The Stowaway

is the forty-fifth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein find a stowaway on the Squalleater, who carries a mysterious item that holds dangerous consequences for the curious...

Pre-Show
We should just have a sound cue for Travis at this point. It's expected at this point: it's Critical Role's *bwa-bwa-bwa-bwaaaaa*.

Announcements

 * First and foremost, we have two fantastic sponsors tonight:
 * Our fantastic friends from D&D Beyond return! D&D Beyond has been with Critical Role all campaign and all year-long. To thank D&D Beyond for such a wonderful 2018, Sam is giving them a gift: an ad that will hopefully live forever. He is calling it his "Christmas GIF"...that's right: "GIF", not "gift". (Sam tries to make a "G" and a "F" with his hand, but it's just two Cs.) Sam doesn't know how to make a GIF, but Critters do. So the crew will bring out a green screen, and the cast will do some acting and reactions in front of it, and you can add your own backgrounds to make memorable GIFs! That way, when you are online searching through the Twitters, the Reddits, the "Immagurrs" (Imugrs...Sam's an old man), and the Giphys, you might see one of these bad boys and give some love to D&D Beyond. Sam starts by doing his version of the "guy who blinks like, 'That's weird'". Taliesin does an applause GIF. Sam directs Laura to do a fail GIF where she rolls a dice but the result sucked, but Laura realizes what he's trying to get her to do, and it turns into a "I'm-so-angry-I-gonna-punch-you" GIF. Matt does a "this" GIF. And last but not least, Sam tries to do a success GIF, but then Travis suggests "dramatic prairie dog" instead.
 * Speaking of fantastic partners through this campaign, we have our returning friends from The Rook & The Raven! They have been with Critical Role before, and they are creators of handcrafted, high-quality, disc-bound notebooks for your campaign notes and character notes. Marisha has the "Mischief & Misadventure" book. For the month of December, The Rook & The Raven is donating 100% of their profits to schools, teachers, and community centers for them to grow gaming clubs and RPG classes through their "adventure club gaming kits". They're putting everything together to make sure that these schools and facilities have the necessary materials to help facilitate these clubs and get these kids to build the same strong bonds that Matt did in his school's D&D club. Give the gift of gaming now by supporting their work (and thus, supporting these kids) at therookandtheraven.com/criticalrole. Travis thinks that's so cool. Matt thinks it's badass! Matt loves seeing messages online from gaming clubs that there are TOO MANY kids playing: YAY! It's such a surreal reality: Matt loves it!
 * Critical Role has a fantastic art show coming up soon. You all got a chance to see "The Chronicles of Exandria: Vol. II": the final volume of the art for Vox Machina's campaign. Now Critical Role gets to announce that they are having their very first art gallery to celebrate the fantastic art community that has come out of Critical Role. Each piece was created by community artists and curated by the cast. Tickets for the opening reception will available Monday, December 17, 2018. Tickets are completely free and are just for the reception on Friday, January 18, 2019: you don't need tickets for the rest of the weekend, as the gallery will be open through Sunday, January 20, 2019. It's going to be at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA, and you can find all the information for that at critrole.com.
 * Also announced for that same weekend, on Saturday, January 19, 2019, Critical Role is returning to the first campaign with a Vox Machina one-shot. It's going to be "The Search for Grog". No spoilers, but towards the very, very, very end of the campaign, something happened: one of our players pulled the thing from a Deck of Thingy Things (Travis moans, "I'M SORRY!") and briefly derailed the entire thing. They had just glossed over it, but they are actually going to play through that adventure as a one-shot with all returning members of Vox Machina but two, because Grog is being sought after and another character will not be present. VIP tickets go on sale this Saturday, December 15, 2018, and General Admission goes on sale Sunday, December 16, 2018. VIP attendees get a special swag bag (including a Vox Machina print signed by the whole cast), as well as a special Q&A before the show, moderated by Brian Wayne Foster.
 * Be sure to join us next week for our very special holiday one-shot that is being DMed by our fantastic Liam O'Brien. Liam is so excited: he's had this idea in his head for TWO YEARS! He was going to do this last December, but they ended up doing the Level 20 Battle Royale instead. But now it's HERE, and he's mostly ready! Matt was not expecting that much exuberance out of Liam. Matt is pumped now just from that: that was adorable! It's gonna be so much fun, and it's going to be called "The Night Before Critmas"! It will air on Friday, December 21, 2018 at 7:00 pm PST at twitch.tv/criticalrole.
 * Last but not least, Critical Role will be having its very special end-of-the-year "State of the Role" tomorrow on Friday, December 14, 2018. It will give more insight to Critical Role's holiday programming schedule and reveal a few fun things that Critical Role has coming in 2019.
 * Whatever Laura said before they came back from the intro, Matt says it was "adorable".

