Critical Role - C3E84 Red Rural Revelations

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Bells Hells are introduced to a village on Ruidus and learn about the way of life on the 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, spellcasters, sages, and spectators. I'm Ashley Johnson, and you're listening to the Critical Role Podcast Network.

Tap into our magical narrative by watching Critical Role as it airs on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole or youtube.com slash criticalrole. Twitch subscribers can watch the video on demand right away, or you can catch it the following Monday on YouTube. As always, Critical Role will be available right here in podcast form on Thursdays, a week after the initial broadcast. And now, let's scry into the story

and see what mysteries it holds for us, shall we? Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. We're the Dungeons & Dragons! Oh! Yep. Oh!

But before we get into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor, NordVPN. Sam. You've heard me talk about NordVPN before. It's the best cybersecurity on the market. That's it. Matt, hack to you.

Wait, there's no ad? I just, we're on the moon. I really want to start exploring it, so let's just skip the ad. NordVPN, they sponsor us all the time. They're not even going to notice. God. Okay.

I'm on the show then. Sam, Sam! You have to do the ad. What the hell, Ashley Middlebrook? Don't freak out. But we found this bomb on the set, and once you start an ad, which you did, if you stop the advertisement, it will explode. Exactly like the movie Speed? Exactly like the movie Speed. Oh god!

Sam, you have to keep doing this ad, or the whole place is going to blow up. Oh Speed! Oh god! Sam, you have to keep doing this, Ed! Or the whole place is going to blow up. Oh god! Oh god! If lives are on the line, I have no choice but to continue. What do we do with this? NordVPN's software can protect you from all kinds of threats, DDoS attacks, phishing, malware, password ransomware, even malvertising. That's when you click an ad, which I've done many times,

and the ad will share your IP address or configuration with hackers, but NordVPN... I'm parched, I'm parched! I need water, I need water! Damn it, Sam, you have to keep going! Right in the back of my throat! And it is definitely wrong. Keep moving!

With NordVPN, threat protection blocks ads for smooth and safe browsing. It also scans and downloads... Mel? No time for air! No time for air! Okay, okay, okay.

I'll keep going while you guys diffuse the bomb. Okay, we'll diffuse the bomb. But I don't know what to say. This okay, okay, I'll keep going while you guys defuse the bomb. Okay, we'll defuse the bomb. But I don't know what to say. This is what you were born to do, Regal! Now advertise! Okay, okay, if someone tries to shut down your server, they might try to DDoS you. Send a high volume data to your high volume.

Which one are we cutting? The red one. Why? Because it's always the red one! Are you sure? I don't know! Okay, okay. Someone call Keanu!

I'm doing it, I'm doing it, I'm doing it! One, two, wait, I'm not ready. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! We gotta do something! We're clear. Oh, I can stop? Yeah. You did it, Sam.

You saved my life. How can I repay you? By subscribing to NordVPN, Marisha. That's a great way to end it. That's a good way. They've been sponsoring the show for a long time and supporting them helps support the channel. So go click on over and grab the NordVPN deal

at nordvpn.com slash Critical Role. Did you spit in your face? I like it. And get an extra four months. Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Matt, I'm sorry your wife had to do that. Not as sorry as she is. Thank you, Sam.

Thank you, NordVPN. Marisha, you got announcements. How small is Rum you still haven't had? Yeah, you still thirsty, Sam? It is definitely Rum. It is? That was such a look. It went, it hit the back of my throat!

You're used to it. You've been there before. Ooh, that is a good idea. Oh, Rum! Ah! Yeah, that's good. Marisha! Cadillac Obscura! Cadillac Obscura! Tied in bone! Has come to its thrilling conclusion,

but you can now peek behind this curtain with our Session Zero character creation video, as well as our Crafting a Mystery interview with the incomparable Aabria Hyatt. Aabria Hyatt! Both VODs are now available on Twitch and YouTube. And then also, we just had the brilliant creators

and narrators of Mitstover for a fantastic round table. We did. It was fun. Yes, it was really awesome. You can now check that out. It's out on VOD now. And season three launches next week on February 14th. February 14th. That's crazy. It's the best season yet.

Get caught up. Subscribers get the first three episodes as well as lots of other perks. So consider subscribing at MITS.co. MITS.co. And get ready for this new thrilling installment of this mind-boggling story. Woo!

That's great. Thank you, Marisha. Laura, you're up. We have merch. Starting with, this is for you, baby. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Yay! It's a Chetney Parker pinwood working shirt.

By artist Alexis Lampley. You can find them on Instagram at late-night letterer. That's cool. World's best dad! We have two colors. We have this. Wait, we have this one. That's in the U.S. It's a heathered gray. Then we also have this one.

It's a solid gray. Oh! This is available in the U.K. and the E.U. This one is the US and Canada. I don't know which one I like better. Calling up some dinosaurs over there? Check them out. Those are cool. Thank you.

Also, guess what else we have? Oh. Wait, what is this? We have armor, I'm going to tell you. Right now. You're going to take those shirts home, right? This is, okay, get ready, because we have the Spell's Hells collection.

Well, now we're releasing an Arm of the Air Starry Bomber jacket! Oh, cool! That's awesome! What? I know, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Look at the back.

It's like your tattooed Big Blue Little Moon! I'll be taking that home. It's super cool, and it's so comfy, and it's got this really beautiful lining. Oh, wow. Yum. You make good stuff. No, and it's super comfortable.

Anyway, it's in all our shops. Go check it out. Wow, I love it. Here. You can't take it home. We have to keep these here now. But I can take it home, right? But you can wear it.

You have more to say, Laura. I'm saying more. Also, we have more some stuff that I am going to talk about. Our friends at Sideshow, guess what? They have a beautiful Yasha statue that's coming out. It's open for free right now. Channel your inner storm with flowers in your hair. I didn't read the prompt to write it all there. And you can also, if you already bought Beau, you can pair Yasha up with Beau. Look how much, you can't see Yasha right now. The hot she is! She's so lonely. I thought you were going to show us how they pair.

No, it's just saying Beau's hot. Yasha's also hot and would be hot right here. Obviously very sad to be standing alone. Anyway, look it, she's so lonely. Visit side.show slash order Yasha to pre-order Yasha. Or you can check out any of Sideshow's other stunning Critical Role statues. They have prints. They're all real cool.

They have other stuff, check it out. Now I'm really done. Awesome, thank you, Laura. You're welcome. And I believe that concludes our announcements. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. While you manage to take care of your parsed mouths, let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of

Critical Role. Hit me with a run-up! Critical. Critical. 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 All ye Critters, come join us, it's time to continue our plight. There is magic and mystery, who knows what will happen in life. But one thing's for sure, we never give up on the fight. From the healer to the renegade We all share the same goal Adding more allies, taking more chances Hold your breath and roll You can certainly try

It's Thursday night All ye critters come join us It's time to continue our fight. It's Thursday night. 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, Bell's Hells, after fighting and sneaking their way to the center of the

Tishton excavation site, stepped upon the Bloody Bridge and found yourselves transported to the surface of the red moon of Il Omen, Ruidus itself. Upon arriving, you used the still-lingering spell from Keyleth the Erishar to transform into mist. Once you had managed to escape a brief encounter at the center of the receiving encampment on the moon and managed to evade discovery long enough to escape over the windy and dust-covered landscape. Upon traveling and traversing to a region that seemed safe, you found a cavern where you could rest

and collect your thoughts. Imogen reached your mind out to try and connect to the weird drawing essence of the very moon that you stand on. In doing so, you seem to draw some attention, but learned some very important things. And as you now continue to seek information about what's happening here, what's important about it, who's responsible, and what you can bring back

that might offer an advantage to all those that lie in wait on Exandria. You continued on through a storm, met some of the local wildlife from a distance, and then settled down in a mountain-nestled city or a village where it seemed a lot of farm folk and livestock were being tended to, gathered in a very simple life,

still with a Ryloren presence, some working, some walking with authority. But here in the shadow, five of your troop have traveled down into one of the little farm sections, an offshoot of the village proper, and began to transform back into your physical selves from the mist form within a storage structure of some kind. Upon nearly completing your structure,

your transference, an entity walked in and noticed, about to squeal for a moment, you shouted towards it to stay quiet, and through a brief moment of persuasion, the tension seems to have been abated or not crossed over into anything dangerous as the somewhat hulking-looking, round-backed, tree-trunk-like armed creature,

its hood pulled up over its eyes, its cherub-like cheeks, its curled, thin, nost nostril-like elephant-type nose that pushes past the mouth, looks up at you with dark eyes, and is now quivering, asking you in common, What are you doing? Who are you? We're here to help against the Ruby Vanguard.

We're not with them. I don't want to get involved. I don't want anything to do. Are you Empyrean? No. We all are Empyrean. What is Empyrean? We're friends.

Don't worry, we're not here. Oh, hi. Hi, smiley day to you. We're friends. We're not here to harm anyone. Are you friends of the Imperium? Are you friends of the Imperium? Oh boy, that's not shady.

Yes, we are friends of the Imperium. Okay. Then we're friends of the Imperium. No, she's a friend of ours! Wait. No, they're bad. Imperium is good. Oh, Imperium's bad.

It's not, check it. Friends of the Imperium. But he's just saying that because he thinks that we're friends of the Imperium. I'm going to wait. I'm going to... I'm going to, wait, let me see if I have a spell slot. Okay. Spells.

Yes, I'm going to Detect Thoughts. You're going to Detect Thoughts? Surface? Sure. All right. I just want to see what he's thinking of about the Imperium. Okay, immediate emotional journey that the surface of this creature's mind gives you

is that of panic, fear, a hint of curiosity, but in their head, they're like, It's a test. A test, I think it's a test. If we said we are not friends of the Imperium, would you turn us in? Because if we said that,

Oh, that sounds like a test. It sounds like a test. It sounds like a test, too. That is a test. Of course, immediately. Look, we're ridiculous. We hate the Imperium, all right? Let's just be out with it.

You are dressed like the friends of the Imperium. No, we're not. We don't like them. We had to sneak in because they're everywhere. So this is how we got in. We're here to take them down. I have to turn you in? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! You don't have to.

Wait, am I? Was I? Yeah, you're here. Hi. Hi. I'll tell you, we can figure that out later. Would it be okay just to have a conversation? I mean, just because we're a little confused. No, no, no, no, listen, listen. I don't know what you're talking to your chest right now. I don't know if you're alerting somebody about something.

But listen. Yes. Listen. No, you don't have to say yes. Yeah, you don't have to. Listen, listen, listen. We are not friends of the Imperium, okay? We're here to just scope things out and trying to get answers,

but we're not friends with the Imperium. But we really can't, we really don't want to alert them that we're here. We're trying to help you. Okay, you see didnt looks down at his chest again. Make a perception check for me, Fearne. His chest. What is he looking at?

Can I see what he's looking at? Make a perception check. This is like, popped in her sunlight. But I'm still detecting his thoughts, so would I have, okay. Can I aid her by using the Monocle of True Essence? You and I are floating up in the sky. Oh balls!

In the itty bitty clouds, which maybe I did this a week ago, I can't remember. I want to make sure that everything's quiet on the lunar front and see if anyone else is coming. If there's any problems. Sure. We were brought in. Did you say persuasion?

14. 14, okay. I'm also looking around the room for other exits or anything sort of odd in here. Certainly, it's a perception for you as well. I rolled a 21 for perception to see what he's looking at. Okay.

You see something shifting underneath the cowl that's put over the shoulders, like there's movement over here. Like he's got a creature in his pocket? Or a third arm or something. I rolled a 23 just to look around there. You got a nipple here, yeah? Quiet.

So. What? What's the weasel? Looking around, the only real exit is the entrance where you all and this figure came in. You don't see, there's no windows here. It's a sizable storage shed, but it is just a storage shed

with no other discernible exit. You see something moving here, and looking at you, you see this conflict in its expression. Its thick brows are turned upward and a knotted bit of being caught in their own decision-making process. It's okay, it's okay. What? What this to do?

You see as it looks at the friend. Can I hear any distress in their brain? You hear distress, and you see as it looks at your friend. Can I hear any distress in their brain? You hear distress, and you hear like, Oh, it's too young, it's too young. You hear this flea on a faint noise go, . You see the figure like, I need to talk to someone.

I, I... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Kill him. Wait. Please, we just want to have a conversation, and then we'll leave, and you'll... Where's this person you want to talk to? Imperium.

No, no, no, no, no, no. What? I... Please, our lives are depending on you. If you turn us in, they'll kill us. What's your name? I am Dono. Dono? You dono? Dono?

Or do you just? Dono. Dono. Dono? Dono. Dono. Dono. Dono, Dono. Dono. Unbelievable.

Dono. I said you go to sleep. Dono. Dono. Dono. Wait. I am going to... Stand by, stand by. Adonai.

What are you yelling for? Adonai! Okay. I am going to create just a little flower, just a little druidcraft. Oh, nice, nice, nice. A little flower. You know, with a beautiful lavender calming scent, but it's just a beautiful purple flower.

Okay, you create the flower and it's backing away, still holding the glowing amulet that he had procured and stops and looks at it. For you, if you want it. In his head, you're like, this is too many tests, I don't want to fail it. Oh no. Trying to give him a present.

There you go. Big old meaty fingers. It's like, takes it carefully and moves it down and you watch as underneath the robes, these two, what you didn't see, a much smaller additional set of folded arms that are right in the sternum area come out with these long, thin, very dexterous fingers

that grab the flower and begin to turn it over in its face as it glances. The bigger one's more not suited for delicate maneuverability. Oh, there was a voice, too. As it looks at it, you hear that weird babbling again. The cloak shifts a bit. Oh my god.

You watch as this small, almost like an iguana-like humanoid crawls out from underneath and up the smaller arms. Long, thin, almost fey-like ears. At first glance, it looks almost like an imp, but its thick-scaled hide and its thin body, its thin limbs as it crawls along deftly. It also looks weirdly adorable.

Its eyes have this gold shimmer to it and it curls up along the smaller arms and looks at the flower and starts chewing on it. It's like, no, no, not. It's okay, he needs it. It's okay? Yeah, if he needs a snack. I'm pretty sure. I'm going to cast Tongues on myself

just so I can understand if that creature murmurs again. Okay. Is this your... Who is this? This is Cain. Cain. Cain? Yeah.

I have a little pet, too. Would you like to meet him? Oh, okay. All right. I reach in the bag, getting a pull-out pate. How is it going? Shut up, shut up! Backs up, the creature curls up and takes a.

You don't have to immediately talk. You pick up the babbling. It's not language. It's just babbling. Oh! It's a baby! Okay, I'll relay that to my friends. We're clearly not from around here, if that isn't good. You are dreamers, yes?

Dreamers, I do dream. What do you mean by that? You are dreamers. Is that what they call them here? You're not with Imperium, you promise? Oh no, we don't know what that is. I mean, we know what the Imperium is. You can see, I just pull the cloak back.

We're wearing really not Imperium stuff under this. This is, yeah, no. Reaches out, big, thick, calloused fingers rub against the material and kind of. It's new. I pull out my membership card for the Dreamscape Theater in Jrusar. Wow.

I don't have any identification, but look, see? This is where we're from. We're from a place called Jrusar. Small arms grab it, and the little creature curls up a little bit to inspect it and start nibbling on that, too. So stop eating. I want to keep flour. I've not seen one before.

Can I have my membership card back? Oh, yeah. It gives us VIP access. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah, it's okay. Sorry. Wow. Yeah. Wow. We're not supposed to talk to the dreamers when they come through.

How often do they come through? Not often. More in past weeks, but recently, not many. Are dreamers just not from around here, or is that what you? Dreamers are from the... Yeah, okay. This is really, this is very neat. I've not met a dreamer, talked to them before.

I'm Imogen. Imogen. Oh no, I told you that already. Yes. That's embarrassing. And this is Cain. This is Cain. Cain goes, . Cain, be friendly.

. I think you're cute. . He crawls back in. Oh my goodness. Cain is still a baby. It's my sight. My sight?

Sighter. Oh, sighter. Is that what they're called? Yes. We are Bormodos. Bormodos. People of the land. Bormodo bonds with the Scyther at a young age. And I lost my last Scyther, so this is new Scyther.

But it's very young, so I'm still teaching them. They're very... Remunctious is the word, right? Do Scythers get bigger, or do they stay that size? They get bigger. You see these hands, and you're like, boop. Oh, wow. This is the first Scy sight I've ever seen.

And poor Modo as well. This is new. How do you connect with them? What do they do? They help clean us. They help keep watch. They just are there to be companion and lookout, They just are there to be companion

and lookout, and we keep them warm, and we feed them scraps, and it is, wow, what is the word? It is symbiotic. Symbiotic. Yes. Hell yes. How do you speak the language that we speak? Many of us learned through your dreams. Through our dreams?

Yeah. So you can hear and see us when we dream? As we've been experienced and told, we do not dream, we dream yours. You are the dreamers, and when we go to rest, we get to witness your dreams. Wow. The good ones and the bad ones?

Yeah. Is it all different people's dreams that you experience? Or just a one person? Yeah, are you locked into one person? Yeah. No, it depends. Sometimes it's, and you see this wistful look over the eyes of Dona. Sometimes it's very beautiful. It's like getting to see

all these little stories every night. That's amazing. Do you ever... I'm just so curious. Do you, I mean, I've been feeling a little embarrassed by some of my dreams that I've had. Yeah, I've been poking around in dreams myself with a lot of these dreamers, and some of them are a little disturbing,

and some of them are a little bit not safe for work. You see this odd purplish tint begin to rise to the cheeks of Dona. It's like, the dreamers have a very vivid imagination. Yeah, yeah. You don't recognize any of us, do you? Do you tap into our dreams?

I don't believe so. Oh god. So sometimes we just walk through, dreamers just come through. Do we even know that you're there? Do we normally acknowledge or talk to anybody? I have not experience. Oh.

I am with simple farm folk. If you want to know more of that philosophical elements, you better in Capital City. Where is the Capital City? Capital City is... I've not been there, but the... It's one kilometer away. Yes. It is not a kilometer away.

The city is called Kraviris. Kraviris. Kraviris. This is what the Kravveris Imperium is, capital that. Oh. I have not visited, but the Elder has been when they were young. Oh, the Elder of your town, of your village?

One of them. I can take you to speak to Elder Barthi? We would love that. Before we go, there's a couple more of us who exist and might just appear at some point. Also not Imperium? No, definitely not.

Even less Imperium than us. And also, do you need anything? Do you need help with anything? You're a farmer. What do you farm? Is there anything we could do to help to show that we are 100% on your side? Actually, what do you farm? I'm really curious.

I will turn you into the Imperium. What? Wait, wait, wait, wait. I just had to check. Oh. It might still have been a trick. I don't know. I've not done this before. I think the rule is,

I think the rule is if you ask Imperium if they are Imperium, they have to, by law, tell you that they are. Don't tell people that, because I don't think they really do. So if you ask us, and we say no, then you can believe. Are you a narc?

All right. What's interesting is you watch through a lot of the communication. They're really small arms at the front, they're very expressive now that he's becoming more comfortable. As it talks, they open and react and curl up and frame the cheeks a little bit.

It's like having this little additional form of physical expression that's usually tucked and hidden within the cloak. Well, you could bring more. Just be quiet and please don't say I helped. I think Orson Welles.

How many of the Rylorans, you probably don't call them that here. The locals? Yeah. The tall. Yeah, the Rylorans. Okay. How many of them are in this city, in this town? Maybe a few dozen, maybe more.

