Critical Role - C3E79 To Hurt Is to Heal
Episode Date: December 14, 2023Bells Hells find respite in the Fey Realm while they seek ways to mend their broken trust and rebuild their friendships... Twitch subscribers gain instant access to VODs of our shows like Critical Ro...le, 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 FriederichsAnimated Introduction by Kamille Areopagita, Kevin Areopagita, Mark Adams and Peggy Shi 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
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Here at Critical Role, we love telling stories and making narratives come to life,
which is why we're so excited to share that we're bringing a new semi-improvised fiction podcast
into the Critical Role fold with our show, Midst. Journey to the small desert town of
Stationary Hill on the planet Midst and follow the intertwined lives of three complicated
antiheroes as they deal with unsolved murders, cult brainwashing, supernatural darkness, and,
oh yeah, their moons suddenly falling from the sky.
Ugh, freaking moons, they're so unreliable these days.
The story's created by an extremely talented group of friends known as Third Person.
These playfully omniscient, fourth-wall-breaking narrators describe all the action,
play every character, and take an unorthodox approach to storytelling
that really makes the experience come alive.
Look to the Midstle of the Week, that means Wednesdays,
for new weekly episodes at midst.co, your favorite podcast app, or Critical Role's YouTube channel.
We hope you enjoy this amazing story as much as we do.
Hi there. This is Taliesin Jaffe, and welcome to the podcast version of The Critical Role Show.
If you would like to watch the stream as it airs,
you can tune in on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific
at twitch.tv slash criticalrole
or at youtube.com slash criticalrole.
The video-on-demand versions are immediately available
for our Twitch subscribers or on YouTube the following Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific.
Podcast episodes are right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network on Thursdays one week after the initial broadcast.
Now that you know all that, let's head into today's adventure.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons.
Yeah, exactly.
Before we get into our episode tonight, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor of the night, Atlus, and their new game, Persona 5 Tactica. Sam?
Persona 5 Tactica is out now, and it is awesome. It's a thrilling tactical role-playing game set in the Persona universe,
which many of the cast here have been a part of for years.
After a strange incident, the Phantom Thieves wander into a bizarre realm with citizens living under tyrannical oppression.
They find themselves in grave danger until a mysterious revolutionary named...
Arena? Arena. Arena? Arena. Arena?
Arena.
Okay, Arena makes them an enticing offer.
But what truth lies behind Arena's deal with the Phantom Thieves?
Persona 5 Tactica features an all new story, returning fan favorite characters, brand new
allies and foes.
Ignite your heart with Persona 5 Tactica.
What?
What is it? I'm doing an ad right now for Persona 5. Oh! It came?
It came.
Oh my god. Oh my god, I... Oh my god.
Guys.
Gotta consult your family.
I gotta read my script.
What timing to get these results.
This is big, actually.
I always suspected, but I never knew.
What did you not notice?
It was a paternity test, Matt.
Oh great. I can't believe it,
but it came back positive.
Matt, you are my father.
I actually don't think that's physically possible.
DNA doesn't lie, Matt.
That day when I asked you to lick all those envelopes,
I was actually harvesting your genetic material
to send to my guy.
Your guy.
I can't believe I finally found you
after all these years.
I am not, nor have I ever been your father.
No, you haven't.
All those soccer games and recitals and graduations.
Oh my god.
But now we can start over.
I'm so glad you're willing to put in the work, Dad.
Don't call me that.
Father Matt.
Don't call me that. Daddy Matt. Don't call me that.
Daddy-o? No, no.
Papa?
You're older than me.
Look, why don't you just finish the ad saying?
Would that earn your respect and love, Papa?
Wow.
Sure.
Okay.
I'm overcome with emotion, and speaking of,
an emotional uprising begins with Persona 5 Tactica, leading a revolution in
Persona's iconic universe. Build your dream squad of beloved heroes, overthrow your enemies in style
with powerful Personas. Persona 5 Tactica is now available on Game Pass, Xbox One, Xbox Ss, Xs,
Windows, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.
Papa, did I make you proud?
Moving on.
Our next sponsor is Meta and their upcoming
action role-playing VR game exclusively on MetaQuest,
Asgard's Wrath 2.
It spells dad.
Oh, Sam.
Hey, Matt.
That's so cute.
But also, like, Hey, Matt. That's so cheesy.
That's impressive.
DNA test report? I loved it. Everybody really went all out.
Oh, is it an actual one?
DNA, the basics.
DNA, the basics?
It's like a Wikipedia page of DNA.
You all fall off. Okay, sorry. Go.
You used it.
Probably.
New VR game exclusively on MetaQuest, Asgard's Wrath 2.
Embark on an epic adventure as you traverse vast realms, battling gods, monsters, and the
mischievous Loki, who threatens the very fabric of the universe. It might sound a little
familiar to some. Align with legendary Egyptian gods, engage in combat with deadly warriors, and
conquer mythical creatures using unique weapons and play styles. Immerse yourself in a massive free-roaming world, solve mind-belding,
mind-bending, belding, mind-belding god-scale puzzles, and even possess mortal heroes and loyal
animals to aid your quest. Thanks to groundbreaking VR technology, you'll come face-to-face with
ancient gods and experience the world from both mortal and godly perspectives. It's wild. You'll like it. Available starting December 15th, exclusively on
MetaQuest and free with your purchase of MetaQuest 3. Asgard's Wrath 2 is designed for
players age 17 and older. Act now as the bundle offer ends on January 27th, 2024. For more
details, visit Asgardswrath2.com. And thank you, Meta, so much for sponsoring this episode.
Thanks, Meta!
I'm not saying it's bad.
Marisha.
Dad?
Dad?
Weird.
The first episode of Kindela Obscura,
Circle of Tide and Bone,
is available to watch right now on Twitch, YouTube,
and our podcast channels.
So good. So good.
You can join us for episode two on January 4th.
Two on fourth.
In the meantime, you can pick up a copy
of the Candela Obscura rule book
to launch your own investigation.
And leave your mark on the Fairlands.
Nice.
Fantastic.
And Ashley.
Hey, thank you so much for tuning in
to our Giving Tuesday Red Nose Day One-Shot last week!
So good! You can check out our adventure with the incredible Sam Richardson and the incredible
Tony Hale on our Twitch, YouTube, and podcast channels right now.
Such a good game!
It was so fun.
Just the greatest.
It was the greatest show of the day. It's so natural. They really did. Also was the greatest show. It was so natural.
They really did.
Also, Laura's character needs to live on.
Yes.
It's technically a prequel to even Campaign One,
so all those characters are canon in the past.
So whoever survived is still out there.
He's Robert.
I love watching new people fall in love with the game.
Is Bobby Socks a prequel to your Darrington Brigade character?
Oh no!
Bobby Socks McAshley!
Oh, now I've got thoughts. We're going to go into that.
Oh my god, that would be amazing!
He saw his parents killed, and the pearls!
Always pearls.
They were trying to cast a spell.
So good. You can also still donate from now until the end of the year by making a donation at
CritRoll.com. Sorry. Weird thing happened in my throat. CritRoll.com slash rednoseday to
CritRoll.com. Eradicate childhood poverty.
Thank you so much, Ashley. Laura, you're turning the fire.
Okay, let's see what happens. Right now, you guys, you hold this up and I'll hold this up.
I'm ready.
We have more Beelzebub die sets! We've got Imogen and an Aurum of Ereshari.
Let's see what they look like.
And they are so pretty.
These ones are filled with lavender, and then there's a red storm in the night.
I have little flowers in mine.
It's so beautiful. Artists, lairande. Nope, I said that wrong. Lairande, thank you so much for the
designs. Also, I wanted to surprise you, Taliesin, with this, because I don't think you've seen it yet, and I've
been sitting on it this whole game.
Oh my god! It's here?
I've heard about this.
Whoa!
It's an Ashton Greenwood jacket!
Oh my god!
You guys, it's got a hoodie. It's denim. It's got this awesomeness.
It's denim. It's got this awesomeness.
That's so cool.
It's so, you guys, it's so comfy, cozy.
Oh my god.
That's really cool.
I was sitting on it.
Under her keister.
And she will sit on every one that you order.
This is so cool.
And also, at the same time, wait, look,
in addition to that, where did I put them?
Look, we're also selling these patches! So you can put the patches on the jacket!
That's so punk!
I know, it's so punk!
Punks always buy patches to put on their jacket.
The artists of the Jordan Torrance pose are beautiful. Jordan Torrance did these patches, and they're so cute.
That's really cute.
You can also just get the patches
and put them on anything, like a bat jack.
Jordan, you're so talented!
Or, I don't know if you guys can see them.
They're so cool.
Do the face one.
You can use floss until you get those really fun
little white stitches, and you can stitch them with floss.
With floss?
Yeah.
We got a Maya Knight one in here.
We got a Vox Machina. We got a Critical Role. We got some Ashton symbols that's cool. We got a Mighty Nein one in here. We got a Vox Machina.
We got a Critical Role.
We got some Ashton symbols that mean things.
They do?
So yeah, check them out.
And also, in addition to that, you guys.
Is there more stuff under your butt?
Not under my butt, but next to my chair.
We have partnered.
We have partnered with Geek Grind to create 99 inspired coffees and teas! You guys, look at all
of these amazing flavors! They're on sale and available right now at geekgrindcoffee.com.
I want the tea. I got English.
Yeah, there's some teas and there's some coffees.
I want the tea first.
Oh, and you have one, too. You have and there's some coffees. I have chamomile.
Oh, and you have one, too.
I have Brew of the Solstice.
Nothing goes along with your coffee like a coming apocalypse.
Jester's Sweet Treat Cinnamon Chocolate-flavored coffee, you guys.
Yasha's Lightning Elixir, vanilla-flavored coffee.
Brenatta's Mystery Potion-flavored coffee.
Strongland.
Beauregard's Interrogation Brew.
Whoa!
That sounds intense.
Yeah, I feel like that was going to make you.
Or is it?
I have Widogast's Amber Awakening Orange Spice Tea.
Ooh!
Orange English Breakfast Tea.
And I have Caduceus' Blooming Garden Egyptian Chamomile.
I think it's okay. We can open them up.
What could possibly go wrong?
Let's keep going while we serve it.
Okay, we're going to keep going.
Liam!
It's your turn, buddy.
Guys, Dark Horse is releasing an original graphic novel, if you haven't heard yet, featuring
Dr. Anna Ripley in The Legend of Vox Machina, The Whitestone Chronicles, Volume 1.
Ripley is written by Marika Nykamp,
illustrated by Tyler Walpole,
and lettered by Richard Starkings
and Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt.
This is the first of three, actually,
interconnected stories serving as pre...
Oh, my God, I love coffee so much.
So much.
Interconnected stories serving as prequels
to the Legend of Vox Machina animated series.
So if you've watched that, you might like this book.
You can find it at the end of July, 2024,
which is too far away.
Wherever graphic novels are sold,
visit comicshoplocator.com
to find a local comic shop near you.
Hey, that looks good on you. Comics.
I feel good. Fantastic.
Dang, Taliesin, that looks good.
That looks really awesome. Everybody beat up Taliesin, that looks good. That looks really awesome.
Okay, that was a beefy.
That was a beefy announcements.
And now I want some coffee while I chug my energy drink
because I want to detonate, apparently.
But that concludes our announcements.
So now we can finally get into tonight's episode of
Critical Role.
Critical.
Critical.
It's Thursday night.
One by one we climb until we reach the top.
Two by two we fall.
Will we meet our end or meet our destiny?
Hold your breath and roll. do you wanna do this?
It's Thursday night
All ye Critters come join us
It's time to continue our plight
There is magic and mystery
Who knows what will happen?
Ye might
But one thing's for sure 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
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 And welcome back. So, last we left off, Bells Hells, after traversing the odds and ends of
Exandria, finishing in the Shattered Teeth to seek some answers and finding an artifact that is
somewhat involved in the elemental, primordial history of Ashton and the Dushari people that his parents created and destroyed.
You return to Whitestone to prepare for a journey as a recon operation to the moon,
Ruidus, to discover what is transpiring there to prepare for the eventual assault that the
forces of Exandria are preparing for. On the eve
of your journey, a ritual was attempted and hijacked in secret by Ashton to pursue what was
understood to be his destiny. However, it proved to be too powerful and nearly destroying him twice
through the will of his strength, his constitution, and a couple of well-placed
magical items and spells, survived, losing an arm,
gaining an arm, and coughed up the spark of Rav Chon,
while seemingly something has stirred within him since this.
However, in doing this, it broke much of the trust and the calm within the group of Bell's Hells.
In this tumultuous period of time, this fracture has caused you all to take a pause on your
journey towards the Red Moon. Deciding that one fern who was at the epicenter of confusion and
hurt in the midst of this wanted to visit herana, and considered the Fey Realm might be a decent place
to try and take a rest to recover
and rekindle this trust of the troop.
Arriving back in the familiar space
of the Ligament Manor in the Fey Realm,
your Nana Morrigan herself, the Fate Stitcher,
the grand, terrifying hag that exists
in this shadowed region of the Fey Realm welcome to you
all back, as well as realizing that your parents have come here as well, absconding from the
Hellcatch Valley and looking for a place of peace and or safety in the midst of all the chaos that
is surrounding the Hellcatch. Upon arrival and some comfort,
some interesting conversations transpired
in which FCG decided to offer the idea
of team-building exercises,
of some sort of a good mental health retreat
for all of you to work together
and try and figure out ways to re-solidify these binds,
which excited Nana Mori,
who eagerly agreed to aid you in this endeavor.
As her cackles echoed through the reaches
of the tree itself,
that is the skeletal structure of Ligament Manor,
you all, those of you who took them,
sip upon your tiki drinks
and consider what lies in the days ahead of you,
here where time seems
to slow to a crawl under Nannamori.
So, what would you like to do, Bells Howls?
It's nighttime, it's daytime, it's morning.
Did we just sleep? What happened?
It's seven o'clock on the dot.
It's some Feyroam, it's always a little Twilight-y.
But were we building towards a long rest,
or were you just good?
We're just good, it's just happening.
Well, you took a long rest after the ritual
that took place at the ziggurat,
and then the following morning,
you all went ahead and found Allura,
and by the way, Allura Vessoran is still traveling with
you and seems deeply uncomfortable, but getting a little more used to the strange interior. But
you've basically been given the run of the manor for the time being, for whatever your purposes
may be, until probably you and Mori will probably take some time to figure out what you want to do.
So who's up to what? You and Mori will probably take some time to figure out what you want to do.
So who's up to what?
Hey, Fearne. Yeah.
So can I ask you a question about your Nana?
Yeah.
I've heard things.
Does she do
wishes?
I mean, what do you mean?
Well, I heard somewhere that
entities sometimes found in places like this,
they might give you your wildest.
Wildest something? Yeah.
Oh, I see what you mean.
Well, yeah, I mean, you could definitely talk to her.
I mean, it's definitely a type of thing.
It's more of a deal, I think, than a wish.
Oh.
So you have to give something to her
if you're going to get something back.
I think that's how it works.
Oh, okay.
Have you known of anybody that's made a deal with her?
Yeah.
It always turns out fine, right?
The stories that it can go tits up is an exaggeration.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, sometimes it can go bad.
Did you make a deal with her?
No, no, no, no, no.
I mean, I can get anything I want from her.
What's the worst you ever saw happen?
Well... What's the worst you ever saw happen? Well.
I think sometimes,
like the tree garden, for instance.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Some of those.
Sometimes people get turned into bushes.
Well, I don't know.
That's my assumption that I think, maybe.
Oh shit.
But I don't know.
I think she just can't, it's not forever.
Like, they're not going to.
Be bushes forever?
Yeah, or, you know, I think she just, there's...
Wait, how long have some of these people
been bushes, though?
Hmm.
I don't know.
But you know, I make them look a little better
than just a regular bush.
So you're trimming people?
Trimming them?
Do you think they feel it?
When you cut their branches off?
I have never thought about that.
Do you have that speak with plants spell?
Are they just screaming every time?
Maybe. I mean, I think.
I'm pretty sure they're people.
That's just something I have.
They do look like people.
Guys, I know my Nana's a little weird, okay?
Is Lady Allura with us? She's currently at the tiki bar, inspecting the space. You can see as Peepers, the jackrabbit, is
nestled behind. Its weird ears are following her as she goes and occasionally.
It has a ton of eyes, right?
It doesn't have eyes on its face, just this big toothy grin. The teeth themselves prehensile
individually, and the markings along the ears almost resemble large eyes.
And Nana Mori went back to her stories?
For the time being, she's finishing up some sort of a scry session, occasionally cackling and
slapping her knee.
Angelica Houston could be seen in the...
Yeah.
But there's a weird xenomorph rabbit hovering around Orya right now. occasionally cackling and slapping her knee. Angelica Houston could be seen in the... Yeah.
But there's a weird xenomorph rabbit
hovering around Allura right now?
Like this.
It's over following her to the tiki bar,
and Allura is just stepping over to the edge
and inspecting the space.
This is just after the conversation with Manna Mori.
Yes.
Birdie has gone upstairs for the moment.
Olly is going over to the bar to help Allura with the drinks.
And the rest of the mighty climbing and twisting tree
that is the Ligament Manor, you can see,
is just winding up into the lantern-lit shadows above.
The sound of dozens of evening creaking
and cawing creatures echoing through the branches and briar.
What were you interested in wishing for, Chetney?
Me? Yeah.
Like, I'd go for my youth.
You want to be young again.
Yeah, I saw Deanna, and I mean, that was a trip.
Let me tell you, living hundreds of years
and then seeing an old flame come back
where they haven't changed a bit,
I was a little jelly.
Would you still want to keep your age,
but just your appearance is youthful?
Yeah, I wouldn't want to give up
any of the knowledge and wisdom
and accomplishments I've had.
Just change the outside.
You would want to be young again
so that you could be with Deanna?
You wouldn't believe what I looked like 200 years ago.
Even 100 years ago, boy.
Specifically to be with her?
No.
Oh.
Just to look hot as shit again.
I mean, I'm already pretty good, but.
But why, though?
Just to get with lots of people?
No, I mean, I haven't come across many people
that can actively grant wishes or make deals.
I'm not sure about turning into a bush afterwards,
but just the idea of it seems pretty fucking appealing.
It could be a bit of a stretch.
That's just an assumption I've always had.
Why not? Maybe not. Maybe it's not.
You're pretty good-looking now. Did you age into things like a fine wine?
I'm like the lead chapter of the Silver Foxes. I'm the head priest of the Silver Fox.
What was a 120-year-old Chetney Lion?
Oh, man. Well, most of my hair was still in. I had a bitchin' mustache. The chest hair was more accurately cultivated, curated.
A set of these really sporadic patches
you got going on here.
Yeah, this is just au naturel.
This is like woodsman, but I used to do shapes.
Sometimes there were arrows.
What kind of mustache, like a tickler or a handlebar?
Kind of depended.
Oh, cool.
But what were you like as a teenager?
Were you awkward?
Wearing diapers? I feel like you were awkward.
Yeah, kind of.
I was kind of a loner.
I traveled a lot, even as a teenager.
I had lots of toys.
But just sorry to keep harping on this.
Yeah.
But why, though?
Like, why do you want to be young again?
If you could have one wish, what would it be?
Oh boy.
You don't have to answer.
That was my answer, though, to look young again.
But just to look young again.
Yeah. But in order to
find the family that you never had the first time around?
I think they're gone.
Did you have a family?
Sure, big family.
Like children and?
No!
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
Like finding the love of your life.
I mean, I don't think so.
Fuck, don't make me go down that road.
I hope not. I mean, I don't think so.
You never had any interest
in having a family, settling down?
Not really.
Having a place to call your own?
No.
I hadn't really thought about it.
It seems like an awful lot of work.
Upkeep?
So you just want to wander?
No, I'd just like to be inspired.
Plus, like, toys is an ever-evolving trade.
An art form, really.
Second you get stale, you got to go to a new city.
There's new things to see, things to form, really. Second you get stale, you got to go to a new city. There's new things to
see, things to spark off of, ways to elevate your game.
This is the strangest conversation we've ever had before we do.
Orbs, stop doing push-ups!
You were doing a lot of push-ups yesterday. mean, are you sore? Because I've never seen you
work out that much.
You're getting out your emotions that way, right?
I listen to you guys talk a lot. Sometimes it's not the smartest thing to let the first
thoughts in your head pop out of your mouth, so I've been sitting on it for a day, but I was
stressed, too, and there's nothing like dumbbell squats. Is that a thing, Travis?
