Critical Role - Flight to Castle Torch | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 15 Part 1

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Part 1 The Seekers take to the skies via an eagle ally, bonding in the clouds as they head to the home of the Barrowguard... New Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays.Learn more about Campaign 4 at https://critrole.com/campaign4/   GET MORE CAMPAIGN 4 WITH BEACONWe're excited to bring you even MORE Campaign 4 with a Beacon membership! Get access to exclusive shows like our behind-the-scenes Critical Role Cooldown and ask the Campaign 4 cast your burning questions directly through our LIVE monthly Fireside Chats.You'll also receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant ad-free access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord.Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to everything Critical Role! OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN 4 CASTGAME MASTER Brennan Lee MulliganLaura Bailey as ThimbleLuis Carazo as Azune NayarRobbie Daymond as Kattigan ValeAabria Iyengar as Thaisha LloyTaliesin Jaffe as Bolaire LathaliaAshley Johnson as VaelusMatthew Mercer as Sir Julien DavinosWhitney Moore as TyrannyLiam O’Brien as Halandil "Hal" FangMarisha Ray as Murray Mag’NessonSam Riegel as Wicander "Wick" HalovarAlexander Ward as Occtis TachonisTravis Willingham as Teor Pridesire CREDITSProduced by Maxwell James, Steve Failows, & Kyle ShireSet Designed by Shaun EllisProduction Designer: Noxweiler BerfCharacter Art by Loren HontanillaEdited by Taylor Burke and Emily "Stevie" StevensonCritical Role Announcement Playhouse Editor: Vinny CelestiOpening Title Editor: Paul FoyderOpening Title Colorist: Peter KoocheradisWindow Effects by Christian BrownGraphic Design by Aaron Monroy & Jordyn TorrenceDol-Makjar art by Daniel Jiménez VillalbaMiniatures Painted by Payton Keo LacebalOpening Title Theme by Neal AcreeCampaign 4 Key art by Hannah FriederichsAdditional Art & Design by Hannah Friederichs Episode QC by Catherine Zimmerman & Paula FloresAssistant Editor: Gianna GencarellaPost Production Coordinators: M Swing & Bryn HubbardClosed Caption Editing by Margaret Dill, Nikki Kindelberger, Courtney Knewtson, Danielle Lackie, Eleanor Smith-Dufresne & Alice TsoiPost Production Supervisor: Tal Levitas HEALTH & WELL-BEINGDue to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode.Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why, hello there. I'm Brennan Lee Mulligan, and welcome to Campaign 4 of Critical Role. Thank you for joining us on this journey as we explore Aramon, a world of fractured kingdoms, tumultuous rebellion, and sorcery that rises from the graveyard of the gods. You're listening to Part 1 of this adventure, with Part 2 arriving this upcoming Tuesday. Our episodes typically arrive on the Critical Role podcast network a week after our initial Thursday night streams, on Beacon, YouTube, and Twitch. But if you'd rather listen to a full podcast episode of Campaign 4, right when it airs, without any ads, consider becoming a Beacon member.

You'll receive access to exclusive content, discounts at all our online Critical Role shops, pre-sales for live events, and so much more. Start your seven-day free trial today at beacon.tv. Now, without further ado, let's begin this episode of Critical Role. A town square of a town partially burnt, not enough dwelling places for all the people who inhabit it.

A man in sort of chipped red painted breastplate, patchwork armor, a multiplicity of weapons. He's got a long spear on his back, a battle axe and a hand axe at his side, a long sword on the other side of his belt. Walking to and fro, he's got to and fro. got an injury in the front of his face that cuts through the lip into the gum,

several teeth missing on his upper jaw. Human man ring of white hair is older, but shouldn't have survived this long. Those of you who have been gathered here have heard of us, the Gallo's choir. We are preeminent mercenary company. We have been told to come here looking for young soldiers. I see waves, hungry mouths,

nothing worth speaking of. Amongst those gathered here, Luis, can you describe Azune and the people that are with him. Yeah. Azune is in this moment 12 years old. And small for his age, short for his age. His hair is tied back in a braid. And he is standing stiff,

trying to puff up his chest to make himself look thicker. thicker and stronger and with him is his family and his people. His parents are there, and his sister, Mayali, stands next to him, almost in the same stiff posture, a year older than he is. Mother and father behind you as you stand at attention, each squeeze your shoulder and their hands are so weak. Your father, a proud man, has become a little bit jaundiced. Your mother, you can tell that

her gums are almost receding a little bit. They look on death's door. They haven't eaten in probably two weeks. Your father looks and says, he says it in different words though. Language that mean something. You step up first. And you see that this mercenary captain calls up your sister. I would like you to roll an athletics check for her with advantage. That is a 16 on the die. 16 on the die. She steps forward. All right. You are going to wear this. He puts a sort of loose tunic of chain mail on her. You see that he hands of short sword to her. You're going to run across this field.

You are going to leap over the fallen logs there. You retrieve one of the penance that we have placed inside that building. You run back here. You go back again for a second, then a third. You understand? She nods, takes off, running. You look over and see the other kids in the village here whose parents look healthier than you.

and who they, the children, look much less strong than you and my alley. Racing through, getting the third pennant, the captain says, good, okay, you. Next. Your mother says, you can do it. Go ahead and give me athletics with advantage. Okay.

An eight on the die. If I add my ability modifier, it'd be a plus four to it, but I'm 12 years old. 12 years old? Girls mature a little faster than boys. On a 12, you get the penance just not nearly as fast. Running across the length of the town square and chain mail, by the time you've gotten the first pennant,

your legs are burning, your lungs are burning. You're in pain, the man is barking orders at you. Your mother looks in your eyes as you come back. I lock eyes with her, and I see her standing amongst these mercenaries, and that is when it hits me. How underfed they looked compared to these people that have come to meet us here. And how thick and strong they look in comparison.

