The Giant's Belt | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 12 Part 1

Why hello there, I'm Brennan Lee Mulligan and welcome to Campaign 4 of Critical Role. Thank you for joining us on this journey as we explore Oremon, a world of fractured kingdoms, tumultuous rebellion, and sorcery that rises from the graveyard of the gods. You're listening to Part 1 of this adventure, with Part 2 arriving this upcoming Tuesday. Our episodes typically arrive on the Critical Role podcast network a week after our initial Thursday night streams on Beacon, YouTube, and Twitch. But if you'd rather listen to a full podcast episode of Campaign 4 right when it airs, without any ads, consider becoming a Beacon member. You'll receive access to exclusive content, discounts at all our online Critical Role shops, pre-sales for live events, and so much more. Start your 7-day free trial today at beacon.tv. Now without further ado, let's begin this episode of Critical Role. Three, some 18 years before our story began. Liam, could you describe the state that we find Hallendeal fang at at around 2.30 in the morning in the rookery? Right, this is a beleaguered, good-spirited, tired, hopeful young man. In the home in the rookery that is less lived in, as the table is used to, not as many years, and everyone's asleep in the house. Elodie is asleep upstairs. My son and my daughter, Alagar and Shadia, are asleep upstairs. The only people awake in the house right now are me and my infant daughter, Hiro, who has been crying for the last 20 minutes, and we have just been making the rounds in the sitting room downstairs in a room where one day I will say goodbye to my brother, but not tonight. Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, you're making a lot of noise, a lot of noise. Go ahead and give me persuasion, but I'll ask you to use your wisdom instead of your charisma because there's just no charming a baby. Who's this upset? Sure, I'm even gonna self-impose disadvantage. It's one in the morning. This is the fourth night of this. That is a nine, and that's a five. So you said my wisdom? Mm-hmm. Persuasion? Yeah. So not persuasion, just the wisdom? It's instead of using your charisma, you will use your wisdom, but you will add any proficiency and persuasion. Okay, okay, so that means... Is it the same rules as always? Same rules as always. Well, that means that as a bard of... Unless you think at this point in his life, Hal is not as good a bard as he will be later. Yeah, let's say that. Let's say that. Pause on that. So we'll just call that a 15. A 15? Yeah. On the 15, the cries sort of go down slightly into a sustained whimper, and in that way that you can tell when someone is about to sneeze, you know that you're just in the eye of the storm. You maybe have 30 seconds a minute before the cries start up again. You're so tired. That a girl. That a girl, you are my hero. My hero. Just working at her tongue and trying to see shapes and light outside you here. To the tongue, to the tongue, to the tongue, to the tongue, to the tongue. Foot steps to the door. Hal? That's my brother's voice. Okay, so I lay her laying down, face first, chest first, down over the shoulder, and I go to the door. Viasi, what are you doing? What are you doing here so late? Opening the door outside in the street, a snow-white steed of house roice, silver embroidery on its bridle, a brown leather saddle with wounds and silver inscribed around the outside, wearing a regal coat of emerald green, silver brocade. You see that there is a hanging pendant with the tree and key of house roice around it, as Viasi with the lyre's blade at his side rings, bedecking his fingers, looks bloodshot eyes exhausted like he's been riding for days. This is the first time I've seen this horse? First time you've seen this horse, you've seen him probably once since his wedding when he was coming here with his lady wife on business. And maybe he invited you to a gala and then came and wanted to go out drinking at a neighborhood bar with you. That was probably like five months ago, the last time you saw him. Okay. Nice ride, get in here. Okay. Everyone's asleep. Just for us. I'll keep it down. He says to the horse, and you see the horse whips its head and the reins whip around the post outside your house. Nifty. And you see he closes the door behind you and goes, Hi. Hi. It's happening. Something's happening. Hell, I needed to come and talk to you. I feel like I'm losing my mind. I feel like I'm losing my mind. Sit down, sit down. Oh, you see he looks, and I don't know that Hero is even five months old yet. So I think he looks at Hero and goes, Oh, she's beautiful. Are you awake enough to hold? Yes, yes, yes, yes, if you have any water, I would take water. Yeah, well, I'll trade you, you take her. I'll get the water. Hi. This is your uncle, here you go. Hi. There you are. Oh, sweet babe. I'm going to roll with a disadvantage in front of the board. What's your wisdom score? Can I ask? It's a 16, so plus three. The Aussies is an 11. Okay. Five plus just the proficiency and persuasion. You go, I don't know how she judged, she doesn't know me. I come be lying in back and with the water. Here, here, trade me, trade me, trade me, trade me. I love you. Okay, okay, okay, no, I'm not sleeping, mama's sleeping. Come on, come on, come on. Is Elodie upstairs? Yeah. But Algar is upstairs. Yeah, everyone's upstairs. Okay. They'd love to see you, are you staying? They arrested Mara Weaver, the Cormorant. I was in the hall in the Golden Orchard and Erin Hesse, I was talking to them, like, like the, I mean, they disbanded the Druid at Council. The, the, the, the, hell, they're, they're all, and the Revolutionary Council's not saying anything. Do you, have you heard anything? What, what, what is the Council saying? What are people in Dolmaukia saying? This is the first time I'm hearing about a duro straight here, how long have you been on the road? Two days. You know from the Golden Orchard, that's like a five day trip, minimum. It's a good horse. Good horse. Good horse. Listen, I, I was looking at all those fineries, like, get this off of me. The Loza, Teor, all of them have been called up. Okay. In, in Belladry, they got called up. The Loza sent me a message that, that, the Cagro Tova, the, the High Council in Converse, they, there was a conversation around demonic influence and they were talking about it and they've come out with a ban on warlocks of any kind, traveling on the under road. It doesn't matter. I mean, there are people in Tel Mora who have agreements with the fairies, like, we'll leave out offerings for you and in exchange we get some spells. I mean, it's not, it's, it's a, it's a problem that's this narrow and they're coming, crashing into it like an avalanche. What's Tel Mora gonna do? I don't, I don't know. I talked to Erin S about it and I said, we need, we need to go tell the, the, the Grey Town, we need to tell the Circle of Ancients and she looked at me and said, all right, well, we need to, there's some nuance here. Nuanze, I, I, I, I, I, Loza, Loza wants me to go fight. Now, we should go, we, we fought together in the War of Aks and Vine, we fought together for Tel Mora and now they're turning their backs on the people who, who, who, we, you are, you are fucking with me, right? Look, what, what, what are you talking about? You haven't been married a year. Are you, are, are you, yes. To a literal princess. Well, they're nobles, not royalty. I mean, they're, they're richer than most royalty. Uh-huh, I, I saw the horse. They're doing all right. And you've not been married a year and you're asking me, I'm holding, she's not a year old yet. I, I don't mean, well, I don't mean to, I mean, I'm not, of course, I mean, of course. You're not, I, listen, I love an adventure story as much as the next man, maybe more, but you did your time. Did my time? Look, I understand that, that the war of Axanvion was a, a, a paycheck to you, okay? But that, in that conflict, we were doing something good and the opportunity to do something even, I mean, for God's sake, the Dereodic Consortium just, just outlawed the, the, they're making a registry. I didn't mean to make light of your service, all right, but our father hung up his blade at a point in his life. Tisha. I have three children. Okay. Who depend on me. I have a wife to be, maybe, who is starting a business in this city. Starting a business, my God. You, before, you have a wife, you had another wife who also realizes the severity of the moment we live in. Tisha is out there right now fighting the good fight in a way that none of us can. That's our choice. My choice is the Ramyani. These three specifically, this city specifically. And listen, kid, I watched you choke on blood and mud in the fields when we were boys and you're not a boy anymore. I think I'm going to throw my life away and I just feel less scared if you were with me. So be with me. With the Ramyani, with our people. You'll have a family of your own someday. This, you can have this. There's a little boy and girl upstairs who see the stars in your eyes as much as they see them in mine when they can get those eyes in front of them. You've sacrificed a lot. