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: Before we get into our session this evening, one, we're missing our friend Liam O'Brien tonight, but we'll have him back next session.
ASHLEY: Boo.
MATT: We have some announcements to get through before we jump in.
LAURA: Look at all this elbow room, though!
TALIESIN: I know.
MATT: I know! Enjoy it for now.
TRAVIS: They're flying over here.
MATT: But first up for announcements is Ravensburger and their new game: That's Not a Hat. Here to talk about it is a cat. (resigned sigh) Sorry, I guess it's a dog.
SAM: (in Sam's "cat" voice) Yep, I'm a dog.
TRAVIS: (laughs)
SAM: Bow wow. I love you so much. Aren't I cute when I hump inanimate objects? Or when I poop in the grass instead of a clean box like civilized animals? Oh, look, it's my tail. Maybe I should chase it. How cosmopolitan.
MARISHA: Okay, I'm sorry. You're really a dog, though, right?
SAM: Yum, toilet water. That's what we dogs love to drink. Now, shall I sniff someone's butt without their consent?
MARISHA: No, definitely not. And second, I'm no expert, but I think you're "I'm a cat pretending to be a dog."
SAM: Oh, you think I'm bluffing?
ASHLEY: (laughs)
MARISHA: I think you're a fucking idiot. But yes, I think you're bluffing.
SAM: Well, bluffing is a big part of Ravensburger's brand new game, That's Not a Hat. That's Not a Hat is a fun party game that challenges you to memorize two simple things, or lie trying.
LAURA: Your voice is so weird! (laughter)
TRAVIS: It's so good.
MARISHA: Is this how you think dogs sound?
SAM: Flip over cards and try to remember which is which. If you can't, bluff about what you saw to score points.
TRAVIS: Nice.
SAM: You can learn how to play That's Not a Hat in minutes, making it a great game to throw in your bag and bring along to holiday gatherings for the whole family. Woof. It's really fun. Even dogs like me enjoy it. (pants creepily)
MARISHA: It sounds really fun, but we all know that you're a cat.
SAM: You think I'm a cat? The perfect creature who can stay awake sometimes for up to 20 minutes at a time.
TRAVIS: Oh jesus.
SAM: I should be so lucky. Each fast, fun, and hilarious game of That's Not a Hat--
MATT: (laughing) Oh my god.
SAM: -- takes about 10 to 15 minutes. So you'll want to play again and again, just like I love playing fetch.
MARISHA: Okay, but-- If you're a dog, okay, little test, what's your opinion on postal workers?
SAM: Postal workers? Like every other human, they do not exist unless they provide me with food.
MARISHA: A-ha!
ASHLEY: A-ha!
MARISHA: I gotcha!
SAM: Okay, darn it. You found me out. I'm a cat.
TRAVIS: He kept the voice!
SAM: I'm a cat, it's me. And That's Not a Hat! (laughter)
MATT: Oh my god.
SAM: So head on over to-- (laughter)
ASHLEY: Oops, he lost it. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Get it back! (laughter)
SAM: Don't do it to me! (laughter)
SAM: So head on over-- (laughter)
SAM: So head on over to Rav-- (laughter)
MATT: Go on.
ASHLEY: He can't back down!
SAM: So head on over to rav.wiki/critical to shop That's Not a Hat and make your family's holiday season more fun. Matt, meow to you. (laughter)
MATT: No! (laughs)
TRAVIS: This is like the deep dive. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Pull up!
MARISHA: Ashley go: Oops, he lost it! (laughter)
ASHLEY: This is my favorite bit. (laughter)
ASHLEY: My favorite character.
MATT: Awesome.
ASHLEY: It's so stupid.
MATT: It's my favorite once it's done. (laughter)
MATT: Our next sponsor is Hit Point Press.
TRAVIS: Hit Point Press.
TALIESIN: Hey!
MATT: Black Friday is starting early at hitpointpress.com. Prepare for your next adventure with Heckna--
TALIESIN: I have this here. Wow!
MATT: -- Humblewood, Tarot, and the animated Deck of Many Things. Ooh! Visit hitpointpress.com/cr--
ASHLEY: This is so heavy.
MATT: -- and use code Critter23 to get $10 off all orders over $50. Additionally, for the first time ever, enjoy free shipping on orders over $100 of physical products to the continental US. Plus, select titles come with a free virtual tabletop module upon purchase at alchemyrpg.com, a stunning, cinematic, immersive, virtual tabletop platform! Once again, don't forget to use the code Critter23 all at once for $10 off orders over $50 at hitpointpress.com/cr. Thank you, Hit Point Press, for sponsoring this episode.
TRAVIS: Hit Point Press.
MATT: Sam, you got the next bit?
SAM: I've got one more thing to say.
LAURA: Do we get to keep these?
SAM: Yeah, I'm going to say yes.
MATT: Sure, go for it. Yeah.
SAM: Our next sponsor is Atlus and their brand new game, "Persona 5 Tactica."
TRAVIS: Ooh!
SAM: Ignite your heart in "Persona 5 Tactica" and join the Phantom Thieves in a thrilling emotional revolution. Help them uncover the truth behind a mysterious deal offered by revolutionary Erina.
TRAVIS: (whispered) Erina.
MARISHA: (whispered) Erina.
SAM: Is that right? Did I say it right?
LAURA: Yeah, that sounds right.
SAM: I should've read this ahead of time. Build your dream squad. Fight oppressive forces and overthrow enemies with powerful personas and stylish combat moves. Experience the uprising of the heart in this dynamic combat adventure. The game is a--
TRAVIS: (whispered) Combat adventure.
SAM: Thank you.
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: The game is available tomorrow?! Oh shit.
MARISHA: Oh!
SAM: On Game Pass, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Steam! Exclamation point.
MARISHA: Steam.
TRAVIS: (whispered) Return to innocence. (laughter)
SAM: But wait, there's more! Don't forget to check out our inspired by "Persona 5 Tactica" one-shot tomorrow featuring Matt Mercer, Robbie Daymond, Xanthe Huynh, Krystina Arielle, Jared Goldstein, and our wonderful GM, Liam O'Brien.
LAURA: Aw. (groaning)
MARISHA: Yeah, aw.
SAM: Aw.
ASHLEY: Aw!
SAM: On Twitch and YouTube at 7:00pm PST. It was such a good show that it took him out of commission. (laughter)
SAM: Thank you, Atlus, for sponsoring this episode. Matt, finally, back to you.
MATT: Thank you so much. Excited for you check it out make sure my sensitive artist boy survives your playthrough of Tactica, please.
TRAVIS: Ooh!
MATT: Taliesin, if you don't mind.
TALIESIN: Yes! Yes! The Candela Obscura Core Rulebook is here. (cheering)
TALIESIN: Yes! Everything you need to play this game of investigative horror, including rules--
LAURA: Do you want me to hold this up now?
TALIESIN: Why not? We'll talk about it in a second, but yeah. Character options for players, GM guidance on running your own campaigns, and expansive setting information, like the metropolis of Newfaire, or the ruins of Oldfaire still teeming with the remnants of powerful magick. Keen eyes might even uncover a hidden mystery to solve within the pages themselves. It's pretty cool.
MARISHA: Oh yeah.
TALIESIN: The Candela Obscura Core Rulebook is offered in both a standard edition as well as a beautiful foil printed edition for collection.
LAURA: I'm a fancy edition!
TALIESIN: It's so shiny. They're both shiny.
MARISHA: Yeah.
TALIESIN: So go forth, investigators, and leave your own mark on the Fairelands. Pick up your copy of this lovingly made tome today at Critical Role online shops, Darrington Press Guild Stores, and wherever you buy your games.
TRAVIS: I love it. It's so great!
SAM: I'm so excited.
MARISHA: ♪ So excited ♪
TALIESIN: It's so fancy.
MARISHA: The art is gorge. It's so good.
MATT: Speaking of Candela.
LAURA: Hellish.
MARISHA: Yeah, yeah.
SAM: But in a good way.
MARISHA: In a good way. It's a horror game.
SAM: In an appealing way.
ASHLEY: Yes.
TALIESIN: Hellish.
MARISHA: Speaking of Candela Obscura, the Circle of Needle & Thread Session Zero, it's up on YouTube right now so you can get a little glimpse in how we made our characters. It's super cool. With that, next week we will be releasing our Crafting a Mystery video with Spenser Starke. Yeah, on Tuesday the 21st. Once again, get a little peek into that beautiful boy's brain. He's so smart.
TRAVIS: Such good hair.
MARISHA: He has such good hair. Also, there is no Critical Role next week on Thursday the 23rd because it's a holiday here in the States. It's Thanksgiving. But we will be back next Thursday after that with the next chapter of Candela Obscura.
SAM: What?
MARISHA: (gasps) The Circle of Tide & Bone.
SAM: Tide & Bone.
TRAVIS: Yo!
MARISHA: Premieres Thursday.
LAURA: Circle of Tide & Pod.
MARISHA: November 30th. Circle of Tide & Pod? (laughter)
SAM: It's mostly cleaning. (laughter)
MATT: That's the true horror out there.
MARISHA: It's good stuff. Aabria Iyengar is our storyteller. She's great. (cheering)
MARISHA: Tide & Bone, check it out. Matt.
MARISHA: (stuttering)
TRAVIS: Whoa!
MATT: Plus our friends over at Demiplane have released a full suite of digital tools for Candela Obscura. Build and share your own investigators using Demiplane's character builder. Easily navigate the rules and gameplay guidance and discover all the Fairelands have to offer at the Candela Obscura Nexus. Try the experience for free with the quick start guide or get access to the full Candela Obscura Core Book for purchase at candelaobscuranexus.com. (cheering)
MATT: Ashley, if you don't mind.
ASHLEY: Hey! Join us for a special Giving Tuesday CRF one-shot benefiting Comic Relief US on Red Nose Day with your votes and generosity shaping the adventure.
LAURA: Yes.
ASHLEY: We'll be playing alongside special guests Sam Richardson and Tony Hale. (cheering)
ASHLEY: Plus, right now through November 28th, all donations up to $250,000 will be matched dollar for dollar.
SAM: Damn.
ASHLEY: So tune in on giving Tuesday, November 28th at 5:00pm Pacific on Twitch and YouTube and visit critrole.com/rednoseday to donate now and help make a difference in children's lives worldwide.
SAM: Aw!
MATT: I love it. Thank you.
MARISHA: Madam President.
ASHLEY: Dee-dee-dee dee-dee-dee-dee.
MATT: Thank you for hanging in. One last thing, right before we go to holiday bunch of announcements, but we're almost done. Laura.
LAURA: Hi, I have an announcement. It's Critmas time, everyone! (cheering)
LAURA: Which means we're going to have another Critmas sale, our second annual.
TRAVIS: Oh snap!
LAURA: I know and, this time, it's an extra long two weeks of savings.
SAM: Whoa!
LAURA: Check it out. So starting next week, all of our Critical Role shops will have major discounts on games, on dice, on clothes, and more. (laughter) You can get a great deal on stuff for your friends or for yourself, if you're like me. Check out our sale. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Please stop buying so much of our stuff.
LAURA: Yeah, I'm sorry. Check out our sale. All of our Crit Role shops starting Monday, November 20th all the way through December 1st. That's when it ends, Friday, December 1st.
SAM: So get your sales now.
TRAVIS: The sale ends Friday, December 1st.
LAURA: I'm done. Long announcements.
TRAVIS: Get it before then.
ASHLEY: ♪ Get your stuff so you get your stuffs. ♪
TRAVIS: Get your stuffs and stuff.
LAURA: That's all I got.
MATT: Great. Thank you. I think that concludes our announcements.
TRAVIS: ♪ You got your perfect-- ♪ (laughter)
MATT: So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. (screaming)
TRAVIS: Oh, he's so hot!
♪ 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: Bells Hells, after an extended excursion to the Shattered Teeth, learning more and more about the history of Ashton's youthful transformation into what you now know to be some sort of elemental humanoid, genasi-esque it seems, carrying within them the dormant seed, a broken shard of one of the ancient Primordial Titans. You made your path through these islands, acquired another chunk of one of these Primordial Titans that might be used to awaken this dormant shard. Given numerous bits of information about its history, the possible power within and warnings attached returned to Whitestone to both convey the information you gathered to the allies that you've made who are hoping to soon wage a massive front against the Malleus Key, but they lack information about what resides in the opposite side of the moon. The worry of destroying the key before knowing too much could leave Ludinus completely left to his own machinations unable to be stopped. So the bridge must be maintained for now and information is to be gathered. You, Bells Hells, volunteered to be the recon mission to the moon and back. You gathered materials from your allies. Arcanist Allura Vysoren, member of the Tal'Dorei Council, making your acquaintance and searching for a number of--
SAM: ♪ Makin' your acquaintance ♪ (laughter)
TRAVIS: Oh shit.
MATT: Providing what materials were on hand to help hopefully aid you on this recon mission. Before you left, Fearne and Ashton had a discussion to find a way to awaken the dormant shard of the titan within. In asking for a space to do this, you were shown to a subterranean layer beneath Whitestone where there seemed to be an ancient ziggurat. Itself coated with layers of residuum glass. This platform of power at the top was where the two of you brought the harness and asked for some privacy.
ASHLEY: (nervous growl) (laughter)
MATT: While your friends waited out of sight and Allura put up a barrier to protect any wayward magical energies from damaging the surrounding cavern and Whitestone above, Ashton decided to take the shard into himself. The words from Evontra'vir, the Tree of Atrophy, echoing in the mind of those around that both shards within one vessel would likely destroy it. Upon the process beginning, Ashton's physical form was brought not just to its limit, but past it twice. Thanks to some careful preparatory spellcasting and a ring taken by an old flame.
TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: And some fucking lucky rolls at the end there, Ashton lost an arm and then gained a new one, bouncing back and forth on the cusp of death before eventually the process completed. With just a shred of consciousness to you, you looked upon your newly formed molten rock arm before Fearne kicked you in the head and knocked you unconscious, once again sliding across the surface. The rest of you have been hearing these shouts and rushing up to help and trying to find a way to keep them alive, being burned in the proximity of the heat of this spark of Rau'shan. You just begin to catch your breath. The anxiety still thrumming in your minds. The last thing you see is Ashton smile through the pain before clattering, motionless to the top of the ziggurat floor. Fearne, you stand there gripping your fist at your side as you land back onto your hooves.
TRAVIS and LAURA: What the fuck?
SAM: Jinx.
LAURA: What was that?
MARISHA: Did you all talk about that?
ASHLEY: Yes.
LAURA: You knew he was going to do that?
ASHLEY: Yes, I did.
TRAVIS: I thought you... I thought you... I thought you were going to get the shard.
ASHLEY: Yeah, but we talked about it and I didn't want it.
TRAVIS: Oh.
MARISHA: Why not?
ASHLEY: Because it scared me.
LAURA: Well--
ASHLEY: I know.
TRAVIS: Is he dead?
ASHLEY: I don't know.
SAM: I'll go over and touch Ashton and see if I can, if he's okay there.
TRAVIS: Careful, his body's hot!
LAURA: She just warned him not to do that. Everything we heard said don't do that.
ASHLEY: I know, I just, I think-- Is he awake? Is he dead?
SAM: You go over and push on Ashton, warm to the touch, breathing with a slight hoof-shaped indentation in the forehead, but on the cusp of consciousness, perhaps with a bit of healing.
SAM: Sure, I'll pump in some healing. Cure Wounds. Wait, can I even do that? Yes, sure, I'll do a Cure Wounds at fourth level.
TALIESIN: Oh, wow.
MATT: All right, 4d8 plus your wisdom.
SAM: Oh, I should roll over here. 4d8! Jesus, I'm so good.
TRAVIS: (laughs) All ones.
LAURA: (laughs)
SAM: I'm not crazy.
TALIESIN: That's fine.
LAURA: One roll at a time.
SAM: Sorry.
MATT: (laughs)
TALIESIN: It didn't need a lot. It's all right.
SAM: I've lost count.
LAURA: Did you see there's other options?
SAM: 22 points.
TALIESIN: Wow.
MATT: 22 points. Right as you watch FCG pull back away the radiant glow of his spell craft subsiding and Ashton's eyes flicker open for a second. The eyes themselves almost alight with a flame-like heat before they return to the eyes you know.
TALIESIN: (groans) I was having the weirdest dream. I don't feel good. (groans) Oh.
LAURA: You better say something profound, Ashton, to make it worth it.
TALIESIN: I think I might have fucked up a lot.
ASHLEY: I'd like to walk over and take his hammer and I'm going to hit him with it in the face.
TRAVIS and LAURA: (gasp)
MATT: Okay, are you trying to do damage?
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: I'm so confused. (laughs)
MATT: Roll with advantage. Using your strength.
ASHLEY: What do I roll? Strength check?
MATT: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Well, that's not going to go very well.
SAM: Guidance.
LAURA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Do I get to react or no?
ASHLEY: Guidance?
MATT: If you want to react.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I'm going to Guide myself. Oh no, I don't have any d4s.
TRAVIS: Oh no. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Looking for a d4, okay.
MATT: Roll two d20s.
ASHLEY: Two d20s, ooh. No way. Seven. (laughter)
MATT: Do you attempt to resist?
ASHLEY: Miss his head.
TALIESIN: No.
MATT: As wide as your, and easy to dodge as your reel back is, the emotion already heavily foretelling what you're about to do, Ashton makes no attempt to resist, and the most angry croquet mallet strike, you (whack) smack him right upside the head (smack echoing) echoes throughout the cavern above and you can see dust (puffs) settle off of the roofs.
TRAVIS: Oh god, we're healing him, we're killing him. We're healing him. We're killing him.
MATT: You hear an echoed voice from below going, "Is everything all right up there?"
LAURA: No. Yes.
TRAVIS: (whispers) Who is that?
LAURA: It's Allura.
ASHLEY: I'm going to keep--
LAURA: No, Fearne.
ASHLEY: -- not hitting him with the hammer. I'm going to keep slamming it on the ground very close to his head and screaming.
MATT: Fearne's voice rings out across the cavern filled with what emotions you wish to convey.
ASHLEY: I'm going to try to break his hammer.
TRAVIS and LAURA: (gasp)
MATT: Roll a strength check.
TRAVIS: That's a sturdy fucking hammer.
TALIESIN: We'll find out.
ASHLEY: I mean, I'm not very strong, but I'm trying to just--
TRAVIS: You know who is.
LAURA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: 12.
MATT: Again and again, and again and again, and again and again, you continue to slam it over and over and over again as it impacts the ground, the earth shattering (extremely heavy impacts) of the impact of stone and residuum glass upon this enchanted glass hammer. Two, in this moment, seemingly indestructible items over and over again, conveying an anger and frustration that builds with each lack of movement on either side. You watch Fearne begin to unravel in fury with each hit.
LAURA: Fearne.
SAM: I'm going to try to roll under and catch it on one of her hits.
TRAVIS: I back up.
MATT: Okay. Both of you make athletics checks for me.
ASHLEY: Urgh. Six.
SAM: 17.
MATT: 17. (bashing thuds) And the hammer holds still.
SAM: Fearne, you got to stop this. I know you're frustrated, a lot of us are, but hitting things isn't going to make it any better. We got to talk about this, all right?
MARISHA: I don't know, I think she's quite justified.
ASHLEY: I'm going to stop hitting and I'm going to lean down to Ashton and I'm going to start ripping off the harness.
LAURA: The harness is off.
ASHLEY: The harness is off?
TRAVIS: Yeah. Orym pulled it off.
ASHLEY: I'm going to take the harness and I'm going to walk away.
LAURA: Take it out of my hand. (laughter)
LAURA: I-- keep it.
MATT: All right. Fearne storms off the top of the ziggurat and begins descending the stairs.
SAM: Clip clop, clip clop, clip clop.
TRAVIS: I'll go after her. Make sure she's okay.
MARISHA: I grip Imogen's hand because I'm having a hard time holding back that thrumming in my chest.
LAURA: Do you need to walk away from this?
MARISHA: They betrayed us. Why did Ashton betray us? (shaky inhale)
LAURA: I'm going to look over at Ashton and Detect Thoughts.
MATT: Okay, what are the initial surface thoughts swimming around in your mind?
TALIESIN: One week, it took one week. That's all it took, just one fucking week.
MATT: Do you push deeper?
LAURA: Yeah.
MATT: Make a wisdom saving throw, Ashton.
TRAVIS: Deeper. (deeply, creepily) Deeper.
TALIESIN: Eight.
MATT: What are the hidden thoughts that currently echo around in the back, the important deeper ones?
TALIESIN: I think I've seen a pattern in my life and I've-- I'm going to just describe it instead of-- Just the realization of hubris and temptation and blame and this sudden realization of this epiphany of violent levels of projecting responsibility. Just this very wide thought of so many moments in life of not being responsible for what happened and suddenly going through that one by one of just, it took one week of vaguely knowing where I came from, and the only thing I really knew about these people was that they fucked up in this very particular way and it took me one week to do the exact fucking same thing. Because I was so desperate to have it and so desperate to have something that I lost so that I could be mad at someone for taking it.
