Critical Role - C3E83 Ruidus

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

Bells Hells take their first steps on Ruidus and begin their investigation of the mysterious ruddy moon… Twitch subscribers gain instant access to VODs of our shows like Critical Role, Exandria Unlimited, and 4-Sided Dive. But don't worry: Twitch broadcasts will be uploaded to YouTube about 36 hours after airing live, with audio-only podcast versions of select shows on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Google Podcasts following a week after the initial air date. Twitch subscribers also gain access to our official custom emote set and subscriber badges and the ability to post links in Twitch chat! "It's Thursday Night (Critical Role Theme Song)" by Peter Habib and Sam RiegelOriginal Music by Omar Fadel, Hexany Audio, Ghiya Rushidat, Karam Salem, Neal Acree, and Colm R. McGuinness"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

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. Hello, Critters. Marisha Ray here to welcome you to the hallowed audio halls of the Critical Role Podcaster Network. Critical Role airs on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. And Twitch subscribers can view the episode on demand immediately after it airs.

Or you can enjoy the VOD on YouTube the following Monday. And, for you loyal podcast listeners, the show transmutes into its audio-only format Thursdays, one week after the initial broadcast. Without further ado, let's see what sort of fun, scary adventures await. 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. But before we get to our tonight's episode, we have some quick announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor, which is a brand new sponsor of Critical Role, an awesome clothing company called Snag. Sam, tell us about them. I will.

Snag started five years ago in Scotland, but already has two million customers worldwide. They are a fully size-inclusive clothing company whose clothes actually fit everybody. If you've ever been told... Thank you. If you've ever been told you're the wrong size, shape, or gender to wear what you want, you're not the problem. The fashion patriarchy is, and Snag is on a quest to take them down one pair of legs at

a time. Snag makes all kinds of clothes, but their original and most popular product is tights. But you shouldn't listen to Sam Riegel about this. Tonight, why don't we let the tights do the talking? Oh boy, oh boy. Oh god, what's happening? Okay. Can we even see you? Hello, world! It's me, Snag Tights!

I'm plastic packaging free, and I use vegan dyes and develop my sizes on real people. I come in lots of varieties, like... Can the mic pick you up down there? Yeah, we got one down here for me. Oh, good. Check out these! These, over here, these! Cable knit merino wool tights, perfect for cold weather.

Ooh, so warm! Gross, I don't like it! Or these! I don't like tights, I don't like Sam. These fishnets, when you're feeling fancy, ooh la la! I've actually seen this. They have tights for every occasion. The office, a night out, a cosplay convention,

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This is the back. Should we call an ambulance? Nah. No, he's fine. We finally need him. It'll be great. Finally free. Trade up.

Matt, snagged you. Oh boy, thank you, Ashley. I'll probably get more people on as Only Sams after that. News from the royal court. Did you say Only Sams? I did. Nice. News from the royal court of Darrington Press.

The second edition for For the Queen by award-winning game director Alex Roberts is. The second edition for For the Queen by award-winning game director Alex Roberts is coming later this year. For the Queen is an amazing, easy to learn collaborative card-based game of building a tale of love, betrayal, doubt, and devotion towards the queen as your characters accompany her on a journey. I love this game so much. Find the second edition of For the Queen, which includes a ton of new art and additional story cards on May 14th at Critical Role online shops, Darington Press Guild stores, and other familiar, familiar,

friendly local game stores. Brain, short circuit. But sign up for updates at daringtonpress.com slash newsletter. Newsletter. Marisha, you're up. Let's talk Candela Obscura. Oh boy. The esoteric investigations of the Circle

and Tide and Bone came to a rousing conclusion last Thursday. You can now watch the whole thing on Twitch and YouTube, especially for those of you all who binge watch. I see you, I know you're out there. I would like to give a massive thanks to our GM, Aabria Iyengar. Yes.

She's so dreamy for leading us on these assignments. And of course, players Sam Riegel, Nashir Dallal, Gina Darling, and Liam O'Brien. We hope their investigations inspire you to go on your own. Also, Myst, season three, is launching on February 14th. Great little Valentine's Day present. Snugging and snuggle up.

The Myst narrators will join us for a round table next Wednesday, February 7th with Sam and I. They'll answer questions about Season 2, showcase gorgeous episode artwork, and tease what's to come in Season 3. And while Season 3 will bring the current narrative to an end, do not worry, because there's so much more to this cosmos

that it has to offer, and we're so excited to explore everything the Myths universe has with the amazing creative team at third person. And yeah, maybe talk about some new projects in the fish. Oh snap. Did you see him? He's still down there? He's purple, but he's all right.

On January, wait, let me start over. Our January. On January, it's done now. Our January Foresighted Dive with our guest host, Abubakar Saleem. Yeah, baby. It's available right now. It was fun. I think we annoyed the hell out of him.

It was great. He's awesome. He's so great. We don't deserve him. Now, we will not have a Foresighted Dive this month, the month of February, so look forward to the next one in March. We just have a lot of shit going on.

It'll make sense in time. Mm, mm-hmm. Yeah. Thank you. Speaking of March. Yes, Laura? Nope, speaking of merch. We have some. Would you like to see it? Yes! Yes!

Oh, yes. This has been out for a little bit, but I'm showing it now. We have this. Yay! It's our Chetney Pockleby pullover knit hoodie, and check it out. On the inside, it's like his hat.

It's so comfy, y'all. So cute. Yeah, Travis is going to be wearing this one. I wear it a lot at home, and I don't wash it. Yeah, I might. We know. I didn't know that. I might keep that one. I wear it a lot at home, and I don't wash it. Yeah, I might. We know. I didn't know that. I might keep that one for myself. Oh, you can keep it, I have other ones, I'm sure. And then we also have, let me make sure I'm saying it right,

yes, we have, da-da-da-da-da-da-da! This is from Candela Obscura. It's our blueprint t-shirt. You may notice, or you may not, that it is an arcane siphon blueprint. Yay! The artist is Sean Ellis, that's one of the illustrators

from the Candela Obscura Core. Sean. He's so great. It's amazing and awesome, and I just liked the design so much that we put it on a blue one for the UK. Ooh! Because, you know, variants and stuff.

So cute. Watch out for that bleed. Thank you, Laura. That's all I've got. I'll talk about comic books, because we make them. Over at Dark Horse, we're back to Vox Machina Origins. After a break, series four begins with issue number one. Let's go, baby!

Mysterious Disappearance, An Ominous Basement. Remember that from the home game? Dark surprises await. Vox Machina. The creative team features a new artist to the series. Love the work on these pages by Noah Hayes. We have returning colorist Diana Sosa and letterer Ariana Marr. You can look for it on May 29th. I don't know why I'm steepling my hands. I don't trust you, Senator. Don't ditch it, don't ditch it. For the latest updates on our comics,

graphic novels, and other creations with Dark Horse, check out critrole.com slash darkhorseguide. Da-da-da! That's it. Comic books. Thank you, Liam. I appreciate it. Speaking of which, I think that's it.

Oh god! What was that metal one? I got him in the dick! Holy shit! You got me in the dick! They tricked me, too! Well, the second one was true. Let me try that, right? Is it a metal dice?

We could go back. Let me try! Did you use a D4? I had to gauge the windage. All right, I'm sure we can do that. Are you serious? We're going You had a bad 20? I had to gauge the windage. Are you serious? We're going to try it, too? Yeah! While you prepare for your various...

It's sharp, that's a sharp one! We're on the moon, we got to get serious! Hey, all. There you go, that's the one. Hey, all. I don't want any of my dice touching Sandstick. With that, children. Yes. Side question.

That concludes our announcements. Let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Brian! Critical. Critical. It's Thursday night. One by one we climb until we reach the top. Two by two we fall.

Will we meet our end or meet our destiny? Hold your breath and roll. How do you want to do this? It's Thursday night. All ye critters come join us. It's time to continue our flight. There is magic and mystery. who knows what will happen? He might

But one thing's for sure, we never give up on the fight From the healer to the renegade, we all share the same goal. Adding more allies, taking more chances, hold your breath and roll. You can certainly try. It's Thursday night. All ye critters come join us, it's time to continue our play. It's Thursday night. There is magic and mystery from darkness.

Our friendship will rise. One 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 meeting with some of the various important Exandrian figures trying to plot along with you what is happening

upon Ruidus and how to stop it. You put yourselves forward as the ones to do this intel mission, figure out as much as you can about the goings on so the Exandrian forces can plan accordingly when the time is right. In doing so, you rallied yourselves, and with the help of the Voice of the Tempest,

you snuck into the Tishton excavation site once more, seeing them now bolstering their defenses, new technology being incorporated into the surroundings of the key itself. You stealthed past many members of the Ruby Vanguard and the Ryloran defenses. Attempting to climb to the Malleus Key, it seemed that combat was a necessity

after some not quite as smooth stealth attempts had transpired, but I think overall, you managed to climb towards the top, piecemeal, somewhat rickety map piece of an advancement to the Malleus Key, my apologies. But in doing so, you damaged and distracted a number of the surrounding guard in the vicinity. You fought the Thought Eater, one of the various powerful mystic Rylorans

that was guarding the spot behind Otohan Thul, who had darted off towards the distraction that had been built by the remaining forces of the Exandrian minds. Upon climbing it, did so while also bringing along with you a possum-transformed juggernaut. As you all found yourselves being thrust through the energy blast that is the Bloody Bridge, you found yourselves now standing on the surface of the red moon of ill omen. Let's go! Let's go!

What? Looking up, you can see a portion of the sky is now encompassed by the beautiful, glowing blue-green sight of your homeworld, Exandria. As your eyes come down on the space around you, on the horizon, you can see the majority of which is clouded in ever-shifting, either away or towards you, roiling dust storms of red in the distance.

The dappled stars above still being slowly consumed by the ever-prominent and dangerous-looking storms, very familiar to you. As you look into the space around you, you can see the glow of the ground where the Bloody Bridge arrives here, filling the space with the reddish energy. And beyond that,

you see what looks to be a makeshift encampment. There are built walls of what looks like bone and glass and stone that have been put together in a ramshod manner. You can see there are tents and small structures surrounding this, like a temporary military encampment had been built around this arrival site.

You can see there's a large pillar with a bell hanging on it. You can see there's a large pillar with a bell hanging on it. You can see there's the weird reddish plant material, almost like a scrub brush that is growing and grasping onto bits of exposed stone around here. The first real sign in person of vegetation on this land, though unfamiliar in some odd ways. You can see spires of strange rock

poking through the ground in places, like the very presence of the magic of the Bloody Bridges, like tearing and pulling elements up from the ground beneath. But this is an encampment, and you have no idea how many people may or may not be in it. And you know there's something coming behind you,

likely very soon. In this brief moment before we go into possibly another initiative, what are you doing? Can we see anybody, like, visible right now? I'll put down the map for you just so you can see what's here. This map brought to you by... That fast, that fast.

This map brought to you by WizKids Mini's Fresh Cut Grass. That's me. Ashton, Graymoore, and Fearne Calloway are ready to join your couch party. That sounds dirty. Order your plush friends today. Check out the Bell's Hells plush

at wizkids.io slash Bells Hells plush. Yo! Oh, snap! Okay, so maybe not as ramshackle as I thought. Whoa. Is that the bell tower? Did we see this before? What is that for? No, that's the bell tower. What the fuck is that for?

And we see it. Oh, if Scanlan could see me now, my sweet boy. Wait, what? You're Scanlan's dad? Huh? You don't know who's Scanlan. Just dropping that shit right over there. Oh my god. Whoa, look at the portal light.

Oh, that's where we come to. From this perspective, it does look like we're standing on pudding. I was going to say brie cheese. Brie cheese, yeah. Yum. It's like some nice tapioca. We got to a moment where we're like, I knew it. Do you guys remember

our brunches? I know. It's when I'd be like, I used to love the little. Yes. Okay, that visible effect is amazing. Well, right away, Orym's going to hop up onto Fearne's shoulder and hold on to her horns and scan around and see if anyone in sight sees us.

I'll match his perception and look for cover, like structures that we can hide. Still standing here in the center? We need to move now. That thought eater was coming through. It was a thought eater and a juggernaut that's coming through? Possibly. Juggernaut might already be through.

I'm looking for the possum. You look down and see this tiny little possum is biting at your wheel. I wheel back to him. Don't, don't, don't! Pick him up, take him with us. I had the bag, I was trying to put him in the bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll gently put him into the bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll gently fit him into the bag. We got to move. Yeah, let's go, let's go. Question for the DM. Is that an open space between the fences or is that enclosed? Like, are we in an enclosed? But is that just miniature? Correct.

That is just miniature setup. It is enclosed. Oh shit. How the fuck do we get out of this fence? Jump. Well, you made a perception check. 27. 27.

I'm not leaping up over that point. 27 is pretty decent. You do see, over in this area, there are two conversing Rylorans over on that edge. I can see through the fence? No, he jumped up over. He jumped up on Fearne's horns and is glancing over quickly.

You can see other figures walking through some of the tents, and it is, now that you get a top view, you are in the center of probably about 60-ish buildings built entirely around the center of the Bloody Bridge's arrival place. You've dropped right into the center of another encampment.

Can we jump up and over and hide behind these rocks right here? Right here? Just get out of this way. I was thinking that way. They're going to hit the bell. Yeah, you can. All right? Just get out of this way. I was thinking that way. They're going to hit the bell. Yeah, you can. All right, so you rush over this way? Oh yeah, will they ring the bell, you think?

Is that like a alarm system? Well, I think that's going to be if people have come through and started looking at them. Are there any gaps? Yes, I go with, let's all move over there just so we can huddle and discuss real quick. Are there any doors, gates, gaps in the? We're right by a tent.

Is there somebody in this tent that we're just hopping over? You don't know. Is there a door? We got to move. I will smell and use my keen senses to try and perceive if anybody's in there. Sure, sure. Do I sense, smell, hear anybody?

We should all be crouching and ducking behind things as we keep going. I'm following the group and I'm just trying to keep an eye on anything to hit. Do we still have Pass the Eye? No, we don't have Pass the Eye. People are still moving back over this way? We don't know. I think I'm in.

Wolfnose. No, because you're currently concentrating on The Polymorph. The Polymorph. Oh, that's a concentration. Yeah. It is. Fearne, where are you going? I'm going to go over there as well. Where's the group?

But since Mr. Possum is in the Bag of Holding now, can I concentrate? You try to throw him in the Bag of Holding? We put him in the Bag of Holding. That's what we were attempting, FCG and I. Okay, well, who's going to try that? It's going to try and resist being grappled. I was trying to shove it in,

and she was helping by opening the bag. So go ahead and make a strength check for me. Strength? Against the Possum, strength. They're wily. They're nasty. Okay, make a strength check for me. Strength? Against a possum, strength. They're nasty. They're wily. They're nasty. Okay, just a strength check. 15. Athletics, I'll say.

Okay. Still 15. Still 15. Yeah, no, he didn't roll that well. He just vanishes into the bag of holding. Good. You're going to unconcentrate? Yeah.

He's in the bag now. He's out in the void. Poof out and explode the bag? No, he's just probably going to unconcentrate? Yeah. He's in the bag now. He's out in the void. Poof out and explode the bag? No, he's just probably going to die in there. Yes. Laudna, what are you doing? Are people hiding? Yeah, they're all clumbering over to this side. I'll hide.

We're back. You're going to dart and join the other space. Here we go. You're following suit? It's better to stay together right now. Yeah, I'll follow suit. Okay. Now you can pass through our treasure chest.

You have a pretty deep leap, so you can come down to this side if you want to. You leap down into that space, which immediately reveals to you the opening to the back of this tent. On the inside, you hear something rustling. Pass without a trace. Okay, you guys pass without a trace.

She yells that. Pass without a trace! Be real quiet! What do you do? I was running towards the tent and I rolled a 19 to use my senses, nose, and ears to see if there was anything in the tent. Okay, so as you started passing, you land next to Orym in this space. You both.

You hear the rustling. The scents here are unique. You've not smelled a space like this before. You've been near Rylorans and you can pick up their scent a little bit more, but all of the surrounding flora, the stone and dust around here, it's overwhelming you for a moment,

but it also means that you can very quickly pick up the scent of what is likely Rylora in that tent. Should we rush him? In the tent? Yeah. He'll send out a message to everyone around. Oh, because they do mental shit? Yeah. He'll send out a message to everyone around. Oh, because they do mental shit? Yeah. Sick.

It's about this moment. Yeah. Fuck. That you see a flash, a pulsing burst of energy from the Bloody Bridge itself as it descends into this place. Immediately. Shit.

Are we hiding? We're hiding, right? We duck, we duck. You watch as the Thought Eater, still bloodied and recovering from the recent conflict with all of you, immediately darts out from the bridge and floats up in the air, its robes floating around it. Shortly thereafter. Celestial body. Another Juggernaut.

One of the Juggernauts that was pursuing from behind begins to clamber through. I... Fuck, fuck! Not now, Wodnuts. What? Rain check. Unbelievable. Stress reliever, but now it's not going to happen.

I am going to cast Phantasmal Force on the Juggernaut because I think he's going to be... Shut up! I think he's going to be stupider. Okay. And I want him to believe that he sees... I can't believe it.

I can't beliedus. Wow. He sees the heels of me and Imogen and Chetney running this direction through the fence. Okay. There's no gap. There's no gap. It's, even though there is, it's just an approximation. We are jumping over the fence.

We scaled it and he sees us jump down and we're running that way. That's going to be a 15. Failed. Failed. He rolled pretty decent, but yeah. All that way. That's going to be a 15. Failed. Failed. He rolled pretty decent, but yeah. All right, so that's going to be your casting on to that point. Since they've arrived,

and yet was your initial jump point. Initiative. Everyone roll a new initiative. Wow. Should we roll for stealth? Since we passed it out of trace, didn't we, Steph? Pass it out of trace and jump behind? Sure.

Yeah, we'll say everybody can go ahead and roll a group stealth check. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay. So stealth checks here. We'll go with that first, and then we'll go to initiative, since that was what we were doing there. 35. Oh, that's better than I thought.

35, okay. I thought it was a two, but it's a nine. Sorry. 25. 25, okay. FCG, what'd you got? Oh, sorry, sorry. 26, then. 26.

20. 20. All right. 30. 30. 24. 24, got it. 28. 28, all righty. Bonus moon landing initiative, all righty. On this moon landing initiative.

All right. So now, initiative, 25 to 20. 20. Oh, that's a 23. 23? I think so. Wait, is that a one or is that a, nope, yeah, that's 23. 24. Oh.

Oh wait, so wait, Orym. Orym, Ashton, Imogen.. Orim, Ashton, Imogen. Orim, Ashton, Imogen. Wait, Orim is before Ashton? Jesus. Sorry, I was too busy thinking what the fuck are we going to do. Yes. Yeah, yeah. All right.

20 to 15. 18. 19, what's your dexterity? I mean, oh, I hate that. Yeah, me too. 14. 14, got it, all righty. Laudna hate that. Yeah, me too. 14. 14, got it, all righty. Laudna Chet.

19, 18. All right. 15 to 10? 15. 15, all right. Good job, Fearne. Thanks. Wait, what was, wait.

Wait, I'm 15, what are you? Laudna Chet Fearne. Laudna Chet Fearne, okay. Orym, Ashton, Imogen, Laudna, Chet. Roll a ball. Two. ROAR! F, C. ROAR!

How did you roll so low? You're tearing. With the juggernaut immediately grasping its head for a second, then looking over in that direction, slamming its fists together, the illusion that you had put through its mind taking hold, the initiative order kicks in with Orym.

You're up first with Ashton on deck. I have no idea what we're gonna do, so what I am gonna do is crouch by the, just off the side of the tent's entrance and hold and attack on if anything threatening comes out. Okay, so you dart off to the side where, right in front of Chetney and keep your weapon ready. Yeah. You got it. So I'm readying your action there for an attack as soon as it comes out. Okay, so you dart off to the side where right in front of Chet and keep your weapon ready. Yeah. You got it.

So readying your action there for an attack as soon as it comes through. That's the end of your turn. Ashton, you're up next with Imogen on deck. Well, I suppose that's the end of my rage. I am going to try, is it possible to get to the other side of that tent without being in the line of sight

of this awful flying psychic nightmare? Unfortunately not. Okay. Yeah, there's not a whole lot to break eye contact with it, because every other space you could do that is filled with your friends who are also hiding. Okay, so there's no... I suppose I am going to hold a... At the moment, I'm going to hold a rage.

Well, no, because then I spend it no matter what. That's silly. I'm going to, fuck it. I'm going to, I'm going to hold my attack. Where am I there? And we're hidden enough from this motherfucker, right? You think? Yeah, I'm going to hold my attack,

watching and keep an eye on him, but listening for Orym to do his thing. And if I do, I'm going to try and take a swing at anything that's close to me. You got it. Imogen, you're up. Because I think I'll ring this bell. That bell. Uh-huh. It'd be awesome if we could silence it,

but I don't think we have anything. But the thing is, is if they ring this bell. That bell. It'd be awesome if we could silence it, but I don't think we have anything. But the thing is, if they ring the bell, they can let everybody know with one thought. They don't need a bell to let people know. They must need a bell, otherwise they wouldn't have a bell. Maybe that's for the non-Raylaurens. Maybe the bell is for their cattle.

