MATT: Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's
episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass
voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons. TRAVIS: We play Dungeons & Dragons!
ASHLEY: We pla la la la dern de dern dees!
LIAM: We do. MATT: We have a couple
announcements to get to before we start the show. First up, there
is no sponsors, so, Marisha, I think we
just go straight to you. SAM: Wait, what?
Sorry, no sponsor? I had this whole
thing planned. I was going to be Mr. Tea and make the grossest
cup of tea ever and then drink it. MATT: No, there's no sponsor, so you don't have to
worry about it. So-- SAM: But if I don't have
anything to advertise... who am I? MATT: Right, so... Marisha, you got
some announcements to get to? MARISHA: Uh, I do, I do. Is that--
LAURA: Sorry, Sam. MARISHA: Are you okay?
SAM: Yeah. Go on. MARISHA: We still love you.
SAM: Yeah. MARISHA: We got
a moon lore video! (laughter) Yeah, Order of the Cobalt
Soul Archivist Dani Carr will catch you up on
everything you need to know about Exandria's moons. TRAVIS: Dani Carr!
MARISHA: So if you want to get caught up or refresh your memory about
all of the crazy moon stuff that we've been
exploring as Bells Hells, you can watch it
right now on YouTube. TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: Woo! MARISHA: Yeah, you see
that-- Oh shit, he'd be-- (gasps) He wants to
crack into a Slim Jim. LAURA: Omar, come over here.
MATT: Oh no. LIAM: You know that the audience
is just watching Omar. No one is listening to
a word we're saying. LAURA: Yeah, no. TALIESIN: Moon video.
MARISHA: Put your butt-- Just sit. LIAM: Aww.
MATT: We got to-- LAURA: He can come over.
MATT: We're almost done. We're almost done.
LIAM: Look at that butter butt.
MARISHA: Okay, sorry. SAM: Oh, this is big! MATT: We also now have--
LAURA: Oh! This is huge! MATT: "Till the Last Gasp" from Darrington Press is out.
(cheering) MATT: This is an amazing
two-player storytelling game of dramatic duels in any
genre of choice, really, designed by Will Hindmarch and a great creative
team of wonderful people. It features
ready-made scenarios complete with maps in the box and pre-generated characters
to dive right in, or you can make your own
characters or use characters from your RPGs or really
anything else that you enjoy and want to pull
into this system. So you can find it now at
all Critical Role shops and Darrington
Press Guild stores and coming to other friendly
local game stores real soon. But at the Guild stores, you can look out for exclusive
sets of pre-made characters from the Vox Machina campaign--
ASHLEY: Woo! MATT: -- that can also
plug right into this, which is awesome.
LAURA: Look how pretty that box is. MATT: It's such a fun game.
MARISHA: It's so pretty. TALIESIN: Finally. Percy/Grog. MATT: Seriously.
LIAM: We're making games! MATT: I hope you get a
chance to check it out and I hope you enjoy.
TRAVIS: It is the coolest. TALIESIN: I've been waiting.
TRAVIS: Finish the duel. (laughs) MATT: (laughs) Ashley.
LAURA: Omar, come here. ASHLEY: Oh! So, our wonderful
friends at Shanti Bhavan recently opened the doors of the brand new
girls' dormitory-- LIAM: Yes!
(cheering) ASHLEY: -- that
we all funded, at their school campus
in India. See?
LIAM: Not the time. ASHLEY: Look at all this. The students are
expected to move into the dorm at the
end of the month and we cannot thank you
enough for your support. LAURA: Yay.
ASHLEY: As a reminder, all donations when we don't have an active campaign
are split equally between our partner organizations,
like Shanti Bhavan. So check out
criticalrolefoundation.org for more information or to donate to support
our wonderful partners. SAM: Yay!
(cheering) SAM: Sometimes we do good things!
TRAVIS: That's so great. MATT: Thank you
so much, Ashley. ASHLEY: Sometimes. (laughter) MATT: And I do believe that
concludes our announcements. ASHLEY: Oh gosh. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. LAURA: No! No!
MATT: So-- TRAVIS: It's fine!
MATT: Let's go ahead and jump into--
TRAVIS: Everything's fine! MATT: -- tonight's episode of--
SAM: What does it mean? MARISHA: Omar is the comfort dog.
SAM: What does it mean? MATT: -- Critical Role.
TRAVIS: What does it mean?! ♪ Critical (It's Thursday) ♪ ♪ It's Thursday night ♪ ASHLEY: ♪ One-by-one, we
climb until we reach the top ♪ ♪ Two-by-two, we fall ♪ LAURA: ♪ Will we meet our end
or meet our destiny? ♪ ♪ Hold your breath and roll ♪ MATT: How do you
want to do this? ALL: ♪ It's Thursday night ♪ ♪ All ye Critters, ♪
come join us ♪ ♪ It's time to ♪
continue our plight ♪ ♪ There is ♪
magic and mystery ♪ ♪ Who knows ♪
what will happen ♪ ♪ He might ♪ ♪ But one thing's for sure ♪ ♪ We never give up ♪
on the fight ♪ TRAVIS: ♪ From the healer ♪ LIAM: ♪ To the renegade ♪ MATT: ♪ We all share
the same goal ♪ TALIESIN and MATT:
♪ Adding more allies ♪ ♪ Taking more chances ♪ SAM: ♪ Hold your
breath and roll ♪ MARISHA: You can
certainly try. ALL: ♪ It's Thursday night ♪ ♪ All ye Critters, ♪
come join us ♪ ♪ It's time to ♪
continue our plight ♪ ♪ It's Thursday night ♪ ♪ There is ♪
magic and mystery ♪ ♪ From darkness, our ♪
friendship will rise ♪ ♪ But one thing's for sure ♪ ♪ We never give up ♪
on the fight ♪ ♪ Oh, get ready (get ready) ♪ ♪ It's Thursday night ♪ (fire crackling) MATT: And welcome back. So, half of Bells Hells, after heading towards
the specific point of the leyline nexus
that was gathering at the moment of
the Apogee Solstice, your troop happened upon an arrangement that
Ludinus had been designing for quite some time, him and his compatriots
in the Ruby Vanguard, the Paragon's Call. a number of other allies, seemed to briefly alter
time through some additions to this odd device, jumping you and other
nearby individuals ahead to the solstice, therein which a number of other
machinations came together to both bring your
allies to bear, summon some individuals
with utility to them, and in a handful of moments
seemed to successfully do what they were trying to do. Though how successful,
we'll have to see, as you did quite
a bit of damage to some of the energy sources and mucked around with a bit
of what they were plotting. But nevertheless, in
those heightened moments, an extreme amount of magical
energy was unleashed. In a flash, you found
yourselves separated from your other friends, from everybody else. Suddenly shunted far away
from where you last were, now standing in
a freezing cold tundra-like snow desert of small beads of crystal and frozen snow
that lie across these endless dunes,
rocky outcroppings, and oddly shaped bits of earth
that poke from the landscape as you see this endless,
continuous snowfield that crawls out
in all directions. You see in a
northern direction a frozen ocean just
barely visible as the sunlight begins to
creep past the horizon. You see some mountains
to the far east, forests to the south, and above you in the
darkened, slowly warming sky, you can still see the magnificent technicolor
shifting visual of the now shifted
leylines across Exandria as still the Apogee
Solstice remains. So as you stand
here shivering now in the early morning hours, what do you wish to do? TRAVIS: Ah!
SAM: What the fuck? ASHLEY: Ah!
TRAVIS: Ah! SAM: Calm-- Calm Emotions. Calm Emotions.
TRAVIS: (relived) Ah. Ah, fuck yeah. It's so good. ASHLEY: Ah!
TRAVIS: It's so good. SAM: Where?
TRAVIS: Give me another hit. SAM: Where?
TRAVIS: (relieved) Ah. SAM: Calm Emotions.
TRAVIS: Oh, that's too much. LAURA: No, but really,
what just happened? ASHLEY: Is the moon still-- SAM: Did you do that?
LAURA: No, it's not in the sky. ASHLEY: That's right.
SAM: Did you do that? LAURA: I don't think I did that.
SAM: Last time this happened, you did that.
LAURA: I didn't do that. At least,
I don't think I did. I didn't lose control. I saw everything go to
white again, though. Did you see that? SAM: Yeah. ASHLEY: Yes. TRAVIS: I don't smell any of
the others for some reason. It's just us four. LAURA: Oh god, what if they--
SAM: Okay. ASHLEY: How do you know?
I'm just kidding. (laughter) SAM: Just a sense that I get. I get the same sense
that they just seem-- ASHLEY: Me too, me too.
TRAVIS: No, I've memorized all
of our stanks. SAM: Oh, what do I smell like?
TRAVIS: Yeah, it's very specific. SAM: Because I can't smell. What do I smell like?
TRAVIS: It's nice. You have a greasy grime, but it's also mixed with a high tinge of
metallic sweetness. SAM: Oh, thank you.
ASHLEY: Yeah. TRAVIS: And a hint
of soul, baby. SAM: (laughs)
ASHLEY: Woo! LAURA: What do I smell like? TRAVIS: Don't worry about it. Like hay. LAURA: Oh.
SAM: Oh, okay. ASHLEY: What do I smell like? TRAVIS: Oh.
ASHLEY: (laughs) TRAVIS: All the vibrant
colors of the Feywild. If you could taste a
rainbow, if you could kiss-- Listen, it's not
the time for that. If we have to
repopulate the world, we'll focus on
that later, okay? SAM: Oh no, I won't be
able to participate. LAURA: What if it worked? What if they succeeded? What if Predathos
is free right now? SAM: What if we're the only
ones left alive? Why don't we find out? Why don't we reach
out to our friends and find out if they're there, right?
TRAVIS: Oh yeah, that's a great idea. LAURA: Let me see what kind
of spells I have left. Yes, I can do that.
SAM: I can do it, too. TRAVIS: Let's hope you
have actual spells. MATT: Okay. LAURA: I'm going to
try to cast Sending. MATT: Okay. LAURA: To Laudna. MATT: To Laudna, okay. LAURA: Where are you? Are you still there?
What happened? We're-- I don't know
where we are. It's snowing. Oh, please tell me
you're okay. MATT: Roll a d100 for me. TRAVIS: Ooh!
SAM: Ooh, wild magic! TRAVIS: Why? Why? SAM: What is happening?
TRAVIS: Holden's right here! LAURA: 100? TRAVIS: Is it because
we're close to-- LAURA: I don't know.
SAM: A d100! TRAVIS: We're pretty
far north. LAURA: 98. MATT: 98.
SAM: That seems bad? LAURA: Is that bad?
MATT: (laughs) SAM: Great. It seems great. LAURA: I feel like
that's really good. ASHLEY: It's really good,
it's really good, it's really good, Matt.
LAURA: Maybe it's like a, oh god. MATT: As you begin to speak
through this spell-- SAM: ♪ Speakin' a spell ♪ MATT: -- a heavy bit of static
seems to come through your mind, like the actual weave of the
message seems to unravel amongst the arcane patterns
that allow you to reach out to your friend, to Laudna. And as the words have
been pushing through, the static gets louder and
louder and <i>louder and louder</i>. And then you hear a pop
in your head, and you take--
LAURA: Oh no. MATT: Six points of
psychic damage. SAM: Ugh. MATT: And the spell is spent. LAURA: Does it, even though I'm
resistant to psychic damage? MATT: You take three. LAURA: Okay. SAM: Whoa.
TRAVIS: Oh, did we know if it goes
through or no idea? MATT: You didn't hear
a response. SAM: Maybe I should try. Maybe I should try,
just in case. TRAVIS: Definitely
double down. SAM: Same group, right? Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. SAM: Okay, I will reach
out this time to Orym. He's got a sound mind.
TRAVIS: Uh-huh. SAM: I'll reach out to Orym with Sending
and see if it works. Wait, do I have Sending? I must, yeah. Yeah, I got it. d100?
MATT: d100. SAM: 51. MATT: 51, okay. What do you say? SAM: Oh! Orym, smiley
day to you. We're in some sort
of an icy tundra. Where are you? Are you okay? Are you seeing
this shit? That's it.
TRAVIS: Nice. That's good. MATT: As you begin to
speak these words as part of the incantation
and concentrating on Orym and letting the message
reach out into the cosmos towards him like it
always has previously, you feel it begin
to fall apart as the words leave
your mouth and that heavy static begins
to get louder and louder. For a moment, you feel like it's
about to pierce into your mind and you shrug it off
and the spell is lost. SAM: But no damage.
MATT: No. TRAVIS: I can't tell if that's
because of what just happened or because of where
we are or-- SAM: Yeah.
LAURA: What if we lost all of our magic? SAM: Cast a spell. Just cast any spell.
ASHLEY: I try to produce flame. MATT: Fire.
SAM: Okay. ASHLEY: I'm fine. SAM: (laughs) Oh, it's us.
ASHLEY: I'm perfectly fine. Everything works for me.
TRAVIS: It's true. MATT: It also is welcomely warm
in this freezing temperature. ASHLEY: Get close to me,
if you'd like. LAURA: I'm going to try to
force shove Chet back five feet. TRAVIS: The fuck? MATT: Whoomp, into the snow. SAM: Okay, magic works. TRAVIS: Ah, help!
It's real deep! I got it! I got it! LAURA: I force pull him
back five feet. TRAVIS: Ah!
(laughter) TRAVIS: Endo.
MATT: Yep. (laughter) TRAVIS: Full scorp. MATT: Yeah. TRAVIS: The fuck? We got to stick together. SAM: Let's not turn
on each other. LAURA: I was only seeing
if it worked! ASHLEY: All right.
TRAVIS: Maybe you give the emotion
wheel to Imogen. SAM: Okay. ASHLEY: So maybe we
just can't-- What if-- I don't want to say it. What if, what if, what if-- SAM: They're dead? ASHLEY: Well, just that, I
know, I'm not going to say it. I just... TRAVIS: We can't go there. We can't go there. We got sent miles and miles
and miles away that they, maybe the same thing
happened to them. And we can see
the boof, right? MATT: No, you have no visual. TRAVIS: Not us. We can't see shit. LAURA: It's not
nighttime anymore? It's morning. MATT: It's beginning
to push into morning. You see the low blues
in the horizon are turning into a brighter
light orange coloration. TRAVIS: Do I recognize
these hills or mountains or the location of the
ocean from where we are? MATT: Make a perception
or survival check for me. ASHLEY: Guidance.
SAM: Yeah, do we know where we are? Do you know where we are? MATT: With Guidance. SAM: Oh, Guidance. ASHLEY: I Guided him. But you can--
SAM: I thought you were reminding me. (laughter) TRAVIS: Guidance is... SAM: Ooh.
TRAVIS: Dirty 20. MATT: Dirty 20. Glancing around, you do
recognize this landscape. You've been around
Exandria in your years, but this place in particular, looking at the landscape, the texture of
the snow and the odd, quartz-like sand beads that make up this
desert beneath it. I mean, you've
looked around and thought you
recognized it, in a weird way, maybe
hoped you didn't. But you do recognize
this landscape to be the Crystalsands Tundra on the Greying Wildlands
of Wildemount. TRAVIS: I think I know
where we are. I spent a lot of time
in Uthodurn on Wildemount. We're just west of
that whole mountain and underground city
is where elves and dwarves live
together in harmony. LAURA: We're on Wildemount? TRAVIS: Yeah. Have you heard of Uthodurn? SAM: I think you've
mentioned it to us before. TRAVIS: Right.
ASHLEY: I've heard it from you. SAM: And you grew up here? TRAVIS: Oh, no, no. I just ended up here in my,
I don't know, 200s, 300s. It's hard to keep
track, but-- SAM: You lived
here for a time? TRAVIS: Oh, a number
of decades, yeah. SAM: Is it always
cold like this? TRAVIS: Yeah, it's
pretty titty. SAM: And is there
a civilization or is it just like
this everywhere? Like, did you roam around or
are there houses and stuff? Like, did you roam around or
are there houses and stuff? TRAVIS: Oh, no, no, Uthodurn's actually built
down into a mountain. It actually spirals downward
so it's all underground, which will probably
be nice. If we start walking, oh, it's going
to be a walk. We could try and
get there. At least the sun's
coming up. SAM: Uh-huh. ASHLEY: Yeah, it'll
get warmer. SAM: Okay. And it's friendly? Like, you know,
people there? TRAVIS: It's friendly. I didn't leave on
the best terms. SAM: What's that mean? You were chased out? TRAVIS: Oh, wait,
who has the hole? SAM: Who does have the hole? LAURA: Ashton.
ASHLEY: I think Ashton has the hole. SAM: Wait, what stuff,
what do we need in there? TRAVIS: I wanted to
go in there. SAM: Oh.
TRAVIS: I didn't-- Let's try and get
there first, and I'll tell you
on the way. SAM: Okay.
