Critical Role - C3E98 The Nox Engine

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Live at the Greek Theatre! Bells Hells battle the creeping terror of an unleashed demon, but their own darkest thoughts may prove to be the real enemy... 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. Twitch Subscribers and YouTube Members gain instant access to VODs of our shows like Critical Role, 4-Sided Dive, Candela Obscura, and Exandria Unlimited. But don't worry: broadcasts will be uploaded to YouTube about 36 hours after airing live, with audio-only podcast versions of select shows on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Google Podcasts following a week after the initial air date. Twitch Subscribers and YouTube Members also gain access to our official custom emote set and subscriber badges. "It's Thursday Night (Critical Role Theme Song)" by Peter Habib and Sam RiegelOriginal Music by Omar Fadel, Hexany Audio, Ghiya Rushidat, Karam Salem, Neal Acree, and Colm R. McGuinness"Welcome to Marquet" Art Theme by Colm McGuinnessAdditional Music by Universal Production Music, Epidemic Sounds, and 5 AlarmCharacter Art by Hannah FriederichsAnimated Introduction by Kamille Areopagita, Kevin Areopagita, Mark Adams and Peggy Shi Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources

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How we doing, Los Angeles? Correct! Correct! How we feeling Los Angeles? My goodness, folks, have you come out to see a show or what? Thank you for see a show or what? Thank you for coming out tonight. My name is Brennan Lee Mulligan. I'll be your master of ceremonies. Goddamn, are we excited. Folks, are we

excited? Real talk, real talk. Who thinks they came from the farthest away to see this show? Shout out where you're from. Where you come from? Okay, I heard someone. Did you say Australia? Who said Australia? Not only

did you say Australia, you really fucking said it. You know what I mean? Australia! There were like, there were like five different A's in that second A, you know what I mean? It's unbelievable. Who thinks they came from the closest? Did anyone walk here? You walked here, where do you live? Announce to the auditorium where you live. Incredible, incredible. We got locals, we got people that have flown here from halfway across the world.

Why? Because you're about to watch Critical Role. I have announcements. There are announcements to make here, and we're going to make them, okay? This is really exciting. So for everybody here, friendly reminder. Tonight, you're not just watching a live show. You're not just here watching some goofs and spoofs. This is episode 98 of campaign three of Critical Role.

We don't know what's going to happen. You could live witness a total party kill tonight. The enthusiasm. You guys are feeling the moment, but you don't see what I'm seeing, which is the like eight people in the crowd who are so deep in it that they're like, no! No! Please remember to be mindful

that you are getting this episode hot off the press. So we ask that when you, when you, we know what you're all gonna do. you're gonna jump on those socials, you're gonna tweet about the wild shit you saw. When you do so, please use the hashtag critical role spoilers, right? Post responsibly. You will be able to watch this back to relive the memories of this wonderful night. Thursday, June 20th at 7 p.m. Pacific.

The video on demand will be available for Beacon members. Along with a live show edition of Critical Role Cooldown. Hear that plane? That's not even part of the show. It's live, baby. Final announcement, final announcement, gang. Make sure there'll

be an intermission. Make sure to check out that merch table, okay? I'll tell you, hotcakes wish they were selling like these damn socks out here. These socks are moving, people. Don't miss your shot. Guys, can we get a little bit excited? Can we get a little dare I say rowdy?

When I say critical, you say roll. Critical. Roll. Critical. Roll. When I say how do, you say you. How do. You.

How do. You. When I say wanna, you say you? How do? You! How do? You! When I say wanna you say do this. Wanna? Do this! Wanna? Do this! Folks, without further ado. The cast of Critical Role.

Please welcome to the stage, Taliesin Jeffries! Travis Willingham! Liam O'Brien!.. Marisha Ray! . Alicia Ray! Laura Bailey! Robbie Damon! Ashley Johnson! Matthew Mercer! One last time, give it up for your cast! Oh, I didn't know that was going to be a real one. I am retrieving my proper drink.

Uh-oh, I poisoned that one. Shh. Oh, wait. Woo! Set a few things here. Okay. Okay. Wow. It's good.

Look at these faces! Right? My god, this is a lot of wonderful, beautiful people. Thank you all so much for joining us. Welcome to Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. Let's hear it for the Dungeons & Dragons! Live here at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California. This is crazy. But we're so happy to have you all here. Before we begin tonight's episode, we have a quick announcement from our wonderful sponsor for the night. Oh no. NordVPN.

Marisha. Folks. The reviews are in, and Nordverse, the reverse, is the most successful reboot of all time! Yeah! Now, sure, I could be lying But with NordVPN you are protected from scams and frauds and I am no fraud! So

Let's jump back into the Nord multiverse, following Kryptonic Override and Galeforce 69, as they meet the Space President in part two of Nordverse, the reverse, and action. We made it, Galeforce 69. Welcome to the Matrix.

Jumping jock jams, Kryptonik. Why does the Matrix look like the Greek theater? Yeah. It's hot sim virtual reality. The lights, the stage, even those gorgeous people in the audience. Yeah. That's you. It's all imaginary. Watch this. Hey audience, make some noise! Yeah.

Wow! The Nordverse sounds so realistic. And the people are so beautiful. Yeah. My God. That's how you know it's computer code. Yeah. No real audience could ever look this smoking hotty as the people in front of us. What's up? What's up? Happy Pride. You know what? This is radder than like a thousand John Stamoses. Yeah. But how? How are we going to find the space president

in this crowd? Hmm. She uses NordVPN's top quality threat protection to hide her IP in physical location. That's true. But you're forgetting one important thing, Galeforce. What is that? How much Madam President loves to boogie.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Okay. So what if? I'm just going to, like, throw this out there. Just thought of it right this minute. Yeah. What if we hold an impromptu cyber dance-off?

Brilliant. And that'll draw her out from the crowd. Yeah. Positronic! All we need is some block rock and electronic beats! Ah, but I didn't bring my Zoom. Damn! You know what?

Not a problem, Kryptonic. We'll use this virtual crowd here to make a beat. Oh, good idea. So here, here, here, here, watch this, watch this. Okay. Wait, how are we going to do this? Alright, let's do like this half. Let's just clap.

Oh man, that's so good. That's so good. Okay. So I guess then this side over here, do like beep, boop, beep, boop. I don't fucking know. Polly Pockett, that sounds great! It's like, um, beep boop, beep boop. I don't fucking know. Beep boop, beep boop, beep boop. Polly Pocket, that sounds great!

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I knew it. Are you seeing this, Galeforce? Why? Yeah, hang on. I'm too cyberized, don't I? She is the space president! Yes, I am the space president. You couldn't find me because of NordVPN's Incogni feature, which shields your data from data brokers.

But I couldn't resist the sick beats from this gorgeous crowd, the best crowd ever to have ever existed in all the Nordverse! That's right. So, how can I help? Oh my gosh, Madam President, it's an emergency. One that I'll have to tell you about the next time NordVPN sponsors our show.

Until then, maybe the virtual audience can help us wrap up by saying, Matt, reverse to you. Okay, everybody on the count of three. One, two, three. Matt, reverse to you! So for those of you who are not entirely caught up on your Nordverse lore and are extremely confused, that's the point. Big thanks to NordVPN for sponsoring us.

Go to nordvpn.com slash Critical Role, get four extra months, try it risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. We got it. But I think... No! I'm so nervous! No! We're fine. That concludes our announcements. So let's go ahead and jump into

tonight's episode of Critical Role. 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 But one thing's for sure We never give up on the fight Oh, get ready It's Thursday night Bye! Woo! Dang, y'all.

Let's go! That was awesome. Okay. So, last we left off. Oh boy, oh boy. In the long wake of the solstice, Bell's Hells find Exandria and their world turn topsy-turvy as Ludinus Delef and his cadre of followers, known as the Ruby Vanguard,

plan to unleash the god-eating entity, Predathos, that was long sealed in the Red Moon, Ruidus. After traveling to this very moon, interacting with its people, and returning with intel on hopes to stop what they're doing. They discover that they've been sourcing ancient, long-buried Aeorian magical technology as part of their plan. And not just that. Ludinus Delef is there right now, dealing with a strange wrinkle in his plot with the name Dominox.

Bells Hells, escorted by a figure with some experience in the ruins of Eor, one Essek Thalyss. On loan from his partner. Brought them to the strange northern frozen realm of Eiselcross, where the very fabric of magic is strange and prone to unexpected apparitions of forces. They went to these ruins, delved beneath, discovered that the Ruby Vanguard that had been delving within, scattered, killed, not by the terrifying denizens of these ancient dark ruins, but by each other in strange fits of almost religious madness, carving glyphs into their flesh, very Event Horizon-type shit.

Going towards the darkest depths of the basements of the ruins in the center of the Genesis ward at Essex Guidance, they come upon a strange chamber whereupon the ancient bodies mingling with the new, freshly dead, now dangling by blackened hooks from long chains that seemed to have apparated from nowhere, almost grown from the surrounding stone of the crumbled rock and ruin. They heard from some of these long-forgotten corpses, asking them questions through magic, hearing things of a Nox engine, hearing that Dominox was once or may still be a grand demon of ancient times, sealed away and harnessed for nefarious magical purpose within this Nox engine by the mage lords of Eor long ago, recently running rampant upon the Ruby Vanguard.

And right as they discovered this, some strange visions began to come to them. First, Chetney, Pockapy, being overcome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Chetney Pockerby, suddenly overcome with a mystical vision of a familiar darkened wood of the past and the bloodied faces of children seemingly called

from dark, maybe buried memories, asking why he hurt them, why he killed them. Uncertain if this was real or not, he had to pull himself from the vision before attacking his friends. And right as they began to collect themselves, searching for the source of this strange dark magic, hoping to either find Ludinus or perhaps this Dominox and figure out what or who is the right villain in this instance. Poor Dorian Storm fell to his own vision as they passed between these hanging chains, looking upon one of these hung corpses. He sees the face of his recently deceased brother, Cyrus,

who looks up at him, dead, sunken eyes, saying, Why have you done this to me, brother? And it's here in these shadows, Dorian Storm, the blood pouring from his blackened sockets, here in the shattered expanse, the rest of it just a shadowed dark blur around you.

Cyrus looks towards you from that shadow. Why? Why, brother? What is this? Who are you? After everything, all the turmoil and challenge, I wouldn't have thought you to be my end. Mother and father would be so disappointed.

No, no. No, this isn't real. You're not him. And as I say that, even though I feel everything pull away, I can't help but be drawn into the visage of my brother. As you glance up towards his face to try and make eye contact, his now somewhat shriveled corpse arms reach out and grab your lapel and pull you close to where you can smell the early decay on him. Opening his teeth are exposed as his lips curl back,

the gums itself, the early stages of decomposition. Not all is lost, brother. I'm not beyond saving. My spirit lingers, haunts this realm now without peace, and I am not alone. And you see these little sparks kind of glow on the horizon around him, these other souls kind of lost in the limbo now in the post-solstice era.

The hands no longer grasping you, now just touching your cheek with a sadness and a hopeful longing. Within this engine, a curse keeps us, brother. Free us. Let us rest, brother. And as the body begins to fade, the last thing you see in his shadow are a sparking flash of a spinning purple crystal. Before you blink, and the body hanging before you is a long-dead skeleton, withered and armored,

and that of the ancient Aeorian guard. Hey. You okay? Yeah. You went away for a second. Yeah, yeah. And I'm going to go over to the corpse and start, like, pulling at the clothes

where the crystal was laying and just sort of ravenously trying to get at where it might have been. As you pull through the clothing, the armor clatters off, the body breaks. It's mostly a mummified skeleton at this point. And you guys watch as Dorian begins pulling at this body of arms, falling off and clattering to the ground with a puff of dust and ancient rock.

Get off of me! Let me do this! And I'm going to double down, and now I'm rubbaging through the pieces of the decaying corpse. Dust in my hands. As you scavenge through the bones and the remnants of the skin,

which is now a paper-like, wispy material that immediately crumbles at your touch, it takes you a few moments before you find nothing of that crystal, though the memory of it still lingers. Dorian, what are you looking for? I'm sorry. I saw something.

You had a vision? You too? It felt like it. It wasn't real. Did it feel real to you? It felt... I don't know if it was real, but it felt like a horrible nightmare. I was in my eyes. It was all I could see. It was my brother.

I know in my mind it wasn't him, but I can't shake this feeling. He said he was trapped. Trapped in that machine and gesturing toward what I think it might be, though I don't know what anything is. He said he was trapped there with the souls of others. And in his chest there was a glowing something, a magic crystal. It called for me and then it was gone. We all saw those bodies higher up in here. Symbols carved in them.

I think we have a better idea what happened. You can't... Any of us can't trust... anything flying in your eyes right now. Right. I just rise up and start... dusting off the pieces of corpse. I'm going to come up next to you and press a digitation

just to clean the dust off your hands. Thank you. I'm going to return to trying to listen down both hallways. Are we still in the quiet here? Nothing coming? Make a perception check for me. First roll of the night. First roll! First roll, baby! Let's go, let's go! Don't fuck it up!

That is... 24. Let's go! Not too bad. So glancing down the hall where you had arrived from, you no longer hear any sort of strange shuffling or movement. It looks like whatever may have been tailing you from the previous chambers has either lost interest or wandered elsewhere.

If this entity, this Dominox, is telling you that he's trapped in this soul anchor, it could be a trick. It could be a way to try and bait our lost loved ones to release him. I'm no master of performance, but it felt like a trick. I'm going to make a mistake and...

Ooh. I'm going to cast Detect Thoughts. Ooh. Ooh. Okay, bye. Yeah. I'm trying to find any other entity. Okay. All right. As your consciousness expands beyond your own and scatters past the familiar minds of your friends out into the space. The range on that is 60 feet?

That's a good question, Matthew. Just double checking. Range is 30 feet. Actually no, it's just... Itself. Focus on... It's 30 feet within you, so half that's just... Itself. Focus on my nose. It's 30 feet within you, so half that distance. Within the 30-foot radius of where you stand,

you do not sense any other minds, conscious or otherwise, that ping your particular will. It's a good thing I spent a sorcery point to double that distance, though, when I knew. Just making the face. I will say, on the very outskirts, on the left-hand side, just barely at the range, you briefly feel the presence of something, and then it's

gone. Like it was within the radius and then moved out of it. This is the left hand chamber, the one opposite of the one that Chetney stopped at. Chamber left. I'd also like you, Imogen, in putting your mind to make a wisdom saving throw for me, please. Oh, come on! Do you have advantage? Because you juiced us up. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait. and opening your mind to make a wisdom saving throw for me. Oh, come on! Do you have advantage? Because you juiced us up.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Motivational speech. Motivational speech. Wait, what's going on right there? That's not right. That ain't right. It's Dominox. It's in your pants.

That might be right. Guidance. Okay, yeah. A wisdom say? I'll say in this instance, because it just kind of happened, a guidance wouldn't quite work for me. No, no, no.

I have, okay. Are you at advantage because of Dorian? I'm at advantage because of Dorian. You do, you have advantages and motivations. Thank God, because that was a one, y'all. Am I trusting this dice for a second? Yes. Nope, I shouldn't have. Oh no.

That's a total of four, Matt. Whoa! Wow! You're fine. Wow! You're fine, it's gonna be fine. Everything's fine. You feel that ping of consciousness,

and as your head turns to that side, you instinctually take two steps that direction, almost like you're chasing it to try and keep it within your view. And as you do, the space around you becomes a darkened tunnel for a second before the familiar wind picks up. You hear and feel something move behind you, and you turn to spin, and you're surrounded by the red, dusty winds on the surface

of Ruidus. There you see the star escape above you and the pale blue glow of Exandria in the distance. But there you see fluttering, floating opposite you is Liliana looking towards you, your mother, her hair and braid drifting. I can feel your hate for me. How you despise me. All I ever did, I did it to protect you. I left everything behind for you, and you still hate me. Left me

to be killed by strangers in a strange land. What? No, I know that isn't true. Because I don't hate you at all. What, um... I still have

to take thoughts up. Do I sense any thoughts coming from her? No. She does look towards you, kind of with a keen head tilt as you concentrate. I still forgive you in spite of all that. And if you need proof to trust me,

I know Ludinus' secret within these halls. I need proof to trust, to trust me. I know Ludinus' secret within these halls. What he covets and how you can take it away from him. Are you in my mind? Come out, come out for real. I'm right here, Imogen. Stop talking, Mama. Where are you? I know what they did to you. Maybe we can help.

