A group of adventurers embarks on a perilous journey into the unknown, driven by a mix of personal vendettas, loyalty, and a quest for truth, while navigating treacherous landscapes and uncovering ancient secrets. Simultaneously, the narrative weaves in promotional content for Critical Role's various ventures and merchandise.
Mind Map
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BRENNAN: Riding out from the gates of Dol-Makjar,
into the darkness,
Teor Pridesire, Thimble,
Kattigan Vale, Tyranny,
and Wicander Halovar,
begin a journey
whose end, at this point in time,
we cannot see.
Fittingly,
it is difficult for any of you to see past
even the snouts of your horses,
or in Thimble's case,
the dim light cast by the fluttering of your pixie wings;
for rain falls from the sky overhead,
(whooshing) close as you are
to the Stormwrack here.
Heading out into the darkness, the gates behind you,
time is of the essence.
Somewhere out there,
a man who put a knife in the back of your beloved friend
is walking free,
chasing down the deed to a strong home,
a fort at some far edge of civilization,
a treasure that he was willing
to sell your friend's life for.
And just ahead of him, you hope, is Teor's brother,
if they haven't gotten to him already.
Flying through the night, Thimble,
what does it feel like to hold on to this purpose
that you have set for yourself?
LAURA: It feels like
everything else is disappearing.
And
with that singular goal in front of me,
I'm able to leave
the grief behind.
I'm able to
believe in this purpose, so wholly,
it feels like like I'm going to make it right.
BRENNAN: Already,
something deadly and burning within your heart
is keeping you safe
from something that, in its own right,
might be even more terrifying.
Teor,
it's been a long time since you've seen your brother.
As you ride out,
does your mind drift to Casimir,
the person who you're pursuing?
Or to your brother,
whom your prey, now themselves pursue?
TRAVIS: I think as I sit there in the rain,
it begins to wash over me--
(chuckling)
TRAVIS: -- just how little I know about each of these men.
My brother, I have not seen in years.
The same is true for Casimir.
And at one point,
I would say that I knew them better than anyone.
The the idea that I have of my brother has evolved,
grown,
and in some way committed himself to a cause so noble
that even as I fear for his safety,
I find jealousy almost swelling within me.
The purpose that he found,
the ability to shift fates
that have affected all the people that I'm traveling with.
How little I knew about him.
And for Casimir,
what could have gotten to a man
that shared a banner with us?
What could have pulled him in this direction?
What don't we know?
And as I sit in the light of Thimble's wings,
I realize: I know next to nothing.
BRENNAN: Rain mats the fur
on either side of the bridge of your snout,
leaning into the darkness,
lost so much since the end of the war.
And know so many people who seem to have
faltered and fallen into losing even themselves.
Wicander,
at the last possible moment, riding up the ridge,
at this late hour, there's very few people on the road,
but Dol-Makjar is large enough
that there's still a handful of stragglers
even in the wee hours of the morning.
Some trundling a cart to get to some early farmers market
by dawn's first light,
others that have been trudging through weary miles.
The last moment you look
with the mountain peaks on either side,
this is the last place in the road
that you will be able to see the lights of the Villa Aurora
in the city behind you.
One more step of your horse and that home will disappear.
Do you gaze behind you at this place or not?
SAM: Luckily, I'm sitting sidesaddle, so I can see--
(chuckling)
SAM: I can see both ways right now.
(chuckling)
SAM: And yes, I do glance back one last time,
but it's cold, I'm wet.
I'm distracted.
I'm feeling things I haven't felt in a long time,
if not ever.
I'm feeling depressed, I think,
unclear of what my goal is.
But, buoyed by Tyranny's
yelling at me,
I feel like answers lay ahead
and that even though
my family might have misled me,
the truth of the universe will present itself to me.
So, I shift my gaze forward with hope
and say a quick prayer as we cross the threshold.
BRENNAN: Regardless of what you've learned
about the nature of your family's creed,
there is always some comfort in ritual.
Tyranny,
the same is posed to you.
You venture forth now
having advised boldness and decisive action.
And now the rain of this world,
a world in which you were not born,
falls upon your brow.
Do you look back at the city you now leave?
Or do your eyes stay fixed in the same direction as Wick's?
WHITNEY: My eyes are on my tail
that Wick is gripping so hard,
and my ears are wet,
and I do look back
realizing that every opportunity I have had
to leave the house of the Candescent Creed
has been a really big party for me.
I love to be out, and I love to meet people,
and I love to see the goings on of the city around me.
This time doesn't feel so good.
And I'm realizing, as I sort of
shake some rain off of my little floppy ears,
that I'm maybe a little bit more domesticated
than I once thought I was.
BRENNAN: Doing the right thing,
that's supposed to come with immediate rewards, right?
Otherwise, what makes it the right thing?
Certainly, your material conditions
having immediately deteriorated
past the point of familiarity,
that can't be what good deeds are rewarded with.
If that were the case,
then people would be behaving selfishly all the time.
(chuckling)
BRENNAN: Your ears slick to the side of your head,
so soaked with rain, drooping down,
matching the verticality of your horns
like a giant middle finger pointing
into the sky over your head. (laughter)
BRENNAN: Kattigan, you're returning to Timmony.
ROBBIE: Yeah.
BRENNAN: What's on your mind as you make your way
back to where you have so long dwelled?
ROBBIE: What's on my mind?
Not a lot.
Kattigan's in his body.
He doesn't have much except for sensations.
And he's watching his friend at the front of the pack
leading everyone and he's hung back.
He's chewing on a little bit of root in his mouth,
and the rain is bringing him back to his senses
from the drink in the city.
And he's starting to come alive,
and his heart rate's starting to race
and he knows this feeling and it's a feeling of a hunt.
And he's starting to feel good and excited.
And excited is rare and strange for him.
And as he rides a little bit harder off to the left,
a little rush in the bush,
and a quail sort of comes out of the bush
and (whooshing) Wulferic just jumps
out of the bush, snatches it,
runs alongside him, (woofs) shakes it,
and almost like a little smile,
the way a dog can smile only after it's killed something,
(whoosh) back off in the brush.
And for a moment he's really excited
because this is where he wants to be and he didn't know.
And as he looks up front, everything feels dour,
but he feels excited.
And he notices between the two of them
that both of their water skins are empty
and he chuckles to himself,
and he kicks his horse a little faster by then.
And as he rides by, (popping)
pops off the top of both their water skins
so the rain can lead in while it's running.
And then (clopping) just takes off.
SAM: I see that. (startles) ROBBIE: Yeah.
WHITNEY: I think we're in good hands.
BRENNAN: Kattigan,
this is the very beginning of our Soldiers' table,
and this is where big decisions and big rolls happen.
TRAVIS: (sharp inhale)
BRENNAN: I'm going to need a survival check.
An individual can volunteer to make it,
but I would ask if we do a group check,
that everybody only roll
if they have proficiency in survival.
LAURA: Group check? WHITNEY: I have a plus one.
LAURA: Proficiency?
WHITNEY: No?
ROBBIE: Not as good as it could--
I do have a plus four.
LAURA: Do it.
You probably have-- TRAVIS: Plus five.
LAURA: I have a plus five and I'm proficient.
TRAVIS: Rollies between you two to figure out.
ROBBIE: Yes, so you have a plus five?
LAURA: Or we both roll.
SAM: He's done this-- BRENNAN: You guys can both roll.
So we'll roll a group check,
with a small group of only two,
reminder that Wulferic is going to give you
the help action here--
ROBBIE: Oh yeah, that's right. BRENNAN: -- which he's able to do.
TRAVIS: Oh yeah, sick.
BRENNAN: And-- ROBBIE: Thank you.
BRENNAN: -- we're going to roll as a group,
which means that we take the higher of the two.
LAURA: Oh, great. ROBBIE: Okay.
BRENNAN: But I will tell you, you are riding in the rain
at the gate of a massive city.
Tracks intermingle,
wagon wheels cut gouts into the road itself.
Finding these tracks will be next to impossible
in the night in the rain.
The difficulty for finding all sets of tracks
is going to be the highest difficulty that the game sets,
which is a 30.
Finding one of them is going to be a 25.
And finding some clue
that lets you at least rule out some bad options
will be a difficulty of 20.
So 30, 25, 20.
LAURA: Can we have Guidance? (chuckles)
SAM: Even if I did, I don't think I'm paying much attention.
(laughter)
BRENNAN: We're going to go ahead and roll because--
LAURA: Dude, we got to roll like a 20.
You got to roll a crit in order to make this happen.
ROBBIE: Why don't we just do it?
BRENNAN: Here we go. TRAVIS: Don't have to. You get to.
LAURA: Oh no. ROBBIE: Oh, okay.
LAURA: I'm not. BRENNAN: And you're rolling
with advantage, Kattigan.
Remember? ROBBIE: Oh, that's right,
because I have advantage. LAURA: Oh, you got advantage.
Okay, great. ROBBIE: That was okay.
That is good. LAURA: Mm. Okay.
ROBBIE: With the plus four, it's 19.
BRENNAN: 19?
ROBBIE: I rolled so bad.
BRENNAN: One away.
Riding off into the rain, Kattigan,
water,
hooves prints, boot prints.
Looking out.
When the trail goes cold,
a determined hunter has to move
from what he can see to what he knows.
You will have to think
of what the choices Cyd would've made were.