I was never able to make that contrast until this moment, but I know what they've done to give us this chance. And I feel my body keep moving with a surge, even though I stay looking at my mother for a little while, as I try to complete this task that these mercenaries are putting us through. You complete the task. On a 12, you manage to get that third pennant and collapse in a heap by the time you do. Your mother rushes over to help pick you up. The test continues with the other kids. Most of them cannot complete it. Collapse before they're able to. And what's worse, I think

you can tell, burn some deeply needed energy in trying to do something. and we'll end this day with precious little food, starved and exhausted by the effort they have shown here. The captain speaks to your mother and father and some other parents saying, It's a waste of our time. We'll take the girl and go, grabs the girl, and you see Maiali turns around and says,

No, my brother, reaching out for you, and you see, he says, he was a wreck by the time he got the third pennant. You see that she looks up and says, but he got it! He got it! That's right, I got it. And I could do better.

That wasn't my best. I could do better than that. Yeah, you want to try it right now? I'll do whatever it takes. I'll try it again. I'll do it again. And I start to set up and start to get myself ready to do it again. You see that your father says, Sir, please, the guard pushes him aside and says, go. I'm going to ask you for a roll again, but you're exhausted,

so you're going to roll straight. Okay. That's a nine on the die. Nine on the die. Running back. You are destroyed. In the years that followed in this war, you never felt as physically exhausted as you did this day.

Other mercenaries would look at your willingness to perform dangerous missions, manial tasks, stay up late, securing something, lifting cargo. It never hurt as much as this day hurt. As you complete it, the captain looks like, over. Take the boy. If your muscles ever get as thick as your head and he jabs a fat finger

into the side of your head, maybe we have a soldier to work with, huh? Your mother collapses weeping on the ground. Your father holds her. Oh, say goodbye. You see that soldier turns, and as you turn, Maiali grabs you and kisses your cheek. And if she walks over to your parents, and you look and realize your mother is weeping with relief. I walk. I know what this day's about. I stand in front of my mother who's weeping, and I grab my sister's hand, and I just squeeze it as tight,

because I don't know what to say. She looks up at you and smiles and kisses you on each cheek and holds you for a long, long time behind you, You can hear the captain of that guard speaking. The girl, she has potential. The boy, I don't know. We take him, we train him, maybe we pawn him off on the banner.

They'll take anyone. You see, your mother looks at you and says, you're going to be fed, and you're going to be taken away from here. It will be very dangerous. but your father and I gave you the clothes that you needed. We gave you a chance because this world is dangerous, whether you have a sword in your hand or not.

And we wanted you to have a sword in your hand. And you gave us your food. We know we saw. We knew what you were doing. Mama, what if I don't wanna go? What if I wanna stay with you? What if me and my alley want to stay? Anytime you want, come back here to this day and remember how proud your father and I were

be there with you no matter where you go, no matter how far away we are. I know we're the lucky ones. And I know that it's on us to make this chance worth it for everyone that's not gonna get the chance that we had. Your father touches your shoulder. I'm proud of you, Mahali, Hazune. I'm proud of you, my son.

Wars end. And when they do, they provide some chance of a better life for people like us. There is no ladder out of this for us other than through fire and storm. I wish it were some other one. but it is not. This is a chance for you and your sister to write your own fate. Come back for you. We both will. You'll see.

My Ali cast her eyes down. Azune, you tell your mother and father you will come back for them. Is this memory the last time you saw your mother and father? It is. It's the one that I play over and over again so that I don't forget them, but I'm already forgetting parts of it. Eyes like sunset. A distant voice, you have to remember, keeps coming back. Memories can fade and change if not cared for.

But the story continues, as it will continue tonight on this episode of Critical Role. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Critical Role Announcement Playhouse. Upgrade from our wondrous K.O. Here on set, thank you care. We're professional now. We are now.

We got there. It only took 10 years. 10 years. We also are showing off from sideshow the Legends of Exandria metal posters. Yeah! We're excited to bring you brand new Legends of Exandria metal posters from the side show and artist. I got it. I got it. Beautiful art pieces that all fit together. Each friend is from our separate campaigns. You can choose your favorite piece or collect all three to complete the ultimate display. Wait, use your nails on them like ASMR.

See, it's a package. These Illuminumidimidimed editions are a hand numbered and limited to only a hundred hundred pieces. Super limited. So once they are gone, they won't be made again. So grab yours now while you can at sideshow.com. You're not on camera, BB. You're not here enough to know. But now I'm because I grab the art. Good job. Good done. That concludes our announcements. So let's go ahead and jump back into one. We return here to ReasonGurtle after epic combat on the Hakwollenbrooker. So epic. So epic. Say that bridge one more time.

All right. Haken, Wark and bock and bockin. The Hakwollenbukha. Fighting crashes, horses winnie. Yeah. He forth my boyfriend. I love that movie so. I'm so good.

Having journeyed east from Dolmachyar in search of a vision of an orkish warrior standing in the ancient tomb, in search of answers for the fate of House Royce and House de Vinos, in search of questions surrounding the slaughter at the Palazzo Devinos and the undead nature of Octus Taconas, the Stone of Night Song.