MATT: Hmm.
TALIESIN: And the realization that it didn't matter and that it was all bullshit.
MATT: Fearne, as you descend the steps you can see Lady Allura holding this field up. "Has the danger passed?"
ASHLEY: No.
MATT: "Very well." Once you exit the boundary, she looks over. "(sighs)"
TRAVIS: Sorry, it's real tenuous up there. Best to give them some space. Stay down here. I'll be back. (pants)
MATT: You go running after--
TRAVIS: Fearne.
MATT: Fearne, okay.
SAM: I'll help Ashton up. Are you on the ground or--?
TALIESIN: I am on the ground. I don't think I'm getting up.
SAM: Well, just a seated position then.
TALIESIN: It hurts. I'm okay.
MATT: You sit up. As you do, you feel this, it's like the remnants of that fracturing, that moment where your body exploded into 1,000 pieces, then came back together. That memory is with you, but you're also used to being a person who is broken and put back together, so there is strength in acknowledging that and that strange bit of dormant power within you, you can feel it burgeoning like an egg that's hatching. You can feel that weakness, that internal crackle of shale and broken mountain begin to find the roots and strength again. And while you do not touch earth or rock around you, for a moment, you can feel like all the rock and stone of this chamber and the mountains that surround you for a moment are breathing with you.
TALIESIN: Fuck, fuck, fuck.
MATT: A burning pain fills your chest like the worst heartburn you've ever felt. Whereas you felt that fire that tore you apart from within and every bit of your body, this is localized right, seated behind your sternum and it gets hotter and hotter and you feel like you're dizzy. You feel like you're about to lose consciousness again. You hold onto that strength, that newfound strength that sits within you and the burning. You're going to vomit. You're going to vomit and it hurts. It hurts. Every muscle in your body is tensing right now. Involuntarily, you feel your chest begin to seize and squeeze and the rest of you watch as Ashton seems to gently convulse in that sitting position before coughing a horrible sound. (cough-gagging) As you do, you watch emerging from Ashton's mouth, reformed from something inside him, a glowing, orange crystal.
SAM: Oh!
MATT: (impact) Ting, ting, ting--
LAURA: (gasps)
MATT: -- coming to rest about five feet from you.
TALIESIN: (coughs)
TRAVIS: Oh. Oh!
TALIESIN: (coughs)
TRAVIS: No fucking way.
SAM: Is that the thing? I'll go over and touch it real quick. Does it burn?
MATT: It burns your hand. You take.
TALIESIN: Don't do that, oh.
MATT: Two points of fire damage.
LAURA: You did all that shit for nothing, Ashton?
TALIESIN: I don't think it was for nothing. Oh god.
TRAVIS: It a different one?
MARISHA: Is it the same one?
TRAVIS: Was it the one that was in him?
ASHLEY: It's orange not red?
MARISHA: Does it look the same?
MATT: It's different in its shape. You watched it crumble when it was taken, but it seems like it's been reformed from something inside of Ashton.
TRAVIS: Within him?
MATT: Ashton, your constitution is permanently reduced by two.
SAM: Ooh!
LAURA and MARISHA: Oh!
SAM: That's hit points! That's all kinds of stuff.
TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: Constitution by two?
TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: Oh!
MATT: As the rejected--
TALIESIN: I have to go in and do this.
SAM: Rejected?
MATT: -- spark of Rau'shan took from you--
TALIESIN: Hmm.
TRAVIS: Oh!
MATT: -- the price it needed.
TRAVIS: Rejected?
TALIESIN: Yeah.
LAURA: But it still awakened something else?
TALIESIN: I don't know.
MATT: It seemed to have begun to stir something within you, so there was a victory--
TRAVIS: A mark.
MATT: -- and there was a cost.
TRAVIS: Oh my god.
MATT: And you're still fucking alive.
TRAVIS: Oh my god.
SAM: I'm examining his-- their arms and body.
TRAVIS: Swallow the shard, you coward, do it, do it, do it. Swallow that motherfucker.
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Swallow it!
SAM: I like to eat things! (laughter)
SAM: Is their body the same? Is it different?
MATT: For one thing, the golden veins that run through the fractures of Ashton's body had been glowing a bright orange since this ritual had completed. That heat subsides and returns once again to the gold veins. What was the molten rock arm has now cooled into just a stone arm, though it is larger and rougher than the rest of Ashton. Ashton's right arm now looks almost halfway to an earth elemental's arm on the rest of his form.
LAURA: What color is it, like a darker, is it like that--?
TRAVIS: Black lava rock?
LAURA: Is is black lava rock?
MATT: Yeah, it's a porous like igneous rock where it's black and jagged.
TRAVIS: But the vascularity looks like veins of magma?
MATT: Well, it did, but they've cooled now.
ASHLEY: Liquid hot. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Magma.
SAM: Ash?
TALIESIN: I can feel it move.
SAM: It?
TALIESIN: It's-- Yeah, it's got a snapping to it. Is this mine? Fuck.
LAURA: I'm going to put my hand on Laudna's chest.
MARISHA: You see waves of the veil and my body stretching and pulling as I'm trying to resist.
MATT: (deep pulse) (deep pulse)
LAURA: He did betray us. It did happen.
MARISHA: I know it's not a rational thought, but deep down inside everything is telling me that they should die. They should've died. Fearne could've killed, could've killed them. I know it's not rational.
LAURA: Almost did.
MATT: "Ignore the fool. Your focus is before you."
LAURA: Laudna.
MATT: You feel your eyes drift to the crystal orb of glowing orange--
MARISHA: I try to look away.
MATT: -- red energy.
MARISHA: She'll kill him, I'll kill him, I've got to go.
LAURA: Go. You know, you know he did it because he's dumb, not because he was trying to be something.
MARISHA: We can't trust them anymore.
LAURA: Walk away.
MARISHA: I walk away.
SAM: Do you want to go with her?
MATT: Make a wisdom saving throw for me.
TRAVIS: Oh shit! Here it comes!
SAM: Maybe you should.
TRAVIS: Here it comes!
MARISHA: I had a bad feeling as soon as that thing came popping out.
TRAVIS: (demonic whispers)
MARISHA: Wisdom saving throw?
MATT: Mm-hmm.
TRAVIS: (demonic whispers)
SAM: Your wisdom is permanently reduced by 20. (laughter)
TRAVIS: (comical death)
MARISHA: It's not great, but it's not awful. 16.
MATT: 16. As you turn to leave, for a moment it feels like your body won't listen to you.
ASHLEY: Oh my god.
SAM: Ooh.
MATT: As you stare at that crystal on the ground, and you push and turn around and begin to descend the ziggurat.
TRAVIS: Don't roll any lower than that.
MARISHA: Yeah, I think if I would've rolled any lower--
SAM: Ashton, I think you might have upset some of our friends.
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: I'm pretty sure we're all going to need to have a little talk about this. But for right now, are you with us? Are you okay?
TALIESIN: Well-- That's a complicated question. But-- How many of you? There's three of you here?
SAM: Just me, Imogen-- Oh, Orym walked away, too. (laughter)
MATT: Orym's in the back of the ziggurat watching this with a stoic expression and takes a huffing breath and then descends after Fearne.
TALIESIN: Three is good. If there's three of you, you've decided not to kill me. That's nice.
SAM: I don't know, I mean--
TALIESIN: For now.
LAURA: Sure put a lot of effort into keeping you alive.
TALIESIN: Yeah, yeah you did. Thank you.
LAURA: Mm-hmm.
SAM: What in the Changebringer's name were you thinking? Why did you do that? What--
TALIESIN: Long answer or short answer?
SAM: Whatever you've got the energy for.
TALIESIN: (sighs)
SAM: Look, I'm not going to-- You found me in a moment when I had done something really bad and you didn't judge me. So I'm going to try not to do that to you, but-- What the fuck were you doing?
TALIESIN: It seemed like a good idea at the time.
TRAVIS: FCG swore!
MARISHA: He used the F-bomb!
TALIESIN: It really did. I was-- Oh, I was--
LAURA: Stupid?
TALIESIN: I was stupid.
SAM: No, you weren't, you weren't stupid. You were power hungry.
TALIESIN: I wasn't power hungry.
SAM: You were talking about being a hero and saving people.
TALIESIN: I was-- I just wanted my parents. I just wanted my fucking family. I don't know what I wanted. I wanted-- (sighs) (depleted sigh) I wanted this thing that isn't even real, that isn't-- It was just there, and-- I had-- I was out for 10 seconds and I had this really weird moment where I met myself. You'd think it'd happen more than it does, but I saw my parents and me. It was a me that had never gone through the portal or any of that, where everything had worked, and everything had gone the way it was supposed to. And I was who I was supposed to be. And for-- I met me with my family and everything, and I wasn't good. They weren't good, and I-- (sighs) I was not good. This isn't good, but I was not good. (sighs)
SAM: In what way?
TALIESIN: I was a really bad person. It was a dream, it was just--
SAM: But bad like, evil? Selfish?
TALIESIN: I am selfish--
SAM: Conceited?
TALIESIN: -- and I am conceited.
SAM: Yeah, I know, that's what I'm saying. How is this person different than you?
TALIESIN: Cruel. Vicious. I-- I didn't even know them. I didn't know anything about them. All I knew is they did one stupid thing, and a bunch of smart people kept trying to tell me that they were not that smart, and that maybe they were not that great. But-- I just wanted a part of them and it was right there and (sighs) I thought maybe it would fix me. I thought maybe they were what I needed and that no, no, they weren't what I needed. It didn't fix anything, it made it worse. It's nobody's fault but mine. None of it. It's all my fucking fault. This is my fucking fault. This shit. Fucking everything is my fucking fault. And if it isn't my fault, I certainly didn't do anything to deal with it. Fuck. Oh, I fucked up a lot.
SAM: Yeah. I think you did.
TALIESIN: Yeah.
SAM: I understand trying to, I guess, fix the problems of your past or whatever, but I'm still not-- Who were you doing this for? You said your family?
TALIESIN: No, it wasn't--
LAURA: You wanted to be closer to them, the idea of them? Ashton, you already had it inside of you.
TALIESIN: They were-- I know. I don't want them. I don't. I don't know them, why would I want them? I don't-- (sighs) I don't know what I wanted. I wanted-- I wanted to feel robbed. I wanted to feel like I lost something. Maybe I didn't. Maybe this was the best way to go, there's no way to know. Maybe it was a fucking blessing being dropped in that fucking desert. There's no way to know. And it doesn't matter, because it's not what fucking happened.
LAURA: Exactly.
TALIESIN: I wanted-- I just wanted someone to blame. I wanted someone who wasn't me that I could yell at. I see it. I see it over and over again, and I don't know how I couldn't see it. Fuck. I don't want it, I don't want any of it.
LAURA: Well, it's too fucking late.
TALIESIN: I know. It really doesn't matter what I want at this point.
LAURA: This, that, that's your fault. What happened to you before, let it go. It happened, it's done.
SAM: (sneezes)
LAURA: Stop it.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: How do you even do that?
SAM: It's a glitch.
LAURA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Yeah, it's done. I--
ASHLEY: (laughs)
TALIESIN: I don't know. I don't know if people learn lessons. But I feel it right now.
LAURA: Great.
TALIESIN: I can see it.
SAM: What? See what? Your mistakes?
TALIESIN: I can see where I'm broken.
SAM: Well, what are you going to do about it? I mean, I understand that you're broken. We're all broken. We all got problems in our past. But what do you care about now? Who do you care about now? Do you care about us? Because what you just did was not about us at all.
LAURA: You fucked all of us over with that, Ashton. You know that, right? We're supposed to head off and fight some big battle right now?
SAM: Yeah, do you care about the people we're fighting for? Do you care about the gods that we're fighting for? Do you care about anybody?
TALIESIN: I thought I was going to help. I thought it would help.
SAM: Who? You don't care about anybody.
TALIESIN: You don't know that.
SAM: Who? Name one person you care about.
TALIESIN: You.
SAM: I don't know about that. You didn't do this for me.
TALIESIN: I thought-- I thought it would make me better, and I thought a better me would-- (groans)
LAURA: You don't need power to be better, Ashton.
TALIESIN: It wasn't about power. It's about being whole. Not being breakable, flawed. I saw this crack in me and it is not-- There's this moment where things go wrong and I thought this was the fix. I thought as much as I fought it and thought of it, I thought this was destiny. I thought this was what I was supposed to do to be helpful.
LAURA: Listen, maybe it was. Maybe it was.
TALIESIN: Clearly not.
LAURA: I don't know. Maybe what you needed was to break apart and come back together, because Ashton, we watched you break into 1,000 pieces right in front of us.
TALIESIN: I know and I'm--
LAURA: You were gone and now you're back and you better take advantage of that. And we have to do something with this, because it's fucking with everybody.
SAM: Yes. She's right, Ashton. You get to start over again, and you can be whatever you want now.
TALIESIN: Well, we'll see about that. I think the start over is going to be-- I think it's going to be less starting over and more starting far back.
SAM: We should start by talking to Fearne, because she loves everybody and I've never seen her like that. How could you hurt her? She's so wonderful.
TALIESIN: The same way anybody hurts anybody. A moment of fucking weakness. Honestly, it's one of the reasons I love you is because you know that. You know that. I saved you because-- (sighs) I saw a moment of my damage in you, and I thought maybe I could watch you fix it and, I don't know. (sighs) I was-- I hope you understand, I don't mean this as an insult, but you remind me of me so much. And it breaks my heart. It's the worst thing I can think of to do to a person. I just don't want you to fuck up your shit. I'm so sorry I fucked up my shit. All I care about, all I care about is finding something in this, because I can't fix it. But maybe, I don't know, I'd kill me.
LAURA: Well, we worked too hard on keeping you alive. That would be a waste.
TALIESIN: That's smart.
SAM: Well, we don't need to just sit up here berating you all afternoon. I'm sure there'll be lots more of that waiting for you down the steps, so.
TALIESIN: Yeah.
LAURA: We can't leave today.
SAM: No.
LAURA: We can't do it today.
SAM: No.
LAURA: You need to rest. We all do.
SAM: We need to talk.
LAURA: We have to find Fearne.
SAM: We need time.
MATT: Now, Fearne, as you charge down this ziggurat, past Lady Allura, clutching the harness in your hand, angrily clomping down the residuum coated steps, at the bottom you see, leaning on his cane, Percival de Rolo look towards you. "Quite some pyrotechnic--" He immediately reads you and just shuts up.
ASHLEY: Bad idea.
MATT: What do you do?
ASHLEY: I just keep walking and leave. I just want to leave.
MATT: You go walking into the tunnels beneath Whitestone. Recalling the steps you take, it's a bit of a maze, but you recall the path you took here. Somewhere in the back of your mind, or the forefront is just burning.
ASHLEY: How do I get out of this fucking place?
TRAVIS: Fearne! Fearne!
MATT: You hear the patter of familiar footsteps from behind.
TRAVIS: Fearne! Fucking hold up, will ya? Hey. Hey? (nervous noise) How you doing?
ASHLEY: How do you think I'm doing?
TRAVIS: Well, I don't know, to be honest. But you got the harness and you're in a real big hurry. The shit I saw up there was not what I was expecting to see. So, I guess my first question is, are you-- Are you good?
ASHLEY: No.
TRAVIS: Second question is-- What's the plan? I know, you got the harness. You're cooking up something, yeah?
ASHLEY: Yeah, uh. I'm going to destroy it.
TRAVIS: Oh, insight check. (chuckling)
MATT: Make an insight check.
TRAVIS: It's 11.
ASHLEY: I'm going to destroy it, Chet.
TRAVIS: Oh! Okay. Um! So! I kind of post up. You know, I admit, I don't know what you guys talked about because the last we heard, you were going to take the shard and become something amazing. And that didn't happen. Not a big deal, really. But something changed. I just kind of wanted to know, like, what the fuck is up with that?
ASHLEY: Well, we talked about it and I didn't want it. Ashton wanted it, so I said I would help. And then it almost killed him.
TRAVIS: Yeah. Why--
ASHLEY: I don't know why I said yes.
TRAVIS: You wanted it before and you changed your mind? Or did he convince you?
ASHLEY: No, I never wanted it. No, I just--
TRAVIS: He didn't threaten you or bargain with you or trade you something?
ASHLEY: No, I just went along with it.
TRAVIS: But you-- Sorry. You heard the tree, right? It was going to kill somebody if they took both of them. You had that part, right?
ASHLEY: Yeah, I thought-- I don't know, we talked about it and I thought that maybe that was his challenge, you know? That he had to take them both and then he would be super strong. I just read it wrong, I guess.
TRAVIS: He's already super strong.
ASHLEY: Well--
TRAVIS: So were you. I mean, I was really excited to see what it might do to you. Why were you scared?
ASHLEY: Well, because, I think-- I've seen really bad versions of myself and I thought maybe it would make me into one of the bad ones. But I made the wrong choice. I almost killed him and now I'm so angry. I feel like I want to break his stupid fucking stone face until it turns into dust. That's what I want.
TRAVIS: You want to break his face?
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Or your face?
ASHLEY: Both, I guess. It was really dumb.
TRAVIS: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Gosh, I feel like we're getting somewhere. I just really appreciate you trusting me with this conversation. Can I try and reach for the harness-- (laughter)
TRAVIS: -- and just gently--
MATT: Make a sleight of hand check.
LAURA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Wow.
TRAVIS: I'm not terrible at that. (mumbling stats) Oh, okay.
LAURA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Ah! 23?
MATT: What's your passive perception?
ASHLEY: 19.
MATT: 19. In this emotional state, Chetney has your attention and whatever rage and sorrow and rage burgeons. You whisk it behind you.
TRAVIS: Thank you so much. Let's just put this down. You know, Fearne, I don't--
ASHLEY: I don't fight it. I don't fight it.
TRAVIS: I know you're upset, but I'm surprised. I thought for sure he traded you something or made a bargain with you. Ashton's powerful, but you with the shard-- What were you scared of? I mean, what if it made you more powerful? What if it gave you even more fire abilities? What if it made you king and queen of the fucking Hishari?
ASHLEY: (sighs) I don't know. I just went along with it like a dummy. I felt like it was wrong. But I think I like him a little bit, Chet. And I think I just went along with it because maybe just because I wanted to make him happy.
TRAVIS: Oh. Fuck.
ASHLEY: And now I'm very, very angry.
TRAVIS: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You did something for your crush and it almost killed them a thousand times.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: And you're feeling a little bit to blame.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: A lot to blame.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Mostly to blame.
ASHLEY: Well--
LAURA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: I mean, not mostly, but--
TRAVIS: Hey, Fearne?
ASHLEY: What?
TRAVIS: You fucked up.
ASHLEY: Yeah. Yeah.
TRAVIS: Listen, Ashton's really cool. I like him. They are like nobody I've ever met. But I don't know what you're hiding from or why you are scared. I was nobody for hundreds of years and now I am the greatest wolf that has ever lived.
LAURA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: All it took was seizing that opportunity. Here's the thing. There are so many people that would use that shard for horrible reasons. I know that yours would at least be 50-50 horrible reasons. That means 50 really good reasons. Plus, we would help you, guide you towards better ones than the bad. Plus, I don't know if it needs to be said, but helping somebody destroy themselves is never a good way to win them over. You know what I mean?
ASHLEY: Yeah, but I didn't know it-- I didn't think it was going to be that bad. I didn't think it was actually going to destroy him. That was awful to watch.
TRAVIS: Look, we're about to go do crazy shit, right?
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Try to go to the moon? It seems like an impossible sentence.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: But Ashton is wild. If there's any part of you or him that wants out, and that can have a variety of different meanings, you can talk to me. I've thought about that before. I've been alive a long time, but it's not as romantic as you think. Don't fuck around. Because Ashton almost found out. What are you going to do with this harness? Are you going to destroy it?
ASHLEY: I don't know.
TRAVIS: You want to break something.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: You know the fancy guy that lives here? He's got a bunch of fucking windows?
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TRAVIS: He's also super rich.
ASHLEY: I break a window.
TRAVIS: We're still in the tunnels underneath the castle.
MATT: You're still in the tunnels. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Fuck.
SAM: There are these two guys with plate glass.
MATT: They're just walking by. (laughter)
SAM: "Where does this new one go?" (laughter)
MATT: (glass shatters) "Oh no!" (laughter)
MARISHA: Mel Brooks film.
ASHLEY: Yes.
TRAVIS: How about we go up to that obnoxious rose garden that I saw out there?
ASHLEY: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
TRAVIS: Hmm?
ASHLEY: No, we're not going to fuck up nature.
TRAVIS: I wasn't talking about the flowers.
ASHLEY: Okay, sorry. Keep going, keep going.
TRAVIS: It's a great vantage point to hit the windows.
ASHLEY: Oh.
TRAVIS: First one to 20 wins.
ASHLEY: First one to 20 what? Windows?
TRAVIS: Broken windows.
ASHLEY: Yeah, all right.
TRAVIS: Want to put money on it?
ASHLEY: Yeah, how much?
TRAVIS: 50 gold.
ASHLEY: Are you for real?
