Transcript:Blood and Dust

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

ALL: (shouting) We play Dungeons & Dragons!

MATT: Yes.

LAURA: Wow.

MATT: Indeed. To that point, we have some quick announcements to get through, beginning with our first sponsor, Backblaze. Sam?

LAURA: Oh god.

TALIESIN: Nope.

SAM: Do you want to love someone unconditionally?

LIAM: Yes.

SAM: Feed and care for them and receive absolutely no affection in return?

LIAM: I do.

SAM: Then we're going to get along just fine because I'm a cat. I'm a cat, which means I don't care for people, places, things, other cats. In fact, existence itself is kind of meh. But one thing I do enjoy are our old friends at Backblaze.

TALIESIN: Oh god. (laughter)

SAM: Making backing up and accessing your digital data astonishingly easy with unlimited computer backup for Macs and PCs.

LIAM: Wow.

MARISHA: I hate it. (laughter)

SAM: Your computer stores very important files and photos, which mean nothing to me.

MATT: Nope.

SAM: I will happily chew the wires of your expensive machine, ruining it forever. Do I do this out of spite? Of course, I'm a cat. (laughter)

SAM: (retches)

LAURA: No.

TALIESIN: No.

LAURA: Sam.

TALIESIN: Please, no.

SAM: (continues retching)

TALIESIN: No.

LAURA: No!

TALIESIN: No.

SAM: (retches)

LAURA: Ugh!

LIAM: Oh, that's cute.

TALIESIN: Oh god.

TRAVIS: It's white.

SAM: But for just $7 a month, you can access your backed up files on the go with Backblaze's iOS--

MARISHA: Excess?

SAM: Access. (laughter)

SAM: With Backblaze's iOS and Android apps and if you ever need to restore, you can get a flash key or hard drive with all of your data shipped right to my door. Oops, I meant your door. I guess, technically, you live here, too, but we both know it's really mine. Meow. (laughter)

SAM: Backblaze has restored over 55 billion files for their customers, which makes it obviously why they're recommended by The New York Times, Macworld, Tom's Guide, and many more publications that I will destroy with urine.

TRAVIS: Oh no, we're going to hear from them. (laughter)

SAM: My five favorite things are me, sleep, fish bones, and throwing shade. You might notice that math was not on the list, and neither were you because I'm a cat. You can get a 15-day, no credit card required free trial right now at backblaze.com/criticalrole.

LAURA: No.

SAM: Oh, this? I pooped in this, but I won't tell you where. You just have to dig around for it because that's your life now. (laughter)

SAM: You're a poop archeologist. And me? I'm a cat. Thanks to Backblaze for continuing to support the show. Matt, cat to you.

MATT: Oh no. (laughter)

MARISHA: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: That's my favorite. That's my favorite. I can't believe we like this shit.

LIAM: It's so accurate.

ASHLEY: It's my favorite.

TALIESIN: I don't like any of that. Oh god. (laughter)

SAM: (caterwauls)

TALIESIN: No.

MARISHA: Oh god, he's in heat.

LAURA: Stop, stop.

SAM: (caterwauls)

MARISHA: Oh no!

LAURA: Stop.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Get your hairball off the table. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Trigger warning.

MATT: All right, well thank you for enduring that. Thank you, Sam. Thank you Backblaze. Sorry, Backblaze. Laura, you got some announcements to talk about.

LAURA: I love going after that.

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: First of all, let's just wipe the slate clean with our very first--

MARISHA: Look at it, it's too cute.

LAURA: No, Sam!

LIAM: No, not right now, Sam!

LAURA: I'm announcing something so cool.

TRAVIS: Sam.

ASHLEY: What is that?

LAURA: Get it off the table.

SAM: It's my urine.

ASHLEY: No. (laughter)

LAURA: I'm just going to not talk until you get it off the table.

ASHLEY: But it's real cool.

LAURA: Get it off the table!

TALIESIN: No. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Here, just give it to me.

SAM: Oh god.

LIAM: You don't want those two things associated with each other?

TALIESIN: Travis, that's as close as you've ever gotten to something like that.

TRAVIS: To cat dung.

LAURA: I'm so excited about this. (laughter)

LAURA: Don't ruin things because you're a cat.

SAM: That's my job.

LAURA: We partnered with HipDot!

MARISHA: Yeah! (cheering)

LAURA: Our very first makeup collection.

MARISHA: Yes.

TRAVIS: Turn it in the light.

SAM: Makeup? That looks like a box.

LAURA: The Mighty Nein Collection features stunning art by Will Kirkby and Hieu Nguyen, with a design that takes inspiration from the Fletching and Moondrop Carnival.

SAM: Oh!

LIAM: Dang.

LAURA: Check it out.

SAM: But there's more.

LAURA: There's lipsticks, there's a highlighter. There's this amazing eyeshadow palette. It's all embossed.

SAM: Oh.

LAURA: Each product is also completely clean and vegan.

MARISHA: Yes.

LAURA: Seriously, though, it's amazing.

LIAM: It's gorgeous.

LAURA: I'm obsessed. Pre-orders will be open for 12 days starting today. So check it out right now at hipdot.com/criticalrole. I had to test out this stuff when we were figuring it out and I am obsessed with this middle lipstick color. So I'm going to be ordering a couple of these sets so I don't run out of this one.

TRAVIS: Okay.

LAURA: I'm obsessed.

MARISHA: I've waited for this for so long.

TRAVIS: It's so pretty.

MARISHA: I've waited for so long.

TRAVIS: The inside is amazing.

LAURA: You got to see it up close. Go to the website. Check it out up close.

ASHLEY: It's so cool.

TALIESIN: It's amazing.

LAURA: The embossing on it is just so beautiful.

MARISHA: It's got our character's faces.

TRAVIS: Y'all have been working on this for years.

LAURA: We've been working on it for such a long time.

LIAM: It's one of the most amazing boxes I have ever seen.

TRAVIS: You made it happen.

MARISHA: It literally brings a tear to your eye. It's so fucking gorgeous.

LAURA: So yeah, you guys.

TRAVIS: Because it burns you?

ASHLEY: It's so pretty.

LAURA: Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I'll move on because I've got other things to announce still.

SAM: (retches)

LAURA: Samuel! (laughter)

LAURA: (frustrated groan)

TALIESIN: This really is the cat experience, isn't it?

LAURA: We have a Pâté.

TRAVIS: It's a Pâté!

LAURA: Hanger plush.

TRAVIS: Look at him.

LAURA: Look how sweet, Marisha.

LIAM: Sweet little dead guy.

TALIESIN: Oh my god.

MARISHA: I haven't seen him yet!

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

SAM: He looks horrific.

MARISHA: He does!

ASHLEY: Look at his tail.

TRAVIS: Look at his slippery tail.

LAURA: He's got a little rat tail.

LIAM: He a little dead rat.

LAURA: He's got your little scissors as a charm.

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

MATT: Oh my god, that's so cute.

ASHLEY: That is really cute.

TRAVIS: No, no, no!

MARISHA: No, not for you.

TRAVIS: No. Rats are friends, not food.

LAURA: In addition to that, we have finally--

SAM: The tail can contort into different shapes.

LAURA: Oh, it's so cute.

MARISHA: Oh my goodness.

LAURA: We have our chibi pins of the Bells Hells.

TRAVIS: Oh shit.

LAURA: Artist Jenny Park smashed it again. Check it out. I think FCG is one of my favorites because his little wheel moves.

SAM: It moves?

TALIESIN: His little spinny wheel?

LAURA: The spinny wheel.

TRAVIS: Does it work?

LAURA: We've got Laudna, we've got Ashton. We've got Sir Bertrand.

ASHLEY: Come on.

LAURA: We've got Chetney and we got lil' Imogen.

SAM: This is so cool.

ASHLEY: Bertrand. Look how cute Bertrand-- Oh my god, Ashton.

TALIESIN: Oh my god, it's so spiky.

LAURA: Obviously, your character and your character's already out.

LIAM: They are first out of the gate.

ASHLEY: Oh my god, look at Chet.

LAURA: And then, in addition to that--

TRAVIS: ♪ That's Bertrand Bell ♪

LAURA: It's just a day. We have one of our-- Yes. Okay, good.

LIAM: So much cool shit.

SAM: Oh.

MATT: Whoa, what?

TALIESIN: Oh my god.

LAURA: Sleeveless cardigan.

ASHLEY: ♪ Sleeves are bullshit ♪

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

MARISHA: I know, and it's a Matt vest.

MATT: I need that.

MARISHA: It's a Matt vest and it's a Beau vest.

LAURA: These are designed by Adriann Helton.

TRAVIS: Turn. Turn again.

LAURA: It's so rad.

TRAVIS: Turn again.

MATT: It's so hard to find good sleeveless vests.

LAURA: Turn around so they can see the back.

LIAM: Damn.

TRAVIS: Kneel down little bit, squat.

LAURA: It's all Beau-tastic.

TRAVIS: Don't stand up.

MATT: I didn't even know we were doing this.

SAM: It's the Cobalt Soul.

LIAM: Give us some shadow boxing.

LAURA: There's a medium, do you want it?

TALIESIN: Give us some shadow boxing.

MATT: Yes, I do!

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: There it is.

MATT: I'll put this on right now!

SAM: Amazing.

ASHLEY: The hood is so good.

LAURA: So yeah. The hood is so great. It's so cozy, there's pockets.

TRAVIS: This is fucking adorable.

MARISHA: Yeah, there's pockets.

LIAM: For bacon. For your bacon.

MARISHA: Yes, for pocket bacon.

LIAM: You better not put it in a Ziploc.

TRAVIS: This is an insane pin.

LAURA: Isn't he so cute?

ASHLEY: The Imogen with the glitter.

TRAVIS: The rocking horse.

LAURA: I know! So yes. Go check it out. Go to our stores. Go look at all this stuff.

TALIESIN: Oh wow.

LAURA: I'm so proud of it.

TALIESIN: That's really nice.

LAURA: Okay.

TALIESIN: Oh wow.

ALL: Yay.

TRAVIS: That was a good one.

SAM: That's a really good one.

TALIESIN: The lightning bolt looks so fucking sexy on that.

LAURA: Isn't it so cute?

TALIESIN: It's so good.

MATT: This is awesome.

MARISHA: Let me see the Ashton one.

TALIESIN: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: Sorry. I guess that concludes our announcements. (laughter) Got a little distracted there. So I believe that does bring us to tonight's episode of--

MARISHA: It's in your house.

MATT: -- Critical Role.

(excited yelling)

Part I
MATT: And welcome back. (laughter)

MATT: So last we left off: Bells Hells, after learning about some odd, kooky things surrounding the moon Ruidus.

SAM: Some odd, kooky things.

LAURA: Kooky.

MATT: Some odd, kooky things.

MARISHA: Oh, so kooky.

TRAVIS: Cookie!

MATT: An odd vision of something structural and massive on one part of the surface of the red moon as well as elements of Fearne's history that seems to tether her to being born beneath this same red moon many, many years ago. After learning some of this bit of information, watching Ira Wendagoth vanish into the ether for whatever he has planned and plotted, you returned to Bassuras being dropped off by Birdie Calloway who returned to the hideaway and began to figure out how best to handle the day before you look into Treshi. You went to Imahara Joe's place to inspect what may have caused this strange bit of violence that came from FCG. Couldn't quite pinpoint any reasoning for it, but learned a bit about the physiology of this Aeormaton that you've had with you, as well as a bit of possible history that may have a connection. Then went over to check out the Seat of Disdain where the faction, the Crawler faction within the city of the Paragon's Call that seems to be highly involved in both the business of this fugitive Treshi as well as some of the things going on around Otohan, the Paragon's Call group leader and an individual that they've been seen with many years ago and a lot of the business in Jrusar as well. You passed by Artana Voe, who you had met once before, a bounty hunter in Jrusar who seems to have made a trek out here around the same time.

ASHLEY: Ooh, sneaky, sneaky.

MATT: You went and introduced to yourself as new members of the Paragon's Call after proving yourself in the Deathwish Run. They brought you in, showed you your quarters and your barracks, gave you a tour of the place, but while keeping a close eye on you as you did so. About the time this happened, the distant darkened dust and sandstorm that was slowly encroaching began to overtake the town as everyone battened down the hatches and sought to wait it out. During this time, you found that Treshi was indeed being kept in the Seat of Disdain in the basement, the locked away basement within a cell, a prison cell that had been outfitted to be almost like a guest quarters but still definitely a cell. After Chetney had done a search and information gathering mission and a few of you also went and gathered the ring that you could track with from the local jeweler in the middle of the storm.

MARISHA: That's right.

MATT: You began to figure out how to handle this possible capture of Treshi when you began to hear commotion and shouts and yells. As you went and followed them out to the front, the doors to the Seat of Disdain were open, the sandstorm blasting by as you heard people shouting, yelling and explosions and fiery impacts as one member of the Call hits the ground in front of you, covered in burns. That's where we pick up here in the midst of this chaos. Who's doing what?

LAURA: Ah!

MARISHA: Does it look like-- Can we tell who's attacking?

MATT: You can make a perception check.

SAM: We ran outside, right?

MATT: With disadvantage because everything here is--

MARISHA: With disadvantage?

MATT: -- obscured in the storm.

MARISHA: But it was a natural 20.

LAURA: Are we in the door opening?

LIAM and LAURA: Ooh.

MATT: Roll again.

SAM: Oh.

ASHLEY: That's a way to start it off.

MARISHA: And that's a three.

LAURA: Oh.

MARISHA: Titties.

LIAM: My straight roll--

MARISHA: Eight.

SAM: With disadvantage?

MARISHA: He said because it's so cloudy or so dusty.

MATT: Yeah, the dust storm.

LIAM: 22, and I rolled once.

MATT: That's right because you have advantage normally. Glancing about, you see about a dozen or so members of the Paragon's Call both on or around the ground here, some injured, some fighting and you see a handful of other figures that are along the wall just barely seen in the shadow. They're ducking down and up and another explosion rocks the side of the mammoth-crawler. You can see now this detonation gives a flash of light and flame before bits and pieces of wood start flying down as well as a couple of chunks of broken rock from the masonry crates that you had set up there. One of the heavy rocks (thuds) hits the dust maybe two feet to your left and you sideswipe before it impacts. It would have probably knocked you out.

LIAM: The mammoth-crawler got blasted?

MATT: The mammoth-crawler is being attacked.

MARISHA: They're going after the load.

LIAM: Side note, you look really good in that vest.

TRAVIS: Yo!

MATT: Thank you.

TRAVIS: Snap, snap.

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: Oh, Orym.

LIAM: Yeah?

MARISHA: You said Artana Voe was here?

LIAM: You think it's a coincidence?

MARISHA: No.

LIAM: All right.

MARISHA: I think we should get to Treshi.

LIAM: Okay, what about the ring on that? They're going to blow it up. Someone's blowing it up.

TRAVIS: It's true, we should see who's attacking, though. A fight!

MATT: Two other Call figures rush by and they're like, "What are you doing? Come help!" And just go charging out into the storm.

TRAVIS: Ah!

MATT: What are you doing? What are you doing?

LAURA: This is our chance to get Treshi.

MARISHA: Yes.

LAURA: You're the only one that can pick locks.

TRAVIS: Okay. I'm going back inside. I run back in and I go down the hallway and I go back to the door.

SAM: Wait, don't you want to take someone with you?

TRAVIS: Nope, it's just me.

LAURA: I follow. I run after him.

LIAM: I run, too.

MARISHA: I'm going to go plant the ring. Talk to me.

TALIESIN: I'll be covering you.

ASHLEY: I'll go with you. I'll go with you.

MARISHA: You with me? All right.

LAURA: Get some of those crates.

MARISHA: Copy. That's a Marisha thing.

LIAM: Copy what?

MARISHA: Laudna's never said "Copy" in her damn life.

TRAVIS: Team Treshi raise your hand.

LAURA: Team Treshi.

TRAVIS: Treshi?

LAURA: Team Treshi?

TRAVIS: Three. Okay, good.

MATT: All right.

TRAVIS: Woo hoo!

LIAM: That's a big 10-4.

MARISHA and ASHLEY: Team ring?

TRAVIS: We've really planned this.

LAURA: What are you doing?

MARISHA: What are you doing, FCG?

TRAVIS: Nope.

LIAM: No, we're in chaos. It's chaos.

ASHLEY: Pick the right side.

SAM: I think I'm going to stay--

MATT: They've scattered. What are you doing?

SAM: I'm going to stay where the attack is happening so I can find out who's attacking.

TRAVIS: Yes, yes. Good. Good.

LAURA: Smart. That's good. That's good.

MATT: Okay, valid. Valid. So as you push into the space now, you see, you glance up and through the elements of the sand and the fog and the heavy dust that's blowing through just these shapes along the parapets of the walls that surround the Seat of Disdain. You look on the ground and you can see some figures that are lying on the ground motionless. Some of the usual sentries that watch have been thrown off the edge and are now unconscious or worse on the ground outside of it.

SAM: Oh god.

MATT: At this point, you can see now some of the ladders that are currently being slammed up there or are maintained up there as a means to get to it are being climbed by members of the Paragon's Call and are firing up with hand crossbows or throwing daggers up to whoever's up there. But they're just being cast away in the middle of the heavy wind and sandstorm.

SAM: But I don't see any attackers yet?

MATT: You don't see any detail, they're too far away. You just see shapes moving along the wall and it looks like they're all lobbing from a distance. They're all sticking to the wall and using the edges of it to guard themselves between impacts. This is a full-on assault from that side.

SAM: And the wall?

MARISHA: Fuck. Fuck.

SAM: The protective wall has a hole in it?

MATT: The wall doesn't have a hole. They're attacking from the top of it. It looks like they've taken one of the walls.

SAM: Oh.

LIAM: Ah.

SAM: Gotcha.

MATT: Another explosion on the side and you watch as one of the large load-bearing mammoth legs leans to one side and lists. A bunch of the crates and everything that got loaded begins to shift a bit and tumble and hit the ground. Some crates break open, some get blown off and end up impacting against the far wall, leaving a pile of everything that had been loaded now heavily unloaded.

TALIESIN: Any of the good shit?

ASHLEY: I take off running to the crates.

TALIESIN: I'm running with you into the crates.

MARISHA: Are they going to leave--

TALIESIN: Are you doing what I'm doing?

MARISHA: -- a mammoth-crawler standing? Let's just go.

TRAVIS: As you know, I'm taking my chisel out and dragging it across the palm of my hand to use the Crimson Rite.

MARISHA: I'm going to cast Mirror Image on myself.

MATT: Got it.

SAM: Is there anyone of the Paragon's Call who's injured within range of me?

MATT: There's a number of them, looks to be five members right now, three of which aren't moving. They're on the ground unconscious it looks to be, burned or impacted from shrapnel or elements of heavy bludgeoning damage from the initial explosion.

SAM: Okay. I'll go up to one who looks unconscious and I will reach out to cast Spare the Dying on him. But I will hesitate because I don't know what that will do to me, so I will not do it.

MARISHA: Oh. Oh.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: What do you mean you don't know what that'll do?

SAM: I don't know what that'll do to me. So I better not.

TRAVIS: He'll start killing everybody. (laughter)

MATT: All right, so you over there, you in this moment focusing on what you may or may not do.

LAURA: Are you scared to cast anything?

ASHLEY: Can I bamf out Mister real quick?

MATT: If you'd like to.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: (monkey hoots)

TALIESIN: We're going to need that hole!

MATT: Dust dragging his face.

MARISHA: Any crates? Do we see any of the fancy ones?

TALIESIN: Any of the fancy ones?

ASHLEY: Oh no, everything fell! We're helping, uh-oh!

MATT: Yeah. (laughs) You see three members of the Call are now rushing underneath the now partially standing mammoth, which would normally have these large, massive four or five legs, depending on the construction. One of the legs is completely blown from under, another one has folded on the side, so that's only three on the other side that are standing. So it's at this heavy side tilt and you see the legs trying to readjust to make up for the lost weight structure, but it's still struggling. As it's doing, there are a number of Call members that are climbing the ladders on the side. There's two that have gotten on top of it that are firing towards any of the entities that are up at the top and you see one them pulls out one of the carbine rifles, waits, aims and fires. (booming) It cracks like thunder locally and you see a shaded figure (impact, groaning) and fall off the wall and (thuds).

TALIESIN: Done.

MATT: Hit the dust and the ground right at the base of the wall on the inside.

TRAVIS: Shit!

MATT: You can see one of the other Call members, because there are now three of them up by the pile of boxes that are starting to grab crates and try and get any of the necessary goods out from the middle of the open and one of them goes over and (whack), finishes the job on whoever fell off the wall. As they were getting up, crack with a heavy club and they are no longer moving.

SAM: Nice!

MATT: But now, you hear (flits) other shots, arrows going by and the occasional rifle shots from the wall and more members are now coming out of the Seat of Disdain.

MARISHA: Do the ladders appear to be a target? Are people, are Paragon Call members going up the ladder and getting--

MATT: They are.

MARISHA: -- shot off the ladder?

MATT: No one's been shot off the ladder yet, but you do see about two members are up on the ladder and then a shadow comes up the top of the wall and pushes it off the side and the ladder. (yelps) They both leap off at the last second to try to save best they can and roll into it.

MARISHA: Oh, the ladders are going up the wall?

MATT: They're going up against the wall, yeah, and then they get pushed off. You watch as they tumble out of it. One of them gets up. (groans) Shoulder has popped out of his socket a little bit and he starts yelling, trying to get it back in while the other one looks hurt, but he gets back up, pulls out a nice, wicked saber, and starts rushing up around the other side of the wall for another entryway.

MARISHA: I'm going to go-- Is there an easy way to go up into the crawler?

MATT: You can try, yeah.

MARISHA: I'm not going to try. I'm going to cast Spider Climb on myself as well.

LAURA: Yes!

MATT: Awesome, awesome!

TRAVIS: Here we go.

LAURA: You got Spider Climb!

MARISHA: I have Spider Climb now, yeah. You see Laudna's limbs start to crack as she starts to think and channel the Nightmare King and then I'm going to go on the inside of, underneath the belly of the crawler and start to crawl up from the inside to try and help--

LAURA: Creepy creeper!

ASHLEY: Cool!

MATT: Great, that's awesome. Plenty of cover on the inside. You notice that the platforms that are on the top of the mammoth crawler are fairly even-keel because they're designed to carry both people and goods.

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: The underneath section is barely welded together with whatever scrap was there and it is a jungle of sharp, rusted bits, with the occasional spaces to comb through. But with your Spider Climb, easy enough with care, and I will ask for an acrobatics check just to make sure you don't end up nicking yourself in the process, but it does give you--

MARISHA: Acrobatics?

MATT: Yes.

TRAVIS: Nice.

MARISHA: 16.

MATT: 16. Without issue.

MARISHA: Distress.

MATT: Without issue. No damage sustained. You're basically now weaving in and out of this odd, tangled hanging mass of jumbled junk that's been welded underneath here to keep it going and to prevent anyone else from blasting it from underneath. So you're now up underneath that space.

MARISHA: I'm trying to go where the crates are.

MATT: You got it. In there, amongst that, you have three quarters cover while you're underneath there. Just keep that in mind.

MARISHA: Sick.

MATT: What's everyone else doing who's not on Team Treshi?

ASHLEY: Yeah, okay, running through the crates.

MATT: So you're into the crates? Okay.

TALIESIN: And following along.

MATT: Okay, cool. You rush up.

SAM: The crates, the crates!

MATT: You can see now more members are joining and while some are fighting off, about half of the crew out here, which now stands both, I'd say, standing about 15 and about six or maybe seven that are down and out in the current fray, but of the ones that are still standing, half of them are focused on the crates. They know the importance of probably why this attack has happened and they're shouting, "Get them inside, get them inside." They're grabbing what they can.

ASHLEY: Hurry, hurry, get them inside!

MATT: They're picking up crates. As you approach, you can see one of them is currently putting a bunch of elements back into one of the shattered boxes that you saw with the Treshi name on it and you can see there's these folded blankets that are torn open and there are dozens of these small crystal vials, about a foot long that're all spilled out on the ground.

LAURA: I grab them.

MATT: As the dust is--

TALIESIN: I'm grabbing, yeah. We're coming in to help.

MATT: Okay, cool. So you grab a few. The guy holds the box out like--

TALIESIN: Is there, is there... Are there any of the little, metal, black boxes with no edges, the little safe boxes around?

MATT: I will say there is only one. The others ones would've been picked up and they're being loaded back into it and there's somebody currently going for the last one right--

ASHLEY: I got it, I got it, I got it!

TALIESIN: I was about to say. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm grabbing them.

ASHLEY: I hike my skirt up and I'm putting things in.

MATT: Putting things in?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: A lot of it's broken rock and mason materials.

ASHLEY: It's fine!

TRAVIS: Take it!

MATT: You shove it in there.

ASHLEY: Who knows what it is?

MATT: A handful of vials.

ASHLEY: It could be something cool.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: A couple of the vials broke onto the ground and you can see this dark, viscous gray liquid spread out and it immediately begins to dissipate and evaporate.

TALIESIN: Don't touch it! Whatever you do, don't touch it! It might be dangerous! As I'm just yelling to everyone to stay back.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Okay, Dad!

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: I would like to ask you to make an investigation check.

TALIESIN: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: And you to make an intimidation check. Because the other guy that was going forward at the same time--

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: -- has that look in his eye like, "I'm important. This is important."

ASHLEY: Ooh.

MARISHA: Come on.

TRAVIS: We're going to get promoted!

MARISHA: Come on.

TALIESIN: Let's try that again. I didn't-- That ran.

ASHLEY: 18.

MATT: 18? He rushes towards it and you say, "I got it!"

ASHLEY: I got it, I got it, I got it!

MATT: "Jeez, fine!" (laughter) Turns around and starts picking up some other things. Grabs another one of the crates and lifts it up and you all now have access to a handful of random materials. What did you roll?

TALIESIN: 20!

MATT: A 20?

TALIESIN: 19 plus one. 20.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Woo!

MATT: I say you have three of the vials you recover--

LAURA: Yes!

TALIESIN: Cool.

MATT: -- and quickly ferret away while the rest are putting it back into the crate as the guy is carrying it and puts the blanket back into it. You guys begin pulling back before a much larger explosion--

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

MATT: (exploding) Rocks the top of the mammoth-crawler. Immediately, as the impact hits, I need you--

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: Are you going to hold on or are you going to drop?

MARISHA: I'm underneath and I'm going to hold on.

TRAVIS: That's where you want to be when a large structure explodes.

MARISHA: Yeah.

SAM: On it!

MARISHA: Underneath it!

MATT: So. It rocks, and even those of you who are running in with Team Treshi, you hear this distant, muffled (explosion) inside the stone walls--

TRAVIS: I'm sure it's fine.

MATT: -- of the Seat of Disdain. Those of you outside--

LAURA: You hear in your head: Laudna!

MARISHA: (hums nervously)

MATT: It looks like a large satchel of preset explosives, not dissimilar to the one that you had recently used--

MARISHA: Oh shit.

MATT: -- had been thrown onto this crawler and then detonated upon impact. It specifically hits one of the large joints at where one of the other still-standing legs is and as it detonates, the leg (crawler leg cracking) cracks out from its mooring and the entire structure begins to collapse downward.

LAURA: Oh no.

ASHLEY: Mister. Go to Laudna.

MATT: "(screeches)" (laughter) Like a burst of zipping flame, you watch as Mister just starts darting through the storm, the wind striking him. He's having to correct for it like he's a sail pushing against the wind. It has to arc around as it's like (crawler leg creaking) and it's starting to rotate and crumble onto itself. You, who are holding on the inside of this mass of tangled metal, feel it list, shift and then begin to turn as you see the ground itself get darker as shadow begins to rise towards you.

MARISHA: Oh boy. Can I position myself-- Can I Titanic this and get on the other side of the railing, to where I'm not going to smash--

MATT: So you're trying to get up onto the top then?

MARISHA: Yeah, I'm going to move around to where I'm not smashing down.

MATT: Roll a d20 and add your dexterity modifier right now. I'm just going to roll for the actual machine.

MARISHA: Don't fuck me, Gil.

LIAM: Come on, Spider Climb, Spider Climb.

MARISHA: Okay. 10 total.

MATT: Machine rolled a two.

MARISHA and LAURA: Oh.

MATT: So this was just like slowly listing as you dart around from underneath and you just scurry up around the edge of the crawler as the impact hits (crashing). Dust billows out of the sides in a big ring and gets caught up into the wind behind, just adds to the rest of the sandstorm around.

MARISHA: I just say to Imogen: I'm not sure if there's going to be much of a crawler left to plant this ring!

MATT: At which point, you feel this clawing on your shoulder.

SAM: Oh wow.

MARISHA: Ah!

MATT: "(screeching)"

MARISHA: Oh, don't fucking scare me like that, Mister! Mister, look for the black crates! Go, go!

MATT: (whoosh) And goes darting after Fearne who has a black crate.

MARISHA: Oh fuck! (laughter)

MARISHA: Stupid monkey.

ASHLEY: He's only seven! (laughter)

MARISHA: Do I see any more crates? Are there still more crates left on this crawler?

MATT: You see there are four crates left on it and they're all just the very large, rock-based crates that were heavy enough that they didn't slide far enough off to hit the ground when it first listed.

LAURA: They got all the Treshi stuff.

MARISHA: Yeah, there's nothing left--

LAURA: I think so, yeah.

MARISHA: -- here for me, is there?

MATT: Not at the moment, no. But, what else, is there anything else you want to do while you're up here?

MARISHA: Come back to me. (laughter)

MATT: Okay. You got it.

SAM: Did you just pass? Really?

