Transcript:The Sorrow of Molaesmyr

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: (garbled) We play Dungeons & Dragons!

MATT: Indeed.

(laughter)

MATT: Before we jump into our episode for the night, we do have some quick announcements to get through, beginning with our sponsor for the night, D&D Beyond.

TRAVIS: ♪ D&D Beyond ♪

MATT: Sam?

SAM: Here we go! [jaunty electro music]

TALIESIN: Oh wow.

SAM: ♪ I got me a phone, it's as big as a brick ♪ ♪ And it's got D&D ♪ Beyond loaded on it ♪

MATT: What is happening right now?

SAM: ♪ I'm Fred Schneider-- ♪

(laughter)

SAM: ♪ I'm Fred Schneider from the B-52's ♪ ♪ And there's free D&D Beyond ♪ subscription trial for you ♪ ♪ Get exclusive monthly perks ♪ to personalize your play ♪ ♪ Share your D&D books ♪ with your whole partay ♪

ASHLEY and LAURA: ♪ Creating and a-playing ♪ ♪ Dice are really rolling ♪ ♪ D&D Beyond, you should ♪ all enroll in ♪

SAM: ♪ Make yourself characters with unlimited slots ♪ ♪ Like a rock lobster ♪ barbarian from hell ♪ ♪ It's becoming uncomfortable ♪ to shout like this ♪ ♪ Maybe I should play ♪ some cowbell ♪ [cowbell clunking]

MATT: (groans)

SAM: ♪ Okay ♪ ♪ Oh no, I think my ♪ voice has gotten stuck ♪ ♪ Why do I keep yelling ♪ uncontrollably?! ♪ ♪ I'm serious, this is ♪ some sort of horrible curse ♪ ♪ Matt, please help ♪ me, bay-bay ♪

ASHLEY and LAURA: ♪ When will this song end? ♪ ♪ Please make it stop ♪

MATT: I'll just cut the power to the sound system and get-- [jaunty music continues]

MATT: Oh my god.

ASHLEY: Oh no! [jaunty music continues]

SAM: ♪ I'm starting to lose the will to live ♪ ♪ Please put me ♪ out of my misery ♪

MATT: Wait, wait, wait, wait. If you end the ad, will that break the curse?

SAM: ♪ Okay ♪

(laughter)

SAM: ♪ Go to dndbeyond.link/crsub ♪ ♪ And start your 30-day ♪ free trial today ♪ [music stops]

SAM: Hey, it worked.

MARISHA: Oh...

LAURA: Wow.

SAM: All right.

ASHLEY: Wow!

SAM: Matt, back to you.

TRAVIS: Oh my god. Oh, that one hurt.

TALIESIN and LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Oh boy.

LAURA: I feel like it was really offbeat.

(laughter)

SAM: I couldn't hear the music! But also, it was bad.

(laughter)

LIAM: Apologies to Fred Schneider.

MATT: Yep.

TRAVIS: We keep trying to find the bottom, and that was a good deep dive. The ocean is deep.

MARISHA: That might be--

MATT: Oh yeah. We've gone Mariana with this.

MARISHA: The boomer-iest ad we've ever done.

ASHLEY: Yes.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Yes.

MARISHA: No one under 20 is going to know what that is.

SAM: Well, they should.

TRAVIS: The Labyrin-teenth in Abyssal.

(laughter)

LAURA: Laura, you got some announcements, huh?

LAURA: Hey!

TRAVIS: Don't do it.

(laughter)

SAM: ♪ Hey! ♪

ASHLEY: ♪ Bay-bay! ♪

SAM: ♪ We've got some merch ♪

MATT: Oh god.

TRAVIS: I'm going to have a migraine.

LAURA: If you like business-- If you like to rep-- I don't know--

TRAVIS: (groans)

ASHLEY: "If you like business?"

LAURA: We've got a nice, subtle Critical Role shirt. This is if you have to wear businessy clothes or if you're gothy.

ASHLEY: Yes.

TALIESIN: Did you say "gothy"?!

(laughter)

LAURA: Taliesin, this shirt's for you!

TALIESIN: I would wear that.

LAURA: Ta-da!

MARISHA: (laughs)

SAM: You could wear it to a funeral.

LAURA: You could wear it opened up, you could wear it buttoned down.

ASHLEY: You absolutely--

LAURA: You could tuck it in, you could put a tie on with it.

LIAM: Please hit me in the face.

TRAVIS: Throw it over here.

LAURA: What?

TRAVIS: I'm wearing a collared shirt, just throw it over here.

LAURA: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We also have (fanfare). Joining-- Oh wait. This Critical Role ReAction figure. It's the Hooded Game Master.

ALL: Ooh!

MATT: I have a figure?

LAURA: Who could that be?

SAM: You have an action figure!

ASHLEY: Yay!

MATT: That's kind of cool, actually.

LAURA: Joining our cool Mighty Nein ReAction figures with Super7, our Critical Role shops now have an exclusive, that's right, exclusive Critical Role ReAction figure, The Hooded Game Master. Art is by the Super7 team and Hannah Friederichs.

TRAVIS: Nice!

ASHLEY: Ooh!

LAURA: Find it now exclusively in all our Critical Role shoppies.

TRAVIS: Shoppies!

LAURA: There are more exciting exclusive Super7 figures on the way. Stay tuned and collect them all.

ASHLEY: Ooh!

LAURA: Collect the whole party!

(laughter)

TRAVIS: We got a whole shelf of them.

SAM: A little pick up there at the end?

LAURA: That's right.

MATT: That was nice. Yeah, we'll fix it in post.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: The little book is great.

SAM: Matt! This is exciting.

MATT: It is actually really exciting.

SAM: It's you!

MATT: That's cool. I want one.

TALIESIN: There's print on the book, too, isn't there? The book says stuff.

ASHLEY: Yeah, there is.

LAURA: What does it say?

LIAM: So there's that, there's also the WizKids mini, now I want a life size one for my house.

MATT: There you go, so I can fight a larger version of me. There we go.

TRAVIS: ♪ ("Also Sprach Zarathustra") ♪

MATT: Like the massive real life Drizzt one. It's just me going--

LIAM: Did you ever see Dinner at My House?

MATT: Please. That's terrifying. That'll never happen.

TRAVIS: Shouldn't have said it out loud.

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: ♪ Do, do, do, do, do ♪ ♪ Bay-bee ♪

MATT: Nevertheless, I think that concludes our announcements.

(laughter)

SAM: ♪ Those are the announcements ♪

MATT: No!

ASHLEY: Leave it!

MATT: With that--

LIAM: Rusted!

(laughter)

MATT: Let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of--

SAM: ♪ Also, welcome back, Marisha! ♪

MATT: -- Critical Role. (cheering)

Part I
MATT: And welcome back. So last we left off.

TRAVIS: Oh no.

MATT: Half of Bells Hells, with their new travel companions from Uthodurn, FRIDA and Deanna, have helped save some of the populace of Uthodurn in the midst of the post-Applebee's SoulCycle dangers.

(laughter)

AABRIA: That's my legacy.

MATT: In doing so gained-- One could only hope to have such a lasting one.

TRAVIS and MATT: (laugh)

MATT: Gained some favor from the diarchy of Uthodurn, and in doing so, also discovered a little bit about the history of Ludinus Da'leth, the antagonistic figure of the minute, hour, millennium, who seemingly for a while, hailed from the elven town of Molaesmyr that was destroyed three centuries before and is not too far off from the city of Uthodurn, to the southwest in the middle of the now corrupted Savalirwood that itself was corrupted by the incident that destroyed the city of Molaesmyr. So gathering supplies, you all trekked in that direction. You've got goats that you rode across the mountains, killed one of them to feed to the others, left them behind on the bank of the lake.

AABRIA: I stand by my choice.

MATT: You built a raft, floated down the--

(laughter)

MATT: -- the Boreal Omen River until you eventually came to the outskirts of the ruins of Molaesmyr. Here in this heavily altered, overgrown and deeply dangerous haunted locale, you've managed to notice a few of the strange changed beasts that wander the surrounding region and begin to stealth your way carefully between the somewhat damaged and frozen in time unoccupied, you hope, structures across the cityscape. So as you all begin to move deeper and deeper through the city, seeing amongst you the heavy twisted thorn-covered brambles, the odd patches of purple and brown and gray fungus and heavy thatched leaves overhead that intermingle with the winding and knotting tree trunks and extended branches that seem to grab each other and tangle causing these webs of the darkened atmosphere of the Savalirwood around you to choke most of the daylight above. What is it you're looking for, and what are you doing?

SAM: What are we looking for?

LAURA: We're looking for the tower.

AABRIA: Yeah.

SAM: Oh yeah, that's right. That's right. I have notes.

ASHLEY: I think Pass Without a Trace is still up, right?

MATT: I believe it was.

LAURA: But it only lasts for 10 minutes.

ASHLEY: Shit.

SAM: Well, then we better hurry.

TRAVIS: The Gildhollow Tower, right?

CHRISTIAN: Gildhallow.

LAURA: That's right. I have Mage Armor up from last time as well.

MATT: You do, you do.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: It's one hour, Pass Without a Trace, by the way.

LAURA: Oh! Great.

ASHLEY: Oh great.

TRAVIS: You might have just said this, but the time of day again is, roughly?

MATT: Day is still up.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: It's probably, you're guessing-- It's hard to see without that much of the skyline available to you, but you guess it's probably mid-afternoon, early to mid-afternoon.

TRAVIS: Okay. We definitely want to stay out of the vision of that giant, majestic stag with the baby arms that are falling behind it.

SAM: Are you talking about yourself?

TRAVIS: No, that would be stud.

SAM: Oh, sorry.

TRAVIS: Stag.

LAURA: Keep your voice down. Oh, right, no wait, we're all talking to each other in our heads.

AABRIA: That's right!

TRAVIS: Oh shit!

AABRIA: Yay!

TRAVIS: Poop. Balls.

SAM: Did I do that?

LAURA: You did that, no, you did that.

SAM: I did that?

AABRIA: You did that.

SAM: I did that.

AABRIA: Thank you so much.

LAURA: This should be in your-- You already cast the spell.

SAM: I'm going to look!

LAURA: That's a 5th-level.

SAM: Is that my only 5th-level?

LAURA: Probably.

AABRIA: Bro.

SAM: It is! Oh fuck.

TRAVIS: Gooch.

(laughter)

CHRISTIAN: But because we realized that stag was super responsive to--

LAURA: Yeah, it could hear.

CHRISTIAN: Responsive to--

TRAVIS: Merkin.

MATT: Indeed.

SAM: So this is what it sounds like for you all the time, Imogen?

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: People just yapping?

LAURA: Well, not anymore.

(clicks tongue)

SAM: Nice. All right, well then let's go. Do we, I mean, beeline for the tower, or--?

TRAVIS: I think so. There's nothing that-- We don't know what to look for, we don't have a description or symbols or anything to, well-- Okay.

SAM: Didn't we see a tall structure on the way in?

TRAVIS: There is one.

MATT: There are a number of tall structures, you saw one massive one.

SAM: I mean, that's got to be it.

LAURA: That's got to be it.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: Especially it's on the other side of town. We're on the south side and we're heading to the north side.

SAM: Yeah.

AABRIA and LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Well, you're more on the eastern side of it.

LAURA: We're heading to--

SAM: Is it to the northwest of us?

MATT: You're heading to the northwest portion of the city.

LAURA: We're on the east-y side? Okay. Now my other question.

MATT: Yes?

LAURA: That stag creature that we saw, I don't remember, did we notice if it had eyeballs or was it just--

TRAVIS: No.

LAURA: -- a blank face?

MATT: From what you saw, its head lacked any sort of eye sockets or eyes. It was just a smooth head to its extended snout.

LAURA: Okay.

TRAVIS: It moved on the thing that made sound, right?

LAURA: Yes. As soon as it made sound, that's when it attacked. Before that it just-- Nothing, it just went silent.

TRAVIS: The sound was real bad.

LAURA: So we have to be silent as hell.

TRAVIS: Also, just as a thought, because it seems to be super attracted to sound, should we make something else that makes a constant source of sound to mask any fuck-ups that we have? A fire or rain, or anything else that someone more magical than me could do?

SAM: Sure.

ASHLEY: That's a good idea.

LAURA: That's a great idea.

AABRIA: That's a good idea.

TRAVIS: It happens. From time to time.

SAM: I can...

TRAVIS: Nobody has Marble Drop? 4th-level?

AABRIA: My armor's really loud, so I'm very nervous.

SAM: If the stag has a dream, I can share it with him.

MATT: (laughs)

AABRIA: What?

LAURA: Let's see, I got a ball-- A ball. A bag of ball bearings. There's a thousand in there! So what if I made, you know--

SAM: Made some sort of Rube Goldberg contraption?

LAURA: That just constantly trickled out ball bearings from somewhere.

TRAVIS: It feels unnecessarily complicated.

LAURA: What if I created some sort of rudimentary...

TRAVIS: So... Glaive? It's so Odyssey of the Mind, I'm so proud of you right now.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: If you know what that is.

LAURA: (laughs)

AABRIA: We can try to deafen it, if it comes back.

TRAVIS: You got Deafen?

LAURA: Oh! That's a great idea.

AABRIA: Yeah!

TRAVIS: Awesome.

AABRIA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Okay.

AABRIA: Didn't work well when I blinded the bugs, but this is different and we'll be fine.

ASHLEY: This is totally different, yeah.

TRAVIS: Every opportunity is a new chance.

AABRIA: Aww! You're really nice in your head.

TRAVIS: For love. Huh? Sorry!

AABRIA: What!

TRAVIS: What? Boobies. Let's go!

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: Stealthily going? Stealthily?

MATT: If I recall, we rolled stealth at the end of the last session, and so we're going to continue with that for the time being. Who is leading this troop? I guess I'd say, what's the marching order of this journey? Because that is an important aspect.

TRAVIS: You're perceptive as fuck, right?

CHRISTIAN: You were, yes.

SAM: I don't have this.

CHRISTIAN: You were on my shoulders when I went up to the tree.

AABRIA: Perfect, then I'm still there.

MATT: All right, so we have you on the shoulders.

LAURA: Nobody that's exhausted should be leading the way.

TRAVIS: Who has it?

AABRIA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Good call.

CHRISTIAN: But you should be in front.

AABRIA: Right here.

ASHLEY: Exhaustion.

AABRIA: I'm so tired.

TRAVIS: I'm super stealthy, but I'm not super perceptive.

CHRISTIAN: Okay then, yeah, fine.

SAM: Y'all ate your food already, right?

ASHLEY: I'm okay at perceiving--

AABRIA: Guidance!

ASHLEY: -- but I'm not going to do that right now.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: For Pass Without a Trace, by the way, I believe-- The duration each a creature you choose within 30 feet of you.

TRAVIS: Got to get loose, FRIDA, get loose. Get those hinges lose.

AABRIA: I'll just massage you.

TRAVIS: Oil?

CHRISTIAN: Someone oil me.

TRAVIS: Yeah. (laughs)

AABRIA: I got it, I got it.

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

MATT: Each creature within 30 feet of you. The bonus doesn't say you have to stay within a radius. So you can take two--

AABRIA: I think I can do it.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: Also, remember the plan from last time. If things get hairy, you turn into a big eagle--

TRAVIS: Oh, they'll get hairy.

LAURA: You eagle up, and I'll fly everybody else, if I can.

ASHLEY: Great. Okay.

LAURA: We can get up and away from the--

ASHLEY: Yes.

LAURA: -- the stag.

ASHLEY: Okay. Okay. We got this.

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Totally.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: The walkways through the city ruins are not open roads. The ground where you can see these once beautiful elven streets of smoothed stone and long, railroad tie-like marble and stone dividers between chunks of the roadway are cracked and broken at odd angles. You can see undergrowth that is pushed through and in fact, much of this is completely overgrown with these thick, bright red and purple ferns. These oddly, perpetually-deep autumn colored scape with grays and some dark, black coloration in places. It had slowly swarmed and crept over everything that once held this ancient elvish presentational beauty.

LAURA: ♪ Laudna would love this. ♪

MATT: She would. She's somewhere else.

AABRIA: I'm casting Minor Illusion over and over again, making little terrain and there's no verbal component. So we're making little-- Just a little crumbly wall that's always a little bit in front of us.

(laughter)

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: That's cool.

MATT: Low hanging mist that drifts between the various clusters of bush and undergrowth drifts by and wisps the occasional distant glow of something faintly blue in the far off, clouded fog appears and then vanishes from sight. Every now and then, you hear a clack or a click noise, before-- (wings fluttering) A bird takes off.

SAM: What? Birds?

ASHLEY: What was that blue light? Did you see that blue light and then it just disappear?

LAURA: It was a ghostie.

ASHLEY: It was a ghostie? Okay. Okay.

TRAVIS: (whispers) Wiener.

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

AABRIA: Honestly, that's making me feel better, don't stop.

AABRIA and MATT: (laugh)

ASHLEY: It's making me giggle a little bit. (whispers) Penis.

AABRIA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Titties.

AABRIA: Just playing the penis game, but in our brains.

ASHLEY and LAURA: (laugh)

TRAVIS: Yep. I hope we're still whispering. You people are a bunch of bitches.

(laughter)

MATT: Who's guiding the troop through this ruin?

CHRISTIAN: I think I'm in the front.

MATT: All right.

SAM: Guidance, FRIDA.

MATT: Roll survival for me, if you don't mind.

SAM: Guidance!

AABRIA: Just always have a d4 out. Someone's casting Guidance.

CHRISTIAN: ♪ Nine, 10, 11 ♪ Survival. 12, 13, 14.

TRAVIS: Let's go.

MATT: 14, okay. A short way into this, a familiar scent begin to catch most of your noses, that odd, sulfurous rot smell. Something that struck you a little ways off in the forest not too long ago and you catch everyone and hold them back as you turn the corner and see one section of the ground has erupted and cracked open. This long 15-, 20-foot fissure is broken in the ground where you see shards of stone and marble broken upward and that black-purple miasma drifts out--

LAURA: That's what got you guys before.

MATT: Like smoke.

AABRIA: Don't smell that smell. It'll make you tired.

CHRISTIAN: Is it big enough that we have to traverse around it? Is it in the way?

MATT: You can move around it. It's more like you turn the corner and catch everyone right before you end up walking into it. But you do also notice that these fissures are throughout the entirety of the city. They all seem to be stemming from deeper in. A lot of them are cracking outward and seem to be coming to the end of their energy and snaking destruction where you are now and growing larger as you progress deeper into the city.

CHRISTIAN: I think I would be trying to figure out where its center is, where it's coming from, if I can.

MATT: Okay. You have a high enough passive perception. Amongst all the buildings around here, the various large arches and the extended bridges that are partially collapsed, the wide and multi-layered homesteads or what look to have been civic structures and buildings that were the hubs of business or commerce or government within here that have since now been completely engulfed by the strangling roots and brush of the forest, you see one massive tower that rises all above the rest, even at this distance. This is the one that caught your eye when you were along the river. Now the closer you get, the better perspective you have. This is upwards 10, 11 stories likely, and where it sits above, parts of it, you can see some pillars are cracked. Trees have grown out the sides of it, but you gather as you begin to go deeper in that many of these cracks, many of these fissures seem to be emanating from that direction.

LAURA: Are there any windows at the top of the tower, or is it all just stone straight up?

MATT: There are windows. Much of it looks like heavy ivy and other growth has obscured the majority of the entryways or at least partially obscured them. The higher up, the thinner it gets as the forest eventually doesn't quite climb as high as that singular tower, to the point where you can almost, here in the daylight, see a bit of that polished shine. Just a hint of a glimmer of the beauty that it once held and most of this city once held. It's this last little bit of memory that rises above the rest of the destruction that lays around it. You do also notice around here, more and more--

SAM: ♪ Round here ♪

ASHLEY: Wow.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: That was the choice?

TRAVIS: No, don't roll. Don't roll!

LAURA: No!

SAM: ♪ Round here ♪

TRAVIS: We're sorry.

(laughter)

MATT: You do also notice many bodies. Many old, long-rotted skeletal bodies, parts of them that are still entangled with some of the heavy roots, some that are heavily lifted up and have been grown through. You can see where the plants and the various dangerous-looking flowers and oddly bright-colored red and orange buds have moved through and protrude from an eye socket of a skull where you can see the corpses of children and women and animals have all since been taken in and been given this odd, twisted beauty as it's been reincorporated in its rot with the rest of this voluminous and thriving, if dark, forest. You can see all the carts. You can see all the buildings and the shop signs in Elvish. There are these little glimpses of the beauty of this townscape, that you can imagine for a moment the bustle and the calm and the overall wonder that this once probably had, at least from the glimpses you see. You also begin to notice that there are the remains of encampments occasionally, more recently-built ones, little tents, little fire pits and you guys would know that there are, one, some troops within Uthodurn that come here with the intent of trying to learn about what happened here, taking relics, partially to continue to delve into the history of Molaesmyr and try and ascertain the root of what caused this, as well as many, many looters. Shadycreek Run in particular, many of the tribes of Shadycreek Run have vested interests in the theft and reselling of really anything within this city. That includes corpses.

AABRIA: Okay, cool, I just had a little heart attack.

ASHLEY: Me too.

AABRIA: I'm not strong enough for this.

(laughter)

CHRISTIAN: Is there any sign of life here more recent? Does it look like there's anything that's been disturbed?

MATT: Make an investigation check.

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

AABRIA: Whatcha doing?

SAM: Investigating.

CHRISTIAN: Investigating.

AABRIA: Guidance because--

CHRISTIAN: Nine.

AABRIA: I'm on your shoulders.

CHRISTIAN: Oh.

ASHLEY: Ooh.

CHRISTIAN: 12.

MATT: 12. With a quick look at the nearest makeshift rock pit that's been set in one of these small encampments that you pass by, it looks like it's been a long time since it's been used. You can see the soot and dark leftover ash within there, but much of the ash is now intermingled or completely covered with a layer of a fine purple-red dust. This is when you notice that the air seems to carry these motes of life-like spores that just exist in this space. Where the fog seems to slightly dissipate around waist level, above that, as the wind blows through, you can see these gentle spores shift and move with the occasional gust of wind.

CHRISTIAN: Anyone else noticing that?

SAM: It's very pretty.

AABRIA: Yes. I'm going to cover my mouth.

ASHLEY: Beautiful.

SAM: It's gorgeous, yeah.

TRAVIS: Can I actually use Hunter's Bane? I know previously it feels like there's fey, fiend, or undead everywhere, but in particular, the flat out skeletal bodies that have had stuff grow through it, I want to take care to avoid them, but can I also sense if, I don't know, they're in park or disabled?

MATT: Okay. You tap into the ritual that changed you when you first joined the Claret Orders. You expand your personal consciousness and connection to your blood magic and in doing so, try and reach out to sense some of these darker entities that are tethered to this enchantment and you get a sense to the left here and you open your eye in that direction and you see a ghostly, humanoid figure that walks through the street. You see the faint outline of pointed ears and it walks and then disappears and you feel it vanish. Another one about 40 feet to your right, you see it stop and turn and look at you.

SAM: Okay.

AABRIA: (concerned noise)

MATT: (soft swoosh) And then vanish.

TRAVIS: Oh, don't do that.

AABRIA: Oh my god!

TRAVIS: Don't do that, you gave me all the stuff. Ugh! (groans)

AABRIA: Yeah, yeah. That's why you don't ask. So they can't be creepy at you.

TRAVIS: Why you got to open the mouth and not make a noise?

AABRIA: Chet, do you see anything?

MATT: You also, amongst the small bits of growth and the brambles that weave through the streets, there are trees. There are some that you can see are very well long-planted here when the city was in its prime. These massive trunks and extending branches that have since taken into the rest of the corruption. But you can see along its base, though much of it has been retaken by the surrounding twisted nature, stone decorations. These were intentional, but amongst the center of these walkways and these streets, you see others that have since punched through and grown more gnarled and twisted and the nearest one to you also hits your aura.

TRAVIS: Hey y'all, just to put it out there, getting a little bit of a vibe from the tree over yonder.

AABRIA: The tree is giving you a vibe?

TRAVIS: Yeah, there's definitely some spirit stuff going on around here and they're popping up all over the place random-like. But for whatever reason, mm-hmm, mm-mm.

LAURA: The tree that we passed by on the river, didn't it try to eat something?

CHRISTIAN: Oh right, yeah.

TRAVIS: It did lean low.

LAURA: Maybe it's a little--

TRAVIS: Sweet cherry.

LAURA: -- fiendish tree, is that a thing?

AABRIA: I want to go home.

TRAVIS: I don't know, I didn't read the books.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: It could be.

AABRIA: Does it look like the spores that are floating in the air have their origins on these plants and in these trees?

SAM: Have their orgies on these trees?

AABRIA: Yes, orgies.

MATT: Yes, that's exactly what she said.

LAURA: Spore orgies.

AABRIA: Yes, thank you.

CHRISTIAN: Sporgies.

MATT: Make a perception check.

LAURA and TRAVIS: Sporgies.

AABRIA: Sporgies! Well, now that we made it fun. (gasps) Natural 20.

TRAVIS: Hey!

MATT: Nice!

TRAVIS: The ritual worked!

AABRIA: Hey, the ritual worked!

MATT: Indeed, some of these trees that have the more vibrantly bright red leaves and canopy, you can see the spores seem to drift with each breeze and even naturally, occasionally gently, like a soft snowfall from beneath the canopy of these red trees. With a natural 20, the one that's nearest to you, the one that Chetney was referring to, glancing at it, this also is one of those red trees and you gather the way that it's wound and twisted, the trunk of it, you begin to make out something odd about its structure sitting about 80 or so feet to its apex.

LAURA: Wow.

MATT: You watch its twisting trunk--

TRAVIS: It's a problem.

MATT: -- the branches extend. You can see where they extend, there's bits of bone protruding in places and the branches almost form a hand. You can see as it pulls up, this elongated, stretched mouth and these eye sockets that wind upward into where the canopy extends. It is mimicking a corpse or it may have once been.

LAURA: It's a people tree.

AABRIA: This is why I always pack Blight! This is fucked up.

LAURA: Did you pack it?

AABRIA: No.

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

AABRIA: I miss Laerryn so fucking much.

(laughter)

AABRIA: All the trees are bad here.

LAURA: I think you mean Lorraine.

(laughter)

AABRIA: I'm sorry.

TRAVIS: Lorraine, yeah.

AABRIA: Lorraine Hambrick-Zucker, give me strength.

ASHLEY: Yes, yes.

CHRISTIAN: You can speak with animals, right?

AABRIA: Okay, that tree's wrong.

ASHLEY: Yes, I can.

AABRIA: The tree is wrong.

CHRISTIAN: Can you communicate with plants?

ASHLEY: I can certain try.

AABRIA: Or with the dead?

ASHLEY: I could certainly try. Let me see.

LAURA: Can you talk to the dead?

AABRIA: Oh god, oh god, I didn't bring it.

TRAVIS: Of course, you know, if you try and communicate and it doesn't go well, we might be ringing the dinner bell, right?

LAURA: The spores.

CHRISTIAN: That is so true.

LAURA: These spores that are all in the air. Are they mostly towards the ground or above?

TRAVIS: They're all over.

LAURA: It's just everywhere?

AABRIA: Above the fog line.

MATT: Yeah.

AABRIA: So it's either horrifying mist or terrible spores.

LAURA: So if we were to try to fly up,

AABRIA: The air is bad.

LAURA: -- we would be in, like--?

AABRIA: Well, just yeah, just cover your mouth.

LAURA: Okay. Close your eyes, cover your mouth.

AABRIA: Yeah.

LAURA: Don't breathe as you fly up.

AABRIA: Yeah.

SAM: This tree's the only one that looks like that?

MATT: It's the first one you've noticed.

SAM: Oh, okay.

MATT: But there are many trees of that same canopy color, that specific deep crimson coloration. You're not quite close enough, but you have a bad feeling.

AABRIA: I don't like it here.

ASHLEY: I do have it. I could use it.

SAM: Speak with Plants?

ASHLEY: I could use it, if you want to.

AABRIA: Please don't wake the plant up.

TRAVIS: I'm going to get out the scythe, extend it.

MATT: All righty.

TRAVIS: Just to have it, so we're good.

ASHLEY: Do the bodies with all of the growth coming out of them, do they all look like the same age of decay? Like it all was a one-time poof that happened?

MATT: Make a nature check.

ASHLEY: Does that make any sense?

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, like a blast instead of over time?

