. As you open once more, If I take one, I take a part of you with me and leave a part of me with you. The emotions seem to be less scattered and more focused. Do you accept my trial?

Yes. All the Gorgine in the chamber stand up. Oh no. And close their eyes together as one, and as they open them once more, there is a pale blue mist that drifts out of their open eyes.

Oh no! I'm sure it's fine. They just stand there, all looking to the center of the chamber where the statue and Chetney are. Chetney, as you say yes, and you watch the Gorgine flicker on as still guardians. Chetney, you feel that red,

that burning tether to the Ruddy Moon be tugged and pulled. You feel that tickle, that urge to give in, that hunger, that violence, that necessary allure, that howl, that call, that beckoning, that thirst, that taste of blood and running earth and flesh,

that the rush, the flow, the leap, the climb, the tear, the growl, the hunger, the bite, the snarl, the break. It all boils and churns and churns and pulls and pushes from within. It's pushing out, it's pushing out. It must be free, you must be free. You must give in to this. It is here, it is now, it is within, and it is out.

It must be out. The rest of you watch as this mist that's drifting off of the waterfall within begins to splash down heavily. The water begins to come down like a waterfall almost onto and around Chetney. As it does, the mist seems to gather in a light within the moonlight.

As it does, you watch Chetney tumble over and begin to bulge. The shoulders begin to ripple and expand, the fur expanding as the transformation sets in. You watch as the face pulls back and the snout of the wolf begins to push out and it grows larger and larger, bigger than you've seen Chetney emerge

as its arms reach out the length of almost eight feet on each end. The claws extend. The white fur begins to burn outward like a massive mat of cloak-like fur, a carpet of continuous snow-white spines out of the body. The teeth extend, slobbering, growling. The spittle itself,

almost carrying a ruddy liquid coloration to it, spatters onto the ground, lost almost amongst the fall of the water itself. As Shenron begins to spin, you see that same blue, misty glow in his eyes amongst the other Gorgine. The water is still scattering across the shoulders. Ah!

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Slash CR minis. Did you inhale some popcorn? I had popcorn right before I started speaking. Whereabouts are the rest of you set up? Colonel, go down the wrong pipe. Ah! Oh dear. Okay, okay, okay, okay. So the Gorgine are fully spread?

Okay, they're perfectly spread out. Okay. Mm-hmm. That makes sense. We were in front. Doing the trap. We've been making that trap. Where's the chat? Like in that corner.

In the center. I would be close to him because I just touched him to... I mean, you touched him and you backed away, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, backed away. A little bit. Yeah, no, that's good. Okay. I can be closer.

Who's that that you're holding? This is Imogen, but whoever wants to be placed. Im no, that's good. Okay. I can be closer. Who's that that you're holding? This is Imogen, but whoever wants to be placed. Imogen, that's you. Laudna can be over here in this corner. Which one of these is the collapsed? This is the collapsed one here. I'll say that I'm near that. That was the last time I placed myself anywhere.

I'd probably be hanging out by that weird little, like in that little V section, actually a little close, like No statues? Away from me, like. Over here? Yeah, but forward towards you, right there, yeah. Right there.

And I would be by that little lit up area over there. Over here? Yeah. Should've moved. I'm going to hang out with Orym. Over here? Other side, yeah. Why didn't I even see the green glow? You've got it. I didn't either. And have you had Mister out with Orym. Over here? Other side. Yeah. I didn't even see the green clothes.

You've got it. I didn't either. Have you had Mister out with you, I imagine? Oh yes, of course. Let's put him on my left. Oh no. So we're fighting Gorgonay, or you're fighting? Or we're fighting? We're fighting all of them.

What? Why is he so thin? Are you fighting? Or Chetney? We're fighting all of them. What?! Why is he so big? I've never seen! He's so big! Here's your stat sheet, Chetney. What, you got a new stance? He's bigger than Grog! Oh my god.

That name is interesting. Chetney Paca. I need everyone to roll initiative. Oh my god. Oh my god. What are we, are we a party? What are we doing? What are we doing?

Are we on trial? Oh? What are we doing? What are we doing? Is this our trial? Oh no, what the fuck? Oh jeez. Oh. Oh. Thank you. Oh. Mm, okay.

That's all right. All right, 25 to 20. 25. 20. 23. Whoa. Okay. Ooh.

Hang on, hang on, wait, hang on. Orym Imogen Fearne. Orym Imogen Fearne? Mm-hmm. Don't we use that on like a ladder or something? 20, 15? No one used it. 16.

Okay. I'm going to get a new one. Oh yeah. It wasn't Ashton? I'm after Fearne, and then, yeah, Chetney's after me. That was a long time ago. I can't help popcorn for the first three minutes.

I know, I'm on 11. Scarf written 11. Five minutes. What'd you roll? 11. Oh, so it's Laudna, then FCG. What'd you roll? Laudna, then FCG. He's 16.

So it's Orym, Imogen, Fearne, Ashton, Chetney, Laudna, FCG, I think. Chetney, FCG? No, Chetney, Laudna. Laudna is FCG. Yes. Oh boy. I think I'll figure it out. I don't like any of this. Yes. Oh boy. I think I'll figure it out. I don't like any of this.

Wait, what are we? Who are we fighting? I don't even know who we're fighting, though. Orym, you're up first. Yeah, chaotic energy in here. No idea what's going on yet, so all I'm going to do is hold my action. I'm going to attack any threat that attacks Orym or Fearne.

That's it. Okay, you're holding your position there? Yes. You got it. Imogen, you're up. Yes. This could be a fight for her. I know, I don't know.

Yeah, it could be just a dance. Horizontal dance. Hold on, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. One second. It all happened so quickly. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. One second, it all happened so quickly. Okay, I'm going to... Dooms on the board. I'm going to cast Fly on myself.

Cast Fly on yourself? And get up and go up. Go out the hole and leave. And go straight up and out. Goodbye. How far are you flying? It's a 40-foot ceiling in here, so. All right.

I'll just go up to the top. Okay. And hold on to some of the vines up there. All righty. Oh, you're way over there. That was a very good call. All righty. Finishes your turn.

Fearne, you're up with Ashton on deck. Oh my goodness. All right. I am just going to, ooh, you know what? I'm going to whisper to my staff at the end. And I'm going to whisper to my staff and tell them to wake up, get ready, just in case.

You got it. Oh, can I use my bonus action? Sure. And just to Chet, I'm just going to go, Chet, just in case. You got it. Oh, can I use my bonus action? Sure. And just to Chet, I'm just going to go, Chet, in his head, what's happening? The minute you reach into the head, you feel returning to you

this wave of ancient will that shuts you out. Shoo! Okay, all right. The person you've reached is not available. of ancient will that shuts you out. Shoof! Okay. All right. The person you've reached. All right. Is that a good thing? So with that, finishes your go, Fearne. Thank you. You were supposed to be near Adder

and you're staying there? Yes. Okay. I'm going to stay there. I'm going to take a few steps to my left to just get in the way of anything that might, yeah. Then I'm going to rage and hold my action for whatever comes anywhere. Well, actually, I should rage first

to see what the fuck's going to go on. You got it. Oh, okay, that's fun. Cool. Yeah, I'm just going to hold my action until something weird happens. All right. As long as also, Laudna's within 15 feet of me, just double checking.

Laudna is currently, yes. Perfect, okay. Okay. That's good. All right, finishing your turn. Brings us to Chetney. Chetney. You can pet so much wolf in this town. What?

Leap, sunder, tear, devour. What do you do? It's the start of my turn. Okay. So there's your max up top, so you can't go higher than what you have. Okay, good deal, good deal. Oh boy.

I'm going to turn this, okay. Yeah, I mean, I just see FCG standing in front of me, right? Yeah. I just look down and I will, with a bonus action, I will drag my claws across my left arm and you see flames come up out of my claws and I'll swipe down at FCG. Oh, not this again.

Why are you trying to kill us, Chet? And Lin did ask if we were willing to take him down. All right, let's make your attacks against FCG. Okay. It's happening again. Help us again. We're turning on each other again. Who has to take them down?

Oh no. I think we do. We are literally our own worst enemies. 22 to hit. That hits. 22, yeah. Okay. Plus four, plus another nine. So that's 11 points of damage. Three of that is fire damage. Okay.

I take three points. Fire? Fire damage? You have fire claws? Yeah. I'm going to use my... Yeah, use Blood Rite and shit. Chetney, no! It's me, Fresh Cut Grass, your friend!

How much movement was that? That was five feet. I'll look to the right over at Mister, and I'll run over and swipe at Mister as well. Attack of the Monkey. 15 feet. For the monkey! He's going for the monkey. Do I get an attack of the monkey?

You do get an attack opportunity if you like it. I'm just going to do what I've done before. Do we need to let him win? I'm going to buzzsaw him. I don't know. Natural 20. Ooh! I assume that hits.

It's not very much damage. Five points of damage. Double? No. Oh, five total. I mean, you double the dice, right? So that's two, four, plus one, that's five. Non-magical. So two. I guess so.

Oh, non-magical only does half damage? It has woven form, yeah. Okay. But you buzz past, striking him as he rushes over towards Mister. I'll take a swipe at Mister. All righty. Natural 20. Oh no!