Answers to all these questions lying to the east our adventurers found themselves in recent girdle, momentary guests of House Einfossen, and more recently, guests of the Druids of Seasons, Stone on the high grotto of the Schongarten, a tense exchange between Tysha Loi of the Circle of Ancients and her fellow druids of the Old Path, her success in representing

her situation allowed for entreaty with the entire party, where Hannon, the Circle of the Hunt, beheld Vailas, faithful of the Sisters of Salandry. And before things came to blows, a Nat 20 intimidation telling the Elven Druid to not resort to violence, less that we visited upon him, was followed immediately by a Nat 20 persuasion At which point Amida, the elder druid of the Circle of Seasons said,

this must be recognized as the opportunity it is. I would see your journey continue as clearly you have access to knowledge that I do not. And the mission that lies before you is one of deep significance. How may I help? And offered to meet you at the Erie above the Schengarten, where you would be be given passage, flight by eagle, to wherever you need travel. Traveling from the Sean Garden, you were waylaid on the bridge by soldiers of House Taconas, and Octus's older brother, Franz.

Franz did not bedevil you for long, for indeed, Sir Julian de Vinos hurled him from the high bridge to meet his watery death Sorry, not sorry. Beneath the Falls. And the accent. Beneath the falls, as the rest of you tangled with incoming bleastobolts

foiled by a quickly summoned fog from Tysha Loi, as Vailas left combat. Also, Vailas was there. Also, Vailas was there. Also, Vailis was there. Just checking out the vibes. What's going on?

Taking some swings. Well, you know, when you're that old, combat goes by real fast. Yeah. It was a blink of an eye. You didn't, I didn't, yeah. To my elven senses that combat basically didn't happen. An event so small, it could not be said to have a could.

I will say this, for sure. There were three people that had a worse combat than Vales, and it was enmity, cruelty, and agony, who really realized. they should not be in this combat, in this city, or in this arc. I love the time life. As producer Kyle Shire said,

bringing huge team rocket energy to the function. Absolutely. Truly. I forgot my dice again. Jesus. Maybe this is why it went wrong. We need to start over. Start over.

Back to one. We, back to one, everybody. I like the instinct to be quiet until last night. It's back. Like you're not two feet away. Everyone's his way. Just wait. Hold.

I'm ready. Rushing forward from the Hakbalin Bukha, you hear distantly as your footfalls race up. Now outfitted in some druidic garb. You had traveled the Dvalmar pass in some of you, the bloody clothes you were murdered in. I changed. Changed.

I changed. I changed. Clothes from wherever the fuck we were. Eindfossom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You mean castle, clippin, click. The Schaffenkeep in particular. We said all the good words.

We did it. We said all the good words. Oh, sorry, Capelgarten. There you go, great. I like the good. couple of comments. Yes. Okay, now I feel ready to leave.

You've said all the words. You can leave. I live here now. In the distance behind you, you hear some shouts elsewhere in the neighborhood surrounding, some screams distantly. You even hear a spell being fired off behind you. You can only imagine

where Petra and Rye have gone, but you certainly do not hear them following you, although that doesn't tell you very much. Ascending the staircase, you arrive at an Erie atop a craggy mountainside. The Erie's nests are some 20 feet wide in diameter, many of them, and you see enormous birds of prey,

giant eagles throughout. These eagles down below, many of them are some like 14 feet tall at the shoulder towering above you, turning to look. And you see several of them here have small sheds with sort of moss-covered roofs on the sheds, with small like symbols. And you see there are some carcasses of pig and cattle

strewn throughout. There are some that even have have chicks that are about your size. That's kind of terrifying? It should be. And scary. I will have been chicks. What are we doing?

Chicks. You look and see these eagles have white breasts with these sort of small black dots of plumage and modeled sort of beautiful gray plumage across their wings that looks almost like rain moving down a slate slope as it sort of spreads their wings. Going up higher and higher, you see that in these small sheds, there are enormous saddles. You see that some of the saddles appear to be little more than like a leather harness, and you see that in the writing

on some of these nests, there is some druidic writing. It appears that this is a stable kept by the druids of the circle of stone here. the staircase ascends higher and higher, as a voice calls from up above you, come here there, up here. And as you arrive at the top, a druidic stone circle on the top of this summit that is partially removed from sort of recent girdle below

and very much of sort of not in the Sean Garten but connected to it, There are massive druidic stone plinths, and there is a 40-foot-wide nest here. As you look and see a, let's call it, a 30-foot-tall eagle with white plumage, who sort of turns to look, sort of screeches out, Tysha, immediately you can tell,

angry to be awake, angry, angry bird. I do. The summit has this massive 40-foot-wide nest, but a lot of other stone around it. You see there is a small armory section, like leaning up against something. You can see that there are sort of like ammunitions, arrows.

You see that there are, you see that there there is this huge, for lack of a better word, it looks like a massive wooden, like carriage body, but you see that there is a wooden box that appears to have a set of benches within it and what looks like a massive collapsed canvas folded thing on one side, like a long, almost like condensed blinds or a curtain,

or something. And you see that this box, this sort of like a carriage box, rests on massive springs to four corners that almost are like table legs that you can see the carriage is suspended on springs from these four massive cornered legs of this sky carriage. That's so cool. Up above it, you see the You see this huge sort of wrought iron goes up to a massive crossbar. And you see that the crossbar also appears to have two large lengths of leather wrapped chain that go up to these enormous hooks on either side.

You see standing by that carriage with some belongings in a knapsack under her arm is Amida, who turns to you and says, Welcome. Are you all right? I heard some shouts down below. Put my blade up to her face and say, Demon dropped this facade. Okay. We have already been to this once.

Okay. She looks and says, I don't know. I understand. I believe it. She looks and says, what is the manner in which I might regain your trust that I am not a demon? You tell me. You're a Druid in? She speaks to you in Druid and says, he doesn't understand Druid. Yeah.

