Critical Role - Road of Dreams | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 32 Part 2

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

Part 2   The Seekers rest before they travel the fey Miller's Road, but strange visions plague each of them in turn...   New Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays. Learn more about Campaign 4... at https://critrole.com/campaign4/     GET MORE CAMPAIGN 4 WITH BEACON We're excited to bring you even MORE Campaign 4 with a Beacon membership! Get access to exclusive shows like our behind-the-scenes Critical Role Cooldown and ask the Campaign 4 cast your burning questions directly through our LIVE monthly Fireside Chats. You'll also receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant ad-free access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord. Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to everything Critical Role!   OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN 4 CAST GAME MASTER Brennan Lee Mulligan Laura Bailey as Thimble Luis Carazo as Azune Nayar Robbie Daymond as Kattigan Vale Aabria Iyengar as Thaisha Lloy Taliesin Jaffe as Bolaire Lathalia Ashley Johnson as Vaelus Matthew Mercer as Sir Julien Davinos Whitney Moore as Tyranny Liam O’Brien as Halandil "Hal" Fang Marisha Ray as Murray Mag’Nesson Sam Riegel as Wicander "Wick" Halovar Alexander Ward as Occtis Tachonis Travis Willingham as Teor Pridesire   CREDITS Produced by Maxwell James, Steve Failows, & Kyle Shire Set Designed by Shaun Ellis Production Designer: Noxweiler Berf Character Art by Loren Hontanilla Edited by Taylor Burke and Emily "Stevie" Stevenson Critical Role Announcement Playhouse Editor: Vinny Celesti Opening Title Editor: Paul Foyder Opening Title Colorist: Peter Koocheradis Window Effects by Christian Brown Graphic Design by Aaron Monroy & Jordyn Torrence Dol-Makjar art by Daniel Jiménez Villalba Miniatures Painted by Payton Keo Lacebal Opening Title Theme by Neal Acree Campaign 4 Key art by Hannah Friederichs Additional Art & Design by Hannah Friederichs   Episode QC by Catherine Zimmerman & Paula Flores Assistant Editor: Gianna Gencarella Post Production Coordinators: M Swing & Bryn Hubbard Closed Caption Editing by Margaret Dill, Nikki Kindelberger, Courtney Knewtson, Danielle Lackie, Eleanor Smith-Dufresne & Alice Tsoi Post Production Supervisor: Tal Levitas   HEALTH & WELL-BEING Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode. Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:01 Hello again, it's Brennan Lee Mulligan, and you're listening to Part 2 of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out part one yet, pause this now and head over there first. What are you doing? Otherwise, let's jump right back into this adventure and the world of Aramomont. Marisha said, now Matt said Misty Slit and Marisha said titty max. Titty smacks. Titty smacks. Good. I don't want to start a titty maxing trend. No, this isn't titty maxing. Are you sure about that? Are you sure about that?
Starting point is 00:00:38 We return to the morning of the day the day after meeting of the Sundered Houses, the play Cothera's opening night and the rescue of Mara the Wing from Obermas Manor, all of you, I think, awaken in the fairy cave and make your way swimming back out through up to the lakeside in the upper early morning light outside of Dolmachiar,
Starting point is 00:01:11 a city to which you are presumably about to bid farewell. You see this gorgeous, blossoming cherry tree that has grown overnight, that is just absolutely enormous. And Fimble, you can feel, for the first time, with almost like a warm gleam of where that paternal arch Faye, embrace to you and give you a kiss on your cheek. You feel almost a sparkling glow from that kiss and a connection that this tree in the fragrance of its blossoms
Starting point is 00:01:50 and in the way it smells here in the morning is different than every other thing here. And you sense almost that this tree stands in more than one world. But for the rest of you, what do you do as you come to this on this fine morning. Is everyone feel okay? I had a very weird dream last name.
Starting point is 00:02:15 I think we all did. My head hurts. Was that real? What? The dream. I think it's... Just shattered Julian's mother. Those of your characters that normally forget their dreams
Starting point is 00:02:33 remember this dream with near perfect clarity. Yeah, it was pretty intense. I'm going to go over to Wolfrick, who's sleeping by the sort of entrance of the cave, and he's still asleep. And he's doing the thing where he's running after something. And I'm just going to gently wake him up while he's sleeping. Comes to do, and I'm like, yeah, chasing bunnies. Seems like a little better dream than what we had.
Starting point is 00:03:05 Give me a little pet. I don't dream anymore. And I dream last night. I was there with all of you, and it was truly strange, but I don't know how much of a true dream it was. I think we were somewhere in the in-between, and whatever we saw, I think both existed and didn't, at the same time.
Starting point is 00:03:33 Oh, she. I immediately looked at Valus and be like, Do you believe this to be true as well? I believe so. And let's keep an eye on You're back behind you as we go. Yeah. Wait, where's that?
Starting point is 00:03:48 Do you watch your ass when she's in front of you? No, maybe. Both. Sort of grogly feeling around in my pants for Blair is... Where's my? Yeah. Wait, no, no, no. Hold on the same.
Starting point is 00:04:09 Little left, yeah. He's, you're still on my person, right? you're still on my person, right, but not being worn? I don't know. Boler is, I believe, being carried in a satchel at your side. The mask remains there. In addition to that, you also have the shadow spun cloak and jacket from the tailor's shop, as well as those two rings that each of the Markinod brothers wore.
Starting point is 00:04:33 These were the sort of warlock tailors that you and Boler and Tyranny dispatched the night before. It felt like, no, dream. of course, but everything seemed to be centralized around that theater, that play. It's how we all made our way out. Right. Can he, when he's not on a... I have no idea how he... I've just met him. I'm gonna crawl into the satchel.
Starting point is 00:04:58 Before we leave, we should probably go pick up Boller. Oh. Oh, Julian! I wanna go back into the satchel. I don't get it. Do I know? I don't remember if I know or not. I can't remember. You look. There's so many things about him that can use me.
Starting point is 00:05:21 Wait, no, why? Oh, well, these. Ah, fuck it. I'm gonna put him on. What do you do? Can I? Yeah, you can put full air on, absolutely. You can elect to fail the savings. In this moment, I would like to make a history check
Starting point is 00:05:38 to see if all of a sudden I clock what that mask is. Go ahead, give me history check. Do I have your control? I can, I have control over it too, so don't worry. Okay. Hold your breath. Hold your breath. That is a dirty 20.
Starting point is 00:05:50 Dirty 20. There's a long history of cursed masks in Aramon. On a dirty 20, you don't know the actual. That secret is very close to the heart. You put the mask on and you are suddenly, Kattegan, back in that theater. But the theater is much darker, more empty. You don't see those other figments.
Starting point is 00:06:19 there, it is pretty empty here, and Boler, suddenly you are conscious again. Are you wearing me? Oh, is that alright? I figure that's the only way you could talk to everyone else and I don't have much to say. Oh, well, I can make this much easier. Hold on. Normally these are idiots that I'm on. One moment, and I, my mask that Katagan is wearing sort of shifts like broken glass, like a mirror, and just sort of vanishes as if it's just reflecting light in odd ways, and it's just your face.
Starting point is 00:06:59 And you are conscious. Hello! Hi. Wait. Occasionally I will just pop right back in like a reflection, and I'm here too. Oh, no, you're still, you don't leave. I'm like a voice in the back of your head. What's happening?
Starting point is 00:07:12 Well, I'm over here right now. You? My hand is on my blade's hill right now. Julian. I'm gonna fly up in front of him. Hey. He goes on people, and he becomes people. I'm, I walk right up to Ketting,
Starting point is 00:07:30 and I'm looking at the reflecting light, and I'm just... How is it? Is anything wrong with my face? No, nothing's wrong with my face, but that's fascinating. Your eyes are strange, but... You can see it, if you're looking for it, you can see it.
Starting point is 00:07:44 It's okay that it's coming out. I mean, people gotta know. We're traveling together, right? Oh, yes, I know. I just never knew. I was thought you were just a terribly weird man and wore a mask all the time. No, I'm a terribly weird man who is a mask all the time.
Starting point is 00:07:57 What's it feel like to be on me? I mean, I feel like that's a bit personal. We can discuss that privately, but in general, it feels, you know how it is very strange that you're wearing a mask right now and it appears and it appears and it's there and it's on your skin and it's just, It's just a layer of something that's uncomfortable.
