Transcript:The Shade Mother

List of Transcripts

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: (hollering) We play Dungeons & Dragons!

MATT: Nothing strange or different about the setup today. All right, before we jump into tonight's game, we do have some sponsors to get through, beginning with our first sponsor tonight, which-- Whoa, okay. Our first sponsor is Nord-- is NordVPN. Travis, what is going on?

TRAVIS: I'll tell you what's going on. Setty has spread to the ICPP motherboard. If we don't clear it soon, our whole show could be sliced! The only way I can bring back the ghost of BlackWillow69 is by-- (exhales) is by--

TALIESIN: By pooping him out of you and living up to your name. Don't worry, Number Two, I have just the thing. I called in a favor from The Maker, a high tech wunderkind from my Dark Net past. She calls it the Crapper Zapper 4001.

TRAVIS: Whoa! But BlackWillow was pure software. His hacker spirit needs a physical host.

TALIESIN: Don't look at me. My body is too ancient. One of you needs to volunteer. Someone to willingly let the corrupt soul of Sam Riegel enter their body.

ALL: Whoa! (groaning)

TRAVIS: Someone, please! Please, the fate of the internet is depending on you.

ASHLEY: (Cockney accent) Oi oi, I'll do it. I've got the style, I've got the moves, and the accent to be a real crackin' BlackWillow. Chip chip, cheerio!

LIAM: No, no, no. Excellent accent work. Let me. I've already had Sam in me before. It wasn't a great experience, but for the good of the web.

MARISHA: Girls? No. This was my fault for not installing NordVPN. I should make this sacrifice.

LAURA: Stop it, everyone.

ALL: (gasp)

LAURA: Don't you see? It's me. It's always been me. BlackWillow is... the only man I've ever loved. It's time to prove it.

TRAVIS: But Cryptonic, wait.

LAURA: I know what you're going to say, Number Two. It's too dangerous.

TRAVIS: That is not my objection to this, no.

LAURA: I am aware of the risks, but hackers slice together. No time to argue. I'm attaching the diodes.

ASHLEY: Oh, oh, let me help.

TALIESIN: Young hacker, I've always known you were leet, that you were The One. Well, The Two to defecate Sam out of your body.

TRAVIS: I know. It's my destiny.

TALIESIN: Go on.

TRAVIS: Okay.

TALIESIN: Wait.

TRAVIS: Huh?

TALIESIN: Take this with you. You might need this.

TRAVIS: Here I go. Okay. All right. I'm Judging the Dredd, rumbling the Bronx, gleaming the cube! (screams)

TALIESIN: Oh my god! It's beautiful.

LAURA: (electric shocks) (gasps)

TRAVIS: So messy. Well, did it work? Cryptonic Override? Laura, can you hear me?!

LAURA: Heya, dudes and dudesette-- dudettes. What's up? Isn't this a funny ad I wrote? My teeth are very large.

TRAVIS: Sam?! I mean, blackwillow69@aol.com, is that really you?

LAURA: Yep, I'm clicking at you with the power of NordVPN, providers of the highest quality encryption for your internet traffic and hides your IP and physical location. With more than 5400 servers in 59 countries, you can get better speed and protection with one click. Go to NordVPN.com/criticalrole or you code critical role to get a two-year plan, plus a bonus gift with a huge discount. Man, I am consistently hilarious.

TRAVIS: But if you're Sam, what happened to Laura?

LAURA: I guess we'll find out... next time NordVPN sponsors the show. Matt? (snaps) Catch phrase.

MATT: All right. Thank you. Thank you, NordVPN, for your sponsorship. Thank you, friends. Thank you, BAFTA award winners, Laura Bailey and Ashley Johnson for your contributions to this incredible narrative. (laughter)

ASHLEY: It's our best work. It's our best work.

LAURA: I agree, I agree.

LIAM: Somehow, Laura as Sam came off like Don Knotts a little bit. (laughter)

MATT: Oh boy. We have other announcements to get through. Marisha, take it away.

MARISHA: Yeah. Wasn't expecting doing this announcement dressed like this but here I am. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Here we go.

MARISHA: Tickets are on sale right now for next week's seventh-year anniversary episode, which will be shown in select Cinemark, Landmark and Cinépolis locations in the U.S., and Cinemark locations in Brazil. (cheering)

MARISHA: Episode 17 of the Bells Hells campaign will also air simultaneously on Twitch and YouTube on Thursday, March 17th at 7:00pm, just like always. For all the details, please check out critrole.com/seven, that's critrole.com/seven. Girl power.

MATT: There you go.

LIAM: Is that in the URL?

MARISHA: No, that's different. Don't type "girl power" into the url.

MATT: I believe that concludes our announcements.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

MATT: So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role.

♪ Critical ♪ ♪ Critical ♪ ♪ It's Thursday ♪ ♪ It's Thursday night! ♪

ASHLEY: ♪ One-by-one, we climb until we reach the top. ♪ ♪ Two-by-two, we fall. ♪

LAURA: ♪ Will we meet our end or meet our destiny? ♪ ♪ Hold your breath and roll! ♪

MATT: How do you want to do this?

ALL: ♪ It's Thursday night ♪ ♪ All ye Critters, come join us ♪ ♪ It's time to continue our plight ♪ ♪ There is magic and mystery ♪ ♪ Who knows what will happen? ♪ ♪ He might! ♪ ♪ But one thing's for sure, ♪ ♪ We never give up on the fight! ♪

TRAVIS: ♪ From the healer ♪

LIAM: ♪ To the renegade ♪

MATT: ♪ We all share the same goal ♪

MATT and TALIESIN: ♪ Adding more allies ♪ ♪ Taking more chances ♪

SAM: ♪ Hold your breath and roll ♪

MARISHA: You can certainly try.

ALL: ♪ It's Thursday night ♪ ♪ All ye Critters, come join us ♪ ♪ It's time to continue our plight ♪ ♪ It's Thursday night. ♪ ♪ There is magic and mystery ♪ ♪ From darkness, our friendship will rise ♪ ♪ But one thing's for sure: ♪ ♪ We never give up on the fight ♪ ♪ Oh, get ready, ♪ ♪ Get ready, ♪ ♪ It's Thursday night! ♪

(flames whooshing)

Part I
MATT: And welcome back. So, last we left off, Hells Bells. Bells Hells, I should say.

SAM: Yes, you should.

MATT: The other way around. Brain, thank you.

LIAM: First was exclamation, then you said their name.

MATT: Indeed. I was just excited, and then presentory. Bells Hells. After just barely escaping the chaos of the ball at the top of the center, the Core Spire, here in Jrusar, returned to Eshteross' manor where you saw off your friend, Dorian, and his brother, who were currently figures of interest in the events of that night and nights before. The next morning, you went to seek out possible paths of escape from the city before discovering that you were being followed by the Green Seekers, a pair of very well-known investigators that were present at the events the night before. They took you off the side of the road and proceeded to interrogate you in a semi-public space, and through some communications, some persuasive discussions, and putting few things on the table in the open, beginnings of trust were granted, and you decided that maybe you could help each other both find that trust, and look into some curiosities you both have that align. This, in particular, involving the rising oddness of shade creeper intrusions and alterations in recent months. Following some leads and one individual with a past with Gus, one of the two Green Seekers, you traveled towards the bottom of the Smolder Spire. you traveled towards the bottom of the Smolder Spire, within the mines there, at the very base. Asking around, discovered more connections to the Mahaan Treshi house, being involved in one of the subterranean mines. The Crownset Mines have been closed for months, and some strange goings on in that space. Convincing, magically, the one manager, the one foreman who was watching over the closed mines to allow you down the extensive, subterranean shaft elevator that led you to where the mines were abandoned. You made enough noise to draw the attention of numerous shade creepers, some even further changed from the ones you had previously encountered. In this battle, you managed to slay many of these strange monstrous beasts suffering a bit of rough and tumble first foray into these deep, deep mines below the city. Upon taking a moment to heal yourself, discovered what it seems to be is the partially healed, cocooned form of Lady Emoth Kade, that you've been chasing. As she began to emerge from this cocoon, awoken by some of these shade creepers that had escaped from death after seeing you entering their home. You plotted to wait as the invisible members of your team, meaning you and Olly, would travel outward. You would gather their attention with noise and the rest would swarm in and wipe out this cluster of creatures and Lady Emoth in one fell swoop. As you rushed through, in the midst of this plan you noticed that Lady Emoth Kade was not present. As you turned around the bend to the opening of another subterranean chamber, the rest of you managed to wipe out the majority of the creatures that remained, opening with a Fireball from Gus and tactically and quickly dispatching of the creatures there, the few that remained alive in this central space. The loud, explosive sound of the fireball and the combat sounds echoing throughout the nearby network of caves and tunnels. You step into this large chamber, here in lightless steps of the mines. You see, unfolding before you, small tables standing among scavenged equipment pieces, where two figures stand hunched over cobbled devices and chunks of faintly glowing stone. Their faces are vacuous and stretched, like a long, hollowed swamp tree bowing under its own weight. A large, unfinished machine sits mostly between them, next to a pillar of broken rock. This room looking like a partially excavated and abandoned centerpiece of part of this mine. On the floor of the far wall, you see faint glitters in the very, very dull, barely there light signs of coinage, and gems, residual wealth, like a hoard partially spent. Within it, an odd device, about two feet tall that resembles a twisted orrery. A dull purple stone embedded in its center. Above that, these rocky outcroppings and abandoned mining platforms that rise among the sharp, stony walls dozens of rising tunnels twist upward from the rising spire and vanish into it. Openings, like a magnificent sponge of rock, that continues to spread out into the city above. You can see seemingly hundreds of shredded husks that dangle from the walls in places, remnants of abandoned cocoons, their podlings long set free.

MARISHA: You just spit a little.

SAM: Cocoons.

MATT: Cocoons. Along this jagged expense, a sprawling, flat, slug-like mass stretches across the far wall.

LAURA: Ugh!

MATT: Nearly 50-60 feet across.

ASHLEY: I don't want it.

MATT: Make a perception check for me.

TRAVIS: Oh, you betcha! At advantage. 19.

MATT: 19. You can just make out a few dozen opaque pods set beneath this slug mass. You also watch as the mass tapers to one side, and there you see the spindly, monstrous, haunted tree-like body of the four-limbed creature. Her matted, black mane tangled and tumbling from her bony, horned skull. Black eyes peering soulless and predatory. There upon the rocky platform in the center, Lady Emoth stands, glancing up, arms open to this entity, calling to her mother, before mentioning that there seems to be company, and looking back over her shoulder towards the hallway where your friends currently wait.

MARISHA: Can we prep?

LIAM: We're unaware of this.

MATT: You're unaware of this circumstance. You guys are still back in the hall, just finishing battle with the remaining ones.

TRAVIS: For clarity, is Lady Emoth one of the two people that you mentioned that's hunched over?

MATT: No.

TRAVIS: Cool.

MATT: They're different entities.

SAM: Cool.

LIAM: So cool. (laughter)

MATT: Now this "Mother" that Lady Emoth referred to, (wet sliding) begins to slither across the wall, and as it does, you watch as part of this slug mass dislodges.

LAURA: Ew!

MATT: Sloughing off and remaining--

TRAVIS: Sloughing off! Damn it, Matt!

MATT: Sloughing off.

TRAVIS: Sloughing off.

MATT: "Sloffing," as everyone pronounced it properly.

MARISHA: (exaggerated) Sloughing.

MATT: (exaggerated) Sloughing off.

SAM: Sloff.

MATT: You watch as the rest of that slug mass pulls into this thicker, roughly 30-foot, bloated back half of a body. As it crawls down towards the base of its wall outcropping. (hisses) You can see it glancing around in the dark space, but it's not finding purchase on anything in particular. But a voice does creep into your mind.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: (raspy) "Where are you?"

TRAVIS: The urge to poop rises.

LIAM: Brain stuff!

MATT: "Come, prospective child."

LAURA: Oh no.

MATT: "Welcome." The mouth does not move, the eyes glance about in the lightless space, but the voice still finds your mind.

TRAVIS: That's fucking terror-- Nope, don't think anything. Think nothing. Balls. (laughter)

MATT: "Are you called... Balls?" (laughter)

TRAVIS: Yes. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Mighty Balls.

MATT: "Well, Mighty Balls, have you come for the anointment?" (laughter)

TRAVIS: Are you going to anoint my mighty balls? Oh, come on! (laughter)

ASHLEY: He set you up for that one.

TRAVIS: I am not liking what I see. Can I make out faces or anything of the two folks that are hunched over the crumbled stone platform that you described earlier?

MATT: With the perception check you made earlier, you can see there's one to the right and a little further back, and one to the left, that's around the corner from the entryway from where you stepped in.

TRAVIS: Oh, so they're spread?

MATT: They're spread in two different points. You can see there's tables at each point, and there's broken equipment, and a scattered tool arrangement on there, probably left over from the previous miners that worked in here, or brought in from outside. Both of them sit there for a moment like they're in a stasis point. Their faces hanging limp without expression or emotion.

TRAVIS: I'm about to be, too. I'm going to, not like what I see, and I'm going to try and head back to the group and inform them as stealthily as I can to try and retreat.

MATT: Make a stealth check with advantage because.

TRAVIS: Invisible and boots.

MATT: Invisible, and your boots for sound as well.

TRAVIS: 24.

MATT: 24, okay.

TRAVIS: A natural 19.

MATT: Okay. You step back and you watch as Lady Emoth, still atop, is glancing around, and where she was standing with her arms up and looking over the shoulder, in a rapid movement (cracks) her body almost twists around, the head, unshifting from where its position was.

LAURA: Gross.

MATT: She skitters up to the edge of the central platform that's rising about 15-20 feet from the center of this chamber. Glancing around, too, her eyes now full black, much like the mother entity, but still not finding where you are. (cracking) Head twitching to the sides. The mother creature slithers down and seems to wrap around that purplish glow in the far back of the chamber, that strange crystal, like it's cradling it for a moment before it begins to slither around the side of that central pillar. In your direction, but still both the glancing about as the voice finds your mind again. "Come. Let me embrace you. (hisses)" You begin to back out of there, quiet as you have ever been in your life.

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Do I see the others starting to fill into the room after having dispatched the--?

MATT: Now, they're not that far behind.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: They're not necessarily being quiet. Like, you guys have come out of a quick battle. It was a rapid, you know, the rocking explosion of the fireball, you know, Gus pulls back after the unleashing of the arcane explosion as you all rush in and slash and dispatch the rest of the non-incinerated shade creepers that remained. There's a moment where you all quietly. (pants)

TRAVIS: Over here! Over here, it's real bad! It's real bad.

SAM: What is it? What is it?

TRAVIS: Big bear. Big bear chase me. (laughter)

TRAVIS: It's big!

TALIESIN: Big bear.

TRAVIS: Big, like 50-foot slug and horned. Terrible.

MARISHA: A bear slug?

TRAVIS: No, there's a big monster.

ASHLEY: Wait, a bear was chasing you?

TRAVIS: Lady Emoth Kade is in the room with a giant, fucking horrible.

LAURA: Mother.

TRAVIS: Yeah. Yes! Mother.

SAM: Where's Olly?

TRAVIS: I think he's huddled up with us, right? He was in this room?

TRAVIS: Olly, she, is a little gnome.

TRAVIS: Oh, thank you.

MATT: No worries.

TRAVIS: I'm thinking of Gus.

MATT: Olly, at this point, who had kept partially invisible, or kept invisible for this point, comes and you can see had helped from a distance, firing the crossbow and no longer become invisible, and approaches like, "So what's big thing?"

TRAVIS: In the other room, there are two individuals on either side of the room. They look like they're checked out, or like they have been checked out. Lady Emoth Kade is in there and she's transformed. It's fucking terrible, and there's also a gigantic hell beast. I don't know what it is, but it's massive, and it detached from, like, its ass, and there's horns, and it's-- Oh, and it got in my head. It asked me if I wanted to join. It called me one of its children.

LAURA: Does it sound like it's too much for us?

TRAVIS: It's pretty fucking big. Yeah. It would be the gnarliest thing that I've ever, ever come close to doing. Also, in the dome, like you, right?

LAURA: Yeah, that registers.

MARISHA: I don't like things getting in your head, if it's not Imogen. It's not fun.

SAM: But you said Lady Emoth's in there. That's the evidence that we need, right?

MARISHA: We have to capture her, right?

LIAM: We also have to live.

TRAVIS: Yep, that part, and I think we're a little, we're a little busted up, but I think if we leave, we might not get this opportunity again. Right, Olly?

MARISHA: Can we lure her away?

MATT: "I mean, we can certainly give it a shot, I guess. I mean, this is a little more than we signed up for, right, Gus?" (Gus) "Yeah, this is kind of crazy, I'm not going to lie. I mean, if we could just get to her and get out, maybe? Is there sort of a--?"

LAURA: Grab Lady Emoth and run?

TRAVIS: If we could separate Lady Emoth from hell thing, I mean, I do have this. I take the potion of the Ever-Smoking bottle out. This thing creates a giant, smoke cloud. But I mean, once I throw it, it's a big section of any room that goes, (fart sound) can't see anything.

MATT: (Olly) "Right. Right."

TRAVIS: Doesn't really help us much.

LIAM: Is there any light in there?

TRAVIS: Oh, was it? It was very, very dark and only my darkvision?

MATT: Aside from your-- Your darkvision was what got most of your ability to see in there. There's very, very, very faint sources of light in there. Some of it looks like either long, slowly dying lanterns that have been left since a previous visitor not too long ago. You do see that one central purplish glow from across the chamber. That's some sort of small device, probably two feet off the ground that was sit at the side, looked like a pillar, orrery device, and that gave enough of a faint glow that with your darkvision, it helped frame a lot of the chamber. Whereas normally

TRAVIS: All that, plus orrery device.

LAURA: How big is that orrery?

TRAVIS: It about two feet by one-foot.

ASHLEY: What are you thinking?

LAURA: I don't know. It seems important. You said she wrapped herself around it? If we could get that thing out of there, it might weaken her.

MARISHA: Did it look movable, the orrery?

TRAVIS: Did it look movable, or like it was just a giant contraption on the floor?

MATT: It was like a partially hollowed pillar of metal that had numerous, metallic arms, pincers at times that were all grasping this gem in the center.

TRAVIS: Metal.

MATT: You didn't get a-- Yeah, metal. You didn't get quite a detailed look. You just saw a general shape, and it was slightly tilted to one side like it was placed and is resting.

TRAVIS: Looks likely was shoddily made. Not like by an MC, but we could try to detach it.

LIAM: It look like anything that the Nightmare King was messing around with?

TRAVIS: Yes. It's a total guess on my part.

SAM: (laughs)

MARISHA: Well, we just need Lady Emoth, right? We don't need the others, so if we can slowly guide her and lure her this way.

TRAVIS: Just so we have it all out there: Lady Emoth was a pretty big fight. The thing behind her, going to be an even bigger fight. I'm sure the detached ass is going to fart out some shade creepers. So it's going to be a thing.

LAURA: So maybe Gus can Fireball the giant ass?

MATT: (Gus) "I mean, yeah. I mean, that's what it's good for, right?"

MARISHA: What are your all's plans of capturing Lady Emoth?

MATT: Goes ahead and points over to Olly. Olly reaches into the pocket and pulls out these small marbles. There's three you can see in Olly's hand. (Olly) "These here are generally are incarceration objects. They, upon a quick striking a particular target of interest, keep them encapsulated and easily movable, unharmed and unable to free themselves for the better part of about an hour.

LIAM: Just as heavy?

MATT: "Actually, pretty lighter than were before."

LAURA: All right.

LIAM: Okay.

MARISHA: Maybe we just go in? Capture her out of the gate, and then the fight is going to be getting out of here.

TRAVIS: One last thing. She was, the horned hell witch, was in my brain. Do you have any way of putting, like, a mind condom on us or something?

LAURA: That would be great. Let me work on finding a spell that can give you a mind condom.

TRAVIS: How much time do you need?

LAURA: In the meantime, though. No, I don't.

TRAVIS: Oh.

LIAM: (like Caleb) Mind Condom is a very high-level spell. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Whoa, who's that?

LIAM: Speaking from experience.

MARISHA: They're in our heads already.

ASHLEY: Ah! (laughter) (laughter)

ASHLEY: So when you throw?

LAURA: I'll do some research at the Starpoint Conservatory. (laughter)

SAM: The Starlight Academy?

LAURA: Yeah, that one.

ASHLEY: When you throw the--

SAM: Stardew Valley?

ASHLEY: -- stone thing, do you have to be touching her? Or you can throw it and then it--? How does that work?

MATT: (Olly) "Usually, you got to be careful. You don't want to be too far away, or it's hard to hit somebody, especially if they're trying to defend themselves. So, you want to get kind of close up. I only got three of them on me at the moment. I mean, I can give one to one of you maybe, but I want to keep maybe two for myself, just in case."

LAURA: You have to attack with it, or just touch with it?

MATT: "I mean, either way, it's got to hit with enough significant impact to cause the incantation down within to situate itself."

ASHLEY: Then we have to pick it back up?

MATT: "They're still relatively large. Smaller size by the encapsulation, but you got to grab it. It's more of a--"

TRAVIS: You're invisible, though. That should be very achievable. I don't think they saw me at all, as I talk in my invisible form still, because it lasts an hour.

SAM: So you could sneak in with one of these beads and pop it on her, and then as soon as you throw it, though, doesn't that break your invisibility?

TRAVIS: Oh shit.

SAM: But that's okay. At least she'll be captured. Then, we run in, bum rush her, maybe you pop smoke.

TRAVIS: Then I can't see. the smoke is a terrible idea. Forget that item, please.

MARISHA: I can make--

TRAVIS: Should know after seven years that that shit's terrible. (laughter)

SAM: How? This thing makes a bubble around the person or thing?

MATT: "Yeah, it encapsulates them and puts them in a pseudo pocket space for an hour."

MARISHA: We can roll her?

MATT: "Yeah, yeah."

MARISHA: On a hamster wheel?

MATT: "Usually."

MARISHA: I can make a distraction, an illusion at the opposite end of the chamber.

SAM: You can do that?

MARISHA: I can, yeah, make a--

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: It's a silent image of sorts.

SAM: We've got a gen-u-ine plan a-brewing here.

ASHLEY: You could take Mister with you because he can teleport you.

TRAVIS: He can teleport people?

ASHLEY: Yes, yes. I don't think it's very far, but let me ask him real quick.

MATT: (Mother) "Do not be afraid!"

SAM: Oh no.

ASHLEY: I hear something.

LAURA: That makes sense; that we been talking for quite a while. They would realize we were this direction. Maybe, you know what, this'll solve itself.

MATT: "Children!"

LAURA: Because, I bet they're coming in here any second.

TALIESIN: How many of those fireballs you got? Well, okay, not even going to think about it.

ASHLEY: For 15 feet.

TRAVIS: Spread out.

MARISHA: Form of Dread.

SAM: Form of Dread? Okay.

MARISHA: (cracks)

SAM: Ah!

LAURA: Should I--?

TALIESIN: Good.

LAURA: Do I have Dancing Lights up? Should I put the Dancing Lights up just in case?

MATT: I assume you've had your Dancing Lights up, since most of you need to see.

LAURA: Yeah, that's what I figured.

TRAVIS: What if she comes into our heads, I take 25 feet to get as far away from everybody else as possible.

MATT: Yeah, okay.

MARISHA: All right.

MATT: "Come. Let us speak."

LAURA: I'm going to wait for--

MATT: "Let us learn. Let us... join."

LAURA: Can I answer back?

TALIESIN: One of those three I was not really into.

TRAVIS: Mighty Balls, here. Who are you?

MATT: "You are in the embrace of the Shade Mother."

ALL: Shade Mother.

MATT: "(rasps)"

LIAM: I'm not going to go off on my own or anything, but I'm going to maneuver to the edge of the group to be in front of us.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: In case.

MATT: Imogen, you were saying you were going to?

LAURA: Oh, I was just wondering if I could respond to her.

MATT: You're welcome to try.

LAURA: What's your goal? What do you want?

MATT: "I want... family."

MARISHA: Aww.

MATT: "I want to bring everything into our family. I want to share my love and epiphany where all can be one mind and blood, to climb up and bring us all together."

LAURA: Yeah, sounds great. Just send Lady Emoth out here and she can guide us on in.

MATT: No response.

TALIESIN: Yeah, well, it was worth a shot.

LIAM: Hell of a day to be a martial class. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Yeah, this feels personal on occasion.

MARISHA: Are you going in, Chet?

TRAVIS: (yelps)

MARISHA: That's me. That's just me.

TRAVIS: Goddamn it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going in.

SAM: Are you going to take a bead?

TRAVIS: Shit.

SAM: Then, after you pop it, someone's got to go in there and roll her out, right?

TRAVIS: I don't-- Did Olly go invisible again?

MATT: Olly did not go invisible again.

ASHLEY: Oh, so she didn't get small?

LAURA: No, she just is turned into a big ball. That it still weighs a good amount.

TRAVIS: Can I ♪ make my way ♪ over to where Olly is?

LIAM: You did it to yourself.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I know.

MATT: Olly is over there, crossbow at the side, holding the marbles in her hand.

TRAVIS: It's me, it's Chetney!

MATT: "Right, right, hey."

TRAVIS: I'm going to try and stay out of sight for as long as possible. Would you want to give me one of those marbles and you can take the other two?

MATT: She holds her hand out.

LAURA: I can also potentially--

MARISHA: Telekinesis it?

LAURA: Yeah. I could catapult it. I mean, they could try to dodge it, but.

TRAVIS: I take it.

SAM: No, that's pretty good. That's from a far distance, right?

LAURA: Yeah, I could do it like-- I mean, I could do it 180 feet away.

SAM: That's pretty strong.

LIAM: Probably want someone there, though, to scoop up right on top of it.

MARISHA: -- if the two of them are there.

LIAM: How about--

SAM: Yeah, if she catapults and you're ready to push.

MARISHA: Then I can queue up my distraction on the opposite of the end right as you throw.

TRAVIS: I think she can hear all of this, by the way.

MARISHA: I suggest you throw yours.

LAURA: Yeah, there is a very good chance it'll miss, though. Just putting that out there.

SAM: Very good chance?

LAURA: I mean, a significant chance that I'd miss.

SAM: You have to have faith in yourself, your abilities. I've seen you throw things.

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: Pretty good at it.

LIAM: Maybe you fire that off and if you do miss-- You fire that off, he grabs. But if you miss, then we go to plan B and then you--

MARISHA: Toss and go.

LIAM: Smack and grab.

TRAVIS: I'm already moving towards her. Keep her busy.

SAM: With the bead or without?

TRAVIS: You don't know.

SAM: Jesus!

TRAVIS: Oh, I have one bead. I took one.

SAM: Are you not going to give it to Imogen to throw?

TRAVIS: There's two more in Olly's hands.

LAURA: There's two more beads. I can try.

MATT: "All right, all right, there you go."

TALIESIN: Three chances, better than--

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: "(sighs)"

MARISHA: Skulk up a bit so I can get eyes on the opposite side of the chamber.

MATT: Olly and Gus turn to you. (gasp)

MARISHA: Ah! Shh.

MATT: (Gus) "What the fuck? Yeah, I'm not going to ask."

TALIESIN: Relax.

MATT: "It's all right."

SAM: Chetney, as soon as she gets ready to throw, I'll send you a feeling. You'll get a feeling that it's about to happen.

TRAVIS: Okay.

LAURA: Are we going to-- wait, but we're doing the sneaky?

TRAVIS: I'm going behind enemy lines. You guys do whatever. Whoever gets there first wins.

LIAM: The lot of you--

TRAVIS: If either of us--

TALIESIN: We'll never forget you.

MARISHA: Just so I have eyes for my illusion.

SAM: I'll cast Guidance on you if you come close enough for me to touch you.

LIAM: Out from the group?

TRAVIS: Oh sure.

MARISHA: I'm going to stay back as far as I can.

LAURA: It's pitch black in there, though.

SAM: Where are you?

TRAVIS: Over here.

LAURA: Yeah, but I can't catapult, I can't hit her if it's dark in there.

SAM: What is that lump?

MATT: You have no sight, nothing.

LAURA: Yeah, there's no sight in that chamber.

MATT: It's pretty much--

LAURA: As I send my orbs in as fast as I can. I could send them in ahead and then--

TRAVIS: Very important working at a desk.

LIAM: If they're not listening to everything we say, yeah, shock and awe?

ASHLEY: Shade Mother, can you hear me?

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

ASHLEY: Can you hear what I'm saying right now?

MATT: "Child, come."

ASHLEY: Shit.

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: I think, I think they know.

MARISHA: Let's do it.

TALIESIN: In between our balls and our orbs, I think we're going to be okay.

SAM: Ooh, this is a plan. All right, I'm going to guide Chetney.

TALIESIN: No, I don't. I think we're fucked.

SAM: He's guided for a minute. A minute, go!

TRAVIS: I'm already going in.

LAURA: Fuck it! I send an orb into the room.

LIAM: I'm going to protect the dead woman.

LAURA: One of the Dancing Lights goes in.

