Transcript:Compulsions

Pre-show
MATT: Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons.

(laughter)

SAM: I'm sorry.

(laughter)

LIAM: That one had a delayed reaction. ASHLEY Yeah.

TRAVIS: Burned all my stuff.

MATT: Man.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: The cold shiver.

TALIESIN: Oh no.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: We've been doing this-- We're new to this, guys. (laughs) Thank you for joining us. Before we jump into tonight's episode, we do have some announcements to get to, beginning with our first sponsor tonight, Hit Point Press, Sam?

SAM: Welcome back to Sammy the Sloth and the Morning Zoo Crew, here at the hottest radio station in SoCal, WCR 420!

RECORDING: ♪ WCR 420 ♪

SAM: Yeah, we're about to blast off-- [rocket whooshing]

SAM: -- with today's top 69 tracks-- [comical horn honks]

SAM: -- that are hotter than popcorn!

RECORDING: Honey, I'm home!

(laughter)

SAM: That's right, we've got music that's so good, it'll make you say--

RACHEL: Derek, this isn't what it looks like!

SAM: Weird. Okay. But first, a quick check in with Traffic Copter 69!

DEREK: Rachel, how could you? With my best friend?

SAM: Okay. Something seems to be wrong with the sound effect board. It's making me sadder than a sad trombone!

ROGER: That's right, Derek, I've taken your wife, and now I'll finish you off once and for all.

SAM: Sorry, guys, this was supposed to be a fun Zoo Crew thing, but something's wrong with the sound effects cues. I'm just going to go to the advertisement. Black Friday is back at HitPointPress.com! [gun cocks]

SAM: Oh jesus.

(laughter)

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DEREK: What are you doing, Roger? Put the gun down!

(groans)

SAM: Lore of Aetherra: The Lost Druid by Alchemy RPG is an immersive science fantasy adventure saga exploring a mysterious world! [gun firing]

DEREK: Ah!

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RACHEL: (shrieks) You killed him!

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ROGER: You'll never take me alive, coppers! [glass shatters]

ROGER: Never!

(laughter)

SAM: Keep it locked on WCR 420, and keep listening for the phrase that pays!

ROGER: (panting)

SAM: That's him running away; there's supposed to be footsteps. But--

(laughter)

SAM: Well, that's the end of the ad. But I kind of want to know what happens next! Does Roger get away? [popcorn popping]

SAM: No, that's the popcorn cue, no! No, I don't want that! No, it's the-- [sad trombone]

SAM: No, I don't want that. What happens? Did they-- Did Roger and Rachel end up okay?

RECORDING: ♪ WCR 420 ♪

SAM: No, goddamn it, I'll never know! Matt, back to you.

TRAVIS: Oh. Oh my god, I got to applaud this.

MATT: Why are we all now invested in Roger and Rachel?

MARISHA: Oh, I supposed to-- Wait, was I supposed to hold that up?

SAM: Marisha was supposed to hold these up.

(laughs)

MARISHA: I got really distracted.

SAM: I did, too! (laughter) It was a gripping piece of drama!

(laughter)

MATT: Those are gorgeous, by the way.

LAURA: Those are really beautiful.

SAM: Gorgeous.

TRAVIS: Call them out. What are they?

SAM: This is Lore of Aetherra: The Lost Druid.

MARISHA: This is the animated Tarot deck.

TRAVIS: Yes, the Fablemakers.

MARISHA: It's shiny.

TALIESIN: I might have to--

LAURA: Yeah, I want to look at that.

RECORDING: ♪ WCR 420 ♪

(laughter)

MATT: That we're being played off our own bit.

(laughter)

SAM: Go for it.

ASHLEY: I'm going to wait.

MATT: This episode is also sponsored by Thorum--

LAURA: Don't do it now. Don't do it now.

MATT: -- makers of handcrafted unique wedding bands out of everything from meteorites to whiskey barrels right here in the USA. Thorum has been making rings for 10 years now, and takes great pride in its amazing customer service, quality, and original designs. Every single purchase includes a free silicon activity band, and a wooden ring box! So when you got to take the ring off and do stuff, you don't really actually damage the ring, which is important. Plus, they make the process as easy as possible by offering ring sizers, so you can get sized at home. So, whether you need a wedding band, anniversary ring, or just want a ring that looks awesome, head on over to Thorum.com and use promo code Criticalrole, one word, to get 20% off a truly unique epic ring.

ASHLEY: That's pretty cool.

LIAM: Can't wait--

TRAVIS: These are awesome.

LIAM: -- for some kind of cue to--

TRAVIS: I already had a silicone ring.

TALIESIN: Knock, knock, knock.

SAM: Whoa.

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Yeah, the guys got them. Can I please hit trombone for the fact that we didn't get any?

ASHLEY: We didn't get any rings. [sad trombone]

(laughter)

MATT: That's about right.

MARISHA: When they move--

ASHLEY: Whoa!

MARISHA: -- these cards are animated. They're like the--

LAURA: Wow, that's so cool!

MATT: Yeah, the lenticulars.

MARISHA: -- the lenticulars.

MATT: Yeah, isn't that rad?

MARISHA: That's so rad.

ASHLEY: That is so cool.

MARISHA: I don't know if I'm supposed to show these, but I'm doing it.

MATT: You're doing it anyway.

MARISHA: Ooh.

MATT: They're really pretty.

TALIESIN: I love a good lenticular.

MARISHA: That's cool.

TRAVIS: These are dope.

MATT: Speaking of pretty.

TRAVIS: Thank you, Thorum!

MATT: Laura, you're up!

(laughter)

LAURA: Ah! Oh gosh, we have so many things. I got to talk about so many things! Okay, first of all, who's holding it? This is Ashley, but she's looking at things.

ASHLEY: No, no, no, I'm doing it, I'll do it.

LAURA: First of all, we have our Critical Role ugly Critmas holiday sweater!

SAM: Whoa!

TRAVIS: Whoa!

MATT: (laughs) That is delightfully ugly.

LAURA: So, this is our second one--

LAURA: Ugh, I love it so much.

LAURA: -- featuring beautiful lights on the Sun Tree.

TALIESIN: In mustard.

LIAM: Ooh.

LAURA: Isn't it so fabulous? Turn it around.

SAM: I think it's pretty ugly.

LAURA: It's pretty ugly!

MARISHA: It's also kind of spooky.

ASHLEY: I love this.

LAURA: I know, I love it.

TALIESIN: Entering Whitestone was wonderful, beautiful, and festive--

LAURA: And we miss Whitestone, you know?

TALIESIN: -- and slightly dark.

LAURA: Yeah. On top of that, we have-- (laughs)

TRAVIS: Oh, that looks comfy.

LAURA: -- our Bells Hells' Chetney.

(cheering)

MATT: That is so freaking cool!

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: It's so good!

ASHLEY: It's perfect.

TRAVIS: See you on the slopes!

LAURA: On top of that, we have our Critical Role ultra soft pajama lounge set!

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Damn it!

LIAM: There's the top!

LAURA: Here's the pants. These are the pants.

LIAM: It has the soft bottoms!

LAURA: They're so soft, they're so awesome.

MATT: ♪ I'm going to wear those every day ♪

LAURA: Ooh!

TRAVIS: That's awesome!

LAURA: Gorgeous.

MATT: I love it.

LAURA: So yeah. They're so soft. Check them out.

TALIESIN: Okay, it's the super soft ones.

LAURA: Then we have also have these holiday ornaments. Bells Hells holiday ornaments!

DEREK: Honey, I'm home!

(laughter)

LAURA: Look, they're made of wood. Chetney.

SAM: Oh.

LIAM: Aw, rustic.

TRAVIS: It's almost as if someone got in there, and gave them some extra special care.

LAURA: Ta-da-da!

SAM: They're really cute.

MARISHA: They're so cute.

LAURA: So anyway, that's cool. In addition to all of these, the wonderful holiday items that you could give to your friends, we also have Super7 Mighty Nein ReAction figures!

(exclaiming)

LIAM: These are the toys for under the tree!

LAURA: We recently partnered with Super7 to release a super cool set of Mighty Nein ReAction figures. There's so many gorgeous details that bring these figures to life, like fashionable but functional cold weather gear. (laughter) Each comes with cool accessories, like their iconic weapons, and even animal companions like Sprinkle and Frumpkin! Art is by the Super7 team, and Ariana Tressel-Orner, who did our art that's on the back!

TRAVIS: The packaging's all different for each character!

LAURA: There's a lot of thought went into all the packaging and everything, so check them out, it's really cool. Buy them now in our US Critical Role shop, on Super7.com, and other online retail shops.

TALIESIN: I may have opened mine.

LAURA: Yeah, you pulled it out?

TALIESIN: I may have opened mine and given Caduceus his staff--

LAURA: Oh, you opened yours, too?

TRAVIS: Yeah!

LIAM: Orphanmaker!

MARISHA: Yours has wings?

LAURA: (gasps) The sword, and the sword! Oh, and her harp!

ASHLEY: Where'd the little harp go? Here it is.

MATT: It's got the bone harp, too?

ASHLEY: Yeah!

MATT: Okay, that's cool. Here's the best thing, they're sized just right that if you have any of the old school '80s "Star Wars" play sets. The Kenners?

LIAM: Put us in the Falcon.

MATT: They all fit.

TRAVIS: They can be in the Millennium Falcon!

MATT: They're built in that size.

TALIESIN: They've got the little thing on the foot, too.

LIAM: There's a ship for you, Cap'n.

LAURA: They have the little thing on the feet so you can put them on the thing!

TRAVIS: Get me into an AT-AT.

ASHLEY: Augh!

LIAM: Oh, oh.

TALIESIN: Oh, you opened--? Oh yeah.

LAURA: Is everybody opening them?

TRAVIS: How's he smell?

LAURA: Now I want to open mine.

MARISHA: -- about people opening them.

SAM: It's mint in box!

MARISHA: Exactly.

MATT: Late campaign clean?

LIAM: Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Strudel.

LAURA: He doesn't stink in this take.

LIAM: No, he smells like strudel.

MARISHA: Beau has goggles, she's got her goggles.

MATT: Oh, heck yeah.

MARISHA: So fucking cute.

LAURA: Awesome, thank you, Laura.

ASHLEY: I kill you!

MATT: Marisha.

ASHLEY: I'll play you a song.

MATT: You're up.

MARISHA: Oh, oh, yeah, sorry! So distracted today. We're so excited to see you next week for part one of The Mighty Nein Reunited.

TRAVIS: Yeah!

(cheering)

TALIESIN: Oh no.

MARISHA: This is a two-part special that will air November 17th and December 1st at 7:00pm Pacific on Twitch and YouTube. And! In select Cinemark theaters. It's pretty cool. So, you can cozy up at home, or you can go to the big screen with all your friends. Maybe you go in cosplay. Maybe you're wearing a new Chetney hat. Maybe you're going in CR PJs.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MARISHA: I don't know.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MARISHA: Live your best life.

TRAVIS: Pajama party at Cinemark Theaters.

MARISHA: You can learn more by going to cinemark.com/criticalrole.

SAM: Nice.

MARISHA: Exclamation mark. No exclamation mark, that's just on the prompter. [rocket whooshing]

TRAVIS: What?

(laughter)

TRAVIS: It's like a flare. [sad trombone]

TRAVIS: Too much power.

MATT: Way, way too much power.

MARISHA: Why did we give him a soundboard?

SAM: We will unplug this when we start the game.

MATT: Yes, we will.

SAM: Probably.

MARISHA: Yes, we will.

MATT: To that point, I think that concludes our announcements. So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role.

Part I
MATT: And we're back.

(raucous laughter)

MATT: (heavy sigh)

LIAM: (laughs)

MATT: Last we left off: Bells Hells, upon returning from their chaotic time in Bassuras, losing Laudna, then regaining Laudna after traveling to Whitestone, and beseeching the heroes of legend, Vox Machina, to help bring her back, or at least the members of which they could find at the time. Returned to Jrusar to find Lord Eshteross slain by Otohan Thull. who seems to be acquiring a growing sentiment to following your trail, or at least exacting penance for your involvement. After setting some things right with his self being put to rest, and letting the right people in town handle his final afterlife responsibilities, you were bequeathed, in some of his last paperwork, the skyship known as the Silver Sun. Now with this ship at you beck and call, and with a year of the crew now paid for, you continue your journey in a direction you had previously been wanting to set sail towards, which was the city of Yios in Aeshanadoor. The city of flowing light. Deciding to, between the two different paths you can take, the longer journey, but safer one, or cutting straight across the Hellcatch Valley, but a more dangerous route, which is why most skyships do not traverse that deeply over the Hellcatch, you decided to take that route, because it's the one more traveled by you though less traveled by most. Along this path, a few nights have gone through mostly without incident, a brief sandstorm, but through some ingenuity, you managed to maintain safety. Then one night, there is a flare of the ruddy moon, Ruidus, that seemed to, one, trigger some sort of uncontrolled outburst of the lycanthrope form within Chetney, forcing him attack his two party members, Fearne and Orym, who were on deck during that time of night. They managed to hold him at bay before he, or until he was able to regain himself. But the mystery still stands as to why, why now and why this? Simultaneously, Imogen, you were pulled during this flare into another dark, red stormed dream. One that seemed to exert a different balance of power and control than you had grown used to. At the end of this dream, as you plummeted towards the ground at terminal velocity, you awoke. In a fit of inspiration, cast a Sending spell, reaching out to your mother, to which she responded, "Imogen?" And that's where we pick up.

LAURA: (gasps) Laudna.

MARISHA: (startles) What, what, what? Are you all right? Another dream?

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: What's going on?

LAURA: I had a dream, and it was awful, it didn't, normal, whatever.

MARISHA: Okay.

LAURA: I saw my mom in it, and then--

MARISHA: You saw her?

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: Like a physical form?

LAURA: Yeah, and then I just woke up, and I just tried to Send her, talk to her, and she responded.

MARISHA: Okay. (drawn out) Okay.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: She did, what? What did she say? More context.

LAURA: She said, "Imogen."

MARISHA: So, she's alive?

LAURA: I mean, she's got to be, right? If she's responding, she's got to be.

MARISHA: I mean, this is wonderful. Maybe she's at Yios, maybe she's, that was where she was last seen.

LAURA: I should Send her, I should talk to her, I should Send her something else. Should I find out where she is?

MARISHA: Can you Send messages across other dimensions?

LAURA: I don't know. I don't know exactly how it works, I just. (whispers) Yes, I think so.

(laughter)

SAM: (pigeon coo)

LAURA: I think I can. I'm not sure. So then.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Fucking pigeons.

MATT: Technically, you can, yes. There's a five percent chance that it doesn't go through.

MARISHA: This whole time, what if, what if she, it's been her in your dreams?

LAURA: Well, I mean, I will, oh, I will, pff, I've always heard her voice.

MARISHA: Oh.

(clattering)

LAURA: Oh!

MARISHA: Oh gods, oh gods. Fearne punches in her sleep sometimes.

(chuckling)

SAM: I think she's awake.

ASHLEY: Oh yeah. I'm upstairs.

MARISHA: All right, well. Yes, so you--

LAURA: I Send her another message.

MARISHA: What do you want to say? Should we workshop this? Should we write it down?

LAURA: There's so many things that, obviously, but I should probably find out where she is.

MARISHA: Where she is.

LAURA: And if she's safe, and if we can see her, right?

MARISHA: Yes.

LAURA: Those are the main.

MARISHA: Of course, this is, how are you feeling about it? I mean.

LAURA: Well, I mean, you know, I haven't really processed that just yet.

MARISHA: Sure.

LAURA: I'm just going to--

MARISHA: Here, let me. Just think about it for a second. I do this sort of, yeah, my usual routine. I go and pour a little glass of nice cold water, and bring it over to her. Deep breath.

LAURA and MARISHA: (deep breath)

LAURA: I Send a message.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Oh shit.

LAURA: Are you all right? Where are you? Are you-- Is there-- Where have you been? That's all it is. (whispers)

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: That was great.

TRAVIS: (whispers) You have five extra words. Your mom you thought was dead.

LAURA: Oh!

(laughter)

TALIESIN: (whispers)

MATT: As you let the final words linger in hope for a response, the anxiety begins to build in fear that that might be the last of it. Then you hear her voice come through again. "I'm fine, Imogen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for how long I've been gone. I'm... I'm okay. Are you okay?"

LAURA: Why does she just keep asking questions? She knows I got to keep-- All right.

TRAVIS: Your mom's wearing me down.

LAURA: (sighs) All right.

MARISHA: What did she say? Did she say--

LAURA: She said all right, but then she asked if I'm all right. She didn't say where she was.

MARISHA: She didn't say where she was? That sort of feels like the most important thing that we would like to know. Okay, but yeah, right. It's like one of those weird conversations where it's like, "How are you?" "I'm good, how are you?" "I'm good."

LAURA: Yeah. I hate it, I hate it.

MARISHA: It's okay.

LAURA: Okay, last-- I can call her and I can talk to her one more time.

MARISHA: Okay.

LAURA: Jesus. All right.

TRAVIS: (creaking)

LAURA: If I'm being honest, things are hard. You might know that already, though. Where are you? I want to see you. Can I see you?

MARISHA: It's great. It drives that "Where are you" kind of factor.

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: I'm okay. How are you?

(laughter)

LAURA: 'Kay.

MARISHA: Yeah?

MATT: "I'm sorry it's hard. I'm sorry for cursing you with this burden. I left because I was a danger. I couldn't stay without knowing what I am."

MARISHA: What, did she say? What did she say?

MATT: But then you can hear her voice in your head once more as she casts a Sending spell in your direction.

SAM: Oh, she's got powers!

MARISHA: Of course she has powers.

SAM: Well, I don't know what powers.

MATT: "You can't see me because you need to stay safe. And the further for me you are, the safer you'll be. Far from me in this destiny."

LAURA: This destiny has caught up with me, regardless of where you are physically. It's all happening. I could use your help and your knowledge.

MATT: Another Sending spell comes to you from her.

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah, yeah!

MATT: "I love you, Imogen, more than you'll ever know. And that's why you have to run away from me, Imogen, as far as you can. Run."

LAURA: I'm tired of running, Mother.

MARISHA: Are you all right? She-- She didn't say what she was, did she?

LAURA: She says she's a danger, but I don't see how she could possibly be more dangerous than Otohan.

MARISHA: I'm sorry, truly. We're going to find out about this one way or another, whether she helps us or not.

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: I just hope, because I care so deeply about you, this doesn't open up more wounds and cause more harm than good.

LAURA: Laudna, you're back. I can't possibly be sad right now. We'll figure it out.

MARISHA: Of course. And I don't plan on going anywhere again ever.

LAURA: Yeah. We'll figure it out.

MARISHA: You want to, maybe go get some fresh air on the deck?

LAURA: That's a good idea.

MARISHA: I'll walk with you. Here, grab on.

LAURA: Oh jeez, I've got a post-it note stuck to me. Things are crazy.

TRAVIS: Stop sleeping in the office supplies.

MARISHA: We should really get out of this janitor's closet. So uncomfortable.

LAURA: Everything's falling apart.

LIAM: It's all going tits up.

MARISHA: It's causing all these nightmares. Here, have a nice little, your shrug. It's chilly up there. You know, the sea or the desert, gets cold. We go up to the deck.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Oh god! What is happening up here?

MATT: You go to the deck and you just see.

TRAVIS: (growls)

MARISHA: (screams)

TRAVIS: (confused noise)

MATT: Yeah, you changed back to your form.

TRAVIS: Hey!

ASHLEY: We were just going to come down there, actually, to make sure you were okay, because--

LAURA: Why are y'all all bloody?

LIAM: I had a little bit of--

MARISHA: Yeah, who's blood is this?

LIAM: A little bit of trouble, but we're all right for the time being.

MARISHA: Chetney, why are you naked?

TRAVIS: I mean, I got my briefs on. I built elastic into my clothes so they stretch.

MARISHA: Oh, is that canon? All right, I didn't--

LAURA: Hulk should've done that stuff.

MATT: Yeah, Bruce Banner shit.

TRAVIS: So like when I expand into a larger size, it looks like I'm wearing a bikini because I'm still wearing halfling clothes. So it's just the nips and everything, and then I shrink back down and it all comes back together.

LIAM: He's also real wooly down there. Even in gnome form, so.

TRAVIS: The moon flared red, Ruidus. That's not normally a problem for me, but I guess it is now. It brought out...

MARISHA: Beast?

TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.

MARISHA: All right.

ASHLEY: A little different than, you were a bit unreachable, you know? And he attacked us.

MARISHA: Oh.

ASHLEY: But, you know, maybe it's just a fluke type of a thing.

LAURA: Oh.

ASHLEY: That's not the moon that usually does...

TRAVIS: No, it's usually Catha, but, as Orym pointed out, maybe precautions are needed at night now.

LAURA: We should start tying you up at night.

LIAM: Buddy system.

LAURA: I know, I can see that that's--

TRAVIS: What, for safety?

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Yes, pervert. Don't go in a weird place.

LIAM: You all right?

LAURA: Yeah. My mom's alive.

TRAVIS: What?

LAURA: Yeah, she's alive.

TRAVIS: Did you dream that?

LIAM: Wait, what?

LAURA: Yeah. And then I talked to her. And then, that's pretty much it. She just. She wouldn't say where she was, but she's tied up in all of it. I know she is.

MARISHA: You don't think that... I don't know, she has some sort of connection to Otohan already?

LAURA: I think she does. I don't know why I think that. I just do, I just do.

TRAVIS: What did she say? At some point, we should also heal Orym and and Fearne.

ASHLEY: Maybe I can just go to bed.

LIAM: Took it rough.

LAURA: That's true, sleep it off?

LIAM: All right.

ASHLEY: Yeah, sleep it off. But thank you.

TRAVIS: But what'd she say?

LAURA: She said... She said she got away from me because she was a danger to me, and she didn't want me to suffer the same fate as her and she inflicted a curse upon me and then I asked her where she was and that we needed her help, and she basically just said sorry.

TRAVIS: A curse? You know, some people call the (throat clear) gift, the burden of what I have, a curse, but I don't look at it that way.

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

TRAVIS: I mean, I think some people can actually remove it. Do you think you could remove your powers?

LAURA: I don't know.

ASHLEY: One man's burden is another man's gift.

LIAM: Would you even want to?

LAURA: At this point?

MARISHA: That's a good point.

TRAVIS: I don't know.

ASHLEY: Yes.

LAURA: I don't know if I would. I don't think so anymore. There was certainly a time, but that's before.

ASHLEY: Huh.

TRAVIS: Does she know that you have all the abilities that you do? Or does she just think you might be a normie?

LAURA: Well, I just talked to her over, I don't know how much distance in her mind, so she's got to know I got something.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: And she talks to me in my dreams all the time.

MARISHA: You were so young when she left. She knew who she was talking to quite quickly, yeah?

LAURA: Yeah, she did.

LIAM: And she wants to keep you safe.

LAURA: I wonder if she has ways of looking in.

MARISHA: That's what I was curious about. I'm sure any mother would love to check in on her child even if she couldn't be there.

LIAM: Well, if she wants you to stay away, that's only going to be a problem if she's in the middle of what we're headed toward. And if she is, we're not stopping.

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: So it's a bit of a moot point. Glad you found her.

LAURA: Me too. I'm going to keep trying, I think.

TRAVIS: That's great. Your mom's alive!

LAURA: Yeah. Are you okay, Chetney?

TRAVIS: Yeah. I'm mean, I'm a little fucked up. It sounds like waterfall in my left ear.

LAURA: You look pretty messed up.

TRAVIS: I'm kind of leaking a bunch, but you know, it's only because we got really strong fr-- (groans).

MARISHA: Oh...

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: I also think he's--

LAURA: Orym, can we check, I'm really weak, but I can try to pick him up.

TRAVIS: I'm in single digits over here.

LAURA: I can try to pick him up and go knock on FCG's--

TRAVIS: Plus the age, so.

MARISHA: Plus the altitude up here.

LAURA: Yeah, I'm going to do that. I'm going to try to poorly pick him up. You're little.

MATT: He's little at this point.

TRAVIS: Watch it, okay?

MATT: What's your strength?

SAM: Two.

LAURA: Eight.

MATT: So he is little, but it's still, you know, still a workout.

LAURA: Okay, well, yeah. But I can do it?

MATT: You do, you bring it to the outside of their door and kind of--

LAURA: (groans)

MATT: Both, do you knock?

LAURA: Yes.

MATT: The both of you wake up. You know, you come online.

SAM: Well, smiley day to ya!

TALIESIN: Ugh-- we--

MARISHA: It's 2:00am, FCG.

SAM: Oh, sorry.

TALIESIN: What, what is? Oh! Oh god, I feel like I missed something great.

SAM: Did I do that?

LAURA: No, he did it to himself.

SAM: He did it to himself?

LAURA: Well, apparently he--

ASHLEY: There was a flare situation, and he ripped off all of his skin like a coat situation.

TRAVIS: Works every time.

SAM: I'll heal him.

TALIESIN: Thank you, Doc Bot. Okay, come on. (grunts)

SAM: If I heal him, do I get to go back to sleep and get the full healing?

MATT: Yeah, you would.

SAM: Okay, good.

LIAM: Yeah, you get it for two hours.

MARISHA: You're going to live, Chetney.

SAM: I will heal you.

TRAVIS: (humming)

SAM: Come here.

TALIESIN: I slowly put my hand over Chetney's mouth and nose. Nope, go back to sleep. Go back to sleep. Nope, nope. No one wants to fucking hear it.

LIAM: Quiet down, or I'm going to swat you with a shield again.

(laughter)

SAM: 17 points of healing.

TRAVIS: (gasps)

TALIESIN: You guys fought the--

TRAVIS: ♪ Hello, my baby, hello, my honey ♪

(laughter)

TALIESIN: You guys were fighting?

LIAM: I mean--

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LIAM: -- all my clothes are shredded up.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LIAM: I'm going to need something new.

SAM: So this is a thing?

TALIESIN: I feel jealous. Shit.

SAM: We attack our own--

LAURA: Oh, she can mend shit. You know.

SAM: -- people now?

TRAVIS: No, no, no. It was just Catha, the moon, the big one before, but now apparently the red flare of Ruidus. It felt weird. It was like a compulsion, like an itch, and it's never happened before. So maybe--

SAM: Do you remember doing it or what, did you go black?

