Transcript:Bats Out of Hell

''This transcript is of a work published before ND Stevenson transitioned in 2021. At the time, he was known as Noelle.''

Pre-show
[no audio]

MATT: Where a bunch of us nerdy ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons.

(laughter)

MATT: Why's everyone laughing? So yes! We're going to hop in here, but before we do, we have some quick announcements to get through. First and foremost, we have a survey that we put up a couple of weeks ago. It ends April 18th. If you happen to have an opportunity, please go ahead and put in your information, let us know where you're from, how much of the show you've watched, what kind of future things from Critical Role you'd like to see. It's us getting a feel for the size and spread of the community and it's very helpful and awesome. So you can check that out at geekandsundry.com/crsurvey. You'll probably see the link in chat as well, please do that if you haven't yet, that'd be awesome! You have until April the 18th. As far as merch goes, we're still out of stock on dice, I believe?

LAURA: No!

MATT: No?

LAURA: There's officially 30 sets left, according to--

SAM: 30 sets?

LAURA: 30 sets.

LIAM: Sorry, they're gone.

(laughter)

LAURA: There are 30 sets left in the store, we will be ordering more. So there will be more, but I don't know when that's, you know, going to come in. So 30 sets for the time being.

MATT: Fantastic. Thank you Laura. Yes. Taliesin! Wednesday Club coming up, right?

TALIESIN: There is a Wednesday Club. We're doing Comics 101, it's going to be our intro to how to read comics! The notion is like the show that you would show your grandmother, or your friend who's never apparently seen a written word next to a picture before. They do exist! I'm sadly not going to be there, but Amy and Matt are going to throw together something really, really awesome, and I'm going to be helping out from the sidelines, throwing them stuff, because I'm going to be out of town. But yay.

MATT: Awesome. Speaking of Taliesin and the different Matt, we're both going to be on Eric's TBD RPG tomorrow at noon Pacific time.

SAM: Oh. The dice are gone.

MATT: The dice are gone.

ND: Just now.

MATT: Well done. Jesus.

LAURA: Good job, guys that got them!

MATT: Yay! We'll have more soon! But we'll both be on Eric's TBD RPG tomorrow at noon, here at Geek and Sundry, Pacific time for the Doctor Who RPG. I'll be returning as my character Meatstick, the--

TRAVIS: Meatstick?

MATT: Meatstick, yeah. He's a heavily experimented-on Ood who is massively buff and looks kind of like Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. But with more of a tentacle mouth. So that'll be fun!

TALIESIN: Yes! I'll be doing my old man voice. It's very fun, yes.

MATT: I know it is, and I believe Darin De Paul will be joining us as well.

TALIESIN: I think he's a maybe.

MATT: Maybe? He's supposed to be. I think he might be a little late. I'll check in.

MARISHA: I think he's going to be on. I think. Pretty sure.

MATT: Mystery! Abound! Marisha! New Signal Boost, went up this week?

MARISHA: Yes! It's… me!

(laughter)

MATT: Full circle!

MARISHA: Again! I'm back! Go watch-- actually, we're going to be playing over the course of the break. So that we have a break.

MATT: You should watch it.

MARISHA: So you'll watch it over the course of the break.

MATT: It's only getting weirder, folks.

MARISHA: It's getting really weird. You can tell it's such an outlet for us of the creative team. It's got a lot of meta things going on on, reflecting our day-to-day lives. It always has been. It's great.

MATT: I will be at Sakura-Con by the way, next weekend. April 14th through the 16th up in Seattle. Be doing some panels, signings, and fun stuff, so if you guys are up in the Seattle area next weekend, come say hi! It'll be fun. Sorry, pardon my belch. Snuck up on me. And once again, Will Friedle is going to be at the Wales Comic Con, April 8th and 9th. Real soon. So if you're near Wales, go say hi to Will, give him a bunch of really large presents that he can't bring back in the plane, they will become his problem. So, that's my recommendation. Fuck that guy, exactly. And a reminder: me, Taliesin, and Marisha will be guests at Momocon, May 25th to the 28th in Atlanta, Georgia! So if you're in that area, other side of the country, come say hi then! Because that'd be fun.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: And Talks Machina, of course, every Tuesday, at 7PM Pacific here on Twitch and Alpha, where we talk about-- next week, we'll talk about this episode! And the episode before that a little bit, probably, too.

MARISHA: Yeah. I hope everyone liked the panel, by the way.

MATT: The panel went great! We had a great turnout at WonderCon!

MARISHA: Yeah, thanks everybody who came!

TALIESIN: It was super cool.

MATT: Like we kind of filled the arena. I had this big fear we were going to get up on stage and it was going to be, like, seven people in the front row and just empty space.

MARISHA: Apparently 2,800.

SAM: Oh wow!

MARISHA: 2,800 strong.

MATT: Jesus.

LAURA: You Critters!

MARISHA: Yeah, so many Critters.

MATT: So thanks for coming, guys!

LIAM: Great costumes, lots of cosplay.

TRAVIS: Oh, Brian Wayne Foster also said the Wondercon panel will be on Geek and Sundry's YouTube Friday at 8PM, in case you missed it on Talks Machina.

MATT: Great, so you can check it out then. And I believe, unless I'm mistaken, that's it. Anything else anyone wants to talk about? Noelle, anything you want to talk about?

ND: I had a great day today--

MATT: Awesome!

ND: -- and it was really fun. I had a good lunch.

MATT: I'm so glad. What'd you have?

ND: Falafel.

MATT: Nice, good choice.

LIAM: Hey look, this is a book that she made, and it's so good! And she signed it for me and I'm reading it to my kids and they love it!

ND: There's a bear in it.

LAURA: There is a bear in it!

ND: More than that in it, too, let me tell you. Just getting started. Lots of different animals.

(laughter)

MATT: Which, by the way, thank you again, Noelle, for coming and playing this again this week.

ND: Yeah, hey, is anyone tied to a table and needs help right now? Because apparently I'm available now. I'm here to help.

(laughter)

MATT: And, on that note, let's go ahead and dive in to tonight's episode of Critical Role.

[dramatic music]

Part I
MATT: And welcome back. Just so you guys know, we know there is a bit of an audio-sync issue that's happening right now. It's apparently not on our end; our systems are syncing just fine. It might be a Twitch-side thing. Hopefully they're working on it right now and seeing if we can figure out how to get that fixed. In the meantime, my apologies. We will continue playing, and at the very least the upload will be synced. So keep an ear out. Thank you for your patience. Technical!

All righty, so. Catching us up from last week. Vox Machina goes to hell. In tying up loose ends and dealing with lingering business, you've decided to travel to the Nine Hells of Baator, specifically the second layer of Dis, to where the iron city of Dis, under the rule of Dispater, to seek out the place where Hotis, the rakshasa, which is now in a chain of perpetually hunting members of your team. You decided it was best to end it there, as the only way to kill the entity is to destroy it on its own home plane.

So you gathered yourselves, you transported via Keyleth onto the second layer of hell, you wandered incognito as various demonic-adjacent entities. You've avoided a modicum of interest or other issues, you've made friends and signed a contract for aid with a cambion owner of some sort of tavern in the vicinity, you met with a silly shop owner, you ate soul crystals, little soul stones, and you've agreed to, for safe passage into the subterranean prison of Mentiri, which apparently houses Hotis as he's reforming, you've come to discover, you will go and assassinate a pit fiend named Utugash, who is the superior of the individual you signed the contract with. And upon his destruction, and without leaking any information that could tie this individual to the assassination, be granted passage safely and unspoiled into the prison to seek out your quarry, slay it, and return home safely.

As you snuck into the home of this pit fiend, you quickly discovered a dwarvish female had endured quite some torture and was found chained to a table. You released her, and she introduced herself as Tova. Actually, I don't believe you ever introduced yourself. You didn't give a name? Did you?

ND: It's in there somewhere.

MATT: I'm sure it was somewhere in there.

LAURA: Yeah, she said her name!

MATT: I think you did. Okay, good. Little else, though.

LAURA: I wrote it down.

MARISHA: I know. That means it happened!

MATT: There you go. That was awesome.

LAURA: I also wrote down "chained devils know." I don't know what that note meant.

ND: Oh my god, what do they know?

TRAVIS: You were tripping last session.

MARISHA: Because the chain devil potentially knew--

LAURA: About the Bastion of Flesh, is that what it was?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: Well, there you go.

LAURA: It was just, chained devils know, period.

ND: Very broody.

MATT: Chained devils, period: no. N-O. Period. Just don't.

LAURA: That, too.

MATT: However, your new dwarven friend transformed into some sort of a lycanthrope werebear, taking a greatsword from Grog's stash in the bag of holding. You gave chase over one of the guardians and keepers of the stronghold, killed it, and in doing so alerted other members of the stronghold, killed them, and in doing so alerted other members of the stronghold, and Grog, creeping forward down this hallway, revealed a central chamber where betwixt two pools of what appear to be molten, glowing blood, and sitting upon a throne, the corpulent, grotesque, sweaty, slick pit fiend named Utugash sits there. The terrible toothy grin, who speaks telepathically into your mind. "So. What do you bring to me to pleasure?" And I need you all to roll initiative.

LAURA: Oh god! That quickly, huh?

TRAVIS: Telepathically?

MATT: Yeah, just like the last one spoke to you.

TRAVIS: Are people just too lazy to use their mouths?

TALIESIN: Mouths are for eating, not for talking.

MARISHA: It's like texting in hell.

MATT: Kind of, yeah. All righty, folks. So, given that point. 25 to 20?

LIAM: 24.

LAURA: 24.

TRAVIS: Whatever.

MATT: 20 to 15. Who has what?

SAM: 19.

TALIESIN: 15.

ND: 16.

TRAVIS: Samesies.

ND: Oh, we're going together. Yeah!

MARISHA: 17.

SAM: Wow, we all did pretty well.

MARISHA: Yeah we did, for us.

LAURA: What'd you roll?

SAM: We're all between 15 and 24.

MATT: All right, so, as the pit fiend's still just standing there, its arm hanging over the edge of this giant axe it's using, propping it, it stares at Grog. It seems to be completely lazy, confident, and doesn't feel threatened whatsoever by the presence of this goliath that has stepped into its visual range. However, top of the round, Vax and Vex. What do you guys want to do?

LIAM: Take it.

LAURA: No, you go.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: So you guys are right there.

LIAM: Clicking the Boots of Haste. I'm going to now-- I know that there's a clot of people, but I have a lot of movement now, so I'm going to slide back towards Grog? No, towards Tova. That's a big bear at the other entrance. Towards the other entrance. Oh, that's a wall.

LAURA: There's no other entrance.

MATT: The only entrance you know of is this one right there.

LAURA: We really should have gone up and looked at it up close before.

MATT: That's okay. Now you know.

LIAM: Then I'm going to slide along the wall up to where Grog is.

MATT: Okay. You move along on this side?

LIAM: Yeah. Am I within range of oily guy? What's the distance, though, ten feet?

MATT: The distance between you and Utugash would be 25 feet.

LIAM: 25 feet. All right.

LAURA: Kill him!

LIAM: Little test run. Let's dagger, dagger, dagger.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Okay. Because I don't know if he's really there are not. First one is 33.

MATT: That hits.

LIAM: Yeah, good. That's 12, plus eight, nine--

LAURA: I was just thinking because it's at the same time, technically our moves. Could I send Trinket in?

MATT: Trinket into the room? Or just into the hallway?

LAURA: Well, that way Trinket's next to him so that my brother gets better-- doesn't he get better--

MATT: Trinket, from here, would be five, ten, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. Trinket has a speed of 40, right?

TRAVIS: I think that's right.

LAURA: I think so, yeah. Could he get there?

MATT: Trinket can get there.

LAURA: Oh god, that is so scary! I don't know, now that I'm seeing it, if that's the way to go.

TRAVIS: Go with your instincts.

LAURA: Here's my question.

SAM: We have a backup bear.

(laughter)

LAURA: While he's figuring out his shit, if Trinket falls and I don't see him, does he still come into Raven's Slumber if it's within 100 feet? Or do I have to have visual?

MATT: You don't know.

LAURA: (gasps) Matthew Mercer!

TRAVIS: You know, there is really one way to find out.

MATT: No, as long as the enchantment's in the radius, it's fine.

(laughter)

LAURA: Then he's going to do that so that you have a better attack on him.

LIAM: Well, I'm going first, so I've got the goods already.

LAURA: Motherfuck. Whatever.

MATT: You rush in, you get there.

LIAM: First blade goes, and I'm going to smite him.

MATT: Are you waiting for Trinket to get there before you throw?

LIAM: No, I'm not. I went already.

MATT: All right. Go for your attacks.

TRAVIS: But you could, he's saying you could have your advantage on that.

LIAM: I have it because I'm going before. Because I'm smiting him, first hit's for 55 total.

MATT: 55 points of damage. Slick.

LIAM: That's the first. The second is a 20 to hit. And the third is a 27 to hit.

MATT: All three hit.

LIAM: The next one, I will try--

ND: What could possibly go wrong?

LAURA: Just keep saying that!

LIAM: So he has to save against a DC 15 for poison on the second attack.

MATT: No, it doesn't. He's immune.

LIAM: Yeah, I figured I'd try. The next is nine, plus psychic damage, damn it, 12. So a total of 14, just for those two attacks. And then I will use some more movement to move past Grog, still in the hole, pressed against the outside of the door, out of his sight.

MATT: Okay. So you're now hiding against this side of the wall there. As Trinket runs in into the center of the area, as Trinket rushes in and rushes up the side of the pit fiend, what are you doing?

LAURA: I'm going to back up next to Tova. Wait, who's the big guy? What's that big thing? Is that Doty?

MATT: That's Doty.

LAURA: Okay, I'm going to get closer to Doty, and I'm going to hold my attack until I have visual. And then I'm going to have Trinket attack him, since I don't have visual on him right now, as my bonus move. So he's just going to get one attack.

MATT: All right, let me check one thing real fast on beastmaster. You are technically taking the attack action yourself. I'll allow it.

LAURA: You said I can get my attacks and then have Trinket be my bonus action, because he can do one attack as my bonus action. Single attack on bonus for bestial fury.

MATT: That's true. Yeah. I'll allow it. How it usually works is your action is the attack, and then as a bonus action you can give it, it's like you're both attacking at the same time. You're holding your action, but it is still an attack action, so I'll allow it. Go ahead and use it. It's fine.

LAURA: All right. He's going to just be in there, roaring. Get them, Trink! He's going to roll a 21.

MATT: 21 hits.

LAURA: Whoa! That's a 15!

MATT: Awesome. Are Trinket's attacks magical?

LAURA: Well, he's a really magically charismatic masseuse--

MATT: So Trinket gets an attack, scrapes the claw, gets up there as it runs into the room, the claw strikes, slashes across the front of the belly of the giant red pit fiend. It doesn't do as much damage as you hoped it would.

LAURA: Does it do any damage?

MATT: It does some damage, but not as much as you'd hoped. All righty. That ends your turn. You're holding your action until you have visual on the pit fiend. Taryon, what are you doing?

SAM: It's rather stuffy in here, so we should open a window. I'll run up to right in front of Vex and slap a window on the wall.

MATT: Okay!

ND: Did you run out of doors?

SAM: I've run out of doors.

(laughter)

SAM: I came with one. But I have two windows!

MATT: So for the purposes of this, this is now a window here.

MARISHA: Does it have nice Roman-style shade and then little baskets?

MATT: Yeah, no. It's beautifully carved. Yeah, it was like some Italian architects designed this beautiful--

SAM: It's a casement window, so I have to go-- (squeaking)

(laughter)

MATT: Perfect. So, to Taryon. Use your action to rush forward, you rip off the patch, slam the patch on the side, and you watch as the stone suddenly crumbles to dust in that space. Window is now open in the side of that wall. As soon as that happens--

LAURA: I attack.

MATT: Vex, go make your attack.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Two against pit fiends.

LAURA: Two weaves. I want to do Bramble Shot as my first attack.

MATT: Go for it.

LAURA: Okay. Oh! 30.

MATT: 30 hits! Go ahead and roll damage.

LAURA: Okay. So I get sneak attack because Trinket's next to him!

MATT: Yep.

LAURA: Okay. 4d8. Seven plus ten is 17. 17 just for that brambleness. And then he has to roll a strength saving throw of DC 17.

MATT: That's cocked. Yeah, rolled a 20.

LAURA: Okay. 15. 17 plus three is 20. Three lightning damage of that and then sneak attack is another six.

MATT: Nice. All righty.

LAURA: So that's the first attack.

MATT: Go for it. Second attack?

LAURA: Second attack! What was that? 21.

MATT: 21 hits.

LAURA: All right! What's five plus eight? Is that 13?

ND: Yes.

LAURA: 13.

ND: Why are you asking me? I'm a bear. Notoriously bad at math.

LIAM: Moneybags, what the hell?

LAURA: 15 with two lightning damage. 16, 17.

MATT: All righty. So both arrows fire off. You watch as the one slams into the side of Utugash and the vines wrap around. Utugash brings one arm up, tears them off of his body, picks up the axe and just hefts it over the shoulder looking back at where the window now exists where once there was none. Looks over and sees you and Taryon through the window.

LAURA: Am I allowed to move back at all, or duck under the window?

MATT: You could attempt to make a hide, but he was looking directly at you. You can move on inside.

LAURA: Well I probably can't hide; isn't that a bonus action?

MATT: Yeah, you already used bonus action.

LAURA: So if I just move out of the way.

MATT: So yeah, you can move out of the way if you want.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: This way or this way?

LAURA: Towards Doty.

MATT: Towards Doty? Okay, so you're going to move on the other side of Doty. That's going to be your movement, there.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Okay. Cool. That is going to bring us to Taryon. Did you want to do anything with Doty?

SAM: Well, he can't fit through a window. (laughs)

MATT: How big's the window in size?

SAM: It's two feet by four feet, I believe?

MATT: He could pull through, but it's going to take half his movement to do so.

SAM: I'll just say, Doty! Go back up Grog!

MATT: And Doty runs this way. Five, ten, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35. Doty gets right there, just crammed through the hallway and squeezed through. And that's going to be where Doty stays. All right, that ends your turn. All right, at this point now, Utugash puts one hand up and gives some sort of a marker in the air. You're not quite sure what the meaning is or what it's doing. You're the only one who really sees it, Taryon.

TRAVIS: I can't see it?

MATT: Well, you see it too, Grog, actually.

TRAVIS: I totally know he was (sings) dancing, dancing, dancing!

SAM: I don't have any idea?

MATT: You don't, actually. He just goes like--

SAM: Oh.

MATT: That's it. All right, Keyleth. Then Tova and Grog, you're on deck, so--

MARISHA: Okay, I'm going to scooch Vex over, be like, sorry, excuse me! I just want to-- And into the window? And I want to do--

LAURA: We want an extra window.

MATT: Taryon is. You mush past Taryon.

MARISHA: Oh, sorry. Excuse me, Tary. Blight!

MATT: Blight? Okay.

ALL: (overlapping) Blight.

MARISHA: Bees?

MATT: Range on Blight is 60 feet, right?

MARISHA: 30.

MATT: 30 feet?

MARISHA: Am I within 30 feet?

MATT: You're going to have to get closer.

SAM: Each one of those squares in the room with him are ten feet squares, right?

MATT: Each square is five feet. It's five, ten, 15--

SAM: The big squares are ten, yeah.

MATT: Yeah, the big squares are ten.

LIAM: It's hard to see the smaller ones.

MARISHA: All right.

MATT: So you'd have go through the window to do it.

SAM: (sings) Come to my window!

MATT and LAURA: (sing) Come inside.

MARISHA: Yeah, sure, I'll go through the window.

MATT: Okay, so you step through, you get about there. You have ten feet more movement. So that'll do it. All right, so.

MARISHA: Can I Blight and then back out? Back through the window?

MATT: You're not going to have enough movement. You'll get up into the window. You won't get all the way through.

MARISHA: (grunts) Shit!

MATT: That is a 21. What's your DC?

MARISHA: Fuck! Are you serious? 20.

MATT: Yeah, so takes half damage. Go ahead and roll damage.

SAM: Wait, he took damage, though!

MARISHA: Only half damage.

SAM: Because he's immune to magic or something? Is that what's going on?

MATT: No, you learned as the last battle, that pit fiends, as do most devils, have magic resistance. They have advantage on saving throws against spells. You figured this information when you researched.

LAURA: And only magical weapons can damage them, or they have resist on non-magical weapons?

MATT: They seem to have resistance from non-magical weapons, from the research you've done, yeah.

LAURA: Based on my lack of Trinket.

MARISHA: 32 total? And yeah, am I able to like barrel roll, like through the window?

MATT: You get up partway through the window, and that's the extent of where you go.

MARISHA: Hang on! Wait!

(laughter)

LAURA: I'd like to think one of your antlers caught, and you're like, (yelps).

MARISHA: Not like this!

(laughter)

MATT: All righty. Tova. Grog.

ND: Oh boy!

TRAVIS: Bears first.

ND: Okay, so how far would I have to run to get into the front door?

MATT: To get over here?

ND: Yeah.

MATT: That would be 30. 35 feet would get you right at the front door, there.

ND: So if I drag Keyleth out of the window, could I go through the window? Am I too big?

MATT: You could go through the window. You'd lose about ten feet of your movement, but you'd be able to get through it. You'd probably push her out of it.

ND: I push her. Can I pull her? (laughs) I have to push her back in and then go through?

MARISHA: I'm like the golden retriever with the stick.

MATT: If you carry her through, that's going to use part of your actions this turn. Or you could just barrel through and push her out. What're you going to do?

ND: All right, so, I can go 45 feet.

MATT: Yeah.

ND: So if I just bear-barrel through, how close could I get to this guy?

MATT: You can get right up next to him.

ND: All right, I'm going to do that. I'm going to go for it.

MATT: You rush over and go right past, now bear and bear, side by side. Keyleth, you get knocked out of the window, prone. All of a sudden this giant werebear (impact noise) just shoulder checks you and you go flying out, landing on your face, on the heated stone. (sizzling noise) Ah!

SAM: Oh! It's okay.

ND: Sorry!

MARISHA: It's fine, I needed to tan! I was getting a little pasty.

MATT: Take three points of fire damage.

(groaning)

ND: God! I would feel worse if your shopping trip hadn't gotten me so much more tortured yesterday than it should have. I don't feel that bad. I'm going to be honest.

MARISHA: You legit shouldn't.

ND: So now I'm in, is there any way I could get on the other side of him from Trinket?

MATT: Currently, no. Your full movement gets you right up next to the pit fiend.

ND: Damn. This is a bad plan. All right. Well, I'm just going to hit him with my--

MATT: You have a bonus action, too.

ND: Are my claws only magical when I'm doing the thing?

MATT: Your claws are magical in general.

ND: I'm just going to hit him with my claws, then.

MATT: Okay.

ND: All right.

MATT: So you take the sword and chuck it aside for a second, and bring out your bear claws and you're going to go for a double strike?

ND: 19?

MATT: A 19 to hit?

ND: Yep.

MATT: 19 misses, unfortunately.

ND: Goddamn it. And 25.

MATT: 25 does. The first strike goes (scraping sound), scrapes across the front of the belly of the pit fiend. No damage sustained, chuckles deeply. You back away with another strike.

ND: All right. So that's a 14.

MATT: 14 damage?

ND: Yeah, I guess so.

MATT: All righty. And you can use your bonus action to attack a third time if you want to.

ND: Okay. I'm going to use my bonus action to cast Curse of Mutual Suffering. And I'm going to amplify that. So I'm going to-- wait.

SAM: What're these words?

ND: I'm super special. It's about to get extra in here. So if I do a blood curse and I take damage, does that mean that my werewolf state gets agitated? If it's self-inflicted?

MATT: If it's self-inflicted, no.

ND: Okay, all right. I'm going to amplify it. So that means I take 14.

MATT: All righty. So go ahead and roll your Crimson Rite die, which I think is a d8. So you just roll a d8 and you take that much damage.

ND: Oh. Right. I thought that it was my other one, so that's fine. That's great. I took one point of damage.

MATT: There you go. So you take one point of damage, and, as far as the Mutual Suffering-- All right, there you go. So. You watch as you rush up to it, you slash it twice with your claws, and as you pick up your sword, you put one hand up, and as you close your fist, you watch as blood pools in the center of your palm and drips out the corners of your fingers. As it does, you watch the veins on the outside of Utugash's stomach pulse for a second, and his chuckle goes (groans), like he got a tummy ache. All right, that ends your turn.

ND: Told you I was going to going to be extra.

LIAM: The bear musk over here is palpable.

(laughter)

MATT: So that finishes Tova turn. Grog.

TRAVIS: Ah! I want to get in on the melee party. May I run up to his opposite side?

MATT: Certainly.

TRAVIS: Just where his right arm is. Just so he's got escorts on each end. May I smash together my Titanstone Knuckles?

MATT: You may.

TRAVIS: It's like the Autobots.

LAURA: Yeah, it was good!

LIAM: (sings) You got the touch--

MARISHA and LIAM: (sings) You got the power!

MATT: You transform into your larger self.

TRAVIS: What's up, bitch? May I make two reckless attacks?

MATT: You may.

TRAVIS: Thank you. That's a 30.

MATT: That hits.

TRAVIS: 19. Nice. That is 36.

MATT: 36?

TRAVIS: No, that can't be. 33.

MATT: 33. Damage?

TRAVIS: No, I did the second hit.

MATT: Both hit. Go ahead and roll damage for each.

TRAVIS: 18 for the first one. These are two-handed, by the way. 22 for the second one.

MATT: Nice! So 40 points of damage on the two strikes. As you rush up, almost diving into the pool, you skirt off to the side, slam the Titanstone Gauntlets together and grow to your larger size. Swirling the axe in the air, you go (whoosh), and the second strike in a big X formation across the side of it. You see it gashing across the arm and the upper muscles of the shoulder, and you see his fingers grip the axe with more anger and frustration.