ASHLEY: Yeah. Probably, but just to check. Make a nature-- How do I have a minus one?

TRAVIS: To what?

ASHLEY: For nature.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: That is a good question, druid.

LAURA: Because you're from the Feywild. It's a totally different--

ASHLEY: That's true, that's true.

AABRIA: Why is it INT?

ASHLEY: A one.

LAURA: Oh, great.

AABRIA: You got a one?

CHRISTIAN: So you rolled a zero.

ASHLEY: I rolled a zero.

(laughter)

AABRIA: You've never met a plant.

TRAVIS: Nothing happens.

ASHLEY: What are plants?

(laughter)

ASHLEY: What am this?

(laughter)

MATT: You know, this place is creepy.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Boy.

TRAVIS: Damn.

TRAVIS: As we're--

MATT: That's it.

TRAVIS: As we're moving through, is there any kind of iconography or signage or wording of any language on the ground, on the structures, in tumbled rock or anything like that?

MATT: On the ground, no, but you do see passing some of the buildings, there are elements of Elven that you can see carved into certain signs and things that you would often see labeled within a city that is thriving. Do you speak Elvish?

TRAVIS: Ah yes, Elvish. If only I had finished that Rosetta Stone course.

(laughter)

AABRIA: I speak Elvish.

TRAVIS: Nope. Oh, you do?

AABRIA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Of course you do.

AABRIA: Don't be nice to me right now, I'm so stressed!

TRAVIS: Can you tell what those words say?

AABRIA: Why is he being like this in my head?

TRAVIS: Yonder?

AABRIA: I look.

TRAVIS: Don't let me distract you.

AABRIA: I'm distracted, FRIDA, I'm distracted!

LAURA: We can all hear that.

CHRISTIAN: I'm sorry.

AABRIA: Oh no!

(laughter)

AABRIA: I thought that was like a one-on-one line, shit!

MATT: The nearest building that you've all hidden in the shadow in right now that you're looking out--

TRAVIS: There's no (laughs) no DMs.

MATT: You're looking out beyond this one tower to the right that's one of the smaller towers in the area. There's a central area with a raised platform or a dried out fountain. You can't quite tell. It's been heavily grown around the sides. You can see the twisting bramble vines that put through. The building that you're in, you glance out and see that the sign above it, it is partially wrecked or scratched, but you can see it says in Elvish, "Livery." Now that you see it, you look in the empty space inside that's been heavily grown through and you can see there are stables. This once was where beasts of burden would be kept. It's then you also notice that amongst the brambles, there are, like a horse-- There's a horse skeleton that's been stretched and grown through that has partially merged up along with the inside of the wall.

AABRIA: Okay, this is a livery, and a big old note to Imogen, maybe don't turn left. You were mad about the goat; this is worse.

LAURA: I instantly look.

(laughter)

AABRIA: No!

TRAVIS: She can't help it.

TRAVIS and LAURA: Oh.

TRAVIS: "It's 300 years old, oh."

LAURA: You know, that, actually, is better than watching you kill a goat and immediately start pulling--

TRAVIS: Use, use the goat.

AABRIA: Use the goat.

TRAVIS: There was no killing.

AABRIA: It was important.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Oh no.

(laughter)

CHRISTIAN: That's good.

AABRIA: I feel attacked, but not as much as Jerry did.

(laughter)

LAURA: Hmm.

ASHLEY: This place is so interesting. It really is just--

SAM: "Interesting"?

ASHLEY: Really interesting.

SAM: Interesting?!

ASHLEY: I feel like I want to make some topiaries whenever I go back home in the shapes of some of these.

LAURA: Oh yeah.

AABRIA: People?

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LAURA: Oh, you should have seen her place with her grandmother. It was (pshh).

ASHLEY: It was beautiful.

AABRIA: Oh, that's okay.

ASHLEY: It's really quite lovely.

LAURA: Definitely dead people in those topiaries, too.

AABRIA: Oh!

ASHLEY: Well. Yeah. Well.

CHRISTIAN: I think I want to walk up to that horse.

(laughter)

MATT: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: While they're having this mind discussion, and I'm struck by how unnatural it is, and I will reach out and touch it and cast Decompose.

TRAVIS: On what?

CHRISTIAN: On the horse.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Ruh-roh!

AABRIA: Oh god.

MATT: You cast the spell and you watch as the immediacy of the Decompose spell takes root. You can watch as the bone begins to gray further and turn brittle. You also notice that the heavy vines that have pushed through and the flowers that have spread and budded from within its skeleton begin to turn black and wither, and you swear for a moment the skeleton seems to move like it's trying to resist the spell before it begins to crack and crumble into ash.

AABRIA: Oh my!

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

AABRIA: Okay.

SAM: Okay. Okay.

AABRIA: We all saw that, right?

TRAVIS: We saw it.

AABRIA: This is fucked up. This place is fucked up.

SAM: There's dead spirit stuff around here.

ASHLEY: Yeah. I really want that flower growing out of that guy's eyeball, but I'm going to leave it alone.

AABRIA: Take a cutting.

TRAVIS: That's wise.

ASHLEY: I'll take a cutting when we leave.

AABRIA: Yeah, good call. Good call.

TRAVIS: Okay.

ASHLEY: We don't want to wake anything up.

TRAVIS: A cutting.

AABRIA: Yeah.

LAURA: Are we planning to just keep on walking?

SAM: I think so.

LAURA: Heading to the tower?

AABRIA: Should we not do some preemptive-- This feels like it's going to be--

SAM: I can surround us with some spirits to guard us, but will that draw too much attention? They'll be flitting around.

LAURA: It's a tough call.

TRAVIS: Yeah, it's not just sound based. The ghosts, or the spirits, I don't know what they were that I saw, locked eyes on me.

LAURA: They know we're here.

TRAVIS: I know it's hard to take your eyes off me, but--

AABRIA: Oh shit.

SAM: Oh, they saw you but they didn't attack?

TRAVIS: No, they raised their mouths and went-- and then disappeared, real scary-like.

AABRIA: That's very scary.

LAURA: They're tortured here. It's a tortured environment.

ASHLEY: Do you think they were glad that you were here?

TRAVIS: I think so, they might've been like, C-POP Industries has finally come to Molaesmyr.

ASHLEY: That's probably why.

LAURA: That face you made, that looked like a happy sort of face.

TRAVIS: Probably.

LAURA: A relieved face, definitely not a terrifying--

TRAVIS: (friendly) Hey! Not (croaks), no.

LAURA: "I'm going to destroy you" face.

TRAVIS: Yep.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: We should keep moving, try find the Gildhollow.

SAM: Let's just keep going.

AABRIA: Should we kill the skeletons as we go?

LAURA: Mm.

SAM: They're dead.

LAURA: I think if we keep--

ASHLEY: Well--

AABRIA: Come on! We know what's happening!

LAURA: If we keep doing what you just did to that horse, it might draw attention to the corpse trees that might then...

LAURA: You know, a lot of times--

AABRIA: What if they're puppeting them?

LAURA: Well, what if it's like a mushroom system where everything's connected under the ground and all of these trees are part of the same organism or entity in some way?

SAM: That's kind of nice, though.

ASHLEY: That is.

AABRIA: No, it's not!

LAURA: That's beautiful, but also if we attack one part of it--

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: -- all of it will attack us back.

SAM: Yeah yeah. Let's just--

ASHLEY: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: But if that's true--

SAM: -- forge on.

CHRISTIAN: -- then what I just did probably--

ASHLEY: Alerted?

CHRISTIAN: -- alerted it.

LAURA: It's possible, but also--

AABRIA: Great.

SAM: But nothing happened.

TRAVIS: Yeah, we're doing great.

LAURA: It seemed very wrong--

ASHLEY: We're probably fine.

LAURA: -- what was there.

TRAVIS: We're better than "The Last of Us."

LAURA: I'm glad that you helped.

AABRIA: Stop it.

CHRISTIAN: I appreciate that. Does it sound like that stag is anywhere near?

AABRIA: That was very good.

MATT: Make a perception check for me.

ASHLEY: Guidance.

CHRISTIAN: I'll take it.

CHRISTIAN: Perception, 12 plus 10 is 23, plus four, 27.

SAM: A lot.

MATT: 27, that's great.

AABRIA: Let's go.

ASHLEY: Nice.

MATT: Listening out, you do not hear any sounds of clomping or scraping that you currently can associate with your one interaction with that creature. You do hear the breeze pick up and drift. You swear you can occasionally hear chimes, but you're not sure where it's coming from.

LAURA: Mm. Mm-mm.

TRAVIS: Come on, man. Mm-mm.

MATT: And a little part of you thought you heard a very distant, echoing howl.

LAURA: (gasps) The Wolf-King.

TRAVIS: I'm here, baby.

SAM: Wolves, birds, chimes, moans, cracks, and clacks? What the fuck is going on?

CHRISTIAN: I won't say it out loud, but I will make my way to you and just say: Do you hear that?

AABRIA: (laughs) I'm on your back.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, you're with me?

(laughter)

SAM: And we can communicate silently.

AABRIA: Yeah. Yeah.

TRAVIS: I picked up the howl, right?

MATT: Actually, you didn't.

AABRIA: (gasps)

TRAVIS: Oh.

LAURA: Oh.

TRAVIS: Hear what?

AABRIA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: All I hear is our imminent success.

CHRISTIAN: It was a howl, Mr. Pock O'Pea.

TRAVIS: A how-uhl?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

AABRIA: How-uhl.

TRAVIS: (exaggerated sniffing)

AABRIA: Why is that two syllables?

TRAVIS: Any scents on the wind?

LAURA: How-uhl!

AABRIA: How-uhl!

MATT: Make a perception check.

TRAVIS: Awoo! Don't worry, I got it.

AABRIA: Guidance!

TRAVIS: It won't help.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: It doesn't matter.

MATT: You have advantage on scent-based stuff because you are a--

TRAVIS: Oh!

AABRIA: There we go!

TRAVIS: Bitch, don't worry.

MATT: You're a lycanthrope.

TRAVIS: That's one number higher. It's still single digits.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Maybe it was because you called me bitch a little bit.

TRAVIS: It was a general bitch.

MATT: You take a big sniff and you watch as one of those floating spores shoots right into your nose, and you're like-- (coughs) You cough for a second to--

LAURA: Shh, don't cough. Hold it in, Chet.

AABRIA: Don't cough! Hold it!

TRAVIS: (sputtering)

CHRISTIAN: Hand over your mouth.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: A little tear comes out.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Spore is in the tear.

TRAVIS: Popped a sinus.

(laughter)

LAURA: That's my favorite face I've ever seen you make.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: (sputters)

SAM: Keep it together! Keep it together!

TRAVIS: Don't do it.

TRAVIS: (hiccups)

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Got the hiccups from all the--

AABRIA: I think he's dead.

SAM: All right, we've got to keep moving.

LAURA: We're moving.

ASHLEY: We've got to keep moving.

CHRISTIAN: Maybe it was in my head.

MATT: Now, the rest of this walkway heading towards that large tower is in the center of the city, which you assume is probably the best milestone amongst this ruin to help you figure out where you're trying to get and where it might be in relation to it. Do you wish to head deeper into the city or take another path?

SAM: You mean towards the tower or around?

LAURA: Little side streets?

MATT: Yeah. I guess, are you trying to skirt around?

TRAVIS: Skrrt.

MATT: Are you trying to go towards the center?

AABRIA: Skrrt!

LAURA: Skrrt! Does it matter? Is anything alive?

SAM: Let's just go straight towards the fucking tower.

TRAVIS: The open roads seem, they're pretty wide open, right?

MATT: The main roads are about 20 feet wide.

TRAVIS: That's where the elk would probably be. So maybe if we go to the edges?

LAURA: Yeah, that's true.

AABRIA: Skirt.

LAURA: It'll have a harder time.

AABRIA: Listen to the Wolf-King.

SAM: How long does stuff last? Do we still have Pass Without a Trace up?

MATT: You've been going, I would say, carefully and quietly through here which is not a fast means of traversing, especially since you're having to duck beneath things and climb over and weave in through broken buildings. It's slow going. About 30 or so minutes into this trip, I do need another stealth check from everybody.

TRAVIS: Oh!

AABRIA: But do I have to it because I'm on shoulders?

MATT: Yep.

SAM: But no more Pass Without--

MATT: Yep, you still have it.

LAURA: Yes? Still?

SAM: Oh. Okay.

MATT: This will be the last one that you take with it, though.

SAM: Okay.

LAURA: 24.

CHRISTIAN: 27.

MATT: 24.

ASHLEY: 27.

SAM: 25.

CHRISTIAN: Nice.

AABRIA: 19.

TRAVIS: 26.

SAM: Whoa, we're all pretty good.

MATT: Okay. Not too bad.

ASHLEY: So silent, so quiet.

TRAVIS: Oof man, I'm a little disappointed.

MATT and AABRIA: (laugh)

AABRIA: I'm still aware of Chetney. He's losing his touch!

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: So you begin to move through onto the right hand side, or left hand side of the main central tower? If you're coming in from an eastern direction, that would be either the north side or the south side.

LAURA: North side. Head north.

AABRIA: Elks can't turn left.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: On the count of three.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: It can't make left hand turns?

SAM: It's true.

MATT: What is this? A town for elves?

SAM: It's a scientific fact.

(laughter)

AABRIA: I don't know. Sometimes you can just say something, and it can be true in the world, I don't know.

TRAVIS: On the count of three, put up a left or right hand. One, two, three.

AABRIA: Okay, raise your hand if you're left handed. Oh, okay. You voted against us!

LAURA: Oh, well.

TRAVIS: Let's go left.

AABRIA: We went right.

TRAVIS: Left feels right.

LAURA: Wait, but everyone voted right.

AABRIA: Everyone voted right.

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: We're in Molaesmyr. It's upside down day.

(laughter)

SAM: I heard that elks can't go left.

AABRIA: Elks can't turn left!

CHRISTIAN: I have it on good authority.

LAURA: But which way is the north way and which way is the south way?

MATT: From where you're facing, the north way would be to the right.

ASHLEY: Oh, maybe we should go to the right.

TRAVIS: Okay, to the right. Good reasoning.

AABRIA: Okay, okay.

ASHLEY: Or maybe you should ask Changebringer, because maybe Changebringer will give you a wind.

SAM: I can!

TRAVIS: Yeah, a little toot of destiny.

SAM: I'll cast...

ASHLEY: (laughs) You know what? I'll just flip a coin.

ASHLEY: Flip a coin, flip a coin.

SAM: No, you know what? I'm going to do it the right way. She's with me now. I'll cast Divination.

TRAVIS: ♪ Do it the right way ♪

LAURA: Use those spell slots.

AABRIA: Don't you--

ASHLEY: Oh yeah. Maybe you shouldn't use it.

TRAVIS: ♪ Tell me why ♪

AABRIA and LAURA: ♪ Ain't nothing but a heartache ♪

TRAVIS: ♪ Tell me why ♪

AABRIA: ♪ Ain't nothing but a mistake ♪

ASHLEY: ♪ Tell me why ♪

TRAVIS: I was in a boy band on the Menagerie Coast.

MATT: What do you ask?

SAM: What do I ask?

AABRIA: That's how we met.

LAURA: That's in your backstory.

TRAVIS: Well, yeah. I used to work all the dope (snorts) boys.

SAM: Changebringer. Changebringer.

AABRIA: (laughs)

SAM: If you can hear me, please guide us as-- I'm asking you.

LAURA: Ass.

TRAVIS: Ass.

SAM: Guide our asses.

AABRIA: Guide our asses!

SAM: Which is the best way to go to get to the tower without dying?

(laughter)

SAM: Does this have to be a yes or no question or anything?

MATT: Yes.

(laughter)

SAM: Shit.

MATT: No, a truthful reply. A short phrase, a cryptic rhyme, or an omen.

SAM: Oh, okay.

MATT: I can do-- You hear the wind pick up. You watch as some of the fog and mist blows clear. One of the major paths, one of the main roads that snakes to the right and along the northern edge that curves around the outer base of the central tower, for a moment blows clear and open before the fog wafts back in and closes it.

SAM: Did you guys see that? Did you see that?

LAURA: I saw that! I saw it.

AABRIA: Oh, that was--

SAM: A god just told us which way to go! Just gave us directions!

LAURA: That's amazing.

AABRIA: That's incredible!

LAURA: That's the first time I've ever seen a god do anything for real.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too, me too, me too.

SAM: Now are y'all believers now?

LAURA: No, I know they exist.

SAM: Do you want me to get you coins so you can flip with me? We're flippers, that's what the Changebringer's followers are called, flippers.

TRAVIS: Flippers?

AABRIA: I don't like that.

LAURA: Oh wow, no.

ASHLEY: I don't like it either. I'm not a flipper.

SAM: No? Flip-floppers?

TRAVIS: That's a different term where we're from.

LAURA: No.

AABRIA: No.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

AABRIA: All right, SunnyD, you need to step the fuck up. You're getting shown up by the robit with the coin.

TRAVIS: The robit.

SAM: All right, I will lead this leg of the journey.

TRAVIS: Yeah!

LAURA: Great.

AABRIA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

AABRIA: No legs at all.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: This wheel of the journey.

TRAVIS: (wheel whirring)

MATT: (gears squeaking)

TRAVIS: (oil can squirting)

AABRIA: I pull out my oil can.

(laughter)

MATT: Continuing along, probably not in the center of this path since the road that was shown to you, while that in its proper direction, is definitely the wider road, you can follow it through the alleys. You trek on for about seven, eight minutes, watching, using that central main tower as your guiding point. You get closer and closer to it still. You can see there were once outcropping bridges on the third or so floor that stretched out to other structures. There's two of them that still stand, and others that have fallen since and crumbled, leaving five or six feet of an outward bridge that then just ends abruptly and suddenly. It is quite wide, and has this step structure as it rises higher and higher. The air also gets colder, the fog gets thicker, and you begin to see more and more of these ghostly figures. These echoed spirits of the fallen citizens of Molaesmyr that become more and more dense the further to the center you go, along with these fissures in the ground where the escaping miasma blends with the fog and leaves these tendrils of black smoke that drift up into the air.

SAM: Are we close to the tower? Within striking distance of it?

MATT: You're probably about 100 or so, 150 feet from it.

SAM: I'm going to cast Spirit Guardians around us. Is that all right?

AABRIA: Sure.

SAM: Okay.

AABRIA: Thanks.

TRAVIS: It's a big visual, right?

SAM: I think I can make them look how I want them to look, or--

LAURA: They could look like spores.

SAM: Well, they look fey I think, if I'm good, or demonic if I'm evil.

LAURA: It's your flavor.

SAM: I don't know, this is a GM's ruling.

MATT: I mean, you create these spectral entities to protect you. They can take on a form of your choosing.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: But they are-- It is still a spell effect, so it has to come with a visual component.

SAM: Okay. I'll do it.

MATT: Okay. What sort of spirits do you conjure to protect you?

SAM: I conjure something that brings us security and strength. They all look like FRIDA.

LAURA: Little teeny FRIDAs?

SAM: Little tiny FRIDAs.

AABRIA: Teeny tiny FRIDAs.

LAURA: Aw, little chibi FRIDAs?

SAM: Flying like Superman around us.

AABRIA: Little wee FRIDAs.

CHRISTIAN: I don't know how to respond.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Hey, welcome to Critical Role.

LAURA: Just one doing the backstroke through the air.

SAM: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

AABRIA: If they get really close, they can just give you a little kiss.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: They're very cute.

SAM: One of them is sticking out his little butt.

ASHLEY: Oh wow.

CHRISTIAN: I can't--

AABRIA: FRIDA, I didn't know you were this caked up.

CHRISTIAN: I can't blush, so I just button every button on the jacket and pull the hood up.

SAM: That rose gold is a little rosier.

AABRIA: Hey, you're kind of heating up. You getting a fever?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

AABRIA: You okay, buddy?

CHRISTIAN: FCG, that's kind.

ASHLEY: That's very, very cute.

MATT: With the arrival of this spiritual energy to protect you, you also notice that all of the walking ghosts, all of these haunted echoes that still wander these streets all at once stop.

CHRISTIAN: Oh no.

LAURA: Oh no.

AABRIA: Oh, interesting.

LAURA: Oh no, you caught their attention!

SAM: No, they stopped because they're scared of FRIDA.

AABRIA: Can I insight check the ghosts before you say the scary thing?

MATT: Roll insight.

AABRIA: Thanks.

TRAVIS: Eyy!

AABRIA: 24.

SAM and ASHLEY: Whoa!

MATT: 24. You glance around you and you can see--

TRAVIS: You're fucked.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Let me have fun before we start! I don't want to be surprised.

MATT: There are, right now, between 12 or 13 of them that you can make out of the mist that have all stopped and have all turned to face your group.

TRAVIS: Oh, goddamn it.

LAURA: Oh god.

CHRISTIAN: Where's Pike?

AABRIA: Is he chill? Hey, fellow dead people, how are you?

TRAVIS: Oh no. Here it comes.

MATT: You turn around and look at the rest of your friends and glance back, and they're closer.

ASHLEY: Oh!

TRAVIS: Ah! No, don't do the ghost thing!

LAURA: No! Ju-bee ju-bee! Everybody look out at the direction. Don't look away from them.

AABRIA: Channel Divinity. Turn Undead.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Oh, that's-- Okay.

ASHLEY: Nice!

MATT: So--

AABRIA: I panicked!

MATT: The radius on this is--

AABRIA: 30 feet!

MATT: 30 feet.

AABRIA: I think. Hold on, I don't know. I'm very nervous right now. I've never played D&D.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

SAM: I know.

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: As you all continue to spin and look around, every time your eyes leave one of the spirits and returns--

TRAVIS: Oh god.

MATT: -- they're about five feet closer--

LAURA: No, no, no, no, no!

MATT: -- until they're slowly closing on you.

TRAVIS: No!

MATT: Until there's about 15 or so within 10 feet of you, and as they get close, you can see the vacant sockets, you can see the stretched, elongated jaws that hang open. You can see the features, the fine elven bone structure that has been exaggerated into this horrible, gaunt, terrifying, long-anchored visage of despair and hunger. Describe to me how you Channel Divinity.

AABRIA: Oh, oh, let's go! J.J. Abrams, just lens flare. I think she curls in over his shoulders and a little bit of light catches and it's just a burst of light out in 30 feet, every direction.

MATT: (explosion) What is the DC on this?

AABRIA: (nervous shudder) 17.

TRAVIS: (gasps)

MATT: 17, all righty. This is charisma or constitution?

AABRIA: Oh, golly. You keep asking good questions, and I've never had an answer for you.

MATT: That's okay.

AABRIA: Fuck. Where is it?

TRAVIS: I always do it the wrong way first.

AABRIA: Please be easier. Wisdom save.

MATT: Wisdom save.

ASHLEY: I know!

AABRIA: I should have known that. It's a cleric.

MATT: Okay. There are 20 of them within the radius since they had tensed up around you. So we'll do a count here. This is Turn or Destroy?

AABRIA: So anyone that is turned is destroyed if they're under CR1.

MATT: Correct. All right. They're under CR1.

AABRIA: Cool.

MATT: Good to know.

AABRIA: So we about destroy some. Please roll bad.

CHRISTIAN: Is this going to make sound? Just curious.

AABRIA: No, just a little lens flare.

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

ASHLEY: It just looks really good. It's cinematic.

AABRIA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: It's gorgeous.

LAURA: This all happens silently?

TRAVIS: Your guardians do--

ASHLEY and AABRIA: Yeah.

LAURA: That's pretty fucking cool.

TRAVIS: -- road flare.

ASHLEY: They keep getting closer.

AABRIA: I think you all hear Deanna hyperventilating in her head, in all of your heads.

ASHLEY: I don't like it. I don't like it!

AABRIA: Oh god.

MATT: Dropped that one there.

AABRIA: He keeps rolling them.

TRAVIS: There are a lot of fucking ghosts, you guys.

ASHLEY: There's a lot of them.

AABRIA: There was 20.

TRAVIS: Sam went and rang the fucking dinner bell.

SAM: Well, I want to protect us. It's FRIDA's fault. He's the one flying around us in circles.

TRAVIS: You're acting on love!

AABRIA: Hey, we're not blaming them.

CHRISTIAN: FRIDA one, two, three, four, five, six.

AABRIA: They're great.

MATT: (explosion) This blast of bright sun-like energy suddenly rockets off in all directions from the center of Deanna outward, and you watch as these spirits who are not destroyed--

AABRIA: Oh.

SAM: What?

MATT: -- all of a sudden get hit by it and you watch as their spectral, glowing blue exterior suddenly bursts into this bright burning golden light and they all scatter outward and vanish. All but five of them.

AABRIA: (high-pitched gasp)

MATT: I'd like us to roll initiative.

(groaning and gawking)

SAM: Oh!

ASHLEY and CHRISTIAN: Oh no!

SAM: Guys, join forces with the Mighty Nein and take on the terrifying Uk'otoa.

TRAVIS and AABRIA: (whisper) Uk'otoa.

SAM: Pre-order this behemoth today. Expand your collection of Critical Role Minis at WizKids.io/CRminis--

(gawking)

SAM: -- or your local game store!

LAURA and ASHLEY: Whoa!

AABRIA: Oh my god!

TRAVIS: Matt, what the fuck?

ASHLEY: It's so cool!

ASHLEY: Look at the tree!

AABRIA: This is a banger!

SAM: Look at those thorns, those are real thorns! You're going to hurt yourself.

AABRIA: Matthew Mercer, let's go.

LAURA: What thorns?

ASHLEY and TRAVIS: Matthew Mercer!

CHRISTIAN: Gorgeous.

TRAVIS: Dang, bro, what?

ASHLEY: Oh! It's so cool.

AABRIA: (nervously) Okay.

MATT: You all, who had been back to back here when you were swarmed by them.

TRAVIS: You didn't have to go this hard.

LAURA: What is that plant? What is that tendrilly plant?

TRAVIS: Remember when we played at our house, and you just had graph paper and a Sharpie and shit.

AABRIA: Yeah, but we're here now, fuck off.

TRAVIS: The glow up is crazy.

AABRIA: Step it up.

MATT and AABRIA: (laugh)

TRAVIS: God.

AABRIA: New friends here now.

ASHLEY: Oh my god!

LAURA: What is that? What is that?

AABRIA: This is so--

TRAVIS: Drop that little blue dragon, we're like (yells).

AABRIA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: We got fucking coral and shit on this thing. What is that? Is it sponge, coral?

AABRIA: Look at that bad boy!

ASHLEY: Up in that tree.

CHRISTIAN: What is that?

SAM: Oh, that's one of the gnarled trees?

AABRIA: I want to live in there.

CHRISTIAN: That's the towers.

ASHLEY: Oh, it looks like--

AABRIA: It feels like that, not me being being old shit.

TRAVIS: Uh-huh. Look for me.

ASHLEY: I want to live in that tree.

LAURA: And spread from the tower.

TRAVIS: It does, right?

SAM: Everyone, stay close to me. My Spirit Guardians will protect us.

AABRIA: Okay.

SAM: 15 feet.

LAURA: We've got to find his laboratoryfirst.

MATT: 15-foot radius you said, correct?

AABRIA: Little ghosties.

LAURA: Yeah.

CHRISTIAN: Light it up from the bottom.

TRAVIS: Oh my god, dude, what the fuck.

SAM: Got your strawberries down there?

CHRISTIAN: Because the fire rises.

TRAVIS: Strawberries.

AABRIA: These are those little secret strawberries?

ASHLEY: No, it's my chocolate cake.

SAM: Oh.

ASHLEY: Just going to have a little bit of a bite.

LAURA: I've got--

MATT: All right, so that one, when we get to its turn, we shall. But for the interim, initiatives 25 to 20?

SAM: Oh.

TRAVIS: Oh, initiative. I didn't fucking roll initiative. Oh god, what the-- penis?

AABRIA: (laughs) Language.

LAURA: Penis.

MATT: All right, 25 to 20?

AABRIA: Oh no.

MATT: 20 to 15?

CHRISTIAN: 15.

AABRIA: 16.

SAM: 19.

AABRIA: 16.

MATT: All right, so we have FCG.

TRAVIS: What was it? FCG, FRIDA, Deanna?

CHRISTIAN: Deanna then FRIDA, yeah.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: FCG, Deanna, FRIDA. Got it.

MATT: 15 to 10?

LAURA: 12.

MATT: Okay. 10 to five?

TRAVIS: Six.

ASHLEY: Eight.

LAURA: Oof.

MATT: All right.

