Seeking Sanctuary | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 13 Part 2

Hello again, it's Brennan Lee Mulligan and you're listening to Part 2 of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out Part 1 yet, pause this now and head over there first! What are you doing? Otherwise, let's jump right back into this adventure and the world of Arahman. Hello! Welcome back to the episode of Critical Role. Last we left off in the schneffenkeep of the castle of House Einfasen. The key of the castle is a new Ikea furniture. I need a clever and black lamp. What state is Julian in when Aaron Assetton knocks on his door? Oh boy. He is halfway through the bottle. So he's not destroyed, but he's certainly not sober. His face is a mess. And in just hearing the knocking originally, he like, sovers up 5%, sets the bottle aside, hides the gauntlet, and immediately goes to wiping his face before causing. Who is it? Julian, it's me. Just a moment. Open the door. She looks in. I didn't mean to disturb you, Julian. I just wanted to check in on you. How did it fare with the letter? I have a redundant scene place. As it seemed that the Arahmania was sufficient to see my initial mischief intercepted. So at the very least, the hope is some sort of information will make its way to our states. Our safety cannot be guaranteed outside the walls of the castle, and so the Lord Einfazen is hoping that we stay. Has he made any motion about our men at arms, who I believe are supposed to be being released from being held at this moment? I have not seen him released, no. As soon as that was part of your discussion, my lady you seem concerned. How safe do you feel within these walls? If the Einfazen had come to the Golden Orchard, let's say a young ingrid in the company of a droid of the old path in an Elven warrior, I probably would have commanded that she not leave on her own. So there is some sense in us not being safe to leave. However, this city does have soldiers of ours and servants who have been arrested, so we could be allowed to leave with our own guard. Perhaps if we make such a request for the morning to be on our way to be with our hopeless surviving families that could be understood and a means of getting our individuals and materials outside of their court yard, what you wish to do. Something is not right. The Einfazen were not behind this, but there is a way they are moving. The whole world has been moving. The way everyone looks at us, there is that thing behind their eyes. It's pity. I think there is a more dangerous feeling in the world. I'm very familiar with it. Well, if you do not feel safe, then perhaps you begin to discuss alternative ways of spending this evening, where you go I go, and where Octis goes, I imagine we also go. That's all right. At this point, I would like to also knock on the door of Julian's room, which I've here talking, as I've been looking to return a bag that I am in charge of. Who is it? It's me. It's your room, Julian. Pour the door open and grab you and pull you closer from behind. Sorry, I just... you're back. Thank you. Welcome. That's it. I just wondered what's going on. Stay by the moment. We're discussing how safe we feel here at Councilor Pippenberg. Not at all. Safeer than a worst-case scenario, but... Octis, I don't think you're very safe here. No. I'm not. It all just depends on... Your explanations for the Lord on Fossilance behavior that are innocent. One thing we spoke of was him asking if the Tukonus would tell the same version of the story, as they are both his allies, the Royce and the Tukonus. Are they, as he hard-wired from my family? My understanding is that yes, he has. Indeed, and I'm guessing that the story does not match up. No. It turns out that we have absconded to Ferry. Wouldn't that have been nice? It would have been incredible. Elevan, at the very least, I think a very upfront request to be on our way towards our intended destinations and their reaction to such a request would be very telling. I agree, I would like to not be here. Octis, it is late and we do need sleep, but... Would you be able to gather... I think we should speak with Tisha and with our companions, such as she is veilous. One second, I briefly go into Pins Vision, knowing that Pinn is staying with you. Where are you still meeting with? With this have been enough time for me, that was a very brief conversation. If we're walking back, then I'm petting and cooing into Pins ear. It's time to go a fuck out of here. We have places to go. You're back in my body. Tisha is currently holding Pinn and also wants to leave. One moment, Tiranessa steps out, walks down the hallway, knocks on veilous's door. Veilous is mending her own clothes and also writing a letter. And I will go to open the door. Hello. Could we borrow you for a minute to speak of things yet to come? Yes, of course. Thank you, I appreciate it. And I think calls you in Julian's quarters that smells sort of richly of wine. The lady here in S.S. You sort of like seated. One of you has a chair at a small writing desk. The other, like the small bench at the foot of the bed. You see that she looks out and says, our Lord I'm Fos and is either waiting to get more information and keeping us here because we are perhaps fugitives from some betrayal of our own or what have you. I don't see the chambers flooding with our released servants or men at arms, which could have been something that would have happened by now. However, the explanations are either the paranoia of the ion fuzz or something more sinister. We just don't know. And I would love to know. I would love to know how much danger we are in here. I would love to know if perhaps it's a wasted effort to discover how much danger we're in if we should instead just leave. And knowing that the Toconis have fabricated a lie that the house of Royce and its vassals have left for ferry, something that will be disprovable. I will ask you, Octis, is it in the style or manner of your family to commit themselves to such an outrageous and disprovable lie? Well, depending on what the actual exact words of the lie were, I would say they would only commit themselves to a outlandish thing if they felt that there was no way anyone would either go looking or they feel like everyone's too scared to ask questions. And there's no way it could possibly be true? I don't know what the exact phrasing was. Obviously, you didn't go to ferry or standing here. Do you know what a horse is re-capped? They have been stable. Perhaps we leave a letter with the last bit of our intent and our emphatically given perspective across all of this. Then before more can be discovered of our intent, we have gone into the evening and continue on our path. Your message will be sent tomorrow morning. I guess we shall see. But it will not matter if we are being held. Did they say anything