TRAVIS: It's-- Can I point eastward? MATT: You can. It's
east southeast. You can see the
Flotket Alps from where you're
currently standing and you can see the
gentle rising gray plume of the fiery mountain
of Kravaraad on the northern side
of the alps. That's your initial
key to its direction and you know to head towards
and south from where that is. And eventually with
some traversing of the mountain range
that surrounds it and with a little luck, you'll eventually come
upon Uthodurn. TRAVIS: It's going
to be slow. SAM: Like, days? TRAVIS: Yeah, I think we'll
know a little bit closer once we-- Or we'll know a little bit
better once we start moving, but-- SAM: And Imogen, can you, are
you, I mean, are you cold? Do you, are you okay?
LAURA: Oh, um... MATT: As the shock is now
wearing off of you of what just transpired, you realize that your
hands are shaking, and for the
most part, I mean, you're pretty fur
covered in places. ASHLEY: I have a lot of,
I've got a lot of fur. MATT: But yeah, it's
borderline freezing. LAURA: I'm going to put my
hands in the pot holder. MATT and SAM: (laugh) SAM: Taste of Tal'Dorei
pot holder? LAURA: Oh wait, did
he take that from me? SAM: Goddamn it. LAURA: Goddamn it,
that bastard, he took it and he didn't
even get me teleport out of the fucking
Fey Realm for it. ASHLEY: Rude.
LAURA: He just took it from me. I don't have a
pot holder. I'm going to wrap
my hands in my "Whitestone is
for Lovers" tee. (laughter) LAURA: Because I
also got that. MATT: Perfect.
TRAVIS: And Matt, just for clarity, depending on where Kravaraad,
the tip of it is, would I know that going
towards the northern shore towards the Palebank Village
would be closer for refuge for a hot second, or if we made our way-- MATT: You're probably a little
bit closer to the mountain range. Palebank is much
further north than where you are.
TRAVIS: North, right, okay. MATT: And it's only at one
of the highest nearest dunes can you barely see
the glassiness of the ocean beyond you. You're technically, I would
say it's almost equidistant. TRAVIS: Okay. Okay. Oh, boy. LAURA: I'm going to,
I'm sorry. I'm going to try to
contact Laudna again. Just, what the fuck happened?
ASHLEY: That's a good idea. LAURA: I'm reaching out,
I'm reaching out, I'm reaching out, I'm reaching out,
I'm reaching out. ASHLEY: Guidance. Oh, wait.
SAM: I don't think it-- ASHLEY: I don't think
that matters. LAURA: 11? MATT: Okay, what are
you going to say? LAURA: Just the same thing. Where-- Are you
all right? Are you alive? We're in Uthodurn,
I guess? MATT: (static with
increasing volume) The spell slot leaves you, the energy expended
and scattered. LAURA: I hate not knowing. SAM: We have to just
believe that they're okay. Maybe they're somewhere
close to us. Maybe we all got sent
somewhere close and we'll find them
on the way. Maybe.
LAURA: How did we get sent here? ASHLEY: What if we're
the last ones? What if we're the last
ones, it's just us. TRAVIS: On the planet?
ASHLEY: Yeah. TRAVIS: It's a
big responsibility. What? To find a way to
bring everybody back. Where'd you go? MATT: (laughs) SAM: I mean...
ASHLEY: All right. SAM: If it has to be,
it has to be. LAURA: How would-- SAM: I would just-- I guess
I'd just watch and film. LAURA and SAM: (laugh) ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah. SAM: That's my role in the
new world, is just to watch-- TRAVIS: And oversee.
SAM: -- and film. TRAVIS: Be the guiding
hand of the FCG. This is getting weird. ASHLEY: That's not going
to be what is. We all got separated. Something happened and
we all got separated. SAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. You know what? I'm going
to try not to, this is a different thing
than I'm going to try. MATT: Okay. SAM: What if there's interference
because of where they are? I'm going to try to
cast sending to <i>Dorian</i>. MATT: Okay.
LAURA: Oh, that's smart. SAM: And see if anyone
on Earth exists, or Exandria exists. MATT: Sure, okay. SAM: Still roll a d100?
MATT: Yeah, go for it. SAM: Okay. Three.
MATT: Three. LAURA: You rolled a three?!
SAM: I did. MATT: Okay. (laughter) MATT: What do you say? SAM: I say-- this is at
level four, by the way, because I'm out of
level three. Dorian, a cataclysmic event
has happened-- MATT: (static increasing)
SAM: -- and we are. MATT: Spell unravels
and the-- LAURA: What do you have to
roll in order to get it to happen? SAM: 69. MATT: It's not to
get it to happen, it's to see how bad
the reaction is. ALL: Oh. SAM: All right, I'm going
to try again. MATT and LAURA: (laugh) LAURA: Good to know. Of course we would've
just kept trying. MATT: I know, I was going
to let you, I was like, you get the gist after a
few attempts that like-- SAM: Something's stopping it. MATT: Yes, there is for
some reason this spell that you've relied on a
number of times in the past and it feels like it slips
through your fingers every time you try
and cast it. LAURA: I wonder if it's just that particular
communication spell, or if it's anything
that's a higher-- SAM: Level? LAURA: Yeah,
whatever level means. I don't know what
that, but you know, like uses more
of our power. SAM: Yeah. Of our slots.
TRAVIS: We're walking doing this. We're walking.
MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: Walking,
walking and talking. MATT: You're
guiding everyone? TRAVIS: I'm guiding everyone,
but keep an eye on the horizon. If things show up, we're
going to have to be smart.
SAM: Are there creepy crawlies out here?
TRAVIS: Sure! SAM: Oh no. LAURA: Should we be
moving stealthily? TRAVIS: No. SAM: We got to get out of the cold.
TRAVIS: Probably quickly. LAURA: Okay.
TRAVIS: It's not like there's a lot to hide in. It's just flat and white. LAURA: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Yeah. MATT: Okay. SAM: I think I have some
torches in my pack. MATT: Okay.
SAM: Might just light one for warmth. MATT: Okay. So you light up a torch. (flame erupting)
The flame erupts from it. SAM: I have a bed roll
that I'll also wrap. I don't know if I'm
carrying that or if that's in the
hole, but whatever. MATT: We'll say maybe you
like a little pou-- (laughs) SAM: Sure.
MATT: Kind of. LAURA: Just going to
hold my hands next to Fearne's hand.
TRAVIS: I think I was in my wolf form when we got bamfed, Let's just say it
kicked me out. MATT: It very much did and
you still had the scar where you were impaled,
but thanks to-- You were basically,
essentially pulled off of it when Keyleth landed
and healed you. TRAVIS: Okay.
MATT: So when you came to, you just caught the tail
end of it closing up right before this all happened.
TRAVIS: Okay. MATT: But, first, roll a
survival check with advantage because this is territory
that you're familiar with. TRAVIS: Okay. Survival with advantage?
MATT: Survival or nature, your choice.
TRAVIS: Okay. Where did it go? Oh, natural
20, fucking amazing, 22. MATT: Great. So you guide your group
of four individuals for the next few hours
through the safer regions of this immediate open
space, the tundra. You do know that there are
massive insectoid creatures that hunt in some
of these grounds. There are yetis, some
intelligent that you see hunting grounds and accidentally can
have crossover or some that tend to
be a little less kind and inviting to outsiders. You know of other creatures
that call these lands home. So you keep everyone
on the down low, carefully and quietly heading
in the direction. While maybe not
a direct beeline, definitely zig and zagging between the dunes to not
draw too much attention, especially with
a torch light, which does tend to
draw the attention of any flying predators
that might use the area as hunting grounds.
LAURA: Right. MATT: But I would like
everyone to make a constitution saving
throw for me, please. You both have advantage
because of the heat proximity. ASHLEY: Okay. TRAVIS: 21.
MATT: 21, all right. SAM: 13.
MATT: 13. TRAVIS: Getting all of the
good rolls out of the way. ASHLEY: Eurgh... Advantage, thank god. LAURA: 17.
ASHLEY: Still dog shit. MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: Seven. MATT: Seven, okay. The cold, as the day goes on,
the falling snow gets thicker, the wind gets stronger, and
those brief glimpses of the sky and the horizon that
you enjoyed upon arrival vanish to the grays
of a light snowstorm. While not a blizzard
by any means, you are not dressed for
this cold sort of weather and in spite of the
torch being helpful, eventually it still
begins to cut through. You've been bundled up
heavily enough and you all stay together for this,
but it cuts through you more than you expected
and you take a point of-- LAURA: Those're
just so silky. ASHLEY: Yes, it's the silk. SAM: You wear clothes?
ASHLEY: I do. LAURA: She hasn't been dressed
since we filmed that porn. ASHLEY: Yeah, just been
naked and free. MATT: You take a
point of exhaustion. ASHLEY: Oh... okay.
SAM: Oh no. How can I? How can I? MATT: But a very uncomfortable
day's travel on foot, you find yourself getting
closer and closer to the mountain range
and right as the sun begins to set once more
at the end of the day, you begin to come,
not directly towards, but you can see the mouth
of the valley that will cut far enough into the
mountain range where you are not having
to climb the entire way. It's the closest you
can get in before you have to hit actual
clamoring up the sides and down these mountains
to reach your destination, but you may need to
rest for the evening. LAURA: Is there any kind
of shelter we can find? SAM: Oh shoot, we don't
have anything. LAURA: Like a cave?
MATT: Make a perception check. Perception or survival. LAURA: Okay. Fuck. That was such an aggressive. It bounced both
of my other dice and gave them really
good rolls and the one that I rolled
was pretty shit, but 10. MATT: 10, okay. In glancing around,
you do see at the base of one of the nearest
mountains, there might be, you see some elements of dark
pits of shade and shadow that look like they could be
caverns that are available for safety, but the distance
it will take for you to get there, you won't get
there before the sun sets, but if you keep
pushing through into the early part of the
night, you might get there. LAURA: What do y'all think? TRAVIS: It's worth it, otherwise we're just
out here in the open. ASHLEY: Yeah, we can't
be out in the open. SAM: Yeah, we got to go.
TRAVIS: We got to move. MATT: Okay.
LAURA: Well, let me see, wait. I could-- ASHLEY: I could maybe fly us there.
LAURA: I know, that's what I was saying. I could fly and we
could get there faster if we're not going
through the snow. TRAVIS: Yeah. MATT: If you can make
everybody fly. LAURA: I can do, if we
can get some sleep. ASHLEY: Yeah, that might
be a good idea. LAURA: Yeah, I can do, I
can get two of us flying if you can carry somebody. ASHLEY: I can carry somebody.
SAM: Mm-hmm. LAURA: All right, so I'll
make me in Chet fly. ASHLEY: Okay. SAM: I'll attach my
propeller blade to assist. TRAVIS: Nice. ASHLEY: I can fly now in my Wild Shape.
LAURA: Oh. SAM: You can become
a beast that flies? ASHLEY: Yes.
TRAVIS: This cataclysmic event has given great gifts. LAURA: Wait, when
did that happen? SAM: What is the story
reason for it happening? MATT: So here's the thing. So as druid of your level,
you can transform into-- ASHLEY: Oh, yeah. MATT: Eighth level. Yeah, you're
eighth level, right? ASHLEY: Yes. MATT: So you can be a
giant eagle, if you'd like. ASHLEY: Okay.
LAURA: Ooh ooh ah ah ah! TRAVIS: Oh wah ah ah ah! ASHLEY: Oh wah ah ah ah!
LAURA: Ah ah ah! ASHLEY: All right,
I'm going to be-- Actually, could I be a giant shoebill? LAURA: What is a shoebill? SAM: Is that like a stork? ASHLEY: Because they're
kind of like storks, but they're even more--
LAURA: That's so cute. ASHLEY: -- weird-looking. MATT: They're very
weird-looking. SAM: I'm going to look it up. TRAVIS: Is the shoebill
going to be able to hang in the snowy, frozen, nasty-- SAM: Still has all the
stats of the eagle. MATT: It's fantasy, Travis. TRAVIS: (laughs)
MATT: We'll go with it. ASHLEY: I just want
a little flavor. TRAVIS: Yeah, all right, I'm not the DM.
ASHLEY: Is that okay? MATT: Yeah, if you want.
ASHLEY: All right. MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: (horse snorts) MATT: All right, so.
ASHLEY: That's a horse. MATT: You lift up. You're grabbing Chetney on this
or you're grabbing FCG? TRAVIS: What the hell?
LAURA: FCG. I made Chet fly, so FCG.
ASHLEY: I have FCG. MATT: So the two of you
can coast. (whooshes) TRAVIS: Oh yeah. MATT: Just take off.
TRAVIS: Easy rider. LAURA: Yeah. MATT: Into the freezing--
LAURA: What's your fly speed? MATT: -- snowy winds. TRAVIS: It's colder the
higher you get. MATT: Yep.
LAURA: Yeah, so we'll just keep above the trees
so we can move faster. MATT: Okay. LAURA: Right? That
makes it easy to get there.
TRAVIS: Yeah, yep. MATT: Coasting around. LAURA: In the sky, do we
see anything more obvious than the caverns that I
spotted from the ground? MATT: You can make another
perception check, if you'd like. TRAVIS: I'll assist!
LAURA: Perception or survival, does it matter?
MATT: Go with survival, I guess for this one-- LAURA: Should it be
a perception? MATT: I'll allow either
in this regard because one has an understanding
of the landscape, the other is looking
for details. LAURA: Oh, that's way better. 23. MATT: 23. As you begin to get close
to where you were looking, what looked like a cavern
is actually a section of carved cliff side
that is very shallow and as soon as you
begin to approach, you realize that it's probably not going to
be worthy of housing you. However, there is ,
a little ways past it, a little further in,
a very wide cavern, almost a 150-foot wide
by 30-foot tall cavern, like some sort of
a heavy lava tube from long ago that
has now been left empty in is partially filled
with snow on the inside. LAURA: Does it look like
there's any kind of footprints in the snow in front
of the cavern? MATT: At this point,
you don't see any in front of the cavern, no. LAURA: Okay,
as we get closer, I'm going to keep an eye
out for that just in case because you said they are
what, like yetis or stuff? TRAVIS: Yeah, all
sorts of creatures. Maybe we'll get lucky
and it won't be any. (shivers)
SAM: Are you too cold? TRAVIS: No, I'm fine. MATT: Okay, so you
all fly in, you keeping your terrifying
bird visage gathered. LAURA: Did you look it up?
What does it look like? ASHLEY: I'll show you. I'll show you.
SAM: It's cuter than I thought. ASHLEY: Yeah, they're cute.
They're big, though. TRAVIS: Are you looking
it up right now? MATT: They're cute the way
sun bears are cute, where you're like.
LAURA: Oh yeah, that's what I thought
it was going to be. ASHLEY: They kind of
look like big-- LAURA: I had a feeling that
was the type of storky thing that you were talking about. MATT: Yeah.
LAURA: Cute. That's cute. MATT: As you all eventually
come to the mouth of this massive cavern,
you can see the icicles, the heavy icicles that are
gathered towards the roof of its entrance and some
of these coast down eight, nine feet and have been
maintained over a long period of time, slowly gathering
with subtle summer months to grow a little bit
before they refreeze. You can land in the soft snow,
you can see the heavy winds often can blow and
move blustered snow into the interior of it, giving it a soft blanket
on the inside, but immediately stepping
beyond the threshold, you can tell that it
does maintain temperature a little better here than
it does out in the middle of a freezing windstorm,
if you will. TRAVIS: Stand back! SAM: What are you
going to do? TRAVIS: I'll check it out. I take out my wood chisel,
I draw it across my chest. (igniting fire)
SAM: How did you do that? TRAVIS: Please, if anyone
should die, it should be you. I walk in and I'll
take a (sniffs) before I move in to see if
I can detect any scents or anything from
the cavern within. MATT: Yeah, make a
perception check. TRAVIS: Ah, 14. 16.
MATT: 16, got it. You (sniffs) smell and
it's that cold sense on your nose from the
cold temperature in its own right, but
then you smell rock and the absence of smell
that is ice and snow. TRAVIS: That's good. It seems like it's clear.
SAM: Great. TRAVIS: We should be
cautious, though. I mean, it's not
just regular animals. Up here, further
north you go they say the
crazier it gets. SAM: Crazy how? TRAVIS: I don't know,
there's an ocean, but there's supposed
to be land beyond that and nobody really
goes up there, but we're about as
high as it gets. ASHLEY: Wow.
SAM: Oh my gosh. You're our expert
here, though, right? You can defeat anything
that might attack us? TRAVIS: No.
SAM: Oh. TRAVIS: I mean, I've been all
over, but let's be honest, the four of us, we are... we're a formidable group.
SAM: We are! Of the Bells Hells,
I feel like this group is probably pretty powerful. ASHLEY: Yeah. SAM: Those other ones are--
ASHLEY: The more powerful end of things? TRAVIS: Yeah, they were
kind of dead weight. SAM: Yeah, I didn't
want to say it. TRAVIS: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Chet. TRAVIS: What? ASHLEY: Why don't we
just planeride back to where we need to go?
SAM: (laughs) LAURA: Oh my god, Chet.
That's such a good-- SAM: But the static thing might
affect that spell as well. TRAVIS: No, she's right. We should try. SAM: Okay. Guidance.
