Critical Role - Hand & Wheel | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 19 Part 2

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Part 2   In Dol-Makjar, the Schemers juggle jobs and subterfuge as they reckon with the ascent of the Sundered Houses...   New Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays. Learn more about Campaign 4 at https://critrole.com/campaign4/     GET MORE CAMPAIGN 4 WITH BEACON We'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 CAST GAME MASTER Brennan Lee Mulligan Laura Bailey as Thimble Luis Carazo as Azune Nayar Robbie Daymond as Kattigan Vale Aabria Iyengar as Thaisha Lloy Taliesin Jaffe as Bolaire Lathalia Ashley Johnson as Vaelus Matthew Mercer as Sir Julien Davinos Whitney Moore as Tyranny Liam O’Brien as Halandil "Hal" Fang Marisha Ray as Murray Mag’Nesson Sam Riegel as Wicander "Wick" Halovar Alexander Ward as Occtis Tachonis Travis Willingham as Teor Pridesire   CREDITS Produced by Maxwell James, Steve Failows, & Kyle Shire Set Designed by Shaun Ellis Production Designer: Noxweiler Berf Character Art by Loren Hontanilla Edited by Taylor Burke and Emily "Stevie" Stevenson Critical Role Announcement Playhouse Editor: Vinny Celesti Opening Title Editor: Paul Foyder Opening Title Colorist: Peter Koocheradis Window Effects by Christian Brown Graphic Design by Aaron Monroy & Jordyn Torrence Dol-Makjar art by Daniel Jiménez Villalba Miniatures Painted by Payton Keo Lacebal Opening Title Theme by Neal Acree Campaign 4 Key art by Hannah Friederichs Additional Art & Design by Hannah Friederichs   Episode QC by Catherine Zimmerman & Paula Flores Assistant Editor: Gianna Gencarella Post Production Coordinators: M Swing & Bryn Hubbard Closed Caption Editing by Margaret Dill, Nikki Kindelberger, Courtney Knewtson, Danielle Lackie, Eleanor Smith-Dufresne & Alice Tsoi Post Production Supervisor: Tal Levitas   HEALTH & WELL-BEING Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode. Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello again, it's Brennan Lee Mulligan, and you're listening to Part 2 of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out part one yet, pause this now and head over there first. What are you doing? Otherwise, let's jump right back into this adventure and the world of Aramon. We return to the home of Hallandiel Fang as Azunei is pushed or pulled through the door into your home. Door is shut. No lights on. As the noise of those barking dogs chasing an illusory cat, fades into the rookery. Okay. I will stay at the window at the front door

for five minutes, just listening. Are we hearing an end to noise? It's late late, late? How late are we talking? It is, God, probably now like midnight. Midnight. I hate, oh, man. Okay, so last we heard of them,

there was like an illusory cat screeching. The dogs went apeshit, and then they veered away from the home. So I'm gonna wait for for like five minutes or more. Mm-hmm. You and Azune and silence can move into the house, and there is the Ozzy's body still,

coins and other belongings here in this space. And if we give it time, does the street go quiet? Yeah. About five minutes. Quicker than that, the dogs vanish off into the night. Let's go upstairs, going up to my study. I'll be right there. I just divert quietly still on edge into the kitchen, and I cut a couple slices of bread.

I grab a little pot, crockery of honey, and some cheese that seems good, and I carry it upstairs on a tray and set it down on my desk when I find Azuna in this study that you've been in a good number of time for. Yeah. You walk out of the kitchen, still an absolute disaster from where tyranny was trying to make a suicide,

I was trying to make a suicide. Oh my God, that's right. Good times. Good times. Head and head upstairs with Azunei. You see that there is a small series of like magicians silks that have been, it's not quite origami because it's made of fabric, but have been arranged into a small flower on the foot of your bed from Shadia.

Near the window where she's made her getaway to go be with her sister and Elida. I take that and quietly, promptly, I have this little blue kerchief that is tied around the strap of the bag that I carry everywhere I go, which was made by my daughter Hero when she was a little girl learning the business from her mother. And I just carry that everywhere with me. And I take some of that silk and tie it next to this band

from a much younger hero and now from present day Shadia. Hasn't need. Settle, settle. I think we're okay for tonight for now. They had a message for you. You were being invited to have an audience with the Fokhtarck.

Didn't want me dead? Well, I don't know about that. They, at the very least, they want you to speak to their grand dame. I said eat. I have something to eat. I don't even know where to sit. I'm standing and I'm just. I sit on the floor in the middle of this room

and there's like a desk and all of like works in progress of like half filled scrolls and parchment written and books opened up and there's two large Chez-Az-Zenges in here like old ones through threadbare and you've slept on one of them on past visits here. But I just put the food down on the floor and I sit there to make it like inviting you. So you're gonna have to be precious.

I'll put my weapons and my shield. I'll put it down. I'm still in my armor. And I'll just grab a chunk of that bread. And I'll fit as much of it in my mouth as possible probably. And just chew it, swallow, quiet. Watching him like I watched one of my kids picket their food, waiting for them to get enough to eat.

This isn't quite how I thought the night was gonna go. No, me neither. I should have been ready for that, and I wasn't. Unprecedented at times. I don't know if you can be ready for everything anymore. I hope that's not true. I think it is. Do you think The Ozzie purposefully

chose not to break the cliff? He, the last moments. saw something beyond me above me. He looked skyward before he called out to the crowd. And I have been rolling it over in my mind since, and I don't, I can't make heads or tail of it. Maybe he saw a vision of something

or maybe he was signaling something to someone. I don't know what it could mean, but do you think he gave up? He didn't know it wasn't real. Plant my hand on your shoulder. I don't know what happened, but that I don't believe. He said something to me when I was talking to him, and I, uh, he said, when I was scanning him, he said, not you, anyone but you.

And I don't know why. Well, he was fond of you. You know, I don't know what he said to you when he sent you to me. And I know he told you that I could, give you a place to stay when you first got to the city. But what he told me was to look after you, get you on your feet, take care of you like family. Well, you did so much, you did more than that.

You let me come over and you let me have a place at your table for dinner. Why did you, what were the, what was the agreement between you and him? Why did you make so much room for me here? I think he and I always liked strays. And he asked me to look after you. I used to look after him until we got older

and then he didn't need it so much. I did my best to anyway when I could within my reach. But he's gone. Something I've always feared. Now there's only me to look after you. Meager though I am, that is what I mean to do. Even though you're a bit more formidable

with your play than I am with mine. Sometimes when we were at dinner, your place, here, I'd watch how you were with your kids and how you would wrestle with the different personalities that they had, and you were always so patient and kind. I felt like I was watching, kind of like how I feel when I'm watching a play. In a way, it was real, but it felt like, I imagined

I think my dad would have been a lot like you, I hope. And Hal, I knew that if our plan had worked, and I'm so sorry that it didn't, but I knew that if it had worked, I understood what would be my fate as a result of that because there was going to be no out for me. The arcane marshal that was set to scan the prisoner, missing it, of course he would have done it on purpose.

I was very much. I was very much. ready to repay everything that I was given by giving you your brother back. Because it would have been the most useful thing that I could have ever done, and it would have been the best thing for the cause that we have all been fighting for

is to have made sure that he would have lived. And I- Press my hand onto your chest. I was so long. I leaned into it. You knew my brother. He lived. the way he chose to live.

He's been writing that line his entire life. Grappling with guilt, we all do it. Doesn't matter if it's rational or if it isn't. But I'm going to do this even if you can't. I'm going to absolve you of any of this because there's no blame on your shoulders. This world is what it is, guardless. We do the best we do.

accountable we have on the day. And right now you and I need to lean on each other and we're going to take that dwarf and burser and my friend, and we're gonna figure some things out, okay? Okay. My brother doesn't need you whipping yourself. Believe me, my brother and I didn't see eye to eye, but I knew him.

I know you, you lived here. Played with my kids, eat in my table. I know you, you've done everything you can every day of your life. I understand how, but in any war, there's collateral damage and there's sacrifices that are made for the betterment of the cause.

The Ozzie's life would have been worth a thousand of me. I grabbed by the sides of the head. We don't get to choose. Life just happens. And we run along with it. Do better tomorrow. If we can, you can try to do better tomorrow. Come here, I grab a rag.

You got snot running down your face. Clean you off. I'm sorry, you had to see me like this out. Take turns, I'll do it later. Okay. Okay. That's an I owe you for me to break down and you to pick up the pieces.

I could do that. All right, this is gonna sound crazy. I think I'm gonna sleep well tonight. Thank you. for everything. That's what family does. That's what family does. Him out, like the quiet parent does,

until he falls asleep, and then I will try to get some sleep myself. Azunay, how long is it before you are lights out? I honestly think faster than I could have ever anticipated. Pretty fast, especially after that load. like purging. And it's the way that it smells here.

