Critical Role - The Point of No Return | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 22 Part 2

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Part 2   With nowhere to go and no choice but forward, the Schemers put their wits and tricks to the test in a confrontation with the Crow Keepers....   New Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays. Learn more about Campaign 4 at https://critrole.com/campaign4/     GET MORE CAMPAIGN 4 WITH BEACON We're excited to bring you even MORE Campaign 4 with a Beacon membership! Get access to exclusive shows like our behind-the-scenes Critical Role Cooldown and ask the Campaign 4 cast your burning questions directly through our LIVE monthly Fireside Chats. You'll also receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant ad-free access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord. Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to everything Critical Role!   OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN 4 CAST GAME MASTER Brennan Lee Mulligan Laura Bailey as Thimble Luis Carazo as Azune Nayar Robbie Daymond as Kattigan Vale Aabria Iyengar as Thaisha Lloy Taliesin Jaffe as Bolaire Lathalia Ashley Johnson as Vaelus Matthew Mercer as Sir Julien Davinos Whitney Moore as Tyranny Liam O’Brien as Halandil "Hal" Fang Marisha Ray as Murray Mag’Nesson Sam Riegel as Wicander "Wick" Halovar Alexander Ward as Occtis Tachonis Travis Willingham as Teor Pridesire   CREDITS Produced by Maxwell James, Steve Failows, & Kyle Shire Set Designed by Shaun Ellis Production Designer: Noxweiler Berf Character Art by Loren Hontanilla Edited by Taylor Burke and Emily "Stevie" Stevenson Critical Role Announcement Playhouse Editor: Vinny Celesti Opening Title Editor: Paul Foyder Opening Title Colorist: Peter Koocheradis Window Effects by Christian Brown Graphic Design by Aaron Monroy & Jordyn Torrence Dol-Makjar art by Daniel Jiménez Villalba Miniatures Painted by Payton Keo Lacebal Opening Title Theme by Neal Acree Campaign 4 Key art by Hannah Friederichs Additional Art & Design by Hannah Friederichs   Episode QC by Catherine Zimmerman & Paula Flores Assistant Editor: Gianna Gencarella Post Production Coordinators: M Swing & Bryn Hubbard Closed Caption Editing by Margaret Dill, Nikki Kindelberger, Courtney Knewtson, Danielle Lackie, Eleanor Smith-Dufresne & Alice Tsoi Post Production Supervisor: Tal Levitas   HEALTH & WELL-BEING Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode. Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Liam said Wacking it. Folks, we are back. We are back here in the sewers underneath Caravan Hill in the city of Dolmachiar. What an eventful combat it has been. Crowkeepers were sent off on a wild goose chase and chase that Goose right back to our heroes. Azune Nayar just tanked a surround-sound rogue quad strike, only to be joined by the rescue Demetis Blix.

Hallandil Fink dropped into the darkness, Healing Worded, the young grad student illusionist, and with an upside-down bat-swing Murray Magnesson got her wayward pupil back up on his feet and out the door. Boler, we just ended on Belair's turn, is he dropped down post Shatterspell to find Laomi, who had dissolved the body of the crowkeeper Captain Zagi and delivered a dissonant whispers

banishing this entity down deeper into the darkness on a Nat 20 intimidation and a failed wisdom save against dissonant whispers. Laomi has exited combat, leaving all of you with a room, with four crowkeepers. And Azune, that is going to be your turn. Murray and Deminus have entered the room

and there is an illusory knight made of light that is helping you in combat. Murray's color spray has blinded two of the crowkeepers beside you. It will only last for a turn, but you do have advantage against those crowkeepers. I have advantage on everybody because my innate sorcery is still active.

As that vortex spins around me, I turn my attention to the two that are not blinded, and I do the following things. First thing I do is I convert a first level spell slot into a sorcery point because I was down one and I need two for the following thing. I'm going to first for my action, attack one of those with booming blades.

Again, the sparks of fire and electricity are absorbed into my war hammer as I strike at this guy with advantage. And that's gonna be a 20 to hit. That is a hit. He is gonna do. Magnaut. Four points of bludgeoning damage as he gets pushed

with my weapon mastery 10 feet away from me. And is now enchieved in booming energy. Cool, and he gets pushed 10 feet away from you? 10 feet away. With booming blades, sick. Very, very cool, amazing. And I'm not done because now I'm going to quicken spell with that sorcery point that I have.

Bonus action, I'm gonna move into the other one that is not blinded and I'm gonna repeat the same thing. Booming blade on that guy. Hell yes, let's do it. Sorcerceres, baby. And that is gonna be a 17. 17 hits. Great.

That guy takes eight points of bludgeoning damage. Gets pushed 10 feet and he also is sheathed and booming energy. Bam. You guys watch Ozene just clear half the battle fee. Boom! As these two thieves go flying ass over tea kettle back into the chamber. Incredible Azune. Where is the exit?

The exit is this door ahead of you here. Okay, I'm gonna stay where I am so that people can get around me towards the exit. Awesome. That is going to go and be the Crow Keeper's turn. As these two that you've knocked backwards are going to re-engage with you, I believe, booming blade activates.

Oh, it activates. Hell yes. The first one who took four now takes six points of thunder damage. Unbelievable. And the second one who took eight earlier, takes four, so 12 total on that guy. You see one of them does not manage to get up,

as he just rides, stays down as that sort of electric and thundering power resonates. The other one looking on death door rushes, mostly to just give his blind allies flanking to cancel out their blinded status. He's gonna take a swing with advantage, does a 22 hit. Reaction shield.

Again. Oh my god. Come with me if you want to live. Yeah. These guys can't stop rolling useless 19s. They are rolling so hot and it doesn't matter. I am out of first level spell slots now with that reaction. Unbelievable.

That is the enemy's turn. We come back to Hallandiel Fang. Okay. I see a bulliress. Did you just pull back up from the hole at the end of the thing? All right, I see something, I see the mask morphing back. Oh, it's already back. It's already back. Long way from Salon Nights,

and I ripped the Ozzie's blade off of my belt and brush past you into the entrance and size up the group I see that Azune is surrounded. Yes. And I'm hoping I remember how to sword fight, and I'm gonna swing around. Do I have enough movement to get here or not? Yes, you can get to flanking on that other,

on that other row. And just like the foil, so you practice with. Yep. That is two 18s. Wow. That'll be, that'll be 21 to hit. No. Yep, 21 to hit.

21 is a hit. On that hit, go ahead and roll damage. Big D6 rolling, here we go. Two plus three is five point. of damage from the Liar's Blade. Rushing in Azune, who has been shielded now two rounds straight, gleaming armor. This is a veteran of the Falconer's Rebellion

and an arcane marshal of the city. This is a guy who comes down into dark holes to find people doing shit all the time. Standing here, you look and watch how. All of you see the guy that Theazi spent his life keeping away from this. You circle around, first time the sword is in your hands. How do you want to do this?

