Critical Role - Exandria Unlimited Episode 8: What Comes Next
Episode Date: August 19, 2021Face to face with the foe who has been following them through the jungle, the group must use every ability and asset at their disposal to contend with a force that threatens to tear them apart at the ...very seams...Watch Exandria Unlimited Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://twitch.tv/criticalrole and https://youtube.com/criticalrole.
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Welcome to Exandria Unlimited on the Critical Role Podcast Network.
I'm Matthew Mercer, Game Master of Critical Role and player of EXU.
Exandria Unlimited airs Thursdays at 7pm Pacific on Twitch and YouTube.
If you'd like to watch the VOD, it's available immediately for Twitch channel subscribers
and is uploaded to YouTube on Mondays at noon.
Exandria Unlimited is of course also available in podcast form on Thursdays,
a week after the original broadcast, right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network.
Alright, let's get to the adventure.
Hello, and welcome to Exandria Unlimited. I am Aabria Iyengar, and though I normally go by Game Master, my outfit would suggest today that Dungeon Master is a far more appropriate appellation.
So we'll go with that.
Before we get started with our glorious finale,
I want to remind you all one more time
about this most excellent of tables.
So let's do some introductions.
Robbie. Woo!
My name is Robbie Damon and I left all my latex at home.
But that doesn't mean I'm not equally dangerous
as Dorian Storm, the Air Genasi Bard,
here to rock your world.
Let's go!
Finale time!
Ow!
Woo!
Blam!
I'm Liam O'Brien.
I am wearing latex.
You just can't see it.
I am playing as Orym of the Ereshari,
the Halfling of my dreams.
He is so dreamy.
Let's play.
He's so dreamy.
Don't say nice things like I won't kill you off, Ashley.
Oh, hello.
I am Ashley Suzanne Johnson.
I am playing Fearne Calloway,
and I was going to try to make a latex joke.
Like, my skin is, I can't, I got to work on it.
Too quick to think of something.
We'll workshop that.
It's a work in progress.
So I'm a Fawn Druid.
Hey!
Hey!
Oh, perfect.
Hi, I'm Matthew Mercer.
I play Dariax, the Dwarven Sorcerer,
and I chose instead to go more of a vinyl tight pants.
Ooh, yeah, I see.
I know, it's very.
The squeak in room is minimal.
Great, great.
Go ahead.
Love to hear it. Sweaty.
Hi, I'm Amy Carrero.
I play Opal a hexblade warlock
who is fresh out of spells
yeah
that's what it's about
warlock life
alright since these episodes
are wonderfully pre-taped
we're gonna throw
to our favorite time traveler
in the whole world
Matthew Mercer
for some announcements
and sponsor-eats
take it away cozy Matt
thank you Abrea.
This episode of EXU is sponsored by Bethesda
and ZeniMax Online Studios and their latest release,
The Elder Scrolls Online Blackwood,
which is available now on all platforms.
Join the over 18 million players in the award-winning RPG
and enter the Gates of Oblivion.
ESO Blackwood is optimized for Xbox Series X, S, and PlayStation 5,
and both the base game and the Blackwood chapter are on sale on select platforms, so act fast.
Check out everything right now at elderscrollsonline.com.
This episode is also sponsored by Sega and their game Humankind.
Not Dogkind. Sorry.
A turn-based historical strategy game where you'll be rewriting the entire narrative of human history
and combining cultures to create a civilization that's as unique as you are.
From the humble origins of a Neolithic tribe to the early modern British era,
the legacies of each culture you select carry on throughout the ages,
giving you unique bonuses with a near endless combination of outcomes.
Check out the game and you can visit store.humankind.game
to pre-purchase Humankind right now and get 17% off.
Thank you so much for joining us live on Twitch and YouTube.
But to join our live and moderated community chat, please head on over to our Twitch channel.
And you can join us next Thursday, August 19th, on Twitch and YouTube for our second Elder Scrolls Online session,
sponsored by our friends at Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios.
Marisha Ray will be taking over the GMC
to continue the adventure
from our last Elder Scrolls Online session
with the incredible cast of Michelle Wynn-Bradley,
Abria Iyengar, Laura Bailey, Sam Riegel,
and Taliesin Jaffe.
And please be sure to join us
for Exandria Unlimited's roundtable-style campaign wrap-up
hosted by our very own creative director, Marisha Ray,
on Thursday, August 26th, on Twitch and YouTube.
And with that, from me and a delightfully sleepy Omar,
back to you, Aabria.
Hey, Matt.
I think it's so great that you decided to do that last ad read
in a full Dorian cosplay
with the face paint. Yes!
It's beautiful.
And just the attention and craftsmanship.
It was a treat. Thank you.
Thank you for that. Beautiful.
Get to work, Matt.
I love you.
He's not so cozy anymore.
Well. Ooh.
Uh, I better start getting on it.
You.
I love you. Love you.
I actually, I love you all.
So are you ready?
No!
I know, yes, but no.
All right, well then,
let's start the finale of Exandria Unlimited.
Woo! Thank you. One night in Nyarlapak.
Revelations, realizations, and a new direction forward.
You decided to head south through the lower jungle towards the heart of the Iron Authority in order to find Tetrarch Umeji, to find and avert some yet unknown disaster.
You came across the ruins of Nirdal Sarket,
the spiritual center of the Cunyera Tetrarchy,
and marveled at a massive floating stone hexahedron
covered in runes and light.
You climbed it, translated it,
and inadvertently gave portions of your own life force
to summon violent stone constructs.
Fern, you seized control of the entire cube,
and by halting its rotation, caused it to shatter apart
and unleash a bright blue miasma of arcane energy
that flows around you and through you and remains still.
It also called her to you all.
Marauder Nizalor, the purple-clad arcanist from Syngorn
that has stalked you halfway around the world
and even into the streets of Neardalpok has arrived.
She attacked Opal during your fight,
sending residuum needles into both of your shoulders and your
forehead, and tethering
you to
something.
As she stepped out, finally,
into view, she spoke words of greeting,
even as her magic slammed
Opal to the ground.
Our ever-defiant
warlock growled back,
and as she stood over Opal, our villain retorted,
I'm not talking to you.
Orym, you're the closest to the scene right now,
just a scant 40 feet away.
Make a perception check for me.
Natural 20.
Hey!
Well, dang.
I'll let you ask a follow-up question,
but I will offer that as you're watching all of this occur,
as you see this woman standing over your friend
and comrade in arms, you hear behind you
the ever-approaching footsteps of one last stone construct,
the one that you knocked off of the platform
very early in the fight,
and I am not bitter about at all,
headed in your direction.
With a natural 20,
you actually see that off in the clearing
at that very edge of the trees
to the side, you see little Mister,
a little Debrazus monkey that's cheering on his mom
and staring up at the platform.
And with a natural 20,
I will offer you something that I was trying
to keep close to the vest,
that Murata Nizilor is not alone.
That's what I was going to ask.
Okay, is there anything else you want to know?
No, I just wanted to know if I could see,
in addition to the lumbering fella behind me,
if there was anyone else hiding behind her.
Got to give it to you.
We respect a crit in this house.
There are two other figures,
deeper, hanging back in the shadows.
So what do you want to do? hanging back in the shadows.
So what do you want to do?
I am going to...
Shoot, is she right above? She's on Opal?
She's not making physical contact.
She's just hovering imperiously over her
in a moment that I have decided in my head
is very cool looking.
You're not alone.
Oh my god, thanks.
Have inspiration for believing in my vision.
Yay! Yay!
If I'm able, I'm going to dive off of the column
that I'm on into a roll and out of the roll into a run
and try to get into the middle of it.
Okay.
Yeah, I'm not going to make you roll for that
because you're nimble and I just,
we don't need to hear you succeed again, you're fine.
You jump off and you're headed over.
Make a dexterity saving throw.
That is a 19.
With a 19, you're able to curve
just as you hear the whistle of a crossbow bolt
that was headed for your center mass,
and you're able to turn it away and not get hit by it,
but you know that there is some suppressing fire
if you keep running forward.
What do you want to do?
I'm going to continue.
Okay.
Murata immediately stiffens up and steps back.
And you're still pinned on the ground.
Do I have any use of my hands?
Possibly.
The spell you attempted to cast didn't require
any movement on your end, so I don't know
if you necessarily have a strong sense yet
of how you are physically limited by those needles and those tethers.
Can I try to stick my hand in my pocket?
Yeah, give me an athletics check.
Actually, give me a sleight of hand check.
Six.
I'll roll against it. There's a chance.
There's not.
As you go, you're straining against
what feels like gravity quadrupled on you.
And as you get your hand just over your pocket,
this is the last thing that I'm going to let Murata do
before you can get there and inter of interpose yourself. She kicks
your hand away and is stepping on your wrist.
Okay. And then you get there.
Bitch.
What's everyone else doing? You guys are on the platform
highest and farthest away.
It's going to take you, you're about
120 feet away from like where the
action is for what it's worth.
120 feet straight down pretty much?
You're a little closer,
so I'll say you're probably about 80 feet away.
You were back on the top back edge of the platform.
Okay.
Yeah, we're both up on that platform
where we just took that guy out.
Oh yeah, that's right.
So at least at this point, I'm like,
ah, thanks for the assist.
No problem.
You're not going to jump off the edge, too.
Well, how much do we see?
Well, I'll let you see all of it.
I want you to see it.
We have to get down there.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, hold on.
I put my arm out.
Yes.
Okay.
All right, and I just grab you at the waist
and take off. Nice.
Oh, you're bigger than I thought!
I'm very heavy.
Wait.
No, you're not.
It's not heavy.
Dense. You're just dense.
Very, very dense.
Yeah, oh, furry, though. It's nice and comfy.
And looking over,
Dorian, you're still up on there as well?
Yeah, I'm below you, right in the center one.
Look at my other arm and go,
maybe room for one more?
All right, we'll give it a try.
And we'll do a classic one of those.
Ah, nice. So dope.
And it takes all of Dariax's strength
to not immediately plummet,
but gradually, strainingly bring them to the ground.
I'm trying to
I've got my wing boots on,
trying to give you a little flutter. I'm trying to I've got my wing boots on, trying to give you a little less.
A little flutter. Yeah.
I'm off kilter now, look!
I'm in your hands if you believe.
Yeah.
Okay, all righty.
Shit.
Point over towards what's happening over here.
Orym, what are you doing?
Shield up, I'm short,
but shield up over Opal
trying to push back against this woman.
I start booking it.
Talk to Opal. All right.
You guys are on the ground running, and you hear it, too.
Then around the corner,
erupting from that lower, broken miasma below you,
where the platforms were, you actually see
that last stone construct, a little bit shattered,
a little bit broken, a little bit broken,
falling apart actively, is sprinting across
and headed straight for Mister.
Oh.
Okay.
Mister, come here.
Come to Mama really quick.
Real fast, come on.
He immediately starts sprinting for you.
Okay.
How close is the construct to him?
The way this is working out,
Mister is going to reach you, the three of you,
at the same time this construct meets the three of you.
Okay.
Finish the job?
Yeah. You don't have time to talk.
I need all three of you to make a dexterity save.
Nah, I'm all right. Okay.
Ooh. 16.
Okay.
15. All right.
Dirty 20.
Ooh! Goodness.
Yeah, as Mister gets to you all,
you're able to see as the construct comes forward,
arm stretch and tries to break the ground under you
and you're able to roll away.
So you guys, the three of you are facing off
against this one other one.
Okay.
Would my staff still be activated? Did you grab snakes with you?
Like, you just had some loose snakes?
Just some loosey-goosey.
You just, you know, flop around?
Yeah, did you just have loose snakes in your hand
as you were flying down?
I'm telling you, yeah.
Just like, ah!
Truth or wild, y'all.
Okay. Let me think of something else here.
We have options here, guys. We have options.
Okay. I'm going to let you think about it,
form a plan between the three of you,
and we'll cut back to Opal and Orym.
Oh, thanks for dividing based on letters.
That is helpful. I appreciate that a lot.
Inspiration?
You know what?
All of you have a round of inspiration going into the finale.
Okay, can I, so can you paint a picture
so I'm pinned to the ground, one of my hands,
she's pinning on it, and then he's on top,
like on top of Opal. Yeah, he's interposing himself
between. Getting my shield in her face.
Yeah. In Murata's face?
Yeah. Do you have your other hand available?
Oh, it's got a sword in it.
Oh, okay, never mind.
Okay.
I mean, I want to use my other hand.
Okay, what do you want to try to do?
I want to stick my fucking hand in my pocket.
You're just trying for the pocket again?
Yeah, because there's a ring in the pocket
and I want to put the ring on, see if it happens.
Okay.
Go ahead and make an athletics check for me.
Oh, come on. With disadvantage,
because I said it's very heavy out today.
I know, I know it's heavy.
It's very heavy out today.
I love that.
That's the mood for the last year.
Yeah, no joke.
Okay, so that's going to be,
oh, that's a minus one.
That's going to be a 13.
Okay.
You know what?
I'm going to say your passive perception's high enough
that you see what's happening here
and you can absolutely move your shield a little bit
to give her some cover.
Sure, I could.
Oh, you mean opposing her view?
Yeah. Yeah.
You're just sort of, you're obscuring enough
of Murata's view that she's going to let this happen.
Okay, so what do you grab from your pocket?
So while I'm pinned down,
I would like to go across to my other pocket
and I feel for the ring that I stole
from one of Murata's assassins that made him invisible.
I don't know if that's the thing that made him invisible,
but I put it on and as I put it on,
I try to locate Ted somehow
without saying anything to see if she's around.
I'm going to make you make a choice here.
Okay. Do you care more about
finding Ted or equipping this ring?
Finding Ted.
Okay, so you're fishing in your pocket.
What are you doing to try to reach out to Ted?
I'm literally just seeing,
in my mind, calling out for her
to see if she'll answer me.
Okay, make a charisma,
I'm going to call this a charisma saving throw.
You're not saving against a bad effect.
I just want this to be based heavily
in your spellcaster ability.
That's a 13.
Okay.
You reach out and call, and you feel,
you feel Ted standing there.
and you feel Ted standing there.
You can hear her yelling back at you.
She is screaming, but she's awake.
She's up. She sees through your eyes
everything that's happening right now.
But I sense she's in danger.
She is way more freaked out about this than you are.
Oh yeah. For me or for herself?
With a 13, you're not sure.
Okay.
I'm going to go from you to you.
Orym, what do you want to do?
I'm going to scream out over my shoulder,
Marauder didn't come alone!
And I'm going to then push back with the shield
and then slash at her arm.
Amazing. Okay. Go ahead and her arm. Amazing. Okay.
Go ahead and make an attack roll.
Okay. Against my girl.
This is hurtful.
Not too good.
That is a 14 to hit.
Yeah.
You slash out and you see that your sword
gets lost in the billows of her fabric
and never quite makes purchase.
Even though there's something visually,
you can see her physicality.
You know that should have hit something,
but it seems to have gotten lost
within the folds of her robe.
She takes a step back and looks over her shoulder and says,
All right, fine.
If we're just going to do this,
then we're going to do this.
So I need all of you to roll initiative.
Okay.
Ooh, who's in the shed?
It's time!
Oh shit, I meant to, yeah, sorry.
I'll roll it again.
I just wanted to see which dice was going to be the best.
Oh, that was good.
So you just rolled 13 dice to get a lullop?
I'm sure an initiative has popped up in there somewhere.
All right, 25 to 20.
22, roll the natural 20.
Ooh! What?
I get them every now and then.
21 for me.
Yeah! Team Double D!
Let's go! Please stop being
the same name next to each other.
Never!
De, de, D, D.
Very hurtful.
You want to get skipped?
This is how you get skipped.
You're the uppercase, I'm the lowercase.
Okay, so we get that.
Oh, I should do lowercase.
Yes, that's smart.
Look at that, guys.
Learning is a lifelong process.
Dorian, it was a 21?
Mm-hmm.
Cool, cool, cool. 18 and three.
All right.
19 to 15?
19.
Amazing.
18.
Woo, oh my god.
Oh, hold on.
My guys rolled really, really badly.
So this is going to be very fun.
18, 14 to 10.
12. Okay.
Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
Oh boy.
I have some ideas, but that could change
by the time everybody. Use them all, use them all.
Heart rate is up.
Got us rolling initiative. Me too, me too, me too.
That everyone?
Everyone.
Yeah. Yes.
Okay. Might be this coffee or...
All right.
Beautiful. You're a certain death.
Hope you guys ask these people's names,
because I wrote them.
All right, Dariax, you're up first.
All right, so hearing what Orym says over there
and glancing back in that direction,
do I see the other two figures that he's pointed out
or I just see the one?
Go ahead and give me a perception check
with advantage because you were pointed
in the right direction.
All righty.
That's a 14.