TRAVIS: I just remember the itch. It's always kind of there, like you're looking in on somebody else's dream. But yeah.

TALIESIN: Oh, okay. Red flare.

LAURA: I'm going to push Orym towards FCG.

SAM: Oh, sorry.

LIAM: Hey, buddy.

SAM: Hey. Here's another heal for ya. This is just not great.

TALIESIN: Red flare.

LAURA: Red flare. Oh, I didn't know there was a flare, but it makes sense now that there was.

SAM: Nine points.

LIAM: Nine points.

TALIESIN: Oh, this is going to be an interesting breakfast. Oh, wow. Okay.

TRAVIS: Maybe I caused the flare.

LIAM: I can bend my arm again.

LAURA: Maybe I caused the flare. Maybe my mom caused the flare.

MARISHA: Your mom has been the moon?

SAM: Talking to her caused the flare?

TRAVIS: My question is, is your mom a god?

LAURA: That would be amazing.

SAM: My question is: How many of us might turn on us?

TALIESIN: Raise your hand if you think you might turn on everybody in the group at some point.

SAM: This is a problem, right?

ASHLEY: I definitely would not.

TALIESIN: You are actually the one I worry about most.

SAM: You've exploded.

ASHLEY: You shady bitch.

ASHLEY: No, never! I would never.

TALIESIN: You're clearly hiding something. Get your hand up.

LAURA and SAM: You've exploded.

SAM: I tried to kill somebody. You tried to kill us.

MARISHA: I still don't know what's going on with Delilah.

TRAVIS: It wasn't me.

LAURA: Exactly. Oh god.

LIAM: I don't think you have to worry about me. Orym's going to limp out of the room and go back up to deck. Is the moon still up? Is Ruidus still there?

MATT: Yeah, it's just not flaring. It's kind of dull round red.

LIAM: I'm going to sit in front of the ship. Continue.

MARISHA: Orym's the best of us, essentially, right?

TALIESIN: We knew that, right?

MARISHA: We do.

TALIESIN: I feel like we knew that.

SAM: I think we did know that.

MARISHA: What about you-- No, it's just your moral compass is off.

LAURA: Yeah, no. Any moment she could--

ASHLEY: What? What do you mean?

MARISHA: Yeah, that's true. I would never. I would never.

TALIESIN: You're like me, except likable. Don't even--

ASHLEY: Thank you.

SAM: But also, doesn't it feel like every good thing that happens to us, there's a bad thing that happens?

LAURA: What do you mean?

SAM: Well, we lost Laudna. We gained Laudna. We--

LAURA: Lost Eshteross.

SAM: We lost Eshteross. We--

MARISHA: Gained his airship.

SAM: Well, I mean.

LAURA: Oh, no.

SAM: I wouldn't call that a positive.

MARISHA: Sorry.

SAM: But we found out your mother's alive, and then Chetney tries to kill everybody, you know?

TRAVIS: Two people, not everybody.

LAURA: You're still part of this conversation, thank you very much.

SAM: By the way, elastic. Amazing discovery.

TRAVIS: Yeah. I'm not above working with other pliant materials.

SAM: That's a good thing, but then he tried to kill us. So it just feels like--

TRAVIS: Two.

SAM: I don't know what it means, I'm just--

TALIESIN: We're not big on having a streak of anything?

TRAVIS: Oh, like days gone without an incident? We could get one of those signs whipped up real quick.

MARISHA: You can whittle that, right?

TRAVIS: Yeah, no problem.

TALIESIN: I'm not against it.

LAURA: Oh yeah, with little flaps that we can-- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

TRAVIS: Flips, you can get numbers. Yeah.

TALIESIN: I'll admit, the volume seems to have gotten very loud on the sort of bad and good that I'm used to, but I feel like lots of bad isn't unusual.

MARISHA: We're also getting close to something, to information, to--

TALIESIN: Something.

MARISHA: To the solstice. I don't know. I don't think it's going to change.

SAM: I guess that's what I'm worried about. Yeah, we have no choice but to go forward. I just don't know what it means, that's all.

MARISHA: Well, to your point, the closer we get to the Apogee Solstice, and the more the moon flares, and the more we have people who want us dead, I think it's just, we just have to be there for each other that much more.

TALIESIN: Excuse me, actually. I'm, yeah. I'm going to leave.

MATT: (Pâté) "Yeah, be there for each other! All of us is going to be best friends like this, make sure it's going to be gravy, eh?"

MARISHA: You're so cute.

MATT: "Speak for yourself, eh?"

SAM: That's another thing. I just found out that I've got a soul, and then this thing is alive now, too, so it's like a good and a bad.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: (laughs)

LAURA: Does Pâté have a soul?

SAM: I don't know, but the fact that he is alive and sentient makes me question whether my soul is worth anything.

LAURA: Is valid?

SAM: Am I just that with metal?

LAURA: No.

MATT: "All these late night--"

SAM: How do you know?

MATT: "-- existential questions."

ASHLEY: What do you mean?

SAM: How do you know? What if I'm just that with a wheel?

LAURA: What if all of us are just that?

ASHLEY: Why do you say it like that's a negative?

LAURA: All of us are that.

ASHLEY: It's amazing. Yes, we're all that.

MARISHA: He's just a meat puppet. That's basically what we all are. That's what we've been trying--

MATT: "(snarls wetly)"

MARISHA: -- to tell you.

TRAVIS: Jesus.

SAM: I guess I just--

LAURA: You're a meat puppet without the meat.

SAM: But I guess I just expected more meaning.

MARISHA: Meaning is just what you make of it. It's just what you apply to your own life. It's not gifted or jettisoned upon you. You just have to carve it out of your own being.

SAM: That's true, maybe.

MARISHA: Pâté, do you have a soul?

MATT: "I don't know, I've only been alive for a few days."

MARISHA: Oh my god, that's so true.

MATT and MARISHA: (laugh)

LAURA: We should've had Pike look at him.

ASHLEY: Oh, yeah.

MATT: "Who? What?"

LAURA: Nothing.

MATT: "Okay."

MARISHA: Is that what I said?

SAM: Meaning is what you mean of it.

MATT: Crawls back up into your hair.

ASHLEY: Who all has had an incident with the flares?

MARISHA: I don't know what I said.

ASHLEY: You have. Chetney has.

TRAVIS: What's that?

ASHLEY: Who's had an incident with the flares?

TRAVIS: I'm still clean.

ASHLEY: No, you're not.

SAM: No, you just did. You just had one.

TRAVIS: Sorry.

ASHLEY: You literally were just the last one to have one.

LAURA: Have you?

ASHLEY: You?

LAURA: Me and Chetney.

ASHLEY: You and Chetney, okay.

SAM: That's still two sevenths.

LAURA: Let's keep racking them up.

MARISHA: Is it a round table thing? Are you next?

ASHLEY: No, I was just seeing if there was some type of connection, but.

LAURA: There is, because you're Ruidusborn.

TRAVIS: You're Ruidusborn, your family's fucking around with the Nightmare King, he's trying to build a telescope somewhere or do something to the moon.

LAURA: Orym has them tattooed on his arm.

ASHLEY: Who?

LAURA: Orym.

TRAVIS: Oh.

SAM: Orym. He's in our group.

ASHLEY: I don't know who that is.

LAURA: (like Fearne) I don't know anybody's names.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Oh, the moons are on your arm.

SAM: The moon guy.

TRAVIS: You knew about that.

ASHLEY: The moon guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I knew that. Well.

TRAVIS: Maybe we can look for manacles or restraints or something. I'll just sleep with those.

SAM: For you?

TRAVIS: Yeah, no big deal. Doesn't need to be, you know.

SAM: Maybe I should also get-- At night, we could tie each other up, just in case.

TRAVIS: We'll just tie ourselves to each other?

SAM: Yeah, in case we freak out.

TRAVIS: I guess that's true. If I attack you, you can kind of dish it out yourself.

SAM: Yeah.

TRAVIS: That's kind of awesome. Blade versus blade. Not a real idea, just kidding. We should rest, right?

SAM: Yes.

LAURA: We should finish sleeping.

LIAM: Up top, sitting on the front of the ship, are both moons up or just Ruidus?

MATT: Both moons are up, but Catha's 60% waning.

LIAM: Okay, so Orym has been sitting quiet for a couple minutes.

MATT: Waxing?

LIAM: Eventually pulls out the sending stone. On the front of the ship, just sitting with his feet danging off: Hey. Yios bound. Found them, their killers. Bigger than we thought. Real rough, Dorian. Eshteross is dead. Glad you're not here. Wish you were anyway.

TALIESIN: I'm going to come walking up from outside and sit down next to him.

LIAM: Hey.

TALIESIN: Hey.

LAURA: Wait. Did you get a response? Was there a response?

TALIESIN: I don't know. I've been getting a little introspective lately. We keep calling you the good one. Feels a little unfair. I know you're not okay, but... I don't know. Is this feeling like too much, all of this?

LIAM: Probably.

TALIESIN: I definitely-- I don't know, I didn't sign up for this shit, but. I mean, if we live, there's definitely going to be things that I'm going to ask your help with in my life. I hope we're at the point where you would ask for help if you needed it. I don't know, we were talking downstairs. Everyone just thinks we're all going to kill each other at some point, except for you. I'd hate to be in that position. I don't know, it would make me really stressed to be the one good one. Not that I've ever been the one good one. It just sounds exhausting. I don't know.

LIAM: I think we all have our own version of this. It's rough, you know? There hasn't really been any kind of a break in a long time. For you, I know.

TALIESIN: A very long time. Although, this is-- I don't know, is it a break to finally have some introspection? I don't feel like who I was not that long ago. I'm starting to think about things I thought I never would. I'm not big on new people. I'm not big on human contact, general anything, and now this.

LIAM: Orym's going to really carefully and purposefully raise his hand up and...

TALIESIN: Yeah, no, we're good. Oh, yeah.

LIAM: You know, uh-- I don't feel like I can do it every single day. I just keep waking up, and try and to honor the people that I left behind, and now you all. But I doubt it every day, and the only way that I manage to keep going is, I look to you guys. I'd be up shit's creek by myself. I was by myself. It's not great.

TALIESIN: Yeah, no, it's not. Well, as a person who is professionally left behind, you're doing a really good job. You should maybe take care of yourself a little bit before you actually do end up being the one who throws us all off a ship. I wouldn't blame you.

LIAM: I'm not going to throw you guys off a ship.

TALIESIN: I know. The rest of us, I don't necessarily know.

LIAM: Just got to pants Chetney once in a while.

TALIESIN: Man, I'm so jealous. I will admit, I really wanted to punch a werewolf. I'm really hoping I get the opportunity. Really, it's nothing, I actually like him. Please don't tell him that. Please.

LIAM: Yeah, he's a good egg.

TALIESIN: Yeah, he's fun. I like fun. Anyway, you should go to sleep. I'm going to go to sleep, and you look like shit, and so you should go to sleep.

LIAM: Hey, hold up.

TALIESIN: Yeah?

LIAM: Orym gives him a big bear hug the size of a halfling.

TALIESIN: Oh, wow. That, yep, okay, yeah.

LIAM: Sorry, I know that's a double-edged sword.

TALIESIN: Oh yeah, no, I'm getting-- It's-- It's good to be appreciated, I will admit. Yeah. You have pain long enough, it just becomes background noise, anyway.

LIAM: I hear that.

TALIESIN: God, I hope there's good breakfast. Come on, let's go.

LIAM: Be in in a minute.

TALIESIN: All right.

MATT: Because we can, I will say you do get a response from Dorian, but as it's not a pressing message, I'll actually reach out to Robbie and have him record it. We can play it next time we play.

ASHLEY: (gasps)

LAURA: Aw!

MATT: I think that'll be more fun than me just making it up on the spot.

ASHLEY: Aw!

MARISHA: Buddy!

LIAM: Lastly, after Ash shuffles off to bed, Orym sits for another minute. I miss you, too. I miss you, too. That's it.

MATT: Okay. You all eventually saunter off to your various chambers, some more exhausted or hurt than others. But an evening of rest comes to you, so you all get a long rest.

TRAVIS: Yes.

LIAM: Yay.

TRAVIS: Yeah, like it never happened.

MATT: On the fourth day of travel.

SAM: Oh boy.

LIAM: Where were we? We were going this way.

ASHLEY: Was it you?

LAURA: Oh, it was me.

LIAM: One, two, Laura.

MARISHA: It's Laura.

LAURA: Okay, okay.

SAM: La hora.

TRAVIS: No problem.

LAURA: That's me.

LIAM: Low-ra.

LAURA: And I'm rolling?

MATT: Ashley, you rolled last time, right?

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: All right, so you go for it. Roll a d20 for me.

LAURA: Okay, my new.

TALIESIN: Oh yeah.

LIAM: At least I called the right person Laura.

LAURA: Did you see that bounce? I can't. I mean, it looks like an 18, but it's kind of cocked.

TALIESIN: I mean, yeah, reroll.

SAM: Just reroll it.

LIAM: I don't watch your dice rolls, okay?

LAURA: Seven.

LIAM: That's a seven.

MATT: Seven? Okay.

MARISHA: I don't watch your dice rolls! That's a seven.

TALIESIN: Or L, I'm not sure.

MATT: Through a day of mild turbulence and a bit of a strong wind, but no other major issues, that brings you to the completion of a fourth day of travel. Looking down below, you're now deep into the Hellcatch Valley. Below, you can see the sprawling ravines and the smattering of caverns that give dark spots against the brightly sunlit sides of the various mountainous terrain. You can see the large pillars and the mesas of dull red and orange and gray, and the dust storms that kick up, these clouds in the distance, as well as these massive vortexes of gathered sand and dust that you see rise and careen across the side of the country, tearing through the hills. It's beautiful, as long as it's at a distance. But that day goes without issue. We are now on the fifth day of the journey.

TRAVIS: Clouds are dope.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: That's so cool.

LIAM: All right, Ruidus, give me a one. Give me a one. Give us problems. It's 12.

MATT: It's 12, okay. With that, the fifth day goes by without incident.

LIAM: Damn it!

MATT: Clear weather, clear sailing. Captain Xandis has a spring in their step. "Got to say, already doing a lot better job than the last time we came here. This is great. You're good luck charms now! I appreciate that. Keep up the luck charms thing."

MARISHA: Still looking at my tracking ball.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

MARISHA: For Otohan.

MATT: All good.

MARISHA: He said it in that way.

ASHLEY: He said it in a way.

MARISHA: He said it.

LAURA: I know.

TRAVIS: It's an 8 Ball without the thing in the middle.

LIAM: I want it to be a magic trackball, like Centipede.

TRAVIS: Shake it, look at it. Stop looking at me.

MATT: We start coming into the early part of the sixth day of the journey. At this time, as some of you begin to come to consciousness and head up to the top of the deck as the sun's starting to rise, you can see the flames and smoke spires of Bassuras now passing not directly beneath you, but at least a little ways off to the left. Immediately, as you can see through the tangle of ravines, the deep crevasses that end up crashing down into the ground beneath where the, now visible from above, track of the Deathwish Run, which you once raced in, is visible. You can see the smattering of lights that are starting to bring this dreary colored, miniature metropolis into vibrant life as the red Carmine Curtain walls now begin to hit the early morning orange and purple sun rays. It just alights, almost like a torch in the middle of the desert. You see the smoke coming up from the cisterns, now climbing above. Almost looks, from this perspective, like a long-dead, iron spider on its back with its legs curled up in the air as you see the rising towers of metal. But I need someone to roll a d20 for--

LIAM: Fuck it up. Come on, fuck it up.

MATT: -- the sixth day of travel.

TALIESIN: For once.

TRAVIS: Boosh!

LIAM: Yes.

TALIESIN: Three.

MATT: That's a three. Roll a d6 for me.

(exclaiming)

TRAVIS: Fuck it up again!

TALIESIN: Two.

MATT: Two. Okay. The weather's clear as you come to the sixth day.

SAM: Hey!

MATT: Not a cloud in the sky, though there is a heavy bit of dust kicking up below you, and you can see the gathering of dust clouds on the lower land, make you feel good that at least you're not coming into another large, angry dust storm, like when you first set out on this journey, which is why it catches you off guard when a heavy jet stream of wind buffets the side of the ship. Xandis immediately goes like, "Whoa, what is going on?" And is just trying to spin the wheel. The ship begins to spin a little bit out of the way and just having to try and ride it. You can see the sails shaking, barely holding on against the strength of this. "Looks like we hit some sort of big wind. I don't know. I've never been to this place before! Why did we even choose this path?" And the ship begins to turn and spin again. Because this was still in the one to two range on the d6, none of you are present when this hits hard to throw you off the edge, but it does add another day of travel to the journey, unfortunately.

SAM and LAURA: Aw!

SAM: Taliesin!

TALIESIN: I wanted to kill something, or at least hit it.

SAM: Yeah, well you ruined it.

TALIESIN: I can't hit the wind.

TRAVIS: Shattered our hopes and dreams!

MATT: May have to roll a higher number on that d6, but--

TALIESIN: Damn!

LIAM: So roll low and roll high.

MATT: So that is-- To prevent the ship from taking serious damage, has to take it lower to the ground and then circle around a bit. And so, you lose the better part of a day to a half day of travel. So keeping a mark on that. We come in now to the next day of travel, which is the seventh day.

TRAVIS: And each night, I'm getting-- Can I find Captain Xandis?

MATT: Yes, you can.

TRAVIS: Can I ask them: Captain, do you have any, like, manacles or restraints? I have a bit of a fidgeting problem in my sleep and I tend to strike out in deep REM sleep.

MATT: "I'm pretty sure we got something like that. Hold on. Maybe a sleep-- Is Khalil awake? Somebody wake up Khalil!" Eventually, coming down from underneath the deck, you see the first mate, Khalil, waking up. "Yes? You are inquiring a question? You don't mind me asking?" (Xandis) "Yes, we're looking for some sort of manacles, chains, something that can hold somebody down from fidgeting in their sleep, I suppose."

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah. Just keeping it tucked in.

MATT: (Khalil) "Yes, there is something like that. I'll be right back." Wipes his eyes and heads down below deck, coming back with, indeed, a pair of manacles and a lock that is on them, but it is not unlocked at the moment. Brings it up and sets them down on the deck. Heavy chains clatter across the wood. "These are just in case we have to take anyone prisoner. We have these at the ready. I have the key. Is this for you, Xandis?" (Xandis) "No, no. This is for the tiny guy."

TRAVIS: I'm a very violent sleeper. Would you mind if I borrowed them while we are on our journey? You can have them back as soon as we land, just--

MATT: (Khalil) "I mean, technically they belong to the ships, they belong to you if I'm not mistaken."

TRAVIS: Oh, great! Yeah, that's--

MATT: Pulls the key out and hands it to you. You now have a pair of lockable manacles with a key.

TRAVIS: Nice.

LAURA: How heavy are they? Are they just carry-able?

TRAVIS: Not heavy?

MATT: They're carry-able. Yeah.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: They're strong enough where you would have to work real hard and real long to try and saw them off.

TRAVIS: Ooh! Thank you! Much appreciated! So each night, I will find a corner of the hull quarters to throw it over a bar or a solid beam and fully lock it. Maybe I can get it up here so I can (snores) sleep.

SAM: Oh god!

MATT: You got it. Okay.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: What? Just in case anyone wants to cuddle.

(laughter)

SAM: You're not hanging yourself by your neck?

TRAVIS: No, my hands! Just around the back

SAM: The miming was very confusing to me. I thought it was like a David Carradine situation.

TRAVIS: Put the handcuffs (screams)

MATT and TALIESIN: Oh no!

(laughter)

LAURA: What?

(laughter)

LAURA: What?

TALIESIN: No!

MARISHA: Oh no!

ASHLEY: Oh no!

TRAVIS: Look it up later.

MATT: Oh, Sam!

TALIESIN: No!

LAURA: It took me a minute.

(laughter)

MATT: Well, if we're going around the table, for the seventh day, upon acquiring manacles, I also need you to roll a d20 for me.

TRAVIS: Oh, somebody roll for me. My hands are above my head. Just got to-- Three!

MATT: Roll a d6 for me.

TRAVIS: Oh shit!

MARISHA: Ugh!

TRAVIS: Here it comes! Roll high!

TALIESIN: That's what you get for tempting fate.

TRAVIS: (shouts) Fuck! Three.

SAM: Oh shit!

MATT: Three. Okay.

MARISHA: (laughs)

SAM: On the start of this day, I'm just going to ask, I'm going to ask the Changebringer for just a sign, if she can hear me. Just, I want a sign today.

MATT: Okay, so you're out there and you're concentrating and contemplating the Changebringer's perspective or watchful gaze may be falling upon the ship. And some of the clouds are starting to turn a bit darker on the horizon, as if a mild rainstorm might be a day or so away. You hear a heavy smack just outside of visual shot.

SAM: A smack?

MATT: (impacts)

TRAVIS: Bird strike.

MATT: Can hear them off to the left.

SAM: I'll go look over the side.

MATT: Glance over the side and you see there's a collection of, probably, a dozen or so small, dog-sized bird creatures that are all a flock of them, flying up to the side of the air ship, and three of them (impacts) are onto the side.

SAM: Oh no!

MATT: The one that's looking up towards you, you can see it has these thin arms and long wings, leathery wings that come off of it and has these creepy, dark, beady black bird eyes with a hooked beak and its odd frill across its neck as it looks up to you and goes (squawks) and starts climbing up towards you. What do you do?

SAM: I'll scream to the others. We got bird dogs! They're cute and bad!

TRAVIS: (laughs)

SAM: Come help me! I'll cast-- Oh boy! What to cast against 20 of these things?

MATT: It was about a dozen or so is what you see.

LAURA: Sam doesn't know what a dozen is.

SAM: A dozen is like 20.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: I got excited when you said there were dogs.

SAM: Oh.

(laughter)

MATT: Sorry.

TRAVIS: Dogs.

ASHLEY: A pack of dogs?

TRAVIS: Smashing into the side of the skyship.

LIAM: (flying dogs crashing)

TRAVIS: Bird dog, why?

MATT: We're getting some real "Lost" shit over here.

MARISHA: Who dropped dogs?

TRAVIS: What the fuck?

LIAM: Plane lost its cargo.

SAM: I can't do much.

MARISHA: I know. Oh no!

SAM: So I'm going to cast-- Well, I can't do much against a group of things.

TRAVIS: ♪ I can't do much ♪

SAM and LAURA: ♪ But I know I love you ♪

MARISHA: God, I hate it!

ASHLEY: ♪ Baby ♪

LIAM: My mind went: ♪ That don't ♪ impress me much ♪

SAM: I will cast Speak with Animals.

MATT: Okay. You cast Speak with Animals.

SAM: Yes, and I will say: Be gone, you! There's nothing for you here!

TRAVIS and MARISHA: (laugh)

SAM: Go away or we will be forced to harm you!

MATT: Okay. So the first thing that you notice--

LIAM: I think I'm in a revival tent.

MATT: -- is when you speak, the creature looks, the one that's closest to you, (creepy squawk) and starts climbing toward you. It does not seem to acknowledge your language as it is not a beast.

SAM: An animal. Oh no!

TRAVIS: What?

LIAM: It's a little monster!

LAURA: It's a monster! Ooh, it's a fiend!

MATT: It reacts by rushing up the side. As it climbs, it flutters its wings a little bit to catch up a little bit of speed in your direction and it's going to attempt to bite at you with its beak.

SAM: Go ahead.

TRAVIS: What?

MATT: That is going to be a 16.

SAM: That's my armor class.

MATT: That just hits you. As it streaks up and bites you, you take three points of piercing damage.

SAM: Well, all right.

MATT: I also need you to make a constitution saving throw.

SAM: Constitution?

LIAM: That's a strong beak--

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: -- to pierce into a metal chassis.

SAM: Four plus four? That's terrible! That's eight.

MATT: Okay. So it strikes you and you back away from it and push it off as it climbs over the top of the deck. As you pull away, your limbs are getting harder to move and the coloration of your metal, oddly, is starting to turn from a bright bronze-ish yellow to a dull gray coloration.

MARISHA: Rusty?

TRAVIS: Oh.

MARISHA: Wait, what? What?

SAM: Gray.

TALIESIN: No.

MARISHA: Wait. Are these petrifying birds? What? What?

LAURA: They petrify?

MATT: You seem to be growing sluggish.

LAURA: Oh no!

MATT: You are restrained.

TRAVIS: These lackadaisical birds.

MARISHA: Fuck!

MATT: Is anybody else hearing this?

MARISHA: Are we there?

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, we--

MARISHA: Yeah, we all run up.

LIAM: He keeps shouting out bird calls.

MARISHA: We do the thing.

MATT: So the rest of you rush up to the top.

TALIESIN: Oh fuck!

TRAVIS: I jump off the ship.

MATT: I'll go ahead and get a map.

(exclaiming)

TRAVIS: Yes!

MARISHA: (laughs)

SAM: Build your own collection of fantastic Critical Role minis by WizKidz available at WizKidz.io/CRMinis or at your local game store now. Guys, WizKidz. Fly the friendly skies with WizKidz.

TALIESIN: WizKidz?

SAM: I think that's their motto. I can use other companies' mottos in an advertisement, right? Can't I?

LAURA: Sure, I think fine.

SAM: I think it's totally fine.

LAURA: No issues there.

TALIESIN: Why not?

SAM: ♪ (McDonald's jingle) ♪

LAURA: Whoa! I know we've seen it before, but it's still amazing.

SAM: Whoa!

TRAVIS: So hot.

MATT: All right.

SAM: The horse in the foreground really does--

MATT: You really glanced over the edge there and backed away.

LAURA: Oh yeah. I'll move it.

LIAM: Giant monster horse.

TRAVIS: Don't you dare!

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: There is this one here now.

SAM: Oh god!

LAURA: Will you move him over by you, Ashton?

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm. Here, I'm going to go--

LIAM: Oh!

LAURA: No! Yes.

TRAVIS: Do you know what these are?

SAM: What kind of dog? If it were a dog, what breed?

MATT: It would be a larger dog.

LAURA: That looks like a greyhound, like a spiny sort of bony dog.

TALIESIN: Some Wizard of Oz shit happening.

MATT: On the side, over here.

LIAM: Oh!

LAURA: Are they sticky? Did you make them sticky?