else about what's going on? Back into my care. No. Another reason people lie outlandishly from time to time is urgency. If they don't have time to think of something better. Do you know or have any inkling? I asked this also of Ty should and Vaelis. For both of you are connected. Are you not here now? Yes, you're right. She is. Yes, she is. I should have known as well. The events that occurred at the Plato de Venus were violent, frightening, nightmarish. My mind was focused on nothing more than survival. However, a relic of your people centered in the machinations of the Taconis and Ty should I believe you saw beyond the threshold of this world. Hey, Dild. It is obvious for the mundane fact that we all escape with our lives that things did not go to plan according to Ty's Taconis. No. But why do I feel like I don't know what we disrupted. I don't either. I didn't see anything. I mean, I was in the room with you until I was, you know. So I didn't see what happened to the rest of the house. It's, um, from my perspective, everything that happened was very much against me. But they didn't. The Ethernd was in the room and he didn't try and kill you. He walked away. Yeah. He left the lady of a sundered house and walked away to let his ghouls finish the job. Which is not necessarily unheard of, but if you were the target, he wouldn't have done that. But why as a byproduct, try and destroy a house. If that's the case, if I'm the target, why... What was he trying to do to you? Do you know? He said that the name should have been enough. And I should have accepted what I was given. But I don't know. He just... He just killed me. That was what I remember. He put a silence bubble in the room, stopped me from casting any of my spells, gararded me to a table, and split me open. That is what happened, and that is the last thing I remember. Until I woke up. Harden me for. I didn't want to press you on this, especially so soon. But if he was just there to kill you, why the stone? Why did he have your heart when you were leaving? This. I don't know. I don't know why you took it. And I don't know what they're doing with it, because obviously they didn't come back with me. I don't understand why you weren't killed. Neither do I. Neither do I. I'm an insight check, there are no more. Fuck! No! He's dog shit. She looks at you. Fiyasi had been back in Delmockyard for less than a week before his arrest. He came from the Wornville, taking the Stone of Night's On from here. The stone was in Delmockyard for less than a month. Do we figure out why they went to get it? No. Did. Did Thimble know? And I know that it is Julian's theory, that the destruction of the Plots of Davinos, of many of our banishment and servants, courteers, was simply a byproduct of their coming for you, Octas. And yet, what did Primeist declare by the fountain? I didn't hear it when I was upstairs, but you have said that he spoke the names of our houses aloud. Yes. Yes. I'm trying to recall exactly what he said. He said tonight, the tonight, the houses of the Plots of Davinos. Yeah. I don't know why they would have accepted this job, but did my family hire Fiyasi under false pretense to steal the stone, to have a way to obtain it that didn't lead back to them, and then they had him arrested and killed to cover their tracks. Could be. Does he seem like the type of person that would work with your family? No. I don't know. I didn't know him that well. I knew Thimble-ed. To go with his sister-in-law, to Vinatus, to reclaim that bustle. Yeah, I didn't know. You were a sister-in-law until after. I took a job. I was way over my head, and Tisha took the same job in order to help me. I didn't know what she was till after. It was completely coincidental that I hooked up with the Housies' sister-in-law. Is it a coincidence that they attacked our family simply because we had taken you, and you were in our home, and that's why they attacked? I don't know. That's what I assumed. Now, the one thing I can add is I had a very brief conversation with Otto. He mentioned that the story from the Royce side is that House Taconis assaulted and obliterated. House Divina and House Royce. But the Taconis line is that House Royce killed one of their sions. So they're pinning it on you? Here's the thing. Even if both stories were to be believed, the severity of one no offense, wildly outweighs the other. Correct. And all that was asked of me was not an accounting of what way I was related to it. It was merely to absolve him from any of my circles intervention in this. What did he ask you? What did he say? He asked if I was aware that I was not being held against my will. And if the circle of ancients had any stake in the conflicts among the Sunderth houses, to which I answered no, to his great relief. His great relief? Yes. I think whatever is happening, he has a plan and he wants to make sure that he will not catch any undue heat from my people in whatever is about to happen. I think he is resolved. He's going to keep us here. Yeah. The longer we discuss this, the longer we dally. The more he's going to show up the defenses and make it more difficult for us to skip through in the night. A great gathering of things. Leave what you think to be the most clear declaration of our position here. What is transpired to be discovered and we have scorned with ourselves immediately. I'm thinking of our men at arms and our servants. The ones imprisoned here. I think whatever plans Lorda and Fosyn has for them, they were decided before you walked through these doors, regardless. I do care for our countrymen. You must agree in these very challenged times that your livelihood has far larger impact than theirs. They want to be slaughtered in their cages, unconnected to these events. At the very least, they might be safest here on these grounds. Go ahead and rest of our people in danger. Go ahead and give me Julian A. Either insight or history, check. Go ahead and see the history. That's a three. You see that you can see the air in the air and the insinuation that she is more valuable than the people that are captured here. She looks at Mrs. Goin in the morning. We know that something is a rye. To give them the benefit of the doubt, they may only be... And I use this term loosely, siding with my family, because you all are basically destroyed anyway. Blood in the water. And there's no repercussions from you if they don't. And it's the most pragmatic choice to side with the person who's stronger and who is more dangerous. For how long? Until Primus Tukonus walks in these doors and says tonight the house of Einstein falls. And they learn a terrible lesson than the same one you did. As you say it, the same one you did. Anyone who wants to make an insight check at this moment. Most definitely. 