Transcript:The Chase to Glintshore

List of Transcripts

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

LIAM: I take offense at that!

MATT: Yep. Welcome to the chaos.

TALIESIN: We’re cool.

MATT: Well, you guys are cool. I’m still working on it.

LAURA: You’re in that picture too, Matthew.

MATT: I am, but of all the people in that picture, I think I needed the most work.

TRAVIS: Oh, come on! Get out of here!

LIAM: Loser contest, loser contest! I am the biggest loser!

MATT: Hey guys, I’m the one with Critical Tape tonight, so. Critical Tape on our fantastic sconce there. Spare no expense. Anyway. So before we go ahead and jump in tonight, I want to give a big thanks and Sam’s going to back me up on this for our sponsor for tonight’s episode, Backblaze.

(cheering)

MATT: Sam, why don’t you tell us all about that, please?

SAM: Guys, I’m a little disappointed tonight, because I prepared an epic presentation tonight. It was multimedia, there were song elements, there were rhyming-verse sonnets, I wrote a great poem about how Backblaze is unlimited and you can get it for just five dollars a month, about how it backs up– you get all your data anywhere in the world, on the web or on your phones, and you can get a full-featured preview of it by going to backblaze.com/criticalrole, I wrote all this stuff down on my laptop, but my laptop had a catastrophic hard drive failure today, and I didn’t back it up with Backblaze. And this is what I’m talking about, guys, this is my art that I made, my art, there was a whole piece about you that would’ve brought you to tears, you’ll never get to hear any of it.

TRAVIS: What about me?

SAM: There was nothing about you. But it was beautiful artwork that I made that you’ll never get to hear. However, I do remember one little piece of it. I wrote this song, from scratch, about Backblaze. It’s an original piece not based on any Broadway musical, and it goes like this: (singing) 525,600 fanfics, 525,000 doodles of Grog, 525,000 nudies of Percleth, how do you back up a Critter’s hard drive? How about Backblaze! How about Backblaze! Sam wrote this song. Okay, good, that’s it.

(cheering)

TRAVIS: Oh, so in love with you right now. Backblaze never sounded so good. Holy shit.

MATT: Let’s have a very, very brief moment of silence for your hard drive. Thank you, that was great. All right.

TRAVIS: My musical boner for you is super rigid right now.

SAM: Oh yeah? You would be even more hard if you knew that I was talking to Lin-Manuel today.

LAURA and TRAVIS: (gasp)

LAURA: No you were not. Is that part of announcements?

SAM: No, that’s just a little humblebrag.

LAURA: You mother– wow.

SAM: We should probably run that intro, right?

MATT: Yeah, in just a second.

LAURA: So we can hear about it!

TRAVIS: You’re full of shit, right?

MATT: All right, other announcements, I wanted to say real fast, it got posted in the Anime Florida convention that’s this weekend, I did say unfortunately I had to cancel on the event due to personal reasons. I’m sorry I can’t be there, but they have a lot of great guests. Please go, have fun, check it out, it’s going to be great. I’m going to make it up to you guys, since there are thankfully plenty of conventions in Florida throughout the year, so I plan to be out there really soon and will get a chance to make it up to you guys in person. Anyway. Sorry about that. Much love, and let’s get into this episode. So everyone ready? Everyone set? We had a few levels, actually. We had Vex, Vax, Grog, and Keyleth, all hit level 15.

SAM: Whoa. What’s up with us?

TALIESIN: I don’t know.

MARISHA: We’re gods now.

TRAVIS: I’m the smartest man alive.

MARISHA: I have my 8th-level spell.

LAURA: (gasps) Do you really?

MARISHA: Yeah I do.

LAURA: Can we know what you took? No, that’s got to be a surprise.

MARISHA: I get them all.

LAURA: Oh, you don’t have to choose?

MATT: Well, she has to choose at the beginning of each day.

LAURA: Fucking rangers.

LIAM: I multiclassed into monk.

LAURA: No you didn’t. I took the second level in rogue, though.

SAM: Oh yeah? Do you get a rogue spell?

LAURA: I don’t get any rogue spells, but I do get to disengage now.

MARISHA: You so sneaky.

TRAVIS: And she gets to sleep with barbarians whenever she wants.

SAM: Ew.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Somehow no new information, yet still TMI.

MATT: And on that note, let’s dive into tonight’s episode of Critical Role.

[dramatic music]

Part I
MATT: Welcome back, everyone. So. Last time we left off, Vox Machina, in their attempt to gain power through artifacts called the Vestiges of Divergence, to eventually destroy the Chroma Conclave, great evil dragons that came together to terrorize the Tal'Dorei countryside, they were seeking one in the country– continent of Marquet, the city of Ank'harel. After traveling there and meeting with members of the various establishments, the new culture they were introduced to, a drug deal gone awry, some time in a casino, some hookah excursions and some terrible alcohol purchases, they found themselves finding an ally in the current head and for the past 400 years the head of the city of Ank'harel known as J'mon Sa Ord. They gave the party their allegiance in this endeavor against the Conclave and presented them with a brass flute that apparently can at least notify that the aid is required. After which the party spent the evening in their tavern after the casino incident and then went searching for this individual, this Mistress Asharu who apparently has the Cabal’s Ruin, this next Vestige in your journey. Upon checking in her house after having no response for a couple days, you broke inside to find that the home had been attacked as of a week ago, her body left behind, apparently riddled with puncture wounds, seemingly bullet holes after your inspection, Percy, and Cabal’s Ruin, the cloak that you were seeking, is gone. And that is where we left off. So. Diving back in, you’ve had the information synced to you that Mistress Asharru’s been destroyed, Cabal’s Ruin is gone. You went and checked out the small back exit that led to one of the other streets of the city, essentially another way out of the house. That’s all the information you have right now, and you’re all trying to wrap your head around what just happened and what the next steps are. What do you want to do?

LAURA: We’re still in the house?

MATT: You’re still in the house, yes.

LAURA: I’m a little nervous that the trap that went off on the front door was an alarm system.

SAM: Sure.

LAURA: For whoever left.

TALIESIN: It might be.

TRAVIS: With the cloak?

SAM: Or it could’ve been Cloaky’s alarm system that means that whoever killed Cloaky got in through not the front door.

LAURA: Yeah, but we saw a trail of blood leading to the front door.

SAM: That was her trying to get out after she was stabbed to death, right? No?

LAURA: No, I think it was the blood from–

TRAVIS: Yeah, otherwise she walked back in her individual footsteps and then laid down.

SAM: You’re right, that is better detective work than mine.

LAURA: I think. I mean, I think that it was–

SAM: But how’d they get out without– so whoever the murderer is set the trap as he/she was leaving.

TRAVIS: The murderer who’s shooting bullets.

LIAM: Is there anything gained by discussing this here? Do we need to look any further, or should we get the hell out?

TALIESIN: One last quick glance around the room to see if there’s anything helpful.

MARISHA: Percy, can I see your gun?

TALIESIN: I hand it to her without even thinking about it.

MARISHA: I inspect–

TALIESIN: (gasps) You’re a genius.

MATT: Make an investigation check.

MARISHA: (sighs) I’m so bad at these.

MATT: What are you trying to find?

MARISHA: I want to see if there’s a gem or device on it, like a tracking device.

MATT: Sure, go for it.

TALIESIN: I’d be very impressed if there was.

MARISHA: Oh, shit. 20.

MATT: 20. You inspect the gun, and the gun, almost like a pearled handle in a weapon, has whitestone inlay and certain portions of the actual weapon contain pockets of whitestone. Upon getting closer to it and– you’re perturbed as she begins to inspect closely and you see her face open up with reaction. It’s probably been a while since you’ve missed a detail that Keyleth picked up on your own item. There is a very, very faint magical aura on the piece of whitestone that’s underneath the main set of barrels on the front, and there is– the carved signature of Ripley across the bottom does give off a faint magical glow.

LAURA: She’s been fucking tracking us?

LIAM: What’re you looking at there, Keyleth?

TRAVIS: Oh, no.

MARISHA: I think Percy was right. I think she has been spying on us.

TRAVIS: Well, Scanlan, throw it in the acid.

(laughter)

SAM: Better give me the gun.

MARISHA: Wait, wait, wait. Wait, I can use this, if it’s–

SAM: Can you reverse lookup on the telephone?

MARISHA: Yeah, I can scry through it.

TALIESIN: You can scry?

MARISHA: And she was very attached to it, which means it should work pretty well.

MATT: In theory, you can scry on anybody that you’ve met as well, as long as you know about them.

MARISHA: I’ve also met her, so that helps.

MATT: I would give that a bonus to the actual roll.

TRAVIS: I agree with what Vax is going to say, we should move.

LIAM: Yeah, if anyone wants to roll this place, do it, and let’s get out of here.

TALIESIN: I’m going to take a quick look around, quickly, quickly. Investigation, or? It doesn’t matter, that was a terrible roll.

MATT: What are you looking for?

TALIESIN: Clues, objects, I’m basically doing the standard police tumble. I’m tossing the place.

MATT: What’d you roll?

TALIESIN: I rolled a nine.

MATT: A nine. You angrily begin throwing things around the room in a fit. But you’re so unfocused in your search, it’s less about the actual search and more about the frustration that this bypassed your attention for so long, and you guys watch as Percy begins to throw the bed to the side and go through and start shoving stuff off of counters, and he’s not really looking for anything, he’s just trying to deal with his pent-up frustration.

MARISHA: Percy. We should go. This isn’t helping anything.

TALIESIN: Yes. Yes. Yes. Better to do that in here than outside. Secret passage?

LIAM: Yeah, it’s this way. I think I checked for traps last–

LAURA: Because you already went up to the top.

LIAM: Yeah. I went all the way to the top and peeked around.

MATT: Yeah, there were no traps and you managed to make it through below the small–

LIAM: I had a look around. Is it public, or off to the side?

MATT: It’s a small alley that leads into an open public space, so as long as you listen out for anybody in the vicinity, you can–

LIAM: I’m going to scurry up, open up–

MATT: Okay, go ahead and make a perception check.

LIAM: 20. No, 22.

MATT: 22. Okay. You go up these small handholds as you go up to the top, and there’s a little bit of a grate that’s pushed there, you push it open, and the metal circle plops on the side. You find that there’s actually a piece of thin cloth that’s covering it as you push it over, and you listen up for a second. You hear the bustle on the outside of the city, but you do not notice anyone paying attention to it, and you use the right moment to dart up and you begin taking watch for the rest of the party.

LIAM: I’m off to the side like Marion in Raiders, to the side of the alley.

LAURA: Before I leave the room, can I check to see if it seems like Ripley was alone or if there were other people?

MATT: Make a survival check.

LAURA: Natural 20.

TRAVIS: First one of the night.

MATT: While you guys are having this conversation, Vex is occasionally chiming in this whole time, but is also keeping a very close eye on her own mental layout of how the actual scuffle happened, looking for signs of impact. You actually follow the footprints where someone smeared in the blood and tracked it up. There are varying foot sizes in some of the tracks you can see pressed in the dust, and there was a layer of dust down here within certain areas because portions of the room are not often trekked. In fact, you see from the general dust that’s settled, there’s a track from the bed to a couple of shelves to the table and the exit, and you get the idea that Mistress Asharru, being as trained as she was, she had a pattern and outside that pattern that she walked, there is a pretty heavy layer of dust that gathered in those areas of the room, and those areas had been disturbed in some ways, and you gather based on the footprints that are there, there were at least five or six people in the room when this went down.

LIAM: Terminator overlay.

LAURA: All right. Grog?

TRAVIS: Yeah?

LAURA: Can I have some of that Dust of Tracelessness?

TRAVIS: What, are you going to mix it with some spice and get high?

LAURA: Definitely.

TRAVIS: Yup, here you go.

LAURA: Can I sprinkle it around so that they can’t track us in the room, having been here?

MATT: Yeah. And as you throw around the dust, all the tracks, everything that gave a sign of the previous invaders, vanishes slowly as the dust begins to cover the entirety of the floor, and as you guys leave the same. It looks weirdly undisturbed other than the body lying there with now no actual ability to track how it got there.

SAM: That’s tampering with evidence. That’s a definite felony.

LAURA: Definitely. Not as bad a felony as shoving spice up your ass, but…

SAM: I don’t know what you’re talking about. That was a scientific experiment.

LIAM: It was fucking awesome. Are we getting out of here, or are we going to get out of here?

LAURA: Yes, yes, yes.

MATT: Okay. You all eventually make your way to the end of the secret tunnel, Vax leads you up at times when it’s least likely to be noticed in the alleyway, and eventually you all make yourselves up into the top, close off the entrance, and then are hiding off, and then carefully, nonchalantly make your way into the main thoroughfare up here. And it isn’t a large street, it’s one of the secondary side-streets. Occasionally you have a person that comes by with a large cart, or a couple people walking arm-in-arm, but no one seems to pay any attention or notice your alleyway entry, and you have successfully obscured yourself within the rest of the denizens of Ank'harel.

TALIESIN: Can you find her without her knowing?

MARISHA: I mean, all magic has a risk factor depending on–

SAM: We have to look. Otherwise we have no leads at all.

LIAM: Let’s head back to the Debt’s Respite.

LAURA: And get ready to leave, because we can’t hang around–

TALIESIN: Talk to her employer so they know it wasn’t us.

SAM: Wait, wait. Should we not scry from a different place than the place we’re staying at?

TALIESIN: It’s the place that she knows we are already.

TRAVIS: True.

TALIESIN: She knows exactly where we’re standing anywhere we’re holding the bloody gun.

TRAVIS: And when we do, we should set a little ambush in case it sets off any alarms.

LAURA: Can she hear us? When you scry, can you hear?

SAM: Yeah, you can.

MARISHA: I can hear, but I don’t think they can hear me. It’s like looking through a little window.

LAURA: Yeah, so if we’re talking about her right now, she can hear–

MARISHA: I don’t know how this runic magic works on his gun.

MATT: Yeah, you’re not sure what the actual enchantment is. It’s subtle.

MARISHA: This is something different than what I would be doing.

LIAM: I grab Keyleth’s hand and pull the gun over and say, but for now, we assume she can hear everything that we are saying.

TRAVIS: Ripley’s a piece of shit.

LAURA: You’re a piece of shit. You’re ugly.

LIAM: Percival’s going to fucking murder you.

MARISHA: You’re not that ugly. She just meant that to hurt your feelings.

TRAVIS: Keyleth, don’t soften the blow. She’s a piece of shit.

MARISHA: But you are a piece of shit.

TRAVIS: Nice job.

(laughter)

SAM: It’s The Wire. Except terrible.

MATT: Omar’s challenge rating 30.

MARISHA: Was Ripley a magic-user, did she ever engage in magic?

TALIESIN: Not that I really was aware. I didn’t know her that well.

SAM: We know that she used some magic. She disguised her hand with some illusion spell.

TALIESIN: Nothing complex.

MATT: She disguised her hand, she also a short distance seemingly teleported or managed to break away from you guys and Trinket to make her escape.

TRAVIS: If she’s anything like you, she might’ve paid someone to magically upgrade it for her.

TALIESIN: She is like me.

LIAM: She’s also potentially listening to us right now, I mean, time is of the essence.

TALIESIN: Let’s head back to the tavern.

MATT: Okay, you guys make your way back to the Debt’s Respite. You head back up to your rooms, and you have a relative private space to go ahead and discuss the next portion of your plan.

SAM: Do we leave the gun outside the room?

TALIESIN: We have more than one room, right?

MATT: You have three rooms.

TALIESIN: Can we leave the gun with Trinket in the other room?

MARISHA: I don’t know if he’s qualified to handle firearms.

TALIESIN: That’s precisely why I want to leave the gun with Trinket in the other room.

LAURA: He won’t shoot it. He’ll sit on it. Is there a safety?

TALIESIN: It’s not loaded, it’s all right.

SAM: You could always put it in the Bag of Holding.

LIAM: I mean, Percival, be sure there’s nothing in the gun, please.

TALIESIN: It’s so complex to make it work, it’s fine.

MARISHA: If Trinket shoots himself in the ass…

TALIESIN: It would be very funny, but–

LAURA: He won’t.

TRAVIS: What do you want to do with it now? What’s the plan?

TALIESIN: We’re going to leave it with Trinket in the other room for the moment, and we’re going to discuss things. Leaving it under the bed with a bear in the room.

LAURA: Trinket, sit on the bed.

MATT: (bear noises)

LAURA: If anybody walks in the room that’s not one of us, well. Make them very scared and make sure they–

SAM: Shoot them with the gun.

LAURA: (laughs) Shoot them with the gun.

MATT: Licks the side of your face and gets back in a restful period with the front of his paws and his head leaning over the edge of the bed, and the bed itself is bowing under his weight.

LAURA: Don’t you fall asleep.

MATT: All right, so you guys head to one of the other rooms, then?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. You guys close the door behind you.

TRAVIS: Should I keep watch outside?

LIAM: Yeah, that’s a good idea.

TRAVIS: I’ll stand watch outside.

MATT: And you do, Grog. This hallway is yours.

LAURA: Don’t you fall asleep, Grog.

TRAVIS: (snoring)

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: I think we need to tell her employer that we are not responsible. As we were the last people to attempt to employ her, suspicion automatically falls on us, and we need to let them know immediately that it was not us.

LIAM: All right. Should we scry now, though?

MARISHA: I have to study and then sleep on it, because that’s how my process works.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Fucking method.

LAURA: Okay, yeah.

MATT: You do have an item.

MARISHA: Oh my god! I have that thing you gave me.

LAURA: The ball, yeah, that I gave you.

TRAVIS: You have one ball?

LIAM: You have been holding out on us.

LAURA: Just the one ball, though.

MARISHA: I have a secret.

SAM: Vax’s face.

LIAM: It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Anything is workable. Stupid.

TALIESIN: Bless you.

MARISHA: What is it that I got? I have a little ball–

LAURA: The ball of seeing. The ball of scrying.

MARISHA: Scrying Eye! I have the Scrying Eye.

MATT: There you go.

SAM: (singing) Scrying eyes–

ALL: (singing) – are watching you.

SAM: (singing) They see your…

MATT: Anyone have the item card for the–

MARISHA: I have it.

MATT: Oh, you do? Great. So yeah, it allows you to basically do the equivalent of a scry spell once per day.

MARISHA: Once a day.

MATT: Yeah, all right.

MARISHA: Do we want to do this here?

LIAM: I think as soon as possible.

TALIESIN: I think the question is, do we tell them and see if we can enlist some help with this now or wait until after we know–

SAM: Tell who?

MARISHA: I mean, this is going to take me ten minutes. This is going to take me a second.

SAM: Let’s find out where she is. If she’s still in the city, we can maybe hunt her down and track her down today.

TALIESIN: Do we get any help before we do that, though? From her employers?

LAURA: We’ll talk to… Treev?

MARISHA: You guys figure it out, I’m going to start scrying.

TALIESIN: Figure out where she’s going, what she’s doing, how many of them. All these things. I’m sorry.

LAURA: Percy, we’ll find her.

TALIESIN: That’s what I’m worried about.

MATT: All right, so without the gun you don’t get the bonus from the item focus.

MARISHA: Oh, fuck.

MATT: But you also have the gun not in your presence. MARISHA: Do we want to have the gun for this? Actually, yeah. I’ll do that. I’m going to go in the other room, grab the gun, and scry.

LAURA: I’m going to go sit with you while you scry.

MATT: Okay, you go into the room, and as you walk toward the bed, Trinket growls at you.

LAURA: Trinket.

TALIESIN: I have another option. I have another option. We still have her notes. We still have her notes.

MARISHA: Does anything help?

MATT: I mean, an object of which has some close contact with the individual could help, yeah.

MARISHA: Sure, whatever.

TALIESIN: It is her diary notes of how to build my gun.

MATT: Yeah. You can use that instead, if you wanted.

LAURA: So we’re not in the room with Trinket.

MARISHA: Can I use both?

MATT: They would not overlap.

MARISHA: Oh.

LAURA: Trinket, you keep doing your thing.

MATT: (bear noises)

LAURA: All right, let’s go back to the other room and let’s get something else to–

MARISHA: I don’t know, what do you think would be better, her notes or?

TALIESIN: Her notes. Let’s be safe.

MARISHA: Okay. I’m going to use her notes.

MATT: Okay. That will add five to the DC modifier. So what’s the DC of the spell?

MARISHA: My spell save DC is 19.

MATT: All right, so now it’s 24 to try and resist this, as I throw my d20 into oblivion. Fuck that dice. I didn’t need it.

LAURA: Do you want one? I have a bag.

MATT: You know, I’ll use the big one, then, that Chris Perkins gave me.

TRAVIS: And thus ends Vox Machina.

