Critical Role - Stone-Faced | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 4 | Part 1

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Part 1 The Houses of Royce and Davinos are attacked by the focused might and undead horror of House Tachonis, while the secrets Bolaire has kept for years tumble into the light... Use Code OVERTURE for one month free on Beacon! https://beacon.tv/joinNew Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays.Learn more about Campaign 4 at https://critrole.com/campaign4/   GET MORE CAMPAIGN 4 WITH BEACONWe're excited to bring you even MORE Campaign 4 with a Beacon membership! Get access to exclusive shows like our behind-the-scenes Critical Role Cooldown and ask the Campaign 4 cast your burning questions directly through our LIVE monthly Fireside Chats.You'll also receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant ad-free access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord.Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to everything Critical Role! OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN 4 CASTGAME MASTER Brennan Lee MulliganLaura Bailey as ThimbleLuis Carazo as Azune NayarRobbie Daymond as Kattigan ValeAabria Iyengar as Thaisha LloyTaliesin Jaffe as Bolaire LathaliaAshley Johnson as VaelusMatthew Mercer as Sir Julien DavinosWhitney Moore as TyrannyLiam O’Brien as Halandil "Hal" FangMarisha Ray as Murray Mag’NessonSam Riegel as Wicander "Wick" HalovarAlexander Ward as Occtis TachonisTravis Willingham as Teor Pridesire CREDITSProduced by Maxwell James, Steve Failows, & Kyle ShireEdited by Taylor Burke and Emily "Stevie" StevensonVisual Effects by Christian BrownGraphic Design by Aaron Monroy & Jordyn TorrenceMiniature Painting by Payton Keo LacebalTheme Music by Neal AcreeCharacter Art by Loren HontanillaAdditional Art & Design by Hannah Friederichs Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

You'll receive access to exclusive content, discounts at all our online Critical Role shops, pre-sales for live events, and so much more. Start your seven-day free trial today at Beacon.tv. Now, without further ado, let's begin this episode of Critical Role. Evening in Dolmachyar, a crisp, cool night, footsteps approach, a seedy tavern in the fray, the lowermost neighborhood of the city, noise of shattering glass bottles in nearby alleyways, raucous shouts, fights breaking out, loud music. The braying of a nearby horse has a carriage trundles down the street,

sputtering torchlight, casting shadows long and wide through the city streets. Humble sign of a tavern. Pottersfield, the symbol of a nameless, gravestone on its sign. Few drunken reprobates outside. In what state does Belair approach this place?

Belair has their hood closed. The cape closed and the hood up to be as inconspicuous as somebody who is wearing such a unique mask. He has a package, reasonably sized, wax papered, tied with string, clearly well put together.

It's, I mean, if you didn't know better, it would look like someone had just very plainly wrapped a Christmas present, it's very creased and well folded. and together, maybe it's a gift for someone. You walk through a neighborhood so far removed from the Arcanade that the odds of being recognized in this place are next to none. Door swings open.

Smugglers, criminals, few people under sputtering candlelight speaking, and hushed tones. Bartender looks up to perceive you, and with that eye contact, nods communicating that no, he does not perceive you. Not tonight, in any case.

At the back of this humble, liquor-drenched hovel, is a thick, red door. Brass studs throughout it. It's hidden behind a curtain, but it's sturdier than just about anything else in here. Seated behind the curtain is a thin, reedy figure who looks up at your approach.

No evil. Pushes his hand into the leather covering of the door. Something heavy like stone grates in a hidden hinge. The wall swings open and for a minute over powering the stench of rot and ale on the floor. Powerful incense, something heady, otherworldly, as you step into the shadows. You enter a hidden place of leisure behind Potter's Field.

You look in and see the proprietor Devlin, look up to you. Rows and rows of bottles, crystal glassware overhead. The fixtures here, brass, velvet, of a higher caliber than that which resides in the exterior. Devlin, a brimmed hat pitched forward to cover the very top of his forehead, looks up at you. His eyes always reflect a few more candles,

a few more lanterns than are ever present in this actual physical space. He looks up and goes, Master, pleasure to see you. Can I pour you a drink or are you only here for a spell? Oh. It's been an odd week. I think a tad of something interesting would do very well.

It's getting strange out there. If it keeps up, it might eventually get as strange as it is in here. He pours something thick and viscous. Delightful aroma must be something sweet, because Sherry puts it in front of you. He looks over to a corner, you see a woman wearing thick purple robes, a long cloak. She wears formless, shapeless attire, but her face is angular and beautiful. She sits small velvet benches, an ornate lantern made of shattered, almost mosaic-like glass, stained in different colors,

illuminates her face. She leans forward with empathy in her eyes and understanding at a mother and daughter across from her who seem addled in their sleeplessness. Give me a perception check. Let's see. That's going to be a 19.

Even at her whispered, tone, your ears detect. Of course, of course. The concerns are as great as the problem which brought you here in the first place. Your father, your husband, soul, is in the underworld. There is no afterlife that calls to it. The clerics of the total perhaps some druids of the old path would seek to send his soul off towards oblivion and void or perhaps depict some uncharted course through realms beyond that only the shapers knew but if you wish for a brighter resting place for your father and here she makes eye contact with the young woman who you can see probably hasn't slept in days, tears like have crusted and dried

in where they've been running down her face. She says, there are precious few left in this world who can help you. But there are some. There are some that wish for these souls not to be lost. Now, our help does not come cheaply,

but it is reliable and you see a vellum contract moved across the table to the young woman who begins to read the text. Elsewhere, your name is spoken aloud in this place. Valer! Friend! You turn to see Rulius and Calastro-Mercinod. You see that they're sitting in a private booth.

One of them has moved these velvet drapes aside. You see that there is a young man who is sort of draped over their laps, and you see that his eyes have rolled back in his head as he dreams in some altered narcotic state. As Rulius speaks to you, you see Calastro puts his lips near the young man's ears and sucks some vapor out of his ear as the man shudders.

My word, this is surprising. Quite auspicious, actually. I've been meaning to get a hold of you for a while. How is business? How is business? Business is booming, as ever. We have some very important clients these days. Would you go to join us?

I think I'm actually, I'm waiting for some different company for the evening, company for the evening, but I can take a moment. It's interesting, are you still doing the day job, the day work, whatever you want to call it? Of course, we must keep up appearances. I have to ask, because it has been ages, and there's a gala coming up, and of course there's the new theater,

which will eventually be opening, and I'm going to need a new suit, and honestly, what you wear is phenomenal. I always love what you're wearing. and I would love, I don't know, I think I would just look lovely in it. I'd be delighted to make you a suit, Boleur. A hand lands on your shoulder and a voice speaks and says, off a room in the back, ready for you. You look up and see Albrez-Driam,

a man of illicit goods that you've been talking to for some time, something maybe he started as a normal fence working with the crow keepers, but he's been making a name for himself and is looking to move up into a higher class of smuggled goods. If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, business calls and bespoke suits don't come cheap. They close the curtains to their private area and you walk with all. Albreus into another room. He's an able-bodied man, but not too terrifically tall.

He's sort of similar in proportions to yourself. But you see that he sort of shaved head. He's got a nick in one sort of ear. And as you go into this private area, he turns around and says, well, the money's ready. I had no idea that you worked with the likes of us. Oh, I work with an awful lot of people, times being what they are.

And who knows? Maybe at some point you'll be able to afford more of my services, and I push a package towards him. Undoing the clasps, he opens it. see a hungry smile on his face. I begin taking the money. Is this some kind of... In a bag?

Is this some kind of joke? Where is it? Where's what? He thuds at close and says, Oh, you are a peach, aren't you? Listen to me. I won't be double-crossed. Now, I came for a treasure.

and you see he flicks the hard exterior of your mask. And I won't be leaving without one. What is your current HP total? That is 26. That was a lot of dice. Shit. He breathes in your face and you fall immediately asleep. Yeah, it's okay.

Your unconscious form hits the ground. And he pulls your mask off your body. What does he see when he pulls the mask off the body? the mask off the body. Oh shit. As he pulls the mask, he sees, first of all, a bit of flesh pulls like rubbered glue as it pulls off, but it doesn't stick to the mask. It just flaps back. And just other than those points of contact, it is dry. cracked, chunks of flesh missing to see teeth, and it seems to be powdering by the second.

Not completely, but just the exposure to air seems to be making it turn grayer and open up. The eye sockets are practically empty. It's just flaccid balloons of what used to be eyes. Any moisture that was in them long gone. He looks down, oh, the fuck. Freak, won't even have to kill you. Looks like you're on death store.

He looks inside of the mask. Cox's head. See something. Maybe some glyph, something. Maybe some glyph, something, a ruin of power. But of course, you're unconscious. So we depart this scene. Sometime later,

Belair, you wake up feeling so much better. There's a dead body in the room. What do you do? Well, that won't do at all. I begin to strip the dead body of its clothing. Gently, carefully, folding it to the side. I then manifest in my hand. a glass straight razor out of nowhere. And I begin carefully removing the hair from this body, from its head,

leaving just a few patches, almost like, oh. It's like almost two tiny mohawks. I then take the bits of it and a cleaver, a glass cleaver suddenly appears, and I begin chopping it into tiny pieces. Portable. Is there a fireplace in this room? I'm trying to remember.

Oh, absolutely. I take the fireplace. I take the chunks, and I find the bits that are going to burn best, and I throw them on the fire. I keep, for now, the hands and the head, and I put them in the empty package as I fold it back up and re-tie the string. I change my clothes into the clothes that I removed from the cadaver. And I put up the hood and very, very gingerly decide it's time to head home. Feeling as good as if you were a brand new person, you head off into the night. For everybody watching, we'll get into what happens after Balear leaves and the other events in Dulacchar.

Vincent Dolmachiar in tonight's episode of Critical Role. Happy Halloween. Hi, welcome to tonight's announcements at the Critical Role Announcement Playhouse. Marisha, you're out. Yes, I am. Our Beacon exclusive series, Fireside Chat, will welcome the lovable, amazing,

one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, Alex Ward. Spooky boy on October 28th at 7 p.m. Pacific. So join Beacon to watch and submit questions and get to know Alex a little better. It's a cozy time. And as a reminder, campaign for we'll take a break next week for that aforementioned dispatch one shot. But we will return Thursday, November 6th with the soldier table. Oh, wow.

And of course, if you ever need a refresher, a reminder, you can get caught up with everything crit roll related with our lore keepers, with our weekly crit recaps on critroll.com. They're great. Awesome. Lora, you're up next, Miss Pickle. You guys, it's our Delilah Briarwood Dice set.

Delilah Brigha Wood. It's the seventh exclusive collaboration with the artisans of everything Dice. The packaging art of this hot, haughty hot. Delilah is by Arian Makua. And it's amazing. And the dice are equally amazing. Oh, man, I destroy the world for that one.

Can't wait to show you how pretty they are. Go and check them out online. They're like purpley. 14. Oh, those are so cool. Oh, cool. Guaranteed. Yeah, at least 14 every time.

Also, our partners at GFuel are celebrating criticals. 10 year anniversary with an exclusive collector's box of drinks. Look at that, it's so beautiful. And it's actually really freaking beautiful. And it tastes good too. And it's available only at gfuel.com. Yeah. We're real YouTubers now.

Yay! Yeah. There's stuff that comes in the bottom. Yeah, it's really cool. Oh, there's a shaker. Yeah, yeah, check it out. It's super pretty. When are we gonna make milk?