24. I'll just be not have meant it in that way, but you see Aranessa realize that her house did make this huge mess. The lesson they learned. And I think Aranessa was a young woman when the Falconer's rebellion started. But she realizes that her parents made the choice to side with the Tukonus and the Helevar over the rebels that heard the Falcon's cry. And it's led her to this moment. I just stand beside her and without being too obvious about it, just sort of like shoulder to shoulder. She looks happy. Forward. My young Lord Tukonus. Lord Einstein cares above all else for the safety and power of his house. And I would only hope that there is a fly in his ointment as he seeks to discard the Sunderd House of Royce, which is hopefully in that shiny fat head of his he is thinking why wasn't I told that there was a plan to destroy one of the great houses? And that's a question that burns in my mind and should burn in all of our minds. Yeah. Say there is one last card to play. Tukonus' line is that house Royce killed their child. And you're in their walls. I no longer care about disproving the lie for Royce credibility. I think we put a target on Einstein's back by making it very clear that you were here too. I think there are consequences for lack of loyalty. Interesting. My only concern with exposing myself is how do I get out? If there's some way for you to simply make it known that you were here and sheltered by Lord Einstein. I have an idea. I gotta go back to my room. Julian, let's prepare to leave tonight. So, Octis is going to go back to his room and he's going to take some parchment at a quill and he's going to write a very polite and overly fanciful declaration of gratitude for allowing him to stay. Octis to stay within the walls of this estate and he is going to, once again, bring out these same gilded amalgamation of a skeleton placed on the ground, weave these green circles and burning it into the carpet on the floor, these arcane sigils. Raising out of it this really gross cat pulls out of the sigil and just is holding it by the scruff of the neck and rolls up the note, puts it on the collar, like not the collar, but ties it to the cat. As it's saying this, look now, what I want you to do is absolutely destroy this room and then sit and wait till someone finds you. Octis grabs his things in his pack and then heads out the door again. Incredible. What do you all do? You get to gather your things and prepare to head out. Sorry, I very much want to put in the note that Royce did not kill me. Gosh, my family did. Incredible. You leave unmistakable, verifiable arcane evidence that you were here and that you leave in writing that in your own words, Royce did not kill you. Yes. You guys gather your things. Yes, before we get ready. Do you want me to leave out the front door to perhaps make it easier for you to walk out the back? Based on the conversation that you had with the Lord, perhaps that is the most prudent, harassed Carly. We ensure us a bill is easy to get together as one unit again, but you seem to have many tricks to... Can you get the horses out? I can. Enesah, if Taconis is indeed bound to the realm of shadow that ever grows with the spirits lost, my apologies for not being as well-learned in the details of the cosmology, but... Does Ferry in some way... Door closed or not... Keep that barrier strong then without... With the destruction of the house's bound to ferry, perhaps... Give way to more strength to the realm of shadow. She touches an amber pendant around her neck, and Firefly Light begins to emerge from behind her, and you see a line of women stretching back from her in light. As she looks... In the far distance you hear words in Sylvan. Is there anyone here that speaks Sylvan? No, I don't. I speak out. Shut up. You hear these beautiful words being spoken in Julian. You understand them. They appear all throughout the Golden Orchard written over and over again, and it says, For what you have done, young mortal girl, to save the world of Ferry, will your children and your children's children in generations beyond counting, ever know the blessings of Archind? And you see, it fades. Golden Orchard was given to us as a home for our family, and if our family was gone, I do not know that it would yet stand. I do not know when I think of Ferry, I think of our home that is the last piece of it left at the very doorstep of this world. With me and my cousins died, maybe the last thread connecting Ferry to Armand would vanish. And we should be on our way. Quietly, like, like slapping pinches, this cheek to try. Shake off what wine still sits in his system. We are high up in this keep, correct? Yes. So we can go out the front door. And the four of us, you are allowed to leave. The four of us are not well. The three of you are not either, they don't know me here. I've got the window, which I assume there's a window in the bedroom. There it is. Looking out what do I see? What's the guard presence outside this window? Give me a perception. I cast guidance. And the diva. They're not bad. Perception that's going to be some 18. Yes, there are guards patrolling the outside of the castle. There are not many. There are long sections of walls that just have a street around them in the city, sort of fading away from the edge of the castle. There are gates at two of the towers. Each of those gates has two fully armored knights at them. And there are occasional patrols of two mounted knights, just going up and down the road. There are also, I would say, in this section, it is early-ish evening. There are still, call it, some pedestrian and other people. Because it's a city, there's places of revelry. And these are some beautiful villas and nicer homes near the castle. So there's some lights within the gardens and things like that. There are also just some people. It's not unusual to have people walking our carts going by on this road. All right, if you want to get down quickly, I can make it so that we will not feel the impact of the fall. Will the impact make enough noise to draw attention? We will be as light as a feather. There's two. Even this one. Even this one. Oktis, what did you say in your letter? I said, I thank them very much for their hospitality and for the use of the baths. And I told them that the words of my family are false and that house's voice were not the ones to kill me, but my own family. Very well, signed my name and then left on an undead creature. Very well. There will be some slight rudeness in our departure and that is informing the tone of the letter I'm about to run. You see, she quickly starts scribing something and says, Ty, are you to get the horses for us? Yes. Perhaps best for you to meet us, what downstairs, directly below the window? If you think that's the best way for us to just ride out on horseback and bust through the gods, then yes, below the window to this would be excellent. We're not