Make Merry | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 11 Part 2

Hello again, it's Brennan Lee Mulligan and you're listening to part two of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out part one 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 Araman. Well, one of those was much nicer than the other. Folks, welcome back to this episode of Critical Role. We are here in the dungeons of Castle Delaney, where we have just seen, in a beautiful contrapposto holding sort of ornament before him, dressed in regal robes, a statue of a Nama, a lion-full warrior that you recognize, your brother, a perfect statue of him. You look over at an altar covered in ropes and chains and you see pulleys hanging from the wall as though to bind and manipulate their captives into shape. In a corner, you see a chest filled with what first looked like soiled rags, but you realize are actually uncleaned finery of lords and people who dwell here in the castle. After all, they don't make statues of former rebel soldiers. They make statues of lords and ladies. Dress them up, bind them to the table, turn them to stone, throw them on the cart. Can I race over from where I am to the statue? You see this horse with a now badly singed cart. It looks pretty alarmed. You look up and do see a large Kahadi wolfhound, a statue of one on the back of the cart, two other figures. You look down and see here in this place the unmistakable visage of your brother, a little leaner maybe, been running on his own through the woods for about a week before they caught him. The look on the face of the statue is distant. There's something strange about the expression. Give me an insight check. Can I help him? Yeah. 14. He looks mournful as the other statues here do, sort of pushed and forced against their will into these poses that would make them seem plausible in transport. But his eyes on that 14, there's something in his eyes like he's searching for something. It looks oddly familiar to you. You don't know why you see yourself in this expression, but it's a face. And you rise, I think on a 14 that he inherited that face from your father. There was a look that your father would get. A middle distance, almost like you weren't looking at something physically present in the space. But even though it seemed somehow distracted, it was like he was more present in those moments, more thoughtful, more aware somehow. He's like he knew something. Where were the statues? Can we see where the ropes and pulleys were? Scattered around the bodies of the dead. It smells insane here, blood, like the smell of iron and damp stone. You can see that the basilisk, its corpse is now, its head has already turned to stone as like stalactites, sort of stalagmites are like growing out of its skull and entering into the ground. But you can see that its tongue is still wet and lolling out. There is like some parts of its body that appear to be like, perhaps it was reasonable, somewhat immune to petrification, although other parts of it are not. You see it's there, weird sort of twitching tongue. Can I call out to Catigan and just say like, Catigan, I need the blood, the organs of whatever that creature is. Can you collect them for me, please? Yeah. And I'll run over to the pile of goop that is the departed basilisk. Yeah, go ahead and Wilfrick will give you the help action here. Give me a survival check to see how much you can harvest. Need a DC 10 to get some of that. We have not come across these. Guide yourself. I can't. Okay, survival, 15 and then guidance 16, 17. Catigan, you begin to pull through and see that this thing is basically producing some kind of bile in its stomach that's keeping the lower part of its body, like its skin is like fusing to the cavern floor, but you get a knife in and carve into its tongue, scraping against the parts of its jaw that have already become stone, harvest the tongue out of it, and that basically opens its mouth up enough for you to get in and pull viscera. You get, and you can write all this down, you get a basilisk heart, a pair of basilisk kidneys, and maybe most critically you're able to pull its stomach out, which is the thing producing that sort of petrification resistant bile. Okay. I wonder if it would reverse the effect. All right, we have to be careful with it. We should take it to someone who knows these things. We cannot waste such a precious resource on a guess. Timbald, and I'll pull out the parchment that I grabbed off of the table. What did you get that? This was over on that platform. Do you know what to make of it? What language that is? Do I recognize any of the symbols? Do I recognize it either, also? I think you guys have traveled enough through dwarven lands to the east of Dolmok yard to know the dwarven alphabet when you see it. Yes. But I don't see that in dwarven. Do I recognize any of the arcane symbols? Give me another kind of check. May I as well? Yeah. 16? 30-20. On a 16, you recognize the sort of language above as Obradi, as like an older language that shares like there's some celestial runes. Like some of the runes look similar to things you've seen on Candes and Creed stuff before, but that is also the same culture and civilization that the Taconis are from as well. So it might just be like a shared alphabet having to do with celestial. Are there any more pages that were in the book? Um, Rude, go ahead and give me an investigation check. 23. On a 23, you rerun the pages, the things you find, there's plenty down here. It looks like they've been working down here feverishly for about two days, and you see that there are a lot of like bags in a corner where essentially these guys came down to work and left their own like marching packs and stuff. You, it would take more than an hour to search through every single person's pack here, but you can kind of discount the guards packs and focus on like what looks like either the the guard captain or this knight of Saramai. On what feels to you like a pretty thorough search of at least what matters, you see there are a bunch of potions stored near the cages. Um, two of them appear to be a kind of well wrapped, beautifully administered. They're not really in bottles, they're like in flasks that have like some brass work on them and look quite nice. You can't see what the liquid is inside them, but they appear to be written once again in old Obra die. And then there are four that look much jankier. Um, there are four and these four are out and they were very visible and in a very clear place within hands reach near the cages. They're probably anti-petrification. I think, Wick, you alight on the correct, as you look at them, there is a, they have almost like a one to one of like rendered bile, but I think looking at that, the way that they're out so fast on that correct guess, I think that you ascertain they wouldn't need to be out if they could reverse it. Does that make sense? They're here because in that one round that you have, right? It's like an anti-venom. You need to take it quick, which means that you think it can't reverse the actual state of petrification once it's set in. Um, in terms of pages, there's, there are many different effects on the fallen night of Serumai before we get into like his person, but before that, you see there are, there appears to be a page amongst those are sort of of the poses, which are sketched out basically to explain sculpture to a group of guards. But there's a weird phrase written on a scrap of parchment that was in Serumai's bag. One of them is written in a fine script and it says, save this precisely. And then in quotations, warrior, reach your senses. Tell me true. Do the dead draw near. And then you've, in that bag, you find sort of a less, that's sort of the limit of the arcane weird frigate shit you're finding here. You find a couple quick missives, almost like the quickly folded ones like handed off by a carrier between the all seem to come from the Lord Dose it to this night of Serumai. On that investigation check, it's all quick. It's almost like they're, they've been traveling together. So it's like one of them's in the tavern and one of them is like down at another part of the village taking care of business. And it's like, run this to so and so and give him this to me. You're not able to therefore really put together a theory of the case, but the proper nouns that come up in these messages are a place called Houndsport in Ganalier, which you recognize as a northern region in Timony. He makes reference to someone called Trimus, which to your knowledge probably is a member of the Taconus family just based on her name. And a in Houndsport, a Captain Lantry Farris of the Spurring. The last thing you find there is in what looks like a little bit of a finer letter that is actually in a small thing that is a longer letter that Serumai might have been traveling with since Dolmachiar or since maybe the Duvalmar Pass if they met up in other places. Just is a long letter in a really kind of like glowing praise from the Lord Dose. It's like a letter to this night of Serumai like saying, I am so proud of how far you've come and amazed that we will have this journey together. You have always served our family honorably and nobly. And I hope that we will find our bearing together as we travel on this mission to the Bay of Garethai. Do I know where that is? Give me our conna or probably history actually. Whoa, 19. You know the Bay of Garethai. You were there not long ago. The Bay of Garethai is the farther, the northernmost part of the Sea of Imlay where the sea reaches into the Barodal of the Dead Goddess of Life. It is a place that you came very close to on your way to go steal the Stone of Night Song with Fiazzi. The bay is covered at almost, even within like 20 miles of where the Barodal, you know, 20 nautical leagues of where the Barodal actually begins. The sea is so choked with mist that even seeing from one end of the ship to the other becomes impossible. And a lot of people that sail in that part of the world talk about hearing ships call, make distress calls from the mist that cannot be found upon searching. Okay. We need to get out of here. Did we search the night yet? But these bracers, Teyir, you have to get them off of him. These were, these were Royce bracers. Somebody died for him to have these. Yes, of course. And I'll move to collect the bracers, the sword, any other objects that seem like they have. Money. Yeah. Yeah, you see there's a, there's a good, there's a patch of about 60 gold pieces over on a, over in their effects. The sword is absolutely a recognizable Cerami blade. It's got a serpent pommel and it has some effects of his house on