SAM: (singing)

LAURA: How are the clerics up first?

TRAVIS: FCG, Deanna, FRIDA, Imogen, Fearne, Chet, yeah?

LAURA: The clerics are up first, that never happens.

AABRIA: Dead guys, it's because it's dead guys.

LAURA: True.

AABRIA: We're good at dead guys.

SAM: We're suited, this fight's going to be quick with us.

AABRIA: One of us caused a problem and one is fixing it.

MATT: So this will be just outside the radius, and will be entering on its turn.

CHRISTIAN: All right, okay, one, two, three.

MATT: All right, so that is the spectral cloud of spinning spiritual FRIDAs that are all Superman flying around you. Top of this, FCG, you are up first.

AABRIA: Let's go.

SAM: I am?!

MATT: Yes you are.

SAM: Holy ba-joly. These things aren't very powerful, right?

LAURA: There's no banking that, they didn't turn.

AABRIA: They weren't destroyed, they were simply abjured.

LAURA: Yeah, so that means they're above a challenge rating of one.

AABRIA: Yes.

SAM: Wait, but they went away.

AABRIA: They were running away.

LAURA: They didn't get destroyed. If they got turned and they were a low enough challenge rating, then they would've just been destroyed.

SAM: Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. Well then, I'll conjure a Spiritual Weapon.

MATT: Okay, what Spiritual Weapon are you conjuring?

SAM: To match the tiny FRIDAs, I will conjure tiny Fresh Cut Grass, also flying around, sort of flying around with FRIDA in sort of a Superman-y, two Supermen.

TRAVIS: Superman and Lois?

SAM: Yeah, Superman and Lois.

TRAVIS: "Can you read my mind?"

SAM: "Can you read my mind?"

(laughter)

MATT: Where would you like them to show up?

TRAVIS: "I forgot how warm you were."

SAM: Let's attack the big one up there on the platform.

ASHLEY: Like in "Lawnmower Man" when they turn into a dragonfly.

TRAVIS and LAURA: (laugh)

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: What a ref.

CHRISTIAN: Deep cut.

SAM: I will attack with it.

MATT: That was nice. All right, roll for attack on it.

SAM: 16 plus seven, 23.

MATT: That definitely hits.

AABRIA: (laughs)

SAM: 1d8 plus three.

TRAVIS: "Lawnmower Man" to--

SAM: That's a 10.

TRAVIS: -- "Meteor Man."

CHRISTIAN: So that thing's going to know we're here immediately.

SAM: Oh god, that's awful.

LAURA: What's going to be?

CHRISTIAN: The stag is going to know we're here.

SAM: Four points of damage.

MATT: Four points of damage

SAM: Isn't it radiant damage, though?

MATT: It is radiant damage.

SAM: That's good.

LAURA: Your gun will certainly make some noise.

CHRISTIAN: I'm not going to--

MATT: I believe so.

CHRISTIAN: -- unless it comes.

MATT: So your miniature FCG spins and drives itself into the center of this ghostly figure as as you see it now, as they're clarifying, they are normally dressed citizens of this space as they come towards you with their vacant open sockets, they reach in your direction, their limbs extending and stretching until this FCG hits it. As it does, this burst of radiant energy strikes out from the center of where it impacts. As it seems sucked inward for a moment, it reemerges. As it does, (snarling) into this terrifying ghostly visage.

LAURA: Uh-oh.

MATT: Does that finish your turn, do you want to stay put?

LAURA: Do they make noise or is it all still silent?

MATT: It's all-- This one when it went out there, it made this horrible ghastly (snarling) sound.

SAM: I still have an action, I believe.

MATT: You do.

SAM: I will use it to Sympathetically Bind to the party.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: I can do four, so I'll do everybody but Chetney, sorry.

(laughter)

MATT: All righty, so the rest of--

TRAVIS: I live my life.

LAURA: Did you roll today?

TRAVIS: We didn't take a long rest.

LAURA: Oh, okay.

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: That's it.

MATT: All righty, finishing FCG's go.

AABRIA: Not like this.

MATT: Deanna, you're up, with FRIDA on deck.

AABRIA: Okay.

LAURA: No, we shouldn't.

AABRIA: Well, you know, as a healer, It's like, "First, do no harm." I take my staff and I take my shield off of my back and shake it and it breaks into an axe and I put it on the top and create a halberd. We're on part two now: Harm. (nervous laugh) I'm going to go up and swing on the one that FCG hit.

MATT: All right, so moving this out of the way, You've disengaged from FRIDA, rush up to that one, and you can take your swing at it, if you'd like.

SAM: Spiritual Weapons do force damage, by the way.

MATT: Ah, force damage.

SAM: Not radiant.

MATT: Good, good to know.

LAURA: Really?

SAM: Yes.

AABRIA: 13 to hit.

MATT: That's okay, same effect. So what was that to hit?

AABRIA: 13.

MATT: 13, 13 does hit.

AABRIA: Oh, cool, cool, cool, cool.

MATT: They aren't trying to dodge, they're very slow moving creatures, at least in reaction to your assault.

AABRIA: 11 points.

MATT: 11 points of damage, you got it.

AABRIA: Then let's summon a Spiritual Weapon.

MATT: Okay, is it a magic weapon?

SAM: It's made of magic.

AABRIA: Is my halberd magic?

SAM: Oh.

AABRIA: I don't know.

TRAVIS: Which one is it?

AABRIA: No, it's just normal. I think I wrote it down as normal.

MATT: Okay, so as your halberd swings through this ghost, it still strikes it, and you see its material scatter for a moment, but it seems to be less affected by the corporeal weapon that you thrust through its body.

AABRIA: Fine, magic, Spiritual Weapon.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Big-ass Dawnfather mace, let's go.

MATT: Same guy?

AABRIA: Same guy. Yep, and that's 20 to hit.

MATT: 20 to hit definitely hits.

AABRIA: For 11 more points.

MATT: 11 more points of damage, you got it. Giant Dawnfather mace slams into the back of the ghost and you watch as its somewhat incorporeal form shatters into the mist for a second and reforms, but you can see it's flickering a little bit like it's having a hard time.

AABRIA: Be dead, it's fine.

(laughter)

AABRIA: That's it.

MATT: All right, that finishes your go. FRIDA, you're up.

CHRISTIAN: That tree is about how high up?

MATT: Up here?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, this one here.

MATT: Right here, that's about 20 or so feet up.

TRAVIS: ♪ That tree is ♪ ♪ poison ♪

CHRISTIAN: That's the closest one to me, right?

SAM: ♪ (beatboxes) ♪

TRAVIS and AABRIA: Poison!

CHRISTIAN: I don't know how many feet of movement it takes to get to the base of that tree, but I'd like to get--

MATT: About 15 feet.

CHRISTIAN: So there, and then I would climb 15 feet up.

MATT: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: I will hold my action until I see the stag.

MATT: Okay, make an athletics check for me. Athletics, or acrobatics.

AABRIA: Why are you doing that?

TRAVIS: Don't invoke the stag.

LAURA: No, because it's coming.

CHRISTIAN: I'm saying if it comes.

TRAVIS: If you see the stag.

CHRISTIAN: If I see the stag, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not going to--

AABRIA: Maybe it's just five ghosts. Maybe he built all of that for five ghosts.

SAM: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Yeah. You don't need to bring out some crazy mini with 10 legs and baby arms and shit, you don't need to do that.

CHRISTIAN: What'd you say, athletics?

MATT: Yeah.

CHRISTIAN: 16 plus five, 21.

MATT: Not an issue, you clamber up the side of the tree and get up into the upper branches, pushing through the spores and hanging heavy vines of red and purple flora material, and glance over to keep an eye out. So did you want to look for it?

CHRISTIAN: Can I see it?

MATT: Make a perception check for me.

CHRISTIAN: Okay, sure. Natural 20.

(cheering)

MATT: Natural 20. Great.

CHRISTIAN: It's too early.

TRAVIS: So chill. Ha! I know.

MATT: Glancing around, you quickly look at the landscape around you. You do not see that creature that you had seen when you walked into the city. You do see there are other spirits that are wandering across. Now from this height up, you can see some of the nearby streets. You don't have a bird's eye view of the entire city, but the nearby surrounding two or so streets over, you can see other ghosts wandering through, some of them fading in and fading out. You do see something in the very, very, very tall central tower. Something shifts up there and moves through the shadows.

LAURA: This tower?

MATT: Oh, it's taller than this. This is just one of the nearby towers.

LAURA: This is just a tower?

MATT: Yeah, the central one's probably about this tall.

LAURA: Oh!

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

SAM: And how far away are we from it?

MATT: About 200 feet from where you are now. Inside of that, on the top I see movement?

MATT: You see something shift in one of the open archways near the top of the tower.

ASHLEY: In the big tower, or this one right here?

MATT: The big tower, way off.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: But you do not see the creature.

CHRISTIAN: I'll convey that to you, I'll just say: There's something in that tower watching us.

LAURA: All right.

MATT: All righty.

ASHLEY: Do we just make a run for it, what do we? No, we can't. We got to--

MATT: Does that finish your turn?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, and I'll just hold the action if there's anything else.

MATT: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: I can't shoot. I don't want to make any noise, so I can't shoot.

MATT: This entity here that's been struck by the two weapons (impacts) (groans) looks over towards you and you can see the image of this looks like a young man with shortish, messy, curly, red-orange hair. That little bit of color that can barely see through the blue ghostly apparition. As it looks towards you, this sunken youthfulness that's robbed from it, reaches out and I need you to go ahead and make a charisma saving for me.

SAM: Are you within the circle?

AABRIA: No, I ran away.

SAM: Goddamn it, I said to stay close.

AABRIA: Go fuck yourself.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Dirty 20.

MATT: Dirty 20. As it begins to try and reach into you, its arms begin to pierce into your armor.

TRAVIS: No!

MATT: And you immediately--

SAM: That's Chetney's job.

MATT: -- hold on to the thought of the protection of the Dawnfather, and as you do, a second smaller burst from what you had just released, radiates from the creature. (groans) It pulls away and recoils.

SAM: Nice.

MATT: It is going to shift and move around this way.

AABRIA: Fuck this ginger bitch.

TRAVIS: Piss off, ghost!

MATT: You do get an attack of opportunity against it.

AABRIA: Yeah! Piss off, ghost. Does my-- Yeah, it doesn't matter.

MATT: It's actually going to step here.

TRAVIS: We all need a Korg friend in our life.

AABRIA: Dirty 20.

SAM: Piss off, ghost.

AABRIA: Piss off, ghost. Dirty 20 to hit, for eight points.

MATT: Eight points, you got it. It takes the hit and drifts up into the tree. As you're glancing around amongst the branches, you're looking over, you don't notice it yet as it begins to appear just over your shoulder. We'll get to that later. The other ones are going to swarm in and enter the radius. This one's going to--

LAURA: This is the Spirit Guardian radius?

SAM: Yeah.

LAURA: Sweet.

AABRIA: Get them, little FRIDAs.

MATT: All right, so all three of them entering for the first time on their turn. They all make a wisdom saving throw, correct?

SAM: Yes, 15.

MATT: So that one. That is going to be a failure, a failure, and a failure. All three of them fail, so roll 3d8 damage.

CHRISTIAN: Nice.

SAM: Five, nine, 17.

CHRISTIAN: Nice.

MATT: 17 points of damage to all of them, great. So they enter the area and then are trying to push through this whirlwind of divine energy taking the form of tiny FRIDAs whipping around the group. They get tattered a bit and push through, and still come in to try and--

TRAVIS: ♪ ("Superman" theme) ♪

MATT: -- assault the central group here.

LAURA: You've got one more ghosty that you didn't move, just so you know, Matt, on the other side of that tree.

MATT: Oh yeah, okay.

SAM: And that is radiant.

AABRIA: Okay, calm down.

MATT: That one's going to get that one fails as well. They all take 17 points.

SAM: Nice.

AABRIA: Yeah!

MATT: Except for that one. Chetney, make a charisma saving throw for me, please.

TRAVIS: Oh, okay. Wait, I got things that help me out. No, it's just you, okay, straight up! Charisma saving throw, bam!

SAM: ♪ Straight up now ♪

TRAVIS: Two!

SAM: Oh shit.

LAURA: Oh god.

AABRIA: Baby.

MATT: Okay. The creature lurches forward, and you can see this young teenage girl with these dark circles where the eyes would be, go (screeches) and screech as she reaches forward, and you turn around to try and strike, as she pours into your mouth.

CHRISTIAN: Oh no.

MATT: Suddenly, you see Chetney shake for a second as his eyes go a glowing bright blue.

SAM: Oh no.

MATT: You are currently possessed.

AABRIA: No!

SAM: By a young teenage girl? Has he turned into an influencer?!

TRAVIS: (teen voice) Oh my god.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: (teen voice) It's been 300 years.

SAM: Oh no!

(laughter)

MATT: FCG.

TRAVIS: Catch me on the Toks, y'all.

MATT: I need you to make a charisma saving throw.

SAM: Me?

MATT: Yes.

SAM: Me?

MATT: Yes.

SAM: But I'm a sweet boy.

TRAVIS: No cap.

AABRIA: Chetney keeps yelling, "Follow for follow." And I don't know what that means.

(laughter)

SAM: Let's see here, saving throw. Okay, it's 13.

MATT: 13? Is that your total charisma saving throw?

LAURA: Aw, come on!

MATT: As this older-looking, elven figure lumbers forward towards you, and as it reaches a hand out, it seems to try and stick its hand over towards where the front of your mouth would be.

SAM: Bad touch, bad touch.

MATT: You hold the coin out in front instinctively and it pulls away. It does not manage to possess you.

SAM: Oh, okay.

LAURA: Phew!

MATT: Imogen, I need you to make a charisma save for me, please.

LAURA: Is this a charmed or a frightened effect?

MATT: This technically would be-- No, this is not a charm, this is a possession which is different, so--

SAM: Oh, you know what? Oh, it doesn't matter.

LAURA: Ah, that went so far! 17 plus 10.

SAM: I had advantage on that one.

MATT: 17 plus 10? As it tries to reach out to you, you close off your mind and your spirit and doing so, it tries to reach for you and then there's a flash of psychic energy and it seems to dissipate for a second before it reforms itself. (groans) No effect. Fearne, charisma saving throw for me.

SAM: Come on, Fearnie.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: You're charismatic.

AABRIA: You got this.

ASHLEY: This isn't a spell, this isn't a magical effect or anything like that?

MATT: No, this is a ghostly effect.

ASHLEY: Just regular old possession.

LAURA: Just a regular old possession.

ASHLEY: Just some bullshit, okay. Here we go. All right. 21.

MATT: 21, this final spirit angrily gets pushed back as it tries to enter your body.

ASHLEY: (hisses)

(laughter)

ASHLEY: I don't want it!

MATT: This little pauper-looking elven boy that reaches for you sadly, and then as you do that pulls back (screeching) and seems to give this horrible ghostly screech.

LAURA: Berries and cream. Yeah, I just picture a cute little-- Lord Farquaad?

(laughter)

MATT: That's going to complete their turn.

AABRIA: Chet, what the fuck?

MATT: That brings us now to Imogen.

AABRIA: No! (laughs)

LAURA: All right. Well, that one that's in front of me, I want to get even with.

AABRIA: Help Chet, help Chet.

LAURA: Well, I don't know how to help Chet.

SAM: I could, if I had Spiritually Binded with him.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Oh no!

LAURA: Fuck!

SAM: I'm sorry, buddy.

LAURA: Plus my back was to it, I don't even think I saw that thing enter Chet yet. So the one that's standing in front of FCG and the one that's standing in front of me, I am going to reach my arms out and whip my arms out as fast as I can. I'm going to try to Mind Whip them.

MATT: Mind whip the one that's right in front of you?

LAURA: And the one in front-- I'm doing it at 3rd-level so I can do it in front of FCG as well.

MATT: All right, go for it. Roll for damage, or a saving throw on that?

LAURA: Yeah, that's intelligence saving throw.

MATT: Intelligence on each, got it. That is, oof, an 11, and a seven, both fail.

LAURA: Sweet. So that is 3d6 psychic damage.

CHRISTIAN: ♪ I whip that mind back and forth ♪ ♪ I whip that mind ♪ back and forth ♪

LAURA: Wow, what the fuck?

CHRISTIAN: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

(laughs)

LAURA: Three ones.

CHRISTIAN: What are the chances?

ASHLEY: Oh, what?

LAURA: Three ones.

AABRIA: Why? Don't do that.

LAURA: Three points of damage, but-- Wow. They both can't take a reaction until the end of their turn.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Moreover, on their next turns, they must choose whether they move, take an action, or take a bonus action. They can only do one of the three.

SAM: Whoa.

MATT: Good to know.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay. That's good.

MATT: Two of those.

SAM: The ones near us, their speed is halved.

MATT: Indeed it is.

SAM: Okay.

AABRIA: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

MATT: All righty, that's great.

LAURA: Great. So in that case, I will-- I'm going to move away from the one in front of me, since it can't react.

MATT: All right. Where are you moving?

LAURA: I'm going to move out this way.

MATT: This way?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay, how many feet?

LAURA: Actually, I can move past through both of them because they both can't hit me.

MATT: Correct.

LAURA: So I'll come up-- Is that a fountain or a pedestal thing in the middle?

MATT: Yeah, this is a pedestal in the center of the--

TRAVIS: (whispering) It's a stairway down.

ASHLEY: A well?

AABRIA: Stop.

TRAVIS: I don't know.

LAURA: Is it solid?

MATT: You can't really tell from this point.

LAURA: I'm going to stand up on the edge of it and walk around the edge of it.

MATT: It takes about 10 feet of movement to get up onto it, but as you stand up there, you can see it is a dried fountain, but a bunch of a structure has fallen and crumbled into it so now it's filled with rubble. But it is a rough terrain platform, but a platform.

LAURA: Okay, then I'll come around this side of it.

MATT: This side over here?

LAURA: ♪ (trilling) ♪ Yeah.

MATT: Still standing on it?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay, there you go.

LAURA: Higher ground.

MATT: All right, that finishes your go. Fearne, you're up, with Chetney on deck.

ASHLEY: All right. I'm going to shoot out-- No. I'm bamfing out Mister, for one.

MATT: Okay. Where are you putting him?

ASHLEY: Which is a bonus action. On my shoulder.

MATT: All right.

ASHLEY: Then--

MATT: (hoots)

ASHLEY: This is my son.

MATT: (chuckles)

ASHLEY: Then I'm going to shoot out three Scorching Marisha Rays.

MATT: You got it.

AABRIA: (laughs)

LAURA: Can I do my bonus action as well?

MATT: Sure.

LAURA: Can I try to take my bonus action? I'm going to try to, as I move back, I look up and I can see the ghosty that's next to FRIDA.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

LAURA: I'm going to try to telekinetically shove, I don't know if it's going to work, telekinetically shove--

MATT: Sure. That's a strength?

MATT: Yeah.

MATT: That's a failure, so you do. You mentally force it backwards outward this way and it is now a little further back in the tree, pushing it through the tree. You see it (poof) and vanish into and out the other side.

CHRISTIAN: Would I become aware of it?

MATT: All you see is her go (grunt) up in your direction and by the time you turn around, it's not there.

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: So you're a little confused. But you assume there's probably something dangerous nearby.

CHRISTIAN: Sure.

MATT: Sorry, Fearne, which ones are you targeting?

ASHLEY: All right, so.

MATT: One or ones?

ASHLEY: Two, let's do two on the ground and seeing Imogen do that--

MATT: These two here?

ASHLEY: Up behind FRIDA, yes. I'm going to shoot one up there.

MATT: Okay, so one, two, three?

ASHLEY: Yes, let's do that.

MATT: You got it.

ASHLEY: Okay. 16 for the first hit.

MATT: Okay, that hits.

ASHLEY: 28 for the second.

MATT: That hits.

ASHLEY: And 20 for the third.

SAM: Dang.

MATT: That hits.

ASHLEY: ♪ Woo hoo ♪ All right.

CHRISTIAN: Miss Calloway is on fire.

ASHLEY: The first hit is nine.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Four and eight.

LAURA: Nice.

MATT: Fantastic. So those take the hits (rapid thudding). As they get impacted by it, the blasts hit, but the flames don't have much to burn. So while they seem to react to it, it doesn't have as much of an impact as you would hope.

ASHLEY: Bummer.

TRAVIS: Oh shit.

MATT: All righty.

TRAVIS: Resist fire? Are they resistant to fire?

ASHLEY: I think so.

MATT: Does that finish your turn?

ASHLEY: Does it look like they took damage at all?

MATT: Well, they may have taken a little damage but not as much as you had hoped.

LAURA: They're resistant to fire.

ASHLEY: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: And non-magical items, is that true?

LAURA: I don't know about non-magical items.

TRAVIS: I think so, because her halberd--

CHRISTIAN: Right.

ASHLEY: Because am I in close? What's the one right there?

MATT: There's one right in front of you right there.

ASHLEY: Okay, so I'm just going to stay.

CHRISTIAN: Wow. I got nothing.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: I'm going to stay.

MATT: All righty. Chet.

TRAVIS: Yah?

(laughter)

TRAVIS: --ss. Yaaas?

MATT: You--

AABRIA: She keeps calling everyone "queen."

MATT: You feel yourself recede within yourself.

TRAVIS: ♪ Nah ♪

MATT: You can sense your surroundings, but you have lost control of your body.

TRAVIS: Ooh.

AABRIA: Sunken Place, bitch, let's go!

MATT: Kind of, yeah.

AABRIA: Get Out.

MATT and AABRIA: (laugh)

MATT: In this instance, you feel your body spin around and I need you to make two strikes.

(laughter)

LAURA: Why is your teenage girl like--

TRAVIS: Listen, I don't fucking-- I don't know.

(laughter)

MATT: Yeah, take your scythe.

AABRIA: Just duck walks over.

MATT: Make two attacks on FCG for me, please.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: On FCG, okay.

ASHLEY: I love it.

TRAVIS: Ah, yes. That's cocked. That's a 20-- 19 to hit?

SAM: That hits.

CHRISTIAN: Oh no.

MATT: And the second strike.

TRAVIS: Oh, it's a 15 to hit.

SAM: That misses.

MATT: All right.

AABRIA: Woo!

MATT: So roll damage once.

AABRIA: Oh no.

TRAVIS: I did not do my Crimson Rite on this yet.

MATT: You did not.

TRAVIS: Ooh, nine. 14 for the first one.

MATT: Well, just one hit.

SAM: That's just it.

TRAVIS: Oh, that's right.

MATT: 14, did you add your thunder damage?

TRAVIS: Thank you.

AABRIA: Stop that.

TRAVIS: What is it? It's a d8, right?

AABRIA: What if you just forgot?

MATT: What if?

AABRIA: What if? We could live in that world.

TRAVIS: What if?

MATT: That's true, that's true.

TRAVIS: I think it's a d8. 1d8 thunder damage. That'll be a three.

MATT: So an additional three points of thunder damage.

LAURA: Does that make a loud, thundery noise?

MATT: It doesn't make a loud thundering noise. It makes a small thundering noise, a little (crackle).

SAM: So what is it, thunder damage?

MATT: 17 points of damage to you total.

TRAVIS: Yeah, 17 total.

SAM: Whew.

AABRIA: (whispering) 17.

SAM: Wow. (teen voice) It's giving thunder.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: I don't even know what that means.

MATT: So as you're focused outward, hoping the Guardians are holding form, the ghosts surrounding, suddenly (crackles) you take one strike from the side and you turn around at Chetney and you can see the eyes glowing with this bright blue spiritual energy that's snaking out of the top of his eyes.

SAM: Chetney, what's gotten into you?

TRAVIS: (laughs)

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

SAM: Go on, say something.

AABRIA: Her name's Rebecca.

(laughter)

AABRIA: And she loves Fridays.

TRAVIS: Yaaas. (laughs)

MATT: Okay.

SAM: Why do you keep saying "Yaaas"?

TRAVIS: I don't know, I was going to say "Facts, true." I don't know. I don't know any lingo.

(laughter)

SAM: Just say OMG.

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: OMG.

MATT: FCG, it's your turn.

SAM: Oh, it's my turn?

MATT: Yeah.

AABRIA: Maybe you'll get a chance to shake it off.

MATT: There's no saving throw.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

AABRIA: Oh shit.

SAM: There's no saving throw?

AABRIA: Okay.

SAM: Oh shit.

LAURA: It's a possession? How do you get a possessee out?

MATT: I don't know, how do you do that?

AABRIA: We've probably got to beat the ghost out of him.

LAURA: I feel like we should know this from previous campaigns, but I don't remember.

TRAVIS: I think some clerics have to do a Restoration.

SAM: We don't have that-- I don't have that prepared.

AABRIA: I do.

SAM: Oh, thank god.

ASHLEY: Have a what?

SAM: (laughs)

SAM: I prepared for battle.

LAURA: You're the worst cleric.

SAM: I didn't prepare for--

LAURA: The worst.

SAM: I am the worst cleric. We've never had a worse cleric.

MATT: Well, worst cleric, it's your turn.

(laughter)

SAM: I'm going to walk a little bit towards the tree.

TRAVIS: Meat tongue.

MATT: All right.

SAM: To see if I can include FRIDA's creature in my-- Is the tree 15 feet up?

MATT: He's about 20 feet up.

SAM: Ah, so I can't get it in there.

LAURA: (laughs)

(laughter)

SAM: Boy. Boy, oh boy, oh boy. Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. What do I do? What do I do? What do I say?

TRAVIS: ♪ Too much to do ♪

SAM: ♪ Oh ♪ Oh man. What do these guys don't like? All right, I'm going to attack some things.

LAURA: (whispering) Anybody want half of a Cadbury Creme Egg?

SAM: I'll do Sacred Flame--

MATT: Okay.

SAM: -- up at the one in the tree.

MATT: Go for it.

AABRIA: Lick it and pass it.

MATT: Since it is partially obscured by the tree, it does have half cover. So it does get an additional plus two to its AC.

TRAVIS: (retches)

MATT: So go ahead and roll.

SAM: Okay. Oh no, it's a dexterity save.

LAURA: It's so good.

MATT: Oh, that's right. So plus two to its dex save, got it.

SAM: I will do it, yeah, as a Divine Strike. I think I can do that.

MATT: Divine Strike? No, that's your physical attack.

SAM: Oh, that has to be physical?

MATT: Correct. It does fail its saving throw, though.

SAM: Okay, so 2d8 damage.

MATT: 2d8 radiant damage to it.

SAM: Eight. Three, 11 points.

MATT: Okay. 11 points of damage to it. As you (swoosh) release your bolt upward, it bursts into the side of the tree, singeing some of the outside dangling bits of red and brown and gray hanging leaves and vines and the spirit gets struck and begins to pull partway into the tree but what's now visible outside is now glittering with divine energy.

SAM: Okay, and then as a bonus action, my Spiritual Weapon did such shit damage, so I'm going to-- I feel like I'm a close friend to FRIDA at this point, since we've swapped spit.

MATT: I'd say so.

TRAVIS: Lubricant?

AABRIA: Who's got spit?!

CHRISTIAN: Oil.

LAURA: Yeah, oil. Swapped oil.

AABRIA: FRIDA, you got spit?

TRAVIS: The meat tongue secretes.

ASHLEY: Swapped oil.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Ugh.

SAM: I will give him...

TRAVIS: (rolls tongue thickly)

SAM: Oh yeah.

AABRIA: (laughing) No.

SAM: I'm going to give him--

TRAVIS: Another thing.

SAM: -- the boon. What is it? (quickly mumbling description) Channel Divinity? No, what is it? Goddamn it. Trusted Companion? I'm going to give him a Bonded Blessing.

MATT: Bonded Blessing.

SAM: Yes.

MATT: All righty.

AABRIA: Aw!

SAM: So you have a d6 on any roll you want to use it on.

CHRISTIAN: Okay, once?

MATT: Yes.

SAM: Yes.

CHRISTIAN: Thank you.

MATT: You got it.

SAM: That's it.

TRAVIS: "My love."

MATT: All right.

TRAVIS: "Thank you, my love."

CHRISTIAN: Thank you, my love.

MATT: Finishing your turn, Deanna.

SAM: Wait, are we--

TRAVIS: "Thank you, my love!"

SAM: Do you love me?

MATT: You're up.

CHRISTIAN: Conversation for another time. Conversation for another time!

MATT: With FRIDA on deck.

SAM: Are we saying those three words?

AABRIA: That's so interesting. Okay, so I know last time--

CHRISTIAN: That's Fresh Cut Grass.