Starting point is 00:08:25 It's uncomfortable. Well, now imagine that in reverse. There's a body that's just all over you, and it's uncomfortable in lungs and moves and wants to move against your will. I mean, it's uncomfortable for everyone involved. Don't kill this man, Boler. Oh, interesting.
Starting point is 00:08:47 So that means you've been on... Have you been... Oh, questions. Are the people you've been on been alive? Oh, about a hundred years. Interesting. Don't kill this man. May I? One moment.
Starting point is 00:09:05 Kill me? No, thank you. I walk right up to you. Were you going to kill Kattegan? I wasn't going to kill Kattaire. Why not? I mean, I wanted to ask you this, because this is important. You're a woman of the cloth. What sin am I committing if I kill someone? What God am I offending if I kill someone? Tell me what prayer, what command that your God has given you?
Starting point is 00:09:37 Would I be breaking? Because I have no God. I have known anything. I have nothing but a story. And yet here I am, and I'm not killing this man. Why do you think that is? No, you don't. It's because you have a story.
Starting point is 00:09:57 It's because you have lived thousands of years having something else put an idea of right or wrong in you without ever looking at it. A dead god tells you what to do, and yet I am here and somehow know what right and wrong is. So either you're a fool, or there is something within me an object itself that understands good and evil on a level you never will, Or I know something you don't know, and perhaps you should start praying to me to be good as opposed to a dead god. I God, the vanity of it! I bet you pray into a mirror.
Starting point is 00:10:38 Okay, and I'm gonna take him off. I just meant more like, actually, physically, scientifically, what you were doing, but I'm sorry. Hey, Kelligan. Don. What does it feel like to have? of Boller inside you. Honestly.
Starting point is 00:10:59 Everything I wanted. It was all right. What do we do with this thing? Don't put that in here. You want to, I will fucking cut you. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm right. He usually finds a body. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:09 Well, what do we do with him in too? We find a body. If someone hold on to him. Give us a day. I'm sure we'll find them. Do we know? Well, I don't know how we would know this. Do we know that it has to be on a human body?
Starting point is 00:11:22 We don't know. Like, can we put it on an animal? That is interesting. I've never seen him on an animal. That's true. Find a nice little cake. Altais just slowly looks at pincushion. Yeah, Julia.
Starting point is 00:11:31 I think probably wolf-fricin pincushion have just been hanging out playing in this sick fairy forest. I love every moment of this. If we don't find anything, I have an idea, but I'm hesitant to do it. What? If you put him on my wolf off fucking killing. But no, opposite.
Starting point is 00:11:53 I was gonna, Oh, oh. Oh, yeah, fuck. It's dead. Yeah, sure. Sorry. Um, for now, maybe we just... I love this. He seems in a mood. I love this so much.
Starting point is 00:12:06 Put him in my front pocket. He's been very angry lately. Did something happen? Everything. Well, we should not dally. No, we need to get out of the city. We can talk on the road. We're heading to timini.
Starting point is 00:12:29 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna go to the tree and make my wish and go around at three times. You know how to do it? Archdaddy told me everything I needed. I'm sorry. It's fashion. You get used to it.
Starting point is 00:12:46 With a simple, when you last saw this happen, you saw that the hounds of the king had to expend what looked like an actual, you wouldn't put it this way, but like a spell slot. It took a bigger reserve of energy in everything. and they had to make a specific appeal to like the magical soil of Timony when you saw it. For you, this is like way more effortless.
Starting point is 00:13:09 A little bit of the Druidcraft can trip. Fairy dust, sprinkle. Three times Wittershins counterclockwise. And you guys, as you turn, you go around the tree and as you move around the tree, And as you move around this cherry tree on the third time around, you know, when you're walking past a large tree,
Starting point is 00:13:36 there's that moment where you can see that over here and you walk past it and the trunk briefly obscures what's on the other side. And on that third time around, where there was no road, there suddenly is. Cool. And the road peels off into the Tintazi wood, and you see it goes through a small copse of trees,
Starting point is 00:13:56 and then you can see it dips into a little little ravine, looks wonderful. Up on a hilltop, you see that old mill, the same old mill that you saw in Timonies, just sort of up there, the big water wheel turning on the side of the mill, and you smell blossoms. For everybody else here, I think you would have to actually,
Starting point is 00:14:18 like, they don't see it until you lead them. Yeah, I'd take them around the tree three times, just for fun. Oh. And I think each of you has that moment of of feeling a little bit silly. You see that Temelow is up here wishing you farewell. She says, oh, look after the city while you're gone.
Starting point is 00:14:37 Farewell on your journey. And I think Belair, last moment that you're taken off of Cadigan, is the last image of Dolmachiar up on the hill that you see. Perfect. And Thimbel, you begin to travel down the Miller's Road. For everybody else that is doing this for the first time, It is a delightful pastoral road that I think probably would only bother those
Starting point is 00:15:08 with like an intelligence higher than 15 essentially. How? Well, because everyone's just like, yeah, walk down this road. There's nothing. It's the least like nakedly magical thing. It just is like, oh, a beautiful country, a beautiful country road. But you're like, no, that's,
Starting point is 00:15:26 so the Cavrosi Mountains are, and this should be more mountains, not beautiful, pastoral. Thimmo, this is incredible, but this is, like, do you understand? It's magic! No, I understand. I know it's magic. I'm very aware, but you understand what we're doing right now. We're moving through vast distances so quickly.
Starting point is 00:15:45 It's incredible. I'm gonna float up right in front of you and just bump your nose and keep calling me. I'm... Magic! You're incredible. You dip off after Octus says that you are incredible and begin to travel down the road. And the thing that made that tree feel special to you going down the road here, the same exact thing is happening as you're traveling.
Starting point is 00:16:16 You have the experience of, oh, I feel like I'm traveling north, even though this road only seems to go in one direction. But it feels more or less like, yeah, the sun is rising in the east and there's some storm clouds over there. But the same thing that happened when you came up out of the fairy cavern with the cherry tree where you went, oh, this tree is special. It has an aura around it. There is some kind of thing that you just triggers your little fairy like hairs on your forearm stand up as you go. That's it. It's got to be that. There are other trees like that as you travel where you go, you go sort of like, oh, that's in both worlds.
Starting point is 00:16:59 That tree over there right off this path. And each one that you go, it's usually like on the road. There's like, oh, a little beautiful pasture gate. Like you know how some dirt roads will have a little like, oh, it opens up and this would be like where cattle would come down. It'll be like, that'll be right underneath an apple tree. And you're like, that's the apple tree that's in both worlds. So there's almost always a little gate or a rocky path
Starting point is 00:17:25 or a little ditch you would jump over or something like that near these trees. And I think that as you're traveling, go ahead and give me like a nature check or an insight check because the trees- I'm trying to remember the timony one, right? Yeah, you're trying to remember the timony one. But I think that, yeah, go ahead and actually,
Starting point is 00:17:49 give me investigation if you want. You can give me investigation or nature or survival. Whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Investigation or nature. Or survival. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:10 Depends on like what your- 23. 23. Which of those skills would you elect to use? I used survival. I love that. So this is coming from a place of wisdom, and it's very much your like the way you move through like wilderness and wild places.
Starting point is 00:18:23 23, on a 20, on quite a high role, you become aware of trees. The ones that you've seen are like, that's in both worlds. You're like, but I don't really know where that goes. And there's a moment of traveling where you're like, this road doesn't have to follow any rules. It doesn't want to.
Starting point is 00:18:48 So just because we came across this tree first doesn't actually mean it's closer, which is the kind of maddening fairy logic of this place. However, there's a very much one that you see right away on a 23 survival that you go, oh my God, that is a very old, like, kind of like alpine phycus tree from the DeHopshiny rainforest. And you recognize that you're like, you landed in that tree a couple hours after meeting Brookmeadow, the little nixie in the water. So you're like, oh, that tree is at the base of Olbed's Mountain. Like that's at the base of
Starting point is 00:19:29 and I think that as you continue to travel, that you find that tree after about maybe 40 minutes, like it, which means that you've crossed like two days of traveling about 40 minutes, right? Like a crazy amount of traveling. Wow. And this is, by the way, in the whole King Gus of it all, if you have fairies, if there are fairies or hounds
Starting point is 00:19:51 that can travel on this road, although on a 23 survival, you suddenly wonder if hounds would actually be able to travel this far outside of Timney. Yeah. You are like, okay, 40 minutes, and that's a tree outside of Albed's place. You could absolutely continue on, you could absolutely continue on on your travels and continue going further north into Timney. But you're like, that's the first tree I've spotted that I've been to in real life,
Starting point is 00:20:18 which means exiting it would be safe. Right. Okay. What do you guys want to do? Do you want to push on straight to Timney? straight to timid or do you want to pop out in anywhere else? There's no reason to, right? Well, so you... I'm trying to funnel this down into the important thing.