it. Shield is extremely finely crafted, but non-magical. And then there are the bracers, which are obviously enchanted. He used those to pick up, to pick up Sid. Increase his strength. I wonder if you can do the same. We have to get out of here. We will need cover this guys. You can still opt this. Did we look at that chest yet though? Which chest? You said there was a chest, right? The chest is what contains literally these like rotting cotton. Like they're not costing, but essentially there's like, there's like stolen noble finery here that's like, that they're waiting to like dress people with. Yeah. If we need to, if we need to make a quick getaway out this ramp here, we could hide under the statues and dress his god. Well, let me ask you something, Wick. You were hanging out with that dog and you let me go ahead and almost get fucking stoned. So I'm assuming you're a dog person now and I'd like to use disguise self and turn myself into a dog. Bark, bark. I wasn't, I wasn't hanging out with the dog. I was trying to sit. I was trying to sit. I can't understand you, I'm a fucking dog. I was trying to set an alarm, by the way. Has the alarm gone off? No, the alarm's not gone off. I wasn't choosing to be with a dog over you at all. Where's this coming from? Also, I can only be one foot shorter, so I'm a hound. You're a big ass dog. I'm a big ass pink dog. All right, all right. Let's table this for now. I'll try and move to collect some of the guards and adornments of things so I can sort of piece together along with the hood that I might be able to lead. I'll finish mucking through the guts and at the bottom of the stomach, there's a little duodenum there. I'll pull out one of the empty tinctures I have in my bandolier and I'm just going to try to squeeze out a tincture's worth of bile into this, into this tincture and then throw the rest of the slop in a wolfrix pack. Great. For food? Yeah. I'd like to also eat Saramai's other ear that you blasted off. You demon. No, a dog still. A doggy. A little doggy. The basilisk is successfully harvested. Anyone that wants to give me a nature or arcana check here? In regards to? Specifically, like, I actually think, maybe actually just catting. Give me a nature check here as you're harvesting this. Yeah, let's do it. Big dice. Great. 18. Harvesting this, I think that you can tell from the antidote. This antidote is extremely basic. Whatever this bile is, basically can be left pretty close to unprocessed and served as an antidote. I think you, looking at having the actual duodenum, looking at having these actual organs with you, feel pretty confident that if you found a, let's not even say like legendary, let's just say like a skilled alchemist, a skilled alchemist, a skilled artificer or someone familiar with magical objects or magical, it's sad to refer to your brother as a magical object, but that's technically what he is right now. So I think that like any place that has either a dealing with enchanted objects or that has a, some success with alchemy would be able to take these and you're pretty sure makes me to reverse this. While Taylor's loading up, getting ready to take off, I'm just going to walk by him with Wolfric and I'm going to slap him on the shoulder and go, all right. And then I'll slap the tincture of bile in his hand. Cool. Yeah, you hold that central thing. You've got a bunch of other fun stuff from the basilisk that may become, that may be worth something, but fundamentally the thing that's going to be able to potentially reverse this you're holding in your hand. With that, you have a bunch of gear. Sort of, I would like a group deception check. The difficulty of a passing disguise is only 10, meaning you can walk down a street and everyone will think, there goes some tachanus cards. Should I roll since I would just be like, I don't think you should. I would like to use one of my luck points to roll. You got it. Go for it. Stop. Oh no. What did we get here for the deception? 30 20. Of course, natural 20. Natural 20. 9. 14. 14. Our median role is a dirty 20. I think Katigan and Teor, this is not the first time you've run this scam. So it's a lot of, rather than trying to fully undress one of these guys, it's like leave your own stuff on, take the tabards, take the stuff that's recognizable, a pauldron, a helm, something like that, and cover yourself. People will notice you walking with a weird gate more than they will notice that your breeches are not the exact right color. Right. You get the gear on, you look for all the world like tachanus cards. Great. Are you going to remain a dog? I'd actually like to turn my attention to Thamble and say, hey, that was so cool that you one-shotted that guy back there. And I just want you to know that when my contract ends with Wick, I'd like to work for you. Or if he cancels it at any time, you seem really loyal, like a dog. And I assume human form. You're under contract? Yeah, did I not say that? Yeah, I've said that. She's under contract with my family. Right. Well, with you. I didn't engage it. Are you going to be a guard as well? Yeah, I assume human form and guard, guard-shaped. Is there any particular form that you assume? Are you assuming a generic but believable tachanus guard? Maybe, oh, maybe you can be the captain, the one that was going to drive. Yeah, I mean, I could do that. I mean, it didn't go so well last time I impersonated a tachanus. This knight here said that Octus should be dead. Yeah, okay. That's why it didn't work. I'll do it. Yeah, I'm going to do that. Can I wear his bracers for a little while? Not the knight. I met the captain, the one that was going to- Oh, the captain! All right, yeah. The knight seems a little more questionable. It might be getting yourself into trouble. I've got to work on my accents. It's really, well, whatever. You know, I took classes with Hal and I could- Talk to me right now. Okay, I'm going to be the knight. I mean, no, I'm going to be the guard, the guard. Incredible. You are relieving this knight of Saramai, of his blade and the Royce bracers. Yes. Okay. Not detecting anything else, no pendants, rings, anything else on- Nothing that you can see of that kind. You see, he is of a lesser house. It looks like, for him, you see that he saw an opportunity to get these Royce bracers and took it and it was probably a kind enough, the kindness enough to him for him to even have an enchanted blade of his house. Sid is on the ground. Do you guys- In other words- So, I mean, can you lift him with the bracers? That's what he used to pick up the statue before. I mean, I can try, but I think also if all of us get together, we can probably get under there. Like 2,000 pounds. I mean, I can try and put the bracers on, but I think you have to attune to that. But if he's 2,000 pounds, how is this horse going to carry all these statues? That's a fucking horse. They're awesome. Two very different things. The real, I love it. I was going to say too, it's real. That's like a real glass half full, glass half empty. It's looking at a horse in a cart and being like, you're either a person that thinks horses rule or you're a person that's like, wheels are an incredible shape. The wheel- But how I sound- No, and that's what I sound in my head. I'm on Team Wheels, man. I'm on Team Wheels. Wheels are fucking- For anyone- I wish you all would stop talking shit about wheels. Gotta invent a new kind. Are you seriously concerned about that, though? They were going to do it. I'm sure it's fine. Yeah, I'll- Listen, I'll sense the struggle here and I'll set Wolfric on a harness and I'll have him grab with his teeth and I'll help bear some of the load. I'll help bear some of the load up. Yeah, I can help as well. In my think? What way? I mean, I can help lift. Oh, you wouldn't lift? Yes. Yeah, make a muscle. Right now, make a muscle. He gets so much stronger. All of a sudden during that- He's got one tiny little tougher or something. Why am I protecting him? Yeah, and I was a weakling little dumb idiot baby and I hate him. He should go. Disguised as the captain, you look down and see this sort of like shaved sides of her head, black Taconus armor. You see a dwarven warrior. She has like sort of this deep black eye shadow sort of like, you know, covering around and tuft of spiky hair, sort of war hammer at her side, gazing out, scorched and singed with some Taconus armor. And you look at her face and adopt her visage, look just like her. And you see there is a massive closed sort of slanted like 45 degree angle cellar door, but like massive for this cart to be able to move up this ramp and out up at the end of this long hallway. Very much like the one we saw in that courtyard when we were crossing. Yes, but to your knowledge, this I think spatially this can't be the same one. That's good. Maybe it's farther away. It could be on the outside. The door's crossed. You guys head up, you get to the doors and see that they are locked from the inside. There's a lock and there is a key hanging from the chain right next to this lock. That's lucky. Just before we leave, I'm going to... I don't know if this is a smart idea. Do it. I'm going to pick up one of the torches and fly over to Ceram... Ceramide body and drop it down. And I'm going to use Druidcraft to make you catch more. That smells so good. You begin to burn his body past the point where it will be possible to raise again in service of the House of Tacones. Good call. Moving up the ramp, you guys get to the exterior door. The cart moves up and you arrive seeing the lock hanging from a chain, the horse moving. I am going to make a constitution safe in front of the cart. You just don't want a one, two, or three. That's not one. No way. Are you sure that's what we don't want? You have some more luck points. You can make me roll that. Yee-hee. Roll. Is that how that works? That's a two. Don't wait. What's happening to us? I have one more. Can you make and do it again? No, I think it only does once per roll. I believe it's only once per roll, but let's double-triple-check that. I'm going to use a desperate measure. I love it. I mean, but... You fud little kitschy roll, Shirley. I won't roll a lot, but two. Oh, and actually, you know what? It's proficiency bonus, which is I've got a plus two. Oh, okay. And you can spend the points. I'm going to do two. Also, when you roll for a d20, you can spend one luck point to get yourself a match. When a creature rolls a d20, attack against you. Oh, wow. Unfortunately, you don't spend it, so it's still the net one. Okay. Okay. Moving up, you can see that the cart was singed, and you can see there's some damage to a wheel and axle. You don't think this cart will be