And then you'll have to think
if those choices would've been knowable
by those who pursue him with deadly intent.
And we'll get into that in tonight's episode
of Critical Role. TRAVIS: Oh, it stings.
It stings! WHITNEY: It stings!
ROBBIE: I forgot I do have Guidance.
(laughter)
MATT: Hey, and welcome to
the Critical Role Announcement Playhouse.
(cheering)
MATT: Awesome. Thank you for joining us.
Our sponsor tonight is the new video game
from our dear friends at AdHoc Studio, "Dispatch."
And Sam lost his voice, so instead,
is there anyone here who knows Sam, perhaps intimately,
who has decades of people confusing their voice for his?
LIAM: (clears throat) Matthew, I was born for this moment.
Boo, I got you.
From the groundbreaking team behind "The Walking Dead,"
"The Wolf Among Us," and "Tales From the Borderlands"
comes a fresh take on interactive storytelling.
Am I smiling wide enough?
"Dispatch,"
a workplace superhero comedy
that puts you in the dispatch seat,
coordinating a hilarious handful of trash-talking heroes.
To celebrate the game, we set up our own call-in line
to answer all your questions, and manning the phone line
is our old friend '80s sitcom icon, Gale.
LAURA and TALIESIN: Woo. [phone ringing]
LIAM: Oh, looks like she's already fielding a call.
Shh! Let's listen in.
ASHLEY: "Dispatch" game hotline,
Gale rapping at you. What do you want?
Who does the voices in the game?
I ain't got no cruddin' idea, but I sure as Santa
hope the hunkiest actor alive makes an appearance,
Stephen Tobolowsky.
Hello! Hottie!
MARISHA: (laughs) ASHLEY: (moans)
(groaning)
ASHLEY: Oh. So hot.
LIAM: Ned Ryerson from "Groundhog Day"?
ASHLEY: Yes, yes.
Oh mama, he's my hall pass.
LIAM: Well, sadly,
Mr. Tobolowsky won't be in the game,
but it does star Aaron Paul, Erin Yvette,
Jeffrey fricking Wright, Jacksepticeye,
moistcr1tikal, Alanah Pearce, Joel Haver,
and our own Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham,
and Matthew Mercer.
ALL: Ooh. ASHLEY: Snooze!
Dang, they couldn't even get David Palmer?
This guy?
Come on.
Now, those are some eyes I could get hella lost in.
Come here, big boy.
MARISHA: (laughs)
LIAM: I'm not going to look left.
Oh, we got another call coming in for Gale.
ASHLEY: "Dispatch" game hotline or whatevs,
what's your deal, stinker?
What kind of game is "Dispatch"?
What do I look like, Alta freaking Vista?
I've never played it.
No, IMHO, the best game that ever was was SpectraVision.
LIAM: What is SpectraVision?
You mean the hotel pay-per-view system
from the '80s?
ASHLEY: Hell yes.
I would always watch the first four minutes and 69 seconds.
LIAM and MATT: (wheeze) TALIESIN: Nice.
LIAM: Those are some long minutes.
ASHLEY: And then I would always watch those--
(wheezing)
ASHLEY: -- all the pornos
and then I would pretend that it was,
that it was this guy, Wallace, Wallace Shawn.
LIAM: Good old Wallace Shawn.
ASHLEY: Woof, I would try to shut it off quick
before they billed the room and my dad would blow a gasket.
Now that was a hootenanny.
LIAM: And a half, I'm sure it was,
but "Dispatch" is an equally exciting game.
Decisions you make determine the outcome of the story.
Are you with me?
So no two playthroughs are the same.
ASHLEY: Yeah. [phone ringing]
ASHLEY: "Dispatch," blah, blah, blah,
this better be good.
Oh, where can I learn more about the game?
Oh, oh, oh, I know how to answer this one.
So wait, get out your phone.
Yeah, turn on the flashlight.
All right, and take a peek
right up your butt hole (laughs).
What a barf bag.
(laughter)
ASHLEY: High five it.
LIAM: Thanks, Gale.
Check out "Dispatch" now at bit.ly/CRdispatch
and follow along @theadhocstudio.
Matt, gag me with a spoon, back to you.
MATT: Thank you very much, Liam and Gale.
LAURA: I love you, Gale. MATT: Okay.
LIAM: That shaved a year off my life.
MATT: All of us.
You can now bring your Daggerheart custom characters
to custom miniatures. MARISHA: (gasps)
MATT: Big thanks to our friends at Hero Forge,
you can now purchase
special licensed Daggerheart collections
focused on our fungril, simiah, and ribbet ancestries
directly from the Hero Forge website.
This collaboration helps our fans
tell their stories within the magical world of Daggerheart,
allowing them to better represent the characters
they poured so much time, thought, and love into.
From whole armor and outfit set to entire new species
like tamarin, orangutan, and monkey simiah
to multiple options for fungril mushroom caps,
bringing these ancestries
(stuttering) ancestries-- ALL: (mimic stuttering)
MATT: -- to Hero Forge.
It would not have been possible without this wonderful new
collaborator collection partnership.
So please visit heroforge.com/collections
to learn more today, and a big thank you
to our friends at Hero Forge
for partnering with us to make this happen.
Laura Bailey, you're up.
LAURA: Hello, I have merch to tell you about.
You remember, if you were OG,
do you remember our original very first T-shirt that we did?
Well, in celebration of our 10th anniversary
and the start of Campaign 4,
we did a Campaign 4 roll call T-shirt, you guys.
Look, look, look, look, look, look, look.
ASHLEY: Yes, yes, yes.
LAURA: Look, look, look, look, look.
It's our anniversary shirt!
Thank you, Jordyn Torrence, for your fabulous design.
The blue-- It's all the characters plus Mulligan,
just like it was Mercer before. Then we've got
our animal companions. MARISHA: You've got the familiars.
LAURA: So this is for the US and Canada.
Then guess what, for the EU
and for the UK, we have a gray one.
MARISHA: Yeah, classic. LAURA: Ooh.
So anyway, there's that.
We also have Critical Role 10-year anniversary posters,
which I will now reveal to you and the cast.
LIAM: Those are so sick.
TALIESIN: I got a little sneak peek. LAURA: ♪ (triumphant fanfare) ♪
Wait. MATT: This is really exciting.
MARISHA, TALIESIN, and ASHLEY: Ooh! LAURA: Vox Machina.
Oh my god.
Bells Hells.
LIAM: Nope, nope, that's the Mighty Nein.
LAURA: I mean, Mighty Nein.
MARISHA and ASHLEY: Ooh! LAURA: Shut up, I know.
And Bells Hells. (oohing and aahing)
LAURA: Okay, so the artist Tom Jilesen, you're amazing.
Each of these posters is 13 by 18,
printed on a good solid card stock.
Here we go, it's called McCoy silk, look it up.
Then if you collect all three, you guys,
they go together and look it, look it.
TALIESIN: Wait, I think they're-
LAURA: No, yeah, they're right.
ASHLEY: Wow. LAURA: Oh wait, no,
it's backwards. TALIESIN: No, they're not.
They're backwards. LAURA: Jeez, it's backwards.
MARISHA: There we go. TALIESIN: There you go.
LAURA: The threads of fate lineup.
MARISHA: So cool. ASHLEY: Oh, that's cool.
LAURA: Collect all three, frame them side by side
for an epic tableau.
ASHLEY: Pretty. LAURA: You're welcome.
MATT: Those are immediately getting framed at my house.
ASHLEY: I know. TALIESIN: I'm very excited.
LAURA: You want to look at them? TALIESIN: Yeah, just for a second.
MATT: This holiday season is upon us
and our holiday vinyl album
"Critical Role Presents Winter's Crest"
is here to ring in the holiday with you
and your loved ones.
If you haven't checked it out yet,
featuring 11 festive tracks,
this album is a journey of jubilee
through all three Critical Role campaigns
with our own takes on holiday classics,
as well as all new tracks to ring in the holidays.
This deluxe edition also comes signed by all of us
with exclusive extras inside.
LAURA: ♪ La la, la la ♪
ALL: ♪ La la, la la ♪
MATT: It sounds better than this, trust me.
TALIESIN: Yeah. MATT: You can find it
on the US Critical Role--
MARISHA: That's our favorite song.
MATT: Find it on US Critical Role Shop
or ScanlanShorthaltMusic.com and listen this to as
warm up for a fourth annual Critmas Can't Miss Sale
starting next Monday.
Our biggest sale of the entire year, Laura,
will run in all shops from November 10th
through December 14th.
There you'll find dice, accessories, games,
and apparel up to 60% off in time for the holidays.
Get all the Critmas deets at
critrole.com/critmas2025.
Ashley and Liam.
LIAM: Oh man, yeah, we got some news.
If you're looking for some reading material
this holiday season our friends at Dark Horse Comics
have you covered with their Humble Bundle
of Critical Role comics. TALIESIN: Woo!
LIAM: Collection includes all four volumes
of the prequel series, Vox Machina Origins,
and the comic adaptation of the Mighty Nein.
ASHLEY: And the best part, in my humble opinion, is that
every purchase supports the Critical Role Foundation.
MARISHA: Wow.
ASHLEY: When you buy a Humble Bundle bundle,
you can choose how your money is divided
between Dark Horse, CRF, and Humble Bundle.
So grab some deals on books while also
doing a little good.
LIAM: And this bundle is available.
