Transcript:High Seas, High Stakes

List of Transcripts

The following is an unofficial transcript that does not include the pre-show or break, and may contain errors and missing dialogue. It will be replaced with the official transcript when it becomes available.

MATT: And welcome back. So, last we left off, the Mighty Nein had made their way to Nicodranas. They had discovered some secrets in regards to one of their allies, Essek, and his involvement with much of the events that led to the current war between the Kryn Dynasty and the Dwendalian Empire. After a deep discussion, you had left business in Nicodranas, gathered your ship, and made your way with the armada towards the meeting point where the negotiation between these two factions is to take place. After some days at sea, a storm began to brew, dreams were had invoked by an element of divinity and one’s path to embrace who they are and whatever this path may be. As well as being awakened by a pained nightmare become reality, as Fjord found himself under attack by what was immediately obvious to be agents of Uk’otoa, seeking the still-hanging elements of his unveiling and freedom. A battle took place where these various deep sea creatures, these mutated and altered entities here under the will of Uk’otoa, stormed the ship, crawling through its many decks to assault you, as Fjord fought valiantly to keep them at bay. And you managed to come and support him in dire need. During the final moments of this climactic battle, in the midst of the rolling seas, the flashing lightning, curling thunder, and the waves of rain battering down upon the deck, both Orly, the bard tortle, and your friend and companion Fjord, lay slain before you dealt the final blow to the assailants. And that was where we left off. Mighty Nein, as you gather here on the wet decks of the ship, still rolling with the ocean as the storm batters onward, you look down upon the scattered bits of blood, and your unmoving allies. LAURA: Caduceus! Caduceus! TALIESIN: I’m going to walk over and– LAURA: I’m going to run over– TALIESIN: –quickly– SAM: Caduceus, why are you walking? TALIESIN: –quickly-- LAURA: Caduceus! TALIESIN: –cast Gentle Repose, really quickly. MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: Which should give us a second. SAM: What does that do? MARISHA: What are you doing? TALIESIN: Gentle Repose means that the time limit is extended. LAURA: On both of them, or who? TALIESIN: I’m going to do both of them really quickly. MARISHA: How do you mean? SAM: Time limit? TALIESIN: So that’s... MATT: “The target is protected from decay and can’t become undead.” TALIESIN: It also extends the time period on raising the target from the dead, since days spent under the influence–“ LAURA: Yeah, but why not just cast Revivify!? TALIESIN: Quickly Detecting Magic. Do I see anything inside Fjord? SAM: That’s two rounds. MATT: You do not see anything– TALIESIN: No, that’s a bonus action. MATT: I will say for the purposes of this, there’s nothing– nothing is emanating an aura. TALIESIN: And then taking he diamond and pushing a Revivify as quickly as possible. MATT: Okay. So I’ve rolled this privately in the past because I mis-remembered my own rules. So I’m going to have you, which is part of the intended design, to roll a d20 for me, and add your spellcasting modifier. LAURA: I’m going to be holding on to Fjord’s hand. MATT: Okay, TALIESIN: Does anybody else want to do anything in the time it took me to do that? MARISHA: Just do it! LAURA: I’m going to reach over and try to cast the same thing on Orly, because I don’t know how much time I have on Orly. MATT: So you have a diamond as well? LAURA: Yes. MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: I’m just going to keep watching the water. LAURA: A 300 gold... TALIESIN: Where’s my spellcasting... MATT: It’s your wisdom modifier. TALIESIN: Oh, wisdom modifier. LIAM: The last thing I did last episode was land by Fjord, so I guess I’m sitting him up towards Jester. MARISHA: And I’ll take his other hand. MATT: Okay. MARISHA: Just help hold onto him. Come on, Caduceus! TALIESIN: Don’t suck. Come on. Okay, that’s 11. MATT: That’s an 11? MARISHA: With your modifier? TALIESIN: Mm-hmm. LAURA: Why– what...? MATT: Okay. Because Fjord had not previously died, that leaves the DC at a certain number, and so as you focus, and pushing the diamond down towards where the most gaping wound is, you watch as it slowly turns to dust within the wound, and itself become almost a congealed-like grey material into the exposed blood. There’s a moment of pause before the divine energy you channeled through the Wildmother creates a mess of vines, that begin to grow from the wound and wrap around his torso. As the vines begin to condense and create a small nest or cocoon above where the wound is, you watch as they turn bright green, then turn brown and die and wither, the leaves of the vines immediately crumbling and decaying to dust. And as they do, leaving the wound itself partially healed, and you pause for a moment, and you hear the breath begin to come back into the lungs. TALIESIN: Cure Wounds level 3. MATT: Go ahead and roll for that. LAURA: I’m just going to kiss Fjord on the forehead, and I immediately spin around and cast Revivify on Orly. MATT: (As Travis comes back in and sits) Okay, you may join the table again. TRAVIS: Ohh, the ups and downs of that! TALIESIN: Is he technically unconscious? MATT: Revivify? I will– LAURA: No, he comes back to one hit point. MATT: One hit point, so he is conscious. TALIESIN: Okay, never mind then. All right, I’ll tell you how many hit points you have in a second. MATT: (to Travis) The DC has increased for the next time, too. TALIESIN: 23. So you’re at 24 hit points. TRAVIS: 24? LAURA: Do I need to roll for Orly? MATT: You do. So in that moment you reach over, holding on and wishing for the aid of the Traveler, and you all, now that you’ve seen him, for a brief moment you can see as Jester, her small, diminutive form on this massive deck of the ship, the storm battering around, putting her hands on this large, shelled, unmoving, still creature. You see the green cloak momentarily engulf her before it vanishes, and you blink, not sure if it was there to begin with. And what did you roll? LAURA: 19. MATT: 19. There’s a moment of stillness before the chest inhales and the body begins to stir, and as it does, it leans into one of the bagpipes and you hear this (dying bagpipe), before a hand kind of, “Well, there. Mighty sore.” LAURA: I’ll cast third level– oh, wait. No, I won’t heal you because I don’t have– I’m going to Healing Words you, though– SAM: Because you didn’t– LAURA: Because I have that prepared! Shut up! SAM: Because you didn’t prepare Cure Wounds? TALIESIN: I’m starting a Prayer of Healing, so in ten minutes the six most hurt people on deck are going to get a boost. MATT: All right. SAM: She didn’t have Cure Wounds prepared. LAURA: Well, I’ll still Healing Words him because why not? At second level. TALIESIN: In ten minutes, the six most hurt people get 21 hit points. MATT: Okay. LAURA: Eleven points of healing to Orly. MATT: That’s decent. That’s decent. LIAM: Still propping Fjord up with Beau, “Just breathe slowly.” LAURA: I spin back around to Fjord. LIAM: Slow... slow. MARISHA: Are you all right? I mean, aside from no? TRAVIS: Yeah, no, I’m fine, thank you. Are they all gone? LAURA: I think so. MARISHA: Yeah. LAURA: They were really... really hacking you up. TRAVIS: Yeah. It feels pretty shitty inside of my chest right now. Not going to lie. MARISHA: I think your lung is still punctured. TRAVIS: Really? MARISHA: Yeah. TRAVIS: Oh, god, like you can see it? MARISHA: It’s just– you can see a little bit of a puncture wound. TRAVIS: Push it back in. Just push it– MARISHA: Okay, ready? One, two, three! TRAVIS: Ow, don’t touch it, don’t touch it! MARISHA: Okay. LIAM: Did you feel the stone? TRAVIS: The what? LAURA: The what? TALIESIN: The stone. TRAVIS: Oh, the orb? SAM: The ball. LIAM: What else were they here for? TRAVIS: It has to be that. I didn’t know I still had it. I can’t feel it now. I don’t know where it is. I thought it was in the sword. I thought it was– MATT: You hear this strange, guttural impact, a resonant sound that’s familiar to you. It’s the arrival of a Dimension Door spell. SAM and LAURA: Oh. MATT: Immediately you hear a brief incantation beneath someone’s breath a little ways away, the storm almost swallowing it entirely, but Caduceus, you’re in the middle of chanting and it picks up– I need Beauregard, Caleb, Veth... yeah, I need all six of you to roll wisdom saving throws, please. MARISHA: Son of a bitch. MATT: Except Fjord. SAM: It’s still going? LAURA: Me too? MATT: Yep. TRAVIS: Can I make a reaction? MARISHA: Oh, god, natural one. MATT: What kind of reaction are you making? SAM: Natural one over here. TRAVIS: To cast a spell. MATT: Is it a reaction spell? TRAVIS: No. MATT: Then no, you cannot. TALIESIN: Wisdom saving spell? MATT: Saving throw, yeah. ASHLEY: Two. TALIESIN: 25. LAURA: 11. SAM: Natural one. MARISHA: Natural one. LIAM: 22. MATT: All right. Caduceus and Caleb, you feel this influence try to crawl within your body and you manage to shove it away, while Beauregard, Veth, Jester, and Yasha, your bodies immediately lock up, and you find yourself unable to move, your muscles frozen in space by some kind of arcane influence. LIAM: Do I see anyone from the Cerberus zooming in on the boat? MATT: You turn around, and on the deck, you see, freshly arrived, a half-elven woman with short brown hair standing there, long robes flowing in the wind, hand out. LIAM: Yeah, hello. Identify yourself, please? MATT: “I would like you to identify yourself, first. Get away from the wounded one.” LIAM: Yes, we are the Mighty Nein. He is one of us. TALIESIN: We just had a lot happen here in a very short amount of time. MATT: “Very well.” The paralysis fades. You can hear now other bells ringing and you can see off in the distance other ships that have slowly begun making their way in your direction [JENGA]. TRAVIS: I was wondering if anyone noticed. Oh, fuck. MATT: My apologies. I am just taking the necessary precautions. LIAM: Is she dressed like a Vollstrecker? MATT: No. Very fine robes– you’ve seen her once before from a distance, in Felderwin. LIAM: Oh. MATT: This is Lady Vess DeRogna. MARISHA: Oh, shit. MATT: The Archmage of Antiquity. “Well, I assume, then, based on your confusion at my arrival that you are not responsible for the wounded on this deck. Please tell me immediately what has transpired in the past minutes.” LIAM: The boat came under attack– TRAVIS: Yes, please keep telling the story. I’m going to cast Cure Wounds on myself at fifth level if you don’t mind. TALIESIN: Does anyone have Minor Illusion or something? LAURA: No. TRAVIS: 5d8 plus something. LIAM: Some sort of creatures out of the sea swarmed the ship. TALIESIN: I’m going to go find– did any of the swords ping when I cast Detect Magic? MATT: No. LAURA: Can we just– I describe to her what the people looked like. And they like– SAM: I’ll cast Silent Image and make an image of what one of them looked like. MATT: You do find the sword that the leader of them seemed to be holding. It is currently just a regular weapon. It has lost any sort of visual representation of the Sword of Fathoms that it previously had. LAURA: During the fight, did any of us notice– I mean, obviously Caduceus did, but did we notice that they looked like Fjord’s old sword? MATT: I would say Beauregard would have noticed, probably. The people who fought most of the time on the deck. Caleb as well, actually, you would have noticed, because you guys were closest and with the most immediate visual range till the very end. Jester, your passive perception isn’t bad. I’d say you probably noticed it too, before the moment where Yasha ended up snapping its neck and throwing the corpse overboard. The corpse is still hanging on the edge of the boat, by the way. LAURA: Oh, well, that’s what they look like, right there. ASHLEY: I’ll hold it back up. TRAVIS: 38 points of healing from the Cure Wounds. MATT: Not bad for a new paladin. LIAM: Did you say she was alone or with other people? SAM: Good spell. MATT: Alone, currently. LAURA: Apparently. I should learn it. It might be useful. MATT: “So these creatures that you point out are responsible for this attack. Could you please tell me if you have any inclination as to why? SAM: It seemed random. Random attack. This is a fearsome vessel that we command, and– LAURA: Yeah, that’s true, I mean we were pretty famous pirates on the sea, so maybe they just recognized our flag and are... MARISHA: I have a feeling it has something to do with the location that we’re at currently in the ocean as well. We might be over their domain. MATT: I will say go ahead and make a deception check, Veth, with advantage because they did help you. SAM: Natural 20. Minus two. MATT: Vess gives you a look and goes, “Very well. These are dangerous waters the closer we get to the reef itself. We were prepared for such a thing. Well, I’m glad that you apparently are safe. The Mighty Nein, correct?” SAM and LAURA: Yes. MATT: “I have been made aware of who you are. The Martinet speaks highly of the aid that you provided back in Rexxentrum.” LIAM: Are you traveling with the Martinet or do you have your own ship here? MATT: “I am traveling where I please. But I’m here on the same mission. But nevertheless, I appreciate your contributions to end this conflict. This is unfortunate that you have been pulled into whatever entities wish to see it not come to fruition. But I’m glad you’re all safe.” At which point, Orly lumbers up from behind and goes, “We appreciate your appreciation.” “Anyway, I leave you to your recovery. If you require anything, if any of you have the means of reaching out, I am not far. And when all of this is over, if you’re looking for work, there may be some possibilities in the north, should we work together.” LIAM: I drop into Zemnian. We greatly appreciate your aid out here. It’s nice to know that we can count on each other in this difficult moment. MATT: She leans in and responds in Zemnian. “Of course. It’s this forthrightness that lets us know who our friends are, in times of confused politics.” LIAM: A good way of putting it. But– we all want an end to pain and suffering, as much as is possible. MATT: “As much as possible. But anyway, hopefully there is still some time to get some sleep. Myself, I’m a bit frustrated. The storm made it difficult enough to bed down, and I’m a bit winded.” LIAM: (in Zemnian) Hopefully we can talk about the north on a different day. MATT: “There is plenty of time on the sea. You’ll know how to find me, I’m sure.” LIAM: Very much so. MATT: “Sleep well. Gute nacht.” And then Dimension Doors away. The other ships (bells ringing), the other bells start going off. MARISHA: Fucking bitch. SAM: She seemed nice. LAURA: Were you hitting on her? Were you hitting on her? LIAM: Do you think that would have been useful? LAURA: It could have been. I’m not sure. You were talking to her and all of a sudden she starts [JENGA] down. TALIESIN: (to Yasha holding a body) Just bring it on deck. Let’s take a look at this. ASHLEY: The body I was holding. SAM: Fjord, do you recognize these creatures? TRAVIS: I don’t think so. Do I recognize these creatures? MATT: Here’s the odd thing. In the brief moments that it’s been dead, like you’ve noticed this very humanoid creature with a dull grey-blue skin, these yellowish eyes, very reminiscent of the entity of which you were once bound to, as opposed to hair, it has these long, almost rubbery tendrils that emerge from the back of its head, that are long, almost like it has this head of thick tentacles that protrude from the back of the head. Its jaw itself seems to open on both sides. There’s a smaller mouth surrounded in teeth, and where these additional sides open up as part of its screech, claws, almost fin-like protrusions from the fore-arms and the knees– but as you guys are inspecting it, its form begins to slowly shift and change into that of a 40-something scruffy-chinned, slightly balding man. A fisherman. LAURA: What the heck? SAM: Do you recognize that dude? LIAM: What happens to the jaw? Does it remain in pieces or–? MATT: No. It reverts and seals back to a normal human. LAURA: Fjord, do you know this guy? TRAVIS: I don’t think so. MATT: No sense of recognition. LAURA: Oh, my gosh, if you would have kept doing– MARISHA: Yeah, would you look like that? SAM: If you would have kept– LAURA: You would turn into– MARISHA: To tentacle man? TRAVIS: I don’t know. I can’t imagine that’s a reward. But it might be. ASHLEY: Do you think he has one of those things in his chest? LIAM: Caleb starts inspecting the body and feeling for a seam in the jaw, or just work on the cadaver. MATT: There are two other bodies of a similar type creature on board, though not quite as prominent as it seems in the hierarchy upon their arrival. They too have reverted to a normal form, one of which appears to be elven, one looks to be a goliath, a half-giant body. The elf being female, and they’re both a little gaunt, a little sallow. TRAVIS: Female goliath? MATT: No, female elf and a male goliath. The gender is difficult to discern in the creature form that you battled. TALIESIN: Beau, do you want to search through the pockets, see if there’s...? MARISHA: Yeah, you got a knife? Who’s got a knife? SAM: I got a knife. Here’s an old rusty daggr. LAURA: I got an axe. Should we open them up and see if there’s like orbs inside? LIAM: I was– we are all on the same page? LAURA: I’m going to help. I’m really good at this stuff. MARISHA: All right. LIAM: Do you want to open it up? LAURA: Yeah, I’m going to search for an orb in the body. LIAM: Okay, make a medicine check. SAM: Do you use a blade or are you going to use your axe? LAURA: Well, you got a blade there. MARISHA: I’ll fillet back the skin and hold it kind of– LAURA: Eww... I’m going to– TRAVIS: I thought you said you were really good at this? LAURA: I am. But this is really gross. LIAM: Just grab it like a book and open it, real fast. MARISHA and others: (Unintelligible chatter) LAURA: I’m just going to reach in and look for a hard orb or something. TALIESIN: One, two, three. There you go. Right there. LAURA: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. MARISHA: Yeah? What do you got? Anything? TRAVIS: What does it smell like? LAURA: I don’t know, let me check. MATT: Make a medicine check. TRAVIS: Describe the smell. MATT: Oh, I’ll get there. LAURA: Do I get advantage because everyone is helping me? TALIESIN: I’m giving you a d4. MARISHA: Does she have advantage because I’m there like helping pull back lips and sternum and shit? MATT: Sure. LAURA: 25. MATT: 25. First, as it opens and you dig in, it’s a unique smell, in the sense that the interior of a human body itself has a not-pleasant scent. But this is briny. All the organs seem in order for a human body, though everything has a slightly dull greyish-blue tint, more to the coloration of the skin of the creature’s form when you first encountered him. LAURA: Has he been dead for a long time or something? MATT: There’s some sort of transition that has happened that has left the organs just miscolored, and the scent itself adjusted accordingly. After spending a few moments giving it a through, jolly search, thre does not seem to be anything else in there that wasn’t originally intended. LIAM: Aliens 3? SAM: Maybe you should check the other two just in case. LAURA: No. It’s just organs. I have a feeling Fjord would not have turned into one of these things. I feel like they were a servant in a different way. Do you know what I mean? MARISHA: Maybe Fjord could have controlled them, if he would have kept going. ASHLEY: They were probably trying to get it out of you, so maybe none of them have one. MARISHA: But it was the big guy. They were like the bigger guys who definitely seemed to be calling the shots and running the show. TALIESIN: We have the big one here. MATT: Which one? TALIESIN: The main one. LAURA: That is what I was just– TALIESIN: Oh. LIAM: It might be a little presumptuous of us to try to understand the hierarchy of Uk’otoa’s minions. TRAVIS: They had falchions. They had the same sort of curved blade that I did. I didn’t see an eye or an orb in the sword, though, right? MATT: No, just a similar shape, same barnacled growths on them, similar kind of perpetually wet, oceanic essence to it. TRAVIS: I spent enough time with it. It was the same sword. MARISHA: Even the swords have reverted back. LAURA: Should we