TRAVIS: Times 10 was what I was going to say.
SAM and LAURA: (laugh)
ASHLEY: (sighs) Okay.
TRAVIS: Come on! I grab the harness and head towards the exit.
MATT: Do you follow?
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: Okay. So the two of you vanish into the interior of Castle Whitestone. Laudna, you step into the hall alone, grappling with many--
MARISHA: I think I would be hiding in the shadows, listening to them.
SAM: Ooh.
MATT: Okay.
SAM: Creepy.
MARISHA: I think the moment that they leave, I lose control and transform into my Form of Dread. I slink off through the tunnels. Sense memory coming back, all those times running through the underground of Whitestone.
MATT: The nooks and crannies, little side passages, places to hide, places to not be found. You lived here a while before you had to leave. There's a weird comfort in being alone.
MARISHA: Alone.
MATT: In being home.
MARISHA: I'll let out a few screams and throw an errant chair as I--
TRAVIS: Not the chair.
MARISHA: That chair knows what it did.
MATT and LAURA: (laugh)
TALIESIN: Boy, it does.
MARISHA: As I slink off in ways that you have to have an intimate knowledge of these tunnels if you are going to find me.
MATT: Very well. FCG, Imogen, and Ashton, you slowly begin to--
LAURA: I'm going to use Telekinesis--
TALIESIN: Yeah, I think that's--
LAURA: I always want to say Telekinesis, but not the spell Telekinesis. Just lift that up.
MATT: Yeah, just Mage Hand it in the air.
LAURA: Yes.
TALIESIN: I think you should have that for now. That's probably a good call.
LAURA: Where am I going to fucking put it, Ashton?
TALIESIN: Give it to--
LAURA: I'm going to hold it in the air and push it in front of us.
MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: I left my bag of holding at the top of the ziggurat before I left. (laughs)
MATT: (laughs)
LAURA: I'm going to pick up the bag of holding--
MATT: (laughs)
LAURA: -- sling it over my shoulder.
TALIESIN: I'm going to give it to the smart lady at the bottom of the hill.
LAURA: It's in the bag of holding.
TALIESIN: That'll do.
LAURA and MATT: (laugh)
MATT: As you all descend, Lady Allura, "All right, have you completed your business?"
SAM: Yeah. For now, yes. Thank you for letting us use your ancient temple of doom.
MATT: "It's not mine."
SAM: All right.
LAURA: We won't be leaving tonight.
SAM: We're going to need to--
TALIESIN: I fucked up because I'm an idiot. Hi.
LAURA: He fucked up because he's an idiot.
TALIESIN: Pretty fucking bad.
MATT: "Oh. Standard fare for a group of heroic cruxes in our future plans. Wondrous."
TALIESIN: That's kind of mean.
MATT: "Very well." She dispels the shield she'd been holding, wipes the sweat from her brow.
LAURA: Did you see where Laudna went?
MATT: "She walked down a moment ago, yes."
TALIESIN: Shit. Do you want to or should I? Or should we?
SAM: Maybe we should just--
MARISHA: Bitch, you better not come looking for me.
TRAVIS: Ooh, that's the truth.
SAM: -- let everyone blow off some steam and then meet up later tonight or something.
LAURA: I'm going to head down into the tunnels to try to find her. I'll see you later.
SAM: Do you want to leave the shard with--
LAURA: It's in our bag of holding.
SAM: You got it, though?
LAURA: Yeah.
SAM: Okay.
LAURA: Take the bag.
SAM: All right.
TALIESIN: Yeah.
MATT: "I suppose I'll go get some food. Percival?" (laughs) Allura walks down and Percy just looks confused and is like, "Did they finish their business? (sighs) Fine."
TRAVIS: (laughs) They begin walking into the tunnels as you continued back to where you came.
TALIESIN: I'm trying not to have opinions about anybody for a while.
SAM: That's probably a good idea.
TALIESIN: Yeah, no. I really think that's probably a good call.
SAM: Here, let's just get you back to your quarters.
TALIESIN: I think I could use some air, actually, if that's okay.
SAM: Oh. Walk with us, Orym.
MATT and LAURA: (laugh)
MARISHA: (laughs)
LAURA: (as Orym) Oh, right.
TALIESIN: Don't you have anything to fucking-- No, okay.
TRAVIS: He's just doing handstand pushups.
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: Yeah. (laughs)
TALIESIN: Very passive aggressive.
TRAVIS: Uh-huh.
MATT: Yeah. (laughs) Stoically, he follows suit. (laughs)
TALIESIN: (laughs)
LAURA: Oh my god. What is it?
TALIESIN: Goddamn it.
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS and MARISHA: (laugh)
LAURA and ASHLEY: (laugh)
TRAVIS: That wig.
ASHLEY: Amazing. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Enroll today.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Yeah.
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: Computer repair. [inaudible]
TALIESIN: FCG.
SAM: Huh?
TALIESIN: Sorry I've been giving you some shit about your recent faith thing. It's been kind of shitty and I'm going to shut up about it.
SAM: I'll shut up about it, too. I've been trying to get the Changebringer to show you some sort of sign to maybe--
TALIESIN: Oh.
SAM: -- get you to believe in something or to trust someone, or to, you know. I guess I was forcing what you were trying to do as well. I'll stop, but--
TALIESIN: I think my problem is not one she can fix. I think I can fix it, and I think that's it. I don't think anything outside is going to fix this. I'm sorry about... I was worried. I'm worried that you're going to die for her, that you're going to do that. And I don't think that's fair. And I don't know why she shouldn't die for you. And I'm not-- I think that better people than I should-- I don't feel qualified to have an opinion about what the world should be anymore. So gods, no gods, I think that's just going to play out how it is.
SAM: Yeah. I feel like we're all a little bit ticking time bombs.
TALIESIN: Well, I'm not ticking anymore.
SAM: One thing we don't need to do is go setting ourselves off, but I do love the Changebringer. I know that-- I know that she's not perfect. Honestly, our last interaction was a little bit weird. (laughter)
TALIESIN: Well, you're--
SAM: But she cares about me and I care about you, and other people do, too. And I just wish you would-- I wish you would care back. As long as I've known you, you really don't care about anything. At least, that's what you say. And I think maybe it's time that you did.
TALIESIN: I-- I care about-- I care about all of you so much. I care about anything I can see. I just don't think I care about me at all. And I think that might be a problem.
SAM: Yeah.
TALIESIN: And honestly, that's what I've been trying to tell you all this time is I was worried that you didn't care about you. And maybe I was... I don't know. Maybe at the time I thought it was something we had in common.
SAM: For sure. I mean, there's a lot about us that's alike. I guess, well, let's just focus on those things and try to help each other. You helped me before. I'll help you this time and we'll find a way through this, all right?
TALIESIN: How dare you fucking get better first! It's really fucked up. (groans)
MATT: (laughs) The three of you make your way back to the castle.
TALIESIN: It's you.
LAURA: I'm looking for Laudna.
SAM: He means Orym.
LAURA: Oh, right! Orym! (laughter)
TALIESIN: Oh shit! Orym. Sorry.
LAURA, MARISHA, and MATT: (laugh)
TRAVIS: (meows)
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: Well, you walk with them back to the castle--
MARISHA: (laughs)
MATT: -- and it doesn't take much for you to sense that she's not there either.
LAURA: Shit. (groans) Damn it! I'm going to try to--
MATT: You're going to try to?
LAURA: Send a message to her to try to talk to her.
MATT: Okay. The range on that is?
LAURA: Hopefully, if it's close.
MATT: 120 feet? Is that what it is?
LAURA: Oh, like Sending, actual Sending.
MATT: Oh, got you! Got you! Okay. Go for it. What do you say?
LAURA: It's worked if I was close to somebody before, so I'm going to try it again. I need to know you're okay. Where are you?
MATT: Roll a d100 for me, please.
TRAVIS: Yes! Come on, hair falls out!
LAURA: Mm. 19!
MATT: 19! Take nine points of psychic damage.
LAURA: Okay.
MATT: And you sense the spell scattered into the weave of magic above Exandria.
LAURA: Cool. Nine points, you said?
MATT: Yes.
LAURA: I should have followed her. I'm just going to sit down in the courtyard.
MATT: Okay.
LAURA: Wait.
MATT: All right. So you come to the sound of (glass shatters)--
TRAVIS: Fuck yeah!
MATT: -- windows breaking here.
TRAVIS: (laughs)
ASHLEY: (screams)
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Good one! Good one!
MATT: In the outside midday of the open gardens on the north-northeastern side of the castle, the first set of beautiful stained glass windows that depict the founding of Whitestone here amongst the Alabaster Sierras--
MARISHA: Oh my god.
MATT: -- come scattering (shattering glass) onto the stone.
TALIESIN: Not the Widow's Garden.
TRAVIS: That was good! That was good! You got to get a little more hip into it! (exhales) (shattering glass)
MATT: (laughs) You can see Pale Guard are starting to rush out--
ASHLEY: Shit.
MATT: -- and as soon as they look to you, they all stop.
MARISHA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: What?
MATT: "Nothing! Nothing! Just making sure you're all safe."
TRAVIS: Oh yeah? Making sure you're safe?
ASHLEY: Yeah!
TRAVIS: Yeah, bitch!
ASHLEY: What? Do you have something you want to say, or do you want to turn around and walk away? Turn around and walk away. Thank you.
MATT: Make an intimidation check (laughs) with advantage.
TRAVIS: Awesome! Awesome!
ASHLEY: With advantage? Okay.
MATT: With advantage. (laughs)
ASHLEY: Wait, that second one was cocked. Ooh! Okay. Both were actually really good. Ba-ba-ba-ba. What's my intimidation? 22.
TRAVIS: Dang!
MATT: 22. There's now like six of them there, they have, you know, spears and swords out from the sound of shattering glass, they're looking confused as one that seems to have some authority that was looking at you originally, goes, "They're preparing for the mission for the Lord and Lady."
ASHLEY: This is how we prepare.
MATT: "Right. Back to your stations." They all look confused and begin to disseminate back into the castle.
TRAVIS: Uh-huh!
LAURA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: It's good.
ASHLEY: Do you feel better?
TRAVIS: Not yet.
ASHLEY: Yeah. Me neither. I think I'm going to go for a little walk.
TRAVIS: Okay.
ASHLEY: But thanks.
TRAVIS: Sure. Don't fucking leave! No, no! I'm just calling it out now because, before, I didn't say shit because, you know, people's business is their business. But I'm just going to say what needs to be said. Don't fucking leave, okay?
ASHLEY: I won't.
TRAVIS: You promise?
ASHLEY: Yeah, because if I did leave, I mean, you all would probably fucking die, so I can't. (sighs)
TRAVIS: What's something that's really valuable to you?
ASHLEY: I don't know, just all of you guys, I guess.
TRAVIS: Well, I was asking about an object, like collateral, but that's really sweet.
LAURA, TALIESIN, and MATT: (laugh)
ASHLEY: I'm not going to leave, Chet.
TRAVIS: All right. Because otherwise, I'll be in trouble because I came after you. So don't fuck me, too!
ASHLEY: I won't.
TRAVIS: Unless it's on purpose.
ASHLEY: I know. I was going to say, it's fine.
LAURA, MARISHA, and MATT: (laugh)
ASHLEY: I won't leave, I promise.
TRAVIS: All right. I'll tell the others you're distraught and super upset and really make Ashton sweat, so when you come in--
ASHLEY: Yeah. I will.
TRAVIS: Okay.
ASHLEY: I will. I just need to walk it off a little bit.
TRAVIS: I hear you.
MATT: (shattering glass) Another one of the stained glass windows shatters and breaks--
SAM: Huh?
MATT: -- not far from where you are, and you hear a little giggle.
TRAVIS: Huh!
MATT: "(giggles)"
TRAVIS: Oh! Oh shit! Good one!
MATT: Catch a glance of Gwendolyn sitting there with a small stone like-- (stone flips)
TRAVIS: Oh!
ASHLEY: Good job! Doesn't it feel good?
TRAVIS: Go! Go now! I'll hold her off. (whooshes) (shattering glass)
MATT: She throws and breaks off the stone. "Dang it!"
TRAVIS: Pfft! Amateur! (whispers) Get out of here.
LAURA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: All right. I give him a kiss on his forehead.
MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: Thanks.
MATT: You're taking a walk?
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: Whereabouts? Are you staying on the grounds of the castle or are you wandering into the Parchwood?
ASHLEY: I am going to walk to the Temple of the Matron of the Ravens.
MATT: Ah! Okay. You wander through the city, and you're a peculiar sight in Whitestone. The folk who live here have seen you walk around with business and intent, but now that you're on your own, you can see people just taking peeks. For a moment, it puts you, probably for the first time in a while, in a slight sense of self-consciousness.
ASHLEY: I'm going to try to cover up a little bit.
MATT: You meander outside of the eastern side of the city and come to the trail that leads over towards the massive graveyard. This path is welcoming. It's green and overgrown. There are bushes and flowers and vibrant trees, the sounds of wildlife. It makes you a little homesick, remembering growing up in the Fey Realm with Nana. You think back to simpler times and it's a welcome respite from the turmoil that ties within you. As you come to the end of the path, it opens up into the graveyard where the larger chambers of the Dawnfather Temple first greets your sight on the opposite end of this clearing, and to the right, you see the stone structure that marks the altar to the Matron, the masked and cloaked figure that stands over a smaller armored figure with feathered wings out and daggers in hand.
ASHLEY: Handsome guy. Hey, sorry. We're trying to get you out, wherever you are. I walk inside.
MATT: Okay. You walk inside the chambers and there's a doorway to the back that leads into a descending staircase that descends into a subterranean space. Here in this region, it's very, very simple, a cold, shaded interior, and you immediately see-- Sorry, reminding myself with my notes here for what happened last time, since I made it all up on the spot.
MATT and LAURA: (laugh)
MATT: You know what? I'll say, for the time being, it is unoccupied.
ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: As you get to the baseline, you can see there are a number of stone tombs, heavy-lidded stone tombs.
ASHLEY: I walk in and I try to find whatever looks like an altar.
MATT: Okay. In the very back of the room, you can see there is a very simple carved, bowl of some kind. Looks almost like a bird bath. But in the context of this, you can see the sculpture of it looks like it's intentional. There are candles around it and small things have been left as offerings to it, bits of fruit, you can see there's coins, there are small handcrafted gifts that are left at this altar, necklaces. You're not sure if they're offerings or memories of people past, but you gather this to be the central altar here.
ASHLEY: Sort of look around, make sure nobody's listening. Hello. I just-- I don't really know what I'm doing in here. I made a bad decision and I'm kind of scared about, I guess, what I could turn into? So I guess, I'm maybe asking you for some guidance, I don't really know how to do this, but I kind of like your vibe, that you were kind of just normal and then weren't anymore because you were wanting just a little bit more out of life, which I totally get. Anyway, I don't know. I reach into my marsupial pouch. (laughter)
TALIESIN: And it's real.
LAURA: And it's real.
ASHLEY: And I take out my postcards.
LAURA: Oh!
MATT: Mm.
ASHLEY: These are very important to me, but what I thought they were once are not really what they are, if that makes any sense. So I'm going to leave them here for you. (sighs) Okay, I guess that's it. Amen.
LAURA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: Bye. I turn around and start walking out.
MATT: Okay. So you head up the stairs, you see a hunched figure heading down the stairs. "Oh, sorry! Did you find what you were looking for?"
ASHLEY: I don't know.
MATT: "That's about the best you can hope for."
ASHLEY: Sure.
MATT: "Stay safe. It's very strange out there these days. (chuckles)"
ASHLEY: Yes, it is. You stay safe, too.
MATT: "It's tight." They squeeze by and head down. Don't really get a good look at them. You ascend the steps and exit the altar, back into the open air, the cold chill of the open air of Whitestone. As you inhale, you hear the sound of a nearby a raven caw. Taliesin, if you don't mind.
TALIESIN: Oh, I don't even-- (eerily good raven caw)
LAURA: (startled noise)
MATT: There you go. Great! Perfect! (laughter)
TALIESIN: My voice has been scratchy.
LAURA: Scared the fuck out of me.
MATT: No worries! You did great! That's what I wanted.
TALIESIN: (eerily good raven caws)
TRAVIS: I love that you just flash banged her with one of those!
LAURA: Yep! (laughter)
MATT: Thank you for that.
TALIESIN: Yeah. Yeah.
MARISHA: (laughs)
MATT: Yeah.
MARISHA: Oh! That one needs to be put out of its misery!
ASHLEY: Sorry! (laughter)
TRAVIS: You got to put the silencer on that bitch.
MATT: You glance over--
TALIESIN: It's been too long.
MATT: -- and you see what looks to be--
LAURA: Somebody shot that raven! (laughter)
MATT: You see an adolescent raven hop-skip. It has one leg.
ASHLEY: You haven't quite grown into your voice yet. I see.
MATT: It has one leg. You see it skip and skip, and it looks around and it looks alone.
ASHLEY: Oh!
MATT: Then you watch as two larger, full-grown ones (flutters) land next to it and one drops a group of berries on the ground in front of it and starts eating them. The two larger ones both look at you at once.
ASHLEY: Hello.
MATT: (flutters) The one finishes eating its berry, the adolescent one, looks at you, (flutters) and takes off with them.
ASHLEY: That was sweet.
LAURA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: And a little weird.
LAURA and MARISHA: (laugh)
ASHLEY: All right. (laughter)
ASHLEY: I keep walking. (laughter)
MATT: Perfect!
TRAVIS: (laughs)
ASHLEY: I'll walk back.
MATT: Okay. You take your time walking back through the meandering paths outside of the central city, the areas where nature's its strongest and you feel the most comfortable in your isolation.
ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: As you take in the--
LAURA: (laughs) (squawks) (laughter)
MATT: I'm so happy.
TALIESIN: (Sam's cat voice) Caw! Caw! (laughter)
TALIESIN: Caw! Caw!
TRAVIS: (Sam's cat voice) I'm a raven! (laughter)
ASHLEY: I'm a raven.
MATT: What have you done, Sam?
TALIESIN: Fuck. (laughter)
MATT: Being alone, wandering through dark, chilled natural spaces is a comfort you didn't realize you needed in this moment. Laudna, what are you doing?
MARISHA: I'm gone.
MATT: Okay.
MARISHA: I move through the tunnels, take a left, another left, and then right, Spider Climbing up a well. I know of a secret passage, one that leads out into the outskirts, into the woods. I'll follow that.
MATT: You abscond into the Parchwood this later in the day.
MARISHA: Trying to resist every urge to revert back to what I once was.
MATT: Mm-hmm.
MARISHA: But also taking solace in it for a minute, hoping that walking in these footsteps of where I came reminds me of just how far I've traveled and what I've become.
MATT: The one bit of solace that catches your mind as you find yourself in moments slipping into those shadowed memories is the Whitestone you grew up in and the Whitestone that you now have walked through. Very different entities. The city has expanded. It's developed. It's thriving. It's bright, it's colorful. There's far more laughter than there was towards the end of your days calling this place home, the streets at least. It's the one little bead of hope as you pause before stepping deeper into the forest, looking over your shoulder to see the rooftops. Anybody here doing anything else before the evening creeps on?
TALIESIN: I'm probably heading towards the sound of breaking glass at this point.
MATT: Okay.
TALIESIN: Because I was going to walk around the outside of the castle for a minute, getting some fresh air.
MATT: You step outside as the-- A pause has come. The sound of breaking glass seems to have stopped and you pass by, looking through one of the broken, beautiful arched windows that marks the hallway that is not too far from the exit that leads off into the garden where you see Lord Percival himself leaning on his cane, just standing amongst the shattered window, just looking out into the garden. Still. Tense.
TALIESIN: Why did you break all these windows?
TRAVIS and SAM: (laugh)
LAURA: Uh-uh.
TRAVIS: (laughs)
SAM: (laughs)
MATT: "Funny thing, children. Sometimes they are a reflection of yourself in ways you don't expect.
TALIESIN: Do you think that's them paying attention to who you are, or do you think that's just something in them no matter what, my Lord?
MATT: "Well. I think it's a bit of both, to be honest."
TALIESIN: I just did something so stupid that is a perfect reflection of people I'd never met, but I just could have been them. Might as well have been.
MATT: "The moment I met you, I knew you were destined for stupidity."
TALIESIN: You are clearly smarter than I am.
MATT: "Oh, very. Extremely. And yet, I know that look of one who's tussled with their demons. Trust me, I've had my own."
TALIESIN: I fucked up real hard. I don't know if they're ever going to-- I don't know if I'm worth trusting. I don't know.
MATT: His demeanor shifts. You see his hardened, ready-to-spar energy seems to lax ever so slightly and he adjusts the glasses on his face. "We all make terrible mistakes, especially those of us who want to make a difference. The first key is to make sure nobody sees them."
TALIESIN: (laughs) Shit.
MATT: "Should that fail, you do everything you can to make up for it. If that fails, well, then you go away to a hillside somewhere and live in the bushes and no one will see you again."
TALIESIN: You have really nice bushes here, I have to say. They're very--
MATT: "No, not these bushes. You're not invited."