doing this other fight, are we? Probably not. Okay. Adventure. Unless you just want to leave and let us fight it out. I would love nothing more than to leave you to die again. Fight it only necessarily if we fail to escape unseen. Correct. If the horses are waiting for us in the outside of the walls, perhaps at your behest, we could have the opportunity to meet up beyond the Lordship's estate. I will have the horses waiting outside the gate and in the event that you are not outside the gate and there are still guards there, we will deal with the guards and get you outside the gate. So then my last question is, there's two ways I can do this. We can gently float to the ground, but it will take time or we can fall and then catch ourselves in the last minute. How high up are we? You are about for story. I'd say you're about 90 feet up. Okay. It will be quite a fall indeed. Quick weather check. I want to cast a jurid craft just to get a little weather forecast for what the evenings will look like up at this altitude. It is just as clear zero percent humidity. Amazing. We will be less likely to be seen if we fall quickly. Hey, I think there's some fog coming in later. Ah, I see. I'll see you on the other side. I'll see you. This time, when we run, maybe don't make a heroic last day and then beefy. Make sure you can get those horses by yourself. Trust me this one time and if I fail you, I'll be your horse. Got it. Oh. Tysh, you leave. Octas. As you open the window to sort of look down and see what the fall is going to be like. Opening the window. Looking out, preparing the spell. You hear a very surprising noise. Oh, oh, oh, oh. And your vulture lands on the window, still awaiting further instruction. Did you get it? I look at the beak. Is there blood or anything on there? There's blood on the beak. Good job. You also see something else in the beak. Splenchers. Looking at some wicker. You realize the only reason this vulture was able to catch that. Pigeon was that the pigeon made it to its destination. And that that destination must be much closer than Delmockyard. Oh, interesting. Well, I guess go job. Interesting. Can? The guards of the front gate. Yeah. Ooh. Hold on. I'm going to have the vulture stay there for a minute and I'm going to decide what I want to do with it. Okay, so. You've left. Yep. Okay. Are we ready to go? I'd like to see what you can do. Shall I put the window? Erin Essah goes, oh, you see Erin Essah has just penned a letter. Really looking over her shoulder. You see the letter she writes is, my apologies for beating a hasty retreat. Certain fae forces have come to our aid in our moment of need and availed themselves at the window. She then writes, returning to my full seat of power at the Golden Orchard, please pass on to my soldiers and men at arms at your imminent release of them that they are expected forthwith at the Golden Orchard. I love NASA. Tyshett, you get down as you are crossing the courtyard. The front gates are opening and a black carriage is pulling into the courtyard. That's fine. Is it like, you know, shades of black like Taconis black? It is. Oh, how fun. And I'm just walking openly across the courtyard. Oh, no. I love to see it. You sure? I'm not hiding. I'm going to walk in the direct line and then only when I get close enough to the stable to like veer off. Well, I turn away. You walk up stepping from the carriage. The carriage is opened by some valence. You also see that the carriage is massive and there are alcoves almost like the alcoves of a cathedral that would have a saint statue in them, but that have empty suits of black full plate armor in them. The doors open and two enormously tall identical twin women emerge looking out. Each of them is pushing seven feet tall, weighing less than a buck fifty each. You see that they, they're sort of pallid flesh has a sort of metallic silvery sheen around the eyelashes. A square of lipstick just on the center portion of the bottom lip thick sort of like mascara and eyeliner. Hair is a sort of corpse like pallid blonde such that their hair which is slipped the head tied up into these tall buns that sort of snake up off their head. Their hair and skin color is pretty much identical so it looks that it's like the hair coming around tight to the head. You have to heal octas to get that pat like what? And you see that the two sisters dressed in these beautiful black gowns have these very long arms, very gaunt and a set of silver wings torques around their neck that appear to almost be extending their neck. Up tall off their shoulders. They each emerge from the carriage and begin to walk to the central keep not they're not near you but they're extremely striking to behold and they begin to walk to the central keep as in the dark of night. Oh, well, men who they don't recognize as walking towards some steables. Is there any way to do like even just a low chance like was I clocked as I so very much clocked them? Oh, we passed them by. Give me a perception check. No, no, no. I think one of them looks in your direction doesn't make eye contact with you. You proceed to the stable as the two of them begin to approach the central keep. I would love to be able to tell octas that but I didn't bring them. Approaching the stable, what do you do? Yeah, I'm assuming there's a stable hand here. Hello, what was your name? I use a fear. I would need my horse prepared. I have to go attend my business further north. Oh, very well. I will have your horse ready to get to one smelly. Thank you. Oh, hold on. I'm going to come back with you. My companions and I think I might prefer to take one of their horses since they're planning on staying here a little longer. So I'm going to just try to come up with an excuse to make my way back towards the rest of the horses. Oh, yeah. There's no role necessary. The stable hand is very understanding. And he says, yeah, well, you're holiness. We have your horses here. We do wish for them to be settled and prepared for writing. That would be great. Thank you so much. He gets to it and saddles up both horses that you've asked for. Sweet. I do love it too. Let's do it. Stop it. I'm going to do my best to play a game of horse telephone and cast speak with animals to my two. Yeah. I try to get them to convey to the other two. If I listen to their bonds, can you come find us outside of the Western Gate? Can you find, like, just come find your friends if I give you an opportunity to skid-addle? See the horses. You do your command and respond. I'm going to do my best to try to FUTZ the locks on the stalls of the ever two horses. It's just old metal. Whether it's keeping it from latching properly or just winging the wood a little bit. I just want to see if I can sabotage the locks so the horses could break free if they really tried. Either cast a spell or you can give me a sleight