The Place of Wings | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 17 Part 2

Hello again! It's Brennan Lee Mulligan, and you're listening to Part 2 of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out Part 1 yet, pause this now and head over there first! What are you doing? Otherwise, let's jump right back into this adventure and the world of Ahriman. In the midst of a skeletal horde, the Seekers have found what they sought. Tanisar, the place of wings. There will be no flying from Tanisar tonight. No, indeed. You must finish what you started. We left in the midst of Julian, devoting himself to the taste of blood in his mouth. Julian, it is your turn. Indeed. I don't know about wings, but this place is full of bones. It's got so many bones. It's got hella wings though, too. So in this level up, I'm taking the Daredevil subclass with my fighter, bonus action to utilize my Ride the Threshold feature. I changed it over the break. Hey! I was like, that's . When they talk about... You're changing everything! Shame works! I can't believe that you're such a forever GM that you still have to be renaming shit as a PC. You know, when you're like, what? Oh goddammit. It's from fine. We will find it instantly. 100%. Yeah. Yep. But with that bonus action utilized here, feeling that wave of violent joy, of that sense of intensity and nearing death, really. The adrenaline spikes within him and he's going to go ahead and use his action to, the rapier blade goes down as he just pulls back the gauntlet and goes into a full upward backhand to the skeleton. That's, I'm going to say, directly in... You know what, I'm going to say directly on that corner there, the one that's furthest away, to try and strike that. Hell yeah, I will say, you'll have disadvantage on these two because they're in darkness and these two are in light. Oh, right, because of fire. Never mind. I'm going to do the one right in front of me. Cool. That is going to be a 22 to hit. That is a hit. Let's go. And that will be... Three plus four, seven points of bludgeoning damage. Seven points of bludgeoning damage becomes 14 points of bludgeoning damage, and you shatter this skeleton apart. You are the back one. Can I roll to be impressed? Not. Hell yes, and actually that means the one that you, actually, I beg pardon, the one you hit before actually didn't take five, it took 10. Woo! That was the one that rushed to you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep, yep, yep. What? Great. I'm not touching it. After that one shatter with the god on the side, I'm just going to bring the claw back and glance at their skeletons. It's like, it's going to like three times. Next. Bring it. I can kill you so many times. And that's my turn. Great. This energy is wild. I love it. Octus, that's going to be you. So as these claws start, Payless, you rolled an animal handling check. Leave me alone. My D&D Beyond keeps being like, Vayles rolled this roll. Anyway. I don't see it. I know, it's just you. It's just me. These strikes come in and they tear chunks of flesh and cut, but pain works differently for me now. And it's kind of, it just happens and I'm standing there looking at them and I survey the undead around me and where within a 10-foot radius could I hit the most undead? So a point within a range that is a 20-foot diameter, like 10-foot radius sphere circle? Yes, let me double check and make sure here. It is a point within range with a 10-foot radius sphere centered on that point. So you could do like there? It looks exactly there. And I would like to still be inside the radius. You want to be inside the radius. Okay, so it was undead, inclusive of self. Yes. So probably, yeah, I'm sure. I think if you exclude this guy, you can get the three on the bridge with you and that one by the foot of the staircase. That's awesome. I take these hits and then I dodge the last one that didn't hit me. I spin around, throw open my coat, grab in, and I pull out a small, withered vine that's twisted into a loop. And I hold it out in front of me and I say, Transference. And I suck in air through the loop, which this green mist starts to coalesce and funnel through the loop into my lungs. And then I breathe out this area around me and I cast Wither and Bloom. Hell yeah! Oh, cool! And so in a 10-foot in that area, everyone's going to need to make a constitution saving throw, except for me, taking 2d6 necrotic damage on a failed save. Cool. Sweet. Love that. I know, it's the best I can do. No, it's okay. Constitution save against a 14. Constitution save against a DC 14. You go real bad. I just realized watching you. Three of them succeed, one fails. Okay, so the one that fails is going to take 11 points of necrotic damage, and then the rest is like half of that. Aha, okay, so. But they are undead, so they'll probably take half and then half. Actually, I think you see something here that you'd probably know as a necromancer. Skeletons, for undead to have a resistance to necrotic damage typically means that they are an undead powered by their own will. Things like wraiths and vampires and things like that tend to have that resistance. Skeletons and zombies and things like that that are essentially animated through the necromantic will of a greater entity. No skeleton wants to be here, which means that their resistance, their innate resistance to necromantic energy is canceled out by how much they don't want to be here. Okay. So they want to already, it's incredible magic making them be animated at all to just knock that domino over. They're not that resistant to it. So go ahead and roll 2d6. I did, so it's 11 points of damage. Okay. On the one that didn't save, and then half on the ones that saved. And then in addition to that, my Grim Harvest triggers, causing me to gain temporary hit points equal to my spellcasting ability, which is four plus my, the spell's level, which is I gain six temporary hit points, and then the other half of Wither and Bloom triggers, and I get to roll a hit die to regain hit points. Where is my hit, oh, it's a d6, I know what I'm doing. Okay, so that's, and then plus my spellcasting ability runner four, and then... No, sorry. Regain points equal to the roll of three plus, okay, yeah, so then I'm going to regain. Doo, doo, doo, doo. So many things. What the hell? You're doing so good. Thanks. Four, so I'm gaining seven. Nice. You regain seven. I regain seven hit points, and then I will gain also temporary hit points equal to, let me double check my math there. The spell's level, so two plus my intelligence monitor, so I will gain six temporary hit points as well. Incredible. Even with most of them saving, this was the group of skeletons that had gotten knocked back by Tysha's thunder wave before. Even with those successful saves, half damage is already past what they could sustain, and vroom. So this field appears around, it's kind of like this little black dot sort of appears on the ground and then goes, it just fills the space, and just all of the vegetation, any non-magical vegetation that happened to be left here in this area sort of withers away, and then all of the energy flows up into the air and then flows back through the ring into myself, and I heal. Why do we hang out? We have opposite powers. Yeah. I love it. That's just land's aid, but you said it's scary. Incredible. I have movement still. There's one behind you still engaged with you. I will take an attack of our... I'll go ahead and I'll stay where I am. Cool. You cast that spell. These two rush over here, or that one rushes over there. They will move to get flanking. You can see that the one in front of you appears