List of Transcripts

Pre-Show

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

ALL: (garbled) We play Dungeons & Dragons!

MATT: With these unruly children. (laughs) Before we jump into our episode tonight, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our sponsor for tonight, which Sam's going to talk about, Dragonheir: Silent Gods, a game I'm excited about because I voice one of the main characters.

SAM: Yes, you do, Matt! Yes, you do. In Dragonheir: Silent Gods, Matt plays the chivalrous horsefolk hero, Sagomir, with his, I guess, amazing acting skills? I don't know.

MATT: You weirdly sound upset about this.

SAM: I am, Matt, because I auditioned for Sagomir, and I didn't book it.

ASHLEY: Oh.

LAURA: Wow.

MATT: Well, I'm sorry. What role did you read for?

SAM: I didn't book any role, Matt! You stole it from me, like you always do! I want to say "high noon," but, oh, Matt sounds sexier! I want to GM Candela Obscura, but oh, Matt is competent.

ASHLEY: (laughs)

SAM: I want to be in Dragonheir, but oh, Matt has literal dragon hair.

MATT: I apologize?

MARISHA: Oh, wow! Wow.

MATT: What do you want me to do?

SAM: Simple! I would like you to re-audition for the role right now. I printed out some lines. Here you go.

MATT: What?

SAM: Liam, you're a semi-decent voice director. You will direct us, and the cast will vote.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Okay. Okay.

SAM: Yes!

MATT: Don't we have to actually do the ad, though, before the episode?

SAM: Just read the goddamn lines, Mr. Actor!

MATT: Okay.

SAM: O'Brien, direct us.

LIAM: Okay. Uh... Matt?

MATT: Yeah? Yeah?

LIAM: Slate your name and go for a take?

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: Okay. Matthew Mercer reading for Sagomir.

TRAVIS: Balls. (laughter)

MATT: Dragonheir: Silent Gods allows you to enjoy classic tabletop RPG fun, like rolling dice, character customization, and dungeon battles.

LIAM: That was excellent. I've known you for over a decade. You're always excellent. I've directed you in many lead roles. No notes.

TRAVIS: Wow! No notes!

LIAM: Sam?

SAM: Emmy-Award-winning Sam Riegel, age 29, six-foot three, voice of Scanlan Shorthalt.

ASHLEY: (laughs) Wow.

SAM: Reading for the role of Sagomir.

MARISHA: Your voice work!

SAM: Dragonheir offers 200 unique heroes with their own alignments, kinsfolk, and backstory. Using these differences, players can develop heroes form teams, cast skills, and more. Okay. Should we put it to a vote? Who was better?

LIAM: I mean, Matt was much, much, much, much better.

LAURA: I mean, yeah! Matt was better.

ALL: (mutter agreement)

SAM: It's because you didn't direct me, Liam! I'm an artist. I need feedback. This is why you'll never be as good a director as me. Try again.

ASHLEY: Wow! (laughs)

LIAM: Fine.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: Don't engage him.

LIAM: Matt. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Gray rock.

LIAM: Try the next part with, I don't know, a Scottish accent.

TRAVIS: Whoa!

MATT: (Scottish) Dragonheir: Silent Gods offers a sandbox world with diverse biomes, hidden secrets, and challenging puzzles. Immerse yourself in a branching story that changes based on your choices.

MARISHA: Wow!

TRAVIS: Wow.

LAURA: Nice!

LIAM: Now you, asshole. Scottish.

SAM: Oh, can I just do like a (southern) light southern accent? I'm good at that.

LAURA: Are you? (laughter)

SAM: Well, Scottish is hard.

LIAM: It's true. You want a direction? This is it. Give me fucking Scottish.

LAURA: Wow.

TALIESIN: Mm.

LAURA: He's cold.

MARISHA: He is. Yeah. Wow.

LAURA: Ice cold!

SAM: (aggressively "Scottish") Check out the game at bit,ly/dragonheir_criticalrole and preregister to be the first to play when it comes out. Earn in-game rewards-- (laughter)

SAM: -- and earn a legendary hero.

MARISHA: I mean--

LIAM: Ooh! I blacked out! Would you like us to vote?

SAM: No, I would not.

MARISHA: It's better than what my Scottish would have been.

SAM: I was bad.

TALIESIN: I have no right to--

ASHLEY: (rolled r sound)

TALIESIN: But wow!

SAM: That's it! I quit acting. Matt, back to you! (laughter)

MATT: I don't know. It's impressive. I've never heard somebody roll a P before. (laughter)

MATT: I think that's talent in its own right.

LAURA: It honestly worked with your tiger look.

MATT: Yeah! Yeah.

ASHLEY: (spring twanging)

TRAVIS: (burbling) I'm underwater!

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: My god! All right, well, next up I believe we have some merch announcements. Laura, can you take it away?

LAURA: Ah!

ASHLEY: Eee!

LAURA: I've got so many things to talk about tonight. Okay. Wait. But I put this one on the bottom, and it's the first thing I'm supposed to say.

ASHLEY: (gasps)

LAURA: ♪ Da na na na na ♪

LIAM: Oh! I want it right now!

LAURA: Oh my gosh! Go to school with your own Critical Role backpack.

ASHLEY: I got backpacks!

LAURA: Designed by Jordyn Torrence. Look, the inside lining pattern-- (oohs)

LAURA: By Grace Berríos. I don't know if you can see it, but it's beautiful!

SAM: Is that a laptop sleeve?

LAURA: It's got a laptop sleeve! Look!

TALIESIN: Yep.

MATT: That's pretty slick.

SAM: Water bottles on the side.

LAURA: It's so wonderful! Yeah, you have little water bottle things on the side. I was like, please tell me that we made it-- Yes.

LIAM: It's a done deal.

LAURA: It's so good! Check it out! Check it out. Here, you can look at it. You can wear it through the episode, if you want to!

LIAM: It's mine.

LAURA: Next up, (grunts excitedly) we've got this!

ASHLEY: Ooh!

TALIESIN: Oh!

LAURA: Critical Role watercolor logo.

MARISHA: Pretty!

ASHLEY: Beautiful!

TALIESIN: Oh wow!

MARISHA: Oh it has--

LAURA: It's got foil effects. Artist Grace Berríos again! Amazing work!

MARISHA: I like it.

LAURA: Yeah, so keep all your notes--

ASHLEY: I like it a lot.

LAURA: -- in this amazing journal with a pocket.

ASHLEY: Oh! Look at the insert!

LAURA: I know! It's beautiful! Okay. Next up. Bleh. (laughter)

LAURA: Next up, something that we've had for a very long time, and it's finally allowed to release it. ♪ (triumphant fanfare) ♪

LIAM: ♪ (triumphant fanfare) ♪ (excited clamoring)

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: No fucking way!

TRAVIS: (laughs)

SAM: We made the shirt!

LAURA: We made the Critical Role Land T-shirt!

MATT: It just gets more and more dangerously close.

LAURA: Look at it!

ASHLEY: I know!

TALIESIN: One step closer, motherfucker.

LAURA: I'm in love with this shirt!

TALIESIN: One step closer.

LAURA: It's by Jordyn Torrence! Check it out!

ASHLEY: I love it so much.

LIAM: I want to go to there.

ASHLEY: Me too!

LAURA: Just pretend you went. You can have a holiday with your family at Critical Role Land.

ASHLEY: Let's go to live there!

MARISHA: Without having an actual holiday with your family. It's a win-win! (laughter)

TALIESIN: The third seal is open. Four more to go!

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: Next up!

SAM: There's more!

LAURA: There's more, you guys! I told you. I have a lot! We have a Fresh Cut Grass dice set!

ASHLEY: Oh!

MATT: Ooh!

LAURA: Look at! Look at!

ASHLEY: Whoa!

LAURA: There's stuff on the inside!

SAM: I love it!

LIAM: They match your tiger suit, Sam.

SAM: They do match my tiger suit.

LAURA: Oh my gosh! Look. You can play with them tonight!

SAM: Oh, I will!

LAURA: We also have--

MARISHA: They got gears in them!

SAM: They have gears in them.

ASHLEY: Stop it!

MARISHA: Ah!

SAM: That's super cool! All of them do.

LAURA: Aren't they so cool?

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: That's--

TRAVIS: Shut your mouth!

ASHLEY: Oh my god!

MATT: That's really cool.

LAURA: It's so cuties!

ASHLEY: That's really cool!

LIAM: Yeah, pass it down.

TALIESIN: Pass it down!

ASHLEY: Hold on. Let's see how it--

LAURA: We also got--

ASHLEY: Okay, it rolled pretty good.

LAURA: -- these Chetney Pock O'Pea dice!

SAM: Ooh!

LAURA: Oh, and look! We've got the new Bells Hells little dangling thing.

SAM: Oh, nice.

TALIESIN: Ooh! Oh wait!

ASHLEY: Ooh!

MATT: There's actually bits of Travis's blood in the Chetney dice.

LAURA: Yes. These one are so cute! Look!

LIAM: Oh, they're like his hat!

LAURA: They're stripey, like Chetney's hat!

ASHLEY: Whoa!

TALIESIN: Oh! Oh wow! They are!

ASHLEY: Those are cool!

LAURA: They've got stripes!

TRAVIS: It's got my little beanie!

LAURA: It's got your little beanie! Aren't they so cute?

ASHLEY: Oh my god! I love these!

MARISHA: Adorable!

LAURA: So you can get them now.

ASHLEY: Ooh, they roll good!

SAM: Thanks, man!

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

LAURA: They're in our stores.

LIAM: They've been rubbed in Werther's, too, this set.

ASHLEY: Ooh!

TRAVIS: Roll the d20.

LAURA: I honestly feel like you can buy these, and then you can take this little bangle off of here, and you can make a little necklace out of it.

SAM: Oh, that's really cool!

MARISHA: You totally could!

TALIESIN: Or a keychain.

LAURA: Anyway.

MARISHA: Two merch items for the price of one!

LAURA: That's right!

SAM: Oh.

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: Nice, Marisha!

LAURA: Would you like to roll these tonight, my love?

TRAVIS: Yes.

ASHLEY: Dice!

LAURA: I'm done!

MATT: All right. Thank you, Laura. (laughs)

LAURA: ♪ (trumpet fanfare) ♪

MATT: Marisha, you got announcements to talk about.

MARISHA: The second episode of Candela Obscura, Chapter 1, is now available everywhere.

SAM: Oh, cool!

MARISHA: It's a good one, you guys.

ASHLEY: Canderda Obscurda!

MARISHA: It's-- Candela Obsurder.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: It's really good. This one starts a little sexy.

ASHLEY: Ooh!

MARISHA: It's great!

SAM: Spoilers!

MARISHA: Yeah. It's literally the first 10 seconds, so. But it's good! You should watch!

TALIESIN: 10-second sex?

MARISHA: Oh!

LAURA: Oh!

MARISHA: (gasps)

LIAM: That's the best kind.

MARISHA: Find it on Twitch, YouTube-- (laughter)

SAM: That long?

MARISHA: Or your-- (laughter)

SAM: Wow! (laughter)

MATT: For some folks, constitution's a dump stat! (laughter)

TALIESIN: Oh!

MARISHA: Oh no! But he makes up for it in dexterity. (laughter)

MARISHA: Find it on Twitch, YouTube, or your favorite podcast streaming service. Join us for the finale.

LIAM: Mic shot.

MARISHA: (laughs) On Thursday, July 27th.

MATT: Hell yeah!

TALIESIN: Yeah!

MARISHA: For the finale, July 27th.

ASHLEY: Woo!

MATT: We also wanted to take a minute and let you know about our upcoming conventions! (cheering)

LIAM: Shit yeah!

MATT: We will be at San Diego Comic-Con again this year, for not one, but two panels!

TRAVIS: Two!

ASHLEY: Ooh!

MATT: The first is our typical--

MARISHA: Wait, really? I know!

MATT: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Wait, what?

MATT: Yeah!

MATT: I'm saying it! It's real!

MARISHA: It's real.

MATT: Manifestation!

SAM: We're happy about that!

MATT and MARISHA: (laugh)

TRAVIS: Why are you surprised?!

TALIESIN: I'm surprised! I didn't know!

TRAVIS: Jesus!

SAM: (laughs)

MATT: The first is going to be our typical fireside chat and a short Q&A. Inviting everyone to come and engage with that. Then later that same day, join us and a few other friends to chat about all things Candela Obscura.

TRAVIS: Oh!

MARISHA: Oh! That's right!

MATT: Including the making of the show, the game, and this whole new intriguing world that we've all been creating and exploring with everyone on the team.

ASHLEY: Dingle berries!

MATT: So the fun begins next Saturday, July 22nd.

TRAVIS: Nobody--

MARISHA: We know what's going on.

ASHLEY: Great! I can't wait!

LAURA: It's so soon!

MATT: We're also coming for you, Portland, Oregon!

SAM: Portland! We're coming!

ASHLEY: Let's go to Portland!

MATT: We'll be at Rose City Comic Con on September 23rd and the 24th, and presale begins next Thursday, July 20th so come check it out. And then--

SAM: What?

TRAVIS: What?

SAM: More?

MATT: And then!

SAM: What?

LIAM: That's got to be it!

MATT: We're making our way--

TALIESIN: Making our way.

MARISHA and TRAVIS: ♪ Makin' our way ♪

ASHLEY and LAURA: ♪ Makin' our way ♪

MATT: There we go. Over to the Big Apple, October 12th and 13th for New York Comic Con.

TRAVIS: New York Comic Con!

TALIESIN: Oh yeah!

MATT: You can always find the latest info at critrole.com/events. We can't wait to see you guys there.

TRAVIS: Yeah!

MATT: Thank you so much.

TRAVIS: We're coming out!

MATT: I believe that concludes our announcements.

TRAVIS: ♪ I'm coming out ♪

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

LIAM: (like Gollum) Yes!

MATT: -- Critical Role.

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

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

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

MATT: How do you want to do this?

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

LIAM: ♪ From the healer ♪
♪ To the renegade ♪

MATT: ♪ We all share the same goal ♪

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

SAM: ♪ Hold your breath and roll ♪

MARISHA: You can certainly try.

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

Part I

MATT: And welcome back. So last we left off, after many days separated, shunted across Exandria and the chaos following the Malleus Keys' arrival, the moon Ruidus remains locked in the sky in perpetuation of the solstice, still sets the sky aglow with multi-colors and strange, manipulated magic. You sought out answers in your companions, and finally, after making a few friends, reconvene in Jrusar. Some of those friends that came along, you sent off as their own troop to find answers as you reconvened with what you have and figuring out what your next leg of the journey is. To seek information, to seek retribution, to figure out what's happening, and how best to tackle the challenges ahead. So we come in as you've sent off your companions to pursue their independent goals. You briefly are a larger halfling, but I think it only lasts a minute. (laughter)

LAURA: Oh!

ASHLEY: Oh!

LAURA: Hey, Orym.

LIAM: Much better. I prefer it.

ASHLEY: That was fun.

MATT: But indeed, the day is yours now.

ASHLEY: All right.

LIAM: This is it. Finally just us again.

SAM: Wow! It feels great! Great to be back, right?

LIAM: You look different, Letters.

SAM: Oh, is it--

LAURA: Oh, that's right.

LIAM: Ugh.

SAM: The cigarette?

LAURA: That's it.

LIAM: Yep, that was it.

LAURA: That the thing.

ASHLEY: Very cool now.

SAM: It makes me look a little older.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TALIESIN: It's also the soot, maybe. I like the whole, the look is--

SAM: Oh, the new look!

TALIESIN: It's really good.

SAM: Oh, that's what you were referring to. Yeah. I got a new coat.

LAURA: Oh, yeah! We all got new--

MARISHA: You all look so pretty!

SAM: Yeah.

MARISHA: I love the new look.

LAURA: Thank you.

ASHLEY: We got her the--

LAURA: Yeah. We got you a-- Yeah, we got you one.

ASHLEY: Wait, did we already give it to you?

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MARISHA: You did. It's gorgeous.

ASHLEY: We got--

SAM: Y'all didn't have--

ASHLEY: We also got you a little bit of a corset, if you want it. Just a little--

TALIESIN: My back hurts. I'm okay with anything.

ASHLEY: All right.

TALIESIN: Oh, man.

ASHLEY: Just in case--

MARISHA: What were you going to say?

TALIESIN: It's pretty fucking cool.

SAM: You guys didn't have a chance to go shopping and get outfits and stuff?

LAURA: Yeah, we had a little downtime, you know, to go--

SAM: Like a fun, little--

LAURA: We actually helped out some royalty, and they paid for it all, too.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

SAM: We met a king and a queen!

ASHLEY: It was actually pretty great!

TALIESIN: It's not a competition.

LAURA: What--

LIAM: We're here. We made it.

SAM: You guys okay?

LIAM: We're back together.

ASHLEY: We really missed you all.

MARISHA: Not really.

TALIESIN: No, we're--

ASHLEY: Oh.

MARISHA: No, not in a good place about it, honestly.

SAM: Oh, what happened? Was it something? What's wrong?

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MARISHA: Right? I'm not wrong, right?

LIAM: We talked a little bit about it, yeah.

TALIESIN: I was just assuming you would talk first because you were the last one to have a complete breakdown, so I figured, yeah.

TRAVIS: Uh-oh.

TALIESIN: You earned it. We all got there.

MARISHA: We spent every second of every day, of every waking hour trying to get back to you. We were worried sick!

LAURA: Same.

TRAVIS: Yeah, it's true!

SAM: Well, I mean--

MARISHA: I mean, it sounds--

SAM: We fought Santa Claus and went shopping.

TRAVIS: Who?

SAM: You know what I mean.

LAURA: It was all in a sequence of events to get back to you!

TRAVIS: Man, we went to Uthodurn. All the teleportation was fucked up. We tried talking.

SAM: Before we get defensive, go on, tell us what you're feeling.

MARISHA: You came back with a-- You have a boyfriend now? You all had a little tryst, a little--

ASHLEY: Yes.

MARISHA: A little ménage à trois?

ASHLEY: You got to just let off some steam sometimes.

TALIESIN: I'm surprised you know that word, actually.

SAM: He went-- He turned--

MARISHA: And you have a new best friend, apparently!

LAURA: Excuse me?

MARISHA: That's what I heard what you were saying to FRIDA.

LAURA: I said-- Laudna.

MARISHA: I thought about you every moment, and I thought you might be dead!

LIAM: Our stint was a little rough.

TALIESIN: We did not go somewhere good.

MARISHA: We were teleported alongside someone from the Ruby Vanguard, and he infiltrated, was near us, gained our trust, and then-- and then tried to murder us. It was-- It was really awful, for every moment. It was not a good time! And it's hard, and I'm sorry that I'm upset, because obviously, I believe you that we were all--

LAURA: I take your hand.

MARISHA: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

LAURA: Laudna.

MARISHA: I don't doubt. I don't doubt it. I don't.

LAURA: There wasn't a moment that went by that I wasn't thinking about you. We tried over and over and over again to contact you every moment we could. It kept coming back and hitting us in the head. It was impossible.

MARISHA: Same for us.

LAURA: The only option we had was to go find any information we could and then hope that someone would be able to teleport us. Stop laughing at me, Chet, I can talk.

MARISHA: I'm listening.

LAURA: I can't hear your thoughts.

MARISHA: They might be--

LAURA: I'm sorry.

MARISHA: -- covered in rage. I don't, I don't doubt it, I really don't. It's just hard. It's hard to hear that it feels like there were-- We didn't have downtime. We didn't have fun moments. We didn't have laughs, or jokes, or farce. We didn't go shopping. We didn't have threesomes. We-- We went to the middle of nowhere, we saved a fucked-up town that was so wrapped up in their own gods-damned problems that they couldn't see the forest through the trees, and then we almost had one of the Ruby Vanguard murder all of us. That was our fun time.

TALIESIN: Honestly, you're skipping some of the other bad shit, but yeah.

MARISHA: I'm sorry, I'm--

SAM: No, don't-- don't apologize, you're absolutely right, I mean, you're absolutely right. We did allow ourselves to relax and be complacent. Of course you were on our minds, but so was love, and so was fun, and so were outfits, and that's-- and we--

ASHLEY: Just our clothes were so dirty. They were just so dirty, and--

TALIESIN: I think I'm just going to put out we're not angry that you didn't suffer. We're just going to-- It's going to be a little bit before we're okay.

LIAM: I'm glad you're safe.

TALIESIN: We are.

MARISHA: So, I'm just worried.

LIAM: We just made some compromises.

MARISHA: Worried sick.

LAURA: We almost died multiple times.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah.

LAURA: Really, it wasn't just fun and games.

TALIESIN: I feel weird that that makes me feel a little better.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it was not, it was not. She was worried about you the whole time, just the whole time.

LIAM: You know what I think will help is if we figure out what we're going to do next.

MARISHA: Mm-hm.

LIAM: We're not enemies here.

MARISHA: I don't want to tarnish the moments of joy you all had. That's important. Maybe it's just a bit of jealousy.

SAM: Yeah, well, I, for one, promise you that I won't take my eyes off the prize again. I will, I won't forget who matters most, and I won't be distracted by silly things like--

MARISHA: That's not what I want.

SAM: -- kissing or whatever.

TALIESIN: How about you just promise the middle one? I think the first and last one, I think, are okay. I think we, I actually think that's the problem right now is maybe we need a little bit of unwinding, just a second to breathe. I don't think dragging everybody else into our strain is really the best idea. I need to--

LAURA: Do you want to go shopping? What do you want (laughs)?

TALIESIN: I don't, I don't fucking know. I mean, I think I need to see some people. I think I need to see some people I fucking love. I think I need a drink. I think I need a decent night's sleep, and maybe a fucking bath; I think we're still covered in our friend who tried to murder us.

TRAVIS: I don't want to overstep, but I happen to be qualified in relaxation now. So if the threesome thing is worrisome, I'm happy to open up my services. I just want to say we went to the Savalirwood, which is real dangerous, and we got laid. It was amazing, you guys fought an angel, and that part sounds incredible to me, but if, you know, a little R&R on this side of all that is interesting to you, I'm just saying,

ASHLEY: 10 out 10, recommend.

TRAVIS: Fearne and I are, like, you know--

MARISHA: Are you saying you got, like, certified in sexual healing?

TRAVIS: I'm pretty sure some people will give testimony, yes.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it works, it works.

TRAVIS: Might be top reviews.

LIAM: You're practiced in Santric?

TRAVIS: On my Yelp page.

LAURA: Do you have to be a wolf in order to be healing, or is it--?

TRAVIS: It depends on what add-ons you want.

LAURA: All right.

LIAM: Well, I'll tell you what. I think we give ourselves--

ASHLEY: That's true.

LIAM: Give ourselves a day to unpack, but that's it.

TRAVIS: Day, half-day rates.

LAURA: So we're not marching with this army that's leaving in, like, an hour?

TRAVIS: They don't know what they're-- sorry, it just seems like they don't know what they're doing. They're being led by nobody. I hate to, you know, not call them off, but I don't think they would listen anyway.

TALIESIN: After what we've fucking seen, all I can think of them as is a distraction that maybe we can take advantage of. I don't want to be-- I don't think that's who we are.

TRAVIS: No, plus just joining them again we haven't, like, really learned anything. That's the definition of insanity, right, doing the same thing over and over again?

LIAM: I want to know what you guys know.

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah.

LIAM: I want to find out what you learned, and I, if I can check in at home, I need to.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

TALIESIN: I'd like that, too.

MARISHA: Obviously, I know we touched on a few things, what you all learned when Deanna and FRIDA were here.

SAM: We've got stuff from Ludinus that we can look at.

MARISHA: That's fantastic.

LAURA: That harness thing?

SAM: Yep.

TALIESIN: Was that a part of the sex thing, the harness?

SAM: No, it was weirdly unrelated.

LAURA: Strange.

TRAVIS: Don't say no. Yes and, Ashton. Yes and.

TALIESIN: Why have I missed you? This is so weird. Fuck.

SAM: You want to go check in on your friends?

TALIESIN: I'm going to go talk to Milo, if you want to come talk to Milo.

SAM: I would love to.

TALIESIN: Just tell everyone-- well, yeah, just talk to them, see what--

SAM: But I want to know what Laudna wants to do, too. I don't want to leave you alone.

LAURA: She won't be alone.

MARISHA: I'm with you guys.

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: Wherever we need to go.

ASHLEY: We could always pick up some new things for you guys, sometimes when you have a, like putting lipstick on a pig, you just feel a little better.

SAM: I wouldn't call them pigs.

TALIESIN: Don't know if that's where the phrase comes from.

ASHLEY: I should have said something else. That's not exactly what I meant. That wasn't the term, but--

SAM: You're much prettier.

TALIESIN: You're not wrong.

ASHLEY: Yeah, that's not even-- I should've thought of another animal. It's just something--

TRAVIS: Also, the angel sounds terrifying, but I just want to know if it was hard or not. Was it a good fight, close fight, almost really bad?

TALIESIN: I can say it literally changed me in ways that I'm still unpacking.

TRAVIS: Whoa.

ASHLEY: Oh.

MARISHA: There was a lot going on.

SAM: Are you okay?

TALIESIN: You know, I think I might be, actually. I don't know. It's still coming down, but I think new clothes is a really, really good idea. I don't-- I don't think this is-- I don't think this is me right now.

LIAM: I don't want to spin out here, though.

MARISHA: This shirt doesn't match this corset, so?

LAURA: What do you mean?

SAM: You want to spin out?

LIAM: I don't want, I want to move.

TRAVIS: Okay, yeah.

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: Soon.

TRAVIS: Let's do it.

LAURA: Things are happening.

TRAVIS: Let's move.

LAURA: I feel like we've wasted so many days in separate places.

TRAVIS: We can do it.

LAURA: Yes, I definitely want to.

SAM: All right, so what do we do first? Do we know-- Do we know who we're talking to? Do we know-- Do we have stuff to show people? Do we have-- Should we look at this Ludinus stuff?

TRAVIS: Here in Jrusar, yeah, we have the stuff from Ludinus. We could identify it. Ajit Dayal at the Dayal Hall's here. You wanted to go meet with--

TALIESIN: Milo.

TRAVIS: Milo?

LAURA: Is there anyone here in town that would know magical devices? Maybe we can go to someone to find more out about this harness.

SAM: Would Ajit?

TALIESIN: Milo might know. There's, I don't have my list of things. because I, but like.

LIAM: Hexum might, but it'd cost us, right?

TALIESIN: You know, at this point, I'm not entirely sure. Things might be weird enough now that--

TRAVIS: The moon's stuck in the sky.

TALIESIN: I don't think she knew what they were up to. But again, she's tricky.

TRAVIS: If she's alive.

TALIESIN: She's, uh, she probably is. And maybe this is enough for, I don't know, maybe this is enough for her to be a reasonable person. I don't know.

SAM: We know that Ajit is here. Does he know magic stuff? Does he, is he, is he that kind of professor?

LAURA: He knew about curses. I mean, he knew about--

TRAVIS: Do we remember, arcanely focused?

