Critical Role - [PROJEKT] Funball | Echoes of Exandria | Berlin Live Show 2026 Part 1

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

Part 1   This episode is sponsored by eBay Live. Tune in to eBay Live for exciting, exclusive finds and entertainment—all in real time. Watch now at https://www.ebay.com/ebaylive   An Experiment gone wrong has caused Caleb and Essek’s continued exploration of the Folding Halls of Halas to become an even more terrifying labyrinth, with a corrupted Caleb Widogast as the maze master. The rest of the Mighty Nein must now brave this twisted dimensional dungeon to recover and restore their friend… before they become part of it themselves.   Featuring Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham   Captured live from Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany on July 6th, 2026   Master of Ceremonies: RedChild   Key Art by Katherine Lam @katherinelams Character artwork by Tshortik @tshortik_ Set Designed by Shaun Ellis   BEACON We’re excited to bring you even MORE with a Beacon membership! Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to the shows you love completely ad-free! You’ll receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord.   #MightyNein #Edinburgh #LiveShow #OneShot #CriticalRole Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey there, it's Liam O'Brien, and welcome to the Critical Role Podcast Network. We're stoked you're here, and thanks for making our stories part of your day. You're listening to Part 1 of this episode right now, and part 2 will arrive this upcoming Tuesday. If you'd rather listen to the full episode right now and without any ads, consider becoming a beacon member. You'll receive access to exclusive content, discounts at all our online critical role shops, exclusive pre-sales for live events, and much more. Start your seven-day free trial today at beacon.tv. Well, that should cover it.

Now let's dive into the adventure. Welcome to more than 10,000 critics here at Uber Arena. I have one question. Are you ready? We weren't too sure if you actually were, but this is changing right here and right now. My name is Redchild. As some of you might know, I had the honor to voice the character of Erdvolf. Tonight I have a very, very different honor.

to introduce some people that you might know, I'm not too sure. But before we do, we have a couple of reminders for you. And we're going to give them to you in two languages. First and foremost, where my Germans are. Where are the Germans? What are you? What are you from, Germany? My friends, you know the good old etiquette.

We are in a wonderful arena. And you are at a live show. It is like in the kino or in theater. That is, actually you know what you know what comes. RINGER GENDRICK-NUME-NOR-HANDIS. Handies out. You won't need your cell phone anytime soon. Because we're going to practice one thing today.

We're going to practice presence. Just switch to English real quick, right? There is a lot of cameras in the building. And trust me, all of these cameras are going to see around are beating your phone. For the people in the back with your phones and the microphone, do you know how you sound like on the recording? It's going to sound like this.

Trust me. me if you want crisp sound let us handle it we got you just enjoy the show trust me it's so much more fun to be present and in the room with the people that you love number two regal number two but find it yet your place see one two three three four five yeah you know him no no no no no no no find your place in the show will be right begin please find your seat so there's no distractions during the show.

Regal number three. Very important. Let me just make that I'm sure if it's really really really. Please, during the show, not the between room. Also when you

believe to know what comes, also when you believe to know what's going to happen, it would be super kind to respect what is happening on the show. It is destructive, it might get somebody.

out of the flow. So just out of respect, please refrain from talking or calling out during the show. Also do this for the person left and right of you. Have a look. Turn to the left. Say hello. Hi. What's up? Turn to your right. Hi. That's the person who might get pissed if you start shouting. And they have their eyes on you. So please refrain from calling out. Are these rules clear? then we are almost good to go. Before I introduce the following people on this very stage, I would like to share with you that this is the very first time in history. Let me say this again.

The very first time in history. That radical role is happening on German soil. I can feel some excitement in the air. I think we should get the show so. enough right are you ready for project fun ball I said are you ready for project funball being the place to me let me present to you the people you are warm round of applause for the one and only sir she will make your day make some voice for Marisha seems about to receive the German Greek hunt and this keeps going

Please welcome to the stage, Leo. Experiences in my entire life. Thank you very much for the birthday wishes. A lot of wonderful people. Welcome to tonight's live show of Critical Role. Now, before we get into the live show, we do have some quick announcements to get through. Liam, you have an announcement.

I sure do. Big news for our German-speaking critters. Are there any here tonight? What are the chances? Daggerheart is now available, Of Deutsch. Thanks to our partners at Pegasus Spila. Swing by the merch table today

to grab your copy of the core book or the deluxe edition. Then tomorrow come celebrate the launch in style. Pegasus Spila is hosting a full launch event at Funtainment, Berlin, starting at 3 p.m. You'll get a Q&A and signings with designers Spencer Stark and Rowan Hall, a meet and greet, and an actual play featuring Orkinzpaltar TV. For all the details, head to Pegasus.de.

and if I may say it has begin or as it said of Deutsch as hot beginning also wrong It's false It spreads

Dang it My brain is a disease It now spreads to other languages I'm so sorry And Marcia You have our final announcement Yes As you may know

You're the first people on this planet to get to see this show It's happening in real time, it's crazy. It's like it's live. So that means, don't spoil this when you leave. Don't post it to Twitter. I know it's X now. It's still Twitter to me. Don't go on Reddit. Don't tell your friends. And as they say in German, don't be a dick.

Yeah. Also, as some of you all may have noticed, we don't have a talus and Jaffe. Booh. Bo. He will be very missed. He is okay, allegedly. But I just want to have everybody just shout, we love you, Talison. Ready, one, two, three. We love you.

We miss you, buddy. He just needs a few more hours to bake in his sarcophagus. We'll see him in Edinburgh. Yeah, you just happen to be down one healer. It'll be fine. Down one healer. Down one healer. Down all healers.

I got to lay on hands. It's okay. That's true. I think I do too. I have something. Well, then let me pick different spells. Thank you guys. No, no, go!

But I believe, thank you, Marisha, that concludes our announcements. Oh, my God. We're going to do the thing? So, friends, why don't we go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role? Yes. ...myst mysteries, big and small, continue to permeate the New Age of Exandria. Many curious minds ruminate on the unknown. known. And two of the most inquisitive minds happen to be the wizard partners, Caleb Widow Gast and Essex Thales.

One such lingering mystery revolves around a unique artifact the Mighty Nine had stumbled upon, called the heirloom sphere, an arcane orb of intricate puzzle-like design that houses a pathway to the wild sanctuary of the ancient archmage Halas Lutogran. This realm known as the folding halls of Halas within the happy fun ball as the Mighty Nine decreed is an interconnected web of extra-planner chambers scattered across a maze of different dimensions, the number of which is rumored to be a hundred or more.

While Yussa is off another business, Caleb and Essek have taken the heirloom sphere to continue the slow methodical process of mapping out its seemingly endless depths of the magical sanctuary, filled with the promise of lost knowledge, arcane dangers, and warded and forgotten magical treasures. Here we find ourselves in some twisting nether cavern.

Essek and Caleb backpacks over their shoulders, trudging through. You see faintly glowing green opalescent crystals embedded in deep, red rock that in itself crumbles away upon the grasp of them as they climb up to the next precipice. Occasionally finding embedded magical sconces of pale blue light, embedded long ago by the one who once called these halls his own. They eventually arise at a closed, simple iron door built into a patch of well-worked and smoothed cavern wall. Essek, still gliding a bit, drops his pouch onto the table, or onto the ground, looks over towards Caleb. Well, I think it's time me to take a rest,

and hopefully we found maybe the door to the next exit, the next chamber. How are you holding up? I'm fine, it's a bit of adventure. You know, I need to get out more, and I feel safer here than other places, simply because there isn't a Johassian army searching for me here, I hope. Well, we've been traveling for nine hours and 37 minutes,

It's so... I am good to stop for now if you wish, or if you can go longer. You know I can. Fair. That was the intention. I was about to say it's not that deep, but that doesn't help. It's pretty deep. Essex nods and looks up at this doorway and this alco.

Well, if I're going to rest here, let's at least make sure there's nothing trapped or dangerous. He goes ahead and plucks from his... small pouch. He's taken to using some components more than classic focuses to take off his wonderful partner here and pulls out a small threaded piece of silver band and almost seems to twist it. And as he does pulls it away, you watch his eyes flash and there's a blast of warm energy. And in the area around you, it has no effect. But this simple doorway suddenly is caught. covered in revealed glyphs, magical wards and locks. Something about this chamber was sealed intensely long ago, hiding something within.

All right, careful, careful. I'm being careful. Don't think I'm not going to be careful. I know, but dear, you know how we are. So measure twice cut once, all right? Understood, understood, but this is pretty heavily sealed onto an inconspicuous doorway. What do you think Holoss is keeping in there? Well, it's not in anything we've read. It's not on the maps.

It is a mystery, so it is either insignificant or it is so important that he locked it away in his memories only. Do you want to open it? I know you want to open it. Yes, of course, I want to open it. The question is, are we going to open it? All right, we're going to open it. I figured that was the case.

Careful, dear, careful. one by one they begin to craft various levels of dispelling ruins on their own flashes of their own arcana and you watch as each glyph begins to melt away burst and burn into ash slowly the door begins to be revealed cleaner and cleaner but with each glyph dispelled

the surrounding crystals the green glow shifts to a flash of yellow for a moment before returning slightly dimmer do you want to do the honors or shall I we can do this together. Everything sounds like sex. All of it. Every sentence sounds like sex.

You're not in the scene, Sam. I know. Only when you're in Berlin. And Caleb places his hand on the back of Essex's hand on the door as they push. The door slides open.

And you watch as the dark interior of the next chamber, seemingly shapeless, than an empty floor, and what looks to be a singular yellow glowing crystal in the center that pulses and thrums, chains affixed to it from different angles. A little more light, globules float into the air. The globules glide up and flicker out as the crystal pulses faster and faster before shattering in the chamber. The crystals on the outside cavern suddenly go dark. Oh, for damn to shah, shh. Static begins to fill both their minds.

Essek and Caleb fall to their knees for a moment, clutching. What's this going on? I don't know. He looks over towards Caleb, and there is a yellow light seeming to flicker off of his shoulders. His eyes begin to pulse with yellow light as some ethereal-looking hand seems to reach from behind him and clutched the front of his chest and another and another reaching around his throat

and his midsection. Caleb? Essek. Dear one... We have to go. I cannot. You have to go. You must leave now.