able to survive a very long trek. This has probably got a shelf life in it of maybe somewhere in the city. Sorry, that was my fault. I burned it. I'm sorry. You did well. Did I die? Yes. We went on a scouting mission on the way to check out the city and ended up at the hospital. Did we encounter or see any little shops where there's our con assemble or on that route? Would it come to mind? Nothing would come to it. I mean, the closest you got to was that place that you went where they were selling buckets with honey on the inside of the rim to catch ferries. Okay. You know who would know about enchanted items? Who? Blair. Who's that? The creepy guy with the mask. Hold it. He throws great parties. At the funeral? Yeah. Our total Blair. We also have 60 gold pieces and there were carriages in the city. They were owned by other people, but I'm sure we could pay them for the truck. We have more than that actually. If you add that to the group funds, we have 220 gold. And it's still night time. So we might be able to get somewhere without being noticed too much with all of these start shoes. Fine. The hospital was not a place where we could hide out or lay low, right? I don't think so. There's a lot of Tacona's activity there. That's right. Can I look in the chest of the finery and see if we can put a big cape or something over the cart? Yes, very easily. One or two big fur capes makes this look, and the cart is pretty humble itself. So you end up with like a... It looks like they were going to move this out of this dungeon. The Tacona's aren't traveling with a one-horse cart, but this is the only thing that could fit down into the cellars. So they're moving this on up out of here for some other purpose, but you're able to cover them up with cloak, so it won't look like you're absconding with four stone statues. Arriving up at the top, there's the lock. You have your cart covered. You have money, and you have mentioned Bolare, who you certainly... I think you may have heard him speak of the museum having a protocol to deal with art or things of that nature that come by and end up being actually petrified beings. In this moment, now having my brother petrified in the back of this cart, can I use this opportunity to level up? And I'll use the Detect Magic spell just to feel out if there's any incantation on this doorway, the lock, anything that would trigger anything that we're not seeing with the naked eye before we turn the key. You cast Detect Magic. Your senses move out, your eyes go wide, and you realize you're making the face Sid's making. It's the same face you make when you use your Paladin Divine Sensibility. It's a face to read the aura of this world. Now, you have reached into a spell here that calls upon the ability to detect magic, which is a more refined version. Divine Sense is something intuitive for Paladins. Senses the presence of fey, fiends, undead, nearby, but Detect Magic allows you to actually read with a fine precision exactly what different archonists, occultists, will-workers are trying to do. And you look in these statues and see even the hound, our own making a version of this face, light fills your vision, and what you can see is your light coming from your eyes reflects off of a radiation that your friends cannot see in this moment, but you suddenly can. Every one of the beings in that wagon is petrified in a state of heightened supernatural awareness. Sid, as stone, is using his Divine Sense. It is casting out from his eyes as though he was using it in the moment he was petrified and was stuck in that position. And though you do not know their names or their stories, what you recognize is that that same ability to cast out and sense the presence of fiend or fey and of the undead is emanating from the eyes of every statue in that cart, meaning everyone in that cart was a paladin who was captured by the Chakonis and brought down here and turned to stone. They were using them as some sort of like early warning system for some sort of fey invasion? Or- Also to pose them, it feels like they're using them to smuggle something. Why would you bring paladins down with that ability, pose them in the finery of rich people? Because if you put it there, speaking as a rich person myself, if you have a palace or place that you're particularly proud of, you might want to decorate it with lovely statues. And what a benefit if those statues could also point out dark creatures or no offense weird fey trying to get in or something. And you grabbed- I said no offense. You grabbed that book with all the drawings? Yeah, yeah, I grabbed that. We just can't already do that. You grabbed the book with the drawings. Looking back over here, as Teor explains that, you also look at those notes that Dosit wrote to Seramai, whose name you never bothered to learn, but he addresses him as Ser Aniko. He sort of refers to him and says, you see, he mentioned something, this language you've heard about, like, how- it says something like, how lucky we were on this whole Gavendale affair to have lucked into another one. And suddenly you realize that another one might not just refer to Sid. Another paladin? Who else? Oh, you. Yeah. So they were looking for you? They were looking for Paladai. They did say earlier something about Tupor, it's one stone. That's right. Yeah, that must have been why they took him, right? He got mixed up in the whole Theozzi thing and then they realized he was a paladin and had a different use for him. Oh, so they're looking for you? I mean, I don't, I don't see how I wasn't in Dolmakiar. I wasn't in the city. I haven't been around Theozzi for years and I don't, I don't know. Anything strange happened to you in the city? No. No, I came. We had missed his execution. We met with everyone and we came after Sid unless I'm missing something. Does your brother have the same sort of light powers that you do? I think this might be some news to you. It is. I mean, not that I am aware of. It's again been many, many years since I have seen him, but certainly I was showing none of this much less my brother. It also occurs to me at this moment here as you're like, could they be searching for me? You don't know when these other knights and warriors got got. It's possible that another one is something that they were referring to, that they were referring to Sid, that they, in other words, they had a cart full of these guys already. Also, the quote is, warrior, tell me true, do the dead draw near, which is what you would say to a paladin in order to act, to tell them to activate their sight. So we should, we've got the statues in the cart, right? Yeah. I mean, that's that's what She said out loud. Warrior, tell me true, did the dead draw near? You see, and now to all of you, visible light emerges from the eyes of these stone statues. Yep, they're centuries. Motherfuckers. Oh, shit. Who does all fuck you? God, your shit is so evil and so fucked. Can I fly up and check for traps on the door? Give me investigation. And having, it's just, okay. It's just everyone's in a while. There you go. Everybody, god that poncho was comfy. It looks like bacon. Having, have I ever been around the Taconus homestead? Do they have a headquarters that I would know of? Yes, you have been to Obromus Manor in Dolmakyar, which is their place in Dolmakyar. Their ancestral lands, like yours, are sundered. They are in the Eternal Night in one of the Barrowdells, but the Taconus actually have a unique honor or shame amongst the world, which is that their lands are the only place on our land, the Talamon, where two Barrowdells overlap. The site of destruction of the goddess of the Forge and the Stormrack overlapped with the Eternal Night and created one of the most magically hostile and ruinous and destroyed places on the planet, which is their ancestral seat of power. And that's horrible. And the place that I'm familiar with, do I remember seeing any similar statues or or anything around their current headquarters? Give me history check. I rolled an eight on the drafts. It seems pretty simple here. You do think that probably the odds are in your, even on an eight, the odds are in your favor because this isn't their home turf, they're on the move, and they've only been here for a day and a half, you know. I only rolled an eight. I haven't used my inspiration yet, though. Your heroic inspiration? Uh-huh. For just to know if they have some inspiration. What else are we going to use it for? Anything else. We are getting out of this. All right. Eight. Eight. I mean, they definitely have statues, but nothing like this. I think on an eight you go, yeah, they got statues. We all got statues, but my god, I feel like I remember when they were putting them in, you know, they were getting work done. They were building statues. Yeah. I mean, everyone has a statue at the house. I assume you do too. So many. Of course. We have a fey and a fiend here when those statues activated with the visible light out of their eyes. Did anything happen to either of them? Did they illuminate? Did they react to anything? I think that that actually, rather than giving you a dramatic answer, the lack of dramatic answer to that is troubling in that no. In other words, you're like, okay, so if these guys like lit up, then that would tell me the full story of what's going on here, but as to what this would be for, like, okay, you have a sentry that can detect something and then do what? And then doesn't, though. Yeah, not tell you, not have the ability to tell you. But it was about the dead. It says do the dead drawn near. Maybe it's just a specific. Just undead. Maybe. What's the deal with the fancy poses? I mean, is it some sort of? Just so they look cool. I'm trying a little off. Just so they look cool. Yeah. You think? Yeah. Unless House of Races has fallen and they're going to post them in the The gate ahead of you, simple lock key right next to it. What do you do? Unlock it. Unlocking it? You look out the gate as the gate, as you push it slightly open, it opens for you as you see a group of about 10 Taconus guards open the gate looking around and you see they go, Captain, everything all right? Absolutely. All right. We heard some, we heard a little bit of a move. Yeah, move. They get the card out and you see they say Lord Dose is ready in the carriages at the main gate. You guys are outside the castle. You are looking at a backseller entrance. You're at the very edge of you are at the very, very edge of Tyrese Lee. This is like the place that that here's the city and you can see one or two buildings by the castle, a steep ridge the back of the castle kind of has a steep drop out towards the farmland and then you see wide open roads under moonlight. Is it possible to peel away without drawing attention to ourselves? Thank you. Our pleasure. We're civilized. Is it possible to draw away without trying to shoot yourself? I think you're looking at it at the Tyconus. You see that this one Tyconus guy says, the Lord Dose at the carriages is the main gate of the castle. Okay. We'll meet him there. The main gate that he gestures to is further into the city. You see this road kind of wending its way away, but also you don't know where there would be a carriage or other places out. So they're directing you towards Lord Dose and probably the Lady Univeris. I think it's just getting away from this structure. Yeah, no, we're just going to get away from the castle and into the city. And our fucking carts cook though too. Maybe we can get a new wheel. Do you guys make your way into the city as to not arouse suspicion from the guards towards the main gates of the castle? Yes, but then instead of making towards Lord Dose, we'd like... We're looking out for also an stable way we can peel into. I love that. Go ahead, anyone who wants to give me a luck check. Roll a d20. I want you to see if you can roll a six or higher. Here we go. You? Okay, no, 17. 