MATT: No.

LAURA: No.

LIAM: Yeah, he did.

(laughter)

MATT: However, the rest of you have since--

SAM: He can make them sticky.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Oh man!

LAURA: Oh fuck!

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Dozen, huh? Okay.

SAM: Like 20.

MATT: You see three currently up there.

TALIESIN: Easily 20.

MATT: I'll just put this in this--

LAURA: You can't know that.

MATT: Situation here, as you guys rush up, you see three of these creatures off to the side. Let's roll initiative.

ASHLEY and LAURA: (scream)

LIAM: I'm going to roll my new dice. My new greenies. Natural 20.

MARISHA: New dice. Ooh, not good! Not good!

TALIESIN: Cancel. There we are.

TRAVIS: Fuck you!

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

MATT: All right, so 25 to 20.

LIAM: 25.

SAM: Whoa!

LAURA: Nice!

TRAVIS: Nice!

MATT: All right.

LAURA: Nice!

MATT: 20 to 15.

ASHLEY: 19.

TALIESIN: 16.

SAM: Whoa!

MATT: Okay, so we got Fearne.

TRAVIS: Orym, Fearne, Ashton.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: 15.

TRAVIS: Imo.

MATT: Okay. 15 to 10? 10 to five?

MARISHA: Six. Oh, sorry. That's above five.

MATT: That's okay.

MARISHA: Wait, what?

TRAVIS: He said above five. You're right.

MATT: That's right. You're good.

MARISHA: Okay. Numbers, how do they work?

MATT: That's okay. That's okay.

LIAM: What's the nature of--

TRAVIS: Stop it.

LIAM: How did you get restrained, Letters? What happened?

SAM: It bit me, right?

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: It's latched on?

MATT: No, it just struck him and he backed away, and then he's starting to slow down.

LAURA: Oh!

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: And then--

SAM: Four.

TRAVIS: Four.

SAM: You got a four?

TRAVIS: Yeah. What's your dex?

SAM: It's probably not great that I'm petrified.

MATT: All righty.

SAM: It's zero.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Top of the round. Orym, you're up!

LIAM: Do I have enough movement to get to Letters?

MATT: Well, you have-- What's your movement? It's 25.

LIAM: 30 because of my boots.

MATT: That's right!

LIAM: Boots of Striding and Springing.

MATT: 60 feet of movement if you wanted to dash.

LIAM: I don't want to, though.

MATT: Unfortunately, you would not be able to really--

LIAM: Then I will do it! I will use movement and dash.

MATT: So that gets you right next to him.

LIAM: Yeah, and I'm going to grab him by the metal arm and swing him around and trade places with him, if I can, and do Bait and Switch.

MATT: Okay. You can do that. You can yank him.

LIAM: Okay. So we trade places. I'm between him and the featherless bird, and I give FCG two more points to his AC until the start of my next turn.

MATT: Getting up close to you, you can see it is indeed a scaly leathery skin and a dull brownish pink coloration. Its eyes, now wild. You can see the yellow on the outside of the deep, dark irises and it has these spiny frills that go down the back of its head and underneath its throat.

LIAM: Okay. Action surge so that I can attack this guy.

MATT: You got it.

LIAM: First one is a natural 20.

TRAVIS: Yo!

MATT: Slick!

TRAVIS: ("Uptown Girl") ♪ Attack this guy ♪ ♪ Going to attack him in ♪ the middle of the sky ♪

MARISHA: (hums)

LIAM: So that's--

MARISHA: I didn't have any lyrics to add to that.

LIAM: Plus four is nine, plus-- I'm going to make it a goading attack. So he has to make a wisdom save. That's doubled to 12. So 12.

MATT: Fails that with a six.

LIAM: So that's 22 points of damage, and if it tries to attack Letters or anybody else, disadvantage.

MATT: You got it.

LIAM: That's the-- Well, actually, I'll hit it again and maybe I'll kill it. That is an 18 to hit.

MATT: 18 hits.

LIAM: Just a regular attack. That is, five plus five is 10 points of damage.

MATT: 10. So you strike once with a sword and looks back up at you as you slash a second time and you just cleave right through its throat and its head goes off the side of the ship while its body for a second starts freaking out without a head and it just quivers to the ground, still moving, its muscles tensing and twitching.

LIAM: Oh, chicken head cut. That's why they say that. Ugh!

TRAVIS: Gross!

MATT: Does that finish your turn?

LIAM: That does.

MATT: All right. Fearne, you're up.

ASHLEY: All right. Mister! Come here!

MATT: "(monkey hoots)"

ASHLEY: Hi, big boy! All right, he's ready to go. And as a bonus action, I am going to produce a Flame Blade.

MATT: Flame Blade emerges from your hand.

SAM: Amazing!

ASHLEY: All right, so I'll get up close to one that's nearby.

MATT: Okay. So 30 feet is your movement, right?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Can't quite get to one at the moment.

ASHLEY: Oh, 35!

MATT: 35, you can get right here. So it's still 10 feet away from one.

ASHLEY: Shit!

MATT: But you have the Flame Blade at the ready. You can hold your action for if one gets near you.

ASHLEY: I'll hold my action until it gets aboard.

MATT: You got it. Okay.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: So finishing that, it is now their turn. They rolled actually pretty decent initiative. This one streaks forward towards you. This one comes in towards you. You can immediately make your attack with the Flame Blade, if you want.

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: To make it as part of the-- Well, it's an action. It was a bonus action?

ASHLEY: It's a bonus action.

MATT: Yeah, so you can do that. So take your strike with Flame Blade.

ASHLEY: All right, great! That is 21 to hit.

MATT: That definitely hits.

ASHLEY: Okay, great. That is three of these. And because Mister is present, I think I get an extra d6? No, wait. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

LIAM: Oh, there's many chickens now.

ASHLEY: I'm making this up.

MATT: It's all good.

LIAM: No, a lot of chickens are bad.

ASHLEY: Sorry. Hold on. I feel like--

LAURA: It would say it on Flame Blade.

ASHLEY: Well, I think, when I have my wildfire spirit I feel like I get--

LIAM: No, I decapitated it.

ASHLEY: -- extra fire damage.

TALIESIN: Okay, good.

LAURA: Oh!

ASHLEY: (mumbling Wildfire Spirit description) Sorry, sorry, sorry!

MATT: It's okay.

ASHLEY: "When it appears..." Okay. Never mind.

LIAM: Travis, how was your day?

ASHLEY: Oh, because of Enhanced Bond! That's what it is.

TRAVIS: Crazy!

ASHLEY: So I think I roll an extra d8 when he's present for fire? Am I making this up?

MATT: (mumbling rules)

ASHLEY: (mumbling rules) "...fire damage or restores hit points while your wildfire spirit is summoned if you roll a d8."

MATT: No, roll a d8. Yeah. "You add a bonus equal to the number rolled to one damage or healing roll of the spell." And I'll say, for this, sure, I'll allow it.

ASHLEY: Okay. All right.

TRAVIS: Flame sword!

ASHLEY: Oh, that's so terrible!

(laughter)

MATT: Oh no!

ASHLEY: 12 points.

MATT: 12 points of fire damage to it.

ASHLEY: Of fire damage. Yes.

MATT: You got it. So as you arc down, the flame emits an even brighter, almost orange-white heat in the proximity of both you and as Mister, across the way goes, "(hoots)," screeches at it and it flares up as you impact and slice. It seems to put its wings up and try to defend it, but it carves through and cuts it in the wing, the searing edge of where it cleaves through is now burnt and cauterized.

ASHLEY: Oh! Sorry!

MATT: But it's still there. So two of them are going to attack you.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: They both just start pecking right at you with their beaks open.

ASHLEY: Ah!

MATT: That is a natural one. So one of them just goes to strike and then sees the Flame Blade and pulls back from it while the other one, that is going to be a 20 to hit.

ASHLEY: That hits.

MATT: All right. And with that, you take three points of piercing damage.

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: And I need you to make a constitution saving throw.

ASHLEY: Oh, okay.

SAM: Come on.

ASHLEY: Ooh! That's a six. Okay. Eight.

SAM: Oof!

MATT: As you feel your skin begin to tighten against your body and pull back, your joints are moving slower and you feel like you're just weighed down heavily. You are restrained.

LIAM: Uh-oh!

ASHLEY: Oh!

SAM: It doesn't feel good!

ASHLEY: What is this? What's happening?

SAM: I don't know!

MARISHA: Mm-hmm.

MATT: There are now three against Orym.

LIAM: Chickens!

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: That is going to be a 15.

TRAVIS: Chickens!

LIAM: No.

MARISHA: Wait, who was this?

MATT: That is going to be--

MARISHA: Fearne?

MATT: -- a six.

SAM: I guess?

LIAM: No.

MATT: That is a 19.

LIAM: That one does, but on the second attack, whichever one, the second one that missed, I'll use my reaction to use Riposte.

MATT: Yes.

LIAM: And stick a blade into its waddle, its chicken waddle.

MATT: Do it, do it.

TRAVIS: He used Riposte.

LIAM: That is a 22 to hit.

MATT: That hits.

MARISHA: Ri-pose, pose, pose.

MATT: Go ahead and roll damage.

LIAM: Okay.

ASHLEY: FCG, are you okay, since it's birds?

SAM: No, I'm not. This is horrible.

LIAM: 12 points.

MATT: 12 points of damage.

LIAM: Piercing damage.

MATT: You got it.

LIAM: And the last one gets me.

MATT: Last one gets you?

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: You take five points of piercing damage as this one manages to arc its neck up and scream as it arcs over your shield and gets you right on the top of the head. You're like, "Ah!"

TRAVIS: Whoa! Look at that!

MATT: Make a constitution saving throw.

TRAVIS: Intense.

LIAM: Constitution saving?

MATT: Yes.

LIAM: Come on. 19.

MATT: 19. It hurts, but that's about it.

LIAM: He hit me in the ear!

TRAVIS: Sorry, fucked it up. No, it's perfect!

ASHLEY: You shot me! You shot me in the arm!

MATT: Ashton, you're up, with Imogen on deck.

TALIESIN: All right, I would like to fucking rage.

LAURA: To fucking rage!

TALIESIN: Hey! As I do, I start getting the rainbow sparks going in the head and in the hammer. It's going to be a good day. Can I run at the one that it's--

MARISHA: All the stars are out. Sorry.

TALIESIN: Too soon.

MARISHA: Sorry.

TALIESIN: What can I reach on 40 feet?

MATT: 40 feet, you can reach most any of them over here next to Fearne and maybe reach the one that's next to FCG and... 40 feet? Yeah, you can most reach any of them, actually.

TALIESIN: I'm going to hit the one that Orym just stabbed.

TRAVIS: Chicken.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: I'm just going to take a run at it. I'm going to see if I can get it to hit the floorboards.

MATT: Go for it. So, first strike on that one. Normal or reckless?

TALIESIN: Hmm? Normal for now, see where we go.

MATT: You got it.

TRAVIS: Boo.

TALIESIN: 20 something to hit.

MATT: That definitely hits.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: Go ahead and roll damage.

TALIESIN: Where is that? Should've set this up. There we are.

LIAM: (chicken bawking)

SAM: I do not like this.

TALIESIN: 18 points of damage.

MATT: 18 points of damage, you rush up with your hammer.

TRAVIS: Damn.

MATT: Wham! As you impact, you feel the entirety of its chest cavity just crumble, and you watch as its now lifeless body, (whoosh) off the edge.

TRAVIS: Yeah, one down.

MARISHA: That was good.

ASHLEY: Okay, there we go.

TALIESIN: Fore! Are there any other ones within walking range to me, or is that the only one I can--

MATT: No, you can go to this one next to Fearne.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm going to hop in and take another shot.

MATT: Go for it.

TALIESIN: See if I can keep it going and take another swing.

MATT: You got it.

TALIESIN: That's a 14 to hit.

MATT: 14 hits.

TALIESIN: Hey!

ASHLEY: Hey.

MATT: They don't have heavy armor, and they're not the quickest.

TALIESIN: Come on.

MATT: They're flight birds that are very thick.

ASHLEY: (impressively realistic chicken bawking)

TALIESIN: 15 points of damage, another swing.

MATT: You got it.

LAURA: What?

ASHLEY: That's the only animal noise I can do, is a chicken.

MATT: That was to the one that she had struck before.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: Just enough. As you swing back the other one, you impact, and its head just goes (thumps) into the ground. The rest of the body just stands there for a second. The wings twitch, and it crumples over.

ASHLEY: (chicken bawks)

TALIESIN: Rainbow sparks pop up as it hits the ground.

TRAVIS: Damn!

MARISHA: Rainbow? Aw.

MATT: Very cool.

TALIESIN: I could love this. I could do it all day.

MATT: Imogen, you're up, with Laudna on deck.

LAURA: Okay, I'm going to step forward a couple feet.

TALIESIN: Oh, I should've added that.

LAURA: I want to be within 30 feet of the ones at the far end without getting too close, there, that's good.

LIAM: Got that range.

LAURA: I'm going to do my sorcery points to Witch Bolt two of them at once.

LIAM: Flashbacks. Flashbacks.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: (gasps) Cold sweat.

LAURA: At 3rd-level.

MATT: 3rd-level, you got it. Okay, so roll for attack on which two? This one, this one?

LAURA: Yes. And then the one standing next to Fearne.

MATT: Okay, you got it. So, those two there. So roll for this one.

LAURA: Okay. Why am I rolling like that?

LIAM: Only you can say.

LAURA: That one doesn't hit. It's because I rolled like-- oh.

TRAVIS: Neither?

LIAM: Pretty low.

LAURA: Probably 12 doesn't hit.

MATT: 12 does hit.

(shouting, cheering)

SAM: They're little guys.

MATT: What was the first one then?

LAURA: 10.

MATT: 10 does not hit, unfortunately. You missed by one.

TRAVIS: (as Laura) 10?

LAURA: 10!

MATT: But this one over here next to Fearne does hit.

TRAVIS: Fucking 10!

LAURA: Sweet! All right. That's 3d12.

TALIESIN: You're not within 10 feet of me?

LAURA: No. Am I?

TALIESIN: No, okay.

LAURA: That's a 12. This is a 12, this a 12.

TALIESIN: My little sparkly field.

LAURA: Oh! 18 plus, 22 points!

MATT: 22 points of damage to that one.

TRAVIS: Dope.

LIAM: Casters.

MATT: Great.

LIAM: Casters.

MATT: That one (crackling). You see the energies arcing through its body and the panic in its face. You see all of them had this intense, panicked look in their body, like they're crazy and flaring and lashing out. It's horrifying. Does that finish your turn?

LAURA: Uh-huh.

SAM: Did it die?

MATT: No, it didn't die. It looks really hurt, though.

LAURA: The one I hit was the one far or the one close to Fearne?

LIAM: By Fearne.

MATT: It was the one next to Fearne right there.

LAURA: Then I'm going to back up.

SAM: What is their AC?

MATT: I'll just mark that.

LIAM: Retaliation?

LAURA: Yeah, so I'm within 30 feet of that one.

MATT: There?

LAURA: Out of farther range of the other two, I'm going to back up as much as I can with the rest of my movement.

MATT: I'll put you about there. Because you moved about 20 feet forward to get up there and then 10 feet back.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: So you're about there.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Okay, that finishes your turn. You can see one of the other ones that's clawing up the side here.

SAM: No!

MATT: It's squawking, and then something pulls it out of view.

TALIESIN: Oh no.

MARISHA: Oh fuck!

TRAVIS: Oh no.

MATT: This is when you realize that they weren't attacking the ship, they were fleeing to it.

TRAVIS: (screams) No! Matt Mercer, it's a misdirect!

MATT: As (heavy impacts) these massive--

MARISHA: What is this?

TRAVIS: Say it.

ASHLEY: Buddies.

MATT: -- almost bestial, weird, scaled claws hit the side as wings, big, white, leathery wings.

(wings beating)

MARISHA: (gasps)

MATT: As it pulls up and you see a dragon head--

LAURA: No, no, no.

TRAVIS: What the fuck?

(screaming)

MATT: -- and a lion head--

ALL: Whoa!

TALIESIN: Oh no!

MATT: -- and a goat head, as it climbs up.

ALL: No!

MATT: Onto the ship right there. By the way, Ronin picked this.

LAURA: I had a feeling!

MARISHA: I was going to say, I blame your son!

LAURA: I had a feeling!

TRAVIS: He did?!

MATT: Literally, I asked Ronin what monster he wanted you guys to fight next.

(laughter)

LAURA: Buddy. He has an obsession with these guys right now.

MATT: I just taught him about the chimera, and he was like, "Chimera!" I'm like, "All right, man, we're doing this."

MARISHA: That tricksy four year old.

TALIESIN: I watched that conversation!

LIAM: When you die, it'll be very special.

(laughter)

LAURA: It's right in front of me!

MATT: It is.

LAURA: Fuck!

TALIESIN: Somebody's getting grounded tonight.

MARISHA: When you go home and tell him.

MATT: So technically, it would get right into range with both you and Chetney.

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: Since you guys are right there and the first things it sees as it gets on board.

LAURA: No!

TALIESIN: Am I there? No.

MARISHA: Well, this changes what I'm about to do.

MATT: It's going to take a multiattack.

LIAM: A multiattack?

MARISHA: Okay, okay.

LAURA: Cool, cool, cool, cool.

MARISHA: Wait, what?

ASHLEY: Oh my god, he's got all of them.

MATT: Let's see. It gets three.

LAURA: Oh no.

MARISHA: Son of a bitch.

MATT: So the dragon head turns towards you, Chetney.

(exhales)

LAURA: (gasps)

SAM: Oh no!

MATT: It unleashes a blast--

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: -- of fire in your direction.

SAM: It's dragon, goat, lion?

MARISHA: Lion.

TRAVIS: Lion, yeah.

SAM: The dragon can shoot things. What can the others do? Just bite? What can a goat do?

TRAVIS: The goat bleats.

LIAM: Put them up, put them up.

TALIESIN: It's like a sound cannon.

TRAVIS: (goat screams)

MATT: That's going to get Chetney and Laudna, and unfortunately, it's also going to get Terana.

LAURA: Oh no.

TALIESIN: Boo.

SAM: Oh no.

MATT: We'll see if the boat manages to make it okay.

LAURA: Oh no!

MATT: But I need both of you to make a dexterity saving throw, please.

TRAVIS: Okay, cool. Wham!

ASHLEY: It's a leagon.

MATT: More or less, yeah.

SAM: Leagon? Lion...

LAURA: Eagle.

ASHLEY: No, is it an eagle?

SAM: No, it's a dragon.

ASHLEY: Sorry, dragon.

LAURA: That one has different heads.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: 15.

ASHLEY: Lion.

MATT: 15?

SAM: Goat.

MATT: You just fail on this.

TALIESIN: Liduckon.

TRAVIS: Just fail.

MATT: That is 36 points of fire damage to you.

TRAVIS: (screams)

LAURA: Wait, how much?

TALIESIN: What?

MATT: 36 points of fire damage.

TALIESIN: What?!

ASHLEY: Whoa.

MARISHA: 14.

MATT: 14, 36 points of fire damage.

MARISHA: I just got here!

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

SAM: Am I within--

MARISHA: I don't even go here.

LAURA: Wait, you rolled this?

SAM: Am I within 30 feet of either of these people?

LAURA: You did this to us?

TRAVIS: No, no. What?

ASHLEY: He's been wanting this.

LIAM: No, Ronin did this.

LAURA: No, I know, but he rolled it.

MATT: A cone of flame.

MARISHA: I don't think I can Silvery Barbs this, can I?

MATT: It's not an attack roll.

MARISHA: Because it's a dex.

SAM: Am I within 30 feet of her? Or him?

MATT: No, I don't think so.

SAM: (sighs)

MATT: Unfortunately. Where are my... There we go.

TRAVIS: Woo, doggie! Woo, doggie.

MATT: 30 feet is about there. You have, Imogen is in 30 feet.

SAM: Oh no. Okay.

TRAVIS: (exaggerated throat clears)

MATT: At which point, the claws are going to strike out towards you, Imogen.

MARISHA: I'm next.

LAURA: Uh-huh.

TRAVIS: Damn, that's got multiattack.

MATT: That's going to be 18 to hit.

LAURA: Yes. I mean, yes, it does, I don't save.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Damn it.

MATT: You take seven points of slashing-- Sorry, nine points of slashing damage.

TRAVIS: Yes, I mean yes.

MARISHA: Are the chickens still going to be a problem?

LIAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Yes.

SAM: That's it? Just nine points?

ASHLEY: We should let them go.

TALIESIN: If the chickens run, the chickens run.

LAURA: Chickens' turn is in--

MARISHA: Save yourself!

MATT: I will say, as part of climbing in there-- I will say that with its horn attack, it would've actually attempted to strike the other basilisk that was right there. It's just attacking everything that's in the way.

SAM: If I can, Matt, I'm going to take half of Imogen's damage.

MATT: You can.

SAM: Okay.

LAURA: I took nine?

MATT: You took nine, so you take five instead.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: You have four temporary hit points.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: It does strike the other damaged basilisk with its third attack as it rushed up onto the ship, which makes the most sense for what it would've been doing. That would be horns. Oh shit. That is 24.

ASHLEY: Oh!

MATT: That'll do it.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: So with that, the one that you struck, the chimera gores it with one of its goat horns. It hangs off its head for a second before it slumps to the ground of the ship.

LAURA: Let me double check that spell and see.

MATT: All right, that finishes its turn. Laudna, you're up, with FCG on deck.

MARISHA: Immediately going into my Form of Dread.

MATT: Okay, go ahead and roll your die.

MARISHA: Yeah, so I get a d10.

LIAM and MARISHA: Hubida, hubida, hubida.

MATT: This is a slightly buffed chimera--

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: -- for the challenge rating of the party.

LIAM: Looks totally yoked.

MARISHA: It's a buff chimera?

LIAM: Beefy.

LAURA: Totally yoked.

ASHLEY: Big, beefy boy.

MARISHA: So that's an additional nine temporary hit points.

MATT: The mini is from a different kind of chimera, but I liked the white color and I wanted to use it.

LAURA: Yeah, it's cool.

ASHLEY: It's cool, it's cool.

MATT: This is more of a classic chimera as far the heads.

MARISHA: So yeah, Laudna drops on all fours and starts to-- You hear the sound of wood creaking as her flesh starts to turn into an old, rotted bark and branches sprout from her shoulders.

LAURA: Yes!

MATT: That's cool!

SAM: What?

ASHLEY: That is cool.

LIAM: Tree flair.

MARISHA: I skitter back. Am I in its--

TRAVIS: Tree horror.

MATT: No, you are five feet away from it.

TRAVIS: Arbor horror.

MARISHA: Great.

MATT: None of it has reach, so.

MARISHA: None of it has reach, fantastic. Can I, just for flavor, spider climb up onto the deck behind me?

MATT: For flavor, yeah, I'll say you manage to because you could get up to here, if you wanted to, with regular movement.

MARISHA: Yeah, that's fine.

MATT: Yeah, for the flair of this, you spider climb up to the top.

MARISHA: Then I'm going to, because this feels like it's going to be needed, cast Bane on the chimera and these two chickens over here that are squaring up against Orym.

MATT: You got it. That is a failure on the chimera.

TRAVIS: Chickens!

TALIESIN: Nice.

MATT: Bane.

TALIESIN: Bane's going to be great.

MATT: Yeah, take that collar. There we go. Far chicken, failure, and the one closest to me, failure. So that's three Banes out of the gate on this one and this one.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Nice.

MATT: You got it. All righty.

MARISHA: That's my turn.

MATT: That's your turn. All right.

TALIESIN: Solid.

MATT: FCG, you're up, with Orym on deck.

LIAM: Okay.

SAM: It says I'm restrained.

MATT: Correct.

SAM: What does that mean?

MATT: Restrained means--

TRAVIS: Actually, I'm in front of FCG.

SAM: Oh, that's right. That is right.

MATT: Oh, that's right. Yeah yeah yeah.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: That's right, my apologies. So actually, that'll get us-- I somehow missed you on the list here. All right. So Chet, then FCG.

TRAVIS: Yar. So I take out Eshteross' walking stick, and I go: Okay, old man, let's see what you were working with. I'll say: Done! And unleash the scythe within.

MATT: The blade emerges in this flash of light. You can see that low hum coasting over the edge of the blade as you hold it. It feels unnaturally light for its size.

TRAVIS: Ooh! I feel the power! With my bonus action, I'm going to use Blood Curse of Bloated Agony on the chimera.

MATT: You got it.

TALIESIN: Ooh, good one.

MATT: Are you just using a regular blood curse?

TRAVIS: Regular blood curse, no amplification.

MATT: You got it. All right. With that, it is blood cursed. I'll put a red.

TRAVIS: Disadvantage on strength and dex checks, and if it uses more than one attack on its turn, it takes 1d8 necrotic damage. With my action, I'm going to sit there with my dope-ass scythe and go: I need to get distance! I'll cast Invisibility on myself.

SAM: Whoa!

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Wow.

MATT: You go invisible.

TRAVIS: Because I don't help anybody if I stay here with that hit I took.

MATT: Okay, you got it.

TRAVIS: I will use my movement to run up the stairs--

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: -- closest to me, 25 feet.

MATT: 25 feet. Five, 10, 15, 20. 25 will get you right at the top of the stairs right there.

TRAVIS: That's great.

MATT: Since it cannot see you, because technically, looking at the rules, if it cannot see you, it cannot get an attack of opportunity, so you rush past.

TRAVIS: Great, that's my turn.

MATT: All right, you got it. Bringing now to the top of the-- No, to FCG and then Orym. So FCG, what you got?

SAM: You're pretty hurt, huh?

TRAVIS: Yes.

MARISHA: Uh-huh.

SAM: Damn.

MARISHA: Damn.

TRAVIS: Yes.

SAM: I could do some healing. I could do some healing, but then that's all I can do. Oh, Healing Word's a bonus action. Okay, okay, okay. Then I'll take out my saw blade. Am I close enough to saw blade one of the guys in front of me, one of the chickens in front of me?

MATT: You are. The one right there, you can.

SAM: Okay, I will saw blade him.

MATT: Okay, so you move up to saw blade him.

LIAM: Rotisserie.

SAM: Oh boy, that's terrible.

TALIESIN: Weirdly, you have a little red and blue and green spark that hits your saw blade, and you have a plus four to that attack.