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I spoke crudely. I want you in my life too. I want you in hers. And I don't want you to bleed anymore. I promise you, I will not be gone from your life, nor hers. I'm going to tell that little girl a joke. One day, I'm going to make her laugh. I'm going to tell her a story about her old man that embarrasses you. I will do it all. I swear. But these moments come and they must be acted on. If I go fight, maybe that's... I can't compel Aronessa while I'm wearing her family's clothes. But maybe if she sees how serious I am, she'll follow. Or she'll see that, you know, she'll tell her old man to... Something might happen and it's now or never. Look, you're my little brother. You make your own decisions. I can't tell you what to do. I've never been able to. I don't see how today's going to be any different. But you could have a life. You could have a life. You hear some shuffling upstairs and coming down the stairs. Elodie with a little nightgown. Hal, everything all right? Oh. Yeah, just a little... She comes over, Theazzy says, hi, sorry to wake you. Comes over, gives her a hug. She looks and says... And she takes her, goes, sits down and starts to nurse and smiles and says, Theazzy, do you need... She says, I got water. She says, do you need anything to eat? Or looks up at you and Theazzy turns to you and says, I should go. Thimble is raising the banners, talking to some old friends. I'm going to go try to rustle up some pals. I love you, you know. Always. Always. I'll try to come back in an hour or two if I can. But if you don't see me again... He looks at the house and just says, A life is a very special thing. I don't know what I have or if it can be said to be a life. Maybe I just have a story. But this is beautiful and I will see it again. He gives you a big embrace. All right, gotta go. Not much time. Hop in and he leaps onto the horse. Theazzy. Yeah? Don't go. I do what I wish. See you next time, brother. And raises up down the street. Memory fades. You, your love, your child. And the vanishing noise of hoofsteps. We'll continue this story of this family and the world they inhabit on tonight's episode of Critical Role. Hello everybody and welcome to the Critical Role announcement playhouse. Laura, you're up. We have stuff. We have three new Critical Role champion dice sets available. We got Ford. We got Yasha. We got Molly. Pull them out. The dice were designed by Lea Rondo. The illustration on this box was by Lisa Frick. It's Liz Art. The packaging design was by Elena Harris. Thank you, Elena. These are so beautiful and so fancy and so sharp. Look at those Molly ones. Natural 20s. Just the third roll. Aren't they pretty? I think the Ford ones are my favorite. I love the Ford ones. This blue color. A natural eight. Don't look. They're sharp. That's all I have. It's an anchor. It's an anchor. 16. That's good. We all continue to dice by ourselves. There's a bag. They also come with a bag. I'm stopping. I have to roll a third time. That's it for our announcement. Thanks for joining us. Go, please. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. And welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role. We return to a brand new table. Who was? We come now to the adventure of our Seekers table. Head in east from the city of Dolmackia. Where it looks like a city of Dolmackia. It's a city of Dolmackia. It's a city of Dolmackia. It's a city of Dolmackia. It's a city of Dolmackia. Dolmackia. Where last we left our adventurers, they had been brought to the east by none other than the Stone of Night song and its role in the destruction of the Palazzo Divinos. Indeed, for the events of the past several days have been pretty harrowing, I would say. The execution of Theazi Fang, a funeral following, Octus being pursued by his family across the city. And an ancient artifact of the Elven people, stolen by Theazi Fang and his constant companion, Thimble, from the Sisters of Cilandre, far north in the Mornvale, pursued all the way to the very doorstep of his brother's home. Stone no longer in the Fang family's confines, we found that it had been taken by the Taconus family to what dastardly ends we cannot possibly say. Merely that we know those ends were foiled by the passionate, heartfelt, and sacrilegious ministrations of one Taisha Loy, who for the first time in her life begged a soul not to travel the paths of reincarnation, to follow the firelit way through the woods beyond, saying it was not the unlad's time. Octus, thinking quickly to remove the stone from his very soul, only to unravel in the Tenebral reaches, instead reconstituting as something not alive under the careful hands of fellow wizard of the Pentevral, Murray Magnessen, and the invisible knife of one Bolare Lathalia, himself no stranger to being an unusual sort of being. Octus awoke in that moment with visions of horrifying aims beyond. The Taconus family, a priestly house of the fallen Obradimian Empire and the destroyed god of the sun, Tansul, held a role opposite the Halevars, the Halevars being a family of light, the Taconuses a family of shadow, preparing for the journey through darkness to arrive in Exara, the promised paradise of the god of the sun. The Taconuses, like all the sundered houses, had to deal with the arrival of the eternal night, but it seemed to have kept busy some rumors saying that they even had a castle in death itself. What's that say? Death itself, something that Sir Julian DeVinos is only too familiar with, having watched his father, his lovers, his house die before the onslaught of the Taconus, who announced aloud that on that very night, the DeVinos and the Royce would fall. It seems that his pronouncement may have been premature, for in the last moment before Octus unraveled, he heard the spectral voice of some predecessor of his family screaming no, some horrifying act of magic foiled. Still, your family, dead, and those beyond Dolmokyar, your sister, your mother, who can say, indeed, word had already reached your family that your caravan had been halted at the eastern edge of the Devalmar Pass. Who knows in how much danger you lie. You've already tried to skirt the Taconus guards that you found at the Devalmar Pass. Things dead, walking once again. Visions of a young orcish man, deep in some subterranean ancient temple of the old Obrademia, connected somehow to the visions of Nightingale's fairy song and death. Things perhaps either poetic or prosaic and nonetheless tried to teach this young wizard something in his last moments in the realm beyond. A druid walks shepherding something dead and a man whose mind is bent towards revenge with a long shadow trailing behind him. We return to Araman in the adventure of the Seekers. It's a complicated group. I don't know what you mean. He's pretty straightforward. Nothing sense to me. No, he's pretty straightforward. At the far eastern edge of the Devalmar Pass stand the mighty towers of Reesengutur, a massive metropolis and the seat of the power of House Einfassen, one of the five Sundered Houses. Approaching it from a distance, you see the craggy summits of the Kavrosi Mountains and see huge architectural monoliths supporting vast craggy towers. This city rests like a belt of stone and firelight, the wall at the western edge of the old Obradimian Empire. These stones were not moved here merely by might but magic as well. It is in so many ways an answer to its sister city on the other side of the pass, Dolnachjar, city of the shield, Reesengutur, the giant's belt, two cities that for thousands of years knew only war and now know something that each celebrates far more. Prophet. Lovely. Trade between these two cities and as you can see the mighty stone towers, the faces of those lords of the ancient Einfassen House, you see amongst the firelight also enormous brass-handled billows. They're coverings in fine rock metal covered in ancient runic script of old Obradimia with huge wheels and cranks, not only portcullises and gates to rise and fall but also cranks to call these billows upon them and you look out and see scatter on the mountain sides around here the erosion of ancient winds for indeed Einfassen known by some as the House of the Western Wind was capable of calling up great storms and mighty clouds. Some say that their ancestors were giants themselves who lived aloft far in the sky and it is those same winds you now feel as a chill breeze here at this high altitude approaching vast and mighty Reesengutur. You see a gate before you, trade streaming in and through. There are some gate guards moving to and fro mostly checking in with people taking names very few carriages are being actually inspected and of course you're not traveling with any cargo so you see that mostly people are giving names to the guards at the gate. As you approach, what do you do? Okay, for the few of us who maybe don't want to mention their last names? That would seem ill-advised. Yeah. It's been a couple days, have you thought of a pseudonym? Right. Let's... I'll have one ready. I'll have one. Oh, you're going to find it in the moment. Yeah, just give me a minute. I didn't even thought about that. I never had to be anybody else. Fair. I just pull my cloak a little tighter around my face unless I see someone I recognize as best perhaps to have a little profile as well. Sorry. Yeah, I... I mean, I'm not that recognizable, am I? Okay, I get it. No, you're good. I'm sorry. I can slice myself. Does he look any different? Upon looking at him, does he seem... Off. Slashed it. Not at night, not far away. I would say under starlight here in the high mountains, the pallid tenor of Octos' flesh doesn't register as particularly noticeable. I do, well, those are the three who did see me when I was still alive, but you will notice that I am a little gaunter than I was. And the eyes have just ever so slightly sort of a glow to them of green, but it could be light. I was mostly worried about Ben. It's the bike. I'll do my best to put him away. He doesn't always stay. Tasha, do you mind interfacing with the guards? Yeah, not a problem. I was just checking in case you wanted to contribute on the trip. I've got it. You good? I'm good. I think our best bet would be if you're our face for the moment. Great. Sounds good. And yeah, we'll kind of just push my horse slightly farther forward. You see these sort of wearing a breastplate and chain mail, holding long pole arms. You see these tall halberds. You see that one of the guards looks up to you and says, Good evening, traveler. Welcome to Riesemgötel. What business brings you to the fair city? I'll just... Passing through on my way farther north, just left Dolmokjar, and I'm going to lower the hood of my cloak. And I think there's just that little bit of ruffle. I don't think I have any insignia of the old path on me. Beyond... Yeah, no, I don't think I have any of it showing, but I'm curious to see how far I can get without having a name drop. Gotcha. So you merely mean to pass through with you and your companions. How many of you are here? Just the four of us. Oh, sorry, five. Oh, five. Thank you. I forgot about Irenaus. The lady Irenaus is with you, yes. Just the five of us. Well, very well. What business takes you north of here once you pass through Riesemgötel? Oh, a lie. I didn't think of one before. Okay, we find