Critical Role - C3E5 The Threat Between the Walls

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

After stumbling into a literal den of thieves, the group picks up their quarry’s trail and seek the end of the thread they’ve pulled…Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode. Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResourcesWatch Critical Role live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://twitch.tv/criticalrole and https://youtube.com/criticalrole. To join our live and moderated community chat, watch the broadcast on our Twitch channel.

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

And it's also available Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific on YouTube. And of course, for all you wonderful podcast listeners, freshly minted episodes release right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after our broadcast on Thursdays. With all that said, let's get into the story. Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons. Before we go into our game tonight, we do have some quick announcements to get through,

beginning with our first of our two sponsors tonight, Hit Point Press. Sam. I'm a cat. Oh god. And I'm picky about everything. Baths are torture. Litter boxes? I'd rather pee on your slipper.

Chris Pratt as Garfield? Weird flex, but no. But our friends at Hit Point Press? Them I like, because Hit Point Press is back again with their ongoing early Black Friday sales. I'm a cat. You want to see my butthole? Yes.

I'll take that as a yes. Now is the perfect chance to prepare for your next adventure in Humblewood, or travel deep into the islands of Sinauna with a campaign setting inspired by Filipino mythology and culture. It's awesome. That's cool. Whoops, time for a nap.

Okay, I'm up. And I'm a cat. Don't forget to equip one of the many items and weapons from the famed Gryffin saddlebag before you embark on your journey. Here's an owl they sent us. Guys, we're finally getting that pussy backstory. Are you using these papers? I am.

I'm going to make it my bed. Please stop. Okay. I hope Riddles is living right now. Here, can you? There we go. Oh, wow. Thank you. Go, go get it. I'm a cat, so I have excellent taste. For example, I lick my own genitalia.

Also, I love Hit Point Press. Check it all out and use code CRITROLL21 right now to receive an additional $5 off your order of $50 or more on in-stock items at hitpointpress.com slash seeall. No, don't, don't. By the way, I left a dead mouse next to the studio toilet. I'm a cat. Cat to you, Matt. Wow and LAURA, LAURA, and MATT,

Well, we better have more of that later. Oh god. Oh boy. That was a weird one. That's going to haunt all of us. Thank you, Sam. And thank you, Hit Point Pension. I'm so sorry. This episode is also sponsored by our friends at Bethesda

and ZeniMax Online Studios and the latest chapter release of The Elder Scrolls Online, Blackwood. That does not have Sam as a cat. It is available now on all platforms, including Xbox Series X, S, and PS5. Join over the 19 million players in the award-warming RPG. Warming RPG. It's winning as well, but it's also warming to your heart.

And enter the Gates of Oblivion, the year-long adventure which wraps up with the launch of the ESO Deadlands DLC, out now on PC and consoles. We welcome you to join in all the fun, and please check out everything Elder Scrolls Online at elderscrollsonline.com slash bye. Also wanted to thank you all so much

for joining us live on Twitch and YouTube. To join in our live and moderated community chat, please head on over to our Twitch channel. And as a reminder, there will be no new episode of Critical Role next week as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the U.S. We will be back the following Thursday on December 2nd for our next episode.

Woo! Well, there's a lot of announcements here. Uh-huh. In comic book news. Do you want me to do this one? No, sit down, stop! Shh! I'm a cat.

You've already done enough! In comic book news, Tales of Exandria, The Bright Queen, issue number two is coming soon from our friends at Dark Horse Comics. We've already done enough! In comic book news, Tales of Exandria, The Bright Queen, issue number two is coming soon from our friends at Dark Horse Comics. The four-part miniseries all features writing by Darcy Van Poltergeist and art by a couple of kooks.

It's amazing. So proud of it. Everyone's done such a great job on it. You can pre-order issue number two now at your local comic book shop and check out darkhorse.com for the latest updates. Yeah, he said Poltergeist. Sorry, sorry.

Polgeese. It's like B-dogies. The Halloween lingers weeks after. My apologies, Darcy, you're amazing. Liam! Whoa! Hey! Boy, I'm going to try not to think about how beautiful Sam looks like as a cat. Kith and Kin, our novel with Penguin Random House,

is going to be out on November 30th. Which means this is our last show before our first novel is out in the world. Oh my god, pretend that this is it because Leah and I both forgot to bring it. Both promised to bring it, but forgot. Kith and Kin tells a story of vexing Vex a few years before they even.

You didn't bring it? A few years before they even joined Vox Machina. If you pre-order the book, you can watch a virtual Q&A the day before the book releases with myself, Laura, and author Marika Nykab, moderated by our good friend Mica Burton. We're going to talk a bit about how the collaboration worked and about how it was for us to adapt

this pre-stream story of the twins. The Q&A will be available for those who have registered on Monday, November 29th at 5 p.m. Pacific. Pacific. It will also be available to everyone on our YouTube channel a few weeks after that. They asked us if we wanted to rehearse this before. And we said no.

To pre-order your copy of Kith and Kin or register for the Q&A, visit criticalrolebooks.com. And this is not related to Kith and Kin or register for the Q&A, visit CriticalRuleBooks.com. Hey, and this is not related to Kith and Kin. This is just for me and you. Who? If you're considering ordering any gifts for the holidays from our shops, we recommend doing so by next Friday, November 26th,

for the best chance of getting them on time. We expect shipping timelines. What's that finger do? Oh, just stretch and get more and more unpredictable. Whoa, shipping timelines. Oh, as the holidays draw closer, so get your orders in now if you want to. That's all I got.

If you want to. Stuck the landing. Thank you so much, Laura, well done. Wow. We've been doing this for a while and we just get worse progressively. It's incredible. And Jaden. Just human.

Just. Well, with that, our announcements come to a close. So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critic Raw. Yeah! Right now? Quick run. What? Where'd it go? Where'd it go? How did it go? It's Thursday night!

So welcome back. Last we left off, this group of adventurers had completed their first job under the watch and employ of Lord Eshteross. However, the individual that they had chased off seemed to return and levied some vengeance on the wandering Sir Bertrand Bell, who was slaughtered in an alley that night.

Upon discovering this, you brought the body to Lord Eshteross, said your goodbyes, and then vowed to find the person responsible and bring them to justice, whatever your version of justice may be. Upon asking around, you decided the best place

to search for this individual would be to, sorry. You asked around about this individual, discovered the name Dugger. Upon finding what bits of information you could, you heard that there may have been a connection, that this individual, D individual dugger worked for the corsairs, the Hesbet Corsairs, which is one of the criminal factions of the city and region beyond.

Upon searching for a member or some sort of connection to the Hibak Corsairs, it brought you to the Elder's Post in the Lantern Spire of Jrusar. There, you passed around a bit, encountered Efred the Shadow Baker, and asked directly, based on your previous relationship, Ashton,

if they could perhaps give you some lead as to where you could speak with one of these members, if you would. Things didn't roll necessarily in your favor, but you were given a lead. This led you to the Root. I'm going to have to come down over here. The Root Trader alcove here in the Elder Post.

Upon giving the phrase, Bless you. Bless you. Cut her. You've come for the laughter. You were ushered up through a tight spiral staircase into the deeper rock of the spire by Aheron and Eisfra. You were led into a darkened chamber of some kind, barely lit by an oil lantern. The hatch closed behind you,

and then as other lanterns begin to come into view, lighting the interior, you found yourself surrounded by a few dozen people, all lit from underneath, their various smiles and grins and mask-covered faces and eyes peering upon you as one figure leaned in. This suave half-elf figure who leans forward, switches back from Marquesian to Common. So who sent you?

Why? Choose your words carefully, as points deducted for falsehood and bad humor will only prolong your eventual pain. Well, we sent ourselves. We're just looking for anyone who might work for the Hubot Corsairs. Friends, do you know anybody around here

who works for the Hubot Corsairs? I figure it'd be nice enough to at least let them know. If anybody knows anything. Everyone kind of. Is this one of those things where we're here, this is them? I think this might be them. All right.

Laughter begins to break out of the chamber. Yeah, a few of us have heard of them. Maybe even dabble a bit. Fantastic. Once again, who sent you? And why are you here? Dugger. Dugger.

Dugger. Pretend I didn't say that first one. Dugger. It's just her accent. It's first one. Dugger. It's just her accent. Her accent. Dugger. Booker. Looks left and right, and as you guys are discussing, he watches behind this muscular, sleeveless tunic,

leather tunic-wearing dwarf woman comes up behind,ades at the ready. He just, Well, you're asking about Dugger for her, huh? Well, he murdered a friend of ours. The man who originally engaged you puts a finger up towards the dwarven woman, and she steps back.

Maybe he had a good reason for it, huh? I don't think about that. I mean, do the people in here look similar in their creepiness to Dugger, or does it seem like he? Make a perception check with disadvantage. Disadvantage. Because it is very low lit in here.

Whoa. Whoa! Did that just happen? That just happened. And is that a nat 20 on top? What's under it? What's under it? That was crazy. A 13 on the bottom, so 14 perception. That was so cool.

That was cool. 14, looking around, the handful of people. Oh, disadvantage. Yeah. Looking around at the individuals that are close by to pick up some details on them, they do not, at first glance, appear to be under the same malady that Dugger was when you encountered him.

The man leans forward on his knee, places his foot up on this small box, and seems to have a casual energy towards you. Well. You're looking for Dugger because he married a friend of, or murdered a friend of yours. Sorry, that would be an entirely different circumstance. That was Dugger. My apologies.

Yeah, that was Dugger. There we go. As far as we know, they weren't married, you know? Look, here is the problem. You know one of our hideouts now. So this is them! We found you! So exciting. Well, happy to be excited, I guess.

And we have a habit of not leaving any loose ends. So he begins to look at all of you intently. He's looking through you, but also taking in the details, reading you quickly before going, you don't look like the usual sort that would be working with the Quorum, and I mean that with as much respect as possible. We're not. No.

So you just decided to wander, asking around for the corsairs blindly in Elder's Post until you were shanked? Is that what I'm to understand? We've heard that your organization is one of the good ones. Based on whose perspective? Someone we work with.

So you do work for somebody. Loosely. How about we begin this with the utmost honesty, and for each continued progressive lie, one of you loses a finger. We may have something for you. Go on. How much do you know about what Dugger was up to in town? We can have this conversation in a moment.

Because I'm a little curious to hear what Dugger's been up to myself. But I need assurances. Because even though you may seem on the less likely to go ahead and fuck us over, we have to make sure that we don't have to kill you. So I need collateral, if you will. We could just make a promise

that we won't tell anyone your whereabouts. That would help as part of the deal. But you all seem to like each other, yes? Kind of a tight-knit group. We're just getting to know each other, yes? Kind of a tight-knit group? We're just getting to know each other, really. Yeah. Oh, okay. It's bonding. This whole thing has been such a bonding experience.

Some of them are all right. So more collateral, then. You. You. You. And... Why the hell not? You. I need each of you to tell me somebody who is important to you

and where they live. I... No harm will come to them, unless you sell one of us out. Seems like fair collateral. Just watching our backs, huh? You want assurances where are ours. You're the ones who said you think we're the good guys?

You have my word. I know it seems a bit fraught, given the circumstances, but let's be honest, you walked into the middle of our home and we have to protect ourselves. That's understandable. Make an inside check. Make an inside check. Terrible. Does Dugger still work for you?

This is an important question. Let's get to the order of the questions first. We have a lot on the table. Here. You tell me this collateral, I'll tell you my name, and then we can have a conversation in earnest. But we have to be careful.

We are being hunted by many different people. Do you think you're the good guys? Doesn't everybody think they are the good guy of their own story? Exactly. But what is your opinion? See, more questions. I want more answers first. My plate is getting full.

Relvan. Relvan. Relvan. Temult, my father. They are at? They live in Javon. See? Not so hard. You see one person behind scribbling down a quick piece of parchment.

How much do I have to like this person? Enough that I find it acceptable. Fresh cut grass. Lives in the crook house. Very well. Really? Yeah. Oh, that's so nice. I thought you'd like that.

And you, blue boy? My Traveler, everyone who's close to me is right here. Well, then somebody else has to give up some collateral. How about you, spooky girl? Mm. Oh. Kind of in the same boat, actually. I choose Spooky Girl. Mm. Oh. Kind of in the same boat, actually. This is usually to the point that

supposed to have collateral with people that aren't here immediately. Things at home, things you care about that are in danger if you end up fucking us over. That's how it usually works. Well, he can put up me for collateral. It's the same problem. Oh.

Oh, wait. They're collateral. It's the same problem! Oh. Oh wait, it... Both of you make persuasion checks. Your dice aren't even out yet, Aydwin. I know, I know. 22. She's booting up her tablet device. That's right. She's pushing the code. 70, 70, 30, 40.

Beep, boop, beep, boop, beep, boop, beep. It is... Open Safari. What is happening? Persuasion, you said? Yeah. Persuasion, you say? 15 total. All of that to get plus one.

Yeah. That's what I thought All of that to get plus one. Yeah. That's what I thought it was going to be, yeah. The half-elven man, like, we'll go with two. We'll go with two, sure. That's plenty enough. My name is Yash Mangal. Yash.

Yash. Yash Mangal. Yash. Yash. Yash Mangal. Mangal. Yeah. Welcome to one of our many pseudo safe houses. And if I have to reiterate once again, if anything comes of this in a negative light, your father will likely show up dead and your friend Fresh Cut Grass will probably end up,

well, Fresh Cut Grass will probably end up, well, Fresh Cut Grass. That's fair. Oh. Well, I guess it's a mixed blessing, then, that you. What isn't, really, when you think about it? Thank you, I suppose. You're welcome. Are you the leader?

I, there is no leader of the Corsairs. We are a collective. Who makes your decisions, or how? We make them collectively, like a collective. I mean. You're the chatty one. Well, because I am, and everyone looks around, I am not taking a position of leadership,

but I happen to be one of the more well-spoken and egregious members of this particular troop here that you came upon, so it follows to me. Can I ask you a question? Is everybody in a mask, or is it just some of them? Just some of them. Okay. You get the sense that you walking

into the middle of this kill box, they didn't feel too threatened. We're sorry to have interrupted your meeting that it seems like you had going on at this moment. But my previous question, Dugger, is he really one of yours? Or I hope to hear he's betrayed y'all in some way. I accept your apology for ruining a very important meeting we were having,

which everyone can continue. You see a few individuals start bringing out little sandwiches and lunches, and they all go back to eating. So Dugger, who you speak of, he no longer runs with us. But he was a bit of a prick, to be honest. His heart was in the right place.

He had a lot of aligned ideas. What was the nature of his leaving? Well, he just vanished for a few weeks, about six months back. We thought he was taken by the Wilders, maybe arrested, and we sent out a few individuals to make sure that he wasn't ratting out on us. But, and he showed up again.

Rejoined, we asked him what was wrong. He said he just needed some time away to take care of something. He just seemed a little different. Did he look different? Yeah, he began to, I don't know, looked like he was undergoing some malady of some kind. Sweating more, his skin growing paler.

I was afraid he was just, well, giving into some sort of illness over time, but he also became more aloof. I was wondering, maybe it was newfound addiction, possibly? He asked questions, he was dodgy about it, and then eventually he resigned. Oh, you can just resign from this organization? Well, we keep a very close eye still,

so if anything shifty happens. So you know where he is? Well, for the most part, he stays close to his house, yes. And from between there and the Weary Way Tavern. You thought he was taken by who? The Wilders? The Wilders? The Wardens, the guards of the region. That's right, that's right, okay.

He does occasionally travel from his home in Smolderspire, but for the most part, he stays either at his home or the Weary Way. We keep watching him for a few more months, and if he's on good behavior, maybe we'll let him. You know what he's been doing with his time lately? No, don't really care. Well.

He said he travels from his home. You're just talking about in town, right? Not long trips? Smolderspire. Right. Yeah. Well, he's traveling to the Smolderspire, but he lives in the Core Spire. He lives in the Core Spire. Okay. To his house.

You're being very forthcoming with the information. We appreciate it a lot. Well, you all look like you're a bit lost, to be blunt about it. Relatively affable, and well, you've given me collateral, so. A limited experience with him. He's not acting like he's one of the good guys. He also controls all these shade creepers.

Like, he can summon them. Has he ever been able to do that before? Dugger controls and summons shade creepers. But not normal shade creepers. Shade creepers that look like him. Ah, like red burning eyes, ah. That burst into flame when they're killed. Okay.

I don't know anything about that, but if Dugger is able to pull that off, I mean, kind of good for him. He didn't really have a lot going for him before that, aside from a quick mind and a fast stab, but. He's been smuggling brumestone into the city, so I assume you might know something about that. Eyes narrow for a second,

you see a little bit of mental math going on before Yash looks back. So you didn't know. I did not. Not aware of any. Brumestone trade is very dangerous. It's very protected protected and there are eyes you definitely do not want to draw onto you

if you are not going through the proper channels. Do you think brumestone could cause someone to have that malady? It's possible. I mean, it's an ancient, recovered substance. My limited knowledge of it is just in the use of skyshape elements, but anything that glows that heavily

and is that close to you, I mean, would surprise me if there was some sort of a bad reaction over time, but. We mean to find him. Is that going to be a problem for you? No, he's not a part of the Corsairs anymore, and if he's being weird about things, if he can summon shade creepers and killed your friend,

then go for it. Well, he's also, the only thing that we've been able to ascertain about him is that he was with your organization, so I would assume that you wouldn't want any of his ill repute associated with you. You're not aware of any ill repute until today. So if we're going to be honest about it, you're right.

And he knows a lot of things that, you know, if he's going to be on the wrong side of morality in all of this, maybe it's best that he be punished and prevented from spilling any beans. Is righting wrongs what y'all are all about? Or is it specifically directed at the wealthy classes? Or what's your whole deal? Make a persuasion check.

Come on, come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nine. Whoa, wow. Yeah, she looks at you yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nine. Whoa, wow. Yeah, she looks at you with this grin and goes, I cannot get over the fact that you have a talking automaton. This is amazing.

Well done, well done. Well, I appreciate it. You're, yeah. I'm not going to answer any more of your questions, but I am entertained fully. Thank you. I just thought you might want to share what your goals were with us,

just in case we could help you. We're good on help for the time being. We have our goals. Do not get in our way. Well, it's hard to not get in your way if we don't know what you're doing, is what I'm saying. If we knew where to avoid or what you were about,

it might help us avoid what you were doing. I can't imagine that some sort of unregulated smuggling of large amounts of brumestone into the city is honestly in anybody's best interests. Especially someone associated with you. You make a persuasion check, too. Come on. Do you also suck at this?

Yeah, I'm being an asshole about everything. 12. Oh. Oh, wow. Tell you what. I'll put the word out that if anyone gets into a tangle with individuals that match your description, it's a go easy. But our business is our own.

And if you manage to wander into our business again, well, I can't guarantee it's going to be as welcoming. We'd like to stay friendly with y'all, truly. Then stay friendly. We are also available for hire, I should also say. Yeah, that's true. Okay, hold on a second. So you are just friends looking to avenge a friend's death,

but you're also working for someone. Yes. Who are you working for? A person. Did he say? Well, let's not tell anyone. Sort of a friend that is dead, but... Clearly, if we're working for someone,

it would be our obligation not to say their name, but we feel pretty comfortable. He's one of the good guys. They're one of the good guys. He or she. He or she. Yep. And, you know, that... He or she. He or she. Yep. We have gotten so much great information from you. We really appreciate your time.

Did we figure out where exactly Dunker was? I know you said you were done answering questions, but you said he went back and forth from his home to the way we- Gordos Molder, do you have his exact address? Could we find him? Also, one other question outside of that. Do you have any idea where we would find an entrance into the area where the Shade Creepers live?

Specifically ones that smell like, what was it? Oh, it was charcoal, yeah. Charcoal. So many questions. So many times crossing the line. I want to keep this friendly. I really do. And you can see this wave of frustration beginning to burble up within,

and some of the people in the crowd are eating their food, have set it aside, and they're just watching his manner as a guide of what to do. Duggar's house is on the northern outskirts of Vidundavar. It's a simple home, pale blue wood and mostly stone make. It'll be on the 12th level up, far right side.

It looks kind of cold and a bit abandoned compared to the ones around it. It doesn't keep its place very well. That's great. It's amazing. This is so good. More than we could have hoped for. Sorry to overstat. We're honestly quite fans.

Just of what you do in your enterprise, so. From what we know, which is next to nothing. Well, no, we don't know hardly anything. But we're fans of what we do know. I'm sure it's great. I'm sure you guys are great. She's also super into masks and stuff like that, so this whole ambiance in here is just super on.

Honestly, you're nailing it. Do you have your collateral? This Dugger, he's a loose thread that is going to bring a negative light back to you. We're doing you a favor. Perhaps. Well then, if the job is done, and

the look into who you are seems to be on the up and up, then, finally, we shall remain, and thankful for a loose thread being cut. And if you are indeed looking for work, seemed to be a sort interesting for another conversation, maybe? May I just have a sidebar with my friends, please, for just a moment? Could you earmuffs?

Oh my gosh. Make a persuasion check. No, 10. I'm 10, yeah. I'm so bad at persuasion. Sure, everyone earmuffs. Everyone does this. Level three, so.

Okay, so I remember that, after all, He comes by his name. Okay, but he wanted us to speak nicely of him to these people. Yeah, I know. Should we say anything? That's what I was wondering, because he said he did want to talk to them, right?

Because he's also one of the good guys. Oh, he did? Yes. But he told us not to use his name, but then he said specifically to use his name. Not, not. It sounds very much, ugh. Should we just say, the man that we work alongside of, not for,

is incredible, and that's all you need to know? He might be interested in it. Orym is listening to all this swirl of voices and just staring up at the Court of Owls. Nice reference. I got a very bad vibe right off the bat about he was looking for someone. It felt antagonistic, and now he's being very nice

and he's given us a lot of information. So we should all leave. I want to go. But we can say nice things about Nesteros if you think it's best. Don't say his name out loud. I'm sorry. Stop. What if just before we leave, we just say, Mm-hmm is great, and that could mean anything. Literally, we're just going to say

there's a dude who's great in the world? Yeah. And he's a fan. Right. Well, I think we're probably going to go. As you turn around, you can see there's a tall figure next to Yash, who is a light gray cloak and a heavy hood, with their armor, you can't see their face, and they're leaning in

and whispering something into Yash's ear. Yash listens. I'm sorry, what was that? Oh, we are leaving, I think. Are we leaving? Yep. Yes. But we do know someone. Just a great guy.

He's so great. Fantastic. Hi. And not to inject myself into your story here, but I happen to know a handful of really great people, too. You do? I do. Yeah. Should we just tell them?

No, I just don't feel right about it. I have a question. Maybe we should go. First of all. No, no, no. The figure with the hood puts their hand out under his shoulder and he goes like. No, no, no, we should go, we should go.

Maybe it's an important question. It was just that if, in the future, we thought we had information that would be valuable to you, is there a way we can get you that information? You return to here and... And that's all right? We don't want to overstep. And we don't want to say the laughter line again,

because that was clearly wrong. No, I would not say that. Oh, okay. What should we say? I would say, look at the windows here. Oh. Find it here, or did I lose it? It's my binder. I'd like to imagine that he's searching

through his binder right now. He's like, excuse me just a minute. I need to look through all of my stuff. We change our password once a week. You know, for safety. We have a new Wi-Fi code here. Yeah. It's perfect.

You should get a VPN, honestly. Just come into the same vicinity of this, the woman who runs downstairs, and say, he thinks for a second, because I can't find the sheet of paper that I'm looking for that has the actual phrase. You're going to find it later and be all mad.

No, no, it is a new one. I'm going to find it because I don't want to fuck it up. Yeah, yeah. It's part of my own notes. Thank you for your patience. I think we're doing a good job. Say TBD. One, two, three, four. One, two, one, two.