TRAVIS: Oh, and this is the Thrower. It's still the Dwarven Thrower, though, the hammer.

MATT: Right, right, the hammer, okay.

TRAVIS: Can I use my bonus action to go into a frenzied rage?

MATT: You may.

TRAVIS: Thanks. And I don't get to attack.

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: What color is pit fiend blood?

MATT: It's a dark, dark blackish-purple. All righty, that ends Grog and Tova's turn. Percival.

TALIESIN: That's looking really crowded over there. I'm going to wander over to that first prison cell and take a look inside that door.

LAURA: (gasps) Percival!

MATT: Okay, make a perception check.

MARISHA: Percival. (laughs)

LAURA: I'm standing in the corner looking at him like, (whispers) what are you fucking doing?

TALIESIN: Yeah, a lot. 27.

MATT: You glance inside, and you can see what appear to be piles of goods: small chests, boxes, crates. It looks like various things that have been collected and just shoved in this corner and locked up. There is a lock on this door.

TALIESIN: Okay. How's my visual on that guy through the window?

MATT: Through here?

TALIESIN: And I ignore anything other than full cover. I ignore three-quarter cover.

MATT: Yeah, you have visual.

TALIESIN: All right. I'm going to take my first shot at that lock.

MATT: You don't have a bonus action, we'll say, because you moved up and just glanced inside.

TALIESIN: Yeah, that's fine.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: I'll take my first shot with the Pepperbox at that lock.

MATT: The lock? Okay, go for it.

TALIESIN: That's 27.

MATT: 27? Okay, go ahead and roll damage on the lock.

TALIESIN: Obviously it doesn't take psychic damage. That's 16 points of damage.

MATT: 16 points of damage? The lock blasts off, and leaves hanging a small piece of twisted, turned metal that once was the top of it. The door is now unlocked and open.

TALIESIN: Cool. I'm going to turn and take my last two shots at Orthax. I've got a plan.

MATT: Utugash.

TALIESIN: I've got an Orthax plan, never mind. I've just given the game away!

ND: Yelling out the wrong name in bed, eh?

(laughter)

MARISHA: Are you having PTSD flashbacks, Percival? Are you okay?

TALIESIN: Oh man! I'm too tired. I'm going to mess up my plan! This is so bad.

LIAM: I'm totally into you, (stammering) Utugash.

TALIESIN: First shot, I'm going to take the Animus, and I'm going to try for a trick shot, for an arm shot. One for grit, and just for safety's sake-- no, that's all That's a 31 to hit.

MATT: 31 hits.

TALIESIN: And that's ten, plus eight, plus 1d6 psychic. Plus I'm going to burn eight points of Cabal's Ruin, which empties Cabal's Ruin.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: So that's going to be 14 points of damage, plus one point of psychic damage, plus--

MATT: 8d6 lightning.

SAM: Oh, shnikes!

MATT: Cabal's Ruin, man. Vestiges (singsong) at your disposal!

TALIESIN: Five, six.Yeah, I'll take a seven and an eight, I'll give these back to you. (continues counting) 23 points, does that seem right?

MATT: 23 points, okay.

TALIESIN: 23 points of lightning damage. And also he has to do a strength check or drop the axe.

MATT: It's a 29.

TALIESIN: He makes that strength check!

(laughter)

MATT: He had a natural 19.

TALIESIN: And, just for fun, I'll take one more shot.

MATT: Go for it.

TALIESIN: That's 31 to hit, that hits. Nothing fancy on this one, obviously, just the old-fashioned-- 16 points of damage plus one point of psychic damage.

MATT: Okay, nice.

TALIESIN: And then I'm going to use the rest of my turn to, if possible, open that door and get behind it for cover, of that room.

MATT: Okay, because you blew the lock off and the door's somewhat ajar, we'll say you move it open and get partially inside, that's as far as you can get.

TALIESIN: I just want to use it for cover.

MATT: All right, so you get behind the door, and you're ducking in the side there. Perfect. Okay. At the end of your turn, Utugash is going to use a legendary action to attack you.

ND: Bring it.

SAM: Ursa Major.

ND: That's my wrestling name.

MATT: That is going to be a 16 to hit. I think that hits you because you have no armor on.

ND: It hits. Yeah, I don't have no armor on.

MATT: So, as the giant axe swings towards you, that's going to be 23 points of slashing damage with the axe. However, that does trigger the Mutual Suffering, so he takes 23 points of necrotic damage from the impact. As the axe swings and cuts across your bear chest, all of sudden, where the blood bulged earlier, you watch a secondary wound open simultaneously where no weapon was apparently visible and blood begins to just trickle out. Devil blood.

TRAVIS: Teach me.

LAURA: That. Was. Sick.

MATT: And he's going to use, as part of his last legendary action, and does another maneuver with his finger like that.

TALIESIN: He did another thing.

LAURA: He did another gesture? What gesture? What did he do?

ND: Oh, fuck!

TRAVIS: Same thing.

MATT: He did this.

LIAM: Gang sign, gang sign.

LAURA: Oh no, people are watching.

SAM: Was it this thing?

MATT: So, at the top of the round-- The only people in the room right now, Keyleth is face-first on the ground. I need Tova and Grog to make perception checks, if you could.

LAURA: What about Trinket? Trinket's got a really good sense of smell.

MATT: Have Trinket roll a perception check.

ND: 17.

TRAVIS: Two!

LAURA: Wait, with his keen sense of smell-- Okay. 17 plus-- what does he add to it? Anything?

MATT: Whatever his perception bonus is.

LAURA: Oh, wow! 17 plus nine. 26!

MATT: Trinket doesn't know why, but he's like (sniffs). And you watch Trinket looking around the room. The pit fiend is not alone. You don't know where anything else is, but while the room appears to empty, Trinket is picking up other scents in the room.

ND: Can I talk to Trinket? Can I understand Trinket?

MATT: (laughs) Sure.

LAURA: Yes!

MATT: Why not? Your bear form, you speak bear

LAURA: Yes! Ah, I love this!

LIAM: Everybody buckle up.

MATT: "There's something here!"

(laughter)

MATT: (sniffs) "Two! Small."

ND: There's two! Small!

TRAVIS: Why do you sound like a bear?

MATT: You hear the sound of grinding stone. You don't see anything. Unfortunately, the low light in here, and your not great perception, you don't pick out any visual, other than-- a familiar sound to you, Grog-- as something in the ceiling opens up, and suddenly searing hot oil comes spilling from the ceiling, down onto both you, Trinket, and Tova. I need you to make dexterity saves, Tova, Trinket, and Grog.

LAURA: Don't fuck me Gil. Oh, Gil. Did he get an advantage, though, because he sniffed out people?

MATT: Nope!

LAURA: Damn it.

TRAVIS: Should've gone with Gil.

MATT: Three.

TRAVIS: Seven.

LAURA: Nine.

MATT: All right, that is 21 points of fire damage to Trinket, Tova, and Grog.

LAURA: 29?

MATT: 21 points of fire damage.

TRAVIS: I am resistant to fire.

MATT: Devils have a strange thing called immunity to fire damage.

SAM: Immunity? Not just resistance, immunity?

MATT: They're devils, man.

TRAVIS: So I'm resistant to fire, but this is boiling oil, does that count?

MATT: It's considered fire damage because it's the heat that does it, so you take half of that. Put you at ten. So as that's happening, as the oil splashes down, you guys are tensing from the impact. Vax, you peer around the corner and you hear (creaking), and you look to the other side just as the portcullis has been lifted, and you see coming out of the opposite side the chamber is one of the bone devils that you've seen wandering in the street and is pouring from the other side. Its claws come through. It's as wide as the hallway, its jaw unhinges, its tongue slathering, these small flapping insect-like wings across the back of its scapula, its claws reach out towards you.

LIAM: The rest of the party hears: ermagerd, ermagerd, ermagerd!

LAURA: Did you already ask if the pit fiend took damage because you took damage?

ND: Oh, did he take damage from me? Was my curse still in effect?

MATT: Once he takes the damage, the curse is up. It's just for one hit.

ND: Sorry. I tried my best.

MATT: But he took 23 free damage, which is nice. Vax, he's going to take three attacks on you. That is a 27.

LIAM: Yeah, that kind of hits.

MATT: All right, that is a 20.

LIAM: That does not hit.

MATT: And with the tail, that is a 24.

LIAM: That also hits. I will use uncanny dodge for the tail.

MATT: Okay. So the first claw hits you, you take 11 points of slashing damage, and as the first claw strikes you across the chest, the second one, you manage to duck right under the way, it slams into the stonework, and as you glance up, you try and dodge and roll out of the way as the tail scrapes you across the back. That is 18 points of piercing damage, reduced to six, and you would have the possibility of becoming poisoned; however, you guys are still under the effect of Heroes' Feast, so that does not affect you.

ND: So his tail's poisoned?

MATT: Now it is Utugash's turn.

ND: Oh my god, that wasn't even his turn.

TRAVIS: That was the turn, right?

MATT: Utugash stands here with the axe and goes, the mouth not moving, you just hear the voice echoing between your ears. It's sourceless and in your face, "Now that we're all gathered around--" There's a flash of red in the eyes and suddenly the ground circling him erupts into flames. A wall of fire is now currently circling the vicinity.

TRAVIS: Oh shit.

MATT: This entire column of 20 foot tall flames encircle him and bursts up, singeing Grog, Trinket, and Tova.

LAURA: Just singeing.

ND: Seemed like such a good idea!

LIAM: How high is the ceiling in that room?

MATT: It's about 25 feet.

LIAM: So there's a little space up top?

MATT: A little bit.

LAURA: We can see through the fire.

MATT: You can't see through the fire, the fire completely obscures your visual of him. All you see is flames, and you see the vague shadows of Tova, Grog, and Trinket, now currently engulfed in them. I need you guys to all row dexterity saving throws.

LAURA: Natural 20!

MATT: Nice!

ND: 15.

TRAVIS: God, son of a bitch. 12.

MATT: All righty, everyone but Trinket failed.

TRAVIS: What, a 15 and 12 don't make it?

MATT: 23 points of fire damage to Grog and Tova.

TRAVIS: Resistant, so I got halved.

MATT: So that's 11 to you and Trinket. Trinket takes 11. Currently nobody else has visual range. You have no vision for Percy. Any ranged attacks, you cannot see the creature. Utugash sits there in the flames surrounding him, seemingly not interested in moving at the moment, enjoying the current position.

LAURA: How are we going to get him out of those flames, man?

LIAM: Tary, you got some kind of dispel magic over there?

SAM: I am so weak.

LIAM: Don't you have spells? You have so many spells!

SAM: You guys want a window somewhere?

ND: Could you put a window through him?

LAURA: And that would kill him.

TRAVIS: He's real strong.

LIAM: All right, I'm going to use my bonus action to cast Vow of Enmity on the bone devil.

MATT: All righty, Vow of Enmity is in play.

LIAM: Then I'm going to use one of my two actions, I'm using an action to disengage from the bone devil and dance back past Doty.

MATT: Dance back past Doty? All righty.

LIAM: And then I'm going to chuck a goddamn Vestige at this motherfucker.

MATT: At the bone devil?

LIAM: At advantage. Oh, I rolled the same thing on both. 24 to hit.

MATT: That hits.

LIAM: Okay, so, he's going to get it. Right, here we go. Two plus eight is ten, plus--

SAM: How tall is the room?

MATT: About 25 feet tall.

SAM: So there's a little window on top.

MATT: A little four or five foot gap, very small.

SAM: Okay.

TALIESIN: I already like it. This is a beautiful glimmer in your eye. I'm excited.

SAM: Well, it's something, isn't it?

LIAM: 38, and I will smite him as well. 52.

MATT: 52 points of damage. Nice. As you throw the dagger, as the creature watches you dart past, it streaks out to try and strike at you, but you're already gone. As you turn around, you throw the dagger. It strikes right into the chest of the bone devil, as it bursts with this dark grayish-white light indicative of the Raven Queen's direct impact. As it bursts, you watch as part of the flesh tears open, showing the dark bluish purple sinew and muscle beneath, and the devil just (growls).

TRAVIS: Get out of that hallway!

LIAM: That's it, I'm done.

MATT: That brings us to Vex.

LAURA: Okay. So I'm going to come up in front of the window.

MATT: Okay. You glance in and you just see fire and the butt of Trinket sticking out of the fire.

LAURA: Great.

MARISHA: And my feet.

MATT: Yeah, just up in the air, kicking.

LAURA: Can I Hunter's Mark the pit fiend?

MATT: You can't see it.

LAURA: That's fine. I know where he was, right? Trinket is facing him, so can I try to shoot him with an arrow, anyway?

MATT: I'll say, you have no visual on him. You can go ahead and shoot. Go for it, try it. Disadvantage.

LAURA: I have sharpshooter, I don't know if that helps at all.

MATT: No, he's completely covered.

LAURA: Okay, let's try this thing out. Those are being aggressive. The lower of the two rolls was 29.

MATT: Okay. You watch as you fire your arrow and it disintegrates upon touching the wall of fire. The actual shaft burns as it impacts in the flames.

LAURA: Okay.

ND: You should've used your fire-proof arrows.

LAURA: I know, right? Those fire-proof arrows. Great. If I shot an arrow from a blazing bowstring so it was already a fire arrow, you think it would go through?

MATT: Give it a shot.

LAURA: Okay, I'm going to do that.

MATT: Okay. So, second attack, Blazing Bowstring, go ahead and roll with disadvantage.

LAURA: 19.

MATT: 19. You go ahead and fire. It isn't consumed by the flames, but the arrow you hear exit the other side and then ricochet off the far wall and miss the creature's target.

LAURA: Well, it could have been cool. Okay. Trinket is going to use his bonus action to try to attack him, even though he's not magical and he's a little piece of shit.

MATT: All right, go for it.

LAURA: That is a 26.

MATT: 26 does hit.

LAURA: Yeah, go Trinket.

TRAVIS: Come on, Trink.

LAURA: Yeah, that's good, too! That's a 15.

MATT: 15. Halve that to seven, seven points of slashing damage across. Through the fire, still bravely fighting into it.

LAURA: Yeah. And I'm going to tell Trinket, back the fuck out of the fire, Trinket!

MATT: That's a good plan.

LAURA: What are you doing? Stop attacking! Get out of the fire!

MATT: Backs up and gets out of the flames, backing up against the wall.

LAURA: Yeah. And then I'm going to back away from the window.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: I'm going to back away from the window.

MATT: Where do you want Trinket to land, by the way?

LAURA: Just into the corner, like where the angle of the wall is.

MATT: Over there?

LAURA: Yeah, right there.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: And I'm going to back away from the window to where he doesn't have visual on me.

MATT: You back out of the way of the window, over here?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. As Trinket backs into that corner, I need Trinket to go ahead and make a dexterity saving throw.

LAURA: Of course.

ND: Come on, Trinket, come on.

LAURA: Come on, Trink!

TRAVIS, ND, AND LAURA: Aww.

LAURA: It almost was really good, but it wasn't. Six!

MATT: A giant cage falls from the ceiling of heated metal and lands on him, filled with spikes and (sad bear noises). You hear Trinket yell from the other side. Trinket takes seven points of piercing damage.

LAURA: You did that to an animal!

MARISHA: You don't fuck with a ranger's bear!

MATT: And six points of fire damage from the heated metal, and Trinket is currently restrained, has to try and break free to get out.

LAURA: You're evil.

MATT: Nope, Utugash is evil. There is a definite distinction.

TRAVIS: Mr. Mercer, we pulled you over for speeding tonight. (different voice) No, I wasn't speeding tonight. The pit fiend was speeding.

MATT: It's important, guys. All righty, so. That ends your turn, Vex. Taryon, you're up.

SAM: Jesus.

TRAVIS: Fix everything.

LAURA: Make it better.

SAM: I'm nobody! Is it just a cage or is there a door on the bear cage?

MATT: It looks like there is no visible door, you'd have to tear it off of him.

SAM: That's not going to happen. Okay, our last fight, I had hasted myself. That was more than a minute ago, though, right?

MATT: I'd say it's about halfway done. This has all happened pretty quickly, because as soon as the battle started with the cambion that you guys chased out, every round thereafter, it's still going. So you still have five more rounds of haste.

SAM: Okay, well then, I'll go into the place.

MATT: Okay, you jump over the window. Keyleth breaks your fall.

SAM: Oh. Sorry! It's hard to see with my helmet! No peripheral vision.

MATT: Yeah, and you see a column of fire just flickering and burning in the center of the room. Occasionally, you see a wing tip carve through the top as the creature is moving within the wall of fire.

SAM: Oh my god.

ND: (laughs) Do you have a fire extinguisher?

SAM: No! I don't have anything! How far can I move, hasted?

MATT: Double your movement.

SAM: You just double your movement. Okay. So my movement's 30, so I can move in there with him?

MATT: If you wanted to, yeah.

SAM: Okay. I'm just going to go, (yells) and run into the fire.

MATT: You rush into the flames. I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw..

SAM: Advantage on dexterity saves. Oh. All right, no. That's nine.

MATT: 30 points of fire damage.

SAM: Halved.

MATT: Halved because of?

SAM: My Helm of Brilliance.

MATT: That's true. There you go. So 15 points of fire damage to you, Taryon. As you rush through, you're like, "Hah!" The fire was enough, and you sit there and look right up on this massive, like, swollen devilish entity with giant red leathery wings, lower jaw with hooked tusks that stick out the bottom, gleaming yellow piercing eyes, giant horns that curl up from the brow, a giant axe in one hand and the other hand just points at you and goes, "Hi." in the center of your head.

SAM: I'm just going to say, "Hi. It's a little warm in here. Here, cool off." And I'll throw acid on him.

(laughter)

MATT: All right, go ahead and make the attack.

SAM: I don't know what I'm rolling. 14. This is to hit? It's magic? I don't know, how does this work?

MATT: Well, no-- hold on.

SAM: It's a vial of acid.

MATT: I'm going to pull up your class here, just to check it out.

SAM: I never know if this is a spell attack bonus sort of a thing.

MATT: When you throw it, they have to make a saving throw. So what's your DC?

SAM: The DC of the spell is 17.

MATT: 17. Okay, and it requires a saving throw. Because it's the acid

MATT: It's dexterity. Okay. That is 17.

SAM: So he resists it completely.

MATT: Creature must succeed or take-- yeah, he resists it entirely.

LAURA: Balls!

MATT: Yeah, sorry.

SAM: No problem.

MATT: So as you throw it, it hits the edge of the horn and just shatters and breaks behind it.

SAM: Oh. All right. I think I get a bonus still, maybe?

MATT: You do have a bonus.

SAM: I will cast Sanctuary on myself.

MATT: What you do is you have an extra attack-- as Haste you get your action.

SAM: Okay, that was my action.

MATT: That was your action. You have another action to do a melee attack if you want to.

SAM: Ooh, okay. I will stab him with my lance.

MATT: Okay go for it. Roll for an attack. So yeah, as hasted, you get the additional attack.

SAM: Ooh, that's going to hit. It's a 25.

MATT: That hits, actually. Go ahead and roll the damage. And it is a magical weapon, so he's not resistant to it.

TRAVIS: What sound do you make when you hit him?

SAM: (high-pitched grunt)

(laughter)

SAM: Like a breathy (grunts).

TRAVIS: Work on your war face.

SAM: That's 1d12. Thank you very much. That's seven.

LAURA: Do you add anything to it?

SAM: No wait, I get a plus six. Ooh, and it was a six! That's 13.

MATT: Is that fire damage?

SAM: No, the fire damage is another plus one, but I don't think you'll be adding that.

MATT: No.

SAM: (laughs) Yeah, so 13.

MATT: 13 points of damage against the pit fiend as you stab it and you can cast Sanctuary on yourself as your bonus.

SAM: I will, and as I do that I also say, Doty-- remember how I said back up Grog? Me! Back up me!

(laughter)

MATT: As Doty charges forward and rushes in. I need Doty to make a dexterity saving throw.

SAM: Oh no. 16 plus-- what's his dexterity?-- zero, so 16.

MATT: Doty takes 30 points of fire damage.

SAM: (groans) He's unconscious.

MARISHA: Already?

SAM: I don't know when the last time we rested was but I have down that he only has 30 hit points left. Did he take damage some point?

MATT: Well because he hurt himself going through the metal outside of the metal. So Doty comes rushing in and goes (impact sound) and just collapses on the ground next to you, superheated. (sizzling noise)

SAM: Oh no! Is he going to melt?

MATT: You don't think so.

SAM: He's in the fire, right?

MATT: He's in the fire, yeah.

SAM: Oh god. Is he making some sort of window that someone else could walk over?

MATT: No, the flames curl around, sorry. All right, so that ends Taryon's turn.

SAM: Good, I'm glad I used that last little thing.

(laughter)

SAM: Killed my best friend.

LAURA: Tary, it's your only friend!

MATT: At the end of the turn, the pit fiend sticks a hand out of the flames and does this motion. Make a perception check again, Grog.

TRAVIS: Not a problem.

MATT: And Tova, both you guys.

TRAVIS: 14.

LIAM: Tova fire.

ND: A 17.

MATT: 17, okay. Still not quite noticing anything, but you're starting to notice that there are these small, inset stone circles on the wall behind him, over in this area. And you watch as two of them go (stone grinding) and get pressed in by themselves.

TRAVIS: Into the wall, or out from the wall?

MATT: Into the wall. Like something just pressed this giant, circular stone button-- separately.

TRAVIS: We're in an engine.

MATT: So Vax, where you are, the floor you hear a (click), like something releasing. I need you to make a dexterity saving throw.

LIAM: Oh well, I'm good. I'm fine, I'm at advantage. Hopefully that's good. Not that good.

LAURA: Oh my god. Can you use luck?

LIAM: No, hold on. This is dexterity.

TRAVIS: It might be balloon animals, don't sweat it yet.

LIAM: Oh man, it's not great. It's 16.

LAURA: Use luck.

LIAM: I think I have one left? I think I have one left. So I'm going to use it.

MATT: All right, go for it.

LIAM: Oh, that's better. That is 25.

MATT: 25 is enough. The ground suddenly hinges out from under you, and you leap up and jam your blades into each side of the wall and put your foot out to the side, and it's almost not enough to press into the small space, but you just barely catch yourself, Van Damme-style, on each side. The bone demon across from you, its wings flare up as the ground tumbles out from under you. You see about ten feet below you a pool of molten iron that is just (burbling). It stays open, swinging for a few seconds, before it closes once more beneath you.

LIAM: Good to know.

MARISHA: I'm really glad you used that Luck!

TRAVIS: How do you know it's not molten steel? Kidding.

MATT: One way to find out. That brings us to Keyleth.

MARISHA: Oh, jeez! Okay. I roll over.

MATT: You stand up and see Trinket currently trapped in the cage next to you just whining (sad bear whimpers).

MARISHA: It's okay, buddy! Just hang on. Tsunami coming though, look out! I'm going to do a Tidal Wave and go (bwoosh). Do you have the laser pointer? What are these red pools of things?

LAURA: That's molten blood, he said.

MARISHA: It's molten blood?

MATT: All right, so you're doing Tidal Wave.

MARISHA: I want to try and avoid my friends. It's ten-foot-wide.

TRAVIS: If you've got to, you know who to aim it at.

MARISHA: In fact, there's a ten-foot gap, right, Matt? Between everybody? Right up front?

MATT: Right up front there's a little bit of a gap there, and Doty is on the ground, you can step on Doty.

MARISHA: It's ten foot, right? Can I do my Tidal Wave from this direction backwards?

MATT: How wide is the Tidal Wave?

MARISHA: Ten feet.

MATT: It's still going to hit somebody.

MARISHA: Who's it going to hit?

MATT: There's five feet between Taryon and Tova, and--

TRAVIS: Either me or Taryon. I mean, Doty. Or whoever.

MARISHA: I know Grog is dextrous, so Grog can take it. Sorry, Grog. But I want to start here and go backwards. Towards you.

MATT: Towards me? So this way. Okay. You're choosing Taryon?

MARISHA: No, Grog, to get hit.

MATT: So, this way?

MARISHA: Yeah. It's a ten-foot-wide column that I just want to go back.

MATT: Right. In order for it to hit the pit fiend? It's going to hit either Taryon--

MARISHA: Or Grog!

MATT: No, because Grog's far off to the side-- If it comes back this way, it's just going to hit Grog.

MARISHA: Sorry, I was confused, when you said Grog. So who's it going to hit?

MATT: It's going to hit either Taryon, or it's going to have to hit Tova and Doty.

ND: Do what you've got to do.

MARISHA: Tova.

ND: Sorry I pushed you out a window.

(laughter)

MATT: I need Tova to make a dexterity saving throw.

MARISHA: Only because I think she's more dextrous than him.

ND: That is 11.

MATT: What is it?

ND: 11.

MATT: That's not going to work for a spell DC. However, Utugash does not make the save either! With a roll of a six plus eight, that is a 14. So, that's 4d8 bludgeoning damage, go ahead and roll that.

SAM: Oh man. Kill our own guest?

MARISHA: No, it's not that much. Five, six, seven-- Ten, and a reroll, I do an eight! So that's eight-- 23 damage, thank you.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: And he should be knocked prone--

SAM: That's not a seven.

MARISHA: No, it's an eight. Wait, five, seven, that's 10, 18. 18 damage.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: And he's knocked prone.

MATT: As is Tova.

MARISHA: And then the water spreads across the ground in all directions, and extinguishes unprotected flames in an area within 30 feet of it?

MATT: Correct!

MARISHA: That's all I cared about, mainly?