Wait, is he an ally? At the moment? He just struck you and is now going after the monkey. What do you think? 13. 13. He is your highest serious relationship. That's 17 points of damage.

Would you have some serious relationship? Oh, wait. Huh. Wait, how many hit points does Mister have? Probably not very many. He never gets hit. It's five times your druid level. Five plus your druid level.

I mean, he's out. Five plus your druid level. That's 12, isn't it? Wait, what are we? Seven? Wait, how many points was that? 12. 15? 17. Oh yeah, he's out. Oh!

A poo gun clacks to the ground. There's just a burst of flame and a scattering of ash, and Mister is sent from this realm. No! I think I used the other 15 feet, right? So that's my movement. Not the poo monkey. Well, no, that's plus.

Oh, that's... Fuck! Oh no, you guys. I'll see the monkey dissipate and I'll look at Fearne and I'll close on Fearne. Oh no. And swipe away. So this is attack number three.

That's 20 to hit. Yes. How do you know you have to attack us? The spirit in my head said all the bad words. So that's eight points of damage. Got it. Turns into George Carlin. That's eight points of fire damage.

Yeah. That's my turn. Okay. So that brings us now to Laudna with FCG on deck. Oh, it's already the end of the hot of that. Okay. Well, yours was an attack of opportunity. I, um.

That red's coming down. All right, all right. I just, I shout out, do we let him win? What do we do? And as I'm saying that, I start transforming into a were-tree, my Form of Dread.

Oh. Yes! I'm going to have it take on the trees that we have been passing this whole time, that pale ash with the black that starts seeping up from underneath. Hell yeah. And then I am going to... That's a bonus action, so then I'm going to cast Mirror Image, and I'm going to Quicken the spell and cast Spider Climb.

We can't do more than one spell in a turn. One has to be a cantrip. Quicken spell? Quicken spell, you can do a cantrip and another spell. Oh, wait, it one spell in a turn. One has to be a cantrip. Quicken spell? Quicken spell, you can do a cantrip and another spell. Oh, wait, it moves it to a button. Never mind, never mind. Okay, so just Mirror Image and Form of Dread. You got it.

You got that? Yeah. Take a hit points. Ooh, 10! 10, nice. Fuck yes. Okay. I'm just going to stay where I am. Okay, you got it. Finish Laudna's turn.

Do you know how the legendary actions work? What? You can do them at the end of somebody else's turn, if you'd like. Yep. What? Oh my god. Wait. Is he supposed to win or lose? Yeah.

That's right, I said that out loud. I said it to all of you. I'll take another swipe at Fearne. Okay, go ahead and make another strike. I think he has to win because if we, if it all clears and I think one of us gets it. Well, let's find out. Fuck. 22.

Mm-hmm. What if he's supposed to be fighting the Gorgonite and we're just here as witnesses? 13 points of damage. Okay. Can't wait points of damage. Okay. Can't wait for campaign 3.5. Yeah. This is why you were so excited

when I said there could be a TPK today. You were like, no. Always makes sense. Talking about TPK, one of you will survive. The giant wolf one? What if? Four. Oh, four. All right, so that finished the turn. The giant wolf one? What if? Oh boy. Oh boy. All right, so that finished the turn.

FCG, you're up. Have to dodge him or something? No, what if he just has to, this is a test to see how- If he overcomes it? If he overcomes it or can control it. Sure, sure. It would be so easy for him to control it

if we knock him unconscious. I'm going to do my action to do Sympathetic Binding. Okay. Definitely on Fearne and Orym. Okay. But also, boy, I'm going to try to mentally connect with Chetney.

I know he's not an ally, but we're fast friends or whatever it's called. What's it called? Okay, seriously. We're a trusted companion, so I'm going to try to push through whatever blockage there is and make a connection with his mind.

Okay. I will say, go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw, Chetney. Okay. Okay. Is this magic? Go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw, Chetney. Okay. Okay. Is this magic? This would be magic.

No, I mean, yeah, it's a magic effect, so yeah. I have advantage on it. 14. That's my spellcasting whatever. That's your spell that you see is 14? Yeah. So the binding connects, but you have no, like you're bound, but you're still hitting this

wave of ancient force. There is will there that is beyond language, but it is holding you back as you try and connect with Chetney. It's just like a hand there is in front of you. Oh. All right. Well then, in that case,

I guess with my bonus action, I'll just get a spiritual weapon up and ready. Okay. What form is it taking, dare I ask? I mean, he's a wolf, so it'll be a stake. No, no, I'm just, I'm just. Clearly, that's just me. I'm not.

I don't have a stake mini, but I'll go ahead and take that. Not like an eye-to-eye stake, a stake through the heart. Is this your stake? Oh shit, that doesn't work on werewolves? Well, I don't know, I can roll it. That's awesome. Oh wait.

Sounds like a stake. I thought it was a stake. Can you roll up on the stake? Doesn't that work on werewolves, too? Stakes work on werewolves. Is that a silver bullet? It'll penetrate him. A silver bullet?

There you go, you got a stake. Do you want a big piece of meat? It's a silver stake, Matt. Sure, there you go. It's floating up there in the air for you. Go ahead and roll your attack if you want to make it. Oh, I can attack with it? If you want to make it. Okay, yes, I do.

10 plus six, I think, to hit. 16. Misses. The steak veers off of the hard hide, grinds past the fur, no impact, but it exists out there. You want to stay put? I think I will. I'll use a legendary action to dash. I'm going to cross across Fearne

and come right about here. Okay, so you leap up. Yeah. Batter up! Right in the face. Right about there. So two things. One, Fearne, you do get an attack opportunity if you want to take it.

I don't, though. You do not. He was not in my range. Unfortunately, yeah. Toowhee! No way. Or not toowhee. Toowhee! No way. No? Okay.

And you get to make your two strikes. Yes, I do. You know what? I will move just a little bit towards the statue. Here? Yeah. Okay. Let's see. Yeah, sure, sure, sure.

I'm going to Reckless Attack. Big hit, let's see what happens. That's a 27-something to hit. Yes, that hits. All right, let's start this process and see how bad it gets. Still! I don't know.

He has to fight through. I would try and win. 12 points of damage. Great. It's a magic weapon, right? Yeah. 12 points of blood for me. Trying to control his beastly urges. I'm just going to let that flip around and try and hit you right on the top of the skull,

see what the fuck happens. And that's a 22 to hit. That hits. All right. That's a smart, it's jamming, it's smart. That's, ooh. 15 points of damage. Great. Yeah. All. Yeah.

All righty. So you leap over, land right as Ashton double slams you across the face and the side of the chest. You get pushed up against the side of the stone wall, catch yourself, and then right back to your position there. Nice. So that finishes, as you just went back

to the top of the round, Orym, it's your turn. And the Gorgine did nothing. They're just still. The Gorgine are just standing there, watching. Just standing. Okay, so Orym is going to... Shit, I'm going to run. He's just going to poop his pants. All right, 10, 15.

Leap up here. I'm going to yell out to say, Chet, you in there? You didn't bring us here for this, did you? I'm going to pull out a 3 1⁄4 finished little wooden wolf that's really crudely carved and not done, and I hold it out. This was for you. I guess it's now or never.

You in there, big guy? No. And that's my turn. Okay. What is it? A wolf that I've been carving. It's horrible. Go ahead and make a persuasion check with advantage.

I'm terrible at persuasion. With advantage. 17, straight roll. 17. As you right yourself from the slams of the hammer across your body, you hear the voice and look back towards it and you see the crudely shaped carving.

And there's that strange, like a shooting pain in your head for a second. And in that shooting pain, behind your eyes, you see that red flare once more as you close them instinctually. You see in the middle of the chest, around the sternum between the fur, a little bit of red smoke

begins to trickle out. Good enough. Okay. You still have daylight. It's nighttime. Oh no. Yeah. So I thought we still had, oh, the spell. Sorry, I thought you meant like, okay, got it.

Does that finish? So just a plume of red smoke exiting the chest? Yeah, almost like a little stream of red smoke. It's like. Interesting. Okay, okay. All right, that finishes Orym's go. That's the end of his turn.

I'll use my final legendary action, and I will use Howl of the Hunter. Oh no. That takes two actions to do. Oh, it does, it does, that's right. Sorry, you can't do that one. Fair, fair, fair, fair. But at the top of your next turn,

you get all your actions back. That's right, okay. All right, so that brings us to Imogen with Fearne on deck. Did I see that happen with Orym? You saw, yeah, you heard Orym shouting this out and clutching it out there and watching the wolf form like reel from it for a second and that little faint bit of red trail smoke on it. Uh-huh.

All right, I'm going to... I'm going to try to reach into Chet's mind and just lash him really fast and cast Blindness on him. Okay, got it. I think that's a constitution saving throw? Yes, it is. Go ahead and make a constitution saving throw, Chetney.

It is magic, so you have advantage. Oh. That's really good. That's a 21 to save. Well, I'm going to give it to you. You watch as Chetney's eyes close for a second, and as the wolf opens them once more, that bright blue glowing mist

seems to shatter the incantation before it can take hold. Before he thinks about where I am, I'm going to fly across the cavern to the other side. Okay, to the other side over here? Yep. I'm going to grab across the cavern to the other side. Okay, to the other side over here? Yep. I'm going to grab onto a vine up there. How far can you move? 60 feet? Yeah.