TALIESIN: I had a feeling, I just thought I'd ask.
MATT: "No. Punish yourself as much as you need to. Trust me. It's good for the soul."
TALIESIN: (laughs)
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MATT: "Some of us never stop. But don't drag them down with you."
TALIESIN: Thank you.
MATT: "Only you are allowed to push your bruise."
TALIESIN: (exhales) You don't-- Well, that's not true. I was going to say you don't show your damage, but you do.
MATT: "(amused exhale)"
TALIESIN: But you wear it well.
MATT: "It comes with years of wearing many things well."
TALIESIN: (sighs) Only on my first.
MATT: "And surrounding yourself with better people." He looks out to his red horned daughter as she is now scanning for any other piece of glass that can be broken.
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: Next to Chetney.
TRAVIS: ♪ We're not gonna take it ♪
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS, ASHLEY and MARISHA: ♪ No, we ain't gonna take it ♪
TRAVIS: (glass crash)
MATT: "(sighs) That was my wife's powder room."
TRAVIS: (laughs)
TALIESIN: I don't imagine you'll need anything, but if you do, I owe you a favor. Thanks.
MATT: "I'll keep that in mind."
TALIESIN: Yeah, thank you. Fuck.
MATT: "Good luck."
TALIESIN: You too! That kid seems like a lot.
MATT: "(chuckles) I'm proud of her." He just stays watching.
TRAVIS: The little projected voice of Ashton and I tap her on the shoulder. I'm like: The fuzz! Run! (rapid pitter-patter) (laughter)
ASHLEY: So good.
MARISHA: (laughs)
MATT: Okay.
LAURA: I mean, fuck. I would've gone looking for her. I'm going to go-- I would go down to the room we--
TRAVIS: As long as it takes.
LAURA: Yeah, I would go down to the room that we started in.
MATT: Make a survival or investigation check as you wander through the tunnels beneath Whitestone.
ASHLEY: Holy living fuck.
MARISHA: (laughs) That's--
SAM: Did you line a trail of fingernails?
LAURA: (laughs)
SAM and ASHLEY: (laugh)
MARISHA: Just rip out a few.
TALIESIN: Hair.
SAM: Uh-huh.
LAURA: 15?
MATT: 15. There's the main tunnel and there are many offshoot tunnels, though a number of them have been sealed, collapsed intentionally. There are others that have been expanded and look like they are storage chambers. Some of them look they could be almost like panic rooms that could be closed and locked from within should the castle come under siege. There are others that look like there was refining materials that has long fallen into disuse. You're uncertain what purpose they serve. There is one chamber that looks like it contains the remnants of some drums labeled "caustic materials," though they are mostly empty now and have long rusted and decayed. You don't see any sign of Laudna.
LAURA: Okay. I'm going to go down to the dusty room that she had shown us before. I'm just going to go sit in there.
MATT: Okay. Return to the darkened chambers within. You can see all the broken furniture that surrounds you, the remnants of this destroyed laboratory and this echo of a dark history that still seems to have some thorn pressed into the spirit of the one that you wish you could find.
LAURA: I'm just going to sit in there for a while.
MATT: Okay. Eventually, the sun begins to set and the night takes Whitestone.
SAM: Long rest?
MATT: Well, you haven't rested yet.
SAM: Goddamn.
MATT: (laughs)
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: Have any of you returned to the castle proper at this time?
SAM: I never left.
MATT: Yeah, so you're still around.
TRAVIS: Yeah, I figure I'll go back in and I'll probably get a handle of something and go up to a room and just chill.
TALIESIN: I'm walking around, staying inside.
MATT: Okay.
LAURA: Chetney's just up in his room, flossing. (laughter)
MATT: Just by himself.
SAM: Why can't I get it?
TALIESIN: I'm walking-- (laughter)
TRAVIS: Naked flossing.
LAURA: (laughs) Naked flossing. (laughter)
MATT: It's a whole different dynamic of physics there.
TRAVIS: Yeah. (laughter)
MARISHA: How do these kids do it?
MATT: How do you get it between-- No.
LAURA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: In front of the mirror.
MATT: All right, the--
ASHLEY and MARISHA: (laugh)
TRAVIS: Horrible.
MATT: The servants of the castle set up and prepare an evening meal for the entirety of your troop, though uncertain if everyone arrives. Laudna, you still out?
MARISHA: Yeah.
MATT: Okay. Fearne, you still out?
ASHLEY: Yes.
SAM: Jesus.
MATT: All right. Imogen, are you still in the chamber below?
LAURA: How many hours has it been?
MATT: I'd say three you've been down there in the quiet at this point.
MARISHA: Oh no.
SAM: You've run out of podcasts to listen to. (laughter)
LAURA: Yeah. ♪ ("The Girl From Ipanema") ♪
MARISHA: It's the last episode of the "Last Podcast on the Left."
LAURA: All right, if it's been three hours, then, yeah.
MARISHA: Oh no.
LAURA: I'll come up.
MATT: As you emerge, you can see Lady Allura is kind of-- I wouldn't say a huff, but a bit of anxiousness to her. "Hello."
LAURA: I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. We're not normally like this.
TRAVIS: Do I smell food? I come down just in a pair of briefs with a bottle of courage.
MATT: (laughs)
MARISHA: (laughs)
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: "Indeed, even if you are, you are a very curious troop, but also strangely not entirely unexpected. Well, however the plan is to bring you to your destination, just notify me when you are ready.
LAURA: Yeah, hopefully by tomorrow. I don't even know where everyone is. Have you seen Laudna?
MATT: "I have not. I'm sorry."
LAURA: What about Fearne?
MATT: "I've not seen her either."
LAURA: Thank you.
MATT: "Are you--" She steps in a little bit. "Are you certain that your troop is up to the task you've presented yourselves for?"
TRAVIS: (chugs)
LAURA: (sighs) I thought we were 100% up to it until this morning. Strong possibility, yes.
MATT: "(sighs)"
LAURA: I don't want to worry you. I just don't-- I don't even-- I'm sorry. I'll let you know in the morning.
MATT: "Believe it or not, I've spent some of my time bantering about with a merry band of do-gooders, self-perceived at least in our youth."
LAURA: Fuck ups?
MATT: "I've dealt with many."
LAURA: (laughs nervously)
MATT: "Interestingly, sometimes the ones that are most capable can be also the most challenging to maintain. Just don't give up on it if you do believe in it. Because to be perfectly honest, you're all we have right now. I don't mean to put this upon you all, but we all have a lot of faith in you because we have to."
LAURA: I can't speak for everyone, but regardless, I will do everything in my power.
MATT: "To that same point, if you're not of right mind, do not put yourselves in unnecessary danger. Whatever it takes to confidently put you on the path to focus."
LAURA: (sighs) All right. How much time do we have?
MATT: "All the time in the world and none at all. We don't know what's on the moon. We're relying on you to find out how much time we have."
LAURA: All right.
MATT: "So until then, your guess is as good as mine. And that's what keeps me up right now. Nothing drives me up the walls like uncertainty."
LAURA: You must be used to knowing a lot, huh?
MATT: "It is a curse at times, but often a joy. With knowledge comes the ability to make a difference. So we need you to learn for us, but you also need to learn what they need."
LAURA: Yeah. Thank you.
MATT: "Come find me when you think you're all ready, whether that be to your destination or wherever else needs to help you on your path to preparation."
LAURA: All right. I'm going to go get some dinner.
MATT: "Certainly. Put some pants on."
TRAVIS: What?
MATT: She walks off.
TRAVIS: "Yeah, still got it." (laughter)
TALIESIN: I feel like I can't make a comment about it for a while, but it is really, really distracting.
TRAVIS: I know.
LAURA: (laughs) Looking good, Chet.
TRAVIS: Thanks! What we got grub?
LAURA: I don't know.
TALIESIN: I feel like he's going to keep punishing me with this for quite a while.
LAURA: As well he should, Ashton.
TALIESIN: Oh god. That's just-- (groans) Where-- Are we it?
LAURA: I think so.
TRAVIS: Seem to like it. I'll take a swig and do the old bar top slide.
TRAVIS: (cup sliding)
MATT: (cup sliding smoothly) (glass shattering)
TALIESIN: Oh.
TRAVIS: Well, you-- Fuck. (sighs)
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS: I'm sure they have more.
MATT: FCG, what are you up to?
SAM: I mean, I guess I'll try to find my friends at some point.
MATT: Okay. You hear the shattering of glass-- (laughs)
LAURA: Again.
MATT: Again.
ASHLEY: (laughs)
MATT: -- and head downward, wheeling down the staircase. (wheel thumping)
LAURA: How'd you get up?
SAM: Up the stairs?
LAURA: Yeah.
SAM: You've seen me go up stairs before.
LAURA: You're right, I know. Obviously, I remember that.
MATT: The railing helps.
LAURA: Yeah.
MATT: (laughs) Three of your compatriots have gathered in the dining hall.
SAM: We got a lot to do. We got to get to sleep. Well, you got to get to sleep. I don't sleep, but--
TRAVIS: Right.
SAM: But I don't think we're going to resolve all this, especially not with Loutna and Fearne around. So are we just going to--
LAURA: And Orym's missing now.
TRAVIS: Well actually, it's probably good you can't sleep because somebody's got to watch Ashton. I mean, in case that shard makes him explode again.
SAM: Well, the shard's not in him.
TRAVIS: What do you mean?
SAM: Oh, you weren't there.
TALIESIN: You weren't there.
LAURA: (gasps)
SAM: He coughed up the shard.
LAURA: Oh my gosh!
SAM: Here, I'll burn myself, reach in the bag, pull it out.
TALIESIN: Don't do--
TRAVIS: Oh!
TALIESIN: Oh god.
SAM: Yeah, it's fine. It's here.
MATT: Take six points of fire damage.
SAM: (wails)
TALIESIN: Stop that!
TRAVIS: Wait, let me see it!
TALIESIN: Put it the fuck down.
TRAVIS: I'll reach out and put my hand on it and I'll cast Grim Psychometry.
LAURA: Ooh!
TALIESIN: (gasps)
TRAVIS: I'll use my ability to go (phasing out) and see what the shard can show.
MATT: Okay. So roll-- Is it a history check?
TRAVIS: Yeah, it is--
MATT: I believe.
TRAVIS: Grim Psychometry. Intelligence. History, yeah.
MATT: Yeah.
MARISHA: We see the history of acid reflux.
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS: That is a--
LAURA: Yeah, I know, right? You see a throat.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Oh, I get advantage when it's anything arcane. Oh, that's fey, fiends, or undead. Never mind. 14.
MATT: Yeah. 14. Okay. As you touch it, you take two points of fire damage.
TRAVIS: (moans dramatically)
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: But you also see lands of rolling flame, a valley that is an inferno. You see the ground crack as magma spews forth, a majestic kingdom of fire, an ancient time when the elements ruled Exandria. You see creation abound. You see beings, existing life, pre-pantheon, spirits walking this land, though not the shapes that you know, but elemental-like, some semblance of humanoid shape, societies, life before. You see flashes of conflict. You feel feelings of benevolent frustration, emotional bursts of anger, fiery conflict with beings of light and shadow. A cold place beneath where you are alone, half asleep, half awake and frozen, tethered in a lightless space until the chains break and the blue sky guides you up. Surrounded by arcane light, you are free once more. You reach out to grasp the hand of another like you from beneath the twin mountain. And then nothing.
TRAVIS: (choking gasp) I get advantage on the roll. It was better. It doesn't matter.
LAURA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: (moans) I am the smartest creature alive!
SAM: Yeah?
TRAVIS: Yeah. (dramatic wailing)
SAM: (steaming water)
TRAVIS: (moans in relief)
MATT: (laughs)
MARISHA and ASHLEY: (laugh)
TRAVIS: (moans in relief) Oh man! It was fire everywhere, flame, a kingdom of lava. Then there was a twin mountain and I was flying and ascending, reaching out to touch someone like myself, and then nothing. A twin mountain.
LAURA: That's where we got the shard.
TALIESIN: That was exactly.
TRAVIS: Is it?
LAURA: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Oh.
MATT: What you saw was a mountain on the ground and a mountain from above.
LAURA: (gasps)
MARISHA: Oh!
TALIESIN: Hmm.
MARISHA: Uh.
TRAVIS: (laughs)
SAM: What does that mean?
TRAVIS: Oh shit! Oh! I think mountains flew back in the day.
SAM: Great.
TRAVIS: We've regressed a lot as a civilization.
MARISHA: That's true. That's true.
TALIESIN: This one's not my fault.
SAM: No, no.
TALIESIN: I'm calling it. This one is not my fault right now.
LAURA: Does anybody know where Fearne and Laudna are?
TRAVIS: Yes!
LAURA: Where?
MARISHA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Well, I know where one of them is. Fearne went on a walk.
TALIESIN: That's not a place, that's a verb.
TRAVIS: They were headed towards (mumbles)
TALIESIN: That's not a word. That's just mumbles!
TRAVIS: Listen, when you've had as much of this Courage as I have, I'd like to see you be very loquacious.
TALIESIN: Would you like to go find them?
SAM: No! They'll come back when they're ready! We don't need to be forcing anything right now. Let's just go to sleep, prepare for tomorrow.
LAURA: Okay.
TRAVIS: Don't worry. Fearne said she was going to come back.
LAURA: What about Laudna?
TRAVIS: She is a different story.
TALIESIN: Why don't we-- well, we could talk to the de Rolos. They might know the tunnels. I know she ran off in that direction.
SAM: If she's not here in the morning, I can learn a spell and I can Locate Person.
LAURA: All right.
SAM: And go around, find her.
LAURA: Yeah. Yes, I would like that.
SAM: Okay.
TRAVIS: Imogen, I'm sorry. I'm sure she's just doing the same thing Fearne was.
SAM: Here, if it makes you feel any better, I will flip my coin and I'll ask the Changebringer, "Is Laudna safe?"
LAURA: Yes.
SAM: (echoing) Flip! Slow motion! Slow motion! Slow motion! Slow motion! Glint of light! Glint of light! Glint of light!
LAURA: (laughs)
SAM: Huh?
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MATT: It's a broad question. (laughter)
MARISHA: Oh!
SAM: It landed on its side! (laughter)
MARISHA: Did you say, "All right" or "Safe?"
SAM: I said, "Safe." Currently.
MATT: Yeah.
SAM: (coin clinking) Aw! (laughter)
LAURA: What does that side mean? What does that side mean?
SAM: She's fine. She's fine.
LAURA: All right.
TALIESIN: Imogen.
LAURA: What?
TALIESIN: I'm sorry. And whatever you need, I will do whatever it takes to help find her. We'll have her back as soon as possible. I promise.
LAURA: Thank you.
TRAVIS: Whatever it takes?
TALIESIN: I'll get to thank you. We're not there yet. But thank you for it.
TRAVIS: You should leave.
SAM: Leave what?
TRAVIS: You should go.
SAM: Like now?
TALIESIN: I get up, I walk to my room.
TRAVIS: But don't come back either. Like, you should go.
LAURA: Chet.
TRAVIS: No, I mean it.
TALIESIN: I'm not turning around. Just keep walking.
TRAVIS: If you're going to do things for yourself, then do them! But don't risk us! I understand what it's like to look out for yourself, try and experiment with new things. But if I thought I couldn't control this, I would've fucking left! I don't trust you! You could have hurt Fearne!
TALIESIN: All right, I'm turning around. I thought you wanted me to go.
TRAVIS: And yet, you stay.
TALIESIN: Well, you talked to me. I don't know if I'm going or staying yet. I think, honestly, that is not up to me, mostly. But I'm thinking about it, and I don't trust me either. So I'm trying something. Actually, I've got a question. What did you do before you could control this? I mean, I've seen you lose your shit once, but what did you do? How did you handle it? What did you do?
TRAVIS: I killed things. I hurt people, a lot.
TALIESIN: Well, I'm glad you stopped. And I don't know, I'm processing a lot right now, but if I do stay, if you let me stay, the day something happens and it goes bad for you and you hurt a lot of people because, for any reason somebody gets in your head, something bad happens, something pushes you over the edge, something just fucking stupid. Stay or go, I promise that I will stick around, help clean it up. You will get no shit from me. None. But for now, I'll go. And I'll head upstairs.
TRAVIS: That's a lot of words. We'll see. So anyway, who's hungry?
SAM: I don't eat.
TRAVIS: Oh.
MATT: As Laudna's sat in the shadows of the forest and the caves and the familiar paths, the familiar voice creeping through your mind, (Delilah) "Just like old times, Laudna. Others come and go, but I am always here. Just you and me, always."
MARISHA: You loved something?
MATT: "I love something."
MARISHA: Even though it hurt you?
MATT: "That's what love is."
MARISHA: I'm beginning to truly understand that. Is love anything more than pain?
MATT: "Sometimes. And it's worth it. It's worth everything."
MARISHA: How? When?
MATT: "(laughs)"
MARISHA: I know the rewards can be great, but why can't I remember any of them right now? Not even the ones that happened this morning. All I can think about is how you lost the love of your life, how Imogen's mom left her and her dad couldn't look at her, how Orym is defined by the pain of his lost husband, FCG's missing past, and that pretty lady Keyleth, who seems can't get away from her past? When is love not pain?
MATT: "When you find the strength to fix what hurts you. The weak let themselves hurt. But us, we find a way to change our fortunes and to hurt those who hurt us."
MARISHA: Do you think Ashton is weak?
MATT: "(chuckles) Hmm. From what I've seen, Ashton's barely figured out who they are, and have bashed their head against the wall until someone tells them they're still a child."
MARISHA: I don't want to hurt children! I love children. Perhaps I should make him a doll.
MATT: "Perhaps."
MARISHA: I stumble to my old cabin.
MATT: "Let's go to it, then."
MARISHA: All right.
MATT: As Laudna scurries off into the shadowed night of the Parchwood, driven with sudden purpose and focus, we're going to go to break.
TRAVIS: What the fuck does that mean?!
MARISHA: I'm going to go make him a doll.
SAM: Like make him, turn him into a doll?
ASHLEY: A doll?
TALIESIN: It's a cookbook? Or is it not a cookbook?
ASHLEY: Yeah.
TALIESIN: A cookbook? Not a cookbook? Coloring book? I-- Okay.
TRAVIS: She gave me the willies.
TALIESIN: That was really fucking-- Sorry.
MATT: Well, we'll be back here in a few minutes.
TALIESIN: Yeah. Shit.
MATT: We'll see you all shortly.
Break
NARRATOR: Let's learn how to play "That's Not a Hat." Deal a gift card face up in front of each player and place the rest of the cards face up in a draw pile in the middle of the table to form a gift shop. Be sure to pay attention to which card is in front of each player. To start, the first player draws a new gift from the gift shop and shows that card to everyone. The card is then flipped over and is passed to the player indicated by the arrow on the back of the card. As the player passes the gift, they identify the card out loud saying, "I have a nice blank for you." In this case, it's an egg. The player receiving the gift now has two options. Accept the gift or refuse it. If the player receives the gift, they say thank you and places the card face down above their original gift card in front of them. And since it would be rude to re-gift a new gift, the next player gives away their original gift and leaves the new gift in front of them face down. When a player believes the gift is not correctly identified, they should refuse the gift and say, "That's not a blank." Then the player flips over the card and reveals the gift. Whichever player is wrong takes the card and places it face up in their personal discard pile as a penalty point. The player who receives the penalty point must draw a new gift from the gift shop. The game ends when one player receives three penalty points. Whoever has the lowest score wins the game. And that's how you play "That's Not a Hat."