One, one, one, one, one, one, one. There it was. He thinks to himself, just mention the phrase, you've come to loosen the snare. Loosen the snare. We all write it down. Yep, we're all writing it down.

And will none of us be able to find it? I'm going to be a note taker this campaign. Same. Thank you so much for your time. It's been a pleasure getting to know you a little better. Whether you know it or not, you made my day just so much brighter, by chance, so thank you.

I love this little metal person here. This is amazing. He's quite wonderful. Big rolling. Well, bye-bye. Yes, please leave, but thank you. A pleasure to meet you all. A lot of good conversation and whiplash.

But well, good luck with Duggar, I guess. We'll let you know how it goes. Question, while all this was happening and he was getting the whisper and the guy was like, come on, it's time to go, what is everyone else doing? Does it look like they're rallying? Half of them are eating lunch, it looks like, and the other half like, come on, it's time to go. What is everyone else doing? Does it look like they're rallying? Half of them are eating lunch, it looks like. And the other half are just keeping an eye

with a hand on their weapons at the side, being guarded at the ready. Okay. They seem to lose interest when it became more of a conversation than a scuffle. Okay. I guess we'll exit. Sure.

Right as we're getting ready to go, I'll just say, on the way in, I bought this from a baker in town. Would you want it? I appreciate the offer, but I do not make a habit of eating Phantom pastries. Mm, it's real. The source is dubious. It's been in your pocket.

Ah, get out of here. Orym watches the whole group exit and go down the stairs, and he's the last one out, and just looks at the whole room and follows Imogen. I was going to say who it was from, but then I was afraid it would be bad to say the name of the person that sent us. Yeah, and then he thought it wasn't real.

I don't necessarily know that it's bad to say anyone's name. I don't know. Now I'm feeling somewhat guilty for not saying Asteros' name. No, no, no, no, no. It's good that we didn't say it. And don't worry, he said to specifically talk him up. I feel like he did.

He specifically said to talk him up. Well, y'all don't worry, because we said his name twice and they know they heard us. How far away from the door are we? You guys are just stepping down the first few steps of the spiral staircase that exits. Should we?

We still have a chance. I am going to. All right. I thought it was going to work. Hang on. Silence. Here's the thing. What are you doing? I make a jump to cover the mouth.

Oh shit. A little better. No! No Oh shit. Look! No! I can't remember! No! No! Ooh! Ooh! You know, we were so much more organized

when Bertrand was around. That's right, you were. This is your head. I feel like we were. Because here's the thing, as much of a showman he was, he was good at talking. Yes. He had of, he was good at talking. Good at wrangling, yes. He had leadership qualities.

Yeah. Even though he was a slimy dirtbag, you know? He was still, he had a lot of good qualities to him. He was a great wrangler. Yes, yes. Wrangler. Well, look, we're probably going to see Yash again, right? This is not the last time that we're going to be here. We're here in town. We're here in town.

We're here in town. We can always come back. We can build trust over time, trust for them, trust for us, trust for everyone. We'll try a conversation where he doesn't threaten to cut our fingers off first thing. Yes, exactly, exactly. Just to feel things out. And we have a lead, right?

We know where Dugger lives. Yeah. And what time? It's early, right? So let's go murder him. Ooh, that's okay. Is it early right now? What time is it? It's time for murder. It's always time for murder.

Let's see, you guys crashed that evening, or some of you crashed the evening in Eshteross's place the next morning. That's where you guys reconvened. So that's where you've returned the pot. It says, I'm going to say mid-afternoon. Great. place the next morning. That's where you guys reconvened. So that's where you return the pot. It says, I'm going to say mid-afternoon. Great.

Murder time. Murder time. Should we get a late lunch before murder? Yeah, because you don't want to do murder on an empty stomach. The hatch closes. True. That old-timer.

Yeah. The hatch closes. And you're like, shut up. Heron's like, all right. Thank you for your hospitality. Have a shiny day. What spire is this place? Is Jundabar?

We're in the Lantern right now. That's in the Core Spire, right? That's where we live. That's the neighborhood of where you live. That's the main. So that's where we're going. We're going to talk to some of your friends. He lives in the same neighborhood that we live in. That's kind neighborhood of where you died? Yeah. That's the main. So that's where we're going. We're going to talk to some of your friends. He lives in the same neighborhood that we live in.

That's kind of scary. Your neighbors, man. I know. And where he killed Bertrand. Right around there. Right around there. Well, they say most accidents happen within 50 feet of your home. Since we're here, does anybody want to spend some cash on maybe a couple healing potions,

considering that we got our asses kicked last time? Pretty fucking hard. That's true. Do they have anything here like that? You can definitely look around and ask around if you'd like. Hold onto your coin purses. You mean at this place where we are currently, Root Trader Alcove, or around?

I mean, all those places of the Elder's Post. There are other places throughout the Lantern Spire that you can check around. You would know there's a couple of, you know, there's the Yoh-Hurrag smithy. If you're looking for any sort of metal and weapon or armor-based stuff, there's the Trove of Marwa,

which is a general goods gathering. I don't know, but I'll take your word on it. Actually, you can figure that one as you go. Okay. Yeah, well, if you know some places, let's stop. I mean, yeah, I mean, the smithy is mostly just armor and weapons, but they might at the very,

do I know the Trove of Mara or do I not? I would say you've heard of it. You may not have been there. I don't know where it is, but we could ask around. Does that have a trove of Mara? Is that where they would have potions? It's where they would probably have potions or something like that.

But we could also ask at the smithy and just see what comes up, so. Let's go to where you think they'll be. The magic-y place. It's a big shopping district, if I recall, from reading up, or is it scattered a bit? As far as the elder posthum? On the Lantern, like.

The Lantern Spire has a loose market district. It's the initial spire where people that are entering the city by foot are, so there's an open trade. It's a little hard to find the real good quality stuff in between because a lot of it is either sold for people that are exiting or people that are just passing by,

a lot of knickknacks and travel elements there. But if you dig past that, you're sure you can find some good stuff. Let's ask around and see if we can figure out where the Trove of Mara is, but I've heard that place is pretty good. I've never been, but let's do it. And preferably, I think someone else should ask around,

because I look like I'm going to rob somebody, so. I'll walk up to a stall. Actually. Okay. As you walk, are you in the Elder's Post? Yes. Okay. The first stall that you see at your disposal is a rugged-looking wooden stall that looks like it's been repaired seven different times.

One of the wheels is almost more there to hold it up as opposed to be pushing it. You see there's an older woman there with these small little glasses at the tip of her nose, bright eyes with these bags underneath that have this white makeup material underneath that causes the face to brighten up a bit. Her hair is pulled taut to one side

and given this side braid that curls down and she has this little outfit on and she sits there and glances over you as you approach. Hi. Hi. Can I see what her cart has on it? What's she selling? Looking down at the cart, you can see there are a manner of small leather folds.

It looks like they're bracelets and belts and other bits of simple tooled leather materials for just accessories and straps. Oh, these are lovely. Can I pick up just a little leather pouch? Yep. How much would this be? That would be about five copper pieces. Five copper pieces? Yeah.

All right. Do you make these yourself? My daughter makes them. Oh, that's wonderful. I'm just the one with the silver tongue. And what's your name? My name is Jiraiya. Jiraiya. Nice to meet you, Jiraiya.

I will take this leather pouch and I'll pass over a silver. Big spender! Well, I also wanted to ask you some information. Thank you. You're welcome. Could you point me in the direction of the Trove? What is it called? Oh.

The Trove of Mara? No, is that really what it. The Trove of Mara? No, is that really what it is? Did I actually remembered it? Wow. Yeah, well done. You're looking for Marwa. Maybe. Okay. Why?

No reason. I'm just looking for, I'm just looking for a place to buy, you know, general goods, potions, stuff like that. Mara could help you. Okay. Plenty of others here in the post that could help as well.

That is an excellent point. Insight check. How many people are around us right now? I mean, there's maybe four or five that are in a 10, 15-foot vicinity of you that are just walking by or going to other cards. Make an insight check. What are you checking into? Does she hate this woman?

Or whoever Marvolo is? You got to make an insight check. And you make a persuasion check. Wait, what is my, oh my god. 14. 14. Whoa. Tunk. Persuasion.

Whoa. Oh, whispers. I'm good at persuasion. Whispers. That's right. Everybody. I'm feeling good about it. I hit one press. Is there, they love cats? And they, they...

Don't put an ask back on. I don't have it, but they sent us an owl. And it was very nice of them. By their wares. 21. 21. I sell leather things. If you're looking for things that aren't leather, you're welcome to look around.

If you're really looking for something that Marwa has, then so be it. Do you have any other recommendations outside of Mara? What are you looking for? Someone that would give us a good deal on potions, and we might be wandering into a dangerous situation. I can introduce you to someone. Ooh.

This cute little granny you're quickly seeing has this dark undertone to someone. Ooh. And this cute little granny you're quickly seeing has this dark undertone to her. Follow me. She goes ahead and quickly, in a rapid succession, closes down her cart, locks it, finishes it up. If we're far enough away from enough people, I would like to just tentatively see what is going on in her mind

to make sure she's not trying to set us up for another freaking ambush. Okay, so you're opening your mind in her direction? Second location. Yeah, but I want to tell the group to step the fuck away from me. I'm going to just follow her at a distance so that I can try to get as isolated as possible.

Okay, it's a little hard here in this busy street, but we can do the best you can. Okay. All right. So it's not a long jaunt to where she seems to be taking you, so in that brief time as you're gauging the space around you, you can maybe attempt it within the presence of four of the people interfering.

So go ahead and roll. Okay. New toy. I succeeded! Okay. As you're walking, you catch the surface thoughts, which are just, fucking Mara taking all the work.

Kind of hard to work when someone's so above board. Then as you dig deeper, the next thought is, but if I can squeeze a commission out of this and up-settle all that, then this is going to work great for both me and Advik. All right, all right. Are you taking us to an actual place of business or would we be heading to another stall, another vandar?

She stops and turns around with a big smile. There are many folks here that wander the various wilds and beyond and bring back many great secret things, concocting many ambrosias and beyond and bring back many great secret things, concocting many ambrosias that can stave off defeat and death. One such traveling merchant is an old friend of mine

named Hedwig, and I'd like to introduce the two of you. I'm sure he could be of help. Have you left everyone in the dust, by the way? Have I what? Left the group in the dust? I'm sure he can be of help. Have you left everyone in the dust, by the way? Have I what? Left the group in the dust? I'm... Okay. Let me just let my compatriots know where we're heading. Of course, take your time.

I head back to them for a second. So Advik, wasn't that the name of one of your friends? Yeah, friends loose, but yeah. This lovely woman, Juria, off in the distance a little bit, she's leading us to him. Says that he has a lot of good deals on wares. Yeah.

Should we do that or should we go to the Trove? Let's see where this pans out. I will stay in the back, just to... Are you going to get us worse deals or better deals, you think? Oh. Honestly, I don't think it'll matter. Is this dangerous?

What isn't at this point? Shopping at the Trove, I would imagine. You know, let's see where this goes. All right. Clearly, we're meant to go, you know. Sometimes you're going to wander into something. We've already wandered into one thing. What are the chances we're going to wander into two terrible things in one day?

Feels pretty high, honestly. Thank you. Bertrand started the day off by dying, so I think we're on a great path. That's one person having one bad thing. This is a group of people having, and that didn't happen to us. Yeah, I'm with Ashton on this,

and not just because he told me that I matter to him. Thank you. I think in life, you know, it's no pain, no wane is what we used to say all the time. What does that mean? Oh, well, we knew this guy named Wayne and he hated to get injured. So we would always just say,

so, you know, no pain, no wane. I guess you had to know him to make it make sense. Think of it this way, we're supporting small business. Yeah. Very good, very good. I always prefer to keep things below board, if you can. Fuck, all right, let's just do this shit. As you guys are finishing this conversation,

you turn and you can see that she's currently having a conversation with a figure. You can see now, before you, is this massive presentational cart. You can see, compared to the one that she had, this is probably three carts lined and then locked together with a vast spread. You're familiar with this site,

as it moves throughout the city at times. A great sign that says, Advik's Wandering Curiosities and Collections. Oh wow. This is way more than I expected. Yeah. And the man you see she's talking to is a human man with

looks like long black hair that is oiled back and pulled into a part on the side into a long ponytail that goes to his mid-back. He has a thin pencil mustache that runs just past the edges of the mouth. He's thin with good posture and keeps his hands ready to present. He's wearing a nice little button-over shirt

that has a formal look to it with a tattered cloak around it that also looks world-wearied. As he's talking with this old woman, he looks over at the rest of you. Come, friends, please. I've been told that you are looking for goods from all over.

Are they above us or? They're up here and then behind it. Tell me what you need. I have many things, please. I think we're looking for a little survivability. So, protection, weaponry. Healing. Ah. I may be able to help.

So I was wandering not too long on the outskirts of the Heartmoor and met a nice young man named Amarash. Amarash was an herbalist, and after a night of drinks, he began to regale me with the Tales of his Family's great technique in brewing the finest of herbal remedies. Over a game of cards, I managed to win from him quite the collection, and I have him here with me.

He lays on the top. You can see this small, square-sledged case with a flap that he pulls back, and you hear the clinking of glass. From there, you can see there are four small vials with a somewhat brackish red liquid inside that shakes a bit as he sets it down. I've been, well, looking for the right home for these

and there have been questions brought about, but it just didn't feel right until you all walked up and I have to say, maybe it is destiny. Oh, insight check. Oh, insight check. I know, I feel like this is a total scam. What are those concoctions?

Well, you said you were looking for things that could keep you alive, that could heal. These are potions of healing. And they're from the Heartmoor take? They were created and brought back from the Heartmoor. May I see one? Just hold my hand, maybe? They don't look like healing potions

we've seen before, do they? They look adjacent. Mm-hmm. Healing-esque. So you rolled an, you were doing insight checks? I did 16. 16? I didn't do, I did seven, six. Oh!

Healing potion whispers. So many whispers tonight. Prove it to your head. Hippling Press, everybody. And Kith and Kin. Oh my gosh, yes! Available now at booksellers everywhere. I wasn't paying attention.

It's such a beautiful park. Oh, that's so nice. So beautiful. You got a copy of Kith and Kin? Make a medicine or arcana check on how you want to inspect this. I want to look for any discerning marks, like maybe this fell off the back of a truck.

Oh, okay. Then that would be an investigation check. All right. Cact. Cact. It's Cact, yeah. It was good. I know. Oh no, it's very bad.

Eight. I mean, the glassware looks fine. It's not like beautiful, elvish glasswork, but it's functional. How much do these run? Well, these are, as professed by this individual, a family recipe, and the Heartmoor is a very lauded location and source for amoremitis.

But, seeing as how you're friends of Ashton, I will give you a discount. 115 gold apiece. I pop a coin into my mouth. Sounds good to me. What the hell? Sorry, just peckish.

All right, all kinds. Having bought a healing potion before, I know how much they cost. How much do normal healing potions cost? It can depend on where you're sourcing it. Some places it's cheaper, some places it's more expensive. Commonly seen between 50 and 75, but you also have not seen healing potions like these.

Yeah. What kind of healing does it do? I mean, the healing kind. Yeah, but I mean, if I have a cut on my arm, is it going to heal that? Or if I have a broken leg, is it going to heal that? I take it you have not traveled to the Hardmoor? I have not. Have I?

Make a history check. Where have I been? Obviously. Three. You know nothing about the Hardmoor. But I assure you, while these may look a little rough around the edges, the coloration a bit less delicious. They stem from the finest of herbs and greens,

and they'll heal far more than just the scattered bump on the knee and the small cut to the cheek. May I? Oh, I give back to him. I'm sorry. Oh, may I? Just hold it. What else do you sell around here? Oh, I sell many things.

Actually, I should probably say, hey, Advik. Hello, Ashton. These kids are new in town. I can tell. I'm helping them establish some relationships. So I just want to make sure that that's absolutely clear, because these don't seem like the sort of kids that once they find a place they like and trust,

I don't think they're going to stray very far. Certainly not into anybody's trove. Do you have anything in the back that's particularly interesting? You know what I mean? Make a persuasion check with advantage. Ooh. He knows I'm full Make a persuasion check with advantage. Ooh.

He knows I'm full of shit, that's the problem. Oh my god, thank god. 13. For me, that's great. I've got a few things, friend. I just, I'm trying to impress some new people. I understand. Well.

Travelers, you say. Goes underneath the cart and rattles around for a second and pulls what looks to be this small pair of reddish maroon stones, about that big, about a little larger than a gold coin, that fit in the palm of your hand with some insignia on them. If you are to be quite a distance from each other,

these can help bridge that gap for important conversational topics. These are no descending stones. Rare to find, hard to make, but nevertheless, Advik places them before you. That could have been helpful back at the warehouse. It really, really could have. Yeah. How often can you use them?

Once a day. Once a day. Still good. Just say something into one stone and it comes out of the other one? I don't understand. Traces his finger along the outside. Once a day, you can speak a phrase of up to 25 words, and no matter where they are on this realm

or perhaps another, they will receive it and have the opportunity to retort immediately. I understand. How much do those cost? Well, like I said, hard to make, hard to find. But I could part with these for 300 gold pieces. Pretty cool. Orym grabs them and tosses one to Dorian, and he jogs 50 feet away.

Without paying? That's right. Hey, I'm just wondering if you can hear anything. Can you hear me right now? Can you hear me right now? Can you hear me right now? Just testing, just testing. It works! Did it work? Did it? Did it? It's a little crackly. It's not the best reception, but it is good.

So... I don't know anything about magic. Yeah, you just start talking into the stone and nothing happens. It doesn't work! I was lying! You have to invoke the enchantment on the stones. I'm not getting anything! Me either!

Orym? I'm so sorry. I just say in Orym's head, get back here. He thinks, do you know how to use this? No idea. Cool. Strikes back up. Here's your rock. What do you have to say to invoke it?

You just have to rub your finger along the runic carving on the front, and think carefully about the individual, and then speak the phrase aloud. Mm. Try it again, but finger the symbol. Go like, and then think about Dorian. He just silently walks away.

Turns to you, Esht, and says, If he doesn't come back, I'm going to take that out of your head. If he doesn't come back, I'll take it out of his. Okay. Diddle the sigil. It begins to glow. Dorian?

Blue boy? Hello. Does it transmit through the other stone? It does. It works! Fantastic! There we go. This is amazing.

It's like a low-tech version of what you two do. Yes. So is he able to respond back one time, or it's just one-time voice memo? Dorian's not here right now. Leave him a message and he will call you back. Did you rub it? I didn't. Could you hear? Shit.

Could you hear? But you could see, it was glowing as you received the message, and then when you finished speaking into it, it blew a feed. Why did you clap in his face so much while he was calling? Just because we need to test it if we're in a loud environment. Oh, I understand.

You know, does it pick up everything? Is it very directional, or is it omnidirectional? I'm tapping him, I'm tapping it. I'm tapping it. I wonder if he can hear the taps. You cannot hear anything. Nothing. Did you get the message that it hurt?

No, I didn't feel it. I take it you're satisfied. Yeah, it seems like it works. See, we might need some practice with it. Wow, I'm sorry. I thought you were full of shit. Okay. Couldn't take it, most do,

until they realize the splendor they're in the presence of. So, 300 gold. Anybody want that? Let's see who might be in. How many potions? Four potions. Four potions at 115 each. Mm-hmm.

I did want to do a check on it. Can I just check the medicine in it? Do a medicine check? You can do a medicine or a check. I'm going to do a medicine check and I'm just going to stick my finger in and pull a little bit on my gums. Sure.

So it's good. Healing potions work differently in the Feywild, guys. Pure, uncut healing. Gingerbread is gone. Oh god. 15. 15. Based on the texture, the scent,

the strange fuzziness that meets your gums as you place them on, you get the sense that they do appear to be legitimate healing concoctions. Just by the faint bit that you did utilize to be able to sense that means that they have a potency on par with what you were expecting. Your canker sore closes up.

This is very good stuff. I think these are worth, I think we should get them all. Do you do wholesale prices, bulk purchase? Well, if you're making many purchases, there are arrangements that can be made. How much are you buying? If we bought all four of those potions,

would you be able to knock the price down a bit on each? Make a persuasion check. 13. 13. I could knock 25 gold off the final prize. Of each one, or total? Total, my scary friend. Advik, didn't you say you won these in a card game? This is no overhead lost for you.

No, but I also have business to maintain it, and I understand the goods I carry are worth what they're worth. Maybe you could get more business if you knock a little bit more off. No. What if we also got the send-in stones? We have that kind of money.

Sounds good to me. Save the lot for 650. That's a pretty good price for everything. That's a very good price. Yep. I'll kick in. I'll kick in. Yeah, for sure. I don't have anything.

Oh, right, because he has all your money. Ashton? All kicking. All right, great. I got 100. I can push at that. Great. And is that of your money or FCG's money? That's our money. All the money together?

Yeah. I'll give 100. Wow. Yeah, we would love to buy everything. Well then, splendid to make your acquaintances. Which, by the way, let's make some acquaintances. As he goes ahead and closes up the leather satchel, pushes it forward, and you all can mark off your corresponding split of 600 gold.

All right, how much did everybody give? You gave 100, 100. Everyone puts in 100, that's six. I'll put in 100. Other than Vess. I never have to worry about this shit. Okay. You're going to want magic shit at some point. We'll have to buy it.

An absolute pleasure doing business with you. Thank you so much. And you are, by the way. Oh, we are? Grateful and thankful for your business? No, no, no, no. Names, names. Hi, I'm Fresh Cut Grass. All right.

Dorian Storm. Laudna. Is that a. Hmm. Laudna. Is that the last name? Laudna. Okay. Laudna, Laudna? No, just Laudna. It's not like a Mario Bros. thing. Laudna, Laudna, just Laudna.

Oh, I'm Fearne Calloway. Calloway? Oh, you have a last name. What a nice last name. What a nice last name. It's beautiful. Thank you. Imogen. What was your last name?

Temel. I thought you wrote down everything, Eskigi. Temel is my last name. Didn't get it. Just Orym. And you would all consider yourselves friends of Ashton? Getting there, yeah. Recent friends, yeah. I'm not sure.

They haven't known me long enough to have come to an assessment. The best of friends, I would say. Proud that you found friends. Well, give it time. Thank you for taking care of them. And you know how to put the word out. If you get anything interesting, you know where I am.

Very well. Thank you all so much for coming. And don't forget, Advik is always your humble servant. Now move along, I have more people to sell to. Thank you. Sure, sure. Thank you so much. We leave. Ashton, you said that you did not get along

with that fellow, but he was delightful and wonderful in every way. And gave us a discount because of you. What happened? What's the story, Dish? Can everybody also give four more gold? I think that does the math right. Sure. No, no, no, no, no. That's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong.

One, two, three, four, no, no, no. That's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong. One, two, three, four, five, six, six. In Orym's head, he just thinks six, three, 15, 25, 26, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. I got to figure it out. It's like 10 more gold each person, maybe nine more gold each person. What kind of potions are they? They are potions of healing.

Hey, hey! Potions of healing. That puts me at? Eight gold. Everybody gives eight additional gold. 11 gold I have. I've lived in this town a long time. I do a lot of work in this town. I do a lot of favors.

I piss a lot of people off. Sometimes it's a little difficult to remember what the last interaction was with somebody and whether or not something I did for or to somebody else has affected that relationship. So clearly, there are a few things that have not gotten back to Advik yet, and that's a positive for now.

So. So you're friends for now? Sure. Friends is always a, friends is a complicated word, I try to avoid it. It implies a layer of trust that is not necessarily healthy. I mean, take for example, our employer.

