Critical Role - C3E64 Reunited

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

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

Oh, hi, folks. It's me, Sam Riegel, and I'm here to welcome you to the wonderful world of Exandria. Although it might be called something like Critical Role, wherever you're streaming it on. If you would like to watch the stream as it airs, you can tune in on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific at twitch.tv slash critical role or at youtube.com slash critical role. The video on demand versions are immediately available for our Twitch subscribers or on YouTube the following Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific. Podcast episodes are right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network on Thursdays, one week after the initial broadcast.

All right, the adventure awaits. Let's roll. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass boys actually sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. Anyway, before we get into our session tonight, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor tonight, which is Thorim Rings.

And I believe Sam has prepared a special Sam talk about it. So Sam. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Matthew, for inviting me to your speaker series. The two most important words in the English language are what and if. Thorum rings exist because of these words. For years, civilization has been making rings in various shapes. Square rings, triangle rings, rhombuses. But then, in 2012, Thorum founders Caleb and Stephanie Martin asked a question that began with, what if? What if we made round rings? Circles around your finger. It's hard to believe, but prior to 2012, circular rings didn't exist. It just wasn't a thing. Sure, in retrospect, it seems natural, but it took two people asking, what if, to make it a reality.

And they didn't stop there. How you doing? Doing good. In the old days, rings were made out of sand or paper, or if you were rich, lettuce. But then Caleb and Stephanie pulled out those two words. What if instead of making rings out of sand, which would turn into mud if they got wet, what if we made them out of stronger materials? Like Damascus steel, ironwood, dinosaur bone, World War II rifle stocks.

It feels breath on my ears. iron wood, dinosaur bone, World War II rifle stock. It feels breath on my ears. People said it couldn't be done. How could you shape those things? No one could bend titanium carbide with their bare hands. He's still talking. Caleb and Stephanie, this is my Sam talk. Caleb and Stephanie said, what if we use tools?

Blowtorches, wrenches, other tools that I didn't learn the names of. Blowtorches, wrenches, other tools that I didn't learn the names of. Blowtorches! As a result, we have these. Hold up your rings, everyone. Thorum handcrafts unique wedding bands out of everything from meteorite to whiskey barrel. They ship every single ring within one business day, have 5,000 five-star reviews, and come with a lifetime warranty. Two simple words, what if, can launch a spaceship or feed the hungry or even change the world? In closing, synergy, bioethical coffee,

water desalination, China, innovation, buzzwords. Whether you need a wedding anniversary or just an awesome ring, head to thorum.com and use code CRITICALROLL to get 20% off. Thank you for coming to my Sam Talk. Oh yeah. I need a wedding anniversary. Oh my goodness. Thank you, Sam. You're right. My triangular sand wedding band is very uncomfortable. It has been for years. We always used to go from sand to mud.

Is it just going to say Sam the whole rest of the game? I don't know. Do I get to keep that? Ruinous as much. Do you want to go up on the bed? Oh, it's the new headboard. SAM! That's going to take some hits.

I hate this. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Thorn. Our second sponsor for tonight is Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. In this sequel to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, you'll decide your own path through the sprawling landscapes of Hyrule and the mysterious islands floating above and the vast skies that loom above you. That's where they go

in the sky. You can harness the power of Link's new abilities to fight back against the malevolent forces that threaten the kingdom. The adventure is yours to create in a world fueled by your imagination, but you don't have to take my word for it. See what critics have been saying about this must-play game in this trailer. That will come up during our break later on. But I can say, from personal experience, it's a heck of a lot of fun, especially when you unlock all the abilities like Recall, which you can stop time and reverse things, which is fun, especially when you're fighting a bokoblin boss and you freeze its rock midair, and then you actually use Ascend to leap up through the rock stand on it, then fire a bomb flower fused arrow towards it,

and then send it right back at it. And it's, not to mention the Ultra Hand, which allows you to get really weird. I'm sure you've seen plenty of the constructions online, but it's a fun game of adventure and also breaking a bunch of things in wonderful, weird ways in a fantasy setting. So sincerely, it's so much fun.

If you haven't had a chance, please check it out. And yeah, thank you so much for sponsoring us, Nintendo. Woo! What? Sam! You got some announcements, Laura. I do! Smooth transition as ever. Sitting in my lap this whole time, checking out.

Wait, I'm going to show this side, because, oh, it's a regular content. Oh, just a regular CR. I'm already exploring. Whoa! Okay, that's actually a good one. Hold up that arm so the art is seeable. Isn't that beatiful?

That's our Bell's House hoodie out now in all of our CR shops, most of our Sierra shops. I love it. The U.S., the U.K., the E.U., Canada, and the artist, this fabulous artist done by Nina Matsumoto, thank you so much. That's a beautiful. I love it. Needs it. Hell yeah.

Needs it. Thank you, Laura. You're welcome. All right, Marisha, you got an announcement, too. Yes! Okay. Oh! Let's go, yes!

I want some content! Friendly reminder that with the July 4th holiday here in the States, episode 14 of Foresighted Dive will air next Tuesday, July 11th, at 7 p.m. Pacific, over on Twitch and YouTube, because America. America!

Buzzwords. There you go. Perfect. I believe that concludes our SAM announcements for the evening. So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Sam and Asaen. It's Thursday night One by one we climb until we reach the top

Two by two we fall Will we meet our end or meet our destiny? Hold your breath and roll. How do you want to do this? It's Thursday night. All ye critters come join us. It's time to continue our flight. There is magic and mystery.

Who knows what will happen? He might. But one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight From the healer to the renegade, we all share the same goal Adding more allies

Taking more chances Hold your breath and roll You can certainly try It's Thursday night All ye critters come join us It's time to continue our play It's Thursday night There is magic and mystery

From darkness our friendship will rise but one thing's for sure we never give up on the fight oh get ready it's Thursday night SAM and LAURA And welcome back. So, Team Wildemount,

after being one half of Bell's Hell's cast and scattered troop over to the continent of Wildemount, re-engaging with a member of Chetney's past, Deanna and her companion, Frida, discovering about some of the strange changes in the world and the surrounding ways that magic seems to function, both new and old, because of the apogee solstice and the recent events.

You manage to go past and succeed across some challenges. You traveled from the city of Uthodurn to the ruined, incursed township of Molaesmyr in the center of the Sableir Wood, absconded with information from the past of Ludinus Delef himself and survived. And some of you got freaky.

Could have been more, cowards. But after some rest and a newly acquired staff, you chose to teleport yourselves back to Druesar and with your two new companions in tow. Upon rolling your d100 for the teleportation, you rolled extremely low. I did. And that's good.

Yes. Notorious. The lower you roll, the better it is. It's divine intervention. Not so good. I heard about it. Interesting. I do remember that that was the emotional place

that we were at the end, and I'm immediately back in that. As the spell flickers and you all feel your physical selves suddenly begin to vibrate with arcane energy and then are pulled out of this realm into a strange interdimensional in-between space, a liminal era, and are immediately struck

with a series of waves of damaging psychic force energies blasting through you. All of you take 18 points Oh shit! of force damage Welcome back to the table. from the mishap that was rolled on the teleportation, and I need you, Imogen, to roll a d100 once more.

Can I roll a perception check? To see if it works again, if it, so, okay. Are we still caught in the maelstrom? You are still caught in the maelstrom of mid-mishap teleportation. Oh, Jesus. You roll again. What if I roll low again? You're going to roll so good.

You can keep rolling low and keep taking damage. We're going to be so fine. No! No, you did not. No, you did not! No, you did not. Really? I rolled two zeroes on the floor! What the fuck? And a four!

Wow. Stop! Twinsies! I rolled the exact same thing. You rolled a four as well. Two zeroes and a four. Oh my god! What? I just rolled it to roll with you. That's spooky as fuck. Oh, I don't like it. It's scary.

Torn through the Smell Street continues to, the shifting of magic here in Exandria has created transportation It works negatively. to create a tumultuous space in which you attempt to push long distances within an instant, as you all take another 15 points of force damage.

Oh! Oh, fuck! What if we, I'm going to die! What are you at? Just wait, if we do it one more time, I'll probably be dead by the time we land. Before she goes again, can I roll Perception check to see if I can tell that Imogen is fucking us right now?

Sure. Yay! Why does it hurt right now? I'm sorry, whose fault is this? If Imogen dies while we do this, do we ever land? 19. In the midst of the screaming, echoing chamber that is the... Fuck it, I'm going to go ahead and. Hit the sirens, baby!

Full Kill Bill Sirens. I'm changing the lights for this because you guys are now caught stuck between this space. This is full on Doctor Strange being knocked through all the dimensions. You all are being pulled in so many different arcane, tumultuous maelstroms at once.

Growing fingers on fingers on fingers. Each blast as you are all being pulled apart and then pulled back together again with no direct connection to the Exandria destination that you had intended to. You do sense that the arcana is shifting away from the grasp of Imogen. Go ahead and roll.

Imogen, stop fucking it up! Can I attempt a Guidance? You can. I don't know what that does, but I'm just going to try. Nothing, but you can attempt it. Hey, I just lean in and pat you on the shoulder and go, Lock it down, it's not a gift! Look at her shoulder!

Her shoulder opens and mouth opens. That's just crazy. All right, all right, okay. This is better, sort of. I'm just pipping out pellets. Well, you rolled different dice this time. I did. Okay, I looked down and saw another zero, zero, and four.

I was like, no. No, no, no. Wait, so I think that means I rolled a 13. That's barely over. Hey, bud. No way, really? You got to roll higher. Right? I rolled a 10 and a 30. I have to roll a 13. That's barely over. Hey, bud. No way, really? You got to roll higher. Right? I rolled a 10 and a 30. I have to roll 13. Sweet girl.

Roll different. I did. What does it have to be over? Better, I don't know. I'm going to die in transit. I don't have the chart in front of me, but I think it's got to be better than that. What if we all just died right now?

I thought it was really funny to put my zeroing con on the die. Okay. What did I do, Matt? It's like, I believe in LaGuardia. Give one, y'all. Matthew! Get one, get loose. What, are we just going to land in the ocean? We're going to have to eat each other here.

Daughter, party of six. Eventually, that staticky, continuous cavalcade of damaging magical energy begins to subside, and you feel yourselves finally pull through as you all land in a space. as you all land in a space. The staticky vibrations across your body begin to dissipate.

Ow. Is everyone all right? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No! No! That was terrible. Dead. I was five, and then I was 100. I don't want to do that again. Oh, that was so hot.

Did that hurt for everyone? What? No puedo hablar inglés. What? What? What happened, Imogen? What happened? I don't know, I don't know. I get a little safety pin and hard reset.

I got it, I got it, I got it. I get a little safety pin and hard reset. I got it, I got it, I got it. They do that every now and then. It's okay. Oh my god. Wow. Can you see? So wild. Is everyone okay? All right. It hurt.

What happened? It hurt. Oh no, my gloves fell off! Oh no! I saw that happen. I saw him taking his pants off. I saw it. Yeah, we saw that. I'm going to get off a mask here, Wounds, on the group.

Just... Wait, where are we? Actually, as your vision comes in, having to figure out lighting cues on this, the wind catches you as you find yourselves standing amongst an elevated mountain township. In focusing on Jrusar and the spires in which civilization is built around the rock,

you see yourself standing in a similar space, but instead you stand at the precipice of a rock cliff that just drops down off the side of a massive mountain into hundreds and hundreds of feet below some sort of forest and a massive mountain range that just curls out in all directions around you. You pull back and hold yourself there and look up and you can see there are these homesteads

that are built into the sides of the rock around you. And there are what looks to be gathered bits of thatch and stick and carvings. This is definitely a society built into a rock, similar to your intent of Jrusar, but not quite where you intended to be. Where are, where, where? I haven't seen this part of Jrusar.

Wait, did we miss? Does it look familiar at all? Do we have an idea of if we even landed on Marquet? Oh my god. Based on the fact that it's the same time of day as where you left, which was early-ish morning in Wildemount, it's similar time of day. So you gather. Nope. Probably not Marquet.

Oh fuck. What? Did we do it? Are we in Marquette? I've always wanted to visit. I was about to say. The dwellings, are they normal humanoid size? Are they larger? Well, as you glance up,

you see there are birds flying in the sky above, like Kathy, yes. It's better. And as you watch the cluster, this mass collection of about 12 or so birds turns around and begins to come directly in your direction. What? No!

I'm going to go. Yeah. Is this normal? Should you do a Cure Wounds before we all die? Yeah, let me get off those quick, whole Mass Cure Wounds before we all die? Yeah, let me get off a quick little Mass Cure Wounds. Hold, please. I'm going to put you in my swaths of fabric

and my skirt. Everyone takes 31 points. Oh, wow. Are they coming for me? Probably. Probably. As they get closer and closer still, you can see there's all these cavern entrances and it's an extended platform, and you can see there are multiple layers of it throughout

that climb and are built into the side of this mountain spire. But these birds that come towards you, you can see where the wings below, there are humanoid bodies. What? Beaks, almost like falcon-like feathers of brown and red, and they are armored and they're holding spears

and they're intently coasting towards you all. Can I put my hands up? And say into the bird that's closest to mine, gently coasting towards you all. Can I put my hands up? And say into the bird that's closest to mine, this is an accident, we're here in peace. Shit. The bird that's closest, as it's diving in with its spear at four, it looks confusedly around

as it pulls away from the dive, its wings still flopping, while the others continue to dive downward towards it, towards the rest of you. In this moment, what are the rest of you doing? I'm just waving. Perfect. Yeah, I'll try it. We're going to surrender and try to talk. I mean, they could be nice.

We're coming, peace! I'm going to load my weapon and stand in front of FCG while they do that. Okay. I just yell, chill out! You hear them begin to communicate a bit as they're darting forward. Like these squawks and screeches.

I'm going to bind to some of these folks, sympathetically. Which ones? Who doesn't get it? I'll do everyone but Chetney this time. I understand, motherfucker. Six of them immediately dive down in a swooping formation, dive below the edge of the shelf

that you're all standing on, and then immediately coast up at an incredible speed. As they do, they throw things at you. I need you all to make dexterity saving throws, please. Damn. Good inspiration. First roll, don? Damn. Great and inspiration. First roll, don't forget that. Second roll. It's going to be great.

It's going to be great. Okay. 16. Fucking A. 16. Oh no. 12. 12, okay.

16. Okay. 10. This is a match. They bounce the things around too much. Natural one for a five. We got to roll on a thing. For a five? Yeah, a natural one. Hey, what'd you get?

Five. Heavy nets. Nets? Immediately surround Deanna, Fearne, Frida, and Imogen. As you are all suddenly thrown to the ground, their weighted exterior pulls you to the floor and you are restrained beneath them, while FCG and Chetney,

the only two that dodge out of the way, the birds that flew back up, the rest of them that land, wings strung out, their armor itself shining in the bit of the light that's coming through, the mid-morning sun. They have spears up. One of them has a heavy shield in front

and they've begun to encircle you while the six that flew up all begin to land as well the mid-morning sun. They have spears up. One of them has a heavy shield in front and they've begun to encircle you while the six that flew up all begin to land as well and encircle both sides of this platform where you have no choice, really, other than off the edge or surrender. Fair enough. At a quick glance, the net is like a hempen rope

or is it made of wire or something like that? It's a heavy, heavy rope. I'll take out the scythe, and I'm just going to do one swipe across the net and then drop the weapon and put my hands back up, trying to open up, was it one big net that hit four of them? It's multiple nets. Each one of them had an individual net

that they threw as they swooped upwards. Two per net, maybe, people, or is it one for each person? One for each person. So there were six of them that swooped in. Who got netted? Everyone but you and me. I'll open up Imogen's crazy ass

and then I'll drop it and go, We don't mean to be here! We're happy to leave! All right, you swing with the scythe and cut open her net. As you turn around, make an athletics check. Okay. Thanks. Make an athletics check.

Thanks. 21. 21. The closest humanoid bird entity tries to shield bash you against the wall, and you push Glide off the side while it puts a spear up near your chin. When it's standing there, you can see

it's deep brown and red plumage, this thick, almost decorated section of beads and gold rings are tied and tethered into parts of what looks like a collar beneath some of the feathers. It dangles and appears outwardly. This one seems to have a bit of a station or captain-like energy to it

as it stands there with a spear to your neck. I'm just freaking out with all these birds. I'm jittering and backing away slowly. As the clinging of your shaking metal makes a loud noise, the one that's holding the spear, its head turns to the side, its big yellow eye peering right at you with its hooked beak there,

staring. Are you friends with him? Are you friends with him? Do you know, shithead? Did he send you? The closest five look at each other, and the one with station that stands there right in front of Chetney

begins to speak in a broken language. Flawat brings you to our city. Why and how are you here? That was my bad. That was her bad, for sure. Magic's weird right now, and I was trying to teleport us, and I didn't do a very good job.

How can I glance at each other? You can now see, after this ruckus of the number of other openings, many, many other bird people, other winged figures are beginning to peek out, and you can see small children ones that are getting curious and the other ones are pulling them back in. You can see other armed ones are starting to encircle

and keep watch in the nearby air. There's maybe close to 35 or so in the air around you right now that are all very curious and at an alarmed state. The one that lands next to you now, you can see, has more of a feminine energy to them. The eye itself is supposed to have that bright yellow coloration, that goldish tinge,

is more of a dull gray. And you can see there's a section underneath the beak where the feathers aren't growing and there's a heavy scar that's long-heeled there. She lands and looks towards you real close, like getting right up to your face and reading your eye. Make a persuasion check.

Guidance? You can't roll all bad. I can say. Stop it! Why do you like this? Guidance is a spellcasting maneuver. Sure, it is. I can give her a bonded blessing. So that's an extra d6 on this roll.

You can do that as part of your ability without having to make noise. Guidance is always casting a spell, like verbally. I was just saying that maybe I could get away with it. I understand. I respect that. I respect that. Respect the Huzzle. That would be an eight.

My god. Yo. Can you just toss that 20? It's not my set, it's... Here's the thing. Who's that? Who am I mad at? We're mad at you. I would just, you know, I just need my box. Just need my box.

You need to get your life right. Eight, okay. Can I roll again, just because I've got my stuff in front of me now? No, you cannot. Respect. Thank you. Hustle. I do, I do. No, you can't. It grabs the net to your side

and begins to drag you alongside the platform that you're all standing on, and over to the right-hand edge to what looks like a large archway that leads deeper into the mountain. Wait! As other ones begin to land in front, too. Wait!

Can I talk to them? I don't like this. Yes, yes. You, we, this is, listen, listen. Listen to me. One of them has grabbed your net and is starting to drag you. This is completely a mistake. Can you speak to that?

Can I speak to whoever is in charge? I think it's you with the stuff under your neck. Roll for manager. You make a persuasion check. Okay. I can also give her a bonded blessing, but it will be very bad if I do, so I'm going to undo it.

You're going to be okay. Okay, plus six to you. Okay. Is that bad for you? Yeah, no bad. Plus d6. Why? Why? Don't! You start covering your face. Oh, don't, don't.

Don't do it, then! I got to do it. No, you don't! Take a d6 to whatever you rolled. Okay. I was not ready for today. No! Matt, I don't want to die like this.

24. 24 is good. So the one that looks like it's the most adorned glances over at you, looks back at the one that's holding your net, and they stop moving, all of you, and just leave you where you are. And that one intense, general-looking one,

How did you know where this is? We don't, I don't even know where we are right now. We were trying to get to Jrusar. Yeah. We do not know of this Jrusar, but you cannot stay here. We don't want to. We don't even want to stay.

We just want to get out of here as fast as we can. Yeah, air is very thin. If we could get much, much lower in a controlled descent manner. Another one goes, Oh, that can be definitely a steer. You calm down. You see that the general puts his hand up once more.

We can agree if what you say is true. We will darken your eyes and leave you a ways from here so you know not where you came from or how to return. Hold on, hold on. Permanently or just a little bit for right now? For right now? Okay. Temporarily.

Okay, cool. How long does that last? How long? Just an estimate. Looks over to the one that's nearest to Imogen. Goes and takes part of the... The breastplate armor has these strips of leather that are hanging from the edges.

They mingle with the feathers. When they fly, they flap alongside it like a bit of decor, tears one off, and ties it around your head in an aggressive but necessary way and essentially blindfolds you. Oh, sorry. Can I roll to see if I want to remember

any natural monuments? I want to know where this place is. I want to know where we are right now in my mind. Make a perception check. Don't do it. Is he going to be all right? I have to. No, you don't! Am I close to FCG? Can I kick him through the net?

Feels better. It does, yeah. It bounces too much. It's a 29. Oh. It's a 29. They're very good at this. Trust people to do their best in the moment. Okay.

Freaking out. So you, standing up here, or at this section, looking around Manila, you can see the mountain ranges just continue off for an incredible distance. You begin to see in the distance of one direction, very, very far on the horizon, just continue off for an incredible distance. You begin to see in the distance of one direction, very, very far on the horizon,

a large body of water, like an ocean. You follow the mountain range here. You look at where the sun is. You get a sense, make a survival, or a nature check for me as well, as part of contributing to where you can figure out where you might be. That is a 10.

10. Hard to pick out the specifics of it, but you do glance over to the left to look off to the side, and you can see snow-covered mountain ranges far away that almost looks like the Flotkat Alps, but it's way on the horizon, which means that you're somewhere on Wildemount still,

but you are deep in a mountain range, probably to the far southwest of where you left. Cool, cool, cool. Wow. So I, panicking when I see that, and then feeling more than seeing FCG's panic, I will realize that there's something happening in my, where my brain would would be and think to myself, Caregiver, can you hear me right now?