We have former Rylorians as well, those who help with the Wukors, those who help with the Avedons, so those who help together. Is that those big creatures that are out there? Those beasts of burden? The Wukors, they have the many horns. Duvacor. Wukors. W? The Wukors have the many horns. Duvacor. Wukors.

Wukors. They have all the many horns. And they run straight into the dust storm. I don't know how they do that, but that was really impressive. They're very big. Wow. Wukorns?

Wukorns. Wukor. Wukor. What did? Wukor. W-U-U-K-O-R. Oh. And how much Imperium is in this city? We're trying to keep a look. We don't want to get in trouble.

There are right now probably about a dozen or so Imperium. Pretty relaxed, all things considered? No, it's been pretty intense. There's some left recently, three days ago. There's been a lot of movement, and they've been pushing for us to produce double mounts in recent months.

Amounts of? Of materials, of training Avedons. Of a gift. What's an Avedon? Avedon is a beast for burden, but also is trained as a war mount for the... Oh, yes, yes, yes. I think we've seen those. Did we see those? I had.

Wait, no, I think the buffaloes were the woofers. So Avedons are the dog things? They look like deadless dogs. Yes, that is an Avedon. We use them for hunting, usually, but more and more of them needed to be given over to the Dominion of Kruth. Who do you train them to kill?

Or you just train them to be mounted and like? Well, we train them to hunt with us. There are Veskal, which is the storm-riding winged beasts. They're all manner of small critters that we use for food and or pelts to keep warm when the cold storms come through. They're lovely. Yeah. You are so fascinating to talk to.

We love it. We want to keep going, but we don't want to get you in trouble. So if you're going to march us somewhere, do we need to cloak ourselves or make ourselves look blended? If we took a minute, we could all just vanish and then follow you to the elders, and then you would warn them that we would be appearing, but we could get there undetected if we so desire.

Your elders, are they against the Imperium as well? that we would be appearing, but we could get there undetected if we so desired. Your elders, are they against the Imperium as well? I don't know. Probably. I'm a little nervous about meeting anyone else, for fear. Elder Barthi is very nice, and would be who I trust. Barthi?

Barthi does not speak in hushed tongues about frustration with recent pressures. Known me since I was a small. If he trusts him, or they trust him. The Rylorans tend to read thoughts. I'm sure you know that. But if he knows more about the capital city,

like, that might be worth something. I just don't want to get them in trouble. The more people that are, this is all in our brains, as we're saying, the more people that are exposed to us, the more people we put at risk. I'll say. Yeah, but like. But it's worth it.

Yeah, we are here on a mission for god! Sure. Would your elders be open for council tonight? Maybe. I could go look. We've definitely put most of our livestock to rest for the night, other than the Shadowhunters out with their mounts. I can look into the world.

You're throwing so much vocabulary at us. You're throwing so much lore, Dono. We'll turn invisible again, and we'll wait out. We'll follow you. Well, we can follow and wait outside, and then we can just wave, and then we can come in and appear. Do you happen to know when the dreamers

started coming here for the first time? Or was that too long ago? It was a number of weeks back, couple months, maybe. A number of weeks, well, it's soon. It's not long. No. Maybe the first time we got rude

is close enough to Exandria. How did you know that you were dreaming our dreams? That is what the Weavemind tells us. The Weavemind? Lore, lore, lore. Who is the Weavemind? The Weavemind are the masters of the Imperium. God. They are the ones

that connect us to the dream, that connect us to the one who sleeps. Protathos. The one who sleeps. That's Protathos, I know that one. Do you know who sleeps? That's what they say. That's what they say. Did you ever hear about the one who sleeps prior to?

It's not my business. I just focus on my work. Okay. I think I have to ask someone else. I have a question. Avedons. Is there anything that can make them lose focus? Do you know of any scents that they don't like? Loud noises tend to spook them

and they can become unruly. Got it. I know that while we have to keep them calmed through, they have places on the shoulders where it's sensitive to where, with right petting, they can become docile or ready to eat. It's how we keep them under control for training purposes.

The Rylora, however, they can get into the Avedon's head and directly control at times, depending. Okay. Sorry, we're doing a lot of notes, I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry. How far away is the Elder? Is it across the way or down the path?

Closer to the center of the outpost. This is Rezora. Zora. This is the tower. Welcome to Rezora. Zora. Rezora outpost. Well, I think we should do this. I think let's vanish and then we'll follow.

So we're going to slowly disappear, and then we will follow you to the Elder's house, and then once you give the signal, we'll come in and appear. Very well. I think that's a good plan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to just turn into a dream for a second,

and then we'll come back. We'll be able to see you. Can I watch? Sure. He just stands there, looking at you all. Wow. Bye. Bye. It's very impressive.

Okay. Pulls the hood forward a little bit, sets the dangling amulet down for a bit and turns around. You can see, as you drift out and around, you can see this squat, lumbering mountain of a creature does the best it can to hop and heel click. Aw.

With excitement before heading back towards the doorway and slowly opening and stepping out, the wind blowing past, the dust plumes pushing by. That was Chetney. Do we see Chetney and Orym floating around? It's hard to see where they are at a first glance in this space,

but upon communication, you can quickly communicate with them. I'm going to go meet the elders. What? Or an elder. There's an elder we're meeting. This guy's really nice. His name is Dono. But he does know a lot, which is pretty cool. And we're in Rezora. It's the name of this outpost. Yeah, there's a sign right over there we're in Rezora. It's the name of this outpost.

Yeah. Yeah, there's a sign right over there. It says Rezora. Oh shit! This population don't know. All right. Are we following him? Oh yeah. Yes.

Okay. Okay. Subtly. You can see now throughout the Evening Village, there are a number of figures that just walk patrol through the various walkways, carrying these lanterns that are like a blue spherical glass that just maintains a steady,

almost magical light source around it. There's not a lot of torch or firelight out here, probably because the heavy winds would scatter and put things out rather rapidly. But you can hear the shifting of the vucors of other smaller creatures and such that are put off into small paddocks and areas to bundle up and sleep for the night.

So it's still and quiet. There's a little bit of life to it, but usually just people finishing up their work for the day or just keeping eyes out. You follow past a number of these other dome-like mud and rock homesteads and structures, watching the slightly swaying gate of Dono as he looks around, glancing in the sky around,

keeping an eye out for where you might be and looks over and gets lost for a second before remembering what he's doing and continues on the path. You watch as one Ryloran comes by and you can see he's wearing standard rough-and-tumble work clothes and just gives a nod. Dona gives a nod back and walks by.

Continues past a small, what looks like a trade square, where there are a number of collapsed tents and tables, not in use at the moment, moves around the left-hand side of that square towards a cluster of three larger buildings that sit next to each other, like a massive ellipses. Stepping up around it, you can see another pair

of Ryloren come by, one that is smaller than the juggernauts you've encountered, but definitely more muscular than some others you've seen and is well-armored. These metallic shoulder pauldrons that scoop up into these large spikes. And you can see chains that dangle from edge to edge and they have the bony crest of their head

itself is adorned with a similar chain as one of the ones that you had previously met through summoning before. You can see Döna keep a wider berth to keep around as they glance over and just keep walking. Eventually, Döna circles around towards the center of those three larger buildings and comes up at the door and looks around

to see if he sees you. Takes him a good solid minute or so before he can find the wisps of dust cloud that aren't going anywhere. Can I ask a question? Yeah. So we're spending minutes, at least minutes, floating overhead and looking down. Couple questions. One, what's the ratio of

Dunos to Rylorans to? Bormodos. Bormodos, thank you. You don't see many Bormodos out at this time. Many of them seem to have gone into their homes. You can see within all the homes, there's either dull firelight inside crackling or similar light sources like that pale blue

that you saw before. There's maybe about three dozen figures that you see throughout this entire village total that are currently out and about moving. Some of them are carrying the last of their workload for the day. Some of them appear to be, not unlike the Vyloren that you just saw,

in the process of just keeping watch, making sure that nothing untoward is going on. Okay. But when you first came down into the town and got a quick glance as you were looking over, this town's probably 75% Bermuda, at least. Okay. But there were working Rylorn as well.

Okay, and then follow-up questions. Looking at these two, which look like guards or warriors of some kind, using the fighter ability Know Your Enemy, can I ask if their total class levels are lower than Orym's and if their armor class are lower than Orym's? Those are the two traits that I'm assessing. Their total class level? Yeah, total class level in comparison to Orym's.

Right. In comparison to Orym's, they're a little bit lower. They're not, they're not, they're no pushover, but you do not see them as seasoned soldiers. Okay. You don't feel threatened by them to a degree. You just know it would be work.

And Oryms AC is 19. AC is lower? AC is lower. Lower. And then the last question, what kind of attitude do those warriors have towards the Bormodos around them? That's not a feature or anything. I'm just trying to see if, are they chill together?

Is it antagonistic? Make an insight check. Terrible. That is a two plus three. Hard to tell at night when you're a fart? It's hard at night being a fart. Dodo comes to the back of the large dome structure. You can see it.

At a distance, it looks like one massive rock mud dome. As you get closer to it, you can see there's scalloped edges with circle window holes and portals that themselves have bits of glass that's a little warped and natural in its shape that fits into the window spots. You can see there are strips like banners of painted art or some sort of flags or decoration

that brings a little color to the exterior. These particular buildings have a little more of an aesthetic to them than what you've encountered on the outskirts of the village. You watch as Dono eventually makes eyes towards your group, nods, looks around nervously, leans out against the wall, looks around. Fleck, Fleck, wall. Looks around.

Fleck, Fleck Smith. Real smooth. Leans in, one of the small hands goes, . Waits, looks back at the rest of you. He's a really good spy. Yeah, he really doesn't look obvious. You hear a sound of shifting chain.

The door opens slightly and you see a figure just frame in shadow as the door opens. A similar hunched shape. Not able to make out much detail. And Durno talks for a moment. Tiny hands get together and tap nervously. The big arms come together and tap nervously in a much slower way.

He's got small hands coming out of his chest. Yes, he does. It's a little bit. You know what they say about small hands coming out of your chest? They fucking fucking weird. Yep. And awesome.

Slowly, the door opens a little further and you can see the figure lean out for a minute. You can see in the other hand, they have a large gnarled stick, it looks like, that they're leaning on. They glance out and you watch Zon-O go, and point up to all of you. The creature takes the staff and knocks him in the head and is like,

I break for the open door. Yeah, same. Yeah. Okay. Dodo lumbers in, and all of you shift into the interior. Casually, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I move into the lungs of the elder.

Oh my goodness. It was a test. Heading into the interior of this chamber, you can see this low light, these candle-like lanterns that are lit and give this, you get the smell of unique spices that you've never really smelled before. There's almost a sweetness to the air, but it also meets a charcoal-like burnt scent

that creates this incense-like aesthetic on the inside. You can see there are all these wide squat tables that have been carved from stone and other materials that you can't quite make out what the source may have been. There are a number of heavy, look almost like chairs that can also be beds. They're in a heavy reclined position and they're thick

with heavy woven material that's put over them and cushions. You can see there's a unique looking tea kettle that seems to curl upward in a spiral before a spout stops. There's a little flame beneath that that's burning. A number of these metal cups that are these massive metal cups that come to a small domed bottom that are set around this table. And you watch as the two of them shuffle over towards the sides of the table.

Dono's like, Is it okay for you to meet my friends? And the older turns around. You can see the long, stringy elements of gray-white hair that tumble and tangle out from underneath their hood as they pull it back. And you can see they have a very similar facial structure to Dono, but much older.

You can see the wrinkles are very deep set. You can almost not see the eyes. They're so deeply pushed back. And as they turn around to look at Dono, there's a very stark intensity to their expression that then immediately, as it curls into a smile, melts away into the most grandfatherly-like expression you've seen.

This figure sets the staff down to the side on the table and goes, Well, yes, you can have them apparate one of you. That seems appropriate. Okay. Is anyone going first, or are we doing it all at the same time?

Oh my, that's... Oh, all at once, huh? Quite a majestic arrival for your friends here. Don't know. Wow. Very wild. All right. Is it Johnny?

Carson! Oh no. Hello. We've got a really big moon here. Yeah. What's your name? Well, dreamers, friends from the world beyond. Oh, hello! Yes! I am your humble Elder Barthi, the Honorer is mine.

I believe you've met Dono? Yes. Well, thank you, Dono, for your time. You can sit down for a second. Oh, thank you. Anyway. I guess we know whose dreams he's been invading. Yeah.

If I might ask, before things get too hairy, what can you give me assurances that you are indeed aligned with the Imperium? I mean, have you ever seen the Imperium turn into mist and? No, but we've seen a lot of really wild things as of late, so. Wait, did you say that we are aligned

with the Imperium or not? To make sure we're not. Hold it up to that bag of holding. I'll reach in and pull out the head. That's a good proof. The head of the- Good proof. Oh, that's right. Immediately, you watch him reel, like, I'll reach in and pull out the head. That's a good proof. The head of the. That's a good proof. That's right.

Immediately, you watch him reel, like, no, no, close that window, and that window, and that window, and that window. I use Thaumaturgy to just go. We're friends. Listen to us. That's extremely disturbing. I would...

I'm still kind of leaving him keeping them. That was a good idea. He's already coming to us. I'm still glad we ended up keeping them. That was a good idea. It's already kind of good. I'm sure that's for the minis. Yeah. All right, so you're dreamers. It's going to take 10 minutes to settle into this, man. Dream to some, nightmare to others.

Now look, I've been working in this Imperium for the majority of my life, and that's, I'm no pushover. So you brought in a dead Rylor and Juggernaut. That's quite impressive feat, I say so. But what's your business here? What are you doing? What do you want?

What can we possibly offer you if you're so powerful enough to traverse that weird red beam and just show up on my doorstep? We don't know anything about this place. Your history, your lives, the differences between the folk that are here. Yeah, you've been hearing and learning about us through our dreams, I guess, for a long time now,

but we didn't even know you existed until just a few weeks ago. Yeah, you're a mystery to us and everyone. I always wondered, I wondered if you, if any of our experiences got through to you like a trade, but I guess that's not how things work. Maybe for some people. I mean, obviously we don't speak for everyone on Exandria.

How did you know you weren't dreaming your dreams? Because you know sometimes you have dreams and you're like, I don't even know who I was. I don't even know where I was. Well, they don't. I don't know if they know that. We're told at a very, very young age that that's how things are. And you know, when you've been dreaming

for the majority of your life and nothing in it seems to reflect your own personal life experiences, I don't know, it's as lonely as it is beautiful. You maybe know about our world, then. No, it's as lonely as it is beautiful. Oh. You maybe know about our world, then. You must. We have guesses, we have fables we tell. All manner of interesting interpretations that we spread between ourselves,

and cold nights, and talk of theories, but even that's a dangerous route of conversation in public places these days. We'll consider this an exchange of information, then. We'd love to learn about this place from you and we'll answer any questions about our home. Yeah, we're not some rogue faction. We represent actually a much larger contingent of people

that are against the Ruby Vanguard and everything they're doing up here, including the Imperium. Well, I cannot confirm or speak to any sort of disloyalty that I hold towards the Imperium. Of course not. Of course, yeah. You wouldn't expect that, outwardly.

But I would be happy to give you some tea. Absolutely. Please give us all the tea. I'm 400 years old. Is he being literary, or what does that mean? But also, I would love to try literal tea, because I'm sure it's something that we've never tried before.

Let me go ahead and get another batch going. That sounds like something else is going on. I feel like he's going to cut to commercial. He's going to cut to commercial. We'll be right back. He levers back over to the table and you watch from underneath the robe, another secondary set of long, thin hands merge

and begin pulling and opening jars and shifting and taking bits of an odd dried loose leaf-looking tea and putting together a combination between multiple jars into the base of this spiraling piece while looking over the shoulder and you can see movement beneath the hood.

Oh, he's got a seat belt. They all do. A sight belt. This is Elder Barthe, correct? while looking over the shoulder, and you can see movement beneath the hood. Oh, he's got a seatbelt. They all do. A sighting. This is Elder Barthe, correct? Barthi. Barthi. Barthi. So.

You're just here to learn, just on a mission of information to broaden your horizons, right? A little bit. How long have the Imperium, no, neither against or for them, how long have they been exerting their influence over this area?

Well, the Imperium's been pushing around here for well over about 500 or so years. Wait, that's a minute. How long do your people usually live? How old are you, not to be rude? I stopped counting the real specifics usually live. How old are you, not to be rude? Oh, well. Jesus. I stopped counting the real specifics when I hit about 300, so I've been around quite a while. Yeah, that is.

Were you here? I'm here. I mean, according to our understanding of things, Rudeus was not always here. Rudeus was not always here. Rudeus was not always here. I am just thrown. Don't do it.

Don't do it. Don't do it. No. Don't do it. Oh, it's so close. Like, it's coming out of my mouth. I know, it just fucking, mm. It's okay.

What were you saying? Were you here when this happened? When the moon happened? Was formed? Yeah. We have a, that's our understanding, is this place was created, it wasn't always here. That's like a hundred pages. Yeah.

Are there stories about it? No, as far as we understand, we've been here as long as it's been here, and it's always been here. What's your origin story? Your myths? We were all carved from the very rock of this moon at the will of the one who sleeps

and shaped into be reflections of the dreams that we were then given windows into. So that's what we've been told for a long time. Is your history here oral history? Or are there writings? Do you know? There were writings, but they've been mostly long destroyed. By the Imperium.

By the Weavemind and their various communal sects. They have communal sects. Wait, this place is amazing. Where is that? Tense fact-finding mission on the moon. Tense fact-finding. Right, right, right. We could have a little fun next time.

Hold on, let's just let this play out. Oh my god, they're on the infinity. Weird, wild stuff. The Dreamers to you, the Dreamer, we got to get it down to more specifics, Weird, wild stuff. The Dreamers to you, the Dreamer, we got to get it down to more specifics, but just on a still, like a broader level, the Dreamers to you, we're not like gods or anything.

We're just sort of curiosities, interesting. It seems like we're crucial to the sort of philosophy of this place, or religion? Up until as of late, and this is a point of contention in some of our more periphery societies, which this would be considered one by some of the more civilized folk.

We looked up to that great, beautiful blue ball in the sky as the eventual afterlife we'd go to. And the dreams that we see of the dreamers, the spirits that give us visions of what would await us. And they started walking through here in recent weeks. There's been a bit of a crisis of faith, I guess you could say. I understand a blank thing.

Were we like ghosts, or just walking through physically? No, this is people coming to visit. This is definitely people coming to pull. This is lewdness. Yeah, damn. The Weavemind, in your 300 years, have you ever interfaced with the Weavemind? Communicated with, seen?

I certainly hope not, and if I have, maybe I can't remember. The Weavemind is a council of extremely old and powerful Ryloran mystics that themselves act as a conduit that themselves act as a conduit to the mind of the one who sleeps. They're the ones that usher the flares. They're the ones that control the city.

They're the ones that tell us the design that we must follow, and if we speak up, we become fairly pliable rapid afterwards. So. The one who sleeps. fairly pliable rapid afterwards. The one who sleeps. What do you all call the one who sleeps? Just the one who sleeps?

Or is there a name? We colloquially refer to it as the one who sleeps. That's what most of the mythology is based around. I've had a few conversations with friends who live in various places around here and closer to the main city. There's a few other names. They refer to it as the Beadingheart.

