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Branching Paths | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 5

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Summary

Core Theme

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.

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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

wrote from home. BRENNAN: Hell yeah, gang.

That was great.

We'll take our break and then we'll jump in

with our Soldiers. LUIS: Back to the Soldiers.

MARISHA: Let's go!

- Take your clothes off.

- Uh, what's happening right now?

- It's better if you keep your identity a secret.

Here.

I'd remembered you being bigger.

I was a little drunk.

[AdHoc]

[Critical Role]

- I work better alone.

- The hell, man?

- Hello, Robert.

- How do you move so quiet?

- I float.

[Aaron Paul]

[Laura Bailey]

[Jacksepticeye]

[Travis Willingham]

[Matthew Mercer]

[Moistcr1tikal]

- What the... ?

[Cast roll]

- I only came in as I thought we were playing

Magic the Gathering tonight.

I am hoping we still may.

[Dispatch]

[Out now on Steam and PS5]

♪ It's a merry, merry Critmas ♪ ♪ (It's Critmas!) ♪

♪ Oh, here in Californ-i-a ♪

♪ It's a merry, merry Critmas ♪ ♪ (It's Critmas!) ♪

♪ Around the table playin' games ♪

♪ The fire burns, ♪ ♪ the stories are told, ♪

♪ Till it's time for bed, ♪ ♪ and the cocoa's cold ♪

♪ It's Critmas... ♪ ♪ (It's Critmas!) ♪

♪ We're hopin' that ♪ ♪ you roll our way ♪

♪ Have a merry, merry Critmas! ♪

(peaceful music)

- The Luxon Beacon...

is no religious relic.

This beacon...

is a weapon.

- Some kind of arcane weapon has crossed our border.

War is coming,

and you're our only hope of stopping it.

- You've got the wrong people.

- We've got a homeless wizard,

an inebriated goblin...

- Bottoms up!

- a shipwrecked sailor,

a cocky ringmaster,

a temperamental monk,

and chaos incarnate.

- Do you want to be my b****?

- Face it, we're nobodies.

- That's what makes you so dangerous.

They'll never see you coming.

- Time to put on a show.

- Did you actually think you could escape your past?

- Shared purpose, shared pain...

but mostly, shared strength.

- Uh, what do we do?

- What we do best...

make terrible choices.

- I'm out.

- This group is f****** wild.

- We...

are the Mighty Nein.

- But there's only six of you.

- Yes, but six and nine go so well together.

ASHLEY: Welcome to Weird Kids.

♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ Weird Kids ♪

TALIESIN: You look like the person at a funeral

where I would wonder if you had something to do with it.

ASHLEY: Thank you so much. TALIESIN: You're welcome.

I have achieved the 21st century dream

of being on the podcast. (laughter)

ASHLEY: We finally did it.

Oh, hello, everyone.

TALIESIN: Hi there. ASHLEY: Or some of you,

whoever's listening, maybe nobody.

What a week.

TALIESIN: And I don't even know what day it is.

ASHLEY: Who knows?

I guess it doesn't matter to people who are--

TALIESIN: Certainly not in here.

This is kind of a liminal space.

ASHLEY: Like I read "Highlights for Children."

This is way better.

TALIESIN: "Highlights" was for dentist's office.

ASHLEY: I have my California Science Center mug,

which is one of my favorites. TALIESIN: Where'd you get that?

ASHLEY: I got it at the California Science Center.

TALIESIN: I know, I just wanted to hear you say it again.

ASHLEY: Look at her. I want to be her.

2025 has really just been a real banger so far.

TALIESIN: Thank god it's over.

ASHLEY: This might not be very exciting to listen to,

or watch, for that matter.

TALIESIN: I can keep talking.

Our audience wants to murder you right now.

ASHLEY: And I peed on the stage because I was nervous.

TALIESIN: What question did they ask?

ASHLEY: Wait, let me smell it again. TALIESIN: Okay.

This is great podcast right now. (laughs)

ASHLEY: My grandpa gave me this, by the way, not to brag.

I'm on YouTube a lot, not to brag.

I was Miss Junior Michigan, not to brag.

God, that's a good mug.

I'm a winner, baby.

TALIESIN: Let's hit a weird landing.

Let's jostle everybody's luggage.

ASHLEY: Why are we doing this?

TALIESIN: I don't meet a lot of people

who have a similar level of damage.

ASHLEY: (laughs) Yes!

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

♪ (upbeat music continues) ♪

- You know what time it is, babies.

It's time for the Critical Role shop stuff!

Why not pick this up? It'll look great on you.

I feel like I'm manifesting better vibes already.

Do you see all the little details? So great.

Do they take platinum? (chuckles)

Kidding. Mostly.

I think I'll get it. And you should, too!

Need more dice? These are nice.

You can never have too many dice. Take it from me.

Make a hell of a fashion statement with this baby right here.

What if I just filled my entire room with these?

Grab some sweet CR swag of your own

over at the Critical Role shop.

We'll see you there.

♪ (gentle tavern music) ♪

♪ (peaceful music) ♪

♪ (fairy music) ♪

♪ (mischievous music) ♪

(typewriter clacking)

LAURA: (VO) Do you find yourself dealing with

low energy, drowsiness, or boredom?

MARISHA: You may have made a pact with an infernal demon,

or you may be suffering from Low CR.

LAURA: (VO) Low CR is a common condition

that affects between most and nearly all adult humans.

Low CR, or Low Critical Role, occurs when human people

don't have enough nerdy voice actors in their lives.

But now, there's a cure!

MARISHA: I don't let Low CR control my life anymore.

LAURA: (VO) Beacon is a non-invasive subscription

that provides 24 hours exclusive content each day.

MARISHA: This was when we decided

it should look like a gender reveal party.

LAURA: (VO) Early access to event tickets,

members-only Discord,

10% off merchandise, and more.

Do not take Beacon if you are allergic to Beacon.

Consult your familiar

if you think Beacon could work for you.

MARISHA: Side effects may include excessive enjoyment,

overexcitement, and diarrhea.

LAURA: (VO) Critical Role is in no way a treatment,

medication, or anything other than

a bunch of nerdy voice actors.

Do not watch Critical Role unless you enjoy it.

[smoke alarm beeping] LAURA: (VO) We repeat.

We are absolutely not any sort of help... anything.

To learn more, visit beacon.tv,

or find it on your App Store.

MARISHA: Tomorrow feels a little brighter

now that I have Beacon.

(loud crunching)

BRENNAN: How do you play this game?

Folks, we are back and live.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: On brand. BRENNAN: Literally how?

The book doesn't tell me what I should say

for moment to moment.

Adventure, you're on one. Help, help, help.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: Last we left off, someone was one shy

of failing a skill check,

but I'm getting a note from the judges.

We're actually going to allow

because Guidance can be cast on any willing creature.

Is Kattigan Vale a willing creature?

ROBBIE: Boink!

Right in between the old eyes.

BRENNAN: A little die, which no roll necessary

that gets you to the difficulty class of 20,

which you were trying to hit,

which isn't enough to give you anybody stone cold,

but it's enough to rule out some options.

ROBBIE: Yeah.

BRENNAN: Following the tracks from here,

you've got Wulferic (rapid sniffing)

sniffing out in the rain in the early morning light.

I will allow, there's a couple different roads

that they could've taken here.

And I will say that

there's effectively two that you're able

to rule out right away.

The main road that diverges out from the Dvalmar Pass.

So the Dvalmar Pass is the big pass

that runs east from Dol-Makjar;

that road you know doesn't lead to Gormalay.

It doesn't lead to Timmony, the realm, the Kingdom of Timmony.

You would be looking for probably

two different roads or highways that go north.

One of them is the Pilgrims' Road,

which is this ancient dwarven road

that goes over the mountaintops to some ancient holy sites.

That place has been largely abandoned

since the Goddess of the Forge was defeated.

There's not a lot of pilgrims running around anymore.

Then there's the King's Highway.

That's the main road that leads to Timmon's Rock,

which is the capital city of Timmony.

That is the fastest road to where you're going.

It's a big old highway.

It stretches off of the Dvalmar Pass.

It would peel off probably two miles outside of town,

that road would split.

SAM: Does it have Pizza Hut Expresses and stuff?

BRENNAN: Yeah, it has like a Shell.

You can grab some different--

TRAVIS: KFC and Taco Bell in the same--

WHITNEY: Oh yeah.

BRENNAN: You go in and you're like: Baskin-Robbins, Taco Bell?

Wait. TRAVIS: (laughs)

BRENNAN: This is a one-two punch people are asking for?

(laughter)

BRENNAN: Okay, if you say so. TRAVIS: Now that I see it!

ROBBIE: As long as they can get gas there, too.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ROBBIE: So we followed the tracks to the point to where

we're assuming this rain is going to wash them away.

These are our two options.

BRENNAN: I think your two options-- You followed the tracks

long enough and you go: Okay,

Cyd was running on foot.

Casimir and his gang were in carriages,

were in horses and carriages,

which means that, yeah, they're faster,

but the horses would've been faster,

but they're not going with horses, they're going with carriages.

TRAVIS: That's right, Cyd's carriage was left behind.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Okay, all right. BRENNAN: Yeah.

So you in your head go:

Well, they're not going to abandon their carriages.

There's no way. This is you on that 20 survival

going like: No way they go to the Pilgrims' Road

with their carriages, even if they're chasing Cyd.

Also, Cyd maybe doesn't even know

about that Pilgrims' Road.

You know about it because you've been traveling a lot, right?

But Cyd's been a city slicker for like 12 years, right?

So you're able to rule out the Pilgrims' Road as an option.

Basically you're left with the King's Highway,

or there is

a forest, the Dahapshanee Wood,

which is a big alpine,

almost like a conifer pine rainforest.

It's cool and misty and rainy there

almost all the time.

There are a lot of vines and other plants there.

It's like a cold weather,

high altitude rainforest. LAURA: (sneezes)

I don't handle cold weather very well.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: So on a 20, I can't give you tracks dead to rights,

but I think that you are left with these.

You rule out a lot of options quickly

and you go: There's the highway,

which the carriages would've traveled on.

So at minimum, Casimir would've gone in that direction.

If you travel in that direction,

you'll be traveling on a big open road, which will be fast,

but also, I think on a 20, you know that's the road

that anyone who's pursuing you guys

would probably take that road as well.

It doesn't mean that they'll be as fast as you

or travel as lightly as you.

And then there is the forest,

which normally would slow people down,

it would not slow you down.

If Casimir went that way,

if Casimir basically made a choice that was:

Oh my god, they're definitely right behind me.

I have to go somewhere that the carriages can't follow me.

LAURA: You mean Cyd?

BRENNAN: Sorry, Cyd, yes, if Cyd had to make that choice,

that he would've been like:

Let me go somewhere that carriages won't follow.

ROBBIE: Are these two paths like, "All roads

"lead to Rome" kind of situation?

Oh, okay. BRENNAN: Yeah.

ROBBIE: So, okay.

BRENNAN: The both of them would head towards Gormalay.

It's basically, do you want to take the paths?

I think on that 20, basically it is

dealer's choice between off the road

and the dangers that that involves,

but where at least nobody who's pursuing you

will be able to move at your same pace.

Or, do you take the King's Highway? The dangers that--

Both paths have danger to them.

The dangers of the King's Highway will be

anyone pursuing you will be able to keep apace with you,

but also you'll definitely have more opportunities

to have other ways of tracking.

People will've seen people, there will be towns,

there will be inns and taverns and things like that.

ROBBIE: I think immediately Wulferic starts to rip off

into the forest path and I just go, and I hold him back.

BRENNAN: Yeah.

ROBBIE: I turn to the group and I go:

Well, I don't have a dog in this race except for that one.

(chuckling)

ROBBIE: Which way do we go?

TRAVIS: Are you a man of the wilds?

WHITNEY: (laughs)

SAM: I will be fine in any scenario.

WHITNEY: Yeah.

SAM: I think I would prefer the highway.

I mean, it feels like we would

make better time and possibly there could be inns

or taverns where we could find a nice warm bed

to rest our heads at the end of the afternoons

and maybe have a nice home-cooked meal, a nice soup.

WHITNEY: Love soup.

I will say that if we go to a place that favors more people,

we need to get a story straight as to why

we are with someone who your family tried to murder,

so my pitch-- SAM: Okay, yes.

WHITNEY: -- is that we figure out a story

because we are still very much of the Candescent Creed,

or else the Candescent Creed is very much against us.

SAM: Of course, of course. WHITNEY: Right?

SAM: Yes, yes.

Well, I mean this, this is our protector,

our assigned servant, our protector.

TRAVIS: I made the pledge towards you,

but I also am not going to keep you

from making horrible choices yourself.

If you go on this road, as you are, you will stand out.

WHITNEY: Well, I think that that's a good story.

If you're okay playing that role, we can say that we have

taken to the road to proselytize and--

SAM: Spread the good words, yes, and visit stronghold--

WHITNEY: Yep. SAM: -- south of here.