ASHLEY: Sorry, I'm bad at reading.
LIAM: It's available until Saturday,
November 15th at 11:00am Pacific,
so be sure to grab yours at humblebundle.com/critrole.
Humble bumba.
ASHLEY: Humble Bundle.
MATT: Awesome.
I think with that, back to you.
BRENNAN: We return to the city of Dol-Makjar, where events
have been compounding pretty, I'd say, fast and furious
for these last several hours.
It has been, I believe, just about two days
since the execution of Thjazi Fang,
a noted war hero and beloved friend and family member
and hated foe
of many of those gathered here at this table.
Executed under the authority
not of the Revolutionary Council of Dol-Makjar
and its proud heritage of being the birthplace
of the war against the gods.
No, Thjazi Fang was executed
by the authority of the Chamber of Lords-Advisory,
those members of the Sundered Houses,
including the House Halovar,
of which one Wicander Halovar has just fled
after arriving at Hal's doorstep.
And a young Occtis Tachonis,
eighth of the proud line of Tachonis,
one of the many Sundered Houses
whose reach seems to extend across the landscape.
AABRIA: I like it.
I like it they suck so much.
MARISHA: So proper. BRENNAN: I'm having a good time.
We're telling it, it's a magical story.
(laughter)
BRENNAN: It's literally what it is.
Our last episode began
with a surprising moment where Occtis,
aware that his family was searching for him,
perhaps for reasons unbeknownst to him,
perhaps because he had sort of betrayed them
in a sense revealed conspiracy to save Thjazi Fang,
was brought under the protection
of one Julien Davinos.
Under orders from his father, General Raimond Davinos,
right hand to the great Sundered House of Royce!
The Lady Aranessa Royce being herself
the ex-wife of the late Thjazi Fang.
Julien taking Occtis there
was also in the company of one Vaelus of the Mournvale,
an elven warrior in search of an artifact stolen
by this Thjazi Fang.
Boy, this guy seems to have gotten around.
ASHLEY: This guy's a real jerk! BRENNAN: This guy's a real jerk!
Seems to have gotten his hands on the Stone of Nightsong,
an ancient artifact and relic
of the deceased goddess of life, your goddess.
You, yourself, some eight centuries old,
having seen her in the flesh,
one of the only people here that's ever seen a god,
or I should say one of two people at this table
who's seen a god. TALIESIN: Thank you.
BRENNAN: For indeed, in our last episode,
we discovered that Bolaire is not a man but a mask
crafted. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Ya mean? TALIESIN: Thank you.
LIAM: Are we still talking about the game?
(laughter)
BRENNAN: Indeed, in the bowels of The Archanade,
Bolaire, his business aired out.
His dirty laundry left out to dry in a letter
left to one Murray Mag'Nesson of the Penteveral.
But what could've seen you two
sort of come to each other as foes
instead found the burgeoning of a friendship.
As indeed,
Azune Nayar of the Brethren Hall,
Murray Mag'Nesson with the Penteveral,
Bolaire of the Archanade,
and now Halandil Fang
of the newly named Hallowed Round,
all find themselves tied to a city
that descends into darkness and despair.
Revealing secrets, forged fast friendship.
And I'll tell you what forged that friendship even faster
was when the four of you went searching,
knowing that the lights had gone out
at the Davinos Palazzo, where you knew Occtis to be,
that Thaisha had gone in pursuit.
Arriving there, you found melted wax,
Azune speaking a word in an ancient language,
"Remember." (candle flame whooshing)
The candle reconstituted, and Hal heard the footsteps
of a spectral fox, none other than Pincushion,
Occtis' fox familiar!
You pursued it all the way to the Lloy Estate,
the home of Thaisha's family since departed
for the capital city of Dol-Rungja.
There with Occtis' body,
Sir Julien, the Lady Aranessa,
the Groundskeeper Rohor, and
Vaelus, all beholding
our young, gem-toothed, rapscallion wizard
and the man who is in fact a mask crafted by halflings
to perform a play so potent
in its performative capability
that it could lay low a god,
worked an act of magic as the stars aligned.
And on a portent roll of a nat20,
the Stone of Nightsong was removed.
And for the first time ever,
to your knowledge by mortal hands,
was a death reversed.
Almost.
And it is in that almost that we return
to Occtis Tachonis.
Visions.
General Raimond Davinos dead.
Necromantic force unleashed.
Shades, the summoning of those spirits
of unlife, bent only on the destruction of living things,
to once again grasp that which is corroded
by their very touch.
Occtis.
Aranessa is speaking.
Thaisha is bleeding from a wound on her chest.
A glass rapier in Bolaire's hand.
Partially behind Lady Aranessa is Julien.
Aranessa is speaking.
Whatever has occurred here is something unknown
to the enemies of the House of Royce,
unknown to the enemies
of all those
who still believe in a free world,
or as Thjazi would have said,
"That can still hear the falcon's cry."
You hear the voice, but it's blurry to you.
You feel
the weight of your own flesh.
Your living body, when it rested,
sought comfort and ease,
but now,
you feel not that you have lost your sense of touch,
but that it has actually gone internal.
You feel as tendons move in your body,
you feel bones twist against muscle,
ligament, and sinew,
the awareness of your body as a thing,
which is all it is now,
someone's speaking to you.
You realize you cannot become unaware
of your breath, lest it stop.
Now, for you, breathing is either conscious or absent.
Blood isn't flowing.
Any part of you that you cannot command
is so still
that on some level, it frightens you,
like some part of you knows it is rotting.
In this moment,
a number of medical facts
become obvious to you.
You no longer
require food or water.
You do not feel tiredness
in the same sense as you once did,
but you also no longer feel
energy, drive, passion of that sort.
Your body does not become restless,
nor can it ever be restful.
You are aware
that you will not age.
And it is very likely
that the functions of your body
to drink wine with a friend,
to perhaps, one day,
carry on the Tachonis line,
if that was ever something that you dreamed of,
family, old age,
to lie on a deathbed and look up
at those around you that
gave reverence or admiration to the life you led,
every indication is that
that has passed from the realm of possibility.
And yet, people are still talking to you.
AABRIA: Can you hear me? Are you okay?
ALEXANDER: I think.
I'm
here! (chuckles)
This is
strange.
(chuckles)
Sorry.
A-a-are you okay?
Are you good? AABRIA: No, you died.
So I'm still going through that.
Also, (chuckles) back off of your sword
I was slowly impaling myself on
to interpose myself between
the two of you. ALEXANDER: Right.
Sorry, I--
Why are you? Why?
Seeing the sword slide out of you again.
AABRIA: Yeah. ALEXANDER: I um...
(sighs)
I died?
MARISHA: Oh, you like were dead-dead.
Your guts was all over the place.
I mean, look at how much blood is over here.
AABRIA: Okay, okay. MARISHA: There's a body trail.
AABRIA: Okay, okay, Murray.
MARISHA: All right, sorry. AABRIA: No.
LIAM: What did we miss?
ALEXANDER: It's a little
jumbled,
but my--
I'm so sorry
I-I-- (exhales)
Julien, I am--
M-m-my family showed up.
(sighs)
They killed everyone.
LUIS: As you're starting to admit that,
I'm approaching Julien.
If your hand is still outstretched
with the sword in your hand, I'm very gently lowering it,
and I whisper to you: Give him a chance.
You may not know it yet, but you are among friends.
ALEXANDER: I, um...
MATT: I draw the blade back, and just turn around
and walk about 10 feet away,
and just fold my arms.
TALIESIN: Glass sword vanishes.
Turn to the--
Yes. ALEXANDER: (chuckles)
I haven't seen my family in years.
I haven't seen them since I came to the Penteveral.
I don't know what they're doing.
I don't know why.
I have no idea why they were here, what they wanted.
I don't know why they took--
They took my heart.
ASHLEY: Do you know why they would've placed
that stone inside of you?
ALEXANDER: No, I don't.
Who is holding the stone?
Or is it still floating?
MARISHA: I think I had Mage Handed,
it kind of floating, if I recall.
So I think it's kind of,
it's in my little basket weave of magical energy.
AABRIA: That's right. ALEXANDER: Do I get any feeling
from that, too?
Now, the stone, is there any sort of--
BRENNAN: Give me
any skill associated.
And if you would like,
you can also give me an insight.
But if you give me insight, I'm going to also
ask for a wisdom saving throw.
AABRIA: We're back.
(laughter)
ALEXANDER: Man, do I want to do that?
AABRIA: Do it, coward. ALEXANDER: All right,
I'll make an insight check. AABRIA: Yeah.
ALEXANDER: And I'll make a wisdom saving throw.
AABRIA: It probably won't-- ALEXANDER: I have nothing in insight,
let's go. AABRIA: (chortles)
ALEXANDER: All right.
Amazing, the insight check is a two.
The wisdom saving throw is a 16.
BRENNAN: Great. AABRIA: (squeaks)
BRENNAN: You start to open yourself up to the stone.
And then some part of you says, "Do not do this."
ALEXANDER: Um... (sniffs)
I don't know why.
I probably shouldn't touch that.
MARISHA: It feels like there's got to be,
like the stone is
your life essence, like your anchor now.
ALEXANDER: Great.
Sorry, this is a lot.
MARISHA: Would Murray be educated enough
to know what a phylactery is?