to be rending with its steel blade specifically at your chest. You can feel it clanging off of the sealed metal from Ty's spell on your chest. That is going to be a hit. And that is a miss. You take? So I will use my reaction to cast Shield. Okay, what does that raise your armor class to? That would raise my armor class by five, so that would put me at 21. Cool. Let's go. It still hits. Okay, well then. Damn. It'll last some time extra. Yeah, so I'll go ahead and cast that. Cast Shield. That is going to be four points of damage to you. Okay. I'm just going to throw some pepper head as the sword comes rattling through, there's this thing. I get Konis! I'm sorry, what are they saying? I don't speak their language. Why don't you? Tykonis! Mm-hmm. It sounded like you said Tykonis. I feel like you've got to speak. It sounded like it, but maybe I was just. No, it did sound like that. It kind of did. Damn Saramai holds off the skeletons in front of her, not taking any hits. One of them's going to swing at you, Taisha. Aye! That is going to be a miss against you. No! And then we're going to get some attacks against Julian here. Come at me, bones. That is a hit. Uh-uh. Oh, are you factoring in Shield of Faith? It was not recast on me. I didn't recast on me. Because I was out of range. Yeah. Miss. Come out. And hit, okay. Julian, you take Nine and then nine slashing damage. You take 18 points of slashing damage. 18 points, great, let's do this. Don't. As these skeletons just in a circle around you, just slashing again and again and again. And then, Vaelus, you've got a mob on you, who again, the thing that's really brutal about these hits coming on Julian is the flanking, is the fact that these guys are surrounding you. Sure, yeah. That is a miss on Vaelus. That is a hit with a 23. Okay. Then that is another miss. The two behind, just raking at the backs of their own allies trying to get to you. You take eight points of slashing damage. Okay. That is the undead in this space. We move forward initiative. That's going to be Dame Sarami again, who's going to take another swing. She's going to connect on that one. Miss on that one. Dean Saramayah sword over, bam! And just brings the flat of the blade down, cracking through the ribs and disanimating one of the skeletons in front of her. Back at the top, that's going to be... Is anyone here looking that they have fewer than 20 hit points? I have fewer than 20 hit points. You both do. Does anyone here have fewer than 10 hit points right now? You have fewer than 10? Oh god, what's happening? Oh. What am I not? It just happened, it just happened. So we're okay. I'm going to take it right. Okay. You see... Dr. Talter, just praying and praying and praying, looks over at you, sees you, Vaylus, across all of this, and is going to raise her hand, and miss dramatically. But she looks at you, and just goes, Spirits of undeath, by the truth that governs this world, I abjure thee! And flame rockets straight up into the ceiling, and she goes, and that's her turn. I just, I just. Hint just goes. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no. Is Bimba giving her the help action? Yeah, absolutely. He has? Okay, hold on. Those little button eyes are like. Well, that's in that one, which you want. Hey! Hey! Change of things. Works for the narrative, right? That's going to be Taisha and Vaelus. It like stanced up and like used King as a part of him. No, you go, you go. Okay. You know what? I think we're drift compatible even though I can't even see. Yeah. You have line of sight on Payless. No, no, no, I can't see you. So I didn't see that you just did Wither and Bloom, but it's almost simultaneous. I'm going to point in front of me and cast Lands Aid and 20 foot circles. I want to catch Julian and all the Nasty Boys I can around him. Yep. I landed from watching you. Is there? Nasty boy. Yeah, you got all three and yours. Lookable and line. Mm-hmm. Nice. All right, sweet. So I need a DC 15 con save from all of them. Woo! DC 15 con save from all of them. Yeah. Gorgeous. Two make it, one fails, and the one in front of you fails. Okay, great. The one that makes it only takes five points of necrotic damage, the others take 10. As the basically under Julian's feet, I think you feel it this time. It's just been little after images before, but there's just a space that opens up and it's this desert under a burning full sun. You can see in the distance, past this little circle, plant life and animals and what this place would be and should be. And you're going to be healed for 10 points. Oh shit. Julien is healed for 10 points. You, as you cast Lands Aid here. Because it's the desert, I think it's like that Wailing Woman of Woe is also like, yeah, in the background. I get a soundtrack on my landing. The two of them are badly, two of them, one of them is badly injured, yours is destroyed, the one that got wounded by Julian on its way past, and then two others, one more is dramatically injured. As you hold out your hand, And these reaching, grasping vines grow out from this place. And I think around you, Julian, in that moment, there is also, you hear a rending and a tearing. What is Taisha's connection to the concept of the ancients? This circle of your people was created to honor the fact that for thousands of years, most powerful beings in the world sought to destroy the truths that you held dear and couldn't. And that whatever songs were sung in the ancient mists of time still exist today. As you call out, what does, what does Tysha evoke when she feels like she's trying to heal the land? I think it is, it's like dreams and stories, that idea of reminding the world of itself. It was, it's a torpor or a stupor. The time of the Shapers was part of the world forgetting what it could be in order that it could be shaped into something by powerful beings. So her action on the world is a memory of itself. It's screaming wake up into the earth. All of the stone and sand in that emanation glows, but not with luminosity. It doesn't create light. What you realize in this moment here in Tanisar is that the sunlight that once touched this place is reflecting back from the ground as though you were standing in bright day, and the plants hear that call and bloom up around you. Taisha, that's you? Yep, that's me. I killed all my bloods. That's why I like that it was this perfect opposite. Vaelus, it's going to be you. Great. All right, so, okay. She's standing, folks. Can I flank with Julian at all to try to get advantage here? I can't really see around. Unfortunately, we are both swarmed. Are we both swarmed? You are both swarmed. Okay, that's okay, that's all right. I specifically said, don't let that happen. All right, I'm going to, oh, go ahead. Oh no, go for it. I will say too, if you can get the one behind you, you will at least open up a path of escape, right? Okay. There's only one, you got four in front of you here and one behind you. Great, okay. I'll start with the guy in the back. Cool. All right. Still have Bless active. I still have Bless, I'm going to use that just in case. Oh, I should have used that last time. Oh no, I did. Okay, eight, nine, 10, 16. 