I've been dying for it. Oh, dickers. Dickers. Dickers. It comes with dickers. Dickers. Stick stickers. I believe that concludes our announcements.

Is that right, Garrett? No. I think so. And so with that, let's bring us into a place called Our Man. Have you Have you ready? Five touches All right, here we go

Hello and welcome to a very creepy episode of Critical Role, campaign for. I'm your dungeon master Brennan Lee Mulligan here for the Oops All Alex Ward's episode. Alex, where's your Alex Ward costume? Unfortunately, part of the stipulation of this event was that I can't be Alex Ward's because I have to divvy up all of myself to all of you. I'm sorry, I didn't meet you. It's a huge sacrifice. And this is where...

What's your name? Fad. Fad. Fad, you're hitting the TH on Fad. You're real heavy in? What do your boys call you when you go fishing? I bet you got a great source

for MDMA in the dark web, don't you? Perfect. Wow. They made me do this. By the way, we've been doing this to you for hours. Like three hours now. Which is almost as many NFTs you own. Sorry.

You have so much crypto. Not crypto, we're talking about crypts. Okay? Oh, transition. Nice transition. Nice transition. Last we left off, our heroes here in the world of Aramon, we're busy dealing with the aftermath of the execution and funeral of Thiazzi.

Fing. In our last episode, we said goodbye to a number of people that were off to seek either revenge on Kazimir for the betrayal of Theazi and swarding the plan to save him at the gallows, and the rescue of Teor Pride Sire's younger brother, Sid, who fled with a deed to a strong home in Gormelais. We also were chasing down through a knock-down, drag-out brawl in the crowkeeper's bar, a thing called the Stone. of Night Song, which the Elven Warrior Valis has come seeking. Hearing from his father, General Raymond DeVinos and the Lady Aranesa, that a full court press was engaged in across the city

searching for Octus Taconas, as indeed the Tacunus family was behind the execution of the Ozzie Fang, and that word had gotten to them that Octus may indeed have been involved. Seeking this eighth son of the Lord Primus Toconis, who came calling on him at the Penteverell. We discovered that, yes, many forces of the city were looking for him, and it looks like the forces of House Royce and the Vassal House de Vinos got to him first.

So Julian ran into him back at the home of Hallandil Fang and his daughter, Shadia. And seeing that there was trouble afoot, Octus went with Julian to arrive back there. And Valis, who's gotten to no pincushion, the sweet little undead fire. I think knowing that the trail had gone cold on the stone of Night Song, something about this figure that had helped you look for it, and that seemed to wield a magic of death, of necromancy, his family being given a birthright to a connection to that realm, but him having studied it through practice at the Penteverell. Veilis followed Julian to the Palazzo de Vinos, where we now stand. The lady Aranesa took Octus up to a room in a tall tower to get him, basically, you know, hidden away from people where she could talk about what was going on with his family. As General Riemann spoke to Julian about the fact that their rear caravan had been stopped at the Dvalmar Pass, some sort of strange workings afoot here in Dolmachyar.

Arriving back from the hallowed round, Taisha discovered that Young Octus had been taken by Julian Devinos, who she had shared some extremely pointed words with about their relationship to the late Thiazzi Fang. Bounding over one of the many bridges, crossing the river in the heart of Dolmachiar, wolf and elf gazed that he each other and felt a connection to the spirits of this place.

Magic is a foot here, profound. A wolf, who is also a woman, a druid, races towards this place to save a young man. She walks the old path, can feel the drum of the heart of the world and of the life force within it, and those spirits of death that would threat an elven warrior searching for an ancient artifact, Stone of Night Song, which we have just seen

in the hand of Octus' brother, Ethrin Taconas. It seems we've found what we're looking for. The magic of a studied necromancer capable of summoning a sweet undead familiar. Perhaps wielding the magic of death is not all bad after all. and a man who is not searched for magic or understanding of it in his life, but a shadow grows long behind you.

As Primus Taconas pulls the skull of Raymond Devinos through his body, and he collapses to the ground dead. I'm going to need everybody here to roll initiative. Oh, shoo. I didn't want any of my guys. Oh, that's okay. Okay, got that out of the way. Got that out of the way?

22. 22, let's go. What do we get here? 18. 18, four Octus. Hell yes. What did we get here? Three.

Three. Four. Four. Got the one out of the way. Definitely not going to roll it again. Probably not. No. Couldn't imagine that.

No, no, no, no. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay. Excellent, excellent. I'm so tough about it. Great start. All start. As we begin, Julian, you were going to be first to act, and I'm actually going to pass out everyone's minis!

Ah! Yes! Little guys! Okay, wait, so it's Julian. Julian, if you placed yourself, you were at the edge of the gate there. And then, Valis, you were right next next to you were right next to. next to Matt's character, Ashley. Thank you.

And you also have a friend with you. Pincushion. Pin. Pins with me. Pins with you. Pins such a cutie. Such good character. Rushing forward at this exact moment

crossing the threshold of the gate. I will give you your mini Taishu but also the form you currently wear. Yeah! Cool. Of a wolf and Alex. for your review, but you will be up here. Lovely. I get to know this many for such short time.

Well, let's hope we get to you in time. So, Matt, you are going to be first to act on a 22. In the doorway, you see Lord Primus Taconas standing there. Also with that divine sense, I believe, from Veilis, the courtyard is brimming with undead just beyond the barrier of this world. So you can see that the spirits of the dead are flooding to this place just past the barrier

of the living world. Essentially, you get this feeling almost like walking through some vast, frightening aquarium in the dark where but a single sheet of glass separates you from monsters of the deep. Whoa. Your family's bad. Yeah.

They are. But Julian, you are first to act, as you see Primus, hovering just slightly above the ground. As he, you see your father, his skull, a massive hemorrhage of blood as his brain slides without a skull to prop it up into the back of his neck, and he hemorrhages and dies. and an instant as Primus.

No saves? Yeah, you get a muscle through that. Yeah. Maybe like a healing word. Yeah. Spare to dying. There is a thud, a clank of armor, a thud, blood gushing out of the nose and mouth

as Primus makes eye contact with you, his face utterly impassive. Julian, for two to three beats, is just processing what happened. I think he's, he looks upon the crumbled corpse of his father, the blood draining from his face before he looks up to Primus and just, with an unheard primal screech, he shouts. No! And goes into a full sprint towards him,

drawing his blade and just running as fast as he can. Six. Get right up into that doorway. I don't know if he's in melee there. I will say he is within melee range. in melee range just through the doorway here in this moment. You may take your action. All right, he's gonna try and impose himself

over the body of his father, who in his mind is still trying to reconcile whether there's anything he can save or protect, but is gonna throw the cloak over his shoulder, revealing his Demi Gottman on the other side with the rapier that he's already had ready to go. He's just putting all of that force, all that momentum, still just that raging, scream behind it as he goes to try

and spear Primus as hard as he can. Give me your attack. All right. That's not as good. It's going to be a toll. You surge forward, looking at your father, where he is lying in the doorway, to make this lunge work,

you would have to step on his body. you would have to connect and something in you, it, that thing has to still be your father. It can't be a body on the ground. And in that moment of not being able to commit, Primus moves to the side, and as he does so, you see his body is maybe only three quarters in this realm as he whewh, and mist follows in his way

moving to the side. I don't care. I immediately action surge and try and follow that up with another secondary. Now like I can't see, I can't make the strike over my father's body as he moves to the side. That gives me just enough for an opening where I go from the first thrust, spin it back, and then move towards the side where he had tried to dodge. That's better. That's going to be a 23 to hit. Yes, yes. Let's go. A 23 is going to be a hit. Go ahead and roll damage. I was like, come on.

All right, that's gonna be seven points of damage. Okay. Piercing. And because it is a rapier, he, with damage, gets vexed, which means my next attack has advantage. Amazing. And is it specifically your attack? My next attack against them has advantage.

Great. And you yield seven points of damage to him. Seven points of damage. As a bonus action, if I can still, I'm going to follow up my demigotlet and try and deck and grab his throat if I can, just more for like a bonus action offhand attack to see if I can just continue to pummel him

as hard as I can, just pure rage. Great. And this has advantage on it because of the Vax. Rolled the same number twice. Unfortunately, that's gonna be only a 12, so. 12 is on a 12, you see that you kind of, glance off of sort of magic armor that surrounds him. The glancing blow with the rapier,

see he smears the blood off of his chin, looks at you. And you see that in his offhand, you see he is holding a black candle with a black wick in it. Within the wax, you see that there are silver, silver figures sort of ensconced within the wax that there are buried things inside it. Touching the blood, he looks and goes, and bury your house, no ill will.

And he flicks the blood onto the ground. The moving forward initiative from Julian, standing there in this moment, looking at the face of death. We are going to move up into the tower. Oh. These robed figures in front of Etherin, you see that the Taconas must have ushered these ghouls through the city,

these chattering, corpse-devouring undead have been dressed in long cloaks and robes to be able to move throughout the city with some semblance of disguise. And Etzrin goes, now, the one in the lead is going to look at Lady Aranesa who opened the door and kicks her full force in the chest, knocking her a square back and prone on the ground, is then going to move one, two, three, four. behind you, Octus, in the room here.

The rest are going to surge into this chamber as well. I am going to need in this moment, I am going to need, let me see, 10, 15, 20, 20, okay. In this moment, I am going to need athletics checks from you. Let's go.

Sure. Hey, roll. So good. I'm so good at this. How many? First one is you need to get a 15 or higher. Easy. 19.

Okay, great. Let's go. Great. There are five attacks coming your way. Happy Halloween. My AC is 16. Yes. No, no, these are athletic checks.

These are grapple checks. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Contested. I'm so slippy. This next one is you need to get a 14 or higher. Let's go, let's go. Eight. Eight.

I was waiting for the end of that. Me too. What about what bonuses to you? I have that. Hey, he looks like this is the first time he's ever played. D and D. You're doing great, bud. Okay, on the second, so three of them have used their attacks.

There are two left to go. You see that in the silence radiating throughout the room, there's a silence everywhere throughout here. Um, you see, uh, that one of them is going to go for, uh, Aranesa successfully grapples her. Um, you can see that all that necromantic, ghouls should not be this strong, but you can see that there has been some effect. There's a spell active on them that has like enlarged their dead muscles. You see that their veins actually are pumping blood, right? now which they normally do not. The last one here. You see that Ethrin speaks something that travels

throughout the silence, only the ghouls can hear. One of them grapples you, throws you onto the table, prone. This one right here, crawling over you as you are thrown onto it, gets sort of on top of of you smiling as this long tongue that stinks of carrion and does a little leapfrog hop as he produces a grot. He leaps over you facing the opposite direction and putting it behind his head sits down hard with the wire over your neck. You can feel him almost dragging you off the table behind him.

So the back of your head is hitting the back of his head as he just pulls down taut on this wire. You take seven points of damage. Okay. No. That's cool. Octus, that is going to be your turn. So, being strangled. Right, okay. And there are how many around me right now?

with Aranesa, how many are around me? Five. And I'm in a silent bubble. Yes. Great. Great place for a wizard to be. Um, okay. Can I, even though my head is being dragged back,

can I still see Etherin through the door? You can't. I put one hand up to try and like give a little bit of air. Mm-hmm. Trying to force a hand in there. And with the other hand, I point and cast the other hand only spell that doesn't require focal component, which is mind spike.