You know what I mean? It smells like it's so whole. I think it's still. This is a space. You had your first dinner in Dolmachyar in this home. As many times as you needed, there was an open door here for you. Your life brought you somewhere else where you began to be able to make your own way. And there weren't.

And there weren't hard, pragmatic reasons to come here as often. I don't know, maybe Auseenae misses some part of his life when there were pragmatic reasons that forced him to come to this warm place. And when he actually got up on his own two feet and was able to survive on his own, all of a sudden, the warmth of this place

wasn't strictly necessary anymore. An indulgence. Yeah. You smell a house filled with every smell imaginable. Tisha's flowers still outside the buzzing of bees. Downstairs there is liquor on the hard table spilled and cranberry rolls and old yard grass. There is a friend's body still covered in incense,

but is now some just over two days dead. Wow. There is a, there is druidic magic on the body, keeping it from, that is keeping it preserved until it can be interred. And yet still, there is death and life here. This is a place filled with, there's the step that Fiazzi skinned his neon as a kid. And I think maybe Aligar and Or Shadi or both of them might have been born in this house. There's a lot going on here.

Yeah. A lot of people have been here in the last couple days, and the love is still in the atmosphere. It's like a blanket. You are in dreams. I also don't know. I mean, how's it is it crashing in your bed? Where are you?

Throughout that there are two big, like, threadbare shases in this, in this office, this study. So he said I'm dressed in one and I don't go to my bed. I just sleep on the other one. It feels safer knowing that people with gigantic dogs could come crash into the windows. You go to sleep and look out and see on your windowsill

little mama magpie sleeping over her chicks that are all snoozing underneath her. and little poofy poofy puffs. Oh, what? And with that, we return, I think, or we enter the following morning. Everyone gets a long rest. Marisha hasn't gotten her spells back

since the start of the campaign. It's a long rest. With the fantasy runs and can't sleep all night because I'm ready. Shut. It's so hard when you're exhausted for roughly six months of gameplay, because there is definitely, I know rolls that should have been rolling at disadvantage and kept forgetting. I love it.

But it's okay. When does the gameplay start? New day. New portette rolls. Let's see. Is today a day of Great Reckoning? Today is, let's find out. Let's find out.

Shake that eight ball. Okay. Interesting. What do we got? 13 and 11, so very, very big. You realize that days of great destiny are few and far between today is not a day of great destiny. That's okay. I imagine you're reading your horoscope in the newspaper

every morning and just, huh. Yeah, pretty much. An old friend will get a hold of me. Yesterday the newspaper came with one section of red ink, all caps, all caps saying, do it now. And then today it says, a love interest in your life is around the corner. Yeah.

Lucky numbers are. Question, I have heroic inspiration. Yes. I already have it. And it says if something gives you heroic inspiration and you already have it, you can give it to a player character in your group who lacks it. Yes.

I get a new one after every long rest. Oh yeah, love it. I'm gonna give one to you then. So just mechanic, thank you, that's lovely. Does that radiate off your person? Is that because you're such a sweet boy that I get that? I finally licks you in your son, I know, right? I think that it's like a lingering, almost like an echo of like,

time spent together in, in, And as you wake up, you, it's not even that you remember me or the conversation that we had, but you just feel a sense of like, just like a connection, unhampered, real. Feels right in this family home. And then mechanically speaking, you just, you also get one every day. I have one every day, but I have one. So there's no part of me giving you one.

I don't need it. Yes, and they're not here. The following morning, Murray, we awaken in your quarters. What do Murray's quarters look like in the Pentevral? Have these been your same quarters for 25 years since you got hired here? I kind of think so. I love that. I think a lot of Murray is so very focused.

She's been very dedicated to the Pentevral for the past, you know, two plus decades. I think when Murray is faced day to day with trying to help less fortunate kids seek the education that they are entitled to. The last thing on her mind is, but what if I had a guest bedroom? So I think it's just not even crossed her mind. However, shit is changing,

and if it's gonna start sucking balls around here, maybe she should ask for more shit. I don't know. We're gonna think on that. But I think it is, you know, not, it is certainly not like run down. I think it has a little bit of age, but I think in like a charming kind of cottage core way,

I think it's probably, you know, she's a maximalist. So I think there's like, she's got like a gallery wall that's got like everything and anything hung up on it. It is just, it looks like one of those old vintage power, I think maybe she's painted it like a rich, dark purple maybe, and it's just got like portraits and

trinkets and dried flowers hanging from it. And I think she's taken like, you know, silks and vintage fabrics, and she's hung them from the ceiling to where you can't see the ceiling anymore. It's just like very layered. It's very like plush and cozy and cluttered, but in like an orange. organized way. And it smells really good. Is it like faculty housing that's just 20 years lived in? Yes, correct. Rank controlled. Mm-hmm.

And I think she's got like so many throw pillows, like more throw pillows on, like you can barely see the bed. It's just like lined with throw pillows. Hard to find a place to sit here, so she can like come in in the evening and just like collapse. And then she definitely has like on the windowsill a collection of many different types of gems. So it's, you know, everything from your purple quartz

to your sapphires, to your parados, to anything like minerals, she's got like a very vast like gym collection. Waking up, you see this garden of various gemstones and crystalline structures. Yes. Humbing in the gray Dolmonde Sunlight, sort of, but a bright and kind of cheerful gray that comes through and dances on the crystals.

You sense today is a day where you may have to make your own fortune. And but maybe great catastrophes or great yeah, maybe great catastrophes could be prevented on a daylight today, but feels that something has ebbed back from the wilds of the previous portent you had. You look out your window and see, just remember coming to this place the very first time when you started here, when you made the choice to live in Dolmachiar full time,

and this little sort of artsy bohemian area, and there's a little cafe on the corner where you would see Ellipides waiting to talk to you in the morning. You used to talk to Ellipides every day before it got so big and busy and, Still that little cafe, this cute little corner in Dolmachiar, and the fun little artists and academics that live in your building. Murray kind of reaches up and she's got like a few crystals even,

like hanging from the windows and they kind of cast. At certain times of the day, certain crystals catch it and create, like a prism and creates a rainbow. She kind of like puts her hand up and runs her hand through the rainbow, Almost seeing if she can sense anything vibrating from these crystals. She just takes a deep breath. Fuck it, and gets up and leaves.

You walk past leaving this place. I also think that coming through the prism of the crystals on the ground is a larger area, because in your own home, why wouldn't you have a pre-made ritual circle to ritual cast spells? She's got a desk that's probably like a little scattered with a little. Little experiments, tomes, papers, everything that she's kind of doing

as research on her own time that she's been doing for decades. She's never been formally trained. She has just only been granted the opportunity to absorb what's around her on the day-to-day basis. So yes, a little ritual circle. Making your way to the Pentave roll. Where do you embark to first, your office? I think I'll stop by my office as per usual,

drop off maybe a satchel of stuff. I think she almost, she maybe shuffles some papers around, looks at some invoices and payroll that needs to be dealt with. Maybe a letter of recommendation that's come through, a letter of acceptance that needs to be sent. And she just kind of does that thing when you know you, Should be doing work, but don't want to. Well, she just moves papers around a little bit

and then heads to Dean Corr's office. Knocking on the door, you hear a voice, come in. They crack the door open. Morning. Hi, sorry, you know you go. Can I come in? By all means, pull up a seat. What can I do for you, Mary?

Um, I just, I feel like we maybe got off on the wrong foot. Oh? You first? I think it is only proper and ladylike that I apologize. I was emotional. There's been a lot going on between you and me. I haven't been sleeping very well. And I tend to prefer the type of change that I can spare pockets in my coats. There's a lot of change very quickly,

and I took an evening to think about it. Thought about what you said. I think it is best for the students, that we work together and with so much change, I still want to be there for them as an anchor and a familiar face, and I believe that you have just the best intentions, and you also just want what's best for the pentafral

and everyone within these glories halls. Go ahead and give me a persuasion check. Okay, I hate that you're asking me for that. I hate that for you. I hate that for me. Natural 19. Okay. For a 22.

For 22. Lovely. Lovely. She kind of like dabbs her cheeks a little bit as she says this. She looks at you, squints her eyes. Should I cast detect magic for possible possession? Should I, what should I do in this moment?

Are you serious right now? It would be incredibly stupid of me to come in here and try and do some sort of cheap trick to undercut this. You understand that, right? I'm very moved by that, Marie. That's, I accept, I gracefully accept your apology. Thank you very much. And I think great things are afoot for the pentevereal.

I think that this is the beginning. I think that we were at a fork in the road. There was a fork where we made, a very, I don't know, a stand against the sundered houses to immediately undercut our funding and underserved our students and watch as they, what, used their incredible resources to found a competing College of Wizardry. I think that we were at a fork in the road and that, look, you don't get to affect the future if you're not in the room.