17. You're in his solar problem. Incredible. You? You had in that case... You had further into Tibery's Lee. As you do, the carts squeaking on a partially burnt axle horse sort of moving along. The castle is enormous, so you're following the walls, you're rounding. There'll be a minute going around the watchtowers before you get to the main gate. And there are a couple of roads in the city, well lit with candles. As you walk up, because you are disguised as Taconus guards without... I think the lion folk here, you have the helm down low. Some kind of like hood up. Yeah. Walking in. And I'll actually ask just for disguised as the captain even so, give me either persuasion or deception with advantage. Great. 18 plus seven. 25. You see the guards say, I see all the statues loaded up. Do they require additional aid downstairs? No. And you see that flat no is the perfect... I think Tierney, as you're looking at, they're like, Octus body rolling or I'm going to have a flat no. The flat no stops the conversation and you feel some like slithering demonic voice from far off and either being like... Very good. Daddy like. As you keep a lie to a single word that makes the interlocutor who's speaking to you just go, I guess there's no more conversation here. And shut up and go about their business. They close the door behind you guys, you take off and on that very high luck check as you begin to pull into the city, a shape pulls up alongside you in the dark, padding beside you. The dame more gain says, congratulations on your new found employment. The Takonis tabard seem a little ill fitting, but I hope that your new jobs are treating you well. Where are we headed? Do you know where we can get a new carriage wheel? Ah, well, I think first and foremost, seeing as you've helped yourself to one of the Lord's carriages, we should examine what sort of goods you intend to bring to the candle feast and you see that she looks around and says, Groffland, and you see the big sheepdog comes out and says, land of too many for whom I died and lived and would die again. Let the shadows come to our aid and let the city welcome us home, victorious kin, the land's people. And you see shadows cover you again and you guys can pull right off into the city and vanish. That's my dog. That's my dog. You see that she, you begin to travel off with her, or I should have said fell tower, the dog that she's traveling with. So you see this big Argosian shepherd walking alongside you and you pull off, getting into just sort of an alley, you see that the dame more gain looks and says, well, my friends, how's your day's business gone? Very exciting by the looks of it. Scary, it was so scary, it was so scary. You see that Hawkins sort of emerges out of the darkness and looks out and says, Lord, are you injured? All of us were. You see, he looks at you and says, oh my god, you've had a soul through the gut. Yes, a few times. Get your shirt. Lift my shirt. Get your shirt. Oh, should we go find a chamber? Okay. And you see, he goes, and he is going to lay on hands and back to full. Lay on tongue. Tyranny is fuming at that, by the way. This guy and dogs just really forgot about his demon friend. Good boy, good boy. Wow, that's just. I'm a good boy. I'm a man. Good man. Thank you. I may not be a human, but I am a man still. We undertook a great ordeal. They were experimenting on people turning others into stone. We found my brother, but. Do you take, she looks and says stone. What do you, you pull that? I believe one of the hounds. You see that Fel Tower looks up and goes, groaned, my brother. And you see he looks up at the wolf, at the wolf hound up on top. He looks like a different kind of, he's using brother here in night time. Terminology, but you see, looks up and says, what have they done to him? Is he dead? You see, Morganian looks up and says, thought I smelled something foul on the road here, following that envoy. Wherever the ceramide go, their poison follows, and yet there was some poison stranger still. The creature that did this, is it still at large, loose in the castle? No, we killed it, a basilisk, but we managed to harvest pieces of its corpse. Yeah, we got the raw materials, but not the knowledge. You see, she nods and says, she turns to Hawkins. You see Fel Tower says, this foul magic might then be reversed in some manner. And you see, she says, in time, yes. Please tell me, what did you see occurring, and were there any of the toll keep, any of the actual Earl's men-at-arms advisors? This was occurring within Castle Delaney? Yeah, it was the night of Ceramide. You saw only vassals of the House of Tacones? Down in the dungeon, yes. You see, she turns to Hawkins, and Hawkins looks back at her. Even these extremely helpful hounds, you can see, are, that is not the answer they wanted. Oh, we got plenty of notes. Yeah, we show them this. And all the letters. You see, she says, yes, I smell a Tacones on there for certain. What does his lordship know, my dear friend, the Earl of Gormelay? He's converted to your creed, Lord Helipar. I think we knew that, and perhaps it means he's turned over a good leaf. Probably not, though. Yeah, he made a grand show of it. Are you worried he's been corrupted by outside influence? The Earl of Gormelay is a sovereign lord of the land of his house, of the Trollkeaps Gormelay, has been in his family for generations, and without evidence, I will not speak a word against him here. Perhaps it is possible that our dear brother Groveland fell afoul of the Tacones, who used a dungeon of the Earl of Gormelay without his knowledge, and perhaps he did not know that there was a basilisk in his dungeon turning knights to stone, without evidence, who could say? And yet, I am sorry, this is none of your concern. Your travel is in this land, your brother has been harmed, did you find him? Yes, I'm sure of him, this is that true. Very well. If I may, I do think it's our concern. At least mine, if my family is involved, I'd like to get to the bottom of it, and your brother was involved, I'm sure you would obviously like to rescue him and restore him first, but make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else like him, or other paladins. I agree, I think what he is meaning is that there is a sickness now, not just in your land, but in this home of the Earl of Gormelay, the spreading, the unseen. What I mean to say is, you have done a heroic thing, rescuing these warriors. You see that Hawkins looks down and says, I recognize some of these statues as knights of Valor, a region further to the south of here. I don't know their names, but I can tell by their crest. And you see that he says, brave and true, in the orders they belong to, this is a terrible thing we have witnessed. You look at Morgaine, who she nods and says, you've done the right thing by bringing these to safety. I cannot imagine what it would be if we had lost Groveland or you, your brother. But if we were to go to the middle of Candle Feast and say, look what we have discovered, what we would have is a cart full of statues. And if we were to accuse anyone of anything, what would they say? How terrible. We had no idea. Therefore, and it's quite possible that you need to still evade while you can. Are there any alive that saw you? No. By the way, you see that Fel Tower looks around. Is anyone, and is going to lay on hands anyone else that is still injured back to full? Oh, I'm injured. Yeah, you see that Fel Tower would be like, perhaps it would be better if you just stood on my tongue. She doesn't like to stand on party parts. All right. And you see Morgaine says, what exit of Castle Deloni did you emerge from? We came from a cellar door. There were ten guards outside that did see us pass. And Nia, the cellar door that faces the western edge of the city. Correct. All right. And we were told to meet at the main gate to the city, so we are expected, along with the city, to meet the guards. I assume this cargo, so when we go missing, they will be looking for us. You see, you see Harkin says, it's a good thing that we found our traveling friends here, but there's no one on the main gate right now. I'm getting nervous. And you see that Morgaine says, Harkin, you return to keep an eye on the main gate. I don't think the T'Konus will try to move that quickly, but if a short walk down a set of stairs can reveal to them that these statues are maybe some of their companions are no longer with us. Yes. Well, congratulations to you on all emerging in one shape or another. It was all. It was all. It was all. You know, all sorts of intriguing mystery, I get all that, but you bathed us in shadow and helped us out and seemed to have great magical powers. You got the ability to mend a card. You see that Morgaine sort of cocks her head. You can see her asking herself, can I do that? And you see that T'Altaro says, many gifts are given to the hounds of the king, faithful hearts and magic true of the land and its people. We don't have hands. Do you want, we may know someone down in Del Marquillar who's able to help bring these people back, but it's a long journey. Do you want us to take everyone with us or? You see that she looks and says, no. No, I don't think so. Only because there may be other answers here and more. You see she looks and fell tower sort of nods and says, we could take the Miller's road to Timon's Rock, speak to the Druids of the Seven Tines. You see that she looks and says, I think that