Critical Role - C3E92 Broken Roads

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

Rattled and reeling, Bells Hells prepare to leave Ruidus and return to Exandria, where tensions are escalating and pressure is building… Twitch Subscribers and YouTube Members gain instant access to VODs of our shows like Critical Role, 4-Sided Dive, Candela Obscura, and Exandria Unlimited. But don't worry: 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 and YouTube Members also gain access to our official custom emote set and subscriber badges. "It's Thursday Night (Critical Role Theme Song)" by Peter Habib and Sam RiegelOriginal Music by Omar Fadel, Hexany Audio, Ghiya Rushidat, Karam Salem, Neal Acree, and Colm R. McGuinness"Welcome to Marquet" Art Theme by Colm McGuinnessAdditional Music by Universal Production Music, Epidemic Sounds, and 5 AlarmCharacter Art by Hannah FriederichsAnimated Introduction by Kamille Areopagita, Kevin Areopagita, Mark Adams and Peggy Shi Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources

Here at Critical Role, we love telling stories and making narratives come to life, which is why we're so excited to share that we're bringing a new semi-improvised fiction podcast into the Critical Role fold with our show, Midst. Journey to the small desert town of Stationary Hill on the planet Midst and follow the intertwined lives of three complicated antiheroes as they deal with unsolved murders, cult brainwashing, supernatural darkness, and, oh yeah, their moons suddenly falling from the sky. Ugh, freaking moons, they're so unreliable these days. The story's created by an extremely talented group of friends known as Third Person.

These playfully omniscient, fourth-wall-breaking narrators describe all the action, play every character, and take an unorthodox approach to storytelling that really makes the experience come alive. Look to the Midstle of the Week, that means Wednesdays, for new weekly episodes at midst.co, your favorite podcast app, or Critical Role's YouTube channel. We hope you enjoy this amazing story as much as we do. Hello, Critters. Marisha Ray here to welcome you to the hallowed audio halls of the Critical Role Podcaster Network. Critical Role airs on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. And Twitch subscribers can view the episode on demand immediately after it airs.

Or you can enjoy the VOD on YouTube the following Monday. And for you loyal podcast listeners, the show transmutes into its audio-only format Thursdays one week after the initial broadcast. Without further ado, let's see what sort of fun, scary adventures await. Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. We're nerdy! Yeah, I'm missing a Sam boy. But we are starting tonight with one from our sponsor for the evening, Thorum, Marisha, wherever... What?

Oh no. Oh boy. You need help? Thank you, Sam. I still want to chair pull you in this. I just want you to eat shit in this fucking truck. Mobility is real low. Eat something.

There's definitely a chair behind you. There's definitely a chair behind you. It smells weird. Of all hot dog costumes, it's a pretty high quality one. It is! Definitely looks like a hot dog. Yeah. That's exactly what I was thinking it looks like.

Says a hot dog. Hi. Hi. So, Sam's not here. You got to pull the folds back. Yeah, that's generally how it works, Travis. Hot dog. There's so many things I want to do in this right now, that's generally how it works, Travis. Hot dog. I know!

I'm not going to do it. I just want to say it looked different on the website. So. This ad is never going to start or finish. Nope. Oh no. I like how it's winning. You can do it.

You can do it. Somebody rub her forehead for a minute. That was a little weird. So Sam's like, This hot dog bites back. So Sam's not here. So he's making me do the ad read, which I found out about five minutes ago.

Stop. She's struggling. ad read, which I found out about five minutes ago. Stop! She's struggling. I haven't read the script, but... Okay, here we go. Just pull the hot dog. Oh, does this help, Laura? Does this help? Is this making a difference?

My head is stuck. Are you cold? You're shivering. A little shivering quiff. So for over a decade, Thoram has been handcrafting unique wedding bands out of everything from meteorites, whiskey barrels, and they ship every ring within one business day. I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm in your way.

It's Sam. Sit up straight. You look like you're going to a Kentucky junior prom. Thank you, Sam. Thank you for the critique. I knew we shouldn't have let him watch the live feed. Thorum is also making minimalist watches out of meteorite Hawaiian koa and California redwood, plus their line of, minimalist pendants.

They're new. That's what these are. Since we know a thing or two about minimalism here at Critical Role, we do. I'm going to list off some of the cool materials Thorim uses in their rings while you're interrupting my serious

ad read. Thorim, cool materials that Thorim uses in their rings while eating an entire dump cake without my hands. No! No! No, no, no, no. No! No!

I'm sorry. I have to eat all that? It's Sam's artistic vision. No. I'm sorry. I'm not, okay, I'm not, I'm... You know what? I'll just sing a jaunty little tune. Okay? That'll be good.

Um, okay. Meteorite, whiskey barrels, iron wood. Sam, hang on. Yeah, Sam. No, I know I'm not a singer. No, no, no. I'm not doing that. It's incredibly gross.

What does Thorum have to do with eating dump cakes anyway? Uh-huh. Oh, it's called caterpilling. What? It's popular on TikTok. What? Caterpilling. What does Thorum have to do with eating dump cakes anyway? Uh-huh. Oh, it's called caterpilling? What? It's popular on TikTok. What? Caterpilling.

Okay. What is that? Why am I dressed like a hot dog then? It just makes no sense. Excuse me? I-I-I don't understand comedy. Okay, you know what? You know what?

I can do this by myself, alright? I went to improv school too, okay? Yeah, it might have been LA Connection. Don't look it up, but you know what? I don't have fucking money for your fancy UCB bullshit, okay? Look that up. So, yeah, and you know what? I may not have won two Emmys, but I won the technology award in the eighth grade because my fucking HTML skills were lit. Good job. My space page was the shit.

Take that, Sam. My space page. That's a true story. I won the technology award. In eighth grade. She's told me. So whether you need a wedding ring, anniversary ring, or you just want a ring that looks awesome, head over to, it smells bad, head over to Thorum, this is a hot dog, to Horum, to

Thorum. Head over to Thorum.com and use code CRITICALROLL. Matt, zip zap zop back to you. Thank you, Marisha. This is Orym's form of dread. Yeah. I hate everything about this. It's so awful. Make it stop. Can we eat that cake? I do not recommend that. I don't want to touch that cake. Oh my god. That looks so good. Make it stop. Can we eat that cake? I do not recommend that.

I don't want to touch that cake. Oh god. You want this cake? No. I want it. You want this cake? Dry it off in the avocado. All right. Thank you so much, Marisha. How dare you, Sam. Laura, you guys have been out so many times.

I do. Do you have a costume, like a basic? I don't. I just have normal clothes, you guys. We have a Mighty Nein hoodie. Yay! Oh, that's rad. You might know our Bell's House hoodie, this is a Mighty Nein hoodie in the same style.

We got two versions, so we got this, ooh, fabulous dark navy, get ready for a big change, because this is US and Canada. In the UK and EU, you get a light navy version. Can you see how different it is? It's a little bit thicker, too. Zippers are different, too. Yes, yes. So yes, this is fabulous art by Nina Matsumoto, and the Mighty Nightcrest is by Crystal Sharp. Thank you to our fabulous artists. And also you guys, I have something else to talk about.

That's not just merch. We're doing next Thursday, we're participating in Creators in Fashion. It's a livestream fashion show featuring content creators and their merch lines, which is pretty awesome. And I'm excited about it. Marisha will be showing off the same outfit. Yeah, we're gonna have Marisha walk in the hot dog.

Louie, hot dog. Adding some sauerkraut. We did not design this hot dog, we will not be showing this hot dog. You can tune in starting at 3 p.m. Pacific on the Style Theory YouTube channel and bring your questions to be answered live in chat because we're gonna do that. I know that. Anyway, I'm done talking. I'm very excited about it. You should tune in. Hell yeah. Thank you, Laura.

Well done. Risha! Go ahead. That hot dog costume is the exact opposite of a hot dog. Yeah, no, seriously. If you stand, does it look more like a hot dog? Not really. It's like a Central Park hot dog. Somehow it's worse. They forgot the dog.

You're the dog. She's the dog. Yeah, but... She's just a little perla, but the... It's more like a lazy falafel. You got it. You got it. Go. The finale of Candela Obscura! Speaking of cosmic horror. Yep.

Circle of the Crimson Mirror is coming next Thursday! We have love with this cast is brought to Newfair, and you will not want to miss what their final investigations bring to Oldfair. Remember that you can tune in any time, as each episode is standalone, but if you want to catch up, you've got plenty of time. You can do so on YouTube or podcasts or Twitch or whatever.

Leo O'Brien's killing it! Yay! Doing great! Yeah, anyway, thanks for spoiling the ending. She is the Crimson Mirror. Are we not delving well? And we've released a brand new update to the Daggerheart playtest material.

Yes! If you haven't yet, you can download and play version 1.3 now at daggerheart.com slash play, and be sure to watch the update livestream from last week with Spencer Stark and myself diving into the details, or you can check out our changelog on daggerheart.com to understand what updates have been made to this system so far and why, and how you can easily incorporate them into your game. And if you've already downloaded them all, there's an easy download that just includes all the changed cards and things

that you can just really quickly swap in. But if you haven't had the chance to check it out yet, now is indeed the perfect time. You can run games with a group, you can build characters solo, or even try it virtually with Daggerheart Nexus on Demiplane. So thank you for all of your continued feedback on the game.

Such an important part of the game development process. You've already helped us tremendously in making it even better than it was when we started, and that will continue forward as we're eager to see what you think about the latest changes. So thank you so much. Ominbid. Ominbid.

Ominbid. I believe that concludes our announcements. I want to eat cake. So let's go and jump into tonight's episode of Brush with the Taco. Critical Role. 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 wanna do this? It's Thursday night All ye Critters come join us It's time to continue our flight

There is magic and mystery Who knows what will happen 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 play It's Thursday night There is magic and mystery From darkness our friendship will rise But one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight Oh, get ready It's Thursday night NIGHT!

And welcome back. So, last we left off, Bell Hells, after making contact with the Volition, agreed to aid them in a number of their current simultaneous goals against the dark leaders of Kraviris in hopes of gaining information and aiding the revolution against the Ruidian tyrants. Upon these missions, much information was gained. Some dangerous circumstances occurred, and yet you survived and endured and began to flee the city as chaos began to erupt from within.

During this time, after calling towards your mother and setting her into a personal crisis about what's right and who to align with, she scattered off into the dark shadows of the caverns. And as you fled towards the surface, through some of these winding rock tunnels, you were hunted by Otohan Thule, the Legend of the Peaks.

During this fight in which your terrifying foe unleashed her true capabilities, many of you fell and barely scraped back from the edge, but one of you did not. Fresh cut grass. A friend and ally who had recently come to truly realize his worth, sacrificed himself to save the rest of you and to fell for good the foe that had long hunted you.

In that fugue numbness of realization, you grabbed what you could, what remained of him, and what you could from what remained of Otohan Thul, continued to flee to the surface, where you emerged, and there, amongst the red, Ruidian landscape, the distant storms roiling, Liliana descended from above

and seeing the hurt on your face, and all of your faces, realized what had likely transpired. And it was here, still not truly grasping or processing what has happened and what is next, you stare upon the alien landscape and partially obscured horizon. Exhausted, but immediately trying to figure out where we are, if I recognize it,

if anyone besides her mother is present, coming, are we in danger? Lay of the land. Make a perception check. Re-rolling the one. That's 28. 28. Glancing around best you can,

and it's fairly clear in the air you are now. The dust storms currently sit at least a number of miles off, so you're uncertain how fast they're moving at a quick glance. You do not see any other figures immediately present. Are we amongst the towers that were used for lookouts and security? Is that where we are, where we resurfaced,

or are we in a place that Orym doesn't recognize? Where you've pushed out from here, one of these side caverns, you look behind you and you can see the base of the mountain range that encircles Kraviris and continues past it. So you are just outside the city itself. You do not see any immediate outposts, but you figure if you were to leave a little further out,

you would be essentially out in the open, visible from many of the outposts that encircle the crown-like mountainscape that surrounds the valley at the top of the city. And directly, last clarification question, is it obvious yet, the direction from where we came from to get here, to get to the city? You can very easily see the Bloody Bridge,

the single beam of red energy that sits in a direction, which helps you orient yourself and your location right now from where you came. How do we stay out of their sight? Are there any crevices in the ground? I know there had been cracks and whatnot on the way here. Anything to hide in? I mean, if you get really close

to the base of the mountain, there's probably some little alcoves you can pull in to stay out of any immediate sight. Any larger dips or cracks in the ground where you could hide from sight are a good 500 or more feet out, and would probably put you out in the open before you reach them.

Where are you at? Are you able to take us underneath? If there's something to get down there, I don't know what's down there. I'm going to see what's below us, take a deep breath, and I'm going to... You grind through the ground and vanish below. While you're currently looking, You grind through the ground and vanish below.

While you're currently looking, Lilian is still gliding about a foot off the ground, her hair drifting. You can feel a tasty energy that sparks in the air around her. And she's still locked in on you, her face still sad, and you can see the streaks of not sure if they're tears of sadness or anger that

have since dried and smeared what dirt was along her face. She looks towards you for guidance before she looks away and, I don't know what's going on, Imogen. I don't know what to do. I take her hand. I don't know what's going on, Imogen. I don't know what to do. I take her hand. I don't either. We all can't stay here. Not after what... We can't stay here. Are you staying?

If I go, they'll know. What's more useful? If I leave, they'll... I mean, the rest of them already have been tough enough to get them to trust me. Am I more useful here to what you're doing, or am I more useful leaving it behind? I don't know if I've heard what you're doing, or am I more useful leaving it behind? I don't... I mean, we'd sure love to know what's in your head.

We don't know enough. You said... You said you're the Vessel? As far as I understand, in order to reawaken and get to this God Eater, this Pardothos. There are boundaries, shells,

things that imprison it within itself, set up by the gods. I don't know the specifics. Maybe you'd know better as she gestures over to Yvaroa, who is still processing and clutching with all four of her arms towards her chest right now, taking in shock all that's transpired. What I do know is that the Ruidusborn, we're part of pushing through that.

We're supposed to be what can break the final boundary. We have something within us, something that the gods can't stop. Only we can truly reach it. And from what he said, in order to get it beyond and back into our realm, it needs a vessel. Something to carry it past that threshold.

Then you can't stay. I'm not the only possible vessel here. I'm afraid of what'll happen if I'm not here to try and do what I've been doing. Which is what? Control it? Try to control lewdness? At least slow and

focus what's happening. If you're used as a vessel, I can't guarantee you'll be in control of yourself. If you're not the vessel, what are you going to do against a God-eater? With us, we're armed with information. I ask you this in earnest. I ask you this in earnest.

What is it you fear about this God-eater? Let's remove lewdness from the equation. Let's absolve ourselves of that. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of? Unknown consequences that you cannot guarantee me or anyone. You do not know what will happen if that thing is unleashed. I've had quite a few communions with him. Huh? You've had quite a few communions with him. Huh?

You've had quite a few? I know. I know you've been resistant, and rightly so, I've told you to, but I've, and many of us, especially since coming here, we've, we can feel. And we can... I don't think it wants us.

I don't think it cares. Ma'am, Miss Temmold, I cannot take your word for it. I understand. What do you think it wants? It wants to be awake, free of its endless dream. It wants to be free. You say it doesn't care about us? What makes you think apathy is any better than disdain? To a god eater. It's hard to explain, but there's something... Something just feels right.

About the path of what it wants. I'd say I could show you, but I think things are a little intense right now. We don't have the time. We might've been getting one side of the story. Are you saying you want something besides God eating? It's real tired of being here. And it's real angry at those who put it there. And it's real hungry. For what?

For what it naturally hunts. God's G-O-D-S. We got to get out of here. We got to get away from the city. I know there's so much to say, but... Make a perception or survival check for me. Nine. You cruise around for a bit and you're starting to get a little close to not being certain how long you have left on this,

but I'd say after a good chunk of time, you don't sense any other helpful caverns or such. I would have rolled up and been listening, just shoulder up. Mm-hmm. The ridgeline, then? The base of the mountain? Yeah.

That's the best call. Let's go. The secret one? Yeah. We certainly can't go to the Bloody Bridge. Unless you can guarantee us safe passage. How else would you get out of here? We'll go to the Bloody Bridge.

It's the only way out. We have to. Well, we could also go to the Bloody Bridge. We go to the Bloody Bridge. Are you coming with or are you staying? It's the only way to get home. How am I more useful to you, Imogen? If I come with you,

I can't continue to tell you what's happening here. You won't know what changes happen should you come back, how they're changing things or preparing for, if not you, whoever else is behind you. I assume a lot of Exandria is ready to come up here and unload a hellish payload of the god Smod I cannot even begin to imagine. I hug her.

What if they pull you away again, though? Then you know what to do. How will we talk to you? I feel like if I try to talk to you in a dream, then they'll hear everything. I think if you're not here, we can find each other safely. I think we can do that safely. Then stay.

Why don't you stay? Then stay. Just stay. It's odd. You see a combination of heartbreak and relief wash over her. There's that glimmer in her face where you see part of her. Part of her really did want to go with you. I don't mean to interject, just a question. I would love to, like Orym said, believe everything that you're saying, but if you've really been trying to slow this down and we seem to know your heart of things,

this whole mind stuff, they just jump in and out of people's domes. Are they going to be able to tell your true colors now? They haven't fully trusted me because I don't think they can. In fact, I think the Weavemind... The Weavemind and Ludinus have a unique dynamic. The Weavemind and Ludinus have a unique dynamic.

Ludinus was the first Exandrii to make contact with the Weavemind about three centuries ago, from what they told me. And it was through them he was able to talk, too, about the one who sleeps. But they both use each other for their own ends, and I think they do so knowingly, thinking that they'll be able to pull the final piece.

I think it's that dynamic that's helped me play the mother hen to a certain degree. But the Weave Minds don't trust us Exalts. We saw them. They saw us? Yeah. Briefly. Right before you showed up. In what of Otohan? Was she just a rabid dog?

Right after you showed up. Sorry. Otohan was one of the possible vessels. One that I don't think we have to worry about anymore. How many more possibilities are there? You certainly had no control over her. Gosh, I hope that's true. Awakened, maybe four, but I know they're

trying to instill some of the other dormant powers to reach their true potential. They're trying to instill some of the other dormant powers to reach their true potential. How do they do that? Through turmoil, through training. Ludinus often needs those, but he's not even here right now. Where's Ludinus now?

I know he's on Exandria. Insight check. Make an insight check. I'll aid you while staring at you while you stare at her. 23. 23. She's being pretty straightforward. All right.

Evaroa peeks up, breaks from her, shaken, staring, goes, I think I know where he is. Great. How? I think I know. Part of what I was working on with him was put on hold because he... I've been tangential to his work.

Me and a small other team, we've been assembling these devices he'd been bringing from Exandria. The Vanguard and other, what's he called them? The Assembly defectors have been gathering this tech from underneath some of the nearby factions back home for you folk. And there'd been some problem,

something had been taken up home and it's the source of these pieces. I know he mentioned something about having to deal with this thing. Miss Tumult, it sounds like you know that Ludinus is a son of a bitch. You know that Otohan has murdered many. Yeah, we got to go.

You know they're not altruists. So it's hard for me to fathom why you think that whatever comes next is not bad. Ludinus isn't doing anything if it doesn't bring him power. Ludinus is following a plan that was set out for him by the one who sleeps. And the one who sleeps just sees him as a part of its plan.

And it's so hard to convey if you haven't seen or felt what I have, but... It's not hard to understand at all. I know self-delusion when I see it. I've known it myself. You're in. Clearly you're in.