You spin your head to the right, kind of glancing around to see where it might be as the dust and red begins to pick up. From the center of the storm, you begin to see shadows emerge. Six, a dozen, 30, an oncoming army unseen just beyond the periphery. As you hear your mother's voice echo through your mind once more. The pinion, you have to destroy it.

It's the only way to stop him. Right as the shadows begin to swarm you, the wind takes over. As it passes your periphery, your eyes blink and you're back in the chamber with your friends. That didn't look good. You okay, where did you go?

No, I'm fine. I... Kinda talked to my mom, but not really. I can't tell, it's a demon, y'all, you know? Wait a minute, you talk to your mom? Well, yeah. That's what the demon showed you? No.

Wow, what'd he show you? I'm going to hell. Probably pretty soon. I asked what it needed, and it said to destroy the pinion. It said... That's what's helping Ludinus. I don't know, maybe Ludinus is working with the demon, though, and that's what they both want. Oh, shit, this has got layers. Or is it the demon saying what it wants?

Yeah. It's out for itself. And Ludinus really does want it chained to it. I don't know. So who would we be, oh fuck. Who would we be making an ally of? The demon or Luda? Wait, Ashley's devil,

sorry, Fearne's devil boyfriend is still here, right? Demon, yeah. Tevin Closk is indeed in the process Sorry, Fern's devil boyfriend is still here, right? Yeah. Tevin Kloss is indeed in the process of searching the exterior of the chamber. Oh my god, I forgot you were still here. Wow. The extremely tall, burly, handsome, red-skinned devil champion with its mane of blackened hair

and its thick beard, its glowing yellow eyes, its wings folded on its back just over its massive dark armor, its tail kind of flicking behind it as it seems to be sniffing the air from the source of demonic power. Not interested in the debate and weird conversation you mortals have. Um, who, uh, d-d-devil boy, um...

He stops. I think I already know the answer to this, but say, for example, we do help this demon. You wouldn't like that, right? What would happen? Just like, let's play it out hypothetically. Let's role play.

He puts his hand up and grabs the blade and just kind of clutches and tenses his fist around its handle and looks towards you and past you simultaneously. Such a creature should be put down immediately. Sure, that is your perspective. Side thought on that, such a creature should be put down in about a month.

We could make some chaos. Chaos could be very good for this situation. I mean, the thing is, if I may, all right, you haven't met him, so what if, like, you're like, oh, my God, you're really, we could get along. What if he's also hot? What if, what if? That is also a very large possibility. Also, you know, if we kill him now, he'll just go back to that soul anchor and he'll still be alive. And he's really immortal based on that thing.

If what you say is true and it's bound here to this day, unable to escape in this ruin, perhaps it's best we leave it. Oh, yeah. But if we destroy that pinion, and then later we destroy that demon, then he'll go back down, and then you can kill him for good, right?

Do you know how easy it is for a grand demon to return to your realm to get vengeance? Uh-uh. Do you want to find out? I feel like it's probably very easy. Yeah. But, um... You called for my aid, Fearne. I did. I totally did.

Our pact has been sealed. Right, but I don't fully know what that means. And I just, I feel like, I feel like you just, you gotta work with me a little bit here. And, you know, this is like you were saying, this is a grand demon. So,

we just need to think of all possibilities here. I know we have a pact, and I'll do whatever... Have you asked what that pact is? What is that? What is it? What is that pact? You've bound your energy to that of my

master, the lord of the hells. Huh? The thread of fate that pulls you through the great matron's skin now runs dark with his influence. The smell of brimstone will now follow where you walk. And would you need aid whenever you need his help? Perhaps he might be there at a cost.

Listen, Fearne, my parents have really good lawyers. I can probably get you out of this. Okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. So, but what do, what do, what do I need to, so I can just call at any time? Like, do I have to do anything? You can, but if you waste the Lord's time, he's not happy.

Oh, I wouldn't, I would never do that. I would never waste the Lord's time. And be warned. Every favor has a cost, and a little part of you changes forever. Mind you, I wouldn't be against you racing into our fiery embrace below, but it seems you have things to accomplish.

I do. But when you're done, I'll be waiting. Oh. My heavens. Or my hells. We're talking about a lot of big players. We've got a grand demon. We've got Luda. Yeah. Look out, make eye contact with the Bria. We've got the Dominox. It would be really helpful to know what Ludinus actually wants here,

if he wants this thing hooked up or what, so how do we figure that out? Well, we don't even know what this machine does. Why don't we find it and keep looking? It might give us some answers. Yeah, let's start with these two doors. Well, I think it's behind... Was there a third option also? Yes, leaving.

There is a pathway at the opposite end from where you entered, but it is completely crumbled into ruin. I think he's behind the left one. Yeah, I'm going to walk up too. Well, remember, the crumbled one doesn't have to be a non-option because I can make a bad decision and possibly get us through that. We're really good at... I'm going to walk up, too. Well, remember, the crumbled one doesn't have to be a non-option, because... I can make a bad decision and possibly get us through that. We're really good at going on the option that Matt says don't go on.

The safe thing would be for two of us to go in each of the doors separately. You split it up, and the two stay back, keep home base. How many hours you got? Left door? Left door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to walk up to it. Wow.

I'm a little bit nervous, I'm sorry. Okay, so you walk up to the left door, and it is an entrance to a hallway, it seems. The somewhat curved arch there has a metallic door that's been reinforced with what looks like brass beams and has a number of rivets along the sides. There is a heavy handle on it. All right, it's an archway,

and there's a really heavy handle on this door. Do I see any writing? Do I see any writing? No writing on it, no. Do it. Oh, shit. You gonna open it? I'm gonna start walking up, too.

Just to back up. I'm gonna open it. Because that feels like a really smart thing to do. I'm into it. You grab the handle, and it resists you at first. It's fairly rusted, it seems, and as you give a shove, you see why, as the whole thing hits the other side, causing a massive cloud of dust to kick up within the hallway, and as the dust separates outward, you can see a darkened space beyond, lightless,

where another chamber seems to open about 30 feet beyond. It's open. Do you have lights up right now, or are we? Uh... Do what do you want it to be? Well, I want to see. I'll go up to the door. I got 60 feet of dark vision.

Okay, I'll hold those little balls back there. I'll follow behind Chetney. I also have dark vision. Just peeking in. All right. Our heads stack. You carefully head towards... Which little balls?

Orym's head is at the bottom. Perfect. As you peek in and glance through using your dark vision into the next chamber, make a perception check. Oh, shit. Can I assist? If you'd like to, yeah.

That's cocky. Advantage for you. Advantage. I'm assisting. I'm assisting. Advantage? I'm assisting. Oh, okay.

Okay, great. Jesus! Eight. Another power play. We're going to die at the Greek. We're good, we're good. We're good. Proper tragedy.

It's hard to see from where you're in. You can make out what looks to be some furniture, tables and such, some of which are overturned amongst the fallen broken pieces of stonework From where you're in, you can make out what looks to be some furniture, tables and such, some of which are overturned amongst the fallen broken pieces of stonework and ceiling. A part of it is kind of collapsed inward in angle. You can see this massive chunk of stone that's kind of fallen and ground into the ground, bisecting the room with this massive slope. But that's all you can make out at a distance.

You'd have to enter the chamber. Looks clear. Let's go. Let's go in. Let's go in. Oh, should I do the balls now? Yeah. Yeah. I'll send the little balls in.

Imogen sends her little balls into the room. As they glow, alighting the chamber with that kind of low lavender light, they kind of move over the bits of broken terrain, and you can see there's a lot of broken glass across the floor in here. These tables themselves are fairly sturdy and have all

manner of runes dug into them, carved. There's nothing on them, as many of them are overturned, and what was on tables looks like it's been removed. There's actually scrapes where dust has been pulled away, like some useful and still intact pieces of machinery have been taken lately, or at least recent enough where there isn't a layer of dust where that scraped gap would be.

You see these dark circles along four different parts of the chamber on the right-hand side. There is another brass door on the opposite end, similar to the one that fell forward. This one is indeed closed, similar design. And there is a smaller kind of silver door to the left as you walk in. I do an action judo roll through the door and land with a fucking broken glass. That was a bad idea. Do I smell anything with my wolf nose? Go ahead and roll a perception check within the chamber. Your nose gives you advantage. Will it help? Yes, it does. 17.

Not bad. One, you smell, generally in the air, there's this odd, it's almost like a crude oil type smell, but like burnt lantern oil as well. There's like this weird chemical kind of burn vibe in this chamber.

It's kind of omnipresent and sourceless. You do smell this particularly rank, like an earthy blood iron sort of smell, but it's not quite blood. It's hard to describe.

And it looks like it's next to the silver door on the left, there is what looks to be a cylindrical steel drum that is partially ajar, and the smell kind of leads you to that. Oh. Yeah, yeah, I'll go there. Ashton, Orm, get in here!

What's the deal with the silver door? Does it look industrial or ornate? It looks less reinforced than the other ones. Yeah. It looks fairly plain other than just a couple of reinforcement bars in the center, but other than that, it's just a simple door. If I press my ear to it,

do I hear anything on the other side? Make a perception check for me. You glance inside the drum. Yeah. As you lean over it and kind of peer past the side, the smell is somewhat stronger. It's still, like, subtle, but you have a very, very strong sense of smell. Looking inside, you see it looks like crumpled material almost,

like a dull red-brown, almost like a burgundy scale mail that's just kind of sitting there, kind of in a clump. Drink it. Taste it. Does it of in a clump. Drink it. Taste it. Does it look like it's coiled? Bop it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Does it look like it's coiled in the drum, or...?

No, it looks like when you throw a piece of laundry in the corner, and it just kind of clumps up. That's kind of what it looks like. Like it was thrown in there with the body. And then the body went away. Yes, and now it's still there. Is that the smell of like chemically reduced

life form that we're smelling? Does it have a goop? Make a medicine check for me. Close. And what have you done in your past to know what that smells like, Ashton? You read my bio, you know damn well. That's true, yeah. 14.

14. Thankfully, not having experience with that, you're uncertain. It's adjacent to a blood-like iron, but it feels unique. It's not quite chemically either. It's just different, and it makes you feel a little shivery up the spine when you get the smell. Can I lift the armor without, so we're not touching it? Yeah. The thing in the barrel?

Yeah. I haven't the barrel? Yeah. I haven't even poked it yet. Oh, well, if you want to poke it. All right, fine, poke. As you reach into the cylinder and go to poke it, it just reacts. It's okay. Okay, I'll lift it up and out.

You lift it out, and it actually looks like a cloak with kind of a small collar made of a deep rust-colored set of scales. And it has like shinks of small pieces of metal as you pull it out. And as it kind of drifts there,

held telekinetically in the air by Imogen, it looks somewhat rusted. Maybe it's the material itself, but it's also well-made. Does it say magic? Yes. We found it in a barrel with goo. Of course it's magic.

The smell is definitely emanating from this object. We should put it in a bag. In a bag? Yeah. Put it in a bag for now? Yes, put it in the bag. Drift it over. Yeah, they melted someone, and all that's left is the...

Well, the question is, does it look like a recent melting? You know, like, is this a ruby vanguard, or like... What's left in the barrel? What's left in the barrel? Sludge. I think it's empty. Oh, empty, empty. Yeah.

Just a stank-ass robe. Did I hear anything through the door with my 27 perception? You do. You hear the slightest bit of heavy shifting, the sound of like, the basest sound of metal on stone, and then quiet, and this very, very faint breathing. A heavy... I wave at the group. and then quiet, and this very, very faint breathing. A heavy...

I hear something. I wave at the group. It's a door. Real quick, before we do anything, you mentioned that there were runes. Can I read them with my Eyes of the Runekeeper? Can you read which one? Read the runes with Eyes of the Runekeeper. Oh, on the tables?

Yeah. Yeah, they are a very old form of draconic used in the development of abjuration and protective magic. Looking at this, you can ascertain rapidly that these tables, while the enchantment may no longer be present, were once used to contain magical effects or dangerous volatile experiments, or something that would be maintained to the table, lending safety to those that were, you know, trying things out within the chamber. Yes, looks like this could have been like an experimentation room,

and they definitely felt the need to have a little bit of added protection. Can I go over and do the same thing to the bronze door before we fuck around with the silver door that Orm did? Just put my ear to it and anything coming through? Sure, go ahead and make a perception check. Yeah. Fuck!

Six. Six? Oh no. Pretty quiet. Pretty safe. I'm dying. Oh, fuck. It's clear.

All right. Great. Then let's go to the silver door. Is she going to the silver door? Isn't that the one that we're looking at? I'm at it now. The one with the breathing behind it? Yeah, yeah.

Does the breathing sound human or beastly? Do you still have your detect thoughts up? No, it only lasts for a minute. Okay, yeah. Does the breathing sound human or beastly? Do you still have your Detect Thoughts up? No, it only lasts for a minute. Okay, yeah. We should probably knock. It's rude to just barge in. Wait, wait, wait. I could use Open Mind, so I don't have to waste another spell slot.

I'll try Open Mind. It's detect thoughts. Okay. You do sense a consciousness within that chamber. The surface thoughts are a layer of anxiousness met with a burgeoning sense of self-preservation. Hmm. Okay. Do the thoughts feel people, or does it feel demon?

From what you glean, the emotional context of it, though different than anybody you travel with, definitely feels more human-like, as Essek in the back of the chamber is like, Are we certain we want to go poking through every doorway here? Does it feel, can I ask one more question? Yes. Does it feel like anyone's thoughts

that I have been met with before? No. Okay. Grand Demon probably doesn't feel a lot of anxiety. That's a good point. So maybe we should pass on this one. What if it's Ludinus behind there? Do you want to go in there?

I really want to go. I hear anxiety. I feel like that's somebody, I want to know what the fuck they know. I walk up to the door and do shave and a haircut. That's my boy. I just look up at his hand and face Pom. But it happens.

There's a long, still pause. Let's go. I'm going to try to open the door and see if it sticks or goes. The door opens. Aw. Inside a darkened, what looks like a closet, there are just clutters of fallen metal, jars and shattered glass, and it looks like tools

and strange implements used for enchanting or other unfathomable crafts. And a figure huddled defensively against the back wall. If we could have... If we could please have Sam Riegel come to the table. Thank you. Is that... Bro. Amazing. Dude, you stole Jojo Siwa's new look.

I hope this doesn't awaken something in me. A little late. What a fucking outfit. Okay. Sam, if you wouldn't mind describing what they see as they look within this darkened room. In the history of Exandria, there have been many hot minotaurs. But perhaps none as hot as this minotaur. I made we are. Not with you.

Standing at six foot four, muscular. Mostly black fur, except for his face, which is covered by pale gray peach fuzz. He has long black hair, two sharp horns, and carries a twin ball flail that seems to drip black liquid of some sort. His armor is white, save for an icon emblazoned on his chest that resembles two black horns. When you see him, you notice that everything on his body is black or white, except for the blood pouring from his throat. He appears badly injured, gasping, stumbling.

Please, please help me. Help me. Fuck, I've seen weirder. Are you Dominox? Because if so, I told you he'd be hot. Are you Dominox? No, you can't be. No, I'm not Dominox.

Name's too literal for me. Insight check. Ooh, good call. Make an insight check. And you can make a persuasion or deception, not saying which, and let me know the number. Oh, I only rolled a four, so... 18. Not cool.

Good thing I rolled a 20. Are you Dominox? I'm not Dominox. My name is Brayus. Brayus. Brayus. And

you know what? I'm going to do a Divine Sense. Okay. Just to see a Divine Sense. Okay. Just to see if these guys are evil, good, in between. Meh. You... It's a Spectrum. I want to know, too.

It's interesting. You pick up... Huh. Like a Jackson Pollock painting. You pick up Shreds of Undead from this one. You pick up Shreds of Fae from this one and this one. You definitely pick up a hint of fiendish energy also from this faun and a of fiendish energy also from this faun and a strong fiendish source

as you look past them to see, stepping into the chamber, the massive red-skinned, horned, winged entity that is Tevin Clask. Tevin Clask. What? That's Tevin Clask. You know That's Tevin Clask. You know who he is?