MATT: DM power. All right, then. This is now Ripley’s wisdom saving throw. Hm, okay.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Hm.

LIAM: Interesting, interesting.

LAURA: Does that dice go to dice jail?

MATT: No. As you sit down and focus, you take the small object in your hand and concentrate with the notes in front of you, and you find that thread of connection between your memory of Ripley, as fuzzy in some places as it is, you have a very clear image of the moments you guys met in Whitestone. The notes, you connect those threads, focus on the object, and then you guys watch as Keyleth’s eyes dart open once again, clouded over and white. Your vision pierces above. You can see your consciousness thrust through the clouds, white clouds passing by, passing by, and then your vision comes back down through the clouds, only instead of the desert, instead of the mountains, instead of anything in the nearby area, it’s just ocean. Just ocean.

LAURA: She’s fucking finding another one.

MATT: Waves seem endless around you.

MARISHA: Oh no.

MATT: You emerge once more, your vision moving before, only now there’s a torrential rain surrounding you, lightning, thunder clapping. You are in the center of a very, very heavy storm that is tearing across this ocean expanse. A boat creaks, ropes swing, and you hear voices yell. A crew barely holding it together. Standing on the deck, hooded, you see Ripley, calm, and looking out into the horizon. She smiles from beneath her dark leather cloak, a shimmer of blue energy dimly crackling across its inner lining. A voice yells, “Nothing yet!” And her eyes dart up to the crow’s nest, then back down to her weapon, a handheld firearm of slick design, but familiar function. Six barrels.

LIAM: Oh, snap.

MATT: Lightning flashes once more in the distance, followed by a very, very nearby crack of thunder. The boat lists for a second as a wave passes under it, and it catches itself again. She runs to the deck to look out across the crashing waves, and the vision fades back.

LIAM: That was magical.

TRAVIS: That was hot. That was hot.

SAM: Is there any ocean in town?

MARISHA: Bitch! She is a– I grab the gun– you are a piece of shit!

LAURA: I thought the gun was under the bed with Trinket.

TALIESIN: You’ve literally just grabbed my hand and are yelling into it.

MARISHA: I’m sorry, I’m still a little fuzzy when I come out of it.

SAM: Make gun fingers, at least.

LIAM: What’s the matter, what’s the matter? What did you see?

MARISHA: She’s going after the other one, she’s in the middle of the fucking ocean.

SAM: So she’s going for the other Vestige. Whisper? Is that what’s in the ocean?

LAURA: Whisper’s in the ocean. The dagger. Fuck.

MARISHA: And she had the cloak.

SAM: And she knows everything that we know.

TALIESIN: Do you know where she is?

MARISHA: She’s with a crew in the middle of the ocean, so–

LAURA: Can we instantly be in the middle of the ocean with her?

MARISHA: I can’t get us there. There’s no trees in the middle of the ocean.

TALIESIN: She’s heading for an island, though.

LAURA: Is she?

LIAM: I thought it was beneath the waves.

SAM: It’s in the Ozmit Sea.

LIAM: Yeah, beneath the Ozmit Sea.

MARISHA: Scanlan, can you get us there?

SAM: I can make us all cows. That is about it.

MARISHA: I mean, I can mist us.

LAURA: Mist into the ocean?

MARISHA: We could mist there, but it would take…

SAM: (clears throat) Whisper, blade forged from metal pulled from the Far Realm, was center to many dark rituals. Now it lies at the bottom of the Ozmit Sea, sunken with the lost ship The Shrew in a storm 300 years ago, near an island… of trees. No, it’s an island of grass. There’s no trees on the island.

MARISHA: No, it’s not even an island of grass, it’s an island of glass.

SAM: Oh, glass! I can’t read! (laughs)

TALIESIN: An island of glass trees.

SAM: An island of grass.

LIAM: Ah, boy.

SAM: Island of glass?

MARISHA: Yeah, which doesn’t sound promising, to be totally honest. So we might have to mist there.

LIAM: How far away is–

SAM: It’s continents, it would take weeks.

TRAVIS: Don’t they have an airship here?

MARISHA: Wait, the Water Ashari are in the Ozmit?

MATT: They’re in the Ozmit Sea, yes.

MARISHA: Do I know if they would be close by this island of glass?

MATT: I’m going to go ahead and have… let’s see. Scanlan, roll a history check? And if you could roll an intelligence check.

MARISHA: Why is it always intelligence?

SAM: I’ve got a 15 history.

MARISHA: Oh my god. I rolled a natural one.

MATT: You know it’s in the Ozmit Sea, but you’ve never been there, you don’t know where it is, you have no idea what the actual space is there.

MARISHA: We don’t communicate.

MATT: You. Island of glass, and after thinking about it hard, you’re like, of course, it’s the Isle of Glintshore.

LAURA: Of course.

MATT: It’s part of a cluster of islands. You don’t know quite where it is, but you know of it. That’s about all the information you have on it at the moment. You don’t know how far, the specific direction really.

SAM: Well, it doesn’t look like we can just magically get to her.

TRAVIS: Ooh, ooh.

LAURA: Yes, Grog?

TRAVIS: Aren’t you two dweebs always wanting to steal an airship?

SAM and TALIESIN: Yes.

TRAVIS: Don’t they have one here?

SAM and TALIESIN: Yes.

TRAVIS: So… Do I have to say the third thing, or are you going to get there?

SAM: I would like to steal that airship, but even then, though, it would take us a week.

TALIESIN: It would take way too much time. We are on a schedule.

TRAVIS: What? Road trip, bitches. Come on. We got to like, you know–

SAM: Okay, let’s game this out. What’s the worse-case scenario? She has one Vestige. She may have two.

LIAM: What’s left after that?

MARISHA: I mean, we could let her do the hard work for us.

LIAM: She has the cloak, that we know of. She’s on top of the dagger almost.

SAM: The Spire of Conflux, in the Abyssal Plane. And the Plate of Dawnmartyr in the Elemental Plane of Fire. I mean, those are going to be super hard to find, even for her.

LIAM: I know, but if we’re in an arms race and she’s on top of another, maybe we should head to the next that’s out of her reach now.

TRAVIS: That makes sense.

MARISHA: The staff is in the plane of the Abyss.

LAURA: That’s a very scary place.

TRAVIS: The only problem with that is she only has one now and if she has two, she might be a bit harder–

LAURA: Especially, imagine if one of us was wearing all of the Vestiges.

SAM: She has people working for her, clearly.

LAURA: She’s not going to give it up.

SAM: No, but I mean it won’t be her alone.

LIAM: And we’re not going to get there in time to stop her from getting that dagger.

TALIESIN: But we might be able to take them from her and perhaps even finally put her down before she puts more of those bloody things into the world.

MARISHA: Can I also ask another question, Percy?

TALIESIN: Sure.

MARISHA: Why does she want these Vestiges in the first place? I have a feeling she doesn’t want to fight dragons.

SAM: She might want to join up with the dragons.

MARISHA: Do you know?

TALIESIN: I don’t–

LIAM: I mean, there’s many reasons to amass power.

LAURA: Could she be the one letting the dragons know about– could she be the spy?

TALIESIN: I spent less than a week in her company in my life. I know very little about her other than– I spent a week in her company and I spent I don’t know how much time trying to track her down and all I really know is she’s very smart and she is the worst person I’ve ever met.

MARISHA: Why would you say that exactly? Because we’ve met a lot of terrible people.

SAM: Kevdak.

TALIESIN: People don’t frighten me.

MARISHA: Their dad.

TALIESIN: He doesn’t frighten me.

MARISHA: Saundor was pretty shitty. Clarota.

SAM: Well, let’s not rank the bad people we’ve met.

TALIESIN: I don’t even know if she wants anything. Maybe she wants nothing.

TRAVIS: Are you genuinely afraid of her?

TALIESIN: Yes, very much so.

TRAVIS: Oh.

LAURA: Fuck, why didn’t we kill her when we had her in our–

SAM: She got away. We tried.

TALIESIN: I made a terrible trade. I made the wrong trade and I made a terrible decision. I know that.

(laughter)

TALIESIN: The table on the left is completely incapable–

TRAVIS: The player on your right–

LIAM: A little mug interference.

TALIESIN: Let me get this enchantment off my gun. Let’s find somebody who can pull it off and put it onto something else and leave it here. And then let’s run screaming to this island and see if we can catch her and if she’s not there, we spend 24 hours where I will recount every desperate attempt I have made to try and kill her in the last few years of my life and then we head back and deal with the other monstrosities that are waiting for us back home.

SAM: I don’t know that we’ll get there in time.

LIAM: How do we get there?

MARISHA: We had to fly across the Ozmit Sea to get to Marquet.

MATT: It took you about a week to get to Vasselheim via skyship from Emon and that’s normally a two-and-a-half week journey by boat. You guys got to Marquet via your Transport Via Plants. Oh no, sorry, you got to Marquet via the Teleportation Circle that–

MARISHA: Gilmore made for us.

LAURA: Are we by the ocean at all?

MARISHA: But the ocean’s above us, right?

MATT: You have a mountain range that is at the top, the northern part of the desert, probably a day and a half of foot travel and the mountain range, you’re not sure how big that is. From what you know of loose geography– Scanlan, you probably know this better than anybody– that Ank'Harel and this part of the desert is not too far from the northern shore of Marquet, compared to the rest of it. The entire continent is like a big U and this is the Ozmit Sea up here. This is Marquet. Ank'Harel’s right there and then this is the ocean.

LAURA: Can Misty Step travel faster than a boat?

MATT: Of an ocean boat? Yes, probably twice as fast.

LAURA: So if it took her a week to get where she is now, we could probably get there–

TALIESIN: In three days. But where do you rest in the–

SAM: Yes. We’d have to rest in order to do Misty Step–

LIAM: If your magic runs out while we’re flying over the ocean, what happens, we drown?

LAURA: We don’t necessarily drown immediately.

TALIESIN: Also, if we can find a way to teleport to the island, if there’s a way that we can.

LIAM: But how?

SAM: We have one teleportation circle.

MARISHA: I mean, I could teleport us–

LIAM: You have to have a circle to a circle.

MARISHA: I could teleport us to the edge of the continent, we could sleep, and then Misty Step lasts eight hours.

MATT: Yeah. Wind Walk, you mean?

MARISHA: Wind Walk, whatever.

MATT: It’s a different spell, but yeah. It’s 30 feet.

LIAM: That wouldn’t do it.

MATT: Little different.

MARISHA: Wind Walk lasts eight hours.

SAM: She’s on a boat. She’s not on a magic boat. She can’t magically get back to the shore without sailing there. If we sail out on an airship or a boat–

LAURA: We could bomb her!

SAM: Well yes! She’s slow moving, she’s on a boat, it’ll take her days to get wherever she’s going, we need to find her, and we can keep scrying on the airship, and catch up to her slowly, she’s a slow moving target, even after she–

LIAM: I like that you’re assuming we’ll have an airship.

SAM: We don’t right now, but we will soon.

MARISHA: It could take us a while to even get the airship.

SAM: Nope. One day. Me and Percy. Maybe two hours.

TRAVIS: I actually agree with that strategy. It is a bit like fish in a barrel because she is limited by her speed.

LAURA: Will we be able to find her in the middle of the ocean?

SAM: We can keep scrying from the airship.

LIAM: That’s true.

TALIESIN: We can keep scrying.

TALIESIN: The first thing we have to do is remove this enchantment and I’m very open to ideas on how to do that.

TRAVIS: Wait, but play it out. How do we see where she is in comparison to a giant body of water?

SAM: Well, we use what sailors do.

TRAVIS: Look up at the stars?

SAM: Up at the stars, right? We scry at night.

TRAVIS: We’re looking at her, right, not up, can we, like, go like that–

LAURA: No, you can scry up, yeah.

MATT: Focused around the target of the scrying.

LIAM: Are either of you gentlemen smart enough to do that?

MARISHA: We can’t tilt the camera up a little bit?

MATT: No. You can, but you’ll see a blurred skyline–

SAM: We can listen for clues. Maybe the crew members will shout out a, “Oh, we’re at longitude “blah blah blah latitude blah blah blah!”

MATT: For you, when you scry on something, imagine it, like, super high depth of field, so like what you’re looking at is super in-focus and most everything else is very blurred and out of focus.

SAM: Okay, wait, to play this out a bit more: we know where she’s going. We know where Glintshore is roughly if we got a local–

LIAM: Do you know where that island is?

SAM: Well we can find a local who does. A sailor or something who can help us navigate our way there.

LAURA: Maybe somebody in an airship.

TRAVIS: We could, but we might just be chasing, as long as we’re all right with that. We’ll just be chasing.

LAURA: We’ll keep scrying until we see if she’s found it.

TALIESIN: Until we see a tree.

TRAVIS: Vax does have a point, though. If we’re just chasing, we could get the jump on other ones.

TALIESIN: Here’s the terrifying notion: if you see a tree in any of your scries, can you teleport to it?

MARISHA: Yes, I can.

TALIESIN: So as long as she gets next to a tree–

SAM: I don’t think she’s getting next to a tree.

MARISHA: She’s in the middle of the ocean.

TALIESIN: Once she’s on the island, if the island has a tree…

LAURA and LIAM: It’s possible.

SAM: It was near. It was near the island of glass.

TALIESIN: We’re going to be looking for her. That’s where I would set up shop if I were–

LIAM: I mean, Percival is correct, the first thing we have to do is get that gun unfucked, but then after we have to decide if we are chasing her down– and it seems 50-50 to me, not impossible, but not a sure thing at all– or do we head to the next Vestige to keep it out of her hands?

LAURA: Into the Plane of Abyss?

LIAM: Well isn’t that where we have to go anyway?

TRAVIS: Let’s get the gun unfucked, and we’ll simmer on it.

SAM: Wait, before we get the gun unfucked, is there any use to it being fucked? Like, can we have play-acting conversations around it like “Oh, this is where we should go next, hope you’re listening!”

TALIESIN: That is deeply assuming that it actually conveys sound, which it may not.

MARISHA: Yeah, we have no idea what it actually is, let’s go get it.

TALIESIN: Yeah, we’re going to have to move that enchantment onto something else.

SAM: We can go to that place where– back to the asshole.

TALIESIN: I know what he wants, no.

SAM: What does he want?

LAURA: He wants whitestone.

SAM: So give him whitestone.

TALIESIN: Absolutely not.

MARISHA: He’s going to take one really close look at that gun and see a lot of whitestone in it.

TRAVIS: I got two chunks of whitestone in the Bag of Holding.

TALIESIN: He wants the green gems, and I’m not prepared to make that deal.

SAM: We can make him a fake one and give it to him for one favor. We can make a fake gem, how hard is that?

LAURA: He’s going to know.

TRAVIS: I got a bunch of gems in the Bag of Holding.

TALIESIN: It’s not going to work.

LAURA: Do you have green gems?

TRAVIS: Gems, lots of gems.

LAURA: No, but the green gems from Whitestone?

LIAM: Whitestone is much further away from the Ozmit Sea than where we are now, right?

MATT: Whitestone is much further away, yes.

LIAM: Way, way, other side of the continent right?

MATT: Across a vast ocean, and then across the continent.

SAM: One thing that occurred to me, that may not help us at all. Mistress Asharru, the dead girl: she was part of an organization?

TALIESIN: Yes.

SAM: Maybe they would want to help us because of revenge?

TALIESIN: Here’s the question, and this is what I’ve been thinking about sitting here for the last few minutes, is either way this is terrible: either we don’t tell them and leave town and eventually they find her and she’s got strange holes in her from some strange thing that could possibly be a thing that a man with white hair who breezed through town a week ago was holding, or we go and tell them, and I cannot believe this is about to come out of my mouth, that it wasn’t me, it was a one armed woman, who had–

SAM: A fugitive?

TALIESIN: An identical, thank you, weapon, of this one of a kind weapon that no one bloody saw.

LAURA: No, but here’s the thing, maybe somebody did see her.

TALIESIN: Maybe somebody did see her, and maybe they’ll know where to get the gun.

MARISHA: Even if they did see her, we know she knows how to alter her appearance. Also, no offense Percy, but I feel like we need to be careful on who you expose that gun to, from here on out.

TALIESIN: I am keenly aware.

MARISHA: Not only, one, for people who might think you’re the culprit, but two, for people who are going to want to rip you off again.

TALIESIN: She’s the only person who’s ever gotten a good look at it. She’s the only one.

SAM: So other than chasing her, going for the next Vestige on the list, the third option is wish her good luck and continue on with our mission ignoring the fact that she exists.

MARISHA: Maybe she’ll die in the Ozmit Sea.

TALIESIN: She won’t.

LIAM: How long’s it been since we left Draconia?

MATT: Five days?

LAURA: Not five days?!

MATT: From your travel from Draconia, back to Whitestone, to resting in Whitestone, heading from there to the southern city, then travelling from there to Ank'Harel, then you’ve had–

TALIESIN: A lot of that was instantaneous. We did camp three or four days–

MATT: Well no, yeah about four or five days because you travelled then from Whitestone to south of Ank'Harel, then you wind walked to Ank'Harel, but then camped outside of Ank'Harel, because the time you got there was night, then you made it into the city, then you stayed for the evening, you slept again and the next night you went ahead and went into the casino, then slept the night there, so yeah, it’s been about five days.

MARISHA: Is it like a flying from east to west thing where we gain back a day when we go back?

MATT: No.

LAURA: But we don’t have to fly, we just have to teleport there.

TALIESIN: So long as we teleport we’re fine.

LAURA: But we don’t have a plan. We have five days to figure out how to fucking kill a dragon. Oh Jesus.

MARISHA: And we didn’t get the Vestige we came here for, so–

TALIESIN: No we did not, in fact, it’s worse.

MATT: Well two weeks was the agreement, so you have more than five. Nine.

LIAM: You can do anything in nine days.

TRAVIS: We don’t even have to keep the agreement, come on.

LAURA: Potentially.

TRAVIS: Just saying. We getting the gun un-fucked or what?

TALIESIN: Let’s go downstairs and talk to her employer.

LAURA: Treev?

MATT: Treev, yes. All right.

TALIESIN: I’m going to leave the gun upstairs still.

MARISHA: Wait, what? Don’t we need it to tap the gun to–

SAM: Well we got to find out who’s going to un-fuck it.

LAURA: Is Treev downstairs?

MATT: All right, you head down into the tavern, and at this time of day it’s a little empty, a little sparse, maybe like, four patrons. Two in discussions, one that’s deep in the cups and one in the midst of going through paperwork and in the far back you see Treev once again has his heavy spectacles on and is currently looking through that same book he was before, doesn’t seem to pay any mind to you until you approach him.

LAURA: Treev?

MATT: “Oh, aye, good to see you. What can I do for you?”

LAURA: We need to talk to you. It’s rather urgent.

MATT: “Then talk to me.” Puts his book away, glasses on it, leans forward.

TALIESIN: There’s been a complication. The mistress is– she’s been assassinated.

MARISHA: We hadn’t heard anything in these past few days, we decided to pay her a call.

MATT: He leans forward a little bit on the bar. Vex, Vax and Keyleth. You notice that the hooded figure, that originally delivered the note, is back in the far corner, where it was and it seems to have stepped a couple inches out of the shadows as well, paying very close attention to this conversation.

TALIESIN: Did we bring the note with us? Good.

MATT: Goes, “So you are saying that the mistress was assassinated?”

TALIESIN: And the cloak stolen.

MATT: “Cloak?”

TALIESIN: The cloak she wore.

MATT: “And you know this how?”

LAURA: We found her body.

MATT: “Where?”

LAURA: In her home.

SAM: Don’t think that was her home.

MARISHA: In her hideout.

TALIESIN: In her room beneath the house.

MATT: “How do you know where she lived?”

TALIESIN: We are very clever. But not clever enough to stop this. This appears to have happened possibly before we even– we don’t know when it happened. It happened a while ago.

LAURA: About a week ago. I think.

MATT: Percy, make a persuasion check.

TALIESIN: 13.

MATT: Okay. Treev puts one hand out on the bar, he’s got a big heavy coin in it, he’s nervously tapping it. (few knocks on wood)

TALIESIN: We think we know who did it. In fact, we are near positive we know who did it.

MATT: You hear (door closing) as the door of the tavern closes and all the patrons you saw are now standing up completely sober and they’re all taking a circle to the outside of your group. He’s leaning forward, going, “All right, so you’re clever. You came looking for the mistress, she suddenly winds up dead. You found her body.”

TALIESIN: And we tell you this as opposed to leaving.

LAURA: We had nothing to do with it. We could’ve left town.

MARISHA: Clearly we know how this looks, which is why we came to you first.

TALIESIN: We are desperate in finding who did this.

LIAM: What’s the hooded figure doing right now?

