Transcript:Duskmeadow (episode)

List of Transcripts

Pre-Show
MATT: Welcome to tonight’s episode

of Critical Role,

where a bunch of us

nerdy-ass voice actors

battle traffic from E3

to get here

in time to roll dice

and play Dungeons & Dragons.

TRAVIS: Yeah, we do.

SAM: Video games!

MATT: It has all the stuff.

MARISHA: All the video games.

MATT: Thank you for being patient

and waiting for us

with a couple of tech issues

and just generally battling

living in Los Angeles and having a car.

Anyway, before we kick the night off,

real fast,

I just want to take a moment

to acknowledge -

and I feel

it’s important to acknowledge

there’s been a lot of difficulty

and a lot of terrible things

happening in the world

and in our country in particular

this past week or so.

And us as Critical Role

and this community around,

I’m sure many of you agree,

we just wanted

to take a moment to express

that we stand with the families

of those that are currently dealing

with this difficulty,

who have lost those,

and stand with the community

that this was aimed at.

And everybody who has come together

as part of this,

we are in full support of this whole

wonderful gathering of people

in light of this darkness,

and I think it's

not just myself when I say

that everything

this community stands for

is to perpetually spread love,

community, positivity,

acceptance,

and everything in between.

So we just wanted

to bring that to you guys

and let you know that we’re thinking

about you all out there.

And we have a wonderful community

of Critters out there as well.

If anyone needs any help,

assistance, or guidance,

or even just a happy word

to pick them up during this rough time,

we’re all there for you.

So, anyway.

(blows kiss, sighs)

Then, to kick off this evening

of announcements and such,

we are kicking into the second day

of our renewed

Loot Crate sponsorship.

(all cheer)

MATT: We wanted to reinforce

that their current theme is Dystopia,

which is an awesome theme box

that deals with all sorts of things

of post-apocalypse and dystopian-type

films, games, the whole thing.

They have Fallout,

RoboCop, BioShock,

a whole bunch

of really, really cool things,

so if you guys want to go

to lootcrate.com/criticalrole,

you can go ahead and get $3 off

your subscription

and get a whole bunch

of that cool stuff.

We also have the Dystopia DX,

which is their big collector’s box -

TRAVIS: So awesome.

MATT: which we showed last week.

LAURA: Oh, is that

what this one was from?

MARISHA: Yeah, your sweet shirt.

ASHLEY: I love that shirt.

LAURA: Yeah, Skeletor!

MATT: (laughs) That’s pretty slick.

If you guys have a chance

to check it out,

go see if it's

something you’d be interested in,

and make sure you put in

the criticalrole - all one word - code

to go ahead and get

your subscription discount,

which is fantastic.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: We’re happy to present that

(funny accent) and are happy

that they like our show enough

to come and sponsor,

which is awesome.

(normal voice) So check that out.

You have until

the 19th at 9pm Pacific

to subscribe

and receive the Dystopia theme,

otherwise it switches over

to the next theme,

so if you’re gonna get

under the wire for that one,

(funny accent) do it soon.

It’s like a - yeah! We have a -

TRAVIS: We’re giving out crates

in a chat room thing, don’t we?

MATT: You think so?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: Giving out crates?

LAURA: We are?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Are we?

MARISHA: Are we?

LAURA: (gasps) That’s exciting!

ASHLEY: It’s going to be one at the break?

It’s going to be a giveaway at the break?

MATT: Oh, snap.

ASHLEY: I’m just going

to start making stuff up.

TRAVIS: Is that -

did you just point and -

ASHLEY: Point, shoot.

SAM: Loot Crate has donated

two Loot Crate DX boxes

to give away to you.

We will be doing this at the break

and at the end of the night,

random in chat.

You must be active!

Stay tuned for that!

Exclamation point!

MARISHA: I’m so glad

someone wrote that down for us!

TALIESIN: Yeah, I’m so glad

they wrote out

the exclamation point.

TRAVIS: I’m in the chat right now.

LAURA: (laughing) Yeah.

TRAVIS: Totally.

SAM: Remind you, gotta stay active.

MARISHA: You’re active? Stay active.

MATT: Stay active, Travis.

In the game! (snaps fingers)

Eyes up here, Grog.

(all laugh)

MATT: All right,

so the next couple of things

we want to mention

to you guys real fast:

We have, it started up today,

a Critical Role t-shirt contest

that went up.

LAURA: Yeah!

MATT: We’re doing this with Woobox.

The link should be in the chat room

for you guys to check out,

but we have currently,

until June 24th at midnight,

the cut-off date,

but if anyone wants

to submit any designs,

all the rules for the contest

are there.

When all those designs

have been submitted,

we ourselves,

the cast of Critical Role,

are going to pore through

and pick our favorite.

LAURA: Top three.

MATT: Top three?

LAURA: Yes.

TRAVIS: Top three faves.

MATT: (funny accent) And we will have

designs incoming forward

for official Critical Role

shirt stuffs, which is nice.

TRAVIS: (similar accent) Critter.

LAURA: (similar accent) Critter,

it’s a Critter shirt.

MARISHA: Critter shirt.

TRAVIS: (similar accent) Critter

community t-shirt.

SAM: Are they all going to be like

Boaty McBoatface or something?

(all laugh)

LAURA: What’s Boaty McBoatface?

MATT: We will select -

SAM: Boaty McBoatface is

like an online “name our boat.”

(all say Boaty McBoatface)

MATT: Say Boaty McBoatface

so we can get into this,

and I’ll be happy.

(all laugh)

TRAVIS: Do your worst.

Show us your best. Yes!

MARISHA: All right,

who did we send to Alaska?

Who was that? Was that Flo Rida?

MATT: No. Oh, Alaska? That was…

Redman. Bulldog.

MARISHA: Bulldog!

TALIESIN: Pitbull.

MARISHA: Pitbull! Pitbull!

MATT: I mess up his name

intentionally all the time.

TRAVIS: Bullman?

TALIESIN: (groans)

MARISHA: (laughing) Pitbull.

ASHLEY: Bulldog. Shih tzu.

MARISHA: He played in,

like, a Wal-Mart in Anchorage.

LAURA: But it was like

a joke for publicity, right?

MATT: He went ahead and did it!

The online poll

for his next performance,

the internet trolled him and made it

to this far Alaska performance.

MARISHA: A Wal-Mart in Anchorage,

or something like that.

LAURA: And he did it

MATT: And he did it! I was like,

“respect to you, man. Well done.”

MARISHA: Yeah, respect.

Like 50 people showed up.

LAURA: That’s awesome!

MARISHA: And got a private -

LAURA: Concert.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: You know what,

I’ve done a con in Anchorage.

It’s nice. I like it.

TRAVIS: Yeah, man. Anchorage moose.

TALIESIN: They’ve got moose.

LAURA: Can we talk about our next thing

because I’m so excited about it.

SAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: What’s the next thing?

MARISHA: Yeah.

SAM: Do we get to show it, or no?

LAURA: YES.

TALIESIN: Oh, yes, that!

LIAM: (frustrated noises)

LAURA: Wait, okay,

so Liam gets to say it.

MATT: So, you are technically DM.

LIAM: So some of you

might remember us

talking about Joe Madureira

and his Kickstarter game,

Darksiders Night War,

which he successfully Kickstarted.

We talked about it a bunch

on this show -

MATT: Battle War, you mean?

LIAM: Hm?

MATT: Darksiders was -

LIAM: Excuse me. Battle Chasers.

LAURA: Battle Chasers.

LIAM: Excuse me,

I was going to be here

for a half hour and settle down

and go over my talking points.

LIAM: Battle Chasers.

SAM: You’re wearing the shirt.

LIAM: Battle Chasers.

I’m wearing the damn shirt.

(all laugh)

LIAM: Sorry.

Hour and a half in L.A. traffic.

Anyway.

He successfully Kickstarted,

they’re working on it,

I just saw him at E3,

I saw him a couple of days ago.

If you don’t know Joe’s work,

he is a comic book artist rock star.

He has worked on X-men,

he’s worked on Avenging Spider-Man,

Inhumans, Ultimates 3,

and his own comic, Battle Chasers,

which I fell in love with

when I was a teenager.

He does gorgeous artwork.

He’s only gotten better with time.

SAM: Pitbull Chasers.

MARISHA: (laughs)

LIAM: Pitbull Chasers, Flo Rida,

and Joe collaborating together.

Anyway, that game’s coming out.

You should check it out,

this is it.

But I bring that up because

while Joe is a busy, busy guy,

he somehow found the time -

I’m so excited -

to create an exclusive art piece

for Critical Role.

ASHLEY: Can we bring it in?

MARISHA: So gorgeous.

LAURA: Okay, okay, okay.

(noises of awe)

LIAM: Look at that business.

So right now -

LAURA: It’s blocking my face,

but I want to see it.

MARISHA: Well, we’ve seen it tiny.

LIAM: Guys, if you go over

to the Geek & Sundry shop

right now,

this is on pre-order, so -

I’m going over my script -

signed versions of this

will be available for pre-order

for 2 weeks only.

TRAVIS: Yeah, limited 2-week run, y'all.

Get it.

LIAM: 2-week pre-order.

And then unsigned for 3 weeks.

LAURA: 3 weeks.

LIAM: So this is now or never.

ASHLEY: It’s so badass!

MARISHA: Now or never

and then it goes away forever.

LAURA: Forever!

LIAM: And it’s too gorgeous, too.

Oh my lord.

MARISHA: It’s so gorgeous.

ASHLEY: I wonder if we should show

a close-up or something.

LAURA: So yeah, keep in mind

when you order it on pre-order

that you have to wait

for it to be fully pre-ordered

before we can send it out.

I don’t know if that was on camera

because I’m above the poster.

(all laugh)

ASHLEY: It’s so sexy.

MARISHA: You’re so sexy.

LIAM: It’s all right.

Vex is on the paper, so.

LAURA: That’s right.

MARISHA: Pike in that

three-point landing!

LAURA: Oh no, don’t take it away.

ASHLEY: (singing) Goodbye, my love!

TRAVIS: There’s an image

on the website, right?

MARISHA: And they are

movie-poster size.

They are that size.

LAURA: Yeah, they’re that full-on -

LIAM: They’re 24 x 36. Gorgeous.

MARISHA: 24 x 36.

SAM: And there’s a place to click

on the page where you are

right now watching this.

MATT: Those are my eyes.

I’m on a poster!

MARISHA: If you scroll down,

there’ll be a button.

LIAM: Scroll down

to the bottom of the page,

there’s a button for that.

MARISHA: Scroll down,

there’s a button.

LIAM: Thank you, Joe.

Thank you. It’s gorgeous.

LAURA AND MARISHA: Thank you, Joe!

MATT: Thank you, Joe. It’s amazing.

ASHLEY: Thanks, Joe!

TALIESIN: That’s amazing.

LAURA: It’s beautiful.

ASHLEY: I love it so much.

MATT: It is getting framed

and becoming a centerpiece of our home.

LIAM: And Battle Chasers Night War.

You should check it out today.

(all laugh)

MATT: All righty.

SAM: Signed, by the way,

signed by us, not by the artist.

LIAM: Us. By us.

MARISHA: Yeah, by us.

TALIESIN: You could find him.

Hunt him down if you wanted to.

MARISHA: Yes. (laughs)

MATT: (in a funny accent)

Taliesin, you are going to be

somewhere this weekend,

are you not?

TALIESIN: Oh, god, I am.

As soon as we’re done here,

I go home and pack

and get on an airplane.

I will be at Amazing Comic Con

in Vegas all weekend.

TRAVIS: You bastard.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

Sleep is never gonna happen.

LAURA, ASHLEY, AND MARISHA: No.

TALIESIN: Never.

ASHLEY: What is that.

TRAVIS: Sleep.

TALIESIN: You can meet me,

slightly deranged,

all weekend at Amazing Comic Con

with a bunch of other

Street Fighter kids,

and it’s going to be a great time,

and be right next to the Library Bards.

Bonnie Gordon, yeah yeah.

MATT: Yes, yes.

TALIESIN: Yeah, be hanging with them.

MARISHA: Oh, yeah, Library Bards. Nice.

MATT: Glorious.

TALIESIN: Good times.

MATT: And if I recall,

there was also

a recent announcement

of a cool Telltale game

that went up this week.

LAURA: Oh, man!

Batman the Telltale series!

TRAVIS: It’s sweet.

They announced the Batman cast

and Laura is playing

Catwoman Selina Kyle.

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: Yeah, man.

TRAVIS: I play District Attorney

LAURA AND TRAVIS: Harvey Dent.

ASHLEY: Ohhh.

LAURA: It’s pretty exciting.

TRAVIS: We’re gonna

turn Gotham around.

LAURA: And at E3 today,

we went and checked out the demo

and it’s pretty frickin’ cool.

ASHLEY: It’s so good.

I saw it yesterday and today

because I just couldn’t not

watch it again.

TRAVIS: It’s gonna be fun.

MATT: All righty,

anyone else have anything

they want to talk about?

(southern drawl) Or shall we dive into

the rest of tonight’s story?

TRAVIS: Let’s dive into the story.

MARISHA: Let’s dive.

MATT: (southern drawl) All righty.

Let’s go ahead and bring it down

as we all prepare ourselves

to begin to kick off

tonight’s episode of Critical Role.

(spooky ethereal music)

(heavy breathing)

(roaring)

(dramatic music)

(gun firing)

(dramatic music)

(crackling flames)

Part I
MATT: Welcome back.

So, picking up

where we last left off last week.

Vox Machina,

the growing troop of heroic misfits,

having recently felled

their first recent member

of the Chroma Conclave,

Umbrasyl the Hope Devourer,

as well as destroying

the current incursion

of the Herd of Storms

in the city of Westruun.

You met with

the remaining people of the town

and began to decide a plan

for its continued existence

and the recovery of those

that were displaced

in these recent conflicts.

Part of this process was meeting

an individual named Kerrek,

who was a blacksmith

who had been in the town

for a while,

who unwittingly

became part of this discussion -

MARISHA: My best friend.

MATT: (laughs)

You - Grog had spoken

with the remnants

of the Herd of Storms

that had essentially

been disbanding from the name

and moving west

to join with the Rivermaw,

which had stepped off

from the herd not too long ago.

You guys had a hot springs episode

in the mansion.

SAM: (laughs)

MATT: Scanlan,

you had made your way back to Kymal,

in which you, along with the aid

of a few of your friends,

figured out a plan in which the people

who had been displaced

could eventually return to Westruun,

and also found Kaylie

and spoke with her,

had your somewhat-tearful

reunion there.

You guys began to construct

a subterranean portion of Westruun

that would be protected

from future dragon incursion,

renovating and restructuring

within the sewer system

beneath the city.

After this process was complete,

you decided the next level

of your trek,

the next direction you would travel

would be towards the far western,

northwestern continent of Othanzia.

Specifically,

the city of Vasselheim

that you know all so well.

All of you guys stepping through

a tree portal presented by Keyleth,

you immediately step out

into the snowy exterior

of what seems like the outside

of the Quad Roads in Vasselheim.

And now, we see what

your next plan of action is.

What do you guys want to do?

SAM: (sighs) Light a fire.

LAURA: What time is it? (laughs)

MARISHA: Yeah, what time is it?

MATT: It’s hard to tell right now

with the cloud cover

so thick in the sky,

but you envision at this point in time,

it’s probably mid-afternoon or so.

The general omniscient glow

through the clouds,

kind of diffused light,

but based on the time that you -

where you were

and how far you traveled,

you gather it’s probably

early to mid-afternoon.

SCANLAN: Well, you’re the one

who brought us here, Vax.

Where would you like to go?

VAX: I need to go

to the temple of the Raven Queen.

SCANLAN: We’ll come with you.

VEX: Let’s go.

PERCY: I know where that is.

VAX: I know that you all

have a lot of errands to do.

I don’t need everyone to come.

GROG: We have a lot of errands to do?

VAX: I thought so. You mentioned…

VEX: My only errand

is to keep my eyes on you.

PERCY: I have some errands,

if that makes anybody feel better.

I have some errands to run.

GROG: Do you need any help

with your errands?

PERCY: Sure. Actually, yes.

I would love some help

with my errands.

VEX: Don’t let him shop, Percy.

Do not let him shop.

PERCY: That shouldn’t be a problem.

GROG: I don’t know what that means,

but I’m sure I take great offense.

VEX: (laughs)

PERCY: That’s - you’re getting smarter.

GROG: How effin’ dare you.

VEX: That eagle form

really made a difference.

VAX: It rubbed off, yeah.

TRAVIS: I spit out a feather.

(pthh)

No, I don’t.

Yeah, a loogie.

MATT: So. Who’s off to where?

VEX: Where is this

Raven Queen’s temple?

VAX: (sighs) I -

we’ve not been here many times.

LIAM: Are we surrounded by people?

Are there people walking about?

MATT: There actually -

it is quite a busy time

in the afternoon.

There is actually a bit

of hustle and bustle.

Looking around,

just a quick glance

at your vicinity in Vasselheim,

you can see a lot of the bastions

are out in force.

Many of them are in process

of helping construct

what looks like

green forest dragon-headed ballista.

Some of the ones you had seen

towards the outside wall

of the city;

there are more being installed

upon the inner walls,

and the ones in the distance

appear to be

under some form of construction.

PERCY: We have rooms.

Why don’t we go claim our rooms

and I’m sure they can lead us

to everywhere we need to go.

VAX: That makes sense.

KEYLETH: Want to go check in

at the Slayer’s Take?

PERCY: And we can meet back there

when everything is done.

KEYLETH: All right.

VEX: Do you need

to check in at your temple,

or should we pretend

you’re not here

so they don’t try

to make you stay?

KEYLETH: Yes.

PIKE: Let’s just pretend

for a little bit.

GROG: Yeah.

KEYLETH: Okay.

PIKE: And then I’ll check in later.

There’s no rush to get there.

At least, that I know of right now.

SCANLAN: God will wait

for a long time.

GROG: All right.

To the Slayer’s Take, then?

VEX: Let’s do it.

PERCY: To the Slayer’s Take.

MATT: All right.

You guys continue further south

into the Quad Roads

until eventually you find yourselves

at the Slayer’s Take guildhall.

The door is partially ajar already.

It appears that somebody

had left it open,

but it is warm on the inside.

You can see a fireplace hearth

on the far back and to the right

is already kind of filling the area

with this subtle musty smoke smell,

and the crackling of wood

in the distance

is a very welcoming sensation

from the cold exterior

of the city streets.

As you enter,

you do not see anybody

at the front desk at the moment,

but you do see a few other

random individuals of the guild

that have taken certain tables.

Some are eating,

and some are in the process

of playing cards or passing the time.

It seems to be

a relatively casual day

here at the Slayer’s Take.

But your rooms are still available,

best as you need.

Anything you specifically require

in this place?

LAURA: Can I just grab

one of the people that are here

and ask him,

VEX: What’s all

the hustle about outside?

I see them installing more.

MATT: Okay. You go ahead and -

one of the guys closest to you,

you’ve met him briefly in passing,

his name is Loran.

He has a completely bald head

with a single stripe tattoo

down the center.

He has a very, very pointed long chin.

Human, but he’s probably

been busted in the face a few times.

You can see there’s just scars

and what appears to be bone structure

that may have been reformed at times

due to blunt trauma.

But he’s just sitting there,

sharpening his weapons,

just kind of doing good upon his own self,

being prepared for anything.

But as you come over

to ask him the question,

he looks up to you and goes,

LORAN: Word’s gone around the town recently

that there’s some wandering

dragon horde

tearing through Tal'Dorei,

so they’re just upping security

around these places, just in case.

VEX: Smart.

LORAN: I hope so.

Hope they make their way here.

VEX: Nobody’s sighted the dragons,

though, over here?

LORAN: Not to my knowledge, but

(chuckles) I’d love to get my hand

on some of them scales, eh?

(blade scrapes)

KEYLETH: What’s your name?

What’s your name?

LORAN: Loran.

KEYLETH: What?

SCANLAN: What?

KEYLETH: Oran? What?

VEX: Loran?

LORAN: Loran.

KEYLETH: Loran.

MATT: Because… that’s what I remember.

LAURA AND SAM: (laugh)

LIAM: Thought so.

(all laugh)

LIAM: It took over fifty episodes

for that to happen.

LAURA: I’m sorry, what was the question?

MATT: Well, when you don’t take notes

when I give you

a character’s name originally,

and they come back around

and it’s weird

when you suddenly take damage

and your character starts hemorrhaging.

LAURA: Oh no. Loran. Loran.

Loran was his name.

LIAM: I was just eating an apple.

Why am I dying?

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Veiled threat.

ASHLEY: I’m just sitting by the fire, so.

LAURA: Slayer’s Take.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MARISHA: So this is -

we have seen this guy before?

MATT: Some of you

may have seen him in passing.

You haven’t really

had a conversation with him.

He just exists within the guild.

There’s many members

that you’ve come across in the past.

MARISHA: Sure, that exist.

TRAVIS: Probably a dragon.

LAURA: Pointy chin. Got it.

ASHLEY: Stripe on his head.

TRAVIS: Nothing wrong with those.

VAX: How are the people doing?

Is there a sense of worry,

or do you guys feel pretty secure?

LORAN: As far as this town is concerned,

it takes a lot more than a couple dragons

to drop these walls.

It’s the reason it’s been around

for a long time,

and I’d like to see them try.

KEYLETH: Have you ever

encountered a dragon personally, Loran?

LORAN: I mean, I’ve come across

a few small ilk in my days, but -

KEYLETH: Uh-huh. Sure. Yeah. Yep.

SAM: (laughs) Are you hazing Loran?

MARISHA: Nope. Nope.

VEX: Keyleth is proud of herself

because we’ve just killed our third, actually.

LORAN: Oh, that’s fantastic.

I love to hear it.

You half-elves are a humble bunch.

(all laugh)

TRAVIS: Fire! Fire! Put the flames out!

MARISHA: Yeah, Team Half-Elf. Yeah!

TRAVIS: Such a good burn.

LAURA: Liam, I don’t want

to ask Matt this,

but the chick

that runs the Slayer’s Take,

her name’s Vanessa?

LIAM: Vanessa.

ALL: Vanessa.

SAM: Cyndrian.

LIAM: And her husband Merkin.

SAM: Mertin.

TRAVIS: Most amazing name.

MATT: (laughs)

VEX: Are Vanessa

and Merkin around?

SCANLAN: Mertin.

VEX: Mertin.

LIAM: Mertin. (laughs)

TRAVIS: Nope, Merkin from now on.

SAM: Merkin is a different thing.

MATT: (laughs) Yeah,

a very different thing.

I guess it depends on if he shaved recently.

He looks toward the back room,

where her main office is, and he goes,

LORAN: You’re welcome to go ahead

and knock on the door

if you’re feeling frisky.

SCANLAN: Sure.

VEX: Should we try to sell Vanessa

some of our dragon bits?

GROG: We should sell to, like, a merchant?

VEX: Well, Vanessa -

they tend to be in the -

PERCY: They may have a buyer.

VEX: Yeah.

KEYLETH: Yeah.

GROG: Love that you asked me that question.

VEX: Let’s go see - I know, right?

What was I thinking?

GROG: I don’t know. (laughs)

PERCY: Keep a few of the scales, obviously.

GROG: We can tell

what my place in the party is.

VEX: Of course. Grog, come with me.

KEYLETH: Oh, wait, keep the teeth.

Keep enough teeth for us.

PERCY: We’ll talk

about the cold bag for now

and see if there’s anything else

they want to talk about.

KEYLETH: I have an idea for teeth.

LAURA: Can I go find Vanessa?

MATT: You go

and knock on the door. (knocks)

There’s a brief pause.

Knock again. (knocks)

VEX: (sing-song) Vanessa?

Vox Machina here - oh, hi.

MATT: The door (fwoosh) swings open.

You have to duck backwards.

It (thump) slams onto

the other side of the wall there,

knocking a few knick-knacks

that were on a nearby shelf over.

And Vanessa swings out.

VANESSA: What? Who’s calling - ah.

It has been some time.

How nice of you to come and visit.

May I… be of service to you,

or is this a business call?

VEX: Oh, well, we were wondering

if we could be of service to you.

We happen to have acquired

a great many dragon bits

and we thought you might be in need of

buying them for your sellers - buyers.

Your people.

SCANLAN: Fencing them.

VEX: Fence - you know.

PERCY: I really thought

you’d be better at this.

VANESSA: There is no fencing.

VEX: No fencing, no.

No no no, you’re -

VANESSA: We run a legitimate business.

VEX: Legal buyers.

VANESSA: Good.

As was I hoping to hear this.

Let me check my ledger.

MATT: She turns around

and goes back to her desk.

Her tail flicks behind her as she steps

over to her table, leans over.

VANESSA: (muttering) Ah!

MATT: Pulls one of the books. (blows)

Starts thumbing through it.

VANESSA: (more muttering)

(louder) What color dragon?

VEX: Black.

VANESSA: Hmm.

VANESSA: Chromatic.

SCANLAN: (quietly) Ancient.

VEX: Ancient black dragon.

VAX: Weathered.

KEYLETH: Yeah, you might have heard

about him. Umbrasyl… (chuckles)

SCANLAN: You’re super salty today.

GROG: Tone it down like two notches.

VEX: Gaining confidence, our druid.

VANESSA: There is currently

no contract for a black dragon.

I do have one up

for a bronze

or perhaps a white, but…

VEX: Oh, white!