Come, I won't leave you behind. Telekinesis, I push Essex out the door. Brumpkin, I need you. Essek, looking back, watches as the door slam shut. The telekinesis reverting and closing off Caleb from his face, the spectral image of Frumkin darting off into the shadow. Essex spins around. Dimension doors to the nearby exit of this chamber rushes now into full

flight mode. You could see tears drinking down his face and intensity, both a match of fear and determination as he goes through one doorway to the next chamber, just gliding by colors. Voof, boom, boom, green bits of forested interior garden. You see large marble halls, but this glowing yellow light seems to begin to catch up from behind the static getting louder and louder as Essek rushes until eventually he spins around the corner into a once familiar chamber, this strange hexagonal room with a central lapislusuli blue-built marble pyramid at the top, a pillar in which a singular green orb sits as one of the many entrances and exits to the orb. He flies up to it and spins around with his hand about to release his spellcraft into it to return, looks out as the crackling of yellow light, like bolts of energy to start arcing into the chamber. He says, I'm coming back for you, my love, and releases his spell into the oar before vanishing out of the chamber. Bowen Yasha.

Hi, babe. What's up, baby? Where do we find... I finally get to sit next to my wife. We finally get to sit next to each other. It's never happened. Where do we find the two of you? I mean, maybe.

We're in bed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I made a beautiful breakfast from our garden, you know, and Martina, I think, was her name, has taught me so many things. And beautiful breakfast in bed for my wife, you know. Are these your fried eggs and leaks? Yes, it is.

Oh, my cat. And my very favorite, my pancakes. Oh. I love you so much. I love you so much, Bo. Just like still in bed pancakes dribbling down my face. Yeah.

You hear a knock from your outside chamber door. Just leave it. Just leave it. It's the weekend, I'm pretty sure. And I think we don't need to work. None now, Martina. Go away. Go away.

We're naked. Teleporting into the chamber, you see the robe figure of Essex. God damn it. We're both just butt-ass naked. He seems nonpluster affected and goes... Oh, hello. Thank you for asking if you could enter here.

I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't important. Caleb's in trouble. Of course! What a surprise! What do you do this time? We unlocked something within the folding halls of Halas, and only I made it out. Well, good luck with that, Essex.

Oh, holy shit. I'm not going back in there. I told him, I told him to leave it. Yes, to leave it. What happened? We had spent a number of weeks just continuing to map out its interior, and we came upon one heavily-warded doorway, assuming that something the Palacis was stowed away within,

and before there was a moment, Caleb was being torn from me, something beyond the two of us was chasing. and I came to you first because I know how much the two of you have worked in lockstep for some time. I don't know who else to trust, but the nine. How's it going with the green? Not much has changed. I've kind of become more of an introvert if you can believe me.

Anyway, please. I have no concept if the longer we wait, the worse it gets. I hope he's salvageable. I start getting dressed. All right, yeah. Thank you, thank you so much. I will make this up to you in some mildly comparable way. Will you give me a coffee?

I will make you coffee. Thank you. Two coffees. Two coffees. Two coffees. Two coffees. He glides off into the next chamber to prepare their requested drinks. Okay.

I promise we'll have a vacation. soon. I know I've been promising this to me. I know it's, it's, it's, it's fine. We can go wherever you want. We can go, we can go, we can go just camp out and rumble cusp. I would love to, you know, I've been wanting to go camping.

Okay. Okay. As you gather your materials. I'll call Jester. You sip your coffee. Ford and Jester, where do we find the two of you? Um, We are early in the morning, hiking, hiking up this side of rumble cusp, and...

It's really... It's quite steep. Isn't this the best honeymoon you could ever imagine? Oh, no. I just don't understand why they're all biting me. Are you not... Not a... Not a single, single bite. No, this is really how I wanted to spend our honeymoon, you know, sweating, exerting ourselves. Yeah, just like this.

On the side of a fucking vocal. How else would we exert ourselves? Yeah. You feel this faint tingle in the air. Oh, thank God. With a crackle of a familiar arcana before... Oh, shit. Three figures apparate on the mountainside next to you.

You see... Oh, I reach out the palms of the jeanel. don't fall off the side. We're on a very steep cliff. I pushbow a little. Off shit, fine. No, it's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got, yeah. Okay. I'm terribly sorry for us to be interrupting your honeymoon.

It's okay, please interrupt. I mean, I don't. How dare you? This was my activity day. What an inconvenience. You guys are camping in Ruppelka. Yeah. They're camping and rubble because we were just talking about this. You should join us. It would be so fun.

Is that what you're here for to hike or to get us? Oh, wait, don't join us on our honeymoon. I forgot. Oh, it's private. You should spin that alone. Okay. Well, Caleb may be lost, and we... So a thing happened with the happy fun ball.

And... Wait, what? What did you say about Caleb? Caleb's lost. Wait, what? And the happy fun ball. Wait. We definitely weren't messing, right?

I told him to leave it. He didn't leave it, did he? He didn't leave it. We did not leave it. And I humbly prostrate myself in front of you to request your aid in helping retrieve him. Prostrate. Yeah.

No, I know what that means. Oh, okay. As it kind of chuckles a little bit. I get it now. Uh-huh. But no. I don't get it. Will you help?

Can you break it down for me? I'm just kidding. Keep going, yes, it's fine. No, what's wrong? Caleb is there still? I mean, how long has it been? He's very resourceful and wise and stinky. It'll be fine.

Something about this felt different. It's been literal decades since he smelled bad. He's got a nose for the sea. He's muskies. Yeah. No, no, no, no. This is serious. If something...

If something overpowered Caleb, it has to be so powerful because he's the strongest wizard I know. I know. I wouldn't come to you otherwise. I mean, no offense. Oh, he's a wizard. I'm a dunomancer. It's not even comparison. Let's be clear.

I'm the more powerful one as he checks over his shoulder. But would you help? Yeah. Yeah. Is that okay for? We know we're on our honeymoon and stuff, but... Wink, wink, wink. Very sensitive, please.

Be careful. Weak, wink. Yes, they're... Of course it would be fine. Yes, I mean, we will... Obviously, we can pick up where we left off. We're good to go with you. Fantastic.

That was way easier than it should have been. Sounds like you guys are just... I mean, how dare you, sir? Having a great time. Dare you. No, it's Caleb. It doesn't matter. It doesn't, I know we were going to bone later, but Caleb's more important.

Well, then, let's take hands and let's see if we can retrieve the rest of your companions. Okay. They are ushered off. Veth, where do we find you? You find Veth and Yeza, hard at work. You can't hear me? Oh, is it still your hand mic is on? I don't know.

How about now? Yay. There we go. You find Veth and he has a hard at work building some sort of furniture. Yes, no, no. It says you have to connect Der Latin Rost to die Gitterstab

and then hammer it into their Satan Gitter. And that goes on top of the cuff deal. I understand that. I'm really bad with these Dwendalian instructions, okay? It's because Caleb gave us this gift card in Zemnian for the Zemnian

furniture store and I, all the instructions are for cocked. I get that. It's strangely come with 17 different Alanan's trenches and I don't know where to put them afterward. We just need to finish building this crib before I get too much more bloated and unable to do this. We're still early in the process, love. Don't worry. It's only been a couple months. We're all right. Yes, but I'm not even sure how long halflings are pregnant for. It's anywhere from two to 18 months. Oh, I guess we'll take a break. I guess.

All right, all right. Whom is it? It's us, it's us, it's us. Oh, thank God, maybe you can help with this. Come on in, come in, come in, I'll open the door. Oh, my goodness. Ford, why are you so sweaty? We were on a honeymoon on the side of Rumblecus.

I know, but there's so much sweat. It's all down your back. black and butt? Thank you. That was a little puk from earlier. Why were you throwing out? Oh, no, no reason. Just, uh...

No, I'm fine. Are you? Are you in the middle of building something? Yeah, yeah, it's like a wardrobe or something. It's fine. It's nothing. Let's, uh... Yes, uh, I know you and I were gonna bone later,

but, uh, let's just table that for now. What's going on? Well, that looks like a little bed. Oh, you guys are here, too. Yes, yes, yes. It's a little bed. I, sometimes we do freaky stuff in little beds. Your wardrobe, little bed, kind of looks like a prison.

Hey, don't, don't, don't kick shame in this house. It's the one rule. Yaza sat down when we got married. All right. Is that a bousan, man? I respect it. That's cool. What's that over there?

What is this? Wait, is this a little onesie? You guys are weird. Does Yazahs are weird? Hey, I don't shame. Oh. Look. Have you gotten into baby play?

Is that a real thing? Oh yeah. Yes it is. Like in real life? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Baby play? Yes, it is. Marisha says, yes it is.

Sam will make a note of that. And we continue with the scene. Are you showing it all? Can I make an insight check? Against? If that seems like the same. Veth seems like they're showing it all. Sure, make an insight check.

Why all of this baby stuff? Shady shating stuff. Veth, go ahead, make a deception check for me. First roll, first roll. 17. I got a three. You're pregnant. Don't tell me what you're...

What? You're such a good detective. You figured it out. All of the baby stuff is what threw me, though. Yes. You have a keen eye. None of you all figured it out, but she did. Look it, look it.

Look it. You're huge. I honestly... Or not. I don't know how things work. As it kind of drifts in from the rest of the group around. He was, honestly, I'm very happy for you. Congratulations.

Your best friend, Caleb, is likely being destroyed or devoured by some sort of strange entity. Within the folding halls of Halas, and I'm requesting all of your aid to try and retrieve him. He sent you to get us? But he's the most powerful dunomancer in the world. He's a wizard who moonlights in dunamancy. There is a very extreme difference. Potato, potato.

Regardless. I think it's irregardless. Deep cut for our German audience. Let's go immediately. Well, wait, wait. Now it feels like there's like a moral conflict. If you're... Veth is with child.

Oh. Is that... Are you still? Is this okay? I go to the closet and pull something out. It's, uh, Caduceus made this for me. It's a small baby bump shield. So Caduceus knew you were pregnant and you didn't tell any of the rest of us? He's very insightful.

He picked it up on like day one. Did you really ask Talison about that or? He's too sick to talk to. You're just making it up right now? I'm making it up and like, oh. The troop gathers a brief stop by the blooming grove where instead of their friend Caduceus, they find a letter that reads, Hey, sorry if I missed you, but me and the family are going out and gathering things for a while,

taking a little trek up north, so... They're camping, too? Be back in a couple weeks. A couple of free tea bags outside if you're right. What? As it goes, well, shit. That would have been very useful to have him on this troop. And what a waste of a spell slot.

Teleports do not come easy. Oh, no. Nevertheless, let's all gather to the scene of the crime. I feel like I could send a message. Yeah. What did you remind me? It's been a minute. It's good to see you.

We'll save him, okay? Don't worry. I trust. I trust. This way. Shoof! One last time, you all vanish into the ethereal arcane space between dimensions and come back into the arcane laboratory chamber within Caleb and Essex abode.

There you can see on a central table the happy fun ball sits. The room itself kind of cold and darkly lit, most of the candles having burned mostly away. Immediately, Essek waves his hand and bubbles begin to light up around. He goes, so I tried to get back into it. but something in there is keeping me from entering without holding the lock in place. So I think I have to hold it open the entire time that you're in there. So you can't come in with us.