Previously on Critical Role
So last we left off, the Mighty Nein, after spending an exorbitant amount of time at sea at the behest of Captain Avantika, on the ship the Squalleater'', got pulled into piracy under the banner of The Revelry, brought to the pirate city and island of Darktow amongst the Dragshallow Reefs. There you uncovered information, proof, that she had plans to overthrow the Plank King and rule the seas, along with her fanatical obsession with Uk'otoa. You managed to dodge through the night, grab the necessary journal, uncover the information through the cipher, and through a scuffle survive this fiery battle on the docks from the ship. And through some tactical use of spells and quick members of your party you got it in the hands of the Plank King.''

''Judgement was brought between the two of you at the dock, and he chose Avantika to go. Upon... having her make her leave, violently, gave you guys your reward, which was sparing your lives and telling you to get the fuck out of Darktow and never come back. You were gifted the kinda hobbled, burned form of the Squalleater and let to make your way out towards the ocean, where you attempted to search into the backstory of Fjord's relationship with his patron, in search of one of these, and what seems to be the third and final sphere. You made your way down into the wreckage of his ship, the Tide's Breath, and discovered it was one of many in what was called the Diver's Grave: a ship graveyard here in the center of the Lucidian Ocean. ''

''In trying to find out where this orb went you were drawn into the underwater lair of Dashilla the Dreadful. You encountered spirits of long dead sailors bound there by her magic. You discovered the essence of how she's able to maintain this graveyard and draw ships down below. And while she managed to flee before being killed you grabbed what you were looking for, fled to the surface, and with your ship escaped the growing storm before any more danger was brought to you. And that's where we left off. ''

''So, Mighty Nein, as you've all gathered your things you can hear the distant crack of thunder as the storm gets smaller and smaller behind you on the horizon. What do you want to do?''

Twiggy & Trixie
Fjord instructs Orly Skiffback to plot a course for Bisaft Isle. The Squalleater still needs repairs from the battle with Avantika and her crew on Darktow Isle. During the first day of about three days travel, Nott tries to make more explosive bolts. She successfully makes two, but the third one explodes.

In the light of the explosion, Nott sees a shape moving through the galley. The rest of the Mighty Nein hear the explosion and start to run below decks. Nott comes up and tells them there's no need, explaining the soot on her face by saying Avantika had set a booby trap. Nott says in Halfling (which none of the Mighty Nein except Beau understand) that there's someone downstairs. The others are confused by the different language and when Fjord asks what they're talking about, Beau rudely tells him it's none of his business. Nott gives up trying to be sneaky and tells the whole group about the shape.

Fjord sends Beau, Jester and Nott to find out what the shape is. The others will wait on deck in case whoever it is gets past them and tries to escape. Jester speculates it might be Vera, as the last they saw of Vera, she was very badly burned by the Fireball Caleb cast at the Squalleater; but they're not sure if she's dead or not. They did not see Vera brought to Avantika's trial either. Before going below decks, Beau apologizes to Fjord for being rude then runs before he can respond.

Jester sees the shape and hears footsteps going from the galley to the cargo hold. Beau, Jester, and Nott follow quietly and see the shape duck behind some boxes. Jester sends her illusory duplicate towards the boxes and casts Thaumaturgy to amplify her voice saying "There are ghosts on the ship!". The three flank the box to see a tiny gnome girl with chocolate smeared all over her face curled up in the corner. At the mention of ghosts, she excitedly tells them she is scared of ghosts. Jester immediately likes her and offers her candy. Nott points her crossbow at the gnome, who then creates an illusion of a hand coming out of her hand and wagging a finger at Nott. After this Nott is also won over by the new arrival, who introduces herself as Twiggy and points to something in her pocket called "Trixie".

Jester asks what Trixie looks like. Twiggy opens her pocket to reveal a tiny squirrel. Jester excitedly brings out Sprinkle to meet Trixie. Beau is still suspicious and asks Twiggy to explain why she is on the ship. Twiggy tells them she hid inside a box that got loaded on the Squalleater. She was looking for a place to hide because she stole something to keep a "really bad guy" from getting it. Twiggy pulls several trinkets and drawings she's made from her backpack until she finds a large (for a gnome) brass and golden sphere. The sphere has multiple layers of rotating bands and sliding puzzle pieces. Jester notices that parts of the sphere Twiggy is not touching are moving on their own and it seems to be a combination of clockwork and magic.

