Critical Role - Desperloch | Age of Umbra Episode 1 Part 1

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Part 1The Enduring, safe beneath the pyre fire of Desperloch, brace against the harsh realities of their world all while holding onto hope for a brighter future... DAGGERHEARTDaggerheart is OUT NOW! Visit https://daggerheart.com to learn more. Purchase your copy at friendly local game stores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores, or Critical Role shops:US: https://shop.critrole.comUK: https://shop.critrole.co.ukEU: https://shop.critrole.euAU: https://shop.critrole.com.auCA: https://canada.critrole.com AGE OF UMBRASmall communities hold fast against the darkness of a dying world in Age of Umbra, a dark, survival fantasy 8-part Daggerheart mini-series with Game Master Matthew Mercer and players Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, and Travis Willingham. Death lurks around every corner, but five characters of the small community of Desperloch must band together to fight for hope for their community, risking it all for those they love. BEACONCurious what happens when the camera turns off after an Age of Umbra episode? Watch the Cooldown episodes with the cast discussion after each episode, exclusively on Beacon! Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to the shows you love completely ad-free! You’ll receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord. CREDITSKey Art & Character Art by Anthony Chong Jones | @robotpencilPlayer Miniatures by Hero ForgeSpecial thanks to Solar Simon DMMain Theme Song by Omar FadelSet Design by Shaun EllisSet Fabrication and Production Design by Noxweiler Berf Due to the improv nature of RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If hearing discussions of 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

Hey there Critter Podcast listeners! We have a special new membership service at Beacon.tv where you get early access to all new podcast episodes including Critical Role for the first time ever. Beacon members also get things like live event presales, merch discounts, access to a private community discord, and new exclusive series like Critical Role Cooldown. Think of it as our digital Critical Role land. Head on over to Beacon.tv to check it out for yourself and start a seven-day free trial. Thank you so much for your support, for being a podcast listener, and for being a part of our community. Hey there, Critters! This is Ashley Johnson. And Tellus and Jeffy. And we're popping in

here to talk about our new podcast on Beacon, Weird Kids. In this series, we're diving into our lives as former child actors from unraveling our eccentric upbringings to embracing all the delightfully odd interests we still have today. We're covering so many topics like antique toys, taxidermy, Japanese pop culture, and honestly anything else we come up with. Weird Kids is available exclusively on Beacon, but good news, we're offering a one month free trial on Beacon.tv so you can take a look before you become a member. Just use the code weirdos at Beacon.tv to start the trial. You can also find fellow weirdos by following the series on our at the weird Kids pod Instagram

and using the hashtag Weird Kids. So to all the misfits, outcasts and weirdos out there, come take a seat at our table and celebrate all things unconventional, nostalgic and wonderfully weird. Welcome to Weird Kids. New episodes release every Tuesday. Hey there, Matthew Mercer here and you're listening to the podcast version New episodes release every Tuesday. inspired to want to play along, we have several short how-to-play resources we lovingly call Get Your Sheet Together, available to watch right now on Beacon.tv and youtube.com slash

Critical Role. This is part one of the episode right now, and part two arrives the following Tuesday. If you'd rather get instant and ad-free access to the full episode, consider becoming a Beacon member where you can watch bonus content like the cast discussing each episode in Critical Role Cooldown, receive Critical Role Shop discounts, including on Daggerheart, and much more. Sign up now at beacon.tv. And that should cover it. Now, let's dive into the adventure.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Age of Umbra. Before we get into this series, we do have some announcements to give to you tonight. Daggerheart is officially here, everybody! Yay! Oh, man. I hope you like it. We've been working really hard on it, us and the incredible development team at Darrington Press and everyone else here at Critical Role. We're so proud of it. We're so excited for you to get a chance to actually play it, we're so proud of it, we're so excited for you to get a chance to actually play it, run it, build whatever the hell you want in it.

Like, of course, we like, our game is good, but like, it's actually really good, guys. As unbiased as possible, it's really good. And you get to see us play it through the series. So, but you can get your Daggerheart core set in all the Critical Role shops, Darrington Press guild stores, for the local game stores.

Soon it'll be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and even more places from there. So, digitally, you can also find Daggerheart and cool interactive tools with our partners at Demiplane, Roll20, and DriveThruRPG. And if you want to get in the game right now, check out startplaying.games and jump into one of the many launch games

that over 150 GMs have scheduled this month for Daggerheart. So for more info, go ahead and visit daggerheart.com. You have ten seconds. Laura. Guess what? What? Chicken butt. We have merch!

Yay! Okay, obviously, Sir Daggerheart Dice-It got all your polyhedrals, plus your Hope and Fear dice. I've got them out of the box. A golden and a navy, and you might just kill yourself with them. What's happening? I'm on a road with home. So this is designed, the box is designed by Elena Harris.

And it's available right now in all of your favorite Critical Role shoppies. Yay! Fantastic. It's got blood all over this one. Aw, come on. It works for Agent Bumby's. So for those of you who aren't aware, Daring to Press has a very generous community gaming license that invites all to come and play in our sandboxes. And as part of that, there's an awesome new

Daggerheart-compatible Kickstarter that just launched today from our friends Roll and Play Press and Three Black Halflings. What? Yay, Three Black Halflings! City of the Black Rose is a 140-page horror campaign setting for fifth edition Daggerheart and all fantasy RPGs that's based on the acclaimed Noir Adventure audio series

from Three Black Halflings, which if you haven't heard it, it's fucking awesome. Go listen to it and then now you can get the campaign setting book. But survive the foggy streets of Marvros, a terrible tiered city plagued by crime kingpins, unsolved murders, and horrifying creatures that lurk in the shadows. And specifically for Daggerheart players, there are pre-generated character sheets, theme tokens, and even a campaign frame so you can jump right in with your Daggerheart. So you can back it now on Kickstarter at rollandplaypress.com slash C-O-T-B-R

for City of the Black Rose. And I believe that concludes our announcements. So with that, friends. You're gonna need a wet wipe. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, seriously. Let's go ahead and jump into The Age of Umbra. Oh!

I'm sorry. The The The This is the Halcyon Domain, a once golden realm of verdant valleys, majestic mountain cities, and the expansive golden city of Amber Reach, where the seat of the god-king Ophidius and his grand ordinance oversaw the rule of law, faith, and magic under the guiding miracles of the Veiled Gods. It is said by many who scrounged the shreds of history that it was the clandestine machinations

of the God-King and his constituents that sundered the divine laws and caused the Veiled Gods to punish the realm and abandon our world. Others speak of misuse of the Aetherweave itself that spurned their retribution. What is known is that the century since the Apostasy, when the Veiled Gods blanketed the lands in shadow

before vanishing into the dreams beyond, this realm has been dying. Society has slowly crumbled under an ever desperate populace, the clergy and nobility shutting themselves within their strongholds and cathedrals, while nightmarish magic and heinous creatures arose to feast upon the surviving citizens of the domain. The Ashen Sea spilled into the valley to leave a sinking marshland host to mutating beasts and horrid demons. Holy heroes and great warriors combated the swelling evils, galvanizing the scattered peoples

to defend their villages, or found new ones where the burning flames of the miraculous sacred pyres could keep the darkness at bay. Some became great leaders, while others succumbed to the howling evil force known as the Umbra that now spreads and corrupts the realm. Those that survived despite this divine death sentence now call themselves the Enduring. Over these few generations, defined by hardship, survival, and a gently kindled hope,

new heroes arise to protect their families, to reassemble the truths of the past to change the tides of fortune for all or die trying. The old world is dead. Welcome to the Age of Umbra. It is here in the Halcyon Domain where we instead come in the midst of a dark night. Here, in the jungles of Avedora, the sounds of heavy breathing push through the dense hanging vine

and canopy tangle. Snicks, what do we see as you rush through the jungles? Okay. You see a young, lanky fawn, more like a mountain goat, with dirty fur and armor, clutching a wrapped package very tightly. He's got two horns, one is broken off, though. His eyes are wide and darting left and right, and he is running his ass off. As fast as possible, looking behind him,

looking everywhere, terrified. You feel the breath itself burning, stinging in your chest. You've been unable to catch your breath for half a mile, mile, two miles. You don't know how long you've been running. You've been on the road for so long at this point, trying desperately to get back to Desperlok, and it can't be that far. You're out of water at this point. You can feel this burning pain in your shoulder where something

might have gotten you while you were charging, but you don't have time to even check or look. But now it's quiet. And you might be okay. Suddenly, blasting out of the nearby brush, cracking into the side of one of the massive jungle trees, you see the hulking form of some horribly mutated, bear-like creature, massive bone spines protruding out of its furry hide. You see where its jaw was, hanging open, this massive, horrifying, cracked mouth that curls all the way back to its shoulders.