Hell yes. On Etherend. Hell yes. So that he has to make a Wisdom 14 save. Octus reaches his hand out and draws a little sigil in the air that glows with this sort of green light. And then it sort of decays in this kind of purply mist, and the mist shoots straight at Ethrend.

Incredible. I'm gonna roll this in front of the board. I don't think it takes a very deep analysis to conclude how much trouble you are all in. I will also say at this moment that we have had a bar fight in the previous episode. The world of Aramon has many different walks within it and many different opponents.

And I will remind you as your friend, because we are playing a game together above the table, This world is not necessarily balanced in each and every instance. It contains a verisimilitude. And I wish for you to walk in the light of that truth. Why don't I feel like I'm being read terms and conditions?

Me too, me too, me too, me too, me too. So we're gonna keep this because there are, because this is the reality of the House Taconas's planned slaughter, of the house of Royce and Davinos, we're going to keep things extremely honest because the world of Aramon is not fair. Oh my God.

So stressful! Yeah. On a nine or higher, Etherind will save. Okay. Fourteen. That is a save. The spell doesn't land. He takes half damage from the spell.

Okay. That's something. That's something, something is something. So it's a great roll, so that's, he takes half of nine psychic damage. Okay, this will still prompt a concentration check. Thad, that's so good. Love that.

That's good. Got to make up, you. Thad. Okay. So going into this attack, half of nine is he takes four points of damage. As the spell goes off, it is a difficulty 10. He's making a Constitution saving throw.

You're gonna seem pretty hearty, right? Yeah. On a nine or higher, he saves. Thanks. Yep. Oh. Yeah. And you just, I just, he can't get air

and he's just, staring at his brother and trying to, the thoughts in his head are all over the place because he hasn't seen his brother in like in over five years and he just, yeah, he can't figure out why Elvis and his brother would be with these ghouls and attacking him and he's, that's the end of his turn. Uh, Ethrin looks at you as you see blood pools

under his eyes from the damage of the the psychic spell you just cast, looks at you and mouths the words. And pulls out a curved knife and steps into the room. He's going to make two attacks. There's a 16 hit. 16 is my armor class, yeah.

15. 15 is my armor class, yeah. What? Right name. It's a natural 20. No! Um. Well, I'm glad we're all dressed for a funeral.

What the hell? He deals you. He deals you 15 points of damage. Don't. I have one hit point. I will reach over there, so help me. Do it, do it, do it. There's no better outfit for an Enya slow death scene.

Oh no. What is your hit point total? 23. Because this is a crit, if he deals 24 points of damage. Oh. If he deals 24 points of damage, this will be the end. What? Yeah, if you...

Double over. If you hit your, yeah. Max again. This is too much. Yeah, yeah. Too much. I have to stand over here. Yeah, I feel like I want to go walk into the set.

Do I? We'll start with a plus three to damage. I don't know. My body doesn't know what I want. It's a nine. So that's 12. He takes out the knife. a knife, plunges it to your stomach in the silence,

and begins to saw up, gets up to your navel from where he stabbed in under the belly button. That is 21. Oh my God. There's another nine. So that's, we said he needs to do 24, and that's 21. These need to be a one.

and a two or a one and a one for you to not die in this moment. Mm-hmm. Yeah. He looks into your eyes. He drops the silence. And goes, traitor, you should have welcomed the name alone as a gift, even though there has always been something wrong.

with you. With a seven, he withdraws the dagger, and the hand that holds the stone of Night Song, he plunges into your core, and you can feel ice cold fingers, release the stone the stone and begin to wrap around your heart from inside you. As the, what a music change, as he starts to feel cold, and his strength leaves him still.

having the garot around his neck and this hand inside of him he just stares at his brother and he just thinks that he's never going to get to keep his promise

and meet up with Thimble like he said and he just pin disappears as that lets go and you just fall apart into pieces oh

pin falling apart in front of you. Valas, you see this, Tasha, you see this. Tasha, it is your turn as you thunder over the threshold and watch PIN turn to see you and discontinue falling apart. I race up and it's like a big dog trying to hit the brakes all of a sudden

just stopping right in front of the PIN. And it's just a growl low in this very large, very dark wolf's throat. But from the creek of the gate and the rustle of the hedges and the tree branches, you hear Tisha's voice all around you. Breaking. Where is Octus? He's inside. And I just, is there something?

something I can, I don't care about the ghouls. I don't care about Julian. I need to find him. Upstairs, having taken a lethal amount of damage, we forego death saving throws. The amount of damage is enough for an instant death. Tysha below, in the adrenaline of the moment, surging forward,

you can give me an investigation check to attempt to find him as quickly as possible. What I will say in this moment is the difficulty, because there is a large palace large palace that he could be anywhere with him. The difficulty to instantly know where he is is 25. The difficulty to lower the next round's check by five is just a difficulty 10. You will have to search the palace to find him. But the silence was dropped, and I'm a wolf. Can I hear anything? Can I smell? blood. Give me a perception check. With the scent, you can do so with advantage.

22. Wait, hold on. That's wolf stats. Do I have plus two or? 24. 24. 24. On a 24 perception, you, I will say, smell blood on the wind. the wind and about 80 feet up in the air, there is an open balcony in which you can hear muffled movement. You smell blood for sure, and you hear a I scream as Lady Aranesa bites down on a ghoul's hand from within the room screaming at the top of her lungs

as the silence drops. Okay. Nothing else here exists or matters. I'm going to barge in and I'm trying to make my way. Okay. Go ahead and you're, so you are just going to thunder in up the steps to get there as fast as you can. What is your current speed?

40. 40. Okay, great. Okay, just about there. That's 40 movement. I will also say for our purposes here, as well. I believe you also can dash as a bonus action on your first turn. Yeah. Correct. So you have another, if you want to spend your whole round movement. Yeah, whole round, just movement. Speeding past up the staircase. You surge as fast as you can. You are going to get an attack of opportunity from Primus.

who misses. And that is going to be Primus' turn. Seeing you, Julian, you see Primus as a bonus action, vanishes into the shadow. No. Reappears from the shadow behind this fountain, steps slowly into the center of the room, and is going to cast a circle of death.

Cool. Go, go, go. Was it the first fight of bar fight? I feel like this is accelerated in a pretty fucking unbelievable way. No, no, I don't know if I said something like many years ago that you've been holding on to. Is this for your Pepper Man? Is this because of the disposal?

What is it? What is a bar fight? Why am I catching a fate? I also died in the disposal. Sorry, does this feel different than the bar fight? A bit. I thought what you guys said, get ready for the, you said it's goth energy for the Halloween episode.

Oh, great. Yeah, I meant like hot topic gods. Oh, I did this. I'm going to need Constitution saving throws from Julian and Tysha. Let's go. 22. 25.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's get you guys to live. We'll see how much damage it deals. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is a six-level spell coming away. Well, don't.

Well, don't. You know Druid rules are different, right? I don't get the Wolf HP anymore. Each of you takes that is going to be 21 damage. Would have been 42 and is instead 21. Oh, cool. Are both of you still up?

10 hymn points. No. Oh yeah, that is a little sensitive. I'm sorry. Yeah, Jesus Christ. You see Primus Deconis stands here in the middle of the Devinos Manor in the city of Dolmachiar.

Tonight, Davinos, Royce and all their vassal houses end. The work that is to come requires concentration. No distractions. The room fills with spectral forces

forces a whirlwind of shrieking ghosts as that glass barrier fades and becomes permeable. You two can survive 21 points of damage. Those that cannot fall to the ground dead. The guards collapse, scattering throughout, and Primus lays. his waist to vassals. You watch Julian from the doorway

as the necromanic energy thuds into you. That those here who are not veterans of various wars that are courtiers and diplomats, merchants, and attendants fall as the underworld is made real in this moment. and as the tide of it comes in, it leaves with so much more than it had. You see that Primus ends the spell,

black wax dripping off his hand as the candle in his hand melts and burns him in the casting of this potent necromantic spell. In the thudding of the thudding of the the bodies, Tysha's voice directed at Primus. Why your son. There is no use in having something. It is if it is not loyal.

In point of fact, I don't know if he can even be called a son. That is going to be, that is going to be the lady Royce is now going to act. Oh, my God. She, on a natural 20. Let's go, girl. Kicks this ghoul off of her. Boom. She's got that widow's trying.

She does. Sand is going to five, ten, fifteen. She's going to get one attack of opportunity from this one goal as she makes her way out the door. Let us hope that it is not successful. I will roll in front of the board. Oh, gosh. That hasn't gone well in the past.

Has it? It's okay. It's okay. On a 12 or higher, this ghoul will hit. Oh my God. You saw it, right? Yeah. I saw it too.

That's a natural 20. What is this nice? GMs. What is this? Fuck you. Yes, go away. GMs should not. It lives there now.

That's the one I've rolled for each crit. I don't know what it rolled. It's retired now. Okay. I just want to point out it's mean that it made me, my name dead. Just to go to someone I do. That's hateful.

That is so mean. It's pretty great. Aranesa only takes eight points of damage from this slash. However, ghouls have a paralyzing. Oh, yes. Shoot. So, is that the doubles? Is that the doubles?

Louise was there? Yeah, they're like, have a little paralytic effect. Is that the double damage? Why am I helping? Don't help. She's fine. She's fine. This is once again, we'll see if Aranessa can do it. it. It's only a DC-10 Constitution.

You're gonna save. I should go get the good die back. We'll use a different D20 for this. If she fails, it's because I threw the good die. Nope, nope. She just needs a 10 or higher on the die. Okay. 12!

Yeah! Okay. Okay. Okay. So. Okay. Girl. Using her movement, she begins to to sprint on the hallway, and she calls out,

Guards! Baderman to our aid! Shrieking at the top of her lungs. And that is going to, that is her turn. She had to use her action to get out of the grapple. Valis, that is going to be your, you are at the end of initiative. Save us like you did in the tavern. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

So, oh boy, all right. So noticing the pincushion is gone, obviously understanding what's happening here. I'm gonna just turn around and start walking inside. Okay. And do I see Primus? Is he still there? Yes, he is still. Great. I am going to cast guiding bolt on him.

Okay. Let's go. Okay. Okay. You are going to cast guiding bolt on Primus. go ahead and give me an attack rule. Okay, now you have to figure out which one to roll. I'm gonna do this one. All of them, they're all good.

Should I do them all and then just pick the highest? Yeah, okay. That's how that works. Okay, that's not bad. That's a 22. I'm lying, I'm lying. I'm correct, it's 22. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

22 is a hit. Okay, okay. All right. Oh, God. Let's go. We can still with you, you're dead. All right, that's not the best, but okay. All right, 10, 10 points of damage.

10 points of radiant damage. So, 20 points of damage. Let's go! Wait, how? Radiant damage. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, okay. You see Primus turns to you, having very little expectation of resistance here,

turns to see someone, there's truly no reason to be here and goes, who the devil are you? You raise your hands, he looks to see this spell incoming and at the last minute, as the guiding bolt hits him squarely in the chest. You see, and what you watch is the blurred edges. When he moves, he leaves mist in his wake. That mist catches fire as you,

sort of like light and fire around him. It looks like there's a danger, even past the damage to his actual corpus of severing some important magical energy that he is now wearing. He does not like getting hit with that. That is your action. Any bonus action from you?