They refer to it as the Dreamkeeper. They refer to it as the Dream Keeper. They keep a specific name that is not to be said publicly under a fear of Imperium questioning torture or disappearance, and that is... Does it start with a P? I think you know the name already. Do your lore,

do your stories ever talk about what would happen if the one who sleeps were to wake? Looks over at Dono, who's wide-eyed, listening to all this, and goes, Most folks live outside of Gravyrus. They live simple lives with simple interests and simple beliefs. At a certain point, the complication becomes

a challenging decision point. It's easier to just ignore it and go with what feels right and natural. That ignorance is comfortable. But the belief is that these dreams are promises. That one day, one day we'd all be able to step away from this harsh land and step over to where the dreamers are.

I want you to be able to do that. Not in the afterlife, but in this one. There's a path. It goes both ways. I worry if most of our folk are even ready for such a transition. Maybe there's some who are, but we've got some sociological challenges here

in our homeworld. It would be a strange awakening for folks back where we come from to know about all this. We've seen a lot of what you've all seemed to be dreaming of. The colors and spellbinding majesties that surround you. The endless rolling mountainscapes

and winding riverfalls and so much wanton bloodshed. I'm going to be honest, I'm not certain. It's all that's been promised to us either, but I also can't deny that I have a distinct curiosity. So, um. That's not all bad. Orym will start growing over the next 30 seconds or so, different blooms that are

specific. Any colors that I have not seen present on this world or in this room that would seem rare or unusual to Barthi, and I'll just start laying them on the ground in front of them. Laudna gets out a handful of ball bearings, puts those on the ground. SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, The floors are very level. The floor isn't level here. All the things you were going to pull out of your pocket,

that was so low on my list of possibilities. Telekinetically pulling the ball bearings back together so we can carve a little pile. A little pile. A little magnet. As we were traveling in, we noticed that this area seems to have a fair amount of agriculture. It looks like you're working the land and livestock.

What are those bloody buffalo called? Wookars. Wookars. Can I ask what you produce here and what the Ryloren want with it? Well, we're one of a number of outposts, you could call them. Once sovereign villages that are part of the Imperium

and have been for generations. We are capable and well-versed in turning the land into livable space. We gather materials that are edible. We train beasts and use them for their meat, their hides, their milk. Use them to carry and build. And we have a special connection

with many beasts of the land here. In some ways, ones the Rylorans do not. So we're useful. You were impressed by the juggernaut's head that came out of our bag. How copacetic are things between you and the Ryloren who are here? Well, many of us do what we've always done and don't want to cause any sort of trouble. So there's many that are friends, many who are just trying to get by like the rest of us. Then there are those that come over here from Kravirus

and carry the will of the Weavemine and the Dominion, any of the various politicians of the Tektus and just tell us what we have to do and how soon we have to do it. Politicians of the Tektus, you said? Yes. The Tektus.

Is that in the Dominion of Kruth? Dominion of Kruth is their military wing. That's where many of these more militaristic watchguards come from. Kravirig is possibly where we would find them. The Rylorans have always been here, as long as the Bormodos have? We've all carved together at the same time in history.

And are there any other peoples? Peoples? Or is it just the Rylorns and the Bormodos? The Bormodos. The Bormodos. The Boromirs? The Boromirs. The Boromirs.mo-s. The Bor-mo-s. The Boromirs? The Bor-mo-s. The Bor-mo-s. The Bor, the old.

The Bor-mo-s. There are a number of different folks that live all throughout the layers of Ruidus. Kerveris is only the top half of the city is really visible here in the landscape. Much of it and much of the societies before even myself were carved through the moon. Hmm.

That's where most of the farming takes place, see? The topsoil farmers like us, we work under the harshest of conditions. Now, the subterranean Mongol farmer network, that's where the majority of the society's food comes from. And are there any openings to the subterranean? What did you call it? What kind of network?

Fungal network. Fungal. How far-reaching. I mean, fungal networks are pretty spectacular. We have those where we're from, too. I assume that might be the case. How do you get down there? Well, you have to venture through any of the various Carveran gates,

the majority of which are within the capital city. Most others have been closed and prevented from being as easily accessible. Some are around these parts. Not anymore. hosting prevented from being as easily accessible. Someone around these parts. Not anymore. So where do they say that the Dream Keeper sleeps? Just in the center of this moon?

It's where we've assumed for a long time. They've said it sits as the beating heart of the land. We've asked you so many questions. We have a few more. sits as the beating heart of the land. We've asked you so many questions. We have a few more. Can I ask you some questions? Oh yeah, yeah, go ahead, go ahead. Sure, yeah. What does a pastry taste like?

Oh my gosh. Oh boy. We have some. We do, actually. I baked some this morning, and then we also probably have some in the bag. Yeah. Yeah, whip them out. Do you want to try one of these?

Are you serious? You have some with you? That's amazing. I wasn't expecting something so immediately available. What are we good for if we're not a dreamer? Do you taste in your dreams? What we assume might be, the small hams reach out,

and as one of them grabs an element of the baked good. Oh my god. He didn't care. He didn't care. Oh! Right as he grabs it, something lightning fast leaps from underneath the bead-dangled hood and shawl that sits over the elder's shoulders.

You see a larger Saita with what looks to be this curved tail that curls up from the back into a tight spiral. Reaches out and grabs it and pulls it back and starts munching on it rapidly. The other guy goes, What'd you do? You need to stop and share there.

Sorry, Chew's a very Chew. uppity entity. Yes, let's go. Let's go, Chew. Shout out to Chew. After a bit of a crackling bite, gnawing on this leftover piece of baked good,

passes it over to the elder and looks back at the rest of you. Okay, so what you doing here? What's the plan? You're just coming in here and bothering me with the elder? I heard everything you said. I heard every single thing you've said, and I'm not convinced

that you're not a severe danger to all of us. That's very fair. We're welcome and open to questions. She's a little bit of a dick. You're the Scyther. You all seem to be a little saucy. Oh my gosh, do you too? The Scyther dream as well? We all a little saucy. Oh my gosh, do you dream? The Scyther dream as well?

We all dream here. What, you think you're special? Well, we're here to answer your questions. How can we put your mind at ease? MATT and LAURA sigh. What are your plans when you get to the capital city? See a show, see a site. Right now, we're just scouting. Right now, we're just scouting. Obviously, people that we are working with and trying to protect might want to do more

than just scout on another visit, but right now we just want to know the layout, where things are, who runs it, if there's any easy way in or out. There's some really terrible people right now on Exandria that are trying to do some stuff with your Dream Keeper, and we are trying to do some stuff with your dream keeper. And we're trying to keep that from happening.

You promise not here to hurt Berthy? No. No. Definitely. We promise that. Unless he tries to hurt us, okay? I mean this with no offense. If we wanted to hurt Berthy, we would have done it by now. Oh, okay.

Do you like your pastry? Do you like it? It's really good. The beings that are causing problems for you all here, they're doing the same thing up on the blue ball. And we just know so little about them. We're really just trying to understand. Things are real tough here.

They have been for a long time. Aren't they supposed to be better on the other side? They're supposed to be, I guess. They're supposed to be. The grass is always redder. Well, just positing, if you don't mind me, Elders, speaking out of turn here. Yes! What if maybe this is a good thing for us? Just positing, if you don't mind me, Elders, speaking out of turn here. What if maybe this is a good thing for us?

What if after all this time, this is the opportunity for us to become the dreamers we were always meant to be? That's what I was saying. Yeah. If we could find a way for y'all, whoever wants to, to come across that bridge, I'd be all for it. More than all for it.

You see that Eldritch is about to speak up before she goes, Not done with my point. And given all the dreams we've had, you think these Exandrian folks are going to be just eager to welcome us with open arms? Technically, this whole place was from Exandria. So in a way, we're all, not me,

but they're all kin of yours. Easy proof. Who's to say Exandria didn't come from us, huh? Oh, well, that's true. Our legends could be false. 100%. If you're asking if there are pieces of shit, and if you're asking if there are pieces of shit who control some shit down there, yes, absolutely.

Of course, it will be hard, people will be shitty, but we have plenty of good people, plenty of people who would love to fucking meet you, and plenty of- To fucking meet you. Well, both. We're special that way. I'm sorry. I don't know what is wrong with me. I know.

It's fine, it's fine. They have open sex here. Uncommunal. There's zero impulse control. Bombarded with all these thoughts all the time. Look, you might as well give it a go. You never know what you're going to like. It's true, your folk are quite perverted,

we've noticed over the generations. Right now, the exchange program is just not really that friendly. So we'd like to improve that if we can. Yeah. There's nice people, and there are definitely people that would treat you poorly. Everybody's unique. I'm sorry, Laura.

I guess I've been confused, though. You're connected to the Dream Keeper, through the weave, and the Rylorans make you all peek in on our dreams. Why? To what end? Does it feed the one who sleeps?

I'm really certain myself. It's just how it's always been. Okay. If the one who sleeps were to ever wake up, what would that mean? I think it's a little beyond my purview, but I bet it'd be real interesting.

Do you think you would cease to exist? Would you still have a purpose? Well, I'd like to think we'd still be around. Yeah, don't be dark. Jesus, I have a question for Chew. He said we might be made up of dreams. We might not. I might not be around. Yeah, don't be dark. Jesus. I have a question for Chew. He said we might be made up of dreams. We might not. I might not be real. I'm having a mild existential crisis.

They're pretty big questions, though. That's like asking us what happens if the gods are gone. We don't know. Yeah. Chew. The bushy rat man wants my attention. What you want, boy? Bushy rat man. Nickname finally sticks.

I, Wiccan, can't reply a name. Since you seem to be in charge around here, I was curious, are there any areas either within your outpost or just generally that are forbidden, where you're not allowed to go, where travel is restricted, prohibited, or whether you might be destroyed upon entering.

Well, we have free reign of the open plains here, because we're plains folk here in the moon. But we have to make sure that we have proper escorts when we're in the capital city or anyone who travels through. Most everything has some sort of an Imperial guard keeping watch. So as long as your business is facing

and you're honest about it, then you'll be fine. Is there protected entry into Creverus? There's gates. Gates. There's walkways. And I'm certain there's probably all sorts of interesting ways to stumble in on accident and get thrown into prison. Got any tips or tricks? Not for getting thrown into prison,

but for not getting. For avoiding that stuff. Avoiding all of that. Also, are all sighted as sassy as you, or is it just you? Oh, she was a very special sight. She's definitely a firecracker. I like her. I don't trust him. By the way, I've sized them both up

over the past five minutes. Are their total levels lower than Orym's? Oh yeah. Okay. Oh, see, I noticed on the way here that your trade square is a little beaten down. Do you not use it anymore? Oh, we just, we have certain times that we go ahead and open business here

when there's large caravans. We're supposed to have them coming through here soon, but it hasn't arrived yet, so it's just in a docile waiting period. Was it supposed to be here already, or kind of a thing? It's a bit delayed. Oh. Aside from a more Imperial presence,

since the big blue ball in your moon got sucked together, has there been anything else that's been a little weird, little horky-dorky? Well, the arrival of folks like you and other dreamers walking through here has been rather odd. There's been a lot of unique equipment

that's been dragged through here as part of these Imperial caravans from the large red spooky beam. Looks like the Blue Promise, as they call it, the world you're from, and just stopped turning. Yeah. It's like, yeah. Why's he stopped turning?

It's been a disc this whole time! That is incorrect, and I think you are upsetting our friends that come from there. A disc the whole time, you said? Yeah. Oh no. You would know if you're from there unless you're not and you're lying.

You're right. Maybe I'm not from there. Maybe that's how I have this secret knowledge. Oh god. It's a sphere! Why would you say that, Shale? It's a sphere! I like chew. And then there were two.

How far away is Creverus from here? Creverus is a few days' travel. Oh shit. Well. There's a few aroual checkpoints you got to get through as well, depending on some of the landscape just north of here tends to get a bit sticky. So you want to make sure to stick

to the approved Imperial lanes. Otherwise you start getting into Wyrm territory. Wyrm? What do you mean, Wyrm? Lunar Wyrms. Bane Wyr do you mean, worm? Lunar worms. Bane worms are our biggest threat out here. Sounds amazing! Bane worms. I heard bean worms.

I was like, okay. Tee-woo, tee-hoo-bee-doo. Worm! Just little bean worms. Bean worms. How do folks normally travel? Is it via Wukor, or is it some other means? How could we travel and not rouse suspicion? He looks down at Chou and Chou's,

giving this pouty-looking face. Don't you do it. Don't you do it. Don't you do it. It's going to bite you in the ass. I have a few friends, I think, that might be of interest for you to talk to if you're heading that way. Is this like a biker gang or something?

Don't know what that is, but I'm going to say probably. Oh, sure. Yeah, I guess they would. I wouldn't know what that is. No bikes on the moon, idiots. Crawler gang. Crawler gang, yeah. So, things have been pretty intense as of late.

The Imperium has been demanding double yields and supplies in preparation for this event. Something big on the horizon that they're all riled up on. They sent the Willmaster Edmuda to come and enforce their will upon this village. Edmuda. Edmuda. enforce their will upon this village. Edmuda. Edmuda. Edmuda.

Willmaster Edmuda. Edmuda's a particularly cruel, being a high-ranking enforcer for the Dominion of Cruth's disciplinary division, known as the Will. She's an unassuming Ryloren with a terrifyingly penetrating mind. So definitely try not to call too much attention.

The one thing they're also trying to snuff out are friends of the Volition. Volition? That's the goodies. Good ones, good ones. We've heard that name before, haven't we? Yeah. Volition is what you might call a

generational resistance against the Imperium. You see there's a nervousness to his eyes as he's looking towards the windows and his voice grows a little more hushed. Not sure where they're based, but there'd been a number of attacks sat in under Kviris. That shows that there's been ramping up combat

and around the swells of Imperium activity, so I imagine their base of operations isn't too far from the capital city itself. You don't know exactly where? No, but I've had a longtime friend of mine that comes through on occasion to do some trading. He's a glassmith. He has an affiliation with the Volition.

Oh. Occasionally looks for a place to hide when they're passing through and things get hairy. Her name is Zesh. Zesh. A reformed shrike, once under the Imperium. A reformed what? Shrike. It's a type of rat.

She might be able to help you, if you can find her. You said you were expecting traitors to come through. Would she be with them? I mean, it's certainly possible. You have to look in if they make themselves known, hopefully in the next day or two. Oh. They just come by in the dead of night to visit you, or?

Usually not in the dead of night, but unless they're close enough where it's safer for them to come and roost up for the evening. But it's been a few days overdue. Usually they come through, pop by for a few hours, and keep on going? There's been a lot of supply drops from running to and from the capital

to the, where the Bean is. They built an encampment or something there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And they'd be heading back to the capital? Or their headquarters. They go either direction. The caravan was supposed to be coming from Kviris.

Got it. So I imagine it'll be making its way out to that base. Got it. Did you know about the sky, how it's like a magical weave? Don't think I follow. Huh. Oh yeah, it's a weave. Is it still there? You mean the cloudy wall at the distance?

The magical weave that was in the middle? Oh, you mean the latticework. The latticework, yeah. It's still there. Is it visible from here? I don't think when we look up, we see it, though. You haven't really focused too hard on it, but you can still see the network of ley lines

across Exandria at the far distance if you focus hard enough. You haven't taken a moment to look for it, so it's that moment of going, huh, I don't think we've seen it yet. May not be here. But I'm trying to remember, the Divine Gate in the last work is metaphysical, right?

That's not... No, we can see it. We saw it. Maybe it's over that one. From the telescope, we saw it. Maybe it's over that one, just the city? So looking into space. Yeah. Yeah.

Covering the moon. It was covering the moon. Through a magical fey lens allowed us to see. But not with the naked eye. No. It was with that... I could use this monocle. It was with the green. Yes, It was with that green. I could use this monocle. We have a monocle!

Yes, it was with that green lens that we got from Niamh Mori. I'm not going to waste it on that. Also, just as a reminder, above the table, Zog, Ira is here somewhere. Yeah. I was thinking that. Also, we should probably check the magic. Are we being followed by all of them pretty soon?

We're going to pull it out right now. Nothing there. Should we set up an ambush for this caravan? Wait, they're the good guys. So are we. Wait, should we, I'm going to say in our heads, should we ask about lewdness and what's her face? Otohan? Otohan.

I don't, I mean, we can try, but I don't know if he's, maybe they passed by here. Can we show them images? Do you have a way to do that? Have you ever? I can. Yeah. I mean, I don't know how that would help us. Yeah, I mean, maybe if they've seen him walking through. Do it. Yeah. I will do I don't know how that would help us. Yeah, I mean, if they've seen him walking through.

Do it. Yeah. I will do a Minor Illusion. Thank you, that's the name of the spell. I'll do the other one. Oh, and we'll do, okay. And I'll do Ludinus, and Chet will do Otohan. Have you seen these people? Have you seen this person?

Help us, Ola, but I think you're our only hope. Indeed, we've definitely made contact with these individuals from a distance. It's been quite a few weeks, but they did come through with the initial wave of dreamers that stepped upon our land. How often do they come here? Oh, we haven't seen them in particular for a long time.

There's been other droves of dreamers wearing the same robes you all are wearing, and very few come through to say many words. How about someone who wasn't? I suppose if we're here, we should ask about Ira. Yes. Big, spindly, if someone wants to conjure something, I'm just going to. I'll do that one next.

I'll switch my illusion to Ira. Pull out the mask. Doesn't ring a bell, unfortunately. Kind of weird looking fella. He is, though. Yeah. You said you had to triple your production for some big event on the horizon.

Do you know why they need what you make? Never really questioned it. And is the production of the meat and the hide and the milk and all the things that you said, or is that what you live off of? What are they interested in you producing so much of? Supplies, probably to feed or clothe or armor. They've certainly been looking for an accelerated rate of training, Avedon.

Building an army. Yeah. Supplies. Well. Should we go to sleep? I think we can make our way further in. If this lasts our quest. They're coming from the gate or the?

They're coming from the city. So I may have misspoke. My intent was they're heading towards the city, they're heading from the, that's on me. My brain switched it. They're coming here, so we should be here to meet them. Yeah, we should meet them and ride with them. What you meant was beam to city?

Beam to city is what I meant, that's on me. So you're saying the traitors are coming here? Yeah. From the beam, and then we hitch a ride with the caravan. To the rebel base. To the rebel base. If they like us. And the caravan is with the Bullition? Or they're just suppliers? The caravan's in Imperium,

but my contact does often travel with the caravan. I can't guarantee they're even with this one. That's just the way they travel with on occasion to get through the city. So in theory, we'd be traveling with folk that are not necessarily friendly to us, but there is a potential friendly within their ranks? That's certainly possible.

Is there any way you can get in contact with Zesh? See where she might be? I don't really have a means of doing so. She just occasionally wanders through. You could do sending. That's what I would try. She's a lithe-looking Ryloren with a slightly faded

purple-gray tint to her body. Her crest has a large cloven mark on the right side from some previous scuffle. Do you have anything that belongs to her? Jesus Christ. I have a workshop. I have one. You must be fun at the theater. Jesus Christ. Holy, it works. Yeah. I have it. You must be fun at the theater.