Twiggy shows off a way she's found to spin pieces of the artifact that causes gold coins to fall out of it. In return, Jester shows Twiggy the dodecahedron and invites her to look at it. Twiggy feels herself get drawn into it. Her surroundings fade and she sees herself surrounded by stars and little ghost versions of herself. A glowing warm light appears in front of Twiggy, who reaches out and touches it. She feels warm, closes her eyes, and then opens them to find herself back on the Squalleater. Nott says they should go upstairs and show Twiggy's artifact to Caleb because he is much smarter than any of them.

Beau lies to Twiggy that receiving a Fragment of Possibility from the dodecahedron means that she is now bonded to the Mighty Nein. Twiggy isn't concerned by the threat and responds happily that she likes hanging out with people and trusting people. Nott and Twiggy show each other the flowers in their hair. Jester looks sad after Twiggy says she and Nott were best friends now. Noticing Jester feels left out, Nott clarifies that all three of them can be best friends. Both Nott and Twiggy give Jester flowers for her hair to make her feel better. Passing by a very confused Marius LePual, Beau, Jester, and Nott take Twiggy to the deck to meet the rest of the Mighty Nein. Twiggy emerges on to the deck of the Squalleater dancing.

Jester pulls a very confused Fjord aside and assures him that she trusts Twiggy but just in case Fjord is still suspicious, she could cast Zone of Truth on Twiggy. Fjord expresses concern that Twiggy seems very young and worries that parents may be looking for her. Twiggy tells the Mighty Nein she has been on the Squalleater for about a week. She is from Port Damali but has been stowing away on multiple ships for a while now. When Jester asks about her family, Twiggy cheerfully responds that they've been dead a while. Beau notices that when Twiggy walks through a shadow she looks like an old woman. Twiggy cheerfully replies "Who knows!" when Beau asks about her age. Fjord is still suspicious and tells Twiggy to keep Trixie to herself and stay out of his quarters.

Happy Fun Ball of Tricks
Caleb finishes casting Identify on Twiggy's artifact, but the spell fails because the artifact blocks it. Caleb questions Twiggy more about the sphere and where she got it. Twiggy says she calls the sphere her Happy Fun Ball of Tricks and she stole it from somewhere (she's not sure what kind of place it was) in Port Damali. Twiggy took it because she saw a "mean man" named Sir Cadigan there. Jester thinks Twiggy's description sounds like the Exalted Collection Auction House, an invite only auction house for rich people. As Caleb continues to examine the ball, he finds Conjuration glyphs carved all over it. Twiggy demonstrates how she made gold appear from the Happy Fun Ball, causing eight gold to appear. Caleb replicates her movements, and this time four gold appears.

Fjord asks Twiggy if she would be all right with them dropping her off when they get to Bisaft Isle. When Jester says Twiggy could stay with the Mighty Nein forever, Fjord says he does not want to be responsible for someone like Kiri who cannot defend themselves. Twiggy proves her magical abilities by casting Tasha's Hideous Laughter on Caleb. Caleb resists the effect, but Fjord is a little more confident that Twiggy can handle herself. Fjord puts Jester in charge of watching Twiggy and at Jester's request, Twiggy promises not to steal from the Mighty Nein. Apart from the rest of the group, Beau and Fjord agree that they are still suspicious of Twiggy. They think she is too sweet and there has to be something else going on with her. Beau also says she thinks Twiggy's illusion magic is unnerving.

Beau asks Fjord to train her to be first mate since he is officially captain now, to which Fjord agrees. She apologizes again for being rude earlier but Fjord assures her he's used to her by now and it doesn't bother him. The Mighty Nein realize they're heading back into Clovis Concord territory with a known pirate ship, so Nott comes up with a new name for the ship, the Balleater. Twiggy casts Mage Hand and uses it to beautifully repaint the side of the ship with the new name.

Caduceus lets Caleb know that when he cast Detect Magic earlier, he noted that Twiggy has two other magical items besides the Happy Fun Ball of Tricks. Caduceus doesn't think Twiggy is dangerous, just a little loopy from the chocolate and being in a confined space for a long time. Caleb goes to talk to Twiggy, calling her down from swinging on the ropes. He casts Suggestion on her, compelling her to share any unique magic items she has, and the spell succeeds. Twiggy tries to sit in Caleb's lap, but he stops her so she sits next to him instead and leans her head on his shoulder. She shows him a little cube she calls her "a-choo dust" and that her cloak can create an illusion of another Twiggy next to her. Caleb apologizes to Twiggy for using a spell on her and summons Frumpkin. He says she can play with Frumpkin for one hour. As the Suggestion spell wears off, Twiggy tells Caleb she knows that "trick" and gives him a high five.