TRAVIS: Thank you. LAURA: I just realized-- TRAVIS: I carve a little
Z in my forehead. SAM: Oh god.
TRAVIS: I hold my chisel in the air. ASHLEY: Zorro. TRAVIS: Let's ride! Oh! Oh! The sound! Oh! SAM: The static?
TRAVIS: It's all-- Ah! It's all-- LAURA and MATT: (laugh) TRAVIS: Oh!
MATT: The echoing screams of Chetney echoing off the
inside of the cavern walls. You can see there's these large--
LAURA: Can you keep it down? MATT: -- lumpy
sections of ice and rock that outcrop,
like a big rock archway and dozens of icicles
that coat the roof of-- TRAVIS: I gave it
my best shot, but it seems even
my great powers are nerfed in a
place like this. ASHLEY: That's all right,
it was worth a shot. TRAVIS: Yeah.
ASHLEY: It was worth a shot. TRAVIS: Let's go. Let's
go a little further in and we can get--
ASHLEY: Yeah. I'm going to help look around as well.
TRAVIS: -- warm. MATT: Make a perception check.
ASHLEY: All right. TRAVIS: Around the
mouth of this cavern, any fauna, dead or alive? Bushes, shrubs, tinder,
potential tinder? MATT: Make a
perception check. ASHLEY: 15. MATT: 15, okay. So looking
deeper into this tunnel, you don't see anything
that catches your attention as immediately
dangerous or worrying. ASHLEY: It's very
safe in here. MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: Perfect. 17. MATT: 17.
ASHLEY: We're safe. MATT: You look
towards the entryway and there's no bushes
or tinder necessarily, but you do see in the
shifting snow in the ground as it's blowing in
from the outside-- (soft rumble) ASHLEY: What is that?
SAM: What? TRAVIS: A little roll in the snow?
ASHLEY: Movement? MATT: Just a little bit
of movement in the snow. SAM: Outside or inside?
TRAVIS: Freeze. MATT: Towards the entrance. SAM: Are we
inside or outside? MATT: You're inside.
SAM: Okay. TRAVIS: About what
size are we-- Are we thinking size
of a badger or bigger? MATT: Actually, with a 16,
or 17, you don't know. You just barely
saw some movement. TRAVIS: I saw some
movement in the snow. On your guard. SAM: Why are you so scared? LAURA: Wait, I'm going to--
TRAVIS: Look. LAURA: Do I have a spell? Hold on, let me see
if I have spells left. I'm going to Detect Thoughts and see if I can sense
a creature out there and see if it's intelligent. MATT: What's the
range on that one? LAURA: I don't know. (laughs) I should know. ♪ Hold on, let me look ♪ ♪ It's within 30 feet of me ♪ MATT: Okay, gotcha. Nothing. Nothing. Then there's something.
SAM: (gasps) MATT: Close, quick,
from beneath. (explosion)
SAM: Oh my gosh! MATT: The ground erupts in an
explosion of rock and snow as you all suddenly
have to cover your eyes and back away from
the heavy impact of whatever this was that
blasts out of the ground. Suddenly the dust
begins to settle, the snow begins to settle,
and you see there crawling out from
it this massive, deep cerulean-skinned,
lizard-like creature, (deep growls) its glowing, white-blue eyes, and it looks like it's pinned
you within this cavern. I need you to roll initiative.
LAURA: It's not nice. TRAVIS: Oh! (laughs)
SAM: Roll initiative?! LAURA: I was trigger shy,
afraid we're going to attack something nice, you know?
ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. SAM: This early combat is
brought you by WizKid Minis, the Mighty Nein Box Set. The Mighty Nein Box Set
is available for pre-order. Find these and many more
Critical Role miniatures at WizKids.io/crminis--
LAURA: I just used a fucking Detect Thoughts. I'm an idiot.
SAM: -- in your local game store. Mighty Nein Box
Set, everybody. TRAVIS: Mighty Nein Box
Set, that's amazing. SAM: Yeah. Oh my god.
TRAVIS: We're going to die. We are going to die.
LAURA: Ooh, but look at the pretty snow.
TRAVIS: We're going to be fine. SAM: It's really pretty. LAURA: The last time
we were in snow like this, I remember getting attacked.
SAM: WizKids.io/crminis TRAVIS: FCG, have you ever
been in the snow before? LAURA: Oh!
SAM: Oh! LAURA: That's larger than I--
MATT: It is. LAURA: I was
picturing a person, like a lizardperson.
MATT: No. Much larger. LAURA: Okay, I would have
attacked that right away. SAM: Oh boy. MATT: Well good.
Let's roll initiative to see if you attack
that right away. Okay.
MATT: All righty. LAURA: It doesn't get a
surprise attack on us, though, because we sensed it.
MATT: Because of Detect Thoughts, it does not.
LAURA: Great. You let everyone know
what's coming and then-- So it does not get
an ambush on you. LAURA: Great.
MATT: That did help you out. Plus, you were
noticing that movement. So 25 to 20. ASHLEY: 20.
LAURA: Nice. MATT: Hell yeah. SAM: ♪ (background music) ♪
MATT: All right, 20 to 15. SAM: 17. I bet it doesn't speak
Common, does it? MATT: 15 to 10. TRAVIS: Race you
to the bottom. MATT: 10 to five? (laughter) TRAVIS: My dex is higher. LAURA: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Yeah, okay. MATT: All righty. TRAVIS: (laughs) LAURA: I think--
TRAVIS: It's 14? LAURA: Oh, I'm 15 dex. TRAVIS: Oh. Oh!
ASHLEY: Oh shit! LAURA: Oh!
TRAVIS: I'll just move myself to the bottom then.
LAURA: Well, I'm ahead of him, then. MATT: Well, Fearne, you're
up first as this creature-- (explosion) (deep growls) ASHLEY: Ooh! Oh! MATT: You see its
saliva is this thick, almost crystalline saliva. As it falls, it leaves
icicles under its chin, like its actual
breath is colder than the entire chamber you're inside.
LAURA: Uh-oh, that's not good. ASHLEY: I am going to
cast Dominate Beast. SAM: Ooh!
MATT: Dominate Beast. SAM: That seems high level. TRAVIS: Right out the
fucking gate, let's go! Definitely not
wasting our spells. ASHLEY: No, it's
almost nighttime, so I'm hoping we can
make a decision here. MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: It has to make
a wisdom saving throw. TRAVIS: We're okay.
We're okay. We're okay. We're okay. We're okay. ASHLEY: He's a big boy. Look at that big belly.
TRAVIS: He's a big boy! ASHLEY: He's cute. SAM: Oh, he's got six arms. Well, four legs.
MATT: He does. The spell has no effect-- SAM: (groans) MATT: -- for he
is not a beast. SAM: Oh, he's some sort of
aberration or something. LAURA: He's a monster.
ASHLEY: Got it. Okay. All right, all right, all right.
MATT: So you finish the spell, hoping that it'll find some
sort of purchase within its mind, and its eyes stare at you with hatred and hunger.
LAURA: Was it a huge, high level spell? ASHLEY: Yeah.
LAURA: Aw. ASHLEY: That's all right. MATT: (deep roaring) SAM: Oh god.
ASHLEY: Ooh! MATT: Do you want to move? ASHLEY: Yes. I will-- I would like to move behind
one of the little ice, either the little
one or over here. MATT: Over here?
ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: There's that there.
ASHLEY: Perfect. MATT: Okay. All right,
that brings us now to FCG. SAM: (sighs) First, oh man. Wait, how far is he? 25, 30 feet? MATT: About 25 feet
from you, 30 feet. SAM: Okay. We don't have Orym.
We don't have Ashton. LAURA: No, we got to stay clear.
SAM: We have to cause damage. LAURA: We got to
stay clear of it. SAM: Stay clear of it?
I was thinking the opposite. LAURA: I mean, don't let
him get close to us. We don't have anything
to like-- We're-- Well, Chet, he's--
ASHLEY: Well, what do you mean you were thinking
the opposite? You're going to run up to it? SAM: Well, I mean, we
don't have our people-- LAURA: Do something! SAM: We don't have our people
who do the big damage, so we got to do
the big damage. LAURA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Ugh! SAM: All right, so I'm
going to spin my saw blade-- MATT: Mm-hmm.
ASHLEY: Oh god, don't go down. SAM: -- and rush right at it. MATT: Okay. LAURA: Oh gee-bees.
MATT: (FCG vrooming forward) LAURA: Oh gee-bees. SAM: Slice away!
MATT: Just coasting through on your wheel with the blade spinning.
LAURA: Do you have a damage spell? SAM: I mean, I'm hitting
it with my saw blade. TRAVIS: (laughs) You're
such an asshole. SAM: We got to cause damage! MATT: Do it. Go ahead
and roll to attack. SAM: That's a 18 to hit. MATT: 18 hits. Go ahead
and roll damage. SAM: Wait, is that right? No, I'm sorry. A 16 to hit. MATT: 16 just misses. TRAVIS: Oh fudge. SAM: (laughs) TRAVIS: Fu--
SAM: Okay, okay. TRAVIS: (tune of "Deck the
Halls") ♪ Fu-hu-hu-hu-hu ♪ MATT: You go blade out,
you're screaming, and right as you
get close to it, you just boof,
right into the snow. Your wheel hits an ice patch and you slip and land
right into the bit of burst in ground and snow before it.
LAURA: This is going-- SAM: Oh no. I'm
right here, too. MATT: Bonus action?
SAM: I'm going to bonus action. I'm going to cast Shield of-- I call it Shield of Help-- on myself.
MATT: Okay. SAM: So my AC goes-- TRAVIS: Shield of
Help. (laughs) SAM: My AC goes up by two. MATT: You got it. All right. That finish your turn?
SAM: That'll be it, yep. MATT: All right, the creature
now standing here goes-- (low growl) You see it begins to inhale and the air around its
mouth seems to form this freezing fog that it then
pulls into its body as it-- (low growl)
TRAVIS: Fuck. MATT: (forceful exhale)
LAURA: Oh no. MATT: -- unleashes this
torrent of freezing air. TRAVIS: Okay, you guys. LAURA: Ruh-roh. TRAVIS: Ruh-roh is right. Oh god.
LAURA: (silly voice) Oh no. MATT: So I need
everyone but Fearne to make a constitution saving throw for me, please.
ASHLEY: Oh no. LAURA: (silly voice) Oh no. Oh no. Okay.
SAM: Oof, brutally bad. TRAVIS: (scoffs) Fuck. (laughs) Oh no. I have a feeling it's going to
have to be a really high save in order to not get damaged.
ASHLEY: What if we all die? MATT: All righty.
SAM: We got a healer. MATT: What is it? TRAVIS: 14. MATT: 14. That's going to be
42 points of cold damage. SAM: (exhaling roar)
ASHLEY: What?! SAM: Seven.
MATT: 42 points of cold damage. SAM: 42. TRAVIS: Guys, I'm
in big trouble. LAURA: 17. MATT: 17? That is 21
points of cold damage. LAURA: Jesus H. ASHLEY: Uh-oh.
TRAVIS: Are we still flying? Can we fly the
fuck out of here? LAURA: You still have still Fly.
SAM: You can. MATT: Well, you have to make a concentration check to maintain flight.
LAURA: Oh, for the Fly. MATT: You need make a
concentration check to maintain your
shield, right? LAURA: Okay.
SAM: Oh shit. There's no way.
LAURA: It's a-- It's the d20 plus
your con save to maintain concentration?
MATT: It's a constitution saving throw. LAURA: Okay, yeah.
That's great. That's a 25. MATT: 25, yeah. You
maintain concentration. SAM: I do not
maintain concentration. MATT: (shield powering down)
SAM: Oh no. ASHLEY: Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
LAURA: What did you drop? SAM: Just my little
AC buff on myself. LAURA: Oh no, that you just put on yourself.
SAM: Uh-huh. MATT: All right.
SAM: Well, this isn't good. MATT: It's going to
go ahead and-- It would move, but you are
right there in front of it. After it blasts forward, you
can see the whole area here, you watch as the freezing breath hits--
ASHLEY: You have a healing spell. MATT: -- it creates crackling
glaciers of ice around you, and you begin to now realize
that a lot of the terrain in here is layers and layers
of this creature essentially hunting things that wander into this wide cavern.
SAM: Oh no. You swear you can almost
see faces frozen in some of these ice chunks. TRAVIS: Oh jeez.
ASHLEY: Oh, come on! SAM: Why didn't we
see any of that? TRAVIS: My nose can't see! TRAVIS and MATT: (laugh) MATT: Imogen, you're up,
with Chetney on deck. TRAVIS: Oh my god.
LAURA: Okay. This is probably good.
It's probably really strong, so I'm not going to do that. TRAVIS: Fire probably helps. LAURA: I don't
have fire attacks. TRAVIS: I do.
LAURA: I am-- Okay, I am going to-- Jeez Louise. I'm going to-- Oh, I can fly, but this is probably not a
smart move to fly right now. I'm going to fly up to the top
of that thing above Fearne. MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: Up here? LAURA: Yeah.
MATT: All right. LAURA: Just land on it. I don't want to, if I-- TRAVIS: Snow came off it. That was awesome.
LAURA: Yeah, I don't want to-- SAM: Oh, there's
snow out there. LAURA: Then I'm going to--
SAM: How does he do it? Is that salt? What is it? I'm going to taste it.
TRAVIS: No, don't taste it! LAURA: -- Lightning Bolt him. MATT: Okay.
LAURA: At 4th-level. MATT: Woo! All righty. TRAVIS: Yeah, come on. MATT: Describe this
Lightning Bolt. LAURA: Oh god. As I fly up, my eyes light up and smoke starts to
come out of of my eyes. SAM: Oh no. LAURA: I'm going to freak out and hold my hand out and try to shoot a Lightning
Bolt from my hands. MATT: All right. As
you back up your arm, you watch as energy seems to
gather at your shoulder like (crackling) (powerful bolt) TRAVIS: Yeah, dope.
MATT: As it arcs outward, you see it arcs about 15 feet.
TRAVIS: That's dope! MATT: At first you
think you miss, but you actually
pull your arm upward and the arc carries with it, ends up slamming
into the creature and tearing through it, just narrowly missing
you in the process. SAM: Ah! MATT: That is going to be a
failure, I think, 15, right? LAURA: Yeah, dex save 18.
MATT: All right, so yeah, it failed its saving throw.
Roll full damage. LAURA: Okay, so that's nine--
SAM: Is that eight, 9d6? LAURA: 9d6, because I
rolled it at a 4th-level.
MATT: 4th-level, yeah. TRAVIS: Damn.
LAURA: One, two, three, four, five, six.
TRAVIS: That's a sick description. LAURA: Seven, eight, you mean--
TRAVIS: As she's doing that, are any of the markings
on her arm changed, like, the post-bamf out?
SAM: The veins or whatever? MATT: You can't tell
from this distance. TRAVIS: Okay. Oh shit.
LAURA: Okay. TRAVIS: I don't like
the way you said that. LAURA: Okay. Three, seven, 11, 24. SAM: (quick breaths) TRAVIS: I know. (laughs) I just want to take a nap! Please! LAURA: It's not great. 33.
TRAVIS: Baby is tired! MATT: 33 points of damage. (crackling) It slams into
the creature. You watch as it recoils
and ends up backing up against the large outcropping
of stone behind it and backs up across
it halfway before preparing itself
for what its next round is going to be. Does that
finish your turn, Imogen? LAURA: Oh god. I mean... Yeah, I'm going to
use my sorcery points to regain a spell slot. MATT: You got it.
LAURA: As my bonus action. MATT: Go for it.
All right. Finishing up
your go, Chetney. TRAVIS: Chetney's a-running. Chetney is running that way. MATT: This way? (laughs)
TRAVIS: Yeah, I'm trying to wide out
as, yeah, 35 feet, and then maybe
I'll knock off, I won't go that far. Maybe I'll stay
over hereish. MATT: You got it.
TRAVIS: A little closer. Yeah, okay. I'm going to
take out, ooh! I'm going to take
out Turmoil and unleash the scythe with
the magic word: Done! I'm going to cast Shatter at the butt of this thing.
MATT: Ooh! (explosion) The ice section over here
on this side of the cavern splinters and explodes, sending shards of
ice all across the back of this creature,
protecting you-- SAM: Oh, great. MATT: As all that blast
actually sinks towards the back
of its body. Is it a constitution
saving throw? TRAVIS: Yes, it is. MATT: Ugh, natural two. TRAVIS: Yahoo! MATT: That's a 10. TRAVIS: Great,
it's a 14 save. MATT: Yeah, so it fails.
Roll damage on that. TRAVIS: Amazing, so I'm aiming
at the bottom of that column. Maybe some rocks will
fall, I don't know. We'll see how
lucky we get. Eight, eight. MATT: The back of this
one here, you said? TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: Okay, got you. TRAVIS: See if we get that
archway to go down, too. MATT: This is gone. You completely destroy that
piece of ice terrain and you can see damage at the base of this.