And you're going to think you're going to be careful, but I think your worst fear is probably my worst fear, and we just got a fucking sample of it. I want you to think about that, and think very carefully when things start to go wrong, and they will for you. Will you hear the mental cries of your daughter when Ludas finally decides it's time

to murder her on Exandria? Do you think that'll break through, or do you think you're going to be surprised? Do you think, should we stop all this from happening and reseal or maintain Pardothos' endless slumber? That those of us who know this, those of us who were designed to be part of its freedom are just going to be allowed to walk free?

What, you think the great temples of your world aren't going to hunt us down one by one until there's no possibility of this plan ever coming to fruition? You don't think every great politician of our world that isn't tied into this truth isn't going to try and bury each and every one of us for what we're part of? Cold comfort for my family in the ground.

I'm sorry. Are you? I am. I am. I am. Can I say, in Orym's head, I don't trust her either, but we keep her on our side so we learn the truth.

Don't push her away. I don't fully know the depths of what the Vanguard has done to get where we are. And I've only come to realize the barbarism that has been explained as necessity. And I'm well aware of the horrors that they are, and I wrestle with that guilt in any part that I have aided unaware.

Keep wrestling. I'm too deep in this to just walk away. I have a question. Just... When did you become a follower of all this enough? What happened enough to where you decided to leave your daughter? I went to the conservatory in Jrusar

when I was having these dreams, these visions. I was afraid that it meant I was just going to bring something awful upon the family, so I asked for some sort of guidance, and through these studies and this research, eventually I was visited by Ludmus, who had a personal interest.

Sure, that makes sense. And if I'm going to be honest, he was a teacher. He was a guide. I was scared. I didn't know what was happening. For a number of years, he helped me learn to control, to ground myself, to feel like maybe there was something, something important, something I was meant to do

that could free myself of this burden, and free you of Vatuu. I just didn't realize what was being done until I was already unknowingly complicit. Now I'm just trying to figure out what's right and what can be done. It's never too late to leave if you're uncomfortable. Just putting that out there. With all due respect, Miss Tymalt, we've all been through quite a lot.

Forgive any of our rash comments, but I do fear every moment that we are here diminishes the chances of us getting out of here. We should go. Do we have your word that you will aid us on this side? There's nothing in this world more important to me than you. You're the reason I chose to even go on this path. Not of your fault, but my own.

Is that the truth? Because obviously there's something more important to you. You say you want to go home, you say you miss it. I see you. I see you. I see you. This is home. You spend enough time in a dark place, you forget what home looks like.

That doesn't mean the yearning is gone. Especially when it finds you again. Don't put that choice on me then. You want to find your place, you come back. If you found it, then you can stay. But please... help us. But please. Help us.

Wherever you are. I will. This is your chance to prove it, then. Looks like we all have a lot to prove. We make good on. How can we get away from the city safely? Give me your hands. I'm in. Yvaroa reaches out and grabs him.

There's this immediate rushing of air and sound. You feel this immediate impact, like someone had punched your gut, but without pain, just the air forcefully leaves your chest for a second, your lungs. As you inhale, you feel the red landscape bend inward, and then as it reflexes back out, you're standing at the base of the Bloody Bridge,

carving upward, up towards Exandria above. You are still in the middle. You can see yourself standing there in the moment. There are other soldiers. There's quite a large military presence surrounding you, but none of them seem to be reacting to your presence. Like at the center within Stone's Throne? Within a 10-foot walk from the Bloody Bridge.

You are right in the middle of the military encampment you landed at when you arrived at Rueda. Oh shit. What are we going to do? Act as if, act as if, act as if. What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing?

Find those who you can trust and find me when you need my guidance. I'll see you in your dreams. Now go quickly. I can't hold this long. Oh shit, I got one health point. Let's go. Let's go. We have no choice. We've got an army around us, so in we go. I can't hold this long. Oh shit, I got one health point. Let's go. Let's go. We have no choice. We've got an army around us,

so in we go. I hate this. It's so weird. You see this faint trickle of blood curling down her nose as she's concentrating. Does it look like she's time-stopped or something? Are people? It looks like the surrounding space is,

you see guards there, but as they shift, it's like super, super. Oh! Her flex on them! Amazing. I mean, fuck her. Yeah shift, it's like super, super. Oh! Her flex on them! Amazing. I mean, fuck her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's so cool. Can you learn that? I want all of her power.

Okay, what are you doing? Maybe we just harness. You have a harness for that. Just change it. Yeah, that's how you do it. I'll just push it. You just suck up the power. I'll just grab her by the back of the neck.

Okay, let's go. All right, okay, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, okay, okay, all right, all right. You all leaping, one after another, into the Bloody Bridge. As you're stepping through, you hear in your head, I'm sorry.

Take off into the sky. The rushing of the energy pulling you up through the scattering sense of power itself. You see other things going coasting by from the opposite direction as from the outskirts of the rushing red energy, like the push of a massive fire hose of magical power pushing you back towards your home world of Exandria.

It emerges and all of you end up now standing at the base of the Malleus Keys. At the top of those little stairs? Little stairs. You all emerge. Here, as you glance around, it is evening. You're not sure where, with some clouds in the sky. What's going on around us? I'm going to take a health potion. Pass that to Chase.

Wait, what do you mean we're not sure where? We're not back at the Malloy's Cave? No, no, no. Unless you have a healing spell. When we left, it was all fucking crazy. Correct. Okay, then I'm going to heal you. Let me see, let me see.

For people that could kill us. Yes. Immediately, you see the entirety of the interior of this place is the same encampment that you saw, but there are regiments of Ruidian soldiers at the ready. You can see there are weapons set up on the sides of the space.

This is essentially an evening military encampment at rest. Not dislike where you left it, it's just in a less chaotic space. This is essentially an evening military encampment at rest. Not dislike where you left it, it's just in a less chaotic space. Nobody's looking up, nobody's noticing you at the moment. You're not sure how long you have. But there are patrols? There are patrols. There are probably, even at first glance for you, Orym,

and even those around you can see, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 to 100 different individuals that are scattered throughout. Only a handful are walking, while others are sitting and resting, and others are preparing weapons. Others are just sailing. We could try and ask to be taken to Otohan's quarters,

like to drop off her stuff, if they haven't realized that she's dead yet, or we could just try and walk out of here. Just walk out here. We are still in the red gear, right? We are. We got stopped plenty on the way down. Does anyone have any Pass Without a Trace situation?

I do, I do. Yes, you do? Yeah. Let's do that. All right, so we'll just try to act like we belong here and head on up and... I can't remember, does Pass Without a Trace help us with the Act Casual?

No. Yes, it does. Does it? It helps with the stealthiness of it, of physically stealthing around, as far as passing yourselves off. Like blending in and playing. Yeah, into crowds, I would say that is more of, in this instance, when you're moving through here.

I mean, it's helpful, and you can do it when no one's looking, but the first 200 feet, it's just us passing. Passed out a trace is to not be seen. If you are noticed, then that's where more deception would come into play. I mean, we could try and stack it, I guess. Yeah, so try to be undisclosed.

Unseen. Nonchalantly until we are noticed. And then we're supposed to be here. A group deception check would mean you could pass your way through here without issue. If you do a stealth check and it fails, then you've caught attention and then the DC for deception gets higher because now you've drawn attention.

So we just try to be nonchalant. It's up to your call. Pass the Law of Trace does give you a plus ten to stealth. There's too many people. Pass the Law of Trace? No, I think we just go. We'll try to beat Natchalan. I could try to disguise myself as a... Just to say it, I think

statistically we have more of a chance of failing a deception check without any buffs as a group than with Pass Without a Trace plus ten. That's true, because I'm a negative two deception. I'm also a ten. Just to be that monster. You're not wrong. We can always try and then go to plan B, which is deception.

All right. Energy-wise, I feel like we would try and blend in, but the mechanics are different. Nice. It's up to y'all. Yep. How's that, Jace? You are also descending from the top of the Malleus Key. Which is really in the middle of everything.

Does it do a super visible? Yeah, there's a flash. I don't think we can just still. You want to go for it? Yeah, we have to look like we belong here. Then let's all do the thing where we surround Imogen like she could be Lillian. Yeah. Okay.

Sure. Should I disguise self as a Red Loran? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Disguise self as a magnificent Red Loran. I'm going to tie my hair over to the side so it looks like a braid. Okay. Like her.

All righty. So as you all, the few of you, prepare yourselves visually, and now as a group begin to descend, I'd like a group deception check. Oh, oh, oh! This is where I really hope y'all roll well. She better. It ain I can't be better.

It ain't going to be me. Okay. 23. Okay. Natural 18. 22. Natural 17. Do we have advantage on this? No, just the DC is adjusted based on the fact

that you are wearing. That statistical thing I was talking about. Yeah. But advantage, you could roll again. Is there anything like that? 11. 11, okay. Oh boy. No! No, no, no.

Who? Me. No! No! That's so fitting. No! We fucking just... I just rolled a one. Somehow Chetney and I are the most convincing. I rolled a one on my Imogen dice. I should not have rolled my Imogen dice

because I'm not Imogen right now. Oy vey. All right, so as you all emerge and begin to descend the staircase that leads down from the top of the Malleus Key, you coast down amongst the various ruins and the large military tents and gathered bits of materials.

You can also see other war beasts from Ruidus have begun to make the transition to Exandria. The military defense of the Malleus Key is growing larger. You can see the edges of the actual Tishtan site. There are signs of massive battle. While you were gone, it looks like either a major scuffle happened, and a section of one of the inner walls of it

is blown open, and there's a massive cave-in landslide that happened there. So it looks like the escalation of might and assaults on this space, or at least defense as well, shows violence is increasing. But as you're taking these in and you begin to maneuver, you, Orym, notice that two Rylorans gliding by. Not walking, gliding. What you see are two mystics that take attention as you come down the steps

and begin to pursue. Do we get a tail? I think, to Imogen. Great. and begin to pursue. Do we get a tail? I think, to Imogen. Great. As they begin to get closer, you also watch as they pass through groups of people. Are we all brain linked?

We're not brain linked anymore, because FCG is dead. Yeah, that's true. I can, in your head, I can say, I can fly two of us. How close are they? Right now, maybe about 120 or so feet away, but they're starting to gain speed a bit, and you watch as they pass through or nearby other soldiers and vanguard members,

they all, like, they're all just being kind of alerted that something's off. This is going bad. What do we do, what do we do, what do we do? Are we repairing Otohan's equipment? Let's just keep going until I get within 60 feet. The plan was to flip to deception. I don't have flip to stealth, but yeah, that doesn't. There's no way to flip to stealth.

No. I know. I should've done that from the start. I know, I was with you. I get it, Travis. We fucked up. I rolled a done that from the start. I know, I was with you. I get it, Travis. We fucked up. I rolled a one. We got this. I could have rolled a 20. That's how it works.

We got this. But I rolled a one. It's all good, that's how it works. Luck is on our side. Let's just keep walking. Let's just keep walking. Keep walking. We're going, we're going. We're going to get out.

This is what's known as the lucky streak. Uh-huh. I feel like I still smell like that hot dog costume. God damn it, keep going. Still. My head can't. Yeah, you smell pretty good. Yeah. Oh, keep going.

You watch as Vandiver members begin to, after they're pinged in proximity to these mystics, begin to reach for their weapons and begin to stand up and all begin to follow behind them. There is a slow-growing makeshift battalion that is beginning to close in behind these two mystics as they begin to gain on your somewhat quickened pace, but still walking.

I tell Imogen, when it's time, turn around and tell them they're dismissed and in no need of their support. When they're dismissed. Okay. And in no need of their support. When they're closer? Yep. All right. 80 feet, 70 feet, 60 feet.

I stop walking. I cast a twin spell. Oh god, I hope this works. Twin spell Phantasmal Force. Okay. It's my last second-level spell. And what they see is Liliana Timmel. Okay. Nice.

All right. Spell DC on this? This is intelligence saving throw? 18. All right. Spell DC on this. This is intelligence saving throw? 18. Oof, intelligence. 18. Ah, natural six. Ah.

Okay. What's the second one? I don't want to say it. I can't say it. No, I just want this spell to work once this campaign! So you turn around, mutter a bit beneath your breath, and release the invisible bonds of the spell against their minds to ensnare their perception.

What do you do, Imogen? I turn around and I look at them. No need for an escort. You're dismissed. Both of them stop. And drift around the opposite direction. Okay. And you watch as the rest of the gathering crew

slowly dissipate, like shake their heads a bit, kind of shake free of the brief crew slowly dissipate, shake their heads a bit, shake free of the brief influence calling their attention. They all begin to scatter back to whatever they were doing. Add a sorcery point. You add sorcery points to that? Keep going, Vicki, keep going.

That's it, that's it. Get a spell out of here, please. All right, you begin to trek up. Keep walking. The nearest incline that guides up the side of the tall Tishton excavation walls. Heading up that way, you see one of the large warders like.

Heading down, you have to move to the side as it gets near. That's a tall rank of warder. Wow. It walks by and takes in your troop. He continues walking. If we look around, do we see Plane Rider Rin? Do we see a statue?

Do we see an armless statue anywhere? Moved to a place of convenience on the way out. Just for, you know, as a hat rack. A potted plant. Yeah. Just decor outside a tent. Anywhere. My eyes are so good.

My eyes are so good! Both of you roll sixes. I'm always looking. We're just rolling. Just don't roll a one. 30. 30? Yeah.

Pretty good. Oh, that's better than my 15, but I still rolled 15. Still pretty decent, yeah. You actually feel pretty confident that she's nowhere around the Maldives Key. You also are pretty confident you don't see any pieces of her, you don't see any signs of a shattered statue. What about a toe? A stony toe. But while this is where she was turned to stone, you get the immediate sense that she's been relocated.

Why is that woman dressed like a hot dog? He knows why mad people do it. The orm will sign up to see into the real dimension. Why do they have dice? What does that mean? Atreyu! Oh my name! What an existential crisis the world would have. Oh, it's Bastion. My bad. Bastion.

How dare you. How dare! Child! But you can't even hear the movement. Anyway, eventually you push past and get up to the edge. Looking up, you can still see the beam of the bridge coasting up to the red, rudest moon. You can see some of the heavy clouds that looks like a storm just passed over

maybe a few hours before and is now moving away. The open night sky, the welcome sense of familiar air, and being outside of the immediate space of tension is very, very welcome. You look around the perimeter and can see the multitudes of defensive weapons that have been set up. Some look like they're of Iridian make, some of them have been moved from other parts of Exandria. There are multitudes of designs, different cultures pulled together, as well as some unique cobbled weaponry

that you're not entirely familiar of how they would function defensively or aggressively, offensively even. But you recall the basic direction of where you were brought here from the west side encampment, where you were carried via Keyleth, and looking at the vicinity of where things are set, or especially with that 30 perception,

you'd know which direction is west from here and what would get you probably closest to that encampment. Okay, all right, so I'll point that out. And are there still, like still skyship wrecks all around as we move through that? Remember that. Oh yeah, there's a unique graveyard around the exterior of the Exclamation Site that includes numerous destroyed skyships,

numerous destroyed military siege weapons and wagons. And as you continue to walk through, not being bothered by any of the exterior watchers who don't immediately take any sort of interest in the robed figures slowly doing a perimeter around the southern edge, the only time that they would probably draw any attention is when you just start walking out into the darkness as a troop. But as you pass through here, you can see all matter of large craters that have slammed into the surrounding ground, signs of mass detonations, the land itself scarred by recent battles. You see bits of armor. You see, and you recall before saying this, you can see along the outside,

there are pikes that are adorned with trophies. You see different temple-themed armor sets, you know, pauldrons and chest plates that are adorned with the symbol of the moon weaver. You can see holy symbols that are hung on the edge of iron spikes that are jammed into the ground that hang and dangle, where at the end of the chain you see a swinging medallion of the Duskmaven.

You can see all manner of captured holy imagery that now is set upon the outskirts of this site as a warning and as a sign of pride. Any who steps beyond stops here. Do we see any symbols of the change bringer? Your perception. It takes a little bit of a walk, and you have to get a little close to the edge to really pick it up with as little light as there is. But you see along one of the torches that matches the perimeter there, one of these ever-burning magical torches, the flickers,

you see the familiar sight of what looks to be a cloak that, as it hangs itself tattered and torn, as it flows with the occasional breeze, you can see the familiar symbol of the change bring her face, still standing there from the side, looking off to some unknown horizon. I'll grab it. Can we find a place to lay low for a little bit? We're not there yet. Yeah.

I am going to, I still have third level left, and I don't know if it'll work here, but I'm going to try sending. Okay. See if I can send a message to Keatliff. We're back. We're at the surface of the Malli's Key. Just trying to find a way to get back to you.

Doesn't take too long for her to respond. That is wonderful news. I'll be at the encampment as soon as I can. Can you get there safe? Oh, that's not how this works. I love it. 40 years using this spell, still don't fucking got it.

Oh fuck, that's right. Ah, fuck. Wait, does that count? The encampment, the encampment, the one we were at before? Yeah, it was one of a number of encampments that have been built on the outer perimeter of the Hellcatch surrounding this space

where a lot of the... Staging, right? Yeah. What military might is being spared at the moment from different nations and cities, states and such are being sent in preparation to both keep an eye on the site and previously help give you the smokescreen to make your infiltration?

Is it evening, did you say? It's evening, it's dark. Okay, so it is getting dark. So we can stealthily maybe make our way out. At some point, we're going to hit it. From where you're standing now, this would be a great time. Make sure you don't use a deception check

to try and get her out. Hey, fuck off! Hey! I love that. I didn't know, I was like, hey, fuck off. They were such a cute couple. Hashtag goals.

But you still have a Pass Without a Trace. I do. So we could use that as we wander away. I do. Just like you planned. Just like I planned it. Just like we had talked about. It doesn't matter, we should save the day.

It's fine. We could have done it before. We're going to do it now. We should save the day. It's fine. We could have done it before. We're going to do it now. It's no big deal. I'm going to do it right now, pass without a trace. Okay, so you go ahead and pass without a trace. The shadows cling to your robes. I get a group stealth check from you, all that, plus 10 to your climbing robes. That's what I get.

Did you roll a one? Did you roll a fucking one? Oh my god. That is horrible. That's what I get. Did you roll a one? Did you roll a fucking one? Oh, yay! No! That's horrible! So appropriate. That's just right. That's just right.

All right, so we got a one over here. Wow! Wonderful. Wow! 29. You did it! Damn! Okay. 16. 16, okay. 28.

Okay. Okay. 22. Okay. 24. Gry, Gry, Gry. 28. Okay. 22. Okay. 24. Right, right, right. Okay. I'm going to spend some time jumping in the pool. Okay. I'd say about now it's starting to wear off.

You guys have taken the time both slowly coasting around the outside of this. So you start diving in for a bit and you feel like the ground's getting more resistant, and it makes you feel a little nervous to continue. I'm going to take what I've basically been using as some nice, quiet scream therapy. Jump back up and turn into Crystal.

Okay. I forgot vowels. Oh. I probably have dropped mine as well, because I'm sure I wasn't walking around all week. Yeah, you... Yeah, it's actually pretty valid. Thank you for your money. I assume you might want it. So you both do take your two points of exhaustion.

Yep. Okay. Which is, it does wind you, and your speed is reduced because of the exhaustion, so. I am so fucking tired. You're traveling at this, the rest of the group is traveling at the speed of your slowest members, which would be Fearne at half speed right now.