And you can. What? Can you hear me? He said, yeah. Can you hear me? I'm not talking, I'm just thinking. I can't. I don't know how this happened.

I think a little bit of Imogen's woohoo rubbed off on me, but. Well, it's that very sheer skirt she wears. I rub my woohoo on a lot of times. Very sheer skirt she wears. I can't help it, I'm cold. Imogen. What? How many more charges do you have on that staff?

I don't remember. Not enough to do a teleport. Oof, okay. It takes seven and there, it takes six and there's only eight charges on it. So it has to recharge, I think, every day. Correct. Cool. If you look over at me, you'll start to see my eyes are starting to change to a reddish color.

I'll just say, Caregiver, you're all right. You're okay. We're going to get out of this in one piece. Very well. You have agreed to this for your safety. Hell yeah. To no violence.

Nope. No, none. You will be blindfolded and left on the outskirts to pursue what you wish and forget you ever came here. That's great. I just have a small idea, and you can absolutely say no, but I was just wondering if possibly, see, the thing is, we're not where we were supposed to be. No, you are not. No, no, no, I know.

Just big, big major bad from her. But I'm thinking. I can't see anything. Are you pointing at me? No. I'm blindfolded already. I'm the only blindfolded. They've begun blindfolding the rest of you. While you're talking, so Chetney. Okay.

You all can fly, and maybe, maybe, maybe we can come to an agreement that we will never, ever talk about this place if you take us, you know, fly us to where we need to go. Just a little bit of a trip and then never, never talk about it again. Make a persuasion check with disadvantage. I can't cast it, but I just think guiding thoughts.

I'm thinking positive thoughts, to have said that. It's going to be okay. It's going to be all right. Okay, that's really bad. Persuasion. Wait, am I adding anything? No. No. Okay. Can I guide myself?

15. I would say not. 15. 15. It's not terrible. to say not. 15. 15. That's not terrible. That's not as bad as some. It's not bad. It's really not Matthew. If you ever, birds don't have extremely big expressing expressions,

but you can see a kind of a Look how fluffy you are. To it, as you suddenly feel a blindfold put over your eyes. Fair enough, fair enough. While all this is happening, can I attempt a divine intervention? Yes, you may. Sweet. I just want to reach out to the Dawnfather

and be like, I need you to make everyone very, very chill exactly right now. And it's less about these bird people, but more about seeing and noticing how keyed up FCG is, too. I want everyone to chill the fuck out. Go ahead and make a divine intervention roll.

D100. Hey, dice, I need you to roll. Can I make Laura roll it? Oh. She's so good at rolling low right now. If you want to. No. No. It'll go really high when I'm supposed to roll low.

43. Ah! Dang it! As you are attempting to pray out to your tenuous relationship with the Dawnfather, the four of you that are in nets feel yourselves lifted up as the other two large talons grasp around your shoulders

and lift you into the air. And you are immediately lifted off the side of this mountain cliff, hundreds and hundreds of feet above the mountain, and just feel the wind rushing past as squawks communicate, and you feel yourself drifting around. What'd you all doing? Along for the ride.

What am I doing? Is there a direction? So how close are you to? I'm there, baby. I was on the edge before tonight started. Oh no. That's right. Is it? Wait. And then we got teleport shot on twice.

But even with the mass cheer wounds? Doesn't do anything. Can I? So. Wait, is it possible? Can I cast? No, we're turning this group of pigeons into a bucket of chicken. Let's go. Well, can I cast Calm Emotions on FCG?

You could if you could see. I can see because I'm going to use my telekinetic ability to pull my little blindfold down as we're flying. Nice, nice. Good job. Just a little Maytune. Boop! Okay.

A little shimmy. All out. I want to see where we're going. Move it down, cast Calm Emotions. I will say. I imagine I look over and I just see FCG twitching. Yeah, like. Fuck you!

Okay, all right. Stop looking at me like that, you freak! Oh my god! Which, as a blindfolded individual, is hilarious. Yes. You're just yelling it out. Because you are in your space, make a wisdom saving throw with disadvantage,

because it is a friend cast on it. Disadvantage? Yes. Seven plus something, probably not great. 14. Okay. So indeed, you feel that burgeoning rage and murderous fury that's emerging from within that long, locked cell in your metallic automaton body begin to subside and a calm comes over you. Oh.

Thank you, you freak. Okay. Hey, all the clattering stopped. What happened? I don't know. Where are you? Are we all blindfolded? You're all blindfolded and just drifting through the air.

Why can't I smell that? I'm downwind of Chetney. That's all I know. How long does that last? Calm emotions last. I'm in a bird's talons. This is like the fucking worst. Up to a half.

It lasts a minute. But it just... It lasts a minute. It doesn't reset him. It just, the minute it's done, and then he just amps back up again. Well, while I'm like this, maybe I can do it on myself.

Maybe I can do my own calm emotions on myself. Yeah, do it to yourself. What? Service yourself. With my left hand, I only cast calmions on myself. So it feels like some stranger. They call that the change breaker? Yeah.

It's so good to be back! It's good to have you! Feels like someone else is doing it. The sound of their squawks and the flapping of wings itself is fighting your anxiety, however, as the calm emotions begins to slowly subside. You can notice that the tree lion's coming close

and they've spun around the mountainside. They've brought you in an odd direction and are just now about to break into the forest itself as your spell fades. You begin to feel that rage build up once more and you go ahead and cast it on yourself. Yeah. Okay. It begins to hold itself at bay for another minute

before you all, in a somewhat rough way, hit the dirt and rock floor of the forest. That's going to happen before we slam into the ground. Did you warn anyone else? Well, I only get one person at a time, and he looks like he's about to. You could yell with your human voice. I yell and,

incoming! Yeah, thank you. I could glance appropriately. Good call. I just try to get loose. I don't know. You just ragdoll it. Less injury. You just go with it.

Yeah. The physics are a little weird. You feel like shaking like in Skyrim. I pull out my weapon right before we land that cancels the fall damage. All righty. As you all impact the base of this forest, the bright light of the mid-morning sky is now shaded by the depths of this forest.

Then one by one, you feel the blindfolds removed, the nets disengaged from those of you who had them, and the birds that still remain flying in the air above. The captain, standing there, shield in one hand, speared down, looking at the rest of you, goes, If you return on sight, you will be torn limb from limb.

Okay, understood. Just any warnings about the area? We don't know where we are. Good. Keep it that way. Cool, just like Moss, you're a piece of shit. Oh no, no, no, it's okay, it's okay. No, fuck that guy. Yeah, fuck him. I agree with Tiana.

Thank you! What if we just end up here again and be on accident? Yeah! Well. I'm going to cast another Calm Emotions on myself. Keep it going. Okay, what is happening here? What's happening? What do we need to do?

I slap her. No! I don't know what you need to do. What's wrong? Do we need to just go to sleep? Can you just go to sleep? What are you feeling? Can you communicate in this moment?

What's happening? I'm just feeling, I feel a lot of rage, a lot of rage happening, building up, and I just got to get rid of it somehow, like right now. You want to talk about it? I have some ideas. You got like 30 seconds

before I cast it one more time on myself. I run up to him and in his head, he hears, it's going to be okay, and I kiss him. I grab him and I kiss him. Okay. It's going to be okay, and I kiss him. I grab him and I kiss him. Okay. It's going to be okay. I accept your kiss. I give you tongue. From where?

Me tongue. Me tongue. It's really just a tongue that he bought a long time ago and he keeps right there. So it's like... It's like a cow tongue? Yeah, it's really old and decayed. But you know, you love who you love, so. I will say, I will say this instance, go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw for me.

Oh boy, I can't see it. I would have cast Guidance, but I didn't want to be part of that wisdom saving throw. A wisdom saving throw. 20. 20, okay, okay. And taking a moment to push back the intensity of that burning rage within, you instead allow that calm

that you're already magically induced within yourself to then bridge over to the calm you feel in Frida's embrace. In that moment, go ahead and roll a d4 and remove that many stress points. Oh my god! Roll high. Two. Okay.

That's great. You're really doing good. So good, you good? Thank you. You got that healing love. Oh. Are you still stressed out? A little bit, but way less now. Do I need to go have a special talk with Frida

on how to maybe mitigate a little more stress? We haven't had that conversation. I know, and maybe it's time. Where are we? Where are, where? I convey to you what I figured out when I was looking around, that we're just southwest of where we.

Very, very far southwest of the Graying Wildlands. You're not quite sure where, because you've not been there, but you know you're probably on Wildemount's there. I am really sorry about that. How many charges? I'm going to need four more charges in order to get it back.

So I won't be able to do it again until tomorrow. Unless the Changebringer can help, and I'll cast Divine Intervention also. Let's go. Okay. Let's go! Full court shot. Why not? Okay.

Yeah, exactly. It's a little buzzer, but you know, we can do it. She doesn't have to get us there. She just has to give that staff a little bit more power. Okay. I mean, if you get Divine Intervention, maybe we should just go all out and ask her to get us there. That seems like the smarter choice.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I want to make it a manageable request. Smart requests of deities are important. Oh, real bad. When you're all... 54. Oh. See, they just don't... Unfortunately, her presence,

much like the Dawnfathers, are distracted at the moment by other matters in Exandria. Oh no. She needs us. No, she asked me to help, and I asked her for help. No, you're good. That's terrible. That's the deal. No, that's not the deal.

It is. I'm really sorry, y'all. I've never done anything like that before. It's okay. Yeah, shit, it's pumped right now. Yeah, we didn't die. Yeah, it was your first time. We very well could have. I'm sorry. Yeah. We're not dead. We're not dead.

We're all here. We met some cool new... Bird friends? Bird friends. People that do not like us. Horrible people. Perception check of the woods. Any eyes, other flapping things, things slithering towards us.

Make a perception check. Guidance! What if I don't get enough spell charges back? I can't, I have to roll to regain them. A d4 plus three. No, oh, so I'll definitely get it back. There's no way to not get it back. We just have to make camp right here, right now. You roll a zero now.

Looking around the space you're in, this whole area is on a mountain. You are in a forest, and so the ground itself has patches of softness, but a lot of exposed stone and rock, like moss-covered area, and heavy pines and other tall trees that rock up above to the heavy shadows.

Looking up into the bow, as you can see, there are woodland creatures peering at the strangeness of these new arrivals. You don't see anything threatening or anything large enough to put you on edge, but you do know that these open areas of the wilds tend to carry such dangers. Yeah, we know wilds.

But with a night's rest, should you wish to hunker down? I feel like we should just go to sleep. That's the only thing to do, really. Isn't it the beginning of the day? It is. Hey, I'm not tired. Well, can you get tired? I mean, we can do that.

We can. Oh, I mean, yeah, what were you saying? I think we're saying different things. You seem really keyed up right now. I am. And I love you so much, and I need you to not make your emotions other people's problems.

Hey, hey, hey, now. He's dealing the same way we're all dealing. He's going to be fine. Right? I thought I was being nice. In your own way. Yeah. Come correct. Oh no, look at that. I'm tearing old friends apart.

FCG, what do you do to relieve stress? Well, apparently I can make out a little. Uh-huh. Sleep. There's many ways to relieve stress. Entering shutdown mode, or you guys can pop me open and just see if you could do some rewiring or something. No, no. You know what?

I don't think we should do that. But you could put yourself in sleep mode. I could. We all should, though. I mean, you're going to need to sleep at some point. We woke up two hours ago. We all should, though. I mean, you're going to need to sleep at some point. We woke up. Two hours ago. We just woke up.

Well, what do you want to do? Just walk around blindly? And we'd just be walking through the wilds. We should try and rest and get that staff back up. Yeah. Okay, I'll try. I can try to sleep. I mean, it's less about going to sleep right now and more like taking the day here. To rest. To just figure out what you need to, discuss what you want, if there's anything in particular you want to handle for the day,

and then an early rest for the evening. Well, if you want to walk over somewhere and take a little rest, I'll watch your back while you do. Thank you, yeah. I'll shut down right away. And I stand guard over FCG. Okay. I'm going to take a little bit to draw out

Drew Sari on a sheet of paper and really try to visualize it better this time. Hey, it's new magic, it's a new item. Just work out the kinks a little bit. Yeah. All right. While the rest of you make a temporary camp for at least the space you are, finding probably one of the safer little spaces

not quite out in the open, you can go ahead and go into an evening's rest. I'm going to try to find a little sun patch. Okay. Aw. When he goes into his rest mode, I'm staring really intently at him, and I want to cast Detect Thoughts and see if I can see what he sees when he sees my brain.

I just want to see if I can get anything else from him. Okay. The very, very gentle surface thoughts of your shutdown state, is there anything there that you would convey? Oh, I mean, do I dream when I sleep? Do I have thoughts, or is it rearranging? Is it just rearranging the day's events or is it,

what is it? Okay, are you handing the baton to me? I am handing the baton to you, because I don't know. I've been trying to dream this whole campaign. I don't know what I dreamed. So you pick up recollections of recent events. You pick up little passing moments

and words and expressions, like a brief review of important bits of affirmation. Do you delve deeper? Do I sense any sort of... Yes. Correct answer. Go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw.

But what was your question? Do you sense any sort of... Well, because he was so panicked in the moments before he turned off. And so I guess I'm trying to probe for the source of that panic, because I had never seen him react to anything the way he reacted to those birds.

Good to know. 13. What is my smell save? 15. That's a failure. You push past and it's hard to pick up. These are just momentary flashes, but you now truly feel that burgeoning tension

that you only saw on the surface before. There is, it wouldn't even classify it as a rage, but an immovable intent to kill. There is a need to destroy and cleanse. It feels unlike FCG.

It feels alien. It feels intrusive, like an intrusive thought that has grown so intrusive that it cannot be ignored any further. And the only thing that you see beyond this feeling that you grasp, beyond this boundary, is images of someone building.

is images of someone building. Do I see a face? Not a face. You see hands. You see hands assembling. You see things being carved. You see elements of enchantment being pressed within the deep recesses of the chassis of FCG within the head. There is a delicately crafted intentional intent burned within the essence of this person you're bonded with.

Old, buried. Yeah, so as an Aeormaton, am I able to sense whether this is his original programming or like a virus? Make an arcana check for me. Well, you know, that's... You never know. You're doing me great.

11. 11. I have no idea. It's beyond your scope of understanding of arcana, both new and old. That's about as much as you can get out of it. Yeah, I'll come out of his mind. Okay.

All right. You all take a harrowing evening's rest in a very foreign space, lost, cold. It is a cold night up here in the mountains. Maybe not as chilly as some of the nights you spent in the Crystal Sands tundra, but there is a lack of comfort in knowing where you are. Stay close, baby.

I don't know who you're talking to, but hell yeah. The following morning comes, and indeed your staff will go ahead and recharge. Five charges. Let's go. Five charges. In gathering yourselves, gathering your supplies, and preparing for a hopefully better intent on the next day's journey,

do you wish to cast the spell again? Come on. Yes. All right. Do you wish to cast the spell again? Come on. Yes. All right. Focusing on Jrusar. We need some guidance spells. Yeah. How do we do this?

Okay, Imogen, just a quick question. I have nothing but faith in you. How do we help you? Because it feels like you're taking a lot of the burden of this, and I want to be a supportive teammate. And if I take that much damage again, I'm going to go full FCG.

I get it, I get it. I'm going to take out my pan flute. I'm going to take out my pan flute and I'm just going to play some music. Oh, that's nice. Oh, that's wonderful. I love music. That's great. Does anybody have anything that can allow me

to re-roll something? Ooh, ooh. Interesting. What is rolling? Wait, don't you have that? What is rolling? Didn't we have some potions of Motes of Possibility? Yeah, I don't have that anymore. Oh. I used that. I used that when we were saving Laudna.

That was a while ago. Yep. Okay. All right. We did it. We're just going to do it. All right, focusing on Jrusar, the place where you met your friends. I'm going to cast Command on you. Succeed!

I feel a real drive to make this happen. All right, go ahead and roll a d100 for me, Laura. Come on, come on. Laura, come on. I'm, we got this. No problem. We got this. Here we go. I'm going to roll a three.

You're going to do a two? What if we roll the same number again, baby? Then I'm going to run away. Please? A brie is going to leak. We all get sucked into a black hole if that happens. 33. 53. Oh!

What'd you roll? 33. Okay. All right. As you all grasp your equipment and clench on all sides, you feel the magic once more You all grasp your equipment and clench on all sides. You feel the magic once more rip you out of the space you're in, drag you through a fiery liminal space, and then you all arrive in the middle of the night sky,

which I think I accidentally pressed the wrong button. We'll switch over to that. Sure. Delicious. It's such a full moon. It's going to take it here. Standing atop a brick and cobblestone road, the smell of smoke and misty air filters in.

Your eyes have to adjust to the lighting for a moment. As you can see, there's a light mist that drifts around the distant floor of the jungle that lies far below you. You glance off a nearby railing and you can see, for those of you who have been here before, indeed, you stand on the outside of one of the spires of Jrusar.

For those that are new to this space, you take in the surroundings here. It is likely either late night or early morning wherever you sit, but there is an open sky above, stars visible, little plumes of clouds gently drifting through, mountain ranges that span the horizon around you, like you sit within a massive mountainous bowl on all sides,

and the basin below and all parts of ground is covered in dense jungle that is now mostly shadow. You do see, from where you currently stand, two other large rock spires, like thin, rising mountains, like natural towers. Masses of cityscapes built along them in a spiraling street that rises above, some with long bridges and these extended cables

that connect between them. It is a bit chilly, but the other thing you notice, too, is in one direction, very prominently, you can see a massive, glowing red moon affixed in the sky and a pulsing thin beam that connects it beyond the mountain range. As you take a moment to stare,

it's locked in a flaring state. Ruidus is just emanating light. And that single thread itself flickers and pulses, like there's movement. and that single thread itself flickers and pulses, like there's movement. It's ominous. You glance around. The handful of sparse people that wander at this early hour are either armored or are quickly running

to wherever their destination is. There are all manner of shadowed, flying bird-like creatures up in the sky. I will. Those of you that have been to Jus'har before, you recognize these as the Simurghs, these large bird-wolf-like hybrid creatures that are partially armored and are ridden

and are just keeping a scoping view in the sky around you. It is a unique mix of beautiful and unique, as well as tense under the distant glowing red image of the Ruidus Moon. But it seems you have touched down successfully within the city. The minute we land, I take 16 points of damage. Oh no!

Bad Moon's on the leash. Did we do it? We good? Yeah, this is the correct place. Are you okay? You did such a good job. I'm not hurt at all. We're here. Oh great, that's wonderful. Do you look visibly injured at all? Just my soul. Great, that's wonderful. You did it. Do you look visibly injured at all? Just my soul. Oh, you're doing that stare where you go away. You good? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hurts on the inside. I just shit my pants again. Well, what spire are we on? Can we tell? Oh yeah. Are we by? You are glancing around. It's not entirely familiar to you, but at least the direct specific location you are,

but you assess rather quickly that you would be on the Smolder Spire. And as you can see, the visual spire that you can see is the largest one itself, it's this massive core section, the largest amount of city that wraps up with all manner of buildings across it at different levels.

At the top, there is a majestic, almost like a palace-like construction that crests and crowns the top of it. The spire you're on currently, you can smell the smoke and soot, and there are exhausts throughout that give these black smoke plumes that rise up into the sky and then drift and mingle

with the clouds and wind above before dissipating. You also, I will say note, for those of you who have been here before, the night, the warm lights, the magical lights that adorn the city and give it its speckled glow in the middle of the night hours are a bit diminished. And a deeper shadow falls across the city. We're meeting our,

we're hoping to meet our friends here, right? I mean, I think so. Fire by fire, or are we going in the Sit and Spin? Well, we don't even know where they... We're near the Sit and Swill right now. Yeah. So we could start there, but should we... We can't scry.

We can't sending, right? I mean, unless if it works here, I don't know. I'll try to scry if you want to try sending. Sure. Wait, didn't you have something with your friend Laudna's blood on it? Yeah. Can I borrow that real quick? I'll give it back.

Sure. I just need to touch it. You don't even have to take it off. I just hold it. I reach up and grab your necklace. I'm going to try to scry on Laudna. You're trying to scry on Laudna? Yeah.

Okay. I've heard of the Target. We're doing great. You have indeed. I've heard of the Target. And you have something of theirs. I also have this red yarn bracelet. Body stuff is better. Better? Yeah, slightly better.

Okay. So I have a negative. Slightly better. Okay. So I have a negative five to the save. Yep. Guidance. I don't think I roll. No, this would be unlocks. But thank you. I appreciate feeling supported. This is very nice.

I'm sorry, I said the mean thing earlier. No, it's all right. It's my fault. No, oh no. Cast it. Everything I do is wrong. Oh no! Fair. Okay. Oh no. Cast it here. Everything I do is wrong. Oh no! There. Okay. As you concentrate and focus,

you feel your spiritual self partially removed from your physical consciousness, and through a dimmed sunrise light of the Dawnfather, you feel yourself pulled through the realities of Exandria, clouded by mists and fog until they dissipate. And there you see, in some subterranean space, like a cavern, a carved, like a cavern.

A carved, they call it a living area, but it is a cave chamber of some kind. There is some simple furniture about, what looks to be a cot. And not too far from where this is, you can see curled up, not even really sleeping, kind of eyes wide and thinking. A pale, thin,

almost stretched and lithed woman, stringy black hair with a streak of white, darkened dress, a small pile of materials and supplies next to her. She just nods and thinks for a second. Safe, but you're uncertain as to where. Okay, I wanted to do and I let go of the necklace and just trying very hard to look very chill and failing. I didn't want you to get hurt. If you're going to try, I think you should maybe try sending, because I just saw her and she's very cute.