LAURA: Like salt it. TRAVIS: That's 19 points
of thunder damage. LAURA and MATT: Nice. MATT: All right.
(booming explosion) It echoes
through the chamber. You see as icicles fall
from the ceiling, the actual blast
of the sound and energy the inside causes
a few elements of the cavern to shake free. You know, snow, dust, and
chunks of ice fall for a moment before it comes to settle. TRAVIS: With my bonus action, I'm going to use the scythe
like a back scratcher and pull up and there'll
be flames dancing off the top of the scythe. Six points. MATT: All righty.
(fire whooshes) The scythe is now
filled with flames. TRAVIS: It's a lot of damage
that I just took. I didn't need
to do that. Jesus. TRAVIS and MATT: (laugh) TRAVIS: Okay. MATT: I'm sure you're
fine. You're fine. TRAVIS: I'm fine.
MATT: You're fine. All right.
ASHLEY: All right. TRAVIS: I've seen this
mistake made before. MATT: It's about this time, Chetney--
SAM: Oh no. What does that mean?
MATT: -- that you, as you run past and have the explosion, all the dust and ice
begins to settle, that you see more movement
behind this creature in the cavern. LAURA: Oh no. MATT: Two shapes running from
the mouth of this cavern, MATT: Two shapes running from
the mouth of this cavern, joining up behind
this creature, and you realize you are
outgunned by this creature and quickly becoming
matched in numbers. But these are
smaller, though. You hear a loud crack,
like a gunshot. (booms) Could I invite the other two
players to the table, please? SAM: (cackles)
TRAVIS: What? What? (shouting)
(cheering) TRAVIS: What's up? AABRIA: Excuse me. (cheering)
(screaming) SAM: The rescue party
has arrived! AABRIA: Hi! I love you!
ASHLEY: I love you! Oh my god. TRAVIS and AABRIA:
(excited noises) TRAVIS: Oh no! LAURA: Oh my god. MATT: Got to get the
hugs out, you know. SAM: One second. ASHLEY: Oh my god.
Oh my god. TRAVIS: We got people!
ASHLEY: Yes! TRAVIS: We got people!
MATT: Hey! AABRIA: Oh, it's
bad here. We leave. TRAVIS: Unless they're baddies.
MATT: (laughs) AABRIA: That's bad,
no thank you. CHRISTIAN: I cast Fireball
on the group. (laughter) LAURA: Oh my god.
MATT: That would be amazing.
LAURA: Oh my god. They come in, and they just kill us.
AABRIA: We got to go! SAM: I like how there's--
ASHLEY: OMG. SAM: -- instructions for
us up there. "Scoot to yellow
mark close to you." MATT: There you go.
AABRIA: That's for me! Kyle, don't be mad.
I did it. (laughter) ASHLEY: We did it, we did it.
MATT: So, welcome to the table, Christian Navarro
and Aabria Iyengar. AABRIA: Hi!
TRAVIS: Holy shit. MATT: Let's have you both roll
initiative so we can put you in this initiative order,
if you don't mind. LAURA: Oh my gosh. AABRIA: Okay! It's only plus one, 17. MATT: 17, all right,
what's your dexterity? AABRIA: Not great!
TRAVIS: (laughs) AABRIA: It's a 12.
MATT: Got you. TRAVIS: Not good.
LAURA: I like how Ashley and I AABRIA: Hey, guess who
I'm not! Laerryn! LAURA: -- took over this
side of the table. Sorry. AABRIA: This is going to hurt.
TRAVIS: Oh! MATT: All righty, Christian. CHRISTIAN: Five. LAURA: Oh, look, five,
just like, I rolled five, and Chet rolled five. SAM: Rollies, Rollies. LAURA: What's your dexterity? CHRISTIAN: 19.
LAURA: Oh. MATT: Yeah, you're going first.
ASHLEY: Okay. CHRISTIAN: Okay. MATT: All right, so--
ASHLEY: All right. TRAVIS: You got
high dexterity. MATT: So out of the shadows
after this loud crack, you see two figures begin
to step into the light of the torch that
you were carrying. If you wouldn't mind
describing what they see as you approach.
AABRIA: Oh my god. MATT: We'll start with you.
AABRIA: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: Sure,
okay, you see-- SAM: Also, introduce yourself to the people.
LAURA: Oh yeah. AABRIA: Yeah! CHRISTIAN: I am
Christian Navarro. (cheering) CHRISTIAN: And I am overjoyed
to be here. (cheering) CHRISTIAN: And this is-- LAURA: Not looking.
CHRISTIAN: Not looking. We'll just go with--
SAM: We'll get there later. CHRISTIAN: You see an emerald green, rose gold framed, plated Aeormaton. TRAVIS, ASHLEY, and LAURA:
(gasping) TRAVIS: What?
CHRISTIAN: In a very elegant, beautifully designed,
emerald green trench coat with a collar up that
sort of frames his neck. Their neck, pardon me. A rose gold plated face
that is feminine in appearance A rose gold plated face
that is feminine in appearance and slender and soft. You see that there is no
sleeve on the right arm. Instead, the Aeormaton configuring has broken apart so that you can see
the inner workings, where you see a
blunderbuss gun. SAM: Whoa!
TRAVIS: (sharply inhales) MATT: Where the smoke is
currently pouring from from that crack shot
you just heard. TRAVIS: You got the big
funnel nozzle, like the big-- Oh, you rule.
CHRISTIAN: The arm would come apart and the nozzle would
sort of poke out from-- SAM: You got wheels or legs? CHRISTIAN: I got, I
have legs, yes. LAURA: You got legs.
MATT: And much taller than you. CHRISTIAN: Yes, I'm about
six feet tall. LAURA and ASHLEY: Ooh. CHRISTIAN: A muscular frame. The plating is textured
like Guilloché. SAM: Oh, I love it, you're
wearing your own colors. LAURA: I know.
CHRISTIAN: Yes. ASHLEY: No!
MATT: (laughs) TRAVIS: Holy shit. CHRISTIAN: And that is what you see.
ASHLEY: Oh my god. MATT: All right, and
coming alongside, Aabria, do you want to
describe what they can see? AABRIA: At roughly
half of their height, you see a little gnome. She's got dark skin and
chubby cheeks that are red and frosty
with the cold. She's wearing heavy
plate in gold. You can see, even prominently
from the back, a massive symbol of the
Dawnfather around her waist. TRAVIS, SAM, and ASHLEY: Oh.
AABRIA: But over top of that, a beautifully chunky knit pale pink sweater
blanket situation. TRAVIS: What? AABRIA: She sort of
runs up in Uggs. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Uggs? Yeah! SAM: She's, like, comfy?
AABRIA: Yeah. MATT: I love it. AABRIA: I'm cozy, bo. TRAVIS: Is she packing
any obvious weaponry? MATT: You can't really tell at this distance.
AABRIA: Yeah. TRAVIS: Okay, okay, okay. AABRIA: He's running by me.
MATT: Yeah. LAURA: We're
kind of blocking. TRAVIS: Oh, oh, oh! AABRIA: They're next to me.
TRAVIS: Oh, oh! MATT: With that, we're at
top of the initiative order. Fearne, you're up,
with FCG on deck. SAM: Oh smack.
ASHLEY: Oh. All right!
MATT: So you see some more things, some new figures
rush from behind. Things are going
south already. What do you do?
SAM: We got company. ASHLEY: All right, do they
look like friendlies? MATT: They look smaller. ASHLEY: Do we know where
the shot was coming, was going towards, or we didn't see any of that?
MATT: You don't, you just see smoke emanating
from this entity. SAM: Did it hit?
MATT: If you want to make a quick insight
check for me, I can help you gauge that.
ASHLEY: Sure. SAM: Did it hit the creature? TRAVIS: Yeah, we didn't
see any, like-- MATT: You didn't see
any impact, no. ASHLEY: Dirty 20. AABRIA: Ooh!
MATT: Dirty 20? They certainly don't
seem to be in league with this creature. ASHLEY: All right. Okay.
MATT: From what you can tell. TRAVIS: I mean, it's help,
but they're shit aim. ASHLEY: I'm going
to peek around. (laughter) ASHLEY: I'm going to peek
around and I am going to cast--
AABRIA: Can I hear that? MATT: Yeah, you heard it,
but you didn't see where it was coming from.
AABRIA: Okay, okay. ASHLEY: I'm going to catch
Scorching Ray. MATT: Okay.
SAM: Scorching Ray. ASHLEY: At 3rd-level. All right, so third, so
that'll give me three. MATT: It's three normally,
so it would be-- ASHLEY: It's three normally.
MATT: Four on the next level, I think? ASHLEY: I'm a little
confused by this, because I keep, I'm reading-- MATT: Well, it depends
on what level. Well, it's every
two levels, I think. ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah,
yeah, okay. LAURA: Oh, so yeah,
don't cast it up. ASHLEY: All right, yeah,
I'll deal with it. MATT: No, you create
an additional ray for each level
above second. So yeah, it would be four rays,
if you do it at 3rd-level. ASHLEY: Let's do it.
MATT: All right. TRAVIS: Let's do it. MATT: First one is? ASHLEY: 15? MATT: 15 misses,
unfortunately. (whooshes)
It goes wide past it. You see this flame column
shoot off and-- ASHLEY: Shit! MATT: -- hit the top
of the cavern. AABRIA: Language! ASHLEY: 16. MATT: 16 unfortunately
misses, as well. ASHLEY: 16 misses as well?
MATT: 16 misses as well. TRAVIS: Fearne, stop
fucking around! SAM: It's the cold, it's
the freezing cold. ASHLEY: 19!
MATT: 19 hits. SAM: Hey.
ASHLEY: All right, good grief. All right. CHRISTIAN: These are
so pretty. ASHLEY: Aren't they so lovely?
LAURA: Aren't they? AABRIA: That's good.
ASHLEY: Seven points of damage. MATT: Seven points of damage.
(impacts) As the flames impact, you could see its frozen
outer scale layer seems to blacken unnaturally quick
in the presence of flames. So it actually takes 14. LAURA: Oh good. ASHLEY: Oh, okay.
LAURA: You guys, use fire damage. TRAVIS: Fire damage. ASHLEY: 17.
MATT: 17 just hits. ASHLEY: Okay!
LAURA: I can't do fire damage. ASHLEY: Nine. MATT: Got you, so that's
18 points of fire damage to it.
ASHLEY: All right, all right. MATT: The two columns
of flame impact it. (monster roars) It looks like it
didn't enjoy that, and it looks over
in your direction. (monster roars) You see the icicle breath
around its outside of its open jaws. The strange,
needle-like teeth are semi-translucent
in its mouth. It seems to immediately,
in a fit of fury, begin to pull that inhaled
breath in once more and it regenerates
its breath. LAURA: Oh no.
ASHLEY: Oh no, oh no. LAURA: Oh no. ASHLEY: Oh no, oh no.
MATT: So, Fearne-- LAURA: I'm going to die
if he goes-- Oh no, no. MATT: Fearne, anything else
you want to do your turn? You going to stay put?
You want to move? ASHLEY: I'm going to,
I'm going to, I'm going to-- I'm going to stay put
behind, I'm going to make, I want to be behind. I want to be behind that so
that stuff can't bother me. MATT: You got it. Okay.
ASHLEY: Okay. MATT: That finishes your go.
ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: FCG, you're up. ASHLEY: Oh boy. SAM: Well, I don't
know what to do. I got to get out of
here, but I cain't, so-- ASHLEY: "Cain't"?
SAM: I cain't. LAURA: Where's that?
Where was that? SAM: So I'm going to-- I will, saw blade's
still spinning. I will rake it across
the beast's chest and see if I can
hit this time. MATT: You got it. SAM: Terrible, no, misses. MATT: (laughs) (woosh) TRAVIS: Get out
of there, FCG! SAM: I'm going to rotate
around it without leaving its melee if possible, and--
MATT: Four, five, six, you can get right about
there, if you want. SAM: Then I will,
I got to do damage. I'm going to cast
Spiritual Weapon on it. MATT: Okay. All right. SAM: I was told to hit
it with something hot. TRAVIS: Yeah. SAM: So I will make
my spiritual weapon in the form of
Nick Jonas. TRAVIS: What the fuck.
(laughter) ASHLEY: Who's that?
(laughter) MATT: He's a historical bard who came from the
College of the White Duke 40 years ago in Tal'Dorei. TRAVIS: The College of the White Duke.
AABRIA: He is burning up for you, baby. MATT: I'm going to say
this mace represents-- SAM: Sure.
MATT: -- Spiritual Nick Jonas. SAM: This is cast--
MATT: The great bard of Tal'Dorei. SAM: This is cast
at 4th-level. MATT: Okay.
SAM: See if it can hit. Okay. 17. MATT: 17 hits.
SAM: Okay, okay, I did something.
AABRIA: (laughs) MATT: So that's
two weapon dice. SAM: Yep. Terrible.
LAURA: That's so cool. SAM: Awful. AABRIA: Roll better. SAM: That is seven points. But can I also do
Divine Strike into this? MATT: Divine Strike is
your physical attack. SAM: It says a weapon. This spell is
Spiritual Weapon. MATT: It does say weapon attack.
SAM: (laughs) MATT: I'll allow it, why not? (cheering)
AABRIA: Yay! MATT: Why not? LAURA: Why didn't I ever fight
for that in the last campaign? TRAVIS: It's the only thing
you didn't fight for. SAM: So that's 14. MATT: 14. Okay. SAM: We can look at
the rules later, Matt. MATT: I'll allow it in this instance.
SAM: Thank you. AABRIA: It's good to be back.
MATT: (laughs) All right. That
finish your turn? SAM: Yes.
MATT: All right. You're up. AABRIA: Okay. Hey, what's happening? What are you doing? I just yell--
SAM: Who are you? AABRIA: What? What are
you doing in that-- TRAVIS: Help us! MATT: You do see this small,
in some ways familiar, metallic form to
your companion, though in a squatter and
wheel-based physical apparatus. AABRIA: I'm going to look over,
but I would not assume that all automatons
know each other. (laughter)
AABRIA: That would be bad. I'm just going to-- SAM: We have a handshake. AABRIA: Yeah. (laughs) Does everyone look
kind of jacked up, the people that I can see? MATT: The people you can
get a glance at, they're not having fun. AABRIA: Okay.
TRAVIS: Please. AABRIA: Let's attempt a
Mass Healing Word. SAM and ASHLEY: Ooh.
MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: All right.
MATT: All right. ASHLEY: All right. MATT: The range on that is-- AABRIA: It's 60 feet out
and a 60-foot diameter. TRAVIS: You helping us?
MATT: Okay, do you want to get closer? Because come of the folk
over here a bit far away. AABRIA: Ooh, ooh. Sure, yeah. I'm going to skirt me out
that way and try to-- MATT: Over this way?
AABRIA: Yeah. MATT: Okay. TRAVIS: You're
most welcome here. AABRIA: Do I hear that? MATT: (laughs) I don't know.
TRAVIS: There's a sound coming from beyond the rocks on the other side. MATT: Yep, that'll do it.
AABRIA: What is happening? Okay.
MATT: All right, so that'll get
everybody but Fearne. ASHLEY: I'm okay. I'm okay.
That's perfect, actually. MATT: So roll
Mass Healing Word for everybody there.
AABRIA: Yeah. Oh god. Okay. MATT: Mass Healing Word or
do you mean Mass Cure Wound. AABRIA: Mass Healing Word. MATT: Mass Healing Word is-- AABRIA: 3d8 plus my
spellcasting which is-- SAM: 3d4.
AABRIA: 23. MATT: Mass Healing Word is 1d4
plus your spellcasting modifier. SAM: 1d4 or 3d4?
AABRIA: I didn't read that. Oh, it's 3d4,
what am I doing? Get out of here, Aabria. I've never played D&D before. ASHLEY: Look at those dice!
MATT: At a 3rd-level spell, it's 1d4 plus your
spellcasting modifier. SAM: Oh, just one. MATT: Just one.
LAURA: Yeah, Mass Healing Word is balls. AABRIA: It does
suck, I forgot. SAM: He said 1d4. AABRIA: It's just one? MATT: Yeah, unless you
cast it at a higher level. AABRIA: I'm going
to cast it-- MATT: If you cast it
at 5th-level-- AABRIA: Hold on, hold on, hold on.
MATT: -- then it's 3d4. AABRIA: Do I have to touch? CHRISTIAN: That's a problem.
AABRIA: No, it's a 60-foot radius. Can I change that
to Mass Cure Wounds so I can give you
my original roll? MATT: Sure. Yeah.
AABRIA: Cool. Sweet, because I don't
have to touch them. MATT: Yeah, Mass Cure
Wounds you don't have to. AABRIA: Yeah, we're doing
Mass Cure Wounds at 5th-level. MATT: So yeah, so that is
exactly what you did then. AABRIA: That's what
I meant to do, and that's what I
said the whole time. MATT: (laughs)
AABRIA: I don't know what everyone's talking about.