All righty, that'll put you there. Yep, that's about right. I want to get out of his way. I'm going to try to go like the- Over here? Yeah. You got it. I'm going to get a foot on a vine and hold onto it, too, so I'm standing up on a vine. Okay.

She's like, holding on it up there. Perfect. Got enough finishes. Imogen's go. Fearne, you're up with Ashton on deck. What are we doing, Ash? Oh god. Are we hurting him or are we trying to? I don't know.

Reason with him, maybe? All right. Uh. Shit. This is going to... I'm going to attack. I'm going to attack because he just hurt my kid. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. All right. Scorching Ray.

Okay. Go for it. That's three rays if you cast any at a base level. Yeah. Base level. 15 for the first one. 19 for the second one. Okay.

Natural 19. That hits. Yeah. Okay. Sister's not there. 2d6 fire damage. Okay, seven. Seven points of fire damage to you, Chetney. One ray strikes to you, the other one just go wide

and hit the stone cavern interior around you. You're going to stay put for a while. Anything else you want to stay put, Fearne? Anything else you want to do? That's, uh, uh, I'm going to move a little closer to him. All right. 10 feet? Yes. With 10 feet?

That's 10 feet there. Let me get within distance of him. Whoa. Or close up. Close up? Yeah. All right, we're in melee right there. That finishes your go, Fearne. Ashton, you're up with Chetney on deck. Okay.

I'm going to ready for a couple more strikes, but before I do, come on, buddy. I want to fight the real you. This is bullshit. Get that shit out of there. Yeah, I'll do a reckless attack again. And I actually, no, I don't have to,

because we're in a, I'm in a, where he's a. You can move to get into a concert. I'll move to get into it, yeah, I don't have to, because we're in a... You can move to get into a pincer attack. I'll move to get into it, yeah, there we are. Get you about there. Thank you. Oh no! It's okay, go ahead. And here we go to hit again. Yeah, that hits, it's like 25 to hit. Oh yeah, it hits, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's 15 points of damage? Yes. Another heavy hammer hit to the lower hip area. Does it seem like it's doing fuck all? It's doing damage, yeah. Okay, okay. And here we go again. Nope, that's 12 to hit. That misses.

Take another swing. The second swing, you go ahead and try and swing to the second strike and you're not even realizing it, Chetney. You just, the claw grabs the hammer and holds it in place and almost begins to lift up Ashton from the hammer slightly. Starting to have a little bit of the red-blue flashes on either side of the hammer, and the head's starting to go,

and starting to vibrate a little bit out of sync. Come on, man. We have a lot more fun. This is not the way I wanted to do this. It's your turn. At the end of his turn, I'll use my last legendary action, and I'll take the hammer that I caught in my hand and just smash it back into his face.

I love it. Which is with advantage because he was reckless. I was not reckless. He was actually not reckless. On your held turn, you were. That's true, yeah. Still up. I would. Well, let's see. No, it's not still up. I just took my turn. Technically. I think it's,

oh, is it until the, that's right. Yeah. It's until your next turn. Until the beginning of the burn. Oh, that's right, okay. Yeah. It's until your next turn. Until the beginning of the burn. Oh, that's right, okay. Yeah. Oh fuck! Take it. It's a natural 20.

Yeah. It's all right. I didn't think that was a bad idea. You're fine? Of course, he's a barbarian. Of course he's fine. We'll see. But I'm not going to hold my reaction. Oh, six, 12, 17.

We put our hands up like this, Matt. We don't know what's going to happen. 20 points with three points of fire damage, so 20. 20 points, so that's 13 points of damage. Actually, if these attacks are considered magic. Whether all of them are considered magic? No. Fuck my life. So that's 23 points of damage.

I will take half of that. Thank you. Okay, there you go. So 11 points of damage to you, 12 to you. Fuck my life. Ow. 11 hit points on you for a round. Mm. All righty.

Starting my turn, I'll use my Bestial Regeneration. Well, okay. To regain 11 points of... Damn. Good to know. I'm also going to start, since you're starting your turn, Okay. To regain 11 points of... Damn. Good enough. I'm also going to start, since you're starting your turn, I'm going to Institute Temporal Morass. So make a constitution saving throw.

Okay. Against some number. What the shit are we doing? I don't know. Oh! Oh, come on! That's a 22. I guess I have advantage on it. It's not another 20. Oh! Oh, come on! That's a 22. Okay, I guess I have advantage on it. It's not another 20.

Burning them out, everybody, it's fine. So yeah, that just, yeah, that does not, an unnatural 20? No, it does not succeed. This is a... a natural force of nature that is pushing through this cavern now. Chetney is just a monstrous beast,

hungrily tearing through and rushing and leaping from place to place. This is an intimidating space. Yep. Does that finish your go, Dan? I mean, that was my bullshit. So you're taking your turn. That was my bullshit. Yeah, the guy with the hammer hurt me a lot,

so I'll take all three of my swings at him. All righty. Which are not an advantage, though, that's good. Taking all three at Ash. I'm taking all three. 19 to hit? That hits. Okay.

The second one is a natural 20. What? That's three? Fuck. I'll do it, I'll do it. Silvery Barbs, that one. Thank you. I just see Ashton being puzzled. I just take the rock and jettison it

in front of Chetney to distract him, and then I'm going to take that and immediately give you advantage on whatever your next thing is. So you get to roll again. We're going to havemary Barbs. That does it. Summary Barbs, you don't have,

it's not a saving throw, but you have to take it. You just have to reroll it. Beautiful. Oh, I just reroll it? You roll the attack. You have disadvantage on what you just did. Oh, a disadvantage, okay. No. So you take that.

Oh, okay. So 15 plus 23. Still good. That hits. So two hits in the third strike. Damn. Natural one. There you hits in the third strike. Damn. Natural one. There you go! Third strike misses.

I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting this! I love it, it's great. Okay, is it a one? It's stressing me out. Six. Six, so 12 points of damage on the first one. Jesus. I take six. 12 points of damage. Okay. O. Jesus. I take six. Four points of damage.

Okay. And then. That's the second. It's 13 on the second one. Okay. And the third one missed. Yeah. And on the. Oh, fuck me.

When you have an advantage on your next attack roll, ability throw, or saving throw. All right. Yeah, I'll stay right there. Okay, you stay right there? Yep. All right, that finishes your turn, Chetney. Laudna, you're up with FCG on deck.

Laudna just goes, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, and I spider climb and I climb up the wall. Okay. Up and away. All 30 feet? Yeah. Okay, we'll put you up, around here, we'll say. Fine. And then I'm going to go and, seeing Chet, his wounds heal,

I'm going to now quicken his spell and I'm going to cast Chill Touch on him. You got it. All right. You can do that. So Chill Touch, is that an attack roll for you or is that a saving throw? It is. Constitution save? Is.

Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. Sorry. Oh boy. I didn't. It's a ranged spell attack from you. So I have to do it? Yes. I didn't see that word. Oh yeah. This is much worse. Those are on top of him.

Okay. Oh boy. Shit, that's not good. 15. This is really cool. Does 15 hit? 15 hit you? No. Okay. So the shield, as you release it, as you're climbing up the wall,

you go ahead and strike out with it, but the combat that's currently going beneath with Ashton and the massive woven form of Chetney, it swings wide and goes through the center of the fray, unfortunately. Fuck. Does that finish your turn? Yes. FCG, you're up with Oremond.

If that's the end of her turn, I will now use those two legendary actions to do Howl of the Hunter. Okay. What? All creatures within 30 feet of you must make a DC 16 wisdom saving throw or become frightened for one minute. Oh!

So that is? I'm immune to being frightened. You are, so you are unaffected by it. I am terrified. You are the terror that flaps in the night. So that's everyone except for Imogen. And Vlaska. DC 16 wisdom?

Yes. What about the Gorgonais standing by? Oh, I do have advantage. Nope, they are unaffected by it. Come on. God, I watched it and then it teetered. No, that wasn't. That was only a little cocked.

No. No? So Ashton is frightened. Fuck. You can be frightened while you're raging? Wait. Yeah. That's a berserker barbarian ability. Oh. Not your boy. Yeah, wait.

It's all good. I got a 23. 23, you are fine. 23. You're fine. I failed with a six. Oh no. All right. Oh dear. So you were are fine. 23. You're fine. I failed with a six. Oh no. All right. Oh dear. So you are both fine.

Sorry, you are both fine, but, and you continue to make the save at the end of your turn. Yeah. But until then, you cannot move closer. You cannot move towards Chetney at all, and all of your attacks are at disadvantage. Oh no, those are bad for those guys. So. Working on it.

That finishes your turn. Yes. Laudna. That's just the last turn. You're up with FCG on deck. I think Laudna went for it. Me? I thought I went, too. She did. Oh, sorry. Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.

That was your legendary action. So Orym, you're up. No, it's FCGs. Oh, because you didn't take yours. You're right, sorry. Okay. I should attack or not? Oh. It's my turn. It's FCG. Yeah take yours. You're right, sorry. Okay. I'm trying to see if I should attack or not. Uh. It's my turn.

It's your turn. Yeah, yeah, cool, cool, cool. I have nearly half my HP down, so you know, whatever you want to do. Do what? I have nearly half my HP down, so you know, whatever you want to do is cool. Just putting that out there. Yeah, but I'm trying to get through to Chetney.