BRENNAN: Look, the idea of different talismans
that creatures can put elements of their--
MARISHA: Yeah. BRENNAN: Give me arcana.
Actually, Bolaire, I'll ask for you
to give arcana as well in this moment
because you're both observing this thing.
And then Vaelus, I'll actually ask you for a religion check
as well, if you can be so kind. ASHLEY: Okay, great.
MARISHA: 24.
24. BRENNAN: 24?
On a 24. MARISHA: No, 25.
BRENNAN: 25! MARISHA: Math.
17 plus eight is 25.
AABRIA, MATT, and BRENNAN: Correct. MARISHA: Thank you.
Jesus, sorry.
ALEXANDER: I don't know. ASHLEY: Dirty 20.
BRENNAN: Dirty 20. AABRIA: (laughs)
BRENNAN: On that 25 arcana, give me some direction.
What is the question that you are attempting to answer here?
Or just the area of your interest?
MARISHA: Sure.
Like knowing that there are liches
or other mythical creatures who utilize phylacteries,
is this similar to this?
Is it like an Uno Reverse of a phylactery?
BRENNAN: Yes, with the exception that this thing was not created
for that intended purpose.
MARISHA: Right. BRENNAN: I will say on a 25,
this thing,
the melted wax you saw in the palazzo,
this was supposed to be burned or destroyed.
You think this artifact, this relic,
was supposed to do something.
You think that, on that 25,
you hear distant,
rhythmic footsteps
based on the remnant of that portent.
I think, Vaelus, on that dirty 20,
you hear them as well
and understand that rhythm to be
anathema to you, particularly,
because those are the footfalls of creatures
walking to the dark wood past the edge of death
to become reincarnated.
So in other words, it is the opposite of immortality.
MARISHA: On this plane, or coming from the stone
like drums in "Jumanji"?
BRENNAN: You hear it coming from the stone.
It's a very drums in "Jumanji" kind of--
You're like-- I think in this moment on that 25--
AABRIA: That's how you get Jumanji.
BRENNAN: -- on that 25 and on that dirty 20,
a residual of the magic that happened here,
which, while you guys--
The mundane world is creeping back in.
Dangerous people are out to hurt and kill a lot of you.
However, there is still a lingering feeling
of the numinous.
What Bolaire and Murray just did is unbelievable.
And it is itself,
only possible because of what Occtis did,
that Thaisha saw in the other realm, which was unbelievable.
Which only happened because Thaisha interrupted
whatever was supposed to happen.
So, a chain reaction of
extreme intercessions
into a very delicate arcane process has occurred here.
So when you're thinking, "Is this a talisman?
"Is this where Occtis' life force is?", no.
It's not one-to-one
because this thing was supposed
to effectively be desecrated or destroyed.
And instead, due to the actions of yourself,
Bolaire, Thaisha, Occtis,
a thing that was supposed to be sacrilegiously destructed
to accomplish whatever the ends of Primus Tachonis
and the rest of Occtis' family were;
was prevented.
You, in other words, look at Occtis on that 25,
which is a high, high bar to clear.
You think what you have here is--
You would not have been able to construct the ritual
capable of arriving,
not with years of planning and resources
could you have constructed a ritual to arrive here.
Instead, what happened is, you guys hijacked a machine
that a sorcerous family has had in the works for years;
at the last possible second.
And instead of driving it through the wall
of whatever horrific purpose the Tachonis had in mind,
like safely landed a tank on a rooftop.
You took something that should not have done this,
but at the last possible minute,
perfectly aligned to bring Occtis back.
What you also, I think, recognize is:
Occtis is not--
Even with an incredible nat 20,
resurrection defies the ability of any mortals
living within Aramán.
But creating an undead creature
that is possessed of its own heart and mind,
has never been done before.
And that's closer than anyone's ever gotten
to a true resurrection in a long, long time.
So all of which is to say, you can rule out his talisman,
but you do think that there is a troubled--
You think that Occtis and this stone are interwoven.
Magically, permanently.
You don't know that that means he should have it.
You don't know that that means that it's good for him.
And on that 20 religion, Vaelus,
I'll bring to you this other element here, which is:
You know that the Stone of Nightsong is a relic
of, effectively, like
celestial requiem of the goddess of life.
She didn't wish for any of her children to die,
but even she could not prevent them from dying
in injury or accident.
So the Stone of Nightsong was crafted
as basically a relic to celestials
that did have to guide the tragic elves that died
through the Shadowfell, to the final halls
of the goddess of life.
Within that, on that,
you just recognized that
whatever these arcanists have just done,
has prevented the destruction of a relic of your order.
And you can also see that it is tied
purposefully,
intimately to the existence
and continued animation of young Occtis.
ASHLEY: I'm going to go up to the stone
and I am going to try to grab it
with part of the fabric of my skirt.
AABRIA: I think we should have a conversation.
What are you doing?
ASHLEY: This is what I came here for.
AABRIA: Yeah. TALIESIN: The situation has changed.
ASHLEY: I understand this. I am not trying to take it away.
AABRIA: Okay.
ASHLEY: But what I would like is for this to stay
in my possession. TALIESIN: (scoffs)
Well, this is going to be a conversation then, isn't it?
ASHLEY: Let's have a conversation.
AABRIA: I want to say something.
TALIESIN: What we have here,
I don't know the word for,
because the only word I can think of is "miracle,"
but we don't have those, do we?
ASHLEY: We do now. ALEXANDER: I definitely
don't want to be one. MARISHA: Does anyone else
hear drumming? AABRIA: Oh, you are one.
What? ASHLEY: I hear drumming.
AABRIA: What? MARISHA: Drums.
It's like--
AABRIA: Hey, no one hearing drums touches the stone.
MARISHA: It's like a war march.
LIAM: Hal steps Thaisha, a few--
ASHLEY: I hear it. LIAM: -- feet away from the group
and his hand is resting on your hip,
and in a voice that's very familiar
from years of worry late at night, years ago,
a soothing voice:
Let's be careful here.
This danger is in our home. AABRIA: Yeah.
LIAM: In your home we'll get it sorted.
But please be careful.
And on that word, "careful,"
just a little reassurance passes into you
as I cast Healing Word
into the wound that you gave yourself.
BRENNAN: Yeah. LUIS: I'm seeing people
kind of move around and get pulled aside.
My eyes haven't left Sir Julien,
who has stepped away
and I approach him.
MATT: The top of the hand goes up and tells you to stop
before you get too close.
LUIS: I've stopped, and without closing in,
I do move around so that you can see my face.
I know you don't trust anybody here.
I would like a moment of your time
so that I can earn your trust, if I may.
MATT: So be it.
LUIS: Come outside with me. I think it's important
that we make sure we weren't followed.
MATT: He looks back towards Occtis.
Does he look like he's going to be here for a minute?
BRENNAN: I don't even know if Occtis has stood up from the ground.
ALEXANDER: I'm still sitting on the ground. MATT: Then--
A moment.
LUIS: I'll start to make my way away from the group
and I'll wait to make sure that he's with me.
AABRIA and MARISHA: (chuckling)
LUIS: As the group is doing what they're doing,
I'm looking right at you.
That was very bold what you did just now,
and I'm impressed.
I saw you staring daggers at everybody
and I saw you speak to a very strong feeling immediately
and I'm jealous, honestly,
of that capacity
to find such words for what you were feeling.
MATT: Who are you?
AABRIA and MARISHA: (chuckling)
LUIS: You don't recognize me at all.
That's interesting.
MATT: Should I? LUIS: You should.
Or--
We met a long, long time ago,
and I'll speak to that in a moment,
but first I need to know if you have a death wish.
Because as bold as what you did was,
it was also incredibly foolish.
You had a number of them already turning on you
and all they needed to do was act
and you would've been done.
So are you just reckless or do you have a death wish?
MATT: I haven't decided yet.
LUIS: I don't know if you're going to have much time to decide
because the walls are closing in on us.
And I know you don't trust anybody here,
but there's not time to earn it.
Right now, trust has to be a choice,
and the earning of it will follow.
And to answer your question in a bid
to perhaps begin to earn your trust,
I have seen you.
The first time I met you I will never forget,
because I was at Thjazi's side
at the very end of the Falconers' Rebellion
and I remember everything very clearly
as to how that all went down.
MARISHA: Oh, oh.
LUIS: And you don't remember me
because your attention was never on me,
and I wasn't the only one there.
I'm not coming here in this moment to do anything
than extend a hand.
The past has a very interesting way
of coming back to the present.
It never goes away.
But I'm learning that we shouldn't always
be held prisoner by it.
So I want to offer you something.
In exchange of what I offer,
I want you to give the people in there a chance,
because we're all twisted in this fucked-up thing together,
and we're going to need each other.
My offer,
when the past comes to find you,
you have my word that I will speak the story
that you choose to tell.
MATT: Congratulations after all these years
to see my family brought low.
I hope it's everything that you--
LUIS: That's not what I mean. MATT: -- Thjazi would have wanted.
LUIS: No.
You misunderstand me.
MATT: I turn and walk back into the room.
LUIS: I follow.
BRENNAN: Azune, I'd like you to give me a perception check,
if you would be so kind. LUIS: Okay.
That was
13.
BRENNAN: Looking out, as you follow Julien back
into the Lloy estate,
you said it offhand
because you had business with Sir Julien,
but you looked down a dark and deserted street.
I don't know if you can rule out that you were followed.