16 hits. Let's go. Okay. What am I? D10, okay. D10 plus D6. Fire. Fire. Okay, so we've got... Okay, so 11 points of bludgeoning. Which becomes 22 points of bludgeoning. Odd. Do you need to say the other part? You are fully, the one behind you, Describe for me as you absolutely obliterate. No joint is still connected. No bones are connected to the skeleton. I think what I would, okay, so since that hit, if I'm swinging, I would love to swing it around the skeleton's neck and just yank to pop the head off. Wow, done. And then since that hit, I'm going to redirect the sensor to another one that is within five feet of the other one, maybe? Yes, I believe. Will that work? Because I can use cleave. Yes, I believe you can use cleave here. That's correct. With my... Da-da-da. So I don't get a modifier to add to it, but it is a d10. Yes, and I think, too, let me actually double check how Cleve works here, because this could become really rad. This could fuck. This could fuck. This could fuck. Yeah. Cleve, you can, okay, so you can make a melee attack roll with the Halberd. Oh, so it has to be against the second creature within five feet of the first. Yeah, there's tons of them. But the other one was on the other side. The other one was on the other side. There's not one within five feet of the other. Oh, okay. All right, that's okay. But. It'll be cool one day. It'll be cool one day. So I'll stick with that, but is he still up? He is destroyed and the way is open behind you. Great, okay. The way is shut. I want to keep going, but I can. All right, so if the way is open behind me. I'll say, I will give, if you don't want to retreat, I'll give you your cleave here if you want to stay in the thick of it. Because at least they won't get flanking on you right now. How dead are you? Yeah. Oh no, you lambsucker you. Don't let him use his cool voice. I did, but I do have a bone attraction. You're going to die. I can bone it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to cleave. All right, you cleave. Go ahead and make your attack roll. Okay, so I would make another attack roll. Make another attack. Got it. Okay, okay, okay. $11. She dies off the final one. I know. Okay, that's great. That's a natural 18. Woo! Hell yeah. So go ahead and roll d10. You don't add your strength bonus to this. Okay. But I think... Does it still take the fire damage from... That's a really great question. I think it kind of... I'm going to hit the same if you chase top of your damage, but don't add your ability modifier. I think it does take the extra dice. Yeah, I think so, right? D10 and d6. So d10 and d6 Just don add your strength Okay So we got Seven points of bludgeoning and two points of fire That becomes 14 points of bludgeoning This other skeleton is destroyed Woo-hoo! Boom! I'm just listening to Bayless do a xylophone solo down a corridor. Yeah, this, you know. It's real Looney Tunes hours over here. Um. Play free bird! Sick! Okay, two skeletons destroyed. And I obviously can't use Divine Smite because they're both down. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, it would be a dramatic overkill. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it would be too much. Okay, okay. Oh yes, thank you! But I'll heal my, I'll do lay on hands. Okay. And I will do, I've got 10 points left. I'll just do the 10 points. Great. I'll pump in 10 points. 17? I'm going to do a lay on hands. If you want to, just recommendation for tactically, do nine points, as if you save one hit point, that can be used to bring somebody up from unconscious. Great advice. All right, let me do that. Great. So if I, that's really good. She said 10 points there. If we die, we die. You're right, I mean, do what you're going to do. You say I'm a plant touch, and I'll do nine points of lay on hands. I'll do nine points of lay on hands and save one. Very smart. You are at 16. But I also do have Spirit of the Dying. Yeah, that's true. Which is great. But that's a different thing. Let me keep, let me, I like this idea. 16, you have 16 hit points. Not that yet. 16 hit points. Incredible, but you are rooted to the spot and that is going to be Sir Julian. All right, feeling the wave of healing energy in the odd flash of this unexpected vision of what this might have at one point been. I glance over my shoulder and look at you and be like, huh, let's do this. And just going to go into, as the skeletons are withering from this ability, going to go ahead and do one big sweep at the rapier to the one, I'm going to say, in this flash of light, does that give me a momentary bit of vision? Yeah. I will say, as the Lanzai comes here, you know what? We flavored it as sunlight, so I'll stick by my words. Yes, I think you have a momentary bit of vision here for this first attack. Totally fine, so I'll go ahead and use that to flick off to the one to the right of me. Oh, that's a natural one. Oh no, Lanzai. Okay, natural one. You got blessed. I was not. That's okay. So here's what I'll say. I'm like, I can see. It gets a little too bright for a minute. I'm like, oh my god! Going from such dark vision, having no vision and pure darkness, to this bright light, I'm like, shit, I can't, sorry. Just swing out to nothing. It makes me sneeze. I'm going to angrily spin back with my gauntlet and strike the one that's right in front of me that is still within the range of her flame. Yep. That's a natural 20. Yeah! Just hitting both sides of the spectrum in this combat. Here we go. All right, so that is going to be I love it. With the backhand. You're just so good at just skippity-papping people. Golly. Julian's a disrespectful player. 10 points of bludgeoning damage. 20 points of bludgeoning damage. Oh my god! Let's go! Since I rub my eye for a second, I'm like, you. And from your perspective, I'll say, as you turn back and look, you just see the skeleton turn around to look at you before its entire torso explodes into bones with my gauntlet fist there, comes back together. We got this. I'm going. I'm going. Badges here, exploding bones. I cast explode bones. And now the last two are in darkness with you here. Right. You know what? I'm going to take my movement, and I'm going to go ahead and... Oh boy. Oh boy. I'm going to see. Is that one in front of, Is Taisha still present? Yes. Okay. Wait, I thought that was the one that got melted by. Oh, sorry, no, yeah, melted, done. Yeah. Done-zo. All right, you know? Don't. You know what, I'm going to stay there to give. No, fuck it. No, keep going. I'm going to go ahead and move around the back of the one that's closest to Taisha. Okay. Just to prep for some possibility of either you or Valus moving this direction and give some opportunities for flanking. Cool. Gotcha, gotcha. Cool, cool, cool. You move around to this square here. Yeah, I do take an opportunity attack, possibly from that skeleton. You do. That is going to be a hit for six points of damage. I'll take it, that's fine. Octus. I like this. Octus, that's going to be you. Okay, so when I fired off that firebolt and I saw the reaction of the crystal. What did that look like? Did I get any hint as to what that reaction might have meant? Give me an Arcana check. All right. No, that's a natural one. You had no idea. No idea. Okay. I think in a moment, you flash back to your family looking at you and saying, Just do it. It's effortless. It is our gift, our birthright. And once again, the magic of your family that could only ever be explained as something you should just already know how to do comes thundering back to you. Okay, I think in that moment of that natural one, it kind of like puts him he's remembering this thing that always used to drive him absolutely nuts and it makes him just burn up inside and in that moment seeing the two skeletons on either side of him and filled with this desire to a desire that goes against his normal careful study of a situation He, let me make sure I don't need any components for this. I don't. He just looks at the skeleton in front of him and says, Elsewhere. And takes one step to the side and just fades into a wraith form and misty steps down to the ground there. Let's go. Where I can, when I have line of sight of the green glow there. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. and then I just step back out into this reality and just fire a firebolt directly at the green. Yeah, let's go. Hell yeah, let's do it. That's still blue. It's green over here. I mean, it's like a teal. That is a natural 20. Hell yes. Hey! So. Wow, a lot of like. So you just hit it with a firebolt on a natural 20? Yeah. Great, this thing is crystalline. I was about to be really mean, and that nat 20 means I don't have to be as mean. This has a hardness of 10, which means you have to do 10 points of damage to it to do anything at all. Right, right, right. Then it also has resistance against all non-magical forms of damage. Now, your magic is going to bypass that, but you still have to do 10 points of damage to do any damage at all. Any points of damage, okay. You got it, man. Okay. Roll a 10. I did. Yay! Wait, so you rolled a 10. Doubling the die. You do 20 points of damage? Oh my god! Whee! Good job. Hell yeah. You shatter the crystal. Un-fucking-believable. Yes! He steps back into this ring. Oh, I'm looking at a different crystal. Yes, that's what I've been trying to explain to you. Use your words! I was like, it's a bit for him! So he steps out of reality. It's red now! Back into this reality, just fades back from his wraith form, and all this energy, with the anger that he's feeling, feeding the flame inside of himself, pumps through his arm and just fires it out and just explodes this crystal. As the fire is gathering in your hand. Okay, I see what you see now. Yes. As the fire is... Sorry. As the fire is gathering in your hand, you are looking at Primus Tacones. Octus, you can simply spare me the lecture. It is of no concern to me where you study. The Pentaviral, the Totality, a Mummer's Troop. You have no gift. I do not need to see any of your essays on what utility your time at the Pentaviral may give you. As far as I'm concerned, the highest obligation you owe to your family is to not embarrass us further. Yes, Father. What do you, out of some inane curiosity, what do you intend to study there? They are nothing more than, what is it? Magicians, yes? They ape the mannerisms of sorcerers. They call themselves wizards. Yes, I'm looking to solve my problem. Do you believe that to be something that this school would seek to help you with? to unlock some latent gift of our house. It's possible. I don't know, but some of them can have figured out how to do spells. Mm. There is enough residual magic in this world, echoes of the Shaper's War and strange things beyond. that I imagine some small portion of magic does fall into the hands of strivers. If there is some ability to unlock this gift, then so be it. However, I don't hold out a tremendous amount of hope. Yeah, of course, yeah. There is something in the grasping nature that befouls the earnest intent of true magic. Effortlessness accompanies pure workings of will. I hope one day you manage to find some degree of effortlessness, Octus. That's all, you're dismissed. Yes, Father. It meant so little for you to go to the Penteveril. And now you are calling fire to your hand that nobody in your family could help you discover how to do. And in this moment, does Octus feel that he has proven them wrong. Does he feel that this is his gift or is this something else? I think in this moment, as his energy is gathering in his hand and he is doing it at this point, he's done it so many times, it is becoming instinct and he's not even thinking about it anymore. It's, it fills him with this almost joy because he figured it out. And no one taught him how he did it. This was his spell. Rushing forward, the flame strikes the crystal. And you can sense in this moment that an energy echoing out from this place is destroyed. What you truly feel is a frequency, and you sense a glass scalpel, and you sense vibrating gems like teeth in a wizard's mouth. Two miracles happened that night after the horror of the massacre at the Palazzo Divinas. One was something that happened just between you and Tysha in the realm beyond and was fully of the realm of the divine. The second was of a realm for those that have not followed the path set out for them. The skeletons screech, and as you see their jittering bones reacting to the sudden absence of magic, they make a desperate push to destroy you and you alone in this space. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. This one's going to take a swing from Gaia. She misses. This will move to flank on you here. This one will close using its action. Julian, you're going to get an attack of opportunity with disadvantage because of the darkness. Mm-hmm. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Shouldn't be a flat roll. They're making xylophone sounds as they go. Even disadvantage, 18, so. Let's go! Okay, go ahead and give me the attack. I'll give me the damage. Jackmoot. That's going to be eight points of bludgeoning damage. 16, you destroy a skeleton on its way to go get Octus. I grab it at the collar and be like, no, you don't fuck it. Break it and go. He's so disrespectful to skeletons. 20, 25, 30. See, I used to know most of these men. Oh, that's fair. Incredible. So four have gathered around Octus, but only two are going to be able to swing on you. That is going to be a hit, though. That's also going to be a hit. What were the numbers? Oh, sorry. The 21 to hit on the first one. Okay. 22 to hit on the second one. Oh. If I cast Shield again, I can block one of them. How are you doing those spell slots, kiddo? I'm actually, I've used both my second level, but I have three first levels left. I'm not going to do anything. Okay. You take eight points of damage. Don't die! and six points of damage. That's fine. As . I don't like that. These ones are going to press in further on Vaelus, no longer attacking with advantage. That is one hit on Vaelus, with a 23 to hit for six points of damage. Okay. That is the skeleton's turn. You guys have been smashing through their numbers, and the other side of this battle is within view. Dame Saramai comes up after the skeletons. She is going to rush forward, get behind her lord, take an attack with advantage for flanking. That is a hit, and she is going to deal 10 points of damage to that skeleton. That is then going to go back to the top. Dr. Talter also going to go. Get it, girl. You got this. I'm going to roll in front of the board in case something awesome happens. Can she cast Light or something that can't fuck up? Let's go. That helps? The Light of Truth. That's a nat one, baby. She casts Radiant Flame and deals five points of damage to Dame Gaia, who goes, Ah! But there's light! There is light for a moment. Okay. Julian, you could use that? Absolutely. I'll not say no to this guy. Taisha and Bayless, that's your turn. Golly! You go first. Oof, okay. I will, I'm going to keep hitting these skillies in front of me. Let's do it. Go for it. Here we go. Okay. In front of you. No, they ran away. They all went. Cool. Natural one. Oh, I'm so sorry. No, no. That's okay. a natural one, and you've used your healing. We're going to go, that's all from you. But let me, am I able to, well, I don't want to disengage. This is rough. I'm sitting low here. Yeah. They'll get swings on you because you've used your action to attack. Okay. I will, I will, So, do nothing. Okay. We have much of our party is looking bloody right now. I'll remind you guys also, you do have- I'll do Shield of Faith myself. Shield of Faith yourself. I was also going to say, you guys do have desperate measures in front of you. I was just looking at that. So if you wanted to re-roll that attack and give me some death save failures, you know. Fuck it, let's do it. Okay, sick, all right, you're in. Here we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, you're going to take a death save fail You're going to reroll that attack. Here we go. So that gives me a plus five? Wait, no. Oh no. I'll give you a freebie. I'll allow you, even though it's not on the menu, I did it, I've done this before, where I'll take a single death save for a reroll. If you want to just reroll the attack, I'll give it to you for one death save fail. You will? Yeah, you have 10 hit points. Are you tricking me? Huh. All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it. Okay. Does she also get the free disengage? Choose one of them. You have to choose one of them. Damn it. Let me work. I'm trying to find out this thing. Wait a minute, that definitely hits. What's that? No. It's a 17. 