All right, I'll do that next turn, then. I'll shoot a... I'll just shoot a... What do you call it? My bolt thrower at him from here. Okay. Just rolling an attack. You got it.

Natural 20. Oh shit. Yeah. Okay. For a 23. Yeah, that's a natural 20. Oh shit. Yeah. Okay. For a 23. Yeah, that's a natural 20, so it automatically hits. So go ahead and roll your dice damage for the bolt thrower and then double that and then add the rest to your modifier. So eight. Oh, whoa.

Plus 11. Indeed. So that would be 19. It is not magical. No, it is not. So that would be nine points of piercing damage to you. Okay. Just shot from behind by some unknown source.

And then I guess as my bonus action, if you're really looking hurt there, Ash. A little down. Oh boy. The word is just so lame. I mean, that may be a hold for later thing, so. Do some crazy shit. No, no, no, that's fine.

I'll get close enough to throw a Healing Word to Ashton. I'll do it at second level. You can do it from over here. Is this the 30-foot range or 60-foot range? I think it's 60-foot, isn't it? Might be. Which means you can do it from back where you were. Oh, it's 60, you're right.

I'll stay there then. Okay. Two, four, five points. Nope. Seven points of damage. Seven points of healing to you, Ashton. Take it. All righty. And then if I'm still near the statue,

I'm just going to get even closer to the statue, just right under her lap. You got it. Chetney, please! You're killing me over here! I promise. All right, that finishes up Zajisco. Now it is Orym with Imogen on deck.

Okay, question. Is Fearne's in melee, right? Yes. Okay, so I can't get any closer, but I can stay in the same circle. So Orym, scared to death, sword shaking as he steps down here, is going to come down and crawl under Fearne's space

and use bait and switch to take her place. I'm not getting any closer. I push Fearne back. Well, you were 10 feet from him. Am I? There, you were 10 feet up here. All right. And all that plane goes away. Unfortunately, yeah. You have to keep a 10-foot distance from him.

Then I got to think something in five seconds. This decision brought to you by WizKids. Cool. That's fine. I'm going to instead stay within 10 feet. I'm not going to leave. Actually, I will go back there. Okay.

I'm going to pull one dagger out the back of my boot and throw the blade at the spot where I saw the red smoke coming out. Okay, let's go ahead and- It's at disadvantage. At disadvantage with ranged attack. That is...

14, I'm sure it doesn't hit. 14, unfortunately, did not hit. I'm going to go again. That'll hit. That's a 24? Oh yeah, that hits. Okay, I'm going to make this a goading attack and try to get it right in that spot where I saw red smoke coming out.

It's not going to do a lot of damage, but that is one plus five is six, plus the six, 13 points of damage, and you have to beat a wisdom of 16. Is that 13 halved? Is it a magical weapon? It's not magical. It's not magical. So it's seven. Six. Six.

I'm doing math, doing math, doing math. Great. And the wisdom saving throw is? 16. Natural one. Okay, so attacks against anyone else but me are at disadvantage, and I will back up another 10 or 15 feet away from Chetney.

You got it. Can I use Legendary Resistance against that goading attack? Yeah, if you want to. Yeah. You can. So I'll resist the goading feature. Fuck. Action surge, I'll throw again.

Oh god, there he goes! Miss. That probably misses, too. Eight. 16. Misses. That's it, I. Eight. 16. Misses. That's it, I'm done. All the daggers are out of your boots.

One strikes. The dagger that is sunk in there, though, it's partially in there from the hilt, and the smoke you can see is more of it's pouring out now. It's actually almost like a red flare on the side of the road. It's just this red smoke that's pouring out of that section of the chest.

At the end of his turn, I'll just spin in place. Who's in melee at the dagger being thrown? Is it just Fearne right there? Fearne right there, yeah. Yeah, I'll take a swipe at Fearne. Okay. Oh no, not Fearne. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Oh, that's not a lot for 12 to hit.

Oh, do I? No. Yeah, it misses. Is Fear my turn? Okay. Make a wisdom saving throw. It's a crap roll. Yeah, that'll probably do it. That's a 20. 20, you are no longer frightened. Oh, that's good.

Nice. All righty. So finishing Orym's go, taking the strike at Fearneford, you dodge just out of the way as the claw slams into the side of the stone. It's your turn, what do you do? All right. I don't know if this is going to work,

but I'm going to give something a go. I am going to change into a wolf. Okay. Changing into a wolf? Changing into a wolf. Get weird. Sexy. Yes, and I'm going to try to change into

like a sexy wolf. Like a sexy wolf. Yes. What are the aspects that make the wolf sexy? Her confidence? Yes, her confidence. I'll use a fox to make it a sexy wolf. Perfect, perfect.

That's what foxes are? Yeah. Sexy wolves. Exactly. Foxes are sexy wolves. Shoop! Chetney. Hey.

You just got to power through and just look at me right now and remember who you are, okay? You got to fight through. You got to fight through. You're a wolf, right? You are a wolf. So we hear.

Yeah, you hear exactly that sound. I think I actually, but I communicate simple ideas with smaller, smaller beasts. Yeah, so you actually get the essence of what you're doing. Go ahead and make a persuasion check for me with advantage in your roll and form. Roll an advantage. Oh my god. Advantage for sexy.

Yeah. Come on, come on. Okay. 17. Okay, okay. 17. Okay, okay. 17. I will say you have permanently lost one of your legendary actions. Ooh! Whoa.

Oh. As between the... That's big. There are a couple of factors. So you only have two legendary actions you have at the moment. Through this woven speech, something is conveyed through the language of nature,

through the language of the predator, and there's an element of your fury that begins to slow. All right. Does that finish your turn? You want to stay put? She's in heat. I love it. Fucking. That's fucking pissed.

That's a lot, actually. God, are they going to start fucking? We're all just like, let's just eat. It's an enormous werewolf. And a wolf. And a fox. Yeah. You know. Yes, I'm just going to sit. Still an initiative.

I'm just going to sit and wag. Tearing out your throat is kind of sexy. Yeah. I'm just going to sit and wag. Tearing out your throat is kind of sexy. Yeah. I'm just going to sit and wag. Just sit and wag. You got it, all right. Halloween way. As you wag away.

Finishing Fearne's go. Ashton, you're up. We jumped, and then. Oh, sorry, you're right. I mean, live. Oh! Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if this is going to work.

I'm going to, yeah. this is a 120-foot range. I'm going to stare down at that spot of red on Chet's chest, and I'm just going to focus all of my psychic energy and shoot it out and try to psychic lance the spot on his chest. Okay, all right. So is that a saving throw on his point? Yeah. All right.

That would be an intelligence saving throw. Go ahead and make an intelligence saving throw. Okay. One old baby blue here. Is that magic? It is. Oh, that's terrible. Eight.

Oh, you fail. That's a failure. Okay. You take 7d6 psychic damage. Ooh. And you are incapacitated until the start of your next turn. Oh!

I would if I wasn't going to use the legendary resist. Resist. Oh! But you still take the damage. Oh, I do? Half the damage, yeah. Half the damage! Travis Willingham living his best life. I know.

I bet these things will take much longer. Yeah, yeah. Holy moly. That's yeah. You're a dragon. That's madness. You're a dragon. That's why you keep giggling at us, you mother party. Oh yeah, it's not going to last forever. One, two, three, four, five, six.

This is amazing. Seven. All right. 10, 20, 25. So 12 points of psychic damage to you. Cool. As it strikes into your mind, into the chest.

Make a wisdom saving throw for me. Oh! Wisdom saving throw. Just a general wisdom saving throw. No, five. Five. You okay? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I thought it was... We don't know. Okay. Actually, we'll wait until we get to your turn. Okay. Which is after Ashton. So we'll get to that. I'm going to take a quick... Unless you want to move, Ingenious.

Stay put. Yeah. I will stay where I am. I'm going to take a quick. Unless you want to move, Ingenious, stay put. Yeah. I will stay where I am. I'm going to take a quick look at Laudna, see if you're okay, and just have that, shit. And I'm going to, I know, even though I can't do this very well, I'm going to try and swing around

and do the baseball attack against the thing in the chest one more time, since it seems to be the thing that's going on. You got it. I have disadvantage. I will say for the time being, you have disadvantage because of the fright. And because you are sitting and waggling and just talking, you're not technically a threat to him at the moment,

so you do not give him any defense or so. Yeah, no. Yeah, disadvantage tricks. Yeah, that's fine. I assume, just in case. Yeah. I'm also going to, just because I got to give myself a little distance,

I'm going to go into Hyper Rage, so I'm just a blur now. Okay. There's just a, yeah, it's just a blur of red and blue. Is that a thing? Yeah. So I'm going to attack.

Going to attack. Hyper Rage? Yeah, I got it. It's something new every time, I don't know. I'm going to attack. Hyper range? Yeah, I got it. It's something new every time, I don't know. I'm going to go into hyper-source. That sucks. 11 to hit, that's bullshit. 11, unfortunately. Being unprepared for the massive burst of energy,

you just swing wide. I'm going to take another one. And that's better. That's way better. 25 to hit. Yeah, that hits. That hits. That's my standard, you know, to that point. Come on. Oh, that's not bad. 15 points to right in the center.