Starting point is 00:20:42 And I'll just say on that 23 survival last thing is just that because you use the Druid craft cantrip to cast this, there's nothing stopping you from re-entering the road with just another casting of the spell, right? On that tree. On that tree. Now, if you move away from the tree, you'd have to do the schlepping of like walking in physical
Starting point is 00:21:01 space, but for you, it's a much easier proposition than the hounds to enter and exit the Millers Road. So do you have to, is that, are there any rules associated with this? Yeah, she's gotta be somewhere I've been before. Okay, so you've been to Timony? Yeah. Does it have to be a tree you know in Timony? No, not one that I know.
Starting point is 00:21:26 Okay, so we've been walking. But it's one that I know. Right. I don't know what's your story. You know how this works. It's your decision. Would I be able to find a golden orchard one? That is a very interesting question. You would have to probably continue traveling
Starting point is 00:21:45 on this road for quite some time, but maybe one would pop up. If you said it as an intention, you potentially could, but there's also something interesting in that you don't know what's become of the trees of the golden orchard. Yeah. So what's the vote?
Starting point is 00:22:05 Peel off, somewhere safe, before Jen. Do we need to go to Allbits? Does he need to know his daughters or maybe stone statues? I didn't even tell you about that. There were three little statues. Yeah, well, it's a nice thing to do, but... That's what was... ...to die.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Yeah, that's what he was going to get. Yeah. We shouldn't tell him, right? If it's not good news... Listen, this is your... Fairy journey, your powers, whatever no call it. I think it's your... choice. I mean, we can put it to a vote, but...
Starting point is 00:22:39 Can we come back in if we leave? Yeah, of course. Okay, then there's no reason. We've made a lot... I mean, if... Oh, I don't know whether this is all good, you said? You know what? I don't want to tell him. I don't want to tell him. I don't want to tell him until we... We know more. Okay. We don't have to tell him. Let's go to Timney. Okay. Very well. And he done?
Starting point is 00:23:04 You guys go ahead, and I'll ask Cadigan and Thimble for history checks here, which is not necessarily like a very heightened skill that you guys practice, but just even, it's a low DC, we'll call it DC 10. You guys guide me. No, I won't. That's fine. I will say if it's a, if it's a general question, then you would know that I can also give you a. Is it a history of us having been here in the past? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. 13. On a 13, Kattegan, I think you're essentially like thinking if how Thimble has explained this, it sort of makes sense to you where even though there's a bit of whimsy to it, there is sort of a fairy logic here, right? It's like, oh, where we have been before, we can arrive fast. Yeah, I think to me, like, for it takes the shape of like almost like a help action,
Starting point is 00:23:54 help guiding her because I've been to this area before, even before we took our trip. So I feel like as long as I'm getting touchstones and mile markers, I should be able to help, like, guide us in the right direction as quickly as possible. Yeah. So I think that you would know in the direction you're traveling, because you're just trying to get north to Timney, that really, if there is any reason for you guys
Starting point is 00:24:18 to stop anywhere you just were in your Sally north to Timony, which was basically albid, Hawthorne's Glade. I think in your head you just quickly retraced the steps of the adventure you just took, being like, Uldbemorn, Hawthorne's Glade, briefly through Ardaren, Sloak. I was going to say, is that as far north
Starting point is 00:24:41 as we made it with Sloke? You actually made it, Sloke, you actually took the Miller's Road for the first time from Sloke to Tybre's League. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Up to you. Do it.
Starting point is 00:24:53 We sort of had a castle there for a minute, but again. You had a castle? Yeah, we took a castle. Yeah, we took the castle. That's when we killed him. But then we get him. Who?
Starting point is 00:25:06 Oh. Right. Maybe we should just for, Jane. I mean, we need to get to the Golden Orchard ultimately. Ultimately, yes, but we're meeting with this professor figure who... They're going to meet us at the Golden Orchard. Right. We know how long it'll take for them to get there, so... Longer than us, if at this rate.
Starting point is 00:25:25 I'm about to say, if we cut through, it's not going to aid us in that regard. We might be waiting around, though I have my interests. Professor, I really don't know much about this. Can I... Is everybody... Okay. I'll put the Lair back on. Thank you. What do you know about the cloak? Anything?
Starting point is 00:25:44 Which cloak? I'm sorry, I wasn't paying it. The organization. Oh. Do you have another cloak? I do. I just got one. It's in the bag.
Starting point is 00:25:53 When he gets a body, we'll suit up. It's pretty fucking sweet. You look quite good, I thought. Oh, thank you. What do I know about the cloak? I don't think you know anything about the cloak. I don't think you would know anything about the cloak. One thing I'll also point out that while you're here on as are one person from, I actually think I'd like a history check too from Octus, Julian and Belair, if that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:26:29 Six. Oh, yeah, love that. 22. History. History, yeah. 18. 18. I think on that 22, you just recognize as your, so again, Fimble has the.
Starting point is 00:26:40 this wide array of options of basically like, with this ability to travel magically in this way, you're like tearing off. And again, like Julian has just pointed out, your timeline is very fungible. Like if you were to get to the Golden Orchard instantly, you'd probably get there and have to wait quite a while for the cloak to arrive.
Starting point is 00:27:01 I think on that 18 and on that 22, you actually do the math real quick, Boler, because you, we, with how fast you're traveling, you realize you're actually going to get ahead on the road from some other people you know traveling on this road, which would be, which is very, yeah, Matt,
Starting point is 00:27:24 were you thinking, you're thinking what I'm thinking? Uh-huh. You happen to know some groups that are traveling north into Timony as well. One is the Caravan of King Augustus Valian. Oh, yes. Which you will, which left in the sort of like late morning yesterday, And so therefore you may have already beaten,
Starting point is 00:27:43 like heading north into Timony. And the second one that left in the middle of the night last night is the Taconas Caravan that is also headed north, which you are already far ahead of. So we could lie and wait. Oh, fuck, man, or a shot. Okay.
Starting point is 00:28:02 Is that, is Primus on that? Yes, theoretically. Theoretically. Primus and, um, Alex just forgot his sister's name. Don't worry. I called my daughter and my wife for the first two minutes of that episode.
Starting point is 00:28:20 You're sorry, don't know. Have you already asked, I have all of him in between me. I have them all written down any of my family. Theoretically, my father and my sister's patron rah her on the caravan, if not others. Are you, are you hesitant, or you just always kind of sound a little nervous?
Starting point is 00:28:38 It's more that one. Yeah, that one. No, I am hesitant only, in? I don't know if we could take them. Not ourselves, but you said you've been to Timony? Do you have allies here? People we can... I mean, King Gus, he's gonna bring his armies. He said he would.
Starting point is 00:28:54 Oh, you just have King Gus at your disposal, right? Perfect, great. Yeah. Then let's do that. Oh. Well, he, we... I think we're ahead of him. Yeah, we're ahead of both. Yes. We're ahead of everybody.
Starting point is 00:29:07 You can't just set up a full of fatt. Snare trap and scoop them up by the leg and be like, oh, we got you. Right. These are very clever people. Honestly, this is my worry. Why make one attack when you can make five? We're ahead. We can hop in and out as we need. If we fail, we run.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Right. And then we try again. I understand that. I don't think you understand the challenge would be from running from Taconas in a failed attempt. It's not like, oops, we try again later. Yeah. We get away when we get away.
Starting point is 00:29:34 We all survive so far. Either we win or we're dead. Or worse. Well, we also have plans. We can set traps as we go. We can set them up for failure. That they could see some reason to thank you. Is this something we want to do in Timony or on the road?
Starting point is 00:29:48 On the road, we will still be ahead of them. Okay. What's your, uh, dear old dad's entourage usually like? I can't imagine he's traveling solo. No, he's not. They were leaving the manner entirely. They're leaving to go, I assume, to eventually head to our actual house.