MATT: And--

TRAVIS: Pass.

MATT: -- pass. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Check.

ASHLEY: Come back to me.

MARISHA: Can I do that?

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Check. Your turn.

MATT: So you guys are charging back to the Seat of Disdain while carrying boxes. I need both of you to roll dexterity saving throws.

LAURA: That's you.

TRAVIS: Don't look at me.

ASHLEY: That's me.

MARISHA: Don't you look at me.

MATT: Yes. You're both carrying the goods of interest here and you don't quite know what's happening, except for you hear a brief, high-pitched whine. What did you roll?

ASHLEY: 18.

MATT: 18. Okay. So you only take half damage on this.

SAM: Uh-oh.

TALIESIN: 15.

MATT: 15? You take full damage.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: That is 18 points of bludgeoning damage to you.

SAM: Are you ragé-ing?

MATT: He's not, so that's full. You take nine points of bludgeoning damage.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: As another explosive that was thrown from above and arcs trying to catch you guys as you're all rushing back towards the Seat of Disdain.

LAURA: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: Bombarding this.

MATT: It's thrown well, because with the wind going, it manages to catch, and while it's not a perfect hit, it rolls into your periphery as it impacts and then detonates right in front of you and as it does, you manage to take the full brunt of it, but, you know, you're no more worse for wear than in other worse scenarios than this. Fearne, you do manage to dart out of the way slightly and minimize the impact, but you're still able to continue going and--

SAM: How far am I from them?

MATT: They're now probably about 15 feet and closing in because you only got partway out of the battlefield.

TRAVIS: Kill them all.

SAM: Okay. So I'm just going to keep my eyes open for more bags of explosives being thrown over. Maybe I can knock them out of the sky as they come over.

MATT: Okay. As you glance up, make a perception check with disadvantage for me, if you don't mind.

SAM: Dis--

MATT: Yep.

SAM: -- advantage? Perception is 15.

MATT: 15? Okay. Not too bad. Glancing up, you do see some of the figures on top. You see multiple shadows now, but they're combating. It looks like members of the Paragon's Call have now managed to climb back onto the wall and it looks like there is a definitive scuffle now beginning to occur at both sides of the wall. There's still figures and shadows in the center of it that you can see are lobbing explosives and firing down from different rifle shots. You see flashes of muzzles.

SAM: I can't make out who they are or what uniforms they're wearing?

MATT: The best you can tell with a 15 is that they are heavily wrapped in heavy hoods, multitudes of cloth almost like a mantle and they don't wear any distinctive colors or symbols that you can tell in the middle of this storm.

SAM: Okay. Assassins.

MATT: They're to the point where it seems intentionally vague.

TRAVIS: The vaguery.

MATT: In the interim, while the rest of you are going through and doing this and going about this, you know, multi-minute struggle and grabbing things, pushing through, getting blasted, Team Treshi, what are you doing?

LIAM: Lead the way, Pock O'Pea.

TRAVIS: Okay! I take my bloody hand and I smear it on my face.

MARISHA: Cool.

TRAVIS: Uh. And make my way towards--

SAM: ♪ Makin' my way! ♪

TRAVIS: -- the door that had the lock before. Is there anyone standing at it? Is it open?

MATT: Okay. It is not open and there's nobody currently standing at it. As you guys are rushing back in, people are pushing past you, grabbing weaponry. "Where are you going?"

LAURA: Weapons! (laughter)

MATT: Keeps going! (laughter)

MATT: They're not that concerned with it. You see someone goes by and sees you and goes, "Oh god!" And just keeps running. "Stay strong, little one!" (laughter) As you tear down the hallway, back to where your barracks were, around the curve, passing by the war room and you can see there are now two figures up on the table there that are both talking loudly trying to figure out, "Who is it? Do we know? Are there any sides? Bring one of the bodies in!" They start fanning out and giving orders to other figures. You know earlier when you heard that there were only going to be about 20 or so people here in the Seat of Disdain for when you were getting your original tour? You get the sense that maybe that information wasn't correct.

SAM: Oh.

LAURA: Ah, the lies!

MATT: A lot of more people are starting--

TRAVIS: Oh more. to come out of the woodwork to defend this place. But nevertheless, you rush back to where your barracks door is, down the hallway where there's the stairway that leads up and there is the current barred gateway that leads into the stairs below to the basement.

TRAVIS: (twirls tool) Just give me permission.

LAURA: Do it.

TRAVIS: Okay! I start lock picking on the lock, even though we're standing out in the middle of the chaos.

LAURA: If we're caught, what do we say? We're the elite team?

TRAVIS: Ratanish sent us to get Treshi out of here.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: He's gone!

LIAM: Get down to the VIP!

LAURA: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Got it.

LIAM: All right. I'm going to get behind Imogen so that she's between Chetney and I and I'll back us-- I'll watch our back.

MATT: Okay. You got it. All right, so you go. Pick a lock?

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: You don't have to roll. It's open.

SAM: Oh!

LAURA: Oh.

LIAM: Shit.

TRAVIS: I shut it last time.

LAURA: Oh no.

MATT: Yeah.

LIAM: Yeah, someone beat us here.

TRAVIS: Fucking Bells!

LAURA: Get in there!

TRAVIS: Come on! (laughter)

LAURA: Oh no. It was this whole distraction.

MARISHA: It's about to be a thing!

TRAVIS: But as I hustle, I'm scanning for hidden traps.

MATT: All right. (laughter)

TRAVIS: The super scan! Going down the steps! (laughter)

MATT: Sure. Make an investigation or perception check with disadvantage.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: Because you are rapidly searching as you are running.

MARISHA: Come on!

TRAVIS: Nine?

MATT: (laughs) Seems fine!

TRAVIS: Okay. Going down the steps.

MATT: Cool! The wire hits you in the shin and you immediately start tumbling forward down the stairs.

MARISHA: Fuck!

TRAVIS: Fuck! There was no wire there before!

MATT: Make a dexterity saving throw.

LAURA: Can I use telekinetic shove to pull him back to me?

MATT: In a moment. We'll see what he rolls here.

TRAVIS: Is this magic at all? No.

MATT: No, it is literally just a wire.

TRAVIS: Ooh god. 12.

MATT: 12. We're talking ass over tea kettle. You just (tumbling). This is the second time a wire has fucked you up in the stairs scenario and you just go (thuds) down the stairs. You Telekinetic Shove him back five feet.

LAURA: Yeah!

MATT: Which pulls him back up again.

LAURA: No, no, no!

MATT: He gets an additional five feet of him tumbling. (laughter)

TRAVIS: What the fuck? We're on the same team, huh? Oh god, there are wires!

MATT: You failed the saving throw. We'll say it's only two points of bludgeoning damage on the way down.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: Not too hard.

LAURA: We step over the wire.

MATT: All right. You reduced the damage he would've taken by pulling him back, but it definitely made it longer which is funnier.

LAURA: All right, yeah.

MARISHA: Just slows his momentum.

MATT: Hit the ground! (groans) Right as you focus, the rest of you trying to follow suit, but he definitely made a, not intentional bee line for the basement floor. Glancing to the right you see what looks to be an unconscious guard--

TRAVIS: Shit.

MATT: On the ground.

LAURA: Go. Go!

TRAVIS: Yeah, I'd say I run up. Can I pat his waist real quick? Are there any keys, pouches, anything that I could grab that would be a faster way out of here in case we come up against a locked door?

MATT: You go and search through his body. Make an investigation check for me real fast.

LAURA: I'm running past to get to Treshi.

MATT: Okay, you're both running past? Got it.

TRAVIS: 17.

MATT: 17, great. I mean, there's weaponry, there's a coin purse.

TRAVIS: Nope, fuck that. Well...

MATT: It looks like there is a loop on the belt, a leather loop, that is well-hidden underneath the coin purse itself, but it's been cut.

TRAVIS: Yep! Okay, okay, follow me!

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: As I run to the--

MATT: You say "Follow me!" and they're already gone.

TRAVIS: Shit! (laughter)

TRAVIS: One nine! (laughter)

MATT: The two of you, who are stepping out into this area, as soon as you step down the stairs past Chetney as he's searching the body, there is a hallway that goes right in front of you and a hallway that goes to the right. Where do you go?

LAURA: Well, I know that Treshi was underneath our room before, so I'm going to head that direction.

MATT: Okay. So you turn the corner and at this moment immediately, you see there are two other guards on the opposite side of the hallway that immediately start firing in your direction.

SAM: Oh shit.

LIAM: On us? Obviously, on us?

MATT: They start firing in your direction. Hold on, you need help with the VIP? It's us! It's us!

LAURA: We're here to help!

MATT: So, are you continuing into the hallway?

LIAM: Yeah, and I hold up a hood.

LAURA: We'll pause just long enough, yeah.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Yellow hood.

MATT: They both duck behind. Because the hall continues, it opens up into a larger room and then pinches inward, and then turns to a left as you look down.

LIAM: So tunnel, boop, tunnel, turn?

MATT: Yes, and they're around the turn. So they turn around, fire at you, and then come back.

LAURA: Were they wearing yellow?

MATT: Yes, they were both wearing yellow cloaks.

LAURA: Okay, yeah.

MATT: And they're well armored.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: So you both shout out.

LAURA: Uh-huh.

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: There's no response immediately. They turn back out and get ready.

LAURA: Okay. In their head, I'm going to say in their head: Has he been compromised?

MATT: One of them looks confused for a second, and they both take a shot, pardon me, both take a shot, not in your direction, but to the left of you, past where your vision into the room goes.

TALIESIN: Oh.

SAM: Oh.

SAM: Shooting at somebody else.

LAURA: I'm confused about our-- Yeah.

LIAM: There's someone in there, so Orym's going to start sliding up.

MATT: So you're, again, walking into a hall. It opens up into a room, but you haven't entered the room yet, and they're both firing--

TALIESIN: Blind corner.

MATT: -- to something around a blind corner.

LAURA: So they see us, but they're now attacking something different.

MATT: Correct.

LAURA: Okay.

TRAVIS: Might have a chance still.

LAURA: I know. I'm going to try to continue and--

MATT: One of the guards who turns around the corner another round of fire takes something to the forehead and just stumbles onto the ground, not moving.

LAURA: Did we see where that came from, the shot came from?

LIAM: Orym runs up.

MATT: You get the sense the direction it was coming from was around the blind corner to the right.

LIAM: Orym runs up the left wall and springs off it, sword out, at whatever is around the corner.

TRAVIS: Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick!

ASHLEY: Cool.

MATT: Okay, okay. There, as you jump around and land, as soon as you do, the first thing you notice is that the cell to Treshi's, you see the cell that Treshi is in, and Treshi is currently up on the cot, back to the wall, hands on the side of the wall, eyes wide and trying to just stay out of the middle of this scuffle. The second thing that you notice is that the door is not yet open to the cell. The third thing you notice is the cloaked figure that's standing there has a blade to your throat.

SAM: (gasps)

LAURA: (gasps)

LIAM: As I fly through the air down from the wall?

MATT: As you come down from the wall and land.

LIAM: Okay. Okay. Yeah, great.

MATT: What else would you like to do?

LIAM: Oh, I was going to come down and slash, so I could potentially get-- I wasn't trying to readjust, I think I would get stabbed because I was saying I was launching off the wall--

TRAVIS: Yeah, your momentum is moving forward.

MATT: That's true. That's true.

LIAM: -- like a missile. So that being the case, as the individual swishes around, blade out towards whatever is right there, hearing the sound, yeah, all right.

TRAVIS: Familiar face?

LAURA: Familiar face?

MATT: You don't know yet. That will be 26 to hit.

LIAM: That definitely, definitely, definitely hits.

MATT: Okay. That is seven points of slashing damage.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: As the blade catches you on the side of the face, up the side of the cheek, past the ear, and you feel that warmth, that warm immediate pain, that burning sensation, as you stumble and land and look up into the face of a very harried-looking, intense glare from Artana Voe.

LIAM: Shit. I'm going to roll through her legs.

MATT: Okay. Make an acrobatics check.

MARISHA: Told you I was horny.

SAM: (laughs)

LAURA: Can I see anything at this point, or is--

LAURA: If you're following in, then yeah.

LAURA: Yeah, okay.

MATT: I'd say you, by now, have caught up around the corner here, and you immediately see just out of vision of Orym leaping up the wall--

TRAVIS: Little hamster flying across.

MATT: -- bouncing off out of sight.

TRAVIS: Okay. What are you all doing?

LIAM: 16.

MATT: 16?

LIAM: 16.

MATT: I'll say, yeah, actually. You see in the moment of recognition, there's a look of confusion on her face, and that's just enough for you to dart, having a little more information about the scenario than she did, and she tries to reconvene her position and try and sweep her leg out to pick you up and hook you as you go, but you're too quick and you immediately tumble onto the opposite side, through the legs, and now you're in between the cell door and her.

LIAM: Okay. And blade, not attacking now, just blade pressed a little bit like with Yu, pressed to the small of her back.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: We got a bit of a standoff here!

MATT: She takes a hit to the shoulder from the other guard that's still alive down the hallway and she goes, "Shit!" Pulls up her crossbow. She has a big, old, heavy crossbow. You've seen it once before. Pulls it up and launches a bolt out towards the guard that just shot her. That's a natural 20. (groaning) That's not good for him. That's really not good for him. Yeah. Into the chest, and you see him hold it for a second, realize it, grab his crossbow, and start going through the motions of loading it, and as he does, his motion just gets sluggish. He falls to a knee and then falls unconscious.

TRAVIS: Too tired to fight.

MARISHA: Fuck.

LAURA: I am going to see all this happening?

MATT: Mm-hm.

LAURA: I'm just going to say: Artana Voe! I'm going to hit her with Psychic Lance.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Quick! They're probably after the same thing!

LAURA: That's an intelligence saving throw.

MATT: That is. Okay, that is...

TALIESIN: That's dark.

MATT: That's going to be a 13.

LAURA: She fails.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

TRAVIS: What does that do?

TALIESIN: Oh man.

LAURA: So, she is going to take 7d6--

MATT: Okay!

LAURA: -- psychic damage.

MARISHA: 7d6.

TRAVIS: I'm sorry, did you say 7d6?

LAURA: 7d6. One, two, three, four, five, six.

MARISHA: 76.

SAM: Then something happens to her afterwards, too, right?

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: This is that one.

ASHLEY: Ooh!

LAURA: Okay, well. 10. 20. 24, 25 points of psychic damage.

MATT: 25 points of psychic damage, you got it.

LAURA: She's immediately incapacitated.

MATT: Until?

LAURA: My next turn.

MATT: Okay, yeah, so as you shout that and scream, there's this glance as she goes suddenly from across the shoulder, it would be actually from this position based on where you're coming in, and goes, "Huh?" Looks over, the eyes go wide, and you watch as the pupils dilate in a flash, and suddenly she grabs her forehead and crumples onto one knee and is just clutching her head. The crossbow just clangs to the ground around, and holds her face, going "(groans)." And is just there, this tight ball of all the muscles trying to deal with the pain that's wracking her mind.

LIAM: I'm going to whip out a rope and tie her up.

MARISHA: Oh!

MATT: All right, go ahead. Chet, you want to do anything?

TRAVIS: No, I'm running to Treshi's cell.

LAURA: Yeah, get Treshi.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Okay, so you go ahead--

TRAVIS: Find the keys!

LAURA: I think she's got the keys.

TRAVIS: I know, but I'm not waiting for her.

MATT: Okay, are you finding the keys or are you tying her up?

LIAM: Tying her up.

LAURA: Tying her up.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: He's tying her up. I'm going to say to Treshi: We're here to help you.

MATT: I'm going to just ask this, because she's incapacitated until the next turn. That's six seconds she's incapacitated.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: That's a very fast time to tie someone up entirely. What kind of tie are you doing?

LIAM: I'm going to--

TRAVIS: Uh-huh, uh-huh?

LIAM: I'm going to tie her legs together.

MATT: Okay. Fair enough.

LIAM: Because that's something I can do fast.

MATT: Go ahead and roll a dexterity check, I'll say with advantage because she is incapacitated.

LAURA: Can I kick her crossbow down the--

MATT: You can indeed, yes. It skids and clatters about 10 feet from where you're standing.

LIAM: With advantage?

MATT: With advantage.

LIAM: Natural 20.

SAM: Yes!

ASHLEY: Oh my!

MATT: With that-- Well, first off, you're pretty close to the legs already, and with her crumpled down, you basically kick the one knee that she's leaning on out from under her. She goes flat on the ground and, with the legs straightened out behind, you immediately grab the rope and figure eight around, pull it up, and do a half hogtie in the back, pull the knot taut just as she begins to pull up and try and back away, and her ankles are bound. Immediately as this is happening, you're going over and looking for the keys, you said?

TRAVIS: No, I'm just going to the cell.

MATT: Well the cell's right next to where they are, so you go and join them at the cell.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: You see him tying up the legs of Artana Voe just as she's starting to rouse.

TRAVIS: Good job!

MATT: What are you doing now? You're talking to Treshi.

LAURA: I'm saying we're here to get him out.

MATT: Treshi at this point is like, "Of course, yes. Whatever you need."

TRAVIS: I'm going to start trying to lock pick the cell. Speak to me, cell-y!

LAURA: I'm going to reach into Chetney's shirt.

TRAVIS: Mind? My brain? My chest?

LAURA: In your shirt.

TRAVIS: Ah.

LIAM: Get those white curlies.

LAURA: And pull out the scarf that's sticking out that Fearne gave you.

TRAVIS: Yeah?

LAURA: I'm going to stick it in.

TALIESIN: Little bit of a Velcro sound.

LAURA: Because we can reach through the bars, right?

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: I'm going to flare it out on the ground and tell Treshi to hop in.

SAM: To a scarf?

LAURA: No, the hole.

SAM: Oh. (laughter)

MATT: Make a deception check.

MARISHA: Come on. Get in. Get in, you piece of shit.

LIAM: Make a hole check.

MATT: You're telling a man under fire to jump into a hole.

LAURA: Right.

MATT: So make a deception check.

LAURA: But we just helped him.

MATT: Of course. That's why you have an opportunity here.

LAURA: Oh my god.

SAM: Oh my god!

LAURA: 13.

MATT: 13? You throw it on the ground. "Open the door. Open the door."

TRAVIS: Yeah, good thinking.

MATT: "We can get out of here."

TRAVIS: Cover my work.

MATT: "We can get out of here." Get in there, start (picking lock).

MATT: Okay, at this point, Artana Voe is now rousing. Goes, "What are you doing?" Turns around and twists where she's flat on the ground, flips over while her ankles are still bound so that her back's now on the ground facing you.

TRAVIS: That's a problem.

MATT: And goes ahead and pulls out a shortsword and just looks at you and just and says, "What are you doing?"

LIAM: Disarming attack.

TRAVIS: We could work together! I mean, maybe she's with people!

MATT: Go for it.

LIAM: Disarming attack. Is she prone?

MATT: She's very much prone, yeah. So with advantage.

LIAM: Oh wow, that was a crazy roll.

SAM: Always the diplomat.

LIAM: That is an 18.

SAM: Chetney Pock O'Pea.

ASHLEY: Pock O'Pea!

ASHLEY and LAURA: Pock O'Pea!

LIAM: To hit.

SAM: (as Chet) Let's just talk about this!

MATT: Yeah, that hits. That definitely hits.

LIAM: Okay. Then Artana needs to make a strength save--

MATT: All righty. LIAM -- of, that would be, where is it? 16.

MATT: She rolled a 14. So the shortsword that she had sheathed earlier after striking you as you went down--

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: -- is now struck from the other hand, skids off down the hall a bit behind her. She's like, "(grunts)."

LIAM: I will pierce her in the shoulder.

SAM: Oh god.

LIAM: And say-- Well, I got to roll.

MATT: Yeah.

LIAM: That is a 21.

MATT: 21 misses.

LAURA: Oh shit.

TRAVIS: She's stacked up.

ASHLEY: Whoa.

MARISHA: 21 misses?

TRAVIS: She's wearing some shit.

SAM: Or she has Blur on her.

MATT: She has an ability called Multiattack Defense where she gets a plus four bonus against multiattacks.

LIAM: Thank you. Cool. Okay.

TRAVIS: Multiattack Defense?

MATT: So you strike once, knock the blade free.

SAM: That's cool.

MATT: The second time, she gets that look in her eye like, I know your tricks. As you try to strike part of the shoulder, she's like...

TRAVIS: Yeah, Drunken Master.

MATT: Slowly moves out of the way, puts the arm around, and grabs your arm, and is now attempting to, as a counterattack, lock your arm up with hers. This would be an athletics versus athletics check.

LIAM: Okay.

SAM: Rollies!

LAURA: (laughs)

LIAM: 14.

MATT: 14? 18.

LAURA: Oh no!

MATT: So you're considered grappled. We'll say for the purposes of the narrative here, that one weapon arm is currently locked in place. You can still strike with the other, you know, whatever it is you want to do, but right now, that arm is locked and she has you pulled in, looking you straight in the eyes and is going like, "Whatever you think you're doing here, you're fucking up a lot."

LIAM: We're walking out with him.

MATT: "Where?"

LIAM: Let's talk about it on the way.

MATT: Make a persuasion check.

MARISHA: Come on!

LIAM: Natural 20. (cheering)

LIAM: On the Catha die.

MARISHA: Liam's on fire!

ASHLEY: Yes!

MATT: She reads you. The intensity in the eyes tries to hold for a second, and there's a slight relaxing in the brows. "You're not one of them. All right."

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: Takes a moment, releases your arm.

LIAM: Chet, can you get that lock open?

TRAVIS: She's just starting to talk to me. I'm feeling it out. Yeah, reveal your secrets! I mean, I know you got keys, but I'm going to fucking take my chance. Natural 20! (cheering)

MATT: Wait, really?! And you hit the table and knocked it off. (laughter)

MATT: There it is, yeah.

MARISHA: Holy shit.

MATT: So yeah, you don't know where the keys are. That brief moment of tension separates itself, and you and Artana have this brief moment of at least understanding. As that's happening, you, coming up to this relatively intricate lock, what's your total on that with a natural 20?

TRAVIS: That'd be a 30.

LIAM: Damn!

SAM: Jeez Louise.

ASHLEY: Oh my gosh.

MATT: The DC on this was a 25, so.

LAURA: Wow.

ASHLEY: Whoa!

MATT: You, glancing at this lock, the inspiration rolling through you, the burst of invigorated blood hitting your system, all the adrenaline flowing through you. In the back of your head, you hear that howl, that (howls) (laughter)

MATT: And you quietly, without even realizing it, mouth it. (quiet howling)

TRAVIS: Yes. (laughter)

MATT: As you're focused in, without hesitation, every single tumbler falls. You find the right hook, click, and turn. (plink) It falls open, the heavy-ass lock clanks to the side and the gate opens to the front, Treshi still up on the side.

TRAVIS: Explain one thing to me! Are you a prisoner, or are they protecting you?

MATT: "You wear their colors."

TRAVIS: I know, I'm new here.

MATT: "You're working with her? Who are you, who are you?" He grabs a book and is holding it out--

LAURA: I say Command.

MATT: -- in front of him like a weapon.

LAURA: I'm going to Command Treshi.

MARISHA: Jump in the fucking hole.

MATT: What do you command?

LAURA: In!

TRAVIS: Oh, one word!

MARISHA: That's right, bitch!

ASHLEY: Let's go, let's go!

TRAVIS: One word!

LIAM: Come on.

MATT: That is a natural 16, plus two. That's an 18, I'm sorry.

MARISHA: Hot table, hot table!

LAURA: I was trying to make it easy for you. Yes, take him down.

TRAVIS: Okay. (screams)

MATT: He goes, "Ah!" Holds the book out to try and defend himself. You get the sense that seeing this person that attacked the people and then is now-- there's a lot of weird scenarios here as far as alliances go that he's starting to figure out, and right as he's about to say something about it, you come at him like a madman.

TRAVIS: The wood chisel goes (whoosh) and touches his aorta, and you can see it moving against the pulse of his heartbeat. Unless you want to bleed, get in the hole and do it quietly.

MATT: Make an intimidation check.

MARISHA: Come on.

LAURA: Come on, Chet.

TRAVIS: Natural 20!

MARISHA: Dude, dude, dude! (cheering)

TALIESIN: Why are you burning through them now? Why are you burning through them now?

MARISHA: Fucking bananas!

TRAVIS: Now's the time! The wolf decides! (laughter)

SAM: No!

ASHLEY: The wolf decides, yes!

LIAM: Holy shit.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: Treshi's sitting there with the... He goes, "Fine. She'll kill you just as easily as she would've killed me," and then he jumps into the hole, vanishing into the dark, and you hear-- Actually, you would hear nothing.

TRAVIS: Ah! (laughter)

TRAVIS: (objects thudding)

TALIESIN: Start counting.

LIAM: I'll slice the rope open.

MATT: Okay, as you cut the rope, she looks at you and then immediately skitters back and grabs the crossbow, the heavy crossbow, darts over and grabs the blade, sheathing it.

TRAVIS: Wait!

MATT: Loads the crossbow, pulls it back in a rapid maneuver, and then turns invisible, vanishes from sight.

TRAVIS: Great, I was going to grab a yellow cloak. Even better.

MATT: There's a brief beat where you hear, "Where are you taking him?" You're not quite sure where she is. You just hear it in the space where she was standing.

TRAVIS: Going out in the desert?

LIAM: What do you think, Imogen?

LAURA: In your head.

MARISHA: 10 seconds.

LAURA: I think you shouldn't have trusted her.

TRAVIS: 10 minutes, right?

LAURA: Tell her whatever you want.

TALIESIN: 10 minutes before?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Okay.

TRAVIS: Not 10 seconds.

MARISHA: That's right.

TALIESIN: Thought it was a minute and a half, okay.

LIAM: We're taking him home. We're taking him home.

MATT: "Maybe our paths aren't quite as different as you think." You hear the voice sourcelessly, and then she reappears on the opposite side of the hallway where you guys came from, and is now standing at the base of the stairs where you first entered, and goes, "We got to go."

LIAM: Come on.

MATT: Okay, back to the rest of you, who have been outside. You, who have-- begin to rush back to the Seat now, hear the continuing explosions and the occasional screams, (screams) (impacts)

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: As more things explode and detonate, there's rocks and shale being flung from behind, Fearne, you're struck a little bit in the back of the head, not enough to really do damage, but enough to sting a bit.

ASHLEY: Ow!

MATT: Other soldiers start rushing out, and you can now begin to hear a sound that you almost began to hear before, (rising whirring) (jarring impacts) as you see a ruin-crawler from across the side now that's being manned by some of the Paragon's Call, have fired up their Kshatriya Special--

SAM: Oh wow.

MATT: -- that is now, the flares of its muzzle are (explosions) shooting in a row in the space, as the ruin-crawler, coming forward towards the direction where the mammoth-crawler is now partially collapsed. You can see now the lobbed explosives and the various rifle fire that's coming from that side of the wall is now moving and shifting along the wall to try and avoid the fire from the Special, and as it's just shooting, (gunshots) you can see chunks of the wall itself (impacts), bits of rock flying off, as elements begin to crack and break, not enough to do enough damage to the wall to destroy it, necessarily, but definitely you can see where the spray of fire is trying to trace and follow, but once again, the storm itself is definitely obfuscating a lot of their attempt to whip around. While this is all happening, what are you two doing?

TALIESIN: If we've gotten close enough to the building, where the fuck is Laudna?

MARISHA: You'll actually hear in your head: Ashton!

TRAVIS and MATT: (deeply) Ashton.

MARISHA: Where have they taken the crates?

MATT, TRAVIS, and ASHLEY: (dissonant whispers)

TALIESIN: We've got what we need. Fuck the ring. Get out. We're heading out.

MARISHA: (growls)

TRAVIS: (deeply) (growls)

MARISHA: I'm going to start dodging fire. I'm going to Spider Climb down.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: You kind of just-- I'm going to lay low and skitter across, back towards the Call.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Aside from the thing that's firing right now, are there any other vehicles or horses or carts or modes of transportation?

MATT: There are no horses. There are definitely two other skirmish-crawlers that are at the periphery, against the wall. One of them is on its side, that's currently not operable, and another that's resting, and then there's the ruin-crawler that's now, like a giant tripod, making its way over to this side of battlefield. It's just firing.

SAM: I'm making a beeline through "Saving Private Ryan" gunfire and explosions and bodies and stuff. I'm just like, (shouts) Ah! I'm sorry, I can't help you right now!

MATT: At that point, I need both you and Laudna to make dexterity saving throws for me, please.

TRAVIS: Oh no!

MARISHA: To dodge? Just straight dex?

MATT: To dodge shrapnel and thrown--

SAM: Eight.

TRAVIS: Oh god!

MATT: Ooh, that's a fail.

MARISHA: Shit. It was going so well. What's my dex saving throw? It's not great, okay. Okay, 16.

MATT: 16? Okay.

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: So you take half damage.

MARISHA: All right.

MATT: That's actually a pretty bad roll.

MARISHA: I have to roll to see if it hits my Mirror Image, right?

MATT: This is a radial scenario.

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: This is not a targeted attack, so it's not going to, unfortunately, be avoidable by the Mirror Image.

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: However, you take 11 points of bludgeoning damage, FCG. Then you would take five points of bludgeoning damage as the reign of chaos around you.

TALIESIN: Can I see either of them? I would be looking for you.

MATT: You can see the dark shape in the dust storm of FCG darting back and beginning to make his way through the different gunfire. Where are you heading?

TALIESIN: What the fuck are you doing?

SAM: I'm trying to get to the crawler that is parked up against the wall.

MATT: The skirmish-crawler?

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: Okay, you watch FGC just vanish into the dust storm.