Yeah. Gotta play the game if you want to win the game. Exactly. Look, truth be told, Marie, I want to make myself with use to you as well. You are, you are beloved.

I'm not going to lie to you. You are beloved by our students. They like your ease with informal language. They like your, and frankly, you are a gifted wizard. And I think that you, and look, there are personnel changes that are going to happen here, right? I don't, there are personal challenges that are going to happen here.

But the reality is the period of time from whence this was a group of squabbling academics to get to the point where we could. be in a position to align ourselves with the houses of Cormoray and Taconas. You know, that gap, I think only you could have bridged that gap. You flatter me. And now you are not needed to, it does not have to fall fully and squarely on your shoulders. Now imagine what we could do, given, imagine what we could do given funding if our bursar didn't have to spend the vast majority of her working hours finding some loose thread to pull to cover the next curricular semester. You know, imagine what we could do. There's just a lot more we can do. But I am very glad to hear you say this because I think that I think that I think

that unity matters. And I think that with Ellipides stepping down, it's really good that you're staying. Go ahead and give me an insight check. This bitch. It is, everything she just said is fucking crazy to me just now. That's good too. 17 total.

I rolled a 16. She is gleeful. She's gleeful. Fantastic. Because I think you, I think Murray, you're a very headstrong person. And you're entering into a game of politics and intrigue. And you're talking with Hal and Azunei and Boulare and these other people. You're very headstrong person.

And the pentatural has always been about fucking truth. And being, having candor, being, and in fact, being blunt is one of the best instruments that academia can have to just say what the fucking facts are. And you're now dealing with all these vipers, and it's maddening because it just delays the truth. But one part of being a truth seeker is actually useful here, and you realize that this is a gift in this moment that you do have, which is to not cloud your judgment with your own perspective

and to actually look at what someone else's perspective is. I think on that high insight role, you realize that Dean Cora got this judgment, because she sold a bill of goods. She told people that Taconas, you put me in charge, I'll whip that school into shape and I'll make it sing. And you coming in here saying, I'm not gonna make, like, we're gonna play nice,

that she's realizing she'll get to go and report to whoever she reports to saying all of her. First box checked. Yes. I'm already enacting change. I mean, I agree with everything you said 100%. I mean, I think, you know, There's quite frankly many elements

of the Pentevral here that has been maybe a little loss, a little dated in antiquity. I agree I would much prefer any type of funding and any type of boons and blessings from the centered houses to be filtered through here. I would love to make the request, however, you know, some of these more poor, needy children. It is still important for you.

for us to consider them, you know? And that's only, that's gonna make the pentevral look good, right? Everybody loves charity. So I am sure, I think I just, I had an immediate knee-jerk reaction yesterday. Where I guess I was just imagining, like the halls being flooded with a bunch of, you know, trust fund kids just coming in and, you know,

and I think I'm sure there's gonna be some of that and that's fine and they're entitled to that as well. But I see everyone equally, and I just wanna make sure that maybe we could still have an attention to that. And beyond that, I wanna be of use. I do wanna be of use. Well, let me dispel your concerns.

Murray, the halls are going to be flooded with noble children and they're gonna be flooded with enterprising, exceptional children of workers and farmers and laborers because we're going to, if I can plan this out, I wanna triple the size of the school in the next five years.

Oh. I want to, you know, these, if we accept these noble children at the rates that they can pay, then we go and this Cormoray scholarship is aimed directly at, I mean, it's a scholarship. It's aimed at children who need financial help to come and fund,

their tuition and fund their tutelage. So to answer your question, I don't, I don't think we're at odds. I think it's a, it's not an either or it's a both. And, you know, we're going to be able to help so many. You know, I, I'm a wizard just like you. I wasn't born with these innate magical gifts. Oh my God, cool. But even, we're two women in, in, you know, we're two women in We're two dwarven women in a city with a lot of tall people running around who like to tell us all what time of day it is. And I think if we go back to back, we can get a lot done around here. I love this. You're such a badass.

You are. Oh my God. Shut up. No. I love this side of you that I'm seeing. Like I said, you know, it's all been a lot. I'm just, I was a little bit emotional. You know, I will say this too.

I have a little pitch for you because if I am going to have some bandwidth that is going to be freed up and I'm not going to have to go, you know, beg rich people for money, I think there's actually some good that I can do in maybe as like an ambassador, or maybe extending my outreach,

our outreach of the Pentebral, to some other organizations. Are you actually familiar with, he's kind of a curious fella, Belair over at the museum of Antiquities? No, no, I'm not familiar. Belair is antiquities. Is Belair a private merchant or is?

No, he, is she lying to me? Give me insight. Nine. Nine. I'm looking at my portents, like, do I bump it up, three? But I'll wait. Curator.

It's the Arcanod. Yeah, of the, yeah, of the. Belair, what? Curator Belair Lafalia. Yeah, Belair Lothalia, of Lothalia, I don't mind. Of the Arcanod. Oh.

Yeah. The Arcanod. What, oh, interesting. What wing is he, Is he the, no, because you see she looks and says, no, I know the, I know the, she looks and says, it says, I know obviously Oskoro Milanti, who's come by, but the, the preserver,

but this is actually one of the curators of which wing? The Loy Wing, I believe. Oh my goodness. Yeah. The central wing. Correct. Well, fascinating. Oh, my goodness.

Okay, wait, what is your, this is, sorry, this is connecting in my head. What is your pitch? Well, we've kind of, I like, I just like ran into him the other day, and I was like, oh my God, dear, you're Blair. Who is this? And.

Tracy is that you? Sorry. Girls love when they're like, oh my God, we're like the same person. I'm gonna die. I can't. Anyway, he kind of had a proposition of maybe me, helping him, like, doing some organization, maybe doing some sort, maybe, like,

figuring out some of these antiquities and artifacts that have, quite honestly, just been collecting dust over there. And, like, what is the actual point of having access to a bunch of magical stuff? If it's not gonna get used, He actually sent a little letter that I want to, I just, yeah, I send a letter to, you know. Legible, please.

All right, have you, have you read this or no? I have, yes. Okay. I mean, I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have, maybe that's improper. No, no, no, I only request your head, I don't, I wrote this while keeping eye contact with you. I love it. I humbly request your lead.

Murray Magnuson's particular skill set organizing the paperwork in the museum. It just feels like we can maybe use this to our advantage. Murray. Cora. What do you think curator Lethalia would say about an internship program? The Cormoray scholarship is based in public service and works. Specifically, they're looking for scholarship for people who either themselves or within their family

have engaged in public service or works, either here in Dolmachiar or in Cormoray homeland throughout Olderodemia. And they have a particular interest, just look here, a particular interest in the Arcanade right now. I was at, I was at. The Cormorays do. Yes.

Interesting. I have a, I was at a function at the Grey Tower. I was speaking to some members of the Revolutionary Council and the Chamber of Lords Advisory. And I met this lady Amaria Dason Cormoray. We just shared some conversation over a glass of wine, but she mentioned the Loewing in particular. Murray's eye, her eyes, like, twitching a little bit, and she's trying to, like, hide it every time the corn rays are mentioned. I would love to be able to pay her a visit.

And if you have, if this Belair Lothalia is requesting your aid with some paperwork, I wonder if we could set up a beneficial arrangement, if they require some assistance from the Penteverell, if we could impose on them as a favor to begin an educational program, as I believe some of these Cormoray scholars might be, if I can tell the Lady of Maria that the young children she wishes to send to our school of wizardry might be put to work in the area of our city's Fair Museum that she's most interested in.

I think that creates a very interesting opportunity for her, and I think it could endear house cormoray to the Penteverell even more. Do you think. That's fascinating. You also come from a family of jewel merchants, yes? Yes, yeah, the family magnus and family jewels. Oh, oh, a joke.

The, well, I think that if you were to, under the Bursar's office, which after all deals in antiquities, You're the bursor of antiquities, and what's the title? Sorry, I should know this. I am the exact title to be 100% is a bursar of Aden Antiquities. Bursar of Aden Antiquities. I believe that Master Lothalia has gone for far too long without an eager workforce looking to learn. It's on the job experience for young pentheveral students.

It's endearing us to the Arkanade and the curator of its most essential wing. And it's allowing a pathway for the Cormoray to, I think this really works. Wow. I'm just, this is already paying off. I feel like we're kind of like vibing right now. There's a level, right, that we're like connecting. I'm just, I'm glad you like my idea. That's very, thank you. You know, and I can maybe talk to some of the students.

I do have a few students in mind that I think might just be Starrer students. They might be the ones that we could at least start with, maybe do a little trial run. So I could maybe put my ear to the ground see who might be interested in something like that. Would it mainly be students from House Cormoray? Go ahead and give me persuasion.