(soft music)
Presenter: Welcome to the Fablemaker's Animated Tarot. Today, we'll be exploring Reincarnate, a tarot spread for self-awareness and transformation. The first card reflects the core of what you want to release or change. (gentle music) The Page of Chalices suggests that you are perhaps wanting something to fulfill you emotionally that you are unable to obtain at this time. The second card represents what's preventing you from this release or change. Ah, the Hierophant in this position suggests your ties to tradition or fear of judgment may be holding you back from pursuing what you need. The third card reveals what your main focus or hope should be. Interesting. The Knight of Wands hints at a need to proceed fearlessly. This knight does not hold back. Perhaps it's time you did the same. Go forth to victory. Check out the Fablemaker's Animated Tarot and more at hitpointpress.com/cr Use the code Critter23 for $10 off orders over $50 and enjoy free shipping on orders over $100 of physical products to the continental US. [XBOX SOUND] In Persona 5 Tactica, your success in battling the oppressive Legionnaires will hinge on your mastery of the techniques available to you on the battlefield. Be on the lookout for interactive elements on each stage that your team can take advantage of. Explosive barrels can blow up nearby enemies, while dash squares let you quickly move from one high point to another ash squares let you quickly move from one high point to another. However, some elements aren’t as helpful, like Surveillance Cameras that call for enemy reinforcements if tripped. Speaking of enemies, you’ll have to strategize for some much differently than others. Think twice before getting too close to a SUMO-MATON, he’ll toss around anyone who gets near him, whether they’re on his side or not! The GUARDED GEISHA can block any type of attacks from the front And don’t get too confused by the clones SLIMY SHINOBI makes of itself. Sometimes the best action is to simply observe your surroundings. If a character takes no action during battle, they’ll begin their next turn with a CHARGE. Each character has their own, unique CHARGE action, so be sure to try out different ones for the right situation in combat You’ll have to wait and see what happens! And if you want to get the most out of your team in combat, head over to the VELVET ROOM where you can fuse Personas to create new ones, as well as craft new powerful weapons. To create a new weapon, you’ll need two Persona’s that fit the requirements of the weapon you want to make. Once you have the necessary Personas, you can fuse them together to make a unique weapon that you can’t buy in the store. How’s that for heating up the battlefield? Upgrading your arsenal will only get you so far though. In order to maximize each squad member’s capabilities, you’ll want to equip each one with the right SUB-PERSONA. Equipping a Sub-Persona not only increases the character’s stats, but also enables the use of that Sub-Persona’s unique and inherited skills. Be sure to find the right combination of sub-personas for each character in your squad! If you ever REALLY want to challenge yourself, turn the difficulty up to HARD or higher levels where enemies don’t just become stronger, friendly fire will also be turned on so your attacks can hit your own party members as well. Luckily, you can retry as many times as you want, so don’t be afraid to see how far you can take the fight against the Legionnaires And as always, keep fighting! Ignite your heart when Persona 5 Tactica releases on November 17th, 2023. Pre orders are available now! [XBOX SOUND] (mysterious music)
TALIESIN: Delve into a new tabletop roleplaying game of investigative horror with the "Candela Obscura Core Rulebook" using the Illuminated Worlds System by Darrington Press. Roam the turn-of-the-century- inspired setting of the Fairelands, including the bustling city of Newfaire and the ancient ruins of Oldfaire below. Assemble a circle of investigators within the paranormal secret society of Candela Obscura. You'll analyze strange and horrifying events, fight back against dangerous phenomena, and contain the bleed that spreads from corruptive magick. Choose from 10 custom character sheets to empower your investigations and explorations. Use tactical intuition and brawn with the Soldier specialty, use your charm with finesse and flair as the Magician specialty, or study and practice mystical arts as an Occultist. Explore districts of Newfaire, competing organizations, four full assignments, and dozens of example assignments to inspire you. If you choose to brave the role of Game Master, this guide contains everything needed to pave the way for your Candela Obscura investigators. Offered in both a standard edition as well as an ornate limited edition for collectors, the "Candela Obscura Core Rulebook" contains 204 art-filled pages, including maps, items, immersive notes, mysteries, and plenty more to power your very own story. Keep this tome close for the knowledge obtained may be the key to protecting you, your allies, and the Fairelands.
SAM: What's up Internet? It's your beloved baby boy. Beloved baby. Beloved boy, Sam Riegel. And it's vlogmas season, which means it's time for me to whip out some fresh cut deals because it's time for our second annual Critmas Can't Miss Sale. Marisha, it's time for our Critmas Can't Miss Sale. Go away.
MARISHA: I didn't know we were-
SAM: So come with me and I'll tell you all about it. I said, come with me. Selfie stick. Our sale starts on November 20th and goes to December 1st. So mark those calendars and stuff those stockings full of amazing deals. Let's get into my haul. [thud] You and your friends won't be bored this holiday season. We've got our powerful princess dueling deck builder Queen by Midnight. Or you can take home our tactical seafaring game Ukotoa. You'll literally be drowning in savings. Ooh. It's items like my favorite Caleb blazer. This awesome Jester overall dress, and (groans) this Yasha sweatshirt that are in stock and on sale that tells you it's time to get cozy and click to add to cart. Wee. [crash] Our dice and accessories are on sale too, including our Mighty Nein dice set. Natural 20. And our Candela Obscura dice set, which pairs great with our newly released Core Rule Book. There's so much more Critmas cravings to indulge in, but all the magic starts on November 20th and goes through to December 1st. So be sure you're ♪ making your way ♪ to one of our Critical Role shops and be sure to use promo code SammyClaus at checkout to lock in those savings.
KIRBY: Sam, Sam, I'm sorry, that's not a thing.
SAM: Oh. I'm an influencer, and influencers have like cool promo codes and stuff and come, why can't I have- So be sure you're ♪ making your way ♪ to any of our Critical Role shops from November 20th to December 1st. No promo code needed apparently, to lock in huge savings on amazing new items for you and your family and your loved ones, all of you this Critmas season. From your favorite influencer, Sam Riegel. That's me saying Happy Holidays. Merry Critmas and see you on the next one. Bye. Transition.
LAURA:Hey Critters! Laura Bailey here to guide you through what's new in the Critical Role shop. These holidays, you know, they're just around the corner. Go ahead, darling. Treat yourself. Ooh, so comfy cozy. This holiday season, give the gift of effortless style. I mean the Traveler always says impulse purchases are a good decision. This is a lot of stuff you guys. We have so many cool things right now. (gasp) Could anything be more perfect? Style should never be a dump stat, darling. And hey if you want, you could head over to the Critical Role shop right now.
(adventurous music) (eerie suspenseful music)
AABRIA: "You might as well come in. I know you're there. You reek of my favorite flavors."
GINA: The gods of the sea are fair. Who am I to question a god? (eerie suspenseful music)
NOSHIR: All right, Professor, let's see it done. This circle is not broken, but it is most certainly bent.
SAM: I know you want this to be more than just one of your regular missions, but I've stopped trying.
ASHLY: Not again. You don't get to do this to me again, not without me being here, too. So you can come out, but you're going to play nice.
LIAM: It is just not an easy burden that Candela bears. We've carried it for centuries. Tide & Bone, keepers of the light.
(eerie suspenseful music) (ominous music)
NARRATOR 1: Moc Weepe is in a bathrobe. He's wearing very comfortable slippers. In one hand, he is holding a delicious cup of bizarre unidentifiable tea It seems like tea. It's pretty close to being like tea. NARRATOR 2: Very herbaceous. NARRATOR 1: And in his other hand, he is holding a newspaper, unread. He's not reading the newspaper right now because he's too busy staring out the grand windows of his hotel penthouse solarium, looking past a menagerie of beautiful potted flowers and vines hanging from planters along the ceiling and walls, Looking out at a city unlike any he has ever seen. NARRATOR 2: "Un" -like? Ha ha. NARRATOR 1: Hey, that was unintentional, but that's very cool. Speaking of unlike, NARRATOR 2: Everything here is 'unlike' anything he's ever seen, because everything here is un-like. All right, that's enough with that pun, let's move on. NARRATOR 3: It's a good pun. (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) (noises of struggle) Okay. (clicking) Safety third. (clicking) (ethereal voices laughing) What the fuck was that? (excited noises) 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-- Ah! 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 (grunts) 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 have, oh, Art Dad, super cool. We got Ashley Hype, fun one. Oh, look at Trinket here, he's so-- Oh, oh god. (clattering and crashing) Oh god. (glass breaking) Uh, uh, ah! 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. (gasping) I need more glue, this is not going to be enough. (tape stretching) Don't tell Rachel, okay? Okay, please nobody-- (crashing) (clattering) Schapiro, will you cut all this out? (electronic buzzing)
Part II
MATT: And welcome back.
ASHLEY and MARISHA: (laugh)
MATT: So, Fearne, as you've been wandering through your mind through the outskirts of Whitestone, evening has come and the sounds of the Parchwood itself, the many critters and wildlife and odd shadows that shift amongst the trees and brush surround you. What are you doing?
ASHLEY: I am going to walk to the woods.
MATT: Mm-hmm.
ASHLEY: Try to find a spot where-- I'm going to Plant Growth and make myself a little home to sleep in for the night.
MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: But I want to make it look like my bedroom in the Fey Realm.
MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: As much as I can.
MATT: So you sculpt the surrounding flora to resemble your comfortable space in Ligament Manor. You watch as the vines and bushes swell and surround, creating a canopy where bits of moss begin to cluster and fill in the gaps, where the bits of starlight that peek through are few and far between. You have these tumbling threads of elongated fern fronds that drift into the space, and the wind occasionally blows through with the faintest of whistle and causes them to sway. Occasionally, little firebugs, you can see glowing in the distance causing these little bursts of light through the little slight gaps in the growth. Occasionally one wanders in, flickers around, and fills you with fond memories of a safer, warmer time.
ASHLEY: I think of Nana and hope she's okay, and I wish I were home in my warm bed. I'm going to circle like a dog, try to find the right spot in the dirt. Okay, this will work.
MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: I'll lay down.
MATT: All right. Laudna, you are off in search of your previous exterior of Whitestone hovel?
MARISHA: Mm-hmm.
MATT: All right. I'm going to have you and Fearne both roll a d20.
MARISHA: Yeah, are we going to run into each other?
MATT: There's a chance. If you both roll within three of each other.
LAURA: (gasps) Ooh, that's cool!
SAM: This is an anti-Rollies.
MARISHA: An anti-Rollies.
MATT: Yes.
MARISHA: Auntie Rollies.
LAURA: If you get close to each other--
TALIESIN: This is meet-cute Rollies.
LAURA: -- then you're--
MATT: Well, it depends if you want to run into or not. This is just happenstance.
TRAVIS: ♪ Two steps forward ♪ ♪ Two steps back ♪
MARISHA: 11.
ASHLEY: Two.
SAM and MARISHA: Aw.
MATT: Okay.
MARISHA: (laughs)
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: So traversing the familiar scents of the Parchwood, the mists thickening along the floor of the ever-clustered tree line, you almost become a stalking wolf as you rush through the trees. The shadows stretching, or are you stretching as you feel the still lingering dark energies that suffuse the surrounding nature here within the bowl of the Alabaster Sierras. You continue to stalk and shift. You hear the distant howl of one wolf, the hunting packs out for the night. You--
LAURA: Howl! (laughter)
MATT: You got it! (laughter)
MATT: You got it. That's how wolves sound like here.
MARISHA: Howl! (laughter)
TRAVIS: Get 'em, lads!
MATT: It's canon. (laughter)
MARISHA: Unfazed.
TALIESIN: I'm taking it. (laughter)
MATT: The Grey Hunt's really fallen back a bit over the past couple years.
ASHLEY: (laughs)
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Greyhound.
MARISHA: Oh my god.
TALIESIN: Woof.
MATT: Look, Galdric wasn't good at everything. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Yeah.
SAM: Oh, Galdric.
MATT: In time, the woods become more familiar, and a new scent catches your senses. That of old charcoal. As you find the now-overgrown clearing where you once called home, you see the charred ruins of the homestead you once lived in, part of it's still standing. It doesn't seem to have been further toppled.
MARISHA: Oh. Oh no. What happened here?
MATT: (Delilah) "We can fix it. We can build again."
MARISHA: Yes. (sighs disappointedly) This is much too large a task for one night.
MATT: "Perhaps."
MARISHA: Hmm. I go inside.
MATT: You step into the-- It's not even a full door frame, there's just two of the large logs, one taller than the other that once were part of the door frame, and you see flashes of it complete in your memory as you step in and see where it is. Much of it is grown over, and you can see there have been a few things carved into the wood. Hearts with letters, a curse word. Looks like it may have been found and sullied or defaced in your absence.
MARISHA: People should take better care of their things.
MATT: "Indeed. In fact, some maybe aren't so deserving of the good things they have."
MARISHA: Are you talking about Ashton again?
MATT: "Am I? Your words, not mine."
MARISHA: Hmm. These scribbled curse words kind of remind me of them.
MATT: "(smirks pleasantly)"
MARISHA: Hmm. Perhaps this bit of graffiti can make a good base for the doll. They like curse words.
MATT: "Well. They also seem to be a bit charred as well, so maybe this is the right material."
MARISHA: (laughs) Hmm. I take out my chisel and begin to carve out a rudimentary triangular shape to make the torso out of this little graffitied piece of plank.
MATT: Doesn't take long to scavenge up nearby materials. You're used to scavenging and being a bit thrifty and skillful in finding and repurposing whatever seems to work. You have that artist's eye that can see something and the final possible creation hidden within that normally unusable material. You can see a broken table and see a hammer carved from the leg. You can see a fallen part of a stone wall, and you can see a head that can be applied to that torso. You begin to pull together all these pieces. You're not sure how much time goes by.
MARISHA: I find the skull of a chipmunk. That'd make a perfect skull. And a little piece of quartz that I scavenge out of the charcoal remains, and wedge it in its head to make a doll in Ashton's image. Now what I do with it?
MATT: "Well, I think there are a number of things. You can give it to him to remember you by. You can keep it to remember him by. Or you can trade it for the thing that rejected him. Many things."
MARISHA: What thing that rejected him?
MATT: "Laudna. I need. I need. And the power that helps me grow and thrive, that helps both of us. Well, can you imagine what gifts we could gain with that little fiery crystal?"
MARISHA: No. It's not meant for me.
MATT: "Who is it meant for, dear Laudna?"
MARISHA: I thought it was going to go to Fearne.
MATT: "She did not want it. He couldn't have it."
MARISHA: No.
MATT: "Who else is more deserving? You've hurt so much."
MARISHA: No.
MATT: "Why not stand up for yourself and take something that you rightfully deserve for once?
MARISHA: That's not what this is about. Ashton hurt Fearne. He hurt us.
MATT: "Yes. People do that."
MARISHA: Why do you think that I would do the same?
MATT: "Because--"
MARISHA: If Ashton cannot learn from this lesson, then shouldn't others? Shouldn't I, at least? I already hurt Imogen last time that a sparkly rock got in the way. Why didn't Ashton learn from that? Ashton could've learned from my mistakes.
MATT: "Then you need to teach him a lesson. This world is filled with two kinds of people: Those that get hurt and accept it, and those that get hurt and retaliate. Who are you? Who are we?"
MARISHA: I'm just Matilda.
MATT: "Matilda's dead. You are something more. Now, you poor thing, you need to rest. You've worked so hard. The sun's likely to come up."
MARISHA: I hate it when the sun comes up after a night of not sleeping.
MATT: "Me too, darling. Me too."
MARISHA: Will you hold me?
MATT: "Always."
MARISHA: I just curl up in the corner and I hold the Ashton doll close to me as I cuddle in charred remains of my hovel.
MATT: You swear you feel the shadows around you in this corner grow a little thicker, like a cloak of darkness that wraps itself around you. The morning warmth pulls you back to consciousness, Fearne. As you groggily turn your head, comfortable in your bedroom, wondering what this weird long dream was that you've shaken free, excited for the first morning tea and cakes and whatever delicious breakfast meal Nana's prepared for you. Who knows, maybe you'll sneak something to Dr. Nesbitt. Then something's not right. As you wipe the sleep from your eyes, you remember where you are.
ASHLEY: I get up, and I sort of Plant Growth and tear it all down.
MATT: (whooshing) Birds flutter off that had nested for the night up there.
ASHLEY: (sighs) I'll walk back.
MATT: Okay. Laudna, you awaken as the uncomfortable warmth and awkward positioning in which you had slept begins to combine with the light of daylight that's pushing through the trees above that catches the side of your cheek and your eye, and you wake up cold and alone amongst the sunken mists of the forest and the ruins of the life near forgotten.
MARISHA: I miss Imogen. You have to walk from whence you came to appreciate how far you've come.
SAM: (sneezes)
MARISHA and ASHLEY: Stop it!
SAM: I can't stop it.
LAURA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Benadryl.
MARISHA: I gather the Ashton doll and slowly meander back to the forest.
MATT: Okay.
MARISHA: To the castle, stopping every 30, 40, 100 feet or so, to contemplate before moving forward again.
MATT: Very well.
LAURA: (knocking) FCG, wake up. (knocking)
SAM: I'm right here. Yeah, uh-huh. Hello.
LAURA: She didn't come back.
SAM: She didn't?
LAURA: Where's your spell?
SAM: Oh, I got it right here. Sure. Hold on. Sure, do we need to get anybody else or shall we just go?
LAURA: Yes.
SAM: All right. Please, Changebringer, find me Loutna. I'll cast Locate Creature.
MATT: Locate Creature.
SAM: Creature. Wait, person. Wait, I got a Person.
MATT: No, Locate Creature.
SAM: Is it creature?
MATT: Yep.
SAM: Okay. Yes.
TRAVIS: (creepily) Right now it is.
MATT: (laughs)
LAURA: (laughs)
SAM: Creature, yeah.
MATT: Yeah. Okay.
TRAVIS: I mean-- (mumbling)
MARISHA: I mean, it's not wrong.
MATT: (laughs) All right, so as you finish the rapid incantation, clutching the component before you, you do not sense her at the moment.
SAM: Doesn't mean she's gone. She's just not within a thousand feet. So we need to-- That thousand feet's a big palace. We're in a big palace! That could be like the basement. So let's just go down, maybe we go to the front door.
LAURA: Yeah.
SAM: Here, let's go down the stairs.
LAURA: I should have followed her. I should have gone with her last night.
SAM: Well--
LAURA: W-w-why didn't I?
SAM: You were doing-- Everybody was having a hard time last night, you couldn't take care of all of them.
LAURA: We woke her up yesterday.
SAM: Who did? What? Woke who up? Delilah? How do you know that?
LAURA: Because I saw her.
SAM: (loudly) You saw Delilah?!
LAURA: Shh!
SAM: (whispering) You saw Delilah?
LAURA: I did.
TRAVIS: It's the wrong house to say that.
MATT: Yep.
MARISHA: (laughs)
LAURA: I did, she was standing over her.
SAM: Was I there?
LAURA: Were you there?
SAM: I don't know. Where was this?
LAURA: (laughs) Do you remember seeing Delilah?
SAM: Well no! Maybe only you could see her. I don't know.
LAURA: No, it was downstairs. It was under the castle. It was in the tunnels. You were off, I don't know.
SAM: Doing something very important. Okay. Well yeah, you probably should have stayed with her, then.
LAURA: I know.
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: It's fine! We'll find her right now. I didn't know that. I didn't realize it was that dire. I'm sorry. Let's go. Come on, let's go. Orym, you too.
MATT: (Orym) "Yeah." (laughter)
MATT: He's over doing squats. "Oh! Okay."
MARISHA: I think, too, as I come out of the forest and the forest is so much thinner than it used to be as neighborhoods have expanded and it makes me nervous. It's unfamiliar and I retreat back.
MATT: Okay.
MARISHA: A little rinse and repeat for the morning, but always keeping my hovel nearby.
MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: I'm going to hit my long rest.
MATT: Okay.
MARISHA: Did I get a long rest? Did all of us-- Did I get shit rest? There's no way.
MATT: It's a long rest, but it's a shit rest.
SAM: What does that mean?
MATT: Bare minimum.
LAURA: You got a shit rest.
SAM: That's everything.
MATT: Yeah.
MARISHA: That's everything? yeah.
LAURA: Shit rest.
MATT: Mechanically, long rest. Narratively--
SAM: Bags under your eyes.
MARISHA: Bags-- Yeah.
MATT: Yeah. Rough night's sleep.
SAM: All right. where would she go?
LAURA: I have no idea.
SAM: Are there places--
LAURA: Under the castle, she used to be under the castle. I looked all under the castle yesterday.
SAM: All right.
LAURA: There's doors everywhere.
SAM: We're just retracing our steps. It's like you lost your glasses or something and you're just trying to find them, that's it. So we'll go down to the bottom. We're going down in the basement and see if I feel any pings.
MATT: Okay. You head down into the entryway to the tunnels that took you in the direction of the ziggurat the night before. You descend down the staircase, through the crypt of the de Rolo family, into the tunnel, and no ping.
SAM: No ping, all right.
MATT: Chetney.
TRAVIS: Hmm?
MATT: Ashton
TALIESIN: Ah!
MATT: What are you both doing?
TALIESIN: Waking up, I suppose at this point.
TRAVIS: Yep. Give it a little stretch. (groans)
SAM: That's your back.
TRAVIS: Oh. (laughter)
TRAVIS: (groans)
LAURA: Did you roll?
TRAVIS: I'm going to miss that disc.
MATT: Yeah, make your roll.
TRAVIS: I did.
MATT: Oh, you did?
LAURA: Oh.
TRAVIS: Yeah. I'm alive.
SAM: Oh.
TRAVIS: You're welcome.
MATT: (laughs)
MARISHA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: I'll make my way very casually--
SAM, MARISHA, and MATT: ♪ Makin' my way ♪
TRAVIS: -- down to the breakfast area.
SAM: ♪ Very casually ♪
TRAVIS: With my clothes on, thank you very much, and the bag of holding in tow.
TALIESIN: Small miracles. That's what I'm calling it now, small miracles.
MATT: Small miracles? (laughs)
TRAVIS: Some don't call it so small.
TALIESIN: (laughs) I will wander down--
LAURA: Fellow gnomes.
TALIESIN: -- at this point as well.
MATT: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: The only person you see up is a stretching Chetney.
TALIESIN: Where the fuck's everybody else?
TRAVIS: Hmm. I don't know. Is it just you and me?
TALIESIN: Yeah.
TRAVIS: You're still here.
TALIESIN: Yeah.