Black Hole
As the Balleater continues towards Bisaft Isle, Jester tells Twiggy all about The Traveler. Nott looks through the rest of Avantika and her crew's ammunition stores. Beau and Jester raid Avantika's closet, Jester parading around the deck in her outfits. Caleb continues to study the Happy Fun Ball of Tricks and finds a different way of twisting the rings, causing four pieces of jade to appear from the ball. He asks Twiggy if she would consider selling him the ball, to which says she doesn't like money but might be interested in a trade. Caleb tells her she could be an honorary member of the Mighty Nein. Twiggy kisses him the cheek and thanks him for letting her play with Frumpkin and Caleb thanks her for letting him play with the Happy Fun Ball and says she could have the whole day with Frumpkin.

Caleb continues to further twist the Happy Fun Ball as Twiggy plays with Frumpkin when a black hole appears in the middle of the floor next to him. After stopping Twiggy from jumping in with Frumpkin, Caleb calls for Fjord while Twiggy drops some ball bearings in the hole. They disappear without making any noise. Caleb drops a length of rope in and back out. Fjord sticks his finger in as well. Both the rope and Fjord's finger come out without a problem. Seconds later, the hole closes up and disappears.

Caleb tells the others that Twiggy is now an honorary member of the Mighty Nein and Jester uses her magical paint to make Twiggy a pirate hat.

Caleb pushes a still visible button on the Happy Fun Ball of Tricks. The black hole appears again and lasts about one minute. The whole group (except for Yasha) get together and choose Beau to go in the hole. Caleb makes the hole reappear while Caduceus and Fjord lower Beau in. She comes out with an armful of red cloth and a strange metal object and the hole closes up behind her. The pile of clothes includes a pair of boots and a velvet heavy cloak with an unfamiliar symbol embroidered on the back.

Caleb casts Identify and Comprehend Languages on everything Beau pulls out of the hole. The clothes are not magical, but the metal object is a magical hand warmer. The Mighty Nein appear to have found a set of cold weather travel gear. The symbol on the clothes is a name: Halas. None of the group recognize it.

Nott and Twiggy tie rope around their waists and prepare to jump in again. They join hands and jump in when Caleb reopens the portal. They drop into a small cylindrical room empty except for the last few ball bearings Twiggy dropped in before. They tug on the ropes and are pulled back out of the hole.

Twiggy tries to remember if Sir Cadigan has anything to do with the name Halas. She doesn't think so. Twiggy says she thinks she may be "a little weird" because of Sir Cadigan as he kept her in a cage all alone for a long time. She would make up people to talk to and practice her magic. Twiggy describes Sir Cadigan as twice her size, very skinny, and wearing a big ring with a green gem in it. Twiggy got away by making Sir Cadigan chase an illusion of her. Fjord says "It sounds real familiar". Caleb tries to unlock the Happy Fun Ball of Tricks further but is unable to so Twiggy offers to help.

Together, Caleb and Twiggy manage to unlock another phase. A flash of green light fills the entire chamber.

Banners
After the flash of green light, the Mighty Nein and Twiggy realize they're no longer on the Balleater and Yasha is not with with them. They are in a stone room with four pillars and twelve feet off the ground are four banners hanging on the walls parallel to each other. The banners are four different colors (red, green, blue, and black) but all have the symbol of Halas in gold in the center. Two mummified corpses with looks of horror on their faces lay in the center of the room. The Happy Fun Ball of Tricks is nowhere to be seen and the room has no visible exits.

Twiggy casts Mage Hand and uses it to pull aside the blue banner. In the wall behind it is a stone statue of a dragon with sapphires for eyes. The mouth lights up blue and electrical energy shoots out of the wall, hitting Caleb, Nott, and Twiggy. Nott and Twiggy duck, but Caleb is unable to avoid the bolt. Caduceus suggests using Speak with Dead before pulling aside any of the other banners. The group agrees and adjust their positions so they're not in line with any of the banners. Caduceus talks to the corpse, which tells him they were killed by "the wailing creature" that came from behind the black banner. They ended up in the room because they found an object and played with it. The body does not recognize the name Halas and does not know the way out.

The group gather together in the center of the room as Caleb casts Leomund's Tiny Hut to protect them from whatever comes out from behind the other banners. They plan to stay inside the hut while Twiggy's Mage Hand opens all the banners. Caleb and Twiggy use some of their spell casting components (honeycomb and gum) to make earplugs for everyone since sound can still come through the barrier. Twiggy sticks her hand outside the hut to cast her spell and move the green banner aside.