LAURA: Cyd would've taken to Dahapshanee, right?

TRAVIS: It depends.

If he was being pursued, he would not have taken the road.

LAURA: Right.

Maybe we can catch Cyd before they do and help him out.

SAM: Was he being pursued?

Did anyone know of his--

LAURA: Of course he was being pursued by Casimir.

SAM: I was sort of late to this whole conversation

and didn't, I don't really know who Casimir is.

TRAVIS: We will make up any disadvantage that you put on us

with our skill and expertise,

but we have a decision to make.

We have to decide if finding Casimir

is the priority above Cyd.

ROBBIE: While they're all discussing these ins and outs,

what time of day is it?

BRENNAN: You've been traveling,

you're now far enough outside of the city

that the sky is getting gray with sunlight

as the heavy rains come down.

Give me a perception check.

ROBBIE: For time of day. BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.

ROBBIE: Cool. I am like so good.

TRAVIS: The sun is in sky.

ROBBIE: Is in sky. (laughter)

ROBBIE: It must be super cloudy because that was a six, baby.

BRENNAN: Looking out, I mean, you guys have already, you know,

Teor, you were rescued from the bowels

of a warlock's dungeon earlier today.

Kattigan, you've been up since this morning.

All you have been traveling through the night.

TRAVIS: Shadow still hurts.

BRENNAN: If you guys were to engage

in like a full day's travel right now,

there'd probably be some constitution saving throws

for exhaustion and stuff like that

because you've been going hard,

but on that six perception, I think you peer off.

Yeah, you see the beginning of the King's Highway

heading up north to Timmony up there,

and then you see the forest.

ROBBIE: I'm thinking of

the deep forest at night

and I think if there's anything in Kattigan's mind,

if there's anything frightening, it's not highwaymen,

it's what's in the forest when the sun goes down.

So while I might naturally go that way, I would say--

BRENNAN: Sun's coming up. WHITNEY: Sun's coming up.

ROBBIE: Sun's coming up. BRENNAN: Sun's coming up.

ROBBIE: Oh, sun's coming up.

LAURA: It's hard to tell, I know you--

ROBBIE: I rolled a six. LAURA: Yeah.

ROBBIE: So true to form. LAURA: Kind of drunk,

so you can't tell what time of day it is, but.

ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, okay.

WHITNEY: We are here to help each other

and so we'll go whichever way,

whoever you are determined to find.

LAURA: Your pretty white outfits

are going to get really dirty, though.

TRAVIS: And I'm here to keep you alive.

SAM: Thank you.

I hope it won't come to that

and I don't foresee it will.

I mean, we're just going to find your brother

and he'll be there and there'll be a happy reunion

of some sort and then we can deal with my issues.

TRAVIS: These people you saved me from, that bisected my shadow,

do you think they will not turn the world upside down

looking for you and you?

WHITNEY: They will, and that's why we have to be really,

really convincing that you're a good leader.

SAM: I am a good leader. WHITNEY: Yep.

TRAVIS: Time is very precious.

We should use the cover of the jungle,

even if it compromises your comforts.

SAM: This is tricky, so you're both for the jungle?

LAURA: Yeah. SAM: And obviously,

we're two votes for the highway, so I guess it's up to you then.

WHITNEY: No, I'm, okay. TRAVIS: (laughs)

ROBBIE: Well, now that I know that the sun is coming up--

(laughter)

ROBBIE: -- with my keen perception.

TRAVIS: Ah, horizon, line of sight.

ROBBIE: Ranger eyes,

which I don't think I've said to this point.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Yeah, I'll just-- TRAVIS: The hawk screams.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Yes, the sun is up.

I'll just start.

BRENNAN: He's an absolutely unparalleled wilderness man.

It's night, no, morning.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Oh, this is going to be a rough campaign.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Kattigan's just going to start kicking a rock into the woods

and walking into the woods.

WHITNEY: Okay.

I'd like to take a little demon snooze on this horse.

BRENNAN: Okay. WHITNEY: As we trot along.

BRENNAN: Taking a snooze on the horse will prove impossible.

WHITNEY: Impossible? BRENNAN: Yes.

WHITNEY: Okay. SAM: You haven't met her.

BRENNAN: Sleeping on a moving horse will prove impossible.

WHITNEY: Okay, shit.

LAURA: We're going to have to camp out soon, though.

WHITNEY: Okay, that's totally fine.

What day of the week is it? Luniere, Chassaire, Victoire?

TRAVIS: Merlot, Sauvignon. WHITNEY: Marchandiere, Solaire.

BRENNAN: What day of the week is it?

I would say that the day of the week it is,

well, we haven't even established what day the week it is.

When would they kill Thjazi Fang?

Probably on a--

TRAVIS: ♪ It's the day of the week (claps) ♪

♪ It's the day of the week ♪

(laughter)

SAM: Is it Forgiere yet?

(laughter)

BRENNAN: It's Forgiere somewhere, baby.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: Today is, I'd say today is Smith's Day.

WHITNEY: Smith's Day. ROBBIE: Smith's Day.

WHITNEY: I don't have that that.

SAM: I don't have that either.

TRAVIS: Something else we should be aware of, these--

WHITNEY: Forgiere. TRAVIS: These jungles

are a different, it's a different terrain,

but also Cyd understands the difference between

leading a trail, leaving a trail to find,

and leaving a message

for those that know what to look for.

Speed will not be necessary in the beginning.

SAM: Oh, so we're just looking for clues and signs, then.

TRAVIS: Potentially. Also, things that lead to death.

SAM: All right, I can keep my eyes open for those things.

WHITNEY: I'm here to help you.

We're going to try to keep a low profile.

That's the plan.

LAURA: You look like you can totally do that.

SAM: Absolutely.

TRAVIS: You should cover yourself with mud

and shit as soon as possible.

SAM: Well, I'll use this cloak. That should probably do it.

WHITNEY: We should do that. We should do that.

TRAVIS: Listen to her. (laughs)

WHITNEY: The second we get off this horse,

I'm taking off, I'm rolling around in the mud.

TRAVIS: In some shit. (laughter)

BRENNAN: Very well.

As you guys

err to the side of probably the forest

is the wise way for us to go,

you are looking at your steeds, your horses.

You'll be able to travel with them through the forest,

but you'll have to take a slow pace,

unless of course you want to leave them tied up

at a hitch post outside an inn somewhere

and head out on foot.

ROBBIE: I already did. TRAVIS: Yeah.

BRENNAN: Mm-hmm. ROBBIE: I'm on foot.

BRENNAN: Cool.

SAM: Well, this will be hard then.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Are you sidesaddle?

LAURA: I'm just flying around. ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SAM: Are we dismounting for realsies?

ROBBIE: You could trot slow, but I mean, yeah.

LAURA: But your horse might--

WHITNEY: Yeah, I dismount and I put my knee up,

WHITNEY: Yeah, I dismount and I put my knee up.

I give my hand. SAM: Oh, thank you.

(laughter)

WHITNEY: Really good. Really good.

SAM: We just leave the horses here?

LAURA: You are going to tie them up.

Take them, tie them up somewhere.

SAM: But they get lonely. LAURA: Outside of an inn.

SAM: Oh. TRAVIS: Will they get lonely?

SAM: Well, yeah, I mean---

LAURA: They'll get dead. Tie them at an inn.

You have money.

SAM: All right. WHITNEY: You do have money.

SAM: Are there inns nearby?

LAURA: Yeah, I mean, we're at a crossroads, of course.

BRENNAN: Yeah, you guys are not too far.

I think it's pretty effortless to find a place

to tie up the horses

and leave word here with an innkeep

as you make your way into the forest.

TRAVIS: Also smart to say that your travel plans

take you in the opposite direction

the next day of which we are going.

LAURA: That's good.

SAM: Of course. Yes, let's do that.

BRENNAN: Lovely.

As you approach an inn early in the morning,

you hear a voice nearby.

TRAVIS: Goddamn it. (laughs)

BRENNAN: Your voice. ROBBIE: Exactly.

BRENNAN: I'll say that, yeah, you guys are preparing,

you're getting your boots done up,

Teor and Kattigan, Thimble,

all you guys have done deep woods adventuring.

Tyranny, you're from-- TRAVIS: It's a montage.

BRENNAN: -- the demon realms,

but you've never been in a big rainforest before.

I think you're looking at these beautiful

gold brocade slippers that Wicander is wearing.

(laughter)

WHITNEY: And you know it's hard because you do have to stay in that.

SAM: Of course. WHITNEY: Because--

SAM: That's all I brought. WHITNEY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: (laughs)

BRENNAN: As you walk the four horses

up to this roadside inn,

and again, it's very populated around here.

You're only a few miles outside of a major city,

but it's early, early light.

You hear a voice from up on high call out

and go like, "Hi there, friend.

"You're leaving us.

"You're leaving your horses behind?"

SAM: I'm sorry, could you enunciate just a little bit better?

BRENNAN: Up above you, swinging,

you see swinging from a gibbet, which is one

of the steel bird cage things.

You see that there is a--

TRAVIS: Yeah. WHITNEY: That's what's on Crocs.

BRENNAN: What's that? WHITNEY: Jibbitz?

BRENNAN: Gibbet. WHITNEY: That's what they put

on Crocs. ROBBIE: That's true.

BRENNAN: It's the name for the back thing of a--

WHITNEY: No, it's for the little thing.

ROBBIE: That's called Sport Mode. SAM: No, Croc shoes have this

little plastic bullshit

that you can put-- ROBBIE: You'll learn.

You'll learn in a couple years.

BRENNAN: I see. TRAVIS: Yeah, you're only

a couple out, yeah. TRAVIS: You'll get there.

BRENNAN: Gotcha. TRAVIS: They'll be covered in things.

BRENNAN: Understood.

So not that.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: High fantasy. High fantasy. (laughs)

BRENNAN: You see that

it is a cylindrical cage

that criminals are kept in

as they hang from the gallows.

There is a broad, thick-necked

orcish-looking man,

but also has a thick braided beard.

Looks a little bit squat, pretty short.

Looks out to you.

Legs are hanging out of the gibbet.

He goes, "Hey, friend!"

SAM: This is the prisoner talking?

BRENNAN: Yeah.

SAM: Oh, may the Light reach you, friend.

How are you this morning? It can't be--

BRENNAN: "I'm all right.

"Yeah, you want me to wake up the inn?

"Are you staying at the inn for the night?"

SAM: We have business with the inn.

I'm sorry, are you the concierge?

BRENNAN: "(laughs)

"In a manner of speaking."

SAM: Oh! TRAVIS: (snickers)

SAM: Well, excellent. I suppose, ding, ding, ding, yes!

We'd like to have some service here, yeah.

BRENNAN: "Splendid." WHITNEY: You're doing great.

BRENNAN: "That's splendid.

"Well, so you'd like some service, eh?"

SAM: We'd like a place to tie up these horses for a bit.

BRENNAN: He reaches over.

The gibbet next to him has a full skeleton in it.

He reaches over, pulls out a femur bone

to reach and push the post of the gallows

to start swinging himself.

TRAVIS: Like a bell, like a fucking bell.

BRENNAN: "(grunts)"

And he hits, gets a good whack,

twirls around and thunks his cage

into the corner of the inn that you can see

makes a thump against the wall.

And he says, "Wake up! Customers!"

LAURA: (chuckles) BRENNAN: "(sighs)"

SAM: Thank you so much.

BRENNAN: "Well, you're a kind and lovely gentleman.

"And may I be ever so bold as to say,

"if you were a fan of the service I've provided,

"a crust of bread would go a long way."

SAM: I don't have any bread,

but you know what? BRENNAN: "Ah! Pity."

SAM: I have-- ROBBIE: (laughs)

SAM: It's a symbol of the Candescent Creed.

WHITNEY: We've got fruit leather!

SAM: Oh, or that.

BRENNAN: He says, "Whoa!

"I think I'll take a little bit of the fruit leather,

"but I am interested in seeing your symbol

"of the Candescent Creed." SAM: Well, we give these out

at ceremonies and stuff. LAURA: I'll take it, fly it up.

BRENNAN: He looks up at you,

and takes it, and goes, "(gasps)

"Thimble."

LAURA: Wait, do I know? BRENNAN: Give me a history check.

LAURA: Oh. TRAVIS: God!

LAURA: 10. ROBBIE: 10.

BRENNAN: 10, you definitely recognize this guy.

He spent some time in Dol-Makjar,

but he comes and goes.

You think his first name is Abalang.

LAURA: Abalang?

WHITNEY: ♪ Whoa, Black Betty ♪ BRENNAN: "There you go."

LAURA: What the fuck did you do? You got caught?

BRENNAN: "I got caught, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

LAURA: How long you been in here?

BRENNAN: "How long I been in here?

"Ah, couldn't be more than a fortnight,

"but people are generous.

LAURA: Well, you're so charming.

BRENNAN: "Ah, it's very kind of you to say.