I think Tyssa's tailwags just a little bit. I know. I'm glad you did that. I, oh my God. I'm just going to start walking towards him. Yeah. Go ahead and move yourself 30 feet. So you are now side by side with Julian in the doorway.

And we will go back to the top of initiative as you arrive side by side with Julian. As you arrive side by side with Julian, it is your turn as the retainers of House de Venus fall, and Primus Taconas stands before you, this light, wreathing and surrounding him. I, the shock, it's watching everyone. Like, Jihar, Laundria, Ardonis.

Our aides and keepers are right now the shock washes back into just a red-hot rage. And I just tear directly, B-lining, towards Primus, once more. I don't know if I have the movement to get within melee. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty, twenty-five, thirty. Then I will... Hmm. I will then go ahead and use my action to dash and get more or less behind where he was standing.

Okay. With the dempig gauntlet at the ready, almost like grabbing a piece of material on the side, not a full grapple, but just enough to kind of get a little bit of tear him to look me in the eye. Mm-hmm. Just tears down my face, teeth gritted. Whatever death you are.

I will send you to an oblivion where you can't even find that. That's my turn. You grab him as fast as you can, turning him around. You gather his attention here in this moment he turns to you. Seeing the shock and emotion on your face

almost studies it unrecognizing. Upstairs. These ghouls are going to, once again, take their turn, rushing after Aranesa down the hallway. Give me a perception check, Tisha. 12. 12. On a 12, you just hear scuffling from upstairs. You see that you do hear cackling

from cackling from one of the Tacona symbols. You don't know which one that just goes, Lady Aranesa do enjoy the hospitality. Here there's a lovely view from the balcony. And you hear the cackling of ghouls who on a successful grapple check are going to move her halfway into the room towards the balcony.

That is going to be Tysha, that is your turn. Yeah, we're in a full sprint heading in that direction. Great. 5, 10, 15, 20, 20, 30, 35. With a 40, you're able to clear up to get to, I think, here, that's your movement. Yeah.

What am I looking at as I like hit this level and in this room? You, I think, see, you can hear cackling from inside of this bedroom in here, and you see Etherand with three other ghouls walking down the hallway, something dripping in his hand. What? Can I make a perception check to try to figure out? Tysha is, it's been just over a day, and I lost my brother-in-law, and now I've lost Octus, and I don't know what to focus on, the brother, what's in his hand?

Is there any way I can like suss it out? Give me a reception. Fuck me. Oh no, that's a 15. I don't know, it's a five again. 22. 22? Yeah. Okay, on a 22, you see that he is holding what looks like a dripping bit of meat in his hand,

probably a heart. I go for the brother. Okay. Full movement. Yeah, dash action, and I'm just running. I'm running it down. 15, 20, 20, 30, 30, 35, 40. Okay, clearing down the hallway as fast as you can.

You turn, and immediately after your turn, you hear downstairs, Ethrin, hearing you running, swivels around to look at you. Grins, ready to engage in combat. Downstairs, Primus. I admire your resolve. Ethrin, do you have it? You see, Etherind, looks to see you charge,

and hears that bark and goes, Father, yes! He goes, bring it. Etherind, you see, looks cowed and afraid. Primus is going to turn to walk from you in this moment. 10, 15. You get an attack opportunity on him. That advantage. Well, no, because I already got an attack against him, unfortunately. As he starts to walk,

when I say, don't you fucking dare! I'm gonna go ahead and try and spear him from the ham of the rapier. Okay. That's a natural 20. Yes! Let's go! Let's go!

Oh no, my horrible hat. Oh, no, my horrible hat. Yeah. That is gonna be 12 damage. Let's go, let's go. Piercing. 12 piercing damage. As you, as you, as you,

I'll say on that Nat 20, you lunge out with the rapier in this moment. It's feral. It's full on like, like, you know, in the movie Troy when Bradfield does like the leap stab. Yeah. It's like that but be steel and just. Nah!

On a Nat 20, you go for a move that should by all rights would kill any other man. You threw the back, watch the sword erupt out of his front. Oblivion. You said oblivion. You threaten me with sending me home. A mist pools out of the wound as he says,

steps forward towards the shadows being cast from the fountain. As he does so, on that Nat 20, I will allow you to make an insight or a perception with advantage. You can go ahead and make the roll first, whichever one you want to make.

This would be a perception. Okay. It'll be a 19. Let's go. On that critical hit, Ask any question you want about the man that has just set doom upon your family. As he attempts to walk away from you,

you landed what should have been a killing blow. You have fought so many battles. In Julian's mind, what is burning within him as he sees Primus Taconas defy the boundaries. boundaries between life and death. Is there anything in his gait, in his reaction, that shows that he can be killed in the ways that I understand? On a 19 perception,

he moves away from this place, and you study as he moves. If this man were a god, he would not be fleeing right now. This is just a man, and he can be killed. On that critical hit, from this point forward, in any attack you make on the Lord Primus Taconas, where you are at half hit points or fewer,

you may attack with advantage. Let's go. Here, an onyx ring in his hand. He steps into the shadow, and as he vanishes, he says, Ethrant! To my side. Well struck, warrior.

I look forward to seeing you on the other side. The black ring glow. black ring glows and as he vanishes, no, no, no, no, no, no! Those spectral forces that Vaila saw outside erupt into being all around you as you are surrounded by shadows of the dead. That is going to be, that is going to be that is going to be The lady Aranesa Royce, that is going to be her turn. Vailas, from the door, you can see these figures surrounding Julian.

You've seen them, you've fought them many times before. These, in the long centuries of Aramon, in the 70 years since the gods died, New souls have flooded into the underworld, but there have always been spirits of the restless dead. There are some that have been walking for so long, waiting for the chance to claw their way back from the fate the gods would determine for them, to claw their way back from the path to new life

that the druids have named and lighted the way to. Some purpose from centuries or millennia ago compelled them to keep walking to find a way back to the life they once knew. Over centuries, they traded away. Perhaps a name at first or a memory. What could be more important? than the purpose that would let them cling to life.

When you've traded away the last piece of yourself for a chance to live again, such that you cannot even remember the purpose that so compelled you. These shades of the dead are all that are left, and you have fought them many times before. Set forth in this way, near a source of life, they will seek to drink

what is vital within Julian to take it for their own until there is nothing left of him and he joins their number. Above the lady Erinessa Royce is going to attempt she's going to attempt

she's going to attempt a spell She's going to attempt a spell. Vines grow from the ground all around her, encompassing all of them, and in fact, Octus's body on the table. And she chooses to fail the saving throw against the entangle spell, rooting herself to the ground in this moment. You see that the ghouls begin,

even as some of them succeed against it, so their movement is unimpeded. They're still now having to wrestle someone out of these choking vines. That is going to go from the Lady Aranesa's turn to Valles once again. Okay. Oh my God, there's just so much going on.

Okay. I will finish walking inside, which I think I can get all the way inside. Yes. So it's 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Great. Okay. I don't know if I should attack or try to just get you out of there.

Because you're in a state. Would I be able to, having fought these particular entities before, is there a way I could just, I'm gonna attack them. I'll say this, give me a religion check with advantage. You fought them before. Okay, great, great.

Okay. Okay? Okay? Both for Beth. Too stressed to make fun of you? It's literally right in front of me. I dropped it right into it and it didn't work. Are those dice too big for you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me just see what I would have rolled if it would have gone in there. That would have been a lot better. Damn, it's not one. Seven, seven. Seven. Surgeon Torses, you fought these many times before.

before, but you've always fought them alongside your sisters. So I would say on a seven, you don't know any special information about how best to fight them, but you do know that you have found them to be defeatable. You have found that these can be opposed, even by yourself in large number.

Okay, with my sensor unclipped, I will just kick it with my foot so it starts wrapping around and comes back and knocks the first one in front of me. Perfect, okay. Okay. Amazing. Go ahead and give me your attack roll.

And also you can flank with Julian right now, so you can roll with advantage. Great. Oh man, they're both awful. Oh, nine. A nine is a miss. I figured. A nine, sadly, is a miss.

The sensor lashes out from you at this point. Damn. As you step forward, we moved back. Julian, you were immediately after Vales. Unless there's any bonus action you want to take in that. No, no. I, no. I surrounded by these spirits, like still, like my jaw is so tense in the vanishing of Primus

and like the thought, the image. I thought the image of him dying 100 ways flashes through my brain before the cold of these terrible spectres around me. I kind of follow my back foot, gauntlet, open, sword out, not quite acknowledging where they are. And then I see you coming up from behind, and then I have a thought. Aranesa, I'm going to disengage,

and I'm going to run towards the stairs. Okay. Amazing. I'm going to need, I'm going to say because you are fully surrounded by them, although you can disengage. I will allow you, if you would like, you can either give me acrobatics to move through them as they're fully surrounding you. Or if you want to, you'll do that. Great. Go ahead and give me acrobatics. Ooh, it's me. 25. 25. Julian, these smoky shapes surrounding you in this place, you vault through the vapor and take the rest of your turn. All right. With that, I'm just going to go ahead and take 30 feet towards the stairs, rushing as fast as I can, and just shout out. Hennysa! Surging forward as fast as you can, you begin thundering up the steps. Any bonus actions for me? Not at my disposal. Actually, yes, I do have, I will take a second wind to go ahead and heal up. 10 more hit points. Okay, amazing.

That's my turn. The ghouls upstairs are going to go. First one does not get Aranes out of the vines at all. Next one does not get Arnes out of the vines at all. Last one does. Yanks her, but they all take their actions to pull her and have used their actions getting her out of there, so they take no movement that turn

because she is effectively ungrappled as they're trying to move her out of the vines. These three are going to step forward and engage with Tisha. You see fallen Royce guards all throughout here and are going to surge forward. They're gonna take their text. What is your armor class?

Brat, 14. Okay, two of them hit. I'm gonna need two constitution saving threats. Constitution saving throws. Oh, word. Same time. Okay, okay. 18 and 21.

You are not paralyzed. You take six points. You take six points of slashing damage from one and five points from another. Well, you didn't need to paralyze me. I had 10 hit points left. In your wolf form or in your, no, it's. New rules.

24. I love it here. So slashing out, as the, oh no, oh, no. Remember your orcish, yes, yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, cool, cool. Describe what it looks like. You do it, you do it.

Wow, these long, nasty claws, these were human corpses at one point, but bone has grown out along with the keratin of the fingernail such that these nasty, slashing claws, you can see that it breaks the skin of their hand and blood seeps from under the nail beds. They're not supposed to attack like this, but they desire it so much.

Long tongues snake out over pointed fangs. You see the undersides of their tongues slashed and cut by not meaning to go over something that sharp. as they lunge forward. One of them deals a blow that should drop you, describe what it looks like as it does not. I think it does. I think he kills a wolf.

And then it's not that it like rotted rapidly. It was almost like it was already a little dead and bloated. So it just like the wolf's body splits apart at the rib cage and Tysha pushes herself out with one hit point left. Hell yeah, hell yeah. Go ahead and give me your mini. Cool. Covered in red, yay.

We're having a good time. It's great to be here. It's great to be here. We're doing it. Welcome to the Devinos. Your house is bad. No, my bad. This is fatherless behavior.

Incredible. Whoa! Too soon. Whatever. We all dressed like goth today, and then the dog Team one. Yes. I guess you kind of .