MATT: Not necessarily arcanely focused, out of the skills that you know. He is a member of a powerful Mahaan house, and puts most of his energy into the tutelage of the underprivileged kids of the city, and surrounding spaces. But you're uncertain if he has any sort of magical background.

TALIESIN: Yeah, and Milo's just a junky artificer.

TALIESIN: Well, if you need stuff from there anyway, maybe you could just get his two cents.

SAM: Sure.

TRAVIS: Then we can bump it up.

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: I think-- How do we feel about, do a quick run, we meet up tonight, we have dinner and drinks, and go over what we've got. I think that's-- I think some of us have errands to run, I think some of us need to maybe breathe, and reconnect, and ground with the things that make us happy or, you know, has to figure out what would bring you down to earth.

TRAVIS: What are Laudna's hands doing?

MATT: What are Laudna's hands doing?

MARISHA: Probably fidgety, little clenched, maybe she starts pulling chunks out of her hair.

TRAVIS: Yeah, definitely a different trip.

ASHLEY: It wasn't that fun. It really, it was only fun, like, 10% of the time. The 10% was really fun, but the rest.

TRAVIS: Well.

ASHLEY: But you know, the rest of it, we were just very, very worried.

TALIESIN: Give us some time, we're going to meet you there. We will.

LIAM: Before we all spread out, I think we touch base with who we can here in this city, and see what folks here know, but you got you lot back here. Would you guys be up for going home with me?

TALIESIN: Yes.

TRAVIS: Yes. Where was-- it was?

LAURA: To go check on the Voice?

ASHLEY and TRAVIS: Zephrah.

LIAM: To check on Keyleth, yeah.

TRAVIS: Yeah, the Voice of the Tempest.

LIAM: I really need to know what she wants to do next, and if she's okay, and she's more well connected than anyone we're going to find here. She can send us almost anywhere, right back to that tree she sent us to in the first place if we want to go to the Malleus Key.

LAURA: Yeah, I could try to take us there in the morning. I used all my--

SAM: Oh great, I mean, that gives us a day here, and then--

TALIESIN: I'll find out how long I need and I'll try to make it fast.

LIAM: I know it's a big ask, but--

SAM: No!

LIAM: -- it would mean a lot to me.

LAURA: Hopefully, you know, if I screw up the spell again, maybe someone in Zephrah would be able to help us out, yeah.

ASHLEY: That's a very important person for us to talk to.

LIAM: Okay, thanks.

TALIESIN: We're not going to be able to do this if we can't get right and we need to get right. Let's not-- Let's just be-- Let's do this the right way for once.

TRAVIS: A little level set.

MARISHA: What is the right way?

LAURA: Oh yeah, oh yes, oh yes, and you have an object from there.

TALIESIN: Not a mess.

LAURA: You're from there, you're from there. You're an object from there. All your clothes are objects from there.

TALIESIN: She's objectifying you.

LIAM: That's true.

LAURA: So we'd be able to just, it's I wouldn't be able, y'all, I wouldn't be able to fuck it up.

SAM: Oh, it's automatic success? You just know that?

LAURA: I just know that.

SAM: Wow.

LAURA: I just know that in my bones.

LIAM: And you picked this up while we were split?

SAM: Yes.

LAURA: Yes, I picked this up.

SAM: We got other magical items, too. We did a lot of-- We did a lot of good things.

LIAM: What does this look like? I wasn't there.

LAURA: That is a good question.

TALIESIN: It's just a fist.

MATT: It looks like a-- (laughter)

TALIESIN: You've got to open it up, if you want to mime.

MATT: World's Best Sorcerer mug.

LAURA: It feels wrong to open it up. Nope, it's a fist.

TALIESIN: Touché, well done.

MARISHA: If that is the size, I'm scared. (laughter)

MATT: It is a long stave, about that long, of kind of a--

LAURA: About how long?

MATT: About that long.

LAURA: Okay.

LIAM: Got it.

MATT: Of twisting dark wood.

LIAM: What's the width?

MATT: One way to find out.

TALIESIN: Figure it out, yeah. (laughter)

MATT: It has areas where thorns emerged from it, but they've been sanded down, so they're just these little nubs. But it has this--

TALIESIN: Let it ride.

MATT: But towards the top it has this hand-like grip with a crystal there that's a dull quartz coloration to it that you've noticed with the expenditure of the magic, it goes to a clear crystal, and then as it begins to regain its composure it goes to more of an opaque coloration.

LAURA: Was it a very dusty-- It was a dusty staff because it was in the--

MATT: Oh yeah, no, and it definitely looks like it's been in an attic for a long time and seen the ages of disuse.

LAURA: I'm cleaning it.

LIAM: Grampy's staff, oh yeah?

LAURA: (laughs) I shouldn't. I clean it with a rag.

TRAVIS: Not one thing you can do, Matt, not one thing.

MATT: Oh, I know by now.

TRAVIS: Yep.

MATT: I'm not trying to fight it.

LAURA: Prestidigitation. (laughter)

MARISHA: And you found this on your travels?

LAURA: (muffled) At Ludinus'. This is Ludinus'.

MARISHA: You can swallow.

TRAVIS: Swallow your ale, jesus.

MARISHA: It's all right. Did you order the ale or the mead?

LIAM: Did you get it from a street vendor?

LAURA: I have a circlet now. You know I have the circlet.

LIAM: The block stops.

MARISHA: Wow, you guys are just--

LAURA: I know your thoughts. No, but I got it before we got separated.

LIAM: Yeah, it's been a while.

SAM: I'm sorry.

LAURA: Anyway.

MARISHA: It's all right.

TRAVIS: Listen, you can learn a lot. No, I mean you just, you can level up with that.

TALIESIN: You're inspiring.

LAURA: We got it in Ludinus' shit, right?

MARISHA: How did you-- Oh, because you went to Uthodurn, and in Uthodurn, they were like, "Oh, go to the Savalirwood, and his shit is there."

LAURA: They basically said that you can't leave, we have no way to leave. We had no teleport, no nothing. So they said it would be several days before anybody would be back that would be able to transport us. They said in the meantime, you can go to the Savalirwood, and research Ludinus, if you want to. So that's what we did, so we weren't just sitting on our asses, you know.

ASHLEY: We did have a goat that died.

SAM: Tragically.

LAURA: It exploded. We also had to fight a celestial bull.

MARISHA: A celestial bull.

SAM: Well, we didn't fight it.

LAURA: Well, no, we talked to it.

SAM: We befriended it.

LAURA: And made friends, but we could've fought it, and it would've been real bad. We had to fight.

MARISHA: You made friends with a stellar bull?

SAM: It was a really good trip.

LAURA: We had to fight. Oh my gosh, Laudna, we found this-- In the Savalirwood--

ASHLEY: Now that I'm thinking about it--

LAURA: You have to go there. It's terrible, but wonderful. There's ghosts and creatures, like a wolf with five long necky heads.

MARISHA: You went to spooky woods?

LAURA: We went to spooky woods.

TRAVIS: Called the Wolf King, and miasma.

TALIESIN: We're going to go there.

MARISHA: That sounds--

TRAVIS: Miasma.

LAURA: I just thought you would've loved it.

MARISHA: Yeah, it's right up my alley.

SAM: That does sound great.

TRAVIS: Oh, my asthma.

SAM: I feel so guilty.

MARISHA: Don't feel guilty.

SAM: I do, I feel guilty. I feel guilty. That's like a human emotion!

TALIESIN: I am so proud of you.

MARISHA: And you fell in love.

SAM: I did, I'm sorry. I know I don't, maybe I, maybe it wasn't love, though, maybe it was just synapses and circuitry.

LAURA: It was love.

TALIESIN: Stop it.

TRAVIS: Lust.

SAM: No. It was probably just nothing. Forget it, it's fine.

MARISHA: Deanna was an old fling of yours?

TRAVIS: Yeah, from 200 years ago!

MARISHA: Incredible.

TALIESIN: That sounds like my nightmare.

TRAVIS: She was killed, and then brought back to life, and she had a family and kid, it was really crazy.

SAM: Hey, before we go our separate ways, I am going to pull out this wooden rod from Ludinus that I have. Is that a different thing from her wooden rod?

MATT: Correct.

TALIESIN: Dude had a lot of rods.

SAM: I'm going to Identify it just in case this helps send us on our way.

MATT: Okay. It has a faint magical essence to it, but just enough where you can pick up what its purpose is. This small shaped, unique part of a green-brown wood to create this rod is a focused tether to the Feywild. It's used as a key for transplanar travel to--

SAM: Plane Shift.

LAURA: (gasps)

MATT: Plane Shift to a specific place in the Feywild.

TRAVIS: Oh.

LAURA: Oh, okay. The plinth.

TRAVIS: A specific place.

MARISHA: A specific place.

LAURA: Oh, that's right because Ludinus was, we thought he was draining. That's what we thought! The harness thing! It drains energy, potentially, from powerful beings.

SAM: And with? Feywild?

LAURA: And from Wardens of the Wild.

TRAVIS: Oh shit, what if he used that against the--

LAURA: Do you know anything? We asked you about this. Never mind.

ASHLEY: Did I know anything?

LAURA: I think you thought, but you didn't.

ASHLEY: I thought, but then didn't. (laughs)

TALIESIN: You could have just said yes.

LAURA: I guess but yeah.

ASHLEY: Yes. I knew all of that.

MARISHA: Well, I don't actually know. Draining from wardens of the wild, one of probably the few beneficial things that we have discovered on our trip is, I think we mentioned it that there are these, they call them eidolons.

LAURA: Right, right.

SAM: Yeah, you said that.

MARISHA: They are like wardens of the wild--

SAM: Oh!

MARISHA: -- is almost how they were described to us. So they are basically remnants, almost like lesser beings from the Titans that were here that shaped the world far before the gods were here.

LAURA: We have the map. The map that Ludinus made of ones that he had potentially sucked power from or destroyed.

LIAM: Ones what? One what?

LAURA: He pulled power from multiple creatures. There were all these marks on a map, and he had some X'd out like he had already taken care of them.

MARISHA: Of this material plane or another?

LAURA: I think so, wasn't it?

TALIESIN: We got to talk to your boss about this. There's a lot to talk to your boss about.

LAURA: Am I remembering that right?

MATT: That was a map of the Greying Wildlands and the surrounding area of Wildemount in which he had found different fey that existed in proximity to Molaesmyr.

LAURA: Okay.

LIAM: Weren't there notes?

MATT: There were many notes.

LAURA: There were. I think we talked about it in the last--

LIAM: Talked about it last time.

LAURA: Yeah, we explained. Deanna--

LIAM: Refresh me.

LAURA: FRIDA had transcribed the entire thing.

TRAVIS: Into Elvish?

MATT: Correct, so to clarify, which part of the notes would you like me to clarify? Concerning the harness?

LIAM: What's the general, oh, the notes were on the-- There was a physical harness and notes on the harness?

MATT: Yeah, there were multiple notes on different things.

LIAM: Boxes.

MATT: So around the harness and the contraption, there were essentially design notes and engineering sketches, just parts of them. Some just damaged with the time, but enough where you can see the similarities of it and its evolution. Discussions around it, talking about it being "a physical regiment of magical infusion and the synthetic recreation of the powerful natural magics that sustain the venerable wardens of the wild" is the phrase that accompanied some of these engineering notes. There are additional notes on dryad and fey entity locations throughout Wildemount, with eight of them crossed off, and then a note about "feeding the root."

LAURA: (whispers) Feeding the root.

MARISHA: Dryad.

MATT: Then some mild notes on expanding his restoration sources into the Fey Realm.

MARISHA: Feeding the root.

TRAVIS: Double O-T or R-O-U-T-E?

MATT: Double O-T.

TRAVIS: Motherfuck.

MARISHA: We, oh, the person who helped us teleport here was an archdruid, part of the dryads.

SAM: Oh.

MARISHA: Ashton, Orym, help me out here.

LIAM: Hevestro?

MARISHA: Huh?

LIAM: Talking about? That was their name?

MARISHA: Hevestro?

MATT: Hevestro.

LIAM: Hevestro?

TALIESIN: Mark mine now.

MARISHA: Hevestro... ♪ Give me a second ♪

TALIESIN: Yeah, I know. That was funny.

MARISHA: He guarded this place called the Verdant Tomb, where he was guarding this emerald obelisk that encased this other archdruid? This older archdruid?

MATT: An ancient member of the Gau Drashari, which is one of the most ancient druidic orders in Exandria.

LAURA: Wow.

LIAM: They're spirits, right? Wasn't it?

ASHLEY: Of the what?

MARISHA: The Gau Drashari.

LIAM: Gau Drashari.

ASHLEY: Gau Drashari.

TRAVIS: The predecessors of the Ashari.

LIAM: Their ancestors.

LAURA: So we could take this harness there and suck the spirit into ourselves, and become more powerful?

MARISHA: I think that's exactly correct.

TALIESIN: Huh.

MARISHA: Her name was Everthereal?

MATT: Evithorir.

MARISHA: Evythr--

MATT: Evithorir.

TALIESIN: That was a rough one.

MATT: Evitho-thir-thir. (laughs)

TALIESIN: So many--

MARISHA: She was old as fuck and she was in a green crystal.

MATT: Ah, Evithorir was the shadow entity you fought.

MARISHA: Oh, wait. Amad--

LIAM: Amadva?

MARISHA: Amadva? Amadra, Amadra?

LAURA: What the fuck is happening?

MATT: I don't know. We're all having a collective stroke right now. That's what's happening.

SAM: It's giraffe. Garfield?

MARISHA: There was a dense amount of druid names in a very short amount of time.

MATT: Yes, yes.

TRAVIS: Hail, Lord Garfield.

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: (chuckles)

MATT: Yeah, Oma-Dua was the name of the--

MARISHA: Oma-Dua. That's a U, not a V.

LIAM: That's an Amadva.

TRAVIS: Oh yeah, I know. I put it up there. There we are, yeah.

MARISHA: Oma-Dua was the ancient Gau Drashari.

MATT: Correct.

MARISHA: Anyway, I don't know. The reason why I'm saying this is it's triggering something a little bit in my brain because they were in this town that we were in, the Hearthmoor?

MATT: Hearthdell. (laughter)

MARISHA: Hearthdell, you're right. It's been a few weeks you guys.

TRAVIS: It was a rough trip.

MARISHA: It was a very rough trip.

TRAVIS: You didn't get laid, you're wearing your old, shitty clothes.

MARISHA: I'm mentally traumatized.

SAM: Harsh, harsh.

LIAM: The whole town--

MARISHA: The Hearthdell, yes.

LIAM: The whole town was done--

MARISHA: I nearly said heart palpate.

LIAM: -- with the gods and done with religion, and were more honoring these older eidolon spirits. We were having a lot of opinions about gods.

MARISHA: Yes.

TALIESIN: We saw some things.

SAM: About which one's the best?

MARISHA: No, they hated them all. There were acolytes of the Dawnfather, who had come in and more or less took over and built a massive temple to the Dawnfather right on top of their sacred land that was not warranted and was not wanted. So they wanted us to help them. In order for us to get the information to be teleported back to you all, we helped them rid the town of the presence of the Dawnfather.

LIAM: Of the Dawnfather--

SAM: Well, that's--

LIAM: -- for these people.

SAM: Were you-- Okay. I mean, you just disrupted the gods? Now? You kicked them while they're down?

LIAM: It seems like whatever Ludinus has done has the temple of the Dawnfather, at least in Issylra, clamping down and maybe overreaching, trying to enforce their--

MARISHA: The gods weren't-- They weren't invited there. There was other culture and their own form of worship.

TALIESIN: The people who lived there did not want a temple there. They didn't hate. There was no hate. They just wanted to be left alone.

SAM: Still, you attacked the realm of the gods while they're being attacked by Ludinus and all of his--

MARISHA: We didn't attack the realm of the gods, we attacked foot soldiers, we attacked pawns.

TALIESIN: We politely asked them to leave.

LIAM: We tried to talk.

TALIESIN: We asked them to do the right thing. We appealed to their sense of moral judgment as holy people.

SAM: I've seen you ask nicely, and it's not nice.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: Orym actually--

TALIESIN: I promise you we did.

MARISHA: Orym did. Orym, tell him.

LIAM: I did my best to end it peacefully, tell them they were-- their time was better spent not there. But honestly, we needed to get back to you guys. We have shit to do.

SAM: Sure. Yeah. You're right. Eyes on the prize. Well, let's go do the shit that we got to do.

TRAVIS: Milo!

TALIESIN: I'm going to go talk to Milo.

SAM: I'll take--

MARISHA: Who is going where?

SAM: Well, do you need me with you? I don't want to abandon you if--

LAURA: What the fuck, FCG?

SAM: Well, she was really upset!

LAURA: I'm saying if she's saying she's going to be alone, I'm not--

SAM: Well, she was upset when we-- She was upset. I don't want her to be upset with us!

MARISHA: I will go.

TRAVIS: That's so considerate. He's so considerate.

SAM: I am! Fuck off, I am!

TRAVIS: I'm serious! I'm being genuine.

SAM: No, you're not!

TRAVIS: I am!

TALIESIN: Everything he says sounds sarcastic. I've just gotten used to it.

LIAM: Serious question, vibe check. How are you doing, Letters?

SAM: I've been better!

LIAM: You know what I mean.

ASHLEY: Why are you so upset?

SAM: Don't-- I'm fine, I'm fine.

LAURA: He's still stressed from before.

MARISHA: Is it because you had to say goodbye to your boyfriend?

SAM: Yeah, but I don't want to focus on that now.

ASHLEY: Are you sure?

SAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: We got shit to do, and we got to focus on each other.

LIAM: There'll be time.

SAM: I took my eyes off of my last group, and they all died. I don't want to do that again.

ASHLEY: Well, okay.

TALIESIN: I get that.

ASHLEY: But didn't you--

LAURA: Fearne.

MARISHA: Who's going where? So we can decide.

LIAM: We'll unpack tonight. We're going to have a drink tonight and hash things out.

MARISHA: Sure.

LIAM: You are going to see Milo.

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: Do you want to go to see Milo too?

SAM: I would like to, but-- Sure.

LIAM: Then go see Milo.

SAM: Okay.

LIAM: I'm going to go see Ajit. Who's coming with me?

TRAVIS: I'll go!

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

TALIESIN: That actually is a-- And maybe--

LAURA: Laudna.

TALIESIN: Maybe you two should just--

SAM: You guys want to go shop?

MARISHA: Where are you going?

LAURA: Wherever you're going.

TALIESIN: You've earned this, come on. You don't even have to-- Just know what it feels like again, okay? Remind yourself.

LIAM: Yeah, you don't have to do anything. Just take a couple hours.

ASHLEY: Maybe just a spa day or something.

TALIESIN: Have some human contact.

LAURA: We can go see-- We can go see our old house.

MARISHA: We should probably go check in with Zhudanna. I'm sure she'd be happy to see us.

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: Maybe we go check in with Zhudanna, and I get a new blouse because it does not match this corset.

LAURA: No, yeah. Sorry about that. I should have--

MARISHA: (tearfully) No, I love the corset. It's beautiful.

ASHLEY: So beautiful.

MARISHA: Let's go see Zhudanna.

LAURA: Okay.

LIAM: Break.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: Hoo-ha.

MATT: So, as you scatter to the three different directions, I guess we'll go ahead and first pursue Milo. Why not? So this will be Ashton and FCG? All right. So you trek from where you are, not terribly far from Fownsee Hollow. You take one of the numerous well-known cavern entrances to the center of the Core Spire itself into the darker, subterranean interior of the space. You come to the lattice work of intricate walkways and ladders that build the odd cluster of people that have found life and vibrancy here within the shaded, mostly ignored interior of the spire itself. As you climb down to the familiar exterior of the home that you've kept before you left on this venture, you look at the Krook House before you, the door closed. After a brief knock, Milo comes to the door. They open it up. You can see they don't have their knitted cap on. Their bright blue-colored hair falls to the side in a thick braid that dangles for a minute. They pull their glasses out and put them on. You can see they just got up from a nap and look out to the two of you.

TALIESIN: Hi.

MATT: "Hey! It's been a minute."

SAM: Smiley day to ya.

MATT: "Shit's been crazy. Where you been? Come in, come in!"

SAM: Sure.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: Looks past you all and closes the door as you come inside. The place definitely has that musty smell of getting a lot of work done. The work that they do lends to a lot of very interesting chemical smells, occasionally. But indeed, Milo plops around on the couch, looks at both of you. "Looks like you freshened up a bit, but also look a little bit like shit than where we left off. I gather there's a story here. What's going on?"

TALIESIN: Oh, boy.

MATT: "You seen this shit in the sky?"

TALIESIN: So that's actually one of the reasons why we're back.

MATT: "You do this?"

TALIESIN: That's not fair, is it? I don't--

SAM: That's fair, we did that.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

MATT: "That's so cool. You fucked with the moon?"

TALIESIN: Well, if we don't tell them anything else, I think they'll stick with, "That's cool," but--

SAM: We didn't stop it, so you could sort of say we're responsible.

TALIESIN: It's kind of bad.

MATT: "So, it's a bad thing?"

TALIESIN: Yeah, it's complicated.

MATT: "Okay, had a hunch. Just wanted to confirm. Haven't been outside in a few days."

TALIESIN: Okay, so have you noticed anything? How is your magic doing? Has anything been weird?

MATT: "Yeah, I could say..." and you watch as Milo looks around the room, and the normal workshop they keep is in complete disarray. It looks like a lot of things that they've built in the past, whether it be small trinkets or projects they're working on have been completely disassembled or are in the process of being reassembled. A lot of the glowing baubles that hang from the nets within the top are just dark. You see Milo scratches their face before going, "Yeah, some of my stuff just stopped working. I can't figure out why. I'm probably going to have to start re-enchanting, engineering from scratch. So I've been on a sleepless bender to problem-solve this from the backside in."

TALIESIN: I think we can help with a little bit of that.

MATT: "Really?"

TALIESIN: A little.

MATT: "Please."

SAM: Maybe.

MATT: "Anything you got."

SAM: Sure.

TALIESIN: Short-form answer--

MATT: "I'm going to make some coffee," and they get up and rush off to the kitchen real fast.

TALIESIN: Were your meds arcane again? I can't remember. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Shit!

SAM: What did you need from Milo?

MATT: They come back and already have a thing of coffee, and like, "I already made some, I totally forgot."

TALIESIN: You're about to find out.

MATT: Pours it out.

MATT: "It's cold, but I got something for that if it still works."

TALIESIN: I'll take-- Shit.

MATT: They dart off.

SAM: Are you okay?

TALIESIN: It's complicated. I imagine-- It's complicated. But yeah, yeah, kind of. I don't know, we'll get-- Is Milo still bouncing, or--?

MATT: Bouncing a bit. You can see from one of the back chambers, Anni Aughta looks out.

SAM: Oh.

MATT: Blinks a bit. "What time is it?"

SAM: Boy, I don't know.

TALIESIN: Tuesday?

SAM: Yeah.

MATT: "Okay."

LAURA: What's a Tuesday?

TALIESIN: Ish? Oh yeah, or whatever day--

SAM: Quen'pillar?

TALIESIN: Thank you, I know we were talking about calendars.

MATT: "I like your coat."

SAM: Oh, well, thanks. Do you want it?

MATT: "Sure."

SAM: Oh. (laughter)

TALIESIN: You didn't think that through, did you?

SAM: Nope, didn't.

MATT: "Just fucking with you. It's fine, it's fine. Glad you're alive."

TALIESIN: Thank you.

MATT: "I had money on-- Well, I just lost a little money, but you know, it's the best money I ever lost."

TALIESIN: Oh, I appreciate that. Hey, it's good to see you.

MATT: "You too. You look a little frazzled."

TALIESIN: Yes, yeah.

MATT: "More than all the time, so."

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: "Rough go?"

TALIESIN: Yeah, it's not done yet.

MATT: "It's hard to get work in this craziness, so I'm going to go smoke my way into a nap."

TALIESIN: All right.

SAM: Smoke? Whatcha smoking?

TALIESIN: Oh god.

MATT: "(chuckles) The fun stuff." (clacking) And closes the curtain.

TALIESIN: I may have some, I'll look.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: Milo comes back and pulls out a small, reddish platform stone, sits down, and puts the cold coffee on top of it like mug by mug and flicks it, and it begins to heat up a little bit. And is like, "See, huh? Okay, some things still do work!"

TALIESIN: Yeah, well, see.

MATT: "That's good."

TALIESIN: Some magic's working, some isn't. There's leyline issues, and if the leylines have shifted and--

MATT: "Right, solstice event."

TALIESIN: It looks like if you can find places where they are now, I guess, crossed, I don't know how this stuff works, but if there are conjunction points or junction points now, that's where things are still working.

MATT: "Gotcha, all right."

TALIESIN: I don't know if that helps and--

MATT: "Not really. (slurps)" They slurp down this freshly heated coffee. Then starts setting over your mugs onto the hot stone to heat them up, and is like--

TALIESIN: I have a favor for him to ask.

MATT: "Yeah."

TALIESIN: I have a big fucking favor to ask.

MATT: "Sure, I got nothing else on my plate."

TALIESIN: I hand Milo a note, and I open up the hole, walk down, grab a--

MATT: (unraveling) "Whoa! Still weird."

TALIESIN: Thank you. I come out with a bag, and I hand it to Milo. Take a look at that note.

MATT: "Okay."

TALIESIN: Go ahead.

SAM: We're just going to sit here, watching them read?

TALIESIN: It won't take long. How fast can you do that? Really, how fast can you do that?

MATT: "Uh... I may have to do a quick shopping trip, but logistically, with a 75, 76% chance of success."

TALIESIN: Don't care, go ahead. Skip to the end.

MATT: "A day and a half?"

TALIESIN: Cool, I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, if that works.

MATT: "I will go another night without sleeping. It will be a 63% chance of success."

TALIESIN: Day and a half it is.

MATT: "All right."

TALIESIN: Shit, and I pull out my hammer and I hand it.

MATT: "All right, what are you plotting?"

TALIESIN: I think I'm getting a real job.

SAM: What does that mean?

TALIESIN: I think we're going to maybe kind of save the world somehow, we'll see. Fuck it.

SAM: Yeah?

TALIESIN: Yeah, I think we're going to be some fucking heroes.

SAM: Don't you need a weapon for that?

TALIESIN: Nah.

SAM: What?

TALIESIN: Well, I mean, I'll come back for it later.

SAM: Oh, okay.

TALIESIN: All you need is love.

SAM: What? What does that mean?

TALIESIN: It's me fucking with you.

SAM: Oh shit, you're scaring me. (laughter)

MATT: Milo goes like, "Oh, okay. All right."

TALIESIN: I really mean it, and if you hear from any of the others, I need to talk to as many-- If you hear from the old crew, just please let me know. No-- yeah, I don't know.

MATT: "Okay, I'll put out some feelers."

TALIESIN: I'm going to go pick up some of my stuff that I might need.

MATT: "All right. Hey, FCG."

SAM: Yeah?

TALIESIN: I'm running back.

MATT: Kind of leans into you a bit as you get up to leave, "Keep an eye on him."

SAM: I don't like this behavior. Well, I like it, which is what I don't like about it, because it's positive and healthy.