20, yeah, that's right. So we're limping away from this terrific experience. I mean, that's about right. Yeah. Except Jet A. 35 feet. Yeah, skipping. As the shadows do ensroll your troop and you peel off from what was the feigned perimeter walk

of your group from the site, you begin to make a western beeline in the direction where you hope you'll be able to see the encampment. The tension begins to fade after about five or so minutes when you do not see any of the other perimeter guards following suit or taking note of your divergence from the site. And now, as you all quietly walk under the stars

of the Exandrian sky in silence, looking across the distant, rocky, barren horizons of the Hellcatch. Really, the first moment hits him where you get to begin to process what you've lost. I'm going to turn around and look up at the moon. That was awful. We're still just wandering the desert en route to this encampment.

That's where we're at. You didn't have to do that. Letters. He'd been itching to do that since the day I met him. It's funny. It's the first thing I thought about Ashton. I knew he was just going to pull that shit. God fucking damn it. I remember your warnings to him. I've seen enough fights go south. If letters hadn't done that, we'd all be dead. Yeah. I know.

I just felt like we were so close. We could have had her. We don't know that. You don't know that. She was too strong. He saved us. He made it count. We've got to do the same. Yep.

I can be angry at the same time. Those are really easy to hold together. Yeah. That little fucking... Mm! Where are we going? Back to Keyleth. We have to tell him everything we learned.

Yeah. We need more help. I hope... I hope... we made the right call with Liliana. You were never going to get her to. She would have come. I think she would have come, but I didn't trust her.

I think it's smart to give her this opportunity to prove herself. You've been without your mother for so long. What's a few more months if it gives us the advantage? Wouldn't have worked. I know. She would have come because you said so. She got a, that's just fucking disaster. I feel like,

I feel like that shit with Ludinus, I think she... I think she doesn't support him. I do believe that now. I felt that hold, though, that Predathos has. I felt that welcoming warmth that she spoke of. And she's been there so long. Yeah, she clearly has her criticisms of lewdness. Although that sounded pretty tangled, too,

her history with him. But she definitely seems like a believer in Predacus. I think it's more than that. I think he's part of us. We're his children, right? That bit she said at the very end. This is what you're designed for. That hit you, too, didn't it? Yes. It made me think of FCG. It also, I feel like I owe you an apology. I feel like I owe you an apology.

I feel like I understood you, Mom, on a deeper level in that moment. I think it's just reminiscent of something that sounds like we've been very guided by FCG to learn more that we're more than just what our creators intended for us. And I don't think she's had that. Made me sad and grateful at the same time. You've made me angry. I don't like being angry.

You're too fucking good for her. I... She doesn't deserve this fucking world. I hope she's right. I really do. I hope her ends are fucking great, because these means are just not forgivable. Chutney. Yeah? Where's Otohan's shit? Here. Lay it out. Lay it out. I walk over and I pick up the sword, one of them. I jam it in the soil.

That is the blade that killed my father and my husband. She is not right. I'm going to walk away from this group for a little bit. Imogen? Yeah? I love you. I love you too. I love all of you. Just perhaps we should say it more?

Yeah. This EG was so unique. I mean, every time someone saw him, they reacted like they'd never seen such a thing before. But I... Your mom left us with such an interesting tidbit of info, that Ludinus was on Exandria, overseeing the pieces of machinery

that were being brought up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I turn to... Fuck, what's her name? Everea. Everea, sorry. Oh shit, I forgot she was here. Yeah, Everea was just like, Fuck me.

She's like, It happens a lot, actually. Oh, sorry. It's fine. Chani's going to fuck you, I have a feeling. Lyon, I don't really say that out loud. Is this the first above table?

I know that there are the floaty beings, but one of the Bormodos? Yeah. We've never seen a Bormodo on Exandria? Uh-uh. Yeah. Yeah, this would be a big deal. You can see her,

like while you guys have been having this conversation, she's a little bit behind you and it's just taking it all in. Oh shit. All right, fuck. Well, sorry. Welcome to the blue dream. Promise. The blue promise, yeah.

It's not blue right now. No, it's not gone. There is a sore. What do you think of the sky? It's not normally like that. That's where you lived. It's so much smaller from here. Yeah.

It's had some work done. Things are weird out here right now. There's some prettier, better spots here. It's... We're going to find friends, people that you can trust, but until then, just keep a low profile. Of course. Take your time.

I will. Thank you all so much for helping get me out of there. Of course. Take your time. I will. Thank you all so much for helping get me out of there. Of course. Thank you. I haven't done anything yet. I have a feeling you will. I'm assuming those machines that Ludin is tracking up to the moon. It has something to do with what we found in that crate. The Cerberus Assembly marking. Yeah, I want to get all this stuff to Imahara Joe.

I feel like there's more there. Yeah. This feels like morning problems. He said you knew where Ludinus was. Do you have a city name, a location? I don't know where it is, but he's referred to it a few times. What did he say?

It's called Aeor. It's where he's getting all these things. Is that where he is now? I don't know where else he'd be. You mentioned he ran into problems. Motherfucking Matt Mercer. Sorry, what was your question? So he's been obsessed with that A or shit.

MFMM. MFMM? That's a T-shirt. Hashtag new tech ad. Wait, why I don't get it? Motherfucking Matt Mercer. Ow. Okay. Ysiris, her awe shrinks in as she starts getting technical, Wow. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.

Okay. Ysera, her awe shrinks in as she starts getting technical, and you can see why she was chosen for this moment. There is a curiosity and a passion for this element of her intellect, though as unfocused as she might be at moments. Well, so the thought of this tech

was being brought in there. We were able to combine it with some of our initial designs Well, so a lot of this tech was being brought in there. We were able to combine it with some of our initial designs of shifting and changing up our developments for various war implements here on Ruidus. And they had developed a lot of things and raced around this thing, this Malleus Key he was talking about. And it was, so part of my thing was to help,

originally, to design tools that were used to burrow through the outer layers of the glass pillar, where Kerverus was. It's an impossibly thick layer of glass, but the exaltants, when they came in here and began to consult with us alongside Ludinus, they began to speak as they communed with the being of the planet Moon,

used for, I guess, to you, there are multiple layers to this glass. The outer layers were simple enough to get through with some of this tech we designed, but the secondary layer that we got through was like adamantine. It seemed like it had some sort of divine magical origin in its construction. Our standard designs were too slow in trying to get through there, given the rapid timeline of what was going on and mounting opposition from Exandria. As you said, across the bridge was starting to grow tension. So Ludinus was going to go back to seek out what tech was available. From Aeor.

From Aeor. There's supposed to be a continued source of it being excavated from his troop, his vanguard, his allies, but there was a problem there. Something he called the Dominox had begun to take up root there, causing struggles with their excavation, and so he was going to go take care of it himself. That was just a few days ago. The Dominox is what took up root? In Aeor? So he went to go fight some big, powerful thing, right? Some bad bitch called the dominox.

What if it weakens him enough that we pop in and then It went like, bam, bitch! Oh god. Yes. Wait, did Ludinus mention if Dominox is a big beastie or is it a group of things? I barely caught just the tail end of that conversation.

Everroll, keep going, ignore us. Maybe Keyleth knows something about Dominox. Have we ever heard of Dominox? Never heard of Dominox. Keep going. This is all gold. Story time. I cannot follow any of this. Anyway, from what we were understanding,

there are certain implementations of magical synergies in the technology that was being presented as part of our study group that had a unique understanding of the weave of godly magics, divine-type magics, and how to unravel them on a very base core point. So this was the basis of our project. It means to penetrate the secondary glass shell

that contains Pardothos within. So I've taken inspiration from the, what's it called, the Malleus Factorum and the other trickles of nearby tech and essentially develop it to a smaller scale that we'd be able to go through these additional layers of the... The god animantime stuff?

Yeah. So apparently, the glass veins that run through the planet are the remnants of Pardothos' last form. When it was locked within its prison. Oh, wait, can I pull out the- I'm going to stop interrupting the story! I'm sorry, I just wanted to, okay, cool, go on. I'll never interrupt anything. So, yeah, that's the theory. I'm sorry! Jesus! Can I pull out the little globey thing that we got?

The little globey? Oh, that's in the Bag of Holding. It's in the Bag of Holding. Okay, then. Yee. Oh, these little, wait. How is this? No, right. That right there. So we've been unable to map deeply without the help of the Exaltants.

When they were able to connect with the aid of the Weavemind to deeply bind with the essence of Prodathos, they were able to feel out the extent of the Vein Network. We were uncertain of the source, just knew they were resonant with the one who sleeps. But from what we're gathering, that was likely a reflection of

its form when it was sealed away. So the glass is what its body once was, then turned to be its own prison. And so whatever it is sleeping within is within its own glass prison and the layers between. And that's where the tech and the exaltants, that's where all of this is supposed to come together, is to break past these boundaries

and then free it from its prison shell of what it once was. Yeah. What do you know about this whole vessel business? Is it basically going to possess one of the exaltants so that it can walk across? That, I don't know. Yeah, okay. They keep us all siloed.

I only know what I can because I was having to keep ears open for the volition and give back when I could. Could also be more than one. Yeah, but maybe the vessel is for, not for Predathos, it's for Ludinus? I don't know. I mean, it might not just be one person

that's a vessel, but Bideon wants a vessel. It might be multiple vessels. His crux is dead. Could be a sacrifice, could be a host, could be a ton of stuff. Dominox the Malleus Factorum. Okay. Ludinus wanting to be an exalted rudisborn that is interesting to you. Ooh, look at your nails.

They're so cute. Thanks. I mean, for a bit playing so long, I can't remember which character knows what. No. We don't know about Aeor. We don't know about Aeor. I don't know what that means.

All you know is Aeormaton. You know that's his key. Right, we've heard it. Yeah, you've heard about it. You know it's an ancient society where FCG and Frida were both constructed. This kind of vision. Yeah. Oh, Frida!

Oh, you're just now thinking about that now? I thought about it, but it's been a week and I forgot and I'm remembering again. It's been nonstop in my head. Yeah, we have to tell Frida. Oh, he's a freak. Yeah. That-stop in my head. Yeah, we have to tell Frida. Oh, he's going to freak. That's not going to... One awful moment at a time.

By the way, we haven't had a moment to stop since we've been running. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Are you okay? Oh. It's been a sprint since we got you out of that. I don't know how long it's been since I've eaten or had a drink. I'm feeling real rough.

I got some basic rations. Orym can make blueberries. He's 40 feet over there. Orym is far away. I came back just a little bit to hear everything. I have a passive perception of 33. I've heard it all. He's clocking up.

Okay, just make sure you knew what was going on. She immediately begins to devour whatever you hand her, and scarfing in a messily way. The large hands grabbing and handing them to the smaller hands, which are pushing them up into the face, and it's just a four-armed, feeding frenzy. Do we, and we still have your?

Your Saita? Mm-hmm. I'm going to start putting everything back in the bag of holding. Can I take, with reverence, can I take the sword out of the sand and just look at it? Yeah. It is a sleek, saber-like weapon. It has a very faint curve, the thickened blade itself

having nearly no hilt, and where the hand wraps are, you can see a tight leather cross wrap across it. Where it fits the bottom of the pommel, there is a long set of leather wraps that swing as it goes and it moves. There's a bit of a hook towards the back of it, and the blade itself has a very faint—you don't even notice it at a distance, and you don't realize the pain that it has. There is a faint serration along the edge of the blade, about halfway down that goes to the base of the, where the hilt, the basic hilt would be. It is extremely light, and even just holding it,

there's a faint vibration to it with each swing. This is Ishtar, the Summit Blade. Ishtar. The summit?. Ishtar, the Summit? Well, maybe we can absorb that shit. Yeah. That's going to be permission. That is going to be. That's not our sword.

I am lying down on my back because everything fucking hurts. I'm waiting for everyone to decide what the fuck we're going to do. Well, we just have to get to the encampment. Keyleth is waiting for us there. Do we want to short rest where we are? Should we push on? Let's push on. Short rest ain't going to fix anything. Yeah, let's just push on to the encampment and then we'll be safe in Keyleth's bubble. Eva Roa walks over to you as you're lying on the ground.

Okay. Extends an arm to help you up. Thanks. Ashton, you all right? Say that again. I know you're not all right. No. Are any of us? Will you be? Will any of us? I think the answer to that is yes and no. There are particular moments I have

discovered in a person's life where they have to decide what they're going to do next. They often start this way, although at a smaller scale. I think I need to sleep. I think I need this headache to go away. I think I need to break something. And then, you know, I think in the morning, start having some thoughts about who we're going to be next.

You seem very lovely. I hope that you do great work. You were very expensive. I start slogging very slowly towards the direction we're going. I'm going to head towards Orym. Oh, sorry. As you walk away, she brightens up the first thing you said and then

darkens with this head expression, taking in the connotation of it and continues to follow in pace with the rest of you. I'm going to head towards Orym, who's at a distance, and approach slowly. Hey. Hi. I'm going to put my hand on your shoulder. Sorry, I know how hard all that is for you.

I'll apologize. I can't begin to understand how hard it is for you. You know, every one of us makes our decisions through the lenses or prisms we see life through. I can't take mine down. I'm sorry. It's not even about revenge for me.

I'm just trying to honor what they sign up to do... I didn't know them, but I can't imagine they wouldn't look at you and not be proud. I think you've gone farther than anyone could ever expect you to. And you're still going.

So far. I'm gonna miss them. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna miss letters. They were... They were alive. If any of us just wanted help. I want you to know that I'm...

That for a while it may have felt that you and I were... Not seeing eye to eye, or maybe you felt that I... I didn't have the same goal in mind that you did. But, um... Don't worry about that anymore, all right? I understand family. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I want for all the world for you to have your family. I wanted that too. And... God, that back and forth is a pretty funny thing, but, um... Choices were made. And if nothing else, then at least we've got a little bit of knowledge on the inside now. Yeah. We've got a little bit of knowledge on the inside now. Yeah.

As much as we'd like to, you can't turn back the clock. That's right. But you've got us. Squeeze your hand a little. Do you mind if I take a minute? Take all the time you need. We're heading to the encampment. I'll catch up. All right. I stare out into the dark for a half a minute or so,

and I pull out the stone. I reach out to Dorian. We're home. Can you hear me? Northeast of Bassuras. Can you get there? I'm struggling. Sorry. Can you get here? Fuck, I miss you. As the words leave your lips and the spell

sends them aloft, I'm going to ask you all to leave the table, please. If you don't mind. To leave? Yeah, to leave, leave. Oh. Like, get out of the table. Okay. Okay, fine.

If you don't mind. Oh, whiplash. Fuck. Let's go find that hot dog costume. I want a hot dog real bad. Oh shit. Fucking Aeor. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.

I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. You know what? I think I'll take it from here. I think it's time to see the other half of the story. We'll do that after the break. See you soon. 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. Okay, back to the show. Vibes. We're here, we're back. A different time slot. This is nice. So, my lovely crown keepers,

Kaimul, after the events of our interlude, those long, long weeks ago. You all moved north past the silver cut crossroads to lay low in the Wildwood Valley. The settlements you dared stay at for more than a few days are more village than town, but the narrow edge of your escape

from Posca and the Nameless Ones has you, Keiji. What's the true distance of her reach? How far would your sister go to find you? And what do you think, Fiora Rai, she would do if she found you again? It's been almost a month of low living. The six of you, Cyrus included, have a small cache of brumestone that you all harvested from your slow-moving getaway platform. Yeah, honestly, the first three weeks

was you just slowly drifting. Can I use my staff to move this thing faster? Can I row with our hands? Cyrus has been doggy paddling for weeks. We're both in the back there. That checks out. Two little bimbos. Two little bimbos just blowing in the breeze.

Yeah, you guys were able to harvest the brumestone from your platform. You have it secreted across the six of you. In the event that you have to scatter, you all have access to an incredible amount of money. Were you able to find a place to fence it? You are not too far from Kraghammer. Westrin is a little farther away, but those are big hubs. Poska's reach might get there. The Myriad, the clasp, the people that were pushed out in Kaimul. You are some of the few survivors of whatever went down there. And a big city isn't safe.

But two weeks ago, something new began. Whispers reached even your remote ears. A solstice. The moon of ill omen, the blight star, lost from the skies of Tal'Dorei, trapped over Marquet? Disenchantment of old and powerful magics. No sending, no teleportation, no resurrection.

And those of you with connections to the gods of this world, the Wildmother, the Spider Queen, the Matron of Ravens, and even the Observer, you have felt a pressing on the threads of your connections with them. From the Prime and and betrayer gods, your first inkling of fear. And even from the observer,

a new bit of interest, curiosity, about the goings on in this world. And then a message from Aurum. Desperate. So sad. Halfway around the world, he bade you find the Tempest in a tone that pushed your group from hiding to haste.

So you find yourselves on the road once more, headed south, then east, towards the summit peaks and Zephra. You walk. This... This time has been... dark and difficult for you all, not just because you have had to settle for living in hiding,

no longer around the glitz and glamour of Chimel, the standard of living that you were all accompanied to. Even Cyrus has been showing signs of getting a little antsy, a curiosity, a need to move in a new direction. And then again, Opal's been getting pretty dark lately. As you travel, I want to know just from the group,

what's on your mind? What are you doing? What is your plan? Is it just to find your way to the Tempest to assist Dorian once more in his quest? Or are you looking for something different, something new, somewhere new to go? Tempest to assist Dorian once more in his quest? Or are you looking for something different, something new, somewhere new to go, or a sign to maybe splinter off

and head in your own direction for new adventures? See, Dariax has no drive or goal outside of the people that he's attached himself to. A sense of kinship with those that he's traveled with and have been kind in his ramblings and stumblings, but also a renewed sense of protectiveness over Opal in these recent weeks. A concern means he's liable to stay at Dorian's side to follow in his footsteps even further, but also not far from Opal to make sure he shows where to put her footsteps. Protector. to put her footsteps. I protect her. I think Morrigan could best be described as a dog.

A dog on a leash, or a horse just chomping at the bit. She has been given so much new purpose in giving herself to the Matron of Rabins as her champion. She doesn't feel that she deserves it, but she loves this new sense of purpose that she has because that's all she ever wanted. And the second that she left Keimel with these new comrades, I think she thought that everything was going to align for her and then she found herself more lost than ever. Sometimes changing changing changing location doesn't solve

all of your problems. And she feels distant because the people that she's with have a bond that is different

than what she has. And she has a new allegiance to the Matron. The second that she says, bite, she'll bite. It doesn't matter who it is. Lying in wait. I think after the discovery of the situation and change of heart, or so Fy'ra thinks, a change of heart from her sister.

She, too, has been not lost, and not fully demoralized, but just confused as to where she is most needed now. She does remember once telling Dorian that not all family is blood, much family is chosen. And so she's doing her best to divert her protective nature even more to these people who she was sent, pulled by the Wild Mother to protect. And she's still feeling that loss of that one person that she was so connected to, who now apparently doesn't just hate her,

but wants to kill her. Conflicted. I think over the past few weeks, this should be the scenario for Dorian that he thought he wanted. Freedom, adventure. It's not so much the situation that's dragging his mood down these days, because he's glad to be surrounded by his friends, and he's glad to have friends, truly, for the first time ever.

But as he's had more time alone, and as he feels the group start to drift, he's starting to come to a realization that's unsettling for him and that he's missing something in this equation that he thought would lead him to the right answer and its purpose. And I think it's something he ran from months ago, something he felt like he didn't have and wanted and wanted to just forget about.