AABRIA: -- I said I didn't keep any diamond dust, but I feel like the mom in Deanna would have kept a little emergency snack pack of dust.

MATT: I'll allow it.

AABRIA: Thank you.

TRAVIS: A little Pixie Stick?

AABRIA: Just one little Pixie Stick for your kid.

MATT: Look, if you got spells prepared that use that that you only realized now is a resource, that's fine.

SAM: I definitely have it.

AABRIA: Thank you.

SAM: Do you want to just use mine?

AABRIA: No.

TRAVIS: I always said that.

SAM: Could we have shared it?

AABRIA: Let me have this.

CHRISTIAN: For some people, it's the beginning of a bad road.

AABRIA: Well, let me get one hit on. No, is the guy in front of me?

MATT: There is one person immediately to your right.

AABRIA: No. Then I'm going to run-- No. I'm making a beeline for Chet.

MATT: Okay.

AABRIA: I'm going to go to Chetney.

MATT: You're heading up to the edge there and Chetney is currently now scythe out, focused on where FCG ran away and is pulling the scythe back and about to rush after.

AABRIA: Sweet. I want to grab Chet's face--

MATT: Mm-hmm.

AABRIA: -- and in a dual voice, I think Deanna is yelling the spell component for Greater Restoration while the Dawnfather yells at the--

SAM: (deeply) Greater Restoration

AABRIA: -- the ghost inside and says, "Get out!"

SAM: (deeply) "Get out."

TRAVIS: As if.

AABRIA: And will cast Greater Restoration.

SAM: You prepared that?

MATT: Greater Restoration.

TRAVIS: As if.

AABRIA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Gag me with a spoon.

AABRIA: Are you looking up teen slang?

TRAVIS: "Teen Slang Dictionary for Parents."

AABRIA: Do you know this?

ASHLEY: Oh wow.

AABRIA: I will curb stomp you, little girl. Get out of my man.

LAURA: Wow.

TRAVIS: Sicc!

(laughter)

TRAVIS: It's with a 'c.'

AABRIA: Bitch. (laughs)

MATT: As you gather that handful of diamond dust--

TRAVIS: AF!

SAM: Oh, AF's good.

MATT: -- and punch forward with it, releasing it in the direction of Chetney as it suddenly brightens--

SAM: Just AF.

MATT: -- like an ignited flare.

LAURA: AF.

MATT: As it hits and strikes--

TRAVIS: Gucci.

MATT: -- Chetney's body, the--

(laughter)

AABRIA: That's like the shit I say.

SAM: Gucci AF.

MATT: He begins to scream for no sound, the mouth opens and you watch the spirit (energy blast) pushed out behind Chetney.

TRAVIS: That was GOATed.

MATT: (spirit whooshes)

SAM: (laughs)

LAURA: He's rolling for--

AABRIA: Why?

LAURA: -- how dumb you are.

CHRISTIAN: We're all going to be attacked on the internet.

ASHLEY: Boosh!

AABRIA: Sweet.

LAURA: Thank god.

TRAVIS: That hits different.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LAURA: Don't possess him ever again--

SAM: That does hit different.

LAURA: -- so we don't have to deal with that.

AABRIA: Incredible.

TRAVIS: I got snatched.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: I'm so thirsty. YOLO!

SAM: I'm so Gucci!

TRAVIS: I just got yeeted.

AABRIA: Hey, fun fact.

TRAVIS: Yeeted!

AABRIA: This is all just AAVE, so I understand it perfectly. Then bonus action, Spiritual Weapon. Let's tag that bitch that was inside of Chetney.

TRAVIS: Yassify.

ASHLEY: Ya!

(laughter)

AABRIA: Sure.

CHRISTIAN: Residual possession.

MATT: You can keep attacking Chetney, if you want.

AABRIA: I do want to keep attacking Chetney. (laughs) It's a 20.

MATT: You're moving it to which one?

LAURA: You are no longer possessed.

TRAVIS: That's some good tea. (croaking)

AABRIA: He's just liking it now. Yeah, we're going to move it to the little girl ghost.

MATT: You got it. Go for it.

CHRISTIAN: Are you not also wearing a Juicy tracksuit?

LAURA: Oh my god, that's right.

TRAVIS: I'm a trendsetter.

AABRIA: 20 to hit.

MATT: 20 hits.

TRAVIS: Don't sleep on these dope threads.

AABRIA: For 11 points.

SAM: Don't sleep on these dope threads.

TRAVIS: It's a good list.

MATT: All right.

SAM: It's good, huh?

TRAVIS: Slay.

MATT: (swoosh) As the mace strikes the spirit that just got knocked out of Chetney, you see the creature, the special entity (raspy gasps) turn around and you can see it's flickering in the mist that seems to be swirling through it. It's trying to find and maintain its anchor present and it's starting to show some challenge in doing so.

AABRIA: Chet, are you good?

TRAVIS: I'm good. I'm a little salty.

SAM: (laughs)

TRAVIS: OMG.

AABRIA: I hate it. I hate it.

TRAVIS: Oh, okay.

AABRIA: I hate it.

(laughs)

MATT: Finishing your turn, FRIDA, you're up.

TRAVIS: Low key, I'm feeling lit.

TRAVIS, MATT, and AABRIA: (laugh)

SAM: Low key, I'm definitely lit.

TRAVIS: I'm going to keep this open for the whole game.

AABRIA: "Low key" got me.

MATT: I will kill your character.

TRAVIS: Go off, Mercer.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Go off.

AABRIA: I'll race you.

TRAVIS: Shoot, what?

MATT: You're on. FRIDA, what are you doing?

CHRISTIAN: I don't know. Well, I see Imogen motion towards me, so I'll turn around and see that spirit.

MATT: You can see partway in the tree, struck by FCG's divine spell, this ghostly entity that's half-visible.

CHRISTIAN: I will flip the coat aside, pull out a crossbow and shoot as I fall back.

SAM: Yeah!

ASHLEY: Cool.

AABRIA: Let's go.

MATT: Okay, go for it.

AABRIA: If they use another big spell on you, I swear to god, if you get possessed again, I'll fucking kill you.

TRAVIS and AABRIA: (laugh)

CHRISTIAN: 14.

MATT: 14, 14 does hit.

AABRIA: Woo.

MATT: Roll damage.

CHRISTIAN: Okay, 1d8 plus four. 10. 10 points of damage.

MATT: 10 points of damage, great.

CHRISTIAN: I'll fall, I guess I am trying to land next to Imogen, but maybe that doesn't work out. I don't know.

MATT: Okay. (boom) I'll say the blast, if you're releasing and letting it push you back, you can catch the edge. Make an acrobatics check to try and land that.

AABRIA: Let's go.

SAM: Come on.

AABRIA: Land cool, land cool.

CHRISTIAN: 14.

MATT: 14, you catch it and prevent yourself from falling forward. You do still take from not a perfect hit two points of bludgeoning damage. Just (thud) as you land a little incorrectly, but still catch yourself there. The rest of you hear (lightning).

CHRISTIAN: No, no, no, no, it was my crossbow.

MATT: Oh, it's the crossbow.

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

MATT: Sorry, I misunderstood.

TRAVIS: It's that blippity blip.

MATT: You hear that in another reality.

(laughter)

MATT: Instead, (thwack).

AABRIA: I could hear both.

MATT: Crossbow goes free and drifts through it. It doesn't do as much damage as you would've hoped.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, sure.

MATT: As a corporeal weapon. But nevertheless, the creature, the ghost entity does seem to be affected by it somewhat and is now zeroing in at your direction.

CHRISTIAN: I'll shoot another because I have the two attacks.

MATT: You do, go for it.

CHRISTIAN: I'll shoot another crossbow at it.

MATT: Go for it.

CHRISTIAN: I mean, I know it does nothing.

AABRIA: Crossbow bolt. You did that.

CHRISTIAN: Where the hell? Eight plus 10, 18.

MATT: 18 hits.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, okay. 1d8 plus four. I just had a d8.

SAM: Attacks suck for me.

CHRISTIAN: Five points of damage.

MATT: Five points of damage, all right. This one, you can see now as it's moving its way through the tree towards you clambering, the crossbow bolt actually goes through it (thud) and sticks into the tree and you see it tries to move forward and has to tear itself free from where it was almost pinned there. It's looking like it's having a hard time keeping itself present. Does that finish your turn?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

MATT: All righty. It is now their turn. Every single entity in this space here where FCG is, which is--

SAM: Almost everyone.

MATT: -- up to that height. No, it wouldn't get there from halfway. So it would be that one, that one and that one. All but the one that's up there. One, two, three, yep, okay. That's a fail.

LAURA: (laughs)

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

ASHLEY: Nice.

MATT: That's a fail.

CHRISTIAN: Nice.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: So to that degree.

SAM: So just three of them?

MATT: Just three of them. So roll damage on that.

SAM: 3d8.

MATT: Fourth one, fails again, all four hit.

AABRIA: Great.

CHRISTIAN: Nice!

SAM: One, four.

AABRIA: Can you fucking roll your dice better?

SAM: 11.

MATT: 11 points of damage.

AABRIA: Yeah, all right. It's a one, roll it.

LAURA: He just drops.

AABRIA: I don't get. I don't like it.

TRAVIS: It's a Sam thing.

AABRIA: I know, but I don't like it.

TRAVIS: It's sus.

AABRIA: Can we have it--

LAURA: It's sus.

AABRIA: Hella sus.

LAURA: What if he picks it up like this and goes like--

TRAVIS: Okay.

SAM: You cap it.

(laughter)

ASHLEY: What if he does--

SAM: Cap.

AABRIA: Almost, almost.

CHRISTIAN: This was a little experiment.

LAURA: What if I do it even lower? Nope.

MATT: You're still--

(laughter)

MATT: No, I think it would've been this one. The one that was pushed out of Chetney and was knocked backward, suddenly is (gasping explosion) dissipated from the strike of your Spiritual Guardians.

SAM: Thank you, small FRIDA.

LAURA: Thank you.

AABRIA: Bye, bitch.

TRAVIS: You got shook.

LAURA: Thank you for killing that one.

MATT: You're welcome.

AABRIA: (laughs)

MATT: The other one's looking a little worse for wear and having a tough time. They're still also having a hard time moving forward. This one's going to keep striking towards you, Fearne.

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: This one's going to move up to you since you have not been targeted by it.

LAURA: But it can't be, it can't attack.

MATT: Correct.

LAURA: He can only move there.

MATT: That's right, so it moves up and that finishes its turn. This one also, it's going to--

CHRISTIAN: Good looking, Imogen.

MATT: -- here, and can't do anything. This one, which is unaffected by the Spiritual Guardians, is going to drift down, to try and catch into this space here. It does enter the Spiritual Guardians' radius.

SAM: Hey!

AABRIA: Let's go.

MATT: And fails, so.

SAM: Yeah!

ASHLEY: Yes.

SAM: Same roll?

MATT: No, you go and roll damage again for that.

SAM: Okay.

TRAVIS: Yeah. They simped for that.

LAURA: Roll better!

SAM: Two. Six.

AABRIA: God, baffle your fucking dice.

SAM: 11 again.

CHRISTIAN: All right.

MATT: (exploding)

TRAVIS: Oh!

(cheering)

MATT: It's destroyed and dissipated by that.

TRAVIS: Ghosted.

AABRIA: Good job, little FRIDAs!

SAM: Ghosted.

MATT: Only one of them can take an action because of Imogen's last round.

SAM: Yes.

AABRIA: Let's go.

MATT: This one's going to use its Horrifying Visage.

AABRIA: Oh!

MATT: You watch as the one that's in front of you, Fearne, suddenly extends its body and you watch all its features stretch in terrifying nightmarish ways. Its jaw descends open wide and you see six or seven tongues (slurps) lash out of it.

(screaming)

MATT: Its arms extend out and everyone within a 60-foot radius, I need you--

LAURA: (squeals) 60-foot radius!?

MATT: Yep, to make a wisdom saving throw for me.

ASHLEY: Oh boy.

MATT: That's all of you.

TRAVIS: Do it for the squad.

LAURA: God.

SAM: (laughs)

AABRIA: That's so interesting.

CHRISTIAN: Doesn't look good.

TRAVIS: What kind of saving throw, sorry?

MATT and LAURA: Wisdom.

TRAVIS: Thank you, thank you. I have advantage.

ASHLEY: Oh, wisdom--

LAURA: Wait, is it frightened?

MATT: It is.

LAURA: (laughs) ♪ Come and knock ♪ on our door ♪

AABRIA: Oh wait, does this count as magic?

LAURA: I still didn't roll well. 11.

MATT: 11?

ASHLEY: Oh yeah.

AABRIA: Does this count as magic?

MATT: You are very much frightened.

ASHLEY: Magical effect?

AABRIA: Or like gnome shit?

MATT: No.

ASHLEY: Spell effect?

MATT: This is being genuinely scared of something, so.

CHRISTIAN: Can I use my boon?

MATT: Yeah, if you want to.

CHRISTIAN: Okay, yes, because it's a seven right now. 11.

MATT: You are also frightened.

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

SAM: Oh no.

LAURA: We're all so scared.

SAM: Go off, King.

ASHLEY: 11.

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

MATT: Wow, y'all.

AABRIA: Why did you wait for me to be here for this? This feels personal.

MATT: FCG.

TRAVIS: Simping.

SAM: 14.

MATT: 14. You manage to shake it off, not so scared as the rest of your compatriots. Deanna.

AABRIA: Oh. 19.

MATT: 19, you're fine.

LAURA: You.

TRAVIS: Oh, 15.

MATT: 15, you're also fine. So three members of your troop suddenly go wide-eyed, realizing the true terror of what is emerging.

ASHLEY: I'm scared, I'm scared!

AABRIA: It's okay, it's okay.

SAM: Fearne, no.

MATT: Imogen, your turn.

LAURA: Okay, so if I'm scared, what can I do?

MATT: You can't move closer to it, and any of the rolls, while you can see it, that you make are at disadvantage.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Or attacks.

LAURA: All right, then in that case, I will do something that does not take-- and I can't attack it?

MATT: You can attack it. You just have disadvantage on anything that is an attack roll.

TRAVIS: Requestion?

LAURA: Okay.

AABRIA: No. That's made up.

LAURA: Okay. Then I'm going to try, pfft.

CHRISTIAN: It's like ChatGPT slang.

LAURA: I'm going to, (robot beeping) I'm sorry.

MATT: That's okay.

LAURA: I am going to--

MATT: Fearne, you're on deck.

LAURA: (British accent) All right, I am going to--

SAM and LAURA: (British accent) All right.

ASHLEY: (British accent) All right.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

AABRIA: Several Russell Brands have entered this chat.

LAURA: We've got two of these buddies. Right?

MATT: There are two that you can--

LAURA: Two buddies left?

MATT: -- hardly see. Yes.

LAURA: Okay, I'm going to use a sorcery point to twin my spell.

MATT: All righty.

LAURA: I'm going to cast Dissonant Whispers on both of them.

MATT: All righty.

LAURA: So in their heads, they're going to get scared back.

MATT: Okay.

AABRIA: (gasps) Yeah, that's cool.

MATT: What's the wisdom--

LAURA: That's a wisdom saving throw for both of them.

MATT: Fail. Four and an eight, they both fail.

LAURA: Great, so that's 3d6 psychic damage--

MATT: I'm rolling terribly tonight.

AABRIA: Oh my gosh.

ASHLEY: Yes.

LAURA: If I actually roll-- I'm scared to roll. Okay, I'm going to go like this. Three plus--

AABRIA: Okay.

LAURA: Four.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: Seven points of psychic damage to each of them.

MATT: Seven points of psychic--

AABRIA: That's not that bad.

SAM: That's bad.

LAURA: That's pretty bad.

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

MATT: Both of them (crackles)--

AABRIA: We're supportive.

MATT: -- kind of withdraw from the blast of psychic energy. You can see both of the ghosts themselves are, they're still tethered to their hungry nature, but they're also having a hard time staying ethereal within this plane.

LAURA: They both have to immediately move as far away from me as they possibly can.

MATT: You got it, both of them (ghostly exhale) drift this direction and this one (ghostly exhale) that way. FCG and FRIDA, you both have attacks of opportunity if you'd like.

SAM: Oh.

CHRISTIAN: At disadvantage?

MATT: Well no. This is forced movement, right?

AABRIA: Yeah.

MATT: Does it say it moves them or they they must move?

LAURA: The creature must immediately use its reaction, if available, and move as far as its speed allows. It's not a forced move.

MATT: It's not a forced movement. That would be a attack opportunity on each of you. So yeah, both of you can make an attack on him.

CHRISTIAN: Do I get an attack of opportunity with a ranged weapon?

MATT: If you have a melee weapon, no.

CHRISTIAN: If I have a melee weapon, I can--

MATT: Yeah, do you have one?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, I do. I have a scimitar.

MATT: You pull it out quickly and (whooshing).

AABRIA: Cut off his hands.

TRAVIS: Bam!

MATT: FCG.

SAM: Am I allowed to use Divine Strike on this? Probably not, right?

MATT: Yeah, it's still an attack.

SAM: Okay, I'll use the old hand saw.

MATT: Go for it.

SAM: (saw blade whirring)

SAM: 13, 18 to hit.

MATT: 18 hits.

AABRIA: Let's go!

SAM: Plus a Divine Strike.

MATT: That's a d8.

AABRIA: That's d8, baby!

MATT: d8 of radiant damage to whatever you're doing.

SAM: Okay.

LAURA: See, so even though I only did seven points of damage, really I'm doing whatever damage you're doing.

SAM: That's right.

AABRIA: Yeah, that counts. Attribution's so important.

SAM: 12 points.

MATT: 12 points?

SAM: Yeah.

LAURA: Nice.

MATT: As this one darts away from you, FCG, you carve out with your buzz saw. (blade slices) As you do "(dry shriek)" it scatters and vanishes into the mist.

ASHLEY: Nice!

TRAVIS: Unleash the monster, FCG, keep going.

SAM: Yeah!

CHRISTIAN: 19 to hit with the scimitar.

MATT: That hits.

CHRISTIAN: Then 10 points damage.

MATT: A 10 points damage. Is it a magical weapon?

CHRISTIAN: No.

MATT: No? So that's five.

CHRISTIAN: Just a plain old scimitar.

MATT: All right, so you strike it with the scimitar and it (hollow roar) scatters away.

TRAVIS: Lovely.

MATT: You can see it beginning to try and reach out for the mists around it. It's looking like it's quite hurt as far as an undead spectral entity can be.

CHRISTIAN: Cool.

MATT: Finish your turn, Imogen?

LAURA: Where's the Spiritual Guardian start?

MATT: Right here.

LAURA: Okay. Then yeah, that's all I'm going to do.

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

ASHLEY: All right. Well, to start, Mister's real mad, so he's going to shoot some flame seeds--

LAURA: I'm going to move into the--

ASHLEY: -- even though I know fire doesn't do a lot, but this is what he can do.

LAURA: -- bubble.

ASHLEY: So.

MATT: Move around.

LAURA: Yeah.

AABRIA: Oh, we start pulling up on these guys?

ASHLEY: 14.

MATT: 14?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Yep, that hits.

ASHLEY: Yeah? Okay? So--

AABRIA: Good job, Mister!

ASHLEY: Good job.

MATT: (monkey chattering, grunting shriek)

ASHLEY: Yeah, you get him.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: Chuck some flying monkey turd at a ghost.

TRAVIS: I love how he did the fastball grip, too.

MATT: Yep.

TRAVIS: Clear.

ASHLEY: Okay. Six points of damage.

AABRIA: He knows what's up.

MATT: Six points of fire damage?

ASHLEY: Fire damage.

MATT: All righty.

ASHLEY: Then I'm going to shoot out an Ice Knife.

MATT: Go for it.

AABRIA: Ooh!

AABRIA: A Song of Ice and Fire.

MATT: Is that a-- You're rolling to attack?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Okay, go for it. You have disadvantage on this because you are frightened.

ASHLEY: Okay.

AABRIA: Oh, beans.

TRAVIS: Oh, beans. (laughs)

AABRIA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Okay. 23 with disadvantage.

MATT: 23 at disadvantage? All right, that still hits. Go ahead and roll damage.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: There's still the one that's right in front of you, by the way, too.

ASHLEY: Oh, that's the one that I'm-- That's the one that I'm going for.

MATT: Okay. Ice Knife does a radial damage, so you will hit yourself.

ASHLEY: Oh.

MATT: Just so you know.

ASHLEY: Oh, oh, that's right. Okay. Wait, hang on.

TRAVIS: Are there two ghosts left or one?

AABRIA: I also feel too close to that.

MATT: There's one over there and there's one over here.

AABRIA: I don't like that.

ASHLEY: Yeah, that's a little too close.

ASHLEY: "You create a shard of ice and fling it at one creature within a range."

MATT: You can move back and do it.

AABRIA: Stop.

MATT: What?

AABRIA: (laughs) I hear you. That's funny, but not right now.

AABRIA'S WATCH: I'll take that as a compliment.

AABRIA: Shut up!

TRAVIS: Tell her to relax!

(laughter)

AABRIA: Why?

ASHLEY: Okay.

AABRIA: Girl.

SAM: (Siri) "I can't do that right now."

AABRIA: Girl, you got to fucking say less.

ASHLEY: That's not in my fire (high-pitched mumbling). All right, I'm going to back up. I'm going to back up. I'm really sorry everybody.

MATT: All right, you back out of the way.

SAM: And you oop.

MATT: This one does get a reaction on you. It's going to make a Withering Touch towards you and strike out.

AABRIA: So clinical.

MATT: That is going to be a 21 to hit.

ASHLEY: That hits.

SAM: No!

TRAVIS: Fearne, no!

MATT: You take--

AABRIA: What the fuck did you back up for?

ASHLEY: I don't know, I'm making bad decisions.

SAM: You told her to.

MATT: 17 points of necrotic damage.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: As it suddenly thrusts its ghostly arm through your body as you move away from it.

SAM: I'll take half of it.

ASHLEY: Oh, (stammering).

MATT: Do you take half of it?

SAM: I'll take half of it.

MATT: Okay. So that's eight points of damage that you take as temporary hit points and you take only nine.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: (groans and winces)

ASHLEY: All right, so I rolled...

LAURA: (whispers) What happened?

SAM: Fearne got hit

CHRISTIAN: She took 17 points of damage.

ASHLEY: I got hit.

CHRISTIAN: But FCG took half of it.

LAURA: What came? Did something--

SAM: Matt told her to back away, she backed away--

MATT: I said she can.

SAM: And she got hit.

TRAVIS: Provoked an attack of opportunity.

ASHLEY: All right, so I rolled six points of damage for the Ice Knife.

MATT: Six points of damage.

ASHLEY: Piercing damage.

MATT: All right.

AABRIA: Don't let me have wasted that spell slot. Get in here, motherfucker.

MATT: (cracking) You watch as the Ice Knife explodes, impacts and shoots outward and shards of angry ice it seems to form a frozen image of this ghost as the back,

(fluttering whoosh)

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Vanishes and the ice, (crackles) cracks and crumbles to the ground.

CHRISTIAN: There is no that hangs low for you to take.

AABRIA: That's very cool.

ASHLEY: All right, are we affected by that at all?

AABRIA: Okay.

ASHLEY: No?

AABRIA: Okay.

MATT: Deanna technically was just out of the radius over here.

AABRIA: Thanks.

ASHLEY: Phew, thank god.

LAURA: The one that frightened us--

AABRIA: It's a little snow cone at me. (soft impact)

LAURA: Is that the one that died or was it...

MATT: The one that frightened you just died.

AABRIA: Mango.

(laughter)

MATT: All righty, and so the frightened wears off and Fearne, does that finish your turn?

ASHLEY: I'm not scared anymore. (shouts) I'm not scared of it anymore.

SAM: That's great. Own your power, girl.

ASHLEY: I am, I'm finding my personal power.

MATT: Oh my god.

ASHLEY: My PP.

(laughter)

MATT: Does that finish your turn?

ASHLEY: That's the end of my turn.

MATT: Chetney, you're up.

TRAVIS: Oh, here, here we go. Cavalry. Take 35 feet and I'll run towards the last remaining ghost, up and over the log.

MATT: Three, four, five, six. What's your movement?

TRAVIS: 35.

MATT: 35 gets you right next to it.

TRAVIS: Oh cool, two swings, baby. One. 21 to hit.

MATT: That hits, go ahead and roll damage.

TRAVIS: Amazing. Oh, that's two. Should have done my bonus action, crimson rite. What the fuck's the matter with me?

SAM: It's only got like five hit points left.

TRAVIS: 11 points of slashing damage.

AABRIA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: How do you want to do this?

(cheering)

TRAVIS: I'll reach up and say: No cap!

(blades swishing)

LAURA: (groans)

ASHLEY: Oh.

SAM: There you go. There you go, you got it right.

TRAVIS: Flex. GOATing! And I'll--

AABRIA: Every time you say something, that's more damage for me.

(laughter)

AABRIA: I'll take half.

MATT: You kill it.

(laughter)

SAM: You're killing it.

MATT: That's what you get.

SAM: You're killing it.

MATT: That's what you get.

ASHLEY: You killed it.

LAURA: It dies.

AABRIA: Correct.

MATT: It's done.

AABRIA: Slang answer, say less.

TRAVIS: As this whole semblance of any teenage...

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Bingo.

AABRIA: Beautiful.

MATT: The spectral anchors of the ghostly spirit finally leaves in its entirety as you stand there, arc just completed of your spinning scythe, the memory of Eshteross also pushed through this ghostly entity as it (creature whooshing) scatters outward.

TRAVIS: Oh shit, that's right.

SAM: That was the ghost of Eshteross?

AABRIA: What?

MATT: No, just saying, the weapon you're holding.

TRAVIS and ASHLEY: Oh.

SAM: Oh, that's better.

ASHLEY: I was like, where'd he come from?

TRAVIS: He's also coming out, going like--

MATT: Move that here so it doesn't block that camera.

TRAVIS: -- "Stop saying that shit."

ASHLEY: Is he one of the ghosts of Molaesmyr? How did he get here?

SAM: I take eight points of damage.

MATT: There you go. At this point, you all glance around and most of the specters that haunted the center of this street, have now scattered. The few that remained have been sent to the other side, for good or for a period of time, you know not. But you glance around at the nearby monolith of a central tower. You still can't help yourself but glancing up and you see something moving. You see a large, wing-type limb (whooshes) grasp out from one of the windows and touch the side.

TRAVIS: What?

LAURA: A wing type?

AABRIA: Oh.

LAURA: Not like what we saw on the stag?

MATT: No.

SAM: As in like, feathered wings or leathery wings.

MATT: You're too far to see at the moment.

AABRIA: This is so interesting.

TRAVIS: Oh, far.

MATT: You're the only one that sees this right now.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MATT: What are you doing?

LAURA: Oh no.

CHRISTIAN: I will think, because I don't really know how this works yet, but I will think loudly. There's something very big crawling out of that big tower over there.

LAURA: We should probably move then because I bet we just made a lot of noise.

AABRIA: Yeah. Let's go, let's go, let's go.

ASHLEY: Let's--

TRAVIS: Cover.

LAURA: Yeah, let's try to find hiding, we should try to hide.

SAM: Hide. Aren't we going into it?

LAURA: Sure, but move toward it stealthily. Don't let it know--

AABRIA: Is that the tower we're going to?

TRAVIS: No, it's about 200 feet.

CHRISTIAN: But is that one, does that look like we can enter that one?

MATT: The tower where you saw this thing crawling through is the tower in the center of the city.

LAURA: The one that we are--

MATT: The massive, massive, multi, multi level tower.

ASHLEY: The Gilded Hollow?

MATT: The Gildhollow was on the northwestern side of the town.

LAURA: Oh, that's a totally different place. I thought the big one was the Gilded Hollow.

MATT: No, the Gildhollow Tower that you know of, is on the northwestern side. That's all you knew about it.

AABRIA: Yeah.

MATT: This tower that you've been going towards, or at least been using as a reference point, is a central massive--

LAURA: Oh, avoid that tower.

MATT: -- tower in the city.

AABRIA: I thought this--

SAM: I thought we going to the big one.

LAURA: Me too!

TRAVIS: Counterpoint, could be pretty awesome in there.

LAURA: No, I don't want to have to fight leathery wings and giant stag if we don't need to.

SAM: Could be feathery wings, either way--

LAURA: Whatever.

SAM: Wings are bad.

TRAVIS: What if it just needs to be released? What if it could become like a friend, a mount, an ally.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah.