Clearly, everyone has made a few judgments about this person. I feel like it's a little too early to be speaking of the character of somebody that we just fucking met that is just fucking some guy with enough money to hire a bunch of fucking people to do some weird fucking shit and then fill their house with a bunch of death objects.

It just still rubs me the wrong way. I'm not there yet. I'm just saying. I don't disagree. I don't disagree. Fair. Yeah. How many potions did we get? Four. Four. Yeah, so I'm holding them up.

Who all's going to take one? Well. Who gets the most damage? I can heal, so probably shouldn't be me. I can heal. Laudna, you're fragile. Okay. Think, ow! Thank you. I can heal. Laudna, you're fragile. Okay. Think, ow! Think. Wash your fingers.

You are a wet Kleenex. Please hold on to that. I can hold one to give out to others. Sure. That's a good idea. Yep. You're real! Now you know it's real. Okay, so you two had one, Fearne, Orym.

I'm able to heal as well, so maybe it'd be better to. There you are. And Orym, you're always up in the fray. I'm all right, I'm all right. No, I think you should take one. Plus, you're very nimble if you need to get to one of us. That's true. Okay, that is true.

That's fair. I have an aboveboard question. How much of my inventories carry over from Game Zero, from this summer? All of it, or? Nandavich. We get it, Robbie. You were in EXC when I wasn't. Okay.

I'm sorry, I got CG. Robbie's like, I have 10 healing potions in my inventory on my life. The truth is, I have three. So I would like to give them, that's why I spent all my money on them. I would say in the time that's happened since, you've used two of them, so you would have one left.

What about you, Fearne? How many do you have in your hand? I don't have any. I think I just threw them away. I don't need these! But to that point, there's your one there. Well, actually, I have one more to give to the cause, and since I can heal, someone else who can't should take it.

Why don't you take one? I already have one in my bag. Are you sure you don't want to keep it? Yeah, keep it! Are you sure? Keep it, Dory. Yeah, you bought it yourself. Are you saying that because you think I need it? No, I'm saying it because it's good

to have them spread out amongst everyone. And you definitely need it. Now you're both ganging up. It feels like you're doubling up on them. At the moment, yeah. You be on your head. I will keep it. Calm down, Dorian. It's fine.

Well, I want to make sure. You're fine. Thank you. How am I so contented? That worked, goddammit. Didn't even have to roll. All right. All right, we should head to the Core Spire.

Oh, and who's taking the sending steps? That I have an opinion about, because everyone in this group can talk using their brains, so that I feel like I should hang on to. Sure. Yeah. In either Fearne or Ash here. Wait, we can all talk using our brains? What do you mean?

I mean, technically, everyone can talk using their brain. I think that's the core function of it, but. You can, you hear in your head. You can talk all you want. Only with a little help. I don't know why I tried to do a ventriloquist act there, but I did. You can talk to your Fearne in your head. I'm saying a bunch of shit. I'm hearing it all.

Okay. All right. Fuck. Yes, sending stones. Who do we give the Orym and? God. You. Her. That way, if we get split up,

you two will be on separate teams. But I don't know if I want to be without Orym. Oh, all right. Ashton? Ashton? Sure. Go worry about the other one. you had the other one. You had the other one. Mime throwing it to me.

God. What do you mean, mime, Robbie? God! I didn't know I had it! Oh, I had it! I lost it, you guys! And I swallow it. It's gone. It's gone!

I can do it back to you in six hours. No, it has been used for the day. Yeah, so it's useless today. Useless today, but tomorrow it should be good to go. What's it called, just so I can add? Sending Stone. Sending Stone, thank you. We had one of a pair in the last campaign. Oh yeah, we never found the other one.

I almost talked into it so many times. You should have. It was never the right moment. Something was always happening. Something was always going wrong. Should we go find Dugger? That's Dugger. Is it Dugger?

Now you got me in my head. I say we scope out the place, take a look, maybe. 18 shade creepers and counting. I think Dugger has 18 brothers and sisters. Oh no. Just a little bit of reality TV. All right. Yeah, let's head to the windowed wall.

To the, I always forget, the... Oh, to Dugger's? To Dugger's. To the Dune de Bar. Dune de Bar, the windowed wall. The Dune de Bar. All rightune Debar, the window wall. The Dune Debar. All right. You find a window in the shower.

Tail blue house, 12th level. And we are living on the first level? Or the second level? You guys are in the lower section. This whole neighborhood climbs up into dozens of stories up into the edge of the spire wall. You are about the third or fourth, I want to say. This is a little further ways up into the northeastern side

of what you were given instruction for, but you still have to find it in the colorful patchwork neighborhood that is the windowed wall. This place is pretty crowded. But who is helming that since? I feel like we should, right? Since we live around here. Sure. We're doing all right.

I know it's been so much here lately. I'll assist. It's all right. Yeah, the sleep helped. Good. Yeah. Good. Thank you, Madden. And all that stuff, having to give your dad up for collateral, but it's...

Yeah, that... We'll talk, we'll put a pin in that. All right. All right, if you can make a perception check with advantage, since Ashton is helping you. Thank you. Oh, thank god! 19. 19.

19. A short time into looking across the knotted expanse of this neighborhood, you pick out a few possible buildings that match the description that you were given. Upon going and inspecting a handful of them, and there are, some of it is vertical buildings and there's a shelf with a street

and then a few more buildings and another shelf street. It's just this really wonderful climbing, I want to say like a multi-tiered cake of a neighborhood that continues up on the side of the spire. About four of those streets upward you see off to the far right before a spire break hits, where you see a cluster of buildings, one at the base near the edge of where that spire break is,

that has that same dull gray stone exterior. Looks like the other ones, but not as lively. I'm sorry, what do you mean by spire break? Sorry, there is a portion of spire stone that has not been built into that just breaks up the neighborhood. So it's just houses and houses and houses and then stone and then houses. Naturals.

Okay. And it was a powdered blue? That's it? A blue house? That's the one. I duck down and point everybody. What's our play here? I have no idea. Should we send someone in to see if Dugger's home?

Well, I mean, Bertrand faced him alone and... Just as a spy out, a look-see is what I'm thinking. I think just take a look around the perimeter first, see what buildings are next door, what the best way to get into it when it's time. Most of the houses around here, you can't get in any way by the front. They're built into the rock.

Oh. So there's no way he could sneak out through the back? Unless the shade creepers. There's some sort of drop thing. There's a hole in our house that they got in through, so I'm sure a lot of the houses here might have the same situation. I mean, there's got to be a way to get water into them. There's got to be a way to,

a lot of them probably have access to sewers. It's a pretty safe assumption we would find a hole in the back of his place. Well, then, I mean, we should at least just go take a peeksy just to see if he's home, and then we can decide whether to storm in or wait till he comes out. He does seem to probably be the type

to do his skullduggery in the evening. Are we in a purely residential area, or are there eateries and shops or anything else here? This portion of the, I mean, the majority of the Windowed Wall is residential. There are some people that convert their front porch areas into makeshift eateries, they cook at home for the neighborhood and stuff,

but most formal businesses are further to the right and left of the Windowed Wall and hit the main streets. Oh god. Are we? Emmy winner, you're just shitting me. I'm sorry. Is this the same spire that we

saw the big 1,200-foot drop? No. That's the other spire. One of the other spires? The Weary Way Tavern. That's the lantern, it's a different spire. That's the lantern. The spire by fire is in this one. That's right. Okay.

This neighborhood's got a lot of waterfalls. It's very pretty. It's really beautiful. It's a very pretty neighborhood. Yeah. Are we hidden? You guys are up the street, a few houses, just looking over a bit. It's still broad daylight right now.

It's late afternoon. You're probably about an hour out before sunset hits. It's not very bustling. It's higher up in the neighborhood. Fewer people traverse the small paths and the staircases and ladders that lead to the upper areas. So it's not like it's a very busy space.

This one home surrounded by other homes is plain to see. You've seen a few that were like it, but this one just deeply matches the description that you've seen before. Sorry, question is, if you're in front of this place, it's not around a corner, it's not in an alley, it's It's just a house. out for anyone in the neighborhood to see.

Yeah. You can see houses to the right and left of it as well, too. How big is it? I guess, does it look like a guy lives there, or is it a larger home? Is it a four-bedroom? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Two-bathroom. I want to know how big it is. Oh, they sound like that. 3.5. It is a single-story building. It looks to be about, from what you can see, just 20 feet from side to side, so not massive by any means,

but not a tiny hovel either. It looks like it's a small home for a person that was making a moderate living. Well, let's talk it out. We still got sunlight, right? So if we try to go in now, we could be easily spotted. We could also walk in on him. That means we're tangling, probably.

We could wait for the sun to go down. Then we can wait, see if he comes in or goes out. If he goes out, we can wait inside? Do the ambush thing? That's what I was thinking, and we could have some time to root around as well. I could probably make a little disturbance right now, see if it lures him out.

Like knock on the door or something? You're very disturbing. How disturbing are we talking? Like knock on the door or something? You're very disturbing. How disturbing are we talking? Knocking on the door, but I won't be there. From a distance. Let's go. From a distance! Yeah, maybe let's all just hide and do that. All right.

Oh, oh, what if we go up to the level above? People never look up. What if we go to the level above and we can look down on the house? I like that as well. Oh, good idea. So there's a 13th tier, right? There is, and you can see where the row of houses are, and they're relatively in line,

though some of them are more recessed, some of them are further out. This house is a little further out. Then there is the rough spire rock right above it that leads up into the next lip-like street that has the next bit of buildings above it. I do think it's interesting that his house is right next to this big outcropping of stone.

Tunnels. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, we go up. All right, let's do it. And then knock, see if he comes. Okay. Just as we walk by the house, I'm just going to try and see if we can see anybody inside or if there's anything.

I'm just going to glance as we're walking by. We're not walking past his house. No, no, no, we're going above his house now. Okay. Are you going to the level above it or into the rock right above it? The level above it. Okay. Can we still see from that?

Yeah, we're trying to get a good vantage point. From that vantage point, you can see the roof and where it meets the rock, but you cannot, like the lip of the roof cuts off where the door would be. Oh. Because you're up above and further back, so you're looking at it from behind and the front door is now covered by the roof.

All right, back down we go. Can we send one of us down below? Sure. To see what they see. Oh, sure. I could go down. I can talk to any of y'all.

Yeah, and do we want to wait until it's a little darker? That way, if there's no answer and we want to go in, we can. But if he does answer, I want to know it's him. Also, if there's no answer now, we can go in. That's true. Well.

Yeah. There's nothing saying that he isn't in there and just doesn't answer the door. So we should know that sooner than later, no? I just don't want to be spotted by local authorities. Oh. Oh, that's right.

But she's just talking about knocking on the door from far away, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Let's do it. My hair's a bit ratty. I think it's very lovely. Oh, thank you. Sure, I'll stay on the same level as the house

if y'all want to go up, if that's what's happening, and then I'll just let you know if something goes on. All right. I'll hang with you. Okay, good. I was going to say, maybe somebody stay with you, just in case. Oh, sure. Anyone should be alone after Vurchent. Then you're going to cast some sort of magical spell?

Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay, so are you staying level with them or are you going up above? I'll stay up the level because I think I should be able to reach from here. What are you trying to do? Prestidigitation, knock on the door noise. Okay, what's the range on that one? 10 feet.

You have to be much closer. I'll be down. I also have the ability to do that. I thought you were using thaumaturgy or something. I can do prestidigitation. All right. Okay, I can do that. Okay. All right, so you're staying up with everybody else?

Yes. The rest of you take a little bit to go up the stairs and ladders to get to the 13th level of the wall. Which would I do? The two of you stay down below and glancing not far from the front, as you can see, the building pushes out a little bit

towards the alley-like road that wraps around the lip, and there is a small house to the left, a small house to the right. There is a door. The window appears to be closed. There's a single window to the right of the front door. What would you like to do? Boy, if we're doing this,

why is everybody up on the other floor now? Oh well. How close do you have to be? 10 feet. So maybe we just hang out on the side of the house and... How about you do your thing and we just start walking fast? Oh yeah, I used to do this back in town before.

Yeah. So I'll get 10 feet away. So you'll just be walking past the front door and kind of like. Do the knock and then both we just take off running. Hey, can you do that while I juggle? Go, go, go, go, go, go! You hear the knocking emerge from the exterior of the door

and you both hurry your way along. Duck behind. Duck behind, yeah. About maybe 30 feet past, 35 feet past. 12 years old. Yeah. Closer to 40 or so, you can see where the edge of the core of the spire break is and you can hide behind there as you glance back. Make a perception check, each of you.

And you guys are all watching after two. Yeah, can we see any movement in the house? That roof looks amazing. If you guys are all above, you can see the roof of the house. You cannot see the front door because it is on the other side of the lip of the roof, but if anybody were to exit or something like that, or any other exit pattern

through the roof, then you would see. Can we see them in their hiding spot? From where you're standing, no. They've gone out of your field of view. 19. 18. Nice. Ooh. Nice. Don't you!

You beat that back! I actually quite enjoy it. I do, too! I do, as well, actually. I'm taking them down. I'm going to single-handedly destroy their company. You know what you did, Werther. Oh god. You both comfortably

affix your eyes onto the front door and window of this abode. As a minute or two pass by, there does not appear to be any sort of reaction. Nothing shifts, nothing moves, nothing opens. Nothing. Vandana hears in her ear, in her head, nothing. You hear nothing.

No, you know what you hear. Nothing. So either Dugger's not home or not coming to the door. Should we wait? Should we just try to barge in? Should we go on the roof, see if we can sneak down the old chimney? Do you think now that we knocked,

he knows somebody's outside and we lost our surprise? Oh. Yes, yes. Is that what we just did? We should chill out for a while until the sun goes down. Do you think that? If we're going to mess with the door, go in when no one can, at least the authorities here don't see us,

let alone Dugger. No? In your head, you hear, Orym thinks we should wait until it gets dark because the authorities could get us. Orym's afraid of the authorities. That speaks volumes to his general character. Yeah.

Because I don't. I wonder if he had parents who were too strong with him or not strong enough. Parents that were authorities. I think he's just concerned for our well-being. I always forget about guards. Like, they exist. They exist? I do.

Yeah. It's weird. It is weird. It's a weird thing. I wonder if. You have the opposite issue that Orym has. Anyway, go on. I wonder if Imogen would be able to hear him from inside, see if she could hear thoughts in there. Oh, sense his thoughts.

Is that a thing that she does? Oh, sense his thoughts. Yeah. Is that a thing that she does? She might be able to. I can do that a little bit as well. You can communicate with me if you want to try to get me to sit down. That's actually a really cool idea. I'm into that.

Can you whisper to her in her head and tell her to do that? I can. Imogen! Imogen, Imogen. Yeah? Imogen. Just wondering.

Just wondering. If you can sense good old Dugger. No. That's a good idea. Yeah, I can totally try that. Okay, all right. She's going to try. Try.

Seriously, stay here. Don't come near me, just for a second, all right? Do you want me to get further back? You're about 30 feet away, it's fine. Okay. I'm going to creep on over to the outside of the house and try good old open mind again.

You got it. You go ahead and close your eyes and focus on the idea of an entity within, is it 30 feet, 60 feet? 30 feet. Concentrate and nothing,

nothing of your extended consciousness finds purchase. What you do catch as you're now closer to the home and wandering past, there is an old musty smell that just seems to permeate this abode. Something akin to mildew or old wet leather that was discarded. It's not a pleasant smell.

It's faint, but it's definitive. Does it smell sweet or does it smell like old vegetables that have rotten? Closer to the ladder. All right. Back away. You hear in your head, there's something nasty going on in that house.

Ooh. Nasty how? It smells like rot. Oh. No D dugger? Not from what I could sense. No dugger, apparently, but she said it has a horrible stench, like a rat.

Literal stench or like a mystical psychic stench? You know, I think, I think, do you mean like a literal stench or like a mystical psychic stench? You know, I think. I didn't clout. Do you mean like a literal stench? Or like a... Stench. That's because we're good. Ooh.

Or like a, ooh, there's something rotten in Wildemount type of stench. That's a really interesting question. Now we're going to get old. Fucking dick. But no, I mean a really interesting question. Now we're going to get old. Fucking dick. But no, I mean a literal rotten smell. It smells like mildew or something.

Okay, she means literally. Oh, smells, it smells. Maybe we should all just go down there and talk. Yeah. So we'll catch up with them. Sneakily, sneakily. I would like you all who are joining them to make a stealth check, please.

Ooh. Yeah. Oh wait, disadvantage here. Oh, sneakily. I would like you all who are joining them to make a stealth check, please. Ooh. Yeah. Oh wait, disadvantage here. Oh, pretty good. Natural 20. What? What? 14. Dirty 20. Okay, dirty 20, 20 plus? Two. 22.

19. 19. 19. All right. You feel pretty confident that you were not making any overt sign to look at me as you were traversing the path back down to the 12th level. All right, so what's the play? Are we waiting until dusk and then

to see if he comes back? Are we breaking in now while he's not there? It seemed like nobody was within 30 feet of the door when I went over there. Probably the whole place. Personally, I vote for going in now because there's going to be less to deal with in there. It's daylight, which means if it's really creepy, undead, shadowy bullshit,

it'll have less shadowy bullshit around it that's just shadowy bullshit. Y'all have my back? How often are they flying overhead? Looking about, you can see immediately, just within your visual range, probably about eight or so that are scattered across the skyline.

Some are distant dots. You can just see the Simurgh Riders making their way around. There's two that are currently looking past the neighborhood, just keeping watch cursorily. About hundreds of feet away. Is there patrol? Are they doing swoops over?

Go ahead and roll a general intelligence check for me. All right. 10 total. 10? You haven't been keeping tabs on the pattern of them overhead enough to really suss out any sort of pattern, so right now it just seems a bit random. Did we decide who's good at breaking in?

None of us so far. If someone can check for traps, I might be able to open it up. I could turn into something. Ooh! Oh, right. Like a... How do we check for traps? Like a what?

I'll check for traps. Okay, you can roll an investigation or a perception check for this one. I don't know why I'm doing this. I'm not good at this. I was about to say, does anybody... Go for it. I said I was doing this. I'm not good at this. I was about to say, does anybody go for it? I said I was doing it. 10.

Oh, Guidance. Oh, too late. Too late. Don't see any signs of a trap. It looks like a normal door to me. I jiggy the handle. It is locked. Ah. Okay.

Can I get a little? Push on the window. Get a little. It does not the window. Get a little. It does not push open. Get a little luck? You want something? In fact, it's solid. You see it's two wooden shutters

that open up from the inside out, but you go and find, and there isn't much to really pull on other than the bottom lip of it, and you try and give it a tug, and they're solidly locked. Okay. How many, sorry, go ahead.

No, I was going to give Ashton guidance, but unless you're going in as a gerbil or something? Is there a space under the door? Is there a space? Yeah, that's what I was going to say. There's a very small gap, maybe about half an inch. I could go in it. Well, rats, they can get really small.

That's true. They can get as thin as a quarter. Really? So I've heard. That's true. They can get as thin as a quarter. Really? So I've heard. That's amazing! That feels really thin. Is there something that octopus? Oh yeah, you can be an octopus. They're also good at unlocking things.

Would that make sense if he saw me, if he was alive? He'd be like, what are you doing in here? Spider nickels. Spider, or something very small. Would things be able to unlock from the inside? You turn back and do it. Oh, I need to be able to. Well, I could be a cat. I could be, um... Where did the list go? Well, if you have proficiency, how does proficiency affect the roll again?

Which one? Lockpicking. If you have proficiency? I do. You do? Then you just add a proficiency bonus to a dexterity check. You don't get stupid, though, actually. No, you're smart, you do. You'll be under your proficiencies If you have proficiency. I do. You do? Then you just add your proficiency bonus to a dexterity check. You don't get stupid, though, actually. You keep your intelligence. You'll be under your proficiencies if you have it.

Armor, weapons, tools. You're under tools. Yeah, okay. Yeah, thieves' tools. Thieves' tools, then yeah. Just add my proficienc- Add my- Guidance! Correct. Add my proficiency bonus, okay.

Proficiency bonus, dex bonus, and then a Guidance roll. So it's sleight of hand. It's sleight of hand, right? It's doing it. No, just dex. Okay. While you're discussing what an octopus can do. She's turning into a rat, Ashton, hold on! But I'm waiting.

Wait, no, no, I'm holding off. Okay. Go on, Fearne. Oh, are you ready? Let's see this quarter trick. Can you go under the door and do this? Make yourself as thin as a quarter and go on in. Those are bucket studs. It is a very, very, very tight space.

I need you to go ahead and roll an acrobatics check with disadvantage using the physical dexterity of a rat. Fearne the Pooh. Fearne the Pooh. Oh no. Does the door open in or out? It looks like it opens inward. Okay, well, that's good.

It's built to code. Yeah. Okay. Seven. Seven. Okay. You push into the space. I try to put my back legs out to do splits and try to pull with my front legs. Totally, and your tiny little rat arms go underneath. The skull doesn't collapse

past a certain point, unfortunately. It does get wedged, and so you get to a certain point where your little rat head gets in, and it's just there now. This is your life. This is just how it goes. Okay, pick that lock. Wait, wait, get her out first, get her out first.

Can we turn her little head? Can I help? Open the door. I'm just like, yeah, I'm going to try and turn her head. You're trying to push her through. You know I'm going to try to turn her head so she's not stuck, you know? If the door unlocks, I'm going to lift the door as I very slowly open it.

Make a dexterity check for me. Oh no. While you go ahead and make a... And I know she's helping, so I'm going to lift the door as I very slowly open it. Make a dexterity check for me while you go ahead and make a... And I know she's helping, so I'm trying to get flat. Yeah, you're helping. Plus a d4. 13. Ooh. Okay, 13.

You're with the lockpicks for a bit, working on it, and then one of them, you feel like it hits the tumbler, and you're like, yes, you got it, and then you pull and it's caught in there. We got two things stuck in there now. Yeah. However, you managed to get it free, but the lock remains locked.

What did you roll for dexterity? 11? Seven. Seven. Can I see anything, at least? Do you have darkvision? Yes. Yes. You can see, within the space here, the little bit of gap that you have, that there is what looks to be furniture,

a bit disarrayed. You can see the bottom parts of a table that's flipped over. There's a bench on the ground. That's about as much as you can make out from this perspective. A bench. But you are still stuck. Fearne, do you need a slack pull you out? like a bench on the ground. That's about as much as you can make out from this perspective. A bench. But you are still stuck. Fearne, do you need a slack pull you out?

Another run, Mike. You're going to try again? I'm going to try again, but hip, hip, hip. All right, I will guide you once again. Ashton, you've got this. Do this. It's a higher DC on it now. I know. Just wiggle your tail if you want me to pull you out.

Orym's got eyes on the sky. Lay really still if you want to stay there. Taking notice. Are you wiggling your tail? Yeah, I'm wiggling my butt. Okay, then I'm going to try to pull you out? Lay really still if you want to stay there. I think it's taking notice. Are you wiggling your tail? Yeah, I'm wiggling my butt. Okay, then I'm going to try to pull her out. You want me to pull you out? I'm going to try to pull her out.

Okay. 22. Ooh! That is better. That is much better. You do manage to pull her free at this point. If you do so, you pull it out just as you see. Also 22. A Simurgh rider, beginning to grow larger and larger.

Pass without a trace. The light from the sun in the sky above just leaving this dark, shadowy outline of the flying crimson bird. Let's everybody in. Open the door, pass without a trace. And we all go in the house? Everyone roll a stealth check.

Go, go, go! Is this a stealth check? Go, go! Anyone who's next to me. Oh no! That's 10, right? Plus 10. Oh no.