And he knows that I'm speaking of Druid unless you tell him. Well, I kind of want to lie to see what he'll do. He's holding a sword to me. Yeah, but you're a bear. Well. No, no. Let me be clear. I'm not frightened. I know. That's the best part.

And then I look over at you. Like, we've clearly been joking in this language. Fair be it. Appreciate your candor. Thanks. She looks and says, Very well. This is Altradler. This is the eagle.

Altradler is snowy white. This massive white eagle that looks around. See, he has like a little bit of plumage that darkens to like a soft gray around the edge of the beak and around sort of the socks of the leg plumage where it gets down to the talon. What a great boy. He has socks.

Stay warm. They look like it, they're a little plume. You look up in, Amida says, I take it that none of you have, the eagles below require skill and ridership to be able to use. So Altraddler is probably the better option. She looks up and you see that Altraudor

has a big injury, over one eye and it's a little bit weepy. He's not the best at night flying. Oh, no. And he's very old. So good. I'm gonna cast speak with animals. Oh, thank you.

You cast speak with animals. What do you do? A good evening. I'm so sorry for waking you up. I should be asleep. There is no sun. I know, I'm so sorry, but thank you so much for doing this. We're going to go for a quick trip.

Thank you. As the you flies, a couple hours. Oh, I think. I could be wrong. I don't know how fast you go. Is there a treat you like? We can find you like a really, really big cow when we land. Cow is good.

I eat cow. If this one gets too malady, you have my... permission to eat him. No, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up. Well, that's working. That is so long. Yeah. Um, uh. Texas is just saying, I love him.

Does it look like he's been hurt? Like that, that's just a fresh wound, or it's something that's, it's just the way? It doesn't look like a fresh wound. It looks like something that sadly healed naturally and not magically, and so it's a permanent, it's a permanent injury. Not that greater magic couldn't do it, but it is not a matter of headpoint damage. It is a matter of, he would need something more like

regeneration or a deeper, a more profound healing. Okay, okay. Um, okay. Where are we going? Where's we, I'm, where's our, I know where we're going to end up eventually, but where are we going now? Yeah, I think we're just headed east.

I'm going to Garwin for this vision you have. What are, yeah. Sorry, sorry. I'm a little. It's been a big day. I understand this. Garowin, for our own reasons as well, Julian. Yes.

You see that Amida turns. You're feeling okay. Me, I'm fine. I'm just a little, still getting the wine out of my system. Anyone who wants to give me a perception check. Just see what this is. Okay. Ice-key bird, natural one.

Gotcha. 24. 24. There you go. 16. I didn't roll. Yeah. Talis, as Altradler shrieks at Tysha again,

you look out, there were some noises of shouting down below that have stopped after that last bird shriek. Yeah, we need, okay. Amida looks to you for a second and says, oh, travelers, she hands you this small, knapsack that you see has a book in it and a couple of scrolls and what looks like some sort of druidic charms in the sort of bottom of this knapsack. She looks over and says, I brought as much as I could this is, she hands a small charm to you. This is on a piece of twine. It looks extremely humble

and very old. It has like it's four sort of twigs with an, and intricately woven series of colored, dyed, like strings of yarn or fabric around it that make this very complex, geometric pattern that sort of almost like written in the dots or instances of knitting through this woven charm hold a druidic ruin. You look, touching the wood, it's almost as light as air

of this charm, but as you touch it, It's like, it's incredibly, I'll say, go ahead and give me nature. Yeah. No. 15. 15's high enough. 14. 14.

14's high enough. I'm sorry. This is the opposite. This is the opposite of an air tag. This is a Walker's ward. They're a very common type of magic item that has existed through the druidic tradition for a long time in Aramon

when it was not safe for druids to exist in the open. And it is a disguise against many types of magical detection. She hands it to you specifically, Octus. Thank you. Take these. I got as many charms and gifts and scrolls as I could. And you see that she says,

And this, and there's a small treasure chest made of this blood red wood that you see is, has two handles made of thick bound rope rooted to the chest in bronze that looks almost melted or welded there. And you can see that she says, don't touch the chest itself. And you can see that smoke is pouring up out of the cracks in the chest.

Okay. Okay. I'm assuming you've written down somewhere what that does. Well, I thought I'd just explain. Oh, sure. She says, so it's an interesting story. The, the... This is looking by. I'm saying, and I'm like...

Short version. Short version. Short version. Short version. The, well, oh, and you see that she's just flustered. She's just flustered. It says, I, I, I. We'll think of it out.

And she, you see, she just grabbed his chest off the ground. It feels pleasantly heavy, but not as heavy as if it were full. You think it's not super dense whatever's in here, but there is something smoking in this chest. And you see that she looks around and says, all right, if you need to leave it once,

that's probably wise. Does one of, how do we drive? Does someone have to drive it? Oh, just, just tell Al-Roddla, where to take you. He has flown these lands for some 40 years. He will know where to go. My family is here, so we need to leave.

My family is here. Understood. I'm a huge bear hug. Whispering in your ear and truetic, with her massive paw, pushes something into your hand. She says, the gifts are for your companions. This is for you and you alone. Please be careful.

Thank you. And she pushes a wooden ring into your hand. It's great. Palmit, do my best to hide it, and then run over to Altraddala. Quick explanation, if we open the chest, is it good for us or bad for us? Good, good, it's an ammunition.

Okay, great. Or it's also a source of fire. You see that she said, I don't particularly know. I love her. I think you recognize that a lot of the stuff in here, you've been given a wealth of enchanted objects here, all of which would be not currently claimed by a druid on an adventure.