Starting point is 00:30:12 home, which is in kind of a gray area between this realm and the temple reaches. Isn't he trying to open and go through the gates? He is. Ultimately, yes, but I don't know where their immediate destination is. The Sea of Lacris. Yes, that is where we read that my father was planning to go on the other side, but as of their current destination
Starting point is 00:30:38 from when they left the manor in Delmockyar, I don't know where they're headed. Except for North. I'll also say, traditionally, this is the Faye, and there is, as a general practice, the faster you try and go here, the slower you're going to go. Hopping out, stopping, actually seeing things, is a safer walk in the end.
Starting point is 00:31:02 It hates people who don't stop to admire the view, so to speak. I know how Faye shit works, Bolair. You don't have to tell me. I'm telling everybody else. You're telling at me. It feels like it. but I know she's not. I know.
Starting point is 00:31:15 I'm also letting the mask move sideways on occasion on your face. Can you put the mask on your fox? That would be very funny right now. It wouldn't work. I feel bad for him. It wouldn't work, it's fine. Why? Why?
Starting point is 00:31:27 He's dead and a fox. Both of those are really, don't work. You can't go on animals? No. Have you tried? Yeah. I don't know. I wouldn't be awake for it, would I? Well, Larry, you looked really cooling at your feet.
Starting point is 00:31:38 I put my hand on Katagan's face and I take the mask. Mm-hmm. And I look at Pinda G— Do you want to try? Yeah. And I place the mask. No. I just sort of flatten his ears as he sort of uncomfortably.
Starting point is 00:31:56 It would have been very funny. It would have been very funny. I agree. I could have done some amazing things of that at work. So, um, I'd have run in with your dead. A long time ago. Well. Um, okay? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:18 I'll tell you more about it someday. But the important part was, I hooked a fucking arrow with his head, got the drop on him, and it felt like fighting a god. And how long ago was that? Six and a half years. My daddy's gotten weaker.
Starting point is 00:32:40 Julian has some experience as well. I think we've both carved the piece of him, and soon we'll have the chance to carve the rest. But we have to be ready. Look, we had one night after having, some of us having a lot of combat and difficulties. I don't. Do we want to the very next day get into another fight
Starting point is 00:33:02 with more powerful enemies? No. I don't. That house was scary. We are outside of your family's domain at the moment. We have time and perhaps allies. or at least a period in which we can think of possibility. Yes, I'm not disagreeing and I'm not saying no. I'm just being cautious.
Starting point is 00:33:24 Of course. We have to stop what he's doing. Agreed. We can also kill everyone around him until he's alone. I found that. Fighting the family at once. What are you about setting a trap along the road? Is that we hit us instead.
Starting point is 00:33:42 That's fair. As you say that, Thimble and Cadigan, give me one more history check, similar, BC10. Come on. Okay, okay. Okay. Three poor.
Starting point is 00:33:57 20. Six. As Octus says, Mistaking Gus's caravan for, mistaking Gus's caravan for the Taconas, you're thinking to yourself, like, how would you, like, is there a way for us to get information about the caravans heading out? And you do suddenly remember...
Starting point is 00:34:15 All been had that fucking telescope. Yeah, the tele... deal as a smuggler was watching the highway. Let's go out at Aubin's apple tree. Yeah. That is. You got there. If you, it truly is up to you guys.
Starting point is 00:34:32 If you want to make the choice to just press on for time, you absolutely can. But we're ahead of everything. We have time. We got time. Better to spend the time making allies, getting information, yes. That's true. If we leave this tree and step to find allies, can we return to this road? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:48 We can. As long as you got me, baby. I don't know. Timble, you remember that this tree was probably at the base of the mountain, and it was probably like an 80-minute climb up the mountain, so you lose, like, what, like, you know, almost three hours, but you've made it a day's travel in 40 minutes. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:35:06 So it's like you do lose time leaving the Miller's Road to go into real space, but you could literally go have a conversation and be back on the Miller's Road and get further into Timney in the same day. Okay, great. Let's do it. Then let's go see a friend. As you head to go see a friend,
Starting point is 00:35:27 you take three sun circle turns around this apple tree. Soo, so, so, so. And all of you are suddenly looking at mountain peaks surrounding you. Here in the DeHopshiny rainforest with the mountains on all sides, a sort of cold gray rain is falling a little bit as you come up here.
Starting point is 00:35:48 and Cadigan and Thimble, you've been here before and can lead the way up. As soon as we're in the woods, all of the incompetence that's dripped off of Cadigan for the last few days in the city goes away and him and Wolfert just tear off in the woods. Yeah? It's daytime.
Starting point is 00:36:10 I knew it. I'm a very perceptive danger. As you guys head up, the mountainside. You arrive and you see that similar thing. You see that there is a small stone cottage. There are a couple of sort of plinths around here. You see that one of the stones, Octus, as you approach, you suddenly feel a warding stone go, and you guys see that a goat on a chain has spider climbed up. This is a goat like spider climbs up and onto a thatched roof. and so loudly like a trumpet blaring goes, I bleed is out.
Starting point is 00:36:54 Everyone here, you know what? I'm actually gonna roll this. Who's got the highest passive perception? 14. Nope. 16. I have a 16 as well. And we are one.
Starting point is 00:37:10 I have a 17. I have a 17. Okay, I'm gonna roll. 13. You guys want an eight or lower on this dot. 10. So it's higher than that. So as this goat bleats, all of you around you,
Starting point is 00:37:25 like the last of the tree lines you get up on the mountain where it's sort of clear in every direction, you hear voices from around you and you smell flower petals. And you hear, Roy Denna, a happy morning to you, friend. If you'd be coined enough to drop your weaponry, we have you surrounded and we have our sights trained on you.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Hey, it's me, it's me, it's me. Ah, Timble! And you see that a number of midnight black rabbits sort of ride out as a little like cavalry circle goes around you. What is happening? And you guys see that a group of fairies about the same size as Thimble
Starting point is 00:38:04 who are wearing these little almost like Renaissance bandit outfits, but with instead of ruffs, it's like flower petals. So it's like their heads are in the pot of the flower. But you see that all of them have severed heads of these little thorn-like fairies with long hair tied with the hair tied to their belts as they ride around with these like
Starting point is 00:38:27 sort of fairy longbows on them. And you see that this is Clani de Rose. You see that he says, And Royty are as beautiful as the new morning dew on the sunset petal of a rose blossom. Ah, timbre. Or to see you have yourself a no, you suited an hammer. That's right.
Starting point is 00:38:48 I got some new armor. Do you like it here? Oh, oh, and we love it, yes, we do. Oh, and the lad who lives here in the cottage, oh, the old fella, he's a great gaffer he is. Oh, and he's a laugh, and he sets out of milk and biscuits for us. Wonderful. Oh, well, shall we announce yourselves? Yes, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:06 The goat's already done as much, but he's announced your dead friend. Fair, yeah. Oh, right. I was wondering why he was so loud this time. Oh, I, demons, and the dead, oh, the same. stones and follow him every time, but the fair folk are welcome thanks to you. No, no, no, it makes perfect sense, and I would hope that you would have a similar reaction to any other time. That goes off. Oh, yes. Apart from me.
Starting point is 00:39:29 But of course, then there's hardly any much more zombies there in the forest. The shambling dead, they've all collapsed now, haven't he? Hmm. Interesting. We got rid of him. Right. Oh, he's not a zombie. He's just a fucked up man. Ah, congratulations. Thank you. Uh... And I snap my fingers in PIN goes... under the ground in front of the rabbits.
Starting point is 00:39:50 The rabbits, you see a rabbit leaps forward and kicks Pinn hard in the head. Make an attack roll. Is the 23 hit PIN? Oh, 100%. Pin takes three points of damage. Yeah, he's still, he's a right. He's fine.
Starting point is 00:40:06 Just ditch that. He's for me. Sorry, that wasn't meant to be a surprise. Oh, and right, yeah. It's just that the rabbits don't take kindly to foxes. Fair, I didn't think of that, I'm sorry. And you see that walking out of the front door, you guys see an older gnomish man who looks out and says,
Starting point is 00:40:27 ah, lads, is everything all right? Thimbro, Mr. Ville. Please come in. Oh, travelers, come in, if you'd be so kind. Pick him up and I cast mending on pincushion. He cast like, stitch him back together. Sorry, I didn't, I'm sorry, that was my fault. I apologize.