of hand. Let's try a sleight of hand. A skill I don't have. I love it. But today is a new day and anything can happen. You're believing you. I have a plus one. Can I cast guidance on myself? Sure. Great. What's a D4? Okay, that's an 11 plus... 13. Do you need some help with that lock? Yeah. Oh, he seems so nice. I don't want to do this. I'm gonna... I'm the cast-hold person on it. He looks at you and says, is everything out? I'm so sorry. This is not your fault. And... Oh. If the rumor's about him or true, I think you're gonna have a very bad day when this is over. So, I want to pull like 10 gold pieces out and put them in his pocket and be like, when you snap out of this, just run. Go start a new life. Do something somewhere else. I have to do this and it's not your fault. And I just kind of like be like, all right, horse is new plan. Come with me now. Great. You take the horses out and see him standing, staring at the wall behind where you were standing when you cast the spell. The horses... The horses come out. Yeah. It's only for a minute, so I knock on my car. Does that feel worse? Just pull the horses quickly. Great. No, I'm gonna elbow him back at the head. I need more than a minute. Great. Bunk. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I had to work with him. Paralyzed hits the deck hard on his shoulder. Can't race for the fall at all. But I don't forget. And five horses come out of the table with you. Yeah. You approach the gate where you see there are guards. As you approach, you see one of the guards says, you'll grace. Peshaw. Thank you so much for your hospitality. Of course. Do you require escort into the city? Oh, no. I have it from here. Thank you. And I appreciate you looking after my companions with such diligence. Of course. They will be protected as long as they stay within the castle. You get out and let's go around the side. As you are going a little way, you hear some shouting from the courtyard. Horses, time to run. You can't turn up the street and you guys from the tower look down and can see the horses beneath you. There they are. You say you will fall. You are going out the window. I want to see you guys. Let's see what you guys. We have to go now. Aaron S. Cannonballs out the window. Without a moment's hesitation. Full like. Okay. As Alc just throws himself out the window afterwards into a full dive to try and catch up. As he's going through the window to the vultures, says with me and goes down and pulls a feather out of the coat that he has thrown over his shoulders. Still wearing the clothes he stole from the thing not wearing his body. Grudgescoast. That's where all his components are. Has pulled a feather out. As he's falling throws it to his mouth, choose it up and then spits. One, two, three, four. Four feathers. One of them staying with him. The other three going just pinning into you all. As we fall and right as we're about to hit, we go. Casting feather fall. Hell yeah. Point landing. You. Completely silent. Aaron S. Like like, she's falling. Goes into like puts active effort right over the spell goes off to tuck her dress in between her knees. Unbecoming. And then it's the deck. Alessa wonder. Yeah. Boom. And you guys land on the horses. I'm going to need a group stealth check. Not from Tysha, but from the three of you disadvantage. Disadvantaged. You got it. 20. Let's go. One from Aaron S. That what? That's not bad. Not bad. 22. 22 with disadvantage. Yeah, I rolled a Nush 20 and 16. What do we got here, valus? 12. 18. 18. So taking the higher two rolls, the lower of them is an 18, which means that's your group stealth check. It's an 18, pretty remarkable. So all of you, you do the exact right thing. It's a busy street. There's pedestrians. All these guards are used to being approached on foot. They're not looking back at their own walls, let alone straight up. So all that happens is a lady comes by with some horses and arranges them. And then suddenly there's a weird flash. Some people like people kind of look at it like what was that? Like something out of the corner of the eye. But all they see is some people standing on the street that are far away from any of the gate. So therefore, not a threat. And you are all standing here in the dark with your horses. Here in this, it says marvellous. Shall we? Yes. I have the Vulture lands on my shoulder and go get inside my cloak or get inside my coat. And it kind of goes behind me on the saddle because I can't have a undid Vulture on my shoulder. It's disgusting. Do you twist sisters? Why do you ask? Why do you think? Time to go. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. You guys take off. A series of very important roles are about to happen. What you said had made my bohel pucker. Me too. A series of very important roles are about to happen. Number one, you guys get on these horses and ride, getting away from the castle. Is anyone taking a lead as the five of you thunder out from here? This is as far as the plan got. You were acting fast and for good reason. I'll do it. Ty, show you take the lead. Where are you leading people right now? I'm just trying to get to the gate that heads out of town. Okay. You are going to the first gate out of town. Go ahead, give me a history check. Difficulty 10 is the minimum for you to know this neighborhood well enough. If you can get a DC 15, that's a little better. A DC 20 will be flawless and will resolve the role right there. Can I use guidance? You can use guidance on yourself. Right. Plus land. Oh no! I have a plus one in history and we made it to a 10. Okay, DC 10 was the base for getting out of this neighborhood. As you pull out of the neighborhood away from the castle, you do hear of that horn of warning sounding over the castle walls. Cool. You pull out to get to the edge of this castle area, busiest thoroughfare going back in the direction of that massive hooligan. On that 10 history check, that pulley gate is the one that you saw going down. The only other thing you would know on a 10 is there are also a 10 is not high enough for you to have a sure fire way out. The pulley gates lead up and down. They are also the most watched that go up and down the cliff side. There are other smaller thoroughfares. The smaller thoroughfares by virtue of being smaller will make you stick out more. Five horses going down a narrow switch back all the way down this like several hundred foot tall cliff will be noticeable. The third is if you don't want to go towards these busy thoroughfares, the beer gardens, the other sort of like populated places, getting away from the castle, you do see the road lined with shrines and statues leading up to Shung Garden, which would be the druidic power center or the druidic holy grove. I like holy grove, but also out it is so close how far away is this big ass gate? Big ass gate is short. It