Critical Role - C3E96 Shadows New and Old

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

Bells Hells work to fortify their bonds and friendship in the face of darkness before engaging in a whirlwind of travel stops on the way to Aeor...We’re excited to bring you even MORE with a Beacon membership! Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join  Get unparalleled access to Critical Role with Beacon. Enjoy the shows you love completely ad-free, plus new exclusive series, instant access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord.  Check out our new podcast The Re-Slayer's Take! After six misfit mercenaries are rejected from the elite monster hunting group, The Slayer’s Take, they band together as The Re-Slayer’s Take, battling supernatural creatures across the rugged continent of Issylra.Watch Critical Role LIVE at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on June 15th as Bells Hells gather their courage and their allies to stop Ludinus Da’leth and his planned destruction of the gods. Tickets are on sale now: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/090060A6C2C9330F  Witness the Fairelands come to life May 25th for an immersive Candela Obscura LIVE SHOW at The United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles! Tickets are on sale now: https://www.axs.com/events/548570/candela-obscura-live-tickets    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 your prefferred podcast platform a week following he 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 ShiDue to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources

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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. Dungeons & Dragons. Before we begin tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our sponsor, Thorim. Marisha. For over a decade, Thorim has been handcrafting unique wedding bands out of everything from Damascus steel to dinosaur bone. And now Thorol makes a fabulous line of minimalist watches featuring meteorite, Hawaiian koa wood, and California redwood. It's like having a little piece of history bundled together in a beautiful watch.

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Oh wow. Hallo. Oh yes. Thank you so much for joining us. So, talk about the history of horology. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The history of horology is as tedious as it is horrifying. In 1410, Nicolas of Cardan built

Prague's magnificent astronomical clock, and shortly after, yes, laughter, the coward's response to oblivion, and shortly after had his eyes burned from their sockets by the city council so that he could never build such a clock for another country again. They say he died by throwing his body upon the gears, cursing those who blinded him, and breaking the clock he once loved.

His creation, much like his guts, bones, and sinew, reduced to waste and silence. Ah, wow, that's a lot. It sounds like Mikolas' clock needed one of Thorum's lifetime warranties, am I right? Such an arrangement did not exist in the 1400s, but Natalys, yeah. Okay, do you guys have any lighthearted facts

about clocks or watches? In Cambridge, one may gaze upon the Corpus Clock, which features a grotesque grasshopper-like creature that slowly consumes each passing second the sounds of its hourly chime created by dropping a chain through a wooden coffin upon its back. The chronophage consumes moments happy and sad and excretes only silence. It's great for the

kiddies. Hello, Kinder. Okay, well, Thorim's watches don't do that. They're wonderful, and they offer free worldwide shipping. This is not going how I planned. Man make plan, Marisha, but the gods laugh. This point, honed to a keen edge by the death clock, an invention designed to predict the hour of one's final breath. Of course, such predictions have no substance. The hour of doom's final breath. Of course, such predictions have no substance. The hour of doom keeps its own schedule. Okay, we've gone a little off topic.

Time, like a relentless river, flows ceaselessly, eroding the very essence of our existence until we are but fragments carried away into the abyss of oblivion. Clocks with their mechanical precision stand as indifferent guardians of time, relentlessly ticking away some moments of our lives with unyielding determination.

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Laura, you're up. I'm up. Those guys were great. They were, yeah, they were great. Big fan. Well, you're up. I'm up. Those guys were great. They were, yeah, they were great. Big fans. Big fans. You just missed them. Did you meet them on your way out?

I've seen some of their lectures online. Oh, yeah. I'm something of a horologist myself. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are. Look at this. Yay! What's this?

It's a Leave the World better than we found it! Oh, that's so hard, I gotta love that one! Sure, it's benefiting the Critical Role Foundation, you guys! I love it! This is designed by our fabulous Jordan Torrance. Thank you, Jordan. So cool.

So, get this. In the US and Canada, there's this color. But in the UK and the EU, hold on, that's the same watch. Watch, watch. There's this color. Whoa! Holy shit, they're so different!

Wow! Holy shit! Anyway. Spider-Man meme. Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, let me see, let me see. Okay, I want to wear that one. Super sweet.

You know what? You know it's still fantasy, though, because it's round. It's just from above, man. Yeah, it's wear that one. Super sweet. You know what? I love it. You know it's still fantasy though, because it's round. Oh. It's just from above, man. It's just, yeah, it's just this angle. Right, it's a drum shot. Directly above.

Yes, yes, yes. It's a heart. It's a heart. It is a heart. Uh. Uh. Just re-agree. No more tea left.

Uh. Plus, if you're looking to stock up your t-shirt collection for spring or con season, we got you covered, you guys, with a sale on our many, on many of our awesome t-shirts. On our many. On our many. The sale is live right now at all of our Critical Role shops, and it ends this next Thursday. I suck at this. Next Thursday. Oh, now there's four.

Travis, you don't next time believe. It sounded like there was more. I know, right? You guys, over on VEACON this week, you can find the first three episodes of our new actual play podcast, following the second coolest monitor hunters in Exandria, the Re-Slayers take! Yeah! Right out of Vasselheim. The cast is led by a duo of game masters, George Primavera and Nick Williams, with the main cast including Jasmine Brulag, Jasper William Cartwright, Carolyn Lux,

and Jasmine Shiong. Episode 1 is available everywhere podcasts are found, with new episodes dropping every Monday, and Beacon members will continue to stay two weeks ahead of the free feeds. And as a member, you can also check out the VOD of our first episode of our, what is it, Fireside Chat? We got a little Fireside Chat. With that, what's that guy's name? Sir Matthew Mercer? Matthew.

Sounds like a douche bag. And as always, thank you to everyone in our discard who submitted their amazing questions. It was wondrous to behold. If you're not a Beacon member yet, you can start a seven-day free trial right now at beacon.tv. See what it's all about! Come join fun! Wait, how does learn? That's the one. Right now! Right now!

Oh! Super Slave Hunter Resilienters take. It's so great. It's their expansion of World of Exandria, and it's family friendly. That's true! It is. Parents, you can watch it with your kids. Something that parents have been asking us

for about a decade. Yeah. Yes. That's cool. Yeah. So rad. Yeah. Roesha, you're up.

My brain. We cannot wait to see you this Saturday for our immersive live performance of Candela Obscura at the United Theatre on Broadway here in Los Angeles. Ooh! So many spirits. Yes, so many. It's going to be so spoops. Anyone that can't join us in person can watch our livestream on our Twitch and YouTube channels on May 30th, and the VOD will be available for everyone on June 3rd,

so you will get to see it. And you can find last minute tickets and details over on critrole.com slash events. And while you're over there, tickets are also on sale now for our Bells Hells live show at the Greek. What? On June 15th.

That's that little experimental theater. Yeah, it's small, like you said. We'll be recording the event as well, so if you cannot make it to the live showing theater performance situation, I sound like Laura. Sorry. How dare! Look at the bus! If you can't make it. Look at the bus! I love you, I'm sorry. It's been a weird day!

If you can't make it to LA, you can watch the livestream on June 20th, with the VOD dropping on June 24th. Yeah! Yeah! Fantastic. Next time I do announcements, I'm going to be so good. And you're going to eat your words.

Bet. Bet. Bet. Next time. I'll bet you. How many? Well, on that note, that concludes our announcements.

So now, let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of... Critical Role. Critical Role. Until we reach the top Two by two we fall Will we meet our end Or meet our destiny Hold your breath and roll How do you want to do this? It's Thursday night All ye critters come join us

It's time to continue our flight There is magic and mystery Who knows what will happen 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 When one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight Oh, get ready It's Thursday night!

And welcome back. So, last we left off, Bells Hells, after speaking with Keyleth about the next leg of their ability to aid the coming dangers in the Ruby Vanguard's plots upon Ruidus. With the threat of information that Ludinus De Leth seems to be entwined in a place called the Ruins of Aeor to the far, far northeast in a land called Eiselcross, you were granted from an ally to the Exandrian court here,

an individual who has some experience here, a stealth mage who was revealed at some point during an interrogation in the city of Zadash to be a figure really called Essek Thalys of the Kryn Dynasty. Discovering a little bit of information about where Ludinus might be within these ruins after interrogating a member of the Cerberus Assembly

here in the city of Zadash within Wildemount, you begin to do your preparation for a journey to a very chilly place to the far north. After doing a little bit of shopping, picking up some new acquisitions and making some orders for some wardrobe that'll help you in many ways, but as well, some cloaks to stay warm

to such a cold area, you went to the Lodge of the Eclipse, watched a show, drank a bit, and all of you went to rest for a night before you went on this odd and dangerous leg of your journey into the unknown. In the middle of the night, while everyone was asleep, Laudna, seeing the very blade that had speared her

and many friends on the back of Orym, attempted to take it while he rested. However, he awoke and a scuffle began to ensue, fighting over control of this blade and arguing amongst what should be done with it. When the rest of the team had awoken and the argument had not resolved, Imogen and Laudna escaped out the window

to the rooftop, where it seems there is still quite a bit of tension about what has transpired and what is going on between this group of friends. Here is Laudna and Imogen hold each other, trying to understand what is to come. They return to the two of you. I'm holding her. Mm-hmm.

I'm just staring off into the distance. What are you going to do about Orym? What am I supposed to do? I don't know. Was it you who took the sword, or was it her? I don't know how much good it's going to be going forward, trying to distinguish between the two of us. Really? I don't know.

I don't know. So it was you. I knew what I was doing, yes. Okay. Okay. Did you take it because you thought it was wrong that he was carrying it, or did you take it because you wanted to have that power?

She told me it was bad. It was a bad sword. It made me uncomfortable walking over and seeing it on his back. He came in with it, and then it just... I thought I was doing the right thing. You know, Delilah lies. I just, I thought I was doing the right thing. You know Delilah lies.

Right. You know she's not out for your best interest, right? How am I supposed to remove the voice in my head? I don't know. I thought she was gone. And now she's stronger than she ever was. I think if you want to get rid of her, you have to stop feeding her. But that's a choice, Laudna.

If that's not what you choose... I thought we were all in agreement. That we were going to do whatever it takes to defeat Ludinus. We said that, yeah. We said that, yeah. We said that. Imogen, I've already told you. I'm a dead end. This goal that we have to go stop him, stop this business with Ruidus.

That is my purpose. That is our purpose. Once that's done, I just can't help but feel like I have to throw everything I have, including myself, into this. Even if it means the end of me, which honestly, maybe it should. Maybe it should. Don't say that.

I'm trying to look at Delilah as a tool to use. And then discard when it's done. I'm afraid she looks at you the same way. Then perhaps that means we're aligned. Yeah. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I know. I didn't. I know.

I believe you. You keep saying that I lie, that you think I'm lying, but I'm not lying. I'm speaking my truth, even if it's... Possibly. Laudna, even if it's... Possibly. Laudna, I think she's lying. But I'm not. I don't know if you know the difference right now.

But I do know that we won't be able to fight anyone if we're not right with each other. All of us. I'm not lying. You don't believe me. I do. Hey. I believe you. All right?

Do you want to go back down there? Or stay out for the night? Either way, we need to make peace. No, no, I'm... I'm... I don't like people being mad at me. Most of all, you. I hate upsetting you. And I'm terrified it's going to keep happening.

I don't know. I don't know where tomorrow's going to take us, or the next day. I don't know where this will all lead, Laudna. I don't believe you're a dead end, but... Ultimately, that's up to you. You're powerful without her.

Sometimes I think you might be stronger without her. She certainly would never let you think that, though. There's a reason she chose you. You know that, right? I don't think I do. You're special. You always say that to everyone else. You're so much more than her. I can't make you promises, Imogen, that I'm going to be able to resist her or pull away

from her or not. I feel like I've done that before. I've tried to tell you that I can. And maybe that's what comes across as a lie. Might as well just call it out front. We're so far down this path. Just as Orym wishes to wield that sword, I wish to wield Delilah. I understand.

You're upset with me. No, I'm not. You once told me that you hate the idea of her watching you watching us. Mm-hmm. Guessing that hasn't changed. No, it hasn't. I'm going to miss our little cottage though. Mm-hmm. Should we head back down?

Mm-hmm. You go first. I'll be there in a moment. What? Kiss her hand? Kiss her hand. Put your head down. While this conversation's happening, the rest of you just watch the two of them emerge out the window. Should one of us go after them? Are they okay to be by themselves? I think they're okay.

If they're not okay, you'll just get in the way. Best to let them sort it. Let them sort it out. All right. Orym, you all right? Yeah. A little muddled. Are you hurt?

A little. I think I might've hurt her. Worse than she hurt me, but more shook than anything. I feel like that's the first time in a while we've seen her not be in control. It's the first time in a while you've seen her not in control. Fair. I know things have been hard since Issylra.

Hard on her. Hard on all of us, but for sure hard on her. What are you going to say? Oh, I just did. No! No! I've never seen her out of control. What was that? Oh! How do we?

Just a book jacket. You know that weird little voice in your head that sometimes tells you to fuck your entire life up, hurt everybody you know, and just toss everything out of the window? Just every now and then, you get that weird little voice. Sure. Hers is actually a person.

She is haunted. Oh. By something that wants to hurt her and hurt us, and it is very convincing. Are we sure that Imogen is all right with her? I mean, I think so. They love each other. I don't think anyone's looking out for Imogen

more than anyone in the world, but. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. They what? They've always been a while. Oh! They love each other? Oh! Shit! We should do a whole level set. No. Oh! They love each other? Oh! Shit! We should do a whole level set.

No, no, they love each other. You explained what was going on with the war and all of that, but Imogen and Lothar? So much has happened, yes. I know I shouldn't be happy right now, but that just seems like a good thing. Now I understand why they went together to talk it out. I thought we should all be out there helping rein her in,

but it's hard to love her, is what I'm saying. I thought we should all be out there helping Reynn her in, but it's up to lovers, right? I get it, I get it! They're in love. Fearne and I had a threesome. Excuse me. There's a whole bunch of stuff we can catch up on. Wait, what is, wait, Fearne and I had a threesome? The math doesn't add up.

Fearne and I had a threesome. The third one was an ex of mine from 200 years ago. It was awesome. Right? Awesome. Standard stuff, really. I feel like, I feel a little left out. from 200 years ago. It was awesome. Right? Awesome. Standard stuff, really. I feel like, I feel a little left out. But that's all right, that's all right.

I get it, I get it. There's still time. No, no, no, shit, still time. It's a great reason. There's still a lot of meat left on this bone, don't worry. All right, that's not what I meant. Okay. Yeah, I think they're okay. I just. It seems to flare they're okay. All right. I just... It seems to flare up every once in a while.

There seems to be a desire for power from this entity inside of Laudna. I thought she had it under control, but Isilra was different, and it's been a minute since we've seen that lapse. When we were split up, and we traveled for a while with someone that we only realized at the last second

was part of the Ruby Vanguard. And this guy tried to kill us. And we all got a little... Well, he would have tried to. Tried to kill us twice. And I believe he would have tried a third time. So Laudna did what all three of us were prepared to do. And once it started,

you could see her sliding. Friend is different than a monster or rogue on the road. I understand. And he knew how to cut. He knew what to say. He had seen us, and he cut deep. Choice was right, but the consequences were steep. I think what Laudna doesn't understand is that

she's powerful without her. I think she thinks she needs her. Is that it? I don't know, what do you think? Yeah, it was almost somebody entirely different. I wouldn't know if she has a choice. Does she? I think, and I say this

with some love, I think what you don't understand is what it is to know that you're the villain and that every moment is just a choice not to be. I think she knows she's the villain. I have come to terms that perhaps it is... It's a noble endeavor to try not to be the villain if you know that that's your base instinct and you're going to slip, but that there is strength in it,

and I don't think she knows that yet. And... We've got to bring her back from that edge and we have to make sure that... We've got to make sure she still trusts us, even if we don't... Yeah. Dorian seems as if he's going to address the group,

but as he does, he just locks eyes with Orym and says, Can she be trusted? Well. Of course she can. Of course she can. It's about this moment that you realize at the edge of the window, Nivagen's hovering just at the opening

and might have been there for a moment, listening. Hi. Hey, hey. Hi! Girl. You okay? No. Is she okay? No. Is she okay? No. Okay.

No, there's no bigs in here. I was working on a new song. Yeah, I'll chill. Can she be trusted? Can she be trusted? We're going to do a four-part harmony. Yeah. I liked your first pass better.

Is she okay? I liked your first pass better. Is she okay? I mean, fuck. I saw Delilah come out of her, y'all. That was something. It was like I wasn't even looking at Laudna for a second. Oh boy. What are we talking about? Elaborate.

She took the dagger. She absorbed it into herself. She absorbed it into herself. And Laudna disappeared for a minute, and Delilah emerged. And I think, I think Laudna's intentionally making Delilah stronger because she thinks, you know,

we need all the help we can get. Oh, that kind of help? I don't know what Delilah's ultimate end goal is, but I don't think it involves Laudna having free will. You think this Delilah person's capable of? I don't know, I thought we killed her, but. We did. She survived as a spark, I guess.

Oh, fuck. And now the flame's grown. Again. I know Laura's talking about reaching across the aisle to friends and enemies alike in a joint effort, but free will. That's a hard bridge

to uncross. It's my fault. I mean, Lawton and I talked about it. We talked about it. We would... We would embrace the power that we needed to

in order to make... in order to make things happen. And, um... She just did it, you know? And I didn't... I didn't give in to Pardothos, and I could have, and maybe I should have, and then she wouldn't be alone right now. No, no.

Yeah, what? How would that help her? I don't know. Maybe it just wouldn't make me so judgy. I think Pardothos would have pulled you away from her and all of us. What makes you think she's alone? She's not alone. This is about resistance.

It's not about giving in. She has to fight it. You had to fight it. We have to fight this. That's the plight. Yeah. I'm going to go peek my That's the plight. Yeah. I'm going to go peek my head out the window and... I just want her to want to fight it.

Laudna? As we come to you, alone on the roof for a minute, what have you been doing, Nott? Nothing. Crying. Processing. Trying to pull myself together and think of what to say for the rest. In that moment? Knowing I have to apologize.

In that distant stare, just locked in place, you can see the faint movement of torchlight throughout the city streets below. No one can really understand what we've been through. And that's when you hear Fearne call your name. Are you still up there? Yes, I'm coming. How loud was she?

Loud enough that you heard her from about 20 feet away. Delilah. Oh. My apologies. It's him. How loud is she? Where's that bitch? Hey, you heard her, you heard her.