MATT: Still sitting in the back of that shadowed alcove between a bunch of barrels that are stacked and part of the bar side.

LIAM: I’m going to keep focused there.

TRAVIS: Is he still tapping the coin?

MATT: No, the coin tapping has stopped.

MARISHA: And what are the people around us doing? Are they, like, drawing their weapons?

MATT: No.

MARISHA: Do they seem armed?

MATT: Do you take a look around?

MARISHA: I want to just glance.

TRAVIS: I take a very blatant look around.

MATT: Okay. None of them appear to be armed, but they’re all looking very closely upon you. You can make a perception check, Keyleth and Grog, if you’d like.

TRAVIS: 13.

MARISHA: Not bad.

TRAVIS: There is a ceiling.

MARISHA: Straight perception? 25.

MATT: Okay. Yeah, you see them staring. They look pretty normal.

TRAVIS: They look pretty.

MATT: You do notice, what you didn’t quite notice before, when you first entered, but a lot of these tables have like small cubbies on the edges, and each one of them are standing very close to one. One you see a little bit of a pommel that is barely poking out and they’re all at the ready. This tavern definitely is– Mercenary band uses this tavern as their base of operation and has definitely seemingly outfitted it to be functionally good place for mercenaries when they need to be.

MARISHA: I look down in front of me. Is there any hidden cubbies in the table that we are at?

MATT: That you are at?

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: You have to get down to really inspect. You want to do that?

MARISHA: No.

MATT: Okay. At initial glance you don’t see anything, because everything is close to you, it’s from a top-down perspective and you’re blocked from seeing anything beneath.

TALIESIN: For what it’s worth, we will not draw first. We want to find her. Have any of your people seen a woman with one metal arm? She’s so dangerous and now so much more dangerous.

MATT: He goes ahead and puts his finger up this way and marks this direction. The figure that you’re watching, Vax, steps out from the shadow and walks very calmly across the room, through all of you right to the edge of the bar by the door and goes– not breaking eye contact with you, speaks out of the side of his mouth, Treev goes, “Go ahead and check their story. See her abode. We’re all going to wait here nice and patiently together until we figure out what the fuck is going on.”

TRAVIS: Makes sense. Do you have any mead?

MATT: “We got mead.”

TALIESIN: In the meantime, I’d like to at least to start to tell you what we need next, for when our story is confirmed.

MATT: “Well, you’ve certainly got a captive audience, so go ahead.”

TALIESIN: This woman has been tracking us. She placed a mystical tracker upon us at some point. We’ve just discovered it and we need to find a way to move it away and put it somewhere she does not suspect that we know that she placed it and does not see us coming when it’s time for us to kill her.

MATT: “So you’re saying this woman that you’re chasing is the one that killed the mistress?”

TALIESIN: Yes. We believe so.

LAURA: Your mistress has– had a very powerful item on her. It’s why we sought her out as well.

MATT: “More so blinded-sided at the idea that the mistress was felled by someone. She could take care of herself and has for quite some time.”

LAURA: From what I could see, her attackers were not alone. There were five of them.

LIAM: They had an unfair advantage.

MATT: “Five of them and a woman, you say?” His eyes narrow for a second. “Describe this woman.”

SAM: She disguises her appearance, so how we know her might not be how you have seen her. She has sometimes shown herself as an old woman.

MATT: “Old woman?” And he starts describing. “Sort of a spindly gray-blonde hair, tumbles past the shoulders, piercing blue-ish green eyes.”

TALIESIN: Always piercing eyes.

SAM: Did she come through here?

MATT: “She was the last one to hire the mistress. About a week before you came.”

TALIESIN: (sighs heavily)

SAM: What was the job?

MATT: “I don’t know.”

SAM: And she had some fellows traveling with her?

MATT: “She had five individuals following her, aye.”

MARISHA: What did they look like?

MATT: “Didn’t get the best good look. Kept it very hush-hush between me and the lady at the table. Rest of them stayed at the back of the bar. Then they went on their business.”

SAM: Where were they staying?

MATT: “Here.”

SAM: In our rooms?

MATT: “Aye.”

SAM: That gives me the heebie-jeebies.

TALIESIN: That does not make me feel good. She is so dangerous.

MARISHA: How was she a full week ahead of us?

LAURA: Oh shit. Treev–

SAM: Because we went to Draconia.

LAURA: I put Dust of Tracelessness on the ground. In her home.

MATT: “What’s that mean?”

TALIESIN: It’s going to obfuscate any of the scuffle. They’re only going to find a body with holes in it.

MATT: “So you’re telling me that you came in here with a story about a murder of one of my finest mercs.”

TALIESIN: Yes.

MATT: “And you decided upon finding this murder to get rid of all the evidence of said murder and anything that could possibly point to you not being the murderers.” TALIESIN: I did point this out to everybody before we came down here, but at the moment we were a little bit thrown by the dead woman.

MATT: “I’m not going to lie, I mean as far as–”

LIAM: Why would we come directly to you if that were the case? Why wouldn’t we have not just left?

LAURA: Plus, you know what?

TALIESIN: They will be able to tell the body is at least a week old.

LAURA: Exactly. Your man has seen a dead body before. He’s going to be able to tell that it’s been there for a while.

MARISHA: I’m sure you have a cleric in the circle. Talk to her firsthand if you have to.

LIAM: I’m curious if you can imagine a reason why we would come to you with this rather than sneak away in the night.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I’m just curious how much the mead is?

MATT: “On the house.” He reaches under the bar and pulls up one thick, dark, red ceramic bottle. Cap’s already off. He’s plucked it off with his thumb and sets it in front of you.

TRAVIS: My thanks.

TALIESIN: I’m so sorry.

MATT: “Guess it’s possibly one of the major setbacks of this line of business. Very few grow too old and gray and get to die happy in their beds. God knows I wasn’t planning to.” There’s a long, awkward pause interspersed with bits of conversation for about 15 minutes before the hooded figure returns, enters the door, comes over and whispers for a good solid minute in the ear of Treev, before stepping back and calmly walking back to its corner. Treev sits up. “Well, parts of your story certainly hold up. The body has been there for a while, at least from before I saw you. Mind you, I don’t know when you came into town. We only met a few days ago.”

TALIESIN: If we were smart enough to take care of her and smart enough to pull all of this off, this would be a ridiculous move.

LAURA: (laughs) That we would come to hire her after we had already–

MARISHA: Killed her?

TALIESIN: I would beg you to explain why we’re having this conversation.

MATT: “Oh, believe me. A lot of you doesn’t make sense, period. So I’m just trying to figure it all out.” And he rubs the end of his long draconian snout.

TALIESIN: The woman in question helped murder my entire family, took great pleasure and delight in it. I have been tracking her for years.

MATT: “What you plan to do when you find her, then?”

TALIESIN: Kill her. That’s all. I’ve lost my taste for anything beyond that, but she is dangerous and she is evil.

LIAM: In this moment, everyone in this room wants the same thing.

MARISHA: We didn’t come to you because we necessarily needed to go through the proper channels, we did it because we were trying to be forthcoming. Clearly you are all a talented bunch, so are we.

TALIESIN: My feelings for her have become very complex. I don’t care who kills her at this point. She just needs to be removed from the earth.

MATT: “Which one of you is your dealmaker?”

LIAM: I boot Scanlan forward on the tush.

SAM: Hello, hi.

MATT: “This one?”

SAM: I make the best deals, I know the best words.

MATT: “This one?”

SAM: Sometimes it’s Vex, but many times it’s me.

MATT: He leans over the bar and gets real close up to you, and takes a moment to (sniffs). “Aye, you smell like trouble. I like that.” Make a persuasion check.

SAM: What am I persuading him to do?

MATT: This is your essence of presence and telling him that you’re the kind of person that–

SAM: Oh, my general charm?

MATT: Your general charm.

TALIESIN: I don’t know what he’s wearing, but it’s very nice.

SAM: Persuasion, you say? 29.

MATT: “How is this for a deal? I got a nice fine look at your faces, I got friends all across these lands. If what you say is true, you go. We let you leave. You find this murdering bitch, you kill her. I want one thing, her good hand. I think that would be vengeance enough for the mistress.”

MARISHA: I mean, we don’t have any use for it.

TALIESIN: I feel very good about that deal.

LIAM: Good terms.

MATT: “Not talking to you. I’m talking to you.”

SAM: That’s lovely, but we can’t find her without some assistance.

MATT: “Well, you’ve come to the right place. What assistance do I have to give you, what do you need?”

SAM: We need to get this curse off of the thing that found your assassin.

MATT: “Can’t really help you with that, sorry, mate.”

SAM: Don’t have any magic wielders among you?

MATT: “We’ve got scattered mercs throughout the city, aye, but they work for coin, and half of them are busy in other jobs.”

LIAM: We have coin.

MATT: “How much you got?”

LIAM: What do we got?

TRAVIS: Enough.

TALIESIN: Let us know what it takes. Money is money and we have a long way to go and a lot to deal with, but we are happy to pay for the work that is done.

MATT: “All right. I can call someone in.”

SAM: We also may need some naval assistance–

LAURA: Specifically an airship of sorts–

TALIESIN: Or transportation, she’s heading, she’s on a boat, she’s heading north to the island of–

TRAVIS: Glintshore.

MARISHA: Or, you know, even if you know of any trees, big trees.

MATT: He goes “Hmm. Ships, no, not much in the way of ships here in the middle of a desert, you’re looking for them sky-buggers. Looking for a ship like that for seafaring types you’re going to want to go past the Agrin Mountains, then make your way towards the Bay of Gifts.”

MARISHA and TALIESIN: Bay of Gifts.

MATT: “That’s where you’ll find the port town of Shamal.”

MARISHA: Port town of Shamal?

MATT: “Shamal. The mountain range is vast in itself, you’re looking at, oh, at least a week on foot to try and traverse those mountains.”

LIAM: Did you say Bay of Gifs?

SAM: Bay of Jifs, it’s pronounced.

MATT: “I’m going to fucking fuck you.”

(laughter)

TALIESIN: It’s a local joke, I’m so sorry.

MARISHA: The port of Shamal?

SAM: There is a skyport near here, is that true?

MATT: “Aye, it’s over by the–”

SAM: Controlled by the local government?

MATT: “There’s no one fucking controls the skyport.”

TALIESIN: We’re not asking you, we have other friends as well.

MATT: “Well, if you’re looking for speed, it’s probably your best bet. Ships on this ocean, let’s say the weather’s not usually handy.”

TALIESIN: We are looking for speed, and a crazy captain.

MATT: “Well, wish you the best of luck.”

LAURA: Thank you.

MATT: “Now, go! Kill her. Give me her hand. I figure if time goes by and I haven’t heard from you, you’ve either died or I’ll be sending some of our mercs to come find you.”

LIAM: Yeah, but the magic thing with the gun.

SAM: How long would it take to get this person who can remove a curse?

TALIESIN: Or if you were going to go do something like this, who would you find in town?

MATT: “If you’re looking for fast, speedy, and immediate assistance with this, well, that’s going to have to run the cost up a bit, see. We have quite an enchanter that could probably help you with that.”

LAURA: Oh really?

MATT: “Aye. See if in the next hour I could bring him in, but it’ll run you, full disillusion or whatever you need, 750 gold.”

TALIESIN: Not full disillusion, how about a transference?

MATT: “Transference–”

TALIESIN: To move the enchantment to another object.

MATT: “Well, takes–”

LAURA: It’s a much easier enchantment.

MATT: “Moving something takes a little bit longer than to just get rid of something.”

TALIESIN: How much longer?

MATT: “I dunno, not one of them types. But I mean, we’ve had a couple of enchantments moved in the past, and that was anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, get that done.”

MARISHA: Why don’t we call them in and have them look at it?

MATT: “All right.”

SAM: 750? Do we have that to spare?

TRAVIS: Yes.

TALIESIN: That’s worth its weight.

MATT: “750.”

LAURA: 750, or if you have a need of gems, we have gems.

LIAM: You don’t get fast and cheap.

TALIESIN: I know.

SAM: Are you a gem lover?

MATT: “I carry a bit of jewelry on occasion.”

SAM: I like you. What do we have?

LAURA: So many things. You should call your enchanter.

MATT: “All right,” and he goes ahead and pulls out a small tome of blank sheets, many you see have been torn out, and he makes a quick note on one, rolls it up very simply, doesn’t do the usual rigmarole of an official writ, but hands it to the masked hooded figure in the corner who walks out and darts off. “Kyme’ll be here in a hour.”

LAURA: An hour.

SAM: Kine?

MATT: “Kyme.”

LAURA: Kynan?

LIAM: Sorry, that rang a bell. Sorry.

MATT: “Payment?”

LAURA: Payment?

SAM: Up front? Wow.

LAURA: But we don’t even know what he’s doing yet.

MATT: “Do you trust in my service?”

LAURA: Of course, I don’t know what we’re going to have him do, that’s all.

MATT: “Well if you’d much rather, we could go ahead and clean out your guts here in the floor, wouldn’t be the first time I had to swab the floors here.”

LAURA: How about these two beautiful sapphires? They’re quite lovely.

MATT: “All right.”

LAURA: And– and I pull out a giant raw ruby as well.

MATT: He knocks the countertop and gestures for you to put them down. He looks over at one of the guys in the bar. They’ve all relaxed a bit now, two of them have sat down. One of them approaches; human, a little scruffy, looks like he’s a little ill to be honest, like he’s probably not had a good week of food. He, however, walks up and fumbles through a small pouch and pulls out a small jeweler’s eyepiece and takes them up and inspects each of them independently. How much are they worth?

LAURA: 200 each for the sapphires, and the ruby is 150.

SAM: Jesus, Laura.

LAURA: It’s only a hundred gold short!

MATT: “I’d take it.” Sits back down. “Very well, debt is paid.” Takes the gems, pops them in his little side pouch. Do you guys wait for the hour?

TALIESIN: I was going to say, if somebody wants to go booking passage on an airship, my personal feeling is that Grog and Scanlan would be the people to send on such an adventure.

SAM: Grog? I mean, yes, Grog would be good at that, yes, let’s do that.

TALIESIN: I’m only saying Grog because then they know what they’re getting into.

SAM: I like that idea.

TRAVIS: Are you trying to get me out of the room?

TALIESIN: No! Well, yes. Would you rather sit for an hour in here or would you rather go outside and talk to somebody about a giant flying boat?

TRAVIS: The last one.

LIAM: Perfect, it’s like Hannibal and Mr. T, together, that’s what you want.

TALIESIN: I don’t know, that’s my opinion, personally, unless anybody else–

TRAVIS: Just call me Baracus, let’s go.

SAM: All right, we’ll go.

TALIESIN: Our friends are going to arrange travel for us, the rest of us are going to stay here, is that appropriate?

MATT: “Certainly. Sit, I’ll get you some food.” So is it going to be just you two?

SAM: I guess we’re going to go try to find an airship.

TRAVIS: Yeah, Twins! Schwarzenegger and DeVito, at it again!

(laughter)

TALIESIN: Julius, my god!

SAM: Which one’s which?

LIAM: Vincent, you are my twin.

TALIESIN: I’m pregnant, Vincent. Oh, wrong one, sorry. I always thought it was the same guy. In my head. It’s a sequel.

MATT: All right, so, as the rest of you guys stay behind you get a fair meal, the two of you begin making your way through Ank'Harel. You’re making your way over towards the edge of the Suncut Bazaar towards the Sand Herald district right on that cusp there is where you saw the skyport in the distance. Go ahead and make an investigation check. You can make one as well, Grog.

SAM: 25.

TRAVIS: 17!

MATT: All right. Where normally it would be confusing to find where the base of it is as it is obfuscated by a series of other larger buildings, you guys ask a couple of folks rather quickly that know the layout of the town really well, and with enough of a flash of a smile and a flash of a really intense arm muscle, within the next 30 minutes or so find yourself at the base of the actual skyport. It is called the Indala Skyport.

SAM: (sings) Indala.

MATT: Not as tall as the one in Emon which lays on the outskirts of the Cloudtop District, but it appears to be on the level, it’s maybe a good five stories up. The outside of it is a similar chain lifted platform as the tower at the Cerulean Palace that you guys traversed earlier in your time in Ank'Harel. There is a large stone scaffold with no walls, sitting there on the ground. As you approach, there are two people dressed in simple clothing, you see some dust and dirt on their hands, they’re in the midst of moving crates up and down and you see they’re moving some barrels off of the platform, putting them up onto a cart that’s probably going to be wheeled deeper into the city. As you approach the platform you see one of them is by a bell mechanism, attached to part of the platform, a small block that’s about shoulder high, and there’s a bell on the end of it with a ringer.

TRAVIS: Wait, before we ring Indala: have you ever rented a skyship before?

SAM: No, I have no idea what we’re doing here.

TRAVIS: Oh really?

SAM: I mean, I assume we’re trying to find out how much it costs for a seven day rental including a pilot or two?

TRAVIS: So we’re doing this like the straight and narrow way.

SAM: We’re getting the information, probably come back and steal it.

TRAVIS: Ooh, okay, I’ll be quiet, you talk.

SAM: Okay, well, you’re pretty good at this too.

TRAVIS: Yeah, well. (singing) Indala, Indala

LIAM: Help, help, it’s happening.

TALIESIN: Help, help, it’s actually happening.

TRAVIS: Do you mind if I ring the bell?

SAM: Yeah, go for it.

TRAVIS: Can I ring the fucking shit out of that bell?

MATT: As you step up onto the stone platform both of you, the two guys that are working, the guy keeps putting the barrels, there’s like two or three on the side there, and he goes ahead and sets one of the three up, staring at you as you approach. The other guy is to the side, goes, “Can I help you?” As you walk past and turn back and smile and (bell ringing) start ringing the crap out of it. Make a strength check.

TRAVIS: Aww no, oh that’s not too bad. 13.

MATT: 13, okay. You have enough control over your physical brawn as to not snap or destroy the bell, however, what happens is after you ring the bell for a few seconds, the guy goes, “Wait, no!” And before anything else happens, the chains that were slack tighten up, and the platform begins to lift up. The guy who had two barrels left on the platform still is like “No, wait!” And goes over and tries to grab one of the barrels as it tumbles off and breaks on the ground next to him. (yelling in Marquesian) and is raising his fists.

SAM: We’re on an elevator?

MATT: Yeah, and it’s now lifting up and it’s about 15-20 feet off the ground and it’s going up to the top. The bell seemed to have notified whatever crew is bringing the platform up, but he didn’t get a chance to finish bringing his load off the platform before you rung the bell.

TRAVIS: I think we’re doing it right.

SAM: I think so.

MATT: As you leave the two gentlemen below, as the two of you lift up on this platform, you make your way up to the elevated terrace that marks the actual skyport and it’s a large, wide, thick platform that’s built atop a series of warehouses that fill out this district, and this was a newer addition to it as this technology became available. Go ahead and roll a history check.

SAM: Natural 20.

TRAVIS: Wow!

SAM: Love me some airships.

MATT: Actually, skyships originated in Ank'Harel. This is where the crystals that hold them aloft are enchanted. There have been other ships. There are different designs that are constructed in different towns. You do know that there is no skyship transport to Wildemount, and that was part of the reason why the Sovereign Uriel was trying to make that deal with the Briarwoods under the idea that it would open trade with Wildemount. It’s pretty insular, locked off from the larger countries here that work together. The skyport here is probably the first skyport that was built and this is the origin of that tech. As you come to the very top of the platform, it eventually stops and you see one gentleman there who’s essentially working this large crank that brings the platform up and it has a series of thick chains that wind on themselves. As soon as he finishes and you guys get to the top he turns. “What, yes, what. Hello?”

TRAVIS: Meep-meep!

SAM: Be pleased. We are here to inquire about some business if you don’t mind.

MATT: He points that way, and you guys look right, and the rest of this terrace for the record– there are two skyships that are currently docked here at the moment. One that has a very nice, thick, heavy design, it has beautiful gems encrusted in the side and there’s brass and gold inlay that twists into this turquoise transition to the bottom. It’s a beautiful ship. You can see there’s a crew of about 12, that are currently loading things onto it right now. There’s a big, crane-like apparatus similar to what you had in Emon that is currently putting things onto the ship. It looks like it’s being heavily loaded for transport somewhere. There’s another ship, it looks familiar, it’s actually very similar to the Emon designs that you guys saw at the skyports over there that appears to be, by about six heavy chains, locked to the opposite side of this skyport and doesn’t seem to have any apparent hustle bustle of crew around. It’s a little bit smaller than the more intricate design. The one that has all the work around it does match some of the design aesthetic of some of the higher end areas of Ank'Harel, so that you probably imagine it was one of the original skyships that was built here. The other one you saw has the small fins on the side, similar to the one you rode across to Vasselheim. You do also notice that there are about six Hands of Ord scattered across the terrace in full armor that are basically keeping an eye out and watching everything, making sure that no bullshit goes down. You do see a small building that’s in the center of this terrace, that maybe has about three or four different rooms. Apparently, the individual who was overseeing this entire process with the one big ship is walking back and forth between with instructions to the foreman who’s yelling out to the crewmen who are loading up this big ship. That’ll probably be the place to go to inquire.