10. Are you good? Is that plus 10? Plus 10. Well, plus 10. Yeah. Pass with a tray, so. Oh, is that what that is? 20. 22. I rub a little grease on my wheel and I get a 24. 18. All right.

25. 27. 31. Nice. 25. 27. 31. Nice. Okay. You come in and you close the door behind you and you hear outside. You hear a Marquesian. Where'd they go, boy?

You hear it. I'm going to use Prestidigitation to make it sound like a rock is tumbling down the hillside in that gap next to the house. Okay. Do you need visual on that? Go to this spell. Go to this spell.

And it's only a 10-foot distance. Yes. But if I'm near the wall on the outside? Maybe, maybe, okay. I don't know. If you lean over, you, so if you rush off to that opposite wall, you have darkvision?

Yes. You do. So you don't go careening into all the toppled furniture. As you move through the room, the first thing that catches you as you're stepping through, you can see overturned tables and chairs that are lying on the ground. It looks like the place has either been rolled for cash

or a fight took place, or somebody just got really angry and fucked it up. Nothing's necessarily broken, per se, just tossed about. And the floor is also sticky in places. As you go rushing past, your foot sticks it apart and you have to pull yourself free, and you rush off into what looks to be

a small kitchen-esque alcove on the inside that would be on the side of the wall that meets one of the other buildings on the side. There you can go ahead and cast it and you hear the outside. The dog goes off for a bit. You all stay frozen still. And the window lets no light in, right?

Correct. It's all covered up. Yeah, those of you who do not have darkvision, you have no light in here. It is pitch black and you're just quietly holding your breath as you hear these sounds outside. Here we go again. After a short period, you hear a Marcusean again.

Well, I'll keep an eye. I just don't trust it. Come on, hit. Who else speaks Marquesian at this table? You do, you do, you do, you do, okay. I'm going to crawl down Imogen's shoulder and start looking around the house. Okay. Laudna hears in her head,

is it safe for me to turn on some light? I think so. I couldn't understand what he said. He was looking for us, but I'm more concerned about what's in here. Oh, it appears to be quite the sight, so be careful. But yeah, we need light. Well, light would be a good idea. Get the as my dancing lights come into effect,

but they flicker like electricity. Giving that flickering energy throughout the room. You all, by the way, that strange mildew smell that you caught outside of the house, now that you've let the adrenaline begin to run free, you begin to take in your other senses. With that, the very strong, pungent smell of... It's almost like decaying vegetation meets old fungus.

It is this weird organic smell that's musty and unnatural. As the lights begin to flicker around, too, you can see there's an odd oily residue on everything. You can see an overturned table with long benches that are on the ground. You can see an open door to the backside that leads into another chamber.

You can see in the kitchen area, a lot of where you are, there are shelves where some things have fallen off to the side and it looks like part of a meal has just been scattered on the ground. But everything has this faint, shimmering, oily residue on it that shines as the energy balls glide around the room to give light to it.

Can we see what color the residue is? It looks like it's clear. It is translucent, but it has a cloudiness to it. So everything's covered in goop? Like coconut oil, spray? Kind of, yeah. That sounds pretty fucking gross. I'll go examine some of the goop.

Okay. See if I can get a read on it. Make a, make a, what are you trying to ask? What kind of a read on it. Make a, make a, what are you trying to ask, what kind of a read on it? Just what is it, I guess, if I would recognize the substance. Make a nature check, if you'd like.

Nature check. Ugh. That's terrible. Well, I said I was going to do it. And it's a nine. You're unable to really ascertain the nature or source of this, but it definitely has a slippery viscousness to it.

The smell is strong. You can see on the elements of the wall, there's almost striations and some edges that it's condensed thicker and has a dark gray material to it. Like it was dripping down or like it was splattered out? Like it was dripping down. You know how minerals that drip down

a stone cavern wall over time will build up? This is almost like elements of it have congealed to form a bit of a segment of the wall that has a thicker substance to it. Is there anything on the ceiling? Looking up at the ceiling, you don't see anything in particular other than just this odd humidity to the room

that you begin to also take notice of. All the furniture is overturned. You said the place has been rolled. What about? In fact, let me go ahead and make this adjustment here. Oh, since we're in a darker space properly, the moisture in the room occasionally drops around you.

And looking up at the ceiling, looking up at the ceiling, you can see the general cracks in the plaster and stone, but occasionally these little strands of some sort of organic threads that have drifted a few inches down from these cracks, almost like, once again, this human material has gathered and slowly begun to build off of itself.

Going off of what Orym was saying, does it look like this place was rolled? Or like he is building his creepy nest? You both can make investigation checks, if you'd like. Someone should look around for his dead body. Well, I was going to look around the perimeter of the room and look for holes on the walls. Okay, in the main entry room area?

Yeah. Okay. Roll a perception or investigation as well. What'd you get? Nine. Nine. Just a 12. 12? Looking at where things have been placed here, it looks like there was some sort of a chaotic, forceful reason

to everything here being scattered, but there aren't signs of a battle or fight. There's no blood. There's no, nothing has been smashed with fists or scarred with weaponry. So you're not sure if, Nothing has been smashed with fists or scarred with weaponry. So you're not sure if anything beyond the fact that it wasn't a hyper-violent, bloody struggle or anything.

That's as best as you can suss out. Are we leaving footprints on the ground? Like, is there settled goop or dust? Are we leaving? Yes and yes. Well, settled goop or dust? Are we leaving? Yes and yes. Well, there isn't a strong layer of dust, necessarily, though there is a little bit of odd motes in the air. There are patches of this similar liquid,

but it is, as opposed to being as viscous, it is sticky. Laudna caught one, and as you step over, your foot takes a minute to rip up a bit from it. Are there any pathways that we haven't walked where somebody else has been? There is the open door that leads into a further back chamber. Are there some footprints going in that direction?

Make a perception or investigation check, your choice. And you were rolling for holes. I rolled a perception check for holes along the wall, and I rolled eight. Shit. But once my foot got caught in one of the sticky things, I'm going to send one of my lights down to where it stays in front of my feet so I can try to avoid those.

It helps you suss out where some of these patches are. It isn't the entire ground, but just in certain areas, it looks like. It looks like there are some leftover congealed puddles that have marked the floor around you. Maybe that can help out Ashton, since you're looking at the ground, if there's a light source on that area or something.

Okay, and you are? I rolled, I used Perception to find, and I rolled a nine. Nine. In this room here, where you guys are, you don't see any sort of immediate signs of holes in the wall or anything like that? I'll go to the next room, I guess, and follow.

Imogen, can you send one of your balls in here? Of course. I took off that direction, too. Okay, so Fretcut Grass and Fearne are. And once there's some light in here, I'll do the same thing, sort of just scan around the perimeter to see if there's any holes or false doors or anything.

You push past the already-ajar door and you can see, immediately to the left, there is a large cabinet that is tipped at an angle. Doesn't appear to be destroyed, necessarily, but it looks like it was pushed over and hit the wall and the cabinet doors are open towards the floor and the contents have spilled out into the ground beneath.

Even just glancing over, you can see that same oily residue is collected over it. To the right, you can see there's a bed that's angled odd in the corner, tossed elements of clothing and other personal effects that are across the ground, and also this thin layer of oil. What'd you want to do?

Just scan for any imperfections in the wall or secret incidences or... Make a perception check. Ooh, 22. 22. On the center of the wall, the back, and this room is the closest, the deepest in towards the rock built into the spire. You can see the base wooden board itself

is splintered and pushed away a little bit, and just glancing off to one side. You move past, your wheel gets stuck in one of those little bits of patches of sticky substance. You glance to where the wood has splintered a bit and you can see there's darkness behind it. Oh, I'll go and just see how big this hole is. Go ahead. Oh, yeah.

Pull it back a little bit. You can see it's roughly the same size as the one that you saw in the Weary Way. It's about a foot and a half wide to about a foot tall and seems to travel into the rock for a few feet. Do you have darkvision? I don't. I'm just relying on her.

I'm relying on Laura's balls. Yeah, I'll send it in front of him so he can see what he's doing. Okay, so are you getting to the doorway of the room as well? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, in order to shift it, you have to be able to have visual range.

So you're standing in the doorway there, avoiding the sticky substance there, sending the sphere over to look inside and from as far as the cast light in a 10-foot radius? Per orb, is it? Let me see. 10-foot radius, yes. So to where you can see the orb just sends 10 feet in,

you can see the tunnel continues to where the light vanishes with a slight downward curvature before it goes into darkness. I will cast Speak With Animals. Hey, do you want to go in there and go down in the hole and see what you can see? Yeah. I just start taking off. Okay, so you're going to head further down.

You move out of the range of the light, but you have darkvision as a rat. I've never done this before. I'm going to try to talk into Fearne's head. Okay. You can ask me rat language, and I'll translate back to you. Oh, right.

I'll squeak to you. But if I speak to Fearne, will her thoughts come back as Fearne? Only one way to find out. All right, I'm going to try to speak to her as she's going down. Can you think to me? You hear her clearly in your head,

as your mind is your own, even though you're in a rat form. Yes, I can. Yes, I can. I can hear you. All right, well, you know, we can talk for three minutes if you see anything. Okay, I'm just going to go really, really slow.

Okay, skittering past the edge of the light, 15, 20 feet, and you can see it's curving at a downward angle, and at about 25, 30 or so feet, the decline starts to get uncomfortable. see it's curving at a downward angle, and at about 25, 30 or so feet, the decline starts to get uncomfortable. You start noticing that gravity might begin taking over. Okay, so it's taking a bit of a drop. Now I can just, you know, go for it?

Wasn't the last drop like 1,200 feet or something? Yeah. Yeah, so maybe let's not. Okay. I,200 feet or something. Yeah. Yeah, so maybe let's not. Okay. I'm going to turn around. Okay. Below perception check. Minor detail left to roll. Orym is at the door between the two rooms

and I'm watching the front door. Okay. 15. Oh! 15. That's good. Okay, okay. A faint sound catches your ear. A faint sound catches your ear. That's good, that's good.

Oh wait, wait, wait. It's a clue. I think I have keen, keen... Something or other. Oh, it's keen smell, so I have advantage on, I have advantage on perception checks. That involved on smell. That's, right. Yeah.

A keen smell. You got it. With your ear. But isn't hearing smelling with your ears, Matt? More or less. Okay. That's how rats work. Exactly, totally. Quick roll, teaching you historical nature.

Big science buffs here. We are. We're pretty bad at it. This faint sound begins to catch your rat ears in the darkened tunnel. You have this weird liquid squeezing sound. You have this weird liquid squeezing sound. Oh, a squeezing sound.

It's squeezing sound? It's getting louder. I don't like that. I'm going to turn around and make my way out. Okay. Make your way out. You go ahead and... There's a weird, squishy sound. Weird, squishy sound.

You begin to hear it, too. Weird, squishy sound. It's coming up, so prepare yourselves or try to slam the hole shut once I come out. Okay. Something's coming. How much is your speed as a rat? 20 feet. Okay. Something's coming.

False light. I would double speed that, by the way. Yeah, I'll double speed it. Mage armor. Okay, you cast Mage Armor. You're looking towards the doorway between the two with Imogen. Yeah, I'm double speed it. Mage armor. Okay, you cast Mage Armor. You're looking towards the doorway between the two with Imogen.

Yeah, I'm in the doorframe to both rooms, looking at the front door in case anyone can come behind us. Okay, then Imogen would be within the door of that chamber. Yeah, I would be in the room. Right, with fresh cut grass right there at the edge. What are the other three doing? Cast False Life, and I'm going to back far away,

but stay in visual range, if I can. Of the doorframe? Yeah. Okay. I'm going to try and find an empty corner of the room and just brace myself to charge. Okay. Yeah, I'll put a back to any of the windows to cover the second entrance.

Okay, got it. Are we getting ready for a fight? Is that what's happening here? Something sounds gross. We're hearing wet farts come up that hole. I will use, if we're prepping, I will cast Sympathetic Binding and bind myself to,

let's say, Orym and Imogen. You said there was a plank? Is there anything over the wall that I could patch it with? You can get rock hard. From what you're seeing right now, it looks like the wood has been pulled away and there's the hole behind it. So you'd have to press it against it to do so.

But you just casted False Life on yourself. I did? Yeah. So this is happening too fast, is what you're saying. As you cast False Life on yourself, you all begin to hear in that back room that sound, it gets louder and louder. And just as you all get yourself ready,

you watch the plank push past. And coming out from this hole, you see this pale dwarven face squeeze out. No! Just this odd, glistening liquid across his face. The eyes pulled back. It's like, ow! I love it!

As it squeezes out, you can see the shoulders broken back. As it cracks into the sides. We're going to go to break. Oh! That's cool. Did I make it out? Huh? You just made it out as it merged.

That's probably where it's the best. A little rat was riding and going like, . Just riding in space? Yeah. You had just enough movement to keep just above it. Ew. Ew, that's disgusting! I love it. Yeah. Ew. Ew, that's disgusting.

I love it. I love it. Remember X-Men movie? That was partially the inspiration for this, actually. Oh, yeah. So we'll pick up on that here shortly. We'll see you in a little bit. I love it. I love it.

Hello, Critters. This is Ashley Johnson, president of the Critical Role Foundation, our 501c3 nonprofit organization with a mission that might sound familiar, to leave the world better than we found it. We partner with other nonprofits to raise funds supporting causes that mean a lot to us. And we allocate 10% of all donations to an emergency relief fund that allows us to provide immediate assistance in the case of natural disasters or other unexpected emergencies that require quick action. To learn more about the Critical Role Foundation and to donate, visit criticalrolefoundation.org.

Welcome back. Nice. Well, I guess we should roll initiative. Yay! Yeah. Random noises. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Wait, I'd like to not touch that.

Bring out the toothpaste dwarf! I stole your tactic. Organize it. Oh, I thought you said something. Bring out the toothpaste dwarf! I stole your tactic. Organize it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Once he's out of the tube, there's no putting him back. Okay. Thanks, Gil. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You did this. The neighboring houses, too?

Oh, as I do that, I am so sorry. This is extensive. He has a merge. Oh no. Cool. Right over here. Which means it would put you right there. Hi, little rat. Fresh cover, I can't. Right about there. Oh dear.

You guys could be this way. Yeah. There's me. There's you in the doorway right there. Yep. Door. Laudna said you were on it, keeping visual, but in the back of the room. Dorian is the big fat one.

Are you in the living room back in the room, or were you guys in the bedroom? Dorian was a door the whole time. Dun dun dun! He was hiding in place. Behind the window over there. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, what did you say? Oh, there we go.

I didn't know if he said you were in the living room or in the bedroom. I was back, oh, I backed far away. Okay. We never went into the kitchen, did we? Like, never? Laudna did it at the very beginning. Oh, you did, okay. You tried to use Presiditation

over towards the edge of the wall there with the stone. Okay. This makes me fully, I get now what you meant with the, cool. Yeah. Just the visual. So where's this creature coming out of? I made no sense. Right there. I made sense.

Yeah, and this is all the rock wall that leads up to this, the second part of there. All right, so 25 to 20. Is he still in semi-goose state? Nobody. Ooh! We've been rolling so good on him. We all got startled by the birth. Yeah. Yeah.

Ah! Ah! I like it! 20 to 15? 16. 17. Okay, okay. I hope this doesn't awaken something in me. Who has the higher dex for me?

I wish it was me. Oh, I've got the same dex as you. Oh right, rollies! Yep, rollies. Yeah! Oh. You both rolled bad. One.

Oh! Wait, did bad. One. Oh! Wait, did you guys, I'm 15. No, we're 17. You're 17. Rollies is the ultimate equalize. Are you 15? It really is. Let's be fair. So Laudna and Orym are at 16. I'll get rid of my ones on Rollies.

Okay, and then 16, 16? Yeah, Orym and then Laudna. Ready? 15 to 10? 16. 15. Above loudness, 16. All righty. 10 to five?

Seven. Seven. Oh! Rollie! Wait, no, wait, wait. Who's dex is higher? I don't care, I just want to do roll. All right, let's do it, go for it. Sure, I'll roll.

19. Uh, nine. Okay. 19. Nine. Okay. What is your dex, by the way? 16. Oh, you would've gone first. It's those little wheels. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

How do we resolve this now, Matt? We've got two competing things. You both pick. Rollies. Okay, so I'll go first. Rollies, Rollies. Rollies always wins. Okay. I thought you were going to use Rollies. No. Besides your Rollies. Okay, so I'll go first. Rollies. Rollies. I'll make it, that's for sure. Rollies always win. Rollies always win.

Okay. I thought you were going to use rollies. No. Besides your rollies. Tops the combat round. How do we take rollies again, I guess? Top the combat round. Ah! Squeezes out and like,

interesting, and goes and pulls his blades out and like, Interesting. Goes and pulls his blades out and is immediately, since you're in proximity, doesn't even think you are a threat, you're a rat. Instead is going to go straight into fresh cut grass. Question, I said hex right before break. Did I get the hex or did I not get the hex? Uh.

How's it going to? Did I get the hex? Please I not get the hex? Pass it through. Did I get the hex? The proximity of events was these things were happening as you were all taking your one round of prepare. Okay, okay, okay. In which you cast False Life on yourself. Okay. So by the time you would have seen him to begin casting,

it's when initiative would have kicked in, essentially. But you can on your turn when we get to it. So I was going to go ahead and take four attacks against you, Fresh Pop Grass. So he's going first? He is, he rolled a radish roll 19 on initiative. Oh, duggers. That is going to be a 20 to hit.

Hits! This is with a short sword that he's pulled out. That's nine points of piercing damage to you. That'd be bad. That happens. Just stabs it in you, or slashing damage, sorry. Yeah, that'd be bad. Next attack is going to be 16 to hit. 16 is my armor class. All right.

You take eight points of slashing damage. Then it's going to go ahead and take the rapier in the other hand and try and take it to you there. That's going to be a 12 to hit. Miss! And 15 to hit. Miss! And 15 to hit. Miss! There you go.

Hacks at you twice, tries to pierce twice, and you just scooting back and forth. Nice, nice, nice. And is going to go ahead and, as a bonus action, going to go ahead and cutting action and dash out of the way. Uh-oh.

Onto the side and leap onto the slightly tilted dresser. As he pushes onto it, cracks into it, lands on it, and is now right up in your face. He meets you and he goes, Come to let me finish the rest of you. As you get close, you can see the bones have cracked back into place, and now the stocky dwarf body is there.

However, there's still that weird, glistening, similar oily film you see on everything emerging from him, these blackened veins that curl up the side of the face. Now that you're up close and personal, the eyes are almost completely black like the other shade creepers that you've seen in the previous encounter. There's just something extremely unnatural about him.

He's hunched forward with the heavy cloak. That's going to go ahead and finish his turn. At this point. He stocked up during the pandemic. Okay, way out of business. There is a slight rustling sound in the chamber over here. Is this? Oh no, there's another thing?

Pushes open to reveal. There's another hole! Oh no. Didn't quite roll high enough to find. What? Where? Oh, no. Not again. A shade of fever emerges.

Fuck! It has already. Dang, dang, we're in tight spot. Right, we're in tight spot. Finishing that, we are going to Ashton with Imogen on deck. Okay, just because I'm having trouble with the grid. That's where you are there.

Yeah, where's my 30-foot arc, out of curiosity? 30 is about here. Okay, I'm going to... Sorry, 30 would be here, my bad. But also, all this furniture does make elements of this rough terrain. Technically, would I have issue with the rough terrain since I'm Earth Genasi?

What's it say about the ability specifically? It says that you can move across difficult terrain made of earth or stone without extra movement. It is, I would say it's made difficult because of furniture, not because of being like rough stone or earth. No, no, no, I'll take it. You're still a rat.

You can drop it for free whenever you want to on your turn, though. I am going to move as far against the wall as I can and position myself for an attack. 10. Moving this way? Yeah. 30, what's your movement?

30. 30, I can see about there. You're stepping up onto some of the broken furniture. Actually, no, with the rough terrain here, we're in 510. We're going to get you there because you had to move over some of the benches and furniture and stuff. So that's your 30 feet right there. All right, and I'm just going to hold an attack for if anyone gets anywhere near me.

Okay, is that your turn? Yeah. All right. Finishing Ashton's go. Imogen, you're up. Okay. Come on, Imogen. All right, Finishing Ashton's go. Imogen, you're up. Okay. Come on, Imogen. All right, I'm going to, I wonder if he's smart. I'm going to just look up at him and send my arm out really fast

and cast Tasha's Mind Whip so he feels a flash of psychic energy hit his brain. Yeah. All right, is that a saving throw for him? Intelligence saving throw. Intelligence saving throw. That is not going to succeed at all. Awesome.

All right. In that case, he takes 3d6 psychic damage. Sick. Oh well. 11, 14 points of psychic, no, 13 points of psychic damage. And you have to, on your next turn, you must choose, wait, you can't take your reaction until the end of your next turn. No, you can't. Good call.

And on your next turn, you must choose if you move, get an action, or a bonus action. You can only get one of the three. Good call, good to know, okay. So since you cannot use your reaction, I am going to move away from you. Okay. I'm going to move as far away from you as I can,

probably into this back corner, if it's possible. I'd like you to make a strength saving throw for me, please. Oh, okay. Why? Oh, that's really good. 19 plus. 19. You begin to pull back and you feel that stickiness in the ground right where the door where you were standing

and didn't realize that you had stepped into begins to pull at your boot, but you pull yourself free and manage to maneuver. So where do you want to go? I want to back away from him, like maybe onto that box in the corner. Or like, can I get, sorry. I want to back away from him, maybe onto that box in the corner. Or can I get, sorry.

Can I get over the table on the other side of him? Dink, dink, dink. Yeah, right. Oh, yeah, right there. Why not? I'm going to stand on a table. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 30, 30, yeah, so you can get on the table there. Okay. You got it.

So finish your turn? Seems like it. All right. Now the shade creeper's turn. It's going to leap over the box and rush forward up to the table to meet you onto its back. Seeza!

Clambers up and curls over. You can see the cloth flittering past underneath, the clawed, grayish, fleshy arms pulling past and breaking some of the wood as it comes for you. It's stretchy, tooth, mouth with no nose, features in the beady black eye staring at you as it goes forward to Takumas claws. Natural 20.

Oh! Good boy! That's going to bring us to 11 points of piercing damage. Cool, cool. Plus? Oh jeez. You're lucky.

Six points of necrotic damage. Are we bonded? We're bonded. What does that mean? Nothing yet. Wait, whoa, really? Wait, did that really just do that? 17 points.

Are you down? Are you down? She's not down. Not yet. She ain't down. Pretty dang close. Did you remember, we had a long rest. You did heal up, right? Sure, I only have 19 points total. What?

Sorceress, man. Oh no. Okay. All right. That finishes the creature's turn. As it claws past you with both of its claws, tears into your chest, leaps up, and is clambering onto your torso, trying to bite for your throat. They were both, it was a double hit

for one roll to hit? Yeah, it's considered its claws. Okay. Finishing its go, now it's Orym with Laudna on deck. What you got? Okay, so Orym springs from the doorway and lands on the dresser next to Slimey. All right.

I got him, he's done, it's done. There you go. That'll put you right there. Easy peasy. All right. Okay, blade out, and I'm going to try to spiral his blade down into the dresser again. I'm going to do a disarming attack.

Okay. That is, shit, no, wrong thing. Nah, that's just a 10, that's not going to hit. What do I want to do next? That's it, I'm just going to stand my ground. Okay. That's it. Okay. That finishes your go,

brings us to Laudna with Fearne on deck. All right. You know it, you've seen it. You currently do not have an eye visual on him since he jumped up into the corner to attack Laudna, but you can see where Orym is trying to slash over to something just beyond the doorframe. Oh, and I can see the shade creeper in front of me, correct?