As the jaw opens up, you see seven rows of teeth, all tangled and jutting out. And it continues charging after you. What do you do? I'm going to stumble and fall backwards, spilling over myself, and not really knowing what direction I'm facing in anymore, I'm gonna just pick one and try to avoid its claws and just dart between two trees that are sort of close together. All right, I'd like you to go ahead and make an agility roll to see if you can dart between these trees

without not noticing the direction of your path. As I'm darting between these trees, I am, Snakes is saying to himself, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! And I'm gonna use my experience, spineless coward, to try to motivate my escape and get a little bit farther faster. Great, so you can spend a hope to do that,

which by the way, you all started with two hope, and because there's five of you, I start with five fear. Oh my gosh, look at the tracker. The skulls are covered in blood. First roll of the game, let's go, Snicks. Whoa, that's bad. Oh wait, no! No, it's not.

It's great! It's a two and a two. That's a crit! First roll out of the game was a crit! Let's go! Go downhill from here. That's phenomenal. So you gain that hope back that you spent on your experience.

If you had a stress, you clear it. And as you spring off, your fawn legs kicking in this direction, you coast right through this thick V of branches as you hear this massive strike of claws that just barely catch the back of the strands of tattered cloth that mark the exterior of your running ensemble. You feel it tug and pull and tear, and you hear the claws smash into the nearby woods,

the woods splintering and the tree further cracking and beginning to give under its weight as it continues to give chase, but you've managed to gain on it quite a bit. You glance around quickly and you can barely see the flicker of flame, the sacred pyre of Desperlok piercing through the distant shadow, the singular beacon of safety that you see before you. You might make it. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and SAM and to your destination. Fantastic, yeah, you, at this point, now that you've locked down where you were, you recognize those trees you just jumped through

and the direction of that flame, you've taken this particular path three or four times before. Even with the dark light here, it clicks in, the instinct takes over and you start darting, which means you're able to keep a pretty fair distance from this beast. It's still gaining on you. Especially as you get closer to Desperlok and the density of the

surrounding jungle gets thinner and thinner. There's less to keep it at bay, and you can hear its breath getting louder and louder and louder as you dart forward, but you're managing to still get closer and closer. You can just barely see at the edge of the top of the slag wall, you see the torches being held by four members of the Vigil standing up there, and one of them goes, Who goes there? Not knowing if I can make it quite yet, I'm going to,

if they shout it out, who goes there? I'm going to shout back, Hey, it's me, it's Snakes, it's me, you know me, you know me! You hear some shouting and some voices and the torches start mounting more. You can hear the sound of activity ahead, but it's still like, the bright light is so bright

against the shadow immediately that you just see these flickers of light and you're just hoping that this is enough to get there. Gajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaj cast a spell. I'm going to make a spell cast roll and I'm going to cast Vicious Entangle, but not at it. I'm going to try to lead it. So I'll try to cast it right where I am currently so that in a few steps it will hit. That's about the right trajectory. So go ahead and roll. Don't die in the prologue. Yeah.

That's a ten with fear. A ten with fear. That is a failure. Oh no! With fear. Get him! You go and cast the spell. In the panic, the trajectory of it was correct,

but the vine reaches up and snags you around the ankle and holds you in place. You slam, face down on the ground, spin over on your back. As soon as you get your elbows locked up, you see the burning red eyes of this creature bearing down on you. It stops above you, now lumbering. It fills the entirety of your vision with this black shadow with the two burning beads of red. It's going to swipe down with its massive scythe-like claw. That's going to be a 14 to hit you. SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM and My evasion is 13. That hits.

MATT and MATT and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and Ooh, and that is 12 points of physical damage out of the gate. SAM and LAURA and SAM and SAM and SAM and That is my major damage threshold. Correct. Does that mean it goes into severe or it stays in major? Well, if it hits the next threshold, whatever it is.

Yeah, that's between major and severe, so what does that mean? If it's between major and severe. Take two hit points. Well, here's what I'm saying, is it at the number? It's at the number. Then that would be severe. So you take three hit points out of the gate.

Oh, wow. Yes, yes, ref you. Yes, number one. I'm ready to eat goat tonight. Can I do anything? You hear nothing but the high pitched whine that accompanies the flash of white searing pain that curls up through your spine.

Your nervous system is shrieking within you. And for a moment, you don't know where you are. And you realize you're not where you were. The vines aren't holding you in place. It's because you were thrown 15 feet to the right. Your shoulder impacts against one of the tree trunks. Might be dislocated, you don't know. The burning, the pain is everywhere right now.

All you know is the beast is, it's routing itself, you see its jaw unhinge, its tongue spills out and splits in two and twitches, and it's going to rear up to charge towards you for a full on bite, what do you do? Okay, one question. I look down, am I still carrying the package? The package is still, it's on the ground next to you,

but it's right there, you also look down. Am I still carrying the package? The package is still on the ground next to you, but it's right there. You also look down and see the reflection of thick wet on you. That could be pee. Also, just going back one step, could I have taken off an armor to reduce the damage down to major? You very well could have. You could go ahead and mark an armor slot and reduce that to major damage. Armor is damage, but I took two hit points. Okay, I'm close, but I'm not there. Do you think the wall, the slag wall, right?

Yeah. Do you think that's within far range? Yeah, you almost got there before your own vine snagged you, so it's just on the cusp of far range. Just as it is about to slash at me or bite at me, once per rest, I can mark a stress, which I will gladly do, to sprint anywhere within far range without making an agility roll. This is my deft maneuver. Oh, yeah, yeah.

So I'm going to try to super speed it. You mark that stress, you don't even have to roll for it. You grab that satchel and the instinct takes over once more that paints some sidesets. You just go and do a full run, you get to the edge of the slag wall. This massive perimeter wall that sits about 15, 20 feet up and is a series of boulders and chunks of ruin

and other surrounding bits of massive earth that's been slammed together to form this ever-growing perimeter around Desperlok, where molten iron has been poured on top and through to help hold it into one solid piece of wall. You get to it, and there are handholds to climb for someone who is such a climber as you. So you've reached the wall.

What else are you gonna do? I've got a Caprine Leap as a fawn. I can leap anywhere within close range, I don't know what that means, using normal movement, allowing you to vault obstacles, jump across gaps, et cetera, scale barriers with ease. That is exactly what you would need to do this right now. So you have one ability to draw up to it

and then bound up onto the wall in the air. What was once like the glowing flame is flame, that time slows as you go up and above the slag wall, and you can see the shadows of all the other vigil that are rushing up to the side. You get a quick glance here in this brief moment of breath, where you can see bows being armed and arrows being loosed. You can see now Desperlok is here to protect you. As you glance down, you can see the massive column, the 15-foot high sacred pyre that burns bright, the symbol of hope, the symbol of life,

the symbol of safety here. And it washes over you as you clump down onto the wall, then bounce off into the exterior perimeter, immediately followed by an impact on the outer wall as the beast that's chasing you slams into it. Dust shoots out and the rocks hold. The iron slag itself, keeping it jettisoned, but you see a few vigil on top hold on and keep back,

still loosing arrows, and you see two members immediately leap down, one of which you recognize as a renowned figure known as Ghosthook Branscythe, who is a heroic, vigil figure of limited conversation, but numerous victorious wanderings across the domain. Pulling forth this massive, gnarled-looking, jagged scimitar and just leaping down. Rrrrgh!