MATT: Okay, make a stealth check for me, Chetney.

TRAVIS: 17. 18.

MATT: 18, okay. You send one of the Dancing Lights in?

LAURA: Fuck it.

MATT: Now, it doesn't travel quickly. It drifts in, as it is a cantrip. As it drifts in, the room begins to light up and you can now, the rest of you especially, make out the details in the chamber around you. You can see the scattered gold and silver and copper, all the coins that are lost between little cracks in the ground around. You can see the hanging chains and bits of partially constructed mine shaft utilization. You can see the equipment and partially built scaffold and it spirals upward as the chamber continues before it crests into a rough, natural dome and you can see the dozens and dozens of different tunnels that splinter off in different directions as it begins to float outward. Make a perception check, those of you who are up front.

TRAVIS: Not me, right?

LIAM: Balls, two ball rolls.

MATT: You would roll a perception check as well. This would be vision based, however, so you--

MARISHA: Would I be in front?

TRAVIS: Oh, so just they were the same roll anyway.

MARISHA: Am I considered up front?

LIAM: You said you were kind of--

MATT: If you want, yeah.

LAURA: Yeah, you said you were--

TRAVIS: 11.

LIAM: 11 as well.

MARISHA: Oh god. Natural one, let's get it out now.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Seven.

LIAM: Wow.

MARISHA: Jeez.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: We're in a room.

MARISHA: Some shit rolls this whole game.

MATT: First thing you notice as you all begin to enter towards the front of it: You do not have sight on Lady Emoth.

TRAVIS: Oh.

MARISHA: Uh-oh.

LAURA: Of course not.

MATT: What you do see is the two creatures, the two humanoid beings that are hunched over the tables on the sides, their heads go straight and (whooshes) look over towards the entrance as you approach. The rest of you who are now getting eyes for the first time on the Shade Mother in her bulbous form affixed to the lanky, talon-like limbs to the front as she's partially curled over that small, scattered hoard in the far end of the chamber. She reaches over to the side and where her body is, she clutches something and there's a shift or some sort of a movement. These little blue lights (puffs) begin to glow along the underside of her slug-like lower torso.

SAM: She's got mood lighting?

LIAM: LEDs.

MARISHA: She does. I'm going to make a--

LAURA: She flies?

MATT: She begins to drift--

LAURA: That's what it was being stolen for.

MATT: -- and hover upward slowly.

TRAVIS: The brumestone.

LAURA: The fucking brumestone.

MATT: Five, 10 feet off the ground. In a partially clumsy hover, this massive creature is now drifting in the air and you can see small, five little points of blue glowing light that are affixed to strange, spider-like metallic devices that are embedded into parts of the body as she begins to float in the air. "Children, come."

MARISHA: Uh. Silent Image.

MATT: Of?

MARISHA: Dugger.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Slithering out of a hole on the other side of the chamber like he's just come back.

MATT: Okay. She doesn't seem to pay much mind to Dugger.

MARISHA: Yeah, I was afraid of that. Yeah.

LIAM: Brain stuff.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Brain stuff.

MARISHA: Brain stuff.

TALIESIN: I admit, that's pretty cool.

LAURA: Any? Did the room light up more when the blue light started?

MATT: A little bit, yeah. I mean, between your light coming into there and the dull glow of the, what you are now noticing to be brumestone affixed to the lower part of her body, you have some visibility within the area.

TALIESIN: Just to be that asshole, I'm going to look up.

LAURA: Yeah, definitely to see if Lady Emoth's on the ceiling again compared to where.

MATT: Okay. Go ahead and roll another perception check.

TRAVIS: So those are reattached to the big butt?

LAURA: I don't know, she partially detached, right?

MATT: It was like this much longer body was part of the wall and then it (slurps) separated and left part of it up there which is like its own cocoon.

TRAVIS: The detached part is what's glowing and flying?

MATT: Correct.

TRAVIS: Not the, okay. Not the old part?

MATT: If you would like a visual aid.

TRAVIS: I would! Yes, yes, yes!

TALIESIN: Please. (yelling)

TRAVIS: What the fuck?!

ASHLEY: Oh my god!

MATT: So that's what you're looking at right about now.

ASHLEY: That's so foul!

LAURA: So much scarier than I pictured.

TALIESIN: That's worse.

LIAM: That's what's free at the moment?

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: There's more booger, booger sac behind?

MATT: Little stones glow.

ASHLEY: The rest of the body's in there, obviously?

MATT: Yeah, it's--

ASHLEY: That's so disgusting.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: Thanks, I hate it.

TALIESIN: I rolled nine.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Cool.

MARISHA: I make Dugger run around in a circle, but I'm assuming she doesn't give a fuck. That failed.

MATT: Doesn't seem to pay much mind or interest to the arrival of a Dugger, but definitely is looming up in the center of the room down upon all of you.

SAM: It sounds to me-- Hello! Hi, smiley day! It sounds to me like you wanted to talk about family planning or something? Is that? You making a family?

MATT: (whooshes) Begins to drift down closer toward the entryway where the rest of you are at the moment.

SAM: Could we meet the members of your family?

LIAM: I think that's going to happen regardless.

TALIESIN: Ixnay on the amilyfey.

SAM: I just want to know where she at.

MATT: "Certainly."

LAURA: She's doing it?

MATT: You hear chittering. (chitters)

TALIESIN: Oh fuck.

MATT: From the tunnels above.

MARISHA: Well, maybe we just fight instead.

SAM: No.

LAURA: We are not going to be able to fight all this.

SAM: We just got to get her. We just got to get her.

MARISHA: We don't know where she is.

MATT: You guys have rolled some shitty fucking perception checks.

SAM: Wait, wait, can I find an object or something.

ASHLEY: Peek around the corner and give it a look-see?

MATT: What's up?

ASHLEY: Can I give a look and just try to see?

MATT: If you'd like to. For everybody who hasn't rolled a perception check, things are starting to heat up a bit.

SAM: I did not roll a perception check.

LIAM: Are you Wolfy now?

LAURA: Can you guide yourself?

ASHLEY: I-- I rolled a natural 20! (gasping)

TALIESIN: Thank god!

LAURA: Fearne, tell us where she is?

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Come to a total of?

LAURA: Oh my god.

SAM: 13. (laughs)

ASHLEY: 27.

LAURA and TALIESIN: Whoa!

MATT: Pretty solid!

LAURA: You're pretty perceptive!

ASHLEY: I am. I wasn't going to do it, and then I saw that number. I was like, "I'm going to look, too!"

TRAVIS: You should always roll perception checks, just so you know.

ASHLEY: Okay, I will.

MATT: Okay. As all this is happening, it is very, very-- It's pretty dark in here. You do not have darkvision, correct?

ASHLEY: No.

MATT: If you're looking off in the far ends of this chamber and looking for Lady Emoth, I would say it's with disadvantage because of the lack of light in this room.

ASHLEY: Should I roll again?

LIAM: Always be perceiving.

SAM: Another 20?

MATT: It's tough. It's so low-lit and what little bit of light there is in here is helping, but--

ASHLEY: 19.

SAM: Okay, okay.

MATT: It's not too bad.

TALIESIN: Is that with the seven? Yeah, so 19 total. Okay, that's good, that's good.

MATT: It's not too bad. You see things clambering out of some of the upper tunnels in the room. You could assume, just based on the shapes and the movement and the sounds coming from them and your encounters in the past, there's a handful of shade creepers that are starting to emerge from the upper openings within this chamber you're currently standing in. You do see up on the far wall, which is a slight rocky incline towards the back. There is a shadowed shape that you see disappear behind an upper part of rocky outcropping.

SAM: Like, how far away?

MATT: About, I'd say, close to 80, 90 feet.

SAM: Do you tell us about this figure? Nope.

ASHLEY: Oh, no, of course.

SAM: Oh, okay.

ASHLEY: I think Lady Emoth is way back there. I think she's trying to hide.

LAURA: At the back?

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, behind her.

MATT: Gus is like, "Do I, am I fireballing something? What am I exploding? What am I exploding?"

TALIESIN: I feel like it's coming up real soon.

LAURA: Maybe you can distract them with a fireball and that way we can run in and try to get her?

MATT: "All right. Just tell me when." At this point, the Shade Mother is about 15 feet in front of you, about 10 feet off the ground and the immensity and the smell of this room, there is this odd mildew, curdled smell that arrives before she does that strikes your senses with an offensiveness you weren't prepared for. With the blue glow framing the space around you, you see at the end of this bulbous back half of the creature, something (slithers) emerges as a large--

MARISHA: Let's go!

MATT: -- stinger begins to protrude from the back.

TALIESIN: Light it up!

LAURA: Is she directly in front of the bulbous thing now? In our vision, is she like-- Or is she way above us at this point?

MATT: She's about 10 feet up, so she's now beginning to fill a majority of the chamber from your entryway perspective.

LIAM: She's blocking the place where Fearne pointed out?

MATT: For some of you, yes.

TRAVIS: Oh no.

MATT: Gus is like, "What am I doing?"

TALIESIN: Light it up, light it up.

MATT: "Light it up!" He goes ahead and throws that singular red bead as it arcs past and she (rasps) looks over her shoulder down to where it's shooting and you can watch this bead glow up the sides of the rock as it passes over and hits the edge of where that large cocoon-like portion of the body she left behind with the additional pods beneath it were set and some of the other shade creepers are like (chitters) clamoring down the wall there. (fizzles) (explosion) The explosion hits and you watch as close to a dozen or more shade creepers immediately burst into flames and fall from the ground spattering across the far rock side. The Shade Mother turns (screeches). You should roll initiative.

TRAVIS: Yeah!

SAM: Ooh, he's going to get something.

TRAVIS: Beginning of the end.

LAURA: Oh no.

TRAVIS: Oh god.

SAM: Terrible.

TRAVIS: Oh god, oh god, oh god.

SAM: Ooh, look at this map.

TRAVIS: Yo, what is happening right now?

ASHLEY: Whoa!

SAM: Whoa, that's so cool.

LAURA: That's amazing.

TRAVIS: There's individual rocks on there, you guys! There's pebbles.

MARISHA: Wow, this is sick.

LIAM: Figure, there's a figure.

ASHLEY: Whoa!

SAM: There's a machine over there.

MARISHA: Is that the orrery?

MATT: This is the central large machine that's partially [Inaudible]. The orrery is over here.

LAURA: Okay, that little thingy.

MATT: These are the tables with the two entities there. Let me go ahead and--

SAM: This is pretty.

TRAVIS: Where's the orrery? Point, Liam.

LAURA: This is really pretty.

LIAM: It's here.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: She--

LAURA: Oh god!

LIAM: Oh boy.

MATT: -- is floating right about, I'd say about here.

LIAM: Don't let that beautiful miniature topple over.

ASHLEY: Oh, she's amazing.

SAM: It's happening.

LAURA: Oh my lord.

LIAM: Sweat on those arms.

LAURA: Where's the giant--

MATT: At the front of this. The what?

LAURA: The giant thing on the wall. Where's the giant--

MATT: It's like across this side.

TRAVIS: Where that ass at?

LAURA: Where that ass at?

MATT: The Fireball explosion blew up here, and just destroyed a bunch of the pods and some of the emerging shade creepers.

SAM: Whoa.

LIAM: Detach that ass.

MATT: Orym, you said you were towards the front?

LIAM: Yeah, well, last thing I said is that I was sort of shielding Laudna, so.

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: Wherever she goes.

MARISHA: Laudna.

LIAM: Laudy, Laudy.

LAURA: I was near the front because I was trying to use the thingy.

MATT: All right, how about the rest of you?

ASHLEY: I was probably peeked around that a little bit, I think behind Imogen.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: Where did you point Lady Emoth was?

LIAM: Those horns look like little hands.

LAURA: This side over here?

MATT: Lady Emoth, you saw, up in this area.

LAURA: Okay.

LIAM: It looks like this.

MATT: This is all crystal here. The crystal represents the cocooned bits.

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: You were?

TRAVIS: Left.

MATT: Yeah, over this way.

TRAVIS: Over five feet, yeah.

MATT: Say about there.

LIAM: What are the creeper bits again?

LAURA: Like pods?

MATT: No, these are bits of broken pods, and leftover husks of whatever once was birthed within them.

LAURA: Victims?

LIAM: Giant cicada shells.

MATT: Yeah, essentially. Where would Mister want to be? How about flying over there?

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, let's do that.

MATT: Gliding, like a fire spirit does.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Fresh Cut Grass?

SAM: I had probably approached Mother to talk to her a bit.

MATT: Do you want to be in front of the group then?

SAM: Yeah, to the right a little bit.

MATT: Over here?

SAM: Yeah, just a little.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: Ashton?

TALIESIN: I would've been, sadly, near the fucking back, but I know I can run at full fucking speed if I have to.

MATT: All right, I'll say--

TALIESIN: Where are you, Travis?

TRAVIS: Probably there.

LIAM: Is that Chetney, or--?

TALIESIN: No, that's Olly.

MATT: Gus would be about here.

TRAVIS: I'm invisible right below his bracelets.

MATT: Then, Gus threw the Fireball from the back.

TALIESIN: Yeah, so I was talking to Gus.

SAM: Gus?

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: All righty.

SAM: Woof.

LAURA: Oh god.

TALIESIN: I hate this. That's gross.

LIAM: I mean, it's really cool, but.

TRAVIS: Flying, flying, flying.

MATT: So 25 to 20?

TALIESIN: 24.

LAURA: 22.

MARISHA: Nice.

MATT: Whoa, Ashton 24, nice.

SAM: Get it!

TALIESIN: I can't reach that thing.

SAM: Can't you throw your hammer or something?

ASHLEY: I got 20.

TALIESIN: It'd be comical.

LAURA: Oh, nice.

MATT: All righty.

TALIESIN: You're 20?

LAURA: 22.

TRAVIS: Oh. Ashton, Imogen, Fearne.

MATT: 20 to 15.

LIAM: 16.

MATT: 16, okay.

TRAVIS: 17.

LAURA: Oh.

MARISHA: (laughs) My brain never--

LAURA: Say it faster. (laughter)

MATT: All right, we have Orym.

SAM: Chet.

MATT: 15 to 10.

LIAM: Good.

SAM: Good cursive there.

MARISHA: Thank you. You know they don't teach it anymore?

SAM: I know.

MARISHA: It's a dying art.

ASHLEY: I can't believe they don't teach it anymore. It makes me so sad.

MARISHA: At least that's what I hear. I don't know, I'm not--

MATT: 10 to five?

MARISHA: Seven.

MATT: All right.

SAM: And three!

MATT: All right, Grass at the rear.

MATT: All righty, so, Ashton, you are up first. You're feeling the pulse of this explosion, the fiery flash of light in the room. The chamber now adjusting to the darkness within, aside from the faint sources of light. It's difficult to make out the space, but you feel the pulse of combat coming to you. What are you doing?

TALIESIN: Well, when in doubt, you take the initiative. First, I'm going to, is there anything I can even hit? If I rage now, I don't have to hit anything until next turn, I assume, the end of next turn?

TRAVIS: Before you're done.

MATT: I think it's before.

TALIESIN: Before, so I can't rage out unless there's something for me to hit?

TRAVIS: Or it can hit you. Or something can hit you.

TALIESIN: Or something can hit me.

MATT: Either way.

TALIESIN: I can't hold a rage, never mind.

MATT: No, you cannot.

TRAVIS: You're going to punch yourself?

MATT: I'm not angry yet. (laughter)

TALIESIN: I'm going to push. I'm going to try and take a run 40 feet, see if I can get cover behind that.

MATT: That's 30, 35, 40. Can get you about there.

TALIESIN: Can get me about there. Do I have cover from that thing now?

MATT: From the Shade Mother? Yes, you cannot see it at the moment.

TALIESIN: Okay. Yeah, if I rage now, then it's dead when I start my next turn.

MATT: Unless something hits you in the interim.

TALIESIN: Unless something hits me in the interim.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: Fuck. Barbarian's a little weird. Fuck it. I'm just assuming something terrible's going to happen, so I'm going to fucking rage.

MATT: Okay, go for it.

SAM: The coldest case was your body.

TALIESIN: Wait, I've got-- (laughter)

TALIESIN: I've also still got 40 feet of movement, if I'm not taking an attack.

MATT: If you want to use it to dash, yeah.

TALIESIN: All right, well, let's see what I got.

MARISHA: Abracadaver!

TALIESIN: Yeah, okay. Yeah, all right, I got a three, so we're still sticking. Maybe I'm going to try a different d4 next time, since it really likes the number three. So we've got the Temporal Morass.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: I'm going to run over to the table with the guy over by the table.

MATT: Over here?

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: I'm going to to get right in this motherfucker's face.

MATT: All right, you're right up against it.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: As you rush up to it, it was looking over towards the edge. It turns around, its body (snaps), snaps as it twists its torso towards you (groans). You can see the black eyes there, and the rows of teeth within the jaw.

TALIESIN: (groans)

MATT: Okay, finishing your go, that brings us to Imogen.

SAM: Imogen, come on! Go on, girl!

LAURA: Go on, girl. I'm going to rush in, in the same direction that Ashton was going.

MATT: 20, 25, 30, can get you next to that guy, if you want to.

LAURA: Well, I don't want to be right next to that guy.

MATT: You can go up here if you want to.

LAURA: Yeah, sure.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Then, can I see Lady Emoth from there?

MATT: You've not seen her yet. You'd have to use your action to make a perception check to try and perceive her. The only person right now that has any inclination is Fearne.

LIAM: Well, we said she--

LAURA: But Fearne told us the direction that she was at.

MATT: You know the direction, but you still do not see her.

LIAM: What is the direction again on this map?

MATT: Up in this area.

LIAM: Up in there, okay.

LAURA: Yeah, I'm going to try to see her. I'm going to use my action to try to spot her.

MATT: Okay, roll a perception check with disadvantage.

SAM and TRAVIS: Jesus!

LAURA: Nice.

SAM: With disadvantage?

MATT: Because of the--

LAURA: Wow, that was aggressive on my part.

TRAVIS: Massive dice in a small tray.

LAURA: Okay, perception. Ugh, my perception is dog shit. 12.

MATT: 12. You have no sight of her. It's too dark in this room.

LAURA: My other lights are with me now.

MATT: They're (hums) glowing up in that space, but it's still a big room, and the lights are only gliding in space here to light up the immediate vicinity.

LAURA: Okay, well, then can I use my bonus action to send the lights up to light up that whole area where she had been?

MATT: Sure. There now lights--

LAURA: To make it not at disadvantage the next time?

MATT: Okay. I'll say to mark the general space where they are, I'll set this, the glow up in this area there. All righty, does that finish your turn, Laudna? Okay.

LAURA: Imogen.

MATT: Sorry, Imogen, it's the dark hair and outfit.

MARISHA: We look so similar now. (laughter)

MATT: Why do I keep doing that?

LAURA: He's saying that I look like Laudna in real life.

MATT: It's the dark hair. That's all. That's on me. All right, so now the first lair action kicks in.

SAM: Lair action!

TALIESIN: Fuck.

LAURA: Oh yay.

MARISHA: Oh shit.

TRAVIS: I think you want to save that for the end of the round.

LAURA: Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

SAM: First lair action.

LIAM: No.

MATT: Shade creepers begin to emerge from the side tunnels there and there.

MARISHA: Oh sure.

MATT: Finishing that, Fearne, you're up.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LIAM: I have no idea what to do.

ASHLEY: It's very dark in here and I can't see, so I am going to cast Daylight.

SAM: Ooh.

ASHLEY: On top of Mother.

MATT: Okay. On top of Mother?

ASHLEY: Yes, so just, boosh.

MATT: What's the radius on that?

ASHLEY: It's 60 feet.

MATT: 60-foot radius?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MARISHA: She's casting Daylight?

MATT: Yeah, you can put that here and light up the whole-- room, essentially.

ASHLEY: Let's do it.

LAURA: Yay!

SAM: (as Fearne) Let's do it.

MATT: So 60-foot radius. Yeah, you can do the whole.

ASHLEY: Let's do the whole damn room.

LAURA: It's so bright in here now.

MATT: Okay, so whereas the shadows had been consuming the majority of this chamber, those of you without darkvision have been fumbling it through, trying to focus where the outer rim of soft glows, making out the shapes around you. Suddenly, this bright piercing light fills the entire chamber.

TRAVIS: Aah!

ASHLEY: Sorry, I just can't see.

MATT: As it does, you hear Mother. (screeches) screech back, clawing at her face.

SAM: Okay!

MATT: All the shade creepers, (screeches) withdrawing from the bright light. (cheering)

TRAVIS: Here we go, okay.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: That was completely intentional.

ASHLEY: Here we go!

TRAVIS: Ashley Johnson, let's do it!

TALIESIN: Like cockroaches when the lights turn on.

TRAVIS: First turn.

MATT: Yeah, they're not happy.

TRAVIS: No.

SAM: Nice, nice.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: All right, so that's your action.

ASHLEY: That's my action. Then that did more than I thought it was going to do. (laughter)

TALIESIN: That was pretty dope.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

MATT: Yeah, mm, okay.

ASHLEY: All right, and then, Mister,

TRAVIS: (claps)

ASHLEY: I'm going to have him throw some flame seeds at Mama's belly.

MATT: All righty, is he moving?

ASHLEY: Oh no, near Mama's belly, but also near one of the blue stones.

MATT: You're aiming for her, or one of the stones?

LAURA: Yeah, the stones!

ASHLEY: Yeah, let's try the stones.

MATT: Go for it, so go ahead and roll an attack.

ASHLEY: Okay, fine.

LAURA: Knock her to the ground so Ashton and Orym can get it.

TALIESIN: Yep.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: Don't worry, I'm going to get there--

LAURA: Although, I do want to see Orym--

TRAVIS: Throw a chain around her mouth, ride her down, like Doctor Strangelove.

MARISHA: Yeah. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Yee-haw.

ASHLEY: Is he-- Oh yeah, he's okay, yeah.

MARISHA: She's perfectly merry-go-round-shaped, like the little horses on--

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: There's also the shine that's reminiscent of-- Yeah, if you go right there, there's a leather strap.

MARISHA: Put a little saddle on her.

MATT: I would love a carousel of things like her around.

TALIESIN: Oh my god.

LAURA: Oh my god, yes.

TRAVIS: No, no.

MARISHA: Nightmare carousel.

MATT: A nightmarousel?

TRAVIS: No, no.

ASHLEY: 23.

MATT: 23 actually does hit.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: It's a very difficult to hit part on her body, but--

ASHLEY: Yay!

MATT: Go ahead and roll damage on it.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: Holy cow.

ASHLEY: Wait, what is "plus PB"?

MATT: Plus your proficiency bonus, which, I believe, is plus three.

SAM: Plus peanut butter.

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Okay, five.

LAURA: Ooh.

TALIESIN: That's a good hit.

ASHLEY: Eight points of damage.

MATT: Eight points of damage.

ASHLEY: For Mister--

MARISHA: You got your peanut butter--

ASHLEY: -- to one of the stones.

MARISHA: -- in my slug monster!

MATT: All right, so one of the ones right in the front, there's two affixed to the front of its slug body, and it hits one. You see its light spark, and it looks heavily damaged. It's still holding taut, but it is, the light is sparking a little bit.

ASHLEY: Okay, and then for my movement, I'm going to try to tuck, so I'm out of visual range of Mother.

MATT: Okay, you can tuck behind Gus would be the only way to go, because right now this area is--

ASHLEY: Well, I'll stay then, that's fine.

MATT: Okay, so you back into Gus, it's like, "Oh, sorry."

ASHLEY: See him antsy. It's okay. I'll go behind him.

MATT: You want to go behind him?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: You're not an inconvenience.

SAM: She picks his pocket.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

TALIESIN: She's literally holding the room right now.

ASHLEY: All right, here we go.

MATT: Okay. All right, finishing Fearne's go, it is now Lady Emoth's turn. (oohing)

MATT: Lady Emoth darts from the space behind, scratching at her eyes, screeching as well, (screeches) and, let me see, there she is. Darts out, clambers down the side, and rushes under here to try and get out from under--

TRAVIS: Oh, wow.

MATT: -- the light. Is basically trying to get out from the sunlight. That's what she's going to do.

TALIESIN: Did I see her do that, by the way?

SAM: Tight, tight, tight.

MATT: You, both, actually, the only people that probably would've seen that happen--

TALIESIN: I think me and--

MATT: -- would've been the three of you over here.

TALIESIN: The three of us?

MATT: Maybe, Laudna, what's your passive perception?

LIAM: Mine's 20.

MATT: Yours is 20, but you're blocked--

LIAM: Blocked, okay.

MATT: -- by the pathways there, so I'd say, Laudna, you might've seen it, too.

MARISHA: All right.

MATT: So Laudna, Olly, and then Chetney, Imogen, and--

MATT and TALIESIN: Ashton--

MATT: -- would've seen Lady Emoth dart that direction.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Gus, who's back there now and seeing this happen is going to go, "Mostly utility at this point, but I guess I'll try it for another round." He's going to burn one of his higher-level slots to Fireball again.

ASHLEY: Can I cast Guidance on him?

MATT: Huh? You already used your action.

ASHLEY: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay.

MATT: He's going to go, (groans), and lob another flame seed up in her direction (whooshes). It hits her in the side of the shoulder and detonates. 20-foot radius around here (whooshes). Not enough to get any of you specifically, because of her higher up space, so she has to make a dexterity saving throw. Natural one. (cheering)

MATT: She's going to use Legendary Resistance to succeed.

TALIESIN: That's right. Burn that shit.

MARISHA: Burn it through. This is fine.

SAM: Uh-huh, we're doing it.

LAURA: She gets three per round, or three, three?

SAM and TRAVIS: We don't know.

SAM: We don't know.

MATT: That's 28 points of fire, 14 points of fire damage to the Shade Mother. All righty, (creature pains). As the flames subside, Gus goes, "Uh," and Gus now gets behind--

LAURA: (laughs) That's amazing.

MATT: Like, "Excuse me." (laughter)

MATT: You're both like (grunts), trying to get back in the hallway.

MARISHA: No, you go, no, you go.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

MATT: All right, it's going to finish Gus' go. Chetney, you're up, with Orym on deck.

TRAVIS: Okay. Shit, I saw her run into cover. With my 25 feet of movement, does it look like I could cover the ground and hurdle up on top of this rock and get up on her rear?

MATT: Up here you mean, or--?

TRAVIS: To Lady Emoth's position.

MATT: Over here?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Yeah, you can do that one.

TRAVIS: Oh fuck.

MATT: Yeah, you can get up on here if you want to.

TRAVIS: Okay, I'm going to take the little bead, and say: Tag, you're it! (whooshes) And hit her with it.

MATT: Okay, you are invisible, so you have advantage.

LAURA: Yes!

SAM: Ooh.

TRAVIS: Okay, is it an attack roll?

MATT: It is an attack roll. So you just roll, add your proficiency bonus and your strength modifier or dexterity modifier, whichever you prefer.

SAM: I had guided him.

TRAVIS: You said strength or dexterity, you said?

MATT: Guidance is for ability checks, it is not for attack rolls.

TRAVIS: I'll do strength.

MATT: But good looking out.

LAURA: Get that Bless going, get that Bless.

TRAVIS: Natural 20.

MATT: Oh shit. (cheering, oohing)

MATT: Yes, okay.

TRAVIS: So 26, plus strength, plus proficiency bonus.

LAURA: (howls)

MARISHA: I've been rolling like shit for fucking weeks.

MATT: Okay. So you see her there behind, hit the side of the rocks as you dart around, and invisibly go rushing up and leap in the air, through the small section of rock where it opens up to where she's now rubbing her eyes and (screeches). She spins just in time to hear the sound of you impact the stone as you land, not seeing where you are, and looking above, where your head is, as you punch the bead right into her gut.

SAM: Nice.

MATT: Suddenly, there's this weird sucking sound, (sucks) and this sudden flash of energy, and you watch as this amberish orb (whooshes) surrounds her like a bubble (whooshes). She's now-- (no sound)

SAM: Oh.

LAURA: Nice.

MATT: Scratching at it, making no sound and no impact on it. So where Lady Emoth was, there is now this amber orb.

SAM: Nice.

TRAVIS: Cool, cool.

SAM: Chetney is now--

TRAVIS: Visible.

MATT: You're now visible, yes.

TRAVIS: Okay. I feel like--

LAURA: How strong are you, Chetney?

TRAVIS: Huh?

LAURA: How strong are you?

TRAVIS: Pretty strong.

LAURA: Okay, good.

TRAVIS: I work out.

LAURA: I can tell.

TRAVIS: Plus I got old man strength.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: That shit's for real.

SAM: Is that a thing?

TRAVIS: Oh my god, 400 years old, please. I bench 325. With my bonus action, I am going to--

TALIESIN: 325 ounces.

TRAVIS: My bonus action-- (laughter)

TRAVIS: I'm going to look at-- Can I see Olly and Gus?

MATT: Where you're standing now, no, you can't see anybody except for Ashton and Imogen over there.

TRAVIS: Well, they'll figure it out soon enough. I reach out and I dig my fingernails into my face and I split my face in half, and a snout comes shooting out.