search for an orb in you, Fjord? I mean, not like that, but should we– do you have one inside of you still? TRAVIS: All evidence seems to suggest yes. LAURA: How do we get it out? TRAVIS: I don’t– I don’t know, I– SAM: How did you get it in? TRAVIS: I– MARISHA: Do we have to go back to that temple? Do you have to give it back? LAURA: Oh my gosh. TALIESIN: I don’t know if he can. LAURA: What if– no. TRAVIS: I mean– LAURA: What if we Blink into the ethereal plane. Do you think we would see it in the ethereal plane? TRAVIS: You mean, like in me? Or outside of me? TALIESIN: You would have probably– well, I don’t know. MARISHA: I would have seen something with True Sight. Do I remember back to the party, if I saw something in Fjord with True Sight? MATT: Not in that instance, no. TRAVIS: I had a dream where I ingested a sword. I could try and throw up. There was another one where I pushed it into my chest. LAURA: You have two orbs in you still?! TRAVIS: No, I’m just saying, I consumed– LAURA: You have two–!! TRAVIS: No, no! I only have– LAURA: How do you know? TRAVIS: Because I opened the key to one of the locks of Uk’otoa with the sword. SAM: How did you get it open? Did you pull it out? TRAVIS: I released– there were two eyes in the sword and I placed it down into the ground, and I had to use the pommel of the sword. MATT: There are two that you’ve placed, actually. TRAVIS: Two that I’ve– LAURA: So you have two orbs inside of you! You have two orbs inside of you! MATT: No, you’ve placed two orbs. There was one at Urukaxl– TRAVIS: Avantika placed one. I placed one from the pommel. MATT: Correct. Sorry. There are two that have been placed, yes. MARISHA: Yeah, because the third one unleashes the gates, right? TRAVIS: Right. I was holding the last key. SAM: Does your sword, falchion, whatever, right now have an eye on it? TRAVIS: It did when I threw it in the pool of magma! MARISHA: Wait, where’s your sword? SAM: Your current sword does not? TRAVIS: No. (Bamfs it out) No eye, right? No eye no eye no eye:? MATT: No eye. MARISHA: Can you try and make it a thing? Can you try and make it have an eyeball? LAURA: Why would you do that? It’s the Wildmother’s sword. TALIESIN: I don’t think that’s how that works. TRAVIS: If we get it, then we just toss that bitch in the ocean, and keep going. It’ll be fine. (To sword) Make me an eye. LAURA: No, Fjord. MATT: Nothing happens. TRAVIS: No, it doesn’t work. SAM: But how do you get this orb out of you? MARISHA: It seems like– SAM: Should we slice him open? LIAM: Jester, you’ve been able to find things. Would you be able to...? LAURA: Like Locate an Object? I mean, I could if I sleep on it, you know what I mean? I got to sleep on it. I got to think about it. LIAM: Yeah. I feel you. TRAVIS: Beau. Yasha. You can like divine aspects, or whatever. If I lift my arms, can you like push around in my guts and the rib cage and see if you feel if there’s a tangerine in that bitch? LAURA: Maybe I could feel– MARISHA: Can I basically like Extract Aspects–? TALIESIN: If we’re doing this, I cast Locate Object, level three, on him. LAURA: Oh, you have it already fucking prepared? Well, good for you. MATT: Okay, and you are...? TALIESIN: Trying to find the orb. MATT: Okay, you can sense that there is something of the essence that you’re seeking for within Fjord’s body. Though– TALIESIN: It doesn’t feel like an orb, does it? MATT: I mean, it resembles an orb, but it’s... it’s there... LIAM: Schrödinger's orb. MATT: That’s as much as you can make out. LAURA: It’s not like, “Oh, it’s definitely in the thigh.” MATT: Right. TRAVIS: When that thing was in my chest, before I decided to take a quick repose, was he like doing the same thing that we were just doing? Was he trying to grab something out of my chest, or–? MARISHA: He was going for it. LAURA: He was hacking. ASHLEY: He was hacking into your chest. MARISHA: And it felt very centralized. TRAVIS: So it’s not me that he wanted. He wanted something out of me. LAURA: I don’t know, he also was trying to pull you down into the ocean, so– SAM: They really wanted to kill you. TRAVIS: What do you mean? Wait, wait. They were trying to take me off the boat? MARISHA: I think they were trying to take you off the boat after they knew that most of the team had been compromised. LIAM: Yeah, we weren’t giving him time to do his work, and so he needed to leave with your corpse. LAURA: Or they just really– TALIESIN: Or they had to take you somewhere, dead or alive. MARISHA: He seemed very much like he knew what he was doing, and he was going for his chest. I think he ran– TRAVIS: So maybe if I die, something happens. TALIESIN: Or maybe it doesn’t matter. ASHLEY: So you had a dream that you swallowed this orb and the orb is there? LAURA: Open your mouth. TRAVIS: Yes. Ahhhh. LAURA: Do I see anything in his throat? MATT: Make a perception check. MARISHA: Are his tonsils swollen? TRAVIS: Strep. LAURA: 24. Is that right? Yeah. No. 22. MATT: 22. Okay. Mild discoloration around the tonsils– TRAVIS: I am not! I gargle with sea water every night! TALIESIN: Throw him overboard! MATT: Actually, fairly healthy. But no orb. LAURA: I don’t see anything. SAM: He’s got mono. LAURA: I don’t see anything. MARISHA: Well, look, I mean, you had wet dreams for months about trying to– TRAVIS: Not quite as that makes it sound. MARISHA: –to get Uk’otoa free. We know very clearly what Uk’otoa’s mission is, and I’m assuming– LAURA: Maybe it’s bad. Maybe it’s like Beetlejuice. If you say his name three times in a row, it’s really bad. Maybe he’ll show up on the ship. LIAM: What is Beetlejuice? LAURA: You know. LIAM: No. LAURA: Like Candyman. TRAVIS: Is that a trick? Like–? TALIESIN: It’s not helpful. I don’t know what– LIAM: Like the Traveler? LAURA: Kind of. MARISHA: Like the Blair Witch. LIAM: What is Blair Witch? TRAVIS: I don’t know how to get this out, but I think it’s fair to assume– how is the ship, by the way? LAURA: Not too bad. SAM: Below decks is a little tored up. TRAVIS: It’s little tored up from float up? Okay. MATT: Gallan at this point arrives on the deck and goes, “Oh! Everything okay?” TALIESIN: I mean– TRAVIS: (Looking at his bloody shirt) Yeah, just fine, yeah. Spilled a bit of wine. MATT: “Should I start getting to repairs?” ALL: Yes. MATT: “Okay.” SAM: Start with the cannons. LAURA: You know what? Oh, I have an idea. What if I send a message to Essek? SAM: To say what? LAURA: Say, “Come over here and help us get this orb out of Fjord.” TALIESIN: I think that would be– let’s wait. LAURA: Why? TALIESIN: There’s too much happening all at once. This feels like so many moving parts. LIAM: I think my only question– not my only question. One of many questions is were these creatures that came for you, was one of them or all of them actors or operators like you, yourself were at one time? Or like Avantika was? Or are they just sent by... you know. TRAVIS: I don’t recognize the goliath or the female elf, correct? MATT: No, upon inspecting their corpses, these are all just... TRAVIS: My question is, and I don’t know if there’s an answer to this– Is there a way to determine if a body is cursed, after death or during life? I just don’t... MARISHA: Want me to try the pressure points thing? LAURA: I mean, Greater Restoration cures curses. TALIESIN: Yeah, but I don’t know if it detects curses. Detect Good and Evil, maybe? LAURA: Detect Good and Evil. TALIESIN: Yeah. LAURA: I don’t think I have that prepared. TALIESIN: No, I don’t have that prepared. Well, maybe I do. No, I don’t. TRAVIS: No. No hitting me. MARISHA: You know. It’s a service that I offer. If you need it. TALIESIN: I’ve burned nearly every spell I have at this point. I’m getting a little low. SAM: I’m going to go investigate the other dead bodies. There’s some below decks, right? MATT: Mm-hmm. SAM: Just go around and collect stuff. TRAVIS: It’s such an extreme transformation. LAURA: I’m going to feel Fjord’s chest and like this area, right here. SAM: Abs area, or pecs area? LAURA: Well, like the abs, you know, with the solar plexus. SAM: The solar plexus? LIAM: The sternum? LAURA: Yeah, that. SAM: You should get all up and down. LAURA: I’m really going to like tickle him, you know what I mean? I need to feel to see if I can feel anything. Do you mind? Is this okay? I’m going to see if I feel– TRAVIS: I was just dead. So have at it. LAURA: No, I mean, if this is uncomfortable for you, let me know. TRAVIS: I’m actually enjoying it. It’s fine. MATT: Roll a medicine check. LIAM: Bing! (Mimes orb popping out of his mouth) LAURA: 18. MATT: 18. LAURA: I didn’t get guidance. Guidance! Too late? MATT: He seems sound. You don’t feel any odd... LAURA: Hardness. MATT: Hardness. The other bodies that are around, the sea spawn in particular, the lesser strange aquatic fish mutated creatures did not revert in their form. They are still their mutated, torn-asunder selves, based on their various means of being destroyed. Only the three elevated entities that you battled are the ones that returned to some sort of natural humanoid body. TRAVIS: Can’t you speak with dead things? TALIESIN: I can. Tomorrow. TRAVIS: Okay. We should try to, if we can. It might provide some answers. Until then– TALIESIN: Think about what you want to know. TRAVIS: Well, I’m also a bit of a homing beacon. I was sleeping in the Captain’s quarters like a dinglebarft. LIAM: Oh, you know Zemnian? LAURA: We should all sleep in the Captain’s quarters. TALIESIN: Together. MARISHA: Maybe you can rig us up a little alarm, Caleb? LIAM: I think that we maybe need to fall on old practices, even though we are on the ship. TRAVIS: If I could add to the protocol, perhaps, Caleb, about what time is it today? LIAM: It’s exactly– (looks at Matt) MATT: I’d say at this point it’s around 2:30 in the morning. TRAVIS: Could you remind me– Oh, god. At 2:30 in the morning every day and I’ll cast Underwater Breathing on everyone, just in case they don’t just come for me or us, they come for the ship. LAURA: Like 2 a.m. We should do it at 2 a.m. LIAM: How long does that last about? TRAVIS: 24 hours. SAM: How about bed time every night? TALIESIN: Do it right before you go to bed. TRAVIS: 24 hours. TALIESIN: Like right before bed. TRAVIS: Just in case they blow up the ship and then we’re all in the water. LAURA: Or Uk’otoa comes up and like tentacles around the whole ship and like cracks it in half and then– TRAVIS: I don’t think he’s been released yet. I don’t think that’s...’ TALIESIN: The fact that you’re walking around means that’s not going to happen. TRAVIS: I mean, I don’t think he’s been released yet. I actually don’t know. I just assumed with the sword being thrown in that the last key and the sword were destroyed, but– LAURA: Well, obviously not. TRAVIS: Fucking clearly. TALIESIN: I think they need you to release him. LIAM: Seems like a rumor that would spread pretty easily. If he were released. TRAVIS: Yeah. MARISHA: Uk’otoa’s going to get what he wants. Whether you help him or not. TALIESIN: Well, I don’t know. MARISHA: Is it worth taking a swim? Seeing what we’re parked on top of? LIAM: In the pouring rain at 2:30 in the morning? MARISHA: I don’t know. TRAVIS: It’s also really cold. MATT: The two other ships have now closed in to check and other bells are ringing, and Orly is interfacing with them, letting them know that the danger has passed, and a bit of shouting back and forth from ship to ship. “Do you need aid?” LAURA: I mean, we’re right near the temple. TRAVIS: Nearing the Inkclaw Reef, right? MATT: You guys are just north of Inkclaw Reef. TRAVIS: North. Okay. MATT: You have about, I’d say, with the weather as it is right now, between six to seven days if the storm continues. It might be less if it lets up. TRAVIS: I think the temple is inland. It’s not out here– the last one. I think. MATT: You believe, based on the visions you’ve had, that it was north of Nicodranas. TRAVIS: Like just west and south of the gate entrance to the Empire. MATT: The Wuyun Gorge, yeah. LAURA: I just mean we’re near the other temple. The one that you already opened. MARISHA: Yeah. MATT: You are. You are just north of Urukaxl. LIAM: Sometimes the two of you [JENGA] MATT: No, no, the first one you went to. LIAM: Get an inkling of things that we cannot understand. LAURA: [JENGA] TALIESIN: That may be a thing to do tomorrow as well. LAURA: I can Commune tonight. I can ask the Traveler if he knows anything. Or if he can sense the orb in Fjord. SAM: We know the orb’s in Fjord. LAURA: Yeah, but if he could like find where it is or like if he knows how to get it out. If he’s heard about anything like this. I’m going to sit down and I’m going to Commune! I’m going to sit for ten minutes and I’m going to set up a ritual. TRAVIS: Actually, can we join you and just see if the Wildmother might have anything to say about it as well. LAURA: I don’t think– Do you have Commune? TRAVIS: Maybe just meditate. LIAM: Caduceus fought very hard for you when you were down. I don’t know if he’s feeling up to it. TALIESIN: I’ll give it a try, but I don’t promise anything. I’m a little burnt. MATT: Have you spent this time focusing on casting a healing spell, by the way? TALIESIN: I thought that got interrupted by– I assume that that paralyze willpower roll just completely blew that. MATT: You succeeded at that. TALIESIN: Oh, did I succeed? MATT: Yeah, you succeeded, so you managed to continue it. TALIESIN: An extra 21 hit points, then to you, you, you, and then anybody else... One, two, three, four... and then two of the crew members. LIAM: I’m at full if anyone needs it more than me. MARISHA: Oh, I can take some. LAURA: Orly could probably use it. TALIESIN: Yeah, Orly. MATT: Orly will take that happily. TALIESIN: So that worked. I thought I’d blown that. LAURA: Oh, my gosh– TALIESIN: I’m going to use my percentile dice and try and cast Commune if that makes sense. MATT: Oh, so you’re using your Divine Intervention to commune with the Wildmother? Okay, give it a shot. LAURA: I’m going to set up all my little statues that we’ve spent all this time making. I’m going to have so many little teeny Traveler dicks sitting around me as I try-- MATT: Perfect. LAURA: Ooh, Caleb! Would you cast pretty lights or something so that it makes it extra special pretty? TRAVIS: Yes, cast Widogast’s Pretty Lights. LIAM: I cast Widogast’s Pretty Lights. They are green. They are glowing a pale green, and floating around Jester’s head. TRAVIS: That’s really pretty. MATT: All right. LAURA: This is pretty great, now that I know you’re not a goddy god god, I can just talk to you right now like I would normally talk to you. So hey, can you come here really fast, because I’ve got some major questions I need to ask you and we need your help. MATT: The dried and rotted bits of vine and leaf that originally congealed around Fjord’s wound begin to blow with the wind, and as they blow they seem to scatter wider, and create more in their space, and as the swirl passes your vision, it seems to wipe into the cloaked figure that’s so familiar to you, as Artagan steps forward and goes, “Hello, my dear.” LAURA: Hi. MATT: “You have some questions?” LAURA: Oh, my gosh. Did you see– I’m not going to ask you that. We just had a crazy fight. MATT: “(chuckles) You’re learning. Proud of you.” LAURA: So Fjord has a thing, like a ball, an orb, an eyeball, stuck inside of his body. MATT: “Mm-hmm.” LAURA: And these dudes are like coming after him for it. They’re like, “We really want to let Uk’otoa (Uk’otoa Uk’otoa) out? LIAM: Uk’otoa.... LAURA: And I was wondering if you know how to get the orb out of him. MATT: The questions.... LAURA: Awww, hang on– MATT: No, no, you asked your question. The answer is, “I believe I have an inkling, yes.” LAURA: Aw, come on, man. MATT: “Not my rules.” SAM: Was that the only question you get? LAURA: No, I get two more! SAM: Okay. LAURA: Okay, okay, okay. I got to think of how I’m going to phrase this. TRAVIS: Does it involve me dying? LAURA: Phoof. Do we have to like cut him open to get it out? MATT: “I wouldn’t recommend it.” LAURA: Okay, okay, that’s good to know. Is it something that’s within my skillset now? MATT: “I think you are quite capable, Jester.” LAURA: Okay. MATT: He vanishes into the air. MARISHA: Magic 8-ball bullshit. LAURA: He’s so... so smart. Okay, so something that I can do. LIAM: You have removed types of curses before, have you not? LAURA: I mean, yeah, I mean Greater Restoration, but does that remove a ball from somebody? SAM: You know a lot of spells. MATT: I will say, you guys– TALIESIN: Only one way to find out. MATT: Expended a hell of a lot of Greater Restoration diamonds when you were at the Clay family. More than you had technically had at the ready. TALIESIN: That’s true. MATT: So unless you guys have picked up specifically, beyond the diamonds that you just used on Revivify, you do not have Greater Restoration capabilities. LIAM: What do you need for it? LAURA: I need diamond dust, at least a hundred gold’s worth. I have a diamond. TALIESIN: Yeah, but we shouldn’t– LAURA: I shouldn’t use it, no. SAM: I have gold dust. TALIESIN: Nope. LAURA: We don’t need that. I need diamond dust. Orly! MATT: You see him interfacing with the second of the ships that’s now currently turning back and slowly making its way towards its position in the armada formation. He turns back, “Hmm?” LAURA: Do you have any diamond dust on you, because I know you do your enchanted tattoos and stuff. MATT: “My skillset definitely allows me to work with it, but my customers have to provide the components. You understand.” LAURA: Yeah, of course, of course. TRAVIS: There’s no way that being stabbed by one of those swords is like a slowly growing disease, is it? SAM: Sure, everything’s possible. TRAVIS: I might change into that? Is there any way to detect a disease or a poison or a...? LAURA: Detect Good and Evil, maybe, or– do we have Detect Poison? I don’t have anything like that prepared. TRAVIS: I have Lay On Hands. I just don’t know if I need to. LAURA: I’m going to send a message to Essek. MATT: Okay. TRAVIS: We don’t want Orly turning into a fish person. LAURA: “Hey, Essek. Do you have any diamonds on you that you’d be willing to give me? Like something worth like 100 gold or something? I promise I will pay you back, or I could give you some gold now. Really need it. Can you just come over here, if you have it?” MATT: For the element of that message that he did receive, he responds, “It is early, Jester.” LAURA: Oh, shit, it’s 2 am in the morning. MATT: “Unfortunately, that is not the type of component that I prepared for the journey.” That’s it. SAM: I have this stuff that we got way back in, I don’t know, Zadash? Rexxentrum? I have no idea where we got this. This bag of green glass dust stuff. TALIESIN: I mean... SAM: Does that do– Does that do something? LAURA: It’s not diamond dust though. SAM: I know, but does it take the place of that? MATT: How much do you have? LAURA: Because you used– SAM: 800 gold worth of residuum. MATT: Residuum by its nature can be used to replace any amount of money’s worth of a material component. That’s part of the reason it’s also so sought after and so rare. TALIESIN: Can I get 100 gold...? SAM: I mean, sure, yeah. I don’t know. TALIESIN: Let’s give this a roll. LAURA: Caduceus is going to do it. SAM: You’ve done a lot. TALIESIN: I would recommend holding his hand. This may hurt. SAM: Or his abs. LAURA: Hold my hand, Fjord. TRAVIS: Just a second. What are we doing? LAURA: We’re just going to try something. SAM: Have you ever gotten a tooth pulled? TRAVIS: Yes. SAM: It’s like that. TRAVIS: That didn’t feel very good. SAM: Well... LAURA: Then hold my hand. You can squeeze it as hard as you want. ASHLEY: Do you want to bite down on something? MARISHA: You can use my bo staff. TRAVIS: This is making me feel ahhh (she shoves it in his mouth). MARISHA: It’s a little big. That’s really big. TALIESIN: When was the last time you washed that? SAM: Do you want me to tell you a joke to lighten the mood? ASHLEY: Take a swig from the flask. TRAVIS: (Almost unintelligibly) I have a bo staff in my mouth. ASHLEY: Okay, you’ll be fine. TALIESIN: Just for added bonus, I’m going to cast this at like sixth level. TRAVIS: Fuck you! MATT: So you cast Greater Restoration? TALIESIN: Yup. SAM: I’m going to cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on him. LAURA: Nooo! MATT: On Fjord? SAM: Yeah. Just so he’s laughing while this happens. MATT: Okay, roll a wisdom saving throw, Fjord. LIAM: Love that Joker! TRAVIS: 18. SAM: I’ll still tell you the joke anyway. Why did Captain Tusktooth start smoking cigarettes at the dock? TRAVIS: Why? SAM: Pier