would be probably I'll put it this way. I will make you roll one time to get to the pulley gate, but you don't necessarily know how often the pulley gate is operating at night. Right, is it up or down? Is it up or down right now? It would be two rolls to get to Shung Garden. Hurt. Before I make this decision, can I cast through my staff speak with plants to ask the gate if it's up or down? Incredible. What is the range on speak with plants? I don't know. I got so nervous I didn't want to keep looking. I lost the abelieble idea. You look at this moment. I think in this, in this, it's your actual voice. Yeah. I think in this moment, you guys pull up on your horses at the first large crossroads as the castle walls fade behind these sort of like alpine beer garden and like residential houses. This street is like all those places that have the like second floors are larger than the first floor like over hanging. And there's also like lines of laundry strung up between the buildings here that allow you to like get a little bit of cover from watch towers on the castle walls. But this is your point of making a decision here. You can cast that if you get closer to the pulleys, but it's either go for the pulley gate which is close and hope to get lucky or take the risk you're out to Sean Garten and deal with whatever's there when you get there. This is awful. I know moving towards my power base is the correct call, but the closer I bring octas to my people, the more worried I am for him. But I need a shore bet and they don't fuck with the druids. Which way is closest to Castle Toche? Sean Garten. You're going to go to Sean Garten. You're going to go to the druids. Yeah. Okay. You are going to pull off. I'm going to go ahead right now and I just want to do this for fun. I was going to make fun. It was a 16 or higher on the die for the pulley to be at the city and active. Yeah. It would have just pulled out of the station headed down if you guys had arrived. Maybe you could have jumped. I'm going to jump right in all the horses. You got to hold on tight to your horse. Okay. There are going to be two rolls getting to Sean Garten. The two rolls getting there will I think actually be a animal handling just to get the horses there fast enough? Or you could slow way down and take stealth. It's up to you. But stealth would be more rolls. Animal handling, please. Okay. I'm going to need two DC 15 animal handling checks. I hate to ask. Can I use guidance? You absolutely can. It's giving me roughly one extra every time. All right. Oh shit. This is not great. 19 for one. Okay. 15 for the other. Hey! The plus two health. Yay! Unbelievable. Okay. So you guys see Ty should takes off into the city moving away from the pulley gates. I think you recognize that you're moving away from these other areas. As you do pulling away from them, you see a file of INFOS and Nights taking off down the road behind you right for the pulley gate. You head up into the city rising up. As you do, you look and see massive dolmens carved stone. You see ancient writing written by the hands of giants in these massive standing stones. You see there are several shrines here with bits of dwarven stone tablet across them from dwarven pilgrims traveling here. And this enormous series of waterfalls collecting in pools around which are snow white blossoms from dark green vines. You see there is light purple that has cast even more indigo under the star light and the glow of a loomies blanket, the sort of planetary rings. And you can see as the wind blows, there are mountain heather and snap dragons that small moats of glittering star light sort of come off in the night wind. These little bioluminescent flowers under the garden pull away. You look over and see resting overlooking this central sort of there's a massive flat boulder with a stone circle. It's a calendar stone. It's things like map the passing of seasons. And you see there is a enormous probably like 12 foot long, modeled gray and white spotted leopard with a series of curling rams horns coming off that is sleeping upon a lake. And you see there is a large beautiful wrought iron gate closed in front of it. And you see that the gate has a small brass handled door in the gate. And you can see is there anyone here that speaks either dwarven or giant. It's actually a sort of a language that's almost in a shared dialect between the two. I do not speak giant. Speak giant. The in giant is the these were giant round for sanctuary written on this little inset door within the larger gate. And as a small that that room appears in brass next to the door and up. Thank you. Now we're go. We slow down. We don't have to like. I think it's it's worse to be stomping through the streets. But I'll happily do you want to take it since you read it? Um, this is you do it. And I'll dismount from my horse. I'm going to summon Halla beside me. And yeah, just reach out to the brass handle and open the door. This custom in sacred droves here within the mountains of Calfros in the far west of Helvar. The gate is closed to congregants and gatherers at night as the grounds are tended to by the druids who live here in residence. But as always, a door is left unlocked for those seeking sanctuary. The sanctuary door is opened and you are able to enter this place. You walk up the steps. You see that the leopard. And from this central grove, you look in there are several staircases. One of them goes down into this beautiful mountain grotto with these hearty, scraggly little pine trees that grow horizontal out from the crag. And then, you know, look around to start growing upwards. There are several small cottages. You can see a small mess hall. It appears to be a druidic monastery. So there are many druids that are like living here and observing their faith in this place. But as the panthers were growls, this leopard growls, a small candlelight comes on. In a very small cottage right at that staircase of boulders going down. You see an old dwarven man comes out. He's got his thick braided beard. It's all done up. The bottom of his beard, so there's a small opening with a little twig poking out of it. The arigness is a birdhouse. And you see that he has a series of a shaven head, a series of tattoos that come down with giant and dwarven tattoos that follow these bands. Almost like a Badger's Stripes. As he steps out. And those. Welcome. Welcome. Please come inside. Are you injured or are there any other reasons that you seek sanctuary here? Thank you, cousin. We need to rest and make our way out of town. Oh, yeah. Cousin, it is good to see you. I am most awe of the circle of stone. Tyche of the Circle of Ancients. Cousin, you are welcome here. These are your companions. Yes. I will let them speak for themselves. I am Veilas. Hi, Octis. Nice to meet you. Aadianessa and Sir Julian Divinas. Of