LAURA: What if, ooh, ooh, what's his name--

TRAVIS: Ooh, ooh.

SAM: Uk'otoa?

AABRIA: The who.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, the--

SAM: Oh.

LAURA: What if he shows up while we're here?

MATT: Fearne, could you make a concentration check for me, by the way?

TRAVIS: What, what, what?

LAURA: Concentrate? A what?

MATT: This is from the damage you took in the battle when you were maintaining concentration on Pass Without a Trace.

ASHLEY: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

ASHLEY and CHRISTIAN: (laugh)

MATT: It's a constitution saving throw.

LAURA: That's probably a-- that was a 21.

ASHLEY: It's a one.

TRAVIS: It's a one.

AABRIA: Hey, do you have more casters?

ASHLEY: It's a one. No.

AABRIA: What the fudge.

ASHLEY: I'm just a normal.

MATT: Pass Without a Trace vanishes. The deepened shadows that have kept you hidden to this point dissipate as you see some shape beginning to move its way outside of the tallest tower in the center.

LAURA: Uh-oh.

TRAVIS: Outside.

CHRISTIAN: I start making my way into that tower.

LAURA: ♪ Makin' my way ♪

TRAVIS: Yeah, going--

LAURA: ♪ Way high into the tower ♪

ASHLEY: Let's go into the tower, let's go into the tower.

MATT: All right, I'd like you all to make stealth checks for me.

LAURA: Can you cast Pass Without a Trace again? Or is that a waste of a spell?

ASHLEY: Sure. No, I can do it.

AABRIA: You do? Are you going do it? It's okay if you don't.

ASHLEY: Let me see where we're at, if I have another, I can do it again.

AABRIA: I'm scared of all my--

ASHLEY: Yep, I have another one, let's do it.

AABRIA: Thank you.

ASHLEY: I have a second one.

MATT: All right, so immediately re-up Pass Without a Trace. Everyone gets to add 10.

ASHLEY: Sorry, I just, I got so scared.

AABRIA: No, you're perfect, you're perfect.

MATT: All right, from across the way here.

TRAVIS: 29, oh 39.

MATT: 39.

AABRIA: Holy shit. 25.

MATT: 25.

SAM: 16, thanks to her.

ASHLEY: 23.

CHRISTIAN: 33.

LAURA: 22.

MATT: All righty. You all dart inside the base of this cracked spire that sits off to the side of where you encountered these ghosts. You push through the mists and the fog and there's these hanging vines that seem to tangle like a net in front of the entryway. You pull through quickly and carefully enter the shadow behind. You hear the (intense flaps).

CHRISTIAN: Do any of us get a good look at what we're--

MATT: Make a perception check.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah. Absolutely.

AABRIA: Can I make one, too?

TRAVIS: In the time that it moves, can I take out my last skirath poison vial?

MATT: Yeah, if you want to.

TRAVIS: I want to pour it all over the length of the-- Well actually, does anybody have a blade they want some poison damage added to?

SAM: (whirring buzzsaw)

AABRIA: I hold my halberd out.

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: It's a club, right?

AABRIA: Just a little bit for everyone.

TRAVIS: (glubs)

AABRIA: Thanks!

MATT: All righty. You got it.

AABRIA: Waggly.

SAM: 21 on perception over here.

MATT: 21 perception.

AABRIA: 27 on perception.

MATT: 27 on perception.

AABRIA: He's not the only perceptive one!

LAURA: Did anybody get Guided?

CHRISTIAN and AABRIA: No.

SAM: Guided!

ASHLEY: Okay. Okay, did you do it yet?

AABRIA: I didn't Guide fucking anybody. I was looking.

CHRISTIAN: 29.

MATT: 29, all right. Both FRIDA and Deanna, you've been trained as a unit of...

LAURA: (childish groan) An absolute unit.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: An absolute unit, hunting in the outskirts of the Flotket Alps, and you both shift immediately to zero in on the sound that you hear in the sky, knowing to avoid predators of that sound and size. You see something winged disengage from the top of the tower and swoop down through the source of the sound before picking back up again. These wings are wide, and you gather the wingspan is somewhere around 35, 40 feet wide from tip to tip. Thin wings, long, very pterodactyl-esque if we're going to take a quick image on this, leathery, but they have these long streaks, like streamers, that seem to drift behind, whether they be long roots that have taken hold and string behind it--

LAURA: Ooh!

MATT: -- and these dangling ribbon-like aesthetic, that--

SAM: Its tails?

MATT: Kind of. A number of them from different parts of the wings. You can see taloned legs that claw from beneath, multitudes of them. With a 27 and 29, you do not see a head--

AABRIA: Oh no.

TRAVIS: (gasps)

MATT: -- you just see the shoulders where the wings emerge and the taloned legs, you can see at quick glance, three of them that are curled up--

TRAVIS: Bro!

MATT: -- with a bit of shadow that's there and it just-- (wings flapping) Takes off.

AABRIA: I'm so freaked out and this fucking slaps.

LAURA and ASHLEY: (laugh)

TRAVIS: This is Stephen King shit.

LAURA: How does it fly without a brain?

SAM: Maybe its brain is in its talons.

ASHLEY: Wait, you said there's no head?

AABRIA: Lots of things have multiple-- No head.

ASHLEY: There's no head.

AABRIA: Lots of things have multiple brains in them.

LAURA: Like a starfish.

AABRIA: Mm-hmm.

SAM: May I use an action to restore one of my 3rd-level spells using my Pearl of Power?

MATT: You've got it.

SAM: Okay.

AABRIA: How's everyone doing? Is anyone really hurt?

SAM: I'm a little hurt, but I can--

AABRIA: I can--

SAM: No, I got it, I got it.

AABRIA: That's okay. I'll cast Cure Wounds.

SAM: I mean--

AABRIA: How much you need?

SAM: I'm down 25.

TRAVIS: Did we take cover in the bottom of this tower among the foliage and stuff?

MATT: You did.

TRAVIS: Can we peek in through the doorways or anything and see inside, or--

LAURA: Yeah, dangerous.

MATT: I mean, you've moved inside through the nearby entryway to keep out from being within the central daylight of this open space, and so you take a moment to have your eyes adjust to the interior shadow. Make a perception check.

CHRISTIAN: I'm going to keep mindful of if it's it coming back around or if it's gone away, or what its pattern is.

TRAVIS: 16.

MATT: 16.

AABRIA: Plus five, You gain everything back with a 3rd-level. Cure Wounds.

MATT: That's right. There is a set of stairs that curls up to the next floor of this tower. Within the base here, there is furniture, there is a desk and there are some shelves, though the shelves have been completely emptied. In fact, at a quick glance, you can tell this room has been heavily looted. But aside from the signs of, you know, the shelves pulled out and emptied, there are old tapestries that hang on braided cords. There's a semblance of the lost beauty in this space. But through all the various smooth stones, you can see the heavy cracks and the roots that have since pushed through and spider webbed out across the walls in different directions. The ceiling itself, you can see there's a cluster of roots that join and pierce through like something has taken root and is growing on the floor above you. That's what you make out of the space around you.

ASHLEY: Do we see anything on the tapestries? What are they--

MATT: The one that you see here, the symbol is of a white tree that corkscrews upward and extends its branches, and then beneath its roots you see a similar corkscrew that leads to a glowing-- It looks like a sun, but it's white and it's subterranean.

AABRIA: Is that at all like the white tree that's in Uthodurn's insignia?

MATT: It is.

TRAVIS: Nice pull.

AABRIA: Thanks.

TRAVIS: Let's go.

LAURA: (laughs)

AABRIA: Oh my god.

LAURA: We should keep moving.

TRAVIS: Skies are clear.

SAM: Should we just look around? I know it's been looted for stuff that's expensive, but we're here to find information, too. Should we at least look around, do a quick little investigation?

TRAVIS: If we wanted to, maybe FRIDA could take the stairs up and get a good vantage point. This is the highest we'll be--

CHRISTIAN: (poof)

TRAVIS: Oh! So fast!

MATT: (scuttling) You dart up into this second floor. You can see this is only a three-story tower. The central period is the largest of the antechambers. It's a tall, open domed space and there is a continuation of the spiral staircase to the upper floor. The open central period, you can see-- [quiet tense music]

LAURA: Why is this music playing like this?

(laughter)

LAURA: "You're all going to die!"

MATT: There are small windows in the sides where of beams of faint exterior light peek inward, but the middle of this chamber is completely ruled by an interior tree that has taken root. Its roots have stretched across the entirety of the floor and have reached up a few feet onto all the different walls. Its branches have grasped the upper part of this chamber and you can see parts of it that are pushing through and dangling on the top floor. As the tree twists upward, you can see the stretching of an arm grasping the side and a screaming face that stretches upward before the canopy flowers outward and grasps the ceiling. As you step up there and look up and recognize it, you swear you see a part of it--

(creaks)

SAM: (gasps)

CHRISTIAN: Is it aware of me?

MATT: You're uncertain.

CHRISTIAN: Can I track it through those windows? Do I see the bird? Or the thing?

MATT: The windows are about 10 feet up. You can continue upward to the very top where you have a better vantage point.

CHRISTIAN: Can you repeat that?

MATT: If you want to continue up to the top, you'll have a better vantage point, but--

CHRISTIAN: I will do so as slowly and quietly as possible.

MATT: Are you trying to avoid the masses of extended tree branch and flora that has grown in this space?

CHRISTIAN: Why absolutely, sir.

MATT: I would like you to make an acrobatics check for me to carefully avoid--

LAURA: That's a good idea.

AABRIA: The bad birch.

CHRISTIAN: Plus four is 10.

MATT: 10.

CHRISTIAN: Acrobatics, right?

MATT: Yeah. Okay. You step up the stairs, carefully stepping over and beneath some of these extended bows that push up against the walls. You eventually come to a point where it's very knotted and tangled before you get to the top floor, and you gently push it apart and begin to push through before you feel it close on you slightly. As you begin to panic a bit to pull free, thorns begin to push into you with slow but intense purpose and you feel them begin to pierce into your armor. You take four points of piercing damage before you eventually pull free from it. As you reach out, you can see down the staircase you just left the tree (creaks) turns just to address the direction--

TRAVIS: No!

MATT: -- of where it felt you briefly. You clamber past the top of the bows and you now reach the stone floor of this upper area of the tower, the archway's opening. You now have a pretty decent view of the surrounding area. Using the shadow and darting from edge to edge of these pillars that holds up the top part, you can glance out and see the various streets around you. Make a perception check for me.

CHRISTIAN: 18, I believe? 18.

MATT: 18. From this vantage point, you can see all number of other large buildings. You can see massive gathering halls that are partially collapsed and a massive tree that bursts forth and is spreading outward 100 or so feet up in the air almost. You can see other areas of the city where there is a massive bazaar-like shopping marketplace. In that space, there are a number of trees that emerge as well as rocky spires that seem to have been thrust up from the ground. That is odd compared to the rest of this topography. The central tower, the massive monolith that looms over the center of this city where this creature went ahead and emerged from, you can see the broken bridges you can see the exterior spiral staircases that descended and some that come to an abrupt end as they've fallen with time or erosion. But this definitely feels like the center of the city. Make a history check for me.

CHRISTIAN: I know nothing, Johnson.

TRAVIS: Come on, bro.

AABRIA: You got this, you got this.

SAM: You got deep memory banks.

TRAVIS: Let's go! Deep banks!

CHRISTIAN: Not today. That's a seven.

MATT: That's a seven? You have no idea what the hell this is.

CHRISTIAN: No idea.

MATT: But you can still see the the ivory and marbled color that peeks through the stranglehold of the various brambles and vines that encircle it as it rises up before they eventually give way to the polished peak that still sits above. You do not see a sign of that flying creature.

CHRISTIAN: I don't know. I forget how this works, but I'll think Imogen. Imogen, can you hear me?

LAURA: Oh yeah, all of us can hear you now.

SAM: Hi.

AABRIA: Yeah hi, hi. There are no DMs here.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, don't touch any of the vinework, or-- It's sentient. It's sentient.

LAURA: So yeah, so okay, that's where we go.

TRAVIS: The vegetation?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah.

LAURA: All right.

AABRIA: Did something happen?

LAURA: The face tree is actually--

CHRISTIAN: It looked in my direction.

TRAVIS: It looked at you!

CHRISTIAN: Sort of. Yes.

AABRIA: Sort of?!

LAURA: Do you see the winged pterodactyl thing?

CHRISTIAN: No sign of the weird pterodactyl thing.

TRAVIS: We should keep going.

ASHLEY: Should I talk to the tree?

LAURA: Can you talk to the tree?

ASHLEY: I can.

LAURA: You can?

ASHLEY: But I'm running pretty low on--

AABRIA: Do you want to?

SAM: Then maybe don't. But we know where we're going.

AABRIA: Not everything you talk to--

ASHLEY: I'll save it, I'll save it.

AABRIA: -- has something good to say.

CHRISTIAN: Maybe you guys--

LAURA: What? Maybe what?

CHRISTIAN: Go, what you were saying.

ASHLEY: No, no, no, go ahead.

CHRISTIAN: How far down from the top are we?

MATT: From the top of?

CHRISTIAN: From where I'm at, to the bottom of--

MATT: Oh, to the very bottom? About about 35, 40 feet.

CHRISTIAN: Cool. Maybe--

MATT: You also, with 18, you did see--

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

MATT: On glancing in the northwestern direction, you can see towards the outskirts of the thick elements the Savalirwood forest where the city ends and the truly dense forest begins. You can see what looks like a somewhat blue, silvered tower that leans at an angle, like it had begun to fall and was caught by the surrounding trees that have since grown over to be clutching it at different angles. You can see a base around the layers of its rising structure, though at odd, somewhat cracked angles, a glittering gold accent that catches the midday light.

CHRISTIAN: I think I found the Gildhollow.

LAURA: How far away?

CHRISTIAN: 200 feet, 300 feet?

MATT: Oh, this tower's a bit further. You're towards the center of the city. This is on the far northwestern edge.

CHRISTIAN: Half a mile? Mile?

LAURA: All right.

MATT: I'd say about a half mile from where you're currently standing to a little over a half mile.

SAM: No winged creature?

CHRISTIAN: Not that I can see, but I think it might be beneficial for you all to move while I have the high ground here. Yes?

SAM: How will you join us?

CHRISTIAN: I have a rope and I can shimmy down the side of this tower.

TRAVIS: Cool.

CHRISTIAN: Go down afterwards.

TRAVIS: Let's do it. I like it.

SAM: Uh.

TRAVIS: He's so brave. What a catch.

LAURA: You'll let us know if you see something coming down, or what?

CHRISTIAN: If something's coming down on you, I will shoot it from here and draw its attention.

LAURA: Oh! Oh god, FRIDA. All right.

ASHLEY: Yeah, but when will you come down and join us?

CHRISTIAN: When you guys are safe. But I have the benefit of knowing when it's a better-- The best move for me to move.

TRAVIS: You can move a hundred feet, then you can join us.

SAM: How far does this telepathic talking last?

LAURA: It lasts for like eight hours.

SAM: But I mean, it says. Can it last as far as we get from each other? It says range is 30 feet, but that's just for casting.

MATT: That's just for casting it.

LAURA: I think it lasts--

AABRIA: It's just while you're on the same plane.

SAM: It's just a psychic link?

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: Okay, great.

MATT: Lasts for one hour.

SAM: Oh yeah. Over any distance.

LAURA: Oh, one hour.

MATT: For one hour, which means you have a short time left for it to--

SAM: Like five minutes, 10 minutes?

MATT: Like 15 minutes.

SAM: Okay, well then, let's go now

CHRISTIAN: Can you get a mile in 15 minutes?

LAURA: Yeah, we can get a mile in 15 minutes. Moving--

SAM: It's a mile?

LAURA: It's half a mile.

SAM: Great.

MATT: But if you're going stealthily, you move at half speed, too.

LAURA: Yeah, so we can get half a mile in 15 minutes. That's great.

MATT: More or less. We'll find out.

SAM: Let's go!

MATT: You're getting to the wire. All right. So you're staying at the top of the tower?

CHRISTIAN: No. That would be antithetical to my purpose, which is to protect you, so--

AABRIA: But I'm getting nervous--

SAM: I'm getting nervous, too.

AABRIA: So haul a little ass.

CHRISTIAN: No, it's okay.

SAM: Maybe I'll stay halfway between?

CHRISTIAN: No, no. I especially want you two safe. We'll be fine. We'll be fine.

TRAVIS: I'll keep an eye on you, it'll be fine.

SAM: Who's going to keep an eye on me?

CHRISTIAN: Me, from here.

TRAVIS: If only I had a Bonded Blessing.

(laughter)

SAM: In retrospect, that was a mistake.

CHRISTIAN: Tick tock, time is of the essence.

SAM: Let's go, let's go, let's go! Let's roll out.

MATT: As FRIDA remains perched in the deep shadows at the peak of this smaller tower, eyes on the horizon for the massive flying mystery beast that has been alerted to some possible prey in the vicinity, the rest of you gather your nerves and begin to trek towards the goal of the Gildhollow Tower halfway across this corrupted city before you. We're going to go ahead and take a break.

(groaning)

MATT: We'll be back here in just a few minutes, and see how the rest of this journey goes. We'll see you all here in a few minutes. (adventure music) Hey Critters! Laura Bailey here to guide you through what's new in the Critical Role shop. Aw! They're so mini! Style should never be a dump stat, darling. Can you put donuts in this? Only one way to find out. It's the little things in life. I mean the Traveler always says impulse purchases are a good decision. Look at this. Isn't it fashion? So much fashion happening here. You're only like five clicks away from owning this. Maybe more if you have a lot of windows open on your browser. I don't know your life. And hey if you want, you could head over to the Critical Role shop right now. (mysterious music) Hi. We're the narrators of Midst. What's Midst? It's very simple. It's a weird surrealist fourth wall breaking reality bending science, fantasy space western about a small, doomed planet floating in a cosmic ocean of spooky darkness. Upon whose alien landscape an ensemble cast of characters, including a crotchety outlaw, a freakishly virtuous cultist and a weird, diabolical bastard, make awful decisions and fight like hell to survive when the moon falls out of the sky and a large number of terrible things happened in rapid succession. It's exciting, it's funny, it's scary. It's got neat sound, weird music, amazing visuals, and every episode comes with bonus content you can read and examine. Midst is performed solely by yours truly. As the three of us narrate all the action, play all of the characters, and bend a lot of the rules about how telling stories is normally supposed to work. Midst is pretty fun, very strange, and it feels like VR for your brain. We believe you'll enjoy it. Or maybe you won't, but there's really only one way to find out. You're going to have to listen to Midst. Narrator: We now return to Tal'Dorei Theater and the Bard College of Tragedy. I stabbeth thee! I am stabbed. Any last words? O! O most cruel treachery! But there is poetry in misery; Fate inspires even as it twists the knife and severs the golden threads that brought me to this tragic end. Thus, die I alone. Alas. (groans) Thus. Thus! (angelic music) Inspired! My gaze turns to the heavens, and your sorrowful fate is mine to alter. Shall your pleas be heard beyond the gates divine? (screams) Alas, my Charisma saves are for nought! Too plagued with regret to beg for relief; God abandons his child in life and death. (groans) (police sirens) Ah! I stab you again! Oh! That's two! Out, brief candle. This walking shadow spins it's tale of hubris to the ears of arrogance. My fate is tragic, but yours, o foe, is worse. A fatal downfall waits for you so vile and filled with devilry that my dying words cannot encompass it. Tragedy awaits thee who struck me down. Weapon attacks now score critical hits against you on an 18 through 20. Ah! And impending misfortune beckons me. Triumph and time are short. Though I falter, a short rest is all I need. Will thou give it me? Alas, my nimbus of pathos completes. A plague on both of your houses! A horse, my Twitchdom for a horse! Just die already! (groans) The rest is silence. (applause) Narrator: Turn misery into powerful poetry. Enroll in the Bard College Of Tragedy, with Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn. Available now at Critical Role shops. (epic music) (mischievous music) (typewriter clacking) (peaceful music) Announcer: We now go live to a special address from the President. Hey dweebs. Now as your president, I've been kinda killing it lately. I gave global warming an atomic wedgie. I balanced the budget by selling my Pog collection, and I saved the Queen of England from that octopus! But my kick-assery is far from done. According to this chart that I made, an estimated 35% of you are still a bunch of nasty goobers, but don't worry, I have a plan. Operation: Gag Me With A Spoon. It's easy sleazy. According to this study that I wrote, if every citizen subscribed to Critical Role on Twitch, we could reduce maximum goobage by a metric buttload. Twitch is the only place where you'll get a live and moderated chat and when you subscribe to Critical Role, you instantly get access to all their shows as soon as the live broadcast ends. So while you're oogling those Critical Role dorks with their sick goof-em-ups and their nutty voices, think of me, Gale, the current president of whatever. Now I gotta go make a fresh batch of spitballs, but I guess I have some time for your boring questions. You. Reporter: Gale, is it true that if you subscribe to Critical Role through Prime Gaming, you have to resubscribe every month? Uh, yeah. I do it right after my monthly prank call to Pee-an O'Brien. Next question. Reporter: Does Critical Role have exclusive emotes for their subscribers? Uh, doy. Of course they do. I like the hello bees one, 'cause bees are cool. I replaced my whole security detail with a bunch of bees that think I'm their queen. Last question. Reporter: Yeah, with all due respect, is Operation: Gag Me With a Spoon a real policy, or are you mad goofin'? Am I mad goofin'? What, do you see me scarfing Milk Duds while doodling ding-dongs in the SkyMall catalog? Listen, I know I'm new to this. And I admit that when I made the wish to be the boss of everything, I did not know the witch that works at Woolworth's was listening. Well, Faustian bargain or not, I am the president and I have an obligation to lead this country. So to answer your question, no, I am not mad goofin'. Security, take him out. (bees buzzing) (Gale laughing) Later, chudruckers!

MATT: And welcome back. So as we left off, the troop that is moving forward in the direction of the Gildhollow Tower, I need y'all to make stealth checks as you move through the city.

(groaning)

LAURA: Oh we have to add 10!

AABRIA: Do we have Pass without a Trace again?

ASHLEY: We do.

LAURA: Pass Without a Trace.

AABRIA: Fuck. Whew!

ASHLEY: Okay, good.

LAURA: I switched that one. That got cocked.

AABRIA: Second-best one.

CHRISTIAN: It's okay, it's okay.

MATT: All righty, so?

TRAVIS: 38.

MATT: Woo.

ASHLEY: What?

AABRIA: 30!

MATT: Woo.

AABRIA: Oh, wait, no, I have to roll with disadvantage.

SAM: 26.

AABRIA: (gasps) That was a natural 20. Damn! Still 30.

SAM: Oh.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Oh.

MATT: Still.

ASHLEY: What did I roll again? Oh, 25. Sorry.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

LAURA: 17.

MATT: 17.

LAURA: It's still not terrible.

ASHLEY: No, no, no, that's not bad, that's really good.

MATT: It's not terrible.

SAM: (like Laura) It's not terrible.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

LAURA: ♪ (generic banjo strumming) ♪

AABRIA: The plaid shirt isn't helping.

TRAVIS: Did you go ♪ ("Dueling Banjos") ♪

AABRIA: You picked a difference South.

ASHLEY and TRAVIS: ♪ (generic banjo strumming) ♪

AABRIA: You got a purty mouth.

MATT: (groans)

TRAVIS: (laughs) "Deliverance," baby.

MATT: FCG, are you leading the troop continuing forward? All right.

SAM: I am! By the power of the Changebringer, praise be to her and all of her flipping.

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Get flipped, y'all.

(laughter)

SAM: Get flipped!

AABRIA: Oh...

TRAVIS: Flip it good!

MATT: Very well. Go ahead and make a survival check for me to traverse the dangers of this.

LAURA: Guide yourself.

MATT: Along the way.

LAURA: Guide yourself.

AABRIA: (whispers) Guidance.

SAM: Guidance, natural one.

CHRISTIAN: (groans)

TRAVIS: Wow.

LAURA: Fuck.

AABRIA: Oh no.

TRAVIS: I guess we know how this is going to go.

LAURA: Can I lead the way eventually?

TRAVIS: Wow.

AABRIA: Can we do something else?

SAM: The Changebringer has a plan.

LAURA: I'm just saying, Laudna and I used to make our way through backstreets all the time because people would be chasing us.

AABRIA: Why would people chase you?

SAM: I hope she's okay.

LAURA: Because Laudna--

TRAVIS: They wanted their help.

LAURA: I'll tell you, I'll tell you.

AABRIA: What if I die here and then I never learn why?

LAURA: Laudna's beautifully scary.

TRAVIS: Don't worry. It's happened before. You're a pro.

SAM: Guys, focus, focus. The Changebringer wants us to go this way.

MATT: It's about that moment...

AABRIA and TRAVIS: (shout) No!

TRAVIS: No, Matt, resist.

MATT: FCG, as you point forward and hit a slight bump and as you careen over this sudden incline, your wheel sinks into one of these open cracks in the ground that you had not seen around the corner from where you are. As you stumble into this somewhat open crevasse in the ground, you begin to fall about 10, 15 feet within.

(clanking)

LAURA: Oh!

MATT: Banging around before wedging inside. The rest you watch FCG vanish within as the black miasma pours forth from within. I need everyone to make constitution saving throws for me, please.

TRAVIS: Oh--

SAM: Me too?

LAURA: Shit.

MATT: Yes, and you have disadvantage.

LAURA: Oh no.

SAM: Oh no.

MATT: Everyone except for you, FRIDA since you are not currently--

CHRISTIAN: Can I see it happening?

MATT: You're keeping an eye and you watch FCG just vanish in this (poof)

CHRISTIAN: What's going on? What is going on?

TRAVIS: A dirty 20.

MATT: Dirty 20. You are fine.

AABRIA: 16.

MATT: You are fine.

SAM: Dirty 10.

TRAVIS and LAURA: (chuckle)

MATT: You feel the miasma tear through your physical body and while you are not made of flesh, this is not a natural disease that begins to course through your form. You reduce your maximum hit points by five.

AABRIA: Damn!

SAM: Is this a disease?

MATT: It is not a disease. It is a corruption. I misused the term, my apologies.

SAM: No, it's all fine.

ASHLEY: 17.

MATT: 17, you resist it, and?

LAURA: Natural 20 for a 27.

MATT: Sure enough. The rest of you dodge out of the way just in time as the entryway to this subterranean crack (giant whoosh) releases this burst of black miasma until eventually you begin to clamber your way outward, but a little worse for wear as you take five damage or your maximum hit points are reduced by five.

SAM: But that's it, I'm free?

MATT: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: You all right? You all right?

SAM: I think so. It just hurt a little.

AABRIA: Okay.

SAM: It wasn't that bad.

LAURA: You should probably not fall into those cracks anymore.

SAM: Yeah, yeah. I was so focused on protecting you all that I didn't take care of myself.

ASHLEY: Oh no.

TRAVIS: FCG, how are you?

LAURA: Does it exhaust you--

TRAVIS: How are you feeling?

LAURA: If you get infected? Is that not?

SAM: Let me look.

MATT: That was the heavy miasma before.

LAURA: Got it.

MATT: For these points here, it's just hit point reduction.

SAM: I'm not feeling very well.

TRAVIS: Use your mood board. How close to you are you to the red light district?

LAURA: Oh.

AABRIA: The what?

SAM: I'm like...

LAURA: Oh gosh, oh gosh.

SAM: I'm like here.

TRAVIS: FCG is like Bruce Banner and when shit starts to go a little south for him, there is a kettle boiling over effect that we want to try to avoid.

ASHLEY: You should probably know this.

MATT: Bruce Banner is a known murderer from the Age of Arcanum.

CHRISTIAN: I didn't know about this.

LAURA: FRIDA's not here.

AABRIA: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: I can't hear. I know nothing.

AABRIA: Is there something we can do?

LAURA: FRIDA doesn't even know.

AABRIA: Do you want a moment to talk it out?

TRAVIS: The non-mapped areas.

SAM: Yes, it would help me if we took about an hour and I talked through some stuff, but I don't think we have that.

AABRIA: We don't have that time.

SAM: So we got to keep going.

AABRIA: You want to do a little walk and talk?

SAM: Yeah, we'll just keep going.

ASHLEY: We'll do a walk and talk.

AABRIA: Okay.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Does somebody else want to take the lead?

ASHLEY: All right, I'll take it.

SAM: It wouldn't hurt.