SAM: Also, I have advantage on it, because he rolled a natural 20.

MATT: That's right.

TRAVIS: What?

SAM: So yes.

ASHLEY: Oh no!

SAM: Oh shit, what was it? I'll never know.

ASHLEY: I think it was a 15, but.

SAM: Well, now it's a 15.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: There you go.

SAM: Plus a d4, did you say?

TALIESIN: No, I rolled the four. I get to roll it. Add plus four.

SAM: 19 plus stuff.

MATT: That definitely hits.

SAM: Okay, great.

MATT: Go ahead and roll damage.

SAM: 1d6. Three plus one is four points of damage, plus my four temporary hit points.

MATT: Indeed, so eight points.

SAM: Eight points.

MATT: You buzzsaw into the side of the creature. It starts trying to screech as it gurgles in its throat. It pulls away, blood dripping down its body. It looks hurt, but it's still angry and aggressively-- It's not even paying attention to you until you slash it, and then now its eyes are almost focusing between you and the chimera. It looks like it's trying to just escape.

SAM: Imogen's still more than 30 feet away from me.

MATT: She is right now.

SAM: Way more.

MATT: She moved away.

SAM: All right. I'll move towards her as far as I can.

MNATT: Okay, you get-- that's five feet to move in, so 25 more feet.

SAM: Will it get an attack on me?

MATT: Five, 10, 15, 20. 25 would get you about there. It does get an attack of opportunity on you. That is an 11.

TALIESIN: Minus four.

SAM: Miss.

TALIESIN: Or minus a d4, doesn't matter.

SAM: Super miss.

MATT: Yeah, super miss at a seven.

SAM: Great. I'll cast Healing Word at 3rd-level? 3rd-level healing word on Laudna.

MATT: Yep, you got it.

SAM: That will heal her--

MATT: 3d4?

SAM: Uh-huh. Four.

LAURA: Nice.

SAM: Three. Nothing. Three! So that's 10 plus three. 13 points of healing to you, Laudna.

MATT: Healing to you, Laudna.

MARISHA: Oh, well, also, because I have Pâté with me, because he's in my back.

MATT: That's right.

MARISHA: I actually get to heal max damage because he is within 100 feet of me. So, what is the max?

TRAVIS: Max heal?

SAM: So it would've been 15.

TALIESIN: Four, four, four, three.

MATT: That's right, you have that crazy ability.

ASHLEY: Nice.

TALIESIN: I love that one.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Ooh.

SAM: Great.

MARISHA: Sick.

SAM: Is that always, or you have to have something up?

MARISHA: As long as he's within 100 feet of me.

SAM: Amazing.

MATT: For now, I'll just say this is Pâté here next to you.

MARISHA: I get full healing.

TALIESIN: That's badass.

LAURA: Super badass.

TRAVIS: Time to get a Pâté.

TALIESIN: That makes me feel better about everything suddenly.

MATT: We're working on it.

MARISHA: Are we?

MATT: Yeah, now that we have him, I have to work on getting a mini for him.

SAM: Of course we are!

LAURA: What's the red on him?

MATT: The red is the blood curse that he put on him.

LAURA: Got it.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: That's awesome.

SAM: That's it.

MATT: That finish your turn?

SAM: Yep.

MATT: Make a constitution saving throw for me.

SAM: What? Again? Wait, I was able to move even though I'm restrained?

MATT: Oh no, that's right.

SAM: Take it all back.

LAURA: Oh no.

MARISHA: Wait, what? What? What? All of it?

SAM: I was restrained. I was restrained.

LAURA: I thought you shook it off.

LIAM: No.

MARISHA: Did you not heal me?

SAM: No, take it all back.

MARISHA: Fuck.

SAM: 15 back.

MATT: Good for keeping up on that.

TRAVIS: ♪ 15 back ♪

MATT: I literally was staring at the restrained sign on him and just didn't clock it.

SAM: No, none of us did.

MATT: I was thinking too far ahead.

SAM: I'm a dummy.

LIAM: Roll high, Sam.

MATT: That's okay.

SAM: Then instead, I will use my bonus action to cast Spiritual Weapon if I can't heal her, right?

MATT: Yes, you can.

SAM: I'll cast Spiritual Weapon against the beast, against the chimera.

MATT: 20 feet, that'll get about there.

SAM: And I think I can attack, right?

MATT: You can, yeah.

MARISHA: Nine temporary hit points.

SAM: Five.

MATT: Plus?

SAM: Plus my spell casting. What is it?

TALIESIN: Taking the last two rolls.

SAM: It's not going to work. It's not going to work.

TALIESIN: Plus four.

MARISHA: Okay, I understand.

SAM: Okay, so that's nine plus six to hit. 15.

MATT: 15?

LAURA: Did you also add the four from Ashton?

SAM: Yeah, that's with.

MATT: 15 is just what you need to hit.

SAM: Hey! Now, look at that! 1d8 of damage plus three. That's four plus three. Seven points of damage. Oh, the spiritual weapon operates as the thing that chickens hate most, a butcher knife.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MARISHA: Ooh!

MATT: A butcher knife. I'm going to change this out for that.

LAURA: Aww.

TRAVIS: You have a butcher knife?

MATT: It's a--

LIAM: It's a sword.

LAURA: It's a little sword.

MATT: A runic sword, it'll look better.

TRAVIS: It's a butcher knife.

MATT: Actually, I think I do have--

SAM: Sorry you're not healed.

MATT: -- a knife from that first fight over here.

MARISHA: That's okay.

LAURA: Look at the clouds!

MATT: I'll figure it out.

TRAVIS: He just goes (stabs).

SAM: Oh, do I need to make another constitution save?

MATT: I literally still have the mini for the knife from the very first fight we did with the campaign.

ASHLEY: Whoa!

LAURA: Eyy!

MATT: So it's even better. I'll use that!

LAURA: Look at that!

ASHLEY: Look at that! Just look at that.

LAURA: I love that the little knife has just been hanging out by you.

MATT: Yeah, I just had the holder. I don't know. You never know when you're going to need a knife, for instance like this.

LAURA: Ta-da!

SAM: That's right. Do I need to do another constitution save?

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: Yeah, how much damage was that? Sorry, that was?

SAM: Seven.

MATT: Seven damage, okay.

ASHLEY: I'm perfect for this fight.

MATT: And yes, you do.

SAM: Five plus four.

TALIESIN: Plus another four.

LIAM: Put me in, coach.

SAM: Okay.

TALIESIN: I'm rolling real good over here.

MATT: So five plus four. 13? 13 is enough to shake it off.

LAURA: Woo!

SAM: Shake off the--

MATT: You are no longer restrained.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: I will say, without Ashton's help, you would be stone right now.

SAM: Oh.

TALIESIN: Yep.

SAM: Oh, wait, it would get worse?

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: You would just become straight stone.

TRAVIS: Stone.

SAM: Straight stone.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Straight stone.

SAM: That means that she's about to become...

LAURA: Unless she shakes it off. ♪ Shakes it off ♪

MARISHA: Oh, because you gave advantage?

TALIESIN: Anyone within 10 feet of me right now gets a-- I get to roll a d4 for their attack rolls and save rolls.

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: Oh.

TALIESIN: Within 10 feet.

MATT: Does that finish your turn, FCG?

SAM: Yes, it does.

MATT: All right, so now at the top--

SAM: I hate birds!

MATT: (laughs)

MATT: Terana, who is now extremely hurt--

MARISHA: Shithead.

MATT: -- from the fire goes "(grunts)." Rushes forward around the chimera as it's eyeing her, loads one of the weapons into the bolt on the side and pulls it back and is like "(groans)." She holds her arm and kneels on the ground, but that ballista is currently loaded.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: That's going to finish her go. Orym, you're up. Fearne, you're on deck.

LIAM: Okay, Orym throws his head over his shoulders and sees the big monsters and says: Ach, let the big folk handle the big monsters for once! I'm going to drive my blade straight into the wound that FCG made--

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: -- on chicken number one.

MATT: You got it.

LIAM: I'm going to try to help him run away because he doesn't want to be here. That's a pushing attack.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: So he has to make a strength save. If that hits, it's 14 plus eight.

MATT: That does hit.

LIAM: The strength save versus a 16, I think?

MATT: (laughs) It rolled a seven.

LIAM: Okay, so I both stab it and then I go (boof) and knock it 15 feet off the front of the ship.

MATT: How much damage did you deal?

LIAM: Oh, I do... I do... Plus, because it was push. 15 points of damage.

MATT: 15 points of damage. Okay. It falls off the edge and begins to tumble as it catches its wings. It looks heavily damaged, but it's still flying in the air.

LIAM: Then, I draw the blade back out of it as it careens over the side, twirl it around and then squat low into the ground and using the boots, spring towards the other one and shove into that one as well and try to kick it off.

TALIESIN: Damn, fuck!

MATT: Go for it.

LIAM: That is a crappy roll.

TALIESIN: Plus four.

LIAM: Plus four?

TALIESIN: Look at that. Boom.

LIAM: Plus four.

MATT: Rolling really well.

LIAM: Oh, that's going to hit then.

TALIESIN: Rolling really good.

LIAM: That's 15, and they have a low AC.

MATT: They do, it hits.

LIAM: It has to make a strength save against 16.

MATT: That is a one. (laughs)

LIAM: Okay.

TRAVIS: It's disadvantage on strength. Oh, it hits them.

TALIESIN: Plus, they're Baned-- okay, never mind.

LIAM: 15 points of damage and it chickens off the side of the boat.

MATT: Off the side there. Okay. That gets knocked off the side, takes 15 points of damage on that one.

TALIESIN: Oh fuck.

MATT: All right. So they're both just like (slashing) Both of them (shove) off the edge.

LIAM: So boof, boof, turn around. Size up the situation and I'm going to--

LAURA: Boof, boof, turn around.

LIAM: -- run 10 feet and leap and land pretty close to that dagger, magical dagger, the spiritual weapon, and yell at our monster friend: Hey! To try to get its attention and that's the end of my turn.

MATT: You got it.

TRAVIS: Sweet.

MATT: All right. With that, Fearne, you're up.

ASHLEY: All right. I have advantage against spells and other magical effects. Is this restrained thing one of those situations?

TRAVIS: Magical effect?

ASHLEY: Yeah, right?

LAURA: ♪ Is it ♪

MATT: It is magically petrified. Yes, you do.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: So you would've gotten one extra roll to try to get out of it.

MATT: Indeed. So roll once for me.

MARISHA: Come on.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: Not that one.

ASHLEY: It's too late. Oh, okay. 20 total.

SAM: Jeez!

MATT: Okay, so we'll say that you shrug it off because of the magical nature of your fey ancestry. You shrug off the petrification effect.

LAURA: Nice.

TRAVIS: Nice!

MATT: What do you want to do with your turn?

ASHLEY: All right. So, what we're going to do here is I am going to hit it with a Scorching Marisha Ray.

LIAM: Woo! Smoking.

MARISHA: That's what they called me in high school.

ASHLEY: Well, you know. All right.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: We've got-- Well, let me see if it hits first. Okay, so--

MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)

ASHLEY: First one--

MATT: Against which one, the chimera?

MARISHA: For everyone else, yes.

ASHLEY: The chimera.

MATT: Yeah, okay.

ASHLEY: So first one is 25.

LIAM: You've got to quit chain smoking.

MATT: That hits.

ASHLEY: That is 23.

MATT: Hits.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Those are really good rolls.

ASHLEY: This one is--

MARISHA: Get it out of here.

ASHLEY: 15.

MATT: 15 just hits.

ASHLEY: Oh hey!

MATT: So all three hit.

ASHLEY: So.

MATT: So 3d6 plus an additional d8, because of your Wildfire Spirit.

ASHLEY: An additional d8.

SAM: Oh my god.

ASHLEY: Is this also a ranged weapon? Because, it's...

MATT: It's a spell. It'd be a ranged spell attack. It is not a ranged weapon. Why do you ask?

ASHLEY: Okay, okay. Just because I'm also... Because of, I'm learning things, guys.

MATT: It's all good.

ASHLEY: Because of the sneak attack with-- because I took the level in rogue.

MATT: Oh, got you. Sneak attack does not happen with spell attacks, unfortunately.

ASHLEY: Got it, that's what I thought. I figured that, okay.

MATT: No worries.

ASHLEY: I just wanted to double check.

MATT: That's all good.

ASHLEY: Okay. Oh wow, okay.

TRAVIS: Oh?

ASHLEY: So for the first hit, that is 16.

MATT: Okay, and you only roll that d8 one, even though it hits three times. It's because it says one--

ASHLEY: I didn't roll a d8 yet.

MATT: Okay, got you, perfect. So that's 16 for the... Great, great.

ASHLEY: Yeah. I rolled two sixes and a four. Wait.

MATT: What level are you casting? Because Scorching Ray is 2d6.

ASHLEY: It is 2d6. Okay, well, I already did it. I did three, so we'll do the--

MATT: So roll three more.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

MATT: So that's 18 plus-- Or sorry, it's six, six, four.

ASHLEY: 15.

MATT: So 14 plus 15.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: So a six, six, and a four last time, right? So 16 plus...

ASHLEY: Plus--

MATT: 15. So 31.

ASHLEY: Yes.

SAM: Whoa.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: And then--

MATT: So that's it and then you need to roll another d8.

ASHLEY: Okay. I haven't done a d8 yet, so just 1d8?

MATT: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay. A five.

MATT: Okay, so 36 points of fire damage.

ASHLEY: Wait, but I have three Scorching Rays.

LAURA: Because it's third level?

MATT: Well, each Scorching Ray is 2d6.

ASHLEY: I understand what you did. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

MATT: So, since they all hit--

ASHLEY: Yes, yes, yes.

MATT: It was 6d6 fire damage all together. That was how we mixed it up when you rolled the three.

ASHLEY: Yes, okay.

MATT: That's a great freaking round.

TRAVIS: Yeah, it is.

MATT: 36 points of--

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: -- fire damage to it and (booms) all three blast, striking into its side. The head starts reeling around angrily, screeching out into the sky. It's echoing loudly. You can see the remaining basilisks that are climbing up the side of the ship are quivering in response to its screams of pain. That's your action.

ASHLEY: All right. That's my action and now it's Mister's turn.

MARISHA: I don't want to say it.

ASHLEY: Mister's going to throw some flaming shit and--

SAM: Remember, Mister has a gun.

ASHLEY: Let me go to my attacks.

LAURA: Yeah, he's shooting from his gun.

MATT: So he's loading his flame seed into the gun he got from Percival de Rolo?

ASHLEY: Yes.

LIAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: He's getting it locked and loaded.

MATT: (laughs) (whooshes)

ASHLEY: Pooing right into the barrel.

SAM: Ugh.

MATT: Oh god.

SAM: That's how he loads?

ASHLEY: Where's the daggum--

LAURA: Amazing.

ASHLEY: Sorry. Okay. 16.

MATT: 16 hits.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Roll damage.

ASHLEY: Which one can I use?

MARISHA: I'm so tired.

ASHLEY: Which one can I use? I'm going to use this one.

TRAVIS: So tired.

LAURA: He's getting a boat.

ASHLEY: Nine points of damage.

MATT: Nice.

SAM: Wow.

MATT: That is 45 points of fire damage.

TRAVIS: Yo!

MATT: In one round. That's pretty damn slick.

TRAVIS: Yo!

MARISHA: What the--

MATT: All right, are you staying put or do you want to move?

TRAVIS: Excuse me, miss.

ASHLEY: I am going to... Can I move over to the ballista?

MATT: You can.

ASHLEY: And get close, ready to go.

MATT: Yeah, if you want to. Just go over to make it whip it around and you're holding it there?

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: You got it. That finishes your turn. It is now the cockatrices' turn.

LAURA: Cockatrice.

MARISHA: Oh, the chicken.

MATT: They are running away. There were more on the side of the ship, but they are now, with this creature distracted and many of them slaughtered, the rest of them just (whooshes) take off. The ones you knocked over continue to fly away. They all exit.

SAM: Thank.

TRAVIS: Way to help us. Way to be allies.

SAM: Thank the Changebringer.

MATT: (laughs) That concludes their turn. Ashton, you're up.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm going to, seeing that there's no fun left on this side of the ship, I'm going to take a run at the big chicken. Is there a place where I can get to that will nicely flank me in there? Or no?

MATT: Unfortunately, I'd say no because it occupies the space. It's not flying, even though it looks that way in the mini. So to flank it right now...

TRAVIS: ♪ Dick in a box ♪

MATT: Yeah, not really.

TALIESIN: All right, I'm going to make sure that I am somewhere not quite in the way of the ballista, but definitely in--

MATT: If you move here, you could get between Imogen and Orym, if you wanted to get them within your radius.

TALIESIN: My radius is 10 feet, so it's pretty big, so, yeah, I'll stay over there just in case--

MATT: You got it.

TALIESIN: -- something weird happens. Yeah, I'm going slide on up because things are going great and I'm going to try and knock it in one of the legs, see if I can just--

MATT: You got it. Make your strikes.

TALIESIN: Am I going reckless? No, not yet. This is with the d4. That's not great. A 17?

MATT: 17? Hits.

TALIESIN: Dang. Ooh, god.

SAM and TRAVIS: (hyperventilate)

TALIESIN: 13 points of damage.

MATT: 13 points of damage to it? You got it.

TALIESIN: Then, I'm going to keep that rolling around like a terrible, terrible dance move while I'm on the ground and see if I can keep spinning and trying to hit it again.

MATT: You got it.

TALIESIN: Something a little better. Ah, 17, 24, that hits.

MATT: That definitely hits. Damage from the second strike?

TALIESIN: Is four, five, six, seven. 15 points of damage.

MATT: 15 points of damage, you got it.

TALIESIN: I am just a terrible sparkly disco happening right now.

MATT: Whack! Two heavy hits to the side of its torso and body. Its leg (cracks) seems to snap at the knee a little bit before it (crunches) pops it back angrily into place and one of the heads screams in pain. Others, two other seems--

TALIESIN: Give me the goat!

MATT: -- nonplussed.

TALIESIN: I want the goat! Come on!

MATT: (laugh)

TALIESIN: (yells)

MATT: With that, Imogen, it's your turn.

LAURA: Does it look bloody at all? How's it looking?

MATT: It looks like it's taken some pretty heavy hits, yeah.

SAM: That doesn't mean anything.

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: Remember, he's yoked. He might be--

LAURA: He's yoked, he's yoked. He's a yokedy one. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I am going to... Okay, Imogen is going to look around and sees all the chaos happening around her and all of a sudden, she closes her eyes and opens them back up and they're bright red.

MARISHA: Ooh. Ooh, what?

LAURA: As she closes her eyes to all of it, she puts her hands to the side of her head and next to her, a red entity start to form.

MATT: Okay. You all watch as this odd, little pocket in the air just seems to flare like a spiral of red energy and as it (whooshes) empties outward, this creature pulls through made of red immateria. It looks humanoid, but it's not fully there. It just wisps of red energy. It has an elongated head, like it stretches back wider and longer than the thin at the front like within a human skull, like a half xenomorph.

ASHLEY: Oh.

MATT: If you will.

MARISHA: So it's a new spell?

SAM: It's a real new spell.

MATT: And just emerges.

ASHLEY: Excuse me!

MARISHA: You can just summon something?

TRAVIS: What do you mean? What do you mean?

MATT: It's semi-transparent and it just stands there and glides in the space next to Imogen.

TRAVIS: I'm sorry?

LAURA: I'm going to look over at it and think at it: Attack!

MATT: It looks over at you with-- You don't see features. There's no eyes, no face. It's just red energy that's wispy and not fully there as it turns back and goes to strike towards the creature. So roll for the creature's attacks.

LAURA: Okay, so it's immediately anything within five feet. I don't know if that counts me. Has to make a wisdom saving throw.

MATT: Anything that's close to you has to make a wisdom saving?

LAURA: Anything within five feet of this entity has to make a wisdom saving throw.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Including yourself?

LAURA: I don't think myself. I can't imagine it.

TRAVIS: Those are the rules!

MATT: It says any creature. So if you wanted to move it a little further away.

LAURA: Sure.

MATT: Within five feet, you said?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: There you go, you put it there.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: So the chimera wisdom saving throw is a 13.

TALIESIN: Minus--

LAURA: So it fails.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: Minus four.

LAURA: So it's going to do 2d6 psychic damage.

MATT: Cool.

LAURA: Immediately.

MARISHA: Caduceus.

TALIESIN: The Legacy of Clay.

MARISHA: Yeah! (laughs)

SAM: What?

MATT: Legacy of Clay is my favorite reboot of "Legacy of Kain."

TALIESIN: Yeah, it was a solid.

LAURA: Then, it's going to slam out mentally against the creature as well.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: With two attacks.

MATT: Go for it. So roll damage for the psychic.

ASHLEY: The writing's too small. I can't snoop.

LAURA: Oh, it's 2d6, right.

MATT: Correct.

SAM: You're trying to s--

ASHLEY: I'm trying to snoop.

SAM: Snoop it. Just use your phone. Take a picture.

LAURA: Seven psychic.

MATT: Seven points of psychic damage to it, all right. And the two other strikes it's going to make?

TRAVIS: Dang.

LAURA: I'll just do this one. Oh--

MATT: Double spells, yo.

LAURA: Yeah, I rolled 13 for both of those, so plus eight would be--

MATT: Both hit.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Roll damage for the two strikes.

TRAVIS: 15.

LAURA: So that's 1d8.

TALIESIN: I keep forgetting to add my d4 on those.

SAM: Come on.

ASHLEY: Get it.

LAURA: Okay. Six plus three is nine plus four.

MATT: Okay, you got it.

LAURA: For both of those.

MATT: So 13 damage total.

LAURA: No, doubled. Because each hit--

MATT: Oh, I see, I see, I see.

LAURA: -- is 13.

MATT: So 13 each strike?

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Woo!

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Ka-koosh, ka-koosh.

MATT: With that, after it seems to focus towards this chimera and then it just is-- Are these claw strikes?

LAURA: It's actual mental strikes.

MATT: Okay. So it holds it's arms--

LAURA: So they deal psychic damage.

MATT: -- out at the side and you see the red energy at the back of the head seems to intensify and glow and as it does, one of the chimera heads withdraws and you see a streak of red energy flare off of its head as it does so and the other head gets hit with another similar strike and both heads reel like they just had an extreme pounding headache in an instant.

TRAVIS: Wow.

SAM: Cool.

MARISHA: That's cool.

MATT: Is that your turn?

LAURA: Yes.

MATT: Okay, it's looking hurt.

SAM: Ooh! We're getting there.

ASHLEY: Ooh!

MATT: It's now the chimera's go, since it's after you, Imogen. Let's see if it recharges its Flame Breath. It does not.

SAM: Oh, thank god.

MATT: But it is furious and is now going to... It's going to focus its attacks, divided, one at the new creature that just struck it twice.

TALIESIN: Blood Maledict, though?

MATT: Oh yeah, it takes an additional d8 of necrotic damage for doing this. So roll that damage, as it is doing a multiattack.

TRAVIS: Five.

MATT: Another five points of damage to that. The Blood Maledict seeps into its body, punishing it for going all out this round, but it's going to strike the shade once and then you twice, Imogen.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: So it's going to go for a bite against the shade. That is going to be a 13?

LAURA: Nope.

MATT: Misses. The shade just drifts backward, effortlessly gliding behind as the head snatches forward with nothing. The goat head's going to swing wide with its horns towards you, Imogen. That is going to be a 15?

LAURA: Yep.

TALIESIN: No, minus four.

LAURA: Oh.

TALIESIN: Or, minus d4.

MATT: Minus a d4.

SAM: Whoa.

MATT: It's two, so 13.

LAURA: 13 is my armor--

MATT: 13 is your armor class? It still hits you.

SAM: It's amazing.

LAURA: Damn. That would've been good.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I know. That would've been amazing.

MATT: That is going to be 11 points of piercing damage to you.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Actually, no, bludgeoning damage as it slams into you with its goat horns.

LAURA: Oh, in that case, it is 11. Okay.

MATT: Yeah, still 11. Then, it's going to now strike at you with its claws as well as it sees you're the source of this. That's going to be--

TALIESIN: With a d4.

MATT: Yes.

MATT: It's a 19 minus--

LAURA: There's no way. It'll hit regardless.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: You're right, you're right.

MARISHA: How are you looking?

LAURA: I'm okay.

MATT: One. Yeah, so it still hits you. The claws are going to do--

MARISHA: Silvery Barbs!

MATT: Oh, so disadvantage on that, you mean?

MARISHA: Yes.

MATT: Okay, you got it. That is going to reduce it to a 13 minus one.

LAURA: (gasps) Is 12.

MATT: Is 12!

LAURA: Doesn't hit me.

MATT: That misses you. The second one does no damage. Hell yeah!

ASHLEY: Hell yeah!

MATT: That's some team-- ♪ That's fucking teamwork ♪ All right.

MARISHA: I take that Silvery Barbs and, in distracting it, I'm going to take and siphon that mercury-like energy and I'm going to pass it over to Chetney.

MATT: All right.

MARISHA: So you have advantage on your next attack.

SAM: (howls)

MATT: You got it.

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: All right, that finishes its turn as it's now digging in under the surface of the ship. It looks angry. It looks confused by the strange, red entity and it's just now ready to lash out. That brings us to Laudna, your turn, with Chetney on deck.

MARISHA: My turn. Okay, okay. I am going to... I had a whole plan. I am going to--

TRAVIS: ♪ I had a whole plan ♪

MARISHA: -- attack it with two Eldritch Blasts.

MATT: Do it.

MARISHA: Oh god. Fuck me.

SAM: Oh god.

MARISHA: Natural 20 and an 18!

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.

MARISHA: (comically stammers)

LAURA: She comes back stronger.

MARISHA: Okay. Oh god, that didn't count, that didn't count. Okay, for the natural 20, give me big money. Oh, that's good!

SAM: That's 6d4.

MARISHA: So that's 16 plus, so 19 damage on the first.

MATT: 19 damage on the first strike. It impacts the bottom of the jaw of the goat and you watch its jaw dislodge--

TRAVIS: Damn!

MATT: -- from the impact of the force.

LAURA: But is he smart enough?

TRAVIS: Don't worry about the chimera, jeez!

SAM: It's a bird! Kill it!