the sanctuary that is offered to you here, is your privacy about the sanctuary which you wish? I have had enough of secrets for one night. I think some fellowship and open hearts will do us good. No, thank you. Very well. I will tend to your horses outside the gate. But please, see yourself to the banks below. And whatever place to sleep you can find is yours. Thank you. He turns and says. Forgive a moment of assurance of the safety of those gathered here. You see, he looks out. The one here in your company, for how long have you known him? Six months. And I trust him with my life. Do you trust him with his own? He, dear cousin, is part of a bigger conversation that a needs must have with my circle and many others. But perhaps not tonight. My, my end, conscience are my own. This is very strange cousin. I know. We live in strange days. And there is no stranger to anyone than myself. I would ask them that you see to it that your friend does not handle the sacred waters of this place. No touch of the food meant to feed our family. I cannot eat anyway, understood. I bring mystery to your door, but not trouble in the formal actus. I swear it. Very well. Help yourselves to the place to stay. And you see, he turns to go and handle your horses. Having stood there during this conversation, he peels open his nose. You got to go. And just unsummons that. Vultures other dead stuff do you have on you? The cat that I left in the castle and pin, none. Okay, good to know. A pin is away. Remember the magic I was using in Vinhades with the undead that we fought there. Everyone here is as a debt. I'm going to say anything. I just stay close. I've got you. Friends. Yes. Dajja, you trust this place is safe? Yes. Without a doubt. Very well. Aernessa looks to you, Dajja, and says, we really will be able to sleep here knowing that we are in the same city where oxis and sisters are prowling. The only conversation Lord Anfasin had with me was to make sure that my people did not meddle in his affairs. He will think twice, even the deconises will think twice, about making this big a move. But if you want to try to leave tonight, we can do that too. I just didn't trust that the gate that we were heading towards was our best option out. But we don't have to sleep here. I do not know if staying here is the best endeavor. I do not know how far they'll go to try and find you. I see. I feel the same way. If you're eager to toss very valuable lies across the other sundered houses so easily, in whatever your side in, we are side into, is a grave importance to them. Yes, but do they want to bring this outside of the sundered houses? Yeah. Are they involving all factions that exist in this world in this fight? We do not know this exactly. But I will say some of us don't need to sleep. So if we can get you all rest here, I can be unwatched as I don't sleep anymore. I have trouble shows up. We can go. Maybe I don't know, sir. I don't think we will be attacked here. This is the last place an undead to Conus would come, sanctuary written on the gate or not. Confidence and safety is what allowed us to be taken aback by the esteemed and legendary hospitality. Well, how are they at point? We don't know the invasions actually have done anything against us yet. They might just be in abundance of caution. I'm just trying to be fair to a house who might not have done anything. I was thinking when I opened, stay near, Vety. Descending down this beautiful series of falling boulders to arrive at this tiny little alpine well surrounded by several humble bunk houses, you see that there is a very fat, grizzly bear sleeping under a pine tree. There's a number of owls in the branches. Within you see that there are long hauls that have beautiful, ember-filled fireplaces that are keeping it piping hot. It's almost so warm that it's like so horrific. You might fall asleep going into some bunk houses, smells like wood smoke. There are shelved beds in the walls. You see there are a number of druids. Many of whom have dirty boots and everything like that that are sleeping here. This is the wanderers bunk. You see there are other larger buildings. There's a large, keep beautifully made of stunning ancient mason work that is the keep of the circle of stones that is the attendance circle of this holy place. You also see that there are one or two other bunk that appear to have some trappings around them. Go ahead and give me a religion check. Actually, give me a nature or religion, whichever you prefer. Let's go. 18. For a nature check. 18 for nature. You see some other attendant druidic circles that are here. There is a small banner flapping by one of the bunk houses that represents the circle of seasons, which is a circle that works very closely hand in hand with the circle of ancient, in terms of healing barodels and trying to heal the world. Across the grotto, not in one of the bunk houses, you do see a small half-shield constructed of wood and bone that bears three bloody stripes on it that you recognize as being one of many symbols of the circle of the hunt, which is a circle that I think you've heard of. As being one of a handful of very powerful global orders of druids. This is one that you heard of a couple years ago, as being like, oh, there are some druids of the circle of the hunt that, you know, it was something about when Aligar was joining the Baroguard, there were some druids from the circle of the hunt that were interested in helping that endeavor. You've heard them more recently being extremely opposed to an envoy of druids headed towards a place called the Totality in Hargood, that they are a, from everything you've heard, a very grave and fearsome circle of druids. Do I see any banners of, like, do I see anything from the circle of ancient's present? There is a symbol of the circle of ancients in the center tree, in this little circle of buildings, this grotto that is hanging in a place of honor and prominence, but there do not appear to be any druids of ancients in attendance here. Then I think I'm going to go over to the tree and whatever branches are closest to it, I want to jure craft just a little more vibrancy around it, not to, like, throw more focus or honor out of it, but just to be very clear that there is a member of the circle of ancients present here now. Awesome. Okay, I can go and have some conversations and see if I can secure us stealthier egress from the city. Okay. We'll find a place to be gathered together, should stay relatively close to each other. Good. Good, good. You're looking a little pale. I'm fine. They walk away. Tasha, you walk away. Eriness looks over at you, Jule-Lin. I got to do it, maybe that it. Let's try to get some rest, I suppose. I need it. I thought I was going to get to sleep in a big, beautiful bed. Eriness is well, just a terrible thing that pulled away. This we