Like a whisper in your ear. Jeez. Watch her skitter off the top of the... No, you don't have to do it like that. You just fucking use your hands. Normal-ass person. Fearne reaches her hand out towards you. Can you come back inside, please? Yes. Come on.

Are you all right? I didn't hurt you too terribly, did I? I think I can see a few ribs. Oh. Oh wow, new ones. Oh wow, it's spring. I said bad. Seemed worse.

We should talk this out. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We don't have to say anything. I didn't mean it. I really didn't mean it, I'm sorry, we don't have to say anything. You don't, I didn't mean it. I really didn't mean it, I'm sorry. Orym walks up and stands right in front of you at his three feet, three inches. I'm looking straight across, but he's looking up. Normally I avert my gaze by looking down,

but he's under me. I'm awake now, more awake. And I've been thinking about it. Dorian is right. It is just a thing. When I... Please let me just say my piece and you can say anything you want in return. You don't owe me anything.

I'll say my piece. And then I need everybody's help. When I look at that sword, does it kill me? Yes. If and when we find ourselves in front of lewdness, would it be useful? Yes. Yes.

But, Ladan, the truth is, more important than this sword being at my side is you. Is you. You sound like me by your side. I thought you'd understand. You've carried something so dark for so long. I thought you'd understand me taking it up, but... No, I do, I do, I do. But it doesn't matter what I thought.

It only matters what I believe. You know, all of us have doubted ourselves. We've even doubted each other a little bit. Doubted the gods. But I believe in you. And if anything, what just happened kind of brought me back to myself a little bit. I don't want to second guess if

you're okay next to me when we're out there. I want you to trust me. And I'll make it a lot farther with you than with this sword, so I don't want to... No, no, no, no. I'm not taking it, and no one in this room will change my mind. It's not what I wanted. So when I said I wanted you guys to help me, is I want to do something with this. I will rip it off my back and turn away from you and rest it on the floor in the middle of everybody.

I won't pick it up again. I'm betting on you. You. Not Briarwood, you. You all have to be comfortable, though, with knowing whether I like it or not, and for 30-plus years, I have not. She's along for the ride.

So are you. You survived a long time. You deserve your place in history. As much or more. I don't know what that woman has done for Exandria, but I know what you have. It's a lot. What about the rest of you? I understand if you don't feel comfortable with me around. I told Imogen, I don't want it to seem like I'm lying. I don't want to lie.

So the only way that I know to not do that is to just make sure that you all are aware that sometimes I don't know what's real or not. That's the truth. I'd like to think my intentions are pure, but I feel often those with the purest of intentions are and misguided and weaponized the most for those who wish it will. So that's the truth. Okay.

I mean, look, I'm not going to be a hypocrite. I try to do a giant fucking wolf every once in a while. Sometimes. A little out of control. Yeah. When it was my turn to attempt to absorb a piece of shit, ill-advised, and everyone wanted to fucking kill me because I betrayed their trust, and the closest thing to a real family I had ever spent,

I will say significant more time giving me shit. You forgave me. I asked. You did something no one had ever done to me. And you gave me love, I asked. You did something no one had ever done to me. You gave me love, I think. You're not the first person I've ever had in my life who had problems. That doll made me feel like maybe, I don't know, you were

sometimes I think of you as like big sister. And I will never not stand in front of you to keep things away. I will always step in front. You. You know what's real? Her. That guy.

We're real. I do have one concern. Let's just get it. I'm just concerned for Dorian. Who? Me? Why me? You sweet lad. I just hope he can trust

in the same way that we do, right, Dorian? Oh, sure, Chad. You know, I used to think that it was all about good and evil. And now I'm not so certain there's either. All I know is that we have to make do with the best that we have, and this is the best that I have.

You deserve to be well, and we'll take care of you. I think. Not so good at this. I have my mandolin in my hand, and I just, with one one hand hit our harmonic chord, put my hand on her shoulder, and I'm going to cast Cure Wounds. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Not that it matters. It does. It matters. 19. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Good word, Fjord. Boo, boo, boo. I think he was bleeding all over the floor.

Oops, I just did 19 damage. You're real. Roll cord, roll cord! Roll cord! Oh, damn! I think there's one rule, though. Same as it applies to me. If you start getting weird again, we might have to fuck you up a little bit.

Knock you back into, you know, you. Hopefully it won't happen too often and maybe we just keep a closer eye when items have increased arcane or powerful magnitude or nearby. I'm genuinely looking forward to having to knock you out one day. Listen, I got it under control. I haven't looking forward to having to knock you out one day. Like, it's actually something.

Listen, I got it under control. I haven't been off the wagon in weeks. Sure. Come on. Clock's ticking. Are you taking time bomb, Dorian? Oh, I've got so many issues. Oh! Look, we're playing to win.

Right? Dangerous game. Yeah. Mm. Look, we're playing to win, right? Dangerous game. Yeah. Orym. You gave me that nod of approval before I snuffed out Bordeaux's life. It had to be done. Well, that's still a hold if it's against any other baddie.

How do you mean? Using the tools at my disposal. I was never meant to be directed at anyone here. I'm sorry. She chose you because you have power, Laudna. It's like you could hear me. I said the same thing to her. I wasn't listening to your role play. What?

33 perception. Matt Murdock. I can't remember seven seconds ago. My hands are numb right now. Why are you people? Flandre, do me a favor. Hold out your hands and close your eyes. Oh god, let me.

Yeah, don't trust him, actually. We're just talking about trust and ownership. All right, all right, all right, yes. I trust him, trust him. We did a whole trust game. As soon as she closes her eyes. Please don't put your dick in my hands. As soon as she closes her eyes,

I just break for the middle of the room, I grab the sword, I put it in the bag of holding. Oh. Okay. I walk over. Oh. Did that fucking hurt your finger? Oh my god. See? All better.

If you want to feel a little better, too, this is just an offer, and I'll admit I'm curious. Not every night, but some nights, and I pull out the pipe. I put this pipe in the center of the room. Sometimes when I don't want to feel like shit, I have a smoke and it materializes the best thing I ever did,

the most heroic act, the kindest act I ever performed. That's what it does. Where'd you get that pot? Oh, from the tree. I've had it for a while. From the tree? No, I let the tree smoke it. Yeah. What the fuck? Haven't we Is it from the tree? No, I let the tree smoke it. Yeah.

What the fuck have we been hitting at? Pipe board! Wait, wait, what? God, we're terrible at this. I know mine, and it has not changed yet, but if you want to see yourself in some good light, if you want to be seen just for a moment in a good light that has no real judgment, it's there. in a good light that has no real judgment, it's there.

Even if mind is still decades old, I find comfort in it. And if you don't want to, you don't have to. I'm afraid of what I might see. Yeah, I was, too. I was afraid I wouldn't see anything. Keep it, if you want. All right. Maybe later. If you want. All right. Maybe later. I may ask for it back if I'm feeling like shit.

You know, my brother and I, when we were younger, used to have these knockdown drag-out brawls. No weapons, just an older brother and a younger brother beating the shit out of each other in the field. We would come home to my parents bloodied and bruised and sweating and crying, hurt feelings. Every day after, we would play harder than we'd ever played before. The best games, the biggest imaginary adventures. And I cannot help but feel those same feelings right now. These are the moments that bring us together.

Thank you for letting me be a part of that. We've certainly seen each other at our worsts. And our bests. No bullshit. What would you like us to do, Laudna? How can we best be there for you? This is already so much. You already are, all of you.

Not in a million years did I think anyone would go and rescue me from whatever void Delilah had trapped me in after Otohan killed me. Or he'd done so much. You'd do the same for us. You have. Same for me. What do we... What do you want us to do about her? me.

What do we... What do you want us to do about her? Because we'll kill her a thousand times if we have to. But if you... I don't know. You all know Delilah was in the Cerberus Assembly. You mentioned it. She has a debt to pay. Just as Ludinus does.

Was she anti-Ludinus, or? Seems like everyone in the Cerberus Assembly hates each other. Definitely got that vibe from the woman we met today. Power will do that to you. How the fuck are we supposed to sleep tonight? I was wondering the same thing. It sure is going to be hot. Shit, Imogen, get the mirror. Hold on.

Let's just make sure that's actually. I can hear him. I got more to drink. That sounds nice. Should we play spin the bottle? What's spin the bottle? JK, JK, JK, JK. I don't know, you put a bottle down and then wherever it points, you just kiss somebody. I don't know, it put a bottle down and then wherever it points, you just kiss somebody.

I don't know, it seems a little flippant. Well, no, okay, I just need to be clarified on that. Chetney just fucking wakes up, what? Well, no, just something to lighten the mood. You know, just nothing serious. Kissing bottles? Yeah. Okay. Just kidding.

Don't. Let's none of us ever feel bad about who we are. I'm tired of it. That's a hard thing to do. I know, I'm suck at it. I'm really fucking bad at it. I'm suck at it. I'm suck at it. Yeah.

So it began. Mm-hmm. Oh, it's begun. Yeah! So it began. Mm-hmm. All commands begin. Long night, Rhaen. If you can agree, and feel comfortable, I do want to bring Delilah into this fight. How does that work?

She owes me her life, just as she took mine. And then after this is done, well, I guess we'll just take it from there. Cross that You've got to try to... I'm not going to say not lie, because that's not what it is. You've got to just try to tell the truth when we ask, which is not the same thing. Don't pretend you're okay when you're not. Don't feel like it's nothing when it is.

If something's itching, we're not going to turn on you. We just need to know. We need to know when she's poisoning your head or trying to. I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to remember that we're not lying to you. If we tell you she's leading you astray, try to trust us.

I intend to get information from her. We can use what she gives us, or we can't. That'll be up to us, but I promise I will talk to you all about it. SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say,

SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, Bells howl. We should. We could, we actually don't have to. All this time you haven't come up with something? No secret handshakes? No. I mean, that was like a trope, a stereotype. I'll do it.

It's really cheesy, but if you want to. Is that a thing? I don't know if that's a thing with like, is that? People do it, but we don't have to do it. We can do it if we wanted to. I think you have to choose what we say. Don't they count a? Ding dong, here we come.

It's Bells howls. I'm just spitballing, I'm spitballing. It can be anything. Ding dong, I understand ding dong. Yeah. Ding dong is here we come. It's Bells Hells. I'm just spitballing, I'm spitballing. It can be anything. Ding dong, I understand ding dong. Ding dong is really not. It could be, welcome to Hells. Not bad, not bad. With the two fingers,

we all shoot finger guns at each other? I have a thing that I, but then if you're carrying stuff, that just looks weird. We all, yeah. Do I put down the hammer if we do that? Is that how they, if we're going to do that? That's weird. I feel like it's just complicated.

Oh, because a hammer on a gun? Oh, we could say like, hammer time, or something like that. Yes, and then I get, no? I feel like I've seen someone do that before. All right. We'll workshop it. We'll workshop it. We'll workshop it. We'll workshop it.

We'll workshop it. I'd like to see it, then we'll figure it out. I'll go first. Put your hands in. Okay, all right, yes. Yes. Here we go. Come on, Chet workshop. We'll workshop. Someone think about it. I'll go first. Put your hands in. Okay, all right, yes. Yes. Here we go. Come on, Chetney needs sleep on three. One, two, three.

Chetney needs sleep! All right. Pretty good. All right. Brilliant. As uncomfortable a night's rest as it might have been in the wake of that experience, and I believe sleeping in through a good part

of the morning is part of it. But the morning does greet you. Oof. As you all imagine. It happened. Probably shifted my little sheet. There we are. To give Imogen some space in the night.

I may have quietly crawled over to your little chunk of the room. Mind if we picked up where we were last time? Yes, please. Oh yeah. Oh! I've been up since five. Oh, and got found some prunes. Just some prunes.

That's a regular. Up since five. I went with you because I'm going to say that Orym did not sleep. Orym did not sleep. Orym did not sleep. You're intentionally getting yourself a short rest. Get a short rest. You need to get some stuff back, so no long rest.

It could be a point of exhaustion. I know, I know. So, but went out prune shopping, and then I also took the armor that Dorian helped me buy. I had to run it over to the armor place because I needed it. I asked for color alterations. Yeah.

For overall vibes. You want to be the first thing where it opens. Yeah, so they have time for when everyone wakes up. Okay. Did I recover from a level of exhaustion? I feel like with last night. With a long rest, you recover a point of exhaustion. So we should be zeroed out now.

No, you doubled up. You did, but Keyleth took two off. Oh, so you're. So you would now be baseline. Yeah, we're fine. Yeah. We're clear. You're good. When we wake up, I'm holding Laudna's hand.

Okay. She didn't hear it, but it happened. You're hurting my hand. I got distracted because I saw Chetney seize a little and I wanted to make sure. I think it was just the apnea. Do you want to roll? He's fine.

But I got distracted. What a night. Dorian's always liked to see the sunrise, so he's out front of wherever we're staying in a chair, lean back up against the wall, and he's been fiddling with his jeweler's stuff. And he's been unequipped the last couple days. He finally is finishing up what he was doing.

His flute that he's always had no longer has an axe handle on it, but you can tell there's something special about it. He's been taking time putting a little blue lapis button right in the flute, but we don't know what it is. He hitches it to his side. Then he has Bertrand's Blade with him that he's had for a long time.

It had been formerly decorated for the ball. It's good. It's good. Same thing, but this time it's got three pieces of lapis in the hilt, and he's holding it, thinking to himself about Orym last night and how serious he was, how dedicated he was to the cause of wanting this sword that was clearly a threat. And he has a quiet moment where he thinks about his brother and he thinks about what he's gotten himself into after,

you know, witnessing what went down last night. He just clicks one of the pieces of the three blue lapis and he uses the Gambler's Blade to take an extra risk. So that means he gets one plus one to his attack and then if he has a death save, he uses the Gambler's Blade to take an extra risk. So that means he gets one plus one to his attack. And then if he has a death save, he takes one off. So it's his first time taking a real risk. So I guess you should. Ooh!

And that lasts one full sleep. Is that what the Gambler's Blade does? Yeah, and then I can reset it every morning. So you can boost the sword, but you're increasing your chances of. Oh! Oh! Oh! Are we getting serious or what, motherfucker?

Yes! Why stop at one? Gamblers. Give me room to work, Matthew! Literally, I'm working! Tell her to pull! Dang. That's a cool blade.

Got to have somewhere to go. That's a cool blade. That's fucking cool. Yeah. All righty. You're welcome. As you both return from your trek, in the late morning stages, as the rest of you are waking up after a night of rough rest,

you see Seth in his full illusory self. Essek? Mm-mm. Yeah, Essek in his Seth facade. Oh, Seth. Meet you both as you're coming in, steps in, Good morning. I guess some of you are taking a prolonged rest.

What? What? I think this is to Chetney. Sorry, this is to Chetney and the others. Sorry, sorry. Sit down. This is down in the lodge. You hear me? And go.

This is the mostly empty lodge baseline entrance where the tavern and step up goes from there. Damn it. It's been a rough run of days. I needed a little extra. Hope that's okay. Of course. I am at your disposal until you decide it is time to go.

But time is of the essence, as it always is. So I'll wait here. Come find me when you are all ready. We can gather the rest. One question, are we going, are we jumping? Are we teleporting, whatever it is that you do, into a populated area? Is it like a wilderness?

Will there be eyes, no eyes? What do you think we can expect? Where we are intending to go is a frozen wasteland to the far north. There are very few in the location that I would consider a population, though there are denizens throughout the ruins. The locale I would wish to take us to would be

on the outskirts of a dynasty outpost that once upon a time I was responsible for, but would not wish to enter directly for reasons. It should be. I have not been there in many years. Um, one thing I should also let you know, as I will let the rest of them understand is, magic gets a bit strange to the north,

and I cannot guarantee my first attempt at getting us to our destination will be smooth. Yeah, I'm a stickler for little details. I noticed the word choice, intending, right? It's like pulp in my orange juice. Just get it the fuck out. What do you mean intending? Have you ever missed before?

I wish not to repeat myself. Perhaps best I tell you all when you've gathered. Fine. Chilly up there and chilly here. Let's go get the others. I like pulp. You're not here! You're not there!

Take a seat! The master class is in session! That's what you hear as you walk in the door. I like punk. Vag was still asleep and we're going, was it her or Delilah? Sounds like Delilah. Only Delilah would like punk.

Everyone's talking about orange juice. Orange juice, please. You do all gather yourselves and collect your things. For the ease of narrative, pieces already paid for, you gather your things. The materials that were put on order through the night, and they worked through the night. The team looks bloodshot in the eyes,

exhausted, proud in their yawn as they head it over. Part of the team already crashed on the ground with the completion of what you requested. But nevertheless, you have what you need to prepare yourself for the next leg of your journey. Returning to the lodge. Suit up montage.

Yep. Grab your things. Your... Chet, I need a quick haircut. You chisel that? Right there. Chisel, motherfucker! Why are you making that weird noise

every time you just hit it with the fucking hammer? Watch my methods, okay? I'm a futurist. As you're all gathering the last of your things, the final person to arrive would be you, Orym, since you had to pick up your armor to be colored and stained and properly treated for the journey ahead,

that you could only start that morning. Sure. But with you rushing into the chambers of the lodge, you all are able to get ready, dressed, or if not, all ready. I got my clothes on. So I guess, who wants to describe what their order was first?

Oh shit. You got a bunch of custom stuff. What you want to do? You want me to go first? Yeah. Yeah, you see, I got a leather suit, fur line, but you couldn't tell, I've turned the harness with all my tools into a bandolier. And I got a leather strap

as well for this new harp of valor, which is fucking dope. I got fingerless gloves for increased grip, because we're going where it's going to be icy and wet. My upper sleeves, I got some chain mail on. I got FCG's little piece on my right arm off of Orym's idea. I got a blue bandana tied tight. Hot shots, part deux. And some really good,

strapped up feet for good mobility. And of course, fucking RTA right above the right ear, baby. Yeah, baby, yeah, bro. Ready to fucking deliver justice! Fantastic. And my codpiece area looks super sweet. It's awesome. Right below my belly.

So frame your dick. That looks so good. My dick. Frames my dick. Frames your dick. Who would like to go next? Mine's not that elaborate, so I'll go. So you guys can all flourish. I'm actually using a lot of my old shit. So the same boots, because if I'm not flea jumping, it's not me, the same sword, the same shield.

I have now antique Zephyrin armor with the glyph right in the middle. I still have my old sash wrapped around. There are still, well, here's a question. I have now antique zephyrin armor with the glyph right in the middle. I still have my old sash wrapped around. There are still, well, here's a question. We're back from the moon. Do I still have a touch of fey about me? Can I feel it?