Yeah.
You spot them as they're moving through
and the light is beginning to hit them.
You see a taller figure, male, a caster,
and a shorter figure, a female, holding a crossbow.
All righty, all righty.
I'm going to say, in how far away is Orym from me?
About 25 feet. 25 feet? All right, well, let's go ahead and finish this guy off
and catch up with them.
I'm going to go ahead and since Bless has dropped
in the interim, I'm going to go ahead and cast Bless again.
Yes.
And I'm going to go ahead and put that on Orym,
Dorian, and Fearne.
Make an arcana check for me.
Bless.
No, Opal. Bless. No, opal.
Bless.
No, sorry.
Opal's not blessed?
Oh no.
Opal's magically pinned to the ground.
They're more useful at the moment.
That is BS and seven.
Yeah, okay.
Moving on.
Anyway, it was fine.
I asked it for no particular reason.
Fine.
Anything with your bonus action? No bonus action, but if I feel. It's fine. Anything with your bonus action?
No bonus action, but if I feel, yeah, yeah.
I'm going to go ahead and fly up about 50 or so feet
to get an overall view and to get out of the mix
to have better choices.
If I still got the wings.
You've still got the wings.
All right. Oh yeah, baby.
You are going to take an opportunity attack.
Sure!
Okay. Sure.
Eat that reaction.
All right, 19?
Yeah, it hits.
All right.
And you get backhanded.
Why did I pick the darkest die?
For five points of bludgeoning damage.
Ow!
It just swats you upward.
I deserve that.
Okay, Dorian, you're up.
So we've got this trio at our flank,
and then coming from the other side
is our rock construct.
The rock construct is right in front of you now.
Oh, he's not sprinting anymore.
Yeah, he made it. He's here.
He done sprinted. Shit.
He's here and backhanded Dariax.
Fuck. Yep.
But are we engaged yet?
Or we are engaged? Yeah.
I do still maintain my concentration
from the hit, by the way.
Smart, thank you.
Things I meant to ask and I remembered.
Oh, that's right.
I need to knock the Bless off of you.
Noted.
God, that sounds very aggressive.
The Bless was a very useful last time.
I will not let that stand twice.
I, having been on that side, respect it.
Yeah.
Now that he's flown away,
could I still do my 15-foot cube without hitting anybody?
If I were to put myself at the edge of the cube,
could I cast Thunder Wave?
I am 100% fine with that, yeah.
Okay. You can absolutely
find the angle. Yeah, yeah, I'll make that cube. Go out that way, I'll find the angle. Yeah, for sure. Cool. Then I will cast Thunder Wave? I'm 100% fine with that, yeah. Okay. You can absolutely find the angle. Yeah, yeah, I'll make that cube.
Go out that way, I'll find the angle.
Yeah, for sure. Cool.
Then I will cast Thunder Wave.
Cool, cool, cool.
I roll a 15 for the save.
That saves, for sure.
So half damage for 2d8. Half damage.
Yes.
Oh, 10, five.
Okay, that's not bad.
Yeah. He's already pretty injured.
So yeah, what does it look like?
Ooh, it's quick because of everything
that's going on is so quick,
and I pulled it off once before,
so I'm just going to be protecting this side.
I'm going to give him another,
that sort of power snap that comes down.
But this time, instead of radiating out from me,
it comes from above in the miasma
among the broken up pieces of the cube
and just pops right in between us and pushes it.
You got to make an arcana check for me with advantage.
Okay.
15.
Advantage, at advantage.
Oh, advantage. Oh yeah, thank you.
Oh my god. Oh, better.
The mitigating pigeons are even out here.
18.
Dirty 20.
With a dirty 20, the moment you reach up
into this arcane cloud,
you feel almost as if it grabs you back.
And I'm going to say it doesn't do half damage.
It does full damage. Oh shit.
As you do that, as you reach into the ether
and this power flows towards you
and your desire to wreck shop.
Sweet. So I will double that damage.
All right, beautiful.
Sweet. Yes!
Passive perception is incredibly high.
You see that even as Murata
sort of dances away from you,
her eyes flick over into Dorian's direction
and she saw that and she smirks just a little bit
and begins to look up.
Okay. Okay.
All right, it's my bad boy's turn.
He's going to attempt to hit you.
He misses.
Good boy.
As, yeah, that thunder wave knocks off.
You see the seams at his shoulder,
the thinnest points of him are beginning to crack,
and as he goes and shifts to try to hit you again,
his arm looks in danger of falling off.
He's going to attempt to make the grapple check again, so please make a strength saving throw.
You have to beat a 13.
Plus a d4.
Plus a d4!
I think I'll need an 18.
Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I appreciate it.
Thank you for blessing me.
It's a d4.
And once again, my boys,
who have hugs from their primary thing that they do,
fail to do that.
Dance away. and my boys, who have hugs from their primary thing that they do, fail to do that.
Dance away. All right, Opal, you're up.
Okay, so the first thing I want to do
is I'm going to cast Hexblade's Curse on Marada.
And as an action, I'm going to try to unpin myself.
Is that an action?
Yeah. Okay.
I'm going to try to do that. I'm going to try to break
the Scrapple. Yeah.
Bah, bah, bah, bah.
So are you just trying to free your wrist?
No, I'm trying to free,
I guess, free the whole situation.
What are you doing to try to?
I would like to move, ma'am.
How are you trying to move?
I am asking an intelligence question here.
By? Either your character or you.
By, well, the only place she has me pinned is my...
Okay, just as a little refresher.
Where's she making contact?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been
a couple weeks. It's been a while.
It's been a while. Two weeks since we've been
in this game. Yeah.
You know that she's stepping on your wrist,
but the reason you're pinned to the ground
is that those needles of residuum
have slammed you down to the ground.
So the points of gravity are actually in your shoulders
and your head right now.
Yeah, so I'd like to get rid of those.
And I don't know how.
What do you want to do?
What are you attempting? Talk to me.
My first thought is to try to break them off.
This is going to sound very condescending,
but thank you for finally interacting with the needles.
Yes!
Well, we didn't have time before. We were in battle.
There's a lot going on.
There's a lot going on.
I would like to use my unpinned hand,
whichever one is free, to try to break them.
I think there's one here, one here, and one here.
Yep. Yeah, I'd like to break them.
Okay. So once again,
your hand is in your pocket right now.
So do you care more about putting on the ring
or trying to interact with your free hands
with these needles?
Action, Economi, what do you want to do?
Well, because I'm stupid. You're trying to rub it off.
Because I'm stupid, I'm going to put the ring on.
Okay.
The ring slips on.
Make an arcana check for me.
I mean, you guys, is this entertaining?
I love that! I hope so.
Always take the full choice.
My lucky fucking number this game, 14.
Well, it was a 13 before, so you're good.
Oh, that's true.
I do have a plus one on Arcana.
The moment you slip your finger onto it,
you have this sense of how the ring works.
It literally is like, as you disengage it from your finger,
you're taking off the spell,
and it's not just invisibility, it's greater invisibility.
Okay.
Which allows you to cast spells while you're within it.
Okay.
So I go, put that on.
Yep, and you screw it back on.
Screw it back on.
And, um.
Disappear from view. Orym, she disappears.
Disappear, and because I have already used
my bonus action and my action,
can I move now that I'm invisible, or am I still pinned?
You're still pinned down.
Okay, so what are my options?
What can I do right now?
Nothing?
Pray?
You can just think about what you wanted to do.
Great.
Okay.
And yep, okay, well, I'm just quietly in my mind
going to try to keep connecting to Ted.
Love it.
I mean, you have her.
I know, but like, tell me more!
Ah! Tell me more!
Stop yelling!
She's here!
Use your words, bitch!
Don't call me bitch, I'm having a day!
All hear screaming from the sky above you,
oh my god, they disintegrated Opal!
Okay. Okay.
So Marada looks under her foot.
She still feels your wrist under her shoe
and gives a little smirk like,
Oh, you kept it.
Sure.
A present, I'll reclaim it soon enough.
And she reaches up.
And she's a villain, so she loves a good monologue.
I know the two of you can hear me.
And I have burned so much energy,
strength, resources just to get here and now.
But you've given me such a delicious opportunity.
How could I say no?
And lightning begins to shoot out of her hands
and that blue miasma begins to turn purple.
And
Dariax, you see from your height
that there is a sigil beginning to form.
Dark runes, extremely complicated,
a lot like the ones that you saw at the ash hole, a sigil beginning to form. Dark runes, extremely complicated,
a lot like the ones that you saw at the ash hole,
beginning to form at the center of that circular plinth
under the shattered cube.
And she goes,
Oh, oh, this will be fun.
I love this for us.
And she pulls down her arm
and that purple energy shoots up and out and everywhere.
And I need everyone to make a wisdom saving throw.
Ooh.
Nine. 21. Five. 21.
Five.
14.
Yes, 13.
You're so good!
Do your dice know that there's other numbers?
No, I need to switch them up.
He's fired.
Just Fearne and Dorian,
you both get disoriented for a little bit.
There'll be a mechanical disadvantage
to the next action you take that involves a d20.
But when your eyes clear,
you hear this sound of breaking and tearing and changing
and the churning of the earth.
You look out and see that the jungle
in a mile and a half in every direction has been flattened
and this entire place has been leveled.
Oh no.
Oh no!
What did you do?
Oh god, do this carefully.
It's stuck on a tree, you'll know.
We couldn't talk for a minute, Orym.
Just say hey.
Talk amongst yourselves, this is a topic.
Talk amongst yourselves. You're all going to die in a second.
Oh no! That's a ruin. Talk amongst yourselves. Oh no!
That's a ruin.
It's a ruined ruin.
You ruined it.
A ruined, ruined, R-O-N-D, it's ruined.
Ruined, ruined, ruined?
All right. Ruined.
Okay. That's pretty sad.
Let's get you guys out on the field.
I'm going to say you're off here in the corner.
Boop.
And my sweet baby girl,
who's never done anything wrong,
will roll up.
And now, over you.
Our arms here, too.
All righty.
And your legs. Where can I put you most easily? All righty. I'm going to use my wings.
Where can I put you most easily?
I'm going to throw you guys over here.
Dariax, you're high in the sky.
Oh, I should have grabbed the thing.
I gave you the ability to fly
and didn't bring the tall stuff out.
All right, I'll put you over there
and we'll use our imaginations.
We love imagination.
I'm a big, cool, thick boy.
You heard of cool fuck boy?
Yeah, very cool fuck boy.
Get it.
Oxymoron for sure.
Yeah, no joke.
Does my Hexblade's curse only curse her
when I interact with her?
Yes. Or with anybody, okay.
I mean, read the spell, or read it to double check,
but I'm pretty sure that's how that works. I think it's just me. Or with anybody, okay. I mean, read the spell, or read it to double check, but I'm pretty sure that's how that works.
I think it's just me.
Cool, cool, cool.
And then my other two friends that are back here
and just walking up and in to hang out.
Okay, we're here.
We're doing it.
And next up is Orym.
Well, I'm going to do my thing and roll under her legs
and pop up behind her directly opposite from Opal.
And he pulls back his sword and looks
and is going to try to be more carefully
planning it in the small of her back.
Okay.
And that is a 25 to hit.
Whoa!
Oh my god.
Hey!
Yeah, that hit.
That's my little Nancy.
Get it, Nancy!
Reincorporated. Let's go, Nance!
That is just a five.
Oh wait, oh no, it's not to damage, it's just to the,
oh, it was actually a 28 to hit.
Yeah, okay. Just because.
It hit more than it did before.
Five points of damage.
Five points. Got a d4. Oh, to the damage, too? No, to the hit. Yeah, that was to the hit. That was that. Okay. Just because. It hit more than it did before. Five points of damage. It's five points. You got a d4.
Oh, to the damage, too?
No, to the hit.
Yeah, that was to the hit.
That was that.
Amazing. Anything else?
Yeah, I rolled really low.
No, that is...
Yeah, that's it. That's it.
Orym, make a wisdom, just a wisdom check for me. Oh, that's it. That's it. Orym, make a wisdom,
just a wisdom check for me.
Oh, that's real bad.
A wisdom check, so add my modifier.
It's not a lot of saving throw, you can add.
It's four. You can add your good stuff.
Same, four.
Okay.
Never mind, then.
You're good.
You feel a little tapped out?
Okay.
Anything else you want to do?
No, no, I'm just going to leave it at that.
You want to do something?
No, I want to stay right here with Opal, so that's it.
Okay.
All right.
My sweet girl,
her name is Ula,
she looks at you,
she's going to get a shot off on you,
and then disappear.
Oh god. 16 doesn't hit you and then disappear. Oh god.
16 doesn't hit you, does it?
Does not. Yeah!
Okay.
Yeah, you knock it away,
and then she disappears from view.
Shit. Marauder does?
No, the archer, the little crossbow archer.
Sneaky sneak that she brought. Crossbow B.
So we have an invisible ranged person
somewhere on the battlefield? No, she's not invisible.
She appears. Oh, okay.
She's popping out of a hole like a gopher.
Yep. Got it.
And appears across and is actually
still a little bit lower than you are,
but has that same looking out
and getting a full view of everything.
Got it. Okay.
Before I forget, you also get added to d4
to saving throws while you're blessed, too.
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
So my wisdom was over.
That was a five. Ah, damn it. Oh, that's right. That's right. So my wisdom was a five.
Ah, damn it.
Well, with a five.
No, okay, Fearne, you're up.
Okay.
I'm going to pull this up real quick.
So, Mister, it's time to throw some shit.
So I'm going to pull up his tail. I'm going to pull up his tail.
I'm going to pull up his tail
and I'm going to have him shoot some flaming seeds at,
Shh, shh.
At what?
At Construct.
Doof, doof, doof, doof.
Wielding your son like a gun.
Okay.
Point of fact, has he switched into his wildfire spirit mode? Oh shit. Okay. Point of fact, has he switched into his Wildfire Spirit mode?
Oh shit. Okay.
Action economy.
Correct.
Wildfire Spirit mode.
There we go.
He flares up.
Make an arcana check for me.
Okay.
Ooh, okay.
Dirty 20.
He is much, much bigger.
He reminds you of the fire elemental that he was
when you had to calm him down
when you were on top of the ash hole.
I've got to stop calling it that.
No, there's no way to do that.
No, no, no. It's me and it's Brandon.
Yeah.
So he's bigger and he stands of a height with you
and then slowly turns around and assumes the position.
All right, who do you want to shoot?
Who are you shooting at? Okay, the construct.
Yeah, okay, go ahead.
Let's get him out of the way.
Yeah, I was going to say.
Take the tail.
It's a scatling gun, if you will.
Yes!
Can we give you inspiration?
No, don't do that!
I would love it! Thanks!
Roll the Bless.
Okay, 16. Hold on.
Is Mister Blessed?
No, Mister is not Blessed, just you are. Sorry.
Okay, so that was a- Just be Mister. You are blessed.
I don't have items!
I'm sorry!
Sorry! Hashtag 13.
A 13 is going to hit the construct.
Great, okay.
This bad boy is pretty broken and damaged.
Okay, great.
So...
Please kill the scout.
Kill him with the poops.
Kill him with the poops.
Kill him with the hoops.
Say hello to my little friend.
Kill him with the poops. Kill him with the poo-poo. Kill him with the hoops. Say hello to my little friend.
Kill him with the poops.
Okay.
Five points of damage.
Nice.
Hey!
Where were you aiming Mister's butt?
I was trying to aim the hole in the trajectory,
also taking in range and motion. I was trying to aim the hole in the trajectory,
also taking in range and motion, because math.
Wind speed and direction. Wind speed, direction, all the whole thing.
Don't forget about velocity.
Velocity, thinking about all of that.
Thank you, Angry Birds.
And trying to right in the eye.
There you go. You remembered the eye.
Crystal. Perfect.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
It hits in the eye and it hits and burns like napalm.
And you see it sizzling into the crack
of this thing's blue,
actually shifting more towards purple gem.
And he staggers back.
Still up, but looking incredibly bad.
Beagle damage.
Beagle damage.
All right, that's your bonus action.
Okay. So what do you want to do
with your action?
How close am I to him?
Right next to him.
Okay.
That's ridiculous.
Hot pockets, hot pockets.
I never thought I'd be this invested
in flaming shit before.
It's actually pretty overpowered.
I want to see the fan art on that.
Okay.
Okay, you know what? I'm going to try.
Pretty overpowered.
Yeah.
I'm going to try a...
I'm going to take out my moonsickle.
Let's go!
And I'm going to try to just take a nice swing.
Let's go.
Okay.
All right, come on, friend.
Let's do this.
Okay, 15.
Hits. I was going to remind you of Bless,
but it hits.
Okay.
That is a 1d4.
Okay. Um, that is a 1d4.
Okay. Let me just look at this really quickly.
