Critical Role - Stone-Faced | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 4 | Part 2

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Part 2 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.

Hello again. It's Brennan Lee Mulligan, and you're listening to Part 2 of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out part one yet, pause this now and head over there first. What are you doing? Otherwise, let's jump right back into this adventure and the world of Aramon. We return to the city of Dolma Chiar to the drawing room of Hallandiel Fang, where you sit, the Liresbet on your side, the sort of thimble and teor, Cadigan, the now sort of itinerant Lord,

Wicander, Halovar, and Tyranny have all headed off under the stewardship of Azunai, Azunay, to the falcons rest there to pursue Kazimir or Tehr's brother, Sid. Here in this, you bid farewell earlier to Octus, who've traveled off with Julian DeVinus, and Tysha's just run off after him to make sure he's okay. How, it is currently just you and Murray,

in your home. Shadi is out with some friends. And you have just passed, you have a letter in your hand that Thimble gave to you, which was supposed to make its way to Murray. Murray, here in this place, you have no idea about what is transpiring elsewhere across the river. It's pretty chill night. Pretty chill night.

Things have finally calmed down. Things have finally calmed down. Oh. And the letter that Thimble gave to you, you know, Hanta Murray, the envelope just says Belair on it. Murray, do you open the envelope? Yep. Yeah.

Hell yeah. If you'd be so kindly. I had been looking for a moment to pass this on to you. And even before this, when I saw the Ozzy at the end, with the Zune's help, I spoke to my brother. to my brother, only fleetingly. And he told me to help you. I don't know, I don't know why. And maybe you can tell me. Maybe this can tell us.

I don't know. You said on the outside it says, Boulare. Balear. And Thimble gave you instructions to give this to me specifically. For you. For you. Is it pertaining boldly? What am I kidding? I want to read it.

Do I read this out loud? I think you should read it however Murray would read it. If she would read it out loud, you'd read it out loud. But if she would read it first and decide what to do with it later, or she should absolutely do that. How looking around your home, you see Piazzi still on the table here. Sword on your back.

You see walking in the door as Murray's going over the letter. Shadia walks in, bidding farewell. Well, you hear some voices shouting like, we'll see you tomorrow. You see, she waves out and says, yeah, I'll see you then. Great, it was great. Seeing you, we should all, we should practice that, the routine again, because I think it's going to be different with pins than with the balls because, you know, they have the, they just waited differently,

and they're going to move differently through the air, so we should just, we should go up to the next step. Hey, dad. Hey, kiddo. Hey, juggling. Just trying to get everybody on the same. page. Well, I was thinking that it would be a great way if we go, maybe not the marketplace,

but maybe head down to the fray or even just hearing the rookery just to let people know about the hallowed round, because I think there's like a little bit of like, I mean, thinking about it, there's like a little bit of like a hurdle to clear of just like, you know, it's been, space hasn't been used in so long. A lot of misconceptions to overcome. A lot of people to, to put it ease. And, you know, I was thinking about some of the decorating plans, which we were going to wait longer for,

but we have that the paint kind of like, I guess, got earlier, whatever. Yeah, there was a lot. There was a lot. She put it to use. So I made the, I was thinking, like, I don't know what the plans are for the stage or stuff like that, We have all those panels everywhere for the different boxes and stuff

of like doing some murals or some paintings. There's like a bunch of stories from like old plays and stuff. And she puts like a list in front of you of a bunch of the characters of like legend and story, especially from like the past 70 years. There's been like an explosion of art and culture and like some very old stories that weren't allowed to be told under

the dominion of the god of war and then other different lessons that are being interpreted in a new light. And she gives you a list of like different historical and legendary figures and things that there are a lot of plays already about. And was like, yeah, I was thinking like maybe like decorating them on the boxes

or on the panels or something like that could be kind of cool. Howell is a ton of talking in his life. He loves to listen to his children and gives her all the time in the world to run through all of her ideas and just, especially with the insanity of the last pile of hours. This is a welcome, or pereve. I think that sounds like an excellent idea.

All of those did, and I think you should pick out your favorite. ones, and then we will get to work on figuring out design. I zoned out. What are y'all talking about? Art. Painting the theater. So there's like, there's some big, there's some bigger, like, skyboxes around, and different, like, viewing things, but especially the ones that are, like, closer to the stage.

I don't know which one, the kind, there's a couple, so there's, there's, there's some that are, like, way, way far legends, and there's something that are, like, more recent. And there's, like, neat, very near history. I don't know what they're right, because we can. How? I'm so sorry, I do not mean to be rude. We might wanna have a chat. I'm sure this is like so important and so pressing,

but, so I do not wanna undercut that in the slightest. But. It is important and we will crack into it tomorrow. Great. What I think is that we start on the edges with the oldest and move in towards the center and the tree, but you start noodling.

I love that. We could do, I think Boland de Varsre is great. I think even though it's sort of like more of like a myth than like a legend, there's like Lugzub Kettle Helm, which like is great for kids. And there's like a, I don't know, there's like a bunch of legends. I'll put it together, I'll think about it. Both hands on the sides of her cheeks.

She smiles. It says, excited. Okay. Boy, there's a lot to do. Okay, and you see she sort of like, without even thinking about it, just does a one-handed cartwheel towards the stairs, just a little acrobatic

and up the stairs. Oh, wow. In the morning, over breakfast. Over breakfast. He turns back in his smile fades. Damn, I wish I had that type of energy steel. Did you imagine I would throw my back out so fast? My big old titty's doing cartwheel is there.

a chance. All right, here's the thing. Are you sharing? This letter was meant for me. This letter was without a doubt, meant for me. Can you enlighten me, or are we talking all secrets? He talks about Boler in this letter, the Ozzy does. Honestly, it's, it's, it's strange.

It's fairly benign, all things considered. But the letter... A butt? It does tend to open with the caveat of either I'm dead, if this letter finds you, either I'm dead, or Lockmere has finally called in my tab at the seven stars and I've had to skip town.

He talks about that he's rooting for me and that both him and I know the forces that are working against the city. and the Pentebral, all of it. Friends are in short supply. So allies will have to do, and then he talks about how he's had some success working for Boler,

although he goes on to say that he's not necessarily a friend. But that, he says some things that are honestly kind of disparaging, unless I'm wrong, to quote, he should be in that museum, not curating it If you took that mask off of him, I suspect you'd have him well in hand. Signed the Ozzy Fang. But this letter was addressed to Boler. I have a feeling.

Whomever the betrayer was that we know has maybe been navigating some of these machinations of theirs for some time. Sorry, help me understand. It's disparaging of Belair while being addressed to Belair. It's neutral leaning disparaging. It's neutral negative. May I? I don't know what he is. Well, to start,

my brother liked to keep me in the dark about most of his goings on. He was very smart of him. Always talked about sheltering me, his older brother. Can I, just in case, do some sort of like, am I sensing any type of arcana, any type of magic, any type of anything that might be hidden in this? Give me either arcana or investigation.

I shall give you. Well, they're well pretty good, honestly, but I'll give you Arcana. Shoeop. No. Okay, I'll take it. That is going to be 14. The letter's not magical, and it was addressed to Boler unless there were more than just these letters around.

It's possible that the name on the outside was for the Ozzy's own benefit in terms of maybe he had a big old file folder of dirt on people, and the name's one was regarding Belair. This one's regarding Boler. Is the name written on the front, Boler, does it match his signature

and his handwriting? I would recognize the handwriting too, yeah. Okay. Looks like it was his way of keeping track of, and again, he had it in a hideout somewhere, so it's possible that he wanted dirt on people waiting should something happen to him that those, like let's say it happened to be

that Thimbel could deliver it to you, but what if she couldn't? then at least it's all sorted and filed somewhere for a worst case scenario. All right, so new theory. I know I just had one theory, but I think that's wrong immediately after thinking about it for more than two seconds.

I think maybe this is kind of in reference to like his personal collection, like files essentially on a lot of people in the city. Does this bastard have a file on me? Can we put all our cards on the table here? Yeah. I know my brother had dealings with you. I don't know the extent to which those ran.