MATT: So you're Quickening spell?

SAM: Kill it with fire!

MARISHA: Quickening spell, and in my tree-form, I say: Pâté, fly! I'm going to send Pâté over to it.

MATT: "Whatever you say, boss."

MARISHA: And he flies over and he's going to land on the chimera and he is going to deliver a Shocking Grasp.

SAM: Shocking Grasp.

MATT: You got it.

MARISHA: So his little rabies rat teeth, he's like (shocking gnarling).

MATT: All right, roll for his attack.

TALIESIN: Is that within 10 feet of me? Although I don't know if it counts as a creature. That's not a creature, is it?

MARISHA and LAURA: Pâté?

TALIESIN: Pâté?

MARISHA: He's a creature.

MATT: He counts as a creature. I would say, 10 feet.

LAURA: He's more than a creature!

MATT: I'll put him in 10 feet, sure, why not?

LAURA: He's got more of a soul than FCG.

TALIESIN: Jesus!

SAM: Well, hey now!

LAURA: What?

MARISHA: That's real bad.

MATT: You keep rolling four.

MARISHA: It's probably not going to do anything, nine.

TALIESIN: Plus four.

MATT: 12, that does miss, unfortunately.

MARISHA: Okay.

SAM: Nine plus four is 13.

MARISHA: That's okay.

TALIESIN: That's 13 actually, yeah.

MATT: That was with your spell attack bonus, right?

MARISHA: Correct.

MATT: Yeah, okay, yeah, so he goes to strike, and right as you--

MARISHA: 13, you said?

MATT: 13's not enough. Goes to bite and it bucks him off the side and goes, "Oh, goddamn it, sorry!"

MARISHA: We'll try next time.

MATT: "Out of practice, first time, you know." All right, does that finish your turn?

MARISHA: Yes.

MATT: All right, with that, Chetney, you're up, with FCG on deck.

TRAVIS: Amazing! Oh, I'm going to shift over to the right a little bit and rock back on my heel, and I'm going to take the scythe, I'm going to take Turmoil and I'm going to take the blade and I'm going to lick it, ah! And cast a Blood Maledict on it and get a little stuff going here. Six points, that hurts, ouch! Cut myself in my fucking tongue.

MATT: Is this a flame-based?

TRAVIS: Yeah, it's flame.

MATT: The whole scythe blade is now wreathed in bright red orange fire.

TRAVIS: Flaming scythe, it's invisible. Although it's magic, so do I become visible again?

MATT: Well, you're not really casting a spell or an attack, so.

TRAVIS: It's not really a spell. So I rock back on my heel and I'm going to jump off the ledge and swing towards the chimera.

MARISHA: Yes!

ASHLEY: Yes!

MATT: Now, you become visible, middle of the air, you see leaping in the sky, back behind a flaming scythe, just (screams) and back towards the chimera, roll your attacks.

TRAVIS: Dope, I have advantage on these attacks because of Laudna.

MARISHA: You do.

MATT: On the first attack.

MARISHA: -- first attack.

TRAVIS: On the first attack.

MARISHA: Come on, make it big! Whoa, that's got it, buddy.

TRAVIS: Yeah, 26.

MATT: That definitely hits, and the second strike?

TRAVIS: The second one is 19.

MATT: Both hit.

TRAVIS: Great.

MATT: As you leap down, I take it next to Imogen?

TRAVIS: Yes.

TALIESIN: Yeah, would've been.

TRAVIS: 12 points of slashing damage, or I'm sorry, nine points of slashing damage, three of fire.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: So 12 total.

MATT: 12 total, you got it.

TRAVIS: And then the second one. Yeah, dope, seven, and 11, 11 points. Four of which are fire.

MATT: Okay, are you adding the additional d8s on these?

TRAVIS: Oh. The d8? (shouts) Oh! Thank you, first time using this weapon. Thank you very much.

MARISHA: Oh, from your dope cane?

TRAVIS: Yes, actually remove four points from that last one because it should be six additional from the blood and then the thunder damage if it hits.

SAM: Whoa.

TRAVIS: Because this thing's fucking cool. 1d8. Six. Second one. Six. 12 points of thunder damage as they slice across.

MATT: There you go, so as you jump in the air, you hack down, the blade gets stuck in the part of the throat as you push down, it glides to the ground, splitting open part of its neck. And as you then arc it upward, it sticks up underneath the dragon head and it comes through the throat, up into the roof of its mouth, and the head's lodged on it right now as you have to holding it in place. It's looking pretty hurt.

TRAVIS: Caw!

LAURA: Close to the red entity, Chet, you're going to start hearing a cacophony of painful whispers in your head.

MATT: (creepy whispering) Make a wisdom saving throw.

TALIESIN: Is he within 10 feet of me?

MATT: He is.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: No, he's not. He's actually on the other side of you.

TALIESIN: Never mind. Yeah.

TRAVIS: I have advantage on wisdom saving throws against magic? Or is this not magic?

MATT: Is it a magical effect?

LAURA: Let me double check. It might be at the start of my creature's turn, I'm just letting you know.

MATT: Does it say the start of a creature's turn?

LAURA: Yeah, so you're fine.

MATT: So you're fine.

TRAVIS: No problem.

LAURA: Just letting you know, you can hear it as you get closer.

TRAVIS: No, I don't think so.

MATT: FCG, you're up.

SAM: I'll move closer to the melee.

TRAVIS: That's normal to me.

MARISHA: That's pretty good.

SAM: (rapid breathing)

LAURA: Do it.

SAM: I guess I'll first use my, ooh, wait, all my healing is bonus actions. Well, he's almost dead. He's almost dead, right? All right.

MATT: He's looking pretty hurt.

SAM: I'll attack twice then. I'll attack with, a little door will open up on my shoulder and shoot out a gout of flame, Sacred Flame.

MATT: All right, so dexterity saving throw.

TRAVIS: Changebringer!

SAM: Yes, dexterity saving throw, 14.

MATT: 14, that is a 12.

SAM: He missed. I mean, he failed. So that's seven points of damage, radiant.

MATT: Radiant damage? So as it opens up, the flame gout slams into the side, the flames burn and curl. One of the heads curls back and looks, and you can see it's the uni-horned goat now with the other side broken off. The weird square eyes are staring at you from a distance.

SAM: Oh, I hate square eyes. I will use my spiritual butcher knife to chop at that head.

MATT: Go for it. Roll an attack.

SAM: I get advantage because someone else got a Nat 20.

MATT: That was Laudna.

SAM: 11 plus.

MATT: Well, was Laudna within 60 feet of you?

SAM: Yes.

MARISHA: You should be.

SAM: Oh, I mean, I was at the other side, but it's got to be, right?

MATT: Yeah, you would've been.

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: Cool.

MARISHA: Got to be!

SAM: Got to be. This is Spiritual Weapon. 11 plus six, 17 to hit.

MATT: That hits. Roll damage for the Spiritual Weapon.

SAM: That is a...

LIAM: The butcher knife.

SAM: Six plus three, nine points of damage.

MATT: Nine points of damage to it, great. Does that finish your turn?

SAM: That's all my turn.

MATT: All right, that brings us now the top of the round. Currently, Terana, who loaded the ballista, Fearne has, it goes, "You got this," and then is going to turn around this side and is going to attempt to go up the side of the stairs there to get away. The chimera does get one attack of opportunity against her as she tries to rush away, and it's going to be five plus eight.

TALIESIN: Minus d4.

MATT: It's a 13, which would hit, but it is a minus d4, 11 which misses. So as it strikes another one of its claws, does the running from Stay Puft Marshmallow Man hand on top of the building, and goes, just barely leaps out of the way in time. Rushes up the stairs.

MARISHA: He gives us d4s.

SAM: Got it, you negate.

MATT: Yes.

SAM: Got it.

TALIESIN: The large print giveth, the small print taketh away.

MATT: Orym, you're up, Fearne, you're on deck.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LIAM: Okay. Orym quickly runs up the length of Ashton's warhammer and as I hit your shoulder, I say: Sorry, Ash! And spring--

TALIESIN: Into it!

LIAM: -- off of his shoulder. Their shoulder.

TALIESIN: That's not great.

LIAM: And land on the goat head, and I'm going to stab this bastard in the eye.

MATT: You got it.

LIAM: Make a goading attack.

SAM: (goat bleat)

LIAM: That's a 19 plus stuff, 27.

MATT: That hits.

LIAM: It has to make a wisdom save versus 16.

MATT: That is a natural 18. So it's 20.

TALIESIN: Minus d4?

MATT: So 17.

LIAM: Still makes it, five, six. Five is 11, plus the eight. So that's 14 for that hit.

MATT: 14 damage, okay. You slam down, arc into it, carving past. You hit a tendon and one of the heads hangs limp. It's still alive, but it's having a hard time holding itself up and it's like, (monstrous groans).

MARISHA and SAM: Oh!

LIAM: Cool. I will follow up and go for the other eye and try to do the same thing. That is a seven plus eight is 15 to hit.

MATT: 15 just hits.

LIAM: Just hits, okay. So that is four plus six is 10, 14 points of damage for that.

MATT: 14 points of damage, all righty.

LIAM: And then I'm going to back--

MATT: It's looking real hurt.

LIAM: -- back flip off this thing's shoulder, land in front of Imogen, back her up and throw the shield up, using Bait and Switch and giving Imogen eight points to her AC.

(cheering)

LAURA: To my AC?

LIAM: Shield up.

LAURA: Oh shit.

TRAVIS: Damn!

MATT: That finishes your go?

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: Fearne, you're up.

SAM: Get off my airplane.

ASHLEY: How do you already do this thing again? I'll get locked and loaded into the ballista.

MATT: Oh, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

SAM: Get off my sky-plane.

LIAM: You had to make, sorry, a wisdom save on the second attack as well.

MATT: Natural 20.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: Sorry.

LIAM: That's fine.

MATT: It's how it works sometimes.

LIAM: Yep.

MATT: Okay. All right, so you are aiming this ballista at it. It is point blank, so I'll give you advantage on the attack roll because it's literally right there.

ASHLEY: This is a little close, but.

MATT: So roll a d20, adding plus six, but you have advantage. So if you hit a 15 or higher.

ASHLEY: Okay. Yeah, okay. 20 total.

MATT: Okay, well it's 4d10 damage, so roll a 4d10.

ASHLEY: All right.

LIAM: That'll do it.

TALIESIN: That might do it.

ASHLEY: That might do it.

MATT: It takes two actions to fire, to load and fire, but it does some very decent damage if you can hit.

ASHLEY: Okay, nine for the first hit.

MATT: Well, it's all one, it's one hit. So you just roll.

ASHLEY: It's one hit, okay.

MATT: So just add them all together. So nine plus.

ASHLEY: 10, total, 12, come on.

LIAM: You got this, Fearne.

ASHLEY: 19.

MATT: 19. How do you want to do this?

(cheering)

MATT: So this is a massive ballista bolt; it's about more or less five and a half, almost six feet long.

SAM: Good god.

MATT: Like solid metal with a hooked blade at the front.

LIAM: Almost point blank range.

ASHLEY: Oh, right.

MATT: It's like 10 feet from you. You release it.

ASHLEY: I'm going to make a kabob. So it's going to go straight through and then straight through the dragon's mouth.

MATT: Okay, it starts to fly up a bit and then suddenly the rest of you hear this ting, and watch as its wings shoot out heavily, and the impact of it sends it tumbling up and over the edge.

TRAVIS: Damn!

MATT: And it just limply falls out of the sky like a gnat that was swatted, and you watch it vanish into the sky below and off the side.

SAM: Ho oh! Yeah.

ASHLEY: That was a bit much.

LAURA: Wow.

SAM: Get off of my aeroplane.

ASHLEY: Get off my airship!

TRAVIS: That was cool, ah, ah.

LAURA: Oh, get away, just step away from it, Chet, step away!

SAM: What's that? What is it? Oh!

ASHLEY: What is that?

SAM: Is he going crazy again?

LAURA: I'm going to tell it to move away from everyone.

SAM: What is that?

TALIESIN: Yep, yep, yep.

ASHLEY: What-- is this thing with us?

LAURA: Yeah, I think so.

SAM: But it hurts us, too?

LAURA: Well, I mean, he just hurts everyone.

SAM: Now three out of seven of us are hurting each other.

ASHLEY: Wait.

TRAVIS: Is he friendly? I'll go over and try to touch the leg.

TALIESIN: Oh.

MATT: You go over and touch it?

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: Your hand passes through it. It does have some resistance, but it passes through it like it's partial material. It's almost ethereal.

TRAVIS: Is it cold inside?

MATT: It doesn't have a temperature beyond the air around it. Make another wisdom saving throw.

TRAVIS: Yeah! With advantage. 15.

LAURA: Oh no.

MATT: So you take...

LAURA: 2d6.

MATT: 2d6 psychic damage. The whispers that are in your brain. (creepy whispering)

LAURA: Seven point of psychic damage.

MATT: (impactful slices) Strike through and it becomes--

SAM: Ooh!

MATT: -- this threatening assault of hundreds and hundreds of thoughts and emotions all at once.

SAM: I'll take half that damage.

MATT: And you guys watch as Chetney's nose begins to bleed.

TRAVIS: Aah!

LAURA: Step away from it, Chet.

TALIESIN: Wow, okay, that's a--

ASHLEY: Do they just stay?

LIAM: Yeah, what happens now?

TALIESIN: What is this?

LAURA: I don't know. I've never done something like that before.

TALIESIN: I kind of want to hit it, but I also if I hit it, does it hurt you? Like, does it go, do you swallow it?

LAURA: I don't think so.

TALIESIN: How did that even--

TRAVIS: (pained) Make it go away. Make it go away.

LAURA: I'm going to--

SAM: ♪ Make it go away ♪

LAURA: -- tell it: Can you leave us?

MATT: (sucking evaporation) It folds back into that same spiral space of energy and it is gone.

TRAVIS: Did you raise your hand earlier when we were talking about people that would fuck up the entire group?

LAURA: I did actually, yeah.

TRAVIS: Okay, interesting.

TALIESIN: Wow.

ASHLEY: Wow.

MARISHA: I mean, that's incredible.

LIAM: And they flew off into the sunset.

TALIESIN: I wonder if they'll make it work.

(laughter)

SAM: Wow.

MARISHA: So you don't...

LAURA: I don't know exactly where that was from, what that was.

MARISHA: How did you know to do that?

LIAM: Yeah, did you try to do that?

LAURA: Not exactly.

TALIESIN: I feel like every time we have an intense fight, you somehow find a glow up, I don't know. Like, every time you bust something out. I'm not complaining, in fact, quite the opposite, but wow. Holy shit.

ASHLEY: Yeah, you fly, especially on ships, on our airship.

LAURA: Oh yeah, maybe I should just stay on an airship forever and I become all powerful.

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

LAURA: Defeat Thull immediately.

ASHLEY: Every time you would fight on the airship, you get a new thing.

LAURA: That'd be awesome.

ASHLEY: (gasps)

SAM: Wow.

MARISHA: Is it a gift from Ruidus?

TALIESIN: I mean, it did have some weird, like the color--

LAURA: I'm not sure.

ASHLEY: Kind of looked like a flare.

TALIESIN: That's fair.

LAURA: It was kind of cute.

ASHLEY: It was really cute.

TALIESIN: Chet, what did it feel like when it bled your nose?

TRAVIS: Oh, it was like all the boys and girls of the world were trying to give me their toy orders at the same time.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Like as if one mind could handle such a thing. And not be corrupted by it.

TALIESIN: That feels very specific. Anyway.

LIAM: Captain Xandis, ship okay?

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LAURA: (laughs)

SAM: Oh yeah, how's Terana doing?

MATT: Terana's looking real rough.

SAM: I'll go give Terana some healing.

MATT: Okay, Xandis goes, "Yeah, this is like how many times-- You're all the best. It's really good. That was very scary and I couldn't really do anything but try and, you know, drive the ship or it would go away and make us all die. So, very nice, that I could trust on you. Haven't seen one of those before. That was crazy."

TRAVIS: (laughs)

TALIESIN: That was pretty nuts.

TRAVIS: Xandis is just chill.

LIAM: We trust on you, too.

MATT: "Hey, as long as you kill the things that come to try and defeat the ship, I'm happy."

MARISHA: Xandis, how far away are we from the jungle?

MATT: "Last time, from the jungle? Maybe like a day. We're getting pretty close."

SAM: That's where we're going first, right?

MATT: "We're about three days away from Yios, so somewhere in this kind of sort of pathway we're going."

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, because we're going the--

LAURA: We're almost out of the Hellcatch, though, yeah?

MATT: "Yeah, no, we're just cresting over. So just pay attention, maybe, you know, let's not have any more chickens or bigger chickens."

TALIESIN: I appreciate that, by the way, but for the record--

LIAM: Hmm?

TALIESIN: -- when this is going, I feel great. Don't worry about that.

LIAM: Copy that.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MARISHA: I kind of want chicken now.

TALIESIN: Oh man, I want a goat.

LAURA: Too bad it went over the side with it.

MATT: See Denalia, the large bugbear cook comes from below who is holding a mace ready to come and join the fray, he goes, "Oh, whoa, I think we have chicken. Let me see what I can do." Puts the mace back down and goes back down into the--

MARISHA: Denalia.

TRAVIS: Nice.

LAURA: Well, great.

MARISHA: All right.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LAURA: That came out of nowhere.

SAM: Sure did.

ASHLEY: It really did.

MARISHA: Now what?

SAM: I guess we keep going.

LIAM: I guess dinner.

TALIESIN: Chicken, chicken?

MARISHA: Chicken dinner.

TRAVIS: A good dinner and a rest before we look out for a landing spot. Oh.

MATT: All right. So now that completes the seventh day of this journey.

TRAVIS: Long rest?

MATT: Long rest is complete.

TRAVIS: Thank god!

MARISHA: Long rest.

MATT: So approximately two and a half to three days of travel as it looks, you see now the Hellcatch Valley beginning to vanish as the approaching mountain range now gives way to what you know to be the Gloomed Jungles of Aeshanadoor.

MARISHA and SAM: ♪ Aeshanandoor ♪

MATT: This expanse of mountains on the left hand side is mountains that keep in and separate the Stratos Throne from Aeshanadoor, from the Taloned Highlands where you grew up. You know these to be the Kaal Mountains, but the jungle below is not the verdant green that you're familiar with. Instead, you see this massive gorge before you that the mountain ranges surround and this rolling jungle of a unique color and pattern, like a textured blanket of canopy that's a patchwork network of white, pale white, and gray and jet black with perfunctory bursts of blue and purple and red in rare splotches. So it's not like a jungle you've seen before. These are the Gloomed Jungles. You can just barely see visible river banks that occasionally peek through some of the tree spans, small rising mountain clusters that break past the canopy and add these almost discorded teeth across this shifting rolling blanket. You can also see patches of mist-swallowed swamps that dip into the lower parts of the hillsides as the sprawling jungle continues to shift in height and depth, consuming the valley floor for miles and miles and miles and miles. And that's where we're going to take a break. And we'll roll for the rest of these when we get back. Because it's time for us to take a break, it's been a little bit.

<!-- BREAK BEGINS

SAM: Oh my god.

LAURA: Yeah, that was awesome. I was trying to draw it as you were describing it and it ended up looking like a mouth with pubes stuck in it.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Draw me like one of your tree maps.

TRAVIS: Why?!

LAURA: It was teeth. I was drawing the teeth and then there was, I drew curly things for the, and I was like: This doesn't look right.

LIAM: (inaudible mumbling)

MATT: You can take the drawing away from Laura, but you can't take the Laura out of the drawing. All right, we'll pick up here on the eighth day heading into the Gloomed Jungles of Aeshanadoor.

MARISHA: Are you saying gloom?

MATT, LAURA, TALIESIN: Gloomed.

MARISHA: Gloomed?

MATT: Yeah, G-L-O-O-M-E-D.

MARISHA: Gloomed.

LAURA: I want to see them in person. I want to see what that really looks like.

TRAVIS: Yes, please.

MATT: I'll get on it.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Figure that out.

LAURA: Kaal Mountains, right, the Kaal Mountains?

MATT: The Kaal Mountains, yes, spelled K-A-A-L.

LAURA: K-A-A-L.

TALIESIN: I think it's in the notes.

MATT: But yes, we'll be back here to pick up from that here in just a few minutes, hang tight. We'll see you shortly. Narrator: Welcome, this is the Fablemaker's Tarot. In today's reading, we'll look at how to become better TTRPG players using the Misty Step tarot spread. The first card is your current space. What kind of player are you? The eight of swords might indicate you're feeling a bit confined in your current games. The second is your target space. What kind of character do you want to be? The empress card is a sign that you may find inspiration in guiding others at the table. The third is teleportation. How do you get from card one to card two? Ah, the king of chalices. He represents council and devotion. If you're finding yourself seeking change in your games, it may be time to step up as a mentor or teacher, either in game or out. Thank you for joining our reading. Be sure to try out the Misty Step and other spreads with the Fable makers animated tarot deck and guidebook, available now at animatedtarot.com. (high tensity music) (gentle music) (high tensity music) (gentle music)

(gentle music)

MATT: Several months have passed since the threat of Cognouza and Exandria sleeps soundly, never knowing the horrors it could have endured, if it weren't for the bravery of a few unsung heroes. And, now, in the shadow of an old threat, the Mighty Nein must stand together once again. Exandria may never know their names, but we do, the Mighty Nein, reunited Narrator: The year 1995, a new phenomenon is reshaping the world. It's called the internet. Five teenage hackers are assembled by a top secret government agency. Their techno mission, save the information super-highway, or die trying. They are the Code Monkey. The Hardware Whiz. The Gamer Geek. The Dark Web, Robin Hood, and the Dude with the Car. If these computer whiz kids can hack the code without being sliced, they will become, Generation Nord. (electronic music) Laura: Hey, Critters. Laura Bailey here to guide you through what's new in the Critical Role shop. (gentle piano) Style should be a dump stat darling. Oh, so comfy cozy. This holiday season, give the gift of effortless style. These holidays, you know, they're just around the corner. This is seriously magical. Roll an investigation if you want, It's basically perfect. Awe, there's so mini. And, hey, if you want, you could head over to the Critical Role shop right now. (gentle piano music) (menacing music) (gentle orchestrated music) (typewriter clacking) (peaceful music) Narrator: When the forces of evil threaten Exandria, these heroes are there to answer the call. Taliesin: I'm Super Scanlan, with my Critical Role Twitch subscription, I can watch all my favorite CR shows before they come out on YouTube. Take that evil doers! Ashley: Here comes Jester, with her Twitch subscription to Critical Role. She can access gnarly emotes and post links in the chat, too. Taliesin: Radical! Ashley: Boosh! ...Oh no! Here comes some trolls to jam up our live chat. Taliesin: Don't worry, Laudna will stop them with the help of Critical Role's Professional Moderators. Ashley: She's spooky, but I like her. Here comes Laudna's friend Chetney. He has an Amazon Prime membership, which gives him one free Twitch subscription of his choice. Of course, he subscribes to Critical Role. It's the power of teamwork. Die, die, die! Taliesin: I'm spooky. Ashley: I cast Agonizing Bolt! Taliesin: Scanlan's Hand! Ashley: Stab 'em Chetney Ashley: And look, there's Caleb with the power of introspection and existential dread. (cows mooing) Taliesin: Now that we've defeated all the bad guys, let's gift subscriptions to other users. You can do that by name or randomly. Matthew: Taliesin, Ashley, please. I've told you so many times just don't play with those, okay? They're super fragile, custom made, custom painted. You know what? We have to film in about 30 minutes, so why don't you two just come with me. Come on. (clicks tongue) (footsteps receding) Ashley: Oh, it's Major Buzzkill here to take away all our fun. (indistinct exclamations) Ashley: Is it Thursday yet bitch? Taliesin: You can certainly die! Ashley: Oh! Good one. Taliesin: Loot his corpse! Take his vest! Ashley: Goooosh! Matthew: Would you please stop that?! (fast bright music) Ashley: Grog smash! Narrator: Subscribe to Critical Role on Twitch and collect all 21 action figures. Alternate forms and familiars not included.

MARISHA: Ha, ha. Oh no.

BREAK ENDS -->

Part II
MATT: And welcome back.

TRAVIS: Shame on you.

TALIESIN: Boo.

MATT: So, coming back into the seventh day of travel here, we have begun to crest over the Gloomed Jungles of Aeshanadoor.

TRAVIS: Oh! (laughter) Did you fart out of your mouth?

ASHLEY: It sure fucking felt like it.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: So weird.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: I'm real sorry, Matt.

LIAM: Matt, you really set the mood.

MATT: I don't know why I try.

ASHLEY: I was trying to keep it on the--

(laughter)

LIAM: He got half a sentence out, and Ashley vomited her kidney out on the table.

MATT: Look, look, look.

TALIESIN: Takes me back. That's a vibe.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

MATT: I'm hollow inside now, guys. There's nothing left.

TRAVIS: I wasn't looking. All I heard was a fart.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: I was really trying to make that quiet.

MATT: It's all good.

ASHLEY: So I think that's why it went (explosion).

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Someone roll a d20, please. (laughs)

LAURA: Oh god. Who's up? Wait, no, it's not your turn.

SAM: Yeah, we went all the way around.

ASHLEY: Isn't it Marisha's turn?

TRAVIS: It is, yeah.

TALIESIN: It's Marisha's

ASHLEY: No, but he just went.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I rolled the chimera.

MARISHA: That one was pretty good, though.

LAURA: Yeah, it's Marisha's turn.

SAM: Okay, it's Marisha's turn.

LIAM: Roll a one.

MARISHA: But can we just--

LIAM: Roll a one!

MARISHA: Oh, my god.

LAURA: No.

MARISHA: Three. Isn't that what you rolled?

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: Roll a d6 for me.

LAURA: Oh, no.

SAM: Maybe it'll be different.

TRAVIS: Just roll a four, five, or six.

LAURA: Just a one or a two.

TRAVIS: Four, five, or six.

LIAM: Six.

TRAVIS: Four, five, or six.

MARISHA: One or two?

TALIESIN: ♪ For the last time ♪

TRAVIS: Four, five, or a--

SAM: Just roll one!

MARISHA: This one. Shut up.

LIAM: Roll high.

TRAVIS: Six!

MARISHA: Three again.