You've met. Uh, no. I have no idea who this is. Insight check to Tevin. Yeah, does he seem interested or scared? Or starstruck? Are you famous? I'm not even sure what that means. If you travel with Tevin, I feel I can trust you all.

Well, let's get into it, friend. Who are you? How'd you come here? I know your name now. It's dangerous times for a religious person, but I'm on a mission. A mission to save my god from destruction. And I've come here to vanquish the one that would unleash untold ruin upon all the gods. Okay. His name...

is Ludinus D'Aleth. Oh, oh. And he travels with a group called... the Ruby Vans. Oh, yes, so nice. They've made something known as... with a group called the Ruby Family. Yes, so nice. They've made something known as the Bloody Bridge.

And they plan to unleash something known as... Predathos? Predathos. Shit. Predathos. Predathos, yeah, yeah. Shit. Prodothus. I'm too amused by this shit. I'm just going to toss a health potion. Oh, thank you. Here, you just take a...

Oh, you'll love this. It's four points of health, because I rolled really bad. Thank you. That should definitely close my gaping wound. No, that helps. Thank you. That should definitely close my gaping wound. No, that helps. Right there. Your neck.

The black horns on your armor. Who is your deity? Yes, that. Who'd you hitch your wagon to? Well, as I've said, religious folks like me have been persecuted in recent days. God, this is...

It's hard, isn't it? It's really hard. You're stuck on your armor. Stuck on my sequins. Your dragon scale armor. Jesus. I've heard of temples being decimated as far as Issylra.

I don't know if I can trust you with the name of my deity. Well, we can close the closet door again. I mean, we're with Tevin, right? I mean, Tevin. Yes, but the rest of you seem... What gods do you follow? We've met a few. When you say follow,

there are some that we keep up with, like what they have going on, like on social media. You seem very interesting. We've interfaced with the Matron of Ravens? Mm-hmm. We have had a team member who is a worshiper of the Changebringer. Ah, the Changebringer, eh?

I like him. It's a shame that they're not here. Our healer could have helped you. Yeah. Sorry. Oh, oh, I can, Shame that they're not here. Our healer could have helped you. Yeah. Sorry. Oh, oh, I can, I can help.

May I, may I, may I? Sure. Oh. This is just how I expected this night to go. This is everything I was hoping for. I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on our new friend. Happy Pride. Yum.

All right. Hey, that's, wow. Three sevens for our lucky boy. Let's go. Yeah, yeah, 21 plus three, 24. There you go. Thank you. Powerful magic from a powerful man. You got me, you got me halfway. I'll take care of the rest with my own hand.

And I'll lay hands on myself and cure myself of it. Oh, wow! Knew it. Oh, mom! Knew it. Oh, come on. Still better when somebody else does it. Mm-hmm. Reyes, what are you doing here in this closet?

God damn it. What's a centaur like you doing in a closet like this? You there, what's your name? Me? Yes. Oh, my name is Fern. I like your knees. They bend the way mine do.

Could you maybe try to draw them? They're sort of backwards. Yeah, they're backwards. They go the other way. Just like mine, yeah. Nice hooks. You too. You have an extra set. What is happening? What the hell is going on right now?

I was here on my mission. I infiltrated the Ruby Vanguard with some followers of mine, and we were sent here to Eiselcross, I guess, by Ludinus himself. Wait, what? I saw him not but two days ago, and I was waiting for a chance to strike him down,

but I never got that chance. My friends and all of the vanguard were afflicted with some sort of mania, some madness. They went insane, killed each other. were afflicted with some sort of mania, some madness. They went insane, killed each other. My friends attacked me. It was quite surprising and horrible, and I haven't seen Ludinus in a while. I was just trying to get out of here

and figure out what to do next, but thank you for finding me, giving me some life. Is Ludinus still here? I haven't seen him in a day or two. The voices that I heard were very confusing. I lost track of time. You haven't seen anything. I haven't seen any what?

Anything besides Ludinus and the people you came with. The whispers came. Oh no. Oh shit. Ashton, if you wouldn't mind making a wisdom saving throw for me, please. Oh shit. With advantage. It's always the barbarian. Nah.

Always the barbarian, here we go. You got this, you got this. Big money. Yeah, 14, not bad for me. 14? With advantage? Oh, with advantage, thank you. Yeah, 14, not bad for me.

As they're having this conversation, and you're taking in the unique energy and confidence of this strange figure, you hear a rustling over your shoulder, and as you turn back into the chamber, you are now suddenly within a blood-red rock tunnel, as you see pieces of metal scattered across the ground. And a singular twisted metal arm crawls its way forward

as a slightly dislodged metallic jaw and a shattered eyepiece says, Not so smiley day, is he? That's me. Fucked up. I was waiting for you to do something. I didn't want to make this choice. Why did you let me die?

First off, whoever you are, you are not making friends with this right now. You said you've always been waiting for it. Were you hoping? You were hoping, weren't you? Waiting for a chance to make me do what you couldn't bring yourself to do. Oh my god, and I'm just going to walk right to that fucking little robot. I'm going to get right down in his face. Don't you even pull that bullshit with me.

You know damn well how much energy I put into getting this bullshit out of your head. So fuck you, child. The cracked lens flashes from blue to red as the hand grabs the front of you and pulls it close eye to eye. The energy of the remnants of FCG grows softer. I cannot pass on, Ashton.

My soul, the one you all knew was there, it's stuck in these ruins, the place of my birth, the place of my eternal torment. Only you can set me free, Ashton. Find the crystal in the engine, destroy it, and my spirit will find peace. You know, you can just fucking talk to us. You don't need to play these fucking head games. It doesn't make us like you.

Make a deal. The hand dislodges from your chest and clatters to the ground, falling into seven pieces. And how fucking dare you? Tempted to leave you in that damn thing for the shit. You turn around, and you're back in the chamber with your friends, and all the rest of you have watched Ashton talking into the air for the past moment. Ashton?

Who the fuck are you? Did you say that? I'm just... That really isn't fun. Yeah. I saw some shit. They really, Dominic's really wants the fuck out of that thing and is not asking nicely. He's not asking nicely. Brayus, you mentioned you follow a god. You never told us which one. Jesus Christ! Holy God! Damn!

Yep, they can get it. Sir! Okay. Yeah, yeah. All right. Let's, uh... In my youth, I pledged myself to the Platinum Dragon. Insight check?

Make an insight check. I mean, they've got the vibe. I have a fucking good insight. 24. 33. Oh! Oh! You believe him. But you said in your youth,

so did it change as you've gotten... There's danger all around us. We should press on. Essek kind of, like, scoots into the side. Oh, that's right. He's still here. I do not mean to intrude, but you've apparently acquired a rather large ally, enemy. Do we smite them? What is the plan here?

I'm very confused. I think he's with us. He's trying to keep his god from being struck down, which is in the same value line that we shared with FCG in what we're doing. So until he proves himself an enemy... Tevin steps forward, kind of pushing

past Essek with his massive devilish hand. Steps forward. If at any moment you show a slight sign of turning against me and her, I will cut you down in an instant. I feel like there's an energy. All right, there's no need for time.

There's an energy. You do not have to threaten me. I will do whatever you ask. And she's with you. Well, I mean, that's not entirely fair. Are you two, you know? No. We are bound, yes.

Understood. I'm sorry for speaking to her. Oh yes, we're very- Lean into it. Yes, we're bound. We're so bound. You have two men fighting over you. This is awesome! Every moment of this is hilarious. We're very, very, we're so bound. I am also bound to many.

Oh, well, we're so bound. I'm also bound to many. Oh, well. Of course. That's totally fine, because so am I. What are you all called? Do you have a name? Yeah, we're Bells Hells. Yes. Hells.

I think I'm going to like you. Oh, fuck. I do. But Bray, as you said you're heading out, we're heading in. Can you hang with that? He picks up his flail and his shield. Let's go. This is so fun. It's almost like he was built for us.

But wait, wait, wait, wait. The symbol on his chest, does it look familiar at all? Make a religion check. Okay. I have theories. La la la la la la la pow! Five. Not particularly. You're a country girl. I'm just a country girl.

Those are the horns of the platinum dragon. I feel like that's not... It has two horns. Two black horns. You did say earlier that you had followers. Am I misinterpreting that? I am the herald champion of my god. You have a cult!

Another champion! We got multiple here. There's another champion here? Yeah, Tevin. Well, yes, of course, but he's beyond champion. I mean, he's like a... Oh, my God. Tevin leans in closer. This is no champion.

And walks back into the chamber. It's a herald champion. It's a herald champion. It's a lower level. We serve functions, but aren't quite recognized the same way. Don't let him intimidate you. Stand up for yourself. No, he's fucking amazing.

I know you like him, but this is a chance for you to meet on equal ground. Stand up for yourself. You're right. I'll stay. Essek, still floating in the back of the chamber, goes, All right, well, you may want to see this. Oh, God.

What'd you find? And you see he points his finger over from beneath his fur coat towards the walls of the chamber outside of that other brass door, and there are these foot-wide black, they look like windows, like portholes almost. And he just kind of drifts leaning towards it.

Oh. Is there any writing around them? No writing around them, but they are open. Can I peek in? You kind of peek through, and you realize there was a glass there. There was like a protective thick glass. Thank fuck.

As you look into below you, a large kind of square-looking sunken chamber with three elevated platforms about ten feet off the ground. You see fallen rubble, and the roof is slightly off-kilter. You see so many chains just strewn across the floor and the walls, tangled and pushed into each other, woven chaotically around. You see these glowing massive glyphs on the ground that pulse in unison. And in the very center of this chamber

is a 25-foot-tall cylindrical machine that itself just completely consumes the center of the room. You can almost feel the vibration in the wall and the proximity. As it does that, you can see bits of crackling energy that kind of spark off to these spires around us, these multitudes of Aeorian tech spires throughout the center chamber. And in the middle of it, hovering in the air and slowly rotating, you see this quad spire platform that is just spinning in the air, in the middle, pulsing a small purple crystal. It's just another closet. We can leave this one alone. This is the engine room, I think.

You can take a look for yourself. There's the crystal you all saw. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. You know what this crystal is? It's a soul anchor. The what? The pinion? The thing holding... Pinion of service. Yeah, the thing down here,

dominox that we've been referring to, there's... How do you feel about grand demons? How do I feel about demons? Big ones. Big demons. Whew. They're bad? I've literally never done this.

Insight check? Y'all should always remember the first. Go ahead and roll an insight check, and Brayus, roll deception or persuasion. Just don't say which one. 13. 20. You know, you're not going to mess with a bard, buddy.

Wow. But, you said, most people don't like demons and devils. Wait, there's a difference? Oh, jeez. I actually didn't know that either, so. Okay, let's focus up here. This is the engine room, there's a shitload of change.

The purple crystal's in there. There's a door. Is it locked? Yeah, I'm sidling up by Chetney and peeking in, too. Is anything, is any entity being anything that looks alive or unalive moving around there? Both of you roll perception.

Or one of you with advantage. I'll fucking assist. That's a 32. You glance in the chamber, and aside from the occasional sparking of energy that seems to be emanating from this engine, machine in the center, you don't see any entities.

You don't see anything moving other than the occasional slithering shift of some of the chains across the floor. Do we see the chains? I pick my head and do I see the chains going, like feeding outward? Can we assume that these are the same chains that were going out to that center chamber? You see many of them scattered around the ground, almost like roots from a tree breaking

from the center of the engine machinery. You also see chains dangling out of nearby corners and walls. It's almost like a chaotic spider web of chains in parts of the room. And another question. Do we have any idea what this machine was powering in Aeor? Is there some sort of check? Just like a plaque.

Yeah, is there a plaque? Is there something that says, just says it out loud? There's no plaque, but you can make an arcana check if you'd like. Let's go faster. Established in two. Yeah. Established in two. You were here, Ratbraeus, you were here with Ludinus?

He was in Aeor with us briefly, yes, but not in this room, exactly. Were you, but you knew of his plans? No, we were just to come here and aid him in something. I wasn't paying much attention because I was trying to kill him the whole time, so. Right, right, right.

You're supposed to be paying attention, though, if you're trying to kill somebody. That's the whole. That's maybe why I didn't succeed. That's. You're very pretty. Thank you, so are you. I know.

Focus, focus! Fuck! 24. 24. Glancing into the chamber, with Ory of leading your vision through this porthole as well, you can see there are two entrances towards the, or at least one entrance you can see near the floor on the direction that would kind of connect with a curved staircase to the brass door that's to your left.

So you kind of can see where that would be. If those connect, that would be an entrance to the actual chamber. You also see, Orym, there's a large double brass door on the opposite side of the chamber, like tall, 15-foot-tall doors, as well as two other exits that are completely collapsed inward with shards of metal and broken doors. Do those look blasted out or in? They look like they're collapsed.

Like parts of the wall have fallen in and parts of the metallic structure of this chamber amongst the stonework has just kind of just cut them off. So crashed it. You looking at these glyphs on the ground, best you can ascertain, part of this is a containment abjuration and other facets have a transmutation

for the purpose of manipulating and extracting power. Fucking, we already knew that. Good to remember, though. All right. Maybe a little more information. With a slightly higher roll, unfortunately. Uh-huh. So I suppose my question is,

do you think this is something we can... I want to be able to make a bargain with this thing. We got to be careful if we're going to let it out. We got to be very, very careful. Is the door locked? You go and reach the heavy brass handle, and it creaks, but it opens. It's not locked.

No, don't open it. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What, what, what? The whole point of us coming here was to delay lewdness. Uh-huh. No, don't open it. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What, what, what? The whole point of us coming here was to delay Ludinus. So if we let this thing free, aren't we just helping him? It's hard to know.

Like, is Dominox delaying Ludinus, or if we let Dominox out, can he help us fuck with Ludinus? Where is Ludinus? Where is Ludinus? Where is Ludinus? Brayus, what's the last you saw with Ludinus? Where is Ludinus? Where is Ludinus? Where is Ludinus? Brayus, what's the last you saw of Ludinus again? The last moments? What happened?

Well, everything was a bit hectic, because I was having visions of things that weren't real, voices in my head, and maybe a godly GM voice will tell me what the last thing I saw was. The last thing you saw before you fled into that silver-doored chamber... I think you mean tactically retreated. Yes, thank you. Tactically retreated, yes. Was the recent bastion of Vanguard escorting Lutonus this deep into the ruins upon his arrival, like you were part of his entry troop

into these ruins, was him attempting to save those around as they began to tear at each other. He himself briefly shook his head and then went towards the engine room, and that's the last you saw. And then went towards the engine room, and that's the last I saw.

He could be in here. So he had a very intent interest in this machine. He wanted it? He did. He seemed to. Or the room, or something in it. I want to break it. I just want to fucking break it. You want to break what?

It solves so many problems so often. You want to break the engine? Yeah. Okay, let's go. That's my immediate thought. This thing looks complicated and dangerous, so you hit it until you can't put it back together anymore. If the fear is releasing Dominox and he powers the engine, if the engine's gone,

why do we have to worry about Dominox? Well, sometimes we just don't know. That thing inside has been there for a very long time, is very angry, and may not actually be listening to reason, nor may be grateful that it got let out. It might just be feral at this point. And I don't know if I want to handle something feral.

Are you telling me you're afraid of a fight? I'm not. I'm never afraid of a fight. I'm afraid of losing. And that feels like a losing fucking battle. As you point out through the porthole where there was once an empty chamber, you now see standing in the middle near the base where that crystal is, a small girl.

Maybe five, six years old. Bye, baby. Bye, baby. Bye, Travis. With RTA across his ass. I know. I'm feeling better about our odds. Do we all see this little girl?

As you pointed out, yes, indeed. The little girl's in there, just kind of looking up, kind of beneath this long, red, deep red hair. I'm going to step up to the door, just at the edge of the door. Hey, you want to talk? Everybody get ready. All of you hear, sourcelessly through your minds and shaking the very air around your ears,

Yes. Let's make a deal. Are you Dominox or are you someone else? I am called Dominox, yes. Gee. Thank you. I know, she's fun. Scary. What's the ratio, though, Laudna? What's the ratio? Um, dominox, sweetie.

Where are you? I can't see you. Oh, right here. Can you see me? I tap on the glass like I'm an annoying kid at an aquarium. Tap, tap, tap, tap. The little girl kind of looks around open to the space. I can't see you. It's dark in here. Okay, well, honestly, you don't need to see me. You just need to hear us for a moment.