And as you're- jagged scimitar and just leaping down. I'll call back to him. I saw him up for you, ghost hook. He's all yours now. Does not even acknowledge your presence as other Vigil jump after. These are trained warriors who have defended this for this settlement for generations. And after loosening it up with a series of arrows,

you eventually hear the lamenting cries of the beast as it succumbs to its wounds. But it is here now, as you catch your breath, and the pain returns, the wounds throbbing, the sound of whispers and other townsfolk of Desplog coming out to see what the commotion is, seeing you arriving. You see as a young man man who you have not really encountered much in the time that you've been here, rest of, are

you okay? SAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and I'm okay. I just had a little fall getting up the wall, that's all. You should get to Truval. Truval should patch right up. Yeah. Oh god. And you see, now it looks at you, and you look down, and indeed,

there are three massive claw marks that go from shoulder to torso, and you are just bleeding. Oh god. Yeah, can you maybe help me there? Maybe? Yeah, okay. But just don't tell anybody about this. Just... I won't, and you and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and

MATT and SAM and MATT and MATT and be on the hall, another horn that connotates that the current threat seems to have been handled. You rest your arm over this young human man, maybe in his 16, 17 or so. So it's carrying you over as you come through the village of Desperlok. A surviving village here in the Halcyon Domain.

As you walk into the main central space of it, a surviving village here in the Halcyon Domain. As you walk into the main central space of it, you can see the beautiful central forum built off of a number of the buildings here, built off of the ruins of a partially toppled monastery that sits still on this rocky cliff face up on the mountains above. Also, the focus of much of the research and delving that happens in the Luzhal vaults,

not far from here, but the ruins that have toppled since the century before have since been outfitted and expanded as the core of this village. And now you can see all manner of thatched huts and wooden log-built cabins and scrounged materials and leathers and cloths building tarps and stretched patterns that welcome you home.

As folk begin to go about the rest of their business, here the Forum, the central massive tapestry where events and gatherings and judgment is meted out by the Tram that are voted in as the localized government of Desperlok. No more than maybe 300 people live here, a number that has swelled and fallen through the numerous generations since its founding.

As danger is never far beyond, but as long as that pyre burns, these walls are safe. Step by step, pushing alongside, who would be the first to investigate the sound of danger and chaos at the wall? I'd probably break out and just head to the front. What happened? I heard a commotion by the walls.

Describe what we see as you rush out to check, Eidol. So Eidol steps forward in some furs and just some basic cloths, but he always drags with him this long halberd, rusted, definitely worn handle with wood and everything. And he rusts it out, and he rusts out, and he's looking for vigils or anyone else that's recently seen action, and he's trying to spot

any way that he can sort of help or assist, and certainly any signs of crimson is an early indicator of that. As you rush out glancing about, you do see that the vigil on the wall have begun sheathing their weapons and setting aside their bows, throwing them over the shoulder. It looks like you came just as the immediate danger has subsided. You watch as exterior hooks and ropes are lowered down and other vigils step above. You see the vigil, Ghosthook Bran Branwithe, has also climbed up.

One of the few vigil figures that you've really built a rapport with, who looks down at you and gives you a nod. You see this massive man in his early 40s, but has seen a weather enough life where he looks much older, but he is a shit-brick house of a warrior who, while not native to Desperlok,

coming here maybe about five or six years ago from a fallen settlement far to the west, has become one of the renowned protectors of this space. A man of few words, but a man of ever-dangerous capability. And the person you want on your side steps down from the slag wall and gives you a look. I go, these woods grow more and more restless,

at least when you're being drawn from their nests. And looks past beyond, you can see the outer darkened shadow shape of a hobbling figure being carried across the vision of the sacred pyre behind them, just silhouetting them against the flame. And you follow his sight, and you can see Snick's limping in the grasp of one of the other civilians of Desperlok. Is he one of ours?

Yes. Survived. For now. If you need anything, I'm never far. Excuse me, I'll try and catch up with Snicks. Okay. Ghost hook goes in turns and begins giving orders to the rest of the Vigil as you dart off

into the center of the village. You rush up to find Snicks, quite bloodied, and hobbling as one of the younger civilians that you've come across, named Noren, has taken him under his shoulder and, oh, Idle, Nix just got back. It's looking pretty rough. Huh.

It looks worse than it is. I mean, there were probably three or four of the bear things. I got two of them at least. Two of them, wow. Yeah, but there was one that I just didn't see. You know how it is. Sure, you look like you're leaking pretty bad, though. I mean, it looks worse than it probably is,

but I gotta get some, I don't know, just a wrap or something, some sort of... True, Vol, take care of you, don't worry. Thank you. Okay, yeah. What was it? It's a bear thing, do I know what it was? Every time you go out, what you remember has changed.

There is always something uniquely nightmarish about familiar beasts. The landscape seems to not want to be remembered as it was, and you catch yourself from speaking more on it, instead deciding to focus on matter at hand as the words escape you to even describe it. SAM and TALIESIN Yeah, I'll... It doesn't matter what it was,

it just matters that it's not in here with us. Did you hear any voices, anything speaking to you, calling out while it was chasing you? Did I? No. Then I remember. Why is there? Oh, I just, I heard stories about, it doesn't matter. What's important is that you're safe.

Noren will take good care of you. Okay. At this point, Nott takes you to the edge of a familiar, heavy leather-curtained hut. It's probably a good 12 feet or so tall, wider at the base with some interior wooden structure to it. All manner of dried, stretched herb and local jungle fauna that is used,

flora, used to mix various possible salves and healing means. You step into the interior, very gently lit here from the interior fire. You can see the flicker of the nearby lanterns, an essential cauldron that is burning from underneath. And the heavy cloaked, kind of rounded shape turns. And you see that before you, Truvo the Hedge, an older male Galapa, this massive turtle,

an older male galapa, this massive turtle, gentle, herbalist healer of the village. Been here far longer than you have, and definitely seen as a bastion of comfort when not having to tend to too many wounded, to where he is prone to panic. But for the time being, Truvo turns. Oh, goodness there, you're looking, you're looking a little...

You see his face drop a little bit. Uh-oh, I'll take care of it. Thank you, Nott. And Nott nods and you see the face is a little pale now that you have a good look at his face. Wanders off into the night as Trubo takes you and sets you down on this half-repared table that lasts as a place to rest

and begins seeing to your wounds and slowly begins to place some of these thick sap-like substance into the gashes on you that at least stops the bleeding, though it does burn at first. I may be used to hurt if it is to heal. Yeah. Just a quick question before you go any further.

Am I gonna owe you anything for this, or is there some sort of trade that we can work out, or I haven't made my deliveries yet, but after I do, I'll have some coin to spare. Drewvo don't need nothing from you. Just kind of slaps you on the side of the cheek a little bit. Stay alive. That's very kind of you.

But not very good business. Not everything's about business out here in the wastes, boy. Sometimes it's just about staying alive. Goes ahead and finishes dressing your wounds and sets you up for a bit. You take a breath, he gives you some water to drink. You don't realize until now just how parched you've been. Your lips are dry and cracked

and you catch yourself for a bit. The warmth of this tent, the inside of it, is partially because of just the enclosed nature of it and the heavy fur and tattered leathers that drip from the outside of this galpa's shell. You wonder if it's adornment or if it's actually function. You do have the clacking of glass vials that dangle from it and hit his shell and exterior at times.

But the other part of the warmth is the proximity to the sacred pyre. As you move beyond that tent, on the outskirts, the massive burning flame itself, gently crackling as the symbol of safety. Two Pyr Keepers currently on tasks to keep watch. Brixton, if you wouldn't mind describing what we see as you are looking over towards Truvo the Hedge's tent,

curious as to what this commotion has been this evening. MARISHA and ASHLEY. You see a big, hearty orc woman getting up there in age, at least for Desperlok, here in the Wastes. Old age is very different here, not what we are used to. She's got long, matted black hair. You can tell she's not really one to keep up with her appearances. Soot smeared across her face. Her hands are calloused and blackened from tossing twigs and brush and really anything that they can get their hands on into the fires. She's got long robes that are the vestments of the Pyrekeepers. When she heard the commotion, she went over, looked over the wall of the edge, recognizing Snicks. Underneath her vestments, she grips a sword,

that she's keeping hidden for now. And very curious, hope Snicks is okay, since he's very useful to her. On the opposite side of the pyre, you see in similar pyrekeeper vestments, themselves as clean as they can be, as the creation of fresh vestments is challenged based on the materials available through the disparate trade across the wastes here.

But you see a female dwarf in her early 40s, tightly braided, brown hair with graying streaks pulled through it. Hair line partially receded, probably from pulling it so tight for the majority of her life, but heavy crow's feet wrinkles from a life of smiling. This dwarven woman you know to be Powerkeeper Raman,

who sees you looking over towards Truvo's tent. He's like, "'It's everything okay there, love. "'Did you see who it was?' "'Yes, it was the messenger, Snicks. "'Looks like the jungles are restless tonight. He's okay, though, right? He's with Druvor now, he'll be all right.