Starting point is 00:40:45 And you see that he puts out a little saucer of milk and a little crust of bread. And you see, says, all right, lads, you can, come out, help yourselves, is lunch? And you see, this says, oh, and it's a good man, isn't he, who looks after the fair folk. All right, we'll be after the garden, Sauron. Thank you, kindly.
Starting point is 00:41:01 And, you, thank you, Gardy,ogo. You see, the garden is just blooming here, just enormous, you see that there appears to be, like, a couple of vines that are taught as enormous watermelons are like spilling off the cliffs from this just in north, just vines going in all directions. See there's enormous carrots and big leafy cabbages and things like that.
Starting point is 00:41:26 And you see there's an enormous crop of like older vegetables that have already been harvested, and the rabbits just go and begin to roll around in the old vegetables, just chomping at them as the fairies all sit around this saucer and begin to sort of elbow each other and make jokes in Sylvan. As you see, Ulbid says, welcome back, Thimbel, pleasure to have you, and Cadigan as well, with quite a new,
Starting point is 00:41:52 a new coterie quite recently. Yeah, new day, new mission. Wonderful, wonderful. Well, welcome, welcome. My, I was expecting the company already. Come on in. Hey, Aubin. Oh, sorry, I should introduce everyone.
Starting point is 00:42:12 Hello, Octus. Octus, I'm Ulbit. Pleasure, welcome to my home. Hello, I'm Valis. Hello, Valeris, it's a pleasure and an honor. Bulleer, don't panic. What is that? I'm gonna step back and let Balletheer take over full control.
Starting point is 00:42:29 Oh yeah, no, it's just a strange, enchanted creature, much like everything you see around you. Well, you didn't trigger the rocks. That was me, sorry. Oh, oh, my condolences. Yes, thank you. And you see, he says, and you, And you aren't a demon?
Starting point is 00:42:50 Oh, no, I am just a bit of my own thing. We vouched for him, he's cool. Just to Julian. Justin Julian. Pleasure to me. No. And he turns and says, Well, welcome, come on in, come on in.
Starting point is 00:43:15 I already had a spread going. I have a little stew for any of you that wish to do. You said you were having guests? My nephew is coming by this evening. Okay. I know you lived in Dolmachia for quite some of time. Who's your nephew? Do you know Pimli Morn?
Starting point is 00:43:35 Do I? Do I? I think you do. Pimley's a smuggler. Pimley? He's gonna be. You never told me you were related when I was here last time? No, well, you know.
Starting point is 00:43:48 You never told me you had any relatives? Yeah. Well, I did know. Family, family. Backstory. Family business. He has a lot of backstory, bitches. I think as everyone's entering,
Starting point is 00:43:56 I think Julian puts his hand out and kind of catches Categan's shoulder and says, Cathergan, what foolishness are we in for? He's all right. I mean, what's we're gonna get up to is a bowl of middling soup and some information, but he does have something pretty interesting in the back. You look up, Julian, and see that there is a quite large
Starting point is 00:44:19 mechanical shape coming out of the thatch roof of this cottage. And I don't know if you ever would have seen a telescope before, but this one is, you see like a prodigious looking kind of, maybe it's an armament or some kind of machine. I would know. You would know. Does it like resemble like a massive spyglass? Massive spyglass, yeah.
Starting point is 00:44:38 Oh, I know what that is. Oh, that's fantastic. Oh, does you love it? Yeah, I know. I believe you. You also look and see a banner over his door that says welcome home. And you see there's a quite large banner on the outside.
Starting point is 00:44:53 It looks like it has seen many years of like sun bleaching and rain. And you see some old boxes of what look like nomish fireworks and other things like that that also are quite like faded and dilapidated at the edges. Or I should say that if you speak nomish, you see that they say welcome home. If you don't, just like some nomish writing.
Starting point is 00:45:17 As you enter, he turns and says, oh, how's the sword working out for you? It is great. I've killed some ghosts. Well, with it. That toy sword was made exactly for such a reason to dispatch phantasms and nightmares of all kinds. It worked. Interesting, you're the one who made that. I'm the one who enchanted it.
Starting point is 00:45:40 My wife actually crafted it. I was happy to add a little bit of sorcery and helping them. Fascinating. Stunning piece of work. Are you also responsible for that beautiful piece of optics in the back way? In an earlier version of my life
Starting point is 00:45:57 when I was a younger man, myself, and about six of my colleagues spent the better part of two years assembling that, so yes. What is it? It's a telescope. And I, technically, I am here monitoring the storm rack. You see, he gestures to the southeast
Starting point is 00:46:16 to the edge of the sky. the massive Barodell. Right. I'm monitoring, I'm taking arcane notes on the Barrow Dell to provide that information of actually to the circle of ancients, just to sort of keep an eye. Giant magnification like a spider's.
Starting point is 00:46:33 But I moonlight as a criminal, and I use the telescope to, you can imagine that civic works and good deeds don't pay the bills. Not that I have any bills living on a remote mountain top, but you understand. And the telescope I do some light crime work monitoring the highways and informing various smugglers.
Starting point is 00:46:57 It's actually one of the reasons we're here. That makes sense. You admit to your criminal activations then. We are here to take under arrest. Oh, Sir Julian. Ah, ha, Justin's just playing. Justin. You see, he says, Justin's a Joker.
Starting point is 00:47:15 He's a card. You're a card. You are a card. I hate that I kind of like him still. Yes, I'd be more than happy to help. We have a couple caravans where we're hoping to intercept, and we need an eye on him. All right. Yes, I'd be more than happy to help. I'd be more than happy to help. I have a huge number of months. miles that I can see along the highway through the mountains from here.
Starting point is 00:47:49 I think if we could get a general location of where these people might be, we could do some simple math and figure out how long we have before they get where we need them to be. I think more importantly to know which is passing by first. All right. Yes, I'd be happy. Do you want just anything of note, or do you want... Can we look too? Certainly, but I also look all the... time, so I have my notes about what I've seen, but we can take a look right now if you'd like.
Starting point is 00:48:20 Well, one of them is King Gus's caravan, which you might know what it looks like. No, absolutely. That's on its way right now. They're almost to the end of the northern pass of the mountains. They'll probably be in timid by nightfall, I'd imagine. I'm not sure if how large the caravan is
Starting point is 00:48:38 would also be nice. Both of them, honestly, what we suspect to carry him. He goes, I have all that right here. You see, he turned to you. He turns around and says, and looks at Cadigan specifically, and Thimble specifically, and says, and with no offense meant,
Starting point is 00:48:54 you vouch for everyone in your company. Yeah. All right. Well, I owe you, my garden, my goodness, these wonderful kettle-hobs are delightful. And as soon as I meet the Griggs, I'm sure they'll be delightful as well. Oh, yeah, they're great.
Starting point is 00:49:09 Oh. You see that Klawney from outside I said, we love it. And he goes, how come we didn't see you coming in through the forest like you did there? Uh, because I'm sneaky, Clonnie. Are you flirting with me? You know it.
Starting point is 00:49:28 Oh, stay a while. Stay a while. Don't be in a rush to get out. And you see that All Bid says, should I take a look right now or do you just want to go off the notes? If you could take more look for us
Starting point is 00:49:52 and we'd appreciate it. All right, I'll go take a look right now. And while he peels off to go take his peek, I'm going to nudge for Thimble to come over toward me while he's sort of distracted. You see there's a smaller raised area where his family's rooms were and things like that. We should tell him he's looking for the Tacoma's caravan too.
Starting point is 00:50:09 Yeah, we can do that. Okay. But when he's done before we leaves, we need to tell him. I know he's hesitant to. about it, but you've got to. We've got to. You've got to give him his peace.
Starting point is 00:50:19 Yeah. It's not gonna be peace, but at least it's an answer. Yeah. When we're done. Yeah. All right. At the very least, it might bring him more into our specific cause.
Starting point is 00:50:35 100%. And, um, like, don't we have? No. We have an ability to stop it before it takes hold, but not an ability to cure it when it's already Done. But Baller can do it. I mean, I think I would need access to things I do not have here, and the museum is a bit of a mess at the moment, so hopefully if everything goes well back home. I don't know where they are. They could still be in, they may have left them at the manor, or they're taking them with them.