MATT: "Scary, right?"

SAM: Yeah, doesn't seem right.

MATT: "No, but weirdly, the most right it's ever felt, which seems wrong."

SAM: Yeah, definitely.

MATT: "I'm deeply conflicted, but equally excited."

SAM: I'll try to figure out what's going on.

MATT: "Yeah, if you don't mind."

SAM: Okay.

MATT: "Ashton!"

TALIESIN: What? Oh yeah, I run back in.

MATT: "A hero? (laughs) Bet you 100 gold you fuck it up."

TALIESIN: Let me go find 100 gold, and we'll do that. Because I don't have it right now.

SAM: He's not even betting money he doesn't have. This is so weird.

TALIESIN: Yeah, no, I'm broke.

MATT: "All right." Goes and shuts the curtains and the windows, which is funny because there's no daylight that gets into here anyway.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm going to go back into the room. Do you want to grab any, I don't know what stuff you have back there, I just want to--

SAM: Grab some bits of metal and stuff, but--

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm going to grab some clothes, I think. Yeah.

SAM: Are you sure you're all right? I mean, this is what people do when they're getting ready to die or something. They come correct and turn over a new leaf. Are you dying of a disease or something?

TALIESIN: I think it's kind of the-- You know how-- I'm clearly throwing shit in the hole while I'm doing this. You know how you just can spend all your fucking time telling people to do a thing and you're doing it because it's what you need to do? Where you just see your fucking shit on other people all the fucking time.

SAM: Sure, sure.

TALIESIN: Well, I learned a lot in these last few days and I saw a lot of shit and I thought about my life and the people who have been in it and the things that have happened to me from every fucking moment and decisions and... Yeah. I think we're all going to have to be the people we need to be to do something. This is, I don't know, I don't want to be worthless right now. This is not a time to be worthless. This is not a time to be ineffective. It's not a time to be-- How to put this. I need you-- I need you to tell me about your boyfriend.

SAM: Oh, well, that's easy enough. But first, can I just hug you? I mean--

TALIESIN: Hug, just make sure you go in hard.

SAM: Will it hurt?

TALIESIN: No, just go in. It's the weird soft pressure.

SAM: I'm so proud of you, you're getting a purpose? And a trajectory, and you're thinking about others other than yourself and you're-- I can't cry, I don't have the ability to, but I would if I could. Maybe Milo could add a little dropper or something.

TALIESIN: How about I just pour some water on you next time you need to just, I'll just let it roll.

SAM: That's pretty good.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

SAM: Tear me.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

SAM: I'm proud of you. I don't know what happened to you and I don't need to.

TALIESIN: No, honestly, I mean, you're the person I should talk to about this. I don't like having things to lose, and now I have a bunch of shit to lose. So it's either I let it get lost again or maybe try not--

SAM: Fight for it.

TALIESIN: -- to fuck it up. So these fuck ups, yeah, this is fucking in it now, I don't know. You're either in it or you're not. And I've decided it's been--

SAM: Well, that is-- the way you put it, it still seems punk rock to me. (laughter)

LAURA: Love, man, love.

TALIESIN: Mm. Yeah, family's dangerous.

SAM: It sure is. As we get his stuff, I'll start telling him about everything with FRIDA, and how we met and all that.

TALIESIN: I'm so fucking proud of you, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm so proud that you finally got the thing that I have been trying to fucking give you since the day we met and I've just--

SAM: A kiss?

MARISHA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: No, no, a reason to fucking live.

SAM: Yeah.

TALIESIN: So please keep that because I am so tired of saving you from yourself. I can't anymore. So do not forget that there is some reward at the end of this. Please, I am so tired of this self-destructive shit in a lot of these people, and we need you working for so many reasons.

SAM: I mean, that coming from you probably means double because you're sort of the king of self-destructive shit, so yeah, yeah, we all need to do that.

TALIESIN: There's a reason, I don't know. I don't know why I took you back here still that time, but clearly I'm a genius. (laughter)

TALIESIN: So-- And I'm going to need that to be respected on occasion, that I am possibly the smartest person of all of these.

SAM: Absolutely, let it be known.

TALIESIN: (laughs) Oh, you're a terrible liar, bless you.

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: I'm not programmed to.

TALIESIN: Yeah, and I want you to remember that whatever happens going forward, that we are family, and it doesn't mean that just because we're going to have words with each other or get angry at each other, and I'm in no way prepping for things that are clearly going to happen. But even when we yell or even when we're going to fucking disagree in this crazy fucking thing. I don't know, I don't know, man. We're all so happy when you take care of yourself and it makes it easier. You won't have to work so hard taking care of us.

SAM: I'll do my best and yeah, I'm just excited to see this new side of you, and I'll do my best to take care of myself, too, and I'll let you know if I ever start to freak out. You do the same.

TALIESIN: Oh yeah. And yeah, let's go.

SAM: Okay.

TALIESIN: I finished putting all my stuff in.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Let's go back to the bar and hear how fucked up our time was.

TALIESIN: Use your tiger onesie to play with plastic cans. (laughter)

TALIESIN: We definitely made it better, yeah.

MATT: Kind of, yeah.

MARISHA: Wait, who painted the nails?

SAM: I think Ashley did.

ASHLEY: I did.

TALIESIN: Yeah. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Good work.

MATT: Beautiful, all right. Well, you gather the rest of your things, take the downtime you need to for the time being, and then exit for the rest of your journey out of the Fownsee Hollow. We come over to Imogen and Laudna. The two of you have splintered off. Oh no.

LIAM: Oh no. I'm leaving the table.

MATT: Oh no. (groaning)

TRAVIS: Not correct.

MARISHA: Not true.

SAM: You're right, you're right, you're right.

ASHLEY: No, it's true.

SAM: I'll fix it. (laughter)

TALIESIN: How did you, no-- Don't look, don't look, I want you to be surprised like the rest of us.

TRAVIS: Yeah, we'll just keep going like it's no big deal.

MATT: Anyway, Imogen and Laudna.

LAURA: He's not distracting at all.

MATT: Not in the slightest. What are the two of you up to?

LAURA: You're such a dick. (laughs)

SAM: How's that?

LAURA: Oh, okay, much better, thank you.

MATT: Sure.

TRAVIS: Conditional.

LAURA: Yeah. (laughs) Such a dick!

MARISHA: Should we check on Zhudanna first?

LAURA: Of course.

MARISHA: All right. All right.

MATT: All righty. So the two of you trek not terribly far from Viduun-Devaar, and you come to the mass neighborhood of multicolored homesteads that are built like this leaning quilt against the side of a large portion of the Core Spire. The neighborhood itself, beautiful and welcoming. For all the things that you've seen, and all the wonders that you've been able to behold in recent months, journey with your new companions. There is the simple beauty of coming to one of many homes that you've called home, especially one as welcoming as Zhudanna's. Trekking through the winding staircases and small walkways that weave between some of these homesteads as you ascend the stark angle to get to the exterior of her simple home. You see the familiar windows and door that sits closed at the front.

LAURA: I called her, checked in on her, to see if she had heard from you. Apparently I can do it over short distances still, just not--

MARISHA: But not long ones, all right, yeah.

LAURA: She sounded frazzled.

MARISHA: Zhudanna did? It's understandable, I guess. It's been a lot going on.

LAURA: (knocks)

MATT: (door unlocks)

MARISHA: This is where it all started.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: "Hello?"

MARISHA: Zhudanna!

MATT: "Oh my goodness."

LAURA: Hi.

MATT: "It's so good to see both of you. It's been quite some time. Oh, please, come in, come in."

LAURA and ASHLEY: (laugh)

LAURA: I give her a hug.

MARISHA: Yeah, same. Little group hug.

LAURA: Take a seat, go sit, sit back down.

MATT: "I'm fragile."

LAURA: Yeah, sit back down.

MARISHA: I can relate.

LAURA: Let's make some tea. I'll go start making tea.

TRAVIS: I'll roll for--

MARISHA: If we break her spine? (laughter)

MATT: "You spoke to me through like a daydream."

LAURA: I did, yeah, yeah.

MATT: "It was very nice to hear your voice."

LAURA: You as well. Did you end up renting the rooms out again or did you keep them empty?

MATT: "Oh no, I just kind of-- I kind of liked the solace for a bit, and wanted to leave it in case you came back."

MARISHA: And the gold we've given you has sustained you?

MATT: "Oh, tremendously, I've taken up painting."

MARISHA and LAURA: (gasp)

MATT: You see the room where you stayed, she pulls the door open and looks. While the bed and everything is still set up there, there's also an easel, and you can see there's this really nice watercolor and dapple brush rendition of the Viduun-Devaar, but it's bleeding in an intentional way. It's very interesting and very pretty.

LAURA: She's talented.

MARISHA: Wow.

LAURA: You're talented.

MATT: "Thank you."

MARISHA: Are you still knitting?

MATT: "I am in between, but this is also taking a lot of my time."

MARISHA: It's beautiful.

MATT: "Thank you. Are you here to stay for a bit? Would you like to take the room again? I have some oranges," and she goes and gets a bowl of oranges.

MARISHA: I'm having an orange.

MATT: Pulls apart little slices.

LAURA: Thank you, Zhudanna.

MARISHA: Thank you. Don't want scurvy. (laughs)

LAURA: Um.

MARISHA: We-- We won't be staying, it seems. Maybe for tonight.

LAURA: Oh yeah, if that's all right.

MATT: "Sure, yes."

MARISHA: We have a little dinner planned, and then we'll maybe come by after.

MATT: "Of course, I'll get it ready, don't worry."

MARISHA: How have you been? Especially with the recent events.

MATT: "I've been a little-- It's been a little scary."

LAURA: Yeah, it has.

MATT: "Everyone's very tense. I haven't gone outside much in recent days. I should go shopping soon, but there's a lot of unfamiliar soldiers."

LAURA: We'll go get you some groceries. We're going to go get you some groceries right now.

MARISHA: That sounds great.

LAURA: You stay here, we'll be back.

MATT: "Okay, I'll get the bed ready."

MARISHA: Oh, no rush. You don't have to do that, we can handle it ourselves this evening.

MATT: "Okay."

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: "See you in a little bit then."

MARISHA: Any requests? Looks like you're good on oranges. Looks like that's the only thing you have.

MATT: "Well, it's mostly just oranges. I like them a lot. But no, if I could get some cauliflower, about a half pound of potatoes."

LIAM: Those go well with oranges.

MATT: "Some fresh lemons, not pre-squeezed. It needs to be fresh."

LAURA: Yeah, fresh.

MATT: "Two loaves of bread."

LAURA: So all the usual.

MATT: Starts going on this full list of restocking the house.

MARISHA: We'll do a sweep.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah.

MARISHA: Don't worry about it.

LAURA: Yeah, we got you.

MARISHA: All right.

MATT: "A bit of lavender oil." (laughter)

TRAVIS: Getting fancy.

MARISHA: I know. That's expensive--

MATT: "Oh, I can afford it; you gave me a whole lot of money." (laughter)

TALIESIN: Organic.

MARISHA: We did.

LAURA: We'll be back.

LIAM: I know.

MATT: "Okay."

TALIESIN: No.

LAURA: As we go shopping, I imagine we don't have to play that all out. This is not how I imagined reuniting would go.

MARISHA: I'm sorry for my outburst.

LAURA: I'm sorry y'all went through so much.

MARISHA: It's not, it's not directed at you or anyone else, I hope you know that.

LAURA: I-I-- I do.

MARISHA: Just the circumstances. That's what's frustrating.

LAURA: It is weird, Laudna. I can't hear your thoughts.

MARISHA: Even now?

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: Because your circlet? That's great, that's--

LAURA: It's great, but it's also strange. It's very strange.

MARISHA: Does it make crowded environments--

LAURA: So much better.

MARISHA: -- easier? That's wonderful. You don't have to listen in to get my thoughts.

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: I'll always share them willingly, you can just ask.

LAURA: Can I kiss you? I can't tell if it's all right or not anymore.

MARISHA: All right. (extremely surprised laughter)

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: (surprised laughs)

MARISHA: All right.

LAURA: All right. So, I will. I do, I do.

MARISHA: Oh god.

LAURA: I kiss her. (laughter)

SAM: Describe it.

MATT: No!

SAM: Describe it! This is what you do.

MATT: (shouts) Use your imagination.

SAM: (shouts) You paint with your words, Matt!

TALIESIN: I will wait.

MATT: (laughs) Continue your scene. (laughter)

SAM: I'll describe it.

MATT: God, no.

LIAM: Three for three, Marisha.

MARISHA: (laughs)

LAURA: Hey.

ASHLEY: (laughs)

MARISHA: I was making a dead person who wasn't romanceable.

LAURA: I know, I know. (laughs)

SAM: Oh. Eugh. (laughter) (laughter)

LIAM: Stop it, stop it. (laughter)

LAURA: You don't have to--

MARISHA: No, I just--

LAURA: I just--

MARISHA: Obviously I care for you, an immense deal.

LAURA: I know.

MARISHA: I don't, I don't know if you realize how much of an anchor you are for me. And when you weren't, when you weren't there, I was adrift. (tearily) And Imogen, when-- you make me better, and when you weren't there, I did horrible things. I'm afraid... I'm a bad person, Imogen.

LAURA: You're not a bad person. You're not a bad person.

MARISHA: I kiss her again.

LAURA: I've heard everything inside of you, Laudna. You are not a bad person. I called you my anchor, my tether. We're that for each other. Whatever you did, you can tell me.

MARISHA: When Bor'Dor betrayed us, it was just-- it was the last-- I was so strained and stressed, and at the end of my rope, and literally hanging on by a thread, and he was just... I couldn't deal with one more person betraying us. We put our trust in him, and Deni$e and Prism, just as you all did with Deanna and FRIDA. Just like you and other, so many other people who have betrayed us in the past. It broke me, and I couldn't let him live.

LAURA: Oh. Had he attacked you or was it--

MARISHA: Yes, this was after he revealed that he was with the Ruby Vanguard, and he unleashed this acid sphere, this Vitriolic Sphere upon all of us, and watched several people go down, and I lost, I lost control, and... (tearily) I lost control. And I haven't asked, but I think she's back. I think she's back. And I just feel so guilty, because of what all of you all went through to defeat her, and in just in that moment. I went-- I was another person, and I sucked the life force out of him. And then I've-- I felt it. I felt that dull, deep beating heart that wasn't mine, return.

LAURA: (sighs)

MARISHA: And I haven't felt it in months. I'm so sorry. It feels just like such, such a betrayal to everything you all went through.

LAURA: You don't need to apologize. He attacked you, first of all. Fuck him.

MARISHA: Yes.

LAURA: And whatever happened with her, we'll make it right again. We'll make it right again. All right?

MARISHA: Can I be honest with you?

LAURA: Always.

MARISHA: There's part of me that thinks maybe we shouldn't. We're about to face the grandest challenges of our lives.

LAURA: You want to use her? Make yourself stronger?

MARISHA: Laudna has a hard time even admitting it out loud.

LAURA: I get it. Look at the fucking moon in this sky. I don't know if I want to get rid of it. Power's very tempting, and I won't judge you either way.

MARISHA: Maybe we can-- Maybe it's our destiny to harness.

LAURA: Maybe it's our destiny to fight it.

MARISHA: I guess time will tell.

LAURA: Together, either way.

MARISHA: You're very capable.

LAURA: (laughs) Let's get these groceries.

MARISHA: Do you think she's a rye kind of a woman or a wholewheat?

LAURA: Pumpernickel.

MARISHA: Pumpernickel, of course, she would love pumpernickel.

MATT: As you're doing this, you begin to hear there's--

TRAVIS: Whoa.

MATT: -- some louder whispers--

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Whoa.

MATT: -- from around part of the marketplace. You hear there's some "What's, what's, what's what's going on?" "Sh, sh, sh, listen." There's a crowd gathering not too far from the core of the marketplace. You glance over to where it is, and there's about two dozen or so people gathered in a circular area. And you hear a voice, a familiar voice.

LAURA: (gasps)

MARISHA: I mean, we hurry over.

MATT: Yeah. You catch phrases, familiar. "We were never meant to be bound by their laws."

LAURA: It's Ludinus. Fuck!

MATT: "We were always meant to rise above them." As you hear the voice speaking--

MARISHA: Does it sound like it's echoey, like over a loud speaker, or like a person?

MATT: It sounds like a person.

LAURA: (gasps) (pen drops dramatically)

SAM: What?

LAURA: (shakily) Is he there?

TRAVIS: Get there, get eyes on him.

MARISHA: Is he there? We're going, we're going.

MATT: You rush up, and in this crowd, there is a fountain in the middle of this area, and floating above the fountain in a semi-transparent illusory image is Ludinus--

LAURA: Just in case, I'm putting my hood up.

MATT: -- giving a speech, not unlike the one that you heard at the base of the Malleus Key. Speaking of continued themes of the time to finally rise past the imposed destiny, to no longer be the beasts of burden, but be the driving force of our future and our fates.

MARISHA: Does it sound like it's just this single spot in the city or can we pick up echoes like it's surround sound, like he's got multiple of these going on.

MATT: This, from what you can tell, it's all coming from this source, and the volume is carrying out for about this neighborhood. More people are gathering, some folk are seeing this from a distance, and you can now see it's got the attention of the entire neighborhood. It's about now that two warden guards start rushing up, and start pushing through the crowd to get over there, and one of them is like, "Fuck, another one." They both jump into the fountain, and you see them looking through the water as the illusion is flickering a bit. One of them ends up pulling up this small crystalline sphere and throws it on the ground. The other one smashes it with his hammer (shattering)

MARISHA: Shit!

MATT: As it does the illusion (buzzing) flickers out and vanishes. "Go on, get to your days."

LAURA: What's the reaction of the crowd listening to the--

MATT: Most of it seems to be fear and confusion. Make an insight check for me.

TRAVIS: First roll.

LIAM: First roll of the night!

LAURA: 21.

MATT: 21, not bad. General glance, reading the crowd--

LAURA: First roll.

MARISHA: It's weird.

TRAVIS: Always fucking talking about stuff.

MATT: First glance at the crowd looking around, most people appear to be, this is adding onto their general anxiety about the continued solstice, the moon in the sky. Everyone's already been keeping to themselves. When this happens, people gather, and as soon as it's gone, they all realize they're clustered around each other, and they're all looking at each other's faces, and a lot of them feel like they just want to get away from the center of the crowd. A handful of people seem to be taking a moment to absorb and walking away. The wardens are immediately dispersing this gathering. You gather this probably isn't the first time they've done this.

LAURA: Well, that's news.

MARISHA: Must be regular occurrences. Can I even, it's probably fruitless, but grab a few of the shards.

MATT: Certainly, yeah.

MARISHA: They shattered.

MATT: Yeah, as soon as it's broken the guard's going right to pushing the crowd apart and you can quickly dive up and grab a cluster.

LAURA: Is it sharp? (laughs) You'll cut your little hands.

MATT: I mean, if you were to crush it, it would probably cut in parts of it, but it's--

MARISHA: My paper skin.

MATT: Yeah. (laughs)

ASHLEY: Crystal sphere.

MATT: Yeah, it's not a glass exterior with the shards. It's more like a broken crystal sphere that was about that large, a small material almost.

MARISHA: That means he has allies distributing these.

LAURA: Yeah. I keep my hood up the rest of the walk, just in case.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Let's get these groceries back. Join the others.

MATT: All right.

MARISHA: Let's get this fucking-- Drop off these groceries. (laughter)

MATT: All right, so you drop off your groceries, and you continue your shopping through the day. Is there anything specifically you want to do while shopping?

LAURA: Oh yeah, maybe we should. Do you want to get a dress?

MARISHA: I do kind of want to get a dress.

TRAVIS: I'll be back. (laughter)

MARISHA: You know, we don't have to make it a big deal, and you guys are going to have to get dresses, too, but I imagine-- what does the corset look like? Did you guys, or does everyone--

LAURA: No, I wanted you to be able to design it.

LIAM: It's player's choice.

MARISHA: Okay.

LAURA: I just said I got you a corset. But if you wanted to describe it.

MARISHA: I imagine it's maybe black, but got some embroidered flowers on.

LAURA: Oh my god, that's exactly what I had planned.

MARISHA: Really? (laughter)

TRAVIS: I won't projectile vomit on it this time. (laughter)

MARISHA: Can I imagine, you know, because Laudna has a little bit of money now, and so she would probably lean into her, you know, her regency romance era.

ASHLEY: Ooh.

MARISHA: You know.

MATT: Okay, okay.

LAURA: Oh my gosh, I have the "Pride and Prejudice" thing going, too.

MARISHA: I know and I'm going to be like, "Kind of love what you have going on."

LAURA: You wait, I'm going to take off my jacket so you can see the full dress, because it's so fricking cute, right?

MARISHA: It's so fantastic. I mean, it's hard to find dresses like that here, too.

LAURA: She was so talented, this dressmaker.

MARISHA: Was that custom?

LAURA: Yes.

MARISHA: What the fuck?

LAURA: I know, I know.

MARISHA: You guys had such a better trip than us. I'll just find something off the rack, but maybe it's like-- (laughter)

MARISHA: Maybe it's a little off the shoulder situation, and if it's a black corset, I don't want the blacks to clash, you know? So, but maybe it's like a deep purple.

TRAVIS: Is that a thing?

MARISHA: Yeah. You know how blacks don't match.

LAURA: Sometimes, it's a reddish black, and a bluish black, and they look wrong together.

MARISHA: It looks weird, especially in the light.

LAURA: Some of the blacks look almost brown.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Never in my life did I hear that blacks would clash.

MARISHA: There are blacks that don't mix.

LAURA: Travis.

TRAVIS: I don't know! (laughter)

LAURA: I'll show you.

TRAVIS: That blue does not go with that blue.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: It's like Flashdance.

MARISHA: That's even more a thing.

TALIESIN: You've never danced.

TRAVIS: Yeah, now I will be back. All right. (laughter)

MARISHA: So I imagine she's trying to emulate the lords and the ladies that she always had a mild obsession with, but maybe it's a little off the shoulder situation. Maybe a dark purple, but it's got a high neck lace, black lace.

LAURA: Ooh.

MARISHA: Like, collar line. Like a little, still Victorian spooky, so it's got that and maybe a flared skirt that's got that regency era, like slit in the middle with a different color underneath.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

MARISHA: And a corset, of course. Maybe it's that.

MATT: Cool.

LAURA: Maybe it's that.

MARISHA: We'll figure it out with the artist.

MATT: Okay, there you go.

MARISHA: Call Hannah. Yeah.

LIAM: What do you mean? What artist?

MARISHA: Oh, oh, and oh, she-- Okay, here's the thing.

LAURA: Oh, oh, I also have these gloves if you want them. They're the--

MARISHA: You got me gloves?!

LAURA: Well, no, they're the Weavepiercer Gloves.

MARISHA: What is that?

LAURA: Okay, here I have the thing here. Weavepiercer Gloves.

MARISHA: They're magic gloves?

LAURA: They're magic gloves.

MARISHA: You got me magic gloves?!

LAURA: Check them out.

MARISHA: I didn't get you anything.

LAURA: No, no. No.

MARISHA: We were in the fucking woods.

LAURA: I had your vial on me the whole time. Just look and see if you want them.

MARISHA: These gloves can act as a focus for (mumbles). Plus do what?

LAURA: I know! (laughter)

MARISHA: (mumbles) What, do what?

LAURA: I had them on, but I had to take them off to hold this fucking staff. But you can have them, they're amazing.

LIAM: You just gave the word "staff" eight syllables.

ALL: (southern accent) Sta-aff.

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: I love it, maybe they're black lace gloves like a little Madonna, and they match my neckline.

LAURA: Oh my god.

TALIESIN: They clash with all the black, though.

MARISHA: I could make that happen. So, the belts that I have been wearing was originally put on me by Delilah to make me look like what's her face.

LAURA: Oh!

MARISHA: I had it forever because it was the most--

LAURA: Vex, her name was Vex. She was amazing.

MARISHA: That's right! Vex, right.

LAURA: Lady Vex'ahlia. Yeah.

MARISHA: Yes, that's right, the Lady. But you know, it was the nicest thing that I ever wore, that was ever put on me. So it's just really, I mean it's, well, it lasted for forever. But I take the double belt and I take my, my Pâté house that Chetney made me and I'm going to attach, with a little bit of Mending, the belt straps to it.

LAURA: (gasps)

MARISHA: Make it a backpack!

LAURA: (laughs)

SAM: Ooh, cool.

MATT: That's pretty rad, okay.

ASHLEY: Oh my god!

LAURA: A Pâté backpack?

ASHLEY: A Pâté house?

MARISHA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. As a Pâté house, a wooden house on her back.

ASHLEY: Come on!

MARISHA: It's a little Baba Yaga. Yeah, so, regency era.

MATT: We're getting more into the woods witch aesthetic.

ASHLEY: With ribbon straps?

MARISHA: She doesn't know that.

MATT: I love it, I love it.

MARISHA: So yeah, she has the-- Chetney!

TRAVIS: What? (laughter)

MARISHA: I'm wearing your house as a backpack now.

TRAVIS: Fuck!

LAURA: No, it's great! (laughter)

MARISHA: Yes. She's got--

MATT: Awesome.

MARISHA: -- this wooden hut on her shoulders now.

LAURA: I love it.

SAM: Cool.

MATT: All righty.

MARISHA: Yes.

MATT: All right.

TRAVIS: I got your neck.

MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)

MATT: As you are finishing up your shopping, we're going to move onto Fearne, Orym, and Chetney. So your troop ends up--

MARISHA: What the fuck?

MATT: -- careening through-- Yeah, wow. Careening through the comparably--

ASHLEY: That was exciting.

MATT: -- barren to previous times you passed through the city streets of Jrusar until you come to the exterior of the sprawling establishment known as Dayal Hall. You can see there are the large open archways, and there are the multi inset into the ground, circular amphitheater sort of classroom step sections of the hall as you begin to approach. Though, the last time you were here it was filled with children of multiple ages and there were multiple people talking. Here it looks like there is just one group of about eight children that are gathered a bit close. You can see Ajit is in the process of talking with them. You can see there are two other employees or at least associates that are off to the sides, keeping watch off to the outside road. As you approach they glance over and curiously lean in before one of them recognizes you from the last time you were here and relaxes a bit. They both just keep an eye, though. As you approach the exterior you can hear him speaking to the children. "It is at that point that the true birth of mathematics found its way into not just the way that we discuss and operate numerical value in Exandria, but also it became a strong weave within how magic itself is constructed. That's why it's important to make sure you pay attention when we're teaching you mathematics." Some of the children are like, "Uh-huh."

ASHLEY: (whispering) There's a lot of it you won't use.

MATT: They all look around and he looks up at you. "Ah."

ASHLEY: Sorry.

MATT: "Let's go ahead and adjourn for a quick recess. Toman, if you want to get them some snacks. We'll continue our class here in about, say about 20, 30 or so minutes. Thank you, students." They scatter off. They're talking amongst themselves but you see they're also looking at this strange trio of newcomers. You can see many of them are locked eyes and almost bumping into things because they're not paying attention to where they're walking.