Good, good. He's supposed to find me a book. Well, I'm hoping he has good news from one of the neighboring settlements. Hey, tell you what, you could check on him. I'll keep watch here. Looks like the danger's done. I'll just shout if anything comes up. Are you sure? Yeah. Look, Vigil seems fine. You see a couple of Vigil folk on the far edge of the slag wall have

sat down, their legs dangling over, and one of them pops open a wineskin and starts drinking it and passing it over. If I can take a break, so can you. I'll be back. All right, Brixton. Thank you. Scurry over. I thought it was a fun watch for something. The leather flap opens in the Truro's tent and Snicks,

you see there standing Brixton in the Pirekeeper attire. Oh, hey. Hi. Hi. That looked, that looked crazy. Yeah, it was. It was crazy. You okay? I saw the whole thing. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine, I was fine.

Yeah. I mean, it's... It threw your ass 15 feet. No, no, it's, it comes with the... You did like two flips. That was me getting away from it. Truvo has a somewhat damp cloth that is now just dark red, and has finished wiping up all the thick blood

on your armor. Oh, he's gonna be all right. Some of that's his. Some of that's the other guys. Grodd, you're okay. Thanks. Wait, what are you doing here? Who's on the pyre?

Ramon is covering for me. Just long enough for me to come in and check on you. How was it? How's Ocrows? Oh, Ocrows, man, I'm... It's actually, it's pretty great over there. I mean, like, nothing's great, obviously. Like, the whole world kind of sucks, but...

Yeah. But Ocrows has it sort of figured out. They have a really good security wall and gates and lots of good food. I talked to Aliana. MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and

MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and

MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and

MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and and I have a letter from her.

How did she look? Did she look healthy? Did she look strong? I mean, yeah. Yeah, she looked real strong. But she didn't say she was going to be traveling or anything anytime soon. Just... I wouldn't want her to. She looked fine. Same as last time. Okay. No, that's good. Yeah. Um, here. Thank you. I, um, I don't have anything on me to ever pay you. to repay you right now. Oh no, in this world sometimes it's not about business.

It's about keeping people safe. You provide a great service. Sure. Thank you. Oh no, I mean thank you, I mean. Desperate luck is proud of you. Really? And your bravery.

Don't get carried away now. Ow! I hope to be as brave as you. I hope I am as brave as you. Oh, I'm sure you are. For real. I mean, you're amazing. You just keep watching the pyre all the time. That's important work.

It's monotonous. Still, it takes a certain amount of strength to soldier through it every day. And it's what keeps us all safe. Soldiers know that what you all do is one of the greatest joys and honors. Of course. Lay down. You do heal, because he takes it down to action. Oh, wow. So I get all of my stress wiped, all of my hit points gone, and all my hope are stored?

No. But you do heal two hit points. Hey, that's a lot! That's great! That's like, man, that class is awesome. How does that heal? How did you just do that? Okay. I'll check on you here in a few hours. Okay.

I'll look forward to it. Okay. I'm just gonna go off into the shadow, step out of the tent. SAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and MARISHA and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and

SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and

SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and

SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and

SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and SAM and and and and

and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and

and and and and and and and and The last chapter's missing, so you don't really know who did it. Oh. But still, she might like it. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Aw. Wait, should I read this now? Should I read this now? Up to you.

You don't have to. You can keep to yourself. Read it out loud. Do the nanny muuppet Baby's voice. She's Russian. B. You're lost, let her send it so buried. No, I'm abandoning that. Do not B. Though I appreciate your concern, Okros is remarkably calm. In fact, I've started a

garden. A garden. Mostly herbs and small legumes. In the dry patches, I've started filling it with lovely rocks and shiny stones that I've begun to collect. How goes life in Zasperlocke? Oh, Aliana. I trust you are guarding the pyre with your strength and steadfast passion. Reading was never my strong suit, she says to no one. You truly are a hero. Please take care of yourself and the very nice messenger who carries these letters. Strix, he's such a kind young man. And handsome, too. someday soon. I hope. Best. Aliana." SAM and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and SAM and SAM and and my ropes. And I head back to my post. All right, as you deliver the tome to R'man, who's...

Oh, fantastic! Oh, I finally have a second book! I'm so excited. Apparently the last chapter is gone, but I don't know, maybe you can rewrite it. Maybe to something hopeful. Maybe I can. Do you know who could teach me how to write?

Not me. Anyway, puts the book away real fast as you glance over and see Ember Warden Sheena is doing a walk through the Forum and glances over. You see this near-elderly female elf, one of the few beings that's probably lived since the last age, who walks along and just glances over

to make sure the two of you are keeping to your stations. This is the Ember Warden? This is the Ember Warden, Sheena. I don't make eye contact. I just look down and hurry over to the kindling and grab a few of the larger logs to toss into the flame. You do so. The divine magic that sustains the sacred pyre

means it kindles slowly. So while the fire itself burns tall and bright, it doesn't require anywhere near the amount of fuel that such a fire would normally do so, which thankfully means that you aren't having to deforest the jungle around you to maintain it. But it also means there's a lot of downtime to your thoughts. A lot of time in your

imagination. A lot of time considering the world beyond the bad and the good. MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and After I toss in the two logs, Brixton stares into the flame and zones out, sees images that she has depicted of Okros in this lovely garden, legumes, and just loses herself as she is one to do in what life must be like beyond the walls. Night after night, she just stares into the flame. Idle.

As you continue walking through the Forum, getting through the works, you can hear the heavy sound of hammerfall and metal. As Barrel Spielboar, the local master blacksmith that is in the process of ever crafting and repairing the numerous arms and armaments that keep the Vigil and the Guild of Dilvers ready to do their work. It's a familiar sound as you are heading towards

a handful of the safer spots in this village for you and Homestead Elements as a heavy slap on your left shoulder smacks you, and you hear the little chuckle of Erin Lothroot, who has caught up to you. You see the young mid-teens female dwarf, bright smile, just an ever exuberant cheerfulness that only the arrogance of youth in such a dire space

could really muster. Her dirty blonde hair itself come into natural curls that bounce as she runs. She has a tattered cloak over one shoulder and a simple leather breastplate that she's affixed on her. As she finishes slapping your shoulder, she's like, well, hey there. So what happened? You just over at the wall, right?

What'd you see? Oh, nothing much. Just some monsters that have never been seen before, heard some tales that you wouldn't believe. It was so funny, just a second ago, I felt the slightest little mosquito bite on my shoulder, and I thought, that must be Ren. MATT and MARISHA and MATT laugh MATT and MATT You,

you want to go see Pa, see how he's doing? TRAVIS We can. You going to try and sneak over and see how Snicks is doing? It was him. MATT So Snicks made it back. He did, he did. I asked him what he saw. He didn't say.

I'm not sure he saw, but sounded pretty gnarly. I'll bug him later. However, she rubs her hands together. I've been thinking, maybe we start talking to the Delvers about, you know, giving us a little autonomy. A little autonomy for you,

someone that doesn't seem to follow any kind of rules. That's not true at all. I follow all kinds of rules. Your dad would not agree with that in the slightest. I didn't say his rules, I said the rules. I understand. And would we be going to talk to the Delvers together? Well, I figured, you know, you got a rapport with Rascallo and some of them folks over there,

and you know, I work with them, but they don't respect me because of my youth, which I think is a... Fair. Folly. Fair. I think it's an unearned judgment and ageism. I will give you this, you are easily the most accomplished of your age, around here at least.

But I still, I have to side with your dad. I fucking know those vaults, most of it, like the back of my goddamn hand. It's true, you do. I just naturally wanna look out for you and protect you from things that you can't see coming, which is a lot. I'll give you that much.

I'll tell you what, we'll go talk to the Delvers, see how it goes, but I just don't want you getting disappointed like last time. I will see what we can do, I suppose. It's at that moment, as you're coming up the outside of Garrick's homestead, her father's little farmhouse on the eastern edge of Desperlok, that you hear a quiet skittering

in the nearby brush. Shh. Did you hear that? Can I scan the brush? Is it common to hear skittering in this area? No, not this way. It's large enough where it doesn't sound like it's any sort of wildlife that surpassed the wall.