it in the moment. Gotta name Druids... You could just see everyone can see her freeze immediately. Meeting of Druids, Druid meeting, meeting of Druids. He looks at you and says, you walk the old path. I do. I do. Then you are in fact a cousin of all of us. Please, this way, my lady. Oh, your name that we might register it. Taishaloi. And those of your companions? Oh, okay. One look over my shoulder to check with Irenaus to see if I should mention her name at all. You see that she looks over and says, Nessa Fang. Great. And this is my cousin, Marco. Marco. Varen. You see that he then looks over at you. Vaelas. We wish all of you a safe stay here in Riesemgötel. The winds are not too bad if you want to make it down the cliffside tonight, but obviously the sun has already set, so feel free to avail yourself. There are plenty of rooms and inns waiting for you here in our fair city. Thank you so much. Thanks. Yes, we go on. You ride through a massive gate and get to the city proper and look, the feeling of vertigo that comes across you as you get through the gate, Riesemgötel exists basically hugging a... The reason the city is so wide is that it's on a shelf of a massive several hundred foot tall series of cliffs that just overlook the landscape falling away past it. So right through the gate you see the roads are dropped down. This little between an eighth to a quarter of a mile strip of city that goes like six miles in either direction, and then just lowlands past it. And as you look down, way, way far away at the edge of the horizon, there's a different kind of night waiting for you. Kind of saddle up alongside Tashui. Well, at least as a trial run for capabilities, we know who to rely on the least. Some of us live dignified lives and don't have to lie like they breathe. Well, if you want to survive, you'll have to learn some new techniques. I look forward to watching your example. I've accomplished a few things in my time. I'm sure you have. Regardless, it is late. We must try and find a safe place to bed down for the night. Arnesa, is there a preferred place, a level of comfort that you would seek as I look towards her? You see she looks and says, oh, we mustn't stay at anywhere we would stay. Oh, yeah, I agree. That's a bad idea. She looks to you and says, this is where they would have stopped the carriages. Looks around at this massive bustling metropolis. We didn't hear where they were stopped, only that they were stopped. I wonder if they would have been stopped at the base of the cliffs or up here. I don't know. At the very least, we should try and find a place to settle. We can rendezvous if need be. Perhaps I can do a few passes to put an eye out in case I can seek the carriages. Around what time is it right now? It's starting to get dark, but has it been dark for a while? Or is it... It's been dark for a while, sunset, probably about an hour and a half. Okay, okay. Go ahead, anyone that wants to, you can give me an investigation check as you look for somewhere out of the way for you guys to rest here in the city. 15. 15. 19. 19. Okay. Riding through the town a little bit, you look off in a corner and see a little sort of sign hanging over. It's right on a tiny little alleyway past the main drake, but you do see travelers coming out of it. And as you look, seeing a small dull sign that reads the shepherd's shelter, and it looks more like a, almost like a hostel, than it looks like an inn. Maybe that. You're pointing at something I don't see behind the barn for people, yes? No, that's what I'm pointing at. Yeah, okay. If you wanted somewhere where we wouldn't look like we should stay there. I didn't say that, though I agree. Yeah, okay. Just ready to be out. Approaching, you see there is a little door. There is no common room, no place for drinks. There is simply a small counter behind which there are some scrolls and keys hanging from a hook, and a basically almost spiral, it's so narrow and short. Like, it's a normal staircase, but the landings are like five or six enormous, tall steps up, and then it switches back around. This place is sort of completely vertical in, for the most part. And you see there's an old man, enormous gray mutton chops around, a little tight vest, clearly a vest that has gotten only tighter with each passing year as he turns around and says, Hello, welcome to the shepherd's shelter, I'm Otto. Would you like to sit there? Hello. Yes, we'd love to get some rooms. Or places, sorry, places to sleep. Very well, we have a bed that two can squeeze into. There is only one room available, but I also have bedroll for rent. If everybody has to sleep, probably going to have to have been in turns. We'll take the bedrolls you have available, we'll take the chambers. Very well, that will be one silver piece. Beeming! Puts it away. And two copper for the bedroll. You see Erin has to sort of pat her dress and goes, Copper. Give two copper. You haven't seen a copper. Otto hands you a bedroll that is just straight up rolled, it's a mattress about that thick, rolled up in a roll, stained, and says, Welcome to Risengirdel. I hope you enjoy your stay. Thank you. There are many taverns and places of libation, refreshment and merriment in the neighborhood, so avail yourself at your discretion. Which one do you recommend? I would recommend, well it depends, are you hungry or are you thirsty? Yes. Well, if you are both hungry and thirsty, I would say a couple garden is the one that is, they have some incredible delicacies there. Okay. Nurtured, thank you very much for your aid. You guys go up, the room is about twice as big as the table we're at right now. Oh, great. I don't need to rest, so. And I can't. Yes, so. Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. Well, it's more applicable than initially thought. Yeah. Honestly, kind of a boon. Yeah. Do you still eat? I haven't tried. Drink? Anything? Do you feel hungry? No. So I'm taking that as a little bit of a sign. Sure. It's been days. Oh, yeah. The other good part of sleep is it helps track time. All right, well let's try food and drink. Yeah. This is bad. But a couple garden sounds nice. Sure, sure. It seems you can get both there. Put a bit of food into my stomach, and then perhaps Arnesa might maybe do a perimeter pass and see if I might be able to seek out her, make a visual on any familiar characters. She nods and says, I think that wise Trillian, are you sure that that is wise to do alone? It is fastest to do alone, per chance. With respect, Trillian, I believe each of our companions is capable of sensing magic, which we must suspect may be involved in whatever happened. Pick your buddy. Veles. I had a feeling it would be me, and I was the owner. It was going to be me. It was not going to be you. I would love to help you. Very well. Those of us who can enjoy the delights of a break, let us fill our bellies, as least as much as needed, then we will do our pass. Lady. Is this a room, or is it just like an alcove? There is one bed in here. There's a door. There's a door into the space. There is a window. The window is looking at the exterior wall of the building next to this building, and the distance between buildings is about 11 inches. Got it. Open the window, just reach out, touch that other wall. Great. Veles, we can leave things here and lock the door. I assume we're given a key to... You were given a key to your room. Aranessa looks and says, I don't know how safe we are. Absolutely not. Where are our horses? Where are our horses? Where did my go? You see, Aranessa looks and says, I'll take care of the horses. Okay, it's all right. She walks downstairs with you and says, Tasha, would you just bring some food back for me there? I don't... Sure. I think the truth, Octus, is I know that your condition is very frightening, but also you've been in Dolmachiar for five years, and you don't look like you're 15. I think that you will be able to pass a little bit more unseen than I would. People will recognize me. Yeah, that makes sense. How old are you? I'm 20. Never seem ridiculous to you, huh? Not ridiculous, just... Very, very young. Yeah. I get to be 20 forever, though. That was funnier in my head. 20 forever, if only. Well, Aranessa, if you do not require any sort of immediate guard, we will retrieve for you something to fill your stomach and perhaps see if we can gather some information within this cobble garden before we make our pass. You don't have a danderalogy, right? A danderalogy? Mm-hmm. No, I don't have any allergies. Okay, so I'm going to summon Hala into this tiny room. Just a deer with kind of strange, almost like metallic, vein-like antlers. It's just going to give a little respectful bow to Aranessa and then go into the corner and just kind of tuck themselves. Ooh, beautiful. What's her name? Hala. Hala. Hi, Hala. She reaches out and scritches under the chin. She walks downstairs with you guys and walks over to your five horses and you see that she goes over, looks around. This place doesn't have any hitching posts because it doesn't assume people are going to come up with anything. So you see she looks and just goes... Tree branches flow from her wrists and a small number of apples appears as she starts to hand them to the horses and starts to whisper into their ears. And you see the horses just sort of clop down the street a little bit and she just sort of puts their reins like over a small, unlit wall sconce and just leaves them there, doesn't know how to tie them. She says, I know how to talk to horses, but I can't tie knots. And then... I love her so much. And then... they'll stay. So if you just call for them if you need them. And she walks back upstairs. Take care of yourself, Julian. I'm counting on you. Of course, my lady. They're just going to stay there? I don't know. That should be... Well, if we... You want to ask them? Yeah. Yeah. I just tied their reins to the post. He tied them to the post. What if they want to go? What if they call them now they can't come? Yeah, exactly. Gently tied them. It's more of a fake knot. It's like he tied them with an apartment. It's an opera. It's a placebo knot. Hard enough it'll... We're gonna regret that later. Probably not. Around the corner, you see that there's some lively music coming from a well-lit area. It has