Plus one bonus.
No, no, no, no.
Damage roll.
Okay, so four points total.
This is so close.
You honestly, you get in there
and you actually cleave three quarters of the crystal away.
It cracks and shatters and falls out,
and you see that just a little sliver sits in that socket,
and that's enough to keep it animated.
Oh, it's so close!
Okay, okay, that's fine.
Do you want to do anything with your movement?
Anything else?
No, I'm going to stay there, I'm going to stay there.
I'm going to stay there.
I'll stay.
I'll stay.
I'm going to stay. I'm going to stay.
Beautiful.
Okay.
My last little bad boy in the corner.
What's my biggest threat right now?
Yeah, he's going to see you,
fiery, winged, in the sky.
What, I'm a target or something?
What are you talking about?
He's going to aim a firebolt at you.
What?
Well, he's not going to do it.
Natural one's not going to do it.
It is.
I think the firebolts, these little motes of light,
go up and they hit you in the wings,
and the wings absorb them and glow brighter for it.
He was trying to knock you out of the sky,
and it did nothing.
What now?
I'm so into this moment.
He swears in Elvish and moves on with his day.
I swear back in Dwarvish.
What do you say?
Yeah, Dwarvish.
I'm like, he knows Dwarvish, right?
I want to be sure.
He would be the one dwarf that doesn't know Dwarvish.
I know, I know.
Grumdach Barnast!
Yeah.
What did you call me?
Nothing.
Okay, I need everyone but Dariax
to make a dexterity saving.
No, I'll call it strength or dex to keep your footing
as the ground below you begins to rumble.
Marauder's hand is out, her eyes are aglow,
and she is focused on the center.
What did you, sorry, strength or dexterity?
Thanks for cutting me off during my cool description.
No, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine.
It's fine.
Did anyone roll below a 14?
I rolled 14.
Neetsa beats it. Okay.
14.
Good job, you broke your 13 curve.
I mean, not by much.
Then let's begin the fun.
What's that? What? What the fun. What's that?
What? What are you?
What's that? That looks scary.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! I don't like it.
Oh, oh, it's ugly.
The ground erupts.
Oh! What?
Oh no! Oh no!
Is this when I'm discovering
that I have a yam phobia or something?
Y'all look like weird yams.
It's more like a sweet potato.
Yeah, sweet potato.
Yeah.
As these massive pseudopods of dirt and earth
and old ruins hidden under the ground,
being held together by that miasma
from both above and below,
reach up, starting to build something strange.
Opal, I need you to make a charisma saving throw.
That's so cool.
What is going on?
Oh.
Uh, 13.
13.
You hear the screaming stop.
Ted? Yeah.
It's no longer inside you.
Then you hear it from farther away,
and your eyes travel
to the center of the plinth.
To the center of what?
As the plinth, it's broken.
And I see her?
You see yuckiness.
Okay. Mm-hmm.
Oh boy. All right.
Dariax, you're up. Dorian, you're on deck.
This is fine.
I'm going to kill you all.
Noted.
So from above, can I still see
where this Marada individual is?
Yeah, and I'm going to say,
you're floating at the top of the pseudada individual is? Yeah, and I'm going to say,
you're floating at the top of the pseudopod's height.
Yeah, like, ha! Tickling my feet.
I'm not ticking them off!
100%. Get away!
Yeah, I'll throw you up there.
So yeah, yes to your question.
All right, all right.
Do I still feel that gravity-shifting,
light or heavy choice?
You do.
All right, I'm going to go.
How about you here?
All right, I'm going to think like I'm real heavy.
And I'm going to go ahead and, with the wings up,
go into another dive straight towards Marauder,
spear out just like.
Let's go.
Amazing. Make sure, dad bitch.
That's the plan.
Make an attack roll.
I will.
I'm going to use my inspiration.
Smart, smart.
Much better.
That'd be a 14.
A 14, you drive through and you feel your spear
as it finds purchase at the center of her,
and then you feel give, too much give,
and she disappears.
Not here.
Shit!
She disappears from view.
Do you pull back up again?
I pull back up best if I can.
That'd be a... New wings.
Yeah, no, you're good.
I'm going to say you're not quite in melee range
and not like a caster, so he's like,
get away.
He'll swat ineffectually at you
as you pull back up again.
Opal, you no longer feel any pressure on your wrist.
You just have that heaviness on top of you.
That's my turn. Okay.
Dorian.
I'm still face to face with our construct.
Yep. And he looks fucked up.
Yep. All right.
So fucked up.
Cool. I think it's still attached.
I'm going to pull up my scimitar
and take a swing at him.
Okay. Cool.
Do it. Get him.
Get him.
Ooh.
17. Get him. Get him. Ooh. 17.
17 hits.
Yeah.
Cool.
Do not have to roll the damage on this
because I know how dice work.
Just describe how you finish this draw.
Yeah!
Yeah!
So he pulls out his scimitar
and he sees that little shimmering piece
left in his eye socket.
And maybe with just a little too much flair,
he does a couple of swings around
and instead of slashing,
which you would expect with a scimitar,
he just takes the tip and sticks it right under the eyelid
and the last little piece of eye just goes,
tink!
And flips it. Yes!
Amazing.
And your eyes follow that little shard
as it darkens and goes inert.
And you just hear, you don't even see it
as this construct collapses in on itself
and reduces itself to rubble in front of you.
Nicely done.
I see you've been studying your Agrippa.
Left-handed.
So he's Murder Dad now.
He's Murder Dad.
I'm going to use, oh, you're not in the sky anymore.
You just, you're.
I pulled up a little bit.
I don't know how much more movement
I would have had from there.
Not much, probably, right? I forgot where I put you. You said it was like at 8 a little bit. I don't know how much more movement I would have had from there. Not much, probably, right?
I forgot where I put you.
You said it was like an eight?
I'll say that you're probably about 15 feet over.
That sounds about right.
You have a 90-foot speed.
Yeah, you did a pretty big dive bomb
and you pulled up. It's about 15 feet up in the air,
right around where you guys are,
or a little bit past you.
Oh, there you are. Okay.
I'll use my winged boots to cover the rest of that distance
and hover up next to Dariax for my movement. We'll use my winged boots to cover the rest of that distance and hover up next to Dariax for my movement.
We'll use imagination,
because I forgot to grab the things.
Oh yeah.
And then, you didn't cast Bless on yourself, right?
You can't do that?
No, I mean, I could, but I had other focuses.
All right, I'll tap him on the shoulder and be like,
nice try, buddy, and I'll give you my bardic inspiration
for my bonus action.
Oh, I appreciate that, bud.
Thanks for coming to my aid.
Cool.
Y'all are cute.
Inspiration.
Okay, Opal, you're up.
Actually, no.
Interrupting.
Yeah, I think you're, or did he die?
Oh yeah, Buddy's dead.
Oh, Buddy's dead.
But I've got legendary actions.
No.
Yeah, you can't even make a save against this
because you're still stuck.
No.
Two more of those little needles
land just in the center of your thighs.
You feel that tether again and you follow it.
I'm not going to make you roll for it.
You follow it and you feel it tethering you to this,
whatever this is.
So it wants me to go there.
It's a stronger connection
between you and whatever this is.
Okay.
Is it my turn?
Yes, it is. Okay.
Can I, is this tether broken by Misty Step?
The tether won't be broken by Misty Step.
That'll allow that you can move.
I can move? Mm-hmm.
Okay, again, stupid.
But I think she's going to,
I think Opal is now just focused on Ted.
Do you have spell slots?
No, but that's some bonus action.
Mm-hmm, but it's a spell.
Oh, I don't have spell slots, so I can't use it.
Okay, well then I'll just use, can I just,
if I dash, is that twice my movement?
You need to get up first.
Okay, can I get up?
So I would say, yeah, let's use your action
to try to get up, make an athletics check for me.
If it's a 14, I'm going to fucking piss my pants.
If it's a 14, I will scream laughing.
Is that athletics? Yeah.
No.
No.
It's an 11, but I'm pissed off about it.
I wish it had been a 13.
Is there anything you want to do about it?
I do have inspiration.
Well, what else can I do?
Mostly that.
Just trying not to be like, roll again.
Can't give you, it doesn't stack,
so I can't give you more. It's fucking worse.
It's worse, so yeah.
What do you mean?
You add that to what you had.
Oh, I add it? Yeah.
I thought it was just a reroll.
Although it wasn't bardic inspiration. That's the inspiration, just the reroll ability. Oh, it's a reroll? Yeah thought it was just a reroll. Although it wasn't bardic inspiration.
That's the inspiration, just the reroll ability.
Oh, it's a reroll? Yeah, it's just a reroll.
Oh, oh, oh.
I thought your being cheeky was very funny.
My bad, my bad. Yeah.
Oh!
Yeah, no, so I'll keep the 12, or what did I say, 11?
How badly do you want to stand up right now?
Very badly.
Very badly. The most badly.
The most badly.
Make a charisma saving throw for me.
Am I adding something different in a saving throw?
Yeah, your saves are in the upper left corner.
Upper left, upper left, upper left, left, left.
It should be much higher. Oh yeah.
Well fucking finally.
Okay, so that's a 23.
Thanks.
With a 23, you are just, you're running on fumes.
You don't know what's happening.
You feel something beginning to be torn away from you
and you reach out.
You reach out for your sister.
What grabs your hand isn't your sister.
It's not even a hand.
You feel a little leg
wrapping around and hear a voice.
Oh, sweet girl.
You out of options?
Can I call out to someone?
There's only you and me here right now,
but I can help.
Darius!
Darius!
You are inside your head.
You're just yelling at Darius.
Darius!
Yikes, and you see a little spider leg clearing an ear.
Okay.
Is that out of your system now?
What do you want? I know you want my sister, bitch, but you can't have her system now? What do you want?
I know you want your sister.
I know you want my sister, bitch,
but you can't have her, so what else do you want?
I don't want your sister.
Who do you want?
I want you to wear my vestige.
Oh, it's you.
Yeah, I said it's better.
Okay, what do I get for wearing it?
What do I get?
Maybe the ability to be less fucking useless right now?
Okay, but what does that mean?
You are very off-putting. I know. I like that now? Okay, but what does that mean? You are very off-putting.
I know.
I like that about you.
Great, what does it mean?
Does it mean my sister gets to live?
Oh.
I can't interfere with what's happening there,
but I'll give you all your spell slots back.
I'll give you all of your health back
so that you can decide what happens here
instead of being a victim again.
All you have to do is go put on the circlet
or you can wait here.
How do I do that?
I need Dariax for that, right?
Well, you've been yelling for him thus far.
So make him come here then and see what happens.
He doesn't like to listen to me.
Okay, so let me talk to him.
Okay.
And you feel that retreat from your mind.
Dariax!
Yeah?
Can you come get me?
Ah, just a second.
I'm just holding the spear back to back with Dorian.
I'm like, I'm working on it!
Yeah! Okay!
All right. Where am I in relation
to him, just for my own knowledge?
He's about 15 feet over your head.
But over my head. Oh, okay, okay, okay.
Like him and Dorian are looking down at you right now.
Okay.
So.
Anything?
Can you attempt anything with your bonus action?
No, that was,
Misty Step is my only bonus action,
other than Hexblade's Curse.
Right, but you are out of spell slots, yes?
Okay, cool, cool, cool.
All right, and that's the end of your turn.
Murata is up.
She stays obscured from your vision.
Oh, also, you're yelling out.
He doesn't see, no one sees you.
You're still invisible.
Just as a reminder.
Cool.
And you hear a voice
from near wherever this pile of pseudopods is.
And it laughs and goes,
Oh, it's already beginning.
Good.
What a fine patron she'll be.
And she's going to turn.
You don't see anything, but you see bolts of dark black
and purple arcane energy, Eldritch Blasts,
aimed for both of my flyers.
Oh, okay.
Does a 17 hit?
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay. And does a 15 17 hit? Absolutely. Okay.
And does a 15 hit you? Just hits me.
Okay, cool.
I love this.
Okay, you're going to take five points of force damage.
And you take seven points of force damage.
Oh, poof.
All right.
And Marauders remains hidden from view. And that's the end of her turn. Oryata remains hidden from view.
And that's the end of her turn.
Orym, you're up.
Okay, so in like two seconds,
Orym whips his head around, looks.
He just heard Opal screaming somewhere.
Doesn't see Murata anymore.
And there's a ton of mystical fuckery
all around him that he can't help with.
So he does see the elf with a crossbow
on top of that column.
And he just starts sprinting towards the stone ring.
I will remind you that there's also a magical elf
like right in front of you.
Right in front of me?
Like 10 feet away from you.
He's doing his best to not be perceived,
but he's not hiding.
He's just like.
Yeah, but nobody's dealing with that shit up on the column.
So I'm still sprinting towards the stone ring,
and as soon as he comes in contact with it,
he's going to use his boots and leap
and just pinwheel his arms and legs through the air
and try to latch onto the side of the column like a monkey
and skitter up the side of it.
Amazing.
Okay, as you go to attempt this,
give me another wisdom saving throw.
Natural 20. this, give me another wisdom saving throw.
Natural 20. How badly do you want this to happen?
It's got to happen.
It's the only thing I can do to help right now.
And you don't even realize that every step you take,
the distance under your feet increases and increases,
and you don't feel like you're straining
to the very edge of your ability.
You don't have to roll anything else here
as you manage to jump across, clearing this map,
landing.
Oh, goodbye.
As Diriax just dies.
No!
Landing, launching yourself off of that shattered plinth,
landing on the column, ready to go.
And you feel yourself internally,
that wellspring is so much wider than it was before.
You have all of your superiority dice,
and please take one additional maneuver
as the road continues to stretch out and away far from you,
and you have a taste of the fighter
that you could be someday. Fuck them up, Orym. stretch out and away far from you, and you have a taste of the fighter
that you could be someday.
Fuck them up, Orym.
That was your movement.
Ooh.
Oh, so all my movement is gone, correct?
Yeah, if that feels generous, I'll say.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
And I'm like 10 feet away from her.
Oh, I'm just not putting you at a Dutch angle.
You can be on the top of the thing.
Oh, okay.
Then, before he started running,
he stuck his blade in and started running,
and as he's landing,
since he feels like Superman right now,
as he lands, he just pulls it out and it spins.
And he's going to slide to the right
and then come back to the left
and aim for her crossbow
and try to knock the fuck out of her hand.
Let's go! Yes, please do.
Added you four?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, you took damage, did you roll it?
I did, I rolled a nine.
Ah, beans!
Yep, that's 15.
I'll get you, don't you worry.
I know you will.
Don't worry.
I'll give my one hit point left, yeah.
Also, someone else has bardic inspiration.
I've got two marks off
and I can't remember who I gave it to last game.
Ooh, ooh.
I think it was me as well.
Fuck!
Sorry.
26 to hit.
Yeah, it hits, friend.
I'm not going to kill my good archer.
It's going to be okay, Ulai.
It's going to be fine.
Plus four, seven, plus the superiority die.
14 points of damage. It's going to be okay, Ulai could cope with fine. Plus four, seven, plus the superiority die.
14 points of damage, and she has to
beat a strength, make a strength save and beat 14. Okay, okay.
She doesn't make it.
She doesn't make it.
Okay, so he spins, slides to the right,
and then brings it right down on her wrist, holding it,
cutting her along the arm and knocking her arm down,
and the crossbow slams to the stone column
and then just disappears into the jungle below.
Amazing. Yeah, baby.
Amazing. Yes!
Cool, cool. Anything with your bonus action?
No, I'm good.
Vibes, thanks.
He'll spin his blade in his hand a second time.
He'll just flash and flare.
Hell yeah. All right.
She's up. So is she pinned down by herself?
Or no, you pulled it out to take it back.
Okay.
She looks at her ranged weapon and then shrugs
because she wouldn't have been able to fire it
effectively anyway, and her hands,
one of which is just pouring off blood,
reach for the holsters at her side
as she pulls out two knives and is going to attack you.
Jesus.
Does a 20 hit?
It does.
And the other one doesn't.
So the bloodied hand faints out and misses,
and then she lands with the other one,
burying her chest on the other side of your collarbone.
We're going to take...
Oh no.
It takes seven points of piercing damage,
and she leaves the blade in,
and it's just leaning on you.
Oh shit.
That's nasty.
Yeah.
All right, that's her.
That's Unfortunate.
Fearne, you're up.
Okay.
I am going to, over my shoulder, see the castor.
And I am going to bamf into Wild Shape.
Yes!
Into a big ol' dire wolf.
Oh yeah.
Oops. Come on.
Do I have a dire wolf?
Oh no, I'm left.
Let me go to my dire wolf settings.
And I'm just going to, as I turn,
I'm just starting to make the change
and then just start leaping towards him.
Heck yeah.