Go ahead and roll an instinct roll for me if you don't mind. First roll of the campaign. I'm not scared, I'm not scared. I'm not scared. Double 11s, baby! Woo! That's critical!

Hot table, hot table! Hell yeah. You guys are rolling hot already when it doesn't help you, really. You're sure it'll be great. Warm it up, warm it up. You glance over and see something shift, and instinctually, like some power takes hold of you,

the need to protect for a second time, little Aaron. You reach over into this brush and grab the back of some thick cloth and pull forward. Taliesin, if you would please describe your character. He's the skitter. I skitter. What you seem to be grabbing out of the brush is a kind of a pile of clothing with

definitely a person inside of it. It is a, what would be a very fine, medium-sized top hat and long coat probably 60 to 70 years ago. Now it's seen better days. It has been repaired and repaired and repaired and repaired. There's a lot of stitching holding the whole thing together. Whatever color it originally was

has long faded to browns and grays. It is expertly held together. If anything, the stitching is more impressive than the clothing itself for its magical ability to hold everything on. The young man within this giant pile of clothing, he's kind of hard to make out because he's got a bit of a scarf around his neck and the hat definitely is too big, so it sits down. But you can see that his face is very gray. And the hat and scarf are gently concealing,

just a touch. Six eyes, which is definitely four more than anybody should have, which are large and insectoid, and a mouth that is far too wide, covered on the sides by little mandibles, almost as if it was some sort of strange anthropomorphic spider, which he's an anthropomorphic spider. I'll explain it. So it is just kind of this bundle of cloth with, you know, what was once nice fingerless gloves and a little, what seems to be a rather large sewing needle at his side, just below the cloak. So I suppose you give this very, this bundle of clothing a big... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!

Everything's fine, everything's fine. I give up. What have I said about trying to sneak up on us? That I should do it as often as possible. You're really sneaky, I grant you, but sometimes there are people you just shouldn't sneak up behind. That's very fair, that's very fair.

Don't sneak up on him. But when I do, it's so rewarding. I'm sure, I'm sure that you're gonna get punched again. You'll be down two more eyes. I'm sorry about the coat. It looks really, really nice. I can fix it later. It's no problem at all.

If anything, a little bit of practice. What are you hiding from, anyway? I wasn't hiding. I was actually doing a bit of digging. There's some interesting things down here. We're seeing what was possibly either edible, turned something into some tea, spice up some meat. Did you tell Paul you were gonna be digging in his yard?

Yeah, this is- I mentioned it a while ago. Where things are grown. We work really hard on this stuff. Weeks ago, within a month. We're not gonna tell him anything, but just it's nice enough he's letting you all stay here, just trying to be a little more respectful, you know?

Aaron, I've got some work. Remember, leverage, we talked about this. I think we probably should tell him about this. We'll remember this, and should the moment arise or we need a favor, you'll remember this too, right? There we go. I will certainly remember this when I'm working to stitch up one of your pairs of trousers

or otherwise it might mysteriously come apart if the work wasn't expertly done. There you go. I'm going for the very odd. That was good. A thousand pints. I'll go check up on Pa. SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and SAM and MARISHA and MATT and SAM and MARISHA and He's been on edge, is everything all right? Snicks came in from his latest run and was chased by something.

Vigils jumped from the wall, handled it. He got stitched up by Noren and Truvo, but couldn't get any information about what it was or what led to it or anything else. That's no surprise. I'm glad he's safe. Did he have everything that he wanted to bring in to the city?

Oh, with him? Yeah. Yeah, there was a thing, a satchel. I wasn't really looking at that part. I think so. He was carrying something, which is good, because he was leaking a lot. Oh.

Well, that's most important that's been taken care of. Can I get you something, by the way? I think I've got some food that are otherwise inside. TRAVIS. Yeah, wouldn't mind. A little pre-dinner dinner. MATT. At this point, Arren's shouting in here in the house, like, Pa! Pawart! We come back over to about 30 or so feet away from his little farmstead home that's been cobbled together with gathered driftwood

from the nearby Ashen Sea shore, as well as what elements of logged jungle tree has been allowed by the triumphant of the village. But there's a small storage shed, barn-like building there. And there, you sit amongst the shadow, a small storage shed barn-like building there. And there, you sit amongst the shadow, pushed against the window, and listening in as best you can from the distance. Misty, what do we see through the somewhat cracked glass

that has been placed here? Look through. You can see, well, first you just see her face, which she is completely made of stone. And you see sort of a crown, a veil that's been chiseled, carved into the stone. And she is eight feet tall. Holy shit.

She is covered in decades and decades and years and years of muck and mire. And she has spots on her where, you know, there are hornets' nests, and she's a bit of a living nightmare. She's been stained over time, she's been picked at and desecrated because she is a large statue. And she's grown over with moss and vines and areas of her have graffiti, but on the bottom of what would be her skirt, it almost looks like drawings left by a child.

But she's sitting there in the shed, just excitedly peeking out, but also trying to stay hidden. Beyond your massive stone wings that arise, your three sets of them. Four sets. Four sets. I'm not going to lie to you. I forgot to add that to it. As you lean forward,

you can just barely hear the muffled sound of the guttural voice that's going on in the background. It's about these times that the sun rose and Misty, are you even listening to me? Oh, yes I am. I... You turn around and you can see there sitting is Old Man Garrick, the farmer dwarf father of Aaron

and purveyor of this little farmstead here in Desperlok. This old dwarf with a mass of gray curls that curve inward, much like Eren's hair does. A massive scar that runs down one eye and down his throat. Some heavy wound that he took long ago, but it doesn't keep away that perpetually curled smile on his face. A patchy white mustache and a curl of a beard that curves upward there at the bottom, and he's holding a tattered children's book that he's been reading to you here

in the quiet silence of this back room. I know you've heard this story before. I do, but it is one of my favorites. Please, would you read that page again, because I got a little distracted by what was happening outside. What's happening outside? Fun. The book closes and stands up.

I'm slow moving and creaking a little, but I help him up. He's almost like, oh, looks like we got company. Are you a stone statue? Yes. Okay. I am a stone statue.

Wow. The sound of creaking and scratching stone with each movement there. Rrrr. Yeah. Just that rub with each shift. An entity from the Old World, once a vessel for the spirits,

and the angels from the veiled gods of old, left empty and abandoned here in the age of Umbra. But not this one. This one lives, talks, listens to books sometimes. But Garrick has now closed the tome and excitedly walks with you over to the edge and opens the exterior door of the barn. He says, okay, looks like we got a whole gathering.

August was in the bushes again. August! And Aaron smacks you in the back of the head. He goes, sorry, Pa, he's trying to take out of your farm again. Ooh, see, I wasn't gonna go that far. I think that's overdoing it a bit. I was just working on a thing

I think you'll be impressed later That's okay If he needs it, he can have it Right, Erin Erin kind of goes You're right, pa. I'm sorry I did hear a little bit of a hussing bustle outside. Does anyone know what happened? Aaron immediately cuts you off and is like,

there was a big old bear that attacked the outside of the world and that, what's his name, the snickle boy, the jumping one. Snicks. Snicks. He was out there and fighting off three bears. No, he died. Oh no, travesty! Yeah, no, but the great thing was Truvo, a little bit of herbs, brought him right back.

Wow, what an incredible healer. Snix is so brave. I'm just kidding, Snix was fine. I mean, he was wounded, but he came in, he was fine. I felt bad lying. I don't know. Oh, no, really, it's okay. I know it's kind of like a type of humor. Yes, yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha. Just barely humor, by the way. I'm bringing out a little bit of bread and butter just for everyone.

I imagine that laughter sounds like it has gravel in it. Yeah. Rrrr. Rrrr. Rrrr. Garrett kind of leans away. Rrrr.

Okay. Puppet smile. Rrrr. Rrrr. Garen kind of leans away. Putting out just a little bit of bread and butter for everybody. Let's make this a feast. It's been a minute since we've had a conglomeration of fine friends to celebrate the survival of your friend. In fact, I think I got a stew on from yesterday, still got a little flavor left. Come on. TRAVIS and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and still some flavor left is usually just about right for us. MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and MATT and SAM and as you all gather and follow Garak to the farmhouse with Erin,

you keeping watch there on the pyre, you recovering under the watch and healing hands of the local turtle, an evening of safety progresses. One that is rare in many places of this land, but that's what makes these settlements so important. The enduring here are allowed some peace. They are allowed family. And you all, throughout the evening, find a night of rest, for some dreams come for others.

