Critical Role - Seven of Them | Exandria Unlimited: Divergence Episode 2

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

The group, still stunned by their turn of luck at the fall of Rybad-Kol, must now survive the harrowing journey to hope and safety... Meet the Players!Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan: https://www.instagram.com/brennanleemulligan/Matthew Mercer: http://instagram.com/matthewmercervoLiam O'Brien: http://instagram.com/voiceofobrienCelia Rose Gooding: https://www.instagram.com/celiargooding/Jasmine Don: https://www.instagram.com/birdclump/Alex Ward: https://www.instagram.com/alexanderward777/  BEACONWe’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. YOUTUBE MEMBERS / TWITCH SUBSCRIBERSTwitch Subscribers and YouTube Members gain instant access to VODs of our shows, moderated live chats, and custom emojis & badges:https://www.youtube.com/criticalrole/joinhttps://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole   Visual Effects by Christian Brown3D Modeling by Daniel Ehrli aka Axolote GamingMusical Theme by Colm McGuinnessCharacter art by Hannah Friederichs Due to the improv nature of RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If hearing discussions of 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

Hey there, Critter Podcast listeners. We have a special new membership service at Beacon.TV, where you can get early access to all new podcast episodes, including Critical Role for the first time ever. Beacon members also get things like live event pre-sales, merch discounts, access to a private community Discord, and new exclusive series like Critical Role Cooldown. Think of it as our digital Critical Role land.

Head on over to Beacon.tv to check it out for yourself and start a 7-day free trial. Thank you so much for your support, for being a podcast listener, and for being a part of our community. Hey there, Critters! We are so excited to share with you our brand new podcast from the world of Exandria, The Re-Slayer's Take.

In this audio adventure, you'll be guided through the wild continent of Isilra, home to some of the most dangerous creatures. Here, the Slayer's Take is the most notorious monster hunting group in the realm. But when previously slain creatures start returning from the grave, it's up to six misfit mercenaries to band together and re-slay these supernatural threats as the re-slayers take. So come follow along these audio escapades as the second coolest monster hunters this side of Exandria battle a growing undead army of dangerous creatures. The party is led by a duo of game masters,

George Primavera and Nick Williams, with the main cast including Jasmine Bular, Caroline Lux, and Jasmine Shion. Listen to new episodes every Monday anywhere you stream podcasts, or become a Beacon member and listen to the podcast two weeks early and uninterrupted by ads. Hey there, friends.

It's Matthew Mercer, and it's my pleasure to introduce you to Exandria Unlimited Divergence, a brand new journey on the Critical Role Podcast Network. Divergence follows everyday folks picking up the pieces of their world in the wake of a cataclysmic war between the gods. As the dust settles, the mortals of Exandria discover how their world has been changed forever. New episodes drop on Thursdays at 7pm Pacific on Beacon, Twitch, and YouTube, with the VOD uploaded to YouTube on Mondays at noon. Prefer your adventures in audio form? The podcast version arrives here on the Critical Role Podcast Network

one week after the original broadcast. Or, if you want instant access to podcast content, become a Beacon subscriber and get access to the audio version right when it airs at 7pm Pacific on Thursdays. The calamity has ended, but Exandria's story is far from over. Enjoy! Enjoy. Hello, and welcome to tonight's episode of Exandria Unlimited Divergence, a story of heroic adventurers dying of exposure in the ashen rain. The first D&D campaign where multiple PCs maybe go down because of pneumonia.

Let's get excited. Before we get started, we have a few announcements. Matt, you want to come take it over and take us away? Let's go for it. We recently announced a brand new board game from Darrington Press called Solar Garden. Wait, what? Solar Garden! We make games. Oh my god! Isn't that crazy? In this tile-drafting game,

players take on the role of a visionary architect specializing in carbon-neutral engineering to build a rooftop garden in harmony with nature. That's awesome! Love to do that. Anyway, they gather points by building things like solar farms and windmill systems to create tranquil garden environments.

Embrace the power of creativity and optimism in Solar Gardens, coming August 1st at Gen Con. So go ahead and take a look for it there. Speaking of games, a Lore of Isora dice set. Oh! This is what we have available. The dice are designed by Lea Arundo, and the box artwork is by Nikki Doss.

And I'm gonna pull them out for you. My girl, Laura. They're really pretty! What'd I roll? Oh, natural 20! Natural 20! No! For the spicy!

Yes! Guaranteed, they all have natural 20. No one's gonna believe it, no one's gonna believe it, because it's an ad, all have that. No one's going to believe it, no one's going to believe it, because it's an ad, but it's not, it's look, it's a tree. That's amazing, and you get this awesome bag with it. I, can I have those? Go look for them.

Look for them. I don't know where they're at, but they're available. Hey, there's a woman right there. Brilliant. I, one, love those dice. Two, I think that concludes our announcements. So Brennan, get back in here. Yeah!

Awesome. How you doing, Brennan? We did it. Great announcements. Wonderful announcements, Matt. Thank you, I try. And with that, let's jump right into tonight's episode of Exandria Unlimited Divergence. L'Homme des Morts O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, O, I want to see you. To see you. To see you. To see you.

To see you. To see you. To see you. To see you. To see you. To see you. To see you. To see you.

To see you. To see you. To see you. We return to the Rivenmist Peninsula in the south of Gwisar, a continent that has not yet earned the name Tal'Dorei. In an age long past where a group of straggling survivors escape the ruin of the Prison of Rybad Kol, headed north towards a whisper or a promise of safety.

A community known as Torm's Hill. Pockets of civilization here in the height of Calamity are few and far between. It's only been less than two years since you were there, but two years is normally long enough for a group of people trying to survive the Calamity to be found and slaughtered. Who knows what you will find, or if indeed you will even live long enough to find it. After the events, mysterious, divine, cosmic in ways, and yet oh so very real that unfolded.

Shattered stone, lightning and thunder, roots growing before your very eyes, lights of some strange insect, so very wild and mundane, and yet also so otherworldly, around the locket of your sister. Scattered from the other companions of your gang, sent forward into the unknown,

you have been traveling for days, following a stretch of magically conjured woodland, hiding from the eyes of whatever this world now holds, now that up is down and chaos reigns. We return to the moments after the falling of Starmie and Fiddleflask and the witnessing of a colossal figure moving across the landscape.

Crocus at your feet, made of thick leather cord and clasped in dragon ivory, a gift from a god whose care is as profound as it is fleeting and glibly given. The lightning fades and you are left in dark forest. And you do the only thing you can, put one weary foot in front of the other.

You are three days from where you believe Torm's Hill to be. Some of you have two levels of exhaustion already. Starmian just became rid of his very last, now knowing rest that you do not. You have three days left, assuming your party can move at regular speed. However, if enough of you hit that second level of exhaustion,

that three days might turn into six. So let's see if you all die before even a single combat. Go ahead and give me a group survival check. We need a DC 15. All right, who's next? I'm still carrying the children. You're still carrying children,

but that doesn't affect your survival checks. Okay. That affects your constitution. I will, just to say it out loud, I did put on the belt. You put on the belt? Yeah. Fantastic. As just a, well, I have a belt now.

This is where the belt goes. The reverence that all vestiges deserve. If we would pass this to Alex. There you are. Your strength score is 21. Jesus Christ. It's not even a full level. Yeah.

Not even a full, yeah. This is a bunch of vestiges going to challenge rating 1 8th NPC stat blocks. Let's hope for the best, huh? Yes. Survive. Survive. Disadvantage for me. One level of exhaustion doesn't roll with disadvantage, does it? It is. Survive. Disadvantage for me. One level of exhaustion doesn't roll

with disadvantage, does it? It is. It is. Oh, wait, Fierce. Well, I can't get much lower than that. Four. Four. Eight. Eight. 16. 16. 13. 13.

Five. Five. I'm going to need constitution saves from everybody, but your first of three days is marked down. Because I believe you're being carried by Gond at this point as well. True. Yes. Gotcha. Natural 20.

Natural 20, let's go! Natural 20 on that con save. 16. 16, hell yeah. God, you said constitution? Constitution save. Five. You take another level of exhaustion. I believe you're at two now, correct?

Which means your speed is halved. Your speed is halved. 10. 10. Level of exhaustion. My speed is now halved. Minus nine. Another level of exhaustion. So I'm at three now? You are at three. What happens at three?

Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws. Oh, cool. Now, several of you have your speed halved. Garin is a lot harder to carry than Phaedra. So you now have four days left of travel, unless anyone can think of something clever in this moment they want to do. Give me a carry card.

No, she can't. Your speed is half two. You need someone to carry you. I don't know how many more people I can carry. I think we're just going to slow it. I think we're slowing down. You're doing enough crocus. Yeah.

I feel pretty good, actually. That's good. That'll do. How are you liking the belt? Nice belt. Looks good on you. Thanks. I never had a belt before. Yeah. Well, I'm proud of you. Thanks. First belt.

Next day, give me another survival check. Roll him with disadvantage. All right. Mm, well, that was not good. Oh, this is disadvantage? Yep. Disadvantage. Great, sick, gorgeous. Okay, that doesn't change much.

13. 13? Six. Six? Six. Six. Five. Five. 10. Two! Go ahead. Short game, guys.

It's been a really good game. Go ahead and give me constitution saving throws. And now I also have disadvantage on this, right? Okay. I swear to god, you got it. to take advantage on this, right? Okay. I swear to god. You got it. You got it. You guys, you guys, I need you. Okay.

No! Nope. I believe that you now have two days left. What did we get for con saves? 16. 16. You save. 12. 12 saves. Oh, hall save. 12. 12 saves.

Oh, hallelujah. 17. Saves. Two. Two. 17. 17 saves. So some of you are at three. You're at three. I'm at two. You're at two exhaustion levels. You're at two, you're at zero.

Zero still. Crocus is a creature of legend. Sweet dragon. Crocus is a creature of legend. A sweet dragon pet. Also, these sweet little kids have not made any saves at all. They've been, you carrying them on your back with no exhaustion. And right here we have one.

He just doesn't know that he's fucked. I just don't. He just doesn't know. I have no concept of that I'm completely screwed. Fiedra. Yes. There are two days left. You are at the fourth level of exhaustion. Your hit point max is halved. Nia, you see, Jasmine, can you describe for us

what Phaedra is looking like at this point? Phaedra just looks like a haggard shell, just cracked, bleeding lips, vacant eyes at this point. She, if anyone talks to her, she's not even like, she already looks like she's got one foot out of this world. It's bad.

I think even you have never seen me in this state. You don't look good. You don't look good. I don't feel good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, can I help? I don't know if you can. I think you're doing all the help that you can.

You're doing a good job, Crocus. I don't, um, okay. I don't want you to worry about me, okay? I'll be, I'll be. That's my job. I know. Let me share the load. Uh, Ero will kneel down

and scoop Fy'ra up onto his back in piggyback style, so that you don't have to walk. Scooping you up, this will cancel the disadvantage on any constitution saving throws you have to make. If you have to make a constitution saving throw, you will do so with disadvantage, carrying her on your back. All right.

And Fiedra, you see Ero, with no fanfare at all, hoist you up on his back to continue trudging through. This has been different worlds for you. You're used to, you've come up in the prison of Rybad Cole, back in your city life as the leader of this gang where your small stature was, at some points, an inconvenience, but never life or death.

There are roots every two to three feet that other people step over absentmindedly that require a tremendous exertion of effort from you to get over. It is a very cruel and unfair world out here in the rain and ash. Mm-hmm. I think as I'm on Erow's back,

I whisper to you, or not trying to whisper, but I can't muster up more, I just say, You... I don't know how you do this. I thought, I thought I was strong. I was foolish enough to believe that I understood this world. In a weird way, everything made so much sense

before you left Rybad Kol. And now out here, it's just, there's no logic, there's no order to it. It's just, how do you do it? How long were you in Rybad? How long was I in Rybad Cole? You were in there for about four or five years. Oh, okay, yeah.

Four or five years. Before that, it was just, you know, city living and it was tough. It wasn't, you know, had to do a lot of stuff to get, just to make it, but it wasn't like this. Repetition. Repetition can make the impossible seem

commonplace. Maybe I've lived in the wastes better part of my life. Yeah. You learn to stomach it with time. Well, if I do last long enough to do this again, we'll see, and I hope you're right.

Two days left. Give me a group survival check. Everything's at disadvantage. Yeah, this is disadvantage. Oh! I'm excited for that. Not 20, you're going to announce to everyone, Liam. Oh, that's great. What do you announce to everyone, Liam. That was great.

What do you got? 14. 14. Dirty 20. Dirty 20. Nat 20. Nat 20! Yeah! Nat 20. Two. Two. One. One.

Oh! Oh no, you didn't make me better, I made you worse! Nat 20 and a 14, great. I'm going to need constitution saves. You will not be rolling with disadvantage. Okay. Oh no. What's that?

Please, please, please. I had a one. Now I have one. Ooh, baby. Bye, baby. 12. Two! Two. Yeah. All right. 12. 12. 17. 17. 10. 12. Two! Two. Yeah. All right. 12.

12. 17. 17. 10. 10. Level of exhaustion. Okay, there it is, finally. First one. You two are okay. She's first exhaustion! Level of exhaustion. I'm at two. You're at two.

What, five? You are at five levels of exhaustion. Your speed is reduced to zero. The last day, the trees get wider and wider. This narrow strip is broadening out. Aro, you are aware of two things simultaneously. The ground is becoming more uneven, topographically. You're getting higher in altitude.

It's been raining for days. The threat now, everything that was the threat of thirst is now the threat of sickness and pneumonia. It's the threat of chill. And you can feel on your back, Phaedra's speed has been reduced to zero. Phaedra is struggling to breathe as a powerful infection sets in in her lungs.

She's on the verge of drowning on your back, held up by your arms, just in her own breath, the feebleness of her own lungs, like robbing her life from her. You told me last time we gathered that Torm's Hill is relatively close on that map to another place that I know.

Yes. So I think that Arrow is bad off himself, nowhere near as bad as his new companion, his cargo, but his vision is going double from time to time. He's just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and taking some strength from his proximity to old haunts. Crocus goes over to the children's mother.

Can you take one of them? Yes. He hands off one of the kids and then goes over to Arrow. Let me take her. And just plucks you off and cradles you underneath with one arm. Arrow's going to plant his hand above his head on your pec for a second

and just pat it and then start to hobble forward. You can see a, you smell it with a draconic snout. Ero's feet are, he's been leading the way the whole time and cutting through the first layer of brush getting up through here. You can see a thin trickle of blood from where his scales have split

from the soaking mud and rain moving forward through this place. Do you want me to go first? No. No. I'm familiar with the area. Just keep pressing forward. Okay. Almost there. And the, you know this one, right?

He's trustworthy, he knows where we're going. Yes. He guided me to where we were supposed to be going before we got captured. I know him, I trust him. Yeah. Even when we're all a little worse for wear, he's still the guy I know.

I trust you. I trust him. They lean into you, both of us leaning on each other for strength as we hobble forward and follow lockstep with them. Nia, she sees how rocky and rough Phaedra is, right? So I think, it's not wise, but she's not very wise.

She is a little bit, but she takes her cloak off and tries to bundle Phaedra if she can, just to keep whatever heat that she has close to her. You bundle up a halfling who was wiry and scrawny and scrappy at the best of times and has been walking without food for a week, so is Skeletal.

The cloak goes around you, and I think also Crocus' enormous torso is something like an umbrella. Yeah, holding you underneath, walking on three limbs now, just holding one. At this point, I don't think Feudra can even get the words to come out of her mouth, but she just looks at you. holding one. At this point, I don't think Fjord can even get the words to come out of her mouth,

but she just looks at you. Thank you. Nia nods, exhausted with her two levels of exhaustion. Doesn't have words back, but there's that thing of like, it is unending. Thanks. Of course. It's going to be okay. Aera, as you push forward,

you begin to recognize these woods. You are... If you were all well, you could be there by nightfall. As it stands, stumbling through the dark and the rain and the mud, you will have one more day of travel to arrive there. If it is as you remember it, you will get to safety

and the ability to actually rest and potentially skirt Phaedra from the very jaws of death if she can find a warm fire and medicine, just a structure, any structure, to get out of the rain. It occurs to you in this moment that that is if Torm's Hill is still there. To that point, when we,

unless you're throwing something at us, when we stop for the night, as I have on past nights, Arrow will fall to his knees in the mud and plant his hands in it. It's slow, way slower than the past times that the group has seen him do this, but he tries to mold the earth into a lean-to

and it's so wet and muddy that it takes probably 15 or 20 minutes, but dry earth slowly starts to push up through the mud. After a half hour, I'll say he comes up with a crude lean-to, and then also is able to create a bonfire like he has, but it is small,

barely holding on in the weather. Oh. Fire sputters and burns. Oh, oh dear. How do you do that? Part of it is spending so much time out here. Yeah. But when I was young, a man who was like an uncle to me

showed me how. I don't know how to do anything like that. Huh. Well. Huh? If we make it through the week, maybe I can show you how. Yeah. Okay.

You see here by the fire, Fiedra shivering under the cloak, Garin blowing breath on his one hand. You see Kaws, as he goes by the green dragonborn, looks over at Gond. You see Gond has long, bugbear ears flattened with rain to his head, and he has wrapped up in his cloak a Starmian's body.

You see Gond going, You see Khaz looks over and goes, You know, Gon, we don't have to carry... And you see Gon just looks up with this pitiful expression, and Kars thinks better of giving brutal and pragmatic advice. I think you see Kaws realize on some level that leaving the body here in these strange woods to rot

would be a different kind of death and that some things that are symbols and stories actually keep you alive in a different way. I've heated and opened up another, and I have not done this every night, but another pinecone. Mm-hmm. And Talon Hand places three of those seeds into Gon's palm.

And then I go to the worst of us, not myself, but everyone else, and plants one in their hand. Fiedra. Mm-hmm. With one of these, I will ask you to, even though this is not necessarily how the spell works, to hold onto a d6.

Oh boy. Okay. I will also give mine Tefidra. Cool. You give yours Tefidra as well. Next day, final day of travel. Let's roll these survival checks. One level of exhaustion is a disadvantage for the survival check? Uh-huh.

That one! No! Ooh, it's tough out here, folks. 18. 18! Let's do these two. Roll really well. 12. 12. You said survival? Survival.

Even, 13. 13. Oh, okay. 12. Okay, 12. Yeah. This is going to be another set of constitution saves. And, okay. So.

Disadvantage. You are rolling straight, not with disadvantage. Oh. I are rolling straight, not with disadvantage. Oh. I'm rolling straight because I only have two. With two points of exhaustion, which is what I got right now, is that? You don't get disadvantage on saves with two. That's a three. Okay, okay.

So, and with that feature no longer on me, it's a straight roll for me for constitution. It was a disadvantage once because I was carrying. For her to roll straight, you have to roll with disadvantage. No, but I'm, Kroakus is carrying. Oh, Kroakus, so you're rolling disadvantage on this. Cool.

That's a 20. Okay. What did we get here for constitution? Six. Six. You take another. How many do you have? Three. Three. Disadvantage on attack rolls and savings, or is?

13. 13, that succeeds. So you're at two or at three? Two. You're at two. Incredible, Nia's got some spirit within her. That is. Me and my sister, I'm like, listen, girl, I'm coming, I'm coming!

Indefatigable. 13 as well. Crocus, you succeed as well. So I think you're still at one. Still at one. Just a monster out of legend. Also resistant to cold, so I think you're still at one. Just a monster out of legend. Also resistant to cold, so. Oh!

Well, there you go. That explains it. 12. 12? Yeah. You succeed. And do not die. Oh! Good, good, good! Five levels is the most you can have without dying?

Yeah. Congratulations. Oh! Oh my god! Holy shit. I really wanted to do a series at Critical Role where a hike through the woods was the scariest shit. Yeah, yeah. I could succeed.

Yeah. Nine. Nine. You get another level of exhaustion. I can succeed? Yeah. Nine. Nine. You get another level of exhaustion. I'm still at three. You're at three now. Your party, you see Celeste is at four levels of exhaustion. Gond is at two. Coswold is at three levels of exhaustion.

You know, Marleth is at two levels of exhaustion. There's a group of you that is at two, Coswold is at three levels of exhaustion. You know, Marlath is at two levels of exhaustion. There's a group of you that is just like, no one is walking basically at full speed. The only person who could run right now is Crocus. Where would he run to? Where would he run to? And as you move through, you begin to see the forest fan out.

And as it does, trees begin to part, rain continues to fall, and though there are still storm clouds everywhere, you look and behold a thicket of briar. Ero, you see this enormous, huge gulch of thorns. There used to be a secret passage in here somewhere that you knew about.

That secret passage is torn wide open. You see there are wagon ruts and muddy boot prints and everything just moving in as fast as they can into these woods ahead of you. And in the distance somewhere, you think you hear a clang of something on metal. There's a snap of a rope, and you think even through the woods,

as the rain continues to fall, you can still hear what you think are voices, even through the dense rainfall. So help me, the briar has been blasted outward or broken toward us? Looks non-magical. It looks like the briar has literally been widened out and pulled apart.