Do we have any white bits left?

GROG: Yeah.

PIKE: We should have white

from back in the day.

VEX: What, do you want scales or…

VANESSA: Specifically hide.

If there is white dragonhide…

GROG: We have 60 pounds of -

VEX: Didn’t we - that was the dragon

we killed for you before,

because we didn’t bring the -

PERCY: No, it was before that one.

VEX: No, but we killed one with Zahra.

We killed a white dragon.

KEYLETH: Yeah, they killed a white dragon.

VANESSA: That was for a different contract.

This is for a newer one I came by.

VEX: We’ve killed four dragons?!

Four fucking dragons. Go us.

KEYLETH: Yes, we have. Yes. Four dragons.

GROG: Excuse us

while we reminisce, apparently.

VANESSA: (deadpan) Yes, it is amazing.

The things you’ve accomplished.

I am blown away.

But in light of your capabilities,

I do not require anything black dragon.

However, if a contract comes in,

I know who to call.

Hold onto that,

because that would save you a trip.

VEX: All right.

KEYLETH: All right.

PERCY: We do have

some white scales left over, don’t we?

VEX: Yes, I think so.

GROG: Yeah, we do.

We have like 60 pounds of scales.

VANESSA: Is that hide or scales?

GROG: Just scales.

No hide, unfortunately.

VANESSA: Hm. Well, I could definitely do

a bit of business for you there.

The hide would fetch more, but -

60 pounds, you said?

GROG: Yeah. 64, to be exact.

VEX: Of white dragon scales.

VANESSA: 64 of white dragon scales, okay.

VANESSA: I would be willing to continue

at least part of this contract

for this applicant for…

let’s say… 4500 gold pieces.

VEX: 5000 gold pieces,

I think is a fair price.

VANESSA: This is not about bartering.

This is what the contract says, my dear.

This is beyond

a situation of conversation.

The paperwork is already signed.

VEX: What if we gave you

less dragon scales?

Would you have said less money?

SCANLAN: That’s typically how it works.

TALIESIN AND MARISHA: (laugh)

VANESSA: Vex'ahlia. My dear.

My delightful little

dragon-hating half-elf.

We’ve been good to you.

We’ve done many great things for you.

You’ve done great things for us.

This is a fantastic arrangement.

MATT: (boof) She slams the book shut

and sets it down.

VANESSA: But you have signed on with us,

and the deal is to fulfill contracts

as they are signed, as they are written,

as they are agreed upon by the person.

If you wish not to accept this contract,

we can just wait

until somebody else picks it up

and goes out and fulfills this need

at the price

at which they are requesting for this.

You’re welcome to keep the scales.

VEX: I think we’ll keep them

and we’ll sell them to other vendors, then.

SCANLAN: Haven’t we had them for years?

GROG: Yeah.

PERCY: I have a thing I’m thinking about.

VANESSA: See?

Then it’s easy for you to get rid of them.

If they’ve been a problem for you,

then I’m sure this would be easy.

SCANLAN: Where are we going to sell these?

The world’s on fire!

KEYLETH: Okay, hang on,

we know it’s here. We know it’s here.

There aren’t that many

white dragons walking around -

PERCY: Certainly not anymore.

KEYLETH: Certainly not anymore.

We know it’s here.

VAX: It’s time to sell them.

KEYLETH: Why don’t we sleep on it.

Think about it.

If we’re ever in a pinch for money,

we can come back.

GROG: Yeah. Sounds good.

PIKE: Mm-hm.

VANESSA: Very well.

VEX: Vanessa, you’re so kind.

GROG: Besides, I’ve been working

on that dragon immunity potion.

VANESSA: As ever.

VEX: I’m so sorry.

VANESSA: That is all right. Goodbye.

MATT: And she shoos you out.

KEYLETH: Oh, wait, Vanessa.

Wait wait wait wait.

VANESSA: Yes, other female half-elf?

KEYLETH: That’s me.

Where’s the temple of the Raven Queen?

VANESSA: Oh, you’re looking for

the Duskmeadow. Raven’s Crest. It is -

MATT: And she points loosely outward,

kind of southeast of the direction

of the Slayer’s Take guildhall.

VANESSA: It’s kind of hard to miss.

It’s giant, black, ominous.

(chuckles) You’ll see it.

MATT: And she kind of bops your nose

a little bit with her finger.

VANESSA: Now, please. Out of my office.

I have work to get done.

VEX: Thank you, Vanessa.

KEYLETH: Okay, bye.

SCANLAN: Thank you.

Kord’s strength to you.

VANESSA: That does nothing for me.

MATT: (boof) Slams the door shut.

VEX: They were worth a lot more

than what she was offering,

just for the record.

They are worth so much more.

SCANLAN: To whom?

We haven’t ever sold them

or come across anyone

who wanted them before.

PERCY: This is no reason

to get rid of something for wholesale.

VEX: Well, we’ve not really tried.

That doesn’t mean

we should just give them away.

SCANLAN: We also are almost full

in our Bag of Holding,

might I remind you,

and 64 pounds

would free up quite some -

VEX: It’s not 64 pounds.

SCANLAN: It’s 64 pounds.

GROG: It’s 64.

VEX: Oh, it was 64 pounds. (groans)

MATT: (laughs)

GROG: Like I just told you.

PIKE: 64 pounds of scales.

GROG: But I could

get rid of some other stuff.

VEX: Well, they’re worth

like 20,000 gold.

SCANLAN: To whom?

VEX: You don’t care.

GROG: We also have fifteen cases

of expensive-ass bottles of wine.

PERCY: I’m just going

to point out, since -

VAX, VEX, AND KEYLETH:

We should drink those.

PERCY: We should drink those,

first of all.

That is the only thing that makes sense.

And I feel - and I apologize

if it seems like I say this a lot,

but I do have a castle

that we can drop things at -

VEX: Oh!

PERCY: And we can leave them there,

perhaps get back to them at a later date.

KEYLETH: To be fair, Percy,

you do a lot to remind us

to try not to forget that you’re titled.

SCANLAN: To be fair, have we ever

gone back for something before, ever,

SCANLAN: in our entire travels?

PERCY: Yes. We -

SCANLAN: What?

VAX: We needn’t stay here long.

I don’t think what I’m here for

is going to take too long.

I hope.

We could go to Whitestone next.

PERCY: Yes, that would be -

SCANLAN: All right. All right.

PERCY: - and just drop everything off,

create a little nest of what we need.

VEX: All right.

Let’s go find your queen.

TRAVIS: (quietly)

There is some gross shit in this bag.

(all laugh)

TALIESIN: You found the troll dick,

didn’t you?

LAURA: What do you have in there?

TRAVIS: There are six basilisk eggs.

LAURA: Are they still good?

MARISHA: Those are probably bad.

TALIESIN: Oh, I bet those

have gone really bad.

TRAVIS: I reach into the Bag of Holding

and think about one basilisk egg.

LIAM: I’m sure they smell like Grog.

MATT: You pull out a basilisk egg.

TALIESIN: Do they just turn to stone?

LAURA: Does it smell like a fart?

MATT: It’s roughly that size.

It’s a dull grayish-blue hint.

LIAM: Sulfuric?

TRAVIS: Can I get the smell?

MATT: It has a somewhat, very vague

sulfurous scent on the outside of the egg.

TRAVIS: I’ll put it back in the bag.

ASHLEY: Oh, Vanessa!

VEX: We could make stink-bombs with it.

KEYLETH AND PERCY: Ooh.

VAX: Yeah, we could.

KEYLETH: Good idea. I like that.

GROG: All right. So what’s next?

VEX: We go see the Raven Queen.

You go see the Raven Queen

and we wait outside.

VAX: I didn’t say anything.

VEX: Uselessly.

VAX: I didn’t say anything!

TALIESIN: Is it in the direction

where I have to go?

MATT: Where are you heading?

TALIESIN: I need to resupply everything.

MATT: That’s the opposite direction.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: You’re heading

to the Braving Grounds.

They’re heading to the Duskmeadow.

GROG: Oh! I like the sound of that.

I’ll go with you.

PERCY: Yes, you will.

SCANLAN: I’ll come with you, as well.

GROG: Yeah, three! Who else?

Any other takers

while Vax goes and gets a tattoo?

MATT: (laughs)

VAX: Another tattoo?

GROG: Well, I thought that -

is that not what you’re doing?

VEX: That’s what he’s doing, Grog.

VAX: It is. I’m getting a tattoo.

PIKE: Close. Something like that.

VAX: It will say “Phillip the Brave”.

GROG: (gasps)

VAX: Across the small of my back.

GROG: Phillip. Full name, Phillip.

PERCY: Just a - this is out of -

I don’t know if this is going to be

any help or anything,

by the way, Vax, but just in case.

TALIESIN: I’m going to reach in

and pull out the mask

and hand it to Vax.

PERCY: Just in case.

VAX: (slowly) I don’t know.

Thank you.

KEYLETH: Percy?

PERCY: Yes?

KEYLETH: Do you still have

that raven’s skull I gave you?

PERCY: I do. We’ll talk about that.

KEYLETH: All right.

PERCY: But that - I’ve found in moments

when I was feeling less than brave

that pretending to be

somebody else on occasion,

even afterwards, can be helpful.

VAX: Is there anything left

inside of this?

PERCY: Just some spit.

VAX: That’s wonderful.

VEX: (laughs)

PERCY: And something that smells nice

in the front that will help.

It helps cleanse the air.

VAX: All right, Percival.

PERCY: I don’t know why.

I’m feeling… what would be the word?

Superstitious.

KEYLETH: Oh, I was

going to say “giving.”

VEX: She’s ornery today.

KEYLETH: Sorry. Angry.

PERCY: You know,

I kind of like it.

VAX: You know. Enough chit-chat.

Let’s get this shit done.

MATT AND TRAVIS: All right.

MATT: So you three

are going to the Braving Grounds.

You four are going to the Duskmeadow.

LAURA: We are.

MATT: Okay. All right, so.

You three are making your way

towards the Braving Grounds.

Following suit after Percival,

you make your way up

not quite to the Trial Forge,

which is where you had

your last discussion

and brief showdown

with Earthbreaker Groon.

Still seeing the large statue of Kord

looming over the entirety of the realm.

You can still see the large columns

of dark smoke and soot

coming out of the various forges,

the various mining encampments,

and a lot of the folks there

that are working on different pieces

of iron and metal.

You, I assume, make your way

to a very familiar abode. (laughs)

TALIESIN: Of all the options of the world

that you’ve given me…

MATT: All right. You, uh -

(all laugh)

TALIESIN: This is really your fault

as much as it’s mine.

MATT: You come up to the outside

of a familiar hovel.

Previously damaged,

missing part of its roof.

The roof is mostly repaired.

You actually see two individuals

are over the top of it,

hammering pieces of wood into it.

Not a very fine job,

but definitely enough patchwork

to keep the rain and snow

from pouring in.

The door is partially open

as you approach.

PERCY: (sighs heavily)

SCANLAN: You might be blown up

if you go in there.

PERCY: I know.

GROG: Should we wait outside?

PERCY: Let’s just all be ginger.

(louder) Hello? Victor, are you home?

It’s Percy.

MATT: Silence.

SCANLAN: Want me to go in

and investigate?

PERCY: Hold on.

(louder) Hello, you up there? Hello?

MATT: (hammering noises)

ROOFER: What?

PERCY: Where is the owner

of this domicile?

ROOFER: I don’t know.

I haven’t seen him.

PERCY: How long has he been gone for?

ROOFER: (mutters)

(louder) Couple of hours.

SCANLAN: Oh, good. Not dead, then.

GROG: He’s dead.

(all laugh)

PERCY: Do you have any idea

where he’s been off to?

ROOFER: I haven’t seen him leave.

MATT: (hammering noises)

PERCY: Well, I’m going to pop in

and check really quickly,

just letting you know.

ROOFER: Your funeral.

MATT: (hammering noises)

TALIESIN: I gingerly open the door.

Can I check for traps?

TRAVIS: Attaboy.

MATT: You may.

Make an investigation check.

TRAVIS: Yeah, we’re standing right here.

TALIESIN: Oh, yay, that’s not that bad.

Investigation? I never use that.

11. No, 12. 12.

MATT: 12, okay.

(creak) You move the door open

and kind of search the ground

and the area before it

and the actual frame of the door itself.

No traps.

TALIESIN: All right.

MATT: Glancing inside, though,

you can see a little bit of light.

It looks like there’s

a hooded lantern across the way

and just a little bit of light is flickering

and it’s kind of

going against the wall nearest to you,

to your right, as you enter.

The same familiar smell of fresh earth,

really, really, really dry dust

and a very familiar smell

of explosive black powder material.

PERCY: Oh, dear.

SCANLAN: Is Victor in there?

PERCY: No, I don’t see anybody in here.

SCANLAN: Well, should we just

purchase what you need

via the honor system

and leave some coin behind?

PERCY: He’s not necessarily

always a believer in coin.

Sometimes he just wants some trade.

Also, I need to talk to him

about some personal issues.

MATT: (boof) You see off to the side,

what you didn’t initially notice

as you entered,

what appears to be a wooden trapdoor

in the far corner that (boof).

PERCY: Oh, sweet gods of Pelor!

MATT: (boof) (boof boof)

And you notice

that apparently something -

a large sack

of some heavy material

has rolled off a nearby table

and is now currently

holding the door down.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: You hear a muffled,

VICTOR: I’m inside!

TALIESIN: I’m going to go

try and lift it.

PERCY: (grunts)

MATT: You lift it up,

set it off to the side. (boosh)

VICTOR: (coughing) What’s going on?

You trying to kill me?

PERCY: (laughs) No! No - hello, Victor.

I was just to give you money.

You were stuck -

you had gotten stuck down -

what is down there?

VICTOR: This is my mining building.

SAM: Your mine?

VICTOR: (scoffs)

TALIESIN: His Mayan building.

Can you not -

SAM: I can’t.

TALIESIN: - understand simple English?

VICTOR: Don’t put things

on top of the door.

It makes it hard to get out!

SAM: (whispering)

Something’s happened to him.

PERCY: Are you all right?

VICTOR: I’m okay!

PERCY: Are you sure?

VICTOR: No, I’ve been locked

down here for hours!

ASHLEY: Oh no.

PERCY: Um. Grog, Scanlan?

(stutters) Come on in, he’s fine.

VICTOR: Help me out!

MATT: He raises his hands up.

You can see now,

where once was two, now is none.

EVERYONE: Oh no!

ASHLEY AND LAURA: Victor!

VICTOR: (grunts)

LIAM: You have to build him a hand.

TALIESIN: I know.

VICTOR: (grunts)

I can’t wait all day, here!

SCANLAN: Grog, can you get him out,

can you lift him up?

PERCY: Grog, can you lift the poor -

GROG: All right, all right, yeah.

TRAVIS: I grab the stump

and I pick him up into the air.

VICTOR: (screams)

TRAVIS: I shake him a little bit.

VICTOR: (yelps)

PERCY: I need him mostly intact.

GROG: Oh. So, like, on the ground?

PERCY: Treat him slightly better

than you would treat

a member of your own family.

VICTOR: Don’t shake me too hard.

PERCY: More than slightly better.

Much better.

LAURA: Oh, don’t shake him too hard -

I’m not there.

GROG: Oh. Gas.

VICTOR: Sure.

TRAVIS: I put him gently

back on the ground.

VICTOR: Thank you.

MATT: He pats you on the head

with his nub.

SAM: Ugh.

MATT: Goes over. You can see

he’s kind of bandaged.

He goes over and then pulls the ladder up

that he didn’t use, closes the -

TRAVIS: (laughing) The ladder

he didn’t use?

VICTOR: Okay. So. What do you want?

PERCY: Well, I was hoping to buy

a little bit more black powder

from you, if possible,

and I’m curious if you had

anything else for sale,

and I wanted to ask you

a couple of questions,

just about other customers again.

VICTOR: That’s a lot.

PERCY: I know.

VICTOR: Eh! I can - I have powder.

PERCY: You do.

VICTOR: I can sell you more powder.

Question one: yes. How much?

PERCY: One question?

LIAM: First question.

PERCY: First question.

Has a one-armed lady,

a one-handed lady,

a doctor come by to purchase -

VICTOR: Not a lady.

I am an honorable man!

GROG: Don’t insult him.

PERCY: I know.

PERCY: And I would never

insult your honor

or preferences of any kind, but -

VICTOR: Are you saying I’m pretty?

PERCY: Victor, I think you know

how I feel about that,

but you're

a very attractive man, and -

VICTOR: Your friend’s hitting on me.

GROG: I know it.

VICTOR: I’m taken.

GROG: He’s taken.

PERCY: Are you dating right now?

VICTOR: No, I’m just taken.

PERCY: Okay.

TALIESIN: (laughs) I can’t.

I’m sorry. I’m good.

VICTOR: (shouting) How much?

PERCY: Well, I was going to offer,

I was originally going to offer

some gold if you like,

but if you’d like,

I could make you a tool

you could use

with your current predicament.

Some sort of simple

clawing mechanism

for grasping, lifting,

not getting caught in your mine.

VICTOR: Maybe. Maybe.

Maybe a trade? Maybe a claw?

PERCY: I love trade.

Trade is brilliant.

VICTOR: Build and bring.

Build and bring, and we trade.

PERCY: I would ask one other thing,

if I am to do this for you.

VICTOR: Oh, so many questions!

Does he have questions, too?

Does he have questions, too?!

SCANLAN: I do

have a question, actually.

PERCY: You have a question?

SCANLAN: Yes, I do.

GROG: I don’t, no.

I don’t have any questions. None.

VICTOR: (sighs) I like him.

What’s your question?

SCANLAN: I’m just looking

for a hat shop.

Is there a hat shop around here?

VICTOR: Ehm.

MATT: And he starts pulling around

from a pile of oiled rags and shit

and he pulls up

what looks like a small burlap sack

that’s torn somewhat at the opening.

VICTOR: Hat.

SCANLAN: Oh, god. Ugh.

All right, thank you. Thank you.

VICTOR: My pleasure.

Happy to help. (chuckles)

SCANLAN: Okay.

PERCY: That was everything

I could have hoped for, and more.

VICTOR: Don’t get near the fire.

PERCY: Really, don’t.

SCANLAN: Thank you.

PERCY: Has Dr. Ripley -

has a woman come by to buy black powder,

one hand, one mechanical hand,

one normal hand? Mechanical hand?

VICTOR: Is that the one

you’re saying you can make?

PERCY: I’m going

to make you something,

nice and useful claw piece, yes.

VICTOR: So you’re saying

that this woman

made a better hand

than you can make?

PERCY: No, I can make

a better hand.

VICTOR: Then make me a better hand!

Why would you give me a lesser hand?!

PERCY: You’re going to need to give me

quite a bit of black powder for that.

And more questions.

GROG: Ooh.

VICTOR: Really?

(all laugh)

VICTOR: I’ve had a bad day.

PERCY: Is that recent?

SCANLAN: That happened today?

PERCY: It doesn’t look that recent.

MATT: (ripping sounds)

He starts unwrapping the wound.

PERCY: Oh, that’s recent.

That’s wet. That’s very wet.

MATT: It’s pretty recent.

PERCY: Oh. Okay. I can work with that.

I can work with that.

I’m going to go construct you something

that will be perfect for your needs.

I have a great idea.

I will need

another hogshead and a half

of black powder

and a little information

about another customer

and then I will leave you

to your work. Is that fair?

VICTOR: Fair!

MATT: He turns around, rushes over,

and grabs the same phantom hogshead

that he has lying around his place.

TALIESIN: He eats a lot of pork.

MATT: Before he fills it with powder,

he goes over to Scanlan and goes,

VICTOR: (hums) Too big.

TRAVIS: Good hat.

MATT: Fills it with black powder,

carefully brings it over,

holding it under his arm.

VICTOR: (grunts)

PERCY: Thank you. (grunts)

I will put this

in something reasonable.

I’ll be back

in just a little bit with -

actually, do you have a glove

that you used to wear,

or anything like that?

PERCY: Do you have something?

VICTOR: Yes!

MATT: He pulls out the glove

that was on the hand,

(laughing) and you can see

that it’s blown apart,

half burned to cinders,

fingers gone.

TALIESIN: I can

take measurements from that.

MATT: It’s more of a sleeve

with a charcoaled edge.

PERCY: I’m going to be busy.

Can you cast the -

SCANLAN: No, but Keyleth can,

and I think that would save you

a lot of time.

MARISHA: I’m not here.

PERCY: She’s not here.

SCANLAN: No, but we can go get her

and come back.

PERCY: To?

SCANLAN: To just fix his hand.

PERCY: I don’t think

she can just fix his hand.

SCANLAN: Someone can restore something.

Maybe Pike can.

MARISHA: I can.

Not today, but I can over time.

GROG: Want me to give it a try?

PERCY: While I’m tempted -

would you just -

I feel like I made a deal.

I’m just going to have to see to it.

SCANLAN: I think he would prefer

a real hand than a claw hand.

PERCY: Would you prefer

a real hand or a claw hand?

VICTOR: Depends.

How cool is the claw hand?

TRAVIS AND SAM: (laugh)

PERCY: That’s what I thought.

SCANLAN: I would much rather

you spend time

on projects for us

than projects for him.

PERCY: This is projects for us.

GROG: I vote for the claw.

It’s pretty cool.

PERCY: And believe me, I would like -

VICTOR: Cooler than that lady’s hand?

PERCY: Keeping him happy is pertinent

because I’m -

I can make this myself,

it’s just very difficult.

SCANLAN: We have party members

who can regrow his hand.

GROG: Hey, Percy.

PERCY: Yes?

GROG: He wants the claw to be cooler

than that lady’s claw hand.

PERCY: That’s very easy to do.

She has no aesthetics whatsoever.

GROG: All right.

Then eff the old original hand.

Let’s give him

a reasonable claw, yeah?

PERCY: Don’t worry about it.

SCANLAN: All right.

PERCY: It’ll be fine.

And if you can’t do the mansion,

I know where I can

go get some work done.

SCANLAN: Oh, you want me to make -

we have the Slayer’s Take.

They have a workshop, don’t they?

PERCY: If not, I know

where I can work on something.

I will be back.

I will not leave town

before I’ve delivered to you something -

VICTOR: (squawks)

MATT: He takes the hogshead.

PERCY: Oh! Absolutely fair.

VICTOR: Trade when you bring hand.

PERCY: Yes, of course.

VICTOR: Then I deliver with new hand.

Then all is well.

GROG: Yeah.

VICTOR: No more questions!

PERCY: Aah - no. That’s fine.

We’ll be back! It’ll be good.

VICTOR: You’re small.

SCANLAN: I need a big hat.

VICTOR: Can’t help you, sorry.

SCANLAN: All right.

PERCY: Are we going to go

find a hat shop, then?

SCANLAN: Maybe, if we pass one.

PERCY: All right.

We will be back. Stay safe.

VICTOR: Okay.

Don’t touch the door, please!

PERCY: Yes. No. Just.

We’ll be back. Bye!

TALIESIN: I’m going to go find

a workshop to work on something.

GROG: I like you.

We’ll see you later.

VICTOR: (chuckles) He’s big.

GROG: (chuckles)

PERCY: And I’m just right.

It’s… a thing.

VICTOR: I’m undecided about you.

PERCY: You’re not alone.

TALIESIN: I’m going to go see

if the Slayer’s Take has a -

SAM: We’re going to leave.

TALIESIN: I cannot handle

any more of that. That was brutal.

SAM: Too good.

TRAVIS: I feel like

you’re just on a higher level.

ASHLEY: Right?

LAURA: So much.

LAURA: I just thought you were

going to make him not there

so you didn’t have to do it.

MATT: No no no.

MARISHA: Yeah, yeah yeah.

He’s just not home. Sorry, guys.

ASHLEY: Oh, I love him.

MARISHA: Victor’s on vacation.

TALIESIN: So, I’m going to go

see if there’s -

if there’s not a blacksmithing,

if there’s not somewhere I can do

a bit of basic smithing work

and technical work,

then I’m going to go

find that blacksmith from last time.

MATT: There’s basic materials to do

essentially weapon repairs,

armor repairs,

minor armor construction

within the Slayer’s Take.

If you want something

that’s going to be

a little more to the level

of what you’re doing,

you may have to actually

rent out a facility.

TALIESIN: Well, I’m going to go find

that young chap from before.

MATT: Okay. Yeah, easy enough to do.

If you want to rent the forge

for the day

to craft whatever it is

you’re looking to craft,

he’s charging you

50 gold for the day.

TALIESIN: 50 gold for the day?

Can I use all of his tools

and just my own materials?

MATT: You have to supply

your own material, but he’ll let you rent.

TALIESIN: I’m going to run and find Vex,

get my stuff, and go to work.

MATT: Okay. You guys.

You four make your way

over towards the Duskmeadow.

MATT: Now -

LAURA: Trinket’s out.

MATT: Trinket’s out? (fwoosh)

TRINKET: (groans)

VEX: Come on, Trinket.

TRINKET: (grunts)

MATT: He rolls his head against you,

licks the side of your face,

happy to be out

of that stuffy little necklace.

You make your way towards the Duskmeadow,

which you’ve seen before.

It’s a very comparatively

glum-looking area of the town,

hence the name that accompanies it,

but this is the area

of the city that contains

the Raven’s Crest,

the Amaranthine Oubliette.

It also contains

the entire town’s catacombs.