I have some recovered subglass over here and walks over to a cabinet and she reaches up and like, , can't quite, you mind? You watch as Chew climbers with the arm and goes, Sure, yeah, do whatever you ask. Don't worry, it's good. Grabs it and you're like,

Here's your glass shard, master. She's just showing off because we got company. She's very sweet. You shut up! And hands this. You've seen bits of this glass used in the landscape in some of the construction for the walls, for various structures, pillars,

and some elements of it you think you may have seen in some of the chasms and stuff with landscape, but this is a piece of oddly, naturally bending, almost like a turquoise obsidian. Oh, cool. So like a blue-tinged black? Like a blue, well, a blue-green coloration,

but the texture and the edges of it are very obsidian flake-like. Is it opaque? Is it clear? Can you see through it? It's semi-opaque. You can see through it for the color, but it isn't a perfect clear glass. And that's in contrast to reddish earth everywhere.

Right. Ooh, pretty! That's what's pretty. This is Zesh's meeting. Oh, that's what I saw! This is what I saw, that stone. I saw that in my vision when I was going down. I can see it going down through the layers.

This is the Glass of the Land. It gives particular strength to a number of wonderful tools and implements throughout, and Zesh is a master glass shaper. So Zesh is a talented crafter, and that is her trade and where she travels along, and has, looks out the windows again, been very instrumental in providing

some very important utility to the Volition, of which I am not a member. So, I have another question. Yes? So when these Rydaluron masters, when they usher in the Flares, why do they do that? I can't rightly tell you. That's Weavemind business.

All I know is it's been quite often in recent decades, and we've all assumed it was leading to either some terrifying cataclysm or maybe others feel it's a great miracle in the horizon above. Maybe it's all bullshit and they can't control it at all. Also very possible, but also a little scary when you think about it. I'm old enough where it doesn't,

shrugs off my shoulders relatively easily. More frequent in the last few decades, but did it happen at all before then? It did. It did. It's bright where we are. Is it just fucking the whole ground starts to glow? You see this odd smile curl across his face. I hope you get to see one while you're here,

because it is quite a sight. Oh shit. Whoa. Boom! What do you guys think of Catha? Softball league? Yeah, yeah, I agree. Good answer.

Catha, I assume, is the white moon counterpart to the Blue Promise that you speak of. Yes, maybe you have a different name to it. A beautiful, soulful, lonely, white entity. a beautiful, soulful, lonely, white entity. You've always looked up to this white, beautiful, pearlescent twin to where the dreamers dream.

It's like a solitary mirror. Some believe maybe it's where the good dreams go to be kept. Others think it's where the bad dreams go to die kept. Others think it's where the bad dreams go to die and are left to become silt and dust. Others, it's a symbol of what happens if we don't focus on the things that we want to accomplish. We, too, will be left there in endless darkness,

alone and pale. Jeez. Have we seen Catha in the sky since we've arrived? I'd say you've seen a little bit of Catha, a little bit curling just beyond when you first got here, and now it's out on the open space. Cool. So above Table Talk again,

when the Weave Masters. Weave Mind. The Weave Mind usher the flares. Did you say what that looks like? Those are the Ruinian, like the flares that, but yeah, we don't know what they look like on the surface. Because I asked if it was just like. Yeah.

And they've been doing it a lot lately, which is their fuckery, which is, you know, On the surface. Because I asked if it was just like. Yeah. And they've been doing it a lot lately, which is their fuckery, which is, you know, whatever their big secret plan is. Did you say what happens to them when the flares happen? The Weave Monument? The people, the dream, the...

You can ask. Okay, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't retweeting your query. No, I wasn't clarifying. Yes, I asked him, when these flares happen, when they're ushering flares, what does that do to you all, like, mentally? Well, a flare, as you call them, we refer to them as a beat.

It's the beat of the heart of the one who sleeps. And in these moments, the land alights with a vibrant, near-blinding red hue and a euphoric, unified dream washes over all of us. What's the dream? It's not experiential. It's the closest I could experience to spiritual.

It feels connected. Like something, any sort of loneliness you felt suddenly cast away for a moment. Oh. Oh. That sounds... Oh.

Mm. You feel connected to everyone on this world, on Ruidus? Or feel connected to people, the Dreamers? Wait, what, what? I don't know. Maybe? Maybe. In your head, I'll say to the group,

if a flare happens, it might be a way for Predathos to pull people, get control. That sounds very much like when I reach out to him, that's what I feel. It's hard to fight. The flares might keep people. Oh, like it binds them to him? Yeah, under his control. If we're here when that happens,

that'd probably be pretty rough. You also do know from the lore that you've acquired and the knowledge that you've both learned of your past that the rudestborn are those that are born under a flare. Like historically through all of Exandrian's history, since the flare's been spoken of. That's where the rudestborn started. So I actually have a question.

Another one. Sorry, I don't know why I started with that because I'll probably have more. When people are born here during a flare, does that mean anything? Generally, it means it's a rude awakening Generally, it means it's a rude awakening when they come to from the reverie,

but it's just considered a cause of celebration. Not to get graphic, but you mentioned you're all carved from Exandria. Do you, are babies? Are babies? Are babies? Do you babies? We babies, I suppose. I'm a little curious, this question you're putting forward.

Where do babies come from? As you were saying, you come from. I understand. We've seen many of your dreams, if that's what you're putting forward. Where do babies come from? As you were saying, you come from rock. I understand. We've seen many of your dreams, if that's what you're asking. Yes, it's not too dissimilar. Well, I know you were saying you were made from rock. So are you, like, do your babies come out of your bodies?

Come out of your poops? Or do you, like, come out of a rock? How do you conceive? Like, how do you come out of a rock? How do you conceive? How do you all have kids? What's your favorite sexual position? The elder takes a step back with a curious brow twist as Chuu goes, Yeah, why don't you tell them?

Tell them all about it! Give them all the info they want. Not dissimilar to, I'm sure, you also give birth. We're living, breathing beings. Okay, all right. Yes. Anyone who thinks that the Flares or the sleeper being listless, waking for a moment,

just being on the edge of wakefulness. There are those who might believe that. There's all sorts of strange philosophical takes on these goings-on. There's the classic mythology, and then there's those who have their own ideas. Having your own idea can be a little dangerous these days. So it's not discussed often.

Well, maybe if the Weave Mind is ushering in the flares, maybe it's like they're trying to pump them up, like wake it up. Also, it could be, you know. Those electric things. Ruidus Borner, born under the flare, maybe they're trying to create more and more people of the Dream Keepers,

people that they can recruit into the army. Yes, that's interesting. You've dreamed about us. Have you dreamed about our gods? We've seen the symbols. We take it as your mythology, as we have our own, but we... We think your interpretations of miracles are very beautiful.

Hmm. That's impressive. You've been very patient with our questions. A lot. Thank you. And before we leave, because we are going to take a run at this Creveris place and roll the dice a little bit, is there anything that we can take care of for you here in the outpost?

Anyone you want us to rough up or disappear? You hear Chew go, Oh, so it seems they've revealed their true intent. Looks like there are a bunch of thugs coming through here to just knife some of the locals. I like them even more now. Or we could just gather some materials that you need. If I can gather as much as I can. Traumber Town. Wow. Holy shit. Not enough for you both to do that. If I can gather as much as I can.

Wow. Holy shit. Not enough for you both to do that. Wow. Ooh, wow. Not nearly enough. That's also the wrong campaign. If I could find a way. Give us three minutes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll come back to you guys after a break. Well, to be perfectly honest, I'm certainly very curious about many facets of your cultures and your lived experiences. Have you ever been to a place called? Taste of Tal'Dorei. Taste of Tal'Dorei. I knew it! We actually have.

Quite a few times. Yes. Wait. It looks like a raucous time. How many people dream about Taste of Tal'Dorei on a regular basis? I mean, more than you'd think. It tends to be a recurring event and all manner of celebrations around. There's something about that that's just, I don't know.

It's got a certain quirk to it. Does anybody have their tankard left? Oh. I don't have any. I got you one. Do we have their tankard left? Oh. I don't have any of that. Do we have a shirt? Do you have a shirt? We have a My Sons for Lovers t-shirt that I was going to get rid of.

I also have a Taste of Tal'Dorei little pencil. That's good. That's right. We've got to grab that. We've got to grab that. I can't remember what all I gave, because I gave one of my Taste of Tal'Dorei things away to get out of the family. Oh my god, that's right.

Need to make some friends here. But here, I think I have a pencil. I have a toy sword, so I'll stand next to Imogen. Which one do you want? Yeah. All right. I don't know. You do.

Oh. You're giving away two bar deary chips? We're on the fucking moon. That's two get-out-of-jail-free cards. People dream about this shit. It's not free, you give it away. Get out of jail for a price. Still have the novelty cup from my shard.

Okay, good, okay, good. Technically correct. The Taste of Tal'Dorei is a franchise, so maybe after all of this hullabaloo is done, we can open one here on the ring! You could be the manager and the assistant manager. Oh my gosh, what if we had Taste of Tal'Dorei here, and then back home, we could have the taste of Cerberus.

No, we could have the taste of, now again? We could have the taste of the Resora Outpost. Cerberus? No, wait. Resora. No, what's the town called? Resora. Resora. Creverus? Creverus? Creverus.

Taste of Creverus. Creverus is a bad town. Taste of the most living. Well, there are a lot of good people in Creverus. That was all Imperium control. It is, but just because the Imperium controls, it doesn't mean everyone they control is vote. Got to be burned to the ground. Got it.

By the way, if we make it there, I'd hate to pepper you with more questions. Two more. If we make it there, is there anyone that we should check in with or seek shelter with? Anyone who's an ally of yours who lives in that area? Outside of Zesh. If you...

Zesh is the only individual I trust because I know their affiliation. Anyone else I've encountered around here might be very aligned. Got it. And second question, unrelated. Can we sleep somewhere here? Here.

Near? We have four more hours left of travel. I feel like we should take advantage of it. I got a room we can... I think we can make it work. We're only going to get halfway there. Even so, that's halfway. But then we don't know where to go

and we're in the middle of nowhere. There's a road. Keep your voice down, you're shouting. I'm sorry. I only have two volume settings. I'm having federal control, like, the volume of my voice! Line in and out. Line in and out.

If we go on foot or with the caravan, it's a couple of days of travel. If we at least use the Cloud Form, we can get there so much faster, and then it just takes an extra day. Yeah. But then we won't know. We won't know where it is,

and we'll be on a road with no beasts of burden or anything. I have a very strong idea of where it is. Oh. Right, but I think what, at least, I'm kind of with FCG here, because I thought they'd be imperial guards in everything, or escorting everyone everywhere. So I thought that was the pro to go with Zeth.

And then wouldn't we miss the caravan? Zesh. Wouldn't we miss the caravan if we leave? Yeah. Because is it a good thing here? We would. Well, all right, hang on. Hang on. We have? If we were to stay here, would there be a place to sleep?

It probably wouldn't be the most comfortable, but I think there could be a... We have a storage basement beneath this abode here that you'd be able to stay out of sight and I assume you're all fairly comfortable amongst yourselves. You mean where you'd put us while you turn us in? Chew?

She's like. My god, they found me out! Oh no! Watching you. Side note, above the table, Liam thinks spending days traveling across the lunar landscape is fucking rad. I know, I do, too.

Yeah, now I'm totally into it. Well, hang on. Are you above the table or are you up there? I am hanging on. Oh my lord. Came up for a hair and back away. Are you above the table or are you up there? I'm hanging on under. Came up for her and back to her. We can always, we have this glass from Zesh. Nailed it. From Zesh.

So we can get in contact with her, right? And maybe just see if she is expected here. And then if she's not, then we can, you know, maybe. If Sanding works here on the moon, we could always try that. Yeah. How far is the, did you say, did anyone say how far? Days.

Days. Okay. A few days. Also, the chance with us just being able to waltz into any other situation and be as lucky, as fortunate as we were here, as slim. I feel like we should be. I've just been too anxiety-ridden

to even look the fuck up yet for more than 10 seconds. Barthi, be honest with us. How are our Imperial disguises? Like, if we were to just waltz through Cersei Ca... Creveres? Creveres. Without a... Cersei Lannister.

Ba-si-loo-da. Sorry, actually got it in my head. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. It was me. Creveres Cafe, finally. There it is, there it is. Alliteration.

Yes, if we were just to walk around without like an official escort, would we pass? Be honest, be honest! I haven't visited Creverus in probably 40 or so years, so I'm not certain just how intense the populace might be, to where looking for your kind. You are definitely dreamers,

so you're going to draw attention. Right, we're aliens from another world. You're wearing the garb of the dreamers that come escorted, so that might help. They come escorted, all right. But I mean. But there's normally a Ryloran escorting them. You're all extremely strange looking.

How many days were we there? He says as his small arms grab the teacup and pull it in. Even at home, that's true. What if we're escorted by someone that, because I could disguise myself, I could look like you. If you're escorted by any sort of Imperium figure of some import or force of personality. It'd probably improve your chances, I'm sure.

The closer you get to the Weavemine, though, the harder it is to deceive. They have access to everyone. Well, to a degree. Imogen, I say in your head, are you able to summon your little Ryloran friends here? Does it work like that, now that we're on the moon? I haven't tried it, I don't know.

That might be something to do if we do take a day or two here. Yes, it would. And at rest, so that it's not a surprise in a heated moment. Sure. I also don't get control over which one I pull, so. You can get a farmer. Potentially.

Or you could get Will Master Edmuda. Yeah. I mean, we could just spend a few days here just being farmers. That sounds fun. I'm honestly into farmers. That kind of sounds fun. I'm honestly into it. Yeah, I like it. I'm not. Fuck that.

I'm not coming to the moon to farm. No offense. Moon farmer. You could engage with local culture. You could also- Learn about their ways. You could fuck chew. I'm not fucking any rock people.

Very thick, we just assumed. Is there any wood here? Yes. Is there any wood? You do see bits of wood. Most of it's stonecrafted. Make an investigation check for me. You're very clever, man.

Investigation, you say? 15. 15. Go ahead. A lot of the stonework that you see here, in the interior of the furniture, it's very well carved. Angular in places,

very, very well smoothed and detailed. A lot of it has a very, it reminds you, but it's not dwarvish. It has a very similar, a cunning take on the stone carving aesthetic. There are bits of wood that you see in here, usually used sparingly, as opposed to exandria There are bits of wood that you see in here, usually used sparingly,

as opposed to Exandria, where wood is a very plentiful resource. It looks like wherever it's sourced here, whether it's from Exandria or otherwise, it's used mainly as a flourish or is very sparingly done in very necessary, intricate ways, or as a small bit of decoration.

So whatever. Well, I feel like... Above table. You go Laudna when you go above table? Yes, Matt is going to want us to choose what we're going to do. Stay here or go. We'll vote. Why don't we vote?

Let's check in with Zash. Are you going to? Is that something you can do? I can do it right now, yeah. I still have a third. Okay, yeah. Guidance. God, that's a lot of, I mean, I can't scry. No, but you can send. I can try to send.

I don't know if it'll work here, but I can try. Can Orym and I go to the windows and just do a little peek, make sure we're still cool? Sure. We'll give you perception checks. Let's go, Pops. How do I frame this? You say you're here with Barthi.

When are you going to be at Barthi's house? And what do we need to know? Just when are you going to be there? We need an escort to the city. We're friends. Are you? Yeah. You, glancing through, can see that a number of the

little blue orb lanterns and stuff are all converging and gathering on the far end of the village, near where you had arrived. It seems like it's a little more commotion than what you saw on the way here. How far off are they? I mean, it's hard to tell distance,

but you can gather it's towards the outskirts of the village. Mm-hmm. Okay. My elbow Chetney and pointed out, some kind of hubbub out there. A-bubbub what? Hey, Elder Barthi, do you think that caravan could be arriving now?

Because there's a little hubbub on the outskirts. I mean, it's certainly possible. They've been a little delayed, so if they're trying to get here before it gets too late, that's within the realm of possibility. Where do they usually stay when they come in? Well, as a caravan, they usually set up themselves. We don't have a lot of travel space here.

Folks generally carry their own means of sleep around here or stay with some of the local farmers if they need to. Is Döno still in the room? Döno is. Döono is just taking us all in quietly with a big grin. Dono? Yes? Do you mind going and taking a little pixie? See if that's the caravan.

I can go do that, all right. Not a word to anyone. You do so daily. No word. Whatever that means, yes. Okay. Opens the door. Good, good face, yep.

Saunters out into the night. Elder, do those within the Volition which you have nothing to do with, do they have a phrase or a word that they speak to each other so that you know you're friendly? They know they're friendly? Unfortunately, codes, to what you're saying,

tend to be unreliable. It's more of a, well, it's more of a feeling. So in his head, I'll say, do y'all speak to each other? Rylorans can speak to us, and there are ways to safeguard the parts inside that don't want to be revealed.

So I just got to be open when it's someone you think you can trust. Got it. And his head back to you like, the fact that you're poking around in here is more than I was expecting from a dreamer. This is- I ain't poking around, don't worry.

Just talking. But you're saying that's a useful tool in where you're going. All right. How is Dunna doing? Dunna already left. I know. How's Dunna doing? Dunna already left. I know. How's Dunna doing? You do know.

He walks out for a bit, talks to another figure out there, nods, and walks back in the most not-chill-fast run. Did Dunna speak in common there? Because I can read lips, or is there another language spoken when we're not around? I'd say at this distance at night, it'd be too hard to see with the low light. Okay.

So you're uncertain. But Dono comes back to the door, opens up. It is, the caravan has arrived. Ow! No! Okay. Bless you. Sorry. Good job.

That is good news? Yeah. Some of you, some of you. I did not say to look, I just checked in on it. I did not want to raise suspicion. Very, very wise, Dunah. Well, maybe we should, should we still send a message? They're here. Or if they're here, it's kind of stupid.

You can go say hi. Elder, do you think, well, we shouldn't go say hi. No. We could send Dunah to say that Elder Barthi wants a little quick word with Zesh. Zesh. Or we could just wait until Zesh shows up here. We don't want to draw his attention to Zesh

and be part of the caravan, right? I don't know. We don't even know who Zesh is with this caravan, too. That's another reason to try reaching out, Imogen, because that's low key. All right, sure. I'm going to reach out to Dish. Guidance. Thank you.

You got this. You're very capable. We're here with Elder Barthi. Are you with the caravan in town? Would love to speak with you. There's a long pause. It's where you worry that the spell continues to not function, but there's also no static that strikes to the center of your mind. Like you're beyond the knotted ley lines

for that interference to carve its way into the spellcraft. And a voice responds a moment later, I do not know who you are and what you want with Barthi. I'm just here to do some business. Suspicion's here. Yeah.

Well, y'all, I'm out of spells. So. Well, she's here. Yeah, if Zesh is here, then we can find him. Anybody go get her? Or Barthi. Barthi, does Zesh come here, or do you go to Zesh? Well, this late at night,

I'm not much for wandering the premises unless there's a reason. You think it'll arouse suspicion if I leave my homestead? I don't know that, but if you prefer, we can go. We can go, right? You're invisible. Do you only greet the caravans if it comes into town? Well, during the day, yes.

They don't normally arrive this late at night, so this is a little out of the ordinary. I don't think you should do anything out of the ordinary. No, but this is all out of the ordinary. Okay. We're an invisible guy, and when the rest of us hang back. All of us can be invisible, also.

Don't we still have clouds? Don't know. Would you be surprised if you saw the Elder wandering around tonight, just since the caravan came in? Would that be unusual to you? I mean, it wouldn't be entirely unusual. It would just be a hello.

Okay. Maybe. I mean. Well, I suppose I... Well, here. At the very least, I can go ahead and try and see what the commotion's about. It goes ahead and like. We're going to turn, I'm going to turn into Fart.