And I'm going to take a big old bite.
Do a big bite!
Natural 20.
Whoa, yeah! Let's go! Let big bite. Natural 20. Whoa, yeah!
Let's go! Let's go!
Get it! Natural 20.
Come on. Okay.
We love this. So here we go.
Let me do my human teeth dice.
I hate hearing about them every time.
This is not the outfit you want a nervous sweat in,
but I am.
Okay, I actually rolled pretty. I rolled pretty, I only rolled four with them.
So four, eight, plus three.
So 11 points of damage.
Sweet, is this a bite?
What kind of attack is this?
Break me off some flavor.
Okay, so. What just happened
to my hungry guy?
It's a throat bite.
I think it's, Fearne always goes for the kill.
So I think it's just, as she's just running,
it's just taking the bite up to the throat,
because I would love to just knock him prone if I could.
I love that. That might be a lot.
Go ahead and make an athletics check
and I'll make a strength saving throw to resist it.
Okay.
Weak bone.
You have to beat a six.
Well, I rolled a natural 15.
So that's probably going to work. Yeah, you're good.
You're absolutely able to, as you bite,
your massive paws that are the size of his pecs
just slam him down into the ground
and you're on his throat.
Great. Okay.
And then now it's...
Mister? Wow.
Yes, thank you. I got you!
My brain.
Okay. So I'm going! My brain. Okay.
So I'm going to have him come around, Mister.
To where?
To where I'm at, flanking.
Okay, can he move as far as you can in dire wolf form?
Let's see.
What is Mister's move?
Let's be down.
I didn't.
That is a very good question.
I don't know what the movement is.
Okay, here it is.
Sorry, sorry. 30 feet.
Okay.
That'll get him, he's going to be a little bit shy.
Okay, that's okay.
I'm going to come right here.
Okay, if that's one second.
Six, yeah.
This is, so is he within 10 feet?
Yeah. Of him?
He is. Okay, great. Yes.
So our caster would have to make
a dex saving throw of 13.
Oh.
Or take 2d6 fire damage.
It's going to be very easy for him to make that dex save
in that he is grappled. Probably.
Doesn't make it.
Okay.
Trying to come up for a roll, I was like,
is there some way I can like,
get my, no, I just, it's just an 11.
2d6.
My god, they really are two.
They really are so small.
Okay.
So that is seven points of damage.
Amazing.
Nice.
And then. You hear the caster
gurgling something.
He tries to make a retort,
but it's just sending fresh waves
of hot blood into your mouth.
Awesome. And you don't understand.
Great.
Just trying to take that casting voice away.
And I'll just stay there,
shoulder blades out, just growling.
Yeah.
Just looking around, trying to keep him there.
Love it. And Mister's done.
Okay. Yep.
Let's see.
The floor he's not going to be able to make.
He can't spell cast on this round.
Oh, he's going to pull out.
He's grappled with you.
So he just grabs onto the chest fur of you,
trying to scrabble around for enough purchase,
and is going to pull out a knife
and attempt to bury it into your big old hide.
Let's go.
Okay.
Does an 18 hit your dire wolf form?
Yes, it does.
Okay, okay.
Okay, four points of piercing damage,
and I need you to make a constitution saving throw.
Okay.
Let's go with this one.
Nice, okay.
Dirty 20.
You feel something.
The stab of pain is there,
but then you feel something extra
as it begins to move through you.
A poison that hasn't taken effect yet, but it's not gone.
And in your heightened state, this adrenaline,
this aggression, the excitement of fresh blood
and being so close to another kill,
it speeds up your heartbeat
and you feel it beginning to move through your veins,
but there is no deleterious effect yet.
Okay.
Okay.
End of the round.
Let's see.
Yeah, the pseudopod's too far away.
You all hear laughter,
and it's moved from on top of the central section,
and it's now over here.
That's all she does?
No, it's not.
She's going to send off one more Eldritch Blast,
but she's going to aim it. Yeah, she's going to aim off one more Eldritch Blast. But she's going to aim it.
Yeah, she's going to aim it at the dire wolf.
Okay.
She sees you very close to killing her friend, 19.
Hits.
For eight points of force damage.
Got it.
Okay.
Once again, if your feet are on the ground,
I need you to make a dexterity or strength saving throw
as the ground begins to rumble again,
as she begins to cackle almost triumphantly.
Do you add a d4 as well?
Do you get the d4 on that?
Okay. Oh my god, I got to get you out of the sky.
That's fine, don't worry about it.
Next round, next round. 18 total. 18? Natural 20 plus three. Okay, cool. Oh my god, I got to get you out of the sky. That's fine, don't worry about it. Next round, next round. 18 total.
18? Natural 20 plus three.
Okay, cool. Oh, nice.
19.
You're fine. Oh, you didn't have to roll it.
You're not on the ground, are you?
Oh no, we're in the air.
Yeah. I rolled it.
Yay!
It's so nice up here. Yeah.
You're fine. You're already on the ground,
so there was no knocking you prone.
Right. So you just jiggle there.
I thought I got out of that.
I couldn't move?
Did I move?
No, she caught me back.
Okay.
You still have to finish your exchange
with Dariax before all of that hits as
Oh god. It shifts.
What? What?
It becomes a little different.
Oh god! What is that?
No! What? It's a little different. Oh god! What is that? No! What?
It's a face!
Wait, what?
And you all see that the beginnings of a face appear.
That is terrifying. On the head.
I hate it.
Yeah. Oh no.
Yay.
Oh, we'll do this one now, too. It feels good.
And the pseudopod takes off,
takes on a more concrete appearance.
I love it.
Whoa!
Oh, that's so cool.
I don't like it.
Oh no.
And inside, it's outstretched hair.
I once bought a stool that sort of looked like that.
I mean, not as grotesque, but like a hand.
Hey guys, I'm a god.
Just here to fight you.
You should do the critical.
We see her now?
You see her, she reappears.
Cackling, she thinks she is so close to winning.
She is cute, this is dope as shit.
This is fucking cool.
You can't tell me differently.
I hate it.
All right, Dariax, you're up.
Dorian, you're on deck.
All right.
After being blasted with the Eldritch Blast,
I spin around.
Dorian, you got this?
There's just blood pouring down my face.
I don't think that we do.
Have you seen what's going on?
What?
Ah, shit. Yep.
I'm going to go ahead and cast Cure Wounds on myself.
Because I'm in a bad place.
Yay!
Four.
Yes, okay.
Eight points.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
Hope, I'm coming!
I'm going to dart down and land
right in the dirt next to you.
Just a little bit of impact.
What do you need?
Can I just, can I pull my hand out?
What part of you, it's hard for you to move,
or are you just not interacting with as a human?
It's wild! Pull me up!
And then I'm going to take my ring off momentarily
so he can see me, put it back on.
Yeah, I don't see you.
I'm just like. Yeah, why not?
What if I take my ring off? Okay, I took it off and then I put it back on, just so you see me. put it back on. Yeah, I don't see you. I'm just like. Yeah, why not? What if I take my ring off? Oh, you took your ring off? Okay, I took it off
and then I put it back on, just so you see me.
Wait, so what do you?
You do that while you're laying down?
Yeah.
She can still move her hands.
Make an athletics check to see if you can
interact with your own hands.
Oh man.
Yeah, I will leave you leveled in this fight.
Mine makes you invisible.
Ooh, 17.
All right, you can take off your ring.
Finally, thank you. Yeah.
She takes off her ring, puts it back on.
Can you pick me up?
I can start to, sure.
I'll go wherever you go, just pick me up.
All right, I begin the prostituting
since I already did my action to heal myself
and my movement.
I'm right now just reaching out into space to be like,
I apologize, stop trying to get fresh.
Okay, there we go, there we go.
I got the waist a bit.
You can get fresh.
Let's go.
I mean, we could die any minute, so.
I don't want to die a virgin.
Amazing.
That's better.
The moment you make physical contact with Opal,
I need you to make a wisdom saving throw.
Checks out. Shit, I saving throw. Check's up.
Shit, I'm sorry.
That's fine. Oh, wow.
Natural 19, so 18.
You hear the skittering of legs,
and then it gets drowned out,
not by a sound, but by light.
And your attention gets drawn back up
to the light around you that's beginning to tint
the very edges of your wings with a little purple,
a little blue, and you feel very much at home
and one with whatever this miasma is,
even though it is actively being concentrated
into whatever this is right now,
you can still reach out and grab it.
Okay.
If there's anything you want to do,
now's the time to do it.
Sure, yeah.
I guess if I'm feeling the energy
drawing my attention towards it,
I'm going to try and extend my will towards it
and be like, hey, any help I can get?
What most do you want to be able to do?
What does Dariax want most right now?
Right now? To help Opal.
Okay.
Okay.
Dariax, you are now under the effect of the Haste spell. Oh! Ooh!
Shit!
It's good. Oh, good.
That's going to stack with the wings.
A horrible wing.
This is it, Matt. Cool, cool, cool.
Now it's your turn.
I am become Vax.
I didn't realize what I was doing until just right now.
Just doubled 90 feet of movement, baby.
Yeah! Nice!
Well, this is fine.
It doesn't break my encounter at all.
It was a natural 20.
You know that scene in Event Children
where Cloud goes into his Neo Omni Slash
and you see Sephiroth going
Yep. That's going to be Dariax.
Well, it would be until I get zero hit points
next round anyway.
So continue, that's the end of my turn.
Vibes, beautiful.
Okay, Dorian, you're up.
Mm.
There's so much going on.
So much.
There's so much going on.
We don't have any more Hides, do we?
Or is our main baddie hidden somewhere?
Oh, you can actually see
Murata is in this massive hand.
So all of our enemies are now visible.
They are all visible.
Engage with Orym in the hand and then.
In the corner.
Mage in the corner being actively devoured
and a disarmed crossbow archer.
Oh man.
Currently pressing in on Orym.
I'll finish him off. Oh man.
I will absolutely finish him off.
What do you want to do?
Fuck.
I'm going to fly down to Dariax
and see what's going on over here with the squad.
So I'll land with him.
You get over there.
I'll put Dariax back on the field.
I kept knocking him down.
That's fine.
Oh, buddy.
And then.
I need you to make a wisdom saving throw
as you get within range.
Doody poo poo seven.
Oh, beautiful.
Added to your board? Doody poo poo seven. Oh, beautiful. Added to your board?
Doody poo poo plus four.
Oh, 10, 10, 10. Nice!
Thank you. So hard.
10, 10.
And you get within range and you feel
like as your body passes through some sort of event horizon,
as you get closer to Dariax, begins to go cold.
You feel your stomach begin to drop as that voice comes back to you and says,
It's not looking very good, is it?
You're going to die here.
You're all going to die here.
I think you underestimate my friends.
I think you overestimate them.
I guess we'll see.
A real leader would do what was required of him
to ensure success.
And I'm so very close.
You could just reach out and grab me.
Fuck off.
I'm going to shut this down.
All right. Nice.
And can I see the residuum sticking out of Opal's body?
You can.
I'll use my action to try and
pull the spikes out of her face.
She's got two in her face, I think?
She's got one in her face, two in her shoulder,
like one in each shoulder and one in each thigh.
Fuck. Yeah.
Can I try and get them all with one action?
You can. Where do you start?
We'll start there.
I'm going to start in her head.
All right. Yeah, and just work my way down.
You go to reach,
and the moment you make physical contact with it,
I need you to make an intelligence saving throw.
Ooh.
Fuck, why am I so stupid?
You're not a wizard. Nine.
Add a d4.
Oh wait, no, I have one. I'm sorry.
That was 10 plus d4.
Ooh, come on, come on, Bless.
Tease you good.
Four! Four, two!
Yes!
You take two points of psychic damage.
Woo!
But you can pull the spike free.
Thank you.
Just the one on her head?
You can try again.
I'm saying that this is all happening within an action.
Wait, did that stay in there?
No, it came out. It came out.
It came free.
Opal, take one point of psychic damage.
As you feel, even as your body gets lighter,
the connection between you and Ted is being ripped away.
Next one. Which one do you reach for?
What does she, do I?
Can I speak to him?
Yeah, when I see this happen.
Yeah, I'll let that happen.
Are you all right, Opal?
Yeah, but don't do it again.
I can't feel Ted as much.
I'm sorry.
Don't. Thank you.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
He'll be stuck here.
I know.
I'd kiss you, but I'm invisible.
Are you, wait, hold on. Were you invisible?
No, no, I took it off. Again?
Because then what was he reaching for?
I took my ring off so he could see me.
I'm assuming you just sort of unscrewed it
so you can just push it back on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Boy, what a line.
You told me invisible and be like,
you know, if I just weren't invisible.
You were still, never mind.
I can see you completely, yeah, I'm just so invisible.
All right, I'm going to, I will honor her wishes and.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
All right.
I don't know what else to do.
I'll relegate that to a bonus action
if there's anything else you want to do.
No, but I will use my bonus action
to take a healing potion.
Oh, okay, that's fine.
No, no, no, no, no.
You're good.
All right, is that the end of your turn?
2d4.
Yeah, yeah, that'll do it for me.
You can just pour out the potion if you want. What? Oh, I could do the thing. Yeah, yeah, that'll do it for me. Just pour out the potion if you want.
What?
Oh, I could do the thing.
Yeah, you do the thing.
Hey!
I could really tell you were like,
I made those, please do it.
Look, look, I made them when we had a pandemic
and so nobody uses them, so I'm just like, yay!
I can literally pour them out.
Yeah. Yeah.
So cute. How fun.
I can't tell.
The one at the top.
But there is no top.
Well, there'd be whatever the bottom is.
Oh, that might be the bottom, then.
Oh, it's the bottom.
Four.
The opposite of what I said.
Beautiful, plus two?
Four total.
Okay, so you take back four points of healing.
Cool.
Which is just in time as Murata looks over and says,
Don't touch her!
And is going to fire two Eldritch Blasts at you.
Fuck, I'm sorry. Oh shit.
16.
Yep.
And an eight.
No. All right, all right.
Nope, that's an eight.
I have to hit you with a 10 or it doesn't count.
Nine points of force damage.
I did what you wanted. Oh my god.
And you watch.
You hear her scream.
And as Dorian is holding that single piece of residuum,
looks up at her and then down at you
as purple-black energy connects with his chest,
pulses through him and he falls back.
I have Pool of Healing.
Uh-huh. Is it your turn right now?
No. Cool.
But I can use it on my turn?
Yeah.
All right. You fall unconscious.
Oh, well, it's your turn.
Oh, it's okay.
That was fast!
Mm-hmm.
Okay, so I'm going to put the ring back on
so I'm invisible again.
And I would like to see if I could connect with Ted
at any point, like psychically.
Okay, so putting the ring back on Like, psychically. Okay.
So putting the ring back on
has to be an action or a bonus action.
Trying to commune with Ted
has to be an action or a bonus action.
Okay. How far is Murata from me?
I measured this out earlier,
so I would remember. About 100 feet.
Okay, I'm really stupid. You're not stupid.
I'm just creating the problem
of you have to decide what you do.
I know, no, I'm like Opal's.
You're brilliant, this is great.
No, I'm saying she's about to do something fucking dumb.
So what do you do?
I would like to use my action to Eldritch Blast
Murata, who is currently under Hexblade's Curse.
Yep.
So.
So that's just an additional damage that you do to her.
Yeah.
But just reminding everyone.
Assuming you hit.
I know. Absolutely.
I know.
Oh, I'm not using my reactions enough.
No, it doesn't work. She's not close enough.
Never mind. 17.
17 misses.
Okay. So that is my, what is that?
My action? Mm-hmm.
I guess my bonus action would then be
to put the ring back on.
Okay.
And you were lifted to standing by Dorian,
so you have access to your movement.
Okay.
I'm going to say you are still very heavy
because you've got four of these in you.
Yeah. So your movement is halved.
Okay. But you can move around.
Oh fuck.
I didn't use my Pool of Healing.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
I think I'm going to, I'm not going to,
can I reverse that and not put the ring back on
and use my Pool of Healing to help?
This is so stupid.
To help Dorian.
Roll a d20.
Just roll a d20 from me.
Where's the spider bitch?
Have her come back.
I want to negotiate.
She's been waiting.
Actually, you know what?
No, because you didn't do what she asked.
I don't care about the d20.
I mean, I didn't have a chance.
I just got. No, you you didn't do what she asked. I don't care about the d20. I mean, I didn't have a chance. I just got. No.
You were in his hands
and you didn't ask for the circlet.
You made your choice.
Okay.
So what do I do now?
Nothing.
You're done unless you use your movement.
Okay, I'm sorry.
Oh, don't apologize. To him.
Oh yeah, you should apologize to him.
I can't hear you, I'm unconscious.
You can hear Dariax screaming,
Dorian!
Oh, buddy!