I don't know detail. Uh-huh. Yeah. Dealings with you. Yeah. Dealings with Bolayer. Yeah. What exactly was the through line between you and my brother? Well, you know, similarly to Bolair,

not to speak for him and his experience, but both Boler and I have uses and interests. business needs for some of the more rare artifacts in life. Some magical supplies. Sometimes these things aren't necessarily obtained by the most virtuous of means. Magic is a dirty business. It's more difficult every week.

Yeah. In the city. So if you're going to engage in a dirty business, if you are going to follow in this pursuit of knowledge as much as I hate it, it should be far more accessible, in my opinion, but the current circumstances in place do not allow for such a thing and have not for some time.

So if you are going to get into the business of magic, then you need to be willing to get a little greasy. So my brother was providing to you with the help of our, maybe less than a friend, Boler. Yeah, well, I mean, it goes both ways, right? I mean, and sometimes he would have a need. Sometimes I would have a need.

It was very mutually beneficial. Sometimes I would go up against Boler. Sometimes I would have to work with Boler. How it looks around at the insides of his house. Any sense that anyone outside of the three of you were wise? What I mean? Cover your tracks. Oh, yeah, sure.

Real sure? I mean, Honor amongst thieves, you know what I mean? I thought you were a bursar. Uh-huh. Have you ever met a trustworthy financial advisor? They were in a theater. Point taken.

Well, we're going to have to have a talk with my friend, our friend, Boller. You know, I actually like Boller quite a lot. I don't think he likes me. I like Boller quite a bit. Yeah. I like how he's a little bit freaky. He is an interesting sort, is it? Yeah.

Yeah, knowledgeable. Are you sure you want to pursue in this house? Well, the Aussie, as you have mentioned, sheltered you quite a bit. He's sacrificed and he did a lot to protect you. Honestly, he's about to undo. I don't, honestly, but do I have a choice? Everyone in their brother has been through my house

in the last 24 hours. Are my kid safe? It doesn't feel like it. He worked his whole life to keep me safe. Fell apart at the end. Fell apart at the end. Murray. Seeing a look of determination pass over Hal's face, so sweet with his daughter.

It's an established man in town. A lot of effort went into keeping him clean. And now he's got the liar's blades strapped to his back. There's something in the air. the plucking of strings, some kind of hum. You look at the mandolins and lutes, the pipes, and instruments.

It's almost like this whole world or an instrument being played, and you can finally hear the frequency. You were kind enough to tell me before you got to the table what your portent roles were today as a diviner wizard. Do you want to let me know, let the table know and our friends at home know what you rolled? I was very, very lucky, very auspicious, as you mentioned.

Diviner wizard, that's so cool. Diviner wizard, she's been revealed. We got a sub-paws, baby. I rolled A2 and a natural 20. So seeing, building up of what you said and kind of looking at the liar's plane, on your back. Murray kind of runs her tongue across her teeth

and she gets a little bit of a metallic taste in her mouth, a little bit like burning ozone. There's a little bit of a hum, like a high pitch frequency that is almost entirely reserved for the ears of the youths before they start to lose that aspect of their hearing. There's a little bit of almost like a gravitational shift like a well,

because as Murray knows, time is not a supernatural concept. Time is something rooted in science, in physics, in astronomy. And she knows where some people might in the back of their head. feel like the sign of deja vu means that it is the universe affirming that they are on the right path. That's bullshit.

She knows she's tapping into something else into the cosmic DNA. The math that connects everything and knows, yes, we are on the right path, but it has nothing to do. to do with your superstitious bullshit. Tomorrow, the frequency may change. On a pure mechanical level, come tomorrow,

you will roll a new portent roll. But there's a few hours left in this night. And with a nap 20 in your back pocket, tonight, one thing that would maybe even be close to impossible. You are guaranteed success at. It's a shameful thing to waste. We are going to move from here,

as you consider what you must do. We'll move to Falcon's Rest. Azunay, you watch those horses vanish. Steeds ride away. Teor, Cadigan, the Lord Wicander, Hail Ovar. What a strange sight, strange days indeed, the aspirant tyranny, and flitting to and fro, Fimble, flying ahead of them, riding north.

All those names written on the columns as you hear the roar of the falls beneath you. As they were leaving, I started to speak the names of those that fought alongside us that fell, and for all intents and purposes were forgotten, names that don't appear on Falcon's Rest. And I watched them disappear as they move towards the horizon, and I keep repeating those names.

And I had one, final one as they are finally out of my sight, and I speak the name, Theazi Fane. I have a moment at Falcons rest, and think hard and try to resist the urge to feel the sense of doom that I have for those that have just left and I have this impulse to speak their names,

but they're not gone. They're just off. And I shove that down. And I start to head back towards howls, and instead I try to hold I try to hold on to what I can from these people from my past that saw me, some of them grow up. And I try to remember what their faces look like today

when I saw them last and what I remember learning from them. Mostly how to fight, mostly how to take a hit. And then I remember something that Thimble told me long ago that I often push aside because I didn't understand it as a lesson. I remember asking her how she was able to let go of the past. and I don't remember the answer that she gave me because what I was left with was that she was able to let it go

and I don't know how. Give me an insight to check. A natural one. Oh, the side of the table's cursed. No. They somehow play maschley. That's rough, buddy. Appreciate your honesty, though.

Fender told you how you could let something go. How you could let something go. How often do you come to the falcons rest? every day, unless I know that I can't. You on a nat one, feel the certainty deep within your heart, as you have for as long as you can remember. You don't know the difference between letting go and forgetting. And I don't want to forget.

Who knows what letting go is? But forgetting would be an injury and an insult. Forgetting is death. While something is remembered, it is still here. There is something within you that feels as protective of these memories like a dragon in its golden horde. There is something here that is more precious than anything in the world. It's those names written on those columns. It's the memories of what you had.

and if you have to stay in pain to honor them, then so be it. I've said the names that have fallen over and over again to try to honor them and keep their memory alive. Those whose names will never be written anywhere, no record of them existing anywhere as far as I know. And I wish I had more time with those that just left. I wish I had a moment to say so much,

but I never got a chance. But I do say their names. Not to honor them because they've fallen, but to honor them because they're still here. And I want to remember everything about them the good, the bad, the ugly, the injuries that they've caused inadvertently. I want to remember the entire story of who they are,

and I speak their names, those five that just left over and over again in a whisper to myself. And I wonder if they... if they'll forget me while they're gone. On that, Nat 1, remembering as much as you can, there is a strength and a power that comes from remembering. You can't let go of it, not yet. You leave this place to return to Howell's home.

To check in after the eventful days here, much to come and much is happening. I think as Zunei is walking up, before you reach and your hand touches the handle, the door flies open and smeary on the other side, in her face, like the top of her blouse is wet with ice water. And she's like, perfect time.

Let's go. Woo! I got my second win. We are going. Time is right. What have you had to drink? Come on. Follow me.

Okay. Great. Marie, you take off. How? Are you coming with? I'm going to go find Octus. He's in trouble. I, well, it's, sometimes you just have to say yes.

Just say yes, baby. And, here we go. Out the door. At the Arcanade, Paler, you're working late once again. What are you up to? I am just, I'm trying to reestablish a feeling of control. I'm not enjoying this process. Things are moving faster than I'd like,

and I've cleaned up, put my mess away. I feel content that my most recent activities are well hidden. I need to find Thimble desperately. I just need to have a conversation before I can do anything. And I can feel things coming to a head, and the only way I can maintain any control is by having a talk with Thimble. I don't know, you might know better where I might find her or where I would think to look for her. Here at the museum, go ahead and give me an investigation check.

13. 13. On a 13, you spend that evening reaching out. You have some of your curators, your archivists, other people reach out to the usual context. Thimble hits a number of spaces pretty routinely. You're well aware of the rhythms. the rhythms and how she would have to maintain them

in theasi's absence. It's that or eventually going to the places I know just because of grief she might be. On a 13, nothing comes back. Like the strands of a spider's web, it is so hard to read the information of absence. Is something being perfectly still, or have you caught nothing? We're marching our way up to the Arcanada.

Off we go. Into the wild little... Can someone explain what's happening when we're going and why? I send a message. Polair! Can I tell you through my fingertips? I have like a little thread. I speak in tune as I speak into it.