That's convenient. I think it's inconvenient. That's true. That's true. Would one of you like to arrange this key? Do you remember how to do this? No. Then shut the fuck up.

Can you, like, draw as a map or something so we can kind of retrace your steps, or are we just flying blind with our dicks in the window? No, absolutely. We haven't been in there as much as you. No, we have all of the... He pulls out a bunch of, like, long scrolls and, like, this intricately scrawled map pathways

and goes and hands them over to your troop and says, this should take you through about 37 of the chambers that we've been through. This over here is the crystalline... We call it the crystalline spiral, where the door was that Caleb and I... I had discovered this thing that was locked within a crystal. That was where the event happened.

However, something was chasing me towards the exit. So I do not know whether or not it would be waiting for you upon arrival. So something? Do you have any more details? Like a creature? I saw flashes of yellow crackening energy. At first I thought it was like a storm that was apparating, but I swear I saw like arms reaching onto and into Caleb.

I heard spikes of a whisper. I don't know. But do whatever you need to prepare. And when you're ready, I will arrange this and send you into the folding halls. Do you have any, like, potions or anything in your house? Or do you have my pillows? I go and pulls through some of the symptoms.

Unfortunately, we've used a lot of them. Like healing potions? I don't know. I figured that was what you were referring to. We've used a lot of our supplies in surviving the various dangers within, but I do have these two superior healing potions. So you can mark that. Two of you gain those. You decide amongst yourselves.

That's 84 plus 8, I believe. And I have devised this variation to a familiar spell. Usually this sort of communication does not breach beyond dimensional boundaries, but it does require a ninth level slot. But this, and he goes ahead and turns his hands around themselves, and begins to almost like pluck something from the ether. You see a small gateway within. And as it spreads within, you can see like multicolored dimensional vortex

as swirling amongst them. He seems to release a series of tethers through these almost like astral tethers. And as he draws them back, each one shoots towards each of your minds. As it impacts, he connects you all telepathically to himself as well. It says, so I will not be present with you. I can hear and I can communicate. So I'll help to guide in ways that I can if you need. However, just be my eyes and ears and do your best.

I remember the last time we were in, a lot of the time the magic would like backfire and stuff. Is there any kind of spell we need to avoid? We seem to have disabled many of the wards and dangers on the paths to get there. So hopefully it should be pretty smooth sailing. Oh, okay, yeah. Smooth sailing and the happy fun ball. Sure. And, uh, what exactly were y'all going after to begin with?

Whatever we could find. It's been, there have been some incredible discoveries in there, all sorts of pre-archanum. It doesn't matter. Caleb is the priority. Caleb is the priority. Thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to me. He reaches over and grabs the outside of the sphere and you watch as he clasps his fingers on various elements of the many groups.

glyph lines and the various runic darkened circling bands that seem to create this interconnected intricate sphere two fingers pinch inward like buttons that you didn't notice there before and he shifts two pieces around the sphere begins to click and were as parts of it begin to shift and change you watch as different bands begin to almost fold on themselves bending like the metal itself is briefly liquid and soft before forging a different wrapping band it seems to turn again you see a little bit of beat of sweat began to gather at the outside of Essex's mind. He goes, I'm almost ready. Make your preparations. Spins it before. He turns around and kind of holds it. And you watch as a beam of light

operates from the opposite end. And as it shifts in your direction, all of you, I change my mind. Venish. And you arrive, standing atop a low-lit, blue marble, lapis car. pyramid topped with a greenish orb at its apex. You see white flames flickering within braziers hanging from black chains on the ceiling. The chamber's edges stretch to a shadowed hexagonal perimeter where no exit is visible. However, after a moment of taking in the surroundings, a voice fills the room. Kilibutogast, would you like to join me over here behind the DM screen?

Stinker, you stinker. What? Where's your caduceus now? Essek! Essek, can you hear us? I can hear you. It's a bit staticy, but it's mostly coming through. Don't worry, we will find Caleb.

You know that we love him as much as you do. And if there's one thing we know about him, he would never betray us, so... We'll find him for you. Thank you. Thank you. There should be an archway just at the base of the chamber. There's no doors.

There's not a single door. He said an archway. There is an archway. There is one. It's right there. There isn't one in the room. There's no archway. I saw one too.

It's fine. It's fine. I thought that shadow was an arch. It's fine. Hold on. I just got to get my dice ready. Two of them. How dare.

Up here, Daddy's back. Yeah. Uh, Wilkomen, myneufre I know you are here because you are concerned about me.

But you needn't be, I assure you, I am just fine. Great, let's go. No, no, no. He sounds weird. Merely working a few things out, Boregard.

Transmutation is just the extension of the imagination, to the physical, to reimagine things that are as what they could be, who I could be. I really can't recommend you proceed here. But if you are as stubborn as I know you to be, then tread carefully. I have made a few changes to the place, and curiosity killed. The cat.

As soon as Caleb says that, you hear the strange grinding of stone, and the walls in this chamber seem to fold on themselves, like the room goes from beautiful architecture to slightly shifted, disjointed, non-Euclidean angles. You watch as the archway itself apparates, like it burns itself out of the stone on the opposite end of the room. The arch itself a bit askew, unwelcoming. But an exit has presented itself.

Caleb? Stop being weird. It's a good joke. I'm sure that was pre-recorded for not us and custom made to respond to Bose, Adlib. Oh, he's not talking anymore. Caleb, Caleb, just come to the entrance and we'll all bamf out together. The entrance that we, or the way that's been made, Is the floor look relatively normal, or are there any lights or variations in the ground ahead of us?

The floor looks like smooth, polished black stone leading to this archway. What are we doing? We have to go find him, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He would never make a joke about a dead cat ever. Something's going on. That's not here. It's like, do you remember when Molly wasn't Molly anymore? That's what it feels like. Yeah, that's exactly what it feels like. All right, look, just, you know, this place is weird, it can corrupt people.

I think it's safe to assume we should not trust Caleb right now. He might not be in his right mind. A good question, Essek, can you hear us still? Hello, yes, I can. Were you able to hear Caleb's voice just then? No, you heard his voice. Is he all right? No, he said he killed a cat.

Don't worry, don't worry. He's fine, he's fine, he's going to be fine. He sounded super evil. There may be a little bit of corruption of manipulation going on. The map that you gave us, how far are we from this door that you left him at? If I recall, you're approximately 12 to 13 chambers away.

Wonderful. And you said most of the protections have been destroyed or averted, yes? Yes, we've had them back for our own safety. Then we should move and move quickly. Remember, once we're inside here, time gets weird. That's right. You could be fully ready to pop by the time we come out.

Don't say that. I need more freedom. What if we have to deliver your baby in here? No, I'm ready. I've always wanted to. I've been like studying and everything. I'm ready. I'm ready.

I don't know. I would trust you to cut the cord. You would? Yeah? Okay, I'll do it. I mean, I'll do it. With what? Skin gorge.

Obviously. It's right there in the name. Yes, I'm on my back right now. All right, let's proceed. Time is not on our side. We're coming in. Don't kill us. As you stepped down from the pyramid and your feet touched the marble floor,

you realized that the angle you had didn't reveal how sloped it was. And you begin to slide towards the archer. at this near 45 degree angle downward. Wee. That it sits. We? I love slides. Makes me feel like a kid again, you know?

One after another, you all glide down past this archway, eventually coming to the floor of a strange, if familiar chamber. You suddenly are standing within what seems like, like Caleb's nine-sided tower, but different, warped, terrifying. You see, stained glass

and the walls appears to be stretched, broken in some places, the shards floating and spinning in place. The occasional ghostly cat appears stretched and panther-like, hungry glowing eyes, walking along the inner tunnel exteriors.

What other beautiful sights do they see, Caleb? Fragments of stained glass floats to the air. The schools of magic broken into pieces, incomprehensible. But every once in a while, they realign to face,

to form faces of anguish. Flames, a skull with horns curled backward before they are nothing again. Damn. Remember when we had our first date here? It's weird now. It feels very different.

Glancing around, you could see in the upper areas, there are different types of doorways made of different materials. Not quite the ones you recall from the many, many evenings you've spent safe in this space. The proportions are off.

In some ways, the room is far larger than what you remember. It's disorienting. vertigo itself threatening at the cusp of your consciousness. What would you like to do? ASIC. Yes. It's not the happy fun ball anymore. It's the tower.

Was that here the last time you were fleeing? No, it was not. Cool. Very cool. So maybe the maps won't be as useful this time. My apologies. If it is anything, Like the tower was, maybe Caleb's at the very top. That was his safe space.

At a collection of rooms. And if I remember correctly, all you had to do was sort of... Float up. Say up, upies. As you do, you feel your bodies lift, gliding through the air as you will it. Floating through the space. We're doing great. The fragments of free broken glass drifting past.

You shift by and see just glimpse. flashes, and memories different from your own. Occasional spectral cats on ledges along the way, watching with lamplit eyes like sentinels. One of them glances out, hisses before vanishing in one of the nearby tunnels.

Oh, out of sight. The tunnels are still there. You know, cats are still here. He said he killed the cat, but if he still likes cats, maybe part of Caleb is still a lot. around, you know? That's a good point. Can we head towards the very top of the chamber? Indeed, and as you drift up there, you see what looks to be a circular hatch-like door.

It's so hinged, different from the one you recall, but it seems to be in a similar space to where it was, a heavy handle that seems to turn atop it? I'll check it out. I'll cast a mage hand, and from a distance, try to turn it. I'll turn. the knob. The hatch swings open, revealing just shadow above. Get up there, Veth. It's been a while since I've checked for traps.

Oh, I remember how. All right, I'll float up and in. Check for traps. Check, check for traps. So you float up into the opening? Let me go through the threshold just yet. I mean, can we see anything? through the door?

Just darkness. Just darkness. Yeah. Fuck. I will cast Caleb's produce flame and light my hand on fire. Oh no! No, no, it's okay. It's good.

It's good fire. Spare the die. Ah! Steve! Wait, see? Okay, okay, okay, okay. No, no, no. I should be the one who gets it, right?

It's not anything. It's a cancer. All right, I'll look through with the flame and see if I can see anything. Just darkness. You put the fire in. There is no light reflecting off anything within. It's just kind of avoided space. All right.

I'm going to go in. Check in for traps as I go. All right. Go ahead and make a, we'll save for checking for Travis. Make a reception or investigation check. Your call. Gone. Nine plus oh this is an

Never has that moment been more correct than here in Germany This is investigation Or perception your choice Investigation please plus 15 so that's a 24 You don't sense any traps in the classic sense More that the entryway itself is a trap which as you cross the threshold to,

the rest of you watch, Veth just vanish. Oh, no! I really should have cast Death Ward. Oh. She should have? Yeah. Beth? Are we sure this is even the right way?