This was a place that was supposed to be hidden from Soldiers of the Strife Emperor, and is now something else entirely. It looks like any pretense of being hidden is gone. You can see, again, as a wanderer, more sets of footprints than you can count. There's a certain heading in. You look at them and you're looking

for soldiers' boot prints. Some of the people that were traveling here were barefoot. You see that there were, it looks like chaos, just things going in towards what you remember as Torrems Hill. Mm-hmm. And it's raining on us, so does it feel to me that this is, I'm hearing stuff, so this is recent?

Quite recent. I think some of you guys can clearly hear a voice being in the far distance through the rain and muffled by trees clearly hear a voice being in the forest, it's through the rain and muffled by trees, but a voice being like, further, further back, back here, back here! I pull my hood, my cloak off so that my gold visage is very clear.

Stay behind me. Let's film people. We did. He pulls his hammer and clutches it tightly, as tight in his hand as he can, as exhausted as he is, but just ready. Nia, following Garin, takes Starmie and let her open her, and just tries to hide it,

but just in case, she keeps it ready. Crocus stands up after walking on all fours for a while, still holding Vydra, maneuvers the child to be sitting on his shoulder as opposed to on his back, and then proceeds to put his hand on the shoulder of the dragonborn that sold the other dragonborns out. Marleth. Marleth. He puts his hand on Marleth's shoulder and goes,

Come. He walks with you. As you enter, I will describe to you a place that at this moment exists only in Ero's memory. I need to describe to you a place that exists only in his memory, because I need you to understand how strange

what he now sees is. Torm's Hill was a hill so named for a single dwarven smith who lived in what is called by some a strong home. Basically, a single dwarven family makes a cottage, but by the standards of other folk, that cottage looks like a tiny castle, right? It's the standard of dwarven living that other people that aren't familiar with hill dwarves

would think, oh, that's a lot for a house. But it was under a hill, so it was sod-covered, grass and trees grew on it, but you could see a little sort of chimney and there was work that was done there. That, a long time ago, the beginning of the Calamity, was overtaken by a group of goblins. After that, the goblins fled

to go join the Strife Emperor's armies, and a group of very secretive halflings came who created the briar wall around it and created a small community that you would have known run by two older matriarchs, Klasara Bandy, an older halfling matriarch, and her wife, Nez Pilch, a goblin matriarch, that basically ran a small community,

or not even ran, tended to a large community of survivors, usually about two to three dozen people. So whenever you went to Torm's Hill, it was a couple of structures around an old dwarven strong home in deep forest with large briars around it that kept it hidden in a little rill of two legs of the foothills of a mountain series.

Hard, hard, hard to see, right? You'd fly overhead, couldn't see it from a distance, couldn't see it through the trees. As you walk through in this area at the very south of the Stormpoint Mountains in an area called the Hallowroot Hills, this place that at its peak, housed about two to three dozen people

currently has about 1,200 people. Wagons, sleds, bodies on the ground, torches being lit. As you begin to approach through the woods, you see people stumbling. You can see there's an area where they've just piled up hay bales as a mountain of sludge is coming off

one of the mountains from the rain, just trying to stop a flood from carrying off one of the lower, tented camp areas. You see a lot of these tents at first seem like, oh my god, there's an encampment of soldiers of the Strife Emperor here. No, these have been liberated tents. These tents have been taken by

the people you now see in this place, which appears to be prisoners that have escaped, other refugees, just vast and sundry different people. There are halflings and humans and goblins and hobgoblins. There are what looks to be a lot of goblin peasantry, essentially. These are people that were not in the prisons of Rybad Kol, but were in the farmlands

that they also were not allowed to leave. And were basically living the same life, being told, look how lucky you are to not be in the prison of Rybad Cole. Also, we'll kill you if you leave here, right? And the- This is somehow different.

This is somehow different. Technic out. So you see the central hill, but that is now drowned in brand new structures. I think, Ero, right away, you're like, okay, it didn't go from 36 to 1,200 overnight because there have been some attempts at order, but it is a collapsing order that is overwhelmed

by the mortal need that is now in this space. You hear screams, you hear crying, and you hear, but you also hear a lot of shouts of people trying to direct and give whatever help or aid they can, but it is a struggling order under overwhelming chaos in the moment that you approach. What do you do as you begin to approach this scene?

Well, I think my first instinct, since I have passed through here a handful of times, and Cassandra and Ness know me, and I know them, I don't know if this place is safe. It's chaos around, so I am going to start pushing through the crowds to try to reach that central structure in this chaos and mob that you've described. I think as he's walking,

Ero is struck by the fact that before going to Rybad, he has never seen this many mortal souls gathered in one place since he was ace child. The world continues to tumble upside down. To see this many people in one place and to see them not in chains, not hiding, in danger,

but part of that danger is freedom. I drop my head down to you and watching him walk away, I go, I'll stay with everyone. Go. Yeah. I go with Ero, because this is the place that we were on our way to before disaster struck.

And I think Nia, although incredibly exhausted, realizes that this is the place where she thought she was going to reconnect with her sister. So she's, there's a bit of, wherever excitement can be seen in her posture, you see bits of, her back straightens, her shoulders are up, she's still hobbling, but she doesn't want to look as awful as she feels.

Finding some inner reserve of willpower to not collapse in this moment and some deep heroic instinct. In so many times in the world of Exandria, someone in your state would so clearly be the one in need of aid and rest. You look and in this moment realize that you are one of the stronger standing here

and more at the ready. Crocus, underneath you, Phaedra, who has been holding onto her breath, and talk about heroism, refusing to let go of her last rasping breaths. I think even on a deep intuition for one who does not know a lot about the world, you know that she has fought very dearly

to survive to this point. Just a little longer. Okay. Yeah. It's... I know the death hasn't come for me yet. I'm not supposed to die like this. I'm supposed to die getting ambushed in a knife fight

by bandits on the side of a highway. No, because that one I can stop. So this is something I can't, so you need to hold on. I know. I am holding on. Yeah. Aero, you push forward through the crowd.

Going towards Torrems Hill, there's a small area. Torrems Hill didn't used to have roads. There were little areas where off towards some goats in a pen, there would be a little less grass, like a natural footpath. Now suddenly in the midst of these couple of structures is a place that is like a crossroads. You can see it's like, oh, this isn't, there are no roads. There's no civilization.

There's no places to go. The world is destroyed. But all of a sudden, yeah, well, what do you call this thing in the middle of these four sloppy ramshackle structures other than a town square? It happened maybe overnight. Just by the sheer number of footfalls.

Yeah. And you see in the middle, behind her, you see a bespectacled hobgoblin. One of the frames of his spectacles totally shattered and full of cracked glass, but a bespectacled hobgoblin is holding a little sputtering lantern under a hood

over this tiny, rotund goblin woman. She's got graying, wiry hair and two braids hanging off her back, a little kerchief gown. She's soaked. You see her pants are rolled up under and her skirt is tucked into her belt because she's going through mud that comes up to her knees.

She's very distinctive because she's got two big, fake silver teeth behind her canines, and her mouth spreads really wide as she yells, and she goes, All right, keep that moving in! They need more rope over at the hay bales! Errol! You see Nez before you. How did this come to pass?

Miracles abound! We're all about to die! Listen! You see that she comes over and just wraps an arm around your waist and puts her head against the outside of your thigh. She's tiny. She has old age shrinkage

and wasn't a big goblin to start, so is a tiny, tiny little creature. She puts her head against the outside of your leg and goes, I can't believe it. We hadn't seen you in over a year. We thought you'd been taken. It's good to see you, Bilge. Before, I was never going to come back here.

Here I am. You said that it was a fool's errand to stay here and that we would all die. And look, we've become more popular than ever. I am happy to be mistaken. All right. Well, are you wet? And she looks down and sees the blood sort of oozing out from your feet and goes,

you need to get to a fire. I have seen better days. All right. Do you have any with you that are on the verge of death, that can no longer walk? Well. Fy'ra feebly raises.

Yeah, you just see a tiny halfling, a skinny halfling hand raise. She needs help. I could take some fire right about now. All right. There's not much space left, but inside of the actual hill, inside of Torm's Hill, bring her in there.

It's piping hot, it's toasty warm, but I don't know how much space there will be, but luckily she's tiny, so. Oh, there's a shelf! We can put her on a shelf. You're small, like me. Someone will have to put her in there. I can't fit.

All right, you see, she says, if you'd be so kind, please. Yeah, I'll try and put Fy'jar, she can't walk, but I'm assuming Fy'jar can't walk, and Nia is not much stronger, but she does what she can to prop up her body and try and slowly, slowly move.

She nods to Nez, like a quick greeting, and follows. I think Arrow's moving, Nia's following. Chug it, it's time to come down, and he takes the kid off of him finally. What's the last kid on the ground?

What's the last kid on the ground? Celeste looks at you and says, as Celeste collapses on her knees and screws up her children, she looks at you. She has not spoken in days because her mouth is just, you can see that there's some kind of cough or rasping thing, but through a wheezing voice, she goes, You are family to us. Okay.

You saved my children. Seeing Crocus unable to meet her gaze, she simply puts a scaled hand against her scaled cheek, brushes your face, and smiles and says, I will go see if there is any food to be had. And you see that Kaz goes with her to look after the children. Phaedra, you take off.

You look around and see Gond holding Starmion's body, just sort of looking for somewhere to go. And you see Marlath sort of gazing around, looking at everything under the rain. And you see he looks down at Nez and says, is there food or drink for those who have just arrived? And you see she goes, beats me! We're trying not to die right now!

And you see that she just rushes off to go help with this flood coming in. For all of you here, you're in a scene of a lot of chaos where there's a lot of action immediately. I know that you guys all have the disadvantage on pretty much everything right now, but let me know if there are any perception or investigation checks you would make right away

in first being here. I would quickly do a scan for the rest of the members of my gang, just in case maybe they ended up here. Give me a perception check. With disadvantage, right? With disadvantage, that's right. I am barely lucid at this point. I think, partially, Phaedra also thinks

that she might have died and this is the line to get into hell. Yeah. In which case, she would also be looking for the fellow members of her gang, so either way. Yeah. Bad. Four.

You look and see. You're looking around for members of your gang and you see in the rain under the lantern, your mother and father both looking at you. Mom? Dad? Crocus, you see Fiedra speak to empty rain as the fever takes hold

and you begin to see things that are not there. Mm, bad. Can you hear me? Moving your hand up, you see they look and go, We're glad you're here. We're so proud that you're going to see the sun. Am I finally joining you again? As Phaedra loses consciousness,

do you think that she is able to join her parents, if only in dream? Yeah, I think so. I think she hasn't thought about her parents for a long time, and this, for the first time, she's letting herself think about that again. Your cunning and ruthlessness gave you life in Rybad Coal. And the absolute ill-advised kindness of strangers

saw you safely to Torm's Hill. It is a kindness that you have not seen since before your parents passed. Yeah. With an unconscious Phaedra, Nia, you move through the doors of this dwarven forge home and see there are shelves built in.

There's a massive roaring fireplace. As you come in, go ahead and give me a medicine check, if you'd be so kind. Rolling with disadvantage as well. Yeah. Oh, good, three and a two. That'll be an eight. Eight.

Oh no, just kidding. Seven. Seven. You see that there is space. It's literally on a shelf above the fireplace, but Phaedra is small enough that you can put some, you see, as you walk in, there's a big pile of cloaks and other things that have been dried out by the fire. And you, even as exhausted as you are,

know that you can get the wet clothes off of Phaedra, get her into something dry and literally store, there are other halflings and gnomes up on these shelves because the floor, every inch of the floor, is hobgoblins, humans, half-elves, these larger folk. You see that there are a couple, what look like healers or other things like that,

moving in a room choked with about north of 60 people. There are two people tending to people in here. Okay. room choked with about north of 60 people. There are two people tending to people in here. Okay. I get Fiedra into something dry and I think she sees the two people and starts to move towards one of them. She's had a, I don't uh nia's really recognizing what's happening uh she gets feed your somewhere dry she's just in her like nurse brain uh grabs her

healer's kit uh uh leaves the there isn't much in her bag besides her healer's kit so she leaves the bag with feedra um sort of gives her something to hold on to and keep manipulating. She walks up to one of the two people who are helping in whatever way they can. You walk up and you see that there is a little halfling woman who is here. She looks up at you and goes, Hi, you have a medicine kit.

Yeah, there isn't much. There are people who this belongs to. So if you have anything, bandages. Are you skilled in healing? Relatively. Not great, but. You see she looks at you. She has this wild little thatch of wavy hair.

It's like an Albert Einstein-y poof of hair that goes out in all directions. Tiny little halfling woman. You recognize her having a similar wedding band to the goblin woman you saw out in the street outside. She looks at you and says, All right, you can heal. You need to rest.

You need to rest here. You see that she hands you a crust of bread. It's hard as a rock, but she gives you a canteen of what feels immediately warm to the touch, and you recognize as being tea. Smells herbal and she says, just pour some on it to soften the bread, eat that and you have to sleep.

We need you. Okay, okay. She rips it in half, dips some of it in that tea, gets it back to Fejra and tries to feed her, I guess. Phaedra, hey, open up. Oh. She tries to break down bits,

so bite-sized bits, and just is giving a bite to Phaedra, a bite for herself, a bite to Phaedra, a bite for herself. Somewhere in a dream, your mom is feeding you delicious tea biscuits. And you begin to feed them. And then you see Klasara, the halfling woman, leads you out back into the rain for a moment again into another building where you see

there are a few cots laid out. It's much colder here, but if you're not on death's door, you'll at least be able to rest here. Wraps her cloak around herself, conks out, hits that pillow hard. Hard! Boom. Unfortunately, that pillow's a rock.

Concussion! Concussed. For Krokas and Garin, you're out there still with Ero as you see this goblin woman get back to work. You've all had some exhaustion as well, but you see that also things are going nuts out here. What are you going to do?

I think at this point, Nott is just taking in all the chaos around. The ash and sweat streaked elements that the rain couldn't wash over this trek. The beard itself, almost darker, stained because of it in places. At first, he's just standing stoic before you see this smile crawl through his mouth.

This hell that some of you had seen for a time, some longer than others. This is the first time in nearly a century that he's been in a space where people, while in chaos, aren't under tyranny. He's just breathing in a sense of community that he hasn't really been around in a long, long time. Glances over at Crocus.

You going to be all right? Yeah. Places his hand on the shoulder. I'll be right back. Okay. Now, this is a place of dwarven make, it looks like, at one point. At one point, yeah.

While of a mountain dwarf in his history, there are maybe some similarities in the subterranean builds. He's going to just start walking through what tunnels he can to where some of the great keepsakes are held by dwarven common folk. Mm-hmm. Try and recall his days of building the keepsakes are held by dwarven common folk. Try and recall his days of building

simple and intricate abodes and stumble best he can to where they might keep their finest liquor. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. We're going to roll straight because you're still exhausted, but this is stone cunning. So I want you to roll a,

we'll make it a tool proficiency check, given that it's a stone cunning. He is a crafter, which means he has proficiency with brewer supplies, but we can go ahead and try and have that. Let's do that. All right. DC 10 gets you something. DC 15 is even better.

19 work for you? 19! Yeah! Rolls well when it counts! Yeah! We are on Malzahar. Liquor, liquor, liquor, liquor, liquor. Garin.

I almost high-fived you on the scene. I love it. Bring it, bring it, go! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I love it. I fucking, I fucking, I fucking love it. Bring it, bring it, go! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I love it. I fucking love it. Garin, you begin to move forward from this place.

As you do, you are looking out. You hear laughing voices behind you. A distant cousin. Well, and of course, who knows? And why shouldn't she have? He says, I've nothing against it. He's a very proficient brewer, as hill dwarves often are,

I'm just saying. And he says, you sound ignorant. A brewer is a craftsman, just like a mason is. Ale doesn't last for generations, is all I'm saying. It's consumed after it's brewed. That's all I'm trying. You see that there's a moment and someone puts a hand on your shoulder and you feel in this moment someone looking at you and going, Pop, are you all right? You seem lost, like you're somewhere far away.

I, uh, I, well... You see him trying to lick lips that are still themselves just cracked and dry, even through the rainfall, like a split curling up the front and almost towards the base of his nose. I am just admiring the grounds of your beer.

Get them out of drink! Torm! Torm! You hear the name Torm shouted out, and you hear the name Torm shouted out, and you hear voices going, I just want to, I just wish I was free. Free again. Free to be with those I love. And you were headed for Torm's Hill,

but you look at the back where it meets the wood line, and you see that there's an old stone fence that connects. It connects at a large standing rock that's covered in lichen. It's really thick with lichen. You look back, and there's some part of you, deep down, that remembers that stone, remembers this ancient, tall dolmen or mynir stone. As you go to touch the lichen,

you see that there are dwarven runes underneath it. It's very common for hill dwarves as a way of sanctifying and protecting supplies, especially things that can go bad, to place them within sight of a sacred stone like this. And on that 19, you look, see where the stone touches, see this earth and sod at the back lip of the mound, and there it is, poking up out of the grass.

You miss it, even in bright daylight, let alone during the rain, the very tip of a ringed brass handle on a door that maybe hasn't been opened in who knows how long. I stumble forward, catching it to hold my weight up. With what little strength left, see if I can give it a tug.

You pull back, open. 12 massive, dust-covered barrels of ale. 12 massive, dust-covered barrels of ale. Hanging from the roof, salted beef and pork, huge rations. These may have been here for years, but dwarves know their craft and know it well. And the dwarves that smoked and cured this meat and brewed this ale and sealed it under black wax

in ancient oaken barrels, sealed here in this place, you know this will have kept. Oh, Hammer. Miracles abound indeed. And just starts cry-laughing on the ground, falls to his knees and laughs. You laugh and laugh, and as you do, see this miracle unfold before you.

Arrow, what are you up to? I think that Arrow has an inverse reaction to Gar. A lifetime spent wandering in the ashes of this landscape and only spending short amounts of time in any gathering of people. He has come to distrust gatherings as places that are perilous. Time and again, he made attempts in his life to settle

and those all evaporated through his fingers. So to see this many people, and his fear response or anxiety has deadened over the decades. So he's never really thrown or upset in a way that he feels an apprehension right now. I think he's both scanning the... We're in view of the mountains here, you said, right?

Yes, you are. He is both looking at scenes around him of people helping wounded friends or family and people laughing in the face of tragedy and just so much life around him that he is, part of him is in another place a long time ago where he saw scenes very much like this. And then the other part of him

not trusting his surroundings is scanning the mountain sides for the kind of danger he's used to avoiding his entire life. I think his gaze eventually falls on one particular peak, and it stills him to a degree. And after allowing himself that indulgence, turns to Krokas. I don't think that we would have made it this far

without you. Okay. This is not something I would tend to ask. Can I lean on you? This is not something I would tend to ask. Yeah. Can I lean on you? Mm. Yes. I think I need to rest. Yeah.

And Krokas sits and hunches down and lets Arrow lean on him. You sit and hunch down, so exhausted, hearing frantic activity. Ero, you feel this strength pouring out from Krokus. He's even stronger than he was before, if that can be said, this enormous belt on him.

But you also wonder if whatever magic now moves upon your companion is a gift to him, or if it simply clarifies a gift to him, or if it simply clarifies a gift he already had. As you finally rest, another harrowing escape from near certain death, delivered once again from a fate worse than death. Your eyes do what they have always done,

which is move to the horizon. You have to stay ready. How long does Garin stay laughing at the entrance? And what does he do after he is finished? He laughs until he physically does not have the strength. That wordless phrase, he does something he hasn't done in a hundred years, and he taps a cake.

He cherishes, drinks hungrily, as it is in the finest of ales, a meal. But then carves a fair piece of meat, fills what could service as any sort of an ale skin. He would probably have to go find, if not. Closed the door. Doesn't make it known for fear of a panicked rush of unknown supplies, but returns to probably more

connected and organized heads to decide what to do with this bounty, but returns to the rest of the troop with what meat he can salvage in secret. Having carved off a piece for you and your companions, you walk by Nez, who is organizing people again. You see that she's speaking to an absolutely soaked, he looks like a,

sorry, he looks like a tiger folk. He has white and black stripes in his fur, but just a wet cat. You see he's there, speaking and going, The river's completely flooded. There's no way. If the scouting party's still out there, then they're not going to be able to make it back to town.

I'm worried about the, and you just, once again, dealing with this chaos, but again, the people here, at least the ones that are in charge, look rested and sharp of mind enough to be able to handle this. As you walk up to her, she looks up at you. He clearly seems like the one in charge, if you were going to tell anybody.

She looks over and goes, All right, we need to find some way to deal with the river, but with years without rain, and now rain comes, and it's incredible, and it years without rain, and now rain comes and it's incredible and it's a miracle and it's going to kill us all. Miss. Miss. Yes? Kind of taps her shoulder gently with his calf

and gets her attention. All his other arm is clutching the meat underneath, like a half cloak that he's thrown over. He goes like, If we're looking to damn something, I might be able to aid at least a bit of focus. But for the time being, you have many mouths to feed and you've been sitting on a bounty unknown.