got a bath. Eriness, please. I'm hoping those were my sisters. You've got the family there, Octus. You show you the black sheep on this, or do you carry some of this thread of darkness within you beyond just this soft, sweet boy persona you put on for all of us? Not going to happen, I'll never fall that far from my tree. I just, if they're here, that means they were already somewhere close to the city because the bird that the hand made and got out, my vulture did catch, but it caught where it roosted, which means the note that she said got to wherever it was going. It was close. And it was close. Anyone, so they know that we are here? Whatever that note said, they know. Have to assume, even notified, of not... Like they didn't know I was there. Well, they will now. Yes. Is there anything we need to know about your sisters? Are they looking to care you again as well? I don't know if they know I'm alive or what they know. Okay, they're my oldest. If it is my sister's petra and raya, they're the oldest. Probably dealt with them the least out of all my siblings as they were already on doing important work when I was born. What was it? It's surprising no one, they're not kind. What is this important work that your family does that you keep talking about? I just mean the daily duties of a noble family. I think our families have different duties, but nevertheless, could we worry of your sisters and worry of any teconous? But they... I don't know what they did exactly. I wasn't... No one... I was not privy to a lot of information that flowed to my house. I was apparently disposable enough that they decided to kill me when I didn't show any worth there. They... There is a non-zero chance that they come upon us some point, if not tonight, on our way out. What can you tell us about your sisters that we should be wary of? Anything in particular that we can use to try and be safe, or at least... I literally just asked him that. See, if we could gather any information on these people... Look, Julian. How much do you have to drink? This is why I don't drink, because we always have to be ready. Look, it's hard to know that my family are sorcerers of undead. I've seen what my father can do. Petron Raya is the first children. So by... going on a scale of me to my sisters, they're the most powerful probably of my siblings. And yet, when you ask us a second time, I'll drunk you, get more information. How strange. This is true. This is more information than you gave me. Thank you for coming over. I'm trying to quantify my family to all of you. I'm trying to quantify my family to all of you. I'm trying to look since I'm an artist. You don't have to tell us if there's a secret hole in your sister's back if we shoot an arrow into it or the wolf. If there was, I would tell you how. I would like to know if there was a secret hole in your sister's back. I don't know. And what they... I think I saw them maybe ten times my entire life. I don't know them. But they'll know me. About a hundred pounds soaking wet, Stas. Your family... You see, Ernesto seems to say... That's a recent development. When I was a little girl, I remember when the Toconis referred to themselves as keepers of the passage of life into death. And now they openly referred to themselves as masters of the undead. I appreciate you, Yonesty. They sound delightful. Well, there's a reason I left home when I was 15. It's fair. But they did have an important job at one point in time. You hear a noise outside, saying... Cousin. Oh, sorry. I've had a thing to do. Apologies. You see that Mosur is out there with his hands crossed by his back, saying... Yes, Cousin. Would you come to speak with two of our brethren if you'd be so kind? Of course. Walking back up to the sacred grove, you see that there is an enormous bear-falk woman. She's about eight feet tall. She has this beautiful flowery gown. She's old. She has lots of gray long hairs in her bear-like eyebrows. So she's physically imposing massive. And she's sat on her haunches in that kind of bear sit on the ground. Mostly, you just get a sense to lower herself to be a little bit easier to talk to. And there is another druid that's hard to see what he is. This wild, hell-mass, that's got a bird's, like a long predatory beak feathers. Wood things, like tied strands of hair that come off of it. Looks like this weird rainbow scavenger barbarian got claw extensions coming from wrists. Lots of nuts and beads and various tied things. He is like some... In our mind, it's not typical for druids to dress like that. Because after the fall of the gods, communities depended on druids to give some connection to the power of what is sacred in our world. And it's not that that doesn't mean festering yourself with wilderness. It just means being this unapproachable is unusual for a druid. But being this sort of imposing, but you see these two figures there that Moser walks up with. I think as I walk towards them that, especially seeing the non-bearer folk, I've been using my sweet little cane to walk. I'm like, okay, we're all big druids here. And I'm going to tap it on the ground once and grow the wood inside it and turn it from that horse head to the massive dragon's head that's now just pouring out. Sort of forged colored magic. We're all big kids here. A walk up. Perfectly pleasant. Cousins. Cousin, you see that the old bear fall of women says, welcome, Cousin. It's nice to have you. I am Amadal, a Toadstool. And you see that she turns over and says, welcome to Shungarten. We are sorry to pull you from what has been a hard day. Not at all. We have rather a hard conversation to have. You see that the other druid takes his bird like a helm off. And what you thought you were as he takes it off was part of his druidic armor. And the other druid that you see here is actually that half of his ribs are living wood. And you see some organs exposed under what is a partially wooden rib cage that reaches up. You can see his trachea and esophagus through a single tendon as this injury has worked that way. And the other one says, you have brought something that needs to die into this camp. And that's all for this episode. We can go for like one four more hours. Just like just like two more minutes. Come on. Someone's got another one killed me. Someone's got another one killed me. You're like when everyone decides you should die in coutan and then you somehow survive. And then you just die on the next turn. People don't like it when you don't die. We got you out. Okay. Oh my god. Come on. Every new druid is cooler than last druid. This is so dope. We love it. Oh no, my sisters are so scary. Sisters are scary. Druids are scary. It's all scary. The only question I have is, is it Thursday yet? Yeah. And after we say, is it Thursday yet? And experience our cast's post-show reactions. We'll see you next time.