TRAVIS: Three.

SAM: No, I think last time it was two.

MATT: No.

MARISHA: No, he rolled a three.

MATT: So when one's used in the journey, then it transitions into the lower numbers.

TRAVIS: The lower or the higher?

MARISHA: The lower or the higher.

MATT: No, the lower.

TRAVIS: Damn it.

MARISHA: Or should I just reroll?

MATT: No, no. So.

MARISHA: No? Okay. Now what?

SAM: Ca-caw!

MATT: The previous hours of the morning, you noticed some of the grayer skies that were guiding you towards the southern reaches of Aeshanadoor, the beautiful odd expanse before you. But the mists grow thicker. The temperature grows colder. The sky grows ever, ever darker. Eventually you begin to feel the first hits of rain.

TRAVIS: Rain?

MATT: The storm begins to take over here.

TRAVIS: (shivers)

MARISHA: Shit, you never put your clothes back on?

TRAVIS: (continues shivering) Captain Xandis, do you have any like, you know, raincoats, ponchos, anything?

MATT: "No, I'm just a driver."

TRAVIS: Oh, okay. (shivers)

LAURA: Couldn't you mend his clothes, Laudna?

TALIESIN: I assumed you had the hat. Oh, you messed up all your fucking clothes, didn't you?

TRAVIS: No, no, no. They're fine. I mean, they just, you know.

LAURA: Do you want your hat back?

TRAVIS: I have to sew them a lot.

LAURA: I just found it on the deck of the--

TALIESIN: You're wearing that?

TRAVIS: It traps heat real good.

TALIESIN: You don't know where that's been.

TRAVIS: Keeps my dome--

ASHLEY: I have a bunch of ribbon, we could fashion a little--

LIAM: Riddled with fleas.

TALIESIN: I was going to say.

ASHLEY: -- a little 'fit for you.

LAURA: Basket weave sort of shirt.

TALIESIN: Fleas and bedbugs.

TRAVIS: I'm fine.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: Ping, ping.

(laughter)

MARISHA: Oh. He's wielding four chisels.

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Multiattack.

ASHLEY: Oh.

(weak laughter)

TALIESIN: Two chisels, two glass cutters.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: (lightning strikes)

LAURA: Oh.

MATT: The first flash of lightning and the sound of thunder begins to roll over before Xandis goes, "Okay, you know, this is probably not the best weather. We're going to take it down for a little bit, and we're going to see if we can wait out the storm. Just get on your stuff. We'll slow down here," and begins to adjust the controls for the intensity of the brumestone, as the ship begins to head down towards the canopy of the jungle and ride low. As it does, the water is now falling in heavier sheets. The slickness of the deck becomes a bit of a challenge, as you see some of the various materials and crates and supplies that are kept at the side begin to shift as the ship does, just gliding against the now somewhat dangerously slick surface. [thunder rumbles]

SAM: Cool.

TRAVIS: That was perfectly timed.

MARISHA: So well timed.

MATT: Totally planned. But you are at the northern section of the jungles as the ship slows down. This is going to lose about half a day of travel in trying to push through the storm.

TRAVIS: Damn, this is dope.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Can we camp out in the studio one night? This is awesome!

ASHLEY: Ooh!

LAURA: God, that would be really fun.

MARISHA: Tell ghost stories.

TRAVIS: We don't really get this in California.

ASHLEY: Oh, that would be fun!

LAURA: Can we do that one night?

MATT: Honestly, sleepover night in the studio just us would be awesome.

TALIESIN: We could push the AC.

MATT: Okay, we'll plan something, we'll plan something.

ASHLEY: But if we move the table in here, and then we closed these curtains. Okay.

MATT: Anyway.

TALIESIN: Put a little screen up.

ASHLEY: Let's do it. Sorry.

MATT: Sorry (laughs).

SAM: We'll stream it. Don't worry.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Cook s'mores on a little electric toaster?

MATT: No.

MARISHA: Yeah, the little s'mores makers.

MATT: But.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: Xandis slows down, rests gently atop one of the softer networks of canopy. And plans to wait out the storm, which does extend your journey by another half day or so.

LAURA: Are we already in the jungle, though?

MATT: You're at the very beginning of the jungle. You're maybe six hours in.

TALIESIN: I love the rain.

SAM: We don't know where we're going in the jungle, just that we're going to the jungle?

TRAVIS: No, the instructions were to land in the jungle and then howl, and the Gorgynei will find you.

SAM: Anywhere in the jungle?

MATT: At dusk, specifically.

TRAVIS: At dusk.

SAM: Is it dusk now?

TRAVIS: I can't really tell.

MATT: It will be if you wait longer. At the moment, it is not. But with time, you can wait 'til dusk, if you'd like to.

TRAVIS: Yeah, we're just over the beginnings of the Gloomed Jungle, right?

MATT: Yes, you are.

TRAVIS: Okay. Yeah, so I mean, if we're dropping lower, we could find a clearing or one of the tops of those peaks that's poking through the canopies of trees. If we wanted to navigate down, we could.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

SAM: Yeah, we should.

TRAVIS: Is everyone up for that?

SAM: I mean, we're trying to find out answers about your people?

TRAVIS: Well, yes, but I think also, you know, maybe the Gorgynei could become an ally or a resource for us, you know? I mean, who knows what we're going up against. But the Nightmare King, creepy. So maybe we get some more of our own creepy.

SAM: What do you think they would want, though? What would they get out of that?

TRAVIS: In exchange? Probably furniture, custom pieces. Are you asking outside of that?

SAM: Yeah, why would these folk who've been isolating in a remote place to stay out of the attention of civilization, why would they want to help us?

TRAVIS: Oh. That's true. This is still so new for me. With the recent loss of control, maybe they can teach me to harness it more. Or maybe there's more to unlock. Maybe I just have to dig a little deeper. Maybe I can turn into a three headed werewolf or something.

ASHLEY: Whoa.

TRAVIS: Right?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: So I don't know. It feels like this is what they do.

SAM: Do you like being a werewolf?

TRAVIS: I do. I do. I mean, it's exciting, it's new, it's invigorating. Plus, my senses are so heightened, I can smell everything, hear everything. I mean, I was pretty perceptive before, but it's not like this.

LAURA: Are you smelling-- Oh.

MARISHA: What do I smell like?

TRAVIS: Just dead.

MARISHA: All right.

TRAVIS: But not dead. It's strange.

SAM: What do I smell like?

TRAVIS: Kind of like something crisp. There's almost a tartness on it. It's interesting.

TALIESIN: I can't believe I'm asking this. What do I smell like?

TRAVIS: You have a very earthy scent.

TALIESIN: That's all you got? Okay.

TRAVIS: Well, like limestone, a little bit of shale, marble.

TALIESIN: Thank you.

TRAVIS: And a couple of some of the harder woods. Yeah, petrified wood is a very similar smell.

TALIESIN: I do oil. Occasionally I'll use wood oil. That will happen, like a lemon-- Yeah, yeah.

TRAVIS: I approve.

MARISHA: You know, if you just recently lost control because of the Ruidus flare, what if all of them are undergoing such--

SAM: What if we're walking into a nightmare?

MARISHA: Yes, what if they're all like, "Oh no, we can't control ourselves. Ah!

TRAVIS: Sure, I mean that's the negative way to approach it. Or we can have a positive outlook and it could be like a fucking party. Just a bunch of really awesome werewolves living in a high society, functioning in an exceptional level. I mean, maybe they're like, you know, building towers out of crystal. It could be like Fraggle Rock in there.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Wow!

LAURA: That's true.

SAM: We haven't seen any towers or anything.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

TALIESIN: I feel like if you have issues with moonlight, making transparent buildings is probably a really bad idea actually, the more you think about it.

ASHLEY: Because you can see right in or right through.

LIAM: We've been talking about this for ages. It's hard to get here, and we may never come back.

TRAVIS: Plus, I feel like Ajit Dayal, he knows what he's talking about. He wouldn't have sent us into harm's way.

MARISHA: I mean, it's a good point. They're in this den-- It's not really a-- Is it a dense jungle? Does it look like a dense--

MATT: It's a very dense jungle. Every now and then, you see slight gaps in the canopy that show glimmers of river or undergrowth. There is one major road that you see that is carved out of the Hellcatch that leads into Aeshanadoor that you would know is known as the Chalkstep Road. But even that vanishes into the canopy and only emerges at times when it gets to the higher part of certain ridges where the trees are a bit thinner. There are rock mountain outcroppings that, while mostly overgrown, you do see the deep, red, almost brown stone that then juts out, almost like solitary teeth.

LIAM: Well, maybe spend a couple of days hopping from outcrop to outcrop so that we have a getaway in case things do not go well.

MATT: (Xandis) "I do see something that's poking through down there. If you want to look over the side."

TRAVIS: I'll take a look.

MATT: You glance over and you see, a little ways off the road, what looks to be a structure, or at least the remnants of a structure. Make a perception check.

SAM: Guidance. Is it a crystal tower?

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: Oh!

TRAVIS: Oof.

MARISHA: Ouchies.

TRAVIS: Natural one. Two.

SAM: Plus one.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: A three.

MATT: Hard pressed to make out much detail from it.

ASHLEY: May I take a peek?

MATT: If you want.

ASHLEY: Just because I'm peeking over the edge with him.

MATT: It's too hard to see in the storm.

ASHLEY: ♪ I'm on the edge ♪

MATT: The strong mists. It looks like the shadow of a massive middle finger.

SAM: Whoa.

MATT: Just looking right at you.

TRAVIS: From Ashton.

LAURA: Do you want somebody to help lift you up? Maybe you can't see anything, because you can't actually see over the side of the ship.

MARISHA: Does Chetney need a boost?

TRAVIS: All right, listen.

LAURA: You need a little boost?

LIAM: That's all. That's her help, is just doing this.

ASHLEY: 24.

MATT: 24. You pop over Chetney and glance over, and you can see plainly through the mist as it shifts by a military outpost. Some sort of a stone built watch tower with a small fortress battlement, but it looks like it has sustained damaged and been abandoned. There's a section of the tower that remains, like half it had been sundered by some sort of assault. It does not appear to be manned at the moment. Some of it appears to be overgrown towards its base.

TRAVIS: You mentioned black, white, gray in the canopy within these pops of colors.

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Do the trees-- Is there vegetation and leaf on them, or are they dead?

MATT: With a natural one, you have no idea.

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: Can we see the trees from where--

MATT: Yeah, they appear to be trees. I mean, they have vegetation. They have leaves. It looks like it's a textured jungle from this distance. Just the coloration is this odd tapestry. Just this smattering of colors that you don't see often in this sort of flora based nature.

LAURA: Where we're parked, are we at the top of the canopy, or have we gone below the--

MATT: There's nowhere to go beneath the canopy with the size of the ship. The ship will not break the canopy. It's sitting about 10 or so feet off the top of the canopy, and it's slowly gliding across, following the height. That's where you saw the ruin off to the left hand side of the ship.

LIAM: Captain Xandis, while we're waiting out the storm, can we at least pull over closer to those ruins?

MATT: "Oh, yeah. Sure. By all means. We'll go ahead and get the ladder put off the side if you're feeling fancy about exploring. Then we'll, you know, check it out, I guess." Cruises over.

LIAM: Maybe we catch a whiff-- You catch a whiff of your friends.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: They automatically have to accept you, right?

TRAVIS: No, no.

LAURA: Oh, they could not like you at all, and chase us out of the woods?

TRAVIS: Yeah, when I made my way through the Flotket Alps and into the northern part of the Savalirwood, back where I came from, I came across another group of people like me. Rudina, she always said, you learn from the wisest. But there's a pecking order, and you had to kind of earn your place.

ASHLEY: Oh.

TALIESIN: We should have a code word in case you want us to, you know, instantly fuck any of them up.

TRAVIS: Yeah, well, there's a code word amongst the wolves. You say, baa-ram-ewe. (laughs) No.

TALIESIN: Then they'll know we're coming. Yeah.

TRAVIS: No. Yeah.

ASHLEY: Was your friend also a werewolf? Durgy, or what was his name?

TRAVIS: Gurge?

SAM and ASHLEY: Gurge.

LAURA: Durgy.

TRAVIS: Great name.

MARISHA: Durgy?

ASHLEY: Durgy.

LIAM: Durgy Gurge.

MARISHA: Durgy Gurge.

ASHLEY: Durgy Gurgy.

TRAVIS: But he was just the contact in Jrusar. Again, I'm just trying to learn more about this. They, um-- It didn't go well before. So I'm hoping for some instruction maybe.

LAURA: Did they kick you out?

TRAVIS: Kind of.

MARISHA: Did they kick your ass?

TRAVIS: No, no. But I was given kind of a warning. Kind of an ultimatum.

LAURA: What do you mean? What kind of an ultimatum?

TALIESIN: Elaborate.

TRAVIS: Well, they consider it a gift, but it's something they keep kind of, you know, contained. So if you're careless with it, or if it starts to spread, you know, they'll rein that in sometimes.

ASHLEY: What does that mean?

LIAM: Were you spreading it?

TRAVIS: No, no, I haven't been. But I think they are times where it can kind of run amok and people get the wrong idea, or are careless with the gift.

LAURA: So if you would've potentially bitten?

TRAVIS: Yeah, that would be bad.

LAURA: I understand.

TRAVIS: I think you can transmit-- That's how I got it.

LAURA: You were bitten?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: By who?

SAM: By Gurge?

TRAVIS: No, I was just trapping for food in the Savalirwood. I made my way south out of Uthodurn. So, I was just living.

SAM: ♪ Makin' my way ♪

TRAVIS: And doing my own surviving.

TALIESIN: Insight check.

ASHLEY: Insight, yep.

TALIESIN: Nope. You want to both? Yeah.

MATT: Both of you make an insight check. (laughs)

TRAVIS: Oh, Jesus.

TALIESIN: (blows raspberry)

ASHLEY: 16.

MATT: You can roll a persuasion or a deception check, your choice, and then give the answer based on what you think best fits it.

TRAVIS: Persuasion check. 13 plus zero. It's just the truth.

ASHLEY: Oh.

SAM: Insight check.

(laughter)

LAURA: That's a Travis insight check.

ASHLEY: So then would that werewolf be in trouble for spreading it since they bit you?

TRAVIS: Oh, I killed that werewolf.

SAM: How?

TRAVIS: Well, I'm pretty crafty, but he was already a little fucked up. Anyway, he bit me, I killed him, and then he changed back, and that seemed strange. Then there was a group of people that I think were hunting him.

SAM: Oh.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MARISHA: Postmortem he changed back?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MARISHA: Whoa.

SAM: Then did the hunters hunt you instead?

TRAVIS: No. No, I think that's where the choice comes in. They give you a chance to, you know, try and control it, or see if it's going to go the wrong way. Some people lose themselves to it, I guess. They get so excited about the primal nature of it, you know? You could see. Sorry.

LIAM: How quick did it set in?

SAM: Calm down.

TRAVIS: The first moon.

LIAM: The first moon?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: What do you mean that the person who attacked you was fucked up?

TRAVIS: He was already kind of damaged.

ASHLEY: Oh. Oh, I see, I see.

TRAVIS: Yeah. I caught him a trap, a snare. When I went over there, it was just kind of dark. I tried to finish him off, and he fucking hit me, and then he bit me, and I stabbed him in the neck, and I opened him up from navel to--

ASHLEY: Whoa.

TRAVIS: Then I just showered in all of it.

LAURA: Oh, so you were like that before the wolf. I thought maybe that was what made you--

TRAVIS: Look, I take it to the limit, okay? I don't have any half measures. It's all or nothing at 400 plus years old, okay? 500. What did I say?

SAM: You're 500 years old?

TRAVIS: I'm pretty sure it's 500.

LAURA: Roll a d100.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: It's pretty clear that I am--

LIAM: Get that 100.

TRAVIS: 700 years old.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: So wise.

TRAVIS: Yeah. So, you know. But I think that structure still exists, so I'm sure there's somebody that's going to be the alpha, and you know, you just have to submit to that at first and then try and prove yourself. Maybe they'll be able to teach me how to avoid the red flare. Maybe they know more about that. I just don't want to be a danger to this group.

SAM: No, no, you need to have some way of controlling it. Maybe it's a breathing exercise. Maybe you imagine something, like close your eyes and think about a happy thought or a happy place, or what's the thing that you most want to do?

TRAVIS: I love working with wood.

SAM: Well, of course. Yeah.

TRAVIS: I'm surrounded by supple wood.

TALIESIN: It's a forest.

TRAVIS: And the tools. Oh, yes. Well, actually, harvesting the wood can be quite a bitch. Plus, you have to be very selective in your wood choices.

SAM: So this is already prepped wood in blocks?

TRAVIS: Oh yes.

SAM: You're surrounded by--

TRAVIS: Yeah.

TALIESIN: That's a cabin.

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: (laughs)

(laughter)

TRAVIS: A cabin. I have a dream--

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: So, wouldn't you--

TRAVIS: -- to aspire to.

MARISHA: When you run into the Gorgynei--

TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.

MARISHA: -- what do you want us to do? Do you want us to stand behind you like a badass? Do you want to-- You take the lead, of course.

TRAVIS: Well, you know, I think animal behavior is kind of the play, so you don't have to be totally submissive, but maybe, you know, just a little acknowledgement of them.

SAM: If animal behavior's at play, does that mean that you're going to have to challenge the alpha for respect or anything?

TRAVIS: No, no, not unless I wanted to be the alpha.

SAM: But you are the alpha. Doesn't it say that on your arm?

TRAVIS: Recognize the alpha. Recognize. I mean, most people would not look at me and think, yep, there goes an alpha. You have to find it inside of yourself. Recognize it in your day-to-day life. FCG, there's an alpha in all of us.

ASHLEY: That's true.

SAM: Even in me?

TRAVIS: Sure. You don't have to be subservient to anyone. That doesn't mean we're going to not be subservient to the Gorgynei, because they'll fucking tear our heads off.

SAM: All right.

TRAVIS: Right. Yeah, I don't want to lead them. I want to learn from them, I think, and maybe recruit them into our cause.

MATT: "(grunts)" Gordi throws the ladder off the side of the ship.

TALIESIN: Oh, thank god.

MATT: -- disappears off the side as the--

LIAM: Yeah, if you want to find out, you've got to fuck around. You ready?

TRAVIS: I'm ready. Does everyone want to come with? Or maybe I should go first?

SAM: Yeah, of course!

LAURA: Let's all fuck around.

ASHLEY: Wait, are we going to tell them--

TALIESIN: Fuck around then.

ASHLEY: -- that you went to another level when there was a flare, or we're going to leave that alone?

TRAVIS: Maybe we'll get there.

ASHLEY: Okay. You take the lead.

TRAVIS: Just in case I'm like a super werewolf.

ASHLEY: Yeah, because you might be.

TALIESIN: They might not know anything.

ASHLEY: They might not know anything.

TALIESIN: You might be the first they hear of this insanity.

TRAVIS: Insanity, that's a word choice. Okay. Okay.

TALIESIN: Lunacy! Eyy!

TRAVIS: (rapid breathing)

MARISHA: Lunar-cy?

TRAVIS: Stairway. Coming my way down.

LAURA: I follow him down.

MATT: You all begin to climb down, the rain battering you. You keep around you whatever the thickest amount of clothing and protection against the elements you can muster, and one by one, travel down. The rope ladder, at this height, hits and gathers at the top of this tower. As soon as you step on down and land, you can see the canopy is maybe about 15 feet below the apex of this. You can see a mounted structure where maybe a spy glass of some kind was once there, but it has since been pulled off of its mooring and is nowhere to be seen. The stone-- top of this tower is about half crumbled and vanished below, and it looks like most of the tower's fallen inward except for this one little portion of the top, which is about 15 by 10 feet. So, all of you stepping onto it, it's pretty close quarters. But it looks like there's at least enough of the tumbled ruin down below and some of the roots and vines that have since been draped over or have grown through the broken stone that you could probably climb down without too much of an issue to the lower portions, if you'd like.

LAURA: Is it still stable?

LIAM: Is it still raining on us?

MATT: It is still raining on you, yeah.

TALIESIN: Does it feel stable?

MATT: It feels stable enough where you're standing.

TALIESIN: Okay.

TRAVIS: You two asked the same question at the same time.

TALIESIN: Oh, we did, yeah.

TRAVIS: You apologized to each other, and then he asked the same one.

MATT: It was pretty great. It was pretty great. I thought you were clarifying for me multiple times. I was like, I get it, I get it, jeez!

TRAVIS: You're on the same wavelength.

LAURA: (high-pitched) Can I cast Mage Armor on myself, please?

MATT: You may.

LAURA: Thank you.

TALIESIN: Do we want to be a little quiet? I can help us be a little quiet.

LAURA: Seems nice.

SAM: Well, we want to find these people, right?

LAURA: Sure, but nothing else.

TRAVIS: I think they come to us. I wouldn't venture into these woods.

SAM: Since they're such a smell-based people, should we make a smell so they can sense us?

TALIESIN: FCG, other than being named after one, can you make one?

SAM: I don't smell things. I don't know how it works. Can you guys produce a smell at will?

LAURA: Fearne, do another mouth fart.

TALIESIN: Some of us.

ASHLEY: Let me drink some more Dr. Pepper.

(laughter)

MARISHA: Well, we already have instructions on how to find them, I think we're just--

SAM: But I have incense or something, if you wanted to--

MARISHA: We howl. We howl at dusk.

TALIESIN: I feel like I've asked you before, why do you have incense, if you can't smell?

SAM: (whispers) All right, it's a spell component.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: I was soft balling.

SAM: I found it!

TRAVIS: Do we remember, as the storms were rolling in--

SAM: Because when I do smell, I'll be able to smell that first!

TRAVIS: Do we have an idea of how far away dusk might be, or can we tell through the cloud cover?

MATT: It's probably a couple hours. It's not too far away. So you guys have been traveling for the better part of the day, and then even coming out of the storm and these conversations, so it's maybe two to three hours away.

TRAVIS: I guess we could venture into the wood a bit.

TALIESIN: Do we want to be quiet in the woods or do we want to make noise?

LAURA: No, we should be quiet.

TRAVIS: No, quiet's good.

TALIESIN: All right, everybody gather round.

LIAM: Do you want to make a smell?

TRAVIS: No.

LIAM: No?

TRAVIS: I don't think so.

TALIESIN: Apart from the one you already make.

TRAVIS: I want to stick to the instructions on this one.

TALIESIN: All right, let's Pass Without a Trace. If we're doing this, then I'm going to Pass without a Trace.

MATT and LAURA: Okay.

MATT: So you cast Pass without a Trace. The rest of you begin to slowly climb down the slick, exposed stone exterior of the partially destroyed military outpost. As you begin to trek down, loose stones begin to stumble off and clack down below, and you also hear the sound of critters that have made a home of this hollow abandoned space begin to scatter about and vanish into the surrounding jungle. You can see now that this was blown open. There are signs of heavily burned and destroyed wood. It looks like it's been picked clean of anything of worth and use. More than anything, it's just a reminder of the Apex War, the pointlessness of what it wrought in the end. But it does offer momentary shelter from the-- (laughs) God.

LAURA: What?

MATT: It does offer momentary shelter.

ASHLEY: That is...

LAURA: Something else.

MARISHA: This guy.

TRAVIS: Humble, if nothing else.

MATT: If nothing else.

LAURA: You should have given the award her shoes. (laughs)

(laughter)

MATT: It is the best part. It is the best part.

SAM: That would've been amazing. We'll fix it in post.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: But you have a bit of shelter here from the immediate cold dampness of the storm, as you find it more peaceful beneath the canopy here, though the lack of verdant green, and instead, the gathering of the blacks and grays and purples, make it a unique jungle atmosphere.

TRAVIS: Can I give it a, now that we're under some cover, (sniffs) just a smell?

MATT: Make a perception check.

LIAM: I would like to, separately, with ears and eyes, back up Chetney.

MATT: You as well.

TRAVIS: I'm going to use advantage with heightened senses.

MATT: You got it.

TRAVIS: 15.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: 15.

MATT: 15. Glancing about, it's unique. The bark of the trees, now that you look past the canopy, largely sits in the spectrum, and it looks like most of them are a very pale bleached white, with a thicker, darker, deep brown burgundy in some places, almost a black secondary bark coat. It looks like a Venom symbiote type growth on it, but it is part of the tree's bark, just wraps up and around, reaching up into the branches. You, it does smell like a natural jungle. There is, I will say, a unique fungal quality to the smell, to their earthiness there, that is unique than maybe some of the jungles that you've wandered through in your past.

TRAVIS: Just off of that, I'll relay, just in case, look out for any growth, like a fauna that might produce a spore, and just watch out where you tread, just in case. (Cockney accent) Get a little scent on the tip of me nose.

(laughter)

MARISHA: God.

TALIESIN: Good lord.

SAM: Wow.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: What happened?

MATT: (Pâté) "Hey, don't do that, it's my job, eh? It's my business!"

TRAVIS: I'm just such a fan!

MARISHA: Okay, just--

MATT: "Sorry." I love how you treat Pâté like the troupe of announcers in "The Phantom Tollbooth" of Dictionopolis.

ASHLEY: Oh my god!

MATT: There's the one little guy that goes like, "Ciao!" And they kick him back.

MARISHA: Yeah, just, no. Not that.

MATT: Weird tangent.

TRAVIS: Watch "Phantom Tollbooth."

MATT: It's worth watching. It holds up great.

TALIESIN: Every time.

MATT: Every time. But are you waiting for the dusk?

TRAVIS: Yes.

MATT: Okay. Well, the transition is more, you know, more challenging to gauge under the current conditions. The light does begin to dim and there is a faint coloration change to where you denote this to be likely around dusk.

TRAVIS: Okay. We're going to do this thing. Light this candle. You ready?

MARISHA: You want us to do it with you?

TRAVIS: No!

MARISHA: Oh.

TRAVIS: We want to give a sense of strength as we howl.

SAM: Strength?

TRAVIS: No offense, but just watch, and I'll grab my Adam's apple, and I'll rip down my body like a zipper on a hoodie.

SAM: Oh god!

LAURA: Gross.

TRAVIS: (sputters)

MARISHA: Holy shit!

TRAVIS: And peel off Chetney as the giant wolf appears.

SAM: I'm going to cast Enhance Ability on you.

TRAVIS: Oh!

