Critical Role - The Fall of Thjazi Fang | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 1 Part 2

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

Part 2 A politically suspicious execution brings the friends, family, and enemies of noted war hero Thjazi Fang to the city of Dol-Makjar to celebrate a life well-adventured... New Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays. Learn more about Campaign 4 at https://critrole.com/campaign4/ 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. Welcome back to episode one, Campaign 4, Critical Role. Laura, give me a death-saving throw. What's a free intro? Class, class, you guys, clap.

Class, yes. 11, that's a success. Okay, incredible. Go ahead, okay, with a success. Thimble, you are a Pixie from Tierra Cruz through the Land of Ferry beyond this realm of place, beyond, you see a golden orchard swimming in your head.

There's so much the Ozzy. The Ozzie's counting on you. Roll another death saving throw. Oh, shit, okay. Oh my god. 17. 17. His face.

Don't tell Fimble, don't be scared. There's something on the wind. A falcon soaring. Give me another death saving throw. Oh, fuck. One. Okay, okay. Seeing Thimble and this... Is that two? That's two.

Two successes, two failures. Everybody, for the first time in this campaign, roll initiative. What you mean? Including you. You will roll with disadvantage. Actually, no. You roll straight. That's fine. I made it.

Natural 20 for a 22. Natural 20. 20. 20. What did we get here? 22. I am so cold. It's bad?

No, 22 is what my initiative was. Okay, but you got a 22 as well. I did. On that 20, you're going to go first. Okay, okay. 20, and what do we get? A five. I'm somewhere.

I'm very distracted as we come into this crime scene. On that natural one, you see it. You remember the day you were with him. He was holding you in the palm of his hand. I'm so sorry, but they closed them. And you see the doors to very closing. Death, the shadow of the underworld, racing against the light. That inner spark within you, connecting you to lands beyond vanishing.

That was the last day you felt it, the day you started aging, the day that fairy vanished from the world. The light is leaving. That's what it means to be a mortal. And on that one, your light begins to leave. Taylor, you are looking down. This was the Azis to say his partner, his partner in everything, in crime, adventure, war and heroism, Nimble and Theazi were thick as thieves,

and everywhere they traveled, they traveled side by side, and you watch as the light begins to leave her in this moment. It is your turn. I see the light dimming, and I look down, and I remember you so vividly, and yet you've changed. You seem different, and just instinctually, I grab onto something that's on my waist, and I reach out a single claw,

and I ever so gently just touch it to your breast and I will cast lay on hands. I'm sorry, cure wounds. Cure wounds. 2D8, plus my spell casting ability. Okay. There is, through the grate, Travis. Yes.

And I promise I'm not trying to be cool. Oh, my gosh. But there is a grate in the floor between you and where Thimble is. Do you want to give me either an athletics check or something else to try to move it, or in acrobatics to try to squeeze your hands. I would use athletics to rip the holy

motherfucker out of that grate and leave no chance of anything getting ripped to we know. Hell yes. If you so desire, even though you work, there's possible danger everywhere, I will let you make that role with advantage if you disregard your own physical well-being

and getting the grate out of there. All right. Amazing. 19 plus 4, 23. 23. You take just three points of bludgeoning damage, literally shoving your claws through the grate. The great is kind of not big enough to get your hands in there,

and you force them through skinning your knuckles on the way in, and all of you watch Teor just pull, some of the stone comes out with it, boom, as part of your movement, your object interaction to just get this thing out of there. Cast cure wounds for me, my friend. Hold, thimba, hold. And you'll see just a little bit of divine radiance

extend down his silvery gray forearm, down to the claw, into your chest, and you heal 13 points. Simple. The light is leaving until suddenly the sun is rising. It's warm again. You look up, but this is a dream that it will hurt to leave for the waking world. for the waking world holds no joy for you

as you regain consciousness. Easy little one. Dayor. Hi, thimble. What are you? And I look next to me and I see, I see the glyph. I have to get to the Aussie.

I have to get this on the Ozzy. Wait, wait, take it slow. You're with friends. Thimble. What are you doing here? It's done. It's done. What do you mean it's done?

What do you mean it's done? It's done. It didn't work. I'm sorry. And the disguise self melts. I'm sorry. It doesn't work. Yes.

I'm sorry. I don't know. what's going on here, but the Azis, he's gone. I'm so sorry. The Ozzy's gone. Yeah, and I hold onto your finger so I can get lifted up. My wing isn't working. Oh, it's okay.

Breathe. Just for you. The Ozzy's gone. The Ozzie, it's gone. Yes, he's easier. When, when, how long ago I look up? Do I see the sky as at nighttime? It's not.

No longer did. Oh. I didn't, I didn't even get to say goodbye. No. Thimble, Thimble. And I approached you as you're holding on to Taylor's hand. He knew. I spoke to him in my way, and he,

He told me to tell you. What? That you, you, you did so well. I did so proud. I did shit. The clip is here. I fucked it up. These people came in.

They attacked me. How did they even know? How do they even know? We don't know, but we're gonna find that out. We're gonna find that out. Azunay, as you look at the glyph on the ground beside Thimble, something's not adding up. Wait.

You. The glyph was there. The glyph was there. Wait, and I want to take a look at that glyph. Give me an archa check as you investigate it. Okay. You pick it up. This is an enormous wrinkle.

Something is wrong. I start to look at it, if I may. Can I guidance myself as I investigate that? I close my eyes and I know that this moment needs me to focus and I let my mind take me to a place of calm and I remember my mother's face. As I take a breath, that is a 22 arcana. You're looking.

The glyph is perfect. It's exactly this is what And you're thinking back, there was no way for you, this is the glyph, it's here, and there's no way that's possible. And so the question is on a 22, what did you scan? You got the, you got conjuration and illusion. And you see conjuration and illusion here, exactly. But the issue is you were reading an aura

because it had to stay hidden in his jacket. And you're going back and you're saying, I didn't actually get my eyes on what was in his jacket. Something is not adding up. On a 22, you know that this is accurate, that this is the thing that Thimbel was working on. This one, you are holding in your hand and seeing with your own eyes.

Yes. But something, this, it can't have gotten from Fiazzi back here. No, it's still on his body. You know, there's something still on his body, yeah. We need to go back. I'll pick up the glyph. This is the right one, this is what was supposed to be on him, but Thimble, somebody was on some, this.

You told me there was the correct glyph on his body. It was, it was, it registered. I did the scan, and it registered, it pinged, it pined conundration and illusion, and it was placed. I start looking around the room, I start moving my wings and I get a little bit off the ground and start looking around the room

to see if those men took anything else. You had something on the Ozzie, You were trying to save him. Yes, yes. As you begin looking around the room, it is chaos here. And I think your fairy senses scan out through this space.

They have pillaged everything. If that glit, you remember in your last moment of combat, masked figures barging into the room as you were finishing the glyph, waiting for the moment of transfer, where you could fly out through the city under cover of darkness, plant it in the Ozzie's coat, exactly where it was supposed to go.

The plan was set. It was you, Tisha, Octus. Tisha and Octus were going to be waiting to get him out of the city. Azunay was going to throw the scan so that it wouldn't register as there being magic. The wagon was going to be provided by Kazimir, an old member of the torn banner, and it was going to be put in place by Sid. Teor's younger brother was going to drive it into place. He was supposed to break the ruin, appear in the wagon, head out, get found by Tisha and Octus, makes way out of the city. Looking around, not only is this place completely ransacked, but you killed at least three of them when they came in, and there's no one to be found in here. You look and see the grate. If you had not, with your last effort,

grabbed the glyph and fallen into the grate, I think Tehr, looking at the thing you just tore out of the ground, you can see fingerprints on it residually from, like, in other words, she fell through, and was hidden away from where they could get her other, and then they ransacked the place and left. Looking around though, there's so, there are so many questions here,

and I think, give me investigation, if you'd like. Okay. God, I'm traumatized right now. Seven. Looking around, you have no, It all happened so fast. Looking at this chaos, you would need a miracle to be able to piece together

what happened here, which means it's really good news that a miracle walks in. Robbie, you want to come out? Oh, shit. I need a Kleenex. There's somewhere. Robbie! We have Kleenex back in the blue.

I didn't bring Kleenex. I don't go get one. Oh man. I got you. I got you. Go over. Um. Hi, guys.

What's up? Hi. Hell yeah. Um. To Octus. Octus. All of you, I have all of your passive perceptions in front of me.