You got this. I'll say before you roll, DC-15 is a little bit of success. DC20 is a lot of success. You said persuasion? Persuasion. Do you have to use portent before, right? No, you can use it after. You can use it after.

Swamp it out. Just in case it's an 18, so that is going to be 21. Oh. She, persuasion. She looks at you and says, says, well, listen, We'll need, I don't want to, listen, I think this is a very worthwhile endeavor on behalf of the Cormoray, certainly,

but I also don't want to send just you to wrangle 40 freshmen interns running loose in our city's most grandiose and majestic Civic Institute of Learning. So, noted, you'd actually be, and she looks at this huge stack of applications for the Cormoray Scholarship, and says, may I abuse our newfound friendship?

It's not abuse if I like it. You are so saucy. I love this. And you see she puts a stack of applications in front of you, says if you could review those, select who you want for the internship program. Okay. These are those students that have been approved

for entry into the Pentevereal, but select the ones that you'd like for the internship program. and get yourself, she reviews like a budget really quickly. Take a budget of, let's call it 20 gold per month and hire some TAs for yourself from the grad students. So go ahead and just pick who you think A can speak with some level of, after all, we do want that, let me be clear, there's a lot of politics to play here,

but we do want to educate smart wizards. The long-term health of the Pentevril depends on us representing ourselves well in the world. You've got to have success stories. And so please, please go out and get some TAs that you think can A wrangle a bunch of brand-new minted freshmen and B, actually teach and make sure that no one, I know half the curators, they are wear masks and gauntlets from blowing themselves apart. That's the last thing we need. So that would be such a bad look. So make sure that there are people that can keep these children. Honestly, a couple of diviners, certainly,

but maybe an abjuror or two is not a bad idea. An abjuror. Got it. Oh my God. Murray. Cora. It means a lot to me because, and I mean no offense by this,

you are someone who is very set in your ways. Half of the people here that have congratulated me on assuming this position as fifth, the dean of the Pentevereal, half of them I have to wonder if their intentions are sincere. For you, who forgive me, has not always had a way with words,

I can be sure that you are sincere in your intent. So this is very meaningful, and I think we're off to a great start. I look forward to this. There's a bright future ahead of us. I like, I don't know, not to like, you know, this is probably gonna sound silly,

but I got up this morning and I felt it in the air. I was like, oh. Today was a portentous day. Today was a portentous day. That is all I needed to hear. First full day as Dean is a portentous day. So says our burser of aid in antiquities. Yup, yom.

Got a little knack for divinity myself So you can trust that. Well, go ahead and look for your TAs. Oh, okay. One T.A. who suddenly has a big mark on his record that I know is everyone's favorite that please do not hire for this. It would be Demadis Blix,

who just blew through a class he was supposed to teach this morning. What? What happened? No show. No envelope sent. We went and knocked on his door. We don't know if he's, we don't know, we don't know, but a no-show.

So, what would I know about Dimmettus Blick? He's like a grad student. Go ahead and give me a history, we'll call it history DC-8, but if you can beat that more, you'll know it by more. Penteverell's gotten big. Okay, he was a TA? Yeah, grad student. He was. He disappeared? I don't know. Wait, what did you say? I think an eight, you want to beat an eight. But what was the role for? Oh, history, history. Okay, 17.

17. Oh, you know Demetis, yeah. Demetis would is a 22 year old. He's a graduate of the School of Illusion, has come back to get, he's trying to get his doctorate and actually, basically Demetis came as a 12 year old kid, fell in love with the place.

He's a young, gnomish student. He has a condition, he's a young gnomish student. He has a condition where his, oh God, irises are the color of whatever's behind him. It's like translucent that it comes through with him. And he's just an illusion savant. And he's really brilliant, very beloved, very funny, but he's a kid who is like number one school spirit.

kid. He came here from, he was a student that basically came to boarding school and was dropped off here by his parents a long, long time ago, and basically he's just always dreamed about being a professor at the penthouse rule. So when he graduated. His first day of class, new opportunity kind of thing, and he didn't show. Yep. One thing you would know about him is that Demidae is that Demetis was not financially supported by his family. So he would do a lot of like school spirit events that were also like, like, okay, I'm gonna fundraise for like a dare to do this act of magic

on this special day. And it was like, you know, like you also know that he made a lot of his like living because he doesn't have, again, did not have any financial support. He supplemented his living doing busking in the Ogremock Marketplace. And when that got shut down, he couldn't do his little illusion shows anymore and lost a big source of income.

Oh, no. I love this kid. It me in an NPC. Okay, that's so uncharacteristic of Dimmatous. You know, he's, he was in my office quite a lot. He has someone who needed financial aid. I think sometimes, I think sometimes for people that, I mean,

I don't know, maybe he's just off nursing a hangover somewhere or whatever, but the, the, I think, I do think sometimes when people come from a non-professional background, there can be a performance anxiety. There can be a, you know what I'm saying? There can be a, the pressure got to him, you know. Wow. Murray in the back of her head is like, this dumb bitch does not know what she's talking about. One, hangovers are expensive. He did not be able to afford a hangover and two, this guy was a performer. He did not. Okay. That is so strange. You know what?

Maybe I'll do a little bit of research, but noted. I'll ask around. All right. Well, fantastic. These are quite a lot of applications, so just give me a little bit of time to get through it. I'll kind of put my little thought, you know? Take your time, no rush.

End of day is fine whenever you get a chance to. Yeah, end of day. Yeah. Oh. No rush, just, you know, anytime today is fine. All right. Uh-huh, fantastic. You know, maybe tomorrow.

Maybe tomorrow. Does that sound more reasonable because I was actually going to go, if you remember the whole start of this conversation was me going to the Arcanon to help over there. So it's a busy day. Great. Well, I love Master Lothalia's if he wants to help with them

and see if he, you know, maybe many hands make light work. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you know what? I got you. Marie. Carra. You're trouble. I can tell.

We're going to have to go drinking one night. Oh, my gosh. All right. Well, I'll see you at the next. I'm starting faculty mixers. Oh, my goodness. We'll have, it's one drink maximum, but we'll, but we're going to have. But faculty mixers.

All right. We'll have them at the end of the month. Okay. Oh, my God. You are too much. Get to work. Okay. I've taken up too much of your time.

I am so sorry. All right. You get to work. No, you. She leaves with a sack of papers. You leave with a stack of papers. We cut over to Belair. Belair, like, jumps awake.

Is it my birthday? Wow. Oh, my God. I cannot wait to know that. Wow. Incredible. I think I think Quora's one of the worst people

I've ever embodied. I hate her. I love you. I played Asmodeus and I don't. Even Asmodeus is, what the fuck is wrong with you? What's wrong with you? God. You can't make me go to a fucking work

event where I can't drink. Yes. You see, so Boler Yeah. A new day dawns. A new day dawns. I wake up, the stoic face just has a little bit of movement as I wake up in a very nice large bed. That's very clean, in a very clean bedroom with some beautiful, large impressionist art on the walls.

The first thing I see is the light comes through. The bedside tables are very clean. One has a couple books on it that I read, and the other one is bare and empty. I go into a powder room that is mostly cement, very industrial and clean, and still has light coming through from some nice skylights in the corner,

and I remove my wig, and I've already taken my suit off. Normally I do not sleep in the red wig, but I'm nervous. And I clean the body as best I can. Perfume, get dressed, put the wig back on, and start to make my way to the living room. Again, very, very, the sun is bright and beautiful.

There are little paper, theaters, there's not a lot in here, but there's always a little bit of art instead of a fruit bowl. There are just a few meticulously curated books that clearly are there to be read. And a series of paper theaters, there's a shadow puppet theater, there's a couple complicated ones just made out of paper and sticks. clearly based on classic theaters that don't exist anymore from the time before the war. There's a little very cubist art

in the living room, a couple very uncomfortable looking couches. And then at the very end, there is a kitchen that is so clean except for there is a bowl of fruit and a baguette and some jerky. And there is way too much fruit.

And at one end it is just rotted in death. And slowly the pile gets fresher and fresher towards the front. It clearly I go out and buy the food even though I'm not eating it just to keep up appearances. and often I'll forget to throw it away. There is a couple very moldy loaves of bread, one that's relatively clean, and the jerky holds, and there's a pitcher of water. I pour myself a glass of water,

a little bit of fruit and a tiny bit of bread and a tiny bit of jerky. And as I open my mouth, you can see somewhere in the darkness a set of lips and teeth. Oh. As I eat a little bit of bread, a little bit of meat, and a little bit of fruit and a glass of water. Oh, I hate that.

Oh, boy. Greetings, fellow human. Wow! As it then disappears back into the shadow, I look at all the moon. Oh, God, you got like an alien queen mouse. Oh, oh. Oh, no. There you go, Hobris. You get one more day, don't you?