I give a nudge in that direction. Walk with me if you have but a moment. All right, briefly. And she walks with you. Briefly. I don't take too much of her time, but I say, You know who to trust and how to disseminate, but this belongs to you. This belongs to everyone here.

See to it. She looks in the open cellar behind the hill that's been hidden under the sod for who knows how long. She looks in the open cellar behind the hill that's been hidden under the sod for who knows how long. And you've never seen someone go complete radio dead in the brain while weeping as hard as possible. Mouth open, eyes. You're a sorcerer?

Miracle? Just an old drunk. You see she goes, Well, I love this old drunk. Big hug around the waist. She says, Thank you for telling me discreetly. This will be shared and shared equally, but we...

So many of the people here are new faces and we trust that they are good of heart. We trust that they are good of heart, all of them. You see that she puts her head down and struggling with the meaning of those words, she walks back out to the center of the town, closing the door behind her, and rushes off to, and you see a couple of young, strong people

coming back here to set up and start to inventory what they have to share. I nod and watch that for a minute, bite off a little piece of meat, and begin to walk towards where they went ahead and took Fiedra. Incredible. We are going to move through time

as you have skirted death. Congratulations, heroes of the Divergence. You have made it to... Somehow. Somehow. And we will say here, normally it takes multiple long rests to stave off exhaustion, but I think here, in the beginnings of the Divergence, we will awaken the next morning with your exhaustion gone,

the food and drink that you have, and awakening that next day, Phaedra, you come to, against all odds, alive. And I think Nia, it's the next day. Still rain clouds overhead, but the rain is very light as it's coming down now. But it's constant enough as it's coming down that the skies, maybe somewhere, it goes from a black storm cloud

to a little smudge of gray. Like, god, is there something I've never seen on the other side of that? However, looking throughout the room, you see that there is a very small, little medicinal tankard of ale that has some medical tools in it.

Just enough alcohol to hopefully sterilize a little bit. Oh man. A little bit. Let's not think too hard about that. Let's not think too hard about that. But you see Nia here as well. And up on one side of this new encampment, you see that there is a bunch of hay bales with ropes. and up on one side of this new encampment,

you see that there is a bunch of hay bales with ropes. That was the rope snapping you heard was just the flood, literally snapping a cable as hay bales pushed through it. Really quick, I'm so sorry. Am I still holding Nia's bag that she gave me? I probably, or no, you took it. I probably, in changing you and getting that, but once I got the bread and tea to you,

I probably took it on my way to go knock out wherever she knocked out. Then never mind. I'm not stealing your tea. Then I, then, yeah. Would have been a more interesting story. Sorry, friend. No, no, no, you're good.

It was an uneventful night. This is the very next day, though, right? Yeah. Would've been a more interesting story. Sorry, friend. It was an uneventful night. This is the very next day, though, right? This is the very next day. As you awaken and the day stretches on, you start to get active again, you can see unfolding around you where the chaos meets the community, where the chaos meets the community, where the chaos meets the kindness.

It stinks here in this community. There's a lot of waste everywhere. There are a lot of sick people. The next day, you awaken and look at this room where every sick person has been packed into a hot, smoky room together with almost no ventilation. There are some tents and other things around

and you can see this next morning there is a sort of porch on a thatched roof little shanty building that both Nez and Klasara are speaking with an older bugbear. You see that bugbear has what looks like injuries sustained from public punishment under the rule of the Strife Emperor, but looks to be a peasant leader of essentially a lot of bugbears and hobgoblins and goblins that have fled here in whatever the chaos. I mean, you remember seeing just whole planes of ash

wiped out in the floods before, and whoever could make it here has made it here. But you see that's the group that seems to be talking about what is to be done. Nez and Klasar both wave over at you, Ero, that next morning with an open invitation to come speak with them. Other than that, it looks like there's some loose people

trying to fix the flood wall. There's this thing called the Lark's Brook, which is this little river that is just enormous and engorged, it's broken its banks off towards an edge of the community. But you guys tell me what you do the next day here in this new kind of freedom and uncertain safety. towards an edge of the community. But you guys tell me what you do the next day here in this new kind of freedom and uncertain safety.

I think after Eros woke up and removed himself from Crocus, has been just pacing near the doorway, waiting to see if Fehaedra wakes up. And is waiting just outside. It's just, that's his only care. Phaedra gets up, sort of with a start, and immediately thinks,

Crocus, get out, jump off that little shelf, trying to find stability back on my legs, and it's been a rough past few days, so I stumble a little bit. And then I immediately make a beeline for the door to try and find Crocus, but before I do, stopping my tracks, look back at that little mug that has all the medical instruments in it.

Yeah. Is there anything in there that I could potentially use as a weapon, like a little knife or something? Yeah, give me a little sleight of hand check. A sleight of hand? Nat 20 plus five. Hey! We're cats.

Yeah. These guys are not working with the finest surgical implements, so on a nat 20, you pull out a full working dagger. Bad for surgery, but great for what you need it for. Yeah. So I just take that out. Mine.

I'll say on a nat 20 as well, you pull out, it's actually a stiletto, which is why it's being used here. So it's this long, thin blade. And I'll say that as part of its design, you can add a plus 1d4 to attack rolls against heavily armored opponents. It's like four finding the little neck joint in the armor there. Okay.

Plus four? Plus 1d4. 1d4. Plus 1d4 to attack rolls there. So, Fiedra, you were down, but not out. Next morning, back up, stealing already. I'm so fucking mad! We're so fucking mad! You walk out the door and see Crocus.

I say, oh my god! Crocus immediately drops to all fours and puts himself lower than Fiedra. That's because that's just his gnomes. I say, oh, my boy. How are you? Fine. You're good? I knew you'd be good. I'm fine, are you?

I'm fine. It's going to take a little more than rain to get me. I mean, it was more than rain. True, but you did real good out there. Not just with me, but with taking care of those kids. I did a lot of thinking, or at least I tried to. There's just so much about your heart that changes the second that you have a bodyguard.

And just, I'm so proud of you, my bodyguard. And maybe one of these days, you'll have bodyguards of your own to be just as proud of. I, um, what? I lied. I just pull you into a big hug. You just, you like,

let's Fiedra hug him around the neck and then he stands up with her hugging him and kind of just like puts his hand underneath so that she's standing, but he stands up again and is holding her and is just kind of looking around now. As you look around, you see rushing up out of the crowd towards both of you, Crocus, unmistakable here with a little bit of dim light,

so it goes from the total chaos of a rainstorm and pitched night to light rain during smudgy dark gray. So everyone's in those partially-concealed, foggy half-sh shadows during a daytime thunderstorm. You look and see two shapes, massive shape, stumbling through the mud and hear, BOSS! As this shape starts moving and you see another guy running

as rain touches a sizzling head of Tevin. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Just rushing through. Gah, ah, ah, ah! And they get through. Otto just scoops you both in an enormous hug. Taveen is there as well. He goes, boss!

Oh my god! Oh my god, my boys! What the fuck happened? What the fuck happened with you? Where did you go? What happened when everything exploded? Everything exploded! Yeah!

Well, here's the thing. You were making the special dinner, and then some guys came and said, if any of you are hiding hands in the soup, and then we said, we got to go get that hand, and we both fell. You know those giant crucibles? Yeah! Everything collapsed,

and the crucible smashed out of there, but we were fine because it's basically a giant helmet. So we were under there for a while and we were trapped in there and it rolled for a long time. And we, both of us and Kef, and we were kind of, you know if you were like inside a ball, you could run? Trying to think how to paint a picture with words. You're doing a wonderful job.

I can see it, I can feel it, I can smell it. We got badly hurt, but we got out of there. And I think hiding in the pot is the only reason we're still alive. Yeah, I mean, hey, that's what us roaches do, right? We survive. We survive. We make it out. We make it out. What happened to Kef?

You said Kef was with you? They both turned to look at each other. Well. Yeah. A couple days ago, we were traveling on the roads out, trying to get back to Harbor as best we could. Kef, we met up with some friends of Kef. From early- Kef has friends?

I think he might be 200 years old. I don't know. We ran into some friends of his, and they were going a different speed from us, I'd say. Hey? Yeah, he's fallen in with a band, a band of, I don't know. He took a bite out of a guy's face in front of a bonfire

and people were talking about how the gods are dead and we're the new gods and he got naked and he walked into the fire and started burning and laughing. We left. Yeah. We simply left. Wow.

It was a different, you know, he intervenes like, I consider myself a dangerous, violent man and I'm proud of the crimes I do. And I wished for no part of what I saw. Yeah, yeah. No, that Kef, that tracks 100%. Not, so he's still out there somewhere.

He's... Don't say that. Yeah, no, as much as I did not like having him around a whole lot, I'm now realizing that the alternative is much scarier. I'll never forget that he exists and that he's out there somewhere. Oh, I... And I point at Maloreth.

Mm-hmm. To our two companions. That guy. We got to keep an eye on him. That guy? What's his deal? He sold out a bunch of Dragonborn. Oh. Yeah.

Shady guy. For money. Does he have any belongings on him? No, he was a prisoner. Yeah, okay. But just because I told Veedra, I'm telling you, we have to keep an eye. Yeah, keep an eye in general.

I mean... Yeah, we don't know who's here. As you point at Marlath, Marlath actually is going to walk up to you. Krogus will stand all the way up, so he's six foot sixes. You see Marlath walks up and goes, Hello.

Hello. I'm very sorry to interrupt your... No, of course not. No, what's going on? I'm given to understand that your coterie, I was aware briefly of the existence of the roaches. Many are. Was understanding of your command of the kitchens of Rybad Kul

a word had reached me that you lived rather a higher lifestyle than many of the prisoners of Rybad Kul due to your... That's a good guy. I would love to speak with you if I could. Oh, well, I'm not, you know, I just almost died. Not super in a speaking mood. But you are a woman of resourcefulness and skill. I can be.

Who's asking? For what? Elrath. Thank you. He looks and says, This is chaos. I agree. And therefore, represents a tremendous opportunity.

If there is word going around the camp, some believe that the Strife Emperor was victorious in battle. Others are saying that he was destroyed, but regardless of the truth of the matter, a new order is soon to impose itself here on this town. And I cannot help but notice, but two plump, matronly older women

are scuttling around and engaging in various acts of charity. And that seems to be the entire organizational structure of events here in Torm's Hill. Yes. Very astute observation. And you are bringing this to my attention, why? I'm a man of letters

and had some position prior to my incarceration amongst the administration of the Strife Emperor and his empire. There are people here who... Things within the camp are being shared and relied upon, and it's chaos, and of course this is happening because it's life or death, and there are floods and things of that nature.

But things will revert here. It will not always be a state of emergency. And when the dust settles, I would love to work with you because I believe we may be able to create structures that the people here rely on together. No. You make a very convincing argument. But, um...

There's a bit of an initiation process that you're going to have to go through. Maybe we can discuss it at a later time. But until then, thank you for your advice. He's going to try to make an insight check to see if your words feel genuine to him. Okay. If you would like to make either persuasion or deception,

go for it. You're trying to beat a 15. Dirty 20. What would you like Marlath to believe? He believes that... I am being genuine about that's very interesting information. Thank you for letting me know. And he believes that, oh, you know what?

Phaedra is genuinely going to... He thinks that Fiedra is recognizing his value and is thinking, maybe this is actually a good alliance to make. I think this is smart. Lovely. That is... That's what he believes. That's what he believes.

You see, he looks at the stiletto at your side, and you see he smiles and says, Quickly armed. I need to find some parchment, ink, and quill so that I may be likewise armed. Kill that guy. Kill that fucking guy. If you put him down.

You see 1000 for the milk carton. You say anything and I'm on him. I am. For the rest of the- It's my whole job. God! Fuck that fucking guy! I like him, I like him. I'm affecting Celia's ability to be in character at the table.

Nita wouldn't do it, but Celia damn sure would. Kill the lawyers. For the rest of you, that next day, and we can be fungible also with time here. If you feel like your actions would occur not over the next day, but over the next week or however long, that's also fine here. Day one, I know you said that the matriarchs of this settlement signaled me, Actions would occur not over the next day, but over the next week or however long. That's also fine here.

Day one, I know you said that the matriarchs of this settlement signaled me, but let's say before we get to that, Ero would have, I think that we hunkered down and passed out under cover of rain, but still outdoors. And I think Ero, who his first up always did not sense you leave, and just sort of comes awake

in his little bit of cover outside, watching the day already started and people moving about. He wants to find everybody that first moment, but most of all, he wants to find Nia. So he spends the next 20 minutes asking around at the settlement if they've seen her, anyone that looks like her, until I wind my way to her. Give me an investigation or perception,

and do it with advantage, as you've been to Torm's Hill before and know your way around. Fuck these ones. That's a dirty 20. Hell yeah. The other one was a one. Asking around for Nia, someone explains, oh, Nia's already working with Klasara,

taking care of the injured and sick. But you're directed to her very quickly. As you are, though, a woman behind you speaks and goes, I'm so sorry, are you mentioning a Nia? Is that short for Ray Nia? It is. Turning around, absolutely soaked in a, there's a traveler's disguise cloak,

but underneath it, you see a shimmer of actual white, well-made fabric, a kind of fabric that is not common to see. And you see that there is a beautiful tiefling woman, sort of swooping horns that come up, white robes underneath this traveler's cloak that are frayed and destroyed at the bottom, but near the top, lovely stitching and embroidery

in the vest and cowl of the robe. You see, openly on her chest, and as stunned as you were by this amount of people, here's another stunning moment for you. She openly wears a symbol of the Moonweaver on a holy symbol around her neck. And you said horned tiefling? A horned tiefling, yes.

You see that she appears to be a tiefling and either she kind of looks like she could be a priestess or a cleric, but seeing open clerics of the prime deities, maybe that's going on in Vasselheim, but out here in the south of Gwisar, near the domain of the Strife Emperor, that is crazy to behold.

And she looks at you and says, Aerea? Aye. Greetings. I am Luz. I am helping tend. I'm a friend of Klasara and Nez. And I was a friend for a time of Lyanna, of her sister.

For a time. She has departed from Tworms Hill, but I was to remain. He has a split-second heart attack at the word departed before the sentence is completed. She, to the last of my knowledge, was alive. She waited here for many months,

but waited for many months here for her sister, but believed she received a vision, and she departed to the northwest of here and points towards the mountain that occupied your dreams the night before, and parted for the Snowgrave Pass. You know that pass, and you know it very well. Are you free at the moment?

Yes, yes. I've been tending to the ministrations of those here. Praise the Moonweaver. And just has a moment of crying as she just says the name of her goddess out loud in public. Come with me. Yes.

And as we field the crowd, I'm not going to recount it because everyone here lived it, but I tell her the story of our exodus from the ruins of that prison place to arrive here while searching. She moves with you. As she does, she says, All right.

They're doing it. I feel so sorry. As in the events you've recounted, she says, That poor, that poor old man. In his dying, the last execution at Rybad Kol, a priest of the Changebringer, who had the last laugh then. I just wish that he had stayed alive to see it.

Oh, all right. A miracle that you are here, and a blessing. Strange things are afoot. Great danger avails this place. Change is coming. Change is coming. Change is coming. And she moves with you towards Torm's Hill. Okay.

So I think the last time, I think I lost track of her entirely. So it's just based off of, someone pointed me in the right direction already? Yes, so there's the matriarch speaking on the porch, and then you also see where Nia is working at Torm's Hill, at the actual dwarven stronghold under the hill. Okay, so with this tiefling in tow,

roll up on your spot. Nia is being as helpful as she possibly can. Her locks are tied back. She has been waiting for a moment of stillness so that she could look for her sister. There has not been said moment. So she's just bandaging what she can, setting things, just trying to do her...

She's sweating and frantic, but there is a routine that she is falling into that is providing some comfort. She's remaining helpful, she's remaining useful. And yeah, cloak, bag, bundled up together somewhere safe, but she is working and working and working and working. She woke up and has not sat down since she has been awake. Go ahead and give me a medicine check with advantage,

if you'd be so kind. Ha-cha! What-a-ta-ta-ta-ta-ka! 11! Medicine 16. On a 16 medicine check, you see that on a 16 medicine check,

you are currently treating this beautiful woman. You realize that she has dark, deep skin, almost like the water at the bottom of the ocean. You can sense almost a noise. She appears to be a water genasi. Shaved head, but is very, very ill in this moment, just from exhaustion.

It's just like collapse, like nervous system collapse in body. On a 16, her eyes flutter open, and they look like these deep, sapphire blue eyes without pupil or iris to them. You see that she looks up and goes, Hey, there you are. Welcome back. Hi, I'm Rania.

Rania. I don't believe in an afterlife, so if these are the halls of paradise, I owe you an apology. Nia laughs, and she says, Not paradise yet, but if you knew me well, this is paradise compared to where I once was. How do you feel?

Absolutely awful. But better. I'll take better. She lets, oh, actually, what can I call you? Undetra. Undetra. Pleasure to meet you, Undetra. And continues to bandage and try to warm

her freshly conscious body. Go ahead and give me an insight check as you do so. Oh, good. Eight. Eight, cool. You see that she looks up and just goes, As you tend to her, there's like, most of what you're doing here is treating a couple of actual flesh injuries in her legs.

You see that she did not come through that road. She walked through briars to get here. Her legs are torn apart. And as you're treating those injuries, and also just basically taking some of that tea and helping her breathe, because the smoke, you can tell, is really affecting her, but she's got to be near warmth in this room. So you're letting her have a wet rag near the smoke, you can tell, is really affecting her, but she's got to be near warmth in this room.

So you're letting her have a wet rag near the fire, bringing it over so she can breathe something humid that has herbs in it, that's like a poultice that's coming through. She looks over and says, This is saving my life. Do you get that a lot? Is that special for you when you save someone's life? Every time is special, but it feels...

funny to feel the special things feel common. But, again, if you knew me well... Yeah, it's kind of what I do. It's a contradiction. If something is common, it can't be special. So you've contradicted yourself. You don't make any sense. No, no, no, I don't.

None of this makes sense. I think to make sense in a place like this, you would have to be a real particular kind of crazy. Not my kind. Aero enters this place with Luce behind him. I don't think she sees me coming. I think that I see you at work in the middle of this conversation

and come up behind you and you hear a familiar voice say. So yeah, contradicting is my thing. One day it works, one day it doesn't. She's just rambling, rambling, flustered. You said shaved head, dark skin? Yes. Flustered. Fl said shaved head, dark skin? Yes. Flustered. Flustered. He is flustered. He is absolutely flustered.

She's just trying to tend and be normal. But yeah, contradictions are actually a funny thing, because when you're a healer, it's common for you to be saving lives, but every life is so precious and so special. So I mean, you, of course. And so yeah, it's sort of my thing. You a little flustered?

Yes. Got it. I'm a little flustered, too. I just have a funny way of showing it. I mean, I... So! And I think we're all a little flustered these days. Whitpan, Aero, you're okay, gets up, scrambles,

and then sees Luce and... Oh my god! And goes to hug Luce, weeping but cry laughing, and just out of that one place into this other very precious place. Luce, hi, hello. She gives you this huge embrace, holding you to her.

Oh, Nia. I cannot tell you how strongly I wish that I could tell you. Liana, where is she? Liana received a vision. Is she here? Or where? She received a vision of your parents.

Your parents were here more than a year ago. They journeyed from here to where I cannot say. I was on a scouting expedition when they left, and the exact manner of their departure was unclear to me, but Lyanna received a vision and believed that they headed in the direction of Snowvale Pass. Okay.

It is wonderful to see you. She was well, she was whole, she was healthy, and she left fed and armed. Okay. There's every reason to believe that she knew what she was doing. Okay. How are you?

Are you well? As well as one can be at a time like this. I'm moving with a par- Ero, have you told Luz the- How are you? My goodness, hi, good morning. Hello. Here, and she clears out a place for Ero to sit.

After taking care of Phaedra, I passed out here. I met Klasara? Klasara, yeah. Klasara, and we've been working to patch up what and who we can. I'm still getting my bearings. Yeah, she gleaned that. That's why she's trying to get you seated and immediately is going to pay attention

to the conversation, but is checking him, seeing how he's doing, giving a little cursory scan of her friend. I told you I'd get you to Torm's Hill. Thank you. You see something that you have not seen before. You've seen him smirk. You've never seen him smile.

I'm just sorry that took such a roundabout way of getting here. It's okay, it's okay. We got here. We got here, and we got here whole. We got here well, and she goes to grab Lysa's hand. I told you change was coming. Undeniable. She just is reeling after all the information

that she's gotten her sister as well. She goes to make sure that her locket is still in her bag. It's still there. It's still there? Yes. Wonderful. Yeah, Nia is untying her hair, getting ready to, you said Snowgrave Pass is where she may be? Mm-hmm, yes.

We must move. I'm familiar with Snowgrave. How far? Is it days? Can we get there quickly? Can I make it there and back? Days, yeah. It's days. Okay. We weren't really out. It's days. Okay.