Starting point is 00:51:06 They were loading them up. What importance to the Tacunas are these children? I don't know. Oh, Primus is using the statues as guards when he crosses into the underworld. They're lookouts for him. Coward, of course. So, if we are to lay a trap for my family's caravan,
Starting point is 00:51:41 if there's a chance to grab them, we can. Yeah. But that's not sacrifice anything for with that. And let's also keep expectations low for the old man. Correct. Yeah. Question.
Starting point is 00:51:56 Yeah. That's an order of operations thing. When we were trying to cook up the basilisk organs and blood to help out Sid, did that ever transpire? And if so, did we give up those materials to do that? Like, the ones you had, you remember, this was sort of the question from before was like, do you want to rush it to just make a batch right now? So you guys used up the components of the.
Starting point is 00:52:22 Oh, we rushed it. I thought so. You guys rushed it and you used the component that you had. Do we have the recipe, as it were? I'll say this, no history check required. You left some petrified paladins with Dame Morgane, Fell Tower, and- Okay, okay. So they're working on a cure there.
Starting point is 00:52:44 Well, you know they were going to bring them to some of the high arched druids in Timmons Rock, which is the capital. So possibly there are spellcasters powerful enough that they would be able to just use magic. Okay, okay. We can't do it on the spot, but if we can get him out, maybe. Maybe. Okay.
Starting point is 00:53:01 Okay. But let's not tell him that. No. That we're looking to bring them back. Why? He'll know. Okay. I just don't want to get his hopes out. His hopes are what they are. He seems to be a capable person.
Starting point is 00:53:19 Seems to have at least a Disney head on her shoulders. By the sheer volume of whimsy we've had since entering. But if it helps him come to our cause and see eye to eye for our needs, there's no reason not to be honest. But also, so fuck that.
Starting point is 00:53:37 We find those kids were getting him out. Yeah. Yes, okay. What do you see up there? I'm gonna go ahead and roll for him. I'm gonna fly up next to him. Yeah. He's like next to him. He says, My dear, could you help this outer ring my joints
Starting point is 00:53:55 in my hand? Of course. Just, if I ask for closer, just turn it to the right, and if I ask for farther away, just move it to the left. I. He'll go ahead and make an investigation roll. He'll do it with advantage, and so with the help of Thimble. 25 best, 20 good, 15, okay.
Starting point is 00:54:18 16, what did I say, plus... 15 okay. Was that, I said, 16 plus 824. Great, great. You see that he looks out, sort of gathering. All right, taking the look, okay. Yes, his majesty's caravan, okay, going around and through. It takes a couple notes.
Starting point is 00:54:47 Excuse you. Yes, you. Thank you. You can't die up here. All right. Fascinating. Evaporate? Seems I've left.
Starting point is 00:55:06 You see, he begins to scoot the thing down. He goes, do you? You can take a look at what I think I'm seeing here. Yeah? And he looks down, and you see at the bottom of a cliff, way off in the mountain range through this narrow passage you can just kind of see. It looks like a bunch of refuse scattered
Starting point is 00:55:31 at the bottom of a cliff. And you see that he, amongst it is like a lot of heraldry, like tabards and some banners and stuff like that. And you see that there's a banner kind of strewn on a rock at the bottom of a cliff, which you see is on this like blue-gray field, a golden and the golden, white torch that is surrounded by bands of iron and steel
Starting point is 00:55:59 and crossed arrows. And he says, do you see a banner with a torch on it? Yeah. That's the torch of Argosia. It looks like there was a small, last week sometime. And a delegation came on the road through Timeney from Argos.
Starting point is 00:56:25 which is not unusual. They have to travel through Timeney to get towards Dolmachia, but I saw them heading up a few days ago, maybe not even very long ago. It would have been a day before yesterday. Traveling up through the mountains, but it looks like before crossing into Timony, Why is it all on the ground?
Starting point is 00:56:48 Well, there's no bodies I can see, so. How much is there enough refuse to be all of the carts they had with them? He takes another look. Almost would have missed it. No, no wagons, no dead animals, not a landslide. That looks like a purposeful discarding of their heraldry.
Starting point is 00:57:14 Interesting. Interesting. So maybe it wasn't them and they were masquerading? Possible. But interesting for them to travel under their banner within the borders of Khad and then to Dispense. In Kavros, I should say.
Starting point is 00:57:31 If you were trying to steal the therapy. How far off the path is, though? I mean, Argosa, traveling in Timony is always a bit. Argosa, the former imperial masters of Timon. Right. But I don't know, strange. Should we go get a closer look at them? I would think so.
Starting point is 00:57:47 I don't know if that has, I don't know. Do we see the Taconas Caravan? He says that I can tell you about myself, I saw it early in the morning. He goes to his notes. You see, he says, I see them, they're traveling up the road. He says, that's the, again, by tonight,
Starting point is 00:58:11 King Augustus will join them in probably partway through the mountains here, maybe up near the caller's perch or somewhere like that. Early this morning, early, early dawn light. I was up mostly to look at the Barrowdale. I was amazed at the progress that the Taconas Caravan had made. And I watched, there's about eight full carriages
Starting point is 00:58:38 and about, I would say, 30 armored knights with them. He says, in the early morning light, one of their horses, they were lathered and and extremely ridden past the point of exhaustion. One of their soldiers go to work, slitting the throats of the animals, and before long they were on their way again. I do not think those carriages will stop moving.
Starting point is 00:59:11 The horses were slaughtered, and I watched. Reanimated. I don't think those horses will need water or food again. I will not. So how treacherous are these roads through the hills? Do rocks fall? Do the roads get blocked, ever? Yes.
Starting point is 00:59:37 There are a tremendous amount of expense. I mean, the Cavrosi, the Kagorikova, and the Revolutionary Council have a tremendous moneyed interest in keeping the roads safe and clear, but obviously there are mountain highways, you know, accidents do happen. I mean, I'm not talking about an attack,
Starting point is 00:59:57 But I'm talking about slowing them down a bit. But you're at the speed they are currently at, you're saying they will, will they intercept Gus before he gets to his timidie? Are they even gonna cross by Timony? Unclear to me. We could knock out the road. We could if we can get over to there, but that's far.
Starting point is 01:00:21 But it stands to reason if Gus and the Toconis caravans left her at the same time even remotely, and that the Connoes travel without rest, then they will overtake them. If they are going to Timene, which, from what we heard, they're going home. Which is where on the map? Yeah, first the road.
Starting point is 01:00:42 Where on the map was my home? Your home? The intersection of the storm rack and the Eternal Night. So right over here. Yeah. The Golden Orchard is there. So right here is where they're going to split off. Yeah, they'd be going to split off.
Starting point is 01:00:58 going way separate. If to Cavros and then over. Yes, if they are going home. Instead of a. So they're not going home. Yeah, that's a thing. Yeah, with Olbit's information he's giving you, the Taconas are not heading home.
Starting point is 01:01:11 They are headed north into Timeney. Okay, so they're gonna. Might have something to do with the Cedar or. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Might have. They're going straight for it. Yeah. I don't, I want to keep up with current events.
Starting point is 01:01:24 Hey, usually who's these Ogosian people outliving? Do you know? I feel like Julie, I would ask Julian maybe as the, I have no idea. Go ahead and give me his, I mean, you were aware that the Argosians were at the gala. That was the whole thing, having checked in with Hal, he fought that Nama minister of Argosia in the cloak room.
Starting point is 01:01:46 Yes. And they have a history. But Katting, give me a history check anyway. 17. 17, yeah, that's pretty. Terrible. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know shit.
Starting point is 01:01:59 Can I join in this? Yeah, go for it. Oh, not 20. Hell yeah. That's a 27. You'd be a, so I think on that 17 history, Julian, Argoja wore a vaccine, but Argoja was on the side of the sundered houses in the Falconer rebellion. Argoja had, Argoja has a, the torch of Argoja,
Starting point is 01:02:23 Argoja was the wall against the forces. of Khad. During the time of the shapers, Argosa was the gleaming white human bastion against the forces of the God of War. And the way that they opposed the God of War was by becoming perhaps the most warlike culture on Aramon. But they are known for a number of orders of knights that are extremely militant, and they, in the Shaper's War, they fought on the side of the Shaper. So unlike House Royce that was anti-Shaper, Argosha, was pro-Tensual. They were all about it. And then in the War of Axe and Vine, they fought against Timeney's uprising, King Gus's uprising. On that Nat 20, I think you would be aware, Boler, that Argosa also is
Starting point is 01:03:24 a hotbed of new clerical activity, they were extremely devout in following the death of the shapers. The candescent creed has a huge foot in the door in Argosia, but there are also other groups of clerics there that have, yeah. So I'd express like, they are far from the most party ready
Starting point is 01:03:46 of the political elite across the land, a strong, very militant, I'm not entirely certain if they would have any recent challenging alliances. I do not know why or if they would ally with Taconas or what they have going on. They have a lot of split amongst our higher ranks. Some are working with less reputable families, some less.