warm, many-candled chandeliers inside. Long banquet tables, unlike Domacchiar that has a lot of, like, finer dining establishments. This place seems very folksy. Long banquet tables, you see there appears to be a culture where people are talking to other groups of people inside that they did not come here with because everything is like... The tables are too large for any one party to take up a majority of it. And you see there's a massive banquet counter in the back with huge open flame ovens and stones that people are cooking on the fire and just serving things up. You also see that no one at the food area is taking any money. It appears that all the food is free and people are paying for the ale over at this massive wall of oak and barrels. You see that there are huge wooden tankards coming up that are being pounded in front of people, big foamy heads of ale here. You see that there are a number of people in and around that are human, dwarven, and a lot of people that you actually say have human and dwarven parentage that appear to be, like, have a shared interest in this big brewers counter. There are many different dwarven clans sort of imprints on the barrels and many different human houses on the barrels than people are going to be ordering from different ones of them. Hung over the barrels on top is an enormous horn. It appears to be a natural formed horn, but it's about five feet long. And you see that it hangs over there and there is a bell hanging next to it with a rope that goes down behind the bar. And you see that it appears to be that people are just sitting here feasting, drinking, talking to each other. What do you guys do? There are many also double doors coming into this massive sort of, like, garden of tables here. What do you think you have to do to get them? I just want to blow up a horn. I'm a little curious about it as well. This is exactly what we should do when we're keeping a little profile in a new town. Okay. Blow a five-foot horn? Yeah, it's a great idea. Is there any table or any space that looks like we could sit without having to immediately brush shoulders with any of the locals? Unfortunately, no. This is a place that is dedicated to brushing shoulders with strangers. Do you want to say anything? Like, you want to send out the outside of the table and then we can kind of fill in and you can keep you... That is fine, yes. At some point, you have to stop carveling him. He has to learn how to be around people. I don't know what else to do. We could also see if we could take food with us to the room. Oh, yeah. I think if we buy enough alcohol, we can kind of just do what we want. I approach the alcohol and liquor distribution table. Excuse me. Excuse me. Yeah, what do you have? Do you have any, like, red cabernets? Perhaps any... Preferably of the red wine... Cabernets? You're doing great. Keep going, Marco. What do you have? Oh, to serve. Yes. Well, we have the Vorkshiff Ale, which has just come in. There is an Einfassen Lager, as well as the... Oh, there is a very fine Kavrosi Stout. You will not need food if you have the Kavrosi Stout. I trust you. Okay, one strongest, please. He pours a jet black beer into a stein that foams up. You just get a smell of sourdough rushing out of this thing. He puts it in front of you. And you see that, yeah, as the sort of bubbles come over the side, crosses over your hand, whatever they're doing, these barrels, it is ice cold. It has been quite a number of years since I've enjoyed the gentler folks' environments. Yeah, you are calling us the gentile folk. Listen, what's about to happen to you will not be gentile. I like the way you talk. How much do I owe you? Don't worry about it. And I go ahead and just put a gold piece under the counter in history. You see, he claps and you see they come over and says... He snaps a hand over at the food people and says, please, help yourself to a full tray. Thanks. All right, gesture over. You guys will go over, oh, God, the food looks delicious here. You see, there's a huge haunch of some beef that's just been perfectly roasted, that's being sliced off in these thin strips. And there are these massive traybakes that look like a chicken and apple cobbler, like richly spiced with like cinnamon. And there's like a little smell of some kind of cooking alcohol in there as well. They could slid across to you. And you guys, for a gold piece, can eat like kings here in this moment. Do me a favor, everyone, and make a perception check for me if you'd be so kind. Oh, no. That's cock. Oh, wow. 14. 26. 26. 9. 9. 24. 24 and 26. Even that sourness, that one, which I want so badly. Honestly, that sounds delicious. We're going to roll a, I assume you guys are eating and drinking here. The drinks certainly can't travel with you. Correct. Yeah, we can eat here. So yeah, you guys sit down at a table and begin to eat. We're going to roll in front of the board. Oh, no. You don't want, I'm going to say four or lower is really, really bad. Eight and lower is worse. Eight and lower is not as bad. So like five to eight, higher the better. You want a nine or higher. Okay. That's a five. Raymond. Valus and Taisha. Walking around the corner, you see the windows are massive and they're mostly reflecting candlelight from the chandeliers, but looking out, you can't help but notice a small contingent of Halavar soldiers around the corner with a carriage trailing behind them. And it pulls to a stop outside of this tavern. Okay. The pork slabs are actually better than I expected. Yeah. I'm going to tap you and gesture at what I clearly have both stiffened in the same way. Yeah. Should we stay or should we go? How much do we need to fear the Halavars now? Halavars are here? Don't look over there. Don't look over there. I'm sorry. I'm just going to try to sort of, what's the word I'm looking for? Make myself big body block. Yeah. Thank you, Octus. I'm just sort of get a little closer and just sort of just to cover him a little. So I see that I'd follow your conversation and glance out there. I'm actually going to break from the group and try and kind of vanish into another part of the crowd and just keep eyes between. Go ahead and give me stealth. Okay. It's going to be an 11. I will burn a second wind to use my tactical mind to add the attend to that, too. That's better. I'm going to make it to a 15. A 15? Okay. As you walk in, we're going to see how good a 15 does here. Very cool. Okay. You see walking through the front doors, a couple of Halavar soldiers come in. These are interesting because these are not, the Halavars are so intermingled with the Candescent Creed, but you see that this is not technically a part of the creed. This is not part of the larger religion. It is specifically the family, House Halavar. Stepping in, you see that there is what looks to be like a couple of Guardian soldiers, Tabards with the house symbol on. They walk over, not unusual to see any of the Thundered Houses walking around, especially in a place like this that's off the main drag in Riesem Gerdl. There is a beautiful young woman dressed in the manner of a Lux, meaning a church or chapel leader within the Candescent Creed. She walks in, anyone who wants to can give me an insight check. It hurts your die. Cannot roll with you tonight. 21. 7. Natural one. 11. You see this young Lux walks in, walks over, pays for some drinks for the soldiers, takes a nun herself, but walks over and gets a truly ridiculously diminutive slice of this little chicken and apple cobbler. And walks in, her short hair is almost platinum blonde and curls lightly around her head. She sits at the table that you guys are sitting at and just looks around and goes, Is it alright if I eat at this table? I'm not sure who to ask. Please, please go ahead, yeah. Oh, thank you. That pleases her. Almost candle feast. Yeah. That's candle feast. May the beam reach you, sorry. And with the... What is candle feast? Candle feast is a celebration, a celebration of the light and its place in all of our lives. The... Well, actually, you see she pushes the plate to the side and says, Have you heard the news about the light? Oh, do tell me. Well, I'm a Lux of the Candescent Creed, and I'm traveling here with some soldiers on my way to Venatus in the Eternal Dark to help spread the word of the light and its ability to reach all of us. There are many that have been left adrift and lost in a world where money is the only source of worship and where the tall statues of the gods have all been torn down, and there is a power truer than the gods, and it is the power from whence the gods drew their power, and it is a light that fills each and every one of us. What are you doing in town? Traveling with a caravan of filament of the light's blessing that is headed on its way to the ancient city of Venatus, deep in the Eternal Night. It's very dangerous there. Not worried? In Venatus? Yeah. Is it dangerous? It's an eternal... Have you ever been? Well, it's the dark that we're bringing the light there. Yeah, that makes sense. Octus has been sitting in front of a plate of food, and now that there is someone who does not know him there, he feels obligated to make it look like... So he has put food in his mouth and is chewing it around. It doesn't taste like anything, and he swallows it. Are there any ill effects for me eating? Someone is pushing down lightly inside of your body and your stomach, and you just feel the pressure of the food sitting there. It's like you had another hand you didn't know about that's now just holding wet food. Okay, good. God, don't die. It's bad. What a description. And so it just kind of swallows and then... That answers that. I started just watch it go down and throat with concern. And then, yeah, yeah. Your mouth is much drier now, and it doesn't just make new saliva unless you figure out how to do that. Oh, God. Yeah, bring the light to the darkness. That makes perfect sense. I'm so sorry. I did not recognize that you were a follower of the old path, and I didn't mean to... You are perfectly at home here. There's so many thoughts and philosophies, all breaking bread at one table. It's lovely to meet you. Taisha. Tamara. Tamara. Um... Your staff is metal and wood. It is. Are you a member of the Loy family? Yeah, I am. Yes, hi. That's