I just rush up. I'm thinking about Azune, who is family now. I took him in, hit my brother sent him to me. I took him in like he was a nephew or a cousin and he became family and I don't have time to size up the situation. I just see that he's in danger. I have put this life behind me, it is back

and I just slide the blade right through this guy's gut right here all the way through and I'm looking over his shoulder at you. and then pull the liars blade out and watch as the guy crumples to the ground. And this is all happening in seconds, but you watch as I just let the sword hang at my side and stare at it.

And that's the end of my turn. Whoopsies. You did a murder. Here we go. We have this life, it has found you. Demidus looking at the, the image of the night here. See, Demetis gets up still badly injured,

hops out of your arms, Murray, and stands, you see, casts only like half of a disguise self-spell, but sees that the other two are blinded. And you see, yeah, Demetis stands up and is going to roll a deception check with advantage with a plus, with a plus six to this roll, the roll of the advantage, but he's looking for a DC 20.

So one, he needs to be a 14 or higher. 19 and 16 on the die. You see Demetus jumps to the side and goes, as an illusion just covers his throat and speaks perfectly in Thieves' Camp. Can any of you speak, Thebes can't? Oh. No, I don't think so.

You just hear like, Hand you stickers! In Zaggy's voice perfectly. Wow. And you see both of the blinded ones toss their weapons to their guild master as their weapons go flying out of their hands. Apparently he said something in Thieves'Cant

that registered as Zaggy asking for their weapons. I look at Diminis and go, two college credits for that. Marie, that is your turn. Um, okay, so they are disarmed and blind. And blind. Are we trying to kill these guys or just get GTFO? Honestly, we have, I think we have time to, not that I'm in there.

We have time to actually do a search of this place, and I'd love one for questioning. We only need one. One for questioning. All right. We want to. Well, only need one. I'm going to.

pull out, let's see how this works. They updated this spell in 2024 to actually be useful. So we're gonna try it. So Marie is going to once again, go to those daggers that she has on the back of her belt. And this time she is going to actually physically pull one out. And I'm gonna cast true strike as I go for the jugular of the guy who is directly in front of me.

Yeah, go ahead and roll, with advantage. So basically a- Is it a bonus action now? Or is it- It's not a bonus action, but it's not, you do the attack in the same- As a part of it?

Oh! In the same round. Yes, instead of waiting a whole turn and racing your attack. So basically the new thing is that guided by a flash of magical insight, you can make an attack with a weapon used in the spells casting, and I can use my spell casting ability

for the attack damage rolls instead of using strength or dexterity. Wow, that's really good. That's way better. Yes. And then if the other, attack deals damage, I can choose for it to be radiant damage. Or the weapons damage.

I love that. They made that really good. They made it better because before it was kind of useless. Yeah, you didn't want to waste a turn. A turn, yeah. I love that. So let's see what happens. Rolling with advantage because they are blinded. Oh my god. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Yeah.

Baby, that's a natural 19, so that's going to put my attack at 25 to this guy. 25, hell yes. Let me just make sure that the blinded condition till the end of your next turn. Yeah, you got it. Oh, wow. Great, so at the end of this turn,

they will come out of blinded. You hit. Okay, let's see, it's just a D4, but hey, that's one damage, baby. Plus your intelligence modifier. Plus my intelligence modifier. Oh, wait. Really?

All right. That is seven damage. Hell, yes. That was all magic. That's all magic. Murray, reaching out into that. divinatory sense, the same thing that allows you to cast Augrey, the same thing that allowed you to see into the Stone of Night Song. Hell yes. In that way, you know when you rub your eyes and there's a lot of people's multiply and they kind of zoom into one?

You do that with, yes, Butterfly Theory, there's infinite possible futures. But the closer you get to the present moment, it's way less than infinite. So you're like, in the next half a second, there's like 12 possible futures. Let's boil that down to one. and watch as sort of rippling through that next little fraction of time. Your dagger reaches out and you slash for seven points of damage. One of them is badly injured. There are now, only one is at full health. The other is badly injured.

We are going to move on to Boler's turn here. I am, and then I will just use my movement. I still wanna make sure that this student that I am rolling in the sewers with, I'm gonna kind of once again grab him, and I just want to kind of shift a little just so we're not base to base with this guy. If we're able to.

You grab Demetis and hoist him away. Because these guys are blinded, they will not get an attack on opportunity on you as you move away from them. Okay, okay. And you scooch off with Demetus away from the living opponents. You grab Demetus and Demetis in Zaghi's voice goes, an hand meke.

Um, uh. Like, stop. Kind of stay in character. Um, and, uh, he-he-hee. You grab Demetis and pull him away. Belair, that is you. Okay, I'm going to walk into the room and assess the situation.

Wounded. These two are no longer blinded. The color spray leaves them. You and Azzanay are acting on the same initiative. This one right in front of Murray is badly injured. The other one is uninjured. Which one has the more appetizing body size and its stature?

That is subjective. It really isn't. This guy. The one who's uninjured? The one who's uninjured is one that would not arouse any suspicion. Cool, cool. All right, I'm going to wander in and I'm going to, I'm going to wander right by the one who's badly injured

and just pull my sword, give it a little shake, and use my bonus action to let it shatter down into a very, very fine, It's a scalpel, but like slightly longer and heavier. It's a dagger, basically, of glass that's just left over. And I'm just gonna go for a straight stab and cut. I'm just gonna try and end this with that one. Oh, with the wounded one. Yeah, cool, give me an attack roll.

I haven't done this yet. I'm so excited. It's dagger attack. Straight D20. Not great, seven. Oh, I have advantage because we're flanking. Yes, you do. Uh-huh.

Thank God. It's the same. Seven. 13. 13 is a hit. Oh, thank God. That would have been really embarrassing. And then.

I know. Let's just say eight points of necrotic damage. Incredible. This slit opens up with glass, and it looks like the cut grows into the rest of the neck. just boom and falls to the ground dead. There is one crowkeeper left. Azunay. Bonus action here.

That was, bonus was summoning. Just asleep when you're gonna need him for questioning. And I'm gonna clobber him. Hell yeah, give me an attack, roll. I am gonna, I am gonna booming blade. Cool. Oh, I'm flanking. Flanking him, yeah? I don't need to.

Nope, straight attack. Add advantage because I'm flanking. And, oh. Don't for a knockout? Yes, non-lethal, but I'm, that's not gonna do it. So it's gonna be a nine to hit. Okay. So I'm gonna consume another, a second level spell, booming blade.

Great, let's do it. Do I keep the one that rolled off, or do I re-roll it? Whatever you apply now is the rule forever. It would have hit. Keep it in the auction. 19, cool. 19 hits. Into the octagon. I'm doing non-lethal damage.

Hopefully knocking him out. That is, well, he's, I don't think he's been touched. So that's nine points of damage. Nine points of damage is not gonna knock him unconscious, but he's badly injured. As this. And I will push him. Okay, great.