And as he looks around at these people that he's grown to love and growing to love and being with, he's starting to wonder why he's here for the first time ever. Yeah. From drifting to searching. Mm, yeah. I think Opal is in a strange,

almost like a dream-like existence, where I think she's losing the thread a little bit. I think there are moments of clarity and when there are those moments she works overtime to be more herself around her family because she feels like if she can keep it together in that way, then she has some sort of control over it. But I think much like when you're in that space, that space between, like, falling asleep and being awake, it's all very confusing. And in the moments where it feels a little more dreamlike, I think you might catch her with a faraway look on her face, or just maybe murmuring to herself.

And it's very concerning to her, but she's not wanting to alarm anyone yet. wanting to alarm anyone. Yet. What was that? Opal, I like that you said dreams, because I think your dreams were the thing that went first. It is not that you go to sleep and have nightmares, but I think in your youth, It is not that you go to sleep and have nightmares, but I think in your youth, you would go to sleep

and dream or have a nightmare and have some memory of it upon waking, even if it slips away across the day. But every night now, for two weeks, you go to sleep and you wake up exhausted, as though your body has been tense, moving. Recovery is difficult, and whatever happens from when you close your eyes and give yourself over to sleep and waking is a void and lost. And any time you reach within yourself towards Ted, towards whatever that connection is

for clarity or understanding, the first thing you notice is that every dawn, if you reach for Ted, she is exhausted. And if you ask her, if you press, she tells you little and less. She doesn't want to worry you. It's not your fight. And that's the important thing.

You know there is a fight happening and you have no recollection of it. Two weeks. And now you're on the road again, traveling long days down the road, exhausted. And it is at some point, just a few days into your journey towards Zephra, exhausted, and it is at some point,

just a few days in to your journey towards Zephrah, towards purpose or adventure or whatever comes next after your last big quest, you feel it. Something inside you breaks. Too tired. Too much holding it together. Your mind is yours and Ted's and hers. And she has been whispering to you.

You feel that fear, that concern. A pressing, a hastening, and it all becomes too much. You all walk down the road and Opal stops. Frozen, she's looking a thousand yards away in a direction, as if she's listening, trying to hear, trying to understand, but she is stuck still. What do you all do?

Hey, Opal, you feeling all right there? Can I hear it? Give me a wisdom save. Save? Mm-hmm. Make the difficulty 16. Oh, 16. It is like someone is shouting at you while running backwards. You hear him closely at first, but it seems to be drifting off and away.

Okay. You can respond. Did you say something? Yeah, yeah, you're just, you look like you're getting one of those distant moments again. Oh. Last time, you just want to make sure you're all right.

Yeah, I think I'm, yeah, did you guys hear anything? No. I grab my rapier and I look around and see what I can possibly perceive. You want to make a perception check? That was the strongest ask for a perception check I've ever had. Please take inspiration. That was incredible. Perceive. The closest. Make an investigation check. Thank you. Oh, I wish it was perception. No, it's perception. It's 100% perception. God bless you, thank you.

Oh my gosh. Oh. Oh. 20, unnatural 20. A very strange 20. A strange 20. Ooh! The spookiest 20. The spookiest 20.

We got to get these chuckles out now, I'm so excited. What do you think what's the first thing that Morgan would look for well I'm I'm still

I'm still keeping Posca and the nameless ones kind of in the back of my head so I'm trying to figure out if maybe someone's

around or afoot like a person in the trees where are we are we on just like a dirt country road? Yeah.

You guys are actually a little bit off of the main road. You're walking through like the wooded area just off to the side. Okay. Just in case. Okay. Being extra cautious, extra safe. Yeah. I'm afraid for many reasons and also just because the balance of magic is so thrown

off that I'm kind of like anything could happen at any time. I really, Posca, I don't know, a goblin, I don't know. Name, name, name, name your names. Joe. That felt mean to me specifically. Name your names. I will not give you my true name. Your choices are Poska and goblin.

Yeah, Poska. Poska, goblin, end of list. Yes. You do not hear the steps of people anywhere around you. But the second half of my question is, what is the thing you are most afraid of hearing or noticing?

I feel like I should know the answer to this. It's okay. If it's a vague dread. An ennui, if you will. I don't know, something coming towards me that's too big for me to take on. That's just enough wiggle room that I'm just going to get right in there.

Oh, sick. Thanks so much. No problem, girl. Have a bestie. It would be so easy if the thing that you felt on the wind and around you was a monster.

A very big goblin. A bunch of guys. But what you feel is the pressure of... I want to ask you, what was it like, what did it feel like to Morrigan when she made her deal with the Matron of Ravens, when she committed herself to becoming a paladin of her cause?

I mean, it's ineffable. I mean, it's like, I mean, finally, for once, I have a direction. I have a home, and I've never really had one, a purpose. I mean, it felt like pure light, even though the Matron of Ravens is most associated with death.

I don't even think the idea of something that, like something coming at her that's too big for her to take on, she wants to prove herself so badly, especially because she has all of this new kit, so to speak, whatever in game speak, like she has so much to do and she spends her, all of her days just training, trying to, trying to figure out how to get a grasp of what she's got. And there's an excitement and a fear there for her. And I think that's probably the, the combination of things that she felt when she made her pact. Excitement. Fear. And fear and a desire to prove yourself. Yes.

Against something. Against a world. Against whatever the spiritual presence you feel and you felt when the Matron of Ravens went from a being of crow and corvid omens to something overwhelming, massive in front of you that chose you, that gave you direction and purpose. You feel that overwhelming feeling again, but it is tinged with something

deep in the pit of your stomach, something that you know that your mistress, it curdles her stomach, so it curdles yours. And whatever curdles the stomach of death incarnate, that's pretty scary. You turn towards that feeling of gravity, and you look at Opal, trying so hard to shake off whatever this is,

and you see it in a flash, in a caw, a birdsong before it hits. An opal. It's not that she raises or levitates off the ground, but she seems to grow massive and then she explodes out in every direction. I'm just going to need my map now. We're going to get started.

What? Bring my map. Okay, sure. Yeah. Am I good? I'm just going to need my map now. We're going to get started. What? Bring my map. Okay, sure. Yeah. Am I good? I'm sorry. Yeah, you can go home now. Okay, bye.

Actually, that's pretty funny. I think what I want to happen now... Hey Matt, can you do me a favor? Sure. I think I'm going to need you to slide on over there for me. Over? Over? No! Yeah, over there for me. Over? Yeah, over there.

Which way? This way. Scooch! Let's do something a little fun. This is my last day. Oh no! I'll take it in here. I'm so scared.

Let's go. So much stuff. Whoa, it's spooky! There's a skull in that rock. No! Sorry. He's got spooky. You ruined the whole thing. It gets stupider if you look closer.

I mean, spooky, not stupid. It gets more stupider, like you went to Jupiter. Where are my little minis? Oh, here they are. I got some. Oh, everyone's got them. I'm just too short to reach you. I'm not here.

You're going to be here. Oh, for feck's sake. Yay. Oh, good slide. Everybody, everybody? Everybody. Oh, it's so lovely here. We're all going to come this way. Oh.

That music video. This combat is brought to you by... Yeah! What? Let's go, man! WiggleWigs! The Mighty Nein box set, available now. The Mighty Nein box set is now available.

Find these and many more Critical Role miniatures at whizkids.io, slash CRminis, and your local game store. I got to do that. Yay! Good job! Seamless game. Good job! Thank you! Don't worry, Matt.

Matt, if you do enough of these, you'll get the hang of it eventually. You know what I mean? You'll be okay. Can I send you my reel? Yeah, you can, actually. Yeah, absolutely. Immersion. I can already tell it's going to be...

Maybe it's time to change the energy in the plug. Oh. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. It's so cold over here. This seems fine. This seems like it's going to be okay. Oh no, what's happening?

Trying to get a view. This is comedic lighting, right? Yeah, yeah. I'm going to take this out of the way. It's going to be great. Oh boy. There we go. Okay.

Oh, Opal. Oh no. You feel yourself splinter out and the parts of you, inside of you, shoot forth. Webs, tendrils held together with points of iridescent, opalescent gemstones. You've been getting pretty dark for a while now, and you hear her voice in your ear.

So sorry. I think I wanted us to have a little more time to do this organically. But your sister keeps getting in my way. This isn't going to be good for your image. We've been working so hard to rehabilitate. I don't care about my image. I care about my life.

And what I need more than a rehabilitation in public perception is a champion, a true champion. What does that mean? It means I need you to come with me, and I need to sever the ties that keep you with them. Why? What did they do?

They tie you to this place. They hold you back. And what I need is someone who works for me, who serves me. You accepted my crown, and now the bill is due. Opal, twice crowned, you will become my champion. Wait, where's Ted? She's here too. Is she hurt? No, I wouldn't hurt you. And Opal, you feel inside yourself

this conversation happening, but on the outside. All of you see her raise into the air. She lands on a platform, a set of ruins in a bit of forest that suddenly, in that burst of energy, all of the leaves are burned away and scattered, and you see bits of webbing, opalescent gemstones embedded across the ground. And Opal turns to you all,

and Amy, I need you before anything else happens, to tell me who's the biggest threat in the Crown Keepers. Oh shit. Probably, what do you mean threat? What do you mean? Like who can do the most damage? What do you mean, threat? What do you mean? Like, who can do the most damage? What do you think I mean?

Amy thinks, this is not a question I want to answer. Opal is probably the most scared of Fy'ra Rai. I need you to make a series of attacks against Fy'ra Rai. No! No! Oh no! Wait, before I do that, I would like to,

can I do my, can I cast a ritual? Can I telepathic bond? I will say, for the sake of your guys' walking through the woods, you would have ritually cast Rari's telepathic bond at the beginning of the day. Okay. So you are all connected in a telepathic group chat.

Oh. Okay. Okay. But Opal isn't picking up. True Opal isn't picking up just yet. So what comes now simply comes. Okay, so not of my own volition? Nope.

Okay. Okay, I'm gonna have to Hexblade's Curse her first. Sorry. I love you, baby. Pull no punches! None. I'm gonna hit you. It's okay. Let me be so clear, Amy Carrero, love of my life. If you pull a punch, I will know.

Okay. And I'll make it worse. So I need you to swing. Okay, all right, cool. I'm going to be a big girl about this and I'm going to throw three beams of Eldritch Blast. So first off, before you attack, what does it feel like when you hexxblade curse Fyodorai? What does she feel? What does she see? What is the group suddenly made aware of?

Well, I think to Opal it feels like when you need to throw up but you really don't want to. In this case, it's that feeling of dread, like, oh no, that kind of like, please help me, someone hold my hair back. And it doesn't usually feel that way to her, but in this case, because she's a friend, it does. But I think what she sees is whatever sort of mask of any face is, like pretty opal is dropped. Yeah. And it's just, like, a very quick sort of look

dart of the eye and just, it's, her eyes are just black. And it probably feels like a hand around the throat.

But it's pink. Pink hand feels so different. You feel that grab around your throat and you look to your friend and you see Opal, a crown, and then a pink crown below it, eyes dripping black,

a set of arms reaching out, a second set of arms reaching down. Make your attacks. Real quick, what does Hexblade's Curse do? Once per short rest, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet. Cursed for one minute, plus five damage to damage rolls, critical hit on 19 or 20, and I regain 18 hit points if you die, which you won't. Which you won't.

That knight is young. Okay. I add a 10 to each, so does 21 hit? It does. Does 22 hit? It does. Does 13 hit?

It does not. Okay, thank god. This is already the most fun I've ever had. She'll get into it, don't you worry. All right, this isn't so bad. So, oh sorry. One d4, I rolled d10s, my bad. Yeah, these are d10s, what are you doing?

I don't know. D4. This is my bad ones too, so this is my bad d4, I rolled d10s, my bad. Yeah, these are d10s, what are you doing? I don't know. D4. This is my bad ones too, so this is my bad d4s. Why are you rolling d4s? Because it says d4! One d10, you're right. I'm looking at the wrong thing! Hey Amy, look at me.

I'm looking at my vicious whip! Here's what's gonna happen, you're gonna roll 2d10 for the two that hit, and you're gonna add plus 10 to both of them. Okay, so, 20, no, 11 and 20. So 31. 31. Okay, 31 damage.

Fantastic. 31 damage. It's all right. And with that, you see your friend, you feel a hand around your throat holding you in place. You are a monk, you move through the world you bend around nature and keep yourself live and agile and you are held in place by your friend as two dark bolts of energy land center mass in your stomach and there is nothing but to take it. You feel that sense of nausea get chased quickly

by two gut punches. Force damage, yes, but betrayal. And I need all of you to roll initiative. Oh! Oh, okay. Quick question. Yeah, of course! This was a surprise, so I wouldn't have a reaction.

No, no. This was just my mean little thing. I think when you feel it, you just hear the telephone a surprise, so I wouldn't have a reaction. No, no. This was just my mean little. I think when you feel it, you just hear the telephone, no, I'm so sorry! That means it doesn't count, right? It doesn't count. Yeah, that's what that is. God, I'm sweating.

My ass is sweating. Yeah, it does. That's a deal. That's what I'm trying to do. Add your death. So 27. Fuck yeah. 27, baby.

Nice. Let's go. Anyone above 25? I went 27, yeah. 27 for Morgan. All right, 25 to 20? 23. 24.

Okay. Okay, gamers. 23. 19 to 15. Oh no! Oh buddy. That's right. We're back, baby.

The Dariax curse of a battle. 14 to 10. No! Oh! No! Yeah! Hey, I'm just going to ask. Nine, baby.

Nine! Dariax with a nine. Opal, how'd you do? Boys are back in town, y'all. What do you mean, how'd I do? You have to roll initiative two. Oh, I have roll initiative two, okay. You're in the fight. Oh, you're in the fight.

I think she wants to just walk away at this point. Two! Wait, no, plus two is four. Okay, okay, okay. A ten? Woof. Roll for ten. Oh. Teddy. Sweet love. Okay. A ten? Woof. Roll for ten. Oh.

Teddy. Sweet love. Ten. Ten. Nine. And is your familiar out? Yeah, that little bitch. I love spider.

Go ahead and give me initiative for your spider. Nine. No, sorry, spider. Nine. No, sorry, seven. Seven. Five, six, seven. Copy that. All right, go off Cyrus.

Sweet. Morgan. Yeah. You are up first. Sick. What you see around you is Opal. You hear in your head after she attacks Firari, no, I'm sorry!

And you see this strange battlefield, spider webs glowing. The ground seems to churn and you can hear with your big lagomore ears, skittering far off and away in the woods. What do you want to do? I'd like to move and attack. Attack what?

Oh my god, I don't know, do I recognize anything as like a, is it all one big thing, or is it all these different things? Can I point out one thing that I could actually? Right now, yeah, right now, the only combatant you see is Opal alright why don't you give me

like just sort of looking at the lay of the land the strange new thing that has happened is this webbing and these like weird like sort of gemstones on the field

why don't you give me perception or investigation your call damn I rolled a 19 Why don't you give me perception or investigation, your call. Damn, I rolled a 19. 24 for perception. Perception. Perception.

You see those shining bits. They are deeply magical. They don't seem, you're looking for something to hit, and these are not necessarily that. They are something of Opal. Yes. Thrown everywhere around you. So there's something of her. Yes. So it's all one thing.

Yes. Great. I am going to, is she 30 feet away from me or do I need to move closer? You are. I love that I'm all the way in the back. Yeah, would you have wanted to be closer? I would like to be within 30 feet of her, if that's cool and chill. Sweet, we can say that you started over here.

Okay, cool. That's fine. Everyone can kind of be clustered up. That's not bad for me. Amazing. I would like to cast Haste on Opal. On Opal? On Opal? Wait, what? Oh, a willing creature, on myself.

What are you doing? I don't want that! Let me be so clear. Hey, look me in the eye. Do you want to know how I am a child? I am a child. Erika, I will Venmo you $20 if you hate Opal. I will not.

It's going to happen more than that. Right now, I will do it. I made a little bit of a mistake. Run it back. That's okay. I actually don't need to be a little bit of a mistake, run it back. That's okay. I actually don't need to be within 30 feet of Opal. I need to be within 30 feet of myself. Which one can say you always are?

So I'm gonna cast haste on myself. Awesome. Incredible. Yeah, I'm really good at the mechanics of all of this. Sweet, you're doing great. I'm gonna cast haste on myself. That's what I'm gonna use my action for. And then as far as movement,

oh wait, actually, one second, I had a whole plan here. No, it's okay. You know? You went before stuff happened. Yeah. Is there? That's what you get for rolling. Honestly, far too high.

Far too high. Oh, actually, ooh, okay, actually this is what I would love to do. Could I actually move within 10 feet of her? Is that an option? Or was that my move action? Yeah, you get in close and you can, I'll have you make an acrobatics or athletics check

your call to come up onto, like to scramble up the platform to get within 10 feet. Great. Totally good and easy to do. Okay, cool, I'm gonna, platform to get within 10 feet. Great. Totally good and easy to do. Okay, cool. I'm gonna, so I'll make an athletics check. Oh my god, my acrobatics is ass now. It was so good.

It's good to be athletic. But she's a bunny. Oh my god, I rolled another 19. What the hell? Yeah, baby! Let's go! Let's go! Honestly, this is vindication for the last time.

Oh my god! I feel vindicated. Also, don't forget you do have bunny hop. Oh yeah. In instances where you were. Is that a special bunny hop? Rabbit hop, yeah. Stop. Sorry, it's rabbit hop.

I could have said it the cool way. I mean, I don't really need it right now, right? No. If you're like, oh, I don't want to roll like ass, you could also just big, big bounce. Sick. 26. 26?

Yeah, to get up there. And then I would like for my bonus action to- I've missed minis. They're actually so cute. This is nice. Oh, shit, I'll go here. Oh wait, I- Look at these ladies. I lost what I was gonna do.

Okay, I'm gonna- Stand by a weird dick of I'm going to use my vow of enmity. Whoa. I'm gonna utter a vow of enmity against this creature that I can see. What creature? Opal? Opal, yeah, using my channel divinity. As long, it's all the same. I mean, I could just yell at a jewel,

but this is cooler, right? Right? Yeah. Okay, this feels really aggressive, and I like it. I'm learning new magical things about myself. I'm gonna go with vow of what? Vow of enmity, so I gain advantage on attack rolls against the creature for one minute

or until it drops to zero hit points or falls unconscious. Amazing. Ooh, X-Blade's curse retorted with a valid. Oh. Wait, so can you repeat that one more time? What do I do? All I do is gain advantage on attack rolls against you for one minute.

Got it. But I kind of whisper to you, I say, listen, we're gonna get you out of this, okay? I don't know if you can hear me,, we're gonna get you out of this, okay? I don't know if you can hear me, but we're gonna get you out of this. Okay, I can hear you. Just try not to kill me in the process. No, no, no, I'm just gonna knock you out a little.

Okay, great, okay. And I wanna be so clear that that is a telepathic bond. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What you are looking at is a stone-cold opal with no visible sclera, iris. Pupil just turns to you the moment that vow hits. That's all you get. All right, anything else?

I don't think I can. You're hasted, so you have 47 things you can do, I think. Oh my god, okay. It's the scariest spell I don't even know. One more action, right? Yeah. Do I get to do it on? You have 37 actions. That's cool. spell. One more action, right? Yeah. Do I get to do it on? You have 37 actions, 96 bonus actions, and 400 feet of movement, delightful. Oh my god, where does it explain

what my hasted action is? I don't think I ever actually saw it. Hasted action is generally an attack. Oh my god. Or anything else that's an action. You can't cast another spell necessarily, but you can be like a dodge, or it can be other standard action.

Warlocks need that. Oh my gosh, okay. I don't even have haste. She almost cast it on you. I tried to give her money about it. That was a massive mistake on my part. Look, you still win 30, that's $60. That's fully a skill issue on my part. I don't admit that lightly.