Properly outfitted, yeah. Okay. Have you seen the Roach Gang or Garan this morning? Have I seen Garan this morning? No, I think you've probably been, unless Garan thinks you have. I don't think so. Then I think the, okay, let's find Garn and everyone,

and Luce holds her hand. How can I be helpful to you? Do you want to come with us? For right now, I think that my place is here, in Torm's Hill. There's much to be done here, much. You hear a commotion outside as a faint cheer goes up. And you hear a wagon trundling into the camp.

And this is a half-hearted, Hey! Half-hearted cheer. And as it does so, you see that Luz says, It is, I believe, my task to remain here. The Moonweaver's blessings are required for the people gathered in here. Yes, yes, of course.

And it is due to the Moonweaver's workings that these people have. Take the moon. The moon. As you say that, you see below, on Detra, leveled, says, If you're going to converse, could you do so outside?

And looks up. I see. Looks up at Luz specifically with a look of utter scorn and distaste. Nia sees that or sees that, hides her offense and her confusion. Nia is, she is so sweet, sweet baby,

is really confused and off-put by, the energy that she's giving is, I've done this for you and you spit at my friends. Mm-hmm. Very well. Very well. Very well. Takes Lucen, does not leave, but moves to a corner, hopefully out of earshot

of this once hot, now mean. Still hot, but no. You were hot and then you became mean. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. We've all been there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, sure.

She says once more, a little louder, a little bit more confidently, thank the moon to see you. Andetra takes it as given and averts her eyes down and goes somewhere in her head. Okay. I let her.

Luz looks at you and says, I will remain here, attending to the people in this place. Gently passes her hand over the emblem on her chest. Yeah, is Klasara somewhere in here? Yeah, Klesara's right there. Klesara, if I could take a break for a moment. She says, oh yes, all right, yeah.

Go feed yourself, go eat, get water. I'll be back soon. Yes. I haven't seen her yet, though, so I'm going to trundle over and take a knee. Oh, E! Oh! Are you faring all right? I can't believe you're here!

I'm faring all right. Your digs are looking a little different. Well, you know, it's gotten very in demand in a way that I could never have anticipated. Sustainable. No. No, not without some more miracles,

but they seem to be going around. Sort of Nia being very nosy in this conversation. This is sort of the miracle hub of this space. Yes. But outside, you actually hear shouting, and you hear Nez shouting, You lunatics! What's the matter with you?

And you hear, like, I'm sorry, Mom. We just did it. We thought it was the right thing to do, so we done it. And outside, what has Garin been up to this morning? So Garin fell into the deepest sleep

he's had in a long time that lasted about four hours before he shot up in the corner somewhere where he had slightly drunkenly passed out, and goes, The river. Right. Immediately charges out and goes off to where that river swell was threatening to continue to flood and take out some of the elements, and looks to see whoever's trying to be in charge

of the damning efforts or the redirection efforts of this. Who did he see when he was? You look at, probably, so you see, as you go out there, Nez and also this older bugbear that has some evidence on his body of public discipline. Goes over, he's got these long arms that go down past his knees. There's a lot of, he can rest, he can crouch down

and put an elbow to the ground and still rest his chin on his hand. He looks over. As you begin to walk over, he looks and says, Well, I don't know how you managed to get anything over the, there are also the other side of the water there. I don't know how we'll,

as you approach him, Nez looks over and says, I didn't get your name last night, my friend. Uh, Garn. Just Garn. Saint Garn, the miracle worker, Garn, finder of ale and salt beef. You see the older bugbear looks over at you and says,

Bore. Bore, clasps, and it is one thick, meaty hand on a stretched forearm wrapped around it almost. You get his wrist and he gets your forearm. A pleasure, friend. The meat is going to, we should, that's incredible. Never mind the meat. This river is swelling, it's flooding, right?

Yes. All right. Glancing around, are there any, as might've been common with some of the hill dwarves there, are there any decorative outer waist or shoulder-high walls that may have fallen or weathered with time? You look out and see,

buried under moss and foliage, an old farmer's wall, big, thick slabs of stone, moss covered, off in a corner, for a long since defunct pasture. Okay. As he's looking out past that, still holding onto the bugbear forearm, thinks of all the years that his skills

have put towards the subjugation of others and a bit of inspiration hits to finally turn his craft towards its original intent. Looks back into the eyes of this new friend and ally and goes, All right, I'm going to build a new wall. Get your men. I'm going to teach you a little bit about masonry.

You see he turns around and says, All right, lads, let's look lively! And Garin, just taking a stride, I think as you guys exit out, you look and see, Garin, as you step to start grabbing those stones, you see a carriage pulls in with three young halflings.

All of them look absolutely devastated. They're skeletal thin. All of them also have visible brands on their face. You can tell from some of the cities of the Strife Emperor, because the Strife Emperor still wishes to conduct business and trade and all these other things like that. All of them have a T on one cheek, which is for thief, and they have another brand

scored into their skin, HD for Habitual Drunkard. They have a wagon being pulled by some oxen. You can see that they have two pulling the wagon and there's a couple more clearly rustled or stolen. There's a big wagon up front. You see Nez is shouting at them, You lunatics! There appear to be

what looks like recovered lumber. And you see that in the back, there are tin pails. There look to be some loose tools, like little spades and shovels and things like that. But you can tell they've got it from somewhere and looking at it, it all looks like the kind of stuff, this sort of abundance would be from a worksite of the Strife Emperor. So it looks like they've gone out

and done something potentially really stupid. But they've got buckets of tools. They've got some rotted, partially rotted and some more okay lumber as Bol Reigh stands side by side with you. Yeah. And so I'd say probably when you've come upon them, he's probably begun, or partially through an instruction

to likely Bol'rae about, see, the stones are heavy. It's not about lifting them. It's about leverage. It's about using, it's just going through baseline instructions of large scouting. Leverage.

Hell yeah. Garin, you come in. As you do this, you see these three halfling lads jump off the back of the wagon. As they come up with these big things of tools, Bol'Rei gets a lot of his goblin and hobgoblin peasantry to start grabbing these tools. One of these kids, who you can see has a permanent, from where he was branded, it got too close to his eye. And you can see that it's a little bit warped on an eyelid.

It's leaking some tears. But you can see, and it has a permanent blood spot on the white of his eye down in the corner. But you see he looks, all three of them look a little bit, there's a twinge of madness in their eyes and a little bit of risk-taking. And he comes off and he's like, Roy, get it off the back of the cart!

And he comes over and you see Nez says, Boudleys, addressing them as a group, make sure, don't, give the tools to Bull Ray and he'll distribute them. Don't just give them to a group. Make sure, don't, give the tools to Bulray and he'll distribute them. Don't just give them to your friends. And... You see, all of a sudden, there are tools. There's some oxen here in places.

And you see some of these bigger stones. That wall ends in some other larger plinths or hitching post stones that you can tell go deep enough into the ground that they might be eight to 10 feet in length if pulled up out of the ground. What does Gorrann start instructing people to do? I think he's going to start looking at the angle of the river and where it's swelled beyond the banks

and the direction where it's threatening to overtake the hill and into where a number of these communities have set up temporarily to start relocating the stones to offset where that is, densely pack them deep into the muck and try to basically be a barricade, a full-on dam that'll carry the river beyond the point of danger and further into the valley where it's supposed to go.

You have the most help action a person could have as these halflings and hobgoblins and Bol'rae starts to direct his community. He's like, all right, he's like, Boudlis, go get the oxen! He says, you see, he says, they've just worked all night. Why can't they have a little time off? And he's like, all right, he's like, Boudleys, go get the oxen! He says, you see, he says, they've just worked all night, why can't they have a little time off?

And he's like, they're weak, we're all in it together, the oxen are in it with us. And, and, and, and, and,

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, So they start hauling stones. Go ahead and give me a Mason's Tools check with advantage. Oh, this helps stacks. This helps stacks! There you go. Call it DC 10 for something.

DC 15 gets you the best result you're looking for here. That's going to be a 20. A dirty 20! I will say this. Over the course of that day, Garin, you are striding around, hearty claps on the back from Bull Ray. You see that these three halflings

look really industrious and they want to help, but you can tell these three halflings have never known an honest day's work in their life. Their task is better suited to going and getting the goods by means unclear to you. And as they are passing tools and things off to people, and Bolrae is there, I think you are busy with that bridge there.

You see that Marlath comes and gets on the wagon as the Balthys are passing stuff off. And you see that he has covered this as the rain fades and instead a mist comes up. Right as the rain fades and instead, as mist comes up, right as the baddies are starting to pass stuff off, Marleth says, Name? What's your name?

All right, two hammers to you, and just begins to keep track of what's being passed out to people. Bureaucracy is born anew. And starts to take a ledger of names and who got what and who went to whom. And the Baudelis look over and you can see Marleth speaking candidly

with the Baudelis brothers as he marks down what's going where. Garin, on that 20, a wall comes up overnight. What was hay bales and rope becomes replaced with solid stone mortared with earth. And I think that you see, as these stones go over, you actually look and see out there in the river, there is, in the middle of it, a standing stone

that's about maybe 10 feet out and splits the difference. You think you could probably get two of these stones anchored on that rock out in the middle and get a bridge out to the rest of the forest. On that dirty 20, the wall goes up and a passage out to the forest. I think, Ero and Nia, with your Wanderer ability, that's the forest that has game.

It's higher up in altitude. There's probably food out there. There's ability to trap and hunt and things like that. I think as this is going on, too, there's moments where people are either losing focus or misaligning things out of a lack of knowledge, and Garn steps up and begins giving shouts and overarching instruction

to how to fix, correct these things and work it properly. And as happens time to time, his brain wanders to memories of giving these same instructions as they were carving out the deeper hillsides and mountain abodes of Uthor. Uthor, and he catches himself and steps back a bit and withdraws from a position of authority

that he began to step into out of instinct and instead turns back to Bolrae and puts the remainder of his effort teaching Bolrae and lifting him up as leader as opposed to being that, but still takes pride in this endeavor. As you show the working of the stone, how to build a foundation, where the pressure, what the relationship of the weight is

to the rest of the structure, how to be the person that knows how to do this intuitively and deeply. You see after that, there's this moment later on in the day when the first, because getting the first stone out there is easier, you just get it up, leverage it, it have ropes, it goes nice and solid. It's getting that second stone across,

that larger standing stone to make a little footbridge over the raging water. You see, as that goes, it's tipping. People are getting it into position. Ropes, it's a little bit more precarious, and boom, falls exactly where you said it was going to. A cheer, and this one not ragged. This one just as it goes up,

and you can see as that cheer goes up, there's a moment and a pause, and from deeper in the woods, as another cheer of this lost party goes up, and everyone starts to freak out going, So you see that one guy who's way too exhausted and injured to be yelling this hard,

just faints and gets lifted back up. Oh, get him back to the infirmary. Like, he cheered too hard, he passed out. You see this bedraggled, coughing, exhausted search party comes back with barrels and barrels of herbs and medicinal greens from the woods up ahead, and just baskets and baskets of berries

from further up on the hillside. Comes in, and what would have been a raging torrent, finds a bridge waiting for them. And as Bolrae looks, he goes, You've changed the world. This didn't used to be here and now it is. That's something like a miracle. Miracles don't come from one person.

We did this. You did this. And it's just the beginning. You see he smiles and looks out and goes, You know, we're talking about the weight of the stones. Wrong time ago, I remember there was a woman in my village

before I was taken from my family and sent to work here in the Ashfield by the Strife Emperor's soldiers. And the rulings and edicts of the emperor. The gauntlet raised on high. Our ruler, our sovereign. When I was young, I believed in him because it's what we were allowed to believe in.

You got to believe in something. This girl who came through our village, beautiful, long ears, nut brown fur, shining like starlight. So I've heard starlight shines. And she, she said, because I referred to

the Strife Emperor as our leader, and she corrected me. She said, Our ruler. I said, What's the difference? She said, A ruler goes on top, and he points to the stones, and a leader goes underneath. Gets under something, a town, a family, a cause. A person who leads finds a way

to hold the weight that others cannot hold, to be sturdy and strong. I never knew what she really meant. It seemed so impossible to matter like that. But I do know one thing. She carried a hammer. You all hear a scream

from elsewhere in the village. A terrible scream. As you turn, and having arrived, walking through the chaos of the encampment, unseen in the fog and shrouded in darkness, armored in full black cast iron plate, removing a cloak, armed to the teeth, is a captain of the Strife Emperor's Guard

with six fully armored soldiers behind him, who calls out, This gathering is at its end. All of you will kneel to the Strife Emperor's will, or you will be executed on the spot. Return at once to your lands

and service to your emperor. You see the six soldiers slam their swords on their shield as several lie dead at their feet, cut down already. That's where we'll take our break. Thank you. Perfect. Great. Greetings, adventurer. This is Liam O'Brien. If you'd like to support the show, consider checking out our sweet, sweet Exandria Unlimited merch in the Critical Role shops.

Links to all of our regional online stores can be found at critrole.com. Hello, and welcome as we return to our tale here in Torm's Hill, where things are getting a little bit tense. Spicy? Spicy, I would say. Are heroes, where are you standing as this group of Strife Emperor soldiers emerges in the center of the most structures. Where you met Nez last night with the lantern up, that's where you are right now. There's a little makeshift paddock

for some livestock over here. There's a couple little buildings. The new bridge is over that way. Torm's Hill, the actual structure, is farther past you to the left over here. They're in the center of all the new people here. You can see that there are three bodies on the ground around them

that they have just cut down in this moment as they turn. The captain in the center calls out, I see a wagon and oxen belonging to the Strife Emperor and his servants. Where are the thieves that absconded with this? What are you all doing here? Are there any in this rubble that have an answer for your lord and sovereign.

You see, do any of you speak? I'm still holding Fiedra up, so she's eye level with everyone else, so I'm just waiting. So it's six soldiers and their one- Captain. Captain. So there's seven of them. Ero, as you look around,

there are 1,200 people in this camp. There's about 40-some-odd right in this area around the soldiers. But you can see people are hearing shouting elsewhere, but it's a busy camp. Past a certain edge of camp, people might not even know that there's something happening right here.

How ringed in are they with the crowd? The people pulled back? With the people that they just killed, everyone has moved about 20 feet away from them. And everyone, and what you see is, you're looking at the tired, the bedraggled, the sick, the exhausted. The strongest people here just spent all day

building a fucking bridge with their hands. There's exhaustion and panic, and you see these soldiers there. Give me an insight check. Call it DC 12. I know what I want to do. Yeah, that's good. That's 22. Everyone around you is terrified.

All of that joy, all of that laughter was so loud and exuberant and urgent because everyone knew it was too good to be true. Now the soldiers are back and it's all about to be taken away again. That's what you would get on a 12. On a 22, these soldiers haven't eaten in three days. Knowing that things are on a knife's edge

and can go in either direction and people need something to believe in, Arrow is going to quietly walk up from the side, hopefully slightly back on an angle, plant a hand on one of the soldier's shoulders, turn. Hell yeah, roll initiative. I fucking love it. Nice. I fucking love it.

I don't know why he's rolling two. Hell yeah. All right! Let's go! That's a nat 20. Nat 20! Do you add anything to that? That's awesome. Oh, I add my constitution. Or your dexterity. Dexterity, no, that's it.

Okay, dirty 20, or nat 20. What do we got here, Matt? 18. 18 for Garren. What do we have here? 18. 18 for Crocus. These are some good initiative rolls. 19. 19!

Oh, we were so ready! I fucking love it. Ero, what do we got? ready! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I fucking love it. Erow, what do we got? Oh, 10. 10. Okay, so the way we are going to do this is give me a stealth check, and I'll tell you the number you're trying to beat here as you get up.

You're trying to beat, that's a 10. I think you're only trying to beat a... You're trying to beat a 10 on a stealth check. 16. 16. So you got the surprise round. So you're just doing the natural ranger thing, which is you don't sneak like this.

You just move as soft as you can. Padfoot. Padfoot. I'm going to bring the map out. No! Never done a thing that had a map. Padfoot. Padfoot. I'm going to bring the map out. No! Never done a thing that had a map. Me neither. Here. This is the first time I get to have a map. I'm excited. I'm so excited.

I'm very excited. The fire freezes in midair, and then we cut to the captain going, you're probably wondering how I got here. Yep, that's me. Oh, shit. Oh! Yeah, wait! Wait, wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait! Hell yes. Now, I have to ask where all of you are with your minis!

Oh my! Garen, my boy! Hell yeah. Here we go. Rhaenia. Oh my gosh! The miniature. Crocus, stick and go. Unbelievable. She's got heels like my girl, Fydra.

Yeah. And Eero, here we go, baby. Oh my gosh, wow! Let me see my big boy. What a scary boy. Wait, let me see you. This is so cool. Wow!

Wait, can I see yours? No, we just need 20 more minutes, Brian. Eero! Hey, look at all your mimis! We're This is so cool. Wow! Wait, can I see yours? No, we just need 20 more minutes, Brian. Eros! Hey, look at all your minis! We're playing with our toys! Wow! Play with your toys, do your thing. Any questions?

I'm so deeply obsessed. Which direction is the bridge that we use? Where's Nia, where's Nia? Bridge this direction, over here. Bridge over here, Torn's over here. That's a fearsome duo. Do I have auto-intimidate with me? Yes, I believe you do have auto-int's a fearsome duo. Do I have Otto and Taven with me? Yes, I believe you do have Otto and Taven.

I feel like I would, yeah, I would stick around with them. Yes, absolutely. So where would we be? We were all talking right outside of Torm's Hill, right? Yes, you were. Yeah. You were all talking right outside of Torm's Hill. We're going to make that Otto, and we're going to find a little Taven

somewhere around here to make that Taven. Okay. You've never had him in evil before. That's awesome. It's the baby's first baby. So you guys were doing your shady stuff. This is the wagon that was brought in by the fellas. So you might be somewhere back in this area over here.

So there's Otto and Taveen right there. You're over here with Phaedra. Hell yeah. Yeah! So I'll tell you guys right now. This is a, the like, the story reality we are in matches the mechanical reality, which is this is not a fair fight.

These are soldiers. They have powerful weapons and armor and shields and everything like that. Everybody else here on the battlefield is a commoner. Mm-hmm. Ah, yeah. So the reason you guys all started in Rybad Kol is that a group of soldiers

would instantly slaughter any of you, not without question. So this moment is as tense as tense can be. However, Arrow is going to kick things off with us. So we're going to move. Arrow. So in the surprise round, we move through everybody's round.

So all of you come out of the surprised condition. You can all act normally on your turn. It gets to Arrow, and you can pop all the way off, my friend. All right, so I think what happened was once this guy started shouting in the middle of this Newtown Square, I turned on a dime and walked away from Nia and started moving through the crowd

so I wasn't coming directly on, and then popped out by that well and just quietly walked up without any fanfare. And a breath weapon is a 15-foot cone or a line. I think it's most beneficial if I do the cone and get one, two, three. Oh my god! And they have to make a dex hit.

So you're going to get the captain and both soldiers right now. Unbelievable. What a way to pop off. Okay, what is the DC on that dex? 13. 13. Big 13. We're going to roll for these soldiers first.

Not the most dexterous. They need 12s or higher. One succeed, one fails. The one right in front of you fails. We're going to roll for the captain. Captain succeeds as well, so they're going to take half damage. You can see the one right in front of you fails. We're going to roll for the captain. Captain succeeds as well, so they're going to take half damage. You can see the one right in front of you

is getting the brunt of the flame as it erupts from you. Go ahead and roll damage. Oh, it's a one. No! 10! No! It's a one out of 10. Well, they can't get half, so they all take one, right?

They all take one. Boom, boom. Fire moves out in all directions as they raise up their shields and armor. That is your action. I will ask as well, as you spray fire everywhere, the fire erupts.

Everyone screams as one of them just walked up and breathes fire over everybody. Is there anything you say or do in this moment? Because you can feel that knife's edge. You have selected violence for you and possibly everybody here. Is there anything you say or do in this moment? Because you can feel a stink of a nearby predator.

You can feel confusion, that thing that gets people killed more than anything else, as people do not know what they are supposed to do. He shouts after spitting fire, and they rear back, seven overlords or 1,200 of us! Give me Persuasion with advantage, and I would also like you to roll with a d12 die of inspiration. Ooh.

It's that guy. Okay, okay. The total is... Oh, I have no persuasion bomb. And you rolled an inspiration die as well. I did. 21. 21, amazing. As you shout that out,

go ahead and select five commoners nearby you who are going to be activated to act. This strong man with a blade in his hand. Hell yeah. Mm-hmm. Great. He's going to rush forward and join you. This guy who looks like he's about to breakdance. Hell yeah, right here. That's Minja in the village. He's going to rush forward and join you. This guy who looks like he's about to breakdance. Hell yeah, right here.