So a lot of the things in here are very common, but very useful. Just on a glance, you can take a look at them. Go right up to the front. Garwin. Allard looks at you and says, Garwin, Garwin. Oh, oh, River City, near the dark.

Yes, yes, yes. I don't want to fly to the dark. No. We would never ask. You see, he says, he says, Thank you. He says, you're scared. Are we in danger? Only until we get going.

Please with less graaming, and I give him a kiss on the beak, and then run back. He puts his beak down and says, I will fly, I will fly, Slow, so I don't have to land in the dark. Okay, bud. I'm just crying. As we leave, I turn to Alma.

Is that her name? Amada. Amada. There it is. Ammona. Two of my sisters are here. Be very careful. Thank you. You must go.

Thank you. Sorry about the demon thing. It's a whole. Also, there's three demons possibly around. I'm sorry about my grandma. She says, that's the one I'm most striking down. You guys get into the sky carriage. You're sitting there, you look around.

You see that sort of in the foot well. This thing is also like beautifully constructed. It is sturdy and massive. The seats are actually quite comfortable. They are cushioned and comfy. comfy. You see that there is an old sort of small, shallow crate under one of the benches that you can see has some humble, sort of simple wool brown blankets in it. And you see that there are also a number of very simple belt and harness, sort of leather belt and harness that have hooks that go into them, and that you see the seats behind them have a couple of thick, steep. sort of like semi-circles to be clipped into on this thing. Aranesa gets in and says, oh, all right.

And you see that she's blowing one of these before. So she gets in one, puts it on. Yeah, we all know exactly how to do. I'm just trying to copy her while I'm not looking like I've never been in here before. Okay. You see, it says, clearly you did not get invited to the Lord Ein Fossin's wedding when you were a child.

Flagging much? All right. Lucky. That's a lot. And she, Ahmed at stands, Altradler gets up. It says, are you already?

We're good, thank you. Puts one massive talent up on the huge, it's almost like, like a ship's mast, this like bar over the, over the, it's like a horizontal bar. It goes, wings. Other thing up, all of you guys feel like someone is pushing the back of your head down

just from the wind coming off the wings. And it starts to flap and you guys feel this, the creaking of these massive springs. The coils of the springs are about like a four, of this steel coil going up. Up you go. The sort of shocks of the carriage come with you. Vroom, as the eagle takes off.

And very quickly, the walls of the carriage box come up to like your shoulders, but some of you are seated at the edge. So you just look and watch the world start to fall away from you. Oh, oh. You see Octus's arm. his arm just dash out the side of the carriage and catch pin as it just flown out. Having appeared again, stop doing that.

It's been on his lap. You guys begin to take off. Go ahead, if you would be so kind. We're gonna ask you guys are using a giant snowy white eagle to fly away. I cast flap without trace. Yeah. I don't have a spells lot for pass without trace.

Oh shit. Yeah. You had a fight, Brennan. Did I take a nap? I know, no, you did not. I feel like it's so obvious that we're leaving in a giant eagle and your sisters are right out in the other side.

I know. Go ahead. I'm scared. Me too. I'm going to need a group stealth check. I'm going to need a disadvantage. I disagree. It's probably fine.

Horrible. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. 15. 15. 16. 16. Twin 18s for a 19. 10. 10. 10. Unbelievable. So wait, we got a 15 and a 16 here?

Yeah. Unbelievable. Hold on one second. That's okay. That's bad as talking. Big bird at night, but... Big bird at night. How would one even see a bird in the evening? Could you imagine? I don't exist at night. I couldn't imagine. I've never seen a stroke. I've never seen birds at night. Big bird at night.

Impossible flight. You see. Please don't kill us. On the median role being a 16, you are off into the sky. Anyone who wants to give me a perception check. Oh yeah. I am looking everywhere.

I'm not. Oh, is Julia afraid of heights? I don't think he's ever been this high. Oh, what's gone? 17. 10. 10? No, seven.

Seven. 17. 17. Didn't roll. Tisha, looking back out, you see, Altaradler is like shaky getting up off the ground, but as he gets up over the cliffs, All of a sudden, he just whom and just starts to soar.

And it's actually very even. More than even, you've also traveled by ship before. You'd say this is more comfortable than traveling by ship, given how steady the Eagle's flight is. This is great. On a 17 perception, you look behind you, recent girdle is already vanishing away, but you do see some light coming from the eerie,

and you see two identities. mechanical shapes speaking to Amida. Oh no. They better not do anything to her. I don't know how scary your sisters are. I barely do. Fair, but my cousin's no slouch. Yes, fair.

No, I, okay. It would be, it would be absurd for them to start a fight with the druid. circles, but they did kill a house. Yeah. So. Yeah. Turning back to look, I think Taisha, fading into the distance already,

you see the two shapes speaking to Amida. And even as they're almost just like dots, see what looks like a very pronounced movement and see that there's a bow of mutual respect from the sisters to Amida, and they are once again in that sort of smoky form, traveling away. However, something unsettling fills your senses here

in this moment. As all-trodler flies slowly, not attempting to flap, you look back and then, see light once again from that peak where Amida is staying. It begins to get colder in the air. And looking around you, I think you can feel or sense that something is wrong here. In the air around you, you begin to hear and can see that there are shapes manifesting in the sky as you are traveling through of things pushing through from the other side.