pressure. (Groans, except Caduceus laughs) MATT: I think everyone takes psychic damage from that. SAM: It didn’t work. He didn’t laugh, everyone. Sorry. TALIESIN: Yeah, I’m just going to take the residuum, and I’m just going to pulse it through you and see what happens. MATT: Mark 100 gold’s worth of residuum off of your list. As you concentrate, Caduceus, and reach out towards Fjord’s chest-- you find your vision darken, and your instinct is immediately is that fight or flight, that fear impulse kick in. But you find yourself surrounded in warmth, like you were dropped into a warm bath. Caduceus, as you concentrate, the same lichen that grows upon your armor begins to grow from your fingertips and find its way gathering at the center of Fjord’s chest. This bright pink plume of fungus begins to grow and generate around the sternum. And you, in that moment with your eyes closed, that warmth, you feel this twinge of pain, right there, that begins to grow, and grow, and burn, and sear– LAURA: (softly) Squeeze my hand. MATT: And you feel his hand squeeze tightly. Nausea begins to kick in, wave after wave, as this horrible pain begins to burn from the inside. It is awful. It begins to come in such heavy waves that you find yourself falling to your knees and that nausea is burning heavily within the depths of your chest and belly. Caduceus, as you hold tightly, you watch as Caduceus falls to his knees and begins to shudder. All of you begin to grow nervous with what is happening, especially with how now, barely recovering from the edge of death, he seems to be convulsing in the way that he is. LAURA: You’re hurting him. ASHLEY: I’m going to link my arm in his arm, just to keep him there and keep him upright and safe. MATT: Okay. The pain begins to entirely consume your perspective. The warmth isn’t there. The darkness is barely something that you can concentrate on and it is just the pain, and it feels like a burning white-hot poker, right in the center of your chest, moving up towards your sternum, up to your clavicle, and as the nausea kicks in, you find yourself retching. You watch as Fjord suddenly doubles over and vomits what seems to be gallons of frothy seawater onto the deck of the ship. This horrible, guttural, all muscles tensing, vomit, and as the seawater splashes onto it, with a heavy (thud, roll) you see a singular cloven crystal. TALIESIN: Don’t touch it! Somebody pick it up with an object and let’s put it in a bag as quickly as possible. MATT: Your vision returns. MARISHA: I take off my sash, and scoop it up and tie it off. TALIESIN: Let’s put it– LAURA: I hold back his little teeny man bun. SAM: You okay, Fjordy? MARISHA: Holy shit! TALIESIN: Let’s put it in the bag as soon as possible. SAM: Oh, it’s coming out of your nose. LIAM: (Holding up a piece of amber) If I put it in this, it will be gone. TALIESIN: Perfect. LIAM: Gone. SAM: What does that mean, gone? TALIESIN: How gone? TRAVIS: It’s the amber stone. LIAM: No one can see me. TALIESIN: Perfect. Let’s do it. Right now. LAURA: I use my long sleeve to wipe Fjord’s face and mouth. LIAM: Caleb starts placing out the pieces of amber, and around it, on the deck, and as a ritual, casts the Vault of Amber, and it just goes (fwppt). SAM: Widogast’s Vault of Amber? LIAM: Just Vault of Amber. You don’t have to say the Widogast part every time. Most of the time will suffice, but occasionally you can just dial it back to the actual function of the spell. TALIESIN: It’s WGVA. LIAM: And then I take all those, I collect them. I keep the one piece of amber now on a chain. MATT: Okay. LIAM: Against the other. ASHLEY: How do you feel, Fjord? TRAVIS: A few gallons lighter. Better. I feel fine. MATT: I mean, given the circumstances. You don’t sense any physical difference before or after, beyond just a sense of wellbeing that washes over you, knowing that that thing is out of you. TRAVIS: Can I make myself look like Jester? MATT: Certainly. TRAVIS: Does it work? MATT: Yeah. TRAVIS: Okay. (Drops it) LAURA: Whoa, what was that about? TRAVIS: I’m just making sure I could still do things. I hadn’t realized that was there. LAURA: It’s not the source of your power, Fjord. TALIESIN: Not anymore. TRAVIS: That’s good. What did it look like? LAURA: Really slimy. MARISHA: Crazy. LIAM: Strangely like an eyeball. TRAVIS: Did it move? LIAM: No. It just rolled and stopped. TRAVIS: When you throw up that much, the eyes and the nose just– it’s like being in a carwash. Couldn’t see anything. MARISHA: Speaking of– Marius! TRAVIS: How did he survive this? MARISHA: Get a bucket and a mop and clean up this puke, okay? SAM: I think you mean, “swab the deck.” MARISHA: Swab the deck, Marius. LIAM: It stopped raining at the wrong time. MATT: “Aye aye.” It’s still raining, but... MARISHA: Marius, did you kill a guy? Did you kill that guy? MATT: “I grievously wounded him.” TRAVIS: Oh, my god. SAM: [JENGA] LAURA: Good job, Marius! TALIESIN: How bad is grievous? LAURA: It’s pretty bad. TALIESIN: Okay, well done. MARISHA: Good work. MATT: “I’ll get the mop.” TALIESIN: We might get rid of the bodies of the three fish people. Keep the... ASHLEY: Hopefully he’s better at cleaning than he is at killing. TALIESIN: You want to help with that? ASHLEY: No. TALIESIN: Carrying dead people? ASHLEY: No. SAM: Do you think that maybe Caduceus should cast that spell on all of us, just in case we all have strange curses or things inside of us? LAURA: Did you go around swallowing weird balls too? SAM: I mean, my teenage years. TALIESIN: I think Yasha and I are going to go downstairs and start gathering up the fish people. I’m going to cast Decompose on them too, just to– TRAVIS: Actually, if you wouldn’t mind bringing them up here first, just to see them. TALIESIN: Sure. ASHLEY: Yeah. (They mime flopping a body on the deck) MATT: Yeah, they do make a weird sound as they hit the deck. TALIESIN: Like Donald Duck hiccuping. MARISHA: I know people did some passes of them. Can I strip them down and turn them around and see if they have any tattoos, like look at the back of their necks– LAURA: The people people? TALIESIN: The fish people. We have all of them up here now, so... TRAVIS: It could be a bite, it could be a stab wound. MARISHA: Yeah, I just want to look for any markings on their body. MATT: Make an investigation check. MARISHA: Hell, yeah, that’s what I do. Good, on my good days. Okay, 19. MATT: On the sea spawn creatures, the ones that maintain their fish form, you don’t see any particular tattoos. You do notice they have heavy gills. They are very physically altered and their mutations, the ones that have heavy quills themselves that project from the body... they are far from human. But no particular markings beyond just their physical alterations. The tentacle arms are quite disgusting, and have their own kind of almost like a sharkskin, where from one direction it’s smooth, and the other hand– it kind of pricks up into a very grating texture. The humanoid bodies that have reverted from the three there, you do notice on the leader, the lead one, in the middle of the chest, there is a familiar single, yellow tattoo of an eye. MARISHA: Is this the one we cut into? MATT: Yes. So you would have already noticed it, but it didn’t come up earlier. LIAM: Half of it’s here, and half of it is over here. MARISHA: Yeah. You have to put it back together. TRAVIS: And these ones have been brought up, have they transformed back into their original states? MATT: Yes, that’s the elf and the goliath. TRAVIS: Oh, okay, sorry. There’s no others. LIAM: (mimes folding the chest back together...several times) Wouldn’t stay. LAURA: Does it look like Avantika’s tattoo? MATT: It’s similar. But the design’s different. But it’s a similar type of ... very much a tattoo scarring experience that is part of a worship or a symbolism for a familiar entity. SAM: Did you have one of those tattoos? TRAVIS: I did, but you don’t want to see where it is. It’s very painful. LAURA: It’s right on the taint. TRAVIS: Yep. Right on the in-betweenus. SAM: Whoa. TRAVIS: I had to hold my ankles and ride the lightning. LAURA: Orly did it, actually. TRAVIS: Yeah, just (mimes hammer and needle) SAM: Oh! That’s right. There’s no machines. MARISHA: That’s why they call him Uk’otoa. TRAVIS: Just a couple of times, it all came up, I’d swallow it back down. LIAM: Five years, everybody! TRAVIS: The art that’s going to come out of that one! SAM: Oh, no. MATT: (as Orly) “You might want to bite down on this.” LIAM: Boy, that was a two-minute detour, guys. TALIESIN: We needed that. We needed a good laugh.’ MATT: It is still raining, it is still freezing, it is still– LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. TRAVIS: [JENGA] hours? MATT: Yes. SAM: We should go to sleep. We gotta go to sleep. Toss the bodies over. TALIESIN: Let’s keep the humans and toss the fish. I’m going to Decompose the fish and drop ‘em. MATT: They don’t grow fungus, but you watch as elements of their body begin to grow a little more translucent, and bits of foam begin to gather at the joints, before you throw them overboard. (Splooshes) LAURA: I should really wash my arm off. I’m going to wash my arm off. MATT: Yeah, you’re like halfway to the bicep. SAM: Let’s go to sleep. Should we make a dome? TRAVIS: Would you like to come to the Captain’s quarters? Or should I join you in the-- LAURA: I feel like it’s safer in the Captain’s quarters. SAM: He doesn’t want to be alone. LAURA: Well, he shouldn’t be. LIAM: Is there room for all of us in there? TRAVIS: Last time I woke up, there was a blade sticking out of my chest. I don’t know. Is there enough room for everyone? MATT: I mean... TRAVIS: It’s cozy. MATT: It’ll be super cozy, because you have a desk and a bed in that chamber. TALIESIN: We can go downstairs for the dome, I guess. TRAVIS: Let’s get rid of the desk and the bed. No, that’s fine. We’ll go below. MATT: All right. LIAM: We should do that mid-level, not the bottom. MATT: So you guys head to the gun deck. There is a chamber that is definitely large enough to fit all of you. LAURA: Oh, yeah, I had a big bed in mine. TRAVIS: And I did cast Underwater Breathing at 2 in the morning. MATT: You guys ready yourselves for an evening’s rest, eventually going to complete the rest of your night’s sleep. So go ahead and take your long rest. TALIESIN: My god. LIAM: I also– any time we do this, Caleb will go down to the bottom level of the ship, and use his silver wire to make an X across the ceiling, for where he believes we have stationed the dome, so that there is an alarm set beneath the dome. MATT: Okay, fair enough. LIAM: That will be part of the bedtime ritual. MATT: Okay. Sleep doesn’t come all that easy, as there is the sound of Gallan (hammering). LAURA: Wow. At 2:30. Good for him. MATT: You told him to go fix stuff. They’re sleeping during the day when you guys are running the ship. So you guys are running odd hours, so there’s always some crew manning it as you continue. But you manage it. The gun deck does have a bit of damage, both from the fight, the scuffle, and you can see about three of the cannons themselves had hundreds and hundreds of tiny gash marks against the iron. Not enough to damage them or make them non-functional, but they definitely look textured and weathered. Some of the wood around them is splintered, the wood on the ceiling itself has a couple of locations that look a bit damaged, but that’s what Gallan’s currently working on repairing and getting some patching elements to it. TALIESIN: Look at all these lovely spells that are back. That’s so nice. MATT: The next day comes to you without issue. The rain does, however, greet you in the morning as you awaken. So at this point, you guys have a few more days to continue. The next day progresses, which I believe is the sixth day? LAURA: Fifth day, I think. MATT: Fifth day. Okay. TALIESIN: I’m going to interrogate the bodies. SAM: Do we eat breakfast first? Or while we’re interrogating we eat breakfast? TALIESIN: Let’s eat breakfast first. TRAVIS: Also, Caleb, your magic is so impressive I sometimes take it for granted. Where does that go? Just to another dimension, or is it just hidden, or...? LIAM: Um, yeah, well, it is with me, but it is not on this plane. It is anchored to a point within this one specific hunk of amber. So anchored to that and wherever I bring said anchor, that pocket travels with. TRAVIS: So if someone were to trace or try to locate it, it wouldn’t point to your hunk of amber. LIAM: Well, I also have this. And I pull out the necklace I’ve had since the beginning of our story. This keeps me and all my possessions hidden. Not you, or any of the rest of you, but this– your cat’s eye marble is now erased. TALIESIN: Very useful. LAURA: Wow, that would have been really useful when we had the beacon on us. LIAM: Well, I hadn’t figured out how to do it yet. LAURA: No, I get it. TRAVIS: I prefer that. I just didn’t want all of a sudden the attention of this thing to be pointed at you. TALIESIN: It probably knows what you look like. LIAM: I think the attention is still probably pointed at you. People have tried to find us, as we have tried to find other people, and you are still the last one who had it. So they would come with questions, perhaps. MARISHA: Unless they were tracking the ball directly. LIAM: And now it’s gone. SAM: We just killed five or six of his men. So maybe– LAURA: Oh, man, Uk’otoa’s so pissed at you. MARISHA: I have a feeling Uk’otoa’s not the sentimental type. LAURA: He’s a rage-y type. MARISHA: I feel like he can get more fish people. SAM: There are more fish people in the sea. MARISHA: There are plenty of fish people. TRAVIS: We should see if these are just devotees or if they were taken. LIAM: Ja, that is what I am wondering. MARISHA: What do we do with the ball now that we have it? TRAVIS: What do you mean? It’s in his hidden dimension of nowhere. LAURA: Just keep it forever, hidden away? MARISHA: Just leave it there? LIAM: Possibly find a way to destroy it. TALIESIN: I don’t know if it can be destroyed. At the very least, we could take it to the Happy Fun Ball at some point. SAM: Put the ball in the ball? TALIESIN: The ball in the ball. MARISHA: Meta-ball. LAURA: What if we actually put the ball into the lava? LIAM: We are here, going to a volcano. I was about to say. SAM: Maybe it’ll have a cool effect that you can use to enthrall the guests. LAURA: Oh, that’s a good idea. Maybe it’ll turn all of the other people who worship the Traveler into fish people. SAM: Wow! TRAVIS: You know, you throw pine cones into the fire, they burn blue and green. Maybe this is like yellow. LAURA: Yeah. (Chatter) LIAM: Then again, maybe it would anger a Titan at the bottom of the sea and create a tidal wave. It’s hard to predict. LAURA: You never know. TRAVIS: Let’s ask some questions. TALIESIN: Think about what you want to know. TRAVIS: Oh, me? TALIESIN: I mean, yeah. TRAVIS: Okay. I haven’t thought about it at all. Let’s do this. TALIESIN: Which one do you want to start with? SAM: The leader. TRAVIS: Yeah. Tattoo McFuckribs. MARISHA: Mmm, I love McFuckribs. TALIESIN: You don’t want to work up to it? TRAVIS: We can ask all of them? LAURA: It only comes once in a while but it is so good when it comes. TALIESIN: I got a lot of this. TRAVIS: Let’s ask the– TALIESIN: I can only do one at a time, and only once. TRAVIS: Yeah, let’s start with the female elf, then. TALIESIN: All right, it helps if they see a friendly face, so hold on. I’m going to look like Avantika. MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: This is weird. LIAM: And will she be able to see all of us or just you? LAURA: Do you sound like Avantika? TALIESIN: I sound like me. LAURA: That’s great. TALIESIN: I can try and– I’ll do a thing. LAURA: That’s not very good. TALIESIN: But they’re not really that smart. I think that they only really pay attention to the person who casts the spell. I think everything else is just kind of not there. MARISHA: This is so weird right now. TALIESIN: This is not life, this is– I’m really glad that I can’t see what this looks like right now. It feels– whoa. Yeah. I’m also so short. MARISHA: [JENGA] sounded like on Sunday mornings. TALIESIN: All right, I’m going to put one of them up. MATT: Which one? TALIESIN: Which one do you want, the half-orc or...? SAM: The female. LAURA: The female elf. TALIESIN: Put the elf against the... start burning some of the fungus underneath its... getting some of the spores out, and I’m going to cast Speak with Dead. MATT: Okay. The dull lifeless look in the eye is maintained. The eyes do (look at Caduceus) roll to look towards you. Just looking at you. TALIESIN: Who gave you your mission to find the orb? MATT: “Uk’otoa.” SAM, LAURA, MARISHA, and ASHLEY: (whispering) Uk’otoa... MATT: I get to finally do it back to you guys. TRAVIS: Why don’t we ask, was she a willing follower? And the other one would be, does she know how she came to take that previous shape? TALIESIN: Were you a willing follower of Uk’otoa? MATT: “Always.” TRAVIS: Ask her how she took the previous shape. TALIESIN: Did the power to take your previous shape come from you or something else? MATT: “It was granted. Reward.” TALIESIN: That’s probably the end of that. MATT: You’ve got two more questions. TALIESIN: No, that’s three. I get five, okay. SAM: Five? LAURA: You get three with Commune. TRAVIS: Were they coming for the orb or were they coming for me? TALIESIN: A reward for what? MATT: “Allegiance.” TALIESIN: Were you following the orb, or the one that carried it? MATT: “Yes.” SAM: Dead people are the worst. TALIESIN: Well, that’s no help. MATT: Froth kind of stumbles out of the mouth. TALIESIN: Decompose. ASHLEY: Decompose. MATT: That’s Caduceus’s version of Talk to the Hand. TALIESIN: I’ll toss that one over in a minute. LAURA: Do you think those fish people were like fiends, or do you think they were just like regular old creatures? TRAVIS: Ask them like, Do they have a headquarters? Do they– SAM: Where do they come from? TRAVIS: –Congregate, yeah. What– SAM: Where do they go to commune with Uk– I’m not going to say the name. TALIESIN: We’ll find out also– I think I’ll ask also if they know who you were, if that makes sense. TRAVIS: They’ll say yes, because I had it, but maybe you can ask, If he didn’t have it anymore, would you still want– were you still going to need him? SAM: It’s a little complicated. TRAVIS: Well, they’re dead. MATT: There’s the goliath and the human left. TALIESIN: Which one’s the leader? Is it– MATT: The leader would be the human man. TALIESIN: Let’s start with the goliath then. MATT: All right. The thin but very tall half-giant figure is brought into the center and placed where you had previously said the ritual, and sits there, lifeless. Jaw open. TRAVIS: Oh, no, the open mouth. TALIESIN: I’m going to prop the head up in my hand. MATT: Tongue kind of like lolls out of it. TALIESIN: Where do the disciples of Uk’otoa congregate? MATT: “Wherever there’s water.” TALIESIN: Do you know the name of the bearer of the orb? MATT: “Maybe.” SAM: Maybe? LIAM: Caduceus? LAURA: They can lie to you. TALIESIN: Uk’otoa demands honesty. Tell me the name of the orb-bearer. MATT: “I don’t know your face. I say what I wish.” TRAVIS: Do you still look like Avantika? SAM: Yeah. Ask what color the fire would be if we threw the orb in the lava. TALIESIN: How long have you been a follower of Uk’otoa? MATT: “Not long enough.” LAURA: This guy sucks. This guy sucks! MARISHA: He’s the worst. SAM: He’s an asshole. TRAVIS: What happens if Uk’otoa can’t retrieve the orb. SAM: (in creepy dead voice) “You’ll find out.” TALIESIN: Has Uk’otoa been released? MATT: “Soon.” LAURA: That guy sucked. SAM: That guy was the worst! LAURA: What a dick. MARISHA: Like talking to Shelda. SAM: Oh, yeah. MATT: “I’m right here.” MARISHA: Oh, hey, Shelda, sorry. TALIESIN: Last one, if you want it. SAM: Wait, do you want to change your appearance to make yourself more imposing? LAURA: Make yourself look like one of the fish people. SAM: Make yourself look like Fjord. TALIESIN: They won’t talk to Fjord. LAURA: Make yourself look like one of the bad guys. SAM: Fjord is a follower. Or was. TRAVIS: You could make yourself look like Vandran. TALIESIN: I could, if I could do this more than once a day. LAURA: I could do it. TALIESIN: Uh, yeah, sure. If someone wants to do that, then I’m okay with that, but I don’t think I should look like you. I think that would be a very bad idea. LAURA: What if we just looked like... LIAM: This elven woman. TRAVIS: You could. I don’t have any objections to you looking like me. Why would that be bad? TALIESIN: If I were a