But I am invisible, yes?
Because I did finish that movement.
Yep, you are invisible. Or whatever, okay.
100%.
Fuck me. Yeah.
Taking that BDSM outfit pretty seriously.
I'm not saying.
I'm just saying, it's the pretty seriously. I'm not saying.
I'm just saying, it's the finale,
and if you didn't feel the stakes,
then what kind of genome would I be?
Right?
Yeah.
She's going to look over her shoulder
and look at you, Orym, Murata,
and is going to send an Eldritch Blast
in your direction, too. Okay.
Goddamn it.
She misses.
And it just skitters and shatters a bit of the...
Actually, yeah, let's do that.
No. Yeah.
No, don't do that.
It hits the pillar under you
and you feel it just lurch a little bit.
You don't have to go anywhere now,
but this isn't going to stay a pillar for very long.
All right.
That's her deeply disappointing turn as she reaches,
and you see her lean down and she puts both of her palms
in the center of this massive nightmare of a palm
and just channeling energy
into whatever this apotheosis is as we go.
Orym, you're up.
Okay, I'm going to rush
at the elf that's here and make a pushing attack.
Oh, she's right on you. You don't have to rush her,
because remember, she's stabbed into you
and is pushing down, so.
Yeah, but I'm using a...
I mean, you can do whatever you want.
She's on top of me with a...
She's got a dagger behind your clavicle
and she's pushing down on you.
But am I on the ground?
No, no, no, no.
That's just for flavor. She's just stabbing at me.
You just said rush and I was like,
oh, you're locked up right now.
It's cute.
So that's a 17 to hit.
Plus d4.
Thank you.
Ah!
18 to hit.
I have to kill you.
I'm doing a pushing attack,
so she's got to make a strength save.
Oh, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.
Natural two is not going to do it.
Okay, so that means she's going.
Can I add less?
Nah. No? Not for me?
Nah, sorry. That's fine.
That's fine.
You took out Dorian, I'm just.
Oh my. He's got two
bardic inspirations, he could always give you one.
That would be so nice.
So here's what happens.
She takes eight points of damage,
and because she failed, she's going off the edge.
I'm going to use my movement to run after her and jump,
and as I'm falling, I pull the dagger out of my own shoulder
and a bonus action will do another battle maneuver,
toss, and throw the dagger at her
as I'm falling on top of her.
No, so cool!
Roll this with advantage, because that's incredibly cool!
Natural 20.
Yeah! Come on!
Let's go! What?
Okay, so that is...
Good.
Four. Nice.
Four is eight, plus the superiority die.
16.
Oh wait, minus the 12, double 24, plus four is 28.
Did I do that right?
Yeah, because of the superiority die,
which I rolled an eight out of eight on,
so that is a 28 total.
Yeah!
Whoa! And then I land on her.
Look, this is candy for a DM,
but you're also a DM, so you explain to me,
how do you want to do this?
Yeah!
What?
All right, so the first attack,
I just jam it into her sternum
and push her off and she goes, and I don't stop moving.
I just sail off the end, yank it off,
and it flips up in my hand and I chuck it.
And it goes right in,
right in at the throat,
between the collarbone and the throat.
And as I land,
sure, my heel comes down on it
and pins her into the ground.
I'm pushing through it. And then I spring off
and land next to her.
Wow. That is very cool.
And as you stand up from springing off,
you just see the
as the entire, this whole structure lands behind you
and sends up a big cloud of purple-colored dust
and debris and arcane fuckery in the air.
That was incredibly cool!
Yeah! Okay, cool.
I'm sweaty. That was very fun. He's our little murder man. Oh no, that was her cool. Yeah! Okay, cool. I'm sweaty. That was very fun.
He's our little murder man.
Oh no, that was her turn.
She's dead, though. It's fine.
Fearne, you're up.
Okay.
Bye.
So I'm going to keep chomping.
Yeah.
Just chomping at this boy down here.
Okay.
That is a dirty 20.
Yeah. Yes.
Okay. Okay, yeah.
So let's go do these guys.
Doesn't your Dire Wolf form have multi-attack?
Did I make that up?
I don't think so.
Okay. Let's see.
Wives.
I don't think so. What do I know?
It's whatever the stats for Direwolf are.
Yeah. You're good, you're good.
Okay.
He's not doing great.
Eight points of damage.
Okay.
And...
Make a wisdom saving throw.
Oh, that's right.
Because you didn't have to roll to hit,
you just rolled to get your teeth closer together.
Not very good.
Added E4 to the game.
Goddamn it.
I get to be the Clippy this game.
Yes, added E4.
12.
With a 12, as you're biting down,
you hear it, too.
The skittering of spider legs.
You could finish it.
You could finish it right now.
You love killing them.
Hot, fresh blood.
I could help you finish it.
Just promise to wear the vestige.
It looks so good on you, you know it does.
Don't be afraid.
You're not like the other ones, scared and weak.
You're strong.
Prove it.
Just like.
ROARING
Deep within your heart, I'll say here,
if you spiritually commit to this,
I'll let you roll the damage dice again,
not to replace, to add.
Oh boy. You don't have to.
You can feel it, that little mote of dark possibility.
You know when you drink lemonade when you're laughing
and you get that little cramp?
You feel it, it makes you reflexively want to bite down,
but you can't yet, but you could
if you wanted to.
I'm just going to growl
and hold where I'm at and not take extra,
even though I'm just tasting the blood
and it would feel so nice to just finish it.
Okay. I'm not going to do it yet.
Okay.
Now Mister is there.
And he can finish closing the distance.
Great. He's like 10 feet away. We'll close the distance and.
I'm not going to move him, he's so far away.
Let's roll for him.
Let me pull up his stats real quick.
Which one? Let's do this guy.
Ooh, that's good.
19.
19 hits.
Okay. And that is 2d6.
Okay, that is eight points of damage. So close.
He's looking very, very bad,
and you can see that, or not so much see,
because you can't really look down
and get a bead on this caster's face,
but you feel heaviness
and the loss of motor control
as the scrabbling is less directed, sloppier,
as the life is leaving him.
Okay.
He's not dead yet.
Is that it? Just sitting there,
just trying to keep my eyes on everybody.
And that's it.
Okay.
I can pull this up.
Finally.
With what last bit of energy he has,
he leans and you feel more tearing,
but something, even though he is doing more damage
to himself, something comes free and he can vocalize again.
Hands free, mouth open.
He swivels around to catch you
and you.
Huh.
And Dorian.
I don't think he can, no, he's not going to catch.
Oh no, if Mister closed the distance,
then he's going to catch Mister, too.
I need all of you to make dexterity saving throws
as it begins to get very cold.
I just realized.
D4.
Uh-huh.
What did you realize, my friend?
I rolled an attack for Mister,
but it's a dex save.
Oh, okay. I fucked that up.
I mean, it's okay.
He doesn't really have that much dexterity.
I'm fine with that. I'll remember that next time.
No, it's all good. Thank you, though.
I appreciate your honesty.
Take your inspiration back if you don't have it.
Okay, okay.
I don't think you get one being unconscious.
Oh, you're right, good point. Oh, sorry.
It's a constitution saving throw, not a dex save.
We all make one, right?
Constitution saving throw. Yeah.
Okay. My bad.
Is this a death save for me?
I don't know how to switch. Oh no.
Yeah, you just, well, it depends on what it does.
Depends on what it does.
I'm going to use that inspiration that you gave me to go ahead and add.
Okay, that brings it to a 17 for me.
You make the save.
Can we use the d4 as well for the bust?
Yeah, I highly recommend it.
Finally. 17.
You got two of them. Sweet.
Roll a constitution save for Mister also.
Okay.
Ooh.
Well, that's a natural five,
so I'm sure he's not going to make it up.
Oh no.
I was going to get someone and I'm so glad it was you.
All right.
Yeah.
We're going to take...
Oh, that's not good.
Oh, that was a lot of dice.
A lot of dice.
That was a lot of dice.
A lot of dice. Yeah.
He reaches out weakly. You feel the temperature drop around you.
One of his hands clamps onto your muzzle,
not trying to free himself from your grasp
to hold you there.
Here for this is he hits you with a Cone of Cold.
All of you are going to take 14 points of cold damage.
I rolled incredibly low. All of you are going to take 14 points of cold damage.
I rolled incredibly low
on 88.
88? Yeah, no, that's like a party wiping spell.
We heard the sound.
Who all is this attack hitting?
That's going to hit Mister, Fearne, Darian,
Dariax, and Dorian.
Dorian, you take two fails of your death save.
Ooh. Oh god.
You're on the brink, my friend.
And I take 14 or half for the success?
Oh, yeah, you have success, so take half.
So seven. Yeah.
Oh no. Son of a bitch.
But make your con save against your stupid,
stupid perfect Bless.
Yo, yo, yo, yo.
Uh-huh, 19.
Golly, he's fine.
This is the worst spell that has ever happened to me,
and it's a level one nothing!
Hey, hey.
I feel your pain.
It's cool, it's cool, it's fine.
And with that,
you feel the last of his strength leave him.
You use everything that was left,
and it goes limp in your hands.
Is your direwolf form still up?
Mm-hmm. All right.
Still up.
Almost done. Direwolf doesn't look around.
Still up. Does not play.
But it all gets worse.
I need all of you to once again make a dexterity save
or a strength saving throw.
You're going to make yours with disadvantage
because you're very heavy, so it's going to be hard for you.
Actually, you know what?
If you make it a strength save, you can roll it normally.
If you make it a dex save, you have to roll disadvantage
because you're not that agile right now.
Okay.
If I make it, well, it's about the same shit, but.
Oh no. Oh no.
What's it?
Lafore!
You get knocked prone again
and take one more point of bludgeoning damage
as your body shoots back.
Now, it's a bit of a blessing that you're on the ground
because I don't think you want to see what happens here
as it changes.
Oh dear. Oh no!
Oh god! Ew, ew, one. Oh god!
Ew, ew, ew!
I like it less.
I would like all of you to meet Ted.
And that's where we're going to take our break.
What?!
That does not look the way I imagined it.
No!
She cute, though!
Ted needs a makeover.
Like a little bit.
That is some scary stories to tell in the dark shit.
I am into it.
Ralph Steadman style.
Stay.
I am so glad I can't see this.
We'll be back.
Stay tuned.
We'll see you in a few minutes.
I need my drink.
This is Matthew Mercer.
If you're enjoying the adventures of Exandria Unlimited
and want to support the show
be sure to check out merchandise on the Critical Role shops
Links to all of our regional online stores
can be found at critrole.com
Welcome back
We are in the middle
of what I like to call
an apotheosister
What?
I am! You see before you an apotheo sister. What? I'm going to write that down.
You see before you, all of you,
with the exception of one of you,
who's about to have a real bad day,
the form, once again, made of churned earth
and rubble and stone and plant matter,
your sister, Ted, being summoned, pulled,
ripped from you by Marada
and brought into the world
by what I think you all have figured out now
is as a warlock patron, but not just for you.
Greedy girl.
There's enough Ted here for everybody. And we're back up at the top of initiative.
Dariax, you're up.
All right.
Still finishing my long,
Yaaahn!
As he rolls to the ground.
Yeah, let me knock you over
because you're having a nap.
I can't hear.
I go, no!
And I wing still out,
just short burst rush towards him.
I have one spell slot period left.
I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on him.
Yes!
Yes!
So you heal five hit points, that to Consciousness.
Not a lot.
Thank you for saving me.
As you come back, let's cut over to that.
Dorian, you are in a dark liminal space,
a place between places.
If you could see inside Opal's mind
across the weeks you've been together,
you would know that this place is altogether
very familiar to her, but she's not here now.
It's just you in the dark, alone,
waiting for something to happen.
What are you thinking about in this moment?
Hmm.
Strangely, at peace,
it sort of feels like,
I feel like it was nice for this to not be my choice,
and to hand over the reins of my destiny to someone else,
because I feel like I've been clinging so tightly
to that for this whole journey.
Oddly calm.
Okay.
Then give me a wisdom saving throw with advantage.
All right.
12.
Was it a default throw?
No, he's dead, no Bless!
Yeah, the Bless probably fades.
Unblessed. Yeah, unblessed!
Welcome to the club.
12-ski.
You know what's coming.
You know what she's going to say.
And even in this moment of peace,
you can't quite keep the Spider Queen at bay.
You don't see her, but you have a sense of eyes,
dozens, hundreds watching you.
And you feel the closeness,
that almost stickiness of web surrounding you,
but not touching you, not quite yet.
I told you.
I told you this would happen.
Why do you deny me?
I don't want you to hurt my friends.
So you would hold back power.
Power to save them, power to choose,
because you don't trust yourself with it?
No.
If I knew I could save them, I would do anything.
Huh.
Well.
You feel those dozens, hundreds of eyes
flit in a direction.
You hear the straining and groaning
as exoskeleton moves against itself
as this tremendous thing shrinks back,
back against a light that you can't quite see.
You hear her laugh, low and calm, shrinks back, back against a light that you can't quite see.
And you hear her laugh, low and calm.
Well, you still have a chance to put that to the test.
And you just hear a little as you are brought back to consciousness.
Dorian, Dorian, buddy.
Hey, hey, you okay?
No. Do you trust me?
Yes.
I grab the front of his cloak
and, hasted, it's 180 feet of movement,
but carrying another body,
does that slow half my movement?
Yeah, let's do that so it's slightly harder.
Okay.
Thank you.
Please take inspiration for nerfing yourself a little bit
because this is insane.
Because I made you a god.
I feel you on this.
How far away is Marada from?
100 feet. 100 feet?
All right, I'll go like,
all right, buddy, hang on,
and I'm going to go ahead and coast for
about 70 feet of it, just low to the ground,
just holding Dorian about five.
Wait, you're holding me!
I'll let you go. Oh, you let me go.
You're standing.
I forgot you when he fell.
Oh, buddy!
Look, I got a very one-track mind here.
I get it, I get it, I get it.
I get it, I get it.
If you show a bright color to me,
I'm like, oh, there we go. I get it, I get it. I get it! I get it! If you show a bright color to me, I'm like, oh, there we go.
I get it, I understand, I accept.
So holding the front of your cloak,
I lift you a little bit off the ground,
like a couple feet, and just
try and grind about 75 feet
towards the direction of Marada before dropping him.
Yep.
I love that.
Then take the rest of that movement
to head up onto the hand after Marada.
Nice. Okay.
Ooh, shit.
All right, I'll say you drop him here,
and I'll let you get up here with Marada.
That's great for me.
And so I going upward, and then thinking,
because that was my action, but because I'm hasted,
I do get a weapon attack. You do.
On top of that, I'm going to think heavy
and just coast up over the top of that hand
and spear out towards her.
Let's go.
Not even joking, natural 20.
Oh my god!
You can look at that right there.
It's beautiful. Let's go.
All righty.
Ugh! All righty.
So heavy is 2d8.
You said it's an extra roll of dice?
Yeah. Ooh.
Not bad, it's 11 times two, 22, plus six.
It's 28 points of piercing damage.
Oh my god!
But you're only at level three, what are you doing?
I don't know, extra luck and a few bonuses.
Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
This is great for me and I'm not stressed.
You bury your spear into her
and in the same way that you felt that first groan
of contact before she disappeared before,
she tries, but is so shocked by the heaviness
and ferocity of this hit that she can't move out of the way
and just grabs onto the spear and takes the full damage
and is holding onto it.
Just staring her face.
Put her back.
No!
That's my turn.
I just want to add that when she yelled no,
this very cool mouth also yelled no.
No, I hate that!
I hate that!
Yay!
No!
That's fun for me.
Oh, I think it's time for Ted to make a move.
Ted's head slowly turns and locks eyes with you, Opal.
And those eyes that are dark purple and blue,
like the miasma above, flash
just a little iridescent for a second
before getting colder and darker,
and the mouth opens up even wider
as smoke, heavy, rolls down out
and pours in your direction.
I need, yeah, I need Mr. Fearne and Opal
to all make a constitution saving throw.
Okay.
Addity four for Fearne.
Gosh!
Darn it!
Great, okay.
Blesses and clutches spell it.
It's wild.
It's pretty good for level one.
It's really good!
19 for Fearne.
Made it.
15.
Okay.
How'd Mister do?
Let's see what Mister does. Let's pull this big gap here.
Ooh.
Yeah, nine.
Nine for Mister.
Okay.
The two of you made your save,
so you only take nine points.
Only?
Of poison damage.
But Mister takes the full 18.
As he's just, even though he's at a height with you,
when he goes quadrupedal, he drops down just low enough
that he's completely lost to this low rolling fog.
Mister's out.
Oh.
So wait, what does that mean?
In his wildfire spirit, is he dead?