And she's safe in a cave. She's safe. Why did we do that before? Wait, we didn't even try that before? Hey, no, no, it's okay. I think maybe it's proximity or the moon. I don't know, but it's good, and you should do it. And. Did you see anyone else with her?

Oh, I was just, did I see? It's okay, it's okay. No, she was on the ground, by a pile of stuff, in a cave. In a cave? Did she look okay? Did she look hurt? Did she look? No, I mean, she looks kind of, you described her like beautiful, spooky, and I get that.

She seemed fine. She seemed fine. She didn't seem worried at all. All right. Not deader than normal? No, I don't think so. All right. So I think she's okay. I think your friends are okay.

That's good, that's good. Well, one anyway. She would probably look sad if everyone else was bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Sure, sure. I just she's okay. I think your friends are okay. That's good. Well, one anyway. That's great. Well, she would probably look sad if everyone else was bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Sure, sure. I just squeezed the image in. Yeah. You should try it. I'm going to try to cast Sending.

Okay. I don't think it's going to hurt. Go ahead and roll a d100. Ah, shit. I trust you. What do you say? Oh no! I'm going to be all right.

69, baby. Yeah! Hold on. You immediately met him off. There you go! Can't write it. It's a sex thing. I would tell that story. Say, it's a sex thing. It's a sex thing.

Stupid. Deeply ignorant. As you finish the incantation, focusing in this moment of joyful confirmation. Uh-huh. The most joyful confirmation. That hum returns, that buzzing, static sound, and the connection is lost.

Oh. No pain, though? No pain. Oh, that's great. Didn't work. Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't work. Still, no, but it didn't hurt. It didn't work, but that's great to know that she's okay. Okay.

In a cave, that doesn't sound drusari. It could be below. You all had the thought to come here because this is where you would have met up. So you have to assume that they had the same thought and that's positive. Yeah. And maybe if they had to move on to a cave or something, they left word.

So we should go to the places that we frequent and ask if there's a message for us or something. Good idea. Yeah, that's a good idea. I mean, Spire by Fire. We're closest to the Soot and Swill. We should check there with Pretty. Maybe she left word with Pretty. Yeah, that's Jorash's place.

Nope, that was covered in blood. And Shadonis, that's the only other place I can think of. So we'll real quick go to the Soot and Swill, because I think that's on the Smolder Spire, right? Yeah. Yeah, go there first. Yeah, because the trolleys, they charge an arm and a leg. Oh, yeah. There's a whole

gondola thing, yeah. Okay. I'm going to Minor Illusion, recreate the thing I saw in Scrying, just in case it's recognizable. I've made a diorama of what I saw. Look at this cute little. Yeah. Is that a shoebox?

Yeah, I think you. Oh no! Does it look familiar at all? Chetney blew it away. I recast it. Hold your breath. Does it look familiar at all? The environment? No. I don't know where that is.

But as you, those of you who have been there before, guiding the new compatriots along, you wander on the outside of the somewhat industrial aspect of the city, passing by the closed, at the moment, mines, the many homesteads that the windows are darkened this early in the morning, the occasionally darkened this early in the morning. The occasionally darkened lantern poles that sit at the various corners,

some alit with a perpetual flame, others that are just dark. Not unlike many of the disenchanted lighting arrangements in Uthodurn. Does it look like we could get in trouble for being out? Like the wardens are keeping people in their houses? Curfew vibes. Make a reception check. Guidance.

Yeah! This is on the wind. Guidance! 16. 16. You don't see anyone actively searching to keep people indoors at all. But the people that are out there, and you only see a handful,

and they're not paying you much mind, but they're quickly ushering through the streets. There is a hurried sense of tension that you at least are grasping from the movement of people. Some of the warders themselves, the armored guards walk by and give you a look, but they have almost a spooked energy to them as they pass by.

But you do eventually come to the exterior of the Soot and Swill. This homey tavern, you can already tell by the exterior of it, is meant to feel welcoming to the standard workers of the more hard industrial side of Jrusar. Coming into the warm firelit interior, it is mostly empty at this hour.

You see one individual, this rotund-looking dwarf fellow who's passed out in the far corner, this thick black hair that's pulled back and then tied up into a top knot that would flop in front of his eyes where he, conscious, is just snoring loudly against one table.

It's a good way to see if you look good with bangs. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Anybody in there? At the moment, the front desk is not attended, but as you enter footsteps, you see as an older gentleman steps down, a familiar knight purveyor,

who currently holds when Preyo is resting at this hour, at least, comes down. You can see the older half-elven man rush down with a, not even a robe necessarily, more than just a comfortable business blouse that just stands past his knees, that's wrapped around.

Are you looking for a room at this hour? No. Is pretty available, or? Actually, do you know, are there, is there, I guess we know they're not here, but did anyone leave word for Bell's Hales? Like, did you have messages written down somewhere? No messages, but you asked for Pretty?

I could inquire. Hold on. He steps back up the stairs and leaves for a few minutes. Then about 10 minutes of waiting, the gentleman returns and goes back to sit behind the front desk, and you hear the heavy footfalls behind the corner. Don't fall in love.

As the door opens. We went on a date with him. We can't make that promise. He is, yeah, we went on a date. He's something. You see a massive, eight and a half foot tall ogre emerges from the nearby table with this long nightcap that dangles past his mid-back

with this little burst at the end. He's got a nightcoat on that goes right past his knees, but a little bit too high. It barely fits him, and you can see stitch marks. It looks like it's been expanded multiple times to try and fit his ogre form. The patterns don't quite match. It's a little off. But he exits and goes,

Hello? Hi, pretty. My goodness! Runs down the steps, two of them crack under his weight, but he rushes down and gives a big sweeping hug to the two of you, and one big grasp lifts you both up. It's been a while.

It has been. You're here early. Yeah, we actually, well, we've been away for a while. Yeah. Have you seen Laudna at all? No. Or Orim or Ashton? No.

No? All right. I'm sorry. No, we all got separated and we were hoping to meet up soon, so. Well, I'm sure if you're looking for them, they're looking for you. That's right. Do you want some breakfast?

No. No. Yeah, I'm hungry, no? Oh, no, I think we should go. Maybe we'll keep looking. Okay. Hey, has it been a weird few days for you? Anything happen? It's been a little odd.

All the lights in the sky made for some fun celebrations. A lot of people drinking, getting excited, but also a lot of strangers. The moon's been kind of weird. Yeah. I don't know if you've noticed. Have you seen anyone that is just all red

and kind of walking around. Even running through the streets wouldn't have been a happy thing. Yeah. No. That's good. That's a good thing. Yeah, that's probably a good thing, yeah. Hmm.

It's been a little hard to get around the city. Some of the gondolas stopped working. Oh. Some? Not all. Yeah. Is it hard to get over to the Core Spire right now? Maybe.

All right. Oh shit. I like pretty so much. While they're talking, can I make an attempt to stealthily fix the mismatched seam on Fritty's outfit? Like, ooh, the sewer and he's like, Sled ham.

I can do this, I can fix it. Thank you. Oh god, I need it. What a bad roll. No. Okay. I see what she's doing. 12. Okay. I see what she's doing. 12.

12. She's talking to you both. This massive, meaty hand just grabs your arms and lifts you up a bit. Hi. Who are you? Hi, I'm Sasari. My name's Deanna.

I don't have pockets to pick. Oh, I'm not picking a pocket. You're in pajamas. That's true. Yeah, I'm not picking a pocket. You're in pajamas. That's true. Yeah, I just, it looks like you've done a little bit of tailoring to your pajamas, and they didn't quite get the pattern right. I can fix it.

Can I just, give me one second? I'm so sorry, I should have said something first. I didn't want to interrupt. You were having a beautiful moment. Puts you down and goes like, It's hard to find patterns in my body, so. Yeah! Oh my god. God, if we have more time, I'll come back.

I could draft something. She's really great. I sort of wrapped myself in the shawl she made. She's fantastic. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. You did that? I did! Hold on! I want to reach into my little bag

and pull out the biggest thing. I think it's a blanket, but it's just a handkerchief. Here for you. You hold that. Okay, I'm going back. And I'm just going to use a mixture of bending and my dagger to just realign and fix that. There you go.

Nice. Flat seams, too, so when you sleep on your back, it doesn't bother you as much. I appreciate that immensely. Sorry, that was distracting. We can keep going. It's almost pleated. So much better.

New friend. He pats you on the shoulder, which almost pushes you down into one knee. I take a knee like,. Come on. In your head, you hear, he dumped us. We didn't dump him, just for the record. No fucking way.

Pardon my French. Yeah, that happened. Okay. Okay. Well, if you see them, please, please, please let them know that we're okay. And that we'll meet them on the Core Spire somewhere. If we can get over there. Definitely.

Say the Spire by fire. Let the Spire by fire. Have you happened to see a guy with long hair? End of description. Oh, Ludinus? Like Wyatt Longhair Ludinus? He Wyatt Longhand? Ludinus? He's really old, but distinguished, smarmy. Minor illusion, this motherfucker.

Oh! Wow, you made a shoebox around him. To be honest, a gentleman of such an esteemed visage would likely not frequent an establishment such as ours. Oh, don't sell yourself short. This place is the tits. I appreciate that. Thanks.

Okay, go back to sleep. I can make breakfast if you want. No, no, we got to go. No. Thank you so much. Bye. We just wanted to wake you up, sell you some clothes, and leave. Okay. Well, it's nice to see you again.

You're always welcome to come back. Yeah. Mm-hmm. All right. Bye, pretty. Come on. Bye. Come on. Oh, it's like I always forget that it's going to get awkward. It's one way to turn down Fearne and Imogen.

Wait, what? Yeah, all right. So look. We don't need to dwell on it, it's fine. That's amazing, I have more questions. We were trying to build his confidence. I turn to go back in and ask pretty more questions. No, you're not going in there,

we're got to go to the core. You hear him going back up to his room to sleep. That drunk, passed out dwarf moseys out a bit, rubs his eyes, and wanders off into the night. The waters, you can see, are starting to become a little more dense in the streets as the bit of the sunrise is beginning to peak over the horizon.

The smirgs are growing more dense. You can see the lines of tetanacolor lay energy that are all gathering in the direction of where Rude is still, kind of looms in the sky. And it just stays during the day now, too, as it gets lighter, it's still looking very present? Oh god. Yeah. Oh god.

Sorry, that's crazy to do it that way. You also can see, as the sky gets a little bit brighter, a lot more of the city's shadows and the skyline becomes apparent. On top of the massive simurbs that are keeping watch around, as the city begins to wake up into life, you can see this skyport at the apex of the Aerie Spire

is cluttered with the skyships. You can even see some of the nearby mountain range is off to the side. There are a handful of other skyships. You can even see some of the nearby mountain ranges off to the side. There are a handful of other skyships that are anchored amongst the nearby mountain ranges. We used to have one of those. Yeah, we crashed it. Oh, on purpose?

Mm. Yeah. Ooh, unfortunate. Yeah. It wasn't the best idea we've ever had. Okay. It was fun. Curiouser and curiouser. Every new detail.

More but wild and wild. How are we going to get across the things? Well, let's see. Let's give it a shot. Something occurred to me in the Sitton Swill? Sitton spell. Yeah, the Sitton Spin. Sitton Spin, okay.

That scry spell that you used, do you only need something that belongs to the individual that you're trying to find? It's usually, it's a mixture of how well I personally know them and if I have something of theirs. So you, because we now have all of these things that belong to this Ludinus. Ooh.

Oh! Right? I mean, we have personal property of his in papers and things, right? We could give it a try. I think the more powerful wizards can block it or have abilities, but who knows? Maybe he's not expecting anyone to punish him.

Catch him on a bad day. It's very early in the morning. He's half asleep. Maybe let's get to the spire and then... Yeah, let's find our friends first. Yeah. Just an idea, yeah. That's a great idea.

That's a very good idea. And as we're traversing wherever we're going, I'm just going to make sure, I'm constantly on, I'm scanning to make sure that no one, whoever's looking at us, doesn't immediately recognize these three negatively. Okay, make a perception check. Oh, with pleasure.

Diets? Sure, I'll take it. D6, right? D4 or D6? D4. D4, yeah. So that's a three plus 11, so that's 14. 16. 16, got it. I totally thought

it was a 19 from my angle, and then it was not, and all that. And also, too, you excited me. I was really excited. So 16 to roll. 16, okay. Looking around the space here, you don't see anyone paying particular notice

in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable. You are definitely a colorful troop of people, and as the city is coming to life through the waking hours in the morning, the bustle is definitely tense. There is a general air of fear from what you're used to. Most shopping is done quickly. People who have bags to do their errands of the day are bee-lining it and keeping their head down. Most people you can see look up towards the sight of the moon in the sky and quicken their pace.

You also notice that beyond the warders, the armored guards of the city that work beneath the Chendei Quorum to keep the city safe, you begin to see other soldiers, other figures of somewhat unfamiliar armor. You begin to see heading into nearby taverns or marketplaces,

people looking to buy supplies and such. You see armored figures of different militaries, some wearing raiment, long robes beneath their breastplates, and heavily visible holy symbols of various deities. You see other sellswords or actual life soldiers that are here. You're not certain how long they've been

and how long they'll remain, but as the light gets brighter in the sky, too, you get a better glance at some of these skyships, and a lot of them are battleships. Not unfamiliar to some of the ones that you saw smashed or destroyed upon arrival at the excavation site at the time of the solstice. Vassalhaim in the house?

They sent the armies. They never leave. Yeah, this seems like the worst possible thing in the world. We're in a staging area, which is not great. Wait, what if, because the Changemaker visited you and the Dawnfather visited. She did. If that was a mass,

all of Vasselheim was told that the gods. Get up and go. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's cool. That's very cool. That is very cool. I got chill bumps. I wonder if after the event you guys, that transported you to us, if there were any prisoners held here,

if there were any people left alive from the other guys. Oh, maybe. From the bad guys. Yeah, the bad guys. You do Maybe. From the bad guys. Yeah, the bad guys. You do notice, Frida, at this time, that close to- Ludinus is walking down the street.

Yeah, he comes up and says, nice to meet you. I think that's him. He's got bangs now. One of the massive cables that stretches from this part of the spire up to the massive central core of the five spires that make up the city of Jrusar,

now that you've walked around and can see all five that make up this metropolis, you can see the gondola itself is locked into place on this end, and there's a massive stone automaton that stands on this crank that is affixed to it, that is just cold and not moving. Next to it is a line.

There's a queue of about 35 or 40 people that have wound up around the edge. You can see there is a robed figure wearing what looks like official Quorum decor and sigils that shows that they're part of the Quorum itself. They are one by one,

I'd say actually four by four, sending individuals on a floating platform with a dull blue glow underneath it. And it looks like they are essentially, with the gondolas that are down, they are attempting to move people throughout the city through other means, though it is a much slower process. Should we fly over? There's got to be a faster way

to stand and fly. Can we? Can we fly? What? I mean, I can fly, let's see. I could probably carry a couple of you. One additional. I mean, I can use a... I can fly three of us. Well, we still have this. Okay.

That's one way. We still have the paperwork that says we're from the King and Queen of Uthador. Maybe we can implement some sort of a... Like a fast pass situation? Yeah, what's like a diplomatic immunity situation. To where we jump the line? We need to cut this line and get there immediately. That makes sense.

Yeah, I'm all about cutting. Just hay waiting, it just wastes so much time. I agree, I agree. Yeah, we could try. Otherwise, it sounds wastes so much time. I agree. Yeah, we could try otherwise. It sounds like we're going to fly. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. We'll go to the front. Okay, so you step past the line.

You can see. We're very important. There are a number of soldiers that are at the front here. You can see there's a warder towards the front and many of the other townsfolk that are out to run their business for the day. Some look to be workers that have some satchels over their shoulders.

They all, all of them at once, give you a tense dagger stare as you approach the front. And the gentleman who's currently operating, what you would know to be called a broom skipper. They are one of the more expensive means of transportation during normal hours. They're usually used for the well-off

and important Mahon houses of the city. They often have somebody who is assigned to shuttle them throughout the city who does this, but now they've been taken by the Quorum and put to doing public service in a time of challenge. On the way over, I'm going to press the registration all of us so we look bright and shiny.

Okay. You approach the gentleman who looks tired, haggard, this human man with a receding hairline, grayish-white hair that comes to an inward curl, almost like a bob if you don't have the bangs. Oh. A nose that has outgrown the rest of his aged face, so it hangs down a little bit over the front lip.

But he looks like a nice fellow, just very tired. He turns to you as you approach. I am terribly sorry, but you need to get to the back of the line. Of course, most definitely, and we will, or we would, but we come on urgent business from the king and queen of Uthodurn.

Make a deception check. Okay. You're so good at this. I am a deception. Guidance, anybody? Guidance, guidance. We cast so good at this. I'm in a high decision. Guidance, anybody? Guidance, guidance. We cast magic as you talk. Pat me on the back.

That would be a... Wait. 17. A 17, looks at the paper. Looks at the rest of the group staring at him and sighs deeply. Just give me a moment. He looks at it and stands there

and you watch as the broom skipper that's across the massive gap, the space, the wind blowing through, the clusters of birds flapping by as the sun gets brighter in the sky. FCG tenses up even further. Eventually, it coasts back over and you can see the first group begins to step forward and he goes,

quickly, My apologies, this is on very important Quorum business. Just another moment, and you could hear people shouting whispers. Vietis, Vietis, Vietis! Angry. These are designed to hold four people. We're little guys. You have two little guys. We're two little guys?

Deanna, you need to kill one of us. Oh yeah, pull a Jerry. We're back to this again. I make choices. All right, you. Put you on my shoulders. Get over there first in case you find her. I can stand by and wait for the next. No, no, no. No, we're all going.

Can't you turn into a mouse or something? Oh yeah. I'll be a little guy. Oh yeah, I'll be a little guy. I'll be a little guy. All right, I'll wild shape into a raccoon dog. Okay, so everyone's like, you hear the frustration, the whispers, and the cursing, and the not-so-nice things being said

in the nearby crowd, and as soon as you transform, half of them go, What, did she see what she did? That was incredible. She didn't do a mask. Just pick her up. Just a sweet little raccoon dog. What does a raccoon dog look like?

They're so cute, I'll show you. It's a tzatziki. All right. By this big to pet. A little bigger. Go, Raccoon. Your paper is handed back to you, and you all step onto the broom skipper, which... Oh, I love it!

Dislodges and begins to move. Now, the broom skipper itself is about a little over 10 feet across, and the guard on the sides of it is about 2 1⁄2 feet tall. Standing in the middle of this... You could put big coats on this. Standing in the middle of this disk, all of you standing on it,

as it shifts over, the wind picks up a bit and the nerves hit as you realize it is moving, but you are. You're not telling me I'm shaking my tail. Nope. This is so much worse than the gondolas. It's terrifying. It's fine. Calm emotions, calm emotions.

I, you know, everything's fine. Slowly picks up speed. It's moving enough where the wind that's hitting you from this side is now beating the wind that's hitting you from this side. And a little part of you. I get down on my knees. Hold onto the rail.

And some of you instinctually almost go for it as you grab the railing as well, to get a little low, because as it's cruising along, there's a moment where you're uncertain if it's tilting or not. Oh. I want to cast Bless. Just in case we all fall out and die.

I can fly now. This should not be an issue. This should not be an issue. You watch as the Core Spire approaches. As it gets closer and closer, the massive scope of the central spire of Jrusar begins to truly set itself before you. The sunlight growing higher in the sky, the warmth, the temperature shifting into a warm morning,

into what will be probably a hotter day. The mists that mostly choke the jungle below begin to slowly subside to show the greenery and the bursts of color that make the life below. You approach and anchor on the opposite side, quickly step off. Oh fuck. Are you okay there, Chetney?

I couldn't even talk. Are you okay? Holy shit. It was so quiet on the tram. I got your belly buttons now. That was terrible. Oh. What does that mean? What does that mean? Is it a death word?

It counts as a death word on Chetney. It's okay. Death word. Not like this. You know that voice that goes, jump, man, the bitch was screaming. Thank you. Deanna, as you're on my shoulders, you hear in your head, as I'm looking up

at this massive cityscape and just thinking, I don't think I've ever felt this small before. Ah! How are you in my head? Oh, I think when we screwed up the transportation the first time, some powers got, wires got crossed, because I can speak to people in their brains now. Oh my god!

I know. Oh, you're so cool. What were you saying? Sorry, I got lost in the humor in my head all of a sudden. You've never seen... I'm focused. No, it's nothing. I just wrap my arms around your head, just kiss you on the top of your head.

Yeah, that feels nice. This is incredible. Yeah. We're seeing the world. It's an adventure. How is it on the central spire, same? Similar energy, but you do see, as you're approaching it, not on the level you're at, but above, there looks to be a regiment

of about 100 more soldiers that are gathering at one place. Make a perception check for me. Yo. 19. 19. 19. You also see another skyship that is approaching from the northeast side that's appearing over the distance.

Two more are beginning to dislodge and head in a southern direction. And down below in the areas at the base of the Jrusar Lantern Spire, where much of the surrounding ground-level village exists, you can see there are soldiers gathering. Whatever we do, we should do it quickly. Let's make it to the... Sure.

Oh, it's fire by fire. All right. As we walk in, I'm going to cast Locate Creature and look for Orym. Okay. A little guy is a creature? Just a little guy. I don't know. Does that work on people? Look at creature? Yeah.