17. So, Vaylys, you move yourself one step closer to death. You are putting it all on the line here. This is your second time today that you've had a death save fail. But you hit on this attack. What is going through Vaylys' mind as she becomes this reckless in this moment? Okay. but I think seeing this burst of, you know, seeing around the bend that Octus has sort of blew up whatever that crystal is, I'm just angry. I'm just swinging because I'm just ready to go. I'm ready to move. I'm ready to get past these things. Let's do it. Go ahead and roll damage. Okay. D10, D6, plus four. Okay. Okay, great. So that's four points of bludgeoning. To eight points of bludgeoning. That's bludgeoning. And then that's... Plus four per strength is 12, and then roll your d6 for fire, right? Okay, that's two points of fire damage. Two points of fire damage for 14 overall destroyed. I do have a question. You get to cleave again if you want? Yes, you can cleave. You can cleave again. So with great weapon fighting, That ones or twos that turns into threes that wouldn also apply to the embers right Yes it would It would Yes Fuck Okay great So that three points of fire damage Great weapon Any dice that are produced by a great weapon you can reroll. It's all of it? It's all of it. Even Divine Smart? Even Divine Smite. That's why it's very good. Okay, okay, okay. That's why it's very good. Every time you cleave, you got to go for Clive. Who is hopefully on his way home. Great. I will save us all one day. Ah! Dirty 20. Dirty 20 hits! Great, okay. So this is not adding strength, but it's still the d10 and the d6. Okay, and the d6. Let's get a dog. Okay, so great. So six points of fire damage. Okay, and... Six points of bludgeoning, which is 12. 12, so that 18 damage, you go from a nat one miss turnover to going deep in some place, giving over a potential for your character. Again, with a single death save failure, a nat one death save becomes instant death. So you and two skeletons are laid low before you kill. But could you imagine in a fight that we would have where you would roll a natural one on your death save? Probably wouldn't happen. No. I can't even imagine it. Who would imagine? I've never seen it. Never seen it. I don't think that happens. No, no, no, I don't think so either. Okay. Are you still casting Shield of Faith, or are you feeling a little more confident now? Oh yeah, do you want to cast Shield of Faith, or how are you feeling? Save our one on Death Seat. I'm going to save it. Yeah, I'm going to save it. Probably not. I'm going to save it. Hell yes. Julian, that is your turn. Let's go, big dog. Hell yeah, Veilus. As everyone rushes towards you, it's like, I look over towards you, Veilus, and be like, eh, she's got these. I look over, you like. How many battles are we leaving Veilus? Being like, you got it. She's just like, teeth knocked out. I know. I'm good, Debbie. I'm good! I'll sleep it off. She's lived this long, I figure she's fine. Is that your turn? That was my turn. That was my turn. Wait, you didn't go. Tysha, I'm so sorry. You didn't go, you didn't go. I wasn't sure, so I was like, I'm going to ask for it. The initiative tracker has you going first and then Vaylus, but you guys actually go in either way that you want. I literally was like, I forgot if I went or not, so what did you tell me? Yeah. That is you. We're going to move six and get right up in the thick of it. Other one, that's Julian. Oops, sorry. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25. Yeah, right in there. Let's hit the one behind me. With shillelagh. Let's do it. Shalala. Shalala. Shalala. Ding dong. Eight full. 19 plus seven. 26 to hit. 26 is a hit. Go ahead and roll damage. Yeah. Two plus six. Eight points of bludgeoning damage. Become 16 destroyed. Sweet. End of turn. Incredible. Bam. Yes. batter the skeleton before you. Julian, that is going to be you. Sorry if I blocked you out there, big dog. No, it's fine. I can still get in. I'm going to rush into the gap that you just opened, actually, so I get a skeleton on each side of me. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Yeah, rushing in behind you, tagging you in the shoulder and be like, what I've done, slip in there and use that momentum. I'm going to go ahead and try and drive the rapier and have a low lunge into the one That's directly to the right of you. Yeah. Hell yeah. Let's make that one. That's going to be not. There we go, that's going to be 15 to hit? 15 hits. Okay. So with that. Okay, it's 10 points of piercing damage. 10 points of piercing damage. Okay, badly injured. All right. Let's go. I think I'm going to go ahead and after that, That goes through to that side. Let's see, the one that's behind me, that's not necessarily flanking with Sarami, I don't think. Okay, so that one takes eight, right? Correct. Then this one behind you is badly damaged. Badly damaged? Yeah. Good to know. I should have reversed that. That's okay. I will go ahead and I'm going to continue on the one that I already struck. Cool. As the blade slinks in, I'm going to go ahead and reach in with the claw into its rib cage and try and grab the back of its spine and pull it through from underneath. Hell yeah. Because I struck up before with the rapier that gives me advantage on the second bonus action strike. Which I'm glad I did that. That's going to be 17. 17 hits. That will be, with the sneak attack damage, thank goodness. Seven points of bludgeoning damage. 14 destroyed. Let's go! Awesome. Hell yes, gang. Pfft! Just here. Okay. Hell yeah, that's your turn? Yeah, so just tear that through as the body crumbles, look over you and be like, we're almost there, we're almost there. Octus. I think at this moment, because this is all happening at the same time, as you two are running up, and I've taken these hits from the four undead that were surrounding me. And it's just torn me up. I have six hit points left. It's just torn me up completely. And I think one of them catches the side of my face and spins me and cuts open here and a globule of half coagulated blood sort of drips out of Octus's face. And at that moment, he sees it. and suspends it. I think I'm going to level up at this point. Yeah, let's go! Yes, here we go. And catches it and takes this bit of blood and looks at the undead around him and is going to burn a desperate measure at the same time to immediately give myself disengage as an extra action. Hell yeah. leave that, move away from the group. Hell yeah. And then take... Oh, and flowers. My... I don't have the page open for a reason, so I remember what this does. Yeah. So I think... I am holding this mote of blood in front of me, and I move all the way over there, and I'm going to cast False Life on myself. Giving myself 2d4. Great, that's seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 temporary hit points. Damn. So I don't die. And then just sit there and surveying the area, holding this bit of blood in my hand. And then I set it off and it just starts to float around the top of my head, just circling as this bit of condensed blood floats in the air. And that will be my turn. Okay. Unbelievable. The red glow as the fire continues to burrow into the crystal from your firebolt, the sickly green energy becoming red in time. This globule of blood, this tiny incandescent gem of what once gave you life, hovers in air, begins to catch more and more of this pulsing red light. Turning from this place, five, 10, 15. Julian, this one, Actually, Taisha and Julian gets, so Taisha, you get an attack of opportunity first. Okay. Damn it. As this one rushes away, trying to close on Octus. 