You see it rolls over him
and you can feel the heavy, cold humidity of it,
and it just consumes the fire of him
and reduces him back down to a little Debraz's monkey that reaches out
and clings onto your skirts before losing consciousness.
Can I talk to Opal?
I mean, to Ted, even though it's not my turn?
Make an arcana check.
Fuck.
I'm rolling like shit, too!
Anything you can do about it?
Do you have inspiration?
Yes. No, I used it.
How badly?
Very badly.
The number one thing I want to do.
You hear the skittering once more.
How long will you make me wait?
I will help.
But your opportunity.
And you feel your attention pulled towards Dorian.
Dariax.
100 feet away.
Well, I had this idea, but it wasn't my turn,
that maybe when he dropped me so rudely,
I might have grabbed the bag.
We'll see on your turn, but as of right now,
that is not necessarily true.
Okay, I'm just saying. We'll cut back.
That's real spicy.
It's real spicy, but interesting.
It could be interesting, we'll see.
But you reach out. I'm just saying,
she was like, oh, oh, But you reach out. I'm just saying,
she was like, oh, oh, oh no, what do I have here?
You reach out for Ted.
You see her, you see her seeing you in this moment.
But not just in that form.
Yeah, you see past it towards what's happening here,
but you are blocked by the Spider Queen,
who refuses to move out of your arcane vision
out of your way.
Mm-hmm.
Do it.
And you are incapable of reaching your sister.
Okay.
Okay.
Dorian.
You're up.
You two killed the support.
Are you still in your wolf form?
Still, yep, two hit points left.
All right, all right.
I got more, don't worry about it.
I'm not worried.
But the archer and the caster are both dead, right?
The archer and the caster are both dead.
There's just Marauder and Ted.
I'm not going to waste Dariax's epic save.
So the first thing I'm going to do is,
oh, do I have the slots?
Jeez.
I'm going to cast just level one Cure Wounds on myself.
Okay.
Please be good.
No!
One plus two equals three!
Hey, it's better than nothing!
Amazing. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
No, she's pet.
This is going to be a cemetery!
Do I do the mean thing?
No!
Yes. Oh, she does the mean thing? No! Yes.
Oh, she does the mean thing.
She sees you reaching out and beginning to cast a spell,
and she casts Counterspell.
Oh no!
I send my excitement.
Yes!
Do not take that healing back.
Damn it! The spell fizzles out
in your hands.
What was it?
Wow. What was it, three?
It was three.
Okay, let me take that right on back.
She didn't know it was going to not be that effective.
She thinks it's very cool.
Yeah.
I am in such bad shape.
I'm going to pop another potion.
Matt, I love you, but fuck your beautiful little potions.
I'm going to roll this myself. I'm going to roll this myself.
I'm going to roll it myself.
Sometimes words can hurt like a fist.
Oh, this is going to doom me, isn't it?
Yes.
Don't worry, I'll kill him for you.
Thanks. Four.
Right down the middle again.
Didn't matter.
You're adding plus two to those rolls, right?
Are you adding plus two to that?
What?
It's the d4 plus...
It's 2d4 plus two.
Yeah, I did that last time, but no. Okay's 2d4 plus two. Yeah, I did that.
Oh, I did that last time, but no.
Okay, cool, cool, cool. This time I did not.
I'm sorry, six.
No, that's very important.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, so I'm back.
I'm feeling better.
Not quite as fucked up.
I don't wanna.
I'm going to use all of my movement to
fly back up to my boy.
You're going to be up here really close? I'm going to fly back up to my boy. You're going to be up here really close? What?
I'm going to fly up to,
wow, I don't have anything ranged left.
No, no, no!
Do it! No!
Do it!
I appear to be in a triangle between the head and her.
I am just going to use all of my movement
to go 30 feet straight up in the air,
positioning myself at the peak of a triangle.
Love it. Okay.
Yeah.
And then that's it. We call this a Kinera standoff.
That's it for me.
Action, bonus action, take the potion of emotion.
You're great.
All right.
Opal, you're up.
So did you want to try to boost the bag off of Dariax?
I mean, what is it going to cost me?
An action!
No.
No. Don't understand.
I mean, yes?
Yes? Whatever you want to do.
That's whatever you want to do.
In the story. What do you want to do in the story?
Oh man, I want to save my sister.
So in this moment, what do you care about more?
Saving my sister. So in this moment, what do you care about more? Saving my sister.
Okay.
But I do know for a fact,
my bonus action is to give a hit point to Dorian.
The what? Just the what?
Yeah.
I was advising that as bringing up from unconscious,
like an EMT.
Okay, so let me think that again.
You're also not within range to give him a hit point.
Well, then I'm very sorry, sir.
I have tried my best.
No, it's fine.
One hit point is not a good thing.
Because I thought he was still going to be unconscious.
You don't have to make any more guilt-based choices.
Okay!
Okay, here's what I want to do.
I want to talk to Ted,
and I want to get my spells back.
So you have a choice to make.
You know how to get your spells back.
I know.
That will take your action.
Because now it's going to take the action.
Can I talk to Ted as a bonus action?
No.
Grabbing the attempt to grab the crown
to get the bag off of a flying person
that's going 400 feet per second.
Who's holding me so I can just, like,
it's quick, it's a quick thing.
It's like, ooh, no, that's not your arm.
Action amount of time, yeah, agreed.
We both agree on that. That's not your arm,
that's your back.
Yeah, to take it is an action.
I'm unprepared. To put it on
and access those powers is a bonus action.
So are you going to spend your turn
powering yourself up or not?
What does Opal do?
I mean, if I can't talk to Ted, that's all.
No one said you couldn't talk to Ted.
Okay, well, I'm going to do that first.
I'm going to do that first. I'm going to do that first.
Okay.
You are focused on this.
This is the thing that you're doing.
This is what I want.
Roll a charisma saving throw for me, with advantage,
as you finally bring your scattered mind
to a single purpose?
That's a dirty 20.
What does it look like
as you reach out successfully to your sister?
First, I'm like, Ted, what do you look like?
And second, what are you doing?
You ask what she looks like first, that's amazing.
Why?
What's happening?
She begins to respond, but out loud.
You hear the version of her voice,
that sort of gentle, a little scruffy, shy,
but very similar to your family's.
It reminds you a lot of what you remember
of your mother Paloma's voice in your head,
but everyone hears this gaping ma speak with a rumble
that shakes the ground beneath you
because she is the ground beneath you.
And she says,
Really?
What?
I'm going to start with the-
I'm sorry. I'm just like,
our family taught us better, but like,
what's going on?
Why are you doing this?
I am not choosing this.
She's been following. She's been watching. And she is pulling me from you.
How can I help you?
Stop her. I'm already forgetting. I know.
I know that the course of my life has been bent to be with you and protect you,
but I don't know you.
You know me.
We were born together.
You.
I am your patron.
But you're my sister.
Before that.
And even though you all don't hear it,
you hear a small hitch of breath,
a sigh of remembrance,
and then a settling, a groaning as it slips away,
as she slips even farther away.
Don't go, Ted.
What should I do?
Tell me what to do.
I don't know.
Stop it or let me go. You've always been the strong one. You've been the
sword. I've always been your shield. But I can't protect you from this, from her.
It hurts.
Fuck.
I want to swipe the bag.
Okay.
We'll call this a sleight of hand check with disadvantage. And then before you roll, I'm going to set the DC.
The DC is a 14.
If you roll a 14 or higher, you grabbed the bag.
If you didn't, it's still on Dariax,
and he is so far away.
I didn't grab the back, so five.
You flex your hands reflexively
and look at the moment that could have been,
and you hear a low moan in the back of your mind
as your sister feels that same loss,
that opportunity there with you.
And you feel the tethers now
in your shoulders and your thighs,
that they are connected to her still.
And it hurts, but it's still there.
But you have so much fight left in you.
But action economy.
All right.
But action economy.
Is there anything you want to do with your movement?
Where am I right now?
Yonder. Oh.
Sorry.
I guess I will use, I mean, I only have 30 feet,
so I'll go towards Marauder.
Okay.
You begin scrabbling over this broken terrain
in Marauder's direction, and you watch
as Ted's eyes, glowing, follow you.
Her mouth still open in that rictus of pain.
All right.
Now it's Marada's turn and you're so close.
Yeah.
What of it?
She's still got the spear buried in her.
Ooh.
She reaches forward,
pulls herself just a little bit onto it
so she can grab you
and cast spell magic on your wings.
All right.
I want to see if this works.
It's not really a roll, but I was curious.
As she grabs, you feel her nails
pinch in on your shoulder.
I will take everything away.
Your wings shatter,
and you watch as little motes of light dissipate
and fall down as a gentle rain around you.
Then she's going to attempt to push you off the hand.
I want to treat this like a grapple.
She's trying to manipulate your body
to move you in a direction.
So please make a strength saving throw.
All right.
I'm going to use my inspiration.
Okay.
What?
Natural 20. Yeah!
Oh, yes! Low, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Low rolls the whole game!
Let's go. And then the clutch point!
Let me get up! Yes!
Said Dice, tell a story as she goes.
Yes!
Once again, pushing herself a little farther
onto your spear, so heavy, but she thinks she has you,
and she attempts to push,
and you don't move.
And she pushes harder, and it's like pushing
against a wall, and you hear her scream,
Go!
And the mouth of Ted screams in unison,
and you do not move.
I just keep looking back at her and say,
Don't you know?
Blood of the mountain in me, bitch.
Let's go. Amazing. I'll come back here and say, don't you know? Blood of the mountain in me, bitch. Ha ha!
That's good.
Amazing.
All right.
Orym, you're up.
Fearne, you're on deck.
Orym looks, he doesn't see the face yet.
He just sees this big, roiling mountain
of a bulbous shape of stone moving and screaming,
and a giant hand, and the dwarf, and the woman.
And he just says, magic fucking bullshit,
and he reaches down and picks up the dead elf's crossbow
and starts running up that column.
Smart. That's laying along
the back end of the map.
Amazing.
I'll get as far up as you think he can get in his movement.
What's your movement speed?
30.
Are you dashing?
No. Okay.
I'll get you right onto here.
Then he just swings it up.
Ugly piece of shit.
It's a plus two crossbow.
Fires a bolt.
Let's go.
15 plus two.
We got a d20. Goddamn. Cool. 15 plus two.
We got a d20. Goddamn!
26 to hit.
Yes! Whoa!
Is it a heavy or light BT-dubs?
It's a heavy crossbow. Heavy, okay.
Cool, cool, cool, cool.
Cool.
Five, five, five, five, five.
That's 12 points of damage.
Even if I gave her partial cover, that still hits?
Yeah. What's the damage?
12 points of damage.
Amazing.
And then for my bonus action,
he's just going to breathe deep,
and I will use that bonus action to do Second Wind
and get back some Beautiful. Some vigor.
Five.
And that's it, donezo.
Beautiful.
Okay.
Legendary action.
How could she resist?
You're right there.
And you won't get out of her way.
She's still holding onto you.
Yeah.
Does an 18 hit?
I'm on class 15, plus two with haste, 17, yes it does.
Oh!
And she reaches forward and she's still holding onto you
and the other hand grabs and clasps you tighter
and you feel that initial pinch of her nails
and then something deeper as her eyes turn black
and veins appear from under, flowing into you.
And you hear in her voice a language
that you've only seen written.
That glyphic language, older than the gods,
in this place she has channeled it
and is summoning all of that strength into you
to cast Inflict Wounds.
And you understand her, but the rest of you hear both this whisper
and groaning growl of,
I will not end here.
And she coughs and blood pours out of her mouth
from these wounds that she's been aggregating
from all of you, from the spear still in her body,
from the crossbow bolt sticking out of her side.
You take 10 points of necrotic damage.
Okay.
Is this hand sloped?
Huh?
Is this hand sloped that I'm standing on?
A little bit, yeah.
Because I'm unconscious.
Oh.
She doesn't let you go, though.
You sink into her hands,
and she pulls you in closely
and looks over her shoulder at you, Orym.
Says, if you kill me, we will go together.
And then who will save him? It's as if you kill me, we will go together.
And then who will save him?
And she holds onto your body as a security blanket.
Fuck.
Okay.
Fearne, you're up. Okay.
Finish him.
I can't do what I was going to do because I think...
Okay.
Still in dire wolf form.
How far to Opal?
How far to Opal?
It's going to be about 45 feet to get to Opal.
Okay.
Working through something in my head.
No, take your time.
I'll offer this up.
Opal, can you give me a perception check?
19.
Nice.
I wanted to see if the dice would allow me
to tell a good story.
And this natural one.
As you go unconscious, Yrjaks,
your body slopes in.
She's not paying attention to what's on your body
as a bag slips free.
And Opal, you watch as that leather pouch
clangs down the arm and scatters to the bottom,
actually pretty close to below where Dorian is hovering.
Where's that?
Where's Dorian?
Dorian's right here.
Oh, okay. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Do you know what you're doing?
If I take extra movement,
am I somehow able to just leap and jump up to the hand?
I don't know if that's...
What's your dire wolf's movement?
50 feet.
50 feet in one round?
50 feet in one round.
That's without, that's just the regular speed.
I have said this is 100 feet away.
So you've got the range if you use your dash,
but I'm going to have you make an acrobatics check
to try to bar-core, since you're a dire wolf.
Bar-core!
Okay.
Whoa!
That's inspiration right there.
Bum-bum.
Ooh.
Okay.
Am I adding dex?
Yeah. Yeah.
It's acrobatics.
Okay, that would be 19.
Yeah, that does it.
Go ahead and describe for me what it looks like
as a dire fern
sort of scampers over this intense terrain
and gets up to the hands.
Standing there, seeing everything has just fallen apart,
just taking a running leap on top of the pillar,
on top of the fence, the pillar by the hand,
and just leaping up and just jumping right in front of her
and just growling just the loudest roar.
Nice.
And?
I am going to twist the knife a little bit.
So you just left Mister's body there?
I did.
Okay.
I did.
All right.
So to dash is your action.
So do you have any bonus action things you want to do?
Now that you're up in melee,
as you see Murata injured, weakened,
feral, is holding, clutching onto Dariax's limp form
as she backs away towards the edge
so that if you deal a killing blow,
they will both fall off together.
Bonus action. What can I do?
Is the dire moment, she's the ease?
Okay.
I think just as a bonus action,
I'm just going to try to...
She's holding Dariax, isn't she?
Mm-hmm.
I'm a liability.
No, you're not.
And of course, when you got up there,
she swiveled so that he is a little human shield
between the two of you.
And I don't have to remind you,
you've played a lot of D&D,
that if you do damage to her
and you're not surgical about it, it hits him.
And that's a crit.
Two death saves instantly.
Do it.
So what do you want to do?
Can I, can I?
I can't still take a bite, can I?
I don't think your bite is your bonus action.
No.
I'm just going to stay and growl.
Okay.
Go ahead and give me an intimidation check.
Okay.
I like a scary, scary pepper.
Natural one.
Your roar is fearsome and mighty,
but you see that this is a woman
that doesn't have fear left anymore.
Only loss mitigation, only desperately trying to figure out
if there is a win to be carved here.
She is past reasoning because she is holding on
to the last scraps of her life in this moment.
Okay, I'm good. It's my turn.
Dariax, I need you to make a death saving throw for me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's an eight.
It's a failure. That is one failure.
Mm-hmm.
Dorian.
Oh no, Ted's up.
Ted's eyes slide from Opal and look up at you
of a height with her right now.
And you see the flickering flash of arcane energy.
And I need you to make a dexterity saving throw.
Who's it going to be?
You.
That's a natural 20.
Yes! Yes!
That's a hashtag butt.
Amazing.
I'll leave you right there.
Amazing.
Two little shards of the glowing crystal behind her eyes
sheer away and start to roll down like tears
before they fly towards you, but they shoot.
You dodge them because you have
many dimensions of movement.
It's like three.
Three. It's like three dimensions. Three is many.
Three is many! Yeah.
Three is few. I'm very good at math.
This is fine. Not two, not four.
Not few.
All right, that's her turn.
Dorian, you're up.
Oh, fuck.
Give me a perception check.
Three.
Dang, cool. You good?
There's big eyes staring at you,
so I understand if your peripheral vision
isn't quite what it used to be.
What you want to do?
I am going to...
I'm going to use my movement to go straight to Dariax.
I'm going to cut right over to him
and land on the hand.
And she's got him grappled, right?
Yeah.
She literally turns to obscure him from you
and she curls over his body,
still threatening the edge,
and goes, no.
And I say, no.
And I grab them both.
And as I grab them, I'm able to get
just a tiny touch of Dariax's shoulder and cast.
Do you think you do?
I hope so.
Well, we're going to roll about it soon.
But bless you for being like, I definitely touch her.
I'm trying to describe it,
then you can describe my failure terribly.
Okay, okay, okay.
That's what I'm trying to do.