Yeah, you could specify a person if you want. Great. Okay. Nothing, unfortunately, is picking up in your periphery, but you can maintain that concentration for as long as the spell lasts. I will. All right. Following your friends.

Do they look like they're preparing for an attack? You're uncertain. You don't have a lot of military experience. They look like they're definitely, oh my god. You are armed. They are armed and they are... They are ready. I don't know who to listen to now.

Ready for the possibility of a chance encounter, like any well-trained soldier. As we pass by a group of soldiers, I'm just going to detect thoughts, just to get an idea of when they're preparing. Surface thoughts as you pass by. You pick up anxiety. You pick up frustration,

not having enough information, being sent suddenly. Some of them are not quorum. Some of them are from afar. Some of them are like, the sense is, I've never been so far. This place is interesting. Where are we going? Another passing thought is missing home

and missing their family. Other ones are the strange prayers they've had as of late. It's a whole odd shifting window into the disparate lives of trained soldiers sent to a place on orders they don't fully understand. All right, let's do it. But you eventually come to the exterior

of the Spire by Fire, here against the central core, the base of the Core Spire here, surrounded by all many number of buildings and structures and shops, and this beautiful, colorful, vibrant town, even at this hour in which many of you have seen it come to life in the brightness of the high morning, is diminished.

The military presence here in the recent events definitely leaves the city under a gentle lockdown, whether by decree or by just a lack of wishing to be outdoors and perceived by the tensions that are flowing through Jrusar now. With the Spire by Fire, the burning torchlight on the exterior of the double-door entryway,

it is a welcoming, tall, multi-storied tavern and inn that is built into the rock itself. And as you step within, you can hear gentle music playing. The massive chandelier light fixture in the center of the secondary floors that roll up. There are dozens of tables around in the center of the far back corner. You see, sitting there, pouring a heavy tankard of ale

this early in the morning, a massive male Qatari, lion-like humanoid, with an orange-brown fur and a big dark mane, who's sitting there taking a big swig before it looks up and assesses some of you. I recognize you! You've been here before. It's been some time, eh? That's true, yes, we have.

We're actually looking for some of our friends. Have you seen the rest of our group, Bells Hells, by any chance? Do you remember them? No, I remember you had friends. I have not seen your friends around here, necessarily, but you know, we're making it work. Do you want to stay here?

Do you want? No. We haven't had a lot of patrons the past couple of days. We can make you breakfast. We can do all kinds of crazy things. Make you drinks. You want a room? We probably should eat or something. Yeah. Sure.

So hungry, yes, please, thank you. Those soldiers that we're meeting up with, are they on a higher level or on the same level and just further down the? They were on a higher level of the Core Spire. Are we seeing any armored individuals taking breakfast in here? Not yet.

But within a short time of settling in the space here, some soldiers begin to emerge from deeper in the tavern, and you begin to get the sense that why this individual, why Isshir might be wanting patrons is because the tavern has largely been taken over as a temporary barracks and housing for the military passing through.

Yeah, breakfast would be great. We'll take the works. Yeah. Full breakfast. So much breakfast. I'll pay for it, I got it. Wait, do you take money from the den? I didn't convert any of my currency for a guy. Hey, gold is gold. Silver is silver.

Give me what you've got. We'll make it work, don't worry. I'm going to position myself closest to the soldiers and pay close attention to what they're saying. Thank you. And I'll just try and figure out what's going on here with the planning. Can I just, oh, sorry.

Make a history check for me. A history check? Yes. I don't even know. Where's history right there? I got this. 20, 30, 20. Nice. Good job. Okay.

You do notice that some of these soldiers, while some of them wear similar armor, though a little more intense than the warders that guard the town, others carry emblems and attire that you have seen from traveling members of the Menagerie Coast. There are symbols of the Clovis Concord present, as well as a symbol that you do recognize

from what you've maybe heard of around, but you can gather to be probably the crest of the Council of Tal'Dorei. a symbol that you do recognize from what you've maybe heard of around, but you can gather to be probably the crest of the Council of Tal'Dorei. There is a spread of representation here as far as a cluster of military might sent from abroad. Is there, I'm going to sidle up near Frida and just look around.

We've heard a lot about the Stratos Throne. Is that a group that we would know about? You wouldn't know? Make a history check. Oh, okay. As I slide you in here, I'll convey that to you. History check. 12. 12. And what you recall from what you've learned about

in the past is the Stratos Throne, they, that's the faction to the far southwest of Marquet. That was one half of the Apex War. Do they still exist, though? They still exist. Okay. They're just relatively, comparably isolationist since the war. They've been recovering in the aftermath

of the stalemate end of the Apex War. Cool. You know them as the ruling government of where you grew up, though they largely didn't have much of an impact beyond pressing for taxation and tithes upon Jelvan. Their seat of government is high up in the Southern Mountains where the heavy snow

and the clouds take the peaks. But you don't see them represented here yet. All right. Could I step outside while everyone's settling down to get some breakfast? Can I see Ruidus from where we are? Yes, yes you can. You have to step a little ways out of the Spire by Fire,

out into the street, and as they're now higher in the sky, sunlight hits your eyes a bit as they adjust. You glance over and there are some clouds little ways out of the Spire by Fire, out into the street, and as the now higher in the sky sunlight hits your eyes a bit as they adjust, you glance over, and there are some clouds gathering on the horizon, but indeed there, looming above, unmoving, bright, burning red, Ruidus greets you. If I focus on it, do I feel anything different? Does it feel like the sort of draw

that I had in my dream or anything? I mean, there's always a very, very faint pull. Like if a thread were connected to your sternum and it was just a gentle list of tugs. I'm going to try to send a message. I don't know if it'll work, but maybe because it's a shorter distance, to Shadana. Okay.

It's Imogen. Has Laudna checked in? Is she at your house, maybe? Are you all right with everything? Roll a d1, 100. Oh my lord. Earl. I don't know.

Christian's fucking done, Miguel. That's amazing. He's like, get out of my space, you are ruining me. You're putting new shit on me and I don't need that stuff. He's like, don't touch me. Bleaching. Like, level up.

I rolled a two. You rolled a two? Zero, zero, two. Okay. Just gone. Yeah. Just gone. Oh, it worked.

Oh, it worked. Maybe it's a good thing to roll low on this one. Fucking hell. That's go. Oh, it worked. Uh-oh. Oh, it worked. Maybe it's a good thing to roll low on this one. Who can tell? That's a good thing. I didn't... What is happening? You're going to kill this woman. Hello?

She knows it's me. I've talked to her in her head before. No, she knows. She's... Aw. I have not seen Laudna anywhere. Aw. We have seen Laudna.

Do you want juice? Do you want juice? Just making sure babies are fed. Oh my god. But that is the first successful attempt at ascending. So. Hey. Hey, you're getting your magic back. She's close by, she's close by. but that is the first successful attempt at ascending. So hey! Hey, you're getting your magic back.

She's close by, she's close by. All right, I'm going to, I'll go in, I'll go in. Okay. Can I buy a little round of breakfast ales and take it over to one of the tables where a collection of some of those armored individuals are coming in? And I'll saddle up and say,

Hey, hey, y'all. Listen, we were, I don't mean to pry, just figured there's nothing like a couple of cold mugs of ale to get you warmed up for a good reckoning. You can see that putting on their pauldrons, they're assembling what elements of their armor they have to put on before they go ahead and leave for the morning.

Yeah, it's encumbering. I like to stay stretchy, you know? Keep the vibe. Anyway, I's encumbering. I like to stay stretchy, you know? Keep the vibe. Anyway, I was wondering if, you know, we got displaced when the moon did its thing, and I came from the Dividing Plane, so I recognize a little of the Tal'Dorei, and I spent my time on the Menagerie Coast.

Is there someone coordinating all of your efforts? We'd love to join the cause. They look at each other and one of them speaks up. We're just following orders. We were sent here not but a number of days ago. That is all that we know. From your individual commanders from the Menagerie Coast,

there's no coordination between? From our individual commanders that are here with us, yes. Who are you? Oh, my name's Chetney, Haparkapee, CPOP Industries. It's a pleasure to meet you. I was just seeing if maybe there was a larger effort being put together

in case you needed some wisdom. One of the warders nearby, one of the warder soldiers leans in a bit and goes, I assume that you would have to speak to the Quorum if you wanted to know, but we are here on military business. Ooh. I like the way you said that.

Wow, that was impressive. Yes, well, here. Some breakfast ales for these gents and ladies. I just felt like. No, no, there's a spread of genders amongst the military here. For my friends here, may your ass- ass kicking go well.

Thank you for your gracious, respectful offering to hardworking soldiers. This concludes our conversation. Oh no. Shit. Oh no. All right, have a good morning. I walk over. They're fucked. They're all working independently. It's all foobar.

We'll do much better on our own. Okay. Do you know what foobar is? I'm still a raccoon dog. Yes, you are. Just a little fatty-potty raccoon dog. Just plump and chubby. Oh, you're still a raccoon dog? Yeah, I didn't change.

I want to look around and see, I don't know, maybe Council of Tal'Dorei, I don't know. Whatever seems like the most important-looking group and go over to their table. Okay. Make an insight check. Okay. I wish I could cast Guidance.

Just pet her. I just hit her and the dog goes. 22. 22. There are three small groups of soldiers here. There doesn't appear to be any visual ranking on them. They're just waking up in the morning before they have to meet with the rest of their scattered regiments,

wherever their business is for the day. But within every small troop, there appears to be a driving mind, if you will. And you can suss out each one has a particular person who's keeping them on task. Okay, I'm just going to walk over to that table and just get on my haunches. Oof.

You see a handsome, older half-orc whose dark hair is combed over to one side, it swoops over, almost blocking one eye. He has a nice, well-kept goatee that comes into a tuft at the bottom. Has a little bit of scruff on the sides, but a nice little gentleman with these gentle tusks that poke underneath, and you can see one of them has a little gem

embedded in it. It looks down over to you. Aren't you adorable? Well, this is new for gracing my mornings. Thank you, you're adorable. Do you want to put up breakfast? Do you want bacon? Poof.

Very good, very good. Takes a half-eaten piece of bacon off the plate and throws it in the air towards you. Um. Ow! Oh my god, that hit you. Oh god. I'm just going to sit at their table

and try to just listen in and be just real cute. All righty. As you're playing with the one, someone talking like, man, what are we even supposed to do here? Somebody nearby goes, we're just supposed to be running a perimeter down towards, apparently, what the grounding site is. We'll find out more orders when we get there.

They're keeping us in the dark for some reason, and that makes me both nervous and excited. And the orc that you spoke to originally, as you approach, leans in and goes like, Shh! We do not know the specifics, but few here do. That tells me this is serious, and it means that we are trusted.

So we watch each other's backs. We do as we're ordered, we follow instructions, and we'll know more when we arrive. Keep your shit together. I know it's a bit strange. They all have this awkward pause as they all look off in the direction of the window, look back to each other.

Drink as much as you need to wake up, no more. We have a lot of marching to do in two hours. They both begin to finish the snacks at their table. You sense that there's just an air of anxiety that is combating the sense of duty. All right. I hop down and go back to my group. Okay.

Could I have rented a room? I just want room for three days under the name Bells Hells with a note inside it that says, if you're here, the rest of the group is safe. Stay and we'll be back. You got it. That's smart. Very smart. You got it. Okay. I'm going to saddle up alongside Miss Tymalt here. And this will all happen in our minds here, but I don't really drink this, if you want mine. Oh.

You know what? I don't usually drink either. Mm. Chug, chug, chug. Guidance. I'm always afraid that I'll hear too much if I do, but I got this circlet now, so might as well just get toasty, right?

I guess so. How are you feeling, Miss Timmel? Better, knowing that our friends are alive. Anxious, waiting for them to come. I sense that. Also warm, because I got this leather jacket on and I take it off so everyone can see my beautiful dress underneath it. Nice purses.

It's got sheer sleeves, have you noticed? I think it's enough. Well, the hand goes to the head. You got it. I think, Miss Tumult, I've been wanting to say to you for a while that a home can be many things, right? But home can be a person, too.

When I think of faithful caregiver, I feel like I'm home. Mm-hmm. And I think you're going to be home soon, too. Thank you. We made it this far. I'll give you a hug. Oh. Oh no. Are you feeling a little?

Oh, I feel fine. Okay. I feel fine. I'm just glaring. I put the blindfold back over FCG. What the fuck are you doing? You're like a bird. I just constantly cover you with a blanket. No, no, no. Okay, I have to go, then.

Go to sleep. FCG, stop it. Stop it. In your head, you hear, stop it. Stop it. In your head, you hear. It's not becoming on you. You know what's not becoming? Acting like a hussy in front of everyone. I know I couldn't hear that, but I felt the word hussy.

In this tense visual exchange, in the minds of these two as the rest of you feed on your breakfast and the general air of mixed emotions that seems to permeate the room, the city, abound the soldiers gathering their materials and leaving the other general go-tos of the interior of this tavern,

getting to their morning drink. Somewhere elsewhere in the city, a tree in a garden glows and a door within opens and that's where we're going to go to break what are you doing what do you mean we're going to come back here with some different

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As Team Issylra, after traversing the challenges and dangers of the center of Issylra's continent, heading towards the Ascendant Mountain, Ascendant Bridge Mountain, making some allies, destroying some temples, traversing the dangers of the natural world, learning of the Eidolon spirits. Killing some allies. Killing some allies.

No, Borer was not an ally. Just one. Being betrayed. But then, with some information gathered and rest under your belt, you were granted passage through a nearby tree by Hevestro to the city of Jrusar after scrying on and discovering that the allies that you seek

currently reside within the Spire by Fire tavern. As the gateway is opened within the tree, your new friend Prism enlarges her raven ally and grasps it and glides outward, realizing Goodbye! I'll never see you ever again! As you glide out of the tree, leaping and going over, a massive drop expands below you, just over the lip of a garden. Prism, Prism, wait, no!

I'm going to Marquet, you're going to Jusar! We're walking the same direction. Let this be the last moment you ever see me! We've been here before, would you like a walkabout? Wait. That's a cliff! What? Oh no! So while the three of you step through the tree and you're at the edge of this garden, you look up to the edge and you watch

as the bird is gliding downward at a rapid state with a prism now dangling, probably close to a half mile in the air. I don't think I have the dexterity to balance this vessel! Turn back towards the... Turn, that, come on! All right, Orym jumps up and runs along

the little stone wall that bridges the garden and swings Seedling up, and I don't know if she's close enough, but I will try to grab her by the tush with a vine to try to rein her in. Just turn her towards the garden. I'll say, as you've circled around a bit to try and catch yourself, and you've just gone,

you've now dipped below off the edge as you're descending off of the slips. She's about to just continue to glide down into the expanse above the jungle. You leap over to the edge and try and lash it. I'll see if you can try and get there in time. Go ahead and make a dexterity check for me. Okay, I'm rolling Laura's dice.

Can you do it with advantage if I have a nice touch? Like a nice target. I'll allow it with your offering shirt. Okay, canonically, with a nice tush. It is a high DC, but. Way to sell it. That is a, this is a dex save? A dex check, which is add your dexterity modifier. Oh, that's an 18.

18, okay. As you're gliding down. Oh no! It catches you on the left side of your tush. My left cheek! Ah, the left pap! Before you are pulled back up and over the edge, landing onto a soft bead of grass

in the middle of the garden. He literally pulls. I'm so confused. I thought we were going to two different places. I was trying to give you a nice cinematic send-off of me. So Jrusar is in Marquet. Freight, your first time here. We're hundreds and hundreds of feet in the sky.

Let's just walk you around and we'll show you the lay of the land. It was incredibly epic, though. I love the idea. I know, I was like, I'm not going to be able to do this, but it's going to be a really great last visual, and then I'll crash and they won't see that part. They won't see that part.

Yes, you've been here before? So this is Jrasar. This is Jrasar. Welcome. Wow. What spire are we on right now? Glancing around, you gather your Andalusian Spire. Wow. This is a very, very nice garden park area

that sits on the outskirts of one nearby cluster of estates. It is a very, very upscale neighborhood that sits high in a loft, separate from the majority of the lower sections of the spire, in which, well, from what you can see, a very vibrant cluster of buildings, abodes, structures, a very thriving city that exists

built around the surrounding five massive rock, spire-like monoliths that push out of the jungle floor of the valley below you. What are all those? Well, there's five, right? Five spires here in the city? Mm-hmm. Yeah. These are the spires of the city,

different neighborhoods. Usually take gondolas between them. Gondolas. Orym's looking around, too, trying to assess if we're in a public park or in somebody's backyard. You are in a public park, though it is gated. Public as anything would be in the Lucien Spire,

which is largely reserved for the people who live here. Has anyone given us any funny looks? Oddly, in this early, kind of early to mid-morning hour, there's nobody else in the park. You do see some warder guards wandering the far streets. You do notice, as you arrive here,

you can see the array of multicolored lay energies that are currently driving in a southward direction. As you assess over, you can see the glowing moon Ruidus affixed not far from where you are, just locked in the sky with that central tethered beam disappearing past the mountain range

to the south-southwest. Does it feel like when we were in the place with Abadena, does it feel like that's a powerful source of arcane energy like that was? You do notice the lines are all convening in that direction, so wherever this is happening, it looks like it's happening at another nexus point.

I want to go there. Unless you guys are headed there. I mean, really, my talents are best spent in some sort of library or wizard study or... Well, we have that. We haven't really talked past today, really, but... No. Yeah, what is your plan? We're going to find, look for,

the people we got split up with. Might check in at home. You know. Regroup a bit. Yes, we should check in. There was this really fantastic, well, there is the one here, the, help me out, the twi-tree. Not on this spire.

No, not on this one. What do you? The Starlight, Starlight. Oh, I didn't find that. Starpoint Conservatory. Starpoint Conservatory. Starpoint Conservatory. That's right.

Yes. Which is, you know, quite a... Very nice, top-notch university. Since we're all here, I'm planning on lying and saying I'm a high mage, a really high mage in the Cobalt Soul, and I was wondering if you would all conspire with me

to support that lie. Sure. I can help by saying the first trick is not telling people that you're lying. Yeah, I know. I've been working on saying the lie without smiling. Oh, wait, try it. I'm a high mage of the Cobalt Soul.

Oh my goodness. That was like... Yeah, no, I know. That was a lot of smiling. What accent was that? I know. We met this lady from the Cobalt Soul. She was way flintier and way more serious. Yeah, kind of grumpy.

Really kind of a bitch. Looked like a face that had never actually smiled. There was no line there. Hard ass. Really? Yeah. Would I know this person? Denios, do you remember this person? She has abs for days.

Denios, who has the most abs at the Cobalt Soul? To be entirely honest, I have not looked nor cared, but I guess keep an eye out for the washboard abdominals of which you're speaking of, and maybe they'll put a bit of intensity in your look as well. Okay. Well, I've never cleaned her quill or chamber pot, but she sounds fantastic.

Do they put everyone at the Cobalt Soul through an intense boot camp, like a rigorous workout routine? It's just, yes. Oh, okay. Yes, 24. I don't know a lot, I've read a little bit, but yeah, I think that many, if not all,

well, not all, because, I mean, how are your abs? I lift up and I have an eight pack. I have a minus two to strength because my arms are weak. It's all in my core. This is where magic comes from. Are there just books wedged between each? It looks like a fucking stack of books. Welcome to the library, bitch.

It's book finds all the way down. It's tattooed book finds. She has a Dewey Decimal System on her abs. All of the authors say Prism Grim, Poppy, because I fucking made these. I wrote my own fucking story. Okay. I'm glad that in my very last episode,

I've established I have a nice tush and an eight pack. 10 minute intro, well done. Get it all out. If you just keep going in the same direction as us for 30 episodes, we can't stop you. Yeah, I think that sounds like a great place for me, the Conservatory. I could sneak in and give him a stone face.

I'm a Highmage of the Cobalt Soul. That's better. Care less. Care less. I'm a Highmage of the Cobalt Soul. Hmm. That's you went too far. Yeah, yeah, swung hard. Difference?

I know, I know. You have to believe the lie, right? Who the fuck are you? I'm a high mage with a cobalt soul. Oh yeah, I felt that. Yeah, that's great. That was good. I felt slightly demeaned there. That's good.

So we will back you up. Thank you. Long as you're our eyes on the inside and if we need to find something out in a pinch, then we can get ahold of you. Yeah. Is that fair? Yeah, so as we were coming through that tree, I might have learned a new spell that could help.

Right in that moment? Yeah. Whoa. It was really cool. Things have gotten weird. Like a moment of inspiration? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tell me more. Okay, yeah, you want to know more? Yeah. Yeah? As I was clinging to the enlarged feet of my raven familiar, I remembered a page I'd seen in one of the wizard scrolls, and it said teleportation circle. In that moment, I copied it into my spell book

with my wizard quill. As you were gliding? Yeah. You are so talented. Thank you, thank you. How did you write? My quill does it. Actually, I do have a magic quill.

Wow. So I think I have ways that I could have a magic glow. Wow. Mm-hmm. So I think I have ways that I could maybe send you information. Do we have anyone left alive there at this point? Not to scare you. Thinking that, because, okay, help me out, DM. Mm-hmm. Was the Academy located at the Mirror Towers?

Eri. No, the Academy's on the Aerie Spire, near the Skyship port. Right. I just remembered all the different four towers, but was that different? Was that like a governing branch? The teardrop towers,

the ones that we infiltrated? That was on the Core Spire. That was higher up on the Core Spire. Okay, that was the one that we exploded. You brought down, yes. Yeah. They are not there anymore. Or at least you do not recall them being rebuilt. Oh wait, here's, okay, the Starlight.