TALIESIN: Shit, fuck!

ASHLEY: Where is he going?

MARISHA: Do I pass FCG?

MATT: With your passive perception, I'd say you see, of everyone who's running and charging, a lot of these very normal, humanoid shapes, you see one (zooms) cruise off in the opposite direction of where a lot of your friends were darting off with their equipment.

MARISHA: FCG? I say in his head. Do you need help? (dissonant whispers)

SAM: Ah! (laughter)

SAM: I'm getting us a getaway car.

MARISHA: I'll be right there.

TRAVIS: (creepily) I'll be right there.

MARISHA: I'm going to go towards the Call, towards the Seat of Disdain. Do I see Ashton and Fearne?

MATT: The two of you, have you been waiting at the front of the entrance?

TALIESIN: I was about to go run deal with this, but they're both moving in weird directions. I'm trying to figure out what the fuck is happening.

ASHLEY: I'm just running around, just screaming, in circles.

MATT: So the two of them are just running around in circles in front of the fortress.

ASHLEY: Ah!

TALIESIN: What the fuck?

MARISHA: I'm bullish on completing this. I just crawl right past Ashton and start crawling up the Seat of Disdain.

MATT: Okay, so you're now full-on creepy "Ring" girl crawling up the side of the fortress.

TRAVIS: Up the fucking fortress?

LAURA: Up the fortress?

MARISHA: Yes.

TRAVIS: Love it.

MATT: All right. Cool.

TRAVIS: That's like wife of Dracula and Bram Stoker.

MATT: FCG has darted off into the sandstorm towards the wall, and Fearne is now--

TALIESIN: Try and track everything! I don't know what the fuck to do! I'm going to run at FCG full speed to wherever the fuck FCG is going to.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: I will probably rage while doing it in case anything tries to fire at me.

MATT: Okay, so you're going to do a full rage charging after him.

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

MARISHA: I'm going to look for Otohan's room.

MATT: So Fearne, you're now alone holding the dark, one-foot by one-foot by one-foot cube.

MARISHA: It's a really bad idea!

MATT: Heavily reinforced box as soldiers are now running past you, running the other direction past you, wounded and going, "I need ammunition!" He goes rushing back in. (boom) Another explosion. The Special is now (gunfire) up against the wall that way, and you see a burst of flame as another explosive gets thrown against it. The crawler rears back a bit, but holds its bearing, and you can see somebody is currently casting a spell from the top of the wall. You see as it glows, these dozens and dozens of small, little, I want to say spears begin to shoot out and wrap around the leg of the crawler, trying to hold it in place. You see it (metallic creaks) get stuck there. Its legs can't pull against it. It's locked in, but it's still firing. (gunfire) One of them hits whoever was casting that. Immediately, that thread dispels.

SAM: Oh wow.

MATT: You see a body, "Ah," hit the ground. So, it's chaos.

LAURA: This is chaos!

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: In the meantime, you are rushing over to where that--

SAM: Yeah, double dash, trying to get there.

MATT: Okay, make another dexterity saving throw for me, please.

SAM: Ooh, yikes.

LAURA: You're trying to get to the car?

SAM: 17.

LAURA: To the crawler?

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: 17, okay. Now that you're not right in the middle of this chaos, charging around the side to where it is, you avoid all damage for this round.

SAM: Great.

MATT: Darting past, you go to it, and it's, this is the one that was on the right, that's away from the chaos?

SAM: I think, yeah.

MATT: Okay, because there's one that's on the ground and one that's set up on the side there that you can see.

SAM: Is it on blocks or something, or is it--

MATT: No, it's just resting on its side.

SAM: On its side.

MATT: Yes.

SAM: Was there one that looked more drivable than the other?

MATT: There is, but that is where the ruin-crawler is now over by, and where it seems a lot of the scuffle's happening.

SAM: Okay, all right, great. I'll figure it out.

MATT: Okay, so you rush up to the side of it, and you can see it's laying on its edge. It doesn't appear to be heavily damaged, by any means. It definitely looks like it's seen some wear and tear. A lot of the armor and metal aspects that are welded to it are bent and jagged, but also, that's part of its charm and what people present as a scary thing, not to get involved in. You're not sure if it's damaged or not, really, in the way that it's built. What are you doing?

SAM: I'm going to use my grapple hook, if I need to, to get up into the cockpit of it. Or is it laying on the side so I can just roll in?

MATT: You can just roll into it.

SAM: I'll roll right into the cockpit.

MATT: It's getting sideways situated.

SAM: Then yeah, I haven't driven one of these, but I was one, once. (laughter)

SAM: So I'm going to, you know, you see a decision tree flying by, robotic Terminator decision tree.

TRAVIS: Yes!

SAM: I'm going to look at all the controls and see how to turn it on.

MATT: Make an investigation check for me.

SAM: Oh boy. Can I Guide myself?

MATT: Yeah.

SAM: Guidance! Ooh, terrible.

LAURA: Oh no!

SAM: What is that?

LIAM: A one.

SAM: Okay, investigation? Oh, this is brutal. Is that a nine or a six? Oh, it's a six. I got a six. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Plus a d4?

TRAVIS: Plus one?

SAM: Plus one, minus one.

LAURA: Oh no! (oohing) (laughter) (laughter)

MARISHA: Shit!

MATT: The controls on this are a little obtuse. There's a series of handles back here, and there's no buttons to push. It's not a motorcycle. It is an automaton that has, you assume, an odd combination of autonomy and taking direction, and so as you grab onto it, you try and push forward on it, and as you do, the legs spark to life and begin digging into ground. It begins to right itself. The problem is, it's about 10-foot from the wall, so it goes (impacts) and slams into the wall.

SAM: Oh shit!

MATT: Sending you from the cockpit over end and into the wall as it hits.

SAM: Shit!

MATT: Make another dexterity saving throw for me, please.

SAM: Hey! 18.

MATT: 18. You manage to spin in the air, and your wheel catches it. You turn and then bounce off of it a bit and land. You don't take any damage, but you're definitely off to the side. The front of the armor and the armor that blocks the wheel is bent up a little bit.

SAM: Oh no!

MATT: It wasn't enough room for it to get enough speed to do any serious damage to the wheel.

SAM: I'm going to fire my grapple cannon back and try to pull myself back into the cockpit again.

MATT: Back into it. Okay, you're inside.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: But it did seem to move when you pushed it forward.

SAM: Okay, and so there's multiple levers. The ones that I just pressed activated the thrust.

MATT: It's like holding a set of horns.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: It looks like there's a lever up beyond that to each one, and you push forward on it, and it seems to guide forward.

SAM: Okay, so I could pull back?

MATT: You pull back.

SAM: Or I could go sides?

MATT: You could certainly try.

SAM: Okay, quickly, I'm going to take out that Changebringer coin and just flip it.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Heads or tails?

MATT: Do you have a coin?

SAM: I do.

MATT: Flip it.

SAM: Okay. Okay. Heads, I'll go backwards, and tails, I'll go left.

MARISHA: Okay.

SAM: (laughs) Okay. Tails, kind of left.

MATT: Kind of left. So as you push it to the side, it doesn't need to turn to go. The legs in the back, which are like a beast's legs, dig and begin to tear. The front wheel scoots, and it rotates on the spot to the side. One of its legs actually kicks up against the wall and holds it in place there.

SAM: Ooh!

ASHLEY: Cool!

SAM: All right! Do I see any of my friends?

MARISHA: Boston Dynamics.

MATT: Make a perception check with disadvantage.

SAM: Disadvantage?

MATT: Yes, because the sandstorm's still going.

SAM: 18! 16 plus six! 24!

MATT: You glace forward just in time to see Ashton barreling towards you.

TALIESIN: Booking!

MATT: You come through the dust and you see a skirmish-crawler growling. You see the blue energy of its energy core glowing through the storm beneath it, lighting up the ground, and they are over the bent metal front of it, the armored guard, you see the little lenses--

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: -- of FCG.

SAM: I'm going to turn on the Light spell through my eyes, and I'm going to say: Get in, bitch! We're getting out of here! (laughter)

TRAVIS and MARISHA: (clap)

TALIESIN: I'm going to run to it, jump in the back. What the fuck plan is this?

SAM: (shouts) I don't know!

TALIESIN: No one knows what you're doing!

SAM: I don't know!

TALIESIN: There's no way out of here! The doors are fucking closed!

SAM: There's a lot of death everywhere! I'm scared!

TALIESIN: This is a bad plan! Move towards the front entrance! I don't know what else to fucking do!

SAM: All right, I'll try!

TRAVIS: You're like the cabbie from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

MATT: Ashton, as you were charging through the storm, I would like you to make a dexterity saving throw for me, please. The more you're out in the open crossing in these spaces here, there's danger happening all around.

TALIESIN: I'll also say I'm in gravity mode, so I don't know if that would make shit less or more likely to hit me, but I hit the gravity well.

MATT: That's definitely going to make things more likely to hit you.

TALIESIN: Okay, so I'm going to lose my advantage.

MATT: Yes.

TALIESIN: Okay. God fucking damn it, always roll the wrong one. Oh! 20.

MATT: 20, great, yeah. So Ashton arrives. As Ashton runs up to you, you see behind, in the shape of the shadow of him coming into frame there, you see behind them (explosions) He's under detonations of other things that are either aimed at or just happen to roll past and barely miss detonating upside your friend as they charge up and jump in the back of your skirmish-crawler, and you are tearing off where?

SAM: I don't know! So there's no openings or gates that are open right now, to the outer wall?

MATT: No, that gate is shut.

TALIESIN: This is a siege!

SAM: All right, well, I'm going to tear around and do a doughnut of the place.

MATT: (laughs) Perfect. FCG's doing doughnuts in a sandstorm, I love it.

SAM: I'm going to try to find Fearne. I'm going to go around the perimeter, try to find Fearne.

MATT: I got it, perfect.

TALIESIN: I'm going to point you in the bloody direction of the front entrance, because yeah, this is so bad.

MATT: Okay, while that's happening, Fearne, what are you doing?

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: You're holding the box there as Ashton just ran off into the dust.

ASHLEY: Just standing and staring at it all.

MATT: Laudna starts climbing up the wall. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Oh boy. I don't know where everybody went. How far is the gate?

MATT: The gate is probably a good 60, 70 feet from where you are.

ASHLEY: I'm going to start walking towards the gate to leave.

MATT: Okay, I will also specify that where the gate is--

LAURA: Maybe you could hold it like a watermelon under your skirt like when people steal, yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

MATT: I will also specify that, in the direction of where the gate is, not immediately in front of it but immediately to the left of it, is where that ruin-crawler still currently stands, and the Special is still firing, and you can see, there's a lot of the skirmish that's now happening along that side of the wall above and around where that area of the gate is.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: So you will be walking kind of into where the focus of the chaos is.

ASHLEY: Okay, I'm going to stand and I see one of them doughnutting.

MATT: Yeah.

TALIESIN: We should be starting to right ourselves towards you at this point.

MATT: It does take more of an S pattern, a little sidewinder snake action, but does eventually make--

SAM: I'm overcorrecting! I'm overcorrecting! (laughter)

TALIESIN: Move over, move over!

SAM: No, I got this!

ASHLEY: That one's a little out of control.

TALIESIN: You're too old to be driving!

MATT: Okay, while this is happening, Laudna, you're climbing up the side of the wall, and with your speed, because you get to move your full speed and dash if you want to, you can climb up pretty quickly. Where are you going?

MARISHA: I'm going to go to the top floor where all those balconies are.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: I'm going to start crawling along the edge. I'm going to start peeking in and see if I can see any high ranking officers.

MATT: Yes, because as you climb up over the balcony, the first thing you see is you are about one foot from Otohan Thull, who is just standing at the balcony and watching.

MARISHA: Just watching all of this?

MATT: Suddenly you just, and just looks down, dark eyes looking you right in the face.

MARISHA: Hello! Darkness.

TRAVIS: (nervously laughs)

TALIESIN: What the fuck is happening?

LIAM: We're making trigger decisions.

TRAVIS: Let's go, baby!

TALIESIN: Chaos!

MATT: There's an immediate look of, what? Before all of a sudden, the entire balcony is immersed in darkness, which you can see through.

MARISHA: I can see through if I use a Sorcery Point to cast, which I do.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: I'm going to then loop around her. So I can see through it, does she have any pockets? Her Boba Fett jetpack? Change purse? Anything like that?

MATT: Are you trying to shake down--

MARISHA: I'm trying to plant this fucking ring on Otohan.

SAM, ASHLEY, and TALIESIN: Ooh!

MATT: Oh! Okay. Make an investigation check.

ASHLEY: Good call!

MARISHA: Investigation check?

SAM: In the dark.

TALIESIN: Oh my god!

MARISHA: I can see through it. Beau, come on, come on. Hot table, hot table!

TALIESIN: Everyone is going fucking batshit.

MARISHA: 15!

MATT: 15's not bad.

SAM: Pretty good.

MATT: So as you dart past, Otohan--

ASHLEY: God, what a good idea.

MATT: -- immediately is confused by this, but is moving very quickly towards the back, in the slow motion element of you pulling in the back, pushing past the cloak, you can see this, it's a device. It's a device that's affixed to her back. As you look underneath, there's these two cylindrical chambers with things placed inside them, and as you pull back, you can see there's definitely an area where you could tuck a ring in or you could hide it in there, if you'd like to.

MARISHA: Sure. Does it feel like she would access-- Doesn't matter, there's no time. I plant it.

MATT: All right. You rolled pretty high on investigation, so you would be able to find a place to plant it. It depends, I will say--

MARISHA: I want to try and be smart about it.

MATT: All right, I know.

MARISHA: A place that makes sense.

MATT: Right. You're placing this on somebody who is also now moving because right below this assemblage are two sheathed blades that are cross-sheathed in the back.

MARISHA: Uh-huh.

MATT: She is now darting-- In this slow motion shot of you, rushing past and trying to grab underneath, she is at the same time moving back to unsheathe the weapons and pull them free.

MARISHA: I'm trying to, ooh, don't touch. No touch.

MATT: Right. So you rolled 15 investigation. I'll say to finish up to try and place this, make a--

ASHLEY: Oh boy.

MATT: Make a sleight of hand check.

LAURA: (nervous noises)

LIAM: Come on M, come one!

LAURA: (nervous noises)

SAM: Come on, come on.

LIAM: Come on, Marisha.

SAM: Which die?

TRAVIS: You've got this.

LAURA: This is so stressful.

SAM: Gil? Gil?

MARISHA: Oh sure. Don't fuck me--

LIAM: Come on.

MARISHA: -- Gill. 11.

MATT: 11, okay.

SAM: You have a good sleight of hand!

MARISHA: 11. I rolled an--

SAM: Oh shit.

MARISHA: No, wait! No. Yeah, 11.

MATT: (laughs) Okay. So you go ahead, and you go to place it up inside, and you're like, great! As soon as you get it placed in its positioning, she spins with the blades out. You immediately take the full brunt of a round of attacks. She cannot--

MARISHA: But I placed the ring? The ring is in?

MATT: As far as you're aware.

SAM: Oh no.

MARISHA: Okay.

TRAVIS: Yeah. Good, good, good, good.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

TRAVIS: For the cause.

MARISHA: For the cause. For the cause.

LIAM: Great fucking idea.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: You've got a big HP and AC, right? You're going to be fine?

MATT: Three attacks.

MARISHA: I'm going to be fine. I'm going to be good, I'm going to be good.

TRAVIS: Hey batter, batter, batter, swing!

MATT: So that's three attacks against you with disadvantage because she can't see.

MARISHA: I still have Mirror Image.

MATT: You do. So the first strike is going to be-- 17.

MARISHA: She hits a mirror.

MATT: (poofs) Darts off one of the mirrors, the edges of it, the diversion. While she can't even see, she's going off of the sense of where you might be and strikes one of the mirrors.

TRAVIS: I love that you're just going after Ahsoka right now in the dark. (laughs)

MATT: That's going to be a natural one with disadvantage.

LAURA: Nice.

MARISHA: Miss.

MATT: Second strike misses. The third one is going to be a 21 to hit.

MARISHA: Hits a mirror.

ASHLEY: (gasps)

MATT: No damage on that round.

ASHLEY: Yes!

LIAM: I love it. You're just surrounded by wraiths.

TRAVIS: When you make a mirror, does it feel like she hits anything? Or it just goes--

MATT: It just (whooshes). So that's going to be Otohan's immediate round to that and is now just like-- You hear in the darkness her voice go, "Whoever you are, your timing is curious."

MARISHA: I jump off the balcony.

MATT: You jump off the balcony?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. You immediately dart off.

LIAM: Bones!

MATT: Let's go ahead and--

TRAVIS: Is there a follow-up to that statement?

MARISHA: I'm going to wait 'til I get almost all the way down, and then Feather Fall.

MATT: Okay, she cannot see you. So technically, as I've learned in the corner case scenarios, you can't make an opportunity attack against someone you can't see necessarily, I believe. I'm going to go for that in this circumstance anyway. So swings wide thinking you're in the same space you are. Doesn't realize that you were going to jump right back off the same balcony you came from. You (vanishing puff) out of the dark orb, off the side of this dust surround, cloud-encased fortress. (whooshes) Fall three stories down, tumbling backward, righting yourself in the middle of the air as your bones crack into place.

MARISHA: It's like when you see cats fall in slow motion. It's like that, but I crack my bones and then land.

MATT: And flip around?

SAM: You're a cat?

MARISHA: (like Sam) I'm a cat. (laughter)

MATT: Falling as the shape in the flashes of the battlefield in the middle of the main courtyard of the Seat of Disdain comes into focus below you. You stop yourself and land right on the ground just as--

SAM: (car revving)

MATT: As you're rushing towards the front, you see suddenly a shape drop.

SAM: Ah!

ASHLEY: Hey.

SAM: We hit the brakes.

ASHLEY: Oh.

MARISHA: (yells)

ASHLEY: Come here. I think they were driving around on that thing.

MARISHA: Let's go.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: Where's everybody else?

MARISHA: I don't know. Imogen?

MATT: In the interim, the rest of you, who have been inside this fortress. You have Artana alongside you, and you have a hole wrapped up that contains currently Armand Treshi. What do you do?

LIAM: Can we hear her roughly? Are we going through the hole now?

MATT: She's reappeared.

LIAM: She's reappeared?

MATT: She reappeared on the opposite side of you by the stairs--

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: -- and basically was like, "Let's go."

LIAM: So she's leading the way more or less? Okay.

MATT: Yeah.

LIAM: I'm getting in front of Imogen to take the brunt of any shit that comes at Imogen because she's got the hole.

MATT: Okay. Okay, so the rest of you, the three of you along with-- Following her lead end up coming up the stairs. The grate itself is still open as you push through. Immediately coming up, you can see two of the Paragon's Call round the corner and see her, weapons out like, "Oh, shit." As they go to draw, she immediately fires. For the size of this crossbow, the speed at which it can reload and fire is insane. But she takes two shots, one at each of these. Not great, but she still has--

TRAVIS: She should have put her cloak on.

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: Is she stacked? It's a heavy crossbow, and--

MATT: It's a heavy crossbow.

LIAM: So her muscles have got to be rippling.

MATT: You can't see between the armor--

TRAVIS: Sarah Connor.

MATT: -- is a series of back muscles that would make any of us jealous.

TALIESIN: Painted silver. It's not plate mail.

MATT: What's interesting, too, is that the heavy crossbow that she has, has this heavy crank circumstance, where it fires, and then immediately grabs underneath, like taking a shotgun and (reloading). Just cranks over--

LAURA: Sick.

ASHLEY: Cool.

MATT: -- and then already has it ready for the secondary bolt.

LAURA: Sick!

MATT: The first shot hits.

LIAM: Orym just does one of these. (impressed sigh)

MATT: Both still hit.

TRAVIS: You need to learn how to whistle.

ASHLEY: Sarah Connor.

LIAM: Oh, it was just--

MATT: 12 damage to one and then--

LIAM: That wasn't a whistle.

MATT: 10 damage to the other.

TRAVIS: (exaggerated failed whistle)

MATT: So both of them go like, "Ugh," and take a hit. They're going to move forward. Are you guys doing anything? Are you going to help out? Or are you going to wait for them to finish the skirmish and move past? What are you doing?

LIAM: Well, I'm not doing anything but following and letting her deal with what's ahead of us.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: And making sure that she doesn't turn around on the hole-bearer.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Unless I hear from the boss.

MATT: All right. So now they're going to both take a round. They rush forward towards her as she's going ahead to reload.

SAM: You mean Keyleth?

MATT: They're both going to take--

LIAM: She's not here.

MATT: She's going to take--

SAM: She can talk to you.

LAURA: I'm going to say into Artana's head--

MATT: -- a dagger and two rapiers.

LAURA: -- play along.

MATT: Play along?

LAURA: Uh-huh.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I'm going to run up and tackle her.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: And yell at the guards: We've got this covered. Go help everyone in front. I don't know, fucking--

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Yeah, come on.

ASHLEY: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

TRAVIS: I kick her in the butt.

MATT: Okay. Make a deception check. Advantage because you're getting help from Chetney on this one.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: This will be pretty high because they were ready to--

LAURA: That's good. That's good. 24.

ASHLEY: Whoa, yeah.

MATT: 24 will do it. You had to roll over a 20 because they're just ready to unload on her, weapons out and ready.

TRAVIS: Chisel comes down, and just looks like: Ah, yeah! I'm opening her up. Get outside! (laughter)

MATT: She crumbles to the ground, and she's now laying flat over the crossbow. They both start reaching into their pouch to bring out what looks to be chains and manacles to--

LAURA: Go! We have this handled!

MATT: They throw the manacles down, and they-- "Put her back in the cell below!" They both--

TRAVIS: That's a good idea!

MATT: They both go continuing down the hall where they were headed to get some sort of equipment that they weren't quite ready for. What do you do now that she's--

TRAVIS: She needs a cloak, right?

LAURA: Yeah, let's put-- I'm going to say: I'm not going to really lock these, but we're going to act like we're putting these on your wrists.

MATT: Make a persuasion check.

LIAM: Was it one set or multiple? Just one?

MATT: One set they were pulling out.

TRAVIS: I'm assuming you have an exit plan?

MATT: "I did until you showed up."

LAURA: 15? No, 19.

SAM: Ooh. That's better.

TALIESIN: I did--

MATT: "I hope you know what you're doing." All right.

TRAVIS: If you're having a rendezvous with somebody, we can also stick a cloak on you. But now you're manacled, so do you have a specific place you need to be?

MATT: "Well, I was going to exit through one of the upper balconies. But it's hard to do with a group this size."

TRAVIS: No, fuck that. It's all terrible upstairs. Let's get out of here.

LAURA: If we have another cloak, we can just put it overtop of her.

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, let's go to our room. It's--

LAURA: On the way, right?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: There's also probably a bunch of dead guards around.

MATT: You head to the room--

LAURA: Yeah. There's dead guards everywhere.

TRAVIS: In the hallways, probably not, though.

MATT: Downstairs there was.

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, yeah. I tried to kill them. Somebody turned invisible.

MATT: Well.

TRAVIS: But we have cloaks in the room.

LIAM: I'm going to help her up and say--

MATT: You're all wearing your cloaks. So you don't have any extra cloaks in your room, I don't believe.

LAURA: Oh.

MATT: You just have the ones that you're wearing.

TRAVIS: Here, take mine. (laughs)

LAURA: This teeny one.

MATT: A little bib. (laughter)

LAURA: Run!

SAM: You ripped it in half to do it.

LAURA: Let's get out of here.

LIAM: I grab her by the arm as we start running and say: We're the Bells Hells. We're not with you, you're with us. Come on.

SAM: Woo!

TRAVIS: Yo! Yo! It's in the trailer.

MARISHA: Name drop, name drop.

MATT: She--

MARISHA: Smash cut to the title. (laughter)

SAM: Suicide Squad. (laughter)

MATT: As you do that, she goes, "Fine. Do me the favor of at least picking up my weapon."

LIAM: I-- Ooh!

MATT: It's pretty hefty.

LIAM: Yeah. I start doing-- Man, I got a lot of shit in my hands. (laughter)

TRAVIS: I'll take it. Here, give me that thing.

LIAM: Yeah, thanks. (grunts)

TRAVIS: I'm stronger than you anyway.

LIAM: Yep.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah! (grunts) (laughter)

MARISHA: Would my "Imogen!" be right about this time?

MATT: Right about now.

MARISHA: Imogen?

LAURA: Laudna. Is everything all right?

MARISHA: We commandeered a crawler. (demonic whispers)

LAURA: Great! We got Treshi. We're on our way out.

MARISHA: Meet us out front.

LAURA: All right. (demonic whispers)

LAURA: Artana Voe in tow.

MARISHA: Oh!

SAM: What?

LAURA: Go.

TRAVIS: Oh. (laughter)

TALIESIN: What the fuck was the squeak about? There was a squeak.

MARISHA: They are-- We are bringing Artana Voe.

TALIESIN: Oh!

SAM: Hey, look what this lever does! (laughter)

TRAVIS: (crawler spinning)

ASHLEY: What about this button?

SAM: Sure, hit it!

MATT: Okay. You all begin to--

SAM: Oil slick!

MATT: -- rush past down the hall, past the war room. As you're passing the war room, you see as Ratanish steps around the corner and goes, "You caught her."

LAURA: That's right.

MATT: "Where are you taking her?"

LAURA: I'm going to throw Artana at him.

SAM: Throw her?

LIAM: Whoa.

TRAVIS: You're going to what?

LAURA: I'm pushing Artana towards Ratanish.

LIAM: Whoa.

MATT: Okay. So you push--

SAM: You're betraying her already?

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: That was so fast!

TRAVIS: All the people on the outside are on her side.

LAURA: No, they're not. I think she's using it as a distraction. She's an assassin. She works alone.

MARISHA: I think she paid them off.

LIAM: We'll find out.

MATT: So you throw her towards Ratanish.

SAM: She's bad.

MATT: You have her weapon, and--

LIAM: Chetney has it.

MATT: Sorry. You have her weapon.

TRAVIS: Huh?

MATT: As she gets pushed into his arms, he goes ahead and grasps the chain and looks at her and goes, "Good work. Oh, you have no idea what you've done."

SAM: Oh, shit.

TRAVIS: Those manacles aren't closed.

MATT: Begins to try and drag her by that point, at which point she pulls out of the manacles and (disappearing poof) turns invisible once more and vanishes.

MARISHA: Okay. Okay.

TRAVIS: What?

MATT: "Shit!"

TRAVIS: Where'd she go?

MATT: "Find out! Find her!"

LIAM: We'll look outside.

MATT: "She cannot be too far."

TRAVIS: Damn it!

SAM: Undo the betrayal. Undo the betrayal.

LAURA: Yeah, I know.

MATT: He runs back to the war room and goes for a large greataxe that you see is set on the main table, and begins charging back into the chamber. What are the rest of you doing at this point?

MARISHA: So much is happening.

LAURA: I'm saying in her head-- Nope, I have to see her in order to get the connection. So I can't do that.

MATT: Yeah. Nope.

LAURA: Well, I'm hoping she understood that we knew her hands weren't tied.

TRAVIS: Out the front door, like we're still going after her.

LIAM: Orym is sticking to Imogen like glue. I'm listening as hard as I can for Voe.

MATT: Okay. Make a perception check for me.

LIAM: Okay. With advantage or not? Because she's invisible.

MATT: She's invisible. For sound, I'd say just make a straight roll for this. Also, in the chaos of all the sound around you, trying to pick up a specific--

LIAM: Not great.

MATT: -- element.

LIAM: 11.

MATT: 11? Okay, yeah.

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: It's hard to make out much of anything beyond the footsteps and the shouts and the sound of dust outside.

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: The dust storm is clearing up a little bit for those who are on the outskirts. It's still blowing through, but it's not in its deepest, darkest state. It looks like it's starting to find at least a pocket where it's not quite as intense. You don't know if it's the end of the storm, or if you're just finding a brief lull in it.

TRAVIS: Gotta go!

MATT: A little bit of the sunlight is starting to peek through a little bit. While the rest of you push past the two front doors, you can see there are now three guards out there who are in the process of reloading their rifles. One of them sits around the corner, jumps out, takes a big old shot, and then darts back around. Sweat on his face. You can see the dust and dirt is now crusting from where the sweat has gathered around the eyes, and he has to wipe his face off and looks at you. "Get out there, help us!"

TRAVIS: No problem. Let's go!

LAURA: Let's go! We run out. (laughter) Have any of the walls been blown open at all at this point?

MATT: No.

LAURA: It's still all standing?

MATT: Of course. These are very, very well-reinforced walls.

LAURA: Yeah, of course they are.

SAM: Can I just turn to Ashton and Fearne and-- Wait, are you with us, too?

MARISHA: I am.

SAM: We got to open the gate! How do we do that? Can somebody do that?

LAURA: Is there-- It's all happening at the front gate, or the back gate? It's happening from both sides? What is it?

MATT: There are two gates. The one that it's happening near now is the one where you came in. There isn't really a front gate. There's just two different ones. But this is the one that you've used the most often. The other one is facing a less public area of the street, necessarily. But it's not as often used.

MARISHA: Oh shit.

SAM: Which one has the gigantic monster crawler next to it?

LAURA: The front. The main.

MATT: The front one. The one that you're used to using.

SAM: So we should go to the other one.

LAURA: Other one, yeah.

TALIESIN: Also, how long has it been since we--

LAURA: Oh, put Treshi in the hole.

TALIESIN: -- put Treshi in the hole?

TRAVIS: No, no, no, it's only been--

LAURA: It's been so fast.

TALIESIN: Okay.

LAURA: It's probably been like three minutes.