SAM: Okay. We go over there.

MATT: All right. As you walk in–

SAM: We die.

MATT: Suffer a horrible stroke and fall to the ground. Scanlan is no more.

TRAVIS: Green dragon unveils herself and we die.

LIAM: My barrels! (dragon roaring noise)

TRAVIS: Shit, literally in the last place we would have looked.

MATT: So as you walk into the room, it’s fairly quiet. There appears to be a clerk office there with a bunch of ledgers stacked up, and you can see a layout of a number of days with notes scrawled in a language that you don’t recognize. There are a couple of small clockwork timepieces that are against the walls there. And you see a younger woman, probably mid-20s, but going gray a little early all on one side of her head, who is currently going through one of these books. She has a quill between her teeth right now, she’s thumbing through the pages. Looks up, “Can I help you?” Takes the quill out, sets it down.

SAM: Hello, Be pleased, beep beep. My associate and I would like to inquire about renting an airship.

MATT: “Renting an airship.”

SAM: Chartering it for a trip.

MATT: “Okay, well for now, let’s see. Ship Vusin is already chartered and is loading up to be heading northward towards Issylra. That is not available. The other one which is the Deera has been docked for about four weeks without use. So you could go inquire with the captain there.”

SAM: Is that the crappier one or the better one?

MATT: It’s the smaller one.

SAM: Okay, so we would charter from the captain themself, not from you?

MATT: “Well the captain would pay us a cut based on what the destination is.”

SAM: So I can do my homework, how much do you think a week’s charter would run on an airship?

MATT: “That is for you to negotiate with the captain.”

TRAVIS: Yes, is there any way to book passage on the ship that’s already moving northward?

SAM: As passengers.

MATT: “That is not a passenger-based ship, unfortunately that is actually working for one of the guilds. It is paid for use of their mercantile only.”

SAM: Okay.

TRAVIS: How fast is that smaller ship?

MATT: “Unloaded, pretty quick. The cargo can load down ships.”

TRAVIS: Hmm, yes.

MATT: “Depends on how fast you wish to go and where you are going. May I ask where you are planning to charter this to?”

SAM: Our mission is a bit of a hush-hush one, we better not disclose that.

TRAVIS: Yeah, we are going to an ocean.

MATT: “Perhaps it is best that we negotiate the price here than as opposed to with the captain.”

SAM: Yes, that would be preferable for sure.

TRAVIS: Wait, why? Who’s the captain?

MATT: She stands up and walks over to one of the small windows that leads out to the terrace and you can see another bell that’s out there and she grabs the edge (bell ringing) on the bell, goes back to her seat. “I’m calling the captain, he’ll be here.” A few minutes pass, in the distance out the window you can see a small rope ladder drops, and a figure makes their way over and walks in. Inside, in gold-trimmed armor is a familiar sight, this is Captain Damon, the guy who actually brought you guys across the Ozmit Sea.

SAM: It’s our guy! Damon!

MARISHA: Are there not that many pilots in the world?

MATT: There aren’t a lot of skyships. You would know, there’s probably six in commission.

SAM: How fast did this one make the Kessel Run?

MATT: It was a week across the entire Ozmit Sea, that was with some cargo on board, so it wasn’t very slow. It would have taken a normal ship two and a half weeks.

SAM: Does Damon recognize us?

MATT: As he walks in he goes “Yes, are we ready to–”

MARISHA: Wyverns attacked us!

LIAM: (whispering) We’re not there.

MARISHA: I’m not there at all!

TRAVIS: What did you end up drinking in that damn tavern?

SAM: Captain Damon! Hello.

MATT: “Wait, I know you.”

SAM: Yes, we’ve flown together before. On the friendly skies.

MATT: “Yes, that was a dangerous journey.”

SAM: It was, and would have been more dangerous had we not been there. To protect you and your ship.

MATT: “Indeed. We appreciate that. What can I do for you?” And he looks over towards the clerk who goes, “They are looking to charter a ship northward. I know nothing else more, but I figured the confusion here would allow us at least both to discuss this so we can negotiate the proper price. So you talk, I’ll be here to keep record.” And she opens a fresh page in her tome, dips her quill–

TRAVIS: Mmm. Ledgers.

SAM: Oh, maybe we don’t want any of this on the record for right now.

MATT: “Okay. Remember that for the negotiation.”

SAM: Oh shit.

MATT: Captain winks at her. “All right, so, we’re very busy, our books are full and we have a few other individuals that are currently seeking use of our ship. So what is it you need, where are you going and for how long?”

SAM: This would be a week or less for the mission.

TRAVIS: Looking to leave quite soon.

SAM: Maybe even tomorrow morning.

MATT: “All right.”

SAM: We’d be going north. Correct?

TRAVIS: Yes.

SAM: Into the Ozmit Sea, and to a location that we would disclose to you once we get airborne.

MATT: You hear a voice in the back, “Also consider that in the negotiation.”

SAM: But also consider this. We are on a mission that’s very important to the security of both Marquet and other continents, and we have friends in high places. And I will flash our little badge.

TRAVIS: Yes!

SAM: The badge that J'Mon Sa Ord gave us.

LIAM: Not your fake little star from pre-show?

MATT: He looks down and he goes, “That looks very pretty.”

TRAVIS: Oh, this is given from J'mon Sa Ord.

MATT: “I don’t know who that is.”

SAM: Yes, I didn’t think you would–

MATT: The clerk, however, says, “Wait, you’re saying you got something from J'mon Sa Ord. You saw J'mon Sa Ord, and you were given something.”

TRAVIS and SAM: Yes.

MATT: (laughter) “Let me see this.”

SAM: I hand it over.

MATT: She looks at it. (laughter fades)

(laughter)

MATT: “Very well.”

TRAVIS: Consider that in negotiation.

MATT: She looks over and meets eyes with the captain and goes, “We’re going to go ahead, you let me know the price and the palace is going to pay for this expedition.”

SAM: I didn’t know it would do that!

LAURA: That is the most valuable necklace!

MATT: Opens the book and begins writing down a series of charges and is racking up–

LIAM: You just Babe Ruth-ed that shit!

MARISHA: Company card, man.

SAM: We’ll probably need sparkling water, stat. Lots of brandy for the trip.

TRAVIS: Maybe some servants and some masseuses.

SAM: Yes. I will definitely need someone with a knowledge of the sea, both in the air and down below, the waters below.

MATT: The captain says, “Actually we’ve got an individual just for that.” He looks back to the clerk, “Are you sure?” “Yes, it’s fine, not a worry. We’ll talk when they leave.”

TRAVIS: Don’t mind me, but I have violence on the mind at all times. Is there any customary weaponry or defense that you can put on this airship during our travels? Just in case we run into the same shit we did last time.

MATT: The captain goes, “Actually, after the encounter we had over the Ozmit last time, I managed to outfit this ship with a brand new series of dragon arbalests, so this is going to be a well-defended journey.”

TRAVIS: Nice. Do they aim in all directions?

MATT: “You’ll see.”

TRAVIS: Nice.

MATT: And you do recall seeing them when you were in Vasselheim, you saw them being brought down and installed on the ship. But that was last time you saw the ship.

SAM: Can the ship be prepared to leave tomorrow morning?

MATT: “We can leave in the next hour, if you want.”

TRAVIS: Stand at the ready, our business is of great import.

SAM: Yes, Grog. Yes it is. I think you should ring the bell to make this an official deal.

TRAVIS: Can I ring the bell?

MATT: You can if you want to.

TRAVIS: But I don’t grab it and ring it, I go (clang) one loud time.

MATT: The ringing is discordant and painful in proximity and the clerk went (groaning). The captain chuckles to himself. “So. In the morning.”

SAM: We’ll have to discuss with our associates, but be prepared as quickly as possible.

MATT: “All right. I’ll assemble the crew and we’ll be ready within the hour.”

SAM: Excellent.

TRAVIS: How many of your crew will you have with you? Just ballpark it.

MATT: It would be a crew of eight. “Normally seven, but we have eight now.”

TRAVIS: And I’m sure this crew is your finest. No greenhorns. Men you’ve spent years with, trust your life with.

MATT: “Most of them, yes.”

TRAVIS: Most of them. How many do you not trust your life with?

MATT: “There is one we’ve had on board for a short time, but she’s definitely proven worthy.”

TRAVIS: Perhaps she should stay behind on this voyage.

MATT: “She’s the one with the mastery of the ocean.”

TRAVIS: She’s coming with us.

SAM: Thank you, Damon. Oh, one more thing. I asked you this last time, but are you still single?

MATT: “Yes?”

SAM: Okay, good to know.

TRAVIS: Don’t worry about him, there’s a hubbub down in the quarter. People talking. It’s the gold armor.

MATT: “I’m going to go ready my ship.”

TRAVIS: Yep. Good! We’ll be back. Why did you ask him if he was single? That was so awkward.

SAM: Because Vex really liked him last time.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I know, but he thought you liked him. Now we have to–

SAM: You know what, everyone thinks I like them. That’s part of my wink-y charm.

TRAVIS: I thought you said that it’s part of your winky, I’m like, that’s not–

SAM: (nudge-wink sound)

MATT: All right. You guys seemingly locked passage.

TRAVIS: Boom. For free, bitch! On the house!

SAM: We could have been using this all over the place!

TRAVIS: I know. It’s an AmEx Black Card.

SAM: Real quick, guys. Real quick.

TRAVIS: We make our way back.

SAM: Real quick, though, on the way back I’m going to go to the casino. Just real quick.

LAURA: (yells) Scanlan!

TALIESIN: No, hold out. Let’s see this.

TRAVIS: Yep. I’m with him. I’m with you.

MATT: Now you, guiding back, head right towards the Luck’s Run.

TRAVIS: I don’t know if this is where our friends are.

SAM: It’s a shortcut, friend.

TRAVIS: Oh, okay.

SAM: We get outside, I pull Grog into a little alleyway and I say: Listen, friend. I’m going to go in there and do a little business. Can you do me a favor?

TRAVIS: Play some music outside while you go number two?

SAM: I need you to keep your eyes open. Can I Minor Illusion a face of one of those guys who did the deal with me?

MATT: Yeah, you could. It’s a still image, it makes no sound. It’s very much an illusion–

SAM: Yeah, it’s for him. To show him what he looks like. This face, look at it. Lock it in. I do the other face as well. This face, you see it?

TRAVIS: Is there a test on this later?

SAM: There’s only one test. If you see these people, grab them.

TRAVIS: Grab them. And then what?

SAM: Do what Grog does best.

TRAVIS: Just do what I do best when I see them?

SAM: Yes. But you won’t see them unless they leave the casino. Just stay out here at the door.

TRAVIS: Outside?

SAM: Yes.

TRAVIS: Cool.

SAM: You’re my lookout man.

TRAVIS: Should I have a code word if you know they’re coming out, like–

SAM: Yeah, let’s come up with one right now. Yeah.

TRAVIS: Dijon.

SAM: Yeah. There it is. Dijon.

MATT: All right. Grog, you taking watch, you head into the casino.

SAM: Oh! Before I go in, hat of disguise on.

MATT: What do you wish to look like?

SAM: Adult human male. Goatee, pork pie hat, black jacket. Just an ordinary man.

LIAM: Yeah, Mr. Shorthalt! Yeah!

TALIESIN: Is it Abbott or Costello? I’m not sure which.

MATT: And you walk into the Luck’s Run. Being midday, it’s not as busy as the evening you saw previously but I’d say about half the tables are still running and they have clientele throughout.

SAM: I’m looking, in the interest of time, going to look around for any of those two faces.

MATT: Make a perception check.

LIAM: That’s bardic magic, bitch.

SAM: Nine.

MATT: You spend the better part of a half an hour scoping through each floor. No sign.

SAM: I didn’t go into their office, though, right?

MATT: No. Through the bottom floor, and going up and checking hallways. And the third floor, which you hadn’t been before, which is more of a lounge patio. It has more of the higher stakes games. You can see there are some more of the higher rollers and–

SAM: And can I make my way to the office area, where they led me?

MATT: Yeah. I mean, the door is closed.

SAM: Can I listen outside?

MATT: Yeah, you take a listen. Doesn’t appear to be any sound from the other side.

SAM: Damn it.

TRAVIS: Can I go to the corner where I can see the front entrance and the side alley where I was and look and see if I see either of those two faces?

MATT: Sure, make a perception check.

TRAVIS: This will go well. Total shit. Six.

MATT: Six. No sign of them.

TRAVIS: Cool. I’m looking at the wall.

SAM: Damn it. All right. I’ll quickly Dimension Door inside the office.

MATT: (whoosh) Inside the office. Thankfully you have your gnomish dark vision. It is dark in here, there are no lights. The table and chairs and the general decor of the room seemingly untouched since last time you were in here.

SAM: All right. Is there any source of light around here?

MATT: There are a couple of lanterns in the corner that could be lit.

SAM: I will light one.

MATT: All right. (whoosh) You turn the lantern up. Light glows.

SAM: Going right into the desk, looking for anything. Keys, gold, contraband, weapons.

MATT: Investigation check.

SAM: 23.

MATT: 23. Scanning through you find the odd four copper pieces. You find a couple of small books. One looks like it’s on etiquette, and the other is written in a language you don’t understand. But you gather it’s Marquesian. You do also find some small notes– like a little name that is drawn on the inside of one of the drawers. Looks old, like it’s been there for a long time, and says “Lelan.” And you find– that’s about it. You get the sense this isn’t a stationary room that they use as a base of operations, it’s almost like a rental space used when people want to come in here and do business. Which happens often in a casino establishment. They want to make sure that they provide their clientele with all the necessary needs, and a lot of the rooms on this center floor are to facilitate the meetings between the top and the bottom.

SAM: Damn it. All right, I’ll do one more investigation check to see if there’s any hidden compartments in the desk or around it.

TRAVIS: Burn it to the ground.

SAM: 24.

MATT: 24. Nothing under the desks, but the table that you’re at, there is a small false bottom on each side. You pull it open and there is a single dagger on each end. Apparently for those that know, they’re provided as a means of defense in case things in one of these meetings go wrong. But who knows who knows this information. It looks like they haven’t been used in a while.

SAM: All right.

TRAVIS: Can I look around and see if I see the two faces now?

MATT: Sure, make another perception check.

TRAVIS: 18.

MATT: Nope.

SAM: All right, fine. I will take the daggers, take the Marquesian book, whatever that was, take a huge dump on the desk, and take one of the daggers and dig a big piece of it and write on the wall, “The Meat Man cometh.”

(laughing)

TALIESIN: Wouldn’t it be, “The Meat Man goeth?” Oh well, never mind.

SAM: And then I’ll let myself out.

MATT: Okay. You open the door. There are two people walking through. They glance over at you and keep walking. You close the door behind you and you have left your mark.

SAM: Okay. On the way out of the casino do I see any familiar faces?

MATT: Make a perception check.

SAM: 18!

MATT: 18. Nah.

SAM: Ah, fuck you!

MATT: They seemingly know better than to return to the scene of the crime.

SAM: All right.

MATT: For lesser folk, 400 gold can keep you going for quite some time.

TRAVIS: Put some money on red or black while you’re in there. Just once.

SAM: All right.

LAURA: You should try the dice game just once.

SAM: The dice game?

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: All right. Grog?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: Want to come in and play once with me?

TRAVIS: No.

SAM: Okay, great.

(laughter)

SAM: I’ll do the dice game once.

MATT: Okay, all right. So you walk in to the table. There’s three other individuals there. Hold on, let me get prepared here. Since this is the first time we’re really doing this here, which is kind of fun. All righty.

TALIESIN: No, this is like, the third run.

LAURA: Isn’t this the seven or the twelve game?

MATT: Oh, the dice game! Dice game, I’m sorry.

SAM: What’s the other game?

MATT: Well the dice game’s cool. There’s the dice game, the lizards, and the card game. Your call.

MARISHA: What’s the card game?

MATT: Dice game is the 2d6–

SAM: What’s the fastest one? Let’s do that one.

MATT: The fastest one is the dice game. The card game takes a little more time.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: All right, so. That is a 25 gold minimum buy in for Avandra’s Favor.

TRAVIS: Even in the middle of the day, the minimums don’t go down?

LAURA: I know, I feel like the minimums should go down in the middle of the day.

SAM: 50 gold.

MATT: You’ve never been to Ank'Harel!

SAM: 50 gold!

TRAVIS: Well I’ve been to Harrah’s!

MATT: The minimums stay where they are.

SAM: 50 gold.

MATT: All right, you throw 50 gold down. As you slap it down, still in your human guise, an individual to the left of you goes, “Whew. All right. Big, strong opening and strong scent.” Scoots over a bit to the right. Go ahead and roll your dice.

SAM: Six.

MATT: Six.

LAURA: Double down!

MATT: He goes, “Mm. That’s unfortunate.”

TALIESIN: Six is the double down, isn’t it? Six is the double down.

LAURA: Yeah!

MATT: “You can go ahead and double the price to add an additional 1d6. You’re going for seven or 12.”

SAM: Sure, yeah.

TALIESIN: So roll one more die.

MATT: “So 100 gold on the table. Roll one more dice. You want a one–”

MARISHA: –or a six.

SAM: I got a five.

MARISHA: Aww.

MATT: “I am very sorry my friend.” Shifts the coin away. 100 gold down now.

SAM: I just say: I hate this casino.

(laughter)

MATT: Any other games you want to play?

SAM: No! No, I leave. Goddammit. Wait, what was the names? The names that they gave me? The two guys gave me?

MATT: Oh! Oh, right.

SAM: Grug, or something.

MATT: That was Rutur was the half orc. And I have to go look up what the other one was.

SAM: It’s fine. I’ll ask the dealer, or the dicer, if he’s seen Rutur around.

MATT: He kind of–

SAM: Jesus Christ. Five more gold.

MATT: “Ah, yes. Rutur makes his way around here on occasion. Every couple weeks, maybe.”

(laughter)

LIAM: This city has had its way with you, Scanlan Shorthalt.

TALIESIN: You’re never going to get a kiss.

TRAVIS: Take your finger out of my asshole, Gary.

MATT: “He doesn’t seem to carry much change with him.”

(laughter)

SAM: Are you trying to do this to me on purpose?

MATT: He looks at you strangely. “Hm?”

LIAM: You talking to Matt?

MATT: You keep coming back man, I don’t know.

SAM: Fine.

TRAVIS: Do I see any half orcs outside?

MATT: You do not at the moment.

TRAVIS: Damn it.

MATT: There is still Quon A Drensal or Gambit of Ord if you’re feeling lucky and you want to make your money back.

SAM: Not in a million years, no! This place, it sucks all my mojo. It’s like the anti-mojo.

TALIESIN: I feel a valuable lesson has finally been learned, for the first time in this game.

SAM: All right, I leave. And I go out and I say, Grog, let’s go home. But before we do, slap me in the face really hard.

TRAVIS: You’re sure?

SAM: Yes, I need it. I need it.

TRAVIS: Really hard. You want me to use the gauntlets or no?

SAM: No.

LIAM: If he doesn’t roll for damage then I’m going to be offended.

TRAVIS: All right, I take the Titanstone Knuckle off my left hand and I slap him.

MATT: All right. Go ahead and roll a strength check.

TRAVIS: 18.

MATT: All right. You take five points of damage.

TALIESIN: Is he still wearing the disguise? Is he wearing the hat of disguise?

SAM: Yes. Of course.

MATT: He is.

TALIESIN: So would his head not be, necessarily, where his–

MATT: That’s true, and with Grog being not the one who would remember that or recall that, he goes–

SAM: I can’t even get slapped in the face right!

TALIESIN: I will ruin everything! I will ruin everything!

MATT: It’s a valid point, thank you for remembering.

TRAVIS: I was so confused why a stranger would ask me to slap him.

(laughter)

SAM: We go home.

LIAM: Wait. So way faster than the casino trip, while we’ve been waiting so long, Percival has been acting fucking twitchy since we found that body so I walk over to him sitting off at a table. Hey, Mr. Cool-as-a-cucumber. Shush. Or come with me, come have a seat.

LAURA: Okay, all right, I’m here.

LIAM: What’s the matter? Yeah, it’s her again. We’re going to find her. It’s fine. You’re huffing and hawing since we found her body. It’s fine. What’s going on?

TALIESIN: I was really hoping she was going to go away. That’s all. I was really hoping that she was just going to go away.