A ghost appears in the doorway. Octus. You don't recognize his figure, but Thimble, Teor, and Azune all do. Robbie, you want to go ahead and describe your character for us? Yeah. You see a human man. Man.

Is he tall? Coward. He is so tall. He actually is an imposing figure. He's older. I say it is mid-40s or so. But it's tough to tell because he's lived a hard life, a weathered life from the very beginning. You see a man at the waning peak of his physical ability, but he was definitely there and very, very capable.

He's six, four, 220 pounds. He's carved out of the oak that he lives among. Cattigan Vail is, has a cowlun hood over his head and monochrome. Everything on him feels scavenged, but purposeful, high quality and cared for, but but wild and raw, and the things that he wears represents who he is on the inside as well.

He is a wild man in a place that he shouldn't be. And as he sort of appears in the doorway in this imposing figure, he stumbles just a little bit. That aura goes away, and as he stumbles, he leans against him. the door, and you can tell, A, he's been drinking. Yeah. Yeah.

And that takes away. It diminishes him and the sort of aura that he's putting out. But he recovers quickly and does his best to make a joke and says, I thought this was going to be a funeral, not a reunion. The sigil that Octus had started burning into the the air fizzles. I have that effect on many. And then through the open window,

a massive juvenile canine just floats through the air and lands right in the middle of the room immediately off to his quarter. And yeah. I fly up in the air. And it growls at everyone in the room. and slowly walks over to Kattegan and sits at him without any command. He stops growling and looks out at everyone.

I know that dog. What? Pin comes up on my shoulder and flows and goes and sniffs at the dog, this little fox made out of pieces of foxes. Kattigan's completely confused. I've seen this dog in the woods. Pinn wanders in the woods sometimes, and sometimes I look through his eyes and I see this dog.

Well, you would absolutely recognize him, because Wolf, the Wolf, not a dog, I'm not good at name in things, is armored himself, and it mirrors Katzen. and it mirrors Cattigan's armor. On his side is an empty quiver. He even wears a tattered cowl. And Cattigan knows what's going to happen next.

It's just going to tear this fox to pieces. And instead, Wolfrick can help me? Pin. Pin. Circle each other. And Wolfrick takes a submissive pose. And Pinn just kind of jumps on him in place. And Cattigan goes, well, would you let me get that?

Hey, you've been making friends out there without me. That's why Pinn wanted to wear the scarf. I stepped forward recognizing someone I haven't seen in 10, 15 years. It's hard to know what. Cat. It's good to see you. You're a good old man. What are you doing?

Did you know? He rubs some of the alcohol out of his eyes. The Aussie's pixie. Thimble. Yeah, right around thimble, thimble. What's going on here? How are you here? Oh, fuck, fuck, and he pushes Teor out of the way.

He goes, you, I remember you, the boy, the boy. Look at that homeboy, you got your... What are you doing here? Hmm? Oh, I'm following you. Yeah. You're easy to follow. Noisy, loud, clumsy. I'm half drunk, and you fox are easy. Listen, we need to leave. This is a crime scene, and it's possible that people are going to come here and find us here. Were you here? Were you at the execution?

Yeah. Yams. And, um, Katagan's mind sort of drifts off to the execution. execution, standing cloaked and alone in a crowded space, and he's fully in his right mind at this point. After what he'd seen in the rural area surrounding what was happening in the Crofter's Village, he needed to come into town for a drink, which he rarely comes into the city, very rarely. And whispers on the wind said a familiar name was in trouble. And, As he watched the execution unfold, in his mind's eye, he sort of painted a picture of what could happen. And the thing about Cadigan is, like, he's unnerving to be around because there's no clue what's going to happen.

You could get a drink, a handshake, a handful of coin, or a headbutt. You never know. And in his mind's eye, he sees this scenario where he jumps up on stage and slices down a good. guard and freeze the Ozzy and runs off but catches arrows in the back because there's no way he could do this. And he knows he would die doing it. But it sounds like fun. So he's fantasizing. He's imagining. And as he imagines, the grip is tighter on his club. And you feel this sort of feral fight-or-flight energy. And we'll forget his side nudges his hand. And his grip Let's go.

And as he comes out of this fantasy and scans the area, he sees Teor in the distance, watching. And he sees you because you're part of it. And he follows them to the funeral, watches them go inside, and almost thinks about joining.

And then he hears the cacophony of voices, that part in a wake where, where the quiet turns to reverie as people start to become comfortable and celebrates life, and he decides not to go. And in that moment, as he's turning to walk out, all of you step out of the funeral. So he decides to follow,

and this is where he finds himself. Not sure why he's here. Looking around at this place, even as Azunay begins to discuss the urgency of your situation, how bad this is here. I think it's so second nature that it's almost effortless. As Cattigan is surveying the space, go ahead and give me any skill checks you want about what would occur to you in surveying this space.

You, I mean, yeah. Hold on. Sure, sure. I stumble over and I look at what anybody else would seem like chaos. But I see the footprints, and I see the handprints, and I see the action unfold in the remnants of what happened. And I just subtly cast clue to myself. I fly up and I land on Octus' shoulder while he's doing this. And then as I cast clue, all of the...

the footprints and fingerprints within a 30-foot radius come to life in my eyes, and they all change different colors, and every single one of those footprints and fingerprints and everything from that battle comes to life, and I see it unfold before me as real as it were happening in this moment, and I get this image of what unfolded. This spell fucking rules. Doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Mm-hmm. It doesn't do damage, no one ever uses it.

Pretty sweet. I'll see you, I'll see you still. Cattigan. You see, you know, Wolfrick that sort of scent informs everything sound, and you can even play these, like, visible footprints and fingerprints. You can almost arrange them in time.

There's a rhythm to them. There's a dance. As you do so, you will get all the information here that you need, but also feel free to give me a survival. Allow this both to do it with advantage. Go ahead and give me survival with advantage or investigation with advantage. Survival investigation, sure. Oh, that's cocked. I'll take the good one. Bad. Okay.

16. 16, hell yeah. As you begin searching, looking throughout this space here, you watch the fingerprints unfold. And that 16 survival, the tracks coming in. Probably about seven people came in here.

Okay, fucking trouble. Three died. And looking at the fight that broke out here, they came in, they came in masked, and they came in knowing that there was gonna be a fight. They were not caught off guard. They knew that a fight was waiting for them inside. The dead bodies, three of them got dragged out of here.

In being dragged out, you find some crow feathers. You smell them. There's pine resin, alcohol, a thick sheen of tobacco smoke. These were worn as part of clothing handled. your mind immediately goes to the Crow Keepers, which you know is one of the oldest thieves guilds in Dolmachyar. And looking at how these guys fought,

these guys fought like murderers, not soldiers. Meaning that once they found Thimble inside, they didn't know what to do. Like the reason that three of them, they brought overwhelming numbers, thinking that they were gonna get the drop on somebody, they absolutely did not. And therefore, the fighting was,

sloppy but just overwhelming. Moreover, only about just judging by like the boots here. There's something that's troubling to you. There's like a six of the sets of boots are old, tattered. One set is fine, fine. and you see fingerprints over a mantel piece where there is shattered glass and see the residue of someone drawing runes

against the mantle. You detect the presence of sorcery. There is a, someone broke a glass encasement here to take something. And it looks like everything of mat, like scanning the room, everything of magical import other than this glyph, gone. Thank so much.

Do I know what was in that glass case? You do. You see, as Cadigan points it out to you, the object that you retrieved on your last big adventure with Fiazzi of several, like a month or two ago, you got back from it. from it. The song.

The Night Song, right? The Stone of Night Song. The Stone of Night Song. What is that? Yeah, I don't know magic. What is that? It's a fucking black stone with a crow. Crows.

Yeah, yes, the crows. It's super magical. I don't know. Why? Do I know anything about this? Give me Arcana. Okay. Can I as well? Yeah, yeah, go for it. 13.

13. 13. 21. 21. 21. On a 21, this, on 19, also if you have religion, you can give me religion, it'll be a lower D.C. Yeah. No.

No. On a 21 archa. That guy left. Huh? I was like, I do. It's better if I saw Khana. 21, Stone of Night Song. Yeah, there is a reference to that in the Penthevrol.

Back at the school, there is, the Stone of Night Song is referenced as some relic. It came up in something about the Shaper's War. It was used by, if you're not mistaken, it was an Elven artifact. Right. Yeah. Used by the Elves in the Shaper's War.