22 to hit. 22 hits. Go ahead and roll damage. Also, we're getting to see the coolness of a Reach weapon. This guy, even though 10 feet away from you, is going to leave your threatened range. You get an attack of opportunity. No! 22 to hit. 10 bludgeoning. Destroyed. You don't leave me. See, Julian's getting ready to strike and just like... 12, did you remember to add Bless? Definitely. I'm in a way better place now. Plus three, 15? 15 hits! Right? She just could have had an injury winning. 13 hit points and 11 temporary. Let's go! Way better now. Four, so eight, right? Bludgeoning, yeah. Bludgeoning plus... 12 plus your fire. Yes. Sundered. One last skeleton, rushes towards Octus. He's going to attack. That is a hit. I would like to rule the failure and say that his disengage, he didn't use his additional movement if he had had any on his part. If you wanted to move farther away, you could. I would say I'm going to have moved farther away there, just because, yeah. Yeah, great. I'll just move my full movement. Great. In this case, this guy, but because he was in melee, there's no amount Octus can move that's not within 30 feet. I thought Disengage included movement in it. No, it does not. It's just the ability to get away without an art type of action. All right, sorry. Yeah, you can get to me, yeah. Shoot! Good looking out, though. What was the attack roll? The attack roll was 20. Yeah, it's going to be anyway. Okay, yeah, yeah. You take five points of slash, that's much. Take it back. All the best. Hell yes, it's going to be 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Let's go. Dame Gaia rushes up to you as the skeleton pursues you and scatters the bones and destroys the skeleton before you. Yes. And we leave initiative. Oh my god, they're done. Looking around, I just want anyone, Tysha did not sustain any injury, neither did Dr. Talter, nor did the demon Dame Sarami. However, what state of injury are Julian, Valus, and Octus at? I'm at 13 hit points right now out of 31. Valus, what are you at? I'm at 10 of 31. 10 of 31. Just had bloodied at 26. Okay. Do you want to take a minute to rest? I could do a short rest would be nice. Just give me a minute. . I look at Dame Sarami as they scatter these bones and just go, thank you. She looks at you and bows. She has the appearance of, this is the one thing I'm here to do. Yep. Just blood orb continuing to halo around my head. Hey. Taisha isn't saying anything, but it is very apparent that she does not want to rest. She wants to keep going. If you want to go, we can. I'm fine. You will die if we keep going. I don't think we should stay here. I'm already dead. What does it matter? As you're having this conversation, Julian is just marching to gather the scattered bones and begin piling them. I'll help you. Yeah. We should take a break. If we think this place is safe for now. I think. Help. What? What should you do to that crystal? Blew it up. Yeah. I think that put a... I think these crystals, this is a very loose hypothesis. These crystals are emitting a sort of necromantic field that made it easier for these to be resurrected en masse. I think me shooting that disrupted the field a little bit. Didn't make them go away, obviously, but it definitely made them angry. Should we do that to the other one? Yeah. Juliana stops at this point, arm filled with bones and armor, and goes, do you think they know? That we're here. Do you think they know their crystal has been breached? Again, I have no idea. This magic, I don't know what it does. Should we keep going? I see what you're asking. There is every possibility that they felt the vibrations and the disruption of their magic. Do we push on? We can push on. I'm asking you. I'm asking you. You both look like shit. Professional opinion. I don't think it is good for us to rest here. If we can move forward a little bit, change location, and maybe rest then, might be safer. These were Tacona's tents, right? Yeah. I would like to move over there and look through this a little bit. As Taisha and Julian, as Taisha and Julian begin to collect the remains here, Dame Gaia is going to give you the help action here, and Dr. Talter walks with both of you over to the tents as well, and is going to give each of you a flat plus five on any investigation checks that you make. Great, great. I think I'm funneling you towards putting all the remains over in that area I use landslide on, and is gesturing without trying to ask directly if you want her to do final rites. I'll take that. I just give you a nod and keep going about it. Cool. You begin to collect these bodies here. I would like either a survival or nature check from either of you as you do that. What did we get for our investigation checks? 30. 30. That's pretty damn good. Let's go! That's amazing. Not bad for level four. Yeah. Well, the plus five helped. Yeah. 22. 22. You guys go over to the Taconus tents. Octus, this red field of energy coming from this crystal right now, this globe of blood floating around you, that image of your father, effortlessness, prizing effortlessness, that's fucking stupid. Yeah. Your family sits on a vast inheritance, not only of ill-gotten lucre, but literally of magical importance, gifted to them by a god that came to this world to shape the fate of men. Everything they have, they got as servants, a lineage of sorcery that then, when the benefactor that gave it to them vanished, they congratulated themselves on retaining. And I think you walk to these tents and what you can feel is just that idea of laws of magic existing immutably, not as the pronouncements of a ruler, but rather that the greatest laws are merely the descriptions of cause and effect. Great magic thrives on principle, and there are certain principles at work here. Looking at that globe of blood floating around you, it is a precious thing. It is what gave your body life. Your body used to be able to make more of it, and now all the blood that you will ever have exists in static form here, as precious as rubies, as life-giving as fire. And now it glows with a ruby fire, illuminating the interior of a tent filled with correspondence, the letters written in the script of your family. This excavation site was kept for the past four-odd years that they began excavating it. tended to by the Taconus in this place. And what you immediately see on a 30 is that there are both important pieces of correspondence here written in plain Obra dye between your family, moving back and forth, the ability discussing the matters at work here. You see these cages hanging over. There are several cages within here that are very clearly for homing pigeons that have been released, that are no longer here in this place. You sense also that this place was abandoned