10 feet. 10 feet. He slams into the wall here, no longer blinded. He can see that Zagi is is not in this room. I will tell him you move, you die. And Booming Blade makes that. Go ahead and give me persuasion. Okay.

19 on the die, 25. The booming blade crackles over him and he becomes aware looking at his friends who died where they fell under the might of this spell. That he does not move, drops his weapon, puts his hands out. And we are going to exit out of combat as this last crowkeeper surrenders. Well fought schemers.

First battle. I love it. These pencil pushers can still fight. You look and see this glowing radiant night turns and extends this like seven foot broadsword at the crowkeeper and says, you have wronged us, the Friends of Justice. Oh no.

That is our name. and what we are known by. You will leave this place. You will get a real job. You will apologize to those you have wronged. You will make amends. It is the first step. You will.

You will. Are you trying to scare him straight? What are you doing? This what is? These are not the. These guys beat me up. Well, we're going to need, we're going to need this one, unconscious,

unconscious, my friend things. The glowing illusory night goes, fall asleep now. 10, nine. Can I choke him out? Yeah, absolutely. I think that's no sweat, dude. You just go over, put him in a sleeper hold.

Eight, seven, six, five. And I think that. And I did, did it, yeah. And I just let him slump onto the ground. Can you do that to him, too, as I'm holding timidus? Um, is that what you want me to do? No, no, no, no. I, I, I, Professor, oh my, oh my gosh.

Hi. The crowkeepers, really? What were you thinking? Kind of poked you. Ow, ow, I'm sorry. I, I owe the crowkeepers money from a long time ago. That wasn't even, that wasn't even to do with all this mess. That was like, I had been trying to,

I went and found them again and told them and I was going to be able to pay them back because things have been going good at the marketplace, and then they outlawed performing in the marketplace. And then that was like back on their field of vision. They were like, I'm so sorry. I know you've been in a tough spot. You're a scrappy kid.

You've always been very resourceful and innovative. But I've always been in your corner, Demetis. You could have come to me. You wouldn't have gotten in trouble. If you needed help, we could have figured something out. You know that, right? I know you don't. I understand more than most.

It doesn't always feel good. To have to always ask her help. I know. I want to be able to stand on your own two feet, and I love that about you. But my boy, this was a dumb mistake. You are a smart kid. But that don't necessarily mean you streetwise.

You can be, a pattern can be dumb when every instance of the pattern made sense. I never, I didn't ever make any, like I can look at the sequence of choices and see that it was stupid, but every, you're in a bad situation so you make the best choice you can and you don't get.

I just kind of grab him in for like, a hug. It's not like, it's a Murray hug. It's not super intimate or necessarily comforting. It's a little bit of a tough love hug. As she puts one of her arms kind of around his shoulders and squeezes him tight. It's all right.

Maybe she left me in the hole. I think I did something terrible. I assure you you did not. Hey, you don't have to explain anything to us. One, because we can't. kind of already know pretty much everything, at least enough. That wasn't stupid. You saw a gig, you saw an opportunity, and you took it.

It came through the school. I know, I know. They exploited a very valuable resource in a program that we... I mean, how many times have we said at the Pentevril? Best training is gonna be on the job, Janen, right? I'm not mad at you for that. I truly am not. Hey, I'm glad you're alive, kid.

Truly. Me too. I think that I'm really grateful, and I'm really sorry, and I'm really scared. You see that giant illusory night looks over and goes, there, there, I may not be real, but I think you did a great. Great job.

Can you kill the guidance counselor? You see that, the witness goes, thanks for saying what I wanted you to say in my mind. And you see that he pulls the illusion back into his hand. He just looks out and goes, Professor, we, he looks and says, were you here for the crowkeepers lieutenant? Or are you here for me?

We were here for you. We were here for you. to help you. You're not in any trouble. I'd like to know. Beg to differ. Not from us. Not from us, but you are in trouble.

You had a plan to leave. Yeah. I don't know what happened. I think something bad might have happened to Pimli. He was supposed to get me out of town in her wagon and the next thing I knew I was open and the crowkeepers were there. You're so sweet.

You're very... You give people the benefit of the doubt, and that is a quality. That's a quality. But unfortunately, one that people will exploit. I need you to understand that, okay? I need you to, we're gonna have to teach you to like, you know.

Be less trusting? Yes. God, I read that jaded and cynical. We are, aren't we? It's smart though. You know what? We'll talk about that. later.

Hmm. What do you want to do with this guy? I don't want to keep him from now. Are we taking him with us, or are you gonna do whatever you want to do to him here? That depends on how we want to play this. We could take him with us. Do we, are those manacles still on Demetis?

Yes, the man, it hasn't stopped his spell casting all, but it just connected his wrists. Oh, we won't be needing that. Well, wait. For now. For this guy? For now, anyway. These also probably wouldn't fit the human.

Right. Ah, okay. You see that Demetis was over and says, Hi, Master Lethalia. Mr. Blix? Did you, are you, God, you all, you really all came looking just for me? Well, it does take a village.

Hi, I'm Demetis. Nice to meet you. Oh, do you, you work with Mr. Undregor. Many years, yeah. Oh. Oh, he's great. I talked to him, I don't know, I don't know how long I've been down here for. The day ago, a week ago.

It just hasn't been that long, it just feels like him. He did right by you. You've got a lot of people looking for you. You should do it right by you. It is worth noting, though, Dimmettis, that the crow keepers were honestly just a pawn. If you think these guys were bad, the Tacona's. are not a good family to be on their shit list.

You're on their shit list. You knew that though, right? I thought, I swear it was awful. What did you see? It was awful. I, okay, so, so morning that I found out about the job, the, the, you know, I found out about the job, you know, I left my dorm.

I headed out for school, and I stopped by the bulletin board with jobless things, and I saw there's this new thing that was like illusion work, and I went and I talked to Dean Cora, and Dean Cora introduced me to this lady who was like, really, really nice and friendly. Her name was Trimus. And she basically said, hey, like, this is the money.

They were offering 250 gold pieces. Is this. Same like an exorbitant number to you. Is that an exorbitant number? That's less more money than I've ever had in my whole life. Oh, no, I think I want this job now. Oh. Hey, I'd be happy to make a referral.

Just watch out of the rest of the time. watch out for the first step, it's a doozy. So I met her, Dean Cora introduced me to her. I talked to in her office. She was like, hey, we have a job. We're looking for an illusionist to come in and create something really special for the Royce family. We want to do like Emery music and we want to do Sylvan writing and what is all those other stuff.

And they had a big list of stuff they wanted to do. And she said, you're going to be working. with this woman, Ophelia Saromai, who's gonna be there managing everything for the party. And the first thing I noticed when I got there was I was doing the Sylvan writing as like a goodbye note and in the construction of the, it was like we're off to ferry.