So, listen, we are trying to fight a really bad man. And it is a really bad man who wanted to, like, use you and exploit you. And, you know, if we, like, let you go, you could have your revenge. I would like that very much. But, but, but, you can't. We're good. We're the good people. So you can't do anything mean to us. But you can join us, and you can fight the bad man.

What is Tevin doing right now? What is Tevin doing right now? As we're having this conversation, Tevin is, like, partway into the hall, the stairs that lead down out, the door's partially open, holding the blade at his back, and he's looking at you all for the go. Ask Little Angel if she's seen Ludinus in there. Oh, little sweet pea. Have you seen this very bad man? Have you seen

lewdness? Ha ha. I have. Oh! He brought many friends. Yes! No, I know we met his friends. You did quite the number on them. I was hungry.

Okay. Okay. I'm getting bad vibes here. I've been here so long. Okay. No, yes, no, we know like a thousand years. Do you know how long that is? I don't really. When was the last time you saw this man in his big, bad, meanie friends?

I can't say. It's so dark. He was here. He's a strong one. He got away. But he's still near. I can feel him. Okay. I'm sensing some fear among the group. No, not me.

I'm good. Okay. Just to embolden us I would like to just say a quiet prayer for all of us Oh lord please guide us in battle ahead

don't let the little girl terrorize the old man let us find our quarry that way we may bring you glory. And I cast Bless on everybody. Ooh! Okay. Remind me what that does?

Get a d4. D4 on everything. You add a d4 to attack? Oh, attack, yeah, Bless, I love Bless. Bless is a good time. All right. Everybody. Yeah.

Hell yeah. Everybody. Yeah. Hell yeah. What level are you? I'm level you, baby. We should have had him when we tried to do the porn. It would have been so much more convincing. Some things are better missed. You should have been here too, Dorian. You'd have been great.

Could always make the next one noir. Sequel. The little girl turns around a bit and begins walking towards the engine before she fades. And you just hear her say, It's so dark. I just feel so bad for her.

She's so convincing. She's not real. And we could all hear that in our heads, yes? Yes. We all see the kid, we all hear it. What is it, Fearne? I would like to cast Locate Creature on Lewdness. Okay.

Oh, thanks for the clap. Oh no, you don what, I'm done with it. You're all done. All right, all right, calm down. As you finish the rapid casting of this small-scale divination spell on his direction, recalling his face, recalling the interactions you've had. As soon as that tether of magic reaches out

into the ether to grasp him, it is thrown back and scattered like ash. It's unable to find an anchor. That bitch. That bitch. Bitch. Oh wait, what level was that? Oh. Oh. Sorry. This is fourth. Do I need to roll? Oh, wait, what level was that? Oh!

This is fourth. Do I need to roll? Fourth level spell. Oh, it is fourth level, yes it is. Go ahead and roll a d20 for me. Come on, come on, come on. Big money, big money. Okay, wait. What is it again?

Just roll it. Doesn't matter. Which one do I want to do? Okay, I'm going to do this one. Not that one. Twelve. Twelve. The spell, though it was scattered before it could find its particular focus point,

there is no odd side effects here in Islecross. What is it here in Islecross? Okay, no, never mind. Don't want to know. I don't know much about magic, but he's probably still hiding nearby, right? This is a magic thing? Gotta be. I'm going to take Tevin's lead, and I'm going to go in down the stairs, fucking chisels out, baby, and start to give Tevin a little cover. All right, as soon as you begin to approach and you make eye contact with Tevin,

he kind of nods and you see like a grin pull across his mouth, the sharpened teeth exposed as he tightens the hole on his blade and the two of you begin to descend the stairs that curve downward into an open metal doorway that leads into the darkened chamber. The only light sources you have are those glowing glyphs and the electrical buzzes of the nearby equipment that surround and are part of the central NOx engine, the occasional

arc sending a splash of light across the room and casting instantaneous shadows that vanish as soon as the light does. You begin to step on the inside and that smell, that strange kind of metallic buzzing smell that you caught on that weird cloak that you acquired, very similar smell here, but completely suffusing the space. It is almost an overwhelming scent to you with how sensitive your nose is. And you begin to think now, as your bloodhunter, senses kick in, you recognize the smell on that cloak and what is strong here.

That is deep, fiendish, bloody power. Cool. Is there any heat coming off of Tevin? There is a mild heat coming off of him, yeah. Yeah, you bet your ass. Okay. There is a mild heat coming off of him, yeah. Yeah, you bet your ass. Okay, following your lead. I'm going to follow them. Yeah, going down, too.

Okay, so Ashton and Fearne are following as well. If Fearne goes, I start to trek alongside her. All right, Essek gulps. I don't know why I agreed to come with you. Kind of glides down the steps as well. Is this a high ceiling chamber as well? It is quite a high ceiling. It's about 50 feet high. Essek, maybe you could do that hovering shit a little bit of, you know, a little higher. Give us a little multi-tiered approach.

Well, this isn't a fly enchantment. This is just a hovering... I don't need the explanation. It's cool. Should I need to, I will find myself higher in the air. But for now, I do not wish to waste spell slots. Oh, yeah. Did someone say fly? I'm going to click my heels together like Dorothy, and up I go. Yes, baby!

The blue boy's a show-off, isn't he? Oh, yes. I respect that. and up I go. Yes, baby! The blue boy's a show-off, isn't he? Oh yes. I respect that. Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me. I'm going to make my way all the way to the front, next to Tevin. Ow, ow. Ow! Oh god! Excuse me.

This is a good place for me to be. Yes, it is. So you've all stepped down into the chamber now. This is so smart. Isn't it? Stepping over the heavy chains, and sometimes you kick a set of them to kind of shift, and as they do, they pull taut in other places.

But there's just that ominous presence, that vibration, that hum in the air from the central engine. As you've all stepped into the room, the metallic door behind you slams shut. And you hear a That's my cue. The werewolf comes out and then I just straight up Mr. Peanut with the monocle.

Mirror image. All right. We're in the center-ish of the chamber now, so there's a portion of the room that I couldn't see before from a porthole, so if I do a 360, do I see an old-ass elf in here? So looking around the room, you can see now on these three higher-up platforms that are about 10 feet above the floor recess where you stand, they have these pyramid-like structures that all face inward towards the engine. And occasionally when the energy arcs, it arcs from the engine to one of these three pieces.

You can see the glyphs, it arcs from the engine to one of these three pieces. You can see the glyphs heavily giving off light from the ground. And there is this almost heavy magnetic pull towards this central... almost like a recessed pit of arcane magical cables and almost like a magnetic device that fills the center. And above it, about ten feet, is where that platform rotates with the present glowing purple crystal kind of just rotating within. As you kind of look up at it, you can see the little girl is now standing up on top of the engine behind it, her arms behind her back looking down.

At this proximity, we have a better look at her. You can see her pale face, extremely vibrant, long, straight red hair, just a black, it looks almost like a dress, but it also kind of looks like armor. And she just kind of looks down with her hands behind, down at you all, expressionless. Thank you for coming. It was so dark

and so lonely. You're welcome. Now, you mentioned being, um, hungry, but, um, seems you had quite the, uh, the bottomless buffet back there. So are you good now?

Are you good to where we can make this deal? I know it's hard to think on an empty stomach, so... I haven't eaten for centuries. I'm so hungry. As the room just kind of quakes, the vibrating voice itself so bassy so hungry. As the room just quakes, the vibrating voice itself, so bassy, that the stones and the bitters of shale on the ground

shake along before it stops. I flutter down next to Ashton, land next to him, and I just say, I know you said you to Ashton, land next to him, and I just say, I know you said you were afraid of losing, but don't forget, we're losers, baby. And I'll draw my sword.

Yep. Uh-huh. We can make a deal, though, kid, right? I mean, you don't want a bunch of mid-level cheeseburgers when you can have a Michelin star elf. After all, you eat now. You're stuck in here, so no dessert for a very long time. Please free me. Amy. Can you tell us what your role was in this engine room?

Obviously, we know you were, you know, powering the device, but do you know to what extent what exactly you were powering? Make a persuasion check for me. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. No problem, no problem. powering? Make a persuasion check for me. Okay. Okay, okay, okay. No problem. Grand Demon. Persuade the Grand Demon. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Twenty total. Dirty twenty. One of her eyes flickers bright with power for a second, causing this side of her face to just glow red. They bound me here.

They kept me here. They pulled me apart and put me together again and again. They used my connection to the abyss to bind my brethren in their service. They are dead now. Good. Most of them are dead now. But that elf that was here earlier, he's all that's left of them.

And he has no intention of letting you out. He's got plans for this thing. You said he got away. Where did he go? I'm not sure. He cloaks his magic strangely. I sense him somewhere in these ruins, not far. But he'll come again.

He wants something here. I sense his frustration. I can taste it. What if he wants the anchor what if he wants to bind Pradathos the same way then you must destroy it free me let me go

you didn't really answer the question of like what you were doing, because I trust you, I believe you. Maybe he doesn't want the anchor, but also he could want this machine.

So it would be great to just know, you know, just so we have a little bit of context. It's always good having context. I know not what the elf wants. Our conversation was short and curt. He looked past me and past this engine like I was a boundary. I know not if he looks for this, but I think he covets this crystal here. I think this, this is what he seeks.

Insight check. 100%. All right, you both can make an insight check, or one of you can assist the other. I'll assist, Fern's got high insight, right? I assist Fern. While they're doing that, can I also make my way around the room towards the door

on the opposite side of the chamber? It's interesting. As you walk around, she's still facing the group, but like a shadowed second double of the girl's head, almost ethereal, shifts and follows you along with it, like a second ghostly head just keeps trapped on you.

Nip, nip, nip, nip, nip. Yeah. 31. Grand Demon. It is hard to read a being of pure abyssal chaos, kept in darkness and shadow for a thousand years, broken and half given to madness. Here, it gives to you a truth that you can sense is false.

There is a desperation to her voice, that you can sense is false. It's false. There is a desperation to her voice and a focus on this crystal that is borderline obsession. With a 31, you get all that. I'll take it. I'd whisper, but it's across the table. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At the door, any kind of writing symbols,

porthole windows? No portholes or windows. Numerous protective glyphs and runes across it. It is very heavy and looks like it's barred and locked. Oh. This door looks important. Is that another one we came through? That's a different door? and looks like it's barred and locked. Oh. This door looks important. Is that another one we came through? That's a different door?

Yeah, opposite. Oh, okay. Is it locked, unlock, smashable? What's your feeling on it? Smashable? Probably. Only if I can watch you try. I'll try the handle. Yeah. You try the handle. Yeah.

You tied the handle, and the ghostly head looking towards you, the eyes flare up. Suddenly, you feel a chain whip out from out of nowhere and swing towards you. That's going to be an 18. Does that hit your armor class? That is my armor class. That is your armor class.

Okay. I thought we were cool! Well, what are you shuffling paper so much for? Because you take... Less dice. Less dice. That's going to be 16 points of piercing damage. Oh. I need you to make a strength saving throw for me.

Okay. I got advantage on that because I'm a werewolf. A 21. Okay. You just fail. Oh! Oh, what? Oh!

Oh no! This hooked barb at the end of the chain seems to spear into the back of your woven shoulder and wrap around your arm, and you are pulled off your feet and up. You guys watch as out of this little girl, this almost spectral dark chain, not unlike the blackened hooked chains you've seen emanating from the walls and ceilings of this ruin, strikes off and in an instant pulls woven Chetney up next to her on top of the engine. You're like half-bound by it, but you're not restrained, and the voice goes, You promised you'd destroy it.

Destroy it. Hold on, hold on, hold on. It's in me, it's in me. Maybe we should listen to the little girl. What's behind the door, sweetie? I will tell you when you destroy opinion. Is that a promise?

Sure. I'm already... No, is the pinion, like, up high? Oh, the crystal? Yeah, the crystal. It's about probably 15 feet up in the air. It's floating right above the platform that itself is floating 10 feet up and slowly rotating. And there are these four spires that kind of curve in towards it.

So it's quite a bit. You have to kind of view it from an angle to even see it. It's casting a purple glow on everything around it, including the girl and now Chetney from below. Okay. But you can't just reach it. You have to climb to it? Likely. All right, I'm going to start climbing. What? Whoa! I'm just going to fly right up next to him. But not help, just watch.

I'm okay. I'm fine. You're doing great. I'm fine. Hooves don't really grip very well. So you have to leap up to catch the edge of it because it is kind of floating aloft there on its own. And you're like, catch up, takes you a couple tries, and you catch the lip and hold on, and it's sort of rotating with you on it.

You kind of lift up onto it, and you can feel that power around it. And occasionally you can see these little specks of almost dust-like energy kind of encircling this purple stone. This purple stone, it's about maybe seven inches high, and you can see there is a smaller, almost something set within it,

and there are countless small runic glyph inscriptions across the surface of this stone. This feels extremely powerful. I could hit it. Ooh, I'm assuming, is it locked in place, or? Tevin speaks up and says, under no circumstances are you to set this thing free. Pulls his blade out.

You got it, you got it. But I mean, you could hit it. Is it locked in place? It's floating freely. I'm going to say, in Brayus's head, does it look like you could move it? What the fuck was that? Hi. Oh, hi. that? Hi.

Oh, hi. Hi. Hi. You could just talk to me. No, no, no, I don't want it to hear us, that's why. Oh, I see. Maybe I could try. Should I try?

Well, I don't want you to die. We have a bad habit of losing. Very nice of you. Yeah, it's... You just met me. Well, yeah, that want you to die. We have a bad habit of losing. It's very nice of you. Yeah, it's... You just met me. Well, yeah, that's true. All right. But I feel a connection to you, you know?

Really? Are you single? I'm not sure. Oh. No. Wow. What? Oh! No! Wow! So you're saying there's a chance? No, no, that's not what I'm saying.

Oh. The rest of you, as Brayus is climbing up here, staring at this crystal, Chetney's still standing there, this hooked chain wrapped around his arm. The little girl, her eyes wide, is leaning forward, and as she does, you see the spectral shape of a larger entity almost surround her,

like a ghostly shell. You see these massive red muscular clawed arms that are holding onto the edge of the engine. You see these impossibly large shoulders with hooked armor kind of protruding from its own fleshy plates. You see these burning

red eyes and a tooth filled open like lizard-like mouth with massive horns that curl out and a long tail that slithers back with its own kind of horrible demonic mouth that kind of clasps the end of it. You see a glimpse of the true form of Dominox itself beginning to apparate in anticipation. Yes. Wait. I have a question. Why can't you destroy it yourself?

I cannot. The enchantment prevents me from doing so. Oh, that totally makes sense. So destroy it! Question? I want to try something. I want to try something, too. Do you want to go first?

No. You guys talk a lot. Should we just hit something and, you know... I want to cast telekinesis. You want to cast telekinesis? I do. Are you trying to do something with this door? No.

Okay, you go first. Okay, I'm going to cast telekinesis. Okay. And I'm going to look at the little girl. And I'm going to try to grab the crystal with telek'm going to try to grab the crystal with telekinesis. Try to grab the crystal with telekinesis? Yeah. Okay. Go ahead and roll a d20 and add your spell modifier.

Okay. Can I activate my ropes that I just got? Sure. All right. Roby. All right. I'm going to do that and that. Okay.

Oh, God. There's so many dice in front of me. Fuck. Who did that? I don't know. What am I doing? I'm adding my spell modifier. Your spell modifier, so your charisma modifier.

Okay. It's not like an attack. It's not a DC. No. It's just a... Well, there is a DC to this, but... Well, do I have an advantage? Just roll it!

It's... 10. As you concentrate on it... You're on my dice! The gem doesn't even move. You get the sense that the spires around it and the device of this engine is dual purpose. It also keeps the soul anchor crystal bound here. It is not meant to be moved.

It could be with an extremely powerful magical source or will, but currently it is unmoving. All right. We break the things around it, we can get the crystal? Potentially? If you destroy the spires, maybe. Okay. Mm-hmm.

In Chetney's head, I'm going to say, okay, hear me out. I know you've got a hook through your body right now, and there's a lot going on. I'm just fucking hanging here. But, I think we should try to get this crystal free.