TRAVIS: That's a good start.
TALIESIN: Well.
TRAVIS: We should take this opportunity, though. (joints cracking and expanding) I'll use my hybrid transformation to turn into a werewolf.
MATT: Mm-hmm.
TRAVIS: Ah. (low growls) (deeply) Let's see what that new arm can do.
TALIESIN: Now? Really? Now?
TRAVIS: Now.
TALIESIN: Fuck. (laughter)
MARISHA: Oh shit! Yes!
TRAVIS: Listen, when you get new shit in D&D--
MARISHA: Yeah, you got to try it out.
TRAVIS: -- you test it out.
TALIESIN: But right now?
TRAVIS: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Okay.
MATT: All right. Both of you roll initiative.
TRAVIS: I just want to see what it does.
TALIESIN: All right, no, I'm into it.
MARISHA: All the windows are broken, so, collateral damage is going to be low.
TRAVIS: Six. (laughs)
MATT: (laughs)
TALIESIN: 19.
MATT: All right. Ashton. You see the wolf coming towards you, what do you do?
TALIESIN: Well, I'm going to--
TRAVIS: Something new, I hope.
TALIESIN: Well, I'm going to rage because--
MATT: Okay.
TALIESIN: -- Jesus H. Fucking Christ.
MATT: It's viable.
TALIESIN: Now, I'm going to attempt to charge, spin around and see what the fuck the hand does. I'm going to see what the fuck the hand does on the back of that werewolf.
MATT: Okay. Are you going to attack?
TALIESIN: Yes.
MATT: Okay.
TALIESIN: I'm going to attack, but I'm going to, you know, try and--
MATT: With your fist?
TALIESIN: Try and see what at least one punch from the right does. I'm not going to use the hammer yet.
MATT: Okay.
TALIESIN: First attack.
MATT: All right, roll an unarmed strike.
TALIESIN: Reckless because, well, unarmed strikes are nothing, so, yeah, if I get reckless, 16, 24 to hit-ish.
TRAVIS: Yeah.
TALIESIN: Okay.
MATT: Okay.
TALIESIN: Unarmed strike does eight points of damage.
MATT: Whack! A heavy hit to the back. There are knuckles, this is like being punched with a pumice stone, and it hurts, it hurts.
TRAVIS: (deeply) There wasn't no lava.
TALIESIN: While he's saying it, I go for the second strike with the hammer.
MATT: With the hammer.
TALIESIN: Fling it around, bring it back.
MATT: Go forward and make a second--
TALIESIN: Trying again to just do anything. That's so cocked, not that it matters. Okay, 16, 26 to hit.
TRAVIS: Yep.
TALIESIN: 2d6 times 12 unless anything activated.
TRAVIS: Ooh. Times 12?
TALIESIN: No, 2d6 plus 12, sorry.
SAM: (laughs)
ASHLEY: Oh! (laughter)
TRAVIS: That's what I was looking for.
TALIESIN: You know where my brain is right now.
TRAVIS: Now, we're in business!
SAM: 144 points of damage.
TALIESIN: 17 points of damage. (laughter)
LAURA: I want the ember.
MATT: 17 points of damage. Reduced to half.
ASHLEY: Oh, I changed my mind. (laughter)
MATT: Well, actually no, it's magical damage.
TRAVIS: Well, then it's not.
MATT: It's not.
TRAVIS: Yeah, because it's only blood or whatever.
MATT: It's magical weapons.
TALIESIN: The first one would've been reduced to four.
MATT: For you--
TRAVIS: Actually, it doesn't matter. I'll take all of it.
MATT: Okay, yeah.
TRAVIS: With the hit I'll be (growling) (regular voice) Ah, oh! Transform back. Oh fuck.
TALIESIN: Nothing. I don't know!
TRAVIS: All right. There's got to be something more to that shit! It's pretty good.
TALIESIN: Yeah. I'm going to help.
TRAVIS: Thank you.
TALIESIN: Yep, no.
TRAVIS: There's-- there better be sausages on. (laughter)
TALIESIN: You know, I kind of want to find the others.
TRAVIS: Oh. Well, someone should stay back in case they come looking for us.
TALIESIN: We can get the sausages to go.
TRAVIS: All right, fuck, fine. Let's go.
TALIESIN: Come on.
MATT: Walking away. You hold the hammer. You look at that new arm for a second. You can feel back at that strange sensation, that connection you had to the cavern around you, and that sense of locked strength and familiarity. It was odd. Like a little box in your heart that hasn't yet been opened.
SAM: Okay, not downstairs. Where then? Would she go to that big Sun Tree? Would she go to-- Is there--
LAURA: Maybe?
SAM: -- a favorite place of hers?
LAURA: I mean, I've only been to the places she showed me.
SAM: We should go to there. Should we ask that Whitestone Andy guy?
LAURA: Let's go to the tree.
MATT: You get a blip.
SAM: I feel something. It's coming from--
MATT: Are you approaching from the eastern side or the south? Are you walking through the town or are you following the tree line?
MARISHA: No, I would follow the tree line. Like I said, I'm doubling back a lot.
MATT: Right.
MARISHA: Kind of going in circles.
MATT: So it's taken you a good portion of the morning because you probably got up at the first light of dawn. So you crest a little ways to the southeast of where you are.
SAM: All right, I got her. She's okay.
LAURA: Great.
SAM: She's moving.
LAURA: All right.
SAM: She's got a limp.
LAURA: What?
SAM: No, that's just-- Nope, I can't feel that. (laughter)
SAM: Let's keep going. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Nope, no, we can't feel that.
MATT: All right. So you emerge, right as you two finish your brief encounter and watch FCG and Imogen step up from the staircase that leads down into the crypt.
TALIESIN: Ah, ah, okay. Good, two, two more, two more.
SAM: We're going to find Laudna. What? Why, why are you, what, what, what's going on?
LAURA: Where's Fearne?
TRAVIS: What?
TALIESIN: We're looking for-- Well, we're looking--
TRAVIS: I just woke up.
MATT: Orym catches up behind them as well.
TRAVIS: Keep your eyes up.
MATT: "Morning."
TRAVIS: Absolutely.
TALIESIN: I know it was weird what we talked about last night.
TRAVIS: He's rock hard. (laughter)
MATT: Orym has not talked to you yet.
TALIESIN: I know. (laughter)
MATT: We'll save that for another episode.
TALIESIN: No, got you. I'm well aware, yeah.
TRAVIS: Forever.
MARISHA: Right. (laughs)
SAM: All right, I lead them on.
TALIESIN: Let's get one.
TRAVIS: I'll take a sniff, too, just to help. Although, you got a magical ping, you don't need it.
LAURA: You could have sniffed 'em out this whole time? You could have sniffed 'em out? And you just let 'em wander off?
SAM: Who, him, who, him, who?
LAURA: Them!
SAM: Them?
LAURA: Fearne and Laudna. They're both gone.
TRAVIS: I followed Fearne.
TALIESIN: You did?
TRAVIS: Yeah.
TALIESIN: Huh.
SAM: Where's Fearne?
ASHLEY: I'll start before I walk up. I'll fix my hair. Just push up my amazing tits. (laughter)
SAM: Pull them out of your marsupial pouch?
ASHLEY: Yeah. (laughter)
ASHLEY: All right. And then start walking up.
MATT: All right, just as you all charge past the Pale Guard guarding the front of Castle Whitestone, you emerge down the initial walkway and down the path that leads to the city, just as you see Fearne begin to jaunt up towards the front of the castle.
TRAVIS: There she is.
MARISHA: (laughs) Nailed it.
ASHLEY: Good morning!
SAM: Oh.
LAURA: Good morning.
SAM: You okay?
ASHLEY: Yeah!
LAURA: Where were you?
ASHLEY: I was just-- I just decided to sleep. Just take a nice camping site out in the woods.
LAURA: Oh.
ASHLEY: Yeah. How's everybody doing? Imogen, Chet? FCG, how are you?
SAM: We lost Laudna, and we're going to go find her right now.
ASHLEY: Okay, I'll help you.
SAM: Okay.
ASHLEY: Hi, Orym, I'm sorry.
MATT: "Hi, Fearne."
ASHLEY: Hi, let's go get her.
TRAVIS: Wow. Heck, you should sleep outside more often. You seem very chipper.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I'm great.
TRAVIS: Cool. Let's go!
ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: Where do they find you, Laudna?
MARISHA: I'm still thick in the woods. I'm pacing back and forth.
MATT: You dart along the tree line past the base of the hill that the castle's on, around the outskirts of the Eastern Ruins, until eventually you know that you're not that far away, and you see just beyond one of the paths that leads through the Eastern Ruins. You see Laudna step out onto the path, and then loop back into the forest, and then repeat the process again before you notice the sound of footsteps, and then see your friends approaching.
MARISHA: Is Ashton with them?
TALIESIN: In the back, but yeah.
MARISHA: I make eye contact with Imogen, and I turn and I run.
TRAVIS: Oh!
SAM: We got a runner! (laughter)
MATT: Okay, you're all giving chase?
TRAVIS: Yep.
LAURA: Yes, 100%.
MATT: All right.
TRAVIS: Going to equip my Boots of Speed, double by.
MATT: Laudna, what's your speed?
MARISHA: 30.
MATT: 30.
MATT: With your Boots of Speed, what are you?
TRAVIS: 80.
MATT: So while the rest of you are--
LAURA: In her head, she's going to hear: Stop, stop running!
MARISHA: No.
MATT: You're keeping pace. Now, it is in the middle of the forest, considered difficult terrain, so half speed, but you also know it pretty well. But most of you are keeping pace. Ashton, you're gaining a little bit of ground.
TALIESIN: I'm maintaining.
MATT: Okay. You're maintaining with the group, but the wolf is on the hunt.
TRAVIS: Orym's just fucking flying. (laughter)
MATT: You, wolf on the hunt.
TRAVIS: (snarling)
MATT: You close the gap rapidly.
TRAVIS: (quick footsteps) (whooshes) I go for the shin tackle where you grab and roll like you're wrestling a gator.
MATT: All righty. Athletics versus acrobatics or athletics.
TRAVIS: Yeah, those awesome stats.
MARISHA: Yeah, there's real bad. I'm going to laugh if this is a nat 20. Nope. (laughter)
MARISHA: 15.
TRAVIS: 23.
MATT: Boof, your legs are pulled out from under you and both you and Chetney go into a soft roll.
TRAVIS: Stop, for fuck's sake!
MARISHA: No!
TRAVIS: What are you running for? Everything's okay.
MARISHA: Is it, though?
TRAVIS: Yeah, everything's going to be fine. Plus, Imogen's going to fucking kill us if you leave again!
MARISHA: You have to get me away from him or I'm going to kill him!
TRAVIS: Which him?
MARISHA: Ashton!
TRAVIS: Oh, okay, okay. Wait. Stay here, don't move! Ah, ah, ah!
MARISHA: Ah!
TRAVIS: Everybody freeze!
SAM: We freeze.
TRAVIS: Listen, Imogen, come this way. Everybody just stay for a second.
LAURA: I run forward.
MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: She's okay, she's okay.
LAURA: I run up and slide down and look. Are you all right?
MARISHA: I'm okay. I'm so sorry.
LAURA: I'm so sorry, I should've come after you.
MARISHA: I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to make you worry. I'm sorry!
LAURA: What happened?
MARISHA: I never want to hurt you.
LAURA: Laudna, what happened?
MARISHA: I don't want to hurt anybody, especially you.
LAURA: I turn around, and in Ashton's head, you hear: Go back to the castle!
SAM: Ooh!
TALIESIN: I was already in the back, and I'm going to keep quietly slipping out towards the tree line.
MATT: Okay.
MARISHA: Sorry, I didn't mean to make everybody worry. I just needed to be alone for a little bit. This is the second time you all have trotted through these woods to save me. (laughs nervously)
LAURA: Is it you?
MARISHA: It's me.
LAURA: Did you-- Did you talk to her? Did you--
MARISHA: Oh, yes. Her influence is quite strong here. She wants the shard real bad.
LAURA: You can't let her have it.
MARISHA: I know, I told her as much. It's not mine, it's Fearne's. It's Fearne's! It was meant for you! I thought it was going to go to you! What did he do to you?
ASHLEY: Nothing, nothing. It's my fault.
MARISHA: Did he hurt you?
ASHLEY: No, he didn't.
MARISHA: Did he manipulate you?
ASHLEY: No. It's okay.
MARISHA: Why did you hide? You both went and hid.
ASHLEY: I don't know. I don't know.
MARISHA: What if Ashton is a bad person?
LAURA: He's not.
SAM: He thinks he is.
LAURA: He's real dumb, but he's not a bad person. I looked in there.
MARISHA: He walked away. He took you away. He didn't want us nearby because he knew he was doing something wrong!
LAURA: (sighs)
ASHLEY: I'm sorry.
MARISHA: No, I'm sorry.
ASHLEY: No, no no no.
MARISHA: I'm doing it again. I'm sorry.
ASHLEY: No.
LAURA: I give her a hug.
MARISHA: I'm not mad at you. I don't know. I don't understand. I don't understand how to-- I thought he was our friend. I'm sorry.
LAURA: You don't need to apologize.
MARISHA: Okay.
LAURA: I talked to Lady Allura yesterday. She said we could take as much time as we need.
SAM: Is that true?
LAURA: I don't know, but she seemed to think it was important.
SAM: I mean, it's better for all this to happen down here than up there, I guess.
LAURA: He feels broken. Ashton is broken.
MARISHA: We had that wonderful talk earlier in the day about how we were all together, and we were a team.
LAURA: In your head, FCG, you hear: It's like she's reverted.
SAM: Uh-huh.
LAURA: I've never seen her like this, not outside of her head when we went to save her.
SAM: (sighs) Everyone's messed up. Everyone.
LAURA: Yeah.
SAM: Orym's never been this quiet. (laughter)
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: We can't do anything like this. We can't get anything done. We can't even get through a morning together.
LAURA: We can't stay here.
SAM: We can't go there!
ASHLEY: Are you still talking in your heads?
LAURA: No, that came out.
SAM: No.
LAURA: "We can't stay here" is when we started talking.
TRAVIS: Can I make an observation? I'm only speaking on behalf of myself, but I gave it to Ashton pretty good last night. I gave him some shit. I actually told him he should leave.
LAURA: Chet was naked.
TRAVIS: What did you--
LAURA: I just wanted to give you the visual.
ASHLEY: Oh wow.
TRAVIS: Which usually entices people to stay, but--
MARISHA: You told him he should leave?
TRAVIS: Yeah, permanently. Told him he endangered Fearne, that he was out for himself, and that I didn't trust him.
MARISHA: Sounds nicer than what I was planning in my head.
TRAVIS: It is, but he was there this morning, first down at the table. That means something, because he could've cut and run or been a coward and left, but he stayed.
ASHLEY: I'm sorry.
SAM: What? You?
ASHLEY: No, I just-- This is also my fault. I should've said something, and I just thought--
LAURA: You should've.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I just-- I don't know. If-- I'm going to make a suggestion. If we need a little more time, we could always go to Nana's and just kind of make time be a little bit longer, if we need it, to get everybody sorted. Just a small suggestion.
TRAVIS: Does it work that way?
MARISHA: More time there and less time here?
LAURA: I mean, Nana Morri was able to make sure that time didn't get all wonky when we came back the last time, so maybe she has more control than we know?
ASHLEY: I don't know. I don't know.
SAM: We go there, stop time for a second, do some thinking? Almost like a couple's retreat?
ASHLEY: I mean, it is like a resort, so I was just thinking everybody could relax there.
SAM: To figure out-- I think one of the problems we're all having, at least for me, but definitely for Ashton, is I think you have to like yourself a little bit before you can like other people. I feel like a lot of us are having problems with the first part.
LAURA: (laughs)
SAM: So maybe we need--
ASHLEY: I love myself.
TRAVIS: Me too.
SAM: I know.
LAURA: Yeah, I know.
ASHLEY: Yeah. Big fans.
SAM: But maybe we do need a second to-- I don't want to risk these people's lives. They're all counting on us. But if you can stop time and we could have a little--
ASHLEY: I mean, I don't know if she can stop time. I just mean--
MARISHA: Are you feeling homesick?
ASHLEY: A little bit.
TRAVIS: Plus, Nana Morri's got stuff. The de Rolos hooked it up. Maybe she's got a mushroom that can grow into a kaiju or something.
MARISHA: Mm!
LAURA: Have we seen her since she saved us the last time?
TRAVIS: No.
LAURA: Since she was a giant--
TALIESIN: Mm-mm.
LAURA: We should check on her.
SAM: How do we get there?
LAURA: How do we get there? Oh, I wonder if Lady Allura could do it.
SAM: How did we get there last time?
TRAVIS: Nightmare King? No. DM?
MARISHA: Through a gate?
LAURA: How did we get there last time?
MATT: No, last time, if I recall--
TRAVIS: Did we have a rod?
SAM: Was it Planerider Ryn?
MATT: I think it might have been Planerider Ryn.
LAURA: Oh! Right, right, right.
TRAVIS: That's what it was.
MARISHA: We walked through the gate--
MATT: It's kind of their specialty.
MARISHA: -- to come back.
TRAVIS: My fellow planerider.
LAURA: Maybe Lady Allura could do it? I don't know.
SAM: Maybe. She's pretty powerful.
LAURA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: It's an option.
SAM: Or Keyleth.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
LAURA: Maybe Lady Allura can get us to Keyleth.
SAM: Sure.
MARISHA: That's a very good idea.
ASHLEY: It's-- Yeah.
SAM: Because I don't know about going to the moon right now. You're-- I mean, you had a rough night, too. Are you okay?
MARISHA: Look what I made!
TRAVIS: What is that?
MARISHA: It's Ashton!
LAURA: Obviously.
MARISHA: Can't you tell? Does it not look like them?
SAM: It's really nice.
LAURA: Obviously, it looks just like Ashton.
MARISHA: Look, even, I found this piece of plank wood with graffiti that says "Fuck Whitestone" on it, and it felt very fitting.
TRAVIS: Somebody rushed that.
MARISHA: It took all night. Wait, what, you mean the carving?
TRAVIS: Yeah.
MARISHA: Oh.
SAM: It's really good, Laudna.
MARISHA: A very lucky find, with the chipmunk skull.
SAM: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I love it.
TRAVIS: Just to clarify, is it Ashton, or it's for Ashton?
MARISHA: Yes!
TRAVIS: Oh. Oh, oh, oh.
MARISHA: Well, I don't know. I haven't decided if I'm going to give it to them yet.
TRAVIS: Oh.
SAM: Let's go talk to Lady Allura and see if it's something she can do, and if it's not, then we'll rethink.
TRAVIS: Does feel like we need to bind our ties just a bit more, they're a little frayed.
LAURA: Are you going to try to kill-- Are y'all going to try to kill Ashton when we see them?
TRAVIS: There's no wrong answer here.
MARISHA: If you're in, I'm in.
ASHLEY: Really? No.
SAM: No.
ASHLEY: I mean--
MARISHA: No!
ASHLEY: No, that's so-- That's a little drastic. No, I just-- I just saw them this morning, and I was fine. I didn't do anything.
SAM: Okay.
LAURA: All right.
ASHLEY: I don't know how much time--
SAM: No, that sounds great.
LAURA: No, no, no, yeah, that's wise. We should do that.
ASHLEY: Yeah?
LAURA: Yeah, that's a good idea.
TRAVIS: Plus, if you need it, just say you need it. If you need it, you need it.
ASHLEY: Yeah?
TRAVIS: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Okay, I kind of need it.
SAM: Okay, then we go.
ASHLEY: Yeah? Okay.
LAURA: All right.
TRAVIS: Let's go find the dum-dum.
SAM: Lady Allura?
TRAVIS: No! Yes.
LAURA: Our dum-dum.
SAM: Oh!
LAURA: And Lady Allura.
SAM: Ashton is not a dum-dum. He's just--
MARISHA: A child.
SAM and LAURA: Misguided.
MARISHA: Misguided.
SAM: All right, let's go.
MATT: You emerge from the forest back onto the exterior path near the Eastern Ruins, and there you see--
TALIESIN: Well, I would've started rolling down the street at this point, so.
MATT: Right.
TRAVIS: ♪ Rollin' down the street ♪
MATT: You're probably quite a ways away--
MARISHA: ♪ Smokin' indo ♪
MATT: -- but visible from the path.
MARISHA and TRAVIS: ♪ Sippin' on gin and juice ♪
ASHLEY: (laughs)
MATT: So you reach the castle first.
TALIESIN: Yeah, I stay on the steps anyway. Maybe, I don't know. I'm going to touch the ground, see if I feel anything.
TRAVIS: Mm.
MATT: Okay.
SAM: The earth!
MATT: You touch the ground.
SAM: The Exandje.
MARISHA: The Exanje.
MATT: It's odd, there is-- You touch the earth, and it's hard. It's solid against your fingertips. But there's that anticipation before you slip into a warm bath. It's hard to describe. They're conflicting.
TALIESIN: You absolute fuck-up.