"Yeah, we knocked over a

"caboose of a caravan bound for Timmony

"and took some--

You see he looks at the Candescent Creed, and he says,

"Helped ourselves to some of the Light."

LAURA: Mm.

BRENNAN: "But I don't mean to say that by means of offense.

"I'm a fan of your family's work,

"such that it is." SAM: Thank you so much.

See, our name carries great honor

and weight around here.

BRENNAN: "Your name?

"What's your name, friend?"

LAURA: The fuck are you doing? TRAVIS: (laughs)

WHITNEY: Can I just say,

so hungry. TRAVIS: Stab him in the throat.

BRENNAN: "I'm starving!" WHITNEY: Would you like

some fruit leather? BRENNAN: "I'd love some."

WHITNEY: You said that you helped yourself to some of the items.

Whip some of that delicious-looking

fruit leather out. My guy.

BRENNAN: "Thank you, my dear."

WHITNEY: You said that you're a fan of the Candescent Creed?

BRENNAN: "May the Light do as he said."

WHITNEY: Yeah, I agree, I'm an Aspirant also,

so same wavelength.

(wheezes) BRENNAN: "Lovely.

"So you're a devotee?"

WHITNEY: I am. BRENNAN: "Is that made

"challenging vis-a-vis--"

WHITNEY: Oh, my being a demon? BRENNAN: "Yeah."

WHITNEY: No, it's super easy actually.

This guy, he's helping me out so good.

BRENNAN: "Incredible." WHITNEY: And may the Beam reach you.

And I feel-- BRENNAN: "And you're Mr. Candescent?"

SAM: I'm... Nick

Halovar. WHITNEY: He's Nick.

BRENNAN: He says, "Nick Halovar?

"You're a member of the Halovar Family?"

SAM: Fuck. TRAVIS: Wow.

SAM: Yes. BRENNAN: Schmon Rockefeller.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: Also give me a deception. TRAVIS: Schmon Rockefeller. (laughs)

SAM: Natural 20.

BRENNAN: Hey! ROBBIE: Whoa!

BRENNAN: So he says, "Nicholas Halovar."

SAM: That's me.

BRENNAN: "Splendid." SAM: Yes.

BRENNAN: "Well,

"it's a pleasure.

"May I ask why you're depositing such fine steeds

"here at the Black Heron?

SAM: We're going on a little bit of a journey

with my friends here into the wilderness.

In that way,

we're going that way. ROBBIE: Shut the fuck up!

LAURA: Stop, you're not. WHITNEY: No, I'm so sorry.

We're friends with Thimble.

She is escorting us.

LAURA: We're going on an adventure.

WHITNEY: And we're going on an adventure.

SAM: That's what I was saying.

WHITNEY: We're here doing R&D, basically,

to spread the word

and just I'm so glad that you already

have found the Beam.

Thimble's showing us around because--

ROBBIE: Truffle hunting.

WHITNEY: How? ROBBIE: We're going truffle hunting

in the woods. WHITNEY: Well, who doesn't love

truffles? BRENNAN: "You and Nick Halovar

"with Thimble are going truffle hunting

"in the Dahapshanee Wood."

WHITNEY: It's part of the itinerary.

BRENNAN: "Splendid." LAURA: How much do I trust Abs?

BRENNAN: Give me an insight check.

ROBBIE: Fucking zero!

LAURA: I mean, maybe we worked together.

ROBBIE: Ah!

LAURA: What was that? TRAVIS: Boy.

LAURA: Nope. God, I roll like fucking shit!

What is this? An insight?

BRENNAN: Insight. LAURA: 10!

BRENNAN: I mean,

you don't know this guy

that well. LAURA: I don't, really.

TRAVIS: Yeah. LAURA: Yeah, truffle hunting

is going to be swell. BRENNAN: "Splendid."

LAURA: How long you going to be in here for?

BRENNAN: "Well,

"I've been told that I'm to remain in this gibbet

"until I am in the same condition as my silent friend."

And he gestures to the skeleton next to him.

TRAVIS: That's a long time. LAURA: You want help getting out?

BRENNAN: "I would be delighted for help getting out."

LAURA: Can I look at the lock?

BRENNAN: You take one look at it. Yes, absolutely.

It is extremely--

The whole thing that makes it impossible to pick

is that it's 15 feet in the air,

and he doesn't have any tools.

ROBBIE: Who are the cops around here?

What are the enforcers that would've put him in this gibbet?

BRENNAN: Well, it sounds like this guy got grabbed

by the Halovars themselves.

It sounds like the same shit that's happening everywhere.

ROBBIE: Okay. BRENNAN: He looks around

and says,

"We knocked over that caravan

"the night after we heard that they had grabbed Thjazi.

"If you're out here, I have to assume

"that he's made his way out from the jail.

"I'm very sorry.

"There is very little warmth

"or comfort amongst thieves,

"but

"such that it was, it was always a pleasure

"to do business with Mr. Fang."

LAURA: Yeah.

BRENNAN: "I would love to be sprung from here."

ROBBIE: From this guy's position,

elevated at these crossroads,

does it look like he has a view of the forest inn

and the King's Highway?

I mean, if he's awake and he's checking shit out,

does it look like he sees things?

BRENNAN: All he would have to do is sit here and watch.

You can see. ROBBIE: Yeah.

BRENNAN: As charming and glib as he is being,

you can see the beginnings

of a swelling in his legs

from where they press into the iron bars.

LAURA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Yeah, he's motivated. LAURA: Yeah, look.

Just to be sure.

I'll get you out of here.

You see anyone, we went that way, yeah?

BRENNAN: And he nods and says,

"All I know is that Nick Halovar

"and his companions had to go find some truffles.

"And I'll say this as well.

"If you give me a running

"or, as the case may be, a hobbling head start,

"I actually won't see which way you go."

LAURA: I'm going to try to get him out.

BRENNAN: Go ahead and give me a thieves' tools

check. LAURA: All right, I wiggle

into the lock, and look around, and see

the little things I can-- BRENNAN: As we see Thimble

doing that, Kat and I will sort of involuntarily

spread out in opposite directions to create

a scanning perimeter. BRENNAN: Okay.

ROBBIE: For sure. TRAVIS: Yeah.

LAURA: What do I do here? I mean, to pick a lock?

BRENNAN: You can give me a sleight of hand

for this one as well. LAURA: Sleight of hand?

BRENNAN: Yeah. LAURA: Okay.

21.

BRENNAN: Thimble.

Removing a set, which for you,

are almost like small staves.

They're strapped across your back almost like camping gear.

You (whooshing) whip out these prongs and--

LAURA: I'm in the lock. BRENNAN: Yeah.

You get your hands in there

and (popping) pry it open,

and you hear a kachunk as this thick, heavy hanging lock

(thump) just falls limp

and partially open, hanging by its hook

that is now separated from the rest of the lock.

LAURA: (wings flapping)

You hear my wings. WHITNEY: That was sick.

BRENNAN: Abalang reaches a hand through,

pulls the undone lock out of the little clasp,

moves the door open,

and falls forward, badly hurting his--

You can see his legs are fully numb.

He's lost sensation in his legs.

Falls, he is going to take two points

of falling damage (thump) as he hits the ground. "(groans)"

You see the door opens as an older orcish woman

in a bonnet and a nightgown opens the door,

having responded to him waking up the inn

and goes, "Good morning, is it? Never mind."

And she just closes the door and goes back inside.

Abalang's just sitting on his ass on the ground. "(groans)"

LAURA: Abs.

BRENNAN: "Yeah." LAURA: See my buddy over here?

BRENNAN: "Mm-hmm." LAURA: Did you see anyone

that looked like him while you were hanging?

BRENNAN: Call odds or evens?

LAURA: Evens.

BRENNAN: Five.

See, he looks at you, and he goes,

"Looks like him?

"Can't say as I did, no."

LAURA: All right. BRENNAN: "Why?"

LAURA: No reason.

BRENNAN: He turns around, says,

"Can I ask who are you looking for?"

LAURA: People who betrayed Thaz.

BRENNAN: He turns around and says,

"I didn't see

"any lion folk coming through this way,

"but I did see a number of carriages

"head up the King's Highway.

"They were moving with some mounted guards

"that bore the symbol of House Tachonis.

"And there were some riding in the driver's seat

"of the carriages that wore

"crow feathers in their cloaks."

LAURA: (huffs)

BRENNAN: "They tarried, the reason I remember them

"is they tarried here a long time.

"I can't be quite certain.

"It seemed as though," he shrugs.

"It seems as though they were confused

"about where to go."

LAURA: Got it.

WHITNEY: Abalang, can I ask something of you?

BRENNAN: "Of course, you've given me fruit leather."

WHITNEY: It's good, it's good. BRENNAN: "It is, it's delicious."

WHITNEY: If you happen to see any representative

of the Candescent Creed, will you make sure

that they know that it was

Nicander Halovar that put you in there

and be very unclear as to who got you out?

BRENNAN: "If I'm detained by a member of the Candescent Creed,

"I'm to tell them that it was under the order

"of Nicander Halovar?

WHITNEY: Yes.

BRENNAN: "That I was placed under arrest

"and leave ambiguous

"how I was freed from my

"position here? WHITNEY: Yes.

TRAVIS: And as he's rattling off that story,

an ominous lionfolk shadow

sort of appears over his shoulder

and puts a hand on it,

and a warm light

comes out from under it.

And I'll use Lay on Hands to put five hit points,

hopefully, down into his

seized-up leg.

And I'll put a gold coin in his pocket.

BRENNAN: Feeling his legs returned to him,

give me persuasion with advantage.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

ROBBIE: While she's rolling, Kattigan leans up at Teor

and says: You changed,

in the old days-- WHITNEY: Ooh, nat 20.

ROBBIE: -- you were-- BRENNAN: Nat 20?

ROBBIE: What? WHITNEY: 16.

ROBBIE: 20. SAM: Nat 20.

ROBBIE: (laughs)

That's all you need. WHITNEY: Yeah, baby.

TRAVIS: And then I take the gold coin back.

TRAVIS: (snapping neck) (laughter)

TRAVIS: You're right there, I forgot myself, yeah.

BRENNAN: He, on a nat 20 persuasion,

you heal and give him that gold coin.

You look, and he says,

"I hope never to be taken into the custody

"of the Candescent Creed again,

"but in my line of work, certain risks must be undertaken.

"I shall make certain

"that any mention

"of Lord Nicander

"or other Halovars

"are concurrent with the fact that

"they have only ever acted in the height

"of their family's propriety.

"No one

"doing anything untoward at all."

WHITNEY: Thank you for understanding.

And I smack Wick right on the ass

to get him to stand up straight.

We have a very strict disciplinarian here,

and that's all of our understanding.

BRENNAN: He smiles and nods.

He looks out, and you see on that nat 20,

he smiles, looking at all of you,

and you can see it just--

You freed him, you've healed him,

you've given him a gold coin.

This is a banner morning.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Beats some breadcrumb.

(laughs) ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SAM: Should we invite him along with us?

LAURA: No. WHITNEY: No, baby.

BRENNAN: Abalang looks at you and goes and just says,

"If you are--"

He says, "If you are headed up the King's Highway,

"then"

he says, "If you are to head up the King's Highway,

"you can use my name at the Fiddle and Drum.

"I don't know if that's where you're headed,

"but they'll give you a place to stay

"for a night if you're in need of rest."

WHITNEY: Somebody write that down.

BRENNAN: And he says, "And if you are headed elsewhere

"into the wilderness for truffle hunting

"up on the ridge on the other side of Dahapshanee,

"you may notice a small dwelling place,

"an observatory or a lookout tower.

"The gentleman who lives there,

"Ulbid,

"is a friend who I have

"imposed on some time. He's a bit of an eccentric.

"He is an arcanist,

"and he studies the weather

"and other things like that.

"But he has a small, very remote dwelling place

"if you need a friendly place to rest."

He looks around at some degree of haggardness

amongst the group here and says, "Which you may."

But

he says,

"am always made more comfortable

"to be in the company of liars."

He nods his head

and turns around and says,

"By the way, these horses,

"they're for anybody?"

SAM: Sure, we're not using them. BRENNAN: "Very well."

He unties them quickly gets on one, "Farewell!"

and rides off. (laughter)

WHITNEY: May the Beam reach you.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: And takes off four horses richer.

His day really turned around.

ROBBIE: Great day for that guy.

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Pays to know Thimble.

(laughter) WHITNEY: True.

BRENNAN: Great! And also on that nat 20,

you guys actually have a little bit more than

you have information about

at least what was happening with Casimir,

and a little bit of something up your sleeve

for both of the directions you were considering.

The sun is rising, however, and there is a broken lock

and an unsprung gibbet here.

LAURA: We should get out of here. SAM: Sure. Oh, yes.

Which way are we going?

LAURA: To fucking-- WHITNEY: To Dahapshanee or Abalang?

Okay, let's go, let's go.

ROBBIE: Was your brother a woodsman?