MATT: It's all good. We got this, we got this. AABRIA: Yeah. Okay, yeah. At 5th-level that's going
to do 30 points of healing. LAURA: Whoa.
SAM: Ooh. ASHLEY: Sheesh!
AABRIA: As I grab my symbol of the Dawnfather and all of you feel--
ASHLEY: That was needed. LAURA: That's clutch.
AABRIA: -- like you're walking from the shadow into
the light, that just, those first rays of warmth
after being in cold shadow hit you and bring you back. SAM: Wow.
ASHLEY: Come on. TRAVIS: That's very
welcome right now. MATT: It's a tiny sunrise in
an unexpected bit of darkness. SAM: Oh man.
MATT: Fantastic. AABRIA: Ah! Then I want to
keep moving behind the rock. MATT: You got enough room
for two more steps there and you're good.
AABRIA: Cool. MATT: All right,
that finishes your go. Next up is the creature. LAURA: Uh-oh.
MATT: It's going to angrily-- Oh man, it is-- That loud noise definitely
caught its attention. It's going to shift around this way--
ASHLEY: Oh no. MATT: -- and is going to--
(roaring inhale) LAURA: Oh no. (roaring wind)
SAM: Oh no! MATT: -- unleash another
blast of freezing breath. TRAVIS: How dare you.
AABRIA: No, thank you. MATT: Towards the one, the
direction of the loud crack, but also the one
that's nearest to it. So I think at
FCG's direction, it's going to try and
hit both of you there. So I need--
AABRIA: Son of a bitch. I need you and FCG--
LAURA: Both of the clerics? MATT: -- to make constitution
saving throws for me, please. AABRIA: Perfect. (laughs)
SAM: Sure, sure, sure. TRAVIS: Matt, you
got no chill, bro. I don't like it. MATT: That's fine. TRAVIS: I am not down. SAM: 16 and 18. MATT: 16 and 18?
16 does not succeed. SAM: That's me.
MATT: That's you. So you take--
ASHLEY: Don't point at me. MATT: 38 points
of cold damage. CHRISTIAN: Oh my.
SAM: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm fine. LAURA: You saved
all of our lives-- SAM: You did.
LAURA: -- with your Mass Cure Wounds. MATT: You take, I think
it's 16, no, sorry-- SAM: It's 17.
MATT: 17 points. AABRIA: That's still so many. I miss Laerryn.
SAM: Wait. No. AABRIA: Can I be Laerryn?
MATT: No. SAM: No, 14-- MATT: No, 38--
I don't even fucking-- SAM: 19. 19. 19.
MATT: 19, thank you. My brain.
SAM: It's 19. TRAVIS: Could she just
be a level 20 wizard? AABRIA: Can I be
Laerryn instead? MATT: No, sorry.
AABRIA: This sucks. MATT: Sorry, she blinked
out a while back. AABRIA: Too soon! MATT: Yeah, I know.
TRAVIS: She had her chance. AABRIA: Too soon!
Shut up, Cerrit! TRAVIS: (laughs) (squawks) MATT: With that, it's
going to shift forward and close the gap here to
actually rush towards you. TRAVIS: You may not. MATT: You do get an
attack of opportunity. AABRIA: Help, help, help.
SAM: An attack of opportunity! TRAVIS: You do not! SAM: I'm going to slice
this thing one more time. This is a 17. MATT: 17 just hits. SAM: Eyy!
LAURA: Yeah! SAM: All right. TRAVIS: That aesthetic
must be protected, Matt. You may not. SAM: That's five more
points of damage. MATT: Five more points, technically
this is a different turn. SAM: It is? MATT: As a reaction, yeah.
SAM: Sure. MATT: It's like sneak attack
can happen multiple times as long as it's a
reaction attack, so. SAM: Then it's another
six points on top of it. MATT: All right, great. AABRIA: Let's go.
MATT: The creature's like (growling) It's starting to show
some wear and tear. It looks like it's-- it went from being confident
to a little nervous. Nevertheless, that
finishes its go. You're up. CHRISTIAN: I will say:
Deanna, stay behind there! And I will... I will shoot again. MATT: Go for it. AABRIA: Okay. TRAVIS: (laughs) CHRISTIAN: That is
a 25 to hit. AABRIA: Woo!
MATT: 25 definitely hits. CHRISTIAN: So then it's 2d8. Ahh, d8s. That's a d6. LAURA: That's an eight.
CHRISTIAN: Ah! I need another one. MATT: There you go. CHRISTIAN: 2d8 plus four. I don't-- is FCG in
range for sneak attack? MATT: Technically
just out of range. SAM: Yeah, because
he just left my-- CHRISTIAN: No problem. Two, seven, nine plus
four. 13 points of damage. MATT: 13 points of damage. CHRISTIAN: Bonus action,
reload. LAURA: Christian's
good at math-- CHRISTIAN: Attack.
LAURA: You guys. MATT: Go for it. CHRISTIAN: Second shots. MATT: (gun firing)
CHRISTIAN: 25 again. MATT: Woof, all right,
roll damage another time. CHRISTIAN: That's
not so good. Three plus four,
seven points of damage. MATT: Still 20 in one round. CHRISTIAN: Action surge. MATT: Go for it.
AABRIA: Let's go. CHRISTIAN: Take a third shot. AABRIA: Get 'em! CHRISTIAN: Is that a--
that's a six or nine? When it's down, it's the-- TRAVIS: Six.
CHRISTIAN: A six. So plus 10, 16. MATT: 16 just misses. AABRIA: Oh, shoot.
(groaning) CHRISTIAN: But that's a new
action, because I action surged. MATT: You did, but it
takes an action to reload. CHRISTIAN: Right, but
I can bonus action and reload it on the second. MATT: You only get one
bonus action, though. CHRISTIAN: So that's that
and then I will-- I would stand there
and say: Hey, fight me. SAM and LAURA: Oh. CHRISTIAN: And
that's my turn. MATT: Okay, you got it.
Finishing your go. That brings us to Imogen,
with Chetney on deck. LAURA: Okay. I'm going to fly up. MATT: Cool. LAURA: And try to get--
MATT: And away. LAURA: I'm going to
just fly away. Bye, guys. If I can get around here
so I can do a-- I want to shoot a Lightning
Bolt through its head. SAM: Ooh.
LAURA: Without hitting-- MATT: Yeah, you can do that from about here.
LAURA: This new friend that has just arrived. MATT: Yeah, you can do that. LAURA: So I'm going to
bring my arm back and going to (gunshot) again. MATT: Okay.
SAM: (gun cocking, firing). MATT: Go ahead and
roll damage dice. It's here with--
LAURA: Dexterity. MATT: Dex save.
LAURA: No wait, is it-- Yeah, it's a dex save.
MATT: Dex save, yeah. 14, lower than last time. LAURA: All right.
MATT: So no. SAM: Whoa.
CHRISTIAN: My gosh. LAURA: Oh, that's better. MATT: It's a lot of dice. LAURA: That's a 10. Six, no, 16, 17,
18, 19, blech. 23, 27. Oh, it's like... 31. So less than last time.
AABRIA: Woo. MATT: 31 points of
lightning damage. (lighting crackling) As it arcs through
it a second time, you can see it leaves
this burn mark across the back of its
long, salamander-like body. It crumples for a
second into the snow and thrashes for
a second in pain, its body reeling from
the impact of the spell before it flips around,
gathers itself again, and looks up in your
direction angrily. LAURA: Oh, it saw me. MATT: Oh yeah. LAURA: (chuckles nervously) MATT: Shift it to
represent that. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Tail whip. LAURA: We-ell. MATT: That's your movement,
that's your action. CHRISTIAN: I can't fly! LAURA: Yeah, I used all
my movement to do that. Yeah, that's all
I'm going to do. MATT: All right, now
it is Chetney's go. TRAVIS: Yeah! Bitch. I'm going to run--
AABRIA: Land fish. TRAVIS: -- into the archway because my little legs,
they can't carry me that far. I'm going to
get up on the ledge and then I will use
with my bonus action Blood Curse of Bloated Agony. MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: On this thing. TRAVIS: "30 feet of me
until my next turn-- "The creature has disadvantage
on strength and dex checks. "It takes 1d8 of
necrotic damage if "it makes more than
one attack on its turn." MATT: You got it. TRAVIS: I'm going
to then (babbles) and I'm going to
peek back behind, take cover behind the rock since he's spitting
cone of cold shit. MATT: Okay, you got it. That finish your turn? TRAVIS: Yeah, he's wielding
freon with viciousness. MATT: Okay, all right. Top of the round. Fearne,
you're up, with FCG on deck. ASHLEY: All right, I'm
going to peek back around. I'm going to
Scorching Ray again. MATT: Go for it. ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: 3rd-level, 2nd-level? ASHLEY: Let's do-- Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Let's do 3rd-level. SAM: Don't hit Nick Jonas.
MATT: All righty. (laughter) ASHLEY: I can't
make any promises. Magic is a little
weird right now. 19.
MATT: 19 hits. TRAVIS: Nice.
ASHLEY: Okay. 17. MATT: 17? That hits.
AABRIA: Nice. ASHLEY: Ooh, natural 19. MATT: That hits.
TRAVIS: Ooh. ASHLEY: That's a natural one. MATT: Okay. But
that's three hits. That's 6d6 damage doubled. ASHLEY: Okay,
starting with five. AABRIA: That's
my handwriting. ASHLEY: Eight.
TRAVIS: Hmm? AABRIA: Yeah.
MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: Seven? MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: Seven. 15. What was the first one? MATT: It was eight-- The
five, eight, seven, right? Remember?
ASHLEY: Five, eight, seven. MATT: Yeah.
ASHLEY: So-- MATT: So that's 20.
ASHLEY: 20. MATT: 40 points
of fire damage. How do you want to do this? (cheering)
ASHLEY: What?! Oh! All right, all right. So I'm going to peek around and the fire-- MATT: (growling) ASHLEY: Oh, hello. SAM: (laughs) ASHLEY: As I make
eyes at him, I'm going to shoot
the Scorching Rays, one through each eye and
one through his mouth. SAM: Nice.
MATT: (laughs) Perfect. Like, well-- This is like making a smiley
face in the snow, but-- ASHLEY: Yeah.
(laughter) TRAVIS: Happy little jack-o-lantern.
AABRIA: Nice. MATT: All right,
so (blasting) as they all blast in, it rears back and is
ready to blast out, to destroy FCG and probably
you in the process as it begins to charge. Then (fire blasts) impacts. There's left behind these
two black cinder holes where its eyes were. It seems to try and
exhale and just, (dry cough), this cough of dark
smoke as it lumbers forward-- SAM: Oh no.
MATT: -- and is about to step on you, FCG, before it collapses
into the snow and you watch as now the
cold air begins to freeze ever so slightly over
the outside of its skin, it no longer moving. SAM: Whoa! ASHLEY: Whoa!
SAM: Whoa! ASHLEY: Whoa.
SAM: Whoa! AABRIA: What?
CHRISTIAN: Deanna? AABRIA: Yeah?
CHRISTIAN: Are you okay? AABRIA: I'm fine. How are you?
CHRISTIAN: Oh, I'm fine. TRAVIS: We're friendlies! Friendlies. ASHLEY: Friendlies.
AABRIA: Okay. LAURA: Who are you?
AABRIA: I walk out. Hi, my name's Deanna. ASHLEY: Hi.
AABRIA: Do I see him? MATT: Yeah.
AABRIA: Okay. No! Oh my god. As I live and breathe. SAM: Wait, you know--
TRAVIS: No, it's-- SAM: You know each other? TRAVIS: No, couldn't be.
AABRIA: Mm-hmm. SAM: You couldn't be.
What do you mean? TRAVIS: Mm-mm. SAM: You know each other?
You're from here. ASHLEY: Wait. SAM: Wait, are you a gnome?
AABRIA: (gasps) Yes.
ASHLEY: Has he talked about his-- LAURA: Wait--
AABRIA: She said in character. LAURA: Is it out of
character that we heard-- SAM: Hold on, I'm going to go--
LAURA: -- him talk about before? SAM: I take notes,
I take notes. ASHLEY: Yeah, there was
somebody that he talked about. SAM: I'm looking. I'm looking.
LAURA: Was that a character we heard? CHRISTIAN: Is that--
SAM: I'm looking. LAURA: What city was that? AABRIA: Yeah.
SAM: No, I'm looking. AABRIA: Yeah!
CHRISTIAN: Wow. AABRIA: He's still alive!
ASHLEY: He was talking about back home in Uthodurn. LAURA: Wait.
AABRIA: He's old as shit. CHRISTIAN and ASHLEY: He is old as shit.
AABRIA: Mm-hmm. CHRISTIAN: He looks
old as shit. TRAVIS: I've been around. SAM: Deanna.
TRAVIS: I've been around. LAURA: Wait, what
does it say? SAM: I wrote a heart and
it says former lover. ASHLEY: Yes, yes, yes.
MATT: (laughs) SAM: Well, it says
two names, actually, Deanna and Frudell. CHRISTIAN and AABRIA:
We don't talk about her. TRAVIS: Don't worry about it. AABRIA: We don't talk
about her! AABRIA: Hi, hey, hey. I want to walk over and
slap the shit out of him. SAM: Oh.
TRAVIS: Ah! MATT: (slap reverberating) TRAVIS: Why would
you do that? AABRIA: You know why. TRAVIS: I don't remember anything
beyond a couple years ago. AABRIA: Mm-hmm.
TRAVIS: That's not going to work. SAM: Chetney,
that's not true. You tell us about the
old days all the time. ASHLEY: All the time. All the time.
TRAVIS: Oh. AABRIA: Kill him. TRAVIS: No, no, no,
please, please, please. ASHLEY: Wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
LAURA: Wait, seriously. Don't. AABRIA: I just hide behind.
ASHLEY: Hang on. SAM: I spin my saw blade
threatening towards you. Don't you dare. CHRISTIAN: You're like me.
AABRIA: (gasps) I wasn't going to say it. LAURA: They're like you! CHRISTIAN: Are you--
Are you from Aeor? SAM: Do you-- Are you--
I don't know. I've been told that
yes, maybe, but-- You can talk. You can think? CHRISTIAN: I'll look at Deanna
as if to say, worth a shot. Do you know... D? LAURA: (gasps) D! AABRIA: You all know D.
ASHLEY: Sorry, I didn't mean to touch you. SAM: We've heard that D is the one who sold me
to somebody in the past. LAURA: I've talked to D! SAM: Yeah. ASHLEY: Do you know D?
AABRIA: What? LAURA: Well, before--
Have you guys-- You've seen all the
stuff in the sky? AABRIA: Yeah, what is that?
LAURA: This is a good conversation. AABRIA: Yeah.
LAURA: But before all of this happened, yeah,
I sent a message to D. CHRISTIAN: Did they reply? LAURA: Yeah. AABRIA: What? SAM: How do you know? AABRIA: Hey, let's all
put our hands down. TRAVIS: Hands down.
AABRIA: Not you. TRAVIS: Ah! Hands are up. CHRISTIAN: I can-- AABRIA: No.
CHRISTIAN: Okay. AABRIA: No. CHRISTIAN: The hand will turn
back into an Aeormaton's hand. SAM: Oh wow. I clumsily
remove my saw blade and hang it on a
hook on my backpack and clumsily take out
a hand and attach it. I don't have that cool
thing that you have. CHRISTIAN: Forgive me, I want
to know all of your names. But what is your name? SAM: Well, smiley day to you. My name is Fresh Cut Grass. CHRISTIAN: Smiley day. AABRIA: Oh, that's so nice.
SAM: What's yours? CHRISTIAN: I'm FRIDA. SAM: FRIDA. TRAVIS: That's a great name. SAM: FRIDA. Oh my goodness. Oh boy. I'm sorry, Imogen and Fearne, we seem to have taken
up all the conversation. These are our friends. ASHLEY: My name is Fearne. Hello.
AABRIA: Hi. CHRISTIAN: And you're Chetney.
AABRIA: You're so tall. ASHLEY: I'm very tall.
TRAVIS: Chetney Pock O'Pea-- CHRISTIAN: Oh, I know Chetney Pock O'Pea.
TRAVIS: -- from C-POP Industries. Pleased to meet you. You look love--
wonderful, by the way. AABRIA: I know. SAM: Oh. Chetney, is this
awkward because-- LAURA: Yeah. SAM: -- because of
Fearne and-- CHRISTIAN: (gasps)
SAM: You know. TRAVIS: No! No. No, no, no, no.
SAM: Because-- TRAVIS: That is not a thing. It-- Look. I made
a carving for her, and for all of
them, not just her. I made carvings for
all of them, but-- ASHLEY: I'll show you. He made me a little bull. LAURA: He made me a horse
that is supposed to move. AABRIA: I never got a carving.
ASHLEY: This is my mother. SAM: He made me
an emotion wheel. TRAVIS: Maybe if you
knew how to work it. AABRIA: What?
ASHLEY: My father. I think this was me as a baby--
CHRISTIAN: He made you all of this? ASHLEY: -- and then me as a grownup, I think.