No, it's all good. No, you're perfect. But I guess for my hasted action, which again, I don't know where that is here, but thank you for letting me know. I tried to find it. It's all good. I'm gonna take my crystal rapier,

and I'm gonna go for an attack. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna roll to hit. Oh, and I have advantage, huh? Yeah, you do. You sure do. Okay. I'm squishy.

That's a 17. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Roll again just to see if it's a 17. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24. Roll again just to see if it's a grid. No. So 24 to hit. Matthew, watch this. I said you have a fit! We need you on this thing to hit. I'm on everyone's side.

Fair. You're good. I'm Dariax. What a nice guy. What a nice guy. What a nice guy. One D8 plus two, that's a three. And then I get improved Divine Smite, so I'm gonna roll another D8. Passively I get another, and so that's a four.

And then I am going to, I'm gonna use Divine Smite at fourth level. And is she a fiend? She is not. No? That's your friend Opal. Well. She's just a little guy.

She's just a little, oh, she's just a little guy? Okay, not right. Whatever you say. All she did was go, I'm gonna choke my friend a little bit and make duels on the ground, and then you decided to murder her. I bet that part. I don't know, I'm just feeling bad friend a little bit and make duels on the ground and then you decided to murder her. I bet that part.

I don't know. I'm just I'm just feeling bad feelies about all this so I would much prefer to have her unconscious so we could deal with this in like a more... For sure. Yeah. You could certainly try. Yeah. Um... In a more civilized manner. So I'm casting it at 4th. So I think that gives me 5d8.

So I'm gonna do 5d8 more damage. Okay. Where are we at? That's a 1. That was not an 8. That's an are we at? That's a one. That's an eight. Yep. That's a one. And that's a three. Three, 13 and nine from before.

Wait, five, right? One more? Five, eight, yeah. Yeah, one more. Yeah, one more. That's a five. 18 plus the nine from before. Yep, so we're at 27.

Yeah. 27 points of damage. Yeah. That you put into your friend. Yeah. What does it look like as you attack her with your crystal rapier? Murder, it's murder, that's what it is.

I don't think that I do it with pleasure. I think it's a very like, I walk up to her and I sink that rapier into like, I can't even do her, like I can't even do her stomach. I walk up to her and I sink that rapier into, I can't even do her stomach. I have to do her thigh, and I just rip it down her thigh. Ouch. And I just going,

I'm sorry, I think this is what I need to do. I'm sorry. Opal. Mm-hmm? You take none of that damage. Oh, okay. You feel the dagger sink into her thigh, and that second set of arms grabs the blade at the bottom and pushes forward and pushes out,

and what walks in front of Opal? Where are my little minis? Where's my little guy? I don't think you've had the pleasure of meeting Ted. Oh! Oh! Your blade is sunk into the dark shadow of something that looks like Opal,

but where Opal is all like thin, smooth lines and like liveness. This is like if Opal did CrossFit for three years and was like pure raw red meat diet. Oh my God. This is like meat beast Bandersnatch Opal that is holding the blade in her thigh and walks forward. Like Ted took no damage? Ted is going to take all of that damage.

Opal takes none. But you have effectively separated Opal and the other half of her soul. She looks at you, eyes as blank as Opal's are now, and pushes your sword back and out of her thigh, and reaches behind her and pulls out a massive sword of her own.

Oh. I get another attack, right? Or do I not? Yeah, you have two. Did you do both of your attacks? No, I just did one. Okay, yeah, attack again. All right.

In this moment, Morgan's almost a little bit relieved because there's something else to fight other than Opal, and I'm like, okay, maybe she's got, like, this proxy. Do I have any blood on my hand, or was there no Opal blood on my hands, like, when I sunk that dagger in? When you sunk that dagger in, you, like, Opal began to bleed, and then the shadow walked forward,

and the shadow shadow walked forward. And the shadow does not bleed. Okay. So what you have on you is a little bit of Opal's blood. Okay, gotcha. Okay, cool. Well, I'm just going to go at Ted again with my... Or at Ted... Now I know it's Ted.

Fuck you, Ted. I'm going to go at Ted with my crystal rapier again. And I have advantage, right? You have advantage on opal. Oh, just on opal. Wait, I thought it was all, oh, that's, oh. Dirty. Hey, bud. Dirty, dirty.

That's a 15. It's not even real pretty. As you go. 22. It's okay, baby. Ted is going to scream across the bond. Ted is going to scream across the bond. No, no, no, stop! And that's going to be her verbal component

for casting Shield, which is going to turn Ted's AC to 23. Woosh. All right. You hesitate for just long enough that her blade goes and deflects, and she stands interposing between the two of you. Her mouth doesn't move,

but you can hear Ted in your head across the bond. What are you doing? Why are you attacking her? Do you think I'm an idiot? I know something bad is about to happen here. What? You could help. Why is the first thing you do drawing blood?

I don't know. I will protect her at any cost. I will protect her at any cost. And if that means, and at this point, you all hear Ted's voice getting quiet, not you, as she stays in your head. If that means I have to slaughter you, you can be the first body to drop.

And you hear the skittering of spiders. Anything else you want to do? You still have 400 feet of movement. We like to move away from these things. You can go do anything else in the world. You could go to a different campaign with the rest of your movement. I like to go to a Denny's. Arby's maybe?

You find an Arby's. You get a giant hot dog that looks like a pussy. You haven't forgotten that. We haven't forgotten. I get a giant hot dog. I look at it. It's actually Marisha. It's Marisha.

In my car. Hot dog. Yeah. I'll never forget it. I'm so sorry. Yeah, I'd like to move away, please. And where do I find this information about my hasted movement? So haste is just double movement.

So whatever your movement speed is, you can double that. Okay, gotcha. Thank you. And don't forget, you got a plus two to your AC while haste is up. Oh, sick. Yeah. You're incredibly hard to hit. Oh, and don't forget, when you use your hasted attack,

you only get one attack, even if your paladin abilities would give you a second attack. Oh, okay. Wait. Okay, okay. And you can attack twice, and then you can use your hasted attack to do a third. There you go. So you're good. Okay.

You did it right. Cool. You're perfect and above reproach. Just so you know, you're kind of at the edge of this platform. If you move away more than five feet, Ted will get an attack of opportunity on you. But you can just sort of skirt around both of these problems. Yeah. Where do you want to be?

Do you want to try to get behind? Like, what are you trying to do? Probably like back there, maybe? Like back near that rock. Back here? Or back there. No, back. Further back that rock. Back here? Or back there. No, further back, please. Back here?

If you leave that threatened range, she's going to get an attack. Oh, okay. Let me just, as far back as I can get without doing that thing you said. You move just sort of over here to kind of turn around. It also gives your friends, like, a clear view on what's going on.

And you realize you're standing under your feet. You see, like, an arrangement of an arrangement of those opalescent gems. It's a little pattern of four. No perception check. It looks like a dick. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Under your feet. Wow, that's so big.

Stop it! No, no, no, no! There it is! I knew it. There it is. I knew it. Wow. Everybody drink. Perfect. I'm so big. Stop it! No, no, no, no! There it is! I knew it. There it is. I knew it. Wow. Everybody drink. Perfect. I'm so distracted. Perfect. There's an ash hole right next to it.

No! Yes! Full circle. As it gives under your foot, your feet are cracking across this, and you're like, oh, there's something to it. You feel something magical as your feet skirt across it.

If you put more pressure on it, you can break them, but they are something to be interacted with and are magical. You're just a pure paladin. You just get that for free. Yeah. I'm pretty cool, I guess. Piss. Hey, welcome back.

You rolling well is terrifying. I love that. I love that for me. I love that for all of us. Next up is Dorian. Fy'ra, you're on deck. Oh snap. A little bit.

I got to take this back in time a second, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like 24 seconds ago, we were strolling through a second, right? Yeah, yeah. Like 24 seconds ago, we were strolling through the forest, right? Okay, cool. And Dorian was kind of up front, like just kind of tooting a little tune on his flute, kind of okay in his own zone.

And then in that amount of time, Opal levitated, burst forth spider webs and gems, shot a bolt and nearly killed one of our friends. Several. Morgan immediately just stabbed her in the leg. A demon person burst forth in the last half a minute or so. Not even half a minute.

Not even. Not even. Yeah, yeah, so. It really popped off. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Processing Dorian just. He takes his last little toot and all of a sudden. Double toot? Yeah, yeah. Is he in tune with the toot? You see his wing boots engage

and he starts to look up at everything that just transpired. As he flutters past, Fjera arrives, still got his flute, and he goes, Better get your head in the game, bossy genasi. Tootity-toot! And gives Bardic Inspiration. Oh! He's been working on his nicknames.

And he's going to use his movement to fly kind of like underneath that ridge, trying to stay out of sight a little bit. Okay. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Yeah, sneak past the ooey gooey. Ooey gooey. He has thoughts for a moment of trying to engage

and just kind of goes, eh. And I would like to try to get up to Opal and grapple her. Okay. Yeah. I think you've got some movement for that. Just strength. I got 40 feet now. Yeah, her. Okay. Yeah. I think you got some movement for that. Just strength. I got 40 feet now. Yeah, you're good. Yeah. All right, grapple check.

Go ahead and give me an athletics check. Strength save. Okay. Ooh. Athletic. Oh, that's a natural 20. Hey! However, I have a minus one in strength. That is a 19 20. However, I have a minus one in strength. That is a 19.

This is a... Uh-oh. That is a four. Plus 13. Is it really plus 13? My athletics is plus 13. Scary. That almost did it, and that's hilarious.

But it didn't. So I'm going to fly up to her and say, Are you okay? Ciao! Try to give her a big hug. What do you do? What can I do? You roll higher, so you can tell me

how you avoid being grappled. Okay, so in the telepathic bond, I say, that's a nice hug, you've never hugged me before. But in person, you literally, I guess one of my arms just goes, just dead face, just picks him up. I'm assuming that arm is strong, I don't fucking know. It just kind of goes.

I like it. The fact that you're levitating means you're very light. You're just like, okay. Yeah. Boink. Okay. I'm going to lose it now. Dorian has completely disappointed himself

that that didn't work, and he's just in that bush, behind where I got dropped off, and just goes, oh. And that's it. That's all I can do. That's bonus action action movement. So that completes my turn. While you're here, go ahead and give me,

I love the idea of feeling forward. So you don't manage to grapple her, but you get in close close and you're incredibly tight with whatever magic fuckery is happening with Opal right now. You can hear in your mind the difference between what she is thinking and saying to you versus her actions.

So I want you to tell me a rule you think Dorian would make to try to figure out what's going on. Oh my god. Give you a little intel. Yeah, not his top tier. Are you not curious? If you're not fundamentally curious, we can move on.

I am very curious about what's happening right now, but I got nothing good. All, all, all. Arcana, Investigation, Perception, Insight. All doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. I mean, what I would do is try to convince her to tell me something, like persuasion, maybe? But is that too active?

No, no, no, I like that. Make a persuasion check to try to keep Opal, not the thing acting, but the person inside talking. And we can talk mentally? Yes, you can. Hey, buddy, you want to tell me what's going on? Oh my fucking god. Nat 1, plus, plus, plus 13, 14.

You want to tell me what's going on? It's not nothing. It's still 14, it's high. It's still a nat 1. You want to tell me what's going on? Here's the thing, that's still a nat one. Yeah. So, Amy.

Yeah? Love of my life. I would love if you would respond less as Opal, who is confused, and more as the Opal that is acting right now, as that part of you leans in a little bit and addresses Dorian.

I think she says, She doesn't know. Who's she? You're she. Am I? Are you? Are you? Are you? Dariax nosebleeds just a little.

Yeah! So does the Spider Queen, who's like, what is happening? The Spider Queen's always working so hard. Incredible. Moe. Fy'ra Rai, you are up. Okay, question.

This choking business, am I grappled? Or am I just, that was just damage? It's just the feeling of whatever Opal's magic is feels like a hand around your throat. It's for vibes. It does not mechanically affect you. Lots of stuff going through my brain. How you doing?

Nah,. Okay, so. I just had one sister who decided that she wanted to try to kill me somewhere between the time when I thought she was dead and discovered she was alive. But I've seen this happening with Opal over time, and I think I can shake off the so much of me is feeling again double betrayed, but I know it's not her. I just know. And over the

last few weeks, I think I've been asking the Wildmother, I've been asking for the site to give me some insight as to what is going on and what is going on specifically with Opal. So before I do anything, can I go back to those two weeks and do a little check in? Ooh, absolutely. Go ahead and give me, what do I want to call that? Let's make it either religion or insight. Yeah, we'll do insight. Okay.

No one wants a religion check. Well, you're going to go talk to the gods, but you don't want to use ant? 25. Well, shit. It's always been insight for the well. Of course. I'll take it. Insight is a slightly different understanding of this.

You are looking at the heart of your friend and not necessarily the interaction between the god whose purview she has committed to. Okay. Shush. Apparently. That was the Wild Mother telling you to give me a message.

What did she say? What did she say? She said, Google Password required. Oh, I... It's one, two, three, four. We'll do this as a series of questions. I can either offer you generic knowledge, or that's a very high roll.

You can be specific and I'll give you specific answers. Oh, it's so fun talking GM to GM now. Is there? Yeah. Yeah! Is there? Oh, oh, oh! I didn't even know I was right there talking to him! No, you.

It's you! It's you! It's you, baby girl! I did a thing! Let's go! Is there anything that I can do to peel her away from whatever is happening? Is there anything you can help me do

to peel her away from what is happening? You, Wildmother. Those are two very specific questions. And the Wildmother who, strangely enough, has been... At first you got signs from her. And then in your time traveling with the Crown Keepers, you had full verbal communication. But it seems as though she has stepped back again and speaks in sign and feeling. Your first question, what can you do to peel away? You feel a little bit of hesitation.

Remove the crown. You have a sense of a stinging and burning briars or nettles in your scalp at your hairline, ripped away. The second question, what could she, the Wild Mother, do? Is met like a sudden gust of wind blocking your path. Why would she?

Why would she stop what's happening? Well, that's unexpected. I'll give you one more question, if you want to follow either of those leads. You can find out more about the Wild Mother's resistance, or you can find out more about the nature of Opal's interaction with the spider coin. I know this isn't over.

What do you need from me to help her? What do you need from me to help her? A specific set of questions. You feel the nature of the Wild Mother's answer. Like if you stood in a field of kudzu as it rapidly grows around your ankles, binding you. A twist of words. What could I do to help you help her?

And again, you get that sense of briars and prickling, stinging things across those vines. Why would I stop this from happening? Not out of fury, but again, out of fear. And then once more, you feel at your temple, the crown, and a flash of blinding pain to let you know the cost of separating Opal from the crown she donned willingly.

You flash back to here and now. Fy'ra Rai, what do you do? All right. I look at Opa, and I say with a telepathic bond, I am sorry. And I say out loud, you can't have her. And I use my ki points to pull my hand back,

and in my hand, you see appear a whip, but it's made of thick lava, and I swing it around between, like, to her actual body, and not to Ted, so around her. Okay. And I attempt to lava whip her back to me. Okay.

I make an attack roll, knowing that Ted is providing partial cover, so her AC. Right, but it's a whip. It's a whip. It can go around, right? It's a dex save on her part. It's a dex save on her part. And actually, you know what?

I can move so that I have a straight line beside her. Oh, sure, sure, sure. Maybe not that far. Can I get closer to, like halfway through? Halfway between the two. Here? Yeah, but back closer to the, yeah. Do I roll a dex save?

Dex save. That is a 16. Meets it, beats it, yeah. Okay, so you go. That is a 16. Beats it, beats it. Yeah. Okay, so you take- As a reaction. There it is. I'm going to use Armor of Hexes. Okay. Which is if a target of your Hexblade's curse hits you with an attack roll, use reaction.

She didn't hit. Huh? She didn't hit you. She did hit me. You said it hits me. You made the save, so it just says half damage. Oh, is it going to be half damage? Yeah. Oh, then yes, this all goes through. Continue.

Okay, I can use my reaction to roll a d6. On a four or higher, the attack misses. It's a two. Okay, so it's 3d10 bludgeoning, but halved. Oh. I have 94 dice and I can't think straight right now. I can't figure out which one is which.

Which one is which? That's a lot of dice. Seven, eight, eight and six, 14, so seven. You have a stadium of dice that get to watch. Yeah, yeah! It's crazy! No, it's,. I'm so confused. They would, they would.

It's like a full jury. They didn't do very well, so you're going in the penalty box. Penalty box. Oh my god. They got to go in. Penalty box, penalty box. Totally going in the penalty box.

Have you wanted to go into the penalty box? Okay, so it's seven damage. That's it. Yep. But, so that is my action. I am going to use my... Sorry. I've been dying to do it for like an hour. It's not even sorry.

I'm going to use my movement, the rest of my movement. Fuck, you guys. Everything I thought I knew about the world is untrue. I don't want to be grouped up like that. No, it's probably fine. It's fine. It's probably fine.

I'm so sorry. I rolled a little low. We're about to beat their ass in a second. Don't you worry. No, no, no, no. We're coming. How you doing? How you holding up? I'm cold. Cool. You seem a little cold and lonely.

I'm going to get you a friend. I am going to use the, sorry? I was going to say, what does that mean? Continue. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. I am going to spend... I'm going to move even further that way. Yeah.

I'll figure it out. You move across another dick of gems. Excellent. Do I feel the, do I have any information? You feel the dick under your feet. Yes, I do. But do I have any kind of sensation of what those things are or any?

As you move across, you feel, as you give it a little test, like, what the shit is under my foot? It feels crushable, and as you lean into it, it feels like, you know what? Go ahead and give me... What do I want this to be? I mean, insight check.

27. The moment your heel brushes across the back of it, it feels like it brings a memory to mind. Ooh. All of a sudden your mind snaps to a conversation you had with her forever ago, but you don't press and you're keeping your eye on her and trying to figure out what's going on.

So it's like the beginning of your mind beginning to wander and you snap and call it to attention as you cross over. And then for my final thing as a bonus action, I'm going to spend one key point to take the dodge action, just in case some shit goes down. Because some shit's gone down! Preventative dodge? I was not prepared. A preventative dodge?

Yeah, so that's, I believe that's all I got. Incredible. Now I get to go. Oh no. I'm skittering. But why? But why? The skittering. But why? But why? The skittering gets much louder. Ooh, ooh, ooh!

It's like the Jumanji spiders. They are like those real fat-bodied Jumanji spiders. Don't get Jumanji! Theak! Theak! Oh, you put the little gems on there. That's cute. Is that the one redeeming quality?

As long as they're cute, you're fine with it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a fine with it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a cute guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, Opal is me. I ain't her. I ain't you. Oh. I don't even have a spider thing, and those are gross.

And one more back here. Just a bunch. Just a couple. There's a couple. There's so many of you, and just a couple of me. They're fine. They enter onto the field as all of you hear inside the bond and inside the world around you, the laughter.

Those of you that have had time and interactions with the Spider Queen know her voice. You won't stop me from making her mine without killing her. So what are you all prepared to do? Because I will not die to that. And with that, that, you all feel a flash of red behind your eyes.

Oh no. And the spider way back over here is going to move to a little stack of dicks. Oh boy. Oh shit. Those gems. And reaches down and scoops them up. And you all see they flash in the midday sun

and crush them. And Opal, you feel something go away forever, and you know it in the moment as you lose it. There's a part of your past. passed. You never really understood what your deal was with Ted. Who she was to you was your sister, but why did she disappear? Why was she inside you? Why did all of the events that brought you to these people,

how did they all come to pass? And there's a story you remember now, but how could you remember a thing that your mother told you and Ted when you were three years old, as she tucked you in shortly before she disappeared from your home and from your life and by Rodan? There's a word.