You can see the shade creeper, yes. Yeah. So I crack my neck and my spine starts expanding as the black veil comes over my face and the familiar black tears, and I go into my Form of Dread. All right. And I lunge forward a little bit on the table and...

Like, towards the table, you mean? Yes, and do an Eldritch Blast. Eldritch Blast. Go for it. To the shade creeper in front of me. Throw my legs. Through her legs. Shoo! Roll for attack. Ooh, that's good, I'm going to keep it. 19 plus, oh, five.

Oh, what is, okay. And then, sorry. Sorry, where's my, here it is. Oh god, sorry. Sorry. Where's my, here it is. Oh god. Blessed. Okay, five damage. He has to make a wisdom saving throw. Wisdom's alive.

Or? He's frightened. I rolled a seven, so it is frightened of you. Okay. That runs away. It runs away. I look at it and I just take my fingers in the corner of my mouth and I spread them

unnaturally far apart to my ears and go like, . Oh my god. You can see it starting to scramble back over it immediately. It jumps off of Imogen's torso and is now trying to make some sort of escape. I don't know if I can hit it on its way away from me. If it's running.

Not running yet, it's beginning the process of it. It's not his turn yet. All right, that finishes your turn, Laudna. Yep. Fearne, you're up with Fresh Cut Grass. Oh god. I'm back. Okay, as a bonus action, I'm going to drop my Wild Shape. All right.

Fruit! Well, you don't have to drop it. I don't think dropping it is a bonus action. I think it's a free action, isn't it? I think it is a bonus action. Let me just double check. To use it, it is. Is it a bonus action or a trap?

You can stay in B-shape for one hour before reverting back to your normal form, or as a bonus action earlier if you fall unconscious or drop to hit zero hit points. Gotcha, I missed some time. Okay, so maybe, but. It's the same amount of bonus action. So yeah, bonus action, turn back.

You're right, you're totally right. Been a while since we same. It's almost the same. It's the same amount of bonus action. Yeah, bonus action, turn back. You're right, you're totally right. Been a while since we had a Drew campaign. That feels weird. Been a while! Been a while! Okay. There it is. Yeah, double, double. I'm not sure.

I feel like it doesn't make sense that I would get this right and not you. You got it, you got it, you got it right. Okay, okay, okay, okay. So, phew! I am going to, can I get over to him? You can move over if you want to climb up into the corner where Orym currently has him pushed into the edge

and step up onto here. Yeah, I'll try to go on the other side. Perfect. You can get up into melee with him, yes. And I'm going to reach my hands out and cast Burning Hands on his chest. Oh shit! Okay. Yeah, it just fills the corner.

You're essentially point blank torching him up into the very stone corner of this chamber. That will be dexterity saving throw on his point. That is 19. Ooh! I believe succeeds. That saves. So half damage, so go ahead and roll. Okay. Okay. Oh.

Oh. Okay, so 19, so eight points of damage. Points of heart damage. All righty. That finish your go for you? Yeah. Yes. All right, Fresh Cut Grass, you are up with Dorian on deck.

As my bonus action, I will imbue, I don't think it's a spell, it's just a feature, Ardent Armor on Imogen. Okay, yeah, yeah. Which gives you four temporary hit points because we're bonded. Bonded. Ooh, I get tingly.

Yes, you do. Then I can still cast a spell, so I will cast Command at the creature man. What is this? It's a wisdom 13 save. Got it. Failed on a natural two. I will utter the command, alphabetize.

Okay. Wow. You got it. Okay. Wow! You got it. Wow! Okay, does that finish your turn? You want to move anywhere or save it? I'm going to move as far away from it as I can. Everything!

Make a strength saving throw for me, please. Strength? Oh, because I'm going through the goop? Yep. Ew. Two, doesn't seem right. You go. I'm stuck. You are stuck right now until the beginning of your next turn. You have to make another save to keep this going.

Got some gum. All right, that finishes your go. That brings us to Dorian. Cool. I am going. Did I see the creature come out of a hole behind that crate or did he just appear? You heard the crate begin. What did I say?

Oh no, I'm scared. From where you were standing, you saw the crate begin to shift and you saw it emerge from behind the crate. So you have not seen the hole, but you get the sense from your previous experiences. Go, come on, break straight for the hole. I'd like to, can I get there in 30 feet?

Five, 10, make a strength save for me, if you'd like. All right. Oh, the goop. Oh, the goop! Oh, it's even represented on the box. Yeah, if you look on the feet. Goop. It's like,. Goop, goop, goop, goop.

13. 13, not a problem. It's sticky, but you push past. You have to roll really shitty, like FCG did. 25. Yeah, you'd be able to vault past this box, 30, and get right to where the hole in the wall is. Okay, and it is a hole. Yes. Cool.

I've got a bag of caltrops, and I'm going to pull them out for my action and just throw them down in front of the hole. Yeah, easy enough to do. Yes. Okay. In front of it or inside of it? Yeah, in the entrance, but all the way front of the hole. Yeah, easy enough to do. Yes. Okay. In front of it or inside of it? Yeah, in the entrance, but all the way down into the hole. Okay, so you scatter it around the front and so

All right, and as you're there, you can hear scratching sounds getting louder. Good fucking idea. All righty. Then for my bonus action, I'll call it to Imogen and be like, best of luck! And I'll cast Bardic Inspiration.

All righty. So you get a d6 Inspiration dive when you want to use it. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome, all right. Finishing Dorian's go, top of the round. It is now Duggar's go. Duggar, who's right there in front of Orym, and now Fearne, who goes, Duggar,

Grapier, short sword. And that's his action. Oh my god! Wow. And that's all he can do is an action. That's all he can do, yeah. Oh my god. So that's his turn. That's great.

All right. Alphabetize. The next bit here. That's the next bit. Okay. You hear the scraping sounds getting louder and louder, and then you hear two different voices screeching in pain as two of

two shade creepers push past and emerge next to you. Uh-oh. I know. They come out with all of these damaged points jammed into them, and they look pretty hurt at the get-go. Great. Nicely done. They both come out, but they're both like,

. They're both going to try and attack you. They do have you concerned. Concerned. So with advantage on that, that's going to be a 19 to hit. Oh yes. All right.

You take four points of piercing damage, plus 10 necrotic. Fuck. The other one is going to be 15 to hit. That's my request. That does hit, okay. You take another four points of piercing damage. Nice. Man.

And four points of necrotic. Blah! Better be slow. Damn. All right. That's their go. That brings us to Ashton with Imogen on deck. Okay, I am not 30 from Dugger, am I? There's just no way to get there in 30 feet

from what I can tell. Dugger, you can move around here and get into the center point there and you'd be within melee. Would, there's goo there, though, isn't there? There is. Or I could just go straight in. Okay, you know what?

Yeah, I'm feeling like that might be the wise thing to do. It's your call. At this point. Okay, first off, I'm going to rage. Yes. Which actually might change the decision of what I'm going to do. Oh yeah, that makes life real weird. So we're going gravity this time?

We're going gravity, which makes, yeah, gravity's going to be really interesting. All right, I'm going, I'm going to head towards Dugger at full speed. Okay. So we're going to go 10, 15. When he gets you right there, and so now you are just past the doorway,

foot in the ground, the air around, like everyone, you feel suddenly the air get a bit thicker, and the ground seems to pull you slightly heavier. Just a hint, a noticeable presence, and you all look back and you see Ashton coming into the room. I'm taking a swing at this person. I'm just going to take a normal screen.

I'm not going to do anything fancy yet. Whoa, that hopped. Easy. What number is that? I can't actually. What? What the hell is that? I'm going to call it a five because it's... What? 12 to hit? 12 to hit. You have a die?

Call it a five. I can't actually, I used a weird die that has a weird font. You sure did. Yeah, so I'm going to put that away. That's okay. So that misses. Since your spell is finished, he gets his, at the end of his next turn,

he gets his reaction back. Ancient Sumerian. So he is going to use reaction for Slippery Dash. Slippery Dash. And so as you miss, he actually jumps in the air, your hammer hits the ground, he jumps onto the hammer, then darts onto your head, and then jumps out into the next room.

Free of opportunity attacks? Free of opportunity attacks. How far away from you? What do you call Slippery Dippery? To about there. How far? Right up onto the... Right over by where Imogen is. How far away from me?

Actually, no, it would've been... Probably would've gone for you first. So that would be 20 feet from you. Fuck. Do we each get an attack advantage from you? Neither of you do. No. Slippery dash. Damn! That slippery dash

will get you every time. Yep. That's really My command only lasted for his turn, not for after his turn. What's that? My command only lasted for his turn. Correct. Not anything after. Correct. Command is, on the next turn, they have to do what you command them if they fail.

All right, does that finish your turn? I mean, do I still have a little bit of movement left? You would have 10 more for you to move. I'm going to dart. Make a shank check. Okay. As you stepped right into the puddle of the valkyr. Yep, that's fine. That's, god, these are hard to read.

My own fault. 12. Use the same die again? No, a are hard to read. My own fault. 12. Use the same guy again? No, a different one. We use a different one. Okay, that finishes Ashton's go. Imogen, you're up. Okay. I'm going to use my telekinetic shove and try to shove this guy away from me five feet

so I can move without him getting an attack of opportunity. You got it. All right. This guy here? Yeah. Yeah, that's 11. Yeah, he is. I think he's pushed back this way, just off the edge of the table,

onto that element there. Okay. After that, I'm going to hop off of the table towards the door. Okay. But I'm going to hop off of the table towards the door. Okay. But I'm going to stop behind Ashton. Okay. Right there? Yeah. You got it.

We're not behind Ashton. Not directly behind him, but a little off the side. A little off the side? So that I can still shoot around him. And I'm going to... Ready to flex some shit? I'm going to cast Dissonant Whispers at Dugger. Open up my mind and shove it all at him.

You got it. That is a wisdom save, you said? Yes. 12. Yes. So that's 3d6. Bam, bam, bam. Bam, bam, bam. That's not very good.

Six, eight points of psychic damage. And in addition to that, he... What does he do? He moves as far away as he can from me because he's scared. He does. Yeah, that's cool. Anybody near him gets an attack of opportunity,

but that doesn't really matter because You do get an attack of opportunity physically if you want one. It's like a zero. I don't do anything. I'll see him and just go like, ah, being startled. And I, oh, okay.

You rolled really well. I rolled really well. Okay, but it's a minus three to my attack, right? With strength. So 14. Misses. Great. So sorry. All righty. So as Duggar runs past you and back to the door,

that finishes your turn, Imogen? Yes, it does. My question, if he has to run as far away from me as he can, would that have put him out of the door or would he have stayed in the room? The door is currently closed. Okay, so that's how it works. So yeah, I mean,

if he runs away from you, look at the specific rules. He has to move away, but he doesn't have to. Move as far as its speed allows away from me. Correct. As long as it its speed allows away from me. Correct. As long as it's not into obviously dangerous ground. I wonder if that means if it were a smart creature, it would move towards the door.

If it was a dumb creature, it would just find a corner. Yeah, I know, I don't know. No, I would say for this point, he would actually try and push through the door. Who closed the door behind you as you came in? Who was the last person in? I think it was Orym. We all rushed in.

Would you have locked it behind you or would you have kept it open? We definitely closed it because there was a submerge. Yeah, I'm sure. I know it's closed. I don't remember you locking it, but I remember thinking, don't lock it. I didn't think, well, yeah, but Matt's asking.

Yeah, Matt's asking, you were the last one. He was the last one in, and not wanting people to walk in behind us, he would have locked it. Okay, so then that's as far as it gets. He tries to and not having the time to go for any key mechanism, spins around, weapon's still out.

Just growls and emits a long sigh. All right, that finishes your go. Technically, the shade creepers would have gone this round, but I did the same round for that. So just the one that's frightened of you, which cannot get closer to you, because it's frightened. So it's going to maneuver over to Laudna. Actually, I think it's afraid of Laudna.

It's not afraid. Oh, sorry, you're right. Yeah, it's not afraid of. So then it's going to go ahead and move over to Imogen. Okay. It runs, you're still in sight, or does it have disadvantage on its attacks? Would it have started within 15 feet of me? It would have.

So it has to, It doesn't matter. It gets pulled 10 feet towards me, regardless. That's true. So here, five, 10. That's cool. Tank. So yeah, it pulls towards you, and then it's right there, but now it's in melee with you as well.

Yeah, so it still gets to decide. Yeah. Correct, yeah. So it hit me. So it's going to attack you, Imogen. With disadvantage. With disadvantage, yeah. So it'll hit me. So it's going to attack you, Imogen. With disadvantage. With disadvantage, correct. Which brings it to, because it's frightened of her

and still with an eyesight, that puts it at 11. It doesn't hit me! Hey! It goes to strike towards you and you rear back, but the magical mage armor suddenly lights up and you see it dash off the strike, no effect against you.

Finishing its go, Orym, you're up with Laudna on deck. Okay, so Orym saw Imogen get rocked, so he's going to leap down into the doorway, run up right in front of her and nudge her back with his shield arm. I'm going to spend a superiority die to switch places with her. Okay.

You gain two points to your AC. You, through this turn. So your AC is two higher. Really? Does that buff with my mage armor that I did, too? Yeah. Whoa! Yeah, I'm standing in front of you. Just holding the shield in front of this little weirdo. You got it. Yeah.

Okay, that finishes your go. Laudna, you're up with Fearne on deck. All right, I'm going to back up, if I can, towards the back wall, as far as I can, and I'm going to bane, of course, the Dugues. Natural 19. Sorry, he resists it.

Ah! Oops! Dukes! Sorry. Duganator! Oh, Duganator. I'll bane this one that's threatening my friends. Right here? Yeah. All righty. Then I'll bane...

Gosh, I have one more. I guess just this one who's closest. You got it. Bane. Bane. Dude, those don't count as? That guy goes to save and see if he's frightened. He's no longer frightened of you. But he is not. But he is Bane.

Does Bane not count as, because it's as if you hit something in it? But that has to be an attack roll, correct? Is Bane? Attack rolls and saving throws have minus 1d4, but technically it would have made it save before it got Bane, so. No, I mean, with my form of dread,

does Bane make them have to do a wisdom save or be afraid of me? It's not an attack. That's what I thought. Yeah. It just says if you hit a creature. Hitting something means you rolled an attack with it. I'm pretty sure. Cool. Pretty sure. Cool.

Pretty sure. We'll look it up. Oh man. But anyway. That finish, is that you want to stay? That's my turn. Okay. Yeah, that's what I got. Love you. I know, me too.

That's what I got. Fearne, what you got? Okay. That's the doogs over, next to Ashton? Yeah. Correct. Okay, so I'm going to... Within attack roll. Within attack roll? Yeah.

I'm going to get myself into that room. Okay. You can move over here. Great. And I am going to shoot three Scorching Rays. Okay. At Mr. Dugger.

All three at him? Where are the other ones again? There's one right there, and there's two over there. Oof. I wonder if they'll be called off if he... I'm going to do two at him and one at one of the guys, one of the little ones over there. Over by Dorian? Yeah, you choose.

You got it. It's just up to you. Sure, okay. One of them is Bane. Okay, so. So roll for attacks against Tucker. First one does not hit. Second one hits. What'd you roll for the second one?

18 plus. It definitely hits, yeah. Okay. Then for the other guy? 19. Hits. So roll 2d6 damage for the hit on Dugger. Okay. Four for the hit on Dugger. Okay. Four for the first one. And seven for the second one.

Seven for the second one. Hey! One, you hit Dugger, like, gets hit and you see it bounces off the shoulder a bit, burns him, but not terribly. You fire the second one and it arcs just past the box and the one that's standing above on top of it hits the one on the other side of Dorian

and you watch them just and explode. Oh, they do explode. Well, it lands. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw for me, please. Whoa! Pardon. These ones aren't like the other ones. Uh-oh, I think I fell in my lap.

15. 15? You take one point of fire damage. That's not bad, that's not bad. As it burns to ash, but you shrug it off. Okay, Fearne. And as a bonus action, I am going to bring my staff to life.

Okay. I'm going to have to move these snakes at some point. They're ready to life. Okay. I'm going to have to move my snakes at some point. They're ready to go. Snakes are ready, you got it. Okay, finishing Fearne's go, brings us to Fresh Cut Grass with Doreen on deck. Oh boy. No one's in the room with me?

Nope, you're alone. And I'm stuck in the beer puddle, right? Make a change track for me, please. All right. Oh boy. Six. Six? Your speed is zero. You are stuck, you're like.

How's it going over there? You got to get some water. I need some salt or some sand or something. I'm spinning out! You can just barely see Fearne and Imogen in the next room. And I can't see any baddies, so I guess I'll just have to support them.

How are you doing, Imogen? Something really dripped. It was just, that was just crazy. That's tough, man. Drip, drip. Love that. Yeah. Boy, oh boy.

I can see Imogen, Fearne, and a bit of Ashton. Oh, okay, then that's it. Imogen and Fearne are the only ones you can see from this perspective, where you are. I don't know who's doing what. I guess I'll help Imogen, but I don't know what to help her with, so. Aren't you fucked up? She's hurt.

She's real hurt. Yeah, I know, I can do Healing Word. That's not going to do much, but maybe I can do it at a higher level. Can I do it at a higher level? Does that work? Does that scale? Yeah, because 2d4 is opposed to 1d4. I'll do a second-level Healing Word.

Go for it. Okay. Okay, that's 2d4. Three. Okay, that's 2d4. Three. Three, that's six plus... That's your wisdom modifier. Three. So nine points? Nine points.

That's great! There we go. Okay, that helps. More than halfway to four. That's right. What's the healing word? Level three. The healing word is... Caleb remembers. Carpe diem!

Well, when we're in a real shitty situation, you just got to seize it, you know? Seize the shit. Thanks, letters. Sure. All right, does that finish your turn? That's a bonus action, right? So what can I do as an action?

Can you try to unstick yourself as an action? Is that? Oh boy. If you want to spend an action to try and break free, I'll allow it. Okay, I can't cast another spell, so what I'll do as an action then, because I still got my grapple thing, I'll fire it and try to pull myself forward.

Interesting. Okay, yeah. So you go ahead and get the grapple arm out and go ahead and fire it. Go ahead and roll a strength check with advantage. Okay. 13. Two. Easy enough to do.

Yeah. You pull yourself forward. Yay! Rollies! Catch yourself there. You land in another bit of muck. Yay! For Broly! Yes! Catch yourself there. You land in another bit of muck. We'll deal with that next round. But at least you have a visual range of the chamber.

All right, that finishes your go. Dorian, you're up. Fearne nuked the second guy, right? Correct. So it's just one of you won right now? Mm-hmm. Cool, pull out mine. You hear more skittering coming from down the hole. Skittering!

How much skittering? How close is the skittering, do I get to know? It sounds like it's getting closer. Ah, fluff. In the midst of all the sound and chaos around you, you're unable to really ascertain how close. I have kids. They better be a bet.

Yeah, okay, I'll do this quick then. I'll pull up my Moontouch Scimitar and I'll take a swipe at the creep up there. Go for it. Okay, beep boop, beep boop, beep boop. That's a two! That's just right. Sweet.

Oof, it jumps in the air, ha ha! And just skitters into the air around it, scraping the back wall, no impact. Oh, I hate you! Then I'll clip my axe and I'll go another go for two-handed combat. Come on. Please?

Whoa! Does that count as cocked? Probably not. It's very bad. No. I'm going to miss again. That would be, maybe not, 11. 11 misses, unfortunately.

Oh, dang it! It will slippery dash away. Slippery dash. No, not the slippery dash! Head over into that space. With more on the way. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Slippery dash into the boy's head.

All right. That finishes your turn. Slippy Dash. Slippy Dash. You can move if you want to. I want to move. Yeah, where do you want to move? I want to move away from the skitter hole because I'm all fucked up.

That's my station. Where can I even go to get me? I'm going to get swiped at everywhere, aren't I? Can I vault over that and try to get over to Orym's left without getting tagged? You can try it. So it's getting over there. Oh, it's gooey. Make a strength check.

Oh, well, this is going to go great. I'm sure. Strength saving throw, sorry. Fuck me! Six. No! Six. Robbie! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to mix them up. I'm going to mix them up. I'm going to mix them up.

I'm going to mix them up. You miss twice. Vault over the box, going towards Orym, and then caught right there. Gum! Ah, gum trap! All right. Did you say cum trap? No! I don't. Never! I have kids!

Never! That's it. Dugger. That should it. Dugger. Dugger's going to go ahead and like, Oh my god. Oh, this'll be fun. Is Dugger within? Right next to me, or?

No, Dugger is way across the room from you. He's going to step forward, blades out, and walking forward towards the rest of your group. Not even looking at Laudna. Kind of barely making a glance over to try and make all four strikes against you. Use your shield! That is going to be a 14 hit.

Shield. Yeah! It deflects the first strike. First strike. The next strike is a natural one. Yes! Deflects the second one. The next strike is a natural one. Yes! Deflects the second one. Now the rapier's coming in. That is going to be a 26 to hit.

Oh! And a 21 to hit. Ooh! So the two rapier strikes come through. The two short swords deflected. Angrily comes back with the other two strikes for nine points of piercing damage for the first one and seven points of piercing damage for the second one.

Jeez. 16 total. Jesus. God, thank god he missed on the first two, though. And my temporary hit points. Oh, you had temporary hit points? Yeah. Cool. Yep.

So I'm actually okay. Okay, good. Pretty good, pretty good, pretty good. Is going to go ahead and then move slightly back there, after expecting it to just eviscerate you and pull back a bit and just look back at the rest of the group with a, come on,

the shoulder hunch curled down on the ground, ready. All right. With that, it's going to bring us to, you hear the skittering once more from that open, opening back there. Another one emerges from the hole. It does take damage from the caltrops that were thrown down there, however.

Nice. Not as much, but those are really messing up their entrances. Does it have to do that dex save thing when you do it? I think it's 15, and then their movement speed is reduced if they fail. Should I double check that? Does double check that. Oh, okay.

I'm saying for this, here's the thing. I'm doing this differently for the caltrops because this isn't so much trying to run past it. Right. This is creatures scrambling up a really short space and then grinding into them and pulling their way through. Okay. This is slowing their movement regardless.

They have no way to avoid it as they emerge. They take a little bit of damage as they come through. Okay. Yeah, you're weakening your strength. But at this point, the caltrops have been used. Three of them have come through and they've all been steadily damaged as they do. All right, finishing Dead Arrival.

Ashton, you're up with Imogen on deck. I'm going to saunter up to that asshole. Duggar, avoiding as much sticky as I can. Yeah, there's none in this spot here. Can I slowly start to rotate around them and try and get them into a good position? Against Laudna. You mean over here?

Try and into a flanking position. With Laudna? Yeah. You can five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You could certainly try. Sure. All right. So you move around. There is an attack opportunity against you from the creeper right The creeper right there.

Suck it, and he also has Bane. He does. That is going to be seven. So it just lashes out into nothing, so far away from you, not even paying attention. Yeah. All right, so you move around. Yep, I move around.

Half standing on the bench there, as Dugger's right there. Getting up, setting up, and I'm going to take a, and I'm also going to make this a reckless attack. Okay, and you have him flamed. Oh, fair point. So, nevermind. That's, god, I'm going blind.

19 to hit. 19 does hit. And I'm going to put a Chaos Burst in that. Do it. Just for fun. Let's see if I can find the die. Ooh, of cold damage. So let's... So many dice with Barbarians.

Okay, here we go. Oh, god, I'm just being a beast. 17 points of my normal damage. Yeah, you should. I'm rolling so well when it comes to damage. Then five points of cold. So 22 total. Yes.

He's going to use his reaction to Uncanny Dodge that to 11. Cool. Damn. Dang. Takes the hit, but you see it glances off the back. It hits the hunch of the shoulders and it squishes a little bit.