AABRIA: All of that? SAM: I think right now
we're all surprised. TRAVIS: I was not planning on seeing--
AABRIA: Yeah, that's a good one. TRAVIS: -- a romantic
person from my back story. ASHLEY: I am not one to
get in between anything. AABRIA: No, you're good. I get it.
ASHLEY: Let it happen. Let it roll.
AABRIA: It's fine. No, it's fine, it was--
CHRISTIAN: That's so sweet. Anyone who spends
that much time creating something for you, really likes you.
AABRIA: Hundreds of years ago. You're good. SAM: Hundreds of years ago.
ASHLEY: Well, I mean... AABRIA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Hundreds? SAM: You guys were together
hundreds of years ago? AABRIA: It was-- Oh boy.
Yeah, he's old as shit. TRAVIS: Yeah, we go back a ways.
SAM: Well I know that. LAURA: Yeah, he's old as shit.
SAM: Does that mean you're old as shit too?
LAURA: We think he's going to die every time he falls asleep. AABRIA: No. Yeah. No.
No. It's a long story. And there's a corpse here. SAM: Oh.
AABRIA: Can we go anywhere else? SAM: Well, we were going
to take shelter here. Do you have a hut
or a village nearby? TRAVIS: (snickers)
AABRIA: A village? SAM: I don't know. TRAVIS: Look, we're just
going to come out with it. We kind of got--
AABRIA: You can put your hands down. TRAVIS: (sighs in relief) Oh, my shoulder
is so stiff now. We kind of got dropped
here out of nowhere, literally in the
middle of the snow. So if you could-- CHRISTIAN: Do you
know where you are? TRAVIS: Well. SAM: You told us--
TRAVIS: Roughly. CHRISTIAN: Okay. Well, we're
not too far from Uthodurn. AABRIA: We can make it
back if you guys are okay. ASHLEY: I have a question.
SAM: Do you live in Uthodurn? CHRISTIAN: Yes.
AABRIA: Yeah. SAM: Oh, why were you-- Well, you ask your
question first. ASHLEY: I wanted to
know when it was. AABRIA: When what was? SAM: Like the year
and month and day? LAURA: Oh.
ASHLEY: Yeah. LAURA: That's true, what if
it's been years since we-- CHRISTIAN: Since you--
AABRIA: Since what? LAURA: You know about
the Apogee Solstice? CHRISTIAN: Yes.
AABRIA: The what? LAURA: The Apogee Solstice. AABRIA: Is that the thing
you were talking about? CHRISTIAN: Yeah.
AABRIA: Okay. CHRISTIAN: It's the event.
AABRIA: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: Big event.
AABRIA: Mm-hmm. CHRISTIAN: Mm-hmm. AABRIA: Yeah.
LAURA: We were at the big event and a lot of stuff
was going on and then all of a sudden there
was a big flash of white, and we were no longer
there and we're here now, and I don't know if everybody
there is all right. I don't know-- TRAVIS: We were on the
continent of Marquet hours ago. CHRISTIAN: And
now you're here. AABRIA: And now you're here. CHRISTIAN: There were--
Is this all of your party? LAURA: No.
ASHLEY: No. CHRISTIAN: No.
SAM: There was lots of people at this thing
that we were at, and some of them were our
friends and they're-- We don't know where they are
and we can't reach them. Wait, you both cast magic. Well, no. You
cast magic spells. AABRIA: Yeah.
LAURA: And you-- Wait. You were a servant
of the Dawnfather? AABRIA: Yeah. SAM: What? AABRIA: What?
SAM: Why'd you say it like that? AABRIA: Mm, it's fine.
Don't worry about it. We've all just met. LAURA: Have you felt any
weird connection with him? AABRIA: Yeah. Not, not-- It felt-- A little while ago, I felt less of him, like he was leaning away. I don't know what
it means, though. LAURA: How long ago was that?
SAM: How long ago? AABRIA: Oh, a day or so. ASHLEY: That's a coincidence. CHRISTIAN: I think he
has his favorites. I do know a little magic.
And I'll walk up to you. If you don't mind, I can--
ASHLEY: Has his favorites. CHRISTIAN: You look
a little banged up. SAM: I am. CHRISTIAN: I will
cast Cure Wounds. When I do, you'll see that
on that sleeveless arm, there's an etching of
the Dawnfather symbol that will light up. It'll travel through the arm, and I'll touch your shoulder
and it's 1d8 plus six. Eight points of healing. SAM: Oh wow, thank you. CHRISTIAN: You're welcome. I've never met
another one of my kind. SAM: Me neither.
CHRISTIAN: Our kind. SAM: Wow.
CHRISTIAN: Wow, indeed. ASHLEY: Can you eat? CHRISTIAN: Well, only metal.
ASHLEY: Like, can you taste things? CHRISTIAN: No.
TRAVIS: Fearne, that's aggressive for a first meeting.
LAURA: Do you have a tongue? ASHLEY: I know!
AABRIA: Don't tell her what to do! CHRISTIAN: No.
ASHLEY: Thank you. See? Thank you.
LAURA: FCG has a big old fleshy tongue.
ASHLEY: I love you. CHRISTIAN: As in an organ?
AABRIA: I love you! Do you need any-- Are you okay?
ASHLEY: I'm okay. AABRIA: Are you sure?
ASHLEY: I'm actually doing great. AABRIA: Okay.
CHRISTIAN: All right. ASHLEY: I didn't-- SAM: The tongue comes
out when it's called. You have to say tongue three
times and then it comes out. AABRIA: I don't like whatever
I just turned back towards. That's bad.
CHRISTIAN: I don't either, that's scary. AABRIA: Imogen?
LAURA: Mm? AABRIA: Are you okay?
Do you need any-- LAURA: I'm all right
after your-- AABRIA: Okay. LAURA: -- your big help.
SAM: How are you? AABRIA: Oh, I'm fine. A little startled, but we
can deal with that later. SAM: Oh, sure.
CHRISTIAN: I have never seen anyone that
looks like you. ASHLEY: Well, I don't
know if ever seen anyone that looks like you. CHRISTIAN: Well-- ASHLEY: You're just marvelous.
CHRISTIAN: As are you. ASHLEY: Oh, thank
you. Thank you. CHRISTIAN: And your hair is gorgeous.
LAURA: Purple. Oh, thank you.
CHRISTIAN: Beautiful. LAURA: Wow, thank you.
CHRISTIAN: You're very welcome. SAM: So polite.
ASHLEY: So complimentary. LAURA: So polite.
CHRISTIAN: Oh, is that bad? ASHLEY: The rose gold--
LAURA: No, that's wonderful. It's so complimentary.
ASHLEY: Gorgeous, my god. CHRISTIAN: Am I doing well here?
AABRIA: No, you're doing great. Keep going, keep going.
TRAVIS: Your trench coat is very nice, I like the color.
LAURA: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: Thank you, I had
it made for me personally, specifically for me. I've never owned anything,
well, except the coat now. AABRIA: It's so nice.
CHRISTIAN: Thank you. AABRIA: I go
over and I'm just mending the
bottom of it like-- CHRISTIAN: She picked the fabric.
ASHLEY: It's just lovely. CHRISTIAN: She has quite an
eye for these kinds of things. AABRIA: Thank you.
TRAVIS: Were you tracking this creature? SAM: Yeah, why are you
out here in the tundra? AABRIA: We're headed
back towards Uthodurn, a place on the map that I guess
you fucking forgot existed. TRAVIS: It's been a minute.
AABRIA: Mm-hmm. You guys want to come back?
SAM: Yes, please. LAURA: It's just,
it was very cold and-- AABRIA: Oh, hold on! I want to reach into
a little pocket and pull out a really
big knit blanket. TRAVIS: Oh, thank you.
That's so considerate. AABRIA: (grunts)
TRAVIS: Oh. AABRIA: Here you go, baby. SAM: Do you knit things?
AABRIA: I do. SAM: Oh wow! Did you knit this sweater? AABRIA: I did, thank you. SAM: How long did it take? A couple weeks?
AABRIA: Oh goodness, no. Maybe like 12 hours. SAM: You mainly work--
Wow, that's great. AABRIA: Thank you.
TRAVIS: Mm-hmm. SAM: You mainly
work with yarn? AABRIA: What's wrong?
LAURA: His hat. Did you do the hat? TRAVIS: My little beanie. SAM: Did you knit
that beanie for him? AABRIA: Yeah.
SAM: (gasping) AABRIA: But it's okay,
because I didn't get a little carved
anything from him, so, you know, reciprocal. Love all your little toys,
though, it's so nice. TRAVIS: (laughs)
This is unfair. AABRIA: I told you I
was coming for your ass. (laughter) SAM: Wow, it must be
fine craftsmanship if you knitted it
for him 200 years ago. AABRIA: Yeah, I'm
very good at this. SAM: So his chosen medium
is wood and yours is yarn? TRAVIS: No! (laughter)
AABRIA: I guess you could say that. SAM: Wow!
TRAVIS: Wow! AABRIA: Well, why
don't we walk? SAM: Yes, let's
walk and talk. There's a lot of topics
we have to cover. LAURA: In Chet's head, he's
going to hear: How you doing? TRAVIS: Help. (laughter) TRAVIS: Send help. LAURA: All right. CHRISTIAN: I'll nestle up
next to Deanna and say, hopefully so no one else
hears me: Are we okay here? AABRIA: Oh, they
seem nice enough. CHRISTIAN: Many people
seem nice enough. AABRIA: Well, if
they are untoward, AABRIA: Well, if
they are untoward, we've dealt with
bad people before. Look, he's a jackass, but
I don't think he's bad. CHRISTIAN: If my
assessment is correct, I think he may still
have a thing for you. LAURA: (laughs) AABRIA: I gesture a little
bit towards Fearne like, really? Come on now.
It's hard to compete. CHRISTIAN:
Two different times. AABRIA: It's hard to compete.
CHRISTIAN: I don't know. She is gorgeous. LAURA: I'm going to take the
big blanket that Deanna gave and wrap it around both of us.
ASHLEY: Do you want to share? LAURA: Yeah. Because
it's very cold. AABRIA: It is very cold.
ASHLEY: Yeah, we got real chilly. My legs stay warm,
but everything else-- (laughter) ASHLEY: -- gets
a little nipply. What are these blue crystals? Is this anything or
it's just for flair? LAURA: Oh yeah, there's
a little blue crystally happening in the
entryway here. MATT: Yeah, if you
want to take a look, you can see that within the
interior of this chamber, it looks almost intentionally
grown ice crystals. Like they've been
cultivated by a creature to utilize as
partial enticement or some sort of a
boundary or barrier. Not sure what the
main reason is for it, but as you glance within some
of the larger clusters of it, you can see parts of
people frozen in ice that have been chomped on
and partially devoured by whatever took up
residence here until recently. ASHLEY: Nom nom nom.
CHRISTIAN: Would we know if those crystals
are valuable? CHRISTIAN: Do they carry any value?
MATT: From what you can tell, most of the crystals
you see here are based in some sort
of magical ice creation or natural ice creation. So it's not an actual
crystalline material, it's just in ice. But at the moment, the tunnel seems to be
unoccupied, which is safe. Are you pressing on
for the evening? It is a little bit past
the sun went down, so it is a cold
night's journey ahead. SAM: Will we make it? LAURA: We could camp here--
AABRIA: Oh, probably not. LAURA: -- then go
in the morning? AABRIA: Okay.
ASHLEY: Yeah. AABRIA: Please don't
try to kill us. LAURA: Oh. ASHLEY: I don't think we would.
SAM: Oh no. ASHLEY: Not unless you
tried to kill us. AABRIA: Not you.
CHRISTIAN: I won't try to kill any of you unless you try to kill her. AABRIA: Aw! SAM: How about just
no killing in general? ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we don't need to do that. We don't need to do that. CHRISTIAN: Except things like
that. We kill those things. AABRIA: Yeah. Why was
that thing attacking you? What'd you do? LAURA: No, I just think we
came into its home is all. (snickering) ASHLEY: Yeah. LAURA: I've never seen
him so quiet. Thank you. (laughter)
AABRIA: You're welcome. SAM: Oh man.
TRAVIS: My eyes don't stop watering. (laughter) SAM: Do you two have anything that we can use to make
some sort of a shelter? Because we don't have
most of our stuff right now. AABRIA: Oh yeah, because
you just appeared here. Well, we have
some camping things. CHRISTIAN: Can I
investigate this tunnel and see if it provides enough
shelter and space and all that? MATT: Yeah, sure. Make a
survival check for me. CHRISTIAN: Oh gosh.
LAURA: I'll assist. MATT: Survival
or investigation, I'll say. Your choice.
LAURA: I've made a lot of homes in-- SAM: I'll guide you. TRAVIS: What are you guys doing--
LAURA: -- random places. TRAVIS: -- out here
so late in the day this far out from Uthodurn? LAURA: You can roll with advantage
because I helped you out. CHRISTIAN: Okay,
well, that's a 20. AABRIA: Okay.
SAM: He's fine, he's fine. AABRIA: Are you adding Guidance?
CHRISTIAN: Also a 20. MATT: All right, there you go.
AABRIA: Add a d4! CHRISTIAN: Add a d4? SAM: I guided you.
AABRIA: You beat me to it. AABRIA and MATT: (laugh) CHRISTIAN: Oh, did you?
Two. So that's a 22. MATT: The race for Guidance
I'm kind of here for. ASHLEY: Guidance!
MATT: Take it! ASHLEY: No, take mine!
AABRIA: (laughs) MATT: This tunnel, it looks
like there's a partial collapse towards the back of
it about 300 feet in, but the ground
actually rises up to be not quite
as snow-covered. Actually, the snow looks
like it was blown only a certain ways
deeper into this tunnel. Eventually, it
just becomes rock. That would be
probably a safer and warmer space
to set up camp. From what best you can tell, there aren't signs
of any other entity taking up residence
at the moment. CHRISTIAN: After
a quick scan, I believe that this tunnel provides all the
benefits of cover and we should be
safe for the evening. AABRIA: Okay!
Let's set up camp! SAM: Okay, and we do. ASHLEY: I can make
a little fire. MATT: Make a little fire.
AABRIA: Thank you. MATT: Kind of arrange
yourselves in a way for a semi-comfortable
night's rest, but eventually you settle down
arrangements for the evening and prepare for
a night's sleep. Is there anything anyone
would wish to do, or--? SAM: So much.
(laughter) SAM: There's lots
of topics to cover. AABRIA: Yeah.
SAM: I don't want to chew up too much of your
ears here, but-- AABRIA: No, you're good.
SAM: Can you tell us-- I mean, I want to know
all about you two. ASHLEY: Yeah. SAM: Whatever you're comfortable
in sharing, though. It sounds like there's a
little bit of tension there and I don't want there to be any unpleasant
memories trudged up. But you guys met
a long time ago and--? ASHLEY: Yeah, how'd you meet?
SAM: Where? AABRIA: Why don't you tell it?
TRAVIS: Oh. AABRIA: What do you remember?
(laughter) TRAVIS: (stammering) Me?
AABRIA: Yep. SAM: How long
were you together? AABRIA: Oh, not that long. TRAVIS: Forever.
It was-- (laughs) (laughter)
CHRISTIAN: Oh gosh. TRAVIS: You know, there were
nights of white-hot passion, and mornings that I
don't remember as much, but it was-- I mean, we had
a wonderful time together. AABRIA: It was a fling,
years and years ago. It didn't end when I wanted
it to end, but that's okay. We have beautiful memories. Then I, shortly thereafter, met my husband.
So it was fine. SAM: Oh, you're married?
AABRIA: Complicated. Don't worry about it.
SAM: Where is he? Who's he or she? CHRISTIAN: Oh, that's
a touchy subject. AABRIA: Yeah.
CHRISTIAN: Maybe another time. AABRIA: Yeah.
SAM: Oh, I'm sorry. AABRIA: Sweet.
TRAVIS: I'm so glad to hear that you were able to
find true happiness, and that you were able to
find true happiness, and it's very good to see you. You seem like you're
doing very well. AABRIA: Thanks.
TRAVIS: Yeah. AABRIA: Not bad for
someone who died. LAURA: Wait, what?
SAM: What? Who died? AABRIA: Oh yeah, the
age disparity here. We're supposed to be
roughly the same age. Maybe two or three years? No, it's got to be five
because I got back to Uthodurn and that's when I met Dustel, and we had a little family, and then I was
brutally killed. SAM: Wait, what?
ASHLEY: Excuse me? AABRIA: I got better. But that would explain
the May-Summer thing or May-December thing
you're seeing right here. SAM: Wait, one of
our friends died and was brought back
to life as well. AABRIA: Oh.
SAM: But you don't look like her.
LAURA: She looks very different than you.
SAM: Yeah. TRAVIS: How were you
killed? What happened? AABRIA: Look, I came up
here after our time because I wanted to
see where you came from. Now that I'm
thinking about it, Greying Wildlands
explains the monsters. And I point out at that. I was at a small event
with some friends for Midsummer Festival
and we were attacked. SAM: Attacked?