Evelux. A splinter group. She tells a story, looking at you kindly with shining eyes, mismatched color. A long time ago, a group of people found something called a beacon. And they learned from it some great entity or god, a concept that sought to know itself, to understand via experience in the world of Exandria,

it split itself apart. This one found far away. These people that worshiped Luxon, that's the word, the Luxon, found created magics within themselves Luxon, that's the word, the Luxon, found created magics within themselves to split their own souls apart so that they could learn who they were via observation. As a child torn in two,

you observe yourself, you learn who you are, what you like, what you want, what you need, your purpose, and then rejoin, find unity once more. Your mother was one of these people. Ah, and so Ted. Opal, Georgina, are you. You and Ted found each other again, reunited to something stronger than your holes.

You understand yourself because you understand Ted. Ted wants to protect you because she is protecting herself. She's not lost to you, she is you. And you are something rare and magical in the world of Exandria, and the memory of that is gone forever in the moment of knowing it. The other spiders skitter in, getting closer.

Let's see. I see them over here. They're going to close a little bit. I think this one can get just a little closer. And the one beside Dariax is not going to be able to get in and fight yet. They just appear on the field. And you see all of you, as they arrive on the field,

they look between you as combatants and those gems on the ground and in the trees and in the webs, unsure of their targets, but deciding between both. Do we see anything visibly happen to Opal as that is crushed, or is that all internal? I will allow for Opal to respond in the telepathic bond, if you want to.

Am I aware of having lost it? Yeah. But I can't recall the memory. Yes. So it's like. It's like when you know you had a nightmare, and then the moment you wake up, you're like, that sucked, what was it's like. It's like when you know you had a nightmare. But you can't. And then the moment you wake up, you're like, that sucks. What was it? Yeah.

I think you just hear like, ouch. That's it. Okay. Next up is Ted and then Dariax. Oh, that's right, I'm in this. Buddy, you rolled very low. Dariax just wandered off. Yeah, yeah, in. But you rolled very low! Derek just wandered off. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He didn't see what was happening. I'm finishing half a sandwich in the corner, and I'm like, what's up? Yeah, yeah. One of those old meat pies we had from the first book. What is our easier mate? Yeah, Ted knows a good target when she sees it. She's going to round on you

and make a pair of attacks. That'd be nice. Does a 23 hit? Yes. Does a 18? If it's the same, does it hit? Meets it, beats it, yeah. Okay, gotcha. Then yes.

Okay. Let's get those two in. Oh wait, is that including your hasted? Yes, my AC is 20. Okay. So the 18 wouldn't hit? The 18 doesn't hit. Oh, yes! Yeah, okay. I was just looking at what I was looking at.

No, you're good, you're good, you're good. Cool, cool, cool. Hell yeah. We love it. I don't think there is. Is there? Yeah. It doesn't augment the reading. Yeah, it doesn't. It just tells you in the spell what it does. Yeah, it doesn't. I only know how to read things that are there.

You know what I mean? That's how reading works. I'm pretty sure that that's what reading is, yeah. You're going to take 14 points of piercing damage from this dark blade. Okay. And now I need you to make a concentration check to see if your haste stays up.

Oh, good. So it is half damage. I think I said earlier it was the full damage. So you just have to beat a 10 with a constitution save. All right, well. Yeah, as in 19. Yeah, you're great. So wait, I do, okay.

This is so small. Yep. Okay, so I take 14 damage? Yep. And she's going to do her best to try to like get in and reinterpose herself between you and Opal. Her primary goal is to keep your attention on her

and keep you away from Opal. Okay. And you said, sorry to clarify, the spiders looked at the dick gems and then also at us wondering what they should. Yes. But I looked at the dick gem and said, oh, that looks crushable.

You did get a sense of of submissive and crushable from these, but I think you see in the moment that you hear Opal say, ow, you have a vantage point on that spider in the back that lifted up and broke some of the gems, that perhaps breaking the gems is bad for Opal. Okay, gotcha, No matter who does it. Great, gotcha.

Cool, cool, cool. Sick. Cool, cool, cool. That's Ted's turn. Dariax, you're up. Opal, you're on deck. All right, seeing all this go down at the get-go and then everyone rush in, there's a moment of Dariax just like,

what's happening? Then looks over and sees this change in Opal that he still hasn't even processed since all this went down. There's this ping of worry and sadness that hits him. He's like, Oh, Opal.

He's saying this out loud. He doesn't understand until it works. Baby. My son. Baby. We're going to get you. Don't just... We're going to get you. Don't worry, we're going to get you. Right, everybody? Right?

He's going to cast Bless at second level. Goddamn it! That's what I do. I hate it here. So that's going to be, so it's three, four. Yeah. Yeah, pick your four. No, it's us four here. We all have Bless on us.

Okay. Not Cyrus, who said, yeah, us four here. We all have Bless on us. Okay. Not Cyrus, who said, yeah! From behind a tree! There's no Cyrus! He's not on it, don't worry about it. After all the hand he serves? You know what? That's right. Can I get anyone that exists back there

bring me anything for Cyrus? We gotta... There might be some minis to your left over there. Would you like 900? You can grab one of those. Okay. It's gonna be one of these guys. He got a hand though.

He's gonna be a part of that. Did it mean nothing to you? Oh my god. Give me a performance check. Oh boy. I don't know who we are. Ah! Fuck.

I just wanna know how good a job you did. Babe. You only rolled three this initiative, so I don't think it's great. Like only a virgin knows how. That is a seven. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. OTBHJ. Baby! He's gonna cage it. He's gonna stay back here and be like, a three is about as far an initiative. He's like, mm. It's a third level bless.

I'm gonna give it to him anyway. Oh, I know. Wait, what does that mean for us? What, D4, I think? D4, right? It's a third-level blast. I'm going to give it to him anyway. Wait, what does that mean for us? What, d4, I think? Plus d4, right? Is it you add a d4 to any attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws?

Oh my gosh. Ability checks, too. What's that? All right, so I'm like, we're going to get you, girl, we're going to get you. Well, how do we get it? What are we doing? He's going to start panicking, and he's going to start rushing up to try and join the rest of them in the front. He's going to start climbing up the side. I don't know what we're doing! What are we doing?

Where are you going? Are you trying to get up here? Yeah, get up on the edge there. All right, go ahead and give me athletics or acrobatics. You're going to pass a little thing of Dick Dems on the way. I have an 11 passive perception. So she goes, oh pretty, and then keeps going. Baby. Oh, that's a seven.

Uh-oh. Ay-yi-yi. What's more important to Dariax in this moment? Making it up or preserving himself? Oh, making it up. He has no sense of self-preservation in this moment. Roll a d4 for me. Okay.

Two. Yeah, you take two points of scrapey damage. Ow, ow, ow. Like a little bit on your palm. That kind of, you're just like, ah, it's fresh, yeah. Yeah. And then, let's see, as a bonus action,

he's going to look over at Dorian across the way, after he's being plucked and pulled into the air, be like, Don't worry, we all believe in you. You're a fearless leader, and you can do this. Oh, what? And he's going to give him a d6 bardic inspiration die.

Yeah! Taking a few levels of training up under his buddy. Fancy boy! Super genius! I told you, pursuing a life in the arts isn't worth it! I've done nothing worth anything, so I'm not changing anything in my trajectory. You hear a guitar string go.

Yes. Okay, thank you. Incredible. Nett's going to play my turn. Perfect. Oat Bowl. Now, does Ted, do we have the same abilities? No, Ted has a different skill set than you. I think it's still worth it.

I'm going to... I'm standing close enough to her, right? I'm standing pretty close within five feet? Yeah, you're within melee. She keeps interposing herself between you and, very specifically, Morgan. Okay, I'm going to say, Ted, first of all, you look great.

Second of all, I know you're just trying to help, but I'm going to cast Darkness on both of us. So Darkness is an AoE. So you have to pick a point in the world to cast it on. Right where I am, and she is. Amazing. How big is your darkness? I get to use it. Thank you.

I'm so happy. This is so good, I never get to play with this. Okay, so 15 foot radius. Centered entirely on you. That's going to catch everyone. Oh no! Do any of you have the ability to see through magical darkness?

No. Not darkvision. No, I don't. I do. Oh no! That's awesome! That's awesome! That's great! I love awesome! I got it!

I love it! I get the Paul Hollywood handshake. My sweaty hands. With all the love in my heart, fuck him up. Well, I was just trying to get Ted not to fuck him up. But I think that's the only thing I can do, and I burn his mouth a lot, one of my three. Maybe we can't see.

You can't see shit. Yeah, I think that's all I can do except for move. Okay. And I don't want to move because if I move. Why not? Well, let me ask you this. So it's 15 foot radius, if I move. So it's technically a static, look,

I understand I've tried to cheese this a lot, where you're like, I put it on my body, so I'm always the center of it. Technically it's a fixed point in the world. So then I'm definitely not gonna move, right? So you can move around and stay in, where you dropped it is where this is. It's not going to move with you.

So you can move, you will not provoke opportunity attacks. Well, then I would say that I, I mean, I don't want to, but for the purposes of this, I would probably move us there so we could get a good shot of everyone. Perfect. Oh yeah, I would.

You're sure there? Yeah, okay. Ted's going to stay and keep doing the damn thing. Is that still in darkness? Yes. And am I in darkness? Yeah. You are not in darkness. But what you just see is a big old dome of dark.

You cannot see inside it. And they can't see me, but I can see them. Yep. Correct. You have perfect vision on everyone. Shit. But you know what you do have? What? You got a little buddy.

Oh! You're familiar, Kenne act, on this turn. But you know what you do have? What? You got a little buddy. Your familiar can act on this turn. I do want to. I need you to kill them. Okay, well. I don't know what my familiar can do, actually. I don't have, can my familiar do anything? Or what can it do?

The spider? I need to pay some battle. Just go pee. No, I don't want to miss anything. Go pee, you're good. Yeah, we're going to watch. Don't want to miss a thing. If you pee now, you won't miss anything

because we're just looking up how Find Familiar works. Look really slow, okay? I got that. Don't piss long. Your familiar acts independently, but obeys your command. Oh my god, what's happening is so cool right now! Whoa! Sweet.

It can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal. Correct. I will say, an important thing for your familiar is it can deliver touch spells on your behalf. So you can set up future things if you want with it. Okay. Also, you can use it to give yourself the help action so that when you attack something,

you attack it with advantage, which you're already doing because nothing you can see. Then I guess I will go to, she's not here. Thankfully she can't hear me do it. Can I have my familiar, make some movement towards Fira Rai? Okay. I don't know where it is. Let's get you a little guy.

I ran out of normal tiny spiders because I used them all. Them all? Huh? You used them all? I used them all. I could have used a different boy. It's funny, I'm going to bring out a very big guy. Please don't do that. Ooh, okay. All? Huh? You used them all? I used them all. I could have used a different boy. It's funny, I'm gonna bring out a very big guy.

Please don't do that. Ooh, okay. I understand, we all understand emotionally that it's a spider, but I'm gonna use this really cute little squirrel. Cute. Oh my gosh. Sorry, I was just a little guy.

Squirrel? Yeah. Squirrel's gonna get right up next to Fu, right? Spider squirrel. Spider squirrel? Uh-huh, Spider squirrel girl. So Opal's familiar just crawled out of the darkness and is looking up at you, and just does the little hairy jumping spider.

Can I do anything, or that's the whole turn? That's it, that's your turn. Does it look fierce? Does it look like it's on my side or not? You know what? Insight check. Ooh! Oh, look at the guy! That's perfect. And a little dick. Oh my god, it really does.

Yeah. You did that. Blame Dani. We were trying to come up with an array that you all could see. 22. Oh, 22. 22. Dani's like, they could see dicks. You see that this thing has never attacked you,

probably cannot attack you, but is trying to set up something for the future. Is not necessarily friendly to you. This is not a going, oh, please, please help my mistress. Above, I don't know, what do you call it? Above table, above game, in a way? Things, do we know how, do we know what happens to her familiar

if it goes under zero hit points? If it dies? Or does it just go away? It goes away. This is a thing that happened before, I believe, in Kymal. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah, it goes away, and then she just has to spend an hour resummoning it,

and I'm pretty sure Oblin's bitched about how hard it is. Excellent. But it's fine. Perfect. Yeah, at the bottom of the order, Cyrus just goes, I can't see anything! Hey, bro! Yes? Bro! Can you hear me?

It's dark in there. I am blind, not deaf, yes, go on. Urine, it's dark where, go on. Um, urine. It's dark where you are. Urine? There's urine somewhere? Like a little bit, but we don't have to talk about it right now. I'll get it in a second.

I'm very nervous. It's okay. I'm scared too. Yeah. What do you want me to do? I don't know. What do you see around you? Big ass black bubble.

Bubble. Don't punch the bubble. You want me to punch the bubble? Bubble, don't punch the bubble. You want me to punch the bubble? No, don't punch the bubble. I can shoot it with my arrow. No, no, don't! All of us in unison? Yeah.

Okay, okay, okay. What do I do? Kill a spider. In general, they're bad. Okay. He's gonna peek around this corner and come all the way over here and unleash on this spider in front of him.

He's still level six. What? Oh no! What? He hasn't learned anything? He would not be a himbo if he had learned a lesson. He was too busy getting hit. Frankly, I think it's crazy that Dariax is so high. He was too busy spending time trying to allow Opal to give bad handy.

Yeah. He was level 10, but the handy was so bad. Just learning. The handy was so bad. And busted his ass back down to six. I can't unsee that. I can't unfeel that. Not good.

How do you do? Oh, gosh. You see him. None of you see anything. Fear or I? Yes. You actually see Cyrus unleashes a bow, and it glints off the big bubble butt of this spider. Bubble butt. Bubble butt.

Harmlessly. And the spider rears back and he's like, fuck! Do better! Help! Help! Help! And he just is staring at you going, help! Help! The spider hasn't moved. He's just nervous about the future.

And we are back up to the top. Morgan, you're up. It is dark as shit. It's dark as shit. Did I see where Fy'ra was before? Wait, hold on. There is one more thing I want to do. I always forget between rounds.

Classic, classic. We're at round two now. Yeah. It's dark. It's going to be fine. We're fine. I need everyone, including Opal, to make a wisdom saving throw. Uh-oh.

Difficulty is 18. Uh-oh. A wisdom saving? Oh my god. 18. No! Why can't I have that? I didn't know. 18.

Exactly 18. 12 plus six is 18. Okay, perfect. 12 plus six is 18. You're perfect. Oh, you got it. Meets it, beats it. Oh, exactly 18. 12 plus six is 18. 12 plus six is 18, you're perfect. Meets it, beats it. Oh, plus everybody gets four. All of us get four. You do all get a plus four on saves.

Not you, Opal. It's okay. But you made it, so you're okay. Plus six. Oh, 18. Yeah, you make it. Oh wait, plus four or plus a d4? Plus a d4, oh sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

It wasn't 26, it was 20. That's just on attack rolls. Attack rolls and saving throws. 19, 19. 19. 18 minus one, plus two, baby. Yay! Thanks, bud.

17 minus one. Oh, plus two? Plus one, so 17. Oh, all right? Plus one, so 17. Yeah! All right! That's so unthinkable. We got it! Oh, wait, wait, wait, are you within 10 feet of me? I am.

You have plus three to, anyone within 10 feet of me gets a plus three to all bonus to all saving throws. Yeah! Yeah! For our own protection, baby! 20, baby! Let's go!

Let's go! We love this. It's in the rules! yeah! We have power! Let's go! Love it. It's in the rules! It's in the rules! It's in the rules! The rules of the game say I can do this. That's awesome, hell yeah. Incredible.

You all feel something wash over you. A sense of helplessness, of momentum shifting, and you reach towards the magic that you share with one another and shake it off. It is artificial and foreign to you, pressed on you by the magic of the Spider Queen

that is trying to get you to leave Opal alone. Back up to the top, Morgan, you're up. Did I see where Fy'ra was before you all got dark? Yes. So I did. Could I roughly estimate that perhaps I wanted to rabbit hop over to her? You could try.

All right. I'm going to go, I'm going to yell out. Have you ever jumped in the pure dark? It's not a matter of? Absolutely. I'm in Kaimo all the time. It's dark all the time, and I'm in vaults, and those are dark, so yeah, obviously. It's not a matter of. Absolutely, I'm in, I'm all the time. It's dark all the time and I'm like in vaults and those are dark, so yeah, obviously. That's confident.

Obviously. I move in the darkness. I slither, I slide. And hop. I can't believe it. She hopped. I slither, I slide. I slip and slide, it's dark in there.

Casinos are all dark and seedy, you know how it goes. The Maiden's Wish was dark all the time. They had electrical issues. Their casinos are all dark and seedy. You know how it goes. The Maiden's Wish was dark all the time. They had electrical issues. Do we have electricity? Yeah. Exandria? I could make an AMF in the dark.

Sorry, the flames were bad. The candles were wet all the time. The candles were so wet. Why? Okay, I'm going to have you make a acrobatics check with disadvantage to Bunny Cop. It's not a matter of like, can you figure out how to jump?

It's the, like, the hard thing about jumping is knowing how to prep yourself to land when you don't see where you're going. What if I Misty Step? Does that change it? Yeah. Oh, ha ha. Go ahead. I'm gonna Misty step down.

I'm gonna use my, yeah, I'm gonna use my bonus action. Can I yell out to Fy'ra? Can I just yell out to her to kind of like place her with my big old ears that I have? Oh, hold on. It does say you teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.

That does present a problem. It does say you teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see. That does present a problem. It does. A little blind jumpity jump, or you could try to blind Misty Step. You know what? I just might hurt you to do it. I only have a plus two to acrobatics, so that's why I'm like, my athletics is really good. Yeah, this is more of a stick the landing so you don't give yourself a stinger in your big old bunny ankles.

Wait, do I have, because of my Vow of Enmity, or do I have, because of hate, do I have, no, that's just on attack. You get to add a d4 to it, though. Okay, okay, I'll roll a disadvantage just to see. Yeah, let's go check. Just to see how it goes. I think it is.

Yeah, it's not skill check. No, it's not. It's attack rolls skill check. It's attack rolls and save. So you're right. I don't do anything. So that's a 10, 11, 12 plus, wait, is it D4? Be right, this is a D4. Don't add a D4.

No, you don't add a D4 to this. I was wrong. Yeah, it's all good. That's a 12. I never remember how Bless works. And then that's a eight. Yeah, so an eight. Okay, you go to bound out and away.

No, six, seven, eight. Oh, like I said, eight. Yeah, like we said. Like you said, you bound out and away and you get clear of it and you're like, jumped a little higher than I thought, gonna land a little harder than you thought. Go ahead and roll a D eight for me.

Okay. Use the die equivalent to the roll you made. A five. Take five points of damage. Cool, but do I land near her? Yeah, you can land exactly where you're heading. Amazing. It's just a matter of like having that problem of like,

oh my God. That's totally fine. Stinger. Puts me at, of like, oh my God. That's totally fine. Stinger. Puts me at, oh God. Oh wait, 79. I literally cannot count. You don't understand. That's okay.