That was the first thing I noticed was I was like, if this is a gift for the Royces, why am I writing in the, I was like, at first time that was like a practical joke. And then I was like, I don't know. that the house of Taconis feel like practical joke people. This lady, Ophelia Sarumai, was, she was awful. I mean, she was barking at everybody. There were a lot of soldiers there.

She was screaming at some of the soldiers. And we got to the Devinos house, the big Devinos house, and it was just like empty, and there was nobody there. And there were other Taconas people that I could just smell abjurative magic on. and they'd been there for a while already. Like, they were going in, and there was, like, you've been in the Abjuration Hall when they were doing counterspelling and stuff like that.

Like, it has that smell that's kind of that, like. Burnt Ozo. Yeah. So that was everywhere. The, like, dispelling smell. And the, the, the, trimus, you know, she was, like, really pretty. She had, like, a black gown,

but like was truly really, really nice. And then Ophelia, she was like, she had like a long, she had like this birthmark. I don't know if it was like a tattoo or birthmark, but it was like these rings around her neck that were like red and yellow and black. And she was working with a soldier there. His name was Lieutenant Janais.

They talked about, I mean, they talked about so much stuff. I was there for like hours working my ass off. There was just like so many things to do. And like they added a bunch of stuff at the last minute. So like I ended up not having, being that well researched. They wanted a bunch of candles to look. So I just ended up doing, I just ended up doing blue candles, which is not even one of the Royce colors, but it just didn't know.

I just didn't know did get the right shade because the illusion has to track the candle all the way down while it's burning. And it's the movement of light as it goes down. It's just a trickier spell. So I just wanted to do something that I knew would work, even if it wasn't quite the right color. There were soldiers packing everything up. This, like, Lieutenant Junius yelled at some of the soldiers that were packing things like clothes and jewelry and things like that.

Junius said, if so much as a signet ring turns up at a pawnbroker, there will be harsh disciplinary measures for the entire unit. which, yeah, like you don't want your soldiers stealing, but it just felt, it just again, it all felt so weird. This was like a party. What's the stuff going? They were moving those crates out to the gardens

while I was in there. I was hungry at one point, and one of the soldiers, the soldiers were laughing while they were looking at me, and one of them offered me a slice of cake and said I could eat three quarters of it. And then he would take it, and I took a couple bites, and they went and placed it somewhere to look like...

It was getting close to when the party was supposed to start. There was... Janais ordered four of her soldiers. So do one last sweep of the grounds. The last thing we needed some scullery made hiding in a cupboard somewhere. And I went, this is fucking wrong. And I went... I was really, really hungry.

And I just was getting yelled at so much that I just actually got some real food and went and just like hid in a closet for a second. Because I've been working way longer than they said I was supposed to work. And I was also just like almost running out of spell energy, you know? Like Cheneas walked in with the lady Ophelia. And she was like making a report. She was talking about, she was like, she said, my lady, the falcon has just been delivered to Obermus Manor. Does that mean anything to you? And the lady, I feel was like, yes, it does.

Your soldiers are they sweeping the grounds? And Janaya said yes. And then there was a weird long pause, and I was like, I had a mouth full of food and I stayed really still in the. closet and then Guneas said they're loose ends aren't they and then the lady Ophelia said so are you and I looked through the door and this soldier who's a really tough was crying and I saw a lady Ophelia who's very tall walk up and put her hand like really nicely on Gineas's face and say they're going to give you the scar for this

you don't have anything to worry about. And Junaeus said it's been an honor to serve you. And then some guy barked outside. Lady Ophelia said that'll be Lord Etherand.

Come with me. They left. And I ran. I just fucking ran. I said, I said, oh, I was like, I was like, I was like, look, I'm kind of a fool, but I'm,

not an idiot. And someone's, to be honest, even if I hadn't heard the loose end stuff, watching someone touch someone's face and be like they're going to give you the scar for it's already so bad, right? Someone's saying it's already so bad. They could have said all normal stuff

and the way she touched her face, I would have ran. So I don't know what I did, but I know that I helped them do something. You know, the lady Ophelia was like really exacting about how everything needed to look and how the music needed to sound and everything like that. And I don't know what happens.

Other soldiers didn't seem good. But I mean, like I heard a bunch of other conversations I heard that day. But like there was shit I heard earlier in the day that I wasn't thinking to pay close attention to. And now I'm trying to like remember it now. And I'm like having a hard time. but like, you know what I mean? Like when you're just like, oh, it's not my bit, like, not my circus, not my monkeys,

I'm just getting paid to do these illusions. And then you're thinking back, like, what do they say about this, houndsport, something? I don't know, like, a lot of stuff. More might come back to you as time passes. You were just unconscious not long ago. Yeah. Did you see any, any blood, any.

Blood? No. No. No, no, no. No trace of that, nothing like that. Well, here's the thing. Like, I was sitting here, you know, you're a wizard getting paid by sorcerers to do magic.

Sorcerers don't have any problem doing lots of magic. They just have their kind of magic they can do. So, like, if they're, like, killing people, I don't know what the fuck happened. I don't know what happened there, but I know it was really bad. And, like, they were cleaning up, like, dead bodies. They wouldn't need my help, right?

Like, dealing with dead bodies is, like, 100% of what those guys know how to do. I don't think we, especially you, you don't need to worry about any of that stuff. I think we need to figure out how to get you out of here. Where were you going? I don't know. You were just gonna leave? I really don't know.

Why, he's not safe? He's not safe. I don't want to leave the pentadermil. I don't want to leave. I don't have anywhere else to go. I literally don't have anywhere else to go. You certainly do. Wait.

Where? Where? We can hide him in my apartment if we have to. No one's gonna come looking for him there. I think we send him with King Gus. That's a lot of faith to put in. King Gus. and that also means making sure that he knows what's happening,

that he believes us. That's a lot. Hiding in your apartment for how long? Honestly, I don't think this is going to be very long. This is moving at great speed. Well, if you're comfortable with that. Why are you bringing... Is King Gus King Augustus? Yes.

They talked about him while I was there. They did. Did they? What did they say? earlier in the day they were like oh there's a one the lady Ophelia was Tremus only just like brought me there

she didn't stay for very long and all she said and she was like I have to head to a place in the city it was some Helvarian word I forget because the Argosian delegation has just arrived and Lady Ophelia said like oh are they going to be paying King Augustus a visit

and she and she was like She was like sooner rather than later. And I don't know. It just sounded like delegations of people visiting. Did they have any particular disposition about it? Irritated. They were laughing. Interesting.

It seemed like, I don't know, rich people laugh when like they didn't do, they haven't said anything funny. Sorry to, I don't know if you. I don't mean to offend. You're like the richest guy I know. That's very fair. No, I'm not offended. You know, it's like, oh, I thought I was,

I haven't seen you in that gown since the last gala. Ha ha ha ha. And you're like, what the f f is that? It wasn't even a joke. Okay, now I feel a bit offended. No, no, no. I'm really, I know I should have, I know I should have come to you and I'm really sorry I didn't.