TRAVIS: Yes, more than a street traveler,

and he would know better.

LAURA: Were we aware, had we pieced it together

that the Tachonis were working with the Crows?

BRENNAN: I don't think you had.

I mean, or not.

Yeah, I don't think you had, at this point.

You knew that someone had, like you knew that

there's no way someone could've given

a crook like Casimir Gavendale the deed to a strong home.

LAURA: We knew he was selling it to someone,

but we didn't know who it was to.

BRENNAN: Didn't know who it was.

Who has the ability to give a street criminal

from Dol-Makjar land and title somewhere like it's candy?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

BRENNAN: Just for sabotaging Thjazi's escape.

LAURA: Fuck.

We left Occtis.

He's going to be in danger.

SAM: I'm sure Hal will take care of him.

Hal knows people, right?

LAURA: Yeah.

Yeah. I sent him off with Julien.

ROBBIE: He's young, but capable.

LAURA: He can take care of himself, right?

ROBBIE: You have to.

LAURA: We got to go after Cyd.

SAM: Can I just say, that was great back there.

We were just bouncing off each.

LAURA: You were horrible.

WHITNEY: You did so great. LAURA: You were

I've ever seen. ROBBIE: One of the worst

I've ever seen. WHITNEY: You did so good.

ROBBIE: You changed one letter in here.

WHITNEY: Can I just have a little--

LAURA: Walk and talk.

We're walking and talking. WHITNEY: We're walking and talking.

BRENNAN: So you guys are headed for the woods, right?

You're headed for the wildness? ROBBIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

BRENNAN: Great.

You head off, Wulfic bounding and leaping,

and as you do,

as you begin to head towards the wood,

the day becomes a little bit brighter

as you get farther away from the storm,

arriving out into the wilderness.

I'd love a, just for staying on track,

I'd love another survival check.

We can do the same roll we did before.

LAURA: You can Guide yourself. TRAVIS: You going to shit the bed

this time, Robbie? ROBBIE: I'm cursed this

whole campaign. LAURA: Or you can Guide me.

ROBBIE: What? Yeah.

LAURA: But we should definitely both roll.

ROBBIE: Correct. LAURA: This is a group check.

ROBBIE: Yeah, uh-huh, but I'm going to Guide you.

WHITNEY: (laughs)

TRAVIS: She's been rolling really well.

LAURA: I know, I know, just super great.

(laughs) What'd you roll?

Tell me you rolled better. TRAVIS: It's almost like history.

ROBBIE: A man of the woods.

10! LAURA: Well, you rolled

better than me. TRAVIS: Hold on. I just want to see.

BRENNAN: Are you remembering that Wulfic is helping you?

ROBBIE: Oh, I get the advantage. LAURA: You get advantage.

ROBBIE: Oh my god, I'm not remembering.

Slightly better, 15.

BRENNAN: 15. Okay. 15 keeps your bearings.

You are traveling, you are--

LAURA: I'm grieving.

BRENNAN: You are traveling through the woods.

The day gets brighter.

As you get further away from the storms traveling along.

Heading through the Dahapshanee Wood,

there's still, you know, there's still a lot of mist

hanging in the air, the sunlight comes up.

And on that 15, as you guys are traveling through,

let me ask, if you are A, you're traveling pace,

if you are traveling fast at a normal speed, or slow.

You'll obviously cover more ground the faster you go,

but you start to accumulate disadvantages,

such as disadvantage on survival checks,

disadvantages on things like stealth checks,

and also are you covering your tracks as you go?

Are you anything like that as you are traveling?

What sort of pains are you taking?

TRAVIS: I would say one thing that at least

Cyd would be wise enough to keep

somewhat of a visual distance

with the road from the cover of the foliage

so that if you hear something you can stop, cover, retreat,

attack, whatever you need to do.

So I would be looking for signs of Cyd as we move

and I think Kat would be--

ROBBIE: Well, we also have the assumption now

that he's not being directly pursued,

so maybe time is not quite as urgent

if there's separation so I would say medium pace

and cover our tracks the best we can.

TRAVIS: Yep. ROBBIE: Yeah.

BRENNAN: Great. TRAVIS: I could do that from the rear

if you're at the front. ROBBIE: Yeah. For sure.

SAM: Let me just say I'll throw it out there.

If we wanted to keep a faster pace,

I have means of blessing our, blessing us in making us--

TRAVIS: Means such as?

SAM: Well, faith imbues me with powers

and I can pass them along to you.

ROBBIE: What powers? What powers? TRAVIS: Yeah.

SAM: Just a little boost here and there, that's all.

But, but I trust you, you are definitely

the more survivalist, rugged types.

WHITNEY: Let's just gloss over the part

where he still thinks that it is his faith

that is giving him powers.

Do we need to move faster?

And I'm swishing, I'm swishing my tail as I walk behind.

SAM: Like cover our tracks or just for--

LAURA: Are you in the back? Swishing our--

WHITNEY: I mean, we're only as fast as our slowest person.

SAM: Who's that? LAURA: (laughs)

TRAVIS: I don't-- WHITNEY: It's me.

TRAVIS: How many days' head start do they have?

Do we know?

BRENNAN: You guys, they left the day before you,

about one day's head start, yeah.

TRAVIS: First 48, we could try it. ROBBIE: Yeah, a lot of ground a day.

Do her tail swishes look like they're covering anything

or do they look like tail swishes?

LAURA: They're leaving tail swishes behind.

ROBBIE: I have to be honest.

BRENNAN: I'm going to need a group stealth check

moving at a normal pace.

ROBBIE: Okay. BRENNAN: All of you will be rolling

with disadvantage on stealth. LAURA: Disadvantage.

ROBBIE: I don't like these die. TRAVIS: Normal stealth.

BRENNAN: Normal stealth, disadvantage.

SAM: I'm going to get rid of my disadvantage.

BRENNAN: Lovely. WHITNEY: Oh.

BRENNAN: Lovely. LAURA: Nice.

BRENNAN: What do we get for stealth here?

SAM: 11. BRENNAN: 11.

WHITNEY: Five. BRENNAN: Five.

ROBBIE: 21. BRENNAN: 21.

ROBBIE: At disadvantage.

BRENNAN: 11, 21. LAURA: 15.

BRENNAN: Okay, 21, 15.

TRAVIS: Dirty 20 and natural 20.

SAM: Ooh. ROBBIE: Baybee.

BRENNAN: 20, 21 and 15.

That means actually your median roll is a 15,

so I will say with the tail sweeping and all of that,

it is actually, we got pretty low rolls over here,

so I think the two Candescents--

TRAVIS: Are being sandwiched by.

BRENNAN: In other words, its like--

LAURA: White and bright blue.

BRENNAN: You're looking at the tail sweeping

and you're like, "So you've disguised footprints

"with a broad sweeping motion going straight into the woods."

TRAVIS: Kattigan's moving, not touching leaves,

perspiration undisturbed, blending into foliage,

and then it's just (violent swooshing).

WHITNEY: Could be some type of animal

that leaves that kind of track.

TRAVIS: Thimble's flying like. BRENNAN: This guy literally glows.

It's tough, but I think as you guys are traveling,

it's really that the three of you

bring yourselves to areas that

won't slow your travel too much

and will be impossible to leave tracks on.

If you're traveling on smooth rock,

if you're traveling on boulders and stuff like that,

you're going to leave less tracks

than if you're traveling on soft earth,

disturbing foliage, anything like that.

So peeling off through the wilderness as fast as you can,

you keep your Guidance and I will ask for,

we'll see if we get lucky here.

Give me one more survivalism check

in this first day of travel.

TRAVIS: Y'all want to opt out this one?

Just to like, you know?

LAURA: No, I'm going to try.

What difference does it make?

I can at least try to be good. TRAVIS: Maybe success

versus failure. BRENNAN: One more survival.

It's picking up Casimir's tracks,

if they even exist here, would be finding tracks

in the middle of the woods that you've stone cold lost

is another DC 25, so it's next to impossible,

but it's a free roll.

LAURA: Oh, Guide me.

ROBBIE: What? (laughter)

BRENNAN: Guide me, you have to Guide me.

TRAVIS: Is that how it works? ROBBIE: I'm Guiding myself.

BRENNAN: I'm Guiding myself.

LAURA: I could have got it, I could have got up there.

ROBBIE: Oh.

14, 16.

SAM: With the help?

LAURA: Did you Guide yourself?

ROBBIE: I did not use help. 16, it's 20.

LAURA: Oh, wait, I'm going to--

Okay, okay. ROBBIE: I did Guide myself.

It's 20, 15.

That's actually 21, but it's impossible.

LAURA: Okay, wait, no, no, no! Okay, wait, here's the thing.

I rolled 23 and I have a bardic inspiration

that I haven't used yet-- SAM: Oh.

BRENNAN: Okay. LAURA: -- from Hal.

SAM: It's true. BRENNAN: Okay.

WHITNEY: Yeah.

LAURA: What number? Is that a six or an eight?

BRENNAN: Is that a six or an eight?

That is, from Hal, I believe it's a d6.

LAURA: Was it? BRENNAN: So it's a d6.

So you have a 23?

ROBBIE: You're going to get it anyway, I think.

SAM: You might. BRENNAN: You can roll a one.

It would be a 24.

ROBBIE: Oh, right! LAURA: I'm rolling a six

or an eight? BRENNAN: Your six-sided die.

ROBBIE: All you got to do is not fuck it up completely.

LAURA: Just don't roll a one, right? If I don't roll a one.

BRENNAN: Just don't roll a one.

ROBBIE: The brain doesn't hear negatives.

Just say roll a four.

TRAVIS: Baba booey! Baba booey!

ROBBIE: You can do it. WHITNEY: Yeah.

ROBBIE: You're going to be so good.

LAURA: Three. I rolled a three!

BRENNAN: Three! TRAVIS and ROBBIE: Yay!

TRAVIS: You're redeemed.

(laughter)

SAM: She had faith.

ROBBIE: You're good at remembering stuff.

BRENNAN: Unbelievable.

You see--

On a 23 survival,

you are looking around all throughout.

LAURA: Wait, I rolled higher than a 23.

SAM: It's 26. LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

BRENNAN: 26! 26!

On a 26 survival--

On a 26 survival, I think that you, as you're traveling,

you're also feeding yourself off the land,

which for Kattigan, is an easy prospect

to keep you guys fed and watered.

It's just your first day of travel as well,

but you can feel, you're getting to the point

where it's going to be a level of exhaustion

if you don't find somewhere to rest.

On 23, I think, or 26,

you look down and see

that there are a small series

of cupped little clovers,

each clover with four leaves holding a little drop of dew,

and as you look down at this area,

you get a sudden sense that there is someone very close by

in the water, and on a 26 survival,

looking at the tall shapes all around you,

you see just under the surface of the water

is a fairy hiding absolutely stock-still

who makes eye contact with you on a 26

and goes, "Are you in danger?"

LAURA: Not right now. BRENNAN: "Okay."

You see that what you are looking at is a naiad,

a little water, she's a fairy.

Or, yes, also called a nixie sometimes.

It's a little spring or brook fairy.

She's probably about seven inches tall

so almost twice as tall as you,

but still quite tiny compared to everybody else,

and you see her standing in this little rainforesty brook.

It's wellspring of water coming up

and she's hiding just under where the burble

creates that, it's casting light in all directions

so it's a good hiding spot,

but you see she just looks terrified,

and you see, on that 26, she goes,

"Not twice in 24 hours. This is so crazy."

LAURA: Wait, who did you see?

BRENNAN: You see she looks around, sees you lean close,

and she looks up, almost not trusting, and reaches up

and grabs your wrists and pulls you in the water with her

and gets her mouth close to your face and goes

and covers your head in a little bubble under water.

"I'm Brookmeadow, are you in danger?

"Those tall people,

"I know trees here that will kill them."

SAM and WHITNEY: (laugh) LAURA: Great.

But I don't need them dead just yet.

No, they're actually friends.

I know, it's weird.

They're big people that are helping.

BRENNAN: "Okay, okay."

LAURA: You said 24 hours. Who did you see?

BRENNAN: You see she looks up at Teor and says, "A lion."

LAURA: Like him? BRENNAN: "Yeah.

"Came back in golden light last afternoon.

"He was struggling through the woods.

"He was headed north from here.

"Yes, tall, jet black fur, black mane, amber eyes."

LAURA: That's him. BRENNAN: "Yeah."

LAURA: Did he seem injured? BRENNAN: "What's that?"

LAURA: You said he was struggling. Did he seem hurt?

BRENNAN: "I couldn't tell. He looked frightened."

Okay.

I'll be right back.

BRENNAN: "Okay." LAURA: Stay here?

BRENNAN: She goes, "Are you going to tell them about me?"

She is making an insight check into you.

LAURA: I'm not going to tell them about you.

SAM: Oblivious to this,

I'm going to dip in a chalice into the water nearby. Nearby.

Just get a sip of water for myself.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: Yummy angel blood.