100%. Those are called thrusters.
Nothing like thrusters to get the anxiety.
Yeah, that's right. I'm in.
I'm going to go say hi to my mom real quick.
Yeah.
What's your Nana Mori alluding to?
Yeah!
I don't know.
She perked up when she saw your little demon prince kiss
and was like, ooh, just like your mother.
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
Maybe that's why you got your fiery side.
Like my mom fucked around with Tevin?
I don't know.
I am you.
You said it, not me.
Or maybe not Tevin specifically, but
that'd be fucked.
Would that be, would you, would it,
would it really mess with your head
if your dad wasn't
your biological father, if he was not the father?
You are not the father. I think he would be perfectly fine, because I feel like I didn't know them that much anyway. You know, Nana's my parent, both.
But we'll find out.
Your parents, whoever raised you.
Uh-huh.
I know exactly what that call is.
It's like I get that call every single day.
It's the school system.
Like four times a day.
Yes, they call all the time.
Is sending work again?
Just junk sends.
Just junk sends.
Don't reply to that message.
Chetney, you take 14 points of psychic damage.
Wait, he's actually doing it.
Sure. He marked it.
You're going to go talk to?
Yeah, I'll do that, but I'll be back in a little bit.
I'm going to go talk to Nana Mori about, you know,
the scavenger hunt.
Oh, that's right.
Do you have ideas?
I have lots of ideas.
This is the perfect place for a scavenger hunt.
I just feel like we have all been
on our own separate paths,
and this will really get us to come together
and work together and maybe be ready as a team
to go do what we have to do up on the moon.
So you're thinking a group, cooperative scavenger hunt,
not like a competition base.
No, not a competition.
It's something where it forces us to work together.
Well, I've got ideas.
You watch as Nana Mori's head is craned
out of the shadows beyond her chair
and is appearing behind FCG's head a bit.
The black vacant spaces where the sockets sink in,
occasionally flickering with light.
I'm very excited to plot with your little metallic friend.
Great. I'm excited.
Let's talk.
A hand reaches out and palms your head.
My wheel's not moving, it's just dragging.
I knew it!
Maybe we should check out the rooms.
Didn't we get rooms?
I think Hannah and Maury made us some rooms, yeah.
Oh yeah!
Check out the bonks!
All right.
Bonks.
Should I do bonks?
Yeah. He does bonk.
So the rest of you can scatter a bit and find there are some additional chambers, some
modest but comfortable in a creepy assumed-your-theme-but-maybe-not-quite-correctly
sort of vibe within each one. You feel a bit stereotyped when you enter each chamber,
but it's a bedroom that at least is,
you know, it's the thought that counts.
It's an AI-generated bedroom.
Yeah.
Yeah, you suddenly have too many fingers
and your teeth are wrong.
It's...
It's too big for an animal.
Yeah.
The details keep turning into dog faces.
It's weird. You off of a bus?
You said you're looking for...
Yes, I'm going to go look for Birdie.
Birdie, okay.
You step up the stairs,
seeing where she may have gone off to,
and you see her having a conversation
with the door to the collection,
the massive tent-like chamber
that's comprised of all the branches that
forms the dome where Nanamori's collection is. You can see there's that living doorway of numerous
bones and skull fragments that are all woven into branches. And they're all pushed to form a larger
face that you normally can't see. It just looks like a texture, like a creepy collection of various
objects to form the
doorway, but you're familiar with this as well. The door itself, while not specifically named, it is
occasionally a wanting conversation. As you step up, you hear Bertie going like,
I'm just so excited that she's come by again. And the door goes like,
Yeah, you know, it's been a bit since she's come by and talked, so I think a lot of people are excited hearing the man.
Hey, door.
Oh, look, there she is.
The massive cluster of bones creaks and scrapes
as it goes ahead and tries to shift to form
the expressions of this massive skull across it.
It's been some time.
Hey.
It's been a little time.
Hey, birdie.
Well, hello there, darling.
Um, I just wanted to come in and catch up.
Of course you could. And see how things have been.
Yeah, let's go and have a little walk,
a little mother-daughter walk.
I'd love that. Let's do it.
She goes ahead and puts her arm out.
Well, how's things?
Well, they've been a little strange,
as I'm sure they've been on your side as well.
You want to go towards the garden?
Oh yes, I would love to. All right, all right.
Start ascending the wooden steps that climb along
one of the large, heavy branches that curves up
into the higher parts of the canopy,
the various forms of flickering lantern light
giving orange and green and blue shifting coloration.
She taps your arm.
We had to skedaddle quite quickly
and get away from our little hideaway there.
I got to say, it's a good thing your father has the squint.
It's definitely gotten us on some better paths
and out of trouble quicker than others.
But we tried to come through here
and Hondir was with us.
He was a little too nervous to follow us
through the Fey Gateway that we used,
so he went ahead and off on his own
towards A. Shenador to look for the rest
of his Grim Verity folks.
All right.
We made sure to supply him up
and give him one of the crawlers that we had,
all gussied up to tip-top shape,
and he just went ahead and took off southward.
I'm about to say, he was a bit of a nebbish surly fellow when we first met him, but now
he seems to find himself a little confidence, too. Watching him on his own up there, his little
goblin physique on that massive purring machine and just cruising on, leaving industrial behind,
I could see in his eyes he was enjoying that little ride he hadn't had a chance to before on his own.
Good for him.
I agree, I agree.
Well, so I was talking with Nana.
She was telling me that you might have something to tell me
and she said that it's not her story to tell, so I just wanted to know, did you have something to tell me. And she said that it's not her story to tell,
so I wanted to know, did you have something to tell me?
I don't know.
Her jaunty steps come to a slow crawl
into an inevitable stop,
and her hand stays resting on yours
as she looks ahead a bit.
Her smile's still there, but it's dropped a little.
What does she mean?
Well, I don't know.
But, so when we were out,
But, so when we were out,
I had made, I didn't realize,
I guess a deal of sorts with
this super hot
devil guy.
Oh! Yeah.
His name's Heaven. Wow.
Does that name sound familiar to you?
Not particularly, no. Oh my god, okay.
So, he kisses my hand,
and it just stayed there.
That's not a natural thing or anything?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
No, okay, okay.
I think it's just a...
I really don't know. Okay.
So hopefully I didn't do something too bad,
but we'll see.
Well, just be careful.
I don't know much in the realm of devils and the like,
but from what I do have heard around,
they're a little difficult to tangle with,
so just careful what you sign up for, I suppose.
Sure, sure, sure.
Have you ever tangled with one before?
Not with the devil, no.
She picks up her step a little bit
and pulls you along and goes,
Let's get to that garden.
What about a demon?
No.
Look, I had a wild youth in some ways,
and some more than others, I'm sure,
but I didn't mess with any of that
infernal stuff, necessarily.
That's a bit beyond my realm.
Insight check.
Make an insight check, go for it.
Necessarily. Necessarily.
That's so weird, necessarily, to add on.
29.
Ooh!
What?
What?
16 plus 13.
You have 13 inside?
I do, I do.
I use that shit all the time.
So, you're the group's lie detector.
Yes.
You are?
Apparently.
How do you have such a high?
That's amazing!
She's wisdom-based with some rogue expertise
and a couple of other things in there, I think.
All the light.
Yeah.
I only need to whisper to you,
since you're the only one who's present in this conversation.
She's not lying,
but she's still, she's definitely being guarded
about something.
And you get the sense that she's like, She's definitely being guarded about something.
You get the sense that she's like,
you can feel her heartbeat through her hand.
There's just an elevated adrenaline in her system,
and she's just holding it together
while you two walk up towards the top
of the ligament Manor.
I think,
I think I know what Nana was talking about, and...
I know you're nervous, whatever it is, because your heartbeat is really fast,
and you keep licking your lips,
so your mouth is a little dry, probably.
It's okay, just tell me.
Let's get to the garden.
I just think we'd...
This isn't much of a walk and talk conversation.
Sure, sure, sure. You understand?
Let's take a seat and find a spot.
As she walks up, and there's this pause after that
where the conversation's held, waiting for her to speak,
but you're walking in silence,
and you can feel as she squeezes your hand a little tighter,
and she sighs heavily, and you look up
and watch as a cluster of 40 or so bats
take off up into the trees,
swirling and vanishing into the sides.
A fluttering sound comes up
and you watch as a familiar sight,
an odd gray-dappled, white, owl-like creature
with long, thin beak and black beady eyes
as Mr. Nesbitt finds him and goes,
Ew, I heard you were here! Oh, Mr. Nesbitt finds him and goes oh I heard you were here
oh Mr. Nesbitt
oh Fanny
so good to see you
oh it's great to see you
you know Birdie right
of course
of course
you've been keeping up a bit
I just
I wasn't aware
how are you
oh you know
just doing little here and there
wandering around
picking flowers
eating small insects
and just sort of
you know
keeping the place tidy.
Great. Wonderful. I'm here with all of my friends, and so we're going to be staying for a little bit.
Wonderful, wonderful.
Probably not too long.
We have games to play.
Oh, yes, we have games to play.
Oh, and I think FCG and Nana are planning a scavenger hunt.
No way.
Yes.
So you might maybe be a part of it.
I mean, tell Nanna about it.
Goodness me.
Well, you both look like you're a bit
in a personal conversation.
I'll let you be, but it's good to see you, Fearne.
We'll catch up later on.
Okay, kisses.
Bye, birdie. Bye.
Woo!
Birdie just...
I was like, what is that?
I don't dislike Dr. Nesbit. He's just a lot.
Yes!
I agree. He's a lot. First. I agree.
He's a lot. First thing in the morning, especially.
Like, it's just a lot right in your face.
Yeah, always in the morning,
it just gave me a little bit of time.
Yeah, yeah.
Anyway, almost there.
So...
What is it?
I mean, if you don't want to talk about it right now, we don't have to.
No, no, I think it's important we talk about it.
Here we go.
You finish the ascent as you step out
into the upper canopy of the tree
and emerge into the top
garden that sits between the various heavy tangled branches and leaves and vines all around. You see
all the massive archways and the beautiful bushes and long clusters of flower beds and a hedge maze-type appearance to it at different heights and levels.
Colorful arrays of flora completely encompass the surrounding space. The ever-twilight vibe of the
space is offset by the occasional flicker of glowing firefly light that dots the landscape. You see
the numerous topiaries that are well-kept, that all have oddly screaming humanoid shapes frozen
in place. Your mother pulls you over to one of the central benches in one of the nicer open garden
areas where there's a little fountain that's giving this gentle sound of trickling water, and she brings you down and sits across from you
and takes your hands, and hers,
she brushes off a bit and scratches them behind her ear
for a second nervously.
I missed it here.
Well, I think it's missed you, too.
So Fearne,
you may not know exactly how your father and I met,
but know that it is the happiest happenstance
that I hold dear to myself beyond having you.
He is a good man in his own morals,
and he's driven by personal justice,
and I've met no man greater than him.
We met because your Olly and I,
we were both briefly entangled
with the Unseelie Court many years back.
Olly was a prisoner of theirs.
Oh.
And myself, I was
once enthralled by the wiles of one among their court.
Wait, what does that mean?
This... This particular gentleman of whom I was romantically entangled promised much and delighted in my
darker impulses. I was whisked away into the arms of this dark lover who danced with me on top of
gloomed marble precipice. He waxed poetic about taking the moon from the Moonweaver herself for
me. I mean, he was as beautiful as he was terrifying.
Wow.
For me, at that time, it's what I thought I wanted.
Sure.
I'm different now.
I've learned from my wanderings,
and I know that happiness did not lie down that path for me,
but in this time,
I was in a very odd place, Fearne.
Okay.
I do not like who I was then.
Huh?
Well, it was here that I met your father, Olly.
He was being held captive for his double dealings
with the court.
At first, I delighted in teasing him while he was being held in the Underbrush Prison.
Something about his strength of heart
and his honest eyes,
they just slowly began to take hold of me over time.
Mm-hmm.
His kindness in the face of veiled malice around me
began to shape me free of whatever spell
kept me there for so long.
But not before I was already with child.
With you.
Oh.
My unseelie suitor and sire of my child whispered of the import of our union, that when it was
time, and when it was time, he brought me to a hilltop in Exandria to give birth to you under the red light of the moon
ruinous, just as he had planned and we had discussed.
So you were with child with Olly, or?
Am I? I'm not under, what?
Olly is your father,
but in the sense that he
chose to raise you as your father.
Well, maybe if you really chose to raise me
because you weren't around.
But that's okay.
That's okay.
So, all right.
So I have another dad.
You have a...
You have someone who helped give you life, yes. I don't know if I'd call them a father.
Okay.
How do I, who?
The one who sired you, his name is Atheon.
Atheon Zathuda.
The Sorrowlord of the Unseelie Chord.
Say that one more time.
The Sorrowlord of the Unseelie Chord.
Wait, is that the one we fought?
Is that the one that showed up?
On the Sorrowlord?
It did have the word sorrow in it.
Sorrowlord Zathuda is who we met.
That's who we fought.
But this is Athion. That's who chased us.
But we're not here.
I know.
I'm her mom. Athion Zathuda.
Zathuda?
Zathuda.
Zathuda.
Zathuda.
That's the one that chased us from back at the dark brown dragon.
That's the one that fought Morrigan
on top of that dragon in the sky.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
On the undead dragon.
The one that was talking with Otohan
at the side of the other key.
The one that was speaking with Otohan.
Okay. Atheon Zathuda.
Atheon Zathuda, the Sorrowlord of the Unseelie Court.
Okay.
Boy, this is...
I know, it's a lot. Oh my god!
It's a lot to take in.
Sure.
So he knows about me?
He does.
How come he didn't come around?
Well, you see, after you arrived,
as a Rude as born by design.
It seemed my usefulness began to wane,
and whatever affection I held for him
faded along with his attention towards me.
You seemed to have what he wanted in you.
All of his playful aspirations
of overthrowing the Moonweaver
came to a crisp and deadly halt.
His meetings with the Cexandrian High Magus were somehow connected, and you were always seemingly part of this.
So I realized I had been used this whole time, and for the first time in ages, my mind felt clear. I felt like I had pushed the clouds away, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
I had to leave, and the only one there
that I held any trust towards was
the one who showed me real kindness.
It was Zalhander.
So I told him everything, and he just smiled.
He promised he'd keep me safe and help keep you safe. I think that was the first time I really felt an inkling of real love. I helped break him free.
Together we fled from the Twilight Citadel and swore to never look back. He became your father, and together we lived free on the hidden paths between the courts to be a family for a while, for your younger years.
It wasn't until you'd gotten a bit older that we began to see that red moon specter here in the Fey Realm for the first time.
Just like the night you were born,
and Olly had that vision, that terrible vision
of everything just falling apart.
We were worried that this thing that we thought
we had gotten you away from,
you were somehow still caught up,
and so we did what any parent would do.
We did all we could to try and keep you safe.
We went back to the Unseelie
and we saw what they were building.
We saw they were still,
they were definitely the ones responsible for all this.
And we just knew that you were a piece of that puzzle.
So we snuck in.
With Ira's help, we took the crown,
and we left you with Mori
because we knew that they'd come after us.
Because we knew that he'd be looking for you
for whatever reasons they had.
So we set out to find a way to correct
your mother's unwitting part in all this
and free you from their designs.
It seems like we failed, but you
became something even greater than we ever could be.
I'm so sorry for your...
I'm so sorry for your...
I'm so sorry for not being around.
It doesn't mean much, I know, but we both love you so much,
and everything we did was because we loved you,
and it hurt to leave you,
but we knew you weren't safe with us.
And... But we knew you weren't safe with us.
We would rather give it all up again to see you safe.
Like Morrie said, perhaps this was the right path.
We are far from perfect. We've messed up in many ways, I am sure,
but we did the best we could. Circumstances
what they are, and if anything, we're just proud to see who you've become. Someone who
stands above others who wish to use them and carves your own way. Don't even let Nannamori's talk affect your fate at all.
I can see that darkness
that your sire left in you,
but you wear it well and you make it your own.
It's okay. I understand why you both had to do what you had to do.
Honestly, I loved growing up here.
And I love Nana Mori.
I mean, she's a little wild.
Like, yeah, she's super weird, but...
I love her a lot.
Me, too.
And...
I feel like you put me in a really good place.
Well, do I stay away from him?
I don't know what I should do.
Do I just, don't talk about that
and don't tell anybody, yeah?
I mean, it's your life to live how you see fit.
And if anything, I think it'll be a relief on your father
to know that you know now.
Okay.
I mean, Zathura is a very dangerous
and extremely selfish and manipulative individual.
And seems to have found.
I wouldn't know about any of those qualities.
I think the difference is you got a better heart
in that chest of yours.
Well, we'll see.
No, you do.
The fact that you're here says that you do.
The fact that these people gathered around you
says that you do.
The fact that you're doing everything you can
to do the right thing to protect and help people,
that's more than any of us could have done.
Far more than your,
than the Sorrowlord would have ever,
ever even attempted.
Thanks.
I don't ever want you to think
that I'm asking for forgiveness.
That's not something I could ever ask for.
All I can do is try my best to make it up to you in time.
I'll take that.
I'll take that. I'll take that.
And hopefully we have lots more time to do that.
I hope so, too.
Well, thank you for being honest with me.
I'm sorry it took this long to tell you.
It was all with the intent of trying to keep you safe
as long as we could.
Well.
I guess I better get back down there
and make sure everybody's okay, but
thanks for talking with me.
Thank you for listening.
I give her a big hug.
She hugs you back and you can hear her sniffle and wipe the tear from her face.
You know, I always did wonder why I was so much taller than you both.
Yeah.
It always really weirded me out.
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things I think that'll be clicking after this, I'm sure.
Yeah, lots of things I'm like, oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah.
You got some, you're quite a living nexus of a bunch of weird shit.
And I include myself in that.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I'm going to go find Sweet Pea
and give him his dinner.
Okay.
I'll find Sweet Pea in a little bit, too.
All right.
Love you.
I love you.
She just bounds off into the garden.
All right. Well, I will head back downstairs.
Okay. In the interim, I think while all that had happened, so maybe simultaneously, Orym would have walked up and tugged at Ashton's elbow.
I'm, well, the bar's a little crowded,
so I would have gotten a drink
and would be just sitting off,
breathing, taking a view, having a little liquor.
Hey.
Hey. Hey.
You want to take a walk?
You're not going to quietly kill me
in the Wildlands, are you?
I mean, I'm fine either way.
I might be able to take you.
It would be interesting to see.
Take a walk with me, Ash.
I'll take you one last good look.
All right, I'm ready.
I'm not going to lead us too far away
because I assume that most things around here can eat me.
So I'll stay close to the manor.
Okay. Do you head down towards the base of the tree?
Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. All right, great.
So you wander down a bit base of the tree? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right, great.
So you wander down a bit further into the area
that's referred to as the Undermuck.
It's all these massive mud pits that seep into
and between the gargantuan roots that spiral out
from the center of the tree.
It's almost like a series of sections of separated bog
that just swarm around the base.
And as you descend to the staircases that lead to the bottom,
you can hear the muck of these various bogs
occasionally bubbling up, that ever so faintly sweet
but fetid smell of mud with some earthen minerals
and decaying leaves and moss.
Occasionally, you see things slithering through the mud.
But it's also oddly beautiful,
as you can see all these tranquil, green turquoise
fireflies are beginning to light up the space in sections,
almost like they're communicating in clusters
at different points throughout.
I'll sit on a root of the tree and drink from the cup.
It's probably a little too big for my frame.
I realize that I didn't say a lie yesterday.
I appreciate it, to be honest.
Yeah.
I've just been thinking,
and it doesn't really serve to blurt the first thing
that pops in your head out I've learned in life.
To be honest, Ash,
I was as freaked out as everybody else by what happened,
but that's not what I want to say to you right now.
I just want you to feel what you're going to feel.
Be angry, be sad, be confused, be questioning.
Guilt, shame, whatever, but... Be angry, be sad, be confused, be questioning.
Guilt, shame, whatever, but
we do care about you.
I care about you.
Yeah.
I think I believe that from everybody working on it.
Well, time, right?
Well, this is new territory for me.
Well, look, whatever you're going to feel,
we're all going through it, and I get it to a degree.
I do.
You and your dad and Imogen and her mom
and me with everything I carry around, right?