LIAM: Well she’s going to go away, Percival. If not now, later.

TALIESIN: Every second she’s alive is untold damage to the world. Do you know how every now and then I say something awful?

LAURA: Mm-hmm.

TALIESIN: I love you both very much for that. When I think of that terrible person inside of me I see her face. She has a very active imagination. She knows how to make these machines, and her imagination terrifies me. If you knew that that was me, would you let me live? Has she made ten more of these things, has she made 100? Does she hand them out to people? Maybe, I don’t know, maybe she’s running around and torturing people’s parents and siblings to death and then handing them a gun and kicking them out into the world to see what will happen because it could be funny.

LIAM: You’re probably right, Percival. She probably is. This is not Lord and Lady Briarwood over again, though.

TALIESIN: No, it’s not.

LIAM: And you’re not alone.

TALIESIN: No, I’m not.

LIAM: You have me, you have her. You have her. You have the other two Laurel and Hardy motherfuckers who aren’t back yet.

TALIESIN: I was so hoping that maybe–

MARISHA: I slam some mead in front of him.

TALIESIN: Thank you. I was hoping something heavy had fallen on her from a great height, saving the world a few thousand lives.

LAURA: Well, we’re going to be above her. Maybe we can be the one to drop something heavy.

TALIESIN: That’s really what I’m hoping.

MARISHA: Oh, I’ve been practicing that actually. I can be really heavy.

TALIESIN: That may help.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: She is the biggest mistake I’ve made, and I’m horrified by who’s paid the price.

LIAM: All the more reason for you to be the same cold-hearted asshole you’ve been for the last year. Why change now? Get the job done, Percival.

TALIESIN: I’m counting to a hundred. I’ll be fine.

MARISHA: It’s not very often we see you shaky, Percy.

TALIESIN: Once we’re out of here, I’ll feel fine. Once that thing is off my machine I will feel fine. And I’m thinking of something else. I’m thinking of building something awful to help deal with her.

MARISHA: Hang on. Wait. Hang on. I was about to ask if you ever have regrets of building something awful and releasing it into this world, and now you just said you’re going to double down, essentially?

TALIESIN: I’ve been thinking long and hard about it. I think inevitably, anytime I think of something it might be too late. I think I’m going to be very careful about what I build. I’m going to be very careful about where it goes, and I’m also going to ask anybody, if– when I die, destroy everything. Please. This is why I don’t write down notes. Any of my sketches, they’re put away, and they’re put in a place where I can remove them once the job is done. But I sketch my idle thoughts, and right now I’m having an idle thought for her and it’s simple, it’s nothing complicated, it’s just vicious.

LIAM: Well all right, we can do that. We can destroy anything you make, but for now, Percy. Keep your head, man.

TALIESIN: One night of sleep, I’ll be there.

MARISHA: What exactly are you thinking of making? Just because we could destroy your notes, I mean, you’re still alive and your guns still got into the world.

LAURA: Regardless of what he makes, who wields it? Fenthras is a horrible weapon wielded by a horrible being before I had it. A gun can do the same thing.

MARISHA: You’re arguably one of the greatest minds in existence right now, Percival.

TALIESIN: That’s a terrible thought.

MARISHA: But you are. And Vex isn’t wrong.

TALIESIN: I know. There are things that one day I will speak of that I’m not really ready to deal with yet. But I think I may even have something that could help us with the dragons. I have a thought. I’m going to work on it on our way to the island.

LIAM: Now I’m nervous.

TALIESIN: It will be something that once the dragons are felled I plan on destroying immediately after. And I think you’ll be all right with it when you see it, it’s too complicated for any one person to really deal with. But I will feel much better if she is in the ground.

LAURA: Well I’m interested in seeing it.

MARISHA: Percy. You know you can talk to us, right? You never share ideas with us.

TALIESIN: I do. I told you my idea of killing all the dragonborn to start a war between the dragons.

MARISHA: All right, well.

TALIESIN: That’s why I don’t share those ideas, I’m not proud of them.

LAURA: Is this thing you’re building going to kill a lot of people in addition to the dragon?

TALIESIN: I hope not, but it could. It could make it very easy to kill a lot of people.

LIAM: One day at a time, gang. Let’s deal with Ripley first.

TALIESIN: Let’s deal with Ripley. Let’s collect a few more things that will help us deal with home. Let’s save home. And then I will spend some good time undoing some of the damage that I’ve done. I should have killed her. I should have.

MARISHA: You shouldn’t feel regret about not taking another person’s life. It’s a moment of humanity.

TALIESIN: It wasn’t. I was not being kind, I was being selfish. I didn’t kill her because the Briarwoods mattered more to me, even though I knew that she was far more dangerous. That if they had escaped, the world would be darker, two more vampires or whatever, but she was the genie and I knowingly and very willingly said, I’m fine with that. And I knew at that moment, this was not a thought I had later, in my head, I went, she is going to kill hundreds of people. And that’s okay right now.

LAURA: Percy, if you had stayed with her and let the Briarwoods go, a god, a terrible god, would probably be loosed on the land right now. I think you chose correctly.

TALIESIN: I think I stumbled into the correct answer, I’m not sure I chose correctly. I think I got lucky.

MARISHA: Did you not want to kill her because in a way you feel responsible for who she is?

TALIESIN: Oh, I feel absolutely responsible for inspiring a maniac, of course I do.

LIAM: Look. We’re going to help you get to her. You’re going to get her. You’ve got to let us in on it a bit, though, all right?

TALIESIN: Once I have something drawn I’ll show you what it is. And I’ll have something drawn by tomorrow. Something simple.

LIAM: That’s a promise?

TALIESIN: That is absolutely a promise.

MARISHA: Also I know you’re really smart, but we’re smart too. Don’t insult our intelligence by assuming we can’t comprehend one of your ideas.

TALIESIN: Oh no you’ll comprehend it, and it’s not that I don’t think you can comprehend it, I know you can, it’s that I know what it says about me that I even thought it.

MARISHA: Percy. Percy.

TALIESIN: You’ve been drinking.

MARISHA: I have!

LAURA: Oh, Keyleth! Really? Hold off of the alcohol. We have a lot to do today.

MARISHA: We’ve been through so much!

LIAM: I think my point has been made. I start moving Keyleth towards that door for some fresh air.

LAURA: Please, get her some fresh air.

MARISHA: I want more mead!

LIAM: Come on.

TALIESIN: I’m sorry I’m an idiot.

MARISHA: I love you, but I hate you, but I love you.

LAURA: Percy.

TALIESIN: I’m fond of you as well. Yes, dear.

LAURA: You’re a better man than you believe.

TALIESIN: Thank you. I accept that compliment. You as well, you are a better woman than you believe. Doesn’t feel good, does it? There you are.

LAURA: No, it doesn’t. Shit.

TALIESIN: That’s what you get for saying things like that. Terrible person.

LIAM: Thought for a second you also had one ball.

MATT: All right. So your companions arrive.

TRAVIS: We’re back!

SAM: We’re back. Good news, Grog sweet-talked them into giving us an airship for free.

LIAM: No shit, Grog!

SAM: Grog did the whole thing himself.

LAURA: Wait, what?!

LIAM: How did you do it?

TRAVIS: Well, it’s a very intricate and detailed process. Involves a lot of– you know what? It’ll be all over your heads, so just say thank you.

SAM: Let’s just say that he’s a good reader of body language.

LAURA: What the fuck did you do? Did you really?

SAM: We got an airship for free.

LIAM: Who’s excited now?

TALIESIN: I’m very excited, that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.

LAURA: Did you steal it? Tell me you didn’t do anything–

SAM: We did nothing illegal. And to sweeten the deal, Captain Damon will be our Damon pilot.

TALIESIN: That Captain Damon.

TRAVIS: “Our Damon pilot.”

MARISHA: Did you tell him we were the ones with the wyverns? Because that’s what I would have told him. Had I been there, theoretically.

SAM: That thought popped right into my head.

MARISHA: Really? Okay.

SAM: And on the way back I won back the 50 gold I lost on the fusaka.

TRAVIS: You did!

SAM: Yeah, yep.

TALIESIN: Well done!

SAM: So I’m going to leave Marquet totally evens.

LAURA: That’s great!

TALIESIN: That’s amazing.

SAM: Yup, pretty good.

TALIESIN: I wish I could say that.

LIAM: Oh cheers to that, cheers.

SAM: Still batting a thousand, this guy. Unstoppable me!

TRAVIS: Now we can leave whenever we’re ready.

SAM: Oh, yeah, let’s pack our bags.

LAURA: Right now?

SAM: Oh, wait no, we still have to de-curse the thing.

LAURA: Oh the enchantment! Right. We’re waiting on that, that’s why we’re fucking here.

MATT: You guys go back down to the main area?

LIAM: So many things.

LAURA: Shall we bring the weapon down there?

LIAM: That seems like a bad idea.

TALIESIN: Once they’re here. Actually, yes, why not?

LAURA: Yay, then Trinket’s with us again.

MATT: Yes. All so you guys head back down to the main thoroughfare, or the main area of the tavern?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: There you see the same folks are there. You see Treev is there, and you see a shifty-looking guy. A rather pointed nose, very shallow features. And his hands are together, he has a satchel over his shoulder, and these long, plain looking robes. And his thinning, short, dark hair is slicked against his skull. He has a thin mustache goatee right there, and he’s sitting at the edge of the bar, talking to Treev.

LAURA: So he looks totally trustworthy.

MATT: Totally trustworthy.

MATT: As soon as you guys walk down the stairs–

LIAM: Is he that picture of you on the carousel?

MATT: Basically yes, but with the shorter slicked hair.

TALIESIN: I’m glad that’s a thing again. I really missed that.

MATT: I don’t know how to take that actually, based on how I just described the NPC.

LIAM: It’s more the grimace.

TALIESIN: I suddenly can hear thousands of Twitch viewers Googling. Googling like mad!

MATT: Noted.

LIAM: Whoops. “And then Vax died.”

MATT: Disadvantage for the rest of the episode. No. Treev goes, “Oh and here they are, the ones who hired your help. Folks, I’d like to introduce you to Kyme, he’s one of our fine allies in the Omnival Library here in the city, and I believe he can take care of your little problem. So talk.” And the guy spins around on the stool at the edge of the bar, and goes, “Okay, so I have been told that you require some sort of disenchantment type thing. Who am I talking to here? There’s a lot of you. You? Okay, come.”

TALIESIN: All right. I have an object– so hard to talk to that face.

LAURA: Scanlan. He seems like the type, you might want to try selling him some of that fusaka.

TALIESIN: I have an object that I own that someone is tracking me with. They are aware of my whereabouts, they’ve put some kind of enchantment on it. I was wondering if I could transfer that enchantment to another object, and send it in a different direction so that they don’t know that we’re following them.

MATT: “That’s possible, yes.”

TALIESIN: I would even be willing, if possible, to remove part of the object that I currently own, and then replace it with something else if necessary.

MATT: “Depending on the strength of the enchantment, that can take anywhere within the next few weeks.”

TALIESIN: Can I get you a drink? Are you all right?

MATT: “Why? Why do you ask?”

LAURA: Can I insight check him?

MATT: Make an insight check, yeah.

LIAM: Yay.

SAM: May I make a physiological check of his mouth shape? His jaw seems–

LIAM: New Matt character!

TALIESIN: I know.

LAURA: 19.

MATT: 19.

SAM: You know at shop.geekandsundry.com, there’s a lot of new items up for sale.

MARISHA: That’s true.

TALIESIN: There’s the mug.

LIAM: Do they have the model airship yet?

SAM: There’s the mug, there’s rings, patches. What?

LIAM: The model airship?

SAM: The model airship, it’s life-sized. Nail wraps by Espionage Cosmetics, only 12 dollars. And don’t forget, one week left on pre-orders for those silicon bracelets and the enamel pins guys.

MATT: All righty.

SAM: Backblaze!

TALIESIN: So I’m going to show him the gun, and I’m going to say, what do you think? And I’m going to show him where the enchantment is.

SAM: You’re showing him the gun? We just said don’t show people the gun.

LAURA: We need to remove the enchantment from it.

SAM: Okay.

LAURA: If we can remove the enchantment, if it takes a long time to transfer, maybe you can keep transferring it after we’ve left? Is that a thing?

MATT: “I can get rid of the enchantment immediately, but it’s gone. Transfer, that’s a time-taking process, it’s much more expensive than what I was promised as part of this contract.” Looks back to Treev. Treev’s leaning back and he’s like, “I just brought you here to talk with them.”

TALIESIN: We just want to know our options, sir, and time is sadly of the essence. What can you tell us about this?

MATT: “Strange construction.”

TALIESIN: Yes.

MATT: “Ah. I see what you’re talking about.” He starts glancing– shut up!– Glancing at the bottom of Retort. “It is a variation on a scrying enchantment, with a hint of a message-type base. It’s audio only, not visual.”

MARISHA: Son of a bitch!

TALIESIN: Can they track where we are?

MATT: “They cannot track location, but this is a joint enchantment, there are two pieces to this. And it would appear that, wherever the receiving end is, they can probably hear everything around it.”

MARISHA: Guys, this could be a gift, think of the possibilities.

TRAVIS: She’s hearing this right now.

SAM: If she’s listening.

MATT: “Oh, I’m sure whoever has the other side of this enchantment is now well aware of everything we’ve just discussed.”

LAURA: Great.

SAM: Maybe we should take it out of the room.

TALIESIN: Shh, no.

MATT: “Who has the other side of this enchantment by the way?” And he suddenly looks extremely nervous. Beads of sweat start showing up on his forehead.

TALIESIN: I’ll tell you what. You do the work quickly, you do the work well, and you follow a few other instructions of ours, and I will not say her name out loud right now. How does that sound to you?

MATT: What do you want? Disenchantment, transference, tell me.

TALIESIN: Not anymore, we just want the enchantment destroyed. And I will not say her name, so that she will know that you do not know who she is.

MATT: What does that mean? What does that mean? What’s he saying? What is he saying?

SAM: For your own protection.

TALIESIN: This is me, giving you a deal, good sir. This is me, showing you respect. And you, if you can hear me, and I get the sneaking suspicion you can, I’m not ignoring you anymore.

SAM: Wait, before you do, a quick word, is there a way to reverse the direction? Okay.

MATT: Reaches into a little pouch of components on the side. Takes things, crushes them, sprinkles them on. Looks about. “Ahem, it’s done, it’s gone, here.”

LAURA: What?! Really?

MARISHA: Can I check it?

MATT: Yeah.

MARISHA: Scanlan, help me check this.

LAURA: That fast?

SAM: All right.

LAURA: You are very powerful, you.

MARISHA: What do we do here?

MATT: Make an arcana check.

MARISHA: Scanlan, help.

SAM: Yeah, I got a natural one, sister.

MARISHA: Oh boy. 16.

MATT: As you’re staring at it, you watch as the Ripley signature that’s very, very small, put in the bottom of the piece of whitestone, begins to glow. Suddenly, he goes, “By the way, it takes a moment. Put your face away please!” And as you pull it back, it flashes, and then goes dark again. “And… now it’s done.”

MARISHA: Okay, I’ll look at it again. What does it look like?

MATT: Looks the same.

MARISHA: What do you mean it looks the same?

MATT: Meaning like, the signature’s still there, the stone is still there, but that slight essence of slight enchantment that was there before is gone.

TALIESIN: You wouldn’t happen to know where to get some construction materials on very quick notice?

MATT: “No!”

LAURA: You wouldn’t be able to identify something for me, would you?

TALIESIN: Oh yes, go ahead, do that.

LAURA: You seem so smart, is all.

MATT: “This was not part of the agreement.”

LAURA: Darling, we’re already here, please?

TALIESIN: And we didn’t say your name.

MATT: Make a persuasion check.

MARISHA: “And we didn’t say your name.”

LAURA: Oh, damn it. I will pay you.

MATT: “How much?”

LAURA: How much do you want?

MATT: Looks back at Treev. Treev goes–

LAURA: Just to identify something, that’s all dear.

TALIESIN: Something simple.

MATT: “100 gold, please.”

LAURA: 100 gold. Darling. It seemed effortless for you to do that before. Is it hard?

MATT: “I have a shop to get back to. I’m sorry, I can’t be here any longer.”

LAURA: Fine, fine.

MATT: And he gets up from the stool.

LAURA: Shit! Fine. A hundred gold, whatever. I just want to know, can you look at this please? It’s a tea set, it’s gold. Isn’t it beautiful?

MATT: Takes it from you and his hands are clammy, as he pulls it out of your grasp. And he looks over the tea set, and it’s in his hands, he doesn’t really know what to do with it. And he places it on the side. “Okay.” Begins breathing heavily, and it’s fogging the side of the metallic tea set. And you see this sweat dripping off of his nose. He’s still very nervous about this endeavor and wants to get out of here as soon as possible. “All right, this is a tea set of envenoming. Whenever you produce some sort of a liquid imbibement within the tea set, it’s guaranteed to be a bad day for whoever drinks from it.”

LAURA: It’s so good we didn’t drink from it.

TALIESIN: Does the liquid hold its potency or is it just within the tea set?

MATT: “For a day.”

TALIESIN: Good to know.

LAURA: Lovely.

TALIESIN: Excellent.

SAM: Will someone die?

MATT: “I’m not a master of poisons, I just know that it poisons.”

LAURA: Thank you so much.

MATT: And he takes it and holds it, and is like, "100 gold.”

LAURA: Of course dear.

MATT: “Thank you.” And as soon as he gets it, he lets go of it, puts it in his pouch. “And good day. Treev, careful next time.” And he darts off, outside. Bursting through the door and into the alley. And Treev sits.

TALIESIN: I was imagining the FBI agent from The Frighteners, I was having a lot of that.

MARISHA: I was imagining The Creep music video from Lonely Island.

MATT: Kind of. Yeah, actually. Treev is like, “Now that was fun to watch.”

LAURA: That guy was weird.

MATT: “He’s a weird one. I knew he’d do the job, but honestly I like watching him twitch.”

TALIESIN: Thank you, that was very helpful. That was very helpful. They don’t know that we’re coming as they don’t know how we’re going or why, because we have spoken all of that outside of the range of that device. They don’t know any of that.

MARISHA: True, the gun was in the other room.

TALIESIN: All they know is that we found the enchantment and killed it.

LIAM: Should we melt it just in case?

TALIESIN: No. There will be no more melting of my property for a little while yet. I have a bit of a quick shopping list before we head out of town. I was wondering if it would be possible to gather some quick supplies, if some of your people knew where to get simple construction materials, quickly. Today.

LAURA: And potions of healing.

MATT: “Potions, head to the Suncut Bazaar. I’m sure you could find a few folks. We usually get ours from–” And he starts looking through a list, he goes, “Let’s see, there’s–”

LIAM: Are we staying here for the night before heading out in the morning?

TRAVIS and TALIESIN: No.

LIAM: So we’re sleeping on the ship?

TRAVIS and TALIESIN: Yes.

MATT: “Nisaba are the two I know of, at least.”

LAURA: Saaba and what?

MATT: “Usar and Nisaba.”

LAURA: They’ll give a good deal?

MATT: “Perhaps. You ask them nicely.”

TALIESIN: I need lumber, steel, lead, and a couple other things. Very simple. Just some materials. I’ll show you what I’m building and I’ll have you figure out the number.

MATT: “Right.”

TALIESIN: Loaded straight on the ship.

MATT: “What you’re looking for is the Bone Garden. It’s the northernmost side of the Suncut Bazaar. They deal with a lot of the not guild-run sales of various construction means. More for the residential folk here in Ank'Harel.”

TALIESIN: That’ll do.

MATT: For the sake of brevity, what are you searching for?

TALIESIN: I’m trying to get enough construction material to build a very basic 125-pound mountable cannon that I can move around the ship on wheels, and a little bit of shot for a cannon, about five pound shot. It’s simple, but it’s going to be a son of a bitch.

MATT: There are cannons made. That technology–

TALIESIN: –does exist. But does something that small that can move around a ship exist? This would be something that four people could pick up and move around. MATT: That small? The few things they have here, they’re magically-based fire. It’s similar to the dragon arbalist installation. It’s not so much a gunpowder-based explosion, since that is mostly unutilized. This is a metal tube that contains an enchantment that throws out bursts of energy. You could purchase a base for one of those constructs. That would cut down the time because if you’re going to make a cannon, that’s going to be an endeavor, that’ll take you a long time.

TALIESIN: A base will do, and I need to build a thing to build cannonballs.

MATT: Takes you the better part of the day to even find out, asking around because Treev doesn’t know anything about where to find the base for a cannon like that. Takes you the better part of the rest of the day, pushing into dusk, for you to find out where that could be purchased. That’s going to run you about 60 gold.