very exciting. Do you spend any time in Dolmogiar? Yes, yes, I'm from Dolmogiar. Oh, oh. Amazing. Are you... Is your last name Halevart? Is that okay for me to ask? No. No, no, no, no. My last name is not Halevart. No, no, no. Um, the... But the... I just... I mean, the Loys are the most important family in Dolmogiar, the history of Dolmogiar. But the... No, my last name is not Halevart. I got to meet one of the Halevars recently, which was really exciting. Which one? The Lord Wiccander Halevart. With the minty hair. Yes. Was his... Ooh, and now this is Taisha searching a very drunk memory for what Tyranny's title was. Mm-hmm. Was his astringent with him when you got to meet him? I think it... Aspirant. I think that's what I said. Aspirant? Oh, I never gotten to meet an aspirant. They're supposed to be incredible. I mean, they're demons that have been shown the power of the light. Yeah, apparently. I've never had the luxury of seeing one. I've seen one she was lovely. Really? Mm-hmm. Wait, which one did you meet? Tyranny. Wow, I've never known any of their names. It's a funny name. Tyranny. Wait, wait. But you're not a member of the creed? I'm not. Did you... Was she pursuing the old path? No, no. But as a lull, you get to be in rooms with all sorts of people, and we just happened upon each other while we were all in town. You see that she says, wow, that's amazing. What was she like? Was she scary or frightening? How would you describe her? I didn't meet her. Yeah. Loud but devout, saying a hymn about the light at a decibel that was concerning, but other than that lovely. Did you meet Tyranny? I don't believe I had the pleasure. Maybe... Briefly. Maybe I saw her. Maybe I saw her. No. What did you think of? I was going to start. While this is happening, if I can, now that they're at least they're engaged, I'm going to take a little bit of food that I had already set aside for Aronessa and try and scoot out the back to go find her and let her know that there is hail of our presence nearby, just in case. You scoot out the back, give me stealth, and also give me perception as you get out there. That's better. That is... 24 stealth. Let's go. And 17 perception. 17 perception. You see the carriage, you see where your hostel is, and you have your food at the ready. Where you are, you can go warn her. You also realize that you have a very hidden van. It's completely dark back in this alley that you're in, and that the carriage is very well lit in this moment, and you're actually getting a view through a window in the back of the carriage. You see that... As you are standing here, do you want to move immediately, or do you stay a minute here to look at the carriage? If I realize I have this moment to try and analyze what has arrived, I'm going to try and analyze as much as I can, so at least I have what I can tell her. Back inside, you've got the food there already. Back inside, you see that Tamer just looks at you and says, That's amazing. Well, if I ever get the chance to meet Lord Hale-Avar. He said you got to meet Lord Wiccander, right? Yeah, if I ever get the chance to meet him again, I didn't get to make a really good impression, but I'm sure you did great. Yeah. That's really nice. He seems easily impressed. Did you meet the Lord Wiccander as well? I did. Well, how would you meet the Lord Wiccander? Wait, where did you meet the Lord Wiccander at Hale of Virentyranny? At my estate. Oh my gosh. That's got to be so exciting to actually have them in your home. That's excellent. Did Julian leave their beer? I think so, probably, right? Yeah, I'll just just reach his oeber and slides the beer over to him, and it drinks some of it. I just keep noticing him taking in food. Give me a perception check. Okay, there's a reason. Okay, perception, that is going to be a 14. The front of your clothes is getting wet. Oh. Noted. So you said you were traveling with Filament? What does that mean? Filament is a sacrament of the Candescent Creed. It is the light made manifest through the glory of House Hale of Virentyranny, and it is very special, and it's a way for us to go into the middle of the darkness and bring the light, and it's an honor to be able to do so. Is there any universe where you could show... I've never seen Filament in any amount before. Well, you have. Well, where? The Lord of the Canders face. The tattoos are... The tattoos are... Filament, yeah. Oh! That's amazing. Do you have any? Do you have two with the Filament? Mm-hmm. They literally glow. She looks out and says, I just want to say that I... It's really wonderful to know that the aspirants are making such a good impression. I have always believed, but that's really special, and I can't believe that you were able to meet them. I'm sorry, I'll leave you to your dinner. I didn't mean to interrupt. No, you're fine, you're fine. No, I still want to see the Filament. Can I offer you a blessing on the rest of your journey? I just want to see what it comes in. Sure. Yeah. You see that she takes out a small bottle of, like sort of a metallic flask and opens it in light to spills out of it. That's so cool. Wow. Does it smell like anything? I'm gonna smell it. Give me perception. 16. It smells like nothing, totally odourless. Where does this come from? I don't understand. Well, the light comes from the cosmos. It comes from all around. It suffuses everything. Darkness is not the presence of darkness. It is the absence of light, and light is everywhere. So there's no darkness. Right. You see that she says, it's really lovely to meet all of you. Everyone who wants to give me an insight check. Yes. Okay. 19. 23. 23. The sentence that was just said that was gibberish was gibberish, and it was completely invented. That is not from... She stands up. She's hit plus date, I get it. She stands up and says, I've already finished my... I wasn't that hungry, but I just wanted to make sure that my men had something to drink. I'm just gonna reach out and grab her hand. And just whisper a few words in juridic. She was genuinely quite nice. And just a small blessing that the road is a little less rocky on their way there, because I think she has no idea what she's about to see when she gets to Vinodas. I'm not gonna warn her. Thank you for that blessing. Thank you for the lovely conversation. Have a wonderful time of reason, girdle, and may the light bless you. And I hope... Sorry, what was your name? Oh, oh, sorry, Varen. Varen, hi, Varen. Well, I hope you have a wonderful time at Candle Feast, and you're always welcome in any chapel of the Candescent Creed. She walks out. Julian, outside. I'm leaking. The stitches in the front of your body, the cavity that was opened inside of you, and you're realizing that whatever was done when your brother was moving the stone into your body or when he cut you open, something has ruptured in there. Okay, that needs to be taken care of. Julian, a young woman gets into the carriage, a young Luxe gets into the carriage. As she closes the door behind her to sit down, the young woman closes the door, and by the time she has settled into her seat, two enormous horns extend from her head in silhouette in the back of the carriage as the carriage pulls away. Okay. Poe the horn. It does not, to me, make any sort of motion or activity in the direction of the hostel that we have taken up the evening. It does not move in the direction of the hostel. The coast is clear. Okay, then I will actually, at this point, head back in to check it on the rest of you and saunter back up to the side of the table. Why are you talking to her so much? I don't know. I'm not supposed to be the one who's calling this out. Okay. What do we have to worry about? Some weird young Luxe that's about to go get her ass handed to her? Do we know that's who she is? Julian approaches the table. So... Where'd you... Speaking of this one, I do not think how she presented herself was her true nature. Okay. Say more. It grabs a napkin and starts putting it inside of your shirt. What's going on here? You'd make a stronger point if you weren't leaking. Can you not? It's still... I'm realizing now that I'm still open to the elements. So liquid is pouring out of my chest right now. Okay. Well, then we're all having an interesting night. You know, the Hilovirus have been... dabbling with... demonic... pacts and handshakes in their attempts to redeem what is seen as unredeemable. But this entity, when she returned to her carriage, seemed to have her own horns. So, like a lot of things as of late, I don't trust anything on the surface. This should be noted and kept close. Well, she knows you're a Taishaloi. Well... That she sort of guessed before we... How much did you tell her? Too much. Fantastic. I'm going to get some food to Lidia and Ernesa, and other than I think we should get an evening's rest and we should be on our way very soon. Yeah, I need to figure out how to close myself up. Yeah. When we step outside, I can try something. Yeah, yeah. Is there like a back exit to like an alley or something behind this place? Yeah, for sure. Okay, because I need to get some things out of me. Do you not want to just handle it in the room? I don't want to throw up in the room. You wouldn't be the first. Yeah. Gotcha. I'm just sitting in my stomach right now. That's disgusting. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah, me too. I'm going to wipe... Would you come with me? I'll cast Pass Without Tracing the Squad. No idea. As you guys pass without tracing the squad... The quietest part. You are all able to move out of their sight unseen. Actually, I will ask for a group stealth check. Okay, as you guys all move out of there. Adding plus 10 for Pass Without Tracing. 31. 31 for Julian. That's crazy. 29. 29. 23. 23. 14. 