Behind the banner is a statue of a sickly, bloated humanoid creature. A green gas fills the chamber but does not go through Leomund's Tiny Hut. Twiggy then uses her Mage Hand to pull aside the red banner. Behind the banner is a wooden, red door with the symbol of Halas painted on it. The Mage Hand pushes the handle but the door is locked. Twiggy calls back the hand and gives it her Thieves' Tools. The hand successfully picks the lock. When the lock is picked, a magical flame bursts out of the door, burning far into the room. The Mighty Nein and Twiggy are still protected by Leomund's Tiny Hut and avoid the flame. Twiggy has her Mage Hand try the door handle again, and this time it opens.

Caleb sends Frumpkin into the hallway and Twiggy follows him, with the rest of the Mighty Nein following slowly behind. Caleb realizes that the hallway they are walking through has an extraplanar essence to it, similar to the small area where they found the clothes. As they continue walking, a study type room with a desk and several bookshelves comes into view in the distance.

Library
The Mighty Nein enter a seventy foot tall chamber full of books. One wall has a forty foot tall, fifty foot wide stained glass window up one level of ladders. Above one of the desks is a twelve foot tall, six foot wide picture of a man sitting in a chair. He has light brown skin, long dark hair, and amber-yellow eyes. The robes he wears are the same red color with gold trim as the robes from the black hole.

Looking at the stained glass window, Beau and Fjord realize it is a layout of the planes. The Ethereal Plane, Astral Plane, and four Elemental Planes are all pictured. They notice that there is no Divine Gate pictured in the window, indicating this design may be over 800 years old. The other strange thing about the window is a small, red circle in the Astral Sea that is not tethered to anything.

Fjord touches the red circle. The window loudly shatters, pieces flying out and stopping in midair. Fjord, standing in front of the window, is sucked into a black void and vanishes. The window reforms and closes behind him. Beau and Jester run up to the window where Fjord vanished, while Caleb runs to the desk to look for notes about the window. Nott and Twiggy check one of the closed cabinets and together they pick the lock to find the cabinet empty. Reaching their hands inside, the cabinet doors close on their arms, holding them in place. Both Nott and Twiggy manage to pull their arms out of the cabinet and back away, however the cabinet moves forward, opens its doors, and pulls Twiggy back inside of it.

Caleb continues to search the desk for something that could help Fjord. He finds a jar of glass beads, a large vial of ink, and a small porcelain doll with oddly realistic hair. Jester's duplicate casts Inflict Wounds on the moving cabinet while the real Jester continues to search the stained glass window for a sign of Fjord. Twiggy attacks the cabinet from the inside, causing it to spit her out. Nott fires one of her explosive arrows, not realizing the one she grabbed was filled with pepper instead of black powder. Even without the extra explosive damage, the arrow is enough to finish off the cabinet.

Caduceus asks Twiggy for help with a stack of books with individual brass locks holding them shut. Twiggy opens one and calls to Caleb she has a book for him. Caleb ignores her and continues to examine the area around where Fjord vanished. While there are no buttons or hidden doors, there is a large red leather-bound book with sapphires embedded in the cover conspicuously placed in the center of a bookshelf. Caleb ignores it as well.

Caduceus examines the book newly opened by Twiggy. After it opens, a title appears: Public Debate Records: Forum of Ziedel. Twiggy picks the lock on another book. Instead of a title, a burn mark appears on the front where a title should be. It looks blank but has more burn marks in it and about one hundred pages torn out. Caleb gets distracted when he notices that the burned book has spells in it. He puts it in his bag. At Caleb's request, Nott and Twiggy grab the jar of glass beads and bottle of ink from the desk he had opened before with Mage Hand. Beau, still by the stained glass window with Jester, notices a fingerprint left by Fjord on the red dot. She points it out to the rest of the group. Caduceus moves over to the other desk in the room and casts Dispel Magic to get rid of the arcane lock.

Before anyone can investigate further, Beau touches the same red piece on the window Fjord touched. The glass shatters once more, Beau and Jester disappear, and the window reforms. Twiggy runs up to the window, pushes the red piece, and disappears. Caduceus looks inside the desk he just opened and sees that it's empty. He grabs the debate record book and follows the others into the window, leaving Caleb and Nott alone in the library.