I go in after her. Okay. Jester vanishes. We got to fucking go, babe. All right. I give her a bit of a boost. And I follow. Just you for it.

Shut the door. Fuck, Caleb, where would you like to send them? If you'd like to point. Herr Mercer, no more dry. All right. The wave of shadow passes quickly, and it's suddenly shifted with a cold wind.

Your feet find a hard surface as the chamber light causes your eyes to slightly blur and adjust. As you hear the sound of distant grinding echoes, you glance around to find yourself surrounded by a wild maze-like 3D sprawl of moving arcanum ruins, spiraling and twisting into fractal hallways and stairs that seem to climb at impossible angles. Some moving and twisting, some seeming to vanish into nothing, and some stairs just detach and float off into oblivion and out of sight. You can see metallic archways framed in dusty ruins and wind and shift. There itself a din of this metal in stone intensity as the entirety of the space around you folds in on itself in odd and unexpected ways.

Dangerous looking contraptions. Arcane war weapons visible on distant platforms, multi-tiered levels that climb into infinity. You can see broken glass cylinders that dot pathways like a terrible ancient funhouse. On one nearby platform, you can see gliding the Aura and T-Doc station. The machinery itself slowly disintegrating, then remaking itself, then disintegrating again. remaking itself in an over and over loop. Cool.

You can see three staircases that begin at the placement of your footing. As they entered this chamber, the words of familiar voice fill your mind. It should be simple. If only you have a sound memory, good luck. All right, so this clearly feels like when we were in the... Aeorian ruins, right? In the giant tower that we were falling into? Is this all a riddle?

A sound memory? Should it be? Is it like about music or something? Absolutely. I... Yes. Sound memory. Sound memory?

What? Ah, I'll sing. Lord, that's terrible. I don't know if I ever heard you sing before. Wait, don't you have a harp? Where is your harp? Oh, yes, it's in my back pocket. I start playing my bone harp.

Make a performance check for me. This feels like a pity roll. That's a natural one. You strum, you strum beautifully across the harp. As one of the strings snaps. I think because I tried to make it like a pocket harp, so I need to figure out how, That didn't. I'm sorry. I'm putting it away.

It was beautiful. Thank you, babe. So we need to decide which of these three stairways to take. Is there anything, Matt, that feels reminiscent of our path from when we were traversing the Aeorian ruins? Go ahead and make a perception or investigation check. Okay. I'll do an investigation. That's my thing. I don't have guys.

Why am I? Uh-huh, let's say nine on the dice. Okay. For 19. For a 19 total? 19 total. You glance upward into this space. And elements of the architecture are familiar, but you almost get lost in the chaos.

And you feel like there are aspects of this that are just eluding your will, just eluding your mind for, puzzle and putting pieces together, but it's overwhelming. And you almost have to sit down for a second as you begin to lose any sense of direction. All right, this has been made by Caleb. That means obviously weird wizard shit,

and I will summon the star razor. Galesva! And the sword appears in my hand, and I will use sea invisibility to see if there's any fuckery about going on here. All right. Go ahead and make a

perception or investigation check with advantage. Come now, Beauregard, I know you. You can do better than that. 26. Do we all hear that? Yeah, I'll all hear that. I was naked and bad with my wife

like 45 minutes ago, so fuck off. She's getting warmed up. Give her a minute. He was right, though. I've seen you do way better. So? Who side are you are? You are? Jesse. Oh, Miss dressing.

What are you? We're all under stress, all right? Ladies, ladies, ladies. We're all under stress. We need to be calm down. The baby can hear everything. There's so much estrogen in this place. I'm so outnumbered.

Damn it, caduceus. I don't know what you want from me. Ford, as you're saying this, you glance up and you see one of these shifting platforms. indeed there is another archway, but this one has a door on it, a beautiful, dark wood door with gold trim around it, and you watch as it kind of shifts past and vanishes behind another platform.

And is that only because of the sea invisibility, or just the check? The surrounding aura of it gives you the sense that your invisibility allowed you to see something that previously wasn't seen, visible. I don't know. What the sound memory is all about. but there's something about that particular archway

and the door that seems to be hidden from us that it sticks out. Does one of the pathways lead to it? Does the floating option of the tower apply here? If we think up? You think up. And you just think up. So wait, is the archway over one of the staircases?

Yes. There are three staircases that lift up from this platform, but they quickly begin to spiral in and out of the nearby walls. and some of them continue to shift and twist. Some of them break away and reform upward. This is why I heard you've seen David Bowie earlier. Maybe. Maybe.

The targets are moving. Yeah. Okay. But you spot one that looks special? There is one that's special, but it's... We don't know how to get to it. It's moving. There's a left, a middle, and a right stairway.

Who can fly besides... I cast fly. You cast fly. I can fly. And the spell does not. not worth. Oh, no. What a waste.

Okay, can I do step of the wind, which also doubles my jump distance, and parkour dope monk shit up here? Yeah. Sure. Take step of the wind.

And as you begin to trek your path upward, I would like you to roll an intelligence check for me. As you attempt to read the movements and patterns of this shifting, endless chamber in hopes of finding your destination. You is a two Plus

Four six Yeah I would like you to roll a D6 Beauregard Four You all watch As confidently

Bo leaps And grafts some of the side Of one of these shifting platforms You catch it You leap, run and leap again You get this piece of errant Rebar from one of the broken elements And kind of flip underneath it

And land on top You then look up and you can see There's another piece of shifting bridge It looks like and you leap and grab onto it, as you do, a glyph on it, sparks. It explodes and sends you flying. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw for me, please. Would evasion work in this instance?

It's a very good role. Finally, that is going to be 30. You take no damage as you manage to vault off of it in time, but in order to save yourself from that the trajectory sends you, just tumbling back towards where you started. Slow fall. Slow fall, because monks, level 20, mug. You take no fall damage.

You are unaffected at all by this really poor role. Monks. However, what you do gain from this exercise is a bit of understanding that this shifting space, the traversing of it, is the puzzle, the ever-shifting pathways. There was a moment in the Astral Sea

where we had to make a choice between going to the left to the middle of the right when we were in search of Lucian and Cree. Yeah. I think we went to the left, but there's only really one way to find out and we're probably short on time.

Is, okay. Do you think it was left? Well, let's try. Why would he say sound memory? Well, maybe he just meant memory, sound memory. Well, I know, but it seems a weird choice. That's the only one that comes to mind. I know we've gone down and up and all sorts of things,

and some people go down more than others, but, you know, there was a time that we... I wanted to go to the right, that's why I remember this long. Hang on, time, though. Diem, if I study this for just a little bit longer, does it seem like there's almost a rhythmic pattern to the shifting? that we can time. Are the shifting things making any sound

as they swoosh by? Oh, that's a great. You watch as they like hit, they grind and shift. There is like a soft fractal fold two elements as they impact and change shape. Does it sound musical at all? Or rhythmic?

Rhythmic. Go ahead and make an investigation or perception check for me. Come on. Come on. As Caleb said, it's just, I went on my best. I just want him to go to it.

That's got. That's better. That's better. 26. 26. Indeed, you notice that there is a pattern to the shifting. You also notice beyond the doorway that Ford has pointed out, marking that platform visually, you do see that there is a keyhole on that door.

And there is another platform with what looks to be a large stone hand that is clutching a keyhole. shifting in another direction. You also see above that what looks to be a half-embedded coat rack where a single scarf flutters from one of its hooks.

Is it Caleb Scarf? Does it look like Caleb Scarf? I sniff the wind. Do I smell sort of a putrid body odor? You do not. Yes, let's antagonize him. Let's see if that forces him out of hiding. He hasn't smelled for years.

I have an idea. Okay. I'm very smart. Yeah. And I've had memories of holding keys. Uh-huh. So I'm going to remember a key in my hand. I'm going to close my eyes and I'm going to just like pretend.

It's such a sound memory that I had that I'm holding it. He gave me a key to a bedroom, our bedroom. I'm going to get guidance. It's going to work. It's going to work. I feel it. I'm gonna guide you. I figured out the puzzle. You concentrate.

And in your fingers, you can feel the cold metallic sensation of this key. I feel it. I feel a key. I need you to make a wisdom roll for me, please. Sure, that's my best. Come on, Josh. Wait, add a D4. I guided you.

That's true. So add your wisdom modifier. How much that's gonna help. Okay. That is just a wisdom saving throw, Just a wisdom check. Wisdom check. Okay.

Even lower, I think is the... So that's eight. Oh. And just as quickly as that tactile sensation arose, it fades. It fades. The memory too long. And you glance up at where that key ring is floating by above, frustrated. Okay, okay, I've got an idea.

I'm going to go with the sound part of it. And a sound memory, he's making a face like you're a fucking idiot. And I'm going to remember The last thing I remember having to do with sound is my mom is singing when all of us were there and there was a staircase in that scenario So I'm going to

hum a little song of my mom's But I'm going to do it with dermaturgy So it gets louder To try to make the staircase light up Or show us which one to go to. Okay The ruby of the sea You begin to sing

Is the best way ever As the song echoes through the space You do Watch as some of the stones seem to attract to each other In a different manner A slight variation They still continue to bend and move

In impossible ways But the chaos seems to find just a hint more order Does it change anything? If I sing more? Not from where you're standing. Okay, I'm going to go up a staircase. I'm going to start walking up a staircase and sing again. Sure.

All right. I'm going with you. Okay. So, I need one of you to make an intelligence check with advantage, as the song you sing affects the path you walk. Oh, you're smart, right? You're smart. We're equally smart.

Yes. Okay. I was going to say smart, but you called us dub. I'm going to. Going to, can I guide myself as I sing a song? Yes. Does it need to be a specific song? Critical.

Critical. With advantage. With advantage. Thank God. Jeez, Loeis. Oh, no. That was really, really bad. It was a...

Oh, wait, let me add my D4, because it's going to make a big difference. Okay. Seven. Could you roll a D6 for me? Oh, Fudge. Let me do it. Fuck.

Oh, you go. Four. The two of you begin walking up the staircase as it crumbles from your feet. You expect to plummet back towards the floor, but instead you plummet upward. You watch as shifting spaces break away from where you were walking. And instead, you tumble into the void beyond. The rest of you watch as Ford and Jester are gone. Oh.

Oh. What? Any chance to make a reaction? Thanks, guys. It was fun. No! Let's go get some schnitzel. Maybe that's what's supposed to happen. Not just to know.

Okay, okay, okay. Okay, come on, Bo. We've got to go for the keys first. It seemed like the sound was reacting in some way. What if someone, you two down here to sing a song and then maybe it'll help me, like, guide to get to the keys. Okay. Sure.

I don't know. Sure. Before we do that, I'm just going to cast Mage-Han and try to reach for the key. What's your range on Mage-Han? It is... Oh, it's... I can move at 30 feet, and then the range is 30 feet, so...