follower of Uk’otoa, why would I tell you anything? SAM: You could lie to them and say it worked, you killed me. I’m now a follower also. I don’t know, just lie. TALIESIN: If I said that to you, would you believe any of it? SAM: You’re very convincing. TALIESIN: I’m not that convincing. TRAVIS: Roll a deception check against a dead? MATT: You can. If there’s grounds for deceiving, yeah. TALIESIN: Usually the finding a friendly face is the best way to– MATT: Unfortunately that was not a face recognized by the individual. SAM: Ooh! Ooh! What about if you show them the orb? TALIESIN: I think that would be a mind-bendingly bad idea. SAM: Be like, I’ll give this to you if you answer my questions. MARISHA: Well, you know they ran with this crew. Why not just make yourself look like the other woman? LIAM: Yeah, the elven woman, and brainstorm with this last one about what to do next. TALIESIN: If someone wants to do that... MARISHA: With the goliath. Maybe pretend to be him. TALIESIN: If someone wants to do that, that’s fine. I just can’t do that again. TRAVIS: Jester, you can do that. LAURA: Sure. LIAM: This elven woman. LAURA: I will make myself look like the– TALIESIN: Make me, because they won’t talk to you. LAURA: Oh, I was going to Speak with Dead. TALIESIN: Oh, then you do it. Go ahead. LIAM: I pull out the pearl and place it against Jester’s forehead and spend a moment making geometric air shapes around her head, for lying to the dead. LAURA: Okay, okay. What am I asking her? SAM: That’s a good question. LIAM: Well, let’s talk it out. They came to get Fjord. You are talking to presumably your leader. LAURA: Yeah. TALIESIN: We don’t know if they came to get Fjord or the orb, if they know who Fjord is. LAURA: Okay. TALIESIN: We don’t know. MARISHA: We still haven’t gotten the question answered on if they needed Fjord alive. LAURA: Okay. SAM: Are more coming, maybe? LAURA: Okay, so I’m going to be like, “Oh, man, everyone got killed, except for me.” LIAM: The target got away. LAURA: The target got away. LIAM: What should we do next? LAURA: Do we have reinforcements coming? Should I go after him, or should I go after the orb? They threw the orb away. Should I go after– no, does that work? LIAM: What should we do next, Fearless Leader? TALIESIN: The dead can’t really– they’re not that bright. So... making them think complex thoughts doesn’t often go very well. LAURA: Oh, okay. So I should just be like– LIAM: I don’t know what to do without you. Who should I go to? What is our next move? LAURA: Yeah. They– I can’t remember anything. Tell me where I’m supposed to go now. Okay, cool. All right, I’m going to Disguise Self as the elven woman. MATT: Okay. LAURA: You know what makes– I wonder. I’m already the elven woman. I wonder if– how long they were the (mimes the tentacle mouth) creatures. MATT: How does that go again? LAURA: Have you been like that for a long time? Or do they change at will? TALIESIN: That’s a good question. I bet they were the (tentacles) creatures– LAURA: For a long time. So I probably should make myself look like (tentacles). TALIESIN: Yeah, you probably should have the (tentacles). LAURA: Do they speak? Could they talk? TRAVIS: Can you make the Mercer sound? (Imitates Matt’s tentacle sound) (she does it) MATT: Yeah, there you go. TALIESIN: Were they talking? LAURA: I don’t know. I’ll just be the elven woman, because fuck it, I already did it. SAM: Great. MARISHA: They were saying commands to each other, weren’t they? Do I remember them saying commands to each other? MATT: They were communicating. LIAM: But they were doing fish sounds. MARISHA: Were they speaking in Common? (Matt shakes his head.) LIAM: They were Predator talking. MATT: A language you don’t understand. LAURA: I’m going to Speak with Dead on the– what is it, the Goliath guy? TALIESIN: The human. SAM: On the leader. LIAM: No, the human. LAURA: That’s the one we haven’t talked to yet. SAM: On Baldy. LIAM: That’s the one that we chopped up. LAURA: The one we chopped up. LIAM: Yeah. LAURA: Okay. Good thing I’m not looking at myself. Okay. Cast Speak with Dead. MATT: Okay, so the final, the human man, as you reach forward and finish the completion of the spell on it, you can see one of the eyes is damaged and ruined from the battle. The other one (slurping sound as it looks to her). LAURA: Fjord, you should definitely be away from them. TRAVIS: Go over there? LAURA: Oh, my gosh, they really fucked up your body. (Laughter) MATT: The eye is just looking at you. LAURA: Well, that battle did not go well, huh? Looks like we got defeated and they got away. But what do we do now? Leader? MATT: Roll a deception check. LAURA: Guide me, guide me. TALIESIN: It’s too late for that. LAURA: No, it’s not. MATT: Mm-hmm. LAURA: Shit! Oh! MATT: That was a very Stanley Spadowski reaction of you. LAURA: That was really good. That was 23. MATT: 23. TALIESIN: She found the marble in the oatmeal. MATT: She found the marble in the oatmeal. “I speak with him for guidance.” LAURA: That’s a good idea, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that first. So I got hit in the head pretty hard, in that fight. I can’t remember if we’re supposed to follow the orb now, or are we supposed to follow the green guy? MATT: “They’re one and the same” LAURA: Oh, but not if the orb can get out of the guy, huh? Which is what happened. Where should I go? What should I do? Keep going after the guy? MATT: “Find the betrayer.” LAURA: Okay. Good idea. And then once I get him, I’m going to take him back to the Temple close by? Maybe? Is that where I should take him? MATT: “Yes.” LAURA: Okay. MATT: “The final seal.” SAM: The final seal. LAURA: Should I ask him anything else? SAM: You get one more question, you might as well. Are you poopin’? TRAVIS: What does Uk’otoa fear the most? Maybe that’s a shit question. LAURA: Yeah, so, our god, he’s pretty scared of that green guy, huh? Is he super scared of him? What is he scared of the most? SAM: What are his weaknesses? TALIESIN: Strong Bad wants to know. MATT: “I can’t contemplate something far more than I.” TALIESIN: And decompose. LAURA: I really wanted to show him I wasn’t the elven chick at the end. SAM: You were so good! LAURA: He totally bought it! SAM: Yeah! So that’s the trick. We have to play dumb with dead people. LAURA: I’m going to switch back to myself. MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: They’re just not real. And... fish food. (Mimes shoving bodies overboard) LAURA: So they were going after you, Fjord! They wanted you, the Betrayer. TRAVIS: Yeah. That’s awful. MARISHA: They also want him to open up the last seal. SAM: Wow! TALIESIN: I get the distinct impression this is probably going to happen every time we get on a boat. TRAVIS: This was a success. I feel rejuvenated, enthused– SAM: You got rid of the ball. TRAVIS: Yes. No problem. SAM: We know that they’re searching for you still and we need to protect you at all costs. TRAVIS: I feel like if we just tied a little flag and a bell to the sphere and just like threw it over the side of the boat, we could just fish with it. Wouldn’t really worry about me so much. SAM: Maybe. TRAVIS: No? LAURA: They’d come and get it and then Uk’otoa would be released and then we’d all have to fight a giant– TALIESIN: I get the distinct impression that Uk’otoa really wants to find you, too. TRAVIS: Okay. TALIESIN: Betrayer’s not a nickname you get– LAURA: We just have to be prepared to have a fight every single night before we go to sleep. LIAM: Pretty much, yeah. TRAVIS: No fucking way. TALIESIN: We just have to string up the ship, and– SAM: Just on the water. ASHLEY: Well, now we would be prepared for it. TRAVIS: Should we try and ally ourselves with one of the other ships, just to– well, God, what would we say? LAURA: We should tell Essek. TRAVIS: We’re going to be attacked, every night, by a bunch of fish people. SAM: We might not be attacked every night. It’s going to take– we killed all of those. So it’ll take time for word to get back, yeah? LIAM: How many days are we out from the...? MATT: This is the fifth day. You guys– I mean, depending on how long the storm lasts, it could be anywhere between another four to six days. TALIESIN: I’m going to ask the Wildmother to end the storm. MATT: Are you going to try again? TALIESIN: I mean, it’s a new day. MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: 74, so no, I don’t think that works. MATT: I’m sorry. TALIESIN: It’s okay. It’s the Hail Mary. SAM: Are the other ships going full steam ahead? Full mast? MATT: I mean, they’re all going as quickly as the slowest ship. So it’s not extremely quickly. They’re traveling, but they’re traveling in a formation to be ready for any sort of attack or assault that were to transpire on a mass scale, towards the ships in the center of the armada, which are the Wind of Aeons, and the Blue Heaven, those that are transporting the artifact and the prisoner for this negotiation. So the other ships encircle them and they all travel at a continued pace. You guys are on the outskirts on the back right. TRAVIS: Do we [JENGA]. SAM: No. MARISHA: [JENGA] prisoners. TRAVIS: Is it prisoner or prisoners? MATT: The prisoner is Vence. LAURA: Vence, yeah. LIAM: Blondie. MARISHA: They’re going to be trading. TALIESIN: I think as long as the two of us stay with Fjord he should be okay. (Chatter) LIAM: Veth is right. We need to be ready every single night. It won’t be every single night. It might not be at all, but we need to be ready. And I think it is likely that if they come back, it will be more than the first time. TRAVIS: That’s true. LIAM: They will learn from their mistakes and see that we were able to handle ourselves. SAM: Well, that might be it for a while. TRAVIS: Right. Maybe we should try and moor next to the other ships, closer. LIAM: Well, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. SAM: Well, we should continue repairs on the ship and just keep plowing ahead as fast as we can. MATT: Okay. MARISHA: Caleb. Are you going to take this Vess DeRogna? TRAVIS: Did you just roll dice? MATT: Nn-nnn. MARISHA: Are you going to take her up on wanting to talk with her? Is that something we’re actually going to do right now? LIAM: Well, she asked us if we wanted work in the north, but we are far too busy at the moment to accept any work. MARISHA: Beyond us accepting work out of being too busy, wouldn’t we want to avoid working for Vess DeRogna? LIAM: We are not working for Vess DeRogna. MARISHA: I know. I’m asking. LIAM: Ja. TRAVIS: Can I summon the sword and cast See Invisibility? MATT: Sure. TRAVIS: Any orbs? MATT: Run a perception check. TRAVIS: That’s cocked. 12. MATT: Okay. At the moment, you do not see any orbs, any sort of Scrying beacons around you. TALIESIN: I think it’s not insane to at least tell Vess DeRogna what we know now. I don’t see the harm in letting them know we know what’s up. LIAM: That is complicated. SAM: It’s super complicated. MARISHA: Yeah, how do you mean? Let them know what? TALIESIN: That it was a cult of a sea god that’s got a... SAM: Grudge against us? TALIESIN: Grudge against one of our people. SAM: What would that benefit us, though? They’ll just be like, “Oh, great, then don’t follow us anymore in formation. You make us unsafe. MARISHA: Go away. TALIESIN: I mean, I can’t imagine that half the people in this group don’t have weird stuff like that. MARISHA: Yeah, but they’re keeping it a secret. LAURA: They’re not telling anyone else. MARISHA: Exactly. TALIESIN: I mean... MARISHA: Everyone’s got their shit and you keep it on lockdown, man. TALIESIN: You’re not worried that no one’s talking to anybody else? LIAM: Well, I am worried, Caduceus, but we are gambling a bit here. If we let them know that there is an all-powerful monstrosity under the ocean that is going to stop at nothing to unleash itself by murdering us, probably the peace talks will be called off. LAURA: Yeah, you served that guy for a while, dude. That’s crazy. TALIESIN: I’m just going to point out they were surprisingly chill about the last time this happened. TRAVIS: How many people are actively repairing the boat? Just one? TALIESIN: I’ll go with what the group thinks. MATT: Well, you have Gallan is the carpenter assigned. The other carpenter is Jester. So currently, it’s just Gallan. LAURA: I’ll go find him. I understand what you’re saying. TRAVIS: Jester, take someone with you. And also someone go help Gallan. I just had a horrible thought that maybe since these humanoids could turn into those things, I just want to make sure we don’t have some Black Pearl thing happening and some fucking ship comes up out of the ocean. SAM: I don’t know what that means. TRAVIS: Like a black pearl. You’ve never seen a black pearl before? It comes up out of the ocean, turns into a ship, and then we’re fighting like an undead sea-person ship. TALIESIN: Is this a real thing? TRAVIS: I don’t know. I just vomited a ball. What do you want from me? TALIESIN: It was very impressive. SAM: I’m going to go check on Gallan. LAURA: Yeah. TRAVIS: Just start working on the ship, just in case. We’re all healed. I don’t know if old Balleater is. LAURA: We’re going to fix the ship. MATT: All right. Gallan’s done quite a bit. Gallan is probably sleeping because Gallan was up all night doing repairs. LAURA: I’ll start where he left off and keep going. MATT: So you continue going. No worries. SAM: I’ll supervise. LAURA: I’ll supervise me. SAM: I’m the cannon master. LAURA: Is that– I’m equal with you. SAM: But I’m in charge of the cannons. LAURA: Then look at your cannons while I look at this wood. TALIESIN: Cannons are kind of scraped up, I might add. LAURA: Yeah, fix those cannons. Somebody fucked them up. SAM: I’ll like-- TALIESIN: Polish your cannons? SAM: Sand and polish the cannon metal. MATT: Let me tell you. Sanding iron, it’s a great use of your time. SAM: Then I’ll stop after five minutes and start working on other stuff. MATT: You can feel accomplished. Sure. MARISHA: My point was, why would we even want to go talk to Vess DeRogna? Beyond us being too busy, she’s like one of the prime murderous candidates for the Cerberus Assembly. LIAM: Ja, we are on the same page. MARISHA: I was just asking if you were going to take her up on her offer, and you’re like, Well, we’re really busy, you know. I was like, That’s not the point, though. LIAM: Yeah, but Beauregard, we want to at least create the semblance of cooperation. I mean, we don’t trust them. They know that. They don’t trust us. We know that. But if there is even a hair of doubt in their minds that perhaps their Empire citizens feel the need to cooperate, or feel allegiance to country– MARISHA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I’m with you. LIAM: So keep it hazy. MARISHA: Yeah. I was just checking in with you, man. I just wanted to know what the greater plan was on it. How we were going to do this. LIAM: How we are going to turn these peace talks into actual peace? MARISHA: No. You know what? Never mind. I think we’re on the same page. LIAM: I think so. MARISHA: Yeah. Do you want to go talk to Vess DeRogna today or no? Cause she was like, “Oh, we’re going to be here on this boat, and we got time, if you want to like come and talk to me. I’ll be here.” So I was just wondering if that was the plan. But if not, then like, fuck her. LIAM: No, I think sometime in the next few days, it would make sense to try again to put out a show of good faith. We are trying to coordinate, and also not wait until the day, and see what happens. You know? MARISHA: Mm-hmm. So what, tomorrow? You want to do this shit tomorrow? LIAM: Let’s go tomorrow. MARISHA: All right. MATT: Okay. LIAM: If you wanted an escort over to the Cerberus ship, you could have just asked outright. MARISHA: I was just looping you in on a potential plan, man. LIAM: All right, man. And I walk away confused. MATT: All right. The rest of the day goes by without issue, the storm still maintaining, though not as thunderous as the night before, the rain itself not relenting. The evening comes to, and you guys are sleeping below deck, with the same arrangement, I assume? LIAM: Mm-hmm. LAURA: Ooh, we should put a Fjord dummy in the captain’s bed. TRAVIS: A what? SAM: A Fjord dummy. TRAVIS: Oh, like a decoy. LAURA: Yeah! TALIESIN: A Fjord, dummy. LIAM: I will also send Frumpkin the monkey to hang from the rigging of the ship, within a hundred feet, so that he can tell me if anything is climbing onto the deck. MATT: Okay. Easy enough. Okay. The rest of the day? SAM: We’ll take some shirts and pants and... LAURA: Yeah, stuff them– SAM: Stuff them with straw– LAURA: Put them in the captain’s bed. I’m going to paint. MATT: The massive amount of straw that you guys keep below deck on your ship at sea. LIAM: We’re all on horses. LAURA: Well, you know– SAM: Rags. LAURA: Rags, stuff them with rags. MATT: All right, you can find some rags. LAURA: I’m going to just the head. MATT: Gallan is like, “I didn’t need those bedsheets anyway. It’s fine.” LIAM: Just put Marius inside. TRAVIS: LePual, did you kill anyone? Surrender your bedsheets! LAURA: I’m going to use my paint... SAM: Yeah, yeah, good use of it. LAURA: Thank you. To paint a Fjord head that looks like Fjord’s head. MATT: These are your magical paints, right? LAURA: Yeah. SAM: And that’s going to become a Fjord head? LAURA: No. MATT: It’s going to be– LAURA: It’s not going to come alive, but it’s going to look like Fjord. MATT: Okay, you finish it, and it looks creepily realistic. Just Fjord’s face going (blank stare). LAURA: Oh, Eric. Here. SAM: You going to practice making out with it? LAURA: No, he’s sleeping. It’s weird. SAM: All right. LIAM: It’s also just a head. LAURA: Yeah. Well, I put it on the decoy body. SAM: Yeah, that’s good, that’s good. MATT: Okay, mark the used paint on it. LAURA: I will. Fjord! (Holds it up) MATT: The decoy is set. You guys complete the sixth evening’s rest. LIAM: Actually, before everyone beds down, Caleb finds a moment or two to wander off to Yasha, as she’s just staring out at the ocean. Hey. You’re awfully quiet the last day. Are you all right? ASHLEY: I think so. LIAM: What’s out there? ASHLEY: Just watching the storm, I guess. Keeping tabs. Making sure nothing else climbs aboard. LIAM: You’ll come to bed in a bit, ja? ASHLEY: Yeah. LIAM: Okay. ASHLEY: How are you? LIAM: Oh, very good. ASHLEY: I– You know how Fjord said he had a dream that he swallowed that ball and then it was there? LIAM: Yes. ASHLEY: Does that make sense to you? LIAM: That he dreamed and it became so? ASHLEY: Yeah. LIAM: Well, that has never happened for me, but there are a great many things in this world, are there not? ASHLEY: Yes, I seem to find that to be true every day. LIAM: Are you having colorful dreams lately? ASHLEY: Yeah. Well, they’re usually not very colorful. Just strange, I guess. Yeah. Well, I guess we should get some sleep. LIAM: Yeah. Dream again. ASHLEY: I hope so. LIAM: You– for what it’s worth, you seem a little more steady. ASHLEY: I feel a little more steady. Which is weird, because we’re on a boat. Sorry, that was a bad joke. LIAM: It was pretty good. ASHLEY: Yeah, I feel like this group is pretty special. I know you and I have both gone through some things and we carry a lot of weight with us. But boy do I feel lucky to be with these people. LIAM: It’s all about who you choose to surround yourself with, I think. It makes all the difference. ASHLEY: I think it does. I feel safe with these people. LIAM: We feel very safe with you. ASHLEY: I hope so. LIAM: Caleb pats her arm. I’m going to go get things ready down below. Join us when you’re ready. ASHLEY: I will. I continue to look out for a bit, then I’ll head downstairs. MATT: Okay. As you all find rest for the night– TRAVIS: Don’t look over here. I don’t want to. MARISHA: (singing) Dream. ASHLEY, TALIESIN, and LIAM: (singing) Dream, dream, dream. MATT: The bold face that you’ve grown to carry gives way when consciousness does, as being captain of a ship demands a certain amount of strength and face. But in those solitary moments of sleep, the memory of what it felt to give way to darkness, the finality of it, the experience and memory of the life leaving you, is cold and scary. Especially knowing that that thing was still inside you. And in that quiet, cold, isolating memory, as you close your eyes and give into sleep, and there is that bloom of green, that warm blossom, that helps wash away the anxiety. And while you don’t see the face, you can feel her there with you, comforting. In what was once a recurring nightmare of dark, lightless, abyssal depths, it’s nice to have a warm, motherly embrace