LUIS: Hmm. BRENNAN: Morning's around the corner.
LUIS: It's very late.
BRENNAN: As you reenter,
I will say as the final piece of this puzzle on that 25
arcana check, Murray.
The last thing I'll say is:
You're far too educated to not understand
that coincidence actually is real and does happen.
But when it happens, it's still always interesting.
This isn't the first relic
you've seen in the last day or two
concerned with the relationship
of the celestial and death.
MARISHA: It's been a crazy 12 hours.
(laughter)
BRENNAN: The connection between the Stone of Nightsong,
this thing which is unperturbed,
that even holding in your Mage Hand,
you still get an arcane sense of its heft.
And you can just tell that if that were
to sit in the palm of your hand,
it would do some ancient dwarven thing in your heart
that would just be a good stone.
That's a good stone. The feeling of a good--
MARISHA: I love a good rock.
BRENNAN: I love a good rock. MARISHA: That's got a good,
you know-- BRENNAN: You can see
that it is smooth. MARISHA: Good to feel.
BRENNAN: Something that has been handled
by centuries of elven clerics.
In stark contrast to the reordered plates
adorning the coffin,
the box that you and Bolaire had studied,
Olbalad, the Sister of Mists,
who was herself a celestial
related to Rauwyn, the trickster.
That's something
that these two artifacts would come into your periphery.
Two relics of the gods
so close in order to each other.
What was Tachonis up to? And what was Thjazi up to?
You don't have answers to these questions,
but out of thin air, you've grasped a second thread.
LIAM: Well, I want to start talking about
practical next steps.
ALEXANDER: Right, right. LIAM: What are we going to do?
Your family,
you don't know why, you don't know what.
ALEXANDER: No. LIAM: Are they going to come
looking for you? ALEXANDER: I think
under the umbrella that I have no fucking idea.
I think they think I'm dead.
So no?
But if they figure out I'm not,
yes.
MARISHA: I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Besides, like you said,
even if they assume that you're dead now,
I don't foresee that assumption lasting
'til the sun rises.
They've got little eyes and ears all over the city.
ALEXANDER: Yeah.
No, I mean, yeah, yeah, of course.
BRENNAN: You see the Lady Aranessa speaks up.
"How did you find us here in Thaisha's home?"
AABRIA: Good follow up.
MARISHA: It was crazy.
Well, we went to your house.
Your big old mansion.
Sorry, sorry.
MATT: As Julien has reentered the chamber,
immediately is like--
MARISHA: Sorry for your loss.
(laughter)
MARISHA: And then
we saw this ritual that was happening, it was clearly--
Then we kind of reverse engineered it,
right, you know?
And then Hal managed to find this candle.
Or no, was it Hal or was it Bolaire?
It doesn't matter. Look.
Then we heard little pitter-pattering
of little tiny footsteps.
It was your little fox guy. BRENNAN: "You seem so elated.
"Were you not at all left uncharmed
"by the dead bodies everywhere?"
MARISHA: Oh no, that was crazy.
LUIS: It was clean.
BRENNAN: Sorry, yeah.
It was clean. LUIS: It was clean.
MARISHA: Yeah, what he said. (snickering)
LUIS: Although there was a sense of something
really terrible in the air.
I will give you that for sure, but spotless.
BRENNAN: "So the Tachonis already know
"that you're not there, Occtis."
ALEXANDER: That's good. Great.
Okay, that at least points in a direction.
MATT: So it was clean.
What do you mean?
LUIS: There was no evidence of anything there.
No blood, no bodies, nothing--
AABRIA: How? LUIS: -- except for the candle.
They work fast.
AABRIA: There hasn't been enough time.
ASHLEY: That was where you went after it was clean,
after you guys went to go--
LUIS: Yeah.
MARISHA: Because we saw all the lights-- ASHLEY: Okay.
That's right. MARISHA: -- went out.
It was dark, which is obviously pretty unusual.
ALEXANDER: All right, so they know
I'm not on the table anymore
because they didn't have to clean up my body,
which is such an odd thing to say.
LIAM: Well, maybe we should be bringing you underground.
TALIESIN: We can make a cover story for that.
AABRIA: They tried that.
TALIESIN: Bodies disappear all the time.
MATT: Boy.
AABRIA: He has a name. ALEXANDER: Sorry, what?
AABRIA: He responded.
MATT: Where are you off to?
ALEXANDER: I-I-I don't know. Why?
AABRIA: We have to go.
You can't stay here.
ASHLEY: I think you should come with me.
AABRIA: I hate that the most. ALEXANDER: What is happening?
Oh, oh, yes. Okay, yes.
I need to leave. I need to leave the city.
I assume.
BRENNAN: "Occtis,
"what did you see?"
ALEXANDER: In regards to what?
BRENNAN: "When you first came to,
"immediately after the stone was removed from you,
"there was a babble of--
"Am I incorrect?" AABRIA: No.
You were muttering under your breath.
I heard "barrow."
ALEXANDER: Barrow?
I do need to go somewhere.
BRENNAN: You remember in this moment,
yeah, you saw Tachonis flags and banners waving
under a black sky. ALEXANDER: That's right.
BRENNAN: You saw a lone orcish warrior
standing somewhere
and with the sign of the Barrowguard.
ALEXANDER: That's right.
As I was waking up, I saw some things,
some flashes of things.
But I did very clearly saw an orc
who seemed like some sort of warrior
carrying a banner of the Barrowguard.
I don't know what that means.
AABRIA: She's no longer looking at you.
She is staring at Hal.
MATT: The Barrowguard, you say?
ALEXANDER: Yeah.
I mean, I know of them,
but I don't recognize the person.
AABRIA: Alogar. MATT: I train
many of their up and coming soldiers
to whip them into shape.
ALEXANDER: Okay.
MATT: Is this where you intend to go?
ALEXANDER: I mean, that's the only lead I have,
but if anyone else has an idea.
MATT: Let me tell you this. ALEXANDER: Why is everyone looking at me?
AABRIA: Because maybe you saw my son.
Our son. ALEXANDER: Oh.
LIAM: We don't know that.
MARISHA: War drums. ASHLEY: War drums.
TALIESIN: What are you thinking, Julien?
MATT: Occtis,
just so we're aware and very clear,
wherever you go now,
I go.
You have two shadows for now
because wherever you walk,
one day your family will return,
and I'll be waiting.
We don't have to be friends,
but I'm stuck to you now, boy.
ALEXANDER: God, that does not sound good.
Okay, yeah, great. I understand.
MARISHA: Do you remember anything
about the environment?
Because I don't think, wherever you went,
I don't think you were on this plane of existence.
ALEXANDER: I would agree with that. AABRIA: No.
ALEXANDER: I don't think I was. AABRIA: He was dead!
BRENNAN: Occtis-- MARISHA: You were very dead.
BRENNAN: -- you can give me, as you try to recall
what you saw, you can give me arcana
or you can give me investigation.
ALEXANDER: Great, I will do arcana.
AABRIA: Guidance. BRENNAN: Guidance.
AABRIA: I'm just going to put my hand on you
and realize--
How alive do you feel?
ALEXANDER: I have-- AABRIA: Are you allowed to ask?
(laughter)
ALEXANDER: I have no pulse and I'm cold.
LIAM: On a scale of one to 10. ALEXANDER: What is happening?
MARISHA: How alive do you feel?
ALEXANDER: That would be
a 14. BRENNAN: 14.
You begin to go back,
trying to think of what you might've seen
anywhere in the visions.
Unfortunately, on a 14, you can't get a specific location,
but what you are describing are
sandstone, tall,
not marble columns
and not the granite of dwarven make.
This is something,
if you had to guess,
it seems like
pillars or plinths that look, for lack of a better word,
like the type of stone that you would find east
of the Dvalmar Pass.
ALEXANDER: It's very fragmented,
but it looks like the kind of natural architecture
that is east of here.
AABRIA: Okay. MARISHA: That's elven?
BRENNAN: Those are the ancestral lands of the Tachonis.
That's the ancient,
the fallen Obridimian Empire
to the east of the Kavrosi Mountains.
ALEXANDER: It's towards our old home.
MARISHA: Okay.
BRENNAN: It's also the direction
that you guys just came from,
back towards Venatus and the Eternal Night.
AABRIA: Okay. ASHLEY: Oh.
AABRIA: We know those ruins. ASHLEY: Am I able to grab the stone,
or is it still up there? BRENNAN: I think in the distraction here,
you can absolutely-- TALIESIN: I have been keeping
an eye on that one. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Damn, I was trying to get it past him.
TALIESIN: You can try if you like,
but I will definitely counter with Command.
ASHLEY: I will try. I will grab it.
TALIESIN: I'm going to Command.
BRENNAN: Go ahead, give me a wisdom saving throw--
ASHLEY: Woo! BRENNAN: -- Vaelus.
AABRIA: Find it-- ASHLEY: Okay.
LIAM: Can't get the faun out of the player.
(laughter)
ASHLEY: Oh no, that's bad. LIAM: (laughs)
ASHLEY: That's 12. MARISHA: This is your wisdom save?
ASHLEY: That's my wisdom save. MARISHA: Oh, is this Command?
LUIS: Yeah. ASHLEY: Yes.
TALIESIN: Not that I'm going to do it here,
but do you have a-- ASHLEY: Wait a minute.