Well air-conditioned. Okay, found a study on red dreams by, all right, no, no. Hang on. Do we know anyone here? There's that, god, there's that poor person at the front who hates us now. I know.

I mean, I- I might like you, though. Oh. I think that I have ways to sort of ingratiate myself. I do have a Sigil of the Cobalt Soul, and I have the Seal from Vasselheim, so I feel like I can work my way into a couple rooms that I wouldn't have had access to otherwise. But I do appreciate your help. I mean, where are you going? I could try and help you. Well, we're hitting a tavern, an inn, for us to find friends and breakfast. And then we have to figure out,

I don't know, even we haven't talked about this, but if I have any say in the matter, we're going to head out soon. Out towards that. I reference the moon. It seems destiny is pulling us that way. Whether we like it or not. Well, I tell you what, why don't you come with us? We'll get some breakfast. We can work out your

story if you need. Thanks. I'm sure you say the right things. Yeah, yeah, that would be good, yeah. Let's do that, and then we'll formally say goodbye. All right. Yeah. And go on our ways. You have my gondola, right? Yes, let's head towards the gondolas. I don't have any money, no.

Well, I'm just giving it all away, I suppose. That was a bad call. I'm just fucking with you. Yeah, it's fine. Okay. As you step away from the side of the garden precipice, the heavy winds blowing through, you step through the rest of the Lucent Spire, passing the exteriors of the high-walled,

very beautiful estates and manors the rest of the Lucent Spire, passing the exteriors of the high-walled, very beautiful estates and manors that are built into the spire, and the cusp of it above, the almost palace-like rich homesteads, the various higher Mahon houses that run a lot of the city beneath the Chandei Quorum. Eventually, you come to the familiar,

to three of you at least, the gondola wire entrance to this part of the spire, which connects to the Core Spire. You can now see the massive central mountain-like tower that rises at the center part of the city itself, with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of structures and buildings that are built in this

rising road that carves up higher to its peak, where you can see the Palace of the Chendei Quorum itself glistens like an ivory beacon at the top. The gondola is functioning. You could see a massive stone automaton with glyphs inscribed throughout it that is currently moving this massive crank that its arms are fused to. And as it pulls the cable, you can see this shifting box moving up to the top. As it does, this hanging gondola chamber arrives and opens, and you see a small family of very well-dressed denizens

quickly step off. They're well-dressed, but they have cloaks over a bit. And as they see you, they nervously avert their eyes and quickly rush into the neighborhood, which is not what you would expect from the normally haughty denizens of this area, the city. Do you have a bad reputation here? We didn't get the sense that that was the reaction to us

or just the vibe they were in. Make an insight check. Yeah. Bad reputation, does that count? That's good. That's a 20. 20. You didn't gather it was pointed at you directly?

More just a discomfort in general? We're nobody here. I don't know, people react to me like that all the time, so it just seems, you know. It could be me. I don't think it was. I hope not.

I don't know. Is this your home as well? You said you're from here, this is your home? This is my home. These two are transplants. Tal'Dorei. Spent a decent amount of time here. Met here with a lot of us. Handful of months for me and Imogen,

who maybe you'll meet. That'd be so weird because I've scryed on her so much. Oh my goodness. To see her in person. So weird, like a para-scry relationship. Yeah, I do have a para-scry relationship with him now, I think. It's fun. Yeah, one way of luck. Gnomish courier pushes past,

Oh, excuse me, and then gets inside the gondola and motions to the automaton. Oh, wait, hold the door. Okay, you step inside. This younger gnome, you see him carrying a bound, like a package of some kind that's wrapped. He sits in the back. Well, then get on, get on quickly.

Is this seat taken? No, no, it's fine. There's plenty of room. All right. No, I sit right next to him. Probably uncomfortably close. The door closes and then the automaton begins moving and cranking

and immediately the gondola begins to shift down the cable, swing gently with the wind as it blows. Are you a courier or a town crier? I am a court courier, yes. What's been going on here lately? What's the vibe? People seem a little on edge.

Do you have the news? The news. Points out the side window of the gondola in the direction of the massive red moon that is unmoving in the sky. Yes, there's quite a bit going on. There's a lot of strange people coming in and out of the city.

Things aren't normal. No, you could say that, yes. Why? What happened here during the Apogee Solstice? Hi, High Mage of the Cobalt Soul. Oh, whoa, I'm... Here to inquire for the sake of the Cobalt Soul. Oh, whoa, I'm- Here to inquire, for the sake of the Cobalt Soul, very serious business. No, understood.

I mean, there was some celebrations, there was some events, and the numerous spires had their own gatherings. It's an event. It was just a nice situation. No one got shunted anywhere? No one got shunted, necessarily. Anyone gone missing? Anyone suddenly appear?

I don't know, I don't know! I'm just, look, I'm just trying to do my business. I don't know what this interrogation's about. Yeah, no worries, we just got to town. We've been gone a week or two. A lot of change. He's looking back at Ashton and Laudna. I look down at the package he's holding.

Can I see if there's a name? He hides it behind him. He's, I'm aloof about looking at his package. Are we allowed to use a new spell that we got from leveling up? I mean, that's part of the fun of leveling up. What are you trying to do? I'll teleport him away. I took a really, I took a dirty little spell that Bold Prism would have never taken.

Can I cast? Dirty spell. It's a dirty little spell. Can I cast Friends on him? It's just a cantrip. Okay. Do you have Friends as a cantrip? Yeah, I have Friends now.

And so I'm going to magify it. Sure you have Friends now. All righty. Heard that before. He's awkwardly sitting. He has this simple, don't look at me gar-me garb, with his running shoes on. His plume of hair that comes up into two points on the sides, unkept, windswept.

He's trying to make himself look even smaller. He's hiding the package, and he feels like he's unfortunately been surrounded by a bunch of strangers that are asking too many questions. What's your name? I'm so sorry if we have disturbed you at first. Again, I am from the Cobalt Soul. You said that, yes.

Yeah, and the only thing that we want to do is, we just want some information, and I'm just, I want to help you do your business, because I'm also a businesswoman. All right, make a persuasion check. Can I help by subtly stepping in front of Laudna and blocking her visage? You and smiling?

Yeah. You got it. I'll lean back, I see what's going on. Okay. Keeps following in the direction, just leans. I have my advantage because of friends. Go for it. Oh, you already have it, great.

I see one terrible roll. That's you already have a crate. I see one terrible roll. That was a three. Oh no. Followed by a two. Yeah. Yeah, boy. For a total of? Oh, for a total of, I have a plus one of persuasion, so that's a total of four.

He goes, Well, then I think the Cobalt Soul might be very helpful in letting you know some of the things you are asking about. I'm no one, I don't, I have no way of... Would you be willing to take a survey, is what she's asking? Yes. It's got a clipboard and everything.

I really don't like surveys. On a scale of one to 10, how would you describe your experience of the Apogee Solstice? I hate this. And just curls in and gets really quiet, like shuts down. He's disassociating, oh no.

Write that down as a two. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I have a really simple question. Has there been any official statement or action taken by the city since everything happened? The Quorum has notified denizens of the city that it has made some alliances due to the strange nature of the moon and the events

and the Hellcatch, so to expect strangers passing through. Increased security, anything like that? Yes, largely. As the gondola's getting closer to the core spire, he points up to the area across the way and you can see the cluster of skyships that are all docked there. It's not designed to hold this many skyships,

and it's just this cluster of docking. They're all tethered off to the side. Oh, for me. It's very strange times. In very strange times, indeed. Gondola. This is my stop as well. Goodbye.

He gets up quickly and tucks the thing under his arm and starts running out. Can I send Mother after him? Yes, you can. I want Mother to stick her little beak in his package and cast Identify. I want to know what he's hiding. Mother, act like a curious bird, okay?

Mother flies out and you hear him go, No, no, no! He's charging away. As Mother casts Identify on a missive. It is just a missive. It's just a missive. He's just a courier. He's just a courier. It's just emissive. He's just a courier. He's just a courier.

Dehydrated potato flakes. Yeah. For some instant mashed potatoes. Yep. Mother returns. So this is really different than it was last time you were here, right? I didn't have this nervous energy in the air.

The fact that people were celebrating, but I guess. Yeah, I said celebrating. Celebrating on the night. On the evening, correct. No word about a bunch of missing people. Can't imagine, I'll go. I'm tempted to stop by home before we hit the end. I don't know.

We're so close. Close to both, technically. Yeah, they're both adjacent. Fine, either way. It's just the stop I'm going to have to take. Do you want to do that now or with the rest of the group? Maybe FCG would love to see Milo. That's actually not a bad idea. Yeah, it's not a bad idea at all. I'm also a little anxious to make sure the others are all right.

Okay, that's fair. Let's get there. Okay. I reckon cities of the world are all handling this a little bit the same and a little bit different. I'm just struck by how dodgy he was. Well. All carriers are dodgy. It's part of their job.

Postal workers. What is this cross-campaign beef you have with the post, Marisha? Mail system? Yeah, actually. That's been a long thread. What the hell? So did we go from the Lucent Spire to the Lantern,

or are we crossing through the Core Spire? No, to the Core. Is that where Spire by Fire is? It is, yes. Oh, it is, okay. Where everything fun is in the Core Spire. As we're walking and talking, I'm just pointing out to the prism, over there is the lantern spire.

It's the gateway to the city. What about, are there any taverns here in which high mages might meet up to swap spells or arcane secrets? Do we go anywhere like that with you and Imogen? I mean, it would probably be either at the Aerie Spire. Aerie Spire. Or the Lucent Spire.

I can't think of any pubs at the Lucent Spire that I know of. We kind of spend a lot of time in dives. We do. And what about, like, what are the sort of religious centers here? Because I feel very curious to see what sort of esoteric

texts are being hoarded by the religious sects. I mean, Ascension's Rise University, would that be a thing for a prison? Or is that, am I overthinking that? Ascension's Rise University. It's in the Aerie Spire. I know, I'm killing you. It's the magnet school.

Oh yeah, Ascensionons Rise Universe, yes. That would be very specifically of interest. They've got to have a cafe of some kind, I'm sure. Yeah. Student union. Go where the college campus cafes are. Yeah, you've already got the vibe going on, so. As far as religious things go, you do know the Prakash Pyre,

which is the massive Dawnfather temple and the Pyre Lighters that sits in the Lantern Spire. That's right. Catching up. Interesting. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a heavily religious-dominated city in general, though. Yeah. You can find it, of course.

Yeah. I think I'm looking for anyone who might have Although, you can find it, of course. Yeah. I think I'm looking for anyone who might have sort of pre-mythological information about the elemental Eidolon kings or the, um, or the Pardathos. Oh man, if that's your focus,

you might have stayed in Assyria and gone north to Vasselheim. Oh. I don't know. Vasselheim is so... That's a big step. Plus, we just... Religiously dominated. Raised hell in church.

I was going to say, maybe the other option is to continue to head very south to Eos. I don't know. I feel like there's a lot here. I'm just a person. Well, yeah, it's a good starting point. I will definitely start here. I think I'll get some really good leads here.

One of the threads that started us on this whole thing was following a couple of students who went missing, who went to the Starlight Academy, the Loomis twins. Starpoint, yeah. Starpoint. Fuck! Never will get that right. It's okay. Damn it.

But they come from the Loomis-Mahon house. We didn't really run with mages before meeting you. Really? Yeah. You're the first. Not really our vibe anymore. We met one a few days before you, but that was a couple of minutes. You had a really bad experience with him, right?

Not really there at all. Wasn't there to make much of an impression, really. Gotcha. I thought you were referring to Ludinus. Well. Wow. We didn't really run with him. More like a run over. Anyway, good starting point is a start point. Yeah, okay, great.

Pointing out the Ascension's Rise, also. Ascension's Rise? Ascension's Rise University, it's basically in the same. They're not quite next to each other, but pretty close. This honestly gives me a year's worth of work, so this is amazing. I cannot wait to sneak into all of their restricted reading sections.

Yes. Seems like you're good at that. Hey, I'm going to get really good. Oh my goodness, I can't wait to talk in a couple months and be like, oh my god, Prism, what have you learned? Actually, Laudna, I was thinking about this because before we talked about the Shadow Realm, and I was a little down on it, right?

Because it's a tough place, but if you ever are able to go, try to go for the Night of Ascension. Night of Ascension? It's the day, it's like this big holiday where everyone celebrates the Matron of Raven's Ascension and it is the Shadow Realm at its finest. Really? Yeah.

All right. Yeah. That sounds great. Yeah. When does that happen? Oh, that's a date that I absolutely know. And so instead of just saying it, why don't I just send you a Google invite? That sounds fantastic. So now you know.

That's great, I'll put it in my calendar. And we both know, yeah. I love it. You can reply to those messages. Yeah, I am waiting for a reply. Are you attending? I really need a head count. Are you attending? I am waiting for a reply. Are you attending? I really need a head count. Are you attending?

It's just like, there are costumes, and I need to know how many to make. Maybe plus two. This is totally a walk and talk through the streets. Yeah, this is very much a walk and talk. Do you want to come, Orym? To the Shadowfell? To the Shadow Realm.

Shadow Realm, well. Night of Ascension. Sure, if we're still here in two weeks, sure. That does sound kind of fun, well. Night of Ascension. Sure, if we're still here in two weeks, sure. That does sound kind of fun, actually. You should come. You can get really fucked up. You can travel more. Along this journey through the center of the Core Spire,

the town itself has come to life, though the usual cacophony of families and jovial conversation and the comfort of life within the city that you are familiar with, those who have been here before, is heavily diminished. There is a sense of worry. There is a sense of expediency. You can see a large military presence,

armored warders and other armored figures all throughout the city. You can see other skyships on the horizon that seem to be either traversing here or heading off from here in other directions, eastward, southeastward. Does this remind me of the religious presence in the place that Abedino is from?

I mean, in a way, and having military figures in a space where it doesn't feel like the presence is normal. But they aren't religious military figures like they were. Some of them are. In fact, some of them have similar vestments and armor as to, though maybe the symbols are different,

but there are definitely individuals who are armored, present, and carry a weight and station about them, but their attire is heavily, very much carrying the iconography of the gods. Can I do a religion check on what kind of gods are in this? Sure. That's another two.

So 11. 11. The first one you see walk by, you don't quite get a good glance. The second one that comes by, some of these soldiers are leaving the Spire by Fire as you approach this massive tavern carved into the side of the core itself.

The second one that comes by, there is a symbol emblazoned on the front of their chest. It looks like it's burnished a bit or hasn't been cleaned since a long journey, possibly. But it looks to be that of a... a woman's hair that is... the side of a woman's profile with the hair swooped and gathered into the design of the armor itself.

Who is she? Do I recognize her? You recognize her because it's the same symbol that adorns the coin that FCG has been carrying as of late. So it is definitively the change bringer. What's the, any signs of the Ivory Syndicate, Paragon's Call, any of their? No Paragon's Call. Ivory Syndicate, Paragon's Call? Any of their? No Paragon's Call.

Ivory Syndicate doesn't have any strong iconography. I thought they had like, yeah, they have a little. They have some things about them that no one catches your eye. If they do, they're fairly subtle. First thing, yeah. What I was thinking about when you asked me that question. Is anyone in green cloak or hood on the street in the crowd?

Are there any green seekers about? You do not see any sign of green seekers in the direct path you're making to the Spire by Fire. But you do reach the exterior of the Familiar Tavern where much of your adventures first began here in Jrusar. Just as soldiers are emerging, armored up and scattering out into their day's commands or business, you step within the familiar darkened interior

of the tavern. You see across the way, Ishir Ika, the Qatari proprietor of the Spire by Fire. They're currently in the process of conversing with another person who looks like they're arranging for a room of some kind. Not far off to the far corner, you see a table with a cluster of familiar faces.

I would like the rest of everyone to somehow come into this area. Let's figure this out. Let's figure this out. All right, we're going to have to scooch for pooches. Oh my god! Oh man, I'm going to remove all my shit.

Scoot me, Scoot me! Is this your conch? This is my conch. Oh no, holy cow. Oh my god. This is fine. This is the way of life, like, in the frame. I loved it. I loved it. This is a young man.

Oh my god, what else, people? Hi! Ooh, Thanksgiving! Hello! What the heck is this table? Hi, guys! So cool! Oh my god.

It's salmon, actually, with big arms. When you tell the waiter that you have four friends who are joining, and they're going to be here in 10 minutes. Can we just, can we pull over another table? Can we pull a few more of you? Can we scoot these tables together? Ooh. Yes, exactly.

Imogen. There's more of you? Me? As you're conversing and finishing up your meal here, mid-discussion, you glance past and see a cluster of shadowed silhouettes enter past the soldiers that are exiting, and you immediately recognize the silhouettes of Laudna, Orym, Ashton, and another.

Imogen! Laudna! You guys! I skid her over. Hugs. Hugs. Hugs. Hugs. I've got a lot of phones in front of me. Hugs. Hugs is so pretty.

Hugs was phones. You're alive, haven't you? You're alive. Which Orym? There's a rapid patter of feet along the wooden floor and then Orym flies through the air and latches around Fearne's neck. Well, I'm still a raccoon dog. I lift her up.

I'm just not a random animal. This is my friend. There's an animal sitting at the table with you guys? No, it's at another table. I'm just going to say, it's spying on soldiers. The soldiers you were spying on have gone up and left now, so you probably would have returned.

Okay, great, so I'll just go under the table and change. Okay. Oh my god! Hi, you're alive! I don't even know which reality is real. Wait, where's Chetney? Oh, he's over, he's next to Deanna.

This is Deanna. What's up? Hi! Hi! I saw over next to Deanna. This is Deanna. Sup? Hi! Hi! I saw you laying in a cave. Oh my god! Really? Hi. It's nice to meet you. I've heard really nice things.

Pleasure to meet you. Oh my goodness. We made a friend as well. This is Prism, everybody. Hi. Hi. I'm a High Mage of the Cobalt Soul. Oh, that's so nice. What's that?

That's just my reality. Insight check. Yeah, no, I buy it. It's fine. And this is Frida. Oh, we were making out in the corner. Oh, oh, what? Oh, what's going on over here? Hello.

Oh, hi. Hi, Ashton. Hi. Hey. Is this another? Yeah. Is this another? You want my tongue? Yes. Hi. Hi. Hey. Hey. Hey. Is this another? Yeah. Is this another? Are you on my tongue? Yes. Yes. Yeah, they need to breathe out.

They have a name, yeah. Rita. You're so tall. Rita. Oh my gosh, you're alive. This is the first time I've ever heard that. Yes, I am. Yes, I am very tall. We actually were able to peek in on you all as well.

Oh! Yeah. Where were we? Ooh, what do you see? The wind. The wind is very important. So when? Why?

Wait a second, I have an idea. If you want to speak, you hold the conch. You can touch my conch and take your throne. You don't want to touch that. It's been placed. Yeah. Yes, you were just walking through a snowy tundra mountain.

RPG shit. Great, great. Just walking. Okay, that's all we were doing. We had a threesome. Oh! Sorry. Wow. Not me. I punched a man and killed him.

Yes, we had betrayals. Was he a bad man? Yes, he was really bad. He tried to assassinate me for something I didn't even do. And he spent an entire week endearing me to him right before that. How dare you? What a horrible man. With one punch?

Yeah. You might be one of the most powerful people I think I've ever met. Well, this is also not a lie. One punch Grimpoppy is what they call me. Grimp? Insight check. I think I've ever met. Well, this is also not a lie. One Punch Grim Poppy is what they call me. Wow. Grim Poppy? Insight check. Go ahead and prison.

If you would like to make a deception check. I would like to make a deception check. Practice for later. This is going to be so awesome. This is really good. Is my spiral down there? What? We got it. Come here, Poppy.

Ooh, 17! 25. It's real, for sure. For sure. I'm a professor. Professor Calloway, yes. Oh, I'm kind of like an eternal student. Oh my god.

Wow. What do you teach? I teach, I just, Little of this, little of that. Yeah, little of this, little of that, little magic. Laudna has been a student. I just, I teach life and things.

She was recently a guest professor. I'm a life coach, yeah. Yeah? Guest professor. Somewhere, I can't remember where. It's a lot's happened. A lot's happened. It's been a very long week. We have a room if we want to do this, not on the street.

Oh yeah, that's a good idea. She is. Oh, she's a smart one. Oh, thank you. Oh my goodness. Oh, I like you so much. Wow. She is, except she does have a little bit of problem estimating how many bodies can fit in a certain space.

So this room, I don't know if we can actually. You kill one goat and that's all they can talk about. Where have you guys been? Where did you go when we got split? Should we go get Snuggly in the room? There are 10 of us. It's probably more space out here. Is it smaller than this table?

Yes. Also, the moon's all red and shit, so I don't think anybody's going to care about what we're talking about. Fair. We ended up on Issylra. Oh! Where were you all?

Wild now. Yeah, up by Uthodurn. And I actually don't know that it is cool to talk. We ended up traveling to Issylra with somebody from the excavation. You did? Yeah. Oh, why? Let's go. Why? Do we really?

Oh, like on the bad side? Yes. Okay, yeah, let's go. What excavation? Let's fit into, no, no, no, we'll go to the roof. We go to the roof. Are you guys hungry? I'm going to get food.

Drink, drink. Got it. Drink. Drink, to the roof. Are you guys hungry? I'm going to get food. Drink, drink. Got it. Drink. Drink, drink, drink. You just ate. Well, just for them, because they're new. Are these your favorite cakes? Yeah, oh yeah, go ahead. I actually just finished baking a Bundt cake. I can give you guys a Bundt cake.