MATT: So, the water (whoosh), and the wall of fire in that one section (sputtering, fire roaring back to life). Unfortunately, the enchantment continues to produce flames once the spell disseminates the water. The nature of the spell is it perpetually conjures fire. So, there is a brief moment where it causes a gap, and the flames pick up once more. He is knocked prone, he took damage.

MARISHA: Okay. I tried. Sorry, guys.

MATT: Are you going to move, or are you going to stay where you are, Keyleth?

MARISHA: I'm going to back up as-- Can I crawl? Do I have enough movement to crawl back through the window?

MATT: You do.

MARISHA: I'll do that.

MATT: So you go back there, and you can move right back, around--

MARISHA: Yeah, I want to keep it, use it as like cover.

MATT: Okay. That ends Keyleth's turn. Tova. Grog.

ND: Took some damage. Little bit. But I'm prone.

MATT: So you can get up and use half your movement.

ND: Okay, I've got to make a wisdom saving throw to not attack anyone.

MATT: Are you under half health?

ND: Yes, I am. Oh! I actually did it! Okay, it's fine, don't worry! False alarm, everything's fine!

MATT: So you maintain control.

ND: Don't worry about it! We'll deal with it later when it comes up!

SAM: What would've happened to me?!

ND: No, everything's fine! We're good! So, if I stand up, that takes half my turn?

MATT: Half your movement.

ND: Okay. Well, I'm going to stand up.

MATT: You're still in the flames, currently.

ND: Well, that's not good.

MATT: You can take your turn and then back out of the flames, if you wanted to.

ND: I'm going to use my Crimson Rite to light up my claws.

MATT: With what type of--

ND: With frozen. Does that help me with fire at all? Can I bat the flames away with my icy paws?

MATT: Your hands feel more comfortable

ND: Okay.

(laughter)

MATT: Where once was these giant bear claws, you watch as mystic ice gathers around them, turning into longer razors that extend from your regular claws.

ND: All right; I'm going to come to this guy, and--

LAURA: Eat it, Utugash!

ND: My claw attacks with the Rite, does that increase--

MATT: Not to hit, but it does an additional 1d8 cold damage per strike.

ND: All right. That's a 26.

MATT: That hits.

LAURA: Do you get advantage because he's prone?

MATT: You do get advantage because he's prone--

ND: 24.

MATT: That hits.

MATT: The third attack, if you want to use your bonus-- You already used your bonus, you only get two. Both hit! Roll damage.

ND: All right. That is a 13. And that's a 15.

MATT: Add 2d8 cold damage to that as well, because of your Crimson Rite.

ND: 2d8. Can I use my Great Weapon to reroll my one, here?

MATT: Yeah.

ND: That is a four and a five. So, nine.

MATT: Nice! That's a total of 37 points of damage in two strikes. Do you want to back out of the flames?

ND: Yeah, that'd be good.

MATT: You can get that far out of the way. You back up just out of the fire. Look over, and there's another bear chained in that place. That ends your turn. Grog.

TRAVIS: Osh kosh magosh, it's time for hammers. Can I advance through the ring of fire and on him more?

MATT: Unfortunately, because of both of your sizes, you cannot advance into the ring. He takes up too much space. You're either standing right in the middle of the ring and just taking it, or you're going to have to back out of it.

LAURA: What if you jump on him?

MATT: You can try, if you want to.

LAURA: You could jump on him!

TRAVIS: That's not actually a terrible idea. Because at the worst I just fall off one side or the other into the boiling blood-- I'll just stay in the ring of fire. I don't want to test the Sriracha pit just yet. Because he's prone, do I get advantage on the attacks without having to use Reckless?

MATT: Correct.

TRAVIS: Can I make all three of my frenzied attacks?

MATT: You may.

TRAVIS: With advantage. 35 for the first one.

MATT: That hits.

TRAVIS: Cheers. Ten, 20. 26?

MATT: That hits.

TRAVIS: Nice. That's 29?

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Ten. 26 again. 26 points of damage. 19. C'mon, 37.

MATT: Ooh, All righty.

TRAVIS: That's 22 points of damage.

MATT: 22 points of damage, all right.

TRAVIS: Can I use my Action Surge?

MATT: You may.

LAURA: Did you take something?

TRAVIS: Second level in Fighter. Groggy got two more hits.

MATT: That's five attacks in one round.

TRAVIS: I can only do it one time. That's a 23.

MATT: That hits.

TRAVIS: 25 points of damage. And that's 29. Hits?

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: 21 points of damage.

LAURA: How much damage did he just do with one turn?

MATT: He did over a hundred.

TRAVIS: But I'm cooking.

MATT: You're staying where you are?

TRAVIS: Yeah, they're really strong hits because I'm burning while I'm doing it. Literally whaling through the fire and just angry.

MATT: Make your dexterity saving throw.

TRAVIS: Advantage on that. That sucks, that's a seven. I have resistance to fire, it's okay.

MATT: 28 points of fire damage. Reduced to half, 14.

TRAVIS: 14, thank you.

MATT: All right, that ends Grog's turn. Percival.

TALIESIN: If he's prone, does that mean that negates the difficulty to hit through the ring?

MATT: Well, ranged attacks against prone creatures have disadvantage, naturally and you can't even see him, you have no visual range. You don't even know that he's prone.

TALIESIN: So that's a mess.

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: I still have my movement, can I move out of the ring?

MATT: I was asking if you wanted to do that or not.

TRAVIS: Oh I would like to, after all the smashing is done.

MATT: You move out and do not take the last bit of fire damage. You take that when you end your turn in the fire. How far do you back up? Just out of the range?

TRAVIS: Just on the cusp of it.

MATT: You step out of it.

LAURA: Not to the other corner where there's probably--

TRAVIS: Probably not.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I think I can see that Vax is having a little bit of a problem.

MATT: You can glance to the side, yeah.

TALIESIN: There's a window in the door. I'm going to swing around the other side of that door really quickly. Perch on the wall right over there and I'm going to take a couple shots at Mr. Skelly Skellington.

MATT: Go for it.

SAM: You're not just in the closet over there sorting through file cabinets?

TALIESIN: No, I was tempted to see if it was anything-- We've got him on tax evasion. I was hoping we would find a person in there, I'll keep digging. Okay so first shot I'm going to burn a Grit for a torso push.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Actually, I'm going to add Hex to that, just for fun. I'm going to Hex him.

MATT: Okay, cool.

TALIESIN: That's 23 to hit.

MATT: 23 hits.

TALIESIN: That's 14 points of damage, two points of psychic damage and five points of necrotic. He also has disadvantage on constitution-- checks. And he's pushed ten feet back.

MATT: (slams) up against the wall there.

TALIESIN: I'm going to shoot him two more times.

TRAVIS: Is the portcullis closed behind you?

MATT: The portcullis is currently closed. As soon as he pushed through it.

TALIESIN: Second shot, I'm going to burn one more Grit and I'm going to try for a head shot. Which will give him disadvantage on next round's attacks.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: 24 to hit.

MATT: 24 hits.

TALIESIN: That's 11 points of normal damage, five points of psychic damage and two points of necrotic-- piercing damage. He has to save against a constitution saving throw. Against 20.

MATT: That is a 16.

TALIESIN: He has disadvantage on all of his physical attacks for the next round.

MATT: Okay, cool.

TALIESIN: One more shot for fun and let's make this a sharpshooter.

MATT: Sure.

TALIESIN: That was not my wisest thing ever. 16.

MATT: 16 does not hit, unfortunately.

TALIESIN: Oh well.

LIAM: I don't think Vax has ever had one of Percival's bullets go right by his ear. It is unsettling.

TALIESIN: I'm going to flip back around on the other side of that. I'm going to spider crawl all the way on the other side of that door again.

MATT: All right, that ends your turn. At the end of Percival's turn, there is a grinding sound above. Grog, I need you to make another dexterity saving throw.

TRAVIS: Come on, Gil. 18.

LAURA: No!

SAM: Is it big enough to cover his big body?

TRAVIS: It's just like a spiked helmet stabbing me in the cheek.

MATT: It gets around your upper torso and sticks partway on, and your arms are (click) to the side. It tears into you. You take 14 points of piercing damage reduced to seven, and then six points of fire damage reduced to three. You are restrained.

TRAVIS: This one has spikes on the inside too?

MATT: Yep.

TRAVIS: And it's hot?

MATT: And it's hot. (sizzles) as the piercing and the fire damage hits you. You are restrained.

TRAVIS: (warbled scream) Is that how you sound, Tary?

SAM: Always.

MATT: The bone devil's going to fly across and it's actually going to fly over Vax and land on the opposite side.

LIAM: Did it go past me? Can I get an attack of opportunity?

MATT: Nope, it flies up high enough to be out of your range and then drops down, both claws arcing towards you with disadvantage. First one's going to be 22.

LIAM: Nope.

MATT: Nice. 18.

LIAM: Nope.

LAURA: What's your AC?

LIAM: Hasted, with both daggers out? It's 23.

MATT: With the tail, it is 19. All three miss.

SAM: Why does he have disadvantage?

TALIESIN: I shot him in the face.

MATT: Yeah, one of the eyes got blasted on the side. Part of the skull is broken and destroyed.

TALIESIN: That happens when I breathe for a second before I shoot.

MATT: At this point in time--

LAURA: Oh no, he's pulling things out!

LIAM: More miniatures.

MATT: Two more devil characters come through. The portcullis rises as they pass through, and they go into a full run into this chamber. You see these red-skinned devil humanoids rush in with these long jagged spears. Horned crests on their head, and from where their chins are, there are these writhing tentacles covered in thorns and barbs that move and twist around.

TRAVIS: What sweet hell did your imagination come from?

MATT: Full movement, with the double dash, that guy will get there, this guy will get about there. That's as far as they can get. Not fully up to anybody yet. All right, we have Utugash. Stands up in the flames and looks down at Taryon Darrington.

SAM: Good day to you, sir. Do you know my father?

MATT: You hear the voice echo in the center of your mind, "Good day, and good night!" It's going to make a full round of attacks on you.

SAM: Oh boy.

MATT: So that is 30 to hit.

SAM: Yeah, of course. Doty will save-- Nope.

MATT: As he leans forward and takes a big chunk with his bite out of the front of your-- tries to get to the helmet and the jaw sticks under the chin. That's going to be 24 of piercing damage. However, you are immune to poison so you don't have to worry about poison right now thanks to your-- So, the helmet catches most of the brunt of it, and one of the teeth jabs you right underneath the jaw and you can feel it pierce and making it bleed from underneath. As soon as he pulls back and shoves you aside and releases its grip, as its claw strikes out from its left arm. That is a 16 to hit.

SAM: Because I'm hasted, that does not hit.

MATT: It rolled a two to hit. You just manage to duck out of the way.

SAM: Haha!

MATT: As you say, 'Haha!' the axe comes from the other side-- That is a 22 to hit.

SAM: I have ve-- Ah! Yeah, that hits.

MATT: Double nines. That is 28 points of slashing damage. The flames that currently engulf the axe-- The axes bursts into flames. He swings with it, deals an additional 16 points of fire damage.

SAM: Halved.

TRAVIS: How many ds of what did you roll?

MATT: 6d6.

ALL: Ooh! No!

MATT: And using the momentum of the axe, the entire body of the pit fiend spins around the tail, whipping towards you. That is 20 to hit.

SAM: Me? But I'm just a man! Yeah, of course that hits.

MATT: As the tail swings past, that is 28 points of bludgeoning damage.

LAURA: Are you alive, Tary?

SAM: I'm okay because Marisha reminded me that when I was not here one week, she gave me an extra 17 hit points, which I still have.

MATT: The Inspiring Leader feat.

SAM: They're helping me a lot right now.

MATT: Utugash stays there in the center of the flames, just waiting for people to come to him.

TRAVIS: He still looks nonplussed? Just chill?

MATT: You don't know, you can't see through the fire. That brings us to the top. Vax, you're up.

LIAM: All right, I'm going to shoot out my fucking wings and I'm going to Hunter's Mark the asshole, and then I'm going to skip--

MATT: The guy you're fighting?

LIAM: Yeah. I'm going to skip disengage and fly backward towards the end of the hall he came out of.

SAM: Matt?

MATT: Yeah?

SAM: On the first of those attacks, I have Sanctuary.

MARISHA: You do.

SAM: It's just one wisdom roll.

MATT: Natural 20, plus ten, 30.

SAM: I think it's safe to say, even in retrospect.

MATT: Yeah, sorry. Time progressed as it was meant to. But good call! So, Vax.

LIAM: It was wings, Hunter's Mark, chancing a hit as I fly down the hall away from him.

MATT: This way?

LIAM: Yeah, that's good.

MATT: It attacks with the tail. Still has disadvantage. 20.

LIAM: Nope.

MATT: Just arcs and misses you as you zoom out.

LIAM: I'm going to chuck Whisper using a sharpshooter, but at advantage. 26.

MATT: That hits.

LIAM: All right. 11, 21 plus psychic damage, sorry, doing math, be right with you. 58.

MATT: 58, nice! That was towards the bone devil?

LIAM: Throwing the dagger? Yeah.

MATT: Right. That was with the Sneak Attack damage, because--

LIAM: Because I'm at advantage because of Vow of Enmity.

MATT: Vow of Enmity was on the pit fiend.

LIAM: No, it was on the bone devil.

MATT: You're right, it was. You're correct.

LIAM: Also Hunter's Mark. So let's up that by one.

MATT: All righty. Cool. That's your single attack?

LIAM: I used everything. Wings, Hunter's Mark, and the dagger. Bonus, action, action.

MATT: That ends your turn. Vex.

LAURA: If I pop through the window, will I be able to get out of the window? I want to pop through the window, get Trinket in the locket; that's what I'm going to do first.

MATT: You come through, step through--

LAURA: Go, Buddy!

MATT: As you do, Trinket zooms into the locket, leaving the cage to clank to the ground.

LAURA: I'm going to hop back through the window.

MATT: Okay. That's your turn.

LAURA: Can I let him back out of the locket from there, or--

MATT: Next turn, you can.

LAURA: That's my whole fucking turn?

MATT: Yup! Tary.

SAM: What happened? Oh, it's my turn?

MATT: Yes.

SAM: Oh, great!

MATT: You guys would all be taking Fear Aura checks, but you're immune to fear because of your Heroes' Feast. Just letting you know.

TRAVIS: Fear Aura checks? Oh my god.

SAM: You know how sometimes when we're in fights and bad guys can walk around us without incurring damage?

MATT: You only get attacks of opportunity if you move away. If you stay within range, it doesn't--

SAM: I'm going to clock around him, clockwise.

MATT: Until--

SAM: Yeah, right there's pretty good. Do I see any-- I can't see out of the ring, right?

MATT: You are stepping into the flames to do this.

SAM: Ew, what?

MATT: You can get right here on the edge and not be quite in the fire.

SAM: I'll do that. I'll say, it's been lovely having this time with you in private, but our seven minutes in heaven are up. I need you to leave. I will do the Ring of the Ram at full strength and push him out of his own ring. If it works. That's a one. But, I'm feeling Lucky. That's a three. Can I feel really Lucky?

MATT: Unfortunately, it does not work that way, Taryon. I am so sorry.

SAM: No, that's fine. Does it fire?

MATT: It does fire, and I believe it's just a miss. It's a hit-or-miss-type circumstance.

SAM: It just misses. I've lost it all there.

MATT: The ram head goes careening out of the wall of fire, slamming into the stone work and causing a big crack in the stone in the wall. The pit fiend says "I will eat your face first."

SAM: Jesus, I like my face.

MATT: You're still hasted.

SAM: Still hasted. For my second thing, I can only do a melee attack. I can't cast anything, I can't reach into my satchel or anything.

MATT: The bonus action you have from Haste is for weapon attack only. Or you can try and run away.

SAM: Yeah, I could.

MATT: So he'll get an attack of opportunity on you.

TRAVIS: What would Doty do?

SAM: That's fair.

LAURA: Fall over and be unconscious, is what Doty would do.

SAM: I will spend the rest of my turn moving back to where Doty was, picking up his book, putting it in my Bag of Holding so it doesn't burn up. Then crawl into a ball and cast Sanctuary on myself.

(laughter)

MATT: That ends Taryon's turn.

SAM: If I don't look, he'll go away!

MATT: That brings us to Keyleth's turn.

MARISHA: Where are the little pissant guys?

MATT: There's one there right next to Grog, and one right next to Doty. So there, and there.

MARISHA: I'm going to hop through the window again. I'm going to cast Sunbeam.

MATT: Are you moving to try and get them both in the same path?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: Sunbeam it is.

LAURA: Matt, can I use my bonus action to at least Hide?

MATT: Sure, roll a stealth check. So it's a constitution saving throw for both of the bearded devils.

LAURA: 23.

MATT: Okay, good to know. That is a ten--

MARISHA: Negative.

MATT: -- and an 18.

MARISHA: Negative again.

MATT: So, 6d8 radiant damage to both and they are both blinded.

MARISHA: 6d8? Can I have two more d8s, please? Those were definitely d6s.

TALIESIN: I'm sorry, here's a d8.

MARISHA: Thank you. Oh that's good. 30 points of radiant damage.

MATT: To both of them. Nice. As the beam (pssh) across the room it streaks down the way and both of them get engulfed. As the beam of bright sunlight energy slowly diminishes, their faces are seared. You see smoke pouring out of their eyes as they're both reaching up to the sockets. That was not so good for them. They're both looking pretty rough already.

MARISHA: I look at Tary. Tary is within 30 feet of me, yeah?

MATT: You don't see Tary. You just see a column of fire.

MARISHA: I don't see Tary.

MATT: Tary is currently inside the wall of fire, curled in a ball. All you see is a giant column of flame in the center of the room. And half of Doty being slowly heated up.

MARISHA: Do I see anyone else, and does anyone else look rough?

MATT: You see Grog with a giant cage on his upper body, wrapping around his torso.

TRAVIS: Just spinning in place (confused screams).

(laughter)

ND: I'm down to 39 hit points.

MARISHA: Do I see Tova?

MATT: You do see Tova, yeah.

MARISHA: Okay, I say, hey, sorry about the whole Tsunami thing. You got this! And I give her a healing word at level one. I'm going to give you-- shit-- plus my spell modifier. Sorry, nine hit points.

LIAM: Fixed.

ND: All better now.

MATT: Hey, it helps. It all helps. Trust me, it helps. All right, Keyleth, are you going to stay where you are?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: All right, Keyleth stays there. Tova and Grog, you're up.

ND: So two questions and one of them is, is my Rite still on?

MATT: Yes it is. Until you dismiss it.

ND: All right, my question also is are these cages still-- would it hurt me to touch one or move one?

MATT: I mean, they're pretty warm to touch.

ND: My hands are very cool.

MATT: You know what? Actually, with your claws out, I would say they will do no damage to you because the cold will offset that.

ND: All right, so let me know if this sounds doable. I want to grab that cage that Trinket was under.

MATT: Okay.

ND: And move it towards where Utagash is. Tary is in the fire, yeah?

MATT: Yes.

ND: Can I grab him and pull him back with me, behind this cage?

MATT: He's about 25 feet from you. You don't even know where he is. You know that he's inside the fire, but you don't see him. Because you're outside the flames, all you see is a wall of fire. You have to step into the fire, take the fire damage, grab him and pull him back.

ND: Can I just reach (laughs) my cold bear hand into the fire and grab him and pull him out?

MATT: You'll still take the fire damage from the wall of fire, unfortunately.

ND: Can I get decreased fire damage?

MATT: It's probably not going to work out. It's magical fire, I'm sorry. But the cage is nearby. You are closer to the cage than you are him. So if you want to grab the cage and move towards him you can do that. Is that what you want to do?

ND: Let me-- can I grab this cage and put it between-- this cage is just sitting out, got to do something. Can I throw the cage at that guy who's standing there? He's there, right?

MATT: You can. Go ahead and make a strength check. You have advantage because you are in your bear form.

ND: (laughs) That is a 14.

MATT: 14 is fine, that's enough.

ND: No, wait. 13. What?

LAURA: Didn't you roll an eight?

LIAM: Plus your strength of ten. So 18.

ND: Oh yeah. Bears are great at math.

MATT: Sorry, this would be an athletics check to lift it, not strength, sorry.

ND: Okay, then yeah. 18.

MATT: So you reach over and you grab it and the steam flies up the side of the cage, and you lift it up over your head, and you're going to go and try to throw it over at this guy there? So as you lift the cage, go ahead and roll for just accuracy on this. Roll an attack, add your proficiency. What did you roll? Oh no. You throw the cage and it rolls into the center of the hallway there, blocking the doorway. Ah, those ones are the worst.

ND: I know.

TRAVIS: (laughs) That dice sucks.

ND: I know, yeah.

LAURA: You seriously need to stop using that one.

ND: What else can I do?

MATT: You still have your movement and your bonus if you wanted to do--

SAM: Do you have healing potions?

MATT: You still have your Blood Maladict if you wanted to use any of it.

ND: All my stuff is probably in that prison that Percy was in. I don't have any pockets.

(laughter)

SAM: Oh yeah.

ND: Yeah, I was sort of unprepared for this. I was really excited for this fight.

MARISHA: Tiny pockets, this is a problem of women's fashion, to be fair.

ND: I know, even with the bears.

MARISHA: Why tiny pockets?

ND: I know.

MARISHA: Come on women's fashion, come on.

ND: So I still have a bonus action?

MATT: You do.

LAURA: What is a Blood Maladict?

LIAM: Really cool words on the sheet.

ND: I know. Not as helpful as I had hoped. I can see an object's history--

MATT: Grog, what are you doing? While she is figuring this out.

TRAVIS: I'm going to try and get out of the cage.

MATT: All right, go ahead and make a strength skill check.

TRAVIS: I have advantage on those.

MATT: Yes, you do.

LAURA: (Grog voice) I have advantage. Ooh, that's good.

TRAVIS and LAURA: That's better.

TRAVIS: 27.

MATT: 27. As you tense, the metal actually (creaks) and bends out the sides and you just tear the cage off of the top of you. That's your action.

LAURA: That's your whole action?

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: Yep.

TRAVIS: Yep.

TALIESIN: You've got bonuses and stuff, though.

MATT: You do. You have your bonus action if you're still raging, so.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I do!

LIAM: Wake him up!

TRAVIS: I'm going to throw-- Oh, I just see a column of fire.

MATT: You just see a column of fire.

TRAVIS: But I see a motherfucker behind me, don't I?

MATT: You do, yeah.

TRAVIS: He going to turn to jelly. Do I have my movement?

MATT: You do.

TRAVIS: I would like to visit him, please.

MATT: You turn around, and he's right there. Currently with his eyes smoking from being seared with a Sunbeam.

TRAVIS: Hi! Smash.

MATT: Okay, he's blinded, so you have advantage automatically.

TRAVIS: Yay! Natural 20.

LAURA: Oh! Can you imagine if you had been attacking the pit fiend?

TRAVIS: Yeah, I know!

TALIESIN: Smear him.

TRAVIS: That's 24-- That's two additional damage die.

TALIESIN: Like a fat mosquito.

TRAVIS: 30.

MATT: 30 points of damage?

TRAVIS: Yeah. They were all three really low-damage die rolls. Oh! Actually, I can reroll a one or a two, which was that last one! Nine, that's better.

SAM: Doesn't matter, you killed him.

MARISHA: Doesn't matter, he's dead. He's so dead.

MATT: As you turn around and see him there, you go, "Hi," wham. He's going (hisses) and hears this "Hi" and his entire head collapses inward and you shove it down to about the height of the rest of his shoulders. He just (wet collapsing noises) to the ground, and just crumples. And then burns into ash and just cinders left behind. Destroyed.

TRAVIS: Cool, huh?

MATT: That's beautiful, is what it is. Ending Grog's turn, Percival, you're up.

ND: Wait, can I take my last thing?

MATT: Oh, yeah, that's right! What're you going to do with your bonus?

ND: All right, so I can only move or I can only use my bonus action, yeah?

MATT: Correct, yeah.

ND: Okay, well, I'm just going to cast Curse of Mutual Suffering on Utugash one more time.

MATT: You currently do not have visual range on him, you can't see him. Does it say, for the curse, that you need to be able to see the creature? That's the question, let me look.

ND: It just says, "a creature within 30 feet."

MATT: So, yeah. So you just know where they are. So you can! Curse of Mutual Suffering does hit Utugash, are you going to amplify it, or not?

ND: Am I going to what?

MATT: Amplify it, or leave it as it is?

ND: Yeah, I'm going to amplify it.

MATT: Go ahead and roll your d8 and take d8 damage.

ND: All right, I'm just going to-- Oh! Six. That is six for me.

MATT: All righty.

ND: And then I'm going to throw my bear arms wide and just like--

MATT: (laughs) Come at me, bro?

(laughter)

ND: 'Sup, asshole?

MATT: Perfect. All righty.

TRAVIS: She knows how to bleed.

MATT: Percival, you're up.

TALIESIN: All right, I'm going to reload. Because boy, I'm out.

LAURA and TRAVIS: Bubble throat!

TALIESIN: Yeah, no, that's right! I was, like, what? What? Bubble-- Yeah. (gravelly mumbling) Got a little thing. I didn't know it had a name, and now it's the obvious name for it. It's bubble throat. I'm going to swing back around and back up a little bit, and I'm going to take three more potshots at that bone, because that's what I can see.

MATT: All righty.

TALIESIN: I'm not going to get close to him. I'm going to back up a bit. Just back up in the middle of the room. I'm going to keep going.

MATT: About there? Sure. Go for it and take your attacks.

TALIESIN: Nothing fancy, attack number one: that's 26 to hit. And that's nine points of piercing damage, five points of necrotic damage, and two points of psychic damage.

MATT: Vax, as you're looking across the room, you see the bone devil (hisses), and it rears back, and you see the wings span out, it looks like he's about to leap. And as it takes its jump, you watch its face explode forward with dark crimson, just, mist, as the head is blown off of its shoulders.