Is that 30 feet? Or 60? It looks to be maybe within 100 feet of longer of you. Sorry. All right. Let's do your stupid thing. I don't know. I'm trying my best here.

No, let's do it. Let's try it. Who's singing? I'll sing you harp. Okay. No, her harp's broken. Well, I just lost one string. Come on, Bo.

Come on Bo. Come on Bo. When you know, you know. Don't make shit. Don't get hit. Come on, Bo. Now, Beauregard. Yep, that.

Something's happening. Come on, Bo. Beauregard. You watch as the stairs you ascend themselves, draw bits of stone around them and the chaotic movement of it slows in the proximity of their song. But as you begin to step away from the source of the song,

it doesn't seem to affect the rest of your path. It seems the song needs to be with you. You guys, you've got to calm. You've got to be louder. Sure, sure. I'll jump on Yasha's back and she can carry me Yoda style. Okay, I'll start walking up.

Okay. A brief moment, you just hear a familiar voice. Come on. Come on. So, I need you to make an intelligence check by regard with advantage. It's the only intelligent thing about this. With advantage.

Just straight intelligence? Yes. Natural 20. So, not only does the song help keep the path itself from crumbling and breaking into other parts of the nearby stonework. But you also pick up Beauregard. There is a cycling pattern of each of these movements

where you watch the doorway come and then vanish. About 30 seconds later, it comes back and appears in the same space. I said that like 10 minutes ago. I know. But now at this proximity, the song seems to keep that pattern localized and quick. And as you get close,

Come on. You see a short distance away that key ring could be a rapid leap to grasp for it. Beth, only you hear. Beth, careful with the baby. Caleb, was that a threat? What? If you'd like to, you could go straight to the key ring in the door.

If you want to go for the scarf, you will require an acrobatics check. Yeah, scarf it is. Let's go. If you fail the acrobatics roll, you will have to roll a D6 for the consequences. We're in Berlin, baby. Let's go. Win in Berlin, roll the D6.

Hot. Ooh. 15 total? Roll a D6 for me. Four. Four. You reach up, you grab the keys. You grin at the rest of the.

your team and you leap for the scarf and the scarf folds away at the minute you grasp for it. The platform your foot was supposed to grab itself tumbles. And the three of you watch as Beauregard begins to spin off into the same abyss that fordum. Can I toss the keys at the last minute? You toss the keys at the last minute and you both watch as Beauregard vanishes into the ether. It's now just Veth and Yasha key ring in hand. How did this happen? I gotta deliver your baby alone Okay It's not quite time yet I don't think wait

Let me feel No no no no it's not time it's not time You keep her him up there I don't know Two to 16 months left we're fine don't worry Okay So uh to the door To the door you have the key Yeah

Is it a leap to the door or a run to the door? It is following a pattern up to where it was. However, the person that saw the pattern is now gone. So one of you is going to have to make another intelligence check to find your way to the door. Veth, I believe in you so much.

I, this is not my area of expertise. So please figure it out. Okay. I don't think this is how the spell works, but I'm going to try it anyway. I'm going to cast intellect fortress on myself.

It gives me advantage on intelligence saving throws. Okay, okay. Fantastic. Oh, but, you know. All right, I'm going to study the pattern, try to figure it out, and I'm going to aim my crossbow, and if I see it, I'm going to shoot the crossbow and try to pin a bolt in there so we can follow it more easily.

Great. You easily fire a bolt. It's not that terribly far away. sticks to the door. Wait, did I find it? Yeah, you know where you can see the door. You're just uncertain which the various twisting walkways

ends up leading you to that doorway. Okay, I follow the pattern for a bit. I cast spider climb on myself and I make a choice. All right, are you going to continue to sing? Come on, Veth, come on Veth. Come on Veth. Come on Veth.

Don't fall to your death. Yeah. Go ahead and roll an intelligence check with advantage. With advantage? Yes. 16. You slowly begin to head towards the door before the pathway crumbles beneath both of your feet.

It's been cool. And you both go flying into the darkness above, screaming into the ether. Shadows. What is live show ever. Consumed by nothing. The cold surrounds you for what feels like infinity. Before something reaches your feet,

your vision begins to slowly push away the darkness. And once more, you stand at the base of the nine-sided tower. Your friends around you plucked from the shadow, Sands key, Sands' door, and Sands scarf. Do we have to go back and do that again? We're off to a great staircase. Oh, it's a safe point. That's lucky. You look up to that hatch,

and the hatch is now gone, just a domed ceiling in place. But many other doors throughout the now shifting chamber, the nine-sided tower looks even more monstrous the last time you were there. It's twisting and breaking in other ways, like a massive structure

that is crumbling in very, very slow motion. What if this scarf was like the piece of the real, Caleb, and we lost it forever? There are doors made of fragments of stings of stings, glass that shift and twist and change and shape and disappear. There are also small doors that stay oddly whole but move and shift along the walls and are hard to track. And occasionally a

feline spectral in nature travels out and occasionally one travels in. I feel like we should do one of those. I'm kind of thinking I should polymorph myself into a little cat. Oh. Okay. Yeah. You can do that? Yeah. I can polymorph. Well, I don't know. You know, remember? I don't know. Yeah. I'm going to polymorph myself into a cat and try to go into one of those doors. I would join you as a cat, but that usually doesn't work out very good for me. It's okay, Ford. I'll be back. I'm going to find the way and then I'm going to come back and get you guys. This is going to go well. All right.

You shift down into your tiny jester cat form and approach the nearest opening. Now, these larger, more monstrous ghost cats, their entryway paths are about two feet in diameter. I have a ring of spell splitting. I'm going to also cast it on somebody smart, bow. Okay. All right.

And you're also a cat, bow. Wow. Actually, would both of you describe real fast what your cats look like? Yeah. I'm trying to look kind of spectral too, so I'm a little bit see-through. But I'm really cute blue cat with little horns, and I have like little jingly bell on my collar, and it's like a pink collar with a little bow on it. Yeah, I think mine's just like a real scrappy Allie Tomcat. And he's got a weird little tuft of hair on the top.

It's one of those naked cats, too, one of those weird, weird hairless cats. That's good for allergies. Good job. Yeah, it's good for allergies. Yeah. I didn't really choose this. Oh, well. Yeah, it seemed appropriate for you, so.

Did what? Okay. We'll unpack that later. Well, you said you were naked earlier. It just seemed. It's true. I'm going to lean down and give Bo some taps. and scritches right by her tail.

Parts, you know where cats go crazy. That's where her butt hole is. No, on the top, parts. All. But, yeah. Okay. All right. You both come to the entryway

of one of the various ghost cat entrances. The close you get, you feel wind passing by faster and faster until you reach what feels almost like a threshold before the wind is pulling you inward.

rapidly. The door expands slowly in size to roughly three by three, like an Alice in Wonderland door growing for the user. Oh, it could have been any of us. I didn't have to be a cat. Well, hey, guys, you can come. It'll fit you now. We just hear fucking meows, genius.

But can you see it's getting bigger? You can all see that, yes. Meow! Meow! Okay. Okay. Yeah, I think she's saying... Sure, let's go follow the cats. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

As you all get close to the threshold, that pulling, that suction suddenly becomes difficult to resist. Do any of you resist it? No. No. Yes? No. Make a strength saving throw for me, Ford.

Stand back, and behold us, 22. Hey. Ford, you hold on to the outside of this, this. It begins to pull you in the rest of your friends. just go vanishing in like a pneumatic tube. You are all pulled into this cylindrical tunnel. Arking and spinning over top to bottom, bending from side to side. It becomes more and more violent with its shifting,

occasionally seeing what looks like windows in it go by with various visions. What does the first window reveal, Caleb? You see Bo and Yasha's room skewed and broken into pieces shuddling by the mirror on the roof of their bed, reflecting you all backward in garish, twisted versions of yourself. You shoot past it. Another break in reality shows you a kitchen,

twisted in a curve as multiple spectral felines cook around a cauldron that swirls like paint, watercolors distilled and then tainted all amongst themselves, and it's gone, and doors fly by faster and faster into nothing. As the pathway gets more and more violent, who's going to try and guide this in a less dangerous way, and how? Sure. How?

We're just being sucked along? Yes, but it is now, like, going into heavy corkscrews and liable to start damaging you as it begins rocketing it through. Faster and faster speed. How big of a space are we in? Right now it's like a three by three tunnel. Okay, can I try to just put all of my limbs out and try to just stop us with everybody behind me?

Sure, so with Yasha the fun, I would like you to make a strength check for me, please. Okay. What a piece of shit. Get rid of those dice. I rolled a different one. Eight. Eight.

Unfortunately, with the speed of all of your friends behind you, You put your hands out and you stop, and then it's too much. Your fingers slide, and you all start tumbling end over end at even faster speed. Now you start seeing these glyphs kind of flashing by, and you all impact into one. It flashes and blasts you with force damage, and with the side of the walls, the tunnel gets wider. You all take 25 force damage. We're not cats anymore. Oh, no. Outcast feather fall on all of us, hoping to slow down our...

tumble. The cat would have taken one point of that away? Yes. So me and Bo took 24. 24. Four points. Featherfall does help your descent if this was a gravity-based

scenario. However, this is suction itself pulling you through the wind. If this were to jettison you out into an open space, it would help, which it does. As the tunnel comes to an end and you all glide down

to a central chamber itself covered in piles of rags and the smell of pee. You all stop and you see amongst you what looks to be scraps of rotting flesh around you on the ground, torn, left partially eaten. And you also begin to notice the dozens and dozens of spectral glowing eyes that now surround you below growls.

Does this sound like Cognosa? This feels like a bunch of ghostly cats Are surrounding you Cat nosa Huh? Okay, wait, ghost cats, ghost cat, ghost cat carpet? This is a, this is all of the ghost cats of the tower Seemed around you and are slowly closing in

Growling and getting ready to pounce Dang, I should have stayed a cat What do you do? I'm Caleb, we don't want to hurt your cats, but we will if we have to. I'm going to send a message to Caleb. All right. Directly.

All right. Is this message or? Yeah. Kelleb. Sending. Sending, yeah. Caleb. I know you're still in there.

Stop being weird. Stop trying to kill. Unless, we're just here to help you. Be nice. Make a persuasion check for me, Jester. Is my persuasion so bad? Was Jester always the shit at persuasion? We're level 20.

This is bad. I have plus one. I'm used to Imogen. Okay, okay, okay. Oh, man. Oh, boy. Ten. You guys suck.