TALIESIN: I’m good with that.

MATT: It’s not enchanted.

TALIESIN: 60 gold and then a little extra to make cannonballs and otherwise. Get them to deliver it to the ship and I’m sending everything to be delivered immediately to the ship.

MATT: Anything else anyone wants to prepare?

LAURA: Potions. I need healing potions. Who needs healing potions?

SAM: All of us.

TALIESIN: Everybody.

MARISHA: Sure.

MATT: On street-level sales, asking around, the most you can acquire are probably any number of common, regular healing potions you may want. Through conversations, at most five of the greater can be purchased.

LAURA: Okay. Scanlan, can you come with me?

SAM: Yes.

LAURA: Can we find a Hand of Ord?

MATT: Yeah, not too hard to find at all. Quick look around, a Hand of Ord, especially here in the market.

SAM: Flash the thing? What am I flashing it for?

LAURA: I want to talk to him.

LIAM: Get the cube out.

SAM: Oi, mate. We’re friends with J'mon Sa Ord.

LAURA: We’re not making a street deal right now.

SAM: Oh! I thought everything was here.

TALIESIN: This could be part of your problem here.

MATT: He bends down after giving you a weird eyebrow.

SAM: I’m a normal, human man.

MATT: You’re still in your–

SAM: I forgot to take it off.

MATT: So you’re a normal, human man in non-Ank'Harel attire. Shows off the necklace. He looks at it. “How did you come about that?”

LAURA: We met with J'mon Sa Ord earlier. We have their blessing.

MATT: Make a persuasion check.

LAURA: 18.

MATT: 18 total?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: He goes, “Okay, what can I be of service to you?”

LAURA: We’re in need of some healing potions. I’m assuming, as a guard of the city, you have access to quite a few?

MATT: “Could probably muster a few from the barracks, yes.”

LAURA: Some greater healing potions would be wonderful.

MATT: “I’ll get what we can spare. We still have to keep enough to maintain our watch.”

LAURA: Of course.

MATT: “Wait here. Give me a half-hour.”

SAM: Okay.

MATT: You guys wait for him and he comes back with six regular healing potions and three greater.

SAM: This thing is the best thing ever! I’m not holding anything but it’s still cool!

(laughter)

LAURA: Six regular?

TRAVIS: And three greater.

MATT: “This is what we can spare from the nearby barracks.”

LAURA: Thank you so much. Your aid is appreciated.

MATT: “If I could have your names, just to be safe that everything is–”

LAURA: Be pleased. Vox Machina.

MATT: “Vox Machina.”

LAURA: And then I want to buy like three more greaters.

MATT: All right. That is 1500 gold.

LAURA: Can I say I haggled?

MATT: Roll a persuasion check.

(assorted muttering)

LAURA: Shut up!

MARISHA: Big money, no whammies.

LAURA: Natural 20!

ALL: Oh!

TRAVIS: The sorcery is strong with this one, apparently.

MATT: Through diving between two different locations that sell these potions and forcing them to basically bid back and forth for your business, you manage to work it down to 1100 gold pieces for the three greater healing potions.

TALIESIN: It’s like you’ve got Amazon.com on your phone and you’re going, “Eh? Eh?”

LAURA: All right, three more greater healing potions.

MATT: Yes.

LAURA: Sounds good.

SAM: You saved 400 gold! Want to kick some of that to this guy? Well, I’ve been helping you all day, shuttling back and forth between those two.

LAURA: Can I insight check him?

MATT: Go for it.

TALIESIN: It’s not going to work but oh, I hope it does.

MATT: Make a deception check.

LIAM: Oh, it’s high.

TRAVIS: (chuckles) You’re fucked.

SAM: It’s not that good.

LAURA: 27.

MATT: Remember, you can also add your own inspiration die if you want to.

SAM: No, no need. Let’s see here. You said 27?

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: 26.

(gasping)

MATT: For the first time, you see a crack in Scanlan Shorthalt’s veneer. You see a bit of sweat at his brow and as he mentions this money, suddenly you see this quiver to his smile. His teeth shine not as bright as you recall. And there’s a taste of desperation you never knew was there at the mention of money.

TRAVIS: The faintest nosebleed.

LAURA: Darling?

SAM: (strained) Yes?

LAURA: We all have off days.

SAM: (strained) I’ve had a whole off city!

LAURA: We’re about to leave.

SAM: (strained) Please, can we?

LAURA: We can. I won’t tell anyone.

SAM: All right. So, like, 200 gold then?

TRAVIS: Please, sir?

LAURA: I give him 50. That’s for lying to me.

SAM: Thank you. I want to go away from this place.

LIAM: Can we get back to politics, please?

LAURA: All right. Minus 1100.

MATT: I like to imagine when this whole campaign’s over, Scanlan Shorthalt comes back and cleans out the casino in vengeance.

LIAM: As the airship bears down on Ank'Harel.

MATT: I meant monetarily, but that works too.

LIAM: Scarface.

TRAVIS: Even though it’s dusk, should we mount up tonight?

SAM: Yes.

LAURA: Yes, Let’s go get on the boat.

TRAVIS: Let’s head to the skies.

LIAM: This is really happening.

TALIESIN: I’m so excited.

LIAM: We’ve joked about it for ages.

TRAVIS: (singing) Indalla!

MATT: All right, you all make your way to the sky port.

TALIESIN: Yes.

SAM: Ah, it would’ve been so much sweeter if we could’ve stolen the airship, but getting it for free feels right.

TALIESIN: We got it for a steal.

MATT: All right, so you guys make your way up to the terraced platform above the sky port. The larger ship you guys saw earlier is no longer there, it has taken off, and now all you see before you is the ship Deera that is currently down. The six chains have been reduced to two, and it appears to be at the ready. As opposed to its resting position, now the fan on the sides is unfurled, the crystals themselves glow with a faint blue energy signature, as the dusk sun begins to set. It’s much more prominent now. And a series of four rope ladders have been dropped from the side of the actual ship.

SAM: Ladies, your chariot awaits.

MARISHA: No. I make sure Scanlan goes first.

SAM: All right.

MATT: All right.

LAURA: I turn around and wink at him as I go up.

MATT: All right, you guys make your way up the rope ladders. This is indeed the ship that you made across, although it has a new paint job on it. It looks a little bit nicer, but it also seems to have seen some disuse. You make your way onto the board and there you can see familiar ship hands that go around, nodding to you out of recognition. Some of them are pulling up the rope ladders behind you. You see two on the bottom there are now unchaining from the edge of where it’s latched onto the side of the ship, on each side, that keeps it latched into the skyport. And Captain Damon comes up to the top to greet you. “Very well. I see that you’ve come to begin the journey. Well, it is a pleasure to see you all again, safe and sound, although you are missing one. Two, actually.”

TALIESIN: Yes, we’re a bit thinner. It has been difficult and we have friends elsewhere preparing for more difficult times. Are you aware of what’s going on across the sea?

MATT: “I’m very aware. That was the guild that owned the ship and ran our business disappeared in the attack, and we’ve been set adrift, making our own money and making ends meet in the meantime, doing odd jobs here and there.”

TALIESIN: Well, if you’re interested, we are definitely moving towards correcting some of these problems. Quickly.

MATT: “If you do, tell the guild that the ship crashed, because as of right now it’s technically my ship.”

TALIESIN: Is this an insurance thing?

MATT: “I didn’t– the guild owned and ran the shipping business, but I mean–”

TALIESIN: Oh no. Yes, I’m a deep believer in insurance fraud. Of course.

MATT: “It’s not–” (sighs)

LIAM: We’re friends here. You’re good.

MATT: “I’d like to know where we’re going. As that is part of the deal to be kept secret until boarding.”

TRAVIS: Actually, if you don’t mind, we’re heading north. Once we’re away from port, we plan to inform you of our destination.

TALIESIN: Tomorrow.

MATT: “North it is. Very well.” And he pulls a whistle from around his neck and blows it really loudly and everyone unleashes the chains from the side. (clanking sound) They crash down, slamming onto the terrace deck below. The ship lurches and lifts up a few feet naturally and finding its own balance, based on the enchantment of the crystals. “You can stay on the edge if you’d like. You’re welcome to find your quarters down below. But we are about to make sail.” He walks to the edge of the ship, the middle of the ship, the back where you can see he directs the position of it, and controls the crystals themselves. And the giant dragon-headed arbalist you see installed at the side. They’re like the giant heavy crossbows that are bolted onto the side, these large spears– the ones you were using in the fight before, they’re nearly twice the size of what they were, and the front of them have this giant dark metal dragon head that is built around it. It’s been definitely fitted to be a much more badass airship than you remember. It lifts up, and as the last bit of the sun disappears below the distant horizon and the city of Ank'Harel’s lighting up for the evening time, you take up into the sky, slowly turning northward towards what you can see as barely visible, the silhouetted edge of the mountain range before you, the Agrad Mountains, making your way to the rest of your journey. And we’re going to go ahead and take a break; we’ll come back here in just a minute.

TRAVIS: One thing before we do: we forgot to mention that next week during Game the Game, thanks to Magic Puzzle Quest, Matt and Marisha, Taliesin, Liam, and myself will be joining Ivan and Becca for Game the Game, from 5:30 to 6:30, so make sure you tune in. It’s going to be a very special Game the Game. Thank you, Magic Puzzle Quest.

LAURA: Also thank you Backblaze!

MATT: All right guys, we’ll see you in a few minutes. Thank you, Travis.

Break
[break]

Part II
MATT: Hello, and welcome back to Critical Role. So as we left off, Vox Machina is–

LAURA: Wait, before we do that! We forgot to mention at the top of the show. There’s only one week of preorder left on the bracelets and the pins.

TRAVIS: Yeah, we wouldn’t want people to miss out. It’s limited run.

TALIESIN: I don’t have a bracelet, but I have the pins.

LAURA: He’s wearing the bracelet.

SAM: Laura, I did mention that while you were getting whispered to.

LAURA: I know, you did. I heard you, but, you know. In case people were drowning you out. And then we also have the limited items, which we only have a little bit left in the store: the nail wraps, and the patches that were limited edition at Comic-Con that are still there. I think, still in the store? So yeah.

TALIESIN: Were the rings up in there?

LAURA: The rings! And the rings, the spinning rings.

TALIESIN: Did they come back in?

TRAVIS: And the mug, which is my favorite. Okay, now we’re good.

LAURA: Okay, sorry.

MATT: All right, no worries. Thank you for mentioning that. Vox Machina, as night has taken the sky and you lift up, heading northward, you watch as the glowing jewel of Ank'Harel begins to slowly grow smaller and smaller in the distance. Below you, you see a mass of black darkness.

MARISHA: I want to take Percy to the front of the ship.

TALIESIN: Ah! That’s my–

MARISHA: Set it down.

TALIESIN: I’ll put it down, okay.

MARISHA: And I want to–

TALIESIN: (whispers) I feel so dirty.

MARISHA: (whispers) Say you can fly.

TALIESIN: No.

MARISHA: Say you can fly.

TALIESIN: No, because I’m not going to say that– It’s not true. It’s not true.

MARISHA: Say you’re flying.

TALIESIN: I feel sick.

MARISHA: (laughs) Damn it.

LAURA: Don’t throw up again.

LIAM: While they’re doing that, I’m actually flying next to the ship and praying for a while out in the dark.

MATT: Okay. So yeah. You have very little idea of where you are other than watching the city slowly disappear. Above, as you look towards the front of the ship, where it’s going, you can see little specks of light in the distance, almost like smaller cities or villages that slowly begin to move past and below you. And the stars in the sky breaking through some of the clouds that occasionally block as you progress. As the ship begins to rise about cloud level, you can see the very faint outline of the mountain range, and you then coast above it. As you begin to finally crest over the top of the mountain range itself, Captain Damon locks the ship steering mechanism in place and walks back to address all of you, and goes, “All right, we’re well on our way. We’re heading north. We’ve been travelling for a number of hours now. Where are we going?”

TALIESIN: Before–

MATT: (sighs)

TALIESIN: I swear this is important. Before we say anything, we would like to take a moment to meet the rest of the crew.

TRAVIS: Yes, and all hands on deck.

TALIESIN: To make sure that nobody suspicious has snuck on board and nobody is hiding their identity.

MATT: “Very well.” He gathers the rest of the crew. You recognize a few of them. They have a few new faces, because they lost a few on the last journey. You individually meet each one with pretty heavy inspection from you guys. I want you to make insight checks, all of you, as you’re inspecting this crew.

TALIESIN: No!

SAM: 15.

TRAVIS: 19.

LAURA: 22.

LIAM: 15.

MATT: All right. Glancing about, mostly human crew. There is one elf, a female, who’s part of the crew, who handles most direct navigation with the captain now, and you hadn’t met before. Her name is Julia, and she seems nice enough. There is a female halfling who has very nice, clean-cut hair, pulled into a heavy ponytail in the back. And as she smiles, you can see her somewhat broken and rotted teeth. As you guys give the whole look-over, she smiles and looks a little nervous at the rest of you. You take a closer look and you pick up on it, Vex. This is one of the bandits, the one you took captive on the journey over to Vasselheim.

LAURA: The one that I harpooned!

MATT: Yes. She apparently has become one of the crew now.

LAURA: Wow. Well, we vouched for her at the time.

MARISHA: We wanted her, right? Are we cool?

TRAVIS: She dies.

TALIESIN: Good for you. Excellent.

MARISHA: What’s her name? Did we ever get a name from her?

MATT: Teela.

ALL: Teela.

MATT: Teera, sorry. R. Teera. I had it written down. I should look at my sheet first.

TALIESIN: And there’s no magic attempts to hide somebody’s face or anything like that?

MATT: No. You guys all give a good look and a very thorough inspection of the crew, and they all seem legitimate.

TALIESIN: And this is everybody?

MATT: Yes.

TRAVIS: Captain.

MATT: “Yes?”

TRAVIS: Who is it that’s in charge of your seaworthy navigations? The newest member of your crew you mentioned?

MATT: “Well, that would be Teera. She’s actually been all about this ocean. Not necessarily by skyship, but she knows the area as well, and has since studied up and has become a very esteemed member of our crew.” He looks to her, and Teera’s smile broadens again. “That is correct. I’m happy to help in wherever it is you’re looking to go. Where are you going?”

SAM: Shall we lay it on them, then? We’re going to go near the island of glass, aka Glintshore.

MATT: You watch her face go, and Captain Damon goes, “Why Glintshore? That place is a rocky waste.”

SAM: Well, we’re not going there. We’re going near it to find a shipwreck.

MATT: “Shipwreck? There’s probably hundreds of them! The place is dotted with reefs.”

TALIESIN: We’re looking for a ship called The Shrew.

MATT: “So you’re wanting us to take you to the Hespet Archipelago.”

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: There is another ship on the way there, as well.

TRAVIS: Some say arch-ipelago, but yeah.

TALIESIN: There may be trouble.

SAM: The other ship may already be there, and if we can find the other ship, then we’ve found our destination.

MATT: “Right. The arch-ipelago. Let’s see. We have no sundry we’re holding, so we’re at maximum speed. I’d say two, maybe three days of travel, depending on weather.”

SAM: Just to get in the area. It’ll take us another day or two to find this ship.

TALIESIN: Well, not necessarily. Every day we scry. Every day we hone in. We keep following where they’re going.

MARISHA: Ideally, she does the hard work for us.

TRAVIS: It’s worth noting as well that if we do find this ship, we do not mean her well.

MATT: “I can only assume, going to Hespet.”

MARISHA: You seem very familiar with this place. Do you have more information?

LIAM: Or apprehension?

MATT: “Hespit is a– the whole network of islands there is a haven for criminals, fugitives, pirates, and everyone else who generally keeps away from the large continents. So you go without guard, stay without threat, you’re likely to be bent into slavery, or end up left bleeding somewhere on the shoreline.”

TRAVIS: Is that a promise?

LAURA: We’re super powerful.

LIAM: You do the flying. We’ll do the fucking shit up.

MATT: “We’ll have to come in low, most likely. I don’t want to try and draw attention to this ship, because I’m sure it would fetch quite a penny if it were to fall into the hands of–”

TRAVIS: I’m sure Keyleth would provide you with some cover as well.

MATT: “Well, that would be very much appreciated.”

MARISHA: I could do that.

MATT: “Thankfully Glintshore itself is pretty much useless to most of their standards of business practices. It’s mostly ignored by them, from what I know at least of what they do, but still, just to be safe and be careful.”

SAM: Has Teera been around there? Does she know anything of that particular shipwreck?

MATT: He’s about to talk and Teera pipes up, “I do, actually, and I will be guiding us directly to it, so don’t worry.”

SAM: To the shipwreck?

MATT: “Not to the shipwreck, but to the Glintshore.”

SAM: Have you heard of that shipwreck? The Shrew?

MATT: “I have not. But there are plenty of shipwrecks in the area. I’m sure there’s much to recover, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

LAURA: No, we’ll stick with the Shrew.

MATT: “I’ll take you where I can.”

TRAVIS: The island of glass, is it called that because of a glass production site?

(laughter)

SAM: Yep.

LAURA: Was that hard for you, Grog?

TRAVIS: I hurt myself.

MATT: Captain Damon says, “I don’t know the history, exactly, but at some point in time, something really bad happened. All the sand of the shores were fused into dark brown and black glass. It’s a jagged landscape, leading all the way up to the mountain. The jungle is petrified and dead. It’s not a welcoming place. I’m surprised why anyone would pay so much to go there. But I’m sure you have your reasons.”

MARISHA: Can I do a nature check to see if that sounds familiar?

MATT: Sure.

MARISHA: Beasts or something that would happen– Heat, a lot of fucking heat. 26.

MATT: To fuse the beaches, or an island its entirety, would require such extreme, fierce heat. This is going through your mind as well, Percy, being a man who understands this science very well. Something very bad had to have happened here a long time ago on a very large scale to render an island pretty much covered in glass.

LAURA: Do you think this is where they knocked Thordak down? Didn’t they fight Thordak in the ocean?

MARISHA: That’s what my thought was. Would a dragon’s breath?

MATT: A dragon’s breath would fuse a small chunk of the beach here.

MARISHA: What about if a bunch of sorcerers and magic users got together and made a big nuke?

MATT: That’s possible. Very little chance there would be any survivors.

LIAM: Like a meteor or a comet from the sky.

TALIESIN: Even a comet wouldn’t be enough. This is big.

MARISHA: Keyteor.

MATT: As you guys are having this conversation, he goes, “The mountain still stands. The jungle still stands, though petrified and burnt. I know not the means that brought it to where it is, but it’s been that way for as long as we have history on it. Long ago.”

MARISHA: How long ago was it?

MATT: “I’m assuming the Age of Arcanum if anything.”

TRAVIS: Right. You said we have quarters on this ship; do you mind if I sleep under the stars?

MATT: “Be my guest.”

TRAVIS: Rocking. Going to commune with nature in my own way. Fart in the wind.

TALIESIN: I’m going to be far away from that.

TRAVIS: No one wants to join me? Get all hippie up on the deck of the ship?

LAURA: I’ll do that! I’ll sleep out, and Trinket will want to do that as well.

LIAM: I actually do, yeah.

MATT: (bear noises)

LAURA: Stars, Trinket. Beautiful.

LIAM: Speaking of heat, make with the bed farts, Trinket. I get cold at night.

SAM: Keyleth, make sure you learn your scrying spells for tomorrow. Do we still have that ball, the scry-ball?

MATT: Yep.

LAURA: We’ll have two scrys tomorrow if you learn the spell.

MARISHA: I could theoretically do three scrys tomorrow. I could theoretically do five scrys tomorrow.

TRAVIS: I pay super close attention, but after we gave them the destination, did they tell us how long it would take?

SAM: Two, three days.

MATT: Depending on the weather.

TRAVIS: What if we pass over the ship in the night?

TALIESIN: Then we’ll attack them in the night.

SAM: How will we see them? Is there someone who stands watch at night?

MARISHA: She knows where we’re going, so she’ll let us know if we get there?

SAM: But we’re looking for the boat, not the island.

TALIESIN: The boat itself. There’s work that always needs to be done. There’ll be lights, unless they are hiding.

LIAM: You can alert one of us if we come upon a ship in the night or day, correct?

MATT: “I have to sleep at some point as well.”

LIAM: Of course, but someone is awake?

MATT: “Deshall, who is my second in command, will take over while I’m sleeping. There will be someone here, along with a few hands, taking shifts as well at all times.”

MARISHA: I describe the ship to them from what I’ve seen.

LAURA: But it’s in the ocean, isn’t it? And we’re very high above it?

TRAVIS: Do we want to go lower?

SAM: Yes.

TRAVIS: How high off the deck, would you say?

SAM: Off the sea? Three, maybe four feet? No. I don’t know, couple hundred feet? You’re the captain.