WHITNEY: That's going to make you feel so good.

SAM: Oh, it's hot. WHITNEY: Yeah, it's hot.

ROBBIE: (laughs)

TRAVIS: Have you been carrying that this whole time?

SAM: I packed it for the road, yes.

BRENNAN: You see that she looks up and says,

"Okay. Okay, I trust you."

LAURA: I'm Thimble.

BRENNAN: "I'm Brookmeadow." LAURA: Hi.

BRENNAN: "Hi.

"Are you looking for Hawthorn's Glade or no?"

LAURA: No, but what it-- No.

Where's Hawthorn's Glade?

BRENNAN: "Doesn't--" LAURA: Yeah, I'm looking for it.

I mean, I'm looking for it.

BRENNAN: "I didn't even mention it."

(laughter)

LAURA: I mean, I'm looking,

I've been looking for it for it for a while.

BRENNAN: Give me deception.

(laughter)

WHITNEY: Hawthorn's what?

LAURA: Natural 20! BRENNAN: Natural 20!

(cheering)

(laughter) TRAVIS: There it is.

BRENNAN: She says,

"Okay, you are looking for Hawthorn's Glade."

LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. BRENNAN: "But you can't bring

"big people there." LAURA: Oh, I'm not going to.

BRENNAN: "Okay." LAURA: I'm going to ditch them.

BRENNAN: "Ditch them, good. I hate them."

LAURA: Yeah.

BRENNAN: You see, she goes,

"Okay. You're on the right track.

"It's deep in the forest.

"It's about another day.

"It's like another day or two north of here

"and it's at the very edge, it's deep in the woods

"before the imaginary line."

LAURA: Do I have any idea what she's talking about?

BRENNAN: "You know, big people,

"they look at a forest and they're like,

"'There's an imaginary line through there.'"

LAURA: Yeah, of course I know.

BRENNAN: "Yeah." LAURA: Yeah, yeah.

BRENNAN: "So it like that, it's around there."

LAURA: Okay. BRENNAN: "It's safe

"because they don't do that."

LAURA: Nobody goes by the imaginary. ROBBIE: Wulfic starts sniffing

around at all the little petals,

like over them in the near vicinity.

BRENNAN: Brookmeadow goes-- SAM: Oh, come here, come here.

BRENNAN: You see she goes, "Yeah, I saw him.

"He came through here."

LAURA: Okay, great. Do you need anything?

BRENNAN: "No, I'm good.

"I'm stationed here for a little while longer

"for people like you."

LAURA: Thank you.

BRENNAN: "You got it? It'll be safe there just--

"The magic around it is strong, but they can't get in,

"but they know something's there

"so just be really careful." LAURA: Okay.

BRENNAN: "Because there are dead things in the woods.

"Just try to get somewhere safe before night."

LAURA: How far away is the ridge? Do you know?

There's like a lookout tower, a little--

BRENNAN: "Oh, but it's a big person up there."

LAURA: Yeah. Do you know how far away that is?

BRENNAN: "Only a few hours.

"And you'd get there faster if you ditch them."

LAURA: Okay, great.

BRENNAN: "Great. Be safe."

LAURA: You too.

BRENNAN: "And let anyone else know that there's safety."

LAURA: Oh, I'm going to look and see.

I pull out a button.

BRENNAN: "(sobbing)" She starts crying.

"Is this for me?" LAURA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

BRENNAN: "Oh, it's wonderful."

LAURA: Yeah. You're welcome.

BRENNAN: "You could use it like a plate

"and then the holes could be where sauce comes out."

LAURA: It could be a hat.

BRENNAN: "It could be a hat."

You see she grabs your hands and goes,

"We're going to make it." LAURA: We're going to make it.

BRENNAN: And she smiles and goes back down into the well

and leaves you to emerge.

WHITNEY: I wish I had heard that cute-ass exchange

but instead I'm just telling Halovar:

Hey, I would never ask you,

Your Radiance,

to compromise your beliefs or to tell a lie.

I know that you don't do that.

SAM: I really can't.

WHITNEY: Can I say as a demon, I can impart a little wisdom

and I can field these questions for you.

What I need you to do, if you're okay with it,

and really this is your idea,

do you remember your friend Hal?

SAM: Yes, of course. WHITNEY: Gifted actor.

SAM: Yes, he trained me.

WHITNEY: You are playing a part

of a very strict authoritarian--

SAM: Okay. WHITNEY: -- that is going around

and acting on behalf of your family.

SAM: All right.

WHITNEY: That's what you're doing.

SAM: All right, so I am a Halovar.

WHITNEY: Mm-hmm. SAM: I'm just out for blood.

WHITNEY: No, no, no, no, no. SAM: Out for punishment.

Out to track down the ones who--

WHITNEY: You are doing exactly what

your family is asking of you,

which is to spread the good word

and if you have to protect yourself along the way

from people who work against the Candescent Creed,

then you are doing that.

That's the part.

SAM: All right. WHITNEY: You don't need to lie

and you don't need to do anything

you don't want to do. SAM: It's a performance.

WHITNEY: It's a performance. What happened in there?

Where did you go?

LAURA: Underwater.

WHITNEY: Oh.

SAM: Do you do that?

LAURA: I found some fur.

TRAVIS: Some fur?

LAURA: Yeah, some black fur. Cyd's.

TRAVIS: Oh! LAURA: He was going this way.

It was stressed fur, though.

It seemed like he might've been stressed.

TRAVIS: The fur was stressed? LAURA: Yeah, yeah.

TRAVIS: Did you have it?

LAURA: Oh, it was waterlogged.

TRAVIS: You left it under the water?

LAURA: Yeah.

But it was stressed and it was heading north.

TRAVIS: I just kind of share a glance. Kat.

BRENNAN: You want to give me insight and deception?

We can make it mechanical if we want.

WHITNEY: (laughs)

ROBBIE: Do I hear any of this?

TRAVIS: Sure, yeah.

LAURA: Listen, guys. (laughs) 16.

BRENNAN: 16.

ROBBIE: Can we double roll against?

BRENNAN: Yeah. (laughter)

ROBBIE: Sounds like bullshit.

I would've seen a chunk of black fur. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

BRENNAN: What'd you get for insight?

TRAVIS: 17. BRENNAN: 17.

ROBBIE: You're fine. BRENNAN: Great.

So Teor-- LAURA: You believe the shit out of me.

ROBBIE: I do. BRENNAN: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Stressed fur.

LAURA: Yeah, yeah. I can tell when you're stressed.

TRAVIS: Yeah. Mm?

What does my fur look like when it is stressed?

LAURA: Extra-- You can't tell because

you're not as close to it as I am.

It's so big.

TRAVIS: You're closer to my fur than I am?

LAURA: Yeah, I can see it better.

You smell stronger from my angle, too.

TRAVIS: Now you're getting personal.

Well, we should definitely go in the direction of the fur--

LAURA: Yeah. TRAVIS: -- that was stressed.

LAURA: Yeah. TRAVIS: Thank you for this.

LAURA: You're welcome.

TRAVIS: And please thank whoever.

LAURA: Also the fur told me that lookout tower is only

a few hours away.

SAM: You got that from fur?

LAURA: I'm really talented.

SAM: Wow. WHITNEY: She's really talented.

TRAVIS: Thimble is full of surprises.

SAM: I guess so. LAURA: Mm-hmm.

TRAVIS: Well, let's go. LAURA: Yeah.

Would I have known Hawthorn's Glade?

Is that in the same direction that we're heading right now?

BRENNAN: Yeah. LAURA: Okay.

BRENNAN: Yeah, she pointed north

heading in the same direction. LAURA: All right.

BRENNAN: As you guys strike out further into the woods,

so with the confirmation that Cyd did come through here,

you're on the track for at least

one of the people that you're pursuing.

You continue on.

So the question is,

do you strike out for Hawthorn's Glade

or do you make for this lookout post on the ridge?

The border of Timmony is about 50 miles away

and you can travel, going at the pace that you're going.

Normally, a person would be crawling through these woods,

but with Kattigan, you're able to keep up at top speed.

So you can travel about 24 miles.

TRAVIS: Yeah, dawg, nice. Let's go, baby.

BRENNAN: Woo. ROBBIE: I'm from the woods.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: What we'd assume any opening or safe space

that the Glade would be a place where we could rest?

BRENNAN: Yeah, I think the issue with the Glade is

you don't know exactly where it is.

LAURA: And non-fairy folk are allowed in?

SAM: She said no, right? TRAVIS: She said it was safe.

BRENNAN: She said it was safe.

TRAVIS: Which is a big-ass no.

LAURA: Yeah, I don't think big people are allowed there.

TRAVIS: No. ROBBIE: The fur didn't

tell us that, though, right?

TRAVIS: Also have you heard of Brookmeadow before?

LAURA: Brook? BRENNAN: Meadow, the little fairy,

the little nixie. LAURA: Oh, Brookmeadow?

TRAVIS: Oh, that was the name. I'm so sorry.

LAURA: That was her name. SAM: Hawthorn's Glade.

TRAVIS: Hawthorn's Glade, yeah, sorry. My notes are ass.

LAURA: Have I heard of Hawthorn's Glade?

BRENNAN: Yeah, give me an arcana check

or actually give me history or investigation,

whichever one you prefer.

TRAVIS: Yeah, has news of it made it

to your ears in the city? LAURA: ♪ Doot doot doo ♪

21.

BRENNAN: You have heard of Hawthorn's Glade.

Hawthorn's Glade is a name that you've heard referred to.

You didn't know it was a specific place

because there's people that talk about different rumors

of it being in different places.

Maybe that's one of the defenses of it

is that people say it's in different directions.

But you know that Hawthorn's Glade is of a type of place

that is really wonderfully and tragically common

which is after the doors of Faerie closed,

a lot of fairies had to find places to be safe.

So you would imagine that Hawthorn's Glade

deep in a rainforest like this far away from a road,

far away from anything else is probably a place

where fairies are being told to gather to stay safe.

And of course, you can stay safe from big folk,

but you also understand that there's a bit of a--

The issue with that is big folk are dangerous,

but also big folk

do what they need to do to repel the undead.

So you're picking your poison in a way,

and going, "Do we go to the wilderness

"where we're not near civilization,

"but then do we contend with

"what the struggles there might be?"

LAURA: Right. TRAVIS: It's the Great Valley.

BRENNAN: (laughs)

So Hawthorn's Glade,

you don't know exactly where it is.

But you would know that it is--

It's unclear whether if you bring big folk there

you don't think it's going to be something

as severe as kill-on-sight, you know what I mean?

It's not going to be like, "Big folk! (screams)"

It will be maybe something that gets you in a lot of trouble

you know what I mean, it could be something like that.

But the question is

do you gun it for that place that you know will have

probably a lot of relative safety and information

that was in the direction Cyd was going in?

Or do you take this detour to this lookout tower,

which is definitely within striking distance and

has the capability for rest, but it's off your path.

LAURA: What do you guys think?

WHITNEY: How long is a short rest?

LAURA and BRENNAN: An hour. WHITNEY: Is it like a disco nap?

Like a 30-minute snooze?

LAURA and BRENNAN: It's an hour. WHITNEY: An hour?

Can we take a little--

LAURA: The lookout tower's only a few hours away.

WHITNEY: Okay, I'm just so cranky.

SAM: Oh, you won't like her when she's cranky.

WHITNEY: No, we'll go. Go.

TRAVIS: We could certainly go to the tower and rest

but if this place is a resource for you,

or perhaps for us in a time of need,

that would be good to cement.

LAURA: I've been living among the big folk for a long time.

ROBBIE: This one's your call.

LAURA: Well fu-- (huffs and sputters)

I don't know where it is exactly.

We could be wandering around.

TRAVIS: To the tower, then.

Rest will do wonders for our minds

as well as our hearts.

ROBBIE: Makes the most sense. WHITNEY: Yeah.

We got an expert of the woods here.

You can get us there, right?

ROBBIE: Hmm? WHITNEY: And your dog?

ROBBIE: No. WHITNEY: You can do it.

TRAVIS: Huh? ROBBIE: Absolutely.

WHITNEY: Yeah. I believe him.

TRAVIS: The ridge.

LAURA: Okay.

BRENNAN: You make your way for the ridge.

Go ahead and give me one last survival check

to make our way in our next stage there.

Just a DC 15.

ROBBIE: (grunts)

19.

BRENNAN: Lovely.

LAURA: 24. ROBBIE: Fantastic.

TRAVIS: After all, we might be running from the ridge.

LAURA: 24. TRAVIS: We don't know.

This could be a big fucking trap.

BRENNAN: Lovely.

Pulling up, you travel through the rainforest.

I think you found signs that Cyd is traveling here.

You talked to Abalang, you got this byword of

a place that you can go for some safety and some rest.

All of a sudden, I think after the horrors,

everything that happened in Dol-Makjar,

there's a certain degree of,

oh, you get off of the vortices of power

and all of a sudden, you're finding

regular people who are just trying to live a life

and are probably helpful and good.