That's what I want to do.
I'm trying to, I just want to touch Dariax somehow.
Okay.
I need you to make,
what do I want to call this?
Fuck it.
Make an attack roll.
If you can beat her DC,
but this is an unarmed strike.
Treat this like an unarmed strike.
Okay.
You can land the hit past her.
I'll allow it.
Okay.
You have failed me for eight weeks.
This is your moment.
What's one more week? Redemption arc.
Redemption arc.
Oh.
14. Did you roll a... Oh, uh. 14.
Did you roll a?
Oh, uh.
No. Do I get blessed?
No, I'm unconscious.
You're unconscious. Fuck.
You're out, you're out. Finally.
That's right, that's right.
Oh!
That is 14.
14 doesn't hit.
Do you have inspiration?
I don't know.
Is there anything else you can do or add?
I do have inspiration.
Okay, sir, I'm not going to tell you
whether or not to use it.
I'm saying I'm about to.
My dead friend said he, my dead friend told me to.
Fuck you. Come on, Mr. Dice.
I mean, or don't use it and you can join his ass.
No, I'm using it!
Don't keep us in suspense.
17.
17 just hits.
Okay.
You beautiful, beautiful baby.
So I'll whip that arm around.
If she's got him shielded,
I'm going to whip that arm around both of them
and get around her shoulder
and just get a tiny anchor on Dariax,
the nape of his neck, and I'll cast a-
Were you casting a spell? Yeah.
Oh, my reaction's back.
She's going to attempt to counterspell it.
Okay.
What do I have to do to challenge that?
Yes. What's her spell level?
See, in higher level games,
this becomes an interesting economy, but...
I want to do a touch-based spell on Dariax.
That's all I've ever wanted to do.
How badly do you want to do it?
Badly, yeah.
Okay.
You see, as she goes to speak the words of Counterspell,
spiders begin to pour out of her mouth,
choking her words,
and she screams and does not finish the spell.
Go ahead.
All right, then I will cast my last spell slot. I'll cast Level 2 Cure Wounds.
Oh shit. So 2d8 plus two.
Go for it. All right.
Come back to me, little man.
Oh shi- I- Can someone look at this?
Take a big 2d8.
What's eight plus eight?
16, you raggy boy.
Plus two, 18.
So wait, what does that mean for him?
He gets 18 points.
Yes.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh, it's a beautiful thing.
Level up.
Level up, level up, level up.
Shhh.
And you hear, as this spell goes off,
and you channel all of your fear
and love for your friend into the spell,
and roll max healing just in your ear.
That's a promise.
Finish her.
You have another action. What would you like to do?
And she's pretty fucked up.
She's pretty fucked up, yeah.
And she's now thrown off balance as this
heavy ass dwarf.
She's now like, oh, okay, that's a live weight.
It's weird. He's moving and making choices.
Oblong is a word you could use to describe him, I think.
Yeah.
Dump truck ass is what I would use.
She's like, ah, it's too thick!
It's actually in my character description.
Yeah!
And we're only getting that in the finale?
I've run this game wrong.
We're starting over. We're starting over!
It's a dating sim now.
You got a shelf butt.
Got a shelf butt now.
And I haven't, you're giving me an action,
but I haven't used a bonus action.
Can I still control gravity?
Yes, you can.
I'm going to take that little finger.
It's only your gravity.
Right. Okay.
I'm going to take that little finger, though,
and I'm going to grab the back of Dariax's collar.
I'm going to make myself heavy again.
Oh.
And for my attack, I'm going to use an unarmed strike,
and I'm going to try to throw her off the hand.
Oh.
Dope.
Go ahead.
Attack roll. Un ahead and attack roll.
Must be quantum strikes.
Okay. Let's go.
Please!
Hit her with a melee attack.
That would be 16 plus four, dirty 20.
It hits.
Oh, please land next to me.
You try to kick her off.
Go ahead and make a athletics check,
and I'm going to make a strength save to see if you're okay.
Athletics. I could be okay.
My highest stat, 17.
11 plus six.
Take a sip.
Did I throw her off the hand while I got my buddy?
You kick her, roll the damage.
Yes! Oh, it's not much,
but I just want her to go away.
It just says three.
Okay.
You do three points.
Where do you kick her?
Ooh, right in the baby maker,
just right above the pelvis.
I was going to say, I'm like,
the baby is not going to hurt.
Got her here, and it's just a sidekick,
and it folds her in half
as I send her launching off of the hand.
Oh wait, did I say that you sent her off?
Fuck! That's what I was trying to do!
She doubles over and her hands,
finally letting go of Dariax, grab onto your clothing.
She sits down low and says,
I do not end this way!
She made it with an 18.
Fucking Cuddle Puddle!
Oh no!
Worst.
All right.
Good try.
That was a good try. Opal, you're up.
Okay, she's still on the hand?
She's still on the hand, but is having a very bad day.
Okay.
I'm going to use my movement.
I can't get on the hand. I mean, how would I do that?
You're going to struggle to get up there.
Yeah, how would I do that? I can't.
Ted's eyes flash back towards you
and watches in this moment of indecision.
Can I talk to Sted?
Of course you can.
You don't have to roll for it anymore.
I don't know what to do.
I'm out of options.
I don't know what to do.
Come to me.
In the mouth.
She doesn't answer back.
You hear an apologetic whimper.
Okay, okay, so, okay, my options are
I go for the bag or I go for Ted.
What do you want to do?
You know what the bag will do.
You don't know what running into her open mouth will do.
In fact, give me an insight check.
Yes, please. Yeah!
Okay, you can ask for them, too!
Oh, I can? Oh, that's a natural 20!
Yes! Oh my god.
That's amazing! Damn.
Back to back to back to back!
That's going to be a busy game.
Scripted, y'all. Yeah.
The writers on the show are excellent.
You hear as she says that there's a turn to,
the way she put it, it wasn't, it's not the cadence you know.
Not to mention that Ted is fiercely independent.
That's like a phrase you've probably never heard her say.
Yeah. And with that,
you're just at the very edge of your perception,
ever so aware that up high,
as you were looking back between the hand and Ted,
even in this moment where you were locked in talking to her,
Murata's lips moved at the same time.
And that was not a message from your sister.
Okay.
I'm going to go for the bag.
How far is it away? You'll get there. Okay, so I'll get there.
What do you want to do once you're there?
Goddamn it.
I'm going to get you! Not me!
Two points of poking.
Okay, this hair is very bad for maps.
But good for loot.
How close are my friends to Murad?
Is she using either of them as a shield
at this point or not really?
She is surrounded by your squad.
I don't know what to tell you.
What are you asking me?
They are mobbing her.
Do I have a clear shot?
Oh, you do not have a clear shot.
No, no, no, no, no.
But you've just grabbed the bag.
What do you do once you have the bag?
It's been eight weeks.
I just feel like, oh, that's a tough decision. What do you do?
Okay, so I'm just going to talk out loud.
Yeah.
So I feel like she's so close to dying,
but so are my friends, Murata.
Okay, yeah.
But so are my friends. Mm-hmm.
And I don't know what Ted needs to be broken from the spell
other than killing her,
but I can't kill her from where I'm at
with what I have or don't have.
I mean, you have Eldritch Blast.
I know, but you said that my friends are like,
she's not a clear shot. It's not a clear shot.
Doesn't mean it's an impossible shot.
Just means that there's a chance
that it'll get fun for me.
I'm going to do Eldritch Blast.
We can take it, we can take it.
Hold me.
I got you, buddy. Before you do that,
I need you to make a wisdom saving throw.
16.
Why are you hesitating?
Because you have given me no assurances about anything.
You just want me to put this fucking crown on
and you can still kill, and my friends can still do that.
I want you to hold your power.
But I don't want power.
I want to save my friends, bitch.
So give me that option and I'll put it on.
What do you think it's going to take?
I don't know. What do you mean?
What?
You want the power to save your friends.
I don't want the power.
I just want to save my friends.
Then fine. Take the shot.
Try not to kill them.
See what I care.
Fucking coward.
Don't kill us.
Her AC has gone up significantly
because she has got cover behind.
Her AC has gone up?
Yeah, dog.
Roll good.
Roll good.
Roll good or wear a hat.
Your choice. your choice.
What do you want in this moment?
Do you want to confirm the kill?
Yes.
Then put on the hat.
Ooh.
Y'all have walked around with a fucking vestige
for a full campaign.
It would be, I would be remiss
if I didn't do everything in my power to get you to put it on.
See what it's like.
I bet it's great.
Do what you want to do.
I'm done talking to you.
Make a choice. Okay, sorry.
Can I talk to Spider-Bitch again?
I would prefer if you didn't call me that, but hello.
If I put this on,
will I guarantee kill her?
What do I get?
Make a persuasion check.
That's an eight.
Sure.
I'll kill her.
I'll make sure you finish the job.
Okay. If you don't trust yourself, trust me. I don't trust you I have fought gods and heroes.
I am older than time.
I can kill one bitch.
Just trust me.
Trust yourself.
I don't trust you.
Then you've already lost.
You have to believe in something.
I believe in my sister.
She is barely your sister at this point.
No, she's not. She's fooling my sister.
Well, then you should do whatever it takes
to save her.
Okay, so I know as a player that this is fucking stupid.
I'm having a very good time.
I enjoy Dungeons & Dragons very much.
I'm trying to get a telepathic message.
I don't know what I would do.
There's no wrong choices.
Yes, there is!
Not really.
The story goes on regardless.
Okay, I think we've got this.
All choices lead to interesting stories.
Okay, I really think that Opal has spent so long
trying to get away from Ted,
and now all she wants is for Ted to be safe,
and she's going to put it on.
Yes!
Oh boy!
I'm into it.
You grab the crown. Yeah.
You hold it over your head,
and before you can finish,
because you're still, even in that last second,
hesitating, you feel the thorns get a little longer
and reach and touch your scalp
and begin to bury themselves into your scalp.
You feel the fresh flow of blood.
And as you see a little bit of it drip off of your eyelash
over your eye, it's so dark,
black, sticky, thick.
And you don't feel the pain of it.
You only feel a surge of energy.
Please take the effect of a long rest.
Your hit points come back up, your spell slots come back.
Yeah.
And I need you to describe to me,
what does Ted look like?
No. No.
We all see this lovely potato.
Potato!
What did Ted look like?
Ted is opal, but without the makeover,
without the dye job.
So she's got brown hair, it's in a French braid,
and she wears very sensible clothing.
And yeah, it's just an inch shorter than Opal
and less sparkly.
But she looks just like her.
She just doesn't have the accoutrement of glamor.
You all see as the circlet of barbed vision
settles on her head, her hair seems to like go slippery
and wet as the dye job slips away
and shows that brown underneath,
but then grows back in first black
and then pure shocking white, actually opalescent.
Not a dye job, the real you, and your eyes go dark black,
and the curve of your lips, that little snarling smile
is more your sister's than yours.
And you change just a little bit,
and you can feel it the entire time.
This is the Spider Queen's joy,
is twisting the appearance of others.
But the thing that she takes the most delight in
is forcing you to reckon with the fact
that you and your sister are a union of souls
and you will always look like it.
Your body gets just a little wider, stronger,
less concerned about aesthetics
and more concerned about power.
The effect of the Vestige takes place.
Your charisma will drop by two.
But your dexterity will go up by two also.
I need you to make your attack roll.
Okay. First, though,
can I take a bonus action of Misty
stepping a little closer to her?
Oh, I'll allow it.
Okay.
You can get right up in there.
You appear behind her.
I think instead of Eldritch Blast, instead of Eldritch Blast,
instead of Eldritch Blast,
I'd like to take out my dagger.
Yeah. Oh boy.
And I would like to slit her throat.
Yeah.
And your hand slides out faster than you can even see
as you grab her by the back of her hair.
Pull her neck open.
Go ahead and make an attack roll for me with advantage.
That's pretty good.
You all see her. Oh, wow.
Two 17s.
Okay.
Plus anything?
Is it 17 on the dice?
17 on the dice, but what do I add?
Anything? Add to your dagger attack.
Oh shit, yeah, yeah, yeah, hold on.
Let's go, come through next blade!
Oh!
22!
Yes.
An absolute hit.
And all of you see standing before you,
Opal, different, fiercer,
stronger, as you grab her by the head
and run the blade across her throat.
Roll your damage.
Five.
She was doing very badly for a very long time.
So how do you want to do this?
Oh!
As you hear the Spider Queen laugh in your ear.
I just, she grabs her by the back of the head
very tightly,
almost like she wants to pull
the hair out of her fucking scalp.
You feel it give a little bit. You rip.
Yeah. Pulling half of her hair
out, but you still have a hold.
And then she, like, grabs the tagger from
where she keeps it near her ankle,
and she puts it to her throat,
and she says,
you can't have her. And then slices it.
No!
As hard as she can, and I don't know what that does.
You cut through and you feel the scrape,
you feel the rush of what blood was left in here
splash over your hand,
and you feel the resistance of her spine
as you run your blade through her flesh and across it.
Her mouth opens, as if to speak,
but this was too lethal, too much all at once,
and it just hangs open.
I feel like I want to take her head
or maybe move my own body,
and I want her to stare into my eyes as she dies.
You turn and you hold her.
Holding her by the head, it opens up even more
as she spills out that last in her
and she just stares at you.
She blinks and blinks again,
and you see that same crystal glow
from the summoning of Ted into this world.
And she blinks again and you see Ted's dark eyes
and she blinks again and they're her own gray eyes
as the light finally leaves them.
And she goes limping her arms.
And it's over.
So what do you want to do?
Do I have anything left? Any bonuses? No.
Okay, calm down with the initiative thing.
You killed the bad guy.
Okay, great.
Well, I was going to give some healing to people,
but honestly, I just want to know where my sister is.
What does that mean now that she's gone?
What does that mean?
I mean, you see the construct still there,
standing, mouth agape.
You're out of initiative, but this isn't over yet.
So what do you want to do?
That's a question to everyone.
I want to talk to Ted. That's what I want.
But I don't know what everyone else is doing.
We'll see what everyone else is doing first.
We'll come back around to you.
You had a big round and I'm very proud of you all.
I know.
Thanks for putting on the hat. No.
How's everyone doing?
Orym watched all of that happen from a distance,
saw her down there, saw the change,
saw her suddenly appear up there, saw what happened.
He throws the crossbow down and pulls his blade back out
and is just, he looks at Dorian and Dariax,
who he has been worried off and on about for weeks,
and centers on Opal as he comes down off of the column
to the base of it, 30 feet away from the bottom of the arm,
and just watches and waits.
Okay.
Give me...
Give me an arcana
or insight check.
You can tell me what kind of check
you want to make right now.
You are a man accustomed to watching and sensing danger.
So what are you trying to figure out?
I'll make a history check.
Okay. From everything
that I've heard and overheard
from people far wiser than me.
Okay.
23.
Your mind reaches back
to stories, liturgies about the gods of Tal'Dorei,
of Exandria, of the Betrayer Gods,
and the Divine Gate of good and of evil.
You've heard so many stories,
but you've heard new ones, too.
Ideas from the Tetrarchs in Njordalpak.
An idea of power,
raw and unadulterated,
lacking distinction,
simply calling out to be used.
And that flows with everything that you see around you
as the miasma that's given you strength,
that's given others insane abilities,
that's allowed Ted to be summoned
from deep within your friend's soul
and brought into the world.
It's just power.
And even though this vestige was marked by the Spider Queen,
it is wielded by a friend.
And she can decide what she will make of it.
It still leaves him watching silently.
Anyone else?
That's literally what he's doing.
Just staring at Opal, crimson splattered, the body crumbling of our antagonist
and glancing at,
looking at Opal, but also facing towards Dorian
and Fearne a bit with the face like,
Opal, you okay?
Am I okay?
Are you?
Can I, what would I roll for that?
I'd like to know if there's anything
that's sort of changed in my...
Look, look at me.
Yeah. We've been playing this
for weeks now.
Yeah.
The stats are guidelines.
You know your character, so how is Opal doing?
I think she's really scared.
Opal, you okay?
All right, all right.
Okay. I go over still,
and I'm still in wolf form with two points left,
and I just start trying to lick her hands
and clean off the blood.
I look over towards Dorian.
Let's get you down.
Let's get you down where it's safe.
I'm going to lift her up.
I have a question.
Do you recall, do we still have the residuum
in our bag somewhere?
You do.
Who has it?
Dariax or Orym, one or the other?
It's been a while.
I think I have some.
I think it was, I remember it as Orym,
but it could be someone else.
You could all have some, I don't know.
And one environmental question,
I'm done with questions.
No, I love questions.
Does it seem like Muddy Ted has stopped moving?
They're sort of inanimate, or?
She's paused, yeah.
But you, like, looking at her, it's strange.