Do I, first instinct, does Octus need to do anything to get the anti-air tag to activate? Is it just possession of it or like wear it, eat it? I think you don't know in this moment. You're just not sure. I have it. I'm, well, I, it doesn't have like a, like a. Yes, it is more like a.

an ambulance. Okay, so I throw it on. You throw it on. You feel a kind of magic within it that you can feel begging for Duddy. This thing is offering magic to you, but not freely. I understand. I'm letting everyone know that I've got the Willies and like trying to point out like, I can't tell if you can see or feel it. Your family's looking for you here. No, I can feel it. As this occurs in this moment, you feeling this, I think, Octus, you actually see physically as something appears, a face in the clouds nearby.

Ultra Ruther is still traveling sort of under cloud level, but not by much. And all of a sudden, Tysha once again, now with Reese and Girdle, even yet again, like another, half mile behind you already. From Schongarten, you see a little crackle of something, and you begin to see the clouds moving around you. Darkening.

You hear the screech of a hawk nearby move through as a bird moves into sort of side by side with your sky carriage. Ray of Frost. Ray of Frost at the bird? Hell yeah, go ahead and give me an attack roll. 17. Oh, 18. 18. Go ahead and roll damage.

As a druid father. Grandfather, I've come to help people. 13. 13 points of damage. Yeah. Hannan's voice speaks and says, Stop it! Okay, explain yourself. They're coming after you.

He wheels away. I had. Um, uh... Stop it. That was joking. I'm trying so hard. Tyson is trying so hard not to laugh. Oh no!

You got to wear name tags or something. You see above you that Amida has very clearly cast control weather, and you see that Hannan in hawk form, his eyes glow as all around All-Trodler in your carriage, he begins to call down lightning. from a call lightning spell as these spirits are essentially blasted out of the sky around your vessel. Switch targets.

I'm gonna start trying to blow. I will no longer hit the hawk that is in fact my friend. You see, Hanan pulls farther away from you. He gets well out of range. I'm sorry. Coles at a way higher range than that. And

perceived for this moment that essentially all around you, great and powerful forces begin to tear at each other at a distance. Routler moves on that, the stealth check fails again. You see that the battle's raging around you, but all Prather looks to you with your speak with animals still active and says, Is everything all right?

There's a storm. Oh, you're doing great. Can you be not you're just doing great keep it up maybe faster faster if you've got it I don't want to land in the dark oh buddy we want a land period and we're being sort of pursued so maybe hustle faster hold on and see all of you all of you Okay, okay. And suddenly you see that

Aldrather was basically just taking move actions and no dash actions and begins to outpace both the spirits. I think in this moment you see the strange game at play here. Petra and Raya bowed to Amida's face, and both of them went back to their corners and did this. Altrodler faster than the wind, literally in this case, it is extremely turbulent, sickening, nauseating flight

for about 10 straight minutes, after which you, Octus, you feel nothing, you're completely fine. There's no nausea to you at all. Holding. Stop, and it disappears again. Stay. And you see that after those minutes, the storm fades away,

that hits the farthest range of what Amma can produce. And also moving out of visibility of the city, you see that Altraudler, even with magical flight, Alt-Rodler is faster than whatever sorcerer would want to pursue him and doesn't have a concentration or spell duration that would drop him out of the sky in the pursuit. Whatever summoned beings pursue you, after those 10 minutes, even that powerful summoning fades away as you watch the storm fight the dead behind you, fading into the distance.

I think just sort of leaning up, trying not to barf again. Thank you. You could go back to normal. Thank you. Good job. And all of you, look, sort of pelted with rain here in the cold. Look as the clouds parked, and you behold beautiful starry skies. There's a little unsettling, but I didn't feel that. Yeah, that was the unsettling thing. Hey, Arctus, I fucking hate your family. Fair.

You see that Aranessa, pressed to digitates the rain off of herself and begins to do so for everybody else. You said there was like a canvas thing. Is that like a cover to pull over this? Yes. Is it over it or is it rolled up? It's rolled up right now.

Okay, I'll start trying to unroll that to put the cover over. Great. Taking the cover over, the freezing wind is cut down and now it just creates a gentle sort of flapping noise. very taut canvas, but a little sort of, and with the canvas closed, all of you are in like a gentle rocking

in the steady flight of this giant bird. As the canvas goes up to, you see Tysha, distant some ways away from you, Hannon is still flying in the same direction as you guys. Are you with us because we're in danger or you just miss us? Agreed by silence. All right.

Last someone one. one time. I decided to throw an attitude. The canvas goes up and while it diminishes the starry sky from view, it is certainly much more comfortable. And actually with the canvas up, pretty quickly, your own body heat makes it a little bit more livable up here. I'll also pull out the wool blankets,

just kind of have them on deck. Aranesa looks and says, good night. It is like 2 o'clock in the morning after everything that has happened. You were in Castle Clippinblick earlier tonight. Oh, it's been a big day. It's been a big day. Knowing that you have hours of flight ahead of you, Aranesa is not going to lose this opportunity,

and she just passes out. I think she actually leans her head against you, Julian, in this moment and just seated there. You should all try and get some sleep. I can wake you up if necessary. Are you sure you don't need to rest? I can rest by sitting here. I don't, there's nothing else I can do.

It's been days since I slept. Well, hold on, and I'll sling the knapsack of gifts from Amadoff and hand them to you. You're good at identifying things. Yeah. Yeah, I can sit here and figure out what these do. Yeah. You good? Do you need anything?

Oh, well, all right. Cool. He's like Elijah Wood. He can sleep anywhere. I think Tisha fights. Julian pass out. I think Julian has taken the brief moment here to exhaustively pass out.