You've been baking Bundts? No. Oh no. I've got, oh shit, it fell! How many toys do you need? What is that? Hey, here's the Bundt cake. Emily, have you seen this table?

The answer's a lot. Did you bring a prawn? Oh no. No, the other side is the other side. Oh my goodness. Serving butt. Oh, it's got a hair on it. Oh my god.

Oh, it's a real cake. Go ahead and eat it, Emily. Show it to the, that's unfair. Hey, Emily. Never. Hey, Emily, no. Ew, get it away from me. What?

I'll give it a little bit, though. I regret everything. Yeah. A little bit of help. I regret everything. Yeah. A little bit of the inside. So it's not, there was a hair right on it. Live life dangerously. How is it? It's very moist.

It's very moist. Grab the inside where it didn't touch the ground. Serving Bunt in a god-fearing way. Raise the chamber and bring it onward. Sam! Oh! Sam, pick it up. Bunt down, bunt down. table and bring it on forward. There it goes! Oh! Sam, pick it up. Putt down, putt down.

SAM and LAURA get it. Yeah, great! Oh my god. There's just cake on the floor. Yeah. It bothers me so much. I'll pick it up. Okay. Should we go to our room?

Yes, are we migrating? Okay, so you migrate to the room that Deanna had already set aside. I bring food for everyone. Just full mom mode. Oh my god! Stay in the corner. Now you guys join us on this side of the table.

Hello! It's bad here. That butt is busted. Oh my gosh. It's undercooked. It's a little undercooked. It's moist because it's very undercooked. Did you bake that in an Easy Bake oven?

I bake it inside my body. Oh, wow. Wow. It looks like a dinosaur shit on your character sheet. Or a really big mouse. Horrible. Life finds a way. May we get a bunch of pillows?

Upstairs. Yep, with a couple of questions. Easy enough, and she was like, Yeah, of course, I'll get you some pillows. I'll send them up there. Extra silver charge for the additional pillows, but. I'm just going to drop down 10 gold and be like, is this going to cover the next eight requests?

Yeah, yeah, don't worry. We got you. We thank you so much. No, no problem. All the pillows get just brought up to the chamber. You should remember, these are my people. I brought them in for you. Remember, these are the people I bring in for you.

This is gold. I'm here with Ashford. That'll do for now. Yeah, Ashford. It's been a weird week. Let's go. All right. I'm so sorry. Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry. Oh, As Ashford, it's been a weird week. Let's go. All right. I'm so sorry. Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry.

Oh, Ashton, it's okay. It's literally been, what, three minutes at this point? Yeah, okay, I'm so sorry. No. It won't happen again. It's going to happen again. Of course it's going to happen. I'm going to forget you. I got you. Thank you.

Wow, I missed you guys. Missed you a lot. Missed you a lot. So you all had a good time So you all had a good time? You all had a good time? No. Oh, yeah. No. There was some, yeah. I mean, high note on the end.

Scary a lot through the middle. Hmm. Yeah. It wasn't all great. No. There was a big, slimy mound of flesh monster. Oh, that's right. Oh, and a wolf that was five wolves. Oh. It's kind. Oh, and a wolf that was five wolves. Oh!

It's kind of horrific, actually. I actually, I don't know where it came from, but I can now summon undead ghost wolves from my orifices. Oh! What? That ended on a different note. That was the first time I did that. It just ripped from my rib cage.

Oh my goodness. Just one. Well, I can just do it now. I can just have a wolf. I appreciate the wolf motif. Is it you, Chet? I know he hunts. I wasn't thinking about you when it happened,

but I felt. Okay. Not everyone wants to fuck you, Chet. Sure, all the animals in the world. Wolves. Got it. Were you serving Hunt? Oh, wow.

See, we had a few high points in the middle, and then ours ended for a whole time. It was pretty bad. It started on a low point. It went up to two and then back down. You were traveling with a bad guy and you knew this? We were traveling with a shepherd, right? He said that he was an innocent shepherd

and then me and Laudna taught him magic. Oh! Or we thought we were teaching him magic and we thought it was this really cute bonding thing, but actually he knew magic all along and then he attacked us for something that I didn't even do. And then I punched him to death.

He was the one you punched to death? Yeah. Are you that kind of a fighter? Like a powerful? I wasn't until that day, but I think I am now. Wow. Yeah. Prism's pretty amazing on the battlefield, have to say. Yeah? Thank you.

That's it, yeah. She pulled my ass out of the fire a couple times. Well, Orym saved me more than months. It was pretty much constant awful the whole time. Did you immediately bamf out when everything happened the same way we did? Or were you there longer? We were thrown into the wilderness.

We were there just for a handful of days. We found a town, absolutely alienated, the Church of the Dawnfather. Wait, I'm so sorry. Back that up. What? Oh yes, an angel came from the sky and we killed an angel. We didn't kill an angel. The guy that we killed killed the angel.

Why would you do that? Well, he was trying to kill us in the moment. The Dawnfather was the... The angel tried to kill you? I think that they were more conflicted than I was. I'm just going to go on the record and say that I think we did that town a favor. Because the Dawnfather presence there was military

and it was disgusting. And they were taking tithes from all the people and they were running after them. I'm going to go get some more drinks! Lumbering business. Easy, easy. There's someone here who's a worshiper of the Dawnfather. Is this why that reaction is a lot?

Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Well, Deanna, before the dawn. All right. She has a complicated relationship. With the Dawnfather? Yeah. Yeah. Look, it was just purely transactional.

We met the leader of the town. They were like, hey, help us get rid of this militarized presence, and we can help you all get out. We're looking for a way to get here. That's all we cared about. And it was not a good scene. I don't regret a minute of it.

I don't either. The church was sent down from Vasselheim and they had the place under their thumb in a way that I've never really seen in my travels. Why that city? Why would the Vasselheim or the Dawnfather care? It wasn't a big place, but it felt like the response to everything that's, pointing my finger toward a window, happening in the sky.

It was an arcane nexus. There was a meeting of ley lines, and I think that there might've been a bid for power there. I think with everything going on, their church, at least, was trying to lock shit down. Oh. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than just the Dawnfather.

Anyway, the guy we were traveling with was Ruby Vanguard. Holy shit. Did he know who you were? Oh my god. Yes. You were a time? Yeah. Whoa. We got, we finished the job, and we were pretty close to coming home,

or coming here, coming to you, and we were saying our goodbyes, and he attacked us. He was trying to get away, and I don't know, like with Prism, sort of just snapped at the end of our rope. We've been through a lot. That sounds awesome. You smoked a bad guy.

I don't know why you have so much regret in your voice. Well, it didn't feel good. He's just complicated. He's angry at the gods. And he honestly had every reason to be. Was he sent intentionally to spy on you, or was it just a coincidence? I think a coincidence.

Shunted, just like the rest of us, and just happened to end up in the same place. We didn't land with Prism, and we didn't land with him, or we didn't land with this lady named Denise, dwarf named Denise. I think we all just got sprinkled across the landscape and then stumbled into each other. Did you touch her to death, too?

No, actually, we formed a really special bond and friendship. I really hope I see her again. I have a piece of her hair, so I can scry on her at any time. Oh! Like friends do. Fearne. Yeah.

That lady, Denise, was Dariax's ex. That Denise? That Denise with the dollar sign. Oh my god. She was fantastic. No shit. Really cool. She's angry at him. She is.

But she's pretty cool. Ugh. I bet she is. She was angry at him, but in a way that I was like, oh, I really want you to put him in his place. I've seen that happen in real time. It's quite fun. Love that for her, yeah. Ooh!

You mean with Dan? We had some adventures, too. Yeah, we saved Santa. We met the king and the queen. Santa's real? Can I do a history check? Is Santa real? Yes, you may.

He's called something else. That's another two. Everyone complaining that I rolled too many nat 20s can eat my dice. Deanna killed a goat. Yeah, she exploded a goat. She exploded a goat. She exploded a goat. We had a lot of sexual escapades,

and I met a god. What god? Your god? My god. She came to me and spoke to me, and I have a special place in her universe, I guess. I have someone to fight for and believe in. Well, that's...

I was going to say amazing, but it's also really complicated right now, isn't it? Well, I mean, not for me. Seems like a lot of people are very mad that the gods get picky and choosy with who they favor and who they choose to ignore. Yeah, the way you put it, it almost sounds like the gods are planning escape pods. Well, I think maybe we just don't understand

what the gods are like, but why do they have to be all things for all people? I mean, they have their own goals and their own hangups. And I feel like gods are people too. And you know, they're just trying to do their best and right now they need us to help them. That's a fair perspective. Well, how does someone go from just being a regular

to being a god then? Can't we all just be like, I'm a god now? The Matron of Ravens did it. A normie, you mean? A normie. Matron of Ravens did that? Yeah. The Matron of Ravens did that.

See, we actually. That's what Ludinus, I think, is trying to do, right? Yes, which we've talked a lot about. One of the druidic elders that we talked to talked a lot about these spirits called Eidolons that are basically branches of the Titans that really formed this world and were here far before the gods.

Did we see anything about Eidolons and Ludinus' notes? Did we see any? Oh, oh! We have some of Ludinus' old shit. What? We're in the room, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're all in the room. Yeah. We found his old tower in, god, names.

The Savalir Wood. The Savalir Wood. And he had his notes from a long time ago. He's ancient. Just looks like Sam is playing with his own fecal matter. It's super disgusting. Me too, me too. Make each great back. That's incredible that you found that.

How did you happen upon that? Did we ever go through that stuff? We did, right? We did, we scribed it. You scribed it. Hi, I am far-ranging integrated defense. Oh, that's fine. Yeah, there's so much to process. I was going to ask.

I'm on the verge of asking in the last three minutes, where are you from? Where did you find Frida? So we can go from the beginning in an abbreviated way. We ended up next to west of Uthodurn in Wildemount, and we made our way towards the city because that's my old stomping grounds. We came across Frida and Deanna, who you met.

She's a cleric of the Dawnfather. But I hadn't seen Deanna, who's an old fling. Oh shit, is that a whole story? And like, two hundo? So it's been a minute. You don't have to jump to the end of the story! Sorry. So we went into Uthodurn, we ingratiated ourselves to the king and queen there

because they were having some problems because magic's been all fucked up. They really helped us. I settled some beef with my old employer, Olgarr, and then we made our way down into the Savalirwood because we used some of the resources in Uthodurn to learn about Ludinus, who had been in the Savalirwood

prior to going to the Cerberus Assembly in Rexxentrum. Will there be a question and answer? No. At the end? Okay, okay. But we do have stuff from Ludinus, so we think we might be able to scry on him and find out where he is. One thing at a time.

We tried to scry on him and we couldn't get through. Part two, just so people can have it, Ludinus was previously in the ruins of Malaesmer, which was a city that was destroyed before the Cerberus Assembly was founded, so we went there, seeing if we could find anything of him or of his old shit, and we kind of did. I'm about 400 years old.

I've seen. It's been about a week. I found him. Visual love. Yeah, I'm about 400 years old. I've seen this. It's been about a week. I found you. Visual love. Yeah, I want to know everything about that, but that doesn't answer the first question, which is I've never met anyone like Letters in my entire life, and now two.

There's two Letters. Oh yes. Forget the whole alphabet, baby. I had never met anyone like Faithful Caregiver before, either. Where are you from? Well, I'm learning that I'm at least as old as Deanna and maybe not as old as, no, I'm older than Chet.

You're the OG, bro. You're a lot older than Mr. Pockerby. You're like double the age of Chet. Mr. Pockerby. Yeah, I was brought back the same way FCG was brought back, or similarly. We learned a bit about my original function, which was, we think, to protect the original,

can I say Malleus Key out loud here? Yes. Malleus Key. That thing that Ludinus crudely recreated. Where in the world was that? Isil. Isilcross. Isilcross. That's way north, yeah.

Yeah, the ruins of Eor. I'm sorry, going back a little bit. Did you say faithful caregiver? Yes. Oh. Oh. That's what FCG means. Apparently, it was carved into the inside of my skull. Oh! Yeah, just took the head right off

and then saw right in there. Yeah, it looks like this. Oh my god! Don't feel bad for never thinking of that. I'm just impressed. You know, your ear falls off sometimes. That's true! You do the same thing.

You're allowed to express. I'm not there. I just got a little bit more inspiration for my next form of dread, is all I'm saying. You must be Lautner. Lautner. Laut! I will play back, so the voice emanates. She's beautiful, but spooky beautiful,

and it's Imogen saying it. Yeah, that's me. You are spooky beautiful. Oh my goodness. Thank you. Slump, slum, flum. You're spoodyful. I'm so spoodyful.

Your friends missed you all very much. They missed you so much. They spoke of you all nonstop. Oh, sorry about that. Was it annoying? No, I found it quite charming, yeah. That's nice. Yeah, did you miss us?

Yes. Yeah? I hope we didn't offend Deanna. Probably. I don't know if she's coming back. At this point, you've been off for a bit. You've found a space and begun conducting a ritual. As you finish the completion of your divine circle

in this dark wooden corner of the tavern upper area, which is completely empty at this time of day. You finish your Commune spell and you clutch your holy symbol. My phone goes off. Holy symbol! Look at that timing. Fuck, run!

My person! He's arrived! Hand in acceptance. Let's do it! Yay. As you feel the chimes of your worship cling past your ears, the light fills your mind and the burning light of the star that encircles Exandria

and brings life and heat and death and rebirth. The Dawnfather's presence glides through and around your spirit, and you feel the burning stare of him turn towards you expectantly. I do my best to not look away and just match that burning gaze. A couple questions and then I'll let you go.

One, is working with Bell's Hells actually going to help save all of you? They seem dangerous. There is no response, which leads you to believe that the Dawnfather is uncertain. I'm getting so fucking little from you. Fine. Are your disciples perpetrating harm in this world

at your behest? My disciples do what is necessary for the good of our people collectively and the future of Exandria. One more. Are you worth saving? You are thrust out of your communion.

Oh! With enough force that you hit the back of the wood and your eyes burn like you had been staring into the sun itself. I got chills. Oh. Oh, that was cool. Oh, shit.

Ow. Yeah, he didn't like that. Oh, huh, weird. I go back upstairs and move on with my day. Wearing some sunglasses I've just invented right now. Those seem like very useful. I don't know what they are, but they look cool. Hi, hi, hi, sorry.

Hey, babe. For our audience. Introductions are needed. Deanna, this is Eladna. Hi. Hi. I'm Prism. I think I'm the one who offended you. No, I'm not offended. At least you're good. I would have gotten around to it.

It's okay. We didn't mean to. No, you're good. You're wise. You're good. It's complicated. I, okay. Speedrun. Were we all doing catch-up speedruns? Yeah, we kind of did.

A little. Okay. Top line. We're supposed to be the same age. I died 200 years ago, came back, Dawnfather thing. We're not great. Frida's my best friend, and we had a three-way, but I think that's been covered.

Oh! I died 30 years ago. And then again, like, three months ago. Ooh. How you doing? I'm doing, you know, I'm... You good? Yeah, I'm good.

Oh, that's nice. Yes, yes. It's fun to die a little bit. And then come back. I'm letting, you know, I'm. You good? Yeah, I'm good. Oh, that's nice. Yes, yes. It's fun to die a little bit. And then come back. I'm letting that one pass. Yeah, yeah. I'm glad to do it a little bit. Yeah. When you said that magic was different,

what did you mean? Well, in the city of Uther, during all, we've seen it here in Jrusar, too. The lights seem dimmer. Things that I think are natural processes are kind of janked. Yeah, I'm normally able to send messages across long distances,

and nothing short of short distances is working. Yeah, I tried to reach out to Dorian and to that ginger wizard from the excavation, but it didn't work either time. I tried to contact y'all multiple times, as well as the email. There we had to contact you, too. But there were things going on in the city that we were at that were, I mean, it felt different.

It felt very powerful. Illusion magic was powerful as we got closer to the Nexus. Wait, it was more powerful? It was more powerful, it was thrilling. You could conjure a minor illusion or prestidigitation. It was almost real. What? Okay.

Our theory is that's why the Dawnfather was trying to take the land. Specifically near this nexus in this small town. He was trying to take this land to make it secure? Probably. To take it. To do what? He's doing what he thinks he needs to be done in order to protect the gods. I wonder if Predothos is going to be able

to use the ley lines to travel, if that's where his source of power will come from. Still don't know what Predothos is. Oh, wait, you're part of the Cobalt Soul? Yes. A high-ranking mage. They got books? So you know all about this? Yes.

Oh, this is great! Are you a high-ranking mage? Because I've been calling it an Applebee's Soul Chasm. Mage. They got books? So you know all about this? Yes. Oh, this is great! Are you even calling it a mage? Because I've been calling it an Applebee's Soul Chess. Insight check. Yeah, insight check. Do I have to do a deception again? Yes, you do.

I check also. Yep. That's a lot. 12. 21. Yeah. I only got an 11. She seems great to me.

I rolled a 15 plus five, so. Fine, yes, okay. I am on the 10-year apprentice track, and I'm not yet a mage, and I'm currently defecting, and I'm going to become a book thief. Oh! Oh! Okay. Love it. Wow! That's wonderful.

You're going to become a book thief? Yeah. She crumbled under. We've been rehearsing a little. It's new. Folio. Filcher. Well, maybe don't go for a high ranking. Parchment. Go for...

A literary larcenist? Yes! Yeah, that's right. When I'm done reading them, I'm going to set them on fire. I've been hanging around Ashton. No, that's an arsonist. Literary arsonist.

Maybe you need to read some more books. Who knows? I'm only finding myself. We got to steal the Mythosaurus, baby girl. It's going to be great. You know, I think having a goal like that is really admirable, but you could become a book thief today. You could just go steal a book.

Yes, well, I have, but I'm currently, I think that from everything that we learned, I'm starting to feel a bit suspicious about some of the stuff with the gods and these elemental Eidolons, and also even wondering if the nature of Prodathos isn't fully being communicated and we're only hearing a mythologized version

from the gods' point of view. So that's the stuff I'm interested in. That's deep, subtextual conspiracy stuff. We were talking about this morning trying to get Prism in at Starpoint. Oh! Then maybe if we ever need any info, we could reach out, but we can't reach out.

Yeah, I can only scry on you. It's kind of a one-way friendship. Does the Cobalt Soul or the, you were part of the Ashari? The Ashari? Yeah. Ashari is not the Cobalt Soul or the, you were part of the Asshari? Asshari? Yeah. Asshari is not the Cobalt Soul. No, no, but they're both huge groups of people, right? With vast sums of knowledge?

Yeah, the Cobalt Soul, not an expert, but is sprinkled around the world. Asshari is, my people are in one place. Oh. They are. Does anyone know? Does anyone know how many nexuses there might be? Next high. Next high.

Next high. Like, if it's a power grab, do we know how many spaces are on the board? I get the feeling that there's several scattered around the board. Would I have seen a map? Would the Cobalt Soul have a map of presumed next? Or old ley line connections.

I mean, if they had a map of old ones, they would be working on a new one. They went squirreling the other night. They do have, in Chartered Lands, they have notes of the nexuses that exist between each Apogee Solstice that shifts them. Some stay the same, some move. Everything doesn't get recategorized around.

But I'd say in your studies internally, you might have come across it. Go ahead and roll. There were supposed to be three in Marquet that we knew of. Roll a history check for me. And we're aware that the map got rewritten a little bit. Do you think it does?

Yes, it does. All right, I'll take that. 17! Woo! 17, better, better. The map got rewritten a little bit. Steven's vengeance? All right, I'll take that. 17. 17, better, better. Before the Solstice, there was mapped in charted territory, because not everything is charted in Exandria through shifts and such.

There were approximately 23 nexuses. 23, like Michael Jordan's number. Really? Wow. Is he a mage of the Cobalt Souls? Cobalt Souls. Powerful. High mage of the Cobalt Souls. One more powerful. He's a wizard.

I was going to say, he might be a monk of the Cobalt Souls. I don't know. No, he's a wizard. He was for a little bit. Sorry, doesn't matter. He wasn't in any of the other ones. Oh, okay. So yeah, 23.

So that's probably a lot of power grabs going on around Exandria. You know, it's interesting what you said about you think that we're not really hearing the truth, because in Ludinus' notes. I just pull them out. Yes. Wow.

There's something to it. A lot of them, something said about the great temples fear the moon and the gods push to ignore the moon. They push for people to not understand it. To not understand it, so you're right. Really? Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you're onto something. I think they wanted people to forget about this entity. Don't the gods get power the more that you worship them, right? Something like that. Yeah. The more people understand the moon, I think the more lewdness you get trying to exploit it.

Yeah. See, the gods are trying to protect us by keeping us blind to this power. It's blind. So that people can't access it. We encountered a strange artifact in which we found some sort of extraterrestrial impact of

essentially a meteorite with a githzeri. In the middle of a field. In the middle of a field. It was a githzeri that was trapped inside of rock, which is like an alien from the sky who have telepathic abilities. They were imprisoned in there. Ashton, you're wearing the ring now.

I am. Do you want to show it off? This person was alive, this creature that you found? No, it was the remains. So they were this githzerai. What does the ring look like? It's hematite. Yeah, it's a very simple hematite ring. Have you had it identified?

Yeah. It's a round ring. God fucking damn it. Yeah. Made out of meteorite? I feel like our adventure was very horny. Wow. It sounds like it.

Yeah. Ours was traumatizing. I'm going to try to take the ring off of Ashton. That's going to be real hard. I want to provide the help, Ashton. So I got this ring. Hotel room. Hey, I've seen some close-up magic.

All right. The size of the blue stream. Hey, Ashton, look at me. Slight of hand check. 18. All right, roll a hand check. 18. All right, roll a perception check. I'll give you advantage because it's on your finger. And you're referring to it in this moment.