This is where,

since this town’s existence,

all of the dead are interred

perpetually deeper and deeper and deeper

beneath this part of the city.

This is - also one of

the oldest libraries of the city

is kept here as well.

As you approach the outskirts of -

and you can see a very fine line

between this area and the Birth Heart,

which is the Melora section of the city.

There is a very, very wide river divide

between the two of them

and it’s like night and day,

back and back.

Very, very, very directly

between the two of them.

You can see on Melora’s side

there’s just stalks and stalks of corn

and other vegetation

that’s being grown for food.

There’s almost like a lush forest

that curls around the outside of it

that doesn’t match

the rest of the indigenous trees

you’ve seen in this area of Othanzia.

The entire Birth Heart area,

where this temple to Melora is,

is just this

plucked-out-of-nowhere section

placed into it.

And then you move over

to the Duskmeadow

and it’s just… like the color

has left the vicinity.

And there you see in the center

of this part of the town,

this large, looming,

ominous obsidian and gold structure.

It’s like a giant black stone aerie.

It has no intricacies

from this distance that you can see.

It’s almost like a giant square building

that is just devoid of light,

with little glimmers of gold

when the light catches it at moments.

It’s hard to miss

and definitely stands as a centerpiece

to this section of Vasselheim.

LIAM: The whole walk over,

I’ve been talking a lot,

mostly to Trinket.

You know, scratching him

behind the ears, saying,

VAX: Buddy, you’ve been

trapped in there a while.

It’s good to see you out.

TRINKET: (moans, snuffles)

VAX: Come hug your uncle. Come.

VEX: He doesn’t mind it.

VAX: I’m sure he doesn’t.

I’m just happy to see him.

MATT: He presses his nose

under yours

and lifts your chin up

and you bite your lip a little

from the sudden impact

from this very large bear,

but it’s all with love.

VAX: Yeah. It’s cold. You’re sure

you don’t want to go back in?

Nah, you don’t want to go back in.

I know.

KEYLETH: (whispering) Hey, Pike.

LIAM: Just nervous talking

the whole way there.

KEYLETH: (whispering)

I think Vax is talking to himself.

PIKE: (whispering)

He’s very nervous right now.

PIKE: This is a big deal.

KEYLETH: Yeah.

PIKE: This temple is very…

it’s lovely.

KEYLETH: It’s gorgeous.

It’s very intimidating.

Do you know anything about this?

You’ve lived here for a while, Pike.

PIKE: I’ve never been by.

KEYLETH: Never been in?

PIKE: I’ve never been in, no.

MATT: You do know from your time here

and what little you’ve heard

that part of the purpose

of this vicinity

is not just to inter the dead

within part of these catacombs.

The library here

is kind of a loose partnership

between the people worshipers of her

and those who follow Ioun.

It is a center for knowledge and history

kept within the city.

But you’ll see throughout the town

and the landscaped outer wall

that surrounds this entire portion

of Vasselheim,

there are repetitive glyphs

that line this entire area.

And from what you’ve heard,

at the very least,

most of these glyphs,

which you see

across the corners of roadways,

and many of which surround

the entrance to the catacombs,

it is a perpetual enchantment

that is to seal any sort of possible undead.

There once was

a terrible scourge of undeath

in this part of the landscape,

long ago,

that corresponded with a battle

hundreds of years ago,

and since then, the reinforcement

has been put in place

to prevent that

from happening again.

So the downside is

that the power of these glyphs

that prevent undeath

also prevent any actual vegetation

from existing in this area as well.

So all the ground

that you’ve come across:

no grass, no natural vegetation.

It’s just dirt and ash and dust.

MARISHA: Can we recognize the language

in which the runes come from?

Or is it just runes?

MATT: The magic itself

is divine in nature,

but it’s based in the same

very, very base draconic glyphs

that a lot of arcane magic

is based on.

It’s very - it’s OLD magic.

MARISHA: Oh.

ASHLEY: (laughs) It’s old.

MATT: But, yeah. It’s based

in some sort of divine ritual.

MARISHA: What did you say

the name was

of the Raven Queen’s temple, again?

MATT: The temple itself

is referred to as Raven’s Crest.

MARISHA: Raven - Raven’s Crest?

LIAM: Raven’s.

MATT: Raven’s Crest, yes.

MARISHA: Okay.

PIKE: How are you feeling, Vax?

VAX: I’m all right.

I’m just going to talk

to my sister for a minute.

PIKE: Okay.

VAX: You know,

I know you want to -

I know you.

I know you want to be here.

VEX: I know you don't

want me to come.

VAX: I don’t.

I really don’t.

VEX: I know.

And I won’t, if you’re sure.

I put you in this place

and I feel terrible about it

and I know you’re extremely nervous.

Trinket can sense it, too.

He’s very in tune

with those emotions,

and I just -

VAX: Listen to me.

VEX: (sighs)

VAX: You did not

put me in this place.

No one put me in this place.

And everything’s going to be fine.

VEX: Everything will be fine!

LIAM: And I tug her sleeves

and make them

a little more orderly

and I move a bit of hair

out of her face

and I do a button

that’s not done.

VEX: (laughs)

VAX: Everything’s going to be fine.

VEX: I wanted it unbuttoned, actually.

VAX: That’s all right. Just wait here.

I’ll be out in a bit, all right?

VEX: Yes.

VAX: Everything’s fine.

VEX: I know. Everything’s fine.

VAX: Yeah.

VEX: You don’t need

to be nervous, either.

VAX: I’m not.

VEX: I will be here waiting for you

when you come out.

VAX: I know. I’ll see you -

VEX: I love you.

VAX: You know I love you, too.

VEX: I’m proud of you, you know.

She’s just going to love you so much.

And who knows,

you might have a new girlfriend

when you come out.

(laughs nervously, sighs)

I’ve heard other people

have dated gods before.

I’ve heard it’s done.

That Cashew guy. Anyway.

VAX: You’re going

to wait here for me, right?

VEX: I’ll be right here.

LIAM: And then I drop the smile

as I walk off towards the other two.

MATT: Okay.

Which, as you turn and look,

when you originally approached

the stairs that lead up to the entrance

of this large structure,

it was just empty, doors closed.

There was no guard post

on the outside.

It was just these two looming,

almost dark glass-type doors

about 12 feet tall

and about 8 feet wide on each side

that are just locked shut.

As soon as you turn

to walk towards them,

the doors open and you see a figure

standing there at the door,

just looking directly at you.

Or at least you assume

is looking right at you.

It’s hard to see.

This individual,

somewhat lithe in physicality,

is wearing long, dark robes

and their face is shrouded

in opaque black cloth,

like a death shroud

that just blocks the entire face.

You can see

the hint of a jawline, a nose.

It looks to be a person

of some background in there,

but they’re just standing there,

watching you.

And as soon as you react

to their appearance,

the hand just beckons quietly.

VAX: Were you expecting me?

All right.

I’ve brought a couple of friends.

Is that permissible here?

They’ll keep quiet.

MARISHA: I turn to Vex.

VEX: Keep him safe.

KEYLETH: I swear to you.

We’re all coming out of here alive.

VEX: I know.

KEYLETH: But if like an hour passes

and we don’t,

maybe come in?

But we’re all

coming out of here alive,

so don’t worry about it.

It’s fine.

ASHLEY: And I squeeze her hand.

PIKE: I’ll make sure

he gets out okay. I promise.

VEX: All right.

PIKE: Okay. Please be safe.

VEX: It’ll be fine.

PIKE: It’ll be fine. Yes.

VEX: I’ll just be right here.

Waiting here with Trinket.

PIKE: Okay.

VEX: Just calmly leaning

against a wall. No big deal.

PIKE: Okay.

KEYLETH: We’ve faced

way more terrifying things

than a few albeit creepy

men in robes.

VEX: I don’t even think she’s that bad.

She’s not going to be bad.

VAX: Guys.

VEX: Just go.

PIKE: Okay. We’ll go.

We’ll go in with you.

MATT: All right.

As you step up to the stairs,

the figure leads you all inside,

and as you step into the main center

of this initial walkway chamber,

the figure doesn’t enter with you.

It just closes the door behind you.

(echoing thud)

You can feel

the hint of vibration of impact

as the doors close shut.

MARISHA: It’s dark?

MATT: It’s lowly-lit on the inside,

and it’s interesting.

From the outside, it looks like

a black, solid,

impossible-to-see-through building.

From the inside,

you can actually look out

and the entire building

is made of this glass,

this somewhat-warped, dark glass.

And you can see almost

the entirety of the outside

from your position.

The doors are held aloft into it.

It’s like a one-way

type enchantment,

or the construct,

the material itself,

is somewhat translucent

from this side.

MARISHA: Like an interrogation room?

Like one-way mirror type of thing?

MATT: Kind of. Or like a very,

very dark pair of sunglasses,

but made of naturally-formed rock, almost.

LIAM: Noticing that, I turn

and just sort of look at my sister

for 5 or 10 more seconds.

MATT: She doesn’t see you

and she just stands there quietly,

looking around,

inspecting the vicinity.

Pets Trinket a little.

VAX: (hesitantly) Let’s do this.

SAM: (chuckles)

ASHLEY: Do I feel anything,

being in here?

MATT: You just feel

a natural tremble

stepping into a place

of powerful divine influence

that is not

the warm comfort of Sarenrae,

which has protected you before.

Now, you understand the way

many deities work in these lands,

and your place in it,

and Sarenrae’s place in it,

and you know enough

about the Raven Queen

to know that this is not

an unwelcome place, per se.

Go ahead and roll a religion check.

ASHLEY: 23.

MATT: 23.

You understand the Raven Queen

has also not always been

the one who holds sway

over the domain of death,

the domain of winter,

the domain of fate.

Once mortal,

the Raven Queen ascended

as, essentially, a follower

and a partner

to the previous god of death,

which his name

has been erased from the books.

This mortal ascended many,

many years ago, pre-Second Spark,

and has since taken what was once

a tyrannical position of death

and afterlife and souls

and took it instead

as the natural transition that it is.

However,

due to a lack of respect,

or at least, a lack of,

for lack of a better term,

belief or trust from the other gods,

she only gained dominion

over the actual moment of transition,

not of the actual souls

of the afterlife.

That influence was given to others.

But the Raven Queen represents

one of the most feared elements

of life,

which is the end of it,

but you also know

that that is a natural thing.

Your personal belief is up to you.

The sense you get here is

that being an individual

that worships life,

that worships redemption,

that worships second chances,

you can’t help

but swallow a little hard

at the idea of a god that’s purpose

is to make sure

that if you’re destined

to have once chance,

it stays one chance.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: As you begin

to walk down this hall,

ever so slow as it is,

each footfall deafening

in the clack.

(clicking footsteps)

The hallway leads on

for another hundred feet or so

before the glass,

somewhat translucent material

shifts into the next chamber,

into an almost

deep gray and ivory ice-like interior.

The dark,

coal-black exterior you’ve seen

now transitions into what feels like

a very finely-carved

piece of architecture

from ice and bone.

MARISHA: Do I get the sense

as a druid, as an Ashari,

that we’ve switched into another plane?

MATT: Go ahead and roll a…

just roll an arcana check -

MARISHA: (sighs)

MATT: - as this is not so much

a nature-based thing, yeah.

MARISHA: Oh! I rolled a 19.

(laughs) 21.

LIAM: Oh dear, oh my.

LAURA: Oh gosh, oh jeez.

MARISHA: Oh gosh, oh gracious.

MATT: From your understanding

of transitional magic between planes,

there has been

no actual shift between planes,

it’s just the material itself

is different upon the interior

of this building.

As soon as you enter this place,

you do see another figure

walking towards you.

Similar long, dark robes.

However, the veil

has been pulled back,

and you see before you

what looks to be

an older elven woman with very,

very bright silver hair

that just kind of falls long,

past her shoulders,

down to her back about mid-waist,

or down to the bottom of her waist.

With a smile.

You can see as she walks towards you,

a very welcoming grin.

As she approaches,

she pays very little mind to you three,

but directly to you, says,

LAURA: (whispers) I’m not there.

RAVEN’S CREST CLERIC:

You walk with Her sight on you.

You are ever welcome here.

VAX: I’ve come

to understand

my place in Her sight.

RAVEN’S CREST CLERIC: Then I think,

perhaps, you are here for communion.

Come. Our most sacred chamber.

The communion pool awaits.

Only you may have entry,

unfortunately.

VAX: Right.

LIAM: I plant a kiss on the cheek

of each of the women.

KEYLETH: Do you need anything

before you go in?

Any enhancement of any kind?

VAX: Just cross

your fingers for me, okay?

KEYLETH: Okay.

MARISHA: I just kind of

squeeze his hand.

ASHLEY: Same.

PIKE: Be careful.

KEYLETH: We’re right out here

on the other side of this door.

If anything terrible happens,

you have the earpiece.

No one will stop Pike and I

from getting through there

if something terrible goes wrong.

Rules be damned.

VAX: I made my bed. Now I gotta lie in it.

I’ll see you soon.

LIAM: I follow.

RAVEN’S CREST CLERIC:

Come, champion. The Lady of Fates awaits.

MATT: And she turns around

and leads you 30 more feet

to what looks to be

an ascending staircase

that just enters

up and out of the sight of you two.

PIKE: We’ll just hang out, yeah?

KEYLETH: I guess we’ll wait, yeah.

MATT: You ascend

a few feet behind her,

about 40 or so feet,

until it comes

to a single large doorway

of deep, deep dark oak wood

with what looks to be

a dark iron ring in the center.

As she steps up to it,

she takes it and knocks on it twice.

(deep creak) It just shifts open

and leads into a central chamber now

that looks about a hundred feet high,

and it is a large steepled dome

of what looks to be nothing

but stained glass.

It’s awe-inspiring.

It’s beautiful: the colors,

the light as it peeks through.

The source of light,

diffused as it is by the clouds,

is sourceless in here.

It seems like there are beams of light

coming from all directions

and all the colors

are just strewn across the floor

in what looks like this

perpetually-shifting

kaleidoscope of dots

of reds and blues and purples

and yellows and pinks and whites.

You can see, across the room,

there are three other figures

that are all dressed

in the same dark robes,

the veils over their heads,

of varying size.

You can’t make out

what their racial background is, per se,

but they are all stationed

around the center of the room,

in which lies, from what you can see,

a very, very large round pool

of some sort of deep crimson liquid.

VAX: I have come to pay a debt,

and I do so gladly

and without question.

What would you have of me?

RAVEN’S CREST CLERIC:

You came to speak with the Lady.

Well, the way is before you.

MATT: She gestures to the pool.

LIAM: I walk slow and straight in.

MATT: You step into it. (squelch)

It comes up to your ankles,

to your knees.

And what catches you first

is that the liquid is very thick.

It is viscous in a familiar way.

This is most definitively

a pool of blood.

And it is cold. It is ice-cold.

As you step in, you can feel that

as it begins to seep into your boots

and begins to find its way

into the crevices of your outfit

as you get down into your waist,

it’s just chilling.

You can’t help but to stand up straight

as you step further in,

not quite sure of how deep it gets.

And it gets deeper. And deeper.

Up past your chest,

up past your shoulders,

and you’re not even

halfway into the center of the pool

before it’s going past your nose.

LIAM: I keep going.

MATT: You take your last breath,

hold it,

and submerge yourself in the pool.

Darkness around you,

the cold sensation.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

LIAM: I open my mouth and inhale.

MATT: As you do,

you feel the blood fill your lungs

and you immediately -

your lungs begin to seize

with the lack of oxygen.

You instinctually begin

to reach up for the water and pull,

but you can’t rise.

You can’t get up.

And at that point,

the cold, piercing pain

of the liquid in your lungs

becomes warm.

All the liquid around you

becomes warm.

And in the darkness,

where you cannot see, you calm,

as suddenly your breathing

is no longer difficult.

It’s natural. It’s like air.

And it’s reminiscent

of being in the womb,

of the moment of birth

you’d forgotten so long ago,

that you’re just surrounded

in darkness and comfort.

And piercing the center

of this darkness before you,

you see

a very faint bead of white light

just begin to spark

and grow, and grow,

and as that light widens out,

it becomes a face.

A porcelain face.

A nose, lips, a chin,

empty dark sockets,

long dark hair

that goes to crimson

and surrounds you.

You see a small hand

reach up behind

and lift you from your legs.

And for what you thought

was only a few feet of liquid,

you look around you

and it is an endless space,

a space you’ve been before,

a space that you once visited

in your sleep, in your dreams.

You look down below and you can see

the infinite skein of threads

that you were once given inspection to.

As you look down, you see the very palm

of the Raven Queen

holding you aloft in this space

as the mask

pulls in close to you with a smile.

The lips don’t move,

but you hear a voice

from all directions in your head.

A comforting voice.

A welcoming voice.

RAVEN QUEEN: My champion.

Vax'ildan.

You’ve come to me at last.

VAX: This was always

supposed to happen, wasn’t it?

RAVEN QUEEN: There is destiny,

but you still guide your path

where it must come.

Especially you, fate-touched.

You’re one of the few

that bends threads

near and around you.

That’s why you're

so interesting to me.

VAX: (haltingly)

I give myself willingly to you

for the bargain that was struck,

although I question

if the bargain

was just the surface reason

for this to happen.

RAVEN QUEEN: When one such as your…

unique essence walks these realms,

do not think I am

the only one to take interest.

And do not think you are

the only one, either.

But I was there

to seize the opportunity when it arose,

and as such, you are now mine.

And I know that you hate me.

I know that you fear me.

Most do.

But only because they are

without understanding.

Without death, life has no meaning.

Finality drives change.

Innovation, greatness.

It is the end that I bring

that drives all of your gracious creations

of this land

to make the world better than we did,

than those before me did.

VAX: I would learn your ways.

I will learn your purpose.

And I will serve.

RAVEN QUEEN: Then understand

the wholeness of what it is you serve

and what you represent, champion.

Even after death, the soul is carried

to another purpose,

but it is that transition

where it is at its most vulnerable.

It is my charge, my gift -

your gift, now -

to safeguard that beautiful moment.

There are those who find

the immortal soul

one of the most pure

and powerful means

of energy, of sourced power,

in this world.

That is an abomination.

There are those

that wish to halt the process

and live eternally

in some form of undeath or the other.

That is an abomination.

There is also a difference

between bending your thread

around destiny, fate-touched,

and perverting the thread entirely,

for death is sacred.

But not all deaths are destined,

in that moment.

Some destinies require one

to endure beyond the moment.

To meet that moment many times

before the final death is to come.

We must guide these moments

across this web.

MATT: And as she sweeps her hand out.

Where she holds you in one palm,

another hand reaches out,

and the entire web of threads

just glows below you

in this curling wave

out into infinity, into the horizons,

endless, to each side of you and beyond.

RAVEN QUEEN: So, to bend destiny,

to bend these fates,

is within our sphere of influence.

It’s those that find a way

to cheat this destiny,

halt the progression,

corrupt their thread to the point

it sickens those around them.

Undeath, wayward necromancy.

Perversion

of the sanctity of the cycle,

of our very domain, is an atrocity

and must be stopped

and stamped out.

That is our cause. Your cause, now.

Do you still accept this gift?

VAX: (whispering) I do.

RAVEN QUEEN: You, Vax'ildan.

I’ve had my eye on you for some time.

MATT: And the smile curls

into this much wider smile.

To the point it seems

somewhat perturbing.

RAVEN QUEEN: Your dual nature:

rushing prematurely towards your end,

wantonly throwing your life

before the flames,

only to pull away

in those last moments.

Instinct.

You test your path constantly,

without knowing

you’ve been preparing

for this mantle your entire life.

My beautiful champion.

MATT: The smile subsides.

The face goes stone.

Lack of expression. Blank.

The hand pulls back

and you now can see

the full immensity of her size.

Her body infinitely long,

looking down

before it disappears

into darkness.

And as you look up,

suddenly the mask

is there before you,

but normal, human-sized.

You’re no longer in her hand.

You’re standing on a floor,

a floor of the same white,

ice-bone type substance

that the interior of Raven’s Crest

seems to be built from.

And for a brief moment,

you see before you

the woman before the god,

the ascended mortal,

no larger than you.

From the hair

that topples down the sides,

the hand reaches up

and grabs the mask and pulls it away.

Beneath the mask you see

a very beautiful,

very sad-looking woman.

But her eyes

are cold and red in the iris.

Her skin flawless and smooth.

White, pale, sunless.

Her brows thinned and furrowed.

She steps forward

and touches the side of your face.

RAVEN QUEEN: There are those

who will be frightened of you.

But know what we do

is one of the most important gifts of all.

MATT: And she grabs your head,

pulls you down,

and kisses you on the forehead.

At which point, suddenly your lungs

fill once again with searing white pain.

You find yourself scrambling about,

instinctually spilling out liquid

all around you,

and you finally (coughs) come out

on top of the communion pool.

Your eyes open and you can see

just red crimson pouring in your vision.

You rub it out

and you’re in the chamber alone.

Eyes wide, swimming around,

you can see the figures on the side

come to the edges.

They all bow.

The figure that led you in

stands at the mouth of this pool

where you entered.

She’s smiling.

She has her hand extended.

LIAM: I take it.

MATT: She lifts you out of the pool.

One of the other figures runs up

and takes

one of the dark robes that they have

and pulls it off around them,

revealing just a simple

dark blue and black outfit beneath.

Still wearing the veil,

but wraps the dark robe around you

as the liquid is now

back to its freezing cold sensation.

Your teeth are chattering.

They lead you back

to the door you entered,

down the stairs,

and into the central chamber

where both Keyleth and Pike await.

You guys turn and see,

descending the stairs,

being flanked, essentially,

by two of the members

of the Raven’s Crest,

both of the shoulders

with the dark robe wrapped around

a very cold and somewhat

freaked-out looking Vax'ildan,

who has smeared red across his face.

His hair is thick

with viscous crimson liquid.

ASHLEY: I run over.

PIKE: You okay?

MARISHA: I stand

at the bottom of the stairs and I watch.

VAX: (hoarsely)

I got answers in there,

but they led to more questions.

What am I to do

with those questions?

MATT: The woman

who had led you in there

smiles and says,

RAVEN’S CREST CLERIC:

That is the nature of death.

We can’t have all the answers,

my friend.

It is the pursuit of those answers

that drives us.

Do you trust her?

VAX: I do.

RAVEN’S CREST CLERIC: Then perhaps

you’ll find those answers one day.

VAX: Thank you.

RAVEN’S CREST CLERIC: Thank you.

MATT: They pull the robe off

and they all head

back up into the chamber,

leaving you all there

in the room alone.

MARISHA: I walk over.

ASHLEY: (whispering)

I’m just going to stay where he is.

LIAM: I’m shell-shocked.

KEYLETH: You look well.

VAX: It’s going to be good.

KEYLETH: What did she say to you?

Did she speak to you at all?

VAX: (whispering) Yeah.

KEYLETH: (shocked laugh)

VAX: Do you speak?

PIKE: Yes?

VAX: To her?

PIKE: Sometimes.

VAX: Do you understand?

PIKE: I don’t think you ever -

any of us can fully understand.

I think, if we did,

then we would be gods.

KEYLETH: Do you believe?

VAX: Yeah. Yeah. I do.

I don’t know what…

I don’t know why, but…

this was fate.

KEYLETH: Is that what she told you,

that this was fate?

VAX: No.

KEYLETH: You just -

VAX: I know it here.

KEYLETH: Why?

VAX: Everything has led to it.

You and I wouldn’t be standing here

if my sister hadn’t stolen a broom.

Where’s the sense in that?

What else is it?

I teleported into the stomach of a dragon

with a gnome

and I am still standing here.

If it is not fate, what is it?

KEYLETH: I don’t know.

As someone

who is constantly questioning mine,

I don’t think

I’m the right person to ask.

But I do know one thing.

MARISHA: And I grab his hands.

KEYLETH: You were amazing

and talented and special

way before she found you.

If anything,

we can call her a god.

We can also call her

a great opportunist.

She didn’t give you

anything special.

The Vax that I see before me right now

is no different than the Vax

that I saw before me ten minutes ago.

I’m not saying

that what you experienced

wasn’t real and true.

I believe you whole-heartedly.

VAX: This is real.

This was meant to be.

And I am on board.

KEYLETH: Is it what was meant to be

or what you just really wanted?

And it found you?

VAX: (disbelieving laughter)

It is not what I wanted.

Thank you. Thank you.

I need to see my sister.

LIAM: And I head off towards the exit.

MATT: You guys make your way

to the outside of Raven’s Crest.

The doors open once again.

The figure that let you in

is waiting for you, opens the door.

As you see the doors open -

LAURA: I jump up immediately.

I’ve bitten off all my fingernails.

MATT: (laughs) Rushing down the stairs,

you see Pike, Keyleth,

and your brother

in a little better spirits

than when he first entered,

if a little damper and redder.

VEX: Is that blood?

Is that blood all over you?

Did she hurt you?

VAX: It was really -

It was really weird, but it’s fine.

I told you I’d be fine, and I’m fine.

LAURA: I get out a rag

and I start just wiping everything off.

VEX: (laughs) You’re alive, though.

VAX: (laughs) Yeah,

doesn’t make any sense, does it.

VEX: (still laughing) Oh my god,

are you stronger now?

Are you, like, so strong?

VAX: I think I might be

a bit weaker, actually.

VEX: Oh, I don’t believe it.

VAX: I have the jelly-legs.