to greet you on the other side. And even in that cold moment of loss, there’s a part of you that believes she would have caught you. And that’s comforting. Day seven comes to you all in the morning, as the storm subsides. The clouds break, the rain halts, and you all are getting closer and closer to your destination. Is there anything you want to accomplish today? Or do we move onto the next day? You look like you maybe have, with the weather clearing up, all things going according to plan, maybe two, two-and-a-half days to your destination. LIAM: Oh, yeah. Can we see the Cerberus ship within view? MATT: You can, yes. It’s clustered in the center next to the Blue Heaven. LIAM: How far off is it, about? MATT: I’d say it’s maybe about 350-400 feet off, approximately. LIAM: Okay. (To Marisha) Do you want to go for a walk? MARISHA: Yeah. LIAM: I cast Fly on the both of us. MATT: Okay. TRAVIS: Awesome. LIAM: Come on. MATT: (singing) Think of a wonderful thought. ASHLEY and LAURA: (singing) Any happy little thought. LIAM: Back in a bit! TRAVIS: (singing) SAM: Fly away. MATT (singing) Breaking faces– You guys coast through the sails amongst all the Dwendalian ships and a handful of shorewarden – the Concord ships as part of this armada as well. It’s a beautiful sight now with the sun bright in the sky, the clouds mostly broken to reveal blue above It’s energetic. And as you coast your way through and over the water, towards the maroon-colored, stylized ship that is the Wind of Aeons, as you draw closer you can see the crew on deck in the process of keeping eyes out. Someone looks up and points, you can see with a spyglass in your direction. And stepping behind them you can see the Martinet. MARISHA: Knock knock! Don’t shoot us. MATT: (mimes an explosion) The arcane anti-air gun swivels into place. LIAM: As they’re flying through the air, Caleb just gives a half-grin to Beauregard, because flying is dope. MARISHA: Yeah, this is great. MATT: You guys touch down– MARISHA: I do a little air backflip and then gracefully land. Silver Surfer shit. MATT: Hell yeah. LIAM: I just land normally. MATT: Right. Of course. As you guys land, the Martinet stands there looking, and goes (applause). “So, by what do we owe this pleasure of a visit?” LIAM: I think we just want a bit of a check-in, as we draw near to the hour at hand, ja? MATT: “So far, so well. Things have been prepared, and there have been no anomalies besides what I have heard is the apparent attack upon your ship.” LIAM: Ja, we met Lady DeRogna the other evening. Is she here traveling with you? MATT: “She is.” He looks genuinely surprised to hear that you met with her. MARISHA: She was very kind to check in on us after the attack. MATT: “Indeed, she was quite kind.” MARISHA: Yeah. MATT: “Would you like me to fetch her for you?” MARISHA: (Together) Please. LIAM: Well– MARISHA: What? LIAM: No, I thought I heard something on the ship breaking, but I was mistaken. Yes, yes, I think it would be good if we all spoke together. Including anyone who is here who would be involved in deliberations. MATT: “Hm.” You see him do a familiar hand motion as the one you’ve seen Jester produce many a time. “Lady Vess, you are being requested to the deck please, if you don’t mind. You have guests.” MARISHA: You have like five more words. Maybe ten? No, he’s succinct. I forget. LIAM: Yes. Pithy. MARISHA: Yep. MATT: (fwoomp) She just apparates next to him. “Well, it is very nice to see you both, sooner than anticipated.” “Yes, they were just saying that you had met and checked in on them. So what is it you would like to discuss with us? Is it something that requires privacy?” MARISHA: In time. With the lady. But until we get to that point, I think just a general sync-up on what we’re going to be doing? LIAM: I think the Expositor would like to know about what your plans are for the moment. MARISHA: And how do you see us functioning into these? LIAM: Yeah, the Bright Queen very specifically requested that we be there to ensure that no funny business– MATT: “And you are. That is why you are a part of this armada. The discussion is to transpire between both our lead ship and their’s. They will be anchored together, and this deliberation is to be helmed by the emissary Lord Zeddan Graf himself. I will be present for this, as well as a few designated Righteous Brand lead soldiers, and they will have their dignitary, as well as protectors as well.” LIAM: Will Master Ikithon and any of his proteges be present? MATT: “No, he is not part of this discussion.” LIAM: Is he sailing with us? MATT: “No.” LIAM: All right. MATT: “But, during that time, Athesius Uludan may join as well, which should be interesting. Having to keep him and Zeddan civil is already taking quite a bit of my attention. Lady Vess is here as a... how you say, ancillary force, much like you are. She will not be part of the discussions but will be keeping an eye on perimeter, as will you. That is your purpose here.” LIAM: Are you expecting any interference? MATT: “I’m always expecting interference.” MARISHA: What have you done to prepare? MATT: “I have my means. And the key to preparing for interference is not letting all of your plans known. But trust and be assured, I have taken precautions.” LIAM: Trust comes slow. MATT: “If at all.” LIAM: Very true. I think perhaps something that would assuage our nerves in this endeavor is inspecting the beacon, as discussed. MATT: Lady Vess speaks up and goes, “That is of course–“ and the Martinet puts his hand up and goes, “And you would wish to inspect right now?” MARISHA: No time like the present. MATT: “Very well.” Looks to Lady Vess, who goes, (shruggy expression). “Come.” Turns around, and the two of them begin to walk towards the stairway that leads beneath, into the ship. You follow? LIAM: Yes. MATT: All right. MARISHA: Are we alone? Or are we being followed? MATT: Make a perception check. MARISHA: Okay, 20. MATT: There are two Righteous Brand soldiers that keep a perimeter on the deck. They come together behind you guys, and step to the top of the stairs, following you and then stopping at the top to play vigil. MARISHA: Okay. MATT: You are led below to a center deck, which is where the gun deck would be. And you’ve seen some of the weaponry before. As opposed to cannons here, they have these– they look like cannons but there are a number of arcane runes put into the sides of them. They are beautifully made, very elven in construct, and they have almost like a brass coil towards the edge of it. LIAM: School of Evocation? MATT: Yes. Yes, you recognize those immediately. And there’s four of them below, two on each side. MARISHA: Magic cannons? LIAM: Magic cannons. MARISHA: That’s cool. LIAM: Depends on which side you’re on. MATT: This is the deck where you had previously seen the discussion between the Martinet and Essek. You head down to a lower deck, which has a very, very heavy enclosed door, with no handle. As you approach to it, you can see the Martinet and Vess look at each other. They both mirror incantation silently. You cannot hear what they say. And they face away from you so as not to have lips read. But they both place their hands on the door simultaneously. There’s a brief (whoomf), a flash of energy, and the door just disappears. Like flickers and then vanishes. And there, inside the chamber, you can see there are some tables. There is a tea set on one of the tables in there. It’s beautifully decorated. The interior here doesn’t feel like it’s the interior of a ship. It feels like it’s the center of a guest pavilion, or some sort of a meeting space for high-end political figures. It’s a beautiful rug on the floor, tapestries and paintings on the walls– it seems very out of place. But, as he steps in, you see he lifts a finger and tea is poured into a couple of cups. “Are you thirsty?” MARISHA: Sure. Yeah. Thank you. MATT: “Lady Vess.” Lady Vess goes ahead and lifts up a secondary cup and they both lift them over to you before pouring some of their own. MARISHA: Ooh. This is truly a deck of many things. (Laughter) MATT: Well played, well played. LIAM: A sweat drop just starts to go down here. MARISHA: I just nudge Caleb, his drinking hand, and I take a sip first. Do I taste anything off about the tea? Anything weird? Sense anything? TRAVIS: Because you’re immune to poison? MARISHA: Yeah. TRAVIS: You piece of shit. MATT: You taste it. It is quite delicious. It has a bit of a fruity, almost mango-esque flavor to it, but not overwhelming to the point where it feels like it’s a juice. It’s just enough to make it pleasant but still light. It’s nice. And does not seem to carry any sort of toxin that you would recognize or discern. MARISHA: Okay. LIAM: It’s a lich’s phylactery. MATT: Both campaigns– gotcha! Eventually they both sit down and Lady Vess motions for you guys to take a seat. LIAM: Thank you. Do we see the beacon in this room with us already? MATT: You do not. LIAM: So, how is it you will be a help to the negotiations in a few days, Lady DeRogna? MATT: “I have been brought here as an associate to the Martinet, to ensure the transition of this artifact continues without issue, to answer any questions that are brought up, and to assure and hopefully discuss possible future alignment between interests of various arcane projects between the Dynasty and the Empire. We are not confident, but at the very least, every beginning conversation is challenging, but it is the beginning of a conversation.” MARISHA: Is the Martinet here in the room with us? MATT: Yes, the two of them are sitting at the table next to you. LIAM: They opened that door for us. MARISHA: I didn’t know if he left or not. LIAM: So you have hopes, then, not just to end the war, but to create agreement and collaboration between the two nations? MATT: “Well, it would be a much more effective series of programs to work together than against.” LIAM: I agree. MARISHA: Does that have something to do with the potential work offerings that you mentioned to us before? MATT: You see the Martinet gives her a look. MARISHA: Yeahhh. MATT: “Possibly. Of course, which is why I was saying after this negotiation. That would greatly set the stage of what was possible. So, if it is possible and things go well, then maybe there is work for you to do at the behest of the Assembly.” LIAM: Well, our calendar– MATT: She looks back at Martinet Ludinus. LIAM: Our calendar is a little full in the short term. MARISHA: Yeah. Got a few stops to make, going to be on the sea for a little bit. MATT: There is no pressure at the moment, of course. There is always time. LIAM: Miss Lionett and I are very curious what your proclivities are. What you are trying to achieve, or discover in the north? MATT: “Well, those would be on a need to know basis.” MARISHA: Looking at the Martinet, does he seem– is he pissed? Is he intrigued? MATT: Make an insight check. MARISHA: Natural 20. SAM: Whispers, gang, whispers. TALIESIN: Who’s bringing these whispers to us, Sam? SAM: There’s no sponsor for the whispers, but I’ll just say– nope, this isn’t a page. If this was a combat cam, it would be from Dwarven Forge, but it’s not, it’s just a whisper, so I’ll just say that it’s sponsored– LAURA: Happy five years! SAM: Sponsored by the fifth year anniversary of Critical Role. Cheers. LAURA: Cheers. No more champagne for us. MATT: The Martinet says, “Ah, but nevertheless you are here for a reason.” Then he goes ahead and snaps his fingers, and on the floor next to him, you watch as an iridescent chest (pwah!) appears in space there, slight drifting smoke around it. LIAM: Chitty chitty bang bang. MATT: As soon as it appears, you hear (creak) and opens the lid, and there inside, with a faint familiar undulating grey glow, you see a beacon. MARISHA: Can I tell from this distance if it’s the one that we saw at Pride’s Call? MATT: Make a perception check. MARISHA: Or is it the one that we know is lost? What is it, did you say? MATT: Perception. MARISHA: Balls. Titties and balls. Five. MATT: A five total? MARISHA: Yeah, I rolled a two. MATT: (sucks in) TRAVIS: You die. MATT: You can’t tell. LIAM: Do I recognize it? I know that’s not– MATT: Make a perception check as well. You guys can both– LAURA: I’d guide you but you didn’t take us. LIAM: No, we didn’t. Sometimes players just run off and do shit on their own. MATT: She wouldn’t know about that. LAURA: I never do that. LIAM: Where’d she go? She’s painting dicks in a church somewhere! I dunno. Uh... SAM: She’s fixing your ship right now. LIAM: Not my ship. 15. MATT: 15. Glancing over, it’s not too far from you. Giving it a once-over, and you guys have a moment. There is a pregnant pause at its reveal and they’re allowing you to inspect. There isn’t any sort of haste to break the purpose that you’re here for. But its size is larger than the one you saw at the Vergessen Sanatorium. The handles and inlay match those of the ones that the Assembly– or not the Assembly, the Dynasty had constructed. This is not the one that was recovered from Pride’s Call. This appears indeed to be– MARISHA: This is one of the stolen ones. MATT: One of the stolen ones. LIAM: But not the one that we toted around for a while. MATT: No, that one you gave to her, the Bright Queen. But this one is nearly identical to that one in the structure around it. LIAM: May I? MATT: “Of course. Martinet?” The Martinet goes (gesture of assent). MARISHA: Do it. LIAM: I lift it up, and set it down– there’s little tables, tea tables? MATT: There is a table, and as you look for a space, the Martinet wipes his hand and you watch the tea set shift over and float there in the air. LIAM: Beauregard, will you have a look at this with me? MARISHA: Same– yeah, samesies? Yeah. LIAM: I would like to slowly take time to check it for anything hidden or affixed to it. MATT: Make an investigation check. LIAM: Okay. Uhhh. MARISHA: Balls. Eater of balls. LIAM: 15. MARISHA: Oh, that’s not bad. MATT: 15. You take some time, you inspect it, look over, look at the casing, looking at the handles, looking within it. It is unmarred. There are no cracks or imperfections in the dodecahedron itself, the beacon seems solid, the golden materials and the inlay that holds it there and affixes the handles to it seems pristine. Doesn’t appear to be altered in any way. It’s different than the one– you know, it’s different because it is a unique beacon, but it is familiar to the one that you had lugged around for quite some time. LIAM: I’m going to inspect it further. Don’t mind me. And begin to go through the process of casting Detect Magic upon it. MATT: Okay. They do not flinch. You cast the spell, and a very, very strong magical aura emanates from it. LIAM: Is it all Dunamancy? MATT: It’s all very heavily Dunamancy. And while all the schools of magic are contained within Dunamancy in a sense, the dunamantic essence from it is so strong and so esoteric, much like when you first inspected the beacon upon arriving. It is almost overwhelming. It’s like looking at the sun. LIAM: And finally, I will place both my hands on it and stare into it. MARISHA: I’m going to step in front and just not take my eyes off of the two of them while he takes a minute. MATT: Okay. LIAM: I’ll take a dive. MATT: Okay. You continue to focus and lean towards it. As you do, you feel your essence extend and the interior of the chamber fades away as you feel your consciousness drawn into a nexus of possibility, infinite and endless around you. Starscapes, stars-- are they people? Are they points in time? Historical moments? Future moments to happen? It is so much information at once, and you feel a part of yourself pulled in and a part of it comes into you. And in that space of endless possibility you can see the threads of fate and the bodies that walk in the world around you. You feel like you have an outside look on Exandria and beyond, the tapestry that creates it, but yet it’s so small in this one infinitesimal moment, and to have both at the same time overlapping– it’s starting to pull at the edges of your sanity for but a moment. And you withdraw as the mote itself is carried with you. And you have a fragment of possibility within yourself. You (Marisha) keep an eye. They don’t flinch. They seem almost impatient. MARISHA: I don’t say anything. I just look at them, like those tough-ass bodyguards. LIAM: Those tough-ass Beauregards. MARISHA: Yeah, tough-ass Bearegards. TRAVIS: What’s it look like? MARISHA: Just this. Just this. Right now. MATT: I’ve seen her get in a dude’s face before with that look. It’s not pretty. MARISHA: Oh, that’s a story for another time. MATT: Oh, yeah. SAM: No, let’s show and tell everybody. TALIESIN: We doing sand kegs? Never mind. Sorry. Carry on. MATT: There’s always that instinct as a guy to intervene when somebody else is bothering your girlfriend or wife, but I don’t need to. I just watch her destroy them every time. Anyway. Caleb. LIAM: I see why this is of such value and two nations are at odds over it. I commend you on letting go of it.’ MATT: “It is important to keep things under control. And hopefully without disrupting society.” LIAM: To Lady DeRogna: So much to learn. I am surprised you are able to let it go. MATT: “It is not easy by any means. But that is just how things have to be.” LIAM: It seems like a missed opportunity for our home. MATT: “Well, if these talks go well, maybe there will be opportunities to share without bloodshed.” LIAM: Does she seem bullshit? MATT: Roll an insight check. MARISHA: Come on. SAM: “Does she seem bullshit?” MATT: She is made of bullshit. TALIESIN: “100% pure bull manure.” MATT: Like the guy who turned to jelly in Airplane 2. LIAM: Ten total. So rolled a two. A ten total. SAM: Whispers! MATT: I mean, she’s generally pretty guarded and hard to read. You’re not sure if she’s telling the truth or she’s lying. She’s putting a statement forward and is sticking to it. MARISHA: I hope you have a very understanding contact on the side of the Dynasty. MATT: (DeRogna) “I hope so as well.” MARISHA: We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed. LIAM: Yes, this all seems to be in order. I feel confident this will go very well. MATT: (Da’leth) “As do I. We have all the pieces in place.” MARISHA: We’ll keep our ship very close by on the day of the negotiations. MATT: He lowers the beacon into the same chest and it closes. And vanishes. MARISHA: We’ll make sure we’re stationed on the other side. Where are the prisoners? Where are you keeping them? MATT: (Da’leth) “Those are being maintained by the Lord Graf in the Blue Heaven.” LIAM: Well, I think we’ve done what we set out to do here. MARISHA: I have no further questions. SAM: The prosecution rests. MATT: (Da’leth) “It was a pleasure to see you. And to our victorious peace talks.” LIAM: Yes. Thank you so much, both of you, for your time. MATT: They both stand up, and guide you back to the deck. LIAM: Bis Später. MARISHA: Hit you later, DeRogna. MATT: (DeRogna) “Looking forward to it.... Beauregard.” MARISHA: Yep. LIAM: And I pull out the raven’s feather again and I cast Fly on the two of us. MATT: Fly lasts for how long? LIAM: Ten minutes. MATT: Yeah, so it wouldn’t still be– LIAM: Yeah, so we Mary Poppins away. MATT: All right. As you guys glide your way back towards the ship, we’re going to go ahead and take a break. Because it is 9:15. TRAVIS: A serpent comes up out of the water and snatches both of them. LAURA: And we never knew what happened. MATT: Don’t spoil my turn, man! ASHLEY: Can you do the noise again? MATT: Which one? TRAVIS: You know the one. (Matt does the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang noise again) ASHLEY: I love that so much. TALIESIN: You make me feel so bad. MATT: That sound in particular reminds me of the poor wolf-like coyote from The Sword in the Stone, where they catch up and that one moment you see him turn and he’s like (pants noisily). I love it so much. Anyway, we’re going to take a break here. We’ll be back in a few minutes. Before we get to that, we do have our Wyrmwood giveaway of the night. We have this fantastic black walnut table tray with leather for one lucky winner in the chat. Tonight’s chat keyword is “punish”. Put it in once and only once. More than once and you’ll be disqualified. And once again, only for US and Canada only excluding Quebec– maybe only for a little while longer, cause I saw an article that Quebec’s trying to loosen their giveaway laws. So finger crossed. We would love to get some Quebec people into this. TRAVIS: Trending: #Chill, Quebec! MATT: Anyway, we’ll be back here in just a little bit with the second half of today’s session. We’ll see you shortly.