Oh, cool. How? By breaking all these spires? You feel the chain begin to suddenly snake its way deeper into your wound. You take another 13 points of piercing damage, reduced because you're a wolf in form, and the girl goes, another 13 points of piercing damage, reduced because you're a wolf in form, and the girl goes,

I have waited too long. You killed Dali for no reason. Destroy it now. We're trying to get the crystal. Destroy it or I'll kill your friend. I'll make a deal, I'll make a deal. I'll make you a deal. If you take this fucking hook out of my body, I'll take care of the crystal.

Make a persuasion or deception check. Persuasion. Or dece-f-ive, yep. Oh, 23. Oh, oh, oh, oh! I was wrong about Bless. I can only do it to three people, but he was one of them. Because he was scared. The other two are?

26. The other two are Fern and Blue Boy. All righty. 26. The chain recoils. And go. Okay, okay. I just try and stem the bleeding. That's not going to stop. Do I drop down to the platform, and is the crystal within?

You can leap onto it, but it is spinning. I'll say make an acrobatics check to try and not get knocked off of it as it spins in the air. Twelve. Not great. You leap, and it just knocks you off, and you fall another ten feet,

tumbling to the ground for two points of bludgeoning damage. I'm trying to help! Could you give me a lift? The little girl transforms into the entirety of her true form. Dominox stands tall at a 15 to 16 feet in height, the horns curling outward, the massive clawed arms

now scraping across the ground as it stands, the tail thrashing against the machine, the cracked exterior of it, and the rust and dust getting kicked off at the impact. She steps forward and picks up your woven form and pulls you close to her face. You can feel the warmth, kind of putrid scent of the demon's breath across your face.

Now, destroy it. And she holds you right up to the, watch as she puts her hand towards the crystal. It sparks and she has to release you and you barely catch the edge of the platform. May I have stealthed over to the other door during the last 15 seconds? That's fine. Could I have sned over to the other door during the last 15 seconds? That's fine.

Could I have snuck over to the door while Dominox was focused so intently on Chetney? And open it? The large double doors? Yeah. It is deeply sealed. Make, oh no. Are you trying to do this quietly?

Yeah, it was. A massive double doors, yeah. I only chanced it because the demon was grabbing Pop Pop. Yeah, so if you can make a sleight of hand check for me to try and check this. Now mind you, I'll give you advantage on this because the demon is distracted. I'll reroll the one.

18. The demon, which had recoiled, the tail that is whipping around has its own head at the back of it, and the tail channels on you as the door slightly... Dominox turns. You lie! I'll gust the door.

You gust the door. Yeah. The door holds firm. Okay, okay. I'm so small. Wait, this is what I wanted to try. I see Orym, and I'm with you. Wait, this is what I wanted to try. I see Orym and I'm with you. This is going to be weird.

I want to cast animate object on the door. Oh, yes! It's Dory. Dory! Brother! I just come to life at my command, and I can give them commands. This would be considered...

It's on the cusp of huge, so I'd say it's considered a huge object. Yep, so that's all I got. All right. That's it. All right, so... Oh. As Dominox is now turned and the tail is whipping angrily, the door in the middle of it,

part of the heavy reinforced beams like split in a singular eye kind of looks around and looks down. Um, hello? What level is that spell? Fifth level, so I got to roll. Roll. Oh, I didn't roll for my telekinesis, did I?

No, you did not. Roll for me, please. Eleven? Okay, you're fine. Come on. But please roll for me. Laura! This is what you get for having so many dice! One! Fuck.

Which is good, because you want a 17 pluses when the effects get weird. In this instance, the higher you roll, the chance you have of happening. So, however, in this instance, as the door seems to come to consciousness, with you standing below it, kind of taking in what the hell is happening around you, Orym, Chetney is now been like, you know, grasping the side, Dominox is furious,

roars out angrily. All the chains in the room kind of shake and move rapidly. And we're going to roll initiative when we come back from break. So. Ready for it. We're going to go ahead and take our intermission here. Go ahead and get your drinks, use your bathroom, come back here shortly, and we'll jump back in here in this fray.

So see you in a minute oh hey there laura bailey here to tell you all about the glorious goods we create inspired by our stories our stores are filled with the basics like character inspired t-shirts dice sets and pins as well as more specialty items like fancy jackets puzzles featuring gorgeous, the comfiest joggers and pajamas ever, and much, much more. There's also a few special items that support charity efforts, like our dedicated Critical Role Foundation merch. You can check out all of our regional online stores by visiting the Shop tab on CritRole.com, or head straight to the U.S. store at shop.critrole.com. Every purchase helps support our shows and the stories we tell. Speaking of which, let's get back to the story. Welcome back.

Wait, wait, wait! Now, first off, across the interior of this chamber, with the slowly rotating gem there. Whoa! Yeah! Could... That's a sick shot. Yes, Cam, yes.

No. Oh, I don't like that. As that there... Is Dovinas in full form. It's just a little girl. Oh, I don't like that. As that there is Dominox in full form. Oh no. Can we go back to the creepy little girl? It's Tigress from Thunderkiss.

In which you are, Chetney, held by Dominox still. That's how big he is. Oh no. Yeah. Essek and we have Tevin over there. Please describe where on this chamber you see yourselves. I currently have over in the back by the door

is you, Orym, as that was where you were last. With Laudna, I think, damn it. Oh! Yeah. And Laudna, you're back here as well. I always knew I'd die by a furry. Oh my god! Whoa!

That's so cool. So, Imogen, whereabouts do you see yourself? Well, let's see. I was trying to do the telekinesis thing. Erta? Yeah. Right around there. You got it. All right. And where is the door on the opposite side of the room?

You came in through this chamber here. Okay. This is the double doors, the massive double doors, which one of them has been made alive. Yeah. Fern, where would you like to be? Okay. I think, is Tevon over there?

Or no, no, other side? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to go by him. All right, you got it. Dwayne and Ashton. Where do you want to be? I was up hovering by where Brayus had kind of climbed around the spire surrounding the...

Okay, so I would have been about 10 feet back from there because we had just had that talk, and I was still just... So whereabouts? Is there a Minotaur, Minnie? I think right to the right of Imogen, maybe? Sure. What do you think? I think that's great.

And Dorian, you said you were flying. Yeah. Let's put you whereabouts. Chet told me to. Near the rotating spires. Okay. So you'd be right about there on the opposite end of Domino's. Or I think I would be on the other side of Imogen, just because.

Should be. Yeah, like just, yeah, like towards the giant clusterfuck of demon. No, no, no. This way. But next to Imogen still. Okay. I just like, I would be a physical barrier. You got it.

Well then, I need you all to roll initiative, please. Oh god! Yep. This combat is brought to you by WizKids Minis! The Bell's Hells box set, available now. Enhance your home game experience with CritRoll Minis by WizKids, available at wizkids.io slash crminis at your friendly local GameStar.

Let's fucking go. I hate it. All righty. So, 25 to 20. 20. 20 at the door. 20 at the door. Okay.

Let's see here. 20 to 15. I rolled so poorly. Oh, that's right, we do have Bless. Oh, we do. Oh, we do. Wait, do we add that to Bless? Not to. Bless is an ability check, so you add the D4.

Oh, okay. Hold on. That changes things. But only... You're talking about Bless? Mm-hmm. It's just Firm, Chetney. Oh, never mind.

Boo. It's okay to wait. Wait, and you can use it multiple times? Yeah, any time. It's ongoing. Attack saves, yeah. 20 to 15. How good, Chet? 13? Anytime. So, 20 to 15. Oh, good.

Jet? 13. Oh, 13. All right, 13 over there. Rollies? Rollies. I got 12. Oh, okay.

I got 14. I'm sorry. All right, so we got Dorian. 14. Up. All right, 15 to 10. 12 for me. 12 for me. 12 for Fern.

You got 13, right? Me and Embrace have 14. Oh, so wait, you and Embrace have 14? No, we both had 13. I beat her in roll release. Gotcha. All right, so we have, and Fern, you were 13? I was a 12. Oh, you're 12, sorry. All right, got it. I'm also a 12ies. Got you. All right, so we have, and Fearne, you were 13? I was a 12.

Oh, you're 12, sorry. I'm also a 12, but ladies first. This is the last time we have. So, and Laudna, you beat him in rollies? No, he beat me in rollies. All right, got you. 12. 19?

Okay, so, okay, okay. Reyes. I missed this. Laudna. All right. And then Chetney. Orym, Dorian, Brayus, Laudna, Fearne, Chet. Nine.

So yeah, you... Ashton. Nine. Nine. And, uh... Seven. All right. I rolled a one. Imogen.

All righty. Oh no, so that's four. I didn't get the bless. It's four. Yeah, there you go. All right. So Tevin actually is gonna go first. Go Tevin!

Tevin, angrily, blade out, now itself, like burning with infernal rage, says, I knew it from the moment we stepped in here. It's hard to die! And is going to go ahead and charge forward, flying. Don't rub it in our faces. Off to this side, cleaving down with its blade, it's going to attack twice. Okay, okay, okay.

Oh, that's going to, the first attack's going to miss. Second attack does hit, though. It's going to go ahead and Divine Smite. That's going to be 68 damage on top of its original strike. How do you want to do this? So... All righty. So Teth slashes down angrily.

28 points of damage on that one. After the 68? On that strike angrily, strikes down. That's going to finish his go there. Now top, the next person is going to be Orym on initiative count 20. Orym, what you got? Except that I'm at a shut door with an eyeball

that I can't get open. At the moment, yeah. At the moment that I'm going to hold you and Laudna's with me. Laudna's a little bit out of the way, yeah. I am going to hold, and Laudna's with me. Dory's very friendly. Laudna's a little bit out of the way, yeah. I am going to hold my action and attack anything I deem a threat once Laudna gets her new friend to open up for us.

And that's it, that's all I can do. Okay, you got it. All right, that brings us to the initiative, count 20. The first layer action. Aw. What? It's going to use here is Writhing Chains. I need everyone to go ahead and roll a dexterity saving throw for me.

Ugh. I get an advantage on that. Do we get an advantage, Dorian, from the previous thing that you did? Not a dexterity one. I get a dexterity one. I get a dexterity. Is this like a magical effect? Jesus, why am I rolling like this? It is not a spell effect.

Okay, okay, okay. 19. 19, fail, all right. So you, however, you're in its clasp, so chains kind of spin around the ground and strike up and wrap around you, and you're just kind of held firm in Dominox's grasp. So no major effect to you. What you got, Lagna?

12, fail. 12. The chains on the ground seize up around your legs and drag you 20 feet in the direction of Dominox. Being pulled towards it. Dorian. Just like my best buddy, Chetney, 19. 19. 19.

You also get dragged now to the ground 20 feet. Except he's within 10 feet of me. So he is blessed with my Aura of Protection, granting him a plus four on his save. So that's a total of? 23. 23? Untouched by it.

Nice! The chains streak out to try and grab you, and you flutter out of the way, the kind of wave of power that emanates from Brayus, somehow deflecting them and giving you the confidence to avoid them. Brayus, what'd you get? 22. 22, you as well.

Both of you kind of in tandem dodge out of the way, leaping backward as you flutter back, and the chains just kind of reach out and grab nothing. No, that's not. Ashton? 12. 12. Yeah, that was great.

Oh no. You get dragged up into melee with Dominox. Oh, for fuck's sakes. Orym. 23. 23, you managed to sidestep without issue. That's going to bring us to Imogen. 13.

Imogen, you get dragged up into melee with Dominox over there. Eight. You get pulled 20 feet closer there. It's just dragging everyone there, and then Essek. Oh, hell yeah, he rolled a 22. He may just float out of the way, the chains wrap around the guy and he's like, nope, nope, nope, nope, and just glides up a bit. I will not be having this. Finishing that go, it is Dominox's turn.

Cool. Oh, man. Excuse. Grab your box. Dominox's turn. Cool. Oh, man. Excuse. Excuse. Excuse. Grab your box. All right. Dominox is going to go ahead and

that's going to take a multi-attack with its claws. Yeah, it's going to go for Ashton first. Cool. Since it pulled you in. First claw attack is going to be 26 to hit. Ooh, yeah, it just hits. You take 35 points of slashing damage. Ow.

Oh. And then the other attack's going to be against Imogen. Oh, come on. That's going to be a 31 to hit. Nope. That's 35 points of slashing damage. Oh my god. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Can I, before I hit that, before I take that hit,

can I use Erratic Defense? Sure. All right. Erratic Defense, not Erotic Defense. Though I guess that is. I don't have that anymore, but I do have Erotic Defense, given the nature of this current game.

Yeah, no joke. All right. How close are we now to Brayus? Just out of curiosity. How close to what? How close are we to Brayus? You to Brayus? Yeah.

Am I far away? I can't tell. You are about 30 feet from him. Okay, okay, okay. Okay. I have resistance to that. So what was that, 32? It was 35.

35, so that would be now, I'm going to heal myself. Yeah, what is the half of 35? 17? Hey, math audience. Keep in calculator. So I should be at 114 now. Okay.

And then I rolled space. So a giant portal opens up underneath our friend here. And it is teleported to an empty space of my choice within 30 feet of me. Where do you want to put him? Ooh! Dominox? Dominox. Chetney, Dominox vanishes in that space,

and you plummet to the ground, taking two points of legendary damage, reduced to one. Wait, would that have happened before he hit me? Yeah, it would have happened before, because he hit me first, so you didn't get hit. Maybe. Well, because he thought of it afterward, we're going to go ahead and say that he hit you first

and came back to it. It's only fair. That's fair. I want to, I think it'll be funny to see, I want to see what happens if we just drop him on the crystal. Okay. Dominox appears 30 feet in the air, falls towards it, and right before slamming into it,

gets knocked off. The power of the Soul Anchor that does not allow Dominox to touch it, and stop thrusting him off the side in towards Fearne. Fearne, make a dexterity saving throw for me, please. Yes! Okay, okay. Yes! Oh, I can still use Bless? Please. Okay, okay. Yes, hopefully.

Oh, I can still use Bless? I mean, not that that's going to help at all. A ten. Oh my god. Oh shit. Shit. You take five points of bludgeoning damage as you are currently restrained,

being crushed underneath Dominox's form, falling to the ground. A grand demon just fell on your ass. 150. All righty. Since it is still Dominox's turn, Dominox is going to use movement to stand up. Kind of take the space.

You're no longer pinned. It is, however, going to use, at the end of its attack there, it says two claw attacks, and then uses Mind Feast. Ew. So Ashton. Yeah? Since you were previously affected by its visions earlier, I need you to make a wisdom saving throw again.

Cool. And that's with advantage, right? No. Okay. No. Let's have the first good roll of the night. No, later. Ten.

You take... Until you lose your... 14 points of psychic damage. Ow. And you instantaneously take a roll of psychic damage, and you instinctively run 30 feet this direction, away from the rest of your friends. Cool. That's going to finish Dominox's turn. That brings us to Dorian with Brace on deck.

No, Orym skipped skip because he's already switched. Oh, yeah, excuse me. Oh, uh, uh, uh. Oh! Barbed with stage fright, barbed with stage fright. Got it, got it, got it. Uh, floating up there, uh. I'm gonna fuck with that crystal.

Do it. Ah, do it. He said do it, I'm gonna do it. I am going to, uh. The crystal? Not the crystal. What? Not the crystal. Why? The spire's next to the crystal. That's exactly what I meant. I'm gonna do it. I am going to What

That's exactly what I meant I'm gonna cast But I can't can't mess with the spires without messing with the crystal I'm gonna I'm gonna cast shatter right at the center spire. Yeah Okay, go ahead and roll Yeah, yeah, yeah. You are. Okay, go ahead and roll damage. Okay, let's go. Let's see, what is it so fast? Do it faster.

Oh, wow. Okay, it would be, one, good, seven, good, ten, good, twelve, last one, eighteen. Eighteen points of damage. It bursts out from inside, and you watch as the four spires break and go flying, splintered in different directions. The platform itself seems to crumble and crack to the ground. The sole anchor gets jettisoned through the air into that far corner. Oh!

Oof. Nice! Oh! Good job. We won? Okay. We did it! We're over by Essek, who's like, Oh, goodness! This is the football game in Flash Gordon, how it's just going to be. All right. Do you want to move or stay put?

I'm going to move over toward Essek and Spire, but as I do, I'm going to Flutterfy Brayess and go, thank you. And I'm going to give him a Bardic Inspiration for my bonus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As our flowing locks intertwine. Okay, so did you want to move somewhere specifically

or do you want to just stay near Breas? No, I want to go over closer toward the crystal, toward by like Essek. Over here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you can fly over 30 feet? Yep. That'll get you about there. Thank you.