MARISHA: Get that grit back.

TALIESIN: Better! And I'm going to see if I can-- Is there anything? I've got two more shots.

MATT: There is one creature in here that you can barely see through the side.

TALIESIN: Oh, I can? Oh, all right, let's do that, that's funny. Another shot at that guy.

LAURA: It is really hard to see some of these people.

TALIESIN: 23?

MATT: Red creatures on dark red. Sorry.

TALIESIN: 23?

MATT: 23 hits.

TALIESIN: Oh, and that's right, I don't have that anymore, the Hex isn't until next turn where I can move it. That's 15 points of damage plus one point of psychic damage?

MATT: Okay. Still standing, but it's looking rough. You have advantage on these attacks, by the way, because it's blinded.

TALIESIN: Oh! All right. And then I'm going to take another shot. I'm going to make this a sharpshooter, just to end this. Yeah, that'll do. That's 14, 20. 25?

MATT: Yep. Go ahead and roll damage.

TALIESIN: I didn't know I had advantage, that's lovely. That's 18, 19, 20, 21. 25 points of damage and four points of psychic damage.

MATT: So, after the cage goes flying of his head and clangs behind it, it spins around as it hears the impact, and turns back in the direction of Tova. Even though its eyes are currently held shut from the blinding light of the Sunbeam, it rears back with its hooked pull arm and is about to rush towards the torso of Tova, knowing and being able to sense where she is. Right as it rears back (gunshots), two shots, the second one knocking its head limply across the back of its shoulders, and it tumbles to the ground, unmoving.

MARISHA: You get another grit back!

TALIESIN: I get another grit back.

TRAVIS: Get another grit back.

MARISHA: Get that grit back.

MATT: Is that the end of your turn, Percy?

TALIESIN: That is, other than just backing up a little bit more, as far as I can go, just to get out of the--

MATT: (laughs) Just getting away from everything!

TALIESIN: Getting away from everything!

MATT: "Ah! Ah!" Okay, perfect.

TALIESIN: I'm good a distance.

MATT: Okay, so. This is on Utugash's turn: Utugash is going to strike with a bite against Taryon Darrington.

SAM: Sure.

MATT: Frustratingly, that's going to be-- oh, it has to make a wisdom save, doesn't it?

SAM: It does.

MATT: For that first attack, that's a natural 20.

LAURA: Oh my god!

MATT: Better that than for the attack! But after that, the first attack was a 18 to hit?

SAM: Hits.

MATT: All righty. As it chomps down onto your torso, this time, as opposed to going for the helmet, it goes for the side of the shoulder, its mouth is large enough to go over your shoulder and come in both the chest and the back of the shoulder as it sinks in. That is going to be 24 points of piercing damage. And you're immune to poison, so you don't take that. You're still standing?

SAM: Yes.

MATT: All righty.

SAM: Well, crouching.

MATT: Right.

MARISHA: In the fetal position.

MATT: As it's clamped down on you, it takes its claw and rakes across your stomach.

SAM: Technically, it has to roll another wisdom save. It lasts for a minute, it's not per attack, actually.

MATT: It does, you're right! That is a ten plus ten, that is 20.

SAM: He succeeds.

MATT: Okay. The attack roll for that one was a 21.

SAM: Yes.

MATT: So for the claw raking across your torso, that is going to be 21 points of slashing damage.

SAM: (strangled death noises)

LAURA: Oh no, Tary!

MATT: And with that, Taryon falls unconscious and bleeding on the ground.

TRAVIS: Tary Jumbo!

MATT: Utugash, after the claws tear across part of the plate armor swings open, and the claw rakes through the side of the torso, leaving the wounds open and bleeding out and steaming across the heavy heated stonework of the room.

SAM: And at that point, do all of their necklaces glow?

MATT: They do. They begin to pulse.

MARISHA: That's totally correct, yeah.

ND: What's going on?

TRAVIS: I've no idea what this means.

MARISHA: Someone's unconscious and we can't tell that they're unconscious.

MATT: At this point, Utugash is going to use his-- The wings take flight at this point, as nothing is immediately in the circle, and he's getting frustrated by this. The wings pick him up in the air. He's going to peek through the top of the form and look over, and he sees Tova and Keyleth, and is going to land, technically on your guys' spaces. This is part of his Corpulent Form ability. I need you both to make dexterity saving throws.

ND: Finally, thank you. That is an 18.

MARISHA: That's not great. Saving, dex, 14.

MATT: All right. You both suffer 17 points of bludgeoning damage as Utugash's giant form lands on top of you. You are pinned to the ground. You are considered grappled and prone. As Utugash is currently now--

ND: So, Utugash also maybe takes some damage from that.

MATT: Yeah, well, takes the same 17 points of damage from the Mutual Suffering.

ND: That's something.

MATT: So you're both prone and considered grappled. You cannot move until you get out of the grapple.

MARISHA: We're both grappled?

MATT: Yeah, because he's basically sitting on top of you.

MARISHA: Fucking dick.

MATT: I need you to make a concentration saving throw to maintain Sunbeam.

MARISHA: I have advantage on that.

MATT: You do.

MARISHA: I'll take that 18.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MARISHA: Yeah, I just have to beat the damage, correct? 18.

MATT: It's either ten or half of the damage, so you're fine. With you both pinned-- you, at immediate visual perspective, look the most vulnerable to Utugash, as you are a tiny half-elf girl, as far as he's concerned. He's going to use his next two attacks, the axe and the tail, with advantage against you because you are currently knocked prone.

MARISHA: Aw, desu desu.

MATT: The axe is going to be a 32 to hit?

MARISHA: What? 32?

MATT: 32 to hit.

MARISHA: I mean, yeah.

MATT: 25 points of slashing damage.

MARISHA: 17 plus 20. Plus 23--

LAURA: What are you doing concentration on?

MARISHA: My Sunbeam.

LAURA: Oh, right.

MATT: So that's 23 points of slashing damage, plus 23 points of fire damage. So a total of 46.

MARISHA: Can I use my reaction to cast Absorb Elements?

MATT: If you have it prepared, yeah.

MARISHA: Yes, I do.

MATT: Which allows you to?

MARISHA: Never done this before. Let me double-check. I capture some of the energy and I store it, and I have resistance to the next damage type that I take that, and the first time I hit with a melee attack on my next turn, I can do an extra 1d6 of that damage type.

MATT: So you take 11 points of fire damage instead.

MARISHA: Beautiful.

MATT: So, it does 34 points of damage total.

MARISHA: So another 11 would've made it 82. Okay. I have to beat a ten, correct?

MATT: No, you have beat half of the 34, which would be 17. So you have to beat a 17.

MARISHA: Nope. Wait, what do I add?

MATT: Your constitution saving throw.

MARISHA: Oh! No, I'm good, then. I'm good, that's exactly a 17?

MATT: Okay. Then that's fine, you succeed. And then the tail's going to slam down onto you as well, Keyleth. With advantage on that. 16. Natural 20.

MARISHA: What?

TRAVIS: Matthew!

MATT: Natural 20.

LAURA: But, wait, what did the next melee attack do to you?

MATT: This is the tail.

MARISHA: It's me attacking.

MATT: It's a nine, a ten, and a seven on 3d10, so that is--

TRAVIS: Oh god.

MATT: 62 points of bludgeoning damage.

MARISHA: 60-- wait, how?!

SAM: Halved.

MARISHA: Halved. Is it halved? Wait, what?

MATT, MARISHA AND SAM: No.

MARISHA: It's not.

SAM: I just like saying that.

MATT: Well, sorry, it's 20-- it was 52 points, because it was a ten, a nine, and a seven. So it would've been 26, just the dice, crit is 52, plus ten, 62. 62 points.

MARISHA: I mean, I'm still up.

SAM: Hey, that's good.

MARISHA: With 20 hit points. No. I was at 82 minus 62, which means--

LAURA: 20 points.

MARISHA: 20 points.

ND: So, seeing as he, like, landed on me, could I do anything here? Any reaction?

MATT: Do you have a reaction to do?

ND: I don't know. (laughs)

MATT: No, not really, you're just like, "Urgh!" You're being sat on by the pit fiend.

ND: Even if I was upright, be like a pincushion to sit on?

MATT: I mean, you're holding it off, but his heavy hide against your pincushion-type nails is not going to do much unless you're physically attacking behind it.

ND: Icicles.

MATT: I know. And he's resistant to cold, sorry.

ND: Just thought I'd check.

MATT: Vax.

LIAM: All right, well, my enemy is gone. Percival just shot it through the face, so. I start to fly towards the entrance. The moment I come through and I see Keyleth mangled on the ground underneath, I just react and fly straight at the thing and snag onto his chest like an angry, pissed-off cat, and I just start slicing.

MATT: Okay, go for it.

LIAM: I'm actually going to bonus action Hunter's Mark him as I land. I'm going to move the Hunter's Mark, excuse me, from the slain guy.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Yep, and okay, and here we go. That is shit. No, well, it's 16. I'm sure it doesn't hit.

MATT: 16 does not hit, no.

LIAM: Okay. That is 19.

MATT: 19 does not hit, either. Both angry strikes just hit the hide, but it's too strong, and the devilish scales deflecting the piercing blows.

LIAM: I'm going to stay hanging on.

MATT: Okay. Vex, you're up.

LAURA: Okay. Hey, I can see him now.

MATT: You can. It's also sitting, currently, on Tova and Keyleth. Keyleth is looking pretty banged up. Tova's looking pretty banged up, and your brother is hacking at it to no avail.

LAURA: I don't know what all I could see of that other than just the pit fiend's arm through the window, but I'm going to back up and shoot him. I'm going to Hunter's Mark him first, though!

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: And I'm going to-- yeah, that's what I'm going to do.

MATT: Okay. As you back up, he does get a reaction attack of opportunity, because he has a reach.

LAURA: Through the window?

MATT: Yeah. As you back up, after smashing at Keyleth, goes (whoosh) and whips through the window towards you. That's going to be a 25 to hit.

LAURA: Yeah, sure, whatever.

MATT: That is 21 points of bludgeoning damage against you.

LAURA: Great.

MATT: The tail almost sends you off your feet, almost knocking the wind out of you from the impact to your chest and stomach area. But you slide and catch yourself before tumbling backward.

LAURA: (sighs) I hate you. Hunter's Mark!

TRAVIS: Why do you need Hunter's Mark?

LAURA: Well, you know.

LIAM: I think this is going to be a negative, but a quick clarification question. With them on the ground, then there's no flanking bonus, or anything--

MATT: Nope, they are not threatening him currently.

LIAM: That's what I thought. Checking.

MATT: They have to be threatening them to be giving that bonus.

TRAVIS: Tickle!

MATT: (laughs) They are currently under his rump.

LAURA: The first one is a one.

SAM: Yay.

MATT: The impact from the chest blow ends up, as you go to grab the arrow, you're already kind of a little off-aim from the the wooziness.

LAURA: (grunts in pain) All right. That's fine. I'm going to hit him again, though, or try. That is-- I can add-- 23.

MATT: 23 hits.

LAURA: Yes. Okay. Yes! 18 plus one lightning damage, plus 2d6, here we go, and two ones! I'm rolling great! Woo!

ND: Want to borrow some dice?

LAURA: All of these. All of you guys are goodbyes. And you're a goodbye, too. You can stay.

MATT: All right, so. How much damage was that, total?

LAURA: Huh? How much was that?

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Oh. 19 total. One of those was lightning damage.

MATT: Okay, good. So, the second arrow does it. And you're seeing now, Utugash, while looming over and seemingly impervious, at close view, as you get a glance backing up, is looking pretty hurt. Previously, as it's now your second time battling a pit fiend, you're able to see the faint cracks that you're beginning to notice generally show a lot more damage than they do on the surface. So you're starting to see signs of wear, which, based on your previous battle, leads you to believe it's actually pretty hurt. That ends your turn, Vax. And Vex.

LAURA: I'm going to back up. I can use the rest of my movement, right?

MATT: You can, yeah.

LAURA: And back up around that corner so I'm parallel with Percy there. Yeah, right there.

MATT: Okay. Cool. That brings us to Taryon. I need you to roll a death saving throw.

SAM: Oh, sure. Yeah. Can I feel lucky?

MATT: You can, technically.

SAM: Oh, that's worse.

(laughter)

MATT: So that's one failed death saving throw on Tary.

ND: Tary.

LAURA: I just have a quick question.

MATT: Yeah?

LAURA: Since I I haven't used this very much. The disengage feat that the rogues have, is that a bonus action?

MATT: It's a bonus action to disengage, yeah.

LAURA: Okay. Just checking.

MATT: Yeah. You'd already moved your Hunter's Mark, unfortunately, but going forward, you can do that.

LIAM: It's a zig-zag motion.

TRAVIS: Serpentine!

MATT: Now.

TRAVIS: Now what?

ND: Don't press any more buttons.

MATT: Two imps that were previously invisible in the room and hitting the various buttons across the back wall at his command--

LAURA: Oh, it was those fucks.

MATT: Appear and both fly down, swinging towards Keyleth, who's currently pinned underneath. And are just going to begin to start attempting to bite at her. Or, these are the stings, so with advantage, that is six plus five. That is 11. The first one, the stinger hits you, it just can't pierce the armor. The second one is going to go ahead, and with advantage, that is a 13. Just can't pierce the armor. Little imps, they're like-- (snarls) And Utugash is like, "Ugh, hungry carrion wraiths." That brings us to Keyleth.

MARISHA: (sighs) Okay. Time to go big. I am going to cast Shapechange, my 9th-level spell, and I am going to turn into a fire giant.

LAURA: A fire giant?

MARISHA: Yeah! So as I'm down, my eyes light up, and I start to turn into a giant. And I want to reach up and grab him by the throat and try and stand up and see if I can pile-drive him.

MATT: Okay! Go ahead and roll your attack for your fire giant.

LIAM: I'm going for a ride.

LAURA: Are you attached to him?

TRAVIS: Are you super strong?

MARISHA: I am. Is this plus 11 just to my attacks?

MATT: Everyone else gets pushed out of the way. So yes.

MARISHA: Natural 20!

(cheering)

MARISHA: Thanks, Gil!

LAURA: That made up for all the rest of the times he fucked us during this game.

MATT: So, Tova and the imps get pushed aside as Keyleth's form suddenly encompasses most of the corner of the room. Natural 20. You grab Utugash by the throat. Grab the torso, lift him up, slam him onto the ground. Go ahead and roll just the basic damage for the fire elemental's attack. It doesn't knock him prone, but this is the flavor for the attack.

MARISHA: How do you know what basic damage is?

MATT: Look for the attack for the fire giant.

MARISHA: Well, it just gives me multi-attack.

MATT: And underneath that, it says?

MARISHA: And it gives me a greatsword melee attack.

MATT: Yeah, just roll the damage for the greatsword. The attack is the flavor of the strike.

MARISHA: That is 6d6. That is one, two, three, four. I need one more.

LIAM: I'm on this guy's chest, by the way, and he goes down, and it's landing on the ground, I love what you do!

(laughter)

LIAM: And I want to somersault away.

MARISHA: Ten, 16, 24 damage.

MATT: How much did you roll?

MARISHA: 24.

TRAVIS: 24.

MATT: 24. That was with the double?

MARISHA: Right! So, doubled that, so 48 damage.

MATT: Plus seven.

MARISHA: Plus seven, yeah!

MATT: Yeah. So that is 55 points of damage.

MARISHA: (grunts)

LAURA: Just say it. I want to hear you say it.

MATT: Well, it's not there yet.

(groaning)

MATT: Technically your action was to cast the spell, and you wouldn't have the ability to attack in the same round. But I'm letting you do it, because why not. Because it's fun.

MARISHA: Well, I didn't move.

MATT: It's fine.

(laughter)

MATT: And we'll say you can't move, this turn. But it was fun. It was cool, why not? All right. That ends your turn, Keyleth?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: Tova. Grog.

ND: All right. Let's just go all out, here. I'm going to cast--

MATT: It's looking really rough, by the way.

ND: -- Blood Curse of the Marked, on Utugash. I'm going to amplify it.

MATT: All righty.

ND: Four. Four damage for me. And then I'm going to slide in under this fire giant's legs and go for it with my claws and the Crimson Rite.

MATT: All righty, so at half movement, that's five, ten, 15, 20. You can just get into combat range right there. Knocking Vax over and killing him.

ALL: (chanting) Tova. Tova. Tova.

ND: All right, so that's a 28 to hit on one.

MATT: That hits.

ND: And that is a 24 to hit on the second.

MATT: That hits.

LAURA: That does so much better.

ND: All right, so that is 11. That is a 13. And I get two more, yeah? Matt? With my Crimson Rite?

MATT: With the claws you do 2d8, and these are doubled because you did your mark.

ND: Okay.

MATT: So, what did you roll?

ND: A seven. Seven for the 2d8. And then, what did I say, 13 and 11 the first time?

MATT: Yes. So, it's 13 and 11 for the actual weapon damage, for the claws. And then now, what did you roll for the first?

ND: Seven, together.

MATT: Seven together. So that's 14? How do you want to do this?

(cheering)

MATT: Two guests in a row! All right, so how do you want to do that? As you watch, the fire giant, clutching it by the throat and slamming it onto the ground, Utugash is in this sort of wrestling ring encounter in the center of the room.

ND: Just going to fucking body slam him with my bear body and going to hit him with both my claws. Going to tear his fucking throat out.

TRAVIS: Yeah! Yeah!

ND: And I'm going to look down at him, and I'm going to be like, how do you like me now, asshole?

MATT: So. Keyleth. In the impressive moment of slamming Utugash down, the grip you have on the throat is loosened suddenly as a secondary force pushes Utugash out of your grip. What looks to be a bowling ball of a fur-like bear form goes slamming into the torso of the devil, who then falls onto the back, as the bear just begins Wolverine berserker barraging, tearing through the chest and torso cavity of the devil. Drops the axe, and is trying to reach up and is clawing at your back and tearing through flesh. You can feel the blood, but you're too focused at this point, the frenzy kicking in from your transformation. And as you stare down and say that into his face, Utugash's tongue is lolling back across the tusks and says, "We'll still find you." And just goes limp across the ground.

ND: (deep exhale)

MARISHA: I stand up, and I look at Grog. And in Giant I say, "'Sup."

TRAVIS: 'Sup, playa?

MARISHA: What's up, man?

TRAVIS: Damn, you be talkin' my lingo!

MARISHA: Yeah!

ND: I'm going to spit on him while I'm still standing. And I'm just going to flop on my back, turn back into a dwarf. Be like, "Hey, you guys want to get a beer?"

TALIESIN: Aren't there still two--

MATT: There are two imps in the chamber. But they both turn invisible as soon as this happens. And they're attempting to escape as the flame wall disappears, and you see Taryon bleeding out on the ground. Next to his superheated--

LIAM: Oh. I land and Lay on Hands

MATT: Okay. Yeah, you're close enough to do so.

LIAM: Okay. I'll give him ten.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Maybe we just toss him in the blood.

MATT: So how much do you give him?

LIAM: Ten.

MATT: Ten. So you have ten hit points. And you come to consciousness.

SAM: Oh! I had the craziest dream.

LIAM: Slap!

SAM: Oh!

LIAM: Are you all right? Are you really all right? Are you having fun?

SAM: Did I kill it? Again?

LIAM: Stone-cold dead, you did. Congratulations.

MATT: We'll say, Keyleth?

MARISHA: Yeah?

MATT: Because technically they were in melee range with you, since you pushed them out of the way, as they vanish you do get one attack of opportunity across them with disadvantage.

MARISHA: Ooh! Am I still all fire giant form?

MATT: Yes you are.

MARISHA: That's cool. Okay. With disadvantage?

MATT: With disadvantage.

MARISHA: On both of them?

MATT: On just one of them.

MARISHA: Just one of them?

MATT: Because you only have one reaction.

MARISHA: That's eight plus 11, so that's 20--

LAURA: 19.

MATT: That still hits. Go ahead and roll damage.

TALIESIN: That's plenty.

MARISHA: So that's 7d6 plus six. One, two--

MATT: Don't roll damage. Because even if you rolled all ones, it's just enough to kill it, it has 13 hit points. So, as they both vanish, and you hear the flapping of wings, you just do one wide, Hail Mary arc with your fist, and just (whoosh) and (squeaking screech). One imp just gets splattered across the back of your knuckles. But the other you hear (wings flapping) fly off.

MARISHA: (very deep voice) I imagine he's going to tell the others. Oh, this Shapechange has so many weird things!

TALIESIN: If I have a moment, I'm going to look in all those doors really quickly.

LAURA: I'm going to run over to Percy and give him a kiss and say, nice shooting, stud, and I'm going to help him look.

TALIESIN: Okay, then I'm going to wait one second, not to look in those doors. But that happens. And then-- Yeah.

SAM: In fear, I stand up and throw my lance at the fire giant.

(laughter)

MATT: Roll an attack!

MARISHA: That's fantastic!

SAM: That's a 14.

MATT: What's your AC?

MARISHA: 18.

MATT: The lance ricochets off your chest.

SAM: Are you seeing this? Are you all seeing this?

LIAM: No, that's the Tempest, that's the Tempest, man. That's Kiki, that's Keyleth.

MARISHA: Hi, Tary! I'm Antlers!

SAM: Oh! Good day to you, miss. I've misjudged you again.

MARISHA: Fist bump.

SAM: No!

LAURA: I shout through the window, loot the body! And I keep looking in the things with Percy.

MATT: Okay. As you glance through the various openings, there're a bunch of cells. Some are empty, some contain long-dead, rotting corpses. The first room that you go into contains a fair amount of gold, and it's just stashed--

TALIESIN: We pull it.

MATT: This small stash here is about 12,300 gold pieces.

LAURA: (sings) Yeah! Putting that in the stash.

MATT: You also find your equipment. You find your maul and your armor.

LAURA: 12,300, you said?

MATT: 12,300 gold. So you have that at your disposal now.

ND: I go over, and I'm really happy to put my armor back on over my cool bear bikini that I have on.

(laughter)

MATT, TALIESIN, and MARISHA: Your bear-kini.

MATT: As you're putting your armor on, you open the far door on this end, and as you do, suddenly bursting through is a lemure. (groans) Comes towards you with its horrible, fleshy mound just reaching out in your direction.

TALIESIN: I threaten it down, and say, run. And owe Orthax your freedom. Run!

MATT: Roll an intimidation check.

TALIESIN: Okay, can I use Friends to help with that or no, just go for intimidation?

MATT: If you want to.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'll use Friends to add to that intimidation. So, is that advantage?

MATT: Yes.

TALIESIN: All right. That's cocked. That's fine anyway. Intimidation is, ugh, eight.

MARISHA: Aww!

MATT: As you say "Run!", and you see the whole-- the lemure goes (curious grunt).

TALIESIN: I shoot my gun next to it.

LAURA: I shoot an arrow into it.

MATT: It's actually just going to reach out and strike at you. Then the arrow strike comes right after.

LIAM: Vax Dagons onto Keyleth's shoulder and watches all this through the window.

MATT: It misses. His hand slaps against the front of your armor and (slurping, groan), and then roll your attack.

ND: (laughing) This is a great confrontation!

LAURA: 21.

MATT: That hits, go ahead and roll damage.

LIAM: This is weird.

(laughter)

LIAM: Good weird, but it's weird.

LAURA: 18.

MATT: The arrow (impact noise) through its head, and it just immediately falls to the ground.

TALIESIN: I feel like I'm losing it.

LAURA: He should've listened. You were very clear, dear.

TALIESIN: What's in the other room?

(laughter)

MATT: The rest of the chambers here, you find most of it is a collection of rotting meats. You find various sulfurous chemicals, some that you can't really, by scent and texture, identify.

TALIESIN: If there's anything interesting?

MATT: Okay, we'll say that you have a handful of chemicals that you may be able to look into later. Five vials, specifically.

TALIESIN: Anything on the body? On the giant? On the pit fiend.

MATT: Utugash? There's the axe that Utugash had, which is this very, very large black, metal heated axe.

TRAVIS: Can I see that, please?

TALIESIN: Yes, of course.

MARISHA: Can I pick him up by his ankles and schoolyard bully-style shake him out from his feet, upside-down?

SAM: For pocket change?

MARISHA: For pocket change.

MATT: Even for your giant strength, you're like (grunts). He's a very rotund pit fiend, and the red scales, leathery blubber as it moves around-- there wasn't much that he was carrying on him. Most pit fiends, or at least devilish creatures of his stature, don't keep his belongings hidden anywhere on himself. They're visible.

LIAM: That's a pretty big meatball.

LAURA: Some spicy meatball.

TRAVIS: Does the axe do anything when I hold it?

MATT: It's roughly twice the size of any axe you've held and is too large for you to use.

LAURA AND ND: Aw.

TRAVIS: I really think that's a matter of perspective?

SAM: Would you like me to identify the object?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: All right.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Weakly limps over.

SAM: Aye, I'll take a look at it.

MATT: Okay. It's referred to as a Black Iron Axe of Corruption. It's used primarily as a means of intimidating and scaring off lessers, and keeping subordinates in line.

SAM: With magic, or just with size?

MATT: Both. It's a minor enchantment. The enchantment of it, you get the essence as you look at it, the power of it was part of the presence of the pit fiend, it was an inherent ability, so yeah. This is not considered a very powerful magical item. It was only powerful in the hands of a pit fiend.

TRAVIS: I take it. Can I put it in the pool of blood?

MATT: Yeah. (sizzles)

TRAVIS: It dissolved it?

MATT: No, but the heat of it just naturally being in the space, it steams as it goes in.

TRAVIS: That's a deep pool, you guys. Like seriously, drowning warning, okay?

ND: So wait, who are you guys again?

LAURA: I'm going to pop Trinket out of the necklace and cast Cure Wounds on him.