wise, we have friends here in Tibery's Lee. What we're going to do is this. You are extraordinary. You have quite literally rescued one of our brothers from whatever fate awaited them at the hands of the Taconus. If we can revive him or reverse this state, then we will have some answers at least to what we seek. And certainly his word as to what happened to him will be quite something. So yes, felt our the Miller's road to Timon's Rock, but we will not ask you to make that journey. If you have a means by which to save your brother, then you should take it. Let us take this cart then to the Granary. You see fell tower nods and says, there are carriages there, peasants' carriages covered. If there is some kindness in terms of recompense that the House of Hale of Arh could leave for the commandeering of such a carriage, then I think you would be well on your way. She and fell tower fallen beside you. You already have arrived at a granary there, and you see that there are a number of carriages. Again, there's like festival music playing around, and people are laughing. It's a busy, busy night. People are laughing and singing. You see in the square, the granaries behind the old granary, which is now at the hospital. They built a new one, so the other one went defunct. You see that there's the Lux, who's out laughing and singing. You see that they've made this makeshift, harvest throne covered in candles. You see that the Lord, still dressed in funerial black, is seated on the throne. People are coming in. He's pouring a glass of wine, celebrating everybody there. You see that there's a big festival atmosphere here in the night. Daymorgane leads you over to these carriages, covers them up. She walks up to the back of the granary, speaks to someone in hushed tones. They look over. You see as this person who's keeping the exterior of the building at night, everyone's gone home. As they turn to look at you, she says, better for you not to look. Better not remember any faces of what you've seen here. You see the person cast their eyes down. She walks over to the cart and shows two, there's a two-horse carriage here that it looks like you guys could travel in. So we move sit over. Are we leaving all the other statues? Yeah, they're going to take them. You see she looks out and says, these are strong and sturdy horses and a carriage as well. Whatever you can leave, we'll be welcome. These are kind and loyal people that know they are acting in service to their king and that you, as travelers in our land, have aided in rescuing a member of the king's hounds. But if they were to sell these at market, it would fetch something like 250 gold pieces, the carriage and both horses. You need not leave that if you do not have that, but I merely wish to let you know what this act of service on the part of these farmers and millers means. I don't haggle. We give them what they deserve. Yes, absolutely. With your permission, can I spend some of the party's funds? Why are you looking at me? I'm not looking at all of you. I look at you because he never makes eye contact. She's mad at me and he's very tall. Do it. Yes, spend the money. I like that. I'll spend a hundred of party funds and a hundred fifty of my own. Incredible. Putting your money forward, you sort of hand this to Morgaine. You see she looks down and says, I word, a man of principle, my lord Hedovar. You see that she takes the money over to these people who look around like, oh, very thankful. She nods and she walks over with Fel Tower. As you guys have loaded Sid onto this new carriage, she looks at this other, she looks basically at the three statues remaining in here. Fel Tower looks over and goes, I'll see to Hawkins, see if the Tacona still don't know that they've been had. To all of you, I do not know by what might or magic you have seen these things done, but you have my respect and a good deal of puzzlement. How did you do it? Remarkable. Blunt force. Ah, blunt force. Often what the sinister types least expect. Slythering ways. Sometimes they don't expect a nice bite to the ankle or a shot to the jaw. So good on you. And a great deal of luck, I would say. Well, we can all use a bit of that to all of you. Thank you for your service. And to you. A happy county feast, my lord. Thank you. And happy indeed. Fel Tower takes off into the night. Morgaine looks and says, I think now would be a good time to remove your tablets. Yeah. Uh, Anonymous travelers headed south towards Valor. If anyone asks, there's always goods that need to be moved to Dolmargar. It's a hungry city. Did you hear about House Royce? Yes, from the black rabbits on the road. Right, right, right. You see, she says, I have heard nothing else. The House of Royce has been much diminished for some time, as have all of the Fairfork of Timony. It is not our wish nor the wish of our king that it should be so, but time's a cruel. Hope is not a condition of the world, but one of the soul. I have not yet seen anything full so far that it has gone past the point of recall. One life ends, but the world asks us back in a new name, in a new guise, in a new life, time and time again. Do not lose hope. Try. Safe travels, my friends. What a stroke of fortune to have met you. Thank you. She smiles, turns, and with the cart leading this one, horse cart, she leads it around the corner off towards what you see to be some actual human knights that as she approaches, she goes up to speak to them, and you see there are a couple of royal knights up there, some of the king's men who are here in the town that she reveals herself to and begins to speak in this cloak-covered wagon next to her. The knight is yours, my friends. What do you do? I go. Open it. Yeah. And we're heading toward... The Makiar. I mean, Bolare or Murray is, those are the two people that I would trust the most with this. I feel like the knowledge between them. Yeah, but... We're going back into the belly of it all. Ah, one of those strategists, but I think there might be somebody else that could handle this, and I don't want to put your brother at risk, but... I'm open to suggestions. Oh, it's a good idea, we can do it, I promise, but... What do we chase? I mean, didn't you read some stuff in these notes? Sure, but... The bay that I think any local alchemist can help us with, tell his brother... I mean, maybe... Do we need to go back into the belly of the beast, where we just flee from? But Haktis... I mean, he could be in danger, he could be... Oh, and we're all in danger. Make no mistake, we started with the aunt, but... I fear that we're getting closer and closer to being the prey. So we hunt down the Deconas. What's the end goal there? You think we're going to take on the entire house? No. I'd like to break it to you, but we already started. It's not my fault to make, it's your brother's life. I just don't want to risk ours. It is a long journey. Do we know how far we would be from this Houndsport, or any of us familiar with the geography from where we are? How far? Houndsport... The Bay of Garothi? Ah, the Bay of Garothi is much far away. Far away. The Bay of Garothi too. So that's the interesting thing, right, is you can reach the Bay of Garothi from taking a ship from Houndsport, but... it's so far away that there are probably multiple ways to reach it. I think... Is Houndsport much, much closer? Houndsport is much, much closer. How close we're talking, do we know? How close we're talking? Houndsport from where you are, you're about halfway to Houndsport from Dolnokjar. So in other words, it's probably... It's the same distance. Same distance. Same distance. Same distance. It's probably about 80 to 100 miles to Houndsport, depending on the road you take, and probably another 80 to 100 miles back to... And what would we be looking for when we got there? Captain Lanty Spuris? Landry Ferris. Landry Ferris. I can read my own fucking handwriting. We'll be talking about... From those names to all of those names that you found in their thimble were people in the employ of the Tacownists, meaning... And I say this in full transparency, that there is no wrong choice here. Everything you do will come with the price. Everything you do will lead us from one onto another. There is no wrong choice here. But to be clear about what you seek if you go to Houndsport, you do not have the names of friends. You have the names of enemies. You have the names of people in the employ of the Tacownists, people that they speak of with trust and understanding that they will get things done. And I haven't spent any time in Houndsport with D'Azi. No, I think when you guys went up to Garethai, you went up through Royce lands to the east of the D'Volmar Pass. Yes. What if... I mean, I'm tired. Aren't you tired? Yes, I'm incredibly tired. I would have a little nap. We had time. We got the woods, a camp, a chat, and we figure out what our next steps are. Yeah? Well, that would be smart, yeah. I think we'll have a little nap. Well, that would be smart, yeah. I don't think your brother's going anywhere. No. Not a hotel, then, or... Oh, fuck. Back in dog mode. Making your way out of the city in the carriage is pretty easy, and again, you guys have vanished. Everybody who knew you is either back in Slok, or has essentially absconded to... Or, like, all the Taconis that you walked into the castle invisibly. Everyone that could make you is dead on the ground in that room. Now, does being dead put someone out of reach of the Taconis? Maybe not. But you have time, and no one saw you come in this wagon or take a little farm road out of Tibery's Lee. As you begin to leave to get to somewhere safer to rest, think, Wick, you look out and see this beautiful candle feast festival just happening around you. The people of the Condescent Creed celebrating seems like a really joyful night. People seem moved and impassioned and alive and happy that the Lord has converted here in this way. There is an electric feeling in the air of passion and meaning and togetherness and community. You see the Lux moving throughout that town square, and... I think you just see that begin to fade as the carriage pulls away. Making your way somewhat outside of the city, you find a copse of trees that you can pull aside from. This is all completely open farmland. There's hounds and, you know, knights and things around. You can find a little place to pull aside and begin to rest if you so desire. And the knight sort of envelops you, it's often cool. Your quest is a success. You have done, as you set out on this road to do, it is something that you have discovered, how much vaster and broader the problems of the world are. All of which is to say, this story will conclude in this