I have advantage to avoid or end the charmed condition.
TALIESIN: This is not a charmed condition. ALEXANDER: Not a charmed condition.
ASHLEY: No, you said Command, sorry.
I got excited.
TALIESIN: Do you have an opinion
on only sticking to the approved list of commands,
not that it's going to matter right now?
BRENNAN: I will allow different one-word commands,
but they are subject to the vocabulary of the target.
TALIESIN: Very fair. (laughter)
LIAM: Krump. (laughter)
(laughter) MARISHA: "Krump."
LUIS: Oh boy. BRENNAN: Krump at once!
(laughter)
TALIESIN: Vaelus, a word, if you don't mind.
Here, and I'm going to walk over and take you aside.
ASHLEY: What?
TALIESIN: (sighs)
It is-- ASHLEY: What?
TALIESIN: It is my selfishness
that allowed you into this city,
and if it is your selfishness that harms this boy,
I can do things to you.
ASHLEY: I am not going to harm him.
I am going to keep him alive.
He died under her care,
so if he's going to make it anywhere,
it's going to be because of me.
Do you understand?
TALIESIN: If you try and take that stone,
if you abandon him--
ASHLEY: If I try to take that stone--
TALIESIN: Silence. ASHLEY: -- it'd be my stone.
TALIESIN: I cast Silence.
Not Silence. I cast Command. LIAM: Command?
Command silence? TALIESIN: Yeah.
BRENNAN: That's the Command spell.
TALIESIN: That's Command spell again.
BRENNAN: Command spell again. Give me another
wisdom saving throw. ASHLEY: Ooh! Okay.
TALIESIN: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Come on, come on, come on.
Oh. Okay, dirty 20.
BRENNAN: That is a success.
TALIESIN: I have ways
of making your life very difficult,
and I swear I need you to swear
that you will not abandon that one.
I'm trying to trust you.
ASHLEY: You can trust me.
Look at me
with that fucking creepy mask.
I swear to you
I will not abandon this boy.
TALIESIN: If you do,
I'll find you.
Good luck, and keep him safe.
ASHLEY: What do you care?
MARISHA: I feel like this is going well.
BRENNAN: You see,
as you ask that question of Bolaire,
you see that Aranessa looks to Occtis.
"You saw in your vision
"as you crossed over from death
"a warrior of the Barrowguard." ALEXANDER: Yeah.
BRENNAN: "House Davinos,
"under the auspice of House Royce,
"has taken a vanguard
"in the training of the Barrowguard
"in their protection of the realm."
ALEXANDER: Right.
BRENNAN: "Occtis, our families
"were on opposite sides of the Shapers' War
"and the same side of my beloved Thjazi's rebellion.
"I don't know who in my family is left alive.
"Our caravans were stopped at the Dvalmar Pass.
"I do not know the state of the Golden Orchard.
"I do not know.
"We have been dwindling
"ever since the gates of Faerie were closed,
"and it seems that your family decided
"that we had been nothing more than a name
"for a little too long."
ALEXANDER: I'm so sorry. BRENNAN: "You do not need
"to apologize.
"My grandfather
"would not commit himself
"to the cause of the Falconer's Rebellion.
"I have wondered what might've happened
"if I had been in his stead.
"Would I have acquiesced to the demands?
"I know that we stayed strong,
"preserved the dignity and station of our house,
"and it bought us this."
ALEXANDER: Right.
BRENNAN: "I need to travel east because
"it is the only direction
"that has perhaps anything left for me
"other than looking at the shadows behind me
"for the rest of a short life.
"You are the only thing
"that has happened in the last 10 years
"that I am aware of
"that did not go according to the plans of your family.
"And so with all of the elegance, grace,
"and dignity that my station affords me,
"may I cling to you
"in desperate hope that something good might happen?"
ALEXANDER: Of course. I owe you so much, and--
Yes, I'll do my best
to help you find what you're looking for.
Thank you.
BRENNAN: "I hope we find
"what we're looking for
"and I hope that we find something to look for,"
and you see that she takes your hands in her hands
and looks over at Julien and looks back at you.
"We've been calling ourselves the Sundered Houses
"for a long time."
ALEXANDER: Since I can remember.
BRENNAN: "I don't want to be broken anymore."
ALEXANDER: (scoffs)
BRENNAN: And she squeezes your hands,
looks to Julien and says,
"I can say with certainty
"that we are being hunted right now,
"my dear Sir Julien,
"and I can say as well
"that, Occtis,
"though you seem to have defied death itself,
"I doubt that you could defy capture or imprisonment."
ALEXANDER: I agree.
BRENNAN: "Then,"
she looks over to you, Vaelus.
"My lady,
"by some ancient bond of ancestry,
"my family blessed by the fae,
"and you of the elven folk,
"I offer you my trust,
"given in
"desperate times,
"perhaps much lessened in its worth,
"but
"if you have made the oath to tend to Occtis,
"I saw you withstanding the onslaught of many shades
"for a time in which any other mortal
"would've been struck low, and
"it would've been effortless for you
"to take the stone and depart.
"I think you would've attempted to do so already
"if that were in your heart,
"so,
"and on a level perhaps that is crass to bring up,
"I think if we don't bring you, we're going to die."
MARISHA: And just to lay everything out
in very black-and-white terms here,
the current plan
sounds like you are going
exactly where the creepy stone
told you in your vision to go.
You're going to the creepy stone war drums.
War drums?
ALEXANDER: Yes, that's where we're going.
MARISHA: Creepy land. ALEXANDER: Yes.
MARISHA: All right, great.
No, I like this plan. LUIS: And you are all going.
Sir Julien, Occtis,
as you, Vaelus is your name?
ASHLEY: I will go where you, yes,
and I will go where you go,
LUIS: Thaisha, your call.
ALEXANDER: I mean, you have a whole thing here.
A family and stuff.
I'm not asking you to do anything.
I don't know what's going on. AABRIA: Yeah.
A lot of people around you right now are treating you
the way I've seen a lot of animals treat bait,
or a meal. ALEXANDER: Mm-hmm.
AABRIA: I will go if you want me to go with you.
ALEXANDER: Hal, what are you going to--?
I mean, look, I--
You're always looking out for me,
and I appreciate it,
but you didn't ask for any of this,
and you have a family
and you have a guy you obviously love.
It's so clear and so-- AABRIA: And he knows it.
ALEXANDER: I don't know.
I'm not asking you to do anything.
You have to make this decision.
AABRIA: Yeah. I know.
ALEXANDER: And also, I am now everything you don't like.
(laughs)
AABRIA: You are-- ALEXANDER: I'm 100% dead now.
(clearing throats)
LIAM: Maybe you're mostly dead. AABRIA: Yeah.
AABRIA: We dealt with undead.
We dealt with them in Venatus.
You are not that.
You're still you.
ALEXANDER: I have to remember to breathe.
AABRIA: Okay. So do I.
ALEXANDER: (laughs)
Okay. AABRIA: You're family, too,
because your blood family
are the worst fucking people I have ever met.
ALEXANDER: Oh, hey, look, I got a new dad.
AABRIA: (laughs)
ALEXANDER: It's bad here. AABRIA: Yeah.
MARISHA: (laughs)
AABRIA: I'm with you. ALEXANDER: Okay.
AABRIA: That okay?
ALEXANDER: For me, yeah. AABRIA: Yeah.
That good with you?
ASHLEY: It's good with me. MARISHA: And once again,
I don't mean to nitpick this whole plan--
AABRIA: Goddamn it, Murray.
What? What? MURRAY: I'm just wondering.
All right, so we're going to go to where the creepy stone--
AABRIA: Are you coming, too?
What the hell? MARISHA: Nah,
I got your fucking family to deal with back here.
Here's the thing.
There-- ALEXANDER: Oh, you--
MARISHA: I think-- AABRIA: Yeah, I'm sorry.
You're going to throw a titty at him?
What's your plan, honestly?
MARISHA: Do you know much heft these things have?
AABRIA: Honestly? Honestly? Honestly?
LUIS: I actually have a plan. MARISHA: Knock a motherfucker out.
LUIS: I have a plan,
if I can take a moment and share,
based on what you just said, Lady Aranessa,
and I'm assuming, you're going with them as well?
You're leaving or are you staying?
BRENNAN: "They will hunt me down here and--"
MARISHA: Do you have hiking boots?
Sorry.
LUIS: Whether you are going with them or not,
you are leaving as well,
and now we have all the witnesses to what happened
are leaving.
AABRIA: What do witnesses matter?
Something has changed in the city.
LUIS: Yes. AABRIA: It's about power.
It's not about truth. LUIS: Exactly.
So here, hear me out. Lady Aranessa,
you said something earlier about the Shapers' War
and you recognize that some of the Houses
were fighting alongside the gods
and some of the rebel houses were fighting against them,
and here in Dol-Makjar,
we have this mix of these houses.
Halovar, Tachonis fought for the gods,
and Royce, and Cormoray, and Einfasen,
they fought against them.
That was only 70 years ago.
They're all acting independently,
but they're all making moves at the same time.
Cormoray is sinking their claws into the museum.
Einfasen has taken over the Revolutionary Guard
and the Arcane Marshals
and Tachonis has come after the Penteveral.
MARISHA: Yep. AABRIA: Yeah.
LUIS: They're not working together yet.
They're working in parallel,
and 70 years ago was not that long ago.