It's hard not to let it be personal.
Of course it's personal.
But we can't let this be about our every little hidden heartbreak right now.
No.
I mean, I'll admit,
the positive reinforcement after jumping
into a pool of lava may have been...
I'm not going to put that on anybody. I would have done the same, but it definitely...
I can see the escalation the more I think about it.
If that hadn't worked, I'm sure they would have been
taking me apart pretty much the way that...
And I wonder if this had worked,
the fuck would anybody have said after 10 minutes of,
holy fuck, that was stupid?
Ash, I listen.
Everybody lay into you yesterday,
and that's not what this is about.
Yeah, I know.
I care about you,
and with everything that's coming,
you know,
be what you're gonna feel,
but also don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
This group,
as fucked as it is,
this is the play.
This is the angle. This is the angle.
There are no legends coming in to save us.
It's just us.
And we gotta pick up and do.
Tomorrow or a day after, whenever we leave,
it's going to be hard, and I don't expect you to stop.
I certainly don't, but try not to spend all your time grappling with your demons,
because I need your hands free
so you can pick up that hammer and fight.
I'll stand shoulder to shoulder with you.
Well, more like by your hip, but you get the idea.
We'll make it work.
I, uh...
Yeah, it was something actually, uh...
I don't know, it was actually something Chetney said a couple days ago, or a day ago.
God, it's been so long.
He really gave me the option, fuck right off or don't.
His vote at the time was fuck right off.
And I don't know, I thought about it.
And I thought about the last time
everybody fucked right off and I didn't, or...
You would never fuck off.
No, I don't think I have it in me.
As stony as your exterior is,
you really got a soft heart.
I hope that people have less opportunity to see it,
literally, on the outside, but yeah.
I do really like these people.
I like them a lot. I don't...
I mean, I don't really know what love really is, but...
I don't know what family is.
Know one thing.
But...
Well, I know you men well.
Lift me up. Yep. Oh, the new you mean well. Lift me up.
Oh, the new arm is weird.
Give him a kiss on his forehead.
I don't know about out there, but with the seven of us,
it's going to be okay.
We have probably too much of a hide up here.
I lower down and I do three quick pull-ups on his arm.
Come on, let's go have a party.
Yeah.
I may say a few things in there,
and I'm not going to need you to back me up.
I've been thinking about this a lot,
and I've been thinking about what I'm doing here
and what we're all doing here,
and I don't know.
I think I know what I'm going to offer,
and I think I know what I'm going to ask of everybody.
I think I've figured it out.
Okay.
Grab him by the pinky. Yep, let's go.
You know, I never quite understood
the impulse to add
almond liqueur
to a very fine drink.
But in this context, it's actually quite delicious.
It's a good drink.
It's good for tropical drinks.
Would he normally drink sherry and stuff?
I'm more of a red wine girl, honestly.
Kima's the bar drink enthusiast.
But on special occasions, I've been known to throw back
a few, if you will.
Well, watch out now.
Allura?
Yes?
Are you coming to join us on our little team-building scavenger hunt?
No, why?
Goodness.
All right.
Why not?
With all due respect, your team really needs the focus.
I'm more here as emotional support beyond that,
as well as your ride, so.
Oh, yeah.
You're not here on research for the
Arcanum Philosophics, please?
What's the thing you're a part of?
I'm always in the process of researching
for the Orcana Pansoffical.
Oh, Pansoffical.
Sorry, I got it twisted.
You're not going to go out on any
expeditions or top secret,
you could tell, stuff.
She looks towards you and her eyes flare a faint blue
and suddenly you see these runes begin to swirl
in the air around you.
You see numerous arcane orbs suddenly apparate
in various parts of the tree
and they all shift and look towards you
and then look away and everything vanishes
around her eyes fade.
I'm continuously multitasking,
so while I'm here conversing with you,
I also have many other endeavors I'm focusing on,
so I apologize if I seem a bit flighty at times,
but I'm doing a lot.
That would not have been my criticism,
but I have to say, that was the dopest flex
I've seen in a minute.
I am massively impressed.
Enjoy your drink.
I'm a little aroused.
You're always aroused.
He's always a little aroused.
I assume that was the case.
I took no offense.
Allura. Mm-hmm?
In your past adventuring days
with your adventuring party,
did you ever have a moment,
kind of like what we're going through,
where you were a bit,
not on the same wavelengths?
She smiles and her vision goes,
thousand-yard stare for a moment,
and her expression looks like it's simultaneously
recalling fond memories and painful ones.
You see the wrinkles at the corner of her eyes
fold tighter.
I see.
It's been some time, but of course.
Any group of people that care about each other goes through a similar, multiple similar circumstances.
Whether it be something someone said, someone did,
something you've lost.
In our instance, someone we lost.
And
I certainly hope that you and your compatriots
can find that common tether that keeps you together.
We weren't quite as lucky.
But through that fracturing,
I kept my friend,
who became my partner,
and is now my little lion.
So,
even in challenged
fracturing of friendships,
they're as good to be found,
but it doesn't have to even get that way.
And the fact that you're all here
and taking this seriously says a lot about you.
I've watched many, many individuals
with similar ideals and visions of grandeur
who have never gotten as far as you have
and would have shattered at first sight
and have any sort of difficulty.
So if I have anything to offer,
it's the hope that you embrace this moment that you have
and don't fuck it up.
I think I should stop wearing the circlet.
Why?
I'm going to take it off.
Okay.
You've had it on for so long that even removing it,
it's almost like the familiar static
that ever persisted around you is twice as loud
before it eventually fades into that
familiar, perpetual noise.
It brought you so much respite, Imogen.
I know.
But it also...
I feel like if I hadn't been wearing it, I would have known what Ashton was planning. I don't know if that's an invasion, but...
One of my strengths is...
is knowing.
You know what I mean? I didn't know where you went. One of my strengths is knowing.
You know what I mean?
I didn't know where you went.
I didn't know you were planning to run off.
I didn't know Ashton was planning something secret with Vern.
Why would I take away his strength?
I'm sorry. It did not mean to scare you.
And I hope you do not feel responsible for Ashton's actions.
Of course not.
It's not on you, and you shouldn't
have to be responsible for babysitting everyone.
And I don't. Their choices.
I don't feel that way. I don't feel that way.
I don't feel that way.
But I do feel a responsibility to everyone here.
I think we all feel a responsibility to each other,
and we should.
Even Chet.
Imogen. Chet.
What am I thinking?
You're thinking about having sex.
When you say that word, it doesn't sound the way I say it.
Fire!
Well, you know, I, of course,
think you're extremely powerful and extremely capable,
so, you know,
if you don you want to embrace
this sometimes gift and sometimes curse,
you have my support.
I appreciate that.
You know a little bit about it.
Mm-hmm.
It's about this moment that, Fearne,
you've returned from the garden, and FCG's been gone for a bit
with Nana Mori.
Oh yeah. Oh god.
Oh yeah, you said something, but that's fine. You were just thinking.
That was the wind.
What do you say, Fearne? Are you ready for these witches to be in their full bitches state?
Yes! Yes, what I've always wanted.
Yes. Full bitch.
Embracing our strengths.
Yes.
No matter how controversial they may be.
Yes. Mm-hmm.
I would love to have a conversation.
Oh! With everybody.
If they would like to hear some things, I have some things that I would like to have a conversation. Who? With everybody. If they would like to hear some things,
they have some things that I would like to say.
I want to hear them.
Yeah.
Wait, should we gather FCG?
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Okay. Can we see Nana Moria
with FCG?
No.
They vanished into the shadows of the tree.
They've been gone for quite a bit.
We'll say for the purpose of narrative brevity,
eventually you hear this scratching, clattering sound
and you watch as a shape seems to move
with unnatural speed along the tree,
and then emerging from around a shattered corner
is Nanamori and FCG.
You have emotional memory of having a conversation.
Some of it is excited, some of it concerned,
but no actual confirmed memory.
It's like someone just snipped
that section out of your timeline.
Oh yeah.
Smiley day to you.
Hey. Hey.
How'd it go?
We were just about to call out for you.
Did you map out our team building exercise?
Oh, we very much did.
I think you're all going to be extremely excited
about what we've plotted together.
I don't quite remember the details,
but I'm sure it's some yoga
and maybe one of those things where you
fucking fake yoga.
You take the balloon and you say,
Oh, and you like, oh.
You blow it to the next person.
Second blow? Second blow.
Second blow.
And maybe just some of them fun,
like you say your name and the same letters,
your name, you say your favorite food or something.
Yeah, like that kind of stuff, right?
No!
The voice growls from the chest.
Oh, fuck.
Oh, oh, she gave you a little snippy snippies.
Maybe.
What are your thoughts on Zip Zap Zop?
There are three key tenets to
reforging the cracks in your bonds. Oh my god, I'm dying.
I don't remember this part.
Communication, trust, and honesty.
Wow, the fuck did y'all do that?
Yeah. How'd you do that?
I remember that.
What?
Okay, we should write that down.
That's it. Yeah, no, that's it.
It's the magic castle.
They say it at the same time, that's important.
Honest, trust, and no, communication.
Communication, trust, and honesty.
Communication.
She's writing those things down.
Trust!
Because they're literally just writing down.
How?
I know.
But it's good that you're not accused.
It's just a four seconds of improv in front of us,
and we're like, oh, god.
So together, me and your
wondrously emotionally available companion
have plotted a series of unique scavenger hunts
and team-building exercises to help get you all back
as a strong team
to tackle your responsibilities ahead.
Is that now?
I was not excited, but now I am.
I don't remember.
Weafern was about to tell us something.
We're not starting now.
Whenever you're ready,
just let me know.
Okay, okay, okay.
I'll get a drink.
Okay.
Can we say we took a short rest
while some of these conversations were happening?
Yeah, sure.
Beautiful.
Sure.
I took all that psych damage.
I'm all fucked up.
That's true.
Maybe it'd be good for Nana to hear this, too.
It doesn't feel very good.
She still saunders off to the tiki bar
and is like, you can hear as she's walking,
her neck is craning a little bit back into the bush.
Back?
To listen in.
What did you want to say?
All right, so I talked to Birdie,
and she told me that Ollie's not my dad.
Which, you know,
there was something weird going on there, we knew.
Then she told me that
it's somebody named
Zapruder.
Hold on.
Zapruder?
Zapruder?
We found Zapruder.
Zapruder?
Zapruder?
Yes, that's why I'm sorry.
I just didn't know.
The sorrow?
Zathuda, the Sorrowlord.
So, like I thought, I am royalty.
Wait, that was your takeaway?
That was my takeaway.
That's the guy we fought.
Yeah.
That's the guy that chased us and caught Sam.
The weird dragon?
Hmm?
The one who rode on the big dragon?
Yeah.
I'm trying to remember, what powers did he exhibit?
He was able to ride a dragon.
Dragon rider. Sure, sure, dragon rider.
That was the main.
But was he throwing balls of fire or anything?
Or was he? The thing is,
Saminar is the head of the Unsealing Corps.
Oh, but he robs for help.
Yes. Oh, he's not the leader, okay.
And Saminar, I believe,
is a part of the Arcana Panesophical?
No, I think the Arcana Panesophical identified him.
Yes, they identified.
They identified him, I bet.
Yeah.
Allura is an Arcana Panesophical.
I was reading a summary of what was going on.
So he's not a nice guy.
A very powerful not nice guy.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know him.
Just because his name is Sorrowlord.
Yeah, I mean, maybe he's just sad.
Maybe he's just a sad,
really evil guy. I feel like the last two weeks
is a very good reason to make some mild assumptions.
I'm just trying to learn things right now.
Don't forget, we also saw him conspiring with Otohan.
Yeah.
And they mentioned something about a mission?
Oh my gosh. Yes.
It was. Your dad probably knows my mom.
What if they're best friends?
What if they're dating?
Oh my god.
Oh my god.
What if we're like stepsisters? Could you imagine
we're like stepsisters?
Oh my god, I love this, actually.
I'm so excited.
This is amazing.
Aw.
We may have to kill them.
Oh, well.
Well.
Yeah, that's so true.
That is...
Bye!
It's on the likelier end of things.
Okay, so your dad is a Sarlord of the Unseelie Court,
and he was on a mission on a dragon
to try and do something to us
to end your bloodline for the court.
Dana?
Well, we were sneaking into that fort, right?
So what I recall from my photographic memory.
It's a photograph.
Okay. It's a really good drawing.
They were like, oh, oh, he was like, Seminar?
Saminar. Saminar.
Saminas. He was the head of the NC.
He was a turtleneck.
He sits at the end of his patience,
and they wish to remove Ludinus from their plan.
Oh.
Yeah, he was getting impatient with Ludinus.
Impatient with Ludinus, and then Otohon,
Ludinus, Ludinus, Ludinus.
Ludinus was a face.
Ludinus was a face.
Ludinus, Ludinus, Ludinus.
Otohon was then like,
was like, oh, and when you step from the Moonweaver,
you will be forgiven?
When the Moonweaver is removed.
You will be forgiven.
Otohan was saying, when we pull down the Moonweaver,
then, right?
Then you will be forgiven, meaning Shadow,
sorry, Sorrowlord will be forgiven?
Maybe.
No, he was like, I think.
I'm trying to remember.
Sorrowlord hates the Moonweaver.
It's been so long.
It read like, if once Ludinus completes his mission,
the Moonweaver is pulled down as the first of the gods.
Yes.
Then Samanar will be pleased,
but until that happens, he's pissed.
So the Unseelie Court hates the Moonweaver.
Yes. At least.
And so does the Sorrowlord.
Yes.
At the behest of.
They're taking it as specifically the Moonweaver.
They hate the Moonweaver,
and that's why they're in this team.
They hate the Moonweaver, we hate him.
They hate the Moonweaver, we hate him.
But they don't care for lewdness,
they just want the Moonweaver dead.
Gone. Yes.
Or all the gods.
And the Sorrowlord was like,
ooh, he's mad at me, and Otohan,
yes, what Chet said, Otohan was like.
We don't know anything about Salmonar.
Salmon, Salmon. Salmonar.
Salmonar.
We don't know much about him, right?
Ooh, Allura might. Mm- right? Ooh, Allura might.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, Allura might.
Also, I have written down
that there was a rainbow void dog,
and I wrote a quote.
Yeah, the rainbow void dog
was the one with the void face that cut you in.
So the void face, yes.
And then there was invisibility you may have,
but you can't hide from the Aeroomad? Yeah, that's a...
Oh, the Aromad is, I think, a...
It was a nursery rhyme.
The duck.
It was about the ducks.
Yeah.
Okay, that was, sorry.
Brain.
Okay.
Are your memories color-coded?
Yes, they are.
That's how I keep everything in check.
All right, cool.
Well, you know what?
This also, I feel like, puts into perspective
the whole dusk, aka you,
coming and hunting us down thing, too.
Yes, it does.
Yes, it does.
That's right.
That was a thing.
Hey, Nana.
She finishes this long slurping sound
as the head looks away, and you realize the slurping is from the lower head.
Oh.
Yes.
So I talked with Birdie.
I go, cheers, then.
So now you know. Yes, I do.
He was trying to kill you the last time we were here.
Well, I was trying to protect you.
Did he know?
Oh, I assume he does.
It's not the first time he's come for you.
Yeah, he was there when you were born.
Yeah.
He knows not to step into my realm.
That's why your parents brought you here.
One of the few places you're truly safe
from Zathudas' clutches.
You see, we're not friends.
What does he, what does he, what does he want to do with me?
Who knows?
But I like you, and you're mine,
so he can't have you.
Okay.
I'm okay with that.
Good.
So talk to me about Samanar.
What's the deal with Samanar? Oh, he's just a bit of a pissant, really.
Okay.
He's a strange one, works for the Potentant.
Oh, no, Samanar, not Zathura.
Sorry, I didn't get to the...
I mean, you can tell me about Zathura as well. Seminar is one of the five major archfey of the Fey.
Keeper of the Sunshadow, master of the Unseelie Court. They are a moody entity,
a rare sight out amongst the rest of the realms.
They are the watcher of the twilight.
They are the stiller of violent emotions.
They are a bit of a prick.
Hmm.
What's the sun shadow?
They just, the keeper of the sun shadow?
What does that mean?
Master of the sun shadow, keeper of the core.
Keeper of the sun's shadow. Keeper of the Core. Keeper of the Sun's Shadow.
Keeper of the Sunshadow, Master of the Unsealing Core.
Correct. Right.
They are the master of the realm
where the shadow perpetually falls.
It's a title.
They love titles, these archfey.
So many titles, they collect them like rotten fruit.
Where does the sun perpetually fall? titles, they collect them like rotten fruit.
Where does the sun perfectually fall? It's rotten fruit. I don't know.
Deep, that's the same thing.
All right.
And the dad.
Zathuda.
Zathuda.
What do we know about him?
Is he magical?
Does he have powers?
Where's he come from?
Is he a fae?
He is a very powerful fae
underneath the potentiate Saminar themself.
He's a brutal warlord,
one who loves poetry and finds poetry in violence.
Oh.
Oh, he's got a sensitive side.
Does he have any other kids?
Do you have any other half-brothers or half-sisters?
Oh no.
I do not believe he has bred beyond you,
which is why he's been so annoyed
that he couldn't step foot in my forest.
He knows better.
Would he want to kidnap her,
or hang out with her, or take her to a park?
Yeah, what would he want to use her for?
I can only assume it might have something to do
with this whole Red Moon mess.
But he is well-respected.
He is broadly feared by those who care.
He is known to be, by some standards, incredibly darkly handsome, which is why her
mother was taken by him, and it looks like someone got his good looks as well.
He is the keeper of Dusk Hunger, the Blade of the Black Flame.
Oh shit, say it again, Matt Mercer. Talk to me. Dusk Hunger, the Blade of the Black Flame. Oh shit, say it again, Matt Mercer.
Talk to me. Dusk Hunger?
Dusk Hunger, the Blade of the Black Flame.
What? That's awesome.
We need that blade.
The Blade of the Black Flame.
The Dusk Hunger.
You need that sword!
What a fucking dream. What am I going to do with this sword?
I don't know!
You need to hold it. I'm going to try it for a sword.
You need to hold it and look cool while you do it.
Because you're firing.
Oh my god.
What if it makes you a fire alarm button?
So that means you do, okay, Nianna.
Yes?
If she was extra, extra powerful,
that would be good, right?
I would be extremely excited.
I mean, it would be fucking amazing.
Hold on.
Should we show Nanna the picture?
Yeah. Oh.
You think we should?
Nanna's the best, as far as I remember.
She's not going to take it.
Yeah.
If you trust her.
Yeah, I think I will.
But I should, well, I should take her down. If you trust her. Yeah, I think I will. But I should walk away.
I'm going to just go maybe.
Not too far!
I won't. I'll just go to the corner
and just stare in the corner.
My Blair Witch Guide?
Yes, for Blair Witch, I'm Blair Witch Ingrid.
That's awesome.
I'm just kidding.
I found this thing
that That's awesome. Found this thing that Ash over here took it in.
Then I guess spit it out.
That's new. I hadn't noticed. SAM and LAURA laugh.
Her whole fingers just wrap around your hand and curl across hers.
Fascinating.
Thank you.
Yeah, their body rejected it.
It was a little too much.
So they sharded it out.
That does happen with powerful magic sometimes.
They don't tell you that in the upper lyceums.
So, can't pull it out.
You ready?
Don't reach for it.
It'll burn you.
How can I? I'll mage hand that shit.
Okay.
A spark arises out, the second form spark,
similar in visage, but shape is fresher,
less fractured and unique.
As soon as it comes out and floats in the air,
the dark shape within her sockets,
that bead of light that represents her eyes,
suddenly begins to widen.
That energy fills, like that awe begins to widen. That energy fills,
that awe begins to wash over her face
as her neck slowly cranes in its direction.
My goodness.
What have you found?
Oh, it also smells like you.
Oh.
It's the Shard of K'mort.
Kinda.
The Emperor's.
Oh, no, it's the Shard of Reshan, isn't it?
Excuse me, Reshan the Emperor.
And Ashton.
It's apparently the Shard of K'mort.
Hmm.
Apparently.
So here we stand between two remnants,
vestigial artifacts of a war long lost.
How fascinating.
That explains you.
Is this...
Is there a purpose to this?
Yeah.
Do you need me to keep it safe?
No!
No, we were, no, it's, we're supposed to suck it in.