You can see it vibrating almost like it's like sound waves. Are you sending or you message... Messaging. Ballier. You try to ping? Yeah. outside the door. A locked door at a loading dock behind in a service area,

this massive revolutionary museum. It's like this gorgeous civic infrastructure, and there's like raised stone platforms where carriages can move up to be unloaded. And you're at this little thing saying, Blair. And you see, Belair, working in your office as you are, you hear some hushed voices from up farther in the museum. area, maybe some like a curator working at night

or someone restoring something, but you get that magical pang of Murray Magnessen, the bursar of the penthevral. This is normally where we bring set pieces in. It's at the back. Is he close enough to hear you? Do I know that I can respond to this or no? Yes, you do know that you can respond to this.

We're going hunting. What do you need, Miss Pekneson? We're going hunting. In its bastard season. Let's go. Where are, and I know where you are, one moment. And I assume she's just going to be an asshole with me at the door.

You could open the door. In my head I'm just seeing, Bricksies and bastard season, Bricksies and fire! Unbelievable. Yeah, if I assume at the back door, I swing it wide open. Please, come in.

What, it cares what hour it is. Pull up a chair. I have cigars, I may have, you have. Get them out, we've got to talk. Invite us upstairs. Why is, we need to hash some stuff out, friend. I'll go get some wine and cigars. Has anyone seen Thimble as I bring everybody in?

Oh yeah, she left like two hours ago. Where to, too? I need to talk to all about somebody. She's very gone. Left the city. She... Why would she do that? That's...

No. This is why we should probably have a conversation. You just fucking, you shady bitch. Find that wine. Okay. Hold on. It's a good night. All right.

It's a good night. I thought we were finding Octus. We are finding Octus. That's still on the TV list. One separate time. She's really gone. She's gone, yes. She's not like dead.

No. Yet. I don't know. Once again, why are you so pissed off? We had an arrangement. I needed to speak to her about our arrangement. I thought she would be decent enough to give me the time of... She ran out of time, Belair.

She had to... Yeah, I don't know if, like, you're aware, but, like, one of our real dear friends died tonight, and everything went tits up. So, like, I think the status quo was out the window right now, I am deeply aware and I'm unhappy with where she left me. And for that matter, where she now left all of us, how am I gonna have to do this?

How are we doing? Are we alone? Yes. For the most part? I am taking you all down into the archives. All right. This is not a thing that is done. I am opening up the archive doors and I am walking at a speed that definitely seems to be that if I stop walking and stop doing this,

I will think better of it. Anyone, you three give me an insight check. How do so with advantage? That's good. Let's use my insight. That one's say. Okay. Oh, that's bad.

That's real bad. Four. Four. Twenty. Eighteen. Twenty-three. Eighteen. I think Azunei, you're just looking,

you can tell that Belair is breaking museum rules by having you guys back. having you guys back. You are fine. Hal and Murray are not fine back here. Because you've you've done the deep scan before, right? Maybe not all the way to this level, but certainly in the archives more generally you've come around and investigated. How on a 23, you saw Belair. Belair stopped by with the paint earlier today and he was looking a mess. This Belair, I'll say on a 23, What does someone who does a lot of work with, specifically body posture and knowing that notice about Belair?

All I do is study people. I'm, I will say, it's a couple interesting things. I seem a little, a little energetic, more energetic than normal, and a little shaky, but I just could be because of the way things going. I'm not as delicate on my feet right now as I normally am. I'm a little clunky like I've been drinking, but not just in the way I walk.

Also, there are always little, just I cover up pretty tightly, but in the couple places where you can see skin and there are not a lot of them, I am not gray. I am much healthier looking than I was for the last couple months. And it's not like it's never shifted back and forth before, But this is pretty. Your friend Belair has made a pretty miraculous recovery.

Yeah. Image of health. Yeah. A little, yeah. I think as we moved through the museum, I drag back a bit and I catch Azuna by the arm. I know you trust me. So trust me.

Engard, yes? Of course. I get you. I'm stop in the middle, or towards the back of the archive. And I turned, I was really hoping to have that conversation with Thimble, because this would have made all of this a lot easier. I'm going to need all of you to trust me, and I don't know any other way to make that happen. One moment, and I'm going to open my secret archive.

What do they see within this Sanctum Sanctoral? Have you ever seen Young Frankenstein? No, so. Only 20 times. Oval team? It is. Nice knockers. Thank you, darling.

It is a pit, it's like a round staircase. That goes down about a floor and a half. maybe two floors down into God knows what underneath the museum. The winding staircase, stone staircase, which has no rail on it, is lined by bookshelves all the way down. And then at the very bottom of this pit

is a desk, boards, papers, the sort of tools one does to clean and study magical objects. study magical objects. And then a little room to the side. There's just a vault door to the side that once we get down to the bottom, I will open up, and it is,

it's about three times the size of the building of the room we're in right now, this hall. It's a very reasonable family of four home. And it is Ark of the Covenant. filled with very bizarre objects. You have been holding out on me. I've been holding out on everybody.

Almost. Like a kid in a candy store, and as she just like walks by the robes of books, she very, you know, a little sleight of hand just kind of runs her fingernail, tip fingernail, just across the spines and just gets those little, like, of anything arcane, ever so slowly. There is a desk and there's some chairs.

I'm going to pull up chairs, put down a table at the very bottom, because we can be alone here, and pour some wine for everybody. Give me an Arcana check as you're passing away. Oh, yes. Mm-hmm, num, num, num, num, num, num, num, no, nom, num, what I want to help me to keep it. It jumped in the back.

That is gonna be 27. Natural 19. Oh, gosh. You're dragging your hand over, there is a piece of stone sculpture. Maybe about 30 feet long. It's a stone sculpture of a hand. How it got moved down to this vault would have required, Lord knows what.

But the hand, you see that it's a sculpture of a hand, that within it there is ever so slightly raised. And you realize the raising of the runes on the hand is about the same proportional distance of a tattoo. Like someone was so fine to be able to, on a solid piece of stone, render the raisiness of a tattoo in a language on that 27, you realize this is, it's not even an alphabet you recognize,

except that it bears some resemblance to, elements of giant writing you have seen in the past. And when you get to the back of the hand where the sculpture stopped, you realize that the shattered wrist, essentially, you look and your eyes go wide on a 27 because that should just be the rough, unhewn stone. And it kind of is, except that a chunk of, except that a chunk of stone bone is coming out,

like what happened if a hand actually got torn off somebody. Yeah. Simultaneously, separately, as Murray moves forward into the space, Hal closes his eyes. After getting a glimpse of this massive space, thinks of a lifetime of his love of language, focuses that intentionality in his heart, it moves to his head, and I cast comprehend languages, and step up behind Murray, looking at what she's looking at, and read out loud the thing that is there. Mary's like almost a little like entranced. She's like a little in a day, is looking at this.

The beginning of the tattoo says, written in ancient high giant. This language would have been taken from the language directly of primordials. You think that this giant with a 30-foot hand, what their head would have touched, bottom of cloud. You know, how tall was this creature? The phrase begins, where we have stood since the dawn of time, no one else will shape against and reaches the

rest. And you hear Howell's voice recite that hanging over your dwarven shoulder. Do I hear what he said? Mm-hmm. If you're going to read things, just be careful what you read out loud. Temperamental in here. Anything you want to point out in particular? Oh, take your bloody pick.

I'm going to do it. I got to do it. I got to do it. I grab the hand. I got to shake its hands. It's like, has anyone seen talk to me? It's that. I don't know what happens. I immediately, I cast, I immediately cast. Command. No. Give me a wisdom saving throw. How spunky is right.

You're very spunky. Wisdom saving throw. Yeah, it's okay. Save as DC 14. Save it to C. 14. Meets it beats it. Yeah. So you, you've seen the magic,

but you're just so curious. You reach out, grab the finger. You're touching a big stone finger. Oh, fuck me. I walk up and I look right in your face with my complete lack of eyes and those two tiny little shiny blue gems that are set back way too far to be actualized.

There are things in here that are far more clever than you. I will allow you to have the run of the place, but just be careful for now, you young, idiot. All right, well, I think we can table our rabid curiosity for a little while. We have some discussion to get through Boleur. I have opened a very expensive model of wine. What if I could talk to a dead giant?