Nott is excited about the two of them being alone in a room full of books, but Caleb is conflicted. Flustered, he tries to pull a book off a shelf, but it is locked in place. Nott picks the mechanism and frees it and Caleb takes it. He tells Nott to pick just two more locks and then they will go after the others. Nott fails to unlock the next book down the shelf, but successfully open the lock on the book after that. Caleb runs back to the stained glass window and starts screaming "Let's go!". Nott tries to grab more books on the way towards Caleb, but they are all locked into the shelf. Even with Caleb still yelling, Nott tries one more time to pick the lock on another book. She fails then decides to join Caleb. They push the red piece of the stained glass window together and are pulled through.

Lord of the Manor
Fjord finds himself falling through darkness onto a stone raised platform. The platform is in the center of an arrow-shaped chamber filled with gold, gems, and bone fragments. A huge mass of blue scales uncurls and reveals itself to be a young blue dragon. The dragon taunts Fjord, asking what flavors it should expect when its eats him. Fjord tries to remain calm and stall until the rest of the Mighty Nein arrive. The dragon says Fjord will be its entertainment since Halas has not returned. Halas and the dragon have an arrangement: it watches some of the chambers and Halas sends it "gifts". One day, it intends to grow big enough to eat Halas and take over the manor. When Fjord asks if they are in a house, the dragon tells him they're in one of about one hundred connected chambers. Fjord tells the dragon Halas is likely dead and offers to help the dragon in his place but the dragon is not interested.

At that moment, Beau and Jester fall onto the raised platform, catching the dragon off guard. As the dragon rears up to attack, Fjord casts Blink on himself, vanishing into the Ethereal Plane. Beau smashes her red elemental gem and summons a fire elemental to attack the dragon. The elemental hits the dragon and lights it on fire, but the dragon retaliates with lightning breath.

Caduceus and Twiggy fall from the ceiling on either side of the dragon and see Jester surrounded by spectral unicorn Spirit Guardians, a fire elemental, and a smoking mark in the wall left by the dragon's lightning breath. Caduceus casts Bane on the dragon, weakening its attacks, then turns invisible and runs into one of the dark hallways. Fjord finds a green-blue crystal with a light similar to the flash that appeared when the Mighty Nein were first transported away from the Balleater down one of the hallways. This time his Blink spell does not pull him back to the Ethereal Plane. Beau finds a similar crystal set in a wall alcove in the other hallway, and notices a groove running from the crystal's alcove towards the pedestal where she landed when she first dropped into the room. Twiggy casts Disguise Self to look like the portrait from the library, hoping the dragon will mistake her for Halas. However, the spell can only make Twiggy look one foot taller than she actually is, and the deception fails.

Jester casts Polymorph on the dragon, temporarily turning it into a crimson weasel. The dragon, twenty feet in the air, falls to the ground as it no longer had wings. The dragon is immediately attacked by the fire elemental, taking enough damage to revert back to dragon form. The dragon furiously turned its attention towards Jester and unleashes its lightning breath. Jester casts Hellish Rebuke as a response; but instead of hitting the dragon, the cold energy shoots behind her to the crystal in the hallway by Beau.

The crystal begins to glow, energy running from it through the groove in the floor towards the central pedestal and something further intp the room they cannot see. Taking a cue from Jester shouting "cold damage", Fjord casts Armor of Agathys on himself then smashes his head against the crystal in the other hallway. It absorbs the cold energy in the same way and the energy running through two grooves in the floor lead to another glowing orb in an alcove near the raised pedestal.

Beau runs to the newly glowing orb, which is the same size and shape as the Happy Fun Ball of Tricks. She reaches out intending to replicate Twiggy's manipulation of the Happy Fun Ball that brought the Mighty Nein into the manor, but as soon as she touches the sphere, Beau vanishes.

Beau's control over the fire elemental drops since she is no longer present, so the elemental turns on Twiggy, who casts Invisibility on herself. The elemental charges the only enemies left it can see: Caduceus and Fjord. Jester, pinned in the back of the hallway by the dragon, casts Blink on herself but does not manage to enter the Ethereal Plane.

The dragon swoops down on Jester. Still under the effect of Caduceus's Bane spell, the dragon is unable to bite Jester but does slash her with its claws. Caduceus, on fire and concerned that Caleb and Nott still haven't shown up, casts Meld Into Stone on himself, becoming part of the wall and putting out the fire on himself. Fjord runs into the center room and casts Eldritch Blast at the dragon, drawing its attention away from Jester towards him. However, his Blink spell causes him to disappear again, leaving Jester apparently alone against the dragon.

Twiggy drops Invisibility to hit the dragon with her bow then immediately ducks out of sight. The fire elemental also attacks the dragon but runs through Jester to do so, setting her on fire. After multiple attacks from the elemental, continually being on fire, and Twiggy's Sneak Attack, the dragon is now looking injured. Jester, facing down the dragon alone, attempts to cast Inflict Wounds but the fear gets to her. The attack misses, but she is able to Blink into the Ethereal Plane afterwards.