They still have each others' blood on their hands.
The only way that we'll survive here in Dol-Makjar
is if we find a way to create a wedge between them
and have them turn on each other.
ALEXANDER: So--
LUIS: There's evidence right now
of one of the priestly houses eliminating a rebel house.
All we need is to plant the seed of suspicion
so that Einfasen and Cormoray think that they're next.
ALEXANDER: So what you're suggesting is is that some of you stay
and be that wedge.
LUIS: I think you have a way to plant the seed
that those of us that stay behind might then water.
ALEXANDER: Okay, okay.
MARISHA: I do love a whisper campaign.
TALIESIN: I do like this.
AABRIA: You've never whispered a day in your life.
TALIESIN: This is very clever. MARISHA: It's true.
ALEXANDER: So what do you need me to do?
LUIS: Anything that you can do to implicate your family
and suggest that now that House Royce is gone,
that Einfasen and Cormoray are meant to be next.
ALEXANDER: Interesting.
TALIESIN: Occtis, do you have
a personal item that
we could keep for the moment on you?
Something simple. ALEXANDER: Sure.
TALIESIN: Are you still on the ground, by the way?
ALEXANDER: Yeah. AABRIA: You have to stand up.
TALIESIN: I'm actually going to walk over
and offer a hand to get you up.
ALEXANDER: Thank you. (laughter)
ALEXANDER: It feels different now. I can't feel my legs.
Yeah, I can give you something.
LIAM: Part of your fox, maybe.
ALEXANDER: Oh.
TALIESIN: Something that will keep better, I think.
MARISHA: Is that the only option here?
ALEXANDER: Once he's not together, they will decompose.
BRENNAN: Occtis, you have a signet ring.
ALEXANDER: I do. BRENNAN: Yeah.
ALEXANDER: Here.
TALIESIN: Young man,
it is a terrible thing to be singular,
but it can eventually be beautiful,
and one day, I look forward to you returning
and having a proper conversation of,
oh,
whatever it is you become.
AABRIA: Everyone keeps saying the creepiest shit to you.
ALEXANDER: Yeah, I'm aware. I'm hearing it.
BRENNAN: Aranessa turns to you, Azune,
and goes:
TALIESIN: I have a signet ring.
BRENNAN: "You're right,
"but the reality is
"we can't know
"which cards the other houses are playing face up,
"and which they are playing face down.
"For me to walk to Harondus Einfasen
"and bring the story of what the Tachonis have done,
"I can only do if I were certain
"that he would be surprised by it."
MARISHA: Yeah, they might already know.
BRENNAN: "And all I can say is,
"I need to see who in my house yet lives.
"I cannot imagine.
"They must have struck
"knowing that we were coming here for Thjazi's funeral.
"Look at how quick and violent it was.
"It was not glacial at all.
"It was not generations of planning.
"It was fast, and how long had Thjazi
"even had the Stone of Nightsong?
"Thimble had mentioned
"that it was a short, short amount of time,
"so all of this reeks of a gambit.
"It reeks of seeing opportunity
"and greed compelling them to seize it while they could.
"This is not years of fruition and planning,
"but what that means is--" LUIS: Blind spots.
BRENNAN: "I need to find out who in my house yet lives.
"I cannot imagine that they have taken the Golden Orchard.
"Even diminished as we are, there is still strength to us.
"I need to travel east,
"and what we know
"is that this stone has a story.
"The Tachonis know it, we don't.
"That's a problem.
"We know that there is something
"that Occtis has seen to the east of here,
"which we must travel in that direction already.
"We are accompanied by those that have insight and
"we have one who,
"if you would do us the honor of traveling with us,
"my, (huffs)"
She holds out a hand to you and says,
"former sister-in-law?
AABRIA: Yeah, let's just keep it.
BRENNAN: She says:
AABRIA: Yeah. BRENNAN: "If we travel with you,
"there are doors that only someone of your order can open
"and there are people who will see what Occtis is now
"that only your authority will persuade them not to destroy."
ALEXANDER: Oh god, I didn't even think of that.
AABRIA: Yeah. I didn't want to say it
because you're still processing this.
TALIESIN: This is going to be a lot.
BRENNAN: You see that-- AABRIA: We'll work on it.
BRENNAN: -- she says,
"My goal is not to be gone from Dol-Makjar for long,
"but by the time I return,
"I need to know who our friends are,
"and more importantly, who our enemies are.
"I think that you are right.
"Greed
"destroys the world, but it also destroys itself.
"I hope that we can find these answers."
LIAM: Well, some of us can stay behind
and keep an eye on things.
Between the four of us,
I think we know just about everyone in the city.
AABRIA: It won't be safe here. You know that.
LIAM: We just got here, too.
New year, same old dance. AABRIA: (laughs)
BRENNAN: Azune,
a little bit of gray light
is creeping into the eastern horizon
at the top of the mountains.
ALEXANDER: Look, I know I just showed up in your life a day ago
and I blew the whole thing up, and I'm really sorry,
and I'm sorry that she's coming with me,
and I know that you don't want that and I don't,
and your family's so nice, and the--
LIAM: Kid--
Is that freezing?
BRENNAN: It's as cold as a corpse.
LIAM: Something's happening under the surface here,
in the city,
outside of the city,
and it's out of your control and out of mine.
We'll make hay while the sun's shining.
All right, go.
Go. AABRIA: Okay.
LIAM: Keep an eye on her for me, all right?
ALEXANDER: I will. We will. LIAM: All right.
MARISHA: We'll have no real way to communicate
if things go tits up.
LUIS: We'll just have to trust.
ALEXANDER: Yeah. TALIESIN: Indeed.
ALEXANDER: Thanks for coming to my funeral, everybody. (laughs)
MARISHA: You all right over there, Julien?
MATT: I accompany my Lady Aranessa,
I accompany Occtis,
and place my trust
with those who also walk this path with us.
So yes, I'm fine.
I have a path to walk.
BRENNAN: As the eastern horizon grows gray,
Rohor, the caretaker,
procures some steeds
and
those of you bound for the east, for mystery,
and shadows lengthening,
make your way.
Is there anything before you depart?
TALIESIN: Yeah, I would say-- BRENNAN: ♪ Makin' my way ♪
LIAM: Go for it, go for it.
MATT: I say, as we assemble our horses,
I stop and turn to you
and just say:
You never gave me your name.
LUIS: Azune.
MATT: Azune.
LUIS: And yours?
MATT: We'll see when we return.
BRENNAN: "Oh, we need pseudonyms. Oh god."
You see that--
With that-- ALEXANDER: One second.
BRENNAN: Yeah. AABRIA: Oh guys,
what are you doing?
BRENNAN: I gotcha. Everyone's-- yeah.
TALIESIN: You have the drama kids here.
LIAM: Yeah. Literally.
ALEXANDER: I know we don't know each other that well
and I was very surprised to see you when I woke up.
It didn't make any sense, but now I get it.
AABRIA: (laughs)
ALEXANDER: I'm going to take notes.
MARISHA: Yeah, you still have a thesis due
at the end of the semester. AABRIA: Oh my god.
ALEXANDER: No, I fucking don't.
(laughter)
ALEXANDER: I died.
I don't have to do that anymore.
(laughter)
ASHLEY: Yes! LUIS: You still got
student loans, though. BRENNAN: Your professor gets an email,
"Hey, I'm dead. Is it cool if I miss the midterm?"
(laughter)
LIAM: Resurrection is gone, but student loans are forever.
(laughter)
ASHLEY: (groans)
MARISHA: (laughs)
ALEXANDER: I'm going to keep very particular notes.
I'm going to bring everything back
because you're the only other wizard here,
so we're going to figure this out.
Especially with whatever the,
whatever that stone is.
I want to know because now it's part of me.
MARISHA: Hey, that's very smart.
I know I didn't interact with you much.
ALEXANDER: I understand that I'm a rich kid
who came into a school that you felt like was yours
and I was invading your personal space
and I understand that.
MARISHA: Damn. (laughter)
ALEXANDER: It doesn't feel good.
MARISHA: Yeah, no. Kind of nailed it, though.
But, you are a talented kid.
I hope you know that. ALEXANDER: Thanks.
That's really weird to hear coming from you,
but I appreciate it.
MARISHA: It's the only reason I didn't have your ass
thrown out years ago.
ALEXANDER: Well, great.
MARISHA: You may not have earned your spot when you came in,
but you showed your worth and you earned it over time,
and I did respect that.
ALEXANDER: Thanks.
MARISHA: Many people from your ilk
have issues looking a gift horse in the mouth.
You were never like that.
ALEXANDER: Well, I mean, yeah, I didn't really...
Anyway, it doesn't matter. Thank you.
MARISHA: Don't die again.
ALEXANDER: Yeah. (forced chuckling)
TALIESIN: I have a tour to give in the morning.
BRENNAN: Yeah. (laughs) TALIESIN: Good night, all of you.
BRENNAN: Hal. LIAM: Hal presses his thumb
into Thaisha's palm.
If it is him,
if it is our son,
then find him and bring him home.
AABRIA: Of course.
Thaisha holds your hand and doesn't let it go
until her heart rate comes down to yours.
You were always the calm one.
Steady.
There was a minute there.
If the plan had worked with Thjazi,
we would've been gone before I could have even seen you.
But there was a minute there I thought
maybe I was going to be able to stay just a little longer.