Okay. Goodbye. Just you. Bye, Imogen. I'm going to start looking for the little subterranean entrance to go below the floor that he was talking about. Okay. Barthy. Oh, he said there's one inside.

He said there's one inside? Mm-hmm. Cool. I missed that. That's cool. As you begin to concentrate and shift your form, you go to glance over there, and Barthi turns to open the door. There's a

on the door, and Barthi pushes it open as it continues to pull its way, even wider open. You can see standing just the lower half of the head peering down the tall form of a Ryloran, thin with long tangled and tied robes in the front, a set of spaulders that come out into these central curls on each side.

It looks like there are elements of it that feel rugged, but are thrown over some sort of adornment that denotes station and an ornateness to some of the metals and the bones that are set within the set. And immediately, Barth, he goes,

Oh, well, well, Will Master, I wasn't expecting you quite so Oh god, oh god. Presently here. Weep, weep, weep. Weep, weep, weep. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I'm going to fart.

I'm going to go and fart, too. It takes a minute. It takes a minute. Never mind, never mind, never mind, never mind. Start! And then she'll come back after the break. Ah! You can't start. You're frozen in place and can't do anything

while it's happening. Yeah. It's still, you're vulnerable. No, I'm not doing that. I'm going to hide. I'm going to hide. I'm going to hide. Well, you got a little bit to think about what the hell you're going to do,

except for Imogen, who's just turning into a fart now. I said it, though. It would have been what? How long before that person arrived? Final Master Edmuda? 30 seconds. 20 seconds, 30 seconds. Oh, we're going to find out.

Roll a d6 for me. Okay. Four, 40 seconds. Okay, so you got 20 seconds left. Okay. Guess we'll see what Okay, so you got 20 seconds left. Okay. Guess we'll see what we do when we come back. Yeah. Four rounds. We'll see that. Four rounds.

If something goes. 20 seconds, that's the... Just quickly. That's not that long when you're talking to somebody. Yeah. We'll find out. But yeah, nevertheless, we'll see you all here shortly. Yay!

We interrupt this Critical Role Podcast Network broadcast to bring you news of dangerous treasures that lie sealed within the Critical Role shops. Only the heartiest of adventurers should dare seek them out. In all seriousness, though, I'm Matthew Mercer, and we've made some very cool things that we really like and hope you will, too. If you'd like to support the show,

please consider visiting any of our Critical Role online shops through the Shop tab at critrole.com and see if anything catches your eye.'d like to support the show, please consider visiting any of our Critical Role online shops through the shop tab at critrole.com and see if anything catches your eye. Okay, back to the show. And welcome back. So, here with the door open and the sight of what looks like

the Will Master standing there beyond the threshold, you mid-transformation, you towards the back of the chamber, what do you do? Did I successfully find an access point underneath the floor? Make an investigation check, actually. That's fair.

And in this split second of time, are we really hidden from view, or is there full-on gaps past our host's shoulders where we're all just going? 22 investigation. If I heard the knock, I would have gotten out of view of that anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't trust this shit.

Are we saying that we're all diving behind furniture and stuff and rolling stealth? That, if, all right. Well, those of you that wish to, you can go ahead and make a stealth check with disadvantage. I will dive behind the chair with disadvantage. Yes. Shit.

Oh, terrible. If I get a two or three, I'm so sad. All right. Oh, disadvantage? Yeah. Dang it. I rolled a 20 and a 19. Hey! Yeah, not too bad. So whatever. All right.

So 11. Six. Six. I'm standing behind a coat tree. I can't hide. Yeah, you're just lying there. 22. 22? I didn't try yet. 21, I'm sorry. I guess standing behind a coat tree. I can't hide. Yeah, you're just lying there. 22. 22? I didn't try yet. 21, I'm sorry.

I guess I'll try. We're trying to hide behind furniture. Yeah, that's a one. What else would we do? Attack! Fight! 15. There's a lot of people out there, though. How do you know?

Because we saw them through the window. How many did we see? Many, many lights. And it was a return to the caravan. As the doors shifted open, and the majority of you leap off the sides of the room, half of you knocking into a bit of furniture and scraping.

After that brief exchange of you hearing the Will Master's words filtering into your mind, you see them duck their look below the doorway into and see this partially translucent, concentrating Imogen just standing in the middle of the chamber in robes and a number of you barely hidden off to the sides. As you're in the back, you found the doorway that leads into the basement area.

I found the door! Can we see anyone beyond this individual? There are people out in the streets behind, yeah. Okay. Are we allowed to take an action, or? Well, you all dove and stealthed, and the figure looked into the chamber now, like the dark shark-like eyes

of this particular Rylora figure glancing. Well invite them in, don't be shy. Yeah, what's going on with the elder? The elder's just looking stunned. Fucking say something, Ralph. Okay, I'll step forward. I'll step forward into the open. Don't forget, we're in the Rose.

I understand, and say, come inside, join us. We're having tea and biscuits, and I'll cast Fast Friends on them. Yes. Okay. Go ahead. Roll action. Bisdom 16.

Wisdom 16. Willmette. They're very wise. You go ahead and speak and the spellcraft itself drifts through your phrases and words, and the dark eyes clarify on you for a moment, and you watch them tense, and then Uh-oh, they resist it.

open wide, and you see them take a step out of the doorway. Uh-oh. Oh shit. As they're glancing over their shoulder, you can see other figures beginning to step in. Uh-oh. That's real initiative. Yeah!

Oh no! Sorry. Oh shit. Immediate failed spell cast was too strong of an indicator. Oh no, I was so upset. It was worth a shot. Hey guys, heed the call to adventure

alongside the heroes of Exandria, the Darrington Brigade. Pre-order this unforgettable set today at whizkids.io slash Darington Brigade. The best team ever. All righty. So. That's nuts.

Yeah. Yeah. Guys, this way. There is the figure. Chetney, you are back here, searching in the basement area. Searching. Using these proxies there, the elder has stepped back here, a little confused.

FCG, you come forward to cast the spell there. Fearne, we're best for you. I was hiding somewhere real good. Right, so you were here. Real good. Because I had to be. No. Yeah. Oh shit.

She actually rolled really well. Yeah, you actually rolled really well. So you would be back into the side here where he couldn't even see you. Okay. I was pushing for behind the door-ish, but yeah. I'd say you went for it and hit this table.

Yeah, that's very fair. I think Orym is behind one of the table chairs in plain sight. Table chairs? The chairs by the table. Right there. You got it. As opposed to the big green Ashwan.

All right. Imogen is mid-transformation here. I tried. They, I know, thank you. It was that. It was really hard. And then we have numbers. And Laudna? I rolled a 15, so maybe I'd be behind that green chair,

like more hidden than Orym, but not that much more. Okay, great. So you see this figure step back, and there are other vanguard figures waiting behind them. Awesome. Does that guy have a Carmen Sandiego head? Yeah, it looks like Carmen Sandiego.

We found her. That's awesome! She's been tied up on the moon! All right. There doesn't look like her, yeah. We found her. That's awesome! She's been hiding all along the list. All right. Where's the red bear on the moon? It's Carmen Sandiego. Initiatives 25 to 20? 20.

Orm. Orm? Orm. 20 to 15. 18. 16. 15. 16. 16. 15. All right. She got it. Laudna's dead. 16.

Uh-oh, oh wait. Laudna's dead. I'll say it again. Sorry. Who had 18? I did. And then I had 16, what'd you have? Also 16, Ashton. Also 16. Okay.

Dex. Rollies. Rollies. Oh, Dex, I know. Dex. Rollies. Rollies instead. Dex is, oh, even better. Seven. Seven. Oh! Rollies again! Really?

I said rollies! 12. Five. Oh, okay. All right. 10. So, what? Chat and Ashton. Fearne. Okay, and Fearne. Did you roll also? I haven't announced yet. Okay.

I haven't proclaimed. Fearne, you got 14, you said? I got 15. 15, okay. What's your dex? You want to roll ease? Sure. You want to roll ease, fool? Let's do it, let's do it, let's fucking go.

You think you can roll ease? I rolled, but I don't know if I... 11? 11? Okay. Oh, you're not even going to tell me? No. You don't know. Okay, okay, okay. Secret roll, at least.

I think baddie is before the turn. All right. I rolled a 13, but I don't know if I count because I'm a fucking piece of wind. No, it's good to know because it might come back around to it. Okay. In the amount of time it took for FCG

to try to cast Pass Friends and it failed, was that 10 seconds passing? Six seconds at least. We'll say it's six seconds. So you got, we'll say roughly two more rounds. Before I can try to re-turn myself into. Correct. Yeah, so I'm out this entire fight, pretty much.

Cool. This entire fight, yes. Yeah, because it takes the same amount of time to de-cloud? Yeah, it takes a minute. Now, mind you, to remind you, combat has initiated, meaning that there is an aggressive stance taken because the spell is cast on a particular figure. Yes.

The rest of the actions are up to you. To try to deescalate? Deescalate or go in and finish it quickly or get out or whatever you want to try and do. The choices are yours. But, FCG, what'd you get? Nine. All right. Just to talk it out above the table,

if we try and deescalate, there's a person there that can read minds. So it probably won't go very well. If we try and deescalate, there's a person there that can read minds. So it probably won't go very well. Unless we tell the truth. They also can't read our minds. We could surrender. Right now, we have to scroll up. Yeah, they can't read our minds, I don't think, with that scroll active.

They can't force their way. We could surrender. Right? That was the intent of the set up, yeah. Surrender. Well, we could. Well, Orym, you're up first. Ugh. Cool.

I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to walk under that table like it's a person, because I'm a halfling. Yeah. 5, 10, 15, 20. I'm going to move behind the elder and use Bait and Switch to move the elder back and I will stand forward next to the door.

Okay. I am guarding the elder. I don't know what we're doing yet and I don't want to attack because I don't know if that's the right thing to do. It might be, but I don't know. The elder has an additional five to their AC with an arm's shield up.

That's all I'm doing. Okay. All right, finishing Orym's shield up. Good to know. That's all I'm doing. Okay. All right, finishing Orym's go. Darting out of the sides. Oh jeez. Well, here we go. Oh fuck. Two shrikes rush up. They use their movements to get right up to the sides here.

You're going to keep being close by. Well, that's better. Maybe one of them is Zesh. Maybe one of them's going to help us. All right, finishing the stress go. Laudna, you're up. Oh. What are we doing? Okay.

What am I doing? Okay. I want to get them inside, I feel like. We can try and talk out of it if you want to, or we could get captured. Either way, it takes us to the city we want to go to. I ain't worried about going to jail. To get captured.

I can't go back! Ah, shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. I did feel like we just increased numbers to incentivize something besides a violent encounter. A fight. Just to talk it out. Or?

It's equal to our party. Yeah, but we're fucking badasses. We're bell's hells. Always. We never lost a fight, except for that time that Vodna died. We definitely want, is the Will Master she? And Orm. Will Master is a she? Will Master appears to be female, yeah.

Okay. What? Appears to be female. Yeah, I mean, we definitely need her. Suck her energy out. Access to the city. And just suck her energy out. Suck her energy out. Access to the city. I just suck her energy out. Suck her energy out. I really want to suck her energy out.

I'm going to suck your energy so hard. I suck your energy. I suck my energy. Fuck it! It's all you, babe. Oh, I'm shutting the tone here. I'm going to hex the... Seems aggressive, let's do it.

The Will Master. I'm going to hex the Will Master. Okay, so you... And then shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. And just sit on the floor. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. And he didn't wear it.

Close to the shot, shot, shot. Black thyroid. Just Ikor on the floor. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. And he didn't wear it. He blows to the shot, shot, shot. Black thyroid. Just Ike Gore out the ass. There is calm emotions I can spew. No, it's not going to work. They're all like dirt. One of the negatives of losing the Misty before. They can't be challenged. They're all like an octopus.

The shadows congeal around the Will Master. They don't seem to have noticed the effect of lying on them, because they're standing in the middle of the night right now. They're just stepping back and shoring up the rest of the figures that are standing at their sides. I'm going to Fireball them.

Oh shit. Oh shit. What? Well. For that face, it's worth it alone. That's a good area. Well, we've made a choice. I know. That's a really good area. I know. That's a really good area. I know. Is that person behind them with the bow and arrow,

is that a friendly? Is this a bad idea? No, this is a great idea. You make a bold choice when you see them clumped up through a fatal funnel. That's my thing. That's my thing. All right. Flip your coin. All right, well.

I didn't ask how close they were. I said I cast Fireball. Oh, yeah. Fireball. Are we getting any friendlies in there? I don't want to get the, it looks like there's no friendlies, if I know. Fireball. Are we getting any friendlies in there? I don't want to get the, it looks like there's no friendlies, if I can. That looks good, right?

You have a really good view from back here. Yeah, you have a limited. But to that point, even if striking the Will Master, it does not look like you get any immediate friendlies from the explosion, anything that would, the one that was in danger would be Dono, but the building itself stops there, so it prevents the flames from reaching them.

Dodo's like, I'm living! I mean, hey, we want to make a display. We want to make a display, right, that we're on their side. I can heal. All right. I can heal people. All right. So wait, Hex gives a place where he's thinking

on the extra damage. Yes, that's fine. So we go. Go ahead and roll damage. Well, here goes shit. I'm also going to... With your T-band? Yeah, this might not be the caravan, right? Yeah. Yeah, no.

I'm also going to do this. We might have reinforcements coming from the rear or something, maybe. At 4th-level, by the way. 4th-level, so it's 96 points of fire damage. Go ahead and roll that. Wow. Yes. Yes. Yes, my baby.

Let's do it. I'll do this three times. Then there's an extra d6 on the Will Master. Okay, so that is, okay, wait, there's three. Okay, so that is seven. She's so brittle, there's a chance of spontaneous combustion. I said seven. It's 19. Eight, nine.

You're up to 19. 19. I trust seven. It's 19. Eight, nine. Up to 19. 19. I trust Sam. So that's three. One more. You said 19? Mm-hmm. 20, 21, 32. I trust him. 32 fire damage with an extra three on the Will Master.

Okay. All right. Okay, what's the DC? The DC is 17 dex. So one of the Shrikes manages to take half damage as it darts out of the way. Other one gets full blast as well as the Will Willmaster taking the full brunt of it. The other figures.

That's a fail. Look at those cute lucors feeding over there. I know, I love them. Natural one. Yeah. Natural one. Natural four. Natural four. Oh my god. This is like the lowest saving throw rolls.

Yay! The one where the natural one takes double damage? No, that's a fight create. No, no, no, yeah. I've been playing this game for a long time. It's okay. Thank you, Vicky. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a massive burst of flame and the sound of an explosion echoes out through the middle of the night. Flames swirl in the space and as they reside, you can see, or pull back, you can see many of the figures down almost to one knee, like charred and flames licking off the sides of their arms and robes.

You can see the four vanguard figures are all going, just screaming in pain. There's one back here who looks about 16 or so. Oh! Who's like, what? What's happening? What's happening? And they look near death and terrified. Oh!

Good. I scream out, Run! Okay. Good. I just scream out, Run! Okay. Wow. Stay put? Can I move away, back, as far as I can go? You can go back about there.

That's the back of the chamber of the domed abode. That's great. All right, that finishes your turn. Now is the Ruby Vanguard. Oh boy. All of, that finishes your turn. Now it's the Ruby vanguard. Oh boy. All of them start screaming and running. This guy goes charging off this way. This guy wanders this way in shock,

goes like, what's happening? What's happening? Is there anything? Nope. Shit. This guy here, he's going to stand back a little angrily and get behind this side. And the young one is going to go and you watch as a familiar burst

of semi-purple energy suddenly flashes from within him and he lifts off the ground about a foot. Oh, I just awoken to do it. Crackles, the flames still burning off his shoulders. You exalted somebody. I just exalted somebody, didn't I? He's doing it, Peter. You're doing it!

You're doing it, Peter! Starting to bleed. Well, this got messy. It got real messy. Why are theyified of us. They're brutal soldiers. These were just people. These were just dreamers.

These were just Rhodos-born. They weren't necessarily. Well, they're on some level of cultishness, right? Yeah. That doesn't mean that they're big, hard warriors. They're still alive for the moment. They could also be mentally controlled. The Will Master is like,

Did I do a bad? No! The Will Master. Laura did not answer. No? Everyone, no! Laura went. Laura can't answer right now. She was in the Torchwood. The Will Master skidded back a bit.

Sees this exaltation of this teenage boy. As he floats there, and you all feel it, too. Both of you feel this weird pressure push back on your minds, as the blast of it comes through you. You recognize another node of that network has come online. As the boy stands there, the Wheelmaster, without even glancing at him, points forward. It's still their turn. Most of them ran. The newly exalted vanguard newcomer is going to go ahead

and use telekinesis. Oh wow, he upgraded. I need you to go make a strength check for me, Laudna. Oh. You good at that? No. Go ahead. Really? No.

No. Not how that works. 10. 10? Yikes. Oh boy. Yeah, it's not zero. You get lifted. You are pulled up and you are currently now

held aloft in the middle of the air, just above the headroom of the center of this chamber. Yeah, Laudna go in beast mode, show them! Is this your form of dread? It's not me, it's not me! And is just going to hold you there, grappled. And is going to go ahead and start drifting back. This way and backward.

Finishing their go, that brings us to Chetney with Ashton on deck. Amazing! Can I use 25 of my feet so I can come up near the table in between Imogen and the table, get a visual on the Will Master? Yes.

And can I, with my bonus action, cast Blood Curse of Binding? Sure. It is a DC strength saving throw. Natural 17. He saves. Sorry. She saves. That's okay. And with my action, I'm going to take Turmoil

and I'm going to cast Shatter on the Will Master. You got it. Natural one. Oh, beautiful! It's a damage. Oh, let me pull out a reading. Shatter! Great. 48. There's a whole caravan of these fuckers.

Do we go outside or do we? They might be traitors. Do we go outside or do we? Traitors? Yeah, they're traitors. Let's try and hold up. 14. Oh! 28. Dude, Orym doesn't feel like they have a read on the situation at all.

No, I really don't. That's good. 28 points of thunder damage. Woo! Oh boy. Woo! Big roll. We're being very loud about this. We're being very loud about this. Massive secondary detonation.

Oh boy. Blasts the air with concussive energy that ends up cracking the ground beneath where the Will Master stands, and it goes off through the valley of nearby mountaintops. Oh no! If I had it right, it's a 10-foot sphere. So could I also hit the... Oh, right, yeah, next to him.

Yeah, that would actually get the other, of the shrike to the side. That's friends on the full side. Which is a 13, so. Doesn't save, con 14. Just want to suck the magic out of the Wheelmaster. That's all I want, though. Working on it.

With the last 20 feet of my movement, can I slide behind Ashton? Ooh, yeah. Yeah, just out of the line of sight. There you go. That's my turn. All right, finishing your go, Ashton, you're up. Oh, of course. That's funny.

All right, so let's fucking rage. Let's see what the hell tools I'm playing with. Interesting, okay. Where's my pen? So I rage. I start to go a little black and white cinematic as everything around me starts to turn gray. Okay.

Which means gravity. Okay. So this is good. I don't know what Taliesin's talking about. So basically, everything is starting to lean toward me in this very odd fashion. Pleasantville style? Yeah. Nearby knickknacks are like.