It's gross. Is that your turn? Yep. Keep dodging, keep dodging. All righty. That brings us to Imogen's go. All right, I'm going to step up. Am I within melee range of that little dude? You are. Okay, then I'm going to step up. Am I within melee range of that little dude? You are.

Okay, then I'm going to step up next to him and I'm going to telekinetic shove him to the side so he's like five feet into the goop. Okay. He does not make it safe. Okay. So we shove five feet into that. And then my hair's going to start to float up

a little bit around me and you're going to see a little bit of to start to float up a little bit around me, and you're going to see a little bit of electricity start to climb up my arm a bit, and I'm going to cast Witch Bolt out onto Dugger. Okay, go ahead and roll an attack. Okay. Dugger. I'm adding my thing to that.

Yeah, so that's a 14 plus six. That's a 20. That does hit. Okay, great. Barg Inspiration came in handy. Yes. Yes. Okay, so that is a d12. Ooh! 11 points of electric damage. Nice!

And I'm just going to hold that beam on him. So he is currently now being a concentrated blast of Witch Bolt onto his form. Take that, Neil Patrick Harris. Have you hexed him yet? I thought you mentioned you were going to. I'm not. I have Bane up instead. That's right. Yeah.

Okay. So after the blast hits, the energy bursts out of the chest for a bit. You can now see it arcing through his body and places, lighting up around the dark cloak. You can see now from the impacts he's taken the cloak, a better look of the inside of the body and there's the dwarven form there,

but the shoulders and back is oddly swollen. Does that finish your turn? Mm-hmm. All right. It's now the shade creeper's turn. Oh no. This one's going to leap over and follow here. This one's going to rush forward there, and this one's going to go ahead and turn and. This one's going to rush forward there, and this one's going to go ahead and turn

and rush over to you there, Ashton. So that's to strike against from your back, the one that just emerged as you rush over and get stuck. It's going to come forward. That's going to be a 14 to hit. It does not. You just managed to duck out of the way and use your blade to parry its claws off to the side.

No effect. The one that's rushing towards you, Ashton, that's going to be a nine. It goes to strike towards you and you just deflect with the butt of the hammer. Barely even any effort. The one that's coming after you, Imogen, that's going to be a 14 to hit.

Does it hit? Does it hit? Oh! All three of them miss. Wow. They're just starting growling angrily. All right, that finishes their go. Orym, you're up with Laudna on deck. Oh boy.

And so Laudna is, okay. Okay. I'm going to Bolt and Risk an attack of opportunity. I'm going to run under Imogen's legs towards Doogie. Okay, it does take opportunity against you as you rush past it. That is going to be a 24 to hit. Whoa! It definitely hits.

Well, Bane doesn't make any difference there, does it? No, it does, actually. That brings it to a 20 to hit. Still hits. Okay. So you take, as it claws towards you, six points of slashing damage. Okay. Plus 12 points of necrotic. Whoa!

Double sixes. Okay, is there enough room for me to get here to account for flanking from Ashton? Ashton is flanking with Laudna. Oh, so they had already followed. Yeah, right now you're... Okay, all right. That's what it is then.

I'm going to use a bonus action to feint and attack. Go for it. So that's at advantage. Are you going to hit him for two days? Oh, that's a one, so I get to reroll it. You do. Yep, that is a 14 to hit on him. 14 to hit misses. Okay, action surge, I will attack again.

The short sword deflects your blade to the side. He knew you were coming. Okay, next one is 18 plus six, so that's 24 to hit on him. 14 to hit misses. Okay, action surge, I will attack again. The short sword deflects your blade to the side. He knew you were coming. Okay, next one is 18 plus six, so that's 24 to hit. That does hit, go ahead and roll damage. And this is going to be a a goading attack, so. Ooh. Ooh. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

That's going to be very interesting. Come on, come on. Five plus four is nine, plus the d8 is 11, and now any attack that's not on me is at disadvantage. That's great. 11 points of damage after Perry's the first attack to the side. Sorry, all I'll say is he parries me aside,

I reach out with a blade and get under his ear and pull out and cut him underneath. Okay, shh. As you catch him there, the blade goes past. A normal person would just go to the ear, but from where the shoulder is raised and hunched, you carve past and pull back, and as you do, he bundles forward, the cloak falls open a bit

from the slashing, and you can see the back itself is bulging a bit and something is quivering underneath before it pops. You watch as a shade creeper Oh no! Is back. He's got back babies. Gizmo, no! Ew, I hate it.

It is so foul. With no cloak, just its odd little skittering demonic humanoid-like body. In the trench coat. Yeah. Is he like, are they like? They'll go to the movies together. Trying real hard to get.

Yeah, yeah. So just one thing or we don't know? Grossest cyst. It looked like it's large enough, but there wasn't a lot of room for a second one for right now. Okay. It's too much work to see Tarantino.

No, I'm just saying. All right. Does it look like him? No. At all? It looks like all the rest of the shape creepers you'veino. I'm just saying. All right. Does it look like him? No. At all? It looks like all the rest of the shape creepers you see. It has his eyes. All right. He recoils from it. Angrily growls and gets his weapon to the ready.

Does that finish your turn? Sure does. All right, Orym, you're done. Laudna, you're up. Fearne on deck. Does your goading attack keep him from, it's focused on you? Well, that's up to Matt, but anything on anyone but me is at disadvantage.

All right. The idea is I've done something to piss him off. He has disadvantage against hitting anyone? On anyone but me. I'll also say that technically, he has disadvantage on hitting anyone but me as well. All right. Oh.

So I don't think there's a good option here. Not really. The two of you with your specific features right now have got him pinned real hard. Yeah, essentially. Okay, seeing this, this is a lot for Laudna, and I'm going to, after being hit, stumble backwards and away from him. I imagine you said that out loud.

I would like to know. This is Fjord Laudna! Fjord Laudna! I'm going to stumble back. He does not have his reaction because he used it to do that. Great, and I'm going to go and butt up with my Witches Be Bitches.

Don't make me use necromancy. Witches be bitches! Awesome squad moment here, and I'm going to bump into Fearne and look at Fearne, and I'm going to look at Imogen, and I'm going to start, once again, the Jacob's Ladder comes out, and I'm going to hold an Eldritch Blast

for when Fearne attacks. Okay, all right. Combo moves. You got it. All right, that finishes Laudna's go. Fearne attacks. Okay, all right. Combo moves. You got it. All right, that finishes Laudna's go. Fearne, you're up. Okay. So seeing this, making eye contact with my bitchy witches. No, witchy bitches.

Either way. Doesn't work. It's a changeable. It depends on the moment. I'm going to just step down real slowly and saunter over, hippily walking over to Dugger. Because you still have your witch bolt connected too, right? Yes, that's still going, yeah.

I'm going to take out my thorn whip and wrap it around his neck. Ooh. And try to turn him around towards Laudna. Okay. To get him ready. All right, is that an attack from you or a saving throw from him? It's an attack, so. You technically have advantage

because you are flanking with Ashton. I've got you. Ooh. Advantage, advantage, advantage. Okay. 15? 15 does not hit. Damn it! Oh! Okay, okay, okay, okay, that would've been cool. 15? 15 does not hit. Damn it!

Okay, okay, okay, okay, that would've been cool. So then. Do I keep holding mine? Bonus action! No, you were holding it until she attacked, so your attack still goes off. Okay, okay. Cool combo move!

Oh no, I can't use that because that's second level. Okay. That's it. Okay. Still using, Aery's going to do, still using, as her thorn whip goes out, I'm going to embrace that, and I'm going to try and grip the,

wrap the spell around her thorn whip and shoot it towards him. That's cool. So what you do is you go and you strike with the Thorn Whip. He ducks out of the way and as it spins around, the momentum of it, curving backwards, you fire your Eldritch Blast into the whip, which energizes it with her Eldritch Energy,

and you swing around for a second hit. With that, go ahead and you roll the damage for the- I just start laughing. I just go, oh wow! You see that your Thorn whip start to rot and get black and drippy for a little bit. So actually, I'm going to have her go ahead and roll the damage for that, if you want.

So go ahead and roll a d10 and add, what's your charisma modifier? My charisma modifier is a plus three. Okay, so go ahead and roll a d10, Fearne. Roll a d10? As you are delivering her Eldritch Blast via your thorn whip. Okay.

10. Hell yeah, okay. Woo! Hell yes. That is awesome. So Dux looks up with a grin, and as you start cackling and laughing, spitting around, he turns away and the whip wraps around his throat

and bursts into his neck and you hear him go in pain as he tears it off of his neck and you hear him go in pain as he tears it off of his neck and it comes back to you. That was fucking cool. Cool. It was nice. So, cool effect. If something like, for the record, combining effects like that and spells all forward,

if it manages to succeed on both sides, bonus damage, fun little things there, so always down for combo stuff. Cool. All righty, so does that finish your turn? Or your turn, because you were holding for that, yeah. Yes. Okay. I'm done. We're all going to burn together.

You got it. But stay close to him. Yeah, you're right there. Fresh Cut Grass, you're up. Dorian, on deck. That guy in front of me who's been baned, has he been hit yet? He's wounded, yeah. Okay. I'll try to take him out then before he gets to Imogen,

I guess. I'm not very good at attacking. A little shang tse first, since you are standing in the goop. Oh boy. Oh, 16. Yay! Whoa! All righty, so yeah, you're free to go. So what are you doing?

I will attack that creeper with, boy, I don't have many good attacks. So I'll do my Sacred Flame. So I'll do my Sacred Flame. All righty. Which is a thing that I do. With a natural eight, he does not succeed. So go ahead and roll damage.

It's only 1d8. Eight! Yay! Nice! Nice! Good demon rolls, y'all. Burns up from the flame and then turns to ash himself. I need Imogen to roll a dexterity save.

Oh no, did I burn you? It's okay. Oh no, that's fine. I rolled a pretty good save. 17. Three points of fire damage to you. Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay, I have seven fire damage points.

I don't know how these things work. It's fine, honey. It's a flame that shoots out of my chest. I can't control it. I'll move into the room and bonus action, I will imbue Orym through our bond with four hit points, temporary hit points. Aww. Mm-hmm-hmm. I can only do that once per connection, I assume.

Well, you can do it, it just takes you the bonus action to do it, but you can't stack temporary hit points either. Got it, so it's... So once the hit points are gone, then you can reset. I could re-give to Imogen if she got hit. You could, yes. Like, by a mean. Four is the max, exactly.

You can't give anybody more than four. Got it. All right, so that finishes your go? Yeah, that's it. Dorian, you're up. Oh man. One guy behind you. You can do it. Make a strength save right now to see if you can break free from this sticky substance.

Temporary, four temporary damage. Uh, 12. 12 succeeds. Oh, okay. It's a low DC. You break free. So I pull my sticky foot out of there and I just rub my head and I go, fucking, you can do this.

You were trained for this. And I turn around and face this guy and and I rub my head and I go, fucking, you can do this. You were trained for this. And I turn around and face this guy and then I lower my eyes and I go, ah, I hate you guys! Ah! Leaves me good. 24. Oh!

Definitely hits. Okay. Go ahead and roll damage on that. All right, so Moontouch Semictongue, I'll take a little swing. And that is a nine. Wow, nine points of damage. Angrily, you carve past, and you seem to

duck out of the way, and you're like, fuck, it didn't hit him. Go! No! It just slumps to the ground. Fighting torso. Ha! Ha-ha, fucking knew it! Then I'm going to turn around the other.

He burns into ash, make a dexterity saving throw. Oh shit! I don't even know if I can survive this. I'm going to do like 12. Two points of fire damage. It's amazing you shouted fucking Nuit and it exploded. Yeah. Just like a Miley Coyote face.

Straight up. Amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, where is everyone else? They're over on the corner. Yeah. Clumped around the slime. In the corner. Slime dude. How far am I from the Bane guy? You are about 20 feet from him.

That's perfect. I will turn to face him, and I'll use my bonus action for two-weapon fighting, but I've got my axe that I can throw. That's true. So I'm going to go, all right, ooh, lightning strikes twice, and I'm going to wing it at him. Fuck me, it does not.

That would be a seven. Oh no. It looks like it's about to, and instead, it sticks into the upside-down table about three inches from behind it, right there. One for two, one for two, not bad. But if you wanted to move up, you can catch up and retrieve it.

I will. I will run up and get the mix. You do that? Yeah. Slipping over the table to get there, and then, actually, if you want to avoid the sticky elements, you can stay on the table if you want to. I will. Great. Got it. Okay. That finishes your go.

All right, top of the round, it's Dugger's go. Dugger. Dug. Dug. Hey, Dug. Come on, Dug. Duggy, Duggy, baby. It's Dug, isn't it?

Okay, yeah. Duggy Fresh, come on. He's going to go ahead and shift this way. Still staying in melee. I'm still in deck. You watch his throat. Uh-oh. No. He bolts up like a bullfrog and then and a thicker oil-like substance

of the kind that has covered the room just emerges outward. Yeah, we're getting context here. Oh no, and everybody. Oh! So I need Imogen, Laudna, Fearne, and no, it's raised over there, and Orym to go ahead and make a,

yeah, it's just too short to get to fresh cut grass. I need you all to make dexterity saving throws for me, please. Do we have advantage? You do not. I don't know why I'm doing this. I think you're okay. I'm fine, I'm going to be great.

Is this a magical effect or a spell of some sort? It is not a magical effect. It's just some shit. It's just some nasty stuff. So from this point, Laudna? Natural one. Natural one. You take 12 points of necrotic damage.

Ouch. Sorry, poison damage to you. Oh. Are you in level 11? Um. I don't think I am yet, I know. You're rolling a second. Not yet, 12 points of poison damage.

Oh my god. So 12 points of poison damage. Oh my god. So 12 points of poison damage. 21. You take six points of poison damage. Okay. 16. 12, six points of poison damage. Actually, I don't roll again.

I just have resistance against the damage. So it's a low roll, it's an eight, so I can hit. So you take six points of poison damage. And I need you, and... Who failed? The failure was both of you. You are both also poisoned. As the slime begins to burn into your bodies

and you feel the sensation. That's good. Yeah. Sensation. No. I can get poison. At least right now I can get the result, I think. All righty.

I know, I know. Okay. I will let constitution save for my concentration spell. Okay, good looking out. You're good. And then as a bonus action, it's going to dash away. Attack. Attack.

Nope, because he has cutting action where he can disengage and use the rest of his movement. I was going to say, my gravity effect doesn't hold him back for that. It would just pull him back. No, it's top of the round and brings him in. Thanks. So that's going to finish his go.

Jeez. The skittering continues, because that hole is still open. Oh no! You got to block it. You got to plug that hole in. Plug that hole. No, put a crate in front of it. It's something, bro. I think they're going to come through the crate.

It's something. All righty. Oh man. Ashton, you're up. Imogen, you're on deck. I'm going to move. I'm going to circle around that shadow creature because Dugger ain't getting away from me. Okay, you're moving around this way? Yep. I'm going to get in their way.

Okay. I'm not going to create an attack of opportunity. And I'm going to Reckless Attack. Go for it. Come on, don't do anything stupid. So you're attacking the shape creeper? No, I'm attacking Dugger. Oh, I misunderstood. I'm anything stupid. So you're attacking the shade creeper? No, I'm attacking Dugger. Oh, I misunderstood.

I'm so sorry. So you went on this way? Because you were here, you were next to the shade creeper. Yeah, I wanted to get toward, yeah, I wanted to. So if you want to get over to Dugger without getting into the slime, you'd have to get up onto this box? Yeah, that's fine. But the creature does get an attack opportunity against you.

So. Did roll early roll, a natural 18. Every 24. Or 23, sorry. That's fine. So. Did really well, a natural 18. 24. Or 23, sorry. And does that, and that's, well, it doesn't matter. Yeah, that's fine. You take seven points of piercing damage.

Reduce to three. And seven points of necrotic. Reduce to seven. You don't reduce to three. I know. Yes, good call. As it strikes you from behind, but you keep rushing past, you leap up onto the box right next to where Dugger is,

and you see him pulling back, and the cloak's part of the side, you can see the empty pocket that was his shoulder previously holding one of these creatures. That's a 22 to hit. That hits. So I'm adding a Chaos Burst to it. All righty.

So let's hit him with, ooh, some lightning damage. Oh, forgot to mention as a note, all of this is now covered in this slime. Oh no. So that whole space there. So we start turns with a save? Yep. Okay. Oh, he pulls that whole thing.

God, I'm rolling real well when it comes to damage. Oh, nice. Okay. That's, I'm rolling real well when it comes to damage. Oh, nice, okay. That's six, seven, eight, nine. 16 points of normal damage. Nice. And six points of lightning damage. Nice, okay. That's pretty cool.

Ah! He's looking real angry. He's looking real hurt, looking real hurt. That's everything I can fucking do at the moment. That finishes your turn. Dungeon Master. That brings us to, yes? Would he still have to make a wisdom saving throw with my Combined Attack for fear?

Dugger? Yes. Just in case. National 19. Yeah, yeah, it's fine, it's fine. Good call. Keep going. Imogen, you're up. All right. I've got my Witch Bolt on him. Tell me if I can do this.

Can I spend a sorcery point and and split off the Witch Bolt and hit somebody else with it? Only while casting it. Okay. As part of the concentration effect, you can spend an action to just do the damage again. But with the initial casting, you can split it off. I have to split, okay.

So I'm just going to try to hit him again, which I guess I just roll for again, right? You don't even roll. It's automatic. No, it's automatic. You just spend your action. It's cool, you can go Witch Bolt. You just spend your next action, as long as it's locked on, and he just takes the damage. Cool. I'm going to give him some damage.

Just roll a d12. Come on. Come on, big 12. Come on! Zip zap. Nine points of life. Looking rough. Is that good? You can see the energy pulsing through and now it's arcing across the shoulders. It's arcing through his open wounds.

The Witch Bolt has taken root into his flesh. That's awesome. Stay put. I actually need you to make a strength saving throw for me to see if you can move at all, yeah. 13? 13, you can move at all. Yeah. 13? 13, you can move, yeah. Okay. If you want to. Not a lot of places that aren't sticky.

Yeah. Sure, I'll back up against the wall next to the doorframe. Up here? On the other side of FCG. Yeah, right there, because I don't want to lose my healing. Healing's going to be a big thing pretty soon. Yeah, I want to use my bonus action to... I got you. Yeah? All right, because I got you.

Okay, all right. All right, so finish your turn, Imogen. That's my turn. All right, that brings us to the shade creepers. Because I get to go before you. Uh-oh. Oh, here they come. Shouldn't listen to me. We're in a Jizz Field room!

Oh my god. I hate you so much. This one is going to rush up to you, Orym. Okay. So there's one against you. That's going to be an 18 to hit? That hits. You take...

Oh man. Six points of piercing damage. an 18 to hit. That hits. You take... six points of piercing damage. Reduced to three. Plus two points of necrotic. Sorry, no, five total. Five points, because he's not halved. Oh. So you take five points of necrotic. The one against you, Orym,

that's going to be a 17 to hit. Doesn't. Doesn't hit. Shield up. Shield up, knock it to the side. And then there is the one that is attacking you, Fearne. Sheesh. Natural 20. Ooh! Okay. Deuces, negate it. Finally takes some damage. All right, here we go.

Wait, no. I know! Seven points of slashing. Okay. Oh no. It's okay. And 18 points of necrotic. Oh! Whoa! I'm out. No!

No! Fearne is down. One heavy crit strike. No! No! Fearne, I'm supposed to be in a tank. Was that from one of the little guys? Sorry, I spunk. They're easy to kill, but they hit hard. Fuck. No! No! No! Don't say that! Was that from one of the little guys? Sorry. Spunk. They're easy to kill, but they hit hard.

Fuck. Fuck. All that path to get there. All right. That finishes their turn. That brings us to Orym with Laudna on deck. Shit, so Orym is woozy, blade in hand. I'm going to make a drunken feint to the left

and then dance back to the right and slice along its ribs. So that'll negate the disadvantage. The feint will, using a box action to do that. Oop, no, it's just a one roll. 17 plus six is 23 to hit. That definitely hits. This is one that's after Fearne or the other one?

I'm going to do the one that's not baned. Got it, okay. Ugh, come on, five plus. All my superiority dice have not rolled higher than a two. That's seven total on the short jizz cover, gentlemen. 97. All righty. You strike and cut across. It takes the hit, but this is the one that has no cloak

and was birthed out of Dugger, so it's still standing. Okay, that's it. And I'm stuck in place, right? It would take an action? Well, you know, make a strength save, actually. Strength save. Oh, I thought it was going to be an action. Oh.

Oh, that's great. 13. 13, you can move if you want to, yeah. You have two of them right next to you. Um. Let's see. I don't got you. No, I don't blame you. No, I'm going to stay where I am because I know that other people can come up behind them.

How much damage did you do on that one? Was it just seven? Oh, okay. On that one. But now, currently, all the ones that are standing have been damaged so far. All right, that finishes Orym's go. Laudna, you're up with Fearne on deck. Ah!

We'll get to that when we get to it. We'll get to that? No! Oh god, okay, so. You got to fucking crush that guy's head. I'm trying! Wait, where's the Duganator? He's right there.

Boom. Fuck this guy, Eldritch Blast! Go for it. Fuck. Get across the room, please. You do have disadvantage because you are poisoned. I what? I do? That was, well, that's real bad. Ah!

Ah! 11 total. Misses. Yeah. The poison through your system, as you go to release it, summoning the Eldritch Powers within you, your vision blurs, and as you release the bolt, it just streaks off and hits the far wall in the back kitchen.

You hear some pots and pans break and hit the ground. No impact. That fucking sucks. All right. There's still so many of them. Urgh, icky. That's, yeah, that's my turn. All right. Finishing line, let's go. Fearne, yeah, that's my turn. Right. Finishing line, let's go.

Fearne, I need you to roll a death saving throw. Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. Come on, come on, come on, come on. First one of the campaign. Remember, do not kill anything next to Fearne, because that will be the end. Oh yeah. That's true, that's true. Just a friendly reminder.

Plus, do I have anything? Nope. Just a fucking reminder. That's one failed death saving throw. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Do not throw anything next to Fearne. There's two shade creepers next to Fearne. Two can't hit any of them, right? Were they within range, or was it five feet away?

Five feet. It was within five feet. So the one's 10 feet away, one's five feet away. Fresh cut grass, you're right. I will cast as a bonus action at second level, a healing word on Ms. Fearne. Okay. That's all right with you. Come on, come on.

One, two, three, three. That's eight points of healing. Yay! So I select. You come back to consciousness and your field is changed. Oh, that one got me pretty good. Okay, wait, what did I heal again? Eight. Eight points.

You're at eight. Oh. Thank god. I will use my action to attack, even though y'all just said not to, the one right next to her with my grappling cannon. Sure. That's fine. You got me.

And I will try to pull him away. Go for it. That was great. But if you kill him before. 17 to hit. 17 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. And then, oh wait, hold on. It's a d10 for damage on this one. Yeah, with no bonus. No bonus, yeah.

It's cocked. Yep. And that's a seven. Great. And I pull a seven. Great. And I pull him away. You pull his corpse towards you just as it emulates. Corpse! Oh!

So you stab it and pull it towards you, and as it comes towards you, it burns into ash and showers you with black burning ash. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw. Oh, those aren't good. 18! Nice! You take three points of fire damage.

All right, I'm still alive. All right, that finishes your go. Dorian, you are up. All right. There's so much going on. Like nervous scratching. Could it be because of the way I've been rolling? No!

How far away are those guys from me each? I'm right in between those two? You're about five feet from each of them. Oh. I'm so hurt. All right. I am going to cast... It's like a cube, right?