Oh. Oh, after an anamore? Yeah. Touch of fey. So I don't remember discussing timeline, duration, eternal, temporary. It's still there. As far as you can tell,

there hasn't been an inclination to cancel the contract that was sealed. So it's a mix of my old shoulder guard with FCG's as a pauldron on the shoulder. And then now this new, it's really just the chest, codpiece, down the thighs. That's the antique armor with the old drip and the new drip mixed together.

Gotcha. My hair is also a little bushier these days. I haven't had a haircut in. I can take care of that at any time, but it is going to be cold where we're going. Yeah, let the curls flow. Are you trying to let it grow out? Is it wavy or curly?

This feels long. Wavy. Wavy, yeah. Let it go messy, baby. Oh, and I ask that question because all around the armor are little tiny spider vines still clinging around the arms and on the chest and the back.

Cool, I dig it. Mm-hmm. Is it mixed? Sure. I used my old dress. I just altered it a little bit, so it's open down the front. I got some pants, like I talked about.

Mm-hmm. Pants. My little legs are covered, but I got some pants, like I talked about. Pants. My little legs are covered, but I got long black boots now, and I got a black harness all buckled up, and I have that new robe that I stitched up and changed a little bit, so it's off the shoulder and strips on the bottom,

so it's all sheer and flowy and shit. Cool. I think that's basically it. Still remember exactly? Yeah. Fantastic. Dorian's got a new fit, too. He's way more lithe than he used to be, not nearly as bulky.

Still has his winged boots. He's got a swashbuckler's pants on, and instead of the big silver wing across the chest, it's smaller now across a cummerbund-type leather vest. Crawls his dick? Crawls his dick, his little boy dick! Clinging! He's wearing the sluggiest shirt!

Oh! It's perfect! Slut it up! First looking at it, it's just a fully open, poofy pirate arm sleeve, sheer shirt, but if you were to get really, really close, you would notice this was his work. Tiny little nipples. Tiny! Medium.

Medium. Medium. Proportional. I'm checking the art. You would notice that this was the gift that Keyleth had gotten for him and made, which, if you look really close, the threads are really fine mithril.

So he just gets a little bit of a, little bit of, mm-hmm. I didn't know that was an option. I love sheer shit, in case you hadn't noticed. I got it approved! You both can go nips out, it's okay. I mean. We can swap.

My robe is also kind of sheer. Everything's kind of sheer, but my nips are covered. out, it's okay. I mean, my robe is also sheer. Everything's sheer, but my nips are covered. Good, that's good. All right. And then he has- Images are enormous. He's like, I'm this big!

He has a cape, but it's a half cape. And she's like, coming out from all the- Everyone's got nipples. Everyone's got nipples. Every time she casts a big spell, they just grow. It just spreads a little further. Oh my god. It's so beautiful.

Pepperoni! I'm sorry. No, it's okay. It's a pepperoni patronus. You said it, not me. It's all beautiful. That is a very slutty shirt you got on. Oh, thank you. In the best way. I appreciate that. And half cape, same ombre.

Then instead of that kind of armor up top, he's got one shoulder pauldron. The most noticeable thing is that the second son always wore silver, and now all of his, the metalaxe and armor pieces are all gold now. Damn. Oh! Damn. Oh! That hurts.

And his crafty mandolin that used to be red that he got from Dariax, it's now blue and sunburst, and on the back next to his set list is just a little etching of FCG's little grass symbol. Oh! Yeah. That's it. You're going to freeze your nips off in the tundra.

Oh no! This is the time that came before that! Oh, we've all got cloaks. We've got cloaks. You've got cloaks. You can't describe them, they're just cloaks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got cloaks. Yeah, I don't want to ruin my sheer vibes.

We're wearing winter onesies over everything. No. Chloe. I can't put my arms down! Laudna is pulling out what she made in a fugue state last night. She was out of it, and as you look, she sees she's examining it, almost like it's the first time she's seen it,

even though it hasn't, and she's like, hmm, just questioning where her inspiration came from. You see big, billowy blouse. She also took a lot of what she had and repurposed it. Nice, tight little gloves. And then she has a thin breastplate with chains dangling off of it that go around that resemble a rib cage.

Cool. Also the black corset. And then has her long skirt, which has a black to purple to a little bit of blue ombra. Then over top of that, she has a cage skirt, all in gold, going over it. You see her hair is tied up in a bun with a high collar, and she has a little green choker gem. That's his dad's. Yeah. You know, you just sort of mix it up.

Look a little bit more like a lady, you know? What kind of gem is that? I don't know. I must have gotten it out of the bag. There were some interesting things in the bag. Yes, I just got what we had, you know? Just worked with it. Is it residuum? Who knows?

Is it an emerald? Who knows? Should I or do you want to? Oh, well, go ahead. Rollies! Rollies? We'll do our parchment. Folder parchment shears? Yeah, folder parchment shears. Folder parchment shears? Okay.

One, two, three. Okay, I go. All right, so everything that Fearne is wearing has been repurposed. Upcycled. Yes, upcycled. There's an element of Fearne that you can see that she's been very,

I guess, affected by everyone around her. She almost looks a little more human in a way, like more freckles, more sunburned. Her jacket was FCG's jacket, and you still see some of the burn marks because she didn't want to take that away, and you still see some of the burn marks because she didn't want to take that away so we never forget that part.

All the little rips and tears were put together with a yellow thread, and there's little bits of everyone. So on her belt, she has her wolf from Chet. She has a red thread and violets that are wrapped around in a bracelet. She has little ankle gaiters around her hooves for battle and protection. Hoof gaiters.

And a little jade stone from Orym. Her hair is just messy and plopped on the top of her head. And very not flashy for Fearne, And very not flashy for Fearne, just more battle-ready and grounded. Utility Fearne. Utility Fearne. Yeah. Cool. I am the night.

Ashton? I want to see it. So, also mostly repurposed, although there are a couple new things. Had them go through, clean up the boots a little bit, put some new gold hardware on them. Took some chunks of what I had, have gold hardware going up the right leg. It's split punk pants.

One side is that blue ombre from FCG's jacket, and the other side is a yellow-blue plaid split down the middle for the pants. There's a black skirt piece that immediately started to put a couple rips in it because it just didn't quite feel right when I got it back. Leather belt. You know, shirts are bullshit.

So I had a shirt and I just tore it off. It's now sitting at the rib cage. We're going to go full, you know, we're going to, you know. Full crop top. You got a little crop. Full crop top. Also torn up a little bit because it wasn't quite working. Leather vest, black leather vest,

which is new leather. It's got gold spikes that go down the shoulders. And then little gold pieces going down either side of the vest as well. Oh god, grommets going all the way down. Blue liner in it. Slightly new haircuts,

cleaned it up into almost a mohawk now. Oh! Actually got some proper leather gloves with spikes on them. Well, one of them on the right has spikes, and the other one is because we did a fabric trade, because you wanted some of my fucking spikes. I did, yes.

There are some little bits on the jacket with the spikes, and I also have a little spiky bow harness situation. Stole some of the lace that you were using on your shit, and I've got that on the left arm now. Yes, I mended that part of my skirt as well. Unless you have someone for your stonework, can we say that I helped? You've been doing it every fucking week.

That's how I've, yeah, this has been a thing. Oh, you did the haircut? Yeah. Cool. Oh, it's just a little chisel. That chisel's fucked. Does it slowly grow in over time? Yeah, like the sugar when you put the thing in the sugar, I might have said.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's pretty cool. Then on the back, once we got it back, I started painting it up, and it's got, there's a bunch of little symbols, and we'll go into them, but there's clearly, not now, there's clearly six bells,

and then two that have faded off to the corner in the very back, it doesn't say just don't anymore, it says smiley day in the most threatening way fucking possible. I love that so much. Smiley fucking day. Smiley day. Bitch. That's so good. Oh, I love that so much. Smiley fucking day. Smiley day. Bitch. Oh, it's so good. Oh, I love it.

So. Looks warm. We're going to freeze our tits off, guys. 100%. Literally, I have a glowing right arm now. I'm feeling pretty good. We got the cloaks. The cloaks will be good. We're set. Yeah, we got cloaks. Dorian's fucked, but you know.

I'll have an extra brawl if you want, Dorian. That is hurtful. You take it. Not as much as a Mithril shirt in the winter. I didn't know about our travel plans. That was true. Will you guys pass Ishtar down to Chet for the bag? Oh. Thanks.

And we should all just- Thank you! Wait, wait, wait, before we go, should we use that harness? It's the Pipe of Remembrance. Should we use the harness to absorb something? We all have extra shit now, don't we? Powerful items. You have some weird shit in the hole still. For those of you that do prepare spells,

which I think that's just you now, Fearne. Right? I did, what did you say again? I'm just saying, make sure you now, Fearne. Right? I did, what did you say again? Make sure you choose your spell list. Yeah, yeah. For the journey ahead. Oh, for the cold weather. Wow, that was just close to what I'm saying for every spell that I've ever heard.

For the journey ahead. For the journey ahead. Calls the journey. Do we need to use the harness? Do we want to use the harness? Do we want to use the harness? Do we want to absorb anything before we go? Not a bad idea. Should we do it now or should we do it...

We should have done it last night, but things have happened. Yeah, that's fine. It's good now. What do we got? Well, Ishtar. He's a BFD. Yeah, Ishtar. You don't think they have a good harness?

We have this Pearl of Power. It is the Quintessence Array. I know. It's kind of from that, you know. Right. It's really a little bit hard. We have this Pearl of Power. It is the Quintessence Array. I know. It's from that riot. It's a little something. It's a little mid. We could spin the bottle and see who gets Ish to. Oh, look, I'm awake, bud. We have a fucking orb

we're never going to have to need to use again. Oh yeah. Trashy Spire. Well, I don't know, what if we do? We've got the ring, we've got the orb. I can plop it in somebody else if we need it. Touche, that's actually a really good idea. Take it back.

Maybe I can plant it on someone. I can't wear that ring of protection anymore. What's his name? Ludinus, that's who we're fighting. Ludinus. He who cannot be named. I'm full up on a buff table. I'm full up on attunement now with my new armor,

so I've taken off a ring of protection. We can either absorb it or someone could wear it. Is it a plus one or a plus two? Do you know? It's a plus seven. It's plus one. Oh. It requires attunement. I have a plus one ring of protection as well.

I'm, have I already got a ring? I think I already have a ring, so I think two rings is not a thing you can do. You can wear two rings. You can wear two rings? You have to attune to You can wear two rings? You have to attune to both of them, right? They have to, yeah, it's an attunement. I think the butcher's bib is also on the

Yeah, I have an empty slot for attunement. That thing is such a mess anyway. It just drips everywhere. I just leave a trail in the snow. That's true. I also have a Feywild shard. What does that do? That's a...

I'm surprised you haven't given that to Talat. I know, I know. She wanted that one a long time ago. She did. Who else has an attunement slot open? That's not the same rock. It's a different one. You got it from the... Travis, you full up on attunement?

The Feywild. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, from the bunny. You're full up on attunement. I'm full up. Full up on attunement? Fae Wilder. Yeah, yeah, yeah. From the bunny. You're full up on attunement. I'm full up. Full up on attunement? I'm full up on attunement. Is anybody not full up on attunement? Oh, I'm so full on attunement.

I have one slot open, so if there's anything we're trying to move, we're moving on. Oh, you have a slot open. Well, I have a ring of, I have a Pearl of Power, which you probably can't use. It doesn't do anything for me. Ring of Protection. You got one plus two, or?

It's a plus one. So we've got two plus one rings. I'll take a plus one. And a Butcher's Bib if you want it. Crit on a 19 or 20. Ooh, I am. You can reroll your dice. Yeah. Does it say anything specific about the weapons?

Weapon attacks deal slashing damage. I do not deal slashing damage, never mind. Once per turn, when you roll damage for a melee attack with a weapon, you can reroll the weapons damage dice. If you do so, you must use the second. Ring of protection sounds awesome. Coward.

Literally don't do slashing damage. Not with that attitude. Wow. Can I use the boulder harness to absorb the ring? I'm deleting this from my inventory. All right, Ring of Protection. I can never remember that. Huge Sheets rules.

Common, five temporary hit points. Uncommon item, 10 temporary hit points. Rare, hit point maximum goes up by two. Very rare, maximum permanently increases by five, plus a couple of buffs. Was it for rare? For rare, maximum hit point increases by two. All attack rolls and ability checks have advantage

until they complete a long rest. And what was uncommon again? Uncommon, the wearer gains 10 temporary hit points. Okay, that's it. But the plus two for rare is permanent on hit points? Yes. I'll tell you that. Yeah, on rare.

Very rare, five. And legendary, one of the wearer's ability scores is permanently increased by two, depending on the item, as does your maximum for that score. Some power of items might bestow additional benefits. Luck to you, Dirk. Crickets. What is that sword?

Was it very rare? It's a plus three sword. It's probably pretty baller. It is legendary. Oh! But it's also a kick-ass weapon. It's a fucking sick sword. That it requires attunement.

Yeah. Someone should use that sword. Says Marisha. I say. attunement. Yeah. Someone should use that sword. Says Marisha. I say, I know this is probably mixed messages, but. It is. I'm sure we will. I'm sure we'll get to it. Yeah, we'll get to it. I say we use the sword.

Yeah, we'll get there, we'll get there, we'll get there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, sure, sure. Butcher's good. Bring it, Power. I might yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure, sure, sure. Butcher's good, bring the power. I might hold, I might hold and wait and see. Maybe we'll find some cool stuff in the snow. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'll definitely do the ring, though.

I'll take those two hit points in lieu of this ring of protection. You want to do it? Yeah. Okay, let's do it. So Mark, when you open the harness, you take a moment and leave that ring of protection behind the glass funnel. It comes out of the back of the shoulders.

The ring spins rapidly for a second, and within a short time, you watch as the ring gets to dissolve and burn away, and each of those little glowing pieces of enchanted matter are pulled in towards the harness. You feel that weird, a staticky warmth at the base of your neck, and with the ring gone,

you get a plus two permanent increase to your of your neck. With the ring gone, you get plus two permanent increase to your maximum hit points. Am I taller? Maybe you are, but we are, too. All your attack rolls and ability checks have advantage until your next long rest. Nice. Okay. Ooh!

Well, ability checks will be straight because I've got one point of exhaustion. That's true. But the attack rolls will be at advantage. Yep. Right? Mm-hmm. All right, throw a dragon at us. You got it.

That's it, unless we want to risk breaking it for the day. Is it one a day? 20% chance to increase your break. Oh no. Oh hell no. No one wants that. Cowards. Factor. All right, I got fucking scared.

You're a dude. Let's go, we got business. Plus, you know, Seth is downstairs being a little bit of a bitch about the timetable, so we should go. Whatever you do, don't ask him to repeat himself. What? It's a long story. You still have to wear

your piercing gloves, right, Marisha? Chet, as you open the door, on the other side of the door, you see Seth. Ah! Seth also has keen ears and can overhear nearby conversations. I'm sorry. Come on in, Seth.

He closes the door, drops the illusion. It's like, once again, gliding about an inch and a half off the ground as he enters. How do you do that? How do you do that? Is it concentration? Do you have to think about it all the time? It's magic. Oh.

I wasn't telling you. It's all magic. I mean, yeah. Yeah. It's such as natural fruit. Okay. Are we ready? Yes. Yep.

Yes. Yes. I'm prepared. So we are about to head to the realm of Eiselcross, to the far north above here. This is where the Crash Site and the ruins of Eor reside. Eor being one of the most powerful mageocracies during the Age of Arcanum. A massive, advanced, arcane city

that floated above the landscape. One of many, but one of the apexes of the time before it dared bring its strength against the gods during the warring times of the Calamity, in which the gods struck it from the sky and this magical city crashed into this icy realm and was forgotten until recently. Now, I've been there a handful of times

before the Empire and Kryn interests began to push into the depths, and to be fair, I've defaced elements of it slightly. But where we go, this ruin contains within strange alterations to spellcraft and magic. The very landscape around it tends to make things

not work as intended on occasion. Eiselcross is challenged with some transportation magics. I would not dare bring us into the ruin itself, but even getting nearby should prove a bit, well, it might take a few tries. Once within, even mildly powerful magics have a chance of acting strangely. So for those of you who utilize spellcraft,

do not be too surprised with odd encounters. And you see him laughing like he's recalling in memory. But it'll be dark. It'll be dangerous. Between the current denizens of the ruin, the wandering ancient denizens of the ruin, and what elements of the vanguard and Ludinus

now call it home as well, you will move in shadow. You will be careful. And you will trust in my word. Do any of you hold any magics that are useful for finding things? Finding people? FCG. FCG, it is.

I got a bitchin' nose. That can be helpful. Do we have a locate object? That'd probably be smart. Do we have a locate object? That'd probably be smart. Which is more important, people or objects? Well, if we're looking for individuals, people is helpful. I have prepared one myself just in case,

but it is best to have many things at our disposal. Nevertheless, cross your fingers, step into the center of this chamber, and hope that if the gods are not with us, at the very least, the Dysa, he adjusts his cloak with the big furry edge

around the mantle. Begins to repeat the incantation that drew you to Zadash with him when you first met. And then in a brief moment, the magic begins to pull you in once more. The breath is being pulled from your lungs as you feel the gravity drawing you into the center. As it releases, I need one of you

to roll a d100 for me, please. Who? Who's doing it? Who's doing it? D100. I'm not doing it. You, you, you! No, no! No, no, no! You have to do it!

You have to do it! Good job, Lys. Where are they? Where are they? Where is it? It's the two of d10. Is it? They're the twin dice. Yeah, that one, and then a d10. Find that one's twin.

And then a d10. Okay. They're the twin dice. Yeah, that one, and then a d10. Find that one's twin. And then a d10. Okay. They're the same shape. Oh, that's even scarier. So one of them is the 10s, one of them is the single digits. Okay. You got this, Laura. Tell me if it's good. I'm going to do it right in the middle

so everybody can see! Oh, 14. And 10 and four? It's 14. 14, is that good? Why is he doing a face? No, he don't. That ain's 14. 14, that good? Why is he doing a face? No, he don't. Low numbers are great.

That's not good. Lowest number wins, just like golf. You just got to look at Matt's face. Same thing, right? As you all get pulled in, you see the arcane tunnel begin to pull, and then suddenly, this clouded static fires from the middle of your minds.

The arcane core of what was pulling you in detonates and you all go scattered across the room, slamming into the wooden walls. The wood panels splinter a bit and you all land dazed for a minute. That was a vicious start. How did we do? Oh, that was fun.