LAURA: All right, I'm going to--

SAM: But it wouldn't help.

LAURA: Then I'm not going to waste a fucking spell.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Sometimes we get big-- we're walking and talking-- Sometimes we have big emotions. Now what do we do with our big emotions?

SAM: What do we do?

AABRIA: We don't kill people.

TRAVIS: We cut them into other people. Oh no, we don't do.

AABRIA: No. We don't do that.

TRAVIS: Exactly what Deanna said.

SAM: What are some good ways to vent?

AABRIA: You count to 10.

SAM: Count to 10?

AABRIA: If it doesn't work, you count again.

ASHLEY: Breathe.

SAM: Okay.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

SAM: Breathe, well, I can't breathe.

AABRIA: Okay.

SAM: I don't breathe.

AABRIA: We have a happy place that we go to.

ASHLEY: Drink a glass of milk.

AABRIA: Where's your happy place?

TRAVIS: Red shower.

AABRIA: I know it's got FRIDA in it.

SAM: It does have FRIDA in it.

AABRIA: Mm-hmm.

LAURA: Should we be keeping an eye out?

AABRIA: FRIDA's my happy place too.

CHRISTIAN: I got you. I'm up there.

LAURA: All right.

AABRIA: But in a different way.

SAM: Do you want me to--

LAURA: Can you still hear us?

SAM: -- choose a different happy place?

CHRISTIAN: It depends on the parameters of that spell, I'm not sure.

LAURA: Actually, yeah, the parameters say that you can hear us as we're talking. So you can hear it?

CHRISTIAN: So this is all-- Yeah.

LAURA: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah. I'm thinking out to you guys, Why aren't you moving?

LAURA: We are, we are.

TRAVIS: We're walking and talking.

LAURA: We're walking and talking.

AABRIA: Come on, come on.

LAURA: Should one of us be leading after he fell in?

TRAVIS: I think Fearne already said.

LAURA: Or does that count for?

AABRIA: Fearne's leading, yeah?

ASHLEY: What are we? Okay.

LAURA: Oh wait, she's exhausted.

SAM: I'm leading.

AABRIA: Oh! You lead?

SAM: I'm leading!

ASHLEY: I don't want to deal with this.

AABRIA: We're talking.

SAM: I'm leading.

AABRIA: I'm just telling you a bunch of--

ASHLEY: Are you still going to lead?

AABRIA: -- fun facts about FRIDA.

TRAVIS: We're going to die.

SAM: Okay.

TRAVIS: This is how it happens.

SAM: What's FRIDA's favorite type of music?

MATT: Who's leading this next leg?

LAURA: I'm leading.

TRAVIS: Imogen's leading.

MATT: All right, roll a survival check for me, if you don't mind.

AABRIA: Polka.

ASHLEY: Guidance.

SAM: FRIDA loves polka music?

AABRIA: FRIDA loves a little oom-pah-pah.

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

SAM: I didn't know that about you, FRIDA.

TRAVIS: ♪ Polka, polka ♪

CHRISTIAN: Yes, I love polka music.

LAURA: 21.

MATT: 21.

SAM: Good yes and-ing. Or at least yes-ing.

MATT: Guiding your troop now through a safer pathway between the various crumbled buildings and tangled walkways, you keep an eye on the distant tower that you believe to be your destination moving closer and closer, just as your means of communication, you sense, on the verge of fading. The enchantment that you had placed across your group beginning to reach the end--

ASHLEY: Shit.

MATT: -- of its time.

LAURA: We should let FRIDA know.

SAM: FRIDA, we're not going to be able to talk to you very much longer, so we need you to get back to us now.

CHRISTIAN: I'm waiting for you guys to get about at least halfway there and then I'll come down.

MATT: You also, from this point, can see a dark shape.

(wings flapping)

LAURA: (gasps)

CHRISTIAN: It's back, guys and it's--

LAURA: We hide. We hide.

CHRISTIAN: It's coming this way.

LAURA: Take cover.

TRAVIS: Everyone hide.

MATT: You guys all dart off to the side into the shadows. You watch as it returns to the central tower.

AABRIA: Oh god.

MATT: You get a view of it returning and you see where the large muscular arms that go into the elongated leathery wings meet in that torso region. Where the head is missing, there is a singular, bright purple eye--

AABRIA: No.

MATT: -- that is just set within its torso and you see a faint point of light, like where people would sit that darts around like it's scanning the ground beneath as it goes.

(wings flapping)

LAURA: What? (talons clasping) It latches onto the side of the main tower. One of its claws, you see it's carrying something limp within its grasp and it immediately (clasping) clambers and climbs back into the space where it emerged and vanishes from sight.

SAM: Oh.

CHRISTIAN: Okay. I think it went out hunting and it found some food and it should be occupied for a little bit. I'm going to make my way towards you guys now.

LAURA: Do you see the stag from where you are?

AABRIA: Please.

CHRISTIAN: I do not see the stag from where I am.

MATT: Make a perception check.

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

SAM: ♪ I saw the stag ♪

CHRISTIAN: 26.

MATT: 26. Glancing from this height, you see a shape that could be the stag that's further east of where you currently are back in the direction of where you first entered the city.

LAURA: Great.

CHRISTIAN: Okay.

MATT: It's moved from where you first saw it, but it is a little ways off.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

CHRISTIAN: Okay. Okay, I don't want to draw any attention. I'm going to go back down the way I came--

MATT: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: -- and start making my way towards them. LAURA ♪ Making your way ♪

AABRIA: All right. Stealthily?

CHRISTIAN: Yes. Yes.

MATT: All right. It's a slower advance.

CHRISTIAN: Mm-hmm.

MATT: But make a stealth check for me.

TRAVIS: Tap dance, you coward.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Just scream and rappel down the tower.

TRAVIS: (yells)

LAURA: (laughs)

CHRISTIAN: It's a 13.

MATT: A 13?

SAM: Okay.

LAURA: Wait, no.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah.

LAURA: You got to say what it is, though.

CHRISTIAN: Stealth? It's a natural one.

MATT: Huh, well.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah.

AABRIA: Oh. Well.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah. (laughs)

(laughter)

AABRIA: That's so irritating.

LAURA: You've got such good stealth, though.

TRAVIS: That stealth is bonkers, bro. Holy shit.

CHRISTIAN: But it is a natural one. Yes.

ASHLEY: Shit.

AABRIA: Oh, I'm in hell.

MATT: So, you descend back into the streets just as the light of the afternoon sun begins to shift slightly towards the beginnings of sunset. You dart from shadow--

LAURA: I'm sorry I betrayed you.

CHRISTIAN: No, it's good. It's good.

MATT: You dart from shadow to shadow, moving away from the dangers of this flying creature that seems to be, at the moment, enjoying whatever it dragged back to its abode. You get about halfway towards the Gildhollow Tower to meet up with your friends.

TRAVIS: Oh, he's in storytelling mode.

AABRIA: (softly) Oh god.

MATT: Before you clamber onto one of the nearby rooftops that seems to attach to a bridge that leads over a dangerously fallen section of the road. You mark this as to be a relatively safe route as opposed to having to wind between these dangerous spaces, especially with the occasionally drifting spiritual hauntings that still wander between these structures It's as you cross this bridge that the bridge itself (bridge cracking) (masonry tumbling) collapses beneath your feet. You try and dart across as fast as you can, but it crumbles faster than you can keep up with and you tumble with it. You don't take any damage, as it falls beneath you and it's more like riding a rock slide The 15, 20 feet before it hits, you'll be bruised, or you would be bruised if you were a creature that could bruise, I guess. But you feel a bit knocked around from it. You stop and the cloud of stone dust that rises around you eventually settles. But it's not that. It's the horrible clattering noise of crumbling stone and the collapse of a bridge that worries you more. The rest of you hear this echo a ways back from where you were as you're awaiting the arrival of FRIDA. It's in that moment, you hear a loud howl.

LAURA: (gasp)

MATT: (howling)

AABRIA: Chet, is that you?

MATT: (disparate howls) Multiple howls and calls.

(snarls, barks)

CHRISTIAN: (thuds on table)

MATT: What do you do?

LAURA: FRIDA, how fast can you get out?

AABRIA: FRIDA?

SAM: Can he still hear us or are we?

ASHLEY: Was that you? Was that big boom you?

MATT: This is the last moment before it leaves, you get one phrase.

SAM: One phrase?!

LAURA: That's it, that's what you got. (laughs)

MATT: That's the one.

(laughter)

SAM: FRIDA, one phrase?

CHRISTIAN: (beeps) I-- I hear them, how far away does it sound?

MATT: Closer than you were expecting. Probably a few streets away, and you can hear the barks and snarls of multiple beasts and they're approaching quickly.

CHRISTIAN: Now, I'm 20 feet down from this bridge.

MATT: Correct.

CHRISTIAN: What's the clearest path from where I'm at? What's the clearest path to the rest of the group?

MATT: Alleys and streets that you had a decent view on, but since you've tumbled into this place and you're moving with expediency, you're going to have to try and make the best path you can as you go.

SAM: ♪ Make the best path ♪

TRAVIS: You got to make a dead run.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: We got to go.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, I sprint.

LAURA: To FRIDA? Or away, he got to run to us?

CHRISTIAN: I sprint towards them.

LAURA: They got to run to us.

CHRISTIAN: Yep.

MATT: All right. So the rest of you go darting in the direction of the Gildhollow Tower. You continue to--

AABRIA: We can't leave them.

MATT: -- charge in that direction. As you do enter the sprint, (clatters) occasionally stumble a bit off piece of rock, but keep going. (snarls, howls) You hear it getting louder and louder and you begin to hear--

ASHLEY: I'm going to linger back a little bit, looking back at FRIDA.

SAM: I'm lingering as well. We're all lingering.

LAURA: Can we see FRIDA running towards us?

MATT: You don't have visual at the moment. You're about maybe 300 feet from the base of the tower and you can either wait, go back, or head towards the tower.

LAURA: How far away from the base of the tower?

MATT: About two, 300 feet.

LAURA: Two, 300 feet. Okay.

TRAVIS: Yeah, fuck it. I'm going to stick my thumbs into my hips. I'm going to rip off Chetney's legs and

(crackles)

SAM: Oh god.

TRAVIS: These big wolf legs come out, but just upper Chet is still running.

AABRIA: What?!

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Wolf legs, but Chet's booking it. I'm coming (snarls) and just--

ASHLEY: The face.

TRAVIS: (howls) I'm just going.

MATT: Just a quadruped run.

LAURA: Are you running towards the wolves?

TRAVIS: Yeah, I'm running towards where FRIDA is, yeah.

AABRIA: You really are stretching the credulity of how into this I can be.

(laughter)

LAURA: Okay. (stammers) And do we know how far away FRIDA is from us?

TRAVIS: We do not see them.

LAURA: From how far away the old tower was, generally?

MATT: You gather FRIDA's probably a few minutes of running from where you are.

LAURA: Which is?

SAM: Minutes.

TRAVIS: A few minutes of running.

LAURA: That's more than 100 yards.

MATT: Actually at a full sprint, I'd say about a minute away.

TRAVIS: Because remember the tower, the big tower was 200 yards from where his vantage point was and we were trying to go past that to the next one. So it's at least 250.

LAURA: Okay. Okay. Can I? I want to use my sorcery points to double my distance.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I have a spell that's 150 feet, so I could do it 300 feet away from me.

TRAVIS: Damn.

MATT: You can.

AABRIA: Let's go.

ASHLEY: Awesome.

MATT: Visual range is challenging, though. You are all on the ground floor and there are buildings blocking most of your visual range here unless you get into a main street.

AABRIA: Right, but Exandria's flat, so we should be able to see everything, right?

ASHLEY: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SAM: That's true.

TRAVIS: No.

ASHLEY: The flat--

LAURA: The general goal here, though, is to create it in a space that's going to create noise far away from where FRIDA is and where we are.

TRAVIS: Oh.

MATT: Got you. Well, you'll have to wait until you figure out where FRIDA is at the moment.

AABRIA: Oh god.

LAURA: Well, I know where I heard that crack from, right? From the bridge.

MATT: You heard the crack, so you know the direction, but you're not certain where they are at the moment, distance-wise. So you can hold until they get within a certain area and then try and detect them.

LAURA: As soon as I see FRIDA at all, I'm going to let loose this spell.

MATT: Okay. What are the rest of you doing?

SAM: If Chetney's running back for FRIDA, I will as well.

MATT: Okay. Well, Chetney is faster than you and has darted off in that direction in a quadruped--

SAM: You guys should make it to the tower. We'll get FRIDA and meet you there.

LAURA: Great, I'm staying right where am. (laughter) I don't think we should run towards FRIDA, though. I think we should let FRIDA get to us.

TRAVIS: Yeah, go, run. Save yourself.

ASHLEY: I agree with Imogen.

SAM: You want us to stay right here?

ASHLEY: Well, I don't know if we should run towards-- Have FRIDA come to us. They know where to go.

TRAVIS: Yeah. I'll hold, too. I'll get out there and stop a little, but I'm waiting for eyes on FRIDA, but if three shapes come out of the distance, then I'm going to close

LAURA: Sure.

SAM: Okay.

CHRISTIAN: Okay, so the problem is that I wouldn't lead them to them.

MATT: Mm-hmm.

CHRISTIAN: So I would be moving--

ASHLEY: (sighs)

AABRIA: Perfect.

CHRISTIAN: In a different--

ASHLEY: You're right.

CHRISTIAN: I would be moving away from them.

AABRIA: ♪ I'm in hell ♪

CHRISTIAN: Just to clear them, I want to make sure that I can get clear before I bring a pack of wolves or whatever they are.

MATT: Understood.

ASHLEY: Maybe I should just run to the tower.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: I'm going to start running to the tower.

MATT: You just run to the tower?

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: This is dumb, but you guys got this?

SAM: Yeah, bye.

ASHLEY: I'm just going to the tower.

LAURA: Can I let loose my spell that I wanted to do?

MATT: If you want to.

LAURA: Sure, 300 feet away from me.

MATT: What do you create?

LAURA: I'm going to create a... Seething Storm.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Which is a 20-foot sphere of loud, violent, thunderous lightning energy.

MATT: You all hear this high-pitched whine and this terrible, loud, cracking, tearing sound. (crackling, booming) As nearby this plasma sphere of crackling purple-lavender energy begins to shoot bolts out to nearby stone, causing it to crack and shoot dust off to the sides. As it sunders this space, it continues to churn and give this loud energy. The rest of you can hear it in the nearby area and can see it, if you haven't already run past. You've already gone into a charge in the direction of where you remember FRIDA was. You're heading towards the tower. You're?

SAM: I'm just with Chet.

MATT: You're with Chet. Chet's further and further away from you, but you're following the line best you can and you both are heading to the tower?

ASHLEY: Deanna, what do you want to do?

AABRIA: I've got to go to the tower; I've got little legs.

ASHLEY: It's okay.

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah.

ASHLEY: I got you, I got you.

MATT: Okay, I want you--

TRAVIS: You have teeny legs.

AABRIA: She's just sobbing.

ASHLEY: It's okay, they're going to get FRIDA. They're going to get FRIDA.

AABRIA: Oh, thank god.

ASHLEY: Everything's going to be all right.

AABRIA: Oh god.

MATT: Make a deception check for me.

LAURA: All right.

AABRIA: Also, I don't know if this time for it, but your outfit's really pretty.

ASHLEY: Oh my god, thank you so much. I really like what you did with yours, too.

AABRIA: (tearily) You look so pretty.

ASHLEY: I really love the garter.

AABRIA: (tearily) Thank you so much.

ASHLEY: Oh, it looks so good. I wish I would've done that.

LAURA: 20.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: 20, okay. You are running and you're going on a southern arc to lead it away, correct? You're running, you're running and you can hear the snarls and these snapping of jaws a little ways off. (snarls, howls) Multiple sources. You are fearful to look behind you, instead are focusing on the sprint and trying to lead it away from your friends. You're uncertain how close it is. You dart around the corner before you hear that (explosion) in the direction of where they are. You hear (growls) (sniffs). A shifting of rock and stone, heavy claws against ground and the howls shift direction in the direction of your friends.

(gasping)

AABRIA: You're perfect, you're beautiful, I love you.

CHRISTIAN: I will then stealthily try and sort of double back around towards them.

MATT: Okay. In the interim, what are you two doing who are trying to chase in the direction of FRIDA?

TRAVIS: You see tiny Chetney's upper body Donald Ducking it with his big wolf legs.

AABRIA: Stop it!

(laughter)

TRAVIS: (grunts)

AABRIA: Psychotic!

MATT: (laughs) That is horrifying.

TRAVIS: Come on. Somebody help me with upper body.

AABRIA: Hey, every fan artist, you have tag me in all of it. You have to.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: (snarling)

(laughter)

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: It's stuck halfway. It's stuck! Hit me on the back.

AABRIA: Yeah, oh my god, oh my god.

SAM: Yeah, the miasma has him.

(laughter)

LAURA: Terrible.

CHRISTIAN: My hands are just flopping.

TRAVIS: (huge sneeze)

(laughter)

MATT: The rest of you transforms?

TRAVIS: Uh-huh.

AABRIA: Sneezes into a full wolf!

ASHLEY: So good.

MATT: All right. So while you both are running in the direction of FRIDA, you hear the howls shifting away and then you hear the detonation of the magic and they suddenly double back and are almost coming straight towards where you and FCG are--

SAM: Oh god.

MATT: -- at the moment.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Oh fuck.

MATT: What do you both do? Hearing it (snarls). Movement.

TRAVIS: I run over to FCG and I grab him, pull him behind a nearby boulder obstacle and hunch down and see if we can make ourselves small while keeping eyes out to see if we can see FRIDA running.

MATT: All right, both of you make stealth checks.

TRAVIS: Okay.

SAM: Instead of making a stealth check-- Are we behind the stone or something?

MATT: You're being dragged behind a stone by Chetney unless you wish to resist it.

ASHLEY: Still Pass Without A Trace?

SAM: I won't resist it.

MATT: You're still maintaining concentration.

SAM: I will Stone Shape a wall in front of us.

TRAVIS: Oh, awesome.

MATT: Okay. Give you advantage on that stealth, then.

TRAVIS: 29.

AABRIA: Yeah!

LAURA: Great.

SAM: 16.

MATT: 16 including the plus 10?

SAM: Oh, 26.

MATT: 26. (grinding) The wall careens over and you both lose visual and you hear multiple claws, snarling snouts and something or things moving rapidly beyond your visual range of this wall. (aggressive clawing) Cruising past and slightly away from the direction of where the tower is, you hope.

TRAVIS: Fuck, oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck.

MATT: You two have reached the base of the tower at this point. You can see the tower is heavily leaning in the direction of the outside forest.

AABRIA: Is that me?

(laughter)

ASHLEY: I got you.

AABRIA: You're so strong.

(laughter)

AABRIA: I would be holding Mister. Just a little--

ASHLEY: Okay, you hold Mister.

AABRIA: Yeah. (laughs)

ASHLEY: We got this, babe.

MATT: (laughs) Perfect. You can see the entire base of the trees surrounded by overgrowth. Multiple trees and heavy bushes have risen up and grasped and grown around the outsides of it. You can see where maybe there would be a base floor entrance to this, but it is partially crumbled and now entirely offset. There are heavy, thick brambles and branches that cover and have amassed this wall of growth that prevents any entry from that point. It looks like there are upper balcony areas where the balconies have crumbled and fallen and there might be entryways, but even they've been overgrown with branch and root and a number of these trees that now carry, like the forest is cradling it from falling on its side. But in doing so, it's also completely engulfed the majority of its exterior, the tower almost consumed by the forest itself. What do you do?

ASHLEY: Is there anywhere around for cover?

MATT: There's plenty of places for cover within the nearby brush.

AABRIA: Hold on! Minor Illusion. I'll just little rock wall in front of us.

ASHLEY: Okay, should we just wait here?

AABRIA: Yeah, should I? I could put a Guardian of Faith, but it's going to be a big--

ASHLEY: Would it be a big thing?

AABRIA: It'll be a big thing and everyone will see it.

ASHLEY: They're all going to be running back in just a minute.

AABRIA: They're all coming this way. Yeah.

ASHLEY: In just a minute?

AABRIA: Just a minute.

MATT: What you doing, Imogen?

ASHLEY: That'll be all right.

LAURA: As soon as I see that it worked and I can hear it from a distance, I'm going to start backing up and heading towards the tower, following Fearne and Deanna.

MATT: Okay. As you both begin to hamper down with the Minor Illusion of the wall, you watch as Imogen begins rushing up to you. The Minor Illusion is not large enough to hide all three of you.

AABRIA: Oh, shit.

ASHLEY: Okay, that's okay.

LAURA: That's fine.

SAM: Sorry, Mister.

ASHLEY: We'll find more cover.

AABRIA: (laughs) Just throw Mister into the--

(laughter)

LAURA: I'll find some other brush.

AABRIA: No, no, no, you're--

LAURA: No, no, no, no, I'm just--

AABRIA: Just come over here. It's little but doesn't matter.

LAURA: I'm hunkering.

AABRIA: We're just hunkering.

LAURA: Waiting.

MATT: You're not all behind this illusion.

AABRIA: We're not behind the--

LAURA: No, I'm going to hunker in another area close by.

MATT: Make a stealth check.

LAURA: Okay.

AABRIA: Okay.

ASHLEY: Plus 10.

LAURA: Plus 10. Oh, that's fabulous. That is a 21 plus 10. 31.

MATT: Okay, 31. So you hide in the brush. FRIDA, what are you doing at the moment now that you hear it tearing away unfortunately seemingly in the direction of the tower or close to it, at least that sort of way? Are you heading to meet this beast or are you heading towards the tower?

CHRISTIAN: Not towards the beast, towards the tower. Yeah.

MATT: Okay. You're going to arc around that trajectory off to the side as you're rushing through. Are you progressing stealthily or quickly?

CHRISTIAN: I think at this point, I have to get to them as quickly as possible, yeah.

MATT: Okay. You're rushing past and occasionally you hear (ghostly gasps). You see different spirits that are walking the streets that all of a sudden notice your approach and almost reach out for you as you dart past before they get a chance to try and reach out to you. Some hover and begin to drift between trees, stepping between the ethereal range, but they can't keep up with your full sprinting speed darting over towards the edge of the tower. What are you two doing?

SAM: The stone that I made to hide us, I would've left a little slit for us to see so we can see if things ran by. Did anything run by?

TRAVIS: (deeply) I tuck my ears back as I look over the top.

AABRIA: Oh, that's so cute!

MATT: Okay.

AABRIA: I'm back in.

TRAVIS: Or I can just peek up. Looking for Rose Gold.

SAM: Or monsters.

MATT: Okay. You do see some things pass by. You who are hiding by the tower would have a visual on this in a similar timeframe. You see five massive dire wolf creatures. Their torsos elongated, their necks stretched almost in an exaggerated, almost a vole type extension of what you would expect to see a wolven face. Their claws tearing forward, their front claws as the back of their body extends like a serpent. All of these five stretched wolves come and join into a singular back--

TRAVIS: Shut the fuck up.

MATT: -- portion of a wolven body with two large massive muscular clawed legs that are tearing behind it, like a chariot being pulled by the front of five separate wolves.

LAURA: How long are the stretch?

ASHLEY: That is cool.

MATT: The stretch is about 30 or so feet to each of them.

SAM: (screams) Whoa!

MATT: You watch as they're all winding between each other and clamoring over things and pulling the back legs with it and they're searching out and moving as one unified entity as they're chasing after the source of this sound.

SAM: Whoa.

LAURA: Okay.

TRAVIS: Okay.

AABRIA: Remember when we were shopping in Uthodurn and nothing bad was happening?

ASHLEY: When we got best friends corsets?

AABRIA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah, that was fun.

LAURA: Yeah, I can't breathe right now.

ASHLEY: I know, it's a little bit tight.

TRAVIS: I'm so impressed by that--

ASHLEY: But god, we look good.

AABRIA: We look very good. We're going to die beautiful.

TRAVIS: -- visual.

ASHLEY: Yeah, we really are.

TRAVIS: Okay, cool. Do we spot any glimmer of rose gold metallic in the distance anywhere? Did you take up a hiding spot or are you still booking it?

CHRISTIAN: I'm booking it. I'm still running up.

MATT: You do not see FRIDA at all.

SAM: The wolves are going towards the tower, though?

LAURA: They're going towards the sound.

MATT: They're going towards the sound, which is offset--

SAM: So we can let them go.

MATT: But you don't fully know which direction necessarily since you weren't part of the choice.

SAM: Then I think we just wait and watch, right?

TRAVIS: I don't have anything to keep it going in that direction or continue the diversion, so yeah, I think we're just sitting fucking pretty for a minute.

SAM: Yeah, okay.

AABRIA: Are we still trying to hide?

LAURA: We're trying to get into the damn tower.

CHRISTIAN: How far am I from them?

MATT: You come around about a minute and a half later. Rushing through the various side compartments and alleyways of the semi-fallen structures before eventually you can see the tower. You don't see a sign of your friends and you can hear the occasional snarl and mild muffled howl of this hunting creature. But you don't quite have a visual on it, which at least helps you understand that it's not at the tower base.

ASHLEY: Do we see FRIDA at all?

MATT: You're all keeping an eye out. You do see the rose gold shine of an Aeormaton approaching the tower just as last bit of the sunset light begins to turn to a darker beginning of night.

LAURA: Oh great, we're here during the night?

ASHLEY: I put my hand out to wave.

TRAVIS: I'm sure it's fine.

MATT: Okay, you do catch sight of Fearne reaching out from an illusion.

CHRISTIAN: There's no way it could happen again, right? So I'm going to move towards them in the most direct route quietly instead.

MATT: Okay, so you're going to attempt to stealth to them without drawing attention to their hiding space.

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

MATT: Roll another stealth check for me, please.

AABRIA: Okay...

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, no, we're fine. 29, 32. 31.

MATT: Okay, okay. With that, FRIDA rapidly approaches quietly unseen, unfollowed it seems, and gathers here at the base of the tower amongst the rest of the dangerous brush. Joins you in your wait.

ASHLEY: Ah! You're so quiet.

CHRISTIAN: Where's FCG?

AABRIA: Where's Chetney?

CHRISTIAN: Where's FCG?

LAURA: They went after you.

ASHLEY: They're trying to find you.

AABRIA: (laughs) Everything's going badly.

MATT: (howls)

(snarling)

LAURA: I'm going to try to Send a message. I'm going to try to Send a message to FCG.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Maybe it won't be so bad because they're close.

AABRIA: Yep, you can--

LAURA: I'm going to try.

AABRIA: Guidance.

LAURA: I'm going to try to Send a message.

MATT: Okay. Do you have to see them to Send a message?

LAURA: No, it's just like Sending.

MATT: All right, you're right, you're right. Yeah.

TRAVIS: We have to slay this beast.

AABRIA: Oh my god! Stop.

MATT: So wait, so you're casting the Message cantrip or you--

LAURA: No, I don't have the Message cantrip.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I have unlimited Sending. At least I used to. So I am going to try to Send since they're close and I'm not having to go over this huge range of--

TRAVIS: Before all the gods died, yeah.

AABRIA: Stop!

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I don't know.

MATT: Go ahead and roll a d100 for me.

LAURA: I'm going to take damage, aren't I? I'm going to take damage.

SAM: Did you say d100?

ASHLEY: Yes.

SAM: This is a wild magic thing?

LAURA: No, this is--

TRAVIS: Consequence.

AABRIA: Catching a fade off of--

LAURA: This is an 89.

MATT: 89, okay. What do you Send?

LAURA: I say: FRIDA made it to the tower. Where are you? Are you with Chet?

MATT: You do not feel the same resistance and chaotic interference from the leyline scattered energy based on the short distance between you and your friend.

SAM: So I heard it?

MATT: You do.

AABRIA: (shouts)

LAURA: (gasps) Amazing.

SAM: Okay. Imogen just spoke to me in my head and said that FRIDA made it to the tower, we should come.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Back to the tower?

SAM: Yeah.

TRAVIS: (deeply) What the fuck did I do this for?

SAM: I don't know. I just used a stone spell.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Come here, you little bitch. Pick him up.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: (panting)

MATT: Okay, so you're going into full sprint towards the tower?

SAM: Yeah.

AABRIA: Wolf legs.

MATT: Okay. You both go running back towards the space and you can see now the same risen and somewhat fallen tower as it-- It is no longer in a straight position. It cracks and bends as it falls into the nearby forest. The rest of you watch as Chetney in wolven form emerges from out of the nearby archways, clutching FCG under his arm.