You're kind of gliding from the air. Great, that finishes Dorian's go. At the end of your turn, Dominox is going to go ahead and use two legendary actions. Two? After getting up, looks over in the direction of Tevin, who had carved that giant gash into its chest, and goes, No, back to where you came from. He's going to attempt to banish Tevin. Counterspell! Oh, oh, oh!

Rage on Counterspell is 60 feet. Yeah, come on! Already. He's got the ruler out. As in 60 feet, though. Yes! One level has vanished. Though where you got pulled, I don't know if you have Line of Sight on him, because

you're behind the engine over here. I'll tell you what, it's on the cusp. Go ahead and roll a perception check for me. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Come on. If it's an 11+, you see him out of the corner to counterspell. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go, go, go, go!

Go! Just enough that it's, um, uh, shit, 14? Yay! Is that right? Seven. That'll do it. It's enough that it's, shit, 14? Yay! Is that right? That'll do it. 13, 13, it doesn't matter, it makes it!

So as Dominox attempts to unravel the magic that has allowed Tevin to be here, Tevin, you can see wings in front to try and guard it from whatever this is. You curve around the corner and snuff the magic from the air, and the banishment spell is scattered into nothing. Yes! Braeus, you're up with Laudna on deck.

The Herald of the Platinum... Ah, fuck it. The Herald of Asmodeus. Knew it! Knew it! Knew it! Fucking knew it! Fucking knew it! Fucking knew it! Oh shit! I had a goddamn peg. Seeing Tevin's attack causing, what, 68 damage? I'll try to beat that. I will bonus action use Blinding Smite. Okay. And then jump and attack with my Poison Pen. That's my flail.

You leap over the central recessed platform of arcane power that was holding it aloft. Land with your massive dual spike-balled flail mace and strike down. Go ahead and roll your attack against Dominox. Okay, that's a 22? 22 hits, yeah.

So that'll be 5d8. Hold on, where's my shit? I will tell you in advance, Dominox is immune to poison damage, so don't roll the additional poison damage on this one. And you would know that, fighting most demons. Yeah.

You'd aware of that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I only rolled 4d8 anyway, so it's okay. Okay. So that's... 14 plus 7 is 22? 22 points of damage, nice! For the first strike.

And then second strike. Yeah. Ooh, god, that's terrible, only an 18. 18's gonna miss, unfortunately. Damn! Oh, wait, I have inspiration! You do? That's a 24.

That hits. That hits. Does Blinding Smite work again? Blinding Smite lasts until it's expended, if I believe. So I get another 3d8 on top? So Blinding Smite, the first one. Uh... Correct, yeah. 3d8 on top? So blinding spying on the first one. Correct, yeah.

So you deal an extra 3d8 damage to the target. Additionally, the target must be blinded. Hold on a second. Yeah, the next time you hit a creature. So yeah. Oh, so just the first strike. Constitution saving throw to see if it was blinded. Which, oh, it rolled up 32. Jesus. Sorry. So for the second strike, I'll put in a whole bunch of Oh, it rolled a 32. Jesus.

Sorry. So for the second strike, I'll put in a whole bunch of Divine Smite, so another 4dd8. Let's go. Oh, terrible. Okay, 16, 23 points. Nice.

Two heavy hits across. Dominox tries to grab for the second strike, but you bow low and over the corner of your eye can see up in the air floating your new blue bardic friend, and that inspiration lets you take the second strike that slams into the side knee of the terrifying demon Dominox. It takes the impact.

And as my flail strikes, it leaves streaks of black across the monster. Hell yeah. So you are literally painting this demon with black. Yes, I am. I love it. Paint it black, baby. All righty.

Laudna, you're up with Fernandek. Okay. So Dominox pulled me. He, she, they, yes? All the above? Dominox seems to carry a masculine energy in this form, but carried a feminine energy as a little girl. All right. Girl boss energy. Love it. Am I locked down by those chains, or it was just a yank? No, they just yanked you in that direction. Okay, fantastic.

Little door, little door, let me in. And I command the door to open that I cast animate objects on. All right. The door cracks open. Oh, God, as I knock everything over in the process. Yes! This is the true D&D experience.

Oh, God, my things. The door does slam open at that point, and now you can see it kind of... You have an open pathway there into what looks to be a long brass hallway. A brass hallway? Yeah. An escape route.

I look at Orym. Are we doing this? This? Well, you're not going alone. Dominox didn't want us in here. Fuck it, let's go. All right, let's go. I use the rest of my movement to move in.

Okay. Oh boy. You move in past Orym, and you can see this faintest bit of light from down the brass hallway, and you see the shape of a figure that's now blocking it. There is somebody in this hallway. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Is it, is it? Solo round!

Oh no. Does the silhouette resemble Ludinus's? Roll a perception check for me. Oh no, oh no! 17. 17. You see a lithe figure in long blue robes. Platinum long hair. And a withered black hand that has gold caps along the fingers.

Who looks like they're rushing in your direction. And as soon as you come through, they stop and go, What have you done? What are you doing? We have to stop it now. Ooh. Dominox, the big demon? I'm assuming you mean that. I can hear your battle from here, yes.

Do not let it free. I'll take care of it. And he just kind of gave you info and is now just focusing past to continue, move on. Can I get a moment? Can I get a moment? Yeah. I turn around. Can I see Imogen?

Can I probably get in anyone's head? From where you are in this hallway, you cannot see Imogen. Storm, huh? I then just scream, Let him out! That's it. You shout that?

Yeah. Oh, I don't know. That's it. You shout that? Yeah. Ugh! Ew! Ugh, I don't know. I don't know if I'm in this. There's no fucking play mode for this. I just fucking hate this. The minute you shout, let him out, Tevin goes, You will do no such thing.

Looks to you, Fearne. They will do no such thing. Huh? Oh, this is layered. You okay? I think that's it. All right, finishing Laudna's go. Wait, wait, wait, shit! Tits! Bonus action! Form of Dread. As the darkened collar climbs up your neck and the black energy begins to swirl around your

shoulders, you can go ahead and roll for your temporary hit your neck and the black energy begins to swirl around your shoulders, you can go ahead and roll for your temporary hit points. And that'll bring us to Fern's turn with Chetney on deck. Hi. Okay. So am I still chained up or underneath? No, I just dragged you near him. And now that Dominox has kind of shifted over to that side, you're still on the ground, but you're no longer restrained.

Okay. I am going to Wild Shape into a little mint green wombat. All right. Because wombats, I'm pretty sure, have marsupial pouches. I don't have a wombat, but I have a little spectral healing beast here I'll use for that. Okay. All righty. You shift into this little wombat. And of course, it's a round boy.

Of course. I'm going to... I'm pretty sure I can make it with my 35 feet of movement to the crystal. Mm-hmm. And I'm going to put it in my marsupial pouch. Okay. So you're moving out of Dominox's melee range. So as you rush over towards it, Dominox is going to take a swing at you.

Mass, not even the claw, the massive tail with the head at the end of it is going to swing by to try and bite at you. Oh, wait. You rolled really low. That was a natural one. Oh! So.

Oh, God! Hey! Okay. No, that's good. That's good. This is interesting. This is interesting. Okay. So you rush over and you grab the crystal.

Yeah. And what? My little wombat hands. Yeah. And I take the crystal and I just look around and I shove it in my marsupial crystal. Yeah. And what? My little wombat hands, and I take the crystal, and I just look around, and I shove it in my marsupial pouch. Okay.

It is in your pouch. Not to brag. And that's going to be your action. Okay. How many hit points does your marsupial have? That is such a good question. Let me look up what might be similar to a wombat. What would be similar to a wombat?

I mean, a cat is a d4. I know. Let's see if I chance it. Well, you can look it up and keep that in mind, because I think that's your turn. Chetney, you're up. Oh, fuck. Okay, I'm going to pick myself up and run towards Dominox.

All righty. Making a line towards him, and just as soon as I use most of my 40 feet, I'm going to turn so I'm running in diagonal towards where the crystal was, and I'm going to use my bonus action to cast Misty Step and appear in the corner of the room right where the crystal was now.

Right. You approach there, and the crystal is gone, and in its place, you see a tiny little rotund wombat. What the fuck is this?! Give me the crystal! Wait, what do you see? That it's glowing in my tum-tums? You would actually, you glance down and you see this,

like, in the flesh pouch, there's this dull purple kind of light glow that's pulsing. Give it to me! All right, I'll reach into my pouch and I'll give it to Chet. Can I take the crystal with my action? Can I stick it in the bag of holding? Yes, you can. Okay. Okay. Can I stick it in the Bag of Holding? Yes, you can. Shoo! Okay.

Look who's got the hook in now, bitch! That's my turn. All right. I give him a high five. The minute you put it in the Bag of Holding, Dominox, which has been battling, goes, looks over your direction. I'll eat everything that's ever mattered to you. We had a deal.

That's going to stand there, see this happening, go, I certainly hope you know what you're doing. Like, kind of thinking it's going to strafe off, kind of floating off this direction, off to the side of this chamber, kind of above the nearby kind of ceiling glyph, and is going to strafe off, kind of floating off this direction, off to the side of this chamber, kind of above the nearby ceiling glyph. And it's going to pull his arms around. I don't want to waste the powerful stuff yet.

And it's going to go ahead and pull the energy in where it begins to coalesce and crackle with purple-black energy. And releases a six-level lightning bolt right across the chamber through Dominox. Dominox, natural five, fails. No, it's going to save that Legendary Resistance, so it takes full damage on that. Oh, no. Which is going to be... Not bad. 38 points of lightning damage. Halved, because it has resistance to lightning. So still 19 points of lightning damage. As it strikes through and gets absorbed, it's like, right, demon. The anxiety gets to you. That's going to finish his go.

That brings us to Ashton with Imogen on deck. Okay. Well, let's rage and find out what it is I'm going to be doing, because I don't know. Am I afraid, or did I just run in a direction? Shit. You just ran in a direction. You're now like 10 feet away from him. Okay. I

start to shift into that black and white silver tone. I start to get a little heavy and drop into the ground. God. And I am going to... Seeing what's happening right here, I am

just going to start booking towards the exit, I think, since we see him playing. Towards the door, our happy friend door. OK. So that's 40 feet. 530, 3540 feet. Am I anywhere near the machinery or no? Over here. Yeah, there's quite a bit of machinery over here.

By the way, you do leave Dominox's attack range. Oh, was I in his attack range? You thought you were 15 feet away, yeah. If you want to try and arc around, you can. Oh, I'll try and arc around. Okay. So that'll reduce your movement there instead to be over here. You'll get about there.

Are we trying to break this thing on the way out or no? There. I'm gonna spend the rest of my action, I'm gonna just do a charge attack. I'm just gonna run and just shoulder check the... Machine? The engine? Yeah. Sure. Fuck it.

You charge upward, hammer at the side. Heavy attack, go ahead and roll. It's a charge attack. Thank god, because I'm rolling bad. 19. 19 definitely hits that machine. You say that. It's been that night. All right, that's a... Oh, my God. I can actually reroll that. Thank God for feats. Five, six, seven, eight, nine. That's 21 points of damage.

21 points of damage? Mm-hmm. And you are... Okay, so yeah, that's a heavy crack. You hit the side of the device. As you slam it, these cracks shoot around the side, and you can see it kind of shifts a little bit to one side. More energy begins to shoot slam it, these cracks shoot around the side, and you can see it shifts a little bit to one side. More energy begins to shoot around it, and Dominox shifts over, looking curiously at

the damage you're dealing to it. Does Dominox seem to have an opinion? Roll an insight check. Does he have an opinion? I'm big on crypto. You never know. Roll an insight check. Does he have an opinion? I'm big on crypto. You never know. Fourteen.

Yeah, he would. Is he snarling? Snarling and currently kind of more focused on the direction of the soul anchor that has now vanished from sight at the moment, unshattered, undestroyed, and kind of just takes notice. That's all. That's all you pick up. That's fair. That's your first attack?

Oh, yeah, that's right. I get two. You get two, buddy? Well, yeah, I was going to say, no, because I took the dash attack, which is, is that just one attack? As far as the charging attack. Charging attack, okay.

So I think I just get, oh, I do get two there. Okay. I haven't charged in ages. I don't remember how it works. Yay, 20, 23, thank God, that's a roll. Okay. And that's, I can reroll that. God, 12, 16 points of damage. 16 points of damage.

Oh my God, that's embarrassing. Another heavy slam, and you can see that entire side of the machine now kind of cracks, parts of metal begin to bend inward and fall off, and on the inside you can see these masses of, like, copper wiring that are giving off energy, the hum has gotten louder, and you can feel even just the proximity of that much arcane energy kind of swirling through. The side of your head is almost reacting within the proximity of it, glowing a similar greenish energy.

Does that finish your turn? Yep, that finishes my turn. Imogen, you're up. Okay. Can I see Chet from where I am? Yeah, at the end of his turn, actually, the last legendary action for Dominox, who's furious at this point,

is going to go ahead and use a Chainspear against you, Ashton. Yeah! Chainbringer. That's real bad. That's a 14 to hit. Oh! No. Yeah. Chainspear goes wide, and you see it coming and just...

Oof! All righty. So Imogen, you're up, sorry. Okay, can I see Chet? You see Chet across the way, like through Dominox's legs on the opposite corner. Does he look like he'd be about 60 feet from me? I can't tell. Looks like he's what?

I can't see the map. Is he about 60 feet from me? It's pretty close. You can try and take a guess. It looks, it could be, It's on the cusp. I'll step forward like 10 feet if it'll get me closer. All right, this will put you in melee with Dominox, just so you know. Okay.

But you're pretty confident he's now definitely within 60 feet. Okay. If I saw him, then I saw what happened. I'm going to use Telekinesis on Chet. Okay. I'm going to use Telekinesis on Chet. Okay. And I'm going to pick him up and chuck him towards the door that opened. There's something so full circle about this.

All right, so you're going to resist? No! All right. So you go going to resist? No! All right. So you go ahead and pick up Chetney and telekinetically fastball special him at an arc across the chamber. Just barreling through the door, Lodna, as you're kind of standing there, taking on your form of dread,

you see Ludinus is kindus now gliding in the air, just almost full-on Super Saiyan floating and heading in that direction, as Chetney like, You hear Ludinus go, My goodness. Make an attack roll. Me? Yeah. Oh my god, amazing. First blood, bitch.

Come on, come on. Or the counselor. That sucks. Plus, it's an 11. Oh. Plus a d4. Plus. Oh, 11. Plus four! Fifteen!

Still misses. But good looking out. So as you come arcing toward, you go past the machine in towards the opening, and you have just a split second before you see the face of Ludinus Delephe looking at you with frustration and like a rapid sigh. He just puts a hand up

and a shield kind of reflects you off and you kind of bounce and ping pong down the hall like a bowling bumper lane before sliding down past Ludinus, who's now kind of almost up to where Ladna is, and you're about 30 feet

down that way. As you do, the rest of you notice Dominox gets yanked along. Oh! Oh no! You're tethered! This is going to be amazing. Brayus, I need you to make a dexterity saving throw as Dominox is being pulled into you. Oh shit.

Okay, okay, okay. 12. 12. You get knocked prone. Ah! And off to the side there. All righty. Ow.

That finishes, that's your throw. Oh shit. Okay. You are no longer in melee with Dominox. I'm not? Actually, no, you still kind of are, unfortunately. Sorry. Okay. You are no longer in melee with Dominox. I'm not? Actually, no, you still kind of are, unfortunately. Sorry. Okay.

Ooh, no. I'm going to bonus action Misty Step. Where? Oh, God, he's going down. You just cast Telekinesis or you still had it up, right? I still had it up. Yeah, so you're fine. That was ten minutes, baby. Yeah.

I'm going to Misty Step back. Back this way? Yeah. All right. Okay. You got it. Unless, like, yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Oh, because he can't.

What? Unless what? Oh. I don't know. Maybe he can only be within a certain amount of space of the gem, so that means he wouldn't be able to get back to the corner. That's how he can't leave the room. Oh, this's fun.

All righty. That finish your go? Uh-huh. All right. Tevin! Tevin's gonna go. Tevin's gonna charge in. Ha ha ha ha! You're in a bad place now, beast! He's gonna go ahead and fly up in an arc, wings. Blade comes down towards it. That's gonna be...