Let them know when it's time to eat and stuff. Maybe it's for us. Maybe it's for Belle's health. Oh! It's to welcome us. It's a welcoming day. I have a question. It's time to eat and stuff. Maybe it's for us. Maybe it's for Belle's health. Oh! It's to welcome us. It's a welcoming day. I have a question. It's a welcome, Belle. Yes. I feel like I would know this from having done spells a lot.

Sure. If I cast a spell that is in a different place than myself, like a distance spell, they can't tell where the spell originated from, right? It depends. Because casting a spell, does it have a verbal component? I don't know.

It means you have to speak to cast the spell, which does make a little bit of noise. But if I'm whispering. True. It's a forceful whisper. And we're passed without a trace. Daddy didn't raise no whisper. Also, a side question.

I feel like you would have said something, but. He's also an asshole. Gravity's cool. There's no total recall, eye said something, but. He's also an asshole. Gravity's cool. There's no total recall, eye bulging, anything. Make constitution. No, you're fine. Oh! Why would you say that?

You're fine. We can turn into clouds, but that takes a minute. Yeah, but it takes a minute. And we're dumb while we're doing it, too. Yes. We'd have to find really good cover in a normal. We have to hide. We're going it, too. We'd have to find really good cover in a normal pet. We have to hide. We're going to do that.

So, what are you trying to do? Maybe. Yeah, maybe. It's always the answer. He's floating in the air above the fence. People can see him if we attack him. Yeah, we can't attack that thing. Is he like, what's he doing up there? Is he just like?

He's looking, I bet he's picking his nails. Right now, looking around. Looking for all of you. Do you have anything defensive? Is he checking his texts now that he's home? No, he's checking his Apple Watch. Okay, good. I don't know.

It's more polite. By the way, Mystics, they're upgraded. Better than I am. We did see the juggernaut be like, gah, towards the direction. You did. You're the only one who has context for what you did to it, so you noticed that. I can get us out of this wall,

if we can blast around. To get out of the wall and then run? Can you silently get us through? I can silently open a hole in the wall. Great. That sounds good. So we, is it okay? Then once we're on the other side of the wall, we have a bunch of tents of Lawrence to get past.

Yeah, but they're not expecting us. We're not readable. We're still dressed in the... Didn't we take some cloaks and stuff? Didn't we dress like the Ruby? You still have vanguard outfits on, those of you that were dressed. They might think we're just. So these two definitely know what to look for.

Yeah, but not everybody. Yeah, but not everybody does. And we're not, I think we're psychically cloaked still, if I recall. Yeah, you're able to talk psychically to each other. Yes. Oh, yeah. So all of this conversation is just. Yeah. Happening in the supply and supply.

Okay, I am going to. Which is a great point, so I tell everybody I think I distracted the Juggernaut. Okay. I tell them that, so they hopefully don't ruin that. Do you tell us that as confidently as you just said that? Yes.

We got through Orm. Yeah, we're on Imogen. Imogen's a maybe Laudna. No, it's not. I think something terrible is going to happen before Laudna's. don't know. I think something terrible is going to happen before Laudna's. Can I hold a spell? What do you want to hold? Or if they

like, spot us? Sure. Okay. Okay. Or if, yeah, if there's any aggressiveness towards us, I'm going to hold. Okay, you got it. All right, that finishes your turn.

What spell are you holding? That's a good question. The Finger of the Emperor. I was debating, I was debating! Mending. I mean. I think I'm going to hold Lightning Bolt. Okay, got it.

That's a good one to waste. All right. That's a good one to waste. All right, so that finishes your turn. That brings us to the thought eater's turn. You're right. You're 100% right. The thought eater is up there and scanning the vicinity. And everybody, empty your brains, don't think anything.

Oh shit, I'm thinking about not thinking about anything. It just popped in there. It's okay. Right? The Ryloran glances around for a second. You see it look frustratingly, and it takes its left hand and does this. How the bell. As it does, the bell.

Ping-ba-ding-ding-ding-ding-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling-ling. Try to avoid the silence at the end. How can we silence the bell? That kind of magic is impossible. We can't hit him. He's in clear view of everybody. He climbs up. Yeah. He gets higher? Yeah, He's in clear view of everybody. And he climbs up. Skadoosh. Yeah. He gets higher? Yeah, he gets taller up there.

Shit. Because he's looking for a better vantage point. Because he cannot seem to pick up your mines. And also, if you could refresh us. Rings of mind-shielding. I know we just fought him. Was he super rough in any way? He's looking wrecked.

He's looking real wrecked. Shit. Shit. But we can real wrecked. Shit. But we can't take him out there. I forgot to ask how fucked up he was. I think Matt said it, but we just are too nervous. Is that right? It's okay.

Did you say that? He did. Yeah, but he was still floating in front of everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, an attack with magic, everyone could see it. It's like, it's way up there. It's bad, it's bad. Laudna succeeded in messing with the big guy's mind

that he saw people climb over the fence? Maybe, we'll see. That finishes his turn. Laudna, it's your turn now. The bell has rung loudly, and now that it's come to your turn, you hear howls in the distance. Like wolf howls? These odd echoing,

. Off in the area. We got to push that hole and run, yeah. We got to move. We are on the X. There's moon wolves? Even if there's a dude in this tent, we need to get moving this way.

I'm sure he's scanning the horizon. How quickly is he turning? What's the spotlight speed here? On him? Yeah. Guy facing. I'd say he's drifting. If a werewolf is on the moon, is it always a full moon? He's doing the full light.

How do you feel? How do you feel, Chet? Yeah, so we could possibly clock out of his range of speed if we were, you can certainly try. Certainly try, okay. He's turned right now. Were we going to try and loop around? And this guy also turned that direction, right?

The juggernaut? So they're both looking away. I was going to say hopping into the tent is a great idea, or at least a temporarily great idea. There's someone in the tent. Letters are saying that they can make a hole that way. I'm not trying to make it harder for us. I'm just wondering how this works.

This is just a morbid curiosity. We can all speak to each other in our minds, but we also have shielded our minds from- No, but it's only against unwanted- Okay, okay, okay. Outer divination and things like that. It seems to prevent the- I just wanted to know how it works. It's the exact same as my circle.

Whatever's in there will be surprised. Gating what is not wanted for the time being. Okay. How? Fuck. Shit. Should we try it? It feels like it's overwhelm the person in the tent

or make a hole in the fence and run. And start running. It's about to come out anyway. We have no idea. Could be a scrub in the tent, could be some heavy hitter. We have no idea. But they just heard the bell. Also feels like we got to go by the tent to get have no idea. Could be a scrub in the tent, could be some heavy hitter. We have no idea.

But they just heard the bell. Also feels like we got to go by the tent to get to the fence. Let's just go behind the tent. I'm going to cast Darkness at the front of the tent. Okay. Okay. So he can't see when it comes out.

How wide is that? Or so he can't see. How big is Darkness? 15 feet. Oh my god. Can we go behind the tent? They're going to see Darkness. They're going to see the Darkness.

But then we can maybe run around before and scooch by without a light. Point us to where the darkness is. I cannot do it if it's a bad idea. It's too late, it's done. No, does the darkness stay there? I like it. That's way bigger than 15 feet, isn't it?

15-foot radius, is that... Not diameter. Does it stay there? Does it stay put or does it travel with us? It stays put. That actually might be good because they could all converge there. We're gone.

Actually, if it's covering part of the wall, then that's where we could go. I'm doing it. I said it out loud. You toss it down. The area right there just fills with a sphere of pitch black shadow that encompasses both Orym and Chetney. Both of you, your sight just goes to darkness.

Cool. But you can still hear and smell. Indeed, you still have your other senses about you, but suddenly your vision just blinks out in an instant. Yeah, you reach out and grab Orym's shoulder. Okay, cool. Laudna, are you staying put or are you moving? No, I'm going to move through.

I can see through dark vision, or through darkness, so can I reach over and grab Orym and drag him with me? Like... I'll allow it if you want to. Darkvision doesn't work in this, right, though? I have magical. You can see through magical darkness. I can see through magical darkness.

Damn! I meant that. I was rubbing the spell. I can still move, though, right? Yeah, if you wanted to. Can I try to get closer to the fence? Sorry, I would have done that. I just didn't say it.

Okay. Now here's the thing. You're all stealthed when you're holding still. If you're going to move, I'm going to say because he's watching, he's looking away, it's still going to be another stealth check

to see if he can pick up on you, but we can do it. Okay. So we have to roll a stealth check to move anywhere. So you move, and you feel another hand, Orym, on you, begins to pull him forward, and we'll say, Chetney, if you want to go for it since you're next anyway, you can follow suit.

Yep. Okay. So go ahead and make a stealth check for me, if you don't mind. We still pass without a trace. Darby, are the bonuses being in darkness? Nope. Oh my god. We're all going to die, man.

We're all going to die. It's going to be a good year. It's going to be a good year. It's going to be a great year. That's a natural one. Oh, fuck! Here's the thing. I don't know why I can't roll this entire campaign. Everything happens for a reason.

This is how it's meant to be. You create the darkness. You reach over and you take Orym's shoulder. Right as you move in, your foot hits this small divot in the ground. Your ankle just pops out for a second and you just collapse onto the ground. Now, you make an impact sound,

which draws at least the attention of this fellow, who turns and he just sees a dark sphere of shadow that sits there, which is now visibly present. Let's go. But nevertheless, that finishes your turn. Chetney, you're up. Would I have moved? Should I roll a sketch? Oh yeah, if you wanted to move it into your turn. Chetney, you're up. Would I have moved? Should I roll a sketch?

If you wanted to move into your turn, then yes. She's just fighting. No, this is still working. Okay, that's great. We're surrounded. We end with your turn. You make the hole, and then it'll be everyone else's round practically before.

And you are now, as you rush over to the wall, darkness around you. He doesn't get to move until a full round, so we've done pretty good. All right, Chetney. I'm going to continue moving towards the fence. Okay. And I've got Orym in tow, so I'm just moving towards where we were headed towards.

Even in darkness, I'll use my sniffing and hearing to hopefully keep a straight line, like swimming in the ocean at night. Yep, and you do, and then your nose hits the edge of the wall. So you your nose hits the edge of the wall. So you can just catch the edge of the darkness. Great. I will whisper back to FCG,

and I will hold in my brain. Yes, thank you. In my brain. And I will hold my attacks in case I see someone up in my face. All right, that finishes your go. Fearne, you're up. Actually, I hold with a bonus action, Blood Curse of the Binding.

I'll allow it, yeah. Yeah? You're normally holding an action versus a bonus action, but I'll... Let me do, I'll hold the attacks. I'll hold the attacks. Okay. We're on the moon. We got to start off on the right foot. All right, sure. That's what I was asking. Hi, okay.

I'm going to find a part of the fence that is not in the dark. Ash, do it. Yes. Ignore these people. All right, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to prepare. Well, I'm going to bamf out Mister. Okay. Let's get him out, just ready to go, rear in and ready.

Where do you want to throw him around? Just next to me. Okay. Otherwise, we're just sitting there like. And then I'm going to prepare. I'm going to run to the darkness, just one run until I hit the wall. Yeah, if you keep running, you'll get it. 25, 30 is your movement?

Yes, no, 35. 35? How? You just run into the wall alongside Chetney. That's my strong backside. The mister's going to follow? Mister's going to follow. He follows behind you in the shadow.

You hear once he goes into the shadow. What are we doing? What are we doing? We're trying to get a hole in the wall. All righty. Okay. That finishes your go? Yes. Can I hold? Oh god. Because now you have to read the whole thing. I'll hold Scorching Ray. Okay. That finishes your go? Yes. Can I hold? Oh god.

Because now you have to read the whole thing. I'll hold Scorching Ray. Yep. Okay, until you have sight on something. Until I have sight on something. Sight unseen. Okay. So it is now the Juggernaut's go. What? The Juggernaut is going to bound.

Nice. Nice, nice. Good. And begin searching around in the vicinity this way. Good job. Tell me I'm wrong vicinity this way. Good job, friends. Good job. Tell me I'm wrong. Actually, this is an interesting question. Phantasmal Force is concentration.

Darkness is also concentration. Oh no. Wait, no. Phantasmal Force is not. One followed the other, right? Phantasmal Force is concentration. Is it? It is. Well, he still saw that. It is, that's the same. He saw it? It is. He still saw it go that way.

He saw it, he leaps over there, and now it's gone, he still saw that. It is, that's the thing. He saw it? It is. He saw it. He did. He still saw it go that way. He saw it. He leaps over there and now it's gone and he looks confused. Yeah. Looks up at the Thought Eater and looks over at the Globe of Shadow and the obvious sighting goes like, and is preparing himself now to try and return. Shrattrow. At least do it the other way.

He did. All right. One gap. One second. Finishing his go, you watch as a Ryloran steps out of the tent and immediately into the Orb of Shadow and just, actually, you don't see anything except for FCG and Ashton. The rest of you just hear some foot, yeah, and you, and you hear the footsteps and then step into the space.

Is he within striking distance or no? And immediately steps back into the room. I hate this poster. Came out with the, Now there's fucking something new every day. They're not all badasses. They are not all badasses. Good to know.

Name a day of the week in this world? What's a day of the week in this world? Oh, we'll say Myerson. Myerson sucks! Myerson? Wait, his name is Myerson? No, that's the name of the day of the week. Because I know the days of the week. I was just having to pick one.

There's eight Myersons, am I right? I hate Myersons. Myersons, am I right? I got that wrong. Anyway, so. I got that wrong. Anyway, so. I got that wrong. That brings us to... It's different on ruinous.

Days, it's hard to pick a day here. Yeah. No. FCG, it's your go. Okay. So much to do on this turn. First, just glancing up, just going to take a mental image of what Exandria looks like,

because I'm going to check again in a few hours and see if it's rotated at all to prove that it's a sphere. You're smart. Wow. And if it doesn't, it means it's not. Yep. Second. Yep, the important, that's first.

Priorities. Second, I'm going to, using the theater of the imagination here, Matt. It's the sphere. It's a sphere. It's a sphere of darkness, right? It goes 20 feet up as well. Well, the point where you pointed it at,

it would be a dome from where you're sitting. Because you pointed it at a point in the ground and it creates a dome area. Yeah, 15 feet. It's a sphere. So 15 feet up. Okay, okay. So I'm trying to do my math here.

So from his perspective, there exists a point. A horizon? Yeah, behind which he cannot see. I see what you did there. Correct. Yeah. Math. Talking about the fatty stuff.

So I'm going to scoot around the outside of the sphere, if I can, still fully. If I have 30, you can't get around it, unfortunately. 30 feet only gets you partially to the side. If you go straight through, would you have gone straight through and hit the other side? If you want to try and come around this way,

you might cross visual perspective, but that'll get you a visual sight on the wall. But this way, you just don't have enough movement to get around the entire sphere. But I can see the wall. I just can't see the wall that's right behind the sphere. Correct. You can see the wall over on this side. Yeah, that's probably in his eyesight as well.

Could you have gone straight through? Does the sphere touch the wall? Could I have gone through the, sort of bisect the edge of the, as the crow flies way and cut off five feet? I'll say because of the height you had up here in the sphere 15 feet, you could probably make a perception check for me.

Okay. Let's do that. Let's see how keen your vision is here. Perception 19. 19. As you're coming down the broken rock here on the edge of this platform where the Bloody Bridge lands, you see there's one little point where the Dome of Shadow and the top of the tent meet,

and you have one little perspective point right there in the center where you think it can hit the wall and that might be blocked by either the sphere or the tent. Okay, I will do that. I will use the Staff of the Dark Odyssey, and I will aim it, and I'm going to cast Pass Wall at the wall,

as low as I possibly can, maybe a four-foot-high door. Okay. You can go way past that. It can go as deep as I want it to. I don't know how deep the wall is, so I'll just try to make it go 20 feet deep. Okay. So you do that, and the portion of the structure there

just dust goes around it in the shape of almost like a slightly rounded door, about three and a half feet off the ground, four feet off the ground. Okay. Nothing's open, but you see that shape kind of appear there. Wait, it's not open? Meaning it looks like a door-like space

has been carved around it. Great, okay. I will telepathically say, there's a door open to the left of the sphere. And then I will use my movement to head toward it. Okay. The last of your movement will get you 10 feet this way. So you are now within the Sphere of Darkness as well.

Okay. Great. Great. I think that's my, oh wait, do I get a bonus action? Or is my bonus action telling everybody what's going on? Thinking. I'll say between glancing at everything, unless you have something at the ready right now. I don't. All right.

Then we'll move on to Orym with Ash then on deck. Wait, help my Mind Palace. I'm in the sphere or out of the sphere? You are in the sphere. You are next to me against the wall in the sphere. And you know it's to the left of the sphere. Of the sphere. So we'll have left on the wall.

Yeah. Your Mind Palace is as good as it would be for Orym right now, who's been in darkness for the past four seconds. So I'll just do this along the wall. Yeah. Okay. So you push forward to the edge of it, you move your hand, and you feel a part of the wall

give, and that section of it hits the ground as dust kicks up, and you step out of the shadow, and you're now looking out beyond the wall into what looks like an alley, along some stones and rock outcropping, and you can see edges of the tent on either side. Any threats for a 21? 21.

You don't see any, but you can definitely hear those howls in the distance, and they're getting louder, as well as hearing footfalls scatter in the distance. You don't see anything immediately. Okay, so there's Allie ahead of me here? There's Allie this way and this way. Okay, so it's going like this, right where we are? Okay, okay.

Like a T-junction? I think really quick, left or right to the group, which would mean cutting up this way or going. You're the first. Make the call. Straight out. But it's not that way. It's this. Left, always left.

Where he's looking. Where the. Always left. He's going to keep turning. Well, actually. No, they're looking at the sphere. I'm actually going to go right. I'm going to go this way. Because they looked at the ball,

so I'm going the opposite direction from where they're looking. That'll get you about here, following the edge of the wall. You're like. You're moving towards them. No, I want to. You're following that wall?

The alley goes. The alley goes this way and this way. Yeah, so I'm imagining, guys, that they're going to be like, what's that way? So I'm going out of their line of vision. Oh, these guys? I think we're going with those guys.

I don't know what's out there in Invisible Land. I didn't say I was curving up the fence towards those guys. Yeah, you could come by the back. By this way? Yeah. Okay. It'll be your dash action to get there. Yeah, that's fine. I need you to make a stealth check for me.

You got this. That's right in his line of sight. Right in his line of sight. That is, that's good. Yes. 232. 232? 232? 232. That's what it is.

That's my boy. Okay, you keep low, take some of the dust and scatter it on the shield to blend in with the ground as you dart by as quietly as you can and get behind the rock, tumbling into the shoulder as you get behind it

and hold against it. You're fairly confident that nothing saw you for now. Okay, so I'm looking for new Rylorn or anybody and watching the hole where I just left. Okay, you got it. And mentally, were you communicating where you went as you did it? Awesome. All right.

Finishing your go, Ashton, you're up with the Midget on deck. All right. I just saw that shit happen, and I just heard FCG's shit. I'm going to, in my head, just say, Hey, Laudna, I could use some directions when I get in here, so I'm going to pick up the healer and make towards the exit. Tell me if I'm going the wrong way,

and I'm going to go directly towards where I saw FCG-2. Yeah. You stumble almost into FCG, and you're now in the shadow if you keep moving. I'm going to grab FCG. Okay. And I'm going to Just walk straight through. And I'm going to follow Laudna's advice.

Do I recognize his rocky hands? It's hard to miss. Yeah. The rough texture. At his hands. Make it weird, I'm into this. All right. Take FCG. It slows your movement, but you pull him along a little bit. So normally I have 40 feet.

Right, so it would have been 25 to get you there. Then you finish your movement at the wall with everyone else. If you dash, you can continue to move out there at half speed. I'm going to dash, and I'm going to take FCG with me through the door and just. Okay. Do you allow him to do so?

Oh, Ashton! Yes, I do. Okay. And I enjoy it. All right, as you step out of the shadow and outside of this open door, you actually, you don't even see Orym. You just step out and you're like, there's an alley going to the right and left of you

with a rock structure. I whisper on your right, by the tent. Do we have, do I have enough room? Well, obviously I can't bring both of us, but how much movement do I have left? Just a... Bringing both of you? Five feet.

Just by myself, 10 feet then. Yes. I'm just going to use whatever's left to try and get the most advantageous, please don't look at me. Okay, so hiding up against the wall, essentially? Yeah, trying to pretend that I'm going, wow, the bell's ringing.

What the? I'm wearing clothes that make sense. Yay. Okay. Good, I cover my eyes so I'm invisible. All right, finishing Ashton's go. Imogen, you're up. Okay. What? I didn't use my spell, you're up. Okay. What? I didn't use my spell, so that spells a lot, right?