I don't remember what it does. I just remember reading about it. Dimble, I'm sorry. You were with Yazi when you collected this item? Yeah. You have been... What have you been doing? How long ago was he taken?

A couple weeks ago? Yeah, two weeks ago. I don't know, we got this. A few months back. I did this. Did this, was it connected? Did they just happen to come in at the same time? There's no way they would have even known

about the hideout. Something betrayed us. Yes, I think so. Yeah. Can I see that stone? Well, no, they took it. Right. You want to draw it for you?

If they, yes, actually, that would be very helpful. Can I find a scrap piece of paper? Yeah. All right, I'll pick up the pencil and like, Slowly walk all around. It's a spherical stone that is a sort of like perpendicular embrace of wings of some kind of like, you know, could have been a crow,

but also I think you'd heard, the Aussie referred to it as a nightingale. A nightingale, it's a bird. That looks like it's embracing itself in its wings to create a sphere and it's a carved stone. I'm like kind of taking a mental image of that. You can take the piece of paper, I drew it for you. Well, thank you.

I'll take that. I know someone actually who could help us. Kat, I'm... We are all sorry to see you again after such a long time under these circumstances, but... I thought you were going to say, under these circumstances. I thought she was going to say, I'm sorry to see you. Never. I don't know if I'm happy to see you or not.

if I'm happy to see you or not. Octus, this is Kattegan. He ditched us after a battle. So no? This is Tina Taylor. Yes, he has to be better there. Yeah. The cat is a fierce warrior and a good man.

Oh, well, one of those two. Okay. Great. Did you come here at Kattegan for just by happenstance or did you hear it? I'm sorry, I wasn't following completely. You knew the execution? What did you say?

Did you know about it? About Tiazzi, did you know that he was. Whispers on the Winning all that, I heard about it. Yeah. I was finishing out a contract. We're very highly sought after bounty hunter and warrior of the people, if you will. And at that, Warfurt just goes and just sneezes.

You don't worry about him. But yeah, there's, well, you know Pine Bow. No, you don't. You don't fucking know Pine Bow, do you? You wouldn't, would you? I don't know if I would. Yes, city folk, city folk. It's all right.

Pine Bow, it's a little agricultural community crafters, they make all sorts of things. Where's his body? Huh? It's a house. Oh. Can we go? Yes, we can.

Let's go. The letter. Can I look around? Is the letter still here? Give me an investigation check with advantage. I'm sorry to my dice. 13. With advantage?

With advantage. Pick wisely, you only have a couple. I'm gonna choose it. Tiny weeny one. As always. My tiniest little fairy dice. Oh my God. I can't read it.

No. Shit. Yes, correct. I really can't read it. Three. Fuck. Fuck. 13?

Yeah. 13. Taking a moment, I was sitting at 13, it takes some time, but you know you can't leave without it. So with some help, there is something of Fiazis that you absolutely cannot leave here without. And you end up finding a letter with a single name on it. Baller. Finally, you find it. And as we see the name Boleur on this letter,

we must return to the holder of the name, which means returning to the Fang family home. Thank you for your time at the table. And I love our funeral goers to come on back. I did that too earlier. It's fine. Smash it. Break everything.

We're in this place. Ooh. We're coming. We're coming. Points, points, points. Yep, yep, yep. Points, points. Table swap.

Table swap. Table swap. I'll just leave that. I'll just leave that. Yeah. Get over. What? I didn't know.

People were going to go by you. Jesus. No one wants to sit by you? Damn, I'll sit by you. My ass. Nah, I'm here. But wait a minute. But hold on, but wait a minute.

Who you want? Well, because. We have everyone at the funeral, but as I said, the name, we should have its holder. Talas and Jaffe, would you come out and join us, please? Yeah! Sit on our side. Hi. So here.

I think this guy here. I'm going to spill my drink. That's okay. There's how many things. Yeah. Oh, you can run. Back. Wow, beautiful.

It's crazy. Lovely. That was great. Incredible. Um, walking up the cobblestone street to the top of the rookery, we see the holder of this name on this letter in the wreckage of the Ozzy's hiding spot.

However, unlike the chaos that unfolds in that room, I think a rather dashing figure now approaches the home. Talism, would you please describe your character for us as he approaches? Well, Belair currently is holding his cloak in his hand, which normally he will wear to kind of keep a low profile, but considering that he knows exactly where he's going and is prepared to be a bit of a spectacle,

is showing off. He wears a very fine set of clothing. It's not very rich, but it certainly has money and a bit of somewhere between ostentatious taste and trying to blend in, but really not wanting to. He wears black leather and suede, tied over an underlayer of deep red crimson. He is covered head to toe.

from gloves all the way up to a high neck. He has very long, curly, dark red hair. And the most notable thing about Belair is that he wears a mask. And this mask is a gray clay with dark gray, almost black lips, and very, very large, large, empty pools of blackness

where each eye should be with a cut to indicate possibly tears that run down the face. Deep within these black pools, you can see tiny blue reflected lights, almost like a cat hiding in a shadow at night. And that's what blinks instead of the mask. Deep. deep within.

This would be even more disturbing as he approaches the door. The mask itself sighs and moves just like a real face. sighing at the door, you are about to walk in to the home of a friend and the funeral. Not of a friend. I don't know Theazi very well. My dealings with him are private

and often through an intermediary. But I did go did go to the execution. Thinking back there in the shadows, higher up in the seats at the back of the nobles viewing gallery. You yourself, not a noble, but one who deals in matters of nobility, welcome in the space

as afforded to nobles. You look down and see the Ozzie's final words. What were you feeling in those last moments before the rope went taught? I was there to see who was going to help him. He's far too clever to let this be the end of him. And it's better to see things in person because secondhand accounts

are even more unreliable than first ones. I needed to know who had that kind of power and who decided to exercise it. Sadly, my empty seat next to me for my companion who decided not to show. I'm not terribly surprised, but it would have been nice to have company. But I'm perfectly happy to sit and not have to make a face.

The Ozzie's final moment. An incredible show of force. The first execution in the history of the city of Dolmachar carried out exclusively under the authority of the Chamber of the Lord's Advisory. An auspicious day for the power of the sundered houses. Fuck. The memory phase.

And you approach the house of Howlandeele Fang. You enter within and see Tysha Loi of the Domachar Loys, absolutely shit-faced holding a demon's ear. She is mid-Druidic rant, but you can see that there are streaks of tears down her cheeks, and she looks up at you and doesn't wanna break the rant and you see her blink, and then you see a second set of eyelids,

It's blink, and her voice continues, but now it's on the other side of the room as I burn a wild shape to summon Hala, my wild companion, who continues the rights in my stead so I can turn and address you. Welcome. I would ask if you're all right, but this is even for you, impressive.

It's been a while. I'm sorry for showing up like this, but I assumed you would need help. And I'm more than happy to distract some of the more inappropriate people who, you look very familiar. Hi, I'm tyranny. Tyranny, tyranny.

You look so familiar, I just can't put it on my face on it. I mean, name my finger on your face. I can't put my finger on your face. I really wouldn't. You came to the gala six months ago. The party. You did at the museum, do you remember?

That was my first and only party. I don't remember much of it. We are well aware because you did, in fact, managed to elude security for nearly 15 minutes before we found you, having thrown up into one of the only three remaining urns of the eyes of Kalloon. Sorry.

It's all right. Now we use it as a teaching exercise and the cleaning of antiquities. Oh, that's great, so I helped. I suppose you could see it like that. I have, hold on, you're, I have a thing for you. You do. A box. Did I give it to Octus?

Oktis is here. Where did, where is my? As you look around, I think Wick and How, you guys descend the staircase from on a door. how you can see that the fullness of the gathering is here now. Like there are a lot of, you see some of the Ozzy's more criminal associates here. There are some like archinists and occultists in the space.

A lot of neighborhood people, a lot of family friends. But the house is full and people are coming up to the table as Taisha's deer, Hala, is standing with its nose sort of down towards the top of the Ozzie's head as he has laid out on the table. His arms crossed. You see a bunch of family friends are coming and putting, like, you know, brass rings and adornments on his fingers and laying brooches or necklaces across his chest. So he's sort of being, like, gathered up with small treasures and trinkets here on his viewing. Hallandiel, where is my son? I have to give the box. Oh, dear. You're asking you about how? No, no.