Awesome. And then I'm going to use my third attack to disengage. Okay. And I am fucking blur. And I am going, I'm going to give myself a little room. I'm going to pull back to, oh god, where do I want to go? But you can go twice your speed. I can go 80 feet, so I can go anywhere I fucking want.

Let's go, yeah, let's go back behind that pillar. Yeah, just keep going that way for a while. There, and just, yeah, well, again, just right behind the pillar. I'm just going to use a little cover right here. Yeah. You got it. And then I'm going that way for a while. There, and just, yeah, well, again, just right behind the pillar. I'm just going to use a little cover. Right here? Wow. Yeah. You got it. And then I'm going to do my saving roll.

This is hyper speed. This is hyper rage. He just Quicksilver strikes and just arcs off in a blur of blue and red energy you just see straight through the chamber. 10. Wisdom save. Wisdom save?

For cancel. You're still frightened. Yep, yep. All right. Oh, damn. For your cancer. It's still frightened. Yep, yep. All right. Oh, damn. That finishes your go, Ashton. These are good. I'll use my... I'm on the ceiling. Beastial regeneration. You do not get your beastial regeneration this turn. Okay.

Wait, what? Why? I don't know. Ha ha! Okay, okay. Maybe because he's been hit in the chest so many times. I've been hit in the heart. You're breaking my heart. There's a small wolf in front of me that talked, and that's strange.

Yep, and there are two women who are holding onto the walls on the sides of the chamber that are jumping distance. And you have one here. Why would you say jumping distance? Why would you point that out? I can tell, but you were up first. Are you talking about this one over here?

Huh? Are you talking about Imogen as well? Or is there another one? We can jump. I mean, we'll have to see the distance you can travel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to run towards Laudna. God fucking damn it. And...

Really? Yeah, the She-Growth does not skip leg day. Jump. You watch as the bestial form of Chetney turns around, runs and leaps into the air, and is just going to go ahead and swipe down towards you. Oh my god. No. I feel like that should be a disadvantage.

Uh. That's me. You're like, what? I feel like that should be a disadvantage. Actually, with my bonus action, with my bonus. I'm going to make a disadvantage if you guys are doing it. 30 feet.

Yeah, that's fair. With my bonus action, I'm going to try to do Blood, Curse, and Bloat and Agony on Imogen as I stare at it. Me? I'm sorry, Laudna. Wow! Are you serious?

It's like, what, the episode? It's catching! It's catching, I don't know! Laura, Laudna, that's the elves. Yeah, I'll stare up at Laudna and try, in the wolf rage, just try and curse. Yeah, I guess. You got it.

So wait, what are you doing? You're flaring me down? Give me a con saving throw. Oh boy. This can't be good. No. Nope, and I think it just takes effect. No, you have to be able to save against it, right?

No, you just have to, but it doesn't do anything until I do all the attacks. You don't even need to save. Yeah, you have disadvantage on strength and dex checks, basically, and some other stuff. So you just suddenly feel like this sickly, cold feeling in your body, like you just... I don't think it's, that's for attacks.

I think he just looked at me and then went. Yeah, he's just leaping towards you, just instilled this curse within you. You feel this instantaneous stomach flu sensation inside your body, like something sickly takes root in your body. I'll just run up the wall, and as I'm doing it, it's like a.

Just a flail of claws at you in the middle of the air. Do I roll for mirror image? You're just the closest thing. You do. That's correct. Okay. That's a 15 to hit. Shield. No, no, I'm just going to mirror image it first. That's a roll. Miss.

Miss, great. But one of the duplicates is destroyed. Yep. There we go. 18 to hit. Miss. Next duplicate. Nice. So you just like.

There were four Laudnas, and two of them you strike, and they just dissipate. Last one. 14 to hit. That is my armor class. 14 to hit. That is my armor class. That would hit. Miss. Awesome. You see it just

strike, all the images are gone. As you land, streak your claws down the stone and land on the ground below her. Still looking up at her, you manage to deflect this wave of muscular fur and claws and watch all your images vanish. That's good. Then you see Lands

yapping, lapping up at you, snarling and snapping from below as you're up on the wall. I will use my movement to... I'm going to run 45 feet. The easiest route. Over here. Oh no. Fucking damn it. The easiest route. Over here. Oh no. Oh no.

Fucking damn it. That's me. Oh no. We're friends. You helped me. You helped me against a bird. That's my turn. All righty.

That brings us to Laudna with FCG on deck. Oh fuck, fuck. So, okay, so he didn't get his reach anythingy. But we don't know why. I'm going to go another 30 feet up. There's only, at this edge of the corner, you're pretty much at the ceiling. So you can either go across the ceiling or

Oh, she's 60 feet up. Because she's further into the cavern. I'm going to then try and just keep getting up. She's not 60 feet up, she's 40 feet up. She can only get up toward the ceiling. Okay. Well, I'm going to keep getting to just keep getting up. She's not 60 feet up, she's 40 feet up. She can only get up toward the ceiling. Okay. Well, I'm going to keep getting the higher ground, I guess. Okay.

Wait, did you do the wisdom fail? So you're moving up. I'm going to hug this wall, I guess. I did. Oh god. Yeah. No! About there? Sure. What was the wisdom fail that Chetney had

that you said you were going to do on his turn? Oh, that was him losing the every time. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, okay, okay. And then. Okay. That's good. I'm going to try Chill Touch again. That is the exact same thing I rolled last time,

so I don't think that hits. Oof. Unfortunately, no. Really fucking sucks. Goes wide. Okay. All right. So that finishes your go. That brings us to FCG with Orym on deck. All right.

Oh boy. Look at that thing. Fucking dice are cursed. All right. I will pick up a twig off the ground. And I will shout a command. And Chetney. Don't you dare. Fetch! Don't you dare!

He does! Throw it. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Oh my god. You have to save. It's not a very hard save. It's a wisdom 14 save. My wisdom's balls, brother. Is it magic?

It is magic. Yeah, this one's cocked, but. So you throw it. Fetch! What do you do? You talk throw it. Fetch! What do you do? You thought about it. Uh-oh. Then I will bonus action.

From behind, I hope he'll feel a spearing sensation as the stake comes flying in. Yeah! And tries to jab him in the back of the heart. But you can move it, although it's not a creature, so it doesn't give you an advantage. So you can just go ahead and make a strike.

Okay. Oh, 16 plus six is 22. 22 hits, right? It does. Yeah. So go ahead and roll your damage. 1d8 plus your wisdom modifier. Six points of damage! And it's magic, right? Correct, it is.

Silvered, yeah. Yeah. Well, it's magically silvered. It's radiantly silvered. I probably can't move, can I? So I'm just going to get as close to the statue as possible, just press myself up against her, hoping that he won't attack for fear of damaging the statue.

Just wrapping my arms around her. You got it. Okay. On the end of his turn, I'm going to use the Legendary Action and I'm going to dash 45 feet towards the base of where Imogen is hovering. I'm sorry. Goddamn it.

You do get an attack opportunity if you want. All right, I will take it. I'll try and get on the opposite side of Imogen from Ashton. Yeah, go up there. I can't cast a spell, right? It has to be a melee thing. Do you have War Caster? No, I don't. Oh.

If I can hot swap back to a saw blade, I'll take a saw blade attack, but I'm- As a reaction, you wouldn't have time to. Yeah. It's so fast. What I have loaded right now is the bolt thrower. Could I shoot at him as he leaves? Or no, it has to be up front. Yeah, unfortunately.

Did you just hit me? It's all good. Just hit me. I'll unarmed strike him. Do it, do it, just punch. Punch him. Three. You do hit. Bing! Ow!

It's like a cav,! Those calves are amazing. No worries. All right, finishing FCG's go. Orym, you're up with Imogen on deck. Shit. Everything I was planning is gone because he moved. I'm going to use full movement and start on a diagonal towards Chetney Wolf. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25. What's your movement? 30. 30 will get you there.

Okay, and I'm going to spring from that spot and use the rest of my movement to go all the way up to get right in his grundle. And if you'll allow for flavor, I will just try to land against his chest and hold on. All right. I love it. Cool, yeah. So you just like and try and hold on? Yeah. I will it. Cool, yeah. So you just like,

and try and hold on, yeah. I will say, for the purposes of this, you're just grappling, yeah, okay. You're not just- I mean, I'm not grappling, I'm not stopping this behemoth from getting anywhere. Yeah, I'll say yeah. We're good. But I'm baiting him by hanging off of his fucking nips.

You got it, okay, that finishes your go. Imogen, you're up with Fearne on deck. Okay, I'm going to look down at look down at Chet. And mentally, I'm going to say, fight this, but in your head, you're going to hear, fight this, fight this, fight this.

It's going to echo around in your head and it's going to be discordant, dissonant whispers. At third level. At third level, okay. Which is a wisdom save. Okay. That's an 11. You fail it.

I'll use my last legendary. Nice. Burn it, yeah. So that's half of five d6. Oh, oh, I did d4. It's fine, it's fine. I did two d4s last time instead of d6s. You know, brilliance.