chapter, where you all say it does. I don't want to rush you towards an ending, but I just want to put out there that any scenes that you want, any things that need saying, any decisions that need making, we are very much in that world now. Slumber party, four more hours. So we either go forward to somewhere we've never been and we will only be hunting, or we try and reach the other steps back to Dolmakiar. How appearing as ourselves without any sort of disguise in Dolmakiar, how's the heat on you both in particular? And I guess us. I think it's bad for all of us, maybe with the exception of Katigan. And myself, I am not from there. Of Dolmakiar? No. No, but my family wanted you dead. Sure, but I'm sure there are lots of lion folk around. I don't think anybody gives a fuck about me. I'm just a little pixie. You though, you're pretty recognizable. Famous face. Did you have to leave town because you had a death threat on you, right? I mean, no. Not necessarily. We just sort of assumed that it was coming soon. You honestly, maybe you should talk to your mom or see if how much, how in trouble you are. Because if it's not at all great for us, we can continue in Dolmakiar. And if it is... I'm pretty sure I'm in trouble. Well, yeah, but they're not going to kill you, right? I don't know. I hope not. Everyone else has certainly tried. But yes, to your point, I mean... We could at least go and talk, maybe not to close family, but there's other halovars there that I could maybe speak with. I have a sister, I have a brother. Would they be honest with you? Possibly. I think you raise a fair point. You are being sought after, and therefore you are as well. If the hunt for my brother has also enveloped me at this point, and if Thimble as Tiazzi's second is on a list of some kind and that... But she's impossible to detect, pretty much. It may mean the gates to the city would be more close to us than we would like to think. But you... You bastard. You are unknown everywhere you go. I know. Why are you trying to get rid of me again? Well, I think you would have done it yourself if we gave you enough time, but I wonder if there might be wisdom in... Yeah. Splitting. Yeah. My brother needs to go back to Dolnokia. He needs Boler or... Murray. Murray, but... For us to take him there would incur danger not just to him, but to ourselves. They might also be looking for a group, a single traveler of unknown origin, might have more success. Yeah. Or even if it meant us staying on the outskirts of the city and then... rendezvousing with you again. Oh, no. You're eating my mind. You got some kind of trick. No, I've just known you for a long time. Yeah. Gatigan's already sort of... parsing through the ins and outs of navigating the countryside, thinking about what it would take... to get back to Dolnokia, a place that potentially... he is not like or not belong, but... like... a decade and a half ago, when Teor wasn't deaded to him, he feels like... that the other way hasn't been paid back. So... Yeah, he's cooking through the ways of whether or not this is feasible or not. You'd have to take the road. Yeah. With Sid? Yeah. We're talking about sending him back all on his own. Where will we go? Perhaps not the entire way on his own, but I think once we arrive at the city. Maybe we split up there? Yeah. Or let him go for a bit. They have to check on Octus. And you also are... it is much easier for you to infiltrate the city. But I think this is now something that we have admittedly... earned quite a reputation around. Yeah. Well, believe it or not, I don't exactly want to leave, but I do feel like I'd have the best chance of getting back to Dolnokia undetected. I mean... Like I said, all I need to give is a fuck about me. Simple traveler with a car. Psh. Got a wolf? Yeah. Don't keep to the woods. He's a good boy. Listen. I'll do it if you want. I mean... I like a solo adventure. A little walk in the woods. You talk it out. I go to piss. And I actually do have to piss. Well, I don't like being alone. Where would we go without him? He's the strongest one of us. No offense. I don't know. I mean... I'm mostly... I don't want to be separated from Thimble. She's the one that has been stabbing everyone. All right, listen. I guess I hurt you somehow. I'm sorry that I stayed back with the dog, but I was trying to protect us, or I thought I was and... All right, dude. I'm just saying she is actually the one who has been protecting us. And if there is any heat on your family, to which I am bound, unless you fire me, then we need some protection, if... Yes. I'm not going anywhere without... you two, if you... unless you want me to. You don't want me? Well, yeah. You have shown yourself to be much more true than your family. And you got wings. And fire. I'm sorry if I've been a burden to everyone. I know I keep dying, but... You're getting tougher. I can already see it on you. I don't know about that. So you fell a couple times. We all stumble and fall. I almost turned into a paperweight. True. I know I'm not much of a soldier, but I feel like I have a purpose now, a mission, a goal, and that makes a big difference. What's your mission? You want to take down your family? I mean, yes. I'm a bad boy now. Maybe the demon's rubbing off on the angel. All right. I'm back, baby tyranny. Demon form, my guy. I love that. I love that, dummy. What if you could... What if you could reclaim your family, or has the rot spread to every corner? I don't know where it's spread. It seems like it's most places. If the source of the rot is one or two people, maybe we could get rid of them, or take them into custody, or whatever you people do, and reform it from the inside. Fimbel has been displaced. I am an outsider. You are uniquely placed to affect real change. You can move in ways that we cannot, and we will be here to support you. But the danger to you is very real, and I think we know now that this conflict is far larger than any of us thought. That's true. You saw the candle feast, and how happy everyone was. Real change was being made in that hospital. If you have anyone in your family that you feel you can trust, I think it's worth looking into. I'm happy to try. I don't know. Yes, I did. Candle Feast was one of my favorite holidays, and seeing everyone happy like that made me sentimental for a moment, but honestly, it made me kind of feel disgusted. All these people are living a lie, as I was, and I can't stand for it anymore. And I would like to go back and see what can be done to restore. I don't know if I even care about my family's name anymore. I just want to undo some of the bad that we've done. I know I can't do that on my own, but... Maybe you should turn on the rebellion. The Fang... Falcon, Fang Falcon. Fang Falcon, you got it. Is that us now? Are we a rebellion? In a small clearing in the distance where Cadigan went to relieve himself, you hear the tink of flint and steel and a small fire starts to light up, casting a dim glow, maybe 30 feet or so away from the party, Cadigan starting a campfire. I think we should go back, all of us. I think so too. Check on our friends, your friends. Not mine, really. To see if there's someone I can talk to to get help for your brother. And for you, tyranny. To see if there's a way to separate you from this. Separate me, why? Well, you keep bringing it up that you're somehow bound to me and don't seem to like it very much. I'm sorry. My feelings got hurt because you left me for the dog and I'm sorry. I am here with you, Wick. I don't want to be... If it makes you feel better, the dog left me for nothing. That does make me feel better, thank you. I don't want to hang out with my family or your family. I like what we're doing. It seems like you are developing an actual brain for yourself. No offense. Very offensive. I mean, I don't think that you questioned anything that your family did before you saw it first hand. And by the way, you said that you did nothing, but I see you try over and over to do the right thing by your own moral code. And that's who I want to be hanging out with. Now I'm going to cry. I'm going to fly towards the campfire. Hey. Sounds like we're all going back to Dome Lockyer. Oh. I guess you're not going to be rid of us that soon. Well, I'm trying to get rid of you. Just giving you options. I like you. Why did you leave before? Oh, you have to be more specific. I've left a lot. After the battle. Oh, we're taking it way back. He's just disappeared. Yeah. I have to ask Taylor about that. I just thought it was time for me to go. Nothing personal. Nothing against the cause. I thought the Aussie was great. Hey. I was my best back in the city. No. No. But I'm... I know you love them. Yeah. Yeah. My stuff to love, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Wolfric sort of saunters over and kind of full face and bousles. Thimble. You know, that way that only dogs know when we're not feeling quite right. When I'm going to land on his snout and just like lay my head down on to in between his eyes. Screech. He'll settle down next to the campfire. And Cadigan will pull out some bits and bobs that are particularly discernible and start sort of whittling them and working them and enjoying a fire as it continues to grow. Come on then. It's going to get warmer. Let's go. I'm cold. Tehor will take a moment as they all head towards the campfire to spend the first real time with Sid looking at the statue, looking over the details of it, examining his face, his neck, his arms, any detail of the statue that might stand out to him. And in the pose that he sees, he notices an open hand and Tehor will take out the small, wooden lion's head and place it in his brother's hand and clasp his own over it. And like he and Sid and their father did so many nights, he will say, the stars remember before the gods rose and fell before the wars began, our ancestors roared beneath the same stars you see now. They still watch, still listen, and when you doubt yourself, look up. Their strength still runs in your veins. And I will take the lion head, put it in my pocket and go and join the others. As you walk away from the carriage, you look up at the stars, your brother's body weighs 2,000 pounds and he's never looked lighter. You didn't get to see him in Dolmokyar, but whatever life was like there was not treating him well. He looks hungry, tired, and you have that wooden lion's head back and you think about the fact of what it took all of you to lift and drag the stone statue onto this. And I think you remember only two years apart, there was just a very short amount of time where you were much bigger than your brother. But I think you remember a night just like this under