Finally Caleb and Nott drop into the chaos. All Caleb and Nott see is the angry dragon on fire, the fire elemental, and a four foot tall Halas (Twiggy's Disguise Self spell is still in effect). Caduceus steps out of the wall and yells for them to run. Before running to the sphere and vanishing, he casts Blindness on the dragon, but unfortunately the dragon can still sense through blindness and continues to attack. Fjord reappears, casts Misty Step using the feature of Summer's Dance absorbed by his falchion to avoid getting in the dragon's range, and vanishes through the sphere. Twiggy attempts to cast Suggestion on the dragon, but the spell fails. She points out the exit to Caleb and Nott before hiding. The fire elemental attacks Nott, setting her on fire. Nott fires an explosive arrow straight up at the dragon, which hits, but the explosion also damages Caleb. Unable to see anyone but Nott and already injured, Caleb casts Expeditious Retreat on himself, runs to the sphere, and vanishes.

Jester reappears, casts Cure Wounds on herself, and runs as far as she can. This time she does not Blink out. Even after healing, she's still severely hurt and in range of the dragon. After slashing Nott, the dragon rounds on Jester, who closes her eyes waiting for the attack to come. She hears the voice of The Traveler in her head say "Don't worry. I'm watching." She feels a hand push her arm up. Jester's shield deflects the dragon's attack, causing two teeth to break out of its mouth.

Twiggy pops out of hiding, yells "You leave my friends alone!" and shoots the dragon right in the throat. She shouts to Jester and Nott to save themselves and hides inside the room again. Very badly hurt, Nott runs away from the dragon. The dragon bites at her as she leaves, giving Jester time to run to the sphere and escape. Nott fires one more bolt before touching the sphere and vanishing. The fire elemental and dragon, unable to see any other enemies, attack each other. Twiggy, still looking like Halas, pops out of hiding and shoots the dragon, severely injured and still on fire. Her arrow hits the dragon right in the heart as she shouted "This is for my only friends!". As the dragon stumbls towards Twiggy, she drops her Disguise Self spell and shows her real form just as the dragon dies. Twiggy runs to the sphere, touches it, and vanishes.

Seven Days
After touching the sphere, Beau teleports back to the Balleater. Half the crew, including Marius LePual and Orly Skiffback, are clustered around the Happy Fun Ball of Tricks on a table. Moments later the rest of the Mighty Nein appear one by one in the next few moments, some still on fire. Twiggy comes through last, excitedly telling the others she killed the dragon. The group is skeptical but then Caduceus confirms she's being honest. Twiggy finds a dragon tooth stuck in her boot and shows it off. Nott takes back the flower she had put in Jester's hair earlier, saying it worked. Jester hugs Nott and buries her face in Nott's cloak.

Marius tells them they've been gone for days even thought it felt like only about an hour to them. From the crew's perspective, they all vanished and nothing was left behind but the Happy Fun Ball. While they were gone, the Balleater docked at Bisaft Isle and got repaired. However the dockmaster is very annoyed that he has not been paid. Fjord gives Marius money to pay the dockmaster and suggested the Mighty Nein rest.

Fjord points out that since Twiggy killed the dragon they could go back, but no one seems to be very keen on the idea, not even Fjord. Twiggy thanks the Mighty Nein for being the best friends she's ever had and for the best adventure she's ever had. She better keep moving because Sir Cadigan is still after her and puts up the hood of her cloak, creating her illusory duplicate. Both Twiggys wave goodbye as she goes down the gangplank to explore Bisaft Isle.

Jester is visibly upset but despite this, she insists she's fine when Beau asks, then immediately goes to her room. Nott shows Caleb the book she'd grabbed, but Caleb is not interested. He says they will look at it tomorrow then goes to their room. Now that she has a moment to breathe, Beau realizes she doesn't know what any of their experiences with the Happy Fun Ball meant. Fjord agrees and goes to his quarters to rest.

Beau stays on deck to keep watch and Caduceus joins her, bringing a pot of tea and two cups. Beau asks him how he is feeling and he says he feels great. Beau asks if it's wrong of her to feel ok when everyone else feels so bad. Caduceus says no, it's their job to comfort the group and make them feel good again.