LIAM: Well, we get what we get,
and we don't get upset.
I'll stay with the girls.
Okay? AABRIA: Okay.
I'll make sure our boy's okay.
LIAM: All right.
AABRIA: I love you.
LIAM: Always.
ALEXANDER: Oh man, I died a virgin.
(laughter)
AABRIA: That's the only note I've taken. MARISHA: It is the only note she's taken.
AABRIA: It's the only note I've taken.
(laughter) ASHLEY: Wow.
ALEXANDER: God, that's terrible.
AABRIA: And on that note, I kiss my baby daddy.
ALEXANDER: You hear me standing alone off the side
going: (self-pitying sigh) (laughter)
AABRIA: He's part of the wide shot as we pan out.
LIAM: But now, always hard.
(laughter)
AABRIA: Shout out to rigor mortis.
(laughter)
TALIESIN: And death veil. ASHLEY: Oh god.
(laughter)
BRENNAN: As so often happens--
(snickering)
BRENNAN: -- the cosmic and supernal hangs over
the deeply absurd and foolish.
You see a stone
possessed of the goddess of life
hangs in the air
before descending under Aranessa's nodding gaze
into Vaelus' hand.
ALEXANDER: I'm still here? Okay. We're good.
BRENNAN: A mother and father vow to protect their children.
The cosmic, the familial, the personal,
it's always all tied up together.
I'll ask our Seekers,
as you make your way towards the unknown,
to leave our table, and I'll ask--
AABRIA: Bye, good luck!
BRENNAN: Take care, Seekers table.
And I'll ask our Schemers--
TALIESIN: I hope you die like a dog.
BRENNAN: I'll ask our Schemers to stay for one second.
MARISHA and LUIS: Ooh! MATT: I guarantee you nothing.
LUIS: No!
AABRIA: The Schemers. MATT: No promises.
BRENNAN: (laughs)
AABRIA: Hold on, let me grab-- TALIESIN: They'll do fine.
AABRIA: Okay. Okay.
TALIESIN: It's going to be fine. AABRIA: Okay, bye.
MARISHA: Bye. Bye, Seekers.
AABRIA: Don't fuck anyone while I'm gone!
LIAM: No promises. (laughter)
MARISHA: I love you. AABRIA: Mwah!
AABRIA: Mwah! Mwah! LUIS: Mwah! Mwah!
Ooh. AABRIA: Yeah, I'm romantic.
LUIS: Just time for you to leave!
(off-screen laughter)
BRENNAN: Possessed of this relic,
our Seekers table makes their way away,
and standing in the courtyard as the sun begins
to light the eastern horizon,
the four of you look at each other.
Every single one of you has work in less than two hours.
LUIS: Yes.
MARISHA: My circadian rhythm is going to be so thrown off.
This is like the second sunrise I've seen.
TALIESIN: How are you so delicate? It's a little disturbing.
MARISHA: I just do that thing where I prop up
my boobs with my arms a little bit.
It's just my-- LUIS: They're all muscle.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: (muscles throb) Yeah.
MARISHA: My delicate sensibilities.
LIAM: Everybody has places to be.
LUIS: Yes. TALIESIN: I have to give a tour.
That's going to go very well.
MARISHA: I think I need a power nap.
LUIS: You're going to be at the Penteveral today.
MARISHA: I'm going to have to. I feel like if anything,
if I'm not there, it's going to be even more alarming
after everything that's happened, I think.
LIAM: But we need to meet again.
LUIS: We do. LIAM: And again and again.
MARISHA: I think,
I think you're exactly right, Azune.
I think this has been a systematic
and strategic dismantling under the guise of safety
for the common man.
LUIS: And they moved fast, and when you move fast,
sometimes you miss a few things.
MARISHA: It's easier to excuse it
if it feels like a singular house
is working on singular objectives,
but even if these Sundered Houses hate each other
and have their grudges,
those type of people,
power will always be an ally
for their personal grievance. LUIS: They'll work together.
MARISHA: Correct. LUIS: They'll work together
until they no longer need each other,
and then they will turn on each other.
We just want to see if we can make that happen sooner.
LIAM: In the short term,
we all have our spheres of influence.
Why don't we all put out birds?
LUIS: Yes.
LIAM: See what we can find on our own,
and then what about
the back room at our place?
What if we start--
TALIESIN: I think that's an excellent idea.
We can't keep meeting-- LIAM: -- circling up.
TALIESIN: -- at the museum. LUIS: No.
LIAM: I don't like it at my house anymore.
TALIESIN: No. MARISHA: I think we need
a third--
Nothing that's tied to any of our workplaces.
We don't want to shit where we sleep.
TALIESIN: That room, no one knows about it.
It's just a map.
MARISHA: What are you talking about?
LUIS: Whatever that place is, then that's the place.
LIAM: Well, we've been sipping wine
and talking about art in the city for months.
I didn't know that I was talking to
an ancient godly mask.
Bit of a surprise.
TALIESIN: Oh, there'll be more inevitably.
LIAM: Could have told me.
TALIESIN: I really couldn't.
LIAM: Would have kept your secret.
TALIESIN: Oh, your brother would've murdered me.
Literally. LIAM: That's true.
MARISHA: I also want to know why you let Vaelus in.
Yeah, I heard that. TALIESIN: Things--
MARISHA: These ears, you see them?
TALIESIN: I made a very selfish decision,
and that selfish decision was the chance
that maybe she would take care of Thjazi.
LUIS: (scoffs)
TALIESIN: Or at least get him into trouble enough
that I could escape our little deal.
LUIS: Bolaire. TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.
LUIS: I'm sorry that I feel compelled to say this,
but did you have anything to do with his execution?
TALIESIN: No.
LIAM: Insight check.
BRENNAN: You can give me persuasion or deception, Bolaire.
TALIESIN: Mm-hmm. LIAM: That's fine, it's a one.
TALIESIN: Yeah.
MARISHA: It's fine, it's a one?
LIAM: Yeah, that's fine.
TALIESIN: I wouldn't have let her in if I had.
Honestly, I wasn't working that hard to be involved.
If he knew that I had tried something,
he would've taken care of me anyway.
I had to be squeaky clean for a very long time.
But in the end, that may actually work out to our advantage.
We are building a theater, which means I need money,
which means I can be bought.
And when you can be bought,
well, people will put their trust in you.
MARISHA: I think we need to build that theater
beyond its corporeal station, if you know what I mean.
LUIS: Mm-hmm.
BRENNAN: Murray,
as you talk about something being larger
than its corporeal form,
you get a little pleasant resonance
in one of your gem molars.
Thinking about what you saw
as you were performing that act of magic,
like all of creation was on some kind of grid or plane,
you could feel weight and heft.
Could be the exhaustion,
you've been up until sunrise two nights in a row,
but it's just something about intersecting vertices
of space and time.
You start getting a thought,
something that you're going to have to spend time
catching later in your own research,
but the sun is rising.
There's plenty to do.
The four of you, speaking of money,
all got to go and earn a living.
LUIS: Yeah.
BRENNAN: You head out from this place
as the sun begins to rise.
And as it does, Hal,
you arrive back at your home.
Shadia is still asleep upstairs somewhere.
Bolaire, you arrive back at the museum just in time.
You can see the carriage pulling up for the tour
you're about to give.
Azune, the Brethren Hall active.
Some people begin to mutter about
the lights being off in the Palazzo Davinos.
Where did they all go?
Murray, Penteveral is abuzz
as the new dean is going to give
her inaugural speech today.
Hal, you look out on the windowsill.
There's a little nest on the second floor.
You see a magpie looks down,
hops to one side.
A tiny little beak begins to poke out of an egg
on your window sill.
You know she'd been there for some time,
but it escaped your mind.
The last couple weeks have been so busy.
You see a tiny little beak start to chip away at an egg.
LIAM: Good morning, friend.
BRENNAN: (fledgling chirps)
MARISHA: (chuckles)
BRENNAN: (fledgling chirps)
The sun rises over a gray city.
Tough, in trouble,
defiant, doomed,
hopeful, hurt.
This little bird sees its home city for the first time.
It has to believe that there is something here
worth fighting for.
LIAM: Your story's just getting started.
BRENNAN: (bright chirping)
The magpie flutters off to one side
and you look out at your city,
and that's where we'll take our break.
MARISHA: Oh!
TALIESIN: The magpie knows too much. Kill it.
(laughter) LIAM: (smack)
BRENNAN: What have you seen? (smack)
(laughter)
LUIS: When I first heard the word magpie,
I thought it was food. (laughter)
BRENNAN: Ooh, I love a good magpie.
MARISHA: Magpie, cooling on the window. LUIS: I was like: What's that mean?
BRENNAN: Pumpkin pie,
blueberry pie, magpie. TALIESIN: Only if it's fresh mag.
It has to be very fresh mag.
(laughter)
LIAM: What is it? What's the number?
32 blackbirds baked in a pie.
TALIESIN: Four and 20. LIAM: Four and 20.
LUIS: Wow. TALIESIN: That has a connection to my name.
MARISHA: Which was a really great diner.
TALIESIN: It was. MARISHA: That no longer exists anymore.
TALIESIN: It was one of my favorite diners and--
MARISHA: It went out of business. LUIS: Wow.
TALIESIN: Some of the history--
LUIS: Thanks, Brennan. TALIESIN: -- the original Taliesin