Incredible. Tisha fights sleep for probably another hour and then passes out. I think Tisha, you're on. Tysha, you're on, like, Aranesa got middle seat in between you and Julian. Yeah, it's just a full, like, domino slump. And then on the other side, Vailas and Octus. Are you okay? You got hit pretty hard.

I'll be okay. How do you feel? I didn't get hit. I'm... My brother died. Yeah. Close. Julian has every right to be angry. but he was still my brother, so that's a little weird.

I don't know how I feel about that. This has been a wild few days. Yeah. I really... I'm sorry, your family tried to kill you. Did kill you? Yeah, they did real succeed in that. They seem to be good at that.

It's fine. I think I just need a minute to not be immediately chased by the moment. I didn't do a good job at letting them know I wasn't alive anymore. Or I am alive. But I didn't do a good job at not telling them I'm conscious. I think it's the best way to put that. Your sister seemed like fun.

I mean, I really don't know them. They're the oldest. By the time I was born, they were already adults doing their own thing. Why do you think they wanted to kill you? It won't be a surprise. that I've been thinking about this. I don't know. I think it might, there's a number of reasons.

I'm an embarrassment to the power that they have because I didn't have it from birth, you know. Do they know about your abilities now? I don't think they care what wizardry is. To someone who's born with magic, normal people pretending to be sorcerers, it's maybe a little disgusting. But you're not pretending.

But it works differently. I wasn't born with it. I'm not special. I beg to different. Yeah, well, from their perspective. But I think also, they needed. There's power in

ritual and the meaning of an ingredient used in a spell. So using my heart, a member of their family to do something is possibly necessary. You understand? What?

I don't know. I mean, as a... I haven't been in contact with my family for years, and I thought they were just gonna let me drift into obscurity. Well, I'll have to figure it out, but that's not an immediate concern. At this very moment, it's gonna take time, and I still have to figure out this. Figure out a more permanent solution to the hole

in my chest and stomach. Then we have, why are you here? You don't need to be. I know, but I want to be. It seems to be putting yourself in a whole lot of danger for really no reason. I welcome it. Like he does, Manon wants to hasten his end

so that he can stop living. I need to finish some things first. I haven't felt, I guess this is hope. I don't know how long, so I need to chase this until I figure out what it is. Okay. And help you. I mean, if I can help, I'll try.

I don't know what exactly you need or what you're looking for, but. You don't need to do anything. Would you like to try and rest, or I meditate? I guess I can try, I need to. It sort of helps. I don't do it all the time, but. I can try. I also should figure out what some of these things do. They need to know for when they wake up,

but I need some time, I will need to take some time, to impress. Maybe. I don't know. But I can try. How do you do it? Like, what do you do? I understand that I'm asking for a simple answer

to a relatively difficult concept, but. It's something I've never really thought about, but I just try to shut out the noise around me and just close my eyes. And I like to remember certain things if I can. Things that make me feel better than how I feel. Okay. Yeah.

That makes sense. Does it? I don't, very, I used to just sleep. It just happened. I didn't have to try. So it's something to just try and sit with pleasant memories. You know what?

I'm good at learning. Can you? Can you, and if this doesn't, this is gonna sound weird, can you do it so I can watch? You wanna watch me? Yeah, I'll show you. I just kinda, I take a minute. I close my eyes and I try to go into a trance,

which is hard because I know somebody's watching me. Yeah. I kind of get that feeling and I start just like kind of looking at you and like, but also trying to identify, like, spend time being like, okay, what did these, I just came like out of the periphery. It's like when you're trying to pee and you know someone's listening. Yeah. Just go, just go, just go. So I go into a train. It's what came to me first.

It's so, it's like being pee shy. Yeah, it's like being pee shy. Yeah, it's be shy. That's the medical tone. Thank you. I want to be so much cooler than I am. It's remarkably easy. It might have been harder, honestly,

if the canvas had not been closed up, not only because of the wind, but because for a moment, you were looking at Aramon spread out underneath you. Phyllis is 800 years old. Has she ever flown before? Maybe. But this feels different.

It's part of the world. It feels new. It's something new. Different stars in this part of the world. You, with the canvas, there is just the wind rushing past. Haltrodler beats his wings maybe like once every other minute. And it creates this almost soporific It's rhythmic. It feels like white noise, cool air, warm blankets.

And then you're gone. Where do you go in your memory? I think if I'm thinking of my happiest moments, at least trying to connect with that, I think those thoughts always go to my brother, my best friend. I just try to sit with that, just the happy parts and try to separate the good parts. and try to put the bad parts and compartmentalize them into another area. Arthus is looking right at you. See, he takes a bite on an apple in his hand.

He's just seated in this, like, saddle of this massive tree. Essentially, these are sequoias. They're like enormous. You're like 200 feet up in the air. He sees in the saddle. His feet dangling. Feet are dangling. Barefoot always.

I think they missed them. I don't need to come in either. I think they bailed. Looks over. Lame. You hear that? Underneath you, a herd of elk come roaring, a hundred feet down.

You see, behind you, your sister, Maywin, is riding on the back, on the back of a unicorn looks out and says, you guys are gonna believe it. Taring off, Arthus goes, oh, where's? Wait, where'd you find these? And you see, says, the hunting grounds.

And Arthus goes, that's for the hunters. As these elk tear through. I'm gonna start running on the tree branches, and I'm gonna try to jump on one. Incredible. Go ahead and give me an athletics roll. Okay. Let's go.