ASHLEY: I'm watching behind them.

LAURA: Hi!

MATT: You also here (sniffing, howling).

LAURA: Shit, shit.

MATT: A scent has been picked up as well as the sound of movement, which was not stealthy.

LAURA: Oh, great.

TRAVIS: Oh, fuck.

LAURA: You were not stealthy.

CHRISTIAN: Is there any trees or brush nearby?

MATT: I mean, there's plenty around the tower itself. Majority of the exterior of the tower is either tangled in roots branches or grown tree.

ASHLEY: Does there seem to be an entrance anywhere that it looks like we could get into the tower? I'm going to--

MATT: Make a perception check.

ASHLEY: Okay.

AABRIA: Guidance!

TRAVIS: Oh, y'all aren't in the tower yet?

LAURA: No, we're waiting for you. What if there's a fucking monster on the inside of the tower?

SAM: Just got to get inside.

TRAVIS: It's better than the one outside of the tower.

LAURA: How do you know?

TRAVIS: I know.

AABRIA: Matt's got a big imagination. He can make it worser.

ASHLEY: 17.

TRAVIS: Worser--

MATT: 17.

AABRIA: Worser Mercer.

MATT: Glancing around, you do not see a particular entrance in the ground floor. You see there are a couple of entrances along the tower where doorways for balconies or other higher up entrances still remain though they are partially overgrown and you have to climb to get to them.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LAURA: What does it seem like-- We can climb them, the vines that are--

MATT: Oh yeah, it's a thick tangle of roots and vines and branches all along here. It's basically climbing up the side of an overgrown tower, so--

LAURA: I'm going to start trying to climb the side of the overgrown tower.

AABRIA: Before you start climbing, does this look like the bad tree that was inside the other tower?

MATT: Um... These do not carry the same extremely bright red.

AABRIA: Mm.

MATT: You know? Flora.

MATT: But they don't look like normal trees. Everything here sits in that purple to red to gray to deep navy coloration. A lot of these sit in more of the purple and navy.

AABRIA: I lean in and cuss it out as we go. I'm like: You fucking stay a tree.

MATT: (laughs)

AABRIA: I swear to god, if I see a face, I'm going to bite it.

LAURA: This is going to be great. I'm super athletic.

MATT: Are you all climbing to try and get to the--

SAM: Are we there yet?

TRAVIS: No, we're not there yet.

LAURA: You're almost there.

MATT: They watched you emerge and you've gotten there.

TRAVIS: Oh, good.

MATT: You've arrived now at the base of the tower, but you've definitely drawn attention in doing so.

AABRIA: Sure, I'm going to throw up a-- Oh god, I don't what it's called.

TRAVIS: I got claws so I can carry you up.

SAM: Sure.

TRAVIS: I got a harpoon gun, too.

AABRIA: I'm going to throw a Guardian of Faith in front of our climbing path.

MATT: Okay, okay. You got it. What guardian do you summon?

AABRIA: Uh.

TRAVIS: Go ahead, say it.

LAURA: (laughs)

AABRIA: It's a big Chetney.

SAM: A big Chetney.

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Say, 200 years ago beach lifeguard Chetney.

(laughter)

AABRIA: No, it's a big scary wolf Chetney.

TRAVIS: You should put some sunscreen on that skin. You'll burn.

AABRIA: Okay, shut the fuck up.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Guardian of Faith, kill me first.

(laughter)

MATT: All righty.

AABRIA: And start the climb.

MATT: I would like a group athletics check to climb the outside of this.

LAURA: Can it be an acrobatics check?

SAM: (chuckles)

MATT: I'll say for-- Yes, but it's a higher DC.

AABRIA: Can I Guide myself?

MATT: Choice is yours.

SAM: I'm going to Guide Chetney since he's carrying me.

TRAVIS: Amazing.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Oh, switch.

ASHLEY: I'm going to try to make a Mirthful Leap.

LAURA: Get rid of it!

CHRISTIAN: Where's that dice?

MATT: Mirthful Leap?

SAM: Oh, we need the little--

MATT: What's the distance on that leap?

SAM: -- Time Out Chairs.

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: "Whenever you make a long or high jump, you can roll a d8 and add the number rolled to the number of feet you cover. Even when making a standing jump, the extra distance costs movement as normal."

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I can't split it. I got a natural 20.

AABRIA: Roll a different die.

MATT: Natural 20, which is two successes. Natural one, that's two failures. You can make an athletics or acrobatics, your choice.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: The DC-- I'll give you advantage because of your Mirthful Leap.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: But the DC is higher on acrobatics.

ASHLEY: Okay. Oh, the same. Okay, that would be 18.

MATT: 18. Okay. Are you holding onto her still or--

AABRIA: Oh, am I on you?

LAURA: We balance, we balance.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

AABRIA: Oh shit, yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

AABRIA: Thanks, bud.

ASHLEY: Let's go.

AABRIA: Then can I have Guided you instead of me?

MATT: You're carrying FCG?

ASHLEY: It's okay.

TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.

AABRIA: Okay.

TRAVIS: With his Guidance, 21.

MATT: 21. All righty.

LAURA: We have a Guardian right there.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: You all begin climbing up the side as you hear the howls getting louder and louder. You also hear the somewhat spectral howls of a large, spectral Guardian of divine energy in the shape of a wolven Chetney.

TRAVIS: Yeah, ma'am.

MATT: Climbing up the side, FRIDA making quite a bit of ground before you grab a branch that snaps and FRIDA immediately falls back.

SAM: Oh god.

MATT: Just as you're about to tumble about 30 or so feet and hit the rocks below, you reach out and a hand catches you. Who catches?

LAURA: Can I Telekinetically Shove him back into the wall?

MATT: Yes, you can.

CHRISTIAN: Hell yeah.

MATT: Something catches you and you get lifted and grab back on.

ASHLEY: (wobbly) Whoa! Cool.

MATT: Feeling the gentle lift of the psychic abilities.

AABRIA: It's just a cup.

LAURA: Just a gentle cupping.

AABRIA and MATT: (laugh)

TRAVIS: It's just a cupping, huh?

(laughter)

CHRISTIAN: Thank you, Miss Temult. Thank you.

AABRIA: Imogen, you're amazing.

SAM: Imogen, what the fuck are you doing?!

(laughter)

SAM: Get your hands--

AABRIA: Let them have this.

LAURA: Somebody's got to save their ass.

AABRIA: Oh!

ASHLEY: Ooh!

SAM: Get your hands off them.

TRAVIS: Oh, flip!

MATT: Dang.

TRAVIS: Not now!

ASHLEY: Fighting words.

SAM: Oh, is that what this is?

AABRIA: I cast a Minor Illusion to make her sparkle a little bit.

MATT: It's a tough climb, but there's plenty of--

SAM: It's on.

MATT: -- thorns and extensions to these roots that you can hold onto the higher up you get until eventually you can see the broken edge of where a balcony once stood and a little bit of an entryway you can squeeze through. One-by-one, you all begin to climb into the dark, lightless interior of the central portion of this tower that you hope to be the Gildhollow. As you push inside, you can hear the howls loud, the distraction had worn off and the sounds of your journey still catching their attention and your recent proximity allowing them to catch your scent. As soon as you all step inside, you can hear the clawing and movement of the entity--

TRAVIS: Jesus.

MATT: -- begin to rise around the base of this.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, it can climb--

LAURA: Uh-oh.

CHRISTIAN: -- the fuck up this thing?

SAM: Isn't your Spirit Guardian doing stuff?

AABRIA: Is my Guardian of Faith doing anything?

MATT: Well, it's not climbing the tower, but you see it tears into the nearby road where the tower is adjacent to the other buildings.

AABRIA: Still holding steady.

MATT: You can see now as the five elongated--

TRAVIS: God.

MATT: -- like a hydra-wolf all attached at one central back of legs emerges. All of the different long wolven bodies--

(beastly sniffing)

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: -- sniffing and snapping at each other and then curling off to the side and they're all beginning to search and smell around. They're following the scents to over where some of you are hiding. One of them reaches up and looks up towards the spectral Chetney, who looks down.

AABRIA: Do they get within 10 feet of the spectral Chetney?

MATT: Well, one of them notices and-- (low growl)

AABRIA: Yeah, get in there.

MATT: -- growls. One of the other ones looks up. (hostile barks and snarls) You watch as they begin to claw their way up the side towards it. With multiple hands climbing up, that's going to be an advantage on the athletics check. It begins to climb up the side--

SAM: Oh no!

MATT: -- of the trees and the roots--

AABRIA: Fuck that shit, we can look down at them, right?

LAURA: Yeah, we can look down at them, right?

MATT: -- up towards the Chetney. Yeah, you can look down at it, but the Chetney, they do get within 10 feet of it as they see this thing and they hunt it.

AABRIA: Yeah!

AABRIA: Dex save.

TRAVIS: That's fine. Remember, they can't see us. We're inside.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Yeah, you're inside. They do not see you at the moment.

LAURA: Okay, and they didn't see us go into the window?

TRAVIS: Just scent and they heard stuff and there's a general scent.

MATT: There is a scent in the space, correct.

AABRIA: Okay.

SAM: Can I ask you a question for clarification?

MATT: Yes, you may.

SAM: There's five heads on this thing?

MATT: Five elongated torsos.

SAM: Bodies?

MATT: Yeah.

SAM: So they eat five times as much food and they all crap out of one poop chute?

MATT: Yes.

AABRIA: Mm-hmm.

SAM: Wow.

LAURA: That is so much poop.

TRAVIS: That's the question you asked?

SAM: Yeah.

TRAVIS: That's what you asked?

AABRIA: It takes weeks to poop.

ASHLEY: Yeah. (laughs)

AABRIA: That's a long body.

CHRISTIAN: That's my boyfriend.

LAURA: (laughs)

SAM: Wow.

MATT: What do you think that miasma is?

SAM: That thing just must be--

(laughter)

SAM: It must be shitting so much.

AABRIA: They put the ass in miasma.

TRAVIS: It's just crapping in all the crevices.

ASHLEY: Oh my gosh.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

MATT: So as they enter the 10-foot space of the Guardian of Faith...

AABRIA: They need a 17 dex save.

MATT: That is going to be a 16, actually. It just failed. Natural 10 plus six.

AABRIA: 20 points of radiant damage.

TRAVIS: Mm!

CHRISTIAN: Oh, okay!

SAM: (energy buzzing)

AABRIA: This guy's around until he deals 60 points.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Until it does 60 points of damage?

AABRIA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: What?!

MATT: So immediately the Chetney (slash) strikes at one of the faces. (yelps) It withdraws and begins to claw its nose. One of the other faces (snarls) lunges out and goes for it again.

AABRIA: Yeah.

MATT: No, that's a 10.

SAM: Yeah.

LAURA: Yes.

MATT: Roll damage again.

AABRIA: All right, another 20.

MATT: Another 20. (forceful damage) That one withdraws and you watch as the other ones are climbing up the side. The two that withdraw are growling, but also licking them and as you get a closer look, too, their features are stretched and exaggerated. Their jaws, the front of the lips seem to quiver and bend, like they're not quite--

CHRISTIAN: Ugh.

AABRIA: Matt.

MATT: -- solid bone, like there's cartilage on the inside but then at the edge of the jaws, they come into these long barb-like spikes that protrude from the sides of the skin.

LAURA: You mean the snout quivers?

MATT: The snout quivers as it bites.

LAURA: Gross!

TRAVIS: Dude, what?

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: With spikes going backwards?

LAURA: Foul!

MATT: On the back of the jaws.

ASHLEY: Pencil situation.

(laughter)

MATT: The bodies, as they move, it's like the sockets of the limbs either pop out or--

TRAVIS: Dislocate?!

MATT: -- or dislocate to try and slither and move easily.

TRAVIS: (gags)

MATT: The back of its central hind part of its body is quite wide and muscular. Proportionally, it's larger than it would be for a single one of these torsos and it seems to be dragged and pulled behind by the other five. It doesn't seem like it has the most natural speed and mobility, and is limited by its strange, mutated form.

LAURA: Okay.

TRAVIS: Damn.

AABRIA: Hey Matt, can this be the Wolf-King? Because I'm so stressed if it's not.

MATT: It is the Wolf-King.

AABRIA: Okay, cool, cool.

MATT: Like a Rat-King, this is the Wolf-King.

LAURA: Oh.

AABRIA, ASHLEY, and CHRISTIAN: Oh!

SAM: Is its ass raw?

AABRIA: That's very funny.

(laughter)

LAURA: What? Why?

AABRIA: Why?

LAURA: Why do you care about its ass so much?

SAM: I'm obsessed with its gastrointestinal system.

AABRIA: I hate him.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: Great mysteries of Exandria for you to contemplate in the wee hours of the evening, FCG.

TRAVIS: Do you go and check?

AABRIA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

AABRIA: Insight check.

MATT: The third, now that two of the heads have withdrawn in pain, a central bold one goes for one, it's going to keep pushing.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: That's an 18.

AABRIA: Okay, so it'll take 10 points.

MATT: It takes 10 points, takes another strike.

AABRIA: Yep.

MATT: It begins to lash out and try and claw. It takes no purchase on this beyond the burning sensation of its strike and also as it tries to climb up, it can't quite get around it and the hind legs themselves are being pulled up like it's hitched and being dragged up by the other...

TRAVIS: Appendages?

MATT: The upper parts of the body. It's having a rough time climbing.

TRAVIS and SAM: (groan)

MATT: It's not designed--

(laughter)

MATT: It's not designed well by any means.

AABRIA: Should we be firing down on this monster?

TRAVIS and SAM: No, no, no.

SAM: We don't want him to know we're here.

MATT: Eventually--

AABRIA: How about we just kill it from up here?

MATT: -- it begins to disengage back to the ground floor.

TRAVIS: The tower's on a lean.

MATT: The heads look up and start barking angrily at it, like a toy that it can't get to and they sit there and encircle, lick their wounds for the next five, six minutes or so until eventually it begins to lose interest and slowly, the different bodies begin to meander, occasionally glancing back at the tower before wandering off to seek what other prey might be easier to grasp.

TRAVIS: (groans) Okay.

ASHLEY: That was weird.

AABRIA: (fake cries) That was so scary.

ASHLEY: I really thought you were going to be the Wolf-King.

SAM: Maybe--

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: (deeply) We can dethrone him later.

CHRISTIAN: There's still time.

ASHLEY: Oh yeah, there's still time.

LAURA: Hey FRIDA, you're alive.

AABRIA: You're just making jokes?

CHRISTIAN: I am alive.

AABRIA: We almost died!

(fake cries)

SAM: That was scary.

TRAVIS: (deeply) It's okay.

AABRIA: (weeps)

TRAVIS: It's okay, there there.

AABRIA: (weeps)

TRAVIS: (deeply) Relax.

AABRIA: I'm not relaxing! This is weird.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Sorry.

AABRIA: No, it's okay. And she just hugs you.

SAM: Aww!

LAURA: Aww.

CHRISTIAN: I appreciate you guys coming back for me, but in the future, you should go towards the objective.

AABRIA: Hold on. Are you trying to have a fucking cool attitude right now? I'm going to go slap the shit out of you.

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah.

CHRISTIAN: It worked out.

AABRIA: Did you fall down a bridge?

CHRISTIAN: I did fall down a bridge.

AABRIA: And you almost died?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah.

AABRIA: Then we went back to get you and you're going to be like, "Ha ha, did the objective"? Fuck you.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

AABRIA: I'm so mad, I could scream.

LAURA: Don't, it'll draw attention.

TRAVIS: Yeah. (laughs)

CHRISTIAN: I'm sorry.

AABRIA: People care about you.

CHRISTIAN: Yes, I care about you. I care about you, but we're okay.

ASHLEY: What about us? You were like, "I care about you, I care about you," and that's it.

SAM: Of course they care about us--

CHRISTIAN: Miss Calloway--

SAM: all of us.

CHRISTIAN: -- I'm quite fond of you, Miss Calloway and you, Miss Temult and you, Mr. Pock O'Pea.

TRAVIS: (deeply) We're tight, yeah.

CHRISTIAN: We tight. Game recognize game.

LAURA: (laughs)

AABRIA: (high-pitched mumblings)

CHRISTIAN: I was just a little clumsy and I wasn't watching my step. I was trying to make my way towards you. So I'm sorry, but now we know what's out there. That's a good thing.

ASHLEY: Well, we're not going to leave you behind.

CHRISTIAN: No.

ASHLEY: If it happens again. We can't just--

AABRIA: Can we not separate? I don't like that.

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

CHRISTIAN: But I need you to trust that I'll make my way to you. It's going to be okay.

AABRIA: You don't know that.

CHRISTIAN: It's fine. All right, we're here and everyone's okay. Fresh Cut Grass, are you okay?

SAM: I'm fine, yeah. We're all together.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah.

SAM: We're inside.

LAURA: Yeah. We start looking around. This is where Ludinus started everything, right?

CHRISTIAN: Oh.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Maybe. (sniffs) I'll take a sniff of the air with my wolfy-wolf nose.

MATT: Make a perception check for me with advantage. It is lightless in here. So for those who do not have darkvision, you have no way of seeing anything.

LAURA: I'm going to--

CHRISTIAN: I don't have any light.

LAURA: Just give very faint little crackling balls of purple energy.

MATT: (crackles) Drift around. Here in this central chamber of the tower, it is wildly cluttered and debris-filled. You can see there are heavy bits of furniture like armoires and cabinets that have been pushed and slammed into the sides of the building. You can see rocks and chunks of the building structure that have tumbled in and cracked and destroyed much of what was inside the chamber. Parts of the floor have broken in and what was once probably a smooth marble or polished stone floor is heavily cracked and sundered, chunks of it sticking up and bits of shale and dust strewn about. Heavy, heavy roots have grown through from the exterior trees and plant life and there is a thick moss and fungus has taken up different portions of the chamber itself. There is multitudes of messes and strange smells. It smells like it's long been left to mildew and age and rot. There is a single staircase that curves and ascends to an upper floor. Everything is just slightly at an angle and even just walking, you feel that bit of gravity tugging you to one side.

LAURA: Does this room seem like it's been as looted and plundered as the rest of them?

MATT: Well, you can make an investigation check to see if that's the case.

LAURA: Sure.

MATT: What'd you roll?

SAM: Guidance.

MATT: What did you roll?

TRAVIS: I adjust the sweatband and pull it up, make sure I get all the hair back when I pull it down and readjust it. (sniffs) 15.

MATT: 15.

CHRISTIAN, AABRIA and TRAVIS: (laugh)

AABRIA: That's so cool.

MATT: That mustiness is extremely strong.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Strong.

MATT: There is old rot.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Old rot.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: (deeply) Yeah.

(laughter)

MATT: It's interesting. There's an ancient rot of long-dead flesh as well as that damp earth of well-situated and long left to do its thing plant life that itself has either died or left to still water.

TRAVIS: Bag of leaves left in the sun kind of thing?

MATT: Kind of a vibe, yeah. As you alight the space around here, you can see there's stretches of a dried residue that seems to be pushed between parts of the ruined furniture.

ASHLEY: What color?

MATT: It's a faint gray to even a tan or peach color.

AABRIA: What does it taste like?

LAURA: Yeah. (laughs)

MATT: You want to taste it?

TRAVIS: Residue?

MATT: It looks like strips of parchment or paper stretched over long--

LAURA: That's skin.

MATT: -- paths.

SAM: Mm-hmm.

AABRIA: (laughs)

SAM: Yeah.

CHRISTIAN: That's nasty.

MATT: Like a cracked, dried silk.

SAM: Eww.

MATT: Or sheets of frail bark that are leaned against or pulled across. But you see they're thin. In many cases, they're shorn and fallen in strips that flow with the air as a little bit of breeze occasionally courses through the opening you came through.

TRAVIS: Is the floor stone here or is there wooden sections?

MATT: The floor is stone from what you can tell for the majority of it. There is plenty of splintered wood from ruined furniture and decor as well as wooden braces that are part of holding up the upper floor that have been cracked and fallen and you're uncertain as to how structurally sound this tower would be if it were jostled heavily.

LAURA: I rolled a 26 on investigation.

MATT: You did?

AABRIA: Nice.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: If this is where Ludinus was, before we rule out anything below us, does it look like there's any compartments or carpets or things that we might need to lift up and look underneath and make sure that we're on the ground floor of this? Oh no, because we're up.

LAURA: Yeah, we're up.

MATT: You're partway up. There is technically a floor below you but you don't see a way down--

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: -- from where you stand. You'd have to heavily search through. Based on the damage this has sustained and the many things that have fallen within, it looks like either it's hidden or it just doesn't have one.

TRAVIS: Yeah, okay.

MATT: You rolled a?

LAURA: 26.

MATT: 26 investigation, that's great.

LAURA: Yes.

MATT: You were looking for specifically?

LAURA: See if there's anything left, if it's been looted as much as everything else or if?

TRAVIS: Books, scrolls?

LAURA: Yeah, books, scrolls.

MATT: You do see, it is heavily looted.

LAURA: Okay.

MATT: Like most things you've seen through here, it's been picked through over hundreds of years.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: For those who made it this far, though you're not certain how far they got, but you do also notice there are a number of bodies that have been long left here, sundered. Arms, a skull. Many of them not as old as the room that they are settled in.

AABRIA: Oh.

MATT: So you do see the remnants of a camp in here. It looks like somebody made a small fire and there is an old, stained blanket that is bunched up in a corner that is now heavily taken over by a thick, brown mold.

SAM: Free blanket!

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: (deeply) That ain't mold.

CHRISTIAN: I'm going to--

ASHLEY: Is there, oh, sorry.

CHRISTIAN: No, go ahead.

AABRIA: (laughs) That's that wolf shit.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Yeah.

ASHLEY: Having met Ludinus, am I getting a vibe that this is his place? Do I pick up on--

CHRISTIAN: Luda vibes?

LAURA: Skanky, Ludinus vibes?

ASHLEY: Do I feel like he was here?

MATT: (laughs) With your insightful (laughs) interest in people's vibes and your investigation check that you just made.

AABRIA: Can I Guidance this vibe check?

MATT: I'll allow it.

ASHLEY: Yes.

AABRIA: Mid-century modern--

ASHLEY: I have a vibe. I just need to see. (laughs)

MATT: I'd like you to make a perception check for me, please.

ASHLEY: Okay, perception, okay.

MATT: It's less of an insight check, more of looking for details that you can...

AABRIA: Just in the corner, "Ludinus."

ASHLEY: With Guidance, okay.

SAM: Plus Guidance.

ASHLEY: Oh wow, okay. 21 plus nine.

SAM: That's 30.

ASHLEY: Yes, 30, 30. Sorry, my brain. 30.

MATT: Whew!

TRAVIS: What?

LAURA: Fuck yes.

AABRIA: (laughs)

MATT: While many long vines and roots choke off the outside world and any spaces where windows would've been from the outside, you can peer between some of these roots and can see there are decorations that carry beautiful elven stitching. You can see on the furniture, it is very, very high quality and it looks like there's shattered glass and many bits of bones scattered about that has been taken or buried within the growth inside. You get a very strong sense based on the color patterns here and the decor that Ludinus very well could have lived here, yes.

ASHLEY: Guys, guys, guys. Ludinus was here.

LAURA: How do you know?

AABRIA: You can tell from the thread count?

ASHLEY: I just, I feel it. I feel it, I feel it.

AABRIA: Okay.

ASHLEY: Definitely this is his tower.

LAURA: Do you feel any stairs, any way to get up to the higher levels?

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Oh yeah.

AABRIA: (laughs)

MATT: There is a set of stairs that climbs to the higher level, yeah.

CHRISTIAN: Before, or as they're descend, I'm going to take that blanket.

LAURA: Yeah, they're right there.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Right here.

CHRISTIAN: You said there were two structures, two wooden structures holding the tower in place?

MATT: There's four heavy wooden thick beams that are part of the structurally... The word escapes me. The interior--

CHRISTIAN: Infrastructure?

MATT: Infrastructure, thank you, that currently braces the upper floor against the stone. Two of them are damaged and fallen.

CHRISTIAN: So I'm going to go up to the other two and I'm going to gather as much foliage, marsh, anything that's flammable, that stuff, and I'm going to take an oil flask and douse all of that on both sides.

SAM: You're going to burn the house down?

CHRISTIAN: When we're done, I think we should burn this thing down. Yeah.

SAM: Not now, though, right?

CHRISTIAN: No, of course not, no.

SAM: Okay.

ASHLEY: We'll wait.

CHRISTIAN: No, but I'm going to start prepping that, so.

AABRIA: Yeah.

LAURA: I was like, "Oh no."

CHRISTIAN: This place has to come down, I think, when we're done, yeah.

MATT: Okay.

SAM: But we're supposed to go upstairs?

LAURA: Yeah. I would think his chambers or his labs would be higher up, since the bottom would be entry levels, right?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LAURA: Is this a mage tower? It feels like it.

SAM: Is that a thing?

TRAVIS: Could be.

AABRIA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: What's the difference between a regular tower and a mage tower?

SAM: That feels like the setup for a joke.

CHRISTIAN: Hidden rooms.

ASHLEY: It sure does.

SAM: I don't know what the punchline is--

ASHLEY: Really wish I had a punchline, but--

SAM: -- but that's a good setup.

ASHLEY: Yeah, I'm genuinely asking.

TRAVIS: Can anyone see magic? Like Detect Magic, or?

AABRIA: We all just like--

SAM: I can Detect Thoughts.

LAURA: I don't think so. Oh! Yeah, Detect Thoughts.

AABRIA: I can dispel it.

LAURA: Yeah. Great.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Cool, let's go up.

AABRIA: (laughs)

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: (burps)

SAM: Gross.

MATT: Marching order? Who's leading the charge upward?

TRAVIS: (deeply) I'll go.

LAURA: Okay.

TRAVIS: (deeply) I don't want to waste this form.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Follow your nose. (sniffs)

LAURA: I'll follow behind.

ASHLEY: Follow your nose!

LAURA: I'll follow behind.

CHRISTIAN: I think I'll be at the end.

MATT: Okay. The staircase that ascends upward, you can see while it's leaning to the point where to ascend it, you're slightly moving at the angle that it's tilted and the stone stairs, there's heavy cracks through them as they rise that meet all the way to the bottom floor. Partway up, you can see there is a skeletal body that lays on the stairs through your ascension. You'll have to step over it or get it out of the way.

ASHLEY: Why right there?

TRAVIS: Is it clothed? Skeletal in its garments still?

MATT: Yeah. It looks like it's wearing some old leather armor.

AABRIA: How old?

TRAVIS: I'm going to search the body, just check it out.

CHRISTIAN: Hell yeah.

TRAVIS: Pouches, belts, weapons, anything ornament, jewelry.

MATT: Yeah, it looks like there is a golden ring on one of the fingers.

LAURA: Oh!

AABRIA: Ooh!

MATT: The armor is also taken by--

AABRIA: Got it. (laughs)

TRAVIS: (laughs) Jeez.

MATT: -- a purple and black mold.

AABRIA: Jump for it like a bouquet at a wedding.

TRAVIS: The armor has a purple and black mold on it?

MATT: Yeah, it's deeply set into the leather.

TRAVIS: Hmm.

MATT: It looks like there's two shortswords that are sheathed that the rot has seeped into the leather sheaths, but the blades didn't rust too terribly in their hidden compartments.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Anybody want some moldy leather armor?

AABRIA: No, but you can keep talking.

CHRISTIAN: When he stops and I see the body, I'm going to give a once-over from where I'm at to see if I see any traps or any semblance of traps.

MATT: Make an investigation check for me.

CHRISTIAN: Well, I'm not very good at those, but here we go.

LAURA: The blades aren't rusted? Does that mean that they're--

ASHLEY: Guidance.

CHRISTIAN: Thank you!

MATT: They're not terribly rusted, but there's a little bit of wear on them.

CHRISTIAN: 14 plus a four.

SAM: How's that ring look?

ASHLEY: Yes!

CHRISTIAN: 18.

TRAVIS: (deeply) I'll hand it over to FCG.

SAM: Oh.

AABRIA: Oh. No, you threw it. We jumped for it.

LAURA: You threw it.

SAM: I caught it!

TRAVIS: I feinted that and y'all just fell for it.

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

AABRIA: Oh no.

MATT: As he's going through the body, you can see up the stairs a little bit around where the body is, there are these dark--

LAURA: Uh-oh.