That's cocked. That hits. And second strike. Ooh, even better. Swings down, two massive strikes with his blade upon Dominox. That chain's out of the way. I'll put him there. That's fine. We know what that is.

He's going to go ahead and full-on smite this motherfucker again. For another... That's not a great damage roll. Aw. Come on, Tevin. You can do it. That's 22 points of damage on that one, but the second strike hits. That's better. That's much better. Oh my god. Okay. That's 36 points of damage in the second strike, so that's almost 60 points of damage in one round. You're seeing Dominox, who already,

while at first looked strong in the moment, but was withered with much hunger in trying to recover strength once lost, has now taken some heavy hits and is showing wear and tear. Especially after being completely slammed on by a handful of individuals. That's going to finish Tevin's turn. That brings us to the top of 20. Orym, you're up. And then it's the lair action. Fuck, what the hell is the plan? Bluedness is probably made of snow! I can't think straight! And I down a potion of speed that I've been carrying forever. And I do a 180 and fucking tear ass back towards the demon.

Okay. 60 feet. Oh yeah, you get there easy. You just, like the tiniest little green colored zonk, the hedgehog blur just over. What is the fucking plan?! That is a 22 to hit. 22 hits. Okay.

Let's make it a goading attack, like that's gonna work. Five and six is 11. Sure. On Dominox? Total of 20. Why would, oh, okay. 20 just hits. No, no. Oh, 20 damage.

I already hit. It's a 20 for damage, and it has to beat an 18, which it's going to. Got you, all right, so that's 20 damage on him, and that's gonna be 17. Fail. Fail, so. So all attacks that aren't you have disadvantage. Yeah, I leapt up and stabbed him right in the crotch.

Here, let's keep going. Go for it. 26 to hit. 26 hits. We're just gonna go quick here, so this is, that is nine points of damage. Next one is a 17. Probably misses. 17 does miss, yeah. Okay, hasted action. Here we go again.

Let's go. 18 misses, right? Yeah, unfortunately. 19 misses. Right? Yeah, fortunately. 19 misses. Yes. Shit. 13 misses. Yeah.

Action surge. Let's go, let's go. 28, let's make it a tripping attack, because that's dumb. Sure. That is 19 points of damage, and it has to beat an 18 strength. 26. Okay, it does. Beat it. Natural one, I'll reroll that. Natural one!

Orym, describe to me how this murderous frenzy comes to an abrupt and sudden end. Oh my gosh, that ends, I don't get my final ninth attack? No, you'll get the attack, but I want it to end up in the one because it's funny. Oh my god, I'm moving too fast. I'm highly caffeinated and I'm like a hummingbird. I'm just buzzing around his fucking ankle. Slashing and slashing and slashing and I skim past. I don't hit anything and I slam into a wall and I take six points of bludgeoning damage.

I love it. You can still roll your ninth attack as part of that flurry, though. I shake it off and I don't remember what it was, and now it is a 27. That does hit. Let's make it a tripping attack. All righty. Please fall on Fern. 21 points of damage, it has to beat 18 with strength.

27, it rolled just a little higher than last time. But good round. You can now see... Hell yeah. All these strikes and cuts, you watch as this dark demon blood spills out, and as it hits the ground, the blood turns into a pile of chains. And now it looks like the streaks of blood almost have links within them, like it's bleeding the chains out of its body. I move so fast I broke my D&D Beyond page.

Orm is wandering around aimlessly like he just spun around a baseball bat 50 times really fast. Got a lag spike and it's just running in the corner now. That's the end of my turn. All right, that finishes Orm's go. We're now at the top. With that, the layer action is going to be Imprisoned Rage. So all of Dominox's attacks have disadvantage,

but they deal an additional 15 points of damage each. Dominox, furious, is going to unload on you, Orym. Fuck. Oh no. So that's going to be two claw attacks on you. They have disadvantage, though, but you are, yeah. Disadvantage on everyone but me, so he's fine with it. Correct, but he has disadvantage because of the layer action.

So that's going to be disadvantage 22. Hits. Okay. And the second strike, disadvantage. Oh, thank god. That would have been a natural 20, but he had disadvantage. It's still going to be 24 to hit, so both hit you. So she hits here. Sorry. All right, so these are claw.

Oof, these are nasty. All righty. You have eight, so it's eight. Eight plus 15. 46 points of slashing damage on the first hit. Oh. Oh, okay. I'm crazy, motherfucker. See, right?

He's on the other side of the engine. Oh my god. 52 points of slashing damage on the second. Not yet, not yet, not yet. And then he's going to go ahead and use Mind Feast. Mind Feast is going to be, once again, on you, Ashton, since you're the one who seems to have a best influence that it affected earlier, so go make a wisdom saving throw for me. Yeah.

Hey, first good roll of quite a while. That's 18? 18. Unfortunately still fails. What the living? Okay. It's a great demon, bro. Not so great. Grand demon. You get moved up towards it. How do I get moved up towards it?

You take... Wait, wait, wait. How do I get moved up towards him? How does he move me? Do I just walk up? You just walk around. Your brain all of a sudden fills with an immediate strike. You take 14 points of psychic damage and walk what you think is the direction you're meaning to. Your feet just move on their own and you find yourself moving towards him. As you step up next to him, there's a pulse of energy and he heals a little bit. Oh no! All righty. That's going to finish Dominox's go,

but he gets back all his legendary actions. It's now Ludinus' turn. Oh. Let's go, snowman. Ludinus is going to go ahead and fly past you, Laudna. Do you take an attack of opportunity? Let's have them both attacking us. Kaiju fight. Kaiju fight.

Yeah. No. I'm going to say no. I don't have anything that's going to do anything, and I don't want to reveal my hand that I'm against Ludinus right now. So no, I'm going to say no. I don't have anything that's going to do anything, and I don't want to reveal my hand that I'm against lewdness right now. So no, I'm going to let him go. Flies into the chamber and gets a point of perspective of height up here. The rest of you now kind of around and hear this sudden shifting movement

and feel of presence as you glance over your shoulder and see the lewdness to fucking left kind of glide up into the chamber, staff in one hand, the withered gold-cusped arm in the other, and you see him put his staff forward, aiming it towards the center of the chamber. Energy begins to swirl as a mass amount of arcane power

begins to channel up the staff of runes. And as he sends the staff up and seems to paint a symbol in the air, it kind of glows and leaves behind. Right behind Dominox, you see the same symbol spread and right, and then tear open as a massive portal. He casts Gate. Behind Dominox, this large, like 15-foot-wide portal opens,

and beyond it, you see a chaotic realm of breaking rocks and screaming distant. That is a flash glance at the abyss. Ludinus up there opens his gate and goes, Push him in and slay him! He'll die for real if he dies at home! That's going to finish Ludinus' turn. Insight check. Make it? Sure. turn. Insight check. Sure. My D&D beyonds not worth it. I don't need it.

No, you don't need it. Forget that. I got it right here. Insight, it's so high. I'm so insightful. It's 16. 16. Not bad.

I mean, doesn't seem to be lying at the moment. Fuck off. Dorian, you're up with Brace on deck. What? Dorian, you're up with Brace on deck. What? Yeah. Sure! Yeah.

You're on your own, buddy. Okay. Oh boy, let's go. Dorian's flying in the air and he's thinking to himself, What do I do? This is so beyond my depth! Believe your own narrative! Believe your own backstory! You're a bard! You're a bard! You're a bard! And he's gonna pull...

He's gonna pull. He's gonna pull out his mandolin. And at sixth level, he's gonna cast Otto's Irresistible Dance. 16 to save Dance, bitch! Oh my god. On Dominox? Yes! That's going to be a 16. Wait, exactly?

What's your spell, DC? Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait. Can I change the save? Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait. Can I change the save? I believe once a day I can change someone's save to a charisma save. Can you do that?

Yes. I'll allow it. So he's got to roll a 16 charisma save. Okay, charisma would lower it. That makes it a 14. You just got to roll a 16 charisma save. Okay, charisma would lower it. That makes it a 14. I believe in Asmodeus! He's really great, you guys. In the focus of concentration on the missing stone that it's bound to,

the appearance of Ludinus, and the chaos all around it, I'm going to say, because we're at a live show, it's fun, it forgets to use Legendary Resistance. And... And is currently the massive, terrifying, nearly 20-foot-tall, long-sealed demon, Great Demon, used as an implement of arcane power by the ancient mageocracy of Aeor, recently unleashed to tear through and destroy

the Ruby Vanguard, and Ludinus' plot here in Aeor begins to cut a rug. Full-on just going for it there. Paint that, Frazetta! Dorian, would you like to move, or are you good where you are? I think I'm pretty locked in. Alrighty. Great. So, finishing your go, Brayus, you're up with Laudna on deck. Oh boy. What are we doing? Are we killing the thing? I don't know. Do we just pit Ludinus and him against each other? Okay, by the way, that thing was called Sorrowful Fate, Matt. That feat. I think it's yours.

Oh yeah, I know what this is. Like you invented it. I don't know, whatever. This song is only one minute long! Oh, sorry. I will... The beast is dancing, right? So I'm going to leave him

alone. And turn my my ire towards Ludinus Delef. How far away is he from me? Well, you have to get up from the ground, because you were knocked over, so that's half your movement. And he is about, I don't know, hard to ballpark 60-ish feet from you, more or less. Okay, shitballs.

How far does Misty Step go? Only 30, right? For what? Misty Step? Misty Step is a 30-foot, yes. Shit. I can't, because I just took half my movement to get up, right? You did, yeah.

God damn it. So you have 15 more feet. I only hit things! I will cast Moonbeam at Ludinus the Left. Yeah! Okay. I don't know what that is. This is my first time playing with this guy. New character, who dis?

By the way, I just gotta remember that. Oh yeah. could you please roll a d20 for me? Me? No. Wild magic. Five? You're fine. Just making sure for the Aeorian funness. All righty. So you can get up attacking, but you have 15 feet left of movement. I don't think I have enough movement to get on him. So you're casting Moonbeam.

So that definitely is 120-foot range. That can definitely get to him. Okay, so he's going to go ahead and make a Constitution saving throw. He has advantage on saving throws against spells. That's going to put him... Oh, yeah. That's going to be a 20. Oh, but that's not good.

In that case, I will use my bonus. It takes half damage, so you still roll 2d10 radiant damage. Oh, great, okay. Wee! Wee! Oh boy. 10. 10? All right. So. Ten? Ten. All right.

He takes five damage. And then I will just turn to Tevin and say, will you tell the king of lies of my bravery today? Says, help me dispatch this terrifying piece of shit, and I'll put in a good word. And is pointing at Dominox, who is currently dancing, which, for the record, I don't know if the dance... Yeah, so the dance isn't affected by being hit.

You can still hit a creature while it's dancing. Oh, okay. It just makes it harder for him to do things. This is a higher-level spell. This is a six-level spell. It just kind of fucks up his turn a little bit. It is making a grand demon do river dance. Oh, completely. Like Michael Flatley somewhere is getting a nosebleed and he doesn't know why.

Yeah. I'm going to use a bonus action then to do Hammering Horns. Which pushes him 10 feet away. Is that a spell? I can't tell because my iPad just got fucked. Oh, no! Live show, everybody. I don't think so. I think it's a minotaur thing.

Okay. Oh, yeah, got you. Okay. And what does it do? It doesn't push him back 15 feet? It just pushes him 10 feet. Pushes Dominox? Yeah. Away you, got you. Okay, and what does it do? It doesn't push him back 15 feet? It just pushes him 10 feet. Pushes Dominox? Yeah.

Away from you? Yes. Okay, are you going to do it from where? Where's the gate? The gate is back here. You're right here, so you want to try and move in front. I'm going to move in front and then bash him with my horns. Five, 10, 15 feet gets you right here.

So you slam this forward. Is it, they have to make a save, or they just get pushed? It is a strength 18 save. Strength 18. Natural two. And because I have a shield that you gave me that's a battering shield, any time that I push someone 10 feet,

it pushes them another 10 feet. Whoa! So you watch as this gate, which is just roughly the size of Dominox, gets slammed back by Brayus. Keep going, yeah. Ooh, he's so strong. Gets slammed back by Brayus, tries to grab on the edge of the gate, and then gets pushed out, and is still now just standing in the abyss. Like, they have crossed the threshold.

Somewhere, not the brave is sweating heavily. All right. So he's, like, right on the cusp of the portal? He's been pushed through the portal, and is now currently in the abyss. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay. I have a, can, where did Ludmus go in the initiative order?

Can I ask? What's up? He's right after Dominox. He's after Dominox? Yeah. Okay. All right, so that finishes Braen's turn, so Laudna, you're up with Fearne on deck. Oh my god.

Fuck, what are we doing? Fuck. Okay, kill him? Kill who? Kill what? I don't know. Shit. This is my first day. I'm so conflicted.

Okay, okay, okay, okay. Question. Does this seem like the real Ludinus, or does this look like Snowdinus? Make a perception check. Does it look like the simulacrum? I remember them saying that Ludinus was coming here in person. I remember them saying that. It feels like, make a perception check. My parents look like the simulacrum? I remember them saying that Ludinus was coming here in person.

I remember them saying that. It feels like make a perception check. My parents lied about Santa Claus a lot. So I can't trust everything. Ew. Icky. 10. 10? No idea.

Could be, could not be. It's one of Ludinus' helpers. It's always what they say once you realize it's not the same guy. What are you doing, Laudna? Yeah. OK. Oh, shit. God damn, there's so much going on. I...

I am... I can see Ludinus, right? Are you single? When he came out of the chamber, you just have the door, so you have to step into the room to see him. Okay, peek around the corner. All right. I'm going to do something I've never done before. All right.

This is a long game. Yeah. This is a long game plan. But I'm going to take the chance while I got it, because who knows if I'll be able to do it any other round. Okay. I am going to, while Ludinus is distracted,

kind of like right behind him, Laudna puts her spindly fingers around the door, and she just exhales, and she goes, and a spirit, another spirit that was hung on, and no, let's see, who's Ludinus? It doesn't matter. Actually, it was Vesteragna. It's the spirit of Vesteragna. Goes whoosh!

And goes behind him. I'm going to cast Spirit of Death. Okay. Directly. It's an action, right? I'm going to go ahead and... No, it's an action. Oh, it's an action to do that? Yeah. This is not Void Puppet, this is Spirit an action. Oh, does an action do that? Yeah. This is not Void Puppet. This is Spirit of Death.

Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Okay. It's a spell? This is a spell. Ludinus is concentrating on this, and she goes, Counterspell. Counterspell. Okay. He cast it at fifth level,

so you have to roll to see if it stops it. Does he have to roll, too, for Chaos? Does he also have to roll for chaos if he casts him at 5th-level? What level's your spell? My spell is 4th-level. Yeah, no, so he doesn't have to. He cast it at 5th-level. No, I mean, but he has to roll that d20 also for wild magic. Yeah, does he roll for wild magic for his gate? Yeah.

Okay. I cast Counterspell at 5th-level. Okay, yeah, no issue with that yet. Counterspell at 5th level. Okay, yeah. No issue with the game yet. Counterspell at 5th level. Counterspell at 5th level as well? Yeah. Okay, so it goes through.

What does it do? Spirit of Death does? Yeah. Okay, there goes the 5th level spell. Okay, so Spirit of Death, I command it to sink into the background so hopefully he doesn't even really notice it and I am going to command it to

haunt Ludinus Okay So the spirit senses the direction and distance to the target as if it is on the same as long as it's on the same place. Fuck, so nervous. Additionally, if the target starts to turn within ten feet, the target must make a wisdom saving throw against any spell DCs or get the Frightened Condition. But just like for forever, he's haunted now, and I know where he

is. Okay. Cool. know where he is. Okay. Cool. So he tries to Counterspell. You Counterspell it. He's like, feels the shiver run down his spine, and just briefly glances down at you and goes, Well played.

But please, I'm trying to concentrate, and just stays focused on the Gate spell. Seems not concerned. Okay. Fuck. That's it. I don't know what else to do. That's it.

Finishing Lod and his go. Fern, you're up. Chetney on deck. Fern! Okay. Okay. I have a question. Yes. So say if you were to, I don't know,

polymorph somebody, would their spells drop? Their spell remains concentrated, yeah. Okay. Okay. I am going to cast Polymorph on Ludinus. Okay. Okay. I am going to cast Polymorph on Ludinus. Okay. All right, you...