The, Octus. Sorry, where is Octus? I've been upstairs for a little bit. I don't know. Is he here? I say as I pet your deer by my brother's body. You see walking in through the door a beautiful merchant woman who looks about in her

like early 40s, a gorgeous gown made of like rich, important and a young half-work daughter with her. This is a human woman who's walking in with her half-work daughter. She looks up at you, this is your daughter, Hero, looks up and goes, Hi, Dad. Hey, dear. She runs around and gives you a hug.

Elity looks over and says, Tisha, hello. Hi. I'm trying to lock in so much. Do you want to use the Druidcraft cantrip to instantly soberize yourself? Yes, please. We're so good. It's just a bump.

It is. She walks up to you. Hi. Elity goes, Tisha, hello. Hi, how are you? Oh, awful. Yeah.

I'm so sorry. Were you there today? Yeah. How's a hero? She looks over. It gives you a big hug. Oh. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry. Thank you. How are you doing? It's your hero. You see, she goes, well, any report from my own life would be improperly positive for the events

that we now face together. Business as well and life as well and let us say no more of it than that. and kiss her on the forehead. She puts her forehead against your face as well. You see she looks and says, Oh, Master Lothalia, it's a pleasure to see you. I believe I saw you elsewhere in the viewing gallery.

It's good to see you as well, despite the circumstances. And of course, I am, as always, at your service. Oh, there. Thank you for being here. And neither I nor my family blinks at this mask, which to a stranger might set somebody back a pace or two, but not a wink at it. I'm here for whatever you need,

including hopefully distracting some of the more difficult elements. This stays for you at this point. We're feeling it out. We're all feeling it out. Thank you for coming. Of course. I think, Sam, you're holding the cemetery. I don't have a good time to give it to him,

but I guess now is a good time. You can absolutely stand here. You see that a, there is a beast folk warrior looking over who's speaking to this Orkish woman Loza. You see, it looks over this, he's got a massive boar's head, brawny, body, big stomach. He looks over, as you're holding the cemetery, he looks over and he goes,

Oh, the Aussie's sword, nice. Right, right, right, of course. Tyranny, Tyranny. Hey, hey, are you still in trouble? No, I mean, yes, a little bit. Okay. That's beside the point. I have something to tell you.

Have you been drinking? Yeah, I know, I know. Tyranny. Ember versus 151 Cloud, not the spark with poison. I don't remember, but. But you did cloud the spark of boys. Yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay, listen. Everybody hears, everyone here is drinking,

and so I kind of feel like because people don't really want you here. Tyranny, I'm gonna cast thaumaturgy and yell three times my normal volume. Tyranny! Be still. Yes, your radiance. I'm gonna read some hints. You can go in the corner and start reading hymns.

I, uh, through all, through that like bubbling up bickering, Hal has just been sort of like looking through it at Belair and thinking about his brother's words until that voice shatters the room, and I went back. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry. I hadn't found a good time to present this to you,

but on behalf of the Hail of our family, please accept this, your brother's blade. Oh. Oh my. Well, thank you, Wick. That is a kindness. I, I... As the sword crosses sort of the

mediacruces of your home, it passes like over the doorway, or like the door is on the other side of the room, as the sword exchanges hands, a figure enters the door that knows that sword quite well. Matthew Mercer! Do you want to come join us?

Oh! Yeah! I thought we got rid of Matt. You could only hope. Lean come. Yeah, slide. Yeah, you're going to execute one more. Yep, yep.

Thank you. Aha. Hi, Bat! Hello, everybody. Hi, man. Let's go. Wait, what was his vibe coming in? We're about to find out,

because we're about to find out what his vibe was immediately prior to coming in. A gleaming green and golden carriage baroque and wrought all throughout, stylized and gilded, born forward by a team of four snow-white horses glides up the street. Carriage of the sundered house

of Royce seated in the back a grieving widow in years only of some 40 odd and her gorgeous gleaming green gown bedecked with jewels tears streaming down her face as she stares ahead shattered She holds in her hand a wedding ring. One she has not worn on her hand in many years, but has never let stray beyond her person. To her left, one of her oldest childhood friends. Matt, would you please describe your character? Yes.

You see a human man just about to crest into his 30s, a lanky, compact build, sealed within a reinforced leather military uniform of House de Vinos, the Vassel House 2, the centered House of Royce. In dark purples and gray with red trim, you see across the right shoulder

an intricate silver metal paldron and the other shoulder itself hidden within a dark green short cape, with intricate designs of vine and flower kind of sewn through it, himself, a very stern, kind of stoic look as he just kind of stares into the opposite side of the carriage, his long, heavily curly black hair kind of tumbling past his shoulders, his other hand kind of resting on his knee while his sheathed rapier sits on his left hip as he just kind of rides in the carriage. Staring forward,

Aranesa is falling apart beside you. It's hard to tell in this moment compared to someone openly grieving how Julian is doing. We move back to the gallery viewing the execution, looking down, you sit next to an empty seat.

You're not sure back in the carriage whether Aranesa saw Fiazzi's final moments or not. Her seat was empty beside you, though you knew that she was not far away. So with that amount of privacy, what was Sir Julian Davino's thinking as he watched the final moments of the Ozzy Fang? He sits, arms crossed in his chair, looking down from his elevated, noble box view of this execution. His hair tumbled past one half of his face. And the faintest little grin peeks at the corner of his mouth.

And that's all. As the body dangles, nobles around you rise, and you see a hand slaps on your back from a noble of a... a house that fought under, you think, the hail of ours. It's an older gentleman who sort of slaps you, maybe from the Maltaire or the Egerion family, he just slaps you on the shoulder and goes,

they should have like you do the honors, eh? Yeah, unfortunately, such honors are not given to those who deserve it, my friend, but there is further glory to have regardless, yes? Well, for the hero of the Battle of Marley and Falls. Arlene Falls, the man who brought the Yossie Fang to heal. You'd think that they'd let you. It's in honor, Julian.

Jacques, Jacques Maltaire, it's pleasure. Jacques, and he takes his hand and kind of holds it and just holds it steady as he makes his eye contact directly. It has been quite some time, and with time, some things are forgotten. So while the honor is not mine, I appreciate you acknowledging such a history walk of grace. Having no idea what to make of this interaction,

Jacques Montserra says, good on you. And walks as you look and you see as you come out of reverie, you are approaching this place. Aranesa has started to look out the window. These homes are so lovely. They're not wrong. They are, um, he kind of just trails off for a second

and gets lost those homes off for a second before shaking free of it. My lady, um, and he reaches into, into his cloak, pulls it back. And you can see as the cloak kind of has turned aside, his left hand itself is fully kind of wrapped in an intricate metal gauntlet of dark silver itself,

like deeply filigreeed and multiple plates of it. It almost looks unbalanced compared to the rest of his thin frame. But as it kind of reveals it briefly, he peeks into his kind of inside of his coat, his leather, kind of tunic and pulls forth a nice little piece of white cloth and hands it over to the lady. She wipes her eyes with it. It was awful.

It was awful. My lady, I do not mean to speak out of turn here. I'm a bit taken aback in a back. You were no strangers to the history of violence. With Yazzie, whatever memories you cling to is not the man that you once loved. He wouldn't be there if he was, yes? I married a dashing hero from the very end of the War of Axe and Vine,

the adventurer rogue, a pixie by his side and magic in his eyes. Two years later, he took up the banner of rebellion, And my grandfather, my grandfather sided with the hale of ours and the Taconases. Perhaps these things are faded. Two points of light exist in constellation, though the night sky grows between them. What I can tell you is this. When you knocked my husband off his horse and brought him to justice, and he was given clemency, Julian,

he told me to run away with him. And I said no. I've loved that man every year since of the long years we have been apart. And when he died, I hid. Love doesn't go away so easily. It stays. Even if people turn their back and walk away

walk away, they leave some part of themself. That's what loving someone is. Be that as it may, he made his choice. And he chose his pride over your love. And he's paid for it now twice over. And we are here, and we can mourn. as you feel is necessary, but we also live because we have been smart.

And we will continue to live. I've got you. He puts his hand on hers and holds it. But I will also protect you from your own unnecessary emotional pain. if need be. People can really hurt themselves, Julian, trying to protect themselves from pain.