TRAVIS: (gasps)
TALIESIN: (sighs) God.
TRAVIS: Do you have Stone Shape?
TALIESIN: Maybe I deserve this. Nobody deserves fucking anything. Well, what the fuck do I know? Maybe they do.
MATT: You hear the footsteps arrive of the rest of your troop.
MARISHA: Imogen.
LAURA: What?
MARISHA: Who has the shard?
LAURA: I'm not going to tell you that.
MARISHA: Good. Good.
TALIESIN: Hey.
MARISHA: I made you this!
TALIESIN: I was going to ask, is that me?
MARISHA: Yes. I made you a doll.
TALIESIN: Is it--
MARISHA: Because dolls are for children, and you're a child.
TALIESIN: I've-- I've never had a doll before.
MARISHA: Really?
TALIESIN: This is the nicest thing anyone's ever given me. Oh my god.
MARISHA: I like children.
TALIESIN: I don't. They're awful.
MARISHA: They're not.
TALIESIN: They can be.
MARISHA: You should remember what it's like to be one.
TALIESIN: I do. It wasn't great.
MARISHA: You should find more joy in your inner child.
TALIESIN: I was happy, then I fucked it up.
MARISHA: Do you truly like it?
TALIESIN: Shit. Yeah.
MARISHA: I'm not an MC like Chetney.
TRAVIS: (mouthed) No, she's not.
TALIESIN: This is better.
TRAVIS: (mouthed) Yes.
TALIESIN: Is that a cat skull?
MARISHA: It's a chipmunk!
TALIESIN: Oh shit.
MARISHA: And I found a little piece of quartz.
TALIESIN: It's amazing. I'm-- Does it talk or do anything weird?
MARISHA: Well, that's the best thing about dolls is you can make them talk.
TALIESIN: We'll hold off on that, just a little. I'm not saying no, just--
MARISHA: All right. You can give it whatever voice you want.
TALIESIN: I'm not good at voices.
MARISHA: You can find a voice.
TALIESIN: I'm so sorry. And-- I will make my way through everybody, but-- I promise, I am going to try my best not to be that person. I'm so tired of that person, and I-- If I'm allowed to stay, and I will understand if I am not, I will never, ever forget that this was the first group of people that didn't make me leave, and I will work so hard to make sure you don't. I will never, no matter what happens, I won't leave if I'm allowed to stay. I will, no matter what we do, no matter what mistakes we make, no matter what we have, I will stay and I will be there and I will not-- I will not walk away. I don't know what love is, but I'm going with this. I'm--
SAM: I think that's okay. You don't have to know what love is. Nobody does.
MARISHA: Love is pain.
TALIESIN: I don't--
MARISHA: But it's also warmth. It was so cold last night.
LAURA: I go hug her again.
TALIESIN: (sighs)
SAM: I'll hug Ashton.
TALIESIN: (sighs)
TRAVIS: Orym! (laughs)
LAURA: I grab Fearne by her amazing tits and pull her in for a hug, too.
MARISHA: Yes? (laughter)
ASHLEY: Thanks!
MARISHA: Ashton. (laughter)
LAURA: Just grab your tits. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Come here.
LAURA: Come here. (laughter)
MARISHA: It's like a slinky dog. (laughter)
ASHLEY: (whooshes)
MARISHA: Yeah. I'm still mad at you.
TALIESIN: I'd be worried if you weren't.
MARISHA: And I don't trust you.
TALIESIN: I'd be worried if you did.
MARISHA: But thank you for your apology.
TALIESIN: Yeah, we're going to--
SAM: We're going to take a day off.
TALIESIN: Wow! Okay.
SAM: We're going to take a day off, we're going to figure out some fun activities to do together that will bond us and remind us of our childhood.
TALIESIN: I have been a piñata. That will work.
SAM: And remind us who we are.
TRAVIS: Trust fall, walk across coals.
MARISHA: Mm-hmm!
SAM: We can do some hunting.
TALIESIN: Actually--
SAM: You can talk to Nana.
TRAVIS: But not here!
ASHLEY: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: Not here.
TALIESIN: No.
TRAVIS: Fearne had a great idea.
TALIESIN: What?
SAM: To the Fey Realm.
TALIESIN: Okay.
LAURA: If we can get there. I'm going to find Lady Allura.
SAM: Let's go.
MATT: Okay.
LAURA: Yeah.
MATT: Heading to the castle, it doesn't take long to ask between the guards if she's been around, and she's been around. She's nervously stepping through the halls and asking people what they're doing to help and people are like, "Oh, please. Go talk to her. She's been a royal pain these past couple days." You find her currently going through the castle library. "Hello! Yes! Good morning."
LAURA: Hi.
MATT: "Oh, you're all together? Fixed everything?"
LAURA: No!
ASHLEY: Yeah.
LAURA: On its way!
ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MATT: "Hmm."
LAURA: Can you plane jump?
MATT: "I am capable of such a task, yes."
SAM: Can you plane jump other people?
MATT: "I can plane jump quite a few people."
LAURA: Could you take us to the Fey Realm?
MATT: "I could. Whatever for?"
ASHLEY: Um.
MATT: "Ah!"
ASHLEY: My Nana's there, and we thought, maybe, I thought, maybe it'd be a good time to just go and get ourselves back together, and maybe time will give us a little time.
MATT: "Right. So on the morning of our absconding to the destination of the coming struggle between all of Exandrian life, the gods, and the moon Ruidus, you're taking a day?"
LAURA: Well--
MATT: "Which might be exactly what you need."
TRAVIS: Allura's cool as shit, man!
MATT: "Now, mind you, as we've discussed, we are uncertain how much time we have, because that was what we needed you to find out. So--"
LAURA: Are we fucking everything up?
ASHLEY: We don't have to do this.
SAM: There's a way, though, that we might be able to get back, more or less, like today.
LAURA: Like super fast!
SAM: Maybe.
MATT: "I was going to say, the challenge with the Fey Realm is the returning process has--"
LAURA: Her Nana. We're solid.
ASHLEY: Her name's Nana Morri. She's Fatestitcher. I don't know if you've heard of her. I don't know if she's--
MATT: "Your Nana's the Fatestitcher?"
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: "Morrigan?"
ASHLEY: Yes! Oh! Yes!
TALIESIN: What?
ASHLEY: I should have just given you her name.
SAM: That Fatestitcher.
TALIESIN: What?
TRAVIS: Morrigan?
SAM: Yeah. Morri.
ASHLEY: So we can get her to bring us back here.
MATT: "(sighs) (laughs) You are all tremendously strange! Um! Very well! Hmm! Hmm. So if I'm to bring you to your Nana, and to then send you to your destination thereafter, when you are ready, but we do not have a means to communicate via distance--"
LAURA: Right.
MATT: "I would likely require board as well."
SAM: Oh, you're going to come?
ASHLEY: Oh!
LAURA: Oh!
ASHLEY: Great!
MATT: "The transition is to-- I have to come with you--"
ASHLEY: Oh my god! That's amazing!
MATT: "-- if I'm going to send you as well."
LAURA: Yeah!
ASHLEY: Yeah. It'll be like a little vacation for you, too. It's (chef's kiss) beautiful.
MATT: "Right. Right. With Morrigan. The Fatestitcher."
SAM: Have you ever been to the Fey Realm?
MATT: "I have, a number of times. Not in--
ASHLEY: What parts?
MATT: "Not this one."
ASHLEY: Okay, well--
SAM: (laughs)
MATT: "(sighs)"
LAURA: Insight check. I want to-- Actually, I just want to talk to her in her head. (laughs)
MATT: Okay! (laughter)
LAURA: You look uncomfortable.
MATT: She responds, while looking right at Fearne and smiling, "Your friend's Nana is one of, I would say, notorious figures in the Fey Realm. But, if indeed they are an ally, strange bedfellows and the like, I suppose."
LAURA: Oh.
ASHLEY: I don't know why you're staring at me.
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: "I'm just admiring your confidence."
ASHLEY: Oh, thank you.
MATT: "You're radiant this morning."
ASHLEY: Thank you.
MATT: "Given the last time that I saw you, I'm happy to see that you are of more delightful disposition."
ASHLEY: I'm perfectly fine. Yeah.
LAURA: Delightful disposition.
SAM and MARISHA: (laugh)
SAM: Double Ds.
TRAVIS: Golden arches. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Golden arches.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Have it your way.
MATT: "Very well. Allow me a few moments to inform the Lord of Whitestone and disseminate the information of the slight delay in the plan, and then, I suppose, we'll be on our way to your Nana."
TALIESIN: Could you tell Lord of Whitestone I said thank you?
MATT: "Certainly."
TALIESIN: Thank you.
MATT: "Well, I suppose we'll just meet back in the library."
LAURA: We'll be there.
TRAVIS: Good plan.
SAM: Now?
MATT: "The one we're in."
SAM: Yeah okay. Great.
TRAVIS: Oh, oh. Okay.
MATT: "Just meet back here in a few minutes."
LAURA: We'll just stay here, then.
MATT: "That works as well."
LAURA: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Great.
TALIESIN: I'll go outside for a second.
MATT: "(sighs)" She steps out of the chambers.
TRAVIS: This is good.
LAURA: Yeah. This is a good idea!
SAM: Yeah, this is great. This is great.
LAURA: This is a good idea.
SAM: When you choose yourself, you know, that's always a good choice!
LAURA: Yeah.
SAM: We're choosing to do something for ourselves, not for somebody else. You can't go wrong, right?
MARISHA: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: Yeah.
TALIESIN: Well--
LAURA: Ooh--
TRAVIS: (questioning) Mm... Yeah, I think, actually, it's a little-- I think if you choose us, when you choose us--
SAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
TRAVIS: -- it helps.
TALIESIN: You're welcome. That was a softball for you. You're welcome.
TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah. I was trying to--
SAM: We're doing something for our own emotional health right here.
TRAVIS: Yep.
LAURA: Yeah.
SAM: And that's always a good thing!
LAURA: I think if we went on a moon mission right now, it might--
TRAVIS: We would crush it.
LAURA: We would crush it.
TALIESIN: But not in a happy way.
TRAVIS: Not-- Yes.
TALIESIN: I think we'd do it, but we wouldn't--
TRAVIS: Not as good as it'll be afterwards.
SAM: Honestly, I've never been on a retreat like this before. I'm going to start planning some activities for us to do.
MATT and MARISHA: (laugh)
SAM: Some bonding stuff. We could do a dream circle or we could do that thing where you--
TALIESIN: I want to be surprised.
SAM: -- where you pick your spirit animal.
TALIESIN: No.
SAM: Or something? No?
TALIESIN: No.
TRAVIS: They probably have a honeymoon suite, I'm sure. So you two could get some solid reconnect time.
LAURA: That'd be great.
MARISHA: I'd like that.
TRAVIS: And I'm excited about hunting. I don't know if you guys have ever hunted in the Feywild, but I haven't!
LAURA: (laughs)
LAURA: We didn't do that before--
TRAVIS: No.
TALIESIN: No.
LAURA: I don't remember what all we did.
TRAVIS: I'm going to kill everything.
SAM: We did a lot of sneaking.
LAURA: We did a lot of sneaking around.
SAM: There was animals trying to hunt us.
LAURA: That's true.
ASHLEY: Sometimes you go there and then you just forget a lot of stuff.
LAURA: Forget it? Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
LAURA: It's weird how that happens.
SAM: Is there ayahuasca there?
LAURA: What?
MARISHA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: All different kinds.
SAM: Okay.
TALIESIN: Fearne--
ASHLEY: There's all different kinds of it.
TALIESIN: -- do you have a second?
TRAVIS: (laughs)
TALIESIN: I'm trying to find a book over here, if you have a second.
ASHLEY: Oh, you can't read?
TALIESIN: I can't read.
SAM: I think he just wants to be alone with you for a second, Fearne.
ASHLEY: Okay.
LAURA: Try not to punch him again.
MARISHA: Fearne, you don't have to.
LAURA: If you need to, then--
TALIESIN: You really don't.
MARISHA: They can work off of your time.
TALIESIN: We really can.
ASHLEY: Well, I'll walk over for a second.
TALIESIN: I'm in the back. I'm sitting on one of the tables.
ASHLEY: What?
TALIESIN: Should I start or should you?
LAURA: We're all just staring at them talking.
SAM: We're all looking at books, but really just looking at them.
MARISHA and SAM: (laugh)
TALIESIN: I can start, if you'd like.
SAM: Books are upside down.
MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)
TRAVIS: I found The Kama Sutra.
SAM: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Start?
SAM: Where's our Candela?
ASHLEY: Which book are you looking for?
MARISHA: You had your feet on it.
TALIESIN: I'm looking for a book on apologies.
ASHLEY: Mm.
TALIESIN: I'm not that clever. I can't come up with something, but I'm going to start with I'm sorry. If I had any idea--
LAURA: (coughs)
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: Stop it!
TALIESIN: -- if I had thought about it, which I didn't, I don't know what I would've done. But I'm sorry. I am-- You were just being a good friend and it felt right, but it wasn't, and you were being a good friend. You were not--
ASHLEY: I was being a dumb friend.
TALIESIN: No, I was being a dumb friend. This is on me. I somehow didn't think. I didn't think. I felt-- (sighs) I fucked up really bad, and you had to be there, and I'm so sorry. I-- There is no way I'm ever going to forget the feeling of-- The stone hurt, but even just knowing you were there was worse, and I am so sorry. And I do not want forgiveness. I do not care. I do not need a fucking apology. I just want you to know that goodness doesn't necessarily always lead to the right place. Sometimes we are good and it works out poorly, and you were good. You did not do anything wrong. It shouldn't have been like that, but it had to be, I guess. And I know-- (sighs) I am going to try so hard to never do that again. I understand if you want me to go, or if you just never want me to make eye contact again, I can do that. But I would really prefer to make eye contact. You're the only person I even vaguely understand in this group of people, and it's weird, because I think I really like them, or love them. I don't know. I just want everyone to be safe from everything. I thought maybe just me, but everything. And I'm really bad at this, and I am--
ASHLEY: I didn't like that at all.
TALIESIN: Which?
ASHLEY: That was awful to watch.
TALIESIN: Yeah, it was. Awful to feel, too.
MARISHA: (whispers) Are these yours, or no?
ASHLEY: You did the same thing that your dad did.
TALIESIN: Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about that. And he's not my dad. He's nothing to me. I don't even think I hate them. They're a cautionary tale I did not listen to, because I thought it wasn't a cautionary tale. I thought it was important or that it meant something, and it doesn't.
ASHLEY: That fucked me up a little bit.
TALIESIN: Sorry.
ASHLEY: I think I'm still really mad, and I don't know if I can fully talk about it right now.
TALIESIN: That's okay.
ASHLEY: Because I don't really, I don't really like you right now.
TALIESIN: Shit.
ASHLEY: And I have a feeling that you feel the same way about yourself.
TALIESIN: Oh! I've never really liked myself that much. God, if anything, this is the best I've felt about myself in ages, which is a bad sign.
ASHLEY: Well--
TALIESIN: But yeah.
ASHLEY: We'll talk about it at some point.
TALIESIN: I'll wait.
ASHLEY: But I'm glad you're still alive. You look like shit.
TALIESIN: (chuckles) The doll is much prettier.
ASHLEY: Yeah, of course! Laudna made it.
TALIESIN: Yeah. Fuck, she's good. Thank you for saving me.
ASHLEY: I don't think I saved you.
TALIESIN: Well, we'll see.
MATT: "All right. So have we all gathered our--"
TALIESIN: Oh god!
SAM: Good books!
TRAVIS: These are excellent tomes of knowledge!
LAURA: Smart books.
TRAVIS: I guess I'll put it back.
SAM: Your notes are crazy.
MATT: You see Allura has a--
ASHLEY: My notes in here? (laughter)
MARISHA: Yeah. Where does it go? I don't know.
TALIESIN: How am I the dumb one? Fuck!
MATT: Allura has a heavy leather pack over one shoulder and an adventuring belt, and you can see the robe itself is now gone more than it is like a travel shirt and pants and high boots. You've never quite seen her in travel attire before.
TRAVIS: Fuck yeah!
MARISHA: Oh! Yeah, let's go!
MATT: She's like--
LAURA: Adventuring Allura.
MATT: "Haven't had to pull these out in some time. So... (sighs) I guess let's go see your Nana."
TRAVIS: It's a good look!
SAM: Do you need a thing from the Fey Realm to do this?
MATT: "Oh, I--" She goes into her pouch and pulls out this long, spiral-looking rod of a green-brown metal that's almost like a double helix that spins up with leaves sprouting off it and they're made of metal as well, and goes, "Oh, I have quite the attunement. Do you know the name of the location specifically?"
ASHLEY: Yes, it is.
LAURA: Ligament Manor.
ASHLEY: Ligament Manor. And...
TRAVIS: Mansion.
ASHLEY: The um... The one spot that I...
MATT: "Do you have a piece of something from this? It might just help me focus."
ASHLEY: Um... Me? Ha, ha. Let me see. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Oh, I travel so light.
MATT: You don't have to check your-- Is there a keepsake or something from the Manor that you would have?
SAM: Oh, your...
MARISHA: Your little postcard.
SAM: Those postcards!
ASHLEY: I gave them away.
SAM: Oh.
ASHLEY: I left them with the Matron of Ravens.
SAM: Oh.
TALIESIN: Cool.
LAURA: Well...
ASHLEY: Um... I'll pull a flower, one of the flowers.
MATT: "All right." She takes it and puts her staff.
LAURA: Well, it's a flower.
ASHLEY: This one that I definitely got there, for sure.
MATT: "All right, gather around, everyone. Holding hands, please."
SAM: Yes.
TALIESIN: Tie that there.
MATT: She goes ahead and takes the staff and, "Hold this for a second, if you don't mind."
TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: "Thank you."
LAURA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Ah!
SAM: It's metal.
MARISHA and MATT: (laugh)
MARISHA: You can articulate your hands, right?
MATT: (laughs)
LAURA: Oh, Orym! Oh, can we grab?
MATT: He comes and grabs--
SAM: Oh, I talked to him earlier, he said he didn't want to come. (laughter)
MATT: "Sorry, I was doing pushups."
LAURA: Yeah. You did that really well.
MATT: He gets in, joins the circle.
MARISHA: That's all he's been doing!
SAM: That's all we know. That's all we know about Liam's character. Just do lots of workouts.
MATT: It's the least having to make choices for character moments when he's not present. He'll catch up. She takes the attunement rod and concentrates for a second. Looks at the flower and places it onto the rod. It seems to hold itself aloft like it's magnetized at the tip.
ASHLEY: Oh, that's nice!
MATT: She closes her eyes for a second and then releases it, and it stays floating in front.
SAM: Cool!
MATT: She then takes the hands of you. The staff nestled under her arm.
TALIESIN: Orym's--
MATT: Takes Orym's hand.
LAURA and MARISHA: (laugh)
MATT: Mutters an incantation under her breath.
LAURA: Orym's dangling off of him.
MATT: (speaking in foreign language) (poof)
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MARISHA: Oh shit! (laughter)
MARISHA: We have to go back!
SAM: We ditched her.
MATT: The books all seem to stretch and fold in on you like this canopy dome.
LAURA: (silly voice) Canopy! (laughter) (laughter)
TRAVIS: Oh man. What a stretch. Something nobody's going to get.
SAM: I don't even get it.
MATT: No.
TRAVIS and ASHLEY: (silly voice) Canopy!
LAURA: (silly voice) Canopy!
SAM: Oh, I get it.
ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
MATT: It seems to almost curl into the top before you're all, (whoosh) pulled down through like you're being dragged into a tunnel beneath. You shift through this slide-like moment before you all emerge, your feet hitting soft ground. As your vision begins to adjust to the light of this space, you look around at the familiar, dense, wooded spaces of the Fey Realm. As you stand at the base of the massive, majestic tree that is the home of Ligament Manor. You can see the long vines and moss that coat the outside and hit the entryway before you step into the tree itself proper. As you all release your hands, and take in the familiar sights, Allura takes her staff. "Right, somehow exactly what I expected. Hm."
TRAVIS: (laughs)
ASHLEY: I get on the ground and put my fingers into the ground. (inhales) Ah! Home.
LAURA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: All right. And take off, running to the door.
MATT: You all head up to the entryway through the curtains of vines and moss. Up into the open interior of Ligament Manor where all the various lantern glows alight the various levels you can just barely see as they scatter upward. You can see the tiki bar that's set across the way. There's gentle music playing sourcelessly in the space, like a fine violin that's a little crackly. You see across the way this sleeping little bundle of fur that suddenly looks up towards you. You see Peepers standing--
ASHLEY: Peepers!
SAM: (laughs)
MATT: (scuffling) He leaps over.
ASHLEY: Hey!
MATT: The rest of you see this jack rabbit with large ears with markings that look like eyes across it. There are no normal eyes or sockets. You just see, as it smiles at the rest of you with its big grin--
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MATT: -- and its teeth move like fingers.
TRAVIS: Oh jeez!
SAM and LAURA: Ew!
MATT: It nuzzles up against you.