I can't wait to talk. Different days, different days. Oh, wow. Also, I would say clearly there was no actual delight in the food. It seemed like the food didn't even touch lips. There was no flavor that really registered. Talasin finally took his final form. I know.

Oh, my God. I suppose it's time to go out. go out and get a sense of things. I'm going to head to the museum and get a sense of where the other curator is on this whole debacle. Arriving at the Arkhanod, you see getting there at the beginning of the day, it opens. You see that some of your docents and other people

are already at work as people come in, some have traveled all the way from other far-flung places of Aramon to come here and see the Arkanaad. You see some people gasping and looking up at the various weapons and arcane artillery and other things gathered here, but that central exhibit with that one last pariah blade. People come to look at that one and gaze at it.

You see just admiring faces and walking across the campus, there's a beautiful garden with white kind of marble, or not marble, but there's like beautiful white, Micah-Flect gravel stones, walk across small cafeteria over to another area, and you enter the Celadine Wing, which is unlike the Loy Wing, which is sort of like in the bright gray

of the sunshine here in Dolmachiar, you enter the Celadine wing, which is very much ensconced in shadow with very dramatic, harsh beams of yellow light that come in to sort of undercut the weapons of the shapers. You see here they're like artifacts and old emblems of the gods that are all depicted here, almost like walking around a corner, there's almost a sudden jump scare of like an emblem of Osgra's snarling face in stone or other places where it's, again, nothing is moving, nothing is animated, but just like as you walk around a corner there it suddenly is tonsils glaring visage or you see the whole. haughty, wide-eyed stare of Illumi, goddess of magic. Her arm outstretched, a long wall where you see depicted are the legends and tales of the deaths

of the four primordials wedded and married to the various shapers that they were wedded to, how Trojana took Tihana and spun her body into all of the gold and silver and jewels of the earth until her wife was gone. You see there's like all of these legends of throughout of the shapers and the various primordials. And you see in this place a figure looking down, turning around tall, about like six, five, but extremely reedy, kind of skinny. You see there's a spectacled, orcish gentleman. He's wearing some robes.

You see he has a partial mask over, like over an ear that covers like a bad end. on his ear and a fine silver, like, half gauntlet just sort of covers his fingers. You know that two of those are prosthesis. This is the curator, Makma's Gelfidar. Yeah. You head over to Makmar here as he turns and says, Oh, Master Lathalia, it is good to see you. It was wonderful to see you as well.

I was hoping to get a bit of your time. I assume that you know the state of things right now. The state of things. Oh, yes. The lady Tesson Gournery. Ah, sharp as ever. Yes. What do you make of it?

I don't know. It is peculiar. And it definitely comes at an odd time. Things seem to be everything. Seems to have shifting sand beneath it right now in the city. I can't imagine that you actually want to fold your collection into mine. No, no, hardly. And this is a terrifying prospect of the amount of material

that's going to have to move. Staggering expense. A mess of paperwork because, I'm sure as you know, both of a, there's no such thing as a museum with functional paperwork, everything's a disaster. Oh, but when one has to move it quickly. They don't intend for us to share the same vault, do they? I think they do.

This is a nightmare. I'm so glad you think so. So, what do you plan on doing about it? Since clearly they plan on keeping you on and not me. Go ahead and give me an insight check. Thank you, because I'm curious. I'm curious if this is landing. Huh.

19. Mark Mas is looking at you. He doesn't prefer you. No. I know that look. But the thing about this guy that you kind of believe or understand is that he doesn't really prefer anyone. So it's hard to say that.

We have that in common. Yeah. I think on that insight check, you look at him, and you see he goes, look, I have no issue with telling you the truth, as I see it. We can't fold these into the same wing. It doesn't make sense.

The museum does not have the pieces here. Nor do I think the Loy will continue to wish for their name to be on this wing, if it is possessing the other. artifacts of the shapers. I'm already hearing rumblings from them. Really? Who are you hearing rumblings from? Sadly, I am not at liberty to say yet.

But you know me. People talk to me. I'm very trustworthy. Yes. A very trustworthy face. Look, Boler, my understanding is that my understanding is the intentions of the Cormoray are to move the Ceyne wing into the Loy Wing. What? That was not what I was told.

What were you told? I was told that we were moving. The Lloyd Wing? The Lloyd Wing here. Both of those can be true. I think doing a swap, maybe. That doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. I mean, I'm not going to say that this is my preferred environment.

I'm sure the stute love it. But there's nothing for us here, and there's certainly nothing for you over there. Why bother? I cannot say. I mean, I cannot say. The Celadine wing is about, what, half the size of the Loy wing. So you're gonna have to make some curatorial choices about what gets displayed.

And what happens to the rest of it? Well, maybe you can write a letter to the later Lady Amaria, Deson Cormoray. Or as you said, people love to talk to you. Maybe you can talk to her. Mm. I would much prefer to have you on my side, or at least, I would much prefer for you to have me

on your side if it makes you feel better. A united front about what to do about this would be delightful. I am curious what they plan on doing. This doesn't make a lot of sense. Is it possible? that both faults, who knows? Both faults could end up moving their collections somewhere else.

They might close the collections. They might be building an entirely new wing. No one will see our collections. We won't be able to touch anything for six years? Eight years? How much longer do you have before we, I mean, I can't tell you've never looked well. Well, I would return the insult if I knew how you looked.

Well, I appreciate that you keep turning the other cheek. I find you distasteful. And I find you dull. Which is why we work so well together, because we know where we stand. Boler, let's imagine for a moment that I'm a hero and that I love you. What I'm gonna do?

Tell the corn array where they're can put their artifacts? No. Really? What do you think they'd say to that? I say, on behalf of the Arcanade and the Revolutionary Council, take your winged scroll and shove it up your ass?

No, I don't think so. I don't know if you talk to people outside of this museum, but there's a strong wind blowing out in the city. I can tell what direction it's blowing. Can you? There is a wind, and I can tell. I'm just, I suppose I'm curious whether or not you're standing upwind or downwind.

We're going to need friends, things are going to get complicated, and we're going to have to be careful. What will you do if they take away your little wing? Every day I come to a wing, dedicated to the great weapons of the most powerful beings that have ever walked our world, who lost.

So I'm not one for blind hope. I think if they come for me, I... If they come for us though, it is actually the fundamental problem with this wing. You know that right. You said it yourself, these aren't the most powerful. beings that have ever walked this earth, this soil. We are because we won.

Give me either intimidate or persuasion. Can I, boy, yeah. Whichever you think is more appropriate. I'll say if you give me, do you have the same bonus to both? Mm-hmm. Hell yeah. Yeah, then go ahead.

Then go ahead and roll. It's a little mixture of the two. Yeah. 17. 17. He looks to you and says, Every day I walk the halls of the weapons that failed to win in the hands of the gods

and their champions. You see, he uses the word gods purposefully here. And every day you walk in the hall of the weapons that struck down the shapers the shapers in the hands of brave mortals. Maybe I'm a little too pessimistic. Maybe you're a little too optimistic. If I hear anything, I'll keep talking to you.

After all, people love to talk to you. I apologize for the number of truly irritating people that are going to be running through here, poorly cataloging everything. I'm going to make this as complicated as humanly possible. And who knows, between the two of us we have all of the mightiest weapons. No one's ever faced them all before.

And add, just roll a D6 for me. I get to use my new D6. That's a one, two, three, four, five. I think you add, I had five to that persuasion roll. That little barb at the end. He says, No one ever has faced them all.

If you count on me to be brave, I will disappoint you. If you can count on me to be scared, you might find a worthy friend. We're archaeologists. We don't fear. Shit. But yes, I'll keep you safe.

We need wisdom to bring you We need wisdom to prevail. And if it comes to it, I am. I don't know what you did during the rebellion, but I'm preparing to, I'm preparing to lose my peace again. You're a good man, as much as I find you insufferable. Always a treat, Boleer.

We'll talk. Let me know if you hear anything. Just send a letter to my... sending shit to you in writing. I'll see you in the break room. You see, he walks away. That was very smart. Wow.

He walks away. He walks away. We move over, I believe, we wake up the next morning in the fangh. Never have two curators been that nice to be? Any museum on earth. Shit. Cool.

Hell yeah. Hal and Ozernia, I think you guys start your day and probably have to get up and running. Yeah, I get up pretty early before the sun comes up. Cool. I get up early as well. A lot to do. Not enough hours in the day. Right.

Meet at the theater. Meet at the round. Meet at the round. In the afternoon. I'm going to go out to the back door. Go forth. And do, I'm trying to have a sort of. I'm trying to have as normal a day as possible. Hell yeah.

I have stayed here before, so this is all along those lines. Oh, yeah. And I'm gonna do my walk towards Falcons Rest. You go to the Falcons Rest, go ahead and roll a D20 luck check in front of the board for me. You're looking for an 18, 19, or 20. Let's go. Let's do this one.