And you are moving through this space

through the rainforest.

It's beautiful here.

Stretching up on a limb up above you,

you see there's some striped forest cat

that yawns and spreads a pair of feathered wings

off its back (whooshing) flies off into the forest.

WHITNEY: Do you know him?

TRAVIS: No, we don't. WHITNEY: I'm sorry.

TRAVIS: We don't all know each other.

WHITNEY: Okay, I'm so sorry. I just want him to like me.

SAM: I also wondered the same thing.

BRENNAN: You see there are vines with these hanging,

beautiful, yellow flowers, that J, the vine hangs down

and the flowers curl back up and around

and catch rainwater in them.

You can see that there are small hummingbirds,

iridescent colors that are bathing in the flowers.

And as you begin to move up, you get higher

from this saddle the rainforest is in,

getting back up in altitude.

Honestly, you cover 80% of the distance in 90 minutes

and the next three hours of your trip are just

getting up the ridge, getting away out.

Wick, I'm going to need you to give me a constitution--

Actually, we need everybody here to

give me a constitution saving throw.

TRAVIS: Oh boy. BRENNAN: Difficulty is 10.

ROBBIE: Con save.

WHITNEY: 18. SAM: 17.

BRENNAN: 17, great. 18, lovely.

ROBBIE: Con save. 15.

BRENNAN: 15, great. LAURA: 17.

BRENNAN: 17. TRAVIS: 10 on the dot.

BRENNAN: 10 on the dot. ALL: Woo!

BRENNAN: Nobody takes a level of exhaustion.

You guys have all been here before.

Give me one more with disadvantage

for your slippers.

(laughter)

SAM: Natural 20.

(clamoring)

TRAVIS: He wears them well. BRENNAN: I did say it was

disadvantage, unfortunately.

ROBBIE: Aw, come on. Again.

SAM: 15. BRENNAN: 15.

Man, these slippers are out of control.

SAM: They're very finely made.

BRENNAN: Honestly-- TRAVIS: Gortex tread.

BRENNAN: You've been walking through so much moss in this

very wet rainforest that they're actually

cleaner than when they started.

You got off the muddy highway. They look phenomenal.

As you look up on the top of the ridge,

you begin to see this squat little structure.

You can see that it's very much made of stone,

which is pretty impressive,

but it's got a big, conical, thatched roof.

It looks very lopsided.

It's not an easy place to build.

So the effort that went into building it was not perfect

and has been this imperfect little hovel or hutch.

Coming out of the thraw of the thatched roof

is an enormous brass telescope

that is looking up towards the sky.

You see that there is a yard that has some

guinea fowl around it.

The guinea fowl are very stressfully just

pecking at seeds and some feed right around a cliff's edge

that just drops 85 feet straight down.

You see there's a goat tied up on a rope.

It's one of these things that you see very

hermit-y eccentric people that just have

so much stuff out in the yard.

It's like a cart and something's getting fixed,

and this is a shed, and I'm using the shed

to build this other shed.

That shed's not done yet. All of life--

WHITNEY: Scrap metal art. BRENNAN: Scrap metal art, yes.

You do see, actually turning as you approach,

that there is art that is around

or arcane sculpture almost.

And you guys look up and you see

that there is a banner, this beautiful banner

that is very tattered.

It looks like it's been up for a long, long time.

And it has these words in hand-painted block letters

that say something in Gnomish.

I don't know if anyone here speaks no Gnomish or not.

But you look up and see this beautiful colorful banner.

You see that there are small little wooden,

almost milk crates that are packed with straw

on either side of the door that have a number of

well-wrapped, these little conical things.

I'll need anyone here to give me a DC 10 arcana check

to see if they know what these are.

LAURA: 16. BRENNAN: 16?

Thimble, these are fireworks.

They're small, decorated.

They look almost like party poppers,

but they're gathered and clustered out here.

You see they look a little bit water damaged,

or other stuff like that,

hanging in these little milk crates.

As you approach, you see that one of the main goat

that's tied up turns to look at you.

Are you guys approaching stealthily or no?

TRAVIS: I think once we're within sight of it, yeah,

because it hackles up, right, just in case.

BRENNAN: Go ahead and give me a group stealth check.

WHITNEY: Oh my god.

SAM: Seven here. WHITNEY: Six.

ROBBIE: 10. BRENNAN: 10.

LAURA: Natural one. BRENNAN: Natural one.

TRAVIS: 12. BRENNAN: Okay.

As you all approach, you see that there is--

LAURA: Ooh, fireworks! (laughter)

BRENNAN: "Ooh, fireworks!"

You pass by something, Thimble.

Anyone who wants to give me a perception check.

Stealth check has failed for sure.

Give me a perception check. TRAVIS: For sure.

SAM: Pretty good, 16.

BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.

WHITNEY: 17. Why? What the fuck?

BRENNAN: As you pass by, on a 17 perception,

Tyranny, you suddenly smell something sizzling.

A boulder nearby you has wire tied around it.

It's very hard to notice things like this

because there's just so much junk everywhere.

Tied around a boulder is a piece of copper wire

that is affixing a cold iron nail to the back of a boulder

and you see that nail turns red hot,

and you see that the goat swivels around

to look right at you-- WHITNEY: (bleats)

BRENNAN: -- as you're pushing and goes...

(bleating) WHITNEY: (bleats)

BRENNAN: (bleating) WHITNEY: (bleating)

Something's happening.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: The goat turns to look at you.

LAURA: I'm going to fly straight up.

BRENNAN: You fly straight up.

The goat, on its rope,

and it's got about like a 20-, 25-foot length of rope.

It walks over to the side of the thatch roof of the cottage

and the cottage is totally circular.

Walks up, walks straight up the mortar wall,

magically, appears to have the ability

to walk up a vertical surface, gets up to the top

and you see it rears up and hits something under the straw

and you can hear a non-magical (horn blaring)

of some kind of horn attached to a bag in the roof

that it does as some kind of alarm.

WHITNEY: Uh-oh. BRENNAN: It goes

(horn blaring)

and you hear cling, bang, bang.

Chickens come out of the front door

as a much older gnomish man walks out,

deep brown skin,

eyebrows that look like hats made of fur, just huge.

TRAVIS: (laughs) BRENNAN: These fucking intense.

Adorable spherical nose, long, white mustache.

He comes out and goes, "Huh, well hello!

"Ah, travelers!

"Oh, I see you've triggered my alarm for demons."

WHITNEY: Oh! TRAVIS: Oh shit.

WHITNEY: I am so sorry.

BRENNAN: "That's quite all right.

"You don't seem to be killing me."

WHITNEY: No, no, not my intent at all.

Could, but won't. BRENNAN: "Why thank you."

WHITNEY: We are friends of Abalang.

BRENNAN: "Friends of Abalang Howl, well, that old scamp

"is responsible for all of this."

And he points to a couple of enormous barrels

of chicken feed.

You see that are like,

he's way the fuck out here in the boonies.

WHITNEY: Good man. BRENNAN: He says,

"I'm always happy to help him.

"It's always possible to take this little old telescope

"and peer on down to see what's going on

"on the highways and byways.

"Helpful for smugglers.

"I'm confessing to being a criminal.

"Why am I doing that?

"Welcome."

WHITNEY: (laughs)

TRAVIS: You're among like-minded people.

BRENNAN: "It's important to be honest,

"especially when you are engaged in crime."

SAM: It is important to be honest,

you're totally right. I feel the same way.

BRENNAN: "What may I call you, fine, sir?"

SAM: You may call me Wick Halovar.

I'm here on a mission from my family

and I'm doing nothing wrong. WHITNEY: Mm-hmm.

BRENNAN: "Splendid. Splendid." WHITNEY: (laughs)

BRENNAN: "And your name, madam?"

WHITNEY: Hi, my name is Tyranny.

I hold out a claw.

BRENNAN: "Enchanté." WHITNEY: Aw, thank you.

BRENNAN: He gives you a kiss on the hand.

"I'm Ulbid Morn and I'm a friend of Abalang's.

"Welcome.

"It's a good thing you got here.

"What time, it's getting to be afternoon.

"Not safe to be out in the forest

"when the sun goes down."

LAURA: Do you get a lot of-- SAM: He always knows,

Kat always knows the time.

ROBBIE: That's what they call me,

Mr. Time Guy. WHITNEY: Yeah.

BRENNAN: "They call you Mr. Time Guy?"

ROBBIE: They do not. LAURA: No, that's his name.

That's his name to all of us.

WHITNEY: Yeah.

ROBBIE: We don't know each other well--

TRAVIS: Just out of caution,

can I a palm a little thing on my belt

and use Channel Divinity just to put out a 60-foot vibe

of fey, celestial, undead

around me? BRENNAN: Yeah.

You get fiend off of Tyranny, you get fey off of Thimble,

and you do not receive anything undead.

You get a couple of pings off of magical items

and stuff that's around it.

It looks like the defenses this guy has set up--

TRAVIS: Nice. BRENNAN: -- in his own home,

but nothing else that that would worry

or concern you here.

He says, "Well, a friend of Abalang is a friend of mine.

"Lord knows I'd be high and dry without his help,

"so by all means, please.

"How do you know the Mr. Howell?"

LAURA: We freed him from a gibbet.

BRENNAN: (sighs)

(laughter)

TRAVIS: No, he didn't.

That old so-and-so.

Was up in a cage.

BRENNAN: "I'm very glad you did.

"Now he's enough of a fast talker

"that I wouldn't be surprised if he was able

"to last a couple months or years up there,

"but the legs would go eventually.

"Well, by all means, it's not three-star accommodations

"by any means, but I can--"

TRAVIS: We don't mean to be in imposition.

We simply need somewhere to rest before we're on our way.

LAURA: Safe from the undead.

BRENNAN: "Yes.

"All of the deadfall traps are reset,

"so anything that that would come up that was undead would,

"you know, we'd have a rock fall or something."

ROBBIE: You're never really safe from the undead!

And I'm half naked in the creek that runs by.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: Just like starting-- WHITNEY: Pissing.

ROBBIE: -- to wash, no wash,

like washing myself in the creek that feeds the land.

BRENNAN: You see he looks out and says,

"Ah, the bathing creek."

(laughter)

TRAVIS: That's our drinking water.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: I've got a cattail, scrubbing my ass. Yeah, yeah.

BRENNAN: You see he looks out and you see he says,

"Oh, you've brought a wolf with you."

ROBBIE: Oh, yeah, he's good.

He's currently chasing your grouse around,

but not in a murdery way.

Just in kind of a playful way.

BRENNAN: You see, he goes,

"Well, all right, be careful around those grouse.

"There's a false ledge on the other side of the cliff

"and they often evade predators by going there and

"falling over the edge and pow." ROBBIE: (whistles)

Wulferic runs right back to me, into the water.

TRAVIS: Pretty cool.

BRENNAN: "I'll put out some fresh straw for you all

"and your business is your own,

"but if there's any help I can be, feel free to ask."

You see he goes inside and says, "Everyone, come in.

"I'm sorry that it's not, well, my friend Thimble,

"you'll have an easy time in here.

"For everyone else,

"I'm afraid you'll have to stoop down a little bit."

You see he goes in, and indeed it's not like,

you know, it's a larger cottage for him,

but all of you still have to get all the way down

onto your knee to get through the door,

but within it's large enough

and the dome comes up that if you're not standing

next to the wall, you can actually stand up

at your full height inside.

You see that he puts out some straw and things like that.

You see it's all one big room.

There's a central pillar,

which is a small wooden spiral staircase,

which is just sort of planks spiraling up the pole

in the center that goes up to this platform

that you can see clearly has the observatory and stuff.

Down here, you see there's a bunch of beds

that are all made.

The beds are all too small for all of you,

but he puts out some straw on the floor

and he starts to get blankets and you see that he

goes over to get some actually big folk-sized blankets

from nearby and says, "Does porridge sound nice?

"It's most of what I have."

LAURA: Porridge is great.

WHITNEY: Sounds so nice, thank you.

SAM: Do you have anything--?

WHITNEY: No, that's so nice.

SAM: That's so nice, yes. WHITNEY: We love charity.

SAM: Thank you, we do. WHITNEY: We love charity.

TRAVIS: And only a few mouths.

We will stay outside and aid in the defense of your home

in any way that we can.

BRENNAN: "Oh, that's quite, that's very, very nice.

"I appreciate it."

SAM: Might I inquire, you said telescope.

Do you stare into the heavens with it?

BRENNAN: "I stare into the clouds with it.

"We are close enough to the Stormwrack

"that it's been challenging

"to get any good views of the stars,

"but we had a nice sunny day today, didn't we?

"It tends to pierce through the clouds, the sun does,

"but once it cools off,

"we tend to get a lot of fog and mist,

"but the clouds are actually what I'm studying."

SAM: Oh, how so?