How did we do? Is it a was fun. How did we do? Is it a york? Good job, man! All of you take 11 points of force damage. Yes! Come on! You guys are jerks! Are we there yet?

What did you do? There's nothing! Essek pulls himself off the floor and goes, Like I said, Eiselcross can be a challenge to arrive at. Let us try again. Oh, okay. Cross your fingers a little heavier. I don't want to do this anymore.

I'm not going to go anywhere. Releases the magic and you're all pulled forward. I need somebody to roll a d100 again. 45. 45. That's in the middle. That's better than 14, right? Middle's good.

Yeah. You're all brought in and suddenly you land. The landscape is cold. Okay, good. Cold is good. There is a wind that begins to kick in, and you immediately pull yourself into a warmer space.

A gentle fall of snow begins to evaporate around you. You see these rolling white fields of snow in the surrounding mountain range. About 100 feet to your right, you see what looks to be an encampment in disarray. Looks like an abandoned encampment, some tents that have fallen,

bits of old wooden furniture, itself snow and ice coated. As you all take in the surroundings here, you realize you've arrived, as Essek looks around. Well, we fucked up. What? Oh. There's a lot of different snow in the world.

I thought you said cold. He points off in the distance and you see amongst the mountain range cresting, there is one mountain that, actually a pair of twin mountains side by side, where you can see the clouds above. There is hints of, looks like a cityscape built into

these twin snowy mountains. Oh my god. That's Laerryngon, so we are far north of Tal'Dorei. All right. Come on, somebody be good! I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, you got it right.! You got it, you got it. So here's the thing. Rollies. Rollies?

Can you not do it again? I can do it once more for the day. What? You can what? What? I can do this once more for the day. Oh, come on, man. Come on, baby! Don't fuck this up, Taliesin.

Come on, baby! Big money, big money. Warms his fingers for a second. Take me to the islands. Sorry? 61. 61. A little better every time. A little better every time! That's a D-minus! Wow, too real.

That's too real. Sorry, sorry. You feel yourself pulled through the sudden thrust of arcane energy. You all land again in a different set of heavy snow, about knee to thigh deep. Your legs are chilled in the space. Oh, it's even colder!

I can't see anything! To Drexna. The snow here is a bit high, and around you, you can see more jagged, more dangerous-looking mountains closer surrounding you, the heavy peaks of it looking like, at some points, like needles or claws,

and others, it falls into broken elements. As you all stand there, taking it in, not too far off, you can see this beautiful castle, a fortress of some kind. You can see it maybe about half a mile away from where you stand. The more you look at it, parts of it look like it's old, it's aged, maybe it's seen some damage through history.

Essek goes, well, at least we're an isocross. We're not at our intended destination. How far away from our destination are we? I'm not certain. I've not been to this part of the continent. So you don't recognize that castle in the distance? I do not. And as he looks over towards the castle,

you also see there are like things moving along this fortress. What are those? Oh no. As he looks over towards the castle, you also see there are things moving along this fortress. What are those? Oh no. I think they want to be friends. You also see a handful of other darkened figures walking through the snow, and maybe only a few hundred feet away, these two lumbering figures

cresting through. You see these 20-ish foot tall humanoid creatures. Based on the heavy furred and bone-based armor across, they look to be giant-like. One of them with a pale grayish blue skin amongst its tattered, furred armor, carrying behind it, dragging what looks to be

some sort of a large ax that just carves through the snow like a plow pushing through a field of white. The other one, as it lumbers, you can see bluish gray skin for parts of it, the parts where exposed bone isn't shown. That's 100 feet off. About 150 to 100 feet off. Are undead giants usually nice giants?

No. Not these kind. These are unliving. These are unliving frost These are unliving cross-dines. We should hide. We should hide as one of them. We just sit in the snow. Oh god.

Okay, wait, wait. Oh, Jesus. Wait. We're going to go to break. No! When is the long rush time to negotiate? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We've brought him in that round. Do not see me! There's a reason you took a boat

to Eiselcross last time. I'm so excited! Me, too! It's okay, guys, we're safe now. So excited we're here. Cross the Pomp to Come. We fail, we fail to get. Hey, we all have a good time,

and it's all fun and games. That's true. Yeah. Indeed. I rolled an 86. Well, now you did. It's fine. All you have to do is find a place to crash for the day and wait for him to get his spells. Well, what if he pips us to the fucking South Pole tomorrow?

Yeah, what if we get him? Then we meet undead penguins! Yeah! And they'll poop everywhere. Up to 61% is fuckery, if not higher. There's a reason people don't teleport to Eiselcross often. It's really hard to get. Like, the stats are harder, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I wish I was trying to get the last time we were here. So we could find ourselves in a totally wrong place again tomorrow after three tries. Yeah. Yeah. That's totally possible. Yeah, what if we get further?

Woo! Maybe we fly. Yeah, we'll deal with it then. Oh my god, I'm so excited we're here. We'll be back here in a few minutes. Woo! Why, hello there. This is Critical Role's resident art dad, also known as Liam O'Brien.

We are continuously amazed at the artwork this community creates. That's why each Thursday at 8 a.m. Pacific, we share a curated gallery of submitted fan art over on CritRoll.com. If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, visit CritRoll.com slash submit. And thank you to all of the incredible artists who share their talents with us week after week. And welcome back. Close. So, where we left off,

lost in the snow, an icy mountain-surrounded landscape of an unfamiliar place among the continent of Eiselcross, you and your now apparently a bit nervous guide, Essek Thalyss, look up at the massive fortress not too far off and the numerous undead frost giants that lumber around its exterior,

one of which seems to have taken notice of you upon the top of the snowy hill and has turned in your direction. How far away is he? You were saying things. I was going to say, wait, wait. Should I just cast Fly on us and then try to get away, or should we fight it?

Just cast Fly on us! Do I sound like that? Maybe tonight. I don't like this. No, you're Laura Bailey. You're the queen of voiceover. You sound like a bell, like an angel. Proceed. Good cover, dude. You sound like a bell, like an angel. Proceed.

Good cover. Ashton, how far away from our destination? Good cover. Good cover. I do not know precisely where we are. I just assume we're in similar-looking landscape. We're going to need shelter. We're going to need it soon, and we're going to need to deal with this one way or another, whether it be flying.

You can see now both of them are like. Are they coming in our direction? They're running in your direction. Great. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, I can't, eight, I can't. What do you want to do? I can't fly that many people.

I can fly some people. You can fly some people? Yeah, it's natural for me. I got one fly, I got one fly, and I can fly with my wing boots. What if we just rolled around in the snow and covered ourselves and acted real quiet? They are literally coming this way.

They are running towards us. They see us. They are running towards us right now. Are they running or lumbering? They're like. They see us. They seem to have noticed at least one of you. One of them is heading in the direction the other one has taken notice and is like,

Oh, cool. And they've been following after it is like, Oh, cool. And begun following after it. Cool, cool, cool. Okay, you can get two people, right? Me and one. You can turn into a big. I can do the shield bell. We should talk. How far away are they?

Right now, a little over 100 feet and closing quickly. Okay, I'm going to cast, with a distance spell, I'm going to cast Command on the first one and just say, halt! Okay. Can't be that bright. Right? Now, you say this command,

which affects humanoids, correct? Maybe. A creature. Sorry. A creature. Sorry. A creature. Sorry. I can see within range. Okay, gotcha, I'll make sure.

That depends, some of these... Correct. Yeah, it has the ability to understand you, that's what it is. Oh, wait. Never mind. The spell has no effect if the target is undead. Yep, that's how it's going to be.

So you say that. He's not stopping. He's not stopping. It reaches over and grabs a chunk of broken ice on the rock. No, wait, she threw it at him. Fuck! It's going to throw it in your direction. Oh no! That's going to be 21 to hit.

Will you allow my bait and switch out that I just called out real fast? Sure, yeah, you did, you did. Okay, so you get an extra, I see that rock coming, you get an extra four to your AC. Okay. Oh, that makes it 21.

21. Because I took my ring off. Oh! Oh no! Mage armor. He had a spear. Sorry, that's not what, I don't have that spell!

Mirror image! That's a machine spell! He had a spear! Don't want's not what, I don't have that spell! Mirror image! That's a machine spell! He had a spear! Don't want to die! I have the staff. She's full up, she's full up. I'm full up. She's got all the entombments she can eat.

That is 26 points of bludgeoning damage. Yeah. Damn. As this massive icicle just. You watch as it impacts right before it hits the midget and hits the ground and then rolls over her with rapid speed and she just vanishes below and as it goes over you,

you see her crushed down in the snow. My bait and switch rolls are always such shit. No, it was great. Don't talk about yourself like that. So we need a plan. I am getting, I am now ready for whatever the fuck's coming. You can see a number of the other dead giants are starting to turn. How many? You notice?

Right now, there's the two coming towards you. There's about three other ones that have noticed. And amongst between here and the stronghold, probably close to 20 to 30 that are immediately invisible range. Stronghold was a mile away, right? We can stay here for the night. Correct. But the ones that are closest to you are scattered out and they mile away, right? We can stay here for the night.

But the ones that are closest to you are scattered out and they start to notice, almost like a chain. Okay. All right, I can cast Fly on four people. You can throw rocks. Four? I can cast Fly on four people. Seth, do you have an idea?

Okay. If you can, if you have four people. You can call me Essek and... Essek? I am just prepared to try and knock whatever the fuck comes flying at us as hard as humanly possible until someone... I can try to teleport us.

Sure. You don't even know where we're going. No, I don't. You will have no chance of getting there. I can carry you. Fearne, you carry me. I can carry you, I can carry you. All right.

What? What? Can you fly? Can you not fly? And is going to go ahead and attempt to cast Teleport one last time. Oh! He's doing a three! Is he doing it at a higher level? He lied!

He's trying to save his ninth level spell for something else. Oh shit. Oh! That never works out the way you want it to. But he's our friend! So I would like one more person to roll a d100, please. I got this. Bailey?

My wife's got this. Oh no, no, the pressure now, no! Yes, you are, yes! We know she's going to roll high because she told us she can. Yes! Believe in yourself! Oh my god.

What was that? That's a 48. Is it a 48? Yep. Gets it an advantage, though, because it's a 9th-level spell. Fucking heck. It was like, go back to the rush. No!

I thought it was so convenient to just inch him away from you. I rolled a 61. But you know what? At least it's going to get us away from here. Yeah, we're going to end up in Fartown, though, or something. Or just teleport us right closer to them.

Yeah. Yeah. That's my deus! You're giving him ideas. I mean. Fuck! Just right into his mouth. Yeah. Oh my god.

As the spell takes effect, as you're starting to scatter, you can see the two undead giants. The one getting closer, you can see the lower jaw itself. What are we doing? What are we doing? Just missing flesh. Then you pull out and you land in another patch of snow elsewhere. The landscape unfamiliar,

not as close to the ones near you. We just dropped prone. Here. Oh, yeah. Essek looks up a bit. Stop floating and lay down, Essek! Well, the good news is we've gotten away. Bad news is I have no idea where we are.

Cool. That's fine. I'm sorry. I'm just stressed, so I'm getting sarcastic. It's great. You said you have the ability to do this as well. I have the staff that, yeah. Should we at least look around to see where we are? Or maybe?

Oh, I never took myself. I don't have any illusions prepared to even try and convey the location we're heading towards. I can locate an object, if that's helpful at all in this moment. Is it just good for you? Just so we don't get surprised, can I use my nose on the wind

and just make sure something's on it? Yeah, go ahead and roll a perception check. I assume we're taking a 360. Yeah. Always. MATT and LAURA, as they breathe in, 16. 31. 31. Okay.

Looking around here, first thing you notice is it's actually pretty cold here as well, but the air is thinner, which means you are at an elevation. Cool. Glancing around, you can see those mountain ranges. It looks like a smaller mountain range around you, just a few peaks in different directions,

but you do not see the horizon, which leads you to believe quickly that you are probably on the higher end, if not the peak of some mountain or mountain range. Have you had a short of breath? Why can't I get a full breath in? What's happening? No, it's just really cold.

You don't see or sense anything immediately that causes you to feel worried or endangered, but you are still keeping a close watch. But this definitely feels like a desolate mountaintop, like a somewhat jagged-rung plateau of some kind. What's our footing like? Are we on a little precipice? Do we have a lot of room up high?

Where you are right now, you're on an area that's mostly rock. You can feel hard stone beneath your feet, but there's about a foot and a half, two feet of snow over that right now. Then you can see the rest of the valley around you. It's just a shallow valley around the nearby mountains that is just all white.

Oh, okay. Oh, we can find a cave. Any sense on the wind or just cold? Just cold. I'm on Fearne's shoulder because it's up to my nose. Essek, you can see, is now creating a very small illusion, looking towards you, Imogen. He's like, There is a, and you can see,

there's a, it just looks like land masses with a cliff and rocks and ruins, and he's like, This isn't going to help. Lest you had a clear image of it, you'd have little to no chance of even getting there. What if we had something from the place? Oh.

Perhaps. Oh. Oh, oh! Yeah! I take the Bag of Holding. Would that have been helpful for you to have this all time? Possibly. Break out the piece of machinery.

Oh, that's right. It's a whoa. I've seen what it's like. It'll probably be at the same chance, but you can. Are you able to peek into his head? For imagery? Oh, really? I could try that.

If it'll help, I don't know. I made a bold move, I was thinking. Not yet, not yet! We might need it. It's a good idea. Just carry the bag. Perhaps the two together might be of aid. Yeah. Sure.

I'll let you in a brief peek. So don't go poking around, please. What were your thoughts? Letting you into his consciousness. For a brief instant, you see shadows around, almost like there are other memories, lengthy memories with curtains thrown over them to ensure that you do not peek beyond

where you're supposed to. But in that shadow, you see an image begin to apparate. You see now the familiar snow and frosty landscape that you've been to, but this one's uniquely different. You see the crown of mountains around this majestic valley, the black, jagged peaks, them pushing through the ice and snow. In this valley, you see long expanses of ice

with broken towers poking out, breaking through the ice sheets. You can see little facets and glimpses of ancient ruin, mostly locked somewhere beneath this glacial ice. you see little facets and glimpses of ancient ruin, mostly locked somewhere beneath this glacial ice. You shift through the bird's eye view of his memory and you see this entryway. You see a path that leads into this glacial shelf.

You then get glimpses of subterranean ruins, flashes of faint blue glow in space, and you see him shake his head. I have to keep you focused. And we cannot go directly there. Did you see that cliff? The image in his head shifts back to that point, and you can see the ice shelf ends in a cliff

and leads down to this slight decline. There's other jutting parts of ruin, but you see a crack in this glacial shelf and what looks to be a dark point entrance. Yeah. Well, you can certainly try. Yeah. All right.

Everybody gather around. You better do it. Come on, Castro. I know, and I just reach my hand in the bag of holes and touch the... Chetney. Move the bag. Come on, Dennis. What's this?

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Guidance? Oh, can, will that help, guidance? No, but it's just nice to have. It's nice. It's sweet. It makes you feel like it's... Yeah, it's just a nice little warm, fuzzy feeling

before you go. Okay. She cares. And I'm just rolling, I'm just going to you go. Yeah, okay. She cares. And I'm just rolling. I'm just going to roll. You see, as you pull the staff out, Essek looks at the staff with an odd glance, and as you begin to concentrate

and the runes begin to glow, he goes, Yes! Holds his breath and squints his eyes. I don't trust anything that's about to happen. Wait, did Essek recognize the staff? No, he just knows. Okay, he just knows it's bad. Yeah, yeah.

He's giving himself up. That's a cock. Oh! Well, that's... Oh. So it's cocked, it's cocked, it's cocked. Come on! Come on. Come on. Nope.

Fucking 49. I thought this was going to be the 90s. Oh, the cocked was 90. It's a good cocked day. It It was. It's a good cocked. It was cocked, it was two cocked. It's good, though. Bad cock. It's good. The cocked was 99.

Oh. But it was cocked. Those are fair. It's going to be good. It's a better cocked. Ah! Okay. Back to the ice giants. Damn it!

Oh man. You all vanish from the top of this mountain scape and instead land in a glade of some kind, a frozen, snowy glade between a number of tall, reaching, snow-covered pine trees. Y'all, this is beautiful. This is better.

Much better. This is much better. This is much better. You did such a good job. Trouble? Danger? No, he can't see it. 27. We'll go with orbs. He was. We just need this. The catarony does. He just needs. The cataract he does.

It's cold. Too much coke. Immediately around you, you see no creatures beyond a couple of snow rabbits that dart away as you all arrive and make yourselves known. Yes. I see. That's immediately what I thought of.

Pfft! Ah! Ooh! That's a good thing to bring. Pfft! Nothing immediately there, but you see Essek going, All right, still have no idea where we are. Perhaps we just call this a wash for the moment

and stay close. Okay, now that there's nothing here, yeah, this is way better. This is good. Mountains anywhere, or are we? Snow-covered palm trees. No, pine trees. Pine trees. I think you said palm trees.

Sweet. We're on the universe. Poor Nicodranas. No one on the 101! Steps into a nearby alcove about 40 feet off and just says, I can keep us safe for the time being, but get close. Mm-hmm. All right.

He goes ahead and looks into a small side tome that he has pocketed in, glances through, reminds himself of something. He mutters the incantation. SAM and LAURA say, and as he puts his hands down, this amber-colored dome surrounds all of you. And immediately, the cold becomes a comfortable,

centralized, climate-controlled temperature. Consists down. All right. It's a good thing I woke up relatively early in the day because I'm going to have to take an early nap. Yes. Sorry about this. I'm sorry as well. Yes. Sorry about this.

I'm sorry as well. So it hasn't been that long, right? It's just been a handful of minutes. From Zadash. It's been an exciting 10 minutes. Yeah, like 10 minutes, right? Yeah. Just screaming the whole time.

Ah! Ah! Okay. All right. I could scry. How does this work? Do we all have to stay inside it? Yes, I mean, you can leave if you need to, but while inside it is comfortable,

most nothing could penetrate the boundary itself, so. How do we get in and out? You put your hand towards it, it passes through slightly. I want to go look around. But you do notice that the snowfall that's here is stopping and gathering a bit on the top. It's like being in a snow globe.

Yeah, something like that. Oh, good. He pulls open his book and sits and leans against the side and starts reading through his book. You can see that frustrated knot in the middle of his forehead. I'm sneaking outside. How dense is this forest, out of curiosity?

It's fairly dense. Beyond this one little pocket, you can see the tree line immediately falls back to back to back. Day right. Cool. Now what? Nice.