Whoa! Yeah, it's rock like a rock. Holy shit. Holy shit. You head out from Hal's home, walk to the Falcon's Rest, and you look up and see that, hold on a second, this is crazy.

Nat 20, we have to honor this. This has to be really cool. Hold on, we're gonna honor this. I ask for a luck check, you got an Nat 20. I give you three out of 20 odds. You're gonna Nat 20. You're gonna Nat 20. You see the GM.

behind a curtain, go, oh. I didn't know what I'm on? Whoa. Amazing. Don't worry, sir. I didn't see you playing with your toys. You, you walk up. And you walk up in this moment,

and I think you see, I know this is crazy. I am gonna have to consult our timeline. Okay. Oh, interesting. He's got to go to the timeline. Okay, copy that. No, this is great. You beat me to it.

Belt it, felt it coming. Back in the charges. Two borping to level four. You walk up and see, as you approach the falcons rest, waiting by the colonnade where the names are written, you look and see a couple things. Number one, the falcons nests up here are empty. You don't see any birds, any laid eggs up here.

But also you see Veron Cadorn. This is a tall, human shaved head. You see he's wearing half plate. So a little bit more mobile than full plate armor, but still very heavily armored. He looks over at you and sees you approaching and begins to walk right towards you, looking sleepless and upset. Okay.

Uh-oh. He walks up to you and goes, Azune, you're here. Yes. I thought I might find you here. Wait, wait, wait. We might be watched. We must do as we normally would,

and I'll handle how we have our conversation. And I will walk towards Falcons rest, and I'm going to cross my arm and keep myself pointing in his direction as I am going to spam cast until you tell me I can't message so that we can have this kind of conversation in our minds. Yeah. He looks at you and goes, we need to talk.

I was, so you know I've been posted at the El Brindy. I've been working for the El Brindy for a while. We got a letter late in the night last night that some of our cousin of one of the young lords was working traveling with some men at arms. There's been a massive arrest in recent of all of our men-in-arms that are supposed to bring up a advance caravan. You know, I'm not one of these nobles. I protect the house when the El-Brendi are back and

tell more. I'm just here to basically watch over a bunch of servants and wait staff while their interests are managed here in the interim. But we got a letter telling us to be aware that we might be arrested. House Einfossen has put a bunch of Royce and Elbrendi and DeVino's Bannerman under arrest on the other side of the Jamar Pass. Threatening arrest? No, no, affected arrest. Effective.

I don't know if I need, have you heard anything? Do I need to go into hiding? Maybe. I haven't heard anything, so they're effectively arresting any of House Royce's assholes. That's the message we got. Baron, oh, I came here hoping to ask you, ask you quite a favor, and I didn't realize that you would be under threat.

What favor do you need? This is all happening. None of this is a coincidence. There is a power. What did they do? Where are the fucking Falcons? You see he looks around, I think, give me an insight check. Okay.

Oh, my God. Oh my fucking God. A second Nat 20. It's a different die. It's a different die. He's having a different guy. his sudden shift to speaking about the Falcons, he's having a, you can sense

a traumatic episode coming on, that he's on the verge of the- Yes, he's having, yeah. I am gonna do what how did it? As I'm gonna approach him, I'm gonna put my hand on his chest, and I'm gonna, on the other hand on his shoulder, I'm just gonna press, and I'm gonna say, Breathe, breathe, breathe.

Right now you're not in danger. Right now we need level heads. We need to figure out what's happening. You might be under threat, but we cannot just run. They're doing everything they can to intimidate us, and they're moving fast. The Falcons that aren't here anymore, of course, they prop. This is all their fault. They did this.

I think you need to resign. You and whoever else you know that's working for any house, that's a vassal house to house Royce, you all need to resign, and you need to come work for us. The guard? No. There's a lot more happening. As much as they're moving, as quickly as they are,

there are forces in opposition that are already moving. You are not alone. The Falcon's cry is still being heard, piercing the sky for any of those that are willing to hear it. Are you willing to hear it? Because you cannot come here at Falcon's rest and just think upon those of our fallen friends from the Falconer's Rebellion

and think that that is a way to pay homage to them. No, it is time to act. That is the best way that we can make their sacrifice and make their memories come alive. Zunei stuck for years. And you see, he puts a hand on your shoulder this time and says, I think we've all been waiting for it to cry again. And if you hear it, I'm with you. Tell me where to go. Tell me, if you need me to tell the

others, I'll tell everyone I know. We need people that we can trust. And we need to play the game, like how they play it. Right now, the Revolutionary Guard has been decimated. There's, they've let go of the majority of the Revolutionary. Guard to have them poached by the sundered houses. I saw a mercenary group recruiting people. They can't tell us apart one from the other. I want you and those that you trust to act as though you were members of the Revolutionary Guard, dismissed looking for another opportunity and seek employment with those mercenary groups that are under those sundered houses, because we need eyes and ears inside.

He looks and says, I mean they poached me five years ago. I understand. What's the, they let go of the Revolutionary Guard, and you think that they did it. I mean, they could do it for multiple reasons, but they're trying to poach them. They're weakening whatever the city has to be able to stand on its own two feet.

Where did you see everyone going? What house are they flocking to? It was a mercenary group that I didn't recognize, but I know it was under the Kandescent Creed banner. Okay. But it would also help if we had a number of people in other houses as well. I'm in touch.

This detail they've got me on, they all have manor houses here, but I know some of the people at Obermiss, which is the Taconas Manor. I know some of the folks over at Davinos, obviously, and the Villa Aurora and, you know, I'm gonna go collect names. I'm gonna go knock some heads. Yes. I'll let you know. Where can I find you?

You can find me here. All right. And if you don't, you might see a dwarven woman. She looks to be of the Penteverel, but she's on our side. She's on our side. Her name is Marie. Yeah. If I'm not here, you speak to her just as you would to me.

I understand. All right. I don't want to stay any longer, but if this, I don't know what's happening and maybe I don't need to, they put you on the Fiazzi detail, right? They did. I'm sorry.

Names, heads. I'll be back here when I know. Action. You see that he clasps you to him and walks off into the gray of the early morning. Sick rolls, man. I'm lucky. I'm lucky.

Unbelievable. I do have the lucky feet. I do have the lucky feet. You continue. I have the lucky feet too. I keep forgetting that. You continue on down to the Brethren Hall. Yes.

As you arrive there, you see that Captain Fazir looks to you and says, you will, your first task of the day, of the day, you've actually been called to special report. Slides over, there is a full investigation of possible magical wrongdoing at the Palazzo Davinos. Does he hand me something? He hands you a small slip written signed by the Lord Herondis Einfassen.

What have you heard, Captain? The streets have been talking about what might have happened there. Suspicious things? We're hearing, well, it seems that the Royce have reopened the door to ferry. There are some reports that the Royce may have kidnapped some of the servants and laborers and taken them with them through the door to ferry. Oh, does that strike you as something characteristic of the Royce? It's a, there's a handful of those who are missing. We don't know if they're missing or

they've turned up or what. But in a... The investigation has been called for because there was a lucery magic present, and so... Aha. That's why we are going. Otherwise, it's a missing person, so it has nothing to do with the arcane marshals, but we're going because there was magic present there. And it looks like, by we, you mean me. You've been requested personally. Uh-huh.

Understood. Ah! How's your sense of the morale of those of us that have... stayed in the revolutionary garden. I'd say morale is that's an all-time low, as you name. Yeah, we need to do something about that. What are you gonna do about that, Captain? Give me persuasion and then give me insight.

Persuasion? A natural one. You got that luck, Feet. I am. Oh, well, luck is now, you have to declare it beforehand, and it gives you advantage, but I'm gonna I'm gonna use my heroic inspiration. Is that true?

How luck's changed? Luck has changed. At least erase the one, yeah. Yes, so I'm gonna use my heroic inspiration and roll again. I'm gonna roll a different one. Can you use luck now? I think I could.

You don't have to. But I'm gonna save that. Yeah. I will. Is it got? No, it's not. It's a, this was a persuasion. A 15.

A 15. Okay. I have insight. Do you want the insight immediately? Yeah, I got the inside immediately. Okay. Nat one? Not one?

No. Nat 20? Yes. Oh my God! Yes? What is happening? I've never ever in my life. What a streak. I use these dice.

What a street. And except for the one the one that I have for my character, I use these dice all the time and they're never this hot. What the shit. Maybe it is a portent day. Yeah.

You know it. On a reviving to. On a natural 20. Uh-huh. On a natural 20. You look and find that there is a natural funny insight. Captain Fizier is not going to rock the boat. He does not have the soul of a hero.