ASHLEY: Hi, oh my goodness. I give him good, good, scritches.
MATT: (squelchy chitters) The foot (thumping)
ASHLEY: Oh, that's the spot! Where's Nana?
MATT: He goes and leaps up and you can hear what sounds like a faint conversation. You follow Peepers up one of the spiral staircases that leads to an area, and you hear the voice, the familiar voice. (Morri 1) "I'm just trying to keep on my stories, that's all. Keep rubbing there. I'm still a bit sore." You hear a voice next to her go, (folksy) "Well, I'm doing my best. You know, it's just been sort of an experience." As you step up and--
LAURA: Do we recognize the second voice?
MATT: You immediately recognize--
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: -- the sound of your mother's voice.
LAURA: (gasps)
SAM: Oh.
MATT: As you step up to the precipice of the stairs, you can see Nana Morri is currently reclined. You can see bandages affixed alongside. Not heavy, like--
TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
MATT: But there's a bit of a wrapping and you can see there's moss and herbs and things jammed into it. It smells sweet and acrid at the same time. You can see she carries this large coconut with a big straw coming out of it.
LAURA and TRAVIS: (laugh)
MATT: The neck cranes over as you immediately see Birdie glancing over in your direction, light up at the same time as Nana's face lights up. "(surprised gasp)"
ASHLEY: Hi!
MATT: (Morri 1) "Fearne." (Birdie) "Fearne!" She runs up to grab you and pulls you into a tight hug.
TRAVIS: [inaudible]
MARISHA: [inaudible]
ASHLEY: I didn't know you were going to be here.
MATT: "I didn't know you were going to be here, either!
ASHLEY: I mean, no, I didn't know I was going to be here either, actually.
MATT: "(excited stammering) Oh goodness."
ASHLEY: I run over, and I give Nana a hug.
MATT: Nana's like, "Hi, Fearne. It's good to see you. (winces)"
ASHLEY: Are you okay?
MATT: "Still a little sore. Yes, the-- (laughs) Certain wounds take time to heal. You understand--"
ASHLEY: Yes.
MATT: (Morri 2) "-- don't you?"
TRAVIS and SAM: Whoa!
MATT: As the secondary jaw opens for a second and she pulls the drink down and the other, larger mouth slurps. (extreme slurping)
TRAVIS: Holy shit.
ASHLEY: I give Tummy Nana a kiss, too.
MARISHA: I mean, same.
MATT: (laughs)
SAM: Did you sustain those injuries helping us last time?
MATT: (Morri 1) "Well, yes."
SAM: Aw!
MATT: "Tussling with some of the more dangerous elements of the Unseelie has its drawbacks."
LAURA: We can't thank you enough for that.
MATT: "I would do anything to protect my Fearne." The neck cranes back. You can see now where she was reclined, there's a table out there with a large crystal ball. You can see there's imagery and shifting withinside.
TRAVIS: Cool.
ASHLEY: Where's Ollie?
MATT: "Oh, I'm just peering in on someone who I like to watch fail."
TRAVIS: (laughs)
SAM: Someone you know?
MARISHA: Is it Ira?
MATT: (laughs) No.
SAM: Is it just a random person?
MATT: You look over and it looks to be this big, blonde summer golden, curly hair that comes down to about the shoulders with long ears, this fey elf figure who is currently giving a presentation, it looks like, in a grand fey cathedral-like hall, with rows of youth students. You see them going through a book, that suddenly it looks like they're like, "Um... Oh, just a moment. I know it was here a moment ago." You can see Nana Morri just, "(laughs)"
ASHLEY: Who's that?
TRAVIS: They look very Traveler-y.
MATT: "This is Vitoren. He reneged on a deal many years ago. So every now and then I like to tune in and just mess with him."
ASHLEY: Fun.
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: "It's fun, and it passes the time." She reclines a bit further. Birdie's like, "Well, welcome, everybody. It's so good to see you all."
ASHLEY: Where's Ollie?
MATT: "Oh, he's upstairs tending to the garden."
ASHLEY: Oh, okay.
LAURA: Oh right, the people garden.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: "We, well-- Your father, his, the Squint, the occasional visions he gets, they warned us. He saw that the hideaway was about to be under siege. So we took Hondir and we, well, we buried the hideaway so nobody could get anything."
LAURA: Oh, that's great.
MATT: "So the Veilscatter Scope is gone. Not that it was much use once Ira took the crown that powered the dang thing. But we jumped on the crawlers and we took to finding the nearest gate to the Fey. The door that we took when we first got here took us a bit to locate where it was originally, but we found our way back to Nana and now we're just taking care of her. Didn't realize she was in such trouble. So, maybe it was just right time, right place. It's nice to be back home."
ASHLEY: Well, we'll just call it fate.
MATT: "Mm." (laughs)
MATT: "I'll go get your father. I'm sure he'd love to see you. Feel free to make whatever drinks you want! The bar is downstairs. Oh!" She gives you one big hug and kisses you on the side of the cheek and pulls you back. "Look at you with your special armor and your--"
LAURA: (laughs)
MATT: "You're even more of a woman than last time I saw you."
ASHLEY: Well, I'm really glad to see you.
MATT: "I'm happy to see you too, darling. (sighs) I'll be back in a little bit. I'm going to find your father."
ASHLEY: All right.
MATT: She goes and sets down a couple of things, like a snack tray that she was feeding Nana, and then heads back up into the--
ASHLEY: I can take over. So, Nana--
MATT: (Morri 1) "Yes.
ASHLEY: I take a cracker and I feed it to Tummy.
MATT: (gurgling)
LAURA and SAM: (laugh)
TRAVIS and MARISHA: To Tummy?
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: Gross! Tummy sticks.
ASHLEY: Little Tum-Tum. (laughter) (laughter)
ASHLEY: We were thinking, we're probably going to stay here for tonight. But we have to get back, so. Oh, this is our friend Allura.
MATT: "Who's your--" The head goes (creaking stretch) ET-stretches past you.
TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: "Your friend!"
ASHLEY: Yes.
MATT: You see Allura clutching the staff. "Hello. I'm Arcanist Allura Vysoren of the Tal'Dorei Council and Arcana Pansophical. I have many powerful friends who know where I am and will come looking for me if I vanish."
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MATT: (Morri 1) "Pleasure to meet you, Allura. I know who she is."
ASHLEY: Oh, okay. She knew who you were, too, which I thought was so weird.
MATT: "Oh, how-- (Morri 2) "-- quaint!"
TRAVIS: Oh! (laughter)
TRAVIS: Oh my god!
LAURA: Yes!
MATT: (Morri 1) "Well, if she's a friend of my Fearne, of course you can stay." Allura goes, "(shudders) Very well, I guess I'll just-- You'll show me my chambers later, then."
LAURA: You want a drink, Allura?
MATT: "No. (laughs) Yes."
LAURA: (laughs)
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: Two questions, Nana Morri, if you don't mind. [cell phone jingling]
LAURA: Oh my god. Sorry.
SAM: (laughs)
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: You're capable, you can-- When we want to go back, you can do it in a way that we won't lose any time, right?
MATT: (Morri 1) "Oh. Yes. I should be healthy enough to aid in your return, if that's what you're curious about."
ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah.
SAM: But while we're here, we really need to do some team building. So--
MATT: "Oh!"
SAM: Can you help me come up with a scavenger hunt?
MARISHA: (excited gasp)
MATT: "Is this a retreat?!"
ASHLEY: Yes, it is.
LAURA: (laughs)
SAM: But something where we need to work together--
MATT: "(cackles)"
SAM: -- really rely on each other?
MATT: Her cackle echoes--
TALIESIN: You've got her going.
MATT: -- through the entire house.
TRAVIS: I take two points of psychic damage.
MATT: The entire tree-- (laughter)
MATT: -- it shakes with her laughter. You see Allura just go-- Hand up, you can see a field of (arcane energy) appear to protect her.
TRAVIS: Yeah! (laughs) Shield! (laughter)
SAM: Flaming hands!
MATT: "This excites me! Ooh, how long are you staying?"
ASHLEY: Well, I don't know. We probably can't stay very long because we have to go to the moon.
TRAVIS: It depends on how long you could let us stay here while it not being very long over there.
MATT: (snaps) She snaps her fingers, and while nothing immediately seems to change, you swear a droplet of water from a nearby rain runoff that's going (rhythmic droplets) goes-- (droplet slows dramatically)
TRAVIS: Whoa!
MARISHA: Cool!
LAURA: What?!
TALIESIN: I love this place.
TRAVIS: That is a flex.
MATT: "Take your time."
SAM: Yeah!
TRAVIS: (gasps) Damn!
SAM: (laughs)
LAURA: That's awesome.
MATT: She looks back to you. "The moon?"
ASHLEY: Yeah. So... Things got a little bit complicated since we last saw you. And we have to go to the moon because everything's fucked.
MATT: "Indeed." She runs her hand, not even looking over the orb. You see that image of the person at the podium, looking underneath like, "I can't explain it. The text just left the book for no reason. I can--" Then it clouds over and you can see the red orb of Ruidus just hovering there. The occasional burst of arcane energy from the central beam of the Bloody Bridge occasionally rippling across it, revealing that lattice work you saw through the Veilscatter Scope. You also, as she leans over towards it and says, "As it's held there, the very fabric of magic itself is strained. Watch as it pulls away and you can see all the leylines that converge at that nexus. But they're all bending, like running a pole through a network of cables. The cables are now bending and being dragged behind it. You can see the leylines are essentially being warped and tensed. The longer this tether holds to the moon, the more it tangles and stresses the flow of magic within and between the realms. So. It's no surprise of mine that my lovely Fearne will be the one to set things right. (chuckling)
MATT: She looks at you. "The odd, if often fun thing, about being able to touch fate itself, is rarely knowing the outcome. It's like a really strong hunch. While being able to see the vague ripples in the distance that a tug or a knot will cause. Like divining the weather by being able to not just see the horizon, but giving it strong suggestions." (Morri 2) "Suggestions. Heh, heh, heh, heh." (Morri 1) "I can pluck a tune on the thinner strings. Hence the title. Some threads run a very taut path carving through history towards a path of destiny. Those threads, only she can view. Only she can cut." (Morri 2) "And weave." In the orb, you see this porcelain mask briefly appear in the smoke and then vanish. (Morri 1) "Sweet Fearne. Your fate is in the flux. Like your very whims, it vibrates with uncertainty. Impulsive, darting in and out of darker paths. Tugged back by the shadowed places of the skein. You've always been a beautiful paradox since you were a child. It's why I knew I had to keep you safe, and to keep one finger on your thread and feel for any untoward plucking. Your true heritage required my attention. So. I'm happy to help, for it seems that maybe now is the time that it's all been heading towards. Maybe we're at the end of the string itself."
ASHLEY: Oh.
MATT: "I'm glad you're here, sweet girl."
ASHLEY: I have so many questions for you.
MATT: "Of course. I'm here to (groans) answer what I can."
ASHLEY: I one time saw a really bad version of myself. What does that mean? I know that there are probably different versions, but this one scared me. She seemed really sad and angry. Sometimes I get nervous when I feel those feelings that I'm going to turn into that.
MATT: "Why? Do you think it's the world changing you, or do you think it's you changing in the world?"
ASHLEY: Yes.
MATT: "(laughs) You require answers, but not all answers are mine to give." She glances upward. "Your mother keeps a deep, dark secret, one you deserve to know, and one that is not my place to reveal. Perhaps you should speak with her. It might be illuminating."
ASHLEY: All right. All right.
MATT: "Now we have time."
TRAVIS: Is there a reason the devil's onto her?
ASHLEY: What do you think of her? The one, the Matron.
MATT: "Hmm. She's--" (Morri 2) "-- complicated."
TRAVIS: (laughs)
ASHLEY: I picked up on that.
MATT: (Morri 1) "The pinnacle of ambition. There are things I dislike for the places I like to walk are under her purview, and she doesn't like uninvited visitors. So we don't see eye to eye. But she can't fully reach me here either, so we have an understanding. She's fine."
LAURA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: Oh-- Where's the shard?
SAM: Well, we're not really supposed to say.
ASHLEY: Oh.
SAM: If you need it right now, we can get it. We have it with us, but--
MARISHA: I can leave the room.
ASHLEY: Oh.
TALIESIN: Ditto.
ASHLEY: What do you think about-- What was his name? Asmodeus?
TALIESIN: Asmodeus.
ASHLEY: One of them gave me a kiss--
MATT: she starts sniffing the air.
ASHLEY: -- and it just didn't go away.
MATT: "I thought I smelled sulfur."
ASHLEY: Teven, I think is his name.
MATT: She inspects it. "Oh, Fearne."
ASHLEY: What did I do?
MATT: "You've been dallying in places. I now understand the context for some of these pluckings."
ASHLEY: He was just so hot.
TALIESIN: (laughs)
ASHLEY: I just didn't have any power.
LAURA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: (laughs)
MATT: "You and your mother are more alike than you know."
TALIESIN: Oh!
MATT: "What that mark is, is a promise."
LAURA: Mm-hmm.
MATT: "An audience, and a chance to gain and give a trade."
ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: "But be warned, rarely do such trades end in your favor. For you are a smart girl, but he's had eons to perfect the art of deals and carefully-threaded untruths."
ASHLEY: All right.
MATT: "You don't take me as a fine print kind of girl, so maybe hold on to that for emergencies."
ASHLEY: All right.
MATT: "(sighs breathily)" (heavy footsteps) Footsteps start coming down from above as you see both Birdie and Ollie come downstairs. Ollie looks at you.
ASHLEY: Hey.
MATT: (Ollie) "Fearne, my love!" Runs up and grabs you, and she hugs as well but lets him have his moment. "Oh, you look so beautiful."
ASHLEY: Thank you.
MATT: "I didn't expect you to be here either. We just barely made it ourselves. Hello, everyone. How long you staying?"
SAM: Smiley day to you.
TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: Well, I think we're staying as long as we need to.
TALIESIN: Hopefully not too long, though.
MATT: "Fair enough."
SAM: A long time, but also zero minutes.
LAURA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yes.
MATT: (Birdie) "Well, Ollie here, as you know, is a quite accomplished chef and I think can prepare a nice dinner for most of us, if you don't mind."
TRAVIS: Amazing.
ASHLEY: Great.
MATT: (Ollie) "Of course, of course. I can start picking now."
ASHLEY: Great.
MATT: "So--"
TRAVIS: Do you have enough food? I mean, if I need to go out and hunt! Gather! I can do that.
MATT: (Morri 1) "Yes! Gather, hunt. Bring us meat."
TRAVIS: Oh, oh, oh, oh. (stammers nervously)
SAM: That's going to be part of the scavenger hunt. Don't worry.
MATT: "(slurps aggressively)"
TRAVIS: Coconut, coconut, coconut.
SAM: (laughs)
MATT: (Morri 2) "Meat."
LAURA and ASHLEY: (laugh)
MARISHA: What do you have in mind, FCG?
SAM: I don't know, I want to develop it with Nana Morri a little bit.
TRAVIS: Yeah, that's fine.
MARISHA: Are we going to break into two teams?
SAM: Maybe, or maybe we'll have to work together, you know?
LAURA: I guess that makes sense, yeah.
TALIESIN: That makes a lot more sense.
LAURA: Team building and all of that.
SAM: But maybe we start as pairs and then we-- Yeah, I don't know. I got to figure it out, but it's going to be great! I've never done a scavenger hunt before.
TALIESIN: This is the happiest--
ASHLEY: I'm excited.
TALIESIN: -- I've seen you in a while.
TRAVIS: We'll talk about it over food. It's going to be great!
LAURA: Well, I want you to participate in the scavenger hunt, FCG.
MARISHA: Mm-hmm.
SAM: Oh, you're right. If I know how it ends, I can't participate in it.
LAURA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
SAM: We'll figure it out.
LAURA: All right.
SAM: Maybe--
TRAVIS: Double blind.
SAM: Maybe you can erase my memory.
LAURA: Oh, yeah. I'll work on that.
SAM: I plan it and then you wipe my memory.
ASHLEY: I'm sure Nana can do it. She could probably--
SAM: Oh, Nana can do it!
ASHLEY: Because any time I would-- Any time that I would get, you know, bored or lonely, a new creature would always show up. Then I would always be able to talk to them and-- Nana provides.
SAM: All right!
MATT: (Morri 1) "It's been a bit. It's not often you have someone request having memories taken, but it does happen."
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: "(shivers excitedly)"
MARISHA: (laughs)
LAURA: Oh.
SAM: Sure.
LAURA: I thought you were saying Nana Morri could do the scavenger hunt, but you--
SAM: No, no, I plan it with her, then she wipes my memory of planning it and then I'm a fresh slate.
LAURA: Yeah.
SAM: I can go on the hunt with y'all.
ASHLEY: Yes, this is great.
LAURA: Great.
ASHLEY: This is great.
TALIESIN: Cool. This seems--
TRAVIS: Very exciting.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: "I'd very much like to get to know more of what you are."
TRAVIS: (laughs)
TALIESIN: (laughs)
SAM: Good vibrato.
TALIESIN: Oh-- (laughter)
MATT: "Thank you." (laughter)
TRAVIS: It's all about support.
LAURA: Wait, she wiped your memory when you were a kid all the time?
ASHLEY: Well, I think, I mean, just--
LAURA: Are you saying a new creature would show up, but it would be the same creature you've always known?
ASHLEY: No, no! Just like--
MARISHA: And they knew so much about you.
SAM: She might not know that.
ASHLEY: No, just--
MATT: You have, weirdly, no recollection of her ever wiping your memory.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I don't, I've-- Huh! (laughter)
TRAVIS: As I'm sitting here using Hunter's Bane, Nana Morri gives off fey, right? Not fiend, or undead, or something else?
MATT: Correct, fey. But the best way I can describe it is, dirty fey.
TRAVIS: Dirty fey.
SAM: (laughs) Dirty.
ASHLEY: Yeah, that's a dirty bitch!
TRAVIS: With at least three olives.
LAURA: Dirty little fey.
MARISHA: Mm, mm.
TRAVIS: All the olive juice.
MARISHA: Num-num-num.
TALIESIN: Mm.
TRAVIS: Sounds good.
ASHLEY: All right.
MATT: (Ollie) "Hm, all right. Well, I'll start getting things ready, start gathering some herbs. And I don't-- You're pretty stocked, I think. She's like, "Well, whatever we don't have I'm sure we can procure. Or we can send my pets to collect." Birdie goes, "Well, very well, and I guess we'll start figuring out what we have at our disposal for a scavenger hunt and start getting your rooms ready." (laughter)
MATT: "This is just exciting."
SAM: (steam hissing)
TRAVIS: Can you believe it? Oh, oh, oh, hey, hey!
MATT: "Fearne, it's so good to see you."
ASHLEY: It's really good to see you, too.
LAURA: Well, what a coincidence. They were here at the same time.
ASHLEY: I know.
LAURA: That's amazing.
ASHLEY: I'm glad they were.
MATT: "Well--"
ASHLEY: Oh, well, we can just stay anywhere, all over. I mean, we could stay in the vardo in the garden.
MATT: "Yeah, and you have your room, of course."
ASHLEY: And my room, of course.
MATT: "As far as the rest go--" Nana Morri closes her eyes for a second and you hear this cracking sound like bark splitting and the shifting of leaves and tree branches screeching against each other. (Morri 1) "I've grown a new chamber for you."
MARISHA: Cool!
TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.
MATT: "It'll be reclaimed when you're done so don't get attached."
MARISHA: Oh!
TRAVIS: Thanks, Tummy.
MATT: (Morri 2) "Welcome."
TRAVIS: (scared noise) I pooped myself. (laughter)
MATT: (Morri 1) "Ah, back to my stories," and she runs her hand--
MARISHA: "Back to my stories."
MATT: -- over the orb.
LAURA: She's watching Scry balls.
TRAVIS: "Murder, She Wrote" is on.
MARISHA: (claps) Yeah! (laughs)
ASHLEY: Yes.
TRAVIS: Perry Mason.
LAURA: She just watches game shows all the time.
MATT: So Birdie and Ollie scatter off. Birdie's going to start setting up bed chambers as you take in a semblance of an odd but different sort of safe space in what may very well be a proper place to patch things up if there's enough time. And who knows what is slowly lost as it ticks by.
LAURA: (groans nervously)
TALIESIN: Don't say that!
LAURA: I don't like this.
TALIESIN: No! No!
SAM: A little punishment.
MARISHA: Just a little punishment. Just a little--
MATT: But with that, we'll finish the episode there (groaning)
MATT: -- and pick up there next time.
TRAVIS: (sighs)
SAM: Strange--
LAURA: Just a little punishment.
TRAVIS: It's good! It's good!
TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.
MARISHA: Wowzers.
LAURA: Dang, buddies.
TRAVIS: Real good.
MATT: It's going to be fun.
TALIESIN: Feywild, Feywild.
MATT: Shit gets weird out here.
MARISHA: So cool.
ASHLEY: Shit gets weird.
MATT: I love it. Until then, thank you all so much for joining us. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? (cheering)
MATT: Good night.