VEX: (laughs) Do you want

to ride Trinket for a while?

VAX: Could I?

VEX: Yes!

VAX: He’s going to get sticky.

VEX: No, he loves the taste of blood.

TRINKET: (sad moaning)

VEX: (laughs) Oh, Trinket.

MATT: Trinket comes over

and begrudgingly lowers himself

so you can climb on.

VAX: Don’t - no, don’t lick.

Don’t lick.

VEX: He’s very light.

Scrawny, scrawny, scrawny.

VAX: But don’t lick, Trink, please.

TRINKET: (grunts)

VAX: Not good.

PIKE: Just one kiss?

One little lick?

VEX: (laughs)

VAX: Later, buddy. Later. Later.

LIAM: I climb on top.

TRINKET: (grunts)

VEX: Aren’t you glad

you got out of the Pokeball for this?

LIAM: I give a quick look

back at my friends.

and then I kind of

take a nap on Trinket.

MATT: Okay.

VEX: So everything’s good, then.

He’s good? Everything’s fine?

PIKE: I think so… I mean, it’s -

it was very different,

but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

VEX: He talked to her?

KEYLETH: He talked to her.

VEX: Were you there?

PIKE: No.

KEYLETH: They didn’t let us

in the room.

VEX: Oh. Well, I’ll find out.

KEYLETH: We stood outside.

All it - he didn’t talk much about it.

Maybe you can find out more.

All he said was

that he knows that this was fate.

VEX: Well, good.

He has a purpose.

PIKE: Yeah.

KEYLETH: Oh. Yeah.

Well, that’s one way of looking at it.

VAX: (snores)

LAURA: I keep him steady

and I walk next to him.

MATT: Okay.

You guys eventually make your way

back to the Slayer’s Take.

The three of you guys…

what are you doing

while this is transpiring?

TRAVIS: Eating my mechanical pencil.

(all laugh)

TALIESIN: I’ve sent him

with a shopping list.

MATT: Okay.

What have they been sent to acquire?

TALIESIN: I’m going to need

a cheap gauntlet, some saddling straps,

three tankards, a pick-axe,

and two clocks.

MATT: All right.

How much gold do you give him?

LAURA: You’ve got -

TALIESIN: I’ve got -

that’s right, I’ve got.

SAM: Four gold.

TALIESIN: (snorts) I give -

LAURA: You’ve also got

a five-pound bag of gems, don’t forget.

TALIESIN: I do. I give him -

MARISHA: (giggles)

TRAVIS: Does he want wine?

TALIESIN: This is what happens.

MARISHA: Is that Riegel?

TALIESIN: That was Riegel.

MARISHA: (giggles)

TALIESIN: Don’t read that.

That’s not necessary. I don’t -

SAM: (singing) I drew a dick

on his picture.

(all laugh)

TALIESIN: And I need

that man’s dick to finish the arm.

MATT: That’ll go over well.

TALIESIN: Despite the dick on my page,

I’m going to give Scanlan 100 gold

to take with Grog

to find some junk items

that they can put together.

SAM: I’m going with Grog to shop?

All right, sure.

TALIESIN: If you’re down.

SAM: Yeah. I’ll do it.

Yeah, we’ll go for all that stuff.

Do we find success?

MATT: I want you guys

to go ahead and roll -

actually, for you, just roll

a general charisma check

to ask around and get people

to give you the proper information.

TALIESIN: I love you.

SAM: What is this, just charisma?

MATT: You just add

your charisma modifier.

SAM: 18.

MATT: 18?

MATT: Yeah, within a very brief period

of talking to the right people

and smiling and getting folks

to listen back to you,

eventually you’re given information

on where each piece of that list

is able to be found.

They’re not too crazy items.

There’s a lot in general stores,

general armor -

TALIESIN: I don’t even need

an articulated gauntlet.

It just needs to be clamp.

MATT: Yeah, just a basic

clamp gauntlet.

SAM: Do we also find a hat store?

TRAVIS: Yeah, we’d better.

LAURA: You want another beret?

MATT: Not in the Braving Grounds -

SAM: Damn it.

MATT: - but you can definitely find one

on your journey in the Quad Roads.

SAM: If I can take

an extra side journey

to find a hat shop,

SAM: - that would be great.

MATT: Certainly, certainly.

MATT: Do you go with him?

TRAVIS: Fuck yeah.

MATT: (laughs)

SCANLAN: It’s just hats, Grog.

We’re just getting hats.

MATT: You guys make your way

to the busy streets of the Quad Roads.

Eventually, asking around,

you find yourself across from

what is called

the Sore Socket Haberdashery.

SAM: The Sore Socket?

MATT: Sore Socket Haberdashery.

TRAVIS: I love it.

SAM: I love it.

MATT: And the picture outside

has a caricature of a guy,

smiling, with a giant black eye.

SAM: (laughs)

MATT: You walk inside and it’s like

a small, localized bar -

not a tavern by any means,

but it has like

one small set-up in there

for just general beer,

and just loads and loads of hats.

Leathers, cloth,

all kinds of silly circumstances.

You see some nice fancy hats

with big feather plumes.

You see joking hats

that have multiple colors

and what looks to be

bells hanging from them.

As you step into the room,

you see two other random individuals

that are looking around, shopping,

and at the far end,

you see coming through

a big thing of curtains

what looks to be

a rather rotund woman

in her late 40s or so.

Big curls in her dark brown hair

and maybe a little too much makeup

on her face, who goes,

DEIDRE: Darlings,

what are you looking for?

What can I get you?

Are you looking for hats?

SCANLAN: Oh, man.

DEIDRE: I assume

you’re looking for hats.

SCANLAN: Wow. Yeah,

we’ve come to the right place.

GROG: The guys

are missing out on this one.

(all laugh)

SCANLAN: Hi, ma'am.

My name’s Scanlan. This is Grog.

We’re just - I needed one hat,

but you have

such a fantastic selection,

maybe we’ll pick up a few.

SAM: How much money

do I have left over from his hundo?

MATT: After all those materials,

I’d say probably,

asking around

and your high charisma,

you probably have about 60.

GROG: Bro, we got money.

SCANLAN: Let’s get some hats!

DEIDRE: My name is Deidre, dear,

so nice to meet you.

SCANLAN: It’s lovely to meet you.

DEIDRE: You’re so adorable.

SCANLAN: We’ve heard so much

about this store.

DEIDRE: Really?

SCANLAN: Yes, far and wide.

DEIDRE: Oh ho,

I can guarantee you, it’s all true.

And you, you’re so big,

you’re so strapping.

GROG: I am.

DEIDRE: And that beard!

MATT: She kind of tousles

the beard with her fingers.

DEIDRE: (giggles)

GROG: (giggles) Oh, stop it.

LAURA: Little food bits fall out.

SCANLAN: I’m here to buy

just one quick thing in particular,

then we’ll be on our way.

I just want a very tall hat.

Just very tall black hat

with a point.

DEIDRE: Tall.

Proportionally tall or regular?

SCANLAN: Like a big triangle hat.

DEIDRE: Hmm.

SCANLAN: With a wide brim.

Like a wide black hat just like this.

MARISHA AND TRAVIS: (laugh)

MATT: She thinks for a second.

DEIDRE: I don’t carry

anything like that -

SCANLAN: All right, well,

it was worth a -

DEIDRE: - but I can make you something -

SCANLAN: What?!

DEIDRE: - if you don’t mind waiting a bit.

SCANLAN: I could come back for it

another day, perhaps.

DEIDRE: Oh, but at least

let me measure your head, sweetie.

SCANLAN: It’s not for me.

DEIDRE: Do you know the size

of who it’s intended for?

SCANLAN: Well, her head’s about -

a little bigger than mine.

DEIDRE: I’ll make it adjustable!

SCANLAN: All right, great.

DEIDRE: You have to pay

half in advance, a custom order.

SCANLAN: Sure, how much?

DEIDRE: That will be 10 gold now,

and an additional 10

upon retrieval.

SCANLAN: More than worth it.

I’ll take it.

DEIDRE: All right.

SAM: Boink.

SCANLAN: And also,

can you get something for him

that would really just

accentuate his features?

GROG: Me? What?

SCANLAN: Yes, you need a hat.

GROG: Oh, this streamlined.

This is how the look goes.

SCANLAN: But if it rains, Grog.

GROG: But that’s part of it.

My muscles ripple in the moisture.

DEIDRE: Nothing to block the muscles,

no, not at all,

but I have to say,

with a fine, smooth head,

it does need a little decoration,

if you don’t mind me saying.

GROG: Oh. You think so?

DEIDRE: (chuckles) You!

SCANLAN: Something

in a yarmulke, perhaps?

DEIDRE: I was thinking -

GROG: A yarmulke?

MATT: And she whips out what looks like

this fancy engraved leather cap

with two straps on the side

and just (shoomf) right over your head.

It kind of folds everything in,

the straps just go very long

and dangle there.

LAURA AND ASHLEY: (laugh)

MARISHA: Yes! Yes!

MATT: She takes them

and snaps them underneath -

To where these two little danglies

are dangling from under the chin.

And it just has

these really intricate flower patterns

punched into the leather all around.

SCANLAN: I love it, Grog.

I think you look great.

GROG: (stutters)

SCANLAN: We don’t have a mirror here?

DEIDRE: I think it speaks

of the seasons.

TRAVIS: Is it over my ears?

MARISHA: Is it like one of those

old-school leather helmets?

MATT: It looks almost

like the old football helmets.

MARISHA: Oh, football!

Yeah. Okay! Cool.

GROG: I mean, I don’t know,

does it do anything?

DEIDRE: It looks masculine.

You wouldn’t believe.

Here, let me show you!

MATT: And she brings up a small mirror.

GROG: (screams)

(everyone else laughs)

DEIDRE: Exactly.

Men will fear you

walking down the road, my -

GROG: No, please, more like -

a bit more like war,

death, battlefield.

More aggressive.

This is a bit more like sheep-herder.

GROG: Here you go.

DEIDRE: Well, all right.

DEIDRE: Death. Battle. Aggressive.

SCANLAN: Maybe something with spikes?

DEIDRE: Spikes. Spikes…

let me see what I can do.

MARISHA, LAURA, AND ASHLEY: (laugh)

MATT: And she runs off down the way,

gets into a bag

and you start hearing things going

(tink, thud) something rolls over -

DEIDRE: Ah, shit!

ASHLEY: (laughs)

MATT: Eventually she comes out.

DEIDRE: This is less of a hat

and more of a half-helmet,

but maybe it’ll do.

MATT: And she pulls forth

what looks like

this very wide metal brim,

almost in a swish shape

to a point in the front.

TRAVIS: (laughing) Conquistador’s helmet?

MATT: Yeah, it kind of looks

like a conquistador’s helmet.

But it’s only the front,

so it’s almost like

a rhinoceros horn -

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: - that sticks up to a point.

MARISHA: Yes.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: And the rest are just buckles

to the back of the head,

so it’s just a giant metallic groove

for the front.

GROG: I’ll take it.

I don’t even care if it fits.

LIAM AND MARISHA: (laugh)

DEIDRE: Oh, that’s what I like to hear.

GROG: How much is it?

DEIDRE: This will be 50 gold.

LAURA: (gasps)

GROG: Is the point very sharp?

DEIDRE: Try it yourself.

TRAVIS: And I reach up

and I… hit it with my finger.

MATT: It’s all right.

It can be sharpened.

It’s more for decor.

It’s not meant

to slice somebody in half.

GROG: Yeah, it could be sharpened?

DEIDRE: Well, I mean, what are you

intending to do with this hat? (titters)

GROG: Uh, nothing, just look sharp.

(all groan)

DEIDRE: I can do that for you,

my big muscley man.

LIAM: That is the very ceiling

of intelligence of his.

MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)

GROG: Oh, see

that sweet jam I just dropped there.

SCANLAN: I did, that was a good line.

GROG: Write that in a notebook somewhere.

TALIESIN: We’ll be cleaning that

off the floor for ages.

MATT: So after about five minutes or so,

she grinds down

with what materials she has

to a little more -

it does mess with some of the polish

on the very tip of the metal,

but it does come to a more solid point.

DEIDRE: Be careful with that.

TRAVIS: So is it one piece

or is there a strap on the back

or it just goes (foonk)?

MATT: It goes on and then straps tight

in the back to fit your head.

GROG: Beautiful.

LAURA: It’s basically like a unicorn?

MATT: Kind of.

TRAVIS: Rhino.

MATT: It’s like a big old rhino horn

that curls upward to a point there.

LIAM: Wow. Wow.

MATT: It looks a little ridiculous.

MARISHA: I’m so excited for the art!

GROG: What do you think? Hold on.

What do you think?

SCANLAN: Wow.

I mean, your silhouette

is magnificent. Imposing.

LIAM: Is this

your variant fighting costume?

ASHLEY: Oh, boy.

GROG: Am I fearsome?

SCANLAN: You are. You are.

We should go

to a silhouette artist after this

and get something drawn for this.

GROG: They have those?

SCANLAN: They do, they cut it out.

GROG: Milady, you are

a master of your trade.

ASHLEY: Oh, boy.

DEIDRE: Well. So they tell me.

SCANLAN: Our mom only gave us

60 gold to spend.

Could you give us both hats for 60?

We’re brothers.

(all laugh)

SCANLAN: He -

something went wrong with him at birth.

MATT: Make a deception check

with disadvantage.

SAM: With disadvantage?!

MATT: Yes.

LIAM: Doesn’t matter.

SAM: Well, would a 1 be bad?

(all laugh)

MATT: Deidre goes,

DEIDRE: (laughs) You silly,

silly tiny man -

No, seriously. We have a price

agreed upon. Pay it.

GROG: Yeah, no, I got it.

I got 50 gold of my own.

SCANLAN: All right. 20 from me,

50 from him. We’ll take them both.

DEIDRE: Ooh, all up front? All right.

It’ll be ready for you shortly.

MATT: She takes the coin.

DEIDRE: Thank you for the patronage.

Return here in about…

ooh, an hour,

and the hat

shall be prepared for you, sir -

what’s your name?

SCANLAN: Thank you, Deidre.

My name’s Scanlan Shorthalt.

DEIDRE: Scanlan Shorthalt.

All right, come soon.

SCANLAN: See you soon.

TRAVIS: Can I hit my head

on the doorway on the way out?

MATT: (shoomp)

LAURA AND MARISHA: (laugh)

MATT: (creak) You have to

kind of pull it out.

Yeah. You leave a nice big groove.

TRAVIS: It is nice, right?

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Okay, good.

MATT: (laughs) All right,

eventually you all gather again

back at the hall of the Slayer’s Take.

You guys have just settled in

and are free to continue

any discussion you like

as you see Scanlan and Grog come in.

Say, you’ve since retrieved your hat

with your various

wonderfully-crafted accoutrements.

GROG: ‘Sup, bitches.

SCANLAN: Look at that.

VEX: Wow.

PIKE: Whoa.

GROG: What happened?

SCANLAN: Look at that.

PIKE: (gasps) Ohh…

GROG: I know, right? Wait for it.

VAX: (laughs)

VEX: Whoa. Grog, you’re so monstrous.

PIKE: What? Grog, that is so scary.

KEYLETH: That’s like

another 12 inches to you.

GROG: I know.

KEYLETH: You look so tall.

GROG: It, like, changes

my whole battle strategy.

I’m now literally

the point of the spear.

PIKE: (gasps) You’re so scary.

PERCY: How have we lived with this idiot?

GROG: (laughs) I’m a sea monster!

PIKE: (roars)

GROG: I’m like

the most wicked narwhal of all time!

KEYLETH: (giggles) Yes.

GROG: Give me a pool! (laughs)

PIKE: Can I try it on?

GROG: Yeah, you want to?

TRAVIS: (laughing)

I put it on Pike’s head.

PIKE: Whoa, it’s so heavy.

(all but Taliesin laugh)

PERCY: What is the world coming to?

TRAVIS: Is it as tall as she is?

MATT: You can see

the bottom of her mouth.

PIKE: Oh, Grog.

GROG: Oh, yeah, look.

Wait, turn around 180 degrees

and then run as fast as you can.

KEYLETH: Oh, yeah, go!

Go! Go! Go, Pike! Go, go!

VEX: (clapping) Go, Pike!

Go, Pike! Go, Pike!

MATT: Okay, make a perception check.

TALIESIN: (groans)

EVERYONE ELSE: (laughs)

ASHLEY: 9.

MATT: 9. You go running

straight out of the door -

LAURA: No!

MATT: You guys are like,

“Oh, no no no, Pike!”

She’s already out the door,

over the stairs

(boof boof boof boof),

outside of the hall.

(all make sounds of dismay)

MARISHA: Oh no, Pike!

TRAVIS: Oh no.

LAURA: Oh no!

PIKE: I’m okay!

(all laugh)

MATT: You guys rush out to go catch her

and the helmet is actually

embedded partway into the ground

and she’s kind of -

MARISHA: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: And she’s just laughing.

PIKE: (laughing) Grog,

get me out of this helmet.

TRAVIS: I pick her up by the feet.

GROG: That was excellent. (giggles)

ASHLEY: As he’s holding me up like that

I try to stab him with it.

TRAVIS: I yank it off of her head

and put her back on the ground.

LIAM: Vax has been

laughing hysterically,

giggle fits,

clutching his ribs the entire time.

And then is there

any of the staff here?

Anyone that’s here? Anyone else?

MATT: You haven’t seen Mertin.

Vanessa doesn’t seem to have left.

LIAM: What about underlings?

MATT: I mean, there are

a few individuals here

that are part of the guildhall.

It’s - the hierarchy here

is more like the few that run it,

and then everyone else

comes and goes as they please.

VAX: Yeah, yeah, come here, you.

Do you have a tub?

Do you have a bath? Look at me.

Do you have a bath? I need a bath.

SLAYER’S TAKE WORKER:

You look pretty rough.

VAX: Yeah?

SLAYER’S TAKE WORKER:

Yeah. We could -

we got a washroom in the back,

if you need it.

VAX: Is it hot?

I feel like I need it to be hot.

SLAYER’S TAKE WORKER:

You get what you get. It’s water, buddy.

VAX: Okay.

That’s perfect, thank you.

Grog, put that hat on again.

GROG: Oh, yeah, hold on. (foomp)

VAX: (laughs hysterically)

LIAM: All the way down the hall

to take a bath.

SCANLAN: It’s crazy - did you guys

get him drunk or something?

PERCY: I don’t know

what you people did, but…

PIKE: Well, he just…

GROG: People respond to fear differently.

SCANLAN: I guess so.

VEX: He’s gone insane.

KEYLETH: He might have saw

the face of a god.

SCANLAN: Whatever.

GROG: He did?

KEYLETH: Yeah.

VEX: Crazy.

PIKE: Yeah. The head of -

GROG: By the way,

why is he covered in bloodbath?

PIKE: I think that was part of the -

KEYLETH: Ritual? Communion?

PIKE: Ritual.

KEYLETH: Talking?

PIKE: Getting to know his new god.

GROG: Did he kill a lot of people?

VEX: Obviously.

PIKE: Maybe he had to. I don’t know.

GROG: He did?

VEX: So many, Grog.

GROG: Oh my god.

VEX: Yeah. It was a giant battle.

GROG: Like, how many on two hands?

VEX: Like at least this many.

That’s more than six.

GROG: That’s a legendary amount.

VEX: I know.

PIKE: Yeah.

GROG: Pike.

LIAM: Somewhere deep in the building,

far away:

VAX: This is not hot!

MATT: The gruff individual chuckles.

SLAYER’S TAKE WORKER:

Heh. It never is.

MATT: I need you

to make a tinkering check.

TALIESIN: Okay.

I’m sitting with my tea and my tools,

trying to ignore these people.

LAURA: Can I heat water up

in the fireplace?

MATT: Yeah, yeah,

it’ll take you a little while.

TALIESIN: Please don’t explode.

LIAM: Tink tink tink.

SAM: When I delivered

the materials to him -

TALIESIN: Oh, Jesus H. Fucking Christ.

MARISHA: Oh no, Taliesin…

SAM: Could I have inspired him at all,

when I delivered the materials?

TALIESIN: Please.

MATT: Sure.

SAM: All right.

MARISHA: Please inspire.

SAM: I will inspire -

oh my god, it’s not even worth it.

TALIESIN: (muffled) Please inspire.

Do it. Do it, you bloody gnome!

SAM: Okay.

So when I delivered everything,

I just sang him a little song

to inspire him. And I sang,

SCANLAN: Percy’s gun, won’t you come

and kill up all the dragons?

(others join in) Percy’s gun,

won’t you come, won’t you come?

ASHLEY AND LIAM: Percy’s gun!

(all laugh)

MATT: Oh my god.

All right, take your d10.

LAURA: Ten! Ten! Ten!

LIAM: Do it! Do it!

TALIESIN: Better!

MARISHA: Oh my god, it’s a 10!

SAM: That was a 10.

TALIESIN: Thank you.

MARISHA: I get excited. Sorry.

LIAM: Pretty good song.

TALIESIN: Proficiency,

tinkering, plus the -

MATT: Well, your proficiency

is what you get with the roll

and then it’s your dex bonus.

TALIESIN: Okay, so proficiency,

dex, okay, thank you, god.

TALIESIN: (muttering) That’s 11…

LIAM: (hums Black Hole Sun)

TALIESIN: 23.

MATT: 23. What did you roll naturally?

SAM: A 2.

TALIESIN: 2.

LIAM: (laughs)

LAURA: Whoa.

SAM: Plus 10.

MATT: Ah.

TALIESIN AND MARISHA: Plus 10.

TALIESIN: Made it 12.

MATT: Wow. All righty.

TALIESIN: It’s not complicated,

but I’ve got a good design,

and it has two nifty things.

MATT: What are the nifty things?

SAM: Fingers.

TALIESIN: It doesn’t actually

have fingers.

It’s a mitt -

it’s a mitt piece, strap-on,

it can lock the thumb

and lock the hand

so you can open it, lock,

close it, lock.

It’s got little flip-locks.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

TALIESIN: You can detach the hand -

SAM: Ooh.

TALIESIN: - and put a pick spike on

for mining. Like a mining punch.

LIAM: Is it like Young Frankenstein?

(mechanical sound effects)

TALIESIN: It’s more Dustin Hoffman “Hook”,

but, you know.

MARISHA: Oh, sure.

LAURA: Oh, that’s nice.

MARISHA: I was thinking

Go-Go-Gadget Finger.

TALIESIN: Because it’s got

the click, pull, click.

MATT: Right.

TALIESIN: I can do it

with all these things.

I can graph it. So.

MATT: (laughs)

TALIESIN: Reasonable.

It’s not pretty.

MATT: It takes you a few hours

and gets you into

the early parts of the evening,

but you do manage

to go ahead and complete it.

You manage to get it finished up

and you’re pretty proud of your work,

actually, and you feel -

the whistle you’re still doing

as you do the final bits,

you realize is the song

that Scanlan sang for you,

just looping in your head.

It happened to push you

through your work

and get your final piece completed.

TALIESIN: I also carved

a little message inside

that will not matter

unless it actually becomes pertinent.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: You don’t get to know

until you ask offscreen.

SAM: You don’t know.

LAURA: (laughs) Ohhh.

MATT: Okay. I’m excited. Okay.

MARISHA: That’s right, DM.

TRAVIS: That never happens.

MATT: (laughs) Try me. Okay.

Do you go and deliver it?

TALIESIN: I do go and deliver it.

MATT: Okay.

As the sun begins to set in Vasselheim,

you make your way back over

to the Braving Grounds,

which as you look across, too,

this dark - as the night goes dark,

the Braving Grounds itself

has a whole different life to it.

There are so many forges

and smelters going that there’s -

most buildings have

this bright orange glow

through the ceiling

and these various openings

where fumes and smoke and exhaust

are sent up

from the various

production constructs and such.

It has this very luminescent look

in comparison to a lot of the city.

It’s very interesting.

It reminds you of the deep,

deep portions of Kraghammer,

where most of

the actual fire and melted rock

was being smelted

and gathered and heated.

So you make your way to the hovel.

The roof workers are no longer there,

and the door is closed.

PERCY: (knocks) Victor?

I’ve got your hand.

VICTOR: (muffled) I’m sleeping.

PERCY: Do you want your hand?

VICTOR: (muffled) You want me to sleep?

PERCY: I don’t see why

they’re mutually exclusive.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: You hear (scraping sound)

a bunch of different locks fiddling.

(series of clicks) (fwoosh)

And the door opens

and you see Victor,

clean-faced for the first time

you’ve really seen him before,

and he has a nightcap

which sort of (foomf)

in front of his face,

with a little puffball at the end.

He’s like,

VICTOR: I told you.

I was trying - oh! Hey.

(hesitantly) Percival?

PERCY: Yes, that’s quite good.

I love your hat.

VICTOR: Thank you.

It’s comfy to sleep in.

PERCY: It looks it.

VICTOR: Did you bring my hand?

PERCY: I did. I grabbed your hand

and I will show you.

It is very special.

VICTOR: Come in! Come in! (grunts)

MATT: And opens the door.

You see he’s wearing

this long nightgown

that is covered in patches

and tears in it.

Most of it

has been turned black through soot,

but the cap is perfect.

Perfect condition.

PERCY: I have a special

set of pajamas myself, so I understand.

VICTOR: They are comfortable.

MATT: As he walks in,

still bandaged on the arm,

you can see there’s

a small kettle of tea

set by the small fireplace right there.