TRAVIS: Keep up with your studies!

ASHLEY: Work hard!

MATT: Ajit approaches. He has this really nice day wear coat, with a high collar, a Sherwani vibe to it, but it's a little bit shorter, you know, just past the mid thigh. Approaches, cups his hands. "Friends, it's been a bit."

LIAM: Hi.

MATT: "Hi."

LIAM: We're back.

MATT: "I can already tell you approach with a very intense purpose."

TRAVIS: What up, AD?

MARISHA: (chuckles)

LIAM: Yeah, we've been out of town for weeks and gather things have changed here as much as they have in our travels.

MATT: "It's certainly been-- Been a different time. Jrusar hasn't quite seen so much attention." As he looks past you all, he's looking in the direction of the sky port. Even from here you can see the cluster of skyships that are still up there, docked beyond its capacity. It's clustered maybe right now close to 10 or so. It looks like it was built to house four at a time.

LIAM: That all happen in a hurry?

MATT: "Yeah. The days leading up to the solstice, a number of skyships approached from the north, docked briefly, and then went south. Since the solstice has occurred, its been a steady stream from all manner of places. This ominous moon business has definitely seen quite a larger military presence this side of Marquet. We're ill built to house such a interesting flow through of people."

LIAM: I don't want to over burden you with details, but we've just come from out in that direction. As he gestures towards the moon. Looking into it. Trouble that way. I guess we're back briefly and we are on the move, but just wondering what the rumors are around town about what everyone here has seen.

MATT: "Hm. Well, from what I have heard, amongst all this chaos, the people of the city, of course, are very scared, they're confused. They want answers. But the Quorum assures everyone everything's under control, to remain with their day-to-day activities. But it's hard to hide the strange, foreign armies that continue to arrive and pass through. They all seem to be heading to the Hellcatch and, of course, when that many foreign soldiers are heading towards what is now a massive, glowing, red, ominous sign of impending doom, the people are a little riled, the children especially. And we're working hard to keep those here who don't necessarily have families to go back to calm, and those that do, to stay with them until times can feel safer."

LIAM: Is the military keeping pretty tight lipped about everything?

MATT: "As far as I know, yes. A few get drunk here and there and let a few things slip, but it seems like there's an alliance going on between a number of foreign figures. There's definitely Issylran influence here. Actually, about a day ago, the leader of Ank'Harel was here meeting with the Chandei Quorum. It looks like they're also reaching out to the Stratos Throne to possibly try and ally as well to see how many people we can get across Marquet and beyond to all look towards this as one."

TRAVIS: Sorry, the leader of Ank'Harel, that would be?

MATT: "Oh, uh--" He takes a moment to think for a second. "That's J'mon Sa Ord."

TRAVIS: What an interesting name.

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: "However, people who don't understand the scope of celestial events like this tend to go off of what they know. In recent history with the Apex War, many people are beginning to believe and spread rumors that this has all been orchestrated by the Stratos Throne and there's a new Apex War brimming. So, those of us who push for truth and honesty are trying our best to push back at these rumors. But scared people spread scared thoughts. It doesn't help that many of the doomsayers start shouting for the possibility of a second Calamity. So, the people are understandably stressed. There's also been a bunch of-- Hm. Many of the localized enchantments that the city has relied on have, of course, broken during the time. Many of the automatons that run the cables between the spires are still being repaired. A number of the additional services usually relegated to the affluent of the city have been commandeered by the Quorum and made accessible on a need-to-use basis. However, some prisoners are also bound by magic."

LAURA: I knew it.

MATT: "And a number of imprisoned, dangerous criminals within Jrusar have since been broken out of prison and are being sought after."

LAURA: Arkham Asylum.

MATT: "So the wardens are very much on high alert."

TRAVIS: Hence the extra fuzz.

MATT: "Indeed, the Ivory Syndicate leader, Levtonia, was one of them, and they vanished within the city."

ASHLEY: Did you say? Who did you--

TRAVIS: Levtonia?

ASHLEY: Say it one more time. I'm so sorry.

MATT: "Levtonia."

LIAM: Oh, the one who was slimy and slipped through a hole.

SAM: Levtonia?

LIAM: Yeah.

LAURA: Oh no, not that. Never mind.

MATT: "But everything's under control according to the Quorum."

TRAVIS: Sure, sure.

LIAM: The temple's business as usual?

MATT: "Interestingly enough, the Prakash Pyre has not lit its beacon at full flame since the solstice began, and the temple has been shy in opening its doors."

LIAM: Orym has been debating for two minutes whether or not to share everything they know. If there's even any use to, or anything to gain for Ajit or us to do so.

TRAVIS: Any unwelcome visitors to Jrusar? I mean, aside from the creepy-ass, overbearing skyships. Violence in the streets?

MATT: "No violence, just a lot of fear, a lot of panic. A lot of misinformation, and a growing discontent with that lack of information. I feel if we have a few more weeks of this, without defined answers from the Quorum, we're likely to see a rise in violence."

LIAM: What are your guesses?

MATT: "Towards what? All of this? (laughs)"

LIAM: That.

MATT: He looks out towards Ruidus and-- "(sighs) The Moon of Ill Omen has so many superstitions that surround it. I can't even deign to imagine what sort of dark omen this represents. If that's it spilling some evil seed upon the land beneath it, it's not far from where we live. That is something I don't want to conjecture."

LIAM: Yeah, well, someone out there is trying to figure out how to use it. Ajit, keep your loved ones safe and close.

TRAVIS: Ooh, ooh, ooh! You should ask him about the old spirit beings you guys encountered. The idol.

LIAM: The eidolons?

TRAVIS: Yeah!

LIAM: You ever heard that word?

MATT: "I can't say I'm familiar with that term in particular. My apologies."

ASHLEY: Insight check. (laughter)

TRAVIS: There she is.

MATT: Go ahead and roll an insight check, Fearne. (laughter)

ASHLEY: No reason. Don't worry. I'm just checking.

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: Just totally forgot about it?

TALIESIN: I have to roll bad to get the handle anyway, so.

ASHLEY: 26.

TALIESIN: So yes.

MATT: Jeez!

SAM: Oh my god, whispers!

TRAVIS: Woo!

ASHLEY: Woo!

SAM: Join forces with the Mighty Nein to take on the terrifying Uk'otoa! Oh, this is brought to you by WizKids. Pre-order this behemoth today.

TALIESIN: I made a note afterward.

MARISHA: WizKids!

SAM: Expand your collection of--

MARISHA: WizKids.

TALIESIN: Kids.

SAM: -- Critical Role miniatures at--

MARISHA: WizKids.

SAM: -- .io/CRMinis, or your--

MARISHA: WizKids.

SAM: -- local game store.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: "(sighs)"

ASHLEY: How are you doing in all this?

MATT: He's been keeping this air of stoic positivity. When you ask him this question, you watch his shoulders drop and he exhales deeply. "The tough thing about being responsible for many good and scared people, is they need someone to hold it together."

ASHLEY: I understand. It's really hard to have all that responsibility on your shoulder, to have to be the strong one, you know.

MATT: "Yeah."

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: "But I'll be all right in time. As long as they're okay, I'll be okay."

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: Ajit, check it. So we've been out and about and we found some cool old magic shit. Now, I usually get down with a little, ♪ wicky, wicky, wicky ♪ magic, but I was wondering if you might have anybody that we can check with that might have some, you know, old-ass knowledge of stuff that might be around and not locked in their abode.

ASHLEY: Old old. Old, old. Old, old.

TRAVIS: Old, old. Old, old!

MATT: "Mm-- Let me check. Wait here just a moment," and he wanders off into one of the doors that lead into the main Dayal Hall structure that's built into the rock of the Core Spire.

TRAVIS: We don't have to, I just figured it could be a resource to back up, you know.

ASHLEY: No, that was a very good call.

TRAVIS: If he tries to take it, we kill him.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, of course.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: Less than a minute later, the door opens and Ajit returns walking with an arm on the shoulder of this extremely elderly man. Old enough to the point where the shoulders have pushed deeply forward and the back is this heavy arch. Very bald, thinning hair, but this gentle smile. The eyes are very beady. This white chin beard that continues to scraggle off into this big puff where all the hair has just moved to the chin.

TRAVIS: Gravity's a bitch.

MATT: Yep. (laughter)

TRAVIS: It's all coming down.

MATT: He's wearing these nice, comfortable robes that drape and drag behind. "This is Daramon. He was a mentor to me. I look after him in his later years. But he's the one scholar we might have that could help. He looks at the rest of you. "Hello, friends, it is very nice to meet you. Oh, what are we doing?"

TRAVIS: Oh, it's very nice to meet you, as well. A friend of Ajit is a friend of ours. We don't want to take up too much of your time, but we did come across a rather unusual, older, perhaps arcane item. I was wondering if maybe we could get your very learned eyes on it?

MATT: "Certainly, it would be my pleasure to take a look at it."

TRAVIS: Orym, are we alone?

LIAM: What, the three of us?

TRAVIS: As much as we can tell? The five of us.

LIAM: Oh, is anyone watching right now? Yeah, Orym does a 360.

MATT: There are many children about 100 feet away from you that are looking from a distance.

LIAM: But is there anyone we don't want?

MATT: You're far enough away from the main street that most anybody who's present or even take notice of it is likely to be people who work here, but make a perception check to see if anyone marked that from beyond.

LAURA: ♪ One of those kids is Ludinus ♪

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS and LIAM: (laughs)

LIAM: It's a 21.

MATT: 21. No, best you can tell, most anybody who's paying attention at the moment is within or affiliated with the Dayal Hall.

TRAVIS: I will look around the Bag of Holding and I will pull out el crusty vest de Ludinus since we don't have a name.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Old fuddleduck. (laughter)

MATT: You see Ajit look at it, looks back a bit confused. The old gentleman reaches for it and takes it. "Oh, this is, um, very peculiar, um..."

LAURA: (squeakily) It's a sex harness! (laughter)

MATT: "Don't let the children see this."

LIAM: I haven't seen one of those in a long time.

MATT: "Ah. (chuckles) I have no idea."

TRAVIS: Oh! Okay. (groaning)

TRAVIS: Shit!

MATT: "Sorry. Can I finish my soup?" (laughter)

MATT: He just-- (laughter)

MATT: (Ajit) "Yes, you may. Yes, you may."

SAM: And all two soup drops.

TRAVIS: Worth a try. (laughter)

MARISHA: Oh my god!

TRAVIS: You said they got the leader of Ank'Harel, J'mon Sa Ord, and the Stratos Throne involved. They're suspicious against the Stratos Throne. Are they meeting up here in Jrusar or just moving in action, in concert on whatever's happening out there?

LIAM: Gearing up and passing through?

MATT: "I'm not deeply affiliated with the inner workings of the Quorum, especially in this time of crisis, but those I do know, J'mon had been here for a few days and just left a day ago."

TRAVIS: Son of a bitch.

MATT: "It wouldn't surprise me if they are having meetings adjacent to the core of this in the Hellcatch, but I can continue to ask some questions and should I hear anything, I can keep that information at the ready when next we talk or meet."

TRAVIS: That would be great.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Did you hearing anything when that dumbass was talking during the Solstice, the guy that was like, "I'm going to do all this stuff and..." Did you hear him, too, Ludinus?

MATT: "I don't believe I did."

ASHLEY: Oh.

TRAVIS: (whispers) He would technically...

ASHLEY: We didn't--

TRAVIS: We weren't there.

ASHLEY: Never mind.

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: Oh.

TRAVIS: Has to be your fountain.

ASHLEY: No, no, no. Not now.

MARISHA: She's talking--

ASHLEY: During the Solstice.

MARISHA: Apogee Solstice.

TRAVIS: Oh, oh, oh, oh.

MARISHA: Both times.

TRAVIS: Gotcha, gotcha.

MATT: Right, right.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MARISHA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: I thought everybody heard it.

LAURA: But we didn't hear it in Uthodurn. They didn't hear it in Uthodurn.

ASHLEY: That's right.

MATT: Yeah. To clarify a bit, it seems the pattern is proximity to the nexus points of the leylines.

SAM: Mm.

ASHLEY: That's right.

LAURA: Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

LIAM: I think we're--

TRAVIS: I think so.

LIAM: -- good, yeah?

TRAVIS: Anything else, Fearne?

ASHLEY: I don't think so.

TRAVIS: Okay.

ASHLEY: I really thought I was on to something, but then I wasn't. (laughter)

ASHLEY: I forgot about something.

MATT: No, no.

MARISHA: I think you might still be on to something, just the wrong audience.

ASHLEY: Yes, yes.

MATT: Well no, but you also clarified that separation between the two as well.

ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: Some people heard it, some people didn't.

MARISHA: Yeah.

MATT: "One thing to keep in mind, as I've also heard that you've dallied a bit with the Hubatt Corsairs last time you were here, some of the Mahaan houses are seeking to forgive higher profiles of the Corsairs. They can conscript them in this time where they need more hands. So at least for the time being, if you do encounter them in a negative light, just do know that they are allied with the Quorum and likely best to not come to blows."

TRAVIS: Oh.

LIAM: Copy that, thank you.

ASHLEY: Wait, weren't you friends with the Gorgynei?

MATT: "I had an affiliation with them, yeah."

ASHLEY: We went to go see them.

MATT: "Oh, how did that pan out for you?"

TRAVIS: It was great!

ASHLEY: Yeah, it was great.

TRAVIS: The Gorgynei were amazing. Yeah.

ASHLEY: Sorry, did I say it weird?

TRAVIS: No, no, it was cool. Just, the emphásis was on the wrong sylláble.

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: It was great. I met up with a whole bunch of Gorgynei and they were all sorts of different types. It was beautiful, and I found my inner... My inner beast and I've become more in tune with it. My magnetism grows day by day.

LAURA: ♪ Day by day ♪

TALIESIN: ♪ Day by day ♪

MARISHA and ASHLEY: (laugh)

MATT: "I'm very happy to hear that. Curses concern me for those who aren't prepared to embrace what it means to live with such a challenge. Those that meet these challenges and live well is rare and worth celebrating."

TRAVIS: I hear you, baby, this face is a curse. Hm.

LAURA: (chuckles)

MATT: "Anyway..." (laughs)

LIAM: Well, thanks for taking time out of your day. We appreciate it.

MATT: "Of course. Stay safe and sane out there. I have a deepening suspicion that it's only going to get stranger."

ASHLEY: Wait, isn't there the Duskmaven Temple here?

MATT: "There is--"

ASHLEY: Any news? Any weirdness?

MATT: "I'm not a pious man. I can look into it for you, but..."

ASHLEY: Okay, sure.

LAURA: That's a good thought, though. That's a really good thought.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Maybe just check it out. I don't know, for no reason.

MATT: "You're welcome to go check it out yourself as well."

ASHLEY: Right.

MARISHA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Maybe that'll be... We'll just do that.

MATT: "It's on the Smolder Spire."

ASHLEY: Smolder Spire, that's right.

MATT: "On the top street network of the Smolder Spire. Kind of hard to miss."

ASHLEY: Sure, sure, sure. Okay.

LIAM: Do you want to, I actually do not need, if we're going-- Thank you. (laughter)

MATT: "Of course. Do you need anything else from me?"

LIAM: No, we just needed the lay of the land. You did that heartily.

MATT: "I'll keep asking around, and if I hear anything, I'll try and find you. In the meantime, I guess recess is over and I hope you are all working on your multiplication tables."

ASHLEY: Back to work!

MATT: They sort of begin to gather quickly. They start walking, one of the kids you hear is like, "Why is she so furry?"

ASHLEY: Why are you so hairless?

MATT: "Oh..."

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: He looks at himself, and the little girl goes, "See!" The kid just stands there, staring at you before backing back up.

TRAVIS: Yeah, mind your tongue. She's making a list, checking it twice.

MARISHA: Oh god! (laughs)

TALIESIN: You owned him.

LAURA: Oh god, is Fearne the new Santa?

ASHLEY: (gasps) Mrs. Santa Claus?

MATT: (laughs) Oh my gosh.

SAM: Steals things and gives them to other people.

LAURA: Instead she just steals their shit.

SAM: In your big pouch.

TALIESIN: Lady Claus.

ASHLEY: I'm going to decide who's naughty or nice.

MARISHA: Not one of the reindeer.

TALIESIN: No.

LIAM: The Claus is out.

MARISHA: Definitely.

TALIESIN: The Claus, yeah.

LIAM: Hooves are in.

ASHLEY and MARISHA: (laugh)

MATT: The original Santa used to make toys. She just redistributes them.

SAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yes. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

LIAM: Sorry, I was going to say--

TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: -- I was thinking of looking for an upgrade today, but if we're going home, if I'm going home I'll do it there.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Oh yeah.

LIAM: Do you want to swing by the temple? I don't think that's a bad idea at all.

ASHLEY: Sure, sure. We could definitely do that.

TRAVIS: Smolder?

LIAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Let's go!

ASHLEY: All right.

LIAM: (trills)

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: (trills)

TALIESIN: We're there.

MATT: Along the way...

SAM: Oh?

MATT: As you're moving through some of the smaller marketplaces and heading towards the safest trajectory to get to the Smolder Spire, a scent catches your nose.

TRAVIS: (sniffs)

SAM: Butt?

LAURA: Gross.

TRAVIS: Is that lavender oil I smell? That old bitch?

MARISHA: You don't speak that way about Zhudanna.

MATT: (laughs) No, no, it--

LIAM: And citrus?

MATT: It catches you as you're all hustling over. It is the most incredible savory meat pie you've ever smelled in your entire life. Your salivary glands immediately (snaps fingers) click off.

TRAVIS: Whoa!

MATT: It's just like, ahh.

TRAVIS: Ahh.

LIAM: What's up?

TRAVIS: I, (sniffs) do you not? Are you not catching that wave of (sniffs) fresh--

ASHLEY: Did you fart?

TRAVIS: -- flaky-- No! It's like savory meats and (sniffs) oh, there's seasoning. You don't smell that on the (sniffs) wind?

MATT: Both of you make perception checks.

MARISHA: We got some meat pies in Scotland.

LIAM: A natural 20 so a 31.

TRAVIS: Jesus Christ!

MATT: 31.

SAM: Some Guinness.

ASHLEY: Perception?

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: 28.

LAURA: Whoa.

LIAM: I smell pie.

MATT: Yeah, you both smell something, but the scent is, it's more like a stale grain almost.

ASHLEY: I smell something stinky.

LIAM: You sure you didn't fart?

TRAVIS: Stinky? No, no, no, hold on. Just trust me on this. It's going to pay off. Can I follow? Can I try and follow the scent?

MATT: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Make a perception check to see if you can follow the scent.

TRAVIS: ♪ Make a perception ♪ Can I get advantage because I'm using my nose nose?

MATT: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Guidance.

TRAVIS: Oh, what is that? A d4?

ASHLEY: A d4.

MARISHA: In multilayer paint.

SAM: Mm-hmm.

TRAVIS: 20... One!

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Wha, wha, wha?

SAM: One?

TRAVIS: What, 21?

LAURA: Oh, 21.

ALL: 21. (sounds of understanding)

MATT: I heard, "One!"

MARISHA and LIAM: I heard one.

TRAVIS: 21! (laughter)

MATT: Fair enough, fair enough.

TALIESIN: How is that possible?

TRAVIS: I was like, "Wha, wha, wha?" (laughter)

MATT: So yeah, you follow the smell and it gets stronger and stronger and it becomes this Toucan Sam-like draw. It becomes this overwhelming hunger, this bestial drive towards the source of this smell like fresh blood on a hunt, like some-- Make a wisdom saving throw for me.

SAM: Ooh!

ASHLEY: You're getting all weird and sniffy, what's going on?

TRAVIS: (laughs) Is it magic?

MATT: This would be magic, but you do not have advantage on this.

SAM: Oh shit!

TRAVIS: Oh.

TALIESIN: (howls)

LIAM: Secrets.

TRAVIS: A 16.

MATT: 16. You go into a sprint.

SAM: Oh!

ASHLEY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

LIAM: Chet!

MARISHA: Uh-oh.

TRAVIS: Guys, this smells really good. (growls and pants)

LIAM: Is he changing?

MATT: He's not changing, but what are all your movement speeds?

LIAM: 30.

ASHLEY: 35.

MATT: 30, 35. What's your movement speed?

TRAVIS: 35.

MATT: 35, okay.

TRAVIS: In this form.

MATT: Right. (laughs)

TRAVIS: Just kidding.

MATT: You both have--

TRAVIS: What the fuck is it?

MATT: You both have bonus action dashes, right?

ASHLEY: Yes, yes.

MATT: So you begin to fall behind.

LIAM: Mm-hmm. You can keep up, if you want to.

ASHLEY: Sure.

MATT: So you're about 20 feet or so behind.

ASHLEY: Clop, clop, clop, clop, clop, clop, clop.

MATT: You start--

TRAVIS: Hey, come on. Come on, you guys, come on!

ASHLEY: I must have some!

TRAVIS: Come on, guys! Oh my god! It's the best fucking thing!

MATT: Untransformed, you even do the run run, quadrupedal run and do a sprint--

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: -- and then go back again. It's this-- You're now going on pure instinct now.

TRAVIS: Ignore the popping in my back.

MATT: You watch as he snakes around one corner of the road down this road and you're just following. You can almost see it. It's almost like you can visualize the scent itself, and you go past a couple of carts and people-- You brush past and just, people are curiously looking as you curve into an alleyway--

ASHLEY: Chet! (laughter)

ASHLEY: Fuck!

MATT: And right as you turn in the alleyway, there's a cloaked short man who's standing there holding this pouch that is tied off and closed, and you can see it. And right as you turn the corner--

LAURA: Uh-oh.

MATT: -- and look at him, he throws it towards you.

LAURA and ASHLEY: (gasp)

ASHLEY: Uh-oh!

TALIESIN: Shit! It's a trap, it's a trap!

TRAVIS: I mean, I fucking-- I lunge at it.

MATT: Yeah. (groans) You bite into it and it is this--

TRAVIS: Like a cat jumping at a mouse toy.

MATT: Yeah, you just (chomps) in your mouth, and it's at that point that the transformation begins to kick in instinctually as the hunger sets in. You bite into it and it tears open and your mouth fills with, it's like a dried herbs sort of cluster, like some sort of a collection--

TRAVIS: Fucking catnip?

LAURA: Ruh-oh.

MATT: -- of almost like a medicinal texture, but it smells so good, but the taste is different what you expected.

TRAVIS: Ugh!

MATT: The minute that you take it in your mouth, you look up at the figure with your mouth filled and spitting this out as you turn the corner, Fearne, to catch up, and he throws this net over you.

LAURA: (gasps)

ASHLEY: No!

MATT: This shiny sheen--

LAURA: Chet!

MATT: -- of a metal cable net.

TRAVIS: Uh-uh.

LIAM: The fuck?

TRAVIS: Not silver!

MARISHA: Metal cable.

MATT: The minute it clusters around you, you can feel your skin (hissing) burn slightly on contact.

TRAVIS: (screams)

SAM and MARISHA: Silver!

LAURA: Oh no, Fearne!

ASHLEY: No, no!

MATT: And that's when we're going to go to break. (screaming)

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: You rat bastard!

LIAM: What the hell? We're just going information gathering!

MARISHA: (groans)

LIAM: What's going on?

TALIESIN: Best shopping episode ever! (laughter)

ASHLEY: Oh boy, oh boy!

TRAVIS: I don't want to have a check mark pattern!

MATT: (laughs) So we'll pick up from there in a few minutes.

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

MATT: We'll see you folks here shortly.

MARISHA: We're back, baby!

Break

(adventurous music) (mysterious music)

LAURA: Hey Critters! Laura Bailey here to guide you through what's new in the Critical Role shop. Can you put donuts in this? Only one way to find out. (gasp) Could anything be more perfect? It's the little things in life. Look at this. Isn't it fashion? So much fashion happening here. You need this? You probably need this. (gasp) Could anything be more perfect? It's so cute. I can't handle it. And hey if you want, you could head over to the Critical Role shop right now.

(adventurous music) (tense mysterious music)

TALIESIN: A lonely road lies ahead for those whose minds have been cracked asunder. Echoes of past deeds, swirl and bubble to the surface, seeking to fracture the grail of our existence. A wary investigator must stay headstrong and resolved, for this treacherous path may falter judgment, if not careful. A voracious hunger stalks the shadow-filled streets, feeding on the impulses of both ne'er-do-wells and those of the strongest moral fiber. Candela and their circles often serve as the last line of defense, putting themselves in harm's way to contain, comprehend, and contend with the horrors that lie in wait. The Circle of The Vassal and the Veil: Assignment Number 442: Ravage of Red Lamp.

(tense mysterious music continues)

Hi. We're the narrators of Midst. What's Midst? It's very simple. It's a weird surrealist fourth wall breaking reality bending science, fantasy space western about a small, doomed planet floating in a cosmic ocean of spooky darkness. Upon whose alien landscape an ensemble cast of characters, including a crotchety outlaw, a freakishly virtuous cultist and a weird, diabolical bastard, make awful decisions and fight like hell to survive when the moon falls out of the sky and a large number of terrible things happened in rapid succession. It's exciting, it's funny, it's scary. It's got neat sound, weird music, amazing visuals, and every episode comes with bonus content you can read and examine. Midst is performed solely by yours truly. As the three of us narrate all the action, play all of the characters, and bend a lot of the rules about how telling stories is normally supposed to work. Midst is pretty fun, very strange, and it feels like VR for your brain. We believe you'll enjoy it. Or maybe you won't, but there's really only one way to find out. You're going to have to listen to Midst.

(epic music) (mischievous music) (typewriter clacking) (peaceful music)

MARISHA: Hey Critters, it's me, Marisha Ray. I had exactly a minute and a half of free time today, so I thought I'd make a little unboxing video for y'all unpacking everything you get with a Twitch subscription to Critical Role. (bright music) Okay. Safety third. (ethereal voices laughing) What the fuck was that? (Marisha exclaiming in awe) So the first thing we've got here is our live and professionally moderated chat. Twitch is the only place that you can actually get this. You know, it's a little strange to hold because it's an amorphous concept, but honestly, you can't deny this craftsmanship. It's really well made and, aw, oh, you can post links in this too! That's really cool, so yeah. Put that in your chat and click it. Oh yeah, this is cool. This is the ability to watch all of Critical Role's VODs immediately after the live broadcast ends and before they're uploaded to YouTube. Oh, it smells like ranch. Oh wait. Oh no, that's me. I had ranch on my salad earlier. Yeah, this smells like nothing. Oh, oh, here we have (Marisha grunting) gift subscriptions, which you can either give to a fellow Critter by name or at random using a fancy Twitch algorithm. You can give away a lot of subs with this, which I guess is why it's so heavy for something that's technically non-tangible with a value that's deeply subjective to the consumer. Oh, sick, yeah, I'm so excited to show y'all this part. With a Twitch subscription to Critical Role, you can use all of our incredible custom emotes in chat. We have so many emotes in here. Let's see, we Art Dad, super cool. We got Ashley Hype, fun one. Look at Trinket here. He's so, oh, oh god. (clattering and crashing) Oh god. Broom, broom. Hang on, I can fix this. I can fix this. I'm fixing it! Jerry! Oh god, okay. I'm sorry, Trinket. (machine whirring) Yeah, that'll work. I need more glue, this is not gonna be enough. (tape ripping) Don't tell Rachel, okay? Okay, please nobody. (metal clanking) Schapiro, will you cut all this out? (electronic buzzing) (laughter)

Part II

MATT: And welcome back. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Oh wow.