Okay. I am going to, while I'm in the darkness, I'm going to cast Invisibility on myself. Okay. Ooh, good idea. And then I'm going to go find the hole. You find the hole and step through. You see FCG and Ashton to your right. You heard Orym whisper to everyone to the right, and you glance over and you can just barely see him

off to the side of the rock on that end. I'm going to try to catch up with Orym. Okay. That'll get you about 20 feet up to about there. You are invisible, darting off in that direction. That finishes your go. All righty. That brings us to the Thought Eater. The Thought Eater is now going to, angry look about in this area, is going to float over to this portion here. Yeah, fine.

And yeah, is going to go ahead and is going to psychic slam one of these rocks. He watches this piece of stone. What? He lifts off the ground for a second. What is that spell? Can I see him doing it? It's telekinesis type.

Okay. That's telekinesis. And throws it into the sphere. I need all three that are there. That's going to be Chetney, Laudna, and Fearne, as well as Mister, to make a dexterity saving throw with disadvantage because you don't see it coming. All right, all right. Laudna would. Actually, you would, so you have it fine.

Question for the GM. Yes. Is gravity the same? It feels pretty similar. Okay. Okay. You haven't had a full moment to really try it out, but it feels it hasn't affected your mobility. Okay. All right.

22. 22. You take half damage, so that would be 12 points of bludgeoning damage, which is indeed halved again because you are in normal form. Oh my god. All righty. Magic.

15. 15, you take 24 points of bludgeoning damage as you are bashed heavily by this rock and you are knock-prone from its impact. And you have to roll a concentration check, right? You do. Oh, on the darkness. That's true. Yeah, DC 12, so just roll a concentration check, right? You do. Roll on the darkness. That's true. Yeah.

DC 12, so just roll a constitution saving throw and get higher than 12. Stay darkness, my old friend. 18. You roll on the mask. All righty, Fearne. These are so easy for me. 12? Yes.

You also take 24 points of bludgeoning damage and you're not prone. Where'd that come from? I need you to make a concentration check. You got hit by outcropping and you said, fuck! Constitution saving throw. Oh wait, I didn't do a mystery either. No, but yeah, we'll do that in a second.

Oh, a natural 20? Natural 20, okay, you maintain concentration. What am I maintaining concentration? You did a no-look roll. You did great! She did like, she had her eyes onet, her eyes on you just went. I know. I didn't even know what she was rolling.

I forgot how to do it. It's a good feeling. When the fear kicks in like that, I'm doing my job. Addict response. Mr. Um, Mistress's advantage, too? Yes, if you can ask me. Um, 12, same. Y'all take 24 points of lightning damage.

Oh, is he gone? Hold on, hold on, hold on. Is he dead? No, he poofed? He's probably poofed. I'll find out, I'll find out. Okay. But indeed, bits of chunked rock and weird purple-black slate, stone, and metal

seem to burrow into the ground and jam out in chunks as there's now just rubble around all of you in this darkness. Jam out in chunks. We're kind of learning the tense, like, what the fuck? I know. Just, throomp, throomp.

He's in the corner. I don't want to go outside. I don't want to go outside. I had a spur, transfer. That's going to finish his go. I knew I wanted to do it. That was pretty cool. Now that's going to bring us to Laudna

with Chetney on deck. You're prone, so you have to spend half your moment to get up. I'm prone. Yeah, so I get up. I head through the gate. Gate, I think it's five, 10, 15 feet to step beyond the hole, and you're now out of the darkness. That's all of your movement.

You still have your action. Mister is okay. Mister is okay? Mister is okay, everybody. Okay, okay, okay. He's up. Yeah, he's got 60 hit points. He's a beefy boy. Six zero? Yeah, that's like, by the way, that's what Trinket had at level 20.

Dang. Why does Mister do so much more? Because he's a chonker. Oh, wow. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, save it, save it. Save it for the fight. Save it for the fight. Laudna, you still have your action. Yes, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I... This is panic. Can I take a minute to look left and see what is down the direction, the opposite direction? Make a perception check for me. That we did not go.

Jesus Christ. Why? 12. Was it? 12. 12. Glancing on that way, you don't see anything immediately in your eyeline, but you can, kind of what Orym heard, you can hear the bang of some sort of beast,

multiples of them throughout the vicinity getting louder and distant footsteps. And if I dash, there's no way I can make it to where Orym did, right? You can get partway there. No. Out in the open? steps. And if I dash, there's no way I can make it to where Orym did, right? You can get partway there. No. Out in the open?

I'm actually going to just head a few feet to the left. I just don't want to be completely crunched up. You got it. Maybe a little bit more. Okay. And that's it. You got it. All right, so finishing that go for you. That's going to bring us to Chetney with Fearne on deck.

Yeah, I'll keep moving forward, having Fjellorm pull out of my hand. I'll step out towards the door, or towards the wall, at least, and move towards the left was the last thing I heard until I find the door. Yeah, you find the door. It only takes about 10 feet of movement to get there

and pull through. You emerge from the shadow and you can see your friends to the right and to the left. You can see, you do not see Imogen, but you can see FCG, Ashton, immediately to your right. And with the indication whisper from Orym, you know that he's to the right direction. 25, 30, 35, 40.

I couldn't get to where Orym is. So I will... You could if you dash. That's true. I'm stealthy as fuck. I will dash to where if you dash. That's true. I'm stealthy as fuck. I will dash to where Orym is. Okay. But on all fours and with my belly in the dirt.

Ooh. Ooh. I will say, because this will cross into the eyeline of the entity, and you're going full movement dash here, now that he has attention in this area very cleanly as well, especially since he's shifted over the direction, go ahead and roll with disadvantage. I normally have advantage, so just normals.

Yeah, so just a straight roll. Oh boy. I liked it more when I had advantage. Still with a no. You said stealthy as fuck, but we still pass without a trace. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Still plus 10, still plus 10. Yeah. If it is pass without a trace, it's 33.

Without it, it's 23, because I'm moving away from... No, you still have it. You're within 30 feet of Fearne still. Yeah. Okay. All right. Why don't we have this Heroes' Feast again? So. The beauty to fear.

It's literally crawling through the Sahara, like I'm a lion and my body doesn't move, but just my haunches do. I think that's a lizard. Listen, it's my fucking visual. Okay. I am that one. So from a technical standpoint,

to be mindful of this, pass that a trace. It's a 30-foot area around Fearne. So you can't cast it and someone just runs off for an hour and they can stay stealthy. So you need to stay. Once you get away from them. Once you get 30 feet away from fern. So you are just emerging from the area of that before you get to the area,

so you would not get the pass, out of trace bonus as you make the first step run. 23. 23, still very good. Still beats his passive perception. Ooh! So you dart past Orym, and after scooping along the ground, the dust is picking up a little bit.

I mean, bits of dust get curled up in this area anyway from wayward gusts of wind, and you manage to follow one gust of dust and dart into it and use that to protect your arrival as you dart in next to Orym behind the rock. Hey, Orym. We're on the moon. What the fuck?

In my head. What? Nothing. Okay, that's my turn. That finishes your turn. Fearne, you're up. Okay. Ow! Eyes are crossing.

I didn't know. We must have missed something or forgot something. Maybe. Use the charge. So I'm prone, right? Huh, you are prone, yes. So I'm going to try to find where the opening is. Okay, you're going to get up?

And get up and, yeah, move through. Shift over, you find it, and the end of your movement is getting out of the open way. So you still have your action. You can dash or you can cast a spell. All right. Oh my god. I'm going to look both ways. Can I see anybody?

No, no, stop. What happened? Sorry, I fucked up, everybody. I fucked up. You didn't fuck up. Can't we do it now? No! No! We can Can't we do it now? No! No! We can't if we all move up?

I'm bad at D&D. We can't. We really can't. Keep going. No, you're not. Okay, wait. So if I go out, look each way, do I see Imogen? Do I see? No, I'm in Vynni's. You don't see Imogen.

You see FCG and Ashton to your right, and you see Laudna to your left. And Chetney. Just a moment. I'll say, see Laudna to your left. And Chetney. Just a moment. I'll say, with your past perception, you do not see Chetney. So you ended up going to the left? I did, but just 10, 15 feet.

Just because I couldn't make it all the way there, and I didn't want to be out in the open. Okay, all right. And I didn't want to clump up either. I'm going to just make a run for it. I'm just going to dash. If I can see, wait, do I see Orym? I'm so sorry. Did you already say this?

I'd say you didn't see Chetney approach because he was in the process of stealthing, but you can see Orym behind the roll. When I got on the other side of that tent, knowing I was blocked from those guys' view, I'm popping up like a hedgehog. Meerkat? Meerkat. So yeah.

I'm just going to make a dash. I'm going to run for it and I'm going to CRM and I'm just going to run as fast as my hooves can take me. A 30, that'll get you. Oh, you almost slam. 35? 35. You almost shoulder slam an invisible Imogen. You see Fearne clomping up behind you

and make a stealth check for me with disadvantage. Okay. Plus 10, right? Plus 10. And you are stopping in the middle of the open here. Just right in the middle of the open. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh my gosh. Okay, I don't need that one. I'll just do another one. I have so many.

Okay. Oh, disadvantage. Okay, no? 24. Okay, 24. Still pretty good. So as you dart and you realize you skid and you're not going to make it in time as you can sense the thought eaters

looking in your direction, you crouch low as you can and kind of You perceive me? Almost like a, what are they? Like the dust bunnies or whatever? The ones, like the desert rats that shiver in the dirt and the dust

kind of cakes up around it. You get low and do that for a second and Cobb is cloud dusting it up around you. You know what, her color might actually blend in with the dust of... You're uncertain if it was enough. You don't know. Can I see her very well?

Yes, because she ran past you and then. And then started to burrow right in front of you. In her head, she's just going to hear, Cool. I still see you. Is Mister coming? Yes. What's his movement? Wait, so even with the dash,

that's as far as I can get, is right out there? Unfortunately, because getting up is half your movement. Fuck, I forgot I was going to get up. 15, 20 or so feet to get beyond the door, and then it's 35 feet in a straight line. So you make the run and you're just not quite going to get there. Okay.

I love that so much. Mister has a movement of what? Fly speed of something, 30 feet? He has a, sorry. Just a quarter mile to go. I think he's 30. 30. He darts up.

He doesn't even have to worry about getting too hard from prone. I'm going to keep him there. Keep him in the shadow? Yeah, I'm going to keep him in the shadow. Well, fuck. You can move him just beyond the wall. Yeah, I'll move him a little bit beyond the wall. Okay, so he comes up behind FCG and

lands off the side, little flaming, floating elemental spear. Finishing Fern's go. Teleported. I can't believe you slowed down when I just hit you. That really charges my stats. Big boy's moving. Big boy moving. I did bad. Yeah.

No, you did. I did bad, I did real bad. We've got a new problem, so that's okay. You made believe. Yeah. None of this is real. I made believe bad. He leaps. Oh fuck, he is on us.

It'll be your fault. You hear the nearby of the juggernaut landing heavily into the shadow on the other side of the wall still. And that's when the sentry comes out of the tent, finally finding his braveness and attacks his own Rylor in front. Is he in the darkness?

The juggernaut? He's in the darkness, the juggernaut is, yeah. Both of these figures go rushing by in the structure andnaut is, yeah. Both of these figures go rushing by in the stretch of time, hearing the bell, and you see them both grab to the sides and open a swinging gate to the side of the wall. There was a door the whole fucking time? No one looked.

No one looked. That's fair. That's okay, this is better. I was going to say, they run up and go like, why never we build a door here? Yeah. Oh, that's true. And we going to say that you run up and go like, why never we build a door here? Yeah. Oh, that's true. And we were in disguises. We could have just like, bloop, bloop, bloop, walked on out.

And walked away feeling horrible. That doesn't sound like us. That's silly, you guys. Why would we do something easy? None of us went, is there a door? Goddamn it. We did, we did. I looked for people immediately. I think we asked for a door.

No, we didn't ask for a door. We just looked for people. We did look for people. Is... Oh, we suck at this. You asked if these were openings, and I said no. Is the Eyes in the Sky, is he coming towards us? I mean, he's definitely focused in this area. Okay. You're too far away

to meet an eyeline of black shark-like eyes. Unfortunately, you're not able to figure out where exactly he's looking. Got it. But that does finish their go. The howls are getting louder, and you can hear as they approach, and you, Imogen, and maybe Fearne can see off to the side here,

these shadowed shapes darting past as these bestial entities come running through to join over here that are also mounted by two other Ayloran. One of them looks to be a Shrug. Those creatures have what looks like big leather and chain mounts that are put across them. You get one good view perspective of this one here. It is a massive, muscular panther creature, but with no hair. It's a heavy, scaled body with very much a massive

hunting feline or hunting cat type body. There is no neck or head. You see it stops and turns around like this. Where the neck would be, there is just a jaw and a mouth that. Oh! And there's no eyes visible on it, and it. Now you can hear this is one of the things that was howling.

One of the things. One of the things. One of the things. Oh boy. Okay. But they just enter the space here. That now brings us to Orym with Ashlyn on deck. What did you? I think you skipped me. Oh, sorry, FCG, you're at the end.

Yeah, you're right. Do we think that this guy's coming towards us? I'm going to use my movement to go where everybody else is going, stealthily. Okay. I'll get you just alongside the low to the ground fern there. Go ahead and make a stealth check disadvantage for me, please. With disadvantage? Correct.

I get advantage on my next roll because my friend rolled a natural turn. That's right. So I'll just roll once. Is that cocked? No, not that cocked. Great. What is that, a six or a nine? Nine.

It's a six. 16. 16, okay, got it. Right, because pass without a... Yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, you roll past and you glance up and you couldn't see the eyeline before, but you do notice...

Uh-oh. Shit. of the head shift of this gentleman here. Oh boy. Poor lady. Oh, that's right, we don't know. How far away, 100 feet? 90? More or less. Probably a little less. Okay, then I will hold a spell

until it gets within 60 feet. Okay. I will hold Banishment. Okay. Nice. All right, that finishes your go as you're now holding the spell at a point there. Now, Orym, you're up with Ashland on deck. Jeez, well, do you think that out, that your cover's blown?

Or is this happening too fast? Sure I do. It's box-to-box. Regardless, Orym is going to creep to the far corner of that tent. Over here? Yep, and get some metal gear cover so that I can

slash the air with seedling to attack these guys if things go, if, if, I see the fight break out. Okay. So you're holding your action to go ahead and get ready to slice the first provocation of them charging. Okay, got it.

Laudna, do you have a fucking plan? All righty. Actually, do I have a plan? Are you asking me? She has been the plan since we got up here. I would love if anybody else wants to contribute to said plan. I'm contributing by thinking at you

that do you want me to drag you towards everybody else or are you just fine off in your own corner right now? I'm fine off in my own corner. That looks pretty precarious right now. Done. Thereby, for the grace of something, we go. I'm going to rage, first of all, because that's where we fucking are.

SAM and LAURA, I feel like we should all split up. It's not a bad idea. Yeah, that's the tenet. Yeah. I think everybody split up and hide somewhere for a minute and then just turn into mist. Oh boy. If we can hide

individually. How did you do mist? You'd think it. Yeah. You feel it deep down in your cauldrons. Did you? Okay, okay. Feel it in my fingers. Interesting. We just got to get rid of this guy. He's the only one who's got eyes on us right now.

I'm going to see what the fuck's going on with me. And that's a, oh. There's a chance the big savage guy might not find the door. That's a space pole, so I'm getting weird. Yeah. Maybe small. Slightly see-through, so I'm getting weird. Yeah. Maybe small. Slightly see-through.

It's not even fit through. Did the giant rock just bust through all the wall? How far away is it? It's standing into the ground right at the base of it, and like into the wall. It's very small. He's far. He's like 120 feet. This guy's about roughly 100 or so feet from you.

Okay, I'm going to also hold an attack until he's within 60 feet, and I'm going to, kind of, because I'm worried about these fuckers, I'm going to take my 30-foot run towards the people who are out in the open. 40 feet, you mean? 40-foot run. Towards them directly?

No, towards our friends who are fucked. Slightly, yeah, like there. And attempting to be stealthy. Stealthy with disadvantage, for me. For whatever it's worth. You do get the benefit because you are within 30 feet of her. Also, we don't want to look too suspicious, right? Because anybody that sees us,

we do look like everybody else. Okay. You dart past. The entity seems to have definitely focused in your area, but you're uncertain whether or not you've been spotted. Yeah, I'm ready to fuck with them if it comes to it. You got it. Okay. And we're all in

Ruby Vanguard ropes still. Correct. Correct. Yeah, currently the only ones that are directly aware of your intent are these two for now. All right, that finishes your turn, Ashton? Mm-hmm. Image in your app. Got the hindsight. We could have circled up and just smoked

Actually, no, before it gets to your turn. I'm not going to hold that. Yeah, I'm not going to hold that attack. I didn't know he was not good. We're holding a standard attack. Oh no. Two Ruby Vanguard individuals come through onto the area and they're initially right here.

You better get the fuck out of here. This is a run. Yeah, yeah. They're going to be okay. All righty, so they arrive into that spot. Imogen, sorry, what are you doing? Are you Imogen? No Fuck me, Laudna. Are you Imogen? No, you're Laudna.

Fuck. Just had to confirm for the audience. Actually. Asshole. So considerate. Really sweet. Really sweet. Okay. Oh, what could I just find in my box? I am going to move forward and hide behind this.

Can I move forward? How far can I get? Can I move up to the tent, at least? 25, 30, you can get in this area. Okay. I'm still in a hidey area? More or less, from multiple perspectives, yeah. I can see the bat.

Correct, you can see the Thought Eater from where you are. You cannot see the others. You manage to get just far enough past that rock and through your frenzy as you move beside and hold there. The only one you have an eye line to right now is this one. I was going to cast something, but its distance is far less than I thought it was. Hold on!

Fuck! Do you have a meta match that can extend the distance? I can, but it doesn't extend it enough. It's like a short distance spell. Gotcha. Can you just look coquettish and draw it closer to us? Could that guy bring him down closer to us? I need him closer.

The big savage guy's going to get us before Mind Eater does. Okay, okay, okay. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I had it prepped, and then it's not what I can do anymore. Yeah. It's D&D's fault. It's all D&D's fault.

If I do something, it's going to make me not invisible and it's going to let people know where I am and I'm going to put everybody else at risk. So are you holding a spell? Or are you using your action to move elsewhere? What are you feeling? Tick, tick, tick. Ah, stop it! Could you have the resources to teleport us?

No, I don't have the resources to teleport us? No, no heavy pressure. No, I don't have the resources to teleport us. Okay, okay, okay. Here's what I'm going to do. There's already acknowledgment that there's shit happening over where the darkness is. Yes. Is anybody of our team still in the darkness? From what you can see in your vicinity, no.

Then I am going to cast Seething Storm on that area. I can cast within 150 feet of me. Cool. And that's a 20-foot radius as well. Wait, what are you doing? Seething Storm? Seething Storm. Ooh! You're casting it over here? Yes.

Okay, what's the radius on that? That is a 20-foot radius. Woo-hoo! I tear open a gateway of liminal space and boundless, destructive energy. Are you making that up? Because that's really good. That's pretty solid.

It's right there. So it's lightning. That's some flavor. Lightning flaring everywhere. These tendrils of purplish lightning are arcing through the inside of one of those plasma balls. Just in that space there. Lauderdale.

I'm on the other side, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Again, anything in that space is also blinded. Then anything in that space is difficult to rain. Any creature that starts its turn in the area takes 2d6 lightning damage, and anything that ends its turn there must make a dexterity save or take force again.

The guy in the tent. Poor guy. And it's still dark, so it's dark and a hellish lightning spread. That's awesome. Yeah, it's been a bad afternoon for that gentleman. I'm just trying to refresh my status a bit. All right, so finish your turn.

Yes, I'm no longer invisible. Right, your invisibility drops. Okay, finishing your go is now the Thought Eater's turn. It's going to go ahead and lift this rock up there. No! No, it doesn't. It's going to go ahead and fly over this way. Within 60 feet? Oh, that looks precarious. Come on. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness it doesn't. It's going to go ahead and fly over this way. Within 60 feet? Oh, that looks precarious.

Come on. Oh my goodness. Save the miniature. It's right on a bush. You put it right on a bush. There you go. It's on the edge. It's got to be. What's the range? All the air.

60 feet? What is that? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It's right at 60 feet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my god. Oh my god. It's not going to make, yes, yes. It's right at 60 feet. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. Oh my god, oh my god. It's got to make a save, though. It's got to make a save.

Because its range on this is 60 feet. So it's literally going to throw the rock and right as it gets there. 15. It's a DC 15 to save. DC 15. It's got a roll. It's got a roll of shit. On what save?

I'm looking. It's under spells. It's under fourth level, I think. Where is it? I think it's on the launch save. Is it charisma? I'm looking, I'm looking. It's under spells. It's under fourth level, I think. Where is it? I think it's on the watch thing. Is it charisma? I'm looking. Charisma 15. Charisma.

Charisma is not his best saving throw. That's going to be a nine. Oh shit! Yes! Right? Watch this force. This literally is. This stone rocking and spinning in the air behind it as it starts down.

It does this with its arm right as the stone begins to arc upward and you watch it and vanish. And the rock just goes and slams into the ground. Does it fall into the? Oh. Draw attention. I hope not.