What is happening? She rolled a nine again. No, I'm nine. No, it's only a seven. I rolled a six. At the back edge of the chamber, at the rear of all of these swarming spectral felines, you see one pair of eyes that are still in all that movement,

flashing bright, more familiar than the others. You haven't seen him in many years. Jester, you are clever. You have figured out far greater problems than these. I'm waiting. I am patient if you really need to find me. All the other cats begin to close in before suddenly

there is a flash of intensity and you are swarmed by a cloud of claws and teeth. I need you all to make dexterity saving throws for me, please. Okay. Okay, okay. If we attack these cats, the internet will be more mad at us than they ever have been. Why? Sorry, they're made of mochi. Moji.

Oh. What is happening? What is happening? What's wrong with us? Hang on. I'm going to use a key point for Diamond Soul to re-roll this saving throw. Cat roll. I think I have advantage on decks against effects that I can see.

Yes, and you have seen. Okay, okay. Okay, okay. Oh, my God! Son of this, bitch. I rolled two once. I'm leaving. I'm leaving.

Ashley just leaves and heads straight to the airport. Just leaves Berlin. Both of you take 35 points of slashing damage. Would you roll? I rolled a 22. Oh, then you only take half of that. So that would be 17 points of slashing damage. Does evasion count in her?

Oh, yeah, with evasion, then you'd bring it to zero. Okay. So Bo just leaps in the air, leaving the rest of you to be rushed. But you take 35 points of slashing damage, Yasha. Sorry. Fun. On this table? Oh, 27 over here.

So you take half that damage? But I think I have... Oh, yeah, you're a rogue. So you take no damage, Jessus. Six. 35 points of slashing damage, four. Is not here? I'm not with you.

Well, that's right. You held that. Oh. The ghost cats finish their carnage-like assault before dissipating. One lone cat kind of steps out, the ones whose eyes you had seen in the shadow before going... And you watch his Frumpkin steps out from the darkness. The real piece of Caleb in this room? Steps forward.

Kind of leaps onto your shoulder. Catch. Cross below. Can I see it? Can I... I put scald saber to his throat. No, I'm going to roll an insight check to see if this is really Frumpkin. Go for it.

Okay, God. Please. Dear Lord. 15? You get the sense this is the real. Frumpkin, stay with me. We'll find him together, okay? Frumpkin leaps off your shoulder.

And goes over to one of the large pieces of tattered flesh. Like, bites it. tries to pull on it, but it's far too heavy for it. I'm going to go try to pull on that same piece and see if there's something underneath it. Okay, make a strength check for it. Or athletics, actually. We'll go with athletics. Okay. Okay.

Natural 20! Hidden strength, jester. You reach forward and grab and yank this large slab of somewhat amorphous-looking torn flesh, and as you pull it away, you see there is what looks like a hatched doorway that was hidden beneath it. Story! We should go.

Come on, Ford! No. We've lost him. It's not worth it. Let's just keep going. Forget it. He's dead. He's dead or one.

Wait, when do we lose him? I don't know. I don't ever pay attention to him, ever. Okay, well, look, look, look. Ford's Stone, in the chamber you have remained in. You begin to hear a gentle padding on stone and turn to see. nine separate large tiger-sized spectral creatures starting to slowly make their way through the tumult to you.

Now and forever at the Winter Garden Theater. That was just for us. Caleb, if this is really you with these giant cat tigers, Thank you so much for that. Tell me something only you would know about us. All nine raise their heads and roar the deep guttural roar of large felines of prey. That's interpretive.

I'm going to think up. You lift up? I'm going to race towards the top of the tower where the door, the circular door, no longer is. Yes. But there were a bunch of doors up there before, right? Correct. There were a handful of doors. And one of those areas was secret, specifically to Caleb.

And I'm going to say a phrase and see what happens. Gone yet not forgotten. Every door you see in this ever-changing chamber, and there are well over 20, open all at once. That's right, bitches! Including the hatch that you all just notices opens up. Oh wait, in front of us? Yes.

I'm a genius. Wow. Yasha! That's incredible. No, Bo did. Oh. Timor. You did it.

Can I hear anything from any of the door? Is sound admitting voices? Make a perception check. Yeah, for sure. Okay. I don't know. It's 12. Oh.

No, 14. Sorry. 14. No sound. In fact, all these doors lead to black voids. You just have to choose a door. Cool. Any familiar, rusted exterior doors,

like the one in my memory. I'll say there is one door that looks rustic in the frame, simple. There's another that looks like it's almost fatched. I will... I don't want to go on there by myself. I'm going to rush to the door that I saw them all enter in as two cats and two normal people,

and I'll just shout into the void. Come back this way if you can, or fail quickly, I guess. You all hear this distant echo. Even with your passive perception by regard, you can take up most of what Ford had said. I think you just call a... failures

Wait, if I just stick my head into the latch that just opened in front of us but not my body. Can I see through it? It's just a dark space. Duh. Would I know to go through the hatch

or would I want it? Which should we backtrack? That is literally a player choice. Which one should I do, though, Matt? Either. I'm gonna go through the hatch in front of us. Bo vanishes below. I go with her. Yasha as well.

We don't have much choice. I'm gonna shout up to Ford. We can't come back up to tube. Do I hear anything from the Blackboard? You do. Okay. And... I love you!

The sound of large animals closing on your position once again. Ah, I go out after them. All right. You head down the tube. Slammed around like the rest of your... I need you to go ahead and make a dexterity saving. Follow my voice. I guess.

22. 22. You managed to successfully navigate through this without taking heavy damage. You see a glyph come by and you just manage to dodge a lot of the way, slow motion. Continuing on before you slide out of it, kind of tumbling across,

impacting some of these small piles of errant flesh and landing next to Jester with the open hatch by the side. I don't see what the big deal was. Hey, the door's opened. Yeah, Bo figured it out. Yeah, Bo and Yasha together. Yeah. I'm gonna look over at Frumpkin.

Frumpkin, come with us. Come on, come on, come on. Leaps into your hand and that kind of perches on your shoulder. Do we know where this goes? Nope. I hop into the hatch. Jester Brown Brumkin! I hop into the hatch.

I thought you already went. Oh, I thought it was a different hedge. Bo just popped out and went back in again. This is so surreal. It's full portal physics. Yeah. Now, Caleb, where would you want them to go over? We are going here, Herr Mercer.

To fear. Understood. Fear. Fear. That's four. Stupid. We figured it out. One by one, your troop apparites. You now find yourself standing in a strangely cavernous beer shop.

filled with many celebratory shadow patrons. Their bodies are moving mass of darkness, drinking and dancing. The music around them is lively, while the featureless revelers mimic, wordless conversations to each other. A couple of dozen just gathered around. You see one looming shadow in the distance has long hair and watches from afar in a red and gold.

robe, a familiar necklace around its neck, hands folded, watching over the interior. Among the crowd inside, there are a number of figures that are not made of shadow. In fact, you see these male figures with reddish hair and a spectrum of ages and attire, different calyms across the years. You see, one is a young, smooth-faced teenager in farm boy clothes. clothing, watching these dancers longingly from the corner. Another stands a bit older, wearing garb similar to Astrid and Ed Wolf, a vultrucker in training, sipping a glass from a different corner of the room alongside two other similarly garbed black shadow folk. A third sits under

a table, beard and hair unkempt and dirty, wrapped in rags and a coat. He looks at the looks on through a thousand-yard stare. A fourth Caleb is in fine Jorhasian-inspired threads, dancing wildly with a shadow female, with little shallow or shadow-corled horns, and a little dress, a shadow jester, as they twirl on the dance floor amongst the other revelers. And a fifth Caleb is looking out the window, clean cut, dressed in his professorial garb. There are two doors to the outside of this beer shop. What would you like to do?

Is Brumpkin still on my shoulder? Pumpkin is? There are four Caleb's total? Five Calyps. Five Calyps, two doors. One cup. Five Calybs, five of us. Chester, what if you try to dance with that?

That's what I was thinking. That's what I was thinking. Like, step into that. Yeah, I'm going to do that. And as I walk forward to try to join the dance, I'm going to look around the room and see if I see any thing that looks like out of place that is Caleb, like the scarf was, like Frumpkin was.

Make a perception check. Plus five, 14? 14. The figure with the long hair, the shadow figure with the long hair and the red and gold robes that kind of stands there with its hands folded, an intimidating presence to whoever this represents. You do see a familiar necklace around their neck, one that once was the lifeline to a Caleb on the run, a war that prevented

him from being seen through arcane means. I'm going to, as I go out, I'm going to look at bow. The necklace bow. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm going to go out and try to join the dancing, Caleb. Take my shadow's place. All right.

You step up to the two are dancing and the shadow jester kind of looks towards you. And in your mind and a cold voice, it says, this is taken. Don't worry. Get the fuck out of here. Make an intimidation check. 13? And they just keep dancing and spinning. The Caleb stop.

The gesture stops for a second and looks down at its hands and looks up. The Caleb that was dancing looks up at you. It's face wide. It says, why? And melts away into snow. Oh, shit. Oh, no. He was like a simulacrum thingy.

Oh, no, don't fuck it up. I fucked up one of the Caleb. Wait, which one has the pendant on? The long-haired one, the broody one over there. I think we need to somehow reassemble the pieces of Caleb that are scattered around. That's what I've been saying. Yes, but I'm saying it now. No, we need to get the pendant.

We need the pendant. We fucked up on the scarf. We fucked up on the scarf, but really, he doesn't need that scarf anymore. It was super dirty and disgusting. No, no, that was a new scarf, I think. That was his purple one. Yeah, but if it touches him, it will become disgusting. But if I, uh, should we go sit down with Broody?

Yeah, let's go talk to him. Yeah. You guys go talk to Brody. I'm going to go talk to Professor Caleb. Okay. That's, that's when, I don't know. I'm afraid if we, if we ambush Broody, Caleb, it's also going to not work. Okay.

So I'm going to go to, to the one that I know most recently. Spies. All right. So as you move over towards the one that's under the table, you head to the professorial one that's looking out the window. What do you do? What do I do? Uh, I'm going to go up to him. I'm going to say, I am from the empire, but not of the empire. And he has a look on his face that you've seen as recently as a week. ago, concerned, mind, preoccupied. He turns to you, look of mild confusion for a moment.

Shouldn't you be in class right now? It's the middle of the week. I will see you tomorrow for our own lesson. I am not one of your students. Caleb, I am your partner. Oh, forgive me. I am a little preoccupied today. Something is nibbling at the edge of my conscience, you know. and I'm not sure why. We just have a bad feeling. The music shifts to a new song and you watch as more of the Shattered Folk join the Revely. There's now dozens of partners

spinning and twirling on the floor. A copper for your thoughts? He looks out at the dance floor. If only it was so easy and free these days, too much to figure out. Can I trace where his eyes are looking at? His eyes move from dancer. to dance or he still has the same concerned look on his face but a look of nostalgia mixed in as well

An older man looking back at his life found memories Cut to somebody else Cutting to the other table where the more disheveled Somewhat scattered looking Caleb sits alone the two of you approach Caleb Hello my name is Moritz, Moritz, data, wished.