I'm going to cast Thunder Wave. Ooh! Thunder. Would I hit them if I make myself the point of the cube? Both of them? Not the two of them, no. Not the two of them. Because it's a 15-foot cube. You could hit both of them and Ashton. Or if you move... Yeah. Yeah, if you move over cube. You could hit both of them and Ashton. Or if you move.

Yeah. Yeah, if you move over here, you could get both. Or jump to the other side of the table, too. That's true. Yeah. I just want to do maximum damage. All right, I'll move. Maximum damage. That's max. Hitting the two that I'm engaged with would be awesome,

as long as you don't hit me. That's what I'll do, and I'll move off to the, I guess, in front, forward, just enough to get out of range of hurting him. Okay. Would you still get Dugger? Make a strength saving throw for me. Oh, the fucking goo.

Yeah. Ha ha! Maybe not. Oh, 15. 15, you're good. Good. All right, so you move over into this space, and with that, you could do a Thunder Wave cube that gets both of them and the table

and everything in that space right there. With the table going. Yeah, okay. We'll find out. I'll do it. I'll rub my hands together and give a nice, loud clap. That's what sends the energy out. It blasts forward. This loud, cracking thunder sound fills the chamber.

Everyone's ears ring for a second and you hear the splintering sound of wood furniture being sundered from the impact. Go ahead and roll damage and I'll make a save for each. Is it a dex save? It's a con save. You're right.

So four damage. Shade Creeper, natural 20 on its save. Ooh, get another d8. Shoot. Dugger does not save. Yeah, get another d8. Shoot. Duggar does not save. Not bad, not bad. Yeah. 15. 15?

Yeah, it's 3d8, right? This guy. Nice. It's blasted. I need both of you to make dexterity saving throws for me, please. As it is just just scattered into Asher. Does it do damage to Duggar as well?

Yes, yes. Dex save, right? Yes. Oh, that's not bad. 14? 12. 14, you take two points of fire damage. You take two points of fire damage. Oh god. Dugger's still standing?

Dugger's still standing. That's got to end my turn. How do you want to do this? Oh! Yes! Yes! Oh my god! Oh my god!

What's happening?! Who did I murder? You, who was the most useless of all. I did not murder Dugger. You did it, you did it! I don't believe it. No murder, Dugger! Fuck that guy, he killed my friend Bertrand! Now Rachel Glory! You did it, you did it! I don't believe it. No murder Duggar! Fuck that guy, he killed my friend Bertrand!

Now Rachel Glory! How did you do it? Oh man, when that energy left the body, it felt good. And as it exploded out into this space, he just feels it impact him from the side and then turns to look at everyone in the room and he's just filled with hate and revulsion as his body goes sizzling into electric nastiness.

Yeah! He burns away as well with a flaming pyre of dark fire as he just scatters, making out of the dexterity saving. My witch spell chicken fizzles away. It does. Jizz everywhere. 16. God, that felt great. It does. Jizz everywhere. 16. That felt great on all of my legs. So you take four points of fire.

Oh my god. Sorry. Okay, okay. I'm a barbarian. Blacklight, blacklight, blacklight. You don't want to do that here, buddy. The end of Ghostbusters, or else. Just like,. All righty, well done.

You still have 10 feet of movement if you want. Oh yeah, there's all sorts of other creatures. Yeah. You got to play the hole. Creeper hole. I'll move up right next to Ashton. I want to get behind him. You got it. Okay. There we are.

Yeah. That finishes your go? That's it. Top of the round. Duggar is no more. However, the skittering sound continues. Oh, no more! No! Two more emerge from the side.

Oh, two of them. Ashton, it's your turn. Pick up that fucking table, dude. I'm... That one that's baned is 10 feet, is 10 feet away from her, from Fearne, right? It is, yeah. So I would be the only one who took damage

if I hit that thing. You would be. All right, I guess, yeah. So I'm going to hop up on the table and run over to try and not get stuck underneath anything. Well, the table is gone now. Oh, the table's gone. This whole area. Was it hopefully covering it so that it's now clear and there's no goop

underneath the table? The goop is still there, but there is now that path in the center is open. The furniture has been just scattered into chunks and pieces of wood. Imogen, you had to protect yourself from this little burst of mage armor that just protects you from the showering spray

of jagged wood shards. I'm going to hopscotch my way over to that baned creature. My hair. And I'm just going to do a little hop, roll over, and bring it down. I'm using Reckless Attack, too. Orym is also in its area, too. Just so you know.

Greases the world. Orym is in its... Yeah. Just so you're aware. Somebody is the word. Orym is in its... Yeah. Just so you're aware. Somebody got to do it. Fuck it. Mm-hmm. I respect that. Natural 20.

Oh! Well, if you're going to do it. I mean, that's the way to do it. Oh shit! Yeah, it's, yeah. 27 points of damage. It's dead. It's dead. Jesus.

Is that even a real wounder? I know, I know. How are we there yet? Barbarian Cuts are nasty. I've been rolling really well on damage. I don't think I've rolled below a four on any of my d6s in a long time. I've been watching them all here, I'm like, fuck them. Big dice, man.

All right. You smash into the ground, and you pull the hammer up in this stretchy, black-gray tendrils of its flesh, trying to adhere to the hammer, and and you pull the hammer up in this stretchy black-gray tendrils of its flesh trying to adhere to the hammer and as you pull back, it burns. I need both you and Orym to make dexterity saving throws for me, please.

Do I need to make one? No, you're 10 feet away from it. Oh, okay, okay. 28. Two points of fire damage. You all right? Yeah, yeah. All righty. I'm going to, yeah.

10 feet of movement still, if you want. I'm feeling pretty good. Just because I know what's going to be coming out of there, I'm going to maybe take one step closer to the hole. As a bonus action, I'm going to drink my potion. All righty. What is the plus on these? 2d4 plus? It? 2d4 plus?

It's 2d4 plus two. God, I'm sorry. So a five, you get a five. All righty, finishing Ashton's go. Imogen, you're up. Okay, I'm going to step out and stand next to Ashton. Okay. Yeah.

And I'm just going to say, can somebody block this hole? I'm going to do it right this time, and I'm going to cast Witch Bolt with a sorcery point and twin that shit. Yeah. So I can double hit these guys. So as you charge up the energy. My hair flies up again. As it floats in the air, you charge up and release

a forked witch bolt at both of them. Go ahead and roll. That would be 14 on one of them, and six, no, 18 on the other. Both hit. Yeah, baby. Gas stars! Just roll 1d12 once, and then it's. It'll be for both of them?

Five points of lightning. Five points to each. All righty. They both get impacted. The energy's charging through them. It's grasped them, it's holding on, anchored, and you can feel the energy tethering you to both of them. All righty.

Does that finish your turn, Imogen? Uh-huh. All righty. Ooh, ooh. No, that crate. Does that finish your turn, Imogen? Uh-huh. All righty. Ooh, ooh. No, that crate. Is that crate five pounds or less? No, wait, that's not. No, that crate is heavier than that. That's a different thing.

Yeah. All right, now their turn. It's going to get a little. Leaping over and running across to there, running across to there. Mm-hmm. I think that makes sense. Both real angry at you, Imogen. First one's going to strike at you.

It's an 18 to hit. That hits. All right. I'm done. You take five points of piercing damage. Oh my god. Oh no. And six points of necrotic.

You down? I can take three points of that. Will that make a matter? No. Imogen falls unconscious as one of them into necrotic. You down? I can take three points of that. Will that make a matter? Doesn't matter. No. Imogen falls unconscious as one of them leaps up and just streaks its claws across her chest. I might have pissed them off enough

so this is bad. I yell. I'm going to yell right in their face. Now the other one, because they're both going for you and they're mindless creatures, the other one's going to attack you. Can I fucking? Yeah, you and they're minus creatures. The other one's going to go ahead and attack you. Can I fucking? Yeah, you take two death saving throws. As you fall to the ground,

the other one just starts clawing into you. They're both just tearing into an unconscious Imogen. You see blood strings flying as they are just gone feral on her. So we need to heal now and not attack those things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that finishes their turn. Orym, you're up.

I drunkenly reach into my pack and I pull the healing potion out and I just fall down to my knees in front of Imogen and I pour it into her mouth. Are you close enough? Sure, I am. Oh, thank god. Thank you! Yeah, you can roll a strength save if you want to

to try and break free regardless. All right now. It's super stressful. Eight. Eight, so you are stuck, but thankfully you are still within five feet of where she dropped. I've kneeled and glued myself kneeling into the ground. Injus.

Goddamn it. Sorry, Matt. You had to know somewhere deep down. No, I didn't! Somewhere deep down. It's supposed to be cool and creepy. As soon as you said, Inj. No, I didn't! Somewhere deep down. It's supposed to be cool and creepy. As soon as you said creepy, it is creepy. I realized when I said it, it was a problem. I mean, the dwarf did come out of a whole

Play-Doh fun factory, and it all started from there. But Imogen is up. Roll your hit points. It's almost like he was ejaculated out of the water. Aw, come on! Too much? Too much? Too much? You got kids, too.

Eight. Not bad, not bad. Pass that over to me. Once they get finished, pass them over to me. I hold the response for when you're too clean or too dirty. I've got kids. I don't know. Another roll. All right, so you are conscious.

I'm awake. That brings us to Laudna's go. I'm fucking infuriated by what I just saw. In my form of dread, I just start crawling. Is there a way? I got to crawl through the goop, through the jizz. You have to make a strength save at the beginning to see if you even can, because you're still standing in it.

I can't. We already know this. Well, we'll be surprised. My strength saving throw. Correct. One total. Yeah, now you're stuck there. So you go to crawl and, nah, it's not happening.

I scream and... You're a spell sniper. Fuck! Bane's dropped, by the way, since everything that was baned is gone. Oh, everything that was baned is gone. Yeah. It's getting slow.

Um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um. Sorry, can I do a bonus action? Just to... I still haven't memorized what the fucking term is. Second wind. Yes, I'll allow it. Thank you. Fuck. That's a really good idea. Okay.

I will hex this one. Is this one that's on the far side not within five feet of Imogen? They're both within five feet of Imogen because they both just attacked and brought her to the ground. Whatever, I will hex the one on the right of me, which is the one closest to you.

This one here. Closest to you. They're basically standing on me at this point. Yeah. They just finish clawing for a second, just to see, you reach over and put a potion around, like, and you're not sure if they're going to go after her again or go after you as you go ahead and hex one of them.

You hear some shadow cant being whispered out of Laudna. Then I'm going to scoop up some of the jizz and it turns black and icky. I'm so sorry. And it's a reverse drip into my hand. And I flick it onto that one for it. Eldritch blast! Eldritch bukkake.

Oh no! That's a 20 total. That hits. That's your point you have to embrace. Yeah, that hits, but you lean in! You like to fight so long before you give in. Oh shit. Seven plus another three, 10 total.

10 total. Yeah. It is turned to cinders from the Durkan splatter. Say, Imogen, roll! Imogen, make a dexterity saving throw, but you have speed. Imogen rules? Imogen rules! Yeah, no, just go make a dexterity saving throw, but you have speed. Imogen rules? Imogen rules! Yeah, no, just go make a dexterity saving throw.

Imogen, poop! What? Okay. Oh, that's good. 17 plus three. 20. Take two points of fire damage. Okay. All righty. Does that finish your turn, Laudna? Yeah. Yeah.

Fearne, you're up with Fresh Cut Grass on deck. I got a plan. Why is this so hard? I don't know what to do. Because we're level three. Yeah. It's like in a bad play-to-play. Everything is hard at level three.

You also stuck in the green? I will see when I roll. Had two go down. Yes, this is hard. We both went unconscious in this fight. I'm sorry. Oh, it's my turn, yeah? Yeah, it's your turn. Oh, thank you for talking, I'm fight. I'm sorry. Oh, it's my turn, yeah? Yeah, it's your turn. Oh, thank you for talking about that. I'm sorry, I was just trying to do it.

Less mentioning, more rooming. Still shaking. I thought you were going, I was like, I'm just hanging out. Okay, question for you. Yes. So, and I kept- How do you do it, Matt? Just like, how do you do it?

I forgot to- Wait for everyone to figure out that I'm faking it. One of the items that I got in EXU, do we still have some of those with us? I'm not going to deny you what was granted by the almighty Aabria. So, I know the almighty. Praise be.

Am I 60 feet from the crate and the hole? You are. Do I have 60 feet of range from where I'm at? Yes, you do. Okay, so I'm just going to slowly get myself up and use my Stonky's Ring. Let's go! What is a Stonky's Ring? Oh, I'm going to tell you.

So you already know what this is, but you already naturally have this. So I'm going to just reach reach out and that big crate, I'm going to move it in front of the hole and just try to keep it there. Yes. Okay. You push it up in that space, pushing everything else out of the way.

Can't see it from here, but I don't know if it's covering the whole thing. That seems like it, yeah. Yeah, you got it. Okay, good. It's pushed up against it, and as you're focusing and concentrating, holding it there, you got it. Okay.

So that's your action? Yeah. Laying on the ground, I just see Fearne on all fours. And then I'm going to start walking over to Imogen. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. That finishes your go.

Because I can't pull her to me, can I? At the moment, nah. Okay, I already did the work. Okay, okay, okay, okay. All right, Fresh Cut Grass, you're up. Dorian on deck. They go in between Imogen and I. There's just one guy left, right?

There's one guy left. Okay, okay. And the sound of skittering coming soon. Fresh Cut Grass, what are you doing? Skittering coming soon. I don't think I can kill this thing. I think you can, though. Ugh. I'm hearing it in my head.

So. I got a weird plan, but. I feel like Ashton's got this, or maybe Dorian. It would hurt so many people right now if that thing blew up. Well, that's true. Shit, I don't know what to do. I will Bless Ashton.

Take that. Get a plus d4 to your attacks and saves. And I'll just, oh wait, that's a spell. Shit. Yeah, Bless is a spell. You do it to three people at once. Yeah, then I'm not going to do that. It's a spell. I will just shoot my little grappling gun again.

Okay, go for it. At this guy. That's actually a really good idea. Oh wow! 19. No, that hits. Go ahead and roll damage. That's an eight, right? No, grappling gun is 10. Okay, with no bonfire.

Eight! Nice! Yeah. Yeah? Yes. Now, I'll allow you to choose. You have to let it die where it was or die towards you. Yeah? Yes. Yeah! Now, I'll allow you to choose. You have to let it die where it was or die towards you. Die towards me. Okay.

So as you pierce it and pull it backward. Chasing it. Through the air, it begins to burn into cinder as it comes towards you and splashes you once more in the front, making dexterity saving throw. Splashes and splashes. Nine.

Three points of, no, six points of fire damage because you failed. Oh. Three points of, no, six points of fire damage because you failed. Oh no. I'm down. Oh! Come on! How do you heal a robot? Do we have a potion? Well, you used a potion. Does a potion work?

Disassemble it. Are we still in combat? Yeah. We're still in combat. Fuck. I can maybe save. I don't get a bonus action. You do not. All right, finishing your go, Dorian, you're up.

The box is pressed against the wall and you can hear now, it's starting to shift. Something's starting to reach and try and push through. Your friends are down, what are you doing? My attention is torn. Can I make it to Fresh Cut Grass? You can certainly try.

Yeah, I'm going to try to beeline it for him. Five, 15, 20, 25. Yeah, you can get there. Okay. I'll have it accept the slime. No goo? No goo. Okay, I will go ahead and I'm going to heal our little healer and I'll cast Level 1 Cure Wounds.

Go for it, roll that d8. Okay. Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. Plus three. Sorry, doesn't work on robots. I'm going to say it with hardcore Nerfist character to be untenable in D&D. That is seven plus three, 10.

Great. Yeah. Back to consciousness, fresh cut grass. Thank you. Oh my god. I got those two. Don't death put FCG in the bathtub. Don't you?

We need a real healer. He's our little robot Jesus. Well, smiley day, who are you all? No! Do not. No! You're a lion. Just kidding, y'all. Oh my god.

Nice flex. Amazing. All right. I would've believed it. Dorian, it's your move and your action. I'm going to go. He just wants to tell his pussy joke again. Funny story! Yeah.

What'd you got, Dorian? I'm going to go, hey, don't do that again, little guy. We need you, and I'm going to cast Bardict Inspiration on you. Oh, okay. You take a d6. Oh my goodness. Nice. All right, finishing your go, Dorian.

Top of the round. Are we still fighting? I got skid ring noises. So for Stonky's Ring, you pushed it in front of the way. Now that it's blocked. Snorky's? Yeah. Now that it's blocked, they have to try and push past. That is, what is your spell save, DC? 14.

14, one of them fails. They both fail. Neither of them push through. The door's just, I mean, The box is just being held there currently. Let's go. All right. That finishes that. What's everyone else doing?

We got to close up this thing. Can we get up and try to close up the other hole, too? Because there's another one in the bedroom. I don't know if it's needed to see. Are we out of initiative? Right now, there's nothing on the battlefield, so everyone can go until it comes back to them to try and get through again. Let's try to close up.

I'm going to run towards the crate. Okay. I'm going to see if I can get next to the crate. Yeah, you can do that easily. I'm going to block the crate with my body. I'm going to use my hammer to try and collapse the tunnel by nailing the wall really fucking hard. Right above it.

I got an idea. Mm-hmm. What? Oh, go do your thing. Okay, so I'm actually, I'm even going to get on top of the crate so I can get a really nice chunk of rocks to fall down. Okay. So I'm just.

Go ahead and roll an attack. Roll an attack. You know what? Do I even, yeah, I'm going to do reckless against the wall. It's a wall. You never know, could get lucky with a natural 20 like I just did. Whoa! What? against the wall. It's a wall. You never know, could get lucky with a natural 20, like I just did.

Whoa! So. What? Oh my god. That's cool. This has been a day. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. Remember Percy, 23 points of damage. Yeah, 23 points of damage to the wall. As the hammer slams down,

the wall cracks and breaks in for a bit. All of you feel the impact. Dust and liquid settles and drips from the ceiling, from the room being shaken and the foundation feeling the impact. The wall cracks and falls in a bit. Not enough to collapse, but it's looking like it's barely holding.

I'll also assume my gravity field is probably going to make it a little rough for them to try and claw through at this point if they're not actually attacking me. Oh, there's a lot of things we're going to use them right now. Yeah, okay. All right, so that's your go.

Anybody else do anything to contribute to this? I'm going to get up. Can I look in the bedroom and see if anything's coming out of that hole? Currently, doesn't look like anything's coming out of that wall at the moment. Is there a bed in there? There is. Yeah, it's over there.

Can we push the bed into that hole just for good? There's actually a crate right next to it, like 10 feet over. Oh, okay. It's as far as you can move this round. Okay. So that's your movement. You could dash and try and move over more if you wanted to. Sure, why not?

Yeah, I'll move closer to the crate so I can try to cover it. So that's your action. So there you go. Those are the only two moves. Orym's going to try to pull out of the bed. That we're aware of. You can set your bonus action, too, if you want. But the only ones that. Orym's going to try to pull out of the goop. That we're aware of. You said your bonus action, if you want.

But Orym, what are you doing? The only ones that have been used for anything. Orym's going to try to pull out of the goop. So new strength save for that? Actually, to that point, you both do need mixture save. I'm not making the joke. I can see it, I hear it, I'm not making it. 18. 14.

Yeah, you both succeed. You're fine. Okay. All right, so Orym. So Orym is going to take a run and leap through the doorway and land on the same table or dresser he was on before. You guys watch as his arms swing like this and he casts Gust, and I'm going to try to blow the crate that's in the corner in front of the hole.

Go ahead and roll a d20. It's really a d20. Can I assist with my telekinesis? Try to assist him in that? As your bonus action to me? Yeah. 18 for me. Okay, so the gust begins to blow the crate. It is a decent wind, but it's not strong enough.

Heavy crate. It's a heavy crate. Not anywhere strong enough to do it. Or so you think. What? Until suddenly, it shifts over in front of the space. You're like, whoa, that was pretty fantastic. You glance over your shoulder and you see Imogen concentrating and shifting it over. Awesome.

Teamwork. That's fucking teamwork. All righty. So it's totally covering the gap now? Okay, great. But they made a strength save over there and they can continue to make strength saves. Who knows where this one leads to?

I don't know. Ashton, do you... Who's feeling confident and who's not? I think we're all feeling like shit, Laudna. I'm going to stumble over, because I'm still poisoned, to the crate that Ashton. Make a strength check. Strength save for me.

But I just won't ever. That's the thing. They have new pride over this. Oh, okay, okay, okay. 11. You're fine, yeah. Okay. My hip dislocates a little bit. No, going towards the Ashton crate. Oh, got you.

You leave a leg behind. Yeah, I'm a crap. Slowly starts growing the new one out. You can get about there. You can't quite get all the way to it, but you can get about five feet from it. I can't get all the way there. Yeah, you have to move quite a bit to get over there.

All right. Oh, but I can dash, right? You can, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm going to get directly behind the crate, and then I'm going to pull out my immovable rod, and I'm going to shove it directly against the crate. Hooray!

That, all right. Here we go. All right. Yep. You press it there. Then I just lean up against the crate and just, Ah! All righty. That's my turn. All right, that finishes.

What's everybody else doing now? You all watch as Laudna goes over and clicks this movable rod, and as it holds in place, the crate was initially being pushed back a bit, and as Ashton's hammering and keeping balance up there, as soon as she clicks it into place, it is not moving.

You hear the impact, but that crate is staying put. Everyone? I think Orym gets Imogen to help him and they pull the entire dresser over and just pile. I'm useless in this, but I'll use my hand. My telekinesis is much stronger than I am physically. Sure, stronger than me. A moment passes.

A few more moments pass and the clawing dissipates. You hear the faint sounds, those that are near the other wall of skittering, getting more and more distant, and then silence. Take a few breaths. And then after a few moments of fear and chaos, there is a stillness, a welcome stillness. Oh my god.

I can't believe we were thinking about going down one of those holes. I can't believe we all survived that. No! That was bonkers. Fuck. We all saw it, right? When he came out of the thing.

Did you see it when the extra guy flopped up out of him? I know. A Macbaby out of his back. Macbaby. Macbaby. Ashley, could I use that empty vial you have? I think Matt took it, but here,

I think I've got another one. Yeah, just a glass container. I'm just going to scoop up some of the slime into the vial, so we have it for reference. For what? For reference? Test. I'll tell you to drink some. Okay.

For pranks. All righty. Are we going to? Boy, we're pretty hurt. Are we going to sit here and rest for a while? Well, the moon is coming, right? I think we should leave this house till nightfall. Yeah. It is nightfall, isn't it?

Is it nighttime yet? Well, it's the start of. Yeah. From what you can gather in the time that you've been here, it's getting probably within the hour of sunset. Night is soon. Let's maybe make sure that, I know that they were suspicious,

let's just take a peek through a window or something and see if the coast is clear before we take off. We should look around for, I don't know. Paperwork, anything. Clues? Like, what was it? That's a good idea. Shit. Is there like, what he is? Is there anything left of Dugger? The weapons, anything?

I'll go look through the schmutz. Okay. The body is burned away. There is no physical sign of him there other than a pile of blackened ash and charcoal bits. There are shreds of the cloak, but equipment that remains. Looks to be a small pouch,

a wound piece of cable or hefty rope, coin purse, and three weapons. His shortsword, his rapier, and his dagger. We should take those. Yeah. I'll shove the dagger into the back of one of my boots. We should actually roll the play, see what else is in here. Yeah, I turn around to Ashton and I say,

Get off the crate, help me lift it, see what's in here. Let's see if we can just take the top off. Just the top off, that's exactly what I'm doing. I got it. You seem like you've had a day. I think I'm still poisoned. Oh, what does that do? How would you even know? I don't know. I can try to. I just feel like shit.