[BREAK]

MATT: And welcome back, everyone. Let me see if I have the information on our winner tonight. Hasn’t come yet, strangely. SAM: It’s suspenseful. MATT: It is. But when it arrives, I will announce it. But that’s okay. Until then, let’s go ahead and jump into the story. We’ll jump now into the episode. Totally fine. All rightie. So. You both return, flying through the air, landing back on your ship where the rest of your crew awaits on Day Seven. LIAM: Um, hello. LAURA: Hey, where were you guys? LIAM: You know, over there. SAM: Did you find out anything? MARISHA: Yeah, it appears to be the beacon that was stolen, not the beacon we saw in Pride’s Call.[NOTE to self: They did NOT see it in Pride’s Call but at the Sanatorium.] LAURA: You went to look at the Beacon? MARISHA: Yeah, we checked it out. SAM: It’s the one that was stolen from... when we saw it be stolen? No, we recovered that one. TRAVIS: Yep, gave that back. MARISHA: There were two. SAM: This one was stolen from– where? MARISHA: The Dynasty. SAM: When? When was this? MARISHA: Around the same time. SAM: Around the same time, okay. MARISHA: The one at Pride’s Call we saw was smaller. Wasn’t the same. SAM: Well, they still have an extra one that no one’s accounted for. MARISHA: Correct. TALIESIN: That they found buried, I believe. LIAM: Correct. SAM: That’s good, right? MARISHA: Mm-hmm. TALIESIN: Good as it can be. LIAM: Well, it’s complicated, but they seem, as best Beauregard and I can tell, to be... we couldn’t find anything wrong with it. And... SAM: Well, good. As long as they didn’t give you anything to drink I think we’ll be okay. TALIESIN: Oh, yeah, that’d be bad. (Pause) MARISHA: Yeah, it went great. Yeah. TRAVIS: We were attacked while you were away. SAM: Yeah, fish people. LIAM: More fish people? LAURA: Lots of fish people. TRAVIS: More prepared this time. LIAM: We were only gone for like fourteen minutes. MARISHA: Fifteen minutes. That’s crazy. SAM: Fjord threw up more balls. LAURA: Things happen in less than a minute, you guys. Like it’s in and out. Luckily we survived. TRAVIS: I’m like a skeeball machine over here. Just (mimes throwing up balls) SAM: Some of them weren’t even balls, they were like triangles. LIAM: Today’s lotto number is....22. 18. TRAVIS: Like a [JENGA]. LIAM: Two! MATT: There you go. SAM: Maybe they’re eggs. I think he’s laying eggs. TRAVIS: You know too much! (Mimes stabbing Sam) MARISHA: Also there was some pretty interesting interactions and glances between Vess DaRogna and the Martinet. LAURA: Oh, are they boning? MARISHA: I think he definitely hates her. TRAVIS: So... yes. MARISHA: Yeah, they might be hate fucking. I mean, it’s a good sign, if I do say so– But that’s not the point. My point is– SAM: It’s good color. MARISHA: Yeah. It seems like she’s kind of running her own show. Separate from Ludinus Da’leth. The Martinet. LIAM: Yes, Ludinus Da’leth. There is friction amongst all of them, it seems like. They’re all vying for power for the Assembly, but then within the Assembly, they’re all vying for power. MARISHA: Kind of threw her under the bus by mentioning that job offer that she gave us the other night. And the Martinet did not look too stoked. SAM: Nice! Nice work. LAURA: I mean– MARISHA: Just sowing a little, you know, in part fighting. TRAVIS: Seeds of discord. MARISHA: Yeah. LIAM: So if you look at it right, it was a complete and total victory. LAURA: Is it normal, I mean– didn’t– who was it that said, was it Yussa? That said wizards have a hard time working with each other because they’re very powerful? Or was that Halas? LIAM: No, it was Yussa. And... ego plays a great part in it as well. LAURA: Do you think, as you get more and more powerful, you’ll become egotistical, Caleb? Instead of nice like you are now? SAM: Oh, no, he’s getting more and more warm every day. MARISHA: He’s nice? SAM: Of course he’s nice. TALIESIN: He’s very nice. MARISHA: I was just fuckin’ with you. LIAM: I don’t know. LAURA: I think you should stay like you are. SAM: But get incrementally more powerful until you can achieve your goals. LAURA: Obviously. SAM: Yeah, yeah. MARISHA: If we recruited another wizard, would you guys butt heads? LIAM: Well, you know, Essek and I get along fairly well. I think. LAURA: That’s true. LIAM: And wizards I’ve known in the past who did not butt... uh.... MARISHA: Heads. Butt heads. LAURA: Have you butted other things? TALIESIN: Are you saying butt heads, or buttheads? MARISHA: Yeah. LAURA: Or bum. SAM: Speaking of wizards, I would love your help. I’ve been working on a new spell. LIAM: Oh, yes? SAM: Yes. And I would love your help at some point. LIAM: Why are my alarm bells going off? Tell me more. SAM: No, I just started tinkering with it, so maybe when we have a quiet moment, we can work on it. LIAM: I am curious to hear and to see. Oh, that’s all I want to talk about now. SAM: Yeah, but everyone’s here. We have work to do on the ship so let’s tally ho. LAURA: That’s true. MARISHA: Yeah. TRAVIS: What? LAURA: Yeah, I’m going to go keep working on the.... TALIESIN: I’m gonna bosun, I guess. LAURA: I’m going to wander off and stop working on the repairs because it’s boring. MATT: Okay, checks out. LAURA: I’m going to wander up and sit up in a crow’s nest. MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: There are still pillows and possibly some blood up there. MATT: Yep, most likely. TALIESIN: Bloodstained pillows. MATT: Well, the rest of the day goes on– LAURA: (whispering) I want to send a message. MATT: Okay, send a message. The rest of the day continues with Jester. LAURA: I’m going to send a message to the messenger that I summoned, that’s bringing the cupcakes. TRAVIS: Oh, the one that’s fucking 90 miles an hour? LAURA: “Hey, it’s Jester! Did you deliver the cupcakes? I’m just wondering because I haven’t heard from you and then I realized we’re out at sea so you probably can’t find me.” MATT: Okay, so the spell that you cast was... Planar Ally, right? LAURA: Yeah. TALIESIN: Planar Ally is such a fascinating spell. MATT: There is no response. LAURA: Okay, so they’re probably either dead, or they did it. I’m going to send a message to the hag. MATT: Okay. SAM: Sure, sure. LAURA: “Hey, it’s Jester! I sent you some cupcakes. Did you get them? Oh my gosh, they’re black moss, just like I promised you. Are you thinking about–?” MATT: A moment passes before you hear, “I did.... They were... tasty. (Ominous breathing)” LAURA: I feel like I could feel her breath on my neck as she was sending me a message. That’s really weird. SAM: Six more messages. LAURA: One last thing. Okay, so. I want to Scry on the Traveler. SAM: Oh. MARISHA: Oh, shit. MATT: Okay. As you sit down and set up your ritual, and begin concentrating on the divine gift– LAURA: This is kind of hard because he grants me my power. MATT: Granted you by the Traveler, you beseech him to take your vision to show you the Traveler, and as you sit there and complete your incantation, all you hear in your ear is, “Curious.” LAURA: Oh, shit. I wasn’t really thinking about that one. MATT: “No, you were not.” LAURA: Look, Okay, here’s the thing– MATT: And that’s all. MARISHA: Ohh. He just hung up on your ass. LAURA: I just lay down on the crow’s nest and take a nap. TRAVIS: On the bloody pillows? LAURA: I’m gonna flip them over. The bloody side down. MATT: There you go. LIAM: Will you be purple with a sunburn when you wake up? MATT: So the rest of the day progresses uneventfully. To the night, the same preparations are made to rest safely. TRAVIS: Alarm, dome-- TALIESIN: I’m going to add one more to it, actually. This is something that I’ve seen before but I’ve never tried. I thought it might help you sleep a little better. I take my staff and concentrate for a second, say a few words, tap it on the ground, and cast Guardian of Faith, which is this spectral suit of armor with a shield with the emblem of the earthmother here and a giant sword, and just crystal for where the head should be. Just a big amethyst crystal. Appears right by your bed. SAM: What does that do? LAURA: Guards him. TALIESIN: It’ll stay there till the morning. And if anything comes within its very impressive reach, it’ll just start dealing with it. TRAVIS: That’s very thoughtful. Thank you, Caduceus. TALIESIN: The Wildmother is– I haven’t seen this done in quite a while. TRAVIS: That’s cool. Okay. Thank you. TALIESIN: Just for now, while we’re on the boat. MATT: All rightie. TRAVIS: Will you be able to sleep. TALIESIN: It’s fine, it’s just– TRAVIS: Strange. LIAM: So we got dome, we got alarm, we got crystal head, we got monkey in the rigging– MATT: Yeah. SAM: Nothing slips by us. LAURA: I’m going to just stay up in the crow’s nest because I am still asleep in the crow’s nest. MATT: Yeah. Jester’s the only one who’s unprotected. LIAM: Oh. Well, we would see that. MARISHA: I go outside and just look up and look around. Check, see if I see her? MATT: Yeah. I mean, eventually, you’d discern that Jester is missing from everywhere else and– TRAVIS: Just a tiefling tail hanging over the side. MATT: Just curling and uncurling. MARISHA: (stage whisper) Jest! Jessie! Are you asleep? LAURA: Whoa! MARISHA: Don’t roll out of bed! LAURA: How long was I– what time is it? MARISHA: Caleb would know. He’s not here. But we’re getting ready to go to bed. You want to go to bed or are you going to stay up there? LAURA: Well, I just was sleeping. MARISHA: Oh, you’re super awake now? LAURA: No, I’m still tired. I’m going to come down and go to bed. MARISHA: Okay. Be careful, it’s dark. Don’t trip on your tail. LAURA: Oh, my skin hurts. MARISHA: You get a little sunburned? Ooh, wow, it’s weird, you get like a little purple-ish, when you get a sunburn. That’s super cute. I mean, it’s deadly. You could get sick from that. LAURA: It’s bad for you, right? MARISHA: Yeah. LAURA: You know, most tieflings can’t get sunburned because we’re resistant to fire. MARISHA: Interesting. LAURA: But I’m not. MARISHA: Because you’re blue? You’re not red? LAURA: I think it’s because of my dad. MARISHA: Mm. Water. Sweaty. Yeah. But you look good with a little purple. It’s nice. LAURA: Thanks. MARISHA: You look healthy. LAURA: Oh, thank you. MARISHA: Okay, we should go to bed. LAURA: Yeah. MARISHA: Yeah. MATT: Okay. First off, I do have the winner. Little delayed there. It’s on me. I had it on airplane mode and figured the text would come through the internet wi-fi and it did not. But the winner is Lady Lucara. Lady Lucara, congratulations, we’ll get that sent to you ASAP. All right. So coming into the eighth day of your journey. You’re not too far from your destination. The wind is picking up, however, in the morning. It is colder and a bit of a marine layer has curled in, but the wind is blowing in your favor, which does help you catch a little bit of ground throughout the day. Unless there’s anything else you would want to attempt on this day, we will continue on to the next, as not every day of this journey is eventful. Very well. Continue on to the ninth day. And on the tenth day, on the horizon, you begin to see a number of small shadows appear. And as you grow closer, they are ships. And as you get closer, it’s pretty easy to tell that this here before you is the Kryn Dynasty armada, about a dozen or so vessels out there, nearly all made of a familiar purple wood with gold detailing, hoisting grey sails that carry the familiar symbol of the Dynasty. Within a certain radius, you can see the sky suddenly takes a midnight hue. TRAVIS: Oh, they bring that shit with them. LAURA: Cool. MATT: And as the armada you’re with grows closer, at a certain point, you fall under this veil, and the sun vanishes. Though it may be 2 o’clock in the afternoon, it becomes pure midnight where you sail. LIAM: On all sides of us, at this point? MATT: On all sides. You pass through and eventually the sky is enveloped. You hear gasps and whispers throughout the crew. You can see a mirrored formation of ships on their end, and it begins to break at the front as the Blue Heaven comes to the front line of the armada. On the opposing side you can see what looks to be a main Kryn ship begin to approach as well. What was once two almost oval-like armadas as far as formation goes, break into two triangles, flat end to flat end as they merge and meet each other in a guarded stalemate of military positioning. The two lead ships come into contact. You then watch as the lead Kryn ship, that has approached– let’s see here, who has perception– Caduceus would probably be the one to notice it. You do not know Undercommon, do you? TALIESIN: I do not know Undercommon, no. MATT:: You recognize that the ship has script on it, but you cannot read it. TALIESIN: No idea. MATT: But it approaches the Blue Heaven. They both drop anchor right against each other as they coast close. Now with them side to side, plank walkways are set up between the two of them and the stage of the negotiation is being set. SAM: How far away are we? MATT: You guys are, at this point, probably 800 or so feet back. TRAVIS: 800? MATT: Mm-hmm. Closing in, as the formation begins to tighten. MARISHA: I speak Undercommon? MATT: You do. MARISHA: But I don’t see anything? MATT: You’re not quite close enough yet to see the ship. MARISHA: Okay. SAM: Captain Tusktooth? Cannons are loaded and aimed at the ships. TRAVIS: Which ships, because they’re right next to each other? SAM: Both. TRAVIS: You’re prepared to take out both vessels? SAM: If need be, sir. TRAVIS: You are excellent at your job. Stand fast. Stay ready. SAM: Aye aye, cap’n. TRAVIS: Oh, god, we’re going to get killed. Okay. MATT: All right. You can see now between these two ships, Lord Zeddan Graf approaches and begins to meet with Kryn dignitaries on the opposing side, led on their end by the Dusk Captain, who you’ve recognize previously as the Hand of the Bright Queen. Elite soldiers lead both sides. The Wind of Aeons approaches, but it does not get immediately close. It doesn’t need to. You can see the conversations begin to ensue, and eventually a flag goes up on the mast of each ship, signifying the beginning of these negotiations. LAURA: Do we have a looking glass on our ship? MARISHA: I have a looking glass. LAURA: Let’s look at what they’re doing. MARISHA: I bust out the looking glass. SAM: I have a magnifying glass. I could make it even more powerful. MARISHA: That’ll burn your retinas. Don’t do– TALIESIN: It’s like an eclipse. You don’t want to do that. MARISHA: I pull it out and I pass it around to everybody. Do the binoculars at a stadium thing. MATT: Okay. TRAVIS: Orly has one has well, so I’ll share his, MATT: Okay. With that, and the proximity as you all– the armada tightens in, you do recognize the name of the ship that is affixed to the Blue Heaven, is the Vin Rathathak, which is Undercommon for the Everstorm. SAM and MARISHA: The Everstorm? LAURA: Oh, that’s cool. MARISHA: That’s dope. LIAM: Vin Rathathak. MATT: At this point, you can see all the ships. The Righteous Brand soldiers are now coming to the decks as a show of power. On the opposite end, you can see Aurora Watch soldiers are coming to the decks as well. And there is very much a display of tense might on both sides, holding the line as the two center ships become the core of what is transpiring. TRAVIS: Play nice... play nice... MARISHA: How close are we, in terms of is there a rough feet, approximately? MATT: When the ship comes to a stop, you’re about 500 feet from them. MARISHA: And there’s no way we can get closer? MATT: You could, if you want to tell Orly or the captain wants to push ahead. LIAM: I think we do. SAM: Captain? MARISHA: What do you say? Do we get closer? SAM: Should we just circle? TRAVIS: What are the other ships doing? Are they keep– is there like a– MATT: There is a formation. TRAVIS: Like a distance that’s being– MATT: Yeah, they’re keeping a distance from the ship, and there is a network. Like they’ve all hit a formation around it, which is what your ship is currently maintaining, is following the formation of other ships around you. You can break it if you want to, and get closer. TRAVIS: And just for a visual idea, if they’re in the middle, are the ships maintaining a clockwork pattern around it? Or...? MATT: Partially, they’re almost two side– if you’re seeing it, it is a loop around the two ships in the center. It’s two halves of the circle are where the two armadas came together– TRAVIS: And they’re stopping, it’s not constant movement. MATT: Correct. Yeah, they’re all stopping and currently holding their position. TRAVIS: No. LAURA: How far out are we from their ship? MATT: 500 feet. TRAVIS: Our range, so you know, is about 480. So we would have to pick up and move if we wanted to fire from a distance, but if we move, so will they. We really shouldn’t do anything unless we have to. SAM: Get me 20 feet closer. TRAVIS: Veth, just so you know, if shit goes down, I want you to pack the good powder. Are we clear? SAM: Yes? TRAVIS: That is a thing that you can do as the master gunner. SAM: Packing the good powder. TRAVIS: Yep. You remember what that means, right? SAM: Yep. ASHLEY: I feel like I know what it means. I don’t have a job on this ship, either. But I feel like I know what it means. TRAVIS: Yasha, I feel like you should maybe stick with Veth, and just oversee– YASHA: Pack the good powder? TRAVIS: Yeah. ASHLEY: Yeah. I’ll help you. SAM: I’m the powder monkey, though, so what’s Yasha? TRAVIS: You can teach Yasha what that means. SAM: Co-monkeys? TRAVIS: Yeah. ASHLEY: Co-monkeys? SAM: Yep. ASHLEY: Cool. SAM: All right. MARISHA: Is Frumpkin still a monkey? Is there a trio of monkeys? SAM: Yep. TALIESIN: Can you actually teach a monkey to be a powder monkey, or is that...? SAM: We’ll find out. LIAM: Mine, you can. TALIESIN: Wow. ASHLEY: It’s like jaegering– LAURA: I’m watching through the looking glass, while everyone’s talking. MATT: All right. As you watch, you can see other figures that appear to be members of higher noble station joining and flanking the sides of the Dusk Captain. You can see Ludinus is now joining the right hand shoulder of Lord