Sometimes life. 10, 13, 17. 17, so for that, I'll bring you to eight. Eight points of attack damage to you. I'll use my last legendary action of this. No, you're still on your turn. I'm still on my turn. Sorry, sorry. I'm going to use my full movement of 60 feet

to fly to the other side of the chamber. Okay. And hold on to the top. Bad for Orym. Oh no,. I'm bad for Orym. Oh no, sorry, oh no, Orym. It's fine. All right, I knew what I was doing. We cool. I'll use my legendary action

to try and take a swipe at the small person on my left. Go for it, make the shake. Yep. No. That's god. 26 to hit? Sure, yeah. Big time. Okay. Yeah, dude, this is fucking weird. Oh no, not that one.

Two plus seven. Oh, that's the old six from last time. 14 points of damage. Yes, sir. That hurts, though. Hurt me. It hurt you? Yeah. Why?

Well, every time I hit with the Crimson you? Yeah. Why? Well, because, well, every time I hit with the Crimson Rite, I do the, oh no, I don't do that again. I did it the first time. You do it as soon as you instigate it. That's right, it's not until my turn, yeah. Yeah, that's it. That's my legend, that's my legendary action.

Ah, I see, I see, I see. Clarify, just making sure. Crimson Rite, you only take the damage when you ignite it the first time. Yeah, the very first time. Yeah. That's all. Okay, that finishes your go. That brings us now to Fearne's turn.

Have you been doing it every time? Might have done it a couple times. It's okay. Shit happens. Do I? Can I cast while I'm in wild shape, or I just have my stats in wild shape? You just have your stats in wild shape.

If you want to cast a spell, you have to get out of wild shape. That's right. Okay, so as a bonus action, I'm going to drop my wolf. Okay. My sexy wolf. You got it. And there is, what's in the middle of his chest?

There is a dagger that is currently sticking out of it, and what looks to be a continuously smoking plume of red smoke that's like. All right, so I- As he's running across and leaping across, leaving this trail, like. I am going to step up to the, a little bit behind that pole, not pole. What's this called?

The pillar here? Yes, thank you. The statue? Okay. It's like, starts with a P. And I am going to cast Daylight and attach it to the dagger that's in his chest. Ooh! Okay. Daylight dagger. That's sexy.

That's sexier than a wolf. Yeah. Okay. So the dagger in the chest, as you're standing there trying to claw at Orym, suddenly exhibits this extremely bright daylight in the space and your eyes go like, Orym, you're clutching the fur on the front of the chest

and you just took a hit and the dagger that's a foot from your head that you put in there earlier suddenly just emits this bright daylight and you just took a hit. The dagger that's a foot from your head that you put in there earlier suddenly emits this bright daylight right in your face. Both of you have a moment where you're seeing nothing but white around you, just blinking. That's our druid! I'll say to the proximity on this,

I'll consider you both blind on the next round, just from the proximity of it. So it's disadvantage on strikes. Yeah. But yeah, okay. Good. Does that finish your turn? You want to move a little more?

That finishes my turn. You good? No, I'll stay there. All right. Ashton, you're up. How far away does Chet look at the moment? Just peering over. Peering over, Chet, and he looks about 60 feet from you. About 60 feet. Are you still afeard?

Yeah, it's about 55 feet, yeah. I'm just debating whether or not to try and what I can do right now. Okay, I'm just going to... There's not a lot I can do right now. I'm going to pull around, get a little bit of cover. Okay. Just at the side.

I'm going to... This is going to be weird. I'm going to drop Rage. Okay. And I'm going to hold my, I'm going to hold my, I'm going to basically hold my reaction. In case somebody comes within. Yeah.

Actually, just defensive reaction, I think that you can. You can just take a dodge action, which means attacks against you have disadvantage. Yeah, well, he's, yeah. I'll just have that ready to go, just because it's going to take me around to get my shit back.

Okay. Let's try and save. Make a wisdom save. Come on, don't be a dick. Natural one. Oh, I'm sorry, buddy. Yee! Still afeard. Still afraid of the big bad wolf.

All right, Ashton, that finishes your go, then? Yeah. You can keep moving if you want. If I just get further away, I'm just going to be further away. So yeah, further away is further away, I'm just going to be further away. So, yeah. Further away is further away. I'm just going to run. Okay.

And if I move, I'm just going to be a fucking target. No worries. Chetney. Yep. You're up. I don't have any regeneration? No, your regeneration's returned. Just the round. Oh, bummer. Oh shit. What was it?

What did he just regen? That's okay. It's all you. It's regeneration. I keep's going to raise its back. I keep trying to keep that from happening. Fucking failing. Well, I was going to go after Imogen, but she flew off and left only this small hero on my chest. So I'll take three swipes at Orym to try and get him off.

At disadvantage. Makes sense. At disadvantage, that's right. Because you're blind? We're both blind. Yep. From dancing. At disadvantage. Makes sense. At disadvantage, that's right, that's right. Because you're blind? We're both blind. Yep. From dancing. 12. Nope. Yep. Grrr. 16. Nope.

Wow. Disadvantage is a problem. Natural 20 and a four for 12. Ooh! Get rekt, Wolfgang. Nice. Sorry, Laura. You're.

You don't even know what you're dodging. I feel like the shield's almost slung over your shoulder in the back, and you're just like, This is not fun. As I'm doing it, I'll just blindly stumble forward, and I'll come forward 45 feet

towards the back of the statue. All right. As you get that close to the statue and you're about to seriously lumber into it, something in your mind goes and tells you to stop, and you actually stop right before crashing into it. Oh.

Got to make out with the statue. Got to get that. That is the end of my turn. All right, that finishes your go. Laudna, you're up with FCG on deck. The hole in the ceiling in which the moon is coming in. A hole in the ceiling. How big is it?

It's about four feet across. Yes. Four feet? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah! Yeah. Outside, yeah. Yeah! Yeah! Outside the box. Get crazy. I could try and cast Darkness over top of that area,

or I could try and cover it with my body. You are not four. You're like a twig. You are. You're so excited. All right, okay, okay, okay. You're a wicker. Can you Form of Dread yourself into a tarp? I can. Maybe a really scary tarp.

I am bigger as a form of dread. I do extend. Yeah. You're still a bamboo curtain, then. I'm still a bamboo curtain. I'm going to... I'm going to get a little crazy. I'm going to move towards it.

Okay, how far? Skittering my movement, which is 30 feet. over the hole to block out the moon. Okay. The sphere of shadow fills and encompasses the ceiling portion. That beam of ever-present, sourceless moonlight that was pouring down from the water suddenly vanishes, gets cut off. The water continues to pour out of the black shadow, but the beam of light is gone, and inside the chamber,

the only light that's around there are the surrounding sconces in the space. As that happens, Chetney, your form shrinks down to your normal werewolf form. Oh! Werewolf! Yes! Sorry.

Now I've got a baby Bjorn on my back. Are you still a flashlight, by the way? Are you still glowing? Yes. Still glowing, still daylight bursting out of the chest. What's premiering at the mat? It is, so here's the funny part. It is a concentration spell. So you lose spider climb?

So I lose spider climb. Oh shit! Wait, what? So I fall, but I'm going to cast Feather Fall on myself. Okay, okay. As I hit, as a reaction. Okay, now. Does that count as a reaction? Can you do? No, it's a reaction.

Can you do a reaction on your turn, though? What if it's a spell? Immediately after your own spell? Well, if you're falling, that's what triggers a reaction. I would think so. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Oh man, we're going to the book for reaction. I would think so. Uh-huh. Oh man, we're going to the book for this. We are. Because the action happened first.

Yeah, reaction's part of the... Falling is after your action, and the reaction is to the after effect. To the fact that I'm falling. Because there's enough time there that, yeah. I would imagine. Oh, yeah. Because it's the odd scenario, because normally you cannot, based on the rules as I know, I'm aware of,

you cannot cast more than one spell in the same turn. But it's not the same turn, though. It's during your turn that you're falling. Well, is it after the turn? Although technically, because if that's the end of your turn. It actually took the whole turn to cast the darkness spell. The move casts a spell, then the reaction is at the end of your turn,

then yeah, I'll allow it. Okay, nice. So there you go. As you plummet, you land at the bottom. So cool. You're like the tendrils of your tree-like roots of your Form of Dread just unravel and almost grab and take root into the ground as you hit.

That's cool. I like that flavor. And then I've done all the things, so I look around and I look at Ashton and I look at Orym. Help? And that's it. All right. At the end of her turn, I'll use a legendary action to dash right at her.

But! Are you still blind or? No, the blind only was for his round. He's adjusted. Attack of opportunity at disadvantage because I'm blind. But both 15s. They don't hold on anymore?

I mean, I think that's only for flavor. I wasn't really, I mean, it depends. If he'll let me, I will go. I'll allow you. You still covered in fur and you're still holding on. If anything. Or whatever you want. It's up to you. You still covered in fur and you're still holding on. If anything. Or whatever you want. It's up to you.

You can let go and then strike as he runs. You can just hold on and not attack him. No, I'm going to ride. I'm going to ride. You're going to ride? I'm going to ride. All right. So you are just holding on to him now.

Pull on Baby Bjorn onto Chetney. The fuck are you doing? So is he still his arm in between Chet and I? If he's like... Yes. He's right there as the wolf comes tearing towards you. You're ramming the tag? Make a wisdom save right there for me. Okay. With advantage or straight up?

Just straight up. 10. 10, okay. The light not there, the connection of this flow through of power, this entity that's poured within you seems to be far lessened in its influence. And for a moment, you feel yourself beginning to take control before it pushes through once more

and the fairer look continues in your face. Unable to beat the willpower of the entity at the moment. All right, FCG. All right, I will start to move my spiritual weapon towards the statue, holding it at her throat. I will cast. You wouldn't.