My perception sucks, so this'll be fine. We've got this one. We have to be on the left. Please fail. 15. So you go. That's not hard. I only have a one.

The thing is, you go to show them the ring and it's not there. What did you do with the ring? Is it invisible? It was such a weird, weird photo. Put your bat on your face. It was literally from outer space. How did you lose it? I miss you, too.

I miss you so much. There you go. What is it? Does it do anything? Apparently it makes it so that now I fucking owe her a beer. Other than that, I'm not entirely sure. I can identify it. That's what I mean. Have you identified it? Nothing?

It does things. It's fire-based. All right. Well, you should obviously give it to me. Oh yeah, she is a fire. No, no, okay. Well, we can have- We have plenty of treasures.

We got lots of treasures. When there's a little more okay, well, we can have. We have plenty of treasures. We got lots of treasures. When there's a little more liquor going around, we can have this discussion, because I am always open to a deal. Stick and a strap-on harness. We had a hell of a time getting. We had a different adventure than you. We did. Did you get it?

Okay, never mind. We had a really hard time getting from Wildemount back to here. We only came across a staff that allowed us to use it, and even that went kind of tits up a few times. I almost killed us all. Learning curve, you're doing great. With this. It's powerful. It is quite.

Like you swung it around and it hit everybody? No, I tried to teleport us, and I almost just tore us apart instead. Ripped us apart. Our shoulders had mouths. It was a whole thing. And then we met a bunch of birds. Yeah. Birds? But if you were in a cell, how And then we met a bunch of birds. Yeah. Birds? Yeah.

But if you were in a cell, dastardly. How did you guys? I sent Mother to go see. What? What's Mother? Ah! What is this? What's going on? A little raven. No! Ah! Get off me!

Ah! Ah! Get off of me! It's like flapping at your, it does not like you. I don't like it! What is this? Why is there a birdless in the room? When he gets nervous, everybody dies, so. Well, he's egging mother on, and now mother's upset.

Ah! I need to kill. Shh, shh, shh. Oh. I'm not going to chew. I don't like it. Shit's on you? Oh, it's just like shithead.

They're all the same. So now that we've caught up, what is the plan here? How did you get back here, first of all? Oh. Yeah. So part of the deal with the little pissant town that we were in to have them transport us was to help rid them of the

Dawnfather's militarized presence. So we- They sent you. They sent us through a tree, not too dissimilar to how Orym's druids have done it in the past. Got it. Okay. Because we're far away from the base of the moon, which I assume is what we're all thinking

we need to get back to, right? Got to go. With a game plan, though, yeah? Didn't last time you got shunted across the earth and spent the whole time bitching about getting back to each other? We had a game plan. Bigger plan. We even threw an airship in that mix,

and it was, they're real strong. Yeah. Well, knowing that Ludinus' thing that he built to leash the moon is made of parts of other stuff, maybe there can be some sort of research to other big technology things. I'm about to say words that I barely understand. Oh, this is the best part. To get the Leilas,

or where they cross. Maybe that's an extra point. Technology thing. Did you say the Leilas or the Leilas? I don they cross. Maybe that's an extra point. Did you say the Leilas or the Leilas? I don't remember what they're called. It's okay. Let me rub your shoulders. Leylines, the Leylines. And maybe some of all the technology in the past

that Ludinus has been looking up, and maybe you can figure out how to break it, because it seems like you just put it together, slapdash. I think someone needs to go to Ground Zero. Yeah. And find whatever's floating around in here and make sure he doesn't get it first. We spent weeks circling around the Malleus Key

and trying to figure out what the hell they were doing. We did not find out much. Well, what sort of information do you need? Because you can send me... Buckbeef....where what sort of information do you need? Because you can send me bug beef wherever you need information about and I can find a way to get it back to you. So you have, you're a wizard, right?

A powerful mage of the Cobalt Soul? Mm-hmm. Do you have the ability to send messages over great distances? I can do that. I know I don't know you very well. I'm so sorry. Oh my god, just presuming. No, I mean, please. I know I don't know you very well. I'm so sorry. No, no, no. Oh my god, just presuming.

No, I mean, please. I actually don't have a way, but if you do, and if we go somewhere, and then I can find the information. Are you good at sneaking into the restricted section of libraries? If I take my armor off, yes. Did you just flirt?

Okay. It's kind of a aura. Okay, then yes, I think I could probably. You're in the middle of this. I feel very in the middle. Make a choice, Laudna. Make a choice. Laudna just recedes. Almost listens.

Yeah. If you, yeah, if we went somewhere and I could get the information and then give it to you and. And we'll send it to you. Yeah. If it works. What else is there? Where is this information that we need? It seems pretty needle in a haystack to me.

We've been to Starpoint. The knowledge of Predathos came out of the deepest hole in Vasselheim. No one was supposed to know about that. Knowing how to deal with it, I don't think... Maybe they got to go to Vasselheim. No one was supposed to know about that. Knowing how to deal with it? Maybe they got to go to Vasselheim, then. I do have a seal from Vasselheim, and I could get us pretty easy passage.

You know what? Like a seal? And we're protectors of the Cidern. I think a lot of their armies. What do you think? I think the first one. Yeah, me too. She's got a bird. She probably has a seal as well.

Andre. I'm fucking familiar for you. I'm sorry, your bird is distracting me. Mother. No, I cast Banishment on him. No! Oh my god. She's gone, Mother's gone. Mother! Tatterspell! Don't worry, just Tatterspell. Tatters No! Oh my god! She's gone. Mother's gone. Mother! Tatterspell!

Don't worry, it's Tatterspell. Tatterspell! Oh, okay. We're doing a lot. Okay. We should maybe separate, actually. This is a small hotel room. Yeah.

Also, I am a cleric of... Of the Dawnfather. Of the Dawnfather. So going to Vasselheim, I think wherever you can't get in, I might be able to. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, I mean, we just came from there, but I learned Teleportation Circle, and I'm assuming that teleportation

is working great right now. Huh. We use tele- People do use, no, we use transport. We use teleport. What. No, we use transform. We use teleport. What is it? We use teleport? But we think that the circles don't work anymore, right? We don't know.

We could figure out how to read enchant. In Uthodurin, they said the circles were working, but teleportation spells were not. Is that true? Other way around. I'll flip it. Flip it and regress it, maybe. Some of the existing circles, because it's a grounded enchantment

that acts as an anchor for teleportation circle spells, and they anchor two of them or multiple ones together permanently. Some of those have stopped functioning. One side or another or both. So it's not that that magic inherently doesn't work, it's that the permanent enchantments were unenchanted when this bit broke. Correct.

Yeah, like a freeway in an earthquake. Maybe it's different as where we were in Issylra. As Prism said, the magic was more concentrated. It was better. Maybe it's similarly. Arcane. It seemed like it was arcane, right, Denny? At this point, you see this leather tome floats into the space,

this leather-bound, massive book. I was dead for 200 years. As a face pushes out of the leather and goes, That is quite right. It seems to my faith. Oh god, don't slap me! I told you! Don't slap me!

Sorry, sorry! No, no. Don't slap me! Don't! Yes, my book contains the soul of a mage who was bound to it. Oh! Not perma-

No! You poked my eye! I'm so sorry, sweetie. Oh my god. Denius, you. Yes. Whoa, okay, it came back. You got the impression that it was arcane magic

that was amplified, right? Specifically, not necessarily divine or any other things, or was it all magic? The best I could ascertain, most magic was entirely amplified in the presence of these spaces. Well, there's magic. But I'm also not a specific researcher

of divine specifications, and I've only been your book for some time, so. Yes, okay. Was there a little heat in that talk? Can I insight check the book? We're working on it. He's very sassy. Yeah, he's very sassy.

This is what he does. Can you read his mind? Can I read his mind? It's basically an open book. I don't think so, no. I'm going to try to detect thoughts on your book. I'll give you another ale. try to detect thoughts on your book. I'll give you another ale. Try to detect thoughts on the book?

The surface thoughts of the book go, Why is she staring at me so intently? I don't trust this troupe, and I'm a bit curious as to why we've wandered into such mixed company. Are you a good book or a bad book? You speak into its mind. The book goes. I'm a good book with a bad attitude. Ooh!

I wish I heard that. Wow, Fifty Shades of Fey. And this prism that you're working with, is she a good guy or a bad guy? She's walking an uncertain path, and I'm interested to see which choice she takes. She's got potential, and she's shown a bit of a radical streak I wasn't expecting, so I may get to see.

He seems like fun. Yeah, he can be really scathing in his remarks, but I think like any father figure, it can rise you to your best self. Yeah. What do you think of him? Do you like him? Well, he's an object with sentience, so I appreciate that.

I've just started to realize that objects can be alive, or things that were built. They just need a little spark. You know, I found that things need life to live. I've been waiting to hear you say that. I am feeling uncomfortable being perceived by so many. I'm going to diminish. The face retracts into the book

and just floats over to you. Whoa! He can turn away? As is your right, Denyias. I hold him close to my chest. I'm a big fan of the idea of going to get more knowledge or maybe research, but we also noticed there's a collection of armored individuals and skyships and all sorts of things over the city now.

Did any of you happen to talk to any of these factions on your way in? We saw the skyships on the way in from a distance. We may have interrogated a courier, but nothing of value. They look like they might be from Vasselheim, right? Yeah, I think we saw some from Tal'Dorei, and then there was some from the Menagerie Coast.

We also saw some with religious faces like of the Changebringer. Oh, wait, what? Some of the armored presence. Wait, where? Here? Yeah. It's around town. Oh, I got to go find them. Let's give it a second.

But I was also thinking that, well, we went to talk to one and they all said that they were acting independently, but it seems like there's some sort of a coordination and all of these powerful forces coming together at once. And I know we still have Ajit, Dyal and the, right? Yeah. Yeah. So maybe we could see if they're at least meeting up there

and sharing, I don't know, intelligent people thoughts. The Changebringer's guards are filling this city. We saw the same with the Dawnfather's forces. By the way, there was a Judicator there. Sidebar. Oh, we fought him. Yeah, we fought him. You what?

What? What? Yeah, actually. Jud. You what? What? Did you win? Yeah. That's the case of Big Death Machine. Her shadow wolf and my devil sort of double teamed. You also have a devil? You have a raven, a book, and a devil? The devil is conditional.

It was the closest we got to a threesome. That would be an awesome threesome. The end is like, that's pretty good. That's a good lineup. There was an angel, a devil, a big rock guy. They were going at it. Their side summoned an earth,

the druids that we were helping, they summoned an earth elemental. Yeah, it got pretty heavy. It was a lot, honestly. Freedon's got a gun for an arm. If anyone has interest. What's a gun? Oh wait, I would know, never mind. If any of you have arcane interest,

I copied down all the runes that were carved into the Judicator. It's draconic magic, it's really old magic. Miss Timmalt, in your mind, you hear, there's something nefarious about that one. Oh yeah, I've gathered that. Also kind of interesting, though. Anybody read the old stuff?

Draconic? Anybody? Well, wait, I have tongues. That's talking, isn't it? It was Draconic Divine Anti-Magic Old Magic. Wow. It's left side, so it's over here. Draconic Divine Anti-Magic Old Magic. I have Celestial. I can read andmagic, old magic. I have celestial.

I can read and talk, so it's probably celestial. Why do I? What would that mean? But I can make a copy of it. You can carry it with you, and I don't know, maybe you might recognize it somewhere. Okay. That's a very good idea. Okay.

Do you really have a button in your arm? Yeah. Ooh. That's right. Oh man. That's impressive. What kind of? An aging Whitestone. Launderbuss, Whitestone?

A place we visited. We actually. Gesundheit. We did see the Tal'Dorei Council symbol. I wonder if the Lord and Lady of Whitestone would be in attendance. Saw it where? Here. Oh. Here? What?

Multiple places have sent armies. I don't know if they're one of them. Where's your people? Well, that leads me to a question. Deanna, ma'am. Just Deanna's fine. Okay, Deanna. You said you looked in on Laudna?

Yeah. Do you think you could do that from someone from my home? Oh, yeah. It would help if you had something important of theirs. And I'm going to say something kind of gross, and I'm so sorry. Like, a bit of it is easier, but stuff is good. Yes, I can, I'm sorry.

I can help, yes. Um, yeah. Good. Yes, I can. I'm sorry. I can help. Yes. Yeah. I pull out a little bit of the remnants of the seed. Okay. It's like seeds. Okay. Sure. Oh, that kind. But it's old and dry.

The remnants. Sure. She gave me, it's fading, but she gave me this. I won't hurt it. You can have it back in a second. Can anyone give me a quick, like, what she looks like? We gave you a full description. Ah, yeah. Yeah, can we get a little diorama?

Minor image. Thank you. Got it, got it, got it. Watch out, spin it. Oh shit. Not the side show. She's way, way taller, though. Way taller.

Oh, got it. I need a scale. Thank you. Sure, I will spend my other 5th-level spell to attempt to scry on Keyleth. Okay. Oh god. I'm sure we won't be fighting. I'm sure we'll fight.

I see. This is not fine. Aabria remembers you. We don't really know yet. We don't know what happened to her. As you hold the dried husk of this seed in your hands and draw out the runes scrolled on the floor here in this darkened chamber. Watch your feet, watch your feet, watch your feet.

Stand on the bed, stand on the bed! It takes a moment to even push the spell through as you finish the incantation. Like, the magical power that you're granted is being held at bay before eventually given back with intent. Damn. Okay. Subtext. Got it.

Petty B. Petty B. Bitch. I'm having a bucket moment. Hey, you walked into that commune, huh? Sure, sure, sure, sure. Dad wasn't happy with the attitude you brought to the table. I match fucking energy. What does that say about you?

If you're having problems, I could. I got it! I could try. I think I just turned to you and her eyes and her mouth are just pouring noonday sunlight. Brady, noon. I'm fine! Okay, I'll just come back later. And with that, you close your eyes and mouth. The light subsides and

you are pulled out of yourself once more. As opposed to being pulled through clouds this time, you're pulled through the warmth of midday, bright, vibrant sunlight. The warmth envelops you and you feel yourself being pulled through these shafts of light until the momentum shifts and your stomach turns slightly,

like you're dropping that sense of losing weight, of the very shift of your gravity just being loose beneath you. The top of the roller coaster? Yes, exactly, that sort of ride. Yep. Before you come to a scene. A shaded interior.

There is light from a nearby window, though blurred beyond the horizon. You see a figure standing, looking through this window. Turns around, carrying a staff. Woman, red hair, horns, leaning heavily on the staff. Somebody talks on the side and she looks back and nods and gives a physical motion

before almost falling onto the ground before figures rush rushing to catch her and lead her back to a bed. And you see she fights them to try and get back under her own strength before eventually laying there for a second and setting the staff to her side. Make a perception check.

Yeah. Come on. Come on. 24. Yes. 24. While the figures that are talking around her, you can hear speech, voices saying,

you must rest, do not use your strength. Like, Voice of the Tempest, you must not overextend yourself. And she just kind of pushes it away. And you can see across her, there are these dark red wounds across her neck and arm and the side of her face and torso that aren't bleeding, but they're not closing.

Yes. No. Okay. No. And she takes a minute and breathes heavy and goes, Just give me a moment. I have to speak with the others. Too much is happening.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. And she stands back up on her staff and reaches over to the side of the chamber where you see there's a woven thin tapestry where you see there's a woven thin tapestry that at the end of it, there is tied a single long black feather. And she strokes it through her fingers a moment

before she gets back up on her staff and begins to hobble her way out of the chamber, the two other figures grabbing her arms and helping her as she steps out into the sunlight as the spell diminishes and you're pulled back into the interior of the room. Before she left, and I know it wouldn't probably work, but Deanna would try to just cast Guidance on her. I don't know if it will help or if it will do anything, but she just looks like she needs a little extra. Okay.

When I come back, can I cast Mending on the seed fragments? Not to re- Just to make it one piece again for Orym. Yeah, I'll say the, it has gone from a living organic material to an object. And indeed, you can reform the husk into the semblance of a seed, though it is still dried. Yeah. She's alive.

Oh, okay. And I explained everything. Her wounds, there weren't... If she was as badly injured as you say she was in the fight you had weeks ago, those wounds aren't healing. That's right. How long ago was it now?

Was it a week ago or was it a week after you were here? It's been a little over a week. Okay. What does that mean? Magic isn't working on her. I recall Orym, not to speak for you, but when they were attacked before, resurrection magic didn't work.

Healing didn't work. Toxic. Oh, that's right. Yeah, resurrection magic's off the board in general, if you guys didn't know. Oh. So be careful. Ooh. Pardon me. Ludinus was successful then,

when he breached whatever he was doing? Well, I mean, the moon is tethered, right? I don't think he succeeded fully, but... So he's going to try again? I think this is the try right now. I think it's not done, personally. So you all think that the resurrection magic being gone is related to the proximity and the tethering of the moon

and not the shifting of the ley lines? Correct. Interesting. Did you get a look at her surroundings? Oh. Diorama time. And I just want to show you what I saw, the place I saw. I don't know where it is, but.

You do recognize the chambers. These are her chambers in Zephyr. She's gone. Oh, thathyr. She's okay. Oh, that's good. She's okay. How did she get there? I don't know. Oh, I guess travel would be a better. Are you okay?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Better. That's a good thing, that's a good thing. Yeah, that means that somebody was able to get in and help her. Yeah. From what we saw and learned from these ancient druids when we were in Isilro, in addition to what Frida is talking about,

and maybe seeking more information about this ancient technology that you both seem to behold. I feel like the druids might be another key. They just know of time and powers and magics far before the gods. Ludinus was interested in their magic and powers as well. They also have their own radical factions, too, that we might have encountered.

Was there anyone y'all didn't fight? Hmm? No. Was there anyone? It was a very busy few days. Yeah. Pick me. Pick me, pick me. Actually, no, I know something we didn't fight. There was this hill.

We didn't fight it. That we could have fought, but we didn't. We almost fought a hill. Yeah. Yes, like a sentient hill. Well, congratulations. Although we did fight some vines and some living bushes when we first touched. Complicated relationship with a rock elemental, I recall.

Yes, yes. So we fought a rock, not a hill. Did fight some bushes. Traveled with a cougar. Fought with a rock. Oh, that's right, the cougar. How old was she? Pretty tall.

Timeless. Yes, Serena. Good pick up there. Where would we find more of these ancient druids with old knowledge? Do we think the council's in town? Is that a conversation that we're having? That's what I'm wondering.

All these people are coming into town. Are they coming to confer with each other or is this a power grab? Are these various people dispatching their militaries because they're all going after something or are they all meeting up to plan something? I was hoping it was the meetup, but it sounds like they're all just

coming to bum rush the moon. Yeah. Somebody was saying they were marching in a couple hours, which would be right about now. And that seems stupid. No one here has obviously revisited the site of Null. No. I did dream.

At 8? Yeah. And I saw it up close. There's people going between the two. Between who? Here and the moon. The moon and here. There's a growing number of, fuck me, running. What, the people?

Ray Lawrence? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ray Lawrence. Ray Lawrence. Like the being that I can summon. Right. But that's different from the kind of, what was the beings that you saw?

What are they called? Eidolons? Eidolons? Eidolons. And we wouldn't know if they're the same anyway. Well, actually we would, because we saw. You did see the red stuff. Yeah, any physical similarity

now that someone brings it up? Between our alien in the crater and? No. It was like Echoes of the Titans. I guess. Stone and water.? Ancient earths. No. Okay. So it's like echoes of the Titans. Yes. Stone, air, water. Like if the gods have their, you know, their angels or celestials,

if the primordials had their offshoots, these are like the eidolons. And they're different from the red creatures from the moon. They were like... The Gith being that you said you saw Crash? Yeah, a Githzerai. Sort of a psychic. A Githzerai. People from the sky.

Do you know what they looked like? I think... Dunyios! Dunyios! Dad, help, Dad. They had a long head. Yeah. The Githzerai are in some ways similar to elves in their lithe bodies.

Usually yellowish, sometimes spotted skin, long pointed ears, generally a relatively stubbed nose. Long pointed eyebrows. Oh god. Darker hair. Traversing the Astral Sea of the Geth Yankee, which are related to the Gethserai.

The Gethserai themselves are crafters and forgers of imagination within the Astral Sea through psychic capabilities and the power of manifestation given specific will. You can just look up anything on him and he'll just know it? Yeah. Name four kinds of trees. What do you need?

No, I'm just saying. Name four kinds of trees? Name four kinds of trees. Shit, I could do that. No! Well, we encountered them. He was jogging my memory of what they looked like. That's not at all similar to a Ralloran. No, it doesn't sound pretty similar, no.

Okay. All right. Thank you, book. But it was imprisoned in the same way that Predathos is imprisoned in this moon. Mm-hmm. Are we dancing around the fact that I feel like you guys have to go to the moon?

I think we do need to go back. We have to go back to where it happened. Are you guys going to march with them when they leave? That would be a way to get there without being detected. If we put on soldier uniforms and marched with them. We can move so much quicker than an entire army, though. You can teleport. Actually, Imogen's very good at it now.

I got better. Yeah, she can do it. She can do it. She's 50-50. Seven minutes ago, you said you almost ripped everybody. Yeah, and then the next morning, I totally got us here just fine. Deanna said something about mouths on shoulders? Like a little bit is a treat? Calm down.

There was a moment where we were all being- Get off Imogen's dick! Ooh. She's spicy. She is. I'm as spicy as her goodness. I'm, oh goodness. I'm intimidated by your presence. Is there a vibe here? What's happening? I don't know.