BRENNAN: "I've been, I study the movements of the clouds

"and the weather to determine

"if the Barrowdell of the Stormwrack

"is diminishing, or remaining the same, or getting worse."

LAURA: And?

Cool.

BRENNAN: "It's getting worse.

"But that's only one man's opinion."

WHITNEY: Do you ever use your telescope to spy on people

and look in windows?

BRENNAN: "Oh, no, no." WHITNEY: I would do that.

BRENNAN: "No, not windows, but the roads, yes, the roads."

WHITNEY: What's the craziest thing you've seen?

Have you seen anything lately?

BRENNAN: "What's the strangest thing I saw?

"Ooh, there was a treefall that separated

"a wagon at the end of

"actually a Halovar family gathering,

"and the wagon was separated

"and I think some bandits came out of the woods

"to knock it over."

LAURA: Yeah. WHITNEY and BRENNAN: Yeah.

TRAVIS: The old treefall.

WHITNEY: But you don't ever like watch people kiss?

BRENNAN: "Hmm?" TRAVIS: (wheezes)

WHITNEY: Do you ever watch people kiss?

BRENNAN: "Oh, that's so kind.

"I am a widower and I've promised, so."

WHITNEY: That's so sweet. You were in love?

BRENNAN: "I was, yes.

"I still am."

WHITNEY: What was her name?

BRENNAN: "Jasavi." WHITNEY: Jasavi?

BRENNAN: "Mm-hmm.

"She was my wife for many, many years,

"and oh, I think of her every day."

WHITNEY: Jasavi.

ROBBIE: Kattigan's going to walk outside

and go take a--

LAURA: Dump? ROBBIE: Take a look on the--

ROBBIE: Yeah. Take a shit

off the top of the tower.

TRAVIS: On that false ledge. ROBBIE: He's a

man of the wilderness.

He's not rude.

He's going to go scan the perimeter outside.

LAURA: I'm going to fly all around the house just looking

at all of the tchotchkes, all the little things.

looking at the windowsills, looking at the telescope,

looking at everything.

BRENNAN: You take it all in.

Give me an investigation check, if you'd be so kind,

and do so with advantage

because you're spending plenty of time doing it.

LAURA: That is a 20.

BRENNAN: You're looking all around.

As you look in the upstairs area,

you see that it's his work area,

but there's also a beautiful

green and gold toy chest that you see is just brimming

with small, little, I say mechanical,

but it really is sort of like little wooden clappers

and like rolling animals.

There's deer and goats that have little wheels

for legs and things like that.

TRAVIS: (Chetney) Fine taste. LAURA: I get on one of them

and use my wings to push it forward like I'm riding it.

WHITNEY: Aw! (laughs) ROBBIE: No, no, no, no.

WHITNEY: That's so cute.

ROBBIE: A voice from another dimension.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: You do it.

TRAVIS: Is there an inscription on the bottom?

(laughter)

BRENNAN: A beautiful chest of toys

and you see that there are,

you're looking around and you also see

that there are a lot of,

like it's pretty packed with furniture,

downstairs and upstairs as well,

and there's a lot of things that are armoires

or wardrobes or chests and things like that,

that are pushed to the side

and sealed up and stacked on each other

and look sort of cared for.

He gets a big thing of porridge going

and saying, "So, again, your business is your own,

"but you're headed through the Dahapshanee, yes?"

SAM: Yes, we're trying to find another lion folk

with darker stressed-out fur.

I don't know if you spied any from your telescope.

BRENNAN: "Oh, it's quite hard to see into the woods itself

"if that's where he was traveling through."

SAM: I think so, but not sure.

BRENNAN: "But headed for Timmony? Headed north?"

SAM: Yes. Yes, right? Yes.

We're allowed to say that, yes?

LAURA: On the road, though. WHITNEY: We said it.

LAURA: Did you see a large caravan of carriages,

crow's feathers?

BRENNAN: "I had taken a look the day before last."

LAURA: Yeah, it would've been around then.

BRENNAN: "Yes, there were carriages,

"a caravan with some Tachonis guards."

LAURA: Yeah, that might've been them.

BRENNAN: "Yes, they were making their way up north

"along the King's Way."

LAURA: How far had they gotten, from what you could see?

BRENNAN: "Well, they had headed up."

He says, "Well, we have a few little hours of light left.

"You wouldn't mind giving me a hand, would you?"

You see he walks up a little spiral staircase

to go up and get his telescope and says,

"Might be wise to take a look, we'll see."

LAURA: I'll fly and land on his shoulder.

BRENNAN: He says, "Whoo, thank you, my friend."

And he'll take the help action from you

to make a little-- TRAVIS: It's so wholesome,

I don't trust any of this shit.

(laughter) BRENNAN: What's that?

TRAVIS: It's so wholesome, I'm so suspicious.

ROBBIE: Just a nice man.

TRAVIS: With fireworks in the front yard?

What are those for?

Where are the bodies, Robbie? ROBBIE: Entertaining children?

(laughter) BRENNAN: Where are the bodies?

You see he looks out and,

as he swivels the telescope around,

he looks out and says,

looking through and says,

"(sighs) All right, well, they, it's possible,

"there's about a half a day's trek

"that's actually on the other side of a ridge of peaks

"that I wouldn't be able to see from here.

"It's very likely if they're traveling at a normal pace

"that they would be behind that.

"But if they're headed north, it's very possible that..."

You see he swivels the telescope again looking out.

He goes, "Hmm, king's banners, that's interesting."

LAURA: Can I look into the telescope?

I don't think I can see anything.

BRENNAN: You see that there are, you look,

and you see he focuses in, focuses and focuses in,

and you see it's so,

even through this massive brass telescope,

it's so distant,

just these little ants on a road line

and it's sort of the thing that even a minor swivel

of the telescope in his hands makes everything blurry

and suddenly you're looking at a rock that's like,

you can see the fucking microscopic structure,

and then you look, you're back,

and you do see this little waving set of banners

that are just three little red dots on a white field.

You see he says, "The hounds of Timmony.

"That'd be, looks like the king's banner."

LAURA: What direction are they heading?

BRENNAN: "Give them a minute and we'll see."

You see that he looks out and says,

"You're looking for a single lion folk,

"but taking some interest in the comings and goings

"of wagons and carriages and things like that."

LAURA: Weird, huh?

BRENNAN: "Well, I just quite enjoy

"a woman possessed of ambition

"and cunning and that--

"Well, I like anyone who's keeping track

"of who's coming and who's going."

LAURA: (laughs)

BRENNAN: "It's all I do up here."

You see that he looks out and says,

"South, headed on the road south."

LAURA: Great.

Maybe by the time we leave, we'll be able to spot

the other carriages coming out the other side of the ridge.

BRENNAN: "I would think so.

"If you get out bright and early after resting for the night,

"if you're traveling with seasoned rangers

"and those that know the wilderness.

"Obviously, it's faster to travel by road,

"but the road takes a winding path

"and the forest goes straight through if you're headed--"

LAURA: Yeah. BRENNAN: "-- for Timmony."

LAURA: Great.

Who are the toys for?

BRENNAN: "Well, they are for, I suppose,

"my grandchildren,

"should I ever be lucky enough to get any,

"but they were my daughters'.

"And they still are.

"But they, you know, being grown,

"they seem to have very little use for them."

LAURA: You get visitors very often?

BRENNAN: "Yes, you know, from smugglers and ne'er-do-wells

"and from some wonderful, venerated druids of the Old Path

"who are working with on--

"What I really do is study the Barrowdells, wink wink.

"But I moonlight as a criminal.

"So, but, no, I don't get too many.

"Been quiet for quite some time.

LAURA: Did I notice any metal toys up there?

Were they all just, were they wooden?

TRAVIS: Awkward. BRENNAN: I think you see a couple,

you think you see a couple little metallic ones.

Yeah, there's like a little--

LAURA: Can I look? Are there any metal?

They were for his daughter,

but are there any metal toy soldiers?

BRENNAN: You had that 20 investigation check, right?

You see that looking over there actually are some

metal toy soldiers, but they're kept separately

from the other toys.

They're kept all in a drawer of a desk.

You see a little drawer that has some

little spears of some metallic looking tin soldiers and--

LAURA: Yeah.

Yeah, but do you have any-- I'm going to fly down and like,

clutter through them looking.

I want to look for a little toy soldier sword.

BRENNAN: Oh, yes.

Oh, you start looking for-- he says,

"You're looking for toy soldiers."

LAURA: Well, I'm looking for-- And I pull out my needles,

You know, I couldn't even cut off a guy's balls with these.

BRENNAN: "Well, they're pins." LAURA: Yeah. Good for stabbing.

Not so much for slicing.

BRENNAN: Are you in need of some weaponry?

LAURA: Got any little things?

BRENNAN: "Well, you are quite weary with the travel of a long day."

He comes back down to the rest of you

except for Kattigan, who's outside.

As he comes down and says, "You all are quite weary.

"You're in need of porridge and some rest.

"But if you are in need of some toy weaponry,

"I might be able to help you.

"My daughters, when they were young, were,

"how do I put this?

"Maniacs, they were fearsome

"and they wished for glory and combat.

"So their minds were ever fixated on the toys of war

"and such it was that was a doting father

"and must need supply them.

"So if you're looking for some toy weaponry

"that packs a little bit more of a wallop--"

LAURA: Yeah.

BRENNAN: "I'd be excited to see what I can rustle up."

LAURA: I would love that.

BRENNAN: "Very well. Well, dinner's served.

"I'll go get your companion from out there.

"Maybe he's bathing in the creek again.

"He did that so fast after arriving."

(laughter)

BRENNAN: "I don't think he said hello."

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Always looking out for undead.

(laughter)

ROBBIE: As I was sort of peering out,

is there anything to be concerned about

in the immediate area?

Does this feel like a safe space

as he looks the perimeter over?

BRENNAN: Yeah, give me whatever skill check

you want to associate with that.

And if you want to use magic about it, you can as well.

ROBBIE: Okay.

Oh, pretty good.

Ooh, 17.

BRENNAN: 17, got it.

On a 17, you're way high up on the ridge

and you're giving this place a B-plus in your head.

ROBBIE: Okay.

BRENNAN: As you're looking out.

But as you see, he puts some bowls of porridge out

in front of the four of you.

For you, you see, he puts a, what looks like an egg cup

filled with porridge. TRAVIS: Come on.

BRENNAN: He walks out to see you and says,

"My very cleanly friend, dinner is served,

"and if you'd like, I can try to supply some, some beef tack

"or some venison for your lupine friend."

You'd have to downgrade your B-plus as he goes

and lights a little beacon lantern on top,

that's hanging from the roof

that's visible from the forest below,

which just is announcing the presence

of this place up on the ridge.

(water dripping)

ROBBIE: I would appreciate it.

BRENNAN: "Hmm?" ROBBIE: I appreciate the food. Thank you.

BRENNAN: "Of course. They're inside."

ROBBIE: I'll come inside. BRENNAN: "I'll be right here."

He goes out and takes out a small satchel

and he goes up to the banner,

the gnomish banner hanging over the house

and you see that he's brushing the fireworks and he goes in

and starts to set about the banner

and you can see that he gets out a small--

just sees the tiniest little tear

and you see he starts stitching a little tear

in the banner overhead as you walk into the house.

ROBBIE: That's a lot of stuff. LAURA: Yeah. Oh yeah.

You don't think he was like letting people know

that we were here?

SAM: No, no, this is a nice--

LAURA: Just nice, he's just a nice guy.

SAM: He's just a nice man.

WHITNEY: Fire out.

He seems like he understands keeping a low profile.

ROBBIE: Whatever he's doing, he's been safe out here for a long time.

WHITNEY: That's true. ROBBIE: I don't love it.

LAURA: If anybody's keeping an eye on him,

if he does it every night, it might be weird if he doesn't.

WHITNEY: You're so good. God, we're so lucky.

It's so crazy.

ROBBIE: What did he talk about? Discussing this.

LAURA: He's going to give me a sword.

ROBBIE: Well, that's neat. TRAVIS: He has his daughters' toys still

and he uses telescope to spy on the King's Road

and also to study clouds.

LAURA: Yes, I'm going to--

WHITNEY: I'm crouching and I'm just shoveling gruel.

TRAVIS: I'm not touching. WHITNEY: (gobbling)

ROBBIE: Aye.

TRAVIS: You are part of-- WHITNEY: Dog style.

TRAVIS: The last time I had food and drink,

I ended up on a hook.

SAM: Hmm. LAURA: You're going to be hungry.

ROBBIE: I'm going to grab the-- TRAVIS: I'll be fine.

ROBBIE: I'll grab the venison straps and kind of look.

We're pretty high up, right? We're in the tower space?

BRENNAN: Yeah, for sure. ROBBIE: Yeah.

Wulferic is still down there

and I'm just going to look down to him

and throw the venison down.

He's going to scoop it up and just look at him

and nod my head and he's just going to disappear

off into the forest, yeah.

BRENNAN: Wulferic does?