I will cast Calm Emotions on Chetney while I say to him, Chetney! You must recognize the alpha. An alpha is not one who draws the most blood. It's one who can control himself, fight through it, and save this bitch. All right, is that a wisdom saving throw? It's a wisdom saving.

I'd say charisma saving throw. Charisma saving. 14. Even worse. Even worse. Get advantage on that? Natural 20. Oh! That one! That's a lucky fucking roll.

Is that cocked or is it just cocked? No, it's not cocked. Ah. That was fucking awesome. That was awesome. So as you release the wave of Calm Emotions, the spell takes hold and you can see that mist dissipates for a second before it

pulls back in. No. It was a charisma saving throw. Yes. I do not have advantage on charisma throws. It's just on intelligence and wisdom against magic, not charisma. You sure of that, Pat? That's from your Gnome Ability?

Yeah, it's from... Nope. There's a little checking here. I'm coming advantage on intelligence, wisdom, oh, and charisma saving throws against magic. Sorry, it's just not listed on here. It's all good. Good try, a good attempt.

A good attempt. Yeah, you should have done that. Calm your shit or the goddess gets it. I won't cut her. Okay. I respect the goddess. While the emotions do not immediately calm, you can see this is having a profound effect.

You can see the emotional stakes of this is cutting right through. Even though this bestial, feral urge is still overtaking Chetney's mind, it's having a lot more of an effect than some of the damage it's had. Okay, okay. It's good. All right.

It's good to know. Orym, you're up. Imogen on deck. Okay, I'm going to, since I've just traveled with him and I felt him shrink, I think maybe the tides are turning here and I heard all that from FCG, so I just take my shield

and I just start bashing him in the face. Fucking knock it off! Then I'm going to try to goading attack him just with a shield. You got it. At this advantage because I'm blind, right? Yes. Still blind. Still blind. Yeah, because I'm blind, right? Yes. Still on me. Still blind.

Yeah, because. It's just the first round for each of the five. So that misses. That's five plus, yeah, that misses. That is an 18 to hit? That hits if that's gone. That is gone at the moment. That's what I see.

Okay, so that's a Goating Attack. So you just take, the shield will just be one point of damage plus the superiority die. It's a six, so that's a goading attack. So you just take, the shield will just be one point of damage plus the superiority die. It's a six, so seven points of damage. You have to beat a wisdom 16. The shield is technically magical. So you take the full six.

The full six, great, great, great. Okay. 19, and then, what am I saving against? 16 wisdom. Wisdom. Yeah, 20. 20, you succeeded? This is, goading is not magical.

Oh! So just roll one. Single one. Five. All right, so. Oh shit. Okay, so that means any attack against anyone but me is at disadvantage. Oh my god. Does my blindness drop at this point?

At the end of your round, it does. At my round, okay. So I'm not aware of, I have movement and stuff, but I won't see and I'd have to move and then the sight would come back. So I guess I just plop to the ground and that's it. That's the end of the turn. Okay, so you drop down.

Sight comes back. All right. End of the turn, I'll use the last legendary action now at disadvantage to take a swipe at Laudna. Go for it. Laudna. Go for it. Laudna! Yeah, nailed it. Oh, that's going to be a 13. Miss.

Wow. First time. All right. Yeah, first time for everything. The bright, shining beacon of the dagger in the middle of the chest. He's still swinging wide and can't quite make out shapes that are just beyond the reach of the claws, and you just barely feel it

hit one of the hairs in the front of your head that almost cuts it, and you watch it fitter away. All right, with that, it becomes this. Now it is Imogen's go with Farnandai. Oh jeez. All right. I'm going to fly down to the ground. Turn into a sexy wolf.

Obviously. And I'm going to drop fly, and having seen FCG's attempt, I'm going to do the same thing, and I'm going to hit him with Calm Emotions again and just say, Uh... Chet, you always brag about how in control you can be.

Prove it right now. Stop fighting. Control the beast. You're an emcee. A master of control. Charisma saving throw with advantage. Okay. Natural 19. Oh god. That. Natural 19.

Oh god, stop. Wait, what? These rolls are insane! Rolls of 19 to 12. Dice don't care. Come on. It's so good, though. Dice don't care about your acting.

That's how it works. Master of Control, I'm death. So, but once again, each one of these moments, there is a flickering moment where you can see the rage begin to subside before it rears back up inside. That finishes your turn, Imogen? I...

All right, Fearne, you're up. Okay. Ashton, I'm back. I am going to cast Charm Person. Um, I am going to cast Charm Person. Hey, you're going to fight this, okay? You're hot. I know, but you really need to fight. Okay, continue. Well, you're looking need to fight. Okay.

Well, you're looking in your book for something. It's not a good thing. It's a charm effect or something. Oh, is he immune to charm? Who knows? We'll see. Keep going, keep going. You're going to do it. You're going to do it. Confirming that lycanthropes in their form

are still considered humanoids, which I believe they were, but I just wanted to double check. Oh, nice. Okay, so you have to make a wisdom, it'd be 16. Okay. I believe we're rolling at 16.

Ah, I think I'm going to have one. Yeah. Ah, shit. 20. Okay. Jesus Christ, dude! What the fuck? Can't stop this world. Natural 19 and a one, so we're getting worse.

It's okay. As all of you have slowed down the energy of this, and you're all slowly encroaching upon him and just one after another trying to appeal to this mind that is locked behind this influence of the spirit. And it just continues to fight back and fight back. It's having a harder time with each element. It's being whittled down.

Does that finish your turn? I can't bonus action a flame blade, can I? Because that's a... Unfortunately, no, because it'll be two spells in one round. Yeah, that's it. All right, Ashton. I assume that the fear is somehow still up, even though there's now a fucking

sense of freedom in this goddamn thing. This is the longest fear ever. It's the problem with low wisdom. Yeah, low wisdom characters. At every round. I'm visible now, every round, yeah. I'm visible now. I suppose, too. You are? Fuck it.

I'm just going to turn, look straight on, and... Come on, Chet, this is bullshit. Knock it off, and if you're not going to knock it off, come here and let's just fucking do this because they don't deserve it. Fucking do this. Make an intimidation check.

You have to come to me, though, because I do the caring. I'm just, I'm also. I totally want to fight. I also have no rage right now. Oh no. Make an intimidation. Mm-hmm.

Oh, wow. Fuck me. 24. Wow. That's a hit, yes. 24 intimidation. There's little sparks going off and shit. Shouldn't you make a wisdom saving throw?

That's not magic. Nope. Nope. This is shit. Four! Through all the appeals to emotion, all the appeals to find friendly connection, all chipping away at this boundary until eventually the wall that this spirit

that has possessed you has put between you and your companions through this trial, through the crack in the middle of this central barrier, another beast meets you eye to eye. Alpha to alpha. And beseeches you to show your true strength. Oh shit. Oh shit. Please describe to me how you regain yourself.

Oh! You want to subdue this? Yes! Yeah, I'm looking at Laudna, just getting ready to tear her to ribbons, and then I hear Ashton, , Let's do this. Wait, what?

Oh no. No! Can I go and drop down to, can I drop the hybrid form? Yes, you can. Oh my god. I don't like it. Not for nothing, but I'm pretty sure you are going to be fucked.

Uh-huh. I'm going to slowly walk up to him. Come here. Oh. Boom right in the face! Oh! Oh! Asshole! Asshole! Fucking!

Your hand is made of rocks! Fuck my mouth! You're cool now. We're cool. A resounding echo of laughter begins to fill the chamber as all of the Gorgine, no longer held by the spectral spirit, begin to laugh at what they just saw. I'm going to fall over now.

Yeah. As you lie there on your back and the eyes tense, the dagger is still protruding from your chest. Shit. Ah! Oh! Oh! Oh! Do you maintain the Delight spell?

What's up, bro? Oh god! No, I'll take it down. Okay. As the Deliate spell? It's still bright! You're still bright! Okay! No, I'll take it down. Okay. As the Deliate spell diminishes and the light vanishes, do you keep the Darkness spell? I am looking at Chetney. You're good. You sure you're good.

Uh-huh. If I let the moon in, will you be all right? What? Why would you do that? I don't know. Maybe just hold it? I'll hold it for a little while longer, just to be sure. Can I pull this fucking dagger out of my chest? Yes, you can.

Oh god. You pull the dagger free, and you all watch as a splash of crimson comes emerging from it. But it drifts there. There's a red spectral mist that begins to drift and emanate out. As this happens,

the darkness spell dissipates. The light continues back in to fill the chamber. I didn't do that. As this light begins to swell and fill the space around you with a bright blue midnight light, that series of emotions fill your head once more, saying, I eat of the scar of an unworthy predator

and leave my scar in its place. You are a hunter, and the Wilds wait with you to be unleashed. And you watch, almost like drawing the venom from a wound, this red energy just drifts out. And you watch as this cloud of red drifts there for a second, and for a moment, it almost resembles a familiar, ruddy moon before it dissipates.

You sit there on the ground, breathing heavily with an open wound in your chest. Oh, need some cure, some curatives? I'm leaking. All right, here. You're not going to hurt me, are you? I don't think so. Oh, Chetney. Help me. Ah!