You're doing great. Okay, so I'm right next to Fy'ra. Yep. Correct. Okay, great. I am going to, I feel, sorry, for a little bit of flavor, I am really thinking about what Ted said and honestly it's kind of negated by the fact that like they threw the first punch for sure by like

you know sucker punching Fyetta but also like why was that my first my first reaction and I feel the blood and I can't even see it and it's so sticky and I'm just like it just feels really wrong and bad and I'm sitting there waiting for the Matron of Ravens to, I don't know, say something to me, but I need to do something other than make something bleed. So I hop over to Fy'ra and I look at her and I take my hand and I slam it on her arm

and I heal her with my Lay on Hands pull. Thank you. I'll heal you for as much as you're damaged. That's a lot. Is that 30? For sure, it's 31. It's fine, yeah. All right. Snack.

Let's go. Yeah. What is 65 minus 31? Who could say? 34. Name your names, you know? Name your names! That's going to live inside of my body in a really fun way, like, name your names.

It's a challenge. 31, right? It's an opportunity. Yeah, like, maybe names. It's a challenge. 31, right? It's an opportunity. Yeah, 31, okay. And I'm going to look at her and say, maybe you can bring this to a less bloody conclusion than I would. And then, do I have another action? Because of my haste? Yeah.

Is that little spider fucker right near me? Yeah. Great. I'm gonna stab him. Stabby stab, stabby stab. Great, I'm gonna stab. That's her familiar. I don't care. Okay, I'm just saying. It's not Opal. It's not Opal, it's a spider.

All I'm gonna say, you can absolutely do it, but if you, going off of your stated intent to find something other to do than to make something bleed, I will say you have an opportunity to commune with your deity or right behind you is a big old dick of gems. Well, I don't want to crush the gems. Right, crushing isn't the only option.

You felt, again, as your foot passed over it, you're like, what magical shit is happening right here? What do I do with it? What do I do with it other than crush it? Could I have responded to her? Sure. You turn and you're like, what the fuck do I do with that dick of gems?

I will say, as you heal me, save some of it for Opal. We will need it. Get as many gems as you can. Okay. Okay. Okay. And I'll go walk over to the gem. There's one literally right behind you. Oh, I can't see. It's just a matter of turn.

Oh yeah, sorry. You've got a little screen right here behind you. Okay. And then I'm going to reach down and try to grab them, I guess. You reach out and grab them, and you them away from like this sticky spider web. Yeah. And as you take them into you and you hold them and your intention here is to protect them.

Yeah. Not break them. There is something in that like intention and in that choice. That triggers. A memory. You understand suddenly that you are holding on to some portion of Opal, a bond between the two of you, something that if destroyed by the Spider Queen

or her minions, She will lose forever, and part of it is her connection to you. You think back to when you were still floating so slowly on the brumestone platform. You had all given up your huffing and puffing and doggy paddling behind, and it's a quiet moment.

The rest of the group is sleeping, and you had an opportunity quietly talk. At this point, that raven that you know was connected to the Matron of Ravens has flown away, but there's something in the feeling inside of you. You have not been selected, you haven't made a choice yet, but the connection feels there. And you have an opportunity, as the sun drops behind the mountains, to speak quietly and calmly. Can I ask you a question?

Yeah. When you took that vestige, how did you know it was the right thing to do? Oh, I didn't. I kind of... It was the thing to do at the time. I don't think we ever really know. But...

It doesn't feel bad to have a... purpose. Purpose? That's all I've wanted my entire life. You're so good at so many things. I don't know. I see you and everyone else and it's just... I wouldn't have survived without you.

Yes, you would have. I mean you survived in that dump for all these years. It was pretty bad. Yeah. I don't know. I just I know it's hard and you... you're going through a lot, but... I just want you to know that I... I think you're really cool. going through a lot, but I just want you to know that I, I think you're really cool.

Oh my gosh, I think you're really cool. Like, if I could just like, have a little bit of your personality, like you're so confident, I mean, not in this moment, but usually you're confident and like, just so sexy, and that's, but more than anything else, it kind of seems like, I don't know, like you have an inner strength. I don't have.

Not yet. I'm still young. But, I mean, you're young, too. Oh my god. I can't! You know, when I first saw you at the Maiden's Wish, I thought, oh, no, like, another pretty girl. But then I got to know you, and I was like, oh, wait, actually, if we, like, put our heads together, we can do anything

and, like, look good doing it. I love that for us. I know that sounds really like stupid. No. But there's nothing like being underestimated. Under promise, over deliver. I like that. Me too.

I think you're really pretty too. And I think we're both pretty in kind of like different ways. Totally. So it actually really balances it out. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Hey.

I think you're so good at so many different things. If this doesn't feel like the right purpose for you, then maybe it's just a purpose for a season. You don't have to stick to it. I mean, I have to stick to this. It's stuck to my head. if this doesn't feel like the right purpose for you, then maybe it's just a purpose for a season. You don't have to stick to it. I mean, I have to stick to this. It's stuck to my head. I've tried to take it off. It's on there. It's on there, good.

Yeah, and then she shows her real look, and it's just Grimmson. Oh my god. Yeah, sorry. Morgan's getting a little infected. What? It's getting a little infected. What? It's getting a little infected. Oh, okay. I know, I'm trying my best. But if you just need someone to give you permission

to just follow your heart, you have it. Thank you, Opal. You're welcome. You feel yourself move back from that. Those gems that you claimed here, the Spider Queen can never take. Opal keeps a pillar of her personality and a connection to you.

Aw, that's so cute. That's sweet. Who are you saying that to? That's so sweet. I don't know! I'm holding these gems! And you hear, like, I don't know, promise? I don't know. I'm telling you.

Aw. Aw, and I look and I see my, I see her blood on these dick gems. And I'm like, how could I have done that to her? How could I have hurt her like that? Yeah. Okay. Anything else?

I don't think... A scrillion points of movement. Oh, yeah, I was a septillion point. I'm next to Fyod. I actually think I'm good, question mark? Like, I'm out of the dark, right? Yeah, you're good. Yeah, sure, I'll just hang out.

The question mark killed me, that was great. It's true. That's the reason we're here today. Amazing. Dorian, you're up. Fy'ra, you're on deck. After this deep and true feminine bonding. Dorian is like...

Sorry for the background of that flashback. It's bad. And all of you saw that across the telepathic bond. The moment you interacted with those gems, you triggered the memory of it between the two of you. But because you were all telepathically bonded, it is something you all can and did see. And those of you that weren't there get a new thing.

So some of you have that strange instance of like, oh, I was asleep right there, but now I'm getting a different viewpoint of it. Oh, wow. That's weird. Oh, never mind. Do I have anything else I can do? Can I yell something?

Oh, sure, sure, sure, sure. Okay, I just, because it wasn't like intuitive for me to grab the gems, I was gonna stab them, which like is very much where Morgan's head is, but I'll just yell, grab as many jewels as you can! That's what I said! I'm just saying it louder! Now if you're all right being so bossy, I love you.

I don't know who to listen to! We heard bossy genasi a song and she went. I am just being on brand. Bossy genasi is apparently my name now. Oh my god. Obsessed. Incredible. Love it.

Hey bud. I'm going to fly straight up in the darkness. That's smart. Ascend out of the dome. Is that OK? It's 15 foot, like a dome of influence? Oh my god, Matt, you got so much cool shit. That's what I leave them there for.

Look at that! I'm going to traverse it a little. Now I can see and I go, huh. I am weighed down with so much shit, but I fish around in my backpack for this little mandolin that my boy Dariax gave me. And I strum a beautiful harmonic tune, and with my Kinnaith mandolin,

I'm going to cast Dispel Magic on the darkness. Baby. So I think that just works. What level is darkness? Fifth level. Oh fuck! That might not work. Fifth level.

Fifth level? I'm sorry, do you think we came to fucking play? I didn't know it was fifth level. I don't think I've got that capability. All right, is that- What if I Googled anything to help me? I think you do roll to see if you just- I think it is a rule.

It's a rule. It's a rule. Please piss the rules. Anyone know that? I heard piss. I heard piss too. Yeah! Please piss the rules.

I simply won't. Please piss the rules. I've never played D&D, so it's pretty exciting to see this for the first time. Oh no, I don't have that. You're going to make an ability check using your spellcasting ability. The DC equals 10 plus the spell's level. On a successful check, the spell ends. What do I do here? So it would be...

You can cast Counterspell. Yeah, but, sorry, can I, I'm confused. So he's going to roll for something. Yes, he's going to make an attempt. There's nothing you can do. For sure, and then what does it have to beat? Is it my spell attack? 10 plus the spell's level, so it's going to be a 15.

A 15. It's the ability check. Yeah, yeah. So you roll and add your charisma. Oh, I roll a what? You roll a d20. You roll a d20 and add your charisma. Plus? And my charisma, okay. Three. And then I don't have

a reaction until I find out what that is. You can see it happening, so you're like, oh, you're casting magic. You can counterspell it if you want. I'm flying over it. What if it doesn't work? We'll see. Find out. Hi-yah! Hi-yah!

Same rule. Oh my god. It's the same rule! That's impossible. is cute! Hi-yah! Same rule. Oh my god. That's impossible. Impossible that I jumped up there and did that. Oh no, it's consistent. Yeah, dog shit. Nine.

I chest shit my rolls. Yeah, I fly over and I try to cast it at darkness and . And I'm still flying. I was like, oh damn! Oh damn. And then. I was like, oh, damn. Did he just fart? That was not a direct fart. And Dariax is still in darkness?

No, if you try to fly high enough to be over the darkness. He is. I am. Oh, Dariax is still in darkness. Yeah, yeah. Damn it, I knew I was going to confuse your stupid fucking name. I hate it here! There's so many letters and you didn't pick any different one.

My intent was to dispel the magic and fly over and land next to Dariax, but I'm kind of in flight and it's all happened, my failure happened too quickly to where I could really have a different plan, so I'm going to try the same plan. I'm going to try to use my mind's eye

and imagine where Dariax would be in the darkness based on my keen spatial awareness and drop down next to my buddy below me about 15 feet. Okay, here's what we're gonna do together. I need you to make. You're going back into the dark? Yeah. Yeah. That's love.

I'm with my friend. That is love. Give me with my friend. That is love. Give me an acrobatics check. Acrobatics check? Yeah. Good thing I'm super good at that. 27. Nice!

You're great. You flutter in, and because you're using your little feet flappies, Dariax, you can hear him coming in hot. You can give him a little landing. Hey, what's up, man? I got you, I got you! And I'm tugging his ankle, kind of hot. You can give him a little landing. Hey, what's up, man? I got you, I got you! I'm tugging his ankle, helping him get into the ground a little bit.

You just get grabbed by the foot and yanked down. The show comes on. I'm going to feel around the darkness for him with his little broad shoulders. I'm going, you're doing a great job, buddy. And I'm going to tap him on his shoulder and return the bardic inspiration as well. So we're both super goosed up.

These little guys. We're helping each other out. Just trading their little bardics. That thing needs a spin-off. Oh my god. We can do one in the afterlife. If you want, I can do some. I know, I want to get it.

No. Oh. Oh man, and that finished my turn. I burned my spell on the dispel and that's it. I'm sorry, can you roll better? I'm trying! I was just asking, I was just asking. I'm just asking questions.

Did you say he was using his little feet flappies? He's got little feet. I love the idea of the wind boots struggling to just keep him where he needs to be. The boots are great. I think they see his lack of confidence and his ability and they're like, aw, shit. They got the yinz and they're like,

bring it in. Fear, cry, you are up. Cool. The dick gems that are near me and Morrigan, are those the ones that she picked up? Yeah, she grabbed these. Here you go. That's for you. Those aren't dick gems. Oh, yeah, they are. Whoa, I thought you were just throwing me a spider web, but there's dick gems on the spider web.

What about the one that I ran over that I felt? Yes, there are some under your feet right here. I love these dick gems. It's like ten feet to your left. Can you see? Okay. Since I can't see my girl, I can't see the guys, can't see anything. You're familiar can't attack. Fucking spiders. Cool, cool, cool. What I would like to do is to begin using my movement to run and scoop those up

and continue in the direction, I believe there are more right next to, underneath the derry-axe at the foot of the, so there's the ones next to me and then there's also the ones underneath the derry-axe at the foot of the wall. Yep, start here, because it is an interaction. Okay, and while that is happening, though,

I'd like to check in with the Wild Mother again, if I may. You got a lot of things going. You're cooking a lot at once, my guy. So let's go one at a time, and we'll see how it goes. Okay, cool. You move 10 feet to your left and scoop up this array of gems. I guess it's vaguely dick-like if you're a child.

You scoop them up. I've been hanging around with Opa for a while. I'm picking things up from my girl. She tends to rub off on you. Hey! It's only like seven good, though, so you don't like it. You don't like it that much. Grin and bear it.

You scoop up the gems, and you feel a memory trigger. It's only about a week ago. You're laying low in a little... Village feels general even for here. Village feels generous for here. It is a couple couple thatched roof, like daub and wattle homes at the edge of a bog.

It's a little stinky. It's a little like that weird mixture of cold and humid at the same time. And you're like, what is the industry? Why are people here when you can be anywhere else in the world? But it's quiet and it's safe and some of the individuals that you've met look like aging adventurers,

is the generous word you give to someone who looks like they have killed a lot of people in the past and might be laying low for another reason. But they don't ask any questions when you come. They have killed a lot of people in the past and might be laying low for another reason. But they don't ask any questions when you come. They point you to an open home with a little nod of understanding that we didn't see you, you didn't see us,

and if you need anything, no, you don't. It's in one of those quiet evenings. The sun drops below the tree line. The smell of that bog kicks up a little more as spring peepers and little frogs and little critters in the woods get noisier, celebrating that twilight, crepuscular time of day. And you are exiting the little room as Opal is coming in from doing something.

You don't know, but you bump into each other. Sorry. It's okay. You notice that, or you would see, that she's holding the two parts of the once whole tiger eye that she had before our escape. She's holding both parts of them

and just moving them between her fingers. How are you doing? Oh, you know, I'm... between her fingers. How are you doing? Oh, you know, I'm... I don't know anymore. I give her a hug. Oh. It's okay, you can hug back. Yeah, we'll work on it.

Yeah, because she's so happy. I told you. I told you it was important to heal things with your sister. Yeah. My... I've always known who Fjericai is. And she's my sister,

but she's also always been, how do you say, a bit of an asshole. Yeah. But I never thought that she would, that she would want to kill me. I don't know who she is, and she has been so much a part of who I am, even when I thought she was gone.

You know, sometimes, in death or in absentia. Opal's proud that she even knew that word. I think we tend to, like, glorify people, their memories at least. And it's supposed to be like that if we're never going to see them again. But then you see them again. But then,

you see them again. And then it's just a choice to love them. Even if they're assholes. Because in my case, I'm the asshole sister. And I can tell you, it just comes from a place of deep insecurity. Has Ted ever tried to kill you? No, but I've definitely tried to kill her ass.

And I feel so bad about that. You hear inside your head, no, you fucking don't. Yes, I do. This isn't about you, Ted. You're literally talking about me. Shut up. You know, I would be jealous of you if you were my sister, too.

You're so confident and you know so much and you can beat anybody's ass. You're a really great person, too. Maybe she's not any of those things and that must be really tough. to ask. You're a really great person, too. Maybe she's not any of those things, and that must be really tough. You know when our parents named us? Fy'ra, for fire. But Rai and Cai, two sides of a coin.

Kai for warrior. Rai for trust. And I look up at the crown on your head and I see how it digs into your skin. I don't know what is happening to you, Obaal, but you can trust me to fight for you as if you were my sister too. Oh, I'm definitely your sister.

Even if it's just until you get your own sister back. Or into sister. She looks at the two halves of the tiger eye and takes one half and holds it out, even if it's just for now. Thank you. I put it in my pocket,

or somewhere close to my heart, and I look around and I realize I don't have anything to give her, so I just kind of spritz a perfume. I know it's not much, but, um... I just want you to know, um... I'll fight for you, too. And I'll beat your sister's ass if I have to. Although she could probably beat my ass, but... I've often felt like the other side of a coin, too.

And it's really hard. So you and I could just be two coins together. We are the richer for it. It's her best attempt at some kind of humor. But she's genuinely trying to laugh. She just can't. I'm just like. Ted's like, you gotta do better than that.

She tried so hard. No, I swear to God, I will turn off your magic for a week. Be better. But it comes like 30 seconds too late. As she was leading to the... You have a feeling behind your eyes of Ted going, nailed it. The visual of you spraying her in the face

and then going, it's not much, but. Like you just don't even acknowledge. It's all I had. Yeah. Amazing. After her laugh, I will just look down and say, I'll stay in my lane. Hop another hug.

Ding. Okay. Just a big, tiny hug. I squeeze her real tight. And do I push up against her head, do I feel anything? Because that crown is there. Do I feel it when I push up against it?

100%. You feel those thick briars made of iron scratch your scalp. And it feels... briars made of iron scratch your scalp. And it feels... You are not poisoned, but it feels poisonous. That idea of something scrapes you, and you can feel it slipping under your skin and burning and traveling.

This thing does not want you to touch it and doesn't like that it's that close to you. Excellent. I'm going to press harder into it, and doesn't like that it's that close to you. Excellent. I'm going to press harder into it, and I will just think the words, you won't be with her for long. Impressive.

And you never feel what that does, but deep in the pit of Opal's stomach, something shakes a little queasily to her. And we come back from that. You are holding those gems in your hand, that's your action. So you still have the rest of your movement and a bonus action.

Right, okay. Those decks are yours. They are protected. Two keep. You all protected. To keep. You all saw that beautiful moment. I will, okay, so I thank you. Just throwing gemstones at people. Delightful. Like, what?

Great, so I have the rest of my movement. Where can I get? Not much. I would like to walk up the wall, because I can. Into the, do you enter the darkness? Not the darkness, the one behind me. The wall with the other gem on top of it. Yeah, okay.

So right where that gemmy gem is. I'm getting a little sticky guy. Okay. So I can get up there and be, I just might need to be safe. And I want to be further away. Well, actually, I'll stay close to him. You want to be here? Yes, yes.

And then I will just, again, spend a, no, I won't spend a ki point. Bonus action. Eh, dodge, dash, disengage. What the fuck? So many things. Dodge, dash, disengage. What the fuck? So many things. Dodge, dash, disengage. Thinking in character voice is my favorite thing.

Excellent, because I can't stop this completely unplaceable accent. I have no idea who I am or what is happening. So from up there, I'm just going to survey the scene. Yeah, I'm just going to survey the scene so I can get a good vantage point of where everything is, right? Okay. Fantastic. I love that.

Opal, it's time to turn this up a little bit. Oh, no. Legendary action, you get to decide. Do you want to act? Do you want your sister to act? Do you want your sister to act? Do you want the spiders to act? Or do you want the spider queen to act? Oh, shit.

Oh, no, not the spider queen. No, bitch. Nothing happened last time. It could be better. I feel like, well, Ted can't see in there. Correct. So I'm the only one that can do anything. Or the spiders.

Or the spiders on the outside. I mean, I don't want in there. Correct. So I'm the only one that can do anything. Or the spiders. Or the spiders on the outside. I mean, I don't want to do anything. Amy doesn't want to do anything. Yeah. I mean, so Amy playing Opal doesn't want to do anything. Amy, who wants to maybe have a friend sit by you soon? Okay. Okay.

So I am going to... Yeah, fuck it, let's leave it for a roll. Make a wisdom saving throw. 11. You feel this potential. You know the thing, you feel this like potential, you know, the thing, like you are the secret scared thing inside your own brain right now.

I think you understand Ted better than you ever have before. Okay. And there's something external to you that presses in on you. It's massive. It's overwhelming. And it leans in, it grabs you not by your clothing, but by like the bones of your rib cage

and pulls you in and says, Kill them. We need to go. And with an 11, this is taking too long. Oh no. Drop them now. And I have to?