That's fair. I can't do anything. I can't do anything either. How long does poison last? It lasts for an hour. Oh no. And it's just disadvantage on? Yeah, disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls. I'll be fine. I'll shake it off.

I'm going to try and open this crate like a human. I'm not going to fuck it up. I'm just going to pop the top. It takes a little bit of give, but you manage to lever your hammer handle. What the fuck are you? Looking inside, you get the source of some of the smells in here,

which is a series of rice and wheat sacks. Looks like this was a food storage crate that had gotten wet and mildewed and rotten. I'm going to pull them out. Well, I'm going to lift just to see if there's anything underneath them. Brimstone anywhere in here? Exactly.

No. No brimstone? All right, putting that back so it stays heavy. Yeah, let's just so it stays heavy. Yeah, let's just roll the whole place. Yeah, I'm going to bring my dancing lights back up and flickering around so we can try to get a better search of the area.

You got it. Who is searching what? Who's good at searching? I'm good at perception, not investigation. Either of those can work for different things. Yeah, I guess I'll search again for secret compartments in the walls. Is that a perception thing or is that a?

Perception or investigation for that. Sure. Your choice. Different ways of coming across it. I guess. I'll help you. Sure. He sounded like when he was talking to Danas, he was with multiple people or was it just him and her? Do we know?

You don't know. Oh, it did sound like, to you, it did not sound like there was like 10. There were multiple people in the room? 10 people. It could have just been more of those weird shadowy things. That's true, that's true. In the walls.

Yeah, that is true. When we walls? Yeah, that is true. When we were fighting them, did you reach out? Did you sense any kind of consciousness? No, I was trying to, as much as possible. I'm going to check the bed. People always hide shit in their bed. Yeah, I'm going to look around for any residual, like if I can find brumestone residue anywhere.

Okay, perception or investigation for you? You're rolling the bed? Yeah. Make an investigation check. Perception or investigation for you? You're rolling the bed? Yeah. Make an investigation check. I rolled a 24 for perception. Okay, looking around, there are no other hidden compartments. You feel confident that you have looked for any sort of trapdoors,

any hidden shelf points, any other holes that you didn't come upon, and you feel like you don't have to worry about that, necessarily. 17. 17. No, nothing in the bed. In fact, as you begin to look around, most everything that's here is just mundane furniture

and spaces and shelves and pockets where you can imagine valuables would have been kept, but they're all empty. You start piecing together the idea of this place looks like it was burglarized in the way that everything's been thrown about. Not broken, but just tossed and searched for anything of value and worth.

Pretossed. But he was here and this is his place. He was living in the hole. But why would he, I mean. But they did say he's been living here for quite some time. They've been tracking him. Yeah.

Going between here and the Smolder Spire, I don't know what's there. Is that what they said? Yeah. Why would? This is weird. This is fucking weird. What were you searching for?

I was searching for brumestone residue and I rolled a seven, so. Seven. Oh, no sign about here. Yeah. This isn't, no sign about here. Yeah. This isn't, I don't think. That this was his place. I don't necessarily think that this was him, necessarily.

Like. What do you mean? Like, who would rob this place and why wouldn't he give a fuck? Like, someone clearly took the, I mean. In the places in this, where there's not goo, is this place covered in dust? Does it look like it's been left as is for a long time and then slimed in places?

Make an investigation check for me. Aw, why not? Reception. I'll take it. Nah, terrible roll. Okay. Four total. Oh, no, sorry. Yeah, this is less about seeing stuff

and more about sussing out length of time to our dust levels and such. Do they look like there are any other belongings? I mean, there is dust here and there. It's heavier in some places, but the well-worn places, the best you can tell, it doesn't look like it's been abandoned for years or anything like that.

How long was he gone for? Six months. Six months. That's why he started to get weird, and then he came back. Yeah. I feel like he maybe- He'd been gone for a few weeks, and then when he returned, he began to slowly get weirder,

and that was six months ago, and that all happened. What if he, I mean, he wasn't even himself at all? What if he was a full different creature by this point, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I mean, judging by the state of this place, after a moment, it's clear he didn't care about his surroundings.

It's clear he didn't eat regular food. Yeah, food kind of bad. Maybe he's just been living down there. Yeah, this is just a doorway. And this is not someone collecting their valuables. This is someone looking for someone else's valuables. This is not someone's place. You wouldn't do this to your own place.

You would just grab your shit. There's no way for all of us to fit down that tunnel. No. Although. Just throwing it out there, unclaimed space. Oh, you want to live here? I could spruce it up.

I have seen worse. I have fixed a lot worse. While Laudna's pitching this, I want to go over to that middle wall where that huge pillar is right by the door, and I just want to look at the actual right by the door, and I want to look at the actual structure of the house. I'm trying to see if that is a load-bearing wall.

So which one, right here? Yeah, right in front of me. Does it look like that's a load-bearing wall, architecturally? If that wall were to go away, would this house continue to exist? Roll an investigation check, if you don't mind. You like open floor plans?

Shit. Yeah, you want to say you're going to hand it off? Yeah, total shit, 10. 10's not bad. Okay. You know, 10 is average. And so glancing at this and looking at the structure and the amount of rock that is placed upon it and above it, this is the closest thing to a load-bearing pillar

in this structure. Okay. If this were to go down, you can't say it would be a given, but it'd be hard for the building to not sustain some sort of damage from the weight that's placed upon it. Okay. I want to quick rewind to the weapons that Orym is looking at.

Do any of them look beyond standard fare? They all look pretty well made. The dagger itself has a fine make, though. It looks like it's seen some rough days in its point. The rapier also looks like it was fairly decent, but it looks like it's also been dulled through years of use. The short sword is pristine.

It is beautiful. It looks like it's probably a more recent purchase than anything. Okay, I'm going to slide that through my sash in the back and take it with me. Okay. Grab that coin purse. You got it.

I know, I feel like there's something we can do here. There you are. I'm missing. Is that a little chamber pot in the corner? That is. That's so cute. It's like a little baby teacup. I'm going to take it.

Okay. Ew. Well, he probably hasn't been peeing or pooing in it for a long time. I mean, but it's like six-month-old poo. Can you check? First of all. Roll. I mean, but it's like six-month-old poo. Can you, like, press the digi- Roll the vest, no, it's empty. Press the digitation it anyway, just because, ow. Fair enough.

It's just like I could use it as a big soup bowl. No, Fearne, you should never, ever use this for food. If you clean it. If you clean it. Nope. Why even have a- It's past its prime. Yeah. I think it's beautiful. You can maybe If you clean it. We clean it. Nope. Why, we don't have a... It's past its prime. Yeah.

I think it's beautiful. You can maybe put flowers in it. Yeah, there you go. Okay, okay. I'm mostly disturbed that you're that excited about soup, but, you know. I love soup. Orym reaches up and places his hand on Fearne's hand,

holding the chamber pot, and small little buds start to grow up out of the potty. Aw. Don't eat out of the potty. Aw. Don't eat out of this, please. Okay, I won't. Please. It's just beautiful. Okay. I wonder if we pissed off the neighbors.

I was thinking that, too. Maybe they're all at work or something. Yeah. It's daytime. What the fuck? Yeah, what do we do with this information? I guess, uh, I don't know. Go back to Yash? Wait, what do we do with this information? I guess, goodness. Go back to Yash? Wait, what was the?

Yash, my goal. Yeah, or to Eshteross. We kill his old enemy friend? I think we tell both of them. Well, why don't we go to Lord Eshteross first, tell him how it went with Yash. Yeah. Tell him what happened here.

Yeah, I mean, he can always send his people to maybe go further down into the hole. He's probably got people that are capable of getting down into little areas. I don't know. It really does feel like there's something right in front of us and we're not seeing it. Slim creature people.

Nothing from when we rolled the place, nothing came out. Nothing unexpected, yeah. I mean, the most. Go ahead, go ahead. No, no, no. I was just saying the most we can do is take this goop and have someone look at it. Did any of you find anything when you were searching?

Nothing. Just a sword, just a... We didn't go through the other tunnel. Not that I'm saying we should. They probably go to the same place. We opened the other crate, too, I assume. Oh, the ones in the bedroom? Yeah. You can?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, open everything. Okay. We'll spend some time. Drawers. Yeah. Spend time opening everything. All the drawers, everywhere you look is, I mean, you find utensils, you find all the things that you need to live day to day,

but nothing of wealth or worth. The crate in the bedroom, as you go ahead and pry that open in the same process, looking inside, it looks like there are heavy tools, some unused iron and some leathers that have mildewed a little bit. It looks like, honestly, some elements of carpentry. A carpentry setup has been put into that crate

that hasn't been touched in a while. There's also a little bit of leatherworking. I wonder who this house belonged to. It was his. It was his. It was his before he went weird. This is where he lived. It's turned foul. Yeah.

Have you guys heard about anything like this before? Someone turning into a goopy worm? I mean, shit happens, but. I don't think so. He burned away, right? He did, yeah. He did. Just like the shade creepers? Just like the shade creepers? Just like the shade creepers did,

though more visceral and not as immediate. It was an intense, slower burn. And still not familiar to me, right? Mm-hmm. The shade creepers that Imogen and I fought did not explode. Mm-hmm. And I don't know. Reapers that Imogen and I fought did not explode. Mm-hmm.

And I don't know. Let's get as much samples of that goo as we can. Sure. Any empty vials we have, we're going to scoop it up. You got it. Yeah. Okay. I say maybe somebody at some point should talk to the neighbors, but maybe not until everyone already knows

that this house has been ransacked and we should sneak the fuck out of here. Yeah. Get out if we can. I'm going to try and peer through the window and see if anybody is. Because we did make a ruckus. The window is boarded shut from the inside,

but you can peel off the boards and peek out there. And outside, it is definitely sunset. You probably have another 30 minutes or so of light before the night comes in. Make a perception check. 14. 14. Nobody in the street seems to be paying attention.

You glance to your left and you see one individual that appears to be the neighbor on the left side is poking around and looking and then walking back. So it looks like somebody at least has heard some things and is nervously, nosily glancing about. How is it out there? We've got a snoopy neighbor, which if we can convince them

that we're not responsible, it would be great. And if we can't convince them that we're not responsible, it's a fucking problem. Should we wait for a minute? Let it cool off? Do you still have any capabilities to cast? I do. You're very charming.

I tend to find people who go walking around weird sounds out of someone's house probably have an awful lot of fucking opinions about who lives there. You're very charming. I tend to find people who go walking around weird sounds out of someone's house probably have an awful lot of fucking opinions about who lives there. So are we done with this place? I think so. If you're feeling really fancy,

feeling like you want to talk to the neighbor and see if you can get them to tell you every fucking thing about this guy. People love to talk shit. They probably, yeah. They probably don't know anything. I have a feeling he's kept to himself for the past six months.

I can try. We could just leave. Could leave and come back later and talk to that neighbor. Yeah, I think we just leave right now because I don't want to get stuck here. Well, I can't make us quiet anymore, so if anyone, we're going to have to time this really well.

Maybe we leave one at a time, or a little at a time? Could we leave carrying boxes so it looks like we're movers? Well, it might look like we're robbing a box. What about a dramatic act? We all have the same uniforms. Dramatic how?

Go on. There's an idea below. There's a good idea below. Let me think here. Let me sort this out. I figure we're not going to do this until Sunset, please. We can make moving company uniforms. Okay.

And then. With the woodworking tools, I assume. Do you have an extra arm extension that's a sewing machine? I don't. We make a new arm extension. Why don't we just try to time it right? And then leave. You're in the lead. If anyone sees us, you charm the shit out of them.

There you go. Wait, did you have an idea? Silly. What was it? We're all ears. Well, during that fight, we all tried to seal the holes, right, to make sure that they didn't come out and attack anyone, and this is a residential area. What if we sealed the holes, right, to make sure that they didn't come out and attack anyone. And this is a residential area. What if we sealed the holes for good? How?

It would take me a little bit of time, but I could. Mm. That pillar. Bring it all down? Bring it all down. You got a blast left in you. That would be quite the dramatic exit. We could try. Yeah.

We do it without getting caught. And would we bring any of the neighboring houses down as well? Are any of the houses on the higher levels built on the foundations of the ones below it? No, there is a road above. You're not certain how much would fall into this space if you did it.

It doesn't look like it's load-bearing for a lot of upper areas, but who knows? Right now, it just looks robbed. Maybe we would just want to keep it that way. All right. But, I mean, that's wonderfully creative thinking. I could just do some basic mending for now, but it might not be permanent.

Honestly, these holes seem to be everywhere here. They are, that's true. They really are. I think I'm with Imogen. I think we should just cut and run right now. Yeah. Let's talk to the neighbor, and I'm going to walk right outside.

Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. I talk to the neighbor, and I'm going to walk right outside. Oh, okay. Yeah. If you can turn them, we will try and help. And I'll take their advice, and I'll cast Charm Person on our neighbor friend. All right, so as you walk outside, the sunset greeting you as you turn the corner, you glance off to the side,

and right as you emerge, maybe about 10 feet out of the front door, Megan walks in that direction, the neighbor comes up and then ducks back around behind the corner. Hello? Hello? Hello.

Can I ask you a silly question? You see a halfling, probably looks like in his late 50s or so, looks to be an evening robe of it. He's pulled around tightly. Yes, yes, hi. Hi. I'm sorry to bother you at dusk, I know.

My friends and I are renting this place next door for the weekend. We're having a party for someone. Do you know the neighborhood very well? I've lived here most of my life. You're renting from Dugger? Yes, we are. Well, Dugger, Dugger, but. I've only met him twice.

I just read the name, so I assumed. Dorian, by the way, nice to meet you. Dorian. Lorahan. Charm Person. On the handshake. Hey. Charm Person. Come on.

That's a failure on his point. Okay. Well, the pleasure is mine. I was hearing a commotion over there. Was that you and your friends? I told you it was a party. Actually, we're just headed out right now. We're headed out.

That's a very short party, but. Well, you know, a little pregame, and then we're just headed out right now. We're headed out. That's a very short party, but. Well, you know, a little pregame, and then we're out for the night, anyway. All right, all right. How many have made it out? By this point, everybody. Don't forget your immovable rod,

or else it's going to be stuck in your fur. All right. If you're going to have another party, just let me know so I have an advance notice, so I can be elsewhere if it's going to be loud. I have a hard time sleeping. But thank you. I appreciate it.

Great. We'll keep it down for now. Hey, what's the best tavern in town? I'm not much of a tavern person. I see a lot of people going and drinking by the spire by fire. It's not too far from here, but... Never been there. We'll give it a try. Thanks so much, have a great night.

Okay, I can guarantee that it's good. Okay, bye-bye. What's your name? Oh, I already introduced myself as Dorian, bye-bye! Right, right! Thank you! Bye-bye! Bye-bye!

That's it. That's it. You will name twice. Well, Dorian, I think you're going to have to change your name. To what? Anything but Dorian, because you just gave them your real name.

I did just give them my real name. You know, there's probably lots of Dorians. There's probably lots of Dorians. There's so many. It's a big city. Yeah. Lots of them are blue. At least two. I don't big city. Yeah. And lots of them are blue. At least two.

I don't see color. You know what? This is a big city. Yeah, of course. It's a real big city. Yeah, he'll just remember us as fun, happy-go-lucky party people. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I got the impression he was creeped out by that house,

so I don't think he's going to go check it in. Yeah. Yeah. It's a haunted house. Yeah. With no bodies in it. We should head to Lord Eshteross. Let's do. What looks like quite a party happened in that room, I tell you.

Uh-huh. Oh god. Sorry, last one. Oh! You did this to me! You! I'm not taking any credit for that. That was you!

Y'accuse! All right. Goddamn it. So you eventually head to Eshteross' manor. Upon meeting with him, he notes immediately, he's like, My skyship is still out, but I did charter a skyship that is leaving for Tal'Dorei to take Bertrand.

So he is handled. How goes everything on your end? I just hold up the vial of goop. I will not inquire. Oh, it's not like that. But what? Basically, This is Dugger. I mean. What's left?

He shot it out of his face. That's horrifying. Yeah. He was just like a goopy, you know. I don't, but that sounds terrifying. I'm not explaining it very well. Did he escape?

No, he exploded into ash. So you succeeded. Yeah, we avenged Sir Bell. Yeah. Good. A ton of questions now. Lots of questions. It's been a very eventful day.

Understood. I can imagine. We had a run-in with the Corsairs as well. Oh yeah. So you did. Did you want us to tell them about you or not? We were kind of... If you are on good terms with them.

Ooh. Yes. They were super prickly. But also kind of charming. Sure. You know, they did seem like kind of a cool group. I imagine they have to be very guarded when dealing with strangers.

Well, have you heard anything like someone just turning into a goopy worm and their arms just bending and breaking to make their way through holes. Yeah, and every once in a while, another creature would pop out of their back. Also black veins. No, he wasn't living in the house.

He was living in the spire underneath. The hole is still there in his house. Do you know where the Play-D. The hole is still there and it's just. Do you know what a Play-Doh Fun Factory is? No. No. Just a story. Stumbled onto something that's much bigger than just an alleyway killing.

This Dugger fellow was involved in illicit trade of an illicit substance and also Changed him drastically. Yeah. Living inside the spire? This is unnerving to say the least. Whew. I'll ask around

the few old business contacts of mine I'll ask around the few old business contacts of mine who do work within the Smolder Spire and have been involved in the development and maintenance of some of the sewage drainage systems, see if they know anything as to this substance. It's poisonous, I think. If you, I don't know, it might be.

It's sticky, it's real sticky. We can reach out to an alchemist and see if they have any insight. This may go deeper than you expect, but I'll see what we can find without keeping you wandering in abandoned, creepy houses. Do you have maybe a crew that could go block that house off?

I just, I'm afraid we keep leaving a trail and... Mm-hmm. Understood. Or investigate underneath. Yeah, there's a hole in the back bedroom where it came out of. And in the front living room. There's a few holes. You leave quite a few holes in your way, don't you? They were there already. Yes.

But very small, so make sure that, you know, if you send people there, probably children. Oh. I'll pull in some favors. What? No. They can get through easy. Just small, small. Small repairs.

That's all weakness is, awkward. I'll pull in a few favors. I think I can manage that. Also, I'm grateful for your sense of justice in seeing this through, knowing the danger that was ahead. Technically, it would be the murder of an individual

as connected and adventured Sir Bertrand, it would be natural there would be a bounty for the murderer. Sir Bertrand Bell, friend of the Eshteross estate, hero of Vasselheim and pseudo-member of Vox Machina, I've placed a bounty for the murderer. So it seems only fair that you collect the reward. We can't accept that. Oh no, no, no, we can't.

We have no use for it. With a heavy on the table, a sack carries the weight out and bows with a coin. It is yours. I think Sir Bertrand, as generous as he was with the coin that he kept, would be happy to see you rewarded for

seeing him off and seeing his murderer to their end. Thank you. Of course. I think we would have done it for free. I think so, too. We should just give it. Whatever, whatever. No comment. It is those who would do it

with the goodness of their heart that deserve the reward the most. Besides, what's the point of keeping what I do if not to give it to those who are worthy. I think so. Excuse me. To your point. I am reaching out to coordinate a meeting between you and Oshad.

No response yet, but as soon as I hear anything, I'll let you know. Very grateful, thank you. Of course. You, when I say this with the deepest respect, all look like shit warmed over. I feel like that. Go rest.

Find a place to celebrate. You've brushed shoulders with the Hubot Corsairs and walked away and avenged a friend. Be off. Can we be off to the room upstairs where we can stay and go to sleep? Again tonight? The danger after you seems to have subsided

with the death of your hunter. Sure, yes. But the beds, the mattresses are so nice. I have three beds between seven individuals. We can always buy a bed with that. Yeah, it's fine. We'll find a place. We'll find a place. If you feel insufficient danger,

then you may stay, but otherwise, I do enjoy my privacy. Yeah, we don't. It's fine. We don't want to overstay our welfare. Thank you so much, Lord Eshteross. I really appreciate it. Is that the only reason I speak up? Spire by fire.

Sure. Spire by fire, spire by fire, spire by fire. Spire by fire. All right. Spire by fire. Very well. Sure. Have a by fire, spire by fire, spire by fire. Spire by fire. All right. Spire by fire. Very well. Sure. Have a good night, friends.

Goodbye, Lord Eshteross. Sure you don't want to come with? Absolutely not. Get a little drinky drink? My days of rabble-rousing are long over. Okay. It would put you in danger to do so. Mm.

Thank you. Sleep to do so. Mm. Thank you. Sleep well, Travis. You've earned it. How much can I give you? Thanks. So, as you begin to count through, at a quick glance, some, like, you have to take some time

to truly count it through, but there is, you're guessing at a quick look, well over a thousand gold, and you hear a quick glance. Some, like, you have to take some time to truly count it through, but there's, you're guessing at a quick look, well over a thousand gold. Oh, really? You hear a lot more. About a thousand gold-ish? Ish? Ish. Well, I mean, like, we'll count.

Count. We'll count. And what about the other little pouch that I took off of Dugger? There was three silver and five copper. Yeah! Very little funds. Tired and sore, mission accomplished, friend avenged.

Side by side, you all saunter with your rewards back to the Spire by Fire to set yourself to an evening of comfort, drink, and much needed rest. And that's where we'll go ahead and end tonight's game. You all level up to level four. Whoa! So.

We lived. We lived. We lived the fifth level. That's why I was wondering. Barely, barely, barely. I got three points on that. That's why I was questioning about the ring, because it's a fifth level. The telekinesis is a fifth level spell, so I don't know if I was allowed to use it yet.

Fifth level spell doesn't matter about your level. The item carries it. You have the item. Okay, okay. Yeah. I mean, a new, that's not hardcore. Good questioning. Okay, okay. Yeah. I mean, a new That's not hardcore, yeah. No, good questioning. Okay, okay. That's what I've been meaning to ask you. Everyone is now at level four. So let's go ahead and do a round of hit point rolls.

You're the last to begin. Oh, boy. Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. What to do? Oh, man. But this won't, does this technically, do we get the long rest or we have to take that after? You guys can take the long rest. Okay. The evening goes without issue.

Okay. D8 goes without issue. Okay. D8. D12. All right, you're going first. Are we D6s? I think D6s, I'm going for D8 now. That's a full-on 12 now. That's a 12, man!

Getting creative to kill you. All right, who's up next? How fortuno, how do I know this? It's a D8. How fort this? It's a d8. It's a d8? Yeah, it's a d6 that we get to roll. Okay. I'm using these dice that you gifted me.

No luck, five. Five? That's good. So five plus, so go ahead and add five to your placed in number, your rolled number, and it should add your... It'll help you. I'll take afterwards. I'll go with that. I'll take afterwards. I'll take the helps.

No worries, but you're up to five. All right, who's next? You want to go? I will be taking my next level in Sorcerer. Oh. That's not what I want for... Yikes, two! Two? Ooh, all right, there you go.

Glass cannon. I mean, that's how it works. I will roll a one. You roll ones, though. I get to reroll ones. A three. There you go, roll a one. We roll ones, though. We roll ones. A three. There you go. Take a three. Three! A one.

A two. A two. A three. Seven. Woo, nice! Nice. Getting them hit points, Fearne. Yes. Two. Two to Imogen.

That can't be right. Six. All righty, six. My hit points are stupid and I'm so sorry. No, it's okay. I'll find ways. I know. I mean, honestly, I have too many hit points. You're made of stone. There are more ways to stop you beyond just damage.

I know, I know. The whole campaign with Grog was any indication. Oh yeah. All righty, hit points rolled, levels chosen. We'll go ahead and close out for tonight. We'll pick up here for next session, but thank you all for joining us so much tonight. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet?

Yay! Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure. To help new listeners discover the show, please give us a rating and review on whatever podcasting app you're listening on. Until next time, is it Thursday yet?