Don't do that! Don't do that! Sorry, sorry, there's a little residual in there. Fuck, that was awesome. I'm going to do it again. Okay. I hope you don't scare me again. Cure wounds. Oh!

You get two hit points for it. Yeah. Ugh! Good sports massage. Min hit, Whinesmith. Manan steps up from the side and goes like, Well, it looks like the spirit really enjoyed fucking with you for a bit, so that's something new. Ah! Is that typical?

I mean, occasionally it's done strange things, made people duel it off. Sometimes they have to go off and hunt something and bring it back. It changes from person to person. Whatever you had in you, you, I guess you had to deal with tensions with your allies here and come to an understanding,

whatever that interpretation means. Yeah. Sorry. That was incredibly brave what you did. I could see it. You jumped in. I was going brave what you did. I could see it. You jumped in. I was going to, and you. You think, going forward,

you got more of a handle on things? I don't know. I think only time will tell. Maybe we go by the, you know, chain me up protocol, visitors welcome, but hopefully there's something to be gained from all this. Got my knife. Oh! Yep.

Everybody okay? Yeah. Oh no. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I felt like it was a dream. I thought I was bigger and more muscly and hotter than ever.

Yeah, it was really, really enthralling. Amazing. Four to five times larger than normal. Young, virile. I felt like you guys were shooting shit at me and I was like, nah, bitch! And then you do it again and I'll be like, I don't think so!

Yeah, you could heal yourself. I've been that scared, too. I was like, not today, Miss Arnold! Class dismissed! One more, come on. School's out for summer! Yeah! What is that?

I wonder if that's your new thing. You're just really... Awesome. Just big. Yeah, we are. I don't know, I don't think so. I think that was probably the spirit. By the way, I look around. Whatever the hunter's bane,

is there any fey fiends undead, anything else in this room? Make a perception check for me. Oh, using that. That's cock. Natural 20. Natural 20 for 21. Okay.

You do not sense any fey. I know. Five or six. It's crazy. Fiends or undead in the vicinity, which is comforting. But still, as you glance around, you look up and you can still see that mist that is pouring from where the water

is trickling down past the statue. And you still feel that presence, though you do not feel it within you. You do not feel that untethered, feral nature within. It never left the chamber. Chetney. Yeah? Where are you looking?

Up there. Is it your destiny? No, FCG. That's in here. Aw. A gentle wind blows through from above. I know. No.

And that awkward itch that you've been combating up in the grundle, no, in the... Oh, it hurts. That... What is that rash, Jett? It's all I one I pee. That ever-present worry since that moment that the red moon looked back. That anxiety seems to have been lifted, unstitched.

That would be clutch. That would be really good. Yeah, still going to be chain me up at nights. Got a feeling. Got a feeling. At this point, Anilin approaches and goes, if you feel it is necessary, but from what I could gather from my

oddly peripheral watching position, not everyone would be eager to calm a beast of your size beyond Slayit. Yeah, they're pretty great. I have a fucking terrible hunger after that. I'm a little hungry, too. You want to eat one of these guys? Just kidding. Just kidding.

Can we eat the hot one? Sorry, sorry. Which one? They're all hot. The hot one. I was just hoping someone else would decide. Chet, all your clothes and underwear are over here, split to smithereens. I don't know if Laudna can mend them.

I didn't account for being so hot! Yeah, you are just flapping the breeze. Why not? Try not to be too impressed. It's weird that the hat made it through, but everything else. Just the hat. Just the hat. Can you just move the hat to the, oh.

No, I don't think I will. Nott goes, Well, if you're hungry, I'll go hunting. I'll leave you to your business here and head outside to some of the other... Gorginae chuckled for a moment. Mending your clothes. Oh good, yeah. Faster. And my pride. Iending your clothes. Oh good, yeah.

Faster. In my pride. I can do that. I take Pâté and have him help me do a little Cinderella, mice stitching situation with the scraps of his clothes, yes. They're not perfect, but there you go. I'll wander up to the statue and look up and go,

Thank you. As you glance up towards the moonlight, as he crosses into your face, in the beams, while it's not blinding by any means, there's a refraction where you almost see the face of some sort of a snouted creature, like some spectral wolf, but it's also not a wolf. It's many creatures.

It shifts as you glance at it, as it looks down at you, and you just feel this sense of pride. Like the end of Fantastic Mr. Fox, he sees the wolf in the distance. You know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. Cool, daddy-o.

I need a Werther's. You know what we should do? We should all strip down and run through the woods. It'll be exhilarating. That actually sounds like a blast. I don't wear clothes. Yep. Listen, this is a team bonding exercise. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah.

Let's fucking go. Who's with me? I'm in. I'll lead the way! No, I'm not. Telling all! There he goes. Just take off. Look at him go. You want to find the Twilight Panther? That's how you find it.

That sounds really fun. That's how you fucking find the Twilight Panther. Yeah, we all get naked and run out after him. All right, so all of you just start dropping and running. Oh, fuck it all. I will say, everybody's clothes just goes into the portable hole. And Fearne runs to the portable hole.

I'll say, Orym, as they're engaging in this chaos and you're contemplating jumping over the rest of them, the breeze is still blowing through, an odd scent seems to come through the chambers. It's familiar. It's very faint. Emotions come over you as you recognize a scent you haven't smelled in a long time.

It's the faintest scent of Will, his skin. Just that natural scent. It's been a long time and suddenly memories wash over you for a second. Why do you smell that now? Why? Little perception check. 25.

25. You turn around and you glance back at the statue. You swear for just an instant, it seemed like it was emanating from that, but now it's almost gone or fading. It's odd. I'm totally left alone here? Did the whole pack leave as well?

They're all starting to disrobe and run, yeah. You're about to dive in before you I'm waiting, I'm waiting. look towards it. I look for a fern as she... Are you naked at this point? No, no, no, not yet. Moonlight seems to be almost haloing

the statue before you. You see her, the statue there, this gentle, matronly smile clutching that sheath to her chest. Thanks. I'll take it. There is a... a unique element that you, as you look back down at the statue,

there are these small growths, like vines, that are just emanating from the top of the sheath. That she's holding? Yeah. It's just something that's rooted in and growing. I see everyone's filing out, Fearne waiting at the entrance. I'll get closer, try to understand what I'm seeing better.

Okay, it's a little high up there. That's a problem. Leap and perch onto the statue. It's a sizable statue. Stone carries your light form without issue, but as you stand over, the sheath that she's clutching indeed has an opening. I look at the width of the sheath. It slides into it.

The sheath looks like it's a little too big for your sword, but the sword fits into the space there. As the hilt of it clicks into where the top of the sheath would be, the vines begin to wrap and grow rapidly, surrounding the handle of the blade, surrounding the top of the sheath, wrapping up and almost touching

and wrapping around your hand. Oddly warm to the touch. And you see this faint green light begin to just emanate from the gaps around it. And the light fades. And your arm is now, your hand around the handle of the blade is now wrapped in vines and ivy. Try to gently pull free?

As you pull it free, the ivy gently pulls away. Very little resistance. As you draw your blade out, you can see the blade looks the same, but as you still grip it in your hand, the hilt of it, ivy grows from it and continues to wrap around your blade like a hand guard. Oh!

As you look it over, faintly, you see this emerald energy, this faint magical field drift across the edge of it. Nice. I assume I'm on the statue's shoulder, looking right at her face. I'll just bow my head. I don't know why,

but I'm grateful all the same. Thank you, Sarutani. I got that name right? Mm-hmm. I'll take one last look up at the moonlight coming in. Then I'll leap down, drop, and look at Fearne. Come on, we got to go. I start taking off my gloves.

A little three-foot-three naked guy with a shield and brand new sword just starts running out. I'm going to walk up. Yeah, yeah. And I'm going to take a platinum out of my... Oh. Fert.

Whatever. Wow. You're haunches. Out of my fur. Whatever, I will fix your haunches. Haunches. Your pouch? The marsupial pouch? My marsupial pouch. And I'm just going to roll it across my fingers. Hey, thanks. And then flick it. Two. That was fun.

Bye. You hear Orym's voice from down the passageway. Are you streaking with me or what? Yes, hold on, jeez. As the collection of Bell's Hells go charging off into the evening moonlight, nude as they choose to be. You look at the moonlight.

I'll choose nude light. We're going to go ahead and finish the episode there. Oh! Good job, Ashton! A couple fun things. Good game. You level up. Yay! Good game!

Everyone's level eight. Yes. Holy shit! Okay. Oh my god. You notice a new feat under your feats called Savage Spirit. Savage Spirit? Creepy, though.

You need to figure out the name for your sword. Ah. You get to name your blade. Wow. Magic sword, magic sword, magic sword! Is that the name? Magic sword! Magic sword plus one. Magic sword, magic sword.

Yeah. Oh my goodness. Are we rolling now, or do we do that some other time? We can do it now, while we're here, if you want to. Or do you want to take some time to think on it? Yeah, I got to think on it. Oh yeah, because someone might multiclass. Okay. You know what?

We'll take some time to think on it, since we've got a little time in case someone else multiclassed, and we'll put that out when it's time. So excited, I'm so excited! In the interim, thank you all so much for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Good night. Thank you for listening to this episode of Critical Role.

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