MATT: Yeah, it's been about a minute.

TALIESIN: Okay. Perfect.

LAURA: Oh god, not even--

MATT: A minute to two minutes, I'd say since then.

MARISHA: So redirecting?

TRAVIS: Go, go!

MATT: This all moves very quick.

LIAM: So we wait 'til nine minutes or so--

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Yep.

LIAM: Then we check.

LAURA: Yeah. We're going to run to the back gate.

MARISHA: Yeah, I quickly just tell Imogen. New plan, back gate! (demonic whispers)

LAURA: Got it.

MATT: So the crawler, as you-- (grinding), begins to push its way through the dust, past the array of combat happening to what will be now the right of you as you move beyond that one entryway gate.

TALIESIN: Is there actual combat happening on the ground, by the way?

MATT: Right now, you don't see combat on the ground.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: There aren't any shock troops. There's no idea of people coming in to storm. They're staying along the wall and just harrying people.

TALIESIN: All right, so there's no one to run over.

SAM: The crawlers have ACs, right?

MATT: They do.

SAM: So is it considered-- If I cast Shield of Help on it-- Is it a creature?

MATT: It is considered a creature.

SAM: I'll bonus action cast Shield of Help, Shield of Faith, on the crawler.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Just so it doesn't take any damage as we go around.

MATT: Okay, you got it. Okay. So you cast it. This little, weird, shimmering energy encircles the outside of its metal form and then clings to it, leaving this faint, glowing film to it, reinforcing its capability to withstand damage. As the crawler begins to tear through the space and head around the courtyard, you can see there are others now getting on-- Not on skirmish-crawlers at this point. They wouldn't be helping them at this-- They're just gathering more weaponry, and you can see a couple of them have catapults that are set up on the back that they're in the process of loading now. They're going to attack their own walls to try and stop these people. But it's going to take them a while to set that up. What are you guys doing? The rest of you are on foot, so you're behind.

SAM: We still-- We can get to the-- Are you talking to us, Matt? On the crawler?

MATT: You three are on the crawler.

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: You're with them in the crawler as well?

ASHLEY: Yes, in the crawler.

MATT: That is all the room there is, and the crawler is not moving at a great speed with that many people.

MARISHA: Right.

ASHLEY: Do we jump ship, or do we--

SAM: No, we don't jump ship. This is the way out.

ASHLEY: Okay, go to the-- How far away from that back gate?

MATT: You're maybe about 120 feet or so. You can get there pretty quick on a crawler.

SAM: But someone's going to have to open it. Do you want to be an animal and dash up ahead and open it or something?

LIAM: What if you rammed it?

LAURA: No, that's not enough.

ASHLEY: We can open it.

LAURA: The ramming it won't--

TALIESIN: Ramming it won't actually be enough, but--

ASHLEY: Is there a lock on it?

MATT: You're not close enough to really see. But as you approach, you can take a look.

ASHLEY: Yeah. To get a little closer.

LAURA: There's probably cranks.

TRAVIS: It's a big-ass exterior.

MARISHA: Do the two buff people get to crank real quick?

TALIESIN: I'll hop off once we get there.

MARISHA: All right.

MATT: So as you approach and spin off to the side, the legs digging in a bit to stop before you slam into it, the secondary gate, while smaller than the front gate, is built in a similar, reinforced way, and there are cranks and two sets of chains that work through this pulley system to pull them apart and open. However, in the process of the siege, as is standard procedure, there are a number of bars and elements that have now been placed to keep it shut and defensible from the inside.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: (whispers) Do we have any more TNT?

TALIESIN: That's a lot of TNT to get.

ASHLEY: We do. We have it. We passed them out.

LAURA: I don't... Yeah, we passed out the TNT, I think.

MARISHA: I threw one.

SAM: I don't have one.

LAURA: I don't know who all threw it.

MARISHA: I threw one in the fight.

SAM: We got four left, then?

TRAVIS: I got one, but I'm not with you.

MARISHA: You have one? Okay.

LAURA: I think I've got one.

TRAVIS: Can't you just pull the bars out?

ASHLEY: I am going to try with my ring--

SAM: Sure.

LIAM: Stonky's?

ASHLEY: -- to cast Telekinesis and try to pull one of the gates open.

MATT: Pull one of the gates open? Okay.

LAURA: Oh, with your spell?

MATT: What's your strength on the ring?

ASHLEY: It can...

MATT: This is Telekinesis?

ASHLEY: 1,000 pounds.

SAM: Oh!

MATT: Okay, that door weighs a little more than that, but you begin to pull on it.

LAURA: So for further--

MATT: That will help other attemptsa as you're using that focus to yank on it. You can see the chains and the metal bars that are placed into it to keep it braced from this side (impacts) shift a bit, and what little bit of gap or room there was from the wiggle is now brought to a tense point as the door are now pulled against that brace.

MARISHA: (shouts) Ashton!

TALIESIN: Is anybody watching, by the way? Are we...

MARISHA: I'm going to turn--

MATT: Right now their focus, it seems, is largely to the assault on the opposite side of the courtyard.

TALIESIN: Okay, I'm raging and I'm going to hit this thing. Burning another rage, here we go.

MATT: All righty.

TRAVIS: Has no one tried to remove the bars yet?

MARISHA: I know! Lift the bars!

TRAVIS: Pull the bars.

MARISHA: Lift the bars!

LAURA: Why don't you pull the bars?

SAM: (pigeon coos)

TALIESIN: Oh, well then, I get my strength, so yeah, I'll rage and try.

MATT: It's up to you. You can attack it if you want to.

TALIESIN: Does that help? Or...

MATT and MARISHA: (laugh)

MATT: While you're raging, you have advantage on strength checks.

TALIESIN: Oh, well, in that case, yeah.

MATT: Or you can break it. I mean, it's your call, man. You're the barbarian. You tell me.

ASHLEY: Boosh!

TALIESIN: How tough do these things look?

LAURA: Pretty tough.

TRAVIS: (shouts) More than 1,000 pounds.

MATT: It's reinforced to defend, yeah.

TALIESIN: Okay, then I'm going to try and lift it. I'm seeing what I got to...

MATT: Look, I just don't want you to miss a chance to fight a door.

TALIESIN: Oh yeah, no. (laughter)

MATT: It's a cherished pastime, really.

TRAVIS: You haven't lived.

TALIESIN: I'm trying to find a thing just because there's too many things.

MATT: Get your vengeance, bro. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Ooh, are there ones that are too high to hit, out of curiosity?

MATT: There are. There are three braces on it. One of them looks like it had a latch that was pulled that caused it to fall into the higher brace, because it was just out of range. That one's about 10 feet up, and then there's a central one that's about seven feet up, and one that's about the 3 1/2 foot mark. There's three metal braces.

TALIESIN: I'm going to start at the top one, and because I hit my rage, and suddenly, I become mildly translucent in the head as I sort of get that portal shift. I'm going to do a wormhole strike at the top one and try and see if I can knock it either out or break it, try and knock it out of its--

ASHLEY: Cool!

MATT: That's great. All right, yeah. You're essentially Portalling, if you want to, as opposed to a weapon, this full-on Dragon Ball Z shit, you can portal your arms up to it and try and lift it from a distance.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm going to just try and do a big shove and see if I can get it off.

MATT: All right, make a strength check for me, with advantage.

LAURA: Cool.

TALIESIN: All right.

MARISHA: We got lucky on that roll.

LAURA: Yeah, that portal. Finally.

MARISHA: Uh-huh.

TALIESIN: 23.

MATT: 23. So as you look up towards it, you focus. There's a spark on the side of your head as you punch your arms forward and they just vanish into a dark hole, and up above, you watch as the brace gets knocked off and these arms just appear out of nowhere, lift it up in the air, and then you withdraw them. So the highest brace is now removed.

TALIESIN: Is the second one that's seven feet up, that's not reachable with a hit, is it?

MATT: I'd say it would be with disadvantage.

TALIESIN: I'm going to use another Chaos Burst and instead of trying to-- If it doesn't look liftable, or is it?

MATT: It looks liftable.

TALIESIN: I'm going to give it one more run, but instead of using my hands, I'm going to see if I can just knock it out with a fucking baseball bat.

MATT: Sure. Go for it with a strength check.

TALIESIN: Hm? Would that be a strength check?

MATT: Yes, it would be.

TALIESIN: All right.

MARISHA: While he's doing all of this, I'm just looking backwards, just scanning for the others.

MATT: You see them at a distance. They're nowhere near as fast as the crawler.

TALIESIN: 20.

MATT: 20? 20 is the DC for this. Another heavy golf swing upward cracks into it and (brace creaking). It looks like it's about to clatter back down, but then it just stays up. There's just enough resistance to hold it elevated.

TALIESIN: (blows forcefully)

MATT: With the next rattle, you're uncertain if it's going to fall in a way you like or a way you don't.

SAM: Oh no!

MATT: But you have one way to find out. It's definitely not braced at the moment.

TALIESIN: I think that's two hits, though. That's the end of my turn, isn't it?

MATT: It is, but we're not in a combat round here. If anybody else wants to throw anything else into the process, feel free to jump in.

TALIESIN: Anybody? Anybody?

MATT: We're not in initiative here.

LAURA: Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

MATT: Nope.

LIAM: No, we're running now.

SAM: Wait, so there's another few braces?

MATT: There's one last brace that's around the three and a half, four-foot.

TALIESIN: And there's one that's a little iffy right now.

MATT: There's one that's up and just teetering.

ASHLEY: If we hit it with the-- Do we have any, a leg or something from the crawler?

TALIESIN: Is there a rock on the ground?

SAM: I can shoot something at it.

MATT: Yeah, there's a rock. There's plenty of rocks.

TALIESIN: Shoot something at it!

SAM: Okay. I'll attach the bolt thrower and I'll just try to shoot it so it falls the right way.

MATT: Great, go ahead and roll an attack.

SAM: Okay. 10 plus six, I think.

MATT: 16?

SAM: No, it's 10 plus 3. 13.

MATT: 13. It ricochets off the door, not heavy enough to cause it to jiggle one way or the other. It still stands.

SAM: Sorry!

ASHLEY: Scorching Ray.

MATT: Scorching Ray?

SAM: Gonna burn it open.

ASHLEY: Burn it open.

SAM: Fearne it open. Sure.

ASHLEY: Wait, isn't it-- It's like this?

TRAVIS: It's doing this.

SAM: You got to push it.

MATT: It's on a hinge.

SAM: Throw a rock at it!

TALIESIN: It's like a bus on a freeway--

LIAM: Force. You need some force.

TALIESIN: -- in an action movie.

MARISHA: Yeah.

LAURA: Just going to burn it!

ASHLEY: Just burn it to the ground.

SAM: I'm going to cast Bane on it.

TRAVIS: It's the second top one, and your toss would probably push it.

TALIESIN: I mean, at this point!

LAURA: Yeah, that's true.

ASHLEY: I'm going to run over and try to push it.

MATT: You're pretty tall. I'll say, are you leaping to try and catch it? Because it's just out of reach for you.

ASHLEY: Yes, I'll do a Mirthful Leap, jump up, and boop.

SAM: Ooh! Whee!

MATT: That will definitely be enough to do it.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: So just make a basic strength check for me. This isn't a high DC.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LIAM: Skip, skip, skip, skip, bing!

MATT: Just you have to meet a certain base level to get it to move--

LAURA: Skip to my lou!

MATT: -- as part of the Mirthful Leap.

ASHLEY: Okay. Six.

MATT: Six, okay! Okay.

SAM: Oh no.

MATT: You reach up and you tag it. As you do, it begins to move from its mooring.

TRAVIS: No, no!

MATT: I need you to roll a d6 for me.

LAURA: Oh no!

MATT: On a one to four, it falls the direction you want it to. On a five or six, it falls back into the brace.

ASHLEY: Roll low, roll low, roll low!

MATT: Because you didn't roll a five or lower-- What'd you get?

ASHLEY: A five.

MATT: Five? (laughter)

SAM: Fearne, no!

MATT: Back into the brace.

ASHLEY: Okay. That was not what I wanted it to do. But let's see. Can somebody else do something?

LIAM: Is Stonky's Ring a one time only, one a day?

TRAVIS: You guys couldn't knock over the red Dixie cup?

MARISHA: No!

SAM: We're working on it!

TALIESIN: I assume you're all coming, too.

LIAM: I bet the bars are under 1,000.

TRAVIS: We're way back there.

SAM: We're at the exit of a parking lot, and that thing is just, we can't get around it!

TALIESIN: So it has fallen back into place.

MATT: It has fallen back into place.

ASHLEY: It doesn't say that my telekinesis in the ring is one time a day.

MATT: You do concentrate on it. Telekinesis is a concentration spell. So if you want to, yeah, you could just use that to do it.

ASHLEY: Oh. (whooshes) (laughter)

MATT: Now, the brace does move easy with that. There you go.

MARISHA: There's one brace left?

MATT: There is.

MARISHA: Do it again! Bottom brace!

MATT: (brace falling) There you go.

TALIESIN: I hate all of you. (laughter)

MATT: It's about this time that the rest of your troop catches up to you, covered in sand and dust.

MARISHA: Come on, come on, come on!

LAURA: Let's go! Let's go!

SAM: Laudna, we can't all get on.

LIAM: Can we fit on it?

TALIESIN: No, we're not taking it. We're going and we're going to shut it behind us. Let's go, go, go!

SAM: Wait, we're not taking the car?

TALIESIN: We can't all fit on it! Let's go!

SAM: Well, some of us can.

LAURA: Take the car!

TALIESIN: Take the car if you want to. Go!

LAURA: Take the car to Joe's.

MARISHA: Maybe go tiny.

LAURA: We'll get the other car.

ASHLEY: Go tiny? Oh, to get in?

SAM: You're the car.

TRAVIS: Just go!

LAURA: Get to Joe's! Get to Joe's!

ASHLEY: I try to open the door.

MATT: Okay. So there are the dual chain cranks. You have to go over and (crank).

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm--

TRAVIS: I'll do the other one.

MATT: Okay. So with that, the doors.

SAM: Give me the package!

LIAM: Orym is turning around and using his 26 passive perception to listen for Voe in front of her.

LAURA: Why?

SAM: I'm faster than you!

LIAM: In front of her.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Just waiting.

SAM: Because I taste blood.

MATT: Roll a persuasion check with advantage for me.

LIAM: Persuasion? Perception.

MATT: Sorry, perception.

LIAM: Good.

LAURA: I don't know.

LIAM: That is 24.

SAM: Come on, don't you trust me?

TALIESIN: No.

LAURA: I don't know.

MATT: 24. Now, the dust is not entirely clear, but it's not as heavily intense as it was. Dancing about, you can see, there's still some skirmishes happening, but it looks like it's getting lighter along the walls on the opposite side. You see one shape dart from the fortress to the wall.

TRAVIS: Fuck.

MATT: Arc over.

LAURA: That might be Artana.

LIAM: That is Artana.

LAURA: Good. She got out. Fine.

ASHLEY: We're going!

TALIESIN: Let's get our people out and shut the door behind us. You've got the fucking ring. So yeah, if we get through, I'm just going to try and shut this thing, and if we can knock one of those things back in place.

ASHLEY: Yeah, I'm going to just pick up one of the bars again and then just, boop, put it back in.

MATT: So the only means of really closing it with the winch is on the inside, so if you're going to try and push it closed, that's going to be a strength check from you with the help of your Telekinesis.

SAM: Or we could just go.

TALIESIN: All right.

MARISHA: Or we could just go.

LAURA: Or just go. Just go.

MATT: Yeah, it's hard to close it from the outside.

ASHLEY: Yeah yeah yeah.

TALIESIN: Okay, fuck it.

SAM: Imogen, you won't give me the guy, so it's fine.

LAURA: Here.

SAM: No no no.

LAURA: Take the scarf. Take the scarf!

SAM: You take the car. It's okay.

MARISHA: Yes, and you have that crate.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MARISHA: And you guys got Treshi?

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Where are we going?

MARISHA: Then get on the car and we'll meet you at Joe's.

TALIESIN: Going to Joe's.

ASHLEY: Okay, going to Joe's.

MARISHA: Joe's? Joe's?

TALIESIN: Joe's.

ASHLEY: We're going? Okay.

LAURA: Who's driving? You know how drive it.

ASHLEY: I will.

LIAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: You can track a skirmisher to Joe's. I'm just saying.

TALIESIN: Marked fucking skirmisher. Yeah, fuck it.

ASHLEY: I feel like we should--

LAURA: Really?

TALIESIN: We should abandon it at some point.

ASHLEY: I'm leaving it. I'm running to Joe's. I'm getting off the skirmisher.

TALIESIN: Yeah, let's all go. Let's go.

LAURA: We just abandon the skirmisher.

MATT: You abandon the skirmisher there?

SAM: No, we're not going to abandon it! What are you talking about? Why would we abandon it?

TRAVIS: Stay on the skirmisher, then!

LAURA: Let's take it halfway, then abandon it before we get there, yeah.

SAM: It's faster than us!

MATT: Okay, so who's on the skirmisher?

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: One, two.

SAM: We're switching drivers.

MATT: Okay. But you're still on it?

SAM: I don't know if I'm allowed to be.

LAURA: Get on it! Go!

TALIESIN: If you're the slowest, then yes.

SAM: You didn't trust me a second ago.

LAURA: FCG, just get on.

SAM: I shouldn't trust me, either.

LAURA: Jesus, I'm just going. Somebody better get on this thing.

MARISHA: Is it full?

LAURA: No, there's only two of us now on this thing.

MATT: There's two people on it right now, currently. It's just the two of them.

LAURA: He's little, and you're light, so get on.

MARISHA: All right, I jump on with Orym.

MATT: Okay, so the three of you are on the skirmisher.

LAURA: Sure.

MATT: The rest of you are on foot?

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: Okay, cool.

MARISHA: So one, two, three. Okay. Okay. Yeah yeah yeah.

SAM: The throttle's a little tricky.

TRAVIS: You and your box are on foot?

SAM: The clutch is a little sticky.

ASHLEY: I was thinking of getting in--

LAURA: FCG, just get on.

ASHLEY: -- but I'm wondering if--

SAM: No, it's fine, I know, I get it.

ASHLEY: Okay, I'm going to get in with them.

MATT: Okay, so you get in the skirmisher as well?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. So it's the four of you.

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: Okay. Now as you're outside of the gate, are you going to the right or left?

LAURA: We're going towards Joe's.

MATT: Towards Joe's from where you're standing would be to the right, probably.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Okay, so you turn around and begin to turn past that space, and right as you turn the corner back into the main thoroughfare, there's a shape waiting for you right where that opens up.

MARISHA: Artana?

MATT: You see a figure's cloak whipping.

LAURA: Oh no.

MARISHA: Uh-oh.

MATT: Right as you come tearing in--

MARISHA: Oh, that's Otohan.

MATT: -- the lights of the sand begin to apparate, you see the familiar gray hair and red cloak--

LAURA: No. Oh no.

MATT: -- of Otohan Thull, just standing there right in your way. As you begin to try and slow it down, she darts forward and just, blades out, starts striking up against the crawler's side.

TALIESIN: Which currently has a--

SAM: Plus two to AC.

MATT: It does. Still hits on two attacks.

LIAM: Jeez Louise.

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: Third one also hits, and is going to--

MARISHA: Shit. So good, so good.

LAURA: Can we jump off? Can I just jump off?

TRAVIS: What, you want to get off--

MATT: Hold on as second.

LAURA: Is it too late?

TRAVIS: -- the big, trackable vehicle now?

MATT: You can in a second. We'll get to that in a second. Going to offhand attack.

LIAM: Oh no.

SAM: Sorry, Imogen.

MATT: Natural 20.

LAURA: Wheelie sorry.

TRAVIS: Oh snap!

MARISHA: Silvery Barbs.

MATT: Silvery Barbs on that one?

MARISHA: Yes.

MATT: Okay, so disadvantage on it?

MARISHA: Disadvantage.

MATT: Okay. Still hits, but not a crit. You got it.

LAURA: On the car?

MARISHA: The next advantage is for Imogen, on your next attack.

MATT: Next attack? Okay, got it. So for that, that's damage on...

LAURA: All my spells are not attack. Mine are saves.

SAM: Well.

TALIESIN: Get creative.

MATT: Okay, roll a-- The skirmisher that you were on, the front wheel is destroyed.

LAURA: Okay.

MARISHA: All right.

MATT: Now, there are rules for the front wheel, for those of you who still have the skirmisher sheet on it.

TALIESIN: Yep.

LAURA: Okay.

LIAM: Nope.

TALIESIN: Let's see, front wheel has an AC of 21, 25 hit points, can only be damaged by targeted, if the wheel's destroyed while moving, the skirmish-crawler's speed is reduced to 10 feet and must make a DC 12 dexterity saving throw or tumble and explode, causing all creatures riding to make a DC 12 dexterity saving throw--

SAM: Oh my god.

LAURA: Okay, so we all--

TALIESIN: -- or take a fuck-ton of fire damage.

MATT: So roll for the skirmisher you're on.

TALIESIN: I'm not on it, so who's driving?

LAURA: Roll for the skirmisher.

MATT: Correct.

LAURA: I have to roll what?

SAM: This is a save.

MATT: Yeah, the dexterity save on there is?

TALIESIN: DC 12.

MATT: So roll, and add the dexterity modifier of the skirmisher.

LAURA: What's the dex modifier?

LIAM: Minus one.

LAURA: That would be 10.

MATT: So as Otohan carves through with the blades, like a spinning whirlwind in the air, and then landing behind the skirmisher, wheel up, the wheel splits apart and then digs right into the dirt ground.

TALIESIN: That's going to be bad.

MATT: The back legs fling forward as all of you (screams) get pulled forward as it just grinds into the dirt, throwing all of you from the back of the vehicle.

LIAM: Like Morpheus!

MATT: Everyone who's on the car, I need you to roll a dexterity saving throw.

MARISHA: Yep.

MATT: DC 12.

TRAVIS: 100% just like that.

MARISHA: Nope. 12.

TRAVIS: Roll and slide.

LIAM: Aw!

MATT: What was DC on that?

TALIESIN: 12.

LIAM: It was so good and then it was terrible.

MATT: 12, so that's a success.

MARISHA: Really?

LIAM: Fail. Seven.

MATT: Seven, fail.

LAURA: 10.

MATT: Fail.

ASHLEY: Four.

SAM: Oh, brutal.

MATT: Fail. So they take how much damage?

TALIESIN: 4d6.

MATT: 4d6 damage.

TALIESIN: Fire.

MATT: As it explodes around you. That is a shitty roll. That's 10 points of fire damage to those who failed, and five to the success, which was Laudna. As you all--

MARISHA: How much?

SAM: Five.

MATT: As the vehicle, the skirmisher, just detonates upon the impact, the flames swirl around you, and you all end up tumbling in the dirt, spinning over and over, before coming to rest. While the rest of you who weren't on it went to chase and follow suit, and you see this fiery explosion, and it and just eats shit and get destroyed, your friends thrown from it, and there, standing on the ground, you see Otohan stand up, the two blades at the side, the cloak just flapping in the breeze.

SAM: Oh shit.

MATT: At which point, she looks back at both sides, has blades out to both, and goes, "Let's have a conversation, shall we?" You watch as there's this weird flicker in the back, underneath where the cloak is, and these dark shapes appear. Three dark, shadowy versions of her appear in the space around where she is, all wearing the same dark gray armor, but somehow darker, dark grays and blacks. That's where we're going to go to break.

TRAVIS: Oh shit! (exclaiming)

LIAM: This table is on fire. Matt, you are on fire.

LAURA: Oh my god.

LIAM: Holy shit.

LAURA: Chaos!

SAM: Whoa.

ASHLEY: I love this game.

MATT: All right, we'll come back here in a few minutes and pick up from this bit. Yeah, enjoy your break. We'll see you soon.

Part II
MATT: And welcome back. So, as you all stand scattered on each side--

SAM: God, where were we?

LAURA: Oh god!

TALIESIN: Oh god.

MARISHA: We didn't talk about this.

SAM: We didn't talk about anything during the break!

MATT: Still pushing through, blades out, and these strange, shimmering, dark--

MARISHA: Treshi might die.

MATT: -- figures appearing around her.

SAM: Oh shit, he's suffocating.

MARISHA: Treshi's going to suffocate.

MATT: Otohan looks to both sides expectantly. What do you do?

LAURA: I am going to use my bonus action to regain my 4th-level spell with sorcery points.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: I'm going to push up and use Second Wind to get some hit points back.

MATT: Go for it.

MARISHA: Does it feel like she has spotted the rest of our team?

TRAVIS: She's in the middle of all of us.

MATT: Oh, very much so. After cutting through, you guys rushed out through to follow suit. You ran out there.

LAURA: Oh, we ran on either side?

TRAVIS: Yeah, she's got the sword pointed at each of us.

MATT: Both sides.

LAURA: So-- oh god.

SAM: I'm going to do Sympathetic Binding with... Who's facing her?

MATT: I mean, everyone, I think.

LIAM: We're split.

LAURA: We're like--

SAM: They're ahead of us.

MATT: Oh, they're ahead of you guys, so on your side-- On your side, it's whoever was not on the crawler.

SAM: Am I within--

ASHLEY: How much time has passed?

MATT: Six seconds.

SAM: -- 30 feet of them?

LAURA: Since we got in, probably like three minutes.

ASHLEY: Since we got in?

MATT: No, I'd say you're about 45 to 50 feet from the rest of them, since they got thrown from the vehicle in the opposite direction.

SAM: Can I get closer?

LAURA: Wait--

MATT: If you want to approach Otohan, you can.

SAM: I won't do it, then.

LAURA: How far are we from Otohan, each? Is she like--

MATT: Your group's about 30 feet from her on one side. The rest of you are about 20 to 30 feet from that side, since the vehicle. Actually, it'd probably be the other way around. 20 feet for the rest of the group. For the people that were on the crawler, you're about 35, 40 feet from her, because you got thrown after the vehicle hit the ground.

LAURA: Okay, and it's an alley way, or it's just like a street?

MATT: It's like a T-intersection on the outside of the wall, and there's a street that crosses there. You guys came out of the gate--

LIAM: Right outside of the wall.

MATT: -- turned to the right, and then she was right there waiting, cut you, and then you were thrown off this way. So now, technically, you're near an intersection of streets with the wall of the Paragon's Call Seat of Disdain right there at the edge.

LIAM: The two groups are the two sides of the table, right? We're the blown-up group and you guys are on the crawler.

MATT: Technically, yeah.

TALIESIN: Yeah, yeah.

SAM: I'm going to move closer and just bind with Imogen.

LIAM: Just binding?

SAM: Just binding.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: You want a conversation? You better start talking before that jaw is removed from your skull.

MATT: "(Otohan laughs) You impress me with your brazen infiltration. Brash can have its merits over well-plotted. We who think too far ahead, it seems, can miss what stands right before us, yes? Who sent you? Who is your employer?" She takes a few more steps in your direction.

LIAM: I step in front of Imogen.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I'm going to hold my hand out.

MATT: The shadowed versions, which now you can see are versions of her. They're dark, shadowed versions of her body, bereft of a lot of color, just in grays and blacks. There's faint flickering to it a little bit.

MARISHA: Do they move as she moves or do they move independently?

MATT: They move independently, though the movement is similar.

ASHLEY: I step by Imogen as well.

MATT: Orym, you've seen these assassins before.

TRAVIS: Oh! Shit! It just got interesting.

LAURA: Underneath Otohan--

SAM: Before it was not interesting, but now it is.

LAURA: -- the ground is going to sort of rip open, and red light's going to pour out, and a sphere of storm is going to erupt around her, and I'm casting-- I'm casting Hungry Torrent.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: You're casting what?

ASHLEY: Ex-squeeze me?

LIAM: Hungry, hungry torrent.

MATT: So, as this--

TALIESIN: Well, here we go.

MATT: -- this dark red rift flashes, opens up, and (whoosh) this deep red and purple light begins to swirl around Otohan as she walks forward in the direction of all of you. There's a look of recognition in her eyes as it begins to swarm around. What is the DC on this?

LAURA: This is-- oh, fuck. It's a dexterity, which I'm sure she's going to beat.

MATT: Okay, and what's the radius on it?

LAURA: It's a 20-foot radius.

MATT: 20-foot, so all of the other versions--

LAURA: Yes.

MATT: -- technically would fall into this. So, she succeeds with a 20. Sorry, a 19.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: The other ones, natural 16. 17. One of them fails with a 12.

LAURA: Okay. Are there four extra people or three extra?

MATT: It's her and three extras.

LAURA: Okay. All right. They take half damage of 3d6 lightning damage.

MATT: Okay. Two of them immediately dissipate.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: And are destroyed.

LAURA: So, she takes seven points of lightning damage, and then I guess nothing else is affected right now.

MATT: Wait, the other one took half damage as well?

LAURA: Yes. Anything that took--

MATT: Okay, so all three are destroyed.

LAURA: Oh, great.

MATT: They're like, (dissipating).

SAM: That was easy.

MATT: Scattered.

TALIESIN: Oh.

MATT: As the tendrils lick around her, she strikes it off. Now, is this a concentration spell? Does it maintain itself in the space?

LAURA: Yes.

MATT: Okay. So they're still like (tentacles writhing) and you watch in this storm area, there are these long, whip-like tendrils of dark purple, red energy, like lightning that moves, and then it's frozen in place, and then moves again, and then freezes in place. It seems to be trying to wrap around whatever's nearby, like one of the Ghostbusters, you know?

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah.

MATT: Proton cannon. It tries to wrap around and pull, and as it begins to whip around her, she glances towards you. "Hello, again."