I mean, my, my name is, Maximilian Ha. Maximilian Ha. We, we, we know you as, as Caleb Widogast. Does that name mean anything to you? I'm sorry, what do you want? What, uh, what is, Is that lovely necklace around your neck?

No, that's not the same one. So the necklace is around a long-haired, a shadowed, shadowed figure in the corner. We were going to. Yeah. That's a shadowed figure. That's not a Kayla. Okay, gosh, gosh, gosh, got it. You're at the disheveled stage of care.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You, don't you remember anything about the Mighty Nine? Your friends, Jester, Bo, Caducis, Yasha. Have we met? before. We have. We've had so many memories together. We went to a carnival once.

Okay. Not a great memory, but it was a memorable memory. Do you remember the fletching and moon drop traveling carnival of curiosity? A pair of dancers bump into the table slightly and kind of lean back to apologize and put their hands out and continue to spin with the rest of them. The room now kind of a swirl of joy and laughter

the music gets louder. He watches them and smiles for a split second and it's gone. No, no, I have not been to a fair in many years. I must have mistaken you for someone else. I'm sorry. Okay, okay. The dancers, the dancers, the dancers. The dancers, because he's looking, and all the caliphs are looking, the dancers. Should we all dance?

Yes, we should dance. Okay, okay. Ford, you're a good dancer. You've got dainty little ankles. Like a ballerina. Maybe you and Bo. You and Bo. Bo moves like the wind.

You and Bo. Okay. What about? I'm dancing. I go up and I grab Ford. And I just start dancing with Ford. All right. The two of you begin dancing amongst the other revelers and join the rest of the chaos.

The music itself is infectious and you both can't help but kind of get caught up in it for a moment. Amongst the others, the Caleb's all are gone, staring in their own independent, levels of life and brooding. Should we ask all the Caleb's to dance? For a moment you notice the young man dressed like a false trucker eyeing the two of you, appraisingly. And then his attention was pulled away.

Does he think I'm Astrid? Okay, okay, go ask him to bone. I, I, I, do, I twirl Ford, and I send Ford off, and then I, No, both of you. Both of us? He's into three wings. That's true.

It is canon. Yeah. He points the color of poliour. Okay. Open your shirt and get a... I go up. I go up to college, Caleb,

and ask him for this dance to Volstracker, Caleb. I'm sorry. What are you after? I... Hmm. How does Asher? I just want to have this dance.

Make a persuasion or deception check. I'll do deception. Neither are great. I'm so stressed. Okay, okay. Um, math is 16, 16 plus 7 is definitely a 23. 23 is good, 23 is good. Well, technically I'm working, but um, He looks to the two shadows.

He'll be back in a minute. And he takes your hand and walks out into the floor. And then you feel his hand scoop up behind your lower back and begin to lead. I am going to put my hand out to the one that we have been with. He scoots back under the table. Would you dance with me? What? Just...

Friend. Would you dance with me? Make a persuasion roll. Okay. It's a minus two. Yasha's stats are so shit. Okay. You got this.

You got this. Now I don't. I will say, as two hollowed ones, you may make this role at advantage. Okay. And I was going to make that point. All right, all right, right, right. What is happening?

Five. He pulls his collar. up around me and sinks into the floor and has gone. Oh, much. Is there any other Caleb's around? There was another Caleb. There is still the... Teenager.

The teenager, the youthful bomb-boy-looking Caleb. And the teacher. The teacher. Teacher, where were the teacher like? I'll march over to the... It feels weird to go to the teenager one. I have... I mean, I have a teenager. So that's weird.

Well, you don't want to hit on him. Well, isn't that what we're doing? No, you don't have to. All right, all right. Be motherly, that. I'll be motherly, I'll be motherly. Great, great, great, great. I'll go up to teenage, teenage,

Brain. Just show off your bump. I'll do better. I'll cast a phantasmal force on him and make him think I'm his mother. You guys, Caleb needs this. Do you resist the spell? I do not and you now have advantage.

Darling? Oh, I'm sorry. I know I am not supposed to be in here. I was just watching. No, no, no, it's fine. You had a hard day in the fields. And... Not so bad.

Papa won't be back for a while, so... Maybe we could just... Dance to a vault. Do you think maybe we should just watch for a bit? This is the city. sometimes they're not kind to people from out on the countryside

yes but one day you will be a great great something I know you will you're my special boy you're my brave son and you need to get used to these things

so come join Mama let me teach you how to dance go ahead and roll a persuasion with advantage with advantage oh wait wait I have I have I have I have reliable talent, right? I have reliable talent.

So it's a 15. 15 is literally what you needed. Reaches out and takes you by the hand and smiles. All right. After all, it's not like I can dance with my mother forever. Come on. You're my boy, and you always will be. The two of them begin to twirl amongst the other dancers

in the floor. And there remains, the teacher. Still looking distant out the window. I guess I'll try again. Yeah, yeah. I'll just kind of... Wait, there's Ford, too. I know, you didn't, you went, you didn't do anything.

No, but my idea is horrible. I want to hear it now. I know. Couldn't be worse than what we're doing. You wanted, you wanted to learn. You wanted to be a student. All right, that's not the way I'm going. I will use...

Guidance. Great. Mask of many faces, and I will turn myself into Trent Icithon. Good, good, good, good, okay. And I will slowly make my way towards the teacher version of the minute. The minute you do this, the other shadowed figure with the necklace and the long hair turns and looks at you

and scatters into nothing, the necklace falling to the ground. I very methodically, old manny, make my way over and pick up the necklace and approach. You grabbed it. Having challenged the existence of this room with one Trent with another, you grab the necklace and it were... Wait, I challenged the gesture, the shadow jester with one of another. He did great. Not every puzzle is the same. Seeing you from across the room, Caleb, the Caleb you all know to date. his hand at the ready, and you can see little traces of light along his hand that you are very familiar with now

when he's preparing to swat down another mages' spell. Ah, little spark, I see some things never change. You have come a very long way. I want you to know how proud of you I am. Come, Bren, join me on the dance floor, won't you? I will say in this instance, either a role persuasion with disadvantage or intimidation with advantage. Listen to me, you old vulture. Just because I have come to offer you conversation a handful of times doesn't afford you any form of closeness.

of closeness or kinship. I know this, Bren, but surely there is enough room for some good tidings between us for old time's sake. Did you say disadvantage with intimidation? No, advantage of intimidation. I'm going that way. Yeah. Natural 20.

Caleb hesitates, takes a single step forward, casts fire shield and his body begins to burn and he holds out his arms I lean it so fucking baller do you take his hands for him no

of course I take his hands you have a ring the fucking fire resistance this is the only time it's useful I think it's a hurt I gave it back to you I take his hands. I run into his arms, and I just embrace the sock. Oh, fuck!

2D.A. You dance and spin the three Caleb's brought to the floor for varying degrees of self-realization. As you spin, the music swells and swells, as the sunlight through the window gets brighter and brighter. Ford, you take five points of fire damage. Okay. The dancing gets quicker. Wind seems to swirl around you. Ford, you take eight points of fire damage.

Did someone grab it? Hope. The light gets brighter and brighter until it fills the space around you, overwhelming your ability to see anything but shapes. The various shattered forms of the people beginning to dissipate in the light. Ford, you take 11 points of fire damage.

Okay, I throw the pendant. As we're spinning, I just throw it over my shoulder. I go, catch it. I catch it. You catch it just as the light swallows you all, And then as it fades, you all now stand in the middle of a beautiful field. A green bean pasture, well cultivated across a simple farm. Wooden barriers set up along the different tracks,

a cluster of trees off the side of gentle, warm wind blowing across. You see a small shed off the way and a small home in the distance. Was this his house when he was little? First of all, I stopped, drop, and roll. I guess this might have been his farmhouse? You hear the sounds of a woman's voice humming and singing to herself.

Is that Catoe voice? You look around and you don't see it. anybody. It's just you standing in this field. For the Empire kids, you gather, this is likely Blumenthal. That's the song we should have sung in the stairwells.

Eventually, the humming comes to a stop. And you hear the source this woman's voice speak in Zemnian. The only one here is speak Zemnian, though, being Beauregard. So Beauregard, you hear,

you see a little spark. Last year, the crops did not make it. But this year, they return. Life can always spring anew. As long as we tend to our garden. You see, and as the voice fades, you just see the farmhouse in the distance,

and the door opens. Okay. We should go in, right? Yes, we should. What did it say, Bo? What did she say? You see a little spark. It's talking about how.

how life can spring anew as long as you tend to your garden. This was his house. Yeah. Wait, do we need to tend the garden or something? Is there a secret hint in there? Well, can I look around? Is this field the garden, or is there something closer to the house? This field runs to how this is like the farmland.

And you can just see like beautifully cultivated green beans, like the selves growing up into long sticks that are placed into the paths of the farm itself as you move along. Caleb has a small garden with some of these in Wrexentrum, I've seen many times in the heart of a small cottage there, and they are bursting with green. It is a lush crop

in whatever moment this is, fresh and appetizing and hanging all about you. I'm going to pick one of the green beans, and I'm going to eat it. You hear a little, little boy's voice. That's so creepy, please don't do that again. Maybe we should all eat some beans. Maybe it's like a magic beans.

Oh, okay. Yeah, sure. All right, we'll all eat some beans. You all pluck small handfuls of well-cultivated green beans from the Blumenthal field. And we cure one D4 hip ones? No. Okay. But they are tasty.

May I start, um... tending to the garden and the fields, just pruning and moving any leaves to renew the soil. I'm going to cast a prayer of healing while you're doing it. Great. What healing? Prayer of healing. Oh.

I'm going to heal us. Wow. You'll keep going. That's the craziest thing that's happened in this tower. You continue to tend to the... this garden, pull back some of the fallen bits of greenery. Pull out some weeds.

If there's any water, I would like to water. Yeah, you find a cat. Just take care of the garden. You do so. And you watch as one of the green bean binds kind of almost unravels before you, leading to one of the pods

presented fresh and vibrant. 21 points of healing. Oh. Oh, excellent. Okay. I will pluck that green bean. All right. What do you do with it? I eat it?

No, why would I eat it? Up to you. Oh, that's a better idea, huh? No, this makes sense. There's also an open door at his house. Throw it in the door. Can I, can I, there's a few pods in it? Yeah, you go ahead and open it up and you see the green beans within.

All right. Freshly, like, like. presented from tending to the garden. I will eat one of the beans, and one of the other ones I will plant. All right. The third one? I will give it a bowl. I put in a pocket and save it for later.

All righty. Pocket bean. Pocket bean. Very well. You stand up, beamless delight, you planted in there, and who knows one day maybe it will become another vine. I think this is a good sign.