I am a traitor. Yeah. Oh, God. Oh, God. Incredible. You see, these two are going to fly after Julian in pursuit of him. The other four are going to turn on Valis here

surrounding you. So they'll be flanking. They are attacking with advantage. What is your armor class? 16. 16, okay. Yike. It helps, I can tell you. Miss.

Okay. Okay. Okay. So. So. Still rolling. You would normally take eight. Oh, you would take eight.

Take eight points of necrotic damage have to four as they attempt to drain a life that is eternal and cannot be drained. You also are immune to the ability decrease of them attempting to sap your strength. You have fought these many times as they, and you see as they touch something that is immortal, they, you see that they almost,

something like a sorrow or guilt or a great, crosses their face as they, their jaw drops like two feet into their tors as they touch and attack you. Two of them come for Julian. They do not. Should have been enough. I tried.

I tried. I tried. That is now going to be two attacks coming for Julian. 14 does not hit. It does not hit. Let's go. As I kind of a rushing past

and I kind of feel it kind of swoop from behind, I duck low and use my left arm to spiral the cloak to kind of more or less distract and make them strike where there isn't actually me to find purchase. You see the sort of smoke and vapor vanishes in this moment as they reach for something that is not there.

You continue thundering up the steps. That is the shades turn. That is going to be Aranesa Aranesa is going to da-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta- Yeah, they don't have her grappled right now I think she's going to

make a yeah she is going to reach out in this moment and attack one of them that is a hit. A blast of green light comes from within and she deals 12 damage to one of the ghouls

in the room with her. Let's go. Not me. Some light blasts out. She calls out, Julian, as loud as she can. That is going to be, da-da, that is her turn. That goes once again, after her to Vales, that is your turn.

All right, so. Did I get to go? Sorry, Tisha. Oh yeah, Tisha. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry, yes, yes, yes. Tisha, that is your turn. Sweet.

I have an initiative, because you still have a hit point. Yes, that's great. I have one. Yes, that is your turn. Great. Yeah, okay, I'm already out of wild shape, so that makes that easier. I'm gonna expend the other use of wild shape

to use Lance Aid. Okay. I'm going to center this 10-foot radius sphere on myself since I'm surrounded by how many bad boys? Yeah. Is it, it's 10-foot radius? Yeah.

Hell yeah. Big. Ten-foot sphere centered on the point. And everyone in it needs to make a DC-15 con save. Hell yeah. Let me just see something, 20 feet. You can actually catch these two guys in it as well if I would like to.

Yes, please, and thank you. Hell yeah, okay, they're gonna make some saves. D.C.15 con save? Great. Level three. Ooh, interesting. Okay. I don't like that. I don't like what you find fascinating.

These two save in the room with Aranesa. All three of these do not save. Okay, so they're gonna take five points of, we talked to, we'll talk about that later. Necotic damage. She does necrotic damage, she's like a droid. But yeah, five points in necrotic damage, and then one person of my choice.

Sorry, five points of necrotic or halve, or no, if they do, if they- Oh yeah, sorry, if they made it, then they're taking two. Gotcha, okay. So we'll do five to the three with you, got it, great. And one creature of my choice in that area, me regains two D6 points.

Oh, hell yeah. Cool, I'll take seven back. and that's action, bonus action. I'm finally looking at how my character sheet works. I'm going to use adrenaline rush to take the dash action. Okay, cool. Mostly because it gives me two temporary hit points. And I can take whatever I can get and try to get away from these guys

and get into the room. I know I'm going to take a tax of opportunity. No, I need to hit them. I can't hit them. What do I do? It's so bad here. Everyone's so stressed. Yeah, you died.

Early. That's true. I will say, I thought there was a chance that you would die in this combat. I did not know that the roles have been insane over here behind the screen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm afraid you will auto-delete me

if I move away from here. So never mind on that bonus action. The good news is this gives you a lot of time during the rest of this fight for you to figure out the art for your new character. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. I worked really hard on the other one,

but it's fine. I think that's all I'm going to do. I can't believe it. Hey, Selma was going to go first. You gave so good. You gained 2D6. You gained HP back. Yep.

I get seven back. So we're up to eight. And then bonus action. We're going to cast Shaleli. Okay. Cool. We're going to cast stick. Great, we cast stick.

Great, we cast stick. Your staff. the metal and wood intertwined together, this sort of ancient, cold iron wrapping around the wood as it grows in your hand and becomes heavy and potent with magical energy. You look forward and see the ghoul's cackling here, but also here bootsteps thundering up behind you.

Then I'm gonna, the rest of my turn, I'm just yelling out the lay of the land for Julian on the way up. So like three with me, however many I saw inside the room. I can only see I have one eye right now. not count minis. Bayless, that's going to be your turn. Great, all right.

So this crew here, I am going to censor whip, swing it around, and try to take some of these out. Hell yeah. So, let's do this one. Come on, man. That's a mate. I'm so sorry. It's even lower than the last time.

Go to the other direction. I will try, I will try the next time. They start yelling to everyone. He's dead, we should go. There's nothing more to do here. That's just me, we got a skedaddle. You see in this moment, Baelis, surrounded on all sides by these entities

as you are, they continue to sort of reach out towards you. You feel yourself once again surrounded by this chill, this presence of death in this moment, and reaching out to attack, you can only conclude that cold, is that what she felt when she died? Is that what she has been feeling ever since? And the sensor moves and the shades press their advantage. We now are going to move to Julian Davina.

It is your turn again. Oh boy. I have Aaronessa screaming my name up above. I look over my shoulder. Kind of to give a quick glance, like now, like, seeing that you, how confident are you feeling? Very confident. I sort of give you a nod and look upstairs, go.

I'm going to not disengage, I'm just gonna go into a full run and take the excellent opportunity from the two inspectors. That is two misses as they reach out, thundering past you. That's 30 feet up. 30, and then also going into a dash action. 10, 15, 20, 35, 30. 30 gets you to the very top of the staircase here.

Nice crowd. Ernessa, what are you? She calls out again from up above, Julian, I'm dead at the top of the stairs! Racing as fast as you can to get there. The shades beneath you, looking up the stairs to follow you. Getting to the top of the staircase, you look down and see Etherin's Taconas at the very end of the hallway

and see that these ghouls are now going to act. One of them gathers her in a grapple. They're going to move half their movement into the room. as they do so, you see that she's also going to have to make a Constitution save, which she succeeds on. But does take one D4 damage. Girl. Okay. Aranesa cries out an injury,

and these goals are going to attack Tysha. What is your arm of class? 14. Good. That is a single hit. I'm gonna need a Constitution saving throw. No, two on a dice. You take five points of slashing damage

and are paralyzed until the end of your next turn. Okay. At the end of your next turn. At the end of of their turn, you see Octus, lying dead on that table. Your family so often spoke of realms beyond these places. in the paths tread by the dead. I'd like you to roll a Constitution saving throw

for me. Okay. That is a 22. Let's go on. That is a 22. Let's go. Vailas, down below you begin to hear a song like a nightingale. Tysha as the chill of the ghoul's poisonous touch flashes into you.

You also hear that song, some distant, cry of a creature beyond the edge of what is seen and known. Shadows moving, blood dripping through the planks of wood onto the stone underneath Octus's dead body. When he was alive, what did Octus, Octus think would happen when he died. The underworld is a known thing,

but yet no one can ever really know the touch of death until it happens. What did Octus imagine it would be like to die? I think he thought, considering, you know, he'd been told growing up how his family, They weren't this, but they were the stewards of the passage of life and death. They were a necessary part of the cycle. And he thought that due to his affiliation and his family,

he would have an easier time passing and go into, be able to make it through and go into the natural cycle. And that the problems that are affecting the world would and bother him because his family knew what to do. That's what he was told, and that's what he believed. Ethrin Taconas, here in this space, steps forward, faces the shadow, the hand of Primus toconus, of Primus Toconis reaches from the shadow.

Tisha even paralyzed. You can see this with a ready to cast plane shift. Whoa. Gazing at you. There is a place where all lost things are kept eternal. We're going to scrub your path from the face of the beyond and vanishes into shadow as the hand covered in burnt silver and black wax wraps around Ethrin's hand with a heart in it, and the heart vanishes.

Ethrin and Primus are gone. Tysha, that is your turn. You come out of the paralysis condition at the end of that turn. And below, the shadows are going to attack again. That is only one hit for six necrotic, halved to three damage to Veilis. The shadows close in behind you

but have to use a double movement to pursue you or do not attack on that turn as they reach the top of the staircase. Lady Royce looks out in this moment. sees Octus's body, can hear Julian rushing towards her. She is going to ready an action in this moment. Looking out, please, please.

We've lost so much. The doors are closed. The world cannot fall further into darkness, please! And calls out and reverberations hit everywhere. Vailas, you and you alone on the first floor can see this. Nightingales fly from the trees outside. On the other side of the glass, the specters everywhere. Not the ones that have come into your world, for one's waiting just on the other side,

begin to cover their faces and flee in advance of these things that look like fairies of the dead, moving in a realm beyond perceived only by your divine sense. It is your turn. Lady Aranesa has a readied action. Okay.

So did you say I saw those from sort of outside? Yes, you did. Outside in the garden, you saw them moving throughout this space as fast as they could. However, these shadows are, these shades are still in combat with you down below. Okay, take that in, and I'm just still gonna try to use my whip.

Okay, go for it. Come on, you son of me. I'm not one. Yeah. I'm so sorry, Ashley. It's okay. You know what? It's just, it's, it's.

It's how it goes sometimes. I'm thrown. My boy's gone. Yeah. My boy blue. The boy blue. He's gone. He's blue now.

Okay, okay. Surrounded here by the undead. I mean, I can stay here all day. They can just keep you. to keep trying to take lifeway, it's not gonna happen. But I really like to build up. I got all day. I got all day.

I got the whole life. Okay. We moved to the top of initiative. Julian, leaving the staircase, you look down at Veilis. You cannot imagine that this warrior will be alive when you next see her. These shades are on top of her. The censor over and over again moving around her.

But you hear Aranesa's voice in this moment. What do you do? She calls out to you in panic and terror. Yeah. I'm sorry. Julian just continues his tear up the stairs, breathing heavy, the spit in his mouth thick, just not even paying attention to these spectres as they approach, trying to do his best to get towards

her. Hell yeah. Thundering past two misses on attacks of opportunity. Once again. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. As you get here right through the crook of the door at the end of 30 feet of movement, Erin Ness is ready to action casts haste. Yes. Yes. Yes. Let's go. She goes, fly. And from underneath you, as the Taconas is continue in shadows beyond perception to whatever their felled work is. She turns to you, she goes, Sir DeVanos, tears streaking, you are charged with the defense of this house.

See it done, and wind swirls around you as you hear the flapping of wings and gold and silver and radiant purple as, Moths and butterflies move throughout you. Swift wind from a realm whose doors are closed to you, but whose gifts are still promised. With the haste action, you gain a plus two bonus to your armor class, advantage on dexterity saving throws,

an additional action on each of your turns that can give you one extra weapon attack, dash, disengage, hide, or using an object. Yes. Yes. Oh, yes. I think that I contact, that trust, those words resonate, and really, I think for the first time. Over a decade, he really feels the weight of his station.

For this moment, for this moment, the anger, the anger The hunger, the fury, the sorrow, is held back. That disassociation kicks in, and instead that sense of honor and duty is all that matters. I'm going to use that extra action to dash in to the chamber to where these ghouls are currently heading towards her and then take my action to strike the one that's nearest to me. I'm getting in base to base with two of them if I can. That's double speed, right? 15, 20, 25.