It certainly slams into the ground heavily. There's plenty of attention over here, but there's a barrier now. Yeah. Additional cover. It's gone. Oh man, that's huge. Holy shit. You just have to hold that.

You have to concentrate. I fixed it. Is that concentration? Yeah. Is it concentration? It is indeed concentration. For one minute? One minute. We got to get the fuck out of here.

Get out of here. So finally, Matt, you said these Rylorans are going to go through this gate. Is it a swinging gate that also gives us additional cover? It's a double opening gate. That's how it's called. Yeah, it's a bolted in the front. Now you can see they pull the brace out of the way,

and then both pull it open and it opens up that way. Technically, it should be a little bit. Just to help give you a little perspective, it's this area here. Nice. I'm just wondering if, does it do the, I'm sorry, I'm kidding. Does it go in or out?

It opens out this way. So these guys might lose visual on this side of this. Visual, that's what I'm curious about. It's possible, yeah. Maybe. They also just heard a huge rock. They did, and they all looked over this direction and watched the stone go over there.

Red dust over there. Your orders are to report to the bell. It blocks line of sight to all of you at the moment. Amazing. There's a big lightning attack happening over there. Their attention is definitely now starting to focus this way. Yeah. We'll see how this plays out.

Okay, okay. So that's going to finish Thaddeus' turn. Laudna, you're up with Chetney on deck. Okay. Fuck. Every round. Things are changing so fast. Keep saving the day.

I was going to do what I was doing. Keep saving the day. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. You're MVP right now. Just get out. Laudna. Juvia. Let's go, casters.

Laudna? Yeah. Do I see, can I chit? Do I have? You can. Can you? Can I chit? Insert retry. I can establish it. Not for decades. Her body, it's like. She probably spits stuff out like an owl.

Bleh. Goes down, digests. Oh god. Just log the pellets? Yeah. Yes. That's pretty good. We found a magic item. Oh god. That's pretty good. We found a magic item. Oh god. That's great.

Fuck, I'm just going to run. I don't know what else to do. I'm just going to run and join everybody. Okay. So five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You dart past the outskirts of the lightning energy that's curling over there. I'm going to dash.

Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 gets you alongside where Chetney is. Make a stealth check for me with a disadvantage. With disadvantage? Yes, you do have the plus 10 from Fearne because you've now entered the 30-foot radius around her. I've forgotten what's causing the disadvantage. It's just full sprint and arming. If it's a slow stealth, technically,

it's half speed, but it's just straight roll. I'm going to say if you're trying to run quickly through an open area, it's much more difficult. 25. 25? You're disadvantaged, that's great. All right, so you dart past, using the freshly fallen stone to keep low

and not make any eye line to the creatures along the way there. All right, that ends your turn. Chetney, you're up with Fernandez. Yeah, I'm going to keep coming this way. I'm going to use 30 feet to advance past Orym stealthily. And when I get as far as I can, 30 is here on this side of the rock.

Can I make a sight, ears, everything, and what is this way, assuming we're going to keep moving in that direction? All right, so make a perception check for me. Okay. Fuck you. Seven. Seven.

Everything's unfamiliar on the moon. It's true. It's a lot of fresh scents that are messing with your head. What you can see just beyond that is, beyond this rock and a smaller hill area, you can see there are other tents around here, like the encampment itself. It seems like a bunch of makeshift barracks that have been thrown up here in previous weeks, when the Bloody Bridge was established and the Vanguard truly connected with the Rylora. You get the sense that they began to throw this together to guard

both sides of the bridge. So everything here looks like it's been freshly put down and is kind of temporary. So there are a lot of military tents, tent-looking things, some that are Exandrian-based, some that you can tell by the construction of materials. There's no cloth. There's heavy hides and leather and other spongier materials that are used at the top part of some of these tents that has a weird bluish-purple hue, but that has a similar structure to it. Cool tents.

Are there any bodies moving towards us with the bell ringing? Not that you can see. Okay, that's my turn, if that was my action. Indeed, okay. That, end of your turn, these two figures now begin to rush over to this side. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Yes.

They're both going to get up over to here. What's all the mess? Should we go in, George? That one's going to make a perception check to look over the top of the hill? Nah. Looks over, looks back towards the entryway and points towards him and says,

Over here! And points over towards the electricity and the darkness is happening. And they're both going to start moving around the outskirts of it, not willing to just run into a bunch of sparkling energy. That's going to finish, there you go. Fearne, now you're up.

All right. So now that I can see everything, do I have to let loose my Scorching Ray? Or that I can? No. Okay, great. All right. You can let it go. You just lose the spell slot. Okay.

So I'll, from my little dust bath, just look around, and then I'll just keep running. See that everybody's taken off, and I'll just just keep running. See that everybody's taken off, and I'll just keep running. If I have 30? Oh, and Mister, too. Yeah, let's. Mister. And I'm 35.

You can dash this way. 35. So you can see there, you still have an action if you want it. You can keep moving if you want. Yeah, you know what I'll do? I'm going to send a thunderclap, 100 feet, just that way. This way? That direction? Yes, way far back behind, away from us.

Within the fence area? It's 100 feet, so it can be heard. Wait, a sound that can be heard up to 100 feet away. Oh wait, maybe I can't send it far away. Wait, is it a thunderclap? That's on self, that's right. That's on self, never mind. That would be so bad.

That's not. Just trying to do it over there. I was like, for a moment. Let me double check. That's a good idea. We wanted to play on hard. Yeah, I'm going to wait. I'm going to just wait.

Okay. You can use your dash to keep moving forward, by the way. Yeah, you can if you want to. Yeah, I'll keep going then. I'll keep going. Okay, so you'll dash it this way. Yeah. Next to Chetney. Okay. You can see the cluster of tents. You can also, if you want to. Yeah, I'll keep going then. I'll keep going. Okay, so you'll dash it this way? Yeah. Here I go. Next to Chetney.

Okay. And you can see the cluster of tents. You can also, as you approach, and while you didn't see it immediately, you can hear other footsteps and people that are starting to filter into this side of this open. The central feed.

The central open area where they begin to push through. So there are more and more soldiers of this alliance coming, and they're all gathering towards the center. I'll relay that. Our coming up the center, our side is clear. In our head, do we still hear Uroza Wolf, or are you just Chet in our head?

He's doing the voice in his head. Just let me live my dream. Again, the juggernaut's turn. It takes 2d6 damage, right? 2d6 lightning damage at the beginning of its turn. Go ahead and roll for that for me, please. Ooh, 11. Okay, 11 points of lightning damage

on its juggernaut. And it's rough terrain, so its movement is reduced, but it goes ahead and begins punching along the wall. Anything that could be in those darkness. It's trying to punch along, or trying to get out, or? It has disadvantage because it can't see. punching along the wall. Anything that could be in those dark places. Trying to get out? It has disadvantage because it can't see.

It's at the AC of the wall, and one of them is a one. Its fists are careening off of it. It looks like wood sections here, but a lot of it is stone pillars that have been unnaturally grown out of the ground. You can see bits of odd glass pushed out of it in places as well, and you can see ropes tied around them with see bits of odd glass pushed out of it in places as well. You can see ropes tied around them with other bits of flotsam and jetsam that are pushed around it.

That's why you hire a decent contractor. That's what we're doing here. Second hit, sorry, with disadvantage. For real. Does hit, and it already took a lot of damage from the rock that fell in there earlier, so we'll see if it's enough to push through. Is it crystal or glass?

You're not sure. You haven't had a good look at it yet. Wait, what is that, of course? Well, glass means heat. The things you're looking for, the rock here? That's going to be 12 damage. Part of the wall cracks open, and you watch as dust peels off on that side,

and the juggernaut begins to, like, full-on hears Johnny through. It's like and it's starting toon hears Johnny through. It's like and it's starting to pull its way through. It's not completely through yet. It is preventing it from getting through, but it is doing enough damage where that part of the wall is starting to give.

But he does finish his turn in the radius. Then he has to make a dexterity save. Okay. That's going to be a 15. This is a good spell. He fails, so he takes 2d6 force damage. Come on! Yeah. 10 points of force damage.

Yeah. Is he dead? What's up? Is he dead? I don't think he was as rough as the... No, he was nowhere near as rough as the thought eater. He said that exuberantly. We're fucked. Yeah, that guy's full of everything.

We got to go. He's full of a lot of things. A lot of acid and vinegar. All right, that guy's full of everything. We got to go. He's full of a lot of things. A lot of gas and vinegar. All right, that finishes his go. Can you move the darkness a lot? That would be amazing. I could recast it. And put it to where he's got another 15 feet of darkness

in front of him again. I could theoretically cast it on him. Yes. Around the edge. Oh my god. Can you see him poking his head through? You can see his hand. Yeah, if he's doing this.

Yeah, his hand on his shoulder. He's like. Yeah, Laudna should be able to see that. That would be amazing. Oh my god. You could just ruin him. Yeah. I love that. This guy here is going to...

Oh shit, I forgot about him. I don't know. I didn't. I'm just going to put my points up there. I can't stress to you enough how much I wanted that gun to come in. Preacher's going to fuck.

Whoa! Onto the rubble of the rock. Oh god. Then. Right next to me! Dart down on the opposite side of the wall. Oh no! The dog and the mount?

They went that way? Yeah, the dog and the mount. They heard all the scuff going over this way. It leapt onto this and then over to try and pincer on this side. Oh no, did they see you? It lands. As it lands, the one that's on this side is riding it, like.

Looks right over at you. How close is it to us? That close. Oh, it's about five feet from you. But he doesn't know what we look like. Is it? It's not next to me, is it? That's true, we're in Vanguard ropes. You're in Vanguard ropes. Yeah, okay.

One of you's a robot. We're in Vanguard ropes. Yeah, which is, I'm sure, very common. It's very confusing, but we'll see how this goes. We'll see how this goes. Bad guy, robot, no. We're definitely here to help. I'm just saying, he looks at you curiously.

Just speak your truth, fuck the gods. He looks curiously at you. All right, so that finishes his go. This one here is going to lead in. Over to this side and is scoping the space internally here. Finishing their go. FCG, you're up.

Shit. Looking over the shoulder right at you as the muscular, panther-like, headless beast is right beside you and in a crouched, pouncing position in this direction. It's just... I can't cast Fast Friends on him because that's concentration and the banishment will undo.

Command isn't a concentration spell, though. Yeah, things like command. I will use command. Okay. I will turn to the guy who just looked at me and I will cast command. Ooh, it's just a first level spell. That's probably not going to work.

But let's try. Natural 20. I'll pull it off. Wisdom save? It's a wisdom 15 save. Oh no. Wisdom 15 save. You have to pick a single thing that you get one round to. And he'll know you're a foe if you do it.

Otherwise, you could just pretend that you're. I believe. You mean just act? Yeah, well, maybe I'll do that. Maybe I should just act. Here's the verdict. We'll find out. Matt rolled. I rolled it. Are you casting or not casting?

I haven't said what the roll is yet. You rolled shitty. I'll cast it. I'll cast it. I already said I'd do it. I'm doing it. It doesn't matter. I already said I'm doing it. I'm doing it. A chastisement. I already said I'd do it, I'm doing it. It doesn't matter. I already said I'm doing it, I'm doing it. I'm doing it.

I cast Command. Cast Command. What do you command? I will say... The command is just, shh. Okay. Okay. Okay. Two parts to this.

One, it rolled a 14. All bonuses in, which is why I laughed, because it's right under your DC. Uh-huh, uh-huh. So it looks over and cogs its head strangely. Make a deception check for me. I'll say with advantage because you succeeded on the spell. The spell's taking effect, but this is beyond the spell.

This is you trying to pass yourself off as an ally or at least not the threat at the moment. Deception? Yes. 25. Oh! This little robot's got some strength! What? You were super lie-y and we just don't know. Yeah, I'm really good at deception

and we never use it for anything. Why would I use it? But you're so honest. He's a murderer. What'd you roll? Oh, that's right. He has a little robot. I rolled a 19, plus six. That's amazing. Dang!

Look at that clutch fucking throw there. Holy shit. So you say, and he looks at you, nods, and turns around, pulled onto the reins of this entity, and prepare themselves to go ahead and get ready to go after whatever tears through that wall that's not a friend.

Okay. For the time being. You fucked it, then you un-fucked it. I might fuck it again still. Oh my god. Okay. So that's going to finish. Oh, and then I'll use my action to just continue, or my movement to continue on with the rest.

Okay. 10, 13, 20, 25, 30, yep. It's about right up there with Mister. And lucky you rolled so high, because Laudna was right behind you. It was a high DC because all the rest of you were fleeing for the moment. Sure. Of course. Jesus. Okay. Lucky motherfucker. Great, that finishes there. Gero, if she's going to Orym, you're up. Ashton, you're on deck.

Okay, so just perception-wise, do I hear many inhabitants of this place coming? That is a 23. 23, yes. Now you hear other bells starting to ring in other parts of the vicinity, different sounds. Like this is the big bell, and there's other ones acknowledging the chain to make sure that everyone hears it.

You can hear those howls getting louder, more of them approaching. In nearby tents off the main walkways, you hear heavy footfalls of possibly dozens arriving here in the next half minute. Okay, so really quickly, I think I would say walk away casually, but we're going to be the only ones going in this direction.

Are we stealthing Serpentine? Quick, I'll get the group. I think it's casual, right? What do you think? But if there's 50 people going, and we're just like, hey, friends, as we walk in the opposite direction, what's the story that tells?

Stealthy Serpentine is my call. Stealthily try to blend in with the people, but run away. 10 to 10. Yeah. Which stealth can both be not being seen or trying to be nonchalant. Being nonchalant. Just look like we're confused in the craziness of it. Let's try to look nonchalantly.

Okay, so here's the thing. Stealthing, I'll put this context. Stealthing by just not being seen has a higher DC, but you will not, but you get the bonus of Pass Without a Trace. Stealthing casually, that spell does not help you blend in. It helps you not be seen. So it'll have, with your clothing

and the stress of the scenario, possibly a lower DC, but you do not get the benefit of Pass Without a Trace. The choice is yours. I think that's our best bet. Eat this. Cuban? I'd be a Cuban bird trying to blend in. Whoa! Stop it.

What is happening to you? Why are your sneezes like that? I don't know. Got some benefit, elevator? It's not from your nose. I do. I'm cute. I do. It is aadryl over here? I do. It's cute. I do. It is a cute sneeze. It is a cute sneeze.

It's fucking annoying. So what's the plan? Okay, okay. Shadows or blending? Will it blend? I feel like it could. Will it blend? Don't breathe this. Or do we run into a tent?

And turn into clouds for a minute? No, I mean, that's what we should do. Together. I thought about it, but they're coming this way and it feels like they'll make their way and check stuff. Yeah, it feels like it. Yeah, yeah. Even if we get like 50 yards away.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then find an empty tent. You can pop up a thing. Do I remember that correctly? But yours is more organic, right? Yeah, no, that's not. That's fine, this is not going to work. Let's run Mars.

Follow Orym's lead. We should find a tent. Follow Orym's lead. He'll find a tent. What dorym's lead. I'll follow Orym's lead. He'll find a tent. What do you want to do? Blend in. Casually look for a tent? I want to look like I'm confused by the alarm going on around and I belong here.

Okay, like we're searching. Yes. Yeah, like we're searching here. I'm looking for my colleagues to help me here. So to that point, I need a group stealth check without the benefit. Without the pass. Without the pass. That's the thing, we can't use pass without a trace that way.

Yes. Oh crap, don't fuck up, buddy. All right, but the DC's lower. All right. I'm going to use Indomitable, because I rolled low. That's for saving throws? And ability checks?

Or is it just saving throws? Oh, it's saving throw, okay. Yeah. And then that's it. Okay, we'll start over here. 14. 14, okay. Good. Grip check, grip check. Nine.

Okay. 20. Hey! 14. Okay. One. No. But I'm a huge fan of the Luck feat, as you all know.

So I will use the coin of the Changebringer to reroll. Did you take the Luck feat? No, it's a coin. It's not Luck, it's Faith, so it's okay. I say a silent prayer to the change bringer. I'm coming for you, baby. 16, 15. Oh, okay.

That's better. 25. Yeah! That's good. 19. I did it! I did it, go One Face. Right there, that's a One Face. 27. Oh!

Boo! You better make a strong prayer to that change bringer, because that saved your ass. Thank you. What? Nine years later, and you did it. It's faith! It's faith, it's different, it's my belief.

It's good enough for me. It's different. Okay. It's different when I do it. Weaving through some of the nearby tents, you can watch as Rylaren soldiers and the occasional vanguard figure comes darting out, glaive in hand.

You can see multiple weapons at the ready. Some are Exandrian. You can see some of the other Ryloran weapons themselves are these massive glaives that are made mostly of bone or this jagged crystal glass material that are strapped together with bits of errant metal. Most of the armors they wear are leather and bone with bits of odd patchwork hides, but they all come charging through. Some of them eye you as they pass and then go back to concentrating. A few of them look over their shoulder a second time,

but then hear a noise and continue to pursue. You hear the juggernaut bashing through the wall before eventually emerging right as the other one pounces, and there's a point of confusion as they both face off, just as you all vanish into the nearby crowds. With Orm taking the lead, eventually you find a tent. As you glance into each little flap, you can find there's one heavy leather tent that's kind, like a supply containment tent. As you

pull back, looking on the inside, it looks mostly empty. There's a couple of boxes that were brought in from probably Exandrian make that are open and mostly empty, aside from some minor supplies, some fire-burning wood and some other errant things. But this gap could very tightly fit all of you for a moment. So one issue, right? If I remember correctly, we can't communicate when we're clouds and we- No, we can still talk when we're clouds.

Telekinetically, you can. Awesome. That spell is the only way you can. Yeah, because I was like, we don't know where to say to meet. We're just going to be venturing out into the fucking lunar surface. Yeah.

So Orym spins around and says, we need to queep out of here. Let's go. All right. Question for the tent flaps. Does it have buckles or something to help keep it closed? Do you need to recap something on this? Not on the exterior, no.

Interior. But you can find something. What clever way would you want to keep it buckled closed? I was just going to maybe mend the fabric so that if someone tries to throw it open, they have taken a second. Sure. Yeah, it doesn't flap open. So as you all enter the inside and you get a good look at it, the texture on it,

you can see the hide texture on this. This is leather. This was once a creature's hide. As you cast Mend, as opposed to watching cloth reform, it's like watching flesh heal and snap together into a solid form. Nature's Velcro. Yes. Nature's Velcro.

Like back together. It becomes almost like a pink or purplish color. Ew. A bit of it has just a fragment of fresh life to it, but no actual life to support. As you all carefully step in, you can hear the bells still going. You can hear other growls,

and you can see they're hearing humanoid shouts. Not that the Ryloran have been shouting in the vicinity, but the humanoids in the vanguard are giving out cries and the tension's starting to build. Are you all? Do it, say it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Oh, but before we do. I think I have to recast the telekinetic bond.

Or telepathic bond. Telepathic bond. How long does that last? It lasts an hour. I don't know how long it's been, though. Since we've cast it before the fight. You cast it, when did you cast it? I don't know. I feel like you cast it before we even went. Before you went. We started down.

So that would have been. We do need to recast it, though. Yeah, because I don't want it to go away while we're farts. It's pretty close. I will say it's still lasting on you, of course, because you're using it, but depending on how long you want to be

in this mist form, I long to be out there. You probably have about, I'll say, 15, 20 minutes or so before it fades. Under the sea. Up, up. Because you won't be able to cast it once we're farts. So we go up for a view of the landscape and decide from there.

Okay. Yeah. But we're going to rest or something, right? Because I'm a mind man. Yes, we got from there. Okay. Yeah. But we're going to rest or something, right? Because I'm a man. Yeah, we're going to find it. Yes, we got to go. Okay, okay. I will recast Telepathic Bond. That's a spell you have.

It's not like a scroll, right? Yeah. It's a spell I have. By the way, a minute is probably up, so banishment's probably gone on that dude. It's been a minute. As you all step in here, after something around, it's been about maybe, I'd all step in here, after something around it, it's been about maybe, I'd say 30 seconds

to find the tent where you put it in there. So halfway through your concentration, it will drop. Okay, okay, okay, okay. And you'll feel it like. Got it. And there's a part of your mind that's like, oh god, it's back. It's angry and it's looking for us. Got it, okay.

Yeah, telepathic bond, let's become farts. By the way, did you see back there? One of the Rylorans spotted us. Okay, we are. We start going while he's talking. I held the change bringer coin and then he looked away. It was amazing.

That's Shae-Shae. She did that. Shae-Shae. Pray, pray to Shae-Shae. Pray, pray to Shae-Shae. You better pray to Sh Shay. Pray, pray to Shay Shay. You better pray to Shay Shay today. As you all are concentrating on the enchantment that still stays rooted in your beings,

you feel that confident presence of the voice of the Tempest with you here as a quiet wind begins to encircle all of you and you watch as your fingertips begin to dissolve, your feet begin to shimmer. You watch as your fingertips begin to dissolve, your feet begin to shimmer. You watch as your body begins to feel lighter and almost like you begin to lift off the ground slightly. Laudna, make a perception check for me.