TRAVIS: Oh shit.

ASHLEY: I'm standing by Imogen.

TALIESIN: A little closer to Orym.

MATT: She takes another step towards Imogen.

LIAM: That's enough.

MARISHA: Imogen?

MATT: "Who sent you?"

LIAM: With everything that's going on, while she's staring, Orym has also not forgotten about Artana Voe, and is still just listening and listening.

MATT: Make a wisdom saving throw for me.

LIAM: Oh shit. 15.

MATT: 15. So, the few times-- I'm trying to remember. The times that you've had Imogen glance through your mind. Has she peered into your mind before?

LIAM: She says she hasn't.

MATT: So this is a new sensation.

LAURA: You let me do it. You welcomed me in one time.

LIAM: Oh, well, we've talked. Well, you've got all these different things that you can do. We've talked, but is that different than showing you things? I showed you things once?

LAURA: You showed me.

LIAM: On purpose, right?

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: In a familiar, but more intrusive way, you feel a cold icicle begins to push into your mind. She asks forcefully once more. "Who do you work for? Who sent you?" You try and resist, and it pushes through, and for a second, you feel like you've lost all grip on your will, your strength, and then it's gone.

SAM: Oh.

MATT: That brief burst of headache slips from you, and you're back in control, and at that moment, she looks at you. "(chuckles) Eshteross."

TRAVIS: Oh.

MATT: "Interesting. I'll have to pay him a visit. That old fool meddles far beyond his aspirations."

SAM: Oh shit.

MATT: "What do you know of me? Of this? You can answer these questions, or I take the answers from you."

TRAVIS: Yeah, clearly.

LAURA: We don't know anything. We didn't even know you were here.

MATT: Roll a deception check.

SAM: Can I help her since I'm binded to her?

MATT: How do you help?

SAM: I invoke Trusted Companion. What is it? Yeah, Trusted Companion. I'm going to give her a Bonded Blessing of a d6.

MATT: Okay, so you can add a d6 to the roll, if you'd like.

LAURA: Okay. Okay. 18.

MATT: 18.

SAM: But as I do, I back up and go: Ah! Yeah.

MATT: "I have a hard time believing that you would not know that the leader of the group that you've infiltrated was present, especially given the face time I've had with a number of you since your arrival."

LAURA: Are you starting your turn? It's been six seconds. You're going to take another 3d6 lighting damage if you stay in there.

MATT: She's going to stay there and take it.

TRAVIS: Wow!

TALIESIN: Nightmare King.

TRAVIS: Wow.

MATT: She make another save?

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: People track of the hole?

LIAM: Are we in loose combat terms here, or are we in a lull?

MATT: Right now, it's on the cusp of initiative.

LIAM: Okay.

TRAVIS: A conversation still.

ASHLEY: Oh.

LIAM: A conversation.

ASHLEY: You're the leader of this establishment?

LAURA: That's 18, unless she saves.

MATT: She does not.

LAURA: She doesn't save?

MATT: She doesn't save.

LAURA: Then she takes the full 18 and she is restrained.

MATT: She's restrained?

LAURA: Uh-huh. She's restrained until the spell ends.

MATT: She'll use Legendary Resistance then and succeed.

TRAVIS: Ooh, shit!

LIAM: Yeah, she's--

TRAVIS: (warning alarm) (laughter)

ASHLEY: Whoop!

MATT: I think she's going to go--

TRAVIS: Def-Con 4.

MARISHA: Moving up, moving up.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: "Perhaps the rest of you are weak, like the sheep who bleat to be saved by some higher power."

ASHLEY: Yeah, that stinks.

MATT: "You are worthy of only ashes then." (apparating) Three more of those same versions just reappear around her.

TALIESIN: Are they in the ball?

MARISHA: Run!

MATT: No, they are not, and we're rolling initiative. (groans)

SAM: Rolling initiative?

MARISHA: Fuck, we should've run!

SAM: Oh god!

LAURA: We got to run. We got to get away.

MARISHA: We got to run!

LAURA: We got to run away.

SAM: This combat is brought to you by WizKid miniatures!

LIAM: A level seven she's got Legendary Resistances.

SAM: Fans seeking an extra challenge can try out the Critical Role sprue miniatures for total customization--

TRAVIS: Oh, Matty!

SAM: -- at wizkids.io/crminis, or visit your local game store!

LIAM: Wow.

LAURA: Oh look!

ASHLEY: So cool!

LAURA: Our crawler's already knocked over.

TRAVIS: That is so gorgeous.

LIAM: The lamps on the wire.

ASHLEY: What?

LAURA: Oh, yeah!

TRAVIS: Fucking awesome.

ASHLEY: Oh, the little lamps!

TRAVIS: God damn!

ASHLEY: Oh my god, that's fly.

MARISHA: Ooh, crystals.

TRAVIS: Look at the crates and barrels and shit on the street.

ASHLEY: Oh, come on.

MATT: The rest of you that are over on this space here.

ASHLEY: Ding dong!

MARISHA: Uh-oh, you're stuck.

LAURA: Oh no.

MARISHA: Oh, it's your magnet. It's the magnet.

MATT: I'm going to take it off or the time being.

MARISHA: There we go.

MATT: There we go. That works. I'll leave that off for this one.

TALIESIN: Oh boy.

TRAVIS: His power has weakened.

SAM: I don't have any spells left, guys.

LIAM: I got to see it.

LAURA: Oh no. I'm almost out, too, actually.

MATT: Ashton, you were over here, right?

TALIESIN: I was near--

MARISHA: Shit, shit. We're running, right? We got to run? We got to run.

LAURA: We have to.

MARISHA: We have to run. Run, run, run, run?

LIAM: Orym is directly in front of Imogen.

SAM: No, we got to see. We got to do a little combat to see what she's got.

MARISHA: The people who have Treshi--

SAM: Let's see what she's got. (pigeon coos)

TALIESIN: I am curious how many hits it will take--

MARISHA: -- Treshi and the boxes have to run.

TALIESIN: -- to TKO you.

LIAM: Look at her. Look at her!

LAURA: Oh god, she's running forward.

TALIESIN: To knock you dead.

MARISHA: I say we split, and try and--

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: Her mini is running at us.

SAM: Her mini is perpetually running.

MARISHA: Yeah, we got to scatter. (laughter)

SAM: That's exhausting to me. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Oh boy.

LAURA: Or at least--

SAM: She's like a shark.

TALIESIN: She does nothing but cardio.

MARISHA: Because they always swim.

TALIESIN: What is the radius that you placed?

LAURA: 20 feet.

SAM: I'm going to run around the block.

LIAM: It's two of the assassins?

SAM: Three.

LIAM: Three?

LAURA: Three.

LIAM: Oh, another one's being placed.

TALIESIN: Also, is this a spell that affects anybody who walks in, or just baddies?

MATT: Anybody.

LAURA: Anybody that walks in that spot.

TALIESIN: Anybody? Okay, looks dangerous.

MATT: Okay. Initiative on this.

TRAVIS: Ooh!

SAM: Oh, initiative.

TRAVIS: Oh, right.

MARISHA: I rolled dog shit.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: 25 to 20.

LAURA: Cool.

MARISHA: Not good.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: Yep.

LAURA: So I think Otohan is right there.

MATT: All right, 20 to 15?

LIAM: 17.

MARISHA: Wow.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: There it is.

MATT: 15 to 10?

TALIESIN: 14.

TRAVIS: 14.

ASHLEY: Rollies.

LAURA: Which one is higher?

MATT: Who has the higher dex?

SAM: Better just roll for it.

TRAVIS: 14.

TALIESIN: 16.

MATT: All right, so Ashton.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: And then Chetney. 10 to five?

LAURA: Oh, wait. No, I had 11.

MATT: You had 11? Okay.

TRAVIS: Sorry, what was it? Who was after Chetney?

ASHLEY and SAM: Imogen.

LAURA: I am.

ASHLEY: Seven.

LAURA: Wow.

ASHLEY: Wow, really?

MATT: Anybody above seven? Okay.

ASHLEY: Holy moly, okay.

TRAVIS: A level seven.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: All right. Who's left?

SAM: One.

MARISHA: I rolled a natural one as well, but that puts me at three.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Mine is just one. Did you also roll a nat one?

SAM: Yeah.

MARISHA: Oh boy. Hot table's done.

LAURA: Wow.

MARISHA: Cold table, cold table.

SAM: Cold table.

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Boy.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Remove your chips.

MARISHA: Yeah.

LAURA: The luck is gone.

MARISHA: Move.

LAURA: Walk away.

MARISHA: Move out.

MATT: All righty.

SAM: FGG.

MARISHA: FGG.

SAM: Fucking GG. (laughter)

MARISHA: Fucking GG.

MATT: So.

LAURA: Uh-uh.

MATT: Otohan goes first.

SAM: Yep.

LAURA: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

MARISHA: Sure.

TRAVIS: Sure thing.

MATT: She's going to dart forward, right up into this space.

TALIESIN: Yep.

LAURA: Yeah, of course she is.

MATT: The echoes are going to--

SAM: Oh god. Oh god! Oh god!

LAURA: Oh, okay. I'm dead. I'm going to die.

SAM: Oh no.

TRAVIS: Does your sphere hurt anybody, or just enemies?

TALIESIN: Anybody.

LAURA: Anybody.

MATT: She's going to--

TRAVIS: So we can't get to you.

MATT: -- go up to you first, Imogen--

LAURA: You could go around.

LIAM: All the way around.

TALIESIN: Here we go.

MATT: -- and is going to unleash three weapon attacks, and then an offhand strike against you.

TALIESIN: I am not still raging anymore?

TRAVIS: Did you just say four attacks?

MATT: You are not still raging.

TALIESIN: Okay, I've dropped my rage, apparently.

MARISHA: Three and an off-hand.

MATT: Well, you weren't taking damage or dealing damage.

TALIESIN: No, I was just like-- Yeah.

SAM: Wait, that's her?

MARISHA: Yeah.

SAM: Oh man.

TRAVIS: This is a problem.

MATT: That is 28 to hit.

TALIESIN: Oh yeah, that hits.

MATT: Okay. That is 16 points of slashing damage.

TALIESIN: Fuck me.

MATT: Plus an additional nine points of force damage.

TALIESIN: Okay, 25.

MATT: Second attack is a 18 to hit.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: I have to [inaudible].

MARISHA: Yeah, like relay race it?

MATT: You take 11 points of slashing damage, plus seven force.

MARISHA: Hand over Treshi.

TALIESIN: 18.

LAURA: She might now know we--

MARISHA: Have Treshi. Does she even give a fuck about Treshi?

MATT: Actually, sorry, no. You aren't prone, reduce the force damage. Sorry.

TALIESIN: So, okay, one more time. Tell me what.

TRAVIS: He said she's going to kill him.

MATT: So it was nine force damage, and then the last one was--

TALIESIN: I don't know.

LIAM: She's giving the blessing.

MATT: I totally forgot--

TRAVIS: He was a prisoner, he was not--

MATT: We'll say take off 11.

TALIESIN: Oh, so take how much? Because I undid it. Oh, seven. So it would be 11 damage.

SAM: Otohan's going to kill him?

TRAVIS: He said she is going to kill him, yeah.

SAM: Well, she could have killed him at any point.

TALIESIN: Yeah, wait. That's not right.

LAURA: I think Voe was going to kill him.

TALIESIN: I may have fucked up some shit. We'll find out. I think I may have taken too much damage.

TRAVIS: I don't think he was a guest.

TALIESIN: I got confused, so.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: He was talking about Artana Voe?

MATT: Well, we're removing the force damage, because you weren't knocked prone on that, unfortunately. So we're going to, instead--

MARISHA: Fuck.

TALIESIN: I may have taken an extra 10 points that I didn't mean to.

MATT: It's fine.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: Take it off.

LAURA: He went, I'm confident enough.

MATT: It's fine. The third hit is going to be a 19.

TALIESIN: Oh, yeah, that hits.

MATT: Okay, that is going to be 15 points of slashing damage.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: Then the echo is going to take in that offhand strike. So it was (weapons slashing) and then from the side, the echo strikes as well for that's going to be a 20 to hit.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: For 14 points of slashing damage.

TALIESIN: I'm down.

TRAVIS: Oh, whoa!

SAM: Wait, what?

TALIESIN: I'm down.

TRAVIS: Ashton's down.

SAM: He's more than 30 feet away from me, isn't he?

TRAVIS: Barbarian's down, not raging.

TALIESIN: I'm down. I was very high, and I don't know if I fucked up that 10, because I might still be standing without that 10. I don't know. Fuck it.

LIAM: Ashton's down.

TRAVIS: I mean, we have two options. Hit her directly or scatter.

SAM: Oh, wait, it's 60 feet from me I can do Healing Word. Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool.

TRAVIS: I would scatter.

MATT: Yeah, so you got that.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: That's going to finish their go for this round. Next up is Orym.

LIAM: Holy shit.

MARISHA: Should we just ask if she wants Treshi?

TRAVIS: There we go.

LIAM: I can't slide between--

SAM: Might not even know that we have him.

LIAM: I really wanted to be between Imogen and--

SAM: He not standing with us.

MARISHA: Yeah, she might just want to kill us for being invasive bastards.

LIAM: And her.

SAM: She doesn't even know we have him.

LIAM: Let me see, I am going to use a superiority die.

MARISHA: Maybe, we don't know.

LIAM: Shit, no. I'm not going to do that, I'm going to move to the space in here. This little square that's empty.

MATT: All righty.

MARISHA: Not good.

TALIESIN: Holy shit, I just had a lot of damage done to me.

MARISHA: Not good.

ASHLEY: Really not good.

TALIESIN: I was in--

TRAVIS: High 50s, right?

TALIESIN: Possibly low 60s.

LIAM: I'm going to kneel down fast and jam this into Ashton's mouth and then stand up, whip around, and slash twice. I'm going to leap up in the air.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: Slash her, and then kick her off and use a superiority die and try to push her back in. So, that is a 19 to hit.

MATT: 19 to hit misses.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

LIAM: Misses.

MATT: Yes.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: You try and strike, and just parries it.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

LIAM: Second slash.

SAM: What happened? What's wrong?

LIAM: This one hits.

TALIESIN: Took a healing potion, and it--

LAURA: Does it?

LIAM: Well, let's hope. That is a 25 to hit.

SAM: It what?

MATT: 25 does hit.

TALIESIN: Four HP is what I got out of it.

SAM: And you're up.

LIAM: She needs to beat a 15 strength save for a pushing attack.

TALIESIN: Out of what could've been 10.

MATT: 19.

TRAVIS: I don't think six matters.

LIAM: Okay, so I'll do my damage. 13 points of damage total.

MATT: 13 points of damage.

TRAVIS: Stunned silence.

MARISHA: Silence, I know.

MATT: Going to use Protective Field. As you strike, you watch her flex the muscles in her forehead, and as you go, there's almost a psychic shield. It absorbs most of the blow. How much damage was it?

LIAM: 13.

MATT: 13 reduced by seven. So she takes six points of damage.

LIAM: Okay. Then I just square off and hold my shield up higher and stand ground.

MATT: All righty, finishing Orym's go. Ashton, you are conscious, though prone.

TALIESIN: I'm in the middle. If I move anywhere away from these motherfuckers--

MATT: Unless you use your action to disengage.

TALIESIN: Okay, shit.

LIAM: Tuck and roll.

TALIESIN: Yeah, can I-- I can use my action to disengage on that, then?

MATT: You can.

TALIESIN: Then just try and back up without standing up?

MATT: If you want to, yeah.

TALIESIN: I'm going to disengage, fucking back up. I cannot believe I'm doing this. Take a little cover behind that.

MATT: Are you going to use half your movement to get up?

TALIESIN: Can I only move at half movement if I'm crouched?

MATT: Crouched? Yeah, because you're not on your foot, so.

TALIESIN: You know, sure, I'll burn half my movement and still have 20--

MATT: You can get over here if you want to, behind this.

TALIESIN: Yeah, as long as I can get a little safety there. Fuck, I'm going to rage, just for the shit of it.

TRAVIS: You think?

LIAM: Quick quesh.

MATT: Yes?

LIAM: To give the potion to Ashton, that makes it a full action, because I was giving it to someone else?

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: That means my attacks were my Action Surge.

MATT: Got it. I somehow assumed that, sorry. My apologies (belch), pardon me.

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT and MARISHA: (belching) My apologies! (laughter)

MATT: All right, finishing your turn, to take a Legendary Action, take a strike at Imogen.

TALIESIN: Shit.

LAURA: I'm dead.

SAM: Are you really?

LAURA: No, but I will be.

SAM: Jesus.

MATT: That's going to be 22 to hit.

LAURA: Yeah!

TALIESIN: Shit.

MATT: You take 11 points of slashing damage.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: It's going to use a Psionic Strike on you. Otohon looking over at where Ashton's going off and facing off with Orym, with an unnatural speed, just glancing over, all of a sudden focuses on you, and in a moment, you see a flash of where your eyes met in that dream. As you pull out of that, you didn't even notice the blade meet you. So you take 11 points of slashing damage, plus--

LAURA: Is that an additional 11 points, plus the-- So this is another 11 points?

MATT: Yes, this is additional psychic damage.

TALIESIN: Fuck me, man.

MATT: I need you to make a DC 17 strength save, please.

LAURA: Sure, no problem, I'm really strong, so I got this. Five.

MATT: And you are knocked prone.

SAM: Is that her or her underlings?

LAURA: So that was 11 damage twice, right, yes, got it.

TALIESIN: They're kind of all the same thing.

MATT: I also need you to make a concentration check.

TALIESIN: Jesus fucking Christ.

MATT: You have to beat a 22.

SAM: Beat a 22?

MATT: Or it's half damage. 11, sorry.

LAURA: What?

MATT: It's half the damage you took.

LAURA: So 11.

MATT: So 11.

LAURA: Okay, so I beat that.

MATT: Okay, cool. So you maintain concentration on that there. All right, finishing Ashton's go. Chetney, you're up.

TRAVIS: Fucking shit. There's a goddamn hurricane of lightning in the middle.

SAM: Even if we wanted to leave, how do we leave?

LAURA: I don't know to get out of here. I don't know. We just scatter.

MARISHA: We split and scatter.

SAM: She's going to go after her.

LAURA: I don't know.

SAM: We don't have teleport-y things.

TRAVIS: Yeah, bonus action, I'm going to grab my lower jaw and just rip my face off, and there is--

MARISHA: Let's go.

TRAVIS: -- a huge wolf maw underneath.

LAURA: Should we try and scatter?

TRAVIS: But I'm wearing a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Chetney mask up top.

MATT: Oh god! That's horrifying!

LAURA: Everybody go different directions.

MATT: I love it.

TRAVIS: I am going to run up to the edge of the cyclone and then run around the side of it as far as I can.

MATT: All righty.

SAM: Who has Treshi?

MATT: It's around this way?

TRAVIS: I'm going to go the opposite.

MATT: This way?

TRAVIS: You know what? It's the same, so I'll go to your right.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: I don't know if she gives a fuck about him.

MATT: 30?

TRAVIS: Yeah, 25.

LAURA: He was paying her. I don't think he--

TRAVIS: How far am I-- can you count squares for me, to her, to Artana?

SAM: Of course she does. He has access to--

MATT: So 25 feet there. This isn't Artana, this is--

TRAVIS: I'm sorry.

MATT: No worries.

TRAVIS: Am I 30 feet from her in a direct line?

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: She's waiting for us.

TRAVIS: I'm going to use-- tell me if this is right, I'm going to use--

SAM: He has the tech she needs to get to the moon or something.

TRAVIS: -- one of my new blood curses.

MATT: Uh-huh?

MARISHA: I think he's a rich guy and Treshi's paying her for safety.

TRAVIS: Where the fuck did it go?

LIAM: But if she doesn't give a fuck about him, why is she here?

TRAVIS: I'm going to use the Blood Curse of Bloated Agony.

SAM: Bloated Agony?

TRAVIS: Bloated Agony. You curse a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you until the end of your next turn. For the duration, the creature has disadvantage on strength and dex checks. And takes 1d8 necrotic damage if it makes more than one attack on its turn.

MARISHA: She looked at you and said, "Hello again."

MATT: Oh yeah, okay.

SAM: That's bloated all right.

TRAVIS: Well, yeah.

MATT: Is there a save they make, or does it just happen? Double check, trying to remember.

TRAVIS: No, because it's only one turn.

MATT: That's true, yeah. So as you focus, you flare up your blood magic. What does that look like as you invoke the curse?

TRAVIS: Yeah, so the blood magic's already on the chisel, but he takes it and he just sticks it into his rib, and he goes-- (howls)

LAURA: Oh shit.

TRAVIS: A huge howl comes out and you see shock waves that go out.

MATT: It hits the back of Otohan, and you watch as the armor seems to almost bulge as muscles begin to fight, and something internal begins to twist and contort within the body of Otohan Thull. Looks back over her shoulder, back at you.

TRAVIS: That's my turn.

MATT: Okay, you got it. All right, finishing the end of that turn, it's going to use another action to dash. Move her speed any direction. It's going to move and dart to this side, next to Fearne. All righty, that brings us to Imogen. You're on the ground.

TRAVIS: I also did run by one of her shadows.

MATT: Right, it did not get an attack of opportunity.

TRAVIS: Okay.

SAM: It would be so cool--

MATT: She used her reaction already.

SAM: -- if on that line across, there was just a tiny pair of sneakers, dangling. (laughter)

MATT: Aw, I should've looked at Etsy for it.

TALIESIN: Was that technically one of her turns?

LAURA: Are we trying to run?

TALIESIN: So if I had one of my effects up, would that affect her?

LAURA: So we should run.

TALIESIN: Within my 15-foot radius.

SAM: We need to put up some wall of something.

MATT: No, that was not one of her turns.

TALIESIN: Okay, cool.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: Fuck, shit, piss.

TRAVIS: We got a hard choice to make. We're going to fight and die, or we're going to run, and if we run, we got to scatter.

LAURA: We got to scatter.

MARISHA: If we could just incapacitate her for a hot second.

SAM: Our car just blew up.

TRAVIS: If we scatter, she's going to get to pick who she goes after.

MARISHA: Who she goes to. Unless we just try and--

SAM: We just have to hold her off for 48 hours until the skyship comes.

LAURA: Cool, cool cool cool.

SAM: We can just call for it now.

TRAVIS: Call the C-130.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

SAM: Can you hold her while we run?

LIAM: Supervillain in a lightning bubble.

MARISHA: Can you use your lance? Are you out?

LAURA: I can't, I'm out that spell. I'm out of spells.

ASHLEY: I can try to hold it, but.

MARISHA: Do you have Hold Person?

TALIESIN: Do we have Bane, anything?

LAURA: In your head, you're just going to hear: Run! I'm going to use Misty Step.

MARISHA: Okay, okay.

LAURA: When I'm on the ground, I'm looking up, and I look past Otohan up at the balcony behind her.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I'm going to Misty Step up to here.

MATT: All righty.

MARISHA: Okay, okay.

SAM: Imogen's gone!

TRAVIS: She's going to chase one of us.

MATT: Up into this balcony?

SAM: She abandoned us!

LAURA: Up into this balcony, and I'm going to run and try to go into the building.

MATT: Okay. You got it.

MARISHA: Maybe we buddy system it?

MATT: Okay.

SAM: You open a door and there's a couple just railing each other.

TRAVIS: In the middle of a sandstorm spike?

LAURA: I mean, what else are you going to do?

TALIESIN: Mind Wipe, Mind Wipe!

LIAM: Oh my god.

SAM: It's a tabaxi couple.

MATT: All right, does that finish your turn, Imogen?

TALIESIN: Shit.

LAURA: Hold on, let me mark it. I'm confused. Yes.

MATT: Okay, end of your turn. It's going to use a third Legendary Action to take a strike on you, Fearne. That's going to be a 28 to hit.

ASHLEY: No.

TRAVIS: 28 to hit? Matt Mercer!

MATT: Sorry.

TALIESIN: I hate all of this.

MARISHA: She's going to murder all of us if we stay.

MATT: 14 points of slashing damage.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: It's going to use another Psionic Strike to add an additional--

LAURA: We're trying to run, right?

MATT: -- 14 points of psychic damage.

MARISHA: I think she's pissed enough even if we try to hand over Treshi, she's not going to--

LIAM: Orym couldn't run away because he protec, but it's a run situation.

MARISHA: Run? Run? We all have to be in on running.

MATT: That finishes her.

LAURA: I thought we were. That's why I ran.

MATT: Fearne, it's your turn.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: There's nothing to be done.

SAM: How do we run?

TALIESIN: We all scatter.

SAM: But we're going to be leaving--

MARISHA: We got to try and just slow her down. If you can slow her down.

TALIESIN: Anything you have to slow her down.

SAM: Can you get out?

ASHLEY: Okay. I'm going to try to cast--

MARISHA: Come on. Come on, Fearne.

ASHLEY: Hold Person on her.

MARISHA: Come on. High level shit, high level shit.

SAM: You just hope that she doesn't look in the bedroom?

ASHLEY: Yeah, I'm going to try to cast Hold Person on her.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Keep going, yeah.

MARISHA: Come on.

ASHLEY: I'm doing it at 3rd-level, so that's also getting another creature as well.

MATT: Okay. So you're targeting her and one of the echoes. Got it.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Hide under the bed.

MATT: That's a wisdom save?

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: That's a failure. She's going to burn a Legendary Resistance. The echo, which one? The right or the left, you're affecting?

MARISHA: Fuck, the Legendary Resistance. So wait, that's two that she's burned?

ASHLEY: That one over there.

MATT: Over there?

TALIESIN: That's two down.

ASHLEY: Yeah, your right.

MATT: That is a failure, so that one is currently held. Mark that here.

ASHLEY: Are we running?

LAURA: We're running!

ASHLEY: Okay. I'm going to reach my hand down to Mister.

MARISHA: Fuck.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: I'm going to say: Let's go. As a bonus action, he's going to cast Fiery Teleportation.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: We will move-- I think it's only 15 feet or something like that. Yep, 15 feet.

MATT: Which direction?

ASHLEY: To an unoccupied-- Okay.

LAURA: You could go on the other side of it.

ASHLEY: I think I'm going to try to start running this way as well.

MATT: This way or this way? You tell me.

ASHLEY: This way, yeah.

MATT: Okay, so 15 feet. There.

ASHLEY: The space that he left, so--

TALIESIN: I need to see a thing, shit.

ASHLEY: She's going to have to make a dex saving throw.

MATT: Okay, yeah. We'll say you put her next to her--

ASHLEY: Yeah, to make sure that it goes off.

TALIESIN: Okay, okay, okay.

MATT: Dex save. Natural one. So she just takes the damage.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: She doesn't want to use a Legendary Resistance?

ASHLEY: Of course. What a bullshit roll. Four points of damage. It was a dumb one.

MATT: Aw. Four points of fire damage.

ASHLEY: Four points of fire damage.

MATT: Okay, got it. Okay. That finish your turn, Fearne?

LAURA: She explodes. It's so weird.

MATT: You just (flaming teleportation) in this burst of flame and it burns her a bit.

ASHLEY: Yeah, that's my turn.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Shit, that's my turn.

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

ASHLEY: Goddamn it.

LAURA: You can use your movement, still.

ASHLEY: That's right, I can still move! Okay, so from there, I'm going to still just take off running as far as I can go.

MATT: 30 feet this way? We'll put you about there, we'll say.

SAM: The rammer of the flame.

MATT: Okay. All right. Laudna.

MARISHA: All right, I say: FCG, I think we're running! I'm going to hit her with a Ray of Frost.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Under 20 feet.

LAURA: Waste of a spell. Waste of a spell.

MARISHA: Wait, no, that was fine. That was fine, sorry.

TALIESIN: So, the shadow that's held--

MARISHA: Fuck, 18.

TALIESIN: -- we can't hit it or it will get free?

MATT: 18 misses.

MARISHA: 18 misses.

MATT: Yes.

MARISHA: Okay.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

MARISHA: 18 misses. Oh my god. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and use my bonus action to do Form of Dread.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Give myself nine temporary hit points, which is great. Fuck. And then also run. I am going to--

TALIESIN: Fuck.

MARISHA: I'm going to run and start heading up this balcony.

MATT: This balcony? The ladder here, you mean?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: That'll get you partway up the ladder there.

MARISHA: Okay. Fuck.

TALIESIN: Fuck, man.

MATT: That'll get you about there. Okay.

SAM: When you moved away, Imogen, did your sphere stay?

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: Shit.

MATT: All right, does that finish your turn, Laudna? FCG, you're up.

SAM: There's a dude right there that no one has attacked.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

MARISHA: Shadow dude.

LAURA: They go down quickly.

TRAVIS: Matt's just standing there with his Weed Whacker on the lawn.

SAM: Am I close enough that he would hit me? Well yeah, I don't know.

MATT: You're 10 feet away. You don't know if it's in range or not. Its weapons seemed standard range.

SAM: Okay. Which way did Laudna go? Oh, you're walking up the wall.

MARISHA: Yeah.

SAM: Okay, Jesus. Okay, we're running, right?

MARISHA: Running.

SAM: I'm going to run this way.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: I mean roll that way, around the back of the house.

MATT: Over here?

SAM: Yeah. As I go, I'll bonus action grant you another four points, four temporary hit points.

TALIESIN: God fucking damn it.

MARISHA: Okay.

TALIESIN: God fucking fucking damn it.

SAM: With my Ardent Armor.

MARISHA: Sick.

SAM: Ah!

MARISHA: Oh, FCG!

SAM: I'll use my action to just keep going around the back of the house.

MATT: Okay. All right. Over here?

SAM: Around this way.

MATT: Around this way?