14. On a group... I'm very consistent. On a group... I'm very consistent. I'm very tall. Are you wearing heavy armor? Nope. On a group stealth, you guys... I don't know how that happened again. You guys all move out of their sight unseen. Julian, you're the first to head back to the room. Aronessa looks up and says, How was it? Well, here is some food, and we've encountered the Helovirus, making their way in a similar direction as to us. Seemingly of shielded, or at least carefully hidden, demonic presence within their inks as well. What do you know of the Helovirus, and what has become of our houses of late? Do you think they are tied in with all of this? Yes. I mean, yes. The Helovars are. I don't think the Helovars are... You are... The Taconus and the Helovars do not play the same game. But they are both dangerous. I think that the Helovars are very likely working with the Taconuses. I have no reason to doubt that they are. I spent a day waiting to speak to the Fotark of the Candescent Creed and was denied. Looking back, did they refuse to have a meeting with me, because there's no point talking to a dead woman? Maybe. I have no way to know. Do they know that her Taishaloi is present? I'm in a alleyway. Yeah. Julian, she says, do we need to leave right now? I thought you'll leave, my lady. If you can, look for our wagons if they're here. If... Very well. Veilas? Is she in the alley with him? Yeah, yeah. You can return to go get Veilas, I think. So... Octus goes outside. The reason for drinking the beer was to have liquid in his stomach in order to then expel everything that is inside of him. Cool. Um, so he... Oh, I don't know what to say. Do you want me to hold your hair back? Please. I don't know if this is going to work. And he sticks his fingers into his mouth. Give me a constitution saving through difficulty 10. Uh, five. You stick your fingers into the back of your throat. And what would normally create a feeling of intense discomfort or a retching feels as clinical and exploratory as if you were preparing a chicken for dinner. Great. Okay, so, yeah. And he sticks his hand into, between the stitching that is holding him closed and tries to find the hole. Veilas just puts a hand on a wall. Taking care in this moment, you undo the stitching. As you reach inside, yes, your stomach is split, so liquid is going to fall out of your stomach. He just tries to scoop out what's in there. He puts it on the ground. As you scoop out what's in there, your entrails fall out and you do experience a numb ache. And effectively, something inside you feels sore, like how a back or a muscle gets sore. So pain is not gone. Well, I can feel something. That's good. And I try and clean it as best I can and put everything back in. Taking it out and putting it all back in, you realize, you actually do take three points of bludgeoning damage. I think as you dump it on the floor, you realize you are being a little too careless with the one and only body you will ever have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, learning, learning. The intestines hit the ground fine. The issue is because you were pulling your stomach out, you feel a tug on the back of your throat as your stomach hangs out, pulling your esophagus down into your neck and the weight of that hurts something in you. Okay, I support it from the bottom, clean myself out, put it back in, put everything back in. I kind of generally know how, where everything's supposed to go. I've done enough autopsies. Put everything back inside, close it up, or just... At what point of this do I arrive? I think in the middle of pulling the intestines back in. Don't do it like that. Was there something you were going to do? I was going to try something that I don't think is going to work. I'm going to try. I don't know how much worse I can get. I'm going to try and lay on hands. You perform lay on hands here in this moment and as you do so, the harm that has happened in your throat, that is mended. You feel the way that that is mended is essentially almost like how you would prepare a cadaver for like a viewing or a funeral. It is a mending of tissue that was torn, but I think you can see that the state that that returns you to is not the state of your life, but the state of your reanimation. The injuries in your... Okay. Thank you. It helped a little. I'm understanding. This is actually incredibly useful that you did that. Really? Why? I now know that I can be healed, but only to the exact point where I died. So this stays this way. But the damage I did to myself just now, you fixed. Which is great. So you'll always have a hole? Apparently. I'll just have to sew it up tighter. Maybe get some adhesive? adhesive, can I make an adhesive that'll... This is very interesting. I'll take you to this point and we'll be in steps out of the shadows after watching the last episode of this transpire and come and just... Hi. There is, we haven't much time. We'll get to the horses and we'll do a run around the perimeter of this house looking for this city, looking for the lost caravan that me and the lady were seeking but a number of days back. You... Just push yourself together and find Taisha. I'm trying. Okay, thank you. I'll see you when you're done. He closes, well, he causes his coat back up. The shirt is still kind of, I'm still wearing the same clothes. Okay, he prestigitates to clean any of the food or anything that was on him off. He closes his coat and goes back to the hostel and just goes, okay, so if I can make an adhesive that'll seal me up, maybe something permanent and is just running through ideas and is heading out to fix a problem. Julian and Vaelis, you guys are taking off into the city. Yeah. What's Taisha doing? Tailing the hail of our carriages to see if they're actually leaving the city in the direction of Venatus. You see that the carriage is not heading towards Venatus. It is heading towards a large, can-descent cathedral. Oh, sure. Okay. Just to get a little perimeter check around there, does it look like they're stopping there because it's the last waypoint or is there a gathering that's happening? Give me stealth and perception. All right, it's a 23 for stealth and an 18 for perception. On an 18 for perception, the carriage pulls up to the front of the cathedral. A number of armed, can-descent guards come out and a full aspirant demon walks out of the carriage. No, Tamara. Fun. Steps out, walks up the cathedral. You see a tall long horns walks up. The gates open and you hear a, ow, as a blue demon aspirant at the door looks out with another demon aspirant beside her. I think on that perception check, you hear one of them say, get up. Did you find anything? You see the tall demon approaching says, sister, I have one of the lois. The lois is here in the city and has seen our wayward sister. Oh, I want to keep hearing this conversation, so I'm going to wild shape. This one is a like black, like melanated full black snake that looks like it's got like an oil slick effect on it. So I can stay in the shadows and in the dark. I just want to keep hearing them talk until they get to a building. I'm not going to follow them into a building. In the doorway they're speaking, you see they're, it looks like they're not going to go into a building at all. You stay hidden in the shadows. You see the one known as enmity says, we've come on the right trail. I think that there was a young man within them. I saw a flicker of green light in his eyes. And there was a, an elven warrior. I think it may well have been tyranny and wiccander in disguise. Snake does this little like thing. I don't know, that's just me laughing. I laugh in snake. So you see that, you see the demon you would know is, you would not know as cruelty says, so what do we do now? And you see this is, we find, l'oi, use your gift, determine if those in her company are disguised or are other travelers. We, we may well have chosen right. And you see that she says, okay, where are they? She sees this at one of the beer gardens elsewhere in the city. Come with me now. And you see the three of them go down to the carriage and the carriage begins to peel back out looking for a capital garden. Sweet. Immediately doubling back and yeah, headed back to our like terrible room and the moment I get within 100 feet so I can like connect with my fine familiar, Holla stands up and is like trying to get everyone's attention. Awesome. Well, I've gone back to the room, not finding Tisha there, but not really knowing. It's a good idea for me to go out to say I think I stayed there, but I did send pin out to go look and just look for you, but stay hidden and stay out of the way. Great. I can only look into it within 100 feet, so I'm just going to trust that it will come back when it finds something. So I'm just in there with Aranessa. Valus and Julian, I'm going to need a group investigation check. 17. 15. 15. Julian, as you make your way out into the city with Valus, where would it occur to you to look for these carriages? Where do you think your instincts would take you based on what you're trying to find? I think initially I would be looking for, given the familial context, initially it would be charging past any upscale regions of the town where any house-roist adjacent allies might be stationed or places that would be a welcome intermediary position within the city if for whatever reason they had to stay back. Gotcha. On that 15 investigation, traveling past that trace still active, you look and find some waystations here. There is a very small manor house that is kept here by the Royce family. It's not even advertised. It's more of a secret place that they keep. Stopping by there, you don't see any wagons outside. Okay. There are no lights on in the interior. But on that investigation, I think, so the innocent explanation, which is that they were just stopped or didn't come, that sort of vanishes. On a 17, Valus, is there anywhere that you would think to look for either carriages or the people that were traveling with them, bringing up the rear of this caravan? I mean, nothing that I can think of of just the major streets. The major streets and thoroughfares. I think as you look for major streets, you, on that 17, you do look out and see that there are several massive courtyards near this major gate. House Einfassen, this is their sort of seat of power, and there is a massive castle not too far from the central descent over the cliff's edge. On a 17, looking at major thoroughfares, space is at such a premium in this narrow belt of a city high in the mountains. And one of the things that the wealthy like to do, and the important and the aristocratically powerful like to do, is whatever is rare, they like to show that they have. And space is one of those. Elevated, sort of slightly above the rest of its neighborhood, you see that there is a circular wall of a Einfassen courtyard. In your search through that night, the major gate opens at a certain point, and on that 17, to sort of showcase again, like here, high in the mountains, where every inch is accounted for, your hostel is basically all rooms stacked one on one on one going straight up. Look at this vast and mighty courtyard as this gate opens up, and I'll ask each of you to give me a perception check in this moment. Ugh. So close to a 20. 