Oh god. Dany said we cast a Teleconnect before we turned into Cloud last time. Yeah, so with the travel there, because you travel pretty fast with that spell, getting to the spot. It would have just stopped. Yeah, it's pretty close to end, yeah.

There's no gill here, man. You're lining up the field. Yeah, yeah, nine. Just fucking wrecking shit. Okay. Win nothing? Okay. All right. As the din outside begins to crescendo,

you can sense and feel that the search is now becoming methodical through all the nearby structures. You begin to hear the pushing over of doorways. Can I look at Treasury Ball real quick before I go ghost? Yeah, if you want to. You look up and your fingers are mostly gone now, and you see it begins to slip out of your grasp almost before you catch, and indeed, you see that blue glimmer. She's here! I put it away before I'm like, poof. Okay.

I want to leave right now! I want to get out! Can we concentrate faster? That dinge is so bad! Oh my god. Concentrate harder! You hear a structure, not a tent, but a structure nearby.

Oh god. Slam and collapse. The splintering of wood and rock shattering. I love it. Stop. Oh god. Slam and collapse. The splintering of wood and rock shattering. I love it. Stop. Oh god. Stop, man, don't roll! Don't roll! Roll it.

You all turn into clouds of mist. Oh my god, no! I shit my pants a little. And you all begin to filter out from the nearby bottom corners of the tent itself to emerge into the brushing wind that's blowing by, the dust kicking up and trying to ride alongside it. As you emerge, you can see now,

probably close to 40 to 45 soldiers of the factions are now scattered around the core of this central compound. And you can see them just around the corner from the tent where you were, as you all begin to drift up into the air. Two things you pick up on. One, the wind here,

though there is no immediate storm here, it's a little bit of a fight against it in your mist form. You move quick, but you get the sense that moving through a storm in this form is not advisable. Mm. Ooh. Moving through the wind in the storm in our normal form is not advisable? Meaning in the current form?

As wind is. The winds buffet you a little bit from occasionally, and you can see the dust storms brimming miles off in multiple directions. Just from this little bit of the occasional gust, this would probably be bad in a dust storm. The second thing that you notice is, indeed, these distant dark dust storms are rolling in,

full-on Fury Road style, are probably a good 20 minutes off from the landing spot of the Bloody Bridge, and you have no real concept of where to go and what your next destination is. But for now, you've at least gotten out of the frying pan. So we're going to go ahead and go to break here. Oh my god.

But since we do have a moment to breathe, we're also going to level up. Oh shit, we are? Yeah. We're going to sit down for this. Yeah, this is the first real pause moment in the tension of the past episodes, so puts you guys all on the shelf.

You can think about your abilities and stuff during the break, but at the very least, we can roll hit points. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you know what your next level is. I think I do. I'll do Bloodhunter, which is a 10 or a 12? It's a 10.

Should I go first? Sure, yeah, you're already ready. You're already ready, already? Ready, ready, already. Roger, roger. Eight. Eight on you there, all righty. Laudna?

I'll do... Don't rush it! I'll do Sorcerer. I feel like there's not much left for me as a warlock. Okay. Delilah would disagree. I know she would. That's good. I rolled a five.

Five is? Right, Sorcerers are d6s? Correct. Yeah, okay. That's good. All right, FCG? I'll take another level in Cleric. All right. But I'm a Cleric of the Changebringer. Mm-hmm. And I rolled a two. All right, two I'm a Cleric of the Changebringer. Mm-hmm. And I rolled a two.

All right, two hit points. Put it on there, buddy. Fearne. Can I go last? Sure. Well, I... Okay, wait. Are you going to do some weird shit? I may.

All right. If you want to wait until after the break, we can roll yours when we return to the table, too. Okay, let's do that. Because I made some different copies and I'm trying to figure out which one I want. So you continue to until after the break, we can roll yours when we return to the table, too. Okay, let's do that. Because I made some different copies and I'm trying to figure out which one. So you continue to consider after the break. Laura. Her ends around the table.

Hi. I am going to roll a d6. Go for it. Four. Pretty good. Perfect. Sticking with fighter. Five. All righty, five on that.

I argue with success. Six. Six, okay. Fair enough. So that's everyone rolled there. We'll come back with ferns at the end of the break, and we'll see you all here shortly. Oh, hey there.

Laura Bailey here to tell you all about the glorious goods we create inspired by our stories. Our stores are filled with the basics, like character-inspired t-shirts, dice sets and pins, as well as more specialty items like fancy jackets, puzzles featuring gorgeous artwork, the comfiest joggers and pajamas ever, and much, much more. There's also a few special items that support charity efforts, like our dedicated Critical Role Foundation merch. You can check out all of our regional online stores by visiting the Shop tab on CritRole.com

or head straight to the U.S. store at shop.critrole.com. Every purchase helps support our shows and the stories we tell. Speaking of which, let's get back to the story. And welcome back. So before we jump in real fast,

Ashley, have you decided on what you want to do? Did she instantly change? Oh, yes, I did. Okay, so I am going to do, I'm going to do, don't fucking at me. I'm going to do... Don't fucking at me. I'm so defensive! So dumb. I'm playing my game.

I am going to do a third level in rogue. Hell yeah, I love it. And I am going to do arcane trickster. Okay. Which I know is hilarious because my intelligence isn't very high, but I have reasons. I love it. So leave me alone.

And there can be narrative reasons as well, which I love. Okay. Great, awesome. Almost nine years of playing this game on the internet, we're like, shut up! Don't! I heard my daughter! Let me make my choice. Go ahead and roll your d8 hit points.

No, we don't know what we're doing. Never have, never will. Okay, okay. Don't care to. Let's do this one. Two! Look at that! Out of the gate. Look at that, right out the gate. All right, perfect.

I'm going to add that now. Do I want to? So, Bels Owls, as you've now ascended into the lower atmosphere of Ruidus, the Red Moon of Ill Omen, storms roiling at all sides and below you, the sight of the Bloody Bridge, its singular red beam firing past you into the sky above,

where it strikes down with a beautiful blue planet, Exandria. Where do you go and what do you do? Matthew. Yes, Sam. Gross. Gross. That was a gross one. Oh my god.

Oh my god. What are you trying to do, Wyatt? Oh my god! I thought it was pretty great. That one had a little salsa. Not going to lie. Oh! Oh my god! I thought it was pretty great. That one had a little salsa. Not going to lie. Oh!

Did you eat salsa today? Nope. Sam! Sam, you were saying? You tasted it? I ate it. Tasted it. I was saying,

and we're back from commercial. Oh. We'll cut all that. I was saying, there's several of us. Yes. Who, in dreaming, have been to the moon before. Correct.

Do I, as one of those beings, do I recognize any features, any landmarks, anything that we've seen before in waking dream form? It's red. I will say, any who have seen this landscape before can roll a survival check or a perception check. I think we've all done that at some point, right? Not all of us.

Okay. But in dreams, right? Yeah. Yes, yes. Oh, yeah, I know. Oh, yeah, yeah. Dreams! I am, this is a temporary, I don't know if this is staying. There's different DCs for each person based on how familiar they are with the landscape.

Was it survival or survivor? Survival or perception. I'll take survival for 19. 19? Survival. That's my pass. The perception, 24. I am never rolling a Ruidus dice again.

But it was not a one, it was just a nine. Nine. Available in the shop. 17. No, that's not our Ruidus dice, it's just a red die. Okay. 19 perception. Natural one. Okay. I've only been to Ruidus once,

but I rolled a natural 20. Ooh! Yeah, did you? Those are so good, Jett. Because of the moon, and you're a wolf. The moon wolf, the wolf moon. My virility is off the charts. Yeah. You've just been a wreck to this whole time.

For a total of? Every episode. 20. Okay. I'll say, right. So the threshold on this would have been about 20 plus. The natural 20 definitely pushing over the edge. While the rest of you still feel lost amongst the storm, So the threshold on this would have been about 20 plus. The natural 20, definitely pushing over the edge. While the rest of you still feel lost amongst the storm,

Orym and Chetney, it's less about the landscape because you have no real correlation of direction. You just see a storm around you and the only real landmass that you can see at this point, or the marker on the landscape is that encampment beneath you. But looking up at Exandria and looking at the direction of

where the continent of Marquet is set, and looking at what would be north, south, east, west from there, and then recalling where you saw that city across the moon when you were looking at the telescope. Oh yeah. You can figure a general direction that's likely where the city would be.

So you can pick that direction. It'll still be a series of rolls to try and traverse it. That's where you're trying to go. So that direction, though, we don't see the city. It's just we're hoping, we're taking a shot in the dark and hoping that we get there. Correct. Here we're going. Yeah. Cloud geometry.

From up above, can we see anything that looks like this kind of structure? I feel like this structure was made by the Ruby Vanguard, potentially. This section here, you can see, it looks like it's been mostly constructed by a combination of both Ruby Vanguard and unfamiliar structure designs

outside of what you've seen in the attire of some of the Rylorns. So it's like a combined effort. This appears to be a new encampment, a fresh encampment. As we leave the encampment, from our bird's eye view, do any other structures other than the landing pad stand out? Is there a central HQ or any sort of? There are a series of larger tents.

There's no stone-built structures or permanent things here. Everything here has been temporarily set up around the base of operations. Do we see Otohan from the sky? Are you guys, how high up are you going? High. We're only on the moon once.

You're leading. How high can we? Or you, either way. I mean, you can go as high as you want. The wind gets stronger in some places. I think we should stay in a- Can we gauge that, though, as we're moving? Like, as a cloud, you start going like, whoa, this is fucked at a certain point.

240 feet. Yeah. All right, so you're leading in the direction where you assessed it night and day. Spiraling up around the Bloody Bridge to look on that perception check, looking for landmarks. All right. Especially with a dust storm, this place just has dusty storms.

And we're not flying into the storm or anything and saying we go this direction. That's at a distance to us. Any direction you go, you're going towards a storm. Okay, fair. Is it possible to avoid, like try to avoid them or move ahead of them? We'll see as you get closer.

Okay. It's tough to say. Most of the time you've ever been on this planet, psychically or dream-wise, it's rare to have not been in a storm. Yeah. It does break. You're not sure how often, but you arrived in one,

but they are pretty consistent. Yeah. And there's vast areas of storm, but we're not ringed in by storm all around. It looks like it at a full distance, but sections are closer than others, and you're not sure if they break behind or not. Just from your current barely moving position, you can see, on all horizons, clouds.

Like big red clouds. Just some look like they're 100 miles away, you're not sure. Others look like they're 10. We're in space, y'all. We're in space. Do we see anything? Because you said we can't really,

it's not tenable to hold this for forever. Do we see anything, though, that looks like a farm of outcropping, like a mountain or a cliff face or something that would be good for shelter? Along the ground here, as you get more of a bird's eye view, you can see the landscape of Uridas itself

is fairly broken. It is a bumpy, jagged series of landmasses, hills that come up to jagged points. And you can see there are sections where the ground itself cracks open in these small chasms that splinter off and fork for a handful of miles before they eventually dissipate back to just crag land.

You see to the left of the direction you're traveling, where the clouds are about to consume it, there looks like there is a mountain range. Looks to be maybe 35, 40 miles off. About to be consumed. Meaning that the storm will probably consume the mountain range before you get there in this form. But you could then either travel by foot.

Hunker down. And then try and make the rest of the trek, if you want. And I'm guessing that looks like the best option right now. That's all we can see. Or else we're just out in the open, which would be bad. Kind of, from this bird's eye view that you have. Let's do it. That's the most immediate landmass

that seems like it has any sort of real distinction. If I may counterpoint. Just keep going into space. We only get this gift of flight like this for six and a half more hours. We don't know how far away the city is. Shouldn't we just go as far as we can, as close to the city?

Because we can travel really far from right now, yeah. Could be 100 miles. Go as far as we can. We'll just keep going as far as we can until the spell goes away. And try to dodge the storms. Because is this a one-off? I don't remember.

I think so. It's a one-timing. Then absolutely go as far as possible. Cast this on us. We never answered if I saw Otohan. Make a perception check for me. I think I just had a lapse. Also, Orym is just in for Otohan.

From space. We're not in space, we're just above the encampment. If Imogen tells me to, I have her luck. I rolled balls. For me, 17. You do not see anyone from this height that resembles Otohan in the chaos. Okay.

All right, we should follow Orym and Chet's lead toward the city. Speed, whoa. Speed runs in the family. Shiver and quiff. Shit. Forgot about that. They do fly similarly. Mm-hmm.

Okay, so you can travel in this form, the equivalent of a little over 60 miles per hour. Whoa. Because it's 300 feet is your moving speed in this form. You're not going to be able to travel that speed all the time because there are storms coming, but you can get to the mountain range. I said it's about 30, 40 miles away.

You won't get all the way there, but you'll get damn close to it before it closes there. Or you can just, like I said, you don't have a direct beeline. You just know it's generally in that direction, and the mountain range is on the left-hand side. Do you want to shoot for that, or do you want to just try and shrewd shot?

Let's shoot for the mountain and then see if we can see past. But I don't want to get hit by that storm. Maybe we can dart in front of the storm and try to cut it. Cut it off? Yeah. Okay. Does the mountain range run in the direction that we're heading? Where's it heading?

It's a razorback mountain range that continues off almost like a dragon back that continues to wind up and down. But it's at an angle off to the side from where you're currently standing. So it's a longer range, and it looks like there's maybe two or three main ridges that travel on that path,

at an angle away from you. Shooting for him? Okay. You go at an incredible speed once more, just rocketing towards that area. You can see in the distance the flashes of odd lightning sparking through the clouds of the distant and not-so-distant storms,

the occasional one flashing and hitting some of the ground landscape in the distance. You can see and hear that rumbles, that as it echoes around, just careening as fast as you can in that way. You can see the shape of that one mountain range getting closer and closer. Eventually, as you are not terribly far off from it,

you can see where the storm is and it's coming in this way. You look to see if you can try and beat it onto a left side direction. There's not really a way to get around it. It looks like an entire front is consuming this area. It's not like there are a couple of separate broken storms.

It's like you are one of a handful of eyes in the hurricane that consumes the entirety of Ruidus, if that makes sense. There are pockets of clear. Otherwise, the rest of it has some sort of dust and wind. Some areas harsher than others. You can try and brave the storm still. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it will slow you down and there's a chance that you might get thrown off course.

The Reynolds Pantheon. What? Oh, hey. What? I was right there with you. It was so quiet. I was right there with you. My head was halfway going through the eye of the hurricane from the Hamilton. The eye of the hurricane!

The eye of the hurricane! Adjust the rules. It's been a while since we've had a Hamilton. He lies! Well, good luck. Anyway, with love, all with love. Mm. Oh my god, that's.

But nevertheless, the storm is encroaching. To follow the outskirts of the storm, not certain whether you can get completely around it, it will take you off course from the direction you're traveling, or you could try and descend and walk, or you can push through the storm in your current forms and roll for it.

What do you want to do? I think we go off course. I think we go off course. We're on a boat. Unless you want to go to the mountain. If we drop our form. These dice ain't going to roll themselves. We roll off course. We're on a boat. Unless you want to go to the mountain. If we drop our form. These dice ain't going to roll themselves. We roll for it.

Choice is all in you guys. What did you just roll? If it's not good. That doesn't count as bad. What are you feeling? So if we go off course, I think, as I'm a cloud flying on the moon, if we go off course and we land in these mountains,

then we got to travel real far on foot. We can keep pushing. Right? I don't, when we go off course, I don't mind banking around a storm in cloud form to try and find the best, the fastest way there, even though it doesn't have to be a beeline since we're not really beelining anyway.

I think eventually we're gonna get consumed by the storm no matter what, but we can just keep it. Try to keep ahead of it for as long as we can, and then if it looks like it's taking us too far off course, then we bank in and try to head back towards the city. Okay. I'm good with that. Sounds like a plan.

So with that, as you all figure this out in your heads to each other, Orym, you shift off to a front left direction to try and ride the edge of the storm like one would ride the barrel of a wave as it's crashing. All of you off the side as the massive, dark, shadowy red clouds continue to billow forward. The flashes of causing this dull, electrical light show from the inside that is both beautiful as it is ominous. You can see the faintest shapes of the ground alongside the nearby mountain range.

You can see the broken rocky hills and elements of mountain cliffs that begin to rise up over portions of the rolling billy land. What happened there? Roll high as hell. Roll high as hell. Oh, god. Sometimes you need touchdowns. It's like it's 2016 again.

I know. It's what happens when you listen to a musical 200 times. Yeah. These are much more optimistic times. You do, also as you get lower, feeling like as the storm is getting closer, the wind above you is getting a little tenuous, so you naturally begin to sink a little lower,

and you can pick up more of the detail of the landscape below you. While a lot of it looks like open, barren land, you can see in areas where these hills begin to break and where these cliffs begin to jut out and some of these crevices begin to tear into the ground below. You can see bursts of red brush. Goddamn.

Oh! That's pretty sure we're all meeting. He's like, what's he looking at? He's like, sorry, Matt. Sorry, Matt. I think we are already in a dust storm. It's fucking cool. I was just having some water.

I know, I get it. Oh, he's taking it. No, no, no, no, no! He marked it. Kill the robot. He's just adding hit points to things, it's fine. No. You can see there are these continued clusters

of those red brush, almost like a smattering of desert scrub, but it's this vibrant and deep crimson tone to it. And as you can see as it spreads out, as opposed to normal clusters of brush, this seems to almost stretch out in places and then bloom, and thinly push out and then bloom.

It's like it expands in tethers and tendrils before blooming as opposed to just a slow, gradual expansion. Like Warhol's? Little bit, red weed creep. Capillary-looking? A little bit. You can also see that in some of these shadowed areas, there's more prominent tree-like vegetation. You can see, you can't quite make out details

of this distance that you're flying, but you can see what looks like reaching branches. Though you can't really make out leaves, but there are thin, long-reaching branch-like protrusions. It looks like small little clumps of forests in moments of shadow. You also pick up something running towards the storm. In fact, about a dozen of them.

These shapes that are just running across the base of the mountain range. You see they're running right towards the storm, towards the mountain range. What kind of size? It's hard to tell from this distance. You make a perception check if you want to pick up the best you can.

You can get closer for a higher DC. Balls, total balls. I'm curious. Yeah, can we move down a little bit? Let's move down a little bit to see. Yeah, you can. You can get closer for a higher DC. Balls, total balls. I'm curious. Yeah, can we move down a little bit? Swoop down a little bit to see? Yeah, you can do that. As you all get down to get a better view on them. You won't even have to roll if you're getting closer.

I'm looking for signs of life as well. Indeed. This is a very prominent sign of life. You see 13 of these beasts. They resemble burly buffalo-like creatures, massive round-shouldered backs and what looks to be like six buffalo-like legs that are thick, stalk-like at the base

as they just thunder across this area, leaving cracked ground in their wake. You can see the thickly furred hide this area, leaving cracked ground in their wake. You can see the thickly-furred hide that surrounds the bulk of their shoulders and back is tangled around a wreath of horns that seems to protrude, probably about seven or eight horns on each side of the head that come out and curl outward in rows.

And you can see something curve down and fully, it's almost like a mane of horns around the front of its head. You're not at the direction where you could see its face, you can just see the backs of them as they're running away from you towards the storm that you're skirting past. But they are all in a full sprint

towards the edge of this coming dust storm. It's interesting they're going towards it. Yeah. Ice and a buffalo typically head into a storm. They do? Mm-hmm. Ooh, we could follow behind them and- It gets the storm over with quicker. Oh.

We could follow. It's true. Are you serious? Yep. Buffalo, are they going fast? What if we go down and use their wake to keep out of the... Just drift. Yeah, can we drift? How fast do they go? Is it possible?

Draft. It's possible. You all are traveling much faster than they are. We're just drifting. You are, for high fantasy terms, outside of teleportation, you're breakneck speed. You're all running freeway speeds when most things are, you know, these are bison. Right.

Just take a minute and dip down a little and see. If you want to. I mean, they're going into the store. That's what we were doing. Do you want to communicate with them with the language of love? They can't see us, we're farts. We'll just note them.

Yeah, note them for future. Keep going. Okay. Do you just crane away and continue on your path? Keep on going. Okay. You pull away from the cluster of beasts pushing. How far are we away from the beasts, roughly?

I'd say right now you're a few hundred feet away. You're just close enough to start picking up the details of their forms. You can't pick anything up, can you? Just in case they're intelligent or something. I mean, we could drop the form and then pick it back up again a minute later. We can't use any...

We can, wait. We can drop the form. It takes a minute. It takes a minute to drop the form. Interact with them and then take a minute and resume the form again. I don't want to interact with, like... Well, then why are we going down there? I mean, they might not be trying to kill us.

They could tell us about the area. They could give us warnings or they could just be beasts and then we're clouds again, just in case they're fucking yetis or whatever. I prepped something just in case. Amazing. So you can talk to them and befriend them? I prepped something called Beast Sense.