SAM: And give you Eagle's Splendor. I know eagle is not a wolf, but it's a wolf eagle.

TRAVIS: Okay.

TALIESIN: A weagle.

SAM: Advantage on all charisma type checks.

MATT: All right.

TRAVIS: Nice.

MATT: So, as you howling-style tear through your flesh once more--

TRAVIS: Every time.

MATT: Do you howl?

TRAVIS: (howls)

MATT: All right.

MARISHA: Ooh.

TALIESIN: Classical.

MATT: The howl is--

LAURA: Did that do it for you, Laudna?

MATT: -- piercing.

MARISHA: It gave me chills.

MATT: At the same time, resonant. It cuts through your bodies to the point where you feel the bassy vibration as well as the higher, higher end at the same time. It would send your blood cold if you didn't know the source. Even knowing the source, you can't help but be even further impressed by the beast that is forever hidden within your gnomish compatriot. Go ahead and roll, roll me, because of your spell. roll two d20s for me and tell me what the higher number is.

SAM: Ooh!

LAURA: Come on, come on, come on.

TRAVIS: 10.

SAM: Oof.

MATT: 10 is the highest number.

SAM: Gross.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: 10 or a two.

MATT: We'll go with the 10. Nothing.

TRAVIS: (deeply) I'm sure it takes a minute.

LAURA: Maybe the thunder is drowning you out.

SAM: Maybe we all should howl with you.

TRAVIS: (deeply) I suppose, it's just my pride.

ASHLEY: But won't they know that it's not a wolf, you know? When you try to talk to an animal sometimes--

TRAVIS: I'll just, ears shifting for any crack in the foliage, any movement, anything.

MATT: Make a perception check.

TRAVIS: Heightened senses.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: God, 12.

MATT: Okay. Listening out through the sounds of the rainfall across the numerous branches and leaves above, nothing catches your ear. You wait for a good solid hour.

LAURA, SAM, and TRAVIS: Oh shit.

TRAVIS: Oh, I think I-- Oh no.

LAURA: What?

TRAVIS: Maybe before the hour is up, I'll go: (deeply) All right, fine, team effort.

SAM: Well, what if Fearne--

MARISHA: Turns into a wolf?

ASHLEY: Yeah, I could do that, definitely, and just--

TRAVIS: I think I can only hold it for an hour.

ASHLEY: Double checking there.

MATT: Correct. You can take a short rest to regain it, though, if I recall.

SAM: Oh no.

TRAVIS: That's true.

TALIESIN and TRAVIS: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Yes.

TALIESIN: I thought it, I ain't going to say it.

ASHLEY: All right. Should I help you?

TRAVIS: (deeply) Sure.

ASHLEY: (growls) I'm a wolf.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: Scritch, scritch, scritch.

ASHLEY: "I'm a wolf."

TALIESIN: Just Fearne. "I'm a wolf."

MARISHA and ASHLEY: Scritchy, scritchy, scritchies.

TRAVIS: (deeply) You can all join, too, on the count of three. One, three.

ALL: (howling)

SAM: Beep, beep, bloop.

(howling)

SAM: Beep, beep, bloop.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Letters, do you know what a wolf is?

SAM: Beep, beep, bloop, bloop, bleep.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Goddamn it.

ASHLEY: (panting)

TRAVIS: (deeply) Scritch, scritch, scritch.

MATT: (howls)

LAURA: (gasps)

MATT: (whimpers)

LAURA: That one sounded hurt.

LIAM: It was a baby.

MATT: (snarls) Different sounds all seem to echo a distance as you're unaware of, far, but just barely audible by your acute hearing senses.

TRAVIS: Most in a particular direction?

MATT: It's kind of hard to hear in the storm.

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: Not with the perception roll you rolled earlier.

TALIESIN: How far away from the tower are we right now?

TRAVIS: We're just at the bottom of the peak, right?

MARISHA: Still in the tower.

MATT: Yeah, you're still kind of, you know, you probably stepped out from the ruin to do that.

ASHLEY: May I do a perception check?

MATT: If you'd like to, using the wolf's--

ASHLEY: Keen hearing and smell.

TALIESIN: Just in case things go wrong, you can have some cover.

MATT: But you also can use your wisdom, if you'd like to.

ASHLEY: Yeah?

MATT: You can use your perception because you are-- a druid.

ASHLEY: Fuck yes.

MATT: But you still get the Keen Senses, so you do have an advantage on it.

(dice clattering)

SAM and TRAVIS: Whoa!

ASHLEY: Ah! Okay. 24.

MATT: 24.

MARISHA: Salt Bae.

TALIESIN: Stay down.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Why?

SAM: You smell like owls.

MATT: The best you can tell, they all are in an eastward direction of where you are, and they weren't directly in the same direction, which means there may have been a scattered--

LIAM: They're roamin' to the east.

MATT: -- troop.

TRAVIS: It sounded like they were-- I'll drop the wolf form. (whooshes) Well, the storm's not letting up, and it sounded like they were a bit away. We could take a short rest and see if anyone comes closer, and then we could head in that direction if nobody finds us.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: That sound all right?

TALIESIN: Yeah, sounds great. There's probably enough cover in this thing for--

LIAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: For a little bit, and get out of the rain.

TRAVIS: How long can you stay like that? You're a wolf. Shit.

LIAM: She can understand.

LAURA: She can understand. I can hear her.

ASHLEY: I understand.

LIAM: Yeah, scratch the ground.

TALIESIN: Scratch the ground.

LAURA: I ask her mentally: How long can you stay like this? You can answer me.

ASHLEY: Give me two seconds.

LAURA: She's doing some math.

ASHLEY: Oh, yes. I can do it for three hours.

TALIESIN: Two hours.

SAM: Oh wow!

LAURA: Three hours.

TRAVIS: Dope! Okay. Well, maybe you and I will keep our noses to the air and see if anyone comes our way, and we'll start a short rest.

ASHLEY: I'll just post outside.

MATT: Okay. As the rain continues to fall, the color gets darker and darker, and the gray storm above becomes the black abyss above. The cold rain does not let up. The occasional flashes of lightning light up the canopy from above, this dull glow that just (dull flash) and then fades.

TRAVIS: Dope.

MARISHA: I'll light a small fire for us.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Burnt charcoal, broken wood around?

MATT: Easy enough to do. There are a number of shards of broken furniture and such that were left beneath--

TRAVIS: (whimpers)

MATT: -- the protected and uncrumbled parts of the stronghold tower. So you go ahead and make some kindling and set a small fire as you all rest for a bit.

LIAM: Orym's going to sit on Fearne like San on Moro the wolf.

ASHLEY: Yes.

TALIESIN: Yeah!

LIAM: Continue to watch out.

LAURA: Are you under the canopy or are you in the rain?

LIAM: I'm in the rain.

LAURA: I'm going to use my Mage Hand above them to keep the rain off of them.

MATT: Aw.

ASHLEY: Aw.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: I'll help gather some wood. I like the rain.

MARISHA: Thank you.

LAURA: (whistles)

ASHLEY: I'm listening.

MATT: Both of you make perception checks.

TRAVIS: Heightened senses. Better.

ASHLEY: I have--

TRAVIS: 18.

ASHLEY: Wait, I have advantage on this.

MATT: You do because of your keen senses.

ASHLEY: Yes. Okay. 21.

MATT: 21. Okay.

ASHLEY: 22, sorry.

MATT: 22.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: That makes a difference.

ASHLEY: Okay!

SAM: Ooh!

MATT: As you're all sitting around the fire, glancing about, Fearne, in your wolven form, you glance over and see as Laudna is by the fire, trying to keep warm, staring into it, a shape seems to drop from one of the sections of stone ruin that's open in the wall. And just like--

ASHLEY: I'm going to tense, so Orym knows.

MARISHA: What?

MATT: You don't know this.

ASHLEY: I'm going to tense up so Orym knows and point with my nose.

LAURA: Plus, we have a mental connection, just so you know.

ASHLEY: Yes. Hey, Imogen.

MATT: You glance over and in the shadow, all you see for a moment is the flash of two yellow eyes, as it seems the light catches something animalistic.

ASHLEY: Imogen?

LAURA: Hmm?

ASHLEY: There's something out here.

LAURA: Something out where?

ASHLEY: Outside.

LAURA: Is it outside or is it inside?

TALIESIN: Is what outside or on the inside?

MATT: There is a stone wall behind Laudna and there is a section of stone that is out of it, roughly about two feet wide by about three and a half feet tall. Looks like it's crumbled inward and a shape glanced through it and then darted behind it.

LIAM: Point blade.

LAURA: It's behind Laudna? Is what you said?

TALIESIN: I keep looking around.

ASHLEY: Did I say that?

LAURA: I don't know. Did you, or did he?

ASHLEY: I think he did.

MARISHA and LIAM: (pigeon coos)

MARISHA: Jungle pigeons.

TRAVIS: We didn't complete the short rest, right?

MATT: You did.

TRAVIS: Oh, we did?

MATT: It's been like an hour and a half.

TRAVIS: Fucking amazing.

MARISHA: I take out Pâté. I used to do this with you all the time.

MATT: "Yeah?"

MARISHA: Do an interpretive dance for me.

MATT: You throw him in the fire?

MARISHA: No. Yeah.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Dance for mama!

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Shit, Laudna!

ASHLEY: ♪ Sing for me! ♪

MARISHA: Make little shadow puppets on the wall, do a little dance.

MATT: "All right. All right. Just give me a theme. Something to work with."

MARISHA: Oh, all right. Well, we're in this old tower where there used to be a war back in the Apex War.

MATT: "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

MARISHA: So give me a tale of battle and death and horror.

MATT: "All right. I'll need some music."

MARISHA: Okay. ♪ (beatbox rhythm) ♪

(laughter)

MATT: Then starts going into this very--

MARISHA: Oh, thank you. ♪ (beatbox rhythm) ♪

MATT: This oddly disjointed, horrifying, but beautiful journey of-- No, it's real bad. It's incomprehensible. At times, you think either he's dancing, or he's having a physical issue. You're uncertain, but he seems into it, at the very least. While this is happening, you glancing--

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: -- with your high passive perception.

LIAM: They start to sing and dance quietly.

MATT: You see two other sets of eyes appear in the shadows outside of the ruin.

LAURA: I guess I'll mentally tell Chet: I think they're here.

TRAVIS: I'll step out where Fearne and Orym are.

MATT: "(snarls)" You see, as stepping out of the rain, hood up, a humanoid figure, wide shoulders, in one hand is a giant hammer, this massive iron head on it, and this tightly leather-wrapped long handle. It's probably close to seven feet long.

TRAVIS: Damn.

MATT: About a six and a half-foot tall figure. It steps through and you can see dark gray-brown hide armor. The cloak itself is a jet black coloration. Beneath the hood, you can see the snout of a--

LAURA: Oh, a fully transformed--

MATT: -- deep red-orange tiger.

TRAVIS: Deep red-orange tiger?

MARISHA: It's a weretiger!

LAURA: What?! What?

MATT: The hood pulls back and you can see the wild, spiked hair, this mane that curls back over the tiger head. The eyes now with this low light is just the firelight hitting it and it's causing that unique flash of glow and color as it shifts its head, looking and taking all of you in. (snarls) "You're surrounded, but you called. Tell us why before we cut you down."

TRAVIS: I told you, kill or be killed. I come seeking an audience with-- I spelled this terribly. Divaasheela. Davashilla?

MATT: (snarls) Looks around the rest. Make a persuasion check.

LAURA: You still have Enhance Abilities?

LIAM: Advance from the enhance.

SAM: It's been two hours now, hasn't it?

MATT: It's been two hours since the original howl. If you wanted to cast it again, you can.

SAM: I would love to cast it again.

MATT: I'll allow it for the time being, yeah.

TRAVIS: What is that, a d--?

SAM: I think it's just advantage.

LAURA: Advantage.

TRAVIS: Oh, I'll take it.

MARISHA: Better than a 10.

TRAVIS: Yes. 16.

MATT: "Well... you found her."

TRAVIS: Awesome! It's an honor. I've never met a-- You're beautiful. Sorry. I was sent by Ajit Dayal back in Jrusar. How do you say the name? Dava--?

MATT: Divaasheela, I think. I'll have to look at the spelling again.

MARISHA: Deva. Divaasheela.

TRAVIS: Well, in Jrusar, I come from Wildemount. I was told that the Gorgynei might be someone that could share some wisdom or insight into my condition. I, too, am like you.

MATT: "(snarls)" Snaps. Then from all the other sides, you see five other figures surrounding your troop. You see one lithe, thin, a panther lycanthrope with jet black fur, one milky white eye, and dark brown leathers with two shortswords out to the sides, that leans in. You also see, dressed in pale gray leather with metallic bracers, another werewolf. This one with a wide back and a stocky center. This one has a heavy crossbow in its grasp, and it's like, "(snarls)," leans forward.

TRAVIS: I am living right now.

MATT: Beyond that, you see another werewolf, one massive wereboar with a dark--

LAURA: A wereboar?!

MATT: A dark gray, wiry tufted fur across its body and a large snout with tusks that curl outward.

LAURA: Damn!

MATT: As well as a massive, bipedal grizzly bear of a man.

MARISHA and LAURA: Werebear!

SAM: We're in Centaurworld!

MATT: More or less.

LAURA: This is awesome. I say in my head to everybody.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Does the wereboar or the werebear have any armaments or weapons on them?

MATT: You don't see any at the moment. It looks like it's cracking its knuckles.

MARISHA: He doesn't need them. He's a bear.

TALIESIN: You don't arm bears.

MATT: "So."

MARISHA: (laughs) Don't arm bears.

MATT: "You have our attention."

SAM: The right to bear.

MATT: "What is it you seek with us?"

TRAVIS: I seek to learn more about my gift. It's relatively new to me, but I find it makes me more powerful, more savage, more desirable. I was hoping maybe there was something that I could learn from the Gorgynei. Plus, we're coming up against incredible odds ourselves and things that affect this realm. Perhaps so we could exchange what we know for some insider wisdom that you may have gleaned.

MATT: "There are some who find us wanting our gift. Show me, show me your true self."

TRAVIS: Yeah, bitch! I'll grab my thighs, and like Magic Mike, I just fucking rip my--

(laughter)

TRAVIS: -- pants off. (growls) I just start a fucking flash dance! I go and pull on a branch and rain falls down!

MATT: Yep! Yep!

TRAVIS: Like (whoosh). Woo!

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Yes!

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Even for him, that was pretty extra.

LAURA: ♪ He's gonna live forever ♪

TRAVIS: (roars) Satisfied?

MATT: Stands there with the head cocked on one side. "Sure."

(laughter)

SAM: Detect Thoughts.

MATT: You cast Detect Thoughts?

MARISHA: Wow!

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. The first surface thought you get is, "What the fuck is this dude?"

(laughter)

MATT: There's an amusement there, but definitely a like, "Okay?" (aloud) "Well, friends of Ajit's are possible allies of ours."

MARISHA: Did you say that?

SAM: She can read minds.

MATT: No, this is what's saying, yeah.

MARISHA: Okay, okay.

MATT: "Well, this storm does not behoove these conversations. I assume that's yours?" They point up and you can see the glowing blue of the partially visible brumestone of your skyship that's still resting right above the tower, that is this odd, dull beacon over the entire jungle here in the night sky.

LAURA: That stealthing really worked, right?

TRAVIS: No, we've been followed. We should take it down.

SAM: Oh, wait, what?

TRAVIS: Just kidding. No, it's ours, yeah. They're with us.

MATT: You saw some of them starting to go for the weapons.

TRAVIS: No, it's fine, I'm sorry.

MATT: "All right. Well, can you all travel at night in this weather fine?"

ASHLEY: Blah. (panting)

(laughter)

MATT: "And your ship will be fine to stay here?"

TRAVIS: Yes. We'll communicate when our return will be. Right, Imogen?

LAURA: Yeah. I tell them: We'll be back. When will we be back?

SAM: We'll call them when we're ready to come.

LAURA: I'll call you when we're ready to head out.

MATT: (laughs) Captain Xandis responds, "Okay, I mean, you're the bosses now. If you come back and we're not here, either we're dead or we escaped from being dead, so."

LAURA: Great.

MATT: "Cool."

LAURA: Hopefully they don't die while we're here.

TRAVIS: Maybe we'll let them know. Okay. We'll see how it goes.

LAURA: Yeah, okay.

MATT: (Divaasheela) "Stay close. I'll take you to the village."

LAURA: Take you to--?

LIAM: The village.

MARISHA: Take you to the village.

TRAVIS: This is good, this is good.

LAURA: Is it all right if I use my lights in the woods, or is it bad if I use my lights?

MATT: "How bright are your lights?"

LAURA: Not too bright. I'll bring them out. Just little flicker in purple.

MATT: "Maybe just stay close and follow. There are dangerous things that wander these woods at night."

MARISHA: (giggles)

MATT: "Here, let Uther take you." The wereboar like, (heavy footfalls) "Hey, get on my back, eh?"

LAURA: All right.

MATT: Climb up, and it's very easy to grab the heavy, thick, wiry fur of this wereboar. You get up onto its side and put your hands over, reaches up and--

LAURA: Kind of like riding a horse a bit?

MATT: Pretty much, yeah. Pats your arm and goes, "Hold on!"

LAURA: All right.

SAM: My tire's a little slippery in the mud. Can I get a lift on somebody, too?

MATT: They give you an odd look.

TRAVIS: I'll take him, it's fine. FCG, with me.

MATT: "Are the rest of you to join us in your true forms as well?"

ALL: Oh.

LIAM: Chet?

TRAVIS: Sorry.

TALIESIN: Wow. That's--

TRAVIS: Sorry, clarification. It's just me. They--

SAM: And sort of her.

TRAVIS: And yeah.

SAM: But not really.

TRAVIS: Not really.

ASHLEY: I'm going to sit back on my haunches.

LIAM: Whoa! Okay.

ASHLEY: And try to do the wave that dogs try to do. My paw.

TRAVIS: But Ajit speaks for them as well.

MATT: "We'll be fine to travel. Fellas, the zigzag return.

SAM: Zigzag return?

LAURA: Zigzag return?

TRAVIS: Serpentine, baby.

MATT: "Stay close."

ASHLEY: Bob and weave, bob and weave.

MATT: The group of them piles up with you. For those of you that don't look like you move with a mighty speed. You pick up pretty quick to follow suit.

LIAM: I'm on Fearne's back.

MATT: Yeah. Yeah, you go jump onto Fearne's back. You get grabbed by that, and the two of you, you actually are allowed to join your choice of current members, if you'd like.

TRAVIS: You want to ride a bear, you want to ride a tiger, you want to ride a--

LAURA: Ooh, a panther?

TALIESIN: I don't know if I have darkvision.

LIAM: What's your fantasy?

TALIESIN: How bad is not having--

TRAVIS: This will be drawn.

ASHLEY: ♪ What's your fan-ta-ta-sy? ♪

MARISHA: The panther definitely matches my aesthetic.

TRAVIS and MATT: (laugh)

MARISHA: I like to be monochromatic, so.

TALIESIN: How bad is not having darkvision right now?

LIAM: On the goth lycan.

MATT: Not having darkvision?

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: It's not great. You can see shapes in the flashes of lightning, but beyond that, it's pretty dark.

TALIESIN: I'll partner up, then. Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: I'll go with the panther. Hello!

MATT: "Hello."

MARISHA: Ooh!

MATT: Nice to meet you.

MARISHA: I'm Laudna.

MATT: I'm Manad.

MARISHA: Aman--?.

TRAVIS: Manad.

MATT: "Manad."

MARISHA: Manad, Manad.

MATT: Grins and you can see there's a starkly green eyes and a warm smile that when you get up close, you see there's a half-cocked, Dreamworks grin to this panther.

MARISHA: You know, I have a scary form, too, but it's not like werewolf stuff, but I can be scary, if that's more appropriate.

MATT: "I mean, I ain't going to get in front of you, just go for it."

MARISHA: Oh okay, so I get on him.

MATT: "Does it make you heavier?"

MARISHA: I don't know, does it? I don't know if Form of Dread-- I'm made of paper.

MATT: I don't know.

TALIESIN: I was going to say, you probably weigh like 10 pounds wet.

MARISHA: Yeah. I wrap my arms around him and I put my hands together and I transform and it melds around his ribcage to make a bark shape around him like a bark skin armor as I latch onto him.

MATT: "Not going to lie, kind of hate it, kind of into it. We good?" (Divaasheela) "All right, let's go. (growls)" They all start taking off into the forest, just all darting off. You watch as they go. As you travel as a pack, it's like pushing through the midst of this heavily rained jungle. Pushing past, jumping onto the edge of jungle trees, then leaping off this direction. They are definitely taking not a direct straight route, they are traveling at odd angles. Within about 20 minutes of travel, you realize they succeeded in what they're trying to do. You have no idea where you are and what direction to travel. They have obfuscated the path to wherever their destination is, except for those who are currently guiding themselves, which is, looking at this troop, just you two. Both of you make a survival check to see if you can recall the path that you are being led through.

TRAVIS: Boy, survival advantage.

ASHLEY: That's cocked.

TRAVIS: "Follow tracks, hunt game, guide your group," Yeah, so advantage.

ASHLEY: Eugh.

TRAVIS: 17.

MATT: 17.

ASHLEY: 12.

MATT: 12, okay.

TALIESIN: Technically, would you be assisting with this, or no?

TALIESIN: Since you're on.

MATT: Do you have darkvision?

LIAM: No.

TALIESIN: Oh, never mind.

LIAM: Oh wait, no, I don't. I don't think so.

MATT: Then no. So you may be able to retrace your steps from this path. It would be another roll to do so, but at least you have it locked in your brain. A possibility should you need to.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: But pushing onward, close to almost an hour or so of travel. Their mighty, angry, growling, snarling hunt sprint begins to slow to a more moderate pace. Then, one by one, their forms begin to drop into their less bestial forms. The wereboar, Uther, as you like... You're now clutching onto the back of a cloak. You look to see a human man in his, late 50s, early 60s. Short gray hair with a bushier beard. This gather on his face. He's got a medium tan skin and looks to be missing a tooth or two in the front of his jaw, but he looks over the shoulder towards you. "Hey, sorry."

LAURA: No, no, thank you for the ride.

MATT: "We're close, but thanks for hanging out."

LAURA: Wait, what was your name?

SAM: Uther?

MATT: "Uther."

LAURA: Uther.

MATT: "Uther."

LAURA: Imogen, nice to meet you.

MATT: "You as well." You watch as Manad transforms from a panther into a scrawny orc of gray complexion. Long, black tangled hair over his gray skin. Big tusks in the front and a goatee that frames the space in the front. Well-kept for a figure that lives out in the middle of the wilds. Still the same piercing green eyes. Turns around and goes, "Well, nice to meet you, I mean, formally face-to-face compared to how it was before, but...

MARISHA: Pleasure to meet you, too.

MATT: "Yeah."

MARISHA: Hope that wasn't uncomfortable. I hope you didn't get any splinters. Yeah, no, good.

MATT: You also see the weretiger revert into now a female human in her late 40s or so with short dark red hair, with gray streaks in three places that push to the back. Very intense expression, a severe, perpetually clenched jaw. At no point does she seem to look more than ahead and looking around the surroundings. "All right. Welcome to Barinak."

MARISHA: Barinak.

MATT: Rounding a bend, you can see a glimmer of firelight refracting off the wetness of the nearby trees. Turning around this rocky hillside, you see before you a collection of elaborate jungle tree houses and huts connected by rope bridges and ladders. It is a village. A uniquely-built, mid-jungle, hidden society. With, at an initial glance, two to three dozen people seem to be in the process of gathering around a central, small, collected fire pit. You immediately can see that there are hide stretchers that are currently under dried canopies of gathered branches and leaves. You can see a central statue, some sort of oddly carved statue that's just beyond the bonfire. You can't make out the details on it. This place has gardens that are cultivated and elements of small farmland that have been kept here in the middle of the jungle with all sorts of root vegetables and such that are just starting to sprout. This is a commune here amongst the natural space. As you step in, some people begin to stand up and turn around, and as they turn around rapidly spinning, you can see some of them grow wider for a second before they shrink back down to their more humanoid form and give a wave to the hunting pack as it arrives with the rest of you.

LIAM: Are there any children in the mix?

MATT: At the moment, you do not see any children. At this point, Manad turns around and goes, "Well, by the way, if you tell anyone about this place, we'll have to find and kill you. Hope you understand."

TRAVIS: (deeply) Seems fair.

LAURA: It was expected.

MATT: "Yeah."

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: "No, it's fine, just don't tell anyone."

SAM: You can trust us.

TALIESIN: We don't know anybody else practically, so.

MATT: "See how it works to your advantage. Me, I barely know anyone." They all continue walking in and the people you met look like soldiers, warriors, trained fighters. You see a few more amongst the populace here, but you also see people that just look like people. Farmers, some dirty, setting down their bundles of tinder and twigs. You see an individual that is collecting rain water and is now dispensing it to other folk who have simple clay mugs. It's just a small society here. Everyone watches you all with untrusting eyes as the new strangers in this space. As you begin to approach them, take a step back just to maintain distance. At this point, you notice that the larger werewolf, the barrel-shaped werewolf has reduced form into a deeply green-scaled dragonborn.

TRAVIS: Damn.

MATT: Pale blue eyes.

LIAM: Stocky werewolf.

MATT: Steps forward. "Friends, we have temporary guests here among us, and behest of another one brought to us with a gift seeking training. So treat them with respect, and should you see them lose their way, you know what to do."

MARISHA: Did he just say "other one"?

SAM: I think that means Chetney.

MARISHA: Oh.

SAM: The other is another one of them.

MARISHA: Oh, right.

SAM: Unless they mean you.

MARISHA: I thought they meant objects.

SAM: Oh.

TRAVIS: Thank you. We mean you no harm, and come with the intent of discovery and goodwill.

SAM: Doesn't sound very alpha.

TRAVIS: Oh. No, not yet.

SAM: Okay.

TRAVIS: Not yet.

MATT: Okay. The woman who was once the weretiger now stands before your troop. Is handed a somewhat beaten-up stein of some kind. That swirls it a bit and takes a sip. "My real name is Annaline."

SAM: Annaline?

MATT: "The name you were given was a password of trust of sorts."

TRAVIS: Oh.