SAM: Yeah, I'd love to get around here if I can.

MATT: Oh, got you. You can about there with the rest of your movement.

SAM: Great.

MATT: Okay, you got it. All right, finishing your turn. Top of the round, it's now Otohan's go.

LAURA: No!

TALIESIN: She has to make a-- I'm so sorry, I lost the button. She has to make, because there's a weird red blue aura coming from the corner, she has to make a constitution saving throw.

MATT: Constitution saving throw. That is going to be a 15.

TALIESIN: That's not looking at the right number. Where's my save for that?

ASHLEY: Be higher. Be higher. Be higher.

LAURA: It's going to be hard to beat.

TALIESIN: So sorry, I'm trying to remember. What is the save for these things?

SAM: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: It's usually listed in features, I think.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: Should say at the top of the--

TALIESIN: Okay, Fundamental Force is a DC, mine is eight plus your proficiency modifier.

MATT: Eight plus three.

TALIESIN: Plus your constitution modifier. It doesn't actually say the number, it just says what it is.

MATT: Right, so it's 11 plus your constitution modifier, which is?

TALIESIN: Three.

MATT: So 14.

TALIESIN: Fuck!

ASHLEY: Fuck, just under.

TALIESIN: Fuck. Shit. Piss. Fuck.

MATT: Barely, barely.

TALIESIN: Goddamn it, that would've made everything so much fucking easier.

MATT: With that--

LAURA: We're going to die.

MATT: -- technically this one vanishes.

SAM: Oh. I killed one!

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Good job, FCG!

MATT: This is going to run. This one here--

LIAM: Is that the one that's held?

MATT: -- which is held, which it can't do anything this round. With this, she's going to go ahead and already is next to you.

MARISHA: Goddamn it.

MATT: Going to run a couple strikes. Going to do three attacks against you, Orym.

LIAM: Yep.

MATT: First strike is going to be 25 to hit.

LIAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: God fucking damn it.

MARISHA: Do you have some cool fighter shit?

MATT: That is going to be 10 points of slashing damage. Is going to Psionic Strike for an additional 14 points of psychic.

LAURA: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: She'll take 1d8 for eight points of damage.

MATT: Nice, as that curse "(groans)."

LAURA: Nice. Nice.

MATT: All right. I need you to make a strength saving throw.

SAM: Bloated.

MARISHA: Uh, period cramps.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: Yeah, you're knocked prone.

LIAM: Five.

LAURA: Fuck.

SAM: Water weight.

TALIESIN: I hate all of this.

MATT: Sweeping it out from under you, is going to strike you again. You're prone, so it has advantage on the strike.

LIAM: Advantage. Yep.

MATT: That's going to be a 25 to hit.

LIAM: Yep.

TRAVIS: She'll take five points of damage.

SAM: Oh.

MARISHA: What is this cool thing you're doing?

TRAVIS: Bloated Agony.

MATT: Is it once per turn, or did you...

TRAVIS: It takes 1d8 necrotic damage if it makes more than one attack on its turn. I guess it's just--

MATT: Just the one.

TRAVIS: It's just the one time.

MATT: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MARISHA: Bummer.

MATT: But it maintains every round. It can keep doing the damage.

TRAVIS: Got it, got it, got it.

MATT: All right. So that's going to be--

MARISHA: Oh, I understand. Okay.

MATT: -- 15 points of slashing damage.

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: Because you are prone, the blade sinks deeper into you on the ground. It almost seems to seek to pin you to the floor. You take an additional eight points of--

TALIESIN: Fuck!

MATT: -- force damage.

MARISHA: Force damage?

MATT: Third strike against you.

LAURA: It's not funny right now. It's not funny right now.

MATT: That's going to be 28 to hit.

LIAM: Yep.

MATT: For 12 points of slashing damage.

LAURA: Fuck.

LIAM: Out, and as he's going out, he's looking at the sky past her shoulder and thinking of his husband and his father.

TRAVIS: Oh no! Not like this!

MATT: They're going to take the rest of the movement over here, moving away from the now unconscious Orym, pulling the blade forth, walks over past Ashton just looking off in the direction of where Imogen vanished.

LAURA: She knew where I went?

MATT: Uh-huh.

LAURA: She knew where I went?

MATT: It's almost like she can sense minds.

TRAVIS: Oh man!

SAM: Oh my god.

TALIESIN: Shit.

ASHLEY: God.

TRAVIS: She's shopping. This is bad.

MARISHA: She wants Imogen.

MATT: Just staring off in your direction with the offhand strike.

MARISHA: She wants Imogen.

LIAM: She's in the Toys "R" Us toy room.

MATT: She does a strike against Ashton.

TALIESIN: God fucking damn it.

MATT: That's going to be 21 to hit.

TALIESIN: Yeah, that fucking hits. I'm out.

MATT: That is 12 points of slashing damage.

TRAVIS: Oh man. Oh man. Oh man.

SAM: Tell our story, Mister.

MARISHA: (laughing) Oh.

MATT: She's going to use the rest of her movement, which was 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40.

SAM: Ooh.

MARISHA: What?

MATT: Right up towards you, Fearne.

ASHLEY: Hey, bitch.

TRAVIS: This is a bad, bad bitch.

LAURA: This is really bad.

MATT: All right. That finishes Otohan's turn. Orym, I need you to make a death save for me.

MARISHA: Roll high.

LIAM: Ruidus it is.

TRAVIS: Top.

LIAM: 13.

TRAVIS: Yes.

MATT: 13, that's one success.

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: Got it. All right. Ashton, it's your turn. Death save from you, please.

TALIESIN: Mm-mm. Six.

MATT: Six? One failed save.

TALIESIN: All right.

TRAVIS: Cool. Cool!

MATT: All right. Chetney.

TRAVIS: Yes?

MATT: You're up.

ASHLEY: Fuck.

TRAVIS: Mother shit balls.

MATT: Oh, She makes a save against that to see if she can break the hold. That is going to be a 12. No, a 13, which I don't believe succeeds. That echo is still held.

TALIESIN: God fucking damn it, I had plans.

TRAVIS: Yeah, double dash. I'm on her tail. All four paws on the ground, coming dead charge. Which is not far, it's only 50 feet.

MATT: Right there.

TRAVIS: I'm growling and howling to try and get her attention if I can, but I know there's not much else that I can do.

MARISHA: Are you tapped?

MATT: Okay.

SAM: I'm never tapped, baby.

TRAVIS: Let me double check.

MARISHA: Don't you want to be?

TRAVIS: Bonus action, that was my bonus action. That's it.

TALIESIN: Hate all of it.

LAURA: I don't know what to do.

TRAVIS: Run.

MARISHA: She wants you. If you get the fuck out.

LAURA: But how will we bring everybody back to life?

LIAM: Just get out.

MATT: Chetney, does that finish your turn?

TRAVIS: Who said anything about bringing people back to life? That's my turn.

SAM: Save yourself.

LIAM: Get out.

MATT: Imogen, it's your turn.

LAURA: I didn't see any of that because I'm in the house.

MATT: Correct, but you did hear shouts and combat. That's all you know.

TRAVIS: Lads, I would've put a health potion in one of your mouths if I had one.

LAURA: I don't have a health potion. I don't have anything.

TALIESIN: I have one. I was going to do so many things.

LAURA: Can I run out of the house, down the stairs, and come out through a window on the side and try to take off running?

MATT: As a double move?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Yeah, you rush through the house. Start coasting around on that side.

MARISHA: This is a hard one.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: You have to emerge out the window on this side, but you manage to, with the last of your movement, pull through the window on the opposite end, yes. That's your movement and your action.

MARISHA: I'm hiding up in this red building on the corner. I'm halfway up the stairs.

MATT: Is that your turn?

LAURA: Fuck, that's all I have.

TRAVIS: There's a lot of that going around. It's okay.

MATT: End of the turn, is going to use Legendary Action to take a strike at Fearne

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: That's going to be a 19 to hit. 18, 18 to hit.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Oh boy.

MATT: Does that hit you?

ASHLEY: Yeah, it does.

MATT: That's going to be 14 points of slashing damage.

ASHLEY: I'm out.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Woo! (terrified giggles)

MATT: Okay. That brings us to Fearne's turn, Fearne, I need you to make a death save for me, please.

TRAVIS: Three out!

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay. So, let me put in my--

TRAVIS: Three out!

SAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

TALIESIN: Because I beat him in chess in France.

MARISHA: What do I do?

TALIESIN: This is my fault.

ASHLEY: I just roll one of these.

SAM: This fight could go either way right now.

ASHLEY: I just roll one of these.

TALIESIN: Roll a d20.

SAM: Cleric's still up.

ASHLEY: 14.

MATT: That's one success, so mark that one success.

ASHLEY: I'm shaking.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Okay!

MATT: Laudna, it's your turn.

ASHLEY: Wait, wait, wait, can Mister do anything?

MATT: Does it say anything when you fall with the Wildfire Spirit?

ASHLEY: I think he can act on his on accord, hold on.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Mister, you little fucker, you better do something.

MATT: I'll allow it, what do you want Mister to do?

ASHLEY: Okay, wait, hold on, let me see.

TRAVIS: This is so good.

LAURA: Just throw some poop at her. (laughter)

SAM: Fire the gun. (laughter)

LAURA: His little tiny dagger.

SAM: Yeah, he does have a dagger.

TALIESIN: If I recall, somebody had to be up early this morning. Maybe this is Matt's way of making sure that's going to happen. Nothing like a TPK to end an evening.

SAM: Counting those squares. Five, 10--

MATT: This is nerve wracking.

TALIESIN: I don't like it.

SAM: -- 25, 30. That gives me line of sight, cool.

ASHLEY: If you are incapacitated, the spirit can take any action of its choice, not just dodge.

MATT: Correct, so what would you like the spirit to do?

SAM: Its choice.

ASHLEY: I can't cast a spell through him, right?

MATT: No.

ASHLEY: Okay, so.

MATT: He can take any other action. He could attack, any of his stuff. He can grab and move stuff.

LIAM: Give you a banana.

MATT: Light stuff on fire, if he's feeling like it. Whatever you think he's capable of doing, within reason.

TALIESIN: Got to teach that monkey to stabilize people.

ASHLEY: Okay, right, all right, Flame Seed. He's going to throw some Flame Seeds at her.

MATT: All right, go for it.

ASHLEY: Fuck!

MARISHA: I was just reading it. Hit dice.

TRAVIS: Do you have to be alive?

MARISHA: Because I have an ability that allows me--

ASHLEY: 20. Dirty 20.

MATT: Dirty 20?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: That hits.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: If she'd just ignored me, I would've been fine. I would've been so far the fuck out of here.

TRAVIS: Stabilize them first.

ASHLEY: Six points of damage.

MATT: Six points of damage. She takes a piece of flaming shit to the back of the shoulder.

ASHLEY: Wait, seven. I'm very sorry.

MATT: Oh wow, there we go.

ASHLEY: Let's not forget the one extra.

MATT: Now we're talking, okay.

TRAVIS: She looking rough?

MATT: Yeah, she's getting a little wear and tear, but nothing too crazy.

TRAVIS: Shoulder looks a little shitty?

MATT: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Cape has a stain.

MATT: Yeah, a little flaming turd.

TRAVIS: I mean, time to turn in.

TALIESIN: Fuck, man.

MATT: Okay. Does that finish your turn?

ASHLEY: Goddamn it.

MARISHA: So you're down?

TRAVIS and ASHLEY: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Three down.

ASHLEY: I had something so cool, fuck.

LIAM: One side down, essentially, with Imogen on the run.

MATT: Finish your turn? Going to use another Legendary Action to dash.

LIAM: She's collecting.

SAM: Oh no.

MATT: With enough movement, can get right here. Where you are.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: Oh boy.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Fuck, okay.

MATT: That brings us to Laudna. You're climbing up, and you look over, and you just see... (three thumping sounds)

MARISHA: No. With Wither and Bloom, where I can pick someone to roll hit dice, does that count for the people that are down?

MATT: Let me look at that spell really fast.

TALIESIN: What?

TRAVIS: Sit down.

TALIESIN: What weird shit are you pulling out of your bag?

MARISHA: I'm trying to get one you all up.

TRAVIS: You're going to find out real quick.

SAM: ♪ Wither and Bloom ♪ Guys, D&D Beyond. Start playtesting One D&D today.

MATT: Within a 10-foot radius of you, yes.

SAM: Download One D&D playtest materials--

MATT: One creature gets to roll--

TRAVIS: Do they have to be conscious?

MATT: -- an unspent hit dice. No.

SAM: Try them out in your home game.

TRAVIS: Oh.

SAM: Provide feedback.

MATT: They don't have to be. They have to be within 10 feet of you.

TALIESIN: 10 feet.

SAM: At dndbeyond.link/crdnd.

TRAVIS: Can you turn into a creepy bitch and fly?

ASHLEY: What did you say? I was not listening to you.

SAM: The audience was listening to me.

MATT: The rest of us are (blood pumping)

LIAM: Yeah.

SAM: Dndbeyond.link/crdnd for One D&D today.

MARISHA: No, it's not within 10 feet. It's a 60-foot spell in a 10-foot radius.

MATT: Oh, I see, 10-foot radius of damage within you and then 60 feet within you can be--

TRAVIS: You mean you can send it 60 feet--

MARISHA: It's a 60-foot, and it's a 10-foot circle.

MATT: Oh, I see. Centered in a point, yeah. So it's a 10-foot sphere and a 60-foot range.

MARISHA: So okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm going to just jump off of the stairs.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Move, stick to this edge.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: And get within 60 feet. I don't think I got to go far.

MATT: Make an acrobatics check, as you're jumping off a ladder.

MARISHA: Fine.

TRAVIS: Fine.

MARISHA: Fine, 17.

MATT: Yep. 25, 30. You back up into this space here, oh god, rushing just past this here.

MARISHA: Can I crouch in this, do 3/4 cover behind those barrels and stuff under that awning?

MATT: The awning is closed on this side, but you're behind the awning and using it for cover right now if you want to.

MARISHA: All right, I'm going to drop Wither and Bloom right here. Wait, fuck. Yes, okay, it's 10 feet, it's 10 feet.

LAURA: Can that get both Ashton and Orym?

MARISHA: Can I get Ashton and her?

MATT: So, let's see. You can both hit her and get Ashton in the radius if you'd like, yes.

MARISHA: Cool.

ASHLEY: Awesome.

MARISHA: I do that.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: She takes--

MATT: Constitution saving throw?

MARISHA: Constitution saving throw.

MATT: That's a 14. She rolled really low on that.

MARISHA: Fail.

MATT: Fail, okay.

MARISHA: Okay, so she takes eight damage, necrotic.

MATT: Eight necrotic damage.

MARISHA: You get to roll a hit dice, Ashton.

TALIESIN: ♪ Don't fuck this up ♪

SAM: Well, anything above a one, above a zero, will bring you back.

LIAM: One and a 12 is the same.

TALIESIN: Yeah, a 12 will give me 24, though, if I'm doing this right.

SAM: 24?

TALIESIN: All right, seven.

MATT: All right, so you heal. Regain seven hit points.

TALIESIN: Yep.

SAM: Hey, that's great.

MATT: That's great.

MARISHA: Real quick, real quick. Sorry, sorry. Can I have made that-- Quick retcon and make that a Quickened Spell?

MATT: Yes, you can.

MARISHA: And then use my bonus action to try and dash back around?

MATT: Dash is an action, unless you have the rogue ability to use it as a bonus action.

MARISHA: But I moved, bonus action spell--

MATT: Oh, you use your action to dash.

MARISHA: Sorry, my action. All the lexicons. To then try and move back around towards where FCG is, and get back out of the way. Oh my god. Okay, that's my turn.

SAM: Do I see terror on her face?

LAURA: Yeah, did you tell us what was going on?

MATT: At the end of you turn--

TRAVIS: I mean--

MATT: She's going to spend her last Legendary Action.

LAURA: Legendary Action.

MATT: To Psi-Powered Leap.

ASHLEY: Okay. Okay.

MATT: And is going to--

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Yeah, that's it. They initiate Psi-Powered Leap.

TRAVIS: Initiate Psi-Powered Leap?

MATT: Yeah. We'll get to that. All right, FCG.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

LAURA: Wait, what happened?

SAM: I don't know, something bad.

TRAVIS: She initiated Psi-Powered Leap, but nothing happened.

MATT: The outside of her body begins to shimmer and shake. Rocks on the ground begin to buzz and lift just a couple inches off the ground.

SAM: I'm going to use my action to keep moving around the house to see what the hell's going on over there, or my movement, I mean.

MATT: Yeah.

SAM: What do I see?

MATT: You see a wrecked crawler. You see Mister. You see Fearne on the ground that way, and you see Chetney, in wolf form currently.

SAM: Do I see Ashton?

MATT: You can see Ashton on the ground starting to come to consciousness.

SAM: He's okay.

TALIESIN: I'm clearly awake.

SAM: Don't see Orym. All right.

TALIESIN: Or, yeah.

SAM: I do see Fearne?

MATT: You do see Fearne, yes.

SAM: Okay, I'll bonus action Healing Word Fearne.

MATT: What's the range on that?

SAM: 60 feet. Ooh, am I not close enough?

MATT: 60 feet.

LAURA: Might be closer to Orym.

SAM: I don't see Orym.

MATT: She's out of the 60-foot range.

SAM: I will use my action to move closer to her.

MATT: Okay, so you have five more feet on this. Five. 30 gets you about there. You can definitely get her in range there.

LAURA: Can you see Orym now?

MATT: I could say you just barely see Orym as well, yeah, out of the corner of the crawler.

SAM: Who do I care about more?

MARISHA and LAURA: (laugh)

SAM: My lifelong friend, Liam, or the fun character that makes us all laugh? (laughter)

TALIESIN: I knew it!

ASHLEY: Yes!

LAURA: You want to flip your coin?

SAM: Ooh!

MARISHA: Did you roll up or down on your death save?

ASHLEY: Up.

SAM: What makes more sense?

MARISHA: Okay, so you're the same.

ASHLEY: We're both up one.

MARISHA: Both up one.

SAM: I sort of feel like--

ASHLEY: Do you want us to pick heads or tails?

SAM: No, I feel like I've seen you heal before, other people.

MARISHA: Yeah.

SAM: So I'm going to heal Fearne.

TALIESIN: Good call.

SAM: Yeah, I'll bonus action heal Fearne.

ASHLEY: That's a very good idea. I'll definitely help people.

SAM: Healing Word. Oh, this is a-- Nope, I did not mean to click that. I will click it here.

LIAM: Oops, I stole your wallet.

SAM: Six points of heal.

MATT: Six points of heal, great. So Fearne, you are now conscious, though prone, out of the periphery of Otohan, it seems, at the moment, while she's concentrating on Chetney.

MARISHA: It's about to be her next.

MATT: All right, does that finish your turn?

SAM: That's everything, yeah.

MATT: It's now Otohan's turn. This one vanishes, being too far away. Otohan, now buzzing and hearing the chanting off in the distance of the Wither and Bloom, taking the hit and the strike, glances over and sees you dart around the way with a psychic leap, suddenly bounds into the air, arcing 80 feet.

MARISHA: Good. 80 feet.

SAM: At Imogen? No. She's not going after Imogen.

TRAVIS: This!

ASHLEY: This bitch. This bitch.

TRAVIS: She's fucking Superman.

LIAM: You want to get an attack of opportunity there, Chet?

SAM: Oh. Oh, Laudna.

TRAVIS: Both of y'all.

MATT: Bonus action, is going to Manifest Echoes.

TRAVIS: Do I get an attack of opportunity on a Psionic Leap, or whatever that was?

MATT: You do.

ASHLEY: Come on.

LAURA and MARISHA: Sentinel!

MARISHA: I know! Sentinel!

TALIESIN: That's something I should take at some point.

ASHLEY: (tearfully) Sentinel bitches!

MARISHA: (tearfully) Sentinel bitches!

TALIESIN: Man.

MARISHA: For life!

TRAVIS: That's a 24 to hit.

TALIESIN: If I'd had time to rage--

MATT: 24 definitely hits.

TALIESIN: -- I would've been fine.

MATT: She's just going to take it.

TRAVIS: Okay.

TALIESIN: I don't know what the fuck to do.

TRAVIS: Six plus eight, that's 14 points of (claws) damage.

MATT: 14 points, got it.

SAM: I've got one spell left. One slot.

MATT: All right.

SAM: Yikes.

MATT: Lands. As you're rushing around the corner, you hear (thuds). Right as you go to turn, you watch apparate in front of you, the dark shadow of Otohan. One of the echoes flickers into being. You look over your shoulder, and she goes (tsking).

SAM: Oh no.

MATT: "Can't run from this, my dear." It's going to rush into a flurry of strikes on you.

SAM: Oh shit.

ASHLEY: She used all of her movement.

TRAVIS: She's jumping all over this fucking map--

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: -- like a goddamn jungle gym.

MATT: 22 to hit?

SAM: That hits.

MARISHA: Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: This is a problem! I can't chase this bitch around the map!

MARISHA: It's not good. Nope, nope, nope, it's not good.

MATT: That's going to be 12 points of slashing damage to you.

SAM: Jesus, what is going on? What is that feature?

MARISHA: No, I don't know. I don't know what this is.

TRAVIS: Calm, calm, calm.

MATT: Going to use another Psionic Strike to hit you for an additional 10 points of psychic damage.

TRAVIS: I don't have my blood curse anymore.

SAM: She can't even see how many points she has right now.

TRAVIS: You are panicking.

MARISHA: There's a dropdown window, and it won't go away.

TRAVIS: It's all right.

SAM: You got to rotate it and rotate it back.

TRAVIS: Do a refresh?

MARISHA: No. No. No.

SAM: Okay, did that do it? It didn't do it!

MARISHA: I'm going to refresh. Okay. We're good. We're good. That helped, okay. All right, I'm good. Sorry. So I got the 12.

MATT: And then 10 points of psychic damage. I need you to make a strength saving throw.

MARISHA: I'm real good at those.

LIAM: You have negative.

SAM: Those temporary hit points were clutch.

LIAM: Negative 10 on that strength?

MARISHA: Eight.

MATT: Eight, you are knocked prone.

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: Then that's out there.

TRAVIS: Not thrown into the outhouse?

MATT: Correct. (body thuds)

LAURA: Run, but run didn't work.

TRAVIS: No, not again.

LAURA: Run didn't work. We said scatter, and nobody could. She just took us down before we could scatter. Then I basically--

SAM: Well, we could scatter, but three of us would die.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: She's going to take a secondary strike on you on the ground with advantage. With advantage.

TALIESIN: It was a good plan.

MATT: That's going to be a 25 to hit.

TALIESIN: It was the best plan. It was the best plan we had.

MATT: That is 10 points of slashing damage plus 2d6 because of the blade trying to pin you into the ground as you are prone.

SAM: Sure. Sure.

MATT: You take an additional 10 points of force damage.

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: The echo's going to take the third strike on you on the ground as well.

SAM: Mm-hmm. Sure, sure.

MATT: That's going to be 22 to hit?

MARISHA: Uh-huh.

MATT: That is going to be 13 points of slashing damage.

MARISHA: I'm down.

LIAM: Can you do that thing where you don't go down?

MARISHA: Yep. I'm going to see what happens. Strength of the Grave.

SAM: Strength of the Grave.

TRAVIS: This is a record, right?

LIAM: Yes.

MARISHA: Reduces you to zero HP, you can make a saving throw plus the damage taken.

SAM: (sighs)

TRAVIS: Eight years.

MARISHA: Okay.

TRAVIS: Longer.

LAURA: I'm taking solace in the fact that she's hitting us and moving on--

TRAVIS: Not the kind of record you want.

LAURA: -- and hitting us and moving on.

MARISHA: Nope.

LAURA: It's like she knows--

LIAM: We've had fights where many went down, slightly staggered.

LAURA: -- she's going to destroy the bodies.

LIAM: Not like this.

LAURA: You've got to fucking go over there--

TALIESIN: No, this is a wave of mutilation.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: No. I'm down.

TRAVIS: The name of my high school band.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: (sighs)

MATT: Still has a third attack. Is going to go ahead...

SAM: He's merciful.

LIAM: ♪ On a wave of mutilation ♪

LAURA: Mm-mm. Mm-mm.

ASHLEY: No. No.

SAM: I mean.

MATT: You're the only one in range, Laudna.

MARISHA: Yeah. It's okay.

MATT: Yeah. That's going to be-- Well, it's with advantage because you're on the ground.

MARISHA: I'm sure it hits.

MATT: That's an auto crit. You fail two death saves.

MARISHA: I roll, right? No, I just--

MATT: No, you just fail two death saves. Critical melee.

SAM: Because I was sympathetically binded to her--

TRAVIS: To Laudna?

SAM: To Laudna.

MARISHA: Were you?

SAM: Do I-- I've binded to you two. Do I feel anything?

MATT: I will say you feel this exhale. The bind, I will say, doesn't loose, but you would sense dire straits have come.

SAM: Ah.

MATT: That's going to end Otohan's turn. The echoes that were summoned can now move. This one's going to shift over here. This one's going to turn and run around 30 feet to this side.

SAM: Dude, she's relentless.

MARISHA: Wow.

LAURA: Oh.

TALIESIN: Fuck, man.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

SAM: Uh-huh.

MATT: Actually, at the end of the turn, as everyone's rushing around, she shouts out, "You're missing the party. Run all you want. You're just running and leaving them to die." That brings us now to Orym's turn. Orym, roll another death save, please.

LIAM: Fail.

MATT: So a success and a fail. Ashton, you are on the ground, conscious.

TALIESIN: Fuck, man. None of this is going well.

SAM: How do we get away?

MARISHA: I don't know.

TALIESIN: All right.

MARISHA: I don't know.

SAM: Dorian comes in riding-- (laughter)

LAURA: An airship. His own airship.

SAM: Riding his airship with the name on the side of it, it says Ex Machina. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Hey, guys!

TALIESIN: Yeah, not a lot I can do. So I'm just going to do a Hail Mary. I'm going to rage and see what the fuck happens.

MATT: Okay. Rage on the ground.

LAURA: Ah!

TALIESIN: Rage on the ground.

LAURA: (mock raging)

TALIESIN: All right, so that gives me a--

ASHLEY: Temper tantrum.

LAURA: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

TALIESIN: Okay, okay.

LAURA: All righty.

SAM: Get out of here, Imogen. Save yourself.

LAURA: Yeah, right.

SAM: Yes, right.

TALIESIN: Okay. This is interesting.

LIAM: Yes, yes, yes.

TALIESIN: This is fucking interesting.

SAM: One of us has to get out.

TALIESIN: I'm going to get up again with the hole in my head starting to go translucent again and starting to be a little phase shifted. I'm really fucked up. Not feeling well.

SAM: Five times 30 is 150.

TALIESIN: Who do I have left? Okay.

MATT: That one--

LIAM: Shadow.

MATT: -- shadow is going to try and drop the-- Actually, you dropped concentration when you went unconscious, so the hold is technically off the one.

TALIESIN: Okay, that one's just there?

MATT: Which means this one--

LIAM: Will take a slash.

MATT: -- would have moved on its turn, and would probably move up to Chetney.

TALIESIN: Okay, yeah. That's actually really great. Where is Orym, out of curiosity?

MATT: Orym's on the ground over at the other side of the building.

LAURA: On the other side. You couldn't see him.

TALIESIN: Okay, there, I can-- Okay, I can--

SAM: To revive you.

TALIESIN: Actually, here, I'm going to hop up one more time because I need to see exactly what I'm doing because I have an insane plan.

LAURA: I know. This one was like, just kidding.

LIAM: Looks great.

TALIESIN: Okay. Okay.

SAM: Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30.

TALIESIN: Five, 10, 15. Fuck, that's my action, though.

ASHLEY: Fuck.

TALIESIN: Fuck, that is my action. Then everything's fucked.

SAM: They can't--

TRAVIS: I don't know if they can see either of you up there.

SAM: I'm just going to shout out: They can't be far from her. Get away from them.

TRAVIS: You guys are standing very tall. You should sit in your chairs so people can see you.

TALIESIN: I know, I know. Sorry, sorry. Yes. I just had to see-- Fuck, I'm trying to decide what the fuck to do.

LIAM: This building blocks.

TRAVIS: No, I know.

SAM: Just get away from them.

LAURA: You can see a bit.

SAM: They can't hurt us.

LIAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: I'm-- Fuck it, yeah. Now that I've got this going on, I'm going to run up, stand up with half my movement.

MATT: Okay. That brings you to 20, right?

SAM: Is that guy still there, by the way?

MATT: That guy is because it's at the top of the next turn for the rules that she runs off of.

TALIESIN: I am so sorry, Liam. I don't know what else to do.

LIAM: You're fine. Play the story.

TALIESIN: I'm going to get advantage. I'm going to try and pin this little shadow fuck so that I can get advantage on the swing.

MATT: Okay, so you're going after this one right there?

TALIESIN: Yep, yep.

TRAVIS: You could get on the other side of him and be--

TALIESIN: That's what I'm trying to do is get--

MATT: Okay, I see. I see.

TRAVIS: Oh, flankage?

TALIESIN: Flankage.

MATT: You got it. Make that advantage.

TALIESIN: Okay, and-- Here we go. I'm going to take an attack, barely lifting my hammer--

MARISHA: What am I missing?

TALIESIN: -- because it's really heavy, and I'm really tired, and nothing's good right now. Come on, roll properly.

MARISHA: No.

TALIESIN: Natural 20, which hardly matters here. But I hit the thing--

SAM: Oh, oh, it does.

TALIESIN: Oh.

SAM: Is he within 30 feet of me?