Zeddan Graf. LAURA: Aww, Ludinus is there. I’m just letting everyone know. MATT: You got it. TRAVIS: I use my spy glass. Of that circle, knowing they’re in the middle– SAM: (reading a paper) Oh! The good powder! It’s right here! TRAVIS: Let’s say it’s a clock. Are we at 3 o’clock, 6, 9 o’clock? Are we on the left or right of that meeting area? MATT: If the division line between them is the 3 o’clock to 9 o’clock upper part is the Kryn Dynasty, and we’ll say the bottom half is the Empire and the Clovis Concord. You guys would be at the 5 o’clock. TRAVIS: We are fucking back there, aren’t we? Okay. At the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions, can I just check to see what the Dynasty side ships look like they’re doing. Can I check their portholes? Can I check their decks? Are they armed? Are they more for show? MATT: They’re all armed. You can see, much like all your ships, the weapons are on display, the gun holds aren’t down. There’s definitely a– this is a peace talk, but everyone’s also making sure that the other side knows that they’re ready to defend if anything goes poorly. TRAVIS: Sure. MATT: Very much this kind of tense neutral ground with the outside threat of, “Any foul play, we’ll attack.” TRAVIS: Last question. Are there any ships, on just a scan across, knowing that the vision is limited, are there any ships that are empty of crew on top of the deck? MATT: Currently, no. They all have crew or they all have– almost every deck has soldiers on it, except for yours. Everybody else is approved armada and has a military presence on the deck as well as crew members. TRAVIS: Okay. MATT: Everything’s out for show right now. Weirdly enough, a figure steps up from below your deck. You see an elven figure with blond hair. This is Lord Dezran. This is Essek in his illusory form, approaches. TRAVIS: Ah. LAURA: He does? MATT: Yeah, steps up from below your deck. LAURA: When did you get here? MATT: “I arrived but a few moments ago.” MARISHA: Why do people keep bamfing onto our ship without permission? SAM: Well, we do that a lot to other people. MARISHA: You’re not wrong. That’s fair. LAURA: It’s good to see you. MATT: “You as well. It is best that I am no where near these negotiations. The Martinet has the beacon’s transference handled. I’m just here to be watchful.” LAURA: Will they know it’s you? Like will the people on the other ship– MATT: “There are many wards placed around the proximity of this negotiation, I am certain, so I would not wish to put myself in a precarious situation. I figured this was the safest place to be. If you don’t mind.” TALIESIN: Borrow that spy glass for a little bit? TRAVIS: Of course. TALIESIN: I’m going to keep an eye– I want to slowly pan through the other ships. Not the two main ones. I just want to look for anything unusual, or anybody. MATT: Okay, roll a perception check for me. TALIESIN: Just in general. 21 MATT: 21, okay. Looking around, you can see there are all forms of deckside ballista that are armed but not aimed, yet. You can see at the front of some ships there are figures that appear to be at least magic practitioners on display. Everyone is fully armored and at the ready. You do not see any sort of funny business at the moment. TALIESIN: No funny business, hm. MATT: But everyone is tense, as you’d expect, given the circumstances. LIAM: May I? TALIESIN: Oh, yeah, yeah. (Hands him the spy glass) LIAM: I want to see who is standing and representing for the Empire, on their ship. MATT: Okay. You see the Dusk Captain is the primary conversant. The two figures to the right and left of her you do not recognize, but they are both drow. And they’re conversing back and forth. You can now see at this point, soldiers are bringing up from two opposite side, what looks like large metallic boards, and then you realize they’re mirrors. A mirror placed on one ship, and a mirror on the other. Upon this center space between the two, where this heavy gangplank has been assembled, over the period of an hour or so, there is now an open walkway, like a 20 by 20 foot portion of solid deck between these two ships, and the mirrors are placed there, along with chairs, and this is where the discussion is to happen. SAM: Chairs. TRAVIS: Caleb, what form is Frumpkin in right now? LIAM: He is a monkey. MATT: At this distance, you can begin to see now, the mirrors begin to shimmer, and from the perspective that you have, you cannot quite see the one that’s facing away from your ship, but the one that’s facing this direction, you gather with a couple of glances and the angle that you’re at, you can see the Bright Queen, her visage appearing on the other mirror. LIAM: I feel like we should be there. MARISHA: I know. Do a few of us need to get closer? We’ve got water breathing. TALIESIN: I don’t know if we should... LAURA: They’ve got lots of [JENGA], you know? TALIESIN: If we even rattle that, the whole thing falls apart. Let’s just see if it grows on its own. MATT: “Do not think you are the only ship keeping a very close eye on every other ship in this armada.” TRAVIS: Because it’s 500 feet, you’d be trapped in the middle. It would take you too long to get there and if something happened, you’d be stuck. MATT: “Do as you will, but–“ SAM: I could just walk over there. LAURA: Yeah, that would go well. SAM: I could be invisible. TRAVIS: The only part we’re really not looking at– LAURA: They would know that it was not really– you know. They would be able to see you. SAM: Okay. ASHLEY: They’d probably be able to see. TALIESIN: Yeah. TRAVIS: I think the only thing that’s not being watched is beneath us. That’s it. But I don’t know how to remedy that. I think we’re here for the show. SAM: By the way, Captain, Yasha reminded me what “pack the good powder” means. So we’re all set. TRAVIS: You reminded Yasha– SAM: No, Yasha reminded me. TRAVIS: Oh, okay. SAM: So we’re all good. TRAVIS: Is the good powder packed, Master Gunner. ASHLEY: The good powder is packed. SAM: Co-monkey reports a fine packing. TRAVIS: Of the good powder. SAM: Of the good powder. ASHLEY: They have been– each of the wads have been prepped. MARISHA: Wow. Yeah. What the fuck, Veth? SAM: She’s a natural. MARISHA: Yeah. SAM: She’s a killing machine over there. TRAVIS: Yasha, do you have extensive experience on the water? ASHLEY: No. I do not. SAM: She didn’t have harp experience, either. LAURA: She’s just good. SAM: A fast learner. LAURA: Picks things up, you know? TALIESIN: Do you have experience packing? ASHLEY: I do. Yeah, I have experience packing. TALIESIN: You do pack. I’ve seen you’re very good at packing. ASHLEY: Definitely packing, yeah. SAM: She learned how to knit while we’ve been sailing the past three days. TRAVIS: Oh. Any other languages? ASHLEY: Not yet, but we’ll see. TRAVIS: Nein! TALIESIN: Pig common. TRAVIS: About what time is it? MATT: At this point, it’s– well, it’s hard to tell. It is perpetual midnight where you currently stand. LIAM: But I remember every hour of the day leading up to this moment– MATT: Correct. You’re keeping tabs on it. At this point, I’d say as time progresses into the afternoon, these negotiation talks go on for a few hours. Lanterns are lit across the decks of the ships to give this still, slightly swaying with the waves, almost firefly-light-type look across both armadas as they meet on that edge. TRAVIS: Just for color, if a sun was in the sky, and the Dynasty fleet came forward, does the sun appear in the night sky but just without light? Or does it disappear? MATT: Currently, looking up, you can see the outline of where the sun would be, but it appears to look like a very dull moon. ALL: Wow. MARISHA: That’s so cool. TALIESIN: I wish I had that– LAURA: Hey, Essek! I mean, sorry, should I not call you that? MATT: “In mixed company, it would not be preferred, yes, please.” LAURA: Hey. Um, can you Scry on them? MATT: “I would probably say I would prefer not to.” LAURA: Would they know that you were scrying? MATT: “They would know they are being Scryed upon, if they have the right wards, which I have to assume they have every sort of ward present on this for that reason. LAURA: Well, how do we hear? MATT: “We don’t– we trust–“ LAURA: This is boring, without knowing what they’re saying. MATT: “Jester? Welcome to politics.” LAURA: I hate politics. TRAVIS: Jester, boring is good. Also, not boring is, with this many people, probably not. LAURA: That’s actually a really good point. MATT: The hours progress until what would probably be early evening, and then, at a point, people leave their chairs, the mirrors are taken, and it looks like the negotiations for the day have ended. MARISHA: For the day. MATT: There’s no signs of completion, there’s no movement of any ships-- MARISHA: There’s been no handoff of beacons or prisoners. TRAVIS: We could be here– MATT: Not yet. MARISHA: We could be here a bit. TRAVIS: No one said this was a one day thing. LAURA: Ohh. TALIESIN: There’s only so much– LAURA: How long until TravelerCon? MATT: You have somewhere from this point, I’d say– let me get my details here– roughly two weeks. LAURA: Okay, okay, okay. We got a little. MARISHA: And how far are we from Rumblecusp? MATT: From your current meeting here, you’re about a six to nine-day journey if you go above the Inkclaw Reef, or about an eight to ten-day journey on the southern side of the Inkclaw Reef. LAURA: Okay. MARISHA: 6 to 9 or 8 to 10? MATT: Yeah. LAURA: All right. MARISHA: All right. MATT: So you’ve got over two weeks before it happens. You have time. TRAVIS: We’ve got a week for this to conclude. MATT: Until this runs into that time, but yeah. LIAM: How would you like to send a message to the Bright Queen? LAURA: Oh my god, I was thinking about doing that. SAM: But she’s in the middle of a negotiation. LAURA: She just finished. She’s not talking. What should I ask her? Be like, “How’s it going?” LIAM: “How’s it going” is the first thing to ask, yeah. Does she feel it’s going well? Does she trust that it is going to reach completion smoothly? Just an update. LAURA: Yeah. I’m sure she totally wants to talk to– LIAM: No, she does not, but I think it’s a good idea. LAURA: I’m going to send a message to her. MATT: Okay. LAURA: We took a long rest. MATT: You did the night before, yeah. LIAM: Oh, we took a long rest. LAURA: We took a long rest. MATT: You’re right. You did. LAURA: I’m going to send a message to the Bright Queen. “Oh my gosh, I could see you in the mirror! You look so beautiful. What were you guys saying? Did it go well? Are you happy?” MATT: “I am in the middle of a discussion, but I will respond. Things are progressing as expected. Not poorly yet.” LAURA: She thinks they’re going decent. Not poorly yet, she says. LIAM: Okay. LAURA: Don’t– I do not think she wants me to send another message, if that’s what you were going to– TALIESIN: What does Orly have to do with this? LAURA: I don’t think she– LIAM: We won’t push it. Maybe one day at a time. LAURA: Should I send a message to King Dwendal and find out what he thinks? TRAVIS: Oh, my god. How did negotiations fall apart? LIAM: We didn’t have as good a relationship, I feel, with King Dwendal. LAURA: That’s true. What about the Martinet? LIAM: Yeah. LAURA: I’m going to send a message to the Martinet. “Hey, so you were there. Oh my gosh, what happened? What did they say? We’re just so curious. I really want to know... how.” TRAVIS: Poop. MATT: “It seems things are open to progression in the morrow. The ice has been broken. Nobody’s killed each other. I call that a win.” LAURA: He used a good amount of words in the [24!] response, and he says it was going really good. MARISHA: Where’s not-Essek? Is he still on the boat with us? MATT: He’s still with you guys. He’s kind of nervously watching, checking in for your responses and stuff. LAURA: Oh, my gosh, Essek, are you going to stay on the boat with us tonight? Because you can’t go any closer, huh? Are you going to sleep here? Are you going to sleep on our boat? MATT: “I can probably handle myself, do not worry.” LAURA: Where are you going to sleep? MATT: “I could return to my tower.” LAURA: Oh. And then just come here tomorrow? MATT: “Yes.” LAURA: That’s pretty cool. TALIESIN: That is pretty cool. Technically speaking, nobody’s sleeping in the captain’s quarters. LAURA: Well, we have our Fjord decoy. TALIESIN: That’s fair. There is a dummy in there. Oh, yeah, never mind. MATT: “Very strange, but okay.” LAURA: Essek– should I tell him? SAM: What? LAURA: Never mind. Go to your tower. TALIESIN: He doesn’t need to know about that yet. One problem at a time. LIAM: We have a lot of irons in the fire. MATT: “I can only imagine.” LAURA: Hey, when you come here tomorrow, would you bring some pastries, because you’ll... like something good? Will you bring us a present? MATT: Make a persuasion check. LAURA: Oh! ASHLEY: It looked so good. LAURA: It looked so good. Eight. But you like me, Essek! Come on! TRAVIS: Just top it off. MATT: “Things are a bit tense for me to head to a bakery. But should all things go well, maybe another time. Nonetheless, I will take my leave for the night. Thank you for not throwing me into the water.” LIAM: Are you keeping it together? MATT: “As well as expected.” LIAM: Okay. MARISHA: Are you going to bamf in tomorrow? MATT: “I feel safer being closer to the information. Just not close enough.” MARISHA: Yeah, that tracks. MATT: “Anyway.” (Bamf away) SAM: Counterspell. MATT: And he’s gone. (Laughter) That would be really funny. An evening’s rest comes to you guys. Anything you want to discuss, you can, otherwise we will continue on to the next morning. TALIESIN: Going to bed early. MATT: Okay. SAM: All the protections. All the protections. MATT: You got it. All the same setup. Guardians and such. TALIESIN: Crystalheads. LIAM: This boat has got everything. LAURA: I’m going to send a message to Essek. SAM: Jesus. MATT: Okay. LAURA: “You have like assistants! Like send one of those guys out and then just have them come back and then you can have it in the morning for us. What a good breakfast that would be!” MATT: “I am trying to sleep, Jester. There is no bakery open at the moment. My sincerest apologies.” LAURA: Being on the water is lame. MATT: Not a lot of seaside bakeries out there floating. Sorry. MARISHA: He’s a war criminal, you know. What are we going to do with him? SAM: After we fix the war, then we’ll punish him. MARISHA: I don’t trust him. SAM: Of course not. That’s why we’ll punish him. TALIESIN: He could bring baked goods, I agree. LAURA: Maybe if he brings some baked goods, then we will punish him less. SAM: One year off his sentence? LAURA: Sure, for every– LIAM: There’s plenty of people in your own nation to be furious at. SAM: Sure. Yeah, we should get them, too. MARISHA: What are you talking about? You trying to– What are you saying? LIAM: I’m saying she has a lot of vitriol for Essek and that is understandable, but there is just as much fault in our own country. SAM: Oh, yes, no, I think the order should be punishing everyone in the Empire first, because we’re going to become a team of ninjas that does that for a while. MARISHA: Yeah, and it’s not a pissing contest to evil or who’s the bigger war criminal. SAM: And then after all of the Empire folks have been punished and killed by us team ninjas, then we will punish Essek, or at least see that he gets some sort of– I don’t know. There has to be some sort of... We can’t just let it go. MARISHA: Justice. SAM: Yeah. LIAM: Well, add him to the list. SAM: He can be at the end. TALIESIN: We’ll be at the end. TRAVIS: I’m going down. Below decks. SAM: Sure, sure. LIAM: Actually, I leave the deck late. On my own. LAURA: I go to sleep. MATT: Okay. All right. Everyone’s going to sleep. The night goes on quietly, and the morning comes as dark as it left you. As you all come to consciousness, have your morning meal, as flavorful as it possibly can be, with Caduceus-- TALIESIN: I’m going to try and bake. I’m trying to bake. SAM: Wake and bake. MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: I’m going to try and back. LIAM: Wake and bake. TRAVIS: On the ship? TALIESIN: Yep. There is a mess. I’m going to do my best. MATT: Okay. Go ahead and roll an intelligence check for me. LIAM: And frittatas. TALIESIN: Oh, awesome! That’s the best, because I’m so intelligent. That’s a 14. LAURA: Oh, that’s not bad. LIAM: Pretty good. MATT: Not bad. With the sort of spellcraft you have at your disposal, the materials that you’ve already brought along with you, you manage to pull out some– they’re technically baked. What do you make? What are you baking? MARISHA: Technically baked? TALIESIN: Well, I'm attempting to make like a cake, but a healthy cake. I mean with what-- you know, we're not crazy people. LAURA: Like a mushroom cake? TALIESIN: It's not a mushroom cake. It's more of attempting a truffle cake, but we'll see how it comes together. MATT: Okay. MARISHA: You know truffles are mushrooms. TALIESIN: I know. I don't know [JENGA] of that. I don't think I have chocolate, so I'm making do, I'm finding what I can and throwing something together. It's going to be okay. MATT: And you succeed in creating what you set out to create, and as you all come to, you are met with the curious smell of something baked on the sea by Caduceus, for Caduceus and the rest of you. MARISHA: I try it. LAURA: Caduceus! MARISHA: Is it good? LIAM: Do you feel poisoned [JENGA]? TALIESIN: It's adequate. MARISHA: Yeah. Do I feel poisoned? Do I feel...? MATT: You do not. You are immune to poison. MARISHA: But can I recognize? MATT: It's not poisonous. MARISHA: It's not poison. TALIESIN: To you. Remember the last of that psychotropc fruit that I've just been holding onto? MARISHA: Nooo! LIAM: Instant diarrhea. TALIESIN: We're all gonna fucking mess up. It's going to be great. MATT: It's a bit dry. It's a bit crumbly. It's sweet enough that compared to a lot of the rest of the high seas flavorless food you've gotten used to, it has something to it that is different and unique and a little sweet. LAURA: Perfect. Thank you, caduceus. TALIESIN: No problem. I'll get better at