Ninja in the village. Should have rushed forward. Hell yeah. This chef. Chef is running forward. Yep. One of the kids. I see a guy with,

this one with the hammer in their hand as well. Hell yeah, great. Hi, little buddy. Great tips, man. How'd time you learn? Oh, not the guy with the flute. Am I out? You have one more. I don't know. One as well. Hell yeah, great. My little buddy. Great hit, man. Now time to learn. Oh, not the guy with the flute. Am I out? You have one more. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We can change their minds with the power of song. Oh man. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Little kenku in the other side. I'm going to say this dwarven woman with a farming sickle over her shoulder. Yes, okay. She's going to rush out here and join you.

So as you call out, seven overlords, 1,200 of us, a group of people who you can see are the ones that were the most predisposed. Basically, there's five people in the crowd that had your same exact idea, and you beat them to the punch, and they rush. And maybe even the dwarven woman was like, it could have gone either way,

but now that it is violence, it better be us violence. If you're picking violence, do violence hard as you can. What I'd like you to do now, you have five commoners. These are commoners, man. They do two damage on a successful hit. Me too. Go ahead. I just want you to roll 5d20.

You're going to roll five attacks for me. Go ahead and roll the two next to you first. They add two to hit. 17. 17 is a hit. And a seven. 17, okay. So rushing up to the soldier right in front of you,

you see the guy with the blade, who just has like, literally, he just has a farming shovel, rushes up to a guy in full half plate and jams a gardening implement under his helmet and scores under his fucking collarbone. Ah! That's him.

Go ahead and give me three attack rolls for these guys rushing up to that soldier over there. Okay, so that gets us a 17. 17 hits. A four and a 20, dirty 20. Dirty 20, okay. They rush up to that soldier. Once again, you see one of them has a hammer

they've been using to help build the bridge, coming in from the bridge area over here. Runs up, clocks the guy across the helm, and the other one just runs up and gets a hand in through the armor and begins trying to strangle the guard standing. Just like, get your hands in, get your hands in. That is your turn.

We go to the top of the initiative order. You see the captain comes out of the surprise and says, Kill them all! And that is going to be, da-da-da, that's the commoner's turn. A bunch of the other commoners are holding their initiative in shock and dismay. Nia, that's you.

Nia's probably, is that that, I don't know where the med area would be that she was leaving from. I'm assuming she's- Med, and Torm's Hill is this way, so you might be over in this part of the crowd. Okay, if you could find me a place to probably hide. I don't know. And this is Luz right here.

Oh, wonderful. I'm going to tell her to hide. Okay. Or take that Moonweaver emblem off her, just because that's probably not a good thing to have on your person right now. And, oh gosh, she doesn't have, I don't... Ha-ba-ba.

Wouldn't be smart for her because she has no weaponry to go up and try and get into the fight. So I think her, are those two kids, two small people? Those are halflings. Oh, those are halflings. I think she's going to hold her action. She doesn't have any weapons. I think her instinct is to get the more vulnerable people away from the fray and the worst of it.

The most exhausted, the most sick, the most unable to fight in a time like this. She would probably be moving them away from this. Give me a persuasion check. I do so with advantage. Okay. Persuasion is a 19. 19, okay. Pick four that look the most vulnerable to you

and you pull them to safety. Hatcha, maybe... Lose is going to be one of them. Yeah, lose, definitely. I'm going to get her to safety. She rushes to safety. Maybe Oldboy with the guitar behind that tree. Yeah. Yeah. Or the lyre.

And I can't tell if any of these people are youths or elderly. I'll say this person with a mug, he can probably stay. Maybe this bar. These two right in front of you? Yeah, those two. Great. Yeah, those can be moved.

And then probably this gentleman on the left of her. Great. So you those can be moved. Then probably this gentleman on the left of her. Great. So you get everyone behind you. Yeah, everyone behind me. Everyone behind you? Yeah. Great, that's awesome. Are you going to hold your turn to potentially act later? I'm going to do that and then hold the rest of my turn.

Okay, you let me know, because you're just sending your initiative down the river road. Actually, no. She has a Star Means Letter opener. She might go, if she could... Hmm. Hmm. She's going to hold. She's going to hold.

She knows she has that letter opener, but she's going to wait until probably somebody more vulnerable or weaker gets in her way. Great. Great. Phaedra, it's going to be your turn. You let me know when you want to insert your turn in the initiative.

Staring me with my hand. Yeah, I look at my boys and I say, you know the drill, sick them. Hercus immediately puts her on the ground. Yeah, you put me on the ground. Y'all got it. I love this. Yeah, if we could all just,

I guess, charge the guy who's closest to us. Hell yeah. Yeah. Great. Crocus goes literally right after you. Oh, okay, great. This guy is uncircled right now. The whole Roach gang can just charge that dude right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, you rush forward. Boom. Boom. T'Ve, and Otto. I can't fit a time like this. Incredible. Phaedra, do you want to go ahead and take your attack? I will.

Okay, so does this soldier have heavy armor? Yes, he does. So I get my plus four. You get your plus 1d4. Or 1d4 is what I meant. Okay. Do I add my dex? You add your dex, yes, you do.

And your proficiency bonus. And my proficiency. So that's a 21 to hit. 21, fuck yes! Okay. So you're gonna go ahead and add one D4 plus your dex modifier. One D4 plus dex. Okay, so that is good.

I don't know, I'm not gonna use that one because that one is evil. Roll a D4. A D good. I don't know, I'm not going to use that one because that one is evil. Roll a d4. A d4, I don't know what I was doing. D20, you know. That's a one, but my dex is three, so I do four points of damage. Twice as much as one of these commoners here.

Phaedra, as you see the rush happening here, I think you also see, give me an insight check, if you would, as I described. You rush up, smaller than everyone here. You're like, you were almost killed by the rain in nature, but people have been fucking with you your whole life. You know how to take care of people, and you run up and stiletto, blood gushes.

You run up and get him right in the femoral artery, the main artery inside the leg. Boom, and feel, as you have many times before, a gush of blood over your forearm as one of these giants towering over you is about to be brought low. I'm all great. I got a nine. You got a nine on the inside.

Okay, you're gripped in battle frenzy. You run up, stab this guy, boom. And the rest of your crew is rushing up as well. Crocus, go ahead. That's going to be you. So as soon as she says, as soon as she says, get him, essentially,

Crocus puts her down. He looks at the guard. His eye, the dragon eyes let's go and just become needles. Yeah. And almost roll back in his head and the claws on his hands extend and he just bulldozes at the guy

and is going to make a claw attack. Yeah, just big tail behind him, down like a dinosaur running, just going to slam into him. So that's. Just this coming at you at full speed. Can we use that as the minion? That is a 16 plus seven to hit.

Ooh! I think that's fine. Yeah, Alex, that'll do it. That'll do it, man, yeah, for sure. For sure. Crocus is good at it. Yeah. That we know of so far.

I think he's done well. He's a very capable boy. So he does... Excellent thing back right there. Yes. It's nice conversation. Okay, he does nine points of slashing damage. Jesus!

Unbelievable. Jasmine, could you please roll two attacks for Otto and to Vien? They are slightly more dangerous than your average commoner. They roll plus three to hit. Oh, okay, not super great. One got a 14 and one got an 11.

Okay, both of them miss. So you see they rush forward, just hacking at the armor. So only you and Crocus hit. You slash into his leg, Crocus, one of your claws, as you rip a pauldron off the armor and all of the skin of his shoulder comes off with it. I just press the front of my forehead

just against his helm and just. As I'm holding the pauldron in my hand. We hate it, we absolutely hate it. The non-working breath weapon, when I get into this state, just starts foaming like snow foam out of his, just dripping between his teeth and splattering on the ground.

Grotesque. Yeah. Yum. I love it. like snow foam out of his, just dripping between his teeth and splattering on the ground. Grotesque. Yeah. Yum. I love it. Garin, that is going to be your turn. Okay, Garin was a bit far from the whole center of this chaos. So is going to, let's see here. Garin is going to go ahead to move 30 feet up to here.

As he's rushing up there, feeling the hammer, his weight in his hand and his fingers, starting to dig in to prepare for what's coming, especially at the spark of violence that has erupted here. All right, I guess we're doing it this way. He's going to step alongside this person, individual here. Yeah. Is this somebody who looks capable or frightened?

I think everyone here is both. Fair. You know, ultimately, these people aren't warriors, but if they do not become warriors, they will live under the decree of warriors. Okay. I'm going to move past them and say, If I fall, step into my place and keep going.

I'm going to dash action. Hell yeah. Just get as close as I can to that fray to be one of many targets, preferably better than somebody else. Hell yeah. You want to get up here in between these two? If I can get there with a movement, yeah.

Yeah, I believe you can. Yeah, with 30 feet, I can do that, yeah. Great, okay. You rush forward. Nia, you have sent your Turn Forward initiative. The soldiers have been surprised, but they are about to act. Give me an insight check.

19. 19. Garion rushes forward. So far, the people that have rushed forward are a few of the bravest. It looks like here in the crowd, there were some that have known violence and conflict. Everyone here has known cruelty and injury, but the people that have rushed are people that have hit someone before in their life.

The roaches, arrow, garin, people like that. The soldiers are about to take their turn. Not one of them has fallen. I think that on a 19 insight, the crowd rests on a knife's edge. The reality is, there is a distinction between the rest who are standing back

and those that have charged forward. Those that are standing back and those that have charged forward. Those that are standing back have a hope in their heart. The hope they have in their heart is that the world might be saved without any danger, fear, or risk on their part. And many of them are weak, and it should not be asked of them to be brave.

If they are not asked to be brave, it is possible that they will watch the brave quickly die. Okay. I think Nia is amongst people who are like-minded. She sees her braver, stronger friends going into the fray. She knows herself. She's not quick to violence.

She's very much a wordsmith. She talks and talks and talks and talks and talks. But with that ability to speak, I think she's going to see the people behind her. She's going to look to Luz, actually, and she's going to, even with this chaos in front of her, she's going to ask, will you fight or will you flee?

You asked this of Luz? Yeah. She looks at you going, Fight, and so Nia, she raises her voice to the people among her. If you cannot be brave, fake it and try anyway. Fake it and try anyway. Yeah, Nia's going to take a Starmiean's letter opener

and she's going to try and hurt somebody. Hell yeah. Fake it or try it anyway. Yeah. You rush. If you had merely said that, you would have made a persuasion roll. Yeah. You rush. If you had merely said that, you would have made a persuasion roll. Yeah.

As you charge forward with an office tool in your hand, you will make it with advantage. Cool. People want to see what they are supposed to do. Okay. Follow me! Roll a persuasion.

10 gets you somebody, and then you get more and more. The higher up you go from 10. How about 17? 17 gets you 10, 12, 14, 16. You get four more commoners with you. Okay. So you're going to rush this guy right here?

Yeah! Boom. I see old boy with a cleaver. Where is he? Right here, cool. Oh, no, behind him. Oh, behind him, this guy here? No, the guy in front of him, yeah.

This guy, I think that's a cleaver in his hand. Yeah, he's going to rush up and join you right here. What's happening to that guy? Oh boy, with that knife. He's a gruff one, more than most. Right here? No, the first guy you grab. The first guy here? Oh, first guy, this guy right here?

Oh, sorry, this guy? Yeah, that one, and then the guy with the hammer that you just touched. Those three, that's two, actually. That one, buddy with the hammer. Okay, that's your four. Okay, that'll make four. Go ahead and roll me an attack roll for Knife Guy.

Knife Guy. Knife Guy! Ready, key, key, key, key. I always love Knife Guy. Oh, Knife Guy gets, do I add anything? Plus two. Four. Knife Guy gets a four. Knife Guy gets a four.

Oh, we have four on the attack roll? Knife guy misses. Aww. Go ahead. Knife guy. Go ahead and roll for the other to roll two. Two more dice for the two. Oh, sorry.

Wait, no, you got four, right? Oh, so you actually do get one more guy, sorry. Oh, then... Man with jar. Man with jar, or does Luz still have that Moonweaver thing? I feel like Luz has something within her that she's ready to unleash.

Sure, Luz will unleash for her. But does she have that Moonweaver thing still on her? The holy symbol? Yeah, she does. Wow. I mean, yeah, sure. It's an interesting story. Go ahead, Luz. Godspeed to you. All right, you're rolling 3d20.

These are all attacks. I might have just fucked over my friend. That's a plus two for, that's an 18, a- Woo! And a not 20! Oh shit! That's a 16, a 17, and a 20. Oh my, all of them hit and one is double damage. Cool!

Okay. Luce does double damage. Damage. That is incredible. So that's going to be eight damage, and then that's your attack. So go ahead and roll your own attack. Cool. Imagine they all outperform me. The hook, barely!

Natural 19, so that'll be a 21 to hit. 21 hits? Yeah. Cool! Go ahead. So you're going to roll one, you're rolling a 1d4 plus your dex modifier. 1d4 plus my nothing dex modifier. Come on, honey.

That's a three. Three damage. Yeah. You rush up with a bunch of, you rush up with a group of four people that have never hurt anyone in their life, and the soldier's seeing a priestess in gowns and a young traveler, kind of laughs,

which allows someone to grab the front of his arm or pull him to a knee. You see that Luz just goes, and gets a finger into his eye and starts tearing. Just literally, as everyone realizes, they will kill all of us and put us back in Rybad Khol. Rushes forward. That is going to be the soldier's turn.

Sorry, Luce. Love you, D.Va. I just want to make it clear. Forgot my character's name. Kroges. Kroges. Is trying to very much, in his very direct way, be, he's the thing you need to hit. He's trying to put himself in front of everybody, all his gang around him, to be the target. He's trying to put himself in front of everybody, all his gang around him, to be the target.

He's trying to tank this guy. Hell yeah. We will go with this wounded soldier right in front of Aero. Aero, you were the one who decided to be brave. He's coming right for you. Fake it or try anyway? Fake it or try anyway.

I blacked out. What is your armor class? It is 11. Motivational poster, I think. It's pretty easy to hit. I'm going to get that framed in my office. Oh my god, like a cat in the snow or something. It's like, fake it, don't do it. How many hit points do you have?

11. Okay. That's legitimate. You take nine points of damage. He takes a swing at you and connects for nine points of damage. This badly injured soldier is going to take a swing at Crocus. That is a miss.

That is a hit. I'm going to AC of 14. AC of 14, that is a hit. He deals you six points of damage. What are you at? I am down to four hit points. Four hit points. This guy is going to step forward, take a swing.

That's a hit. He drops Otto. Oh! Goes forward. Otto falls to the ground, and he's going to take another step forward as well to close with the rest. This one's going to swing on Garin.

What's Garin's armor class? Oh, seven. Seven. He's an older fella. Garin, you take 10 points of damage. Whew! Okay. This one cuts down both of the ones in front of them. Two strikes of a sword. Then we move to this last one here,

who's going to take a swing for Rhaenia. Yeah. Miss, motherfucker. That is a hit. Okay. Rhaenia, you take six points of damage. Fierce. What are you at?

Something less than six. Four, four. Four. So for the first time, maybe in your life, a sword travels across your arm and you feel a shatter of bone, something fractures, and there is a... There has been much conflict and violence in and around you in your life,

but this is the first time that you have run up, done something brave, and in the stories about brave things, they are rewarded by the gods. You are hit with a tempered piece of steel that if it had been six inches in another direction, would have ended your life on the spot. That is the soldiers.

We get back. Aero, that is your turn again. Okay. You go before the captain, who had to come out of his surprise condition and rolled bad on initiative, but you can tell he is of a different class than these already formidable soldiers.

With an old knife, he's got... I've already seen, in the blink of an eye, people go down and they are... I know that I'm leading the charge into danger. I think that people will prevail here, but the responsibility is on my shoulders for starting it. So I'm going to walk through these two gentlemen here. He's bleeding profusely.

I'm going to slap a hand down on the captain's shoulder and say, No bent knees today, I'm afraid. I will use my second and final charge attack to cone these three. Hell yeah, go for it. It's a dex save, 13. Dex save. Captain fails. Yes.

These two soldiers fail as well. Yeah! Making up for that. Get Cone! Four damage. The captain takes four points of damage, and that's... D and E take four, okay. Four points of damage. Four points of damage there.

This one is looking very hurt right here. That is your turn. The captain is going to turn to you. Your armor class is 11. 11, I'm getting hit. Oh, you're not. No, you're not. I'm going to roll this in front of the board. No. He's going to roll this in front of the board. No. He's going to make two attacks.

Oh no. He hits on a seven or higher. Oh no. 15. 15. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. He deals you seven points of damage. Down.

Arrow goes down. Boom! On your turn, as you go down, do you want to make one final persuasion check for me as you rush forward? Or do you, only if you wish. If the crowd for a split second, hushes at the sight of this dragon,

this gold dragonborn who kicked off this fight, just for a split second, and you can hear croaking out of his voice, Change is coming. Give me a Persasion with advantage. Where's my dice? I'll just roll it twice. Persuasion, 16. 16, hell yeah.

Pick four more to run up on your turn and join you. Let's do Mr. Clawhand here. Hell yeah. Clawhand. He'll rush forward over here. Great. I think this little raven individual will join. Hell yeah. He's going to rush forward and fill the gap.

We'll have that black and white haired. Mm-hmm. He'll rush forward, yeah. Then this guy with the stein is going to come try to break that crockery on somebody's head. Hell yeah. Okay. He's going to rush up over here.

Go ahead, give me two attack rolls for those closing in on this soldier over here. Natural 20. Ooh! And then what do I add for these guys? Two. Yes, you add two. 11 for the second.

So that one doesn't hit. However, this soldier right here, this little kenku looks at you, rush forward and say, Change is coming, and just goes, Ah! And so he's forward. The one that is face-to-face with you

looks at you and goes, You're going back in the cage, big boy. And opens his mouth, and you can see a knife coming up through his tongue as a tiny little kink who says, It can't stop us all! The first soldier goes down. Yes!

Community! Unbelievable. Okay, as that happens, First soldier goes down. Yes! We're doing it! Unbelievable. Okay, as that happens, you have two more attacks to make. Okay. So go make the one for the stein friend over here and go make the one for the tigerfolk that's joining Garn over there.

Stein friend only rolled a three. Oh, three and a four. Okay, no problem. They just, the crowd is rushing, rushing. Come on! You see that Tigerfolk says, We have to stop them now! Just people start rushing,

and you can feel this fevered pitch of fear turning into excitement, turning into rage. And that is going to be the captain. So that all happens on your turn. The captain is going to be the captain. So that all happens on your turn. The captain is going to step over you. He's going to make an attack on Luz. Ooh! That was sweet.

On a six or higher, he hits seven. Oh! Oh! Ugh! Oh my god. How could the Moonweaver do that? Luz looks up and goes, you see as you fall, you look at Luz,

she touches the Moonweaver's symbol, looks up, and as she looks up, the captain of the Strife Emperor looks forward, the amulet comes out, and he centers his blade right for the holy symbol, coming in horizontal, severs the cord, the holy symbol goes flying, she drops to the ground.

That is going to be, that is the captain's turn, back at the top of initiative. We have one, two, we have, we have one, these ones have one, two, we have one. These ones have fallen. One, two, three, four. We have four fallen commoners so far. I'm going to roll death saves for them. Okay.

That was the half swallow that got me. Yeah. All right. As the soldiers begin, they have cut down four and you have managed to drop one. We move through initiative back to Fiedra with a 19. Fiedra, did I say a nat 20?

Oh, what's that? I got a nat 20. You sent your initiative. Oh, that's right. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We all remember that. We do. We do all remember that. Fiedra, it is your turn. I will also say this. As that Kenku rushes up alongside Crocus and you,

that soldier falls to the ground, his sword clattering to the ground. Yeah. Ooh. Get that sword, honey. Should I? Can I use a sword? Yes. Yeah.

You can use it, or you can give it to one of your companions, it's up to you. You can absolutely use it. Tavine has nothing, right? Tavine has nothing right now. Okay, I'm going to make Taveen grab the sword, I think. I don't know if that's part of my turn, but I am going to yell to the few remaining people

who are behind me, try to do a persuasion check, and I'm going to yell, guys, you know, it's either us or them. Let's make it them. Go ahead and give me Persuasion with Advantage. Oh, okay. 17. 17, hell yes, hell yes.

Go ahead, four are going to rush up alongside you. Go ahead and pick four. These guys, this crew right over here, if you want to join. Yeah, I think just these first, these four, so these two, and then those two who are standing right in front of there. Hell yeah. Yeah. Go ahead, as these ones rush up

in this throng of people, go ahead and make their attack rolls. Seeing the crowd of commoners around them, they just start picking up rocks and just start throwing them at these fucking soldiers. Hell yeah! Hell yeah! Go ahead and give me four attack rolls. Four attack rolls.

Let me get another d20. I'm sorry, and I add what to these? Plus two. Ooh, okay. We got a four and a six, which I'm assuming don't hit. Then we have a 16 and a 21. Both of which hit, hell yes. You see that this uninjured soldier right here

gets a rock right in the teeth and stumbles backwards through the opening in his visor as he's, , he says, Captain, the guard has fallen! Just yelling back at one of his things. Taveen kneels down quick, his hair catches on fire. He grabs the sword and he says, When they drop, get their shit!