MARISHA: Oh my god!

MATT: That's some Howling shit.

MARISHA: That's amazing. People thought I was the creepy motherfucker.

MATT: Hell yes.

TALIESIN: Oh shit, he let the dogs out. (groaning)

TRAVIS: It's a wolf!

TALIESIN: It's the only one I'm ever going to do. It's done, it's done.

ASHLEY: I got it out of the way!

TALIESIN: Once a campaign.

MATT: And with that, we have Chetney Wolf on the battlefield.

LAURA: Okay.

ASHLEY: The hairs on my arms stand up.

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah, they do. (deeply) Yeah, they do.

MATT: Perfect, does that finish your turn, Chetney?

TRAVIS: Yes, it does.

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

LIAM: Oh man, he's looking--

MATT: Actually, at the end of your turn, the Shade Mother's going to use a legendary action to hover a little bit closer to the ground.

SAM: Oh no. Oh no.

MARISHA: Oh boy.

MATT: It is now right there.

LAURA: Uh oh.

TRAVIS: Okay. Okay.

TALIESIN: Oh, wow.

TRAVIS: What does that mean?

TALIESIN: Making life a little harder.

TRAVIS: Okay, why did she do that? Okay. That's the end of my turn.

MATT: Orym, your go.

TRAVIS: I will add a long howl, so people hear.

MATT: Yes, you all heard the howl reverberate throughout the cavern walls.

TALIESIN: Oh boy.

LIAM: She's right on top of me? Okay, so he looks up this giant carapace floating just above him. Hey, mom's spaghetti! I jump and slash through the abdomen and I'm going to make it a goading attack.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: That's a big high roll. That is 18 plus eight, so 26 to hit. She has to make a wisdom save.

TALIESIN: Shit.

SAM: A wisdom save.

MATT: That is going to be a 19.

LIAM: Ah, she succeeds, and then I'm going to spin it around and keep running underneath her and slash again, same deal. Same goading attack. That is a 21 to hit?

MATT: That hits.

LIAM: Another wisdom save.

MATT: All righty. That is going to be a nine. Nope, no, I misread it. 19 again, same roll.

LIAM: (groans)

MATT: (laughs) Sorry.

LIAM: Dang it-- I will--

MATT: Good try, though.

LIAM: -- run around, though underneath her, so that I'm behind its butt.

MATT: About there?

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: That's the end of my turn.

TALIESIN: Smart, smart, smart.

MATT: That finishes your turn. So as you stab in both-- So did you roll damage for those attacks?

LIAM: No, I didn't. Let's do that.

MATT: I was like--

LIAM: Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. So that's eight.

ASHLEY: Oh, oh, the other.

LIAM: For--

LAURA: I think so?

LIAM: Oh, sorry. Remember that. So two plus five is seven, plus four is 11 for the first. Then the second is 11 plus three, so 14 for the second.

TRAVIS: Fighter shit.

MATT: Got it, great.

TRAVIS: Fighter shit!

MATT: So slash and then slash underneath, carving down as you do. It is tough hide. It looks semi-translucent up close, especially well-lit in this room, so it looks like it should be easy to pierce, but it is tougher than you expect, but you do carve through and a caramely-colored liquid spills out from the wound as you get a little bit of a cut, but rush through off the other side and shake it off your blade and spin around.

LIAM: Fuck it, action surge. I'm now in a flanking position. That is a-- oh, there's a one I'm going to reroll. I got a two out of that, so that's just a 16. That's real low.

MATT: 16 just hits.

TRAVIS: Yo.

ASHLEY: Yes!

TRAVIS: Carpe diem!

LAURA: That's good to know!

LIAM: Goading attack. Four plus six is 10.

TALIESIN: Oh shit.

LIAM: 12 for that attack, wisdom save.

MATT: There we go, that's the seven-- Nine. It's a failure.

LIAM: She fails, so any attack on anyone besides me is at disadvantage.

MATT: Has disadvantage.

LIAM: Last attack is a 21.

MATT: That hits.

LIAM: Four plus six is 10. 16 for the last.

SAM, ASHLEY, and LAURA: Nice.

MATT: That's two hits. Hell yeah.

TRAVIS: Damn dude.

LIAM: So I've eviscerated the bottom side.

MATT: All righty, you got it.

LAURA: Eviscerate--

LAURA and SAM: The bottom.

MATT: At the end of your turn, she's going to use another legendary action to make a stinger strike on you.

TRAVIS: Oh, the stinger! Orym!

LAURA: Oh, there is a stinger!

MARISHA: She's poking you with her butt.

MATT: Yes, that thing you saw emerge from the back of the bulbous space is a large, jagged, pointed stinger that (whoosh) towards you.

TRAVIS: It's not for fun!

MATT: However, the room is still in daylight and the light sensitivity that she suffers gives her disadvantage on attack rolls because of the Daylight spell.

LAURA: Oh yay!

TRAVIS: Come on, come on.

MATT: So even against you, it's with disadvantage.

TRAVIS: Come on, come on, come on.

MATT: Okay. Still two decent rolls. That's a 23.

LIAM: Hits.

MATT: Okay. So it was even still trying to scratch at the eyes, spins around and the stinger, it pierces you right underneath where the left pec is and gets about two inches in there as you grab it and hold it from going deeper. It's an immense amount of strength that it takes you off the ground for a second. You have to lift yourself off and then catch your feet, not before--

LIAM: Ay, the left pap.

MATT: (laughs) You do take 11 points of piercing damage, plus three points of poison damage as you feel something pulse into you. Make a constitution saving throw for me, please.

LIAM: I have advantage against poison, so does that--

MATT: It means you have advantage on the saving throw.

LIAM: Okay.

TRAVIS: I wish I hadn't used it on that guard.

LIAM: Balls, total balls. That is constitution? Seven.

MATT: Seven. You, my friend, are poisoned.

TALIESIN: Okay, okay.

MATT: You feel a pulsing through your blood, and you can feel the hot burning sensation of the poison coursing deeper and spreading throughout your body. That finishes that go. That now brings us to her turn.

SAM and LAURA: Oh no.

LAURA: That's right, she hasn't gone yet.

MARISHA: So she's after Orym.

SAM: Wait, that was just an extra attack--

MATT: That was a legendary action.

SAM: Oh wow.

LIAM: Matt, you should give her six hit points back, because I added superiority die damage to the fourth attack, which there was no superiority die used.

MATT: Good call. I'll make that a 10. Good call on that. Thank you for letting me know. For the Shade Mother's turn.

TRAVIS: My body just made a sound where he got stabbed. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Some organ up here's (gurgles).

LIAM: Palms are sweaty.

MATT: You watch as, from where that you carved past and the stinger withdraws, you see her, still eyes partially shut, glancing around the space around. These little folds around the larger slug-like body begin to pucker tightly and then release a Caustic Nimbus as--

SAM: She's farting on us.

MATT: Everyone within 15 feet suddenly gets spattered with an acidic liquid that just (splashes).

LAURA: She diarrhea-ed us?

TRAVIS: She sharted! She hit us with the green apple splatters! (laughter)

MATT: I need Orym, Laudna--

SAM: That's me.

MATT: -- Fresh Cut Grass, and Olly to all make dexterity saving throws, please.

TRAVIS: I can't see anybody after this.

LAURA: Who all makes those saving throws?

SAM: Not you.

LIAM: I'm rolling real bad tonight.

MARISHA: One day, I will roll good this campaign, one day.

LAURA: You need different-- Your dice are betraying you.

ASHLEY: Is Mister okay?

LIAM: Wow.

MATT: Mister is just outside of the space. All right, so, hold on. So starting over here with Laudna.

MARISHA: 13.

MATT: 13, you take 20 points of poison damage.

TALIESIN: No.

LAURA: Wait, how much?

MATT: 20 points of poison damage.

MARISHA: 20.

MATT: And you are poisoned.

LAURA: From the fart?

MARISHA: From the fart! From the sharts!

LAURA: Oh no.

TRAVIS: Jolly Rancher spray.

MARISHA: Well, it's a good thing I did--

MATT: Fresh Cut Grass.

MARISHA: -- the temporary hit points.

SAM: A five.

MATT: Five, you take 20 points of poison damage and you are poisoned.

SAM: Hold on. I--

LAURA: Can you be poisoned?

SAM: I cannot. I'm looking right now. I'm resistant to poison.

MATT: So you take half the damage. You only take 10.

LAURA: Great.

SAM: But-- I'm immune to disease. Okay, so I'm resistant to poison. So I take 10.

MATT: All right, so you take 10 points of poison damage, but you are nevertheless still poisoned.

SAM: Poisoned.

TRAVIS: Oh man.

TALIESIN: Shit.

TRAVIS: That's a problem.

TALIESIN: This is bad.

MATT: Orym?

LIAM: It's a fail, dad.

MATT: 20 points of poison damage. and you are already poisoned, so it just remains.

TALIESIN: How'd you drop down so fast, so hard?

LIAM: Once I get in there.

MATT: Then--

TALIESIN: God fucking damn.

MATT: Olly fails and takes 20 points of poison damage.

LAURA: Oh my god, everybody. We've got to get out.

SAM: You know what?

TRAVIS: We got our ball.

SAM: I'm going to take 10 of Orym's.

LIAM: Oh, I have resistance against poison damage. So down to 10.

MATT: So you take 10.

SAM: I will take 10 in the form of him taking 10. I won't take 10, he's got it.

LIAM: But also on the--

LAURA: On the other attack.

LIAM: So I took three points of poison damage before.

MATT: Yeah, so it would've been one.

LIAM: So I'll give myself 11, 12.

TALIESIN: That's a little better.

MARISHA: Matt, I am going to Hellish Rebuke when you are done.

MATT: That is going to finish that certain attack, so you can Hellish Rebuke now, if you'd like.

MARISHA: Hellish Rebuke. So I take the shit that is covered on me, and I scrape it down my arms and it coats on my fingers, and I'm going to flick it back.

LAURA: Hair, hair.

MARISHA: Hair?

MATT: As you flick it, the strange, translucent caramel liquid turns a pitch black coloration before (splashes) onto the front of the body and burns with a black fire as it impacts. (cheering)

MATT: What's the-- is it a--

MARISHA: It's a dex saving throw.

MATT: Dex saving throw.

MARISHA: 16, a little Milky Way situation.

MATT: No, weirdly enough, not that dextrous. That's a failure.

MARISHA: I imagined. I'm going to do that at 2nd-level as well, so that's--

LIAM: Did it get in her mouth at all?

MARISHA: Ew, ew, too much, Liam.

MATT: So sorry.

LIAM: At this table?

MARISHA: (laughs) No, not at all.

TALIESIN: That ship has sailed.

TRAVIS: No, that was totally--

MARISHA: ♪ One day I'll roll good. ♪ Eight, nine.

LIAM: Those are good.

MARISHA: It's okay, it's not bad. It could be worse.

LAURA: The what?

MARISHA: 13 damage.

MATT: 13 points of damage. All right, you got it. Burns across the body and the front area. You hear the voice in your head. "Stop or you'll feed my children."

MARISHA: Stop or we'll feed her children?

MATT: Yes.

LAURA: That's what she said.

LIAM: She wanted to adopt us. Now she wants to feed us to the kids.

SAM: Oh, I see, I see. It was a threat.

MARISHA: Oh, okay, okay.

SAM: I thought she was saying, like, "You're going to feed my kids." We're babysitting now.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: This is the sequel to Adventures In Babysitting everyone was hoping for.

MATT: She's going to drift back up in the air. That does give you an attack of opportunity if you want it.

SAM: And me?

MATT: And you as well. You are poisoned, which means you are at disadvantage on attack rolls.

SAM: Okay. I will saw blade her.

MATT: Go for it.

MARISHA: Disadvantage on attack rolls.

MATT: Correct.

SAM: Very good. Very not good. 11 to hit.

MATT: That misses.

LIAM: So this is at disadvantage this time?

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: That's not good, 14.

MATT: 14 misses, unfortunately.

LAURA: You got little hairs on you. I'm just removing them.

LIAM and LAURA: (howl)

SAM: (buzzsaw sounds)

MATT: Drifting up in this space here.

TALIESIN: Don't like it.

LAURA: Whoa, she's high.

MATT: Yeah.

LIAM: I'm so--

SAM: ♪ She's so high ♪

LIAM: -- nervous for that miniature.

ALL: ♪ High above me, She's so lovely ♪

MATT: Drifts up, the brumestone glowing brightly as it drags her large form higher into the chamber. That's going to finish the Shade Mother's go. That brings us to Gus.

TRAVIS: Gus.

TALIESIN: Gus?

MATT: Oh no, sorry, no. Gus-- this is now Olly's go. Olly is poisoned, but Olly is--

ASHLEY: Olly's after Laudna?

MATT: Olly's going to Hunter's Mark.

MARISHA: She's before me. I still haven't gone.

MATT: Hunter's Mark the beast.

LAURA and TALIESIN: Yay!

LAURA: Good job.

MATT: And is going to take two shots with the light crossbow that she's got, with disadvantage.

TRAVIS: ♪ Trigger ♪

LIAM: She's slow like a Macy's Day balloon.

MATT: Hits with one.

SAM: ♪ Shoots with a crossbow - I got it! ♪

MATT: And misses with the second. But one of the shots does hit for--

LAURA: Laudna hasn't gone yet?

ASHLEY: Wait, didn't you go?

LAURA: No, you did, you went.

SAM: Nope.

MARISHA: I Hellish Rebuked.

TRAVIS: Yeah, F.C.G.'s last.

LAURA: Okay, so Olly is after Mother.

SAM: She didn't just Hellish Rebuke, she (hoarse) Hellish Rebuked!

MARISHA: (hoarse) Hellish Rebuked.

MATT: Eight points of piercing damage, plus two, so 10 with the Hunter's Mark. So 10 points of damage to the Shade Mother. Olly's going to dart around this way.

SAM: Oh yeah, there's still those two other figures.

MATT: Back up against the bits there and is going to make a constitution saving throw.

LAURA: You're strong, right?

MATT: Does not succeed. Olly is still poisoned. Finishing Olly's go, that brings us to Laudna.

MARISHA: Oh god, oh, finally.

LAURA: Yay, Laudna.

MARISHA: Okay, okay, okay, okay. Do I do-- I am going to Hex first.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Hex first.

TALIESIN: This miniature's looking like she went to Mardi Gras.

LAURA: What if she just wore them as little bracelets? Each one was just a bracelet on her.

MARISHA: She's got bangles.

MATT: Yep. (laughs)

MARISHA: Then I'm going to Eldritch Blast.

MATT: Go for it.

MARISHA: So 16 to hit, so perhaps. Oh wait, and these are with disadvantage, right?

MATT: These are because you're poisoned.

MARISHA: So definitely no.

SAM: What do I want to do? Heal?

MARISHA: No.

TALIESIN: No 16?

TRAVIS: Neither of them?

MARISHA: No. I rolled a three and a four.

TRAVIS: I remember those days.

TALIESIN: When do you get to save against poison?

MATT: At the end of your turn.

TALIESIN: Okay.

MATT: Are you staying put or do you wish to move?

LIAM: No.

MARISHA: I'll back into the corridor a little, I guess.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Oh, no, you haven't, you just--

MATT: You duck back into here. At the end of your turn, make a constitution saving throw for me, please.

SAM: She can come down, hit, then go back up every time.

MARISHA: Would you say that's cocked?

TRAVIS: Yep. There's one corner sitting up off leaning on the other one.

MATT: Was it?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Go for it.

MARISHA: Don't worry, it probably won't be good. Oh, it's better!

TRAVIS: Oh, is it?

MARISHA: It's good! It's an 18! (panting) I did it, you guys, I rolled above a 10, 20 total.

MATT: 20 total, you resist the poison and it leaves your body.

TALIESIN: Doing all right.

MARISHA: Thank fucking god.

MATT: Okay. Finishing Laudna's go, it is now the rest of the shade creepers' go. They are going to come forth this way and jump down to try and attack Imogen. This one's going to rush over to attempt to attack here. Actually, I'll jump onto this box to try and get into range to attack you, Chetney. Because of the Daylight, they have disadvantage on all attacks. So against you, Imogen, it's still going to be a 20 to hit you.

LAURA: Well, there you go.

MATT: Then for you, Chetney, that's going to be a 16?

TRAVIS: Misses.

MATT: Misses. Okay, so for you, Imogen, you take five points of piercing damage.

LAURA: Shield! I don't have Shield. (laughter)

MATT: Five points of piercing damage and six points of necrotic.

LIAM: DM, I have a question.

MATT: Yes?

LIAM: Would I have rolled to save against poison at the end of my turn, and then rerolled with poison when she sharted on us? Because I didn't roll for the shart. I just went, "I'm already poisoned," in my head.

MATT: For the stinger, yes, actually. So roll for me.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: With advantage.

LIAM: So natural 20 for the end of my turn.

MATT: Right.

LIAM: So I've un-poisoned. Then this is for when she sharted.

MATT: Yes.

LIAM: 14 plus-- constitution?

MATT: Yes.

LIAM: 16.

MATT: 16, yeah, that would've been enough.

LIAM: So I'm not poisoned!

MATT: So you're no longer poisoned.

TRAVIS: Nice, Orym, nice!

LIAM: Okay, but I still took that half damage for the shart just to stay poisoned.

MATT: Correct, correct.

LIAM: Thank you.

MATT: All righty, so finishing that go with both of those shade creepers, that brings us to Fresh Cut Grass.

SAM: Boy. I got no shade creepers near me, do I? Where's the shade creepers?

MATT: There's one over here that you can see, that's next to Imogen.

TALIESIN: Do you have any--

SAM: We're trying to just get out of here with Emoth, right?

LIAM: Because nobody else has done anything yet. She's nasty and there's other things everywhere.

ASHLEY: Better go.

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: She currently-- half of us can't hit her right now anyway because she's stoned.

SAM: Boy, I don't know what to do. I don't know who to attack. I can't kill her. Dispel Magic, it only works on one object at a time, right?

MATT: If the object can be dispelled, yes, it's only one object at a time

SAM: So I would only get one of her brumes.

LAURA: Maybe you should just heal people.

LIAM: Heal somebody and get ready to roll.

SAM: I can just heal people.

LAURA: Because they were taking some hits.

LIAM: Hi'yup.

TRAVIS: Hyuck, hyuck.

SAM: All right, I'm near Orym, right?

MATT: You are. You are 15, about 10, 15 feet from Orym.

SAM: All right. I will go up and touch Orym gently.

TRAVIS: Ooh.

MATT: All right.

LIAM: ♪ Touch me just like that ♪

SAM: And cast Cure Wounds on him.

MATT: All righty.

SAM: That's 1st-level. Ooh, giving him a whoppin' four points of healing.

LIAM: Four! Thank you, thank you.

SAM: I rolled a one. I think that's my, I'll keep moving towards that machine. Just see if I can sort of check it out or see anything more about it.

MATT: Okay, about there-ish?

SAM: Well, yeah, I think--

LIAM: Is that the orrery over there?

MATT: Orrery's over here.

LIAM: Oh, damn it.

SAM: En route, did I happen to see that big amber blob up there?

MATT: You can just faintly see it. Actually, from where you came through, no, you cannot see it yet.

SAM: Okay.

TALIESIN: None of us can see that damn thing. Maybe you can.

SAM: I have no bonus actions I can use.

TALIESIN: Oh, yeah, okay. Laura and I can see it.

SAM: That's that's kind of it. I'll bonus action and say: What do we do? Chetney, anyone? That's it.

MATT: All righty. End of your turn, is going to use a legendary action for Mother's Call.

SAM: Mother's Call.

TALIESIN: Hate that.

SAM: Getting a call from mom--

MATT: I know. It's rough.

SAM: -- at an inopportune time.

MATT: You are poisoned. So I need you to-- You feel that poison course through you, and suddenly it seems to move you outside of your own will. I need you to make an attack roll against Orym. (oohing)

MATT: Without disadvantage.

MARISHA: Poison, she can control you.

SAM: Ooh, that's cool.

MARISHA: Wait, I thought you said you couldn't be poisoned.

SAM: I can't be diseased, but I'm resistant to poison. My servos start working in ways and I spin around. Oh, I've rolled real bad, eight to hit.

LIAM: What are you doing?

SAM: I don't know!

LIAM: Get a hold of yourself!

SAM: I need NordVPN! (laughter)

TALIESIN: Oh. Oh no.

MATT: All right, does that finish your turn?

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. With that, now the husks are going to move.

ALL: The husks.

MATT: Moves forward towards Fresh Cut Grass and this one turns around to you. Ashton.

TALIESIN: Oh good, right now, that husk should make a constitution saving throw.

MATT: It will.

TRAVIS: Oh.

LIAM: That is a child.

MATT: And it fails.

TALIESIN: Okay, so that's-- Has a little bit of fuzz phase as it speeds up, slows down and now it has no reaction until its next turn, and very little movement.

MATT: It's going to (groans) make two swipes at you. With disadvantage because it's in daylight. That's going to be a 12.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MATT: Then the other one... is going to be a nine. (laughs)

ASHLEY: Yes!

MATT: This daylight is fucking them up. The other one's going to come against you, Fresh Cut Grass.

SAM: Oh, oh, no.

MATT: Two swipes. That's going to be a 13.

SAM: Miss!

MATT: And an eight.

MARISHA: Fearne, MVP Fearne, Fearne!

MATT: They're both coming to swipe and strike, but as they're doing, they're trying to keep their face away and their eyes pointed away from the bright sunlight that's shining down from the center of the chamber and they're whiffing hard. Finishing their go, back at the top of the round. Ashton, you're up.

LIAM: That was real bad.

TALIESIN: Okay. All right, I can see the ball from here, right?

MATT: Yes, if you glance over, you can, yes. You heard the howl.

TALIESIN: I heard the howl. Imogen, you're fine over here?

LAURA: (nervously) Uh-huh.

TALIESIN: I'm going to leave this guy alone. I'll be right back.

LAURA: Oh god.

TALIESIN: I'm going to gently walk away from that creature.

MATT: Okay, it does not get a reaction.

TALIESIN: No, it does not.

SAM: Gently walk.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: I'm heading towards the ball. 40 feet to-- How close to the ball can I get?

MATT: Unfortunately, the two spaces that are adjacent to it on this side are taken up by Chetney and the shade creeper right there.

TALIESIN: Oh, I'm going to--

MATT: Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You can try and-- With 40 feet, get up there, but I'm going to ask for an athletics check and see if you can make the leap.

TALIESIN: Sure.

TRAVIS: Or you could vacate that space.

TALIESIN: I could, actually.

TRAVIS: But we'll get slammed in there.

TALIESIN: No, I'm going to-- I'm going to punch the shade creature. I'm going to hit it with a-- I'm going to give it a swipe, see if I can knock it off its mighty perch.

MATT: Go for it.

TALIESIN: Oh, wow, fuck. That was an 11 to hit.

MATT: 11 misses.

TALIESIN: Yeah, how about that?

MATT: You do have your second attack.

TALIESIN: That was embarrassing. That was slightly less embarrassing at a 17.

MATT: That does hit, roll damage.

TALIESIN: Oh god, what the hell? 13, is that 13 points of damage? I'm double checking. I'm so sorry, I'm having a little-- Little moment. Do I add the plus two? Is that plus two rage already-- You added the plus two rage to the damage, right?

MATT: It should say rage next to the weapon, yeah.

TALIESIN: Okay, so that's-- Fucking terrible, 13 points of damage.

MATT: 13 points of damage is enough. That is the hit point to the creature. As you smash it against the stone-- It burns up into a flash pyre. At which point, I need both you and Chetney to make a dexterity saving throw, please.

MARISHA: Oh, that's right.

TRAVIS: 14.

MATT: No damage.

TALIESIN: Six.

MATT: Two points of fire damage to you, but the space is now open and easy enough for you to leap up, if you'd like to.

TALIESIN: I would like to leap up and I'm going to stay there for now.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: (growls) Hey.

TALIESIN: You look like shit. (laughter)

TRAVIS: (puppy whines)

MATT: Aww! All right, finishing Ashton's go, Imogen, you're up.

LAURA: All right.

MATT: Fearne on deck.

TALIESIN: Sorry I left you with the creepy guy.

LAURA: No, it's fine. Is he within 10 feet of me?

MATT: Who?

LAURA: The husk.

MATT: The husk is within 10 feet of you, yes.

LAURA: Okay, then I'm going to look at both of them and I'm going to put my hands together and then slam one of my hands down onto the ground and cast Shock Flare at 2nd-level.

SAM: Shock Flare.

MATT: Okay. What's the save on that?

LAURA: That is not-- Wait, let's see.

TALIESIN: It was a big hit in '89.

LAURA: It's a... strength saving throw.

MARISHA: Big hit in '89!

MATT: Strength saving throw.

TALIESIN: Top 10 for the--

MATT: With the penalty, it's going to be 12.

LAURA: Yes, so that's on both of them because it hits anything within 10 feet of me.

MATT: Okay, that's right, so the other one-- Yeah, really fails with a seven.

LAURA: All right, great, then they take 3d8 lightning. No, 3d6 lightning damage.

MATT: All righty.

ASHLEY: Awesome.

MATT: Let's do it.

SAM: Come on, come on.

LIAM: All sixes.

LAURA: Not bad.

SAM: Not bad.

LAURA: 15 points of lightning damage.

ASHLEY: Hell yes.

MATT: 15 points of lightning damage. That one next to you explodes into dust and then flames erupt from its detonation. Need you to make a dexterity saving throw.

LAURA: Yes.

MATT: The husk does take-- 15, it looks heavily injured from the impact.

LAURA: That is a 17.

MATT: You take no fire damage. You dodge out of the way, but the husk, it gets blasted. It reaches back and if the table weren't there, it may have snapped in half, but the table catches it as it smacks into it and then it readjusts itself and parts of it are starting to fall apart. It's like a scarecrow that was once a person.

LAURA: Great, I'm going to use my movement and head over to the orrery.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: That's clever.

MATT: 10, 15, 20, you got it.

TALIESIN: Hadn't thought of that.

MATT: Okay, that finishes Imogen's go. It's now the top of the lair action turn. Or you still have anything else to do? That's your action, your movement.

LAURA: Yeah, for my bonus action-- Can I try to pull... The orb away from that wall with my Telekinetic Shove?

MATT: Towards you?

LAURA: Just pull it, yeah.

MATT: This way, this way, this way? Where you pushing it, pulling it?

LAURA: What would help you guys, towards me? Yeah, I'm going to try to pull it towards me.

MATT: Okay, pulling it towards you will pull it towards Chetney. Unless you want to do an angle.

LAURA: Yeah, I'll do an angle, then. Just to get it away from the wall for them.

MATT: Okay. Yeah, it's-- I'd say roll a d20 and add your charisma modifier.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: It still has some weight to it, but--

LAURA: 22.

MATT: Without issue.

SAM: Nice.

MATT: So both Chetney and Ashton had to lean out of the way as suddenly, with immediate force, the sphere rolls past, and crashes into that crate, cracking it, and is now on the ground and you can see Lady Emoth, jaws stretched, claws bared, silently scratching and screaming from the inside of the orb.

LAURA: It should only have moved five feet. That's as much as I've got.

MATT: I know.

LAURA: I don't know if it--

MATT: It moved five feet, but then it rolled off.

LAURA: Then it rolled? Oh shit, I can roll.

ASHLEY: Yes, yes.

LAURA: All right, cool.

MATT: It is a sphere.

TALIESIN: So, that thing's pretty tough, then. That sphere is going to be very hard to break.

MATT: Likely.

TALIESIN: Yeah, okay. Cool, cool.

MATT: All right, that finishes your go. Lair action is up.

SAM: Oh no.

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: Okay. Looks like-- Two more shade creepers begin to emerge from the tunnels here.

MARISHA: Are we going to try and get out the way we came?

TALIESIN: Is there another way--

TRAVIS: Get out the way.

MARISHA: Get out the way, move, bitch.

MATT: Two more shade creepers on the battlefield. It is now Lady Emoth's turn. She keeps scratching at the inside of the sphere. She can't do anything.

TALIESIN: (angry cat meowing)

MATT: Gus' go.

TRAVIS: Let's go, Gus.

ASHLEY: Yeah, Gus, Gus!

MATT: Gus is going to hold onto one of those slots, and is going to duck around past you, Laudna, and going to cast Mind Whip up at--

TALIESIN: Hey!

SAM: Mind bullets.

TALIESIN: Oh.

LAURA: That's telekinesis-- LAURA, TALIESIN,

TRAVIS: - Kyle.

TRAVIS: How about the power-- MARISHA, TRAVIS,

TALIESIN: - To move you.

MATT: Intelligence saving throw. Actually succeeds the intelligence saving throw with a natural 19.

TRAVIS and TALIESIN: Hey!

MATT: No, it's a bad thing.

TALIESIN: No, wait, yeah, no.

MARISHA: Hey... No!

TRAVIS: I was trying to give him a little love, you know?