this. I'm excited. LAURA: No, you don't need to. This is the best thing I've ever tasted. TALIESIN: I mean, I'm excited to learn. This is good. ASHLEY: This is very tasty. TALIESIN: Thank you. MATT: It requires a lot of water to drink with it though. TALIESIN: Yeah. Real dry. MATT: The negotiations begin once more. The deck is filled with all the figures. The ships are once again populated with a show of power as the two sides continue conversations. Another hour and a half continues. Essek in his illusory self appears once more on the deck. "I hope I had not missed anything." SAM: Literally nothing has happened. MATT: "Wonderful, wonderful." LAURA: They've just been talking. MATT: A moment passes as you're having this conversation where you see there's a mild flash at the location of this discussion. SAM: Oh. LIAM: I use the looking glass. LAURA: Looking glass, looking glass. MATT: You look over and you can see a lot of the ships suddenly grow tense and people begin doing the same. Everyone's looking over and you see Ludinus opening a chest. MARISHA: Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. SAM: It's good. MARISHA: This is it. This is it. MATT: You see the beacon is removed from it. MARISHA: Okay. MATT: It is handed over to Lord Zeddan Graf, who takes it-- TRAVIS: I'm so nervous right now. MARISHA: I know. MATT: Steps forward and presents it to the Dusk Captain. She steps forward and takes it and there's a moment where they both hold the handles together looking directly into each other's eyes wordlessly. Lord Graf's expression is smiles, confident, charismatic. The Dusk Captain is cold and reading. Eventually he lets go. She takes two steps back and hands it to one of the other Kryn at her side and they begin to do a thorough investigation of it while she does not break eyes with the Lord Graf. Tense moments continue until eventually it seems they finish their investigation and they begin walking the beacon below the deck of the Everstorm. More conversations continue as they sit back down in their chairs and the mirrors are having this conversation. Then you watch as two figures are brought to the decks in chains. LAURA: That's the prisoners. MATT: You see one of them, the familiar visage of the Taskhand Adeen Tasithar. MARISHA: Adeen [JENGA] LIAM: Yeah. MATT: Yes. LIAM: Get it right. ASHLEY: Get the wrong name right. MATT: And coming up on the Blue Heaven, in chains as well, Vence Nuthaleus. The two figures are brought to the center, and they are both traded off, the chains given to the other, and they are then brought to the opposing ships and brought below deck. LAURA: Essek, did you ever talk to him? Did you hang out with him? MATT: "We once knew each other, for a while." LAURA: Does he suck? MATT: "That is a word, yes.: LAURA: Okay. He looks like he sucks. MARISHA: How does it feel seeing him in chains and not you? MATT: "Honestly, freeing." SAM: Looks like things are going well. MATT: You hear a horn go off. (horn sound from Laura, fog horn from Matt) It's everything. TRAVIS: Yeah, it's all about growth. MATT: It's low, and guttural. I hate you all so much. LIAM: It'll pass, Matt, just give us two minutes. It'll pass. MARISHA: That was a good one though. TRAVIS: I don't want to fight a fucking sea dragon. (Matt rolls) LAURA: No, no, no, no! MATT: Okay. As the horn blares, everyone stands to attention at the edge of the boat decks and you watch as the initial flags that were placed at the beginning of this negotiation that signified its start, come down, and are replaced with new flags. These you can see hold a deep blue color and on a political nautical standpoint you're told by Orly as he looks over and turns back, "Seems that all's gone well." SAM: That's great. MATT: "It came to a close." You can see skiffs beginning to make their way away from the Blue Heaven and people on those ships are shouting up to decks as they pass by. You can see the mirrors being brought away and below deck and that platform between the two ships is being deconstructed. As a skiff comes closer, you could hear the voice shouting out, "Negotiations have completed and King Dwendal has declared the war come to a close. All armada ships are to return to Nicodranas. Guest vessels are free to disembark and travel as they please." SAM: Thank you! Do we tip? I don't think we tip. TRAVIS: We wait. LIAM: Waiting and watching still. MATT: Time passes, as the remnants of that platform are finally disassembled, the anchors are pulled up, and you can see the two tense groups on each deck just looking towards each other, give a tense nod. The horns blast once more, the armadas begin to break and separate their signs. The sails begin to unfurl once more and pick up the wind and it seems the negotiations are over. LAURA: That's it, huh? War's over? SAM: I figured there would be some sort of fireworks or something to signify, but I guess that's it. LAURA: Hey guys, we did it. SAM: We won. LAURA: Yeah. Good job. TRAVIS: Doesn't really feel that way, though, does it? LIAM: I really expected... LAURA: Them to fight? LIAM: Yeah. TRAVIS: Something to go wrong at the last minute, with our luck. TALIESIN: Well, sometimes no matter how hard everybody tries, everything quiets down for a while. MATT: "Outwardly, at least." TALIESIN: For a moment, people won't get hurt. LAURA: Do you think it'll really end? TALIESIN: Nothing like this ends. It just calms down. MATT: "I think this will help pull eyes away from what ever next tense endeavor both sides is attempting to beat the other towards. The war may have come to a close, but their business continues on. It has for a long time." TRAVIS: Where will you go now? MATT: "Well, I have to take care of a few loose ends and ensure that all of this can be laid to rest." MARISHA: What are their names? MATT: "It's not their names. They're not people. I just have some business to tend to. And then, maybe I could take a breath for the first time in months. And if you're interested, we can still do good things together." SAM: Very interested. LAURA: Yeah. Just, you know, send a message. LIAM: Yeah, I think we need to let this settle. MATT: "That we do. I just hope everyone travels home safe." LAURA: Well, we're headed to a volcano. MARISHA: What does that mean? What did that mean? Insight check. SAM: Insight check! MATT: Make an insight check. Go for it. LIAM: He's made of chairs. TALIESIN: It's chairs all the way through. MARISHA: [JENGA] 18. MATT: 18? (gets up to whisper) SAM: Oh, an 18 whisper. It's like a half whisper. MARISHA: It's a halfer. LIAM: He's made of chairs. TRAVIS: Guys, wash your hands as often as you can. Remember to cover your mouth if you sneeze. TALIESIN: I've been so bad about that. LAURA: Cover your nose if you sneeze. SAM: Try to avoid handshaking and hugging. TALIESIN: Gotta do the elbow sneeze. SAM: Or any personal contact that's unneeded or unnecessary. LIAM: Don't enjoy each other's company. SAM: No fun. If you have a wife or loved one or a husband or... don't kiss them or touch them in any way. That's what they recommend. LIAM: Don't do any of that. MATT: "Whenever you finish what you're doing, just let me know. We can talk in a more safe environment about the tangled web that all of these people have built." LIAM: These people. Seems like you've spun a thread or two yourself, Essek.

MARISHA: Yep. A little humdinger you did. MATT: "I do not exclude myself from these statements." LIAM: Well, we have our peace, so happy days. MATT: "Happy days. Until then." LAURA: Send cupcakes... LIAM: Counterspell. SAM: Fuck! LAURA: Oh shit. I have some cupcakes. We should eat them before they go bad. SAM: You've had them for like weeks now. LAURA: Well, just A week. TRAVIS: I think they're probably already bad. SAM: That's okay. LAURA: I've had them for like a week! SAM: We'll still eat them-- TRAVIS: They put preservatives in your cupcakes. SAM: If you heat them up a little, they still taste good. LAURA: Do they look good? Do they look like they're not moldy yet? TRAVIS: Week-old, non-preservative-- LAURA: They're a week old. That's a week old in a bag of holding. SAM: That's fine. TRAVIS: In a fantasy world, rules still apply. MATT: They look quite stale. LAURA: Okay. MATT: And starting to show a little bit of white dust on the edges. LAURA: We can cut it off. TRAVIS: I know that white dust. Can I or can't I? MATT: Yep, it's on the cusp. You can cut away and go for it. LAURA: Yeah, I'm going to cut just around the dust and try them. MATT: Okay. Very dry, very stale, but functionally edible. TALIESIN: I cast decompose on the chunk with the dust. MATT: It is immediately covered with grey fuzz. LAURA: That's really cool. TALIESIN: Yeah. MATT: You just want that? (makes dry puff sound again) There you go. ASHLEY: I'm going to keep trying it till I get it. MATT: I believe in you, Ashley! ASHLEY: Thank you. LAURA: Wow. That was like-- I didn't expect it to really happen. What do we do now? SAM: We go to a volcano and party till-- we drink our faces off. TRAVIS: Yeah, we've got lots of [JENGA] to do. We got to make sure it's, you know-- clear the area. Make sure it's secure. LIAM: Yeah, we wait a day. TRAVIS: Assign the landing area. Prep. TALIESIN: I mean, can we even see any of the ships anymore? LAURA: Yeah, they all left. LIAM: (As Marisha hugs him) What are we doing?

MARISHA: I'm hugging you. SAM: Yeah, are they all sailing away? Are they gone out of sight over the horizon? LIAM: What is the occasion? MATT: They're leaving, yeah. MARISHA: I mean, I think we ended war amongst our people. Maybe, for the time being. LIAM: Maybe. MARISHA: Do I need an occasion to hug you? LIAM: No. No.[JENGA} LAURA: Are you doing it again? Do it again. MARISHA: Yeah. With this one, I want him to like reciprocate though. SAM: He's not a reciprocating hugger. LAURA: Look at him, he's doing it, he's gonna do it, he's gonna do it. Put that arm around her. Give her a big hug. TRAVIS: It's a Voldemort hug. SAM: It's... sort of okay. It's like when he dances. LAURA: He doesn't look like he's frowning quite as much. LIAM: I just hope it sticks. MARISHA: Yeah, me too. LAURA: All the coronavirus that you just spread between the two of you? LIAM: We've been doing that for a week and a half. SAM: Purel your faces. MATT: I could hear the stubble grinding the flesh off of you. MARISHA: My grandpa used to do that to me as a joke. LIAM: Burn the Marisha off of me. MATT: Careful fire top and (fwoomp). Alrighty. SAM: Tusktooth, are we setting sail for the volcano? TRAVIS: I believe so. I mean time is on our side. We don't know what the weather will be. Master gunner, I believe, if we want to enjoy this voyage. I think North of the Inkclaw Reef is probably the fastest way. LAURA: Is that more dangerous to go that way or something? TRAVIS: Orly, is there any advantage to going to the South side of the Urukaxl area? MATT: "As far as I understand, the only real benefit is avoiding main sailing lanes. Maybe trying to not stick so close to dangerous coastal denizens, but we are armed." TRAVIS: That's true. And we do need a little bit of excitement after that political soiree. Take us south of Urukaxl and of the Inkclaw Reef, and let's make our way towards Rumblecusp. MARISHA: Make our way towards Rumblecusp! TALIESIN: Oh, wow. Right in my ear. MARISHA: The captain has declared we are going south of-- MATT: "Aye aye, Cap'n." SAM: Rumblecusp. MARISHA: Hoist the anchors! MATT: "Aye aye." MARISHA: Captain Tusktooth has declared. MATT: You see Marius LePual doing this (touching his hurty ear from her shouting). MARISHA: Fuck you, Marius! MATT: Pulling up the anchor. The sails pick up the wind and you begin heading southward from the meeting location. You watch as the midnight begins to subside as it travels with the armada and the bright noon day sun blares down upon you. It takes a moment to adjust, but the warmth is welcome. LAURA: Why wouldn't they just, you know, I mean-- Do you think they just teleported away with the beacon and went straight back home? They wouldn't take it on the ship, right? SAM: I don't think so. LAURA: That would be dumb. LIAM: That would be risking it at sea. MATT: As the armada between the joined interests of the Dwendalian empire and the Menagerie Coast make their way westward, you break away from both factions as you see them vanish on the horizon, along with the southern tip of the continent of Wildemount. you can just barely see westward, elements of the island of Urukaxl, this distant little bump. And you continue southward for the day, for a second day, for a third day, making your way around the southern end of the Inkclaw Reef. Making sure, carefully, with the aid of Orly and the map that you have there, to avoid any of the dangerous elements of the reefs' tops. And you can see there are areas where it breaks the surface and you use those to guide yourself and not get too close to what would be a very damaging experience across the razor-like reef. It's about the fourth day or so that-- Who's keeping a watch on this one? TALIESIN: I usually do. MATT: Okay. Make a perception check for me. TALIESIN: All right. Yeah, 21. MATT: 21. Okay. And so, the fourth day or so of traveling here as you're crossing around the reef and starting to head upward in a northern swing towards Rumblecusp, that you, kind of keeping a watch towards where the back of the ship is, you can see there's a small-- it looks almost like a piece of land, that's kind of breaching the surface of the water. And you're like, Oh, it's like a small part of the reef behind, but it's keeping pace. MARISHA: Oh, son of a-- TALIESIN: Captain, we're being followed by a tiny island. TRAVIS: I'm sorry, could you say that again? TALIESIN: I said, we're being followed by a tiny island. MARISHA: Would I have any recollection of anything like this? LAURA: I go back and look at it. MATT: Okay. You can see it now that Caduceus points it out. TALIESIN: Tiny island. ASHLEY: Yeah, it's moving. TALIESIN: Yeah. Look at that. MARISHA: Would I have heard any stories about moving tiny islands? TRAVIS: How far away? LIAM: Make a tiny island check. MATT: Yes, exactly. You're proficient in that, right? I would say go ahead and make a history check with disadvantage. MARISHA: With disadvantage. MATT: Fjord, you can make a history check. TRAVIS: Okay. MARISHA: Okay, two 20's here. Five year anniversary luck! LIAM: Cocked, one is cocked. Oh, one's real good though. MARISHA: One's really good. LIAM: Oh, it was the two and then you rolled a two again! MARISHA: A 2 and a 19. TRAVIS: 19. MATT: You both got 19. MARISHA: Well, mine was at disadvantage. So a 10 total for me. MATT: Okay. Nothing comes to mind and you both watch this tiny island is gaining, and the water around it is starting to rise as it cuts a swathe through the waters. As you kind of look over, and you're called to the edge and you glance over and you can see it, and you've heard tales of certain entities, of various types, that are spoken of in mythology of people that traverse the waters of the Lucidian Ocean and seas beyond. TRAVIS: Don't. MATT: This looks indeed like an island, but just below the surface you can see limbs pushing through the waves. And as it continues to grow closer and closer and you meet these thoughts, these myths, these tales that you've heard across the Lucidian Ocean and the Swavain Islands, you see the snout rise, pointed, the nostrils flare as you realize you are being chased by a dragon turtle. (MAYHEM) And that's where we're going to (Matt is drowned out by shouting). TRAVIS: I just met somebody in Chicago that's like-- the monster I want to see, and not see at all. Oh, no! TALIESIN: This is gonna go great! ASHLEY: A dragon turtle? TRAVIS: Have you seen a picture of a dragon turtle? ASHLEY: No! MATT: I'll show you. MARISHA: It's like a giant-- Giant dragon turtle. TRAVIS: It's iconic. LIAM: It's what it sounds like. SAM: Is it a dragon or is it a turtle? ALL: Yes. TRAVIS: It is awful. We are fucked. MARISHA: And they house people. LIAM: They're big! They're big! SAM: It what? MARISHA: It can house people. MATT: You guys will be fine. SAM: Inside of it? MARISHA: On it. TRAVIS: Dragon turtle. SAM: Oh, it's like an island. TALIESIN: It's an island. TRAVIS: The island is the tip of the iceberg. MATT: Here. Here you go. LIAM: There it is. ALL: Oh! ASHLEY: Maybe we can befriend him. TRAVIS: I love you. I love you. On the five year anniversary, I feel like this was a gift. MATT: You say that now. Wait till next week. LAURA: If we would have not fucked around so much, we would have fought that today, potentially. SAM: We didn't fuck around. MATT: You didn't fuck around at all. SAM: We just watched. MATT: This was a-- LAURA: I cast Scry on myself. TRAVIS: If we went north of Urukaxl? MATT: You wouldn't have run across this. TALIESIN: That was a perfectly reasonable-- MATT: No regurts. ALL: No regurts. MATT: We'll pick up from there next week. But from there, happy five year anniversary. ALL: Yay! TRAVIS: My god. LIAM: We love ya'll! TRAVIS: My legs can't stop moving. MATT: This is insane. MARISHA: Empire kids! Yay! LIAM: Freeze frame! MATT: Continuous peace has been found and nobody fucked it up, and I'm really proud of you guys. LAURA: Look at that! SAM: We're the best. MATT: You sent some right pieces in motion, and a lot of-- LIAM: I was waiting for boats to go like this... mushroom cloud! MARISHA: 100% TRAVIS: Or a mouth (mimes rising up and swallowing a ship) MATT: Of course. Of course. TRAVIS: And both sides would be like (mangled). MATT: And based on a lot of decisions and things that had happened in the past, everything was kind of coming to this moment and it seemed to go okay. ALL: Wow. SAM: We are the best at D&D. LAURA: Go team! MATT: With that, we'll see you guys next week. Thank you for coming with us for these crazy five years. Super excited to see where it goes from here. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. Be safe. Do your research, wash your hands, all this stuff, you know? We're going to get through this together guys. We love you very much. And is it Thursday yet? Goodnight, guys.