AABRIA: Yeah. SAM: This was long, long ago,
like after you were with Chet? AABRIA: Oh yeah. What
was that, like mid 600s? SAM: You were attacked
by creatures? People? AABRIA: No, it was
a big creature. CHRISTIAN: Deanna, you don't
have to talk about it if you-- ASHLEY: No, no, no, I think you do, actually.
SAM: Yeah, yeah, we don't have to-- Oh. Oh, okay.
TRAVIS: I'm caught off guard. ASHLEY: Sorry.
TRAVIS: It's not every day you learn that
someone you knew-- Were you-- I'm sorry. AABRIA: Thanks. Got better.
(laughs nervously) LAURA: How?
SAM: Recently? AABRIA: Yeah, maybe
a year or two ago? SAM: Oh my gosh. LAURA: Dawnfather
related, I'm assuming? AABRIA: Yeah. After my passing, my husband became
an adventurer. SAM: Oh. AABRIA: Towards the
end of his career, he found a cleric
of the Dawnfather that was able
to resurrect me. SAM: Oh!
LAURA: Wow. ASHLEY: Wow.
TRAVIS: Years after? AABRIA: Yeah. ASHLEY: How many years? CHRISTIAN: Too many. AABRIA: Almost 200. AABRIA: So, he kept you
with him the whole time? AABRIA: No, I passed on. SAM: So, you were in the
ground or something? LAURA: You were with the gods.
CHRISTIAN: She was happy. AABRIA: I was wherever
you go next. Imagine life is like
being like a snowflake, Imagine life is like
being like a snowflake, and you are
fragile and discreet, and you dance on the wind, but when you cross over, it's like landing
on the ocean. For a little bit, you're
a snowflake on the ocean. But after a while, you melt and you are the ocean. It's hard to come back
from something like that. CHRISTIAN: Because
you shouldn't. AABRIA: Not now. TRAVIS: What about
your family? AABRIA: It's okay.
They've grown up. They have families
of their own. ASHLEY: Do they
know you're alive? AABRIA: Dustel
knows, my husband. SAM: Is he old?
LAURA: Did he move on? AABRIA: Old as shit
just like Chetney. TRAVIS: Well, look. LAURA: Old as shit. Let's--
AABRIA: Thank you. SAM: But you're
still together? AABRIA: No, he moved on. SAM: He moved on? But
he brought you back. AABRIA: He kept a promise. SAM: Huh. Wow.
AABRIA: Anyway, that's so heavy. SAM: That's so
heavy. We just met. AABRIA: I have
stew. I have stew. SAM: You carry stew?
ASHLEY: I love a good stew. AABRIA: Yeah. What? Do
you want to get hungry? SAM: Why did you break up
with this woman? AABRIA: (laughs)
SAM: She's fantastic! She carries around-- AABRIA: I'm going
to go busy myself in the corner over the fire. LAURA: Is there any wood
in here, anything we can-- MATT: There's no kindling
within the inside, but you're able to
create a fire magically that can be maintained.
LAURA: Okay, great. TRAVIS: I'll just cut
a couple fingers off. You could start it, it's cool.
(laughter) ASHLEY: Wait, so how
are you all friends? CHRISTIAN: Well,
about two years ago, I woke up pretty close
to here, actually. I found my way to Uthodurn, lost, alone, very confused as
to why I was here. I spent a few days
watching, learning, and I heard her laughter. I realized then that one
of my primary functions as an Aeormaton probably in
the past was to record. I have recordings
of everyone's laughter that I've ever met. Hers was unique and yet familiar. It felt as if I was reminded that my programming
was to protect. I imagined this is
what home feels like. So I protect her. AABRIA: I protect you, too.
CHRISTIAN: Of course you do. AABRIA: A little bit. CHRISTIAN: But I-- Like Deanna, I was gone, asleep, charged off for a long time. Then I was woken up by D, and I don't understand why. SAM: He didn't give you,
or, is it a he, D? SAM: He didn't give you,
or, is it a he, D? CHRISTIAN: I don't know if-- SAM: Did he give you any
instructions or guidance or-- You met him? CHRISTIAN: No. I didn't
meet him or them. All I know is wherever I was, I was happy, or at least there was
the absence of sad. I was ripped from that and brought back to
serve something else. And I think that's selfish. It seems like the gods like to play games
with our lives. ASHLEY: I think you're right. SAM: But you have a symbol
of the gods on you. CHRISTIAN: I'm grateful that the
Dawnfather brought Deanna to me and she's taking care of me,
this is emblematic of that. AABRIA: I will never
let you die. (laughs) (laughter) AABRIA: Do you
need more stew? TRAVIS: Yes. Oh. AABRIA: Yeah, yeah,
yeah. This is so heavy. LAURA: Is that around the
same time you woke up? SAM: It is roughly
the same time. CHRISTIAN: Have
you spoken to them? SAM: Well, just
through remote means. I don't know him at all. I don't know why
I was brought back, but I've done some digging and I found out that my original
purpose as not to protect. It was quite the opposite. CHRISTIAN: What do you mean? SAM: I'm not assuming that you
were created like I was at all, but-- it feels like my purpose
in the last few years has been to make
people feel better. CHRISTIAN: That's good.
SAM: To protect their feelings. AABRIA: Aw.
SAM: But it also seems like I was created
to do the opposite a long time ago. Maybe instead to convince
people that I was nice to let me inside their walls and then kill them. AABRIA: Hey, can I insight check?
MATT: Yes, you may. AABRIA: Yeah, that
seems stressful. LAURA: Wait, was it
you that messaged D? It was you that messaged D.
SAM: It was me. LAURA: I'm an asshole. SAM: That's okay.
ASHLEY: I thought you did, too. LAURA: I thought it was me.
AABRIA: 26. SAM: You're the
main character. LAURA: No, don't say that!
(laughter) TRAVIS: Whispers!
Whispers! Whispers! AABRIA: My first whisper!
LAURA: Don't say that. (laughter) ASHLEY: You did at one point. LAURA: I thought I
did, but it was him. ASHLEY: I feel
like you did, too. TRAVIS: That was good.
LAURA: Don't say that. SAM: I tease because I love.
LAURA: No. SAM: I also love because I--
TRAVIS: You tease because you kill. ASHLEY: You tease
because you kill. TRAVIS: This whisper is
brought to you by somebody. SAM: Oh! Yeah. MATT and LAURA: (laugh) AABRIA: I didn't get
my full whisper. You're supposed to do a-- You ruined it! SAM: Aabria-- AABRIA: No!
SAM: -- is available on Twitter. (laughter)
SAM: -- at @Aabria-- AABRIA: Nope.
(laughter) SAM: I don't know, actually.
AABRIA: Thanks! SAM: What's your thing?
AABRIA: Thanks, man! Nah, don't worry about it. (laughter) SAM: Anyway. Oh, sorry! What did you-- AABRIA: No, it's okay. As you're
talking, I'm going to take my little pink
knit wrap off and put it around
your shoulders. SAM: Me?
AABRIA: Mm-hmm. SAM: Oh! CHRISTIAN: It's a nice
color on you. SAM: Thank you!
That's so kind! AABRIA: Yeah, sweetie. SAM: I mean, I don't really
feel the cold, though, but that's a very
kind gesture of you. You should save it for someone
who needs it, though, is what I'm saying. AABRIA: I did. CHRISTIAN: Mm-hmm. I'm wondering, did you
choose your name? SAM: No. The young lady who found me and fixed me up again, she named me. It's a funny story,
actually. SAM and LAURA: (laugh) SAM: I was named after one
of her favorite smells. AABRIA: Mm! CHRISTIAN: Okay. SAM: Yeah.
CHRISTIAN: Fresh Cut Grass. SAM: Yeah!
AABRIA: Okay. CHRISTIAN: I thought
it might have-- and I'll press the sides of
my face and it'll move out. SAM: Oh!
CHRISTIAN: I'll remove the face plate. SAM: Oh!
CHRISTIAN: I have a gold face plate, and I'll show you
on the inside, around the chin,
the jaw line, it says "Far-Ranging
Integrated Defense Aeormaton." AABRIA: FRIDA! SAM: Oh!
AABRIA: (laughs) ASHLEY: Far-Ranging.
TRAVIS: Far-Ranging-- LAURA: Does your
face come off? SAM: I've never tried. LAURA: I start--
AABRIA: Yeah, I get in there. SAM: All right, get in there. AABRIA: I cast Guidance! MATT: Make an
investigation check. AABRIA and LAURA: (laugh) AABRIA: You got to look
for the edge. LAURA: Oh no! Natural one! (laughter) SAM: Ah! Ah! Ah!
MATT: You spend a solid 10 painful minutes, trying to--
SAM: Ah! AABRIA: You really
got to jiggle it. SAM: Help! Help!
AABRIA: If it's been stuck there for a while. (laughter) LAURA: No? Nothing. AABRIA: I thought you said
you didn't feel pain. Why are you yelling? SAM: I can feel pain, I just can't feel cold. LAURA: How does that work? SAM: I don't know. LAURA: Maybe you just
don't realize you're cold. SAM: Could be. CHRISTIAN: I stop and
think if I'm cold. Nope. AABRIA, TRAVIS, LAURA,
and MATT: (laugh) CHRISTIAN: Have you spoken
to anyone who might know a bit more about
Aeor's history or-- SAM: We've been
trying so much! CHRISTIAN: I know someone. He installed this. I'll turn into
the Blunderbuss. SAM: That's so cool! CHRISTIAN: He is so cool! SAM: Is he around here? CHRISTIAN: In Uthodurn. LAURA: (gasps) SAM: Wow! What's his name? CHRISTIAN: Jaquoby Macyl. SAM: Jaquoby.
ASHLEY: Jaquoby Macyl?
SAM: Great name! LAURA: Oh my god, you
could get an upgrade! CHRISTIAN: He's a bit
eccentric, but honest. AABRIA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: What a great name! CHRISTIAN: And true. LAURA: Jaquoby,
like Pock O'Pea? ASHLEY: Jaquoby Macyl.
AABRIA: No. TRAVIS: No attention on
me right now, please! MATT and CHRISTIAN: (laugh) TRAVIS: I was just blending
in over here. AABRIA: How's Frudell? LAURA: (laughs) TRAVIS: You know... It's been a minute. AABRIA: Uh-huh. TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: ♪ Been a while ♪ TRAVIS: Haven't seen
anyone in a minute. This is a trip,
by the way. AABRIA: I know, right? TRAVIS: Yeah.
AABRIA: I still got it. (laughs) CHRISTIAN: Can I
insight check Deanna to make sure she's
comfortable and feels safe? MATT: Yeah.
TRAVIS: Wow! And FRIDA is F-R-<i>I</i>-D-A?
MATT: Yeah. TRAVIS: And the I was?
CHRISTIAN: F-R-I-D-A. Yeah. Integrated.
ASHLEY: Integrated, but with a D. TRAVIS: Free-Ranging
Integrated Defense-- AABRIA and CHRISTIAN: Defense.
LAURA: Aeormatons. ASHLEY: That's right. LAURA: Wow! CHRISTIAN: 13 plus three
for a 16. MATT: Okay. Deception or persuasion.
AABRIA: I rolled a seven. I am freaking out. (laughter) AABRIA: I would scream. TRAVIS: (laughs) AABRIA: I'm trying
to be very cool because they are very cool, but I do want to kill him. CHRISTIAN: I will just-- AABRIA: Or the other thing. CHRISTIAN: -- nonchalantly
walk close to Deanna and almost
imperceptibly lean in, and with my robotic lips give you a little
kiss on the cheek-- SAM: Aw!
AABRIA: Ooh! CHRISTIAN: -- and then pull out.
ASHLEY: FRIDA! LAURA: They're so cool!
CHRISTIAN: Just so you know. ASHLEY: I love them!
SAM: I know. AABRIA: Thank you.
LAURA: You don't have legs. SAM: I have legs! CHRISTIAN: They seem more
efficient than my hooves here. SAM: Sometimes
I can have legs! I'll pull them out of my bag--
TRAVIS: Ah! SAM: -- and put on--
LAURA: Oh! SAM: -- I have this fabric
that dangles from my waist and attaches to two-- LAURA: Little wood feet.
SAM: -- two little wooden shoes. (laughter)
SAM: When I move, they just (smack smack smack)
do this. AABRIA: I can't tell if
that's the cutest thing I've ever seen
or the weirdest! CHRISTIAN: Would you
like legs? SAM: I would like legs! CHRISTIAN: No promises, but he is
quite skilled with the tinkering. LAURA: Wait! What? AABRIA: Let's get him legs! MATT: Don't look at me! ASHLEY: Jaquoby! CHRISTIAN: I had legs, just
to be clear. SAM: Okay. CHRISTIAN: But he's
really skilled and he fancies himself
a historian and happens to know a bit
more than most about Aeor. SAM: I can't wait
to learn more! TRAVIS: Just because we're starting
to get our senses back, we actually lost
three of our-- SAM: Oh yeah!
CHRISTIAN: Three? TRAVIS: -- group.
LAURA: Yeah. TRAVIS: We haven't been
able to reach out through magical means
or otherwise. Do either of you have
the ability to communicate or send a message or
anything like that? CHRISTIAN: Oh,
unfortunately, I don't. AABRIA: Not right now, but if
you let me sleep on it. TRAVIS: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! Of course! CHRISTIAN: You all have talents,
abilities, magical abilities? ASHLEY: Oh yes! CHRISTIAN: And they--
AABRIA: You flew! CHRISTIAN: Right! You were flying.
LAURA: Yeah. AABRIA: That's great!
CHRISTIAN: So you can access some of your magic, just
not all of your magic? LAURA: Yeah, it seems like
our ability to communicate at long distances is
being interfered with. It sounds like the
same sort of static that was filling my head
when we were on the airship. I don't know if I
told you about it. Yeah, I was hearing this static
because of the leylines. TRAVIS: All right. All right.
LAURA: Yeah. It just feels
really aggressive. CHRISTIAN: I wonder if we know
anyone in the city who can assist. AABRIA: We can try.
CHRISTIAN: Yeah. LAURA: Did you see Ruidus
last night at all in the sky? CHRISTIAN: The red moon? LAURA: Yeah. Did you see
anything happen to it? SAM: Do we see the moon way
up here where we are? MATT: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: Yes.
MATT: You can definitely see Ruidus, depending on the time of
its trajectory in the sky. Sometimes it's
higher or lower, depending on the
time of the year. But yeah, it's
definitely present. CHRISTIAN: Did we see,
while we were coming from where we were coming, did we notice any flare or anything especially
concerning with Ruidus? MATT: Make a nature
check for me. SAM: Nature. AABRIA: Can I cast Guidance? TRAVIS and MATT: (laugh) AABRIA: Hey, they look like
they're thinking! MATT, LAURA, and TRAVIS: (laugh)
CHRISTIAN: Eight. MATT: Eight? Man, you can't recall. You were so focused on
getting through that storm and then get back
from a long journey that you didn't really
pay attention. But maybe on the way,
the last leg of the trip, you can keep an eye out. CHRISTIAN: Yeah. I mean,
I know of the red moon, but I didn't notice anything
especially concerning. AABRIA: Weather's
been pretty bad. Sorry! LAURA: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: Does that have
something to do with you all showing
up here now? TRAVIS: Yeah.
LAURA: Oh, well, yeah. Some really untoward folk were trying to do some
pretty terrible stuff. I would just love to
know if they succeeded. But the fact that
y'all have powers and, I'm assuming, are you a cleric
of the Dawnfather? AABRIA: I am. LAURA: So he's the one that
gave you your abilities. SAM: How did you choose--
TRAVIS: Insight check! SAM: Oh!
AABRIA: Ooh! MATT: (laughs) Make
an insight check. You can make
persuasion or deception. AABRIA: Yeah! MATT: Your choice. TRAVIS: 17.
AABRIA: Natural 20. ASHLEY: Oh!
TRAVIS: Damn! This is not my night!
AABRIA: Go fuck yourself! (laughter) AABRIA: I stare you down the
moment I feel eye contact. TRAVIS: I become
even smaller. MATT: (laughs) SAM: How did you
choose the Dawnfather to be your teammate? AABRIA: Oh, baby, I didn't
choose him. When I was brought back
by a cleric of his, it just felt a connection. SAM: Hmm. AABRIA: So I held onto
it a little bit. Regardless of how I feel, it's important to be able
to help if you can. SAM: Well, that's
definitely true. I also am sort of
aligned with a god. AABRIA: Wait, really?
Which one? SAM: The Changebringer. Some fella gave me a coin
and that's how I chose. AABRIA: I'm sorry,
run that back. You were given a coin and you based a whole system
of faith on the coin? SAM: I was looking
for some sign-- AABRIA: Why?
SAM: -- or meaning. Well, because now that
I'm, I guess, alive, Well, because now that
I'm, I guess, alive, I feel like part
of being alive means you have to
have a meaning, a purpose in life. CHRISTIAN: Why do you believe that
a god gives you purpose? AABRIA: (laughs) ASHLEY: Yes. Why?