Just an exhausted darkness until the morning wakes you. Some have odd visions. Some have odd visions. Some have recurring flashes. Two stone pillars framing a mountainous doorway. Shh! An endless mist spilling forth. Purples and pinks, lights glowing from the mist, almost stained glass rising.

A drawn crown on a pedestal. Flames burning, flames shut. Towers bending. Voices like a choir of angels singing, then screaming. Then Nothing. As the morning comes, it raises you all to a new day. The morning, standard as many mornings here, there's not a lot to do here in Desperlok. I know. I know. I know. For real, though. For real. Many fight to engage their curiosities. Books are contraband. What exists is often hoarded by many of the libraries and existing guilds that exist mostly within Amber Reaches Ruins itself.

For any book, any story could hold a shut-up truth in what truth of the history of the Lost Age could possibly lead to change in the current one. But the people awake can go about their day. The dark and cloudy skies ever choking the sunlight away. Eventually, the warmth of day reaches its zenith. As bright as it ever could be, the distant mists crawling over the Greifkleif mountains

that loom above, and it is there. You can still see the shape of the Luzhal Monastery. The majority of it's still standing. of the Luzhal Monastery, the majority of it's still standing. A beautiful, if ominous, echo of the old world, and one of a handful of very holy sites held by the great ordinances of the god-king Ophidias. It is also the focus of a lot of Desperlok's business. As what secrets might remain within that monastery,

what connections might exist to the veiled gods that have since vanished this century? What secrets that could unveil the reason for their leaving and perhaps a chance to call them back? And if not, at least a miracle, a relic, something to keep you safer than you were the day before. But the cliff is too sheer, the monastery unreachable by the means that your settlement of enduring have.

But beneath the monastery are numerous catacombs and vaults, a spiraling labyrinth of hallways and subterranean walkways, winding staircases where much of the monastery's great hoard of knowledge and power was kept. And when the apostasy was over, the caverns beneath collapsed, and part of that monastery tumbled

to create the backbone of Desperlok. Some wished to reap what was once hidden. And so for generations now, a whole sect of members of this community, and those beyond who have come here for this purpose as well, they call themselves the Scholars of Luzal. Researchers, delvers, are those that work with them. Sell swords,

Tomb Raiders, those that like to fight the front line as they push into these long-collapsed vaults to recover these powerful relics, these shreds of information, and remove the corruption that still lurks in the shadows beneath. But here in the morning, the skulls are already out and about. There are massive structures and large tents

already abuzz with information. As you hear another horn call, not a horn of victory, but a horn of arrival. Moo. The slag wall outer gates are pulled back and five figures come rushing in. Five, one. come rushing in. Five, four, three, two, one.

A number of vigil, that moonlight as delvers, the hired vault soldiers that push deeper into this mountain in hopes of eventually finding a way to the monastery from the inside of the mountain itself come rushing in, along with Rascalo,

one of the two main Delver organizers. Human, male, mid-30s or so, shoulder length, straight brown hair. He is, it would be considered ruggedly handsome and often lords his confident self around. But this is a different state, as him and the four others that have arrived are all gravely wounded.

And with just bits of conversation around, you discover it was ten who had left. Oh, shit. As they're pulled in through the gates, the desperate-luck civilians begin to gather around, whispering passing information. They slam behind, and you can see already various figures of the community are coming out to inspect, discuss,

and wonder. Misty and August, you see this commotion happening, and do you inspect or inquire about this, or stay put? I'm not sure. How many of the people involved do do we know at least know us reasonably at this point? Can we kind of can they see this from where the homestead is? Garruk's Homestead? You can see the people gathering and you heard the horn, but you don't know the purpose or reason for what this is just the entire Desperate Lock is a small community. so when something happens, very quickly everyone knows, and it becomes the focus of information.

Why don't we go take a look gingerly? All right, I'll try to talk behind a tree. We'll just walk until we're told to turn around, maybe. Okay. You gather yourselves up, just as Garak is rushing out the door, like throwing his jacket on, like, what is going on? And darts off in that direction.

The rest of you about your morning business begin to head towards the exterior of the Praxis Collective, which is the region where the scholars of Luzal set up most of their work and business. There, a number of the Delver scouts and other soldiers that were not on this current mission, the only handful themselves that aren't already locked into being guardians of the wall under the visuals themselves, are trying to figure out how to organize a rescue mission

for those that were left behind. The whole Rascalo steps forward to them and says, we, I believe we found it. We got to the gate. We did it. We just took some hits. We took some, like balls to one knee. And you can see some of the other scholars come forward.

Idrova Khan, one of the scholar elf females, who's one of the heads of research of ancient faith and mythology, steps forward and takes him by the arm. You can see Thalia Vintwood, another one of the younger and recent additions to the Scholars of the Zal, steps forward and sees you real fast, goes,

did you see what happened? No, no, they just came in. Apparently there were more than the five that returned. You can see at this point, Roskello gets up again and pushes off like, The five that returned. You can see at this point, Roskello gets up again and pushes off like, look, we lost about four down there.

We burned the bodies, don't worry. However, I think we found the doors to the Filament's Herald. There was a guardian at the gate, a very dangerous one, but we managed to take it down. And it grabs his side, and you can see now, where he has his cloak wrapped around him, the cloak has been hiding how bad it was, but the cloak is starting to turn dark red.

And immediately, two scholars grab his arms, pull him aside, and someone shouts out, Get through, Voh, get in, get someone! The delvers are hurt! He's like, we're so close, the gate's there. I need to, I need to be the one to see the monastery. I've earned it. He leans forward and at this point,

Idrova steps forward and pats him on the shoulder and goes, look, love, you need to recover. And the purpose and import of this is above you. This is the scholar's jurisdiction. You've done your job. Now, your current deed is to survive. So, do it." And she turns around to the rest of the scholars,

and they all begin to talk amongst themselves. Aaron creeps in and goes, "'What was that? Rascallo, is he okay?' I think so. Actually, Aaron, come with me. Can I go up to Roscalo? Yeah, so Roscalo's currently pushing away some of the scholars as they're trying to help him over towards Truvo.

And I'm sure Truvo has got his hands full. Truvo is currently in the process of gathering a troop to start handling the rest of the four other delvers who have returned. And you look upon them, one of them is missing a leg and is like, like, tourniquet placed upon it that's barely functioning. Somebody else is like, their hand is on their neck

and you can see they're like, pale in the face and they're still leaking as much as they're trying to hold it as much as they can. It is a very dire situation for these delvers. Does Rascallo look like if he doesn't receive urgent care, it could go very poorly very quickly? Go ahead and make an instinct roll for me if you don't mind. Pfft.

It's double 12s. Whoa! Dang! We're going to die as soon as we get into battle. Yes, you are. You are going to roll terribly when it matters. Not as long as I'm with you. That's great, so take a hope. Thank you, yeah. And if you had a stress, you'd clear it.

Roskelo looks quite hurt. You can see there is a puncture in his torso, like right beneath the rib cage, that goes through his armor, and that's what he's trying to hold and plug it with, like, looks like a heavy part of his leather glove, is like the finger's pushed into the puncture wound, but it's still soaking through.

With that roll, he'll likely survive, but he'll be down for weeks. But he's still pushing aside, and eventually, Truvo and some of the other brought-in assistants are starting to try and hold him down. He's like, no. We're right there, we're right there, and no one's taking this away from me. And spits up blood on his legs.

Someone give me a bottle of wine or something. Idrova, Rascalo's done a lot. I think we can take care of him. If he'll just come with me, we'll take him off your hands. Kinda looks you up and down. SAM. It would be our honor. MATT. Very well. Just don't have his death on your hands. SAM. Of course.

MATT. The drover turns back and continues to walk. Rascaloh, at this point, as Truvo's trying to get his troupe together to help him, you saddle up next to him and he's like, Arryn, Arryn, come on. Yeah, yeah, what? Over this way. Right, oh, Rascal-o, we got you, don't worry. Can we try and take him by the shoulders and just lead him a little bit away from the hustle

and bustle, maybe just around the nearest corner? Yeah, you bring him in, like, this village is, especially given the fact that small town talk gets around quickly, even as you move around the nearest corner. Yeah, you bring them in. This village is especially given the fact that small town talk gets around quickly. Even as you move around the corner, there are people that are trying to look and listen in at the distance. I'm gonna move over. I was gonna say, Missy, we wanna.