And leaps forward. Oh, Taveen! Yeah! Go ahead, give me an attack roll for Taveen. Now if he hits, he deals 1d8 plus two damage. Oh, Taveen, my boy. Kill that dick. Take his sword. Oh, that was bad. That was bad. He did not do two.

You see that his lifelong burglar just takes a sort of massive, way telegraphed swing. Hyah! I don't practice with these! But keeps advancing. You see he's going to step over and close the gap here so that people can come in behind him. He just gets in between two of the soldiers to make a true fucking brawl.

Fiedra, your attack. Can I also? Okay, awesome. You can absolutely attack. Okay, so plus four to attack versus armor. That is a 20-something. That is a hit, hell yeah. 1d4 plus your dex modifier. All right. You can go for, I would say you can go

for this guy right here or this one. I'm going to go for the guy who's, that guy is the one that the other two villagers just hit. Just hit, yeah, that's correct. Okay, I'm going to go for the same guy. Let's go, killer. That is five. Five damage. Yeah.

You run up and right in the stomach. That soldier gets a bad bleeding wound that spills out over him, blood gushing everywhere. As he looks down at this halfling, you are now wading through fallen bodies, just standing on people's chest armor to get solid footing. With this little, again, this tiny thin dagger.

Fiedra, that is your turn. Crocus, that's you. So Kenku stabs up through the chin of the person I had my head pressed against. They fall and I see past that you've fallen right behind and that the captain is right there. And Crocus, yeah, unknowing he's doing it is going to use his action

and activate the second part of this belt. Hell yes. Just because he's raging, essentially. So for a minute, I become a storm avatar. We gave challenge rating one eight NPCs a vestige of divergence. Lightning just starts crackling across his scales and he's just trailing out of his eyes

and he goes charging up behind the captain. And it's gonna put a hand on his shoulder and spin him towards him. Hell yes. Whoosh, you rush spin this captain around, hell yes. Crackling with lightning, and then I'm gonna use my bonus action. And I can, as a bonus action,

you can choose one creature you see within 30 feet to be struck by lightning. It's going to come from Crocus's mouth. Yeah! Breath weapon! Like a Godzilla breath. It's just going to zap right out of the front of him. So he has to make a 15 dex saving throw.

Hell yes. These guys are not dex, they, yes, yes. So he has to make a 15 dex saving throw. Hell yes. These guys are not dex, they're heavily armored dudes. Fuck them up. Crocus! Would you believe in that one if I told you? Hell yeah! Okay, that's two, five, that's 10. 15 points of lightning damage. Jesus Christ!

Yes. You get the gathering. MATT and LAURA and LAURA and LAURA and LAURA Yeah, yeah, yeah. This veteran of the Strife Emperor's Wars moves from virtually uninjured to bloodied and near death's door in a single mighty smiting of your lightning breath. This action on your part, without that,

it is hard to see how you succeed in this. I will just be honest, with the amount of hit points this captain had and how terrible he was, this is the thing that maybe means people will survive this group of seven soldiers walking in here. Just standing there, just lightning

shooting across and he just goes. Yes! Hell yes. Yes. Hell yes. Garin, that is going to be you, my friend. I'll say Garin, who's on the opposite side of this, as the bolt strikes through,

puts up his hammer defensively, and the bolt hits his hammer and now also disseminates through. His fingers go numb for a second from just the dissolution of that energy, looks at it, sees the captain stumble back a bit, looks around the crowd and goes, Some wait for miracles,

but we make them with our own hands! He goes rushing into the back of the captain to see if he can possibly flank on the opposite side of Crocus. Absolutely flank, go ahead and roll with advantage. All righty. Let's go. A natural one and a natural 17. Woo! Or a 23 to hit.

Hell yes, 23 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. All righty. That's going to be... 10 points of bludgeoning damage. Jesus Christ! Hell yeah. A dwarf, old though he may be, with muscles that at this advanced age

are more like the stone he works than flesh itself, thunders and sees the shoddy craftsmanship at the back of this captain's armor, crunches in as the armor buckles and the captain drops to one knee. He is within an inch of his life as he stumbles before you, Garin, as you look up and meet Crocus's eye on either side.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. Unbelievable. Awesome. So fucking badass. So good. Oh! Raynia, that's going to be you. Just completely blank eyes. Just full of lightning courses. We're letting him pack his legs.

Nia, you see before you the captain on death's door loses blood still on his blade as he is beset between Garin and Krokus in front of you. There are still soldiers around, but you see that captain is right in front of you as well. I... Luce's Holy Pend pendant fell, right? Yeah. Nia's gonna pick that up

and attempt to bludgeon the captain's, like, oh, he's on the ground, right? She wants to just sort of ping and use that to hopefully kill him. Killing him with the symbol? Bludgeon him with the Moonweaver symbol. Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

What are you feeling in the moment that you pick uped the symbol? You bludgeoned him with the Moonweaver symbol. That's so bad. Yeah. What are you feeling in the moment that you pick up that holy symbol? I think Nia is such a frantic, shaking person. She is constantly needing to use her hands to keep her mind still. When she picks up that moon weaver symbol, a calmness and a serenity washes over her unlike anything she has ever felt.

The world almost gets quiet. She picks that up. She feels the weight of her sister's locket in her bag. She steps over anyone in between her and this captain and she just looks at him, almost feeling sorry for him, understanding that he has put himself in a position of... It's seven against 1,200. He very well could have decided to join us to build a better world,

but he decided to be an obstacle. And so Nia does what she does with obstacles, and that is push it out of her way. To respect the free will of all beings means to respect when one has made themselves an obstacle to a kinder world. With no malice or hatred in your heart, you take the beautiful symbol of the Moonweaver

from where it lies in the mud and ash. The rain subsiding, the fog roiling. You lift it on high, move forward. I would like you to make an attack roll with advantage because Crocus and Garin stand side by side, your companions here. Make that roll with advantage. You will add your proficiency bonus

and you will add your wisdom bonus because as of this moment, you are a first-level cleric. Oh! Level one. Oh! Level one. Oh gosh! Level one never felt so good! Yeah! Go ahead. Oh gosh! Make your attack roll.

That's a natural 17. Proficiency is two, wisdom is three, so that's a 22. 22. Yeah. Please roll 3d10 radiant damage as you cast Inflict Wounds. Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm shaking.

Just so we can see what's happening here. That's right. The person is shaking. Holy cow, okay. I'm going to faint. Where's the 10? What do 10s look like? There you go, you got that one. This one, this one, and this one right here.

Nia, Nia's the 10. Crazy stuff. Guys, wild things are happening. That's a one, a four, and a six. So that is 11. With 10 hit points left, how do you want to do this? Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Here we go! Okay. Okay. Nia, the calmest she has ever been, feeling so emboldened by the people around her. She is so far from her family and has yet, in this moment, feels an incredible sense of belonging. She looks at Arrow down.

The man who, well, the being, excuse me, who got her to the point of where she's trying to go. The person who promised to lead her back to this point. And she feels the earth underneath her feet. Under her breath, she says, "'Change is coming, and I am change.'" Woo! A-poo! Mwah!

She brains him. Even as she's down, there's a frantic joy within her. She just bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! Until she feels as though now is a proper time to be done. Garin and Crocus. Crocus, you just activated some crazy magic power that you've never seen before.

Garin, your hammer's still crackling with it. And wreathed in fog and moonlight, the holy symbol of the Moonweaver shining in her hands, Rhaenia lifts it aloft as though to invoke a miracle. And the miracle she invokes is making the thing glow as she bashes this fucking guy's head in with it. Boom, boom! It is a magic that is at once mystical,

but profound in its mundanity. This was not a moment where an obstacle would be removed invisibly, or with the rough edges cut off. Miracles, when they touch the real world, get dirty. And this captain is going to be eating ash and mud in rainwater in the final moments of his consciousness. Captain defeated.

Raymio, what a turn. Unbelievable. Crazy town. This is my favorite game. Incredible. Okay, there are soldiers here standing. One is going to take a leap at Garen. That is a six, which is a miss. Yeah.

And that is a five, which is a miss. Yeah. One of them's coming for Crocus. That is a six, which is a miss. Yeah. And that is a five, which is a miss. Yeah. One of them's coming for Crocus. That is a hit. That is a miss. Crocus, you take four points of damage. Down? I'm out. Crocus goes down.

Boom! That's Crocus. This one's. Giant lizard falling into the mud. Drop, boom. This soldier is going to move here. Exactly the amount of hit points I had. Yes, exactly.

No! Question for you, Brennan. Nia knocks that captain down. Can she take whatever weapon he has? Yes. Cool, Nia takes it. Hell yeah. If she can fit the Moonweaver symbol onto her, she will pocket that and then take whatever weapon he has

and get ready for her next turn. Sorry, didn't interrupt. Sure. This is going to take two swings. Our beloved Kenku friend falls. Oh no! Not the Kenku! This guy's totally surrounded.

That's a miss. That's a hit. Drops this guy. Jeez. Just soldiers hacking through these commoners in front of them as fast as they can. Aero, we come to your first death saving throw. Oh fuck. Fail. No!

All right, all right, let's go. No, no, no, no, this will not happen. This will not happen. Aero, that first failure, you see around you feet in the mud. You feel life leaving you, but you watch that captain fall.

There's people around. You see Garin's feet. You see the light from Rhaenya's first spell. You don't know if you will succeed or fail here, but there's something bubbling up. It's not an idea, even though it can express itself like one. It's a feeling. What do you call a mix between a feeling and an idea?

I guess a belief. Succeed or fail, does Arrow think it was worth it to stand up to these soldiers here? In these moments, his mind wanders back to that lake where men dressed so similar to these robbed him of what little joy he had in this world. And that day, he fled. robbed him of what little joy he had in this world.

And that day, he fled. Today, he wasn't sure as he uttered the words, change is coming, that he himself believed it. But on this day, where he stood instead of fled, as the rainwater seeps into the side of his mouth, maybe he won't see it, but finally, he believes it. Fiedra, it's your turn.

Seeing Crocus go down. Sounds like a bit. Yeah. It's the guard on this? Or no, which was the guard that took him down just now? This guard right there. Oh, that guard. Okay, cool. Okay, that's still a little ways off. In that case,

is there a way I could get Taveen to try and grab that guard from behind? Yeah, for sure. And hold him? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Give me a grapple check for him. Okay, okay. Come on, Taveen. Come on, Taveen.

You're just trying to beat an eight. Oh no, four. Four, he does not succeed. Taveen, come on! Taveen! Get us a guard! Okay, well, that's fine. That's it, that's the end.

Right now, you have one, two, three, four, five soldiers standing, all in various states of injury, but there are many commoners still fighting right now. If you want, you can roll for some of those commoners to attack first and see what is available to you to do then, if you'd like. Yeah, okay. Wait, sorry, as in roll an attack

or roll a persuasion for more commoners? You can roll a persuasion for more commoners right now if you want. Oh, okay. Yeah. I say their, okay. Yeah, Phaedra calls back and says, their captain has fallen. Let's send the rest of these fuckers to join him.

So understated. Hell yes. Get up. Hell yes. To the halls. Hell yes. Go ahead and give me a persuasion check. All right.

Go ahead and roll with advantage. Oh. That is a persuasion check. All right. Go ahead and roll with advantage. Oh. That is a 21. Wow, okay. This whole, so people, these guys all rush. You get one, two, three. People see their companions going down. They are not going to take that line down.

And then these two rush up over here. Go ahead and give me three attack rolls for this one right here. All right, all right. Come on, commoners. I believe in you. One of them got an 18. Wait, I'm sorry.

I feel like I ask this every round. I add plus two to them, right? Plus two, yes. We got an 11, a 12, and a 20. An 11, a 12, and a 20. An 11, a 12, and a 20. Hell yes. Okay, so that's two points of damage to this soldier right here. And you can go ahead, too,

because you have some other people that have joined you. These ones are going to rush up into the fray. One, two, and they're going to take attacks. So go ahead and give me three attacks on this one right here. Ooh, that is two 14s and a 19. 19 hits. That one takes another two points of damage.

Boom! It is your attack feature. All right, and then I'm just going to try and stab that one guard. Do I get any sort of advantage by being behind him and sneaky? You want to get this guy right here? Yeah.

You can jump in next to Taveen and flank him. Yes, I'm going to do that. Yeah, go for it. And then roll with advantage, yeah. Roll with advantage? Okay, cool. And then this, so. What's a 20? Not a 20, but a dirty... 23. Yeah.

23 is a hit. Go ahead and roll damage for me. All right. Go back. Oh, that was a mistake. Four. Four damage. Not awful, but not great. Four damage. Unfortunately, he has five hit points left.

So you're going to have to roll that first die of sneak attack damage because you are a first-level rogue. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! D6. D6? D6. It automatically does at least one damage, but let's see what you roll anyway. Here you go. Five!

Fiedra, how do you want to do this? Describe how he goes down. Put that bitch in the dirt! This is the one that dropped Otto. Oh, this is the one that dropped Otto. I come up behind him with the stiletto, and I think, put it right against this guy's neck. I just whisper into his ear,

you don't mess with the roach cotton. And just. You open up a second smile under his chin and he drops to the ground dead and immediately another one of the commoners here picks up that longsword. Just howls for blood. Yes. Incredible, Fiedra.

Great. Okay. That one is toast. That is going to be Death's Haming Throat from Crocus. Natural 20. You've got to be fucking kidding me! You have got to be fucking kidding me! You have got to be fucking kidding me! You are unkillable! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Crocus the monster. A distant voice rumbles like thunder. You gonna take that lying down? Okay, so just clarification, this means I can stand up, correct? You have one hit point at the beginning of your turn. Yeah, at the beginning of my turn. Wow!

So I would like it to just be that he's laying there on the ground, he's crackling, he's laying in the mud, comes around, and all of a sudden, a bolt of lightning just goes, just basically defibrillates him back up. You defibrillate him. By the way, I don't know if everyone can see where we're headed here.

You absolutely gained your first level on that nat 20 death saving throw. A million percent. And are, I believe, your class is fighter, right? Or no? I know, we were going, it was, I think, Monk, where were we going? We were going Monk. I think it was Monk.

Yeah, I guess we're going Monk. I think on that death save, you come back feeling centered in a power and focus like you have never felt in your life before. It is, at the beginning of your turn, you may act. So I just get shocked and the lightning comes across. Technically, that'll be the end of the, because it would go away when I passed out.

Yeah, yeah. That's the last of it. He stands up and just look, which guard is closest to me there, where I would stand up? As you stand, you've got two, you've got this one right here and this one right here. And he just stands up, eyes still looking,

just looks at him and goes, You're dead. And just rushes and just clamps his jaws over the front of his faceplate. Hell yes. Like a giant crocodile. Hell yeah, and you definitely have flanking on these guys now. All your commoners have surrounded them.

Roll your first attack with advantage. That would be a 18 to hit. 18 hits. Go ahead and roll for that first attack. Yeah. And as a first-level monk, you have a bonus action Martial Arts attack. I. And as a first-level monk, you have a bonus action martial arts attack. I do indeed. Oh my god.

So where the hell is my actions? There it is, now I can use this. He's about to get karate chopped by Godzilla. So now it's 1d6 plus five. 1d6 plus five. Yeah. Come on. So that's 1d6 plus five.

So that's, my brain, nine points of damage the first hit. Are you doing it to this guy here? That guy right there. That guy right there? Okay, nine points of damage the first hit. Are you doing it to this guy? That guy right there. That guy right there? Okay, nine points of damage. That one miraculously has been uninjured largely from the battle, and now is on death's door once again. Crunches the helmet in his jaws, just crunch,

and then just is going to take, with his bonus action, the claws in the front and just grab into the front of his chest, try and pull out just whatever he finds. Going to pinata this soldier of the Strife Emperor. Roll with advantage. Ooh. That is, oh, that was upset.

That is 19 to hit. 19 hits. And then that's another nine points of damage, slashing damage. Let's keep this train rolling. Alex, how do you want to do this? We'll just go through. He runs up behind, like, takes his jaws,

clamps them around the helmet, just starts crushing the helmet, and the guy, blood is coming out from under the helmet. He just takes his claws, slams it into the guy's chest, pulls out just a hunk of meat that was in there and just rips it out, cascading blood across, just landing all over the white scales on his body. And then the guy, limp,

he's just holding his head in his mouth and he's looking at the next guard. Unbelievable. How do they feel about that, Brennan? They feel pretty bad. At the beginning of their last turn, there were six of them and there's now three of them. That's not good.

You don't like when the chart goes in that direction. You want that line to go the other way. I can't believe I rolled a natural turn. That is fucking insane, Alex. That's amazing. Garin, that is your turn. Oh my goodness. I mean, seeing this trend,

I mean, watching arrow fall to the ground, the instinct is to rush, but it's not a safe time or moment to do that. Hopefully there'll be a moment to tend to that. But right now there are two soldiers that are to my right and left. Which of them looks the most wounded? The one to your left is far and away the most wounded.

Okay. So what I'm going to do is, the one that's to my right, I'm going to hold the hammer up in an offensive way as I withdraw and lean this way, and then swing around and try and use my cap to the back of the helmet, the one that's facing the opposite direction,

and see if I can strike it. Hell yes. That one is flanked as well. Go for it. Okay. Ooh, that's going to be a 24 to hit. Go ahead and roll damage. One is flanked as well, go for it. Ooh, that's going to be a 24 to hit. Go ahead and roll damage. That's going to be another 10 points of damage. Oh!

Full six of those. Nice. I don't want this to become the Hollywood handshake from Great British Bacon, but numbers are numbers, Matt. How do you want to do this? So in what was attempting to basically try and confuse and draw attention, his cap slams in the back of that soldier's helmet.

As he spins around to see where the impact is from, the momentum of his head spinning meets the side of my hammer. Whack! With a massive smashing crunch sound, the front of the helmet caves in, with the hammer itself delving about three inches into it. His body crumbles and Garn falls forward with him,

holding it there, and as he's still clutching the hammer wedged in his face, as he stands over, We have hope now. And I hope you tell your master how it feels. He wedges the hammer from his face. Hell yes! Hell yes! Rhaenya, that is your turn.

Two soldiers stand. It is chaos here. Arrow is down. Arrow is down. I don't have it in front of me, but I'm hoping that this recent clerical... You have Cure Wounds prepared and you have another first-level spell slot

at your disposal. I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on Arrow. Incredible. Yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah. As you have wielded the destructive powers of the light and of the magic that flows through all of Exandria, even before the danger is yet past,

you embrace the other side. Destruction, creation, preservation, these are truths of the world. They are neither bad nor good. Obstacles present themselves. They must be brought low. And also, when something is threatened with destruction whose time has not yet come,

great miracles can intercede on its behalf. Go ahead and roll 1d8, plus your... Go ahead and roll 1d8, plus your wisdom modifier. Oh, good. Four. Four, okay. Ero, with the possibility of death on your next save if you rolled a natural one,

you instead sputter to life once again. As you do, Rhaenya, you see Ero's eyes open. The man who promised you he would get you to Torm's Hill. What does he see in the moment that his eyes open? Nia has her eyes closed. She's in a deep state of focus and she goes, We make our own miracles. You are my miracle.

Be made again. Rise! And a magic that has flown, a magic that has flowed through you before in a different chapter of your life returns in this moment as a cleric moves that healing power through you and you feel life and your wounds knit closed.

Incredible. His mouth sputters in the mud and water on the ground. He doesn't even lift his head, but just one eye, a complete mess, turns up and their eyes meet in a split second. Two soldiers remain. They know the battle is lost. What they were counting on, more than anything,

was that 1,200 people would be so afraid of being the eight who have fallen. That's what they were counting on, for all of you to be afraid, for no one to be willing to fall into the mud like Ero was. Now Ero is back.

These two soldiers that are on either side of Rhaenya see and know that their day has come, but they also know what it is when a cleric of a prime deity stands before them, a cleric of a prime deity stands before them, a cleric of the light. And they have enough belief in the Strife Emperor that they will not suffer that to pass.

So even if this is their final moment, they will make it count. I got the moon on my side, bitch. Try me. Your armor class is 10, yes? Something like that. That's a miss. Fantastic. That's a miss.

I got the moon on my side, bitch, try me! You got another guy, hold on. That's another miss, going to worry about it. I'll roll this in front of the board. Okay. Let's do it. This is what I get for getting cocky. They add a plus three to hit. For why?

On a seven or higher, this one? On a seven or higher, they hit. 16. Gorgeous. Whoops. One d8 plus two. That's right. And a seven or higher, they hit. 16. Gorgeous. Whoops! 1d8 plus two. That's right. Gorgeous. Eight damage. Yep. I'm down!

Sword flashes through. With that last attack, that one's going to turn. Does he turn to Garin, or does he attempt to finish hope in this moment on one who has already fallen? Garin, we'll leave it up to a roll of the dice. One, two, three, four, five, six. Four.