ROBBIE: Yeah. BRENNAN: Yeah.

Takes off.

You guys finish up your dinner

and some of you guys have been asking

for a rest for a while, so--

WHITNEY: Some of us have. BRENNAN: Yeah, some of us have.

WHITNEY: (laughs)

BRENNAN: But this is potentially like, as the sun is setting,

you guys see that there's every possibility

for actually a long rest here, fully getting your hit points

and abilities and everything like that back.

ROBBIE: That's nice.

BRENNAN: With that, with Wulferic gone.

Does anyone else do anything before settling down?

WHITNEY: I take my blanket. BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.

WHITNEY: And I just settle it at the foot of Wick's bed

and I curl up like a cat there at the feet.

SAM: I'll take off my cloak

and sort of drape it on her

so she has a little extra warmth

and I'll curl up as best I can.

WHITNEY: It's not that different. It's the same.

We're doing the same stuff.

SAM: Yes, I mean, so far, everyone we've met has been helpful,

nice, honest. This sweet man?

The criminal, I would've assumed that a criminal

would be horrible, but he helped us a great deal.

And then Thimble found this piece of stressful fur

in the forest that was extremely knowledgeable somehow.

I mean, we've had good fortune,

but I think it's because we have positive spirits.

We have honesty on our side and I've been thinking,

all this nonsense with my family.

It's what the scripture said

from the Ember Eternalis Chapter 10.

"'And ye shall be tested,' the blind priest said,

"'through lies and dimness,

"'even your kin will turn against you,

"'but the light will bear the truth.'"

This is some sort of test, and we will come through it.

WHITNEY: Yes, everyone is here to help us

and you just keep your chin up

and keep on doing what you're doing and it's going to be great

and we're going to have a really good time.

SAM: Well. WHITNEY: Okay. Good night.

SAM: All right.

TRAVIS: I think Kat and I would take up old habits

and probably take watch rotation,

even though we're in this house with defenses

and everything else, we're still being pursued.

BRENNAN: Yeah. ROBBIE: Hundred percent.

LAURA: I'm going to find a little bit of fabric and fold it.

Are the windows here curved or are they straight?

BRENNAN: I think the windows here, such that there are windows,

there's only one downstairs and then there's one upstairs

and then the big telescope that swivels up

through has that opening in the roof,

but has a straight window sill. Yeah.

LAURA: Okay, I'll take my fabric up to the high window.

BRENNAN: Okay.

LAURA: And set it up to make a little bed on the window sill.

BRENNAN: You get a lovely little bed on the window sill and

the last time you were asleep was on Thjazi's chest.

LAURA: Yeah. I'm just going to stay awake for a long time

with my knees up to my chin looking out.

BRENNAN: Wick, as you drift off to sleep,

sleeping for the first time in your life on a straw

on the floor.

Tyranny, you curled up at the foot

of this straw mattress.

Thimble, you look out in the distance.

Teor and Kattigan, you guys are taking watch.

Each of you guys give me a perception check.

Who's taking first watch and who's taking second?

ROBBIE: I'll take second. BRENNAN: Okay.

TRAVIS: 16. BRENNAN: 16. Okay.

ROBBIE: Can I-- (laughs)

BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.

ROBBIE: Can I-- I know this is weird,

can I take this at disadvantage?

BRENNAN: Sure.

ROBBIE: Because at some point on our shift,

I got into that toy box and I pulled out a doll.

ROBBIE: Just a doll. BRENNAN: Yeah.

ROBBIE: And to take with me, I feel weird about taking it

to the watch, but during my watch, I'm just sort of

distracted by this doll and I'm playing with it

and I'm not at my best.

BRENNAN: Yeah.

ROBBIE: So can I take this at disadvantage?

BRENNAN: Yeah, absolutely.

ROBBIE: Might not need it.

Yeah. Perception?

BRENNAN: Perception, yeah. ROBBIE: Still not bad.

Even distracted, it's a 10.

BRENNAN: 10.

For that second watch, you, I think,

well, we'll talk about the first watch first.

Teor, you're up. Where are you up keeping watch?

TRAVIS: I would be outside of the house, door to the front cracked.

BRENNAN: Mm-hmm. TRAVIS: So I could hear just fine.

But I think it would be a perimeter walk.

It wouldn't be a stationary--

BRENNAN: Mm-hmm. TRAVIS: -- watch.

It would just be checking all-- walking around,

just pausing, listening, sniffing the air,

all that sorts of stuff. Looking for light in the dark.

BRENNAN: Yeah, and you got a 16? TRAVIS: 16.

BRENNAN: I think in that first watch you look out,

you see Thimble in the upper window,

just looking out the window,

having a hard time getting to sleep.

In that earlier part of the night,

you see that one last time,

the little old gnomish man walks out,

walks out of his front door, looks over at you

and sort of acknowledges that you're out here patrolling

and you see he goes over, he's like--

final things he's doing is he ushers

the little hens back into a coop that he locks up

as it's getting dark.

And you see, he goes over one last time

and reflexively, you can see he's agitated.

He goes over, adjusts the banner again

and looks to the little hanging light, he goes and fixes it,

so the candle's a little more straight,

in the little hanging beacon lantern.

Looks at it, looks at the valley, looks at it.

TRAVIS: I don't mean to pry, I do not read... Gnomish?

BRENNAN: "Oh, well. Not at all.

"No, it's hardly the language of the world.

"Yes, it's gnomish writing."

TRAVIS: It seems well-tended to.

Could I pry and ask what it says?

BRENNAN: "Well, it says 'Welcome home.'"

TRAVIS: "Welcome home." For your daughters?

BRENNAN: "Yes, for all three of them.

"For you see," he looks out and goes,

WHITNEY: (chuckles)

How dare you.

TRAVIS: This is trauma, Brennan.

This is just years of trauma coming to the surface.

SAM: You're fine. Yeah.

BRENNAN: You look at him and see,

you see he says,

"Cerebel, Demuriel, and Elanadel."

WHITNEY: What was the second one?

BRENNAN: Demuriel.

WHITNEY: Demuriel. SAM: Demuriel.

LAURA: The last one?

WHITNEY: Arabel? LAURA: Arabel.

WHITNEY: Arabel's last.

BRENNAN: Cerebel. WHITNEY: Cerebel.

SAM: Oh, that was the first, Cerebel.

WHITNEY: Oh no, it was last.

BRENNAN: Cerebel, Demuriel, and Elanadel.

LAURA: Elanadel. WHITNEY: Ray?

ROBBIE: Yep. BRENNAN: Elana Del Ray.

SAM: Yep. (chuckles)

She's not going back.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: He looks, yeah,

he looks at you and says, "Yes, the writing says welcome home

"and the exclamation mark

"you can find to either side of the door."

You see he points at the fireworks in the crates.

TRAVIS: How long has it been

since you last saw your three daughters?

BRENNAN: (tongue clicks)

"(exhales) Well,

"it's been about 15 years,

"two months,

"17 days."

TRAVIS: You love them very much. I can tell.

Thank you for sharing your home with us.

It is a rare thing to put faith in someone

who values the efforts of those that have lost

near and dear to themselves as well.

BRENNAN: "Well."

TRAVIS: My brother is who we are searching for.

My kin.

BRENNAN: "There is no distance too great for family.

"I've often thought,

"if I would travel from this place in search of them

"with my terrible back and awful knees,

"but then the thought of not being here

"if they were to return and need me.

"If Jasavi were here, it would be very different.

"I sort of--

"I had prepared in my mind

"how I would weather knowing

"that something awful had happened.

"Do you know what I mean?

"That if I knew

"that they were not coming home.

"If I knew that they were not coming home.

"But every day, the hope diminishes,

"but does not vanish.

"And therefore, we have to keep the banner tended to

"because the thought that maybe

"tossed aside by storms or left somewhere else,

"that one of them might come home and not find it welcome.

"I cannot bear."

TRAVIS: I reach into a pouch on my hip

and pull out my banner in the hand.

I know exactly what you mean.

BRENNAN: He walks up and reaches up at his full height

to pat your mighty forearm.

And he goes,

"My daughters would've loved you.

"They heard the cry."

TRAVIS: The falcon's cry stretches far and wide.

BRENNAN: "Oh yes.

"It's why I kept those terrible tin soldiers in a drawer.

"I don't know why I let them play with them.

"But then again,

"isn't that what you want?

"Brave young girls,

"go out and face the problems of the world, head on?"

TRAVIS: Yes.

Yes, it is.

You inspired those closest to you

to go out and make change.

I will tell you that as we go through this place,

if any of our ears catch word

of the names you have taught us this night,

we will be sure

that they know that their father is waiting for them

and that the visit is long overdue.

BRENNAN: "(sniffs)

"Oh, that's very kind.

"I'll be ready."

And you see that he pats you again

and looks out and goes,

"We'll get you all rested up

"and packed on your way.

"I appreciate you asking

"and for not thinking me crazy

"for having kept it up for these long years."

TRAVIS: Who would think such a thing?

The outward appearances? No, uh-uh.

BRENNAN: "You go a little mad in the mountains,

"but it's a mad world so."

And you see that he walks inside

and at the end of that watch,

I think Kattigan, you awake,

looking at this doll

as the sun rises

and you are still waiting.

Give me one last perception check,

if you'd be so kind.

ROBBIE: Hmm.

18.

BRENNAN: As the dawn creeps in,

the last moments of night down in the forest on that 18,

I feel like you can hear something far away

like a whisper on the wind or a moan.

Suspicion creeps up your spine,

that this may be the last warm place

before you head into true danger.

There are things down there in the forest

looking for light and warmth.

ROBBIE: I took my watch on the highest point of the house

and instead of patrolling like Teor would on the grounds,

I was glassing like you were hunting,

just sort of looking everywhere.

Distracted by this doll

and I'd been turning over in my hands

and it's you know, tattered old wood.

And as I've been holding it and watching, I sort of--

It's beautifully carved in the front and I turn it over

and sort of slide the back of the cloth down

at the end of the watch as the sun comes up

and you can just see rot

and termite ridden,

portions of it and the entire hollow back of this doll

has been eaten out from years

of being set aside and forgotten.

And he looks at it one last time

and just hucks it off

the edge of that drop behind the chicken coop

and heads back inside to wake everyone up

at the end of watch.

BRENNAN: The next day has risen

as you go to wake everybody up.

WHITNEY: I am up. BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.

WHITNEY: I am up and I am crouched on Wick's chest.

(laughter)

SAM: A devil on my chest as I sleep?

WHITNEY: And I'm staring at him. ROBBIE: Sleep paralysis demon?

WHITNEY: And I go: Don't move, don't move, don't move.

You can't fucking move.

You can't move, you can't move, you can't move.

You can't move. SAM: What's hap--

What's happening? WHITNEY: Good morning!

SAM: Oh, hello.

Why? LAURA: She's so creepy.

WHITNEY: You can move now.

TRAVIS: Sleep paralysis demon. (laughter)

SAM: I was having a horrible dream.

WHITNEY: No.

How'd you sleep?

SAM: Terribly. I'm itchy.

I think I'm allergic to hay. TRAVIS: (laughs)

SAM: I slept like two hours.

But I'm all rested, ready for the day.

LAURA: Yes. TRAVIS: (laughs)

WHITNEY: There it is. TRAVIS: It begins anew.

Invoke thy banner. LAURA: This is a gift.

TRAVIS: Ring the bells.

BRENNAN: And that's all for this episode--

(laughter)

BRENNAN: -- of Critical Role.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: We'll see you next week

on a brand new episode.

TRAVIS: Ultimate move. BRENNAN: Yes.

Oh my god.

That's the most frightening thing that's--

(laughter)

TRAVIS: Oh my god,

I need a year as soon as we're out of here.

BRENNAN: Oh my god. (screams) ROBBIE: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

(laughter)

BRENNAN: Oh my god.

What is that? Is that "Tide Pod 2?"

SAM: I have no idea.

BRENNAN: You don't know where it's from?

SAM: I'm sure it's probably that.

I don't know, I don't know. (laughter)

TRAVIS: He never reveals his sources.

LAURA: It's from the internet. SAM: It's from the internet.

TRAVIS: Never reveals his sources.

BRENNAN: I love it. Oh my god.

Yes, I believe that that is from the sequel

to the "Tide Pod CEO" sketch.

Shot in deep lockdown. Unbelievable.

Well, and again, marvelous.

Incredible.

That really threw me for a loop and--

(laughter)

BRENNAN: But not so much of a loop

that I'm not going to say:

Is it Thursday yet? TRAVIS: Yeah.

WHITNEY: Let's never leave this man.

Let's stay here. LAURA: I love him.

TRAVIS: I know.

I was waiting for the razor to come out

to peel our skin off. LAURA: He's just a sweet guy.

TRAVIS: And you got me in the feels, man.

BRENNAN: I got you in the feels, man.

The razor was--

LAURA: I want to know if we knew his --

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YouTube Transcript:Branching Paths | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 5

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Branching Paths | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 5