I just was really, I really thought that the people who have taken care of me a lot would be really proud if I could do it on my own. We're so proud of you. Well, you did do it. You did. And you got out of there, so we just want to make sure you're safe.

You have no idea how what you did might save an enormous number of people. This is good news. And no one is born with wisdom. You earn it the heart. way. Everyone with it owns it a hard way, and this was a very, very difficult collection of wisdom that you just had. Son, I think you did very well for what life threw at you today. No one stands on their own two feet. If they look like they do, it's because they're standing

on top of people you cannot see. Oh, Lieutenant, I'd like to lodge a complaint against House Taconas. Take out my note. I think they're killing a lot of people. Also, they owe me 250 gold pieces, and I don't know how to get it from them. Writing it all down. I heard Danny Carlash so. It's the best.

You really hit it as you just hear that in the far distance. Yes. I'll see what I can do. Well, we actually might be able to make good on some of that. Right now, and I'm gonna head back. Me too. And let's turn this place.

Let's toss it. Let's toss it. Do we plan on taking a short rest in here at some point or not? I don't think we should take a short rest in here when there's a moss monster. Well, it's very. Taking a short rest right now. Wherever it went. How about we turn this place upside down and then we get the hell out of the sewers and then we definitely take a rest.

And we got this guy with us. And we got him with us. Does it make, well, I was gonna say, I know we haven't nailed the mechanics down, but if someone's unconscious, does it take an attunement for me to attach to them, or do you think I could do it? I think you can just do it. Okay, good to know.

All right. So I'll help for a minute and then I'll go change into something more comfortable. Okay. And this guy who is unconscious, do we have him bound, and secured? I'll time up. Okay.

You have mannacles for your work. You know, like, you can just truly, yeah, you can just truly manacle him. That's right. Already done. Already done. Okay. He is up running.

You guys head back down into this filthy area of the sewers down here. That was crazy. Go ahead, anyone. Let me know if you're casting any magic about it, but otherwise, give me any check you want to make down here. Yeah. Now that hypothesis is not breathing down my neck, I'm gonna go into my normal investigator mode

and I'm gonna focus, guidance myself, as I investigate this place. Cool. Are you doing a detect magic or do you want me to do it? I am not doing detect magic. Cool. I will, can I do it ritually? You can, yeah.

I can ritually do a detect magic, which I will do. Just give me a quick minute. That 10 minute casting to cast a detect magic. I think honestly you're casting it as you're pouring over. Just like literally piece by piece examining. So Arcana investigation, are there any other skill checks we want to make?

I was going to go straight investigation as well. Straight investigation, great. Go straight investigation. Well, I'm going to do two things. Two things. One, how's Demetis looking? Is he all right? He's in a state of deep emotional peak. He's in a euphoria that he's alive. Like, as soon as you're in the hands of crowkeepers and you're being beaten and asked for information. And then you're like going into unconsciousness as they're like, who are we going to sell him to? Are we going to sell under the truth? As soon as you're in that world, you're like, I'm dead.

You're like, oh, I can't believe I'm one of the people whose lives are going to end in the most frightening, sad way. And now there's a euphoria of a life he already had like spent some time saying goodbye to. But also he thinks his life is over. Like he did every part of himself he gave to this school that now he can't stay at. So I think that you're looking at a weird mixture of grief and euphoria that is just sort of in a kid. with a bloody nose, just swaying on his feet, you know. It's like looking at some broken, like, he's like, oh, man, my eyedrops are broken.

Like. He's not nursing some greater wound at this point. No, no, with six hit points, he's okay. All right. I mean, he's still, he's badly beaten up, but he doesn't have a lot, he's not a lot of strength in him right now. I think then in that state, Hal goes over and takes a knee, and then just like, kind of grabs him by the head

and like opens up his eye and looks like, at him and sort of claps in the cheek and then stands up. Hal is still a little bit listless and a little out of it. But I think he's going to go sit down just on a dry spot and he begins to recite fragments, syllables to himself. And just under his breath, you can't even really hear what he's saying. And he just does that for several minutes. And after the end of 10 minutes, that equates to a ritual casting

of comprehend language. Awesome. Comprehend languages and detect magic are cast. Let's go ahead and give me these rolls. We'll get an investigation here, Arcana here. There's any skill you wanna roll here, you may do so as well with.

Yeah, I'm gonna look for any thieves can't carved into any language. Cool, awesome. Any language. Gotcha. I'm going to use a luck point. Fuck it. Great.

Hopefully we get a long rest soon. Ozony, what did we get here? It's better. I got a one. And I think I started to, seeing Demadus start to get more and more vulnerable, I'm like, I don't know how to handle that. And so I try to go into work mode,

I start searching, but then as I focus on the corner of my eye, from the corner of my eye, I see Howl approaching Demadis. And I'm distracted. I'm saying, the father that I never got to have being everything I never got to this kid. And I find myself frozen and out of sorts. And I don't even know how to do my job anymore.

You find yourself gazing at what should normally be speaking to you in a language of clues here, but it's just filth and muck in the darkness. I hate this place. I can't see. I can't see anything, and I'm gonna control flames to brighten those torches. Bright light helps illuminate this room. And you can see the walls are like caked in, like any seam of masonry is just a river of sludge of where like the in between the dark crannies of the masonry have just become choked with the mycelium net. of this fungal creature. What do we get for investigation here? 16. 16 here. What do we get for Arcana here?

25. 25, hell yeah. And I investigated for writing of any kind, 19. 19. What is your focus in your investigation, your bullet? I'm looking for objects of note. Anything that looks not magical necessarily, but like something that somebody was using.

If there's a desk in here, looking for where they might be hiding paperwork. Yeah. There is a table in here, but no desk. This looks much more like a way station and meeting place than it looks, this looks like a place where long, very criminal conversations can be had in potentially large groups, right?

Rather than a place where you would come and work privately. It's too uncomfortable. And additionally, it is clearly a place used by the crowkeepers, but also at the behest or with the permission of this creature who was here. You can see there's like food that's already rotten in a corner. You do, however, I think on a 16 investigation

find three potions of healing. That's close. In a corner that our rogue allies just did not live long enough to get a chance to use. I also, I will say as I said it, I thought of one other thing that I would check that it just occurred to me. Are there any hideaway spaces?

A loose stone in the walls. These are criminals. They must keep secrets from each other. Is there anything? I'm just going to sort of walk the walls and... Hold out for like one of these, like, areas to sort of showcase a secret chamber or a hiding place here.

Honestly, even a loose stone where you might hide some gold. You find a couple different loose stones, and I do think you, actually find a, going along the walls, you actually feel your foot brush against a tile that kind of buckles under your foot a little bit more. Lifting that up. There is not a full treasure chest, but a small sort of hand chest that has about 60 gold pieces in it.