Anyone we should message? I thought he'd be in Namor by now. These delays are a bitch. That certainly beats trying to take Skyship or boat, I guarantee you. Chit chat, little nap, try again tomorrow? I think that is the plan. Well, if he takes a nap. Lunchtime.

Do you need a full eight hours? Go to rest. I need an extensive bit of sleep, yes. Oh. He reaches into a pouch and pulls out a face mask. Well, good night. And curls up in the far back part of the dome against the little hillscape that's there.

Plops in. When he starts to fall asleep, I'm going to lift up his robe and look at his feet. What? Once he passes out, you mean? Once he passes out. Okay, make us that a hand check. Like his shoes or boots or?

Yeah, he's floating. I thought you just wanted to see his feet. Not his feet. Ask him on the foot finder. I rolled a two. He's a roll to count on wikiV. Nine. A nine.

It's just regular feet. Chest barely sees. As you peek, he shoots up a little bit and pulls the face mask up a little bit over one eye and goes like, Is that an issue? Did you want a foot rub to help you sleep? I was just going to help you try to, I can,

I'm going to, I walk out of the globe. As you start to sleep. He goes back to rest. It is an arduously boring eight hours of waiting for Essek to recover his spellcraft. For all the intensity and drive and energy going into this venture towards your supposed destination of mystery and deadly traps.

Now you're just sitting in a mountain. Does he not have that ability to get the four hours? There are limited. Long rest? No, actually, yeah. As an elf, he would only have four hours. Yeah. That's right. That's good. That's good. Suit of meditation.

Yes, the meditation thing. So he takes in his reverie. I would take a short rest. Take a short rest, if you'd like. Yep. Oh. I'm going to go ahead and look around and see if... I'm attempting to climb a tree at the moment.

Yeah, if there was any game in the forest nearby, I might try and use the harp, see how it is. Go ahead and roll a d20 and add your attack modifier. Dexterity and the plus two bonus. That's a dirty 20 plus one, did you say? It's your, well. Plus two, so 22. 22, okay. You hear this like, and this streak, and you see this small shape

go running past and you fire. And it comes to rest and you see kind of an go running past, and you fire, and it comes to rest, and you see an adolescent boar that is now at your disposal. Yes! Oh, fucking sweet meat. Now, should I take it back to you? Hard to tell. Ah, just kick it again.

Ha, pick it up. Ha! Pick it up. Then I'll start dragging it back. Ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka. Climbing a tree? How many times have you seen climbing a tree? No, rolling an athletics check for me. All right. I'll bring it back out and park it.

This asterisks you. Oh, that's terrible. That's a natural one for 12. Well, it's a natural one. Yeah, I know. So you see this tree. Good view. You get two branches up, and it breaks, and you fall on your ass. Shit. You go to the next one.

This one's pretty sturdy. You give it three branches, fall on your ass, and take five points of bloodshed. All right. Apparently, if you're made of rock, climbing a tree, a little difficult. I'll do it. Five points of bloodshed. All right. Apparently, if you're made of rock climbing a tree, a little difficult. I'll do it. Athletics check for me, Fearne.

You got hooves. So good, I know. I love it. You have my hooves. I'm a hoo-rologist. Ooh, okay. Time is a-wanting. Athletics tricks, you said?

Mm-hmm. Oh shit, this is my last two. 14. 14 is enough, though. It takes you a bit, and a hilarious display of showing up the athletic prowess of Ashton here in the snow, you leap and grab and leap and grab until you get to the top.

Those are slippery! To the higher part of this tree. Eventually, you crest beyond the canopy's top. As you glance from this point, you're on the side of a hillside slant in this massive snow-covered forest. As you look past, you see it does continue on. There are pockets where it dissipates. You can almost see the edge of a frozen lake somewhere.

As it continues on, in the middle of this valley, there is a mountain range on one side that continues into one massive mountain. And this is miles and miles off. But you swear you can see, at the edge of the foot of this mountain, a city, a very large city built. Tall, tall battlement walls that surround it,

multiple layers, and you can see it built into this large mountain, this cliffside peak. You can see a handful of other bits of trails of smoke drifting up at different parts of the Distant Forest for you. Either fires in the middle of the snowstorm or other smaller signs of civilization might exist throughout this valley.

Are you fucking with me? No. Wow, okay. I mean, I have no idea where we are. I have no idea where we are! Are, are. No, I could've heard you. It was okay. I, hmm.

Nothing in any, well, yeah. We are, how much of a walk would it have been to get to that city at this point? Through this forest, a number of days. Mm. Wow. At least we know it's there. We know it's there. Sure.

I guess it's pretty. Okay, that's fine. I don't care. Back at the dome. I've cleaned the boar. I've gotten some branches and started a little fire. Some blood magic shit. Baking some ass jerky for Orym.

Are you making pocket bacon? Yep. Okay. Make it a little spit, a little impromptu spit to turn and burn, baby. And the cleanest, most polished spit you've ever seen crafted of wood. I bet your ass, no imperfections. Eventually, you see Essek sit up,

pulling off the face mats. Do you have any extra? You bet, especially for you. How are you feeling? Feeling rested? Feeling good? Feeling willing enough to try again. Interestingly enough. I mean, Fearne got to the top of a tree.

Yeah, I did. You got to the top of a tree. Yes, I did. Why do you have to say it like that? That's incredible. We're just trying to jump continents and you're climbing trees. That's great. What did you see?

Well, there was more snow and a slopey situation, and then there was what looked like maybe the edge of a frozen lake. And a city. Oh. But it looks like it's a few days away. A big one?

Yeah. Like a real city. Does that make sense? I believe you, that makes sense, yes. Well, I mean, does it sound familiar? A city? I've been to a few cities in my time. In Aeor, in where we're supposed to go in this area.

No? For the most part, the only cities nice across the southern side, none in this densely forested region, and the dynasty city, Vermis, is actually on the waters, so. So we're definitely not on Azercross. We are not. So we're in the

highest points of what, Wildemount or Issylra? I do not know. This is not familiar to me. I'm getting Wildemount. So let's try and get out of here, shall we? Everyone have your things? Everyone ready? Anybody else want some more?

Yes, please. Yes, please, yes. Takes a peace start, like, finished drinking it. All right. Let's try again before the day takes us. You got this. And as he releases the magic once more, I need somebody else to roll a d100. Who hasn't done it? Me. Do it. Chet hasn't done it. You got this. As he releases the magic once more, I need somebody else to roll a d100. Who hasn't done it?

Me. Do it. Chet hasn't done it. You got this. Oh my god. Yeah! This is your moment. I gave you your sign. Would it make sense if our odds,

if one person had better odds, try to? Shut up. Come on. 53! That is what the booty! Well, I think we rolled in the 60s. We rolled in the 60s before. We rolled 61.

What? What? Are you our last hope? Yeah. You all arrive on the edge of a mountain slope, and you all catch yourselves as the snow begins to slide, and you can see

now you could very easily begin to tumble into the valley below. Did you do it? No, this is not it! I hit the button on the hammer. Do it again, do it again. There is now something to hold onto. Hold onto my shoulders.

He begins to do the physical incantation as you're holding him, his legs hovering a little bit in space. Teleport again. Marking another spell slot. Someone roll another d100. little bit in the space. Shot! Unlock. Teleports again. You're marking another spell slot. Someone roll another d100. It's you! It's you! You're the only one! Come on!

You're the chosen one! No problem. Don't fuck us. 46. 96, it's a 96! What? No! Oh!

As you all go, Ah! They look very civilized. As you all go, Ah! They look very similar. As you all land, you look around to another similar landscape of ice and snow. Cool. The only person of real recognition is you, as you saw the image of this in Essek's mind.

We made it, we made it! We made it. It all looks the same. You all look the same. We're on Flyland? Shh. He points over and you can see now where you are, there's rocks pushing out of the nearby snow,

but you take a moment to realize, and they're not rocks, you see structure. You see what looks like a corkscrew design of stairs that have been smoothed over time along one edge of a massive pillar that's broken at the top. You can see another edge of what looks like

a crumpled building peak that has just enough of a corner point and designs among it where it looks like it was once a beautiful structure, now lost to the weathered elements in time. It just barely stands beyond the peak of the ice. And here, between this small descent, this snow-filled slow crawl

toward the base of this glacial cliffside, you can see this dark crack that snakes up the base of Seventh Inn, a shattered walkway that heads to darkness within. Very well, we have arrived. Try and be as quiet as possible and stay close. Aw. He drifts above the snow

and begins to glide down towards that cliff entrance. I would like a group stealth check from you all. Pass without a trace. With Pass without a trace? Pass without a trace. Who's doing it? Me. I can do it. Okay, you got it? Okay. I'll do it on my own. All right.

Why, because we trust? This betrayed me every time. Oh, so I dare. I should know that. I should have looked at it. I should have looked at it. I should have looked for things. Why, because we trust? This betrayed me every time. Oh, that's fine. What? These ones. Okay. Not the Dorian, then. So many. I rolled a 20.

Are you saving it for something special? 20. With pass, without a trace? Yeah. Because he's at disadvantage. Ugh. Tie, tie. 27. Well, you're at a, but you, didn't you take? Stealth.

No, I was going to say, didn't you take the magical item? It's not at disadvantage now. That's not for stealth, though. That's acrobatics, or maybe it's a brand new item and I don't remember. No, sorry, you have for the next long rest advantage on all of it. So it's straight. So it's a straight roll.

Well, I don't know what I rolled anymore. Just re-roll one more time. 20's pretty good. That's better. That's better. That's with Pass Without a Trace, that is 33. That's better. Yep. 27. All right.

30. 14. That's not bad, that's not terrible. Wait, oh, with 10? Yeah. Oh, we get 10? Yeah, 24. 24, oh, with 10? Yeah. Oh, we get 10? Yeah. 24. 24, okay.

21. All righty. 41. Oh! Wow! Yes! How? No. Wow.

That's the highest. Natural 90 plus 10. Oh shit, it left Chetney behind! We've got to go back. Is that higher than the last one, though? I think it got a point everywhere. Yeah, close that. Oh shit, it's left Chetney behind! We've got to go back! Is that how you open a glass of wine? I think you have to pour it over. Everywhere! Yeah, somewhere, Chetney, you feel a mysterious high five

from some extremely mysterious being from another campaign. What the hell? Everybody gets wet. Because his chest hair and hair just vanishes in the snow. That fur lining, ugh! Following down, you head towards the entry here, and as you head towards it,

you notice before anybody else does that some of the rock outcroppings and bits of ice, the snow that's landed on them isn't snow, it's fur. There are a handful of large, furred humanoid entities that are grasped onto the ice and are just sitting there. It looks like they're hibernating against the side of the cliff.

Whoa. You all quietly descend towards the entrance and through the dark cavern to whatever lies within. Here, moving through this tunnel itself, the snow begins to give way to frost, where whatever moisture existed in this space now has become small ice crystals that crack a little bit under your footsteps,

but the spell that you've cast muffles that sound as you begin to descend three by three, and eventually two by two, and just gets smaller and smaller. You, both now aware of this is happening, you look up into the icy ceiling of this perpetually tightening cavern, and you can see a few more of these strange

white furred entities that are clutching to the ceiling. You can see one shift a bit, and they're just... Did you say humanoid? They look humanoid. Make a perception check. What heads they got? General size.

Oh! Stealth. Oh, I had my lollipop out. So this is a disadvantage. Great. That is a disadvantage. Gross. Great. That is a 21. 21. So glancing up at the ceiling, you can see they look to be probably...

At first, you just see a fur mass, you see some of the back of the head, maybe some legs. Now that you get closer, as the ceiling is maybe only about 20 or so feet above you at this point, it's taller than it is wide. There's the chasm against the pincer and you can see these maybe only about 20 or so feet above you at this point. It's taller than it is wide. There's the chasm against the pincer, and you can see these elements of icicle and stone coming through.

They would probably stand at a full height of about eight feet, about a half feet. As you see one of them shift and and shift, you can see bits of the skin beneath showing the fur, long fingers, heavy, thick-looking joints. You see in the face a long, bulbous nose that curls in front of the rest of its trollish face. These are ice trolls.

Ice trolls? Ice trolls! That's not what they are. And you can see probably a good half dozen or so throughout your passage into this tunnel. Quietly, you move, and none of them seem to be bothered or pushed from their midday slumber. They might be nocturnal,

or they might be in a phase of, well, glancing at them. You're not sure how thick ice trolls are supposed to be, but these are thin. They might be a little hungry. So they might be saving their energy. I hate them. The tunnel gets thinner until it's only one by one.

You have to move single file. Could I please get a marching order of your troops? Oh! Okay, go ahead. I'll go first. I'll go second. Go first. I'll go third. I'll go fourth.

Tiny tots up front! I won the sandbox. So we have Orym, who's checking. Oh shit, I didn't get it in time! She's checking. Burn, ash. All right, Chetney. You tapped for Sneeze. Burn. Mm-hmm. Ash goes in fourth. You tap for sneak. Burn.

Yeah, it helps clear the demons. Imogen! Essek's going to request to be in the center. So many demons. I'll be behind Essek. Behind Essek. Cool, guys. Imogen. Yeah.

Imogen, and then you're holding up the rear? I'll hold up the rear. Okay. Imogen! Move on. Shoes. Move on for only a few more minutes before even the single file becomes too thin to walk. You notice where the crevasse stops,

a small tunnel continues in that you would need to crawl through to progress. I'm good. So we crawl. We should, before we get into a tunnel that we have to crawl through, Orym should definitely go first and make sure that it's not going to get us stuck

in a tunnel. You got it, Orym. That's a good call. Make sure it doesn't get any smaller than me. About 30, 40, 50 feet ahead. Can you put a rope around your soul? Is it all dark, or can he see? Oh, it is absolutely pitch black.

Can I send some? There's a faint little bit of daylight that's peeking through from the area you came in. I can do dark. I can go with darkvision. Oh, okay. I'm going to save the light in case it gives her a position.

Whoever's going for it, can you take a rope or something, just in case? Sure. 50 feet of rope. You're going to slide ahead? Tag, yeah, I'll go, because I don't need the light. Okay. You take the rope and you progress inward and you take the narrow crawl space that continues on

and winds and shifts a little bit, but 50 feet go in and at times it dips low, but at times it opens up again. Seems fine up to 50 feet. You come to the end of the rope and it just continues onward. Ah. Ah.

If we see the end of the rope, we will tie a knot to that with the next 50 feet of rope and give it a little tug. It's fine. Jett says it's fine. This is still cavern, right? This is not carved in any way, right? It's just natural. Yeah.

It's mostly ice with bits of rock that come through. Are we going? Yeah, we'll scootch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll go. All right, scootch, scootchies. Okay. As you all continue to crawl in, Chet, you don't get too much further than where you were calling them forward

as you begin to crawl and see the ground almost seems to descend to what might be a decline. As you approach, no, it's just a drop off. It's just a full on dark pit. Stop, stop, stop. You're pushed up to the edge a little. Essek, it's a fucking pit. It just jumps off of the muzzle.

Right. Do you have a means of climbing down? I'm holding onto a rope. If I recall, this little over 100 feet of rope should get us down. How many times have you been through here? Three, maybe four. Four. Okay.

What's at the bottom? Can I use my darkvision to look down 60 feet? Do I see the tops of anything? No. Four. Okay. What's at the bottom? Can I use my darkvision to look down 60 feet? Do I see the tops of anything? No. No. The tunnel just continues on and then just fades to nothing. Is it an ice tunnel? This is really weird.

Are the walls stone? The walls in here appear to be stone. Okay, okay. With veins of ice. It looks almost like a bunch of crumpled stone that was falling in and then is frozen, moisture is frozen through any of the gaps to make it solid.

Would you say there was enough ice or a long enough continuity of it to take two chisels and ice climb down for a four-foot? Make an investigation check for me. 18. 18. 18. You can actually see signs of climbing gear and pitons that are still driven into this tunnel.

Pitons. You can see across the way, there are metal pitons that are still stuck into it, where someone in the past has climbed down this space. I can actually take the 50 feet rope somebody's come through here before. I can run it along the pitons. All right. Okay.

Be careful. Yeah, I got it. No big deal. I take out my Immovable Rod and hand it to Chetney, just in case. Oh, cool, I'll take that. Ha! I want it back. No! What?

Shut up, you can have it! Keep it, keep it. It's just in the back of my pants. Where'd you think it went? Dirty. Yeah, and I'll have two chisels and just work along the ice down to a pit and just run the rope around it once,

keep coming down. Okay. Okay, you descend down. Down. Takes you, you go down another 20 feet until you find the next one. You can see signs of other ones that may have been pulled out or fell.

Eventually, you get to one area where the pit stops and opens up into a much larger, dark expanse beneath you. Darkvision, 60 feet, anything? 60 feet. From where you stand at the base of this, you can see the bottom of this massive pit. It is a cavernous, like a ruined courtyard, just sparkling with ice crystals all across the bottom,

dusted across most of every surface that you can see. You see massive fallen pillars that lay crumbled across the base floor here. You see a stone-cracked platform that lays at a harsh angle at one side. It's like corners set up across one of the crumbled towers. You can see other odd bits of crushed furniture around and sprinkles of debris that cover the entire floor here.

You see patches of brown dirt that peek through the frost and ice in different places amongst the ruin. It breaks up this wintery graveyard vibe of the interior. And it is just still and freezing cold down here. That's what you can see from where you are. Can I use my nose to just get a whiff of any kind of scent, life, anything?

Yeah, go ahead and roll a perception check with advantage. And then could I also, okay, and then, yeah, I would, at the same time, just like T-Rex, looking for movement, Mm-hmm. Assuming it should just be still. 17. 17. You smell, amongst the cold stillness,

there is a unique musty smell. It's a clean must. Like, if old dust was never left to become mildewed. But along with that also is an earthy, almost faintly herbal scent that mixes with it, is the best way I can describe it. Okay.

Nothing that seems to be sweat or creature that you can tell. And no movement that catches my eye. Any familiar white furry bodies? None in here. You gather, based on what you saw, that none of them would be small enough to probably fit through the cavern.

All very, it's not quite Bishop and aliens going through the tunnel, but there are a couple moments where you get a little anxiety thinking it might. And from where I am with that 60 feet of darkvision, I can see to the bottom, so is it about 50 or 60 feet to the floor-ish? From the top, yeah. Okay.

I'll take out my 50 feet of road. Hanging Sylvester Stallone cliffhanger style. My forearms are so jacked right now. So yeah, it's about. So vascular. It's about 50 feet from where you started and where it comes, and then it's like 60 feet below into the dark side. God, I'm so fucking awesome.