Great. But it's a willing beast, but you can see. I can talk to them. Are they on wide flat land? I mean, it's wide and flat in places, but it's also the topography shifts pretty heavily. Because if we go into humanoid form and they are not friendly,

and we want to turn back into clouds, we're fucked. We're fucked. Because there's nowhere to go to spend a minute without getting gored by. I don't, like... We take chances. I think they're fucking, they're like beasts. We take chances. We're on the moon, we got to take chances.

Yeah, but there's Ryloran ahead. We're going to be taking a lot of chances. Plenty of chances. What if we just get a little close just to see if you get a ping? I'm a cloud. We don't get pings as clouds. We'd have to drop the form.

I understand what everybody's talking about. I'm sure there'll be more. It can't be only 13 blood buffalo on the moon, right? They're the nicest ones, though. 13 and then they're... Buffalo. Ooh. I could go talk to it and then I could just hide if they are ill-tempered.

Where? You know. Do you want to diverge or continue? The storm that they're heading towards is growing closer. Yeah, they're going. You want to keep going? All right. They're not going to stop and wait for us

to take a minute to turn. Yeah. I got a bag. This is not doable. Yeah, they're growing. You want to keep going? All right. Let's keep going. They're not going to stop and wait for us to take a minute to turn. Yeah. This is not doable. Cool. Two clouds hang behind my back. What should we do? I don't know.

It feels like we could just go down there and talk to them a little bit. Should we get a little lower than everybody else? Or do you think they'll get pissed? We will buy you both a puppy later. We don't even know which one we are. You just look like a clown. I could just be some other fellow.

I could be Laudna right now, you don't know. Maybe. We'll figure out what to do. I'm just going to go a little lower. Just a little lower. We're just going to get a little lower to see if they seem ill-tempered. Okay.

So as most of your group begins to careen off to the left to continue coasting as long as they can on the outskirts of the oncoming massive cliff of dust storm, the two of you just get a little closer and you can get pretty quick up along them there. Both of you roll animal handling checks, I'll say, to understand the temperament of beasts and creatures.

Watch this. Yes. Sensual clouds make animal handling. Watch this. What can we do as clouds? Boom. We can't do any art. You can move. Boom. Or you can become not cloudsclouds over a minute.

Got it. 19. 19. Gliding by and getting a closer look on them. Yeah, they're very strong, and the horns, as they curve around the front of the head, you can see they have the side-mounted eyes. They're're prey beasts by evolution standards. They're not predators, you can gather by the way that their eyes are set

on the side of the face. Their nose itself, as it protrudes forward, as opposed to a bovine-type nose, it just goes into this smooth curve, almost like a stunted elephant in the front that curves forward, and you can see, as they're running, the bottom of it opens up every now and then, and you can see big row of square teeth that are like, there's a foam froth at the corners as they run, but it just seems through activity.

There's no sign of fear in their movement. They're just running. Square teeth vegetarians. Yeah, vegeta- Have you ever been bitten by a horse, FCG? No. That's a very good point. No, I haven't. They don't bite people.

You do also see that three of them of the group are of slightly smaller size. So you see there are some adolescent- Oh! Are they the ones with teeny horns? They do little curves. Oh no, no, no. Ooh.

We have to know them. What do you want to do? You want to go back in? You also gather they're about front, like nose to back end, about nine to 10 feet. So they're quite large. Smells for cuddling. I'm going to give it a spoon.

I don't know what to do. All right, well, let's go back up. Can our friends hear us? Hello, can you hear us psychically? Can we? What's the distance on that spell? Oh, that's a nice spell. Telepathic bond? I think it's miles.

I think it's miles. So yeah, you can hear them. No, you can't. These guys seem harmless. They're vegetarians. Yeah, they're like seem harmless. They're vegetarians. Yeah, they're like bulls. They're moon bulls. Or something nicer than a bull.

Are you both flying into a dust storm right now, like straight into a giant wall of death? We're hanging out with these cuties. Could you look up for just a second? Just in front of you? What do you see? I don't see you anymore. You see a giant dust storm.

We got to get up here. You're going to get sucked into that storm. Not us. We're too good. We're squid swimming through the storm. Do the rest of you wait up a little bit for your two scattered friends? Alongside them? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We flew up. Yeah, you all split it off, and they just went and followed the rest of that group. But you're 10 or 15 feet away from these guys? Yeah, we flew up and down. Yeah, you all split it off and they just went and followed the rest of that group. But you're 10 or 15 feet away from these guys? Yeah, just between them. You are absolutely blending their fart molecules with the molecules of your body. We'll get there. This is the first beast

we've seen on another planet. How can you not go up and look at it? First contact. Have to. Okay. The change bringer would have wanted this. I agree. It's like second or third contact. Yeah.

All right, all right. Well, you know. So you're both now returning to Kudribosnog. The rest of you are waiting for them? Ish. Not running, we're trotting. We slowed down, but we didn't stop. To 50 miles an hour.

Yeah, there you go. Eventually, you all gather up once more. Following along the storm side, the storm front, you realize at this point, is hundreds of miles long, probably. From what you can tell, you don't see an end of it. You don't see a curve. It just continues on into the horizon.

The open pocket of clear sky that you've been enjoying since your arrival is short-lived. So you get the sense that either you're going to have to continue to veer further left, and it'll be another series of rolls to try and get back on course, or you could try and land or push through the storm. Anything resembling shelter at all? Do you think the buffalo will let us ride them? I thought about it. I'm not going to pretend I didn't.

There's just a whole series of complicated issues there because we would have to wait for a whole minute and they're going to run away. Wait, let's go back to Orym's combining with their fart molecules thing. If we, just theoretically. We're backtracking for fart molecules? Well, could we seek shelter as gaseous forms in the buffalo?

Like go up their asses? Like a tauntaun? Yes, like a tauntaun, but up their asses. I'm just saying. That would be a high. Can a campaign go by where we don't know what something's at? When you look over to the fern and FCG clouds, you notice that the fern and FCG clouds

are just a little pouty. Are we pushing on or are we going down to the ground? Is there anything? We already said, if we can't cut it, we can try to cut through the storm. Let's try to fucking... I'm going to do a little whatever. Subtentive horse revival.

Give him the order. 17? 17, not bad. No sense of the future. So you can see, because you're now starting to hit that point where the storm is consuming the mountain range, and you're just along the base of the mountain range that you've been following along the way.

Where the mountains begin to rise, you can see there are cliff edges protrude out in these very harsh endings. Beneath that, there are alcoves, the faces of caverns that might burrow deeper into the mountain. You're not quite sure how shallow they are. You can see there are various cracks in the ground,

some three, five, 10 feet deep or more. That can also be places to weather the storm if you wanted to stay stationary. You also do not know how long the storm may blow. How long does this spell last beyond where we're at now? Eight hours. We have no idea how far away the city is beyond where we're at now? Eight hours. We have no idea how far away the city is.

I'd say for now, you've traveled about, or you have about an hour of the spells been used, so you still have seven hours of it being available to you. I think we should probably ground ourselves, because if we do get hit and it scatters us, then we're separated. Fucked. Let's just, I would say,

let's just take a minute to regroup in one of these shelters. Just one of, I would say, let's just take a minute to regroup in one of these shelters. Just one of the little cliff edges or in one of the crevices. Short rest. Short rest on a Martian mountain. Sure. Okay.

You all begin to descend quickly towards what you find is the nearest, safest looking alcove right along the base of this mountain range. As you careen up to its side and fit within the space, it's maybe about 25 feet wide at the mouth of it and about 10, 12 feet tall. So it's very much this wide, oval-type entryway shape with a jagged top and roof.

As you enter in, it only goes back about another 30 or so feet before it stops, but you do find it a space where it seems the wind doesn't quite pierce into the interior. The temperature is a bit cold out here, but not as cold as it would be as you begin to, I assume you're reverting to your forms as you enter? Yeah. We're taking some

person time. Okay. As you revert within this cavern, you feel that temperature rush into you, and it's chillier than it was back at the encampment where you arrived at, so you immediately begin to have to bundle up a bit to be aware that at these certain storms at sea, the temperature drops pretty significantly. Before we go into the cave too far,

let's just say before we went in, we cast a look over our shoulders just because we made a highly arcane fueled escape from an area where people were looking for us. Was anything flying in the air behind us, looking for us? Perception check? Perception check. Always. Always assume if there's one there,

it's going to be an orb. Oh! Very average watch. Natural 19 for a dirty 20. Nice. Dirty 20. Like father, like son. Dang. Oh my god.

The source. Shit. Looking back, and you have, at this moment, as the storm's just starting to push over, you can see the periphery of your vision out back from where you have, at this moment, as the storm's just starting to push over, you can see the periphery of your vision out back from where you came from. The dark red is just starting to consume the outside, but you still have a pretty clear shot

from the direction you came from. You can see on that end the dark cloud-covered horizons. You can see the occasional flashes in the distance, the wisps of gray-red clouds that dapple the open space. No sign of anything directly in pursuit, or if there anything is,

you've at least outpaced it for the time being. Can we see the bloody bridge in the distance? Oh yeah, you can definitely see that singular thread, and it just follows it up before it nearly vanishes at the cusp of Fjordhall. Okay. Laudna? Are we de-clouding?

Yeah. All right. Got anything on the magic, on the Ball of Doom? As soon as I dequeef myself, I pull out the Treshy Scrapball. Merriam-Webster's new word of the year. Dequeef. Dequeef. of the year. Dequeef. Dequeef? Requeef.

Dequeef. Bequeefed? You're going to be pleased. Yeah. Bequeefed. No, no, stop it! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! No, no, no, no! So wait, we have bidet, minus eyes, and bequeathed.

Beep beep. Beep beep. Dearly bequeathed. So right to be back. Dearly bequeathed. The scryball's dark. Like your heart. I look up and out, out and up at,

can I see Exandria from here? You can indeed, though it is going to rapidly vanish as the dust cloud begins to consume the area above you. Does it look like it's moved at all? Not from what you can tell. That's not, no. I'll keep looking. You lie to him. I'll keep looking. Tell him the trout.

Signs of activity. They're tidally locked by the bloody bridge. It's tidally locked! This is all fucked! No! I want nothing more than to disprove him. How much of the sky does it take out? Exandria. From where you are here,

if you look out beyond the cave, which means you have a decent chunk of your vision is available from where the cave closes off, Exandria takes up probably a good fifth of the sky. Wow. A fifth to a sixth of the sky, from what you can see. So it's pretty massive and it's not too distant. Ruidus just looks a lot smaller

because it is a smaller mass from Exandria, but Exandria's quite large. So we can still see the sky through the storm coming? I know, you're seeing it for the last moment you can, as the clouds are beginning to swarm in. Oh, okay. Have we looked around this place? I'm looking around the cave.

It's a cave or a structure? It's a cave. It's an outcropping. I want to see if it seems like people have ever been here before. Are there footsteps where we haven't gone? Are there? I cast a check. Make an investigation check. I cast Light Through My Eyeballs.

All right. What kind of check did you take? Investigation. I'll do it. Just for any organization. Just for smells in general. Go for it. Smart, you're smart.

Is it, can we see Katha while I'm not smart? Can we see Katha? Oh. From here? From this perspective, you do not see Katha. 18 on the nose. 19. Great.

I could make myself smart. You light up the interior, the back of this cave. You do immediately notice, one, there are signs of what looks like a small fire that has been used. With a glance over it, probably in quite some time. This is not the first time something has used this cave for cover.

You can see what looks to be remnants of rope, but it's of a material, once you pick it up and look at it, it's began to deteriorate and decay over time, so it's also been here for quite some time and exposed to the elements. But it's not a standard hempen rope or a silken rope.

The material is almost spongy. It has like a, yeah, it has an old decaying sponge sort of crumbliness to it, as you rub your fingers on it, and the faintest gray-blue color. So I'll make a nature check, if you want to, to inspect this material. I'll try.

Guidance. It is like something. Ooh! That's with a d4, correct, Fionn? Yes. Look at you learning to play D&D. Oh, who me after 10 years? I knew we'd get there eventually, guys. I'm so proud of you.

21. 21. You, in particular, being familiar with the darker, more moisture-based portions of natural spaces, this is a fungus, or at least it was once a fungus. Oh my god, you two. My friends are dirty. I don't mind.

You got to get something to clear up that Delilah. See, that's the problem. It doesn't ever go away. It just flares up every now and then. It's so hilarious. Oh my gosh. But whatever material this rope is made of is fungus. It's a dried, treated fungus.

But for fungus to exist, it needs dark, damp spaces. Something to feed off of. And dark, damp spaces. Could I? Shit, yeah. Something to dark spaces. You're not wrong either. Could I go over to the campfire and do my damn thing?

I'm going to do grim psychometry. Like touch the middle of the fireplace and recall information about the sinister or tragic history of an object or area you're touching in your current location. Yeah, go ahead and make that wisdom roll for me. I think it's intelligence. What is it? Is it in the ability?

Intelligence roll. A history check. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Plus three, 19, 20, 21. 21, 21's not bad. As you're looking over the space, you sit down and concentrate. As you breathe outward, you connect the crimson power

that sits in your body, seems to connect with the crimson rust of sits in your body, seems to connect with the crimson rust of the landscape that surrounds you. And as you close your eyes, you see a shape or a shadow. It's you, hunched and squat, swathed in tattered materials. You gather tools and watch as a storm clears, pick your things up, take what looks like

a hitching post sort of reins that have been dangling the outside, and you can see there's some sort of a beast of burden on the outskirt. As you begin to move, You hear restlessness. A beast and then it tears away out of your grasp. You see the shape dart off into the field. You go to give chase before the ground quakes and tears open beneath it as a larger shadow just consumes your mount and is gone. as a larger shadow just

consumes your mount and is gone. You stay perfectly still. You hold your breath. When you think time has passed and it's safe, you take a step back. And you feel the quaking once more. You dart out of the cavern because there's nowhere else to go and you begin to climb up the side of the rock

to try and get above ground, to try and get to a space where it can't get to you. But in the back of your mind, you know there's nowhere to escape before the shadow takes you, too. That's not good. What kind of look? Why do you got that look? We got Kevin Bacon tremors.

Oh. There's something that burrows through the ground and comes up. Oh no. Oh no. Should we leave? We should probably leave. No, we should stay here. What? Yes.

And we should all... Not should stay here. What? Yes. And we should all... Not move. Ever. What? No, no, flying's good. Oh, okay. We should leave. Also, I can't tell how long that was, but it was here.

They were taking shelter, but they had a mountain. It seemed very perilous on the ground. So maybe good to be wary of. Any signs of recent death, bones, or anything like that? I mean, you've done a pretty fair investigation space around this between your light and you all taking a look. No sign of bones, no sign of death.

Just been abandoned for quite some time. No graffiti, no scratching at all. You don't see any, and the thing is, most of the ground here is, been abandoned for quite some time. No graffiti, no scratching at all. You don't see any, and the thing is, most of the ground here is, because of the nature of these storms that blow through, dust gets brought in in heavy amounts and then gets drawn out like a suction wind tunnel.

So by that nature, the landscape of the surface and the near surface of this moon is ever being wiped clean and changing and growing and eroding. Can I feel the presence of Predathos? Do you want to try and reach out? Oh! You're in a protected spot-ish.

Yeah, you do. Just to see. Surrounded by friends, no enemies. We're here for a recon. Probably going to take a short rest. I think it's still safe to stay here, and we can just be aware that we might have company. Maybe just stay quiet.

What was the vision? Was it out on the ground? A shadow killed a mount? It left the cave. The mount burst from the cave, went down to the plains, and in front of it, something seemed to come up out of the ground. So we're talking dune rules. Rock. Think so.

Structure. Think so. Safer. Yeah. Maybe we take a short rest, and then I see if I can sense for Nothos. Just so we can get a little bit of our strength back. It might not be a cave. It could be a... What if it's like a glit?

What if it pings us? Let's take a short rest, and then I'll see if I can sense it, because if it lets everyone know our location, I don't want to take that risk. It's okay. FCG can teleport us out of here. We'll see what happens.

I got it. Short rest. Okay, y'all take a short rest. You can spend your hit dice to heal up, get back any abilities and spells. How much do we have? We should still have a decent amount left of our hero'sast, right?

24 hours? Yeah. You ate it the night before you left, correct? To save the spell slot? Yes. Correct. Yes. So that would be eight hours. So you have about 14 more hours of your Heroes' Feast, including the travel and your short rest here. I'm rolling almost all of my

butthead or dice, because I got fucked up down below. Oh, buddy. Yeah. 37. I don't need to take a short rest. Damn it, 90. That doesn't get you any damage. I'm rolling so low on all of these.

I don't need to take a short rest, so I'm going to just spend this hour baking. Okay, you can do that. I'm going to bake. All right. How's the weather outside? Okay. Storm hasn't let up.

It's still frightful. Okay. From best you can, you can't see more than maybe 20 feet beyond the mouth of the cave. The storm has entirely enclosed and devoured the horizon. The wind is heavy. It is quite heavy, yeah.

But our max hit points are up from our new roll. Correct. So it's not going to that. It should be, I should have 89. Just override HP for now. Okay. Matt, question.

Mm-hmm? If I find familiar to get Pate back, if I have him on me, would he also take the Gaseous Form? No. Okay. So I should probably not bring him back right now? I'd probably recommend doing that at a place where... We're not.

Yeah, you could always summon him again later if you need to at another location, but he is unaffected by that spell. Okay. Could you throw him in the Bag of Holding? I'm going to gas it up. You could do that. Speaking of the Bag of Holding.

It's true, he's not really living. He is quite not living. He's just aware. So it wouldn't vamp him out if I could keep him in the Bag of Holding while we turn? All right, then I'll bring him back. It's good to have him. Here's a question. Yeah.

We put a possum in the Bag of Holding, then you stopped concentrating, so now is it a gigantic creature in the Bag of Holding? In the Bag of Holding, there's five to 10 minutes of air. But how do we get it out? We don't have to. We just ask for it. We just call it forward. Yeah, you could just call it forward, but remember,

we did this with Dork the Ox. Yeah, but by that point, Dork the Ox was- Wasn't it with the bag? No, no, no, no. It just comes out rotten and gooey. Yeah, or by that point, Dork the Ox was... Doesn't it rip the bag? No, no, no, no. It just comes out rotten and gooey. Yeah, or in pieces. This one has only been dead for a short time. Dork the Ox had been dead in there for quite a while.

We're also assuming that Rylorans breathe. That's true, it could still be alive. That's true. Dork was some home game shit. No one knows what we're talking about. Some old school folk. First animal we put in the bag of holes. Then the last, well, no.

Grog put them in there. Made sense at the time. Hold this ox till later. The fun part was watching him put it in there. Worst case scenario, he's not dead, we can take him right out into the storm. I guess my question is, we can still get other things out of the bag,

it's not consuming the space. No, no. Correct. Not like that. But is there a way to, like? Isn't there a limit to bag of holding capacity? There is. It's huge, though. It's a Mary Poppins bag. You can be like, I want my umbrella.

Sure, but if this thing is a ton. He's taking up a chunk of space in there. Sam, you know this is all make-believe, right? It needs to make sense for me. It is. There is a limit. There's no way to peek to see how he's doing. The Bag of Holding is the portable hole you could... The portable hole you can look into

like it's a storage chamber. Bag of Holding, you think about what you want, you reach in and you pull it out. But you can't actually look in. You have to pull it all the way out. I can't just have Zs pull him out to be like, oh shit, he's still alive. I mean, you could try. You could certainly try.

He could probably fight back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If he's alive, get the bridge. As long as we leave, we'll pull him out. We'll leave him here. Most likely. We'll circle back. We'll circle in there. Which is why if someone doesn't know what's in the bag,

they can't pull it out. As a meat distraction later. They have to destroy the bag and then everything goes poof. Well, that was one of the Juggernauts, right? Which was an automaton? Can't be scavenging. No, no. Just a big, beefy Ryloran. Oh, that's right.

Oh, that's right. Okay, okay. I regained one of my spells just with my short rest. Okay. Also, as you're my spells just with my short rest. Okay. Also, as you're having the short rest, Imogen. Oh fuck. Oh! Yes. I mean, yes. You're concentrating and focusing.

Everyone's going about their business. You notice this shimmer of the faintest bit of energy that just rests in the air. Like this, almost like how magnetic powers near iron filings can draw them together. There's just this ever-present red energy that just sits around you. If you just look off into space,

into the blue sky for too long, you can make out the ever-shifting pattern of this energy. It's always been there. And it's about your, you've come to now realize it's probably part of your essence of a ruidusborn, but you can see it drawn in a direction, and you watch it shift,

and the only thing that's shifting is Fearne. Like there's part of your energy that's reaching out, or at least is connected in some way part of your energy that's reaching out, or at least is connected in some way that you can't describe. I'm just moving slow-mo. Deadass?

Hey! Can you come over here? Sure. Slowly. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Fjord. Yeah? Can you come over here? Sure. Slowly. As she walks toward me, does it get stronger, that feeling? It does, faintly. You saw this before, When it?

Right before the Bloody Bridge was created, when the event happened at the Malleus Key and all the various Ruedisborn felt this previously unknown energy of exultant or not being drawn towards this central event, but that never went away. It wasn't expended. That was just a manifestation of this innate power.