Thank you, friend. I'll say in this instance, I see the blades starting to come down and attempt to finish this, and Garnet goes, Hey! He just puts the hammer up and goes, I'm what you want, boy.

He's going to take his last swing at you. Armor class of seven. Seven. He hits on a four or higher. Yeah, that checks out. Four! I bring it, that checks out. Four! I bring it, I bring it. Nine points of damage to Garin. So, here's what I'll say.

Yeah. I try and make that final push to distract. It doesn't work. The drive to finish this job is there, and Garin just leaps forward and covers her body with his and takes the blade to his own back. As you feel the steel go in between your ribs,

there is a moment, both of you horizontal, you covering Rania with your body, who has healed you so many times. You look over and see on the ground, Arrow, who you've traveled with for so long. And Arrow, you look and lock eyes as you come out of unconsciousness and you see Garin entering it.

There is a moment where you lock eyes together, having wandered this world for so long. He just smiles before he fades. Aro. Hell yeah. It is your turn. Okay. Aro. Hell yeah. It is your turn. Okay. And I would also let you know, as you stand up, the one who stood forward and said, It will not be like it has been.

It is your turn, and you may take it as a first-level ranger. Yeah! Can I grab one of the soldier's swords up out of the mud as I rise? Yes, you absolutely can. Hell yes. Hell yes. And just roars into the air

from his gaunt, golden dragon-borne frame. And I'm going to swing it into their attacker. Hell yes. Go for it. Go ahead and roll. You are flanking, so you will have advantage as you stand. What do I add? What do I add as a ranger? Your proficiency plus either your strength

or your dex modifier. Strength or dex? Yeah. That is a 15 total? 15 total. Hold on, 15 total to hit. Da-da-da. Let me get their armor class here real quick. 15 total.

Does not hit the armor here, unfortunately. Okay. But you have access to also any of your first-level spells that you have here now. I'm level zero. You have your stat block in front of you. As you take a swing with that sword,

you also have, yeah, Hunter's Mark is also available to you, I think, as one of your first-level spells. Right, but that is... Extra damage, I think, yeah. Not extra to hit. What's that, then? You take a swing. Clang! Connect there

with the armor holding the sword aloft. We move from Ero's turn. The captain is dead. Phaedra, it is your turn once more. All right. I intervene. And then do I still have a little army of commoners? You do, yeah, absolutely.

We are all going to fucking mob the guy that got these two. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, by the way, some other people had also summoned some commoners on their turns as well, right, Nia and them? Let's make sure we resolve that as well. I realize your guys' commoners should make attacks also.

Nia, as you drop, you have, I think, these four over here. Shoot. So go ahead and give me four attack rolls there there if you'd be so kind. And these are all 20s, right? Yeah. Going to... G-G-G! G-G-G-G!

Let me know if any of them get a 14 or higher on the dial. One of them gets a 19, the other miss. Two damage to that one, still up, looking so bad. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Aero, you also have some over. Oh wait, I'm sorry, that was only three. I got four, right? Oh, go ahead and roll another one. I get one more.

That's a two. Two, so. Aero, you have your original four over here that are all still fighting as well. They're rolling much better than me. That's a 17. Hit. A 12, a seven, and a 10. So probably only one hit.

Only one hit, boom. Fiedra, that's you. Do you want to roll for your commoners first? Sure, yeah. Hell yeah. I have how many? Go ahead and roll for Taveen. He's got the longsword still. Oh, Taveen. Yeah. Oh, Taveen. Taveen, please do one.

Rolls all on you. No. You rolled a nine, which. Well, doesn't he get a plus two? It's plus two, though, right? Yeah, I don't think, yeah. Oh, sorry. The, oh yeah, he does not get,

he only gets a plus three. Yeah. So he does not hit. Roll, you have three more commoners, though. Three more commoners, all right. Come on, one of you guys, please. Ooh, they rolled really well. One of them does not hit, because that's a five,

but we have a 18 and a 21 to hit. Both hit four damage. These last two soldiers are at death's door. Roll your own attack. That is a 19 to hit. 19 hits! Yeah, and then. Roll sneak attack damage, too. Roll sneak attack damage.

Wait, that was, oh, that's a six. I'm done. And then plus dex, right? Yeah. That's 10 damage. You rush up to this one, slit his throat. Gone, dead. One soldier remains. Fiedra, you've killed two of these guys now.

Just disembowel. You hear the intestines hit the mud, and that is Fiedra's turn. Crocus, that's going to be you. Just disembowel, you hear the intestines hit the mud and that is Fiedra's turn. Crocus, that's going to be you. Okay, so now. Last soldier standing. So Crocus still has the other guy in his mouth and he looks directly at the last soldier,

catches his eye, just goes and just snaps the guy, just cracks the skull, drops him, and is just going to run at him. And what I want to do is he runs at him and he's going to take a swipe with his claws. And then as the bonus action attack, it's going to spin and slap him with his tail. Hell yes.

Is there flanking? Yes, you have flanking here as well. The first hit. Ooh, do-do-do-do-do-do. Not hit, it's 12, so I miss. Miss the first one, you still have your bonus action. So it glances off the armor, uses the momentum to spin,

and is going to slam him at his tail. That is a 17 plus seven, so I assume that hits. That is a hit, go ahead and roll damage. That's three, eight, five, six, seven, eight points of damage. That first claw misses, and the soldier steps back, thinking, maybe I can get this monster freak in my last blow, rears back, and doesn't see

that the missed attack is already part of the follow-up, and roiling this massive crocodilian tail, you hear his spine crunch like popcorn and falls to the ground, dead. The last soldier defeated. We are going to stay in initiative because people are dying. Yeah. Okay.

So we're going to move from this onward as fast, continuing on. Garin, I'm going to need a death saving throw from you. Yes, you do. That's a three, it's a fail. Failure from Garin, I'm going to need a death saving throw from you. Yes, you do. That's a three, it's a fail. Failure from Garin. Raynia, death saving throw from you. That's a five.

That's a fail. Arrow, it returns to your turn. I throw the sword aside and scrabble down into the mud and try to press my hands against the wound on Nia's side, try to press my hands against the wound on Nia's side, try to stabilize. You go to stabilize and feel true power coursing through you. You can make a medicine check here,

or you can cast Cure Wounds. I'll probably do that. What does it feel like? Aro, you are of the world. You are a wanderer in this world. You've been molding Earth with the secrets of druidic power that were taught to you, but this is awakening something deeper within you.

What do you feel in the moment that this power avails itself to you? That very simple connection to the Earth that was learned through practice through someone very important to me now surges with inspiration and belief in possibility again. And the power of green and good and living

And the power of green and good and living draws up through my knees in the earth and passes through my core and out my hands into this singular person. Rania, you open your eyes. I think she looks at you and is, you can barely hear it, but she goes, There's my miracle.

Thank you for helping me find my way again. It is unending. Fiedra, we return to you. Garn is still down? Garn is down, Otto is down, Luz is down. Yes. Otto's been down a long time. Yeah, he's been four rounds. Otto's probably, oh, okay, Luz is down. Yes. Otto's been down a long time. Yeah, he's been four rounds.

Otto's probably, oh, okay, I should say that. I don't know! I don't know! That's obeying your dance? Is he dead? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't want to work with him anymore. I...

I want to say I yell out to the crowd, I think. I yell, it's over, we have injured. Can anyone help? You see that, yeah, as you yell out, Fiedra, you immediately go into gang boss mode and start getting people. As you've been the whole battle, just getting like, more bodies, hit them, hit them!

You look out and see immediately that, as you rush forward, Klesara and Ness heed your command right away. Both of them are going to rush over. One of them is going to rush to Otto. Klesara is going to rush over to Otto. Otto has a death save failure already, and I haven't rolled.

He may, if he rolls a nat one, already be gone. Cool. 17, that's a success. Oh, oh! Hey! And Klasara's going to roll. She adds a plus four to her medicine and just needs a 10 to stabilize him

with the medicine check, so six or higher. 13. Yay! She rushes over. Otto looks up and goes, This one was bad. Worse than most. Yeah.

Worse than most. It was, but we still fucking got him. We got him. You see, Otto looks over at you, Ero. You haven't met him before from your time in the prison. He goes, You're fucking crazy, man. I love you. You're fucking crazy.

Peace yourself. Yeah, I'll never be brave again. That's the last time. You see, and Nez is going to rush over. Who's the other healer here? She's going to rush over, who's the other healer here. She's going to rush over to... She sees Luz. Luz rolled a nat one on her first roll

for two death save failures, which means that on a nine or lower, it is too late for her. Oh, I can't do anything about this. Okay. I'm going to roll to see, because Nez is too late for her. Oh, I can't do anything about this. Okay. I'm going to roll to see, because Nez is doing triage between Garin, who has one, and her that has two,

but we need to see what's happening with Luz. Please. Two. Nez rushes over to Garin. Um, Nez rushes over to Garin. Once again, on a six or higher, stabilizes. 15. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Garin, you feel yourself once again. You see these quick goblin hands go to work. She says, easy now. There's ale and salt beef and all the good things in the world for you still to have, my friend. Her voices mingle through the memory and the echoing sounds of laughing children,

dwarven voices, and blurry, mingled memories of generations past not seen in a long enough time where the faces themselves don't crystallize until eventually half-conscious can see the blurry expression of Ness. You swim back. With Crocus, it is your turn. Crocus isn't aware enough to know

that the guy he was fighting is dead. Mm-hmm. So when he fell on the ground, Crocus immediately stomped on him, grabbed him, picked him up, and whipped him into that well, like into the side of the well there, and is just making this noise that is like, there's this noise that crocodiles make

that's like this kind of like clicking deep in there. That's like the kind of like and he's just making this noise and foam is just dripping from his mouth and he's just blank eyed. And he's looking for, like he's just looking around at everybody else. He has, everybody around him is the same.

Yeah. And he can't bring himself out of it. He's just whipping his tail around and looking at everybody, everybody around him. He's at one hit point and has just lost his mind out of it. He's just whipping his tail around and looking at everybody around him. He's at one hit point and has just lost his mind at this moment and is a danger to anybody who gets near him at this point. Yeah, people begin to give you a wide berth,

just seeing you summoned something deep and otherworldly. These people have not seen a... The handiwork of the gods is not widely seen, even during the height of the Calamity. You, with whatever you summoned in that power, and your own natural state as a fearsome, fearsome warrior, give me a perception check. Not good.

Well, my perception would be... Natural 20, Plus two. Oof. What?! Alex, you crocus on a nat 20. You Crocus, on a nat 20, you feel the rage. You are frightening.

You are monstrous. Everyone is frightened of you. You're barely even a person to some of these people because of all the things that you've done and all the things that have happened to you. On a nat 20, you look and see cowering behind the well Selwyn and Seldria,

the two little children that you carried all the way here from Rybadkol. They meet your eyes, and both of them step forward slowly, softly, and put two little scaled hands up and put their heads against your head, just as you did moments ago to one that you meant tremendous harm to.

You see that both of them breathe slow and steady, crying from fear, so afraid that their lives were about to end after knowing even a moment of joy. You hear Seldria's voice so soft in your ear. It's okay. You don't have to be scared. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He just sits on the ground.

Both of the kids wrap their arms around you. We can tell you're scared. We're scared, too. It's okay. We're going to be okay. You got them. They're not going to take us away. Yeah. Okay, okay. You feel another pair of hands

gently press your head against her chest as Celeste covers you and puts her head over you and just whispers in Draconic, Which I don't understand, because I don't speak it. Because I raised my hand. The words over and over in a language you can't understand and seeing your expression change again

to one of confusion and understanding, you see Selwyn looks up and smiles, his little hand on your cheek. It means you saved us. Okay. Garn, stable once again. You are unconscious, but your body, perhaps the hands that shaped Exandria made in you something too much like the land in stone,

for you simply will not quit or perish from this earth lying there. Aro, you send that energy and heal Nia. Fiedra, you look to and fro as the people here under your command go to attend to the fallen. And there is a moment that is so small and in passing that it's hard to even feel it or understand it,

but Klasara, this little halfling matriarch, walks past in your command to see to the injured, puts a hand on your back and smiles and gives you this little pinch on the shoulder that you immediately recognize that your mother gave you the same thing, a little, you're doing exactly what you need to.

You look at a community that, rather than glowering over you, causing you to be ruthless in the shadows, is looking at you in the open town square for answers and guidance. I say to them, this was great work that we've all done here. Every single one of you.

Remember, we look out for ourselves. We have each other's backs. And that is how we're going to make it through this. You see that Taveen turns to look at you. You see that Taveen turns to look at you. No biting remark, no quip, no turn of phrase to preemptively put someone on guard no quip, no turn of phrase to preemptively put someone on guard to not tangle with your sharp wit or cunning,

and instead just open support and encouragement of people that desperately need it. And Tavenne smiles, or doesn't, Tavenne maybe internally smiles, but more just looks, seeing a side of you he has never seen before. And Nia, as people move, you turn and see Luz. She...

Nia's seen a lot of messed up bodies. She's seen people on Death's Door. There've only been, this may be the second time she has seen one person kill another. And her instinct is to just go to loose and to try, because Nia has done miraculous things before.

And she just tries to bring her back. She is not even bothering to check a pulse. She's just pressing and pressing. And you can see on her white robes little splotches of tears as Nia is crying.

She can, there is something she can do. There is something she can do. This cannot be how the story ends. It's the three of us. It's me, it's Lyanna, it's her. She has to come back. She has to come back because Luz is the only person. She's the last person who saw Lyanna.

She has to come back. She has to come back. And she's just pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing. She may do that until she hears that she may be making a terrible situation worse. The arrow's hand rests on your shoulder from behind. This can't, this cannot, no.

I, no, no, no, no. And she's now banging on Luz's chest. Feeling like such a failure. She thinks back to earlier in combat where she had so many options to call on other people. And she, at some point, was like, no, let Luz hide. And the quick change of that thought is the thing that she's blaming herself for. She should have followed her instinct.

Nothing will take this away. But when the world is so impossible... Give yourself some little bit of grace. We do the best we can. In the shadow of the gods. Can she see the sky? Can she see the moon at all, Nia? Do you think you can? Do you believe you can?

Do you believe you can? Nia looks up, and even if she can or cannot see the moon, because of the clouds and the rain and whatever time of day it may be, and she clocks it and finds it, feels its gaze on her. She looks to the moon and says, Have this one, but you keep my sister.

You watch her, and you make sure I do not make this mistake again. She gets up and tries to find a place where she can perform some sort of burial for her friend, and Starmie, who still is with us somewhere. Starmie and Luz,

two others that fell in the brawl and battle here in Torm's Hill are laid to rest. Arrow, Nia moves so quickly with a sense of rage and injustice, moments after embracing a light eternal, and moves so quickly to the work of honoring the fallen dead

that she misses what you see, which is, for the first time in maybe decades, clouds part for a moment and you see a glimpse of star and light. They twinkle there, far off in a nighttime sky, and for a moment, sailing as sharp as a saber as the crescent of the moon. Katha moves through the sky,

and just as quickly, the clouds cover it. She knew exactly where it was. SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, SAM and LAURA say, The battle subsides. The honored dead are buried. Some measure of ale is imbibed in their honor. A wounded Otto stands by T'Veen.

T'Veen looks over at you. Fiedra. What's the angle, boss? You know, I've been trying to figure that out. And I'm not sure I have it yet, but, well, we're all here again. Yeah. We did a pretty good fucking job.

He walks up and hunches down next to them. I think... we might be able to really make a change here. You know? Yeah? here. Okay. You know? Yeah? Yeah. Okay. Garin, you are propped up somewhere,

recovering next to Otto. Aro, you are there nearby as the rain finally subsides. It's still cloudy, but my god, you saw a patch of sky for a moment, and you see that for the first time, once the bodies are cleared, you see that your friend, Bol'Rei,

the bug-barreled her, goes, We followed them back out, but there's no sign of any other scout. So none of them escaped. They'll not know where they went or how far. These ones already had eaten through their rations. So you've saved us. The people that are here will be safe

because of what you did. I know we lost some, The people that are here will be safe because of what you did. I know we lost some, but we honor them. It is all we can do. So many are now free that might have marched for cause of fear back into the chains of oblivion and tyranny. We thank you. And we thank the honored dead.

You see Klesara, Inez come over, and Fiedra, that you are you are once again reassuringly pinched by these older matriarchs who make sure that you are fed. For the first time, there's an area where now that the rain is gone, they build an outdoor fire, and there's a fire burning and people can get warm.

There's a chatter through the camp. For the first time, many see that the soldiers of the Strife Emperor were defeated, that the Strife Emperor did not appear and lay a thousand people low with a mighty swing of a morning star. Instead, there is freedom, dearly paid for, but freedom nonetheless.

Crocus is going to... Did you get hurt? No, not at all. Okay. All right, but I know. It's fine. I'll be right back. He's going to go walk to the river and just wash the extensive amount of blood that is all over him off of him

and just try and clean himself. After you go to wash yourself, you see that Klesara and Naz are both speaking to you, right in the air of regard, you prompt up, say, I'm worried about Nia. We'll keep an eye on her.

Luz was one of the few old family friends that she had left in this world, of which we all have precious few, I'm afraid. It's a bitter loss for her. Do you think you will leave at once, Arrow? Or tarry here a while? I think we will stay for a spell. I had originally thought to move on fairly quickly,

but my thinking has changed somewhat. We would love to have you stay for a while. It would be an honor, and there may be a life for us to build here, but I know that there is a conversation for you to have with Nia, who may wish to travel on as quickly as possible.

If she does, I would hate to think of her going alone. I will never hurt them. She smiles. Nearby, Fiedra, with you and the rest of the roach gang tending to a recovering Otto, you see Marleth walks up to you, who you did not see at all in that conflict.

He's wondering. He walks up to you and says, Fydra, my friend, could I speak to you in private for a moment? I'm not going anywhere without my bodyguard. Can you come? Yes, of course. I mean, I'm down by the river.

Oh, so he's gone down by the river at this point. Okay. I say, well, anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Otto and Taveen. So let's hear it. I've spoken with the Baudley brothers. Baudley brothers? The Baudleys, the three halfling lads

with the branding marks on their face. Connor, Owen, and Rowan Baudley brothers? The Boutleys, the three halfling lads with the branding marks on their face. Yes. Connor, Owen, and Rowan Boutley. Okay. They are enterprising young lads who were handing out the tools earlier. I've kept a log of everything that was given away by the lads, and of what use it was given and to everything that was given away by the lads,

and of what use it was given and to whom it was given to. And I've approached them and spoken about the possibility of, shall we say, going into business together. The tools were taken with no discussion thereabouts, but in logging what people took and how they had it, I believe that those who have taken those tools have incurred something of a debt to the Bowerdleys, and it is possible for us to join forces with them such that we might be able to capitalize upon that debt.

Those tools are of incredible utility, and the Bowerdleys are not necessarily worldly, we might be able to capitalize upon their debt. Those tools are of incredible utility. And the Bounties are not necessarily worldly, so some of these concepts, it was difficult to explain to them. But by working alongside them, we may be able to entrench ourselves in what is about to become a burgeoning place of industry, and tools will need to be sold here in some degree or another. And I cannot help but notice the prowess

that you and your companions possess. In establishing order in a place like Torm's Hill, it can behoove one to work side by side with those who are able to establish order when and if it need be done. Hmm. You know, I think I underestimated you. You got a good head.

Good with this kind of stuff. What can I say? I am a man of no skill at arms, but vision, certainly. And you wish to share that vision with the Roach Gang, I assume? My intention would be to implore your services, such as they are. Hmm. Well then,

perhaps we can have a little discussion, a private discussion. Sundown. Behind Torm's Hill, perhaps? Lovely. Bring the ledger with you. I shall. Yes. I will do so.

It occurred to me as well, something of fascination to me. Yes. The structures here in Torm's Hill were built as auxiliary structures and now are dwelling places for those that have arrived here in Torm's Hill. But there is no established deed of title or ownership to any of the buildings herein.

So in other words, those that dwell here are dwelling here at the welcome as guests, essentially, of Klasara and Nez. There are possibilities for, I think, arrangements that could be made with those here who certainly have done nothing to earn these dwelling places. SAM and LAURA, AABRIA, and SAM and LAURA, Okay. nothing to earn these? Look at it this way. None of these people built these structures

that they had a dwell in. If we were to go and simply offer to care for the structures in exchange for a deed of title, should anything come up, if a roof has a hole for the rain to come in, we'll repair the roof. And all they need to do is simply acknowledge the deed of title and move forward from there.

You must understand. Yes. Some order is going to emerge from here. It will either be an order determined by two elderly grandmothers, or it will be an order determined by those with an understanding of how to structure a place like this that requires structure. Okay. Those with understanding, like you.

That's one example, certainly. But also by those such as you, who know the proper and practical applications of force when required. Very interesting. Well, we'll talk more at sundown. Very excited to hear all those visions of yours. I'll bring the ledger book.

Yes, please do. Back where Sara had spoken to us and Garn was there as well, as soon as she walks away, Ero will lean against the same building that Garn is sitting against and with a wince, slide down and sit next to you. Oh.