MATT: I appreciate that. So that would be 12 points of psychic damage, reduced to six. All right. So that's it on Gus' go. Then Gus is going to use the rest of his movement to step over here and is now surveying the space and looking over and glances past and sees the orb and goes-- "Oh, perfect, perfect, bring it over here," and starts looking up at the Shade Mother and hearing the screeches as the bright light is still splashing into her eyes and the high pitched whining growl combination is going to get louder and angrier. That finishes Gus' go. Chetney, you're up, with Orym on deck.

TRAVIS: Right.

ASHLEY: I got passed.

MATT: Oh, that's right, no, you are, actually, yeah. You did get passed. You're right. I'm sorry.

ASHLEY: Okay, that's okay.

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

ASHLEY: All right, I'm going to peek around the corner and I believe I can see the orb from here.

MATT: If you peek around the corner, if you get around over here, you can see it.

ASHLEY: Yes. I am going to use my Stonky Ring.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: And I can carry up to 1,000 pounds. So I'm going to try to (sucks) the globe over to me.

MATT: Okay, so you carry it. How far can it move? What can it do?

ASHLEY: It can move... up to... 30 feet in any direction.

MATT: Okay. So you hold onto the ring, feel the extension of its power outward and like invisible fingers wrapping around it, you pull back and as you do, the orb lurches forward, rolling. Comes to rest right about there. It would've gone a little further if it was flat terrain, but it does hit and impact and breaks some of the nearby bits of mining equipment and storage crates that shatter and splinter under it and the orb eventually rolls to a rest about 20 feet from where you're standing and you can see Lady Emoth just feral on the inside.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

TRAVIS: Get back out the way.

TALIESIN: Yeah, get some cover.

TRAVIS: Get out of that tunnel.

ASHLEY: Yeah, okay, so I'm going to-- I'm going to tuck back around the corner. Out of range.

MATT: You get just about there.

ASHLEY: How far is the orb from Mister?

MATT: It's about-- 25 feet.

ASHLEY: Okay. So here's a question.

MATT: Yes?

ASHLEY: If Mister were to try to teleport the orb, but it has to be a willing creature.

MATT: Exactly.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: You cannot force somebody to teleport with him.

ASHLEY: Scratch that. Then what we're going to do here, is we're going to-- Mister's going to shoot a Flame Seed again.

LAURA: Ooh, yeah!

MATT: Go for it. Roll for it, Mister.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: At the Shade Mother?

ASHLEY: At the Shade Mother, at one of the stones that was already starting to break.

MATT: All right, that same stone go for it.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: I believe in you, Mister.

TRAVIS: Feel like this map is crazy.

MARISHA: Yeah.

LAURA: It's amazing.

TALIESIN: The little green pools of snot in the stairs are--

TRAVIS: But what is the machine?

MARISHA: Yeah--

SAM: I'm wondering what the machine is, too.

LAURA: I know! What does the machine do?

MARISHA: I feel like we need it, right? We needs it?

LAURA: I'm in front of the orrery.

ASHLEY: 22.

MATT: 22 hits, go ahead and roll damage.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: Oh.

ASHLEY: Oh, and I rolled a one.

TALIESIN: How big is the orb?

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: One of us want to go to the machine and push some shit?

SAM: I'm next to the machine. Are you talking about the orrery?

TRAVIS: This one.

LAURA: This, that thing.

SAM: Yeah, I'm right next to it.

TRAVIS: Okay, are you going to--

SAM: Well, I got a big fucker in front of me now.

ASHLEY: Four points of damage.

SAM: I got to deal with.

MATT: Four points of damage. With that Flame Seed impact and you watch as that one piece of brumestone and the device that has it affixed to the front of the Shade Mother breaks and that blue light goes out and you watch the body-- Have to adjust.

TRAVIS: Ooh, ooh!

ASHLEY: (claps) Good boy.

SAM: Still flying?

MATT: Still flying, yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay, since--

MATT: Definitely one of them has been destroyed.

ASHLEY: Mister hasn't taken a move. I want him to come a little closer to me. So he's out of her usual--

MATT: Like back here?

ASHLEY: Yeah, on my shoulder.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Ooh, if you took out the other one in the front, then she'd be--

ASHLEY: She'd be all falling forward.

MATT: All righty, that finishes your go, Fearne.

LAURA: Yep, like a dipper.

MATT: Bring it back around now to Chetney, with Orym on deck.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: Sorry about skipping you earlier.

ASHLEY: No, you're fine, you're fine.

TRAVIS: I want to jump over and start fucking with the machine, but I'm an idiot, and that's a wasted turn.

ASHLEY: No, I mean--

TRAVIS: I mean, we should really take advantage of this. F.C.G. is over there--

ASHLEY: You know I don't want to leave when there's so much shit in here.

TRAVIS: I'm going to hop down (growls) behind the sphere.

MATT: Over here, behind the sphere?

TRAVIS: Yeah, and I'm going to try and shove it and push towards the cavern.

MATT: Go ahead and make a strength check for me, if you don't mind. Which I believe you may have advantage on when you're in your wolven form.

TALIESIN: Oh, yeah, holy fuck, that's way better.

MATT: Hybrid form.

LAURA: Your wolven--

TRAVIS: Yeah, I thought an athletics check.

MATT: Yeah, it'd be more of an athletics check than strength check. I'll allow it, same difference in this instance.

TRAVIS: 16 plus six, 22.

MATT: You give a mighty shove and it rolls forward. (rumbling, crash) Colliding there.

SAM: Hey, we're almost done!

TRAVIS: Does it look like it's going to fit through this cavern?

MATT: Hard to tell.

LAURA: Okay, great.

TRAVIS: Fuck.

SAM: Little pinball-y.

LAURA: Just a little shimmy.

MARISHA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LAURA: We're probably going to have to give it some shoves.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SAM: Do you have any butter? You could coat it with butter.

LAURA: It looks like it'll fit.

MATT and SAM: Just grease it down.

MATT: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Of course he has butter.

TRAVIS: Just looking before my turn is over with.

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Let's call it my bonus action.

MATT: Sure.

TRAVIS: What does this look like? Does that represent a tunnel that's going up in one of those directions, or is it another entrance into this area, this cavern?

MATT: From what you can see, these tunnels here are extensions of the mine, so these go into other portions of this underground mine that's been abandoned. You do see smaller tunnels all throughout the other parts of this chamber. Dozens and dozens of them that go off into the rock like a termite infestation.

TRAVIS: Hey, kids, I think--

MARISHA: I'm sure you're going to be super--

TRAVIS: I think it's probably going to have to go through here.

LAURA: No, I think we can get it.

SAM: No, no, no, we got--

LAURA: We can do this. It looks like it'll fit.

ASHLEY: It looks like it'll fit from here.

MARISHA: Can you destroy--

LAURA: It really, really does.

MARISHA: -- rock and stuff?

TRAVIS: Okay, I read that space.

TALIESIN: I don't know. I can hit things and we'll see what happens.

TRAVIS: That's the--

TALIESIN: I'm always happy to hit that thing.

TRAVIS: 25 feet. Whatever I can use to get towards, you know what? I'm going to stay right where I am.

MATT: 20-- it's 25 feet to get where you were.

TRAVIS: Yeah, that's my full movement, anyway.

MATT: 25 only?

TRAVIS: 25 only. That's all I got.

LAURA: Really?

TRAVIS: Walking speed.

MATT: That's right, yeah. Because gnome. That's right, okay.

TRAVIS: Let me look, I grow in size.

LAURA: That's right, so I feel like your movement should increase when you're a wolf.

MATT: I think it does eventually.

TRAVIS: It's the reverse knees, they get all-- (laughter)

MATT: Perfect, all right. That finishes your go.

TRAVIS: It does.

MATT: Orym, you're up.

LIAM: Letters, let me help you out and I hook the--

MATT: Actually, at the end of your turn--

SAM: Ooh, lair actions.

MATT: Sorry. It's going to use another legendary action. I'm going to have you take another attack on Orym.

LIAM: Okay.

SAM: All right.

MATT: Since you are the-- Actually, no, it's not. Because the other person that is poisoned is Olly. It's going to force Olly to suddenly convulse, take the light crossbow that she was getting ready to fire at the Shade Mother and then whip it around and aim it at you, Imogen.

LAURA: Fuck.

MATT: That is going to be a 22 to hit.

LAURA: Yeah!

MATT: So you-- I just dropped that.

TALIESIN: Shit. Fuck this.

MATT: You take--

SAM: It can see you.

MATT: That's a terrible roll.

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: You take four points of piercing damage and four points of psychic damage. Oddly, as the arrow from Olly hits you, there's a pulse of psychic energy from the blast. Not quite the psychic energy you're used to, something that has an otherworldly nature that you've never felt before.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: But it's weirdly familiar. Hard to explain, but it hurts you.

LAURA: I'm going to look over my shoulder at Olly and be like: What the hell?

MATT: "Sorry! No, it's-- She did this to me. I-- I-- (pants)" All righty. Finishing that, now it is your turn, Orym.

LIAM: Let me help you out. And hilt of the blade, hooks around his little robo neck and pulls him back, as I move forward with my shield, pressing it into the figure's face. I'm going to use Bait and Switch.

MATT: You got it.

LIAM: Raise my own armor class.

MATT: Hell yeah.

LIAM: Okay. Good.

SAM: The old Bait and Switch.

LIAM: Just attack-attack on that thing. First is a 23.

MATT: That hits.

LIAM: For 10 points of damage. Second slash... is a one, which I'll reroll. That is a 21.

MATT: Yeah, that definitely hits.

LIAM: So that is an eight, and I will try to hack his head away, if I can.

MATT: 18 points of damage'll do it. As you roll past, you slice once into the chest and then slash back over with the blade. As you do, the head hits the ground. The body stands there for a second and takes one more step towards you before collapsing onto the ground with a (exhales). (laughter)

LAURA: Poor little husk.

TRAVIS: Is there straw in there?

MATT: (laughs) Yeah.

LIAM: Well, I've used all my shit, so--

SAM: That's amazing. It was a good shit.

LIAM: What do we do? What do we do? Then I'm going to step between F.C.G. and the creeper I see in that archway.

MATT: All right.

LIAM: Just to block its path.

MATT: You got it right there. You turn and meet eyes with it, it's like (cracking). Okay. Finishing your go, Orym, it is now the Shade Mother's turn. First, we see if it gets its nimbus back. It does with a six.

TALIESIN: Hate it.

MATT: Hmm.

MARISHA: Not cool.

SAM: Not cool.

MARISHA: Not cool at all.

MATT: It's going to drift downward.

SAM: No, it's going for the ball.

LAURA: Oh no.

ASHLEY: Does she have any?

MATT: She takes two of the hands, the two lower set begin to grab towards the orb and you hear the voice, in your mind's going like, "Mine! Child!" And is going to do another Corrosive Nimbus. Spray that acidic liquid around.

SAM: Diarrhea spray.

MATT: I need Fresh Cut Grass, and Laudna are the only ones that are nearby, and Gus as well to make dexterity saving throws, please.

SAM: Oh, 19!

MARISHA: Oh, that's good, too. That's good. I don't know if it's good enough. No, I rolled a 15. So seven--

LAURA: That seems good.

MARISHA: 17 total.

MATT: So what'd you get?

MARISHA: 17.

MATT: 10 points of poison damage.

MARISHA: But I'm not poisoned?

MATT: But you are not poisoned.

MARISHA: (relieved laugh) Okay.

MATT: You succeeded.

SAM: 19.

MATT: 10 points of poison damage.

SAM: Reduced to five.

MATT: Reduced to five. You are still poisoned from the previous round.

SAM: That's fine.

MATT: Then Gus, succeeds as well.

LIAM: Don't mind control the junior lich, please.

MARISHA: Exactly.

MATT: Nope, no. Nobody came out of that additionally poisoned, but some poison damage was taken. That's going to finish the Shade Mother's turn. Her reactions come back.

LIAM: I'm a junior lich.

MATT: All righty. That finishes that go. That brings us to Olly's go. Olly, who is envenomed, is going to once again apologize, like, "Sorry, sorry," and is going to turn and fire two arrows towards the husk immediately to the left. (arrows firing) The first with disadvantage because of poisoned. Two and a one. Misses the first strike, angrily loads in the second bolt. That's better. That does hit, actually, even at disadvantage. For... Oh yeah. It's already been damaged. So with that, the other husk falls to the ground, no longer moving. The bolt partially through the jaw and the back of the head. As it collapses, the other sound of distant shade creepers beginning to growl and shift in the nearby upper cavern openings. That finishes Olly's go. Laudna, you're up.

MARISHA: All right. I'm going to get up to the amber ball and be like: Oh, excuse me. I'm going to reach around you and I'm going to go for that other brumestone that's up front.

SAM: Oh, you're going to--

MATT: In the very front? Okay, go for it.

SAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah, go.

MARISHA: But my strength is not good. I don't think I could be--

SAM: All right, it's fine. You do you.

MARISHA: I can't push a balloon.

SAM: Yeah.

MARISHA: All right, here we go.

TRAVIS: If she falls, and if that ball can't go through the tunnel, it's stuck there. Just pointing it out.

ASHLEY: Well, she's still got two more.

SAM: She's got three more after this. She's going to be able to fly.

MARISHA: Okay, one. I don't think it-- 15?

MATT: 15 misses, unfortunately.

MARISHA: But I rolled a natural 15 on the other one for 22.

MATT: That does hit. Roll damage on the second one.

MARISHA: That is a d10, plus a d6.

SAM: What's the d6?

MARISHA: My hex damage.

SAM: Cool.

TRAVIS: I see it from here and I--

SAM: Is that a one or a seven?

MARISHA: That's a one.

SAM: Oh, I thought it was a seven.

TRAVIS: Are you sure it's a seven?

SAM: No, it's a one.

MARISHA: It's definitely a one.

SAM: Damn!

MARISHA: I do three--

LAURA: It looks like a seven to me.

MARISHA: I do six damage. I do six damage on that other brumestone.

MATT: You release it. One of them strikes wide and gets absorbed by the blubber or the form. Other one hits, the second front stone, you watch it crack slightly in the light dim, but it holds fast.

MARISHA: All right. I'm going to use a sorcery point, my last one that I have, to Quicken Spell and do this shit again.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Pop, pop, pop.

LIAM: Come on.

TRAVIS: What do we think is happening here?

MARISHA: I think I'm cursed.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MARISHA: One definitely misses. I think this one hits, though, with a 16.

MATT: 16 misses.

LAURA: What?!

MATT: Her armor class is different from the armor class of the specific stones. They're harder to hit because they're small.

MARISHA, LAURA, and ASHLEY: Oh.

MATT: But they have a lot less hit points to be destroyed.

SAM: Oh!

ASHLEY: Oh okay.

MATT: Sorry. I thought she was 16!

MARISHA: Laudna's starting to have some insecurities.

MATT: Aw!

ASHLEY: No.

TRAVIS: Well, you conquered death. You're doing great.

MATT: Yeah. Laudna needs some better dice.

MARISHA: I go: Uh-oh! And-- (laughter)

MARISHA: And walk away. I am just back, could I go to Fearne?

MATT: Turn around.

MARISHA: I look at Fearne and I go--

TRAVIS: The shoulder shrug as she walked by her.

MARISHA: I don't know what to do.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: Okay. As you move away, the tail stinger does have a 10-foot range. So though you were five feet away from the orb and in between, the tail, and you watch as she walks towards you shrugging.

SAM: Yikes.

MATT: The tail sinks forth. However, still within the radius of the Daylight spell--

MARISHA: Looking in your eyes.

MATT: Has disadvantage on attacks.

TRAVIS: Disadvantage.

TALIESIN: Two natural 20s.

MATT: Natural 19 and a one. (cheering)

ASHLEY: Yes!

MATT: So--

MARISHA: Looking at Fearne and I shrug, and then you see.

MATT: Hits the stone next to her head.

ASHLEY: Ah!

TALIESIN: Not cool.

TRAVIS: Holy shit.

ASHLEY: You're okay. You're okay. You're okay.

MARISHA: I think so. It's just my ego.

ASHLEY: I'm sorry.

LAURA: It stabbed your ego.

MARISHA: It stabbed my ego.

ASHLEY: Oh no!

MATT: All right. It's now the shade creepers' turn. This one's going to dart forward to Orym. This one's going to dart forward to Chetney. They have disadvantage on their strikes because of the Daylight spell. That's fucking them all up. All right. So attack against you, Orym. (laughs) Eight.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: Against you, Chetney. That is going to be a 12!

TRAVIS: Misses.

MATT: They're just like, (snarls) slashing out in the air. You're knocking to the side.

TRAVIS: Fuck off, ghost!

MATT: No issue.

MARISHA: Something I keep forgetting for forever, and I don't think it makes a difference.

MATT: Yeah?

MARISHA: When I hit her with my measly six points of damage, she has to make a wisdom saving throw or she's afraid of me?

MATT: That makes a difference. That was when you hit her before, or--

MARISHA: I hit her before and I forgot it, but I hit her.

MATT: Okay, she did fail, but I will-- She'll use legendary resistance to ignore it. Which brings the timeline back to normal, because otherwise she couldn't have approached you.

MARISHA: Correct.

MATT: All right.

SAM: What do I do?

MATT: Finishing actually their go, she's going to use the legendary action to float back up.

LIAM: This angle.

TALIESIN: Does anybody get an attack for opportunity there?

SAM: Gus, probably?

MATT: Only people that would get it would be Gus, who's going to swipe wide with a staff. Hits!

TRAVIS: Hey!

MATT: With a natural 19.

TRAVIS: Let's go, melee!

MATT: For-- Okay, okay!

TRAVIS: Huh?

MATT: Nine points of bludgeoning damage. (yelling)

MATT: Oh god!

TALIESIN: Like that?

LAURA: Defeated!

MATT: She fell! Oh no!

SAM: Did she break? Did she break?

MARISHA: Oh no, did she break?

TRAVIS: You might want to bring her--

MATT: I think it's a little on the back, but I can fix it.

TRAVIS: More this way.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LIAM: She's going to go in there.

MARISHA: There you go.

LIAM: Get rid of those fish tank rocks!

MATT: There we go.

LIAM: Oh god.

LAURA: Yeah, that's good.

TALIESIN: There you go.

LIAM: So nervous for her and I hate her.

MATT: I can fix it later.

LAURA: Oh no, her arm? Did we break an arm off her?

MATT: Theoretically.

TRAVIS: Yes.

LAURA: Yes!

MATT: As Gus swipes and breaks one of their arms off!

SAM: Yeah!

MATT: Power investigator mage. But yeah. So anyway, finishing that go, it comes to F.C.G.

SAM: I don't know what to do!

TRAVIS: Big machine! Big machine!

SAM: Yeah, I know. I want to mess with it, but I don't want to be a bad cleric.

TRAVIS: Oh, right. That part.

SAM: I'm going to go over to the machine. What do I see?

MATT: So, move over to the machine. You have to push past.

SAM: Excuse me. Pardon me, just coming through.

MATT: Shade creepers, coast by on your wheel, go over to the front and you can see this large contraption that has a strange wheel mechanism in the front and a large lever on it, and some sort of an input funnel.

SAM: And this seems mechanical? Like--

MATT: It does.

SAM: Okay, not-- There's no wires or anything coming in or out of it? Anything high tech, or is it mainly hydraulic and mechanical?

MATT: It looks more mechanical.

SAM: Okay. Okay.

MATT: Yeah. I mean, I got to pull the lever, right?

ASHLEY: You got to pull the lever.

TALIESIN: I wouldn't do that.

ASHLEY: Well.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

SAM: I'll reach to pull the lever, realize it's my saw blade hand and go with the other one. (laughter) And yank it!

MATT: (whoosh, thud) (quickening thumping sounds) You hear the sound, and that little funnel device, suddenly this black smoke begins to emit from it. Similar to the smoke you see at various exhaustion points across the Smolder Spire. As it does, you see it beginning to shift to life. What you didn't see on the other opposite side of this machine, is part of it was embedded in this pillar. As a massive auger begins to spin, digging, and drilling into the central pillar. As it does, the rock pillar in the center collapses.

LAURA: Oh my god!

MATT: And tumbles over this way.

MARISHA: (surprised laughter)

SAM: She's flying, though?

MATT: She's flying. But on the other side.

LAURA: Oh no!

ASHLEY: Oh no, oh no, no, no!

SAM: Oh no, no, no!

MARISHA: It's going to block us in. Who is there? Who is over there?

SAM: Oh no!

LIAM: Rock on rock. Oh!

MATT: I'm going to need Chetney to make a dexterity saving throw.

MARISHA: Oh shit! (laughter)

SAM: Oh no!

MARISHA: Come on, Chet!

TRAVIS: Oh no!

TALIESIN: (sad trombone) That was amazing and hopefully fine.

TRAVIS: 14. (laughs)

MATT: (heavy impact) (yelling)

SAM: No!

MATT: As it tumbles over and the machine begins to grind into it, pushing into it, trying to drill forward, Chetney, you, one-- You take--

LAURA: Oh my god!

TRAVIS: That's a lot.

MATT: That'll be 18 points of bludgeoning damage.

SAM: Oh no!

MATT: Which you take half of because of your--

TRAVIS: I do, non-magical.

MATT: -- hybrid form.

TRAVIS: Yeah. That wolf hide, baby.

MATT: Yep. But you are currently restrained--

TRAVIS: Nine points.

MATT: -- beneath a bunch of rock and stone.

SAM: You didn't kill any of the bad guys!

TRAVIS: (deeply) What the fuck?

MATT: Oh yeah, the other shade creeper's done. This area here is just boulder rubble, which closes you in on that end.

LAURA: Yeah. Okay.

MARISHA: So, wait, where are you, Imogen? Over there?

LAURA: I was right next to it. Yeah.

MATT: You hear the heavy grinding sound, the machine coming to life, and then the cracking and loud thunderous noise and boom, as rocks begin to fall and tumble, this area is filled with dust, around for a second, it feels like the whole world ended as it settles for a moment. You hear the, pa-pa-pa-pa-pa, and the machine grinding. It looks like it's getting stuck again and it's starting to--

TRAVIS: Jalopy Matt is my favorite.

MATT: Your path there is closed.

SAM: I'll turn to the shade creeper and say: What did you do?! (laughter)

ASHLEY: Tommy Boy style.

MATT: You got it. Make a constitution saving throw.

TRAVIS: Nice.

SAM: Oh, constitution saving? Oh, for the poison effect.

MATT: For the poison, yeah.

SAM: Natural 20.

MATT: Yeah, no longer poisoned.

SAM: All right.

TRAVIS: There we go.

SAM: I think I still have a bonus action.

MATT: You do, yes.

SAM: With which I will-- I don't see Laudna or anyone else who needs healing other than Orym. So I will just heal Orym again, I think.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: With a bonus action Healing Word.

LIAM: What words?

SAM: I will say: Remember, Orym, you can't spell pandemonium without panda. It's very cute. That's all. It's just a very cute animal.

TALIESIN: Pandemonium.

SAM: It's a one again, plus three, another four points of damage.

MATT: There you go. It's all helping out. A little bit push it to right there.

TRAVIS: Changed.

MATT: All right. That finishes your go, Fresh Cut Grass. Ashton, you're up.

TALIESIN: Well--

MATT: You sat there, knocked the ball away, while watch it get pulled over. Then the entire pillar onto one of your friends.

TALIESIN: Shit. Is there anything for me to hit anywhere around here or no?

MATT: There is a shade creeper right over the way that's currently harrying both Orym and Fresh Cut Grass.

TALIESIN: You got that or you need help?

LAURA: I'm fine. I'm fine.

TALIESIN: All right. I'm going to go running down there.

MATT: Okay. So you leap.

SAM: Oh! (laughter)

LIAM: This map's dangerous.

MATT: I know.

TRAVIS: You snap it?

MATT: I did, but I can fix it real fast. (yelling)

MATT: I know. It's just taking everybody out. Keeps busting. That's okay.

TRAVIS: Bustin'!

TALIESIN: I don't even want to know.

SAM: Bustin', bustin'--

LIAM: Your mini fell off.

TALIESIN: Oh, that's cool.

MATT: There you go.

ALL: Bustin', bustin'!

TALIESIN: Mess makes me feel good. I'm going to grab that fucking shade creature and toss them to my left. I'm going to--

MATT: Okay, and make a strength check, if you don't mind.

TALIESIN: I do not have advantage on that, do I?

MATT: I'll say's there's a lot of athletics. Yeah, as long as you're raging, you have.

TALIESIN: Oh.

SAM: Are you raging?

MATT: Advantage on strength and--

TALIESIN: I am raging. Oh shit. All right. I make my weird orange, red shade--

SAM: ♪ Makin' my way! ♪

TALIESIN: -- way over there. That's a strength. Oh yeah, I do, because it's-- Yeah. That's an 18.

MATT: Yeah. Without issue, you push it back about five feet towards the wall. (smack, groans)

TALIESIN: Then I take a golf swing and then I'm going to see how high I can hit it up. I'm going to--

MATT: You move into that space where it moved and then swing upward! Swing away.

LAURA: Swing away.

TALIESIN: That's-- Come on.

LIAM: Every campaign.

TALIESIN: That's not bad. That's 15.

MATT: That hits. Go ahead and roll damage.

TALIESIN: All right. Hey!

SAM: Whoa!

MARISHA: Holy shit!

SAM: Double.

TALIESIN: That's a lot.

SAM: Double six.

MATT: Yeah, it's done.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: (laughs) It splatters upward. The spray comes across your face and immediately ignites.

TALIESIN: Make it hurt! Make it hurt!

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

TALIESIN: I have advantage on those.

MATT: You do.

LAURA: Fire rain.

TALIESIN: That's a nat 20.

MATT: Yep. No damage, you're fine. You embrace the burns.

TALIESIN: I turn back around, I'm like: We're getting the fuck out of here, right?

SAM: Maybe?

TALIESIN: Let's get the fuck out of here. I'm heading now towards--

MATT: You have 15 more feet of movements.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm going to head towards-- Yeah, that way.

MATT: Okay?

TALIESIN: Yep. I'm done.

MATT: All right. That finishes your go.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: Bring us to--

TALIESIN: Imogen.

MATT: Imogen is up.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Imogen.

MARISHA: Imogen.

LAURA: Can I try to get the crystal out of this thingy? The purple crystal?

MATT: Yeah, if you'd like to.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: So you get down and you can see it, it looks almost like an hourglass. Like, there's two halves to this with thin pillars that hold the two parts together. In the center, these twisted metallic, almost spider leg fingers, twist and grasp at this gem in the center. You grab and pull for it. Are you going to try and physically rip it out?

LAURA: I want to try to physically rip it out, but also use my telekinesis to try to pull at the same time to give myself as much power as possible.

MATT: Roll a d20 and and your charisma modifier for me, if you don't mind.

SAM: Jesus!

MARISHA: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!

MATT: Nice!

LAURA: 26.

MATT: 26 will do it. As you pull on it, it is wedged in there and you focus and focus and you extend that part of your mind, that well of strength that you're still trying to understand, and it's like two mystical hands reach over yours. With one giant shove, the metal wrenches free. As you do it, it almost pulls you off of your feet, the sheer momentum of it yanking out of the machine before you catch yourself and look in your hand and you see this purplish gem pulsing. It feels electric in your fingers, your skin has a weird tingle as you clutch it.

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: Cool.

LIAM: Nice work, Jean Grey.

LAURA: All right. I'm going to try to get out of here. My path is blocked.

LIAM: It sure is.

MATT: Make an intelligence check for me.

LAURA: I'm not, five.

MATT: Continue your turn, please. (laughter)

LAURA: Crystal. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Pretty!

LAURA: Pretty. Purple! God, I can't really see. It's all kind of blocked. Isn't it?

MATT: Yeah.

LAURA: Okay.

SAM: Do that rogue shit.

LAURA: I am going to-- Can I see? I can't see anything, can I?

MATT: This is all blocked over here. You can try and climb over the rubble, if you'd like to, or you can move around to this space.

LAURA: Can I-- Okay. Ooh, ooh! Ooh! Okay. Can I climb up on top of the rubble?

MATT: You can, make an athletics check to climb above it.

LIAM: Is the machine still super loud, too?

MATT: It's still pretty loud. It's grinding. (growls)

MARISHA: Oh noes!

MATT: What you roll?

LIAM: One.

MATT: Oh, okay. So.

LAURA: "Oh!"

MATT: You leap onto the side and then start climbing upward. As you get towards the very top, you grab one piece of rock that comes free. You're like, "Shit." You reach back and grab something else, that comes free. And then you tumble back.

LAURA: Great. Great.

MATT: Landing prone on the ground here.

LAURA: No, wait, wait. Right as that's happening, I want to, as I'm falling--

MATT: Yes?

LAURA: I'm going to Misty Step myself as I'm falling. (cheering)

MATT: Where are you Misty Stepping?

LAURA: I'm going to bamf on the other side.

ASHLEY: Yes!

MATT: Right as you climb to the front, and you pull free the first rock that's loose, and the second rock was loose. You start falling back and (whoosh) you appear right next to orb right there.

TRAVIS: Fucking slick!

MATT: That's pretty clutch.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

TRAVIS: Come on, now.

MATT: Hell yeah.

TRAVIS: Misty Step is the shit!