ND: Why are you here?

TRAVIS: Tax collectors.

TALIESIN: We were running-- let's just say, we had a grudge and we took care of it.

ND: All right, works for me.

LIAM: What about you? Where are you from?

ND: (sighs) I came here with friends. I don't know if they're still alive, the ones-- well, most of them are dead. I don't know if the other two are still alive, but they're in prison. I've got to rest up. I've got to get back and find them.

TRAVIS: Are they like you?

ND: What do you mean, like me?

TRAVIS: I mean like (roars)?

ND: Like bears? They're not bears.

TRAVIS: Oh.

LAURA: Wait, they're in the prison?

ND: Yeah.

MARISHA: I Shapechange back to Keyleth for a second. Do you know which section of the prison they're in?

ND: (sighs) I guess the same one I was in, yeah? I know roughly. I was in the prison too. Utugash, he bought me. He was going to, I guess corrupt my soul, or whatever, but good luck with that, dude!

(laughter)

LAURA: Wait, does the Bastion of Flesh sound familiar?

ND: Does it?

MATT: You haven't heard the term. You weren't given a lot of information. Most of your presence once you were captured was just being dragged through hallways, tortured, chained up and then eventually purchased and brought here to be perpetually tortured by Utugash until these guys found you.

ND: Honestly, I have no idea what's going on still. It's been a hard time in hell. It doesn't sound familiar, but I guess I know where my friends might be. I've got to get back and see if they're still alive, if they're still in there.

LAURA: As she's saying this, Trinket goes and grabs some of the rotting meat out of one of those and brings it to her as a present.

MARISHA: Aw.

ND: I accept it. Thanks, buddy.

MATT: And just gives you a big lick on the side of the face.

LAURA: Are you still a bear?

ND: I'm a dwarf again.

MATT: No she's a dwarf.

TRAVIS: Oh, are you going to hand it over here now? Thanks.

ND: All yours. All yours, pal.

TRAVIS: Is it really rotten?

MATT: It's on par with what you ate before.

LAURA: Would you know your way around if you went back to the prison? I mean, do you think you'd know your way through the halls?

ND: I think so. I think I'd be able to-- with my bear smell, I think I could find my way back at least to where my friends were. Yeah, I can't leave them in there: if they're still in there, I have no idea, but I came here to help my friend, he made a contract with a devil, and we came here to try and get him out of it.

LAURA: Terrible idea.

TALIESIN: Always.

MARISHA: The worst idea you could ever do.

SAM: Well, we did that, no?

LAURA: No, I don't know what you're talking about, Tary.

SAM: Yeah, Percy signed it.

TALIESIN: No we didn't.

ND: Well, if you were thinking about doing it. Don't. It's a bad idea.

LIAM: Since the little ones got away, do we want to turn this into a walk-and-talk?

LAURA: Yeah, maybe we should get out of here.

MARISHA: Well, okay, hang on. What happens next? Because aren't we supposed to be arrested next?

TRAVIS: Yeah, but we can check out the place until they get here. Can we check the rest of the room first, before we leave?

MATT: Yeah, okay.

TRAVIS: Especially that back wall.

LAURA: But, being very careful for traps because they are present here.

TRAVIS: Not me, necessarily.

MATT: Oh, so Grog, you're taking point?

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: Okay. Grog, you enter this chamber, and it opens up into this candelabra area. As you pass this area, I need you to make a dexterity saving throw, Grog.

TRAVIS: Okay. 15.

MATT: 15. You take a few steps and then on one of the stone slabs beneath you, a glyph suddenly brightly shines with a strange, pinkish-orange glow, and then you guys watch as a column of somewhat translucent, ethereal energy shoots up, engulfing Grog.

LAURA: What are you fucking doing?

TRAVIS: What?

MATT: You suffer 21 points of psychic damage.

TRAVIS: (yelps) I'm too smart again!

(laughter)

LIAM: I fly in alongside. You know, all you have to do is ask. Will you hold still and give me ten seconds? And I'll check the rest of the room, just in case.

TALIESIN: Ew.

LAURA: Ew, what is that?

MATT: This is another one of the boiling blood chambers you saw earlier.

LIAM: Okay. I'm just going to check for traps.

TALIESIN: I like Crimson Peak as much as the next person, but this is kind of over it.

LIAM: 30.

MATT: 30? Okay, as you scan the room, you do notice on the inside of each one of these pillars is another one of the similar platforms to the one that Grog triggered, and the one that he triggered here, there are about two, in width.

LIAM: There's spots on the ground?

MATT: Yeah, this whole area here, and this area, and there's one here, and one here, and all these can be triggered.

LIAM: All right, just hold on-- stay over there. Do I see anything of value or anything else in the room, besides the traps?

MATT: No, but what you do notice-- Vax, you and Vex, and Keyleth, who have the highest passive perception-- you hear from the ceiling above you, what sounds like multiple entities landing on the roof.

LIAM: All right, we've got to am-scray.

MARISHA: I think reinforcements are here.

LAURA: This is definitely what we talked about.

MARISHA: Did I see anything that looked like guards that wore like the armor? The gold armor?

MATT: Not in the interior, no.

MARISHA: No, throughout the city.

MATT: From where you are right now?

MARISHA: Just in general, since I've been in hell.

LAURA: Yeah, of course.

MARISHA: What are they?

MATT: You've seen the different types. You've seen a couple that have been imps, you've seen a few that have been winged humanoid entities.

MARISHA: Were there any like erinyeses or succubuses that were also guards that would be one of these people?

MATT: You didn't see any of that, specifically.

TALIESIN: We're going to be okay. We were expecting this.

MARISHA: I know, but I could still be a guard and follow you guys there.

TALIESIN: Then what?

MARISHA: Then I'm someone on the outside and not in prison as maybe a first responder.

LAURA: I don't know.

TRAVIS: I think you're overthinking this.

TALIESIN: It's a big prison. I think you're going to be very far away from us very quickly.

MARISHA: If I say, hey, I found these guys, and I walk with you guys all the way to the prison?

MATT: A hatch from the ceiling in this chamber in here kicks open and about a dozen entities come dropping in, some winged, others like spined similar bearded devils, some of them wearing the golden armor of the Whispers you've seen throughout the city. It seems that the guard have been called to the assault on this stronghold.

LAURA: I get Trinket back in the necklace really fast.

MATT: Okay. Trinket's in the necklace. What's everyone else doing?

MARISHA: Can I stealth? Can I turn into one of the impish creatures in gold armor?

MATT: Sure. Yeah, okay. You turn into an imp.

MARISHA: Have they seen me yet?

MATT: You don't create equipment, so you would be an imp. You'd have to put on gold armor.

MARISHA: I don't have the gold armor.

MATT: Yeah, so you'd just be an imp.

MARISHA: Never mind. I'll just be myself for right now.

MATT: Okay. So, you're remaining as Keyleth's half-elf form. All right! What's everyone else doing?

SAM: I drank a healing draught, and I am getting my lance ready, and I'm staying with fucking Doty.

LIAM: In which of these rooms did that trap door open?

MATT: It opened here. Grog was waiting over to the side. Grog, these entities landed near you, they just kinda (rumbles), about a dozen of them just swarm into the chamber near you. Vax, you're over here on the side as you're figuring out the traps in this area in the center. So they have been kind of behind you in this area.

LIAM: Okay. I'm going to walk towards Grog. I'm going to join him.

MATT: You join up with Grog here.

LAURA: I'm going to cast Cure Wounds on myself really fast.

MATT: Okay, we'll say for the purposes of the swarming of entities in this chamber.

MARISHA: Who's all been seen? That's a lot.

TRAVIS: We got Dis.

ND: Are we all in there? Who's in there?

MATT: Are you guys all going to join? You're staying with Doty?

SAM: I'm staying.

MATT: All right. Percival.

SAM: I'm going to try to see if I can try to start fixing him.

MATT: Okay. You need workshop materials to do it.

SAM: Okay. Well, then I won't do that.

TALIESIN: I'm going to sit with Doty. I'm going to stay in the room. I'm just going to be sitting on Doty, probably.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Are those bone demony guys?

MATT: Bone demons, an erinyes enters, bearded devils, cambions. A whole swarm comes in here.

MARISHA: I'll turn into one of the bone devils.

MATT: A chain devil lands.

MARISHA: I'll turn into a bone devil.

MATT: Okay. You turn into bone devil form.

LAURA: Why?

LIAM: Her game, man.

MATT: At this point, they swarm the room, they have their weapons ready, they see you guys standing there not making an aggressive maneuver. The two bone devils that land within the chamber, they seem to be wearing some sort of a sash that has a torn bottom portion of it and some sort of symbol that is holding it together over their shoulder. Looks around. "Do you resist or do you surrender?"

TRAVIS: I'm taking my cues from you, here.

LAURA: (high-pitched) We surrender.

LIAM: We surrender, Grog.

TRAVIS: I can't say it. You've got say it.

LIAM: I surrender, and he's coming along.

MATT: "I will accept this as universal surrender." Puts his arms up and you watch as a number of these individuals begin pulling heavy chain manacles out from sacks and satchels. Two of them immediately charge up and begin shackling Grog, multiple layers of chain and manacles cross your arms and legs. They shackle you up and begin to spread into the next room, coming to the rest of you guys. They charge in and begin just, throat manacles, to arms, to ankles, each with somewhat somewhat slack chains and has a specific lede chain attached to the center of the whole ensemble. They go from person to person, they throw them on you, though you angrily give in to it. Keyleth, as you approach, one of them turns to you and goes (speaks Infernal).

MARISHA: (speaks fake Infernal)

MATT: Make a deception check.

MARISHA: Fucking hell!

MATT: With disadvantage.

TRAVIS: You tried Parseltongue.

LIAM: Did you say you want to go to the disco with me?

MARISHA: Eight. Total.

ND: I'm not a butt.

MATT: Leans in real close to you.

MARISHA: I give him a little bit of a twitch, like maybe I'm the damaged bone devil.

MATT: "Liar!" The wings (angry fluttering noise) behind it as it points its finger at you. A bunch of the devils begin to swarm in from the sides with the various polearms and jagged weapons pointed in your direction. "Reveal thyself."

MARISHA: Oh god. Okay, I drop form.

MATT: "Shackle her. Twice over!" Of everyone, you and Grog both get the Hannibal Lecter treatment. As you're standing there with your spear out, they all begin to swarm around you. Taryon?

TALIESIN: I say, oh no, whatever will we do. We have this enormous piece of equipment that you don't understand and could possibly be very dangerous and should probably be locked up with the rest of us. Oh no.

MATT: They don't seem to be paying any mind. They throw the manacles on you. They subdue you very quickly with a swift hit to the back of your shoulders, your sense of bravado is immediately crumbled. They throw you to the ground and chain you up. You are all then chained together and brought to your feet as one of the bone devils approaches. "You are found in this seeding stages of usurpation of a trusted of Dispater and are sentenced to moral reassignment and delivery. You are forfeit to Mentiri." Grabs the chains, tugs, and you guys all begin to be pulled out and then up through the hatch in this chamber, through multitudes of devilish arms. They are pulling you up through the ceiling.

LAURA: This is a good plan! Good plan!

TALIESIN: It's actually working better than I expected.

MATT: You glance over your shoulder and watch as a series of devils have now leapt onto Doty and are pulling him apart.

LAURA: No! This is the part where C-3PO is being torn apart.

SAM: He served his purpose.

LAURA: No!

MATT: And that's where we're going to take a break.

LIAM: He read you bedtime stories.

TRAVIS: Holy shit.

MATT: Be back after a short break here. They're going to show a few ads and then the Signal Boost episode that Marisha just put out. We'll continue our story here in just a few minutes, guys. See you in a moment.

TRAVIS: Aw, Doty, poor bastard!

Break
[break]

Part II
MATT: Welcome back. Hopefully the audio's better for some folks. Thank you for being patient. We have a winner in the Wyrmwood contest we had in the chat room. AlchemistKiller wins this awesome set of zebra wood dice box, dice tray, and the dice roller. So congratulations to you, buddy. This'll be coming your way soon, signed by the cast of Critical Role.

LAURA: Killer!

MATT: Now. Diving back into where we were, folks. You guys are yanked out onto the streets of the Iron City of Dis, pulled off of the roof of Utugash's personal stronghold and yanked across the heated cobblestones, having to keep, through what strength you have, standing, for fear of being dragged across the extremely hot floor. As you are brought through, people begin to gather up on the sides of the street. You begin to see other devils gathering towards the edges, and every ten minutes of walking, when there's a crowd gathered around, some of the devils will go ahead and crack one of you in the back of the knee and give off a showing of ownership and a general sense of cheer emerges with each person that gets smacked in the back of the head or thrust down. Percival, you get, at one point, hit along the side of the jaw and you feel the blood fill the side of your mouth, as you wish you could rub it with your hand, though the way the chains are pulling prevent you from raising your arm too high. You hear the hissing and the occasional rocks being thrown from the distance as you're pulled through. Vex and Vax, go ahead and roll perception checks, please.

LIAM: 27.

LAURA: 31.

MATT: Okay. Vex, as this is happening and you watch Percival recoil from the impact, you glance with a bit of a sneer towards the crowd and you watch amongst all these various toothy, hissing devils, you see one familiar red-skinned man with long-ish dark hair, horns curled up, and as his eyes meet yours, he gives you a smile. And steps back with the crowd as it closes around him.

LAURA: I breathe a little easier.

MATT: Bits of filth are being chucked. Grog, one-- not quite sure what form of refuse this is, but it smears and drips down the side of your face, and gets stuck in your beard.

(laughter)

LAURA: Gross.

MATT: Make a dexterity check.

TRAVIS: Okay. 17.

MATT: 17. You catch it in your mouth. And it is filthy. You don't even know what it is. You regret the impulse immediately.

TRAVIS: (spits)

MATT: This goes on for about 15 minutes as you guys are pulled through. You watch as nearby Whispers begin to stop and perch on the edge of buildings to watch. You get the sense that what you guys have done has drawn some attention. As you reach the end of this 15-minute period, you're pulled down a large road and the buildings begin to grow a little thin in this area. You're brought to what looks to be a very, very heavy set of doors. This crimson gate that is humongous: 20 feet by ten feet for each side of the gate, so 40 feet across. It leans at an angle, like a gargantuan cellar door that sits on its own in the center. As you begin to approach, you begin to hear chains suddenly. (metal scraping) The doors slowly open with a creaking noise as you're brought towards it. They open, and you can see inside it is lightless, it is dark. The two bone devils tugging further, and with each tug, the chains that connect you all choke and pull you forward. You nearly stumble again as you're brought over the stairway lip and down into this darkened chamber below.

You are brought down a seemingly endless set of stairs, the darkness only occasionally broken by the passing faintly red-glowing sconce that passes by as you're brought down. You hear the various mutterings of various Infernal phrases being spoken, chuckled between the devils that speak in your vicinity. You then come to a leveling point. The stairs come to an end, the light opening up in this area; still dim, the reddish glow that occasionally gives you a glimpse of the interior. This, you can only imagine, would be what a prison in hell looks like. The metal and stone walls are warped and misshapen in places; they're almost buckling under the weight of the plane they're holding. You can see what looks to be stone arms that are either carved out of the walls or have been jammed into it as part of the decor. And you see giant metal hooks that occasionally eject out the side, some of them with the remains of some sort of prisoner or meat that has been left to slowly rot. More of those small devilish insects when you first arrived are gathering and feasting on these remnants.

You begin to hear various echoes of screams from some distant place within this labyrinthine series of hallways that have bounced off the walls to the point that it's this constant ringing gasp, occasionally mixed with this high-pitched whine. This wailing, and this sound of horrible torture. It's very familiar to you, Tova. You have no idea how long you were here before, but it seems endless in hindsight. It could have been days, weeks, months; you don't recall. The air itself is extremely hot, stagnant, and humid with sweat and has that subterranean putrescense to it. The idea that mold and suffering pervade the atmosphere. And, as you're carted through these hallways, you're turned right, left, forward past multiple intersections. More devils pass by. You see another erinyes step by with three other minions to her sides. She hisses as you walk past.

You are brought past so many different pathways that it begins to all blend. You're trying to pay attention to remember which way you came, but sometimes the turns almost go so fast, it causes you to lose track of where you originally started. You get the essence that not only this is a massive prison, but it's designed to prevent anyone from finding their way back out.

You turn one corner as you hear a series of very high-intensity screams that cut through the relative din in the background, and as you turn you see three people: two humans and one male half-elf that are naked and strung up by chains in front of what looks like a large forge. You see there a 12-foot-tall horned devil, his wings folded up over his shoulders, these giant crested horns off the top the front of his skull. Very Tim Curry Legends-style, who's currently heating this long brand in the forge as he's glaring at them. And as you're walking past, his eyes catch yours and he gives you a nod as he sears it in the body of the half-elf, who begins to quiver and scream against the chains. But he just gives you the rest of the head nod as you pass, cross the door, not seeing them any further.

SAM: I can't do this. I can't go in there.

MATT: You hear, as you leave past the doorway, you hear a voice echo from the chamber you just passed, "I'll see you soon enough."

LAURA: Great. Can't wait.

MATT: You're brought down another twisting series of intersecting halls, the smell growing more and more rancid the further in you go. You see three chain devils wander past, these roving jailers dragging broken bodies behind them in manacles similar to yours. You see trails of blood streaking across that are slowly turning dry and thick with caked, drying blood, some bits turning to mist across the hot stonework of the interior of the prison. A twitch of one of the legs reveals that these bodies are still living, though by but an inch of their life. A few errant chains that drift and drag behind them creepily caress the arm and face of Taryon as you pass, just across your cheek then scratches you with a hook at the tip.

LAURA: You fall unconscious.

SAM: As we're walking, I'm going to whisper to Percy. Are they going to take all our stuff?

TALIESIN: It's going to be fine.

SAM: I can't do anything without my stuff.

TALIESIN: We're going to be fine.

MATT: Your weapons have been gathered and they have been taken from you.

SAM: Everything? Armor? Helmets?

MATT: You have your armor on you, still. Your helmet is not currently on you, that's been taken off. But your weapons have been taken from you because you can't hold your weapons in your chains.

LAURA: That's a break of contract.

TALIESIN: Not yet.

LAURA: All right.

MATT: So, further still, you're finally brought within this 30 foot by 20 foot room, bisected by a series of thick metal bars that open into a cell. A single, towering chain devil sits within, larger than any you've encountered. The broad shoulders are almost as wide as Grog's, and the head is so deeply set within the neck that it almost gives a profile from shoulder to shoulder of a square. And it cross-- Nice.

LAURA and TALIESIN: Nope.

MARISHA: Fuck this asshole.

MATT: The chains all begin to slacken as you enter and the arms reach out almost in a graceful invitation. You hear his horrible voice slither out from the mask of black metal that covers everything but his deep, red, burning, beady eyes. "Good. String them up." As the devil entourage that has pulled you through this prison brings you into the cell one by one, they take your manacles and latch them onto a thick, heavy, metal chain. As they pull, it pulls your arms up over your body and your leg manacles are attached to similar rings on the ground. One by one, you are all placed within this chamber, chained up, helpless.

SAM: This is the worst.

MATT: All the rest of the devils that brought you in here exit the cell and leave through the hallway, leaving the chain devil to do his duty. He approaches the bars as he closes the entranceway to the cell, so he's on the other side of the cell from all of you. You're just strung up in there and he's pressed up against the bars from the other side, his hands clutching as he stares across you, his eyes slowly scanning. As he moves his hands down the bars, the chains go limp and unfurl around parts of his arms and begin to snake and slither across the ground, a dozen of them or so slowly creeping like tendrils of living entities towards all of you as he says, "You seem weary. Let's loosen your load." As the chains begin to snake their way up each of your bodies, Grog, you feel one come up your torso and under the gauntlets and begin to loosen the gauntlets on your arm underneath. Vex, you feel as one curls up, spirals around your leg and finds its way under your armor, and eventually finds the buckles in the back and begins to undo them. All of you find the chains are all beginning to move--

LAURA: I saw this movie!

(laughter)

MATT: Beginning to infiltrate and remove the various bits of equipment you all came into this area on. A voice rings out from across the chamber in the darkness. It goes, "Krix! You are needed by Overseer Shushot for prisoner enumeration and status!" At which point, the chains stop and the chain devil releases his fingers, tense against the bars. The chains begin to slack and pull back from your bodies and retract back into the chamber. You now see behind him, stepping in, a small green devil with long, knifelike ears, a series of long spines across his body, similar, though a thicker version, of the merchant that you saw earlier on your journey here, this one carrying the same sash that the bone devils that originally arrived had adorned on their chest. It does actually carry a satchel on one side. As the jailer pulls the chains back to his body, he snarls and turns back to this barbed devil, who winces and recoils as soon as the chain devil turns, already taking a submissive stance after making his announcement in the chamber.

The chain devil, "I do despise such droll work." Turns back to all the rest of you, "I will return, lovelies." The chains retract back into his body and he walks out of the chamber past the barbed devil, shoulder-checking it on the way through, slips to the side. As it leaves, you're all still there, chained up.

The green devil waits, rubbing its shoulder. Comes forward, sheepishly, looking at all of you in silence, breathing heavily, rubbing its chin. Takes its satchel, and you can see it has this hefty satchel on the side that's filled with a series of side pockets and small openings, and it begins to pry them open and it begins to produce each one of your weapons, and is pulling them out quickly and throwing them into a pile on the outside of the bars. Pulls out your packs. The various things that were taken from you have all been put within this satchel and is quickly throwing them into a pile on the other side of the bars from all of you. Throws them all onto the ground. Finishes in this big mass. "There. Unspoiled. Unharmed. Now, to guide you." And the creature walks up to the bars, and clutches the sides staring at you. "You seek Hotis, yes?"

LIAM: Yes.

MATT: "He is under the ceiling of Iskath, though Iskath is not in Mentiri this day. You must leave this room, turn right, left, straight, straight, left, straight, then right. The iron door with the fanged grin bears the mark. There lies your quarry. Now! My debt is paid! Goodbye." And the devil turns around and begins to run out of the chamber.

LAURA: Oh shit I missed the last thing that he said. I got all the directions, but I didn't hear the very last thing that he said.

LIAM: Door with a grin.

LAURA: Door with a grin?

MATT: Door with a fanged grin.

LIAM: Right, left, straight, straight, left, straight, right.

LAURA: Wait I got right, left, straight, straight, left, straight, right.

TRAVIS: That's what I've got, too.

MARISHA: Right, left, yeah, right, left, straight, straight, right, left, straight?

LAURA AND TRAVIS: No.

LAURA: Right, left, straight, straight, left, straight, right.

MARISHA: Right.

MATT: We'll find out. We'll find out who got the right one. But the devil just leaves.

LAURA and LIAM: And we're still strung up?

MATT: You're all still strung up.

SAM: I didn't get my phone call!

LIAM: I'm going to start doing something.

LAURA: I want to try to lockpick, too.

MATT: Because that was taken with your equipment-- unless you were hiding one, you would have to specify.

LAURA: Not the one in my mouth. Okay, how about this. I'm going to pop Trinket out of the necklace--

SAM: Oh, wait, do we have the necklace?

TALIESIN: They wouldn't have taken it.

MATT: The necklace was not taken off you. It was just your satchels, equipment, and your armor.

LAURA: I grab the necklace and I go, Trinket, get out.

MATT: Trinket emerges. (sneezes)

ALL: Bless you!

MATT: Thank you.

TRAVIS: Allergic to hell.

LAURA: Trinket! Get us out of here! Hey, okay, here's the thing. Can you go over and get anything out from between those two bars, on the outside of the room?

MATT: Trinket goes over to the edge of the bars and leans into them and is marking a claw across the ground and it's about a good foot away from the equipment and you can see that smoke begin to rise

LAURA: Did you get that?!

LIAM: Yes! Dead for a ducat, it's dead!

(cheering)

MATT: Five experience to Sam Riegel.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Five experience.

MATT: You can see that the fur is beginning to singe and give off smoke on the bars as he's leaning against them.

LAURA: Okay, back away.

LAURA: Maybe you can try and just break through these manacles. Can you do that?

MATT: Reaches up and grabs the one around your ankle and tugs, and you see it begin to singe the outside of his tongue. And he's pulling. Make a strength check.

LAURA: Okay. Okay. Okay. 17?

MATT: 17. The chain on one of your ankles begins to bend. It's not quite-- doesn't fully break. But you can see that it's getting some headway.

LAURA: I want to pull my leg at the same time and see if I can help him out at all.

MATT: Make a strength check as well.

LAURA: Should've had him do this to Grog. Okay. (laughs) I suck at strength checks. Okay. 15.

MATT: 15? Okay. Between both Trinket and you pulling, you do manage to get one of the chains to (snapping sound), and you get one ankle free.

LAURA: Great, I have an ankle free. Hey, guys! Guess what? My ankle's free.

ND: Lucky.

LAURA: I am really flexible. This does nothing.

LIAM: Can you Druidcraft into my hand? Can you give me a thorn, something long and thin?

LAURA: Yeah, Keyleth, what can you do?

MARISHA: I mean, I could probably also Beast Shape out of this if I really wanted to.

LAURA: What the fuck, Keyleth?

LIAM: Do you really want to?

MARISHA: Well, you know, I was kinda waiting to see what everybody else did.

TRAVIS AND TALIESIN: Less talking, more doing.

MARISHA: Okay. And I Beast Shape into a rat.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Can you do that to all of us?

MARISHA: Technically, yeah. And then I shape back to Keyleth.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: She's amazing. Every time. Every time.

MARISHA: And then keys. Keys, right there on the other side or something? Keys?

MATT: They're about maybe three and a half feet from the edge of the bars.

MARISHA: I'm going to do a Thorn Whip. Thorn Whip them to me.

MATT: To your equipment, you mean?

MARISHA: Wait.