MATT: But in this moment--

TRAVIS: No!

MATT: Chetney, partway into chasing a strange, unresistible urge to follow this scent--

ASHLEY: Chet!

MATT: (Toucan Sam) To follow your nose!

MARISHA: Oh my god, that's right.

MATT: -- into an alley. You meet a dwarven fellow with blond, gray hair, a bushy beard that's missing a section due to a scar that runs down his face from his bald head on top. He's wearing dark leather armor, has a crossbow at his side, and has thrown a shiny net upon you that burns upon contact to your skin. You are restrained.

TRAVIS: (shrieks)

MATT: As you turn the corner, you haven't quite caught up yet. You catch his eye as he looks past and goes, "Don't come this way, Miss. Different business."

ASHLEY: Blight!

SAM: Oh shit!

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: Ain't fucking around.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: We've been through some shit.

ASHLEY: I'm done losing people!

MATT: (laughs) That's great!

MATT and LAURA: (laugh)

MATT: All right, that is a 17. What's your spell DC?

TRAVIS: He said what kind--

ASHLEY: Ooh, it's 18.

MATT: It's 18, that's a miss on him.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Okay.

TRAVIS: He said what kind of business?

MATT: He said, "Stay away, Miss." Essentially like, this is on business.

TRAVIS: Okay, okay, I got you.

MATT: More or less.

MARISHA: Wait, it was what?

MATT: I improvised, I can't remember exactly the phrasing.

TRAVIS: I thought it was a specific business.

ASHLEY: Okay I think it's a d8.

TRAVIS: He didn't say.

ASHLEY: Or no, it's a...

MARISHA: (laughs) Goddamn it.

ASHLEY: I'm just finding it to click it.

TRAVIS: Ah! Kick his ass! (wails)

ASHLEY: I know, I know! I'm doing it right now!

TRAVIS: Oh, it hurts!

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: Well, I guess I have to take off my clothes.

ASHLEY: Okay, help me keep count.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: One.

ASHLEY: All right, eight.

TALIESIN: (as Count von Count) Ah-ah-ah.

ASHLEY: 16.

TALIESIN: Got it.

ASHLEY: 15 plus seven. 16 plus six, 22. 22?

LAURA: Yes.

ASHLEY: 22 plus nine is 31.

TRAVIS: Woo!

MATT: 31 points of necrotic damage.

ASHLEY: That was good.

MATT: As soon as you look up, he says--

ASHLEY: Drop it!

MATT: "Miss-- Ah!" You watch as where the scar goes beneath the armor, the scar itself seems to flare a darker color and these black veins spill out as the blight spell takes effect and he curls and he's like, "Ah! What's that about? Oh!"

ASHLEY: I'm going to try to reach out and grab the net. The silver net.

MATT: Okay. You reach out and grab the net as he reaches out and grabs the side and is giving you this look. You can see his eyes are intense. He goes like-- "(groan) It's just business."

ASHLEY: Fuck off.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MATT: Well--

ASHLEY: This is my business.

MATT: (laughs) We're in initiative now, because you opened that up with an attack, so.

SAM: Yeah!

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, all right.

SAM: Oh! This combat is also brought to you by WizKids. Join forces with the Mighty Nein to take on the terrifying Uk'otoa. Pre-order this--

MARISHA: WizKids.

SAM: -- behemoth today. Expand your--

TRAVIS: Oh damn!

MARISHA: WizKids.

SAM: -- collection of Critical Role miniatures at--

LAURA: Whoa!

MARISHA: WizKids.

SAM: -- .io/CRMinis or your local game store.

LAURA: It's so pretty!

MARISHA: Hell yeah.

MATT: I'm going to pull this back so you can see where this alley stands.

TALIESIN and SAM: Ooh!

SAM: We get to see inside the houses. There's just two people fucking in there. (laughter)

MARISHA: They're like, ah!

TALIESIN: I would love to eventually have one of those house runs where you're going through people's homes and just a series of minis clearly doing weird shit.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: Yep.

LIAM: Is that a dead woman and a horse girl? (laughter)

SAM: Some guy taking a shit in that one.

LAURA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: No kink shaming, buddy!

LAURA: So you guys are in a little alleyway or is there a--

TRAVIS: I think we're in the alleyway in the middle of the--

MATT: The alleyway in the middle.

TALIESIN: Oh wow.

LAURA: Is there an exit?

MATT: Take a little easier.

LAURA: Or that's it? That's like it's blocked off?

MATT: As far as you know.

LAURA: Ugh.

TRAVIS: (gasps)

TALIESIN: That's right, we're not there.

LAURA: No.

MATT: I'll move this here.

SAM: What's going on now?

MATT: Better move that here.

SAM: Okay.

LAURA: Yeah, that's good.

TALIESIN: Oh!

MATT: Set the scene for you. But now you can see it.

SAM: But there are second floors on those buildings?

LAURA: Yes.

TALIESIN: Yes. It's like LEGOs. You can pull off the top and then you've got two floors.

LAURA: Ah, yes.

TRAVIS: There's this poor, poor old man who's been taken advantage of.

SAM: Are you talking about you?

TRAVIS: Yes!

TALIESIN: Are you still screaming, by the way?

MARISHA: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: Yeah!

SAM: Are you a wolf, or are you--

MARISHA: Lean into that.

TRAVIS: I'm just me!

SAM: You're just you?

MATT: He's partial, in between. The net hit and held it at bay.

TRAVIS: (strained growls)

MARISHA: He's going donkey.

MATT: You're a--

TALIESIN: Yeah. (laughter)

LAURA: Hee-haw!

TRAVIS: Hee-haw!

SAM: Werewolf donkey!

ASHLEY: Why are you making that noise? (laughter)

MATT: 25 to 20?

ASHLEY: Oh.

TALIESIN: 23.

LAURA: It was just--

TALIESIN: Oh.

LAURA: Just them.

MATT: Just the three of them.

TALIESIN: Okay.

LAURA: Are you-- How close?

LIAM: I'm right around the corner.

LAURA: Oh, okay, okay, okay.

SAM: ♪ Out in the street ♪

TALIESIN: God.

MARISHA: (laughs)

SAM: Sorry.

TALIESIN: I just banished it.

TRAVIS: 19.

MATT: 19, all right.

TRAVIS: ♪ Out in the corner ♪

ASHLEY: I got nine.

MATT: Nine.

LIAM: I got 16.

MATT: 16, all right.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: Fuck!

ASHLEY: Chet.

TALIESIN: It's been very ear-wormy this week.

SAM: ♪ Because the hook ♪ ♪ Brings you back ♪

ASHLEY: Dr-op it!

SAM: What? (laughter)

MATT: All right, so Chetney, you're up first, technically.

TRAVIS: Yeah! Sure am! Ah, it fucking burns my skin! (thoughtful humming) I will... I'm going to send a-- No. Can I send a Blood Curse his way? Or do I need to activate it first?

TALIESIN: Oh shit, I should learn that.

MATT: Blood Curse you can just do, depending on-- It tells you which type it is.

TRAVIS: Yeah, as a bonus action I'm going to use Blood Curse of Bloated Agony.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Yeah!

TRAVIS: A creature within 30 feet until my next turn, he takes disadvantage on strength and dex checks, and other stuff if he attacks people.

MATT: You got it.

TRAVIS: Then with my action, I'm going to try and-- God, this is a metal net. I'm going to try and get the shit off of me, if I can.

MATT: Yes, yes, you totally can try that. All right, so bonus action. As the Blight takes effect into his body, you use that moment to harness that as the Blood Curse to fit into him. He doesn't quite recognize yet that it's taken affect, because he's focused on Fearne, but still has one hand on the net. For you to try and break free, make a strength check for me.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: It's your action to do so.

LAURA: You can do it!

ASHLEY: Come on!

TRAVIS: I can do it! 19!

MATT: 19 just fails.

LAURA: (gasps)

ASHLEY: No!

TRAVIS: It's strong!

MATT: It's not that strong of a net, for most people.

SAM: Oh!

TRAVIS: (wails)

MARISHA: Aw!

TRAVIS: (weak moan)

MATT: As you try and resist it, it (searing) burns into you and seems to sap the strength away as you touch it.

TRAVIS: Oof.

LAURA: Aw.

TALIESIN: It was made for really old people.

MATT: Yes.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Respect the elders.

LAURA: Ow!

MARISHA: Dude, play that card. Old man getting abused in the streets.

TRAVIS: That is my turn.

MATT: All righty. Orym, you're up next.

LIAM: Okay, so I'm going to come around the corner. As I do so, what do I see? How's this character armed?

MATT: All you see right now-- Oh, you have a pretty high passive perception. You rush and you glance, you can see he has his cloak in, dark armor, he has a crossbow hung off the side, slung, and a sheathed rod, you can see a handle. But you can't really see the rest of the weapon in the cloak.

LIAM: One hand, okay.

MATT: He has one hand on this net, a gloved gauntleted hand.

LIAM: Okay, so I can't get there just on my movement, so I'm going to use my action to get all the way up. I'm going to come running, blast underneath Fearne's legs and plant a foot on Chetney in the net and leap over him.

MATT: Okay.

TRAVIS: Nice!

LIAM: I'm going to come down and--

TRAVIS: Ah!

LIAM: -- try to barrel into this guy and do a tripping attack. I'm going to plunge right into his gut.

MATT: Over him?

LIAM: And stab.

MATT: Over? Oh.

LIAM: Into him and try to knock him down.

MATT: Okay, go for it.

LIAM: Trip attack. Okay, so.

SAM: Trip a trap.

LIAM: That is a 25 to hit.

MATT: 25 hits.

LIAM: So that is, the damage is 11 plus three, so 14 total damage and has to beat a 17 for strength save.

MATT: You got it. 19.

LIAM: Okay, I will swing again and this time drag my blade into his ankle and try to lift him right up off the ground and drop him.

ASHLEY: Oof!

MATT: Okay, so a second trip attack?

LIAM: Yeah, natural 20.

SAM: Ooh!

ASHLEY: Yes!

TALIESIN: Woo!

TRAVIS: Yo!

MATT: Dang.

LIAM: Plus five is 10 plus six, 16. That is 22 damage and another 17 strength save that he's got to try to make. Oh, this is an action surge, by the way, to be able to do this.

MATT: Right, right, I assumed that was such. So that's going to be a 23.

SAM: Ooh!

LIAM: Okay, he's fine then. Cut but standing.

MATT: "(grunting)"

MARISHA: Yeah!

MATT: After the two cuts come in, he glances at you to the side, as he pulls back. Still a hand on the net. Says, "You don't know what this is. Stand back."

LIAM: I'm going to use the last of the movement from that action surge to step in front of Chetney, put up the shield and say: Why don't you fucking explain it to me? That's the end of my turn.

TRAVIS: Nice! Tight!

MATT: Okay.

MATT: So that's going to bring it to his turn.

TRAVIS: Listen to him! Ow!

MATT: (laughs) As he's holding onto this net, "This is a problematic cursed beast, and I'm going to bring him in."

TRAVIS: He's not wrong.

MATT: He looks at the both of you like--

MARISHA: He's really not. He's got a point.

MATT: He's reading for any sort of reaction out of you two.

ASHLEY: I mean, yeah, you're not wrong, but he's our problematic beast, okay?

MATT: "Well, some folks want him taken care of. There's a bit of money on his head."

ASHLEY: Who? Who?

MATT: "I'm going to take it in."

ASHLEY: Who, who, who? You fucking tell me or I'll kill you.

MATT: He's going to go ahead and-- He's still reeling from the hit that you took, and is going to make a shove attack against you.

LIAM: Sure.

ASHLEY: Shit.

MATT: So, I need you to make an athletics or acrobatics.

LAURA: You fucking--

LIAM: Check or-- So it's not a strength save or anything like that?

MATT: Correct.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: It's been a bit, so I'm going to triple check. Since it's been a minute.

TALIESIN: I would have loved-- Hold on a second.

TALIESIN: Yeah, I'd love to be in a fight with no weapons, just punching.

SAM: He's not attacking you, though.

TALIESIN: That'd be great.

ASHLEY: Hmm?

SAM: He's not attacking, though. Well, he's attacking you.

LAURA: Just beat a 10.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

SAM: You don't count.

MATT: Athletics versus your athletics or acrobatic.

LIAM: 28, athletics.

MATT: 28. No, that's a 23. So he goes to try and shove you off of your feet with a side elbow and you just--

LIAM: I roll under it because I'm short.

MATT: Yep. (sly shift) Off to the side. He's going to go ahead and-- No, he's going to follow up with a second hit. He's going to try it again.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: Which, because it is a second attack technically, he does get the Bloated Agony.

TRAVIS: Oh, 1d8, that's right.

LIAM: Oh yeah, Bloated Agony. You know, Bloated Agony.

SAM: Yeah, bloated.

TRAVIS: Five points!

MATT: Gotcha, five points.

LIAM: Does that mean a check?

MATT: Yeah. This is actually much better. This is a 26 on his point.

LIAM: Oh, I got a 19 that time.

MATT: 19.

TRAVIS: Did you roll with disadvantage on that? Because of Bloated Agony?

MATT: Oh that's right, because he has disadvantage on these. That's right!

SAM: Bloated!

TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.

MATT: That's a 17, naturally. So yeah, he gets a 26 again.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: So he-- The first one he slams, he goes to try to slam into you. He goes overhead and he comes back around and, whack, cracks you with an elbow as it hits you. (boof) Knocks you off of your feet. You're knocked prone in that space where you've been holding the position with Chetney.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: You don't take any damage.

SAM: Hmm.

MATT: He pulls you off to the side, grabs the net, and is going to attempt to drag it back further into the alley. Fearne, you're holding onto it?

ASHLEY: Yes, I am.

MATT: So this is going to be a contested strength roll between you and him.

ASHLEY: Of course it is.

MATT: So make a strength check.

ASHLEY: Okay.

TALIESIN: Do I have what?

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: The rod.

TALIESIN: No, I haven't got that.

MARISHA: Nothing. Never mind.

SAM: Hmm?

ASHLEY: 13.

MATT: 13. 16 on his side.

LAURA: Ugh.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: So pulling the net free--

SAM: Ow!

LAURA: Ow, that metal hurts.

MATT: Only 20 feet back as he drags Chet further into the alley.

TRAVIS: (bouncing groans) (laughter)

MATT: Yeah, he's pulling him past the cobblestones. You see him pull out of the side of his--

LAURA: No. No!

MATT: -- the belt he has, this beautifully polished--

TRAVIS: These streets are terrible.

MATT: -- silver war hammer.

SAM: Oh.

MATT: Holds it in front of him, over towards you as he pulls it back and goes--

TRAVIS: Don't let him get me!

MATT: "Don't get involved."

ASHLEY: Wait!

LIAM: Are we in-- We're just loosey goosey, right?

MATT: I mean, we're in initiative order. That was his round, attacking you twice and then dragging him back.

LIAM: Okay. All right.

ASHLEY: Wait, wait, wait! Let me just give him a kiss before you take him.

SAM: Oh! (laughs)

ASHLEY: Please!

MATT: It is your turn, make a persuasion check.

MARISHA: Come on, Fearnie!

MATT: Or this would be deception. Well, deception or persuasion, I guess, depending on how you mean it.

TRAVIS: Yeah, if you actually do!

SAM: Do you really want to kiss him?

MATT: Do you really want to give him a kiss?

TRAVIS: ♪ Do you really want to free me ♪

ASHLEY: Okay, so that's going to be 28.

SAM and TALIESIN: Whoa!

MATT: 28! As you shout this, he gives you cock-eyed look, looks down at this and goes--

ASHLEY: I squeeze out a tear.

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: And a toot.

TRAVIS: And a toot.

ASHLEY: And a toot at the same time! A little pellet, maybe, too. (laughter)

MATT: "If you're this entangled, then say your goodbyes."

ASHLEY: (tearfully) Thank you. Okay, I'm going to go over. Just get real close. And when--

SAM: (creepily suggestive moans)

ASHLEY: I don't even know if this is going to do anything.

TALIESIN: I'd love to hear you're still screaming through all of this.

ASHLEY: When I give him a kiss, I am going to cast-- This might be real fucking dumb.

SAM: It sounds great already.

ASHLEY: I'm going to cast Stone Shape on him? So maybe it's like a shield.

MATT: Stone Shape? So you're going to try and-- Let me see here.

SAM: The cobblestones are stones. You can shape them.

LAURA: Wait, Stone Shape on him, or Stoneskin.

ASHLEY: Stoneskin! Stoneskin!

TALIESIN: Ah.

ASHLEY: Stoneskin, sorry!

TRAVIS: (laughing) Petrify me.

MATT: Stoneskin, ah gotcha.

ASHLEY: No, no, no, that's not what I'm trying to do!

SAM: (raspy) I died.

MARISHA: I mean, it works against the silver, I guess.

TRAVIS: A little far, Fearne.

MATT and LAURA: (laugh)

MARISHA: Stoneskin though, that's cool.

LAURA: Yeah.

MATT: Okay. So you cast Stoneskin on you. Your outer flesh, untransformed, begins to take on this texture of rock and stone, like a more earthy tone version of Ashton.

TRAVIS: What?

MATT: Then as soon as you begin to take the different shape, this dwarven figure looks at you and he goes, "Oh. (tsking)," and gives you a disapproving realization that maybe he was a little too trusting in that moment.

ASHLEY: Shit, that might not have-- That was dumb.

SAM: That was great.

LAURA: Why? That was good!

ASHLEY: Well, it didn't really do anything. (clamoring)

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay!

SAM: You're an amazing person!

ASHLEY: Okay, okay, okay.

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Would I take any damage from the net being on me through his turn?

MATT: No, it's not enough burning to damage you.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: It's enough to keep you restrained--

TRAVIS: Restrained.

MATT: -- and a challenge to try and escape it.

TRAVIS: Got it.

MATT: But that does finish Fearne's go. I believe you moved up and then cast a spell. You have a bonus action still, if you want it.

ASHLEY: Uh. Okay, I'll try to bamf out Mister behind me.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: Just quietly.

MATT: Kind of appears.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: This little flame bursts behind you. You're blocking it with most of your body and you hear Mister latch onto the back of your hair.

ASHLEY: Great.

MATT: "(monkey chittering)" As the dwarven figure is still dragging you back into the alley, and is looking out at the rest of you. "They don't normally come with friends," and he's looking at the both of you.

ASHLEY: This one comes with a lot of them.

LIAM: I'm still coming. Orym's going to roll along the ground and then do that thing where he goes on his back and then flips up unto his feet.

SAM: Ooh!

LIAM: I can only go 15 feet doing that.

MATT: Right, well, it's Chetney's go first.

LIAM: Is it? Okay.

MATT: Yeah, and then we get to you.

TRAVIS: Me? Do I notice any difference on my skin from the net after Fearne's magical thing?

MATT: Um.

TRAVIS: Does it still burn?

MATT: It does burn.

TRAVIS: Fuck!

MATT: Stoneskin can help resist non-magical damage.

TRAVIS: Mm!

MATT: So while it doesn't effectively help the net, it may help you in other ways.

TRAVIS: Got it.

ASHLEY: Oh, is this, I thought it was like a regular old silver net. It's magical, never mind.

TRAVIS: You're not the only one with silver. I'll take out Turmoil under the net and extend it so the scythe is out, glimmering silver.

MATT: Okay, you try and pull the scythe out and it extends, but you're also bound up tightly in the net.

TRAVIS: Fuck!

MATT: So it's out, but you're like (groaning). So yeah, you're restrained. So all rolls and attacks are at disadvantage.

TRAVIS: That's totally fair. I'll use the one casting of Shatter that it has.

MATT: Ooh.

TRAVIS: To go off right behind him. So it's within 60 feet, but it's a 10-foot sphere.

MATT: Right, so (thudding). Right behind him and you catch him.

TRAVIS: I'll send him towards us.

MATT: His beard hair (whooshing) blows forward as he leans, squinting as this concussive explosion detonates behind him. You see rocks and stone in the nearby brick crack in the proximity nearby. He's going to make a constitution saving throw. Ooh! That's a 20.

TRAVIS: I think he saves. Yes, he saves. That was a 19. So, nine points of damage.

MATT: Nine points of damage. All right, so, "Argh! Feisty!"

TRAVIS: I am feisty. It's true. Motherfucker.

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: I would try and transform, but I don't think it would work under here. I am going to-- No, that's it. That's my whole turn.

MATT: All right, finishing Chetney's go. Orym, now you're up.

LIAM: Nice. Same deal. Rolling along the cobblestone, flips up onto his feet. I can only go 15 feet. I have no idea if this will work, but I'll try it anyway, and I use Seedling to slash the air, and send a cut into the net around Chetney, and I will hit net and Chetney just trying to cut the net.

MATT: Okay. Go ahead and roll for an attack.

LIAM: Yep. That is a 28.

MATT: 28 definitely hits the net and (laughs) Chetney.

TRAVIS: Ah! Cool! Ah!

LIAM: Ah, that's nine points of damage. Does it have any effect on the net?

MATT: It does. The net, you can see, what you now figure out is silver threading along it. The cabling does sustain damage. Not enough to break it, but it does look like it's taken quite a bit of a hit.

LIAM: The second attack.

MATT: You take the nine damage as well.

TRAVIS: Thank you.

LIAM: Second one's probably going to miss. Well, to hit the net and Chetney is a 13.

MATT: 13, just misses.

TRAVIS: (grunts)

SAM: The net!

TRAVIS: Going donkey under here! (laughter)

LIAM: That's it for me.

MATT: Oh, that finishes your go, Orym?

LIAM: Yep.

MATT: All right.

SAM: Reverse donkey?

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah. Reverse donkey. It's all the rage. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Haw hee!

MATT: All right. The dwarven figure is holding this, sees this display of this blade cutting through twice this wind arc, just cutting, hitting the nearby wall and causing the masonry itself to clear off with the impact of wind and magical power. He's like (startled noise). You can see he's-- the tension of the tide shifting a little bit.

LIAM: And we're not going to stop.

MATT: "No, but maybe you'll hold back a minute." And looks out at you.

LAURA: Oh no.

MATT: Go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw for me.

TRAVIS: Oh!

LAURA: Oh no!

TRAVIS: Oh!

SAM: Come on!

LIAM: Nope, it's super low.

LAURA: Oh no!

LIAM: It's a six.

MATT: Hold on a second, though.

LIAM: I'll use Indomitable and reroll the save. It's a seven. (cheering)

MATT: Well, you have advantage on it because you are in combat with this figure. So roll one more time.

MARISHA: Come on!

LIAM: It's 14.

MATT: Okay, no.

LIAM: Whomp whomp.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: He says, "Why don't you hold your friend back there and let us just have a conversation?" You are charmed by him.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: Maybe a Charm Person.

SAM: Oh.

ASHLEY: Oh.

MATT: Now, Charm isn't Dominate. You don't see your friends as en--

LIAM: I'm going to kill her! (laughter)

ASHLEY: No!

MATT: I mean, you do you. I'm not going to stop you. (laughter)

MATT: You don't see your friends as enemies, but you definitely don't see him as an enemy anymore either.

LIAM: Okay.

MATT: So, he's like, "Calm. Just let us have a conversation in private."

LIAM: All right, give him a second.

TRAVIS: (nervous giggles)

ASHLEY: Wait, wait, wait. We're having a conversation with him?

MATT: You saw him do like-- You definitely recognized him casting a spell before this change. So you're not completely convinced. This is notably a spell.

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: But he's going to attempt to pull Chetney back even further into this like small corner, this slip in the alley. This is going to be another contest against your strength.

ASHLEY: Okay.

SAM: You got this, Fearnie.

ASHLEY: He made an oof sound.

SAM: That means he rolled badly.

LAURA: Mm.

ASHLEY: Okay, so it's a natural 19 minus two. So 17.

MATT: Natural 19 plus four. (groaning)

MATT: It's a 23.

ASHLEY: Tight, tight, tight.

MARISHA: Wow.

MATT: Drags Chetney back 20 more feet. You can see, he's pulling him back into the small sliver of the back alleyway and he's basically preparing for an exit.

LAURA: (groans)

ASHLEY: All right.

MATT: That finishes his go. Fearne, you're up.

ASHLEY: Scorching Ray.

MATT: Scorching Ray.

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: All right. What level?

ASHLEY: Let us do--

LIAM: If we can't have him, no one can.

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: Just at Chet. Fuck off!

ASHLEY: 3rd-level.

LAURA: What? Why?

MATT: He's too dangerous to be in the enemy's hands.

TRAVIS: Jafar, Jafar! He's our man!

ASHLEY: I'll do it at 3rd-level.

TRAVIS: If he can't do it, great!

MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)

ASHLEY: 28.

SAM: Ooh!

MATT: Yeah.

ASHLEY: 13.

SAM: Ooh!

ASHLEY: And 27.

MATT: So that's the three?

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MATT: At 2nd-level you did it?

ASHLEY: Third.

MATT: 3rd-level. It should be an additional one, correct?

ASHLEY: Oh, okay. I did three. I rolled three.

MATT: Yeah, it's three blasts on level two, and then it's one more ray with--

ASHLEY: Oh, that's right. Okay. That's a natural 19, so 29.

MATT: Yeah. So three hits, that's 6d6 fire damage.

TRAVIS: Whoa!

ASHLEY: All right. 11.

MATT: Gotcha.

ASHLEY: Three.

ASHLEY: And a nine.

SAM: 23.

MATT: All right.

TALIESIN: Group math.

ASHLEY: As a bonus action, Mister's going to-- Okay. If I'm moving up, how close can I get to Chetney?

MATT: To Chetney? I mean, you can move up to him.

ASHLEY: Okay, let me move up to him.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: I would like to use, if I can, or, well, I don't know if he can get in there, Fiery Teleportation to get him out of there.

MATT: Is that through you or is that through--

ASHLEY: It's through Mister.

MATT: Mister. So you want to move Mister to him to do that?

ASHLEY: Yes.

MATT: Okay.

ASHLEY: I don't know if he can go through.

MATT: Figure it out. So, what are the specifics of the Fiery Teleportation?

ASHLEY: Okay. "The spirit in each willing creature of your choice within five feet of it teleport up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space you can see."

MATT: So as you dart up--

ASHLEY: "So each creature within five feet of the space with the spirit left must succeed on a dex saving throw" as well.

MATT: All right. So that is a 22.

TRAVIS: Disadvantage.

MATT: Saving throws or just ability checks?

TRAVIS: No, it's only one turn of Bloated Agony.

MATT: Yeah. So as he's pulling him back into this alleyway and is looking at you and he's like, "Tuyen sends her regards," and begins to pull you into this--

LAURA: Who?

MARISHA: Tuyen? Tuyen?

MATT: -- into this small alley.