That would have been awesome. What if I doesn't want to talk to you? That would be really, really not awesome. That would be rude. Now. The wine opens, glasses are poured, business is at hand. So I assume this wine is older than I am

if I'm opening the good shit. It's in here. You open the good shit and the fragrance of fermented grape stamped by immortal feet under the loving gaze of a now dead goddess fills the room. I do have my

My Warhammer is out. It's just casually at my side, but I do look at how I'm watching you. So to bring you up to speed, not that I know what's going on in Theazi's final moments, thanks to you, I had a moment with him, a moment to learn that he and we have business with Murray

and business with Beaulair I don't understand the entirety of it. I can't see the entire beast yet. But we're going to hash it out. I don't know what the paint was about. I don't know what help you need. My brother seemed to think you are both important. My brother had warnings about you.

Which I would love to understand after, oh, at this point, let's call it years of talk over coffee. on an almost weekly basis. Why is my brother warning this woman about you? Why do you think that is? I was really hoping to speak to Thimble. Do you remember the day I met your brother? At your house.

Insight check right now, does he look like he's trying to come up with lies to me? Insight versus either persuasion or deception. Not 20. So sorry. Natural one. Oh, my. What is happening?

I love it. I'll say on that that how we'll believe, Probably whatever Boller would ask him to believe. One week after I met your brother at your home, Thimble arrived at the museum with a letter. Your brother had discovered things about me that could get me I'd say put away where that sounds like I'd done something.

He knew things about me that were, if put out into the open, would have made my life, if not difficult, unbearable. And he told me I had to work for him. And he forced me to start stealing. from this library, for him, for other people. And he told me if I told you any of this, that would be the end of me. I've tried so hard to never lie to you.

Any lie I've ever told you is because your brother forced me to. And I thought finally I would be free. And I thought finally I could just know that my contract was over, know that there was someone who would let me go so that I could start cleaning up this fucking mess that your brother put me in. He has compromised every level of my life that I was very happy with and just

treated me with more disdain than I can possibly express. And it has broken my heart that I've had to sit here and think about that. In front of you for so long. Your brother was a very complicated man. and many people I've heard have said many things about him. He could also be very cruel and hateful. And he was not kind to me to the better end, and I did not deserve it.

Any sins that I have put forward pale in comparison to the things that I have done. that I have done for him or the things I have seen him do. And I thought Thimble, I thought maybe since she had been kind and had worked very hard to make sure I never had to be in his presence. I used to say that she

I would give her gifts, and in return, she would, as a thimble should, keep me from coming into contact with a prick. So he's dead, and there is something wrong out there. There is, you know, there's something wrong. There is a shadow. Yeah, Baller. Mm-hmm. On the world.

and I need you to trust me, and that is why we are in here, is I don't know how else to get any of you to trust me without Thimble. Well, I think that the four of us can all feel the daggers out around the city, yes? Yes, quite so. And you want us to trust you,

and I'm your friend, and I want to trust you. So maybe we could start with the things you say, my brother held over your head. Mm-hmm. We have to start. I fought in the Shaper's War. I helped with my family, murder

God. I watched it happen with my own eyes. Okay, he's older than me. That wine is older than me. How old are we talking about? A few centuries, give or take? I was created during the Shaper's War. I woke up I woke up two days before the death of Rowan, the trickster goddess.

Two days before I was created to destroy her. I am not. I'm used to half-truths. It's what I do best. This is uncomfortable. What do you mean? What do you mean, created? You were born? I'll ask actually for Arcana checks from any of the three of you. I'm trying to think of how to do this

without having things get really messy. Have Arcana or religion? Natural one. Natural one. You got it. That's fair. Eight. 19.

19. On a 19 There are a couple other... You're an orc, so the pariah blades were the swords that were crafted by the Loi family, by Tisha's family, to destroy the god of war. And you know that there were other, the other sort of weapons of the morals of the shapers war. I think you had heard that the humans had actually made staves, that there were essentially spellcasters that were to destroy the god of the sun. there was a the elves only made one the elves made one arrow the last arrow to destroy their goddess but sitting here as belir invokes the name of the dead trickster god god of the halflings you realize on a 19 you've never heard what the weapons of the halflings were maybe that's a maybe that's a gap in your education but also did you hear something you might have heard somewhere that there was like a rumor that was one of them,

but you know, it's not, you suddenly realize you don't know that with certainty. Like you know, the sword that killed the god of war is enshrined in like a domed, beautiful glass exhibit right upstairs. That's not what happened with the weapons of the halflings. You don't actually know what those weapons even were. Born a little less than a century ago.

Not born. Made. Made. He belongs in a museum. I've been torn, looking back and forth between Hal and Boller and watching. I've been ready to see howl responds to this, but at this moment seeing this confession, I walk up to you. You are alive, yes? I mean, I suppose that depends on your definition of alive.

That gets very complicated. Are you a machine? No. I'm not. Are you somewhere in between? I'm a part. I am a character. I am a character. I am of the Panto.

A series of masks created to perform a very, very specific play in a play that was designed to murder a god. This mask could be worn by anyone. No, the mask can wear anyone. I can wear anyone. I love poetry and verse, but can we speak in prose for a moment here? This is me, unfortunately stuck to this.

I need this, but I'm not in here. This is just what I need. Does Buller's ear look the way it looked 48 hours ago? No. Well, you can't see it. It's underneath the hair. Okay. So if you put on a different mask,

Would you be a different person? Give me a perception check with advantage. I can answer that. It's not that good, actually. Not a good roll. Just a 12. Just a 12. Gotcha.

I really thought you were more clever than that. No. If I put on a different person, I'm still the same mask. Do you understand? All right, is this the way it's Wait, come here, come here. And I get very close to you, and I start to put my hand on your face. On the mask?

Yeah. Yes. And I run my hands, my finger across. I trace whatever the shape of this mask is, where there's your cheekbone. I'll trace along that, the jaw, the nose. Does it feel like flesh? Is this flesh? How would I know?

I know. And I remove my wig. You see this is not, on that 23 insight from before, and you see a chip out of the ear. And earlier tonight to revisit the time in Speak No Evil, that den of fiendish magic down in the fray, when our dear friend Aubras, Drime cast sleep on Boler.

Belair, you remember the unconsciousness and waking up as Auburus Drime looked at the ruin in the center of the mask, became enchanted and charmed, put the mask on, and there was Boler looking at his old body before the glass cleaver came into his hand. I pulled my own clothes off of my old body, chopped my old body up through most of it in the fire. I have a few things just to make sure.

Cleaned up, put my clothes back on, and came here for a nice shower. I need a moment without innuendo. You and I have spoken about literature for over 200 hours of her coffee in the neighborhood in the neighborhood around the rookery. attended performances where my daughter played music. I want to hear you say the words speak plainly and true.

Who or what are you? I am an object created to kill a god. I am a thing. I am a mask that can be worn. I'm a mask that wears other people. I am as old as the war itself. When I'm not worn, I sleep. Minutes after the death of the trickster,

I slept until the next war, where I was worn and used, and then I slept, and then I was worn and used, and I slept through battle, through battle after battle, and then one day, during the Falconer's Rebellion, I suddenly had the first thought that hadn't been put in my head when I was created.

I had realized that the play I was written for I was long over. I was a character who was a character His play had ended, and I had just been left there, waiting, just running through the motions, and I suddenly knew there must be more. And so I ran away. I saw an opportunity. I took the body that was holding me, and I left, and I found my way here. I knew, I know these things. I have seen all these things. I am. This was something I was good at. This was something I could do that is not what I was made for. And I went through the motions, and I didn't change. Really? I was just another character. I was... And then one day, I saw one of your plays.

And for the first time, theater was more. And... Oh my God, hell. Everything you write changes everything. Knowing you has made me bigger. Watching your talent has made me capable of wanting to be more. And I don't know how to express what it is

because you are the only friend I've ever had. But I will, I was ready to tell you. I was ready to tell you everything before your brother, and instead he poisoned it. And you're genuinely all I have beyond this. He's ruined my career. He's poisoned the only friendship that ever mattered to me,

and I will do anything Anything to make this work, to make this better, because this is the most important thing I've ever known. This theater is so important. You're so important. Your children are so important. None of that explains why he hated you. He didn't hate me.