It’s a tiny little table

and a tiny little stool

that he’s just kind of

sitting on right there.

And he goes

and he reaches over for the kettle.

VICTOR: (groans)

MATT: Tries to pick up the cup

and just pours the tea into it.

PERCY: (alarmed stuttering)

TALIESIN: I’m going to stop

and attach and begin strapping this.

VICTOR: (confused stuttering)

PERCY: Let me show you how this -

it attaches like this.

VICTOR: Ooh.

PERCY: Here are the two switches.

(clicking) And -

VICTOR: (giggles)

PERCY: - for your mine.

VICTOR: Eh? Oh.

TALIESIN: I grab,

hit the button, twist, pull.

VICTOR: Oh? Eh? I just got that!

TALIESIN: And I get the spike

and attach it.

VICTOR: Ohhh.

TALIESIN: Remove it,

put the hand back on.

PERCY: Tea?

VICTOR: (chuckles) (click)

(excited laughter) Tea?

PERCY: Sure. Why not?

Always say yes.

MARISHA: (laughs)

VICTOR: Need another cup. (grunts)

MATT: He stands up and goes over,

still holding the kettle

and splashing everywhere,

and he’s flipping through cabinets

and knocking pieces of glass out.

VICTOR: Ah! Found it.

MATT: Pulls out

another little ceramic cup

and pours the tea in,

sets it down. (chink, click)

VICTOR: (cackles)

SAM: (laughs)

VICTOR: To new hands!

PERCY: To new hands.

SAM: That’s a great toast.

MATT: It is pungent. It is bitter.

MATT: It has been steeped way too long.

ASHLEY: Gunpowder tea.

MATT: But it definitely

cleans out the sinuses.

And there is a hint of gunpowder

to the flavoring.

You get the sense

that pretty much everything in this room

is marinated in some way,

shape, or form

to be flammable.

PERCY: (hoarsely) Victor.

(all laugh)

VICTOR: It can put hair on your balls.

PERCY: Ohhh, probably.

Has a woman been by

to buy black powder?

(coughs) Has a woman been by?

VICTOR: Not in, uh, weeks, maybe.

PERCY: Weeks?

VICTOR: Did you make her hand, too?

PERCY: I did not.

Do you know where she goes?

VICTOR: No. She paid well, though.

PERCY: Did she? What did she pay?

VICTOR: Are you guys in a club now?

How many people want black powder?

Tell me! Tell them!

Bring them more.

I could use money.

(others laugh)

PERCY: How much black powder

did she buy, Victor?

VICTOR: Uh… (mutters to himself)

(click, click)

PERCY: Only counts to two.

I’m so sorry.

(all laugh)

VICTOR: Maybe… 12 hogsheads worth?

ASHLEY: Whoa.

TRAVIS AND MARISHA: Oh, shit.

PERCY: Really?

And how often does she come by?

VICTOR: She only come by once.

PERCY: Okay. (sighs)

Thank you. I’m so pleased.

I may stop by one last time

before I leave town,

just to say goodbye. Thank you.

VICTOR: Please do! I have more tea.

Many different flavors.

This is, I call, dark roast.

PERCY: It…

certainly scalded something.

Thank you. That was very lovely

and that was very charming

and I unfortunately have business in the -

VICTOR: I want to try the other one

before you go.

PERCY: One more

and then I must go, thank you.

VICTOR: (click, creak)

Come on, need this, too.

PERCY: Yes, of course.

VICTOR: (creak, click) (cackles)

PERCY: (uncertain laughter)

VICTOR: (thunk)

MATT: He sticks it into the wooden stool

and the table.

Kind of breaks the wood

and snaps it.

VICTOR: Oh. (cackles)

PERCY: Remember

that it’s attached to bone.

You can still break your arm,

so be gentle.

VICTOR: Yes. Thank you!

PERCY: Thank you. Good night!

Have a lovely evening.

VICTOR: Good night!

SAM: Aah.

PERCY: Good night.

Aah. Pleasure, as always.

Thank you.

VICTOR: (slurps)

TALIESIN: I leave

in a little bit of a panic.

MATT: You leave

and he’s just sitting there

staring

at this long chisel point, going,

VICTOR: (quiet cackling)

SAM: His ring.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: The door

slowly closes behind you.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LIAM: A fighter is born.

MARISHA: Yes, yeah,

just give him an anime weapon.

TALIESIN: There’s a - yeah, okay.

We’re sticking around for a day?

SAM: I assume so. I don’t know.

We’re going to spend the night,

at least.

TALIESIN: I’m going to take

a long walk before I come back

and I’m going to walk by

the Raven Queen temple

and just… peek inside.

MATT: Okay.

You make your way past the Quad Roads.

At this point at night

the whole clientele has shifted.

Most people coming here -

you hear laughter, you hear music.

The Quad Roads is the New Orleans

of the town, comparatively.

It’s still nowhere near as rambunctious

as many places you’ve been,

but for what seems during the day

to be a rather dour

and serious business type city,

the Quad Roads

is where the celebration of humanity hits

when the evening hours hit.

So you come by

and there’s some taverns

that are open.

You see, to a certain extent,

what even appears to be

an adult entertainment district.

LAURA: (laughs sarcastically)

MATT: You make your way beyond -

LIAM: (clears throat)

Ring-a-ding-ding.

MATT: It’s the oldest profession.

You make your way all the way

to the outskirts of the Duskmeadow,

and there, amongst the

just barely peeking

through the cloudline starlight,

the looming dark structure

that is Raven’s Crest.

TALIESIN: I’m just going to

gently open the door

and peek inside

and see if anybody’s inside.

MATT: Okay. You go ahead

and push the door open. (creak)

Doesn’t appear to be anybody there.

TALIESIN: I walk in just for a moment

and take a look around.

MATT: Okay. You walk in.

(clicking footsteps)

At this dark hour, looking around,

the obsidian-type walls

are translucent glass

on the other side,

though you can barely make out

through the material

the details of the outside world,

due to the lack of light

across the cityscape.

Especially here in Duskmeadow,

in which the magical lantern light

that illuminates the city streets

are relatively sparse

on this side of Vasselheim.

You take a few more steps in,

(clicking footsteps)

footsteps echoing across the long,

thin, dark material of the floors.

(creak, thud)

LAURA: (gasps)

MATT: Door closes behind you.

TRAVIS: (quietly) What would -

why would you do this?

LIAM: Said the T. rex.

TALIESIN: I’m going to

gently look around

and slowly back up

and see if I can see anyone.

PERCY: Hello? Hello?

MATT: (echoing) Hello…

hello… hello.

PERCY: What do I have to pay

to fix this?

MATT: (echoing) This…

this… this… this.

TALIESIN: I leave.

MATT: (thump-crash)

You hear the sound

of some sort of low,

distant hit and a rumble,

and you see a distant light appear

in a chamber just beyond the walkway,

just faint enough to illuminate

and give the presence

of some sort of life or movement

about a hundred or so feet ahead of you.

TALIESIN: I walk briskly towards it.

MATT: You enter the next chamber,

where you see the interior

of this structure

is ivory-white bone and glass,

with a blue hint,

very much resembling the interior

of a very naturally,

beautifully-carved ice cavern.

There is a stairway that ascends,

as well as other hallways

that lead out

from the central nerve center

of the lower floor

of the main structure.

As you walk into this central chamber,

you see, ever so faintly,

at the very top of the stairs,

a pair of feet (footsteps)

walk and disappear up the stairs.

TALIESIN: I’m going to

charge after them.

MATT: Okay. You go running

up the stairway. (thud thud)

You get to the top, and you can see

at the very top of the stairs

a dark wooden door

with a dark iron rim

and what appears to be

a large hanger or handle

or knocker bolted to it

and it (boof) just closes

as you come underneath

the top of the archway and up the stairs.

TALIESIN: I knock.

MATT: (doosh) Once?

TALIESIN: Three times.

MATT: (doosh doosh)

With each hit,

you can hear the reverberation

of the echo of the knock

through a much larger chamber beyond.

As soon as you release

the actual door knocker,

the door (thump-crash, creak)

just creaks open ever so slightly

into a very, very dark chamber.

You can see very, very little in here,

other than the basic outline

of what looks to be

a little bit of floor,

some sort of a smooth,

glassy surface

that refracts

just a little bit of light

that makes it through

what looks to be

some sort of broken-up

glass dome-type structure above you.

You can’t make out much beyond that.

It’s very dark in here.

PERCY: Hello? Please. (sighs)

Something terrible has happened.

I don’t understand how these games work.

I need help to fix something.

Something terrible has happened!

PERCY: You obviously

care little for this world.

TALIESIN: I start to back out.

MATT: As you step out of the room,

you hear a whisper

come from beyond the chamber,

within the darkness. It says,

RAVEN QUEEN: Is it yourself

you wish to fix or something more?

PERCY: I don’t think I can be fixed.

There is something broken in the world.

RAVEN QUEEN: Then come. Let us talk.

PERCY: …I don’t understand

how these things work.

I’m so sorry. I -

where do you wish me to go?

RAVEN QUEEN: Have faith.

PERCY: (disbelieving laugh)

RAVEN QUEEN: Step in. Join me.

TALIESIN: (sighs) …I strip.

TRAVIS: (gasps)

TALIESIN: And put it aside.

SAM: Put “it” aside?

TALIESIN: Put my clothes

in the corner.

SAM: Oh.

You’re gonna jump her, eh?

TALIESIN: You’re filthy.

And I go into the pool.

MATT: All right.

As you step into the chamber,

freezing cold as your toes -

TALIESIN: We’re cold people.

MATT: - your legs, your whole body

eventually finds itself

stepping into this thick,

freezing liquid.

You hear the whisper in your ears

just as your head

reaches the level of the blood,

that says,

RAVEN QUEEN: Come.

Come to me with your questions.

MATT: Just as your head goes

beneath the surface.

TALIESIN: (sighs) We’re doing this.

MATT: You’re underneath

and in darkness,

feeling around the thick material,

kind of just

swishing your fingers around,

but amongst the liquid,

you still hear the whisper again

in your ear:

RAVEN QUEEN: Come.

Bring your questions.

TALIESIN: And I swim down

until it’s uncomfortable.

MATT: You swim downward

and you touch the bottom of the pool.

You reach a somewhat concave,

smooth floor to the pool.

TALIESIN: I’m going to

head to the surface.

I don’t know what’s…

MATT: You head to the surface.

There’s no surface.

It just keeps going.

TALIESIN: (sighs)

I do not do well with this.

MATT: You do not.

You begin to panic.

TALIESIN: Yes, I do.

MATT: You begin to reach around

and try to swim up

and find the surface,

but it just keeps going.

The liquid’s thick

and it’s hard to pull through,

and you can’t open your eyes,

and you can’t see anything,

and the iron-like flavor

is starting to find its way

to the inside of your mouth

as it’s seeping through your nose

and your ears.

You begin to panic even further

as the cold is starting to take

and you feel your muscles

beginning to shake and seize

from the onset of hypothermia.

You begin to head

to the bottom of the pool again,

and this time,

you crack your head on the bottom

in the middle of your stupor,

and you reach up and scream in pain.

As you do, the blood fills your lungs

and you begin to feel yourself drown.

You begin to shake and convulse

as you begin to try to find a way

to force it out of your body

and you can’t.

And at that moment,

where all of a sudden

you realize that this is it.

This is the end.

This is how the tale of Percival

comes to an end.

The sensation goes warm again.

And it’s like all that cold energy

goes away,

and you’re now swimming in water,

then air,

and the pain subsides,

and you’re breathing normally.

But you still stand in darkness,

and you hear these distant footsteps.

(clicking footsteps) Sourceless.

No light, just shadow.

And you look around

over your shoulder

and then right behind you,

you see immediately

a white porcelain face,

the head is just standing there

amongst the shadow.

PERCY: (takes deep breaths)

Do you know what I’ve done?

RAVEN QUEEN: I’ve watched.

PERCY: I have questions.

RAVEN QUEEN: Then ask them.

PERCY: First, is - can we stop it?

Can we stop what’s been released?

Is there something I can do?

RAVEN QUEEN: Many things

are released in this world.

Many terrible, many wonderful.

Many things.

Ask the right questions.

PERCY: Did it choose me

because I was broken,

or did it break me?

MATT: The mask, which has not shown

any expression at this point,

pulls back a little bit from you

and almost seems to grow in size.

It’s strange;

the proportion seems to stay the same,

but suddenly your vision shifts

and you realize, no,

it’s farther away from you

and is just suddenly immense,

like your visual focus just changes

and your whole perspective

suddenly causes you

to lose sense of scale and balance.

The voice comes in,

this time louder:

RAVEN QUEEN: You were always broken,

Percival.

And you were preyed upon,

just as it preys upon others,

and will continue to do so

until finally destroyed.

PERCY: Can it be fixed?

RAVEN QUEEN: Perhaps.

Your deeds will guide your path

to salvation or damnation.

The choice is yours.

You skirt that line still.

PERCY: But the first deed is so…

there’s so much,

and I don’t think any of them see it.

I don’t - I want it to die

before anybody sees it.

Can you help?

RAVEN QUEEN: I’ve already helped, Percival.

Do not think the path

that you and your allies walk

goes unseen.

There are many of those in this world

that represent the will of us,

just as there are those

who represent the will

of those that combat us

and always have.

There are a great many deeds

ahead of you.

It’s your choice to take them.

Just know:

should you not watch yourself,

you may not find yourself

on our side.

PERCY: I know.

There is nowhere

I can look for healing?

Other than deeds?

I like to fix things.

RAVEN QUEEN: All life is inherently

broken from the start, Percival.

Take solace in that.

There is no perfection in life.

Otherwise, what would be

the purpose of death?

It’s to try to find ways

to better yourself before the end

that gives us purpose.

You are all broken,

but also understand -

MATT: At this point, her voice

gets very deep and very resonant.

RAVEN QUEEN: Mortals

can achieve great things.

I did.

MATT: And the mask pulls back

into the shadows

and suddenly (gasp, cough)

you begin coughing,

finding your way to the surface,

pouring blood out of your mouth

and coughing

and eventually you find your way over,

breathing heavily,

to the side of the pool and (grunt)

pull yourself onto the side.

(cough) Cough the rest of it up.

A little bit of moonlight peeks through,

and you can see

the beams refracting through

the purples and reds and blues

and just hints of specks of light

that just shimmer

across the surface

of this dark,

glass-like floor.

TALIESIN: I’m going to take my sword

and I’m going to very carefully

scrape my body clean of the blood,

as much as I can,

and I’m going to take

the back of my shirt

and clean my hair off

as much as I can.

I’m going to take

a vial of the blood in the pool.

One tiny bit.

MATT: You do so.

TALIESIN: I’m going to

put my clothes back on…

and I’m going to cast Hex on myself

for my walk home

and banish it

before I come in the door.

MATT: Okay. All righty.

So, as Percival finally wanders in,

is there anything else

anyone wants to achieve

before the evening’s done?

SAM: I’d like to go to the Raven Queen.

(all laugh)

SAM: No.

LIAM: Are we next morning,

or we’re still evening,

at this point?

MATT: We’re still evening

at the moment,

if there’s anything else

you wish to achieve. Otherwise -

LAURA: I’ve been slowly heating water

and giving it to Vax

to put in his bath.

MATT: You do manage

to draw a comfortable bath

for your brother and wash him clean.

LAURA: I don’t wash him!

LAURA: I just give him the fucking water.

MATT: You aid him -

MATT: - in washing himself clean.

So you specify.

LIAM: Thanks, man. Thanks, man.

TRAVIS: Do we see Percy

when he comes in?

MATT: It’s going to be late.

TALIESIN: I’m going to walk quiet and late

and go tinker

on a little thing for a minute

until I pass out.

MATT: Okay.

You do notice Percy enter.

Looks a little frazzled,

but doesn’t seem to -

LAURA: Do I see any of the blood?

Passive perception?

LIAM: You’re in

the tubby town, though.

MATT: Make a perception check.

I want you to make

a dexterity check.

MARISHA AND TALIESIN: (groan)

LIAM: Sorry, Taliesin.

SAM: You’ve got him.

LIAM: Rolled high.

LAURA: 32.

SAM: You’ve got it.

TALIESIN: 32?!

LIAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Oh my god, what the -

I couldn’t have rolled that.

Like, that would’ve been

a natural 20,

would have been

the only way around that.

MATT: You see, just faintly

behind one of his ears

and at the edge of his collar

on his coat,

just a bit of familiar crimson,

and a look of…

a distant stare that is familiar.

MATT: All right.

Do you all wish to rest

for the evening?

SAM: No, I would like

to take 12 hours to read my book.

MATT: Okay, so the first 12 hours

are completed,

but you do not sleep?

SAM: No.

LIAM: It’s a page-turner.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: All righty.

SAM: Lots of centerfolds.

(all laugh)

TALIESIN: Pretty pictures.

TRAVIS: Don’t be stingy,

share those with me.

MATT: Written by John Cleese.

It’s a wonderful piece.

LAURA: I also spend

a lot of time that night reading,

but I’m reading

the book about the Raven Queen.

MATT: Okay.

Doing Raven Queen research.

LAURA: Pretty much

have it memorized at this point,

with the amount

that I’ve read that fucking book.

MATT: Yeah, fair enough. All right.

You guys all find yourself to rest,

except for Scanlan,

who takes

a point of Exhaustion

for going through the night

without sleep.

SAM: I don’t know what that is,

but someone will tell me.

TRAVIS: You’ll find out.

MATT: Yeah. Basically,

it means any ability checks,

any skill checks

until you get a full night’s rest

are at disadvantage, yeah.

All right, as you find yourselves to rest,

most of you

the morning light comes,

greeting you to a new day,

and we’re going to go ahead

and take a break.

We’ll be back here

in a few minutes, guys.

Reminder, once again:

Loot Crate, our awesome sponsor,

check them out at

lootcrate.com/criticalrole,

enter criticalrole - one word -

to get $3 off a subscription.

We’ll be back here in a minute, guys.

MARISHA: And get your Joe Mad poster!

MATT: Joe Mad poster!

MARISHA: Right now, pre-order.

SAM: Wait, there’s a giveaway

at the break, I think.

LAURA: Oh, there’s

a Loot Crate giveaway.

MARISHA: Oh, and giveaway!

MATT: For the DX boxes,

so be active in the chat.

LIAM: And please go check out

the Joe Mad poster.

LAURA: It’s so sick.

LIAM: Also check out

Battle Chasers Night War.

It’s a beautiful-looking game.

I played it today.

LAURA: Also, give your friend a hug.

Love each other.

MARISHA: (laughs) Yeah, and a high-five.

SAM: Bathe in blood.

We’ll see you soon.

Break
[Critical Role resumes at 2:22:43]

Part II
MATT: Welcome back, guys.

So, as we return to the game,

the morning comes to you all

in Vasselheim

as you awake

in the Slayer’s Take guildhall.

A brisk morning, but not too cold.

The clouds are actually

a little more separate this morning.

You get brief moments of blue;

it looks like the weather

is a little clearer

than you’re used to seeing

in this vicinity.

But the day is yours.

What do you guys wish to do?

VAX: What do we need

to accomplish here in town?

Is there anything

we need to finish,

or do we want

to pick our next destination?

SCANLAN: Do they sell

potions and things here in town -

SCANLAN: No, they don’t.

PERCY: No, very specifically they don’t.

KEYLETH: They hate magic.

SCANLAN: Then let’s

get the hell out of here.

VEX: Yeah, let’s get out.

SCANLAN: There’s nothing for us here.

GROG: What about the Feywild?

SCANLAN: Oh, yeah.

KEYLETH: We did talk

about the Feywild.

PERCY: Let’s drop off our -

VEX: Don’t tease me about the Feywild.

GROG: Wait, don’t you have

to pick up something?

PERCY: Oh, I already picked it up.

GROG: Not you, you.

SCANLAN: Me?

TALIESIN: Oh, you have a hat.

SAM: I thought we waited for the hat.

MATT: Yeah, he picked up the hat.

TRAVIS: Oh, shit, balls, ass.

All right.

SCANLAN: There’s the Feywild.

There’s dropping stuff off

at Whitestone.

There’s Marquet,

which something is there in Marquet?

VEX: Is one of the Vestiges there?

SCANLAN: I don’t know,

everyone just keeps talking about it.

GROG: Really?

SCANLAN: There’s also -

Wait, weren’t we going to go to -

KEYLETH: One of the Vestiges

is in Marquet.

VEX: Which one?

KEYLETH: Hang on. Cabal’s Ruin,

which is a magic-devouring cloak -

GROG: Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Are we alone in this room?

MATT: You guys are right now

having breakfast in the guildhall.

There’s maybe two

other individuals in the room.

One of them is

drunkenly asleep and snoring.

The other appears to be

going about their business.

GROG: I’m just saying.

KEYLETH: (whispering)

Okay, I’ll speak quietly.

There’s apparently

a magic-devouring cloak

who is being worn by the -

it’s in Ank'Harel.

It’s being worn by -

VEX: It’s a cloak

that devours magic?

KEYLETH: - a merchant warrior

with a missing eye.

SCANLAN: And there’s one

in the bottom of the sea somewhere.

VEX: And there’s a really beautiful

strong bow in the Feywild.

GROG: Yeah, let’s go to the Feywild!

We at least know that place.

PERCY: I say we drop everything -

we take a pit stop in Whitestone

and head towards the Feywild.

KEYLETH: So, technically -

PERCY: Empty our bags.

KEYLETH: - we don’t even have

to head towards the Feywild.

Do you guys remember

how I kind of did that thing

with Grog’s evil sword

and kind of

banished it away for forever?

GROG: Are we bringing it back?

KEYLETH: No.

VEX: Yeah, to the Dread Emperor’s.

KEYLETH: Right.

VAX: Not a good idea, Grog.

KEYLETH: No, we’re not

bringing it back.

I can do that with the rest of us.

VEX: You can banish us

to the Dread Emperor’s island?

KEYLETH: No, it’s not like

a banishment.

I can Plane Shift us

wherever we want to go,

to an alternate plane.

VEX: To the Feywild?

So we don’t even

have to find an entrance?

KEYLETH: Yeah, we just hold hands

and think about it really hard.

GROG: No way.

KEYLETH: Yeah.

It’s druid magic. It’s great.

VAX: And you put us

in a safe spot

somewhere in there, somehow?

KEYLETH: I can take us

to where we’ve been before,

to where it’s familiar.

VAX: Have we been there before?

I don’t know.

KEYLETH: Very briefly.

PERCY: Yes.

VEX: Is it somewhere

that you have to have been,

or can it be somewhere

that we have been.

KEYLETH: It is somewhere

I am familiar with, I believe,

through means -

through means that I am familiar…

VEX: Syngorn is in the Feywild.

SCANLAN: Normally?

VAX: No, not normally.

VEX: They transferred the entire city there,

so technically, it’s a place -

VAX: I know, but you’re saying

we’ve been there,

but they just did that recently.

SCANLAN: Grog’s been to the Feywild.

MATT: You can specify a target

MARISHA: In general terms.

MATT: In general terms.

MARISHA: Such as “City of Brass

on the Elemental Plane of Fire.”

SCANLAN: Oh, is that

where we’re going?

KEYLETH: No.

SCANLAN: Oh. Sounds like fun.

PERCY: It does, actually.

KEYLETH: If you guys want to go

to the Plane of Fire,

that’s like,

a hike and a jump through a hole.

PERCY: Ah.

GROG: No, no, not the Plane of Fire.

Just the Feywild.

KEYLETH: All right.

Yeah, I can get us there.

SCANLAN: To the Feywild.

How big is the Feywild?

Is it like a football field?

KEYLETH: It’s very big.

VEX: It’s a whole other plane.

SCANLAN: Well, how do -

do we know where we’re going

in the Feywild?

KEYLETH: I imagine we’ll figure it out

once we get there.

TALIESIN: Do I know anything

about the Feywild?

MATT: You have

no knowledge of the Feywild.

ASHLEY: Would I know anything else?

MARISHA: What about me?

LAURA: Would we have learned

something about it in Syngorn?

MATT: You have

a general idea of it, somewhat -

MARISHA: Team Half-Elf, yeah.

MATT: Somewhat,

just through your learning.

You never actually visited there.

The Feywild is a near plane,

a plane that overlaps

this Prime Material Plane.

It’s a version

of the world you live in right now

that is shifted and changed

in a place where time,

distance is relative and shifts.

Nature grows rampant and in cases

is hard to really expect its direction.

Things and entities exist there

that prefer to trick and lose wanderers.

It’s a very strange place

where some believe

elves initially come from

or craft from there, at least.

LIAM: Do the two of us know enough

that were you to jump

from the same place here,

would you necessarily end up

in the same spot in the Feywild?

MATT: You have no idea.

LIAM: We don’t know. All right.

MATT: You don’t know anything

about the transition to the Feywild.

You just know that certain doors open

at certain times,

especially with full moons

in certain locations,

the classic toadstool rings,

areas where the moonlight

in the realms

can be a little thinner

and the barrier doors do open,

and those are where creatures

can transition out or through.

You do know it’s a place of fey magic,

it’s tricky, it’s difficult to follow.

SAM: Terrible.

LAURA: It sounds awful.

MATT: Very, like, Oberon and Titania.

Weird. Interesting.

MARISHA: Question.

MATT: Yes?

MARISHA: Hmm, okay.

SAM: Good question.