We have a contraption. Snug about, snug about?
Yeah. A contraption?
Yeah.
Have you ever seen something like this, actually?
Can we pull it out? Because I feel like...
Oh yeah, you're right.
As you're doing this, in the background,
you see Allura with her drink on,
just looking nervous with each reveal.
I'm again.
I cannot say I've seen something like this,
but I can take a guess at its purpose,
given the context of our conversation.
Interesting.
I believe Ludinus destroyed a great many
powerful Fabians with that.
Hungry goes the bastards of time.
Poetry.
I know it well. Poetry.
I know it well.
Well, congratulations on digging up
aspects of the past.
I imagine with the right applications, these could be quite helpful.
But these also will put a target on your back
the longer you carry it.
Hmm.
I'm in the corner.
Sure, for sure.
Well, it's powerful the longer we carry it,
the longer before we use it.
You tell me.
Yeah, right.
Well, we just wanted you to check it out.
Might I have a look?
Yeah, she's not going to take it.
Careful. I'll float in.
Her long hands reach out and clasp it,
and you watch the flames spark
and swirl through her fingers.
She seems unbothered by the extreme heat.
You can hear the burn and crackle of skin across it.
He pulls it in and looks at it.
You can see the light that emanates from it alights her face.
Where you can see the sunken sockets, where you assume the eyes are sunken in,
there's no eyes.
In fact, when the light from the crystal fills it in,
you can just see it's just empty socket.
Like those void doggies?
More or less.
But you don't even see the source of that light.
That light seems to go away.
It just looks like it's shining like a torchlight
on the inside of empty nothing.
So not a bowl of flesh.
She just holds it in.
Her tongue reaches out and crests and.
In your head, you hear,
are you sure she's not going to eat it?
No.
You just see her pouring over it, like a child pouring over a new toy.
She turns it about and smells it and looks into it.
There's an intoxication across her face
as she inspects every square inch of it.
You can hear a voice inside her chest go,
Let me see.
She's like, wait, I'm not done.
So sad.
We have a lot to do today, man, all right?
We're hoping to give it to Fearne.
Fearne.
See.
A bit of the old world.
Old world? What do you mean?
I said it's tight and it's not the oldest book.
This is rare, Fearne.
This is rare indeed.
Oh no.
You say there's a part inside you as well?
Yes, they did not get along well.
Maybe one day I'll get to look at that, too.
I'd be okay with that.
So, what we were thinking,
that is going to go into the harness
and then into one of us.
He exploded because he tried to take both of them.
That explains the arm.
Yes.
We were maybe thinking of having me do it,
but I'm a little nervous about the dark side situation.
I can imagine, especially after that.
Do you think, knowing what you're doing
about your father now, do you think that?
Maybe that's a bad idea.
Well, no, I mean, maybe it's a good thing.
Does her father have any sort of primordial anything?
The Fey are removed from the primordial structure.
We, those are opposite ends of the magical ancients.
So there's nothing specifically in her bloodline
that would make that bad?
This is literally the line of thinking
that got me in trouble.
I swear I'm going to shut up about it eventually.
I'm just pointing it out.
Only one way to find out.
Oh boy, that's what he said.
Damn.
Nano, we really need that back.
I'm sure nobody watches your house,
but just in case eyes are looking.
Yeah, there you go. Ah. Thanks.
You look in the back.
Now you focus back behind her.
Allura's drink is gone and Allura is just like this.
Yeah, yeah, like.
Her hands slowly go down to her sides.
Allura.
Yes?
Are you familiar with any of these people
that we're talking about?
I'm familiar with them in an academic sense
and some loose, distant encounters
with some of their people, not directly. and some loose, distant encounters
with some of their people, not directly. I try not to go to the Fey Realm as often as possible.
This whole place defies logic,
and I prefer to live in a world of logic.
Yes, because I've found so much logic
on the Material Plane, just so much.
You all are so normal, and everything goes as planned.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in an offensive way.
It's fine.
It's just a personal comfort.
Is there any reason why the Unseelie Corps
would have beef with the Moonweaver or want them removed?
I mean, there are a multitude of possibilities.
Perhaps in a realm like this,
in which the Moonweaver has quite a strong bit of influence,
it's possible that a power vacuum would allow them to ascend,
especially if it's under their own intentional design
to upset the balance between the courts.
See, some of these spring chickens,
they don't know as much about the Moonweavers.
So maybe you could fill them in
on what the Moonweavers' influence is in the Fey Realm.
See, and then Nenamori goes,
Well, if we're going to take to our event soon,
I'll go ahead and start making some tea.
In the meantime, Allura
kind of closes up with the rest of you.
So the Moonweaver is the
mostly good aligned, if a bit chaotic in her influences,
deity of moonlight and the autumn season.
She's the patron of illusions, misdirection,
associated with the lunar tides,
and tied very strongly with the representation of Catha.
Catha, of which, while the moon is predominantly
in Exandrian's realm, Catha does,
its light does spread into this realm
through the Moonweaver's connection,
which is why Ruidus is not really connected
to the Feyrealm until recent times.
She overlooks things in secrecy, not really connected to the Fey Realm until recent times.
She overlooks things in secrecy and trickery and is the patron of hidden trysts.
And it's very much considered to be
a very positive entity for those who
exist a bit outside the realms of civilization.
She is
worshipped by a number of fey in the realm,
and there are some even in the Unseelie Court.
Really? It took you that long?
It's like I'm in the middle of concentrating on a scene.
No, carry on.
There are many who worship her here,
predominantly in the Seelie Court
and some within the Unseelie, though privately.
The Unseelie's intent to give in to the violent
and selfish impulses to a degree of harm,
more so than the Seelie.
The Seelie are not completely bereft of those impulses,
but they're two sides to a similar coin, or a spectrum, you could say.
And in doing so, I imagine the Moonweaver has quite a few enemies. So that would make sense,
though up until recent events, who would think they could ever find some path to step up to one of
the Primes? so everything's a bit
topsy-turvy, isn't it? So a power vacuum.
Like more control, more power up for grabs.
I mean, that's the simplest answer.
There may be more secret reasons I'm unaware of.
The Faerom is not my specialty.
Can the Archfays or the Seelie Corps
move back in between the Fey Realm
and the Material Plane as they choose?
The most powerful ones usually can.
There are a number of permanent Fey gates
that combine or connect the two realms.
There are powerful Archfey's basically
protect and oversee those boundaries. There are powerful archfades basically protect
and oversee those boundaries.
The leaders of both courts often work together
as much as they despise each other.
It's a complicated political system.
To essentially guide who can
and cannot pass through those gates.
If they choose to not want you to go,
likely you can't, unless you can find some sort of
roundabout means of escape.
So drawing their attention
can often lead to complications.
There's got to be some kind of a
key in you or something.
I wonder.
Wait, so you can't leave the court?
You have to, the gate, what did you say?
I'm sorry.
If the court doesn't want you to leave,
then you won't be able to use
any of the gates they've built.
Well, how did Brody and Olly get out?
They apparently had managed to
pull in a few favors,
and she looks over in the direction of Nianna Mowry.
There are some entities here
that muck up that balance,
which is why they aren't really liked by either side.
And your grandmother is quite a peach.
Is Nottna around in this moment?
She's wandered off and is still
in the far end of the chamber.
Can I ask you, Lady Allura,
because I've only learned about Nottna from Fearne.
Nottna.
What do you know about the Morrigan?
Nottna.
Well, what all I know is a series of stories
in folklore, really.
She's known by some to be a stalker of dreams,
a voyeur of insecurity.
She is a promiser of many things and a robber of others.
There are stories of her being an entity for balance. There are others that say she is a reaper of sadness.
Certainly, stories are based in the perspectives of those who've had dealings with such entities as hers,
and that can definitely color how history is written.
But needless to say, she is largely considered
in academic circles an extremely dubious and dangerous entity
in the sense that
there are a few that can even attempt
to ascertain her true intent or nature.
And I will say, this house is a bit homier than I expected,
and outside of her
intense presence, I've been enjoying her hospitality, and I'm a bit
surprised at some facets of her lifestyle. That all being said, I've walked in other realms that were inviting, yet
held sinister machinations beneath the surface, so please do not take offense if I am perpetually on
my back foot.
Insight check.
Yeah, make an insight check.
Natural 20.
Whoa! Natural 20. How much sugarcoating just went down? How much, oh god, compared to I am in the realm of
someone who is going to, I don't know, Ursula to the, not the good witch of the southeast, but the reasonable witch of the southeast.
Southeast.
Just like, she's fine, I guess.
You know, I went for it.
Yeah. What's your total there?
21.
21. Ooh!
Oh!
Oh! Ooh, whisperer.
There's teas and coffees of various.
They're wafting up and it smells so good.
Various characters of the Mighty Nein.
He smells so gooey again.
Just add water.
Hot water.
Add to the bag.
I don't think that's right.
Shake.
Yeah, we should make it sachets.
It's not real.
It's sachet.
Y'all, me and Travis have boxes of samples.
And the slight static shock.
And we're back. That was great.
That was really nice.
The best kiss is getting a little spark.
Just whoop!
Whoop, yeah. A little static shock.
Yeah. Just a little pop.
It's that time of year.
Whenever I tongue someone's ear, it just.
Oh, I know it.
A little wibbly.
Well, all that said,
this should be quite an interesting scavenger hunt.
Yeah. Yes.
I am getting excited. Look how excited FCG is. This should be quite an interesting scavenger hunt. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
I am getting excited.
Look how excited MCG is.
Yeah, yeah.
Pssst!
It's very interesting, I haven't been there.
I've never seen you do that.
Like a monster or something.
Indeed.
And you smell in the air, there's this fruity aroma
that's beginning to fill the space.
And you watch as a number of critters
are beginning to emerge from the branches.
You see insects and fireflies
and little marsupial-like creatures
with multiple arms are crawling out of the shadows
and all gathering in the main living room chamber
where Nene is currently hunched over
what looks like a tea kettle
that's currently about to boil over.
You can hear the whistle beginning to widen louder
and louder and louder before her voice goes,
Ah, it seems it's time for tea.
Come, sit, and we'll discuss your
therapeutic sessions.
Laudna is so excited, she's still facing the corner,
but her head is turned 180 degrees.
You're like,
Oh no!
Nour!
Nour!
You all gather?
Yes.
We gather.
Furniture.
You look over in the room and there's furniture here
that wasn't there last time you looked.
There's a series of benches and chairs
that are arranged around the central table.
You didn't hear anything shift, they're just there.
You're like, okay.
I didn't have it here.
She turns around and sets down this long platter of,
it looks almost like a painted porcelain, with all manner of
unique winding shapes. You watch as she moves, the light seems to catch it. It's almost like the
shapes shift as she steps with it and sets it down. There are a number of these tea cups set
around, and she begins to pour it in. The smell is almost like a beautiful passion fruit sweet, fruity tea. She pours into the different cups.
Now, friends,
three items have been chosen for this.
At the end of each of these endeavors,
one of these items could be yours for my collection.
Oh god, that was much fun. One of these items could be yours
from my collection. Oh god, that was magical.
From Nanna's collection.
Wow, that's exciting.
Do you even know how much stuff is in there?
I did, but she made me forget.
Succeed.
And not only have you grown stronger
as friends and compatriots,
but you get to claim my item.
Fail, and you know what you have to work on.
Please, drink up.
Oh, man, I don't typically drink beverages.
Will this still work? Drink it.
It will work? Okay.
I'll pour it down my throat, pass it.
You hear it splash on the inside like a canteen.
This is the first step.
The first of it. All of us are drinking.
Trust, trust, trust.
It's a very busy item to acquire.
Who you see.
I've reached out and spoken with the various spirits
of the surrounding spaces, and they've agreed to
adjust things to meet our requirements.
So these will be uniquely tailored to meet our requirements.
So these will be uniquely tailored to what you need,
as we discussed.
Just like you talked about.
I think so.
Good.
Are we all ready for the first endeavor?
Ready as we'll ever be.
Come on.
Come on.
We're all about communication.
Communication.
So are these in order?
Or are we really?
Am I overthinking it?
We're going to figure this out together.
Okay.
Bells Hells.
Which would you like?
Oh.
First.
Communication, trust, or honesty?
Oh boy.
It feels like we should work up to trust.
So maybe we start with honesty.
Leads to communication.
Yeah, let's start with honesty.
I feel like we can tell the truth.
Yes!
But alphabetically. My fingers are moving in a really weird way.
Whoops.
All right, so honesty.
Very well.
She puts her hands out and breathes in heavy,
and the secondary mouth in her chest opens up,
and as it does, smoke billows forth and fills the room around you.
It swirls around you.
You hear Allura go,
Um, wait, what's going?
The smoke fills the entire vicinity of the chamber.
The temperature drops suddenly,
and as the smoke, just as quickly as it swirled around you,
begins to subside, you feel a breeze catching your skin.
As it fades, you're no longer inside the ligament manor.
Instead, now you stand in the dense thickness
of a fey jungle, surrounded by all manner of beautiful
purple and red trees that intertwine and twist.
You can see crystals growing like the sap
had slowly dripped and formed into these light sacks
that just cause these little bursts of glowing color
throughout the boughs above.
You look above at the beauty and look down
just as you are at the precipice of a chasm.
You look down and this sheer cliff that the precipice of a chasm. You look down and this sheer cliff
that goes off hundreds of feet down below,
there is not enough light to even see
where it stops in the bottom,
but you see there are bits of rock shelves
that barely peek out from underneath.
There is a whole cluster of ruin
or broken stone that is barely lit at its peak.
Who knows how ragged and dangerous
the base of this chasm is?
Mori.
Would Mori kill us?
No. No.
I think she might.
No, she would not.
She puts her hands out
and gathers you all into a huddle.
Reaches into the side of her outfit and procures this brass monocle
with a deep Viridian lens in the center. Not unlike the lens that she gave you before you left.
That Ashton Bro foreshadowing.
Like one of nine, but yeah.
This, my friends,
is the first item.
The Monocle of True Essence.
It'll be your job to find this.
And she throws it
into the ravine.
No, no!
It just disappears into the darkness below.
You didn't even see where it lands.
She goes, Because it broke!
You all must work together to find it.
The chasm is unclimbable,
but it listens.
And as our agreement, it only listens to honesty.
Huh?
Speak of your secrets.
Speak of your truth about each other.
Reveal something about yourself.
And land may show you a path forward.
She steps back and snaps her fingers
and suddenly this sphere of magic
just engulfs all of you like a bubble.
You all catch yourself sliding inside for a minute.
Now off with you.
She blows and it goes off the edge.
Oh, what?
Down into the chasm.
And we're going to go to break.
Oh!
What is your build?
What is your build?
We're falling?
You're falling. We're falling
and we have to yell truths out
in order to save our orbs? You're in this
arcane bubble as you're plummeting down
into it. Oh my gosh. It's like a resilience period.
Yeah. Will the bubble just protect us?
Can we just ride this? We'll find out.
We'll find out. So we'll
be back here in a few minutes. We'll see you after the break.
Amazing. Oh man.
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So, you are plummeting in an arcane sphere,
down into a massive chasm.
You watch as the shadow and darkness begins to come closer and closer,
and you begin to see the outlines of numerous platforms,
like broken bits of stone.
You can see overgrown, heavy roots,
and bits of long dead trees that have since fallen over and
shattered beneath. It is an entire chasm floor of decay, roots, and overgrown greenery. As you
hit it, all of you slam one side into it. As it bounces you about ten feet in the air, and then you all impact under the soft, somewhat mucky
bottom floor of this chasm. You're covered in slime and decay residue. You can smell immediately
the strong whiff of that heavy bog-like stench.
But looking around you, you can see the walls of the chasm
are sheer up on each side before you can see
the faint bit of twilight in the sky,
the cloudy sky above.
Occasionally you see a little flash
of a bluish lightning to the cloud,
which denotes a storm may be coming.
Oh. We got to get out of here, right? We got to find the thing. We a storm may be coming. Oh.
We got to get out of here, right?
We got to find the thing.
We got to find the monocle.
Don't you have an ability to find an object?
I do have locate objects, yes.
Should I?
I hope that was an illusion.
Invoke it.
Oh, my sword held.
Oh.
All right.
Oh, that's a bruise.
Well, first of all, she dropped it.
Might it be around here on the ground with us?
I'm going to start looking for it.
How big is the space that we're in?
Huge?
From side to side, it looks like it's about maybe
anywhere from 100 to 150 feet wide in certain places.
And the climb up is about 300 feet.
It's like a chasm that cracked through
and has since been completely overgrown.
You can see there's just heavy, thick vines and moss
that just covered the rock to the point
where you can only see bits of the stone poking through.
I know it's bog-stinchy in here,
but can I use my nose to just smell
any kind of other life forms or anything
that might be in the muck or around us or hiding?
Sure, go ahead and make a perception check for me.
Okay.
Six.
Six.
Your entire sinuses are filled with this muck.
Oh!
It has wrecked your ability to smell
anything but that at the moment.
I need some clarity.
I imagine she would make it to where
we can't just cast Fly and get on out of here.
No. Maybe.
Well, we've got to find the thing.
What does this have to do with honesty?
She said that the canyon, it reacts to truths
and it will terraform, so we can get ourselves out of here.
Somebody say something true.
I've never told anyone this before,
but I enjoy eating silver more than copper.
Oh, but why didn't you say something before, FCG?
You watch as one of the nearby ruins of stone
climbs about 15 feet.
Hey, look at this easy!
All right, all right.
I'm going to look for the little limbs.
Yeah, let's find that limb.
How big a fall was that?
So that thing went up 15 or 20 feet?
A couple hundred feet. A couple hundred feet, and we just gained 15. Yeah. From that tree. Yeah, let's find that lens. How big a fall was that? So that thing went up 15 or 20 feet? A couple hundred feet.
A couple hundred feet and we just gained 15.
Yeah.
From that truth.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
So a lot of truth.
But first we should find the-
The bigger the truth, the bigger the spike.
Yes.
The bigger the ladder.
Yeah.
I mean, I really think that this is a great opportunity
for all of us to really get to know each other.
After all, I came up with this, I think.
Yeah, all right, all right.
Okay. Do you see the lance?
Oh, should I do the thing?
Can we look, I'm going to look around for the lance, too.
Okay, make an investigation check.
Hey, what are you guys doing? Guidance.
Oh, thanks. I'm not going to cast it yet.
I want to see where this goes.
Okay.
I don't have a very good perception.
It's a perception or investigation?
Guidance.
This is an investigation
to look from the space around you.
Or, actually, no, this would be perception,
because you're just looking at an area.
Sorry.
It would have been so much better if it was 20.
20, so you're inspecting the vicinity around you.
Ow! Fuck you!
You feel pretty confident that in the immediate vicinity,
it is probably not nearby.
I don't see it.
Plus, if it's sludgy,
it might be right under the surface, right?
Oh gosh.
I'm going to get on my hands and knees
and just start trying to feel around, see if anything
metallic.
That would be an investigation check.
Okay, that's fine.
I do have the spell, but maybe part of us working together is working together, right? So I won't
cast it quite yet.
Maybe if we tell enough truths, it will be pushed up out of the muck.
That seems like something I want've come up with, sure.
Well, it's called the Monocle of True Essence,
so maybe if we expose our true essences.
so maybe if we expose our true essences.
All right.
Oh, you got a confession?
Yeah.
I am genuinely scared to
meet my mom again.
Oh.
The muck bubbles a bit nearby,
and you see on the wall,
on what would be the side closest to where Nannamori was,
you watch as a bunch of the moss browns and falls away,
and where it did, rocks emerge that create these stone steps
that begin to climb the stone wall for about 30 feet up.
Hey.
That's pretty great.
This is going to be a piece of cake.
Yeah, easy peasy.
It is well known that wood is better than metal.
That's not a truth, that's an opinion.
Have you never had to?
Just wait for it, you'll see.
You feel around inside the nearby muck
with your investigation check.
Yeah, thank you.
You find something that's not quite the monocle,
but it definitely has a smooth and sturdy surface to it.
You feel a pointed edge to it.
Uh-oh.
You yank a little bit and you see
what looks to be a skull,
like the front of some sort of creature's skull emerge.
The other thing you notice is your stone arm
is covered in leeches.
Oh! Oh.
And they are currently just suffering
and finding no purchase against your volcanic arm.
I'm going to go over to the rock
that I lifted out of the mud and stand on it.
Okay.
This is definitely a safety tip right here.