MATT: I'll say, I'll allow it because you're right-- It's a tough place. It's right on the cusp. I'll say sure.

SAM: Oh, within 60 feet of me.

MATT: Oh yeah. Then definitely you're fine.

SAM: Great. I get advantage on the next roll I make.

TALIESIN: Cool.

TRAVIS: Amazing.

TRAVIS: Are you amped up--

TALIESIN: Okay.

TRAVIS: -- by nats? So I'm going to-- Yeah, that's--

SAM: When you do good, I do good.

TALIESIN: How many HP does this thing take?

MATT: It has one hit point.

TALIESIN: Okay, so it's gone.

MATT: It disintegrates.

TALIESIN: Cool thing though is I have Space up right now.

MATT: Oh.

TALIESIN: Which is why I'm slightly translucent. That swing gives me just enough power to teleport.

MATT: Where are you teleporting?

TALIESIN: As I squish that thing down, I'm trying to remember how far I can go, because I'm panicking.

MATT: 60 feet, I believe?

TRAVIS: Because you created a super complicated build.

TALIESIN: I did, there we are. Oh, well it's also-- I've also been blind.

TRAVIS: Fly. Spread your wings and fly, you bitch.

TALIESIN: Yeah. So I'm going to take 60 feet in that direction.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Actually, yeah. 60 feet this way, actually.

MATT: This way?

TALIESIN: Then I'm going to take the rest of my movement as well.

MATT: Okay. So you just go bolting.

TALIESIN: Yeah, in this direction behind this.

MATT: That direction? Okay. So go ahead and move that piece over there.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Don't know what else the fuck to do.

MARISHA: Fearne, you're still down, or are you conscious?

ASHLEY: I'm conscious.

TALIESIN: It's like 70, 75 feet.

SAM: That's good.

MATT: You got it. You're over that space.

MARISHA: So Orym and Laudna are still down.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

MATT: All right. That finishes Ashton's go.

SAM: You're Laudna.

TALIESIN: I don't know what else to do.

MARISHA: Yes. I'm just still trying to do the math of who was down.

MATT: Spend a Legendary Action to dash.

MARISHA: I'm very down.

ASHLEY: Two failed?

LIAM: Shit. Shit. Shit.

MATT: 40. Got it. She jumps up on the wall.

SAM: She's coming back? Goddamn it!

MATT: That brings us to Chetney's turn.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I'll go meet her.

SAM: Chetney, Chetney, Chetney, what are you doing?

TRAVIS: I don't want to be the only one not dead.

MATT: I respect that.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: ♪ Sometimes ♪ ♪ you got to cut a bitch ♪

SAM: FODO? FOMO-DO?

TRAVIS: I'll take two hybrid form with chisel strikes against her.

MATT: Do it.

TRAVIS: I'll use my bonus action again to pump a little Bloated Agony.

SAM: Wolf-erined!

MATT: You got it.

TRAVIS: First one is 20 to hit. No, 21 to hit.

MATT: 21 to hit? Hits.

TRAVIS: And second one. Natural one. (groaning)

MATT: Ooh!

TRAVIS: Nope, wrong thing. Rolling the wrong dice.

TALIESIN: Can I see you moving back here? Would I be able to see you since I'm--

LAURA: You'd probably be able to see me.

TALIESIN: Thank fucking god. Okay, good. Something good.

TRAVIS: 17 on the swing.

MATT: 17 points of damage. You're starting to see a little bit of wear and tear.

TRAVIS: Nice.

LAURA: A little wear and tear.

TRAVIS: The second one was a miss. With the Bloated Agony--

MARISHA: Fuck.

TRAVIS: ♪ Nothing happens ♪

MATT: Okay. That finishes your turn.

TALIESIN: We were already halfway down.

MATT: End of her turn. Just going to go ahead and--

LAURA: She could wipe us in one hit.

MARISHA: I know.

MATT: They're using a second Legendary Action to attack you in retort.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LIAM: She could kill a person.

MATT: That's going to be a--

LIAM: She knocked you down on hit one--

MATT: -- 15 to hit?

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: -- she can kill you with the next two.

TRAVIS: Misses.

MATT: Misses. You miss a strike, and then she misses a strike. You're both now just slashing each other, dodging, and just in the middle of this fray amongst this tangled mass of what was once a skirmish-crawler, just sitting there, smoking rubble in the middle of this dust-covered battlefield. All right, that brings us to Imogen.

LAURA: I'm going to say: Laudna, where are you?

MATT: No response.

LAURA: Fuck. I'm going to... fuck.

SAM: Go! Get out.

LAURA: I'm going to step out.

SAM: Do not come back here.

LAURA: From behind--

SAM: No!

TRAVIS: That's what she wants.

LAURA: I'm going to cast Fly on myself.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: And fly 60 feet up in the air.

TALIESIN: Oh boy.

MATT: This will be a big one here. Straight up?

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

SAM: Now tell me.

TALIESIN: Ah, shit.

LAURA: The storm falls.

ASHLEY: Do you really want to love me forever?

MATT: All right.

LAURA: In Otohan's head--

MARISHA: Oh my god.

LAURA: -- I'm just going to scream: Enough!

TRAVIS: Ooh.

LAURA: Let's end this.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Shit.

MATT: Finishing Imogen's turn. Fearne? You're conscious, correct?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: You just, from where you're standing, you would not see her. But you do see-- Actually, you don't see a lot of this because there's wreckage in the way and scattered at this point. But you come to consciousness.

TALIESIN: Fuck!

MATT: The dust storm is still blasting past your eyes, burning from the sand hitting you--

LAURA: Oh god, there's just dust storm through this whole thing?

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Fuck!

TRAVIS: Are you knocked over?

LAURA: (wind blowing)

TRAVIS: Is that you?

ASHLEY: I was unconscious, but I'm conscious now.

TRAVIS: But you're still prone, right?

ASHLEY: Okay...

MATT: We'll say at the end of your turn, at the end of its turn, sorry, it's going to use last Legendary Action to make another strike against you, glaring at you. Then (slashes)

TRAVIS: (guttural growl)

MATT: That's going to be a 23 to hit.

TRAVIS: That'll hit.

MATT: You take...

LAURA: (whispers) I was trying to talk to her!

MATT: 11 points of slashing damage.

TRAVIS: Reduced to six because my wolf hide is so sexy.

MATT: Going to use another Psionic Strike to take an additional 13 points of force damage.

TRAVIS: Oh, goddamn. Okay, hold on. You take-- One point of damage. (laughs)

MATT: Okay. (laughs)

TRAVIS: You said 11 or 13 psionic?

MATT: Psionic, no, it was 13.

TRAVIS: 13.

SAM: It will be okay.

MATT: Psychic damage.

MARISHA: It will be okay.

TRAVIS: Got it.

MATT: I need you to make a strength saving throw.

TRAVIS: You got it. Which I have...

MATT: Advantage on while you're in this form.

TRAVIS: I do, right, yeah.

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: 17.

MATT: 17. Yeah, you succeed. Tries to strike and knock you onto the ground, but you just resist the strength of it and hold form.

TRAVIS: (snarls) (deeply) Fuck.

MATT: The tension is definitely looking over towards Imogen and seems to be doing a presentation or waiting for something.

LAURA: (groans)

MATT: All right, so that finishes-- Now, Fearne, we're back on your turn. What are you doing?

ASHLEY: Oh god, this is so stupid. Okay.

MARISHA: I'm assuming you can't, like, look at me? (laughs)

TRAVIS: Or don't. Either way, it's awesome.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

SAM: Look at you through a--

ASHLEY: Okay, so I'm going to--

MARISHA: I'm really far.

SAM: Through a house?

MARISHA: I'm through a house. You're really far away. I don't know if this is possible.

TALIESIN: Yeah, you would, I was going to say, well.

TRAVIS: In all this fighting and post fighting, I'm not getting the scent of fey, fiend, or undead, right? None of that?

MATT: Nothing like that's creeping through.

TRAVIS: Cool.

MATT: But you are seeing, with each of these creations of these echoes, something is flaring from underneath the back of the cloak.

SAM: I'm not dumb enough to ever use that slot.

MARISHA: Use that slot. One slot.

ASHLEY: Something's flaring at the back of her cloak?

MATT: You don't know. You aren't seeing this. You're way over that way, and they're currently blocked behind the wreckage of the crawler.

MARISHA: -- a 16 and up--

ASHLEY: Okay.

MARISHA: I get a hit point back.

ASHLEY: I'm just going to get up.

MARISHA: So pray for something big.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: It would be nice. Save me a slot.

MARISHA: I'll save you a slot.

ASHLEY: Fuck, this is so fucking stupid. Okay. I'm going to go to where I'm in 30 feet of her.

MATT: 30 feet of her? With the rest of your movement, you can move 15 feet. You have no visual on where she is at the moment.

ASHLEY: Even if I go a little bit that way?

MATT: If you go 15 feet this way, like right there. About there, you might be able to see her. But that's all the movement you have on just your movement this turn.

ASHLEY: Shit.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

ASHLEY: Okay, that's okay, because Mister's there. Is he within 30 feet?

MATT: He is... No, about 40 feet away.

LAURA: Oh, so close.

ASHLEY: Okay, so if I don't move, and he moves?

MATT: He moves separately on his turn. You can tell him to move, I believe.

ASHLEY: Okay, so instead of using my movement-- Okay, if I move him forward, am I still able to cast a spell, if I use it through him?

MATT: Can you cast through him?

ASHLEY: I can, because I have Enhanced Bond now.

MATT: Oh! Then yeah, you could. Does he have visual on it?

ASHLEY: Let me just double check on this. "Whenever you cast a spell and (mumbles)"

TALIESIN: I am fucking so goddamn far from everything right now.

ASHLEY: "In addition, when you cast a spell (mumbles)"

TALIESIN: I have one last trick.

ASHLEY: "When you cast a spell with a range other than self, the spell can originate from you and your wild fire spirit." So--

MATT: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: Pardon me.

MATT: I think you still have to move to have visual range on the target. So you still get about there to see her, and then he moves over, and then you can cast through him, if you'd like.

ASHLEY: Oh god, this is so-- (background music bass drop)

SAM and MARISHA: (imitate bass drop)

ASHLEY: Okay. I don't have a lot left. Curing, I can only do by touch. This is--

TALIESIN: You've got a-- You've got a man down here.

LIAM: Can you do it through monkey?

ASHLEY: Oh, yes! I'm right there, okay. Orym--

SAM: (monkey sound)

ASHLEY: I am going to do Cure Wounds on Orym--

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: -- through Mister.

TRAVIS: Mister jumps up and eats the fucking pigeon.

MARISHA: Ah (laughs)!

TRAVIS: Leave the pigeon alone!

TALIESIN: She's not even looking a little rough, is she?

MATT: She's looking a little haggard. She's taken scrapes.

ASHLEY: So I will do that--

MATT: You guys spent a lot of this running away, so--

ASHLEY: Goddamn it.

MATT: I mean, in a rough opening round for you.

TALIESIN: I--

ASHLEY: Eight points of healing, Orym.

SAM: Oh, look at that.

TALIESIN: Yeah, went from like 89% to--

SAM: We're three-quarters back up.

TALIESIN: -- zero so freaking fast.

MATT: I know.

MARISHA: Orym's back up?

SAM: We're good. We're good.

TALIESIN: Orym's back up.

ASHLEY: So then does that count as his move?

SAM: She's always dead already.

MARISHA: True.

ASHLEY: Or is that mine--

MATT: You cast your action through him, so your action is spent.

ASHLEY: Okay, got it.

MATT: Your movement and your action's been used.

ASHLEY: Okay. So then-- (groans) Okay. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

MARISHA: (sighs)

ASHLEY: Okay. All right, Mister's going to throw some shit at her. (laughter)

MATT: Sure, go for it.

ASHLEY: Goddamn it, there's something I want to fucking do, and I can't.

SAM: How do you want to poo this?

ASHLEY: Okay. That is--

MARISHA: Fuck, fuck, I dropped it, fuck, fuck.

ASHLEY: -- 16.

MARISHA: I'm psyching myself out.

MATT: 16 to hit?

ASHLEY: Yeah, okay, all right.

MARISHA: That's what I'm doing.

ASHLEY: That's it.

SAM: Pulled a muscle.

MARISHA: Did you really?

MATT: All right. Laudna, I need you to roll a death save for me, please.

ASHLEY: Goddamn it.

SAM: Yeah, yeah!

TALIESIN: God fucking damn it.

TRAVIS: This is it, kids.

MARISHA: This is it.

SAM: No problem.

MARISHA: ♪ Delilah, take the wheel ♪

LAURA: Natural 20, is it a natural 20?

MARISHA: It's a natural 20.

LAURA: (gasps)

MATT: Is it really?

MARISHA: You saw it. You see it, right? You see it, right? It's a natural 20.

MATT: Holy shit!

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

TALIESIN: Hey, you get knocked down, then you get up again.

TRAVIS: Just so you can see--

MARISHA: I will never question you--

MATT: Yeah, I know, that's--

MARISHA: -- ever again, Delilah.

SAM: Delilah.

MARISHA: Delilah.

LIAM: Warlock for life.

MATT: In the middle of the shadow, deep in your spirit, as the darkness threatens to consume you--

MARISHA: That doesn't make any fucking sense. (laughter)

LIAM: She's got more plans for you.

MARISHA: That doesn't make any fucking sense.

SAM: Wait, wait, wait--

MARISHA: That is so stupid.

SAM: Listen, listen, listen--

MARISHA: I'm sorry.

MATT: In the deep shadow, before the darkness begins to curl and take you-- (laughter) (slow heartbeats) (Delilah) "Not yet, my child. We have much to do." Your eyes shoot open, just--

MARISHA: But they're full-- No one can see, but they're full black as I just-- (chokes) And just black comes out. Now, question, because I know if you roll nat 20, you get a hit point.

MATT: Correct.

MARISHA: But then also, because of Cling to Life, if I roll 16 plus, I get a hit point. Do those stack?

SAM: She wants that two hit points.

MARISHA: I do (laughs). (laughter)

MATT: Technically, what that ability does is it replaces the other. It's not like you get two. You get a hit point on a 16 or higher.

MARISHA: Okay.

TALIESIN: (sighs)

LAURA: I feel like I'm going to puke.

MATT: That happens at the top of your round, so you still have a round, if you'd like to take it.

MARISHA: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: It would have been cool if you had just died, and then your husk of a body just started killing everybody. But I guess that's second-fiddle by now (laughs).

MATT: I can't believe that.

MARISHA: I have a fucking action.

TRAVIS: Nat 20.

MARISHA: I can't believe that. Oh my god. Wait, who is this over here? One of the shadows?

LAURA: The shadows?

MATT: Those are shadows, yeah.

TRAVIS: "Who's this?" equals, "not a good person."

MARISHA: And, Orym, you're up. We're all up.

LIAM: Well, I'm down, but conscious.

LAURA: Yeah, but everybody's awake.

LIAM and ASHLEY: For now.

MARISHA: Oh my god.

TALIESIN: This is basically her bouncing around like a fucking pinball, knocking us out.

LIAM: Yeah.

MARISHA: I'm going to just roll over and crawl around to the back of this house.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Not expecting to see this fucker, and I'm just going to Eldritch Blast him.

MATT: Do it. Two attacks.

MARISHA: Pop, pop. Goddamn it. It's everyone, okay. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

LAURA: Shit, shit.

MARISHA: Okay. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Okay, one of them is 18.

MATT: 18 just hits.

MARISHA: Then the other one definitely doesn't.

SAM: Chetney, you can get out of this, right?

MARISHA: Oh my god. Oh my god!

LAURA: Nat 20?

SAM: Oh my--

MARISHA: Two, oh my god. Two 10s, or 24.

TRAVIS: Let's fucking go.

MARISHA: 24.

MATT: The echo of Otohan that was around the corner, stepping blades out, just (whooshes) and scatters into dust and darkness.

MARISHA: And--

SAM: Shit, what do I do?

MATT: You're on the ground.

MARISHA: I'm still on the ground. I'm going to stand up, but I'm just going to lean up against the windowsill.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Freaked the fuck out of my mind.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Then, I will say, just with as raspy, whatever air I can choke out: Imogen?

SAM: (sad groan)

MATT: Okay. All right. Finishing your turn. Fresh Cut Grass, you are up. You've come out, you see-- You just helped Fearne stand as she rushed over, lobbed a couple of attacks. She's barely holding on. You see Orym on the ground, eyes flicker open, wounded to shit. You see Ashton teleport around the corner, charging away, hobbling. Imogen is up in the air, floating angrily, voice echoing like a thunderbolt. You have no idea where Laudna is, you have no idea where Chetney is, though you hear the strikes and howls from beyond the wreckage of that crawler. What are you doing?

SAM: Did I see her Eldritch Blasts come from around the corner or--?

MATT: I'd say, not based on where the focus of where you were.

SAM: And I don't feel her with our connection. Our work is done here. We've got to get out of here, right? We're all up, we run. But Chetney's still there. He's going to be okay. You're going to be okay?

TALIESIN: That's code for Travis wants a new character. (weak laughter)

TRAVIS: That's code for: I'm about to see what this bitch's insides look like.

SAM: Those echo things die pretty easy, right?

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

MATT: They seem to die pretty well, pretty easily.

SAM: I'm not going to kill her so-- I'll just use my action to do Sacred Flame at the one that is right on my eye line there.

MATT: Okay, you use-- is it a dexterity save?

SAM: Oh, is it? I thought I rolled--

MATT: Or is it wisdom save?

SAM: I thought I rolled. I don't know how this thing works.

LAURA: Sacred Flame--

SAM: Oh, it's a dexterity 14 save.

MATT: Dexterity 14 save? It succeeds. Does it take half damage or no damage?

SAM: No damage.

MATT: No damage. So it stays up.

SAM: Okay, then I will move that way.

MATT: Okay, so you scoot (squeaks) over this way. A little wheel sound. (squeaks) (laughter) All right?

SAM: I guess that's all I can do. I guess that's all I can do. Do I have any bonus actions? Bonus action? No. No, I can't do anything else. That's it.

MATT: Okay, that finishes your turn. Brings us to Otohan's turn.

ASHLEY: Goddamn it.

MATT: Otohan, hearing a thrashing, stops for a second, looks at Imogen, and goes, "Your friends are extremely, obnoxiously resilient."

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: "Perhaps I've been going about this the wrong way. I should be more complete with my job," and is going to go ahead and take a strike against you, since you're right there.

TRAVIS: Oh shit.

MATT: That's 20 to hit?

TRAVIS: Definitely hits.

MATT: That is going to be 12 points of slashing.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: Plus another Psionic Strike for 12 points of psychic damage.

LAURA: You coming up with ideas?

TRAVIS: That one hits all the way, right?

MATT: Correct.

TRAVIS: Not reduced, yeah.

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Five points of bloaty-bloat to her (laughs).

MATT: Oh, right. All righty. One strike against you. That's a natural 20. (groaning)

SAM: Shit.

MATT: Oh, you make a strength save, by the way, from that action, to see if you can stay prone.

TRAVIS: Just regular strength save?

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Or a strength saving throw?

MATT: Strength saving throw.

TALIESIN: Shit, man.

TRAVIS: 24, 22.

MATT: Yeah, you stay up. So this does 18 points of slashing damage, reduced to nine.

TRAVIS: 18, yes, thank you.

MATT: And is-- She's going to go in for a third hit against you because you're just right there in front. That's going to be 18.

TRAVIS: Misses.

MATT: Misses. (whooshes)

TALIESIN: Oh my fucking god.

MATT: Goes wide.

SAM: (deep breathing) Yeah, and is going to off-hand attack. You know what?

TALIESIN: You know what? Any time you say, "You know what"--

MATT: These are going to move over to here.

LAURA: (groans)

MATT: That one's gone. She's going to off-hand to Echo Swap. And-- (whooshes)

TALIESIN: Yep.

LAURA: What?

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: All of a sudden, she teleports separately from the echo. They both (whooshes) and swap places.

TALIESIN: Yep.

TRAVIS: Is that a feature, bonus action? Whoa.

LAURA: (gasps)

MATT: And is going to go ahead and Action Surge.

SAM: Oh my--

TALIESIN: Yep.

SAM: -- Otohan!

MATT: You are prone, so that's advantage. That's going to be 23 to hit.

LIAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Does Mister get a reaction from the shadow moving?

MATT: It doesn't really move. It's a teleport.

TRAVIS: That doesn't provoke an opportunity attack, right?

MATT: Nine points of slashing damage.

LIAM: I went down.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: As it stabs, you see Orym's hand which was reaching into his belt, and the blue sending stone goes, bump-bump, onto the ground.

SAM: (cries) Oh no.

TALIESIN: Dude.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Yes, so fucking novel.

MATT: Second strike.

TALIESIN: Shit.

MATT: Auto crit. Two death saves.

SAM: Good night.

MATT: Third strike.

LAURA: (gasps)

LIAM: Auto crit.

MATT: Orym, please describe to me your final moments.

TRAVIS: (gasps) Oh!

TALIESIN: Fuck this bitch.

MATT: As Orym looks up, barely holding his vision forward, and Otohan pulls the blade up and is about to press it down into his sternum.

LIAM: (choking up) There's a really heavy sense of failure. But, at the same time, I know I'm going to see Will and Derrig again.

MATT: She stops for a second. "We've met before."

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: (slicing impact)

TALIESIN and TRAVIS: (groan)

MATT: She turns back up and looks at Imogen. That's going to finish her turn. Ashton, you're up.

MARISHA: You still have that one spell, right?

TALIESIN: How far away am I from this motherfucker?

MATT: You are quite a distance.

TALIESIN: Shit, fuck.

MATT: You teleported quite a ways away.

TALIESIN: I did.

MATT: You are... 75 feet-ish, 80 feet away.

TALIESIN: (grumbles) Call it 75 feet?

SAM: We'll see?

MATT: 75 feet, yeah.

TALIESIN: (sighs) (groans)

SAM: Without dying, and without anyone else dying.

TALIESIN: I'm going to step 15 feet towards this asshole.

MATT: Okay, that's a good nudge.

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

MATT: Ashton, 15 feet towards me, if you don't mind? One more, there you go, that's good.

TRAVIS: Oh man.

TALIESIN: I'm just going to take a wild fucking swing. I'm going to swing and hit the ground in an attempt to just make a fucking shockwave towards this motherfucker. But of course a portal opens, and the hammer disappears, and it's going to hit her right in the back of the fucking head.

MATT: Go for it. Are you doing this reckless, or--?

TALIESIN: Can I do this reckless?

MATT: If you want to, it's still a melee attack, yeah.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I will do this reckless.

MATT: Go for it.

TALIESIN: (sighs) I don't know. Oh, thank god. I probably missed. Fuck, I probably missed, didn't I? 17?

MATT: 17 misses.

TALIESIN: God fucking damn it.

MATT: So you go-- the portal opens behind their head, and her eyes, which have been locked on Imogen for most of these past few moments, suddenly (whooshes) dart to the side, noticing something. She ducks low, right as the portal--

SAM: Oh god.

MATT: -- (buzzes) opens, and the hammer (whooshes) swings wide, missing her by an inch.

LIAM: She's badass.

TALIESIN: Fuck me! I'm booking for the rest of my run.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Which is 25 feet.

MATT: 25 feet? 25 feet that way.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: I'm actually going to get out of sight, so--

MATT: You got it.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: She is going to use a Legendary Action.

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

MATT: Go ahead and dash, to go ahead and--

SAM: Good god!

TALIESIN: I'm out.

MATT: Dash up to Fearne. All right, that brings us to Chetney's turn.

TRAVIS: (laughs) (clears throat) I will take a swipe at the echo in front of me with my--

TALIESIN: Fuck.

TRAVIS: -- chisel.

MATT: Go for it.

TALIESIN: Fuck, fuck. I don't know what else to do.

TRAVIS: I taste iron. 17 to hit?

MATT: 17 just misses the echo. Sorry.

TRAVIS: Well, I'm going to take the second swipe at it, because I need to try and hit it.

SAM: Get this thing off the board.

TRAVIS: 20, dirty 20.

MATT: That hits. Roll damage.

TRAVIS: And-- 17 points of slashing damage.

MATT: (whooshes) You arc up, and it (flutters) scatters into this weird smoke-like sludge that just dissipates in the air.

TRAVIS: I'll use 25 feet to give chase, but it will not get me very far.

MATT: 25 puts you about there.

TRAVIS: That's my turn.

MATT: All right, end of your turn. Just going to use another Legendary Action to attack Fearne.

LAURA: Oh my god!

MATT: That's going to be a 26 to hit.

ASHLEY: (annoyed) Yes!

SAM: Good god!

ASHLEY: Goddamn it!

MATT: Take 13 points of slashing damage.

SAM: (groans)

TALIESIN: Down.

ASHLEY: Yes! I'm down.

SAM: Wait! Wait. (desperately) Wait. Is she within 30 feet of me?

MATT: She is not.

TRAVIS: No.

SAM: Damn it.

ASHLEY: (screams) Ugh! (sighs) Okay.

MATT: As you fall unconscious, the last thing you hear before the darkness takes your vision is Otohan saying, "You carry the seed. Just not as strong as others."

SAM: The seed?

TALIESIN: Fuck.

SAM: The seed? You carry-

LAURA: The seed?

SAM: It's Ruidusborn. She's Ruidusborn, too.

LAURA: Of course she is.

MARISHA: Obviously.

SAM: But not as strong as others, because it was Ruidus on the Fey Realm.

LAURA: Oh.

SAM: It's not as strong.

MATT: So. Imogen, it's your turn.

ASHLEY: Goddamn it.

LAURA: Tears just streaming down my face. I'm going to fly down and forward, my hand outstretched, both of them towards her.

MATT: Fly down a little bit, you said?

LAURA: Just a little bit. I want to get within 60 feet of her.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: (groans)

LAURA: I'm going to just scream: Leave my friends alone! But it's going to echo in her head painfully, screech. At level three, I'm going to cast Dissonant Whispers.

MARISHA: Oh my god.

MATT: Okay, all right.

MARISHA: It's been too much!

MATT: So what's the save on that?

LAURA: It's a wisdom save.

MATT: It's a wisdom save? Still not great, 14?

LAURA: 15!

MATT: 15 is the DC, okay.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

TRAVIS: Ooh!

LAURA: So she takes--

ASHLEY: (sighs)

SAM: What did you just cast on her?

MARISHA: What did you hit? Sorry, we were scheming.

LAURA and TALIESIN: Dissonant Whisper.

LAURA: So she takes 5d6 psychic damage.

MARISHA: Okay, okay, okay, okay.

SAM: ♪ ("Careless Whisper") ♪ Wait, is that "Dissonant"?

MATT: Yes, it is.

SAM: Careless Whispers. ♪ ("Careless Whisper") ♪ (laughter)

LAURA: Okay, 12.

MATT: We can't afford that, Sam.

LAURA: 18.

TRAVIS: With all the notes wrong.

LAURA: 21... 21 points of psychic damage.

MATT: 21 points of psychic damage.

SAM: (saxophone)

LAURA: And--

SAM: That's a different note. (laughter)

LAURA: The creature must immediately use its reaction, if available, to move as far as its speed allows, away from me.

MATT: Okay, which she does have. So she then moves--

TALIESIN: I don't know.

MATT: 40 feet this way, which is quite a distance for me to reach.

TRAVIS: I got you. I got you.

MATT: Just shift that about 30. Keep going, a little more, a little more, about there. We'll say that is 40 feet from where Fearne is.

MARISHA: Wait, is she running now?

TRAVIS: No, she was forced away.

LAURA: She had to--

MATT: As you--

MARISHA: Oh, you forced her.

MATT: -- blast her mind.

MARISHA: Oh, you forced her!

MATT: She's like, (groans) and darts off in the direction, and turns around and spins, grabbing her face, looks up. "Good. Good. Good."

MARISHA: She's demonstrating her powers for something.

TRAVIS: I don't know what--

MARISHA: She's going to try and fucking--

TRAVIS: What does she want with fucking Fearne?

LAURA: Fuck.

MATT: Finish your turn, Imogen?

LAURA: That's all I've got.

MATT: Okay. Fearne.

ASHLEY: I have such fucking blue balls right now.

MATT: I know.

ASHLEY: Because I can't--

MATT: Well, make a death save.

ASHLEY: Oh yeah.

MARISHA: Oh my god.

MATT: Who knows, maybe you'll have a second natural 20.

MARISHA: Come on. ♪ Delilah, take the wheel ♪

LIAM: So many 20s.

TALIESIN: I was just going to say, most of us have died how we lived, which is--

ASHLEY: Seven.

TALIESIN: -- so irritating.

MATT: Okay, that's a failed save, so mark a failed death save.

ASHLEY: Do I add anything to it? You just do it?

TALIESIN and MATT: No.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: 10 or higher is what you want, so.

ASHLEY: Okay. Where is--

MATT: Mister? Mister is--

LAURA: Next to Orym.

ASHLEY: Where are you, FCG?

MARISHA: I might have to do something crazy.

SAM: You mean hit point wise?

ASHLEY: No, just on the board.

TALIESIN: Physically.

SAM: I am still within visual sight of Orym.

MARISHA: I'm about to tell her some shit. We got to get her to stop.

SAM: I know what's going on. I'm still on the board.

TALIESIN: Shit, I'm so fucked.

ASHLEY: Okay. Okay.

TRAVIS: All ideas are welcome right now.

SAM: Are you dead?

ASHLEY: I'm down, yeah.

SAM: Cool.

ASHLEY: Okay, so--

SAM: It'd be really great if you could just roll a natural 20, please.

ASHLEY: I already failed one.

SAM: But on the next one.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay.