I think this is a good sign. It feels like we're on the right path. Yeah. We approach the outside of the doorway. Can we see inside or is it? You do. It's this beautiful, humble farmhouse, statched roof, wooden built. You can see a lot of care went into its structure.

And just past the inside door, you see a humble homestead. There is a small upper level from, you can see the window from the exterior. But on the bottom floor, it looks like it is a welcoming and soft interior. here. I'll take my thumbnail against the interior of the door frame and just scratch. Just a tiny scratch. Does it change the facade of the house at all? No, the wood just carves like it would be any pressure.

Essek, for some reason we've made it. First of all, can you hear us? Yes, I hadn't heard from you in a while. It was a bit worried. It's a bit awkwardly in here. Listen, we're at Caleb's, I think, home in which he grew up in. Oh. It's been a trip down memory lane to say the very least, just stay with us if you can.

Of course, I'll be listening. I've been hearing your bits of conversation. Very confusing without context. That makes sense, and I will step inside the threshold. All right. Asit, you know, your little garden? Right? At your house? Caleb has little green beans, right?

That's just one of the things he cultivates, yes. Is there anything special he does in the garden? He just seems to look upon them lovingly, lost in a memory. I look upon them lovingly and lost in the memory. I just, I just, I love you, Beans. You remember Beans when we were little? Oh, man. That's the best.

Remember? Hello, Beans. Hello, beans. Hello, beans. All right. Frumpkin, still on my shoulder. I love you, Frumpkin. So we have Frumpkin, we have amulet, we have bean.

Let's go. Let's go. We're going to go in the door. You all step into the house, and the door closes behind you. In the inside of this beautiful part, the chamber, now that you step in is oddly proportioned. It's low-lit, high-lit, You see gingerly painted walls, crackling embers in the hearth of the chimney, the small fire is burning out. You see a table set within the room center.

There's a shadow sitting in a chair across the way, holding an open book towards its face. Another shadowed person wanders down the stairway, both humanoid but featureless, like the dancers and people you had seen in the previous room. It walks by as the air kind of growing chilled as it crosses across the way and moves to the kitchen. You see on the mantle above the cussling fireplace, there's a simple book with a picture of like a drawn cat, rollicking on the cover. This is what you assume to be the abode of Caleb Woodogast. Let's go take that book.

Yeah? Yeah. Is it... That's what looks like. Does that catch our eye as like the real Caleb thing? You go and approach the mantle. It's a copy of DeKatsun Prince. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's it. Is it warded by any magic or protected by any spells? You could make an investigation or perception. I will investigate. Uh, 28. 28. It does not appear to be trapped or warded. I will pluck it off the mantle.

It is yours. I will leaf through it. It's a beautiful children's book in Zemnium, a whole cluster of stories and beautiful little pieces of artwork to accompany them. What a crazy language! So many letters! And the way they do the two S's? Very weird. Is there a staircase going up to an upper level? There is.

I'm going to take the stairs and go up. All right. You go upstairs and you can see there's two bedrooms. very simple, a small bed in one, if it looks to be shelves of books, and the other one appears to be a larger, simple bedroom, likely for the other shadows below. A little shadow of a cat stands on a window ledge, jumps onto the bed and runs past you,

wafts its way downstairs. The rest of you see this little form fly up onto the ledge where the book's at but a moment ago. and a dark tail of shadow swishes back and forth. Frumpkin on your shoulder sits up at attention and cocks his head. Is that you? Is that you, Frumpkin? I look out the window.

Is there any carriages, anything, anybody coming? You go to the window and you expect to see the fields outside, but there are just boards against it from the outside. Wait, what? Boards. Boards, the house is boarded up. May I? Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. Shut the door. Yeah. No, he did shut the front door. May I walk over to who I think is his mother? Sure. She is currently walking through the kitchen. Will you come with me?

She doesn't seem to notice your presence. She doesn't acknowledge your presence? No. Just continues kind of going through the motions of cleaning. That's a good idea. That was a good idea. Can you grab this shadow hand? If you want to try.

Yeah, I'm going to try to grab. Okay, make Constitution take it for me. He was too excited about me being able to do it. 16. You take 16 points of cold damage as your hand suddenly seems to pierce into a... No, I'm a defense against cold because of... I'm a... because that's how we did it.

That's true. So you take eight points in cold damage instead. But you withdraw your hand. The shadow seems like it doesn't even notice the contact. Don't do that. Can I check around? I'm going to go into what I assume is Caleb's bedroom

and go to the window sill where Frumkin was and also just look on the bed in the room for anything that seems to, with my sea invisibility still up within the same hour, look for anything that's glowing or emitting some sort of... You glance around to the end. inside, you see there are many books and there are other pieces of furniture. Nothing seems to apparate that sort of aura of invisibility. You just see that the window that sits from the

outside of the outside. Can I run downstairs to the front door? Is that boarded up as well? Again? The front door? I mean, there's no like window on the door itself. Yeah, but if I try to open it? It does not open. I'm going to try to slam through. I'm going to try to slam through. Make a strength saving car for me, please. Oh, sorry, a strength or athletics check, your call. Uh, guidance. I scratched the outside of it, and we should be able to affect it. Should? 18?

18. It does not touch. Oh, my God. So, wait, and there were two figures and Frumkin. Correct. No figure that looks like Caleb in this instance. Is there a cellar? Can we get downstairs?

There is no cellar in this home. Okay. Can I... Can I... Go. No, you go, Yash. Can I try to break open one of the window, bars? You go and smash the window?

And it reforms immediately. Okay. Can I poke my head into the hearth, the symbol of family, the central place where families would gather? It's so metaphorical and meaningful. Can I look at the fireplace and see if there's like a way up through the chimney? Oh, did he board the chimney? You glance past the flame, and the heat is a little intense at that proximity to the embers,

but you glance up and it's sealed. Sealed. Yeah, he's about to set it all on fire. How is Santa Claus going to get in? How do we get out of here? How do we fix this? We can teleport. We can, we can, we can, beg him to stop. We can, can, can't, can four dimension door? Can you bam up? Or do you just?

We can't see outside. It's bored it up. We can't see anything. I know, but. It's going to burn it down. I'll send two Eldridge blasts into the wall. just, boom, boom, see if we can make any kind of damage. Like this black spatters across the wood. The wood untouched by it, one of the nearby, like, vases, kind of falls and rolls and hits the ground, and as it does,

it makes like an odd cracking sound, not like porcelain, not like glass, but a sound that doesn't feel right for the object. It's just, it's a, I mean, it's a set memory. We can't change this. Um, I am going. To start reading de Catsun Prince. Caleb! Listen!

And I'm just going to start reading Ducats and Prince. All right. You begin to recite and read these various tales. Do you know how to speak Zemnian? I've taught her a few words. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's taught me lots of things. All right, go ahead and please regala us

in some of the Zemnian tales. Don't stop. De Ratsyn Prince, Ter cats and prince. Dunka, don'tca, Kats and Prince. I'm sorry. While Yasha's reading in the book, what are the rest of you doing? Uh...

I... I polymorphin to a T-Rex. No. What would affect him? You're reading to a cat's imprisprits. I'll start making a stew. I don't know. All right, you go to the kitchen, Veth,

and as you reach for your utensil, it kind of crumbles in your hand a bit, like paper. It looked like a ladle, but as you release it, It looks like Tinder. Uh-huh. Tinder? Yeah, because it's all going to set fire.

I think we have to set it on fire. Oh, shit, no. Okay. Who can make fire? I can cast, you know what? I can cast... No, he's looking at us. Sacred flame?

I think you're right. Should I try? This is terrible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's like a divine flame instead of regular. I can do... Caleb's produce flame. So Caleb would be lighting it on fire.

But shouldn't we save him from doing that? It shouldn't be Caleb. It's a set memory. You can't change it. Yeah, go. Yeah. There's no other way. I think Ford's right. Do it. No. I'm going to try to hit the door again and try to open it up. What if we can get the boards off and his mom can run out?

Do it? It's okay. I have create water. I can create 10 gallons of water if it starts to get hairy. All right, if we're going to do it, we're going to do it right. I take a small piece of phosphorus, and I spit in my hand, and I jam it into my hand, and I rub it until it gets red-hot, and then I cast a wall of fire. Yeah.

...around us, setting the entire place on fire at once. The entire homestead immediately alights with crackling flame. The inferno now swirls around you. The two shadows begin to panic and rush around, testing the doors to find no avail. You hear the shadowed sounds of the cat beginning to cry. All of you take five points of fire damage. The inferno spreads brighter and stronger.

All of the furniture catching. You all take ten points of fire damage. No! The heat is intense. It threatens to burn your eyebrows. your arm hair. The ceiling itself is now a blaze. You can see the blanket of curling flame above you.

You all take 15 points of fire damage. What do we do? You can hear the screams of the shadows now as they force to fight their way out to no avail. All you can see now is fire around you. You all take 20 points of fire damage. I think the point is to hurt. You know how this story ends.

The only way that door is coming down is to burn it to the ground. I'm going to cast sacred flame on the door and try to burn it down faster. So we can get out of this place. You can't even see the flash of divine fire amongst the absolute intensity of flame that you fear might burn the eyes from your skull. You all take 25 points of fire damage. As the fire is entirely engulfed you, the numbness and brightness surrounds you. And then the pain is gone.

And the light fades. You now all stand in a darkened redstone chamber surrounded by greenish-yellow crystals pulsing with brighter yellow color. A winding hallway that heads on to what looks to be a simple stone door that lies ajar about 25 feet before you.

How's everybody feeling? Are you hurt? Hey, Caleb's life sucked! I take off running for the door. Oh, God. I follow. I'm going to... Oh, God.

Yeah, well, I'll go. I'm going to cast heel on Veth. What, me? No, no, I'm fine. No, you're not. You're hurt. I know. Take it.

Take this fucking healing. Okay, but you're... You're healing for two? Oh. That's why I chose you. You get 70 points. Whoa! Whoa!

Yeah, all right. As you all, one by one, charged through this entryway. One pie. You step into an oddly familiar space, cavernous and massive. You see your feet falls clacking on a large stone slab that stretches out before you, a hundred or more feet. And you see yourself surrounding. You see yourself surrounded in a horrifying cathedral of flesh and architecture at the center of Cognosa, the living city. Mm-hmm.

Where the Nautagon sought to become the city realized. Musculature's pulse with sourseless heartbeats where towering walls and arches twitch, revealing shifting eyes and teeth. And that's where we're going to go to break. We'll return here shortly. We'll see you all in a moment. Whoa. With some new dice. That's a wrap for part one of this podcast episode.

Part two will end here this upcoming Tuesday at 5 a.m. Pacific. And we'll pick up this story right where we left off. We'll see you soon and thank you for listening.