MATT: "It was the name I once took. But. It's not often someone brings such a large collection of characters here for simple training. You said there are more pressing matters ahead."

TRAVIS: Yes, my friends, and they are my friends, we call ourselves Bells Hells. We right wrongs and cause other wrongs. It's not really important, but there are things at play and before my intent had just been to come and learn to try and control the beast within. But it hadn't been as hard before. Lately, there have been new developments that have made it a little more unpredictable. Could I ask, have you had any strange experiences with the red moon flaring of late?

MATT: They all glance at each other. "Ruidus does bring with it a particular itch. It always has. Stronger as it grows in recent times, but no more than that. Have you come here to--" You see now, here in the firelight of the central fire of the village, she really takes a full inspection of you. "You hold yourself like you have seen some training and I can see scars along your body. This is not your first encounter with hemocraft, is it?"

TRAVIS: No. No, it's not.

MATT: "You have taken the Hunter's Bane already?"

TRAVIS: I have.

MATT: "Huh. Well then, welcome to the Gorgynei. Now, there is much to learn and much to train. Many weeks to work on how we can now hone your abilities and tackle the seed of this discomfort and uncontrolled beast within."

TRAVIS: Weeks? Hmm. You don't happen to have a weekend seminar or a downloadable pdf?

MATT: "These words make no sense to my ears."

TRAVIS: Right, sorry. I have some experience with it, true. The itch I felt with Ruidus, you're not able to predict when the moon will flare, are you? Or are you just at its mercy?

MATT: "It has flared more often as of late than ever. But no, it is not a prediction, more than the itch comes when it does shine."

LAURA: How strong is that itch?

MATT: "Nothing to worry about, at least not for us. What is different about you?"

TRAVIS: I'm not sure. It started as an itch, but it... Can I just check body postures? Are they still relaxed, everybody's cool?

MATT: Make an insight check.

TRAVIS: 11.

MATT: 11, and everyone seems to be standing as they were, though they're all definitely listening intently to what you're saying.

TRAVIS: Fuck it. It was more than an itch, like a compulsion. I'm sorry to say I lost myself to the desire to change and I had to have a little sense knocked into me to come out of it.

MATT: "So you have lost to the control of your beast?"

TRAVIS: Just once. Uh--

LAURA: Just once.

MATT: "The discipline required outside of this strange, uncontrolled itch is a lifelong discipline. What you are asking for, if not beyond our training, will take a lot of time and focus. At least within the limits of hemocraft."

TRAVIS: Hmm. And are you all practitioners of hemocraft?

MATT: "Not all of them. Just those of us who began to cultivate this troop. Number of them are just individuals that came looking for protection away from society and the early, most basic means of keeping it at bay. For us to control it, to harness it. Well. Those are the ones who take to the craft of the blood."

TRAVIS: I got my work cut out for me.

SAM: Should we come back in a few weeks and pick you up?

TRAVIS: There's so much to do. We're on our way to Yios. Don't suppose you've spent a lot of time there?

MATT: "Not... particularly, though we do have an arrangement with an individual there. The Gorgynei do not have a welcome place amongst the bulk of society, for obvious reasons."

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: "A contract here, a contract there, but largely, eventually, most clients seem to turn when they realize there is money to be made and your usefulness has come to an end. So we were a bit nomadic for some time, but we have made an accord in recent years with the Court of the Lambent Path within Yios. They have allowed us to continue living within the Gloomed Jungles in secrecy. As long as they may allow us to exist, we maintain the safety of the roads through the jungle, hunting and eliminating unnatural threats that begin to take root here. We hunt, bring trophies back to our... our connection at the court's behest, make some coin, and occasionally keep an eye on some outside interests. But we have an arrangement."

TRAVIS: Court of the Lambent Path, but it's not the first time we've heard of that.

SAM: When did we hear about that?

LIAM: Yeah, we did hear that.

MATT: The Court of the Lambent Path is the governing body of Aeshanadoor, and was the other side of the Apex War than the Stratos Throne of the Taloned Highlands. You do know it to be a very erudite, largely orcish society that sits to the southeast of here.

LIAM: This was way back at the beginning, we heard about them.

MATT: Yep.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

TRAVIS: You get to roam the woods, but you trim it when bad things take root.

MATT: "More or less. We are, if anything, beings that embrace the nature of the hunt under the guidance of Sahyaadon." You saw her gesture over towards that stone statue that you hadn't really gotten a good look at. Now that you look over towards it in the, you know, your eyes have adjusted to the modicum of light that exists here, it is a 12-foot tall stone sculpture. It looks to be semi- humanoid, semi-bestial. And it's simple. It isn't extremely well detailed, but it definitely strikes now in this light an arched back with arms out with multiple heads, almost like three various bestial heads all howling or growling upward. You're unable to make out what sort of beast forms they may be, but it definitely has this natural predator aesthetic to its body. In one hand, you see a heart resting within its clawed grasp. And the other, a growing sapling.

LAURA: A growing what?

TRAVIS, SAM, and LIAM: Sapling.

MATT: Sapling.

LIAM: How old does the statue look?

MATT: Make an investigation check.

LIAM: That is what I'm known for. 17.

MATT: 17. It looks fairly old.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: Just looking at the weathering on it, the mild damage it's sustained--

MARISHA: Lost god.

MATT: -- it's probably well over a hundred years at least.

LIAM: Okay. So what--

TRAVIS: The name they used was Sahyaadon?

MATT: Sahyaadon.

LAURA: Sahyaadon.

LIAM: Sahyaadon.

TRAVIS: Can you spell that?

MATT: S-A-H-Y-A-A-D-O-N.

TRAVIS: D-O-N.

LAURA: Sahyaadon.

LIAM: On a side note, quietly sitting on Fearne's back through all this and letting Chet steer all of it, Orym has been silently watching all of the warriors that brought us here, watching how they carry themselves, watching their gait, their presence. I would love to get a sense of the group because we've been in here for 10 or 20 minutes. Is their current HP, using Know Your Enemy, current HP and total class level on par with us, higher than us? Or me, I guess, it's supposed to be.

MATT: I'd say, they're... It varies.

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: Some of them are a little bit higher, some of it are on par. Some appear to be a little more of a little lower, a little more journeymen in their experience, but definitely experienced.

LIAM: And Divaasheela probably the brightest penny in the bunch?

MATT: Divaasheela, who has given their true name to be--

LAURA: Annaline?

LIAM: Analina.

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Analina or Annaline?

TRAVIS: Annaline, right?

LIAM: Annaline?

MATT: Annaline.

LIAM: Annaline.

TRAVIS: There.

MATT: There it is.

TALIESIN: Like a He-Man villain.

LIAM: Ah. Yeah, perfect. More pleasant cousin.

MATT: Annaline is definitely stronger than you.

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: "But." You see there's a moment of contemplation for a second. "Do you know of Sahyaadon?"

TRAVIS: No, I don't.

MATT: "The keeper of the savage heart. Sahyaadon is a powerful ancient spirit of these jungles. Aeshanadoor lore speaks that she's the protector of both hunter and prey to maintain the balance of the living jungle. They shun magic that harms the natural order and have long watched over this entire land, this entire region. Some say that this spirit has always existed, others believe that it is a vigilant spirit under Serataani." Those of you who speak Marquesian.

LIAM: Serataani?

SAM: I do.

LAURA: I do.

MATT: Serataani is the Marquesian name for the Wildmother.

LAURA: For the Wildmother?

MATT: Mm-hmm.

SAM: This is like a champion of the Wildmother or--

MATT: They're saying a spirit.

LAURA: Keeper of the--

SAM: This is the spirit of the Wild--

LAURA: The Wildmother?

MATT: This is a spirit.

LAURA: Oh.

SAM: A spirit.

MATT: "I wonder if maybe it has more wisdom to share for your predicament than we do since you are in such a hurry to do such big things."

TRAVIS: I would be interested to learn, to make myself available to any such wisdom.

SAM: ♪ Make myself available ♪

(laughter)

MARISHA: Such a reach.

TRAVIS: Yeah, reach.

MATT: "Come, you all look hungry. Please supply them with meals. We will convene but a moment," and she stands up. Some of the individuals that escorted you here as well as a handful of others that are watching, arms crossed, assessing the new arrivals with a varying spread of curiosity, worry, or disdain, all gather, as a troop of 12 of them talking quite a ways away while some of the civilian folk begin to approach. You see a young male gnome, probably visually human in his 30s, but who knows what age he might actually be. Has two big, curly tufts of brown hair on the sides and a big pair of square glasses. It looks like a tiny Steve Brule, if you will, who approaches with a big wooden bowl that's filled with all manner of oddly-curved tubers and potatoes that have all manner of root outcroppings. Some of them have a unique color striation that goes from a deep brown to a pale white, almost like a Tim Burton pattern across it. Leans in and goes, "Ah, here. You're welcome to eat. I have picked them just today. They're nice and fresh."

TRAVIS: Oh, that's very generous, very generous.

TALIESIN: I'm going right in.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: "Yeah."

LAURA: Do we recognize any of these roots or anything?

TRAVIS: Eat up.

TALIESIN: Little late.

MATT: I don't-- You know, you tell me. How in your upbringing, how interested would you have been of more rare vegetables from outside regions in your household?

LIAM: You a big tuber enthusiast?

LAURA: (chuckles)

LAURA: Well--

TRAVIS: Tuber. Master Faramore was a big connoisseur. He prided himself on knowing various things--

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: -- and liking different tastes and whatnot.

MATT: Okay, you would know this to be a mistfuzz tuber, and you tried it once as a child, and you hated it.

LAURA: (chuckles)

TRAVIS: Goddamn.

MATT: It has an oddly citrus flavor to it, but in more the sharp sourness. When it's prepared with sugar, it can create a savory combination blend. But when you were young, you did not like it at all, and you remember tasting it and spitting it out the one time.

LAURA: All right.

TRAVIS: This is very kind of you. Thank you for your generosity. Your name?

MATT: "Oh, hi, It's nice to meet you. My--" Had it written here. Or I just lost it, there we go. "I'm Tarad Cornei."

MARISHA: Tarad Cornei.

LIAM: Cornei.

MATT: "I see you're appreciating wondrous Sahyaadon. Me and a few other people who live here are caretakers of this extension of the shrine."

TRAVIS: It's an incredible piece.

MATT: "Thank you." My name is Chetney Pock O'Pea. We're the Bells Hells. Thank you for your hospitality.

MATT: "Of course, it's nice to have another gnome around here."

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: (chuckles) Hi.

TALIESIN: Hi.

LIAM: Hi.

MARISHA: Cornei. I think he's just a dude. He's gnomish.

LIAM: Do you-- Do everyone in the village share the gift, same gift?

MATT: "Gift is a word, yeah. Some call it a gift. Most of us just get by with it. It's a curse in some cases. But yeah, we all are blessed by the beast. (chuckles)"

LIAM: How many of you live here?

MATT: "Oh, last I counted, about 41."

LIAM: Oh.

LAURA: Wow. While they're talking, can I ask what the three-- As we look at Sahyaa-- Damn it, I wrote it.

SAM: Sahyaadon.

MATT: Sahyaadon.

LAURA: Sahyaadon, damn it.

TRAVIS: Sahyaadon.

LIAM: Sahyaadon.

LAURA: Sahyaadon. What are the three heads?

MATT: Make a perception check.

TALIESIN: Are they familiar?

LAURA: Okay.

TALIESIN: Whoa.

TRAVIS: Sahyaadon.

LIAM: Gunk.

LAURA: Ga-gunk. 11.

MATT: 11. Maybe that's not too bad given the time that you're now closer in investigating it. It's less like three separate heads on a set of shoulders more than it's one head and neck with three snouts that come out underneath, one under the other, under the other.

MARISHA: Oh, cool.

MATT: There's not enough detail on it to see, you know--

TRAVIS: I told you three heads, one Chet.

MATT: -- its eyes or anything.

TRAVIS: I called it.

MATT: But it definitely has a unique spread--

TRAVIS: I fucking called it.

MATT: -- of a larger extended howling snout with another one beneath it and another one beneath it all spreading outward--

TRAVIS: I'm the chosen one.

MATT: -- like a fan of jaws.

MARISHA: You have the vision.

LAURA: I know you did. You did call it.

TRAVIS: That was pretty fucking great.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Fan of jaws. I knew he's a fan of Jaws. Sorry.

LIAM: Well, what--

LAURA: (mumbling) I don't know.

MATT: "Well, it's nice to meet you all. Stay dry and if you're staying here for a while--"

LIAM: How long are we staying here?

TALIESIN: Yeah. Actually, now you mentioned it, what do you all drink for fun around here?

MATT: "I can get you some water. This is the best drink you can get around here."

LIAM: I don't think that's what he means.

TALIESIN: Yep, don't kid. That's not funny.

TRAVIS: Anything stronger than water?

MATT: "Oh, we have a cache of wine, yeah."

TALIESIN: Yeah, when in the forest, I guess.

TRAVIS: (laughs) You said about 41. Does your number swell and decrease regularly or--

MATT: "Oh yeah, every few months or so we probably take on a few more folks that have heard about us or have been directed towards us. Then every few weeks or so, somebody either decides they don't want to live under these more obscured means and go out into the world and never return, or they lose sight of their control and the Gorgynei have to put them down. So the numbers kind of fluctuate, I guess you could say."

SAM: If you can't control it, you guys--

MATT: "It's fogging up. This weather, it's fogging up the glasses, sorry."

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Oh, that is a bitch.

MARISHA: They're fogging up.

SAM: If you can't control it, the itch, you just take each other-- You extinguish each other's lives?

TALIESIN: Get scratched.

MATT: "Well..." You see other people looking at him, and he's like, "When a person completely loses control of the gift, there's likely no other way to stop them from spreading it to those who don't want it or aren't ready. There's been a handful of occurrences in the history of, well, across Exandria of outbreaks. The Gorgynei are dedicated to preventing that from happening."

SAM: I'm so curious about what techniques do you use to keep things under control? Is it like do you talk about it? Do you breathe? Do you meditate?

MATT: "Oh, it's a lot of meditation, actually."

SAM: Do you get together in groups and talk about your feelings and stuff?

MATT: "No, we do. A bunch of us, actually, we often travel to Zha'Vrol--" He stops himself for a second and the other people are like "Shh!" "We go and pray and meditate, and you know, support each other. If it feels like it's getting a little too rough, then we, well." He points over, and you can see there's one of them, one of the largest jungle trees that this village is built near. Its root structure is massive and wide, it spreads out wide. It's a squat tree. It's not extremely tall, but it definitely spreads out wide. All across it, you can see chains wrapped all through it and around it. They're all loosely bundled in a pile in the front now with manacles and bindings.

TRAVIS: Ah, see, ah! Great, great minds!

TRAVIS: You're two for two, Chet.

TRAVIS: Right? Think alike. We recently started implementing the same sort of-- Your faces. Safeguards.

TALIESIN: It's a reflection of recent issues, that's all I'm thinking.

MATT: "For those who don't take to the Hemocraft, you know, the training can take a long time. So this is just as a precaution for those, especially the newcomers who are seeking guidance. You know, it's when people begin to embrace the beast without the proper training that they become dangerous."

TRAVIS: Right. I wasn't-- I didn't get a lot of training. It was just kind of a-- I was just naturally adept. Maybe I embraced it in the right way. That's why they let me go in the first place. That's why I'm looking for more, you know, refined techniques. Meditation, I guess. Oh god. But you know, whatever it takes.

MATT: "Well, you can--" At this point, a hand falls on Tarad's shoulder and you see Manad, the orc with his goatee surrounded tusks and his luscious hair comes over and goes--

TRAVIS: Oh, baby.

MATT: "Well, I guess, we're about to have a conversation." Points his thumb over towards Annaline, who steps forward. (Annaline) "Well, I think there is something we could try."

TRAVIS: That's great. That's great.

MATT: "I do not know if you are ready for it as I make no promises. Do you hold yourself in high esteem when it comes to your constitution and will?"

TRAVIS: Oh yeah. Willpower is like 10 out of 10.

MATT: "Well then. I appreciate confidence. Rest now. Stay here for the night, for in the morning, we will walk to the temple of Sahyaadon. Zha'Vrollo. If you are lucky, the spirit will meet with you, and it'll either excise this itch or excise you."

TRAVIS: Fucking shit! I would be honored. I'm up to the task.

MATT: "Good. You, you all--" You still a wolf?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: All right.

TRAVIS: You mean (dog panting).

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Big lolly tongue on the side. I'm just wagging my tail.

MATT: "You care about this one?"

TRAVIS: You can speak freely. It's okay, you won't hurt my feelings.

LAURA and MARISHA: Yeah.

LIAM: Yes, we do.

MATT: "If he were to lose his way, you would not hesitate to put him down?"

MARISHA: Oh, oh.

TALIESIN: We'll feel bad about it later.

LAURA: But yeah, we would definitely take him down.

MATT: "Good. That's confidence on both sides. Once this weather has been more, hopefully permitting tomorrow, pack your things. Tell your ship it might be a bit. It is about a day's travel to the east."

LAURA: A-a-all right. Yeah, we're not in a--

TRAVIS: Is that okay?

MARISHA: We've got time. We still have two or three weeks, right, until the solstice?

MATT: You have about two and a half weeks, yeah.

MARISHA: Two and a half weeks, okay.

TRAVIS: Can you communicate with them this far away?

LAURA: I can Send them a message, of course.

TRAVIS: Oh, right, right.

LAURA: Yeah, don't worry.

MARISHA: And the rest of us are welcome at your temple?

LIAM: As spectators or witnesses, or--?

MATT: "That would be up to Sahyaadon."

MARISHA and LAURA: Oh.

LIAM: Okay.

LAURA: Wow.

TRAVIS: Incredible, this is truly a gift. I won't take it for granted. This is an incredible honor.

MATT: "I would not say anything yet. You do not know what trials wait before you. This is the temple where we grant the Hunter's Bane to newcomers. This is the temple where we undergo our various personal trials. This is where many of us have had our own communions and some of us have given into the beast afterward. So you will be challenged, you will be tested, and you will be judged, perhaps all of you. So you have a night to decide whether or not we continue this, or we never speak of this or see you again."

LIAM: Let me do a little insight check. It's really shitty.

(laughter)

MARISHA: She's so intimidating.

TRAVIS: She's a tiger.

SAM: I'm a tiger.

ASHLEY: Am I able to do an insight check in my--

MATT: Yeah, totally.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay. 17.

MATT: 17?

TRAVIS: Ooh!

SAM: Whispers? Whispers. Do you need an easy gift to give your favorite DM this year? Have a kobold who seems to have everything? Give the gift of D&D on D&D Beyond! Sending a book has never been easier. Buy one as a gift at check out and send your friend the code! dndbeyond.link/crshop. Yeah.

LAURA: (like Lil Jon) Yeah!

(laughter)

MARISHA: (like Lil Jon) Okay.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: "Stay as warm and dry as you can. Tomorrow's journey will not be pleasant should you catch a cold." She puts her hood up, turns around, and then walks back off into the jungle. The rest of the Gorgynei watch her as she goes, look at each other, and then go to follow, one of them whistles and points to two others and they start their patrol watch and vanish off into the jungle. Manad is leaning against one of the trees. "Well, all right, you heard her. I guess we get to keep journeying. It's going to get real wild tomorrow, I guarantee it." Turns around you watch as he morphs into his werepanther form, and then leaps off into the distant brush.

TRAVIS: Hot.

LAURA: That was pretty hot.

TALIESIN: I like these people.

TRAVIS: I should teach him the elastic trick for his clothes, though.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah.

TRAVIS: Although he's a fucking sexy-ass orc. You seen his hair? Holy shit.

MARISHA: Maybe you should let it happen.

TALIESIN: Let that go.

LIAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: They'll get there.

MATT: He's not right in front of you. When they joined in, he stepped back and began his work with the rest of the people that are currently in the process of battening down for the storm and finishing up daily chores. It is now getting close to the middle of the night, and it is pitch black outside from the central fire here and a few small lanterns that are hanging around. So most folks are getting ready for bed, it looks like.

LAURA: Should we find a place to duck into?

LIAM: Ask if they had a spare treehouse.

MARISHA: Is Tarad still around?

MATT: You can go find him. Yeah, there aren't a lot of people to pick from and he's easy to follow.

MARISHA: (singsong) Tarad!

MATT: He kind steps out from--

SAM: Do one of these.

(animal calling)

TRAVIS: FCG, no!

MARISHA: I haven't seen any werehorses.

TALIESIN: How did you even make that noise with a, I don't remember.

MARISHA: Are there weremules?

TRAVIS: That fucking tongue.

TALIESIN: We got to do something about that.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Werehorses.

MARISHA: Yeah, werehorses.

TRAVIS: (neighs) Those are centaurs.

MATT: Steps out, you can see a thick fur blanket that he's wrapped around himself and puts his glasses back on, stepping out.

LAURA: Oh, I use Prestidigitation to defog his glasses for him.

MATT: "Oh, great, I hear you were calling me?"

MARISHA: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean if you were all tucked into bed. We were just wondering where we should tuck ourselves in as well, is there a guest cabin?

LIAM: Spare shelter.

MATT: "We don't really have a guest shelter, but it's mostly dry underneath the collection of homesteads there." He points out to this cluster of three elevated treehouses, at the base of the tree underneath, they have have strips of leather and cloth that are hanging from the bases of it. They form a makeshift half tent space.

LIAM: That's cool.

MATT: "That's probably your best bet there. It's close enough for the fire where it won't get too freezing, and-- hold on." He goes back into his chamber and comes out with a couple bundles of furs and passes it over. "These at least will keep you, the thinner ones warm," and hands them all to you.

MARISHA: (winces)

TRAVIS: You just collapse under them.

MARISHA: Sprained an elbow. Oh god.

TALIESIN: I'm just imagining the--

TRAVIS: Hang on.

MARISHA: (grunts)

LAURA: What kind of furs are they?

TALIESIN: What am I going to do with all these furs?

LAURA: Is it weird if it's wolf fur or bear skin?

SAM: Is it their own fur?

TALIESIN: It is a little weird.

SAM: Making blankets out of themselves?

LIAM: They hunt prey.

MARISHA: They did say they execute the ones who lose control.

LAURA: Yeah, but they turn into skin when they're dead, they turn back into people.

MATT: Which, some of the blankets-- No, they're not skin.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: and MARISHA: Ah!

TALIESIN: That's a tattoo.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: It puts the lotion in the basket.

ASHLEY: It puts the lotion in the basket.

MATT: "Would you hunt me?"

ALL: Ew!

MATT: Sorry, sorry.

ASHLEY: No.

MATT: That's bad, that's bad.

TALIESIN: Can't pretend we didn't have that coming.

MATT: I know, anyway.

LIAM: Don't you fucking hurt my werewolf!

(laughter)

MATT: That movie.

TRAVIS: Yes, yes!

MATT: But as you gather your loaner furs and gather at the base of the makeshift tent tree, here in the middle of nowhere, uncertain where you stand or where you are going--

LAURA: What the fuck is happening?

MATT: -- lost in the center of the unfamiliar Gloomed Jungles of Aeshanadoor, you lay down to uncomfortably try and find rest for whatever weirdness and dangers the following day.

LIAM: Could we say that we hang the portable hole sideways on the tree and make a little tree cave?

TALIESIN: A twee cave?

MARISHA: Twee cave.

LIAM: Twee cave.

MATT: I'll allow it.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'll see if we can set it up so that water doesn't get in.

LIAM: Yeah. Put the blankets down, sorry to interrupt.

MATT: No worries.

TALIESIN: No, I'm into it.

MATT: Nestled within your tree cave, your twee cave, which has a warge pile of matewials and items you've gathewed that have tumbled now to the side of it.

TRAVIS: Behind twee hole.

LIAM: Werewowves.

TALIESIN: Next character's Madeline Kahn, I've called it.

MATT: Please, I love it. You bed down, where we'll pick up our next session.

TRAVIS: This is the best!

MARISHA: This is the coolest!

TALIESIN: We are having so much fun!

MARISHA: They made a bunch of treehouses in the jungle, this so cool!

TALIESIN: They're were-treehouses.

MARISHA: A were-treehouse.

(laughs)

TALIESIN: They transform at night.

LIAM: My name's Larry.

ASHLEY: This is the best.

LAURA: I'm super into these people.

ASHLEY: I'm so mad.

MATT: All righty, well.

TRAVIS: Fucking weretiger, come on! Come on!

MARISHA: That werepanther's hot.

LAURA: Werepanther's hot!

MATT: Oh yeah, Manad's fucking hot, dude.

TALIESIN: I don't know, weretiger--

TRAVIS: We don't have the name of the werebear or the werewolf, right?

MATT: You did not ask, no. You'll have possibly some chance in the morning or tomorrow to ask.

LAURA: What does the werebear look like when they transform?

SAM: What's his name, Derrad?

MARISHA: Manad.

MATT: The werebear, you do not see.

SAM: No, who was the old guy who--

TALIESIN: That was the wereboar.

SAM and MARISHA: Tarad.

SAM: We don't know what he turns into yet?

MARISHA: Cornadei-- Cornei?

LIAM: Tarad was the gnome.

MATT: Yeah, Tarad's the gnome.

LIAM: We don't know. Maybe a wererat.

MATT: Listen, there are those who've learned to control the beast, and those are the Blood Hunters. Those are the Gorgynei proper. Then there are the civilians that just have the curse, that try and not give in at any time except for when it's a full moon, in which case they are chained to a tree.

LAURA: Oh, I see, I see, I see.

TALIESIN: What if he turns into a weresquirrel?

MARISHA: I know.

TALIESIN: That'd be amazing!

LAURA: Is it always predator animals?

MATT: Primarily, yes.

TALIESIN: Occasional omnivore, herbivore?

MARISHA: A werebass?

TRAVIS: No werecows.

SAM: A Werebass?

TRAVIS: Weredeer.

MARISHA and SAM: (flopping)

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Wow, thank you.

TRAVIS: Why are you like this?

(laughter)

TRAVIS: What did you just do to her? My favorite--

MARISHA: Sorry!

LIAM: I'm Gilbert, I'm a wereplatypus.

TRAVIS: You brought a fish into this shit.

MATT: On that note.

(laughter)

(cheering)

MATT: Thank you for joining us. Have a wonderful night, we'll see you soon. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Good night.