ASHLEY: Who?

MATT: Tuyen.

SAM: Tuyen.

TRAVIS: Tuyen.

MATT: You walk up and approach as Mister darts out from behind, grabs onto you within the net, and in this burst of flame, the net collapses to the ground, and you and Mister both appear 15 feet behind.

MARISHA: Yeah! (cheering)

TRAVIS: (shouts)

LIAM: Let's go, casters!

ASHLEY: It worked!

SAM: Fearne, OP.

TRAVIS: ♪ Who run the world? Casters. ♪

MATT: The net collapses on the ground. You see him like, how much damage does he take? He made a save.

ASHLEY: 1d6 plus four.

MATT: 23 is a really high dex save.

ASHLEY: Six.

MATT: Okay, so three points of fire damage.

TRAVIS: Oh, fuck.

MATT: He's been roughed a little bit.

MARISHA: Is that right?

LAURA: Wait, what?

MARISHA: (gasps) Is that right? The shop keep?

TALIESIN: Oh my god!

MATT: Prism Emporium.

LAURA: The one.

MARISHA: Wait, that was you.

TALIESIN: You did this!

MARISHA: You stopped.

TALIESIN: J'accuse!

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: Wait.

SAM: This is the guy that you fucked with?

TRAVIS: I think so, right?

MARISHA: You were a dick about.

LAURA: Yeah. The one you--

TRAVIS: The one that overcharged me and I--

LAURA: Then you threatened his life.

MATT: You went back and--

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah.

LIAM: Only one person here knows that. Right? You stealthed in by yourself.

LAURA: Yeah, it's just you.

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

LAURA: Oh my god.

MATT: As the net falls to the ground and Chetney's now free and gathering yourself and looking back at him. He's there in the alley looking at the three of you and he's calculating in his eyes. Does that finish your turn?

MARISHA: This was early game. This was like episode two shit.

LAURA: Yes.

TRAVIS: It was pretty early.

MATT: It's pretty early. Chetney, your turn.

TRAVIS: Is it my turn?

MATT: It's your turn.

TRAVIS: Amazing! I am going to go--

TALIESIN: You need better villains, man.

TRAVIS: Ah, thank you so much! I'm going to cast Invisibility on myself.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: Whoa, he's gone. What are you going to do now?

MATT: "Shite."

TRAVIS: And--

LIAM: Right here in the street.

TRAVIS: Yes, I'll just use my speed to try and stealthily-- Is there a window on any of these sides of the buildings?

MATT: I mean, visually, there are windows, but they're all currently closed.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MATT: Those that are noticeable.

TRAVIS: I'll just try and put my back along the wall in case he sends a Hail Mary down the alleyway. I'm going to try and stealthily shimmy back towards the street.

MATT: Back towards the street? All right. Yeah, you can--

TRAVIS: Going behind my allies.

MATT: -- definitely do that. Okay. So, dart invisibly behind. Does that finish your turn?

TRAVIS: It does.

MATT: Orym, what are you doing?

LIAM: Yes? Well, I can't remember. There's no breaking out of this, right? I'm just friends at this point, correct?

MATT: Yeah. Right now you're mitigating two people that you consider allies that are having a scuffle.

LIAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's no like, try to break out with a save or anything, I'm just in it. All right. Well, I don't know where he went. You take care of yourself, Fearne. We got to-- (shouts) Chet! I just start looking around for my friend.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: That's it. That's my turn.

MATT: All right. The figure, looking at this over, looks down at the net, walks up and grabs the net and throws it over the shoulder and goes--

ASHLEY: Yeah, you run, you run.

MATT: "I'll see you around again." And Misty Steps.

LIAM: I hope so.

TRAVIS and LAURA: Ooh!

LIAM: Oh, he's gone.

MATT: And that concludes.

SAM: Oh, with all the map that you made!

MATT: That's okay. That's how it works sometimes.

LIAM: That's so weird.

LAURA: Oh my gosh.

ASHLEY: It might not be over.

TALIESIN: It should have been some Stephen Chow "Kung Fu Hustle" in it.

LAURA: The first of several.

TRAVIS: Guys?

LIAM: Oh!

TRAVIS: Is he gone?

LIAM: Are you?

TRAVIS: (whispers) I'm here.

ASHLEY: Who's Tuyen?

TRAVIS: I think that was that overcharging fuck from a long time ago.

LIAM: What?

TRAVIS: I got an extra-- Can I just check and make sure nobody's looking at the rooftops?

MATT: Make a perception check.

TRAVIS: I'ma just smell. Any smells, any burger meats. Any amazing pies.

LAURA: Misty Step is not a--

TRAVIS: Natural 20 for 21.

MATT: 21?

TRAVIS: Yeah. It was a nat 20.

MATT: Yeah.

MARISHA: Oh my god.

MATT: No, you don't see anybody.

TRAVIS: Okay.

ASHLEY: What'd you eat? Why'd you eat that? You don't just eat shit somebody throws at you. (laughter)

SAM: Good advice.

TRAVIS: Let's get out of this. Walk more towards the street. I swear it smelled like the most delicious meat pie. Then he threw this bag of herbs at me and it fucking smelled so good and it tasted like shit! I don't understand. I think that shopkeeper wanted revenge.

LIAM: For what?

TRAVIS: Well... I kind of went back and threatened them for overcharging me for a pair of chisels with my wolven form.

LIAM: How bad did they mark it up?

TRAVIS: It was pretty extravagant!

ASHLEY: Why would they want to come after you?

TRAVIS: Because I threatened their life, and also took the form of a wolf and then ran into the night like a true badass. (laughter)

ASHLEY: All right. Well, I don't know if that quite warrants what happened.

LIAM: I don't need to know the details and frankly, we don't have time for it, okay?

ASHLEY: Now, are you sad that your new best friend is gone?

LIAM: Is he? Do I see him anywhere?

MATT: Make a perception check.

LIAM: Yeah, make a perception check.

TRAVIS: Go do your thing.

LIAM: It's 24.

MATT: 24. You do faintly see him up on one of the nearby rooftops just creeping over and watching what transpires.

TRAVIS: Woo! (laughs)

LIAM: (shouts) Hey, we never got your name!

MATT: Immediately, vanishes out of sight.

LIAM: Ah, he's gone.

ASHLEY: All right. We need to find everybody. We all need to get back together in a unit.

LIAM: Are we skipping the temple?

ASHLEY: Oh shit. I totally forgot we were doing that. We should probably do that really quickly. I don't know. It's up to you.

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: I can stay invisible for an hour. So let's go.

ASHLEY: Invisible for an hour?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay. What do you want to do?

LIAM: Yeah, let's just swing past the temple, give it a look and see what the vibe is there.

ASHLEY: Okay. Okay.

LIAM: And then we'll head home.

ASHLEY: All right. All right. All right.

MATT: Okay. So you continue trekking onward over to the Smolder Spire, and eventually ascending past the various refineries.

TRAVIS: Matt doesn't forget.

MATT: Mining operations. No, neither does the Prism Emporium.

TRAVIS: That's okay, I'll just have to cut that thread.

MATT: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Loose ends, kids.

MARISHA: Loose ends. Wowzers.

MATT: Until eventually, you rise up to the most soot-encased portion of the city, which is towards the very top of the spire where all the various exhaust and smoke stacks of the Smolder region rise up to mingle with the clouds and mist of the surrounding jungle. Amongst the various, I wouldn't say homesteads, but like hostels and worker and minor communal living spaces, you also see, very notably, a three-story, blackstone-polished apex of a triangular-looking building, to the point where you can see multiple levels and balconies on each, with a dull, candle-lit glow in the interior, but an opaque, not quite stained glass, but a colored glass in the front. It stands out amongst the rest and has a symbol of a golden bird skull that is perched to over the main double door entryway. Even just seeing it against, it stands out like a sore thumb against most of the environment here. While everything else around here has that thick soot coloration to it, like brighter colors and nice woods and stonework have this gradual dirty vibe to it, this looks clean and polished, though it is the darkest black material used amongst all of these buildings.

ASHLEY: What a cool material this is.

LIAM: Is there any foot traffic around it?

MATT: There's people walking by. There's people going to and from work. Most people are hustling quickly. You see it, often people are walking going to business of the day, lost in thought and occasionally they look up and remind themselves of the perpetually flaring, stagnant red moon in the sky and then hurry their step. It's a little sad.

TRAVIS: Hmm.

ASHLEY: What are you thinking?

LIAM: So nothing-- I want to know how they're reacting here. Are you still invisible?

TRAVIS: Yeah. Yes.

ASHLEY: I keep looking over and you're not there. Okay.

LIAM: A couple minutes, come on.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LIAM: I'm going to walk to the entrance.

MATT: Okay. You go to the front doors, they are closed, but doesn't appear like they're locked or sealed.

ASHLEY: Are you supposed to knock, or you just go in?

LIAM: I'm going to push the door.

ASHLEY: Okay.

MATT: (low-pitched scraping) It opens a few inches, just enough where your group will be able to shimmy through.

LIAM: Okay. Hello?

MATT: As you step in, your voice echoes, hello, hello, hello, hello, through the halls. You can see the exterior doesn't quite-- While it looks like it's a tall flat front, the hall continues deep into the rock behind it. You can see it's like looking down the ribcage of an interior of a massive whale. The halls have this natural curvature that comes to a singular point where lanterns hang, and it just seems to go on forever. Then as you focus, you hear the subtle rushing of water and you realize there's an illusion to how long the depth is. Some of it is the reflection in the water that's falling ways down, probably a good 60 or so feet back, 70 or so feet back. It's reflecting the interior to where it gives that endless hallway illusion. As your voice continues echoing, you can see there's some small benches. You can see there's a pulpit that opens up before it gets to this perpetual waterfall. A single figure that's kneeling across the way stands up faced away from you in dark robes, turns around, and you see there's a hood and a somewhat sheer veil that just goes across the nose and down in the face that drags across the entirety of the torso, and it connects to their arms as they put them out to you. You see it stretch, like this massive, almost a full front body veil, where just the eyes peek through from underneath the hood. They begin to step towards you (footsteps) echoing through the hall.

LIAM: A moment.

MATT: "What brings you to the Duskmaven's site this day, little one?"

LIAM: I'm sorry. I don't have anyone else to turn to right now. I'm having major questions of faith, and the changes I see above have me worried.

MATT: "You are not alone." As the figure steps closer in, the light that's pouring in from the crack in the doorway begins to spill across them. You can see the hood from beneath it, a warm, tan skin, hairless, a warm, tan skin, hairless human head, completely smooth, no eyebrows, gentle brown eyes, and a soft smile as they still approach with arms out, and then fold them in front. Feminine in appearance.

LIAM: I'm no stranger to death, and I've heard tales of fate, but the things I'm seeing frighten me. What's happening?

MATT: "The skein is tangled. The threads are knotted. The fear that you feel are felt by all." Their eyes wander up towards the roof above and beyond. She glances past you, Fearne, and seems to glance in your direction, but not at you, like they're looking for somebody else that they might feel is present but can't quite put a finger on it. (laughs)

LAURA and LIAM: (laugh)

ASHLEY: Are you able to communicate with your god?

MARISHA: (whispers) It also could be the flock of wild geese.

MATT: "In ways. There is much sown confusion, distraction." You can see the soft, welcoming appearance on the figure. It seems to set into a moment of exposed vulnerability before it's immediately covered back up. "They are doing what we all are doing, what we must to survive. And our fates are intertwined. If they, if she can see this through, they will see us through it with them."

ASHLEY: How do you know that?

MATT: "Faith."

LIAM: Do you still feel her?

MATT: "I do, if differently. It's equally frightening as it is comforting to feel a human vulnerability in something so grand."

LIAM: Insight check. 19.

MATT: Complete open honesty. "But she was like us once, so perhaps she has that vulnerability uniquely."

ASHLEY: Do you know what her name was?

MATT: "There are none who live that do."

ASHLEY: Because I know there's something with names.

MATT: "What do you seek here in our domain? Solace? Answers?"

LIAM: Both of those things. And I guess, what to do next.

MATT: "I do not know if she has the answers you seek," as eyes sweep back over in your direction, through and beyond you.

TRAVIS: (whispered) Wow.

MATT: "For we are in both a period of mourning and a period of preparation."

LIAM: (laughs softly) Wow. How much time you think we all got?

MATT: "Come drink of the waters with me." She turns around and-- (rhythmic clicking)

SAM: You?

LAURA: Both of you.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: Both of you?

TRAVIS: I'm going, too.

LIAM: Grab Fearne's finger.

ASHLEY: Wait. What?

SAM: You're going to?

LIAM: Start pulling her.

LAURA: Both of you.

TRAVIS: No pants.

MARISHA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: What? It's just water? It's just water? Is this something weird, or is this just water?

MATT: They're not looking at you.

LIAM: We're going to find out.

MATT: They're still just walking back to that interior waterfall.

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: I'm going too.

TRAVIS: I'll go, too.

MARISHA: (laughs)

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: You have so many notes.

ASHLEY: I know, and I can't remember a single one ever. (laughter)

ASHLEY: And I don't remember where I put any of them.

SAM: Some of your notes are stuff like, "This shit is crazy!" (laughter)

ASHLEY: It's just when I write, it helps me listen better. It generally doesn't make any sense, but--

LIAM: (as Fearne) This water tastes like blood. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Okay. We're just drinking it? We're just going to take a drink?

MATT: As you approach, you now see there is a basin, a half-circle basin, at the end of the room, where the water is coming down, and it is cool, it is clean, it's clear. You can see within the rock here, the ribs of this chamber, as it comes to this M apex in the center. Along each of them, there are these smooth, intricate designs, you can see are these subtle sculptures of arms all reaching up over each other across them until they join in the center. That's where these little torches that flicker in the middle, of which a handful of them are dark.

TRAVIS: Hmm.

MATT: But as she sits down, they reach into the waters with a small--

ASHLEY: That was scary.

MATT: -- dark metallic pan of some kind.

ASHLEY: We're going to die!

SAM: (laughs)

MATT: Takes up the water and turns around and hands it out to you.

ASHLEY: Oh, I mean, I'm not a god person. I don't know what I'm-- Am I just-- Are you-- Go ahead. Go for it.

LIAM: She's holding it in her own hands?

MATT: It's a small dark metal pan.

TRAVIS: A little pan.

LIAM: Okay.

LAURA: Just drinking out of her--

LIAM: From her hand? (laughter)

SAM: Did you wash your hands first? (laughter)

MATT: Come on, come on!

ASHLEY: Just together at the same time.

LIAM: Orym did not expect things to go to this point. He was just trying to vibe-check this temple. But he leans down and shuts his eyes and, a little scared, drinks the water.

MATT: It's very cold.

SAM: Oh. Okay.

MATT: It is refreshing. As you drink it, the cold seems to spread through you. Like when you drink a bourbon that burns through the insides, this is like a chill that spreads, spreads. It's not uncomfortable, but it does cause you to naturally shiver a bit.

LAURA: Congratulations. You're part of it now.

MATT: She turns to you.

LIAM: Ah!

TALIESIN: (snorts)

MATT: (laughs)

LAURA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Okay. Do I just... I'll just bend down to it.

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Make eye contact. (laughter)

TRAVIS: (laughing) Yeah, exactly.

MARISHA: (laughing) Yeah.

ASHLEY: I'll drink some.

MATT: Yeah. Just cocks her head curiously at you.

ASHLEY: I don't know how I'm supposed to--

MARISHA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: This feels so weirdly intimate and makes me a little uncomfortable.

MATT: And hands it out--

ASHLEY: It's delicious.

MATT: -- over your head, in the space.

TRAVIS: Lower! (slurps loudly)

MATT: Super loudly slurp.

TRAVIS: (laughs) Slurp.

MATT: It fills the entirety of this echoing chamber, this holy place--

TRAVIS: (continues slurping)

MATT: -- with this awful--

TRAVIS: Oh, oh, oh. Ah. (laughter)

LIAM: Just an old guy sipping soup at Canter's. (laughter)

MATT: Yeah.

ASHLEY: This is really delicious water.

MATT: She drinks of it as well.

ASHLEY: Thank you.

MATT: Sets it down, and she turns and kneels, lets her head low in a prayer position.

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah. (hums prayerfully)

LIAM: I'm going to think in my head silently.

MARISHA: (laughs)

LIAM: We really are looking for answers. Wing and a prayer.

ASHLEY: Just feeding the root.

SAM: Oh.

LAURA: Oh.

SAM: Oh, okay.

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Just feeding the root.

LAURA and SAM: (snicker)

SAM: Say it twice.

ASHLEY: Does that seem to do anything when I say that?

MARISHA: Do you have to say it one more time? Three times.

LIAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Just making sure to feed that root.

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: Did someone summon a root? (laughter)

LIAM: It's Stephen Root.

MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)

TRAVIS: Stephen.

SAM: It's three!

MARISHA: A turnip pops up.

MATT: On the third mention, the woman gives you this look back over the shoulder like, "What the? Okay." (laughter)

ASHLEY: Just making sure.

MATT: There was something meditative about the sound, the hum of the constant, gentle flow of water. The cold temperature of the interior of this chamber, deeper than the rock away from the warming light of the sun, and then now, the cold sensation in your body. It becomes this stillness that's almost welcoming, inviting. And for a moment, you can't help yourself but think, is this the peace of death? To be cold and still and content? You're uncertain how much time goes by. Could be minutes, hours. It becomes that odd period of meditative disassociation, where it's just the sound of the water and the cold and the still, and it's nice.

LIAM: (atmospheric echoing)

ASHLEY: Should we go? Should we go?

TRAVIS: Look down at my hand. Still Invisalign?

MATT: No, the spell has worn off.

TRAVIS: Oh shit, we've been here a minute.

MARISHA: Is your dick still out?

SAM and MARISHA: (laugh)

TRAVIS: I turn around. I'm shocked by my hand. Is this individual still there?

MATT: They're gone.

TRAVIS: Turn around. Guys? Guys?

ASHLEY: What? What? What?

TRAVIS: Are we alone in the chamber?

MATT: Yeah. It's just the three of you.

TRAVIS: I don't know how much time passed. You can see me.

ASHLEY: Yeah. Oh.

TRAVIS: Wouldn't it just--

ASHLEY: Oh, because that takes a long time to go away.

TRAVIS: Yeah. What happened?

LIAM: We should probably go.

TRAVIS: We should go. He's right.

ASHLEY: I'm not allowed to put my hooves in there, am I? We should go. Clop clop clop clop, clop clop clop.

TRAVIS: That was weird. It was cold and still, and then I just went like, in a trance. Same for you?

ASHLEY: It felt so good. It felt so good.

TRAVIS: Yeah, it was kind of--

ASHLEY: I was just so at peace.

LIAM: To unplug? Yeah.

ASHLEY: God. If that's how it goes, that's all right. That's not too bad. I'm not opposed to it. Just saying.

TRAVIS: Can we see outside from inside the temple at all, or is it completely--

MATT: The doors are closed.

TRAVIS: Doors are closed. Okay. Yeah. We should-- Oh, fuck. Oh, it's the same day. Will you check? Will you check for warhammer net fuck?

LIAM: Oh, make sure of the door?

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah.

LIAM: All right. We'll make our way down that long rib.

TRAVIS: ♪ Makin' our way ♪

ASHLEY: Bye, ma'am!

LIAM: Ribbed hall.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: I assume Charm has worn away and I don't know how.

MATT: You touch your hand to the door, and the doors of the chamber (slamming) slam open--

MARISHA: No. No way.

MATT: -- to a deep red sky--

TRAVIS and SAM: (yell)

MATT: -- that envelopes the entirety of the horizon around you. You don't see the street. It drops down into a familiar excavation site. You see a singular tower of black, firing a red beam of noxious energy into the sky. The moon itself feels impossibly close, like it's ominous and oppressive above you, brightening. You see, in the middle of this beam, a singular black orb, and you hear a scream, a scream that doesn't stop, a scream that echoes across the entire horizon of Exandria. In that moment, the doors (slams) close, but instead of the doors, you see this massive white mask, and you all come out of your trance, still kneeling before the water with the priest who had brought you there.

LIAM: (coughs)

MATT: Who stands up.

ASHLEY and TRAVIS: (gasp)

ASHLEY: Well, what was that? What was that? What was that?

MATT: "We're in a period of mourning."

LIAM: Mourning for what?

TRAVIS: Oh!

MATT: "For one of our own."

LAURA: That was Vax screaming!

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: That's why the torches are off.

TRAVIS: Hands, hands, hands?

MATT: Hands are fine.

TRAVIS: Invisalign or I can see them?

MATT: So for you, though, the spell is still present.

TRAVIS: Okay.

ASHLEY: (gasps)

LAURA: Oh my god.

TRAVIS: You saw the red sky and the beam and then?

ASHLEY: The black orb, the whole sky was red.

TRAVIS: And then the big white face.

ASHLEY: Screaming, yeah, yeah, yeah.

TRAVIS: How do we help? How do we help in the fight? How do we turn the tide?

MATT: "Hmm. Faith."

ASHLEY: Okay.

TRAVIS: We should go. We should go.

LIAM: I'm going to reach my hand down. She got the water from a pool?

MATT: Yeah, there's this half-circle basin that fills the opposite end of the chamber where all this waterfall, which now that you're close, you can see it's falling across a piece of stone that's just pouring across the edge and then entering the basin.

LIAM: I have no idea if it's proper, but I reach out my hand and catch a little and then I smear it on the face of my shield. Let's go.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Can we put any of this in a canteen or it's just a one-time?

MATT: She doesn't respond.

TRAVIS: (chuckles)

ASHLEY: Okay, I was just seeing--

TRAVIS: Thank you

ASHLEY: -- because I wanted to share it with the others.

TRAVIS: I know I'll probably be seeing you soon, but I hope (fingers snap) not too soon. You only heard that. You can't see my fingers. All right. (sighs) Thank you.

ASHLEY: Thank you so much.

MATT: "Of course. We offer solace at all stages of life and beyond."

ASHLEY: Oh.

MATT: "Thank you for spending some time with me this day."

LIAM: Likewise, it's appreciated.

TRAVIS: Oh shit. Yep, we're out.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LIAM: Now, I'm going to check for--

TRAVIS: Now, you're going to check the door when you're outside the door? (laughs)

SAM: (mock screams)

TRAVIS: (boom)

MATT: Okay. Make a perception check.

TRAVIS: Rock Ed! (laughter)

LIAM: Jeez, you jump-scared us.

TRAVIS: It's a Stephen King novel.

MARISHA: Fucking Groundhog's Day.

LIAM: That is a 30.

MATT: 30.

LAURA: What?!

MATT: You glance out into--

LIAM: 19 plus 11.

MATT: -- the midday sun and it is just normal day. No sign of the individual that attempted to pull Chetney away from you.

ASHLEY: Oh my gods. That was so cool.

MARISHA: Look at her butt.

ASHLEY: That was so cool.

TRAVIS: That was so cool.

ASHLEY: I can't wait to tell everybody.

TRAVIS: That was so fucked. Why was that black sphere screaming? You heard the voice, right?

ASHLEY: Yes.

LIAM: He's still stuck there.

TRAVIS: That's still him?! Oh. Shit.

LIAM: Let's go find the others.

TRAVIS and ASHLEY: Yeah.

LIAM: Book it.

MATT: All right.

TRAVIS: I hold onto Fearne's flowy garments as they run.

MATT: (laughs)

ASHLEY: High knees. (laughter)

MARISHA: Chetney's feet kicking up and dragging every once in a while.

TRAVIS: Yeah. (yelps) (laughter)

MATT: You all eventually regather within the rooms you had already taken at the Spire by Fire, but you do reconvene after your various adventures for the day.

LAURA: How'd it go?

SAM: Guys, the craziest thing happened to us.

LAURA: What was it?

SAM: We just went to Milo's. (laughter)

MARISHA: Laudna is much happier than you last saw her.

SAM: Oh!

TALIESIN: Hey!

MARISHA: And is like, you know when you put an eight-year-old in a princess dress and they're just, you know, twirling it around and living the fantasy?

TRAVIS: Booping everybody in.

MARISHA: Uh-huh, yes. That's what Laudna is doing with her new drip.

SAM: Oh, you look nice.

ASHLEY: This is lovely.

MARISHA: Oh, (chuckles) you noticed?

ASHLEY: Absolutely, the high neck, love it.

LAURA: It's purple, you said?

MARISHA: Yes, a deep maroonish-purple, yes.

SAM: That's smart because--

LIAM: Your backpack's off?

SAM: -- black can clash with black sometimes.

MARISHA: Right?

TALIESIN: I'm sure you've got some bespoke stuff that you plan on doing.

MARISHA: Oh.

TALIESIN: I know you're, you know?

MARISHA: Yes. We'll see how the art turns out. Chetney, look.

TRAVIS: Oh shit! (gasps) I love it.

MARISHA: Yes?

ASHLEY: That is so cool.

TRAVIS: Oh my god.

MARISHA: Pâté is really happy with it, right, Pâté?

MATT: Crawls out of it. "Yeah, it's a little bumpy, but you know what? I like it because--"

MARISHA: Shut up.

TRAVIS: Yeah, you'll learn to make do.

LAURA: Aw.

TALIESIN: It's like a cuckoo clock.

LAURA: I missed you, Pâté.

MATT: "Hi, Imogen!"

LAURA: Hi.

MATT: "I saw what you did." Then he crawls back in.

SAM: Whoa.

TRAVIS: What'd you do?

MARISHA: No, shut up, shut up. Shut up.

LIAM: Did you guys get into a fight or something?

LAURA: Oh yeah, we went shopping for groceries.

ASHLEY: Oh.

TALIESIN: Did you bring anything back?

LAURA: No, gave it all to Zhudanna.

TRAVIS: Oh, that's nice.

LAURA: Lies, I brought one orange. (chuckles) There you go, Ashton.

MARISHA: But what Pâté is definitely referencing--

TALIESIN: Any orange in a storm.

MARISHA: -- is that Ludinus is doing little propaganda speeches across the city.

SAM: Magically?

LAURA: Yeah, yeah. He's got little spheres, little tiny crystal spheres hidden around--

SAM: You got one?

LAURA: They pop up and--

MARISHA: This one got smashed. But I pull out the crystal orb.

LAURA: He was giving the speech that he gave in front of everyone at the Key.

MARISHA: It got smashed.

SAM: Oh, okay. No, the one that was shattered, yeah.

MARISHA: While we're over dinner, I'll try and start Mending it back together.

MATT: Okay, you only get back about maybe a third of it from what you were able to gather because it was scattered a bit in the chaos.

MARISHA: I'll still try to attach it.

SAM: Can I inspect it and see if I can glean anything off of it?

MATT: Make an arcana check.

SAM: Okay. It says that I have advantage on those.

LIAM: His lackeys are just tossing them out around town.

MARISHA: Correct. Which means there's definitely a Ruby Vanguard presence in the city.

SAM: 10, forget it. I don't know shit.

TALIESIN: I ordered a bunch of hefeweizens for everyone and am distributing the orange slices with everybody.

LAURA: Aw!

ASHLEY: Delicious.

LAURA: Ashton, that's so smart.