MATT: Sorry. There's no keys to the door.

MARISHA: Oh, sorry.

MATT: No, there's just a pile of--

LIAM: Get my lockpicks.

LAURA: Yeah, just get the lockpicks.

MARISHA: Which are in the satchel on the other side of the bags, right?

MATT: So you Thorn Whip that over. You catch it. You rummage through the pouch that he usually keeps his equipment in. You find the lockpicks that Vax usually uses.

MARISHA: I got it!

LIAM: Okay, bring it over here, love.

MARISHA: Okay.

LAURA: Do you have any extra? You can pass them to me and I can maybe help.

LIAM: Already doing it while she's--

MARISHA: Are there any other extra lockpicks in here?

MATT: Make an investigation check.

LIAM: Am I at disadvantage here because I'm--

MATT: You are, because you're strung up.

MARISHA: Investigation check?

LIAM: 27.

MARISHA: Natural one.

MATT: You're rummaging through the bag, trying to find it, you're like, I know it's in here somewhere!

MARISHA: Honey, you're a hoarder. We really need to clean out your purse.

LAURA: Just fucking let me out of this.

LIAM: Yeah, I start with my sister.

MATT: Yeah, you eventually get both of your arms and ankles undone, you go up to your sister. She's still looking through the pouch. Roll for Vax-- for Vex.

TRAVIS: Can I try and just muscle out this bitch, since I'm still wearing my Gauntlets?

MATT: Make a strength check.

LIAM: 27 again.

MATT: You get her wrists undone.

LIAM: All right. I'll just hit the whole group, then.

TRAVIS: 24.

MARISHA: I really can't find any--

MATT: Grog just pulls his manacles off the ceiling. The chain (snapping sound). You break them off your wrists.

LAURA: I want to go over and start trying to do the lockpick. Oh, actually, I don't have any lockpicks on me, still, do I?

MATT: No. It's across the way.

LIAM: I hand her a spare.

LAURA: Yeah, thanks. He gives me a spare and I start trying to work on the door while he's doing the others.

MATT: Okay, so you go over and grab a spare from her pouch. You guys begin-- we'll say over the next five minutes or so-- getting everyone undone at this point. You pull-- you have the chains still dangling from your wrists, the manacles still attached to your Titanstone Gauntlets, but you're free.

TRAVIS: I kinda maybe wrap them around, just for a little super there.

MATT: Hell chains.

TRAVIS: Hell chains.

LIAM: As I get Tary out. We're going to be fine, this is going to be fine.

SAM: We're in jail.

LIAM: I can see you shaking. It's going to be all right. You're with us.

SAM: I have no Doty. Who will record my exploits down here? Why am I here if not to record my adventures?

TRAVIS: You want me to write some stuff down for you?

SAM: No. You're an idiot-- I mean, no thank you, Grog. I lash out when I'm nervous and I don't have my belongings.

LIAM: Do you know what to do with a knife?

SAM: Of course. You cut your food before you eat it.

LIAM: Okay. You also stick the sharp end of it into things. And I take out the Flametongue, and I stick it in-- this is a loaner. I'll get it back from you when we're done here.

SAM: I take out my rod and make it a dagger and set it on fire.

LIAM: Oh, you have that.

SAM: Yes.

MATT: Well, you haven't picked up your equipment yet.

SAM: Oh, I don't. I don't? Where is it?

TALIESIN: It's on the other side of the bars.

MATT: You're going to try and pick the bars that lead into the next chamber?

LAURA: Out the doors, so I can get our shit.

MATT: Okay, so go for it.

LAURA: What do I add to it?

MATT: Add your proficiency bonus and your dexterity.

SAM: Everything's outside? Shit. I need that shit.

LAURA: 27?

MATT: 27? You get partway into it, and you feel it's moving but it's a very, very difficult lock.

LAURA: Jesus.

TRAVIS: Can I try mine?

LAURA: Wait, not yet. It's quieter to do this.

LIAM: I rest my chin on her shoulder.

LAURA: Just, come over, and--

LIAM: Is it a sticky one?

LAURA: Yeah, it's really, really tough. I could have done the chains on all of us, and you could have done this, but whatever.

LIAM: All right. Rather than do it, I just grab a hold of her elbow and I shift her to the side and feel through her bones into the lock and--

MATT: Go for a roll.

SAM: Through her bones?

LIAM: Yeah.

LAURA: You're going through my bones.

LIAM: Yeah, man.

SAM: Tova, can't you just curse the lock?

LIAM: 27.

LAURA: Twins.

MATT: 27 again? You do so and the lock pick kind of breaks off inside.

LIAM: Oh, it broke!

TRAVIS: Would anybody care if I try mine?

LAURA: Now you've got to.

TALIESIN: As long as we're free already--

LIAM: Could you "pick the lock," Grog?

MARISHA: Wait, who's stuck?

TRAVIS: Kame--

LAURA: But quiet.

TRAVIS: -- hame--

LAURA: Try to do it quietly. Just quiet. Just quiet.

TRAVIS: -- what do you mean, quiet? I can't hold it, it's so powerful, oh! (yells)

(laughter)

MATT: Go ahead and roll an attack.

LAURA: Motherfucking door.

MARISHA: Fucking doors! It's always doors!

TALIESIN: Am I still chained down, by the way?

LIAM: No!

LAURA: No, no, no! He's been doing everybody.

TALIESIN: All right, that's fine.

TRAVIS: I guess it's not a-- what would I add, my strength?

MATT: Yes.

SAM: I'm just rubbing my wrists.

TRAVIS: 26, so, 52?

MATT: It's your strength modifier.

TRAVIS: Which is eight, and I rolled a 18.

MATT: Right. That's 18 to see if you hit, so go ahead and roll damage. For the purposes of this roll, roll 1d4 and add your strength modifier.

TRAVIS: 1d4.

LAURA: That's a six, that's a 1d6. Hey! Great!

TRAVIS: Strength modifier, that's ten!

MATT: Ten. Double that, because Siege, so it's 20.

TRAVIS: 20.

MATT: So, with your one-fist punch, between the damage you had done to the lock by messing with it, and the impact of your fist, the lock shatters, and the door squeaks open.

TRAVIS: You loosened it for me. Nice job.

LAURA: I reach through and try to grab everything in, pass it out.

MATT: You pull the equipment in, you get your rod, you get everything situated.

LAURA: Okay. I cast--

TALIESIN: Have we technically had a short rest since we were basically just manacled walking for a while?

MATT: Nope!

TALIESIN: Okay, just checking.

LAURA: I cast Pass Without a Trace on all of us.

TRAVIS: Ooh, good call--

MARISHA: Do we want to take a short rest while we're supposedly--

TRAVIS: Nope!

LAURA: Nope!

TALIESIN: Nope, nope, let's just--

MARISHA: All right, let's go.

LAURA: I think it would be best if maybe we, I mean, I don't know how well we can stealth around here, if we should maybe turn into insects and just crawl around here.

MARISHA: I can do that to us.

LAURA: I think we should do that.

MARISHA: Is everyone cool with that?

LAURA: But I've definitely got a Pass Without a Trace still on us.

TALIESIN: Can we still Plane Shift later?

MARISHA: I can still Plane Shift us, so I can burn one of my higher-level spells-- like an eight on the scale of zero to nine-- and be animals, and then I can save my seventh-level for Plane Shift in case of emergency.

TALIESIN: Okay.

LAURA: Solid. Copy on that.

TRAVIS: Wait a minute, but doesn't the floor burn? Are we going to flip out of that shape real fast?

ND: The floor does burn.

LAURA: But maybe those little insects are immune to the fire since they live here.

TRAVIS: But we're animals though, we're not insects. We're animals.

LAURA: Wait, we can't be those little--

TRAVIS: No.

LIAM: Can't we fly? Can't we be flying?

MARISHA: Can I not do that with Animal Shapes? I can't turn into the insects?

MATT: Animal Shapes? You can only do beasts.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I remember we had this conversation before.

SAM: Well, why don't we be pigeons that can fucking fly?

MATT: And the creatures that you saw, the insects here, are technically very, very small fiends.

MARISHA: Hm.

LAURA: Oh, really?

LIAM: But we could be hornets, or flies?

MARISHA: Have I seen anything, like flies or rats or anything like that?

TRAVIS: Not insects.

LAURA: Not insects.

MATT: You've seen rats, but they don't do well here because of the heat.

LIAM: There's flies all over this shit.

LAURA: Maybe hummingbirds, something, the teensiest bird you can think of.

LIAM: We're not in the woods though. Flies.

MARISHA: Hang on, I've seen rats, and I've seen what? Have I seen any--

LAURA: We can't be insects, we can only be animals.

MARISHA: I've got to be beasts.

LAURA: Yeah, so teeny teeny teeny, like, finches or hummingbirds.

MARISHA: Are there anything like bats? Have I ever seen any bats?

LAURA: Ooh, bats, down here?

MATT: You've seen bats before, you haven't seen bats that reside in this domain.

LAURA: Whatever, as long as we're flying, maybe we can be stealthy. We'll be stealhty bats.

TRAVIS: What happens if we hit a door on this right-left-straight-straight-left-straight-right?

SAM: Let's just walk.

MARISHA: I mean, technically, with Animal Shapes, I can change us with an action. Correct?

MATT: That's true. I think so, yeah.

LAURA: So we can just shift in and out whenever we want? With an action?

MARISHA: Yeah, as long as we don't get caught.

TRAVIS: I don't mind starting out that way.

LIAM: All right.

LAURA: Okay, I think getting-- yeah, we should, it's easier to not get out. And then we'll stealth as bats.

TALIESIN: Stealthy bats.

MARISHA: All right. So we're starting as bats. Bats?

LAURA: Sure.

TRAVIS: What do our bats sound like?

LIAM: "Where is Harvey Dent?"

(high-pitched squealing)

MATT: Okay. This is concentration, so this will get rid of your Shapechange.

MARISHA: Correct. So as long we're cool with me losing my ninth-level Shapechange. I can't escort us as an erinyes anymore.

SAM: I think we should just walk, but if you want to do this, you can.

TRAVIS: Ooh, wait! Well--

LAURA: I think we'll just-- there's a lot of demons around here. Devils.

MARISHA: How much longer is my Shapechange left? It lasts for an hour.

TRAVIS: You don't speak that shit, is the problem.

MATT: You're not quite certain, but it's pushing close to an hour.

LAURA: Yeah, you don't speak the shit, so even if you have it--

MARISHA: I don't speak the shit. So, bats!

LAURA: Stealthy bats. We fly close the ceiling and be as quiet as possible.

ND: What the fuck?

TRAVIS: Yup, embrace it.

ND: I don't care for this.

TRAVIS: I know it's not a bear, but at least they both start with a... D.

ND: Bears, bats--

MATT: All of you guys turn into bats, flapping.

MARISHA: Wait, I can technically make some of us bat and some of us other things, correct? I can choose.

MATT: Yup.

MARISHA: Does anyone not want to be a bat for any particular reason?

LAURA: I'm solid with the bat, but I'm going to lead the way since I'm good with directions.

SAM: Since bats can't see, maybe we should--

TALIESIN: They can see!

TRAVIS: Take off, I'll follow you.

MATT: Essentially, you get--

MARISHA: Sonar.

LAURA: Oh, but we can still see where we're going.

MATT: Yeah. The equivalent of Darkvision. You know where you're going.

MARISHA: Echolocation.

LAURA: Is it echolocation only?

TALIESIN: No, they have both. I mean, biologically, they have both.

MARISHA: We have Darkvision.

LAURA: Okay.

TRAVIS: I'm following Vex out.

TALIESIN: Yup.

MARISHA: Bats go in swarms. We're all bats.

MATT: All right, so a bat swarm suddenly emerges into the hallway, which immediately turns right and left. Which direction do you go?

LAURA: Right.

MATT: Okay, you turn right, and as you guys rush into the corner, you watch as the chain devil that originally arrived in the first chamber--

LAURA: Flying close to the ceiling, stealthy.

SAM: Stealthy.

MATT: Right. It's about 15 feet up at the ceiling, and you guys come up. The chain devil walks beneath, and as you guys arc past him, he kind of stops and looks over and watches you all go past him and he keeps walking, looking very confused.

LIAM: Fly with purpose, fly with purpose.

TRAVIS: Heading towards the cell we were coming out of?

MATT: Yes.

LAURA: Okay. Fly with purpose, fly with purpose.

MATT: All right. So you guys continue.

LAURA: As soon as we get to a thing, we turn left.

MATT: Yes. So you go forward for about 60, 70 feet or so. You see a couple of small imps also fly past, and you guys kind of dart around, and they all look curiously at these bats that are swarming past them.

MARISHA: This is the best.

LAURA: At least they're letting us go right now.

TALIESIN: Everything's fine.

MATT: You come to a T intersection now.

LAURA: Left. Oh!

TRAVIS: Straight.

LIAM: Straight.

SAM: Wait, do we go right? What?

LAURA: Wait, no, we haven't gone left yet.

LIAM: We didn't take a left yet?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LIAM: I thought we were taking it.

MATT: You turned right.

LAURA: Yes, and now we're going to turn left.

MATT: And then you turn left. All right. You all shift, following Vex's pathway, left. And as you go forward in that direction, you watch as another chain devil and two barbed devils, similar to the one that came in there and brought your equipment, are patrolling down the hall. As you guys are approaching, I want everyone to roll a stealth check.

LIAM: Yeah. Plus ten.

LAURA: Plus ten!

MARISHA: Plus ten.

LAURA: I'm going to say Trinket's back in the necklace, by the way.

MATT: I assumed.

LAURA: Okay.

ND: So that plus ten for them, that was their Feast?

LAURA: No, that was me, I did that.

TRAVIS: Pass Without a Trace.

MATT: Spell she cast she cast on everybody, so everyone gets plus ten dice.

ND: Oh, okay! Cool! Cool.

SAM: 17.

TALIESIN: 35.

MARISHA: 26.

LIAM: 37.

ND: 15.

LAURA: 34.

TRAVIS: 25.

MATT: Okay. As you guys (fluttering noises) past, the barbed devils just keep walking forward. The chain devil stops and turns and looks over and sees you all.

LAURA: Just keep flying!

MATT: And turns and starts walking in your direction as you guys keep flying. You come to a gate that is closed.

TALIESIN: A gate!

LIAM: Solid, or bars?

MATT: It's solid, there is a small opening with some bars that are about that far apart each.

LAURA: Let's go through them.

TALIESIN: We can go through.

MATT: You guys as bats press through the gate, just as--

LAURA: Avoiding the bars! Avoiding the bars.

MATT: -- just as the chain devil runs up to try and grab at you as you guys charge through, his arms catching the gate, and you hear him start yelling,and suddenly you start hearing in the distance, behind where you were, sounds like rapid footprints, footfalls. Apparently, people are now aware that you have escaped your cell.

LAURA: Fuck, fuck, fuck.

ND: Fuck.

SAM: I'm Batman.

MATT: So. You guys continue rushing forward.

MARISHA: We can always be rats whenever the time is necessary!

TRAVIS: No, no, we'll burn out of it. We'll burn out of it.

LAURA: Let's just keep going.

MARISHA: Keep going.

MATT: You guys come to another T section.

LAURA: Straight!

MATT: You go straight on this one? All right. You go straight past. Beneath you, you can see there's another one of those blood pools that was in Utugash's chamber, and there are a couple of grates on each side. You can see the grates are corroded with the quick glances as you go past. As you continue straight forward, you hear more screams from the right and left side, the two hallways that you pass, you kind of (screaming) echoing past, and you just keep pushing forward as best as you can. You hear the gate in the distance open, so now you know, whoever was giving chase, they're now starting to pick up behind you. You come up to what looks to be a right and left.

SAM: Wait, what?

LAURA: Wait, only a right and left? But we have two straights in a row!

SAM: We go straight!

LIAM: Yeah. Is there any hidden door here? Search for a hidden door.

SAM: We go straight into the wall!

LIAM: I'm searching for a door, as a bat.

TALIESIN: Straight, in the door, keep going straight.

MATT: Make an investigation check.

MARISHA: Come on, come on! Come on!

LAURA: Keep going straight.

LIAM: 18.

MATT: 18? You briefly glance forward as you guys sit here for a second, and you begin to hear the distant sound of various infernal yells getting louder and louder. Something about the wall right in front of you doesn't look right.

LAURA: Keep going straight!

LIAM: I start battering into the door.

LAURA: Can we batter into it, or can we just fly straight through?

MATT: Vax just passes straight through. It's an illusory wall.

(yelling)

MATT: As you guys (flapping noise) into this next chamber--

LIAM: Everybody's doing something different.

MATT: Yeah.

ND: It's like, 'fuck, okay'.

MATT: Tova's so confused--

ND: This has been a weird day.

LIAM: Aren't you glad you're playing with us?

LAURA: Tary's got wings coming out of his head.

MATT: As you guys are flying, in this new chamber it is pitch black. Thankfully, your vision allows you as best to see. Tova, you start having the recurring memory of the fact that you're not sure where they're going, where they're taking you, but you still have people in this prison.

ND: Yeah. Am I looking out? Do I recognize anything that we're passing?

MATT: You have no idea where they are and you have no idea where you are currently.

ND: Can I use my heightened senses to do a perception check and see if I can smell anything?

MATT: You would if you weren't a bat.

ND: I mean, there's nothing in the rule book that says bats can't have heightened senses.

MARISHA: Hang on. Well, technically, what do bats have?

TRAVIS: Not a great sense of smell. That's for sure.

ND: I don't need to be a bear to do that. It says that's just part of my class.

MATT: I know, I know. When you're in your normal form you would.

SAM: As bats--

MATT: As bats however, it's a little more rough. Let me check real fast just to be safe.

ND: Can I use my sonar?

MARISHA: 5e bats--

MATT: Here we go.

TALIESIN: Nothing quite like googling '5e bats'.

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: Bats--

MATT: Let's say swarm of bats. That's basically what you guys are all together.

MARISHA: That's true. We are a swarm of bats.

MATT: Now, you have echolocation so you can, you know--

LIAM: Oh man, put us in a Strahd campaign.

MATT: You have keen hearing but that's not going to help you tremendously in this circumstance. So yeah, there is a sinking feeling that right now, either you-- going with them, you might leave your friends behind. Just be aware. As you guys push forward into this dark chamber, it continues forward and then dips down into a series of stairs. Takes you to a secondary level below. As you guys follow this down for about 45 feet, it evens out again and opens up into another T-intersection.

LAURA, TRAVIS: Left!

MATT: All right. You guys go ahead and turn left. As you turn, right around the corner, there waiting, you see there is a single bone devil and three flying spined devils. These deep blue, dark green, imp-like devils with these giant spined wings and these long quills sticking out of their body as they carry these spears. And you all almost-- you encounter each other at once. The spined devils are up in your area and as you kind of flutter past there's no way they didn't see you.

LAURA: Chaos. Chaos.

MARISHA: (bat squeaks)

LIAM: Drop some guano.

LAURA: Yeah, I poop.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: 'I poop'.

TALIESIN: Smells better than the prison.

LIAM: Guano, guano, guano.

MATT: As this is happening, the bone devil stops and turns and the spine devils that get caught up in the area, two of them are going to instinctively swing at you guys as you move past.

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: That is going to be-- there's the spined devil here. That is an eight.

SAM: Oh wow.

TALIESIN: Oh.

SAM: That might actually miss.

MATT: I think it does, actually. The worst possible-- A bat has an AC of 12.

TALIESIN: Yeah!

SAM: Guys, we have one hit point, by the way.

TALIESIN: Oh yeah.

LAURA: Oh.

MARISHA: Those bats were jus-- I made no promises other than bats.

TRAVIS: One hit point?

MATT: One hit point, each of you. The other one is going to swing. Same roll! Two sixes in a row.

(cheering)

MATT: Eight. Eight. That is-- aw, man.

TRAVIS: 'Aw, man!'

LIAM: Matt turned 12! Matt turned 12!

MATT: So both of them miss as you guys continue pushing forward past these--

MARISHA: Go, go, go!

MATT: However, the full speed of a bat, if I remember--

SAM: 30 feet.

MATT: Is it 30-foot speed?

SAM: It's a 30-foot fly speed.

MARISHA: And we're definitely doubling our movement here.

TALIESIN: And we're doubling movement.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: We're dashing.

MARISHA: And we're dashing

MATT: The spine devils are a little faster than you guys.

SAM: Ooh.

MATT: And they're gaining on you. As you move past, they get their attack swings but you guys do double dash so they're behind you. And now they're all starting to slowly gain. As their pushing forward and pushing forward, you come to another T-intersection.

LAURA: Straight!

MATT: You go straight, okay. As you go straight forward, it kind of curves a little bit to the right and then continues forward. The spine devils are just starting to catch up to you guys and two of them go ahead and-- Let's see what attacks they have here.

ND: Are we passing any cells?

MATT: They're both going to fire tail spines at you. Their tail curves up behind and swings. And they fire these spines forward.

LAURA: Fly zig zag! Fly zig zag!

SAM: Serpentine.

MATT: There's three of them so one of them's going to be at Grog, one's going to be at Vax and one's going to be at Percy. Against Grog, that is a two plus four. These guys can't hit anything. Six. Just zooms past you. One towards Vax. That's cocked. Natural 20.

(groaning)

MATT: And against you, Percy. That is a 19 plus two, so both of you guys get hit.

LAURA: Fuck.

MATT: Even basic damage, both of your bat forms (boof) and you both fall about ten feet.

LIAM: Is it an attack roll or--

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Yeah, they both hit-- spines hit you.You both take--

LIAM: But if it's under my AC?

LAURA: No, it's a bat's AC.

TRAVIS: You're a bat.

LIAM: Oh we're a bat-- bat's AC.

MARISHA: Bat AC.

MATT: Bat's AC, which is 12.

LIAM: Thanks.

MATT: So that's six-- So you take five points of damage, Vax, to your main form, and Percival, you take four points of damage to your main form. Oh, plus one damage of fire damage and two points of fire damage.

LIAM: My armor is set to fire, so do I take one anyway?

MATT: You still take one.

LIAM: Okay.

TALIESIN: Okay, yeah. Just the two of us.

MATT: All right, so the rest of you are bats. Both of you plummet, hit the ground, and the spine devils approach.

TALIESIN: Attempt to acrobat roll, so that I'm up and rolling?

SAM: Oh boy. Here we go.

LAURA: Oh dear lord.

MATT: So now, we have Vax and--

MARISHA: We did pretty good, you guys. We got pretty far.

LAURA: Yeah, we did get pretty far.

TALIESIN: We did a lot. We did well.

MATT: Vax and Percival are back this way, I'm going to say that these bats represent you as bats. We'll say that Taryon is one, Keyleth is two, Tova is three, Vex is four, and Grog is five. All right. So, we'll use these for spine devils for now. Well actually they're pretty small, so we'll use these. So these are the spine devils right here, and you see a bone devil coming up in the distance. So I need everyone to roll initiative.

TRAVIS: Yeah! Don't fuck me, Gil! That's it, go!

LIAM: Terrible. Terrible.

MARISHA: All right. Not great.

MATT: All right. So, that brings us to-- 25 to 20.

TALIESIN: 30.

ND: 25.

LAURA: Wow.

MATT: Jesus, Percival.

TRAVIS: 20.

MATT: So, 30, 20.

TRAVIS: Tova had--

ND: 25.

MATT: 25, nice.

TALIESIN: Are we making noise now? Do we care?

ND: No, that was bad math. 23.

MATT: Okay, still good.

MARISHA: I don't know. If we can get in and out of this quick and keep going--

MATT: 20 to 15?

MARISHA: -- because I can keep turning us into these.

MATT: All right, 15 to ten.

TRAVIS: 15 to ten.

MARISHA: 11. As long as I don't lose concentration I can keep turning us into different things.

TALIESIN: Including the two of us, even though we hit one?

MARISHA: Correct.

TALIESIN: Good to know.

MATT: All right. Ten to five.

LIAM: Big seven.

LAURA: Eight.

MARISHA: It's a concentration of up to 24 hours, so as long as I don't use a concentration--

TRAVIS: What are you, Tary?

SAM: Four.

LAURA: Oh!

MATT: Nice.

TRAVIS: Oh, shit.

MARISHA: On a subsequent turn, I can use my action to transform affected creatures into new forms.

MATT: So. Now in these forms, if it looks like it--

SAM: We do get an attack.

MATT: You do, but you attack as a bat.

SAM: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Rabies.

LAURA: Can Keyleth just--

SAM: And a hit is one point of piercing damage.

LAURA: Wait, what was your initiative order? What was your number?

MARISHA: 11.

LAURA: Fuck.

MARISHA: Not great.

ND: We're stuck as bats until she lets us out?

MATT: Yup.

LAURA: As long as you just stay out of the way and don't break your concentration, you can keep turning us in and out?

MARISHA: Correct.

LAURA: Okay. Don't get hit.

MARISHA: So that's probably exactly what I'm going to do, is to try and not get hit, by the by.

MATT: Percival. You just plummeted to the ground. Actually, both you and Vax from the fall, since you were 15 feet up, you both took two points of bludgeoning damage, and five points of bludgeoning damage, Vax.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: Okay. I'm going to take my six paces towards the lava pit, and then--

TRAVIS: Is it a blood pit or a lava pit?

MATT: It's a blood pit.

TALIESIN: -- blood pit, and then I'm going to hold my attack until Vax does what he's going to do.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: I'm loud.

LIAM: Yeah. And I'm weak.

MATT: All right, that ends Percy's turn. Tova.

ND: So, can I go from a bat to a bear?

LIAM: Bat-bear! Were-bat-bear! Batman.

SAM: There, bat-bear.

LAURA: Tricky, tricky.

LIAM: Bear-man. Man-bear.

MATT: The magic keeps you--

MARISHA: "Choose any number of willing creatures that you can see within range, you transform each target into the form of a large or smaller beast."