Mine is mine to feel, my friend. And she squeezes your hand. You see, you arrive. She looks and opens a small, pocket mirror, seeing that she is, you know, in grieving, partially disheveled herself and said, give me a moment in the carriage, if you would. Of course. Stepping forward, you enter the doorway.

This is a kindness. I don't know what to say. I know your intentions are in the right place. I am grateful for that. I will ask my family for more information if that will help settle this in any way. I'll tell you what, why don't we, for the time being, just let sleeping dogs lie. We can pick up the pieces and the

next couple of days. Certainly. You look over and see how stepping up next to you is theasi's old commander Loza Blade who walks up and says, Thiasi's sword. A kindness for you to bring that, my Lord Halevar. It was nothing, really.

Might I speak with you for a moment if that's all right? a moment if that's all right. Oh, yes. Pardon me, Hal. Of course. And Boler, it's so great to see you again. I'm so sorry, I do recognize you. What was your name again? Light priest, wikender, Pelivar.

We spoke at great length at a few of your different gala. I need a lot of people, but it is a pleasure. Hello. Oh. All right. You're very handsome. Thank you. You see that the boar man goes, you are.

You are. You are. That's a bit young. Okay, all right. He looks over, he says, are you in the goat? The goat. Are you in the goat? No, she's my aspirant.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. No, no. Never mind. Never mind. She is not too. I don't know. Am I hearing? Yes, you are.

I am choking on my drink right now. She is not to taste of the flesh. She is not too. Yeah, but ricochet. I'm kind of hitting on you via him. No, she's not to taste of the flesh. She is pure. Whoa, man.

Ever bright, ever right. This guy, we're at a funeral, relax. Ever right. Ever right. I can be so good for you. I just memorized to him. I just got put in my place in the basement is flooded.

Yeah. I pat you on the shoulder. I just want to give you a little like Druidcraft bump if you need it. And I have that? Yeah, sure. Yeah, please. Full guidance.

Is this sort of a religious thing? Or is this like actually an apparitional thing where you would just vanish in a puff of? No, I'm real. I'm here, I'm real. I threw up in your vase. Yeah, but I mean if you copulated, is that the word?

I think I'm going to feel like I'm going to eat. Please, we'll hide your ears from this disgusting talk. I don't think it's so... You see Loza Blade looks over to you and says, I just wished to speak with you if I could because... Right, I'm sorry. Are all fun this fun?

No. Pardon me, everyone. I don't know. I'll go over to Lowe. She looks over and just says, my companion, Teor and I have traveled here for theazi's funeral. And I'm retiring.

family lives further into Cahad near Dorrungia. But I wished to speak because with my retiring, my companion is a noble guardian and has worked for many noble houses and causes throughout Pasotar and many realms. I just wished to speak because I've not been in Dolmachiar in some time, but if you are looking for security

or a bodyguard of any kind, I know that, obviously, the house of Halevar is well equipped and manned, but he is loyal and shrewd and a fine warrior. You're talking about this tale? Yes, yes, yes, yes, my companion, the Nama, who... Yes, I think I saw him earlier. Well, I could speak to my uncle who does our security or my father. Well, he wouldn't, perhaps my grandmother.

You know what? I could make arrangements to hire such an individual myself. Splendid. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's your guy. Then I believe that the estate of the Hale of ours, The Via Aurora, yes? That's our estate in town, yes.

If I were to call on you there to inquire not doing business here at the ceremony, but perhaps tomorrow or sometime, I. It would be my honor to help you find a good place for your companion. I'm grateful, my Lord Halovar. Thank you. Thank you.

Julian, entering the home, you see. I just want to say. Yeah. The Jasmine, I always liked Lady Aranesa. So as the carriage approached, all of that Jasmine grew in and grew in lush, less flowers and more vines and that green, the same green of your, of her house. But the moment you step out of the carriage, I bid every bit of greenery, every plant to wither around your feet as you approach this home.

green for you. I barely crossed the threshold. Like with Aranesa taking a moment inside, I step barely in the door and then lean against it and just kind of observe the party as I wait for her. A moment later, Aranesa emerges and extends her elbow. I take it. As you enter, she looks and goes, hell. And moves forward and very gingerly, you know, like no one's coming up and bowing and curtsying. She just goes forward and awkwardly extends her arms for an embrace.

I'm caught off guard and return her hug. She gives you a hug and she looks and sees the body on the table. Oh no. I don't. Against hope. Maybe you would have been able to. Yeah.

I'm so sorry. I, and you see here she makes eye contact with Wick. Give me an insight check, Sam. Okay. Oh. God, the draw. Mm. And insights.

It's heinous. Just every 10 years. Seven. Seven. On a seven, you see her eyes go over to you, and Hall, you give me an insight check as well here. Well, as her eyes go over here, she says, my Lord Halevar, pleasure to see you.

Condolence is, House Halevar extends our deepest sympathies to all who loved, Fiasi. Of course. It is a kindness for the House of Halevar to pay. What a burden it must be to see justice served when you would wish for some other outcome? We did, we certainly did. We wished, not only wished,

we worked towards some other outcome. It was not- Did you? Yes. You want an insight check here? Yes, please. 23. Aranesa, your always technically

legally sister-in-law, even though she and Theazi did not see each other for many, many years, is looking at young Wakander with a barely concealed rage. Erinessa is way better than this. She, and what did you get? 22. 22. Aranesa is barely holding on it. The level of vulgarity in how open she is being is a danger to her house. She just looks and goes, you on a seven do not get that. No. She goes, she looks at you and just goes, it's, oh yeah, sorry, Bel-A. I want to gently just push the children back and get in front of them, because this is a lot.

She just looks and says, I can imagine how hard you were working. Yesterday, I arrived at the Via Aurora to speak with your mother and waited for some two or three hours. I assume that there must have been some work. Perhaps that was what garnered her time to that degree. I'm in tyranny, Zier.

Guidance, get him out of here. I'm certain that she was just doing some some of her charity works, perhaps, or, I throw up. Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm ever right, ever night. We have to leave. I feel so bad.

I feel, I'm so sorry, we gotta go. I'm so sorry, apologies Hal. I'm so sorry. I'm trying really hard to be good. Apologies to you. Let's go. She is not, she's trying. You see Oldgood comes up and gives you a tall thing of water

and puts a little like melting alchemical tablet in it. Yeah, the Yarra's will do that every time. Oh, God, I love you so much. He's all good. We will worship to clear this out of your system. We don't need any of that. I think we should go. Yes.

Yes, I think we should go. Erinis Alex and says, important charity works. Well, it is as ever an honor to be represented on the Chamber of the Lord's advisory, to think how far we've come since the Shaver that our houses are so aligned now. It is lovely, isn't it? And of course, you, I should,

I keep calling you my lord, but you are all priests now. Yes, I'm a light priest. Congratulations. You can, I mean, most people use your radiance with me, but you... I am going to cube again. Julian steps forward a little bit and puts his hand on Lady Ernest's showing.

My lady, my lady, this is, There is time for more conversation in a bit, but I believe you must sit down for a moment and have some rest. You have not had a moment yet with the body. Rest, no, I'm fascinated at the worship of, I think the light, yes? We're gonna go.

We're gonna leave. Thank you. And bid you all farewell and. And you guys, you guys head out. Okay. Bye, it was good to see you. Do you know what, I think I know him too. Should I say hi to him before we go?

Let me do a hymn to you. Julia, right? May the light guide your soul. I'm a wonderful day week. I mean I should say hi before. Take care. Wherever you end up forever, hope we're scoot. Erinessa grabs her arms so hard and goes,

they worship the light. Don't you understand? It's a divinity without the inconvenience of having a voice or perspective. I have missed you. so much, my lady, and I give you a big bow and then a huge hug and lift her up. She gives you a huge bow,

or she gives you a huge hug in return, looks around and says, I have not comported myself in a lady-like fashion. You're fine, we're mourning. Hell, may we approach your brother's body? Please. She walks up. Now there is a veritable trove.

you know, bracers and necklaces and candles and boxes. You see that there are, around his, like, legs, there are just piles and piles of these little wax paper, like street food snacks from Dolmachiar. There's, like, little sort of, like, fried, you know, almost like little doughy, sugary, fried things that are gathered around.

There are candied, like, nuts and fruits and things like that and all little candles burning everywhere. She steps up, looks at his face and goes. Oh, he's gone. She leans down

and kisses his cheek. Gives him a kiss on the lips. A tear falls from her eye across his cheek. He is gone. Those of us who don't believe that you get recycled into the light or whatever, he is returned. He is a part of the story and the song of this world. It's changed us all. Indeed.