TRAVIS: Hefeweizen.

MARISHA: That sounds good.

SAM: Also, Laudna, I know that you were upset that we had fun on our journeys and you didn't. So I baked you some things so that you could help enjoy or experience what we experienced.

MARISHA: (touched noises)

SAM: So I baked you hot cocoa cookies because where we were was cold.

MARISHA: Oh my goodness.

SAM: I baked you a bullseye muffin, which is a lemon muffin because we saw a bull.

MARISHA: Oh!

SAM: I also baked you something called a royal because we met a king and a queen, which is almond meringue and a cream topping.

MARISHA: Oh my, ooh. I take a bite of the royal because that sounds delightful.

TALIESIN: I was worried there would be ménage à trois- themed one that's a turducken muffin.

MATT: What'd you roll for arcana?

SAM: Just a 10.

MATT: Just a 10? Yeah, you can't pick up too much on it, unfortunately. It definitely looks like it held an enchantment, but--

SAM: Okay.

MARISHA: I do-- I apologize.

SAM: Why?

MARISHA: Things were-- why do you-- You are so smirky and giggly.

TRAVIS: Listen. (laughs) I'm 400-plus years old.

MARISHA: What?

TRAVIS: We're doing great. There's reason to smile. (laughter)

SAM: Are you stoned?

LAURA: What did y'all get into?

TRAVIS: No!

LAURA: What did y'all do?

TALIESIN: He was acting stoned today.

ASHLEY: We went--

LAURA: Did y'all have sex again? (laughter)

ASHLEY: No, we didn't.

SAM: Orym?

ASHLEY: We did not.

SAM: Did you partake?

LIAM: Sort of. (laughter)

LIAM: We sort of did something together, the three of us.

TRAVIS: Sure did.

LAURA: Oh my god.

ASHLEY: Not like what you think. Well, someone was after Chet, tried to attack him.

SAM: That's normal.

ASHLEY: And tried to take him.

LIAM: We stopped by to see Ajit. Lots of military stopping here, stocking up, moving onto the Hellcatch Valley.

MARISHA: We know that.

LIAM: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Couldn't identify Ludinus' old chest duck funnel.

TALIESIN: We'll run it by Milo tomorrow anyway.

LAURA: Yeah.

LIAM: Then Fearne suggested we run past the Duskmaven's Temple.

LAURA: That's brilliant.

ASHLEY: Oh, thanks.

LIAM: It was a great idea. Got jumped on the way.

TRAVIS: Got distracted by a killer meat pie. It wasn't a meat pie: turned out to be an ambush.

LAURA: Okay.

ASHLEY: It was an ambush.

TALIESIN: Makes sense.

LIAM: Apparently Chet--

MARISHA: Wait, the meat pie ambushed you?

LIAM: -- started a blood feud with--

TRAVIS: Doesn't it always?

LIAM: -- a shopkeep at some point.

ASHLEY: It sure does.

LAURA: I like that y'all are filling us in when we saw it.

ASHLEY: We saw it all.

SAM: Yeah, we were--

LIAM: Were you scrying us?

ASHLEY: We saw everybody.

SAM: We were sitting right here.

LAURA: We kind of saw it.

SAM: We saw whole thing.

ASHLEY: Okay. (laughter)

LAURA: So what was that vision?

MARISHA: Yeah. (laughter)

TALIESIN: I was sitting there going--

ASHLEY: Do you guys have any ideas of what that could be?

LAURA: I mean--

SAM: The black orb is that fella.

LAURA: That sounds like the guy. Yeah.

SAM: The feather fellow?

LAURA: That was with Keyleth that went to--

LIAM: Yeah.

LAURA: Y'all know who he is?

LIAM: Um.

SAM: Yeah, do you?

LIAM: I don't know.

SAM: Insight check.

LIAM: Go for it.

LAURA: Do we know who it is? Did we know who it-- We never figured out.

LIAM: I don't know. I think that's kind of Matt's call.

MATT: I would say likely not.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MATT: You would've heard things about the Champion of the Matron just like you would hear about historical figures and you know that there's a tie to her, but she never mentions it.

LIAM: Okay.

LAURA: And he was screaming?

LIAM: I don't know.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it was horrible.

LAURA: Did it sound like him?

MARISHA: More like multiple screams.

TRAVIS: It sounded like if somebody's screaming.

LIAM: I don't know, I mean, he just whispered when he showed up.

TRAVIS: Yeah, and I thought maybe the deal was done, like whatever happened was the end of him, but it's ongoing, it seems like.

MARISHA: It could be reversed.

LAURA: Constant pain?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: That's awful.

TRAVIS: I don't know if he's feeling it or if there's a time limit on it or if he's holding out.

LAURA: Well--

ASHLEY: I mean, it is something with the Matron. He's obsessed with trying. Remember his notes said something about what's her name? There's importance in names in the notes.

LAURA: We never talked about that aspect of it, but it felt like Ludinus was 20 steps ahead of us the whole time, right?

LIAM: Yes.

LAURA: He set it all in motion so that that man would show up. He knew your connection to Keyleth. He knew that she was going to show up. He ambushed her to get to him.

TRAVIS: We should talk to her.

SAM: To Keyleth?

TALIESIN: Yeah.

SAM: Yeah, that's where we're going tomorrow, right?

LAURA: She's got to be planning something to free him if-- She's got to know he's in pain.

TRAVIS: We're not strong enough to do anything.

LIAM: Maybe-- She's wise as fuck. She might have advice.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LIAM: She can leapfrog us there.

LAURA: Yeah.

MARISHA: And you definitely just mentioned and told us that the priestess at the Matron of Ravens temple said that you need faith--

TRAVIS: Yeah.

MARISHA: -- to fix this?

TRAVIS: We asked how we could turn the tide and the answer was faith.

SAM: Faith? Did she specify it has to be the Duskmaven faith or just any kind of faith, faith in the gods?

TRAVIS: It seemed like just faith.

SAM: We never really talked about this, but do you guys... Nothing? Do you guys follow any, any sort of anything?

ASHLEY: TBD.

SAM: TBD?

ASHLEY: TBD.

SAM: There's not a Fey Realm god that you are into?

ASHLEY: No.

SAM: Nothing?

LAURA: Not even the Moonweaver?

ASHLEY: I mean, Nana's super powerful, but I don't know if she's a god.

TRAVIS: Which one's the Moonweaver?

ASHLEY: Oh yeah, the Moonweaver's somebody else, sorry.

LAURA: I thought she was some, I don't know, a fey god or something.

TRAVIS: I'm real hazy on who they are and what they do. The death one I get because that's pretty cut and dried. I don't even know what the Changebringer does.

SAM: The Changebringer--

MARISHA: Brings change?

SAM: Helps you make choices in life and points you on a path.

TALIESIN: How?

LAURA: Ain't you been living for 400 years Chet, and you've never heard about the gods?

TRAVIS: No, no, I've heard about them, but I don't have them memorized or anything. Yeah, I mean they, you know? I don't have any particular relationship with any of them. There's quite a few.

LIAM: I mean I'm-- I'm a little more knowledgeable about them, but kind of the same. I don't begrudge them, but I've just focused on people my whole life.

MARISHA: Was the Wildmother part of your people's culture or deal?

LIAM: Some.

SAM: Well, it sounds like we're all going to have to bone up on our god stuff going into this. Might I suggest that you all-- You could all follow the Changebringer. She's really great. I could try to introduce you. All you need is a coin and some faith.

TRAVIS: Do you have a pamphlet, or--?

SAM: I don't, unfortunately.

LAURA: Is she pretty cool? Pretty cool?

SAM: She is super cool.

MARISHA: Have you talked with her yet?

SAM: Really.

LIAM: You implied that you had a moment, right?

SAM: Yeah. Yeah, more than one now. She's real and she really can see us.

LIAM: Undeniably.

TALIESIN: Of course.

SAM: She can really affect things and she really needs us, like this Matron Duskmaven person does and probably the Dawnfather that you mess with. But should we-- I don't know. Are faithless heathens the right people to save the gods?

TRAVIS: (laughs)

TALIESIN: I don't know, am I?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: Well, I think you are, but maybe we should try to learn a little bit more about the gods.

MARISHA: So who ever said we're saving the gods?

SAM: Aren't we?

MARISHA: I'm interested in saving humanity.

TALIESIN: I'm interested in stopping--

SAM: Well, yeah. I think that's the same thing.

TALIESIN: (questioning) Mm.

MARISHA: Is it?

LIAM: I think in this case, it is.

TALIESIN: I don't know about that. I don't. I don't know about that. I agree, Ludinus is fucking terrible and we have to make that not happen and we've got people who are suffering and we've got to fix that, but you know, I don't know. I need more information before I know what the fuck I feel about this.

MARISHA: A lot of blood has been shed in the name of the gods. A lot. Including what we all just witnessed in the desert. The excavation site, we were a part of it.

SAM: But that was in the name of the gods? That was in defiance of the gods.

TRAVIS: Right?

LIAM: Correct.

MARISHA: It's still a part of the gods. They were still the cause.

SAM: You all had things happen to you that should give you some sort of pause or some sort of kernel of faith.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

SAM: You fell out of building and by some miracle, are still alive with crazy new powers; and you were dead and were brought back; and you're not dead yet, which is some sort of miracle.

MATT: (laughs)

SAM: You should be.

LAURA: Have you rolled today, by the way?

TRAVIS: I usually do it when I sleep, but I'll do it anyway. We're okay. (laughter)

SAM: See?

TRAVIS: I mean, every day is a gift. I don't know, at 400 years and I've never had any kind of interaction or prayed or I've never seen a sign.

LAURA: They literally exist.

LIAM: We just got it.

TRAVIS: I know they're real, but--

TRAVIS: I don't have a personal--

LIAM: Chetney, we just got a sign an hour ago.

ASHLEY: We did drink some water.

TRAVIS: That's true.

ASHLEY: That was the first time anything that-- I tried talking to the Wildmother to try to get a hold of you.

TRAVIS: That is a sign, about as much of a sign as it gets.

SAM: You did?

ASHLEY: Well yeah, I was just trying to reach out and nothing happened.

SAM: Did it work?

ASHLEY: No, I didn't get to talk to Orym, I tried.

SAM: Oh, but did you get to talk to the Wildmother?

ASHLEY: No, just some air was blowing around. No, it wasn't anything.

SAM: That could've been her.

ASHLEY: No, it was so slight, but drinking the water--

SAM: The first couple times the Changebringer talked to me--

ASHLEY: Drinking the water today, that was something.

LAURA: Are y'all going to worship the Duskmaven or whatever?

LIAM: No, I'm not going to--

TRAVIS: If this is a recruiting class, somebody's making a bit more of an effort than the others.

ASHLEY: Yeah, I agree, that was pretty convincing.

TRAVIS: It was like (boom), red.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

MARISHA: Yeah, but we also watched Imogen-- well, I was a little dead-- but we watched Imogen level an entire block of a city.

LIAM: Mm-hmm.

TRAVIS: It was awesome.

MARISHA: With her power.

TRAVIS: It was great.

MARISHA: Which is far more intervention than I've ever seen from the gods.

SAM: Well, maybe that was part of... Maybe she was touched by a god.

TALIESIN: Again, I feel like--

LAURA: Yeah, Predathos.

TALIESIN: -- I feel like there's a lot of vague conjecture about the blowing of wind and the flipping of coins and a lot of things that just happen. (sighs deeply) I've had a life. I think a lot of us here have had a life. I can count the really good days practically on two hands. I've had bad shit happen. My first fucking memory is one of the worst things that ever happened to me. One, I fucking watched my parents get ripped to bits in a fucking maelstrom of god knows fucking what. I was dumped into a desert where I crawled until I nearly died to only be picked up and saved by shitty people who then threw me in a fucking orphanage where I stayed. It was more or less what you'd expect. Fought a lot, shit happened, made some friends, got out, lived the best we fucking could. Fell out of a window and lost everyone I cared about. Woke up damaged and in pain that has never stopped since that fucking day. There were little sections of my life where I prayed and I begged for anything to all of them, to any of them. The only time they've ever spoken to me was the one who tried to fucking kill me less than a week ago. So, I'm here to save us. I'm here to save the people who live here. Hell, I had one fucking word that I spoke to a giant pile of earth that was more responsive and made me feel better and connected me to something bigger than anything in my fucking life. Just the ground itself did more. So yeah, you know what? I am all for faith, and I'm not going to pick a god. They can pick me. It'll be the first one that actually praises me and then maybe I'll fucking answer. I'll wait. They can fucking beg. And I will listen, which is more than they ever fucking did. Go ahead.

SAM: Okay, I'll reach out and maybe I can get her.

TALIESIN: I pick up a coin and flip it.

TRAVIS and SAM: Oh!

SAM: Huh, what are you trying--

TALIESIN: She said fucking die. I throw it and I'm...

SAM: That's not how that works. It's more of a yes-no thing.

TALIESIN: I thought the question, "Do I fucking die or not?" And I got a yes.

SAM: Well, I mean, you didn't flip it the right way.

LIAM: I've read a decent amount of history books. In the circle of the gods, some of them are outright bastards. But history is littered with stories of their positive influence here. That's some of them, not all of them. But none of you would suggest wiping out every living being on earth because some of them are shitty. A lot of them are still good. A lot of them have done good. I think thinking in black and white is comforting. It's a little more nuanced than that.

TALIESIN: That's true.

MARISHA: I'm not against faith, but is it a prerequisite that it has to be in the gods? Why can't I have faith in you all? Faith in Exandria. Faith in the beings on this planet. Faith in those that came before the gods. The spirits, the eidolons, the earth, the titans.

SAM: I mean, I think if you have faith in those things, if it's true and you mean it, maybe that's enough, but right now the titans aren't in danger.

TALIESIN: I just--

MARISHA: How do you know?

TALIESIN: I mean, we just saw a fucking god trying to wipe out the last of...

MARISHA: The eidolons.

TALIESIN: It was an attempt to destroy.

LIAM: I'm not expecting you to believe in any one thing over another, but I think we should all see clearly and not paint everything with the same brush.

MARISHA: I don't think it's a question of seeing clearly. I think the ultimate question going forward is, we're all going to probably have different opinions on this and can we still accomplish our overall goals with different beliefs?

TRAVIS: Sure we can. Why not? We all come from different places, different backgrounds, different preferences. Some of us are beautiful. The others are hideous. We're all different. We don't have to see eye to eye on that. We've been doing great so far. Had our asses kicked a little bit, but otherwise really making big strides.

SAM: As long as we have an open mind and open hearts, maybe whatever we need to have faith in will reach us and we'll be able to accept whatever it is. Which one of us are hideous, by the way? Multiple? Did you have a--

TRAVIS: Duskmaven--

SAM: All right.

TRAVIS: Reach their heart.

MATT: (chuckles) (laughter)

TALIESIN: I mean.

TRAVIS: Hm.

TALIESIN: I have faith. I have faith in everybody at this table.

LAURA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: No, I do. We've all been good to each other, and I think we can all walk to this door at the top. I think we can do this, and I don't think it matters what we think once we cross it. I'm not going to... I'm okay having this conversation once that fuck is in the ground.

LAURA: Y'all said something interesting. You said the Dawnfather was trying to wipe out the last of the eidolons? The last of the...

TALIESIN: It was more of a...

LAURA: Was it a land grab or was it intentionally--

TALIESIN: It was a land grab.

MARISHA: It was a land grab.

TALIESIN: It was very much, this is ours now and--

MARISHA: And you deal.

TALIESIN: You either leave or die.

MARISHA: Yes.

TRAVIS: Oh.

LAURA: Did we every figure out--

MARISHA: Pushing them out.

LAURA: -- where Predathos came from?

TRAVIS: Imprisoned, sealed away. I think that's the gist of it, but...

MARISHA: The god eater--

LIAM: I heard the words came from off-world.

MARISHA: Mm-hmm.

LIAM: Have we read or heard that somehow?

MATT: The initial writings that the Grim Verity had recovered from the vaults of Vasselheim spoke of Predathos as arriving from the stars much like the gods did in the Founding.

LAURA: Okay.

SAM: (whispering)

LIAM: Well, there's one problem. We can feel different ways about it. We still have to solve the problem.

TALIESIN: Yes, we do.

SAM: We're going to rest tonight?

LAURA: We have to.

SAM: Then Ashton has some stuff to pick up tomorrow and then maybe we could go to your person.

LAURA: Let her know what you saw, yeah.

TRAVIS: Letters, did you try and Identify this vest back in? I can't remember. I'm a little old.

TALIESIN: We're going to take it in the--

LAURA: Did we?

TALIESIN: -- take it tomorrow.

TRAVIS: Yeah, but you can just--

SAM: I can't remember if I did.

LAURA: Is it magical? Was it something that could be Identified?

MATT: You could certainly try.

LAURA: You didn't identify it?

LIAM: Well, go for it. Why not?

SAM: I thought we did and it was just a harness.

ASHLEY: You could try to Identify it or one of us could put it on and just see what happens.

SAM: Yeah, 100%

MARISHA: See what happens and attune to it?

LAURA: I feel like that's--

SAM: Have faith in it.

LAURA: -- what we wanted to do when we found it, Fearne.

ASHLEY: Well...

TRAVIS: That's a great idea.

MARISHA: If it talks about siphoning power from fey and dryads...

SAM: We should put it on--

TRAVIS: Point it at Fearne.

LAURA: No, what if it kills her?

SAM: Point it at Fearne.

ASHLEY: Point it at me.

SAM: Yeah.

LAURA: It could kill her.

ASHLEY: We'll see if it--

SAM: But we're all here. We could turn it off.

TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LIAM: What else are you going to use your Identify for before bed?

SAM: I have already used it today.

LIAM: Oh, you did?

SAM: Yeah. So we can do it right when we wake up.

MARISHA: That's okay. Feels like, from very, one line or knowledge from this vest feels like, who knows how long--

TRAVIS: On a harness.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Harness.

MARISHA: All the energy, right?

TRAVIS: It's not a vest. It's a harness.

MARISHA: Oh, sorry, the harness. I thought you meant harness in, you're right. The harness was harnessing. Fuck, I've lost the thread. (laughter)

TRAVIS: The Duskmaven shall--

MARISHA: Chetney...

TRAVIS: Show you the threads.

MARISHA: Chetney was-- oh god.

TRAVIS: Okay, look, I'm just trying it out! Trying to--

SAM: No, but I like it, I like it, I like it. I like it. Keep trying--

ASHLEY: You know, try it out--

TRAVIS: I'm trying to be even better.

LAURA: You have faith now?

MARISHA: He's sucking energy--

TRAVIS: Nope.

MARISHA: -- out of things that aren't gods.

SAM: You'd look good in a little tight collar like a priest.

TRAVIS: They have a really cool veil thing. It went to their fingers.

ASHLEY: It was kind of, that was a really cool... It was really beautiful. Should I check in, maybe, on Ludinus or something? Because I feel like I can reach out and maybe see if I could see what he's doing.

TRAVIS: How would you do that?

ASHLEY: Just check in on somebody.

LAURA: You can do it?

ASHLEY: I think I can Scry. I think I can Scry now.

LAURA: Really?

ASHLEY: Yeah, I just feel like it.

LAURA: You saw Deanna do it and...

ASHLEY: I saw Deanna do it and I was like, "I think I can do it."

TRAVIS: Yeah, do it.

TALIESIN: If you say there doesn't seem to be anyone around when you're doing it, it's going to get a little weird whatever--

TRAVIS: ♪ I think we're alone now ♪

ASHLEY: Should I check?

TALIESIN: ♪ I think I can Scry now ♪

LAURA: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Should I check on him?

LAURA: Let's do it.

ASHLEY: Before bed?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: We have his stuff now. It could be easier to get--

MARISHA: Oh, yes, yeah!

LAURA: -- to get in touch with him.

ASHLEY: Okay, all right. I'm going to do like a dog trying to find the right part of the circle to sit down.

LAURA: He's very powerful. I don't know how these things work. What if he can sense you doing it and he knows?

TRAVIS: Ludinus or Imogen's mom?

ASHLEY: Oh!

MARISHA: Oh, oh my god!

SAM: What?

MARISHA: Have you had any dreams? What has been going on?

TALIESIN: Fuck.

MARISHA: I'm an asshole. I didn't ask!

LAURA: It's all right. No, I had one, (squeakily) didn't I?

MATT: You intentionally went into one with intent.

LAURA: I intentionally went into one, but nothing's come to me outside of that.

MARISHA: No contact from your mom?

SAM: We just saw Otohan, I think.

MARISHA: Fuck. All right.

SAM: Or she saw you.

LAURA: I have perfect memory.

SAM: Yep.

MATT: (laughs)

MARISHA: It's been a minute.

SAM: I can Scry, too, so if you want to look at two people.

TRAVIS: One each, let's do it.

ASHLEY: Oh yeah, all right, all right, all right.

TRAVIS: Doubles.

SAM: No, but yours is awesome. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Calm down, calm down. I know I'm great.

SAM: I also watched Deanna and I saw it, too.

ASHLEY: You did? You did?

SAM: Yeah, I'm--

ASHLEY: Okay. All right, what do we want to do? You want to do Imogen and Ludinus?

TRAVIS: It's your choice. Come on.

MARISHA: We're sitting around--

SAM: Simul-spell?

MARISHA: We're eating chicken around a dinner table or something?

ASHLEY: Simul-Scry?

SAM: Simul-Scry.

LAURA: Oh, are we in our--

SAM: Simul-Scry.

MATT: I think you guys are in your rooms to be having this conversation.

ASHLEY: Okay, simul-Scry.

SAM: Are we going to both simul-Scry on Ludinus?

TRAVIS: It's a race!

LAURA: Or...

SAM: Or both or-- I'll simul-Scry--

TALIESIN: One each.

ASHLEY: One each?

SAM: I'll Scry on your mom or you'll scry on... Who you want to do?

LIAM: Oh, good grief.

ASHLEY: Rollies?

SAM: Rollies.

ASHLEY: Rollies. Whoever gets higher does Ludinus.

SAM: Okay, great.

TALIESIN: Oh, it's been a while.

SAM: Five.

ASHLEY: Natural 20. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Guys, I got a natural 20.

SAM: Okay.

MATT: All right, so who are you Scrying on? You choose.

ASHLEY: Ludinus.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LIAM: Luda.

TRAVIS: Fearne just killed herself.

ASHLEY: (laughs)

SAM: I will simul-Scry.

ASHLEY: (explosion) Disappears.

SAM: On Imogen's mom.

MATT: Okay, on Liliana. All right, as you both pick--

SAM: Anything of hers?

MATT: Separate parts of the chamber to set up your Scry circle--

LAURA: She looks like me.

MATT: -- and begin to mark the ritual, and they are different rituals.

LAURA: Here's my locket.

SAM: I've seen her a bunch of times.

LAURA: It's a locket. This was hers.

MATT: Describe to me how you, with your more druidic nature-based loosely eidolon or spirits of nature tethered magic, how do you set up your Scry?

MARISHA: How do you want to Scry this?

MATT: How do you want to Scry this?

ASHLEY: How do I want to Scry this?

TALIESIN: ♪ Scry, Scry, Scry, Scry, Scry, Scry ♪

ASHLEY: All right, I'm going to sit down and make sure my skirt is completely in a beautiful circle around me.

MARISHA: Hell yes.

ASHLEY: Thank you so much.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MARISHA: Full bridal photo.

ASHLEY: Full bridal photo.

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Jesus...

MARISHA and LAURA: (laugh)

TALIESIN: Cast Instagram.

ASHLEY: (exhales softly) I'm going to hold my hands together. So am I doing this right so far?

LAURA: You look great.

ASHLEY: I do?

SAM: Just like Deanna.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

ASHLEY: Okay, just like Deanna did. All right, I'm going to focus real hard, and you start to see a little bit of faint color of a green, but like a bright green. (pants excitedly)

SAM: (laughs)

ASHLEY: Okay, I'm doing it, I'm doing it, I'm doing it, I'm doing it. Okay, whew, I'm staying calm, I'm staying calm.

LIAM: (squeaks)

ASHLEY: Shit! (laughter)

ASHLEY: Okay, here I go.

LAURA: Okay, you need anything?

SAM: Don't distract her!

ASHLEY: I don't think so. I have a little bit of gas right now. I think I'm going to--

LAURA: It's okay. Let it go.

TALIESIN: You look really cool.

ASHLEY: Okay, okay. I'm going to focus real hard.

LAURA: This room smells so bad.

ASHLEY: I'm going to hold on to one of the pieces of Ludinus' things.

MARISHA: It's a small room.

ASHLEY: Sorry, it smells real bad.

SAM: (gags)

ASHLEY: I'm going to close my eyes and just...

SAM: Oh!

ASHLEY: Reach out really hard.

LAURA: (laughs)

SAM: Oh!

MATT: You close your eyes and you concentrate. In this dark space with your eyes closed, for the most part your magic has come from your natural fey essence and the time that you spent growing up in the Fey Realm and it's mostly wantonly borrowing from the flow of natural magics that have always been around you. Kind of just an expected thing. This is the first that you're really intentionally letting yourself expand into them as opposed to taking them, taking the power for yourself. As you release, you feel this expansion of your consciousness into the plants that grow in the cracks of the stone beyond this building through the Spire itself, through the leaves that tremble at the edge of the jungle trees. You can really feel the one single thread of life that thrums through all the interconnectedness of nature around you.

ASHLEY: Oh my god, this feels amazing.

MATT: You focus on Ludinus and take a deep breath. As you exhale, you feel your consciousness come into one single moment and push outward, and you drift in a gray liminal space with nothing to tether to. You just float there with nothing to grasp on.

ASHLEY: I don't think I'm doing this right.

MATT: It takes you a bit before you come to realize that you're unable to reach out or connect with Ludinus. Something is preventing you from seeing him.

TALIESIN: That makes sense.

LIAM: He's another place.

TRAVIS: Basic bitch motherfucker.

ASHLEY: I don't think I did it right.

LAURA: Was it just what?

ASHLEY: It was just gray. I think I just need to get better at it. Or there's some type of--

TALIESIN: I mean--

SAM: He probably was blocking.

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: If I were him, that's what I'd do.

ASHLEY: He's probably blocking, but. He's probably blocking.

MATT: Those who were with Prism, you do recall there was attempts previously also to Scry on him and pretty much the same.

LAURA: Oh.

TRAVIS: You probably just need to get stronger.

LAURA and MATT: (laugh)

TRAVIS: Don't come with that weak shit.

ASHLEY: I think I need to get stronger.

SAM: You just need faith.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LAURA: Speaking of...

SAM: Speaking of, I will light some incense.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: Thank god.

SAM: Put it in my mouth. (laughter)

MATT: Motherfucker. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Look at that grinning tiger. (laughter)

SAM: I will take my Changebringer coin and focus my energy on it so that it glows, and I will try to look through it into the great beyond and see if I can find Liliana, is that her name?

LAURA: Yeah, it's her fucking name. You don't know my mother's name!

SAM: What was your mother's name?

MATT and SAM: (laugh)

TALIESIN: Wow.

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: All right, what's your spell DC?

LIAM: It's Romper room style.