Yes. He is not going to rock the boat. On a 15 persuasion, he looks and says, well, I think you're right that something is in order. Perhaps we can gather the troops together at the Mead Hall down the street. More camaraderie is probably the order of the day. You're right, Captain. You have a lot on your plate, and you, of course, have been through so much.

Allow me to assume some responsibility in your stead. I appreciate that. You seem to have come into the favor of Lord Einfassen. So by all means. On your way, Lieutenant? Yes. Yes, sir. And I will make my way. Mingum-moing.

You, you head over to the Palazzo Divinas, a place you've already investigated the night before. Am I, and I'm alone? No, that's the night before, but the night before that I'm here. Seems suspicious. Am I not assigned any of my. Your guard, you're in spite.

Oh my guard is with you, okay, great. Okay. Do we like Captain Fissier? Do we like him? Not after that. Yeah. Captain, I think that the correct read is that Captain Fizier is

nice and mid. Yes. He's nice and mid. He's not going to do anything that's going to put him at risk. He's grassy. He bends with the wind.

Yes. He's a turtle. Yep. I think on my way with my detail, I'm, I'm, as I'm approaching the Palazzo de Vino's, I'm really, concerned over them. And I immediately want to kind of get a sense of how they're doing, how

deflated they are, how scared they are. And yeah, do I'm just going to try to be the leader that I haven't been for them and that they deserve. I'm certain you are all struggling to keep up with these changing winds, I am as well, and I want to assure you all that, although I may not have been the most forthcoming and the most verbose, as your lieutenant, I want to make sure you all know that I am, without a doubt here for each and every one of you.

I know we all had friends, and some of us had family that were dismissed, If you're upset, you have every right to be. You have someone to come to. I will be that person for you. And I want you, as we move forward to do with this revolutionary guard under new supervision asks us to do, I want you all to remember

who we truly are in service to in the city, and that is the people. And I'll point as we walk to the people that are going about their day, the children of the city, the elderly, the newly and loved couples, these are who we are in service to. And you can, in spite of how rocked you might feel,

hold them as well, because we are one of the last remaining forces that can help protect them. Go ahead, give me persuasion with advantage. Come on, baby. Let's see if this hot streak continues. Yeah, you can do it. Wait, what is this? What is that?

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. It's a 13. 13. You see that your soldiers, Horace, Dalla, and Grotto. Go ahead and give me an insight check.

Okay. This one. Oh, boy. That is a seven. I think you look at your... I got too happy at my dice roll. Your detail here. And I think that you see that there is,

on a seven insight, they nod back and they say, thank you, Lieutenant. Oh, 15, I'm sorry, on the persuasion. 15, I'm sorry, on the persuasion. 15, persuasion. They look, I think you see them look happy, happy that they have been told they can come and talk to you. But I don't think you get any deep sense of the mission under here.

And I think that there's a possibility that you, the clarity you got on your captain where you're like, that bridge is rickety. Don't cross that bridge. You sadly don't have the same clarity of your subordinates. They are following your orders and are being respectful to you. You don't know if that's because they believe in a cause, or they're collecting a paycheck, or they're one

wondering what the benefits are with the Sons of the Dawn. You just don't know. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna have faith in them and am going to not press it. Sometimes some things are a little bit, more of a long game. It takes more than one moment of contact to nudge

something that's heavier to move. And I'm gonna just say to them, you know how to do your jobs, you do them well. Let's begin. I also think in this question, Azine for you, so much of your job has been about being in this position because of what it did for Fiazzi and his efforts and touching this over here and Murray and Boulin, this other stuff.

Does Azine have a long history of leadership within his own unit? Or do you think Azine is someone who has really thought long and hard about his unit before now? or is this something that is changing? This is a change. Yeah. I think the centerpiece of what I would think about

in terms of what needed to get done, it revolved around what I thought the Ozzy needed. Yeah. This is the first time I think I'm recognizing that I might need to light some of my own fires like he told me. You head out from there, heading towards the Palazzo de Vinos to begin,

your investigation. How? Where do you head to this fine morning? Well, I have a lot I want to try to get done before getting to the Hallowed Round today. The first thing I want to do is I want to go to two quick stops in the rookery, the neighborhood that both my home, the theater, referred to as the Rookery. This neighborhood is honeycombed with not all but most of the troop of the Hallowed Round of the Rookery. and I need to see two people. But despite Azune describing the Halevar visit last night and them really just sort of flexing and trying to invite me to the estate,

still a little paranoid. So what I do early at right after Azunay leaves is I take a moment with my brother, hand on his chest, just a moment of quiet. And then slowly, in the back of the, the house, there is a side entrance to the home, and I actually bring in a large slat of wood, and I move my brother onto it, and I begin to drag that slat of wood towards the back of the house. I pause. I grab a cloak from my home and throw it up and over my head and exit the rear of the

building with my brother, and I have a low, small wagon, a little more than a wheelbarrow, less than a regular horse-drawn wagon, and I managed to slide the Aussie on top of it and cover him over with fabric from inside the house. And while I'm still in the back of the house unseen, I will drag my hand across my face away. I've done a thousand times before, and my visage and my hands become wizened and old

as I cast the spell, the sky's self. So I look like a very, very old orc and cloak still over me, and I pick up the cart behind me and very easily assume an old hunched position. And I begin to walk my brother through the neighborhood of the rookery, looking around for anything dangerous. Give me perception. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Uh, that is. is an 15. Wheeling Thiasi's body, which is covered. You just looked like an old Dolmachiar orc, taking a wheelbarrow of goods, taking a cart of goods somewhere. You pass the bottom of your street. Your street in the rookery does branch off into other streets,

but they actually all kind of, you're realizing they do all kind of come back down to the central highway and you get down to just to that larger thoroughfare that heads to the bridge, crossing the River of Roche, and see two sons of the dawn, two sort of hail of our mercenaries that are just at the street corner looking up your street. And they don't look at you at all,

because why would they? Right, I turn away and begin to wheel off towards my partner's house to Old Good Akkarats home early in the morning. And when I feel like I'm a few streets away from the Halevar units. I dropped the spell and stand up in the same cloak, so I just slowly shift from Old Man to Hal and arrive at Old Goode's house.

Give a little knock. See. I'll be right there. Hold on. I. Hell. Hi. Why?

You want to walk to work together? What are you doing here? Carpool. Sorry, sorry. I know that you've helped the family out so much in the past couple of days, and I'm afraid. Carpool. Yes.

I'm here to ask for another family favor. So all your tasks for the business today, please put them on hold, if you will. No, no problem. He looks down and says, oh, are these those, the new, what is it, the foils, the stage foils, stage combat? What do you got in the cart? Listen, I'm worried about Shottia.

Now that we've said our goodbyes to her uncle, I think it's time to take him to the next step. And I look down. Oh, spirits of the old path, my God. Okay, all right. I know. Okay. And I squeeze him by the shoulder.

Okay. I need you to do me this favor today. And I turn my head up and I look at the hills above the rookery, above our neighborhood. You know where my father lies? I do. I think that he wanted to be close to the old man. So the ridge above the cemetery up there.

Yeah. I mean to make his rest there. So for today. Did you have a conversation with them about the plot? I can handle that today. And if you could, I, I, I, I'm hoping to move into sort of uncharted territories up onto that hill above it. You can see the whole city from up there.

He can keep an eye on us still. Got it. I'll get it done now. He'd love it. See the whole city. Be up there. Catch every slate gray dawn. This grimy old town has to offer.

It's a good place. Appreciate you. Appreciate you. what's the theater producer for, if not to abscond with the body of his business partner's brother who's hanged for sedition and arcanism. I don't get it done. It is almost, but not quite the worst thing we've ever done together.

No, the worst thing we've ever done was that production the first time we were in the Lysia. My God, that was bad. I thought we said we weren't going to talk about that anymore. He doesn't ever talk about that anymore, but I can't stop thinking about it. I don't know. Rules are meant to be broken.

I see this. All right. Well, I will look in on the round later and see how things are going. Make sure that we're still on track. You are free of thinking about theater for one day and one day old. Oh, what a relief. All right. I'll see it done.

Take care of yourself, Hel. Thank you. He takes the cart, moves it indoors, and shuts the door looking around and paranoid for a moment. then you are on your way. I just walk another three blocks over from here, and I end up on the doorstep of Inez Roundtree. Inez, the half-orke woman, ex-Rebel of the Falconer's Rebellion,

turned fight captain for my theater troop, has walked me and every member of it through Correo and swordcraft, pretend swordcraft. A very important part of everything we do. And I knock on her, You knock on her door. She opens it and goes, hell.

Oh, sorry. You needed the foils, right? The stage combat. No, no, no, no. I think the troop has finally, I think they've got it for this one. Okay, understood. I think at this point you can just enjoy a job well done. Great.