As the Mighty Nein rest up from their close call docked on Bisaft Isle, the episode closes.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin (DM-controlled)
 * Caleb Widogast

New

 * Twiggy
 * Trixie
 * Thelashas

Returning

 * Marius LePual
 * Orly Skiffback
 * Sprinkle
 * The Traveler

Mentioned

 * Avantika
 * Calianna Mordsson
 * Sir Cadigan
 * Halas
 * Kiri
 * Vera

Quotations

 * Nott: (in Halfling to Beauregard, which only the two of them understand) "There's someone hiding downstairs. We need to act fast, but don't alert the others yet; they'll overreact. You and I are the calm and steady ones. We can deal with this."
 * Marisha: "Before I go down, I go- (in character as Beauregard) 'Uh, Fjord, uhhhh, sorry for being a dick.' -and then just go." Fjord: "Apologies." Caduceus: "That's an improvement."
 * Twiggy: "I'm Twiggy!" (points in pocket) "This is Trixie. Trixie's my bestest friend, and we got kind of stuck on this ship. But I have lots of chocolate and lots of apples. As you can tell, that's all I've been eating. And I wonder if it's ok if I could hang out with you guys for a while? Until we get to shore?"
 * Twiggy: "So, I don't know, I kind of- So there was this really pretty thing, and this really bad guy was going to get it. And I was like, that's not fair, right? So I took it, okay? I took it. You don't care right?"
 * Beau: "Hey Twiggy. Now that you've looked at the fragment, you're bonded to us. Which means if you betray us, we'll know how to find you." Twiggy: "Wow. Well, that sounds pretty serious. So cool with me! I like people. I like hanging out with people. I like trusting people. So that sounds great!"
 * Beau: "Don't gnomes live for a pretty long time?" Twiggy: "Yeah!" Beau: "So you could actually be fairly old-" Twiggy: "Who knows!"
 * Deborah: (in character as Twiggy) "I just go around looking for friends." (out of character) "I give my most winningest smile." Fjord: "That is heavily disarming."
 * Twiggy: (to Caleb) "How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?" Caleb: "Oh, no, don't you dare." Deborah: (in character as Twiggy) "Ten tickles!" (out of character) "And I cast Hideous Laughter."
 * Beau: (to Fjord, apologizing for being rude) "You could've been a scarecrow, and I would've been like 'Fuck off, bro!'"
 * Jester: (to Twiggy, about The Traveler) "I feel like he would like you a lot, you know, because number one: he likes people that can be sneaky because it's fun, right? And you can be sneaky." Twiggy: "It's the most fun ever!" Jester: "Also he has a cloak, just you have a cloak. Really cool. Also, he always kept me company. I know that you had a lot of time by yourself, right? And so did I, and he always kept me company."
 * Fjord: (to Beau, about her status as first mate) "You don't have to announce it when you show up. Don't yell your superiority. We'll get you a shirt or something."
 * Nott: "You know, I like Twiggy. But she picks all the locks; she does the Mage Hand thing; she does the Hideous Laughter thing; she paints-" Jester: "-she makes a duplicate of herself-" Nott: "-she has a cute animal-" Jester: "-and she likes chocolate." Nott: "Are we being replaced?"
 * Nott: (to Caleb) "This is everything we ever wanted: a room full of books and it's just us."
 * Caleb: (to Nott, trying to get her to leave the library) "Nott, this is torture to me! Let's go!"
 * Fjord: (to the blue dragon) "If you would simply point towards the exit, I would be most obliged."
 * Fjord: (to the blue dragon) "I have recently been putting my hands where they don't belong. And this time, it sent me to you." Blue Dragon: "And what have we learned?" Fjord: "Probably to look and not touch."
 * Caduceus: (to Caleb and Nott when they drop into the middle of the dragon fight) "We're running! It's bad!"
 * Twiggy: "You guys have been the greatest friends ever, but I've spent my whole life in a box. I'm going to go exploring."
 * Beau: "Thanks, Twiggy. Sorry I found your cuteness alarming." Twiggy: "I have that effect on people."
 * Caduceus: (to Beau) "Well, in the morning, we're going to comfort everybody. We're going to take care of them. We're going to feed them. It's going to be our job to feel good for them and bring them back around. They did good work. They just don't believe it."

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask says "We're going to need a bigger flask."
 * This episode was the Mighty Nein's first encounter with a dragon.
 * Nott had 1 HP when she escaped the dragon's lair. She had 19 HP when she voluntarily took an attack from the dragon to save Jester.
 * Jester had 13 HP when she escaped the dragon's lair.
 * Twiggy is the fifth guest player character to get a "How do you want to do this?" on stream, following Zahra Hydris, Kerrek, Tova, and Shakäste.
 * The name of the young blue dragon was Thelashas.
 * The in-game date that the party met Twiggy was 14 Duscar 835.