SAM: It's kind of low, 15.

MATT: 15, okay. It's cocked. Okay. You glance into this coin as hard as you can and you see the image of the Changebringer and her hair begins to flow. As you do, the texture of the metal begins to become darker. As it becomes darker, it's like slipping through a keyhole. You feel your essence and your consciousness, your focused vision push through this coin into darkness. The darkness turns to redness as the familiar feeling of a battering red dust storm of a shared dream you've been in before meets your gaze. (wind whipping) Heavy wind blasting around you as this cloud of red dust fills the sky above and the horizon, but not all the space around you. At first glance, you see a woman walking, familiar in the coloration of her hair, long and blowing and tattering through the heavy winds. You see her coat, heavy scarf, goggles on, her face covered as she pushes forward. To her left, about a few feet back, another figure. Roll perception check for me.

LAURA: Oh, we should've given him Guidance.

SAM: Guidance? I don't know if I can do that. Can I Guide myself? Probably not in this space.

MATT: No.

SAM: Okay. Perception?

MATT: Yeah.

SAM: 21.

MATT: 21.

TRAVIS: Yo.

MATT: The other figure, also mask covering their face, with a wrapped scarf. Themselves walking with a deep cerulean robe, staff in a withered hand that is blackened in coloration. The long silver hair of Ludinus Da'leth--

LAURA: (gasps)

SAM: Oh.

MATT: -- also within this storm, walking alongside her.

LAURA: Oh shit.

MATT: Goggles above his eyes, heavy cloaks over their shoulders, whipping and blowing in the middle of the storm. You see, on the horizon, shapes. Shapes in the middle of this cloud. Structures, buildings.

LAURA: Where are they?

MATT: With a 21--

LAURA: (gasps)

MATT: -- you can barely see a shape in the sky. A round body--

LAURA: It's round!

MATT: -- of a faint bluish-green coloration.

TRAVIS: Say it! Say it!

MATT: Exandria looms just beyond-- (exclaiming)

TRAVIS: Holy fuck!

MATT: -- the dust storm above. (magical force)

SAM: Ah!

MATT: You pull out from the vision and return to the space.

SAM: It didn't work, it took me to some fantasy place where there was a circle in the sky. (laughter)

LAURA: What you talking about?

SAM: (laughs)

TRAVIS: (laughs)

MARISHA: This guy.

TRAVIS: Flat circle.

SAM: It was a flat circle. No, they're on Ruidus. They're on Ruidus, both of them.

TALIESIN: Fuck.

TRAVIS: What did it look like?

SAM: Same thing. It's red storms, red storm.

MARISHA: (laughs)

LIAM: Just dust, that's it?

SAM: No, no, no, there was buildings. There was buildings. Were they tall?

MATT: You couldn't quite tell. Some of them looked kind of tall.

SAM: But they weren't homes, they were buildings, structures.

ASHLEY: Like they've been there a while?

MATT: It was like they were walking through a street in a heavy dust storm.

SAM: Oh.

LAURA: Oh my gosh.

SAM: They're in a city.

ASHLEY: That's so fucking cool!

SAM: They're in a city on the--

LAURA: That's what the dream was that I had before. There were people going up and down between the two, remember? There were people in the tether.

SAM: They were going both directions in your dream?

TRAVIS: Did they trap Predathos in a fucking city--

MATT: It's hard to really tell.

LAURA: Hard to really tell.

TRAVIS: -- and just ice-cream scoop it and send it up?

MARISHA: Didn't we-- (frustrated groan)

TRAVIS: Did they grab a city and send it?

MARISHA: Right, remember we learned about this. They maybe did scoop up a super pre-Age of Arcanum, and then they took a city and they made it--

SAM: Made it the moon.

MARISHA: Made it the moon.

SAM: Yeah.

MARISHA: Then went like, bleh. Maybe it was a thing, maybe he was on it, and that was the way that they dealt with it.

TRAVIS: They're on the moon.

LAURA: Wow.

SAM: Well shit.

LAURA: What did Exandria look like?

SAM: It was really pretty.

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: It was like a blue marble in the sky.

TRAVIS: What? What looked like what?

TRAVIS: Shh, shh, shh.

MARISHA: Say it one more time.

TALIESIN: Don't--

SAM: It looked like a blue marble, but it was just floating there.

LAURA: FCG, why don't you ask the Changebringer?

SAM: If Exandria's round?

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: Seems like a waste of a-- But sure.

LAURA: (laughs)

ASHLEY: I mean--

SAM: Sure.

LAURA: You have faith, right?

SAM: Of course I do.

LAURA: Yeah.

SAM: I'll take my Changebringer coin and use its one charge of the day to get Guided Grace.

MATT: Uh-huh.

SAM: I will flip it and say: Is Exandria round?

TALIESIN: Ah, shit. Yeah, I get as far saying shit before that.

MATT: (ting, ting, ting) It is her bright visage on a yes response.

LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: (gasps)

SAM: Yeah, it is round.

ASHLEY: Yeah, it is.

SAM: Big old Frisbee. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Tried to fucking-- Ah!

LAURA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: Fuck!

SAM: Like a plate.

LAURA: (laughs)

SAM: Like a vinyl.

ASHLEY: Yeah, but you said it was like a marble, which is the full sphere.

SAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was just--

TALIESIN: Next time--

LAURA: FCG.

TALIESIN: Is it shaped like a marble?

TRAVIS: That was dream stuff.

TALIESIN: It's a fucking marble.

SAM: Next time, I'll ask if it's a sphere, but I can only do that once a day, so.

TRAVIS: Well, that's big news.

ASHLEY: That is big news.

TRAVIS: That elevator's in full effect. If we get there, they're not going to be on the ground.

SAM: We got to get there.

TALIESIN: We got to get there.

TRAVIS: We got to ride the train.

LAURA: We got to go to the moon?

SAM: It sounds like we got to eventually.

LAURA: And ride.

SAM: We're still going to go to your place, but we should probably go to the beam and ride the beam.

TRAVIS: Right. That's right.

ASHLEY: Riders on the storm, baby.

LAURA and TRAVIS: (whooping)

SAM: We got to figure out how to ride it, though.

TRAVIS: ♪ Come on, ride the train ♪

SAM: We might have to be dead or something, I don't know.

TRAVIS and MARISHA: ♪ And ride it ♪

LAURA: No, they weren't dead. What I was seeing was people, I don't think they were dead.

SAM: But you saw red soul creatures and stuff. Is that what happens to you if you go through it?

LAURA: Those were the fucking--

ASHLEY: Reilorans?

SAM: Miteclorians?

LAURA: Yes, my lord.

MATT: Reilora.

ASHLEY: The Reilora.

LIAM: (laughing) "Miteclorians."

TALIESIN: I think you might be our key to getting up there.

TRAVIS: Have to swipe your badge.

ASHLEY: Yeah.

LAURA: Well we got to talk to Keyleth, are we still going to do that?

TALIESIN: Yes.

SAM: Because she can get us straight to ground zero.

TALIESIN: It's faster.

TRAVIS: We'll rest first.

MARISHA: It's just crazy, because if it's the Meilorians, are those people who were accidentally sucked up in this little land and then they just, after a thousand plus years turned into flame beings? This shit is crazy.

TALIESIN: Rudiosins, Ruidians, oh I don't know.

ASHLEY: Ruidians.

SAM: Ruissians?

TALIESIN: Red... I don't know. This is not what I'm good at. I don't know.

LIAM: Ruidians.

LAURA: Ruidians. I mean that sounds--

MARISHA: You're Ruidusborn.

SAM: Ruidish.

MARISHA: Have you had any weird tinglings?

ASHLEY: Not a single tingle. (laughter)

TRAVIS: Well, that's not true.

ASHLEY: Not a single Ruidus tingle.

TRAVIS: I'm sure you don't mean that.

MARISHA: She just specified.

ASHLEY: No, no, no, of course. A Ruidus tingle.

LAURA: A different kind of tingle.

ASHLEY: I've never had a Ruissian tingle. (laughter)

ASHLEY: Sucks. (laughter)

TALIESIN: Holy shit.

ASHLEY: Maybe one day.

LAURA: All right.

SAM: Okay, we sleep.

ASHLEY: We sleep.

LAURA: We sleep.

MATT: Okay. You all rest up for the evening. Go ahead and roll for your charges.

LAURA: Oh god, okay.

ASHLEY: Scared me.

SAM: Come on, roll good.

LAURA: Jeez, I hope I get it back.

ASHLEY: Come on.

LAURA: (clicks tongue)

ASHLEY: Guidance?

MATT: (laughs) You're sweet.

ASHLEY: Throwing that out there. Oh!

LAURA: Guess what, guys?

SAM: Come on.

LAURA: I had to roll a four in order to get enough charges back.

ASHLEY: Oh no.

SAM: What'd you roll?

LAURA: A three.

SAM: Goddamn it.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: I could lie.

MATT: No.

SAM: Well, we have to stay most of the day to get Ashton's hammer, anyway.

MATT: Yeah, so we can go another day.

SAM: (winding clock)

MATT: Another day on the clock clicks on.

LIAM: We can get the hammer when you're ready.

TALIESIN: Yep, and we can check the--

LAURA: (laughs) And we're back.

SAM: I'll Identify--

TRAVIS: The duck funnel vest?

TALIESIN: The duck funnel.

SAM: The harness.

LAURA: yeah!

SAM: No, I might have done this once already. I don't know. I'll identify the harness.

MATT: Okay.

LIAM: What's a fuck dunnel?

MATT: Identifying the harness.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MATT: Let's see here. This harness, first off, the funnel that looked like it was a chest-based thing, you've noticed at this point that you've been looking at it from the wrong position.

SAM: Oh!

MATT: It's actually worn the other way around, and it funnels to the base of the neck between the shoulder blades. It is designed, from what you can ascertain from the Identify spell, it is designed, and the enchantment that's within there, though it does not currently function, it appears to have been either damaged with time or sustained in the crumbling or destruction of Molaesmyr. This device would take the essence of some sort of magic and funnel it to a particular place on the wearer's body.

TALIESIN: Oh.

LIAM: Between the shoulder blades or the middle of the back?

MATT: Between the shoulder blades at the base of the neck.

MARISHA: Fucking spinal cord.

TRAVIS: Would this shit funnel down the leylines.

MARISHA: Also maybe reveal a weak spot in Ludinus?

LAURA: That's true. That's true!

TRAVIS: Was he charging himself up?

MARISHA: Yeah, probably over centuries.

TRAVIS: I wonder how that works.

MARISHA: I also wonder if it's ancient and it's broken, we got to go see someone who is versed in ancient tech to fix it.

TRAVIS: Can mend it.

TALIESIN: That we trust.

MARISHA: If we want to fix it.

TALIESIN: Or that we kind of trust.

LIAM: You think that's how he would take his youth juice?

LAURA: He probably made another one. I mean he left all this stuff behind, right? When he had to leave the Savalir. Right?

MARISHA: Yeah, right.

LAURA: This was like a...

MARISHA: Maybe a prototype.

LAURA: Yeah.

LAURA: It's like a bug-out bag that we found.

TALIESIN: God, I hate to say this, but does anybody know where Ira is?

LAURA: Oh god, that's a great thought.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LAURA: Did we see him get away?

LIAM: We saw him leap off the boat with Xandis.

TRAVIS: He was running around doing stuff.

LAURA: Good thing we had a whole other day, you could Scry on someone else.

SAM: Sure.

TALIESIN: Mm.

SAM: I can if you want to.

LAURA: Maybe you could check in with Ira, yeah.

MATT: That's true. You've got two more Scrys at your disposal here.

LAURA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: Cannot believe I'm saying this.

TRAVIS: Can't we just message him?

MATT: You--

TALIESIN: Yeah.

LAURA: No.

MATT: -- go to the allotted time.

LAURA: I can't Send.

MATT: Return to Milo.

LAURA: Unless he's in the city.

MATT: The first arrival, Milo's not quite done.

TRAVIS: Have you tried it today?

TALIESIN: That's okay.

MATT: He's like, "Come back in a couple hours, I'm almost there, almost there." Eventually, by the time the sun sets, you're thankful you had an extra day because it may not have been done in the time that you guys were planning to leave.

TALIESIN: Yeah, yeah.

MATT: But when you do return, Milo is jittery, hasn't slept, but has a buzzing excitement about them. As you step within the Krook House and they hand you your hammer back, the handle's a bit thicker. It looks like it has a reinforced chamber in the center of it now. There is indeed around the grip on the upper part where the base of the actual hammer head is, you can see the exposed mechanism for clicking in where the rod was installed.

TALIESIN: Got you.

MATT: They go, "All you have to do to go ahead is make sure you don't hit this accidentally in the middle of swinging it, otherwise it's going to be a major disappointment."

TALIESIN: I mean, it's practice.

MATT: "But I think it could be useful circumstantially." You look at the rest of the glass portion of the head and you can see the crystal has been essentially-- You're not quite sure the process that they used, but it's been fused with it on the sides where, depending on where you directionally turn it, either they're faced outward like fins, or they're faced forward based on where you want to hit. They're more on the sides of it. It's not enough crystal to completely recreate it, but it's been incorporated into it.

TALIESIN: No, no, no.

MATT: Milo goes, "I'm not entirely certain what the properties of this are necessarily, other than the fact that it's very unique, has a refractive pattern to the crystalline structure itself, which I find really fascinating. But I managed to get most of it incorporated."

TALIESIN: Did you keep some for yourself just to check out or--? I have a little bit left over, but.

MATT: "I took a little for myself, yes."

TALIESIN: Good, good.

MATT: "Yeah, I'm definitely curious looking at it, just a little bit, most of it went into this, but here. (grunts)"

TALIESIN: I don't know what it does either. This is beautiful. I-- Thank you.

MATT: "Of course, go..."

TALIESIN: For everything. I don't know if I've ever... Thank you.

MATT: They punch you in the shoulder. "Fuck you, too."

TALIESIN: I'm trying to be better.

MATT: "Yeah, you're trying to save the world, right?"

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: "Don't fuck it up, that's 100 gold."

TALIESIN: Yeah, that's okay. This is good, I need chaos. I have faith in chaos. I throw the hammer on my back and walk out.

MATT: Okay.

MARISHA: You fused the cave crystals.

TALIESIN: I did a lot of weird shit.

MARISHA: To your hammer? These cave crystals, you shot magic into it, it scattered it, it refracted it.

LAURA: Sick.

TALIESIN: Then I also-- He said enough that I don't mind saying it.

MARISHA: But also meant you had no control if it wanted to hit an ally.

TRAVIS: Yay.

TALIESIN: I wonder what that switch does.

LAURA: Okay.

MARISHA: Turn it on and off.

TALIESIN: Oh, no.

LAURA: Oh god.

TALIESIN: (laughs)

MARISHA: You created a chaos weapon, who knows what's going to happen.

TALIESIN: It got so weird.

MATT: It's going to be great. But you all managed to regather again before the next night. Is there anything else you wanted to do before the--?

LIAM: Yeah.

ASHLEY: Anyone else we should check in on?

LIAM: Caleb Widogast. Bells Hells here. We survived. Where are you? Do you know what happened out there?

LAURA: Who are you talking to?

LIAM: The die I found at the-- (laughter)

MATT: Roll a d100 for me. (laughter)

MARISHA: Oh shit.

TRAVIS: Don't die.

LAURA: Did he give you a sending stone?

LIAM: 71.

MATT: Okay. There's a slight staticky fuzz, and no response.

LIAM: Should've tried it last night, too.

MARISHA: I pull out the Treshi scry ball.

MATT: Okay. Nothing.

MARISHA: Yeah. That tracks.

MATT: But worth checking.

MARISHA: She's probably on the moon.

TALIESIN: Fuzzy "ask later."

MARISHA: Yeah.

TALIESIN: It's just a Magic Eight Ball.

ASHLEY: You could Scry on--

TRAVIS: I check my tracking mark on Drixlitch. Where is that fuck?

MATT: Definitely still in the direction of Uthodurn.

TRAVIS: Okay.

MARISHA: (laughs)

TALIESIN: We have the weirdest rogues' gallery.

MATT: You really are an odd fucking group. (laughter)

MARISHA: You want him to die of a heart attack so bad.

TRAVIS: No problem. 400 and--

SAM: I really do.

TRAVIS: 68. (laughter)

MATT: Almost nice.

MARISHA: Is it a one or a 100?

LIAM: What's the death? One or 100?

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: 100.

MARISHA: 100?

LAURA: Oh god!

MATT: All zeros, yeah.

SAM: All zeros? Wow.

TRAVIS: Trip zeros, yeah. Never seen it, never will.

ASHLEY: We could check in on Ira.

LIAM: In the penultimate game.

MARISHA: Ira.

LAURA: Oh, yeah.

SAM: Seeing where he is?

LAURA: Yeah, we should check. I mean, I could try to send him a message. If he's close by, it's possible that he'll be able to hear. But who knows?

TALIESIN: That's somebody I would trust, "trust" to look at that breastplate.

LAURA: All right, let me give it a--

LIAM: Let's bust it out.

LAURA: Give it a try. Try to ♪ Send a little old message ♪

TALIESIN: Does anyone have magic that can make sure he doesn't turn on us, and try and kill us all other than--

ASHLEY: Wouldn't that would be nice?

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MARISHA: He's far more powerful than all of us, except for maybe Imogen.

MATT: You're casting a Sending to Ira?

SAM: Yeah.

LAURA: Uh-huh.

MATT: All right. What do you say?

MARISHA: It's true.

ASHLEY: We could try to Scry again.

LAURA: Ira?

ASHLEY: We don't know him well enough.

LAURA: Can you hear me? Is this working?

MATT: Roll a d100 for me.

LAURA: (laughs) Oh no.

TRAVIS: I'll do it with you.

LAURA: ♪ (goofy humming) ♪

TRAVIS: (gasps) (groans)

MARISHA: (laughs)

LAURA: 53.

MATT: 53. Familiar static lost in the loud network of chaotic magic forces in the sky.

LAURA: He is not--

LIAM: I don't like it.

MARISHA: I don't like it.

LAURA: He is not close by.

TALIESIN: Maybe we'll have a-- Maybe we'll have some luck when we're with the Ashari.

TRAVIS: Yeah, let's do it.

MARISHA: Scry.

TRAVIS: Let's get there.

SAM: Let's go.

TALIESIN: Scry.

MATT: You're Scrying on what?

SAM: You want to Scry, or are we going to Ashari?

MARISHA: Scry!

TRAVIS: Let's go to the Ashari.

TALIESIN: Scry in our room, then we'll go to the Ashari.

MARISHA: Oh wait. Do we have to pick one?

MATT: Who's doing what?

SAM: All right, I'll do a quick Scry then, I guess.

LIAM: Bust it out.

MATT: On?

SAM: On Ira. I'll spin that coin, and look into it, and see what I can see.

MATT: You look into the coin, and you peer once more through the keyhole that seems to open. For a brief moment, you feel like you are about to grasp on Ira as an entity, not blocked like you were before from even trying. He exists out there, but his will pushes you back.

SAM: Cool. Cool cool.

MATT: He made his saving throw. So, not today.

SAM: To Zephrah!

LAURA: Mm. Mm-hmm.

TALIESIN: Yep.

LIAM: So we're going to bed?

SAM: One more time to bed, then we'll wake up and go.

MATT: You can Scry if you want to, still before bed.

ASHLEY: Do we have anybody else we want to check in on?

SAM: No. We got to go, man.

MARISHA: You could try Ira again.

TRAVIS: Let's do it. Let's just do it.

SAM: We got to go.

LAURA: Oh, that's true. We could try.

ASHLEY: We'll try him one more time.

TALIESIN: Yeah.

MATT: Okay.

TALIESIN: Burn it.

MATT: What's your spell DC?

ASHLEY: 18.

MATT: Okay.

LAURA: Ooh!

TALIESIN: That spell DC is fucking badass.

MATT: As you concentrate once more, reconnecting yourself, and exhaling your essence of Fearne into the natural space around you, you feel yourself drift outward, and then focus once more--

LAURA: (laughs)

MATT: (mystical gust) And release into the ether of the pulse of life around Exandria.

ASHLEY: Whoa. Oh no.

MATT: And find yourself--

MARISHA: (gasps)

MATT: -- deep within a clustered red dust storm.

LAURA: (scoffs)

MARISHA: Oh!

MATT: Not amongst structures.

SAM: (whispers) He sold us out.

LAURA: No.

MATT: Not amongst others. Alone and pushing through a maelstrom, a stronger storm than they've said. Just trudging through a shaded, intense, red nothing.

ASHLEY: Psst!

MATT: No response.

LAURA: Does he look distraught?

ASHLEY: Yeah, what does he look like?

MATT: Hard to tell. He's covering his face. Whole coat is there, a heavy cloak is up--

ASHLEY: Do I see anything around?

MATT: -- pushing around, and looking, and moving through.

SAM: So he's there, but he's not with them?

MARISHA: So he could be doing his own thing.

TALIESIN: He could be following them.

LAURA: He could have gotten sucked up.

MARISHA: It could be anything.

LIAM: It could be anything.

ASHLEY: See anything around him, anything he's carrying?

MATT: Make a perception check.

ASHLEY: Okay.

LIAM: Looking out for number one.

TALIESIN: Respect.

ASHLEY: 20 total.

MATT: 20 total.

ASHLEY: Nope. 18.

MATT: 18, okay.

LIAM: Oh.

ASHLEY: I know.

MARISHA: Felt like it changed something.

MATT: You watch him for a bit. He approaches and you see a dark shape beginning to arrive. He presses up against the shape, and gives the side of this heavy piece of smooth stone, a massive boulder that has been just smoothed over by the weather on the surface of this realm. Scrapes his fingers across it, and then ducks into an alcove. Now, outside of the storm, he pulls his arm back. You see his pure black eyes blink and this long finger pushes dust out of the corners of them. His long ears, and he grins as he turns around and looks at someone you see, another figure approach. Thick, partially patchwork, armored torso. Material, you're not quite sure what it's made of. But this muscular humanoid figure of deep red skin with odd textures. You can see where the thick neck is, they're humanoid, but the features are sallow and smoothed. You see the eyes are odd shaped, and the head pushes back. This looks like--

MARISHA: Yeah, githzerai?

MATT: This looks like one of the entities that you've seen Imogen bring through, but not ethereal, not energy form, but physical. And it is dressed. It seems to acknowledge Ira with recognition.

LAURA: Recognition?

MATT: You don't see any conversation. It's like they're conversing without words.

SAM: Mentally.

TRAVIS: That's fucking--

SAM: Cool.

MATT: As it gives a nod, it steps back into the interior of wherever Ira is. Ira begins to follow just as the spell fades.

ASHLEY: Wow.

SAM: Cool.

TALIESIN: So worth it.

SAM: Okay, okay. Good intel.

TALIESIN: So worth it.

ASHLEY: It worked.

SAM: Good intel.

ASHLEY: Yeah, I pass it on.

TRAVIS: Okay okay, okay okay. Cool, cool, cool.

TALIESIN: That's helpful.

MARISHA: Are the Meilorans a branch of gith--? Like are they a--

TRAVIS: Do they look like githzerai?

MARISHA: Githzerai or githyanki?

LIAM: That hasn't been said.

LAURA: Mm-mm.

MATT: No. Their features are different.

MARISHA: Okay.

MATT: You're uncertain if there is a connection. The one that you saw, the one that Imogen created, had brought forth, was this thin, somewhat spindly, semi-ethereal version. Uncertain if it was an image of, or interpretation of, or just a certain kind.

LIAM: Projection.

MATT: The one that you saw was solid muscle, though with interesting striations and textures across its body.

LIAM: Were they hot?

LAURA: Were they hot?

ASHLEY: Sounds like it.

MATT: I don't know, Fearne. Was it hot?

MARISHA: It sounds buff.

ASHLEY: Duh.

MATT: (laughs)

TALIESIN: I'm into it.

MARISHA: Yeah.

LAURA: All right.

SAM: Sleep, Zephrah, go!

LAURA: Let's go.

MATT: Okay. Evening's rest comes through unabated here in the chambers. The next morning, as you wake up and prepare yourself for the day's journey, you can see six of the moored skyships have left. You can barely see a couple of them on the horizon heading over towards the Hellcatch. The burning red moon's still above. With the context of what some of you have seen, too, it's odd now to see it from this side, having been within its space. But, unless there's any other business to take, you can go ahead and--

TRAVIS: We know what we're doing.

LAURA: Yep.

MARISHA: Yeah, let's go.

TALIESIN: Let's roll.

MATT: All right. You set the staff before you, concentrate, focusing on really--

LIAM: Hold on.

MATT: Hold out the sword?

LIAM: Hmm? It's my shield out.

MATT: Your shield. In concentrating on the shield, you begin to recite the incantation and invoke the staff. You watch as--

LAURA: Meka leka hi, meka hiney ho.

MATT: (laughs)

TALIESIN: (whispering) Meka leka hi, meka--

MATT: The runes along it begin to glow and flicker as the spiral of the twisting wood continues up. As it does, you watch the opaqueness of the crystal begin to go clear, but it brightens as it does. As that happens, you focus on your troop. All of you feel the breath begin to (hollow wisp) like it's being pulled out of you, like a vacuum is pulling the breath out of your lungs. Right in that moment when the panic begins to set in, the whole room stretches. (imploding energy) Within but a moment, you all can catch your feet, landing on the ground. It's midday. A beautiful cloud dappled sky as you glance around on the horizon amongst these beautiful brown and red stones, this mountain scape around you. You can see clusters of trees and pathways and walkways that weave up through the mountain ranges. You can see the grass fields, and eventually the ocean far beyond in an eastern direction. But you also see yourself standing on the precipice of a cliff that leads to a beautiful village that is built woven through the nearest peaks of these mountains. Pastels of all ranges and color. You see bridges and ledges that encompass the rustic and natural homesteads that make up this community. The very structures and layout look like it's carved from the stone and grown from the ground, like the existence of this village is a borrowed gift from the land itself. The wind curls through perpetually, chilly but welcoming. Sweet scents of natural earth and other smells you can't identify draw you in the direction of this village where a tall, bright cherry blossom tree sits right on the precipice to your right. And that's where we're going to end the episode tonight.

TRAVIS: (awed) Whoa. Beautiful. Beautiful.

SAM: This place is kind of a dump.

MARISHA and MATT: (laugh)

TALIESIN: Three stars in the Michelin Guide.

LAURA and MATT: (laugh)

MARISHA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Beautiful.

ASHLEY: Golly.

LIAM: It's only because it's hard to get to.

TALIESIN: Mm. Bad parking.

LAURA: Oh man.

SAM: A garbage truck drives by.

MATT: Yeah. (laughter)

TRAVIS: (pistons hissing) Airbags.

MARISHA: (laughing) Yeah.

LAURA: Dang, y'all. A lot happened.

ASHLEY: A lot happened.

MARISHA: Yeah, man. Wowsers.

TALIESIN: That was a fun.

TRAVIS: Nice one, Matt.

MATT: I'm excited for the next episode. And the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that. Nevertheless, thank you so much for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? (whooping cheers)

MATT: Good night.