A word, sir, if you will. It takes earnest by the hand. I'll return shortly. If you need anything, call out. Call out. Yes, Julian, thank you. I kneel down and turn to the children after all of this. Now, I hope we all just learned

that we have to be kind and forgive the idiocy of people at funerals and weddings. Do we understand? You see, Shottia says, we do, Mr. Bolair. Thank you so much for the kind lesson. You see Hero looks up at you

and says, why specifically funerals and weddings? I don't know. Honestly, because I suppose we have to pick two days to be forgiving instead of just being irritated at them all the time. Let's see. Hero goes, I can't tell if that's generous or stingy. And you see that... I fucking love your place. Oh, he's great. Julian and Tysha step away.

Erin Ness looks at you and says, I don't know what. what that Halevar prick told you, but I'll tell you this. I was kept waiting in the antechamber of the V-O-O-Rora for the better part of a day. How the door is to vary shut. I don't know how much longer my name will mean anything. Every passing day, The Taconas, the Halovar, seems stronger.

It seems like fewer messages arrive at the Golden Orchard. I don't know what the future means. Maybe I should have run away with Theasi all those years ago. I hand down by my side. I clasp hers and friendship and squeeze it lightly. Whole world's getting away from us. The world is changing. Speaking of the world changing,

someone who would know one or two things about that, I think arrives at the funeral. Marisha Ray, would you come in, please? Yay! Oh my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Oh, goodness gracious. I am so late.

Oh, the rain is coming down harder than a horse's stream out there. Oh, my goodness. Oh, hi. Tycho. Hi, how are you? Tasha, how are you? I couldn't like to.

Oh, shit, and Elie's here too. Yeah, oh my God, kids are in the corner. How are you? Yeah, I'm great. Oh, my goodness. Oh, I brought a cranberry roll in a bottle of Yarskrat. You see, Olga looks over you and says,

oh, shit. I brought a ton of cranberry rolls. So I brought, I thought I brought like a whole six pack of cranberry. Well, it's the thought that counts. My goodness, please, please stop your character bruns. All right, you see, walking in. She's a little disheveled.

from the rain, which is not, you know, normally her position. In fact, she just kind of does a little bit of wizard magic to get herself all back into her full shine and glory. You see a dwarf woman with kind of long Auburn hair spilling out from under a flat brim cap, like big, long, big hat. And then you see that she's wearing this, like, coat. It's like long duster jacket that doesn't have sleeves. The sleeves are bullshit.

And it looks like she walked into a rich person's house and saw someone's rug and went, that looks nice, and then made a jacket out of it. And then you see, she's not afraid of color. And even though it is a funeral, you know, she has to show off her proudest asset, which is her big old rack. And, you know, as she like,

As she likes to say, you know, lanners are lit, so are the tits. Let's go. So she loves a good party. She loves a good funeral. You know, there's just something about her, even though she's very, like, put together. Oh, and you can see she's got, like, a little bit of, like, a chin strap. It is, like, perfectly braided. And her nails are dead.

They are shining. And then you see on the tip of her, of her index fingers, she's got. what looks like a press on, but when you look a little bit closer, it's like the tip, like, of an ink pen. It's like a, it's like a quill. So, yeah, she's here, and, you know, she looks very put together, but also there's just something about her that's a little grimy, a little greasy.

I'm thankful to be 6'4. That is a good angle. Hey, girl, hey. Yeah, hey. Hi. Murray arrives, Murray Magnuson arrives as truly one of like, for theazi's funeral, this is one of the, this is like theazi's current crowd

that he's been running with. You arrive and look around Murray and immediately you see off in a corner, you see a lot of the magical underbelly. For a man who was just hanged for arcanism, there are a lot of arcanists here. Off in a corner, you see Tashmara Cobble Graves. catch your eye with her one purely white pinprick pupil eye,

and then an eye of a normal sort of hazel sclera. Looks over and he goes, Murray, good to see you. Good to see you. Off in a corner, you see a tiny gnome with a kind of crooked top hat who's got a bunch of bracelets looking around who looks over, this is Uncle Emerald. You see, he looks over and goes, and he goes, Hey, Murray.

Oh my goodness gracious. Condolences. Happy funeral. It was just so, so tragic. And she kind of starts digging into the cranberry rolls and she kind of picks out of her teeth and actually see her kind of picking it out. She's missing the front three, like right side of her teeth.

And if you look closer, they've been replaced with gemstones. So she's got one that's a little ruby, one that's just like a, kind of a clear white quartz and then another that's like a purple quartz. How she lost those teeth, who knows? walking over to you a sort of sallow-faced man who you see is just sort of like leather vest, tons of armpit hair pouring out. But you see like the vest, like no shirt under the vest,

but just sort of a tie, a sort of ruffle tie around like a bare neck. This is DeVrasi Gaunt. DeVrazzi, you dressed up. I did. I know that we are mourning the loss of a dear compatriot. I can see you put in the effort. Do you still need those skulls?

You know, I think we can table that conversation. Sorry, condolences. You know where to find me, yeah. We'll talk later. Okay. But I don't know where we're gonna, because he's gone, so I don't know where we're gonna find each other. You know I work at the Penteverell.

I'm allowed in. No, I just, you know what, you're just, and I just. Go upstairs. Do the skulls upstairs. Can we exchange the skulls upstairs? I can tell you where to find me if that's safe. Yeah, you know what, let's make a connect. Okay, I'll write it down.

It feels weird to be networking at a funeral. I know, but. But I think it's smart. Yeah, he's dead. Yes. So we have to, kind of. No, we should, we should. It's what he would have wanted.

He would have wanted us to. Look, this isn't my address. This is an address for someplace else that you can find me at on like Thursday. Okay, I'll be there. Don't stop until you show up. Okay, yeah, I tend to like to go have a glass of wine. This is one of the dive bars, the Faye.

Great. Miss Magnessen, you grace our family with your presents. Oh my goodness, you sweet, sweet thing. Are you all right? I just come up and I do the little, mm-hmm. I'm a dwarf. I'm a dwarf. You down here. I forget sometimes.

Five eleven. Five eleven. It's short for her Dwarf 511. Can I get you anything? Would you like a drink? I brought some yard, Graz. I know that it was his favorite. It was.

I need to put this blade somewhere. I'll be right back. Wait, wait, wait. You get her a drink. I have to kill this man first. While you're probably already headed. We'll say, as Murray has come in here blustering like a tornado,

and all those chaos has happened. Sir Julian has used this immediate opportunity to disengage from the tractor beam of intention you put upon him and has kind of pulled away from the rest and actually gone to have a moment with the corpse himself while everyone is kind of distracted, if I might. Yeah. What do you do is you approach the corpse of Theasi Fang?

Hand kind of rested on the hilt of my rapier on the side. I kind of stand there for a minute over. and just glance left and right to see if anyone is paying any close attention to this corner. Holla's still there. So you have a whole ass deer staring you. There's a companion of the wild here. But of mortal kind, you are alone.

I'm going to, where is the deer currently situated by the corpse? Deer's at the head and was given funeral rights. Right. Does it look like you're hesitating? It looks like I'm just kind of looking down and I'm quietly taken in the surroundings.

Then I think Hala will blank, stare at you so you know that this is connected to Tysha, and then turn and go find Hero, and it's just going to go hang out with Hero and leave you to this moment. Looks down upon the, the well-adorned and well-remembered and well-beloved body of Thiasi here in this warm hearth surrounded by the chattering voices of his family and his friends and all those whose lives he's touched. I can hear the gentle, occasional sobs and stutters

of my dear friend, Lady Arnessa, and just quietly look down upon him. The only shame I couldn't want you to die twice. And then I walk away. Belair, could you do me a favor and get our friend, Marie, I'll be right back. I'm just going to go deal with this.

I'm going to slip away real quick. I've got this blade belonging to my brother, and I'll return to my study upstairs pretty quickly, and I will just stop in front of my desk and look at it and look at the deed on the desk and lay the blade across the deed. The deed to the area of land in the city that I worked for years to see.

years to secure and only came in reach of within the last few weeks. And I rest this sword, what remains of my brother, come crashing through those years of work. Everything I ever wanted slashed with heartbreak. And I give myself 10 seconds to stare at it, and then return downstairs. Hello, Murray. It's lovely to see you. I don't think I've seen you since that last party where that demon girl threw up in a vase.