Just slowly dragging over. It's a vibe. It is definitely a vibe. I'm going to, how many feet to getting in this guy's face? Two, which one? Is that Will Master? That's the Will Master there.

It's about 30 feet to get there. It's about 30 feet? 20 there. It's about 30 feet? 20, 25-ish, yeah. 25 feet, okay. And let's see how this goes. I'm just doing a little reading. As soon as you rush out there, the shrike that was holding its action

is going to go ahead and unload into you. Awesome. Into you? Oh, here comes that anal sect. Okay. No, first it's going to go ahead and do multi-attack with its three arm blades on you. That is going to be a 14 to hit. Miss.

So dumb. You're a hero of the clouds. Natural one. Nope. And that's going to be a 19. Erratic defense. Erratic? Okay. All right. To which, go for it. What's erratic defense? That means we hit a space run,

so I have resistance to the attack. Okay. He just got the high score on Galaga. Yeah. All righty, you two, in from that one. Mm-hmm. It's going to be 10 points of slashing damage. Reduced to five, reduced to two.

Two points of damage. Okay, so it just went. I feel that tiny hit. I turn to that little trike and we fuck right off and cast a teleport disc right below him. I'm going to send them 30 feet as far into those animals as humanly possible. Into the pen? Over here?

Into the pen. Yeah! Using which one? I've got space, so I'm resistant to the attack, and it's teleported to an empty space of my choice within 30 feet. So, 25, 30? Yep. Into the pen.

Woo, corn surveillance. Fuck off. And now I'm going to turn and hit the, and hit our friend. Go for it. Okay. Oh my god. If you create a stampede in there, we'll go. Can we head Cannon and exalt it as Billy Mitchell? And his hot sauce.

Yeah, fuck it, let's go. I feel like he cheated his way into Rue Des Portes. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I think he was reinstated. I think he was pulled away again. Again, in days? Those VHS tapes. Oh, wait, no, wait. Recent, recently? Really? Recent, recent, yeah. Yeah, he's still an again. Again? In days? Those VHS tapes. Oh, wait, wait, wait, recently?

Really? Yeah, recently. I still an asshole. It never ends. Yeah, and I'm gonna roll with advantage and take my lumps and make happen. You're fine. Okay.

Actually, shit's about to go down. That's 19 to hit? No, that's 20 to hit, excuse me. 20 hits. Okay, that's 2d6 plus 12. I get to reroll this now, because I did not like that roll. Better.

Eight. 20 points of damage. 20 points of damage. Slip. And coming back down for another hit. Oh my god. So we're talking our way out of this, right? Yep. 19. 19 hits.

Going to knock out, not kill. In space, no one can hear you. No, I got it wrong. I have to stick with it. That's 19 points of damage. Jeez! All righty. And then I have a little bit of movement left.

I am going to, let's see. That's the wrong one. I'm going to try and back off about 15 feet, if I can get 15 more feet back. 15 more feet back this way? Yeah. Three, okay, so you get right there? I'm going to get right there. Well, yeah, I'm going to get right there

so that I'm kind of... Oh god. Oh there. I'm going to get right there. Well, yeah, I'm going to get right there so that I'm kind of. Oh god. Oh no! I'm going to make it a little harder for them to get Laudna out of the house. Okay. And I'm taking a defensive stance. You got it. Okay.

That finishes your go? Yeah. All right, it is now the Will Master's go. Top of the Will Master's turn. Will Master taking a bunch of hits, angrily falling to the ground and. You see this dark red-purple blood onto the front of its robes and outfit.

He is going to get pulled 10 feet towards me. Because it's the start of his turn and I've got the gravity up. Right, is he going to make a save against her? I think it's you just, within 15 feet. There might be a save, I might have fucked it up. Carry on while in the meantime, sorry. No worries.

There we go. I find it fast now. Yeah, start their turn 15 feet towards you. Okay. Yeah. Within 15. Yeah, pulled Okay. Yeah. 15. Yeah, pulled 10. Matt, I'm also going to say that the Willmaster

has disadvantage on... Oh, confirm your hex. Right. Okay. Strength check. Well, at the beginning of the turn, they pulled in. Pika. Looking towards you, their eyes flare a bright white coloration,

and every single person in the village that has come out to see the commotion, their eyes also turn white. Oh god, no! Guns are knocked, they rush in. Flank them. Huh? I don't want to kill them, yeah.

Oh, you got to take out the source. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dash into there. Or just get them unconscious, right? Yep. Anyone feels like grabbing them and shutting the door behind them. Yeah.

I'm just going to go ahead, bonus action. Telekinect, shove to you. Go ahead and make a strength check for me. Okay, just also checking, I cannot be knocked prone, pushed, pulled, or forced to move. Because of the gravity. Oh yeah, so yeah.

It's just like. It's off on that one. Okay. Fuck. I'm just giggling like a fuck. Okay. Giggling like a fuck. Yep. It's the thing the heels dig in, it's like.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well let's jagged dart then. What? Do it. Jagged dart? Like hand dart? Jagged dart. Yes, let's jagged dart then. What? Do it! Jagged dart! Jagged hand dart? Jagged dart.

Yes, jack and dart. They go ahead and take this long, thin, pointed dart out of the side of a leg sheet and flings it over towards you. As they throw it, it seems to speed up through some sort of unseen force. That's going to be a 22 to hit. Oh yeah, that hits. be a 22 to hit. Oh yeah, that hits.

Nice. 22 to hit. Who's hitting you? Oh, I finally pissed them off real bad. That's going to be 22 points of force damage. Halved. Not force damage. Force damage is not halved. Nah. Force damage. That's a brain shit.

Eh, yeah. And they're going to move backward to try and get away from you. That's fair. But all of his, their followers. Oh, he can just fucking fly. They're still going. There's nothing I can really do about that right now.

Can Rylor and Hover levitate or just on foot? It's on foot. Okay. That's going to finish his go. Fearne, you're up with Imogen on deck. Okay. We're not going to lose anything. All right, I'm just going to peek around outside the door. Okay.

And see the Willmaster. Indeed, you see them stepping back into the crowd of many of the other nearby villagers that are all standing and blocking the way. I lock eyes and say, Psst, you need to come inside. I'm going to cast Charm Person. Come on, come on, Fearne. Charm Person.

Okay. Charm Person, because they are in an aggressive, hostile environment with you, they have advantage on the save. It's a will save? Or sorry, wisdom. Wisdom. Which I will save. That's going to be a 16. It doesn't. It's an 18.

It's an 18? Yeah! Thank you! All right, so I'm just going to say, hey, you got to get inside right now! Come here. Oh, he's checking, he's checking. You're doing this to the Will Master. The Will Master. Okay. You're doing this to the Will Master.

Okay. But also... So they treat you as a friendly acquaintance. Okay. So you tell them to come inside. Yes. Right? They look at you like... You need to come inside right now. You hear in your head,

Too dangerous to attack. No, no, no, it's not. I promise. Come, we have to take a defensive position. No, no, no, it's not, I promise. Come, we have to take a defensive position. No, no, no, I'm stuck in here. I'm shackled. Make a deception check. Shackled. Oh yeah, they got me chained to the wall.

You're good at deception. You're good at deception. You're good at deception. You're good at it. I rolled a one. Oh! Shackled. That's not what it's called. That's not what I meant. They give you a look like...

Okay, I'll come outside. Come join. Shackled by fear. And we go outside. Okay. Wait, what am I doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? You're leaving the cover?

It's fine, it's fine. She's friendly. They're not going to make all the villagers attack her. I'm going to stay. You have 15 more feet of movement. Okay, but I'm just going to tuck around. Over here? To the other side.

Yeah, that side, I'm just staying there. Okay, so you move through. It's not even focused on you now, and it's still looking out in the direction of inside the household. Please go in there, please go in there. Please go in there. All right, that finishes your turn.

He's like, I don't know why we're friends. Yeah. This one has terrible sense of self-perception. Seems very, very, very much rapidly took you as an ally due to still wearing the robes of the Vanguard and is more like, I have to get you out of there where it's dangerous.

Even if we can calm them down, what do we do with them? Imogen. A turn goes by. Shut up. FCG. It's me? Yep. Are we killing these things? A turn goes by. Shit. FCG. It's me? Yep. Are we killing these things? Just trying to knock one of them out, really.

The problem is me. You could also go see if Zesh is in that caravan, right? I don't think this would. Yeah, I'll do stuff as soon as I can move. I'm still not a... Oh, yeah. I'm just... Like a fucking moron. It was a good call.

Was it? At the time. I'm going to try to bring the, I'm going to try to shoot my grapple cannon at, at, at, Eld, nope, Willmaster. Edmunda. Edmunda. Is it Edmuda? Or Edmuda, the Willmaster.

As I ready my grapple cannon, I say, Edmuda! Any response? None that you necessarily. And I will fire my grapple cannon. At the Willmaster. Double eyelid. At the Willmaster. All eyelid. At the Will Master. All right, go ahead and roll for attack.

Let's see if it works. Oh, that's terrible. How many eyelids do they have, Matt? Right on. You haven't gotten a close enough look to read it. 15. 15. Versus armor class. Right.

That hits. No! But hold on. So that's part of the meat shield ability. The meat shield ability? As you fire it, one of the other villagers jump in front of the way and take the hit instead, and your Graffle Cannon sinks into one of the local farmers. How could you? Go ahead and roll damage.

Oh shit, I rolled a 10. For a total of? 10. 10 damage? Okay. Oh no! Villager, they're toast. This villager. Wait!

Wait! When it pulls towards you, at least you can heal. You pull them into the room, smashing just past Ashton onto the ground. Fuck. And they're on the ground. Leading out. As a bonus action. Bleeding out. Mm-hmm. Can I take half their damage to myself?

Yeah, you can. Okay. Oh, snap. Well. So you only take five. Meat Shield ability. We didn't know that was a thing. We're learning. No! We're learning. We're learning. You know how you don't learn their abilities?

By getting captured. It's true. You were the one that was leading the attack then, Frey. I am very happy right now. They stumble to the ground, prone. It's sticking into their chest for a minute, like, Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. That was, I missed.

They blink and the dark eyes return for a minute. What's going on? I don't know. Do you want to move or stay quiet? FDG, speak words of comfort to them! You're going to be fine. Everything's all right. I'm a dreamer. This is a dream. You're having a dream right now.

Everything's going to be I'm a dreamer. This is a dream. You're having a dream right now. Everything's going to be fine. This is a dream. Everything's going to be fine. Oh my god. Why does it hurt? In six seconds, his eyes are going to flash. I'm not going to move. I'll move off to the side if someone wants to get around me, I guess. But I want to stick close to the door.

You got it. All right, finishing your go, FCG. That brings us to the top of the round, Orym. Ooh, okay. So Orym is going to step diagonally into the doorway. Me too! Okay. As soon as he gets there, he quickly sizes up what's going on, looks at the Will Master.

I'll say that his eyes go a deep, deep green, and he's going to start running forward, casting Hex as he goes. Small little black blooms, almost like druidcraft, start to blossom out of the Ryloran's chest around the neck, small little tendrils. Orym's going to slide under her legs. I should have 30 feet to get right behind her. Oh yeah. I will start to attack her using the Flat of Seedling to do non-lethal damage to try to continue to knock her out. Go for it.

That is a 22 to hit. 22 to hit. You go ahead and strike, and you watch the nearby figures pulse, like the muscles try and go, but you're too quick, and you strike the Will Master. Okay. So you'll grab a little damage. All right, so that is six plus six is 12,

plus a d6 for the hex. So that's 15 for the first smack to the side of her noggin. Nice. I'm leaping in the air and doing this. The next is a 22 to hit again. 22 to hit. This strike, as you go to swing, one of the local farmers darts right in front of the way

and blocks the Will Master with their body and you strike them across the chest. Well, it's still non-lethal, so knocking. So that's 15 points. 15 damage. They go unconscious on the ground. You hit them you strike them across the chest. Well, it's still non-lethal, so knocking. So that's 15 points. 15 damage. They go unconscious on the ground. You hit them with the flat of the blade and that farmer just crumples onto the ground.

Non-lethal damage? Okay, okay, okay. He's drooling. I'm going to finish. Yeah, I'm going to knock. Yeah. Yeah. This is communal. That's a natural 20.

You don't think they have rodeos in this place? I mean, come on, you could knock that all the time. Yeah! One of the other farmers runs in as the Will Master's backing out of the way. So it's not a reaction, it's just ongoing, continual? It seems that as long as there are any within the immediate vicinity of the Will Master,

I roll and there's a chance that any of them will take the blow for her. Okay. That's an awesome feat. Wow. That's really, really cool. You just got to remove the shields. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so I've just knocked out two citizens here

who jump forward. He's right over here on her side. Set fire, please. We're the good guys! Damn it. And there's still a couple more people around. There's these three here. Yeah, citizens.

And there's one that's right next to them. There's one over here that hasn't quite. It's an old man. It's a cute old man who's about to get windshielded. Oh my gosh. Cute, cute, windshielded old man. Oh my gosh. I'm headed over to Bingo. Oh fuck!

Anything else, Orym? Little hat, little shithead. Just... This is tricky. This is dark. I'm going to Action Surge. Okay. I'm going to leap up and grapple her head and hang on. Okay, all right. So you Action Surge and then go on. You can grapple her head and hang on. Okay, all right.

So you action surge and then go on. You can grapple multiple attacks. Each attack can be a different grapple attempt. Okay. So the first one, go ahead and make an athletics check versus their athletics. That's a natural one, shall I reroll? Okay.

Natural 20. Okay, so that one fails. Oh, it's still very barbs. What is that? Do they have to reroll a 20? That's going to be an 11. That was a 12. Okay, so yeah. So your first attack, you go to Trevor

and you grapple onto, and they're now currently grappled and unable to move away. Silvery Barbs. Now, if I'm holding onto her head, I can't use the other attacks at all, right? Like now I'm locked and I'm done? No, you can keep attacking. I'm going to elbow her in the eye with Hex.

Okay. I don't know how a person's going to run in the way of that. That's what I'm doing. We'll let you try. Matt, question. Was that a strength ability check that they just did? That would have been, no, strength or dex.

They did dex. They can choose either athletics or acrobatics. So this would just be the hex damage. I got a 22 to hit with my elbow. A 22 to hit, I'll say, because you're so close, I'm giving myself disadvantage on the roll for them to try and meat shield. Ow.

You never know. Because they can grab the back of your arm as you reach back and hit them. But no, they fail. So this damage goes straight through. How much is that? That is six points of Hex damage coming through Orym's tiny elbow.

And the next one is? It glows through the tattoo as it. The moods light up. That is a 17. 17, that does hit. And they did not manage to meet shield because of the disadvantage, so. Okay. And the next bit of damage.

That is four points of elbow hex. Four points of elbow hex. Yeah, bro. You got it. How is she looking? She's not looking great. She's looking real, she's looking hurt. She got that fireball and Ashton combo

right out of the gate really rocked her more than she was expecting. Okay, that finishes your go, Orym? Jeez, yes. All right. That was awful. That felt awful. Mm-hmm. The Shrek appeared here.

These various ogres just start going. They start getting agitated and starting to rally out of their sleeping position. Run with the bull! The Shrek's going to run and leap over this high fence. Yeah! They have 40 feet of movement. and the Shrek's going to go ahead and run and leap over this high fence. They have 40 feet of movement. Yeah, they can get there. They're going to rush up to you, Orym.

Oh, and one last detail. My hex will give her a disadvantage on dexterity checks. So now you're covering strength. Now we have it. Nice. It's reading through it all. Good enough. Okay. Are you still hanging under her head?

Yeah. Okay. She ain't going anywhere. The Shrek is going through it all. Good enough. Okay. Are you still hanging under her head? Yeah. Okay. She ain't going anywhere. The shrike is going to dart up. Just doing this into her. Oh no, they're surrounding Orym. And it's going to. If they miss Orym, they'll hit the Willmaster, though. Maybe Orym can use the Willmaster as a meat shield.

All right, so because they have you pincered, they have an advantage on the strikes. Yeah, sure. The... They can't pincer. Yeah. It's okay. All right, so they're going full-in arm blade on you.

Also, I'll give you advantage from Silvery Barbs. On the next roll he gets you, man? I mean, they're rolling to hit my AC. Hang on. What is that? Give him a bat. Keep reading to see if there's anything else I can fucking do.

You have advantage on the next attack roll, ability to check or saving throw within one minute. Okay. Okay. So the first strike from the guy on the left here is going to be 20? Yep. Okay. So with that, you take this arm blade over there. 16 points of slashing damage.

Got it. Second strike. Not great, 15. No, miss. Last one. That's going to be a 22. That hits. Okay, and that one's going to be... Crawled out of the way like a spider monkey for the second.

18 points of slashing damage. The other one is going to go ahead and now open up on its attacks. First one is going to be... that's another 20. Hits, yeah. That's going to be 19 points of slashing damage. Next one, that's going to be a 21. Hits. Jesus. That's going to be a 24 points of slashing damage.

Okay. Then their last strike is going to be a natural 19. Yeah. Hits. Hits you. That one's going to be 15 points of slashing damage. Okay. He's doing better than you might think. Mm-hmm. That's real bad. That was another shrike.

Then they're going to go ahead, use their bonus action. One of them's going to look at you, and a bonus action is going to use Mind Blur, and they just disappear from your sight. Oh, cool! You watch them, they put a hand up, and all of a sudden, they're gone.

Fuck me. Amazing. Imogen! The other one is going to glance over in your direction to see what you did to the Will Master. He's going to do the same thing. So both of them phase out of your eyesight. I can still see. You can see him, yeah.

Perfect. But yeah. I can see one of the strikes. No, they both vanish from yourself. They both vanish. They both focus on you. Okay. They're less worried about him as they are you at the moment. Finishing their go, Laudna, you're up.

All right, I'm going to quicken a spell to do Mirror Image on myself. Mirror Image. Okay. And then, what's that? And then, does it seem like even if I hit with projectile spells against the Willmaster, he can still meat shield? Or is it just...

You don't know? That's actually better than worrying. I think as long as anybody's near him. I am going to... I'm actually going to unload some Eldritch Blasts at... So just so you're aware, you were lifted and pulled up inside the chamber. Yeah.

So he has 3 1⁄4 cover from you currently. I have Spell Sniper. You do, so it doesn't even matter. Can I see the kid that's holding me? No, the angle you have down, you are unable to see the kid. The kid's behind that big rock, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Okay. Jeez Louise. What you doing? I will. Okay. I'm not going to Deletlitch Blast. I'm going to hit him with a Ray of Frost in case, so I'm going to see if that works. Okay, Ray of Frost.

It can roll for attack or he gets dex. No, I roll for attack. Okay. Yeah, and that's a natural 18 from 29. That definitely hits. Okay. Mechill. Nope, Mechill missed on that one. Okay, so he's 3d8, and he's slow now. Slowed, good to know.

Who, which one? The Will Master. Oh, okay, gotcha, gotcha. The View Master. Page Master. He's the master, he's our master. What does slow mean again? Speed is halved.

His speed is, well, is he? He can only do one thing. His speed is reduced by 10. That's the master. He's the master. He's the master. Would a slowed mean again? Speed is halved. His speed is, well, is he? He can only do one thing. His speed is reduced by 10. That's the slowed spell. Oh, okay. Slowed status is just half speed. Gotcha. 15 frost damage.

15 frost damage. All righty. And he's, yeah, got reduced speed. No worries. So that was your quickened spell. I quickened Mirror Image. Oh right, no, sorry, that's right. Okay, so finish your turn.