I'm not the only one who is noticing. This city is getting tense. No. I don't think so. I think it's been getting tense for a while. I'm starting to worry about the agreements we have in place for our work. You mean with the council,

our license to the hall around? I can't even put my finger on it. It's like everywhere I go, it feels like the walls are getting just a little more narrow, closing in just a little bit more. And I'm here. I'm hearing this from friends, all my little birds around the city.

I'm trying to get a sense of what's going on inside of the guards' heads, and I really hate to ask this, but I know that your sister still works, the Iron Fawson estate. Me and my sister gossip all the time. It is not hard for me just to go press and see if she's heard anything.

Do you want me? Now, I will happily tell you what my sister said. Are you asking for me to ask my sister to be proactive and look for something? Tell you what? I'm a little load for bear today, but if it works for her schedule there,

if she has time off and can visit you here, can the three of us talk? Give me a persuasion check. That is a 24. Oh yeah. I think that sounds perfectly fine. I'll ask Ramina over what, you want to have dinner tonight? Let's say tonight, if she's free.

I'll ask tonight, should it be, can we meet somewhere more central for her? The Einfausen Estates cross town. Whatever is easiest for her. I'm really trying not to put you or her out. And as you know, that the kind of my brother, those needs might be coming back. They are coming. I don't know if I can keep the plates spinning. I am just trying to future proof if I can.

I've been thinking a lot about your brother. Hell of a time for our opening at the great amphitheater to be telling a story about a failed revolution. The irony is not lost on. I'll keep my ear to the ground, hell. Let me talk to Romina and I'll see what I can do. I know that she's working today, so I might have to send word to you at the round. You take off for me, Ness?

Yes. And my last errand of the day before meeting up with the others is heading further out into the city to the Grey Library. You head to the Gray Library, the Library of the Revolutionary Council in Maroud. Arriving there, you enter into the maze-like stacks of the largest multicultural panes pan-historical library on the continent of Pasatar.

I'm looking for any of the few friendly faces that I have grown to know over decades of coming to this place to research for my work. You see that Barindra Moss is a older bullfolk librarian. She has long spectacles on the interview out big horns on her head, turns around. Oh, hello. Howl, good to see you, my friend.

Miss Moss, it has been a moment. How are you? How are you? Wonderful, wonderful. Life is glorious. Things still fast-paced here, the old library. It is a maelstrom of activity. The silence that follows that statement is resounding. Oddly, catch a breath.

Well, I know it's been half a year, but I am back. Ah, begging on your- Won't you hear the other? Oh God, it was a half a year ago, that's right. It feels like a moment. I'm here to beg on your doorstep again. If you can believe it, we're finally, on the verge, the show is about to go.

All of those hours spent in the stacks under your tutelaging guidance have paid off. Please, you have my most gracious invitation to come, eight days. Eight days at the hallow round and you will be down front and center. Please, I insist. I'm there.

Hound me in. Is this... Trient of a woman. I know. I live in Marud. What part of town is the hollowed round in? Oh, it's all the way on the south side with views of the country like you wouldn't believe.

I'll have to get, if it's in eight days, I'll leave tomorrow. How can I help you, Alan Deer? Well, a rolling stone catches no moss, grows no moss, and if you can believe it, I already have an idea for the next. I have got an idea for the next. an itch today to do some work to start digging in. And I want to dive back into the history stacks,

if that's okay. Oh, of course. Helen Deal. Normally on a day this busy, I wouldn't think of it, but here. And you see she hands you a small little sort of parchment square that has an emblem of the library on it. Help yourself, you're such a speedy, young whippersnapper, you.

Go faster by yourself, just handle the books with care. I know I can trust you. Well, do. You taught me the mooey decimal system, so I am doing. Oh, boy. You are cute, cute. Am I a dad or am I a dad? Help yourself, help yourself. And she bids you into the history section.

What do you do in that section? Well, Brandon, I think it took me 60 or 90 minutes to get to this point, and I have maybe three or four or maybe five hours before I have to be at the hallowed around. So what I would like to do is dig into the stacks in the limited amount of time that I have and find anything and everything I can on the death of the gods, hopefully with a focus

on Illumi and the Halflands. And I want to look for any mention or any scraps or shred of information about masks in history or story or myth or tales, anything from the last 100 to 500 years. Incredible. This information is secret from all across the world. you are looking for the barest wisps of clues.

You are here in this great library, so I will allow you to roll with advantage. You'll be rolling a history check. A DC 20 gets you a whisper. A DC 25 gets you, I think, something usable that points in a direction. DC 30. You get a copy of Spider-Man in one.

Tom McFarland Original. Wow. Let's go ahead and roll. Boy, this is a long shot. This is a long shot. There we go, I'll do it. Over here. What's your history?

It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Go for it. It's a 22. It's a 22. 22. On a 22, you open the books moving through. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Never mind, never, I'm not going to use your heroic inspiration. I don't have that. I don't have that. I don't have that. What's that? Oh, we gave you an advantage already, catch you. You never have an inspiration. You can re-roll if you wish.

But you have to take the new role. How to keep the 22? Yeah. Hell yeah. You have to keep the new role? Mm-hmm. You look on a 22 and you find a text referencing the creation of sacred masks

as part of a halfling tradition from the country of Hargood, far to the north. It references another text. There's a footnote in this tome that references another text in the library. going to search for it, you do not find it on the shelf here. It is missing. You see that, looking in,

I say I need the kindling, but that part's already done. Oh, geez. The text that you are looking for is an ancient halfling text, or not, it's about a two-century-old halfling text called, a blank text called the visages of creation. And there is this version in this library was a copy. It is missing. You could ask Borendra about it if you want.

Don't you hate it when you can't find the original source or something? One on a list. This is how you get on a list. How much time do you think it took me to get to this point? Think about an hour and a half, 90 minutes. Insulted. You bastard, I put masks on the entire chorus because of you.

I go seeking her out, yeah. You find Berenra. Hell, how's it going? I'm an amateur. I am not half the historian, you are not even a quarter. I am following a trail of a wisp of breadcrumbs through your labyrinth. And I am trying to find an... an elder text called the,

I think the translation is the visages of creation, does that represent? Visages of creation, yes. Oh, that hasn't been returned. That's, hold on. She starts rumbling through. I'm so sorry, Hal, this is marked as was returned, but I don't know what happened to our copy.

Why don't I, I could send for another copy. The original text is in the totality in Hargut. Okay. Well, it's a work in progress. Do you have record of when it was taken out? Yes. Let me look that up. I'll send it, I'll send a courier with any information I have about it

down to the hallowed round later today when I get time. That is more than fair. Thank you so much for your patience with my noodling about your home. Of course, of course, Hal. Well, I'll keep an eye on it, and do you want me to send to the totality to see if they have a copy that can be sent here to replenish our library? I should, I actually should do that anyway. Feasible, possible? Yes, it might take a few weeks, but yes, certainly.

Let's do that. All right, I'll go ahead and do that. And if you have two or three friends you want to bring to the round, my treat. I'll get my sisters. We'll all come. We'll make a date of it. You see, she smiles. Outside, you hear trumpets blaring.

She says, ooh, out there at the Grey Tower. Be well, Hal. Exit the Grey Library before the Grey Tower of the Revolutionary Council. Exit in the library, the vast courtyard, here at the central spiring civic castle, the home of the Revolutionary Council, the castle that was built for the united will of all of the mortals of Aramon in their war against the shapers to come

together and know a world of only justice and light and truth and freedom to chart their own destinies. You step out? Broad steps. Why? Like 100 foot wide are the steps leading down from the library to the great tower of the Revolutionary Council, the flag flying of a united Arama. Trumpets Blair, you see horses coming in, knights in shining armor, a druid with an antlered helm, and carriages pulling up, alighting to a rock in the garden. You see a young, muscular, almost like halfway between a coyote and a husky, arise up as the trumpets end. Presenting to the Revolutionary Council,

the dog speaks aloud. King Augustus Valian of Timony. And you see the sort of emissaries of Timony exit from this cart, and you see that a carriage opens, and you see the dog looking in, He goes, is he in there? And you see that a druid pokes his head out and says, he told me he was riding a horse.

And you see the dog goes, not again, calls out. And that's where we will end our episode. Oh, wow. Of critical role. I may be a talking dog, but I'm sure as heck can't drive. Yeah. Wow. King Gus. King Gus. King Gus from the soldiers table.

I'm gonna look it up at a library. You think this fucking game. You don't think that I went, oh no, there might be a library with a book with me. Oh yeah, no. I'm looking for rumors. You think I'm gonna be like, cool, living mass. God, that makes sense. How I did it by Victor Frankenstein. How I did it by Victor Frankenstein. Folks, we got a lot to talk about. I'll tell you what, what a fucking start start I'm so psyched. We'll see you next week for our... The continuation of the schemers table here at Critical Role.

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