Starting point is 01:04:18 It's entirely possible. I mean, they would be working for Trican, or otherwise. So a bit fractured. Yes, quite a bit. You're saying it a bit more eloquently than I can, but I just got this nagging memory. When Teo and I used to fight, band to band,
Starting point is 01:04:34 these other bands of mercenaries would come in carrying banners and they just throw them in the dirt, and they'd join our side. And it was like that, group to group. It's just tickled in the back of my head. Really? A man's just a man if you take his armor off. He's still the fighter.
Starting point is 01:04:56 I don't know. No, that's very interesting. So maybe they would, are you saying that maybe they were defectors to Timeney? I'm not saying anything, but no bodies, no bandits, just his guarded armor. It is strange. You had a Nat 20 history check, right?
Starting point is 01:05:18 Oh, yeah, not 20. I think on that brilliant history check, not only do you get the ancient history of Argosha, I think you also get the recent history. I was going to say, I feel like if they were there, there would be some political knowledge. No. I think you do the math in your head of if he saw these guys
Starting point is 01:05:36 and that's where they were like earlier this morning because they're past King Gus. I think you do the math on your head of, what if Argosians left Dolmachiar the morning after the assassination attempt at the gala? And I think you do the math and you'd be like, that's right about where they would be. This was the group that left the gala.
Starting point is 01:06:03 If they had gone right after the assassination attempt, that would have been them. So what are they up to now? Well, they could have been involved in the assassination. So they're trying to hurt Gus? Yeah, I think that is, why else would they drop their banners? They're hiding.
Starting point is 01:06:25 They were quite possibly, working for that terrible woman. I'm afraid you've joined up with someone else. How much can we look in detail on that road? Can we see Gus, if I'm looking through the... The way the mountains work is that basically there's a couple little pockets. I mean, the highway is so far distant.
Starting point is 01:06:45 But because it's so far distant, this is like a hundreds of miles long road. And Ulbid can clock, like, there's the crossroads where it splits off to go to, like, the recent girdle, like the Einfeld. in Homeland, and then I catch it 80 miles up the road through the telescope over here, and then I catch another place
Starting point is 01:07:03 where it's coming out of the mountains over here. So it's a, he can kind of get most of the segment as it goes through the mountains. Once it gets into Timony, he loses it, because it gets into the lowlands, and then he loses it once it goes east. But the whole mountain road, it's like every X amount of miles,
Starting point is 01:07:24 he gets another little glimpse of like a switch back around a mountain. Did you get any hint? Sorry, any hint of the Deconis caravan? Yes, he saw it actively. He was like racing north as fast as it can go and will not stop for any reason it looks like with those horses. If this group were in league with the Halivar family to make all of this happen or just thought
Starting point is 01:07:45 they were actually part of an assassination that was going to work, I mean, they could be either running or they could also be trying for another attempt. That's what I mean. They could be trying to hijack. Gus again. Maybe they thought that it was a real assassination attempt and not just at Farras.
Starting point is 01:08:05 That's why they ran. So then the question is, do we try and intercept my family, or do we go to Timney to protect Gus? Did you see in your notes there what is, how many people Gus was traveling with? King Valian was traveling with the same amount of carriages he came with. He had four carriages, I would say, about a dozen nights and about, I would say, a half dozen of his hounds. But one of the carriages was bedecked with
Starting point is 01:08:39 a funeral garb. That's tough odds. That's very tough odds. I think if we can delay my family so at least Gus can get. Well, I'm going to look, oh wait, wait, I want to look and see on the mountain passes, is there anywhere on the mountains that looks like like it could, we could cause a rock slide? Give me, that would hit, we can close up the road. Give me an investigation check. Okay. And Obedee will give you the help action as he helps guide you
Starting point is 01:09:16 through the. And what am I rolling? An investigation? Investigation. 3020. 3020. You look up. Rock. Slides on a dirty 20. That's a big maybe. You don't get anything through the telescope that lets you see
Starting point is 01:09:36 like the geological fault lines. But what you do see is the tavern. That's Luke. Or you see the tavern called the Callers Perch. This is the tavern where you and Tyranny were drinking that hangs over the cliffside. It's also the one where Wick went into that little chapel when you guys were traveling back from Timeney to make a way to Dolmakiar. And I will on a dirty 20, there is a could barely qualify, just hanging on to life, scraggly little pine tree in that village. I could find it.
Starting point is 01:10:12 I could find it. You could potentially find it. Let's go. One moment, but. We also don't know if we take care of my family. Those people might be waiting intimately to ambush Gus when he arrived. We do both.
Starting point is 01:10:27 Well, this is, and this is, I think Julian will agree with me. My suggestion is we slow down your family, we intercept or help King Gus defeat these unfortunate assassins, and then we will have a much better chance dealing with your extremely powerful family, that you are correct, they might just slaughter
Starting point is 01:10:49 all of this instantly. Yeah. Better odds. Okay. At least slow him down. I'm not saying we can defeat him right away, but slow him down so they can We can't intercept Gus.
Starting point is 01:11:01 I agree. We knock out that road. We may slow them down a day. Yeah. So we move fast. We move fast. Yeah. Let's go.
Starting point is 01:11:09 See, Albed says, have I been of service? You have every, all the help you need? You've been amazing. Do it. Okay. Listen. No way. So that caravan, I don't know if you noticed.
Starting point is 01:11:24 Was there one that had maybe some statues on it? Did you see close? close enough. It was pretty far away. Large crates. The carriages were closed, but I will say they hung quite low in the wheels. Yeah, they're heavy. They're carting out some really heavy statues. Spit it out, Thimble. If it was them, I may have located your daughters.
Starting point is 01:11:52 It's possible. Get to the rest. The Taconas is they're taking paladins. They're taking holy people, and they're turning them into statues, and they're using them. But we may be able to help them. It's possible. Sarah Bell has two poofs of hair come out of the bat, even with her helmet on.
Starting point is 01:12:27 She has it. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, it sounds like the salchus. Yeah, I think that might have been them. It was them. We were trying to save them and the Teor fell, and we couldn't get them, but we're gonna get them, okay? They're gonna come home.
Starting point is 01:12:49 Wait, right here. And he dives into another thing, and you see he goes, and just, like 10 cops and a backpack and she gets a staff. Oh, Albin. Oh, Albed. Okay.
Starting point is 01:13:01 Albed, it's really dangerous where we're going. You should stay here. You should stay here. Are my girls in their current condition able to walk here? No. Your companion who is arriving tonight? Uh, uh, yeah, Pimli will be,
Starting point is 01:13:28 I'll leave a note for Pimli. All right. I'm glad. I know he just made acquaintance. Your service and what you provide here is, as intelligence, is extremely useful for all the things us and many others are attempting to do, for you to walk away from your post
Starting point is 01:13:50 and march into what is a very dangerous circumstance right now, not only puts others at the risk for the lack of your contact, but puts you in the possibility of falling before we even and retrieve your daughters. We have said our intent here, and we are very capable. And I mean no disrespect to you either, but I do not know what you're capable of in the battlefield,
Starting point is 01:14:12 and I've seen that the connoisse's kill some extremely capable figures as of late. The reason I am dead is because of them. Do not be a fool. It would be ashamed to retrieve your daughters and not have a father to bring them back to. Give me persuasion with disadvantage. I'm going to use my heroic inspiration
Starting point is 01:14:46 to reworn of those dice. Okay. Hold on. I'm going to use my tactical mind. Are you about to hit a 30 on disadvantage right now? No, I'm pulling myself out of a pit. I love it. It's nice watching you to do my affluent.
Starting point is 01:15:09 Not at the side, it's wild. It's good. There we go. That's going to be 18. He looks at you and says, oh, an insight. Oh, an insight check for him. What's your passive deception? Oh, passive deception would be 19.