Finish my turn. So I have Mirror Image up now. Okay. The youth of the Ruby Winger comes out and is like, and is going to go ahead and. Can I use my reaction to try and stop that? Help?

If you weren't holding an action to do so, probably not. Okay, so there's no reaction I can use for someone to grab something or attempt to block that or shut the door. That'd be the kind of thing you hold an action for, unless a reaction is just something that happened automatically in that regard. So in this instance, I'd say no.

No, it's fine. It's not his thing to kill everybody. But it's going to pull you out, open into the space here. The others. And? Show of strength. Take up a weapon. It's like, you can see the light glowing in the eyes.

It's going to hit you with Blight. So go ahead and make a constitution saving throw. He's hitting me with Blight? You didn't say you with Blight. So go ahead and make a constitution saving throw for me. He's hitting me with Blight? You are Blight. He brought you out? Yeah. I was hoping that there'd be shit in the door, but

ooh, that's bad. That's really bad. How bad? I rolled a five, so for 10 total. Okay, 33 points of necrotic damage to you. Okay. I now have to roll to save. Yes, you do. But does Mirror Image work on this one?

Mirror Image, this is a, it is not an attack roll against you. It is a reaction. Shit, shit, shit. Let me go check on Mirror of Mutual fast. This is tense. Each time a creature targets you with an attack during the spell's duration. It's not an attack roll, so no, it's a save.

Okay, 33 points, you said? Correct. All right. No problem, I'll argue. That's All right. No power. I'm sorry. Go ahead and make a constitution saving throw, concentration saving throw to see if you can maintain concentration on, yeah, you're fine. Okay. Right?

Yeah, I think so. That's your total on that? Plus my spellcasting modifier. You have to beat a 16. Yes, I do. Plus your constitution saving throw. Oh, my constitution is five, so that is 16. So yeah, so you're fine. You just a 16. Modifier? Yes, I do. Plus your constitution saving throw. Oh, plus my constitution is five, so that is 16. So yeah, so you're fine. You just meet it.

It's going to dart back this way for the rest of its movement. Holding it up in that way. Oh, well, it's the same, so. This one here is going to... The tide seems to be turning a bit, so this one here and this one here is going to turn around

and it's going to both fire crossbow bolts at you since you're up in the air. Shit. I'd say because you're not able to really move around and you're currently restrained up there. Correct, so they have advantage on attacks to hit you, but you roll to see if it hits you or not. So first one is going to be 12.

Miss. Rolled so low with advantage. They're all like dog shit. Okay, and the one over here. You're doing pretty good here, Matt. That's going to be a 23. Hit. It hits you? Yeah.

Okay. So you take nine points of piercing damage. Skunk! Then make another concentration check for me. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. This one here is actually going to come forward. Got it right there. No, this one's going to keep running.

I rolled a natural one, so a hex has dropped. Okay. So yeah, this one is just running away. All right, that finishes their go. Now it is Chetney with Ashton on deck. God, I love being on the fucking moon! I come running out from cover and I'll run straight through the doorway

and I will leap. Fucking time. And halfway through my jump, you'll see my head go like a mascot head. It's just wolf head. And I will leap up and fucking headbutt the wolf master with my head before into a giant fucking werewolf. Go for it. Great.

SAM and LAURA and LAURA and LAURA and LAURA. That's worth a stack. Is this your first time as a werewolf on the moon? No, I arrived here on that. Oh, that's right. Yeah. 28 to hit. 28 definitely hits. Amazing.

Hold on. This one, as you dart in the air, transform, and you go to headbutt, you watch as this older, elder-looking figure comes into your periphery, almost like a side view, like, Toasty! Goes to the side and just. Oh god.

What's the roll damage on them, Wesson. It's nine points of damage. Nine points of d- Good headbutt. Yeah. Unconscious. They are unconscious. And I'm like, fucking straight back!

I'll try and headbutt him again. Okay. That's 18 to hit. 18 hits. They have no other 18 to hit. 18 hits. They have no other targets to use their meat shield ability. That's 11 points of damage. 11 points of damage. Well, there's no other meat shields within...

Within range currently. Have we knocked everybody out? Yes. You could possibly meat shield them. 20 to hit for the very last one. That hits as well. And that's three plus six, nine points of damage. Nine.

Get out of the way if you can. Oh, it's so close, isn't it? He's doing the... The Wheelmaster is starting to slip. The Wheelmaster is staggering a little bit on their feet. Clear the room, Chet! Yeah, that's my, yeah, I'll just slide to the side here. Thank you! Just one half step.

Okay. Don't, it's not me.'ll still step over the old man. Oh, I know. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Oh, just sorry. Ashton. I don't realize there's such a small little thing in front of the man.

How many feet is it directly at what I am attempting to assume? 15 feet to get to. Only 15, damn. So I'm going to take 10 feet back and I'm going to run straight at the fucker for 25 feet. Okay. This should be fun. You full on do the rear up and the charge.

And I've got the hammer like a battering ram. I'm just going for where I hope the jaw is. I'm just shoving it right in that direction. Okay. Reckless also, so I assume this is disadvantage. Huh? Because I can't actually see the fuck. I'm just making a very educated guess.

Is this against the Shrike or is this on the Willmaster? The Willmaster. The Willmaster is not invisible. Oh. Sorry. The two Shrikes. The two Shrikes are invisible. Oh, well, that's fine. Just to you, right not invisible. Oh. Sorry. The two Shrikes. The two Shrikes are invisible. Oh, well, that's fine. Just to you, right?

Correct. Yeah, just to him. So yeah, in that case, yeah, reckless, fuck it. Sure, go for it. And this is not lethal? No, yeah, no, I'm using the butt of the, I'm using the glass to just try and knock right in the head. 24 to hit. That hits, roll damage.

That is... Do I have to still look this up? I had 24 to hit. That hits roll damage. That is... Do I have to still look this up? Oh, I actually, I think I get a special thing from that. Hold on. Sorry. I turn purple and green. What? I have a Galactic Invader.

I think I get an extra d6. Oh, for the space run, yeah. When I do the 25. Sure. I'm so sorry, I'm an extra d6. Oh, for the space run, yeah. When I do the 25. Sure. I'm so sorry, I'm looking this up again. I'll just do this. I'll just start with the damage. Fuck that, I don't like that roll. That's 10, 22 points of damage.

How do you want to do this? Yeah! Yay! I am going to run like I'm about to knock down a fucking door, and I'm just going to scooch up right below you and just go for the fucking glass jaw. Full-on like. Yes! They get lifted off the ground

by the sheer force of the uppercut. Technically, they should fly 15 feet. And they do. You win. Holy shit. Unconscious on. You win! Holy shit. Unconscious on the ground over there. Damn. Orym, I assume you let go at the moment of impact

to ensure you don't get dragged along, or do you wish to be dragged along? Can I see your initiative order really quick? 913, oh. Orym to Ashburn. Ashton, those are ways. Yeah, I had another d6, but that's fine. I'm going to go with.

Going to go with? Okay. I'm going to ride him like a skateboard. Whoa! You land on top of the unconscious bleeding body of the Will Master. Okay. That, I believe, is all my movement. I am, I suppose, just going to spend a bonus action.

Just making the noise, just trying to bring it in. Yeah, now there's a big raging barbarian and wolf out here, so maybe it's not as appealing to come back here. The people unconscious are slowly vibrating towards me. All righty, that finishes your go. All of the various villagers that were running in,

including the elder, and Döna, were all starting to charge inward. They all. You mean Elder Barthi was, too? Yeah. He was going to attack us. You're only looking outward. You didn't really notice nearby to see that they themselves were also pulled in

by the influence of the Will Master. But that breaks free for a minute and you see a bunch of them look panicked, looking at what's happened, what's in the middle of here, the fight, the unconscious and bleeding members of their village, and the Will Master now knocked unconscious and thrown 15 feet through the air. They just start to scatter.

Seek shelter. That brings us to the end of Ashton's turn. Will Master is gone. Fearne, you're up with Imogen on deck. What do the Shrikes look like? Are they still raring to go? The Shrikes are like, watch Willmester fall and hit the ground, glance at each other.

Look and they're taking in as much detail about you as they can. Oh shit, kill him. What? This is a change of heart for them, Imogen. Why? in as much detail about you as they can. Oh shit. Kill him. What? This is a change of heart for them, Imogen. Why? Why so quick to judge them? Okay.

Okay, okay. We don't learn if we don't communicate. Will Master's still alive? Possibly. Unconscious, we don't know? Unconscious. Unconscious. Yeah, we want to suck his magic. Okay. Ask your questions.

How many feet is the Will Master from the door? How many feet? Yeah. He's about 30 or so feet from the door. Yeah. It's Will. Okay. It's the Will Master. Will the Knicker. Wow.

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contested by the creature's strength check. Is this the EXU ring? Yeah. Yeah, I think you changed. That's totally overpowered? I love it. Use it. Didn't he change it to just objects? Grab her by the belt buckle. Did he?

Overpowered ring. Yeah, I love it. It's okay. Grab her by the piercing. Yeah, he might have. Now we're like... Yeah. You can only turn objects that aren't being worn or carried. Good.

If they were dead, I'd say they'd be an object. That's fine. But they're still alive. Um. Wow. Aw, Travis. All right, you know what? I'm alluding to this is a short and happy. Those spiky ones,

that would be very good if we can make those spiky ones drop. Ash, can you help me? What do you need? Can you go pick her up? Once these parts are done, yes. How many are left standing? There's two Shrike here that were focused on Orym for a minute.

There are these two figures, this one that's running away, and the one that's floating and glowing that's currently holding Laudna in the air. Is he looking weird yet, or no? Or is he? I was hoping that he was telepathically controlled as well, but we'll find out.

Seems to not be the case. Okay. Wait, who? The exalted one? The 16-year-old boy over there. No, he's just controlled by the- He just turned into an X-Man. He's feeling it. Sleeping one.

I got my learner. So we still have some problems. We still have some problems. Okay, I'm going to Scorching Ray. Put out some Scorching Rays. I'm going to start with one that's running away. Running away? Okay. Yes, because the range is on, is?

Is, I think it's 120. Yep, 120 feet. Oh yeah, I don't even have to. Which one is running away? I think Carmen Sandie is. Carmen Sandie, all right, go ahead and roll Front Attack on them. We're burning them up.

Knock them out, at least. 19. 19 hits. You don't knock people out. No, the- Some of them are bad. Scorching R- Which ones? 16. Carmen Sandiego is bad. 16.

16 hits. Or, well, let me see here. I wonder if I should do one of each. Or I'll also say we are in combat with a few that nearly killed Chet in one round, so. All right, so I'll do the one to the running away and then the other ones to... The two other Shrikes? Yes.

You got it, all right. So 16 would miss. 16 miss? 16 misses the Shrike, the first Shrike and the second one. Another 19. That does it. Okay. So you have one hit on him and one on the shrike. The first shrike and the second one. Another 19. That does it. Okay. So you have one hit on him and one on the shrike.

Okay. It's my imagination that they don't like fire. 11 for the first hit. That might just be the surprise fire. No one likes surprise fire. I don't really like surprise fire. The guy's running, just. Great, great, okay.

He's burning now on the ground across the way. Second hit. No. Well. Nine. We know. We come in peace. Is that Carmen? Nine damage on the other strike?

Yeah, on the other strike. Okay. And then... Damn, it's a little late, but wait, hang on one second. Question. Yes. Damn, it's a little late, but wait, hang on one second. Question. Yes. With my spark. Yeah? Only when I have transformed do I have-

Do you get the bonus damage, yes. Got it, okay. But you get it for an hour. I get it for an hour, okay, so good to know. And then as a bonus action, a little late, but I'm going to take out Mister. Okay. Was Mister going to just appear by the Shrike or by you?

I'm going to keep him by me. Okay. Perfect. You got it. Have you used that pirate thing yet? No. Okay, no. There's a specific context for that one. All right, finishing Fearne's go, Imogen. What kind of context?

You're now missed. Great. FCG. All right. finishing Fearne's go, Imogen. What kind of cut? You're now missed. Great. FCG. Sorry, Laura. No, it's my fault. You know? Can I see the floating Exalted from inside? Probably not. From where you are, no.

I can't really see many of these guys. Not inside the house, no. It's nice in here, though. You can see one Shrike, that's about it. How many? Okay, I'm going to step to the doorway. Okay. Magic?

How many hostiles are there that I can see? You can see the two Shrikes, one that looks more damaged than the other. You see two Ruby Vanguard figures that are on the sides with crossbows that are also looking like. Can you point with your fingers to the Ruby Vanguards with crossbows?

Right there. Right there. And right there. Got it. So there's four left standing? Five. Yeah. And the Exalted. Yeah, the Exalted's right there. Okay. Yeah, we're still a little fucked.

I am... Tell the kid to knock it off. I'm going to Calm Emotions. Calm Emotions on? Everybody. Okay. Is that a sight thing or is it just a range? It's a range, 20-foot radius sphere.

So 40-foot sphere. Correct. So about as large as a fireball. So where do you want it to go? I mean, I want to get everyone I can see. Everyone you can see would be, probably if you wanted to get closer over here, you could get... You should get the Exalted

and leave the guy by the door alone, and I'll take care of him. I don't know that I can, I know where the Exalted is or that he exists. Fair, fair, I'm going to release him and I Exalted is or that he exists, honestly. I'm up next. Fair, fair, fair. Okay. That will get the two-shrink

and the gentleman over there. That is a charisma saving throw. Karma save. That's your cape. Karma save, you're on fire right now. I was like, what? It's a low DC because I believe I'm using a feature to cast it.

That shrike is going to be an eight. Fail. Other shrike. It's going to be an 11. Fail. Matt, it's okay. It's okay, boss. That guy over there is going to be a 15. Succeed. Okay, so that. Which guy up there is going to be a 15. Succeed.

Okay, so that. Which guy? This guy right here. Yeah, so the vanguard guy is still like. Yeah, I'm just going to say, everybody, there's been a misunderstanding. Let's just talk it out like reasonable adults. A little robot comes out of the hut. Yeah.

As that falls, you can see all the various villagers that have taken heavy hits are still groaning, unconscious on the hut. Yeah. As that falls, you can see the various villagers that have taken heavy hits are still groaning, unconscious in the ground. The two shrike, after watching the Willmaster tumble to the ground, blades out from their jagged-looking armaments that are predator-style coming out of their bracers, look at you and stand resolute and calm for a moment.

Amazing. Does it last? It lasts for a little bit. What's a little bit? You know. Around. A minute. A minute. Okay, a minute's fine. Fine.

Let's get her inside. And if I have any more movement, and if I can, with my bonus action. You got, let's say, 20 more feet of movement. I'll move to the old guy on the floor. Right here? Okay. No, I'm sorry, the old, the elder that the werewolf head-butted in the skull.

Oh, over here, okay. The werewolf head-butted. Can you do a masculine werewolf? With the only white part of the body. But I really only have one spell left. So I want to save it just in case. There. There. So I'm going to dump a little Healing Popo.

Okay. Down his old man. Down the gaping hole in his face that Chetney pulled. Just a sprinkle of it. Yeah, it's full-on Fist of North Star style. The head just concaves. As you pour the potion over, it they blow on their thumb hard enough

and cartoon reform. Incredible. I'm like, Oh, Thank you. He's being straddled by a werewolf. It's this plus four also? Correct. So that was, I think it's nine plus four.

It's back up to full. Yeah, back to full health. Okay. Take it away from me. Thank you. Take this from me. All right, finishing FCG's go. Orym, you're up. Okay, so Orym does the Orym thing

and tabulates everything that's going on. FCG comes out and plays Peacemaker, but he looks up and sees Laudna contorted in the air and then looks over and sees the Exalted hovering. So he just turns to the Exalted and little dark green bordering on black vines and flowers start to snake along the ground towards him and erupt up his body as I transfer the hex to him.

Okay. I just calmly walk forward and I try to knock him the fuck out. Go for it. Also, I took five points of damage that I had absorbed earlier. Let's make it a goading attack for extra damage. That is a seven, 18 to hit.

Goaded! Okay, 18 does hit. Okay, so that is six plus four. Actually, hold on. 18 to hit is going to shield. Okay. This guy got so many hours. I've been looking at you.

Just all of a sudden, one of the hands just goes and the shield deflects your first hit. Okay. The next one is a 22? 22 hits. Okay, so I'm going to go six plus four is 10. 22 just hits with the shield up. Wow.

So he takes 19 points of damage for that one because of the hex. How do you want to do this? Wait, oh! Well, it's a flat of the blade, so I'll say that I strike out and the sword ricochets off of nothing. I just spin the blade around

and the flat goes whapang onto his forehead. Watch as he turns, he's like, you do not know what you've. Oh! Just like a second potato's in the ground. But once for a moment there was this terrifying conduit for some sort of power that you've seen do astronomical things through your ally,

crumple into a scared and unconscious 16-year-old boy. Right, right. And then I'm going to just stand... That was like 20 to get there, you think? Or 15? Oh, 10. 10, because you still got one, two. So yeah, you still have 20 feet, 25 feet to get there, you think? Or 15? 10, because you still got one, two, so yeah, you still have 20 feet, 25 feet to move there.

Bro. Fuck it. I'll run to that one and take a swipe at it. To the other Shrike? Yeah. Oh, the calm one? Are they, they're both calm? As you look towards them, they're both standing, with blades at the side.

Then I'll say I run halfway back and see that. Okay. And then I will just hold. There's a crossbow person, if I recall. We got one. Gotcha. By the fence. Yeah, both of them, actually. I can't make it that far. No, no, it's that guy, 1130.

You're right at your midnight. Somebody point at it, because I can't see. That guy's down. What crossbow guy are you talking about? Both of these guys are still on the board. Yeah, the one that his right hand was pointing to. None of them are in range for anything I can do. No. Yeah, we were just telling you

which one was in range. Letting you know who's still in range. Oh, sorry, yeah, I remember their way. If they see us being violent, do they come out of their comm? Let me check my spells. I think only if you do violent stuff against them. To them, yeah.

I don't want to pull a Keyleth here. Wow. Alternatively, you may as well do it. Or if it witnesses any of its friends being harmed. Okay. Thanks, Keyleth. Oh, witness? Okay, okay. Some gifts. Never going to live it.

Never going to live it down. So they're already out of it. But the dread emperor. No, they didn't see that. You don't know? Oh, they didn't see him fall. Okay, cool, cool, cool. Oh, when I broke the guy's neck. So the dreader broke. No, they didn't see that. You don't know. Oh, they didn't see him fall. Okay, cool, cool, cool. Oh, when it broke the guy's neck. So that finishes your go.

It's now the Shrike's turn. Yeah. Some more guilds saying, War, war never changes. They turn and lift the unconscious body of the Will Master, the two of them. They would have actually, even if I didn't see them, in theory,

they would have been in the density well. If I can affect, I don't know if I can. Would you prefer to affect them? I mean, it would just slow them down and bring them 10 feet towards me. Okay, they shift back. So just, yeah. And then their movement ends there, getting there,

and they use their action to pick it up and begin to bring it this way past you, Orym. They got that far with, I don't know. They have high movement. What's up? It looks like they're collecting their boss and they're just backing away.

Shit. I'm not in the sky anymore, right? No, you plummet to the ground. Only if they keep moving. Well, they move past. They move past you. You take five points of bludgeoning damage. At least one of them.