Oh. We should give it to the kid. We will be giving it to the kid. Yes. Student loan forgiveness. Best job. Forgiveness. On a 19 investigative investigation. looking for writing. There are Thieves Kant symbols on the wall that are done in glyphs that would be like sort of invisible to then to a normal passerby, but point this place out in Crowkeeper can't of like this way to the meeting place. So the Crowkeepers are sort of a citywide guild. It's possible that this meeting place would have been only known to Zaghi or only known to like one or two sub bosses. And so there'd be a place to find it for those that were looking for it here. On a number,

investigation under the collapsed wood and everything else like that here. I think you would see Zaggy's body was destroyed, but back over here, your comprehend languages passes over a table that doesn't contain any writing. But you know that trick where detectives will scan graphite over a page

to see what the page was on before it? Oh, yeah. Love that. You see bits and pieces of like a hundred names have been written on scraps of paper on this table before. It's a mess of like where they were written. They just sort of come back to you over and over again. But you think that this is a place where

people who have defaulted on their loans, people who have made one too many bad choices, or people that are just a little bit too wanted, have been in this chamber before. You think Laomi is maybe a connector point. Like, crowkeepers know how to fence their own stolen goods. They know how to fence their own, like, you know, ill-gotten goods and stuff like that.

But for trafficking in like a magical person or like a certain type of entity or something like that, that's foul shit. And you think that this La-Me-Ferferred. me figure that this may have been a waystation for them when they came into that kind of thing. You also know, by the way, that the reputation of crowkeepers, like some that lived in the rookery,

would never have done something like this. Like, when you were a kid, the crowkeepers lived by like a thieves code or something like that. So I think that there's an, you wonder almost if there's some degree of what goes on in here where some crowkeepers know about it and others don't. Oh. On a 25 arcana with detect magic.

magic running, Laomi is Faye. Laomi is a Faye entity of the Faye realm of Harrow. Most fairies that you encounter will be, of the various Faye realms, there are Hallow, Harrow, and Harth. Hallow being a place of natural beauty and wonder and splendor. And hearth actually being what wizards consider to be the closest to the world. world of Aramont, the material world,

are fairies of domestic life, those that, like, help tend to gardens, and mend broken things, and all the legends of fairies that sweep the hearth if there is some small propitiation made to them. The fairies of Harrow are few and far between, and they're quite a bit rarer, but they're things like hags or kelpies

or those kind of dark and sinister fay, you, correctly clock under 25, Arcana, like going deep into the lore, that Laomi is a Raul Grannath, which is a basically a mold entity, a kind of putrescent-like rot creature. However, that means that Laomi is someone who got trapped on the wrong side of the doors

when they closed, right? You know, in recent history. And I think too, on a 25 Arcana, as you're moving around, how and you guys, I think how on your comprehend languages, you find a piece of Sylvan writing in the floor that is a small piece of actual fairy poetry that you recognize.

That I do speak. You do speak Sylvan. I speak, yes. With the tech magic, you find that as well. And I think that you can see that there is a little bit of very poetry that's written on the ground here. And you find, da-da-da, one second.

Also, with the bright light on in this room, I think you can see Azune, that the filth is starting to retreat from the brighter light, that the light appears to be like, it appears to be partially like, recoils from light. Recoils from the light, yeah. Ooh.

T-t-ta-ta-ta-ta. There is a bit of fairy poetry at the end that on a 25 arcana, I think you speak Sylvan, right? There is the beginning of a stage but not the end of it. And this is written in a script so fine that you wouldn't have even spotted it, I think, without, you wouldn't even spotted it.

But I think how Anne Murray you both know that the final line of this stanza is to love the world is to weep. That's the part that's missing. That's part that's missing. But you would both know the Silden poem that speaks that. So you know that's the missing phrase.

Carved into the ground? everything leading up to that final line is carved into the ground. It's carved though. Is carved into the ground. In extremely fine, hard to read print, but you can see it through your detect magic and you can see it through your comprehend languages because you realize that covering the carving

is this sort of mold or rot, but on the script, the mold changes color ever so slightly, goes from this sort of darker black mold into sort of a light fuzzier gray that traces the script. And is it giving off magical essence? You're detecting magic from it. Do I happen to sense what kind of magic? Oh, the magic that you are sensing here, I believe, is transmutation.

Are you saying any of this out loud or no? Sure, yeah. So do you actually say the final line of the stanza? Yes. At loud? Do you say it in Rony or do you say it in Self-Mut? Well, I don't speak Sylvan, I don't think. I do know.

Right, you have comprehending words. But it just makes sense to me. So I will say it in common. Cool. And then I'll echo it in Sylvan and see what happens. As you say it in Sylvan, the panel in the floor opens. Ah! Revealing several small silver-capped bottles.

bottles, a bright silvery necklace jangling with charms. There are, you see that there are a collection of small velvet pouches. How clean it is in this chamber is the transmutation magic. It has been, it's like, it's created like a sealed pocket. There are hanging from small like silvery cup hooks. There are, are seven little velvet bags containing small,

something clacking like stones or gems in there. How much of this stuff is glowing under her to detect magic? Oh, it's all glowing. And all of it pales in comparison to beautifully stacked crisp 40 blank spellbts. Yes, that's what I wanted. Oh!

I'm glad I used my last one point. Oh my gosh. I rolled that, I rolled a natural 17 with my A&Arcana, and I call it my Padman die because they're a little wizard, they're little, it's frogs with little wizard's hats. So thanks, Padman. Pabbitt Pada.

Yeah. I love it. Scorre. I like just grab Murray and squeeze you brilliant, brilliant person. Oh my God, goodness gracious. Oh my God. I'm gonna quietly as this is happening walk over to Hal.

Thank you, Shapers. Okay. You know, I think that Hal has been a little on guard with Bolair since learning this news all this time, but in this moment, after everything that's happened in the last half hour, he just sort of gives and leans into him and even rests his head on your shoulder, which I assume it's 5-11.

Like, every one. Right there for my taller head to line. And I just stare at this pile of clay disks and think about all this shit. You give a little bit of your soul. But in return, you get the boy. Ends life in almost 30 years. I cannot relate.

I haven't been in this situation in many years. in many years. It hasn't felt like war in many years. Just survival. This is war. It is exhausting. We saved the boy. Save the war.

And in a moment, I'm going to have to do something uncomfortable. I'm gonna need a bit of help. With that, I raise my head and turn to you. And it doesn't have to be you, but it is an imperative that I, I ask you first because I owe it to you. I don't think it's healthy and I don't think you'll like it. It is not a secret I am, it's not a secret I can keep from you.

If you want to see the worst of me, you can wait. Per copper and for a pound. This is somewhat terrifying for me as well. Take this, thank you very much. This, thank you very much. Three for me. Thank you very much. We can always sort this out and see what all these spoils are,

but I am cleaning this full thing out. I'm there helping you. Oh my goodness, I'm more excited than a blink dog at a barbecue. Okay, I gather everything. It's knocking over everything out. We'll be back in a minute. I'm gonna start setting something up. How?