Yes. Let's go. I'm gonna move over to meet them around the corner. Same. May I lift you? She's a friend. Right. I am a friend. Of course.

Would you like help? Sure. So I'll pick him up and I will cradle his head and just hold him. And you're like, let me see your side. I'll hold him out to be inspected. You need an assistant here. I think so. All right. And I'll hold my hands up, and you'll see them start to glow.

But I'll tuck in behind Misty, and I'll use. I'll put a wing blocking to keep us in private. This might hurt. Hold tight, friend. And I'll use Sparing Touch to heal two hit points on Rosgalo. And hopefully immediately staunch that wound. And while it's happening, I will say, listen, I understand that information and knowledge are power,

and there are those here that are well-intended, but we would be very interested in knowing what you know. We can help. As he's trying to bat you off, still entranced by this angelic figure that he's seen around town, but never directly engaged with.

I just try to ease him because I can feel his tension, and I smile with my stone teeth. How is the damage, by the way? He's on the cusp of death. Okay, so there's still te still healing that can be done. Oh yeah, you heal him up and the wound closes to the point where he's no longer going to bleed out. Right. Which is good. And as soon as that kind of, his breath comes in, he's like,

what did you, how did? I know you have questions, I don't have a lot of the answers. Listen, I know I've only... Looks at you. Garrick, you know I've always... MATT and TRAVIS and SAM and MATT and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and MATT and TRAVIS and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and

TRAVIS and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and TRAVIS and SAM and TRAVIS and

SAM and Oh, which ones am I gonna use? Which ones? How many do you have? Well, there's a lot in here. There's a zero to four. I said dice we just got today. It matters. It does matter.

Okay, that is annoying. And you have three, so it's 12. 14 with hope. 14 with hope, okay. So take a hope on that one. Okay. As Ros'kala calms a little bit. I'm gonna slowly walk up, use the hat

to keep my face a little hidden, and I'm going to, also medical professional, one moment, and I'm gonna see if there's anything visible that also still needs work, other than if that gash is finally caught up or? I mean, he's gonna survive. It's gonna take a little bit of recovery time. They're all manner of other wounds,

but also Raskella was covered in scars, old and newish. But he'll survive, but he's gonna need a few days of recovery even at this rate. He's no longer in danger. Okay, so we're good on, I'm good on. Just to be careful, just where it got healed up, I'm going to do a little bit of suturing. Okay. And I'm just going to take a little, yeah, it's almost like I kinda smear a little bit of blood and I'm gonna mix it into some silk thread

that comes out of my mouth, grab a little needle and just start going very, very quickly. He doesn't even notice, because he's still kind of looking at the two of you. And Idrova is part of the Triarch, right? Idrova is, yes. Idrova. Can we say, we've shown you some trust here.

We're vulnerable. I know you've seen me around, and I've asked before to join the Delvers. This means a lot to me. I think I and we could be of great help to you. This is the Rascalan? Yeah. Yeah.

Aaron is right, he's like, indeed, you know, I've been all throughout them vaults all over and been an absolute necessity for a number of your folk there. Rascal nods and goes, we lost some good men in sight, "'and there's one that might still be alive in there.'" She has a lot of value.

She can move quietly and unseen, and if you really think you found the Filaments Hollow, we'd be interested in helping you. But she's a child. I am not a child. I am not a child. I am a Delver Scout, thank you very much. He's like, Look.

I can talk to Iduasi. If you have a crew you can throw together to see if you can bring back Vellk. You know Vellk Dravenmoor. Oh, Vellk's still out there? Vellk, he's referring to, is the one that got left behind. Vellk Dravenmoor? Yeah, Dravenmoor.

Member of the Vigil. Moonlight says, occasionally a Delver. Very powerful male Qatari. Almost lion-like in his exterior. I know Vellk sustained the wound, but we could not recover a body, and he's a survivor. But if he's in there and needs help, you go find him. We could help.

Don't you even go to that monastery without me. No. At least, mine to have. I understand. We would go as quickly as we can, if you don't think the Triarch would mind. He pushes against your arm, and Eskillo steps out of your grasp and onto his legs again. Catches himself as you finish suturing.

Yep. I'll talk to Ituashi. Gather your things. For the more time that goes by, the less chance there is that he's alive. Don't fuck this up. Don't take that monastery from me. You have my word. He grabs the front of your cloak and breastplate area there, where the leather tunic ring is, and pulls you in. That's mine to uncover.

It's yours. And he starts and hobbles back over to where the rest of the scholars are. His hair, he's got amazing hair. He's very obsessed with the monastery. Idle just rubs his shaved head obsessively. I'm sorry, I know that you kind of got thrown into that, but. No, it's really okay.

I like having a purpose and I like having a job. Yeah. I want to help in any way I can, I am a friend. We get to go up into the, like, even close to the monastery? I am putty in for that. Yes, so much more. Can we go to there? Well, let's start by getting Velk

and then we'll see what happens. It doesn't look that far. Just like, kind of like, look where her giant arm is pointed. The massive, sheer, bladed cliffside of the Greifkleif Mountains there above you itself, an ominous, unclimbable death trap for those who were to traverse it on the outside.

It's not the distance, it's the altitude that's really the trouble. I understand. But the Firmament Harrow, which is the rocky outcropping that the monastery was built on, that partially collapsed after the apostasy, the majority that still remains there with the monastery itself aloft, beautiful architecture that still sits above and a gorgeous and ominous relic of the old world there and the hope that the vaults still can lead up to it. If indeed this gate has been found

to the firmament's harrow, it would be an ascending path. has been found to the firmament's harrow, it would be an ascending path to the monastery. Doesn't take too terribly long before Raskello speaks to Etwandy and in the interest of haste towards the hope of saving a life of a very respected member of the Vigil. You are told to leave within the hour. You are given permission.

And Aaron and Nuf is like, honestly, it's okay. I know most of where we've already been before. I have myself a little rundown of where we're going. Just make sure you bring some snacks. Those of us who enjoy them. And I guess anyone of able body or mind, just the three of us?

Well, Erin. That feels like not enough. We're gonna need more, but I wanna be clear with you. We're going farther than even you have ever gone. Okay, well, I'll go as far as I know, and then I'll get behind you, and then you go further. And then that'll be as far as I've gone. Sure.

You know what you can do, Aaron? Yep. Go find Snicks. Okay. I think we're gonna need. I think we need more people. Someone that can navigate as well as you can. Oh, so you find a replacement.

No, not a replacement, a supplement. It's called redundancy. Someone I gotta train. I wouldn't mind a second in command. Yes. As I understand it, when people go there, some of them don't come back. So probably we should have our numbers much higher.

I see. I see. Redundancy. Redundancy, which is what you just said and now I understand. I'll get him. And she darts off, running that direction. We follow Erin as she runs into the interior tent

of Truvo the Hedge, where you are sat up, hearing all this commotion going on and feeling much better than you were the night before. Hey! Ah! Snicks! What? You're coming with us! What? We're going in the vaults. Idle said that we need a secondary scout to work under me and I'm going

to train you. To work under you? Yeah, come on! Grabs your hand and starts pulling you out of the tent. I don't work for anybody else right now. It's just me. The vault? That's scary. I don't work for anybody else right now. It's just me. The vault, that's scary. I don't want to go down there. She's just diving in the sand like,

she's rambling at this point, like, so we're going to go on down the bottom pit floor. It splits off into four different directions there. Now, the second one from the left is how the large marble pillars on each side. Go ahead and stay to the right-hand side so you avoid the cliff faces falling off and the death below.

I pull myself back. What are you talking about? We can't go in the vault. People die down there all the time. Only the ones who don't know what they're doing. I don't know what I'm doing. But I'm gonna teach you. Forgive me, but you don't know what you're doing either.

Pfft. Such is hurtful. We need someone, if you're gonna go down there, if anybody's gonna go down there, you need somebody brave, strong. MATT, with a voice, like, you? SAM, with a voice, like, no!

MATT, with a voice, like, then who do you recommend? I mean, if none of the Vigil are going, you should get Brixton. Would you go if Brixton's going? SAM and LIAM and SAM and LIAM talking at the same time. MATT and SAM and LIAM talking at the same time. MATT and SAM and LIAM talking at the same time. SAM and LIAM talking at the same time. Yes. I heard my name and nothing else. Second, continue. I'm going on a mission.