He thought he was a thing. He had no compulsion about treating me You were useful to him. I was useful, and I wasn't real. How did he find out? I don't know. I have my suspicions. During, when I was woken for the Falconer's Rebellion,

I was used for some plans-deston missions. Nothing I thought about, didn't think about these things, and someone must have. Someone must have known. I have brothers and sisters. There are more masks, but they have not been found. For you, Hal, you remember the shattered pieces of a black ceramic mask in that coffin.

The coffin with, Murray, as you know, half-ling ancient, half-ling writing on it. Hal, you also remember your brother's, at times, juvenile sense of humor, where he loved to put something literally true hidden in a euphemism or something you couldn't do. And you remember the last line of his letter, the one where he said, if you have that letter there,

you can read that last line. It seemed like a euphemism, but you begin to realize, based on what Bolera has told you, it's not. If you took that mask off of him, I suspect you'd have him well in hand. He wasn't touched his wine the entire time and he drains it in one go. Upstairs, you hear a shuffling chime of someone calling for you,

one of the night curators or some docent up above Boulare is calling for you. This is too important. I'll be, wait, wait. Before you leave, I want to scan this mask. It's been around for a long time. Are there any dings? Is there any imperfections?

on it anywhere. Just that it was clearly handmade. Out of something, maybe bone clay, the eye sockets are un- there is nothing, they are voids, and there is the blinking that when Blair blinks, it is just those little blue lights somewhere, maybe four or five inches back

the blink, not the zero-text runes language and all. I would show you, but I doubt you would trust you put on, and I would show you except this body is... That's not what I'm looking for, but I'm looking for, and I try to find the closest thing to a Nick, and I'm, I'm going to cast mending on it. You cast mending on it. You cast mending. I'll say that Talasin, I'll allow you to determine what the effect of amending cast on your mask would be. Oh, interesting. I don't know. I haven't thought about that.

I think in that moment as you go to cast amending, the spell energy goes into something and you hear someone letting themselves into the archive, not the secret part, but someone is walking around in your archives right now. Just a second, I'll make this very quick. And I pull back. The intention is there.

As you step up, the three of you remaining here, Belair, you arrive up and you see one of the benefactors of the museum. This would be Temaday Wernst, is standing there with someone you haven't seen before. Temaday is an older man sort of smiling. You're up here in the art. You see some sort of dim windows out.

Give me a perception check if you'd be so kind. Um, and, uh... Shit. Uh-huh. Seven. Seven. Great. You see that Temaday is standing there. Um, uh, you can look out and sort of see that

you sort of... Rotund men, regal robes. He's standing there with another woman, um, who you see, uh, he goes, uh, critter, there. I wish to introduce you to. I know it's quite late hour, but she has come here actually from, and you see that woman who dressed resplendent white robes, middle-aged, very, you know, bejeweled woman, dark skin, braided hair wrapped around her in a crown. You see that she smiles and says, I'm the lady Amaria Cormoray. It is a pleasure to meet you. Curator Belair. Yes, hello. Hi. How may it? Good evening. I'm so sorry.

I've been in the middle of so many things. What can I do for you this evening? I'm sorry to bother you at this late hour, but I actually wished to ask you a question if I could about some of the artifacts contained in the lawyer wing. I've been selected by the Chamber of Lord's Advisory and we are sort of engaged in a review here of specifically the pariah blades,

those that have been recovered. Yes, of course. It is a bit late. Would it be possible to reschedule after I've had my beauty sleep, obviously? I certainly understand, and believe me, to drag me from the comfort of my own home at this late hour is certainly

certainly a bother. Well, I'd be happy to come back another time. Would tomorrow suit you were? Tomorrow would be absolutely amazing. Would you like to have a discussion about them before getting the tour, or would you just prefer the tour itself? The tour would be absolutely lovely. Temaday has been kind enough to show me around the sort of public exhibits,

but I understand that you've been engaged here for quite some time. Oh, yes, quite some time. I'm very proud of our collection. How long have you been working here for? Oh, years now. It's been since, my God, not quite a decade yet, but maybe eight years, I suppose. Yeah, that's about that.

Well, splendid. Well, you must get your beauty sleep. I'd be happy for my carriage to give you a ride. Where do you live? I live uptown a bit. I have my own carriage, but I also say, I'm actually putting away some work for the next hour or so that's dangerous, to say the least,

which is why, if you would excuse it, if you would excuse it, I would give you a tour right now if it wasn't for everything. Give me a persuasion check. Okay. That's, where'd it go? That's about eight. Fourteen.

You see, she says, oh, you have work that you're attending to. Well, don't mind me, I'm a fly on the wall. I don't be happy to, but the archival work is actually what I'm more interested in, frankly, than the... I mean, I could come here in the middle of the day for the general admission to see the exhibits. Of course. More broadly. All right, this is just vocal. All right.

I'm going to attempt to cast suggestion. Great. Are you disguising the casting of the spell? I can't do that, can I? No, I can't, can I? That's right. Hmm? I don't know if you can.

I mean, you can be a slight of hand. I mean, it is. Yeah. Oh, fuck. Shit. As you are doing that, you see that there's this tense moment as she stands there with you, and you see that Temaday, who is just sort of smiling, and you can tell in his face, he's like, this is going well.

You see, you see, He looks over and goes, oh, that's strange. And you see he looks down the river from the Arcanade through this window. He looks out and goes, oh, suppose they're turning in rather early. And you see he looks down, right down river from the Arkanade is the Palazzo da Vinos, in which you see Temade

noticing and seeing all of the lights are out in the entirety of the lights. Palazzo. It's a strange, dark smudge on the well-lit. These are, like, the riverside palazzo's are like the high station to have, like, this riverside palace on the cliff's edge overlooking the river. And it's just one. It's like seeing the Empire State Building blackout in the skyline of New York City. Is this, is this, what is, what is, is this triggering anything in me? Am I having any, a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. How many, that's a lot.

You see, also, if this moment, you see, you also look out and see that the lady Amaria looks and goes, she sees the same thing that Temaday has noticed and goes, well, that is strange. We're going to have to put this off right now. I'm so sorry I have an emergency. The thing downstairs is volatile and can hurt people,

so I'm wondering you need to leave. Come on. What is happening? Mm. How dare. Shit, fuck, bugger. This is what I'm good at. Eleven.

You see the Lady Amaria says, I did not mean to disturb. You're a busy expert, and you have your own work to attend to. Master Warnes, would you please? And you see she held out her hand, and Temerde says, oh, very well, well, can always be counted on for a nighttime tour of the museum on different circumstances.

Or the day, I am a benefactor, and they let me in. Because of that. And you see that he... I will owe you so much more after this. I promise. Special tour, behind the scenes. Yes, special, yes. And you see that he walks off into the Lady of Maria,

smiles, turns quickly to walk off with Temaday. What the fuck is that? I turn around full speed and run back. Getting downstairs, the three of you are encountered there, Boler, you approach them. We have a situation. Now, everyone. I thought we already had a situation.

No! I agree. All right. You rush back. As you do so, you guys get back up and you see lights out, Palazzo DeVinos, where Octus was headed. This is very bad. This is very bad. Is anybody around us?

We're alone. They had gone off somewhere else, yes? Wait, what's happening? Those two are gone. They're gone. Why do you all feel like you guys know something I don't? What's happening? Well, Octus was headed there. Oh, yeah, he's in danger.

Did you guys know he's in danger? He's headed there? He's in danger. I want to put my faith in you. I want to, for the moment, I'm going to just take a leap of faith. And the word faith reverberates in the back of all of your brains, and I cast aid.

And the three of you, not me, the three of you, an extra temporary five hit points for the moment. Temporary or max hit points up? Five. Each target's hit point max and current hit points increases five for the duration for eight hours. So max goes out. Max goes out.

Five hit points. Oh. With that, I was about to ask if you felt unsafe. But that tells me everything I need to know. I'm casting false life on myself. Okay. You also know how that Tisha was headed there. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, Promise was looking for Octus. I was trying to get to this. This was literally the whole impetus of us going out tonight. Did you guys already know this? Son of a bitch, no one tells me anything. Let's go. Great, where are you headed? To the four of you head off into the night

as fast as you can. To the Palazzo. You guys arrive some, you know, 20 or 30 minutes later. We don't come in banging pots and pans, though. Right. The place is, like, blacking out. Yeah. It's already done that.