And I'm guessing is there anything else here that I made me miss anything on this? Anything on the, any lingering bits of gold pieces, magic jewelry on the thieves? Oh, on the thieves? Anything? Yeah, unfortunately, most of the thieves remains are, like, honestly, a lot of the gold they had on them is, like, corroded. Like, anything that was not, you know, it's pretty.

You have the ones in the other room. Yeah. The ones in the other room, those ones that you defeated upstairs without sludge monsters help, you can probably get another 12 gold pieces off of them. Okay. Great. Anything I grab, I'm just going to,

literally tossed to Dimmettus. Any type of gold. Oh, great. That I won't write that down. Gold I tossed to Dimmis. I'm keeping whatever this nice necklace is, though. This looks lovely. We'll see if it makes sense from Rambat, but.

While we're doing this, these two, did you step into the other room? Yeah. Demetis goes, Mr. Belair, do you need space to do what you're gonna do? I was just going to do it up in the other room. Okay. And stay with these two, for a moment.

Got it. If you need help, like, covering our tracks, I can try to help out. I think that would be great. Yeah. I'm gonna start setting up something that looks, I'm gonna start setting up something that makes it so we can blame someone else to some of this.

That would be perfect. Okay, blame someone else. Let's tag team it. Professor. You start in here and we'll go upstairs. So staying down in the sludge chamber here, see, Demetis looks to you and says, Want to see something I've been working on

for grad classes? Show me what you got, kid. This is my thesis. Spongling Blitz! And you see that the walls become filled with blasts from spells that were not cast. Multiple signature, like a rival Thieves Guild signature pops up, along with a glimmering emblem of House Taconas.

There is a sort of broken, pennant in the corner of the Falconer's Rebellion alongside over here, like a flag of the Deradike, there's some gold pieces of the Derridae consortium. It's just like anyone who would come here and get an investigation check would find one of these. Would probably find all of them and go, I don't know what the, it's the classic like in fairy folklore of the farmer who like finds the lepracon and they shows him the one stock of corn where the gold is buried and he ties a red ribbon around it and the next morning comes and every stock of corn has a red red red red red red ribbon around it.

Yeah. Where you're like, oh, it's all of it. I don't know. We just want to hit Taconas. Do we just want that? You're not going to take that ribbon, will you? I'm not going to talk. Do you want to be specific?

I don't know, I think. It's already done. Yep, that's fair. Do you have the impression that Taconas, that they were going to meet Taconis down here? Or that they were going to do the handoff here? Was that going to happen somewhere else? I guess we can find out when we interrogate our friend.

I, and while you, if you guys step to the other room. Yep. I'm gonna, and I kind of, while Demetis is doing his thing, I'm gonna turn to Azune, kind of under my breath. I can't help, but I have the question rolling around in the back of my head if Dean Cora knew exactly what she was sending Demetus to do. What's your gut tell you?

She was very adamant. about painting Demidas in a bad light, sullying his name, making him out to be his slacker, not showing up to class. So specifically when we were talking with Boleer, about having an internship program. And of course, I was thinking about Demetis. He's one of our star students.

And she made a very concerted point to steer me away from him, or plant out in my head. It didn't work, I know better if I don't have far longer than her, but if a kid goes missing in just 48 hours earlier, you sent him away with the Decones with a sundered house, you're not gonna go and immediately ask the adults that you sent him off with?

If a bunch of kids went out on a field trip to the mountains, you're not gonna ask the chaperones first. It doesn't sit well with me. It's foolish and ignorant at best. Or sinister at worst. I think it's probably sinister. I think that there are some people here that are willing to use people up,

throw them away. And your instincts, Mary, I think, are pretty... I've just seen in the last couple days, I've seen them prove them how you're very good at what you do. And I don't think your gut or your heart will ever steer you wrong. And what happened to you the other day, earlier today, at the mural? There's something that happened to you,

your eyes got really weird, and I think something's happening to you. I think it was just the overwhelming realization that as fucked up as everything is in this city right now, that us, you, me, Blair, Howl, are exactly where we're supposed to be and this crashing, overwhelming force and sense of responsibility.

And that somehow the Ozzy knew, help Murray. He told how help Murray is one of the last things that he said. He took his last breath to say help Murray. And I think it's just because he believes in me. I'm a shit person, but that's not what the Ozzy thinks, thought.

And I don't think I ever fully knew that. I don't know how else to understand. interpret it. But even if I didn't know it, he knew that I would want to do the right thing. And I think that theater is going to be important. I think that theater is going to be where we stand our ground. I can't put my finger on it, but it's just this overwhelming sense. I could feel the vibrations and the pulsings through the atmosphere.

And it was like the clapping of. all, every molecule that makes up the atmosphere, clapping its hands around my head. The Ozzy know. Seems to have known a lot. I think maybe he suspected that you can see things differently, feel things differently than other people. Do you-

He's a kid, Azune. Demidas as a kid, do we have a dean in my school that's willing to take these kids and throw them on the fire? I thought that Deem, Cora, was just a dummy plant, just someone who would maybe do the biddings or at least not even ask questions against the standard houses and standing up to the people in power. I thought that maybe they just thought,

put someone there that's malleable. But if this is true, it's so much more malicious, I don't know, I think I'm just, this might be the first time I've been truly scared. What's it make you wanna do to her? Be the ever-loving shit out of her the way they did to Demetus. Fair play, bitch.

Let me know if you need any help. I like this. Murray, I like. Sometimes you look at me and I think that you put on me a little bit of the disdain that you have for the institution that I work for and it makes me feel like I might be losing you because of the position I'm in, but moments like this remind me that that's probably just in my head and I really... Absolutely in your head. I can never age you as you. You're a good egg. Thank you. That means a lot. I will kill somebody for you. Same for you, my friend. Help Murray. Help a Zuni. I'm happy to help.

Let's go see what fucked up shit Blair is about to do. Yeah, me too. Might be a good show. Blair, retreating from Demetus as he begins to cast his illusion spell, you head up the ladder. Hal falls. Hal falls. The first thing I begin to doing as I enter the room

as I start taking off my shirt, jacket, and cloak, and folding them in the corner, somewhere as clean as I'm I can find it. Do you need anything from me? If you're up to it, if you're not, I understand. I can make it work one way or the other. I'm, you can undo the manacles on our friend over there. And forgive the brashness, but I'm going to have to change clothing.

And I'm taking off my clothes and folding them in the corner, if you're willing to unmanacle or unconscious. I'm not excellent at it, but I assume if I rifle through his person, I can find a way to get him off. The manacles can come off. And I'm gonna need the clothing. So I at least start taking the shirt

and the clothing off of our friend. Off of the same one. Off of the man on the floor, yes. And he's still putting it on. At this point, Hal just, backs up to a wall in the room and just witnesses. Checking to see to make sure I'm leaving anything that would identify him as a member of the group.