MATT: Gus is right there, he goes like, "Well done, well done."

LAURA: Thanks.

MATT: All righty. Finishes your go, Imogen?

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: Yes.

MATT: End of your turn.

TALIESIN: What have we all been drinking?

MATT: Yeah. Just going to do another--

TRAVIS: I feel like I had popcorn, but I didn't.

MARISHA: Yeah, that popcorn--

TRAVIS: Kernel stuck.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MARISHA: Mm-hmm.

MATT: It's actually going to float down a bit.

SAM: Oh no.

TALIESIN: Oh no.

MATT: Just to about there.

TRAVIS: No, stay away--

MATT: Just hovering right over your crew, about 10 feet up, we'll say.

TALIESIN: 10 feet? All right.

MATT: You watch as she's not moving as quickly as she was before. That damaged stone from earlier seems to have slightly lessened her movement capabilities. All right. Finishing that, that brings us to Fearne, you're up.

ASHLEY: Okay. Just checking something. Okay. I was trying to see how long I could use the telekinesis, but I think it might be--

TRAVIS: The ring?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MARISHA: Stonky's!

ASHLEY: "You can affect the same target round after round (mumbled reading)." Huh.

MARISHA: Round after round?

ASHLEY: It's a little fuzzy.

MATT: I'm going to look it up for you now.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: This is a standard magical item, isn't it?

ASHLEY: Yeah. I don't know.

SAM: Available in all manuals.

ASHLEY: Maybe I-- If not, I have something else.

MATT: In this instance, I'm allowing this orb to be considered an object because the creature is within it, but you're affecting the actual sphere. It's not being worn or carried, it is actually combining something. Yeah. I'll say you can attempt to move it, if you'd like to.

TRAVIS: We're going to find out real quick.

ASHLEY: We'll find out real quick. Try to get it out of the way. Okay.

MATT: You're trying to pull it through that wedged space?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Go ahead and roll a d20, add your wisdom modifier.

ASHLEY: Okay. Let's do--

MARISHA: I think you're going to roll high.

ASHLEY: Eugh.

MARISHA: That's not good.

ASHLEY: 12.

MATT: 12. You tug with the ring and it rolls, and it rolls towards you and it hits, climbs a bit and gets wedged in the V-formation to where the stone erosion parts of the cave gathers towards the base. And it's (cracks) and is now stuck right there. The ring doesn't. You try and pull, you try and pull, but there's a lot of stone currently preventing it from moving forward. You can see parts of it cracking and shifting where it stands, but it's not going any further at the moment.

ASHLEY: Shit.

SAM: Okay. It's not impossible, just hard.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay. Well, someone can shove it in a little bit more.

SAM: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: All right. So what I'll do now is-- All right, flame seed for Mister.

SAM: I don't-- Oh, I can see you now.

MATT: All right Towards the mother?

ASHLEY: Towards Mother, towards one of the stones that looks like it's breaking.

MATT: Okay. Go for it.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: Maybe I should just wait 'til that happens.

ASHLEY: 17.

MATT: 17 just-- Is it against her, or one of the stones?

ASHLEY: It's one of the stones.

MATT: Just misses.

ASHLEY: Okay. All right. That's my turn.

MATT: It strikes and hits, but the flame seed just scatters off and burns off to the side.

TRAVIS: It's very damaging poop.

MATT: It is.

ASHLEY: Very, very damaging. Okay. That's my turn.

MATT: All right. Finishing Fearne's go?

ASHLEY: Yep.

MATT: Lady Emoth cannot go. It is Gus' go.

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: Gus is still feeling a little iffy about burning too many more spell slots here. He's going to Fire Bolt that same stone that you're aiming for.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Misses.

ASHLEY: Damn it.

MATT: Goes and releases it. As it arcs forward, it manages to just miss and then bounce off the blubber hide of the Shade Mother and then burst into flame harmlessly across the stones nearby. Gus goes, "Fuck!"

TRAVIS: I go: Help me. (laughs)

MATT: "Oh, shit, I didn't even--" Then Gus is going to rush over here and is going to now help to aid whoever wants to try and get you out from under there. Didn't even see you get crushed, in having to focus on the Shade Mother.

TALIESIN: There's a lot going on.

SAM: We got several things wedged in rock right now.

MATT: Indeed. Okay. Finishing Gus' go. Chetney, you're up, with Orym on deck. You are currently restrained.

TRAVIS: Can I try to push myself out from under this giant rock thing? Or am I just fucking stuck?

MATT: No, you can certainly try.

TRAVIS: I'll try.

MATT: All right, make an athletics check with advantage.

SAM: Wolf strength.

TRAVIS: 16 plus six. 22.

MATT: 22 is what you needed. (cheering)

MATT: So as you angrily gather your feral, wolven strength, you feel the lycanthropic energy in your body, the curse harnessed, your muscles flex, you growl and you howl. And with this ear-piercing howl, you just pull yourself free from the heavy stone that's on your body. You kick your leg out and then you're sore as a motherfucker, but you are free.

LAURA: Yes!

MARISHA: It's just a little internal bleeding.

MATT: Just a little bit.

SAM: Nice.

TRAVIS: Thanks.

MARISHA: Gus is like, "I mean, yeah."

MATT: "Yes. Happy to help, buddy. By the way, what--"

TRAVIS: We'll talk.

MATT: "All right. All right. Yeah, we'll definitely do that. Okay."

TRAVIS: I'll use my 25 feet of movement, or did I use half of that getting up from after I--

MATT: Half of that getting up.

TRAVIS: So I'll take 10 more feet to move towards the canal.

MATT: All right. So you get just behind where Imogen is.

TRAVIS: Cool.

MATT: Got it. Okay.

TRAVIS: Just close enough to get fucked up by stupid spray.

MATT: You got it! Orym, you're up.

LIAM: Can I ask a question? The drill that's going, there's a big wheel on the side. Is that spinning rapidly or not at all?

MATT: It's still grinding. It's still moving. It looks like it's-- When everything fell, it wedged itself in, but there's nobody actively manning it. So it's still running off of its baseline drilling mechanism. So it's grinding, you hear the auger shifting and--

LIAM: I guess there's just my one question is there's a big wheel on the side of that. Is that going (hums)?

MATT: Oh, on this over side here?

LIAM: Yeah.

MATT: I'll say that that's more of the design of a mini that's there. There isn't a large wheel that's on the side. There is a wheel on the front of it near where the controls are, that guides its direction.

TRAVIS: Next to the lever.

LIAM: Okay. I'm going to try it anyway. I pull a rope out and go: I just bought this. Then I'm going to run, I'm going to spring--

MARISHA: Good idea, Orym!

LIAM: -- up on the rock and then spring up onto the drill and then leap 10 feet in the air to get by her stinger. Tie her up. I command the rope to tie her stinger.

SAM: Ooh!

MATT: Okay. The rope (whooshes) wraps around. Let me see if she can possibly shake it. Nope. Not with a natural three.

LAURA: Yeah?

MATT: So as you leap in the air, the impact, you can see see her glance over her shoulder, and as you toss the rope up and it attempts to wrap around, the back of her tail begins to retract. You see the stinger trying to pull in, but the rope catches into its barbs and is affixed to it.

TRAVIS: Ooh!

LIAM: I land down on the drill and go: So sad about this. And I drop the end into the machinery. (gasping)

TRAVIS: Like a tie to the-- Yes!

MATT: Suddenly the rope begins to be pulled by the internal gear's mechanisms rapidly. She, not really noticing and caring, looks back toward the rest before (thumps) (screaming)

MATT: You watch her being yanked back towards you.

TRAVIS: Yeah!

LIAM: If I have any movement, I will dive to the side, but I might not. That was a lot.

MATT: I need you to make a dexterity saving throw because it is rapid.

LAURA: That was so cool!

LIAM: That is pretty good. That's a 17.

MATT: 17. So you manage to dodge out of the way. You only take from the impact two points of bludgeoning damage as you dive off to try and catch your friends on that side. It will, as part of this, because you rolled high enough, you do not fall prone at all. You catch yourself, it hurts your shins a little bit. But the tail is now pulled into the machine and she is currently screeching between the combination of sunlight still blaring down upon her and the tail being pulled in the machinery. (screaming)

LAURA and ASHLEY: That's so cool!

MATT: Rad.

LIAM: But I just bought the rope.

SAM: Oh.

TALIESIN: Worth every penny.

ASHLEY: It's worth it.

MARISHA: We can get you another one.

ASHLEY: Yeah, we'll, yeah.

TRAVIS: Amazing.

LIAM: Can we?

ASHLEY: Wow.

TRAVIS: Oh, so good.

MATT: All righty.

LIAM: That's the end of my turn.

MATT: That's your turn, Orym.

ASHLEY: That was so cool!

MATT: That was fucking awesome. It is her turn.

LAURA: Oh god.

TALIESIN: Oh, she has to make a constitution saving throw.

MATT: Indeed.

LAURA: Oh, because Ashton's right next to her.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: That is going to be a 13.

TALIESIN: I believe the DC is 13.

MATT: Then yeah, she succeeds, unfortunately.

ASHLEY: Shit.

MATT: But good call. She... does not get the Corrosive Nimbus power back.

LAURA: Yes!

MATT: And she can't use her stinger.

TRAVIS: Wow.

MATT: Right now that stinger is wedged in there and her movement, until she breaks free, is considered zero because she is currently tethered to the machine. You could see the gems flaring and she's trying to pull away, but the tail is stuck in there and she's not going anywhere.

TRAVIS: So good.

ASHLEY: Oh my god. That is so cool.

MATT: She is going to go ahead and make a full round of claw attacks then since she can't use her stinger or her nimbus. So it's going to be four claw attacks to the person in melee range of her, which is you. So that's four strikes against you at disadvantage because of the Daylight spell.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: Thank you, Daylight.

MATT: Oh, a natural 20 and a four on that one.

TRAVIS: Wow.

MATT: So, 14? 14?

TRAVIS: Misses.

MATT: 12.

TRAVIS: Misses.

MATT: Natural one.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Daylight, man.

TALIESIN: Damn, Laudna.

TRAVIS: Come on, come on, say it.

MARISHA: It's not me.

TRAVIS: Say it!

MATT: 19 and a two.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: It's like high roll, low roll, high roll, low roll, high roll, low roll. That fucking Daylight is making it-- so the long, clawed, rake-like fingers go tearing towards you. With every single slash, the machine tugs back. She goes towards you to try and reach for you and it pulls back!

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: You can see the smoke now emitting from it, and you can hear the sound of gears on flesh. She's in pain, but pushing through it. With each attempt to strike towards you, the machine is keeping her at bay. Nothing lands.

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

LAURA: Oh my god.

SAM: Never underestimate a machine.

MATT: That's going to finish her turn. That's all she can do.

SAM: Amazing.

MATT: That brings us to Olly's go. Olly is going to move, jumping over the edge here. "All right, all right. This is great! We got to go!"

LIAM: GTFO.

MATT: Is going to get over to the edge here and see that in the way and go like, "You fucking serious?"

LIAM: (laughs)

MATT: Olly, not super strong, is going to take a couple of feet back and then rush in with a shoulder to try and shove it.

TRAVIS: Come on.

ASHLEY: I'm trying to help on the other side.

MATT: Yeah. Not high enough, unfortunately. Like (thumps) "Ah, ah. Okay. All right. Oh, maybe it's the angle." Olly's going to go ahead-- That's Olly's turn to attempt to do that is going to succeed and is no longer poisoned, which is good.

TALIESIN: Back up, so people can--

MATT: That's gone.

TALIESIN: -- give it a try?

MATT: Yeah. Olly will step off that edge there. All right, finishing Olly's go. Laudna, you're up.

MARISHA: Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

TRAVIS: (air horn)

LIAM: (like Fjord) Eldritch Blast!

MARISHA: Ashton, what are you up to?

TALIESIN: I'm either going to hit the ball, or I'm going to hit the slug. I'm kind of torn.

MARISHA: Maybe I can help you decide. I am going to, accepting that I can't do shit with the ball, and I can't do shit with the slug. I'm going to look over the ball to Ashton, and I'm going to say... I'm going to say... I'm going to say something cool and it comes--

TALIESIN: "Something cool."

MARISHA: -- out like--

LIAM: Let's all imagine it.

MARISHA: -- make me look cool! And that's what I say.

TRAVIS: Oh boy.

MARISHA: I'm having a crisis. (laughter)

LIAM: This is Marisha's final form.

MATT: Yeah. (laughs)

MARISHA: I, once again, take the caramel shit and black ooze and I'm going to flick it over the top. It glides over the amber ball. I'm going to encoat your glass hammer with Chill Touch.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: And I'm going to enhance him with Chill Touch.

MATT: All right. So the edge of the hammer, for whatever you're going for, this may enhance your next strike. So that your hammer begins to frost over, and elements of the warm moisture in the air that this chamber seems to hold begin to crystallize into a dark ice.

SAM: Counting on him to push the ball through.

MATT: All righty.

MARISHA: Well, he can--

SAM: He can hit it with the hammer.

MARISHA: Push-- Still could do it.

MATT: All right. That finish your turn?

MARISHA: There's not shit that I can do. I back up, and I make way.

LIAM: Also, is that Jolly Rancher like a cork right now?

TRAVIS: You make way or you make--

MARISHA: ♪ I'm makin' my way ♪

LAURA: I don't know. I think you could see over the ball because she just was able to do that. So yeah. You can see around it a little bit.

MATT: Okay. That finishes Laudna's go.

LAURA: Plus, you can see through the orb.

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

MATT: The shade creeper was destroyed by you.

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: The one over there was crushed. There's no shade creepers currently on the map, though there were sounds of more them coming. F.C.G.

SAM: Ashton, are you going to push the ball?

TALIESIN: Probably going to try and then hoping, unless that thing comes down, I'm going to figure it the fuck out.

SAM: Okay. I'll just Guide you, then. I'm just going to use my action for Guidance.

MATT: Okay. d4, your next ability check.

TALIESIN: Oh, didn't I hit something last turn?

MATT: Yeah. You destroyed a shade creeper.

TALIESIN: d4 to last ability check. I'm sorry. I thought I heard rage. Never mind.

MATT: No, no, sorry.

TALIESIN: Carry on.

MATT: You're good.

TALIESIN: All right.

TRAVIS: I didn't use it. I should have.

SAM: I think that's all-- I'll get closer to the ball. Well, shoot. Do we all want to be bunched up? Yeah, we want to leave. Yeah, I'll get it close to the ball.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: But without blocking it. So I still want other people to be able to--

MATT: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SAM: -- get to it. I guess I'm going to have a bonus action, but I don't want to use my last Healing Word yet until someone dies.

TALIESIN: Yeah, that might be a-- Not a bad idea.

SAM: So I'll just-- That's it.

MATT: Okay, finishing your go. Back to the top of the round, Ashton.

TALIESIN: So--

MATT: Actually, at the end of its turn, it's going to use a legendary action to make another claw strike against you since you're nearby.

TALIESIN: Disadvantage?

MATT: That, with disadvantage, is going to be a 20.

TRAVIS: That does hit.

MATT: All right, so you take... nine points of slashing damage, reduced to four--

TRAVIS: Nice.

MATT: Plus... seven points of necrotic damage.

TRAVIS: Oof, yeah, those claws suck. Damn, I'm glad those four strikes missed earlier, holy shit.

MATT: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (chuckles) All right, Ashton.

TALIESIN: So if I took a run at that ball, and would I get a bonus if I hit it with my hammer as opposed to just running, trying to sideswipe it, if I try to bat it down really fucking hard?

MATT: You get the bonus in the fact that you would have the same advantage that you would have while raging.

TALIESIN: All right.

MATT: But narratively, sure.

TALIESIN: Okay, that'll do.

MATT: As you go rushing forward, you wind it up in one arm, getting ready for the giant slam, the ice crystallized on the outside of it--

TALIESIN: This is an athletics check then, or--?

MATT: This would be an athletics check. Actually, no, for this in particular, I would say this is a strength check, because you are just doing one single impact with your hammer.

TALIESIN: Okay, what would athletics check be, out of curiosity?

MATT: It'd be shoulder, if you wanted to.

TALIESIN: (sighs)

MATT: They're both ability checks, it's up to you.

TALIESIN: Yeah, it's just athletics I'm a little--

LIAM: Got to work that ball.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: The DCs are different for each--

TALIESIN: Oh, then in that case, fuck it, hammer.

MATT: Okay, because of the Chill Touch on there, I'll say add an additional d4 to his strike.

TALIESIN: And one more d4 from Guidance.

MATT: So you add a d4 from Guidance, you roll a d4.

SAM: This is an ability check.

MARISHA: Oh, I roll a d4.

MATT: You roll it to add to his ability check.

TALIESIN: Okay, so, strength check, here we go.

MARISHA: Fucking tits, what the fucking bullshit.

TALIESIN: Woo, thank god. That was, that would've been bad. What are you adding to me?

MARISHA: One.

TALIESIN: 22.

MATT: 22. Crack, with a splash of shattering ice, you watch it dislodge and go rolling through. I need you to make a dexterity save.

TALIESIN: Yeah, you do!

ASHLEY: Okay, that's all right.

LAURA: Indiana Jones. (laughs)

ASHLEY: Natural 20. (cheering)

MATT: You full-on leap into the air and kick off of it with your satyr hooves, as it rolls underneath--

SAM: Is she on it?

LIAM: Mountain goat. (laughter)

MATT: Just ride it out. Rushing at the room.

ASHLEY: Let's go! (laughter)

MATT: Yeah, you're kicking it along, and actually maintaining the momentum, you actually got a good rolling momentum, too, where you can keep it going. With a natural 20, fuck yeah, you can do that.

ASHLEY: I'm going to keep it going. Come on, come on, come on!

MATT: Off to the side, like Indiana Jones, run away from it for a second before dodging off to the side as it rolls past with Fearne on top, and you're having to stay a little low from under it, but the rest of you watch as it is now dislodged and rushing off, as many other shade creepers are starting to emerge from above and gather down the sides of the walls.

LAURA: Oh god.

LIAM: That's our cue. (chuckling)

TALIESIN: Go, go, go, I'm going last, go!

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Is that devil's advocate or something else?

TALIESIN: Actually, I'll pull all the way at least back to the crates.

MATT: To here?

TALIESIN: Yeah, I want to make sure that everyone gets out since I can take some damage.

MATT: Okay, you got it. All right, finishing your go, Ashton. Imogen, you're up.

LAURA: Okay, I'm going to step into the entrance of the tunnel and turn around before I leave.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: I'm going to get in a good spot so that I can do this. Directly in front of her.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

LAURA: Right before I turn and run, I'm going to lift my hands up, focus all my energy, my hair flares up, my eyes flash white, I'm going to shoot my hand out and cast Lightning Bolt directly up at her and hopefully at the thing at the wall behind her, too, because it's 100 feet straight.

MATT: Oh, that'll do it.

TRAVIS: Ooh yeah, the big detached body.

MATT: 100 feet straight there, yeah. So as you release it, it arcs out, slams into the torso area of the body. Let's see if she makes the dexterity saving throw. Does succeed, so only takes half damage, but still.

LAURA: Okay, yeah, I know--

MATT: No--

MARISHA: She's stuck?

LIAM: Is the machine jiggling her around?

MATT: You know what, I'll say because of that, I'll give her disadvantage, yeah.

SAM: Nice.

MATT: That fails. (exclaiming)

MATT: Uses her last legendary resistance to resist it--

LAURA: That's okay, that's okay, that's okay.

MARISHA: It's fine, it's fine, it's fine.

TALIESIN: I'm into it.

MATT: It hits and strikes off the side and then it impacts the large sheet of-- and then it impacts the large sheet of-- partially incinerated from the earlier Fireball-- cocoon mass, and you arc it across, burning through it like an arc bolt. Go ahead and roll damage.

TRAVIS: Like in Ghostbusters.

LIAM: Dice, so many dice.

MATT: Yeah, full-on proton cannon.

LAURA: 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 22, 25 points of lightning damage.

LIAM: Big numbers at level five.

MATT: Plus that damage there.

SAM: Tight, tight, tight.

MATT: Great, so as the bolt, you release, you pull your hands back as energy's released, and you can see the large, carved black mark you've left on the distant wall. The bright sunlight still spinning in the chamber above from the orb that Fearne had summoned. The creature, the Shade Mother, is still screeching and angrily trying to pull away from the machine, and failing to do so. But who knows for how long 'til then?

LAURA: Yep.

MATT: What do you want to do?

LAURA: I'm going to turn around. Oh, fuck it, I'm going to take-- use my Telekinetic Shove and pull F.C.G. five feet towards me, to give him a little bit of extra distance on his run, and then I'm going to take off running down the hallway.

MATT: Okay, you can get about there with the rest of that. You got it, all right.

TRAVIS: Damn, dope.

SAM: My wheel is acting up now, too. Before it was my blade, and now this?

MATT: All right--

SAM: I got to get a check up.

MARISHA: Sorry, we have to get you some all terrain--

SAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: For next time, Stonky's is a concentration, so I'll probably roll next time for--

MATT: Oh, for the damage taken.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Good to know.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LAURA: Were you taking a lot of damage on the Stonky?

ASHLEY: No. Just to--

LAURA: Just so you remember, I don't think you took any damage when you--

TALIESIN: Oh, lair action, fuck.

MATT: Lair action.

LAURA: Uh-oh.

LIAM: What this?

MATT: Two more shade creepers beginning to pour out from each round. Finishing that go, Fearne, you're up.

TALIESIN: It's like they show up to the party and everybody's already left. "Hey, I brought-- I brought tequila." (laughter)

TALIESIN: BYO.

ASHLEY: All right, so--

MARISHA: I got some.

SAM: Let's go.

ASHLEY: I will, since we're going--

MARISHA: Fuck this game, let's go get margaritas. (laughter)

ASHLEY: I'm going to shoot out an Ice Knife at her.

SAM: Ooh!

MATT: Okay. Go ahead and roll for an attack.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Remembering from, as we've learned since she takes damage even if you miss, so.

SAM: ♪ The magic of colored lights ♪ (laughter)

LIAM: Nice pull. (laughs)

ASHLEY: 23.

MATT: That definitely hits, roll full damage.

ASHLEY: So we've got-- and I'm doing that at level three, so... What was that? 1d10.

TRAVIS: The tray is--

LAURA: That's a 12. (laughter)

SAM: She can't even figure out what her--

ASHLEY: Hey, shush!

TRAVIS: "Hey, shush!" (laughter)

ASHLEY: Okay, I got an eight.

TRAVIS: Yeah!

ASHLEY: And then, one, two, three--

MATT: Oh my.

LAURA: Teeny, teeny little--

TRAVIS: Are those dice so small you can barely pick them up?

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yep.

MATT: She rolled them into the quantum dimension.

TRAVIS: What? That's like salt kernels.

MARISHA: Uh-huh, just a little salt bae.

LAURA: Just to attack, salt.

LIAM: You know, there's actually billions of dice--

TALIESIN: I actually--

ASHLEY: So 20 points total.

SAM: Damn!

MATT: 20 points, nice.

LIAM: There's actually billions of dice that size at the beach.

SAM: That's true. (laughter)

ASHLEY: I'll go digging for them forever.

TALIESIN: See if these interest you, actually.

ASHLEY: Ooh.

TALIESIN: You can have these if you occasionally use them when you're feeling tired.

LIAM: Look how clear those numbers are.

LAURA: Did you give away all the dice that you bought?

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LAURA: Taliesin.

TALIESIN: That's what they were for.

ASHLEY: Oh my god, the little sunflowers in here?

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

ASHLEY: Okay, sorry.

LAURA: That is so sweet.

MATT: As you throw the ice knife around the way, you watch as it pierces in the abdomen, bursts, leaving this large wave of ice crystals. Jagged shards of frozen moisture are now emerging from the wound and stuck in the side as she begins to take the arms and break them away and you can see it's like a large, wedged--

SAM: ♪ Breakin' away ♪

MATT: -- blade has been jammed a few feet into the bottom of where the waist meets with the rest of the weird bulbous torso.

TRAVIS: (like Mr. Freeze) Chill out.

ASHLEY: So still on the ball--

LAURA: I like that you did that while you were--

MATT: Yep, wee!

TALIESIN: (humming)

ASHLEY: Okay, so with Mister, is F.C.G. within 15 feet? Is anybody within--

MATT: No, no, no. At this point, if you're moving with the orb that way, you're going to be way back this way by the next part of your turn.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Here.

ASHLEY: I have Mister with me.

MATT: Because it's funny.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: Yes! (laughs)

SAM: We're doing this.

TALIESIN: How tall is the roof in there, out of curiosity?

MATT: It's only about 16 or 17 feet. So you're having to stay low as you're moving through, and at some points, it gets a little lower and you have to crouch.

LAURA: Think about the quad workout you're getting right now.

TALIESIN: Amazing.

SAM: But with her legs, are they quads or are they--

LAURA: Do they bend back?

SAM: I think her knees bend backwards, don't they?

ASHLEY: Don't, they bend just right.

MATT: No, there are knees forward and-- You don't know how animal legs work.

SAM: I don't!

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: There's two sets of knees?

LAURA: Yeah!

MATT: More or less.

LAURA: She's got a thing like this and then like this.

LIAM: Listen, Mr. Wooden Duck Feet. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Too bad that's not how human feet work. (laughter)

ASHLEY: I think Mister can shoot a Flame Seed 60 feet, so I think-- yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

SAM: Isn't her knee an ankle?

ASHLEY: Shoot another--

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: I'll say, from his angle, he will have-- There is a higher AC, so go ahead and roll.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: Is he going towards her or one of the stones?

ASHLEY: It doesn't--

MATT: Okay, fine. (laughs)

ASHLEY: We're good, okay, I'm done.

MATT: End of Fearne's turn, is going to use another legendary action to strike again at you, Chetney.

SAM: Oh no, Chet!

MARISHA: Chet!

MATT: That's for a 15.

TRAVIS: Misses.

MATT: Misses, oh yeah, with disadvantage.

TALIESIN: I have to keep asking because I don't want anyone to die.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Maybe I've been looking at animals backwards this whole time.

MATT: Gus' go. Gus is going to run 30, 35, and Gus is going to join the rest of you down there. Gus is like--

TRAVIS: Gus is out.

MATT: "All right, we're moving, we're moving!"

SAM: Their heads keep wagging.

MATT: At the end of, that's going to use the last legendary action to strike again angrily at you. It's mad flailing at this point.

SAM: Mad failing!

MATT: That is going to be a 20 to hit.

TRAVIS: That does hit.

LAURA: Oh god.

LIAM: (whispering) Mad flailing you.

TALIESIN: You're all right, right?

MATT: So with that you take--

SAM: He's pretty strong.

MATT: Seven points of slashing, reduced to three.

TRAVIS: Cool.

MATT: And eight points of necrotic.

TRAVIS: Woo!

LIAM: I imagine Chetney like a Popeye werewolf, just ropey.

TRAVIS: (like Popeye) Ack-ack-ack.

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

LIAM: All right.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I'm booking ass.

TALIESIN: You may need a heal.

MARISHA: Booking that ass.

MATT: So you rush past.

TRAVIS: I'll dash as well, so 50 total out.

MATT: She does get a reaction to strike you one more time as you rush out of her melee range. Natural 19 and a 20, but because of disadvantage it's only 19, so it's 29 to hit?

TRAVIS: That's my AC. 29 to hit, yeah. (laughs)

MATT: Yeah, it'll work. Not that great. That's four points of slashing damage reduced to two, and 10 points of necrotic.

TRAVIS: Woo, woo!

TALIESIN: F.C.G.

TRAVIS: (barks and whines)

SAM: I can take half of that, I'll take half of that.

TRAVIS: Yeah, okay, half it.

MATT: Okay, so that'd have been 12 points, so you take six total, and you take six temporary hit points. You got it.

TRAVIS: Thanks.

MATT: All right.

MARISHA: Wow.

TALIESIN: If it were me, then I'd take half of that. No, sorry.

MATT: With that and a full rush, you charge after the rest of them. You're just dashing from that point?

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, full 50 from where I was.

MATT: You are off the map with the rest of the folks there.

TRAVIS: Run along the wall.

MATT: Mm-hmm. Orym.

TALIESIN: Orym!

LIAM: I see her go to town on Chetney and use that distraction. Before I go, I turn back and go: Magic rope's so cool. And then I bolt and after 10 or 15 feet of movement, I'll use movement and action to go-- I will start ricocheting off the walls as I jump over Ashton's head and go (bouncing) out.

MATT: You got it. You are joining the rest of the troop down the hallway following the rolling ball. Finishing Orym's go, she's going to attempt to break free from the machine.

TRAVIS: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

SAM: Sure, of course.

MATT: Somebody's there. No, that's a really bad roll.

TALIESIN: Heh.

MATT: (strains) (screeches) And is trying to pull free from this machine. The machine, you hear the grinding is getting slower. It's like (grinding). You can see it--

LAURA: Is it pulling her tail in?

MATT: A little bit, yeah. It's also gunking up the insides and it's--

TRAVIS: With the caramel ichor?

MATT: Yeah, sure.