You don't need to use the extra action, because even though you'd used your speed on getting hit with the spell, your speed is now 60. So you're in the range. Let's go. I love it here. Every movement of yours is just trails

of radiant gold and the flashing of wings as you move through this space. I think he's gonna rush in that chest to the right. He's going to jump onto with one leg, and then leap off, kind of a double in the air, flip with his rapier coming down to stab down towards kind of the clavicle and shoulder area of the ghoul that's nearest to him.

Hell yeah. Aranesa even grappled, she is neither meek nor mild with a kick from her high-heeled shoes. She's gonna give you flanking on this attack. Yes! All righty, great, that's gonna be an 18 to hit. That is a hit. All righty, so with that, that's gonna be,

Well, because I have advantage on it, I do get sneak attack. Yes, you do. So that's going to be nine. Come on now. So 10 points of piercing damage on that strike? Yes, hell yeah. Are you, of the three, there's two within reach of you, one more wounded than the other, which do you hit?

Right. That one there? Yes. So are you going for the more wounded or the less wounded? I'm going to the more wounded one. More wounded one. Ten points of damage is exactly how much health it's had left. How do you want to do this?

Yeah! Something good happens. As the rapier pierces down into the body, kind of my weight coming onto it, I release the rapier, grab it with my gauntleted hand, and with it facing downward, tear the rapier out and kind of carve through its chest, if I can.

Bones and viscera scatter across the floor. The first of the ghouls has fallen. That is your first action. You go again. I'm going to then throw the rapier up from the gauntlet in hand, grab it with the other one, and go into a heavy spear with the other one. Hell yeah, go for it.

If I have enough movement to move and keep that one flanked. Yes, absolutely. Yep, taking a side step. Your back is now to Octus, who you can see under the navel from the waistline to the solar plexus has been opened wide with a single vertical slit.

And something has applied tremendous trauma and pressure as you see organs spilling out of the wound in the center of the table. I'll process that shortly. Yeah. I'm not. Oh, buddy. That's cocked.

Okay, that would be 15 to hit. 15 hits. All right. Let's go. Oh, that's not good. That's gonna be five points of piercing damage. Okay, five points of piercing damage. I will use my bonus action to attack with my demigotland

on the same one. So after like stab through, kind of carving, but deflecting off of inside bone or still kind of dense sinew, It doesn't quite go into the vitals, so instead I'm going to reach up with that momentum and with the gauntlet grab its jaw and see if I can bring its head onto my shoulder armor to try and tear some of it away with the gauntlet. Hell yeah, let's go. Let's go. Okay, that's going to be a 19 to hit. 19 is a hit. Go ahead and roll damage. All right, take seven points of damage on the demi-gotlet. You have dispatched one of the ghouls

and savagely wounded the other. As you see, one of its limbs hangs by mere sine you. You have gotten their attention. They drop the Lady Aranesa and turn to you. As they turn to say, bring it. That's my room. Hell, yes, Julian. Let's go.

And bring it, they shall. This is what's happening. And bring it, I shall. Okay, two attacks coming right for you. For the record, the one that I just hit with the demigotlet, because it is sapped, it has disadvantage on its first attack. Okay. Love to see it.

And with sap turns a hit into a miss. Yes. So I see the gotlet at hand catches it in the middle of the air after I dodge the other side. Yes. Come on. Boom. Reaching for, you see Erin Nessa looking, having been dropped, you were able to fend these two off in the hallway right here, turns around and sees not a chance for anything like salvation,

but a chance for any hope at all. And she raises her hands up as her eyes go glowing green. These ghouls out in the hallway are going to go for Tysha in this moment. Jesus Christ. That is one hit for three points of damage. Enough to drop me. Okay.

Tysha goes down, out in the hallway. That is going to move forward and be two-to-to-to-to from Tysha. That is going to be a death-saving throw from Tysha. Let's go. Okay. Oh, my God. Do you want to see it?

Oh, no. Not one. No shit. Oh no. Yeah. That is going to be two failures. What? No.

Wait, no. Two death save failures. I thought this was a guest run. Yeah. My bad. Yeah. Was this supposed to be here for longer? Tisha.

Oh my God. You look out. you can feel blood draining from your body. Spiraling through space, you see Octus. Moving farther away. You see them. Fireflies, off in the distance,

paths through forest, leading to renewal, a new life. You see Octus in spirit. You are quite close to following him yourself. Octus is lost, confused. You see him moving away. His body is destroyed. There is no hope for it.

But as he moves, you have the chance to say something to him here at the edge of death. What do you say in this moment? I think I've made jokes to him to him and to my family about feeling very maternal over him and there is some part of me that has the thought to give some strange bit of comfort in this place on this path but this feels so wrong and everything in my path is about accepting the cycles of life and not fighting when your time has come, but it's not his time. I know that. So I just heard and yell, go back! Not yet. Not yet. Octus, this is the first moment that

that some consciousness returns to you. Dying is such a strange thing. Is it really even you that's here without your body? Can the thing in you which is eternal be said to be yours or were you it's? Until suddenly Tisha's voice, the fluttering of wings like there are birds nearby in flight. Go back, a path through a dark forest,

but a woman who knows those woods is telling you not to go yet. What do you say? I'll come back. It's too early anyway. Octus, you are gripped by a sudden, shuddering pain, a thing that should not exist in this world. In the shadows, off the path, far off it.

In places beyond the woods, so dark and cold, I'm told that even the spirits of the dead should never tread there. A hand emerges from shadow, drenched in blood, clutching a heart, and it squeezes it and says, traitorous whelp, come home, at once. I'm going to need a wisdom savings row.

And because of Tisha's presence here at the edge of death, I will allow you to roll it with advantage. Okay. Can I guess guidance? Yeah. Yay. I had a D4. Good.

I don't want to roll it. Okay, that's 11. 11. Shuddering in pain. You can see, Tysha, this spirit of your young friend. young friend like a son to you forever loses its chance to walk the path through the forest. Turning to you, he takes a step off the path, and it isn't so doing that this hand in the darkness

pulls and you see that something splits in his spirit. As you are being called in two directions at once, the force within the darkness horrified to find that something else has drawn close to call you where it would not beckon you. We move from this place of death and return to combat. Yeah, less death there.

We see down below. Yeah. Veilis, you take four and five, that's nine, nine have to four necrotic damage from the shades below. You see that the shades at the top of the staircase, looking beyond, look forward, see only a fallen enemy in this hallway and see you down below and are going to turn to engage. The last two shades are coming towards you.

Okay. Making away five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 35, 30, 30, 40. And we're going to close in on either. They're going to double move and close on either side of view. Moving from there, the Lady Aranesa is going to... She's the only one doing a good job. Is going to disengage as her action.

Five, ten, fifteen, towards the fireplace. And is going to bonus action, Healing Word. Oh, thank God. And is going to heal you for 11 points of damage. Okay. Okay. As Aranesa steps forward, Veilis, that is your turn.

As she, and you see suddenly that Octus's spirit is vanished from you as you are back in your body once more. Veilis, that is your turn. Okay, so, yeah. I'm gonna, it's got a hit. Now it's just, it's got a hit. Okay.

Come on, come on. Okay. Okay. There we go. That's good, okay. All right. We're hitting more digits. Yes.

22 to hit with my sensor width. 22 to hit is a hit. Absolutely. I'm gonna get some momentum, start swinging. Hell yeah. And are you adding a smite on this? I will, will add a smite since I hit. Yes, come on.

So, let's go. Great. I'm shaking. Why? This is so untrustful. These are eights. And Julian, you're on deck. Great.

So with the Divine Smyte, 16. Okay. Well, the first, the first, the hit with the sensor was six. Okay. And then with the Divine Smyte, that was two. How many, how many D8 do you roll for Divine Smyte? One. No, I think.

Oh, for Divine Smit, I roll 2D6. Oh, you're rolled 2D6 for a divine smite. Yes. Okay, hold on one second. I'll just see something real quick. I mean. I believe, let me just. That's not right?

No, everybody's saying that this is wrong. No, I'm just. Oh, wait, is it 2D8? We might be used to the old version, but we're going to double check that right now. I believe we'll see you get extra dice against undead as well. Let's go.

Which they are. Which they are. It is 2D8. It is 2D8. It is 3D8 because the target isn't undead. So go ahead and roll 3D. Let's go down. There's more damage.

All right, you can do that. Get them. I don't know where I saw that, 2D6. Oh, the tiniest, boy. Okay, that's fine. That'll be 12. 12, which becomes 24 with their vulnerability. With a single whip of the sensor,

one of them is more than unmade. One of the shades vanishes in light, as you cast it back to the underworld. There we go. There we go. We're doing stuff. We got this. Hell yes.

We got something in. Julian, that is your turn. Still at this point kind of honed in, like just keeping focused on forms. As unpracticed as I have been for a while, it's almost like going back to when I was really honing my craft and seeing Aranesa now kind of turning the tide a bit in this space. I'm going to go ahead and go for the one that

I had already struck last turn. I'm gonna go ahead, after cracking its jaw and then moving out of the way, I'm gonna take the rapier and try and jam upward through the bottom of its chin and see if I can pierce through its skull. Hell yeah, go for it. That's gonna be 17 to hit.

17 hits. Let's go. All right. That's gonna be six points of piercing damage. Hell yeah. This is one you already injured, right? Correct. You see that this one is spears with the head,

comes out the top of its skull, and it collapses dead to the ground. Great. How many, is there one? There's one left in the room with you. I'm going to, after the rapier is through its head. I'm going to go ahead and kick it off the rapier and pull back, go into a spinning strike. I'm going to use the momentum as I pulled the rapier close to my body.

Throw the cloak up in front of the goal to kind of obscure the vision of where I'm coming from. And then from underneath, come up into its rib cage and use the extra attack from the haste. Hell yes. That's gonna be, oh, 23 to hit. 23 to hit, that is a hit. Okay, okay.

There we go. That's gonna be 10 points of piercing damage. Ooh! And it is vexed. Yes. And I'm gonna bonus action come out with the demigotlet. So after I pierce through its body, I get up real close to it into its face and be like,

tell your creators I say hi. I'm gonna reach up with the demiglot and grab its throat to see if I can just squeeze its head off. Give me the attack with advantage. All right, which I have from vexed. Yes. Yeah, I'm learning the weapon stuff. Learning the build.

That's cocked. Okay, the other one stopped. So that was going to be 18 to hit. 18 hits. That will be seven with sneak attack. So eight points of damage on that one. The last ghoul. You mow through both ghouls in the room

as you crush this one until you get your gauntleted fingers on the vertebrae at the back of its neck and sever its head with pure grip strength from its shoulders, its tongue lolls out of its mouth, and it falls to the ground, destroyed. I throw it down. Amazing.

Still, like, visibly emotionless in this moment. Just look up to an air, and I seem like, Are you okay? Yes, help the druid. I'm gonna go ahead and turn around and rush, because I haven't really moved much this turn. I'm gonna move out into the hallway and glance down the stairs into the main hall.

Is there any visibility on the elf? Not from where you are on the steps right now. I'm gonna listen to take our command and I'm gonna go ahead and move into base to base with the nearest threatening ghoul and end my turn there. Hell yes. Unbelievable.