Starting point is 01:15:35 He looks at you and goes, Could you tell me to make me not run for my... I see a sword at your side. And you seem a proud man. I don't know you very well, Justin. But I do know that I would shudder to be between you and a family member in need of your help. Am I wrong to say that?
Starting point is 01:16:24 No one, that's wrong. I will be coming, please, please. Are you gonna put Belair on him? I am. I'm gonna roll a wisdom save for him. He fails, Bolere, you're on him. You know, we could have discussed this in your head. What do you want me to do?
Starting point is 01:16:58 Your line of action, just fucking do something. Do I make him stay, or do we do we? or do we take him with us? I really feel like, and who are you? Justin, apparently. What? We will discuss whatever happened to you to make you so soft later. Can you find it? Is he... It's in our way. But you went another person to be throwing in the middle, this he'll die instantaneously.
Starting point is 01:17:21 Yes, but he's soft. It's a father's right if he so chooses. And I can help. Maybe he can help him be there. We needed a body for Belair anyway. For a moment. I'll let him go once we... I'm gonna grab. I'll grab Cadigan and pull him off to the side a little bit. You'll let him go after? Yeah, this is not particularly comfortable for me at the moment.
Starting point is 01:17:44 Yes. I'll just keep him safe. He'll have a fool. I'll let him be him when he needs to be, and I'll be me, and I will have a brief conversation with him about how things will work. Make me one promise. No, yes. If it goes sideways,
Starting point is 01:18:00 and something happens to his daughters. Mm-hmm. Shut him down. Absolutely. What do you want? I'm gonna pull Cate again like outside. And be like, listen. All right?
Starting point is 01:18:15 This is a problem because, and you understand this like nobody else in that room can. I know, I know. We have a goal. And when it comes down to it, do you want to save somebody's daughters or do you want to kill Primus Deconis? Because one, in trying to do one, might ruin the opportunity for another.
Starting point is 01:18:35 Do you want to throw that away? For children you'd never met, and watch him die at the same way? When all of us are keeping quiet and we are being so careful in how you approach this, and a father seeing vengeance and possibility of salvation in his eyes charges in and ruins it all, and we all die like that.
Starting point is 01:18:58 Is that worth it to you? Or do we do what we have to do? We'll just keep our mind on the mission and get it done like good soldiers. I had good soldiers. If you'd asked me this six years ago, nothing could have stopped me to save someone's daughters. Oh, fucking foolish.
Starting point is 01:19:34 And Julian just walks out. Well, there, in your mind, Obed is going mental. I'm sitting with him as he's on stage. Please, please, please don't keep me here. I'll do anything. I will do anything. Will you be silent?
Starting point is 01:19:58 Right now they're discussing or not they're going to allow you to come on this little venture. They fear that your attempt to save your daughters is going to cause a terrible calamity which will kill thousands. And honestly, it's fair. We will do everything in the power to save your daughters and we need to know that you will not do anything foolish in the name of fatherhood. I need your word that if it comes to it, you will walk away when I'm What I tell you, too, do you understand, sir? Give you my word.
Starting point is 01:20:47 Butters on my very soul, I have strived my entire life to be a reasonable man. And what I can tell you is this. I know that those who now are in my home have a greater chance of saving my daughters than I do alone. If you ask me to slit my throat here in this car for the chance that you would save my daughters,
Starting point is 01:21:22 I would take it. But I will, but I know that I can help. I am not without means. And the black rabbits as well, the fairies who dwell here. If I close up shop, they are clever, and I cannot say that I wield the power of great lords, or even of a fairy like things.
Starting point is 01:21:53 like thimble, but I am not without means. I'm an enchanter, and I have eggs, magic eggs. I have, I can help. You had me at magic eggs. One moment I'm going to feed your case. I suddenly appear over his, he's been kind of holding as I've just been sort of shifting on his face, kind of maintaining control.
Starting point is 01:22:22 I don't think there would be any persuading him without deeply inappropriate means. And I do actually think that he could be helpful. And if he becomes a problem, I can make him run away. Is he okay in there? Yes. You would know, wouldn't you? It shouldn't be a problem, and I promise to keep him safe. to lend my power.
Starting point is 01:22:54 It solves the body problem. Yeah. For now, yes. And then once we take care of some of those abandons, we'll just grab whichever one survives. Right. Out of the bag, I'll pull a smoking jacket in the ring and toss it to El-Egid Bulleer. You are, you are, I hop back in.
Starting point is 01:23:14 They've agreed. I might be hopping in and out of your consciousness, and you'll hear me as a little, say, I wouldn't say angel or demon on your shoulder, but you'll hear me as something on your shoulder. Do you do, well, I have my body back. Yep, hold on. And you find yourself putting on a ring and a jacket.
Starting point is 01:23:32 You see this jacket, which was made for a human tailor, just looks like a robe on him. But you see, he goes, all right. He says, all right, I won't let you down. I won't let you down. You have important business. I won't let you down. Thank you for telling me.
Starting point is 01:23:50 I won't let you down. Boys, lads! You see he goes out and says, ah, lads, we're closing up shop. We're gonna leave a note for Pimli, and we're gonna hit the road. And he begins to just gather up a bunch of gear. You see that he goes over to a workbench
Starting point is 01:24:06 filled with little chattering toys and painted eggs and just it lifts the board off the table legs and it slides into a sack and he throws it over his shoulder. And this little laid down peddler, gnomish smuggler, alpine wizard, Alpine sorcerer goes, I'm ready, all right, I'm ready. Apparently, some of the eggs are magic, so I'm told. I know they're magic.
Starting point is 01:24:28 That's what I'm fucking talking about. I'll whip on the cloak and pop on my ring that I just got out of the sack. Some of this might be stealthy that we're doing. You know what I mean? Stealthy. Check this out. Good for you. Invisible. Have you seen this clanky old bastard?
Starting point is 01:24:42 I can do that to him as well. Okay. You see, Kani says, What's all you just saying? Are we head notes? Should we get to garden ready? We're gonna cause a rock slide! That's right, we're gonna cause a rock slide!
Starting point is 01:24:56 Do we need, for rock slide works, is a, well, you see that they sort of nods down to his other head. We're gonna need him in a second. All right. Do we have a way of creating a rock slide? We have any explosive devices, anything magically capable? I bet Albit does. Is there a way to make some plants grow extremely quickly?
Starting point is 01:25:18 I have Druidcraft. That's not. That's enough. We need something. You see that Albit says, you need some kind of rock slide or explosion? Anything to take out? Hopefully something that doesn't leave a trace of sabotage.
Starting point is 01:25:34 Yeah, I can try to work something out that would cause a rock slide, yes. I can assist in any magical means you might. Great. We need to do an experiment, too. If we hit the bodies, if we put him in a cart, if we circle the tree, will the whole car go? Do you know how this work? Could we get them out quickly if we try to rescue?
Starting point is 01:25:51 I don't know if a cart can go in. We'll find out. I love it. If not, we can try and just carry them and run in a circle. Right then. Slow him down, and it's a rescue mission. All right. This is how you win wars, Julian?
Starting point is 01:26:12 You make friends. I'll have order to do I no more. Maybe this is your first. You know that's not true. Hell yes. You guys head down from the mountain. I will say real fast, as we're heading out, I go ahead and grab Cadogan more time right before you vanish into the woods
Starting point is 01:26:32 and say like, and I'm sorry, but let's please keep our heads about us. Sure. Sure. I just run off into the fucking woods. Hell yeah. I think that's where we end our episode. Dad. Dead kid.
Starting point is 01:27:13 I greet that energy. That's so funny. Unbelievable. Well, you got a bunch of criminal fairies and an old gnomish enchanter dad. Headed to go cause a rock slide in the mountains. The only question I have is isn't Thursday. Thanks for listening to this episode of Critical Role.
Starting point is 01:27:33 If you're enjoying this story, consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice. We're always looking for new critters to share our adventures with and your review may help a new batch of wayward souls find their way to Aramon, Exandria, and beyond. Or if you want to hear what the cast discussed after the episode, head to beacon.tv and check out our exclusive show Critical Roll Cooldown. You'll be right there at the table immediately after we say,
Starting point is 01:27:58 is it Thursday yet, and experience our cast's post-show reactions. We'll see you next time.

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