TRAVIS: Blech.

MATT: You don't know, you're too far ahead.

TRAVIS: That's what you called it earlier.

MATT: I know.

LIAM: Way to fuck up a 3D printer.

MATT: Olly's going to follow suit. I mean, I know when to follow suit." Dodge past. At that, Laudna, you're up. You moved up there, are you still following suit with everybody else?

MARISHA: I'm still following suit. Can I look around, do I hear any shade creepers coming in from the direction we're heading?

MATT: Make a perception check.

MARISHA: All right.

TALIESIN: Thank you.

MARISHA: Right.

MARISHA: I quit, I quit the show.

ASHLEY: No, no, no!

TRAVIS: Wow. I'll take this one off your tray, you don't need that one.

LAURA: Stop rolling the bad ones.

MARISHA: Rolled a natural--

TRAVIS: Let me see if it's just you. It's just you.

MARISHA: What did you just roll?

TRAVIS: 19, it's okay.

MARISHA: (sobs)

TALIESIN: Maybe, have you thought about propping up, maybe putting a little shim underneath the dice?

MARISHA: A shim?! What do you think a shim-- what?

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: What?

TALIESIN: Like one of Shing's shims.

LIAM: A shim.

MARISHA: Yeah, I'll just prep a shim.

TRAVIS: I rolled it again.

MARISHA: I rolled a one.

MATT: You don't see anything.

MARISHA: I don't see anything.

MATT: No.

MARISHA: Coast is clear!

TALIESIN: Fuck.

MATT: All right.

MARISHA: Can I still see her behind me through the--

MATT: From how far ahead you've gone, not really.

MARISHA: With my Spell Sniper shit?

TALIESIN: Before the run?

MATT: With Spell Sniper, maybe? If you want to make a shot, your range on your Eldritch Blasts? Yeah, you have Spell Sniper you wouldn't even have to deal with the bonus to AC for her three-quarters cover, so.

MARISHA: Okay, so I--

LAURA: Come on, natural 20.

MARISHA: I line my shot up and I just, like the precision of one of Vex's arrows.

MATT: Towards her or towards one of the stones?

MARISHA: Towards her.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: I just want to do something. (laughter) No, 15 total.

MATT: 15 misses.

LAURA: No!

ASHLEY: No!

MATT: But you get two Eldritch Blasts.

SAM: Oh, two, two!

MARISHA: Oh, that's right.

LAURA: Yeah, come on, come on.

TRAVIS: Hey!

SAM: Okay, okay!

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MARISHA: 21?

MATT: That hits, yay! (cheering)

MARISHA: Thank you. (laughter)

MARISHA: Thank you, I needed this. Okay, yeah, okay, she's still hexed, right?

MATT: Yep.

LAURA: Yeah!

MARISHA: Ooh! (laughs) Five, seven, eight plus four is 12 damage.

LAURA: How do you want to do this? (laughter)

TALIESIN: I want to run, that's how I want to do this, I want to just fucking run.

MATT: Well, you do get one hit, good job. (cheering) (laughter)

MATT: Not even going to describe it more than that because it's funny.

MARISHA: Did you see that, Pâté?

TRAVIS: Even Pâté's disappointed.

MARISHA: Yeah, Pâté's like (groans).

LAURA: That's when you stopped shooting from him, maybe that's what it was.

MARISHA: I did, he's really my focus.

MATT: They begin to rush over, and giving up on you at the moment, they begin coming up to the machine to try to pry their mother free.

LAURA: Aww.

MATT: Nah, that's a three. He's fine, you get the feel there. All right, that brings us to F.C.G.

SAM: I'm going to wheel out of there as fast as I can.

TALIESIN: Yeah you are.

TRAVIS: Roll out. (whirring vocalizing)

MATT: Ashton, same?

TALIESIN: Yep, I'm going to peace out. Lick salt, fucker! And we're out. (laughter)

MARISHA and TRAVIS: "Lick salt"?

MATT: All right.

LIAM: (laughs)

TRAVIS: What is he, a slug?

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

LAURA: Oh my gosh.

LAURA and LIAM: She's a slug! (laughter)

TALIESIN: Really?

MARISHA: That's so good!

TALIESIN: I don't feel like I deserved that, but thank you. (laughter)

MATT: Charging full speed, head first into the darkness back from whence they came, Bells Hells flees, their quarry in tow, guided by the ever-balancing feet of Fearne, towards where they came. And we'll pick up from there after our break. (exclaiming)

ASHLEY: Success!

TRAVIS: Wow.

Break
LAURA: Hey Critters, Laura Bailey here to guide you through what's new in the Critical Role shop. (soft music) Hey, look at these. They go on your face. Go ahead darling, treat yourself.

LAURA: Roll an investigation if you want, it's basically perfect. Style should never be a dump stat, darling. (gasps) Could anything be more perfect?

LAURA: And hey, if you want, you could head over to the Critical Role shop, right now.

(soft music)

MARISHA: Hey Critters, it's me, Marisha Ray. I had exactly a minute and a half of free time today, so I thought I'd make a little unboxing video for y'all unpacking everything you get with a Twitch subscription to Critical Role. (bright music) Okay. Safety third. (ethereal voices laughing) What the fuck was that? (Marisha exclaiming in awe) So the first thing we've got here is our live and professionally-moderated chat. Twitch is the only place that you can actually get this. You know, it's a little strange to hold because it's an amorphous concept, but honestly, you can't deny this craftsmanship. It's really well made and, aw, oh, you can post links in this too! That's really cool, so yeah. Put that in your chat and click it. Oh yeah, this is cool. This is the ability to watch all of Critical Role's VODs immediately after the live broadcast ends and before they're uploaded to YouTube. Oh, it smells like ranch. Oh wait. Oh no, that's me. I had ranch on my salad earlier. Yeah, this smells like nothing. Oh, oh, here we have (Marisha grunting) gift subscriptions, which you can either give to a fellow Critter by name or at random using a fancy Twitch algorithm. You can give away a lot of subs with this, which I guess is why it's so heavy for something that's technically non-tangible with a value that's deeply subjective to the consumer. Oh, sick, yeah, I'm so excited to show y'all this part. With a Twitch subscription to Critical Role, you can use all of our incredible custom emotes in chat. We have so many emotes in here. Let's see, we art dad, super cool. We got Ashley hype, fun one. Look at Trinket here. He's so, oh, oh god. (clattering and crashing) Oh god. Broom, broom. Hang on, I can fix this. I can fix this. I'm fixing it! Jerry! Oh god, okay. I'm sorry, Trinket. (machine whirring) Yeah, that'll work. I need more glue, this is not gonna be enough. (tape ripping) Don't tell Rachel, okay? Okay, please nobody. (metal clanking) Schapiro, will you cut all this out? (electronic buzzing)

Part II
MATT: And welcome back. So. As Bells Hells are currently jaunting into the darkness, retracing their steps through the aspects of this abandoned mine that they had originally come through, the arcane dome orb that currently encases Lady Emoth Kade, being rolled quickly through, heading back towards where you came, what do you do?

LIAM: Oh boy, we have to get to an elevator, right?

TALIESIN: We got to book in that direction. Are we being chased?

MATT: You hear growling sounds behind you and the furious screeches of the Shade Mother. So--

TALIESIN: Gus, do you have a fireball?

MATT: "Look, I got one more in the chamber for something. For my own defense purposes, respectfully, I'm going to hold onto it. But I appreciate you asking."

TALIESIN: Good to know.

ASHLEY: We all had a very hard time fitting into the elevator, it's going to be interesting to add a very large globe.

LAURA: I didn't even think about that.

MATT: (snarls) At which point, right in the front, two shade creepers leap out from the nearby dark space. What are you doing?

LIAM: Slash slash.

MATT: All right, both of you make attacks.

LIAM: 16 for me.

TRAVIS: 21 to hit.

MATT: Do you have darkvision?

LIAM: Oh, no, I ain't got shit.

LIAM: So disadvantage on both of those.

LIAM: So we'll call that the first one then, so that's shitty shit.

TALIESIN: What are you doing, Travis?

LIAM: That one hits, probably, that's a 20 to hit.

MATT: Yeah, that hits.

TRAVIS: 21 to hit.

MATT: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Great.

TALIESIN: Goddamn it.

LIAM: 10 for me.

TALIESIN: Surrounded by idiots.

TRAVIS: 12 slashing.

MATT: Okay, so you take two strikes, by the way, remember? With your--

TRAVIS: Oh, that's right.

MATT: So roll a second one. Your first strike cuts through and it screeches, but it's still standing. Since you didn't finish it with the first strike, it does get an attack back on you as you're rushing through.

TRAVIS: 26 to hit on the second one.

MATT: That hits. Nine. It misses you back. Easily enough, we'll say at that point, with the initial strikes following up, you smash what remains.

TRAVIS: 16 on the second one.

LIAM: Fore!

MATT: Okay, I do need you three to make dexterity saving throws, if you don't mind.

LAURA: He's still super-down, aren't you?

TALIESIN: Yep.

TRAVIS: 14 plus five, 19.

MATT: 19, no damage to you.

TALIESIN: 17.

MATT: No damage.

LIAM: 19.

MATT: No damage. Manage to dodge all the sparking flashes of dark fire as the shade creepers are bursting around you, they're starting to pour out of the tunnels as you're rushing down towards the space where you're going.

TALIESIN: Are there wooden beams holding anything up?

SAM: Is anyone dead yet?

MATT: Do you have darkvision?

TALIESIN: Eh, no.

MATT: The only bit of light you have--

LAURA: I've got the lights up. As soon as we started running away, I would've brought those lights up.

MATT: Imogen begins sending her crackling purple energy balls of light out in front of you, as you're rushing and rushing, lighting up the space and in that, you see movement at your periphery from all the nearby tunnels--

LAURA: Oh god.

MATT: The shade creepers begin to swarm, called by the angry screeches of their mother. You do see the faint bit of glowing red light that awaited you when you first arrived at that entry chamber, and pushing forward, following the sphere, flanking it as you continue forward, you rush in through the tunnel which is wide enough, at this juncture, to get the ball through, but you have to arc around, because it's that small little switchback tunnel that you fought in the opposite side, it's a little bit too thin, so Fearne, you start directing the ball. I'm going to ask you to make an acrobatics check for me to maintain the movements.

LAURA: You're still on top of it?

LIAM: Mini golf, mini golf.

SAM: Can I guide her?

MATT: Guidance is touch, I believe.

ASHLEY: I'll guide myself.

SAM: You can guide yourself?

ASHLEY: Mm-hmm!

MARISHA: Druids, yo!

SAM: What?

MATT: Mm-hmm! You're obsolete. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: I'm like a G4 computer.

ASHLEY: 18.

MATT: 18, easily enough, you start shifting the momentum of it, it begins to curve and just manage to avoid crashing into a series of large, heavy rock pillars in the next room, shifting around the side, breaking past crystals and bits of light husks now that you can identify what they were on the wall. You curve around the side. There are two more shade creepers crawling out of small little vents on the sides of the chamber. (growling)

TALIESIN: I whack-a-mole whatever one's on the right, I'm going to Rage and whack them.

MARISHA: I'll Ray of Frost the one on the left.

MATT: Both of you guys roll.

MARISHA: Come on, bitch. What's wrong with you?

TALIESIN: 15.

MARISHA: What's wrong with you?

MATT: 15 hits.

MARISHA: What's wrong with you? 11.

MATT: 11 misses.

MARISHA: Of course it does! I know it does!

MATT: The Ray of Frost goes wide.

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LAURA: That dice does not like you.

TALIESIN: 17.

MATT: 17 points of damage?

TALIESIN: 17 points of damage.

MATT: It bursts into angry flame as you destroy it. Roll a dexterity saving throw.

LIAM: Orym goes for Laudna's sloppy seconds.

MATT: So Laudna, because you--

MARISHA: No, I'm going to revert--

MATT: You tried to distract with the Ray of Frost. It misses and it lunges towards you, leaps in the air, (snarls) raking down at you with claws. That is going to be 21 to hit.

LAURA: I'm going to Shock Flare-- I'm going to Shocking Grasp it, or Flare-- what is the word for it? Shocking Grasp it.

MATT: Okay, so roll for that, but it still does hit you for... five points of piercing, plus seven points of necrotic.

SAM: I will absorb half of that.

MATT: Now, you did not use your previous six temporary hit points.

SAM: I took them.

MATT: So you took the damage.

SAM: I took them.

MATT: So you can use it again, go for it.

LAURA: That was a 24 to hit.

MATT: That hits, roll damage.

TALIESIN: I've now got at least a few seconds of Temporal Morass up, so--

MATT: Got it, what was your saving throw?

TALIESIN: Oh, 19, 20, 21.

MATT: Yeah, you receive no damage.

LAURA: Nine points.

MATT: Nine points? Okay, between-- so nine points strikes it. It's not enough to take it out, and it gets shocked.

ASHLEY: Can I try to roll over it with the ball?

MATT: I'll allow it.

TALIESIN: Yeah!

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: I need you to roll one more acrobatics check as you're trying to now aim it, arc it towards it.

ASHLEY: Natural 20.

MATT: Laudna?

TRAVIS: What the fuck is happening?

ASHLEY: I don't know. You guys know I don't--

MATT: Roll 2d6 for me.

ASHLEY: Roll 2d6, okay.

LIAM: You stole all of Marisha's numbers.

MATT: Laudna, so you took the damage-- or the half damage with him?

MARISHA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Three.

MATT: Three. (crushing sound) You roll over and crush it beneath the ball. (pained snarl) It starts getting up. It's severely hurt, but still standing, its legs flattened a bit as it starts standing back up.

SAM: I'm going to try and run over it with my saw blade.

MATT: Go ahead and roll an attack.

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: I don't know what to do.

LAURA: As we're all still running.

MATT: Yep, still running. This is all-- this is a rapid chase sequence.

SAM: It's a 10 to hit.

MATT: 10 does not hit. You hit the rock next to it, as it strikes out towards you, as you move beyond it as a reaction. That's going to be a nine to hit.

SAM: Misses, but I still go (screams) in pain because I took--

MATT: You do take the damage, you got it. All righty. That one is like starting to get up, but it's slowed down by the crushing and won't catch up to you any time soon. Eventually, you arc around the corner and you can see ahead of you, the elevator cage itself there, door open, the chain at the top. It looks wide enough to hold the sphere.

MARISHA: Oh.

ASHLEY and LAURA: Okay.

LAURA: Yes.

ASHLEY: Everybody get in and I'm going to hold it with my ring.

SAM: Hold what?

ASHLEY: Hold the sphere underneath us.

LAURA: Maybe hold it on top of it so that--

ASHLEY: Yes, yes, yes.

LAURA: Just in casies.

MARISHA: It doesn't fall, it doesn't fall. It's a good idea, it's a good idea.

ASHLEY: Because I still have-- It's-- yes.

TRAVIS: Is there something above the elevator? Is there a cord or a chain?

MATT: There is a chain that lifts the elevator upward.

TRAVIS: So we can't put it on top.

ASHLEY: Just letting it hover next to us.

MATT: Okay, the shaft is just-- there's about a six inch--

ASHLEY: Okay, I'm going to lay on the bottom.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Put my arm through and just hold it.

LAURA: Stonky Ring it, hold on to it as we rise up.

ASHLEY: Is it an open cage?

MARISHA: Come on.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: It's an open cage. You can reach through. There's about a two-inch gap between the edge of the cage and the platform and the drop off there. You can't quite get your eyes over the edge. So it's going to be challenging.

TRAVIS: How long can the ring hold something?

MATT: Yeah, how long does the telekinesis last for?

ASHLEY: Okay, so concentration up to 10 minutes.

TALIESIN: Oh boy.

LIAM: Is there room for us to stand on top of the elevator cart?

MATT: There is.

ALL: Put the ball in and hang on top.

ASHLEY: Put the ball in.

SAM: Will the weight be okay?

MATT: As you're discussing this, the already severely hurt shade creeper and two more end up charging in, and you can hear more noises coming from the back of the cavern.

TALIESIN and ASHLEY: Go, go, go.

LIAM: I'll throw a dagger at the limping shade creeper.

MATT: Go for it, roll an attack.

LIAM: Is he close?

MATT: At this point, he's about 20 or so feet from you.

LIAM: Okay. So that's within range, then. That's 14, and I'll throw my second--

MATT: 14 hits.

LIAM: Oh, it does? Okay, great.

MATT: Yeah, 14 is the AC.

LIAM: So that is a nine.

MATT: Yeah, nine damage. (whooshing) You throw the dagger and it falls back and bursts into flames as two others climb over it and clamber towards the cave.

MARISHA: Can I do a thing?

MATT: Yeah, go for it.

MARISHA: I'll Eldritch Blast them.

MATT: One to each or both for one?

MARISHA: Yeah, one for each.

MATT: Okay, go for it.

LIAM: This is it.

SAM: Boom.

MARISHA: Oh okay, okay.

SAM: Beau dice.

MARISHA: Beau dice! 19 and 25.

MATT: Both hit, roll damage on each.

ASHLEY: Pop pop!

MARISHA: Pop pop, motherfuckers! Okay, one of them-- Yeah, that one's not good. But one's a 17 and the other is-- Wait, 17 plus three, so 20 and the other is 12.

LAURA: 20 points from Eldritch Blast?

MATT: Yeah, from a single blast, it's d10 plus your charisma modifier for damage.

MARISHA: Sorry, sorry, d10, you're right, d10 plus three. Sorry, 13 and then what did I say the other one? And 10.

MATT: Okay, so one of them you blast.

MARISHA: I was doubling.

MATT: As you toss both Eldritch Blasts out, it hits one, and its head disintegrates off of its shoulders as it tumbles to the ground and bursts into flame, affecting nobody.

MARISHA: 13 and nine.

MATT: And nine. The other one takes the hit, but it continues pushing through and rushes up right towards you to strike at you.

LAURA: No!

MATT: Natural 20.

SAM: Ooh!

MATT: That's going to be--

MARISHA: To hit?

MATT: Yeah. Yeah.

LAURA: (laughs)

MARISHA: I don't think I can even Shield that. I won't do anything.

MATT: It's going to be nine points of piercing damage, and 14 points necrotic.

MARISHA: For the nine points, and 14 points, for the nine points, is that separate?

MATT: No, it's all one strike.

MARISHA: It's all together? So-- Okay.

TALIESIN: (hums)

MARISHA: Huh?

LIAM: You're good.

SAM: I mean.

MARISHA: But I'm not good.

LIAM: No, I know that. I don't think that one was for you.

MARISHA: Strength of the Grave. Strength of the Grave.

MATT: Okay, which does, remind me again?

SAM: What does that do?

MARISHA: DC 5 plus the damage taken, charisma save, but I don't even know.

TRAVIS: Plus the damage taken, on the hit?

SAM: That's like 14 or something, plus five.

MARISHA: But is it what pushes me over?

MATT: So, so, okay. The DC on this is five plus the damage taken, you said?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay, which was?

MARISHA: The damage taken total?

MATT: Five plus--

TRAVIS: 11, right?

MATT: Yeah. Five plus seven, right?

SAM: No, it was more than that.

MARISHA: You said 14 total.

MATT: 14 total, you're right.

MARISHA: But do I negate the hit points I already had? Even still.

MATT: Let me go look at the ability here. What's it called again? It is--?

MARISHA: Strength of the Grave. That's why I was wondering if it was separate.

SAM: Strength of the Grave.

LIAM: That's a good name.

MATT: "Make a constitution save--"

SAM: It is. But graves aren't very strong.

MATT: Correct, so it would be DC of 19, so roll a constitution saving throw.

MARISHA: DC 19?

LAURA: You can do it, constitution saving throw, you got this.

SAM: Rolling good all night.

MARISHA: DC--

LAURA: Her con is really high, I can feel it in my bones.

SAM: ♪ I can feel it ♪

MATT: ♪ Coming in the air tonight ♪

MARISHA: I've got two things that help me.

TRAVIS: (drumming)

MARISHA: Hang on, hang on. Strength of the Grave.

LIAM: That's what Emoth is doing in the bubble.

MATT: Yep.

MARISHA: Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry. I haven't had to do this yet.

MATT: That's okay.

MARISHA: I'm going to make a death saving throw, that's a death saving throw thing.

MATT: Just add your constitution.

MARISHA: Oh my god. Gil-- Wait, you said what was it? 19?

MATT: 19.

MARISHA: I rolled a 19 total.

MATT: That is exactly what you needed, holy shit! You're at one hit point!

LAURA: Woo!

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Wow.

MARISHA: You see Laudna get a little woozy, but--

MATT: Unfucked by Gil.

MARISHA: Unfucked by Gil.

TRAVIS: Look at that motherfucker right there.

MATT: That's awesome.

MARISHA: Feels like a mortal wound, but somehow you see her head turn around a little bit too far and she cracks it back.

MATT: (laughs) Hell yeah.

MARISHA: Let's go.

TALIESIN: I take a whack at that. I'm just whacking things off.

MATT: Go ahead and roll an attack.

TALIESIN: I'll be whacking all day. Do I still have my rage from the run?

TRAVIS: We moving, we moving?

MATT: Whacking them off?

LAURA: Yes, yes!

ASHLEY: I'm trying to push the ball into the elevator.

MATT: Okay. You kick off of it and it rolls. It fills the majority of the cage. You could maybe fit, crawling, three additional people.

SAM: Should I just get rid of the ball? I can just dispel it.

ALL: No, no, no!

LAURA: She'll be attacking us!

SAM: Okay, okay, okay!

TALIESIN: 13 points.

MATT: 13 to hit, you mean?

TALIESIN: No, I hit like 20 to hit.

MATT: Okay, yeah. 13 points?

TALIESIN: Points of damage.

MATT: You destroy-- I need you both, you and Laudna to make dexterity saving throws.

TALIESIN: I would have not hit it if she were anywhere near it.

MATT: It's still up in her face.

MARISHA: Wait, wait, what?

TALIESIN: Oh, I thought we had pulled her back.

LAURA: As a bonus action, I'm going to pull her towards me, to where it gets--

TALIESIN: I would not have done that.

MATT: I'll allow that, okay. I'll allow it. So--

LAURA: I'm pulling you like--

MATT: Telekinesis pulls you away from it right as he strikes it and destroys it. It bursts, dexterity saving throw.

TALIESIN: Is 14.

MATT: 14's fine, you take no damage.

LAURA: Laudna.

MATT: All right, so who--?

LAURA: Get in the cage.

MARISHA: All right. I am standing in front just trying to--

MATT: Okay, so Laudna, you crawl into the cage, alongside the sphere, Lady Emoth is striking, yelling, and trying to break across the inside of it. Who else is going in the cage with it?

TRAVIS: I'm going to drop my wolf form and I'm going to try and climb up on top of the elevator through one of the little cracks.

MATT: Easy enough to do. There's a space before the shaft begins that it pulls up into, so there's plenty of space to get up on top of it. But the top of it can fit, uncomfortably, about five people, six people, much like inside the cage, but while the cage itself gave you that boundary, you're having to figure out the space on your own with the chain in the middle.

LAURA: All right.

MATT: So Laudna is on the inside.

LAURA: I'll get in with Laudna.

ASHLEY: I'll get in with the ladies. Because I'm kind of big.

MATT: So the three of you inside.

TALIESIN: You're going to have to go inside, too, because you can't climb.

SAM: I mean, I have a hand.

TALIESIN: Okay, I mean--

SAM: But yeah, I'll try to fit in as well.

LAURA: Oh wait, in the cage?

LIAM: Three individuals.

ASHLEY: You go in, I'll go up top because I'm big.

MATT: So the three of you in there, and the four of you and Gus and Olly all begin to clamber on to the top of it.

ASHLEY: I'm going to do a Mirthful Leap.

MATT: Okay. You leap onto the top.

SAM: Whee!

LAURA: Yay!

MATT: It's going to be a challenge. There's enough room for five people comfortably on top. It'll be between--

LAURA: Oh gosh.

MATT: -- the four of you and Gus and Olly, that's six, which means there's going to be a couple of challenges if you manage to make your way up. You hear the sounds getting louder and louder of the numerous shade creepers.

LAURA: How do we go? I want the elevator to go up.

MATT: That is indeed an interesting question, since it was the automaton and the charmed individual at the top of the shaft, hundreds of feet upward that originally initiated your descent. How do you initiate?

LAURA: We look around. Is there any kind of lever at the bottom down here?

MATT: Make a perception check.

SAM: I will aid in this because I'm a robit.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, definitely do it. Oh no, I rolled bad.

TALIESIN: 20.

LIAM: 23.

SAM: 12.

MATT: Okay. There are no levers.

LAURA: Great.

MARISHA: You said there was--

LIAM: Is there anything?

TALIESIN: There's got to be a way that-- Is there something in the cage?

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: How many feet up?

MATT: You don't see anything in the cage. Oh, hundreds of feet up.

MARISHA: Hundreds.

MATT: It's just a cage and the chain, that's all you got.

ASHLEY: I'm going to start--

SAM: Hundreds?

ASHLEY: -- banging on the chain.

SAM: 120?

ASHLEY: Banging on the chain?

ASHLEY: Yeah, so he can hear. Let us up!

MATT: Okay. Make a strength check as you're banging the chain.

SAM: Is it more than a 120 feet?

MATT: Yes.

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: Is it more than double that? 240 feet?

MATT: A little more than that, yeah.

ASHLEY: Eight.

MATT: Eight, okay. It's fine, it wasn't terribly difficult. You shake the chain and bang on it and as you shake the chain, you hear a-- or feel a (mechanical rumbling).

SAM: Oh, okay, okay!

MATT: It begins to pull up slowly and as it does, you can feel it rocking a little bit as it begins to slowly approach the very choked entry point to this chasm. As you're rocking a bit, side to side, you can hear Olly go, "This is a little uncomfortable." At which point, (thuds) you see--

SAM: Shade creepers!

MATT: Two more shade creepers leap on to the bottom of the cage, (snarls) and begin climbing up the sides of it.

LAURA: Can I use my Witch Bolt?

MATT: Yes, you can, Witch Bolt.

LAURA: Okay, I'm going to Witch Bolt--

SAM: I will fire Sacred Flame.

LAURA: I'm going to Witch Bolt--

MATT: All right, Witch Bolt and Sacred Flame.

LIAM: Burn them!

LAURA: Yeah, with a twinned spell so I can then get two of them with the Witch Bolt.

MATT: You got it. So you cast Witch Bolt against two of them, roll for attack on twice, and then for them, it's Sacred Flame, which is a dexterity save I believe, on their end.

SAM: 14.

MATT: Failed with a natural four.

LAURA: Natural 20!

MATT: Oh shit!

LAURA: And 15.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: 12 radiant.

MATT: 12 radiant, all right. One of them bursts into radiant flames and it looks extremely injured, but it's still climbing the side of the cage. It looks at you through the bars, its black feral eyes glaring at you as its noseless mouth opens with sharp teeth. (growls)

LAURA: So 20 points of damage on one.

MATT: The other one just explodes into flame. The other?

LAURA: Six points of damage on the other.

MATT: Which is enough to finish them. Both of them explode and fall off the cage. But the blast of flames--

SAM: Oh no, the blast!

MATT: I need both of you to make dexterity saving throws.

LAURA: They don't fall off the cage, they just--

MARISHA: Oh fuck.

MATT: They died at the point of impact.

LAURA: Okay, okay, okay, okay.

LIAM: Yeah, they pop.

SAM: Failed.

LAURA: Dexterity saving throw.

MATT: Yep. Fail? You take--

LAURA: Do we have to roll two dexterity saving throws?

MATT: No, just one for each of you, because they're climbing on different sides of the cage that you both are impacting.

LAURA: Okay, that's great.

MATT: Three points of fire damage to you.

LAURA: 20.

MATT: 20? You're fine. As the cage is pulling up, you look down, before the visual of the cavern below vanishes, you see about two dozen or so shade creepers rush up before you hear an odd screeching cry.

MARISHA: Not good.

MATT: They all stop, and slowly begin to retract, and return back into the caverns from whence they came. At which point, you pull up into the shaft with only a few inches of distance between, nothing can give chase, and the rest of you are having to carefully tighten in as the chain is pulling you up through this extremely narrow rock expanse. I need everyone who is on top of the cage to roll a general dexterity saving throw for me, if you don't mind.

TRAVIS: General dex, coming up.

LIAM: I'm so little, though.

SAM: General Dexterity--

TALIESIN: Would I have advantage on this as a barbarian?

SAM: -- reporting for duty! Yeah, I don't know if it's a dodge, I'm not sure.

MATT: It's not a dodge, it's more about trying to find the right space without being pulled into.

TRAVIS: 14.

MATT: 14, okay.

LIAM: Also 14.

ASHLEY: 18.

TALIESIN: Oh, fuck me. One. Which is seven.

MATT: Okay. As a group check, overall, still okay, and Gus and Olly pulled up the anchor on that one, too.

ASHLEY: I'm going to grab them.

MATT: Yeah, you watch as Ashton is trying to hold onto the chain, and something grabs the back of his pants and boot area, and he's about to be elevator smooshed between the two.

MARISHA: Holy fuck.