Yeah. Me. Ashton, catch me! Oh. What? Oh. If they were moving past me, Matt, can I take an attack of opportunity? If you want to, yeah.

Yeah, I'm going to do a tripping attack on the one closest to me, try to knock him down. Okay. That's 22 to hit. 22 hits. So that's six plus the, it was 12, plus the hex damage. No, no hex damage, 12.

And it's a strength save. All right, strength save on him. 11, not great. That's not enough. He's down. Yep. So he gets knocked down. From that, the calm emotions on both of them ends immediately from when he's in there,

the attack on their allies. The body of the unconscious Willmaster tumbles off the ground again, and both strikes, both spin to you. Shhh! Blades out and at the ready. That's all right, they used their turn to move the dude instead of attack.

Yep, they wasted their turn. With that, Laudna, you're up. No, he's unconscious. Well, not even you're down, you're on the ground. He's not dying. I'm on the ground, yes. But I'm up. He's stabilized. Matthew, Mercer.

Everyone's stabilized. The Willmaster is unconscious and making death saves or stable? Unconscious and currently will find out on their turn. Okay. Well, we did non-lethal damage though, right? Yes. Yes. Correct. Yeah.

If you're doing non-lethal damage, making zero, they're going to be okay. You're not trying to kill them. Okay. It's in the lethal damage bringing him to zero, they're going to be okay. You're not trying to kill them. It's in the lethal damage sense. You haven't really seen the blow that took him down, necessarily. Not clearly, but he's not, I'll just tell you, he's not in danger yet. Way to break my immersion.

I know. These guys are focusing on Orym. They seem to be very focused on Orym. And are no longer focused at trying to get away with their boss. Not at the moment. Not at the moment. Kill him.

There was a moment of pause and parlay in which their strategy was to take him and leave. They do have swords in their arms, which is pretty cool. But I'm going to unload some Eldritch Blasts. I'm going to quicken a spell and I'm going to quicken Eldritch Blasts. Non-lethal Eldritch Blasts. Well, then. Not these guys.

I'm going to say there's not much of a non-lethal Elvish Blast. No, I know. I'm going to say, so wait, there's the one that's on the ground. Yeah. He's just fallen over. He just got tripped by Orym. Yeah, I hit him in the shin.

I'll hit the one that's standing. I aimed upward. Okay. With all three? With all three, because I'm going to do it again. Oh shit. I quickened an Elvish Blast. Okay. With all three? With all three, because I'm going to do it again. Oh shit. I quickened an Eldritch Blast. Okay. Okay, so that is going to be, the lowest one is 14.

14 misses. Wait, 11 plus five is 16. Still misses. Okay. So one misses, the other one is 25 and 24. Hits. Okay. That's contra. is 25 and 24. Hits. Hits. Okay. I'm not sure that's the video. No, that's a, that's a, that's contra.

10, 10, sorry. There we go. Okay, okay. And then that is going to be, ooh! Ooh, that's good! Oh, that is good. Okay, that's going to be 15 and 14 damage on those two hits.

Rolled a 10 and a nine. How do you want to do this? Yeah! Good-ish. I'm real mad. So they're just like homing beacons. I want to arc them around this rock and it just fucking sandwiches them.

Got it. You see the blades out, it crouches down and goes to leap towards Orym, but before it can even leap to the ground, one hits it up in the air, the other one hits it from the side and almost like Corkscrew gets blown off from the side and lands.

Okay, that was a quickened one, so I'm going to do it again to the other one. The other one, okay. Now the other one, because it is prone, your attack's at disadvantage. Spell sniper. Spell sniper, does that ignore prone? Oh, well,

I guess it just ignores three-quarter cover, so I didn't know of that. Okay. So yeah, so it's still... Do it. Well, one's a natural, well, now they're all at disadvantage. I rolled three. There's the other.

We have the two other fucks, too. Let me double check this just to make sure. I'm pretty sure prone is still a problem. They just ignore half cover and three-point cover. So yeah, so it's still. Prone is still so is Percy. Oh boy. Yeah, you know. The roller says no. Yeah, so it's still. Prone as the Suspircy. Oh boy. Yeah, you know.

DeRollo says no. I think if that's at disadvantage, then I think they all miss. Okay. The other ones slam into the dirt next to the one that's on the ground. The one on the ground is like, straight up grabbing its side

and seeing the tide turn rapidly. Okay. I finish the turn? Yeah. All righty. Laudnaus go. It's now the two revanguard figures. They... Actually,

actually, no, at the end of your turn. Oh, here they come. What? Yeah. Cadmium spooks. What?! What?! Cadillac spooked. What?! What?! Cadillac spooked. Slam through the gate. Oh no!

Shit! Watch out! Oh no, they're going to trample everyone. No! It's like City Slickers. Oh fuck, no. This is bad. This officially got bad.

Oh my god. The one that you just poured the potion in is like, thank you. Oh. Oh no! Well, here, they don't quite get to him. Impacting and pushing it through and then getting their movement there,

they're just on the cusp of it. You have an opportunity here to try and quell this sudden stabbing. Are you having to be okay? Yeah. Okay. Yes. Can you calm their emotions? Okay. Yes!

Oh, really? This guy is going to run this way. Oh no. And turn off that way. This guy also is going to go ahead and run off this way. All right, finishing their go. Chetney, you're up with Ash, then I'm back. Fucking amazing. Wowsers.

I'm going to look down at the old man who's about to be trampled and say, I fight for the user. I'll just take off running this way. This way? Yeah, I'm going to run in front of the bulls. Oh my god. Oh man, you are cresting in front of the bulls. I'm doing the heists on their heads.

Yep. Whoa! They're on your left the whole way. Let's see. Yeah. So, 15, 20, 25. I think I have 15 more feet. Can I get all the way up to?

The Shrek on the ground? Or what are you trying to get? He's out of sight, right? Correct. Yeah. Yeah, I'll go up? The Shrek on the ground? Or what are you trying to get? He's out of sight, right? Correct. Yeah. Oh yeah, I'll go up to the Shrek on the ground because nobody can even see him. You got it.

I'll take, I'll use my bonus action to scrape alongside my thighs with my sweet-ass claws. And with my crimson rite, and I'll take five points of damage. All righty. I will take the first of two swipe attacks at the downed. Go for it. Okay.

That's a natural 20. Awesome. You have advantage on him, by the way, because he's prone. I have advantage on the point. Yeah, so the first time he's fine. Awesome. Just make sure.

That takes eight. Still need it for the next one, you. Just make sure. If that's six, eight, yeah. Studying it for the next one, you can do that, too. 16. 22 points of damage. All righty, on that first hit. All righty. Then I think I roll, I have,

I have not rolled a lot of crits. I think when I crit, I roll a... I don't see it. It's fine. I'll take the second one. Get with the damage. Thought I rolled an extra damage. 27 to hit. That hits. That's awesome.

Seven plus six plus five, 11. 18 points of damage. 18 points of damage? How do you want to do this? Hey! I just, actually, I just come over at once and I go and just open his thorax. The rib cage is just, yeah, open.

Just across the well-legged structure to the right of you is just splattered with dark purple and red crimson gore. He is done. Amazing. I think that was all myre. He is done. Amazing. I think that was all my speed. Bonus action action. That's my turn. All right.

Finishing Jynx's go. Ashton, you're up. Okay. So we have a problem over here. Is this guy drowning? No, I've got people on the ground. Somebody else can deal. There's nothing I can do about him.

I can try to take care of that. Okay. I can get the other guy, too. All right, I'm going to. Both the guys running are still heavily wounded from the fireball that opened this up. That's good. Both of them, they're like.

I think we saw him take off, so maybe we can try and chase him down. Were there any other ones that got away, or is that everybody that was there? They're the ones that you saw. There's only been a few seconds at this point, and you've made a lot of loud noises, so you get the sense

everyone in the village has heard this. Yeah. We can still join the caravan, right? If we kill everyone on the caravan, we can take the caravan. We are the caravan. Yeah. It's going sideways.

What you got, Ashton? I'm going to try and hop. I see where the animals are about to trample, a bunch of people who are unconscious on the ground. There are two people that are, how many people are in the- One, two, three that are immediately in danger. Okay, I do not have enough action to carry all of them.

I see you can carry two, since they're limp, or one of them is conscious. Get what you can get. I'll get the other guy. You can get the other guy? Yeah, yeah, I think so. Will the stampede, okay, I'm just going to assume that. I'll have to.

You can't do it all, Ashton. Okay, so I'm going to grab the two that I can get in the front, and I'm going to just pull them 10 feet back. Okay, into the house or on the side? No, no, just onto the right there. I want to leave myself a little bit of running room. You got it.

So that's my action and part of my movement? Or is that just movement? That's your action. You have to grab them and grab and then move back with them. Okay, then the last thing I'm going to do is I'm going to try and head in front of FCG

and just be a meat shield right in front of the bulls. Okay, carrying both of them would half your movement, so I don't think you have any movement. I drop them then at that point, though, and then I'm just going to try and use the rest. Five, 10, 15, 20 to grab them, 25, 30, 35, 40 to bring them back here and drop them.

Oh, I'm done now? Half movement and half left? 40 is my movement. So yeah, that's about where you are, unfortunately. Okay, I'm just going to have the faith that gave him the thing. Have faith in the change bringer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see what you're saying. She's got a plan for everyone.

Ashton, Fearne, you're on the main agenda. Some of that might be getting trampled. FCG on deck, what'd you got? All right. Fuck. I'm going to Scorching Ray again to the runners. I know he's running. He's already down, right?

Oh yeah. Yeah, he's down. There's one guy over here that you can't even really quite see from where your vantage point is. You could try and move. All right, I'll try to just move around. Try to just look around. You have to move in front of the bulls to do so, just so you know. You cool with that?

If you try and get that guy, I can get the other runner. I have a good chance of a runner as well. Which one are you thinking? I can probably get this guy in Okay. And Orym can, if you can get that guy there. Okay. To keep you from getting killed. I'll send some Scorching Rays that way.

This guy? Is this one down? That one, I know we knocked him down, but is he? That's on fire. Yeah, he's on fire and not moving. Okay, so we'll just leave him be. All right, so this guy's running away. So I'll unload on him. Okay.

We got a natural 20. Ooh! We got a natural 20. Ooh! We got a 19. Hits. And we got a 17. Dang it, Ola! Okay, all three hit. The first one doubled, so go ahead and roll the first 2d6. And then, since Mister's out, I got an extra d8.

Is that for each hit or just once? Use your imagination. Well, look, I'm not the champion. What is that? This is a shitstorm. This is a serious shitstorm. This went really poorly. I'm stuck in my elbow. This is one of ours.

This is my fault? Well, no, I'm blaming Travis, too. It doesn't do that. It feels like that would be a lot to do for ease. I don't think it's... Well, it might be. Anyway, go ahead and roll damage, and I'll let you know in a second.

A million. That's fine. The first two are doubled. Are they? Oh, first two are doubled. Because you crit, yeah. Because I would just roll it all again. Okay, okay, okay.

Because, yeah. So five. 10. 10. 10. So 10 damage on the first, okay. Nine for the second one. Okay, 19. Oh yeah, that's a third.

Nine again. Okay, there you go. And a d8. It's so frustrating. It's so annoying. To one damage, roll the spell. So there's an additional d8 on top of that. Okay, so it's an additional dinal two. Okay, so 30 points of fire damage.

He is very much running away. Ha, ha, ha! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Oh! Falls to his knees and crumples. Sorry!

Are we? All right, so it's Mister's turn now. It is. Yes. Uh. Hi, Boo. All right, so. He can fly.

He can fly? He can fly. Flying Monkey the Constructed. Always. Flying Monkey the Constructed. Could he always fly? He can fly. Flying like he's a constrictor. Always. Flying like he's a guy. Could he always fly? Yeah. Good guy. When has he been able to fly?

He has a fly speed of 30 feet, yeah. Oh yeah. He's a magical guy. Oh yeah. I remember that. Is that what happened? I've never seen it. All right, so.

He starts talking. Hello, it's me. I've always talked like this! Who else is still conscious that we have up? Patay just possesses. Just him? Mister. Wait, what? Who?

Wait, what? Who? This mister doesn't seem either. Maybe he doesn't really do much of anything. Oh, that guy running. Just set fire to the village. Yeah, might as well. Scorcher. It's the only way to be sure. Just got to the village. Yeah, might as well. Scorch charge. It's the only way to be sure.

Just got to go back into the house and destroy it. I think that's good, because... Break all the pots. He can throw flaming seed at 60 feet. Is he even remotely close to that if he moves forward? He moves 35. Because if not, I'll just stop. 30 can get up there.

Oh, no. Yeah, that, I'll just stop. 30, you can get up there. Oh, no. Yeah, that's okay. That's my turn. And that's Mister's turn. We'll just wait it out. All right. FCG, you're up. Okay. Wait, no. Oh no, you can move, right?

I'm a cloud. You are. Can I fly out? This is you. What's my movement? Really make the most of this turn. Super fucking fast. 300 feet. I am going to make the most of this turn. 300 fucking fast. 300 feet. I am going to make the most of this turn. 300 feet!

I'm going to come out and fly up. I want to see how many people have noticed the sound and how many people are coming to run to the area that we're in. You dart out high up into the sky. Make a perception check for me. Yeah, I can still let you guys know what I see. Make a perception check.

Overwatch. Nine. Nine. Okay. You don't pick up any specific details, but indeed. I can see people moving. Yeah. Yeah. You see that a lot of folks have run to their homes. People came out to see the commotion of the arrival

of this late night caravan, and with the explosions and the sounds of violence, people have scattered back to their homes. You can see the little bit of flames of the caravan as it arrived on what would be the same southern edge of the village that have scattered back to their homes. You can see the little bit of flames of the caravan as it arrived on what would be the same southern edge of the village that you'd come to if you were heading northward. You can see there are some figures

that are gathering to come here. It'll be a little bit of a, you know, it was a brief time, but that's the best you can make out. Okay. I'll say that to the group. People are definitely heading this direction. Okay. You can dart back down just as bad.

Sure. If you wanted to. Or stay up there if you want to. Might help us keep an eye on. That's true. To stay out? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The runner. Okay, we'll just get this. Yeah. I'll denote this as you being up in the sky.

All right. With that, FCG? We've got Imogen on the ones. Never looked better. Question that will form what I do here. Yeah? Is the ground stone? The ground around here appears to be mostly

stone and shale with a bit of rocky earth. Like enough to perform a stone shape on? Oh, you know what? Ooh. I like where you're going. Yeah, I'd say so. Okay. Yeah, because you can definitely do that.

Okay, then I will, where's the guy? He's right behind me. What kind of a fellow is he? On the ground? Yeah. You see what looks to be a rough-and-tumble, I'm sorry, a roughly dressed Ryloren figure that looks a little gaunt, definitely a farmhand in disposition

on the ground, unconscious. Okay, I will turn to him, get down, covering him up with my body, and I'll just say, just stay low, and I'm going to stone shape a ramp over us. Sick. That is awesome.

You go ahead and form this thick red rock ramp that shoots up just over the two of you as you protect their body. Is that your turn? That's my action, yeah. The most map is fucking chaos, but I love it. Orym, you're up. All right, with passive reception at 31, I totally heard the runner going,

so Orym's going to then sprint to try to catch the runner, and he's going to get to here, and I'm going to use Seedling and throw out a vine and try to yank the guy back. Okay. Yes! So he gets a dex save. That is going to be a 12. 12. Fails.

Gets pulled back. Wow. And banged into the shit around it. And as soon as I yank, I turn Seedling around and have the hilt ready to catch it in the back of his head. That's a 25 to hit. That definitely hits. And we'll call it a tripping attack. Two.

Definitely tripping. Oh, bad. Yeah. Feel bad laughing. Damn it. 18 points of non-lethal damage just waiting. All right. You know what I do.

Takes the hit and is out cold in your grasp. Goddamn it. All right, all right, all right. We did it, we did it, we did it. Hex him! All right. So. We still have cattle. The cattle begin to scatter.

I'll say, for the purposes of this, the people that were immediately in danger of this have been pulled off to the side or have been situated in a protective place. As the two cattle that were rushing your direction begin to dart forward, their massive horns in front of them, the weight clambering onto the stone. Yeah, no, it holds. You feel it crack and bits of dust and stone clambering off as you hear the heavy, thunderous hooves begin parading over before

and they continue to rush out into the streets. The rest of you dart off to the side and keep low and keep off to the side. I'm definitely suplexing a buffalo and starting to eat it in front of everybody. Okay, dude, let's go! Let's go! Let's go! SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, and LAURA, and LAURA, We're friends!

SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, and LAURA, and LAURA, We're your allies! We're friends! I've often said there's nowhere near enough suplexing in this campaign, so I hold you to task on this. Okay, I'll do it. Okay.

It's been so long! Chet! The old man wakes up, he's like, not Joseph! I know. My entire life, we've been working. First, one second, it's not Chetney, it's just Travis on the moon, Chet. There he goes.

All right, so at this moment, as all the chaos is happening, the hooves begin to scatter throughout the surrounding parts of the village. You can see the lights gathering over by where the caravan is, and you're still in a very seriously tense moment. Elder Barthi steps out of the doorway

to the rest of you and goes, This has gone real tits up. What do we do? What do you do? What's the plan? You never saw me. We didn't talk. Right. What can we do to help? Of course not.

Let's start gathering the bodies and We got to clean up. We got to clean up. Yeah, bodies go, I think, underneath the floor in the house. Yeah. And maybe the Willmaster goes in the hole with somebody else.

We leave it open. I'm going to start dragging the guy from over here. That's done. I'm going to just start dragging. To do what? To make a little hidey hole. I can cover something. Don't we have a portable hole?

We have the portable. We can put him in the portable for like a second. Awesome. When others come, we can just say that it was a stampede. That's what caused all the chaos. Yes. And they knocked over a lamp. Which made Awesome. When others come, we can just say that it was a stampede. That's what caused all the chaos. Yes. Knocked over a lamp.

It's actually helpful. 40-foot wide explosion. I am already opening up the hole. And one of the balls exploded when it went through the fence. It's that odd moment where there's been so much chaos in this point, and then after a brief few moments of you conversing

and figuring out the plan, you begin to push around. The silence falls in the space behind it as the creatures begin to push outward. You can hear the shouts and conversation on the periphery. You begin to pull the bodies back into the dome of the Elder and you set down the hole and you begin to prepare whatever it is you wish to do in the time that you have

to keep from furthering the chain of danger that seems to be following at your heels every step since arrival. As you clamber in, seeing shapes approaching from the far end of the village pathway, closing the door into the elder's hut, the elder walking in circles. We're going to go ahead and finish the episode there. Oh my god!

That was the most chaotic map I fucking loved. That got wild. We had a stampede, dude! That was great! I feel so bad about this. Have we ever had a stampede before? I feel like they need those cattle, man. I want to run after them, so.

No, it's a good distraction. They're good wranglers. Yeah, okay. They'll pull them around. They know what they're doing. They'll make up the ground. They won't be able to tell footprints. It ended up working in your favor. Yeah, that's super full now.

That teleport was fucking great. Yeah, that really set it off. The explosion already spooked them, but they had no real point of reference. Then as soon as the shrike appeared, it spooked them further and turned them in a direction, and then they all charged the edge of that fence. That's amazing.

It was a perfect chain of events. I'd be glad to use that. But anyway, we'll pick up from this tense moment and see what transpires after next episode. Thank you all for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Yeah! Good night.

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