MARISHA: It says

the Wrath of the Fey Warden

is what we’re looking for, the bow,

and that it now acts

as the heart of a cancerous tree,

corrupting the verdant land.

Is there something I can do,

maybe try and…

TRAVIS: Hold on, is our stream up?

Are we offline right now?

LUCAS: (muffled, from offscreen)

I’m checking. Just wait.

ASHLEY: Hold, please.

LUCAS: It says we’re still online.

Hang on.

LIAM: Loot Crate. Check out Loot Crate.

SAM: No one can see it.

LAURA: No, it says it’s offline.

LIAM: Refresh it.

MARISHA: It says offline?

LIAM: Quit the program

and go back in.

TRAVIS: The chat is saying it’s off.

LUCAS: No, we’re still online.

LAURA: Okay.

LIAM: Tell them to quit and re-login.

SAM: It’s back. It’s back.

LUCAS: I’m not sure what happened.

I’m not sure it even

dropped frames on my end.

LIAM: Whoa, we were

in the Feywild for a second there.

ASHLEY: Oh, it was crazy.

MATT: You guys missed six episodes.

(all make exaggerated

sounds of relief)

MATT: Everything turned out okay.

LAURA: Yay! And we got the warden thing.

LIAM: Dragons are dead.

MARISHA: Guys, I’m so glad

we won D&D. We beat it.

LAURA: Yeah, that was the best.

TALIESIN: Roll the credits scroll.

MARISHA: Can I maybe sense a sick tree?

You know what?

Let’s go to Whitestone.

Let’s go to Whitestone

and drop some stuff off.

VEX: You know,

because the more I think about it,

I mean, we almost just

died many times

and the last time we tried

to get a Vestige

it almost killed us,

and maybe we just need

a little bit

more preparation, maybe?

PERCY: Let’s empty our bags,

let’s prepare ourselves, let’s -

there are certainly stories

in the woods of Whitestone

of strange happenings,

so I’m sure

there’s probably some connection

to the Feywild,

and we’ll see what happens.

VEX: Make sure Whitestone

is actually

preparing something underground

just like Westruun.

PERCY: Well, we have something.

KEYLETH: Yes, they have

something underground already.

VEX: Exactly, but there’s

a spinning orb of death there.

PERCY: Which, to be fair,

is probably going

to keep a dragon away.

VAX: But I also think

we’ve earned more

than a single day of rest.

PERCY: Yes.

VAX: Let’s go to Whitestone.

PERCY: Let’s go to Whitestone.

KEYLETH: All right.

ASHLEY: Where’s the sea?

SAM: The Ozmit Sea?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: The Ozmit Sea is

to the east of you, east-southeast,

and that is a wide gulf that separates -

from your perspective, looking at me,

there’s Othanzia, Ozmit Sea,

and there’s Tal'Dorei right here.

LAURA: Oh, okay.

LIAM: (sneezes)

TALIESIN AND MARISHA: Bless you.

LAURA: Bless you.

KEYLETH: The Water Ashari

live in the Ozmit Sea.

VEX: Are they like mermaids?

KEYLETH: No, I think they’ve got an island.

PIKE: It’s also the sea that I sailed.

KEYLETH: Really?

VEX: (gasps)

SCANLAN: Ohhh.

PERCY: Really?

VEX: In your roving pirate days.

PIKE: I know it well.

KEYLETH: How familiar are you with the sea?

PIKE: I’m pretty familiar with it.

GROG: What if we go there?

SCANLAN: We could.

VEX: Wait, could I see the list of Vestiges?

SCANLAN: The one in the bottom of the sea

is called Whisper, right?

VEX: Whisper?

KEYLETH: A blade forged from metal

pulled from the Far Realm,

it was the center of many dark rituals.

SCANLAN: It now lies

at the bottom of the Ozmit Sea,

sunken with the lost ship,

The Shrew.

VEX: (sing-song) The Shrew?

PIKE: (deep voice) The Shrew.

SCANLAN: A storm three hundred years ago

near an island of glass.

Anyone know about the island of glass?

VEX: Have you heard

about an island of glass?

MARISHA: Have I heard

about an island of glass?

Have Pike or I heard

of an island of glass?

MATT: I’ll have both of you guys

make history checks.

MARISHA: All right.

I rolled a natural 1.

MATT: You barely know

what glass is right now.

KEYLETH: Guys, water isn’t glass,

that’s stupid.

TALIESIN: I would have

a theory as to what it was.

TRAVIS: She rolled a 20.

MARISHA: You rolled a 20? Oh, go Pike!

ASHLEY: Not a natural 20. Total.

MATT: Explain.

TALIESIN: Should I roll to figure out

that this is probably an active volcano?

MATT: Make an intelligence check.

TALIESIN: I’m down.

LIAM: Come on, man.

TALIESIN: No! Wow.

SAM: Onesies.

MARISHA: Team ones. Whoo.

MATT: Natural 1?

TALIESIN: Natural 1.

MATT: Whoo.

LIAM: Snitch.

MATT: Doesn’t quite come to you,

but what it could be.

The idea of a volcano

possibly comes to mind, but -

TALIESIN: I’m distracted.

MATT: Yeah.

You have not been there,

you haven’t seen it,

but some of your crewmates

while you were traveling

aboard your ship

for that five, six-month period,

a couple of them did mention something

about on the sea,

a mirage-like island

that glistens in the distance,

but they said to avoid it,

said it was dangerous.

SAM: Did they say where it was?

MATT: No.

SAM: Damn it.

PIKE: Heard many tales of The Shrew.

VEX: Yeah?

PIKE: Yeah, the ship lost at sea.

MATT: You know of The Shrew,

you definitely know of The Shrew.

PIKE: All sailors know of The Shrew.

KEYLETH: What’s the story of The Shrew?

SCANLAN: Come on, sailor.

PIKE: It’s just - there was a storm

three hundred years ago.

LAURA: Near an island of glass?

ASHLEY: Near an island of glass.

MARISHA: It was really bad.

PIKE: And The Shrew

just didn’t sail on.

SAM: It was tamed.

ASHLEY: It was tamed.

LAURA: (laughs) I was waiting for it to -

MATT: Come around again?

Yeah, it was good.

LAURA: Come around, yep.

TALIESIN: Taming of the Shrew fits, yeah.

ASHLEY: Good tale,

but we’ll get there one day.

MATT: What’s the plan?

VAX: Whitestone.

SCANLAN: Yes, Whitestone.

GROG: Can I make

one other suggestion?

Emon…

go take Thordak right now.

SCANLAN: Good call…

GROG: Yeah, one taker?

KEYLETH: You know what, Grog?

VEX: It’s a good plan, Grog.

VAX: It’s cheeky.

KEYLETH: We will put that

in our back pocket

and we will think about it.

VAX: That helmet

is really something else.

VEX: You could really do

something terrible to him with that thing.

GROG: I’m just saying,

I think we have an edge now.

VEX: I think you’re probably right -

SCANLAN: (chuckle) Attaboy.

VAX: That’s technically true, yes.

PERCY: You do… have a point.

VEX: But let’s make sure

that Whitestone is safe

before we do such a thing.

SCANLAN: Percy, we are in a place

that has an airship dock.

PERCY: That is true.

SCANLAN: We could go steal an airship.

PERCY: We could go steal an airship!

VEX: We don’t need an airship.

KEYLETH: We don’t need an airship.

VEX: We have an instant ability

to transport anywhere.

SCANLAN: It would be so cool, though.

PERCY: Then we wouldn’t

have to go to Whitestone.

It would hold all of our things.

VEX AND KEYLETH:

When we kill all the dragons…

PERCY: We could hold all of our things

on the airship -

and I could have cannonades,

and it would fire -

VEX: That will be the first thing we do

when Thordak dies -

VAX: Party on an airship.

VEX: - is we jump on an airship.

PIKE: Party on the airship.

KEYLETH: We’ll buy it

with all of the gold

that we’ve stolen

from all the dragons.

It’ll be great.

PERCY: We won’t need the airship

if the dragons are dead.

VEX: All the fun has gone out of it.

TRAVIS: What are we doing?

LAURA: We’re going to Whitestone.

MARISHA: We’re going to Whitestone.

MARISHA: (piercing spell noise)

SCANLAN: Before we leave, do you want

to sell these stupid white dragon scales?

PERCY: No.

SCANLAN: All right, let’s go.

VAX: Let’s go to Whitestone.

MARISHA: (repeats piercing spell noise)

Through a tree!

MATT: All right, as you guys walk

outside of the Slayer’s Take guildhall,

you find the nearest tree,

which you’ve used before to traverse.

As you all step through the portal,

Percy and Scanlan

look over their shoulder

at the distant skyport

and see the one airship docked there

and think, “One day…”

VAX: So handsome.

SCANLAN: Someday, it will be ours.

PERCY: You’ll make a fine sailor.

SCANLAN: Passenger.

LIAM: Swabby.

MATT: You jump through

and emerge out the other side.

As you step out of the portal,

you find yourself

jumping out of the center

of the Sun Tree.

MARISHA: Can I do something?

SAM: Nope.

MATT: What do you want to do?

MARISHA: While I’m in the tree,

can I do something? Like -

TRAVIS: Like kill us all?

No no no. Say they go first.

“Go, go, go, go.”

And I kind of start teleporting

through the tree

and while I’m in the Sun Tree

I just want to be like,

KEYLETH: Hey, boo.

LAURA: (laughs)

KEYLETH: I missed you.

Have you heard of this whole

cancerous tree situation

in the Feywild?

SAM: (whispering) You’re talking to a tree?

MARISHA: Shh, no.

I’m in the middle of the tree.

I’m in the tree.

LAURA: You’re stuck in the tree?

MATT: As you finish this thought,

you hear this sound emerge

(vacuum sealing sound)

and realize it’s the sound

of the whole portal you’ve made

closing behind you

because it only lasts for six seconds

and you should probably

get the hell out of the tree.

MARISHA: Aww. I step out of the tree.

ASHLEY: Good try.

MATT: As you step out, a voice goes,

SUN TREE: Hey, boo, sorry.

(kiss noise)

(all laugh)

MATT: And it closes behind you.

MARISHA: I’ll talk to him later.

MATT: You guys emerge.

Due to the time differences,

you land here in Whitestone,

looking at where the sun is in the sky,

it’s early afternoon,

as opposed to the morning

where you guys just stepped away from.

There are people in the streets,

and you see a few,

a little bit of life

has returned to this town square,

though still, by comparison -

there are folks now

that are bringing in actual,

healthy, looks to be fruits

from nearby trees.

There’s a little bit of trade going on.

This is the first real chance you’ve had

to see a little bit of Whitestone

coming to life again.

As you emerge from the tree,

a few individuals nearby

stop and look and smile and wave,

recognizing you as you approach.

LAURA: Are there any leaves

on the Sun Tree yet?

MATT: Actually, no, there are not.

There are no leaves on the Sun Tree.

SAM: (quietly) Because it’s winter.

LAURA: Whatever.

GROG: We should check

with the border patrol.

SCANLAN: There’s a border patrol?

GROG: Yeah.

VEX: A wolf.

SCANLAN: Oh, the wolf.

TRAVIS: (whistles) I whistle

as loud as I can.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: What’s his name?

MARISHA: I don’t know.

Let me find it.

SAM: Oh, boy. Harold?

LAURA: I just want to go find Zahra

and give her a hug and say hello

and see how she’s doing

while he’s talking.

MATT: You whistle as loud as you can

for a little bit. Nothing.

GROG: Must be off doing something

(belches) important.

PERCY: Quite.

MATT: You head off and, asking around,

you find Zahra is actually

up in Castle Whitestone right now,

just poring through

one of the studies of books,

and is just currently

reading and reading on her own.

As you eventually ask around

and find your way there,

entering the room, you see her

with a small set of spectacles

at the end of her nose.

She takes them off and,

ZAHRA: My darling Vex'ahlia!

MATT: And comes up

and just gives you a big hug

and picks you up and sets you down.

ZAHRA: I’m so glad to see

you’re all right.

VEX: Dear, the dragon arrow

you gave me? Killed him.

Well, I didn’t kill him,

actually, with it,

but I did a lot of damage.

ZAHRA: You killed a dragon?

VEX: Umbrasyl. Dead. One down.

ZAHRA: I knew you would.

VEX: Where’s Cashew?

ZAHRA: I don’t know.

He’s testy these days.

I’m sure he’s around.

LAURA: I know his name

is fucking Kashaw.

VEX: So he’s not there.

ZAHRA: Probably down

in the city somewhere.

He’s helping where he can.

You know broody types.

VEX: I do know broody types.

MATT: Yes, you do.

VEX: What are you reading?

ZAHRA: Oh, I’m just learning

about the history of Whitestone

and I’m very intrigued

as to the actual properties

of this stone

the entire town is built on.

There’s a lot of really,

really interesting things

that can be done with the materials

in these mountains.

VEX: I’m sure you have ideas.

ZAHRA: I do.

LAURA: I sit down next to her and ask,

just catching up,

and see if they’ve spotted any dragons.

MATT: You guys continue your conversation,

catching up,

letting her know how things happened,

and vice versa.

You don’t get any info

that any dragons have come by.

Apparently, there have been

a few other arcane practitioners

that have been helping set up

some sort of barrier to help,

essentially,

dissuade attention towards the city.

The idea of keeping this place

as far off the map as possible,

should any prying eyes

find their way there.

It’s in the process

of being set up right now.

VEX: Zahra, how long did it take you

to make that arrow?

ZAHRA: A few weeks.

VEX: If I were to give you

some more money,

do you think you could do it again?

ZAHRA: Probably, based on what -

(sighs) if I’m able to use

some of the resources

here within the castle, maybe.

VEX: I’ll talk to Percy,

but I’m sure, if it’s for a good cause…

ZAHRA: All right, perhaps I can.

VEX: All right.

I’ll come find you, dear.

ZAHRA: Wondrous.

MATT: What else

are you guys trying to achieve here?

LIAM: I am trying to find Shaun Gilmore.

LAURA: That’s his first name?

SAM: Shaun Gilmore?

MATT AND MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Yeah, Shaun.

LAURA: Shaun? How did you know that?

MARISHA: He told us.

MATT: He told you guys that

a long time ago.

LAURA: I fucking know, I remember.

MATT: (laughs)

TALIESIN: Tattooed

at the small of his back.

MARISHA: Yeah, he’s got a tramp stamp.

ASHLEY: Tramp stamp.

SAM: Can I accompany Vax on this trip?

LIAM: Sure, come on.

SCANLAN: I want to see Gilmore.

VAX: Let’s start

asking around town for him.

MATT: You start asking around.

You come across

a few folks you recognize,

you find a few of the guards

who helped you

with the initial reconstruction

of this city and such

and asking around.

One of the nearby guards

takes his helmet off and is like,

WHITESTONE GUARD: First off,

I am so excited

that you guys are back.

I’m so glad you’re all safe.

I heard that you were

off to do some dangerous things.

VAX: You heard right.

WHITESTONE GUARD: Well, great,

I’m glad that you’ve survived.

Looking for Mr. Gilmore,

he’s actually down with the Realmseer.

They’re inspecting

the ziggurat underneath the city,

so you could head down there

if you wanted to find him.

VAX: Thank you.

I’m not terribly familiar

with Whitestone,

could you point us

in the right direction?

WHITESTONE GUARD: It’s under the castle.

VAX: The castle.

WHITESTONE GUARD: Yes.

VAX: Can’t miss that.

SCANLAN: Yeah, we’ve been there before.

Yeah, let’s go.

VAX: Let’s go.

MATT: He puts his helmet back on.

WHITESTONE GUARD: Thank you again

for all that you do.

MATT: He clicks his heels together

and continues walking through the city.

LIAM: All right, yeah.

SAM: I guess we’ll head

down to the ziggurat.

LIAM: Let’s do it.

MATT: Everyone else going with?

TRAVIS: Fuck yeah, let’s go.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Yeah.

LAURA: We taking a trip?

TALIESIN: Sure.

MARISHA: Oh, are we all

going down to the ziggurat?

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Nothing else to do.

MARISHA: Sure.

MATT: All right. You make your way

down to the basement area

of Whitestone Castle,

into the family catacombs,

which have been cleaned up

and you can see

that Cassandra has put

a little bit of care

into restoring it

to what it was before.

The tunnel that was carved in

has been given a little more support,

and as you’re making your way

down a familiar tunnel,

the same tunnel where you had

the showdown with Orthax,

you hear a few voices

from up ahead.

Two familiar voices.

You hear the echo of some older,

gruff, elderly gentleman

and a little more rambunctious

familiar voice.

As they turn the corner,

you see them deep in conversation.

It’s the Realmseer himself

hunched forward

with his white hair

and balding top, turns around,

ESKIL RYNDARIEN: And it’s

a great mystery to me

that they can put a -

Oh, look! They’ve returned.

Vox Machina themselves.

MATT: Gilmore, at this point,

opens his arms, standing and healthy.

GILMORE: My god,

I’ve been waiting for you.

VEX: (laughs)

PIKE AND KEYLETH: Aww.

GILMORE: And all of you

so graciously clean!

VEX: You look so healthy, Gilmore!

PIKE: Very healthy.

GILMORE: Well, I have you

to thank for that.

Still a ways to go, but -

VAX: But in two or three weeks,

it’s not bad. You’re looking well.

GILMORE: Well, you all have Kima

to thank for that.

She’s been quite attentive

to my needs.

KEYLETH: How is Whitestone finding you?

GILMORE: Curious place, this Whitestone.

It’s - well, the company’s interesting.

KEYLETH: Sure.

MATT: The Realmseer laughs. He’s like,

ESKIL RYNDARIEN: (chuckles) So I’ve heard.

GILMORE: We’ve spent a little bit of time

looking at this strange oddity

beneath the city,

and I’m not going to lie to you,

it’s really confusing.

I’ve a few theories on it,

as does the Arcanist,

but we’re still comparing notes

and we don’t want

to jump to any conclusions,

as tests have been inconclusive

and rather dangerous so far.

However, before anything else

goes underway, I believe there’s

a very important bit of business

that we must attend to.

SCANLAN: Business?

What business, Gilmore?

MATT: And he walks straight up to Grog

and just gives you a big hug.

SAM: Aww.

LAURA: Oh?

MATT: And pats you on the shoulder

and is like,

GILMORE: (chuckling) You big lug.

GROG: You… Gilmore.

(all laugh)

MATT: Walks over to you, Pike,

and kneels down and gives you

a little pinch on the cheek

and is like,

GILMORE: Looking as spry

and smiley as ever, I see.

PIKE: Hello, Shaun.

(more laughter)

ASHLEY: I give him a kiss

on the cheek.

GILMORE: Ohh.

ASHLEY: (laughs) Ohh.

MATT: He turns to you.

GILMORE: Vex'ahlia, look at you.

I hear, if my words say correct,

that you folks are

a recent dragon-slaying bunch, hmm?

VEX: That we are.

GILMORE: (chuckles) Good to know.

MATT: Skips over you.

LAURA: Ohh.

ASHLEY: Save the best for last.

MATT: And goes to Scanlan

and goes to ruffle your hair, and goes,

GILMORE: And you, you,

my little bardish friend.

SCANLAN: Little?

GILMORE: No, you’re actually

physically little.

SCANLAN: Oh, I know.

GILMORE: You are a tinier person.

GILMORE: Embrace it!

It’s what makes you different.

SCANLAN: That’s true, I suppose.

I suppose. Yes, that’s - absolutely.

We’ve been spreading the good word

about you and your works.

GILMORE: So I’ve heard

from all sorts of interesting folk.

I only hope one day

to wear clothes as fine as you.

SCANLAN: Oh! That’s a nice compliment.

GILMORE: Percival.

PERCY: Good patron.

GILMORE: Thank you

for taking me into your home.

PERCY: You do nothing

but brighten these halls.

GILMORE: I’m…

happy to keep things lit. (sighs)

MATT: At which point,

he goes to look towards you.

The Realmseer’s sitting there

tapping his arm; he’s like,

ESKIL RYNDARIEN: Right, get on with it,

we’ve got work to be done.

GILMORE: Shh. You be quiet.

These people have saved my life.

Keyleth. Sweet Ashari princess.

KEYLETH: Hi, Gilmore.

GILMORE: You’ve grown.

I can see it in your eyes.

MATT: He gives you a big hug.

MARISHA: I give him a hug back.

GILMORE: Vax.

LAURA: (giggles)

GILMORE: Vax'ildan.

Light of my eye. Smiling boy.

(all laugh)

MATT: And he walks up

and puts his hands across your shoulders

and kind of cups your face.

GILMORE: I’ve missed you most of all.

MATT: And pulls you in for a big hug

and lifts you up off the ground.

VAX: Oh, hey, you.

VEX: You’re strong enough to -

be careful of your wound, Gilmore!

MATT: As he sets you down, he’s like,

GILMORE: Ooh, I shouldn’t have done that.

My apologies.

LIAM: I pat him on the ribs.

GILMORE: Don’t touch that.

It’s still very tender.

VAX: It’s fantastic to see you.

You’re a sight for sore eyes, yourself.

We’re very happy to see you.

GILMORE: My sight is sore,

so this works out well.

But please, these tunnels are dank

and not becoming of us.

Dinner should be happening soon

and you should join us,

now that you’ve returned, please.

KEYLETH: Oh, before dinner,

I think we were all just curious

on the state of the… ziggurat,

as we were calling it.

VEX: The orb.

GILMORE: Let’s talk over dinner.

KEYLETH: Spinning orb of death,

is what we call it.

GILMORE: Let’s talk over dinner.

KEYLETH: All right, yeah, sure.

GROG: Wait, you said

you were doing tests on it, right?

Did you throw things at it?

Did it blow up?

GILMORE: That is part of the test.

Nothing blew up. Things did go away.

GROG: They went away?

VEX: They get sucked in, Grog.

GILMORE: We’ll talk over dinner.

I hate to have this discussion

without Allura here.

I think this would only

behoove the conversation

if we’re all present.

PERCY: An excellent argument.

VEX: We have some delicious

and very expensive wine to bust out.

SCANLAN: Oh, yes.

GILMORE: (chuckling) Well!

PIKE: Expensive-ass wine.

VAX: Yeah.

VEX: Expensive-ass wine

we could bust out with dinner.

GILMORE: Color me intrigued. Well -

VEX: Oh, I haven’t got to wink

in a really long time, you guys.

It felt so good.

KEYLETH: Back to your old self.

VAX: Hard life.

GILMORE: It was a good wink.

Finest in the land.

Well, come to the surface, then!

This place is dreary.

PERCY: Yes.

GILMORE: You, too, Eskil.

ESKIL RYNDARIEN: Aye.

LAURA: (laughs)

ESKIL RYNDARIEN: Too many smiles

in this area. I like it. It’s jovial.

Don’t see that

around these places too often.

It’s good to see all of you.

Come, now, yes, let’s move!

MATT: You all eventually make your way

back to the surface, to Whitestone.

MARISHA: I go to Vex and Pike and go,

KEYLETH: Is this a good opportunity

for us to break out our formal wear?

PIKE: (gasps) Yes!

VEX: Definitely, dear.

KEYLETH: Okay.

GROG: Oh, jeez.

PERCY: I genuinely have no idea

what you’re talking about.

MARISHA: The ladies take,

like, 20 minutes.

TRAVIS: Let’s be honest, it’s 2 hours.

TALIESIN: 40 minutes.

TRAVIS: Fucking 20 minutes, my ass.

On what plane are you

right now? (laughs)

LAURA: (laughs)

MARISHA: Not the Feywild.

But maybe soon.

ASHLEY: There’s magic involved.

TALIESIN: Same plane as the break room.

5 minutes is 15. (laughs)

MARISHA: (laughing) Yes, yes, yeah.

TRAVIS: “I’ll be 20 minutes.”

The next day…

LIAM: On the way out,

as we’re all walking out,

I walk along with Gilmore

and I give him

just a gentle shoulder.

Shoulder to shoulder. And say,

VAX: It’s really good

to see you on your feet.

It’s the best smile I’ve had in ages.

GILMORE: You and me both.

VEX: While we’re getting ready,

I would like to talk to Pike

about a certain proposal that happened.

None of us have addressed it.

PIKE: I know, just because I just -

VEX: What happened?

PIKE: What should I do?

VEX: What did you tell him?

Did you tell him yes, did you tell him no?

PIKE: I’m just so, you know -

KEYLETH: Hang on,

what exactly did he say, by the way?

PIKE: I just said we’ll circle back.

VEX: We’ll circle back?

KEYLETH: Circle back.

VEX: (laughing) How did he take that?

PIKE: I think he was fine with it.

He just understands that I just -

KEYLETH: Treat proposals

like we do our dungeons?

(laughs) We circle back.

PIKE: Isn’t that the only way

to just treat all things?

I guess, I don’t know.

I don’t know.

KEYLETH: (giggles)

VEX: How do you feel about him, Pike?

PIKE: I just don’t know.

I just feel so confused.

KEYLETH: I understand that.

PIKE: I just -

he kind of wears you down a little.

LIAM: (cracks up)

PIKE: And there's

something there, for him.

KEYLETH: I don’t know if that’s

a good reason to say yes, though.

PIKE: Oh, I don’t know.

He’s just very charming.

KEYLETH AND VEX: He is very charming.

VEX: And I noticed,

he’s becoming more charming.

PIKE: Yes, I know!

KEYLETH: Yeah, what is with that?