MATT: Technically, you are not a dwarf. You are not a Blood Hunter. You lost the abilities of your class while you are currently a bat, so currently you just have bat capabilities. You could move and then hold your action if you were to change forms. It's up to you. Kind of what Percy did.

TALIESIN: Get in position and then wait.

ND: I'm going to fly over with my dudes and hang out and hold my action.

MATT: All right, so you'll hang there. All right. Grog.

TRAVIS: I'm just following Vex.

MATT: Okay, so you'll just kind of stay over in this area.

TRAVIS: I'm real good with directions but, let's be honest.

MATT: All right. So these three spine devils who just hit the other-- This one here is going to rush over to this side, is going to fire, this is going to be at Tova. It's going to fire its tail spine. That is an eight. I keep rolling sixes to hit. Misses, no effect. These two other spine devils here are going to-- There we go, they're going to come forward and do a multi-attack on Vax. Both of them are just going to pincer up this way. One with its bite, and one with its fork. Actually, no, it's going to use two tail spikes. It's going to make a second strike at you, Tova. That is an 11, misses still.

ND: Yup. I mean, unless my--

SAM: Unhittable bats.

ND: Unless my bat stats are-- bad.

MATT: Bat AC is 12, so you're actually like (whoosh), you dodge out of the way.

ND: Oh, okay.

MATT: And that is a seven, and a 21. 21 hit you?

LIAM: No. Nope. Oh, it just hits me.

MATT: It just? That's what I thought. So you take five points of piercing damage.

LIAM: Okay, Uncanny Dodge.

MATT: All right, you take two points of piercing damage.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: The other one is going to attack you again twice as well. That's a four and an 11. Nope.

LIAM: Yeah, eat it.

MATT: Ending their turn now. The bone devil is going to catch up, flies in, its wings expanding forward, it's going to go ahead and make three attacks against you, Vax, since you're the closest one to it. That is ten, 20, and 20.

LIAM: No.

MATT: Two twelves in a row. You just (whoosh), dodging out of the way, being crazy rogue, evading. That brings us now to Keyleth.

MARISHA: Oh, shit. Can I change people as a bat?

MATT: Yeah, as an action, you can change your form, which is an action.

MARISHA: But can I stay as a bat and change other people?

MATT: Yeah.

MARISHA: Yeah?

MATT: It says here, "On a subsequent action you can use your actions to transform affected creatures into new forms." So yeah. I don't see why you couldn't.

MARISHA: Okay. I'm going to turn-- do you want to be a bat, too?

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm useless.

MARISHA: I'm going to turn both Vax and Percy into bats. What? I asked what you wanted to be and you said a bat. Bat! We're both bats!

LIAM: That is what I want to be. You just do it.

TRAVIS: You didn't even have time to ask that question.

MARISHA: And we're peaced out again.

LAURA: If we can, we're going to peace out.

MARISHA: If we can, we're going to peace out.

MATT: Who else is going to turn into bats?

SAM: Bats. We're all bats.

LAURA: We're all bats again.

MATT: Okay. All right. And, so you're just going to do that? It's your turn, you going to move?

MARISHA: I'm going to look at Vex and go (squeaking noise).

LAURA: I wink as a bat like I totally understand her.

MATT: Okay. Is that your turn, Keyleth?

MARISHA: Uh-huh.

TRAVIS: You're not going to move?

MARISHA: I'm following her!

LAURA: Well, would she move? She's got to wait until Vax gets out of there, now he's surrounded and he's a bat.

MARISHA: Vex was leading the way, she knows where to go.

MATT: Vex, your turn.

LAURA: I want to lead everybody away down to the right, but I've got to make sure that my brother gets away from these thugs before that happens, so I'm going to hold my movement until-- can I--

MATT: You can't hold your movement, you can only hold an action. You can hold a dash action.

LAURA: I'm going to hold my dash action, then, until I see that he's safe. Or at least he's away from them, so he can get going.

LIAM: As a bat, do I have an action and bonus action like Vax does, or just one thing now?

MATT: You have your action as a bat. You can dash, still, if you want to.

LIAM: Well, I will disengage as a bat?

MATT: Disengage is an action.

LIAM: Can I use my action to disengage?

MATT: So you could.

LAURA: Bats disengage.

LIAM: Yeah. We're in new territory.

MATT: Anybody can disengage as an action, it's just a combat action. You just can't do anything else, the only thing you can do is move with your speed after that.

LIAM: If they hit me, I'm back to being in regular form again, and there's three of them, so I'm going to disengage--

MATT: All right, so you disengage.

LIAM: -- and then fly as far as I can towards the group.

MATT: Okay, 30 feet. Five, ten, 15, 20, 25, 30. That's where you get.

LAURA: Okay, I see him, and we have everybody now. I take off to the right.

MATT: Which way is the right? You guys moved in this way? So, this way.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. So using your dash action--

LAURA: It was the last thing, it was to the right was the final turn. Right?

SAM: Yup, yup.

MARISHA: Right, yeah, to the right.

TALIESIN: I've been holding an action, right? Can I burn that as a dash action?

LAURA: I know! Why did he say it like that, like it was--

MARISHA: Yeah, as far as we know, the right means right.

SAM: Maybe it's stage right.

LAURA: But everything else was-- I'm going to the right. That's the last intersection that I know.

MATT: All right, so that ends Vex's turn there. Taryon.

SAM: I'm going to go where she went. And further if I can.

MATT: And you are off the page, over that way.

TALIESIN: Can I burn my action as a dash?

MATT: You can, yeah.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm burning my action as a dash.

MATT: All right, so that's--

MARISHA: Let's go!

SAM: Bye!

LAURA: Toodles. As much as we can be, toodles.

MARISHA: Dear god, let's leave this shit.

MATT: That brings us to Percy.

TALIESIN: I'm going to keep booking.

MATT: Five, ten, 30, and you also with a double move get to there. Okay. Next up is Tova.

ND: Oh, I'll just keep going with the rest.

MATT: You just keep going? All right, so you catch up with these guys here way off the map. All righty. Grog.

TRAVIS: I'm going to burn my "ashton" as a "darsh."

(laughter)

MATT: (gibberish) All righty. With that, the spine devils are going to move forward.

LAURA: Who is that? Is that Keyleth?

MATT: That is Percy.

LAURA: Oh, it is? No, but Percy's off the map!

MATT: Oh, I'm sorry. It's Keyleth. Yeah, because I have one-two, but you guys both transformed.

MARISHA: But I was holding my movement to move with Vex.

LAURA and TALIESIN: You can't hold movement.

MARISHA: I can't fucking hold a movement. I did an action to make sure they were bats.

MATT: Yep. So you swarm by three spined devils.

LAURA: Fucking balls. This is not good planning.

LIAM: We might be able to outrun them.

MATT: Not in this form. Attacks against you. Yep, that's an 18. Keyleth, you take six points of slashing damage. Your bat form is gone, you drop that. You become Keyleth again and you take five points of damage carried over. Then it's going to get its tail attack against you. It's going to miss. The other one's going to bite. Miss. Tail attack is going to be a 17. What's your AC?

MARISHA: Currently, 16.

MATT: So you take six points of piercing damage. The last one's going to get its last two attacks on you. That is a 21 and a natural one. So the last attack you get is four points of slashing damage.

MARISHA: So it's six plus four total? So, ten? Okay.

MATT: And I need you to go ahead and make three concentration checks. It's got to beat ten each time.

MARISHA: Good the first time. Good the second time. And seven plus my constitution, correct?

MATT: Yes.

MARISHA: So that is an 11 the third time.

MATT: Your constitution saving throw?

MARISHA: All three.

MATT: That's enough. So you maintain concentration on the spell.

LAURA: Solid.

LIAM: Thanks, Keyleth.

MARISHA: You're welcome!

MATT: The bone devil flies up and is now going after Keyleth with all of its might.

MARISHA: Did we heal any? We didn't do any of that healing or anything, did we?

MATT: Nope! You didn't have time.

MARISHA: That's cool.

MATT: Three attacks. That is going to be an 18 for its claw.

MARISHA: Hit.

MATT: Second claw, that's a 27.

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: And the sting is a 25. So all three hit you. So you take nine points of slashing damage. Concentration check.

MARISHA: I mean, I'm about to go down. I make it!

MATT: All right. That is 12 points of slashing damage.

MARISHA: I'm down. Everyone's about to hit the ground.

MATT: Keyleth falls unconscious. And the tail strikes you, auto crit. You lose two death saving throws.

(yelling)

TALIESIN: We're all human now.

MARISHA: And you're all human.

MATT: All of you drop form. So four would be Vex.

TALIESIN: Okay, got to fix this super fast.

MARISHA: Really not looking good.

LAURA: Everybody's far away from her except for me and-- who's the other person?

MATT: Aw man, where did my Vex model go?

LAURA: Oh no, did I disappear?

MATT: I think I may actually have left you on the other map. That's okay, I'll be fine for this one.

LAURA: Oh, because I was in a corner.

MATT: I'll use the erinyes for you. That's fine.

LAURA: That's okay, that's pretty hot. Can you put a little marker on me so I can see it? I can't see the erinyes.

MATT: That's you.

LAURA: Okay. Thank you.

MATT: You're welcome. Percival, Vex, Taryon, Tova.

SAM: Percy, my necklace is glowing.

TALIESIN: Yeah, we all know.

SAM: And I'm not a bat. Does that mean Keyleth's dead?

MATT: End of their turn. Keyleth. It's your turn. You're next in the initiative order.

TALIESIN: Oh shit, no.

LAURA: Oh god.

MARISHA: Oh my god, I've never been here. I don't want to die. Who do I do this to?

SAM: You just rolled it.

MARISHA: I did. It's a 13. Technically. Yeah. I was going to switch dice, but that's a 13, I'll take that.

MATT: Was it the intentional roll?

MARISHA: No. Okay.

TALIESIN: No, that's not-- Oh.

MARISHA: Don't fuck me Gil. I'm good. I'm good.

MATT: What did you roll?

MARISHA: It's a 12. I rolled a 12.

MATT: Okay. Still bleeding out. Man, losing that Plane Shift.

MARISHA: A success. What did you just say?

LAURA: Oh my god, if she dies, we're fucked

MARISHA: Yeah, I know.

TRAVIS: That was a big oversight.

MATT: That would've been campaign over. Okay.

MARISHA: No, we're good, guys. Come on.

TALIESIN: That might be campaign over.

MATT: Well, I don't know.

TRAVIS: Oh my god, what the fuck were we thinking?

MATT: I'm so nervous right now, oh my god.

LAURA: I'm up! I run forward and I slide on my knees and put my hands on her and cast Cure Wounds at 4th level. On Keyleth.

MATT: Okay. All right.

SAM: Campaign resumed.

MATT: Holy shit.

MARISHA: I'm great, I'm good.

TRAVIS: Aw, man. That roll was bigger than I knew.

TALIESIN: Yeah, that would've been fucking bad.

MATT: You guys have a spreading urgency of the entire prison of Mentiri now bearing down on escaped mortal criminals. Without Plane Shift, if that doesn't work...

MARISHA: Okay, all right. So we have the extreme hint.

SAM: But we were bats, Matt. That was pretty fine planning.

MARISHA: That was awesome. It was going great.

LAURA: 27 points.

MATT: You heal 27 points, Keyleth.

MARISHA: Okay.

LAURA: That's my action.

MATT: Your movement.

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: You have a bonus.

TRAVIS: You want to heal yourself? Potions?

LAURA: I'm going to pop Trinket out, as my bonus.

MATT: Whereabouts?

LAURA: Behind-- sure, whatever.

MATT: I'll say, just instinctually, you pop him out about there.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: And that was my full movement and everything, wasn't it?

MATT: Yeah. All right, Vax, it's your turn.

LIAM: I run and skip right up next to my sister and I have a potion of superior healing and I pour it into Keyleth's mouth.

MATT: All right.

MARISHA: I'm conscious.

LIAM: Yes, I know.

MATT: (gurgles)

(laughter)

LIAM: 22 more.

MARISHA: Oh, okay. Vax! I'm at 49 hit points.

MATT: You didn't realize until the last moment and was like, "Oh, Keyeth goes down."

LAURA: Bad News Bears.

LIAM: How long has it been since the pit fiend moment?

MATT: It's been roughly an hour. A little over an hour.

LIAM: All right. And I'm going to, as a bonus action, chuck Whisper into-- no, it has to be tied to an action, doesn't it?

MATT: It has to be after an attack, yeah.

LIAM: Oh, well there's nothing else I can do.

TALIESIN: Stand her up.

LIAM: I can get up with a bonus action, though?

MARISHA: Can you help me up?

LIAM: No, bonus action was the potion, no? Can't the potion be a bonus?

LAURA: No, not if you give it to somebody else.

LIAM: Okay. Then I'm done.

MATT: So, Taryon.

LAURA: Do you have any spells? Like a Bless or anything?

LIAM: No, I'm out.

SAM: How far am I?

MATT: You're about-- with 30-foot movement you can get within range where you can see any of the creatures.

SAM: Okay. I'll run back then, I guess.

MATT: Okay. You get there.

LAURA: Bring everything-- Do you say (poosh) to them.

MATT: Yeah. You have these three little spine devils that are like flying imps covered in spines that are relatively small, and you have one big bone devil-- that was the one that just almost killed Keyleth.

SAM: I'll throw acid at one, I guess.

MATT: At which one?

SAM: The one who looks the meanest.

MATT: That's the bone devil. All right. Dex save. That is a 14. What's your DC?

SAM: 17.

MATT: So yeah. Go ahead and roll damage.

TALIESIN: Yay.

SAM: Okay. Give me some sixes. And one more. Boom. Oh, lots.

(laughter)

LAURA: How did this happen? How did we get here?

SAM: 25.

MATT: 25 points of acid damage to the bone devil.

LAURA: Nice!

LIAM: Fiancee and campaign? Killed.

MATT: So as the vial breaks across the front of its body, you can see the acid burn its flesh. It curls into itself; you can see the smoke rising off of it as its flesh is beginning to burn and melt away. Nice. That's your turn.

SAM: All right, I will cast Sanctuary on young Keyleth.

MATT: Oh shit!

TALIESIN: Nice!

LAURA: That's the first time you've helped another person, right?

SAM: In my life.

(laughter)

MATT: Oh, Taryon. All right, Percy, you're up.

TALIESIN: Fuck sound at this point, I suppose. I'm going to run and just get them into view.

MATT: Yep, you got them.

TALIESIN: All right. Three shots, and I'm going to do a pushback on all three and I'm going to push them all--

MATT: The spine devils, you mean?

TALIESIN: Spine devil, spine devil, bone devil.

MATT: Okay, so there's three spine devils and one bone devil. So two spine devils and one bone devil.

TALIESIN: Three spine devils and one bone devil?

MATT: Yes. Three spine devils and one bone devil.

TALIESIN: Three spine devils and one bone devil?

TRAVIS: Stop saying it.

MARISHA: No Coke, Pepsi.

TALIESIN: No Coke, Pepsi. And the bone devil's a real problem, I suppose.

MATT: He's the dangerous-looking one.

TALIESIN: Okay, in that case, I'm going to push him back. I'm going to do a shot to push him back.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: And that's a 19, 29--

MATT: Yeah, you hit.

LIAM: Pop-pop-pop, motherfucker!

LAURA and MARISHA: (sing "mmmbop")

TALIESIN: That's my power song, you don't even know. 15 points of damage, plus five psychic, and he moves backwards ten feet.

MATT: So 20 damage. He pushes back just that far, but he hits the wall. He can't get pushed back further.

TALIESIN: Can't get pushed any-- he's still--

MATT: Still right there.

LIAM: Percy's in hell, Hanson playing in his brain.

MATT: He's already up against the wall.

TALIESIN: All right. Second, I'll take a spine devil, the one that's threatening the most people?

SAM: That song is not called "Doo-Bop." It's called "mmmbop."

LAURA: That's what I said.

TALIESIN: 25.

MATT: That hits. Roll damage.

TALIESIN: That's not the damage. Oh yeah. 17 points of damage and six points of psychic damage.

MATT: You scatter one of the spine devils with one shot. Blasts apart.

TALIESIN: The other one, I'm going to spend a point for grit for deadeye, just to get advantage.

MATT: Go for it.

TALIESIN: That's cocked. 29?

MATT: 29 hits.

TALIESIN: 14 points of damage and one point of psychic?

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: He's still standing?

MATT: Still standing.

TALIESIN: Action surge.

LIAM: Yes!

TALIESIN: Three more shots.

SAM: Three more?

TALIESIN: Hitting him again. Same thing, with a grit.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: Yeah, that's good to do. 24 to hit?

MATT: Hits. This is against the second spine devil, yeah.

TALIESIN: That's 11 points of damage and four psychic.

MATT: He scatters.

TALIESIN: Third spine devil. Same thing-- actually, I get my grit back. Third spine devil.

MATT: These shots are (gunshots).

TALIESIN: Yeah, actually, I'll reroll the cocked one, but it doesn't matter. Yeah. That hits.

MATT: Echoing through the hall. Everyone who is ever searching for anything knows exactly where to go now.

TALIESIN: Yeah, fuck it. It's worth it, though. 13 points of damage and five psychic.

MATT: Okay. Still standing, but looking rough.

TALIESIN: And another shot, same thing, with advantage. That's fine. 24?

MATT: 24. Yep.

TALIESIN: Thank god they're easy to hit. That's 16 points of damage and four psychic.

MATT: The third spine devil's upper torso is disintegrated by the blast. Its wings flick off to its sides, spattering part of the bone devil.

TALIESIN: I'm going to spend my last grit. Last grit is a shot to the spine devil.

MATT: That was already three attacks. That was three more attacks.

TALIESIN: That was one, two--

MATT: Yeah, you killed the second one, and then shot twice to kill a third one. So you're out of attacks.

TALIESIN: I'm done. Reload, and that's the end of my turn.

MATT: All righty. At this point, you guys can hear distant yelling getting louder and louder down the hallway where you came from. You hear the voices echoing and swarming, and people are starting to get closer, knowing where you are. Tova, you're up.

ND: How many of these devil-guys are left?

MATT: There's just the one bone devil left.

ND: Okay. I'm going to run back a full 45 feet. How close can I get to him?

MATT: 45? You can get about there. You're about ten, 15 feet from him. Ten feet.

LIAM: You got any projectile shit?

ND: I do not.

TALIESIN: Need to heal?

ND: That would help.

TALIESIN: Do you have anything to heal with?

(laughter)

ND: Don't think so.

TRAVIS: You hungry? Yeah. You have any food?

(laughter)

ND: Who's closest to me, here?

MATT: Currently, it's Vax, the half-elf rogue guy.

ND: Can I save my action?

MATT: You could.

ND: Yeah.

MATT: Yeah, because you haven't had a short rest, so you don't have your blood curses back, yeah.

ND: Yeah, no, I don't have--

MATT: Okay. So you're just going to hold your action just in case it comes near?

ND: Yeah, I'll just hang out with my new friends here.

MATT: Okay. Sounds good. Grog.

TRAVIS: Go running in 50 feet. (war cry)

MATT: 50 feet puts you standing over Keyleth, pretty much.

TRAVIS: Am I in melee distance?

MATT: You are in melee distance.

TRAVIS: Reckless attacks!

LAURA: Yes, kill it so we can run away.

TRAVIS: 29.

MATT: You do have a point of exhaustion, by the way.

TRAVIS: Yes.

MATT: 29 hits.

TRAVIS: 24 points.

MATT: 24 points of damage, all righty.

TRAVIS: Second one, reckless. Natural 20.

ALL: Oh!

LIAM: From the gods.

MARISHA: Yes, from the gods.

TRAVIS: 24, 27, 34. 34 points of damage.

MATT: Well, did you double the dice?

TRAVIS: Did two additional damage dice rolls.

MATT: Right, so you did the first one--

TRAVIS: Initial one, and then I did two more d10s.

MATT: Okay, so the total was?

TRAVIS: 34.

MATT: 34. All righty.

TRAVIS: Yeah, because I have two levels of brutal critical.

MATT: Great, so those are your two attacks.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: All right. That brings us to the bone devil's turn.

LAURA: Oh, he's still alive?

MATT: Yeah, he's still alive. And seeing everybody rush in and help this wounded creature on the ground--

ND: Matt? Can I-- sorry, keep going.

MATT: Okay. You sure?

ND: Can I use the blood curses-- I can use it three times per short rest, so I have one more, right? I did two in the prison.

MATT: Two Mutual Suffering, and you did your Mark.

ND: Oh, you're right, okay. You're right. Did three. Sorry. Carry on.

MATT: It's all good. All right, so. It's going to go ahead and lashing out-- let me roll to see which way it goes. Okay, yeah, it's not that intelligent. So intelligence check, you being the immediate threat, it turns attention towards you as opposed to Keyleth, who's currently on the ground. As you're the biggest threat to it at the moment, it's going to go ahead and make three strikes at you. That is 16?

TRAVIS: Misses!

MATT: 16?

TRAVIS: Misses!

MARISHA: Come on, Grog!

MATT: 17.

TRAVIS: Hits!

MATT: Ah, finally. Eight, eight, nine. (laughs) All right. That is 16 points of piercing damage, and no poison because you are immune.

TRAVIS: Word.

MATT: All right. That ends its turn, and it's going to shift over, flying over onto this way, the coasting in the center there, and getting over Keyleth, getting closer to the blood pool--

TRAVIS: May I make a retali--

MATT: Retaliation? Yes, you can. As a reaction, you can.

MARISHA: Come on, kill it!

TRAVIS: Reckless, please. 30.

MATT: Yeah, that hits.

TRAVIS: Yeah. 24.

MATT: 24 points of damage. As it flies over you through the air, you arc in the direction with your hammer, and as you do, it breaks its entire ribcage inward. You hear the shattering of bones, and it gives out this wheeze as you follow through and slam it back down where it was standing.

TRAVIS: Sweet!

(cheering)

LAURA: Keyleth, can you do a Wall of Stone?

MARISHA: Yeah, into the corridor.

LAURA: Yeah, block it!

TRAVIS: Do it here so they don't know which way we went.

SAM: They know the layout of this prison.

TRAVIS: Yeah, but they don't know which direction we went.

MATT: You guys hear voices now coming from the other sides, as well.

SAM: Let me do something. I'm going to use my Scroll of Programmed Illusion.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Have any creatures talked to us in Common down here? With their mouths, not with their minds?

MATT: There have been a handful, yeah.

SAM: What kind?

MATT: They've been the cambion, the guy you met earlier with the red skin who made the deal with Percival.

TRAVIS: The chain devil.

MATT: The chain devil spoke Common.

SAM: Okay. Did he work in the prison?

MATT: The chain devil did.

SAM: Great, chain devil. Okay, I'm going to make a Programmed Illusion. Upon anyone approaching, a chain devil will appear over the dead bodies that we just killed and say, "There were five of them. They went that way!" And point down the hallway that we just came out of. "Go, get them now! Make them pay!"

(cheering)

MATT: All righty. As you pull the scroll out, and you watch the scroll burst into flame as you finish the incantation, you watch as out of the blood pool, rising, this chain devil, looking real, material, steps up and walks over to the bodies and sits there looking over them, waiting for someone to trigger.

LAURA: Okay, we should put Dust of Tracelessness down. Dust of Tracelessness on the ground!

MATT: Okay, you start flower girling your way.

MARISHA: I hold my Wall of Stone, since he has that, because I don't want to make it apparent.

MATT: Get this map out if we can? Okay, so you guys continue to the right. Thank you. And bring the last one in. You guys head down this hallway for about another hundred feet, hearing the shouts behind. You hear conversation, different languages happening. They're getting a little more distant. You're catching some ground here, and it's going well. Eventually you make your way--

SAM: Jesus, there's another whole fucking map?

MARISHA: The doors, always. This is Matt Mercer we're talking about.

LIAM: I'm looking for fucking traps.

MATT: You guys make your way down to the end of this chamber, and you see three different doors that are all closed off, to the front, to the right, and the left.

LIAM: Fanged smiles.

LAURA: Fanged smile.

MATT: As you're making your investigation check, you hear what sounds like the writhing of chains and the pulling of heavy metal grinding. As you begin to look and inspect the doors real fast, you glance up, and the entire ceiling is a sea of rolling chains, all gathering, and then from the ceiling bursts down in the center of the chamber--

(yelling)

MATT: A chain golem slams into the center, its glowing red eyes from underneath. All right. As you guys have all scattered amongst these chambers you ran down, Vax just rushed up and began to inspect these here. What are you guys doing?

MARISHA: Wait, is this it? Is this where we're supposed to be?

TALIESIN: We've got to find out which room he's in.

MATT: All right. Everyone roll initiative.

TRAVIS: Oh my god. What size is that thing?

MATT: It's almost 20 feet tall, and when it slams the ground, it's hunched forward. If it were standing upright, it would scrape the ceiling.

TRAVIS: So it's fire giant size.

MATT: A little bit under fire giant size, but you watch the chains from the ceiling are still attached to it. It's like the whole ceiling and upper portion of this chamber is made of chains that are feeding it.

LAURA: Do we have anything to freeze?

MARISHA: To freeze? Yeah. We have our shit back, right?

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LAURA: If we can freeze him in place, maybe. He's made of metal.

MATT: 25 to 20.

LAURA: 24.

MATT: 24.

ND: 21.

MATT: Tova. And what did you roll for your investigation check earlier?

LIAM: Oh, 22.

MATT: 22. This doorway, the first one you checked? Does not seem to have-- the symbol on it appears to be some sort of Infernal symbol that you don't recognize. All right. 20 to 15?

MARISHA: 17.

TALIESIN: 15.

MATT: 15 to ten?

TRAVIS: 13.

MATT: Taryon?

SAM: Two.