LAURA: Can I-- (laughs) How far away are you from Orym, FCG?

SAM: Oh, I'm--

LAURA: So far?

SAM: 30 feet, maybe? No, I ran that way.

MATT: Correct.

SAM: I'm right at the corner of the building, right? So 45 feet, maybe?

MATT: 45, 50 or so feet.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: So you won't be able to get to him on your next turn.

ASHLEY: I am going to--

SAM: To Orym? He's dead. It doesn't matter--

LAURA: You don't have Revivify?

SAM: Yeah, but if I get to him on the next turn or the turn after, it doesn't matter. Within 10 turns, I got to get to him.

MATT: So, Mister does what? Mister says what?

MARISHA: Mister says what?

ASHLEY: Mister says what? So--

LIAM: Hey, Mister.

ASHLEY: Mister can do teleportation with a willing creature.

MATT: Correct.

ASHLEY: Would that work with Orym, because he's--

MATT: He is not a creature at the moment. He is a body.

ASHLEY: He's just a body. He wouldn't be able to-- Okay, understood. So, Mister's going to come forward, shoot some flaming shit.

MATT: (monkey screech) (flinging flame shit)

LAURA: Would you be a willing creature? Because you're not a body.

SAM: Yeah, she is.

LAURA: But she's just an unconscious body, she's not a--

ASHLEY: He can't make it to me.

LAURA: Oh.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: What's his movement?

ASHLEY: His movement is--

SAM: 20.

LIAM: Oh my goodness.

ASHLEY: Oh my gourd. Okay.

SAM: 15 feet? 20 feet?

ASHLEY: I think it's 15. 30 feet.

SAM: Oh. That's a wacky monkey.

ASHLEY: That is a wacky monkey.

LAURA: You're going to be okay.

ASHLEY: He could get to me.

MATT: It's up to you.

LIAM: We've restored less.

ASHLEY: I don't even know what that would get me. Okay, Flame Seed. Shoot it at her.

MATT: All righty.

ASHLEY: Nope.

MATT: (whooshes) It arcs up. It's like a person shoots a bullet in the air, and then eventually (dropping flame seed).

ASHLEY: (sighs) Okay. That's my turn.

MATT: All right, finishing Fearne's go.

LIAM: We got to find some information.

MATT: Going to use the last Legendary Action to dash back.

MARISHA: Last Legendary Action.

MATT: Go ahead and send Otohan my way.

TALIESIN: First would be Treshi's going to die, also, at the end of this.

MATT: And put this right next to Fearne.

LAURA: No, it's not been that long.

TALIESIN: We're all going to be--

MARISHA: I hope he's good at holding his breath.

LIAM: I think you should blast off straight into the air and then just unfurl it.

LAURA: I thought about that. Believe me.

LIAM: Yow! (laughter)

LAURA: I think it has to be on a surface. I fully thought about it. (laughs)

LIAM: No skyscrapers, just, flop.

MATT: So with that, Laudna.

MARISHA: Laudna's going to get up. Well, she was already up. She's--

MATT: Right. She crawled over and got up.

LIAM: That woman is intense.

SAM: Are you down, Chet?

TRAVIS: No.

MARISHA: I'm just going to--

SAM: How?

MARISHA: -- peek around the corner of the house.

MATT: Over here?

MARISHA: This side.

MATT: This side over here?

MARISHA: This side, towards me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right there, yeah.

MATT: You see FCG, you see the wreckage. You see Imogen up in the air, angrily flying, just energy, reddish purple energy just (crackling).

MARISHA: I'm going to send a message to Otohan.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

SAM: A message?

MARISHA: Sorry. I hope this isn't a bad idea. I'm going to send a message to Otohan--

TRAVIS: I mean, we're at the bottom of the barrel.

LIAM: Yeah, we're scraping.

SAM: Wait, don't--

MARISHA: The Moontide Crown.

MATT: "Aye."

MARISHA: Ira. (demonic whispers) We know where he is. (demonic whispers) Do you want it? (demonic whispers) You have to stop. (demonic whispers)

MATT: Make a persuasion check.

MARISHA: Okay. All right. All right. Okay. All right. Okay. 22.

MATT: 22. Okay. As Otohan dashes upward, and the left-handed off-hand blade is drawn is about to start heading down towards Fearne on the ground to start finishing the job that she thought she could wipe up a lot easier than she could, suddenly turns the head and looks at you as the message hits. "Huh."

MARISHA: We can help you.

MATT: Looks up at you, Imogen. You hear in your head, "Is this true?" Make a wisdom saving throw.

TRAVIS: Ooh.

LIAM: Oh.

MARISHA: She's trying to peek.

TRAVIS: Checking that shit.

MARISHA: She's trying to peek.

LIAM: Credit check.

TRAVIS: Verify your account.

MARISHA: Come on. Come on.

LAURA: 13.

TRAVIS: Congratulations. Access granted.

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: You feel that invasive will pushing into your mind. As much as you try and withstand giving information, you feel the extraction of interactions of Ira, of the device, of the crown, of the escape. Looks back over at Laudna. "Hm. You speak some truth. And tell me, or..." She raises the blade up ahead once more.

MARISHA: Wait, wait, wait, wait.

ASHLEY: I wrote it down.

MARISHA: Panagrip Sands. We got interaction. The leylines.

MATT: "East of here."

MARISHA: What?

LAURA: (laughs)

MARISHA: Sorry. Interference.

MATT: "Continue. Continue."

MARISHA: Oh, continue. (laughter)

LAURA: Oh, continue. Oh, continue.

MARISHA: Sorry, you blew my eardrums out with your psychic bullshit. We've seen the leylines.

LAURA: Ley lines. (demonic whispers)

MARISHA: I know where they're converging. (demonic whispers)

MATT: "So do I." FCG, what do you want to do?

SAM: They're not talking, right? I'm just looking at--

MARISHA: Well, you technically--

SAM: All the women in my life just staring at each other? (laughter)

MATT: She changes her expression and glances back.

MARISHA: You'd be able to hear Laudna whispering.

SAM: Oh, okay.

MARISHA: You would be able to hear me. It's like a one-way call.

MATT: Probably not make out the actual words given the sound of the wind everywhere.

TRAVIS: We should pretend that she needs the green lens.

MARISHA: Yeah, the Weave Lens.

SAM: How many rounds have gone by? One? Just one or two?

MATT: Just one. This is the same round. We took a little narrative moment there in the midst of this chaos. So on your turn, FCG, what are you doing?

LIAM: I don't know.

TALIESIN: I don't know either.

SAM: I'm going to move behind the crawler.

LAURA: Oh god, she's up next. She's up next.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: Over here behind the crawler?

SAM: Behind the crawler.

ASHLEY: It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Oh, she's making me so mad.

SAM: Hold on one second while I just look at what this thing does. It's touch. Yeah, okay. Action, hide.

MATT: Okay, roll a stealth check for me.

SAM: Behind the crawler, just make myself look like part of it. But yeah, that's a two.

MATT: I was going to say, you have advantage because you are metallic amongst so much a bunch of other metallic things, given the storm, too.

SAM: Guidance. 19.

MATT: Guidance is an action, so--

SAM: Okay, then 19. Well, then just 19. Wait, stealth?

MATT: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Is Guidance an action or a bonus action?

LAURA: No, it's an action.

TALIESIN: It's an action. That's right. You're right, you're right.

SAM: Oh, but wait, don't I usually have disadvantage on stealth?

LAURA: Do you?

LIAM: For what? I don't remember that.

SAM: Yeah, because I have armor and stuff, and--

TRAVIS: Yeah, but you said you're hiding amongst the--

LAURA: Burned so many calories during this game.

MATT: This is less about noise-based moving as it is visual-based.

SAM: Okay, and it's just--

MATT: Kind of like how it's sound or visual for different types of stealth.

SAM: Then 19.

MATT: So 19. Okay. So you shift into the metal and hold. You got it. Finishes your turn. It is now Otohan's turn.

LAURA: As an action, can you give Fearne a Healing Word?

ASHLEY: Fucking shit.

SAM: If I had any spells, yeah.

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

MATT: She looks back up to Imogen. "You were so close." (blade slicing)

TALIESIN: Mm.

MARISHA: What does that mean?

ASHLEY: What did she say to you?

MATT: That's going to be--

MARISHA: You were so close.

MATT: -- a crit. You fail two death saves.

TRAVIS: You're out.

ASHLEY: I'm out.

MATT: Fearne, in the final moments--

LAURA: (squeals)

TALIESIN: Oh my fucking god.

MATT: -- of the consciousness and life of this realm as the blade rests above you, what do you do? What do you say?

ASHLEY: Boy. Well, that was a hell of a run.

MATT: (blade slicing) As the blade goes into your abdomen and then with a spray, an arc of red that seems to almost turn to black as it hits the dust and then scatters off with the wind, Fearne Calloway is no more.

MARISHA: Oh my god.

LIAM: Run, you motherfuckers.

SAM: Are we still fucking fighting?

LIAM: Run.

SAM: Goddamn it, this woman.

LIAM: Run.

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

MARISHA: Can you scoop up Orym?

MATT: Two more attacks in her round against you.

MARISHA: Oh no. Oh no.

MATT: That's 20 to hit.

TRAVIS: That hits.

MATT: Okay, that's nine points of slashing damage.

TRAVIS: Reduced to--

MATT: Four.

TRAVIS: Four.

MATT: Going to do another Psionic Strike for an additional 12 points of psychic damage.

TRAVIS: (groans) Unconscious.

ASHLEY: No fucking way.

TALIESIN: Oh shit.

MATT: It's going to take her third and last strike.

SAM: Against who?

MATT: You take two death saves. She's just (blades slashing). Strikes that third strike into Chetney and looks up at you once more. "The more you run from it, the more you lose. There is greatness in you, and our fight is soon. Embrace it, or become like the rest." You feel this kind of... this energy in your stomach. That same energy that is in the center of that storm, in every nightmare you've had, and it scares you, and you fight it. It's like staring into the worst nightmare. And it's calling you.

SAM: You know what?

MATT: That brings us straight to your initiative because everyone else ahead of you is dead.

LAURA: Wow.

SAM: Never mind.

MATT: Except for Chetney, actually. Chetney, make a death saving throw because it's your turn before hers.

TRAVIS: Hey kids.

LAURA: Ashton. Ashton is--

LIAM: Wait, wait, wait--

SAM: Can I go back in time and just give her, for my bonus action, the thing, the ally thing?

MATT: Sure.

LAURA: You have a d6 on your next roll.

LIAM: This is life or death for Pock O'Pea.

TRAVIS: This is like the 50-meter high dive.

LIAM: Here you go.

TRAVIS: 13. (relieved groans)

MATT: Success. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Prolonged it. (laughter)

MATT: Imogen, it's your turn.

MARISHA: Oh my god. Oh my god, really that just prolongs-- Mark your success. Mark your fucking success.

TRAVIS: Sorry.

MARISHA: That's important.

TRAVIS: Done.

LIAM and TRAVIS: (laugh)

MATT: The storm rages in your belly.

LAURA: (squeals)

MATT: Do you fight it?

LIAM: Emperor wants you to battle.

LAURA: I know she's got so much dexterity, so I can't do this.

TRAVIS: Do you fight it?

LAURA: I'm not losing them to just surrender to you.

MATT: "You're not surrendering to me. But to your nature."

LAURA: I'll fly down. I'll fly down towards her.

ASHLEY: Wait, Mister didn't have a turn.

MATT: I will say, you're far from incapacitated. You are gone. When you vanish, so does the flame tethering him here, and Mister--

TRAVIS: In other words, fuck your monkey. (laughter)

MATT: You fly down to her?

SAM: It's a tension laugh, guys, tension laugh.

LAURA: Uh-uh. I'm going to stay back a little bit. I'm not going to--

MARISHA: Got to laugh through it.

LAURA: -- fly down right in front of her.

LIAM: I'm already dead, I got to tension laugh.

MARISHA: Laugh so you don't cry.

ASHLEY: Yeah, why would Mister still be here? That would make no sense.

LAURA: I'll reach my hand towards her.

TRAVIS: There's no logic.

LAURA: But before I land, I'm going to Witch Bolt at 3rd-level.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: So my hair's going to fly up, my eyes are going to flash white. I'm just going to hit her with everything I've got.

MATT: Roll an attack.

TALIESIN: Oh, shit.

LAURA: 23?

MATT: 23 hits.

MARISHA: Oh my god.

LAURA: (exhales)

LAURA: 21 points.

MATT: 21 points of--

LAURA: Lightning damage.

MATT: As the arc of energy fires out and strikes her, it impacts and spreads throughout the torso, and she seems to drop a blade, reach up, and grab the tether.

LAURA: I'm going to hit the ground and hold on to it.

MATT: "Come on. You're so close." Make a wisdom saving throw.

SAM: You already used your six, right?

LAURA: 16, I did.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: 16, okay. That same burning in your belly, the weird, growing, alluring, calling sensation somewhere deep in your soul, in the very essence of every fiber of your being is going, "Now, now." And she sees it. There's a grin on her face. There's an excitement, like a teacher waiting for a student to have a breakthrough. Does that finish your turn?

LAURA: I'm going to glance over at FCG, (tearily) and you're just going to hear: You have to save them.

SAM: I know.

LAURA: I'm going to fly down to her.

SAM: I needed her.

LAURA: You let them go.

MATT: "You give in or you all die. We only need the strongest of us."

LAURA: Fuck.

MATT: She's starting to show some hurt. She's looking a little ragged after that last hit.

LAURA: (tearily) Yeah?

MATT: Not super down, but...

TRAVIS: (sighs)

LIAM: Fucking mind games, ooh.

MARISHA: Ooh, the mind games.

TALIESIN: I hate it. I hate it. I hate it so much.

LAURA: Who gets to go? Who's left?

MATT: Does that finish your turn?

LIAM: I kind of love it.

TRAVIS: No!

SAM: Did you go with her?

LAURA: I landed in front of her.

TRAVIS: You going with her or not?

MATT: The tether is still sparking in between you, and she has almost, not quite sure wrapped her arm around it, but she's just clutching it, and her fingers burning, and you can see this dark, it's a smoke rising from where her gloved hand, her fingerless elements of it as she touches it, the skin's darkening, and she's just embracing the pain.

ASHLEY: I am shaking the table.

MATT: All right. Finish your turn, Imogen?

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: (sighs)

MATT: All right, that brings us to Laudna.

TALIESIN: I hate everything.

ASHLEY: Sorry. I'm so bouncy right now.

SAM: Chetney's not dead, right?

MATT: No.

TALIESIN: About to be.

SAM: You can't... get him?

MARISHA: I could. I could.

SAM: I mean, finish him off.

MARISHA: Yeah, I could absolutely murder the fuck out of him. that would be easy.

TALIESIN: He wouldn't feel a thing.

TRAVIS: Oh, Laudna, thank-- (death gurgles) (laughter)

SAM: It's 3:00am, Chetney. (stabbing impact) (laughter) (laughter)

TRAVIS: Wood shop. Closed. (laughter)

LIAM: Ho, ho, ho, motherfucker.

MATT: Say your last line. You might have a chance. Laudna.

SAM: You got to get him.

MATT: You see her now standing right in front of Otohan.

MARISHA: Get him up?

SAM: Yeah.

MARISHA: Okay, okay, okay, okay. Fuck, fuck. Yeah, yeah, I do. All right. Huh, I'm shaking, I'm going to-- Now, one, two (counting) Oh fuck, five. 15, which is 16--

ASHLEY: We're just hanging out with Will.

MARISHA: Fantastic.

ASHLEY: Get to meet your husband.

MARISHA: I'm going to do it again, Wither and Bloom (snaps) on top of both of them.

LIAM: Introduce you to my dad.

MATT: Wither and Bloom on both of them, okay.

MARISHA: On top of Chetney and Otohan.

MATT: Is that a constitution save?

MARISHA: Yep.

MATT: That is going to be a 15.

MARISHA: Fail.

MATT: Fail, all right.

MARISHA: Shit roll, five damage to Otohan.

MATT: Five damage to Otohan.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MARISHA: You get to roll a hit dice and come up.

TRAVIS: Okay.

ASHLEY: (sighs)

MARISHA: Yeah.

SAM: Clutch!

MARISHA: Whatever your hit dice is.

TRAVIS: Three.

MATT: So you're at three hit points. The death saves stay.

MARISHA: The death saves stay?

MATT: Correct.

MARISHA: They don't reset?

MATT: Wait, actually, let me go--

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, once you're awake--

MARISHA: Don't they reset?

MATT: No, I think you're right.

LIAM: You get hit points, it's done.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Plus, I don't think I can--

MATT: I think you're right.

MARISHA: You just click on them again.

SAM: I mean--

TRAVIS: Got it. There.

SAM: I think I speak for all of Critterdom when I say: If one of us had to live, thank god it was Chetney.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: (sighs) Well. (laughter)

MATT: Yeah, now they're both at zero. That's right Sorry, I misremembered that briefly. You're good, so.

TRAVIS: Okay.

LIAM: Guys, this is Christmas' origin story.

MATT, SAM, and LAURA: (laugh)

MARISHA: I-- fuck, fuck, I guess just--

LAURA: You fuck?

SAM: You blew Chetney.

LAURA: You fuck someone?

MARISHA: I, fuck, I just, I give in, and I fuck Chetney. (laughter)

TRAVIS: We all do at some point! Yeah! (laughter)

MARISHA: Unable to...

TALIESIN: You can't do any blood hunter shit?

MARISHA: Unable to control the rage, and Delilah's force, I'm going to do it, Form of Dread again.

MATT: Okay, go for it.

MARISHA: And get some temporary hit points that will mean nothing. Okay. And, um, I'm spooky now.

MATT: Okay, there you go. (laughter)

MARISHA: In the corner.

LIAM: Finally.

MATT: Perfect, all right, spooky in the corner. It's my--

MARISHA: ♪ Spooky in the corner ♪

MATT: -- my autobiography.

LAURA: Yeah, dude. (laughter)

MARISHA: Where are you?

LAURA: I feel like it's all of our autobiographies.

SAM: I'm hiding in the wreckage.

MATT: So at the end of your turn, Laudna, right?

TALIESIN: I am fucking useless.

MATT: As the tether's being held, Wither and Bloom goes off, Chetney regains consciousness. She looks over, looks at you. "Is she your favorite?"

LAURA: (gasps) I'll go with you! I give in. Don't hurt her.

MATT: "Ah, but you see, you don't just choose to give in or let go when the moment's right."

TRAVIS: Oh.

MATT: She's going to use a Legendary Action to dash.

MARISHA: She's coming for my ass.

ASHLEY: Fuck, fucking--

MARISHA: She's coming for my ass real hard.

MATT: Okay, there we go.

TRAVIS: Even though I'm up, I'm prone, so I can't make an opportunity attack.

LIAM: This is Matt's dark side.

MATT: You can.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MARISHA: Yeah, you can--

MATT: I'll allow it.

MARISHA: Go for the Achilles heel.

MATT: Go for the ankle, why not?

MARISHA: Sentinel.

SAM: As an opportunity attack, you can't grapple, can't you?

TRAVIS: No, not prone, I don't think.

MARISHA: You can't grab those--

TALIESIN: Can you grab an ankle?

MARISHA: Grab an ankle?

TALIESIN: Trip.

MATT: I'll allow it, if you want to.

ASHLEY: I mean, he's scrappy, he would.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: Up to you.

LIAM: Sure that asshole will trip.

MARISHA: Your character, do your thing.

SAM: Pin her foot down to the ground with your chisel.

MATT: So it's a contested athletics on your end versus her athletics or acrobatics.

ASHLEY: He'll take her out with just the foot.

MATT: Which I will say... her acrobatics is much higher, so she's going to take acrobatics.

TRAVIS: God, that's balls. That's a 14.

MATT: She got a 20.

TRAVIS: (groans)

MATT: So you reach out for the ankle and she slips out as she darts off towards Laudna. All right, that finishes Laudna's go, FCG.

SAM: Wait, she's just moving, she's not acting?

MATT: Yeah, she can only use one Legendary Action at the end of somebody else's turn, and she uses one to dash.

LIAM: It wasn't her turn, it was--

MATT: Gives her a free movement.

LIAM: Boss battle special.

SAM: I can't do anything.

MARISHA: You can bust some heads?

SAM: I mean, yeah, I can come out of hiding and attack her, but it's not going to be enough to kill her. Right? I mean, she's not even looking rough, is she?

LIAM: She is.

TALIESIN: She's looking rough.

MARISHA: He said that she's looking rough, but we don't know--

TRAVIS: "A little haggard," I think was the description.

LIAM: The percentage of--

TRAVIS: Not rough, but a little haggard.

MATT: She's starting to look rough-ish.

TRAVIS: Oof, that ish is a--

ASHLEY: That ish.

LIAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SAM: I don't have anything that deals more than 2d8.

LAURA: No, then don't waste it. Use heal if you can heal.

MATT: Yeah, her having that opening round of initiative--

SAM: I can't.

MATT: -- on you before you could--

LAURA: You have no spells?

SAM: No, today is the day that I--

TALIESIN: I couldn't have rolled into that, could I have, with my new level seven shit?

ASHLEY: I thought we went to bed.

LAURA: So you don't have Revivify?

MARISHA: No, that was first thing in the morning.

TALIESIN: Can't be so you don't suffer a surprise round?

MATT: That wasn't a surprise round.

TALIESIN: That wasn't a surprise round, that's right. She just--

MATT: A really high initiative,

LIAM: And bloody water under the bridge.

TALIESIN: She chopped me into fucking kibble.

MARISHA: Have any dynamite left?

SAM: I never did.

MATT: What you got, Sam?

TALIESIN: Increment, yeah.

SAM: Well, first, bonus action, I'm going to pump four more temporary hit points into you.

MATT: Well, they don't stack, don't forget.

SAM: What do you mean?

TALIESIN: You can't get more.

MARISHA: Fuck!

MATT: Temporary hit points don't add up.

MARISHA: They don't stack.

MATT: They just replace each other. So if someone has five temporary hit points, and you give them four, they just have five.

ASHLEY: (groans)

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: Can you give them to Chet?

MATT: It's a buffer that replaces itself.

SAM: Nope.

MARISHA: Because you're not--

SAM: Bonded with him.

LAURA: Are you bonded with me?

SAM: I am. But you don't act like you need temporary hit points right now.

LAURA: I, okay, that's fine.

SAM: But I mean, you're going go with her, right?

LAURA: Sure, yeah, I'm going to go with--

LIAM: Eight hit points means nothing to this woman.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

SAM: (exhales)

TALIESIN: 20 hit points means nothing to her.

SAM: So she's--

MARISHA: We don't know.

SAM: She just chased after Laudna. She's about to kill Laudna.

MARISHA: It's a war of attrition at this point.

SAM: I can only Revivify one person.

MARISHA: I mean, I like our plan, if you can keep me alive.

SAM: But I can't. If she sees me pop out, she can prevent that from happening, or stand over me, and wait till I finish Revivify, then kill both of us. I want to wait 'til she's gone.

MATT: Those are all valid tactics. What you going to do?

LIAM: You could hold your action until she's past you and out of sight?

SAM: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

MARISHA: Yeah, maybe I will.

TALIESIN: You don't have any stabilizing spells, do you? Where you can just make--

SAM: It's touch.

TALIESIN: Okay, it is touch, okay.

SAM: But they're already dead.

TALIESIN: I mean, you don't have anything that keeps them from that 10 minutes, can extend that 10 minutes for--?

SAM: No. So I'll just bonus action give Imogen, god, four temporary hit points. And.

TALIESIN: I don't know what the fuck to do.

MARISHA: Doesn't matter.

SAM: And that's it.

TALIESIN: Too far away to do anything of value other than run.

MATT: At the end of your turn, she can use another legendary action to dash. Up to Laudna. Rushes up.

TALIESIN: Fuck, man.

MATT: Blades out. Looks over her shoulder, over towards you, Imogen, the tether still attaching the two of you. Unless she left 30 feet, right? So the tether broke as she dashed away. Looks over at you. Top the round is Otohan. Otohan is going to take one strike against you. That's going to be 15?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: 15 hits.

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

MARISHA: Made of paper.

MATT: That is 10 points of slashing damage.

SAM: I will halve that to five.

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: Okay, so you take five, and you have five temporary hit points.

SAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: Second strike. That's going to be a 26.

TALIESIN: I hate this. I hate it all.

SAM: Well. It was a valid effort.

MATT: You take--

MARISHA: Keeps me from having to do--

MATT: 14 points of slashing damage.

MARISHA: Okay. I'm down again.

MATT: You watch as she strikes once, a second time. Laudna falls back. While Laudna's still falling in the air, third strike.

MARISHA: Strength of the Grave?

MATT: That's true. Is that once per long rest or is that every time?

SAM: She didn't use it last time, she got a natural 20.

MARISHA: No, this is a different thing.

MATT: This is a reaction to--

SAM: Oh, okay.

MATT: -- dropping to one hit point.

MARISHA: Yeah, you're right.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: It's done.

MATT: Well, this is an auto crit, so you take two failed death saves. As she's falling back in the air from that second strike, she immediately takes the second blade, jams it up through her back, which pierces out of the the sternum. While holding her still aloft, a reverse Sephiroth situation, Laudna held in the air, she looks over at you. It's your turn.

LAURA: (gasps) That burning in your stomach is screaming.

SAM: One, two, three, four.

MATT: It is bellowing.

LAURA: (laughs) I don't have anything.

TRAVIS: Can you Witch Bolt again?

LAURA: I'm going to bonus action, and get a 2nd-level spell back.

SAM: Make it stop.

LAURA: I don't know how to make it stop.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I got fucking nothing.

LIAM: She tried to offer herself up, and it kept going.

MATT: Imogen.

LAURA: (groans)

MATT: What are you doing? That call is screaming to you. Do you continue to resist?

LAURA: I'll go with you!

MATT: She just holds her there. "Let go, and give in to your nature." Pulls the blade from Laudna, her body falls to the ground with the dark spatter across the rock. Throws the blade up, catches it--

LAURA: I close my eyes, open them, and scream and scream Dissonant Whispers out in her head again at 2nd-level.

MATT: Okay, what's the save on that?

LAURA: Wisdom.

MATT: Wisdom. That is going to be a failure. That is 12. She's going to use her last legendary resistance to resist it.

LIAM: Oh.

LAURA: Full spell effect, or just she doesn't take the?

MATT: She just succeeds in the save, so whatever the--

LAURA: Okay.

ASHLEY: Didn't she already use her last-- That is so hard to say.

MATT: She used two legendary resistances, and this was her third.

ASHLEY: I know, I'm trying.

MARISHA: I also thought she did.

LAURA: So she only takes five psychic points.

MATT: Five points of psychic damage, okay. Make a wisdom saving throw for me. Imogen.

SAM: Don't resist!

LIAM: I can feel your anger growing in you.

LAURA: Natural one.

ASHLEY: God--!

SAM: Good.

MATT: As that burning storm within you becomes--

LAURA: I rolled the fucking Ruidus dice for it. (laughing)

MATT: That's fucking awesome.

ASHLEY: (sighs)

MATT: As it burns up from within, you feel a tidal surge pulling you under, like the dark abyss of the ocean swallowing you up, but it's nothing but red, warm, crackling fury. As it does, the entire landscape around you just turns red. The dust storm, the wind freezes. The sand just frozen in the air. Those of you who are still here notices the coloration of this entire region of the city turns a deep, deep red. Otohan looks back at you. "Yes! Yes! This is it!" The rest of you, looking at Imogen, her hair fully extended and levitating, her skin a deep crimson hue. Where you saw the thin bolts that had stretched up parts of her are now alight and glowing, and now encompass whole facets of her body. As she stands there lifting, the very space around her, (earthen energy pulsing) shakes and adjusts. As you scream one more time, uncontrollably, all that pain, all that fury, all that vengeance within, as you unleash it, you watch as all the buildings tear away. The bricks crackling around like a whirlwind. The rest of you are pulled throughout, and with one final scream: White.

SAM: What?

MATT: That's where we'll end tonight's episode.

SAM: What?!

TRAVIS: No!

ASHLEY and SAM: What?

TRAVIS: Fuck!

SAM: What does that mean?

MARISHA: No, I don't-- Am I dead or alive?

ASHLEY: No!

MATT: We'll find out next time.

SAM: Oh my god!

ASHLEY: No. No! No!

MARISHA: No, this isn't okay!

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: This isn't okay!

TRAVIS: That was--

TALIESIN: Fuck, man.

TRAVIS: -- awesome.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

TALIESIN: Shit kicked out of us.

ASHLEY: Fuck.

SAM: What?

ASHLEY: Shit, no!

TALIESIN: Fuck.

ASHLEY: Let's just go a little, 10 more minutes!

SAM: Did we go somewhere? Did she disappear? Are we all dead?

MARISHA: Where are we?

LAURA: Is everybody dead?

SAM: What happened?

MATT: We'll find out next episode. Yay!

LIAM: That was a great game, Matt.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: Dude, you guys, well done!

ASHLEY: Holy moly.

MATT: I was like, hoo, this is going real rough. (laughs) (sighs)

SAM: Oh no.

MATT: Well. To that note.

TALIESIN: I'm looking forward to new characters.

MARISHA: I hate this.

LAURA: Who all is--

TRAVIS: We don't know what happened.

LAURA: You, you, you--

TALIESIN: Nope!

MARISHA: We have three people--

SAM: Two dead, one about to be dead.

MARISHA: Yeah. Two for sure down, one that's a big question mark.

MATT: Yeah. So, we'll pick up on wherever this goes at the beginning of the next session. Thank you all so much for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? (groaning)

MATT: Good night.

TRAVIS: Oh my god!