different stars, carrying your brother's body, bad, gash on his knee, chasing you down a hill, which was too young to do, as he sniffles and cries and looking up like he was going to be in trouble for following you out somewhere. And think about carrying him back to your dad and your dad telling you that night, seeing how exhausted you were from having carried him so far because you couldn't walk, you'd hurt himself too bad, and talking about strength in that moment, which to him always felt like you were sharing some little secret when he talked to you about the stars, talked to you about these ideas that always felt like if we're not allowed to talk about the gods anymore, then why do we still talk about the world like there's so much magic hidden somewhere else in it that we just can't see? Walking to the campfire, you hear your father's voice, their strength still runs in your veins. The stars remember my little tail. You've been walking for many years, trying to keep something alive and stay strong while the people around you look hungrier and hungrier. Do you feel strong walking to the campfire? No. In fact, I feel weaker and more unsure of my footing than I ever have. These years away have led to avoid that I am desperately searching to fill with answers, and I will not get them this night, but hopefully soon. You sit by the fire. It's getting nice and warm, crackling up. Hi. Come here for a minute. It's... What are you talking about? It's a tyranny. Me? Hey, you, come here. Okay. Hey, hey. Are we good? I'm sorry that I talked shit about you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I talked shit about your dog. I didn't mean to. Oh, he's a dog. He's a dog. It's all right. Okay. He doesn't know. Okay. Are you all right? I don't know. There's a lot of conversations happening about love and connection and pain, and I think I'm having a different reaction than I should be. Maybe you just think too much. Yeah. Maybe you think too much. Maybe. I don't know. I'm not you. Hey, you like stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I like stuff. I feel like you like stuff. Yeah, I do. I do like stuff. Yeah. I know you like stuff. You like stuff. I like stuff like that old man's knife. Come on, man. I mean, I said I was sorry. I didn't know what I was doing. That's all right. I know. I know. I know. I did get after you a bit, didn't I? No, it's okay. I truly don't know why I did that. It was so weird. You don't have to defend. I think I did it because I knew I was going to hurt his feelings. I think I knew where I would hurt him, and that's why I did it. Oh. That's why you did it. I don't know. Yeah. Well, can I ask you a question? Yeah. Like a real question. I hope so. Yeah. How'd you feel after you did it? I know. Really good. Oh, fuck. Yeah. I mean, it didn't feel good when you yelled at me. Oh, wait. So, you felt good when you did it, but you didn't feel good when you got the consequences of your actions. No, I felt good. I felt good knowing that I had hurt someone. Okay. So, why did you feel bad when you got yelled at? Because it's somebody that I care about, I think. I don't know. I don't know why I felt the way I did. I think it has something to do with me being a fucking demon. That's funny, isn't it, though? Who you are and what you do can be two different things, can't they? How you think of yourself and how you behave what necessarily always the same. Are you saying that there is a way to fight my nature because Mr. Wick over here has already really been on a journey to try to save me and I don't know if that's possible. I'm not trying to save you. I'll know you well enough to save you. You just got to save yourself. Let me ask you something. Have you had it to do over again? No one that I'd yell at you. No one that you'd hurt the old man. Would you take the knife again? How old are you? Six months. I mean, how old am I? I'm older than humans. I come from the massive swirling archetypal energy I've been around, but I have been in this form for about six months. Stuff, stuff, walking around six months old. Yeah. Yeah, you don't know shit. No. That's all right. But I think what you maybe just figured out is what you do matters a little bit more than who you think you are. I'm sorry I yelled at you and I'm sorry. I took the knife away from you. That's not a good lesson. It's not a good lesson to teach a kid because that's what you are. So I'm going to try to teach you the right lesson. And out of his pocket, he's going to pull that thing that he was futzing with. And what you'll see is the tang in the blade of the cursed knife that she stole from Elbin and a new handle fashioned from the bone that he took from the hounds offer. Etched and carved, rubbed with rose petal and elderberries. And it's this really rich, pink hue that sort of matches tyranny's entire everything. And he's going to hold it. And he's going to say, now I made this for you. I'm not an artist, but I got a craftsman's stache. And I want to give it back to you for one reason, and one reason only. You took it and your choices have weight. So tonight you're going to carry that weight. I don't know what the fuck this thing is. I'll never have much of a knife at magic, but it belongs to you. And it's not right that I have it. I'm going to flip it around in my hand, hold it by the blade, hand out the handle to her. You're going to take it? God, this is so fucking cool. Cadigan. What? Thank you. And your faith in me really means a lot. I'm very afraid of you, and I think you're really cool. And I feel the weight of this dagger. It is like white hot in my hands with the pain of this man that I caused. And I'm I really don't want to let you down, but I think I would have taken the knife again. Well, here's the thing about kids. They always miss the lesson the first time. It's yours. Thank you. I'd like to bond with this weapon. You even sitting here at a campfire, the magic of a campfire, is that you can sit at it, and in one instant be the most connected to the people around the fire with you that you've ever been. And in the next moment, go to the most solitary and soulful place within your own heart and mind that you can possibly reach, and never be far away from the people you love and care about. Sitting here in the fire, crackling, you think of the fires of the realm which birthed you, gaze at this knife, and begin to get lost in it. As you attune to it, you look into the blade. You are a demon that has only worn this form for a time, but the stuff with which you are made is older than time itself, deep in a writhing pit of entropy and destruction, the substance that made you was waiting for this world to be born, so you could come and ruin it. And you look at this knife, you're so drawn to it. You were shaped by the hand of the shadow of suffering, an ancient demon whose voice you've heard this very night, and there's something in this knife you are drawn to it, and it has to do with pain, you're certain of it. That's what you're here to do. Contract with a mortal family of sorcerers, be damned, you are here to hurt the world. You look in that knife, and you start to attune to it, and you see a mother's hand some pumpkins and squash from a little mountain-side garden roasted and seasoned and covered in honey, fresh seeds, and you can hear the babbling of a nearby baby. This thing roasted to a point of softness, and you can see her cutting through with a knife, each cut, going into something, making it a small and perfect size to go into a little child's hand. Every little motion of the knife is a prayer, hoping that a thing she loves more than life itself will take a little morsel of food and get a little stronger, a little bigger, a little more ready for a world she can't predict. This knife has been an instrument of love for more times than you can count, and you get lost in that memory. Where does Tyranny go in this memory, and what crosses her mind as she looks? This is the first gift that Tyranny has ever received in earnest, and it was born of understanding of shortcomings and flaws. And as she looks down at the knife, all she feels is searing jealousy of humanity. You're a demon born of pain, so perhaps it's fitting that you can't stop looking at this knife that's hurting you. There is a secret. Something in the ear is alluding you. It's taunting you. The lessons of the creed might be a lie, but there's something true in this knife. And for all of the ancientness of the energies of using your being, it is beyond your grasp. You attune to this knife. But its final form eludes you, for indeed, in another world, another time, an object like this might have been referred to as a vestige of divergence. But here, you're just a demon holding a kitchen knife that you stole from a little old gnome. God, I wish I knew what that was. It sounds so thick. Something in this knife can grow along with your understanding of this world, but it's a world you don't understand yet. And so your feet, but which I mean your hooves, get warm by the fire as you gaze into a knife. You have much to learn. The knife's magic rests at your fingertips. There's something here, but you won't find it tonight. Well, looks like you like it. Slap her on the back. Good, good, good. And I was like, I always have to move my body before bed. I'll see you guys in a bit, and I'll knock off into the forest. I'm gonna tuck the knife into my apron, and not share this moment quite yet. I have a lot, a lot to think about. Catagin's true to his word, and he walks out and settles his nervous system. And after this moment with Tyranny, he has to break away from connection, and he just finds a quiet spot about 20 feet from a tree, and just starts pulling darts out of his butt, straight out of his butt, where he keeps the human purse. And he's just, he's just winging darts at an open spot on a tree, and it's bad. I can't hit shit, just like tonight. And he's feeling inadequate and angry, and he's throwing the darts harder, and the harder that he throws, the worse he gets, and this frustration builds and grows until he's just out of darts, and he's got one left in his hand, and he can't do it. Slams his club down, slams the dart down, and he's just frustrated by his inadequacy and also feeling connected to these people for the first time in a long time. And I think that connection is making him question himself. There's no comfort here. He's lost in his own skin, so he has to move his body, and he starts to move his body again, and he just catches himself doing everything he can to warm up and feel inside of himself, and he's doing push-ups, he's jumping, he's moving his body, and as he moves, he starts to forget