MATT: Fearne, you reach out and grab the edge of his wrist and pull him away from that, and you all smoosh to the center to keep away from the grinding stone. The cage is still swinging a little bit and (scratches). You see bits of where flint-like stone and the metal cage begin to strike in that slight rocking, causing sparks and flashes in the darkened space between. Right now, there is no light here beyond the sparks. As you've left the glowing red of the chamber, it is now just a black closet space, occasionally marred by the flash of the sparks as it scrapes against the stone. You all hold tight and it begins to pull up, and you feel the shaft shift a bit and (scratches), it sparks and shifts again. Then that quiet, that (clicks).

LIAM: This is fine.

TRAVIS: It's really not so bad. I can see and everything looks fine. It's better without the shade creepers. Oh god, look out! (laughter)

TRAVIS: (giggles)

TALIESIN: I swear I thought you died down there. Really?

TRAVIS: Nope, I'm here.

TALIESIN: Fuck. (laughter)

MATT: The anxiety begins to slowly unwind and dissipate. Eventually, you begin to see light above, the low lantern glow of the top of this portion of the Crownset Mines. Eventually, the cage begins to rise up enough where the chain stops about five feet before the winch that curls it up in through the ceiling, and the rest of you who are on the top begin to crouch low and leap off the right moment to scatter on the sides of it before (bangs) it stops at its final destination. At which point, you can see the automaton stop its position there and come to rest. (creaks) The door is open and you are free to exit the mines.

TRAVIS: Get me out, get me out!

MARISHA: You see Laudna go (bangs).

TRAVIS: Face planted?

TRAVIS: I jumped out on Laudna's back of her head. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Come on, get up.

LAURA: I'm going to help carry Laudna out, put your arm around me.

MARISHA: Thank you.

TALIESIN: Yeah, yeah, come on.

MARISHA: (groans) I look at Olly and Gus and go: Do you fucking trust us now?

MATT: Olly crosses her arms. "Not going to lie, an impressive display of ingenuity back there, and I think we can have some conversations. Not bad. Wouldn't you say so, Gus?" And elbows him in the side. "Yeah, yeah. It's good to know we've got some talented folks here with the right mind and some crazy ideas doing some good in these spaces."

LIAM: What's the game plan with this? (tinks)

MATT: "Well, we'll take this to our employer, and based on what we've seen and what we've discussed, use this to, one, prove that there are negative forces that have been using you and your presence as pawns for some of the recent events out there. Use it to get interested eyes and prying political figures from using you to obfuscate their involvement in some of these things." You begin rolling it down the open, much more utilized, refined, and less cramped mine shafts that lead back out to the Smolder Spire.

LAURA: Are you going to be able to get more help to take that thing out?

MATT: "Oh, we can definitely request it. I think we can-- Well," and then points at the sphere, Based on this strange mutation, get enough of approval to send a number of wardens down there and get this all taken care of."

TRAVIS: If I could make a small request. When you make your report, you can leave out the version where I turned all hairy and was just vibrating sexual energy. You can leave all of that out and just, you know, maybe keep that between us as a token of our newfound trust.

LAURA: Aren't you still a wolf?

TRAVIS: No, I changed back. Thanks for paying attention.

MATT: Make a persuasion check.

TRAVIS: Goddamn it. Natural 20! (laughter)

MATT: As Gus is pushing along the sphere, Olly gives you a look, looks over at Gus and goes, "I don't know what you're talking about. We didn't see anything."

TRAVIS: Dope.

TALIESIN: Once it's all clean down there, we'd really like our rope back if it's still down there.

MATT: "I'll see what I can do, but once again, not our jurisdiction. We're just investigators."

TALIESIN: It was a really nice rope.

MATT: "It was, and a pretty slick maneuver, if I say so myself."

ASHLEY: That was amazing, Orym.

LAURA: That was clutch, Orym. That was really great.

TALIESIN: Still sorry about the rope.

LIAM: That rope is shredded.

LAURA: I don't know, it was magical. A lot of times, those things can last.

TALIESIN: Can take a beating.

LIAM: Can it, though?

TRAVIS: So worth it. Such a cool effect. Great move.

SAM: It w-w-was, yeah.

TALIESIN: It was a great rope.

LAURA: Hey, you know, it's like you lose a coin down a shaft, you lose a really expensive rope down a shaft.

LIAM: Right, I threw away two things.

SAM: No, it was w-w-worth it.

LAURA: Oh no.

ASHLEY: Oh, we should've looked for that down here.

MARISHA: It was a different district, a different hole.

LIAM: It will take a couple of days.

MARISHA: Yes.

LIAM: Go ahead.

TALIESIN: No, go ahead.

LIAM: What's Lady Emoth's--

LAURA: Can you identify things?

LIAM: -- state at the moment?

MATT: Still like that of a trapped feral fox, just like--

LIAM: So no intelligence?

MATT: It is just a feral anger and hasn't yet shown a moment of calmness yet.

TALIESIN: I'm going to walk over and tap on the glass. (taps)

MATT: You're still rolling it along. (growls) (snarls)

TALIESIN: Yeah, she's in there. Cool.

TRAVIS: Hey, Imogen.

LAURA: What?

TRAVIS: Don't you fiddle faddle with people's domes? I mean, she's all trapped.

TALIESIN: Mind reading, do you want to--

TRAVIS: Do you want some space?

LAURA: Actually, let me see how many spells I have. Oh, yeah. Can I cast Detect Thoughts on Lady Emoth?

MATT: You can indeed. The initial wave of thoughts is it's less language and more impassioned, venomous, killing rage. You feel this sense of: They will pay. They will be pieces. We will taste their flesh and they will die. They will be smeared. They will be ash.

LAURA: I'm walking along next to her and I'm going to ask--

ASHLEY: Reese's Pieces.

LAURA: Are you in there, Lady Emoth? I'm going to dive deeper.

MATT: You're going to dive deeper.

TRAVIS: Do we need to give you--

LAURA: No, no, no.

MATT: She fails. As you push through the rage and the bestial fury, you pick up subtler remnants of more human emotional thought, but they are themselves focused on, "Mother. She will be free. She will be out. The night will come and all will join her and we will stop them. They will pay." Then it cycles back into that same feral anger, that vengeful fury.

LAURA: Can I ask: Do you know how long she's been under there?

MATT: Who are you asking?

LAURA: Lady Emoth.

MATT: Lady Emoth?

LAURA: See if anything comes out. How long has she been down there?

MATT: She's still angrily slashing, and then all of a sudden stops and goes (whooshes) right to you within the sphere. Her eyes narrow, causing those large, black, feral, beast-like spheres to become these square slits of darkness. She stares at you, the head turning slightly to the left. In her mind back to you, you hear, "She's been there for some time, but only recently has she evolved."

LAURA: So you are aware. Are you all creature now?

MATT: "I am what I was meant to be. You all absconded without accepting this opportunity, and in time, you will be shown the folly of your choice."

LAURA: In time, your mother will be crushed.

MATT: "Fool." The feral anger and visceral, physical lashing out, Lady Emoth stops and she just sits. Cross-legged in a way that is still unnatural, but her physicality reverts to a slightly more humanoid and familiar form. Almost echoes of how you encountered her at the party the night before. Still a little off, still a little strange.

ASHLEY: I'm going to push the ball.

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: (crashes) Stumble onto her hands and eyes you angrily out of the side of her face.

ASHLEY: Oops.

MATT: (laughs)

TALIESIN: We should head out, I think.

TRAVIS: Do you need help escorting this anywhere, or should we go our separate ways? Giant ball.

MATT: (Gus) "I mean, it's up to you. We're going to go ahead." And Olly's like, “We can take it from here. We still got another at least 45 minutes or so before this vanishes, and by then we'll have the proper authorities ready to receive our prisoner."

TALIESIN: Well, let's make our way up, then.

MARISHA: (muttered) ♪ Makin' our way ♪

ASHLEY: Do you think she has-- Do you think there's any way that we could pull her out of this--? What am I thinking of? What am I trying to say?

LAURA: Her trance?

ASHLEY: Yeah, whatever's-- no?

LAURA: Based on what I just felt within her--

ASHLEY: She's too far gone?

LAURA: She's lost.

LIAM: We'll be curious to learn if you find anything else out, squeeze any more juice out of that fruit.

MATT: (Gus) "I assume we'll be able to maybe find you again at Mr. Eshteross' abode? His estate, I assume?"

MARISHA: I mean, you seem pretty good at finding people no matter where they are.

TALIESIN: We're pretty easy to spot.

MATT: "I mean, we're pretty good at it, but it makes a lot easier if we know where to go directly, you know?"

LAURA: We'll be in and out of Eshteross', yeah.

MATT: "Okay."

MARISHA: We might take a little road trip.

MATT: "Fair enough. We'll make sure the right individuals understand the contributions you've made to our investigation. So that should help. Our employer will be quite pleased both with the outcome of this endeavor based on her alignment--" Looks over at Olly, and Olly gives a nod. "For your own edification, our employer is Mistress Seshadri.

MARISHA: Mistress Issedry?

MATT: Seshadri.

TRAVIS: Seshadri?

LAURA: We did not know she was on the Quorum.

MATT: "She has a particular longstanding-- How do I put it? Disapproval and a healthy disdain for Mr. Armand Treshi. So we've been in her employ for the better part of the past month. A few threads seem to be leading that direction, and I think some of our discussions, some of your encounters and happenings, seem to help clarify a lot of those assumptions. So thank you kindly."

SAM: Wait, is that Orlana Seshadri? No, that's someone else?

MATT: Seshadri.

LAURA: Oh, that is.

MARISHA: Oh, you said Seshadri.

MATT: Seshadri.

MARISHA: We heard Issedry.

LIAM: So one woman.

LAURA: Yeah, Seshadri. Okay, so that's the same lady, Orlana.

LIAM: Seshadri. Seshadri.

LAURA: All right, great, that's great.

ASHLEY: Why does she have a disdain for Armand Treshi?

MATT: "Couldn't tell you the specifics of it, but apparently it was strong enough to pay us very well for our skills and capabilities. We try not to get too involved in the high end politics, but if someone's, you know, breaking the laws to a severe degree and putting innocents at risk, we're not going to stand by and let it go by idly."

LAURA: Do you ever pay your deputies since they helped take care of some of the business for you?

MATT: "We, ah--"

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: Olly goes, "We don't have any official deputies, see? It's just two of us that work as a team."

LAURA: Right, but I mean.

ASHLEY: We did actually talk about that earlier, though.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were going to give us badges.

MATT: "Your help is greatly appreciated, and as a thank you, we are vouching for you and preventing the continued-- how do I put it? Manhunt for individuals possibly, tangentially, or directly related to the unexpected and unapproved demolition of the Moon Tower, involvement with other such illegal, perceived to be illegal activities against the Quorum and members of the Quorum or below and tangential to the Quorum. So yes, I think if there is an exchange here, it is very much an even keel ground based on this social contract."

LAURA: That's exactly the kind of payment I would expect for a deputy.

LIAM: So, you're saying we've been deputized.

ASHLEY: We're honorary Green Seekers?

MARISHA: Would still love a patch if you have it, or a sticker.

MATT: Gus grins and crosses his arms towards her. "I got extra patches at the room."

MARISHA: I knew we'd get patches! I knew it!

ASHLEY: Yes, me too, me too.

TALIESIN: Love a patch.

MATT: (Olly) "We'll have them brought over to Eshteross' estate the next couple days."

LAURA: I'm going to get a sash!

MATT: "Don't tell anyone where you got them."

LAURA: Of course not.

MARISHA: Like a Girl Scout.

LAURA: No, we won't, yeah.

ASHLEY: No, no, no.

MATT: "It's not a thing that happens."

ASHLEY: But won't it say the Green Seekers? So won't they know where they came from?

LAURA: Does it say on it? Will they just say Green Seekers? Does it say on it, or a symbol?

MATT: "Plausible deniability, people can make all sorts of off-brand... Bullshit out there."

LAURA: All right.

MATT: "What was his name? Was it Emeritt Redbublé? Over there in the Hellcatch Valley, making a bunch of bullshit knockoffs."

TRAVIS: (laughs)

SAM: Redbublé?

MATT: "Yes."

ASHLEY: Redbublé. (laughter)

MATT: "So, plausible deniability."

TALIESIN: Writing that down.

ASHLEY: Me too, Redbublé. Emeritt Redbublé.

TRAVIS: By the way--

LAURA: Terrible.

MATT: "That guy's an asshole."

TRAVIS: I don't know how many Green Seekers there are, but is there a captain of the Green Seekers or somebody that we should report to if something happens to you?

MATT: "There are two Green Seekers."

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: "It's us."

TRAVIS: You're the only two?

MATT: "Yes."

TRAVIS: Oh. It's very elite.

LIAM: Wow. Technically, not the only two, though.

TALIESIN: Not anymore.

LAURA: Now, you got quite a few more.

MATT: Olly gives this very stern, dark look to Gus who goes, "Just two, sorry, I don't make the rules. Just the two of us. Deputies are a temporary and appreciated help."

LAURA: Yeah. Thrilled to be part of the team.

LIAM: Seven plus two is nine and it's an auspicious number, is all I'm saying.

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Bad luck.

MATT: "Oh, look, we're near the exit." They-- (laughs)-- push the sphere out into the afternoon light at the base of the Smolder Spire.

TRAVIS: (yelps)

MATT: Going past the various guards that await, curious, but seeing the Green Seekers and knowing to give them a wide berth, they see the orb as it rotates out carrying a somewhat well-known noble of the Mahaan houses here in Jrusar, which draws a lot of attention. Within the first five to 10 minutes of rolling her up the spiraling central street of the Smolder Spire. A crowd begins to gather. You hear whispers, concerned discussion, and gasps and rumors and all sorts of vibrant conversation, and the general hubbub around this. Many folks begin to point out the Green Seekers and point out those that are accompanying these figures as well. The rest of you, though none seem to immediately engage. You definitely caused quite a stir with this action, more publicly than anything you've done previously. What would you like to do? Are you going to splinter off and find your path for the afternoon?

LAURA: I feel like I'd rather not go to the Quorum personally, but it's up to y'all.

TALIESIN: I'm fine going to find a drink and resting. We are pretty fucked up, or some of us are.

TRAVIS: Yes, licking our wounds for a tiddy bit.

TALIESIN: It's been a day.

LIAM: Take a night

MARISHA: Iddy tiddy bit.

LIAM: Then talk to Eshteross about our exit of the city.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MARISHA: Do you want to go find your people that you need to connect with?

LIAM: Yeah.

MARISHA: Is that next?

LIAM: Can it be?

MARISHA: Yes.

TALIESIN: Let's have a quick drink.

LAURA: Yeah, maybe just sit for an hour.

TALIESIN: An hour.

LIAM: Or a night.

MARISHA: I need to fix this, and my arm is like.

LIAM: Oh jeez!

LAURA: Oh, Laudna!

ASHLEY: Oh, dear.

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: Just real, they're not really--

LAURA: I'm going to take off my yellow scarf and wrap it around her arm to try to straighten it out a little bit.

TRAVIS: That doesn't do anything.

LAURA: Well, it's something

MARISHA: You're such a dear.

TRAVIS: It's a scarf.

MARISHA: It keeps people from freaking the fuck out.

LAURA: It's just-- It keeps it from dangling quite so much.

TRAVIS: There's no stopping that with a scarf.

MARISHA: I loop it over my neck, like a little sling.

MATT: Before you splinter off putting this, Olly walks up and reaches into a pouch and pulls out this dried almost bunch of tea leaves and dirt. Smears it into a hand, takes an oil, and surrounds it and goes ahead and, "If you don't mind." Reaches out and rubs it across the forearm area where a lot of the damage is sustained and casting Cure Wounds. You heal 11 hit points.

MARISHA, LAURA, and SAM: Hey!

SAM: That's pretty good.

LAURA: Nice!

ASHLEY: What kind of herbs were those?

MATT: "A special kind."

LIAM: There was 11 of them.

ASHLEY: That's... I don't know what kind that is. That's not very specific.

MATT: "It's hard to describe. If you ever wander in the Oderan Wilds, you want keep an eye out for the the quad leaves that have the little red spots throughout them."

ASHLEY: Oh, I think I've seen those.

MATT: "They're more of a general herbal remedy for long term healing. But for those of you who might be predisposed towards natural magic and healing through that process, they work as a very fine catalyst to it."

LAURA: Nice.

ASHLEY: Excellent. Good to know.

MATT: "I've spent a lot of time wandering these Wilds and figuring out how best to make a deal here."

SAM: Did you ever-- have you ever seen any large, one-eyed creatures out there in the wild? Have you seen any, (stuttering) any one-eyed, one-eyed creatures out there?

TRAVIS: F.C.G., are you okay?

ASHLEY: What's going on?

SAM: I'm fine. Any one-eyed creatures out in the wild?

MATT: "I mean, there's a number of creatures with all sorts of eyes, or lack of eyes. One-eyed creatures? You don't see them too much in the jungles of the Wilds but there are all sort of giantkin offshoots, like cyclopses that roam around some of the higher aspects of the mountains that surround the Wilds. They occasionally do wander deeper in if they're hungry or looking to hunt in case they've missed out on some of the indigenous hunting grounds there. So if you're looking for them, they're dangerous. They're driven, and they generally travel in packs."

SAM: All right.

MATT: "People looking to wander beyond Jrusar, and I don't mean to intrude, but I heard you mention traveling beyond the city. Definitely try and stick to the trails if you can. I'm not saying they're entirely safe either, but they're safer than otherwise."

LAURA: Good to know.

MATT: "Of course, happy to help."

SAM: Thank you. Gus, don't forget to-- Don't forget to go and see-- The-- Your your your ex. Just say hi-- Say hi to your-- to your ex now and then, when you can.

MATT: "I appreciate you working us though a small, tense encounter, and I have to say, for being a chatterbox of an automaton, you got some good insight there for the humanoid condition."

SAM: Well, I hope it works out.

MATT: "Oh, we're not meant for each other."

SAM: No--

MATT: "But I'm glad that we can move forward with a much healthier dynamic."

SAM: As friends.

MATT: "As friends."

MARISHA: He's still in love with you.

MATT: "Olly?" (Olly) "Yeah, yeah. Good cue. All right."

LAURA: I put my hand on F.C.G.'s shoulder.

TALIESIN: Have fun with your gumball. Yeah.

LAURA: Look at me.

MATT: They roll away.

LAURA: Are you all right?

SAM: I don't feel so good.

LAURA: Do you need healing? Are you...

SAM: Maybe, yeah.

TRAVIS: Do you want this?

LAURA: Or...

SAM: I don't think that will fit.

LAURA: I have a bag of sling bullets. I assume they're like little metal BBs.

MATT: Sling bullets are more like small polished stones.

LAURA: Oh, okay, okay. What about caltrops? Are those metal?

MATT: Caltrops are metal, yes.

LAURA: Okay, I'm going to pull out a handful of caltrops.

SAM: Looks a little sharp. (laughter)

LAURA: Will that hurt you on the inside?

SAM: I don't know. Let's find out!

LAURA: Or will they just melt? Well, I don't want to hurt you!

SAM: (eating) I'll eat some caltrops, but I think we need to rest for--

TALIESIN: Yes, we do.

LAURA: Yeah, we need to rest. I just, I've never seen you like this.

LIAM: What Spire are we in?

SAM: Yeah, I don't feel good.

MATT: You're in the Smolder Spire.

SAM: I don't know.

MARISHA: Are you still poisoned?

SAM: I don't know. Am I?

LIAM: No.

MATT: No, the poison's worn off, at this point.

SAM: No.

MARISHA: All right, that's good.

SAM: Oh, wait, I can't--

LIAM: You did a really good job of taking care of us. Thank you, but you can't care for others if you don't care for yourself.

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: You're right, yeah. Let's go--

LAURA: Rest?

SAM: Please, yeah.

LAURA: Okay.

SAM: Yeah.

LIAM: Right. We look after you today.

LAURA: I'm going to keep my hands on his shoulder as we roll, you know.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Home home, or--?

LAURA: We're in the Smolder Spire. We could stop at the Sit and Spin. The Sit and Swill--

ASHLEY: Oh yeah.

LAURA: The Swill and Sip. (laughter)

TALIESIN: The Soot and Swill.

TRAVIS: Leaky Nip. (laughter)

MATT: You can indeed stop by the Sit and Spin.

SAM: Yeah! They should rename it.

MATT: They're going to have to at this point. It's probably colloquially known as this now, going around in certain circles.

LIAM: You run. You dive.

TRAVIS: Sit and Spit.

LIAM: You hit the bump and take a slide!

TALIESIN: Wow, we're really going today, aren't we?

LAURA: Oh my god, yes!

TALIESIN: This is just, this is what the day is, okay.

MARISHA: This is who we are. (laughs)

MATT: All right.

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

MARISHA: Trip down memory lane.

TRAVIS: Me too, yeah.

MATT: A familiar trip back to the Soot and Swill tavern.

LAURA: Soot and Swill.

MATT: You are greeted by Preio Madali, who glances at the rest of your crew. "Hey, hello! Some familiar faces here. How y'all doing?"

TRAVIS: We need drinks! Drinks and food!

LAURA: Drinks and rest, some drinks and chairs.

LIAM: Food?

MATT: "Drinks, easy to do, food's great. We'll get you taken care of. No worries."

TALIESIN: Scrap metal.

MATT: You all sit around. You get some drinks situated. Then, about a 20-minute wait later. (heavy footsteps)

LAURA: No, oh god.

SAM: This is awkward.

MATT: "Oh."

MARISHA: Hello, Pretty.

MATT: "Hello, Laudna. Fearne."

ASHLEY: Hi, Pretty. (laughter)

MATT: "It's very nice of you all to come back."

MARISHA: Of course! We wouldn't stop being your patrons just because you left us standing in the rain.

LAURA: Plus, your food's really good.

MARISHA: So good.

ASHLEY: Your food is very good.

MATT: "I take pride in my work. I hope there's no hard feelings."

LAURA: None at all, Pretty, you are... You're going to do what you're going to do, you know? Live your life. Find your special someone.

TALIESIN: Class act.

MATT: "I appreciate your words of support. Well, I didn't know you were coming. Let me," and he picks up the three meals that he had prepared just for the three of you. The rest of you get the regular meal. "I'll get something special."

LAURA: Oh, that's great.

MATT: Leaves. Comes back a few minutes later, prepares meals that look exactly the same. (laughter) But he sits there and waits.

ASHLEY: What did you make today?

LAURA: Oh, I was just diving right in.

MATT: It's got an orange twist to it, a citrusy twist.

TRAVIS: A zest! (laughs)

LAURA: Oh, like an orange gravy, that's interesting, you know?

MATT: "I added... orange."

MARISHA: My goodness, they're in season right now, too.

ASHLEY: Oh yeah,

LIAM: There's half an orange in it.

LAURA: Oh yeah, there it is.

ASHLEY: What's the meat?

TALIESIN: You know what rhymes with orange?

MATT: "I don't know."

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: Me neither, I don't know.

MATT: "But it's nice and good meat."

ASHLEY: It's very tasty.

TRAVIS: (laughs) You're killing me.

LAURA: Thank you so much, Pretty.

MARISHA: How is that book you've been reading?

MATT: "It's good. I think it's... I say this with respect, a little derivative. Genre work can be middling at best."

MARISHA: Tropey, yeah.

MATT: "I think maybe it's designed for a younger age bracket."

MARISHA: Oh goodness!

MATT: "But I'm enjoying it overall."

ASHLEY: Like a YA situation or younger than that?

LAURA: There's this book that I was recently reading, New World Searchers.

SAM: New World Searchers, yeah.

LAURA: You should check it out.

MATT: "I haven't heard of that."

LAURA: Yeah, well. If you see it, pick it up.

MATT: "Sounds... Curious. Anyway, I've got to get back to the kitchen. Lovely to see you all again."

MARISHA: So good to see you.

MATT: He awkwardly turns around and returns to the kitchen.

TRAVIS: Bless him.

SAM: Are you ladies all right? I mean...

MARISHA: So good. So good.

ASHLEY: Yes.

SAM: Your hearts are intact?

ASHLEY: Well, they'll just have to mend over time, you know.

LAURA: I'm good.

SAM: Yeah?

MARISHA: I think it's less about, you know, feeling heartbroken about someone we cared about and more that he was the one to dump us. You know?

SAM: That hurts, yeah.

MARISHA: Yes.

LAURA: Yeah, you know when it's like, usually when you're in a group, you're more attractive. You know what I mean? So it was hard that it was all three of us that was not enough.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it really felt like a bit of a blow.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Well, that's unfortunate. Are you going to eat that?

MARISHA: (aggressively) Yes!

TRAVIS: Oh. (laughter)

TRAVIS: God. Save the plate for F.C.G.

MARISHA: All right. (laughter)

MATT: Meals and drinks consumed, the soreness of the day catching up to you as the sun brings itself to a setting. Are you looking to rest for the night or are you looking to achieve anything else before the...

TRAVIS: Sure.

LAURA: We could probably rest until the morning?

LIAM: I think so, I'm a little worried about Grass over here.

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: My head's just spinning around and round. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MARISHA: How are you feeling? Let me, let me-- You feel very cold.

SAM: Let me feel you. Yep, icy.

MARISHA: Yes. So we're good, we're great.

SAM: Yeah, about the same.

MARISHA: Not running a fever.

SAM: That would be very scary.

MARISHA: That would be weird. Yes.

MATT: Are you getting two rooms, three rooms, one room? What are you getting for the evening?

TRAVIS: I'm getting my own room.

MATT: Okay, it's five silver.

TRAVIS: I might have company.

TALIESIN: No, you won't.

ASHLEY: Oh, wow.

LAURA: Well.

TALIESIN: Unless you've hired a nurse to make sure you don't die in the middle of the night. (laughter)

MARISHA: Oh my god!

LIAM: (elderly voice) Well, it depends. Depends.

TALIESIN: I liked it. I liked it.

MATT: Five silver for your own room.

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: The rest of you?

LAURA: Two rooms, probably? That'll be enough.

MATT: Okay. It's one gold for both rooms, five silver each for those who wish to pay for it.

ASHLEY: I'll get it.

TALIESIN: Oh, great.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Orym, you can snuggle up between us if you want, if it'll make the separation from Dorian feel better.

LIAM: Oh.

MARISHA: I know you like a good cuddle buddy.

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: I don't want to impose.

MARISHA: No! You're so tiny.

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: Okay.

MARISHA: You're like a little dog at the foot of the bed.

LIAM: Your elbows look really sharp. Can I lay next to her?

MARISHA: Yes. It might also be because of the compound fracture.

LIAM: I slowly push a bone back in.

MARISHA: Oh, thank you.

ASHLEY: (gasps) I have an idea. I have an idea. I'm going to take out the Sending Stone. Is that what it's called? Let's leave him a message. Should we leave Dorian a message?

LAURA: Oh, sure, yeah.

MARISHA: I'd love that.

LIAM: He might talk right back at you.

LAURA: It immediately contacts him. That's even more fun.

MARISHA: What do you want to say?

ASHLEY: Just make sure he got there safely.

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah? Hey, it's me, Fearne, and Orym and... Oh shit. Imogen and Laudna.

LIAM: Skip the names, skip the names!

MARISHA: Hello!

LIAM: Go to the message.

ASHLEY: We're just seeing if you got there safely and... Just... How many more is it?

TRAVIS: Two.

MATT: 25 words, right?

SAM: What are you up to?

MATT: Seven more.

LAURA: You've got seven more.

SAM: Seven more.

ASHLEY: Do you guys want to say anything?

LAURA: Just letting you know that we--

LAURA and LIAM: Miss you!

MATT: Yeah, immediately you hear, "Oh, hi. We just left." (laughter)

MATT: "Still in the air. Probably a week. So, thanks!" (laughs)

ASHLEY: You're welcome.

LAURA: It's so fun! It's so fun. It's like walkie-talkies.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LIAM: What's--?

LAURA: I don't know. I don't know what I just said. (laughter)

MATT: They've been gone for 16 hours.

LAURA: Yeah, they left this morning.

TALIESIN: They've barely got through customs at this point.

LAURA: This morning!

MATT: Yeah. Pre-dawn, this day.

LIAM: What else is FaceTime for?

ASHLEY: Well, we just got to make sure.

TRAVIS: Silence the notifications on the sending stone.

MATT: Indeed. Well, as you finish your meals, sore.

MARISHA: Put it in skyship mode?

MATT: Accomplished for the day's dangers and managing to build a little bit of a rapport beyond just your one noble patron within the city of Jrusar. Two of the finest investigators across this side of Marquet. You can head back to your rooms and any sort of discussions for the evening take you, any sort of... Anything you wish to do?

TRAVIS: Hey, Fearne!

ASHLEY: Yeah?

TRAVIS: Listen.

ASHLEY: Oh, you wanted me to come to your room?

TRAVIS: I'm just saying, I don't know how long we're going to act like this isn't going to happen. (laughter)

TRAVIS: But if you feel the call of the wolf, baby, just give in.

ASHLEY: All you need to do is howl at 3:00am and I'll be there.