It has been a while. That was a romp, wasn't it? It was such a good time. When you're gonna throw another one of those? Oh, as soon as we can deal with some insurance issues, I've been assured that I can have to have to have. handled it again. I wish that was the only thing she did. She was quite a bit. Hmm. Ah, I didn't know you knew Fiazzi. I think everybody knew Thiasi. I mean, look at this room with some mixed company up in here. Honestly, I didn't.

Look, what is with all these rich people? Well, damn. Those I know. You see, as you say, what's up with all these rich people? I think Tysia, you're nearby with Aranesa. Aranesa turns to look over at you and says, hi, I'm a rich person. Oh, so am I. Ah, oh, wow.

You see Ernest, a cox and eyebrow, and it goes like, goes like, you, the, mm. Compared. Okay. Okay. Are we, is this some. I pour you. Drink this.

Great equalizer. Are y'all having like a dick waving contest over your bank account? Crude. But not inaccurate. I'm so sorry. No, it's all right. I have seen you

around, and I'm very sorry for your loss. I was, the Ozzie was a good friend of mine. You see that she smiles and says, that's wonderful. I've never been in a home like one of these in Dolmockyard where he was from. This is where he, how, this is where he grew up, right? This was your family's home?

I grew up here in this neighborhood. neighborhood, not in his house. Gotcha. The Ozzy lived with his father and mother, our father and his mother, on the edge of this neighborhood. Well, it's beautiful, and I'd love to, I'd love to see.

As you take a shot of that, she goes, what is this delightful thing called? Oh, yeah. It's best for sipping. No. He puts his hand out from open and goes, room open and goes, Aranesa, are you sure?

Oh, there you are. You want to go talk? As you go to- He takes it from her. I am now. You take the shot and head out. I just pour, immediately pour Aranesa another shot because that was weird.

Matt, I would love for you to make a, make a wisdom saving throw for me. Ooh, that is a solid six. We're back, baby. I would like, I would like. Didn't know the guys go high. I was like for Belair, Murray, Tysha, or how, anyone who wants to.

No one has, like, I think a detect magic up right now. But give me either Arcana or Call it like Arcana or nature or religion, dealer's choice. Go ahead and give me a roll. DC20 gets you a vibe, DC25 gets you pure information. All right, all right, all right. Can I give guidance to myself? Yeah, yeah.

Nat 20. Not 20. We're rolling hot tonight, baby. You know, there's a lot of RP going on, but these are some important roles. Pretty good, 23 on Arcana. 23 on Arcana. I have a plus six.

That's a 13. Great. Murray, I think on this Arcana check, you just notice as Tysha and Julian step outside, there is a bit of, you notice the cold iron nail kind of like glow, a little subtly orange for a second. That's for repelling demons and fairies. Jepa, Belair, on a Nat 20.

Religion and Arcana. Your pick. Your pick. 26, 26. Not 20. I'll give you two out of three. I'll give you two out of three. We'll make it fun.

Taylor's choice. The target, the effect, and the cause. You can get two out of three. Fuck. I hate you. I hate you, every fiber of my being. I'll take the target and the cause. The target and the cause.

The cause, there is an orcish custom. So all those candles, all those candles, everything around the Ozzy's body, the coins and everything, he is in a state of This is part of the old path. He's been adorned with treasures by his loved ones. He is under a protection. That protection has been,

something has been done to cross it. You don't have the effect. But something like a shadow follows Sir Julian Davinos out of this home. And you can see in a way that maybe only Belair can, a shadow walking out the door after Julian? Would anything like, devil's sight wouldn't help with this.

I'm trying to think if I have anything, anything I can do to us with this. On that nap 20, I think that you get a sense that like, again, you don't know the effect, but it's something small. This is like the kind of, the kind of magic that people tend to ignore a little bit of folklore, an old superstition,

a saw, an old wives tale. But you watch as something small and surreptitious is born into existence and begins to walk behind Sir Julian. And I think you know with more time, there are things back at the museum that maybe would be worth consulting after we just saw. Julian and Tysha step outside together. Tasha.

Why are you here? Because my friend is grieving. Why are you here? She's safe among friends. Because I myself have a storied history. with Piazzi, and I felt it was important for me to close that chapter in person. So you came here for one last clue. Call it what you wish.

I call it a desperate man's last bit of glory. You have no idea what those words mean. How's my son? Your son is actually quite an exemplary student, rising to be a fantastic shoulder, picks up things quickly, incredible intellect, good intuition, and has gotten quite a bit far, both with small and long blades, has quite a future ahead of him,

because I have been his teacher. It was the last bit of wisdom and patience left in me to keep him by your side. But this, you hear, with a little fish hook pulling at the corner of your lip, a grin. He leans against the wall, like goes into a relaxed state. His stately, nightly appearance just kind of melts a bit. It kind of leans against the wall.

Look. We have many reasons to dislike each other, many. You're a lying scoundrel, a rat who betrayed his father and his family for a last hope of glory. No. I... Watch a finger. We're not inside the house, are we? So on even ground here, if you want to start throwing these words away from me, you have to be willing to take it back.

All right. My family was thrown into the mud by my father, and I pulled us back up. Your, any kind of gestures back towards the Ozzy, your kin turned on all of those who helped lift him up. And it needed to be taught a lesson, and it just so happened that I was the one who had the courage to do so. And I know that can be hard for you to muster into your stomach after all these years. But what son is done, and now we live, and now we mourn. So you can throw your words all you like.

It does not change history. I don't hate you. As much as you may hate me, I'm not going to lie. You know I hate him. I know you hate him. And as much as I want to, I don't hate you. I pity you, because if it takes this level of betrayal of your kin to try to claw your way out of the bun,

and what good is it done? The door to fairy is still closed, and it's only the work of my people that gives you a snowflakes chance in hell of any real comeback. So you're gonna watch your fucking tone with me. And if one hair is hurt on my son's head, there will be nothing you or your lovely lady patron

can do to stop me ripping you limb from fucking limb. And I'll start with that pretty little glove of yours. Do you understand me? And at this, I think you can feel it, heat coming off like a shimmer off of the back of her, and she is trying very hard. not too wild shape right now. A pleasure is always, Tasha.

You're both suddenly aware that the temperature has dropped about 15 degrees in the last minute. It is night and the clouds have vanished in the silver light over the rookery. Casts everything in a strange translucence. I'm going to need perception checks from both Tysha and Julian in this moment.

He has guidance on him. Dad things come out at night. Now that's just the six. Matt, stop touching my dice. What did we got here? It's the least I can do for that shit you just threw up me. 14. 14.

Glorious 10. I am fully right now believing that this is your doing. I'm like, we're only going to be here a short time. This isn't me. The magpies aren't calling. Something ancient moves upon the face of this city. A figure is walking up the street. The lights are not.

are not on in the other houses. It walks alone, approaching this home. Ashley Johnson, you want to come out? Whoa! Yeah! I bet it's super chill. Probably. Probably.

Stop. Stop, Rob. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love you. You bring the night. the night.

Oh, I brought the night, I brought the night. It's key, though? No. It's really my. Hi. Hi, Ashley. Hi. Hi.

Would you do me the favor of describing your character as she approaches the top of the hill? Sure. You see an extremely tall woman. 511. Yes. Dressed in sort of deep obsidian, snug black leather chest armor and ropes and pale white lacing that goes all the way up the top to the top of her throat.

She pulls down a black hood and she wears a veil of mourning that looks to be chain mail that's draped over her elven ears. Cool. And the part of her face that we can see, you can see that there's gashes and scarring and burns, it almost looks like a scar of arcane magic. Wrapped around her waist a few times is a very, very long chain, and she holds the end of it, sort of laced between her fingers and dangling on the bottom of it, is a sensor with some smoke coming out of it.

She walks up and sees the two of them. As you approach covering on your face, you wear a veil of mourning, an article of religious, perhaps even ecclesiastical garb. And though you approach a funeral, The veil of mourning is not for the deceased that lies within. You behold a human warrior, an orkish druid

as you arrive at the top of the hill, the censor in your hands. You smell funereal incense, the stink of liquor. Last rites are being held within this place. You have arrived exactly where you were told to expect the event you now see unfolding. Do I recognize the, like, any... Do you have, like, religious paraphernalia on you?