It's about now, around the time
that you said your statement,
you all began to feel the strange stinging around your legs
and you all begin to look down and notice
that these leeches have begun to now.
Leeches come out.
Oh, look.
We've just been here for too long.
It's not me.
No, no, no.
You said that, and now we're getting eaten by leeches.
I said that when we started getting eaten by leeches.
All of you take three points of piercing damage.
Orym leaps up onto a rock
and looks down the front of his leather pants.
Oh no.
Is it okay?
For now. Okay.
I don't know if I caught okay, but.
Somebody say something real.
Deep down inside, both Delilah and I put the shard.
You want the shard?
She wants the shard.
What's the last gift doing?
The staircase that had emerged from the stone,
you watch as the outside of the wall juts outward
and forms a bridge that seems to shoot about 30 feet out,
like an upward angle that emerges out into the open space, about maybe 65 feet up from the ground. You
see from there, both is an advanced climb, but also a vantage point.
Shit, Lotta.
We can't get there from there, right?
You can if you walk over that way.
I don't want it. Fearne should have it, but I don't know anymore what's my opinion or desires or feelings or hers.
I love Laudna deeply.
But I'm disgusted at the thought of Delilah
looking at us all the time.
Oh.
You, with these discussions here. This is just juicy. The these discussions here.
This is just juicy.
The tea is flowing.
You watch as many of the crumbled ruins
that have sunk into the muck around you
begin to rise up,
and it's almost like a long-forgotten crumbled city
begins to push up out of the mud
in the bottom of this chasm.
You can see all these partially destroyed
dome-like domiciles and toppled temple-like structures
partially emerge from the muck as it slides off.
And there's heavy bits of old roots
and dead vegetation just clumped
and sliding off the edge.
Most of these rising about maybe 10 or 15 feet off.
Not much of a bit of a perspective,
but it is changing the landscape
inside the chasm around you.
I'm super lonely all the time, especially at night.
Does it matter if I'm bunking with one of you guys?
Does anyone have a happy truth?
Mine were pretty bad.
Sometimes I pity some of you
because you have beating hearts and opportunities
and you don't do enough with them.
That's like a jig in the forest!
If I have a truth that's also an opinion,
I don't know about that one.
There are layers to that.
We're still in the game, right?
I know, it's just, Jenny, you have so much love to give,
and it doesn't seem like you're interested in anything,
other than wood.
There's people out there who you can love,
and experiences you could share
with someone else, but all you care about is wood.
You watch as more of the ruins begin to emerge and stone platformers begin to sprout out from parts
of the ruin, almost getting close to connecting to the others. Parts of this ruin are almost half
forming or reaching to form bridges between them.
Look for the land. I'm them. Look for the land!
I'm going to look for the land.
I'm going to go up to that bridge that was the vantage point that was made with my truce.
You have to get through the muck to the far end of the wall that's nearest to where you fell in.
You can see there's that stone staircase that begins to climb up the side of the cliff face
that leads into the platform that juts outward about 60 feet up.
So you go ahead and get onto the steps. It's a little precarious, but you step up along the edge until eventually the steps come to an end, and then that jutting platform. It has no railing,
it's just a four to five foot wide stone bridge that just juts out at the side. It goes on for about 50 or so feet outward, but at
an angle, it ends at about a 60-foot vantage point. You stand up at the very top of it and you're
having to slowly scoot, because if you fall, you tumble the whole way. You carefully begin making
your way towards the edge. Go ahead and make either an athletics or an acrobatics check to keep
your balance to the edge of this vantage point.
I've always laughed it off, but I guess I do wonder if Chetney is my dad.
I roll a 19 for a 21. You get to the very edge, and it's a decent vantage point.
And then suddenly it extends another 30 or so feet
somewhere, now you're about 85 feet above the center,
like right over the center, and you have a pretty good view
of everything beneath you, and you can see
all these emerging ruins and crumbled bits
of some ancient face city that was swallowed
by this chasm at odd angles.
You can see there's muck and brush
and trees and bushes, and it's just this
merging mass of old, forgotten space.
The rest of you are still here in the bottom.
Are there leeches still, or are we okay?
You pulled the leeches off of you,
but no one said anything that's...
I would have started, oh.
Shit.
Oh, fuck it.
There's personal truths
that are presented as personal truths,
or there's things that are presented as absolute truths
that are personal truths.
And you need to be careful
about what you say in this space here.
I am the reason that the
Jiana Hexum robbery went fucking wrong,
and the reason why I got thrown out of a fucking window.
You watch as some of the nearby fauna and ferns
that have grown on some of these structures
begin to brown and crumble away.
And as it does, it begins to reveal the stone beneath,
and you can see there are bones left on
there. You can see there are broken statues and sculptures. You can see that there's remnants of a
culture that are just beginning to emerge. The heavy overgrowth that obscured most of these ruins
is starting to fall away.
Wait, Ashton, is that why you feel like you deserve to have the nobodies leave you?
For that one? Yeah. We should probably keep moving right now.
Is that why you think we should leave you?
I've had a long life, and that was just one very loud day, and there has been a series of
them. So... Any le. So any leeches?
Or him.
I think that's just a...
Laudna's just,.
I've done one! Somebody else, for god's sakes!
There is this long, jutted, thin pillar, like a spike that juts out of the side of the cliffside that Laudna's just
clinging onto the edge, overlooking everything.
The rest of you are still on the floor.
I'm going to make a perception check for me.
And this lens better be amazing.
I'll hold on to you if you fall.
Okay.
Come on.
Oof, bad.
Bad.
Eight.
At the moment, you see nothing
that even remotely resembles the monocle
that was tossed down here.
I'm going to turn on my lights, cast Light.
Does Light work? Does the spell work?
The spell seems to go off Light.
Light kind of emits you.
I'm shining Light around.
I'm making a look-see, too.
Okay, so you're just glancing around the area?
Are you going anywhere specifically?
All right, so you're searching the muck
in the areas of the raised hill area.
All right, so I need either both of you
to make individual, I'll say,
perception or investigation checks,
or one of you can aid the other in one of them.
I will make a perception check, if that's all right.
I will make a perception check as well.
I'm going to guide myself.
Guide myself, too.
There you go.
Ooh.
Yeah. 20. 20.
20.
Ooh!
Okay.
23 plus nine.
Whoa, 32.
32 for investigation check, okay.
You don't see anything that catches you.
Perception. Perception, okay.
You, standing here on the floor space, glance around,
and you take a moment to really look through
every single bit of brush and muck and structure
that is eye level to you.
And you feel fairly confident
that from your vantage point right now,
it is not visible.
I don't think it's down here.
You either have to be somewhere else in the chasm
or from a different perspective.
From where you're standing right now,
you feel confident that you're not missing it
in the vicinity.
I feel like
we are very ill-equipped for this job
and we're going to fail at saving the world.
Oh. Oh. Honestly, that's probably true. I'm kind of there with you.
A large cluster of vines begins to grow and sprout from the side of the stone wall above
where your spike jutted out, continuing the climb, but it's like a net network of vines that
curl up along the rock, offering a place where you can begin to climb higher.
All right, all right. While wood may be the superior material to metal, I do fear that with the dwindling interest in it, that children will find my toys and thereby myself obsolete
every year that I grow older.
You watch as some of the structures that had emerged
begin to shake and crumble,
and the ruins that had pushed out of the muck
begin to fall, and as they do,
your keen eye begins to point out
of the five or so that fell,
that there is no sign of the monocle you seek upon them,
which is eliminating possibilities.
All right, not there, not there, not there.
Do you want me to give you a boost up into these vines?
Oh, sure.
You can all say I'm not obsolete.
I'll just let it. You're not obsolete, Chet.
Look at you.
Well, you have a lot to offer,
but maybe other than toys,
maybe yourself is the thing that you could offer the world.
Or you know something honest about yourself,
for fuck's sake!
This is a good time to roll those percentile dice.
Yeah.
It's only a short rest.
Oh no!
I give Imogen a boost into the... Well, you're still up on the spike.
I was climbing. I climbed up.
You climbed up as well? Okay.
Up into the vines.
So you get to the steps. You're on the edge of the spike. Are you going down the spike?
Oh, sure.
So the spike juts out of the wall and is up at the chasm, almost like a sideways tower that you're at the tip of.
Got it. And the vines are back in the edge.
The vines grew out of where the steps stopped and where the spike shot out and continues up the
side of the chasm.
Okay.
We just need some more.
Right, no.
There's one way and then there's the vine way.
Yeah, basically Imogen is at the edge of this large stone plank that's overlooking the
entirety of this chasm floor
that you're at, and then the vines took over
where the steps stopped and are climbing
up the side of the hill.
I am sorry.
It was just easier when she wasn't so present, you know?
I didn't expect her to come out and talk to us.
She's just here all the time now?
I know.
I'm sorry.
Orym's going to flea jump upward
and start climbing those vines to see if
any vantage point up high is better
for finding this damn lens.
Okay.
You begin to climb up the vines.
As you get to the top of the steps,
I need you to make an athletics check for me.
Athletics?
Yes. That would be a 17.
A 17, okay. Hand over hand, these are very solid vines. Freshly grown, you can see they give a
little bit, they have a flexibility to them, but they're not slick or covered in the muck. They
magically apparated from the side of the stone. You have a pretty firm grip, and you get about
another 15, 20 feet up. You're almost at the halfway mark up the side of the cliff.
Halfway? We're only halfway up! You guys better start dropping some trills! they're 15, 20 feet up, and so you're almost at the halfway mark of the side of the cliff, currently.
We're only halfway up.
You guys better start dropping some trills.
Okay, okay.
It's time for some What the Fuck is Up With That.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right, are we ready?
No.
Yeah.
So I think it's something buried deep down
in my circuitry, but every time I hurt or kill something,
it feels really good.
It makes me relax a little bit
and some of my stress goes away.
Wow.
You watch three more of the ruined structures crumble
and are swallowed by the muck below.
Fearne still keeping a ground-level eye
and you, just at a cursory glance from above,
you don't see any possible glint or sign
of the object you seek, which reduces it now
to 10 structures that currently stand amongst the muck.
FCG, that's great.
We should go hunting sometime.
No, I want to.
We can deal live a bunch of stuff.
Oh no, but I'm supposed to be a healer.
I'm supposed to heal, not hurt.
Yeah, sometimes you got to take to give.
Maybe.
I know we're supposed to save the gods,
but I've tried talking to them my whole life
and none of them will ever respond.
I think I'm tainted.
I don't know if I want to save gods that don't love me.
The stone structure that you stand on,
you watch as a secondary piece of it splinters out
and smashes into the opposite side
of the cavern walls.
Now you have the vines climbing up one side,
and now you, the bridge that attaches to the other.
You now have two paths to climb should you choose,
but also this has separate vantage points as well.
Great.
We should go to the other side.
You know we could all rip cord out of this at any moment,
and I don't mean this scavenger hunt,
I mean saving the world, right?
And sometimes I fantasize about it all the time.
Sometimes all the time.
Sometimes all the time.
Feroz's Freudian slip.
You know who that is, right? I do, he's a great robot.
You hear the crack of thunder as a rainstorm
begins to gently pour down from above.
As the rain begins to pour, you watch,
it begins to wash the muck off of the remaining structures.
It does make some of the surfaces more slick.
What it does is it begins to reveal
in the surrounding space of this chasm
a lot more of the bold, ruined structure,
the remaining stone creations and statues
that are partially crumbled.
And you can watch as a lot of the muck
at the base of the chasm begins to almost.
You assume it would fill with water,
but it's almost like a drain's been hit
and the muck's beginning to drain out.
What does it look like?
Do we see details of the city as it drains away?
You can make a perception check,
if you'd like, from your vantage point
to see if you pick up any more detail.
17?
17.
You can see more detail of the structures.
You can see there's window sections.
You can see half of a temple tower that has tumbled over.
You can see what looks like
a child's stone,
like an early craft of a stone child
that's reaching outward, broken off at the elbow.
Its long, fey ears slightly weathered away by time,
but you don't see any sign of the monocle
from your vantage point.
I'm going to stretch out as far as I can,
which is not that far, because I'm a halfling,
from the vines and try to stare down
and see if I can make a perception check.
You're on the opposite side of us?
Yeah, you've met up with...
I reroll the one, and that one's cocked, right?
Yes, sir. So... I reroll the one, and that one's cocked, right? Yes, sir.
So both are rerolled.
18 plus, that is a 29.
29.
Damn.
You look down, you look about,
and as the rain's washing away the scum and the muck,
you see on one of the rooftops,
the fourth building up from see on one of the rooftops, kind of like the fourth building up from where
the rest of the group is still standing
in the base of the chasm,
you see this slight, faint green glint.
Green?
That's what we were looking for.
Oh, I thought it was red.
No, it was green.
The one long ago was green.
Oh no, you have red-green cord blindness.
He said Verden. Verden is green. Oh no, you have red-green cord blindness. He said Verden.
Verden.
Verden is green.
Yeah.
Sorry.
It's green.
It's a brass monocle with a green lens.
Green lens, not a red lens.
Okay, truth on hold for a second.
I think I see it.
That's a truth.
And I don't want it to,
I don't want anything to shift and lose it.
It's there.
Are you going for it, or who's going for it? Can I see it? I don't want anything to shift and lose it. It's there.
Are you going for it, or who's going for it?
Can I see it?
Where you're pointing?
Make a perception check.
It's a lower DC because he spotted it and is showing where it is.
It's about 18.
What's up?
18.
18?
I'd say no.
Unfortunately, even when pointing it out
from your vantage point,
you can't quite make a
visual bead on it from this high up. Both of you climbing to the opposite side of where it is, you're
about 85 or so feet to 100 feet off the ground.
Can you throw something at it, Plum?
Ladies, if I leap, will you give me a soft landing?
Yes.
If magic works.
What if magic doesn't work in here?
No one did anything?
I cast Light. I cast Light.
I cast Light.
Yeah, that's right, you did.
That's a low-level thing.
I guess that's okay.
I throw wind out into the air.
You see the raindrops get tossed aside from him
before the rest of the storm takes it.
Okay, that should do it.
I leap towards that building.
All right.
I wait for him to complete his arc.
His character arc?
Yes.
Yes.
And...
And...
Yeah.
See you next year.
And when he's on his downward curve,
then I'll toss a...
There's this toss up at a point.
Telekinesis him down.
Yeah.
For the width of this chasm,
go ahead and roll an athletics or acrobatics check
to see if this thing is...
Acrobatics, shall we?
That is a 25.
Okay, so this is going to be like, using your acrobatics, more of like, almost swinging back
and forth, and then leaping and parkouring off the back and trying to get as much of a leap as you
can. The rain's spattering you as you arc past, that sense like time seems to slow for a moment as you pass by, looking up at the storm above,
hoping it's enough. As you arc downward to look in the direction of where you're going, you go
ahead and release your magical incantation to catch him in that graceful descent, and you watch
as what would have been the top of the arc to immediate swan dive descent just continues to
carry and glide at an angle. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
No, no, you're good, you're good.
Are you below us now, or are you,
I'm on a roof that's like 10 or 15 feet high, right?
You slowly descend and land onto it.
What are the rest of you doing, by the way?
Looking at what should be the next point up, and-
Tell some truths!
We're halfway up.
So the rest of you have climbed up.
So right now, there's two points in the wall.
There's either the vines that climb up the side
of the chasm where you started,
or there's the large spike of stone
that is impacting on the opposite side,
and that's where Laudna and Imogen
have climbed up that spike
to where it meets the wall halfway up,
and it's just a sheer cliff above,
or there's where the vines are that Orym just left off of, that's about halfway up as well.
I'm going to start going up the bridge with the witches.
Okay.
After Orym retrieves this, does he have a way up?
We'll find out. Orym, you land here, you glance around, and you saw it pretty clearly.
It doesn't take you much time. With the rain washing all the muck away, you can see it's revealed there, caught in a chipped portion of the stonework. It's half wedged into it.
You pull it free, and you have indeed the unscathed, green-lensed monocle in your grasp.
Yeah, got it!
We did it!
I'm going to shove it into a fold in my armor.
You've got it.
But we still need truths to get out.
Into your marsupial pouch? Yes.
Now, are the rest of you, so we have the witches
at the top.
I will say, because you've made your athletics check
to climb up the spike,
I have both of you roll athletics checks as well.
Especially now with the rain,
it's making it challenging to slide up this odd.
Oh.
I have a 20.
Oh. 20.
All right.
And what'd you roll, Imogen?
For what?
This is just the thing.
Oh, but I have a minus two on athletics.
That's okay. That's okay.
I'm supposed to roll an athletic?
Just roll for me with the rain.
I didn't have you roll when you went up the top,
so I'm just going to take it out on it.
Oh, good. I've got to go up
to the ramp as well, I think.
Are you going up the ramp?
21.
I'll go up the ramp.
Okay. Last.
All right, last.
Anybody else going up the ramp,
or anyone taking the vines?
I mean, Chet?
I'll do the vines. Is anybody doing the vines? I'll do the vines if I can. Okay. I'll do them, too. All right, last? Anybody else going up the ramp or anyone taking the vines? I'll do the vines. Is anybody doing the vines?
I'll do the vines if I can.
I'll do them, too.
All right. So the three of you, you're going up now? Or going last?
Whatever is more athletics to go up the vines.
Athletics is, honestly, both of them right now is athletics. With the water that's
happening, it's trying to cling to it and keep along
the lengthy spike of stone.
So pretty much everyone else is descending,
making a athletics check.
I'm just going to go on hands and knees
because my hoofs are too sore.
Yeah. Yeah, it's valid.
But this bridge only goes, what, halfway up?
Halfway up the chasm.
There's still another halfway up.
Okay, we got to talk more.
And you're now split.
You're on two different sides of the chasm.
Oh shit.
I sometimes do stuff to you guys while you're sleeping.
I sometimes do stuff to you guys while you're sleeping.
Not weird stuff, I just like to look at you closely
and just look at you.
No, I don't know.
No, well, no, you were sleeping
and you look so content and comfortable
and I can just get up in there and look at you really well.
Like where?
Your faces, god!
Just looking at us while we were sleeping?
Yes! It doesn't seem that bad.
And maybe twiddle your hair,
or braid it, or I don't know, nothing bad.
Nothing bad.
Well, that's a weird thing to say, and you're getting definitive about it.
I feel like you all are thinking that I do something untoward towards you, and I don't. I'm just like
Looking and touching us.
Looking at you, fucking.
The stone spike that jutted out from the original wall seems to have sprouted a smaller platform that shoots outward at an upward angle along the cliff face, almost like a switchback plank platform.
And then it arcs back up again, and there's a rickety-looking stone, maybe three-foot-wide walkway
that goes on for about 20 feet up at an angle before it curves up and switches back onto another 20 feet.
That gets you about three, almost three quarters up the way of that side, but it is slick.
Okay, I just put my tongue in your noses.
23 for the vine crawl.
Okay.
I'm going to Guidance myself, and I will get a, what is it, athletics, acrobatics? 18.
18? And what'd you get?
26.
26, great. All right, so you're going up with the witches. I'd say with that, that gets
you across the spike and up to the switchback platform that just emerged to almost three
quarters of the way up the other side of the chasm wall. The three of you are climbing up the vine side
and successfully get up to about
just past the halfway point
before the vines come to an end on that edge.
Well, we did it.
Fuck it. Oh god.
Any time it's too quiet, I start worrying
that one of us, most of us, are going to end up
killing another one of us accidentally.
That's fair.
All of us.
All of us?
Even Orym?
Orym?
Very gently, but probably.
Orym may be the only one I worry about the least,
but genuinely everybody else,
I have panic thinking about what happens
when one of you kills another one of us.
The stone.
Do you have any strong feelings one way or another,
kind of being the normal guy in a group of freaks
who are all ticking time bombs?
What's the question?
Are you okay with that?
Yes!
Jero, do you have any strong feelings?
Truth, truth, truth.
I have all the faith in the world,
in you guys, all of you.
And I have also spent time thinking
how to neutralize each of you.
Between the two of you,
the stone right above where the vines stop breaks open.
Clobs of dirt and rock begin to fall out
and you have to pull off at the side as they tumble.
You watch as a familiar skull emerges from the rock,
like the one that you found in the muck. As it emerges and curls up, you watch as a spinal
column follows behind it, like a fossil of some weird ancient fey lizard beast pushes through
the stone, and it curves up, pushing back into the rock about 20 feet up.