Free out. Oh no. Ten. Ten. You rush forward and as you and you leap, you begin, you catch a bad branch and start to fall and suddenly you,

there is a swinging vine and you see that Arthus has got his arm around you. I just squeeze him. You squeeze him tight. I could have died. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you could have died. And you see that he, as he holds his hands up, he just raises his wrist and says, and you see that a vine springs from his hand,

wraps around the tree. And it's almost like the tree connects with the vine, and it grows branches that lets you gently spiraling down, sort of swinging centrifugal, almost like a carnival ride, swinging through, you land on the forest floor, below. That was way cooler than what I did. You see that Arthus looks and says, says, you know, what I have to do is the prayers aren't that hard to learn. It's like you can spend a couple hours with a book each day. I can't remember them. I try. I'm so good though. I'm so faithful

and I do all the right stuff but I can't remember it. I know. I know it's if there If there was a prize for faith in absence of... Careful. If there was a prize for faith alone, you'd win it. I would win. You'd win. Maywin, you see, rides around the corner and says, would you win it?

Only one of us is riding a unicorn right now. You're a bitch. And you see she says, you're a bitch. you're a bitch, and the unicorn bucks her off hard. And you see, Arthus goes, you can't say bitch on a unicorn. Yeah, everyone knows that. And you see the unicorn sort of stalks off gently into the forest, turns around, and looks absolutely scoldingly

at all of you. Sorry. And you see that Arthus turns and says, Are you all right and goes over to heal her? And you see he sort of says this prayer. says this prayer, heals her, a twisted ankle. But as you see, he goes for the healing,

he's like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just get beside him and I start praying too. I didn't mean to curse. It's just they, I was telling them not to say it, so I just used the word. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, is it, bitch. I'm sorry, I just said again.

Forgive me. This is a holy forest. We should go. Sorry. Sorry. Why did I say that? Why did I say that? I just got really excited.

As you walk, you can just see that Arthus is sort of possessed of, he's like, I don't know, something has changed in his demeanor in this moment. As Maywin walks, actually, he picks her up in his arms because her, like, ankle is hobbled and he can't heal it right now. I'm just sort of walking behind, a little embarrassed. And I pick up just a handful of flowers, and I just start making a little daisy chain crown. Turns around to look at you. In a few more years, you're gonna be 50.

It might be time to think about where your passion lies or how you wanna devote yourself to our people, to our mother. You can't just keep running off the branches. But it's what I love best. He looks at the flowers in your hand. Or maybe you'll find a different way to pray. That's sort of like a prayer.

It's repetitive. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. That's we say sorry to. You don't ever have to say sorry to me. You spend the rest of your time walking home. Octus.

Oktus is going to spend the time while Valus is in their trance. Watching and kind of trying to almost just learn by watching as what he is good at doing, but also during that time, sitting. How much room is? there on the floor of this carriage? There's more under the benches.

You're pretty close to being, I'd say it's similar to sort of a carriage car. You know, like you're almost knee to knee, essentially. So he is sat kind of on his knees, on the floor of the carriage with its back to Tysha's legs. And using the under part of the seat. has a little space where he's drawn a ritual circle on the ground and is taking 11 minutes at a time to identify the things that were given to him

as he's keeping an eye on Vailas at the set, kind of like going back and forth, like doing 11 minutes, watching for a bit, going back, doing that, to identify the items we were given, and then spending the required amount of time investigating the item he was given to then attune to it, which is I assume what it needs. Yes. You can, you can. take an hour to a tune to the Walker's ward. In studying the magic of it, this Walker's ward is about 250 years old,

which is a long time for twine and wood to survive. But the magic within it is very strong. If you look at your character sheet, you will see it before you. And if you say it happens. If you say it happens. Oh, there are eyes, is there? And you can go ahead and read that

and tell me what Octus sees within that ward. So while wearing this amulet, you are immune to magic that allows other creatures to read your thoughts, determine whether you are lying, know your alignment, know whether you have the ability to cast spells, and at what level and of your creature type. Creatures can telepathically communicate with you only if you allow it.

So he's looking at this knot of sticks, these twigs that are all bound together within this symbol and he's looking at it. And I think this is how he, in him studying the interconnectedness of the yarn and the way it crosses and forms, He sees this sort of like web that is a lock. And as he is studying it and ending this hour of spending time with this and really visualizing this thing

that's like, oh, I see how the magic flows through the yarn and it is away for me to trap unwanted attention within a net and to keep it there and distract it from seeing me. The yarn is charged with magic, which causes the spell to become confused. And it keeps looking for me inside of a maze that it can't get out of. Interesting. And I think in seeing the web,

and he starts to understand how magic works in an inanimate object and spends time figuring out in the future, I think I can, that's good to know, that's useful. Interesting. The history of the art artifact is not lost on you either, of why druids would need to be able to move

secretly through the world. Right. This is very good. Seeing that maze, I think you also realize this thing will work best at protecting you from broad nets, because if someone looks at the horizon and sees nothing concerning about you,

that will be less concerning than if they are looking at you directly and seeing nothing. Yeah, it's not perfect. It is a deterrent, but I still need to be cautious. It doesn't make me invisible. And then sits and waits for Vailas to wake up. After a couple hours, Vailas, you awaken,

or you leave your trance having fully rested, I should say. Just seeing her eyes underneath her eyelids, sort of to calm down. Did you learn anything? I think so. It looked peaceful. That's good. But I could see you were dreaming.

Your eyes were moving. Yeah. That happens sometimes. Yeah. I wonder if you still have dreams. I don't know. I took the time. I worked on figuring out what these things do.

Right? So we'll have those for when they wake up. What's in the box? What is in the box? We'll find out. Oh, back from Brains. What's in the box? And that's where we'll leave our story for now.

Part two of this episode of Campaign 4 drops this Tuesday. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you soon for more Critical Role.