16. 11. 11. Vaelas, looking along the main thoroughfares, you get to this large Einfassen holding. There are about seven carriages in the side of the courtyard. None of them with horses drawn to them, and you recognize carriages of Royce and Davinos in that train. I, yeah, go ahead and tug your attention over in that direction. At least you've located the resting place of the caravan that never made it to Dermakia. Do we see any other movement around there? Are they just kind of stationary and- No guards. The Biond station is over there. I think on that high perception roll as well, Julian. Sinister, beyond means where are your family's horses? Where are the guards? Where is everybody? And also, the things that were being taken up by that rear caravan were supplies. So it was food and equipment and clothing and all this other stuff that follows in a train behind the main entourage. Aranessa wanted to ride ahead because the Ozzy's life was hanging in the balance. So all the slower stuff had to come up behind her in this rear caravan. And all of those boxes are still there. There's all this gear. You can give me an insight check if you want more than that, but fundamentally all of the stuff, the horses are gone, but all the stuff is still there. You want to get a closer look? I do, I do, I do. It's dangerous, but I do. Lead on, Velis. Let's see how close we can get. I am going to ask for one of you to roll a 1D4. This is just a little luck check for how long pass without trace lasts. I don't want to do it, I don't want to do it. Matt, go for it. Hey. Two, three, and four are your friends here. We just don't want to roll a one. Great. Four. Four. Great. That's good, that's good, right? The gate is open and each of you walks in the shade of trees that do not grow here on this mountainside. Going to leap from tree shadow to tree shadow. I've been trained in the ways of guerrilla warfare, you being a trained elf, try and keep up. Okay, you're a trained elf. Trained elf. Yeah, just put me on a leash. Go ahead and give me a stealth check and add that plus 10 to pass that place. It trains very well. That's 20, 27. 27, 28, and go ahead and give me a stealth check remembering to add plus 10. Oh, it got through that. Yeah, that's a natural one. Natural one, hell yeah. Shouldn't have brought me. Lies. I embrace the bad rolls. Yes, it will help us in some type of way. As you enter this place, you are walking behind a carriage in this place. As the carriage comes past with two torches on the front, it casts a shadow behind it and you just step into the shadow of that carriage and vanish. As you walk through, the carriage moves its way in and from a tall tower of this castle veil us the minute one of your feet passes the threshold, you hear a horn blasting, meaning you do not know. But you see that guards begin to approach the carriage, which has stopped in its tracks. We cannot be cut up in this. We have to go. This is your moment to peel back if you so wish. Yes. You see that the carriage opens as it comes in. You see this carriage that appears to be carrying some sort of produce or other sort of like food into the castle. You see a guard approaches and looks out and says, Driver, would you tell me why the horn of Al'Keeb is blowing to warn of those servants of dark and malevolent forces? Do you come bearing the word of demons? Or you see the driver says, My Lord, I, you see the guy reaches up, grows about four feet taller, grabs the driver and clocks him scattering teeth with a gauntlet at hand across the ground. Take him in chains and throws him to the ground, says, Strip the wagon, tear it apart. And they begin to disassemble this. Now, veil us, you don't know why you triggered that alarm. And you watch this noble knight. He's about 10 and a half feet tall at this point in time. What did I do? Why you make that man big? Why you make him big? Now, from the Davinos and House Royce interactions with Ayn Fawzen, is there any aspect of my understanding of their histories to, is this like a giant heritage pushing out? Like what I understand, what is happening here? Give me history DC10. Yeah, that'll be 19. The Ayn Fawzen draw their, there are different stories of the heritage of their house. Their house is very old, much older than the Obradimian Empire. But it is a, some say that they are the children of the Western Wind, but there are older legends that you would have heard on a 19 that the Western Wind was the battle name of an ancient giant who was themselves the child, first generation child of the primordial of wind. That there was a like cloud dwelling giant that was the progenitor of the Ayn Fawzen family. So in the same way that Royce holds this heritage of the fey, the Ayn Fawzen are like the children of giants. Okay. So yeah, I just look back to be honest. Whatever this is happening here, this is beyond our understanding at the time being, and to push on would be folly. Let's take what we've seen here and allow the lady to know and should we have to return to find more information we can, but the two of us right now, this is too dangerous. We'll start taking off. You were proven in place as well. I'll say in the 19 history too, wondering if something more sinister is happening. Your understanding, the way that you have always dealt with the Ayn Fawzen, which are a house equivalent in power to Royce if the doors of Ferry were still open, right? Is that wondering if something very sinister is going on here? Maybe, but also it's not out of character for this noble knight to strike this peasant in this way. The lack of better word stereotype you would have about the Ayn Fawzen is that they are the most polite house right up until the moment they knock your brains onto the floor with a massive hammer. That there is no intermediary. There is very rarely an insult paid by the house, but their threshold for violence is unbecomingly sooner than other houses. There's no orange. It's green, red. Yeah, got it. I'm just going to rock, rock, rock the house. As a revertry, I just look to you, Bayless Mike. I have seen in a short time tonight hidden horns and a violent retort of two different powerful-sundered houses. There is more going on here beyond the shadows of the conness, and I would just like us to be careful. I agree. Octus, you were trying to the room with Nessa, who's eating some of the food that Julian brought. Is it good? Did you not have any? Oh, I'm so sorry. No, it's fine. I did. I just can't taste it. Your hearing's fine, right? Yeah. She reaches into a bag and just takes out a small thumb piano and sits there for a while and says, Spin Amad, and just starts playing a little tune on it. It says, is music still nice? Yeah. It's good. Yeah, it is. I'm going to be facing away from you and I'm going to be doing something. I need you not to look at what I'm doing, but I do like the music and it is helpful. Great. Okay. You've explained everything you need to, and I'm not. I know that I'm a lady of a sundered house, but you, I would ask a favor of you. Sure, sure. Yeah. Please do not ever feel reproachful of yourself or your current condition in my presence. I think you are doing something phenomenally brave that has not been asked of to my knowledge any other. And if you are, if you are hiding it to spare me from perhaps a ghastly sight, then I appreciate that, but please do not do it on embarrassment or reproach for yourself. I really appreciate that. I am doing it to spare you looking at my intestines. I'm not bothered by that. And I think that if you would like privacy, that's yours to have and you've got to fix your intestines. So he goes over to his, like a little, in one of his pouches and pulls out a needle and thread and just starts sewing up the interior part first and then fixing the stitches in the front while listening to the music and just kind of looking into the distance, in the middle distance of the room. You find a few, go ahead and give me a medicine check. Okay, sure. Okay. How did you guys? That's an actual one. Oh, it's spreading. I'm next. Oh no, oh no. You are stitching this and you are damaging it more. The issue is, the issue is this stuff is moving and not healing. There is no blood clot. There is no other thing that would potentially make this work and this is not something you would ever have to do on a cadaver. Yeah. Okay, the stitches don't work. I need a sealant. I need a glue. adhesive. This can't be fixed right now. He's just talking to himself. Can't be fixed right now. I just need to leave it alone. Okay. Kaisha. You in snake form watch this carriage pulling back in the direction of the main western gate. Okay, I know enough. We've now got two demons whose names I may have gleaned but don't mean anything to me are on the hunt for YouTube because I think they're in disguise, but got it. I know enough. I am immediately booking it back to the shepherd's shelter. Yeah, that's it. Hauling as fast as I can. I think that you, the both sort of away groups return at about the same time. Did I see or was I seen by pin on the way back? Rule me a D4. You want a two, three or four. I roll a one on this that counts as my natural one. Four, two, three. All in a row. You do encounter pin on your way back. Okay. Then like in snake form, I will like, I think pin has seen me in this form before. So it's just sort of like almost like a cobra like up little head nod and then we both head back. Hell yeah. I think you smell like you smell, like if there's some of your sense still on you regardless of form, so I think pin just like knows it's you. Arriving? Arriving? I want to go through the window, that little like one, that 11 inch gap. Perfect for a snake. I will ask you guys, first of all, roll, one of the three of you roll a D4 and this time we're trying to avoid a one or a two. All right, we've both rolled D4s yet. Yeah. Ashley, I had a roll. You got this. Don't hit a one or a two. All right. I need to get a one or a two? No, don't. No, I don't get a one or a two. You want a three or a four. Opposite, opposite, opposite. You can do it, you can do it. And don't feel bad because reading numbers is hard. Oh my God. That's a one. Brandon, Brandon. Wait, hold on a minute. No, it's not, it's a four. Oh, it's a four. It's a four. Ashley. Because it landed like that, right? It's a four, it's a four. It's a four, it's a four. Brandon! Brandon! Brandon! That is a four. Give me a last stealth checks here with a plus 10. Okay. All right, that's a 28. Oh my God, he's just rolled like a 40, he's doing big math. Now, with the plus 10? Yeah. 24. 