MATT: “We’re okay for now. High is fine. But once we get close to the archipelago we’ll want to make sure that we keep within 100 feet of the surface. I could take it into the ocean. This can work as a functional ship in the water.”

TRAVIS: Shut the hell up! Well, we want to stay out, right now.

MATT: “Well then, you seem weary enough. You may have your rest, and rest assured that we’ll be to your destination as soon as this ship can carry us. I’m going to rest myself.” He goes down to his quarters and Deshall takes over, who is mid-thirties, grizzled, scruff on his chin, but put together well, hair parted to one side, not a man of many words. He takes over the helm and keeps it going through the night. You guys go ahead and rest for the evening?

LIAM: I’m going to meditate for an hour before bed.

TRAVIS: Could I take a shot of the sandkheg bottle? I would like to slowly start building up an immunity.

MATT: All righty. Make a constitution saving throw, Grog.

LIAM: (Grog voice) Meaning I would like to get fucked up on a regular basis.

TRAVIS: 29.

MATT: You drink it. You feel the sparkling numbness begin to spread across your throat. It’s strange. It’s weird. It’s exhilarating. It triggers your adrenaline, and you almost go into a rage from the instinctual reaction of that sort of chemical release in your brain. You hold it in place, and you sit there a second and stare as it slowly goes down your system. You feel the warm, curling burn from inside your belly that fine alcohol gives you, that little shimmer of pins and needles down the back of your neck and your spine. Your vision begins to blur a little bit. It takes you a lot of alcohol to get trashed, but you’re a little buzzed.

TRAVIS: Sick. Awesome. Well played, sandkheg. I go to sleep.

MATT: With your nightcap, you are good to go. Looking under the stars, you finish your meditation. Everyone else, you go to rest fine. Throughout the evening you sleep. The last thing you see before you go to bed is the edge of the mountain range, late into the night, and a small sparkle in a crescent shape. You ask one of the hands to the side. He points over and says, “The Bay of Gifts.” This is the northern side where you see Shamal, the port city. That’s the last little bastion of civilization of Marquet as it begins to approach from underneath as you all go to sleep. The continent is behind you.

MARISHA: How many hours has it been?

MATT: When you come to consciousness after the evening’s rest–

LAURA: I want to hold Fenthras in my hand and keep thinking about the things Saundor said.

MATT: After a good eight hour rest for all of you to recover yourselves, hit points, everything, spells, you come to. The warmth of the sun is what kicks you into consciousness. It’s been about 13 hours since you guys left. Eight hours of rest. You had five hours of travel northward until you began to reach the northern end of the continent on this skyship.

TALIESIN: This might be the best sleep that we’ve gotten in months, at this point. Like babies.

SAM: Is it morning time?

MATT: Yeah.

SAM: You want to do that morning scry?

MARISHA: Yeah, morning scry.

TALIESIN: I’m going to sit down with a pen and paper, ready to write!

MARISHA: Yeah, morning constitutional, here we come. Bust out whatever magazines they have nearby. Cup of coffee, first.

MATT: All right. Using the same journal?

TALIESIN: Let’s use the gun now. Let’s go nuts.

SAM: Now that it’s been de-cursed, will that mess up–

TALIESIN: It’s got a lot of her work in it.

MATT: All right, are you using the crystal first?

MARISHA: Yeah. Crystal first.

MATT: What’s the crystal DC? Because it’s not your actual spell, which I should have remembered last time. I mean, she rolled low enough last time that it wasn’t an issue.

MARISHA: It doesn’t say.

MATT: Okay, then it should be 15. That’s a natural one. As you’re concentrating on the scry spell, your vision once again is thrust through the clouds, thrown down over the ocean. You see for a brief moment a cluster of dark land, roughly in the shape of a bean or a cashew from this perspective, and then it flashes downward and you can see a ship. A ship that is on the water. It is stationary.

MARISHA: Docked, like anchors down?

MATT: Seemingly. The sails aren’t up.

TRAVIS: It’s not at land? It’s in the water?

MATT: Yeah. Your vision flashes again and you can see the crew have all gathered on the deck, though details of their visage are obscured by the spell. You see Ripley there with her cloak. She is talking to the rest of the crew and goes, “All right, so. We’ve located it. We have eight hours. Gather your things and drink well.” They all pull out these small vials, uncork, and drink down. They all nod. One by one, they start diving off the ship and into the water. Five people, you’re not sure of the sex, and Ripley, dive off the side. You’re following her as she goes underwater; you can see the bubbles go past. Then the bubbles are no more and you watch as she is now breathing the water like it’s air. Swimming downward. All of them are carrying, you see on the side, these heavy rock weights that are letting them guide down deeper into the water as it gets darker, until there’s almost nothing to see. Then there’s a flicker of light and you see Ripley is now holding her gun. There’s a beam of light on the end of it that’s giving them torchlight as they go deeper in. Then the spell fades.

MARISHA: She’s found it. She’s there.

TRAVIS: She’s got it?

MARISHA: She doesn’t have it, but she’s found the ship. She’s right off the shore of the island.

LAURA: Can you scry again immediately?

MARISHA: She’s under the water. I mean, I could.

TRAVIS: How is she under the water?

MARISHA: They all took water breathing potions. Her plus five other people.

TALIESIN: Was there anything around? Could you see the island in sight?

MARISHA: I saw the island. It was dark in landscape.

MATT: It was such a brief shot, because it wasn’t the focus of the scry spell. Even the fact that you caught a glimpse of it was a strange side effect of the scry attempt.

TALIESIN: Was the sun with the island, or was the sun away from the island? Is there any way to even know that? Were they on the north side or the south side?

MATT: From what you can gather at this time, no. That’s part of the scry spell. You wouldn’t be able to tell.

LIAM: I’m heading over to find the captain and the halfling to ask how far they estimate we are from the island.

MARISHA: I heard Ripley say, “We have eight hours.”

LAURA: That’s how long the spell lasts.

TRAVIS: I have two vials of underwater breathing.

MARISHA: I’ll take water breathing as a spell.

LAURA: How many people can you cast it on?

MATT: Water breathing as a spell actually lasts for 24 hours. The potions only last for eight.

MARISHA: Is it concentration?

MATT: Nope. It grants up to ten willing creatures you can see–

MARISHA: What!? Ten willing?

LAURA: That’s sick.

MARISHA: I got us on lock, you guys.

TALIESIN: I had a plan. I’m putting it away.

MATT: Yeah, so the potion enchantments are lesser than the spell, but the actual druidic spell effect is much better. You see him looking off in the distance as you’re asking the question. He points and goes, “Well given that might slow us down a bit–” You look ahead and you now see, immediately visible from this point–

LAURA: Don’t be a green dragon!

MATT: What you are able to make out, because it’s a familiar sight to you, are very tall, dark, distant thunderheads. The storm that you saw in your first vision, Keyleth, apparently is still swirling its way through the middle of the ocean. It’s violent, it’s visceral, and you can see the weight of the water giving it this deep, dark, gray color, and the rest of the ocean below is obscured with the blur of rainfall. He goes, “Those are high clouds. I can’t get above them. The enchantment is only so strong to get us into that thinner air. So I recommend everyone hold on.”

LIAM: Is there anything you can do about this?

MARISHA: I can. Get us closer.

MATT: “What?”

TALIESIN: Trust her. She’s crazy.

MARISHA: Straight through, fastest route, captain.

MATT: “Okay, I trust you.” He brings it around and begins pulling forward. You can see this little metallic rod on the side and he pushes it forward even further. The crystals flicker for a second and the whole ship leans in a forward direction. It takes about an hour before the shade from the thunderheads, which, you can’t even see where they stop, they go up and up and up, begin to meet. You’re starting to see flashes in the clouds of lightning.

MARISHA: I go ahead and I start casting my first 8th-level spell, which is Control Weather. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, you guys!

MATT: Yeah, concentration for up to eight hours. So you guys watch as Keyleth stands at the bow of the ship, puts her arms out, and you see the flashes of lightning in the cloud. A bolt strikes her in one arm. She holds it in place. The bolt uses her as a conduit and then vanishes into her arm. Her other arm pulls another bolt to it, and it vanishes into her arm. You can see the energy’s now circling around. She brings her arms out and thrusts them into the storm. The lightning protrudes out of each arm. As it hits the clouds, the clouds seem to almost melt away and carve this central path. The clouds are being pushed back, at gale force. These winds are separating them. You watch. For five miles around you, the storm basically parts to nearly nothing except for the very peripheral to the right and left side. You hear Captain Damon go, “Okay! I see your point.”

LIAM: Hot fucking damn, Keyleth!

LAURA: You know, I thought it was a possibility, but this is the first time I’m sure your girlfriend is way cooler than you.

LIAM: Everyone knew that.

MATT: So pushing forward, Keyleth is concentrating at the edge of the ship. Her eyes spark with energy. You’re almost like the mermaid at the front of the ship at this point. You’re right at the front, arms out.

LIAM: You’re like a reverse Pyro. You’re undoing all the violence.

MATT: The shade fades away. The clear blue sky above then invites these warm sun beams down upon the top of the ship.

LAURA: I do some sunbathing.

MARISHA: I make it temperate with a nice warm breeze.

SAM: Keyleth, can you make the breeze behind us, and can you make it rather strong?

MARISHA: Can I do that?

TALIESIN: He’s reading! He doesn’t know.

SAM: Well, you said it lasts eight hours.

TALIESIN: He’s checking to see if it’s a thing you can actually do.

LIAM: Checking his stocks. Message from mom.

MATT: What you can do is you can clear the storm for five miles, and then subtly change to a wind stage behind you, yes. I’ll let you do that, sure.

MARISHA: Make the winds in our favor! I’m drunk on power!

MATT: The wind begins to build from behind. Some of you have to duck down now because it’s starting to take. It almost takes your hat off, Scanlan. You catch it. But it is picking up speed and you guys are beginning to coast forward. Occasionally the winds die down as you have to clear more of the storm. Over the next six or so hours, you come out the other side of the storm.

MARISHA: I go into a deep meditation. This is some Buddhist shit going on for me right now.

MATT: Perfect. As the storm subsides, your ship has a clear view of distant breaks in the patterns of waves on the horizon. Multiple chained islands, many miles apart from each other, emerge. This, you’ve now begun to reach, is the Hespet Archipelago. Each of the twelve islands vary in size from massive rock to pebble-like protrusions. They span and are scattered, and the ship begins to veer to the left as the captain begins to zero in on your destination. He yells out, “We’re going low! They have visibility!” The ship begins to go into a relatively steep decline. You hear the wood creaking with the sudden shift in direction and weight. The gem on the right side begins to brighten while the one on the left begins to darken slightly, exemplifying the shift in energy and power. Eventually you’re brought down, nearly coasting on the surface of the ocean, and as you get to about 40, 50 feet above you see the waves begin to part beneath it as whatever force is holding it there is now pushing the water down. He brings it up a little so it’s not breaking the surface and coasts at an even 60 feet above. Pushing forward, you already begin to see what you assume is the Isle of Glintshore. In this clear, sunlit moment, you also see, throughout the ocean, clusters of dangerous, jagged-looking reef, some ten, 15 below the surface, some actually breaching the surface of the ocean, some even deeper. This portion of the ocean is like a maze network of every ship captain’s nightmare. You get the feeling why this has become a favored place of criminals to avoid pursuers and also why people who trade avoid it for many reasons, not just those who stay here. And also why the shipwreck probably found its way here. As you begin to grow closer to the island, you see, as it begins to come more into form, there is a singular mountain peak that’s shifted mostly to the western side. It’s not a super peak. It’s a gradual point. You can see a little bit of a brush-like detail of the jungle that you had heard mentioned before. He begins to bring you up towards the southern shore of the island. At this point of perspective, the sunlight that’s hitting the island is causing a glittery shift of thousands of points of light across the beach shoreline, deep into where the blackened jungle tree line is. It’s beautiful. It’s a very strange and awe-inspiring sight, to be such a small little forgotten part of the land and to look so pretty from this distance. The closer you get, the beauty begins to fade as you see the black beaches. You can see the landscape is barren and broken, aside from the ashen gray and black jungle plants and trees that have been left there, dead, for an extended period of time. The mountain itself, the rock itself going from black to a ruddy red and brown color. The sands themselves and the glass surface across the eastern shore that tends to reach out, almost like a mouth of a creature, is rough and varied in topography. You also see, within that bay, a tiny little thing that looks like a ship.

LIAM: Are we close enough to see if there’s people on the deck?

MATT: You’re not close enough. You’re barely now seeing that there’s a ship.

MARISHA: It’s been six hours, you said, since I did my scry.

MATT: Probably about seven hours now, since you did the spell.

LAURA: They’re going to be coming out any minute.

MARISHA: They have one hour left.

LAURA: Unless they’re already out.

LIAM: Yeah, that’s the duration of the spell, the eight hours. They could be back already.

MARISHA: If we have one hour left, they could fail. They could not find it at all.

LAURA: Could we shoot the boat from above and destroy their escape?

TRAVIS: Could I make a song request? Could we drop your big rocky ass from 300 feet up right through the bottom of their ship and sink that bitch?

TALIESIN: I’ll also say, there’s nothing a ship doesn’t like more than fire.

LAURA: Yes.

MARISHA: I mean, all of these things are very appealing to me right now. I’m just trying to understand why.

SAM: Well, we can’t let them escape.

LIAM: It’s better that they’re floating on the water than standing on the ship.

TRAVIS: And if they have a teleportation circle on the boat, we want to destroy it.

MARISHA: She also has the cloak we want.

LAURA: Right. So we wait until she drowns, and then we take it from her.

TALIESIN: We can retrieve it from the bottom of the sea, if we have to.

MARISHA: What do we know about magical items? Do they get destroyed by things like fire or me being a meteor?

MATT: Generally, no. Magical items, a part of the enchantment is to make them resistant to the general elements. They endure, and the reason that you find mostly just the enchanted objects in ancient ruins is because everything that would be destroyed by the weathering of time, these items stay relatively pristine.

MARISHA: Then yes, I’m down to fuck this shit up.

LAURA: I wonder if she hired the boat, or if it’s hers. I would hate to kill innocent crew members.

TALIESIN: I don’t think they’re innocent crew members. I think she had help.

SAM: She had five killers with her when she killed those–

MATT: You did see, for the record, in your scrying, while there were five that leapt down with her, there were more on the ship.

SAM: It’s fine, we’ll throw them a life raft or something.

LIAM: Then I’d like to put my vote in for the meteor.

TRAVIS: They’re also in the bay, so they can swim to shore.

LIAM: Well, we can stop their retreat. They’re going to be in worse shape without that boat.

TRAVIS: I want to send a message to the ship, is all.

MATT: The captain’s like, “What do you want me to do? Do you want me to head for the ship?”

SAM: Up above the ship.

TRAVIS: And Vax rides Keyleth down, like Dr. Strangelove, the whole way.

SAM: You’re going to take a lot of damage?

MARISHA: He can fly.

LAURA: Can you cast Water Breathing on us before you fly down, and that way– or is that going to fuck up your spells?

MARISHA: It’s not a concentration spell, right? Water breathing?

MATT: No, it’s not concentration.

LIAM: And it lasts a long time.

LAURA: 24 hours. So just in case we end up in the water, we’re not fucked.

TALIESIN: We have ten people, 12 people?

TRAVIS: Last song request. We destroy the ship, right? It (burbling) and they all (burbling) come up to the top, they got to go one place, which is where? The shore. So why don’t we wait on the shore?

MARISHA: Well do we want to drop your ass off on the shore?

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah, I mean, I’d love to be a welcoming party. I’m just saying, if anyone else wants to come with, that’s where I know they’ll be going.

TALIESIN: I’m hoping to take care of this before the ship even sinks.

LAURA: I can be death from above on the broom.

MARISHA: This is my favorite plan we’ve come up with in a long time.

SAM: We should probably make sure that this is the right boat.

LAURA: Yes, yes, we need to double check that this is actually the boat.

MARISHA: Does this look like the right boat?

MATT: You’re a little ways from it. Are you going to wait until you get closer?

TRAVIS: Is there a telescope on this ship?

MATT: There is one that you’ve been using.

LAURA: Can you cast a spell, just in case shit happens, as soon as we get close enough to the ship?

MARISHA: Dispel?

LAURA: No, the spell, the breathing spell.

MARISHA: Oh, yeah. What’s our ETA, captain?

MATT: “At this speed, I’d say 20 minutes.”

MARISHA: I’ll wait ten minutes, because I like to milk my time.

MATT: All right, ten minutes go by. Who is keeping watch through the telescope?

LAURA: Me.

MATT: All right, make a perception check.

SAM: Wait, but Keyleth knows what the boat looks like.

LAURA: She told me all about it.

MARISHA: Yeah.

LAURA: 25.

MATT: 25, all right. You’re scanning across. Looking at the ship: the sails are up, it is anchored, and there are maybe four individuals who are currently playing cards on the upper deck.

LAURA: It looks like the boat’s been docked there for a while.

MATT: You also notice, scanning the area, it catches your eye, there’s a very lazy, very faint trail that looks like smoke on the shore of the C-shaped bay on the eastern side of the island.

LAURA: A camp on the shoreline?

MATT: That might be a source for the smoke.

LAURA: Is it close by the boat?

MATT: If you’re looking from your perspective, this is the eastern side and it has this C-shaped bay right here, where this is the shoreline. The ship is docked right about here in the water. It’s surrounded by a reef. It’s barely made its way in there and it can’t go any further without hitting reef. The smoke is right there. It’s right on the beach side.

TRAVIS: Can we see the other side of the island, or the water on the other side, from this vantage point?

MATT: No, not from this vantage point.

LAURA: Can you scry and see if she’s still underwater, or if she’s camping? Because I see smoke.

SAM: Can Keyleth look through the– we have a telescope of some sort?

MATT: There is a telescope, yeah.

SAM: Can she look and see if the boat looks right? Did you see any identifying marks on the boat?

TALIESIN: It’s not like there’s going to be a dozen of them out here.

LIAM: It would be a very big coincidence.

MARISHA: I look through the telescope. Does it look like the same boat?

MATT: Perception check.

MARISHA: I rolled an 18, so 29.

MATT: Yes, this is very much the boat. Size, color, shape, placement, this is the same ship.

TRAVIS: Thought we were getting ready to kill a cruise ship.

MARISHA: Okay, so am I scrying?

LAURA: Well I guess you don’t need to now.

SAM: We’d know if she’s still underwater or if she’s on land.

LAURA: There’s people on the boat waiting still.

MATT: You are ten minutes from getting there. It takes ten minutes to cast scrying.

TRAVIS: No, we don’t need it.

LAURA: But you should probably cast breathing.

MARISHA: It takes me 30 seconds to scry once I get there.

SAM: Let’s scry.

MARISHA: I’m going to scry.

LAURA: But cast breathing on us first.

MARISHA: I’m going to cast Water Breathing, and then I’m going to scry.

TALIESIN: Wait, can you do me a favor?

MARISHA: I’m dishing them out. I’m the magic ATM right now. What do you want?

TALIESIN: Once we’re somewhat in the distance, fire an eyeball and get a good look at that ship. I want to see if it’s a trap. You have an arrow.

LAURA: Yes, I do. Once we get close enough.

MARISHA: Okay, so I go to everybody and I say, you have Water Breathing, you have Water Breathing. And everyone has Water Breathing. Then I go, everyone leave me alone for ten minutes. I drop down and I Scry.

MATT: Okay. So you begin concentrating as you guys get closer and closer to the ship. You can now see it getting closer and closer.

TRAVIS: Do we want to raise our elevation as we’re getting closer?

SAM: Yeah, we told him to go up above it.

MATT: You guys begin to notice, you, Vex, as you’re looking through, the people who were playing cards start moving on the deck of the ship. They start scattering.

LAURA: Are they seeing us?

MATT: They have seen you. You’re not a hard vision to see once they pay attention.

LAURA: Do they look like they’re looking over the sides of the boat?

MATT: Roll a perception check.

SAM: This is like the Hindenburg flying up to a rowboat.

LAURA: 20.

MATT: No.

LAURA: No, they don’t look like they’re looking over the side of the boat?

MATT: No. Okay, you’re starting to get closer and closer. You watch as they all scatter into the bottom of the boat, except for one who stands on the deck. You watch, (launching sound) this one sparkle of bright red arcane energy (fizzing) up into the sky, (explosion)–

SAM: A flare.

MATT: –with a dull burst exploding sound, and then vanishes. The explosion dissipates.

LAURA: Yeah, it’s a flare.

SAM: To warn the people on land.

MATT: Another one (fizzing).

LAURA: Okay, okay. Shit.

SAM: How do we get to land quickly?