TRAVIS: Wow.

LIAM: Eight for Vax.

MATT: All right.Vex, you're up first.

LAURA: Can I run to the other doors that Vax has been looking at?

MATT: Which one of these are you checking?

LAURA: Huh?

MATT: Which one of these doors are you checking?

LAURA: The far one in the back. Yeah. And I'll look for the symbol.

MATT: Make an investigation check.

LAURA: 23.

MATT: 23. You go and look up, and this one has a symbol that looks like a half-moon that is broken and is bleeding into a pool below it.

LAURA: And I'm looking for a fanged grin?

MATT: It's a crescent half-moon that looks like it's broken in the middle.

LAURA: That totally could be a fanged grin. Okay.

SAM: Which one?

LAURA: The very back door.

MATT: This one and this one have been inspected. So that's your movement to get up there. And your action to look thoroughly and look at the symbol in the low light. You have a bonus still.

LAURA: Yeah. Is it possible to bonus hide?

MATT: You have nowhere to hide from. You have nothing obscuring.

LAURA: Nothing to obscure the view?

MATT: Not really.

LAURA: Okay, then I'm going to use my bonus to pop Trinket out.

MATT: Okay. Trinket appears out of your necklace.

LAURA: I guess he was already out, wasn't he? Because we were running.

MATT: Yeah, but you may have pulled him back in. It's fine.

LAURA: That's a waste of bonus. (laughs) No, I'm going to Hunter's Mark. So Trinket was out. I'm going to Hunter's Mark the guy.

MATT: All right, I'll go with it. Hunter's Mark on the chain golem. Tova, your turn.

ND: Okay. I'm going to run over there behind the chain golem where Vex is. I'm going to do a perception check. I guess I'll check out this last door.

MATT: Okay.

ND: Can I do a general sense of smell for the whole area and see if I smell anything coming from any of these prisons?

MATT: Sure. Make a perception check as you're rushing in.

LAURA: What about symbols? Do you see anything?

MATT: With advantage.

ND: Yep. All right. So that is a 23.

MATT: 23. The chambers seem to have various scents that kind of mix in this area. The one on the far end has this ancient, dusty, decay smell to it. The one on the opposite side of the chamber has a weirdly iron, rusty old metal scent, and the doorway that you're at right now has a very strong scent of sulfur.

ND: Is there anything on the door?

MATT: Make an investigation check.

ND: Where's investigation? That's an 18.

MATT: You knock the dust from the side, and as you inspect closely, hearing the chains grinding and spinning around you, and occasionally you duck because you see one kind of whip across and break part of the stone and cause chunks of it to fly off. You look down, and you see two small eyes and one deep, toothy grin.

ND: Hey, this one's smiling!

LAURA: But is it a fanged grin? A fanged grin is usually cocked. But it looks more--

ND: He doesn't appear sincere, so. What do I have left?

MATT: Well, as a note, just remember this, it took you a while to get there because the chains that were rolling around it are entangled and wrapping around the area, so you were at half movement, which got you just to there. I forgot to mention that earlier. However, the chains, in the process, are crushing and doing damage as you move through them. Six points of bludgeoning damage to you as you pull your way through the chains getting to that area. All right, that ends Tova's turn. It is now the chain golem's turn.

ND: Do I have an extra action or anything?

MATT: Your action was to do the investigation. You have your bonus, if you have something to spend it with.

ND: Turn into a bear?

MATT: Sure.

LAURA: (laughs) "I turn into a bear?"

MATT: And bear form. (sings) And bear form. There is your bear form. All righty. So ending Tova's turn, it is now the golem's turn. The golem has a ten-foot range on its slam. It's going to do two slam attacks. It's going to reach out and slam once at Percy, who is within its front range there after landing, and Keyleth, who's immediately to its left.

LAURA: Don't fucking die, Keyleth.

MATT: A physical slam attack. A giant battering-ram of heavy, thick chains are going to punch out towards Percival. The fist swings, and almost merges with the rest of the body as a second arm forms where it was and then backfists into Keyleth. Like its form shifts with the chains that move around within its body, and its form is ever-changing and shifting, like a giant amoeba of moving metal. The first attack towards Percival. That is 27 to hit.

TALIESIN: Oh my god, yes.

MATT: All right. You suffer 22 points of bludgeoning damage. And against Keyleth, that is a 25 to hit.

MARISHA: Yep.

MATT: Keyleth, you take 21 points of bludgeoning damage.

SAM: Is Sanctuary still working on her?

MATT: Actually, Sanctuary is on. Has to make a wisdom saving throw before it can do that. Which it fails! You take no damage.

(cheering)

MATT: It rolled a two and had a zero wisdom modifier.

MARISHA: Oh, that's good, that's great.

MATT: So as it goes to strike you, the second fist appears and then seems to dwindle and fall to the ground, and it forms again in the spot where it was. You watch as multiple arms are now forming and coming out of it at different places. It's going to back up. As it does so, its eyes shift. These two red, beady points of light that form its eyes kind of shift to the back of its head, and now you see they're almost moving around, and it's keeping a visual range of everything in the room.

TALIESIN: Do I get an attack of opportunity since we're moving out of its combat range?

MATT: No. It was not in your combat range. It had reach, unfortunately. That ends its turn. Keyleth, you're up.

MARISHA: Okay. I need to stay alive. Who's close to me in a 30-foot radius? And who's looking rough?

TRAVIS: You.

MATT: Everyone but Vex and Trinket are in a 30-foot radius.

MARISHA: Okay. I want to start backing out a little bit, and who's lowest on hit points? Legit.

LAURA AND LIAM: You.

ND: I have 19 hit points left.

SAM: And me.

MARISHA: Me, Tova, Taryon, and I can pick three more people. I'm going to do a Mass Cure Wounds.

TALIESIN: Who else wants it?

LIAM: I'll take it. I'm at like two-thirds, I guess?

MARISHA: Vax.

TALIESIN: Grog, you want it?

MARISHA: Anyone else looking relatively low?

TRAVIS: No, I'm not relatively low.

LAURA: If you can do it to everybody, why not?

MARISHA: I can do it to six people.

TALIESIN: So we've got, one, two, three, four. I'll say yes.

LAURA: And Grog.

MARISHA: And Grog. And we're going to do a Mass Cure Wounds. 3d8 plus my spellcasting ability. Okay.

MATT: Yep, so 3d8 plus six. Go for it. Percy, you're up next.

MARISHA: Oh my god, that's amazing. Oh, that's a one.

SAM: You can reroll ones.

MARISHA: No, only if it's elemental damage. Eight, 16, 17 plus six.

MATT: Six, so 23.

MARISHA: 23 points.

MATT: 23 points of healing. So mark that in, guys. That's your action.

MARISHA: And then I'm backing out a little bit.

MATT: Backing this way or this way?

MARISHA: Yeah, away from the chain golem. Yeah. That way.

MATT: This way. If you move one more, he's going to get attack of opportunity on you because you're within melee range of him right now.

MARISHA: Fucking hell.

MATT: You want to risk it? Or not?

MARISHA: Yeah, I'll risk it.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Can you transform anymore or are you spent?

MARISHA: I can do it one more time, but only to an animal, not an elemental.

MATT: Okay, so you back up. It takes a swing at you with its chain slam. That is 26 to hit.

MARISHA: Yep.

MATT: You take--

SAM: Is Sanctuary still on her?

MATT: 30 points of bludgeoning damage.

TALIESIN and LAURA: Sanctuary.

MATT: Sanctuary. Thank you for reminding me. That is a 14.

MARISHA: Miss!

MATT: What's your DC? 17?

SAM: On what? My spell DC?

MATT: Yeah, spell DC.

SAM: 17.

MATT: 17. It goes to swing again towards you as a reaction and the magic prevents it from actually hitting its mark and the chains retract back into its body.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: So no damage is sustained.

SAM: Matt, if I may be--

LAURA: No.

SAM: Technically, he can choose another target.

MARISHA: Are you going to be honest?

LAURA: Oh, because he failed?

SAM: No, it just says in Sanctuary you can either fail or he can choose another target.

MATT: That's true. All right, so instead--

SAM: Sorry. Just saying.

MATT: No, that's good. It'll go to Tova and Vax for the two attacks that he got Sanctuary earlier. So to Vax, that is a 31.

LIAM: No, that does not hit.

MATT: So you take the 30 points of damage instead.

MARISHA: You're taking it for me?

LIAM: Yes, I am.

MARISHA: Thanks, boyfriend!

MATT: Against Tova that is a natural one.

ND: That's a what?

MATT: Natural one to hit you. So it actually slams into the door above.

LAURA: Does it break through the door?

MATT: I'll make a strength check now.

LIAM: Happy to.

MATT: The door cracks and it partially gets pushed inward. Somehow the chain golem actually helped you out. That's interesting. All right. That ends its turn. Keyleth, you're up. No, sorry, that was Keyleth's turn. Percy, you're up.

TALIESIN: I'm out of its range now.

MATT: You are currently just out of its range.

TALIESIN: Okay. I'm going to back up a bit. Move me behind that-- and then move me-- the other pillar.

MATT: Oh, this way?

TALIESIN: Head that way. Does it look like those chains are feeding it?

MATT: It doesn't look like it's feeding it more than just the chains are keeping it attached to the walls. The mass of the chains are still in its chest.

TALIESIN: And it has eyeballs.

MATT: It has some sort of two glowing light sources within the mass of chains that form where its head would be--

TALIESIN: Would a headshot to those eyeballs actually be a thing that might work?

MATT: You can try it.

TALIESIN: I'm going to try it. I'm going to burn a thing and see if that does it. So. Yeah. Let's find out.

MATT: You're up next, Grog.

TALIESIN: Right. Yeah, that'll do. 32 to hit.

MATT: 32 hits.

TALIESIN: All right. That's a d10 and d6. That's 11 points of damage and three points of psychic damage.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: And it has to make a constitution saving throw.

MATT: It does not, actually, because it's not affected by that effect. Its eyes can shift throughout its body.

TALIESIN: There's no snapping, breaking the glass?

MATT: Nope

TALIESIN: Man, you made me burn a grit. That sucks.

MATT: Yeah. Even with its spell advantage against all those Sanctuary saves, it just doesn't have a very high wisdom so it just cannot make it.

TALIESIN: That's okay. I'm going to take a sharpshooter shot at it and just keep damaging it. I'm going to do a sharpshooter shot.

MATT: Two more. Go for it.

TALIESIN: That was shot one.

MATT: Shot one. You have two more.

TALIESIN: Shot two. That's a 25.

MATT: Hits.

TALIESIN: That's, ooh. 27 points of damage. And five psychic.

MATT: Nice. 32, all righty. Last attack.

TALIESIN: And another shot, same thing, sharpshooter. Fuck.

MARISHA: Yeah, that's cocked.

SAM: You have too many dice on there.

TALIESIN: I never do. (groans) Could be worse. 14.

MATT: 14? Okay.

TALIESIN: Does 14 hit?

MATT: 14 does not hit. Sorry, thought that was the damage. Sorry.

TALIESIN: Okay. And then I'm going to stay in but keep an eye on everything that's happening.

MATT: Yeah. All right. Keyleth, by the way, as you were moving through the chains-- I forgot to mention earlier, as the tangling chains around it. You did suffer five points of bludgeoning damage as the chains are just swirling around and the aura and the area of its vicinity just shreds like a slow-moving grinder.

MARISHA: As I move out?

MATT: You're still in there.

MARISHA: But I healed? Okay. So I'm at 60 points, right?

MATT: Grog, you're up.

LAURA: Hit it, Grog.

TRAVIS: Where am I on the map?

MATT: Right there.

LAURA: Ooh, perfect.

TRAVIS: Yeah, door-- smash it open, right?

MATT: All right, go for it. Roll an attack.

TRAVIS: Crack of doom. 23.

MATT: 23 hits.

TRAVIS: What do I roll?

MATT: Just roll damage for your hammer.

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, that makes sense, right? Nine. 25.

MATT: 25 damage? Becomes 50 because of siege. The door is absolutely sundered and comes off. Oh god. As the door blows open, you glance inside. You can see within the walls are covered in pulse-y, fleshy, muscle-like substance with these long stretched tendons and pieces of sinew that all gather to the center, and you see this shifting larval egg. And within, you can see a small humanoid figure that is swirling and writhing within. It seems like it's in this perpetual state of agony, screaming quietly within this weird fleshy egg sac and you can see the features of a tiger-like face and fangs writhing inside.

MARISHA: Fucking, umbilical cord.

TRAVIS: I have one more hit. I'll stride forward and swing away.

MATT: Okay. As you step forward, the chain golem already used its reaction so it cannot. You just walk forward. Make an attack.

TRAVIS: Reckless, please.

LAURA: Because why not.

TRAVIS: Because why not. That's a million. It's 32.

MATT: Roll damage.

LAURA: A million.

TALIESIN: Million.

TRAVIS: 22.

MATT: (impact noise) It just (explosion) spattered across the ground. What was once shifting is now a fine red cream as the true form of Hotis, partially returned, is now scattered across the steaming pavement of the depths of the Mentiri prison. The devil is no more. You are free from the curse.

(cheering)

MATT: Now just to get out of here, because you hear the voices in the distance now getting--

LAURA: Now we just have to Plane Shift.

ND: What is happening?

LAURA: Is it done?

TRAVIS: No. How much movement do I have left?

MATT: That was you. Because of the chains wrapping around you-- which, by the way, did five points of bludgeoning damage to you.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: It takes you half movement to move through that space so that's five, ten, 15, 20, 25, 30. So you can move two more squares.

TRAVIS: Two more squares. I'll come back out the door and towards Keyleth.

MATT: All right. That'll get you about there. And that's as far as you can get. The chains are tangling you up and preventing you from moving quickly. Ending Grog's turn. Taryon.

SAM: I mean, we're done.

LAURA: Get to Keyleth. We have to be touching her.

SAM: I'll move to Keyleth and say: Tova, are you coming with us? You have to, sort of.

ND: Where are you going?

SAM: To another plane of existence. But one without chain golems trying to kill you.

ND: I can't. I can't leave my friends. I have to try and find them.

SAM: How?

ND: I don't know.

SAM: I'll go next to Keyleth.

MATT: Okay. So you step in next to her over the grate.

SAM: I can make you invisible. I can make you fly. What would help you get out of here?

ND: I'll have that invisibility.

SAM: Sure.

ND: Invisible bear?

MATT: As Tova vanishes in the moment, and is this slight ripple in the air.

TALIESIN: Oh, you have a slight ripple figure. Phantom bear.

LAURA: Does he?

MATT: There is where you are. Tova's form vanishes.

ND: How long does that last?

SAM: A minute.

ND: Thanks.

SAM: Just one minute.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Run real fast.

LAURA: And the minute you take damage, you become visible again?

MATT: Invisibility lasts an hour.

SAM: It lasts an hour?! Oh! Hey, you can get out with that.

ND: Going to try and do that.

MARISHA: Get out.

TRAVIS: She's like: okay, I've got to get-- (poof)

MATT: All righty. Vex.

LAURA: All right. I'm going to run forward and try to get to-- I'm going to poof Trinket in and run forward and try to get to Keyleth.

MATT: Okay. Ten, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35. That's as far as you can get, right there. Make a double dash?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: All right. 25, 30. That's as far as you get, and you take eight points of bludgeoning damage from the chains that are whipping around you and wrapping around your legs and tying you up as you're reaching forward. It's like this swamp of grinding metal. That ends your turn. Tova. You're invisible. If you do any attacks, you lose invisibility, so either you're going with them, or you're retreating into the prison for better or for worse.

ND: Can I run over, pick up Vex, and carry her over to her friends? 45.

SAM: Is Vex down?

ND: No. She can't move any more.

SAM: Oh. (laughs)

MATT: 35, 40. You get right up next to her, right there. She's light enough. You lift her up, and you make a dash action to bring her over for half speed.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: 15, 20. You get her just there, within range of Keyleth.

LAURA: I'm so confused.

ND: You just got carried by an invisible bear!

MATT: You take five points of bludgeoning damage, reduced to half because you're in your bear form, so you take two points of bludgeoning damage.

LAURA: I feel very nostalgic for some reason as she's doing this. This is very comfortable for me.

MATT: The golem's turn now.

LAURA: Oh god. Am I on the ground again? Did you put me down?

ND: Yeah, I put you down.

LAURA: Okay.

ND: I mean, unless you want to be airplaned up by an invisible bear.

LAURA: I mean, I'm not opposed, but.

MATT: The golem is going to make a chain prison attack.

TRAVIS: A chain prison?

MATT: Yes.

LAURA: He's really going to just try to kill us before we can get out of here.

MATT: It's going to-- let's see here. It's going to get Percy, Keyleth, and Taryon.

SAM: Oh, shitballs.

MATT: I need you guys to all make dexterity saving throws.

MARISHA: Don't fuck me, Gil. Oh, that's good, Gil!

SAM: I'm feeling lucky. Thank god. 20.

MATT: 20? That's exactly what you needed.

MARISHA: 19 plus four, 23.

MATT: Percy?

TALIESIN: It's a dex saving throw, and 20 is what we need? I'm going to use a resolve and see if I can make this work.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Nope. Same thing. 17.

MATT: 17. So everyone else, you guys both manage to break free. Percy, you are restrained.

TALIESIN: All right.

MARISHA: Gods damn it.

MATT: As the chains swirl up and wrap around your legs and torso and you find yourself bound in place.

TALIESIN: Can we make a chain?

LAURA: If we make a chain, we can reach over to him.

MARISHA: Oh my god, like Guardians of the Galaxy, you guys?

LAURA: Yeah!

MATT: Keyleth, your turn.

MARISHA: I'm holding my turn and reaching out and trying to make this chain as much as I can.

MATT: You're going to begin casting the spell and holding the release of it until?

MARISHA: As soon as everyone links hands, we're out.

MATT: At the start of your turn, you take nine points of bludgeoning damage from the chains that are swirling around you.

MARISHA: That's fine. Can I do a bonus action to heal-- who's looking rough?

LAURA: You. Heal yourself.

TALIESIN: You.

LAURA: Just heal your-fucking-self.

MARISHA: Okay, I'm at 59 hit points. I'm going to heal myself.

MATT: So 2nd-level Healing Word? 1st-level?

MARISHA: Yeah. 2nd-level. That's four plus another three.

MATT: So seven plus six. 13. You heal 13, and you begin casting Plane Shift. You pull out of your side satchel the tuning fork that you have attuned to where? Where are you going to be casting this towards?

MARISHA: 73. Sorry, 73 hit points.

MATT: What location are you shifting towards, Keyleth, as you begin the spell?

MARISHA: Home. Whitestone. Exandria.

MATT: Focusing on Whitestone in Exandria, you begin to cast the incantation. You see the power in her hands begins to glow, but she's holding it back. She's concentrating hard.

MARISHA: And I just take whatever leftover action I have to be like, Vox Machina, come on!

MATT: All right, ending your turn, Keyleth. Percival, what are you doing?

TALIESIN: I'm going to try and break out of this chain.

MATT: All right. Go ahead and make a strength check.

TALIESIN: Goddamn it.

TRAVIS: You've got this.

SAM: Natural 20. Golden snitch.

TALIESIN: Strength check or strength save?

MATT: Strength check.

TALIESIN: 14.

MATT: 14. You can't break the chains. They're too strong.

TALIESIN: Can I use an action surge to try and do it again?

MATT: Yeah, because you get two now, at this level.

TALIESIN: Yep, I've got one more.

MARISHA: Come on, Percy.

TALIESIN: (sighs) Nope.

MATT: Can't break free. The chains are holding you in place. Ending your turn. Grog, you're up.

TRAVIS: Who's the one who's back there?

LAURA: That's Vax. He can dash.

TRAVIS: Okay. Yeah, I would like to move towards Percy.

MATT: All right, at the start of your turn, Grog, you take seven points of bludgeoning damage from the swirling chains.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: Reduced to three.

TRAVIS: I'm not raging.

MATT: So that's five, ten, 15, 20, 25, 30. What's that?

LAURA: He's not raging.

MATT: 50. You get right there.

LAURA: Tary and Grog can hold hands in that position, right? He can reach Tary and Percy?

MARISHA: We just need a chain.

MATT: No, Taryon is right here.

LAURA: Yeah, so can he reach his hand out and have Percy and Tary?

MATT: Everyone would need to shift one more in that direction, or someone can plug that hole.

LAURA: Okay.

TRAVIS: Do I need to break your chains or just touch you?

TALIESIN: Just touch will work.

LAURA and MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: That's true.

TRAVIS: All right. I just grab your hand, and I'll lean back like this.

LAURA: Oh yeah, he's super tall. Can he reach farther because he's super tall?

LIAM: I saw my sister get picked up and put down, so I know where invisi-bear is, and I'm going to push through and feel along my sister's shoulder and feel were-bear's arm and say: You're in the middle of hell. This is a Ring of Invisibility. Thank you-- and push through, and I'm going to try to use my bonus to push all the way through and fill that gap.

TALIESIN: You may have to throw the knife.

MATT: You can just barely, with the chains that are around you-- which by the way, Vax, you take eight points of bludgeoning damage. You can just get up to put the ring into Tova's hand, and that's as far as you can get.

LIAM: I have an action and bonus action. Can't I use the bonus action to dash?

MATT: You can, actually.

LAURA: Please, please, please.

ND: Come on, guys. Get out of here.

LAURA: Please, just let him get there!

MATT: 25, 30. You're not quite there.

LIAM: All right, well, I grab Keyleth's hand and we're going to work on closing this gap.

MATT: Well, you dashed with your bonus.

LIAM: My action wasn't to give her the ring?

MATT: So yeah, you feel for her. That's your turn.

MARISHA: Can you throw your dagger and hit me?

LIAM: I'm out.

MARISHA: You can't do anything else. You can't hit me?

SAM: No problem, guys.

LAURA: We've just got one teeny little gap here, and whose turn is it?

MATT: All right, that brings us to Vex.

LAURA: That's me?

MATT: Well, technically Taryon.

SAM: Oh. Me? I'm right there, aren't I?

MATT: Yeah.

SAM: Can I bridge the gap somehow?

LIAM: Can he yank Vax?

MATT: You can use your action to try and pull him over.

SAM: To pull Vax over?

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Fill the hole.

MATT: You do take seven points of bludgeoning damage from the chains.

TALIESIN: Oh god. Stress.

SAM: Okay, great. Seven points. Okay, yeah. I'll reach like I've never reached before, and say: We're brothers forever. Lifelong teammates. Friends.

TALIESIN: Out, out. Go, go!

MARISHA: You fucking ass. Goddamn it!

MATT: You pull him into the space. Everyone grabs hands.

ND: I'm not here.

MATT: You see Tova's form appear briefly as she puts the ring on and then vanishes once more. You see the rest of them grab arms together. Keyleth, you finish the spell, Plane Shift.

ND: I'll look you up if I make it out of here alive.

MARISHA: Please!

LIAM: The ring's a loaner!

ND: We've still got to get that beer.

SAM: Greystone Keep! Get my robot!

MATT: You can see the chain golem swelling as the chains are feeding it. It's growing larger in the chambers, its red eyes getting brighter and brighter. As you all clasp hands together, the light flashes a bright whitish-green. There's a high-pitched whine just as you hear devils rushing in from across the hallway. (whoosh) Silence. And that's where we'll pick up next week.

(groaning)

LAURA: Holy shit.

LIAM: You've got to live, Tova. You've got to live!

ND: I'll do my best.

MATT: Holy shit.

ND: I'm doing great.

TRAVIS: Oh my god, Matthew!

MATT: Thank you guys. Oh shit.

LIAM: You've got to Bilbo Baggins your way out of that shit!

ND: I'm in a much better position than I was to start with.

LAURA: Holy crap.

MATT: Let's just hope Tova doesn't come across another pit fiend, because they can see through invisibility.

SAM: Five minutes later, Tova was killed.

(laughter)

MATT: There are devils that can see through invisibility.

ND: I'm sure it will be fine.

MATT: I'm sure you'll be fine. It'll be great.

SAM: Worst case scenario, she ends the day where she started.

LAURA: That was a really fun episode. That was a really fun game.

MATT: That was awesome, guys.

LAURA: I feel like that was the most fun that we've had in a while.

TRAVIS: Chain golems, all the demons.

LAURA: I'm so tired!

MATT: It was fun. Guys, well done.

MARISHA: We made it out, right?

MATT: Noelle, thank you so much for playing with us.

ND: This was fucking awesome.

MATT: Such a blast. Good sticking to the guns and staying behind. I was like, I don't know what she's going to do about this. Thinking you were going to find a way to find them.

ND: Yeah, and then I just keep showing up every week. You can't get rid of me.

(laughter)

MATT: It's happened before. Our story ended up keeping Rothfuss here for three or four weeks in a row. It was supposed to be just a one-night thing.

ND: I had a mission.

MATT: He got a killing blow on a boss, too. We've had two guests get killing blows on a boss.

MARISHA: We've had good themes of guests killing bosses.

LAURA AND MATT: Yeah.

MARISHA: Because Mary killed the white dragon.

MATT: That's true. You guys have got to pick up your slack.

LIAM: Maybe your ghost can haunt us. "Remember when you left me in hell?"

LAURA: Good times.

ND: Or I'll just be wearing the invisibility ring.

MATT: Thank you so much for coming and playing with us, Noelle.

ND: Thank you for having me. This has been awesome.

MATT: Yay. So guys, once again, you can check out Noelle. If you want to pimp your stuff real fast before you leave? Nimona!

MARISHA: Look at that! And Lumberjanes!

SAM: And Lumberjanes.

ND: And Lumberjanes. And other things soon to be revealed.

MATT: Yeah, I'm excited. Well, thank you again. Guys, awesome job. We'll pick this up next week, and we'll see you guys then. Until then, is it Thursday yet? Good night.

[music]