Wish I had chalk. Daisy Duke jeans. All right, here we go. I'll tie a nice, secure knot, and I'll just start down. All right, do we go. I'll tie a nice, secure knot, and I'll just start down. All right, do you all follow suit? Yeah, in Chet's head, he hears, is it safe?

Yeah. Yeah, it's safe, it's cool. It's empty and still, but there's a bit of a fall. Once you come down the little tunnel, it's like 50 feet down, so don't slip. Be careful. There's a 50-foot drop or something. Don't slip. Those of you who don't have darkvision,

it is completely lightless in here. Do you think it's safe for me to use my lights? How far back were... Well, but we're in a space too small for them. We're in a tunnel. Yeah. No, it's not too small for the little balls of light. No, no, no, for the trolls. Oh, the trolls. Sorry, the trolls can't follow

because we're in a tight space, and Chet is saying safe ahead, so I think it's okay. Okay, so I'm going to send three little globules of light floating ahead of us. So it's forming as it descends, so maybe begin to head down that rope itself, trusting in the darkness. You see the globules of staticky purple energy

begin to descend as well and light up the interior of this cavern. You can see the frosty surfaces all around you, just refracting the light in a thousand different points in all directions. It's oddly beautiful in the geometric symmetry that goes across this broken surface as you descend. And as you all begin to head down,

one after the next, following it in, the orbs floating down, you can see them casting the faintest bit of light across the entirety of every frost-covered surface here in this ancient courtyard. And everything has almost this velvet texture to it, the way that the frost has gathered across it. Eventually, you all land and stand here

amongst the dangling rope, looking down to what looks to be a broken rope that is partially frozen into the ground below where you landed. Are there any indications of footprints? Make a perception check for me. Hmm? There we go. Yeah, that's right.

I got that one. Fucking Pacific. Mm-hmm. 14. You're getting lower. Getting lower? Orym, look for footprints. You do not see any footprints around you.

The ice is getting into your eyes a bit, and you're like. Anybody else's eyes beating? What are you looking for? That's a one, which I can reroll. But it's a disadvantage, so it doesn't matter. Not great. Oh, it's a single roll, remember?

For why? When you absorbed the Ring of Protection, it gave you advantage for the day, so it's just a straight roll. But for why? Start over. That is 21. 21, okay.

A few things you pick up on here. You see what could be footsteps in some places where there's skidding across elements of the dirt patches. You also see, beneath the ice you stand on, bones. Like ancient bones that look like they are splintered, withered, bent. Some of them look almost like a boiled leather sort of texture to it,

all held deep beneath ice crystals, like little peeking layers of thicker ice that has entombed beneath it, these skeletal remains that looked like before they were frozen were treated in some awful way. Not locked beneath the ice itself, but a heavy layer of frost, you do see three not quite as ancient corpses

among where you stand, you see shreds of clothing and armor wrapping mostly damaged bone, the majority of the flesh torn away before the remainder was left to freeze. Oh, it's Ludinus! Look at that. Oh, great. Problem solved. One of them appears

similar in size to you, Orym. Two others that look a bit larger. One fairly large, but you can see these skeletons. The bones have been nearly picked clean from flesh on the surface. They have also a number of wounds across the bone. Something must have torn into them. Or not. You also notice in some of the legs,

impact injuries to the legs. These individuals had a rough time. Something's down here. Essek. Is Essek down with us? We're all down? Yeah, Essek's hovering, looking around. All right, so first things first, do not touch anything brown.

That's not dirt. Mold? That's a mold, and it's a dangerous one. If it becomes a problem, do not try and light it on fire. It is immune. Do you know anything about these people? I do indeed.

Yeah, dude. I'm with you now, sorry. I caught it. Took a minute to get there. I caught it, I caught it. Retracing 99 steps. Who did we two-taker? Yeah, we took our half-capacitors. We set that big-ass trap.

We did! We did! Was that Captain America moment? Could I? I just do that right now. So Essek responds, says, Ah, on my first journey down here, my compatriots made sure we weren't

followed by a few unsavory types, and it seems that what we left behind, some other denizens of these ruins found what was left. Looks to you and goes, Looks like you carry some similar skills as well. Be careful not to lose your footing, Bloodhunter. Ooh! This is where Fjord and the others are.

Called out! Yeah. Good to be free. Could I use the Monocle of True Essence to just, in this room, scan around and I'll use Detect Magic, especially on these corpses. Indeed. So Detecting Magic, it looks like everything of value on them

has already been picked clean, whether dragged off by whatever devoured what remained or possibly other tomb robbers that had snuck through and grabbed what they could. But it's weird. The lens has almost a haziness to it. There's a faintest bit of fog that shifts in places and you begin to try and clear.

And you realize, no, there's just a general magical presence in here that seems to warp and shift in an alien way. Hmm. Weird. There's something going on down here. And passage is out. Although Essek knows his way at this point.

He does. He points to, he's like, that's the end of the east is this way. This would be the tunnel before us. This should take us into the Precidious Ward. Once again, stay close. Jesus. This is so weird. Nick drifts towards this eastern entryway, this archway that has language atop the top of it.

It stays up for 10 minutes, just in case there's some active ward that we're walking into, or a trap, or a rune, or something. Certainly. As you all approach this archway with the strange language across the top, the only person who can read it, I think, is you, with the eyes of the Runekeeper.

Yep. Deadass. And it reads, The Praesidis Ward, Convocation Grounds, Central Deliberations. As you step through this archway, there's this massive chamber through this long tunnel that has its own collapsed pit that can be vaulted across.

As it guides you across, the chamber opens up into this cavernous expanse. And here, it's hard to gauge in size. It could be a thousand feet across or more. You can see the ceiling itself is encased in uneven icicles and rocks as it shifts around and continues to move. There's faint points of bluish glow

that outline what looks like a darkened cityscape. You see dozens of buildings and towers, some that reach towards that ceiling and vanish into the rock, others that are partially turned over and crumbled. You can see at a first glance, as you begin to step in, it looks almost like streets or roads.

You can see these faint little points of bluish light sprinkled throughout the ruins. Faint blue-green coloration, like little lanterns lost amongst the shadow. That light is the little bit of light that fills the city space here and gives you an idea of what resides within, without detail, of course.

Essek just continues following a path and glancing around. How many people do you think have actually seen this in the last, I don't know, 100 years? 200, 500? I don't even know 100 years? 200? 500? I don't even know. Do we pass close enough to any of those blue lights, or are they just off in the distance?

Nothing that's semi-close to us. Following Essek, you begin to head through what looks like, at first, a large archway, but you realize it's actually an elevated street, some sort of a walkway that goes between buildings, 25 feet up at the peak of its arch, and maybe about 10 feet across. There are layers to this city, but a lot of it has,

you can see it's tilted to the side in places, and a lot of the structures, the foundations are cracked and broken. You can see portions of the ceiling that have fallen in, and there's a lot of broken rock that looks like it was embedded at a high speed into parts of these buildings and the floor around here. It's odd because parts of the city

that you get a glance at look serene, if a bit off-kilter, and other parts look like locked in decimation, like a ruin that fell in a terrible way. You follow Essek through these streets and you see one source of this light a little further off and it looks like a faintly, I don't know, faintly, like a fairly glowing

blue-green dome of some kind. Not too dissimilar to the one that Essek had protected you all with on one of your offset teleportation destinations. What? It doesn't matter, I don't know. I don't have no memories of this place. You also notice as you step through here,

weirdly, the air gets warmer. The chill begins to drift away. The frost begins to vanish and you feel more comfortable. In fact, almost like the heavier cloak that you're wearing at this point is going to quickly grow uncomfortable. Essek, you've been here two or three times before, you said?

Yes, more or less. Are you anticipating, just so I know how danger close. Shh! Just so I know how danger close we are, are you anticipating Ludinus to be here, or are we using this as a jumping off point? No, the place where he is, I have not been, but I know the location that leads before it,

which is where I'm taking you. Okay. From that point, it's going to be uncharted territory for all of us. Hence my conversation earlier this morning. Oh, my time's all messed up now. Anyway, and you pass by this massive amphitheater to one side where you can see there's archway entrances

and upper platforms and levels, part of it cracked in. You can see the faint glow of energy from beyond the entryways passing beyond that. You can also see these long, snaking aqueducts that wander through the city and through buildings with running water.

Just. Still following. This looks like the place of the moon. Oh, good. Yeah, you're right. That's it. Oh, the blue domes and stuff? Yeah. How far away is the nearest blue dome? 50, 60 feet.

Well, there's one in the amphitheater. Is there a blue dome in the amphitheater? Yeah. Yeah, you saw light glowing from the inside. Above the table, yeah. Well, I did describe that there was a glow from the inside of the amphitheater. Never mind, it's okay.

Essek, there were parts like this on the moon. Really? Just like this? They were ruins, yeah. Similar architecture. And water flowing through, and that's how we found the back door. Very interesting.

When all this is done, I would like very much to hear what you saw there. If there is a connection, historically, that has some implications. Were you in danger at the moment? Oh, always. Continuously. The creatures here that exist,

if they haven't wandered from the outside, are entities that have been unleashed throughout the interior of here since the time of the Age of Arcanum. Wartime experimentations, biological weapons. I've seen some terrors down here, nightmarish entities. So once again, stay close, stay vigilant, stay quiet. Okay.

Wait, what's that dome over there? Those are some of the original citizens. The domes? Some were... In the moments of crisis, some magics were designed to protect, but all things here work strangely, and we're not quite sure of the source of these domes,

but many of the original civilians at the time of the Cataclysm still remain in those domes, locked in a point of time. I kind of want to see this. Are they alive? Can we see features? It's hard to see.

He takes a deep sigh, like, are you really going to go off the beaten path to inspect one of these? Technically, this path has not been beaten. I mean, if you're sure it's not going to give us, if it's not going to help, then we don't have to. If you're not curious, it's okay. No, sure, take a look.

There's nothing we can do. Things we shouldn't touch? Everything. Don't touch anything. I'm not going to touch anything, but if we get like- We don't touch everything, or don't touch anything? Don't touch anything. I'm not going to touch anything, but if we get like. Don't touch everything or don't touch anything? Don't touch anything. Oh, okay.

Everything is the thing you should not touch. You speak in strange arrangements. But if things go sideways, you know, it's get thrown into a thing, you just couldn't know that, you know, you shouldn't get thrown into that thing or, you know. Yes, do not throw yourself into things. Well, other things would throw you.

I was walking over there. I just. Not what follows. You said magic is funny here. Immensely. There's no one behind. A while ago, I cast a spell. It was, I had a, anyway, all my hair fell out.

Oh, that's rude. Is that what you mean? Is it like, if I had a, anyway, all my hair fell out. Oh, that's rude. Is that what you mean? Is it like, if I cast a spell, I could go bald or turn blue or something like that? Or is it more serious? From what I've seen, similar circumstances, yes. But I do not know the length and breadth

of what can happen. The most dangerous thing that happened to me was I became a fish for a brief period of time. You became a fish? Yes. What kind of fish? A salmon, I believe. Did you know you were a fish? Yes, it was awful.

Were you just flopping around, or was there water? No, I was just flopping on the floor. My partner had to carry me for a bit. That's awful. Could you still breathe, or was it like a... Sorry, this is really interesting. It's fine. I haven't got a heavy.

This is a big fish. Be warned, it can get a bit strange. Is it all spells, or? Past a certain point of, I think the arcane threshold needs to go beyond a certain level of spellcraft. Shouldn't we try to let those people out? I don't think anyone knows how.

And if the Assembly has been here, which I assume it has been to a point, if they was used to it, they would have discovered it by now as well. There's a person in the blue, arms outstretched at the end of the stage, right? Well, as you enter this, are you all following behind Orym?

Oh, hell yes. Yeah, yeah. Oh, he's screaming. You all fall in, and Essek sighs heavily and drifts behind. I would like a group stealth check from this point. We're still past the other traits? You are. That one failed me.

I'll do some more better. Hey! I'll start over here. 35. Okay. 30. Okay. Dorian.

And we don't get the 10 or we do? You do get the 10. 34. Ooh! 31. Look at you all. Dorian. And we don't get the 10 or we do? You do get the 10. 34. Ooh! 31. Look at you all. Natural 20. Ooh! For 33.

Heck yeah. 23, because I'm tired. Yeah, apparently. 35. You know, just a straight roll. Wow. That's the best stealth roll we've ever had. I think so.

Group stealth, that is by far the best you've done. I want you to... I'll keep reminding you. You carefully step through the entryway to this amphitheater. Parts have broken and fallen, like bits of rock, and you can see where a portion of one of the interior load-bearing pillars has fallen in,

the ground is going to splinter upward. The first thing you see as you step through, there are pockets of that brown mold that Essek had pointed out. You just ensure to keep a wide berth as he reinforces that fear. You see skeletons everywhere. Dozens and dozens of bodies,

ancient corpses, themselves. What elements of clothing remains has long rotted and been left to history within. There hasn't been heavy weathering or moisture to completely deteriorate it, but everything has this almost mummified feel to it. You can see what paper-like skin might still remain on some of these corpses. It's been mostly either fallen to dust,

or you can see signs of creatures' teeth scraped across parts of skulls might still remain on some of these corpses. It's been mostly either fallen to dust, or you can see signs of creatures, teeth scraped across parts of skulls and bones. You step beyond that into the open amphitheater, and you can see many more corpses, both within the center of this, bodies on top of the ledges of the amphitheater, edges looking down within,

you can see platforms in the center. In the one vastly bright glowing dome you see, there is a figure within, arms outstretched, faintly like the shadow of them inside of it. I can't tell if they did this, or maybe they were giving a speech. Does magic, have you tried detecting thoughts? Oh god. I'll lick my finger and touch it

and cast Grim Psychometry on the book. Whoa! Do it! All right. Roll a history check for me. Oh, finally. Sometimes it doesn't work. Guidance?

17? 17. You step up to the center of the dome, and first when you touch it, it buzzes against your fingers. You feel the crackle of energy there just vibrating beneath your palm. As you close your eyes, you open them once more and you see a Coliseum filled with hundreds

and hundreds of people, a din of all voices blending together, shouting, arguing, yelling, as you see others rushing in from parts of the Coliseum and robed and armored guardians, like keeping them at bay, shields up, like there's some sort of social tension happening here. There are other figures, themselves wearing similar,

long, draped bits of this robed clothing, and silvers and grays, and bits of gold. You see on top of this central platform area here, this human female who is shouting in a language you do not understand, yelling amongst everyone here. As she continues to yell, you see the dark and cloud-covered skies above.

You see her yelling and expanding her voice magically out amongst the crowd, but the voices get louder. You hear crying, you hear sobbing, and you see as she yells, she is mighty. She is important. There is a station and an air of confidence about her as she yells and shouts outward. Though you can't make out the words themselves,

what they mean, you can sense there is authority. There is a promise, an attempt to calm. And right as the voices begin to grow quiet, white light comes and fills the space. And then all you see in the darkness is her standing there, arms outstretched, unmoving, as you pulled away.

This place was open air before. There were so many people. She was trying to calm some kind of unrest. I couldn't understand what she was saying. And then there was some kind of enormous white flash. She was just, same pose she's in now. And she was in this exact same pose, but the light encompassed everything. That's all I got.

Is she still alive in there? Her arms must be so tired. Fuck. All right. It's true. I glow. I glow blue when time slows down. I say I glow blue when time slows.

That's just what this reminds me of. Indeed, as an individual who studies time alteration through magical means, there are signs that speak to those moments in time being locked. Not really, yeah. I'd be curious if these were ever to be disabled, if they would be brought to continue life as they were,

or would a thousand years pass in an instant? Oh my god. I do not know. I have my theories. I snap back when I stop slowing down. That's where I speed up sometimes, actually. 20th- when I stop slowing down. Or I speed up sometimes, actually. 20th-level time stop, you're there.

You see, as you're talking about time and magic, Essek's like, very nice. I do not notice. No, he just spells. Okay, we got it. Have we done the necessary amount of sightseeing here? Sorry, you can't just walk us through some new place covered in frost.

You're like, no big deal, no big deal. I can if it's... You're right, urgency. I'm sorry, a sense of urgency and drive, yes. Getting our distraction out of our system. And that's why. He points up and you can see up on the edge, the far end of the amphitheater,

there is a shape that leaps to an upper portion of it, almost like a gorilla leaping from one part of a tree to another. You just see it. Did you see that? And a rock goes. You should go. And you can drift back out of the center of the amphitheater.

Let's go. No, it's not. That's real bad. Okay. What was it? What is it? You remember that. No, I don't remember. Oh, I's not. That's real bad. What was it? What is it? You remember that. No, I don't remember. Oh, I remember that. Hi. Hi.

When we came here before, what was our level when we came here before? More locks. For a 13, 14? We were higher. A little higher. Higher level than we are now. Okay. That's good to keep in mind.

A little bit higher, but probably not by much, right? We were like 16-ish. Probably. Yeah. The difference between my 13 and 14 is that they're 16. You finished the campaign at 16, so. I think we were around 16-ish. Backtracking to the walkway you were taking with Essek, you continue on past these large structures,

some officious-looking buildings, also just rubble piles where things were collapsed, and you can see a portion of heavy rock just spearing it, like hundreds and hundreds of tons of stone that has fallen from the cavern above or elsewhere that is just jammed into the ground where once a proud building once stood. You can also pass beyond what looks like this

unique, multi-layered, opulent temple-like structure, like a mausoleum-type structure to the right of you. See deep cracks that spiral up from the base. It looks like it's on the cusp of collapsing, not a full structure. You can see bits of the ground of broken earth and looks like petrified, long dead trees, but the garden around it is now overgrown

and the trees further in are vibrant and green. Then you pass by a step and it seems to go gray with a ghostly pale color, almost like for a second you saw it vibrant and then it's not. You step back to where you were and it remains this gray, ghostly element as it goes, well, that's a new thing, and points to the path ahead. You see a mummified skeletal corpse

crawling on the ground, but reaching outward, and it's just stuck there, its eye, its socket's sunken deep and empty, its mouth agape with its lips curled back, its teeth exposed top and bottom, heavy robes behind, and it has a long silver chain dangling on it. You can see its bony, long fingers.

It just is there, reaching. That's new? That corpse wasn't there the last time you came? It's just peeking around the opening of a wall from off to the side sideward opens up. I do not recall that. I'm sorry, is it moving or is it frozen in that position? Make a perception check.

Oh jeez. That's 26. 26. It's frozen. It's just locked in place. You look at it for a second and go to acknowledge, and you realize, no. You swear it's moving, just imperceptibly slow.