I'll go with you. I am ready. I'm going on a mission. I will go. It's going to be dangerous. I, of course, am willing to risk it. That is because you are very brave. I know. Despite everything you just said that I wasn't listening to. Wait, what?

You were very brave. I am. I know. That's what I said. I'm not following this. Listen, I don't even know what this job is, honestly. I have a bunch of deliveries to make, so maybe you can just figure out what it is we're talking about and if there's any money in it. We're going to deliver a wounded vigil, you know, named Velk, back to the village safe and sound. You know, named Velk, back to the village safe and sound.

You're good at delivering. Just this time, the payload is alive. I come over and I, Aaron, I heard you shouting, is everything all right? I think we got ourselves two new members of our Delvin crew. Oh. Oh, you're going? Oh, of course. I don't know if Aaron told you,

but the reward for this mission is quite substantial. High monetary value. Magnificent. The scholars themselves have thrown quite a bit of tradable goods into the pot for those who return. Really? Yeah. They found the gate to the firmament's high. Aaron! They found the gate to the Firmament Fire.

Aaron! They found the monastery gate. Okay, is there money down there? They're good, yeah. Okay, okay. I think it would be very valuable to the Triarch. So, you know, if monetary compensation or favors of import to you.

I mean, you're the one who trades to the outer settlements. You tell us how useful that stuff is to have. Yeah, I mean, it's everything out there. Once you leave the walls, if you don't have anything to trade, you're as good as dead. And outside the walls is where the expertise we need. That's... Wait, we're going outside the walls?

Sure are. It's not within the walls. Not too far, it's a few miles up to the base of the mountain right there. I actually know the vaults quite well. Don't tell anybody. How? Wait! What? I'm usually just hiding behind the giant statue. Oh my god.

We're on the statue now, boy. Of course I know who you are. I've got a whole bunch of stuff for you. We'll do that later. Hello, August. Good to see you. It is so good to see you. Gentlemen, this is destiny calling.

It is? Yes. Can't you feel it? Deep down inside? We don't need no money. We do not need monetary payment. Our payment will be in honor and glory. I was promised stuff, but okay. Stuff is only secondary to glory.

Yes, glory and stuff. Yes. A bit of respect, glory and stuff. Yes. Bit of respect. Pile Keeper Brixton. Oh, boy. You hear the voice of Ember Warden Sheena. Oh shit. Not far behind you. Oh shit.

I was hoping we would be gone before this happened. Hello. You brashly speak loudly to my ears catch phrases that speak towards glory and beyond the wall. What pray tell is a pyrekeeper doing beyond the wall of Desperlok, Brixton? I'm sorry, Imber Warden, but I hope you would understand that our duty

to protect Desperlok extends just beyond the walls of just this pyre. I have put in an entire life's worth of service to this settlement. Please, please let me extend my life even further for this cause. MATT, SAM, and MARISHA, in unison, make a presence roll for me. Let's go! If anyone would like to aid, you can spend a hope to do so.

I would like to spend a hope to do so. All right, so spend a hope. You get to roll a d6 and add that to her roll. Okay. Don't fucking dip this. She's gonna roll a d6. She's gonna roll a d6. Ooh, ooh. That's good.

12 plus eight is 20 plus five, 25 with hope. Good god. That's pretty fucking good, okay. Yes. Take that hope. Add plus what? Or did you add that bonus? Plus five is the bonus. Plus five is the bonus. Oh, okay. Yes. Take that hope. Add plus what? Or did you add that bonus? Plus five is the final, oh, sorry.

24 because I have a minus one presence. Ah, that'll do. 24. Kind of gives you a stern hard look. I am just fueled by what we have lost in the Old World, and I have hope. We all must have hope. That the entire valley could once be returned to the valiant glory we once knew. MATT, as Veth, who is now a And you became one in my stead. To watch this flame is one of the greatest honors,

and you have done so. I know it is sacrilege to abandon my post, but I hope you would not see it as abandonment, but merely an extension of the servitude that I am so bound and dedicated to. empire. To kindle is but one way to protect it. To see that those that receive its boon live is for a time. Do not fail me, and do not disappoint our order. MARISHA and LAURA. Thank you, Amber Warden. I will not disappoint you. MATT. No, you will not. She walks away. That did not go the way I thought it was going to. Neither did I. Yes, she's a terrifying woman, but she arguably saved my life.

Let's go quickly before she changes her mind. Do we need anything before we go? Pick up supplies? What are we even doing? We're going down into the vaults to save some guy? No, we're going after Vigil, Velk, Dravenmoor. Going up, technically, also. But he's not, like, what are we gonna,

I mean, is it a clear shot? Do we know what we're facing? No. We do know there were nine or 10 of them and five made it back. And we just need him, or to know what happened to him, or a body, or a body part. And if we do this, we get glory.

Among other things. And stuff. And stuff. And what do you get out of it? Increased favor with the delvers and the vigil, and a little more station around here. SAM and TALIESIN and SAM and LIAM and SAM and LIAM and a little more station around here. A bit of respectability could use some.

Besides, if we find anything of particular interest while along the way, if it doesn't get cataloged and just happens to stay in our midst, who's to be none the wiser? I'm going to try and decide to idle. Are we gonna take them with us or not? I don't want to. I... I'll tell you what. Distract them for a minute.

Right. Okay. Uh, Aaron, can we kind of strategize for just a second? Oh yeah, no, I can go ahead, I was planning to go talk to Friskala and see if I can figure out where their last path was, and I can go ahead and see. There's a map.

Very quietly, oh, there is a map. Don't worry, we know. Very quietly, I'm going to take a thread out of my mouth and just sort of tap it and shoot it right into her ear, and then say, and I it right into her ear. And then say, and I'm gonna cast Slumber. Okay. Do you have a hope to burn for a little help?

I 100% do, have my hope. So throw that d6 at me when you get a second. You can roll it or I can roll it? You roll it, this is traditional. Oh, yeah, we're good, so that's 28 with fear. 28 with fear. You whisper as Erin's like,

I'm gonna go ahead and catch her, you catch her, her, you know, teenage waif-like body, which makes her so deft in traversing the exterior, unnoticed, unseen, and so quickly. Also makes her relatively easy to catch for someone as brawny as you. But she, the process of doing so

and immediately realizing that Garrick, her father, might be somewhere around, causes you to glance around heavily, and you take a stress, just glancing in the vicinity out of fear of being caught. SAM and MARISHA and SAM and MARISHA and Nowhere near present, you think, that's good. Let's get home really quick, and then we can get on our way.

Can I grab that map? Sure, go ahead and you clutch a write-up of the various tunnels with absolutely no labeling nor indication of where the beginning, end, or direction is supposed to be. We've got to go to Rascal, though, like everyone's going to. She's going to be so fucking mad at us. Let's drop her off at home really quick. Did you kill her?

What's in that snore? She's fine, come on. I think that was very wise to do. She won't thank us, but I think Garrick will. I think her father will. We'll go in and we'll tuck her in, nice cover up with a blanket, leave a little note, be back soon, don't follow us.

See you before nightfall. Maybe, sorry. Sorry. The dad insisted. You plant her back in her abode with the understanding with Garek that she is to have a little nap. Gather your supplies as you feel are necessary

for this rescue mission. And with a bit of approval and a bit of guidance from Maskelo for the path they last took beneath the ruins, you are pushed beyond the slag wall exterior of Desperlok in the midday. The jungle itself tangled and ominous around you as you set foot in the direction of the base of the mountains and the vaults below.

That's where we're gonna take a break. Oh! We're outside the walls! We're outside the walls! Going up the map! Or under the map, a wall! Hey, we all made it to the first break! That's great!

Yay! We lived! We lived! You almost signed him, Prologue it to the first break! That's great! Yay! You lived! You almost died in prologue! I'm the best! Snick-sneaked! This is fun. So we'll come back here in just a few minutes.

We'll see you guys here shortly. Yay! That's a wrap for part one of this podcast episode. Part two will land here the Tuesday after this episode at 5 a.m. Pacific, and we'll pick up this story right where we left off. Until next time, keep the Umbra at bay, and we'll be back for more of this adventure before you know it.