Okay, so then what I'm going to do is that I am going to shoot out three Eldritch Blasts indiscriminately. No, I mean, I can see them. So to Dorian, Dariax, and Fy'ra Rai. But why? Question. Yeah? Would to Opal.

Oh. Between the three of them, who's the biggest threat? Who? There's something inside, and I'm going to bring you into the DM of it all really quickly. Okay. A lot of times when we run encounters, you're like, I'm a bad guy

who doesn't know what the party's like, and I'm just going to attack whoever's close. But you've been with these people your entire adventuring life, and you know who you can drop that will make the fight a little easier. So, behaving from the top of your intelligence as a DM, as the primary antagonist here.

Okay. Instead of indiscriminate to all three, pick one to focus down and make it count. Okay, I'm just going to spread a little love around and I'm going to go for Dariax. Bring it. I'm sorry, Liz. Okay, three Eldritch Blasts. Here we go. Do you have advantage because I'm blind?

Mm-hmm. Oh! For three, if I have advantage? Go in. Yeah. The lights just went out. I think I'm blind. Do I have to remember? The easiest way to do it is to do two,

roll two to get one at a time. I'm not physically blind. Smart, yeah. You can't see, but you're blind. Okay. First one. Okay, so 15, 25. Oh, not physically, you can't see, but you're So. Okay. First one. Okay, so 15, 25. Okay, 25. Second one. Oh fuck.

29. Just hits. Third one. And... 28. I want you as my friend! Were any of those a 19 on the die? Oh no, no, no.

No, I'm not. Yeah, no. They were not, and now I get my chance. Get you 10. And... 3d10 plus 14. So two, four, six, and 13, plus what? Plus 15. Plus 15 is? 28. 28.

28, yeah. 28. Dorian, I lost. Hold on, really quick. Just so super quick. Oh yeah. I would like to remind you that as the fully sort of invested champion of the Spider Queen, you have Baleful Scion, and they've hit you a couple times.

Yes, I do. Okay. What's happening? Once per turn, when you damage a creature, you can see you can deal necrotic damage. 1d6 plus five, regain a number of hit points equal to the necrotic damage you hit. Oh no. Okay, so. So go ahead and roll a d6 for me. hit points equal to the necrotic damage you hit. Oh no.

Okay, so. So go ahead and roll a d6 for me. One d6 plus five is my bad dice. That is a five plus five is a 10. So that goes up to 38 points of damage, and you take 10 points of healing. Even though I'm up? Oh no, I don't. I'm not up 10 points of healing. That's perfect. A paladin smacked the shit out of you.

Not that long ago. It hurted. It hurted. All right, so now, with 38 points of damage, what were you saying, my darling? Sorry, no worries. Oh, yo. I started doing like, oh, it's just dark.

Yeah, it's just dark, you're not physically blind. Oh, okay. Technically, by definition, you can't see, therefore you're blind, but your body is okay. Great, my body's okay. I mean, technically, by definition, you can't see, therefore you're blind, but your body is okay. Great, my body's okay. Oh, no! No! No!

It's not okay! It's not okay! Buddy! I don't like it. I'm sorry. Sure, it was an accident. It's fine. It wasn't.

I can't help it. All right, anything on your bonus action? I don't think I can do anything. I don't think I can do anything more. Okay. Yeah, I'm good. Because I don't want to use a, I don't want to do anything. Oh yeah, this isn't your full turn. This is just a legendary action, so yes.

Good. Amazing. Next up is, I can read and tell numbers with my mind. Next up is, I can read and tell numbers with my mind. We had Federigo. Ted? Ted is up. Ted can't see. Ted can't see. But Ted did just hear that conversation.

Oh no! And is just going to swing a haymaker. I am screaming very loud. You yelled, but you also were having a conversation in the dark and you fluttered down in front of her. So she's just going to wild swing in both of your directions. Oh shit, with disadvantage, that is a thing. Does that 14 hit?

It does not. Yeah, I think so. Second hit. There's a 19. It does. Oh my god. She swings and then comes around and is able to click you across the chest.

Do you! Oh. For... Save me. Nine points. Okay. That's piercing damage. Piercing?

Okay. Piercing. Pew, pew. And she's like, got one! And you can just hear her be excited in your head. You go, ooh, sorry. It's fine. And then it's quiet inside your group chat once more.

That's Ted's turn. Dariax, you're up, and my little piters are on deck. I'm up? Okay. Darton! Oh, sorry. I need you to make a... Yeah, what you got? What you need? Please give me a concentration. Oh yeah! Oh, finally,

you get to do it! I got War Caster, so I have advantage on it. God damn it! That's going to... You have to make a 19. Oh, that's a 22. I'm fine. Motherfucker! Daddy!

I'll never get rid of Bless! I love you! I mean, hell! Dwarf constitution. All right. Reaction from the hits is like, darkness hurts, darkness is bad. We're going to get out of here. I'm going to go ahead and spend

a few sorcery points here to do Quicken's spell. So spend two sorcery points on that. I'm going to here to do Quicken's spell. So spend two sorcery points on that. I'm going to go ahead and Quicken Cool. Dimension Door. Hey. Yeah.

Heck yeah, heck yeah, heck yeah. I'm going to grab your arm and be like, all right, I think I saw something that way. Let's get out of here. I'm just going to try and Dimension Door us on top of that higher, the highest platform of this hill. Nice, nice.

Mind you, I don't see it right now, so I'm guessing where it is. I believe in you. I believe in you. All right, really quick. Do I have to see it? Dimension Door, you do not have to see. I know because I've had people Dimension Door

into dragons before. Yes! No. Into dragons. Ted happens to be a mage slayer. So. What the fuck is that? Someone that loves when you cast spells near them. No. Cool, I don't have to.

Yeah, it's going to be a melee attack with disadvantage as you go, It's the one that loves when you cast spells near them. Yeah. Cool, I don't have to, yeah, it's going to be a melee attack with disadvantage as you go, but, God, I never. It was a natural 20 and a three. Oh! Thank you, dice gods. Is your armor class a 12? No.

Okay. You go, damn it, 10. I should have given her Devil Sight. All right. So now you're going to make a little blind attempt to get up to here. Correct. Let me see. There's a dick gem up there. Yeah, we're going to see. There's a dick gem up there.

There's going to be two thresholds of success. One, to land well. Two, to land without crushing those. I respect that. Oh no. Oh fuck. So it'll be two, yeah. Are you trying to take Dorian with you? Yes. Okay. Go ahead and make, what do you want to call this?

I'm going to say this can either be Perception. I just want this to be perception. Just to see if you can trust vibes and land where you want to land. So now, a 15 is going to get both of you where you want to go. Over a 20, you will not inadvertently crush the gems you don't see under your feet.

So, I rolled. Well, I got a perception of plus one. will not inadvertently crush the gems you don't see under your feet. So. I think so, yeah. I rolled. Well, I got a perception of plus one. Okay, I thought you were going to, okay, okay, okay, I'm so proud of you. Negative in my wisdom. I forgot, I forgot, I forgot. I forgot.

As I grab you and they both, I did roll an actual 18, which puts me at a 19. Yeah! Get it, get it! And I have some bardic inspiration that I just recently got. Let's go!

25. All right! Yes! Party party! Get it! Party party! Party party for the party. I think the thing you do is because

you know there's a height differential between the two of you, you levitate just a little bit above where you want to land because you're like, well, I don't want him to stub his legs on the ground. That gives you just enough eyes on the gems under your feet that you're able to go like, and do a little splits over.

Oh no, and you knock her down. Oh no! She's dumb. I feel this pain right now. I was boned over by your amazing move. I'm sorry. It was so cool, she fell off the top. Blown away. I have an effect on V. Yes. You're an amazing woman. It was so cool. She fell off the top.

Blown away. I had that effect on Vy. Yes, I know. You have definitely blown me away many times. Dariax, you do a splits, yeah, over the gems under your body. We're talking pan dance. Yeah! I was like, oh, shiny.

I still have my actions, so I did that as a bonus action. Just pick them up. Amazing. Yeah, baby. You lean down, scoop up the gems, and you feel yourself suffuse with light and energy and the scent of Opal's perfume when she's not spraying it directly into your grill.

It's a gourmand. It's a gour- Yeah, give me some notes from your favorite. It's vanilla. It smells like the top of a creme brulee, if you will. Very edible. There is... I think you go back the least far.

This is just a couple days ago when you were first taking off. And as you hit the road, there's a time in the middle of the night, Dariax, you wake up. You got to take your night piss. It's an important part of your day. It's like a beauty sleep. Yeah.

And you see the constellation of your friends, and there are various sleeping accoutrements, and one empty one, and there are various sleeping accoutrements and one empty one, Opal gone. You scan around and you see light bouncing off of the back of a cat's retinas, but opalescent pink in the dark, down and away, tucked between some flat sheet rock, and almost behind a bush, she is back in a corner,

muttering. Her eyes are open, unfocused, unblinking. You can just hear the murmuring and the muttering, and somehow it's louder in your ears than it is out in the world. Slowly, carefully get up from my prone sleeping position, begin to inch over towards her, not to startle her,

and be like, Hey. Hey, Opal. Stops muttering, but she does not have her mask of any faces on, so she looks like her corrupted self. Opal, you okay? How did I get here? Maybe you're having a dream.

Can I get you anything? Some water? Oh. That's okay. Thank you. Kind of steps up a little bit to her, she softens, not affected by her visage, and plops down next to her with his hands on his knees.

How you doing? Do you ever feel like you're not really here? That's a very big concept. You can do it. I believe in you. Meaning like just not present? Not focused? Yeah, like...

I don't know what I'm saying. No, it's okay. You can talk to me. Like... Like almost like you don't exist. But you do. But it's murky. I'm just kidding. How are you doing? He reaches over and takes your hand

and just holds it for a second. Secondly, I can't say that I've had that feeling myself, but it hurts to think that that's what you're going through. You know, Dariax, you're really kind. You're a really good person. And I also think you're pretty smart. You're very sweet, too, and a terrible liar. But I'm getting better. I'm learning from you all.

I'm trying to be more focused on my studies. This recorder's not playing itself anymore. But no, I'm... I care about you. We all care about you. And it's not lost on us that you bear a burden that I don't think any of us really understand. I just look at you and I feel like you feel alone when you're not.

Oh, I have so many voices in my head, I definitely never feel alone. But I know what you're saying. I don't feel that way at all. You guys were the best friends I could ever hope to have. I just like to feel like I'm, I don't know, like I could enjoy it. And sometimes I just don to feel like I'm, I don't know, like I could enjoy it. And sometimes I just don't feel like I'm here,

like I'm in a daze or something. I don't know. I'll tell you what. I spent most of my life up to this point just picking a direction and running. And it took kind of... It took stumbling into some purpose with the rest of you, and it was to, I don't know,

put a little more care in what I did. Dorian's looked after me since I began to think about making a difference. He's protected me and shown me what it's like to have an impact and think about what that impact means to others, you know? So maybe I got gotta pay it forward, and I protect you.

And I protect you. I mean, I know that, but also, don't feel like you gotta be away from us over here in the dark. It's a cold night. He needs... Come here, come here. I'll be big spoon. Oh, that's really nice.

As you come over, Dariax make a wisdom saving throw. That's a 12. You're inside this memory, and all of you can see it. But I think Dorian, because you're also right there where Dariax has scooped this up, you see that the bundle of gems that Dariax holds, some of the shine goes away. A little bit of black begins to seep across it. And within the vision, Dariax, you don't see or remember what actually happened. Opal doesn't walk over to you. She stays far away.

So he doesn't finish the vision? The vision doesn't finish? It's going to change. And I will leave it. Do you want to corrupt this memory? Or do you want me to do it? I want you to do it. I can't. I can't do it anymore. Oh no, it got sad!

I almost felt bad, but then I know I'm having a great time. You see that Opal takes a step towards you and then rocks back onto her heels. No. She's bowled over. She's just can't stand it. I'm just really hurt by what is happening to Opal.

It's knocked me off of my axis, you know? I dare to actually understand I can't, right? What do you mean? Right here. When I agreed to this, I know I did it just to look out for you all, but I made a promise. And something's coming. And I think I have to go soon.

Wherever you go, we'll follow. Oh. You see a flash of something across her face. A flare of anger quickly smothered. No. I think where I go, I need to go by myself. Will you let me go? Will you let me go? Will you let me go? If you think you need to.

You need to. And you see it, something warring, to try to maintain the feeling of talking to Opal. But it's not a great impression of her and it's beginning to fall away. You have to let me go. Just keep going. Get Dorian wherever he needs to go. I have to go with her.

You have to let me go with her. Dorian? No. Dorian? No! Let her go! And you see Opal's jaw opens too wide. The mandible snaps and cracks and splits apart,

and she lunges for you. Then in the darkness, the vision goes away and you come back up to the present. You're holding the gems. We all saw that. In our telepathic bond or no? I think at first, it was just that iteration, but yes, by the end, that new memory started settling in

for the little bit where Dariax tried to accept it. And yeah, you all saw it. Did I see it? Yes. And I have no memory of what actually happened? You remember the real memory, but you are starting to slip back farther and farther. Okay.

I think I just telepathically say, I don't think that's what happened. Be quiet. I'm trying to let them go peacefully. If they stay, my champion, I will make you kill them. You understand that, right? Yes, I will make you kill them. You understand that, right? Yes, I understand.

So you make them go, or I do. Guys, maybe you should go. We come back to the present. One more action. Do you want to go? Do you want the spiders to go, or do you want the Spider Queen to go? Definitely not the Spider Queen.

The spiders can go. The spiders activate it. Can I put myself back on the wall? Oh yeah, let's get you back up. She's not Betty. She had a great fall. You got to stop drinking before we go and fight. I nearly cut off. Spiders.

Let's see, this one. What is this one going to do? This one's going to begin trying to climb up. I think it's only going to get to about there. We're going to have this one come around the corner. Can't quite get to you to fight you. The spider back here is going to destroy Jens. Opal, it happens so quickly you don't even feel the memory.

They're getting better at this. It's smoother and easier. And the spider is going to lunge for Cyrus. And this one, we'll have it climb up. It's going to join. And we'll have this one come up here. And then it will be in melee from the next round. Just imagined it with like tiny little knives.

Oh, he's just moving. Does he? That looks like a nice- It's like, have you ever seen those TikTok videos of them crushing the like apple snail eggs? Yeah. That's all I can think of when it's smushing those eggs. It's like forbidden have you ever seen those TikTok videos of them crushing the apple snail eggs? That's all I can think of when it's smushing those eggs. It's like forbidden gushers, I love it. I'll show you after, it's terrifying.

Yeah, it's so good. I don't know that I want to see it. Oh my gosh. All right, Cyrus is about to take one off a big spider. That will hit. You all see that big bubble butt spider leap onto Cyrus and tackle him to the ground and its mandibles come and they just pinch into his shoulder.

Wow. And just. And he begins to frantically tear away at his clothing. He's on fire. He needs to get to his skin. And you all see that that blue gets shot through his clothing, like he's on fire. He needs to get to his skin, and you all see that that blue gets shot through as the veins in his shoulders begin to pulse a sickly grain.

He is prone and under the poisoned condition. Oh fuck. And prone? Mm-hmm. Putty. And putty. Fuck. He did his best.

That's fine. The rest of them, smushing your personality, you can feel it begin to fall away. The threats are not idle. And there's something inside of the Spider Queen that is beginning to panic. It's taking too long. She needs something new to happen.

First, I need you to make a wisdom saving throw. The difficulty is 20. Oh, come on, girl. Dang. All right. Fuck, that is a 13. Fuck this. You feel something inside you begin to bubble over and you start to make a noise.

It comes from deep in. It's like a groan, not quite a scream, and Ted turns and locks on you, even within the darkness, and it's going to run and sprints and dives into your body. What was that? And disappears from sight. Oh shit. What's that? Okay, what does that mean? And the rest of you, we'll find out in a second,

the rest of you, I need you to make a wisdom saving throw. Difficulty is 20. What? The rest of you, I need you to make a wisdom saving throw. Difficulty is 20. Warp! Okay. You still have Bless Up. Okay. And people within 10 feet of you, which feels like, I think you can catch Fearer Eye in that.

Okay. 24. 17. Never good, man. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. 25. Yep. So even without anything, you're... Oh, perfect.

How'd you do? I mean, even if I tried any of my, I still wouldn't make it fail. 11. Nine. You both see, from your vantage point, something horrendous. What's the worst thing you both see from your vantage point something horrendous. What's the worst thing you could see

on the battlefield right now? Oh. In this moment would be a true sign of losing Opal. Seeing her become something that is beyond our reach, probably. And there it is in front of your eyes. You see her double over in pain

as arms burst through, as her lower body swells and becomes grotesque. A drier body forms out from under her and she rises to about 12 feet tall. Her head turns and looks at you and eyes open, jet black, weeping, black ichor, ichor, I don't know how to say that, and other sets of eyes open up,

multiples looking at you. And when she opens her mouth to scream, it's just like in your memory, vision, the lie, the truth, you barely remember anymore, as she laughs. Dorian, what's the worst thing you could see on the battlefield right now? Oh no.

This is in their mind's eye, right? Because they still have darkness up. You do still have darkness up. Didn't mean to remind you. No, no, no, no. You're correct. It is a convenient slip of fiction that when Dariax saw that,

he no longer saw the darkness that would have obscured you. Good catch. I think it's the worst thing. Stuff worse than death. I think it's everyone corrupted. So when we were on that door to the Feywild and Fearne saw a version of herself, I think that that horrifies Dorian worse than anything.

Full corruption. I think he would see shadow images of the people that he loves at their worst. It's like all of your friends, your brother, are suddenly looking in a mirror. And then that mirror version, like burned fern, reaches through and grabs them and pulls them in and then steps out to replace them.

And whatever position their bodies were at the time, their heads turn unnaturally at an angle to look up at you to make sure that you know that they know that what has come to pass, the worst thing in your heart is true. No one else sees that. Just you two.

But what you do see is that Spider Queen is done fucking around. She wanted to do this the easy way. Now she's going to do it the hard way. And she's going to make you be the tool of your own severance.

Opal, you get taller, you begin to stretch out. You're already lanky, kind of a model. I am. That's true. You are now a full 6'5". Two sets of arms holding daggers, holding crystalline swords. Just weeping wounds from your head.

A crown, another crown. And when you smile, that same black ichor pours from the side of your mouth as you are joined with a third set of arms, Opal, Ted, and the Spider Queen in unison. That's where we're going to pick up next week. Whoa!

Oh my god. Yeah! I'm sending someone home! The stress! Y'all got the first day paycheck. The stress of it all. That all feels real bad. Yeah. It's probably fine.

It's probably fine. Almost like the worst thing you could imagine. Wow. It's so bad. Everyone's doing super good, and you're totally on the top right now, and you'll probably never fall again. So I think everyone's doing really well

and I'm super proud of them. So we're just going to call it here. I wouldn't get too comfy. I have some things. I've got haste and I will cast it on Opal. You know what? I've got haste. If you would cast it on Opal,

this whole thing would be different. I will be up at 3 a.m. thinking about how stupid that was. I will. No. Not better than me trying to do Elm Blast with deforce. I see someone who's like, hell no, I did negative two damage to my friends. Oh no!

No, no, no. Next time, you're collecting bodies. You get that, right? I do. So get excited. Well. You too. But until next week, be good, treat each other well. And is it Thursday yet? Ooh!

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