Oh, that's fucking creepy as fuck. Like so slow. Most anyone else would not notice. How nice is that chain around his neck? I know, I'm going to use it. I want to see what the chain is. It seemed like... I'm going to use it. I want to see what the chain is. It seemed like...

I'm going to try to use my telekinetic hand. Mage hand, yeah. Yeah. Okay, you do see that it's dangling from the base of it. The hand drifts and you see it turns a bit. With a little bit of light you have access to with your orbs, you can see that dark purple sapphire gem fixed in the middle of this thing.

Can I pull it up off of his neck? Hmm? Yes. Can I pull it off of him? You can drift it up off of the body. That's mine! I'll bring it over to you. Put it on the ground. Is it safe to touch?

I ask Essek. No, it's not on a dead body, of course. Yeah, totally fine. He wants to bring a wife immediately after this. Don't touch anything. It is one of the first things I asked you not to do. It didn't even touch you. I literally...

You didn't even touch it. It's floating. She didn't touch it with her hand. Eye on that fucking corpse. I'm going to just set it down on the ground. It's one of the first things I asked you not to do. Sorry about that, Essek. I thought that was specifically for things

not being worn by mummies. We're not upset. I would like to be clear to expand that into anything, especially phantom amulets hanging from long dead corpses. I know, but technically, she didn't actually touch it. It was just from far away. Yeah, you licked it. If my hair wasn't already white, you'd see it going gray.

We should have been a little bit more specific. So we can't do a touch with a right hand or like a, what she just did. Look, do what you wish. I have means of escape. Oh, damn. I'll be fine. Likely.

Oh, all right, I'll lead the way. Still looks like a really cool mage. And he drifts on, continuing past the amulet and heading down the path. Mage hand, swoop! Okay, you pick it up and heading down the path. Mage hand. Zoop! Okay! You pick it up and that's in your go. Yep.

I'm just going to not touch it because I'm not breaking my promise. I'm just going to absorb it into my chairs! Put it in my little pouch. All righty. Continuing onward, you can see, moving through more and more of the cityscape of the Presidious Ward,

the cavern ceiling now begins to slope rather suddenly and deeply, like the cavern is starting to come to a pinch point. And you can see at the edge, the ceiling is bisecting the ward in the middle, like it's carving into the middle of it. The ceiling is diving in and dividing the ward, almost. You follow Essek around the edge of this,

and you can see there's these ice-coated gaps in the rock of this ceiling. Eventually, follow him to one of these gaps that leads into a tall, well-kept chamber, like a small hall that leads into a building that looks like it was swallowed by this ice and rock, but it's well-kept on the inside. You can see the walls are finely carved, the designs.

There is an open path, slightly cracked and raised in places as it snakes through and around an edge. There is a platform in the center of this room where it looks like it's a raised, maybe five-foot area, and Essek puts his hands up. At least something dangerous has been pilfered through here. They're used.

There's no use here. Whatever was here was gone. You see him still take a wide berth around the center of this chamber. You can see this platform probably looks like this large room once carried something there, but it's no longer present. That's right. It was in the back of the day.

Do I see any more writing like we did on the Precibitous Ward? No writing visible in this chamber. Okay. But as you glance around, you can see parts of the platform as you walk by and look at it. Looks like it's been broken.

And you begin to glance on the side. You see at first, there are a broken pickaxe and some other things, some implements. It looks like either tomb robbers or perhaps even the Ruby Vanguard have come through here and taken a few things. Continuing past the back of this pathway, there are...

Yes. All right. You see more of the excavation tools towards the opposite end, and then it's... Should we take some tools? Up to you. You said not to touch me. No, don't touch, don't touch, don't touch.

I'm shoveling. I don't have any big eggs. The edge of the hallway beyond this area It's a perfect thing area is completely collapsed. The only beyond exit tunnel is just stone that's fallen in place, like heavy bits of shale rock guarding it. And this pristine chamber,

it looks like one side of it just collapsed. So what do we do now? I did this on my last exit. Then he starts lifting his hand and you watch as stone shifts out of the way. And a conductor conducting an orchestra watches Essek move his fingers and just shifts stone after stone

beyond these large rock shelves creaking out of the way, some cracking and shifting before collapsing and in a broken stone rubble on the ground. I thought you said don't touch anything. Be me, too, but. He looks back at the shoulder. I'm not touching it, am I?

Kind of gives you a smile. Cheeky monkey. Cheeky monkey. It takes about five minutes of him doing this. Quite a bit of rubble's been placed here before it gives way to a archway. before it gives way to a archway. A door of some kind here. Heavy brass doors that were set,

but it looks like one of them still stands. Another one has fallen off and is now broken on the ground, resting there. Beyond this, another, comparable, if not larger, cavern awaits you. Here, there's immense space. Surprisingly well lit, compared to the previous Praesidis Ward

that you had stepped into. You can almost see at one time that this might've been an incredible core, like industry center of this mythological mage city. But now it's just a cavernous space of jagged ice and rock and broken bits of civilization that have been violently ruined.

You can see these structures beyond and the streets winding within, towers that rise up to a certain point and then are jaggedly cut or crumpled off. What you notice different from this place and the one you were in is the further in the city you go, it begins to curve up. The streets bend upward before it comes to a jagged end point,

like some massive geyser blasted through. You can see tangled bits of metal visible from edges of it, just bent upward and out of the way. You can faintly hear the sound of the water running through some of those canals, ever so gently winding through the city as you progress. Source of light, you say?

A number of other blue domes, as well as a handful of magical lanterns that still flicker in spaces. Essek puts his hand up a bit. All right, we have arrived at the Genesis Ward. Ooh. We're on target. Oh damn, what a possibility.

Occultist, Thalian? He could potentially be anywhere around here. Any of the vanguard could be anywhere around here if they've been maneuvering through these spaces. So look for anything that looks out of place. Footprints. Yeah, can we, well, just to, now that we're in a new room, just to smell the air,

anything different from the spaces we've previously been in? Go ahead and roll perception. 15. There's a faintest metallic smell, almost like a rust metal scent. And almost like the faintest tinge of hard water in some, of flowing water, in some areas of flowing water,

the frost begins to settle in a little bit, which makes it a little hard to pick up a lot of the scents as you step through and the temperatures begin to fluctuate between every 10 to 15 steps before the cold begins to settle back in. Just to clarify, truly oxidized metal or rust and not the metallic twin tinge of blood or iron? Correct, for the time being.

Oh boy, the record is everywhere. For the time being. Essek looks back at the rest of you. Now, I'm not entirely certain where this occultist region might be, but it is attached to this ward, and there is one portion of the Genesis Ward that I'm aware of that is relatively centrally connected

to much of the city itself. I'm aware of, that is relatively centrally connected to much of the city itself. So he looks back at the center portion of this devastation, this massive, cored-out region of this ward beyond you. And that's where we have to be. cored-out region of this ward beyond you. And that's how we have to be, so. We haven't really talked. What's the plan? When and if we find Ludenys?

To turn him, slow him down. He's probably here for something, right? So if we can get it before him. Destroy it. Or subvert him. Or trap him. Send the tech away? Essek, you mentioned people with the ability

to look in on you. Has that, have you checked on that? Are we being watched, followed? Does anyone, would anyone know that we might be coming? He flicks his eyes open, and you can see a faint yellowish energy over his eyes as he glances around. No one's watching us at the moment.

Thankfully, I'm pretty certain no one's watching me. He plucks a small necklace from underneath his heavy furred cloak mantle, tucks it back in. I've made a life so far of not being followed. We're off the radar, sort of. Okay. being followed. We're off the radar, sort of. A bit. Okay.

Well, do you know of anything else? If I can recall, Ludinus, much like myself, is difficult to divine directly. Is there something about his person or someone he might be with that we could perhaps search magically for? Um. Ooh.

Who would he be with? Wouldn't be your mom. She's on the moon. Wouldn't be with my mom, yeah. Wouldn't be with your dad, necessarily. What? Not your dad. Your dad. Oh no, he wouldn't be with him. You sure you wouldn't be with your mom You sure you're okay with your mom?

No, she stayed on the moon. Ludinus was already gone. Wouldn't be other members of the Cerberus Assembly, right? They were all scattered. I mean, Astrid talked about most people distancing themselves from him, but maybe there's one or two? I don't know.

I imagine there's probably at least a member or two on his side to some degree or another. I have no idea what place they would take in the vanguard. Or even more overt enemies. You think Ira would have made it this far? There's impossible. Yeah. I don't know how likely they made it this far. There's nothing possible. Yeah. I don't know how likely they made it to the moon.

Do we? Just to see, can I open up the Bag of Holding and start to pull just the bit of that machinery back out? And just because there's so much glowing here, seems like some kind of residual energy. Is anything on that any more alive than its otherwise inert state? Interesting.

No one doesn't seem to be reacting to anything nearby, not proximity-wise, at least. Okay. Well, if Ludinus has not been the one doing this excavation himself, that would mean that there are alliances to the Assembly or the vanguard likely present throughout these halls. So let us hope to not gain their attention

to let them know of our presence. But conversely, they might be a good source of information we seek. That's true. Do y'all think that Ludinus still has one of those harnesses? Like a funnel? Yeah. Do you think he's got something similar

to what he made before? I do. But better. But better. I have a feeling we were working with the prototype. Couldn't we try to locate that? That's interesting. Have we seen it? No, but it would be similar to what we have, so. Because remember, Astrid, the itchy neck.

I could just scry? Or, yeah? And if we fuck it up, he'll know that we were watching? Yeah. Which would not be good. It wouldn't be great. We still haven't crested the upper edge.

No, you're still on the outskirts of the main city. Do we want to just cautiously peek over and see if we can't spot any movement or activity? Dorian and Orym. Sure. Now, if we leave the group, we lose the trace. Paths without a trace. Paths without a trace, right. Let me just, you guys just peek your head over.

We'll stay close. Okay. We'll be with them if they're afraid of you. Well, Fjallrao having to go there anyway, but sooner than later, he glides on, leading you through the immense rubble of this ward, seemingly frozen at the moment of absolute destruction.

You can see little faint bits of rock that just hover in the air, slowly turning on their own. You can just feel the presence of history and loss throughout. More bodies scattered but broken throughout. You head through these streets and more bodies scattered but broken throughout. You head through these streets and I mean, it's disaster. Disaster long lost and forgotten.

You can see in the architecture and in the clothing scraps and the corpses you pass, the people that you do see locked in these time domes, there's a rich culture here, a different one, well, there may be. It's just odd to walk through something ancient, yet advanced, and now gone.

Occasionally, you see shadows shifting, entities skittering. You can see there are things hunting or wandering at the expense of all these ruins and structures. Thankfully, you all rolled really fucking high on your stealth check, and Orym pointing them out, you all carefully avert these spaces.

But you, with your high passive perception, do see maybe 1,000 or so feet from the edge of where the city's central devastation begins to curl upward. Something that is not of surrounding Aeorian architecture. Where the bottom before it goes rises up, you're saying? Okay.

You can see where it begins to rise up. There's a tower leaning at an angle and see other bits of crumbled ruin around, raised bits of stone and rock between parts of the street. But you see a large, wide tent. A non-withered or rotted tent that appears to have a faint, reddish lantern glow from the inside.

I get rid of my lights. Hear anything from in there? You don't hear anything from in there? You don't hear anything. I got this. The monocle, I will cast, I think for the first time, Arcane Eye. Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And I will silently send an invisible eye up towards the tent and around, looking like a fucking drone. That's okay. But a good drone, a good drone.

Yeah. A good, good drone. A good, good drone. As this faint little point of magical concentration projects beyond you and glides through the air. You just watch Chetney go a little slack-jawed as he stares forward. Oh, he's going.

He's going. No. You took me down. I have a kick just from this. Okay, fair enough. It drifts around past a handful of other glowing domes that are settled and pieces of the surrounding broken cityscape and roads themselves.

It drifts to the edge of that elongated tent. You can see there are, it looks to be on the entrance side closest to you, there is heavy canvas flaps that are closed around it. There is a small gap towards the bottom where it doesn't quite meet the floor that you can drift into if you want to go beneath. I would like to.

Okay. Your invisible point of presence drifts underneath. On the inside, you can see there is a singular magic orb-like lantern that's hanging from a hook on the ceiling. It's just sitting right there. The interior magical fire flickering,

casting these long shadows across the edges of the tent around you from chairs and stuff that sit up in the center. But you see a chair leaning against a broken table that has splintered on one side. You see some cots and perhaps a makeshift desk and some other simple furniture that has largely been broken throughout the room.

And there is blood everywhere. We're talking slashed and splattered across the entire interior of this tent. Every piece of furniture is touched by some sort of scattering of it. And you see there on the ground, immediately around you, bodies. Five bodies, all wearing vanguard attire.

At a quick glance, looking within, you can see all manages of slashes and gashes and bloody wounds, though not a whole lot of detail beyond just what you're seeing with the shadows that are stretching beyond the still bits of furniture that's standing around it. You can just make out the outline of it, maybe one hand that's peeking out into the light

where you can see. Best you can make out is this was recent enough where the hand is not decomposed entirely. Wow, cool. Can I, I'll do a quick survey of the tent. The bodies are there, the destroyed furniture, the lamp. Can I come back out of the tent if there are no other, are there any crates,

surface assembly markings on anything around? Any sort of cargo? You do see a couple of boxes that, they don't have any assembly symbols on them necessarily, but that you can see, but they are enclosed. Can I exit the tent again and just do a slow look around? I can see us, which is a trip.

Yeah, you're looking back at yourself. Do the camcorder thing. Yeah, and then can I just look around? Is there anything moving? Make a perception check for me. You do not have advantage on this. This is just sight-based. Straight ups. Now tell me if you really want check for me. Okay. You do not have advantage on this. This is just sight-based. Straight ups.

Now tell me if you really want it. 17. 17. Oh, oh, oh. I got in a... You don't see anything at the moment from this perspective, no. Okay. How high is the roof here? The roof of the tent?

Or the cavern. The roof of the cavern. Oh my goodness. Best you can make out at certain points, it looks like maybe it can rise up 100 feet or more. In others, it dips down a bit. I'm going to push the limit of this spell. There's no limit to the distance, so I'm just going to go up as high as I can

until I can see a roof and then look down. You're that drunk pilot. I've never had one before. Might as well see if I can break it. As you look back down, make a perception check from that point. What's the radio signal? 14.

14. From this point, you can see the expansive size of this ward, and it is wide. You're not even certain if this is the whole ward or just one portion of it that isn't buried and it's still exposed within an interior space, but it goes on in all directions. One thing you do notice is those blue little dome lights,

dozens and dozens of them, maybe even hundreds, just sprinkling, like a blue cloud of fireflies, like a blue cloud of fireflies, just frozen in place all throughout this massive ruin. just frozen in place all throughout this massive ruin. You also can see now a much better view of the massive, jagged hole

that sits in the direction you were traveling, and it just descends into darkness, like a sinkhole that's ready to swallow everything. I'll take the eye, I'll dive back down from the roof, and as I approach all of us, I'll just come along the floor and then come right up under Essek's face and just look right up his nose.

It's so vast and cavernous. Hairless, freshly trimmed. Oh shit, you can see, that's right. You're trying to say, apologies. It's massive in all directions. There are hundreds of those bubbles, though, and the sinkhole is nothing that I can see. Dark and deep.

What was in the tent? Bodies, five people seem to have been slaughtered. It was pretty unclear, but did it look like sword slashes or raw and jagged? You'd have to inspect it with medicinal knowledge. They're all dead, but also not super long dead. So. Tonight's actually good.

Yeah, with caution, we could check it out, but. Do you think it was one of those new skittering guys? Could have been some sweet arterial spray going on. Were the bodies scattered or piled? They were all in an area, all dumped in the middle. Well, we should check it out. We might be able to find information.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's what somebody, yeah, it's a trap. Okay, let's go check it out. You think it's a trap? No, no, no, no. I feel like I heard it, never mind. Who's traversing towards this tent? Oh, gals.

Yeah. So it's Orym, Chet. You can hear me in your head. I'll go, too. We'll be sneaky and quiet. Two of you. How far away is it? Yeah.

From where you're standing now, I'd say about 200 feet. And it's on even? It's on a bit of even ground. There is a bit of angled ground this way and other bits of stone that are punching up in this way. It's almost just towards the base of where it begins to head upward at an angle.

Some of the tables. Right before the hill up to the die. I'll follow them for another 100 or so feet, that way we're at least. We should stay with them because we keep up the pass without a... Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll stay.

Roll with. All right. Okay, so you're staying 200 feet back or so? No, no, no, we're going. Oh, got you. We're all going to go. Okay. Just so we keep the pass. So that we can all die together. So that we're not 200 feet back or so? No, no, no, we're going. Oh, got you. We're all going to go. Okay. Just so we keep the path. So that we can all die together. So that we're not 200 feet away from each other when an attack happens. Yeah, 200 feet is a lot.

Yeah. At least get a little bit. Okay. So approaching this, one more stealth check. Check. I'm here. Yes, but we need to cast Without a Trace. Hey, let's do it.

Not good. Where do we cast? Do we need to cast it out of the trace. Hey, let's do it. Not good. Where do we cast? Do we need to cast it out of the trace again? Yes. I'll cast it. Oh wait, we need to cast it again, or we still have it? It lasts for an hour, right? Yeah. I'd say... Because you've been moving pretty quick,

but you're not expecting something. It's about to fade, so I'll say this is the end of your spell. Okay. Last one. 37. Okay. 29. All right.

23. All right. 19. Okay. 22. 19. 26. Okay. Fire.

Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. As you all. Fire. Fire. As you all begin to maneuver through the street past some of these buildings through an alley and out into this open area, this main road, looks like an intersection

where this tent would sit before that massive tower. It's leaning in a direction where it feels like it should be falling for its size, but it's just holding strong. Are you all heading in towards this tent, or are you all staying? Okay. You all slowly scatter up to the side,

pull aside the tent opening, and it's large enough to fit all of you, though you'll likely all be standing. I'm going to stay up. I'm going to stay up. I'm going to stay up. I do peek my head in because I want to see. Yeah, I want to see it, but then I stay out. It is a unique massacre.

And then I stay out as well. I'm just keeping an eye out. I'm keeping an eye out. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to go away. Why don't you go help Jett? Me? Yeah. I'll go help Jett. You're great at figuring shit out.