As it stops, partially emerging
and then reconnecting in the opposite side,
its spinal column and the emerging ribs themselves
could be climbed.
Hmm.
Chetney?
Is that on our side, the vines?
That's on your side, yeah.
Yeah, I'm on it.
Chetney, you look like you had something to say.
Ah!
I try to climb! All right, athletics check for those who are climbing on the opposite side of the chasm.
He's climbing away from his problems.
Fuck!
14! I can't do it!
14. It's not that difficult at this point, thanks to the ribcage that's there.
You nearly slip a couple times
because of the slickness of the rain that's still falling,
but you just, ugh, hand over hand,
begin to make it to the very top,
and now that puts the climb on the opposite side
at about level with the other switchback platforms
on the opposing side of the chasm.
So you've now climbed to the top of this skeletal being
before it repunches into the side of the chasm wall, and now climbed to the top of this skeletal being before it re-punches into the
side of the chasm wall, and you can see them across the way.
And the gap that you just closed, so Chet's at the top?
Chet's almost at the three, just about at the three-quarters up.
Oh, so you're not at the top, you're just getting close.
Yeah, you're eye level with the other team, and both sides of the chasm now,
you have two pabs that get about three-quarters of the way to the top.
Ah, okay. How many feet would quarters of the way to the top.
Oh, okay.
How many feet would I guess we are from the top?
About 40 or so feet.
Jeez.
I guess I can admit to you guys,
I hope she's not listening,
but I worry that I put all my eggs
in the change bringer basket and she might betray us all. I had a
really weird conversation with her and I think she's just out for herself and she might not really
care about me. But what if she does and I'm saying horrible things? I'm sorry!
You watch as in the cliff face next to the witches in FCG on the side, these tiny little
mushrooms that were just sitting there begin to inflate and spread outwards to the point where
there are now these massive umbrella caps of mushrooms. There's four of them that
emerge outward.
We can climb on them? But are they bouncy? Chris Pratt's's four of them that emerge outward. We can climb on them?
But are they bouncy?
Chris Pratt's on one of them.
It's a me!
Oh my god.
You go and touch one, and it feels light.
You go and touch it, and it moves like a balloon,
almost, as you touch it.
Oh, this feels like, what is that?
Ninja, no, not Ninja Warrior.
It's a wave. Wipeout?
Wipeout! Yes, yes.
Oh, phew!
Also, yes, AMC.
Wait, that's on the side with Chetney?
No, that's on your guy's side,
because it was your truth. Oh, that's our side.
Okay, so we'll start climbing up the mushrooms.
Okay, you grab the side, and as you do,
it disengages, and you immediately,
clenching on the side, float off the side and as you do, it disengages and you immediately clutch it and
float off the side, but you float.
As you do, it lifts up.
It's a balloon balloon!
It picks you up across the chasm
and begins to arc upward as it's releasing spores.
Cool.
As it releases spores, it begins to descend.
Oh shit, oh shit.
It looks like it's heading in the direction
of where the skeletal being is in the opposite side
where your friends are clutching onto it.
Say something true.
Jump over here.
Fearne!
Yeah?
I was really just a-
You're in love with me, I know.
I was really disappointed in you.
How?
For running away from your power.
You should take the shard. You should take the shard.
As you clutch this massive floating mushroom, you watch as the cap is withering, as it gives out
these spores, it's reducing in size and you feel your descent begin to arc down where you're about
to crash in towards this.
I really miss Dorian, and sometimes I think that's okay, and sometimes I think it isn't.
Between these multiple truths that have been said, you watch as bushes begin to
sprout out of this massive skeletal frame of this creature.
The bush saved me.
Flowers blossom out of it, multiple colors. As you're about to crash into the skeleton,
instead you crash into this bush
and get caught in the middle of it.
Sticks and leaves and petals are jammed into your hair.
I'm all in here.
So big!
So we were all clustered together.
The other three of you are now clustered still
by the other mushroom.
She's the only one that leapt off of the mushroom.
Oh, you're the only one?
Oh, ah.
Smell that?
So wait, can we also leap for the bush?
If you want to grab a mushroom and ride it over.
She's the only one that grabbed a mushroom.
Let's grab a mushroom and ride it over.
Okay, let's do it.
How big is the bush?
Ride the mushroom over the bush.
Can they all fit on the same bush?
There are multiple sections of hips. I'm going to steer the head of the mushroom right at the bush? Ride the mushroom over the bush. Can they all fit on the same bush? There are multiple sections of sticks.
I'm going to steer the head of the mushroom
right at the bush. Can I start?
They may mush before the mushroom gets over there.
He cut off.
You motherfuckers.
This mushroom keeps rising and falling!
Is there anything coming out of the mushroom?
No! It's force!
Little force!
I'm just going to ride this mushroom out of the hole.
Suddenly, everything falls from within the cast of it.
You all plummet to your deaths.
Jesus Christ.
If you want to try and guide your umbrella shroom,
make a dexterity check for me.
Dexterity check.
13 plus.
Nothing.
Okay.
It's a little hard to aim,
but it was already at a pretty decent trajectory, and as the
rest of you ride these mushrooms up into the gust of wind, and then eventually the spores begin to
curl and wither.
I'm holding the other. I'm fine. Just pointing that out.
Matt's curving left and right.
I'm just saying, not me.
Hold on! I love it when we pervert Matt's narrative!
It's true!
I can tell, I don't think anyone else can tell.
Eventually, you're all
safe on the skeleton, covered in many flowers and vines.
Wait, I didn't take a mushroom over yet.
You got to. You got to take it.
Might help if you yell out, true.
Yeah, tell something that says I'm true.
I'll rip the mushroom off and swing a leg around the thing.
All right.
Well, I'm not going to go yet, because I can't think of anything. the mushroom off and swing a leg around the thing. All right.
Well, I'm not going to go yet, because I can't think of anything.
Well, you ripped it out.
As soon as you rip it out,
it takes you up into the wind.
I pull out Pate.
What are we doing?
Say something true!
Be honest!
I'm barely alive!
What do you want from me?
That's true!
How do you feel about Laudna?
She's my creator!
That's not a feeling!
I don't have feelings! I'm a construction!
Laudna, you have to say something true.
Are you controlled by Lady Briarwood?
I don't know what that means!
It's not a yes or no!
I tried. You are. I still feel... What does that mean?! It's not a yes or no! Shit.
Tried.
You are. I still feel.
And you're guiding over,
and the mushroom is taking its downward arc
towards the bushels of flora.
Can I try to go for one?
Can I gust up towards Fearne?
Ash has got something!
I feel fucking worse that I just fucked up Fearne's life way more than mine, and I should've
died instead of that happening.
Lightning streaks down from the storm and strikes the top of the cliff face about 40 or so
feet above you. As it does, rocks go flying outward and all of you clutch hard to the side of this. As you're
arcing down and smashing into the edge of this and holding on best you can, the rocks tumble.
Bits begin to hit the shoulders and back, but the large ones just go tumbling past and slamming
down into the ravine below. As you glance up, it looks like where the lightning struck,
there's a cleft that is left behind
that causes the last 20 feet of the climb
to instead be a steady incline in towards.
So you've cut the remaining climb by about half.
Nice. That's great.
That's great.
Is she over at us yet?
Yes, you've all gathered now,
and you're all like patchwork spider grabbing onto the side
of this massive, weird serpentine spine and ribcage.
All right, all right. I grew up in the Rhyme Lord was running across the plains.
So I'm kind of afraid of dragons.
And I had five siblings.
Alabaster, Pepper, Sugar Plum, Hermie, and Chad.
And I was so mad that they left.
I never looked for any of them.
And now I'm pretty sure they're dead.
So I think that any family I have is just going to look
for a reason to leave me.
That's why I don't get attached to anybody.
Oh.
The rain slowly subsides as fast as it arrived.
As the storm begins to pull away
and the faint bit of twilight begin to crack through
what was once the dense, heavy clouds above,
you hear this gentle sound
of odd bird calls.
And these strange, eagle-like creatures
begin to swoop down.
And you can see they have these very expansive, almost
soft down-like wings that have zebra patterns through them. Where their head would be, it is
just a massive hand. There's no legs that you can tell. They're like manta rays flying with a massive, no thumb, just
five fingers that curl where its head would be. The cluster of them dive down, giving this weird
.
Are they trying to grab us?
They swoop towards you.
Are they nice?
I hold out my arms.
It snatches you and picks you up and drops you right at the base of where that cleft is
before taking off.
One by one, each of you are grabbed by one of the seven
that arrived with the parting of the storm
and get dropped within the cleft and along the edges of it.
Emerging from the center of this chasm,
soaked, shivering and processing the various truths
that were shouted amongst the center of this chaos,
you see there, waiting, hands clasped,
Morrigan, Nana Mori, the Fate Stitcher, looking amongst all of
you with both sets of eyes.
Well, it seems like you succeeded. Congratulations on your first team building exercise.
I hope you got a lot out of it.
You came up with that with Fresh Cut Grass?
Well, it was his idea, and I just sort of ran with it.
I feel like I might have said something like,
wouldn't it be great if we could all share our feelings?
Yes.
Yes, you had such great ideas.
I don't know about the pit and the...
That's why collaborations make us all stronger.
Right?
Communication, truth, and honesty.
Let's everybody check for leeches really quickly.
I'm going to check for leeches.
Orym's been checking the whole damn time.
Not us. No, this is just
the third time.
No leeches. I'm good.
The monocle is yours.
Oh, what does it do? Do with it as you will.
She, you hold it in your hand
and immediately know what it does.
Oh no no no!
Jeez.
Oh, nice.
It gives advantage on insight and perception checks.
In addition, can we say what it does?
Sure. It protects magic once per day, see invisibility twice per day, arcane eye once per
day.
What is arcane eye?
It sends an eye going looking around.
Oh, like Allura has.
Yeah.
Cool.
That's cool.
Item regains the use of these spells after the bearer finishes a long list.
I don't think you need to attune it. I think it's just a thing.
Oh.
Oh, wow.
Is it? It's not attunable?
It's kind of not attunable.
Sweet.
It's just a thing that does stuff
that you don't have to get to know.
You and a monocle might be cool.
Oh, chat.
Oh, Laudna with a monocle?
That's got a vibe.
That's pretty tight.
My big black.
What's next?
Oh boy.
I'm already so tired. We have two more.
Communication was what we said at the next.
Communication, trust.
Yeah.
Communication.
I'm going to go over to Chet.
Are you okay?
I'm going to give him a hug.
I will, too.
Didn't know you had that kind of vulnerability in you, Chet.
I don't.
Okay. We're not going anywhere.
Do you like us?
Is this still part of the test? Navy.
Yes.
Do you like Fern more than the rest of us?
No.
Ah!
Leeches!
Fjord.
What were your brothers and sisters' names?
Alabaster, Pepper, Sugarplum, Hermie, and Chad.
And Chad.
And Chad.
Chet and Chad.
Hermie, Chad.
Who's the second one?
Alabaster. Pepper.
Pepper. Sugarplum.
Sugarplum. Sugarplum, that's the one I picked.
Hermie and Chad.
What wonderful names.
Mm-hmm.
I guess.
Do you have a favorite?
No.
Were you the youngest of them,
or the oldest youngest?
That's so sad, Shed.
They might still,
one of them might still be around.
Yeah.
If you want vengeance, just let me know.
Later, later, later. Later, later, later.
Later, yeah, later.
It's one of my specialties.
Good to know.
But nevertheless, what is next, my elves?
Do you have any communication or trust?
I feel like trust is last.
Trust is last.
Okay, communication.
Communication.
Come in.
She leans back and the central mouth in her chest
opens once more and the same smoke
engulfs you all as it swirls around.
You feel your senses go dizzy
and then suddenly your feet lift off
and then touch back down on a harder surface.
Here, as the smoke subsides, you find yourselves now standing in what looks to be a barely-lit underground chamber.
There is just a tall rock ceiling above you, about 45, 50 feet, that just endlessly goes in all
directions before the light gives out at about 100 or so feet,
and you can make out no more shapes or designs
once your eyes have adjusted to the darkness.
Looking at the space around you,
you can see there is a glowing orb of yellow light
that sits in the middle of this round platform
that you all stand on.
It's an orb at first, but as your eyes focus,
you look and it's textured and odd, and it
looks almost organic. You also see that from the center of this round platform, there are three
thin walkways that emerge from it in three different directions that snake and curl oddly out. You look about the space around you and you can hear this faint buzzing sound coming
from the central glowing orb. Nanamori points towards it.
Welcome, friends. This is a thunder wasp hive.
What horrible name. This is a thunder wasp hive.
What a horrible name. But it does give a delightful glow to the area, does it not?
Just be mindful not to panic or speak too loudly.
They get riled.
She pulls from inside of her coat
this beautiful purple scarf with gold threads woven all
throughout it and all these gorgeous patterns and rubs it across her shoulders, tassels hanging
from the edge of it. I need three volunteers.
Oh my gosh.
Very well. She tears the scarf into three pieces.
She hands one to each of you.
She reaches out and touches the center of the three of your foreheads. You feel this odd
warmth over your eyes. The rest of you watch the skin
grow over their eye sockets.
The three of you are blind.
I need you to put these on.
Oh!
Oh my god!
Oh no.
Oh no.
These are so cool.
Sometimes when you put on eye masks,
I like to get up real close and look at you. I should be on the other side.
Oh my god.
We promise, casts honor,
we won't fuck with you while you're like.
No, no, now I don't trust you.
We won't, I swear.
I didn't say shit.
Because I wouldn't want you to do that to me.
It's a game about trust and communication and honesty.
Yes.
This isn't the trust portion.
Okay, is it comfortable?
Yeah, yeah.
That's just surprisingly comfortable. Those are some cool sunglasses. Very well. Is it comfortable? Yeah. It's actually surprisingly comfortable.
Those are some cool sunglasses.
Very well.
I feel really silent.
Now to set the pieces.
She claps her hands together gently,
and a wave of energy washes out,
and the three of them vanish.
No!
Whoa.
The three of you feel this strange rush of energy,
and then you land on your feet again.
The three of us?
Yes, the three that were made blind.
The rest of you can see that the three blind ones
have now been placed on the opposite ends
of these winding three platforms.
Oh boy.
So we're going to start with Chetney.
You want to start with Ashton?
You want to start with Imogen?
I'll go first!
All right.
I'll say what, you can bring your blindfold up a little bit
and then sit in Marisha's chair.
You both trade.
Age before beauty.
Okay. Move!
Here, I'm right, so yeah, there you go.
I don't need to lift shit.
I got the, whoa!
Do you see the Nordverse?
Whoa! That's not me, buddy. You got to get it! Gentle pressure.
Let's move these out of the way.
Is this going to be a map of some sort?
Of some sort.
This combat cam is brought to you by WizKids Minis. Relive the Ring of Brass' final struggles to
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This is your mini.
Okay.
All right.
Is he? Are you looking, Travis?
Place it right there.
No, he's not.
So this is where it starts.
He's really not. Now the rest of you have to guide Travis
to push his mini along this platform
using just your words.
If at any point he gets near the edge,
I'll make him roll a dexterity saving throw
or fall into the abyss below.
Oh!
This is like Operation in a weird, crazy way.
Okay. Oh, I love this.
And here's where Nannamori waits. Okay. Oh, I love this.
And here's when Anamori waits.
Okay. Oh, look at her.
Chetney's right there.
Chetney.
Yeah, yeah, you're right.
Don't move yet, but the first thing you're going to do
is move just a little ways forward.
Straightforward and not much.
Let's consider it a little ways.
So, wait, I do feel like we need a form of measurement. Pause, pause, pause, pause.
Okay. So you've just moved 15 feet.
You've covered two thirds of what you need to do.
You just need one to one and a half more scooches
forward, Chet. There you go.
Just a hair more, Chetney.
There you go, stop. Stop.
Okay. Make a left.
Now, yeah, you're going to the left
and it's twice as far on a straight line.
Oh!
Gah, gah, gah, gah!
Correct.
I was pushing so hard. Now as Orym shouts out the and begin to coast outward where the echo is being sent in his direction. You watch as the swarm
Don't do anything,
because we don't know what this means.
comes to rest angrily
in the middle of the platform somewhere.
Oh no.
Okay. All right.
So it's still a straight left.
Don't worry about that yet.
Just go, nope, stop, stop.
You're going two forward.
So correct?
Yes. Yeah.
That better. Oh, you're going great.
Better. Just go, you can sprint. Better. Do not sprint.
Sprint is okay. Slow and steady.
All right, pause.
Now you're starting to go a little bit too far back, Chet.
So keep going that direction, but yep, that's real good.
Wait, pause.
Move forward diagonally to your left a little bit.
Forward, forward.
What does that mean?
Sorry, go listen to him.
As FCG begins to shout loudly,
a swarm comes and begins to swarm FCG.
What me?
I need FCG to go ahead
and make a dexterity saving throw for me, please.
A-pease!
16.
A-pease.
16, okay.
You take only 18 points of piercing damage.
Oh, fuck me!
God, that hurts!
That's my direction.
And the swarm scatters off.
Okay, Chet.
Yes.
You can move just a quarter inch further
towards your left.
Yes.
That's a good stop.
Now, you're going to want to go forward
about an inch on planet Earth
and about two to three feet in miniature land.
Same direction?
But slow because it's going to start to curve
real soon to the right.
No, no, stop!
That's not where I want you to go.
Forward means away from your chest.
Away from the giant that's controlling you's chest.
Yes.
Go forward like an inch.
You can go forward four inches.
No.
Yes!
No. You're fine.
You're doing great.
Pause, pause, pause.
Now you want to start to curve.
Northeast.
Forward and to the right.
What does northeast mean?
Two o'clock.
Two o'clock.
Two o'clock.
Stop. Yeah. Toclock. Stop, yeah.
To Travis's nose, you wanna go to like two o'clock.
You want to curve.
Yes, yes, yes.
Don't worry, Chani, you are a third of the way there.
Almost.
Great.
You're doing so good.
That's great, that's great, stop.
Now it's a straight line.
Three o'clock.
To the right, to three o'clock for a long time.
In y'all's head, you hear,
you should maybe be a little quieter.
Like 12 inches.
But we're far away.
Doing good.
Slow down, though, so you don't go off course.
You're fine.
You're good.
Good, good.
Hold.
Stop.
You're moving back too much.
Scooch forward a hair.
Yep.
Still straight.
Straight.
Pause. Stop. Okay, you went Still straight. Straight. Paula, stop.
Okay, you went right to the edge.
So step back.
Chetney, you feel your toe crest just off into darkness.
Step back the way you came just a little bit.
Stop.
Okay.
Now you're going to walk forward from where you are
towards your 12 o'clock from where you are right now.
So just straight forward, straight forward.
This is.
Stop.
This is bad. Brilliant, Chet.
Okay, we're getting close to the insects,
but we're not there yet,
and I don't know what it means when we get there.
You wanna go towards nine o'clock on a straight line. Scooch. Go slow.
Nope.
No, no, no. Other way.
Oh, that nine o'clock?
Yeah.
But you're on the edge.
Yeah, go. Scooch towards 12 o'clock.
I believe in you, Chetney!
Stop. Now go towards nine o'clock. Slow. Slow, Chet.
No, you can go fast. It's fine.
You shush. Letters.
Stop, stop, stop.
FCG, as you shout out, another cluster of thunderwraps emerge and swarm you. I need you to make
another dexterity saving throw for me.
Natural 20!
Natural 20, okay. You take...
I'm so caught in that one.
14 points of piercing damage.
Oh my god!
But both of your successful rolls
prevented it from swarming out onto the path.
Ah, see?
I'm helping.
Okay, Chetney, in Dwarven Forge land,
you're about 15 feet away from insects at your 12 o'clock.
What can we do for the insects?
What does he got to say?
Can you do something?
Yeah, what do we do?
Let's see if we can get him out of there.
So you're gonna go 12 o'clock,
but you're gonna go headlong and do a bunch of insects.
So maybe get your weapon ready.
Isn't there like a...
Get your weapon ready and get ready to strike.
Like a net?
Stop.
Chetney, you are scooching for no reason towards the edge.
Move back towards 3 o'clock.
Get back to where you were.
But Tinybit, stop.
Is he just scooting if nobody's telling him what to do?
He's just moving around.
Do wasps have natural bug enemies? Bees.
I'm going to use my hybrid transformation
and turn into a werewolf.
All right.