Hey. I don't know if you're feeling your age, but I certainly am. I've been feeling it for a century. Well. I'll tell you. It has been a difficult week, but I wouldn't be sitting here licking my wounds if you hadn't broken me out.

Prison, back there. Oh, that's right. I wanted to formally thank you for it. Hey, I'm pressed to say that we're all fairly even if we're keeping count, but I'm bad at adding and subtracting. I appreciate you all putting any faith in these old bones. I'm left here wondering how much more I got in me, to be honest.

I'm not a, I'm not a fighter, I'm a maker. He looks down at his hammer, itself like the stone somewhat pockmarked from the blast of remaining divine energy that unexpectedly fired from his friend. He goes, I feel like I'm a bit small for these bigger things.

Well, you could have fooled me. You showed us equal measures of both. I am slow to offer trust. Been that way for a long time, but from the second I laid eyes on you, you had it. Can't even really say why. Sometimes you can read a person

who's got nothing to lose and wants for nothing to gain. He claps his hand on your shoulder. You had nothing to lose and once for nothing to gain. He claps his hand on your shoulder. Ah! Gives you last guise. Oh, that hurts. Let me see. Maybe we can find some of that ale you were talking about. Mm-hmm.

For now, I'm going to go find Rania. So I'm just going to... Just give me a little more time. He limps away. You go to find Rania. Where is Rania in this moment? Still at her friend's gravesite. Nia's not...

She's still putting the pieces of everything together and finding some way to blame herself. Any onlookers would see that she has taken some of her friend's robes and has turned it into some, or she has wanted to turn it into some sort of pouch for that moon weaver symbol that she will not be keeping for herself. just next to it with her hand in the earth, squeezing and releasing and squeezing and releasing. Just lost in thought and regret and is trying to come up with some plan to make this loss worth it.

Near your friend's grave, I'll ask Alex, do you think that this area of the graves is near to the river? I'd say it probably is. I think, Rheneas, you're meditating here at the gravesite, you hear a splashing in the river that is just now starting to come down, and that choking, muddy, torrential flood

is actually starting to get a little bit translucent. Maybe some of the ash of centuries of war between the gods is actually starting to turn into what centuries ago was a clear and babbling alpine stream. Funny how things change. Crocus has never seen a river before. He's lived in the city his whole life,

and this is the first time he's ever, and then he went immediately to prison, as if he's never seen a river. And he's just, if there's a part of it that naturally pools and isn't quite in a rapids, he's just standing in it and moving his feet around and washing his hands of the blood and everything,

but not with purpose, just being a child in a pool of water, kind of, and just standing there. She lets the sound of her new friend splashing for the sake of it. She listens to that and just... She hasn't talked in a while. It almost looks like she isn't breathing, because how dare she get that and her friend not? I think, Rokas, you look up,

see Nia near the graves there. Mm-hmm. She's going to get out of the water and slowly walk up towards where she is. Mm-hmm. I'm sorry. How about your friend? Me too.

We're similar, you and I. Okay. I don't know where my family is either. We're similar, you and I. Huh, okay. I don't know where my family is either. Hmm, I only... I, um... Fiedra. Fiedra has raised me. Hmm. Fy'ra has raised me.

I don't know who my parents were. Fy'ra had my egg. So I guess it's just me who doesn't know where my family is. Sorry. So I guess it's just me who doesn't know where my family is. Sorry. Don't. Don't. Okay. You deserve each other.

Mm-hmm. And Fy'ra, as elusive as she can be, she cares about you. Mm-hmm. as elusive as she can be. She cares about you. Mm. Yeah. I miss the person who cared about me. Your sister. Huh. And she...

Her body sort of cracks and clicks in a way. She goes to reach in her bag for that locket, and she pops it open and shows Crocus a picture. Sister. Sister. Yeah. She's a day's travel. I hope to leave tonight.

Well. Bad. Everything's bad. Could be better. Closes it, puts it in her pocket. And just goes back to squeezing the earth. I think, Ero, you walk up at about this time. She hears Ero.

She knows the sound of her friend's feet. She's heard him try and be sneaky behind her before. I think in the distance, too, you hear Tevinne's voice going, Crocus! Huh. Don't let her leave. He walks away back to town.

He stops you just with a little fist on your arm. Yeah. Just gives you a little knock. Just goes back to town. Mm-hmm. Aro just stands by you for quite a long beat without saying anything. You have to go get her.

I don't want to sleep here another night. I want to go get her. I've been distracted. I've been naive. Well, then that's what we'll do. I have some idea what you might be feeling right now. And there's nothing I can say or anyone else

who can talk it away. now when there's nothing I can say or anyone else who can talk it away. But I will be here, sitting quietly by. I think she reaches for him and just tries to get him to sit with her so she can lean on his shoulder. And she feels the weight of what he has said and knows that she has so many questions about him and his history and that line on his throat that she's tried to ask about artfully and still not gotten an answer for. But in this moment of shared grief,

she understands just a bit more. I can't take the pain away, she understands just a bit more. I can't take the pain away, but if you know where you want to go, I will get you there. Where do you want to go? What do you want? When you let yourself want. I think I want to know something different again.

Let's go find something different. She gets up and brushes herself off. Takes some of that earth from her friend's site. Just presses it into one of her locks to keep a bit of her friend with her. I can do two more nights here. Get our rations, get some water. We should make for Snowgrave's Pass

as soon as our friends can come with us. As you wish. SAM and LAURA say, Same. Little ways later in the town, hobbling as much as walking, I think Garin has retrieved a small, personal mini barrel that he had stashed from the discovered chamber and tucked it away somewhere where no one would find it, and figured this is a time as any to enjoy.

But as he wanders into the streets, catches a glance of Fiedra, almost taking a parallel path, and gives a look over. Hey, Fiedra. Yeah? Why don't we all join for a drink and celebrate everything?

You got enough for four? I think we can manage. All right. Don't have any cups. But you can hold this, I think. Oh, we can manage. We'll go find the rest here. I got your attention. Yeah.

You're a survivor. I mean, we all are. Aye, but you, I mean. I came pretty close. No, but you, I mean. I came pretty close. Points the tattoo on your arm. Oh. You know what you are. You endure.

Not just because you have the will, but you have the mind, you have the clever wit, and you have the instinct to continue. I've tried. Sometimes it seems like it doesn't do as much good to me in this world as I thought it did, especially these days. But I don't know if you saw the look in the eyes

of those that saw you today. They themselves found a little bit of that survivor in themselves because of it. That's responsibility. I know. I felt that, too. I felt something. And...

You know, I've always believed in looking after my own people, and I think these are my own people. You felt something. Yeah. It's the first thing I've felt in a very long time. Yeah. So just...

You're a survivor, but not just for yourself anymore. You have to survive for everyone here. I know. It's not a responsibility that I take lightly. Good. Mm-hmm. Let's go have a drink. Yeah. The roaches and Garin have a long drink. Nia, do you take yourself to just find rest, to prepare the next day,

make your preparations to get to Snowgrave. I think I try and find Garin so I can thank him. I think, I don't know how much she got to see after she was struck low. I think part of her knows that Garin prevented something

really catastrophic. Yeah. So I think she keeps her things on her and tries to go find Garin. It's not too hard to find. You hear the sound of some laughter not far from the edge of the riverbank where he was working earlier.

You hear, , Well, round two. Starts passing the keg around. Garen? Yeah? She sees the gathering here. A word?

Really quick, is it sundown yet? It is sundown. Oh. Well, thank you so much for the drink, Garen. We have a little appointment, but you guys have fun. And me and the boys, we... I think, yeah, the roaches go head over. Behind Torm's Hill, you, Krokas, you, Taveen, Otto all gather.

It's now nice and dark. There's multiple bonfires. For all the sorrow and heartbreak, the vast majority of Torm's Hill didn't see the fight even. It happened so fast. You know, probably about 100 to 200 people actually got eyes on it, and then word spread through the camp.

The word spread through the camp was, it's very sad for the people we lost, but we will not go back into the darkness. You, behind Torm's Hill, see Marlaz walk up. You see he's gotten some nicer clothes for himself. He's not dressed in the rags of a prisoner anymore. Walks up with his ledger book, and he goes, Fydra, good to see you again.

I would like to position myself in a place where he doesn't see me. It's very easy, he ignores you. See, you're not a very eloquent person, so he barely regards you at all. All right. So do you have high perception by any chance? Okay. Decent perception?

Yeah. I would also, I think, as soon as Marleth walks up, I would have discussed this plan with all you guys already, but can he do a perception check to just make sure he wasn't followed or anything? Like there's no one else around except for him? I rolled a 19 stealth check to just be kind of where he walks up, I'm...

Give me a perception to see if he's being followed by anybody. Gigantic monk shit. Oh, I don't know. Oh, okay. Hard to see. Awesome. It's a six.

That's it. And this may be a bit audacious, but since Crocus doesn't see that he is being followed, I don't know where our conversation happens, but I very much wanted this conversation to happen within eyeshot of this moment. Great, I think they will.

Gotcha. Okay, so you guys, I think. You guys are in the dark, and I think you see them at a campfire pretty distant from here, closer to the river. How many feet would you say? Maybe like. Do you want to read lips? Maybe like... No, no, no. May I ask why?

Do you want to cast some magic? No, she doesn't want to cast some magic. I think she is... I think she's just trying to keep, she's lost friends already by not keeping a close enough eye. Gotcha. I think she wants to keep. I think you stay vigilant.

You are with, I'll say this, you're within earshot. Okay. Cool? Cool, I'll take earshot. I have an observant feat. Gotcha. Which, yeah, if I can see a creature's mouth while it's speaking a language I understand, I can interpret what it's saying by reading its lips.

Gotcha. Would you want to read Phaedra's, Krokus's, or Marla's lips? Or just anyone, someone who's in there? Just reading Krokus's lips is so funny. I was just like, I want to see Krokus's saying, oh, um.

We'll move with this, and if you want to hear something, we'll make it happen. I'm going to take me off to conversation. I'm like, yeah, hello. Yeah, and I think something is charged within her. She's like, I've traveled with old boy, this shaky, shaky guy for long enough,

and seeing him alone with Phaedra, not because I'm worried about what she's doing, I'm worried about what he wants to do. Gotcha. You know that Phaedra's with Crocus and with Taveen and Oscar as well. Oh, they're all together. Yeah, they're all together.

Oh, yeah, I have all my boys. Okay, I thought it was just her and him. No, it's the whole gang. It's the whole gang. Okay, then, yeah. Marleth walks up to you and says, Fy'ra. Yes? Splendid. May I show you something? Of course.

He opens this ledger book and moves through it. You see he says, The earlier plan I discussed. Now, the Baudelaire brothers are, I think, a matter largely resolved. I worked with many fine merchant guilds in my time, serving under the Strife Emperor in his grand and imperial ministries.

And what I've found is that the manner in which those soldiers came through, obviously, that was a garish and violent display, and I think you were quite right to dispatch them post-haste. Now, the Boundary Brothers were already, I think you were quite right to dispatch them post-haste. Now, the Boundary Brothers are already, I think, on board with the idea that

their service they're providing to the camp absolutely should be honored. It should not be given freely. The goods they are providing, the community relies on, and that which is relied on must be paid for. So I've offered to go into business with them

as a majority stakeholder, and I think that what we can do is, I would love to hire you for your services. Credit at first, but quickly for actual specie to follow currency. Very interesting. May I? May I take a look? You see he opens and says,

this is quite a little clever thing here. I went and found some of the families living in the structures closer to the river and brought up the flooding that had occurred and simply was able to say, and you see that he has the book. Can I slowly try to take the book out of his hand? He shows and says,

By acquiring the deed of title for the structures, I simply imparted to them that, should a catastrophe befall their house, they would not be charged with its repair. As the owner of the house, I would be charged with its repair and would be more than happy to provide that service, and that their lease of dwelling within

would be quite a generous five years, which for people who've been wandering the wasteland. Right, right. Should get five years of free dwelling inside of a place that I'm providing the care and maintenance for. Okay, Marleth, Marleth. Yes.

Let me tell you something. All this is very impressive, and I think you're ready. Ready? I think you're ready to become one of us. Oh. I've been thinking about your generous offer. Mm-hmm. Right.

Tattoos are not necessarily in my hand. Oh, we don't have to do a tattoo. There's plenty of ways of initiating someone, boys. Can we hold him? Crocus comes out of the shadows behind him. Does this dragonborn have a tail? Yes, he does. Stands on the tail.

And Otto and Tavine, presumably, I would have told them about this plan. Open the mouth. Holding him there. Go ahead and give me a grapple check. You have to beat a six. That is... 23.

You open four! I say, oh, Marleth, you know, one of the core rules that we like to live by is that we look out for our own. You know, that means all the shit we do, we do it, because we have people we're looking out for. We got, I got Crocus, I got these boys. You know, we don't take too kindly to

selling people out, betraying your own kind, taking advantage of poor survivors who are trying to get you out of a shitty situation. You know what your problem is, Tarlath? Barlath. Barlath. I got you. Get us a name wrong, too. Whatever. Whatever the fuck your name is,

your problem, you talk too much. And I take out the stiletto and I cut out his tongue. Oh! Oh! Oh! Yeah, yeah. Oh, you cut his tongue out of his mouth? And then Crocus goes and shuts his mouth

and holds it closed. I take the ledger from him and I say, pleasure doing business with you. We'll be in touch. And then I think we all walk off. Yeah, I let go and go, You should get that looked at. Bleeding on the ground, searching in the dark grass for his tongue,

you take Marla's ledger book and walk out. You see Otto looks down. As you're walking about, Otto looks at Crocus and you have fully covered it and goes, you're not a very nice man, and kicks him in the stomach hard. Oh my god! You guys walk out of there with the ledger book in hand. Do you hold onto it?

Yeah, I absolutely hold onto it. I just keep it on my person, I think. Incredible. You walk away from there. Fuck yeah. Garin and Nia and Ero. I think that you all, are you guys just drinking?

You pulled me aside for a second. I did, yeah. Nia, sitting by the campfire, realizing that Fiedra is not alone, and therefore I feel confident enough to not pay attention, but this is what? It's a smokey, give or take.

Okay, Nia takes this, tries to, she spills ale in her hair, hates herself for it. What's after for it? Embrace it. Okay, drinks, hands it back to him, and says, Thank you for what you did out there. I was down and I,

through the swimming, the haze of it all, I saw you cover me and take that blow. I'm old. Yes, you are old. You've got a lot more to live for than I do. And besides, you've saved more lives than I can count through the years. My own a few times.

I've had the opportunity to pay a little bit of that back in recent week, and thank you for that. I have a feeling we'll be thanking each other for a long time. I hope so. Give me this. She takes it, takes a bigger drink.

As you hold it for a second there, he sits there and as you quietly sit there next to each other and darkness hears. I didn't really get a chance to know her. This Oos woman. But I'd like to know about her. Why don't you tell me? Nia tells the story of Louz and her sister and herself,

the three of them old family friends. Our families were friends for a very long time. And she taught me about the moon and the Moonweaver. Me and my sister used to think that we could connect with each other in dreams and visions, and we would always meet on the moon. Luce, I have such dreams for the world.

I have such dreams for the world. She dreamt of ease and joy and laughter and serenity. And even in the dark times, she always made sure my sister and I kept hope alive. Sort of shifting, sloshing the ale in its little jar. I just wish she was able to see the future she painted for me and my sister. The strange thing about dreams is they're infectious.

And if we're lucky, they last long after we're gone. And wherever she is under the light of Cather, I can guarantee you, she'll see the world as it changes. After all, it's coming. The clouds part once more, this time fully. Nia, you look up and see, in a twinkling ocean of stars, a crescent moon smiling down at you. For the first time in your life,

you are bathed in a light not of this world, pouring in from the sky, moonlight surrounding you, seated around a warm campfire. The tired and exhausted, and for the moment, full and fed and free denizens of Torm's Hill.

Fire keeps the soles of your feet so warm, crackling warm, the kind of warm on a campfire that means you have to twiddle your toes or they'll get too hot. It's easy enough to fall asleep right here with your back to a bench or a stone or a bale of hay with a cloak thrown over it. Sleep comes, rest as it must.

Fy'ra and Crocus, you auto-intervene, find a place of comfort and rest, take turns, but out in the open, busy here, for the first time in your life, being out in the open is the safer place to be. People here are looking out for each other. They were shown how to do that, how to look out for each other.

You think everyone here falls asleep and gets a good night's rest for once? I'm at one hit point, yeah. Focas is gone and snoozing. Fiedra, you feel your bodyguard's massive form for you to rest against up by the campfire. You see Klasarra walk over and hand you another little mug, and she says,

You're fearsome. A little whirlwind. Look at what you've done. Look at this place. Well, we've tended to a place. You know, you make a tankard once and you wash it a thousand times, there is a care and tenderness that goes into maintaining.

But every once in a while, someone has to step in and do some dirty work, and very glad you were here to do that for us. It's our honor. And I promise you, if there's anything that we can ever do to help you, to protect you, to look out for you in the way that you've looked out for us,

me and my boys, we got your back, 100%. You can look out for me by getting a good night's rest. See, she taps and looks at the ledger under your hand and squints for a second, because she's seen that book moving around the camp today, not in your possession. Mm-hmm. Oh, it's that book that that robed gentleman

was writing names and numbers in. Yeah. Could be something interesting, I thought. Maybe it's a little reading. Maybe not tonight, but I thought I'd get some reading done. Ah, well, you're very frightening. You snooze with Crocus as Otto, who's resting, was being tended to medically,

is like, I'm good, I'm awake, I'll keep watch. Nia, you get some of that ale in you. I think you're gone, too. You've got drops today. I think she tries to find... I hope that Ero came with her to the fire. I think she wants to keep eyes on him, eyes on Garen.

Well, I think perhaps Aero lasts later into the night than most, and where he ultimately ends up is back at the river. In spitting distance of the bridge, the newly built bridge. He brings to life a little bonfire of his own, and he molds the earth to hold himself, drawing his tattered cloak around him.

He just spends a few hours gazing at the nearby mountain peaks, crowned in stars. Of our heroes, Garin is the only one that has not attained his first level as an adventurer. So I'll turn to you here, Matt, and I'll ask you a question. As Garin returns to his strength that night,

do you think he feels a younger strength return to him in this moment? Or instead, does some connection or secret of the earth come to him in his dreams? I will leave that choice to you, and you may choose whichever of them you wish for that secret wisdom to come to you

or for that old strength to return. Given the things that he's experienced in the most recent of times, I'd say as he drifts into a nice and buzzed, exhausted and grossly sore stupor, the crackling fire and the comfort of his friends being the last thing he sees before he drifts away. I think the memory of the distant halls he once built comes again, the pride of the craft.

And while he was never a man of strong faith. You can't shake from his cultural upbringing the presence of the Allhammer, whether it be colloquially spoken or just a symbol of pride in one's craft. The act of creation is something special and something he lost for a very long time. And seeing these people come together, seeing this community come together,

seeing people rebuild, a word that he said, the first word that he really said and felt he was fully behind after stepping out of the ash of the destruction of Rybad Kol. He thinks of the scarred hammer he held in his hand today and it reminds him of that symbol. I think probably for the first time in his life, in the presence of divinity,

faith in each other, and faith in the future, faith in change. Maybe he hopes to hold a bit of that sight of the Allhammer upon himself. Our dear friend Garin, tough as nails, old as dirt, does not seek that younger strength and seeks that wisdom instead. And so instead of leveling up,

something becomes true about this world. You sleep and snore. Ale and crumbs of bread in your beard. Arrow, you stay by your bonfire. And for the first time in a lifetime, you feel the rays of the rising sun come through the clouds,

like the warm embrace of a long-lost brother. The sun rises, and a arm reaching, a hand holding the embrace of sunlight. a hand holding the embrace of sunlight. It returns to Exandria as it hasn't in centuries in this land.

You look out as the fog parts and see that Torm's Hill stands at the edge of a vast valley. The mountains shaped here by hands long ago that shaped the mountains themselves. All these people and the many survivors that come after them, unbeknownst to them,

stand at the beginning of a vast valley. stand at the beginning of a vast valley. The approach of the Wild Mother having raced through it, the rain of the Storm Lord having fallen down upon it. This land will not know ash or shadow again, and instead, a valley shaped as if by careful hand and wise design to make a land rich with life,

where all of the people now here can see under sunlight is green and growing, ready for the work of living things to make a world anew in hope and wonder. Most beautiful valley you've ever seen, waiting for lives to be built here by hand. That's all for this episode of Exandria Unlimited Divergence. We'll see you next week.

What day? Is it Thursday yet? That's what you have to say. You have to say, is it Thursday yet? That's what you have to say. You guys better remember it next time. I'm tired of telling you. This is

Matthew Mercer. Thank you for listening to Exandria Unlimited on the Critical Role Podcast Network. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave us a review on the podcast app of your choice. Your review might inspire someone to give this adventure a listen. There are unlimited stories to be told, and we can't wait

to keep telling them. Is it Thursday yet?