TRAVIS: 3:00am?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: On the dot?

ASHLEY: On the dot. Any earlier, any later, Fearne is not coming to your room.

TRAVIS: Do you have a timekeeping device?

LAURA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: You-you? Oh god. The pressure.

ASHLEY: I've got everything in here.

TRAVIS: All right, because I put a lot of money down on this room, and you know, I-I'll, 3:00am! See you then.

ASHLEY: All right.

TRAVIS: I give my best saunter off and I wrap myself around the door and I pop my head back out. (laughter)

LAURA: Blow your eyebrows.

TRAVIS: Well, yeah, and the ear hair, too. It's all one. (laughter)

MATT: The light snowfall of flakes that emerge.

TRAVIS: It's very healthy.

ASHLEY: Look at all that keratin.

MATT: Some scalp issues, it's just embracing.

TRAVIS: I rush to the window. I look at the moon in the sky and try and figure out...

MATT: Make a survival check.

TRAVIS: What? (laughs)

SAM: Come on, natural one.

MATT: Survival or nature, your choice.

TRAVIS: Nature is better by one, 16.

SAM: Oh! Pretty good.

MATT: 16.

TRAVIS: Nope, 17.

SAM: Oh!

MATT: 17. Should the conversation be honest, you might have a decent chance to wait till 3:00am. How hurt are you?

TRAVIS: How what?

MATT: How hurt are you?

SAM: How hard are you?

MATT: How hurt! No! How hurt! How hurt! Hurt! (laughter)

TRAVIS: Nine hit points.

SAM: How hard are you right now? On a scale of spruce to oak?

MARISHA: You know Chetney stays hard.

TRAVIS: Got to be ready. Ready at any moment!

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

MATT: I hate you all so much. (laughter)

TRAVIS: No, I have nine hit points.

MATT: Okay, you're not terrible. You're not good, but you're not terrible, okay. Well. Anything else you wish to handle, discuss, look over?

LIAM: Yeah, I'll go to their room before bed. I'm going to sit down right in front of you. Does he do this all the time? Does he quietly suffer?

TALIESIN: This is weird.

MARISHA: Quietly suffer.

TALIESIN: Nothing they do is quiet. Ever.

SAM: If it makes you feel any better, I'm not, I don't feel pain or anything. I just can't. My-my-my processing. I keep thinking about the, what is it called? Starlight? Stardew, Starbright Academy?

LIAM: Starlight Express.

SAM: Starlight Academy thing.

TRAVIS: Starpoint.

LIAM: Starpoint.

SAM: Starpoint Academy.

LAURA: Starpoint Conservatory.

SAM: Conservatory.

MARISHA: (exaggerated) Conservatory.

SAM: I keep thinking about that and how we should really go there. Then every time, I'm thinking about the Nobodies and Ashton's group and how need to find them immediately.

TALIESIN: Don't think about my old friends more than I do. That's not healthy.

SAM: But at the same time, we have to get, we have to rendezvous with your people as well.

LIAM: We'll get there, but--

LAURA: (knocks) Hello?

LAURA: Are you guys doing stuff or can I come in?

TALIESIN: Yes and yes.

LIAM: Sure.

SAM: Well, how hard are you? (laughter)

LAURA: Pretty hard, F.C.G.

LIAM: Robot hard, or--?

LAURA: Am I interrupting? What are you guys talking about? This is important.

MATT: Rocks fall. Everyone dies. (laughter)

LIAM: We're having a little bit of an intervention here.

SAM: Intervention?

LIAM: Just a little bit.

SAM: That's what this is?

LIAM: Well, it feels a little bit like you're, this is not a one-way street, okay? Your contributions are so appreciated, but I see you worrying about everybody else. You're not the only caregiver in this group, and I want you to start caring about yourself a bit more. I was worried you weren't going to get out of there.

SAM: I appreciate that so much, Orym. That's so kind of you. But honestly, y'all have a lot of stuff to worry about, and we need to make sure that it gets taken care of.

TALIESIN: There will always be stuff to worry about. It doesn't go away.

LIAM: That's life.

SAM: It could. It could go away.

TALIESIN: No!

LIAM: Not really.

SAM: I mean, I spoke with Gus and his ex for just a few moments and I feel like they made some progress in their relationship.

LAURA: You really helped them, you did.

SAM: I feel like if I could speak with some of you that way and really dig in to your own issues, we might be able to do some similar progress.

LIAM: Fresh Cut Grass. Two-way street.

SAM: Okay.

LIAM: Don't push us out. All right?

SAM: All right. I won't. I don't know what-- I don't know what I can-- I don't... What do you want to know from me? I mean--

LIAM: So much.

LAURA: Don't push too hard.

LIAM: Yeah, I know.

LAURA: I'm going to say in his head: Seriously, I don't think he's quite ready to give it up, if you know what I mean. That sounded really... (laughter)

LIAM: Well, I've never been with an automaton before.

LAURA: In your head, you hear me stumbling over my own words. That's not what, I didn't mean it like that.

LIAM: All you hear is: Weird.

LAURA: Okay.

TALIESIN: Hey. Just shut down for a little while. Take some time and remember, that anything worth doing, anything really, really complicated should not be done quickly. Step by step. Don't rush it.

LAURA: ♪ Day by day ♪

TALIESIN: You had a good day.

SAM: It's good advice.

LIAM: Save 15 or 20% for yourself. Okay?

SAM: This is all-- Thank you, I appreciate it.

LAURA: Are you feeling better after a bit of a rest?

SAM: I'm really not. No.

LAURA: Did we take a long rest while we were sitting down?

SAM: Did we take a long rest?

LAURA: Yeah, a short rest.

SAM: Short rest?

LAURA: We would've taken a short rest.

MATT: You would've taken a short rest, yes.

SAM: I am still not feeling that great, so I think a stasis would help actually, yes.

LAURA: Okay, great.

SAM: Yeah.

LAURA: I'm not even going to bother about this thing.

SAM: What is it?

LAURA: Don't worry about it.

TALIESIN: They love other people's problems, please. Actually, it's great.

LAURA: Really?

TALIESIN: Oh yeah.

LAURA: Well, it's just that I stole this.

SAM: Oh.

LAURA: I didn't know if, it's a stone--

SAM: What it is

LAURA: -- that I got from the Shade Mother's lair.

SAM: Would like me to tell you what it is?

LAURA: You said you could, but I don't--

SAM: Of course! Yeah. I'll take it and hold it. I have a lens that pops down when I go to Identify something and it gets stuck.

LAURA: Oh no, don't!

TALIESIN: I get a tack. No, no, no, no, this happens all the time.

SAM: It goes back up.

TALIESIN: Really?

SAM: I can't, I can't.

LAURA: Yeah, don't worry about it.

TALIESIN: Later, later.

LAURA: You know maybe we should take them to see Milo before we leave town.

TALIESIN: We could do that. Yeah, we'll hit up Milo. And hey! First intervention, I'm very proud of you. Isn't that exciting? I know you've always wanted one.

SAM: They're not wrong. I do enjoy a good intervention. Usually I'm on the giving end.

TALIESIN: You got to see the whole thing, though.

LIAM: Is what I'm saying.

TALIESIN: I'll be right back.

SAM: Be right back, where are you-- Oh.

LAURA: Did the caltrops make it worse? Is that what happened?

SAM: I don't think so. I think they're slowly dissolving.

LAURA: All right.

LIAM: Spicy.

MATT: Make a constitution saving throw.

LAURA: Oh no!

TALIESIN: Yeah!

SAM: Nine.

MARISHA: Nein!

MATT: Plus?

SAM: Two. No, four, so 13.

MATT: Yeah, you're fine.

SAM: Okay, good.

MATT: Little spicy, but you're fine.

SAM: Okay.

LAURA: It's going to burn on the way out.

SAM: Burp!

TALIESIN: I'm going to run and talk to Laudna since everyone else is busy with this shit.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: (knocks) Hey.

MARISHA: What?

SAM: Jesus.

MARISHA: Yes, what?

TALIESIN: I'm feeling a little sentimental. So just wanted to put out there. I don't know if you even need this but it seemed like you had a rough day today. You seemed like you had a rough day today.

MARISHA: Everyone has a rough day, it happens. What? Why, what? What are we getting at? Trying to rub it in my face?

TALIESIN: No, no. I was just thinking about some other rough days and...

MARISHA: Oh my god.

TALIESIN: Oh no, for fuck's sakes.

MARISHA: Are you trying to commiserate? No, what?

TALIESIN: I'm trying, hmm. I was going to maybe see if you wanted some, you know. I don't want to even say advice, but, you know. Lessons learned that I've had through my shit, I don't know. I've had some bad days.

MARISHA: I wouldn't deny it. Mainly because I'm curious.

TALIESIN: There's always a lesson to be learned.

MARISHA: All right.

TALIESIN: I feel like it's one of my favorite lessons today, which is sometimes there's no lesson to be learned. Sometimes shit's just fucked up, and the only thing you can do because you didn't do anything fucking wrong, is get the fuck back up and do the exact same thing all over again knowing that there was nothing to learn.

MARISHA: I feel oddly comforted and it disturbs me.

TALIESIN: Thank you.

MARISHA: That was good advice.

TALIESIN: Thank you.

MARISHA: For pretty much no fucking advice. (giggling)

TALIESIN: Honestly, I feel like that's kind of my brand.

MARISHA: All right. I felt a little out of sorts here lately. I don't know if it's something fucked up in my head, or I'm a little off my game, I don't know.

TALIESIN: Yeah. Well.

MARISHA: Is there anything I can do for you, Ashton? I'm desperately wanting to be helpful.

TALIESIN: Oh, I understand.

MARISHA: Useful, have a purpose.

TALIESIN: I think the answer is yes. I don't know what it is yet. I... I don't know. This group feels different. It's been a while.

ALL: ♪ It's been a while ♪

TALIESIN: Thank you, go ahead. (giggling)

TALIESIN: It's been a long time since, I don't know. You're new here. This city, this place.

MARISHA: Yes.

TALIESIN: Not a lot of people get the fuck out of where I am. If that makes sense. You do the sorts of things I do for a while until you can't or until shit goes wrong. The people who have gotten out, the people who've really done it, made something of themselves, they're not smartest people I know. They're not the most talented people I know. Sometimes they're hard workers, but not the hardest workers I know. It's the luck of finding the right people. The luck of finding the right situation. And, I don't know, I haven't said yes to a lot of stuff in a while and this group has made me want to say yes to things, and that's the only way to ever get the fuck out of this kind of place.

MARISHA: I never understood that. People who felt bound to not leave the places that they were confined to. I don't know. I guess I seemed to do it okay. I just walked out of the city. You have two feet, two legs, whatever. You've got means to leave. It's a little strange, I think, that people put so much value in feeling like if they walk out of the city limits that certain doom will encroach them. From my experience, sometimes staying put ensures certain doom far more than leaving.

TALIESIN: You are not wrong. Sometimes you just don't want to find out that the problem isn't the city, and maybe the problem's you.

MARISHA: Hmm. Are you excited to leave this place, then? Seems like that's what's going to happen.

TALIESIN: No, I'm terrified. But I am excited to be leaving with people, which feels gross.

MARISHA: Well. Maybe we can learn something about ourselves together.

TALIESIN: I really enjoy you. It's really a pleasure.

MARISHA: Clink! But it's with Pâté.

TALIESIN: I was going to say, I was going to go down for Pâté, anyway, for that.

TRAVIS: (howls) You hear. (runs) Did I miss it?! (laughter)

TRAVIS: What time is it? Is it, wait, no.

TALIESIN: Three gold if you go out and do the thing right now.

TRAVIS: I just back back into the hallway. Go back to my room.

MARISHA: Laudna takes three gold and then runs out doing the thing. (screams) Fuck. Fuck you!

TALIESIN: Night!

MARISHA: Good night.

ASHLEY: That was a great conversation. (laughter)

ASHLEY: I'm going to go across the way to where Orym and F.C.G. are.

MATT: Are you returning to?

ASHLEY: And Imogen.

LAURA: No, I'm still over there.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I'm going to keep an eye on F.C.G., I feel bad.

TALIESIN: Three gold.

LIAM: We're across the hall from each other.

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: Yeah. (knocks)

LAURA: Although, I guess if Ashton comes back, then Laudna's all alone.

MATT: Okay. Ashton goes back, so.

ASHLEY: How are you feeling?

SAM: I'm probably okay.

ASHLEY: Are you going to go into stasis mode?

SAM: I am. Very soon.

LAURA: Laudna.

ASHLEY: Oh.

LAURA: Come over, join us. Join us.

MARISHA: (knocks) (laughter)

MARISHA: I heard there was a party happening, a hotel party.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it's happening here. So, what happens? How long are you in stasis mode?

SAM: You know, for the night, like you all.

ASHLEY: You go into stasis mode every night?

SAM: Yeah, I usually do it when you all go to sleep. I shut down for a while and pop back up around the same time you all do.

LIAM: Is stasis like sleep?

SAM: I don't know, I've never slept. What's sleep like? Y'all have talked about dreams, especially you.

LIAM: Well, it can be different on different nights, right? Sometimes you don't remember anything, it's just like a bip of time goes by, but sometimes you have stories happen.

LAURA: Sometimes you wake up five times because you got to piss. It's so annoying.

LIAM: Five times because you have to piss?

LAURA: I mean, you know, if you had a lot of water.

LIAM: How much do you drink before you go to bed?

LAURA: It's really good to drink water before bed.

SAM: You should drink--

LIAM: Cut it off an hour.

SAM: -- a glass every two hours, yeah.

LAURA: Yeah. Yeah. The night is very hydrating, you know? You should have water in your system.

SAM: I tried to dream--

LIAM: How much water you got in your system?

SAM: -- a little bit, but it didn't work. I did for--

MARISHA: Six ounces. Sorry, keep going.

SAM: When I was that turtle briefly, I tried to go to sleep to see what that would be like. But there was still a lot of action going on, so I couldn't really fall asleep.

TALIESIN: You know, that might be something to play with a little later. We could try some transmogrification and then try and sleep for a while. That could be fun.

LIAM: This is really curious, do you sleep?

MARISHA: Huh? Yes, of course.

LIAM: Just regular old sleep?

TALIESIN: Sleep of the dead!

MARISHA: I'm pretty sure, yeah.

LAURA: It is kind of creepy when she sleeps, like.

SAM: Does she sleep upside down or something?

LAURA: No, she just-- When she's out, she looks like she's fucking dead in bed.

MARISHA: Sometimes I fall asleep with my eyes open.

LAURA: Yeah. That took some getting used to, for sure.

TALIESIN: That's great.

LIAM: Do you ever have nightmares? Are they full of sunshine?

MARISHA: Oh, nightmares are just fun dreams. They're inspiration, right? I've pulled many of my, you know, tactics from nightmares that I've had. They keep you on your toes.

SAM: So it's research time.

MARISHA: Yes.

SAM: Tax-deductible.

MARISHA: 100%.

SAM: Cool.

TALIESIN: I have crazy weird dreams sometimes. I've actually been told sometimes this will pop off at night and I'll see crazy shit.

ASHLEY: What do you mean?

TALIESIN: It's just crazy shit.

LIAM: Like light up?

TALIESIN: Yeah, every now and--

SAM: Pop off? Does it fall off?

TALIESIN: No, it just starts sparking every now and then.

ASHLEY: (gasps)

LIAM: I kind of want to see.

MARISHA: Me, too.

ASHLEY: Can you sleep with us so we can watch it? (laughs)

TALIESIN: Well, then, how will you sleep?

ASHLEY: Well, I just-- If I have to get up to piss, I'll go over and look at your head. (laughter)

LIAM: Start pouring her a glass of water.

SAM: Comforting thought.

LAURA: Oh, you know what, you might be getting up at 3:00am anyway.

ASHLEY: That's true, I just heard Chetney--

LIAM: For what?

ASHLEY: -- howling about 20 minutes ago, but it's only been 20 minutes since we've been upstairs, so I don't know if he's going to get the time right.

LIAM: It's going to be hard to sync up with people.

SAM: Are you going to be romantic with Mr. Pock O'Pea?

ASHLEY: Well, if I'm awake at 3:00am and I hear him howling.

MARISHA: Is that like a rule, or like an unspoken contract?

SAM: You're just a woman of your word.

ASHLEY: No, I just-- I thought it would be funny. (laughter)

SAM: I feel like most of his girlfriends, that's their motivation.

ASHLEY: Probably.

LAURA: I don't know, he seems pretty strong.

ASHLEY: He does, I think he's very strong.

LIAM: That dude looks like he does a lot of pushups.

LAURA: Yeah, he stripped down in front of us all. He's shredded. Especially for someone who's 400 years old.

LIAM: He's a ropey old feller.

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Everybody's into something.

LAURA: That's right.

LIAM: I mean, it's not unattractive.

LAURA: You know what, Fearne, he's really good with his hands, apparently.

ASHLEY: That's true. I mean, at 400, he must've learned some things.

MARISHA: So much of that detail work. Did you see that ship he carved? Could you imagine what else he could carve?

TALIESIN: That's the sort of hobby of someone who's either very popular or very lonely.

LIAM: Boy, "carve" is not the word I want to think about.

TALIESIN: Thank you.

ASHLEY: I hope he's not lonely.

TALIESIN: I hope he's still breathing.

MARISHA: They don't call it wood chiseling for nothing.

LAURA: Why don't you just go and see if he's okay right now?

ASHLEY: Okay. (knocks)

TRAVIS: Yeah? Oh shit! (howls) (laughter) (howling)

ASHLEY: No, no, no, no, it's not time. I was just making sure you were breathing because someone made a comment that you might be dead.

TRAVIS: Oh no, I'm very virile. It's not 3:00am yet?

ASHLEY: It's not. I think it's only been like 30 minutes since we came upstairs.

TRAVIS: God, it feels like it's been hours. Do you have any water? (laughter)

ASHLEY: Yeah, I can get you some water. Do you need anything else?

TRAVIS: Water would be great, water would be great.

ASHLEY: I think there's some water over here. Here you go.

TRAVIS: I'll be keeping it warm for you. Just let me, let me know. No, I'll keep an eye on the sky. I should go and set up a wake up call, and I just walk out of the room, go downstairs, to the bar. (laughter)

TALIESIN: I'm really sure they don't do that.

TRAVIS: It's just drawers. I've got nothing but me undies on. (laughter)

LAURA: I'm just picturing MeUndies with little wolves all over it.

MATT: Yep, oh yeah. (laughter)

TALIESIN: It's triple wolf all the way down pattern.

MATT: Oh my goodness. Okay, all right. You head downstairs, you see Preio there, serving drinks, in the late point of the evening before their shift is done.

TRAVIS: I'm sorry, do you do wake up calls in this establishment? It's a very early thing.

MATT: "It's an extra gold, but yeah."

TRAVIS: A gold?!

MATT: "Yeah."

TRAVIS: A gold!

MATT: "No, we don't do wake up calls, but if you pay me a fucking gold, I'll wake you up."

TRAVIS: I have to wake up at 3:00am. (laughter)

MATT: "We don't do them at 3:00am."

TRAVIS: Ah, shit, how about for a platinum?

TALIESIN: I am watching this from around the corner.

MATT: "We can do that."

TRAVIS: No, no, I was just testing you. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Have a good night. (laughter)

LAURA: ♪ I would do anything ♪

ALL: ♪ For love ♪

LIAM: ♪ But I won't do plat ♪ (laughter)

MATT: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: I walk back to the hallway scratching my butt cheek under the MeUndies. See you soon.

ASHLEY: Not if I see you first. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

ASHLEY: (howls)

TRAVIS: She knows the alpha when she sees it.

MATT: That's not a thing.

ASHLEY: That's true. (laughter)

MATT: Okay.

SAM: That's a dangerous game of chicken, you two.

MATT: I know, this is great, this is great.

ASHLEY: Hoo boy!

SAM: How far is it going to go? Fearne's pregnant!

LIAM: Yeah, I'll go. Will you go? Yeah, I'll go. Will you go?

MATT: The soreness of muscles instilling themselves, the mysteries of objects acquired in subterranean spaces, the social duel of who blinks first. (laughter)

MATT: What else would you like to achieve before the evening comes to a close?

LAURA: I think I'll just pull the stone out and take a look at it, see if I can, I don't know, I guess I need to identify it.

MATT: You can make an arcana check, if you'd like.

LAURA: Oh yeah, okay, I'll do that. Okay, good.

SAM: Big rolls, big rolls!

LAURA: Natural 20!

MATT: Natural 20. You take a moment and focus on it and you concentrate, and in a way that sometimes you're scared to do, you let that wandering grasp of your mind begin to peer beyond that comfort zone a bit, and connect with whatever odd arcane power seems to reside within the stone, the low, dull, thrumming pulse of that purple light that is just faintly visible when you hold it in darkness and concentrate long enough. You feel your essence drawn into it slightly. It's almost like a sour taste fills your mouth. There's something about it that seems to, seems to not want to let go. It's hard to describe. Something unnatural that wants to sit near you. That wants to-- Wants to take you and make you something better. That's as best as you can make it, from this connection, something odd, something dark, something twisted and that's the nature you can ascertain from this based on the natural 20 on an arcana check.

LAURA: Okay.

TALIESIN: That's some Time Bandit shit right there.

TRAVIS: It's a big-ass pop rock.

ASHLEY: Did you see anything?

LAURA: Just some real weird feelings from it. It was like-- it felt like I was trying to give myself over to this thing, I don't know, I guess it is kind of strange that the Shade Mother was wrapped around it.

ASHLEY: Maybe you should give yourself to it.

LAURA: I wonder if--

MARISHA: Fearne! No!

ASHLEY: No, I was just saying to see what would come out and what would happen--

LAURA: What if this turned--

ASHLEY: Don't do that, don't do that!

LAURA: What if this is what made the Shade Mother become extra, I don't know...

MARISHA: Extra?

LAURA: Yeah. I mean, it's pretty small, but... I should have F.C.G. look at it in the morning, when he feels a little better.

MARISHA: When you mentioned that Lady Emoth said that she evolved?

MARISHA: Yeah.

LAURA: Oh, I wonder if this is one of the things that turned people?

MARISHA: I don't know.

LAURA: Maybe this will keep the Shade Mother from turning anybody else.

MARISHA: It's strange that they're all, like... It's all very fey-themed. They're all very fey. Like the Nightmare King was fey in origin and shade creepers, I don't know.

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LAURA: Are we safe here? Do you think the shade creepers could get in here?

MARISHA: Feels like they could get anywhere.

ASHLEY: I'm going to look for some holes in the room.

MATT: Okay, make an investigation check, if you'd like.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: Can you guide yourself?

ASHLEY: I don't think that'll help. I rolled a three.

MATT: You give a pretty thorough pass of the chamber that you're staying in.

ASHLEY: Oh, I have minus one for investigation, I don't know why I rolled.

MATT: You kick the baseboards a bit, it's pretty solid.

ASHLEY: Yeah, there's no-- We're totally safe in here.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: The stone sits there, pulsing ever so faintly in the darkness.

LIAM: You know, I'm really grateful you guys asked me, invited me to sleep in your room, but are you guys actually going to go to bed or what?

LAURA: Oh yeah.

MARISHA: Well... We're going to play Truth or Dare for the next 45 minutes, and then maybe, Light as a Feather, Stiff as Board.

LAURA: Yeah, Laudna like to play that a lot.

MARISHA: Love Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board.

ASHLEY: Should we cover that with a blanket or something?

MARISHA: I think so.

LAURA: I'm a little concerned.

MARISHA: Yeah!

LAURA: What if it's calling to them right now?

LIAM: Are there any holes in this room?

MATT: Holes? Make an investigation check. What are you grabbing?

MARISHA: A pillow.

SAM: You going to smother it?

MARISHA: Go to sleep, go to sleep.

LAURA and MARISHA: (shushing)

MATT: There is something oddly, I wouldn't say familiar, but just faintly alluring about its want to you.

MARISHA: He keeps saying that; what does that mean?

MARISHA: Like to me, too, you're saying that to me?

MATT: To you, yeah.

LAURA: It's a spell, that's why you can't do that.

SAM: It's not a s-- It is a spell, but yeah, I did it once already today.

LAURA: Oh, okay, okay, okay.

MARISHA: Got fucking missiles all over the fucking-- I cover it with a pillow.

TRAVIS: Check your notes.

MATT: You cover it with a pillow, okay.

LAURA: Oddly familiar?

MARISHA: Yeah, he said it to me, too.

MATT: Well, to you, yeah.

MARISHA: You said that to her, too.

MATT: Earlier, yeah, but this is--

MARISHA: And to me. Right, right, right. Let me just think.

ASHLEY: Did you touch it, or just being near it?

MARISHA: I didn't touch it.

LAURA: I don't know what it would be.

MATT: You're the only one who's touched it.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: There's some kind of--

MARISHA: Familiar. But it's not brumestone?

MATT: Doesn't appear to be brumestone, at least not any that you've seen or studied.

SAM: We'll figure it out tomorrow.

LAURA: Yeah, what if we get attacked tonight?

MARISHA: It's purplish in color.

MATT: Yeah.

MARISHA: Do you fucking know something, you fucking-- Goddamn Travis.

TRAVIS: (snoring)

LAURA: Do you know something?

MARISHA: I don't know.

TRAVIS: I got to save up my strength.

MATT: All right. Anything else, or has the evening come to a close?

LAURA: I guess it's going to come to a close, yeah, we're going to go to sleep.

LIAM: I got 23 on perception just to see if Fearne missed holes into this room.

MATT: Okay, glancing through, checking pretty thoroughly, you get the sense that this chamber does not particularly contain any sort of unnatural or unseen ingresses.

LIAM: Okay, good, it's clear.

ASHLEY: You didn't trust me?

LIAM: No.

ASHLEY: That's probably smart.

MATT: All right. Everyone going to sleep?

ALL: (agreeing)

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: I will--

LAURA: Okay, okay, okay, one last thing.

MATT: Okay, what's one last thing?

LAURA: I want say I'm sorry. I want to just go into-- It's just a room with me, Laudna, and Fearne in it, right?

MATT: You, and Laudna, and Fearne, and Orym, who you invited to come stay with you.

LAURA: Yes, all right.

TRAVIS: What are you doing?

LAURA: Um. I'm just going to go into a corner, and sit with the stone in front of me, and I'm just going to try to open up my mind to it. Take my mind shield down and like--

MARISHA: ♪ I don't want to have to kill you ♪

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I have to-- Okay.

MATT: You close your eyes, and you just let your consciousness expand a bit towards this strange stone. Go ahead and roll a d20 and add your charisma modifier for me, if you don't mind.

MARISHA: Uh-oh.

SAM: That's normal.

LAURA: A nine.

MATT: A nine, okay. You feel yourself being drawn towards it. That odd familiarity begins to catch your mind a bit. You remember being the one that was the closest to where this was found, the device, the structure, the design of it, it was familiar. It felt... Like other contraptions you had encountered somewhat recently within a dark laboratory. You see flashes of those same long ears and those dark, black-green eyes of the Nightmare King. You sense strange, twisting, fey magic within this. Uncertain if it's ancient or fresh, constructed or recovered. But there's something about it that just takes and changes, transmutative. Better, different? Alluring, warm. Comforting, welcoming. And slowly, you drift into sleep.

LAURA: Uh-oh.

MATT: Cradling it to you. Losing yourself to the warmth and the draw. And that's where we're going to end this episode.

ASHLEY: Oh no!

SAM: (warning sirens)

TRAVIS: You couldn't just sleep.

SAM: Just 'til tomorrow morning, then I could've looked at it!

MARISHA: The Nightmare King was experimenting with some sort of purple stone, right?

MATT: Blue stone, when you encountered him...

MARISHA: When I encountered him?

ASHLEY: But it has that feeling?

LIAM: It was connected into machinery.

MATT: Yeah. The designs of the contraption that was based from that blue stone had a very similar architecture and the shape and design in some ways to what you saw around them.

SAM: Oh boysie.

TALIESIN: You want more Nightmare Kings? This is how you get a Nightmare Queen, well done, well done. We're all going to be fine now. Thank you.

MATT: We'll pick up from there and possibly 3:00am next time.

SAM: Oh!

MATT: Unless you want to pick that up, just a little epilogue here?

LIAM: They need more time, though.

TRAVIS: Chetney fucking slept through.

MARISHA: Yeah, fell asleep. There was no way.

TRAVIS: Dead-ass 400-year-old tired.

MATT: That's exactly what I was hoping for.

ASHLEY and MATT: That's right, that's just right.

TRAVIS: But he wakes up perfectly at 5:30am with all the grief and guilt in the world. (laughter)

SAM: He has to pee.

TRAVIS: Damn it! Oh shit, oh crap, oh!

ASHLEY: I--

MATT: Yep?

ASHLEY: I got up at 2:59, and I went out into the hallway, stood and waited outside the door. (laughter)

ASHLEY: And at 3:01, hearing absolute silence: I guess I'll go back to bed. (laughter)

MATT: There's where we end it this week. We'll pick up on that next week.

MARISHA: So good.

MATT: Thank you all so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? (cheering)

MATT: Good night.