It's been a long few days. Do we want to try and talk to Ajit, Dial, and see if anyone's conferring with anyone in Jrusar, or if they're all just rolling out in an hour. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to get a vibe check from the forces in the city today, but we can't wait any longer than that.

We got to go. And maybe by the time we talk to him, if you guys are going to go and collect research from the Cobalt Soul and steal books? Oh, the Starpoint Conservatory. I still have access to it. Do you have a library card? Lord Eshteross gave me pretty much open access.

That would be huge. Yeah, maybe I can walk you in. That would be great, yeah. There's a store named after you. What? Prism Emporium. I never knew. Oh, what? I just put two and two together by looking at my map.

I don't think that's true, but I'm going to pretend like it is. Well, I've got to stop by the Prism Emporium. Is it possible that you derive your power from Padafus? Yes, quite, actually. It's not that far away. Because this imprisoned being that you all found, if I was a god imprisoned somewhere far away

with no one to talk to or spend time with, I would create my own children. That's sort of what gods do. And if it is here, it means that he was, in fact, successful in some regard, because the plane keeping Predathos out is starting to break a bit. Yeah, I think Ruidusborn, I think, I don't know.

I remember learning that we are connected. If we get rid of Predathos, I don't know if I'll continue to have any abilities, or I don't know what will happen to me. Are you a holy person, Frida? My faith is placed in the people I meet. But perhaps this Malleus Key,

maybe there's a way for us to reassemble it and take Predathos' power away. Rather than unleashing him, maybe we just destroy Predathos. Flip it and reverse it? Yes. And you get to keep your power and health. Put your moon down. Well, how about a two-pronged approach? Okay. How about Deanna, Prism, and Frida

try to do a deep dive at the library? Try here. If that doesn't work, try Vasselheim. Prism and Frida try to do a deep dive at the library. Try here. If that doesn't work, try Vasselheim. Yeah, I think I can get us there. And the rest of us go get boots on the ground. Frida, are you good at- Shouldn't Frida come with us? I mean- I wouldn't presume. Frida, you should stay with FCG.

I'll be okay. Frida, you should stay with FCG. Are you okay? I think, as I've said, this is our fight now, too. And I think we need as many friends helping as we can. I don't want to leave you. Great, then come. I don't know where I'm best served. You have all of these people here protecting you. And you protect them.

I can't lose Deanna. Well, she's got one punch man over here to take care of her. One punch grandpappy. I am a one-woman bodyguard. And in your head, you hear, that's probably why I should go. I don't trust her. Oh. Hi.

My raven over my shoulder messed up the writing. I've seen you before. My raven over my shoulder might be up there right now. FCG, I've been in despair about this moment for a while. I'm not sure what to do, but it feels like we need all hands on deck. Well, it's just temporary, right? Like you're going to go get this information

and then find us again and give it to us, or? Right? Yes. But I don't believe it. Deanna, you would know I don't believe it. Deanna, pointedly, is looking at the ground now. Yes, I will make my way back to you. Okay.

I mean, the alternative is I could stay. You know, I've been to the, I've been there, too. Who's going to heal your group? Well, I guess I could flip a coin. That's the change, baby. Sure. Letters?

If we don't address this fast and fully, no one's getting back to anybody. Yeah. Let FCG make his own choice for him. How will you know which one means what? FCG's not making a choice. I think I know what she would say. What do you want, FCG?

Well, it's tricky because I feel like there's this big lady in the sky who's helped me figure out who I am and what I'm meant to do. And then there's this automaton down here on Exandria with us who's helped me figure out why I want to do those things. And I want to serve them both. But Orym's right.

If we don't save the gods, my whole existence is to help people and to make people feel better and to keep them safe. And a god can keep so many people safe, so many more than I'll ever get to. So if I'm really following my duty and my purpose, I've got to help her, because she can help so many. So I don't need to flip.

I'll go with y'all and I'll help. We've got to save her. FCG, I promise I'll bring Vrida back safe to you. I promise. And you promise too, right? Yeah, of course. Insight check. Guidance!

Three for three, let's go. What am I even rolling? So here's what we're doing. So you roll insight. You roll and then either add your persuasion or your deception. Depending on what you're doing. Depending on what you're doing

without saying which one you choose and just give me a final number. Oh god. I got a nat one. I'm going to be really honest. I don't know what's going on. I'm so fucking confused. I wanna be what you need me to be, but you're asking me questions with a heavy tone that I can't make sense of. Do you want to just say what you really feel?

Do you want to say what you really feel? Because the last time someone didn't tell me what they felt, I punched her. You punched him to death. Come here. I don't want to do that to you. I don't want you to do that to me, either. She's making good points. I got to go with my friends to go save the world. Uh-huh.

But this one here, Frida, I know you just met, but they're awesome. And they make me want to have a life and be happy for the rest of it. And if they don't survive, then all of this is sort of for nothing. I just met you, and I don't think many people here trust you, but for some weird reason.

Why? Because you're really shady and shifty. What? They don't trust you because you have a bird. It's just a trusty. He's got bird trauma, just so you know. Since I don't think that we have time to build trust, how about we make a deal?

Okay. Okay? I promise to bring Frida. Frida back to you, but I need you to promise to bring my new best friend, Orym, back to me alive. Your new best friend? Yeah, he's my first best friend.

Laudna just puts herself in your place. I'm leaning in, too. I'm leaning in, too. You guys really bonded? Yeah. There was this thing where these little living spirits, these little local spirits were surrounding him, and we had this moment,

and he saved me twice in battle, and I might be confusing battle mechanics with friendship, but I'm pretty sure that we might be friends. That's how it works. Did you know that I'm super likable? So how about that? Right? A deal. All right. We both sort of

killed Dordor, kind of, in tandem. I thought that we were a little bonded in our trauma. You thought, oh. Yeah, it's just been really obvious in the group that me and Orym really hit it off. Sure, sure. Consideration. High and low is. We're not even in the competition. You didn't complete your registration. Sure, sure. Consideration. Hi, Aunt Lois.

You're not even in the competition. You didn't complete your registration. We're going to work on emotional intelligence while we're abroad. Only a mess, one step. Not bad. I think that's a deal worth making. So would you trust me if we were doing a deal?

I trust you. Okay. You save Frida, I'll save Orym. Okay, deal. Deal. Do you want some Bundt cake? Again, no, but do you want a cigarette? Oh, sure.

I don't think I can. Sure. I've never had one before. I don't think it'll harm me. Do you smoke? Yes, I'm a student, of course. Oh! I see something in Ashton reacting to FCG

that reminds me of reacting to Frida, and I'm like, Yeah. Are they close? We don't have time, but we're best friends. You know why? You're a fire glass. I get that. What do I do with it? I feel like I understand you a little better. Actually, I have light,

which actually just makes light, so I hold light, but it doesn't actually ignite. Ooh! I feel so grown up. Yeah. Oh! That's so tight. Wow.

Wow. So bad. Wow. Wow. What fast. Wow. What? Do you have a little internal fan to pull it in and blow it out? Nope. Just a minor illusion,

a little smoke drifting off of it. We're doing it. Wow. Perfect. Thank you. So are we copacetic? We are. Okay.

Okay. This is apoc. Yes, we deserve. So are we copacetic? We are. Okay. Okay. Mr. Pockety. Yes, we deserve. You hear in your head. Faithful caregiver and I have grown close. But, and I'll kneel down next to you. I look up to you. Thank you for showing me that it's important

to stay hungry. And if, you know, if I get a little furry, I'll find you. Big, big. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. The hair starts to grow. Hair?

I didn't think about that before I said it. In my head. That's what I, I know. It has been an honor and a privilege. I will be sure to take care of your letters. Why are you guys staring into each other's eyes? Can you do the thing? I'm looking at Ellie in your head, I'm just going,

everybody can talk in each other's heads now. What the fuck? Emotionally, yes. I think when I teleported people, some of my powers got shifted over to Frida. Yes, it was quite a, I'm sorry, I haven't figured it out yet. Oh, no, it's okay. Baby, you're yelling.

I'm sorry. It's okay. Why is everybody so quiet? I was going to say it so long ago. Thank you for calling it out. I was like, what's happening? Everyone's making intense eye contact and their lips are moving a little bit. I talked about that.

If the guy from the tavern stopped in, he would just see like. They're all talking to each other. Just big in their privates. Imogen got you a corset. Don't let her forget. Oh! I got you a corset. I was going to tell her.

It was going to be a thing. Well, we're going to leave in a second. We got you a corset. I was going to tell her! It was still a good thing! Well, we're going to leave in a second. We got you a corset. We got new clothes! We got matching! I was going to leave and not know. She's seen Deanna's outfit before. This new outfit is just amazing.

You all look so beautiful. Oh, thank you. I'm sorry. You know what? Wait, hold on, you know what? Just take the pack and you can have them whenever you want. Oh, great, thank you so much.

I really don't want this to exist at all. I love it, I love it. If you get some meat tongue cancer from those, just be careful. Deanna, will you have some tongue-tongue? Yeah, I got you! Oh my god! Ooh, Richard Reagan!

All 12 of them! It looks good. What does it look like? What did you get? I won't say it. However you want it. We didn't want to design it without your influence. Oh!

It's beautiful. I'll think of the design later. I feel just like the ladies of Whitestone. Thank you. Yeah, that was all her. Who does the scrying in your group? Someone should have something of ours. I do, I actually already collected bodily accoutrement from people, so I can scry on them.

I have, too. I have collected some bodily stuff. Do you scry? Oh. Burn! Burn! Burn! I can try it.

I can try it. I can definitely scry. Oh, whatever. Oh my god. I can definitely scry. Got a little marsupial pouch. I just collected all those things just because. I forgot about my marsupial pouch.

How could I forget? She's like Dexter. She's alive. She opens up her pouch. Actually, you just got fifth-level spells, right? So you do have scrying as a possibility. Ooh! Oh.

Yeah. All right. So wait, did we get something of your group, then? You have a clump of my hair and scalp. I mean, I think we're good. I think we're probably still good. Again, we fucked. So I think we're good. Yeah, we're good.

Very familiar, a lot of these fluids. Didn't want to say it out loud. We're good. Fantastic. I've got all of the, all of it. All of it. We have something for prison, too. Again, I'm so sorry for biting you, but I could got all of the, all of it. All of it. We have something for prison. Again, I'm so sorry for biting you, but I can't eat you. No, really, it's totally fine.

It's totally fine. No, what do you have? Oh! She has a clump of my hair. I think also, like, Orym's. Reverse it, too. Can I have a clump of your hair, just in case? I unhook the chin strap on my tri-corner hat, take off my beret, and then re-hatch.

Double hat? You did your hat. I unhook my beret back on. I should have been making that the entire time. Okay, so me and little lord Marlroy are going to go find some fucking books. On the tri-corner. You're wearing a tri-corner?

With a chin strap. You're right, it was an illusion hat over a hat. It's a hat of disguise. But it turned into that. Oh. Amazing. Okay, so. I should walk you over to Starpoint?

Yeah, that would be very helpful. Wait, what did Eshteross give us that gets us in? It was a letter. Can't we just give her the letter? I think it had my name on it. You have an hour until those Zul'ars leave. Well, I have a hat of disguise. I could just disguise myself as you.

Oh, perfect. Yeah. Yeah. As long as you're, you know, it would make sense that you would wear a tricorner hat with a chinstrap. Can you change the hat? No. How's your accent work? Wait, let me talk again. I don't know what I would say.

Just talk to them. Hi, my name is... Imogen. Imogen. Hi, my name is Imogen, and I love my tricorner hat with a chinstrap. It's really good. I'm always known to be walking around wearing this thing. Can I just have a peek-see at your books?

That's pretty good. If you can sprinkle in a reference to loving horses. Yeah. Oh, and before. It's not unusual that I would've gone back. Oh, okay, so I won't have to introduce myself. But you should do that. Yeah.

Just to everyone you meet. Yes. We'll make business cards. Okay, yes, then yeah. I think just a letter will be enough. Great. I'll hand over the letter. Okay.

Watch out, don't burn it. It was never lit, right? No. No. Yeah. I hope I'm holding a light cantrip so it looks like it's lit. It's traveling with it. Ooh! You want to try it for real?

Sure. Oh boy. The MCG gets high as fuck off the clothes. I can't, I don't breathe. It never goes down. No, it just lazily drips. I got to ash it off a little. Oh.

God. You! God. You chose this. I know. Something to look forward to. Frida, honey, come on. I guess then should we head out and... Yeah. Okay. Say our goodbyes.

Well, that fast, huh? Well, the soldiers are Martian. You have to go. All right. We'll be back. No, I hate this. It's just for a little while. All right. Thank you all for ingratiating yourselves to our cause. I feel like a mean way to say it.

It's, well, it's okay. I've been alive a long time, and I have never met a group of people who care about another group of people as much as these folks care about you. Yeah. And I think that that might be more powerful than whatever Ludinus is planning. Let's hope he can save us. Thanks for taking care of them. Yeah. And I think that that might be more powerful than whatever Ludinus is planning. Let's hope it can save us. Thanks for taking care of them. It was my honor.

Plus, we'll see you again. I mean, you died, 200 years went by, we hooked up again. Again! We got this in spades. That's pretty cool. Was it better the second time? Hell yeah. It was.

That's cool. He was a werewolf. I'm here. Oh yeah, I mean, it was weird. There's plenty of time. Yes. Yes. JD. Yeah?

I just want to give you a big hug, and I'm going to cast Death Ward on you. Don't die. I got this. Okay. I love you. And Nern. Just a little kiss on the cheek. Okay, let's go, we did it, we did it.

Ooh, no feelings. Take care of your people. Have fun. Lie good. You taught me how to have fun. Have a lot of fun. So I'm going to go get that shit away from you. I trust her implicitly.

Love you. I need you to put that in a garbage bag, tie it up, throw it into hell. That's where we're going. Can I, as a parting gift, summon a Phantom Steed for them and make it just a really big bird. Ew!

I'm so proud. I'm starting to like you. Like, FCG should have a French accent now. Oh, jeez. I'm feeling lucky. I'm going to walk right over, too, and give you a big, heavy hug, like a little it's-a-me thing,

and I'm very quietly going to whisper in your ear, You pay attention to who you want to be, and walk off with a little slap on the shoulder. Wow. Yeah. We'll talk again soon. I hope so. Stay safe. In your head. You, too. You again soon. I hope so. Stay safe.

In your head. You too. You hear. You too. I know we've only known each other a short while, and you made quite a connection with FCG, but you're one of the best people I've ever known. I play you back your own laughter. Mm-hmm. In the storm, hold fast to this and to that.

And I'll walk over to FCG, and I'll get down to eye level, and take the cigarette from you. And kiss you. I take the cigarette from you. I kiss you. I take the cigarette. In hundreds of years, I've never had this opportunity. I love you, faithful caregiver. I'll see you soon. You will.

That's a promise. I love you, Frida. Thank you for everything and for giving me yourself. Don't smoke, it's unattractive. Oh. Oh shit. Okay.

I'll self-begin. You love it. Oh! Oh, whoa, whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Are you bleeding?

That looks good on you! Yeah! Fearne. I love you a whole bunch. I love you a whole bunch. You're a fantastic lay. Oh my god! I was going to say the same thing.

Oh my god, just like that was a blast. That was so good. But also, you're Oh my god, just like that was a blast. That was so good. But also you're wonderful. Yeah, just you as a person are wonderful. Yes, I really appreciate you and I just, I think you're amazing. I think you're amazing.

And I'm going to cast Death Lord on you, too. You can do it more in the warm. Stay alive. You stay alive, please. Okay, we'll see each other again. Of course. Okay, Deanna. Okay, we'll see each other again. Of course. Okay. Deanna. Hi!

Just immediately we think, you're the best and I love you. You're just so wonderful. And it's going to be so hard and scary, but your friends are with you and we're with you, even if you can't tell and you're just so strong. I'm going to try all the time to talk to you. Okay. All right.

Okay. I'll keep you up to date. Take care, Chetney. If you need anything, just use the conch. It's multipurpose. Let me demonstrate. Just covered in his spittle. Just like in the Savalir Woods.

Just like that. Perfect. Wow. I thought it was going to be like a telephone. I also thought that it went a different way. I was waiting for that. You'll never, ever, never be let there. All right, Cobalt Soul. All right.

Good luck lurking in the library. Thank you. Thank you for getting me out of some bad situations. Oh man. And giving me a taste for battle. Oh boy, I think you've got a taste for it. Yeah. And I'm really grateful for this very strong connection

that we made as well. You guys did murder a man together, it's true. We did, and I consider you a really great big and close friend now. Laudna, Laudna. Laudna, I am. That's my name. Laudna, I actually just want to say that

I feel like when everything was going down with Bordor, and the rage came over your face, it was this different side of you than I'd seen because you're so trusting. And in that moment, I feel like the thing I saw was that actually your greatest strength is overcoming all of the pain to just keep trusting. And so I think that's what I'm gonna take

and learn from you. With your permission. Or without your permission, because I'm a rebel now. You are. Go give them hell. I will. Maybe I'll see you in the Shadow Realm. Let's go to the Shadow Realm. I want to see this Ascension's festival.

It's so fucking crazy. That sounds amazing. We're all still here in a couple of weeks. Let's pick up where we left off. I would love that. All abnormal lives, and he raises up a tiny little fist bump to prison. I reach down to fist bump him

and then cast Enlarge on you. Whoa! Six, six six! Amazing! This is how I really see you, Orym. This is really weird. My goodness! Wow. It happened. Okay.

Chetney, look at the top of your head. It's pretty shiny, huh? Yeah. Wow, you too, letters. Wow, that's a cool trick. BFFs. Stop telling me I said that. Okay. I think it might be a one-way street for now.

Oh, okay. He grabs a rafter and just starts doing pull-ups. Wow! Is it easier or harder, though, now that you're bigger? It would've been, yeah, so, in proportional. Feels about the same! It's funny, when he's bigger, this feels douchey.

This energy was cute when it was small. It got smug. It got smug. It got smug. It was a pleasure meeting you, Deanna and Frida. Yes. And a pleasure to meet you as well. Sorry for those of you who don't trust me, but I think I'm going to win you over with my actions,

if not my words. I certainly hope so. She also has great one-liners in battle. Mm-hmm. Okay. You're really great. Quirky, clever. It's really just the bird. It's the bird? Yeah.

All right, I unsummon Mother. Do you like me now? Sure. Oh my god me now? Sure. Oh my god. Sure? Sure. I can hang my hat on shore. Okay. Your tricycle hat. Your tricycle hat.

One from a strange tribe. It's just a fling from a school that hasn't quite left yet. Oh. Okay. All right, well, be safe in the front lines. Be safe at the library. Equally dangerous missions. We'll be in contact.

Somehow. Stay alive, all of you. As we walk out, I'm going to pull out some of my yarn and just start wrapping and covering every symbol of the Dawnfather on my clothing. Whoa. Okay, well, it's going to be a rough travel day for me. I also might pass off a quill and some paper to Ashton

and just be like, I kind of overheard that you were having a hard time meditating, and sometimes the way I clear my brain isn't meditating, it's writing. So, I mean, do whatever you want with this, but it's yours. Thank you. Just in case. I'll give it a shot. Okay. Thanks.

And then I follow Deanna. Okay. As the newly splintered trio of unlikely allies sets off on their information gathering mission, As the newly splintered trio of unlikely allies sets off on their information gathering mission, there's a moment of quiet acknowledgment of the odd collisions of paths, but the genuine joy of reunion

and the terrible immediate influence they've had on FCG. But the knowledge that things are moving, and moving quickly. There is much growing mystery, danger, mounting influence and power somewhere around that terrible, glowing, ruddy moon. And we'll go ahead and call the episode there. Oh my god!

We'll pick up next time from that moment. Oh my god! Guests! Oh my god. Kirsten, Bria, Emily, thank you so much for joining us for this crazy leg of our journey. And Amy in her car.

And Amy in her car, she won't hear. We love you so much. Denise in wherever dead Bordor is. I think Frida's going to try and kill me, too. No. Let him pull out the treat. Just a little, just a little. In order to join this gang, you have to die at least once.

At least once? That is valid. Oh, I can't bring you back. It's a dead man's party. It's a dead man's party. Softfish, you three should call yourselves the Lorsenists. Oh! Woo!

That's a hard pitch. That's not a soft pitch. That's because I'm 6'6 now! Yeah! There you are. Amazing. What an absolute joy. Thank you so much for joining us.

Christian! Thank you. Yay! So good! Yeah! That's a nice grab. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much for joining us. Christian! Thank you. Yay! Yay! So good! Yeah! That's my man. Thank you for having me. Love you guys.

Love you too, man. Emily, thank you so much for coming and joining us. It's been so wonderful. So good. So much fun. Sorry I gave him a pack of cigarettes. Actually, I did it on purpose, to be honest. I saw your face and I was like,

he doesn't want this to happen. Of course. We're going to have cigarettes. We'd rather he do it in the party. Look, the minute we put you and Sam next to each other at the table, it was only going to lead to terrible things. So happy that it worked out that way.

Ebrea, you know you're always such a wonderful joy at this table. Thank you for coming and joining us again. You're the best. And we'll pick up from there next week. Oh, my God. Thank you all so much for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet?

Yeah! And that concludes this episode of Critical Role. If you liked what you heard, please leave a rating and review wherever you stream the Critical Role. If you liked what you heard, please leave a rating and review wherever you stream the Critical Role Podcast Network. Your experiences and opinions might just motivate someone new to join the adventure. We've got lots of stories to share, so please be sure to check in next week. We'll see you next time.