Really? You'll just stand watch. Yes. I'll stand watch. Okay, I'll go. I'll stay outside. Stay outside, crew.. Yes. I'll stand watch. Okay, I'll go. I'll stay outside the outside group. Keep watching. I'll go in. Okay. Stemming inside and getting a better look at the space now, and you can create your light globules

to give a little more light beyond just the low, burning, central magic orb that's in there. The five bodies total amongst here. Two appear to be human, a male and a female, a gnome, an elf, and a halfling, all wearing vanguard robes. There are multiple wounds across all of them. Either of you want to investigate closer

or look throughout the chamber? What do you want to do? I'll investigate. Roll an investigation or medicine check. Do I have to do this now? Natural 20, 28. Yes. Fuck yes. Okay. That's nice.

Okay. So the first thing you notice, the bodies are not heavily decayed, and you gather this has probably happened in recent days, at least within a week. So there is still a softness and a decay happening, but it's slower than it even should for that period of time, which might be from the atmosphere of Aeor or from other reason.

But you quickly pick up where they're sitting, where the wounds are. There are multiple slash and stab wounds across most of these bodies. It appears that this was a struggle between them. You can see many of them, the wounds are small, like stabs, slash, cut through robes. The blood sprays, Like, whoever was doing this

was doing it with a violence and a cruelty that seems almost like they were having fun. that seems almost like they were having fun. And amongst all of them, you find the elf is the one that catches your attention because they're the one who's wounded the least, but their arms are the most covered and now dried brown blood. And you see they hold in their hand a long dagger

that you assume it's a dagger, because most of it's embedded in their own throat. Yep. Don't touch anything. And their expression is one, a final expression of euphoria. Yep. Can I use Mage Hand to pry their hand open

and just get a better look at the, and pull the arm back so I can see the blade actually embedded in their neck? Looks like a pretty nice blade. Anything special about it? It looks like it's well made for both utility on the handle. It's not like any sort of magical rune crazy blade.

It looks like it's a good solid leather wrapped blade. You can remove the blade if you want to get a better look. Does it look tasty? Can I do it without touching it? Go ahead and roll a d20 and add your spell modifier to it. What is it? Oh wait, that's cocked. Spell modifier.

It's your charisma. Muggle fool. A 23. Easy, it slips out and floats in the air and you can see this blood-coated blade. It has a jagged edge on one end, almost like a serration in the back, but the rest of it's just a sleek,

slightly curved dagger. The handle is leather wrapped and simple. It looks like something that would be used self-defense or to cut and cook a utility knife, as much as it is a possible weapon. Does it look old? No. What's in the boxes? I really want to touch them.

Don't touch the blade. No, no, not the blade. Oh, damn. It's like a tree again. Yeah. Oh, can you do it again? I don't know. It might be hard. There's an easy theory for that.

Are we listening to all of this, I assume? Are you guys being quiet? I mean, you guys are out paying attention around. You're having this conversation quietly. It's the expression that gets me. I just want to. He looks happy. We could try it.

I mean, does something hit his head? I don't know. Come on, come on, come on. Charge him. Clear. You're going to try and rim-sike on the tree? I'll try. Okay, roll a history check. I've never flatlined or something.

It does not have a flatline. 19. 16 plus three. Okay. You see flashes of study. You see hunched figures over tables. You see supplies being leaned out on others that aren't present, like passing through this tent. You see flashes of conversation, arguments,

and then a person standing there, an elf. You see them touch their forehead and look off. Wander out of the tent. Flash, they're in the tent, just sitting and waiting. Four figures step in, begin to speak, like they're giving a report. They look confused. There is just blood as a blade goes flying,

silent screaming as they all try and hold them back or try and flee, but an unnatural strength fills them as they reach and pull them back in, cutting a throat, stabbing multiple times, turning them around, looking them in the eyes. They gut them underneath the jaw and lead them to the ground before cutting through. Smile on their face.

Other ones see someone trying to claw their way out of the tent after the back of their legs have been cut and looks like the Achilles or some other tendon's cut. They're trying to pull, as the elf drags them back in and just starts carving them, almost cackling quietly.

Oh, you did? When you see these images. Just carving them as they're still alive, pulling them into the tent. They're trying to defend themselves, trying to stop them. They carve through all four, flashes them standing there alone, again, sitting there in the center

of where these bodies are strewn in the chamber, as they're slowly carving something into their chest. Then look up and smile as they stab their own throat and then fall back. Your vision fall back. Your vision comes back. What was it? What was it? Ooh, ooh. Check the other parts.

Ooh, ooh. Ooh, ooh. Are you okay? Chet, Chet, Chet. Calm down, calm down. Chet, Chet, look at me. Slap him across the face. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Chet.

Shh. Hello. Tiff. Hello. Shh. Shh. If you're going to barf, barf quietly. That one had some spice on it. What? Pull open shirt or robe. Do, do, do, do, do. You see what looks to be a

two overlapping circular carvings, like a larger ring and a smaller ring that intersect and a few lines that are carved. It looks like a sigil you do not recognize has been carved into the chest deeply, like inches deep. You can see through part of the exposed rib. The strength it would take for one person to carve through their own rib cage to finish a symbol

does not correlate with the size of the figure you see before you. Okay. Essek, Laudna, Imogen, anybody recognize this? I certainly don't. Drifts in and looks inside. Moons? Moons? What did you see? It was two circles.

A larger circle and a smaller circle and a number of lines drawn through in shapes. Sort of an odd sigil or sign of some kind. Does my runic just give us a look? I do not. This doesn't seem to, it's either of an arcana, older or outside of my purview

of research and understanding. Runic vision? Runic vision, which allows you to? My runic vision, my Eyes of the Runekeeper. Understand runes? Understand languages and runes. Maybe all runes. Is that what it does? Without limitation. Every rune doesn't have a runekeeper.

I know, I'm bringing it up, bringing it up. Hold on. That's the thing I've been using to read. Reading! Right, no, I'm double. Exactly! No, no, I know you have it. I'm just double checking. It's been a minute since we've used it

to make sure that we have it. Eyes of the Runekeeper. Have you? Yeah. By you. Mm. Mm. There's so much stuff.

There we go. There's so much stuff to do. You can read all writing, is what Eyes of the Runekeeper do. Right, so this isn't writing? This is not writing. Okay. Essek goes, I don't know.

Unfortunately, whatever sort of arcana or symbol this might be, I do not know it. I mutter. I'll take a little piece of wood and I'll just make a carve into it. Yeah. Good call. I mutter under my breath. Does it look familiar to you?

To Lila. Oh. Oh. Oh. In your head, you hear, Bitch. I do not. I'm uncertain if this is spellcraft. It feels almost ritualistic or...

That's all right. Can I roll for it? You can if you want to try and go ahead and roll. Roll arcana or religion. Fearne, you should call your boyfriend. Ooh, that's way better. Good idea. Yeah, that's fair. I'll say out loud,

feels ritualistic is what she said. Did he carve it on anybody else except for himself? I'm going to use Mage Hand and start opening up the robes on anybody else. No. Just on himself. Everyone else is just a shredded mess. Good. Natural 19 for your 25.

Arcana. Arcana. This is not runic or spell glyph design. This is not an enchantment. This, what you can glean with that roll, while you cannot understand the nature of it, this is tied to something more divine, or at least in that spectrum.

Divine goes both ways. Yeah. That's what I'm saying! Your boyfriend would know what this is! Oh! Just to let you know, also, Chesty McCarvey, he... Chesty McCarvey!

Can't pay for a character! He grabbed his head like he was influenced. Yes. Or something. Something gone. Yeah, maybe Imogen, maybe you could put the dar out and just, you know, boom! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What if it gets in my head?

I mean. Orym, you're out in the tent with them? I was out, no, I've been making sure nothing's. I did, I walked a third of a block away and peed behind a tower. Yeah. And I came back. On a blue bubble. Oh yeah.

Smiling. It's like a little tail. Don't whiz on're going to die. They're like, why is my leg wet? That's the city, but it's my leg. I'm better suited to make sure that nothing's sneaking up on us. I tell everybody,

this seems divine in nature. Probably not the happy kind of divine, like bad. Could be, could be, could be, though. And everyone should watch their heads. Orym, there's the faintest grinding sound. Son of a bitch. Like stone on stone.

You triggered it. Son of a bitch. How far away is that sound? It's hard to tell in this open space. It's echoey a little bit. So it's everywhere? Roll a perception check. Big drug. Nah. Sure is.

Sure is. Come on. Good. 23. 23, probably 100 feet, if not a little closer. Yeah. It sounds like heavy stone on stone, just grinding. I just pull open the flap.

We get a little bit of noise about 100 feet away, stone on stone, I don't know. Hide, invisible? Should we hide? Should we hide, just in case something's coming this way? Maybe not in the tent, but away from the tent. Which direction is it coming from? I take the motherfucking hide action.

Outside the tent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're swimming outside of the tent? Same, same. I'll go outside of the tent and try and hide. This is probably a beacon, so if we get away from it, in view of it. There's plenty of broken rocks

and parts of nearby ruin to hide in. Yeah, yes. Rubble. I try to tuck into shadow until that sound goes away. Rubble, rubble. Rubble, rubble. Rubble, rubble. Okay, so you go over and find an edge side of Shadow. All right, everyone else doing the same? Are you finding other facets around?

Okay. Yeah. All right. Let's go ahead and have, this is going to be a group stealth check, but we're grading everyone individually. Yes! Does that mean we lose Pass Without a Trace? Because we cast it.

That was Fearne's last. Well, can I cast it again? It's ended by now. I can cast it again, as long as we're close enough to each other. Are you all going to hide together? I thought we were all scattered. We are scattered.

We're scattered. So anybody within 30 feet of you. Anyone within 30 feet of you. Correct. So. It's going to be fine. So, all right. So if this is the center tent

and all of you are scattering, who's clumping with who, I guess? I think maybe just, yes. It'll pass. It'll be fine. All right, so if this is the center tent and all of you are scattering, who's clumping with who, I guess? I think maybe just, yes, not go in a full circle around the tent, but I'll just take a quarter. No, like a funnel outside of the back of it, like a cone of hiding. A cone of hiding?

A cone of hiding. A cone of hiding. Yeah. Okay. So I guess who's staying close to Ashton? Yes. I don't know. It's hard to know what's around. Is there a- I won't. I won't. I'm going to stay close, Ash,

because my strength isn't great. Okay. I'll stay close. Yeah, I'll stay close to Ashton. Okay, so the three of you, are you staying with the witches, or? Ah. How's your stealth? Mid.

I'm going to go with Chet. Stick with Chet. Okay. So essentially, the three of you scatter off to one side, filling out some of the shadows of rock of some of the larger area. The other ones of you head over with Ashton's spell. You start to move in the direction of that leaning tower

and the rocks around it, but then the sound of stone seems to be emanating from that side, and you switch back around the edge to go to hide. All right, let's go ahead and roll. Let's go. La-da-da-da. Nope.

La-da-da-da-da. Ah! Ah! 27. All right. Natural one. No! Yes, bitch.

23. This is going to be funny when I get possessed. Sneaky, sneaky. 19. You're like a sneaky little guy. 19, okay. 26. 26.

Nine. Nine? Nine? What do you mean? Nine, one? 35. What's wrong with you people? 35! Wait, why are you at the gun? She didn't go, bye, pass the address.

Yeah, he buggered away from us. There's three that don't get the plus. So yeah, so no. You did just do a spring roll, though. As a group stealth check, you all dart off to the side to stay quiet and just quietly watch. You see this shape begin to round the bend

beside the tower. You see this tall, thin, lumbering humanoid shape begin to walk around near that tent. It's dragging something behind it. You can see it looks to be... It looks like part of a statue, to the point where you can almost see the hand that was gripping this massive hammer

that is partially cracked, that is now being dragged as a hammer by this entity behind it. Part of the hammer's head is grinding flat on an edge from it dragging it through the city for who knows how long. But this tall spindly creature, as it gets around the edge

and begins walking towards the tent, 15 feet tall, 20, 20, a little over 20 feet tall, long, thin limbs. There are facets of it that would remind you of the Nightmare King if it wasn't standing straight up, as opposed to spider-like on the ground, where its shoulders are,

its head seems to arch forward in this long hood that hangs, but there's no hood there. There's no clothing. It's like the skin itself hangs around the sides and creates a hood. From what best you can see, as it gets closer to the tent,

lit from underneath by the faintest of fiery glow, you can see these weird grayish flesh folds go beneath it. Fucking sand slabs. Flesh cool. Come on, man! Fleshy. Fleshy. Yes! Grange Fleshy. Long, thin, overextended forearms

that drag this hammer behind it. As it glances around, it spins and looks, and you can see where its chest is. There is this spinning rows of teeth that shift and It's just this spinning rows of teeth that slice, shift, and. Then. Is that the end situation? The behavior grown up?

Oh my god. Oh my god. Better not be calling. He watches the toothy maw in the center of the store, says, feels good when it feels right. When it feels right, yeah, yeah, say it, baby. When it feels right.

Begins to open and you hear these little sounds and something crawls out of it. Shut up! Two, three, four. Four?! Six. No! Numerous of these strange, somewhat translucent, they look almost like large

scorpions or some sort of insect-like creature begin to crawl down its legs into the ground, begin to scatter, searching with these weird antennas out the front as they curl through. Where you can see them, their chitinous shell is translucent, almost like you can see the inner workings of it through its armored shell.

That's disgusting. That's cool. And they begin to scatter and search around as the creature like. They came out of his stomach hole? Stomach mouth. Toothy mouth. Yeah. As this happens, Laudan, and you move back,

and your foot catches one of the nearby stones that you thought would hold your weight before it kicks out from under you and. No! At which point, there's a brief moment that you thought would hold your weight before it kicks out from under you and. At which point, there's a brief moment where you hold your breath and think maybe nobody saw it. It looks right in your direction as all the creatures begin to skitter in your direction.

That's where we're going to pick up next week. No! We can just skitter in your direction. That's where we're going to pick up next week. Ah! Oh shit! Oh! But what I can show you, because it'll help you plan for next week, is that it's good. Teaser.

This week, emotional damage. Next week, physical damage. Physical damage. All those great stealth rolls. And then? You're doomed to fail. You're doomed eventually. Wait, this is fucking huge.

Oh my god. No! Oh no! Get your arm work up. Oh, look at that thing! Don't drop it, don't drop it, don't drop it. Oh! Oh god.

It's got blue bubbles. Yes! Oh my god, man. It's got blue bubbles. Yes! Oh my god, man. All of the blue bubbles! Yeah, let's go here. Oh, shut up. Boo boo boo! Baba.

Yeah. So we're in, we're there. Come on, come on. We're in the tent. Look at us go crazy. Yes, please. Yes, please. Yes!

Holy. So we're where? Laudna was hiding over here. Okay. As Ashton... Oh, jeez. What was the name of the witch's? So we're all within 30 feet.

Essek was drifting on his own over here. Ashton's like, Don't fucking look at me. He's like, you fucking people. So the rest of you were hiding over in this space here. Uh-huh, yeah, that seems about right. Trying to stay within the range of Ashton. Where is Ashton? I would have been maybe behind that little,

to your left, behind the light. Yeah, in that little crevice. Is that Dorian, Orym, or Trio apart? We were fucking money. We were fucking. Yeah, so Dorian would be over here. Thumbs and thumbs. Dorian would likely be over here, hiding.

Just a human citizen. Whereas the three of you probably darted off into this area here, behind the stone in this ruin, likely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like them. Okay. Hey, I know where that came from.

Uh-huh, uh-huh. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Fardy, Fardy, Farny, Farny. Holy shit. Can I put myself up behind a tree? 100%. Overwatch, baby. Was it here? Yeah, like, but further.

It's got 10,000 feet. Even further, yeah, like around there. Yep, as long as you're not 30 feet, you're actually going to be fine. Do you have a preference of place? Yeah. Yeah, I'll tuck into that. Where I was.

I don't know if I want to do that. Oh my god. Well, I mean. Maybe I'll tuck into that. Where I was? I don't know if I want to do that. Oh my god. Well, I mean. Maybe I'll tuck into where you had me, actually, on that other side, and then just tucked into the, yeah. There you are. You got it. Tuck it in.

Okay. Essek's hiding over, he probably turned invisible to himself there. We really should have seen where this creature's coming from before we decided where it was placed. We didn't know, we didn't know. This is where you hid when you heard the sound, which makes it better for me to place it.

To describe it, coming around the edge behind the tower. We'll do it for combat. For next time, it's combat. Yeah. He's so gummy! What's that guy specifically? One of my favorite D&D minis. Oh, sick!

No! What's that hammer? Fucking hate those things. Yeah! Aw, yeah! Oh, yeah! They're translucent. What?! Oh god.

I just haven't seen the sun. No, it's disgusting. Oh, not recording! That's it. I'm sorry. I thought they were on a black block me like real scorpions. What even is that? Yes!

It's fun is what it is. Oh god, yeah. Yes. No, why are they all over here? And those came out of his, you made the noisies! Because of that one. You made the noisies!

I didn't make the noisies! They don't have color, they're super deadly. It was the natural one that did it. And they came out of its stomach mouth. Yep. And there's more frightening view than you are of them. And if we had spells, we could turn into a fish. I don't want to be

where I am anymore. turn into a fish. Are we still in that area? That is a motto right there. Oh no. Which direction is the sinkhole? Oh. Huh?

This way. I don't want to be here anymore! You see where it starts to rise up on this side, the angle? It's over this region. So Chet, Dorian, the three of us, we could just Weave. Shit.

Yeah! Oh my gosh. It'd be a great spinoff! This week on our brand new EXU. This week on the sneaky bastards. So. Disgusting. Here's where we'll pick up next week. Oh, cut.

Three restrooms. That is so many scorpions. That's so many. Hey, where's those other guys? There's another scorpion. We know! Yeah, there's one over there, too. Scorpions are there. One, two, three, four. Hey, these are there. There's eight scorpions? That we know of? There's another scorpion. You know that one? Yeah, there's one over there, too. Scorpions are there. One, two, three, four. All right, these are there.

There's eight scorpions? There's no whole goat. They probably have two hit points each. Sure, sure. Oh no. It's a maw. It goes to wherever the maw leads. But this is just a thing.

It's a maw. All right, all right. It's a toothy thing. Wait, we should sign off. We should sign off. Yeah. Okay, okay, okay. We'll pick up at the start of this battle next week. Thank you all so much for joining us.

We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? No, it's Thursday! And this concludes the current chapter of Critical Role. Your essays on the history and impact of the various ages and epochs of Exandria are eagerly anticipated. Just kidding. No homework for you, but if you are inspired to do some writing, please leave us a review. Your words can really help

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