I didn’t know that was possible.

PIKE: How? I feel like

he goes to sleep

and then the next morning

he’s like -

PIKE AND VEX: Even more charming!

VEX: I don’t understand it.

PIKE: Why is that?

KEYLETH: I don’t know.

VEX: Like, every once in a while

I look at him and I go:

KEYLETH: Yeah, no,

and then I feel really -

VEX: No, but he’s small,

but at the same time,

I’m kind of interested.

KEYLETH: Right! And you kind of

think about it for a second

and you entertain it,

and then you feel really gross

about yourself.

VEX: It’s like, you feel like - yeah!

PIKE: Yes! Yes.

VEX: But if you’re actually interested,

then it’s not gross at all.

KEYLETH: No! Of course it’s not gross

if you’re actually interested.

PIKE: I know. I just. (groans)

I’ve had feelings for someone

for a long time,

but maybe they’re slowly fading.

I don’t know.

VEX: Wait.

KEYLETH: Wait, what?

PIKE: I have. I don’t know

if I feel comfortable talking about it.

But it’s fine.

VEX: We don’t want to push you, Pike,

but you know, it’s just us girls here.

KEYLETH: I know! And we’ve been through

so many uncomfortable things together.

PIKE: (groans)

KEYLETH: Most of life

is so uncomfortable.

Be comfortable right now.

PIKE: I just. I don’t know.

It’s still something

that I need to think about.

VEX: All right.

KEYLETH: We understand.

PIKE: I’m just.

VEX: You pray

to your Sarenrae about it.

PIKE: Okay. (laughs)

You do look lovely, though,

in your dress.

VEX: You look beautiful.

KEYLETH: You look so cute.

LAURA, ASHLEY, AND MARISHA: (laugh)

PIKE: Thanks.

ASHLEY: I do a twirl.

(more laughter)

MARISHA: I do a little air cantrip

to make the skirt poof out.

PIKE: Ooh.

LAURA: I tug up my dress.

KEYLETH: Hey, do you guys mind

tying me up a bit?

VEX: Of course!

KEYLETH: Nice and tight. (grunts)

VEX: Can you breathe?

KEYLETH: (strained)

No, but that means it’s right.

VEX: All right.

KEYLETH: All right, I’m good.

TALIESIN: I assume there’s clean clothes

for everybody in their quarters, anyway?

MATT: Yeah, it’s all good.

TRAVIS: I’m wearing the same shit.

(all laugh)

SAM: And the big hat?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: (laughing) To dinner. (shoonk)

TRAVIS: (laughing) Yeah.

I paid money for this thing.

TALIESIN: And I’m going to arrange

for our stuff to be stowed in the vault.

MATT: Okay. Not a worry.

All right, so as the sun sets,

you find your way down

to the proper dinner table.

Gilmore is there, Eskil is there,

Cassandra is there…

MARISHA: We look fabulous.

MATT: You guys look fantastic.

SAM: They do.

MARISHA: Yes. We do.

MATT: Fine outfits have been provided

for the men,

if they wish to wear them,

as well. Some do not.

TALIESIN: Oh, I am dressed.

LIAM: I’m dressed, yeah.

SAM: Oh, I’ll dress up.

I’ll dress up for dinner.

MATT: All righty.

As you guys sit down,

pleasantries are exchanged -

(yawns) Pardon me.

You catch up a bit with Cassandra.

Partway through -

LAURA: Aw, Matt.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: What?

TRAVIS: He needs sleep.

LIAM: E3, y'all.

OTHERS: E3.

TALIESIN: Sit down, have a beer,

watch our game.

MARISHA: (laughs) 2 pm.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MATT: Within the next 15 minutes or so,

before food is brought to the table,

Allura finally enters

in a very, very nice dress, and says,

ALLURA: It is so good

to see you all are safe.

KEYLETH: Allura!

PIKE: Hello.

LAURA: I give her a hug.

MATT: She then gives you a big,

wonderful hug.

VEX: How’s Kima?

We haven’t seen her yet.

ALLURA: Well…

MATT: She looks over this way

and Kima walks in,

for the first time you’ve seen her

really out of armor

since you first saw her.

Her hair is also in similar braids

to her side

and she herself is wearing

a golden dress,

though she’s kind of like…

GROG: Yeah, I know the feeling.

(all laugh)

MATT: She comes in,

KEYLETH: Kima.

KIMA: Hello.

PIKE: Oh, you look lovely.

MARISHA: Keyleth goes over

and gives her a hug.

MATT: She gives you a hug and goes,

KIMA: It’s good to see you guys.

I’m glad you’re all right…

This feels weird. Does this feel weird?

This feels weird.

KEYLETH: It’s only for a few hours.

Don’t worry about it.

GROG: What are you wearing?

KIMA: That’s what I’m saying!

Do I have to wear -

he’s not wearing anything.

Do I have to wear -

VEX: You don’t have to wear a dress, Kima.

ALLURA: You don’t have to wear it, Kima.

It was just a suggestion.

VEX: (chuckles)

SCANLAN: Kima, he’s -

KIMA: I’m going to go change.

I’ll be right back.

GROG: Yeah, go change.

MATT: She darts off for a bit

and Allura smiles and facepalms a bit.

SCANLAN: You two are at the kiddie table.

(all laugh)

VAX: You ought to let her

try that helmet on later.

SCANLAN: Show some class, man.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: You guys catch up a bit

as Allura speaks

about her and Drake’s escape

from Westruun.

Kima eventually comes back,

wearing ratty clothing.

Shirt, pants, the general wear

she’d pick up throughout the city.

And is still carrying

her small maul at her side.

It’s like her little comfort blanket.

(thud) Next to the table.

GROG: Yeahhh. That’s better.

MATT: She scoots up next to Allura.

Gilmore snaps his fingers

and wine begins to pour

from the servants. Cassandra says,

CASSANDRA: Well, thank you all for coming.

I believe there is much

to get underway here. This -

MATT: And she gestures

towards Gilmore and Allura, and they nod.

Eskil raises his hand a moment.

GILMORE: So, while you’ve been gone.

Allura, you’ve been

doing this research for a bit.

ALLURA: Thank you, thank you.

So, we’ve been trying

to ascertain the nature

of the ziggurat beneath the city.

The ziggurat itself is built over

what appears to be

an ancient temple of Ioun.

The glass substance,

the diluted whitestone

that has been reformed into glass,

is used as a very strong arcane current.

A lot of energy was being placed

in this location,

as there is an actual,

what appears to be

an arcane leyline, a nexus point,

near and above Whitestone,

hence the Sun Tree’s placement.

PERCY: Yes, of course.

ALLURA: And why it flourishes

so well in this region.

But everything within

a certain vicinity of this temple,

of this dark spot, if you will,

is eaten.

Doesn’t vanish, it’s not cancelled,

it’s taken. Devoured.

Everything placed within

that small little globule of darkness

is taken somewhere as well.

Now, at first, we thought

maybe it was just destroying,

but the arcane energy we feel,

the flow of it,

it’s drawing it somewhere.

Meaning that this is not

what I had feared to be

a sphere of annihilation,

an object of complete destruction.

Instead it feels like it’s a siphon.

Now, a siphon - siphons are very old.

Siphons were used in the First War.

They were used as a means

of transferring extremely powerful…

raw magical powers.

They were placed strategically

throughout the world’s crust

at these various nexus points

as a means of creating

extremely powerful relics.

The ones that you seek, the ones

that made the Vestiges themselves,

were crafted through the use

of some of these siphons,

but they have been lost and,

many thought,

destroyed for a very long time,

or at least inert.

I have reason to believe

that this may be one.

And it may be active.

As to where the other side lies,

I do not know.

Because each siphon has two points.

PERCY: So it’s fair to assume

that at the other end of this

is something old, something trapped,

something hungry.

ALLURA: Perhaps.

VEX: Would it be in this plane

or another?

ALLURA: I have no idea.

Everything we’ve attempted

to put through it

that had any sort

of magical connection,

whether it be

through inter-planal scrying,

anything that would bring us

to the other side of this,

is crushed, consumed,

and transferred as part of it.

None of our rituals

or enchantments

will let us see through this

spinning marble, as you call it.

VEX: You haven’t

put any blood through it, though?

PERCY: Let’s not.

VEX: No, I’m hoping

that hasn’t happened.

KEYLETH: So nothing survives

the transfer.

It is destroyed into its…

purest components, it sounds.

ALLURA: Seemingly, yes.

VAX: Or is it - don’t know?

Is it that you have no idea

what happened to things put through, or -

ALLURA: We’re still delving into it,

and it may be a little while

before we figure this out,

but this is the best I can ascertain

with my knowledge at my disposal.

And the Realmseer and Gilmore

can back up this research.

We’ve all worked together

these past weeks

and we’re all kind of

coming to the same conclusion.

MATT: She gestures to Gilmore.

Gilmore says,

GILMORE: I’ve only been

on this case personally

for a few days

of rising health standards

in my body

and I’ve thrown everything

I can at it, honestly,

and it’s all just come to nothing.

Gone. (pthbbt)

PERCY: This is disappointing.

GILMORE: You’re telling me.

GROG: What about a person?

GILMORE: (laughing) I’m not

sending a person through there.

KEYLETH: To be fair, Grog,

I might have tried that, a little.

SCANLAN: What?

PERCY: Yes, that’s right.

KEYLETH: I sort of stuck my hand

in the spinning ball of death

and let’s just say

I’m glad I’m still here

standing with you all.

VEX: Was it sucking you in?

KEYLETH: It did

a considerable amount of damage

to my hand

and definitely felt

like it was sucking me in

and I had to resist pretty hard.

But it seems like anything

that goes in that sphere

doesn’t come out the other end intact.

VEX: Gilmore - any of you, Allura -

have you experienced

any kind of draw toward the orb?

Do you feel different,

having been around it for very long?

MATT: Gilmore cocks a curious eye

to the Realmseer.

The Realmseer thinks

and scratches his chin,

looks to Allura.

Allura looks down at the table

with her arms crossed,

looks to Kima.

Kima’s finishing her big drink.

KIMA: I stay away from it.

It creeps the hell out of me.

GILMORE: Not to my knowledge.

Do you think we should be worried?

VEX: Well, I don’t know.

I mean, it is a very strong relic

that we don’t know how it works.

GILMORE: The difficulty

in our research

is most of our means of inspection

are, well -

VEX: Up close and personal.

GILMORE: Of arcane nature.

PERCY: I was hoping

that perhaps we could talk

about some engineering possibilities

of finding ways

that science can measure what it is

where magic cannot.

Something safe.

SCANLAN: (scoffs) Science, Percy?

PERCY: In this sense, as it stands.

GILMORE: We’re open

to all possible suggestions.

We’re kind of at the end of our rope

for the time being.

We may send a few of us

across the way to, well,

a few different places

for more information.

May do a bit

of traveling ourselves, it seems.

PERCY: I’ll sketch something

with my copious free time.

GILMORE: Hm. Please do.

SCANLAN: No dragons

have buzzed by here in our absence?

MATT: They kind of

look to themselves.

GILMORE: None yet,

but we’ve been very careful.

We’re in the process of installing

some semblance of,

(sighs) for lack of a better term,

sort of a screen.

Ways to reflect

and perhaps cloud anyone

who attempts to peer too far

into the northern regions of Whitestone.

The last thing we need

is any of these dragons

finding their way up north

where you’ve kept all of us

and the refugees safe,

so we’re trying not

to piss any of them off,

while also trying to make sure

that maybe they’re

not really looking

behind this curtain of cloud.

PERCY: Any fortifications

would be helpful.

VEX: Don’t dragons sort of

see past those things?

GILMORE: We’re doing our best

to try and meet those standards.

PERCY: I have another request

in that direction that might help.

If there was a way

to spread the word in this city

and amongst those who travel,

to not speak of us.

We should probably not be hailed

in this city at all.

Our names should be stricken

from any record of it.

MATT: Allura leans forward

on the table.

ALLURA: No, I see. You’re right.

There is merit in that,

though it will be difficult.

Many here look up to you.

They see you as the salvation

of this city.

But I believe we can go about

and speak with them

and help instill the idea

that it’s for the better good

that you are not mentioned.

PERCY: Best to be nameless,

at this point.

KEYLETH: It’s for their own safety.

PERCY: It’s for everybody’s.

VEX: We-who-must-not-be-named.

SCANLAN: The Unmentionables.

PERCY: (cracks up)

You’re a terrible person.

VEX: (gasps) I love it.

KEYLETH: Yeah. My choice is

The Unmentionables. I like it.

MATT: Allura says,

ALLURA: I did find some research

on some of these Vestiges

you are seeking.

PERCY: Oh!

VEX: Yes!

ALLURA: There is -

from what I could bring forth

from the Cobalt Reserve in Westruun,

there is an artifact

that lies in the Feywild,

swallowed by a terrible tree.

VEX: Yes, the Warden.

ALLURA: Is that the name of it?

VEX: The Wrath of the Fey Warden.

ALLURA: So you’ve found

some information yourself?

VEX: Just the name.

SCANLAN: And that it’s

in the Feywild, but nothing more.

ALLURA: (sighs) This tree that holds it,

it’s a tree seeded by the betrayal

of an archfey whose hatred burned

into a black heart of disease.

The cleansing rivers

of the Gilded Run

prevent the spread of the Shademirk Bog

that seeps from it.

GROG: Sounds nasty.

ALLURA: It doesn’t sound very fun, no.

SCANLAN: The Shademark Balg?

ALLURA: The Shademirk Bog.

SCANLAN: Ugh, it sounds awful.

ALLURA: It seeps from this tree.

It is held at bay

by the rivers of the Gilded Run.

KEYLETH: The rivers are called

the Gilded Run?

ALLURA: Mm-hm.

SCANLAN: Okay. Well, that helps us.

Those are clues.

VEX: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

KEYLETH: And the Shademirk Bog

pours out of the tree?

VEX: Out of the cancerous tree.

KEYLETH: The tree is responsible

for a swampy bog.

ALLURA: From best I could ascertain

from my research, yes.

VEX: And Fen - Fenraths?

Fen - what’s the name?

SCANLAN: Fenthras,

Wrath of the Fey Warden.

VEX: Fenthras is inside of the tree

that is terrible.

ALLURA: It is very possible.

PERCY: Oh no.

SCANLAN: Okay.

VAX: Do you know anything

about the Vestige itself?

ALLURA: I don’t, unfortunately.

Most of the Cobalt Reserve was destroyed

and I was under siege at the moment

from the return of the dragons. (sighs)

VEX: Did you happen to find

in your research what, perhaps,

we might face in the Feywild?

I mean, we’ve learned

a little bit of it,

but I know

that it’s going to be rather dangerous.

ALLURA: I’ve not been there myself.

It creeps me out.

VEX: (laughs)

GROG: (laughs) No? Sorry.

ALLURA: I did find also

about the Spire of Conflux.

It is a staff

that can bend the elements

and was taken into The Abyss

by Joran the Sea-Speaker,

hero of the Verdant Expanse,

about four centuries back,

and was never heard from again.

KEYLETH: Joran the what?

ALLURA: Joran the Sea-Speaker.

SCANLAN: He speaks to the sea?

ALLURA: Perhaps.

PERCY: Or just the letter C.

VEX: (laughs)

SCANLAN: Cookie Monster.

GROG: Hero.

ALLURA: I do have some research

about the dragons, as well.

VEX: Oh.

ALLURA: I’ve done a bit

of looking into the personality types,

the habits of some of these chromatics

you may be coming up against.

The black dragon,

you seemingly already dealt with,

if word has come to me correctly.

VEX: Yes.

ALLURA: Which is magnificent

and well done. Very dangerous.

Let’s hope they don’t decide

to strike back soon. However -

VEX: Good thing we didn’t provoke them

in the cave at all, Percival.

PERCY: If they came there,

they would’ve been provoked,

I figured.

ALLURA: I did find that

the white dragons, they’re more primal.

They’re overall less intelligent

than other chromatics.

MATT: And some of this information you know.

VEX: Yeah, why am I writing this down?

I know this shit.

ALLURA: But what they do is they -

(sighs) well, don’t let

the lack of intelligence

lull you into comfort.

They are also unpredictable and raw.

Dangerous hunters,

they stalk in ruined lands

of ice and vengeance.

Their memory is eternal.

They recall every slight defeat

and have been known to hold vendettas

for centuries and centuries.

They despise other dragons

and this loose alignment with Thordak

is stranger than the others

for the white dragon.

Though Vorugal’s distance to the others

is intentional, most likely.

I mean, the entire alignment

between them is strange, anyway,

but particularly

with the white dragon.

They generally steer very clear of,

or are bent on destroying,

any other types of dragons

that may wander in their midst.

VEX: (whispering) Interesting.

ALLURA: Green dragons, in particular,

are manipulative.

Liars, by nature, finding pleasure

in power over others.

Through deceit and promises

of wealth and glory, they corrupt.

They play subservience

to other dragons,

then plot their demise

to claim their hoards.

They’re the seedy underbelly

of the chromatic world, if you will.

They amass powerful allies,

human and beyond, to their will,

bending them and using them as tools.

Their life and their very presence

is poison to those around them,

and is the very basis of their danger.

They corrupt the air around them

to be venomous.

I found a bit about

this Raishan you mentioned,

and word has spoken,

though little that exists out there,

that she is also

a very practitioned

weaver of the arcane arts,

so be warned.

KEYLETH: So much so

that she could almost pass

as a druid wielding natural magic?

ALLURA: I can imagine

that’s quite within her grasp.

I’ve heard rumors of her

calling the sky down upon her enemies.

Previous individuals

that hoped to raid her space

were swallowed in quaking earth

as she laughed from above.

SCANLAN: Druid-y things.

MARISHA: I want to kill her so hard.

(strained) I want her to die.

PERCY: Do we know

where these -

where these dragons have been

all this time,

where they were banished to?

ALLURA: I mean,

most of these dragons

lived their lives

wherever they once were before.

Raishan used to exist

in the mountains outside of Syngorn

and actually had amassed

a sizeable horde of followers,

lizard-men. Lizardfolk, all sorts.

PERCY: Wait, then Thordak

was banished to the Fire Plane?

ALLURA: Thordak we had banished, yes.

Thordak, in particular.

Now, red dragons are true tyrants,

built on impulse and rage.

Arrogant to the core,

they see themselves

as rightful rulers over all.

And Thordak, the king

of all other dragons, as well.

He is powerful enough

to amass networks

of spies and followers far beyond

just the dragons that we’ve battled,

I’m sure.

So the more time that passes,

the more powerful

that network will become.

VEX: (muffled) Oh, fuck.

PERCY: I’ve had a terrible thought,

and it is sort of my business

to have terrible thoughts.

What else has been banished

to the Fire Plane?

TRAVIS: The djinn?

PERCY: Well, I say this

because if I were to slowly

open the portal to the Fire Plane

and power it and make it bigger

and bigger and bigger,

eventually it would be

a hole into that dimension

that’s big enough

for a dragon to fit through,

but still not big enough for me,

so I need to keep eating,

to make it bigger.

VEX: (gasps)

PERCY: And maybe they might

be looking for what’s down there

so they can feed it

and make a bigger hole.

Just a thought. It may be nothing.

VEX: You think there’s something

bigger than Thordak in the Fire Plane?

PERCY: It’s - I have terrible thoughts.

It’s a terrible thought.

KEYLETH: I mean, I’m sure there is

something bigger than Thordak,

probably in the Fire Plane,

but we closed -

the Fire Ashari closed the portal.

That’s our -

PERCY: That may

not have been the portal.

KEYLETH: That was the portal -

VEX: That’s the portal he came out of.

KEYLETH: - that Thordak came out of.

It ripped apart my entire -

PERCY: That may just be

where he escaped.

There might be -

that power may still be flowing.

KEYLETH: Well, Allura, how did you

lock him in the Fire Plane to begin with?

ALLURA: Well, we had,

through clever subterfuge,

managed to have a member of our team

work as a follower of Thordak,

work into his greater trust

and convince him

that to perpetuate his wealth,

his growth, his strength,

that he needed to truly embrace

the essence of fire.

And there are crystals,

there are remnants of the First War

that exist in this world and others.

The very core

of the elemental chaos itself,

the hearts of the titans left behind.

These heart-stones are

the very basis,

or, at least,

shadows of the basis

of what made the elements

when creation came to be.

We had found one of these

on the Fire Plane,

but the nature of these

is that they cannot be removed.

If they are brought

beyond the plane themselves,

they generally shatter,

and the few that can

be brought across temporarily,

the magics that contain them

do weaken,

and those that attempted

to harness their power

leave it to ruin,

destroying all around them

before it whirls itself

into a frenzy

of uncontrollable arcane mass

and destroys everything nearby.

These were many of the fools

who ushered in the beginning

of the Second War.

So. Essentially,

we convinced Thordak

to find one of these in the plane

and convinced him

that he had the power to contain it.

Once there,

all of our forces gathered

and we attacked him,

pressed him down,

and the gem

that we had convinced him -

the heart-stone

that we had convinced him

to take into himself,

well, we found a way to seal it,

to banish it permanently to that plane

so that he could not escape.

KEYLETH: All right. So, that’s all good.

But he did escape.

VEX: Could he still

potentially have it inside of him?

KEYLETH: Exactly!

That was my question!

SAM: Well, she asked it,

so, technically, it’s hers.

MATT: She turns and

you can see Gilmore’s

sitting at the table like this.

GILMORE: I got a very good close

at that dragon.

A very good close look,

to finish my sentence.

I’ve been drinking

plenty of wine tonight, don’t judge me.

VEX: That’s very - yeah.

PIKE: Expensive-ass wine.

GROG: Been drinking.

PERCY: It’s the best wine.

GILMORE: It is very, very expensive,

fine wine.

GROG: Matt’s Vineyard is the best.

GILMORE: Thank you, Grog,

it’s wondrous.

MARISHA: (laughs)

GILMORE: But his mass,

his unforeseen size

to a creature like that.

I couldn’t help but notice

that within his torso

there was a pulsing heart…

of red glass.

VEX: All right.

PERCY: Look how clever

food makes all of us.

MATT: He looks over to Allura.

Allura nods.

ALLURA: Well, if that is the case,

then it’s, I think,

there’s very much a chance

that he did escape

with the heart-stone intact.

GROG: I have a question.

We’ve got one of the Vestiges

in these Titanstone Knuckles,

made from the heart-stone.

If I left the plane with these,

are they gonna blow everybody up?

ALLURA: An intact heart-stone

is the true source of power.

Those have been carved from one,

an inert one, or, at least,

they carry but a smidgen of the power.

I think you’re safe, Grog.

GROG: Oh, thank god.

PIKE: Phew.

VEX: Which one?

GROG: Kord.

VEX: Oh, Kord. I got it. (chuckles)

MATT: Allura leans in again.

ALLURA: I have been keeping an eye on Emon

from this distance, as well.

It seems that Thordak’s very essence

twists the land with elemental magic.

GROG: (whispering) Oh, shit.

ALLURA: My distant views of the city

have shown the center of the town

cracked with volcanic fire

as he digs and burrows

beneath the city itself.

PERCY: (whispering) Fuck.

VEX: Oh, fuck.

TRAVIS: Wait, why is he

digging and burrowing?

LIAM: He’s reshaping the land

as he sees fit.

TRAVIS: Or is he looking for something?

LAURA: Because he’s a dick.

TRAVIS: Is he not

looking for something?

TALIESIN: He might be

looking for something,

or might be making -

KEYLETH: So these heart-stones

embrace the essence of where they reside?

ALLURA: Their essence

is created where they reside.

KEYLETH: And he has the heart-stone

of the Fire Elemental Plane

living inside of him.

ALLURA: A heart-stone. There are many.

KEYLETH: A heart-stone. Right.

VEX: I’m confused.

GROG: I need more wine.

Do you think he was

just making himself at home,

or do you think he was

looking for something?

ALLURA: I don’t know.

He seems pretty lax.

From what I could tell

from my investigations,

the major step

in the Conclave’s plan

is already over.

VEX: Take over everything.

ALLURA: Now they settle

into the divided territories

and forget each other.

Now, I feel that Thordak

is far too old and covetous

to be content with just Emon.

Now, this was vengeance,

which is now complete.

Who knows what the next stage

in his terrible design is.

KEYLETH: So you’re thinking

the Chroma Conclave

was simply a temporary alliance?

ALLURA: There are very few

permanent alliances

between chromatic dragons.

VEX: Well, that’s good.

KEYLETH: We can use this.

VEX: Maybe they won’t take vengeance.

PIKE: Maybe we can get one of them

on our side.

PERCY: We can only be so hopeful

that they tear each other apart.

VEX: Maybe the white one will want

to help kill Thordak with us.

KEYLETH: Turning them against each other’s

not a bad idea.

PERCY: Our best hope, at this point,

is just to amass power.

We are not strong enough.

VEX: No.

PERCY: But we will get stronger.

VEX: Does the heart-stone make him

even stronger than he already was?

ALLURA: I don’t know,

but he was not that large

when we sealed him.

VEX: Shit.

GROG: Seize.

KEYLETH: So we can take -

yeah, yeah.

VEX: If we can pry it

out of his body,

we could shrink him down.

Perfect plan.

SCANLAN: Then we could go

inside a dragon again.

VEX: We can go in another dragon.

VAX: Every one of them,

one after the other.

GROG: You seen any dragons

on the outskirts of the town?

Have there been any flyovers

or close calls within, say,

50 to 100 miles or so?