Not that you can see. It is just, she's just wearing pure black, minus her white lacing, and there's not really any religious religious symbols on her whatsoever. Are you here to mourn the Aussie thing? I walk straight inside. You walk into the home, Hal, you turn and see an unfamiliar figure appear.

Good evening. Ty! Hello. Guests of the Ozzy Fang's funeral. I am Veilis of the sisters of Celandri, the fallen goddess of life, the Green Mother, the Shaper of the Elves. I would like an audience with the Executor,

of this man's things. I'm the Ozzy Fang's brother. If that is what you're looking for. That man is a thief, and he stole something that belongs to me. And I intend to get it back. I don't mean any trouble here. My apologies to everyone.

A brother. A lover. I just want what is mine. All right, we don't need to make a spectacle of my brother's passing. What is it that you are looking for that you think he has? It is something that he stole from me.

If you can show me his things, I will find it and be on my way. Perhaps you could just clarify. He has a lot of things. This funeral's awesome. It's a stone. Just a simple stone. I'm sorry.

I haven't even seen my brother in person before today. In a few weeks, I don't know of any stone. What kind of stone? I take a seat and cross. and cross my legs. I can wait until you're ready. Uh-huh. Ahrenessa looks around and says,

My lady, you have come here from the Mornvale, I am presuming. Yes. I have traveled very far for weeks to come here. to come here. It is my late husband that lies on that table. My condolences. Thank you. Normally I would take umbrage

at the word thief being bandied at my husband, but given that it seems to be used in a very literal context here, yes, he stole. I do believe you haven't seen him in many years. I think the man that's laying here is very different than what you thought of him. I don't know if an elf like yourself has experienced enough loss to know that the way you are speaking is incredibly rude and will not be tolerated. That's true.

I haven't experienced any loss in all of my years. Well, other than your god, 70 years ago. Anyway. Well, I think the mood is pretty much sunk. Do you want to tell us a little more about this thing that you're after? It is called the Stone of Night Song. Belair. That name rings a bell. Yes, it does.

Oh. Someone I know. Hello. How are you? Clearly not well. Phyllis, give me an insight check with advantage if you'd be so kind. Oh dear, okay. Where's my stuff?

It's the realist vibe. Okay. He's just open to every menu. I know. I was like, that's so fast. You said insight check? Okay. With advantage.

Really? No. With advantage, yeah. Okay. Okay. Those are normal sized dice. Okay, great. I know.

That's really good. That's 18 plus five. 23. Yes. 23. You look around and see a dead mortal on the table. This one died from hanging, but that was merely changing the date on a calendar that was always coming for him. Nearby is the Lady Aranesa muttering under her breath.

I've had just about enough people tell me that I don't know the man I married. You look over, see Belair in a corner as you say the Stone of Night Song. Seventy years ago, blink of an eye in your centuries of life, you watched the last God of Aramon die and have had to trudge for weeks through the stinking world they built in the wake of what they destroyed. You see here in this place, family, criminals, nobles, all threads of the same corrupted tapestry. But there's one person you don't see,

one being who you know knows what the Stone of Night's Song is. Because she was there. You wonder if any of these people are hiding her. And on that 23, you know that they will know of that person who traveled with Theazi. They cannot hide that. The cold iron nail above the door. This is a place that knows fairies well.

I just slowly start swinging my sensor. And just looking around. just looking around. Is that Pal Santo? It's real nice. Little bit. A little bit of this and that. You know, I actually agree with the lady Aranesa.

And I agree with you. It's been some times since he's, you know, knocked boots with the Aussie, as they say. However, some of us other love lives around here, we might be able to help you. But I would suggest you cool whatever vibe this is, calm down, and maybe we can talk like dignified individuals when we're not in the presence of grieving loved ones. Does that seem fair? I'm sorry.

And all the time that I have been here, I have forgotten what grieving is like. I will reattach my chain. Please continue with the festivities. Would you like a drink? All right. Let me get you a cranberry roll. I'll get you a cranberry roll.

We'll break bread over these shitty fucking cranberry rose, and then we'll be good, okay? Great. One moment. I'm going to walk over and sit next to you with a drink. What the fuck are you doing here? What do you think I'm doing here? Making an ass of yourself and ruining

anything you might hope to achieve. You let me into the city, Boler. I deliver two drinks of yard grass. You're speaking louder than you think you want. louder than you think you are, and I just sit next to them. As you sit down, Tysha, you see, off in a corner completely forgotten, you mentioned it earlier, but when you were drunk before you sobered yourself, there is that silver box that you

had mentioned before, the one that you had traveled with. As you see, Belair sits next to this Elven Wanderer. That is still yours here to have at this moment. In Vales, looking around, you see a couple of, like, fairy protections here. If you want to do any other checks to see, you remember who that companion was that traveled with Fiazzi to the Morn Vail.

However, for anyone else here in this moment, you see, Shadi looks over at this Elven traveler and goes, Dad, is everything okay? Are we safe here? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Hallandale, I'm sorry. I was freaking out.

Can you just come with me? I need a cool off for a second. And I wanna drag you upstairs so I can go, like, dig the silver box out of my effects. Okay. I look to Shadia and to Hero. Girls, could you just clear the dessert table? Maybe take stuff in the back.

Oh, yeah, Dad, you got it. We'll come find you in a few, all right? And Hala is trailing them, so we you've got just a little backup. There's also lots of armed warriors here. Yeah. You see down there some of the old torn banner. See there, again, there's this Tunk, who is the boar man. Looks out, it goes over and goes.

Ptum. How big was this stone if I see it all? write a report. It's small? Yeah. That's small, all right. I'll look out for a small rock. Would this ring any bells to Murray?

Give me an Arcona check. Archino, give me religion. I assume I know, but I'm happy to put another. Yeah, yeah. Let's go, Murray. That's a 25. 25. Five.

Oh. Oh. Twelve. The Stone of Night. Is this religion or religion? No, sorry. The Stone of Night Song was an artifact written by, sorry, was an artifact created by a celestial which was basically a celestial servant of Salandri, the shaper of the elves, the goddess of life and the woodland.

To her children, the elves, did she alone grant immortality, that they would not die of age or infirm, that they would live, lest accident or injury befell them. But for those elves that it did befall, she crafted a stone that their spirits would be brought

to peace beyond in the garden of the spirit kept for her. But in traveling, there was a round that they must pass, this being the realm of, one second. Lorne, Lord. Lorne, Lorne, Lorne.

Lord. Lord, Lord, Lord. That passing through the tenebrile reaches, that there would be a brief night before bright dawn. That brief night, you know, is not very brief. the underworld, the realm of the dead. The Stone of Night Song existed that elves and their immortal spirits

need not even touch those ghastly realms, but would be ferried by a spirit of song and nights swiftly through the darkness to bright dawn. The goddess of life so loved her elven children that even in catastrophe, the destruction of their bodies, would their immortal souls, never have to know hardship or pain. It must be dice, Jesus.

The Stone of Night Song, you believe, was created after the original guardian spirit, that immortal nightingale, a celestial that took the wings of nightingale, sort of like a night angel. The stone was created after that celestial's destruction. in the shape of a swarm.

I'm just gonna kind of look at Belair as I see his brain. Okay. So other than reminding me that no good deed goes unpunished, what would it take to get you to leave these people alone? They don't have what you're looking for, clearly. How do you know that? Because I know them. Because I know them, and they wouldn't be this contained

if they did. At best, if they do have it, they don't know what it is, they wouldn't be able to find it for you. Do you know where the little one is? Which one. Oh my god's. Where is Thimble? Thimble.

Thimble. As you say Thimble's name, upstairs, Hal and Tysha, the silver box flies open. on the desk, shattered ceramic. Black clay hidden in the box begins to move together into the shape of a mask, much like the one downstairs on Valer's face. I?

This was the last thing that they asked me to get it. I don't know what it is. Can I make an Arcana check? You want to make an Arcona check? Yeah. No, I don't like this at all. You'll be able to make an Arcona check at what you now see shaking across the inner workings of the box,

black velvet and black clay, coming together swiftly because you spoke the name of a little fairy. We'll make that Arcana check at the top of next week's episode. Thanks for watching, episode one. We hope you enjoyed it. And the question that I will remember to ask, is it Thursday yet?

Yay! Got in one, baby! 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 Role Cooldown.

You'll be right there at the table immediately after we'll be. say is it Thursday yet and experience our cast's post-show reactions. We'll see you next time.