And now here on this planet, it seems like it's slightly more present or visible than you could previously expect. And so if you just concentrate, but just hold still and don't focus directly on something, but just let your vision take in the space, you can see this ever-so-faint, ethereal red tether between the two of you.

Do you see that? What? Do I see it? Unfocus your eyes. Have you ever looked at one of those magic images where you unfocus your eyes and then you see something? Everyone's like, I see this. Yeah, like, oh, it's a sailboat.

My eyes just hurt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Try to do that. Okay. Now, Fearne, you have a pretty high passive perception, so it's very easy for you to pick up on this particular pattern. Well, I know.

They make them at Rosohna. We have a bloody bridge between us. Wow. You begin to consider what this could be. They're sick as ink. We're in sync. Burn, Jeff, burn. We're in a mood tonight.

I can tell. Oh, we're all punchy. Children, just absolutely children. This is extremely unrealistic for any true D&D campaign. Yeah. Everyone's always very serious. But even just taking a moment, you're not really focused on the connection

between Ruud is Born and those power sets, those seeds of Pardothos' ability that rest in each of you, but you now see that it's not independent. Meaning there is something that connects you all, even on some unseen level, that is only just barely visible here. And if you want to check your feats real fast,

you have a new feature. Me? Yes. Stuffed it in. Damn. Does that mean that all the living Marudas born are some sort of a network? Could be. Wait, where?

Flesh batteries. Yeah, if those War of the Worlds capillary-looking vegetation is any indication? Maybe it is all part of one big shared. Ooh. I feel like they're like red cells. Double gasp? What the fuck do you think they're doing over there?

Whoa! That's weird. Whoa! That's cool! I get a benefit just from being around her because I'm a good spore champ. Won't you share with the class? How's y'all doing?

We can share magic. Oh. Oh. Oh, what? There's some stuff. That's cool. Synced up. We're synced up. Found the hat. Moon stuff. You can spend your sorcery points

to replenish target Ruidusborn of their expanded spell slots. So I can use my sorcery points to give her some spells back, and she can also sacrifice spell slots to give me sorcery points. That's fucking cool. If you have a ton of spells left and I have none, you can give me a spell slot, basically, because I can replenish from my sorcery points. I have a tampon and you do not. Give me one.

I'm so sorry. If you're all out of spells and I have sorcery points, I can give you a spell. I should've seen this. I'm so sorry. Immediately. We've been making bloody bush jokes for months. Months. Matt, I'm sorry. Matt. It's just going to come out.

Moon pearls. Moon pearls. Okay. Pearls are the best ones. Or if you have one spell that's really working and the rest aren't, then you can crank it into the other pearl. Yeah. I wonder if we could maybe use this

if we did a spell in conjunction with each other, like it might amplify it in some way. We can enter this bloody conversation. This is very cool. This is just women feeling their power. We should just let this happen. We're just stepping into our bloody power. Are you okay, Laudna?

Jesus. Do you see my, do I have an aura? Do I? Are you jealous? Do you? No! Okay, because they seem like they're bonding. Do I have an aura? Step closer. Do you have blood? You've always had blood.

Yeah. I see it. There's a tether. But can you guys share spells and stuff like you were talking about with Fearne? I don't think so. I don't know. Is Laudna Ruidusborn? No. No, definitely not.

There is. I'm maybe Ruidusdead. But. There are lots of threads maybe Ruidus dead, but. There are lots of threads, though. Yeah, I see. No, seriously, though, everybody looks. I'm sorry. You said we could see little connections

with everybody here, right? You mean like, right? Obviously, I'm not trying to take advantage of the scene. No, that would just be. To be specific, what you're noticing here seems to be primarily, or ultimately, between Ruidus Bar. Okay, okay, sorry, I misunderstood that. Now, the second thought that comes to you

is if this is what can connect the two of you. Ooh. Oh. Network. We should. I think that's what can drive you apart as well. Well, so other people could follow the thread. Or could take advantage of that.

Or your mom could sap your sorcery point. That was my question. Do you have to willingly give up those spell slots, or can you vampirize someone else's slots against their will? It doesn't say. It says they give up those spell slots or can you vampirize someone else's slots against their will? It says they can sacrifice their spell slots. Interesting. It doesn't. I don't know if you don't try.

You haven't tried it, but. You could sap some magic from Otohan, or she could sap some magic from you. But I wonder, like, you know, because you were made by fate, and I was made by design, I guess. So I wonder if I'm off the grid a little bit. I mean, you come from the Fey Realm.

I don't think there's a lot of Ruidusborn in the Fey Realm. Yeah. All right, well, we're going to have to tinker with this. This is cool. All right. I love you, too. You're great. Your aura is like a soft blue.

Oh yeah? And it's connected to you? It's just kind of, I don't know, it could be just the way the light is bouncing off of you. I'm not entirely sure. My lights are on. Mm-hmm. Don't forget, you're a high-value target.

Somebody tried to kill you. Yeah. I mean... I don't even think we know that whole story. Yeah. Keep our eyes peeled for anything sealy in nature. Yeah, yeah. Should I try to connect to Predathos?

Feel it out? Yeah, sure. Are you scrying? What are you doing? Probably just a little opening up my mind to what's... As long as we're okay having to take off pretty quick if things go south. It could be like a. And it's also the whole reason we're okay having to take off pretty quick if things go south. It could be like a.

But we're all right. It's also the whole reason we're here and we're alone for now. But do you think your mother could connect to that? Maybe. I'm not saying it's not worth it. I think it is good that we still have this spell on us that keeps anything from prying in,

that that might help protect us a bit. I don't know, though. It's not like we're super stealthy, either. We made a fucking mess coming in. We can make a mess wherever we go. But if it goes wrong, we can leave fast, faster than we would be able to tomorrow. It's true. Do it!

We'll kill you if it goes sideways. We'll kill you if it goes sideways. We'll kill him if it goes sideways. That's not true. I wonder if I would feel you connect. I don't know. Fuck around and find out. Let's see. I'm going to turn around so I'm not looking at you. Because that'll make more difference.

I'm going to pinch Imogen and see if you feel it. I didn't feel anything.ogen and see if you feel it. I didn't feel anything. That really hurt, you motherfucker. Oh, what the fuck? We're all connected here. All right. I'm going to sit down and put my palms down, kind of like I did in my dream.

Yeah. Put my palms down on the ground and reach out with open mind and try to sense Prodathos. Okay. That energy that I felt in my dream. You close your eyes and recall that sensation, that simultaneously reaching out and opening up. And it doesn't take long for that feeling of you

dropping out of your own consciousness. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Like you are tumbling out of the back of a swing and there's no ground to catch you as you feel the cavern vanish and the shadow of the surrounding rock takes you. Here, in this familiar void, you feel that presence,

that overwhelming presence that vibrates like the slowest, most ancient snore, rumbling through everything that surrounds you. You feel that connection, that welcoming, earnest draw. Like you've never belonged to anything more in your life. And you feel that tug down, down, down.

And then you feel it shift as it notices you. This might have been a mistake. You hear in your mind, in your soul, and every vibrating atom in your body, you feel it will come home. Join us. Wake us. Make a wisdom saving throw for me, please.

Did you say wake us? Wisdom saving throw with advantage, yes. You've got advantage. Advantage. Oh! me, please. Did you say wake us? Wisdom saving throw with advantage, yes. You've got advantage. Oh! Oh, Jesus. Oh god, my wisdom is so low. Heroes Feast, you got this, boo. Got any of those? I don't know.

I'm just throwing. Hey, hey, doesn't hurt to try. Advantage, advantage. Okay. It's not good, it's not great. It's great. It's 14. It's not good. It's not great. It's great. It's 14. 14.

That's not terrible. You, this presence, these, they're not even words, they're just emotions that your brain can only try and comprehend. And the way that it swallows you, shakes you, to where the steeled will that you've worked so hard to build suddenly crumbles.

And in that moment of faltering fear, you let it all in. Ooh! And when it does, you are pulled deeper into the darkness, and suddenly you can see hundreds of little red lights here in the shadow. So many of them.

One of them that looks like Fearne. Some very bright ones. One that looks like your mother, and they're all moving down. And you feel all of you all connect and network, and suddenly, you can feel them all looking towards you. And through all of them, you hear once more,

Wake us. Do you resist or do you delve deeper? Go in, go in! No way, no way, no way, no way! No way, I'm going to try to fight back. There's my hand. For a reason! Oh my god!

I'm not going to, I don't want to wake up. Start that lawnmower! No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He didn't say, do you want to wake, though? He said, do you want to let yourself go deeper? No, I don't want to go deeper. I don't want to go deeper. She's all by herself.

She can make her own decisions. I don't want to go deeper. Because if I go deeper, I won't be able to fight it. I'll be part of it. You've got your friends here. Are you sure? I really, really, really, really think so. You love her.

Make a wish from the saving. I'm here, too. Oh my god. Do you think your mom's part of it? Do you think she gave it? I think she tried to fight it, but she's still here. She still wasn't helping us because she got sucked in, but she was trying to fight it for so long. Just give in to it.

Okay, okay. That's better. That's a damage? Yeah, that's an 18. That's an 18. Oh, there's a little one in there. Yeah, isn't that cool? Oh, that's what I was thinking. That series of red connecting threads,

like the tiniest little bridges between all of these people this network of Ruud has borne. All of these seated figures that have gathered and are still gathering here to this world for what purpose you don't understand, or now you do. To wake them, to wake it. You begin to feel

these tethers get stronger and stronger, and you pull back, and with all of your might, in the memory of being a child lost in these dreams, surrounded by dust and red and hopelessness, you scream and the darkness shatters, and you're back in the cave around your friends. You all watch as Imogen just screams loudly, her eyes bright red, and you watch as all

of the spider-like lightning marks on her body brighten like the end of a heated ember before they slowly subside as she returns. I just quickly grab her and say, Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. Sorry. Is that right? Is that right? Chetney, will you go check the front?

Yeah. What happened? There's still time. There's still time. It's not awake yet. Not all the way. Y'all, I don't know if I... I don't know if I'd be able to fight that again.

Do you think you're like their messiah, their chosen one? No, no. If it's not your mother. They're all chosen. It's all... I saw everybody here. I saw all the... all the Ruitousborn that are here.

I saw you. You did? You can't fight it. But, Fearne, it seems your experience is so unique. Compared to, I don't mean this in a bad way, but compared to Fearne, I mean, listen. They seem like they need you.

Yes. Yes. I don't think if Fearne tried to do the same thing, she would have the same results. I come back from the front. Are there any, is anything moving, flying? Storm's still blowing through. Great.

From my perspective, did I feel anything when she blipped online? I mean, her presence, just the nature of her power is something that is very affecting in the vicinity. But when she flared, that tether between the two of you, for a brief moment,

almost like the filament in the light bulb kind of glowed. Did her, like the webs of all, did her, like the the, you know, webs of all, did they get wider and then smaller, or they just were brighter? They were just brighter. You know, Imogen,

I believe you. And I'm guessing you're not wrong. But what And I'm guessing you're not wrong, but what they're all gathering here to do is they're going to make it happen one way or another. And you're our best shot of getting close and understanding. You want me to go back in? I need you here with us. We need to keep going.

You don't have to do anything, Yud. Of course she doesn't have to. I do. But you know what's at stake. Of course. Are you still questioning her, though. It's, I don't think you understand. My mother, my mother reached out to me my entire life.

As soon as I started feeling that pull, she tried to get me to run away from it. She knew. She knew that once you were in it, you couldn't escape. And I think that's... I think that's what's happening with her, you know? Okay, game it out with me. We turn around, we run away.

No, I'm not gonna run away. I'm not gonna run away. We need to fight this. I'm just saying, I don't think if I can, if I can keep from delving like that again. That's not where I'm going. What you just did was dangerous, and we know more now than we did 10 minutes ago.

But this is going to test you. Yeah. And the risk. You're right, it's real. But I don't even want to think of the alternative. So does she have to do it? No. But I am pressuring her to do it. Let's not pretend it's not going to happen one way or another anyway.

You're either going to end up down there on your terms or on somebody else's. It's just a fucking inevitability. I'm not just pressuring her, I'm pressuring you. Him and them. Me. We're all here. Yeah.

It's not a tourist stop. We're risking everything, because we have to. This, don't forget Orym. This is a research mission. We're gathering intelligence. We're not going to fight it right now. And you just did. And there's more to know.

Yeah. I have another theory. I actually think you might be the key. Your mom, when you saw her before, she didn't try and persuade you to join, right? It was run. Yeah. And if they're saying, wake us,

maybe your mom is actually, hear me out, like a secret agent. Maybe she's trying to keep tabs and the thing that they need is you. Otohan tried to unlock you, right? So what if this whole time, the thing they need is you? I agree with that. It's kind of what I meant by the Messiah thing,

their savior, it's kind of a similar vein. Which puts us in a very advantageous position. I'm just saying, I would rather have the thing that they want and need than not be able to affect any kind of influence at all. Plus, it might help explain why it's been connected in the sky for so long and Nothing's happened. Nothing's really happened.

It could also be somewhere in between, where they need her to make it sooner, faster, easier, but they can still do it without her. If it was really, if we knew that it was her, then we should not have you here at all. We should lock you away where they can't find you somewhere. I don't think that that's an option. But also,

I feel like all the Rylorans that we've met, they seem wonderful to me. You know, this is their home. To that point, remember when we were coming up here, and the one Rylorne alluded to, good guys versus bad guys up here?

Yeah. Your... They called it what, the Imperium? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So in addition to this research mission, I feel like it would be very beneficial to figure out who that faction of good guys. Rebel Alliance. Yes.

Oh yeah. Fine. But the thing is, my stomach is making so many noises. Sorry. What if... Okay, just hear me out. I'm just going to try to circle this square here. What if you're supposed to wake up

the good guys type of a thing? Like, I don't know, you're a messiah situation, whatever you want to call it. But like, maybe your mom wanted you to run because of all the other shit going on. And maybe because you are supposed to wake something up. I don't know. I feel like the Rylorians are not at,

I feel like we should help them. I mean, this is their home. Well, and you said you saw Fearne in this group. Yeah, I'm not that bad guy. To that point. Are you? I don't know. Well, I mean.

Did I get a sense when I was there, like her location, could I sense that she was next to me? You could sense that she was very close. And the networking people that you saw, there were very bright ones. You were a very bright one. Your mother was a very bright one. You saw maybe two dozen ones

around that equal level of brightness, with some varying, and there were dozens more that were fainter, like Fearne. All Ruidus-born, but you could make out that there were exaltants like you, the true final evolution of what the Ruidus-born was intended to eventually be, and those that are part of that network,

supporting that network. You also got a sense that you could see loosely where they were, the direction, where they were from you. Now that you think of where you are and where you were sitting, you also have a pretty strong idea of where that network seemed to gather. Is it the direction we've been going in?

It's loosely in that direction, but you have a much clearer pinpoint now. Nice. Okay. Question. Oh, sorry. Has Imogen, above table, has Imogen always been exalted, or when Otohan forced her,

did she then become exalted? Above table, how does the campaign end? The best that you can ascertain is that, and from what was read in some of the Grim Verity's research notes, is that exaltants are just naturally the most powerful version of a Ruidus-born, but usually through either a severely traumatic event

or some sort of outside stimuli causes them to exalt into their realized self. So you get the sense that she's probably always been an exaltant, but it took that moment to unlock her. So theoretically, Fern could be an exaltant, but just hasn't reached that level yet. In waiting. I think it's different because I was made by design

as opposed to natural. Best that you can tell, exultants have always been exultants. They just didn't know the full potential of their power. There are many more Ruidus-born that are just faintly Ruidus-born and affected by those energies, but are the long historical predecessors

of this thousands-year-long process of Ruidus, of Predathos getting to whatever its end is. Our orders are clear. Beat the shit out of Fearne until she levels up. Nothing's happening, ow! Another above table. Did we ever learn about, is Otohan Ruidusborn?

Otohan is also exalted. Yeah, she's an exalted monster. Oh, she's an exalted monster, that's right. I know that. And so is Ludinus. Like, way more powerful exultant than me. You don't know. Liliana is, though. Yeah, Liliana's exultant.

Though in all of your networking, you haven't seen anything regarding- Makes it sound like I've seen mixers and- I know, we're all just hanging out. You've never been able to recognize any signature or tether towards the Ludinus. Which means either he doesn't, or he's hidden it somehow.

You don't know, because he's a tricky dick. Or he's not a person. Should we press on? Don't we still have a few hours of cloudiness? Storm's still wrecking on the side, though. And all this conversation is happening toward the back of our hour. Storm's still doing its thing. But can we press through?

We got to do it again. We could, but we'd risk being dispersed. When you got a direction, did you get a distance? Not really, because it was kind of, imagine like a pinpoint lattice. Yeah, a cluster of five was going to put it in the middle of a shadowed space. So you have a direction,

but you have no idea of the scope or scale of what you were looking at. There was no map key. Yeah. I'm kind of glad you waited. I'm glad you waited because I feel like we need more research. we need more stuff to know because we also don't know if you do give yourself over.

Because I feel like some of the other Ruidus-born that we've seen, they don't have, do they have the markings that Imogen does? We don't know. I mean, I haven't seen them. I know. The only other Exalted that you've really encountered aside from your mother is Otohan, and she has been armored from pretty much neck down. Thank you for doing what you did.

I feel like the thing that makes you such a risk is also our greatest strength right now. Makes you one of Letters' coin flips. They always are right, though. That's right. Only takes one wrong one letters coin flips. They always are right, though. That's right. Only takes one wrong one, to be fair. Do we take the extra time, go to the city, try to see more, or do we head back

and let him know what we found so far? We are not ready to head back. We don't know anything about the city. It would be great if we could find some glimpse of the Imperium and also to find out the layout of this place. Yeah. So? We can let the Imperium know

that they've got allies on Exandria. And then you give in. Wait, did you say that the Imperium is what the Rylorans call the Ruby Vanguard? Yeah. Okay. Well, the Imperium is the good Rylorans, right? Who are the goodies and who are the baddies? The Imperium are the Rylorans

that work with the Ruby Vanguard. Correct. Yes. Theium are the Rylauren that work with the Ruby Vanguard. Correct. Yes. The Imperium is the faction that is aligned with the Ruby Vanguard. Oh, so they're bad. Yeah, those are the baddies. Why did I write down good Rylauren? Because you didn't read Danny's notes like I did.

He wrote down Imperium and also good Rylauren. Nope. Not to be confused with an Imperium. Yep. Baddies. Are there good Rylaurens? We don't know what their name is. There are. No, but the one that I called before we left

was saying that they were not part of the Imperium. You've encountered Rylorans that stated they didn't have an affiliation with the Imperium. They looked at them and they were like, you icky. Uh-huh. I don't like them. I don't like that one. What we know is we don't know much.

We're needing to know. I don't know much. Before we head out, do we want to do a quick, well. We got to figure out how we're going to cloud out of this. Almost as rapid as it swarmed in, the wind begins to fade, and light begins to return to the outside of the cave entrance.

These storms can be devastating and fast, but they can also leave just as quickly as they arrived. On foot, here we go. Instantly, let's go. Real quick, wait, wait, wait. I take Pâté, who I spent the time to summon, again. Whoa, wait, where are we? Oh my god, that's right. You totally died right spent the time to summon again. Well, where are we?

Oh my god, that's right! You totally died right before we got to the moon! We're on the moon. That's so freaking cool! I know! So what is the plan? Okay, well, we're on a sneaky, sneak mission. I'm good at those.

Well, you got to be quiet, all right? And in fact, so we're going to turn into clouds, and you can't turn into clouds, but we fly so fast when we're clouds, so. Well, I've never tried. No, you can't. I'm not trying to shoot you down. I believe in you.

You can do anything you want. You just can't turn into clouds. Make signals. But you get to take a little ride in the Bag of Holding. Ooh, what's that? So I actually have a little mission for you. Ooh, I like missions! You have your own little mini mission.

Okay. Okay. All right, you ready? I'm going to put you in the Bag of Holding. All right, what's that? It's like a little pocket void where there's no air, but it's okay because you don't breathe. Okay, that sounds fun.

But here's the fun part. We stuffed a giant behemoth of a Ryloren in there. Whoa! So I need you to go in, look around, see if you can find them. Tell me if they're alive or dead, or if they've exploded from extreme pressure or something like that.

What? And then I'm going to pull you back out. Yeah. And you're going to tell me what you saw. Sure. Okay, ready? Yeah. I'll do Fearne's bag.

Hop in. Ready? Got shoved in something else and then in the back. I'm digging a little hole in the back right now. Look at me! What did you see? It's just very dark in there. It's nothing but just darkness.

You didn't see anybody else or anything else? No, I just did a little loop in this space and there was nothing there. All right, so I guess they're all in their own little compartments. That's a good idea. I think it's just huge. It's just that me. All right, so I guess they're all in their own little compartments. That's a good idea. Hey, it's just huge. It's just that huge.

Yeah. I thought about it right here. I thought about it here, I really did. Well. What's going on over there? All right, as long as you're here. So nature has got a whole thing. You'll be in there for longer. As you put the two and two together, it's like a void space.