Yes. You arrive. As you arrive, you arrive at the Plazzo de Venus. Do you want to give me any skill checks upon arriving there? I can see. I will just say immediately that I can see in complete dark. including magical darkness. So I am trying to get in front of everybody.

I'll immediately know what you said Tysha was here. Hey, hey. Yes, she went with the boy. All right, I'm gonna send a message to Tysha. Mm-hmm. I will have on my way time to detect magic rituals so that it's activated by the time we get here. Okay.

Oh, yeah, major armor. Mager. Detect magic. What do you, and you're casting what now? Message. Message. Okay, great. I stand behind the three of them.

Great. That's my skill. I'm right at your side. You have to take magic on? I have to take magic on. Give me investigation or archana checks. I will do an archa check. Ew!

I would like to use a luck point. Yeah. Oh, my God. 12. 19 for Arcana. 19. Natural one. I've had it. I'm very distracted.

Shit has gone. It's up today. Jesus. Yeah. Eight investigation. A lot. Eight investigation. You guys get, you have a 19 Arcana.

Yeah. You guys arrive at the plots of de Venus. The gates open. Beautiful garden. I send that message to Tysha. Once again, I get like a. No, nothing coming back. Nothing?

You walk into the main hall. It's absolutely deserted. No guard of any kind. No. Gates are not close. I hate this. I hate this so much. You don't like this either.

And above table there's no bodies. You have blood. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. You detected magic? You detected magic? I have it running. I'm kind of walking around and seeing if anything pings.

Well, this is fuckardly. Yeah. You can say that again. If they said anything, if you tried contacting them with your thing. I did. Tisha's not responding. Oh, bloody hell. Can we hear anything? It could just be because she's not in my range. How deep into this dark palace do you want to walk? I personally don't want to walk too deep.

As far as necessary. We're in the beginning of the entry hall. Yeah. The highest roll you got was a 19 Arcana, right? Yeah. Murray, it's so empty in here. There should be people here. There's always some staff at the Palazzo.

The Divino's house. It's a vassal house of House Royce. There's something there in the middle, very middle of the great hall on the floor. And 19 Arcana, there is something. But you'd have to walk in there to see it. How far away is it from us? I can go. Are there any torches or anything lining the walls?

All snuffed. All snuffed. All snuffed. I can see perfectly fine. I can't. Belair, you walk up, you can grab whatever it is and bring it to Murray for that 19 Arcana check if you'd like. Yeah, I'm going to, yeah.

I will accompany you because I don't. I'll stay right here. Because I want you to feel, I want you to be safe. Belair returns with something pulled up off the stone, Melted black wax. Melted black wax. Is there a wick? Is there a wick?

Is there a wick? Is it something that would you feel like it would be used in like a spellcasting component to ritual? Anything carved into it. On a 19 arcana, on a 19 arcana, this is powerful necromancy. Maybe it's, you realize it's a material component.

material component of a spell that was supposed to make this world not only coterminous, but this was supposed to shred violently the fabric between the world of Aramon and the realm of death beyond. Oh, Zanay? Yes. What do you suppose would happen if we mended this? I don't know if I would do that if I were you. I mean, I actually don't. I don't know if anything would happen. This is just a singular component,

likely used in a larger ritual where you would probably need other components, but I am getting some very intense necromantic energy from this. This is something that has a negrimantic. It's malicious. This is larger than us. Where's Octus? I'm going to walk past them further into.

Is there like stairs or doors or anything leading off of this large chamber? So I'm not leaving the chamber, but I am separating from them and just straining to hear anything. Do I hear anything? Give me perception. A natural 20.

Oh. On a natural 20, I need to ask this, Azune. You have mentioned mending that wax to see what it originally was. The only way, it's the only, this place is so picked clean that it is a source of true fear that it is this clean. The only clue you have is this little bit of melted wax. An amending might give you some insight into it,

but as you said, it was a powerful material component of something necromanic and foul. This is my detect magic is up. Is any active magic reverberating from it? No. Not like a spell, but you know. Just, yeah. It would be like reconstituting a knife when you have detect stabbing.

Correct. So a knife doesn't mean that someone gets stabbed, but fixing a knife is a great way for someone to... For some stabbing to happen. Oh, I'm detecting. Straight line from nothing to stab. Yeah. Like I said, look, normally these very complex rituals

and whatever they were doing here, kind of like looking around and looking to see if I can even, like, continue to sense anything. But it takes more than just a few candles in a little bit of magic flame, so I'm sure there's, just do it, is what I'm saying. Just do it. You want me to do it.

You both do, okay. I deeply agree. I looked to each of you, how far away is Hal from us? Hal's about 40 feet away from you. I move 10 feet towards Hell. Hell, come closer, please. Shh. You can move closer to Hal as well. I'll take the candle, so we're closer to each other.

And I will conjure that magic, and I will cast mending on that candle. Speaking that word, I don't know. Does Azzanay know the meaning of the words and the verbal component for mending? Some. It's like a translation of something that he's a few steps removed from. On a Nat 20 perception, you say a word that you just know it was handed down to you.

It's just as natural as anything else. You speak the word. On Nat 20 perception on the residual comprehend languages from earlier. You don't even know what language Azunay is speaking, but you know the exact meaning of the word he says. mending. But you can mend things that you don't even know what they are.

So what does that mean? How are you fixing it if you don't know what it was? Because you don't have to know. The word you say is remember. And the candle remembers what it was. It comes back. And on a Nat 20 perception now, you and you alone,

You hear a fox's footprints as something when that candle comes back, races past you out the door towards the gate, following people you need to find. So the fox just bolted past us through the chamber? Yes, with the candle reconstituted. We're moving. Come on, keep up. What you say, what just happened? Let's go.

Nobody tells me anything. Kyle, you race from the Palazzo and you are rushing through the streets. It is past the witching hour. It is deepest night in Dolmachiar. And you realize you know where you're running. You're running to the Loy family estate. I'm going to need Abria, Ashley, and Matt in here.

Yes. Woo! Holy shit. I'm an object. Yeah, I get it. I don't want to objectify. Yeah, I will revisit this. I am so excited to, yeah, I was like,

I just want to play a session over. How? Or do they want to? No, stay on this first fucking saw. With a little luck, sorry. I just don't. I know.

We're punished. I know. It's a ghost. It's a ghost. What a weird day. What a weird day. What a weird day. Yes.

Bro. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. So you rush through the nighttime streets of Dolmachyar, Belair, Hal, Murray, Azunei, and arrive in Dolmachar,

the Loy home in the neighborhood of Mirzash, across from Lugzash. Mirzash overlooks the cliff on the lower neighborhoods of the city. The Loys, I've been there forever. Abria, can you put? Please describe the Lois, who are not a noble house, but they are a house of heroes. It is the house of the Smiths that forged

the future of this world. Can you describe what the House of the Lois looks like? Yeah, it is a large, single-story estate that sort of spills over onto like a gentle, like a gentle decline on like, it's built into the side of a hill. And very specifically on the process, like it's just it's a very normal sort of like outdoor indoor like high arched stucco like sort of Spanish colonial vibe but all the trees on the property are either like golden ginko but like fiery red or like ironwood trees so that like the like really thick not that

like shreddy trunks of the tree, like they get very dull gray and very hard easily. So it's just two very specific kinds of trees that don't appear anywhere else in the city. It's beautiful garden with these red, the ginkgo trees, these trees that seem like vibrant and not only alive, but at the ready. There is a power of readiness here.

And as you move through this place, you see there are also throughout the gardens, these large boulders that stand almost like places of meditation. Many of them have like worn seats, smooth, up high for someone to go meditate or pray or be at peace within. And the boulders have veins of rich copper and iron and metals running through them. here in this place, you see, you know, the Loi family estate. A lot of the Loi's moved to Dolrungia away from here. But I think you see attending to this place, there's only like one or two.