24. 21. Okay. All of you sneaking back into the shepherd's shelter, hug the shadows all the way in, and get back in here to find Aranessa speaking to Octus. Looking, she looks at you and says, do you need, and I'm so sorry that I overheard I was trying to focus on my playing. Do you need, you said adhesive? I think, I need, it's, maybe. There's a snake staring at you from the window. When we get to a more forested area, being able to acquire sap would not be challenging. Yeah, of course. Did you try to, and it didn't. Hi everyone. Yeah, it, it's kind of at the window. Is there actual glass on this window? Yeah, I opened the window. Oh, the window, let me be clear, does not open out, it opens up. Yeah, it hits the wall. Hit the wall. Yeah, I think I'm doing more damage than good. I need a different approach. It's fine. It's not, are you okay? What happened? We're fine. Lady Aranessa, we seem to have located the lost caravan. The carriages are supplies present, horses omitted within the confines of the Anfaisen courtyard perimeter walls. Do you have any idea or context as to why Anfaisen would have our supply caravan? Traders. Traders to the compacts of the Sundert houses. If someone was your friend and you had seven of their carriages with no horses and no men at arms, what's the first thing you would do? Ask where are my friends? You said it had the supplies. From best we could tell as the, you couldn't get too close for a altercation. Fine, but it seemed that they were not spoiled, at least. That's funny. What do you make of that? Let's play a game. House Anfaisen has conspired with House T'Khanis to slaughter and destroy us. What would you do? Prevent any sort of supplies from making their way to the destination to cut off our ability to seek aid or help of any other allies beyond our offense. What do you do with the men at arms and the drivers and the vassals and all of them? Eliminate them. What do you do with the horses? Use them and incorporate them into your horses. Of course, it's always useful. What do you do with the supplies? Use them. Use them, which is odd. Which is odd, right? They wouldn't do that. Even if you didn't want Davinos wine, which why wouldn't you want Davinos wine? I couldn't possibly have them. I have no idea. What are the supplies? Clothing, wine, various non-easily perishable foodstuffs. I think there were some hard cheeses and then supplies for the manor. Davinos, the last time you and your father were there was a long time ago. The palazzo in Dolmachir is not kept embellished for most of the time that the family is not in residence. This was enough to keep us there for as long as we needed. Is it possible that they don't know that they would fed a lion in a way and to not touch the carriages? Just giving them possibly the manipulate the doubt that they're not betraying you, that they are in fact working in some way? I'm fully almost certainly positive it would make more sense that they are, but just in case, because that does not make sense. And Pernoya keeps us alive. Something is happening here. There is no way, by even laying their hands on our carriages or hosting our captured carriages in their courtyard, some form of betrayal has happened unless, young Octus, you might be right, unless they were led to believe something outrageous. Unless something happened to the vassals and carriage drivers and either they were taken ill through some, like, it made to be ill and are staying there. Any theories you haven't? Octus, I do not hold you least of all responsible for what your family did, but you do know them better. Yes. What do you think, if the Tacanus were acting to destroy us, how do you think they would have gone about it? The way they went about the attack on your house was direct and to the point and very much like they prefer to work. They like to work the way death works, which is direct. But there is not a way that there is to kill a person that my family doesn't know about. So it is very possible that they found a way to make everybody sick and capacitate them. Or put them in a sort of indisposed state, keeping them at the house. It's why the carriages are there, why this display hasn't been touched, because maybe the family doesn't know that they're not supposed to leave. And they're holding their things there until they're better or ready to leave. Now this is just a hypothesis. If my family wanted to kill the people, they would kill them. A messenger came to us, came to your father, saying that the carriage, the caravan had been held here. The messenger was allowed to leave but not given a reason, which is not too unexpected for the Iron Fawzen, who here in Reasoncurtle, above all, feel no reason to explain themselves. I don't know, maybe they had, maybe something that was planted on the cart. And they're being held for further investigation. The brief time he was present on the grounds, another carriage arrived and seemed to trigger some sort of a horn, a warning of some kind that triggered immediate malice and an aggressive assault upon the caravan driver. Interesting. So at the very least, something has them ready to defend. There was speak of demonic forces and the driver's jaw left scattered amongst the grasses. Well, if they're speaking negatively about demonic forces, then that possibly excludes the Halavar from any alliance. But then, they might not be in league with my family at all. If something was placed on the cart to trigger this reaction, then maybe my family is just using them without their knowledge. The question then becomes, what would we have to reveal about ourselves to go and ask them directly? I do not think it'd be safe for you to reveal anything of yourself right now. And I think at that moment, the snake will slither forward and the mixture of scales across the wood floor and the little bit of whistling wind through the shear between the buildings and into the window speaks on Tisha's behalf because her wild shapes don't speak, but the world speaks for her. Speaking of that, the demon that you saw, there were others. They're not headed to Venadas. They think that the two of you and here, again, that Cobra Coyle points at both of you, they think the two of you are Wiccander and Tyranny. I don't know why they're looking for them. They left the city before us, right? Yes. But they're on their way back to the couple garden now to try to find you. Interesting. The one we spoke with that pretended to be Tamara was not able to see through disguises, but they're bringing another demon that could. Is there a way we could use that somehow? I don't know. So, um... You said that the horn was tied to the presence of demons? That's best I could ascertain. That was the shattered accusation thrown at the individual driving the caravan before they lost most of their jaw. It's interesting that Tyranny walked openly in Dolmogyar, but Tamara enmity? Tamara was disguised. Someone's very afraid of demons in the city, or the demons know better than to walk openly among it. Perhaps that's two reasons why Einfassen might be worth a conversation. To me, it sounds like they're waiting to see which side of a conflict to come down on, and usually a failure to act or at least enjoy the spoils of violence means that you're holding for orders or a clear direction. Right. Interesting. Tisha. Tisha. I'm struggling because I think that some of the loyal subjects of my house might be either dead or imprisoned in this city. And yet I also do not know the fate of the Golden Orchard, nor do I know the fate of what Octus has seen in realms beyond. Right. I'm going to ask you an unfair question. If you were me, would you risk revealing that you survived a slaughter here in Reasongirtle? Or would you use the cover of us not yet to our knowledge having been discovered and continue on? I think the stake kind of slinks back and Hala comes over and sits like beside, not on the bed, no deer, no deer on the bed. And then the room begins to speak again. I think... I think when you don't know exactly what your enemies want with your destruction, new variables are scarier than laying low. I would say risk it. Is there a way for you to prove you're a member of your house without exactly giving your identity? Because I can make you look different. It takes time. As someone that would be within their trust, that's even better. I can. Who would that be? Let me think on it. Let me think on it. Okay. Yes, someone who is not myself should speak to them. It just seems like it's a lot to... somewhere in the middle. It is, I think we do need the information, but to put you out there so aggressively invites disaster. Now we keep you near. I can speak on your behalf if need be, being of the Vassel House de Rois. I do have some position to speak on the behalf of our houses. And you can defend yourself if the thing need be. But also keep in mind that information doesn't travel instantly. Rumors will make it back to Primus, whoever is calling the shots. We have time to get information, send rumors along, and flee. Alright. Tomorrow. Let's rest. Yeah, yeah. I'll think of a name. Because someone you could be, Julian, accompanying. Tomorrow we'll find out. And if things go awry, we make for the east, for Castle Torch as fast as we can. Yeah. And that's where we'll take our break. And that's where we'll leave our story for now. Part two of this episode of Campaign 4 drops this Tuesday. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you soon for more Critical Role.