So you put the item in there and it just vanishes in this void space. There is a limit to it, but they just exist in this void space. Then when you think about it as you reach in, they manifest in your hand. I think we should pull out the big guy. What are you talking about?

We're making plans. You're just talking and talking. Do it on your own time. This is our own time. Down here is our time. Should we just pull them out? They're right there. I'm having a bad idea.

Let's hook them up right here, if he's alive. Leave them here. Turn into clouds. I agree. We reach in and we pull out the fatty. Do it. The juggernaut. You reach in and you pull, you grab in,

and you can feel the arm, the heavy wrist, this thick, trunk-like wrist of the juggernaut. As you tug, even getting him in there was stretching the limits of what the bag can do, and it was a group effort. Actually, getting him in there, you put him in there. It was awesome. It was awesome, yeah. Getting him out is a whole different scenario.

Come on, bitch! As you tug on him, and he gets one arm and a shoulder out, and it's... Dead? It's definitely dead. The hand is limp, but it's not coming out. You know what? There's a way around this.

Go to town, Averagely! Ah, it's in my eyes! Like a cavern horror film. Rocky Horror. Rocky Horror, same little shop. Yeah. This is the Sam Raimi moment of this current session. Blood splatter on the wall side, buzzsaw sounds,

and Laudna in the corner, grinning like a child on a Saturday morning. Turning into Honey from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. What?! But you have now a Rylora juggernaut in pieces. Individual arms, legs, head. Can you chip off his index finger for me? Oh boy. Thank you.

We should actually put these back, because to Fearne's point, we could need bait, we could need a distraction, you never know, and you'll need a thigh. You need all of it? Sure you do! Just a couple pieces. Want to leave something behind? Yeah, for whatever lives here. Oh, like a little tip.

Is this an insane place to try and plant something? Is it like, I've been trying to tap with my hammer and see if I can get soil down. Oh, to plant. Plant something. What are you trying to plant? Well. Oh.

Oh wait, do we owe a thing? We owe a debt. That we're supposed to plant? On the moon! We told, what, it's a seed! Yeah, from the old minespring. We owe a debt. And it's up to you. Think, what does a fungus need to survive?

See, that's what I was saying. I think we should do it deeper. I think we should do it under, because remember, it was low. It was deep underground when we found it. I think we need to plant it deeper. I want to do it. Okay, I was just triple to plan it deeper. I want to do it. Okay, I was just triple checking.

Deeper. You want to do it deeper? Yeah. Okay. The juggernaut has its helmet part on the top, its head just off to the side. I'm going to keep being in the bag. We're going to put some of it in the cave, though. We'll leave his torso and we'll put some of the,

like, his limbs back in there. Limbs are easier to get out. We're going to put some of the giant nasty looking knuckle weapons that are across his fingers that are made from some sort of extremely dense bone that have these barbed hooks. It's either carved to make them or maybe they are naturally formed in whatever they took them from. extremely dense bone that have these barbed hooks. It's been either carved to make them or maybe they are naturally formed

in whatever they took them from. But those are grips on the hand. Bless you. That was adorable. That was really cute. So cute. Well shit, let's keep those, man. Fuck. Yeah, we'll take those.

There are bits of shoulder armor and spikes. All manner of battle attire and adornment on it. I'll take one of the shoulder spikes as a pauldron for dressing. Okay. It'll let people know not to fuck with us. I'll take the other one. Yeah! Okay, there you go.

Like father, like son. I was just curious. My three sons. All right. Yeah, I'm good, man. Okay. Shit, I forgot what I was going to say. It doesn't matter.

Onward. Can we take a look at the wall weapons and get a description for them later? Yeah, yeah, you can totally take those. Great, onward. All right, shoving Pâté back in the bag. Okay, Pâté's back in the bag. No coins or potions or anything like that, right?

Just the weapons have got great. Let's do it. Oh, quickly, apple fritter. Apple fritter. Thank you. Apple fritter. Oh, thank you. Apple fritter. What did they give us again? Four temporary hit points. On top of the max we have?

Yes, those are different. Those are, yeah. Wait, just a flat four? Four temporary hits. Everybody, everybody? No, not you, and more Travis. That's fine. Who's Travis? You're beefy. Yeah, that's fair.

That was fucking awesome. This fucker has more hit points than I do now. Oh, I didn't know that. But I'm good. Because I can, I do have damage. Which parts of the juggernaut are you keeping? Limbs and asshole. No, limbs and head. Limbs and head, okay. Limbs and head. All right, so head. Limbs and head, okay.

All right, so you put the limbs and the head back in the bag with Pate. Leaving the torso behind. Just like a hot dog. Lips and asshole. Just really don't. Okay. You gather your materials. And concentrate for a moment before you all

dart back off into the atmosphere beyond this cavern and back up into the eye, the sky above, coasting up the side of this mountain peak and over in the direction that you recall from your vision. You continue on for the next hour or so in that direction, enjoying this breaking up of the dust storms that put you there, but you can still see the tumultuous landscape

pushing around you, as well as the closing of sunlight upon the surface of this part of Ruidus. Woo! Really? You sense the coming of night. No, there's a big day coming. Apparently. But. It's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, side and you can see it forks off in different directions, almost like a weird bone shape, where the edges have to splinter off on the edges. You could see three different patterns of chasms that break around the base and one that cuts straight through and divides it in the center, where it

looks like the mountain range itself tumbled in. There's a gap of about a quarter mile or so that just falls into darkness. You also, as you continue along, you can make out a couple more of these small herds that are curling up the side of the mountain range to the right hand side. You follow the sight of the mountain range to the right-hand side. And you follow the sight of where they're going. And the next thing you see are a handful of flickering bits of light. Going down.

And as you get a little bit closer, you see a village folded in part of this dual rising spires on part of this mountain range, nestled in the center of it, from what looks like, I'm going to describe it as a moon ranch, with paddocks, little abodes that are built into the sides of that crevice.

And you can see probably 60 to 70 more of these beasts all kind of nestled in there. It's unique to have grown up where you had, to see similar arrangements of the local livestock. And you see figures moving and tending to it below. Beyond that, you can see the storms still approaching, though quite a distance off,

but you know there'll be more dust to come. What would you like to do? I want to seek shelter and meet some locals, personally. This is what we're here to do. This is the perfect place. We should land a little bit outside of it, though, and remove our- Walk up, personally. This is what we're here to do. This is the perfect place. We should land a little bit outside of it, though, and remove our... Walk up, yeah. I have a question, though.

Maybe it's best to do a little wispy flyby? I know I want to get close and see if they look like they're dressed like the Imperium or like the Rylorans that I've called. Because if we come trotting through as the Ruby Vanguard and they're not welcome here, that might not be good. Smart. Okay.

You coast down closer and do a slow, distant buzz at the top of this village. It's, you gather the population here, probably could be more than 1,000 people tops scattered amongst all these different homes. It reminds you of a smaller zephra in some ways, because it is high in the mountains, nestled in. But the first thing you notice is

everything here is very simple. The homes and abodes are smoothed rock or made of thatch and mud that have dried over. It gives this almost like a natural popcorn vibe amongst the different clusters of homesteads between the open portions of paddocks and holding areas for the various livestock.

You can see some of that red brush and odd plant life has been cultivated in clusters here and within some of the shaded sections of the Broken Rock, where portions of the mountain have actually been damaged and carved away to make room to plant this sustainable pattern to maintain the livestock. You also see, amongst the populace, in a quick glance overhead, there are, I'd say only about maybe 20% of the population

appears to be Ryloren. The majority of the rest of the people here are much shorter and squatter folk. Just at a quick pass by, there's a people here you've never seen before. Ooh. Most of them are heavily swathed in hooded shawls and tattered bits of robes

made of a heavy material that, when it billows, it billows like starched canvas, almost. So when the gusts hit it, it cracks as it moves behind it. And when they're moving out of the wind, it doesn't billow with them, so it's almost like statues moving through.

Occasionally, you catch the sight of a hand, and it's thick, meaty grasps that grab Reyn's. You begin to recall the vision you had in that cavern as being very familiar in size and form. Too far away to get much more detail beyond that, especially with the night coming to the moon, Ruidus. But we don't see any of the armor, like the Imperium, that we've seen.

Oh, you do see people wearing similar designs. You do not see any vanguard. Okay. But you do indeed see Ryloran wearing similar armor, though less battle-ready front lines. You do see a handful of juggernauts, as well as just standard Rylorns, but they're half armored and more just present.

And it doesn't take long to realize that they're definitely keeping watch. They are managing this space. They are ordering these people. And there is a general air of tension in certain arenas. And maybe we shouldn't walk up. We should get in there,

find a shed or something to spend a minute. We don't want to walk up and get confronted by the baddies, right? We said 20%. That's like 200 Rylorans. 20% of Ryloran. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, like 200 Rylorans.

But if we can get in past them and talk to the people, the real people, we might be able to get a read on what's going on. Maybe we could hover out and find a spot that is thin on Rylorne and heavy on these others. Yeah. Find a hiding spot. Tensions. Do we see any percentage of the population that looks human or fey or anything like that?

When you hide, do you want to coast closer? Sure. Yeah. Cloud to coast closer? Sure. Sure. Yeah, we're clouds, right? I mean, you are clouds, but you're not invisible. You are still a cluster of mist balls that go. Yeah, we're noticeable. Is it possible to act casual? I mean, if we get right down to the ground,

can we just look like a dirt devil? Look love. Yeah, that's how it comes. You could certainly try. Let me know. I'm going to try really quick to just speed around on the ground and look like a, you know, you've seen those little weird dust cyclones.

Yeah, dust devil. Okay. Just before we even go in, I'm just like, grade myones. Yeah, dust devil. Okay. Just before we even go in, I'm just like, grade my performance. Yeah, let's see it. Just moshing as a cloud. Yeah. Make a performance check for me.

Fuck yes. This is going to go real poorly. Yep, no, two. You watch this wisp of cloud separate from the group and then rush down and it hits the ground and goes, . Yep, now. It just overtly looks like it's trying to draw attention.

Shit, okay. You see as six of the locals still hoods up, look back towards it and confused and whispering to each other a bit. Oh boy. Pointing over to this weird, errant, little mist pocket that's just shifting around oddly on the ground. Just going to Jonah Hill it.

No, I was hoping to do this further away from an actual audience, but okay, okay. I understand. Yep. Nope, that's everyone's critic. It's not super close to them, but they still pick it up. It's that bad. It's that bad, is what you're saying. They pick it up. Yeah, no. That's real bad. That's everyone's critic. It's not super close to them, but they still pick it up. It's that bad. It's that bad, is what you're saying. On a two, they pick it up.

Yeah, no, that's real bad. Who's singing? Shorter Folk, Roy Lauren, or both? Shorter Folk. Yeah, Shorter Folk. Are there any structures around here? Barns? There are a number of structures, and you can see some that resemble barns.

I mean, best you can. There's no standard barns here. Everything has a domed feel to it, because a lot of the material that it's built from is from the surrounding rock and or other materials that you haven't even gotten close enough to inspect. There's definitely a mud or adobe texture in places. You can see areas of like, it's almost like a thatch weave to it, but you haven't seen anything that could create thatch here. As the light continues to fade, color begins to mute and texture begins to blur.

So at the distance you're keeping, you're losing detail the longer time goes. We won't be able to, we can't take a long rest here, y'all. Why not? These could be allies. Because we will lose our, yeah, but there's Rylor in here, too, and we'll lose our Misty Forms.

How many more hours do we have of it, though? You have about five hours left. Oh, that's a lot. We can't take a long rest. We've got to talk to these people, find out what's going on. That's fine. We don't have to do it in a group. We'll be traveling in the night. We can't take eight hours.

We'll lose our fast travel. We got to talk and get out and keep going in the night. Eight hours, we'll lose our fast travel. We got to talk and get out and keep going towards the city. One person can go in, ask questions, you know. I was going to say, if we are sneaky and go window to window, do you think we can find some sort of public house, something like that? Something that's really trying.

Yeah, you want to scout around for a- Not where there's not Rylorans poking in and it's just the locals? Something private. You watch as it's getting darker and as you're having this conversation and planning amongst yourself, taking in the scenery, and as the shadow of night begins to creep

across the ruddy landscape of Ruidus, the interior of these abodes begin to brighten up. This faint bluish-green color. Some of them have a purple tint. You can see that most of these beasts are brought into their respective paddocks and the locks and doors closed upon them. You can see many of them bundle up together

and form these masses of fur and horn and bundle down so they can sleep through of fur and horn and bundle down so they can sleep through the storms and be unbothered. There isn't like a there isn't like an air or tension of oppressive violence or anything in this city, but there's definitely

people are working under watch. From where we are, can we see any signs of horticulture or mining, or is it literally the management of livestock on land? From what you can tell here, make a perception check for me. I should have rolled one of those.

17. 17, not too bad. You don't see any signs of an open mine or a mining enterprise here at all. The largest things and the easiest to see are the livestock management here, but there are clusters of these villages where you can assume there's probably other crafts involved

or maybe less overt and land-intensive endeavors that are transpiring. No clear rows of crops or mining or- overt and land-intensive endeavors that are transpiring. No clear rows of crops or mining or? There's no crops. There's no farmland that you can see. What you can see are where they've planted all of this red brush that you've only seen at a distance

into all these different cracks in the stone. You can see where some of the cracks seem natural, some look like they've been carved deep into it, and in these places of shadow, you can see where that red flora is bursting forth. Occasionally, you can watch as some of these massive, bison-like creatures will stumble up and start eating from it.

Well, we should talk to people quickly before they all start going to bed and then we're very creepy. Who wants to do this? Some of our shorter members. Oh yeah. I could try. Two shorties. Oh, right. Or unless we have someone who can change their appearance

to look like them. I can disguise myself. You can? Yeah. The only thing is that they might not speak common. So I can speak to them telepathically and they can understand me. I have, what do I have? Fearne, can you disguise?

I can touch Fearne and give her the ability to understand any spoken language. All right. And speak it. Great. to understand any spoken language. All right. And speak it. Right. When Delilah came back, I got Eyes of the Runekeeper again, so I can read. Oh, nice. That's it, that's it.

Yeah, I could, and it's not concentration, so I could do it on two people. I could touch two people and you can talk their language. Maybe send on charisma people? That would be? Pretty good charisma. Fearne. And you?

Or Orym? No, my charisma's not great. My charisma's, that's what my spell is based in. She's max. I'm just the smartest person in this group. I'm also Max. My persuasion is Max. You're Max. Oh, you're Max Charisma.

Yeah, you are. Sorcerers. Yeah, sorcerers. It's our spellcasting charisma. Damn. Get in there. Should you guys go? We can do it. But you can't look like that. But usually it doesn't matter.

If you got high enough charisma, you can still. None of us look like them. Yeah, you guys go. You want to go? Sure. You want to go? You want to go? We can find some children. God, I don't like the way you said that.

Well, Aedra, because Aedra. All right, all right. I was with you. They're innocent. They're innocent, and they're brutally honest, and they tend to not have magnations or a motive to hide things. Dressed this way, they'll listen to you They're innocent. They're innocent and they're brutally honest and they tend to not have magnations or a motive to hide things. Just this way, they'll listen to you

if you ask them to come over, right? The Wookiee vanguard seem to be in charge right here. Well. I don't know if, well. It could just be Rylaurence are not nice in general, I don't know. What are the, what did you say the features were of these? We couldn't see them. We just saw them. We're too far away.

He said, meaty hands. Too far away. You can see that they seem to be bipedal, humanoid, but they're definitely squat. And as they move, you can see when their hands reach out and grab, their fingers are that thick. It's very like these massive extremities, proportionally, to what are shorter, thicker,

like more exaggerated than dwarves to a certain extent. And there seems to be a hunch and a hulkingness to them, but you have no real proportional size beyond just the few other ones that pass by, and they're probably no more than four feet tall. They're just bulky. I'm willing to put, I guess, good money, whatever that means here,

that most Rattalorans are fucking fine. We've only met ones at military and battle posts, and if I only met people from military and battle posts, I think everyone was a piece of shit, which I kind of do, but still. Can we find a spot outside of the visual range to transform? Yeah. Like a barn.

Yeah, shed, something. Yeah, that's what we were looking for. Okay. You find what looks to be some sort of a storage shed-like dome that sits on the outskirts of the nearest side of this village. You shift over to that space and you can see this one fenced-in area.

There's one figure that's currently in the process of carrying a large satchel that is filled with what looks like those red leafy bush harvested clusters inside, as well as another odd-looking, faint aqua or turquoise-colored material. You don't know what it is. You watch as they're reaching and putting them out into

a round trough. There's currently no other creatures in this area. It's like they're preparing for something. You can see there from the back, they're hood up, but the storage shed they came from doors ajar. It looks like it's maybe about 15 by 20 feet, like an off-road shape a little bit for the strongest dome structure.

We'll go in there. Especially if it's getting dark. If it's getting dark, see if you all filter inside. Do some of us want to stay in wispy form and be overwatched? I think so. In case you get a visitor.

I'll have to change to cast this on you. So I'll start the process of changing back. Do we want some emergency muscle? I'll wait behind, but. Sure, just to stay in here. That makes sense. Yeah. Sure.

It's going to take 10 minutes for him to change. So whispy, whispy, whispy. And we can. Going in. Two, it should only take two minutes. We can talk in our minds even from cloud to cloud. Yeah, yeah. Cool. So who's staying in?

I'm clouding it for a second. Cloud stands up. From Cloud to? Yeah, yeah. Cool. So who's staying in? From Cloud. Cloud stands up. Okay, so that's three of you are staying up there, the rest of you are going down. Okay. I don't know if the Ruby Vanguard cloaks are the right approach. I think we should take them off when we talk to them.

Yeah. All right. All right. Good for walking around. I have to cast spells on them. I'm. All right. You're not. Good for walking around. I have to be, I have to cast spells on them. You know what, I'm going to get down with FCG. Great, come on down. Okay, so that's five of you down,

two of you in the air. Great. That works. Okay. The five of you just down into the ajar entryway to this storage chamber as you pull into the dark space inside. There is no light source in here.

You get the sense that the entity that was using it probably brought along some sort of light source or doesn't need it, you're uncertain. But you come inside. You have darkvision, so you can make up the interior here. It is just shelves and bundles of supplies. It's a storage room. You can see there's lines of tools,

some for harvesting, some for training and domestication of beings, a lot of harnesses. You can also see a lot of empty containers and satchels that are hung up on the side, all just yard and farm work type materials, but familiar in the sense that they're all completely unfamiliar until you begin to see them in context.

You're like, okay, this is a tool shed. This is a storage shed. But yeah, it's still pretty full, so it's not a wide empty space. You're all cramped if you were to revert, but you can do it. All right. We do it. All right.

You all begin to transform back. Your body's coming to form. About 30 seconds into that transformation, the two of you notice that the figure finishes up and starts walking back towards the storage shed. Oh boy. Incoming. Oh shit. Oh shit.

We're going to just pop up, right? Comes around the corner, you hear this dull whistle. Steps inside and they pull this little necklace from their neck and flick it twice with their giant, meaty hand. You hear the tingting as it does. It glows this faint blue glow, and all of you, mostly apparated,

stand there in the middle of the space as the creature looks up towards you. Don't scream. Please don't scream. In his head, he hears it, just in case he can't understand what we're saying. Now, as you look at the face lit up, you can see the hood pulled back a little bit.

This extremely rotund, almost cherub-like face with mostly black eyes. Just the very edges of it, you can see whites that are available with wrinkles underneath here and smile marks. Just a flesh nub where the nose would be with just slits and this deeply set mouth that is just open and agape, and the rest of the cloak is covered around it

as it holds the thing. No, no. Make a persuasion check. Can I assist her? Can I aid in that by throwing up my hands and telling them, like, hush? Or would that get me disadvantaged? No, no, that's what I'm thinking.

Because it's Laudna. Uh-huh. I'll allow it. Yeah, we don't look like them. They don't know that she's scary. You're aliens to each other. We're both scary. Then you're both scary, so yeah,

it would make a difference. And Fearne is there, too, right? And I'm there. Natural 20. Nice. For a total of? Oh, we're all in there. 33.

Whoa. I guess. Oh, my god. Oh, man. Fuck. What? Who? Who are you?

Oh, he speaks in common. Cool. Just save me two spell slots. And that's where an earthquake takes place. Oh! We want to talk to him! I know, and we'll start the next episode with this conversation.

I envision this almost like a weird, muscular pod person from Dark Crystal. That kind of like a face vibe a little bit. Yeah. Human skin tone or a face vibe a little bit. So cute! Yeah. Oh my god. Human skin tone or a different, a certain color? The blue is making it change. Everything here is lit blue around his necklace, so you can't really tell on this dark vibe.

Cool. But yeah. Whoa, we got a new person. Oh boy! Knew it. We're on the fucking moon. Cool, cool, cool. We're on the moon! Ludus has been around for a while

and has its own ecosystem. Oh man, I'm stoked. This is only the surface. I'm stoked. Stop it. Okay. I've been waiting for this for so long. Good shit, Matt.

Yeah. Good. This is the game. This is really fun. Yeah, this is the game. Well, we'll pick this up next episode. Thank you all so much for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Good night. Good night.