And they're not even really, it's not, your family doesn't have, like, attendance. But it's like, oh, there's, like, a neighbor that you guys, like, have known for your whole lifetimes that you paid, like, that you, like, take care of some of their stuff and they come and, like, watch for you. You see, this old Orkish man, Rohor, has made this little, like, lantern.

He's come in. Erin Nessa is there. Valis, Julian. Tisha, where is Octus's body? There's no universe in which I put it down. You're just holding it. So I'm holding it, and I think at this point I'm out of spells lots. I've been pumping cure wounds into his corpse the entire time.

It's like a heart. It's CPR. His body, with those cure wounds, all of the vitality has drained from him, running through city streets with this body, viscera missing, but you've effectively mended. You've effectively mended him, not healed him.

The wound is still fully open on his midsection. And there's a smell of iron in the air from the blood. But the gashes from the ghouls, the tear of the garot that's healed. Lifeless. Aranesa stands nearby gazing on where are Valas and Julian here in the garden? I think Julian is keeping a vigilant watch in case any of these entities have followed. and is using that task to keep him from really facing the reality that's right over his shoulder.

Veilis is also keeping watch and watching Tasha just keep trying to bring back Octus. And just taking everybody in. Erinessa looks down at you, Tysha. Do you know what they did to him? Do you know what they did to him? I think this is the first time she realized she had

has no idea what happened and didn't even think to, didn't think to think about it. It was just the life of him. And I think in that moment, we'll start ritually casting to Tech Magic. No, I don't know. I, does. corpses in the room.

Threw me to the ground. I saw only in the mad dash of horror. They threw him on the table. One of those monsters sat a bit of wire around his neck, pulling him down. and his brother plunging a knife into him and then when I opened the door, the brother was holding a object up in his hand,

a stone, a carved stone with wings. My eyes immediately snapped to Veilis. Could that have been? It could have been. They put this stone. They, he had it in his hand and he was holding it while he killed your friend.

They were brothers. The Toconis. The Toconis of they've been silent for so long. They've been silent for so long. silent for so long. They'd been silent for so long. He was killed by his own brother. He had, um, I saw him.

I thought he had it in his hand. He didn't have the stone. When I saw him in the hallway, he was holding something else. Covered in blood. Did I, was I able to assess that it was his heart? It looked like, I mean, you were, you were in wolf form and I think, like, on an, on an instinctual level, you know that was a heart. Yeah.

It smelled like a heart. Heather and Dick. Etherinduck is a heart. The detect magic finishes. The most potent, divine necromancy comes radiating in waves. waves from something buried in this boy's chest. I don't mean to do it, but I am repulsed.

I push the body and start backing away until I hit a tree. What's wrong? There's something in him. He put something in him. What does that mean? What? Walking in from that side. Outside, you see coming in from the gate,

Hal, Belair, Azunay, and Murray walk with Rohor. You see Rohr looks up and says, it's Hal. I was shouting on the grounds, and once I found Rohor followed in, and I see you standing over this boy and like apparent, irrationally, in a flash, see Al-A-Gar, our son on the ground and blink and it's this young man that you've been traveling with.

And I run past him, and I'll catch you. She dissolves in your arms. He died and there's something in him, and I don't. Easy, easy. Easy. I couldn't save him. I couldn't stop it. Was his promise? Yes.

He killed. He killed. He killed Julian's father, too. Is there still a shadow on Julian? I don't want to walk over to Julian. You're different. There's something attached to you. Something wrong.

I'm so sorry. It's going to have to be done with. I'm going to walk over to the body. I'll go with you. Yeah, me too. You may not want to watch this. What are you going to do? You said there's something in him.

I repeat my question. I'm going to go looking for it. Why don't you all tell us what happened first? We don't know. Let's also remember the last time that one of us that one of us touch something of great arcane power. It did not go well. That's why I'm going first.

Before you touch anything, what did you feel? Necromancy. Divine. I'm going to take my mage hand first. And a little bit of mage hand, a little bit of like arcane detection. If the mage hand comes up, I'm going to manifest a glass scalpel in the mage hand for you. That's right of shit.

Yeah. That's cool. And I'm just gonna see if I can, like, sense what Tisha was talking about in there as well. There is something in there. I think I'd like you to make, actually, whoever has the higher score between the two of you as you collaborate on this,

may rule medicine with a help action from the other. I'm a two. I'm a plus one. Wow. This is not my vibe, but just be careful. And my voice hits the base of your skull again, and you take a bardic inspiration. I'm going to channel a guidance through you

Into him. How much part of inspiration? All right, and then. And a D4. And a D4. All right. The difficulty for this role is 30. Oh, okay.

Well, that ain't gonna happen. You could. Wait. Wait. Wait. I hear Hal's voice boom in a little bit of that reverberation hits. as he says, be careful.

And it pings just a little bit in the back of my ears. And you know when you hear that high pitch frequency and it kind of makes your, like the deep inside, like, what do they call it, cockles? My ear cockles. They buzz a little bit. I'm gonna use my portent, is what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, today it's a,

it's a hell yes. It's a hell, yes. Just for shits and giggles, can we roll the value of the guidance and the Bartick inspiration as well? Yeah. Just to. Yes.

In advance, in advance. We know what the roll. I'm in my 20. Yeah, go for it. No, you roll. Oh, Roof. Okay. So, Belair, go ahead and roll a D6 and a D4 for me. Okay, D6 and D4.

Now I'm panicking. Shut up. Motherfucker. Two ones. Roll two ones. Why? Why? Hey, guys.

I love it. I love it. Damn, incredible. The dice do tell a story. This is Duggerhardt. I credit. I just want to see what the D20s would have been as well, but for this. Both D20?

Both D20s. I just want to see if you rolled again if it would have rolled differently. Yeah. And one not 20 and a three. One not 20 and a three. Okay. Okay. Now, so with this portent that comes in.

Yeah. There are certain moments where there can be no room for error standing here in the garden of the Loy family where they first spoke to each other almost a hundred years long before the Shaper's War, where an orcish smith looked at his family and said, I can work wonders of steel and forge engines of war. Why can't I keep my family safe? What would it take to make something that could make us free? standing beside here. Azunay, in your head, remember, remember, remember, remember,

remember, remember. Like the strings of a great instrument being plucked. You watch Murray, reaching out with this mage hand. There's only one way this happens. to give you a chance. It goes wrong every time, except for right here, right now. Belair's hands.

Belair, you know with intimate detail how to handle dead bodies. You did it earlier today. Yeah. And Tysha, your hands are closed. are closed, you have to get this right. Tisha, in the garden of your family, Julian, farthest away from what now unfolds

as your shadow gets longer. Valis, reaching in, flesh is parted, and something where a heart should be is removed. This is an auspicious. this day, Marie, you see it. The Stone of Night Song, and as it is removed, flapping of wings, not only Taisha and Vail us, but all of you can hear us from a distant wood.

Nightingale, Nat 20. Stone is here, and Belair, it floats in that mage hand. That medicine check is successful. The perfect preservation of magical forces is unveiled in this moment. Boler and Murray, you make eye contact with each other. This group of people in this space, Murray, you are certain, was supposed to happen. not by the will of some god not by some plan it was supposed to happen if and only if you want this city to be saved turns out you do because several absolutely thunderous potent magical mistakes are not only prevented but

in this moment mended. You've fixed things. You weren't even aware had been broken. And Belair and Murray, as you look at each other, you realize you are very different people, but you've just done one of the most important magical acts that the city's ever seen, and this is where they made a sword that killed the gods.

Oh, God. I don't know. I don't know if we can. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how to process it. I don't know if we can. I, um, at least I take in for a flash as it's kind of levitating in this, in this mage hand.

In. Marie looks at Ballair. Ballard. What is this? Gravity. And for like a brief second and Marie kind of has like squintes the exhaustion in her eye

but she sees like a grid of space time and in this grid the rock weighs heavy and bends a little bit is it all washes over us. And then she sees it in almost for a brief second

takes the threads with her pin, her, oh my God, my brain, my quill fingernail. And you start to see the true calling of the dwarves as she starts to trace in almost like a script-like pattern,

a grid. And she sends it over in almost like a little hammock and holds it with her mage hand very delicately, this stone. Gravid. The inability of objects to come into contact. Oh.