hurriedly. There are also within this place arcane texts, a small number of flasks or bottles kept here as well. There are some small, what looked like restorative potions within the tent as well. We can get into all of it, and I will ask direct questions for what you are looking for here too. On a 22, Vaelus, that's also an extremely good roll. What I would ask you for is, I'll take a moment to ask you guys for anything you would be searching for purposefully to reward specifically on these high rolls as you go through this place. If you would have a focus on, and basically it's like, you'll find it all, but it takes time to investigate, it takes time to literally read and move through stuff. So thinking about what your first priorities would be, I'll come back to you in a minute. For you guys outside, what did we get on these survival and nature tricks? I cast Guidance, by the way. I felt as Locate Object gutters out and her concentration drops, I think in the passing brushing of a limb, She's going to cast Gagans on you as we work. Great. I'm going to say, Julian, with each of these very focused, disassociative paths of gathering with each skull that he picks up, he takes a few seconds to look at it and tries to trace a memory to see if perhaps he can place who it might have once been under his training. And that distraction, unfortunately, keeps him from being focused on anything beyond that. I rolled an eight. What did you roll, Aisha? 18 on a survival check. Helping Julian just observe, it occurs to you that even though you do not detect the spike through your son's ear here, certainly Alagar has lost people he cares for in this space. And looking down, you wonder if you knew any of these people, looking at those wearing the armor of the Barrowgard, a place that drew your son's fascination rather than the Circle of Ancients or the Order of Roses. Barrowgard, Taconus, Barrowgard, Taconus. And then and then one of these strange robed figures. These robes have a deep maroon lapel and a dark navy in a thread where there's almost, it's like a checker, it's the same color, but the reflectiveness of light changes, so there's glossy squares and matte squares of the same shade of navy. you are holding the body of Pescard Velmonte, rendered into skeletal structure before you. This is the man who, you know, a little more than a week ago, or maybe about two weeks ago at this point, gifted you a halfling-sized coffin that was referred to as a box, and told you to bring it to Thiazzi Fang And he is dead in this chamber He had been a charming and friendly man engaged in a dangerous line of work friends with a man you considered a brother. I think at that point, she's going to just, she can't gather anymore, and whatever you bring over, she will begin to work with. And from there, she drops to her knees. And in that place where the sand is cooling rapidly under her, but still almost remembers the sunlight, for just a second she will begin the rites, but holding on to Pascard and reaching for him on the path and calling to him and all of the others here as she imagines herself looking at a mass of people walking through a dark wood and directs them as gently and as kindly as she can to walk the path in return. In offering to walk that path, do you think you speak to the spirit of your friendly acquaintance, Pascard, first, or do you hold for a while to speak to him last? I think it's him first. It's like seeing a group of people and recognizing your friend right away. So I'm speaking to him and speaking loud enough for the others around him whose faces I cannot or will not recognize. He looks to you. You can't quite see his face. because right now you're so alive, having called on the power of the land. You're quite far away from the Realm of Death right now. But you hear something like rushing water, a babbling stream. Pascard's soul leaves, headed somewhere, but you're not sure if it's down a path. You look around at these figures that walked out of the desert, seemingly to attack this place. Did Passguard attack the Barrowguard? Did he attack your son? What happened here? Ah, Valus and Octus. What do you begin with as you peel through these richly appointed Tacona's tents in this excavation? I feel like I'm looking through notes, journals, writings, anything where Octus's name may pop up or having to do with whatever this place is. Incredible. For me, I'm looking for starting with these bottles that you were in front of me and what they exactly do. And is there any instruction as to how they are used and what their purpose is? After that, any other items that may have been overlooked when they left? Things that are useful, things that could be brought with us? Very quickly, Dr. Talter begins to move over to you, Octus, helping you gather. Essentially, one of these tents appears to have been a captain of the Tyconis family, a sort of vassal knight, and is filled with all manner of logistical, military, like ordering more supplies here. A lot of that, I think, Vaelus, you and, you're sort of posted up in that tent almost on your own as Dr. Talter helps you with a lot of the occult stuff. The other tent has a lot of the, here's what we're here trying to do, the pointed arcane focus of this. Valus, you find plenty of notes in this place. First of all. Also looking for names, just names even beyond Octus, just who they're working with, who, you know, anything I can take in. I read it, Valus reads a lot. I did. 800 years of practice. Really great comprehension skills. I'm like, let's really save them in there. You find journal entries in this place. You find some journal entries in this place that seem to indicate written in the hand of what you realize to be a lord of the Tucanis family, perhaps one of Octus's uncles. Within it, you hear, reading into the text, it describes having lost the trail of an artifact concerning a celestial called Olbalad, saying that the trail had gone cold in Venatus, and there are some notes written between each other to say, I fear that the drowned men may have beaten us to the punch on this one. Like storytelling. You find other missives here written between the head of this excavation site, explaining, our most recent findings were from about two and a half months ago. The final experiment was a failure and wasted our last supplies of osment, a word that you do not recognize, O-S-S-E-M-E-N-T. O-S-S, one more time. E-M-E-N-T. Osment, okay. A response you see in some correspondence there says, Haley Joel. Haley Joel. You see that, looking throughout, you see that there's also a letter here that basically says, the Halevars have proven a dead end. Some inherent power of their sorcery immunizes them against the procedure. So what bodily do you deserve to have the control again? So they've tried. I think you know. Fuck. Okay. Ask a stupid question. Okay. There is a letter here signed by Primus Taconus. In it, you see, it says, A new source of Chalcidian has revealed itself, but we need to move quickly. The cloak is moving faster than anticipated. If the obelisk holds fast in Tanisar, does the sacrifice itself need to happen in Tanisar? Okay. Can you say that last one one more time? If the obelisk holds fast in Tanisar, does the sacrifice itself need to happen in Tanisar? A new source of Chalcidian has revealed itself, but we need to move quickly. The cloak is moving faster than anticipated. You see that cloak here is capitalized. Okay. If the obelisk holds fast and tan is sorry. Another letter in Primus Taconus' hands that you find here reads, the risks may be ne... These are scrawled on pigeon. These are quickly written notes. It reads, the risks may be necessary. We cannot long keep our forces hidden outside the orchard and we can't chance the sea door closing. The sea door? I'm not there. Shut up! Jesus. I feel crazy. In the other tent, going on a 30, Yeah. Going on a 30. 