Just want to look somewhat typical. Oh, and I have the other half of the seal in my pocket. Yes, you do. I go back into the pocket of my clothing and put it in my new pocket. Do any of our dead friends have swords, or is it just knives? You got some short swords here, yeah.

I pick one up. Do you want to do the honors? Excuse me? I'm going to need to die. And then I'm going to need you to take my face and put it on a friend over there. But we're going to have to make this body look like it died in a battle. They won't recognize him.

You know, in that moment, I think of how everything in this city and in my life has flipped upside down in two weeks. I wonder where my children are in this city and abroad and Elty. I wonder where Tisha is and if she's all right. I think of my brother, his body, waiting to be interred somewhere in the city.

But that all takes place in just a second or two. And I stare at this mask in its face and take the blade from your hand. Whatever you do end with a stab to the chest so that I can fall into the corner. If you decide not to put me on that body for any reason, just don't leave me here to be found. My life is in your hands.

I don't know what else I could do. Back up a step or two. I'm not much of a fighter anymore, but I do flourish the blade after years of practice and then just stab forward. I grab with my hands. and let them cut into the blade to break them. And I start to actually wedge, hammer down,

to make it a messier wound. I take as many of my fingers off as humanly possible as this goes. The face doesn't wince. Mm-hmm. I shove my foot against his chest and kick him off and widen the wound even further to leave him a gory mess on the ground.

Cootagraa. Blair, you die again. Blade drops from my hand, clatters on the stone, tentatively step closer, and look into the holes of the mask. Is there anything? They're no longer deep. They're like a blind mask, if you've ever seen one, where the pockets that are normally those giant,

fathom, those giant endless pits with the light deep inside them, are now a tiny, trick of the light. It's just been painted with a slight concave round and just tiny holes punctured in them so that whoever's underneath it can see out. It's just a theater mask. I'll test it, the edges of it with the tips of my fingers. Does it come away? Like it was just lying there. It's actually somewhat strange. There's not even ribbons on the back or any way to fix it. It comes off so easily. I've really carefully spin it in my hands

to see the other side. What is on the other surface of this thing? There's a slight opalescent sheen. Just as if glue, the glue that put it together, the paper mache just managed to capture a moment of this pearlescent oil slick. and then right beneath the eyes, there is gentle handwriting. This is beautiful cursive handwriting

that is too light and too delicate to truly be seen. You would have to get. Is that true with comprehend languages still? Oh, it's readable. It's just very light and small. and you would have to get a lot closer to the mask to read it.

Do you look more closely at the writing? I will bring it to about here. I will say at this moment, Murray and Azune enter the room as you see Hal bringing the mask closer to his face to read it. And we just see a dead Boulare? If we see the Boller's body.

Well, what you see is one of the crowkeepers that you don't remember fighting is dead on the ground. Uh-huh. Azuna, give me a history check with advantage. Okay. A natural 20. There was something on your desk the other day. Aubris Drime, who was an informant for an arcane martial

case, had gone missing and missed an appointment with one of the inspectors. Uh-huh. Aubris Drime is dead. dead, but he had an informant. But Aubras, yeah, he was a, he was like a fence. He's like a cult fence, but he, he, you had no idea that he was affiliated with the crowkeepers.

You don't even remember fighting him in this room. No. What's going on? Can I read it? Uh, Hal, go ahead and give me a wisdom saving throw if you'd be so kind. Oh, no. Come on. Please, for love, oh God, be something good. 19.

19. Okay. You read the words, your thoughts unravel. You hear applause so uproarious that it might also be the noise of the world cracking apart at the core. And on a 19, what does Murray say as she sees Hal holding the mask? I don't think she says shit.

I think she's just going to wait and watch and see what happens. On a 19, sorry. On a 19, I think you read that, but there might be another CODA at the end. So on a 19 wisdom, I think you successfully save and have to ask if you want to move in the direction of that applause or if your curiosity is sated. I think that's intoxicating.

I think it feels pretty irresistible, but having just spent a moment of time thinking of Tisha and Aligar and Shadia and Shottia and Hero and Elida and everyone at the hallowed around, I think that he squeezes his eyes shut and presses the mask away from his body and spins it over in his hands. How?

He doesn't answer. he just walks over to the new home. Hmm. The unconscious crowkeeper, you place mask on his face. Belair. You open your eyes, looking up at your friend, Hal. Oof. I start to get dressed. You feel groggy.

I don't say much. And also, there's a healing potion over here, right? Correct. Fucking take it. You take it because you're in a body that moments ago was choked into unconsciousness by Azunani. Yep. So I'm at, I'm at very low hit points.

I think even before you get the clothes on, I reach out a hand and help you to your feet. And Hal says, very theatrical, which echoes through your consciousness. And I cast healing word. Oh. And heal you further. You are the first person.

who's been anything like this has happened. It's never occurred to me to ask for a big two. Help. Two ones. There is a box somewhere in a space that only you can see with the mind of a man who's been in jail, but never one like this,

beating against the bars, screaming, I'll tell you, I'll tell you what I know. I'll tell you what I know. I know. While my face is uncharacteristically blank, as I look at everyone, somewhere in that box, sitting in the audience, a mask floating by itself, just says, of course you will, but we'll get to you.

And then comes back out of my hair. And I walk over and pull the wig. that had been attached to the previous body and put it on and then very quickly pull out a blade and cut just enough out of the old face that they can't make it talk with any necromancy. Last thing I'm talking to this is I think that

Hal wants to just stay shell-shocked. He wants to navel gaze and think, how could this happen? All of this, everything. but there's just too much at fucking stake. So he just draws himself to his full height, turns around, walks towards his other friends, passes Murray, squeezes her shoulder with a smile,

walks up to a Zunei, and his hand grasps the back of your head and does a little squeeze massage, and he smiles. And he might not feel it, but he's a very very, very good actor. Get dressed and let's get out of here. And I walk past them all out that door. You all head out.

Demetis comes up, having missed this entire display, and walks up and goes, everything go good, covering your tracks up here? Couldn't have been better. Awesome. Yes. And you guys head out of the sewers. Yeah.

Into the night? I tell Demetis, give you. yourself a little. Something else. You see he goes, oh, got it. And you see that he reaches in some shattered bottle. He's got bits of glass, he does it and rubs a little on his face. It helps the sort of beard grow in, a little bit of stubble.

The illusory gets rid of his swollen up eye. Okay. Nice. You saved my life. Things got really crazy lately. And that's all for this episode. That was fun. You crazy person?

Sorry, I'm good. My kingdom for a long rest. I know. Oh man, I'm at two hit points. This day is, I think, maybe the craziest adventuring day. I'm looking at, I'll put it this way, in the timeline that our lore keepers are keeping,

this day has a different font size. Let's see if our schemers can take a fucking day off next week on another episode of a critical role. And as always, is it Thursday yet? 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.