So you're dropping your animal form? I'm going to drop my animal form as a bonus action. Okay, and your movement is... 35 feet. 35 feet, 5, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35. What's the range on Polymorph? It is... Sorry, my Durandur Beyond is down as well. It is 60 feet. 60 feet. He is definitely within 60 feet. Saving throw on that is?

Wisdom 19. Wisdom 19. He has advantage on saving throws against spells. Shit. That's going to put him at 25. You rush up to him, you get cast the spell, and he doesn't look at you, but he acknowledges it, and as the spell comes by, he closes his eyes for a second and it washes over him, and you watch the incantation begin to take form and then shatter around him. He goes, I'm trying to work with you here, please.

Is that your turn? That's my turn. All righty. Chetney, you're up. I'm in the hallway. I stand up. What's at the end of the hallway, the brass tunnel that I'm in?

Can I see anything? You see the continuation of the hallway, and then you... You can see, like, eventually about 100 feet down. No, you don't have enough movement sight on that. You have to get closer. The hallway just continues. That's fine. I'll turn around. Laudna has gone back through the thing,

and I'm just going to use Turn Invisible and just sit there holding my Bag of Holding. You got it. That's my turn. All right, so you are... I'm going to put this here for invisibility on you, got it. Finishing Chetney's go, Essek, who is now nervously looking over at... Head lewdness goes,

Hello. It's been a while. Looks back at Fearne and goes... And is going to glide over here next to you, Orym, and over top of you is going to go ahead and cast... Look up, look up, Orym, look up. You just see above your head. Is actually going to float past you over here, and it's going to go ahead and cast Gravity Fissure forward.

And it's going to cast it at 7th level. Yes! Can he? No, he can't. He already used his spell slots for the day when teleport stuff. So it'll be 6th level. Sorry. That's okay. But it's going to go, pull it in,

and unleash it. As he does, you watch the metal device that once held up the floating portion of the soul anchor, the metal, like fold in and crack. Like it's all just being dragged in

in this line that drags across, hits where the gate is, and then pierces into the abyss where Dominox is. As it does, Dominox gets pulled down onto its knees, and you see its body get crushed in a little bit. Dominox is gonna make a saving throw. Natural 20, it does save.

It takes half damage, but still sitting at a hefty. That's a good damage roll. Yes. 21. Not bad. 39 damage reduced to, I'll say, 20. So that undoes the healing from earlier and a little more. Dominox is looking really rough. And Essek's like, what are we doing?

What's the plan? Are we taking this out? Ashton, you're up with a midget on deck. I don't know. I feel like Lydon just has this covered. And there's no machine left for me to break. The machine's still standing there. It's heavily damaged, but it's still like... Okay, yeah, there's not a lot I can do to this person,

because I would have to walk up to that portal. I ain't doing that. So yeah, I'm just going to be watching. Where am I standing right now? You're right over here. I'm going to just start backing up my 40 feet, and as I'm walking by the machine, I'm enjoying the show, I'm just going to take a couple one-handed swipes at the machine, just to break it a little more,, and just clapping and being, just doing the, woo, losers, baby, yeah!

And I'm gonna hit the fucking machine. You got it, go for it. I want it to go badly. 25 to hit. That hits. That's, I don't like that, there we go. 10, that's 22 points of damage. 22 points of, oof, heavy hit on the machine. Sparks go flying out, you feel this jolt go through you, your whole body kind of vibrates with energy,

and the machine goes. And comes to a rest. Nice! Okay. We won? You know, I think it's time to leave, and I'm gonna hit it one more time, and then I'm just booking towards the door.

Yeah, I know I can't quite make it out the door yet, but I'll do what I can. I'll take that hit. So, that's a 15 to hit. What's that? 15 to hit. Yeah, it's a bust machine. You just, we're talking.

I just did things. Dead arcane horse. Wow, 23 points of damage. 23 points of damage. Machine is absolutely sundered. The Nox engine is no more. That finishes your go, Ashton? Yeah, and I'm just walking out. Imogen, you're up. I am going to run forward, even with the gate,

if I can get any past that. 25, 30, you can get right about here and just barely see through the gates and also see Ludinus up here and see most everyone else in the center. Okay. I'm going to use Telekinesis, and I'm gonna try to grip onto Ludinus. Okay.

What's the roll on that? That is a Strength save. Strength save for Ludinus Deleuze. Against my DC save, which is now 21. He has advantage on it, it's a spell effect. All right, that's going to be, even with advantage, 18. Yeah! He's going to use Legendary Resistance. Ah!

It's a counter spell. He's trying to grasp him as he's concentrating. He feels it happen, and as it takes hold, still keeping his hand focused on the gate, he brings his other hand up and just does a wipe, and as it does, you feel your arcane hold on him dissipate. It's still up, but it casted off of his body, and you see the patience is wearing thin on his face. As I have my hands up to use telekinesis, I'm gonna just lightning bolt him at seventh level, then.

All right, Go for it. Okay. He will have advantage on this one as well. That's a dex save of 21. Correct, he rolled a 25. Oh, okay. Okay, okay, okay, that's 12d6 halved. So 25 points of damage.

Okay, he takes half damage from that. Oh no, 50 points. 50 points total. 50 points total. And then 25, and then he is resistant to damage. So he takes 13. So the lightning bolt strikes him, but he kind of dodges out of the way.

It barely skims off of him and bounces off the wall, and it kind of hurts him a little bit, but he managedges out of the way. It barely skims off of him and bounces off the wall. And it hurts him a little bit, but he managed to avoid the majority of it. All right, I rolled a two on my wild magic. He still has to roll Concentration on Gate Spell, though. Which he has advantage on. Yeah, he's fine. All right, Imogen, does that finish your turn?

Uh-huh. Oh, fuck it. I'm gonna use my bonus action to try to pull him towards the gate with my telekinetic shove. Here's the thing. If it's an action to try and get him with telekinesis, and then it's a bonus action with your sorcery points to do that. And now it's a quicken spell.

Yeah, you're right. Yeah. So, okay, that's gonna finish your turn. Brings us up to the top, Tevin. Tevin is gonna spell, yeah. Yeah. So, okay, that's going to finish your turn. Brings us up to the top, Tevin. Tevin is going to say, gladly. He's going to rush forward at the edge of the gate, and is going to swing his sword twice at the now gravity-dragged Dominox. Not a great roll. That misses.

But that's going to hit with a 25. Going to pump in his last spell slot. Not quite as much Smite damage, but definitely a decent amount. Come on, Jaren. That's slick, okay. How many did he get? No!

Say it to yourself! Not at the right time! Maybe the audience should say it. Audience! The audience says it! How do I want to do this? You summoned him. Tevin, there, holding up his blade in front of the gate, the swirling chaos of the Abyss

beyond, with Dominox crushed to the ground from the gravity fissure, and now trying to reach up to claw back out of the gate as it's swirling around. Blade in the air goes, Ah, my lord, I smite thee, ancient evil. Fair play in your name. Brings the blade up. See you never again. And drives it forward into Dominox's chest. As it hits, it's going to go ahead and leap in the air with both hands, carving it in half.

As it does, it lands and the body splits and begins to burn to ash on the form of the Abyss where it dissipates forever on its plane. Dominox Thunder. I can't fucking believe that. Hey, Matt, nice job. You too. Well done. Oh, damn it.

All right, love you, too. Orym, you're up. We're still going? Can you point to me on the map? Because I have no idea he's so small. So Dominox is gone. Ludinus is up here. You are over here by the center. The gate still stands there at the moment.

I'm going to race towards the back wall and use 30-ish feet of movement, and then bonus action, grasping Vine myself to the wall right behind Ludinus. I'm going to Spider-Man myself right to the wall behind him. Okay. Okay. Okay, that's half my movement plus my bonus action. Here?

On the wall behind him. I'm going to get ready to spring right behind him. I'm going to get ready to spring off it, pushing attack. Go for it. Oh, I got to roll for, I got to see if I hit him first. That hits. That's 29 to hit. Oh yeah, that hits. 18 damage, and he has to beat strength 18? Strength of 18, all right. No, that's a failure. So, 15 feet towards the gate,

I push off the wall. 15 feet towards the gate this way? Yeah. All right. And I keep slashing. Pushing attack. First, concentration check. He's gonna drop concentration. The gay vanishes.

Well, I don't know that. Fuck this guy. That's a 20 to hit. That hits. Pushing attack. Well, that is 19 points of damage, strength 18. Strength 18. No, that's a fail. 15 feet more this way? Yeah, down towards the ground. I'm bringing him down.

Okay, so yeah, he gets down around, say about that angle there. You land on the platform. Let's finish it out. That's a 30 to hit. That hits. Trip attack. Strength also. Strength's not... He's going to use his second Legendary Resistance to resist that. 24 points of damage. Already. Hasted action.

Yeah. 30. Eight points of damage. How much? Eight points of damage. All righty. 29 to hit. Seven points of damage.

Well, hasted action is just a single attack, though. It is, it's not my three slashes. It's just a bonus action. No, no, no, hasted,, Vax, I know you're trying. Oh, no, I'm remembering Percival with Hasted. I'm remembering wrong. That's all right. No, no. So Hasted action is just an additional attack as a bonus. You get it for free

on top of your bonus action and action. Oh, so action surge is what the trickles came from. Yep, yep. Got it. No worries. I know. First time you used Hasted as Aurum, so it's all good. All right. So that no worries. I know, first time you used haste as Aurum, so it could be a little confusing. It's all good. All right, so that concludes that. Hell yeah. Did I finish your go, Aurum?

Yeah, that's fine. All righty. Now it's Ludinus' turn. Now it's Ludinus' go. Mm-hmm. Oh boy. The good news is I have 11 hit points. Ludinus taking the hits, like kind of flying, barely manages to hold on in the air, looks

back at you as you land, and just goes, I merely wish to talk. And is going to go ahead and fly 60 feet back into the tunnel, just past where you are, Chetney. Like, just rushes past you, and stands there with his arms crossed. All right, let's do it. What are you all doing? Let's do it. Okay, we should talk.

Laudna follows. Ludinus. I'm staying quiet, invisible. I'm going to be like, where is Fern? No, you dropped your form. I did. I'm going to say hi, Fern. Hey, how are you?

Oh my god. I'm going to start walking through. I'll start walking out as well, towards Ludinus. I drop gravity, and yeah. Above table question, do we have the teleportation staff charged? Let me look at my inventory. As we walk over, I'm going to ask Tevin for his autograph.

He looks to you. Not enough. You did help. You can sign my armor. It's a brand. He's actually going to brand one. Goes and signs the side of your armor, Just go right. Tevin Klausk.

Hands it back to you and goes like, Those are rare. Keeps walking. Oh my god. So you all begin to funnel in. As you're all funneling in, you're sitting there hiding, and Ludinus looks at you and goes, Aw, man. You probably saw someone else.

Well, now that we're all here and we know where we stand, I appreciate those of you who helped and those who didn't, I understand. I don't hold it against you. You are indeed a resilient troop of misfits, aren't you? You've now impressed me a handful of times. I'm certain you've come here with malintent against me and my cause, and much is muddled in historical times, as plots as long obfuscated as ours it is ours can lead to expected misunderstanding. I do not see you as my enemy. I never have. On the contrary, you have the potential to be instrumental in ushering in the new age. I would like to have a chance to show you something, an opportunity to understand each other. Speak your mind, and I can speak mine, but all I ask is a moment to show you.

Follow at your own behest, and he turns, continues to walk down the hallway away from you. I look at Laudna. And I follow Ludinus. And I follow Imogen. I'll follow Laudna. Losers? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, let's go to see. Fucked up. Yep, walking down that hall. Orym?

Go ahead. Well, I'm not going without you. You're gonna have to hold me up. I'll pick up Orym. I got you. I'll help. And I'll pump 30 points of healing into her. You fought bravely, little one.

Are you single? Bro, you're huge. That's okay. So happy. Don't make us draw that. As you all... Kind of bruised, a bit lost and concerned, feeling the tension in the air as nothing but the sound of your footsteps echo down this long, metallic hallway.

Tevin just follows along, curious, enjoying the ride to its end since he was summoned as part of this pact. Essek, nervously in the back. If we're not going too far in, I can get us out if need be. Just let me know. I'm ready.

Let's all stay close, nearby one another, in case we need to move fast. Very well. And he just adjusts his cape and his mantle and the stoic expression takes over as he glides along with you. You step down this extended, wide, echoing hallway until eventually it opens into this massive domed chamber.

The ceiling itself cracked heavily and you can see it's still held firm. But along the dome, there are patterned globes of a quartz-like crystal, just a lattice, like an umbrella that spreads out around it. You can see numerous gold beams that connect between them with extremely intricate scattered runes that

seem to interconnect all of these like a web network. Within the dead center of this wide circular chamber lies two massive statues of robed mages holding lanterns, one of them fallen and broken, the other still holding against time, holding against the memory of the historical fall of Eor. You can see them both flanking a central, damaged, metallic dome construction with massive rivets and textured arcane technology around it. And it's next to that Ludinus just stands, arms crossed, looking out at you with a soft smile. Welcome.

Welcome to the Occultist Thalamus. The High Mages of the Age of Arcanum were the greatest minds of Exandrian history. The call to innovation created great societies of ingenuity, ambition, and endless potential. Using the gifts of the gods bestowed upon them, they began to unravel the great secrets of the universe. Prideful perhaps perhaps but beautiful. And they feared it. Once the child becomes the parent

often those in power can grow resentful. And they did. And when war came crawling around a war of omnipotent children bickering And they did. And when war came crawling around, a war of omnipotent children bickering, these brilliant minds had to adapt. The focus to implements of war

beyond just implements of progress. When the divine threatens your families, your children, the very future of life as you know it, they reveal themselves as the enemy. I saw it. I was there in the final days of the Calamity. I watched mountains brought to dust, whole countries set aflame, the tantrums of the gods wantonly murdering and massacring the majority of all civilization on Exandria. When the dust had settled and their rivalry paused, the few of us that survived wallowed in the dust and ash

and spent centuries trying to rebuild from what scraps we could find, while they vanished beyond their gate to protect us, or perhaps to hide from us once they saw what was capable. I survived, watched as a child, acknowledged what they wrought, as they fled to their mystical hideaways. This world has been

manipulated, duped in its opinion, its understanding of divinity. For those that write the history books are those in power, and there is no power higher than them. There's a reason they fear me. Some of it's Pradathos, yes. But I found something equally important here. Sometimes the most important weapon is information. And these majorcrisis in many places had ways of recording things.

Knowledge, history, some lost to time, but Eor created the phthalimus. A device that recorded the spiritual memory of all in the city, including those that brought it low. I've spent a day or so studying this, and I found something, something I think you want to see.

He reaches over to the cracked central dome and places his hands near it, and as it does, it begins to open up. Mist billows out, and you watch as this light green orb emerges, an endlessly fractal network of threads of arcane power layered upon themselves over and over again, and it drifts beyond.

Within here lies the memories of Eor, fract, but enough. And what I will show you, I will show the rest of Exandria. As he changes the hold on the sides of his hands, the orb begins to spin rapidly, whirs loudly. It begins to brighten. This light begins to burst and pulse. All of you feel instinctively that you have to recoil as entirely the very space around you is filled with light.

Your spirit is filled with light, your mind is filled with light. All there is, is light. I'm sorry. Light. Light. In a space beyond the real, there was made of light, a palace. Which is to say, a garden, or a fountain, or a mirror, or a heart, or more than any of these, an idea, a swirling nebula of glimmering potential, cresting eternally upon the threshold of being. But if it aids you, Exandrian, to imagine what the mortal eye can never see. Envision then, as I have said, a palace. Its floors, the dancing stars in unmapped orbit, its ramparts, light and ice and fire,

its hallways, memory and time. Our story begins at the ending of the infinite, at the doom that pierced eternity, fractured images of a lost world and of the ones who lost it. Remember now a place which was not less, but rather more than real. Remember tragedy, betrayal, calamity, downfall.

In the recording of this memory may the answers to many questions lie, but one question yet and shall forevermore remain. Is it Thursday yet? That's it. Thank you all so very much for joining us here live at the Greek. And what unique turns the journey of Bell's Hell's Visions will take them next. We'll see you all soon. Let's all step out for a bow, please. We're done? This...

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