Any reports?

ALLURA: Hundred miles.

There were reports

of the white dragon a week ago,

south of us. Far south of us.

GROG: Far south.

VEX: Doing what, just flying?

ALLURA: Just flying. Flying east.

PERCY: Unless they know

what’s underneath the castle,

there’s nothing of value here.

VAX: Do we know where Vorugal

has taken up roost? No one knows?

ALLURA: No. I’ve tried to scry,

but they’re apparently

protected against that now.

GROG: What about

means of protection for Whitestone.

Do you have a defense planned?

A warning system?

ALLURA: We’re just getting now

to that point.

It may be a few weeks

before we’re ready to go.

It’s a lot to build

and it’s a very big space to protect,

but me and Drake

are working on some ideas. (sighs)

KEYLETH: Do you know exactly how

these heart-stones are forged?

ALLURA: They’re not forged.

They existed.

They were the hearts

of the primordial titans

that existed on this world

before the gods even came here.

KEYLETH: Oh, that’s right.

VEX: Wow.

ALLURA: They were the true denizens

of this world, before any of us.

SCANLAN: This is an awesome dinner,

by the way. Super good.

VEX: So good.

PERCY: I love game meat.

ALLURA: I’m sorry,

it’s been a very tense time.

VEX: This wine is pretty good.

PIKE: It’s very good.

ALLURA: Perhaps rest is in order

for all of us.

It’s been a lot. I’m so sorry.

It’s good to see all of you.

GROG: You, as well.

VEX: You’ve done so much.

MATT: Allura brightens up a little bit.

You can see that she feels guilty

that she just did

this information dump and is like,

ALLURA: (sighs) It’s good

to see all of you.

KEYLETH: It was good to see you.

ALLURA: (sighs) Well,

let us rest for the evening.

MATT: Drinks the last of her wine,

stands up.

ALLURA: We’ll talk on the morrow.

MATT: She gets up.

ALLURA: Kima?

KIMA: I’m coming, let me finish.

LAURA AND MARISHA: (laugh)

KIMA: No, seriously,

it’s good to see you all.

I’m glad you’re all right.

VEX: You should have been with us.

KIMA: I should’ve been with you.

I didn’t know you left!

VEX: Sorry, Kima. We’re dicks.

KIMA: Is Westruun okay?

VEX: It’s… better.

KEYLETH: (whispering)

It’s not great, though.

VEX: It’s getting better.

PERCY: It lives. It lives.

SCANLAN: That’s true.

KEYLETH: It stands.

KIMA: Does my house still stand?

(all make hedging noises)

SCANLAN: What’s a house, really,

but a bunch of bricks.

KIMA: Oh, it’s fine.

KEYLETH: Home is

where you make it, Kima.

KIMA: Object impermanence.

(glug glug)

Next time you’re going there,

you tell me.

VEX: Oh, yes. We will.

PERCY: We will be returning.

GROG: On one condition.

Don’t wear any more dresses.

VEX: (laughs)

KIMA: You saying

I wasn’t pretty, Grog?

GROG: I like you

in your armor better.

KIMA: That’s why I missed you.

MATT: She reaches out

and smacks your cheek -

GROG: Yaaah.

(all laugh)

KIMA: All right, kiddies,

sleep it is.

MATT: Kima gets up and joins Allura,

and they both leave.

Gilmore stands up,

Realmseer stands up.

ESKIL RYNDARIEN: All right, everyone.

Rest well. See you in the morning.

And, ah, glad you’re all safe.

VAX: Good night, Shaun.

GILMORE: Good night, everyone.

PIKE: Good night, Gilmore.

GILMORE: Sleep well.

MATT: They all leave.

SCANLAN: So we rest here

for a night or two

and then, to the Feywild?

GROG: Yeah, Feywild.

SCANLAN: Or to the -

GROG: We even have a geographic -

demographic location to like -

SCANLAN: True.

KEYLETH: We do.

PERCY: I feel like

the Feywild calls to us.

VAX: What do you say

we go get you a new bow?

VEX: We could go get me a new bow.

There’s also the ocean.

SCANLAN: Yeah.

VAX: Nah. Let’s get you a bow.

KEYLETH: Let’s go get you a bow.

PIKE: I’m going

to pour another glass of wine.

PERCY: Ocean next.

SCANLAN: Pike could go off

to get the ocean one herself.

VEX: No! You’re crazy.

VAX: That’s a shitty idea.

MATT: (laughs)

GROG: I think you’ve had

too much to drink, Scanlan.

VEX: Or the two of you together.

SCANLAN: Yeah, I like the ocean.

I don’t really like the ocean.

(all laugh)

MATT: You guys all going to rest?

MARISHA: I have one thing I’d like to do.

MATT: Okay, what do you want to do?

MARISHA: I want to go back

to our little cave that we dug out

under where the Sun Tree is.

Is that still there?

MATT: Yeah, it’s still there.

MARISHA: I want to go there,

and I want to kind of sit down

and meditate for a second.

And I want to cast Speak With Plants

and have a little chat

with the Sun Tree.

MATT: Okay. (laughs)

You cast the spell,

you reach out

and touch the roots of the tree,

the roots of which have more color

than they did before.

The dull gray has become

more of a full brown.

The earth here smells of fresh,

damp earth.

The tree, while still

in the winter phase,

is definitely teeming with life,

to where it once didn’t.

MARISHA: I reach out

and I touch the roots.

Can I just kind of feel,

sense the arcane ley-lines

that Allura was talking about

that the tree’s in the center of?

MATT: Mmm… not really.

In speaking to the tree,

you can ask questions,

but you’re not quite -

you find yourself unable

to tune into that

or tap into that source of magic.

At this place, at least.

MARISHA: Okay. So I just reach out,

touch the tree, and say,

KEYLETH: Hey, old friend.

How are you feeling? Doing better?

SUN TREE: Hey, bud. Much better.

(all laugh)

KEYLETH: You’re pretty cool, Sun Tree.

SUN TREE: Sun Tree, A-OK.

(all laugh)

KEYLETH: Hey, Sun Tree?

SUN TREE: Yeaaah?

KEYLETH: I was just wondering

if you knew -

if you could tell me anything

about this

terrible cancerous tree

in the Feywild,

if you knew anything about it?

He might be like

your brother or something.

SUN TREE: Tree cancer? What?

KEYLETH: No! No, okay.

There’s this tree in the Feywild

and it might have

a man living in it

called Fenthras and -

TRAVIS: (quietly) The bow.

KEYLETH: No, sorry,

that’s the name of the bow,

the bow is in it, named Fenthras,

and it might be a really sick tree.

Can you tell me where there’s

a really sick tree, maybe in the Feywild?

SUN TREE: That sounds sad, but no.

I don’t know

a tree like that, sorry.

I’ve been here in Whitestone

since day one.

(all laugh)

LIAM: Want to play hacky sack?

TALIESIN: Born and raised.

MATT: So I graduated from Berkeley

and made my way to Whitestone.

(all laugh)

TRAVIS: My twigs smoke the doob.

SAM: “Barkeley.”

MARISHA: “BARKELEY!”

ASHLEY: Put a pair of Birkenstocks

on its branches.

TRAVIS: “Birkenstalks.”

MATT: (groans)

LAURA: “Birkenstalks?” I like it.

KEYLETH: Hey, Sun Tree?

SUN TREE: Yeaaah?

KEYLETH: You apparently kind of live

in the middle of all these

arcane ley-lines of the world.

SUN TREE: Yeah.

TALIESIN: (cracks up)

KEYLETH: How far do those stretch?

SUN TREE: Loooong way, Kiki.

Loooooooong way.

(all laugh)

KEYLETH: Can you kind of give me

a rough idea?

Do they go

to the other side of the world?

Can you stretch all over the world?

SUN TREE: Naaah, just right here.

Pelor put me here for a reason.

KEYLETH: Who? Pelor?

SUN TREE: Yeah.

KEYLETH: Right.

So you’re not a natural tree,

you’re a tree from the gods?

SUN TREE: Sure.

KEYLETH: All right.

Well, anyway,

you’re really awesome, Sun Tree.

SUN TREE: Speak for yourself, Kiki.

KEYLETH: Yeah, you’re so cool.

Okay, so it was good talking to you.

SUN TREE: You, too.

KEYLETH: I’ll walk through you soon.

‘Kay, bye.

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: And then I leave.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: I want to make a once-over on Vax

and make sure that -

VEX: So you did,

you got all the blood off, then?

VAX: What are you doing?

Yeah, I took a bath.

VEX: I mean,

we got all cleaned up for tonight.

I just want to make sure

you didn’t ruin it

by keeping some of the blood

in your freaking hair.

VAX: Don’t - don’t I look all right?

I’m fine! What’s your problem?

VEX: Nothing! Just making sure

you’re doing all right.

VAX: Yeah.

VEX: All the blood’s gone.

VAX: Yeah. It’s all gone.

VEX: You’re great.

VAX: I’m doing much better.

VEX: Good.

VAX: Much better.

You ready for the Feywild?

VEX: So - fuck, no, not ready,

but we can do it.

VAX: Oh.

PERCY: Stupid to settle.

MARISHA: (snorts)

LAURA: I walk over to Percy -

TALIESIN: I was about

to walk out the door,

but if you’re walking -

LAURA: Before you leave,

I whisper in your ear,

VEX: You still have

a little blood behind your ear.

TRAVIS: (gasps)

PERCY: Do you want to take a walk with me?

VEX: (sighs) Sure.

TALIESIN: We take a very quiet walk

around Whitestone.

I want to pass all of the temples

that are either

still standing or destroyed.

I just want to take a temple tour.

Not stopping, not talking,

I just want to see what they look like.

Pelor looks good.

The one in the cemetery?

MATT: The one in the cemetery

is still under construction.

That one needs a little more work.

TALIESIN: While in the cemetery -

I assume that it’s still a mess.

MATT: Most of the graves

have been refilled,

the corpses have been brought back.

Most of the dead that were brought forth

from the previous owners

have been returned.

That was one of the first

orders of business

that people who live here did,

was to return their families

to the earth.

TALIESIN: Is there - there were

a couple of lords’ crypts in there.

Was there

an Anders family crypt, at one point?

MATT: There would have been, yeah.

TALIESIN: Cool. All right.

I’m going to walk back to the castle,

with you in tow,

and I’m going to find Zahra.

MATT: Okay.

VEX: Are you going to tell me

why you went and saw the Raven Queen?

PERCY: Yes. Come.

MATT: All right.

You come back to the study

where you originally found Zahra.

She’s still there poring over books,

but is now half-asleep.

She has a little candle

that’s starting to flicker out

and she has her feet up on the desk

and her tail’s kind of curled up

and she’s falling asleep

into the book as you walk in.

VEX: (whispering) Dear -

ZAHRA: What, what, what, I -

VEX: We all need sleep sometimes, hon.

ZAHRA: Sleep’s for the boring.

PERCY: I have a task for you,

if you have the time and energy

for something a bit quiet, but necessary.

ZAHRA: What do you ask, Percy?

PERCY: I’m going to have

the deeds

to the Anders family crypt

transferred to your name.

I want you to clean it out.

Throw the bodies wherever;

he has disgraced himself.

Clean them.

And if you can,

if you can find people who can do it,

I want to very quietly,

in that crypt,

create a small shrine

to the Raven Queen.

This will help.

TALIESIN: And I bring out

the vial of blood from the pit.

PERCY: Perhaps they will know

what to do with that.

ZAHRA: Intriguing.

PERCY: But I would like her

to have a quiet mark in this city.

VEX: Is this for you,

or for my brother?

PERCY: …It’s for your brother,

so that he can help us.

We’re apparently all in this together.

ZAHRA: Intriguing!

LAURA: I give Percy a kiss on the cheek.

PERCY: Oh. Thank you.

ZAHRA: All right.

PERCY: We need all the help we can get.

ZAHRA: Very well.

I’m sure it can be done.

I never owned a crypt before.

I’m excited.

VEX: It’s exciting. (laughs)

MATT: She takes the vial

and puts it on the table.

VEX: I think it suits you.

PERCY: Tell anyone you’d like

where I went. It’s not a secret.

I just wasn’t ready to…

I don’t think your brother -

I would hate for him

to think I’m competing.

I just had some questions.

VEX: I won’t tell anyone, Percy.

PERCY: Thank you.

VEX: Your business is yours.

And mine, because I noticed. (chuckles)

MARISHA: (snorts)

PERCY: Thank you for noticing,

and… I’m trying hard

not to make it my business.

It’s hard to remember sometimes.

PERCY: (sighs)

VEX: (quietly) We’re all family.

PERCY: That’s awful, isn’t it. (sighs)

TALIESIN: I’m going to go to my room -

VEX: Oh! Percy!

PERCY: Yes?

VEX: Sorry.

If Zahra wanted to make

some dragon arrows,

could she use stuff here

in the castle?

PERCY: I’ll talk to my sister

on the way out.

I’ll write her a letter

and see if they can -

they may have to delve

into our materials for it,

but I think we’re good.

VEX: Yes.

PERCY: We’ll talk about

using our materials for such a thing

and I’ll -

yes, will talk to her about that.

VEX: All right.

TALIESIN: I’m going to do

my little thing and if it works, great,

and if not,

we’ll speak not of it for a while.

MATT: Okay. Go ahead

and make your tinkering check.

TALIESIN: Better! 30.

MATT: That’ll do.

TALIESIN: I craft a brooch.

It’s not even a brooch,

it’s a clasp. Using -

I had built these pieces of it

earlier on in the game.

For the last three weeks

I’ve been working on this.

I’ve taken the raven skull

that you gave me

and made a mold

and poured melted silver

into a bird skull,

a silver bird skull.

Taken a ruby and set it behind it,

built it into a clasp

that does not reflect,

and in it,

put a sachet of - satchel…

MARISHA: Sachet.

LAURA: Sachet!

TALIESIN: Thank you, my brain? Coffee.

TALIESIN: Of myrrh and -

SAM: Frankincense?

TALIESIN: (snorts and laughs)

TALIESIN: Myrrh, sandalwood, and opium

and dragon’s blood.

Not real dragon’s blood,

but dragon’s blood -

SAM: True blood.

TALIESIN: Sap. It’s a sap.

It’s a tree sap.

Put the whole thing together.

LIAM: You’ve had opium

this whole time and you never…

TALIESIN: It’s not, it’s just poppy.

MARISHA: Poppy.

LAURA: What does it do?

What does it do?

TALIESIN: You will find out

when I present it.

MATT: All right.

Everyone else going to rest?

TRAVIS: No.

I ran out of dinner super fast

and I ran outside of Vax’s room

and I took the jug

and I whispered into it, “oil,”

and I poured one quart of oil

on the ground outside of his door.

Looked around real quick.

Is there anyone in the hallway?

MATT: Make a perception check.

TRAVIS: 10.

MATT: Looks clear.

GROG: (giggles)

TRAVIS: And I run away.

(all laugh)

MATT: All righty.

LIAM: That was super awesome

and I can’t wait to see the outcome,

but before that happens,

I was standing right here

when these two walked off,

so I am waiting in the exact same spot

for my sister to return.

MATT: A lot of time passes.

LIAM: It’s fine.

MATT: A few hours pass

before she returns,

but she eventually does.

VEX: Are you still here?

You should go to bed.

VAX: I will.

I took a little bit of a nap.

VEX: In the dining hall.

VAX: Yeah.

VEX: What?

VAX: You’re a grown-ass woman,

and you’re twice as strong as I am.

VEX: I know.

VAX: So your business is your business.

Just… both eyes open, yeah?

VEX: Always. (chuckles)

I’m very perceptive.

VEX: (cackles)

VAX: Don’t do that to me.

TALIESIN: That’s two.

Two winks! Ah hah hah.

VAX: Don’t -

please don’t ever, ever, ever -

VAX: - do that to me again.

VEX: I love you so much.

VAX: And if you do, you will never use

that wink on me again.

It is not for me.

VEX: All right.

VAX: Just… he’s charming,

but both eyes open, please.

VEX: I don’t know

what you are talking about.

VAX: Yeah, the fuck you don’t.

LIAM: I’m going to go to my room now

and see if I splat on the floor.

MATT: All right, make a perception check.

TRAVIS: Come on, big money, no whammies.

(all laugh)

LAURA: Ohhh.

LIAM: Sorry, buddy, it’s a 31.

MATT: As you approach the door,

you look down

and see a smear of dark,

reflective oil

across the walkway about two feet

leading up to your room.

You guys have a cluster of rooms

in this long hallway,

and it arcs around like an L.

So you guys are in this big L

of all your rooms scattered throughout.

LIAM: How thick is it? Is it viscous?

MATT: Yeah, it’s pretty slippery.

LIAM: Put my hand in it. Does that stay?

MATT: The hand stays for a minute, then -

LIAM: Goes away.

MATT: Yeah, it’s pretty thick.

LIAM: All right.

MATT: Also has a fume to it.

LIAM: Okay.

I’m going to scrape

a bunch of it up just into my hand,

so I have a big handful of it,

and I’m just going

to go to Grog’s room,

and I’m going to slowly,

just at the door, take time to write:

“Grog smells

“like farts and” -

LAURA: I walk by him

as he’s doing this and say,

VAX: Do you want to help?

VEX: You know he can’t read, right?

MARISHA: (laughs)

VAX: I picked specifically small words!

(all laugh)

LIAM: - “poo.”

TALIESIN: Oh, he can read that.

LIAM: And I draw -

No. I’ll tell you what I do.

Pull down my breeches

and I put the oil on my butt

and I go (pfft).

(all laugh)

MATT: A little butt-print?

LIAM: A little signature.

MATT: All right. Well done.

PERCY: Preschoolers run amok

in my gentle abode.

LIAM: Get busy living

or get busy dying. Butt-print.

MATT: All right.

You guys all get into bed.

Anything else you want to get done?

SAM: I just told Pike

she looked real pretty tonight

and I go back to my reading.

MATT: Okay.

You guys all find yourselves

back to your respective rooms,

resting for the night.

Some doors

adorned differently than others.

Partway into the evening’s resting,

we’ll say the wee hours of the morning,

post-midnight or so,

your door opens slightly, Vax.

You hear a little

(knocking sound) on your door.

VAX: Yes?

MATT: You look over and you see Gilmore

pop his head in with a soft smile.

GILMORE: I’m sorry

if I’m waking you up, I -

VAX: It’s all right.

GILMORE: Here.

MATT: And he produces what looks like

a folded pile of material

and throws it

on the foot of your bed and goes,

GILMORE: Come, Vax, I made you a gift.

Put it on, come walk with me awhile.

We have a lot to talk about.

LIAM: I open it up.

MATT: It’s a very well-crafted silk robe

of dark blue and black.

Beaded, nice against the skin.

It’s really, really nice.

VAX: (quietly) Give me a minute.

LIAM: There’s a wooden screen

in the room.

I go behind it

and wipe any oil left off my butt.

(all laugh)

MATT: That’s fantastic.

LIAM: Everything looks all right.

And I put it on.

MATT: All right.

He waits for you patiently in the hallway.

LIAM: Yeah, sure.

MATT: So he begins walking along.

Puts his arm out to you.

LIAM: Take it.

MATT: You take his arm.

You guys walk up along the hallway.

He leads you to a staircase

that leads up further, and he goes,

GILMORE: I know a lot has happened

these recent months.

I’ve been watching from afar,

keeping tabs on your journey

best that I can.

But I still know so little.

MATT: You ascend

the lengthy staircase

and you make your way

to the higher floor.

You eventually open

an intricate door

and walk out

onto a wide balcony on that tower

that overlooks the grounds

and the castle before you.

Beautiful moonlight, the night air.

You see the moon is nearly full

and the white light illuminates

the densely-forested countryside

surrounding the castle.

He closes the door

and walks up to you

at the edge of the balcony,

looking over it all,

elbows on the edge.

GILMORE: Some time has passed, Vax.

And much of the world

moves on to newer, greater threats.

But true pain never really heals.

MATT: He turns to you

and steps up to you,

looking you close in the face.

GILMORE: You hurt me deeply.

And continue to hurt.

Agony, for weeks, months.

Pain I had never experienced.

(deepening to a growl)

It’s all I can think about.

LIAM: Can I make an insight check?

MATT: You would, if you had time.

MARISHA: Oh my god!

LAURA: (gasps) I knew it. I knew it.

MARISHA: No!

MATT: The pain hits you suddenly,

before anything else does,

as you’re lost in that face

and the sudden feeling,

the sensation

of terror and horror.

You suffer 18 points

of piercing damage,

and I need you to make

a constitution saving throw.

LIAM: Oh, that’s my specialty.

TALIESIN: (whispering) We don’t know

what the hell this is.

LIAM: Constitution save?

MATT: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: 11.

MATT: You feel the poison -

LIAM: I’ll use Luck.

MATT: Roll again.

LIAM: 18.

MATT: 18. Okay.

You feel what should be

a pulse of poison hit your system

and you just manage to fight it off

as suddenly you look down

and there is Gilmore

holding a blade thrust into your stomach,

your robes now beginning to fill

with crimson red around the wound.

It’s at that moment you see him

pull you in and stare into your face

with a very, very low growl:

GILMORE: It’s all I think about.

MATT: And you watch

as a flicker to his form happens

and you see for a second

there’s a flash: not skin, but fur.

You see teeth, you see whiskers,

and the hand holding the dagger

is facing the other direction.

That’s where

we’re going to end tonight’s session.

(shocked exclamations)

MARISHA: Nooo!

LAURA: The rakshasa?

MARISHA: Is it a rakshasa?

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: Ohhhh.

MATT: We’ll be back next week.

LIAM: That fucked

with my head, Matt.

LIAM: What are you doing?

TALIESIN: Wooow.

MATT: What a rakshasa does.

SAM: Good job, man.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MARISHA: What the fuck?!

TALIESIN: Wow.

MARISHA: Has he been a rakshasa

the whole time?

Wait, is it the rakshasa

who’s different?

Is it not Gilmore?

So many questions!

LIAM AND MATT: (laugh)

MATT: Perhaps this will be revealed

next week as we kick in

at this very moment.

LAURA: Oh my god.

Why does it always leave off

when he’s about to get killed?

MARISHA: Right!

Why is it always you?

SAM: Because he’s always

almost about to die.

LIAM: This one did die! That one did die!

TALIESIN: Because he runs

into all the rooms first

and he makes out with everybody.

LAURA: Because you do. That’s the thing.

TALIESIN: That’s why it happens.

TALIESIN: He runs into the rooms first

and he puts his tongue exciting places.

MARISHA AND LAURA: (laugh)

MATT: You also happened

to lean in real close -

TALIESIN: I’m not yelling at you, man.

I’m envious.

MATT: - and whisper in the ear

of the rakshasa

as he slowly slit its throat

across the floor.

TRAVIS: Oh, that’s right,

you did do that.

LAURA: Oh, so what did you do?

What did you do?

LIAM: I slit its throat, yeah.

MATT: Yeah.

LIAM: It’s all right.

MARISHA: Hang on, wait.

MATT: It just wants to come back

and show you the same love.

ASHLEY: (quietly) Okay,

so it’s not really Gilmore.

MARISHA: Oh, wait,

did you get the final blow

in the rakshasa in the Slayer’s Take?

LIAM: Yes, I did.

Yeah, I cut his throat.

LAURA: And you said

something shitty to him.

LIAM: He threatened my family

and I said,

“Say something

about my sister again,”

and I slit his throat.

LAURA: Oh, nice!

MATT: Oh, boy.

TALIESIN: It’s about to drop.

MARISHA: But he was dead.

What the fuck is going on?!

LAURA: Did you chop him up?

TRAVIS: Well, if that’s not a -

that’s not Gilmore, where is he?

MARISHA: No, ‘cause I’m not a psycho.

SAM: This is exciting.

MATT: This will be interesting

next week when we kick in.

TALIESIN: There’s a fine line

between psycho and practical.

MARISHA: I can see

chopping someone’s body up

might be psycho.

TALIESIN: It’s not psycho

if you drive a very small car

with a lot of trunk space.

TRAVIS: Nicely done, Matt.

LAURA: Nice, Matt.

MATT: Guys, great game tonight.

LAURA: Thanks, guys.

TRAVIS: That Raven Queen, whoo.

LIAM: Whoo.

LAURA: That can be

the name of the episode -

LAURA: - is Yaaas Queen.

ASHLEY: Yaaas Queen.

(all laugh)

MATT: Awesome.

Well, guys, we’re going to go ahead

and get home and rest.

Hope you enjoyed tonight’s episode.

TALIESIN: Is there going to be

one more giveaway?

MATT: Is there?

LAURA: Are we doing another giveaway?

LIAM: There were two Loot Crates, one -

LUCAS: We’ll do a giveaway

afterwards.

MATT: Okay, we’ll do

a giveaway afterwards. Perfect.

One more DX Loot Crate box

coming your way.

LAURA: Thanks, Loot Crate!

LIAM: Thanks, Joe Madureira,

for the art!

LAURA: Thanks, Joe!

ASHLEY: Get your posters!

TALIESIN: It’s so cool.

LAURA: Thanks, Critters, for being awesome!

ASHLEY: We love you!

MATT: Hope you guys got to enjoy

our silly E3 couple hours

we did earlier on GameSpot.

I’m sure that’ll go up soon, anyway.

But anyway, guys,

we’ll see you next week.

Until then, rest well and,

is it Thursday yet? See you then.