You see a sense of breathlessness, panting.
Orym, do you still have the residual?
I do.
Can I see it?
I'm going to take it in this bag or whatever,
and some of it out.
I'm going to say, Opal, do you trust me?
Yes.
Because I want to try something.
Okay.
And I'm going to take a piece out,
and I'm just going to touch it
to one of the pieces on her body,
and then see if I can make a connection.
Can I pull a string from the resi-
Can I continue this connection that she has?
Make a spell attack roll for me.
18, because I don't know what my spell attack is.
Is that an 18 on the dice?
Yes. Oh shit, okay.
It's whatever that modifier is to hit. I know a lot of your things are spelt or saved.
They're all saves, yeah.
Go to above?
Plus four, 22.
Perfect.
Yeah, with a 22, you reach out with a little shard
of the residuum and you touch it.
And you quirk your head and you tap it
like a tuning fork, a very specific, clear tone emerges from it.
You're able to pull and you feel something catch
as you create a new tether.
So I'm going to take that piece very carefully
and use my boots and my movement remaining
and flutter over to the head and hover by it.
I'm going to take the risk.
It turns and regards you. Fuck.
It turns what?
It turns to regard. Oh. I'm going to stare it down. It turns as? It turns to regard it.
Oh.
I'm going to stare it down. It turns as you come over.
And I'm just going to take this piece
and put it in and see if it reacts into the kind of-
In where?
Like right in the center of its forehead,
into the muck and mire,
and see if I can plug one little piece in.
With a 22, you push in.
And for the first couple seconds, it feels like flesh,
hard to penetrate, and then you focus.
You think about that sound again.
You don't realize it, but you start humming, pitch perfect.
And you push and it slips in
and you can feel and almost see
that the connection is preserved.
And it's not fucking with me?
It's not regarding me anymore?
I mean, he's still looking at you.
He's very confused about what's happening.
I am going to start taking out the rest of the residuum
and pulling from my memory from what we saw on the glyphs.
I'm going to try to spell Opal
with residuum.
I'm going to try to make the glyph that we saw.
Amazing.
Go ahead and make a history check.
If anyone else wants to help, you can give them advantage.
That one helps.
I'd probably give disadvantage if I tried.
No!
It's not great. Roll again.
Roll again.
Oh, what?
Advantage, advantage.
Oh, advantage, okay.
10.
You begin.
Where are you trying to trace these rings?
Right in the center of his third eye, right there.
I'm trying to recall from my memory
of the things that we saw.
Like, I feel like I remember the list of things
that we saw, like minerals,
and I'm trying to piece together
what the glyph for Opal would look like.
I want all of you to make a check for me.
I want you to decide what it is
as you watch and see your friend struggling,
but you realize what he's attempting to do.
You can tell me what the role is.
Is it arcana? Is it history to remember?
Is it religion for this deific language?
You tell me what you roll.
Orym.
I'll roll history again.
I'm feeling really out of my depths. I'm good at swords.
18.
You are good at more than swords.
And as you come around to see
Dorian's progress,
your brow furrows a little bit.
And you see that though he's begun,
the way these glyphs work is a description of a thing.
It's not opal.
It's stone that catches fire.
It glimmers like stars,
and you begin to shout up corrections, ideas,
the beginnings of something more complex
to encapsulate your friend.
Fearne, what do you roll?
I feel like...
I feel like this is trying to
save a life.
So I guess medicine.
I love that.
Oh, that was just a journey.
Not a good one.
Six.
Have you used your inspiration?
No.
It's cocked.
Okay.
19.
Amazing.
You're watching the carving of these glyphs,
and then this tremendous compassion for life.
Because even though you're a wildfire druid,
your primary domain is life.
And you know that the things that this is missing,
that connection that you need to maintain is one of life.
And you add, you shout up, That connection that you need to maintain is one of life.
And you add, you shout up that she's not just a stone,
but a person, a sibling, a loved one, a connection.
And as you shout these things, the sigil that you're carving continues to change and grows in complexity.
You're getting closer.
Dariax, what do you roll?
Most of my focus has been on Opal at this point,
but I hear the conversation glance over,
and while I don't fully grasp the concept
of what Dorian's doing,
I also physically touch those runes
and I'm like,
it's supposed to be the line in the, hold on.
And he takes the spear and climbs down the hand
and goes over and starts climbing up the side
of the earth structure that,
I think probably at this point, he hasn't,
he's been so focused on the things
he doesn't realize is a giant head yet.
Oh god!
He just thinks it's a weird, lumpy mountain.
I made that up.
Bless.
But he climbs up and starts taking his thumb
and trying to correct his stuff,
and I think as far as just a straight dexterity check
to see if he can recreate these runes accurately from memory.
I'll half my residuum that we're making this out of
with Dariax, I'll give him some so he can help me.
Okay. All right.
As you're physically interacting,
he's providing the help action,
so you roll yours with advantage.
All right.
18.
The forms come,
and almost without knowing where they're supposed to end,
like an artist just following shapes
and hoping the thing will emerge,
it becomes clearer, more precise.
You're almost there.
One more.
Opal.
What do you do?
I feel like Opal's just sort of desperate,
so the only thing you can do when you're desperate
is to try to persuade the thing to go your way.
So persuasion.
Who are you trying to persuade?
The fucking Ted, I guess.
Persuade her to come back.
Okay.
I don't know. Give her a persuasion check.
Lucky number 13.
Yay!
Coming back around.
Call back.
And you are begging.
You drop to your knees and cry out for Ted,
and you can feel that even with that new tether
provided by Dorian, she's slipping away.
She's almost gone.
You're almost free, but that's not what you want.
And your begging doesn't just reach out to her, it's to anything.
And that miasma of energy,
once blue, now purple,
and resolving back into blue again
and beginning to fade
as the sun begins to drop below the canopy,
you ask power itself,
potential for help.
Make a new roll, something else,
but make it with advantage.
As power reaches back to you,
flows into you.
Pick?
Or no? Make a new roll.
Pick a new roll?
Yeah, make a new roll.
What are you trying to do to finish this?
If you really want it to be persuading your sister
to allow this to happen, to let it finish.
I guess maybe she's not in control of it.
Right? I'm assuming.
Would it be religion?
I don't need that.
Just literally, like, what do you do
when you're so desperate? You just pray.
Yeah.
Roll with advantage.
Okay.
16.
No, no, no.
Yeah, 16, fuck.
Ugh, at least it wasn't 13.
It wasn't 13. You're good.
And you reach out.
And then you see.
You start. It's a prayer.
It begins as a prayer,
a beseeching to something,
but then it moves past that
because you have that realization
that as you ask, you get it.
And you go from prayer,
from a pilgrim attempting something,
to something closer to a cleric,
someone that understands the nature of religion,
not of the gods, not even the one
that has granted you this vestige,
but just power and potential.
And in that moment, in that space and breath of understanding,
you can understand the glyphic language.
And you know the forms,
and you shout and help your friends finish,
as you successfully carve the rune
that means Opal,
that means sister and family and home
and safety and belonging.
That's what Opal is.
Not just to Ted, but to all of you.
And the ritual completes.
You feel and see as the last bits of that energy scatter out and away and leave you
in the last moments of a blue hour
on a beautiful night as the stars begin to unfurl
and unfold and shine down on you.
And the light in Ted's eyes
moves from purple
to that same blue of the sky
and flashes like an opal in the firelight
before dimming and everything begins to sink back down
into the ground.
Those of you in the hand gently ride it back down
to the level of the ground.
Those of you on the head sorting Cascade down.
As Ted goes back,
as she retreats from the physical world and goes home,
and it gets really quiet for a long moment.
And then you begin to hear out and far away,
because the surrounding jungle is still leveled
from the force of everything that's happened here.
But life begins to stir again, and you can hear off in the distance
the sounds of the jungle returning.
I run over to Opal and I just grab her and hold her.
I'm sorry.
Me too. Watch all of this slowly flutter down to Dariax
and just glance over at him
and reach my hand out for a gentle low five
so no one can see.
Is she gone?
I think maybe Opal would try one more time to see if she could connect with her.
Make a charisma saving throw.
You said, did my charisma go down?
Yeah, by two.
So that is a 10.
It's okay.
It's not very hard,
because this is a part of you.
It would take a great act to distract you
from that feeling as you look inward.
You don't see her, but you feel her.
She's exhausted, but safe.
You feel whole again in your way.
She's there and she's okay.
Is she alive?
In her way.
Fuck.
Opal,
I want you to make a history check for me.
That is a nine.
You're good.
You're feeling a lot of feelings right now,
and putting together clues from your life
is a difficult thing to do. and putting together clues from your life
is a difficult thing to do. That's what time takes and perspective
and not being fresh in the moment.
But your mind drifts back towards your mother.
And she left.
There was always something strange to her.
You remember as a child looking up at her,
as she would get lost in a mirror,
deep in contemplation, her gaze turned inward on herself.
And something about that sparks recognition
in the beginnings of a question.
Another time.
I'm going to go over to Mister's body
I'm going to go over to Mister's body
and I'm going to pick him up and
I think I have the spell.
Yes, I do.
I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on him.
Go ahead and roll.
Your healing.
That's weird.
Oh. Oh.
Okay.
Eight points.
You hold on to this.
Sorry, guys, I didn't realize I had
had the necessary.
You were doing murder bites, it's all right.
It's okay.
When you were up on the hand, I was like,
oh, whoops, there it is.
For whatever it's worth, they would have no idea that this looks like Cure Wounds
because as you wrap and fold yourself around Mister,
a blaze begins that starts in your chest
and spreads to him and consumes him,
but does not destroy him.
But you look down through the blaze, which is warm and comforting to you,
but it ravages that little oasis.
The ferns catch, the wood catches,
the tree is sent up as if it was old and dried
and not full of water in the middle of a rainforest,
in the middle of a jungle,
is consumed utterly.
And yet you, in the ashes, when all else falls away,
you're holding Mister, who's looking up at you
with giant eyes and an open mouth
full of bright, happy orange flame
as he grabs onto your cheek and brings them close
as he gives you a playful bite on the nose
and hugs your face.
You did so well.
I give him a bite back.
And he nuzzles into you.
When the anxiety fades of the near forest fire
that burst forth and then put itself out.
Okay.
You all right?
Is her eye still black with the crown on?
Mm-hmm. Does the crown look painful
and is her head bleeding?
The crown, if you, I mean, you have a high passive.
You see that the crown is buried in,
but what's running off isn't blood,
but whatever it is off isn't blood.
But whatever it is, it stopped flowing.
I'm not going to lie, you look pretty cool.
I think then that's when Opal realizes she has it on. I mean, she's probably known, but as powerful as it is,
I think she would take it off.
She'd take it off. She'd take it off.
So she takes it off.
You can certainly try.
Oh, she can't.
Give me...
Give me another charisma saving throw.
Okay.
Oh, fuck me. Hold on, let me count.
13!
Damn!
Number two auspicious, I can't not play with it.
You wrap your hands around and you feel
the actual pricks of it in your skin,
and you feel that it immediately draws blood from your fingertips.
As I take it out?
Or as you grab it.
Okay. And then you hear,
why don't you keep it on for a while,
then decide.
And you try to pull it free,
and you feel it shifting something below your skin.
It seems a little bit ill-advised
to try to pull free right now.
You can certainly keep going, but you will take damage.
Well, hope it looks good, because it's staying on.
I love it.
I actually think it's a much more
beautiful crown than the one you won in the pageant.
Oh, thank you.
I don't feel evil, so.
Yeah, I mean.
I think we're just glad you're okay.
Thank you.
That we're all okay.
Are you okay?
Yeah. Anybody need any hit points? Thank you. That we're all okay. Are you okay?
Yeah.
Anybody need any hit points or healing?
I'm all right. I'm okay. Same.
Maybe if we camp tonight,
try to take it off again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll try to take it off.
I mean, we'll work on it.
Sure. Maybe like a little l it off again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll try to take it off. I mean, we'll work on it. Sure. Maybe like
a little lube or something.
Yeah.
Maybe you just live with it for a few days.
Yeah.
Or maybe she tries to take it off tonight.
Or she can try to take it off.
As you guys,
as you all fall into this pattern,
relief and exhaustion taking over
as the night sky fully blooms out before you.
We end. No.
But this isn't the end.
There really aren't any endings here.
The world keeps going and your story keeps going.
And this is just the beginning
of a new and glorious story for you all.
But it is a story for another time.
And as the sun sinks away,
you all are walking into your proverbial sunset.
So my last question for you, and I didn't think I was going to cry, You all are walking into your proverbial sunset.
So my last question for you, and I didn't think I was going to cry, but
what direction are you all walking in and with whom? Dorian.
No, no.
You're not ready yet.
It's okay, I'll go to someone else.
No, no, I look to Orm like I always have for direction
and see if I'll follow.
I'm really not a leader.
But you're the best with maps.
Won't turn down the company.
Is Medjie still out there?
We definitely did not find Imagi.
We're still being hunted by a ton of assassins.
Are we? Maybe we nipped that in the bud.
Best to assume not, though.
Oh no, they'll still be coming after us.
Like, it's a thing.
Dear Yax,
you are so often blown by
the whims and wind of the world.
often blown by the whims and wind of the world.
What are you going to do?
Do you stay?
Do you go?
I am,
to a fault, a follower
when someone shows me a course of leadership.
I think based on this experience,
until the wind blows heavy enough to blow him off course,
he's going to be anchoring himself to this core group,
which as he's looking around
and kind of looking at everybody exhausted,
coming to rest for the night, he goes like,
How about the Crown Keepers?
The Crown Keepers?
That's interesting.
I mean, if Opal could use it,
surely we all could use it from time to time.
Well, at the very least, if we're keeping to Opal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, if you don't mind, like, at some point,
stopping back by my town so I could tell my dad about Ted.
Or maybe she's there, I could tell my dad about Ted.
Or maybe she's there, I don't know where she is. But yeah, Crown Keeper's a great name.
Who doesn't love alliteration, am I right?
Yeah, sure. Right, right?
We can come up with another idea
once we get rid of this thing, but until then.
I'll go with any name, but
I can definitely get behind Frient's.
Frient?
What do you do?
I... I had some things that I needed to do,
but I think there's still some things
that we maybe need to complete,
and I don't think I'm ready to leave you all yet.
Because thinking about that just makes me very sad.
So let's just keep going.
Yeah, we're this close.
We find this Emeji person, get him back safe and sound,
and then we can have this conversation again.
Maybe we can help you do the things you wanted to do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't really care what we do,
as long as I'm with you.
Start with Emeji.
Maybe start trekking back north
and figure it out from there.
Yeah.
You want to stop home again?
I guess I could just write a letter or something.
I don't know, I'm out of pies.
Well, maybe we should show them that, you know,
you're a forever gem of Byroden.
Yeah.
New glorious crown.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, and after that,
we take the show on the road.
The Black Swan, we still have a standing.
That's true. Oh, that's right!
We get Tharla Star back!
Tharla Star in the stars.
All right, all right.
Okay, okay.
I think we got a plan.
We have a lot to do, we have a lot to do.
I told you you were a leader.
Orym just quiets down completely
and listens to them laugh and talk and smile
and is so happy to be seeing that.
And it's good to have a circle of friends like this.
And the whole time he's also just
watching that crown.
I know, it's not very pretty.
He thinks that's a problem for tomorrow.
It's a problem for tomorrow. It's a problem for tomorrow
and a story for another day.
So that's where we'll close
the first season of Exandria Unlimited.
I was there. I didn't kill any of you
and I wanted to so badly.
That last 10 minutes was the sweetest shit ever.
Yeah, it really was.
You are the cutest.
It's been such an honor to play and run for you guys.
Thank you.
I love you. I love you.
I love all of you.
I love all you nerds.
We rocked the outloops.
Ah, not today.
Ugh.
All right.
Well, we'll end there.
Until we all meet again, be safe.
We all love you very much.
And is it Thursday yet? Posca holds court in a dimly lit room that could barely pass for an office.
She kicks her feet up on the desk, soft, split leather soles giving some inkling as to her roguish nature. And all around her, though unseen,
the gentle creaking of leather
alerts you to the other people
in the room,
so often accustomed
to leaning back,
hanging in the shadows.
All right, then.
I thought we could be different,
nobler than the myriad or the clasp, more incisive in our purpose, but my generosity was exploited and I'm not at my best when my feelings are hurt. So, violence then.
And woe betide any of those fools if they should come back
into my city.
This is Matthew Mercer. Thank you for listening
to Exandria Unlimited on the Critical Role
Podcast Network. If you've enjoyed
the show, please leave us a review on the podcast app of your choice.
Your review might inspire someone to give this adventure a listen.
There are unlimited stories to be told, and we can't wait to keep telling them.
Is it Thursday yet?