You emerge into your wolf form,
your eyes still covered.
Fuck.
But to that point,
now we're going to trade out for... Oh. You have another mini right in front of you.
Get back towards three o'clock, a tiny bit.
Go to the right a little bit.
Tiny bit more.
Stop freaking out, FCG.
I'm sorry! I'm just emotionally available.
Go and make a dexterity check for me, FCGs.
The thunder wasps once again swarm out towards you.
Seven.
Seven.
Ah, shit.
Wait, Orym, don't you have a wind push?
You take 26 points of piercing damage
as they swarm you.
Ow, ow, ow, ow!
And then they swarm out.
Where are they?
Sorry, are they flying towards us?
No, no.
So wait, does he have to go around them?
And what about those eldritch shots
you guys do go really far.
Can you shoot the bugs from here?
I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on myself.
Okay.
Oh, I got 18.
Don't move, Chet, don't move.
You hear the buzz of a swarm
about 10 feet in front of you.
Ah, okay. Chet, we't move. You hear the buzz of a swarm about 10 feet in front of you. Ah, okay.
Chet, we got you in the palm of our hand.
I'm going to cast Mage Armor on myself.
Okay.
I didn't.
Do you have any defensive things, Chet?
Matt, can I use Hunter's Bane
to detect fey, fiend, or undead just around me
in case these fucking wasps surf away?
Sure, you smell out into the air around you,
get the rest of that muck that was caught
in your nostrils out, now that you have larger
nasal capacity.
Sensing the space around you, you can sense both
a very strong fey energy in the direction of
where you assume Nana Mori is.
The insects that are in front of you are not any of
the ones you're looking for, but you can hear them.
I have an idea.
Straight ahead?
Here's what I think is going to happen. I think we've got to tell him the direction to go, and he has to
make slow, steady progress through this swarm. I don't think they'll move. He's just got to go through
them, take the hits, and just keep moving quickly.
That could be true.
That could be, but why don't we try blasting them?
Well, how about this?
I pull out Pate, and I instruct Pate
to go fuck with the wasps.
Good idea, good idea.
The wasps.
The wasps.
Okay.
Don't worry, I got this.
And he flies up and hits an invisible barrier
that surrounds the central platform.
Okay, water's right.
Oh, sorry.
You're just going to have to eat it, Chet.
Nenamori goes,
This is about communication.
Copy. All right.
Copy that. So you're going to go
straight ahead forward until you feel stings,
and then stop. Stop.
Then turn left and go to 9 o'clock.
He's got more room on the right side.
Wait, Chet, just to visualize,
once you step into Wasps,
you have to initially move towards nine o'clock,
but then it curves down into the left.
But that's later.
First, we just got to get them through this swarm.
That is the worst place for the Wasps.
So go back to the swarm, start getting stung,
and then turn left.
Oh my gosh.
But there's more.
But no, he's got to start getting stung.
You're about to get stung.
Here it comes.
No!
As you stand forward,
you step into a swarm of stinging thunder wasps
that begin to spin around you.
Scooch forward, stop!
All right, start making a left.
All right.
Someone take note of this.
You take 25 points of piercing damage.
Oh no.
Halved?
Halved, right.
Okay. 13.
13.
And while you're there,
I'm going to hand you a dice with your other hand.
Go ahead and roll that for me. Wow.
Okay, that's a natural 18. Nice!
As you try and instinctively,
as you instinctively knock away the wasp best you can,
you can feel yourself beginning to lose your balance,
but you manage to right yourself
and just push through the pain.
Oh no.
Okay, Chet.
Now I'm coming back left, right?
Chet, listen to me.
We're going to throw out the clock stuff
because it's going to make no sense in a moment.
You're going to want to take tiny steps and you're going to go to your- Still get the hornet's nest. Listen to me. We're gonna throw out the clock stuff because it's gonna make no sense in a moment.
You're gonna wanna take tiny steps
and you're gonna go to your,
you're gonna start going towards nine o'clock,
but then I'm gonna start saying forward and backwards.
You know what, go to 9.30, 9.30, 10, 9.30, 10.
Tiny.
Yes, that's good.
That's great, that's great.
Now nine, hard nine.
Yep.
Slow. You're doing great, you're doing great. Slow. This is that's good. That's great, that's great. Now nine, hard nine. Yep. Slow.
You're doing great.
Slow.
This is a great party.
Good.
830.
The communication makes no sense.
Slow down, you're doing great.
Slow.
Oh my god, you're so good.
Solid.
Stop, stop, stop.
You're so big and strong.
You're going towards, I guess, 10 o'clock.
No, no, no, no, no, no. Or eight o'clock, eight o' guess, 10 o'clock? No, no, no!
Or 8 o'clock?
8 o'clock.
A little bit more 7 o'clock.
No, no, I mean...
9 o'clock. Slow. Stop. Now go towards 7 o'clock. 8 o'clock, 7 or 8 o'clock. Rock.
Towards you. Yep, you're or eight o'clock. Rock.
Yep, we're doing good, keep going. Stop.
Now go to nine o'clock, exactly.
A little bit, a little bit, a little bit further.
Stop, all right.
The longer we do this, the more direction becomes.
Here's the deal.
It's just a straight shot forward 12 o'clock,
but in 15 feet in Dwarven Forge land, you're going to
hit more bugs.
You could just run.
I think you should just run 12 o'clock.
Straight 12 o'clock.
How about a brisk walk?
Maybe 1230?
Keep going, keep going, keep going.
Oh, that's a good start!
You jump into another swarm.
Run!
As you step into the next swarm of entities, you take 22 points of piercing damage.
Reduced.
Let's go ahead and have you roll that dice.
22 is what, 11?
Or 10, hold on.
You got it for you.
10 more feet to glory, Chet.
There you go, right there.
Roll that dice for me.
Uh-oh.
Six?
That's a six. Plus...
Oh shit. Oh shit.
Oh shit!
Oh shit. Oh no, Oh shit. Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Oh no, that's plus nine.
That's a 15.
So you almost begin to lose your footing
at the edge of this platform as the wasps swarm you,
and then you just push through into a final sprint.
Direct 12 o'clock.
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
Yes!
You did it, you did it!
As with that, you can remove your blindfold, Yes! You did it, you did it! You killed it, Anamori!
With that, you can remove your blindfold, Travis.
You did it! Oh my god!
That was fucking insane!
That is so much simpler than what was going on in my mind.
I'm like, Travis Willingham,
this is your lower intestine.
Wait, were they not able to watch the whole thing?
No! Oh my god.
They're having a nice little meditation over there.
Nianna-Mori smiles, for those who can see,
and goes,
Well done.
It seems these two are very keen at communication.
So why don't you sit this one out?
And both of your mouths grow over. FCG and O grow over. FCG's metal mouth slams shut.
And Orym, too?
Yeah.
So that means you have to do it this time.
Me and Fearne and Chetney, who now can talk and see.
We got this.
Which of these two wishes to go next?
But then wait, is she going to do that again for Ashton?
So good.
Fuck, that was crazy.
And then Imogen will have to help Ash.
The map in my mind was bonkers.
All right.
Oh no, the GM left.
Is he going to help?
Oh, is he going to help?
Oh no!
Oh shit.
What's happening?
It's just a different maze.
Just hold still, Laura.
Hold, keep your hands right where they are.
Am I going to knock stuff out?
No, no, Matt's coming around behind you.
Just imagine you're asleep
and Ashley's doing creepy things to you.
There is so much shit at your station, Laura.
You want to move a little bit of it?
It's okay. Yeah, move anything you want.
Maybe she should just move to Marisha's station.
It's okay, we'll move this here a little bit.
Oh no, they're touching your dice so much.
No, we're touching the things that hold it.
Wow.
You did really good, though.
Oh shit.
Wow, this one's hard.
So weird.
No, you're good, you're good.
You might want to move your iPad, Laura, too.
I don't know where it is!
I'm going to move this back here.
Oh my goodness.
Okay, they're just bringing out the maze closer to you.
Indeed. I'm going to pull this back.
There's a pin under that.
Sorry, I have so much shit.
It's okay, Laura.
So here is your mini, right here.
Okay, where?
Hold it, there.
Okay.
And it begins there.
Okay.
Okay.
So you are now standing in the middle
of a precipice blind,
and you're going to have to listen to your compatriots
give you direction.
All right.
Witches.
I have faith in y'all.
Witches assemble. Let's go.
All right.
So Imogen, first things first.
This one has a lot of diagonals.
I don't know what that means, but all right.
There's no right or left turns, really.
It's a lot of curves.
A lot of curves.
Yeah, you're going to be moving your piece
very slowly with your hand.
Forward, backward, right, left, back, left, back, left.
You want me to move back left?
No, nothing yet. Go forward, not yet.
Just go slow.
I don't know what 10 feet is.
Is this 10 feet?
So I think, am I going?
Go attached to your left.
Go forward away from you very slowly
until we tell you to stop.
Okay, a little bit more.
Go forward.
You can go a little faster than that.
Keep going, keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going, mm-hmm.
You're doing so good.
You can stop there.
You're in the dead middle of the path.
All right.
Now forward right, like if you were going to two o'clock.
Start moving that direction.
This right?
A little more one o'clock.
There you go.
There you go.
You can keep moving at that speed.
Perfect, you're right down the middle.
Keep going, keep going.
Four, three, two, one, stop.
Now almost.
I'm almost there, right?
No, now almost.
You're about a sixth of the way.
The opposite diagonal, so yeah, like 11.
All right, go for it?
Yep. Go for it.
Am I doing it?
Yes. Great.
We'll tell you to stop if it's bad.
Stop.
Go a little bit more 10 o'clock from 11.
Okay, stop.
There you go.
Okay, stop.
Your mouth is shut.
A little more than nine o'clock.
There you go. Yes. Two'clock. There you go.
Yes.
Two, stop. There you go.
All right, it switches back now.
All right.
So just move to your left, straight to your left.
Stop.
The human cone.
Now you're going to come back towards your seven o'clock,
your back left, so right towards your wrist
and where your elbow are.
Stop. Too much. Go a little
bit more eight o'clock. Keep going, keep going. Good.
Good.
Taliesin.
Right down that line. Right down that line. Four, three, two, one. Good.
God, I feel like I'm going to break this thing. No, you're one. Good.
All right, I feel like I'm going to break this thing.
No, you're doing so good.
I'm gripping it so hard.
Wait, wait, where am I? I lost it!
10 o'clock. You're going to go up 10 o'clock to your left.
Up 10 o'clock.
You're on the edge on the north side.
Like here?
Yes, you're doing great.
Like that?
Good.
Operation, you're the doctor.
Shut up, FCG. Stop attack. Got your psychic're the doctor. Shut up, FCG.
Stab attack?
Got your psychic on the run.
Go a little bit to...
I'm very aware of the smell of these chips next to me right now.
More towards your 10 o'clock, so a little further away from you.
Like that?
Stop.
Other way.
Towards 1 o'clock.
1 o'clock?
No, 11. More towards your 11.
But she's off the side.
Now you can go straight up.
Straight away, there you go.
Two, one, stop.
Now move towards your two o'clock.
So forward and right.
A little more one o'clock.
There you go, straight. Three, two, one. Stop. Great. So forward left toward your ten o'clock.
Oh god, okay. Like this?
You're more than halfway, so you're good.
A little more 11.
Yeah, more 11. There you go. Yeah, yeah. Good direction.
It's like she's moonwalking.
Am I going backwards? No, you're good. You It's like she's moonwalking. Am I going backwards?
No, you're good, you're good.
Stop.
Straight to your left, nine o'clock.
Stop.
Back left towards your seven o'clock.
Like that? Yeah.
More towards your nine.
There you go, that line.
Good, good. Listen to that soothing
Travis voice. Good.
Good. Yeah, you're right down the middle.
Keep going. Okay, pause, pause, pause.
Perfect.
Six o'clock, straight back towards you.
Yeah, just pull towards your chest.
Yeah, you're going to go for seven, six.
Stop.
Come back towards your five o'clock, just a little bit.
More towards your chest, there you go.
Keep going.
Man, she's gripping it so hard.
Yeah. I know, I know.
My knuckles are like white.
Your white knuckle is like.
I really feel like I'm going to break
this little finger or whatever I have.
You can come back to your left a little bit
and back towards your left elbow.
Keep coming, keep coming.
Now go to your left, hard left.
Stop.
Okay, it switches back again. You're going to start going forward. It's only Now go to your left. Hard left. Stop. Okay. It switches back again.
You're going to start going forward. It's only forward from here on out.
Straight? 11 o'clock.
No. No?
Diagonal. You're not talking.
Oh! Penalty.
That was Liam Noddorm.
I understand that, but because of that,
Yes!
a swarm of insects begin to
buzz outward into the space. Gosh darn it. Into the space.
And emerging right there.
Yep. Okay.
Okay, all right, all right.
11 o'clock.
11 o'clock. Forward.
Like that? Yeah.
A little more 12 o'clock.
Yeah, a little more 12 o'clock.
There you go, stop.
Good job.
Back towards Ashley's at 10 o'clock.
Towards your left a little bit more.
10 o'clock?
10 o'clock's good, yeah. Pause. A little bit more that direction. Half an inch. There you go, stop.
You can just 12 o'clock straight out. Good speed.
Good. Good.
Five, four, three. You're going to make contact.
Keep going to pause.
You're right on the-
Move to your left a little bit.
Just hard left.
Stop, perfect.
We're going to push you through some hornets.
Get ready to take some sticks.
Can I try how close am I to the hornets?
You're about 10 feet from the hornets
if you were on a game board.
I can put this right here just for other reasons.
Thank you.
I thought it might have.
I didn't even, yeah.
Okay, where am I going?
So they're about 10 feet in front of you
if you are on a Dwarven Forge map.
So I just walk forward?
Yeah. Unless you wanted to try and...
I walk forward five feet.
Stop, you are face to face with them.
I'm going to Shock Flare.
Ooh.
Shock Flare?
What is that?
Have you done that before?
That, unfortunately, you're trying to touch.
So that would be a melee touch attack.
No, it's not a touch.
It's like where I become the plasma ball.
Anything within 10 feet of me.
Oh, I see, I see.
I'm going to go ahead and bring that up on your list there.
That was so sad, I love it.
That are all creatures within 10 feet of you. Each creature in that area must make a strength saving throw Shock Flare. Bring it up on your list there. Taliesin's so sad, I love it.
Each creature in that area must make a strength saving throw, and a failed to save your target takes two.
Taliesin is the walrus.
Oh, am I close to Ash?
Well, I can't say anything.
No one else is on the board with you, except for you're almost done.
Wait, Matt's still looking at his spell, so you can't resume yet.
Sorry, I'm just bringing this up real fast, just a second, my apologies.
What, do you want to?
Goes then, goes then, you're good.
Just hang on, we are. Ashley, to read it to you?
Yeah, Ashley, do you have it?
I do. Here you go, Shock Flare.
So action self, yeah, so it is self.
I was making it see if you had to have sight to see it,
but you were just casting this on yourself,
which does not require sight.
So. Smug face.
All the creatures within a few.
Piss them off, though.
That fails at save, so that's 2d6 lightning damage to it.
Okay, that's 11 points of lightning damage.
The problem is they're immune to lightning.
Oh, what? They're thunder wasps.
Yeah. Gosh darn it.
Just take the pain, you're good.
You pissed them off now.
So you're going to move forward maybe two spaces.
Go slow. Keep going?
Yep, straight ahead.
They begin to sting and surround you.
How's that?
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!
To your forward right.
22 points of piercing damage, so I'm going to write that down.
I got it.
I need someone to hand her a d20 to roll for me. You took 24 points.
I got it.
I put your damage in for him.
So someone hand her a d20, if you don't mind.
She just took 22?
A regular one.
She took 22, yeah.
We're reaching for 104s.
Oh, just pick one.
If only we had a d20 at this table.
I'm going to give her a good one.
I get that. There you go.
Just roll it? Yep.
Okay. 11 plus?. Just roll it? Yep. Okay, which? 11 plus?
What do I add?
Dexterity saving throw.
Okay.
Which would be?
Plus three, so 14? 14 total.
14 total.
Oh man, you start to wobble a bit
and you feel like as the stings are hitting you,
you try and move to catch yourself and you step
and your foot hits the very edge
and you just barely right yourself
and continue to step forward through.
Where do I go?
To your forward right at your two o'clock.
Start moving forward right.
Like that? Yep.
A little more one.
A little more one, good, good.
Straight ahead, keep going.
Good. Keep going.
More two o'clock, two o'clock.
Straight ahead, on towards daylight.
To 12, you mean? Just keep driving on that line.
Keep going straight.
Yes, that way.
Like that?
Yep. You're home free.
And with that, you step through.
You can remove your...
Oh my god.
Oh, it's so bright.
Your blindfold Imogen.
It felt so much more complicated than this.
Yeah, it's like your mind makes it...
I just cut the mister's ass. I thought I told his ass. I saw a map that happened. more complicated than this. Oh. Yeah, it's like your mind makes it.
I'm just talking mister's ass.
I thought I told his ass.
I saw a map that had lava and rocks
and a whole source of crazy shit.
So scary.
But the skin grows back from your eyes.
Your sight is yours once more.
That was exciting.
That was.
Nannamori looks at you with a big smile.
Morpheus is right there.
I feel like we did a good job.
Yes! I'd hang on because I think
Taliesin might have a good one.
One more to go.
Very well done.
And you two have been so helpful.
Both of your mouths seal shut.
Oh.
Oh, you guys?
You two.
Oh, us with Ashton?
We can do that, we can do that.
I would like to help Taliesin move over into Laura's seat.
Oh, okay.
Oh.
Okay.
This is fun!
This is so fun.
I love it.
Okay, cool.
Guys, this combat cam is still back to my work desk.
If I put my hands on it,
there's just going to be a ton of dice here.
Can I sit next to you?
Battle the fate of an age
in the face of a series of impossible choices.
WizKids.io slash exucalamity.
I'll say it again, WizKids.
Oh no.
It looks like,
how does it look like it's light coming down on it?
It looks like the way you did it, it's so cool.
Thank you.
Okay.
Yeah, a little.
A little closer.
All right.
It's the Laura and Ashley show.
And this is the Ashton mini.
Control your faith in the face of the beginning.
All right.
Talk for wasps, talk for wasps.
What if we all just left?
Like, left Taliesin here.
Like, just left the studio.
All right. I left a tapein here. Just left the studio. All right.
I left a tape recording of Matt saying,
all right, we're almost ready. Matt forgot to give me
earplugs, you know I can hear all of it.
Yeah, I know.
I have enough echolocation to know exactly
what he was saying.
Echolocation.
That's the Bat James. All right, are we ready?
No, I'll move this panel.
I think this is causing me to break out.
I can feel a zit coming up. Is it really?
I'm like, shh!
All right, you're going to go forward, 12 o'clock.
So gentle.
A little bit faster than that.
So gentle.
Keep going.
You're like three minutes.
We're about halfway there.
This is our ASMR.
Taliesin's got a Ouija board, stop.
Keep going.
Let's stop, stop, stop.
Move just a hair to your left.
Just attach and keep going straight. Keep going. Let's stop. Stop. Move just a hair to your left. Just a touch.
And keep going straight.
Keep going, keep going, and stop.
You're going to go to the right,
like one o'clock, towards one o'clock.
A little more two o'clock.
Keep going.
Keep going. Keep going.
We're coming for amaranth.
One more two o'clock.
Yep, yep.
And stop.
What's happening?
Okay, now you're gonna go three o'clock.
Three o'clock to your right.
Just keep going to your right.
That's right.
Oh, he's turning.
Oh yeah, I'm going for it.
That's really impressive.
Good job, good job.
Go, go, go.
You're fine.
All right, wait, stop.
Go a little 12 o'clock.
All right, now go straight, straight, straight.
To the three o'clock.
To the three o'clock.
Keep going, three o'clock.
Yeah.
Keep going.
Three, four, three, two, one.
And stop.
Okay.
Okay, you're gonna come down six o'clock. Okay, six o'clock. You know what, go to 12, go to three o'clock, just stop. Okay. Okay, you're going to come down six o'clock.
Okay, six o'clock.
You know what? Go to three o'clock,
just a touch more to your right.
There you go, stop.
Now six o'clock.
Okay.
Just turn yourself around.
Might as well.
He's gleaming the cube!
All right, now a little bit.
Now stop there, lift your hands.
Okay.