That is going to be the ghoul's turn of which there are now only three. Two of them are gonna come for Julian. That is a miss. That is a hit. Give me a constitution. That was with an 18, right? With the extra two from haste?

Let's go! That is a miss. My lady, Arnaissa. How about it? Wow. Good call. There you go. One of them is going to come for Tysha.

That's a miss. Honestly, that's why you can just. You can just do it. You're not down anymore, right? You've got to heal. That's right. Yeah. With that, Octus,

on your turn in the realm of death, you have failed your wisdom saving throw. Tisha is suddenly gone, and you watch as you, some, too many commands were heated at once to come back, to go home, to walk the path to something new. In this space with Tysha suddenly gone, you can feel the hand of Primus Taconas, your father, drawing you into the dark.

In this moment, you have to think of something. What are you going to do? You said that I split. Is this a thing that is there? Am I seeing? like another of me, like there are, I'm splitting. It looks as though there is a tear in the middle of your soul. Something is opening wide, and you can tell that this is something that should not.

If you unravel, there will be no end to the unraveling. This isn't, right, I'm nuts. I think this needs to close, and he's gonna take his fingers and push them in to start almost taking the motion as though he's sewing himself back up to try and seal up this tear, to put himself back together to where he's supposed to be to put, to fix the problem as much as he can.

This needs to be sealed shut. Give me an Arcana roll. Okay. I don't like that, die. I've been tested tonight, Ferf. 18? You start to stitch yourself back up. As you do, you can feel yourself being lifted off the ground

and drawn towards something you don't want to go to. No, I'm not supposed to go there. Father, you. I don't belong to you. I belong here with them. Stitches. You belong. Where we? Something's moving. There's a face looking down. You're on a table. But the Lady Aranesa's not here. You're not in the Palazzo de Vinos.

Face. white and spectral looks down. Oh, something's wrong with the boy. Try and miss you four. What have you done? You feel something stirring inside you. Something's messing with the stitches from inside of you. In the forest, you're back here moving towards the darkness.

The stitches, there's something pushing against them. It's stopping your work. A wing bursts out of your midsection. Thu-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th. Um, you. You look down and see suddenly a little nose pushes out. And from the gory midsection, wet with your own viscera, a tiny little fox, its head unattached to anybody at all,

turns around and looks up at you, scared. We move from Octus back to the Palazzo de Vinos. Tysha, that is your turn. Back up. Too much, too close. Everything is too close. And Octus is still lost. I'm going to cast Thunderwave at second level.

Oh, hell yes. I'm hoping that you're kind of far. You stopped far. Like a cute little move as you were running. I was like, back up. Hell yeah. 15 foot cube. 15 foot cube.

I mean, a DC. 15 con save. Hell yeah. That is one success, two failures. Okay, the two that fail, take 13 points and are pushed 10 feet away from me. And the other takes six points of thunder damage. Yeah, and everything in this hall, like,

it's just destruction. I don't care about this building. I need to get to Octus. Hell yeah. Wait, where's the family going to live? Oh, no. I'm going to say, I think ThunderW, I don't know that Thunderwave can't not catch Julian in this moment.

All right. I mean, make sense. Give me a constitution saving throw. You bet. You're all so good. 14. B1 higher? No, but that's okay. I dig it.

So, Julian, you do take, what, 13 points of damage. And thawed back into the wall back here. But these two ghouls fly back. How many feet? 10 feet. Bam, bam, both thunder down the hall from you. You were in combat just with one last goal here. Bonus action, whatever, I'll take the opportunity attack.

But I'm bonus, we're looking at the things we can do now. That I could have done the whole time, that would have given me more hit points. Adrenaline rush, take the dash action. It also gives me two temporary HP. And I'm gonna try to just get back in the room and get to Octus. That is a miss on the opportunity attack.

Amazing. You rush through the doorway and get to Octus. And I think I end up right at his head. It looks like what Tisha looked like when she was giving the Ozzy his rights. She's just at the head, and she's just going to look down at him. And I think it's like in druidic, but it sounds like those prayers and those chants,

but all she is saying is follow my voice and get back here, get off the path. As you say to get off the path, give me a wisdom saving throw. 22. How do you square in this moment with telling someone who has died that it is not their time? Why were you able to tell Theazi that a new life was waiting for him beyond? on the forest, but you will not say it to Octus. I don't want to think about it.

And on a 22, you don't have to. This is just feeling. You rush inside to Octus's body, calling out to him as much as you can. After your turn, it is going to go back to the shadows below. That is one hit and one critical hit. Okay.

What is it happening? Do you guys? 13 necrotic damage, halved to six. Okay. How's Velaus looking? Great. What? Yo, dog.

So many people would have been so dead. Go back and kill me. I'm gonna come back as an elf. I want to be this. I'm all right. I'm all right. Standing in the midst of these shades, trying to drink your immortal life, they continue to do so.

It's crazy when you say it like that. You see that Aranesa is going to walk to a corner of the room, looking and hearing everything else going on outside. You also now can hear any of you that there are other Taconas in the castle. This is like Primus came to do what he was here to do, but you hear in other hallways,

distant in the Palazzo, other noises. You see that Aranesa walks to this desk, touches the wood, goes, farnish, lifts it, like, breaks something to touch a raw piece of wood and whispers, and begins to druid craft a sapling out of the wood of the desk as fast as she can for reasons that she does not choose to share

with you all in this moment. Beautiful. You see, she looks in and says, Julian, to me, when you can, and runs over there. Valas, that's your turn. Okay, I'm going to keep swinging. Cool. Since they keep coming.

Okay. Go for it, give me your attack. All right, let's do this one. You're going to be good, you're going to be good. Oh my God. That's a one. This is happening to you. I don't know.

Ashley. Should I leave? No. No. I'm so hot. I'm so hot. We will have a beautiful Dice intervention as soon as we go to break. Yes.

It is we will make it happen. It's okay. It's all good. This is the story the Dice want to tell. This is not a moment. You know what I'm going to do for my bonus action? What's that? I'm going to hold on a minute.

Let me just double check this really quickly if I want to use this. No, I only have one more. I only am going to do that. Okay. We're fine. I'm fine. I'm just going to keep swinging. We're good. We're good. We're good. You keep swinging. It comes to you. After your turn, it goes back to Julian at the top of initiative.

So there's three ghouls? There are three and they are looking in bad fucking shape, man. Aranesa has called to you, but also these ghouls are looking pretty fucked up. No, I'm in the zone. I'm going to go ahead and go for one of them. Let's go. Yes. That's an extra 20. National 20, baby. Oh my God! Here we go. Thank you for this dice. You're welcome. You were stomping so much ass in this fight. It's crazy.

It's crazy. Fighters, baby. Fighters, baby. A fighter rogue baby. A fighter rogue baby. Yeah, fight a rogue baby. That's how to call. So that's going to be, It could have been a better nice roll. 10 points of piercing damage.

10 points gets it done, and that's the healthiest of the ghoul's remaining. 10 points. After being blown back into the wall from the thunder I'm like, shake it off, give you a look, and be like, that's the gift for helping. And I'm going to rush up to one of the nearest ones. And right now it's like dispatching.

I'm not, it's like mercy kills at this point. My mind is now all. Vaillis and where she is. I'm just trying to finish her off as much as possible. The first time I just go through the eye socket. Focus on the next one. I'm gonna go ahead and do my, yes, bonus attack, which with Vex would have advantage.

Okay, yes, absolutely. Let's go. Which is good, because that would make it up 16. Hits. Hits. That will be, that's gonna be a nine points of piercing damage. Nine points hits. Oh, so nine points of piercing damage.

Oh, more than enough. The Thunderwave almost had these guys on, they had these guys on death's door. So, yeah, that one is enough damage, and I believe you have an extra attack from... I do with bonus action. The second strike is going to go and almost like a rapier strike to cross the abdomen. And then I'm going to take my foot and kick it into the section to like snap its back off of it and kind of push it further down the hall.

And the last one that's standing there. Tekness is a different target. So I don't get the vex bonus of this one. So I'm just going to go ahead and make another attack on that one. That's only going to be an 11 to hit. An 11 to hit. 11 does not hit on that one. But this last one crumples to the ground,

and as you slashed through it, this last one looks at you with its tongue lolling out of its mouth, so destroyed by that thunder wave, but. What I'm gonna do? I'm gonna look at him, like, You know what? I don't think it's worth my time right now. I'm gonna turn around.

I'm gonna go full sprint towards Veilis. Hell yes. Which means I will take an attack opportunity, but I'll... Great. That is a hit. I need to constitute. savings. I'll take it. Let's go. This is what I get. Damn it, no. It's okay. That's going to be at 11.

11 saves. You are not paralyzed. You do take four points of slashing damage. I'll take it. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. You close, you are by Aranesa's side with that haste spells. Well, actually, I was going to. Oh, sorry. Oh, you're going for Veilis. Well, she, oh, man. Now, Vanessa did call me. No, no, whatever you want to do. I don't know how bad you're doing. Uh, so I'm, I'm going to go. I'm going to go, I'm going to go to go Aranesa, yeah, that's what I do.

You close to Aranesa's side. As you do so, the ghouls are going to, this ghoul is going to go next. He's next to act. Speed is 5, 10, 15, 20, 20, 25, 30 is gazing around. He is going to close, I think he's going to go. Yeah, double move. And he's going to close on the lady Aranesa in this moment.

Pursuing you into the room, double move action. Octus, once again, I'm going to need another Arcana check from you in this space. I'm going to say getting below a 10 is very bad and getting a 20 or higher. We'll produce some hidden knowledge for your spirit now cast into the darkness in the realm of death. That is 19. One shy. There's something. You look at PIN's head emerging.

There's something inside you stirring. You feel sick. You shouldn't even feel like you have a body in a place like this. Pin looks up at you. you. Cox, his head so soaked with your blood that his fur is matted to the side. His ears go flat against his head. Take my hand and reach it up inside me, busting through some of the stitches and try and pull whatever's in there out. It's making me, it's wrong. This isn't

supposed to be in here and try and pull out whatever's in there. Give me either medicine or sleight of hand. That's good. The hell's been slight of hand. Okay. Okay, that is a 15 medicine. There are things moving inside of you,

but there's something that's very still. that's very still. Arm reaching up past little Pins head. On a 15, you can only do one thing on that roll. You can remove Pins head and maybe see if there's any other parts of them in there. You can try to move these fluttering things inside you to one side or the other,

or you can reach towards something very still. You can only do one of those. 15. This is not, I'm gonna reach towards the thing that's very still. It's not supposed to be in there. You reach in, and your hand wraps around a stone where your heart should be. You pull it out.

That translucent face looks down at you from that table somewhere not in death or life. And goes, no! No! In the forest, you come apart. Birds fly everywhere, nightingales. The last part of your soul that remains is a hand clutching a stone.

That's the last we're going to see of you. Alex, I'll ask you to step away from the table. I'm sorry, what? We returned to the Palazzo de Vinos. That is going to be Tisha's turn. Tight? Cool? Focus. I see Aranesa growing a tree.

What do I see? Do I see anything going on with Octus on the table? He has remained dead and nothing has changed. He's just, you see his body. You see his body. his handsome, young, is just his remains. I don't know what to do, but I'll stay here and I'll wait for him, but I need to help. I move one hand away from his face

and like pick back up my staff and it grows and turns into this. It used to look like the head of it used to look like a horse, but it spreads out and looks like a dragon's face pulled apart by the wood between all. all of the joints of the metal and a little bit of like, sort of a dark green magic pours out of the open mouth. And I'm going to spend three charges on my staff and cast speak with plants, as I command.