You all hear a gasp, and not only from your as the ground shakes. You hear a gasp, you hear a gasp from Octus to Conis. Alex, if you come to the table, please. Is there a chair? Oh, we hear a chair.

Here, here, here. Here, here. Here you go. It's right behind you. It's right behind you. Um, Octus. Yes. Oh.

You wake up dead. What happened? I move from a fully in-house embrace to just tackle this too. Oh, you're dead! I am. Are you okay? Are you okay? You're still a hole in the chest?

You're right? Everything's open. Oh, your viscera are absolutely open. Your innards are fully exposed. And you see that they begin to wriggle and ride. Oh, God. Bobby's DJ. Get your hand out of my stomach before it closes.

Oh. And you see that leaping from your viscera, pincushion lands on your chest. Wow. He was inside. I have no idea. I followed him here. PIN.

I also am at the, at the Palazzo. Wow. Why are you here? Is that the most important? Thank you. What? Octus awoke, Belair, on your Nat 20 from Murray. You see, Murray, you understand your,

this is your first Nat 20 that you used your portent ability for. It is not destiny. It is not the calling of some God saying what will be. There is a grid. There are words. words of creation. There is a rhythm to the matter of life and death and much like throwing an enormous stone into a stream. Yes, the stream of time moves forward, but some events are so heavy with their gravity that they can send ripples backwards up the stream when the stone

falls into the water. And you are capable with the words of creation you have learned of sensing those events so important that they can be felt before they happen. You see this. You stand with Boler. Octus awakens as his own blood falls in a drop from the Stone of Night Song, and as it lands

in his viscera, it, and you see that that blood turns into a ribbon, and the ribbon, just like you did on the other side, stitches you closed. What an absolutely uncomfortable feeling. Why is you? Are you okay? I'm sorry. I wasn't there to stop it.

Are you all? I have no idea how to answer that question. What happened? I remember, I remember Etherand, and I remember wings. Octus, you remember more flashing before your eyes. You see Night's Song. song, words, celestials, black wings, white wings, carriages of gleaming white liquid as blood

moving out from the city. You see endless night storm. You see the Devalmar Pass, carriages of the Royce family. You see the Taconas moving, the face of not your father, but could it be his father? Something else. Spirits of the dead, armies of the Taconas, but the armies aren't marching in life.

They march in death. There is a war being fought in the underworld. Your family is waging it. You saw it all unfolding. You see an orkish warrior standing against the dead somewhere past that Falmar pass. You see the symbol of the barrow guard. In this moment, all of you, Octus, you standing with the visions you have seen, your soul is unraveled, but your body is alive or dead.

It's maybe not alive, but it's kicking. Tysha and Hal, you stand in your ancestral place, Belair and Murray. You've just worked some form of magic here. Azunay and Julian from either side of the Falconer's Rebellion, looking at something impossible that has just unfolded. And valis, stone taken from your order by Fiasi Fang has just brought someone from past the veil of death back to the waking world.

May I? I'm going to crouch down next to Octus. May I place my hand on your chest? Uh, sure. I just, I want to place my hand where the stone was, just to see. Just to see if I can feel any connection or something or just to feel salandry in some type of way.

Give me a religion role and if you put some of your lay-on hands into Great. The roll. Absolutely. I will allow you to roll with advantage. Okay. The stone is floating in a Murray-Mage hand. Mm-hmm. Loading that.

Yeah. Old cats grail. Oh, no. Oh, that's craddle. Okay. You said advantage? Mm-hmm. Okay.

Okay. 15. Poring your healing out. Fourteen. 14, pouring that healing out to Octus. You feel Octus, even though this doesn't feel good. Your body is cold. You're breathing because you're trying to catch your breath,

but you realize you realize you're never gonna catch it. you might as well just stop and you realize you don't actually have to breathe. It just feels so scary not to try. Okay, Alice, as you pour that healing in, hoping for an answer back, it's so far distant. You don't feel that warmth anymore. You look up, float. floating in the air.

It's the thing you traveled halfway across the world to get. It would be so easy to take it and head back. But you look at Octus. You've been alive for more than 800 years. You know the life that awaits you. you if you take that stone back north, sorrow, mourning, and prayer to a God whose voice you cannot hear. This is the youngest person here. And it's something you've never seen before. It's remarkable.

What is? You are. Do I feel a heartbeat? How could there be? He doesn't have one. Remarkable indeed. Indeed. As Julian raises his blade in the direction of Octus.

Ah. What do you know? About what specifically? I immediately step forward. To con us speak. I am opposed myself between him. You trust all so quickly. You trust all so quickly.

Okay. Okay. This one who walks from the realm without a heart once again amongst you, and you're so easy to call him a great gift from beyond. His family have always been nightmairs. And tonight, they have taken everything from me.

And I just slowly push the blade to where that chest is. Give me a wisdom saving through. I will use the dye he gave me. That's gonna be a 16. Saved. I just put my hand where the blade is. You'll push through. Everybody.

Just come down. Look. I'm so sorry about your family. I have no idea why my family was there. I haven't seen them in years. I've been traveling with Tysha. I tried to help the Aussie. I don't know what they were doing.

Did you see anything across De Veil? No. Did they... Did they reveal some good? great plan. What did they take from you and why? Are you still the bait in our midst? Is this miracle a way to gain more trust so we follow you even further into whatever their great plan is to guide us into what meat shredder will make more of whatever it is that fucking killed everything that matters to me? So you put your hand and you defend them. You call him a miracle. You laugh.

You sit there and you. You are so prideful with what you do here. I don't have an answer for you. I'm gonna do my best to hug you, but I do think it's like a grapple check. I move the blade to keep you from coming near me. I walk forward. I hold the plate out.

I walk into the plate. You see, as you walk into the blade and feel it, press within your skin. Aranesa steps forward, puts one hand on your chest, puts another, on the hilt, wrapping it around your hand, and separates the two of you. You see, she looks and says, Tonight, the house of Divinos, the house of Royce have fallen. Our allies turned against us. This city is no longer safe. But we are not without our own strengths. So understand me when I say this Yes, Julian. There is a fight waiting for you. And it's waiting for me too.

Shadows lengthen. They surround us all. The doors to Ferry have closed. Step by step, wound by wound. We are made less. I will not have it. They have counted on our acquiescence, our kindness, which they see as weakness. But no one in the wide world has counted on what we have all just seen here. If there are answers, we will find them. We will find them.

And you see that as she thuds her fist, into the boulder at her side, that the leaves, golds and moths and butterflies. I know you saw something on the other side. Please, Octus, however you can, tell us what you saw. Perhaps the fate of this city, our houses, and this world depends on it. And that is all for this episode. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Yeah. Um. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. We've done it.

No one like, my brain is trying to process so much. information. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's firing on all the cylinders over there. Your computer fan firing out. Yeah.

I'm not talking hot. It's like, I'm not charging until the temperature goes in. Right, right. Well, holy shit. We love you very, very much. Thank you for watching. This is the final episode of our overture. Tune in next week as we go back to see what's going on at the soldiers table.

What are those five up to? Oh, my God. Technically. Technically, technically, we probably said this in the announcements. Next week is going to be our dispatch one shot. Oh, yeah. On the 30th, and then a week after that, we check in with our soldiers. Checking with our soldiers to see what they're up to.

Hell yeah. Thank you so much for watching these wild episodes. First, first player character, dead. Don't worry, with a nap 20, very auspicious. That happened too. Also happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween.

Happy birthday, Alex. I assume your birthday's Halloween. Very, very on birthday. Don't let pastel Alex haunt you in your dreams. He can't hurt you in real life. You want to go fishing? And of course. The part that our theme was oops all Alex

and then this happens. And then he's no Alex. Alex, we love you very much. One Alex down on 10 more. Don't forget, is it Thursday yet? Yes. Thanks for listening to this episode of Critical Role. If you're enjoying this story,

consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice. We're always looking for new critters to share our adventures with, and your review may help a new batch of wayward souls find their way to Aramon, Exandria, and beyond. Or if you want to hear what the cast discussed after the episode, head to beacon.tv and check out our exclusive show Critical Roll Cooldown. You'll be right there at the table immediately after we say, is it Thursday yet, and experience our cast's post-show reactions. We'll see you next time.