about the people that he's with, and he's alone with himself and tapping into his own body, and this is when I will choose to level up. Oh, lovely. By myself. I love that. And it is unhealthy, and it is sad, and maybe even a little bit pathetic, but his body grows stronger and his skills sharpen, and he picks up that last dart and he locks it into his Adeladal and he picks a different tree 40 yards away, or sorry, 40 feet away instead of 20, and he throws it, and he's aiming for the tiniest knot in the tree, smack in the middle, and I will take sharpshooter as my feature. Hell yes. And it takes the chef feet. You. And running after the wheel, and fall back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Damn. That's sick, Phil. Yeah. A dart right into the center of the tree. Wolfric, I think, looks up at you. Wolfric didn't have to see how dangerous Slok was, but Wolfric saw how dangerous tonight was and is looking up at you. You bullseye that tree. And I think you realize in this moment you were totally lost in concentration, but Wolfric also watched the entire process of you carving that bone, and looks up at you with, I think, a wide expression, looking to see if you will say or remark on anything that has happened tonight. How close you came to death, what it meant for you to carve the handle of that knife. Come here. Pup, pup, pup, pup. Hey. You know we can do better. It's been you and I for a long time. You're a good boy, but you know we can do better. All the fights, all the pain, all the years, come on. Fucking do it. Just do it. And the quiver on his hip starts to glow. This found relic from a battle a long time ago, one of our first, the runes on it starts to glow. And in that moment, the faint outline of the red bolt that would never manifest and never come into being, sizzles to life, and his quiver has an extra arrow in it. An extra bolt for the first time. And you could tell that energy from the one that we lost in the cave, that thing that was meant to be a moment for us to excel together, that we failed at, that energy has dissipated, and now there are two arrows in Wolfric's quiver. And Wolfric's quiver. And for the first time, Cadigan just really feels, and what he feels is pride. And maybe just a little bit of hope. And he walks back to the fire and he pets his fucking dog. The dog. The tongue walling out. Having rested on the decision to return to Dolnokjar, to seek an answer with at least Arcanus you know can handle this problem, and know can be relied on for good faith and close counsel. One by one, I think you drift off to rest hidden here, either on the campfire or in the carriage. But is there anything you do? I suppose I'll ask who first seeks rest from this one by one, as you guys take your last rest before you will head out on the perilous journey back into the belly of the beast. I don't mind taking first watch. First watch or first rest? First rest. One by one we go to sleep. Arcanus rests. Tear, I think you head back to the, you either sleep by the fire or you go into the carriage to get some privacy. I think I would go back and sleep against the wheel of the carriage. You lean up against the wheel. Leaning up against the wheel. Knowing that your brother is inside. And find rest, almost died today. Came very close. As you begin to rest, going into this long rest, that death save failure begins to diminish and some part of you that sort of went, no one gets this lucky, no one survives this many battles, something's got to go bad at a certain point. That starts to fade away here in the wagon. What are the last thoughts as you let go of that closeness to death, as you fade off into sleep? I think, he begins to think that maybe there are more forces at work that are looking out for Tear, that perhaps it wasn't just blind luck or devotion that saw him through all of those battles, maybe there is a greater calling for him, and that if he can open his eyes to the light, maybe it will light his path. You drift off to sleep. Wolfric will trot over to the other wheel, curl down, catagonyl, nuzzle up against Wolfric and start to fade off too. Hey, let somebody else keep watch for fucking months. Can I ask you a question? I don't know. I don't know. Can I ask you a question? Of course. The first night we slept in the wild, why did we sleep in those trees? You think zombies can't climb fucking trees? Sometimes it's best to keep the illusion of safety at the forefront. Sure, sure. You always been good about that. Watching out for everybody else? What are you going to start taking care of yourself, old friend? Oh, there's still a lot of time left. I have a feeling we are just getting started. All right, good night. Two old soldiers drift off to sleep, thimble, wake tyranny, you're left at the campfire, it's settling down into just embers. Ready? For bed? Yes, I think so. Wherever Wick orients himself, I curl up at the bottom even though it's just dirt. I think I lay out whatever robes or whatever we have to make the ground soft. As soft as it can be. Seeing cat again, seeing Tayor, how they sleep, I'm just going to get up and kick the robes aside and try to sleep right on the dirt. Just to see if I can do it. I'm going to get up and take that. Just under your head, how about? Okay, just a little bit. Yeah, just okay. Don't be a hero. I'm emboldened by this show of care from Catagon. Tyranny kind of like peeks her head up from Wick's dirty ass, muddy ass, velvet slippers, and just goes, hey, you did really good, and you're being really brave. Thank you. I, um, over the last few days, you've been, I realize I've been, um, ignoring you sometimes and other times maybe worrying about you too much, and thank you for just letting me be, me and figure this all out, and letting me be sort of scared and not really a great leader and not really a great soldier, but, um. It's only been a couple days and you've already decided to lead a full-fledged revolt on your family, man. I think that you're doing a good job. I've felt very vulnerable around you, and it made me really realize that I miss Arma so much, and, um, I think she's out there somewhere, and I can find her. Yeah, we should get her. We should get her. Let's get Arma. Good night. Wick, you drift off to sleep. Wick, has you drifted off to sleep? Do you do anything for candle feast? Oh, well, you know, it is custom on candle feast to give someone else a candle, and we don't really have any. So, instead, I'll give Tyranny my cane for the night. If you get scared of the dog, it lights up. Do I have to turn it on? You just sort of say light and it comes on. Light. Oh. Sorry, sorry. I don't know if I'm going to worry. There's no off, you just have to wait an hour. I hide it under my dress. You hide it under stuff and sit there. This is your first candle feast that you're not celebrating. But in a way, as I drift off to sleep, I realize that all of these various people who have tried to kill me over the last couple of days have somehow peered into my soul and been able to see that deep down I'm pretty lonely. But, but looking around the campfire, I think for the first time, even since before this all started, I don't feel lonely. And maybe they were wrong. And you just have to sleep, and the last person left keeping watch is the embers of the fire die down as thimble. I've been watching their conversation without them even remembering that I was around and thinking about the early days between me and Theazy. Just figuring out our partnership and how we worked together, and it just feels very reminiscent. And I'm jealous of them. Having all of it ahead of them. But I'm gonna fly over as soon as they fall asleep and step up close to Wick's ear. As he's sleeping. Thank you for you know, healing me and also for not being a total dick anymore. And I'm mostly sorry I threw rocks at you. Okay, goodnight. You're such a dick! And I'm gonna go find a little patch of flowers growing. And lay down in the center of it. And think about the golden orchard and think about Octus and think about Thaz and think about all of the everybody who's potentially gone now. I think you look over and see in the back of the carriage those bracers. You recognize them as Callowans. Unless I had much mistaken, I don't think anyone, I think the people had grabbed them but not claimed them, but you see them resting there in the back of the carriage. Terrible things at work. It's too much loss. It's pointed, it's the point of it, right? Don't wait for you to process one loss, kick you in the stomach over and over again, make you feel dizzy with loss. Rolling down a hill doesn't seem to stop. It's the point. Keep you off balance. Despair becomes the only numbing agent. The only thing to let you feel like maybe the little bit of power I have is to just stop feeling how frightening and horrible this is. But then I think of Daymar Gane. And I drift off to sleep thinking about her eyes and her hope and her promise that it's never too far gone. When morning comes, you strike out on the road for Dolmakjar. And that's all for this episode of Critical Role. And a smashing conclusion to our first outing with our soldiers' taper. The Fang Falcon. The Fang Falcons. FF. FF. We wake up in the morning and wicks tattooing. Are we not? Are we not? I know, we're doing the Fang Falcon. Next we see you. You'll be on the road back to Dolmakjar. But incredible. You got your revenge on Casimir Gavendale. You've rescued your brother, although in less than ideal circumstances. I have more questions than answers about. I know you have, there are statues more than just he and this. What could that be? There's a whole circle that's got like, almost like a ving-vacier and there's a word here that's barely readable. You can't read that before we start shooting again. That's true, I didn't even think to scan that. That's the only, that's the only copy of that that exists. No, those are stakes, baby. No, those are stakes, baby. What a joy for a legend and honor. What a thrilling adventure with many more to come and I'll ask as I must, is it Thursday yet? Yeah! Thanks for listening to this episode of Critical Role. If you're enjoying this story, consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice. We're always looking for new critters to share our adventures with and your review may help a new batch of wayward souls find their way to Araman, Exandria, and beyond! Or if you want to hear what the cast discussed after the episode, head to beacon.tv and check out our exclusive show, Critical Role Cool Down! You'll be right there at the table immediately after we say, is it Thursday yet? And experience our cast's post-show reactions. We'll see you next time.