30? You discover Octus. Discover Octus. You discover Octus. I find myself in the tent. There you are. I want you to know I was whispering the exact same thing. He did it, finally. Number one, there are a number of sites on a 30, on a fucking 30, which is the highest DC the game bothers to list. You get the interior schematics of Tanisar. There is a, you piece together a map of actually what has been excavated here thus far. There are several areas of note within this place. There is an area, hold on one second. The central chamber where it looks like they discovered all of the magic necessary to do this, you discover a term called the Deva Vindicta, which it looks like what they were trying to create here. And there is a chamber of the Apotheon Vindicta, which is guarded by a place that they refer to without having an actual name of whatever it was in Tanisar that they just called the Hall of the Demon Guardians. Jesus. There is also a long bridge going over a subterranean lake that goes to a place called the Apotheotic Obelisk. Fuck. Those words could mean something different in Obra-dinian. Yeah? Obra-dur-dur. Obra-dur. Yeah, there's a whole chamber with just a couple of guys hanging out with dogs that are like, we're garden. Yeah. It's in a garden. It's in a garden. It's in a garden. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really pretty. Oh shit. And then the last area that is unveiled to you in this larger, in the chambers beyond this place, it appears to be an area of Tanisar that has within it still, It appears to be an area that has still within it a, for lack of a better word, funereal, or actually more like funereal and preparatory chambers of the ancient Taconus Path for the preparation of dead bodies that it looks like they have a small area in that was more about their day-to-day life here at the excavation site, there is one area where they refer to the creature's dwelling place. And you see here that there is some correspondence of House Ceramide. This is what's connected to the potions. The potions appear to be a petrification antivenom. May I make an arcana check to make the association between what a petrification antidote could mean. Yes, go for it. And on a 30, do it with advantage. Yeah, whatever grows together, grows together. Why would you need that? A 25. 25. Looking at Ceramai, you know that Ceramai fuck with all manner of deadly magical serpents. You've probably seen a basilisk up close. I look at Ceramai and pick up the bottle and go, Basilisk? You see that Gaia nods. We make that. We're going to need these. The last location you find on that 30 is deep underneath that the Chamber of the Apotheon Vindicta, which they just refer to as the Sepulchre Vale. Okay. The Deva Vindicta and Apotheotic? Oh, sorry, the Deva Vindicta is the creature they referred to. That's the Celestial that they were trying to create. Right. Sepulchre. There is a... Something sepulchre? The Sepulchral Veil is underneath the Apotheon Vindicta, which is a central chamber past the Hall of the Demon Guardians. Okay. Makes sense. Totally got it. Totally got it. It's a veil, like yours. Yeah, yeah, it's weird. Yeah, probably. I love hearing Laurie, you're like, I like what I think those words mean. Dang it. You need a rest. Let's take a break. Within here, the last thing you find, I think, Octus, is there's very, these tents look very undisturbed by the Barrow Guard. They largely left these alone. You find, actually, Vaelus, the last thing you find in your tent is written in a journal in the hand of this Tucannus lord, saying, final experiment, a partial success, but largely failure. It is my opinion that Tersha's innate gifts and connection to the Tenebral Reaches thwarted the grafting of the Chalcidial Prosthesis. I will miss her dearly. Jesus. What was that name again? Chalcidial Prosthesis. Sorry, the name of the person. Tertia, your cousin. Tertia, who was the owner of the scorpion? Yeah. Yeah. So look, that scorpion was just, he didn't have it right, though. Missing its memory, it was sad, and we had to kill it? Yeah, you got to put him down. Doesn't matter, it came after me first. Yeah. Yeah. That's how I justify everything. Okay. You believe that these other chambers will have the answers you seek about maybe these terms and what they mean here. Possibly a place where the rest of the Barrow Guard fled to. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I want to come out of the tent. Is that? Yeah. Yeah. Is that okay? Never mind, just in here. Is that okay? Yeah. Yeah. You have to stay in the tent. Yeah, and I'm going to walk out to where Taisha is preparing the ritual. It's back by the gate where I did that little. Lands aid. Are you still on the tent or are you coming out? I'm still, I think I'm still looking around in there. Okay. I would like to relay this information to everybody of what I found. How many Paralyze Antidotes were in there? Two. Two. Had no healing potion. You're eyes and throats or petrification and throats? Petrification, sorry. I'm going to reach down and grab one of the skull heads. You do that and my hand snakes out and grabs you. Not in a way to hurt you, but it is the strongest, like, the fuck? I can... Do we want to talk to anyone here? Hmm? I can speak with the dead if we need to ask them questions. Really? Let's leave with that. I can speak with the dead if we need to ask them questions. Actually, and I'm going to gesture to the one right in front of me that I was speaking over. Okay. His name is Pascard Valmonte. And give a brief description of this was the man that handed off an artifact. I'm looking for seeing that, yeah. Yeah, did you see the box? You saw the box with the Aussie's funeral. Yeah, then it's exactly that. Okay. Okay. Oh, man, I don't know that. Fuck! Man and Nala. Gosh. Yeah, I'm going to take out the stone. Mm-hmm. Here goes nothing. Okay. I'm going to cast Speak With Dead. This stone was crafted from the rib of a celestial who chose to die so that your people would not have to walk into the dark alone. Crafted with hands of love, no one should have to walk into the dark alone. The lights of the glowing crystals fade, and Valus, you stand looking into death. The underworld all around you. You see in his maroon and navy robe but a warm-faced, middle-aged man, a little skinny, balding, smiling. You see a pendant of humble leather around a silver coin. His spirit, ghostly translucent, turns to look up at you. Oh. Hello. Hello. Have you come to shepherd me to where I am supposed to go? I won't be doing that. And I'm sorry to disturb you from where you're going. I just have some questions for you, if you'd be able to answer them. What happened here? What happened here? I'll tell you what I know, if you can answer my questions as well, because I think what happened here was chaos. That's all for this episode. Oh no! Of Critical Role. No! What are you doing? That's all for this episode. Tune in next week. For the thrilling conclusion. Ooh! And we'll dive into it. I can write down my questions, though. No, I mean, I'm... That's not what I'm, I'm just... Yeah, don't get out. We're freaking out. There's more to come. I know. And hey, from the bottom of my heart, I really mean it. 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 Ahriman, 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 Cooldown. 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.