The like remains of the entangle that she used earlier. And the, like, sapling that she's growing. And any piece of metal within 30 feet of me grow. Metal begins to grow at your command. As you cast, you're casting speak with plants. Which with the Loy staff also allows you to speak to metal. Hell yes. So it says you can turn on ordinary terrain

where plants are present into difficult terrain. So if I can use a little bit of the leftover entangle, just to make it harder for this nasty boy to get to. Okay. Is he already there? He's already there. Ah, shit. Is there anything I can do, LeBron.

You see, I think Aranesa turns to you looking at your attachment to the dead body and you see she just says, bring him if you must, now! And beckons to herself. Yeah, I'll then pick him up and bring him over. You bring him over, join with her. Any other actions or bonus actions on your turn?

That's an object interaction and a movement. Yeah, my biggest goal was just to help Aranesa with whatever magic she's doing. Perfect. Cassing speak with plants. Actually, you see that the buds of the tree that she's growing turn to you and go,

Oh. The dead, the dead walk, the dead. And you see that Aranesa sees that you, she's focusing on growing this thing and looks to you and says, wherever the least of them are. Ask wherever the least of them are. Yeah.

Yeah, and in Druidic, I think she's whispering and it sounds like metal, like unforging itself and returning to ore as I scream to all the metal around me. Yes. Where is the least of them? You see, hedges, growth, all of this. You hear a mighty voice calling out from an ash tree

at the far edge, even beyond the, like, near the nearest gate, the gate you came through. And you see it calls out and says, It says, birds fly beyond what the eye can see. The bridge across the river knows no touch of death. I welcome the touch of the weilder of the old ways. The door is open to you. And you sense a tree nearby calling out.

And I think one of the buds on the tree that Aranesa is growing like immediately, like unfurls. It's like a peony, like a lot of petals. And the way the petals like open and fall looks like a sort of pedal map of the bridge, the tree by the bridge. Summending that map forward in this space. At the end of your turn, the shadows are going to once again attack Veilis. That is another hit and another crit. Okay. Don't. Okay, okay. That is going to be 13 halves to six necrotic damage.

Okay. How's Veilis looking? Okay. Okay. Okay. You're cool. You've been tanking so much damage. It's insane.

That is their turn. As they face you, You look and see, before your turn, Aranesa, growing this sapling, casts tree stride. And with this last ghoul that she does not permit to follow, Julian, Tysha, you holding Octus's body, and her appear on the grounds outside the main gate. As she looks out, all of you moving as one.

Julian, here's you. to this gate right here. That's her action, and she is going to sprint for the gate. Take 30 feet of movement and just say, run as she begins to run off the grounds. Poor pin. Oh, why? I shout out as she runs.

I'd be like, Arnessa, the elf. She turns to look inside, sees you, and as she does so, she touches this threshold behind her and says, the veil. She looks to you and says, the veil is stronger. Pass the bridge. Okay.

As she calls out to you. And she, you see, I think you see Julian, the lady Aranesa has done some heroic things to save you and looks at Valas with a look. She's a very polite woman and says, I thought you were very nice in the short amount of time we know at each other, and turns, kicks her heels off

and just starts fucking booking it in bare, as fast as she can. That's my girl. Those barefoot on the fucking cobblestones getting out of her as fast as she can. That is your turn, Valis. Okay, so with that, sort of seeing them go, can I try to sort of just duck and disengage something?

Just try to get away. Absolutely. Okay. And actually, because there are no longer six of them, you can disengage if you would like, or you can just take movements, take double movements to get out of here. Great. Let's do that.

They're going to get a type of opportunity on you. Okay, that's okay. Don't you say, oh, now. I mean, you've taken 47 hits. I rolled 5 to 20 and did not roll above a 10. Great. Unbelievable. Great.

Where was that at the beginning? Veilis, that's going to be 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 3rd. 3540, and you can move another 20 feet out that way. Wee. As you begin to sprint. That goes to the top of initiative. Julian, that's you. I'm going to make eye contact with you as you're stepping outside.

The rest of you, I'm going to go ahead and dart forward. and ready my action. Hell yeah. I'm just gonna hold it there more or less to interpose myself with a hall, that if any, then give pursuit, I can go ahead and try and strike them down. Hell yeah.

But also as I stand there and look inside of the spirits, I also, my vision shifts to the body of my father, and that stoic disassociation begins to begins to slip a bit. Not that you might notice from behind, but the emotions begin to come in wave.

And that's the end of my turn. You ready your action? Tysha. Yeah, I'm gonna use my movement and my other bonus action. What do you say the words? I'll know them by the end. Adrenaline rush.

So I'll end up doing 60 feet of movement, but I'm going to swing around, and I want to put my hand on Julian's shoulder as I'm like banking around it out. Just say, please run with us now, and cast cure wounds as I do it. Go ahead. I am a little sorry, I did an ouch to you.

Oh, you're fine. Oh, okay. Plus spellcasting? 20 points. 20 points. Right, this fucking rain. Are you back to full? No.

Oh, no. By no means. But good enough. I love to what I heard pretty good. Tysha, go ahead and move 60 feet. You have Octus with you as well. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

And my movement's lower. No, I'm so strong. Touch. One, two, three. 106, and they'll be here. Great. Just slide to the side. He's just over the shoulder.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. 10, 20, 20, 20. So you're more than 40 feet, which means that all of the shadows go to surround you, Julian. You can get you, you have a ready action.

Go ahead and take your attack. All right. Which is just the single attack. That's correct. I'm going to go ahead and strike the first one that comes towards me. You got it. That's going to be, it's going to be 13. 13 hits.

Let's go. That'll be seven points of piercing damage. Non-magical, of course, whatever that might impact. Mm-hmm. Sergio, oh, your sword, glancing blow. They surround you. In this moment, you know, you you look, you can hear the footsteps of your companions, your father's dead on the ground.

You'll never have the opportunity for him to know you as anything other than a drunken reprobate. would not have even known the cause of his death. It happened so quickly. And as the shades surround you, oh. Whatever was written in their misty faces, it's gone now. the thing in Veilis that filled them

with sorrow and guilt and shame. No, that's not what they feel, looking at you. They look at you, and those smoky mouths grin, empty sockets of shadow and lightlessness in recognition of a soul, maybe just as lost as them. Maybe it would be some cold comfort to invite you into their life, which some part of you has seen fit to live, even as your heart still beats. They don't prepare to strike you in terror or shame.

If anything, it looks like, they prepare for a warm embrace. Aranesa sprinting forward, turns around. Julian! Run! Run! She continues to sprint towards the bridge, looking at Yuvalis as she watches and hears screams in sudden silence as the lights

of the palace of the Divinos house begin to extinguish. and falls into midnight. Phelis, it is your turn. You see that she, Aranesa, before you, passes over the threshold onto the bridge away. And as she passes into the bridge, you watch as, as she said,

you can almost sense hanging in the air the magic that Primus called to bear to make the realms permeable for the grim work that faced them. here on this night. You see past the threshold onto that bridge. The dead will not follow. I would just like to go up to Julian and try to bring him with me. The minute you start stepping towards me, I put my goblet in a hand out and say, keep them safe. I'll be there soon. I take my whip out and start slashing them.

The shadows. I'm not gonna leave him here. I can't. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'll do this one. I'll do this one.

Okay. 19. Go ahead and roll damage. Hell yeah. All right. 18. 18 damage? Yeah.

No, sorry, 18 hit. 18 to hit. Go ahead and roll damage. Let's go. Do mine's fighting on this? Yes, I will, because it hit. So seven, seven plus six, plus eight. Great. And I roll one more.

You roll one more. Seven. All right, that's 21, 42. 42 did. Boom. Absolutely unmade by Valas's sensor. Incredible. And.

Keep going. Go. Do you- Go? I don't go. No. Obsident woman, I am behind you. You can take them for a little bit. Now it's my turn.

Go. Julian, it's your turn. You take one and I'll take one. Let's finish them off. I look back at the bodies in here. You know what? You know what? Let's just continue this, the first pound of proverbial flesh. I'm going to go ahead and unleash on the one that I struck before.

Great. That's going to be 17 hits. 17 hits. For 11 points of piercing damage. Amazing. You slashed out and deal 11 points of damage. Check it again. That's going to be 20, not natural 20, just 20. That hits? Actually, that would be an advantage because of Vex. Just double check, not the same.

So that's going to be 10 points of piercing damage. Badly injured, you have your bonus action. I'm going to go ahead and strike it now with advantage from the Vex. That's going to be, okay, 18 to hit. It's with sneak attack. Let's go. Damn. That's going to be another 10 points of medical damage.

Destroyed. In a flurry of attacks. Another shade vanishes from before you. Only three remain in front of you. As I finished off that last one, kind of like almost like using the gauntlet to wipe away a mist as it scatters around, I throw the cape back over and put the blade out, and I step back a little bit

and look at her to you and be like, you're up. Thanks too, idiots. I'll take a swing. Incredible. Well, Tasha, that's your turn. I'm just cussing. I'm cussing in Druidic. We're supposed to be going. We're supposed to be going. It's just me bitching to Aaron Eso, like, we're supposed to be just going, and they're not,

they're going back because they're just so fucking weird. I can't. Ha! Yeah, hold on. Yeah, fuck it, let's use it again. I'm gonna, before continuing my way out. These, like, spectres and spirits, are they like corporeal and, like, moving on the ground?

Or they sort of, like, floating. In corporeal floating. Ah, shit, never mind. Never mind. No, I'm gonna do the thing. I just turn around and go, I said fucking run! And Misty Step and then whole ass away.

Okay, you vanish across the bridge with Aranesa. At a snap point at the bridge. Here. That is a miss against Veilis. There's a hit. You take eight points of necrotic damage. and your strength decreases by two. That's fine, I can take that.

Valis, that's you. We have five more left? No, no, there's three. There's three more. Oh, sorry, okay. I'm going to look at Julian. I will stay here with you until we finish this.

But this will not make you feel better. Let's go. Are you sure? I got one of them. Both of you are acting on the same turn initiative. If you choose to leave. I mean there are three left? That's four.

Fine. I mean, like, they could catch up to us, but if we can get it past the threshold. With the haste, and I'm standing here, my father on the ground, does he have his gauntlet on him? He does. I'm going to attempt to move up to his corpse. corpse with my hasted speed.

If I need to roll in agility, get past them, let me know. But try, without even looking at his face, because I don't want that to be my last memory. I'm gonna try and pull the gauntlet from his hand. Moving forward, supernatural speed, you surge past the shadows. Wrap your hands, ever tight-fisted. Something in your father's hand relaxes, and the gauntlet comes off.

It is yours. I look back at you and dart at full hasted speed to follow Aranesa and the rest. I follow. The lights of the Palazzo Divina extinguish. Cries of the living are quickly replaced with the chattering of the dead.

And whatever grim work takes place within those halls is not yet so potent as to destroy Sir Julian Devinos, Veilis of the morn wood, or Tisha, who follows the Lady Aronessa Royce across the bridge. In this place are the horrors left in the darkness, and you make your way to uncertain future together. And that's where we'll take our break. Oh.

And that's where we'll leave our story for now. Part two of this episode of Campaign 4 drops this Tuesday. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you soon for more Critical Role.