MATT: -- burn marks. A faint bit of dark, charcoal spray in the radius around where the body is.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, it's trapped. Mr. Pock O'Pea.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Yeah?

CHRISTIAN: Traps. I think traps got him. Be careful up front.

TRAVIS: (deeply) Oh. Good call. Can I (sniffs) sniff at the black and purple mold? Is it natural-smelling mold or something else?

MATT: The mold is, but also as you smell around with that warning, you can also smell there's old carbon and you also now see, too, there's burn smudge in the space around where this body is.

TRAVIS: Can I check the stairwell and the steps for pressure plates, trip wires, some sorts of traps?

LAURA: Arcane traps?

MATT: You've made the investigation check and so between the two of you, there is a very, very faint glyph that is carved into the stone a little ways up the staircase you were about to ascend.

TRAVIS: I go over and I touch it. No.

(laughter)

LAURA: You said you have Dispel, you have ways to Dispel Magic?

AABRIA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

TRAVIS: (deeply) There's a glyph-- right over there.

AABRIA: Oh my god.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Once I slide down the stairs, run back up, and Dispel Magic.

LAURA and MATT: (laugh)

LAURA: Melt.

AABRIA: So sorry.

SAM: You're okay on spell slots? You okay? You good?

AABRIA: I'm fine for now. We're doing great.

SAM: Okay.

AABRIA: Yeah, I got a level three.

MATT: You clutch your symbol of the Dawnfather and release the--

SAM: Oh, I could have done that.

MATT: -- the incantation that pulls apart the weave of long-existing magic and you watch as this near invisible glyph suddenly begins to glow this bright orange color, like it's about to heat up and detonate, like someone had placed a poker in a fire for an extended period of time and right as it heats up, there's a slight shattering sound, a (echoing clangs) and you watch as the orange coloration immediately (soft blow) fades.

TRAVIS: Awesome.

ASHLEY: Nice job.

TRAVIS: (deeply) That was hot.

AABRIA: (nervously laughs)

SAM: Do you guys need a second?

AABRIA: No. No, it's fine.

TRAVIS: (deeply) On the stairs. Been there, done that. We keep going.

AABRIA: We have.

SAM: Looking at this ring, is there anything special about it or is it just a gold one?

MATT: It's just a nice gold ring. It's probably worth a little bit of change.

LAURA: Aw.

CHRISTIAN: Bet it tastes good.

MATT: It probably tastes good.

SAM: Do I sense any arcane things on it?

MATT: Make an arcana check.

AABRIA: Guidance!

SAM: Okay, Guidance. Get out of there.

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

LAURA: Why did you--

AABRIA: My Death Ward!

TRAVIS: Move, strange baby hand.

ASHLEY: (as Aabria) "My Death Ward!" I just painted their nails.

SAM: This is an arcana check? That's just a 12.

MATT: 12. Nothing's really catching your attention. It looks just like a ring.

SAM: Oh wait, I get advantage.

TRAVIS: You can Identify that later, right?

SAM: I know I can.

TRAVIS: With your little eyepiece? Okay.

SAM: I get advantage, so that's much better. That's a 15.

MATT: 15. Looks like a nice ring.

SAM: Okay. I'll eat it. (laughs)

LAURA: No, save it.

TRAVIS: We'll keep going.

MATT: It's tasty.

TRAVIS: We'll keep going up the stairs.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: You know, people--

MATT: You ascend the--

LAURA: -- wear rings when they're wed.

SAM: Oh, really? I'll keep it.

(laughter)

MATT: You ascend the wide spiral staircase up to the hatched opening that leads to the upper floor. As you begin to push through, and you do have to push through because the roots are dense and overgrown and they peer down and have since taken the top of the staircase before you make it into the upper chamber, you push past and hear them crack as you one-by-one begin to pull into this darkened interior, you lighting the chamber as you enter. This tilted room, which is even more tilted than the previous one, this was caught and from the outside, you could see it's the part that's most cradled by the surrounding trees that have since grown around it. You can see there's an area where a balcony would have been, but that balcony, that whole exit is now entirely choked and eaten by who knows how dense a cluster of branches and trees that have since spread into the chamber as well. You can see more of that odd, papery-like material that's stretched and dried and left in--

SAM: Is that--

MATT: -- corners and edges of the chamber.

SAM: -- skin?

AABRIA: Can I go investigate the papery material?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Yeah, make an investigation check.

AABRIA: Okay.

ASHLEY: Guidance.

AABRIA: Thanks.

CHRISTIAN: Could it be like a horcrux? You know, the Sword of Ludinus?

AABRIA: Minus one. 14.

MATT: 14.

TRAVIS: Minus one.

AABRIA: Is it a medicine check?

CHRISTIAN: We're all dead.

MATT: (laughs)

AABRIA: It's better if it's people.

MATT: I can give it a nature, either if you'd prefer.

AABRIA: No, that's not better.

MATT: Okay.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Nah.

AABRIA: Nah. I'll take my little 14.

MATT: There's something about it that reminds you of certain creatures--

AABRIA: Shed skin?

MATT: -- shed skin or a cocoon material.

ASHLEY: Oy vey.

MATT: It has that leftover organic material feel to it. Long-dried and left to hang.

AABRIA: Hey, FRIDA, remember when we were coming back from Eiselcross and I found that lizard and I was like, "Can I keep that lizard?" And then the lizard shed its skin and it left and I was like, "Look how cool the shed skin is?" This is like that.

CHRISTIAN: But like 20 times bigger because it covers this entire tower?

AABRIA: Mm-hmm.

ASHLEY: Could this be the shedding from the thing outside, the Wolf-King?

TRAVIS: (deeply) Totally, yeah or just an elven tower of Molaesmyr.

LAURA: Or there was also the stag creature. There was a weird, leathery winged creature.

SAM: There's tree people.

LAURA: I bet there's a lizardy sort of creature. Maybe there's a spider-type creature. Didn't we see webs when we first came in?

SAM: Oh yeah.

TRAVIS: Residue.

AABRIA: Oh my goodness.

ASHLEY: Oh boy.

TRAVIS: Well, this was the residue, right?

MATT: Oh, there are also webs and stuff throughout the city, but you didn't investigate those too heavily.

SAM: So whatever happened here mutated all the creatures around it and made--

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: Freaks.

TRAVIS: That's real bad.

MATT: Looking around the interior here, too, you do see more furniture that has slid close to the base of this chamber. You see a ruined but fairly wide bed that is lifted up over an armoire or a wardrobe that has also broken and shifted its doors half off its hinges and left open. There is a bunch of, once again, broken glass scattered everywhere. There is a fallen bookcase that is empty.

CHRISTIAN: I'm going to toss the room. I'm looking for anything hidden, anything that shouldn't be there.

TRAVIS: I'll help you, in particular with the bed, under the bed frame and then behind. Is there a headboard or anything like that?

MATT: There is a headboard. It's cracked heavily.

TRAVIS: I'll try to check behind it and underneath it.

LAURA: Where people would hide-- yeah.

ASHLEY: Does this look--

LAURA: End tables.

AABRIA: -- like it slid because of the listing of the tower, or people were throwing things against a door to like--?

SAM: Locked out?

MATT: Best you can see, it looks like a lot of things shifted as part of the tower falling back.

AABRIA: Shift is good, shift is good. Oh my god.

CHRISTIAN: Is that investigation?

MATT: This will be investigation, yeah.

LAURA: Guidance.

SAM: Guidance.

CHRISTIAN: We'll need it. With advantage--

AABRIA: Guidance.

CHRISTIAN: -- because he's helping me or no?

MATT: Yes.

CHRISTIAN: Okay, thank god.

TRAVIS: Fuck yeah.

CHRISTIAN: So four plus four is eight.

LAURA: Oh my god, that is a two, I thought that was an eight.

CHRISTIAN: Nine, 10, 11.

LAURA: Are you sure that's a two, that's not an eight?

CHRISTIAN: That's a two.

AABRIA: Really get in there.

CHRISTIAN: It's an 11 with advantage.

MATT: It's an 11, okay.

TRAVIS: 24.

SAM: That's dogshit. Oh.

AABRIA: (laughs)

AABRIA: That was so real.

MATT: Oh, you were rolling separately?

TRAVIS: Oh, I did, but I don't have to.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, so no, keep that, what did you get? Yeah, keep that.

MATT: I misunderstood. I thought he was helping you. So you would keep the first roll.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, that's fine.

MATT: Okay, so 24.

TRAVIS: Yeah, natural 18.

AABRIA: Let's go.

TRAVIS: Beeew.

MATT: So with that, as you glance around, This room definitely looks like it's been tossed over quite a bit. You can see the signs once again of familiar looting throughout. A lot of this has been shifted and moved. You can see there's from inside the wardrobe, the doors that have been opened and pulled off the hinges wasn't from shifting. People have definitely gone through and tried to remove anything of possible worth. You notice between and behind the roots against the walls from the tree elements that have pushed through the stone and the openings and have grown all across the inside, the heavy clusters of branches and stuff that close off the upper areas and definitely have consumed a lot of the inside of this tower, you see notes or pieces of paper or cloth that have Elvish writings on them that have been heavily stained with time that are mostly obscured by the growth here and mold that has taken to it as well.

TRAVIS: I'll use my claws (shearing) to slowly carve away the roots and I'll call over Deanna and have her take a look as I'm trying not to damage the paper as I remove the overgrowth.

MATT: I understand.

AABRIA: Lift me.

TRAVIS: (growls)

AABRIA: Thanks.

MATT: It definitely looks like some of it has been torn and taken. Like someone in a hurry grabbed whatever they could and ran. So it's broken a bit, but as you begin to read it, there is one, a cloth scroll that looks like it was leaned against a wooden board of some kind and that has since been grown over and parts of the wood has grown out like a potato you've left for too long that begins to grow on its own that in Elvish is a bunch of questions. In fact, a lot of this feels like self-written notes and annotations, like somebody's reminding themself or making bullet points to question or come back to. A lot of it speaks of patterns of arcana across cultures, across time, across dates and you can see Exandrian calendar fragments. You can see notes on repetition and the shiftings of magic. You can see fonts of arcana and power that overlap with celestial events. There's a lot of noting where things continue to recur over long and short periods of time.

AABRIA: Cool. That's dope.

SAM: Figuring out the leylines.

AABRIA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Is it worth copying any of this down?

AABRIA: I--

TRAVIS: It's a lot.

LAURA: I mean, is it? Can we take it?

CHRISTIAN: If you say it out loud, I can record it.

LAURA: Can't we take it?

SAM: Oh, that's great.

AABRIA: Okay, yeah.

LAURA: I think we should take it. Why can't we just take it?

AABRIA: No, you're right. Okay.

SAM: Sure.

AABRIA: (careful retrieving noises)

MATT: You may have to carve some of these roots away to do so, but you can do that.

AABRIA: I think I try to cast Mending--

TRAVIS: Let's do the read it option first. So we have a digital copy.

AABRIA: To get structural integrity up a little bit.

TRAVIS: In case they fall apart.

MATT: That, indeed, you can do.

AABRIA: Sweet.

MATT: Okay. With that, as you're doing this, you glance around and you can see there are other parts of this chamber where more of these notes are still somewhat present, haven't been taken entirely. So you begin to cut some of this away. You notice that in elements of these notes, it calls out historical specialists, people to reach out to in the world that might know this. People who in the past have kept on it. You see names like--

AABRIA: Give me some names.

MATT: Vaatora. Doesn't ring a bell. Laerryn doesn't ring a bell.

AABRIA and LAURA: (gasp)

AABRIA: (screams)

LAURA: (cackles)

CHRISTIAN: Oh my gosh.

TRAVIS: I'm sorry.

MATT: Vishtaraan.

TRAVIS: Excuse me.

AABRIA: Ugh!

ASHLEY: Well, I came at the right time.

TRAVIS: Wait. Wha--

CHRISTIAN: (laughs)

TRAVIS: What was the third one, Vishtaraan?

MATT: Vishtaraan.

AABRIA: I don't care about any other of the names.

SAM: It was Vaatora.

AABRIA and TRAVIS: Vaatora.

SAM: Laerryn.

AABRIA: (giggles)

ASHLEY: Vaatoran and Vishtaraan?

AABRIA: Sorry, Lorraine.

AABRIA: I think it's pronounced Lorraine.

LAURA: Lorraine?

AABRIA: Lorraine.

MATT: I think it's Lorraine. Lorraine was how it was pronounced.

CHRISTIAN: What the fuck?

MATT: There's also part of a small, not even a journal, but a series of of heavy, treated vellum pages that are bound together and these are heavily notes on pages of what looks like they were torn from a religious tome or a book and there are circles around certain sections and notes talking about temple propaganda, talking about inconsistencies and elements of religious rites that are contradictory.

AABRIA: That's so cool.

MATT: That are in themselves proof that there is no real truth or plan in what the gods present. It looks like someone is preparing a speech, like an Exandrian TED Talk on what is wrong with the religious rites.

AABRIA: That's so cool. Okay.

MATT: You also see within this series of pages heavy emphasis on the Matron.

CHRISTIAN: Mm.

MATT: A lot of self-written questions and notes, an unfinished section. A lot of, "What's her name? I have to find her name. There is power in names."

TRAVIS: We've heard that before.

AABRIA: Oh fuck.

TRAVIS: "A name is earned."

AABRIA: Oh!

TRAVIS: Just while they're digesting that.

AABRIA: It doesn't mean anything to me.

TRAVIS: I'm sure these were written and put on the wall but just in case, can I find any dirt or soil or anything in the room and try and wipe it on sections of the wall where the notes aren't anymore just in case someone was--

AABRIA: (gasps)

TRAVIS: -- writing these, writing on the wall before they were taken off like a chalk rubbing almost?

MATT: You can certainly try.

TRAVIS: Just to see if any indentations are picked up.

MATT: This is a very high DC--

SAM: Guidance.

MATT: -- investigation check, so give me a shot on that.

AABRIA: Can I assist?

TRAVIS: I have advantage. Recall information about fey, fiends or undead, but could I be assisted for advantage?

AABRIA: Yeah, can I assist? I've got a bunch of dust, I can try to blow a little.

SAM: This is an important one, right?

TRAVIS: Uh-huh.

SAM: Do you have any of your motes of possibility?

TRAVIS: No.

SAM: What is this? You're doing an intelligence check?

TRAVIS: It's an investigation check.

SAM: Investigation, which is intelligence.

ASHLEY: Guidance?

TRAVIS: But I have advantage and I'll take some Guidance.

SAM: So you already have advantage, yeah?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: All right, go for it.

AABRIA: You got this, Chetney.

TRAVIS: 15, 22, 24.

MATT: 24.

TRAVIS: It's not a 25.

SAM: (sighs)

AABRIA: It's good, though. You did good.

MATT: You wipe the dirt across it, gently trying to blow away whatever dried soil there is, because almost everything in here has some dampness to it, but there are patches of dried dust. You know these are fine because this isn't earth, this is long-decayed skin or organic material. Whether it be from this odd material that you see stretched across parts of this chamber, it has that light dust, that very fine powder-feel that you can blow across and drift. It reacts differently to shifts and changes. You move from one patch to the next, and it's limited in what you can find, especially given the short time that you've had to search this space. In this time, too, the slight cracks of light that you see coming through the branches have now fully darkened, and you know night has taken the Savalirwood around you. There's no sign of writing, there's no sign of remnants of drawing or any notes that are pulled from this. But there is one portion of the wall when you put the dust across it, the dust stays. Just this slight circular portion of the stone that it clings to ever so faintly--

ASHLEY: A circle?

MATT: -- unnaturally.

LAURA: A secret--

TRAVIS: (deeply) This portion of the wall is different than the rest of the surface.

SAM: Is it because there's something on it, or there's something that we can--

TRAVIS: The dust is adhering to it.

LAURA: Is it invisible, or is it an opening?

CHRISTIAN: Could be.

AABRIA: Do you have Dispel Magic?

SAM: I do. Am I dispelling it?

LAURA: Or should we touch it?

SAM: Is it a thing that we can shift and push through?

TRAVIS: It might be.

ASHLEY: Should we throw a rock at or something?

TRAVIS: Yeah, I'll take the tip of a nail and the smallest surface area, and touch the area of it.

LAURA: I could also do-- Okay.

MATT: You press it and it clicks. It's a hard surface.

TRAVIS: Yeah. But it doesn't move through it or anything, it's contact?

MATT: It doesn't move through it, no.

LAURA: Can I try to use Telekinetic Shove?

TRAVIS: Let me back up over here.

LAURA: I'm going to try to push it.

MATT: Okay. You try and Telekinetically Shove in that space. The dust that you just laid across to separates in a slight ring around it, and that bit of a cloud vanishes. It doesn't seem to have any effect on it.

AABRIA: I'm going to cast Light. Does arcane light hit that portion of the wall differently?

MATT: Oh, you cast Light on that part of the wall or in the space?

AABRIA: No, it was just on my staff.

MATT: Okay. You light up the area around it, the bright torch light around here.

AABRIA: It's dark now.

MATT and AABRIA: (laugh)

MATT: Move it around. It alights the area and you can see that strange, circular space on the wall that sits there. It doesn't-- Make an arcana check for me.

AABRIA: (gasps) Natural 20.

TRAVIS: Let's go!

ASHLEY: Yes!

LAURA: Yes!

MATT: For a total of?

AABRIA: (laughs) Oh no, 19.

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: No!

MATT: But still, natural 20s are great.

AABRIA and TRAVIS: (laugh)

AABRIA: Couldn't let me have that one little Laerryn moment.

TRAVIS: It's still there.

AABRIA and MATT: (laugh)

TRAVIS: Showing up for your girl.

AABRIA: (laughs) RIP.

MATT: You look at the light at your staff and hold the staff out, wondering if the light itself will have an effect or, you're not quite sure, but there's something about your understanding of the nature of magic in general, though divine in a lot of its source may be. You touch the end of your weapon with the glowing bulb of light to that section, and you watch as the Light enchantment (magnetic suck) is drawn into it and goes out.

AABRIA: Oh!

MATT: That brief circle seems to faintly glow and then returns to its dormant state.

LAURA: Oh, it needs more spells.

MATT: Like a plant thirsty for water.

SAM: Oh, it needs magic.

ASHLEY: It needs magic. Okay.

SAM: Okay.

AABRIA: Everyone, learn a cantrip!

LAURA: I wonder if it needs a certain level, though.

SAM: It probably does.

AABRIA: Probably a big one.

SAM: I can start with 3rd-level.

AABRIA: I've got one 4th-level left. We can do that.

SAM: Yeah, let's save that. Let's try a 3rd first.

LAURA: Okay.

ASHLEY: I have a few 3rds left. Let's see.

CHRISTIAN: Are there any windows open?

LAURA: I wonder if it needs a certain type of spell. What type of spell is Light?

MATT: There isn't a window to this chamber that you can see. There is--

SAM: It's a cantrip.

LAURA: No, but it's still a certain type.

MATT: -- a balcony archway that's facing on the downward side--

AABRIA and SAM: Evocation.

MATT: -- that has been so overgrown, all the trees on the other side have completely swallowed it.

CHRISTIAN: I also, as I'm hearing Deanna read things out loud--

LAURA: Oh, I do too! I have light.

CHRISTIAN: I'm wondering if anything-- I'm aware and I'm trying to catch if anything rings a bell at all to me from that time or from any time.

MATT: Roll a history check for me.

TRAVIS: Yo.

AABRIA: Let's go.

TRAVIS: Dig deep.

CHRISTIAN: Right, this is the one I do good on.

ASHLEY: Guidance.

TRAVIS: Dig deep.

CHRISTIAN: Do I get that Guidance?

MATT: Hmm?

SAM: What's he rolling?

MATT: I would say no on this because this is just recalling memories.

ASHLEY: Sure, sure, sure.

AABRIA: Think real good, babe!

CHRISTIAN: What was it?

MATT: History.

CHRISTIAN: I think that's just-- It's a 10.

MATT: It's a 10, okay.

(laughter)

SAM: Garbage.

TRAVIS: Broken up.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Bad at remembering. What are you going to do when our anniversary comes up?

MATT: FCG, a fickle bitch.

(laughter)

AABRIA: Fickle Care-Giver.

MATT: Yeah. Fickle Care-Giver.

(laughter)

MATT: You feel like elements of this are tickling your brain in a way that you haven't really felt. It's like seeing a shape beneath the waves in the ocean. It's unreachable. It's obscured, it's foggy, and you can't even find a place to grasp and find a purchase to recall it.

ASHLEY: FCG, I think you should touch it.

LAURA: Listen.

SAM: I can touch it. A while ago, FCG and I, we went into the mind of a friend of ours.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah?

LAURA: We helped uncover some stuff--

SAM: Oh, that's right.

LAURA: -- that they didn't remember. If that's something you'd like to try, we can do it.

CHRISTIAN: There's something about this place that feels... I don't know

AABRIA: Feels what?

TRAVIS: So fucking tight.

AABRIA: Please use your words.

CHRISTIAN: Familiar.

AABRIA: Really?!

CHRISTIAN: How dangerous is it?

AABRIA: I'm mean neutral. Really?

LAURA: I don't know exactly.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Neutral really.

LAURA: It was very dangerous on our friend.

SAM: Did he get a nose bleed?

LAURA: Yes.

ASHLEY: Well, it was dangerous on him because they're very complicated. There's a lot going on.

LAURA: Yeah, they have a brain thing. But, I mean you and I have have gone into each other's minds, so I know it's possible to do.

SAM: We could do it. Yeah. I'm down to try, but-- Do you want me to try to cast some spell on this thing first?

LAURA: Sure, sure.

SAM: I don't really have--

LAURA: I mean I've got attack spells I can try that are evocation. I'm not sure if it needs to be the same type of spell that Deanna did, but--

SAM: Yeah, I mean, mine would be an attack-type spell or a healing spell, but does that do anything on stone?

LAURA: I don't know.

ASHLEY: What are you thinking? I feel like you got something on your mind.

SAM: Yeah, I want to support that.

CHRISTIAN: No, I'm thinking that I can't access whatever is scratching the back of my brain.

SAM: Well, then let's go into your mind.

CHRISTIAN: Is it the most opportune moment right now?

SAM: We got to do something.

AABRIA: He's right, we got to do something.

ASHLEY: We got to stay here anyway.

CHRISTIAN: Okay, okay. I'm going to hold your hand.

TRAVIS: Is there another level above where we are right now, or are we at the top?

MATT: You don't see any signs of further ascension.

TRAVIS: Okay. It's the roof.

LAURA: Well.

MATT: It's the upmost--

TRAVIS: Part, okay.

MATT: -- chamber.

TRAVIS: Any notes or scratching on the roof, the ceiling of the room we're in?

MATT: The inside of the ceiling you're in?

TRAVIS: Yeah. If you look up.

MATT: I mean it's about a 15-foot tall climb and there is a heavy cluster of knotted roots and branches up there. You can climb up and search if you want.

AABRIA: Aren't there types of wizards? What type of wizard?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: I'll use my claws and go up.

ASHLEY: There's different types?

MATT: Okay. You're not under heavy duress. You climb up and pull through that weird papery material, crawl up and start pulling through the roots, and begin pulling apart from the hanging vines and bits of gray and red leaves that pull away with each grasp. Eventually, you reach up and touch something soft, it has give to it.

LAURA: You just touched a creature.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LAURA: You just woke it up.

TRAVIS: Oh, it's probably just a butt.

AABRIA: Just cup it.

TRAVIS: A soft butt.

SAM: Imogen, you know all about touching butts don't you?

TRAVIS: Any (sniffs) smell associated with this soft touch?

LAURA: FCG. Really?

SAM: What did it feel like? Was it nice?

MATT: You immediately--

SAM: Was it firm?

MATT: It has this--

AABRIA: Yeah, it's metal. I'm sorry.

MATT: -- acrid sweetness to it.

CHRISTIAN: Ugh.

LAURA: It's an egg sac.

MATT: It has this rotting citrus smell--

SAM: Semen.

MATT: -- that also blends with what I can only describe as carrion. As you withdraw your hand, you can see there's--

TRAVIS: It's a cocoon.

MATT: There's crimson dripping down your fingers.

TRAVIS: It's a cocooned body.

AABRIA: Are you okay?

TRAVIS: I'm going to come back down.

(laughter)

MATT: (loud crash) You all hear this heavy impact.

SAM: Shit.

MATT: All the root structure and branches above shift and dust settles for a second. You begin to climb down. (loud crash) They shudder again.

SAM: Oh god, what's happening?

AABRIA: Chetney?

MATT: (wood splintering) Branches splinter--

SAM: Oh god.

MATT: -- and tear open from above, and you watch as something heavy, pinkish-red begins to push through and emerge, like a slithering ooze of skinless flesh. (wet squelching) Tendrils begin to descend--

SAM: What did you do?

MATT: -- like a molasses of muscle.

AABRIA: Chetney, babe. What'd you do?

MATT: You watch as faces emerge from it.

LAURA: Faces?

MATT: Like bestial maws that (groans) stretch out from it as it begins to--

(fleshy mass breaks suction and thuds)

SAM: Now we got to fight this thing?

MATT: Slams onto the stone into the center of this chamber as you all spread back.

ASHLEY: Maybe it's dead. Maybe it's dead.

MATT: This weird quivering globule that has no real form, it hasn't decided what it wants to be yet almost. Then (forceful emergence) you watch as teeth and mouths begin to emerge. It's drawing inspiration from you and whatever denizens of this city have walked its paths.

AABRIA: Oh, fun.

LAURA: Wow.

MATT: As these arms and tendrils and eyes and teeth begin to take form, this 10, 15-foot wide expanding mass of hungry, chaotic, insane life wishes to say hello to the new denizens of this tower.

SAM: Oh god.

MATT: And that's where--

SAM: No!

MATT: -- we'll call it tonight.

AABRIA and ASHLEY: No!

SAM: No, but we just got here!

AABRIA and ASHLEY: No!

AABRIA: We have time, we have time!

ASHLEY: (groans)

AABRIA: We have time. We could just talk to it. It's a conversation. Don't you want to make friends with this shit?

SAM: Shit!

AABRIA: (laughs nervously)

MATT: We'll pick up from there next week.

AABRIA: (groans)

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: We were so close!

LAURA: How you feel?

CHRISTIAN: Nightmare fuel. That's nightmare fuel.

ASHLEY: Nightmare fuel.

SAM: Nicely done, Travis!

AABRIA: What did you do?

TRAVIS: If y'all would stop sleeping and just pump some magic into the damn thing.

ASHLEY: Push the button.

SAM: I was about to!

LAURA: We were about to!

TRAVIS: But how many minutes do you need?

AABRIA: Damn.

ASHLEY: Okay, all right.

AABRIA: Goddamn.

ASHLEY: We'll make a plan.

AABRIA: Make a plan?

ASHLEY: We'll make a plan.

AABRIA: Well, everyone pretend they don't have legs so it doesn't think they have legs to get up and walk.

(laughter)

AABRIA: This is going bad.

ASHLEY: Oh my god!

AABRIA: I am out of shit.

CHRISTIAN: We can run out and I can light that shit on fire, because it's all there.

SAM: Yeah, you used a lot of shit.

ASHLEY: That's true. That's true.

AABRIA: I've used a lot of shit. I've got one 4th-level.

ASHLEY: Or we just try to get into the circle.

AABRIA: Then it drops down to two.

ASHLEY: What if we try to get into the circle? Oh shit, how do we get in there?

LAURA: I've got two 4ths--

AABRIA: We're doing great.

LAURA: -- one 5th.

AABRIA: We're doing so good.

MATT: You're doing great! What could possibly go wrong?

AABRIA: Matthew.

MATT: We'll find out next week.

AABRIA: (groans)

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: Tiny little space.

MATT: Figure it out. It'll be a good time, because depending on what happens, this could go a little long if we were to continue from here. So we'll pick it up next time.

AABRIA: We'd win so fast.

MATT: Yeah, yeah. It could have also gone really fast in terrible ways.

LAURA: (laughs)

AABRIA: If we have to wait until next time, can we have a long rest?

CHRISTIAN: I'm excited for you to get in there.

SAM: Yeah, let's take a long rest.

ASHLEY: Yeah, me too.

CHRISTIAN: See what the fuck has happened.

MATT: No.

AABRIA: I never get anything I want.

MATT: Sorry, that's just how it works. Unless you got some dunamancy in that pouch, I think we'll have to hold on. But nevertheless, thank you all so much for joining us. We'll see you next week, and is it Thursday yet?

(groaning and screaming)

MATT: Good night.