He's on there. Yeah. Okay. It's hard to see with both your hands. It's hard to see with both the hands there, lift your hands. Okay. He's on there. Yeah.
Okay.
It's hard to see with both your hands.
It's hard to see with both the hands there.
But yeah, I'm just keeping a note.
Okay, how about take a little smidgey
over to three o'clock?
Yeah, go to three o'clock.
A little bit more?
Touch more.
Okay, now comes six o'clock.
Keep going.
You can go faster.
Go to seven o'clock a little bit. Seven o'clock? No, stop.
I'm so sorry, five o'clock.
I'm so sorry. Someone will...
Oh boy.
Five o'clock, five o'clock.
That's it. Yeah, keep going a little faster.
Five o'clock.
Oh boy.
You're great. You're doing so good. And stop. Okay,, five o'clock. Oh boy. You're great, you're doing so good.
And stop.
Okay, go three o'clock.
Three o'clock, to your right.
Okay.
You're doing so good.
Go, go, go.
And stop.
Okay, you're going to go two o'clock.
You've got a long ways to go on two.
Two o'clock.
Yes, two o'clock.
Up, up, up, up, up. How about more one o'clock? on two. Two o'clock. Yes. Okay. Two o'clock. Up, up, up.
How about more one o'clock?
Let's focus one o'clock.
Straight up, there you go.
You can go a little faster.
You're going, this is the perfect line.
You are doing so good, you have no idea.
I don't.
You're doing so good.
Proud of you, Ashton, keep going.
Keep going, you can go a little.
It's a bit farther.
The two who would try and murder me,
I'm really feeling that, okay, no, I'm going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
You can go a little faster.
How funny would that be, though,
if they were just like...
Walking him right off the edge.
A little faster.
Lift your hands.
He's fine, he's fine.
A little bit more.
12 o'clock, a little bit more.
Just up a tush.
Where'd you find me?
A tush. Up a tush?
Up a little tush or more.
Okay, there you go.
Don't say anything.
All right, now, 3 o'clock.
No, Jesus, we're good.
Straight line.
Straight, straight. No stop.
Go up to 12.
Sorry, that's such an annoying sound. I don't know why I'm doing that. Okay, straight. No stop. Go up to 12. Sorry. That's such an annoying sound.
I don't know why I'm doing that.
Okay, three o'clock.
This is the weirdest thing I've ever done in my life.
I don't think that's true.
Oh.
Okay, stop.
Ashton, not me.
A little bit more two o'clock.
Let's do two o'clock.
Okay. There it is.
Yeah, there it is. Okay.
Keep going. You got this.
You're almost halfway.
Keep going.
Halfway?
Yeah.
Yeah.
A little bit more.
A little bit more.
A little bit more.
All right, now 12 o'clock.
Straight up.
Atta-tat.
12 o'clock.
Keep going. You can go faster. You got this. Keep going, you can go faster.
You got this.
Keep going.
You're veering a little bit more to the.
Go to the...
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch!
The sound of
darn it.
Beans emerge from the nest
as wayward, uninvited sounds emerge.
A sense of warning, and they swarm out.
Oh, that's what the little wasps look like, cute.
All right, go to your left a hair.
Left a hair.
Left, yeah.
Nine o'clock, just a hair.
You're getting out of there, you're good.
Yeah, okay, now go 12 o'clock.
Go, go, go.
Three, two, one, stop.
Okay, now you've got a long way to go at nine o'clock.
Okay.
But take it slow, because it's a little...
It's a bit precarious.
It's weird.
Slow enough, that is the town.
So good.
Great speed. Great speed.
Great angle. Great projection.
All right, now I need you to stop.
Yep.
And come 12 o'clock, or I mean, sorry, six o'clock.
Come towards you.
The planchette technique is strong over here.
All right, now, nine o'clock, keep going.
W.
Stop it, you fuck.
Let's bring it a little eight o'clock.
Towards you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Give me a second.
Walk with confidence, Ashton, you got this.
Oh, there's not a ton of confidence in this.
You're just going to sprint all the way to your left.
We would stop you.
I'm dreaming.
I can't see where the edge is.
Yeah, yeah, you're doing good.
You're doing great. Keep walking.
Keep walking.
You got to pick up.
Three, two, one,
and stop.
You almost feel the edge of the platform
crumble from underneath your left heel, Ashton,
before catching yourself.
The sweat drips down the back of your neck
and your shoulders as you, twice now,
have been close to tumbling into an abyss
you can't even see.
All right, you're going to...
Wait, may I say something really quickly?
Give me your hand.
Okay.
Yeah, go a little bit, a couple more steps to your left.
Nine o'clock, yeah.
Nine o'clock.
Uh-oh.
Easy.
You get it?
Sweet.
There we are.
Okay, so go nine o'clock a little bit.
There you go.
Uh-oh, uh-oh.
Okay, now come down six o'clock.
You got this.
Can we just make a tape of Laura
that people can put on the Calm app?
Yeah, yeah.
It's so calm-ish. You got this.
You're doing great.
You're doing so good. It's almost like you can see it. It's so calming. You got this. You're so good. You're doing great. You're doing so good.
It's almost like you can see it.
It's like you can see it.
You're curving, and I didn't even tell you to.
Oh no.
No, it's great. Nine o'clock.
Straight to your left.
This is awesome. You're doing great.
That felt weird.
Three. Nope, you're doing good.
Two, one, and stop.
Oh, okay. Okay.
Okay, now you can go 10 o'clock.
Oh god, okay.
Yes, that's right.
A little more 11.
A little bit more 11.
And stop.
Now you're going to go 12 o'clock.
Keep going.
There's a lot of great stuff in this.
Oh my god.
This is, this is, this is.
You can go a little more forward.
You can go a little more forward.
Not a great deal.
Shut up.
Go, go, go.
Go, go, go.
Okay, you're coming up to the wasps, Ashton.
So you're going to get stung.
How close? You're about 10, you're coming up to the wasps, Ashton, so you're going to get stung. How close?
You're about 10, maybe? Keep going 12 o'clock.
I'm going to rage.
Mm!
Okay, stop.
Now you're going to go two o'clock.
You're going to walk right through the wasps, all right?
The wasps swarm in and begin stinging you all over.
It takes, oh god. The wasps swarm in and begin stinging you all over.
It takes, oh god. I was headed up, so. You're raging.
So it would be 32 points of piercing damage,
reduced to 16, if you want to write that down.
Someone hand him a d20.
Oh, here.
To roll a dexterity saving throw.
Oof.
What's his dex?
Oh, where's your dex at?
It's a plus.
Dex plus three, so that's 11.
11.
You watch as the wasps swarm around Ashton,
and Ashton angrily starts sweeping him away
and begins stepping off to the side.
Ashton, don't move! The impulse of emotion
taking him to rush forward,
and his foot slips off at the side.
Suck it up, Ashton.
He tumbles off the edge and barely catches the side
and is now holding on by both his hands.
Ashton, your feet are kicked off into nothing.
I click on the button on my hammer
and just grab on and try and use that to get right back up.
Need you to make an athletics check with disadvantage.
Is it okay if I'm giving him your 20s?
Yep, yep.
I'll take yours, I'll take yours.
That's a 12. Okay.
Oh, just kidding.
That would have gone really poorly.
There you go.
With disadvantage, you roll that twice.
Can I have a second one?
Okay, yeah, I'll give you another one.
Hold on, let me see what this is.
I can't read that. I'll just give him this.
I can't read the numbers!
Okay, there we go.
Drop it in the cup.
Ooh! At disadvantage? You're at advantage. I can't read that. I'm just giving them. I can't read the numbers! Okay, there we go. Drop it in the cup.
Ooh! Oh! At disadvantage or at advantage?
Disadvantage.
Oh.
That's a one.
Rolled a six to you.
And a one.
Ashton, you vault up into the air
and kick up.
What can we do?
In the opposite direction of the platform.
Do I know what kind of a d4?
A d4? All because of rage.
Oh, because of your rage ability.
That's true.
What does it say? One.
That's gravity.
That's gravity, interesting.
Is there any way I can try and use that to propel myself
in one direction or no?
You propelled yourself in the wrong direction.
In the wrong direction.
So just try and maybe curve myself
back towards the hammer.
I'll tell you what.
If they're yelling.
Roll one more d20.
You're falling.
North of 10.
If this is another one more d20,
if it's a 10 or higher,
you manage to just barely guide yourself back to the lip.
Otherwise, you plummet.
Eight.
Ashton, the gravity pulls you to the side
and you impact the side of the stonework
and glide, you try and reach,
but the rock crumbles under your grasp.
The hammer's still locked in the air.
You tumble into the abyss and out of sight.
There's nothing we can do to help?
Is it blocked? Unfortunately, no.
Amazing. Don't get that item.
All right.
So if you'd like to, Taliesin,
you can remove the blindfold.
Aw.
You were so close.
So close.
I was so close.
It wasn't your direction.
It was just the dice rolls.
The dice rolls.
I know.
With that dex check.
And he's dead forever?
Really, it's Liam's fault?
He's the one that made the noise.
No, I made the noise.
That's why I said Liam.
Oh, I thought you said Liam.
So as you plummet out of sight,
there's that moment of shock and silence and fear.
No, Ash!
I mean... Don't worry, it was only a test.
You watch as Annamarie snaps your fingers,
and Ashton appears and slams into the ground next to you.
Might have had gravity ups. That was probably a big, nice...
Indeed. A cruddy crater hits in the center,
and the swarm begins to emerge.
Nanish goes,
and they immediately go docile
and return back to the hive.
I feel like that was me.
Do you feel like that was us?
Because it wasn't us.
No.
Because we gave you stellar direction.
Hammer?
Oh. She curls her finger forward
and the hammer won't budge.
There's a little thing right on the bottom there.
And it comes back to you like Thor's hammer
and you catch it in your grasp.
Thank you.
Meow meow!
That's two successes and one failure.
Who wants to do the last possible shot? You can either accept the failure
or someone can go for a last time.
Yeah, someone should go.
But no safety nets.
What does that mean? They fall. You fall, you fall.
They fall.
What?!
Okay, so here's the thing. If we...
I love it. I love it.
If nobody makes any noise, the wasps don't come out.
If you keep nice and quiet and don't let your volume and emotions rule you, then yes,
they stay docile.
All right. I'll go.
Are you sure? I'll go.
But if you fall, you fall?
And who can give directions?
Mm, you pick.
Since the stakes are high.
Imogen.
Yeah, she did a really good job.
And one more.
Chetney.
Imogen and Chetney, the rest of you take a moment
and all your mouths grow over. I'm sitting in the spot. Tell us it is.
Yes.
So if he falls, he's gone?
To die?
Or forever?
Oh my god.
Oh my god.
End it.
Wow, that was really hard.
In particular because there's
a fourth creature. Here comes my teeny miniature.
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
You do have a sense of it in your head now, though.
Badum, badum, bad now, though. Put it on.
This is high stakes.
You can't say anything.
I'm not going to say anything.
You're going to come over here, Travis?
I mean, it's super hard.
It was so hard not to react in the slightest.
Of course.
All right. We could just leave the room.
You can be quiet.
Can you be quiet for a second?
That's not why you'd be quiet.
Let me tell you a story. Like NPR quiet. Can you be quiet for a minute? That's not why you need to be quiet. Let me tell you my story. Like NPR quiet?
Can you be National Public Radio?
That was, by the way, so calming.
Was it?
You're just doing so fine.
And then move it here to begin.
About nine o'clock.
The good news is.
Oh, this is a short one.
The good news is, is that you've got a little bit
of a switchback. Shut up, shut up, shut up.
The bad news is, I want to keep things interesting.
And Nenamori blows out into the chamber.
Orym, as you stand there,
your eyes completely grown over in the silence,
you feel the shuddering
and the stone beneath you,
and you hear the crumbling of rock
right at the back of your heels.
Excuse me.
Oh, there's a timer.
There's a timer.
You have five minutes.
All right, you got this.
I can't see where you are.
Hold on, let me.
All right, you're going to start moving
just a little bit to your right.
Stop. Straight ahead, away from you.
12 o'clock. Keep going.
Keep going. Go, go, go.
Three, two, keep going.
One. Stop.
All right, now head to a clock and go.
Pick up your right hand all the way off.
Just do it with your left hand. Keep going.
You're going, keep going.
A little more one o'clock.
Good. And go.
Increase your speed.
And go faster.
Increase your speed even more.
You got this.
Keep going on that line, you got it.
Five.
A little two o'clock. Keep going faster.
Yeah, keep going.
Four.
Three.
Keep going, keep coming. You got three. Keep going, keep coming.
Two, one, stop.
And stop.
The platform crumbles behind you.
Forward left, 10 o'clock, start moving.
Good, increase your speed on that line.
Keep going.
Stop, pick up your left hand.
I can't see where.
Okay, go.
10 o'clock, a little more 11 o'clock.
To your right. There you go. Your foot feels the edge of little more 11 o'clock. To your right.
There you go.
Your foot feels the edge of the walkway.
Keep going, keep going.
You got this. Keep going.
Keep going.
Three, two, one, stop.
Okay, now you're going to come back.
Eight o'clock.
Yeah, yeah, good. Seven's good.
More nine o'clock, more nine o'clock.
There you go. Now back on that seven o'clock, more nine o'clock. There you go.
Now back on that seven o'clock direction.
Yeah, good.
Keep going.
Three, two, one.
Keep going, actually.
Keep going, keep going, keep going.
Three, two, one.
Stop. Stop, good.
Just a hard nine o'clock.
Yeah, nine o'clock, nine o'clock, stop.
Let's go 11 o'clock.
And go. Stop. 10 o'clock. Yeah, 10 o'clock. Stop. Nine o'clock, stop. Let's go 11 o'clock. And go.
Stop.
10 o'clock. Yeah, 10 o'clock.
Stop. Nine o'clock.
10 o'clock.
You got this. Go a little faster.
Go. Keep going.
Keep going.
Stop. Stop.
Perfect.
Two o'clock. Two o'clock.
Keep coming, you have a perfect line.
Keep coming.
Go. Stop. The platform crumbles behind you. A little more 230. yeah, perfect line, keep coming. Go. Stop.
The platform crumbles behind you.
A little more 230.
Yeah, go. There you go.
Hold that line, keep coming.
Go. Keep coming, keep coming,
keep coming.
Keep going.
Stop. Stop.
Hard three o'clock to your right.
Good, drive it on that line.
Yes, you got this, keep going. Pause.
Pick up your right hand, or just your fingers? Yeah, you got this. Okay, good. Keep going on that line. Yes, you got this. Keep going. Pause. Pick up your right hand, or just your fingers?
Yeah, you got this.
Okay, good. Keep going on that line.
Go, go, go, go, go.
Five, four, three, two, stop.
Go 12 o'clock.
Straight ahead. Two, one, stop. Forward, left, 11 o'clock.
There you go.
There you go, 11 o'clock. A little more, 10 o'clock. There you go. There you go, 11 o'clock.
A little more, 10 o'clock.
There you go. Yeah.
Go, go, go.
Pause. Towards me,
towards your 12 o'clock, straight ahead.
Stop.
And now go nine o'clock.
Go. Platform gives out
from behind you. You can go faster.
You're on the perfect line.
Yeah. Keep going.
Go, go, go, go.
I'll tell you when to stop. Go, go, go, go. She's got it. Keep going. Go, go, go, go. I'll tell you when to stop.
Go, go, go, go. She's got it.
Keep going.
Go, go, go.
Stop. 12 o'clock.
Stop.
Now go two o'clock, one o'clock,
two o'clock.
There you go.
That's the line.
Keep going.
You can go fast, faster.
Run to Nana Mord, put your arms out.
You are there, honey. Yeah. You are there, honey.
Yeah! You are there, honey.
Yeah!
Your skin grows back from your eyes.
You can take your blindfold off Orym
as you emerge on the platform
as finally the last bit cracks and falls out.
You look around in the black abyss.
Yeah.
Just nothing but darkness and absence
in the space where you just walked as you hear it fall out
into silence. Nanamori claps.
What a fine display of communication. Oh, right.
And she gives all the rest of you your ability to talk again.
Gently, really impressive. The three of you who I gave you pieces of the scarf, give them to me.
She throws it into the darkness. That was a false one. You can't tear a magical scarf in three pieces. But she does hand this to
you, Oro.
Ooh.
That's the one that put literally it all on the line.
Scarf of Intrusive Intent. This beautiful purple scarf with golden accents can be spoken
through to perform various magical effects. The bearer can cast Falling Spells, Suggestion once per day, Magic Mouth twice per
day, Fear once per day.
DC is 15 for those spells.
And it talks to people when they walk by.
It's what Wren's left behind for many.
Is there an attunement?
No attunement. It Is there an attunement?
No attunement.
It doesn't say attunement.
Just gives a have up.
Attunement.
Well, so far so good.
Does everyone feel more bonded than before?
I really do.
I feel like we're learning about each other.
We're getting closer.
I love it.
I love it.
We should have done this a long time ago.
What's left then?
Trust.
Wait, trust?
Trust?
Ash, you took 16. Imogen, you took 22.
Oh yeah, that's right.
Where's my 30s?
I guess I took three already.
That's weird.
Yummy, yummy-o.
She leans back after the trust echoes.
How much did I take? 22.
Trust, trust, trust, trust.
I took 22 earlier? No. Her, trust, trust, trust, trust.
22 points earlier? No.
Her central mouth opens in this black smoke,
once again emerges and surrounds and encircles all of you
until you have nothing but the black abyss
you just escaped on all sides.
Eventually, the coldness gives away to a bit of warmth
and the sound
of birds and insects. As it begins to gently fade away,
you find yourself standing
in a deep, fey realm forest.
You look up and can see the canopy
heavily enclosed above.
Canapag.
That's a weird one.
It really is.
Canapag.
It'll be a little bit.
And you are surrounded by fey ruins.
Archways and walls that are partially crumbled,
tall as they stand but fallen and toppled over.
You can see there's all sorts of heavy overgrowth
and vines and massive clusters and places
of extremely sharp-lipping thorny brambles
that grow over and protrude from places and block it out.
As you stand here in the center, all of you, with Nanamori,
there's a large, what looks like a central well,
about 15, 20 feet across,
that is filled with still mirror-like water.
Well, friends, we're here at your final test.
Here in this interesting site of lost fae history, you all learn to trust one another. somewhere in these surrounding ruins and upon each of these altars
lays a section of a blanched ivory branch.
I need you all to work together
to bring all three of those back here and lay them into the water. Do you
think you could do that?
Sure, sounds like it's easy. This is an easy one. We just find some sticks.
What's the catch? Let me introduce to you some friends. She snaps her fingers again, and out of the shadows,
you see these two figures, humanoid,
but their bodies are featureless.
Their skin is a pale gray-white.
They have these sunken, clouded eyes,
and barely a nose and a slit for a mouth.
They look human-like, but their features are a little elongated, their fingers are
a little stretched, and they all emerge and look at all of you in this still silence. They glance and are two doppelganger friends of mine.
And they've been studying all of you in and out.
Two of you will be removed
and doppelgangers taking your place.
So good.
This is about to be like a game of werewolf.
But you get to figure out who that is
before they ruin this for you.
It's among us.
And that's where we're going to end the episode tonight.
This is so much fun!
You take that back!
Damn it! It's so good fun! You take that back!
Damn it!
We'll jump into this next time.
Oh, this is fun!
So yeah, we have cards of you being yourself,
and then two doppelganger cards that will shuffle in.
Two people will play doppelgangers.
All of you will be shuffled, be passed out.
All of you secretly look at your cards next time.
You'll get to figure, and it'll tell you,
if you're a doppelganger, what your objectives are,
and where some of the traps are in the map.
Clues to how to set it up.
So we'll see how trust works next time.
Oh!
Woo!
So, wait, how is it?
Okay. This is so great. We'll go over it more next time. Oh! So, how is it? Okay.
This is so great.
We'll go over it more next time.
This is so fun.
Because I just wanted to give a little taste
of what's coming, but next time we'll get to dig into it
before we actually begin.
Ooh!
Great man, you're genius.
This is so fun.
This is so good.
So fun, man.
All righty, well.
I threw my watch like three hours ago.
It's a good thing you recall that.
Well, thank you all so much for joining us.
We love you very much.
And is it Thursday yet?
Good night.
Oh, hey.
Ashley Johnson here.
And I sure do hope you're enjoying the adventure.
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