LAURA: I can fly there on my broom, but I don’t fly very quickly.

TALIESIN: Are we close enough that one of her arrows can make it?

MATT: No, you’re about three minutes out now from approaching it.

TRAVIS: The ship or the shore?

MATT: The ship.

SAM: We should split. Some should go to the beach, some should continue with plan Drop Keyleth–

TRAVIS: I’m going to the beach. I can’t, yeah.

SAM: How are you getting to the beach? You can’t fly.

TRAVIS: Oh.

TALIESIN: Once we’re close enough, you can port them down.

SAM: I can make you a thing that flies, to get you there.

TRAVIS: What kind of thing?

SAM: I don’t know. Giant eagle?

TRAVIS: You worry about other stuff.

LAURA: A pterodactyl.

TRAVIS: That sounds like our only option, yeah.

LAURA: Three more minutes of scrying, still? Maybe the scrying was ill-timed.

MATT: Two minutes.

SAM: All right, Grog. You and me. Come on, let’s go.

LAURA: Oh jeez. I ready the broom. I get on the broom and wait.

TALIESIN: Prepare, I’m telling the men, prepare the harpoons. It may be a trap.

MATT: “Understood. Man the harpoons!” You see they all run off to the various, the three different dragon arbalist stations.

TALIESIN: Prepare for a hard turn to shore if they begin to show any signs of magical attack.

MATT: “Understood.” You can now see the captain’s gone into war mode now. He’s keeping focus forward as he’s pushing the ship.

TRAVIS: How do we communicate with the captain once we’re off the ship? Should we give him an earring?

SAM: It won’t reach, it’s too far. Grog, I can make you a thing that flies. Should I? All right, I make him a giant eagle using Polymorph. I can’t do it to me, though, so you’re on your own.

LAURA: Well you can hop on his back.

SAM: Oh yeah, good call!

TRAVIS: I’m a big-ass eagle.

MATT: Second time. Now the wings flare out, and you remember, oh, flying! I’m smarter! Your Flowers for Algernon moment comes in the form of a feathered bird.

LIAM: a^2 + b^2 = c^2.

TRAVIS: No it doesn’t.

MATT: Scanlan, you have to rush to get there because he’s almost completely taken aback by the moment and goes to fly. You catch him, barely, as he leaps off the side of the ship. You guys head off toward the–

TRAVIS: In a wide arc.

TALIESIN: I tell the captain, no matter what happens, use your judgment with any man or sailor who wishes to parlay and come aboard, but if any woman attempts to come on board you do not recognize as one of us, kill her. Kill her immediately.

TRAVIS: What if she’s looking like nothing but a–

LAURA: Anybody that comes on board, lock them up. Immediately.

TALIESIN: At the very least.

SAM: And kill them.

TALIESIN: Check for a fake arm, and remove it.

MATT: “Loud and clear.”

LAURA: I tell Trinket to hop in the necklace because we’re going to be traveling very quickly, dear.

MATT: Into the necklace.

TALIESIN: I’m trying to use the scope on my big, on Bad News to see if anything interesting is happening on the deck. Can I see the person who was firing the flares?

MATT: The person that’s now fired three flares is now running below the deck.

TALIESIN: All right. They’re all below the deck?

MATT: Seemingly everybody is below the deck right now, yes.

TALIESIN: It’s a trap. Let’s move away from the ship. Move toward the beach.

SAM: But we’ve got to sink the ship.

TALIESIN: We’re going to sink this ship from a distance.

LAURA: She’s still scrying. We can, they might be by the ship.

TALIESIN: I tell them to turn. Turn now!

MATT: “Aye, aye!”

LAURA: I shoot the arrow and try to get to the boat. The oracle arrow.

MATT: The ship suddenly begins to list very heavily to the left side. All the hands grab hold who are currently stationed at the various elements. You can see things on the deck, ropes and various odds and ends, pieces of metal, coins, all begin drifting to one side, some tumbling over into the ocean below. You all hold on tight as you pull around the side. Keyleth, I need you to make a concentration check.

LAURA: Oh, come on!

MATT: I’m giving you advantage because it isn’t a huge issue. Constitution saving throw.

SAM: What are they going to do? They don’t have anything that can fight us. They’re deck hands.

TALIESIN: Why are they down below? There’s no hiding in the middle of the ocean. That’s a death sentence.

MARISHA: Okay, 13.

MATT: You’re fine. As it’s turning, all of a sudden your eyes flare open with vision. So this is not with the journal, correct?

TALIESIN: She’s still got my gun.

MATT: So what’s your spell DC? 19 plus, okay. As the ship lists, your vision flashes and, for a second, your vision focuses on Ripley’s face. You see a spark of blue energy, similar to the inside of the cloak that you saw the first time with your vision. The spell kicks out.

MARISHA: Son of a bitch!

LAURA: Was it underwater? Can you at least tell that much?

MATT: No.

LAURA: Fuck. Good times.

MATT: You find yourself sliding.

LIAM: Are we above the ship at the moment?

MARISHA: I grab Vax for safety.

MATT: All right, you guys hold on. The ship turns, a very quick turn, heading toward the shore.

TALIESIN: We are, we’ve got two fliers. I’m going to, I think it’s time, we’re going to attack them if we can with the bolts. If that’s possible.

MATT: If you give them the order, they will.

MARISHA: Percy, I can destroy that ship if we get over it.

LIAM: I think we should still go.

MATT: “Are we firing? What do you need?”

LIAM: Keyleth, you ready? Let’s go.

TALIESIN: Let’s fire.

MARISHA: I go with Vax.

TALIESIN: They’re going to go. I’m going to fire on the ship. Fire on the ship!

MATT: “Fire!” He yells out. You watch as the arbalists all pull back, (arrows releasing). As they release it, they have these giant, hard, dark iron bolts that are loaded into these. As they release them, they go traveling through the dragon’s mouth. The dragon’s mouth bursts into flame and lights the bolts into arcane fire. All launch off and arc downward. One of them misses, (splashing) into the water, but two go slamming into the side of the ship. You see wood splintering. You see flames begin to crawl along the side while both of you, what are you doing?

MARISHA: I’m holding on to him, piggyback ride style.

LIAM: I’m on your back, or piggyback? Aren’t you going earth elemental?

MARISHA: I got to get over the ship. I can’t fly as an earth elemental!

LIAM: Here we go!

MATT: All right, as she’s saying this, you leap off, wings go out, coasting down over the ship. You begin to glide under as you can see the explosions. They begin loading up the second round of assault on the ship. You arc around, keeping her on your back. You guys are coming down toward the ship. You now watch as another volley, two miss but a third one hits. Another splinter of various pieces of the ship bow torn asunder.

MARISHA: I wait until he gets me over top of the boat. As soon as he gets me over top.

MATT: You coast up on the side. You watch as one of the three large masts begins to slowly fall over from the impact of the various assaults from the ship. You are now up over the ship itself.

LIAM: You ready to do this?

MARISHA: Nice and high, nice and high!

LIAM: All right, we’re going to twist in the air! Here we go!

MATT: As this is happening, you see one of them has come over from inside of the ship and is watching this attack happen. You can barely see, he looks harried but he looks up and releases.

MARISHA: I let go. We’re over the boat?

MATT: You guys are over the boat now, yes.

TALIESIN: Is there any way I could have gotten any of this in my scope?

MATT: You know what, yes. Well make a perception check first, actually, to see if you’ve seen this.

LIAM: As we’re twisting in the air, I cast Bless on Keyleth and myself.

MATT: Make a concentration check because you are flying. A constitution saving throw.

LIAM: 18. That means that you and I, whenever we make an attack roll or a saving throw for the next minute, add a d4.

TALIESIN: 14.

MATT: 14? You can make the attack. It’ll be at disadvantage because of the distance. This is with Bad News, I assume?

TALIESIN: Yes.

MATT: So disadvantage on the attack. Are you using any grit or anything?

TALIESIN: Not cool! I’m already shaky today. Yeah, you know what, I’ll use a grit to deadeye the shot, to cancel out the disadvantage.

MATT: All right, go ahead and make your roll.

LAURA: Who are you shooting?

SAM: The guy on deck who just went like this.

LAURA: Oh, I thought he already ran under.

MATT: No, he came up onto the deck to do something. He barely saw, and he’s taking a shot.

TALIESIN: That’s not bad. 24.

MATT: 24 hits. Go ahead.

LIAM: Bullet cam!

TALIESIN: Let me find the correct dice for this. 23 points of piercing damage.

MATT: The individual reaches up and you see a burst of electrical energy fire up in the direction of both of you. Right as, head shot on the side of the skull, sending him face down and bleeding onto the now raging fire that is the top of this ship. Both of you guys have advantage on a dexterity saving throw.

MARISHA: Wait, what?

TALIESIN: He still got a shot off, but it went wild.

MARISHA: Natural 20!

LIAM: And I have a 28.

MATT: All right. So both of you take 14 points of lightning damage as the Lightning Bolt barely skims past you. Vax, you, scooting off, your wings burned by the electrical impact, but you’re off to the side. Keyleth, you’re now in freefall over the ship.

LIAM: Can I use evasion?

MATT: Yeah, go for it.

LIAM: So that’s, if I succeed the dex, yeah, it’s every turn.

MATT: Seven.

LIAM: It halves it, right?

MATT: It was 14 because you made the save, and then seven.

MARISHA: I blow Vax a kiss and then I go earth elemental. I light up my flaming hands! And then I go Keyteor.

LIAM: See you later!

MATT: Your Keyteor, as you coined it, is now this ball of condensed rock, a trail of flame behind it. (whistling) (crashing) Slams into the ship. I want you to go ahead and roll 6d6 points of damage. Plus a d4.

MARISHA: 6d6. There’s got to be one more for this. Don’t fuck me.

LIAM: How do you even know which ones you rolled? It looks like 80 dice.

MARISHA: Well all of them. 21. Plus one. Oh wait. 22, plus do I roll my flame hands?

MATT: Yes, you do.

MARISHA: 27.

MATT: Boom! You punch through the upper deck of the ship, smack through the central deck of the ship, and slam into the base, splintering wood, but the actual bottom of the ship is still intact. However, from the impact and everything that’s going on, the flames trail through and begin to burn. You see as, looking down at you, one of the crewmen who was underneath is now a pulp beneath your elemental feet. Another one is now scrambling back up to the top amidst the chaos.

MARISHA: I get up and I say: Sorry!

MATT: As you pull your foot out, water begins to pour inside. Apparently your feet punched through, and now it’s beginning to quickly (splashing sounds). Water’s beginning to pour out of the ocean and fill the bottom of the ship.

MARISHA: I tell the guys above: Swim to shore!

MATT: It sounds, (loud gravelly gibberish). They’re like (yelling).

LAURA: While this is happening, can I have taken a flying run off of the airship and started flying toward the smoke? The campfire?

MATT: You dart off with the broom underneath and scoot off toward the bay. You guys have made your way, flying down, on eagle-Grog-back to the beach, coasting up to the side. You can see, as you scoot across to the top about ten feet up, all the jagged, broken glass that is this beach. It is similar to the broken, burnt ground of the Cindergrove, except it’s all sharp. It’s not fun. You come around and make a perception check, Grog. With your bonus. I think you have advantage on this because you’re a giant eagle. Let me double check really fast. I’m pretty sure. Giant eagle, you have advantage on perception checks, so yeah, roll twice.

TRAVIS: Same number. And do I get a bonus on the–

MATT: Well, your wisdom is plus two.

TRAVIS: 15.

MATT: 15. As you’re coming along, you do see, there appears to be some semblance of a smoldering fire that is giving off a hint of a trail of smoke. There’s a couple of things on the ground around it, and there are two small boats that are up against, up on the shore. They look like little skiffs or paddle boats that probably belong to the ship.

TRAVIS: I fly over. I’m going to make a low buzz over the campfire, but keep going along the beach. Not landing at the boat or the fire.

MATT: You keep going. Vex, you see the eagle swoop past with Scanlan on the back. Are you heading to catch up with them?

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay, so you guys have Vex coming and meeting up alongside you guys now, as you’re flying and coasting. From the side, you see this broom-riding Vex lean forward, go over and give you a wink from the side as you begin heading along the upper coast, the curvature of the beach, heading towards the east.

TALIESIN: Vax, Keyleth, search the ship. Take anything you think might be hers.

LIAM: How far am I from Percival on the airship?

MATT: You’ve probably looped around, and you’re probably halfway between the ship, which is now heading back toward the shore, and the boat on the ground that is now, both masts are now in complete flames. The sail is on fire. Two of the crewmen, the two crewmen who haven’t really been hurt have jumped off the sides and are now swimming through the water. You can see their trail behind them. The one who was shot in the head, you can’t see through the flames. It wasn’t enough to kill him, that wasn’t. However, the whole ship is on fire now. The one that you impacted with is a mess, Keyleth. LIAM: Then I’m beelining straight through the air towards Percival.

TALIESIN: Stay with Keyleth! Check the ship!

MARISHA: I crush everything.

TALIESIN: Search the ship, Keyleth. Search it.

MATT: Make an investigation check.

MARISHA: Me?

MATT: Yeah. You can still hear him, he’s telling you this through your earring.

TALIESIN: Take the captain’s quarters. You can breathe underwater. Tear it apart as it’s going down.

MATT: As an earth elemental, roll an investigation minus three because your intelligence is five. You are dumber than Grog as an earth elemental.

MARISHA: Natural 20! There’s no reason that should have happened!

MATT: I agree! As water is filling the bottom, and you’re not very good at treading water in this form. You’re sinking with the ship pretty much. It’s (burbling noises). Thankfully you can breathe water because you still have the enchantment on you. Glancing around, you do see what amounts to a bunch of notes, papers, that are all soaked in water, that you palm with your elemental hand. And you keep it there, grab a couple, and you now have two fists filled with papers. You don’t know what they are or what’s on them. You can’t even read in this form, technically, but you’re now underwater and the ship is breaking and falling. You can watch as the flames above, the glow is growing dimmer as the water is beginning to take the fire. It’s slowly falling into the bay.

TALIESIN: Start walking to the beach, Keyleth. Get to the beach.

MARISHA: Yeah, I guess I start toward the beach. Well that’s going to take a long time. The ship is sinking, right?

MATT: Yeah, you’re probably, now, the ship is probably 30 feet below the surface and falling, you with it.

MARISHA: I’m going to drop my form.

MATT: Okay, you’re back into Keyleth form and immediately the lack of mass, the ship begins to fall below you as you keep buoyancy now. The hole that you broke through is now this opening that you can swim up to get out of the wreckage of the ship.

MARISHA: Okay, I take all the papers and I shove them in a pocket, and I’m going to cast Control Water. I’m going to shoot myself up and out.

MATT: Like a waterspout. You watch as Keyleth is jettisoned out of the ocean and then begins to lightly surf along the surface, standing.

LAURA: Percy!

TALIESIN: Yes.

LAURA: Make sure the airship stays far away from these boats. I don’t want Ripley having any access to the airship.

SAM: On the beach, we’re going around, along the beach. Is there a tree line?

MATT: The tree line is further inland, maybe about 300 feet inland? Most of the open glass shore is on the eastern and southern side. On the north and northwestern side is where the mountain is, and the jungle surrounds most of the mountain, and a lot of the western side of the island.

SAM: I shout down to Grog: I don’t think she’s on the beach, man! It’s all glass! We should go inland.

TRAVIS: We turn inland.

MATT: Okay, you guys go ahead and take off inland.

LIAM: Am I closing on Percy?

MATT: You’re making your way toward the ship, yeah. The ship is faster than you.

LIAM: Oh really?

MATT: Yes.

LIAM: I click my boots of haste, then. I can go 500 feet in a round.

MATT: 500 feet?

LIAM: 480, yeah. If I use double dash, yeah, action action.

MATT: Well your flying speed is, what, 60?

LIAM: I mean, I did the math at one point. I know it’s 480 feet. My speed, flying, is 60.

MATT: You can dash as a bonus action, right?

LIAM: As a bonus action, yeah, but if I’m hasted, it’s doubled. So it’s 60, it’s 120, action, action, bonus action, so 120 plus 120, and then bonus action, I can also dash. I don’t know.

MATT: You can catch up to the ship with haste, yes. So you click your boots of haste and all of a sudden, your wings, the feathers themselves almost thin out, they retract in. You become less of a bird and more of a bullet, coasting forward at a downward arc. You eventually catch up to the back outer side of the airship as it’s bearing down on the smoke spiral and the innermost part of the bay beach line.

LIAM: I’m going to pick you up, you haughty prick! And I reach out my arms and grab him from behind.

MATT: Okay. You almost drop Bad News at the sudden impact, but you grab it and hold on to it as you’re lifted up again over the air. Another uncomfortable height experience. You’ve had a couple of these recently. But it’s swift enough to the point, and not prolonged, to the point where you’re able to keep yourself in check. You begin to carry him down–

LIAM: Barrel roll, and follow my sister.

MATT: Okay, so now all of you guys are this loose squadron along the beach line. As you watch, they turn off and begin to head toward the tree line.

LAURA: Can I get a closer look at the campsite?

MATT: You’d probably have to stop and inspect it if you want.

LAURA: Is there anybody that I can see around it from above?

MATT: Make a perception check.

LAURA: Yes, 30, then.

MATT: From what you can see, the campsite, the fire has the smoldering element that, from your experience with campfires, means it’s probably been burning for anywhere from four to five hours and is towards the end of its life. Whatever wood was in there is on the very very last cinders. There appear to be some elements in detail, some heavy movement right around it in the shoreline there. There’s a little bit of silt that has washed up onto the glass, so right next to the waterline there is still a meeting of underwater dirt and silt and where the glass begins to take over. And you can see a bunch of shifting in that area, but you’re too far away to make out any details. But other than that, you don’t see any hint of people or life around that site.

TRAVIS: Can Scanlan and I make a loop heading towards the tree line and then stop, I’d say, 100 feet from where the water hits the shore?

MATT: Okay, so you head to the tree line and then you stop about 100 feet out, about halfway between the shore and the tree line?

TRAVIS: Right, yeah, not all the way.

MATT: You hit there and you end up stopping, (whooshing) land, and you land in the one area where it appears the least painful to land on. Now, for all intents and purposes, this entire landscape is considered rough terrain, so your speed is halved. You can run full speed if you want, but you will take damage in doing so.

LIAM: Ugh, Lego, it’s all made of little Legos!

MATT: Kind of, yeah. So you land. Scanlan, you’re on the back of Grog and you’re now standing in the center of this open beach area.

SAM: I’m scanning around for any footprints or anything.

TRAVIS: As he’s scanning, I peck him in the shoulder.

SAM: Ow, ow! Fuck, ow!

MARISHA: So we’ve all convened on the shore at this point?

MATT: You see them land a little ways up from the shore. Vex, are you landing with them?

LAURA: No, I wanted to fly down a little closer and see if I can see any footprints, and see where they lead.

MATT: Okay, so you watch Vex spiral off and head to the actual campsite at the edge of the beach. What are you two doing?

TALIESIN: Keyleth, can you meet up with us?

MARISHA: Yeah, I’m meeting up with them on the shore I guess.

LIAM: I’m a Vax backpack, so we’ll just–

TALIESIN: At the campfire.

MATT: So you guys (whooshing) come down and land at the campfire as you watch Keyleth water-skiing right up to the edge of the beach, where, as soon as the water ends, you have to catch yourself, but you catch yourself. As you now stand here at the beach, the little hint of the flaming wreckage of the ship in the distance finally sinking below the surface of the water; the gallant eagle, Grog, standing off a little ways, with Scanlan Shorthalt raising a fist to the air; we’re going to end our session for today. Give us some fun to explore next episode.

MARISHA: But there was so much more to do!

TALIESIN: I am having such a Robert Louis Stevenson moment right now. I’m so excited.

SAM: We finished before eleven!

TALIESIN: No we did not!

MATT: Yes we did! I intended that because we’ve gone long a lot of weeks!

TALIESIN: I cannot imagine that I might actually get four hours of sleep tonight. That’s amazing.

MATT: I’m going to write more campaign setting. Guys, awesome episode, well done.

LIAM: That was a great game, Matt.

MATT: Good stuff, guys.

TRAVIS: Thank you to our sponsor, Backblaze!

SAM: Did they run a commercial during the break?

LAURA: I hope so, because I love those commercials.

TRAVIS: Those commercials are fucking hilarious.

MATT: All right, guys, well, thank you very much, rest well, you guys as well. Thank you so much for all your awesome support in watching the show. We appreciate everything, and–

TRAVIS: And next Thursday you can see us at Game the Game the hour beforehand.

MATT: Game the Game, 5:30 to 6:30, going into our next episode of Critical Role and have a good night. Is it Thursday yet?

[music]