AABRIA: They said it, not me. SAM: Well, because I can't
come up with one on my own. AABRIA: Sure you can!
LAURA: What are you talking about? CHRISTIAN: Of course you can!
ASHLEY: You did before you found the coin. SAM: I had someone to
tell me what to do. I had Dancer to tell
me what to do and I had a purpose
and a program. Then without that,
I needed something, and so I found this fella,
he gave me a coin. Now, the Changebringer helps
me make decisions. I just flip the coin and she tells me yes or no or
left or right. So far it's been great! Every one of our
decisions so far that she's helped me with
has actually been perfect. TRAVIS: Are all of us going
to survive the night? SAM: I found that if I ask
questions about other people, it doesn't go so good. AABRIA: Are you going
to survive the night? SAM: I could ask that. Yes.
AABRIA: Go ahead. SAM: Am I going to
survive the night? Well, that's not the answer
that I was expecting. (laughter) CHRISTIAN: Does this coin have any particular
marking on it? MATT: You do, you look at it, and it has a familiar relief you've seen in some of the
smaller temples in Uthodurn. There's only two within
the entire city structure that carries it, but it's a profile of a woman and her hair sweeping into
what looks like a road that goes towards the horizon.
CHRISTIAN: Sure. So, watching this, I'll unbutton my jacket and pull out a handful of
coins from my pocket and find one that is similar. AABRIA: Woop.
LAURA: (laughs) SAM: I also have eaten coins, but not this one. This one's special. CHRISTIAN: So is this one. MATT: (laughs) SAM: It looks really tasty. CHRISTIAN: It is. SAM: You know what, though? I think that maybe
she said, "No," because you were
just saying before that something happened. You've lost a connection
with your god or the signal is weak. So maybe that's what's
going on here. It's just a weak connection. Something's in the air. That static is blocking
the connection. So I'll probably try again
tomorrow when it's-- LAURA: The whole reason you've aligned yourself
with the Changebringer is because you don't
think you can find purpose on your own, FCG? I can't believe this is
only coming up now. AABRIA: How long have
you been together? LAURA: (laughs)
SAM: Oh boy! At least a few days!
MATT: A few months. TRAVIS: Months!
LAURA: A few months! TRAVIS: For sure! LAURA: At least! For sure! AABRIA: It's a new high
score for you! Months!
LAURA: We understand time. SAM: Two weeks and a
year and a half. TRAVIS: A little less for me. I haven't been around as long.
LAURA: It feels like a really long time, but it might have only
been a few months. SAM: (laughs) AABRIA: Okay. CHRISTIAN: You take care
of each other? SAM: We do! LAURA: Yeah.
CHRISTIAN: And I imagine love each other. SAM: Absolutely!
LAURA: Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah! ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. CHRISTIAN: Is that not
purpose enough? LAURA: (laughs) SAM: Well, yeah. I mean, yeah. It's purpose, but-- CHRISTIAN: Fresh Cut Grass. AABRIA: I feel like we're sweating
Fresh Cut Grass here a lot. We could just-- CHRISTIAN: Yes, I don't mean to
cause you any unnecessary stress. I just believe that, well, you know how when we
are tired, we power off? I'm so excited
I can say "we"! SAM: Yeah!
AABRIA: Oh! CHRISTIAN: But when we're
tired, we power off, right? SAM: Sure! Yeah! CHRISTIAN: I think the gods are sort of like Aeormatons, except we charge them. And I have
this innate feeling, And I have
this innate feeling, I suppose, that, after millennia, they'd want to sleep. I don't think we should... <i>I</i> don't place much credence
in what a god wants. AABRIA: Yeah. Yeah. That's so heavy!
Why don't-- We could talk about
anything else! CHRISTIAN: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't, I missed--
AABRIA: No. Sweetie, you're perfect. CHRISTIAN: Oh, I will--
AABRIA: So good. CHRISTIAN: Turn around
and walk to the lip of this cave.
AABRIA: No! No!
CHRISTIAN: I will patrol first. AABRIA: Oh no! Well, okay. TRAVIS: Actually, sleep
might be really good. We've been pretty wrecked. MATT: The exhaustion has hit
pretty hard in a few of you, especially you, Fearne. ASHLEY: I'm so tired! (laughter) ASHLEY: It's so wild
how tired I am! (laughter) ASHLEY: I just have
to say, though. (laughter) ASHLEY: You felt like you
lost your connection-ish? AABRIA: I wasn't too worr--
Yes. ASHLEY: And that
times up with-- LAURA: Potentially. Actually, I'm going to go
outside with FRIDA. Is it possible to
look up at the sky? Is it clear? MATT: There is still
a bit of snow. You can see a little bit
of breakage in the clouds a little ways away from here. Might reach you in the
next 20, 30 minutes or so. But it's light snow. The heavy winds have passed. LAURA: Can we see
Ruidus in the sky? MATT: In that little bit
you can see? Make a perception check. CHRISTIAN: May I as well?
MATT: Sure. AABRIA: You got it! CHRISTIAN: 26. LAURA: Oh! (stammers) AABRIA: (laughs)
LAURA: 17. (laughter)
MATT: 17. Okay. From the break that
you can see, only maybe about a fifth
of the sky is visible from where you
currently stand. The clouds still carrying
most of the the air above. But you don't see a red moon
at the moment, though. But there is enough light, you can tell that Catha
is high in the sky because you can see
a little bit of a glow coming through
the cloud cover. LAURA: But no red? MATT: No red at
the moment. No. CHRISTIAN: Are you okay? LAURA: Yeah. TRAVIS: Sure it's
going to be fine. LAURA: Are you going to be
out here for a while? CHRISTIAN: Yes, at least the
first few hours of the night. LAURA: I'm afraid
something bad happened. CHRISTIAN: To your friends?
LAURA: Yeah. To everyone. CHRISTIAN: And you think
the red moon has something to do with it? LAURA: Yeah. I would just
feel a lot better if I could see it in the sky. CHRISTIAN: If I become aware
of it, I'll wake you. LAURA: Thank you. CHRISTIAN: Imogen? LAURA: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: Can I play
you something? I will play back the
sound of her laughter, and it'll subside. Your laughter is beautiful. You have an honest soul. I can tell you care
for your friends. I would hold to that. I'm sure they're fine. LAURA: Thank you. CHRISTIAN: You're welcome. LAURA: I'll go inside. MATT: As you keep your watch, looking up and occasionally
catching the flicker of starlight cutting through
different parts of the clouds, you reminisce of
strange meetings of new individuals with unexpected
connections to friends. The rest of you, bit of
stew in your belly, huddled around the warmth
of the fey-built fire that currently keeps alight
the far interior of the cavern. The tension of
unexpected crossroads. TRAVIS: That's fucked up,
Matt! (laughter) TRAVIS: Fucked up! (laughter) TRAVIS: You came after
my beanie, man! (laughter) MATT: As, Imogen,
you contemplate, and taking those words and hope that FRIDA is right, you go back and begin to
prepare yourself for rest as you begin to notice
that the strange markings on your body
have spread further. (gasping) MATT: And you glance, you
can see them rising up. It's almost to the
middle of your arm. As you pull back the thick blanket
that you were using, you can see,
between the fingers, that slightly
purple coloration is beginning to turn red. TRAVIS: Oh, dude!
What the fuck does that mean? MATT: We're going
to take a break. TRAVIS: What is that mean?!
(shouting) MATT: Be back here
in a few minutes. We'll see you all shortly. SAM: Woo!
AABRIA: Oh no! (dramatic music) It didn't have to come to this. Oh, Captain Crosswinds,
it did have to come to this. I will take this ship. I will crush your band of
pathetic rebels once and for all. (sword scraping)
It is my destiny. Your destiny is to die by this
blade, Commodore Chauffage. (both yelling) (dice clattering) Ha, I lunge forward and strike you with my rancorous rapier. (gasps) Ah! You pierce my shoulder but we are just getting started. Announcer: From Darrington Press, steel yourself and prepare
to duel "Till The Last Gasp." The two player storytelling
game of duels, (metallic whirring and clanking) danger, (whip cracks) and drama. Don't do this, Chauffage, you're just a pawn for the Sky Lords. They don't care about you. The
rebellion cares about you. I care about you. Lies. (yells) If I'm lying, then why are
you so rattled, Chauffage? I hurl a grenade at the fuel cells and recklessly destroy scenery. No, you can't. You'll destroy us all! (explosion booming) (fire crackling) You're a... A monster. (laughs evilly) Your move, Captain Crosswinds. (continues laughing evilly) (Captain Crosswinds yells) Announcer: Dive into the fray
with nine unique maps and 12 pre-made characters. Or unleash your imagination and bring your settings
and characters to the climactic showdown
they deserve. I shall slay thee in the name of
Charnak the Spider Lady. Charnak the Spider Lady? I don't know, I thought
it sounded cool. No. Yeah, sure does. What if I am Charnak
the Spider Lady (screams evilly) (screams and groans) and I dissolve you into goo
with my digestive enzymes. So does that decisively end the duel? I think it does. (chuckles) Hell yeah. Yeah. Yeah. (hands slapping) Announcer: "Til The Last Gasp" available everywhere Darrington
Press games are sold. (triumphant music) Previously on 4-Sided Dive. And I guess now I have to
clean up or something... Oh. (screaming) (screams) What happened? (gasps) Oh my god. Somebody... Somebody killed Broomie. But who and why and how? (action music) Narrator: Find out what happens on the
next 4-Sided Dive. Hey Critters! Laura Bailey here to guide you through what's new
in the Critical Role shop. (gasp) Could anything
be more perfect? Roll an investigation if you want, it's basically perfect. I mean the Traveler always says impulse purchases
are a good decision. Look at this. Isn't it fashion? So much fashion happening here. (gasp) Could anything
be more perfect? The cuteness! It's overpowering. And hey if you want, you could head over to the
Critical Role shop right now. DANI: The Cobalt Soul prides
itself on being an institution dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and
truth seeking. Recent changes to Ruidus have
shocked all of Exandria. We are just now beginning to
feel their reverberations. New information about
the gods has surfaced, and it seems connected to
the changes we are seeing. It is the Cobalt Soul's duty as curators, librarians,
and archivists to ensure that
this knowledge reaches the world of Exandria
at large so we may be prepared
for what is to come. Thus, I present an appendix to our previous
Intimate History of Exandria to cover these revelations about both the gods
and the moon Ruidus. In Exandria, there are
two moons in the sky. One is a large, white moon
known as Catha with a typical monthly
orbit and phases. The other is a small,
red moon known as Ruidus. It is this small, ruddy moon that is haunted by a plethora
of ancient superstitions, garnering it the nickname
"The Moon of Ill-Omen." Ruidus has no phases, and its orbit takes six months
to travel the Exandrian sky. It is also prone to flaring, a phenomenon in which
the moon glows bright red. When Ruidus is high
in the sky or flaring, it is said to be a sign of
misfortune and a bad omen. Children born during
a Ruidian flare are called "Ruidusborn." They are often regarded
with suspicion and fear, as theories and superstitions commonly follow them
their entire lives. Ruidusborn are considered
to be cursed with lives that will be full of grief,
misfortune, and ill fate. Some Ruidusborn have even
showcased psychic powers that seem to be
linked to the moon. These people are known
as Exaltants. While many have long
assumed that both moons fall under the domain
of the Moonweaver, Ruidus has been
recently discovered to have strange history with
all the gods of the pantheon. During the Founding, when the gods had not split
into Prime and Betrayer, there were two gods that have, until now,
been forgotten by history. These were Ethedok
the Endless Shadow and Vordo the Fateshaper. Ethedok oversaw
darkness and winter, while Vordo was the
god of fate and order. It was during this time, when Exandria was
still in its infancy and the Schism had
not yet occurred, that the gods faced a threat
from beyond the stars. Predathos, the god-eater. This being devoured
Ethedok and Vordo and was only stopped when the
other deities joined forces with their enemies,
the Primordial Titans. They carved a prison from
Exandria's earth itself to capture and
seal away Predathos. When they attempted to
send this prison away into the darkness of space, it clung to the sky, and
became a new moon, Ruidus. It is theorized that
the gods and their acolytes spread false superstition
and various myths about Ruidus in the hope that people would
be too afraid to study the moon, and Predathos would never
become a threat again. They wrote Ethedok and Vordo
out of history, and kept an air of
secrecy and mystery around the strange,
ruddy moon, lumping it with Catha under
the Moonweaver's protection. Now Vasselheim and
its divine agents guard the secrets of
Ruidus and the gods. Recently, the Ruidian flares have been getting stronger
and more frequent. Research undeterred by
superstition has revealed that Ruidus is laden
with raging red storms, and what appears to be
a city on its very topography. It is surrounded by
a divine latticework similar to the Divine Gate
that surrounds Exandria and keeps the gods
separate from the world. This divine net is
likely the protection that keeps Predathos
sealed away. A rare celestial event known as
an Apogee Solstice has arrived, in which the leylines
of Exandria align, some shifting permanently, and magical miracles
are able to take place. It was unclear whether
the flares were connected to this convergence of magic, but now that the moon
has been... besieged, it seems unlikely that
the events are separate. What is to come of this strange
phenomena is yet to be seen, but all of Exandria awaits the
rest of the Apogee Solstice with bated breath
and careful planning, for both good and ill. May the light of knowledge and the truth of
experience guide you in these
uncertain days to come. OFF-SCREEN VOICE: Archivist!
There's been another flare! Archivist, you're needed! DANI: Yes, I know!
I'm coming! (peaceful music) (epic music) (mischievous music) (typewriter clacking) (peaceful music) Hey Critters, it's me, Marisha Ray. I had exactly a minute and
a half of free time today, so I thought I'd make a
little unboxing video for y'all unpacking everything you get
with a Twitch subscription to Critical Role. (bright music) Okay. Safety third. (ethereal voices laughing) What the fuck was that? (Marisha exclaiming in awe) So the first thing we've got here is our live and
professionally-moderated chat. Twitch is the only place that
you can actually get this. You know, it's a little strange to hold because it's an amorphous concept, but honestly, you can't
deny this craftsmanship. It's really well made and, aw, oh, you can post links in this too! That's really cool, so yeah. Put that in your chat and click it. Oh yeah, this is cool. This is the ability to watch
all of Critical Role's VODs immediately after the
live broadcast ends and before they're
uploaded to YouTube. Oh, it smells like ranch. Oh wait. Oh no, that's me. I had ranch on my salad earlier. Yeah, this smells like nothing. Oh, oh, here we have (Marisha grunting) gift subscriptions, which
you can either give to a fellow Critter by
name or at random using a fancy Twitch algorithm. You can give away a
lot of subs with this, which I guess is why it's so heavy for something that's
technically non-tangible with a value that's deeply
subjective to the consumer. Oh, sick, yeah, I'm so excited to show y'all this part. With a Twitch subscription
to Critical Role, you can use all of our incredible
custom emotes in chat. We have so many emotes in here. Let's see, we Art Dad, super cool. We got Ashley Hype, fun one. Look at Trinket here. He's so, oh, oh god.
(clattering and crashing) Oh god. Broom, broom. Hang on, I can fix this. I can fix this. I'm fixing it! Jerry! Oh god, okay. I'm sorry, Trinket. (machine whirring)
Yeah, that'll work. I need more glue, this is
not gonna be enough. (tape ripping) Don't tell Rachel, okay? Okay, please nobody. (metal clanking) Schapiro, will you cut all this out? (electronic buzzing) MATT: Welcome back.
(chuckling) MATT: So after an evening of
various degrees of rest MATT: So after an evening of
various degrees of rest depending on who you are-- SAM: ♪ Who are you ♪ MATT: -- eventually
consciousness comes around you in a still freezing, but comfortably less
freezing morning than the night you
went to sleep in. The fire has mostly
petered out at this point, but it looks like daylight
and a somewhat clear sky greets you as the snowfall
does not impede your vision or your journey forward. You have about a
day and a half of travel across the
mountains to get to Uthodurn, unless you have means
of expediting that. So on foot, about a day
and a half of travel. But you all come
to consciousness. What would you like to do? LAURA: Was there
a moon last night? Did you see a moon? CHRISTIAN: I don't
believe I did, right? MATT: Not with the way the
weather was, unfortunately. ASHLEY: Do I recover
my exhaustion? CHRISTIAN: That's a long rest for everybody?
MATT: You do. Long rest for everybody. SAM: Oh. She does?
AABRIA: Can I have pulled off some shit before people wake up?
SAM: She recovers? LAURA: Her exhaustion?
SAM: Oh, cool. MATT: After a long rest,
you recover the exhaustion. SAM: Oh, great.
MATT: Sorry, what were you saying? AABRIA: Can I have pulled
off some sneaky shit before this one gets up? MATT: Sure, what
would you like to try? AABRIA: I want to go over
in those very early hours right before dawn hits.
MATT: Mm-hmm. AABRIA: I think I just adjust his little beanie
while he's asleep and I'm going to cast
Death Ward on him. SAM: Oh.
MATT: Okay. AABRIA: I just don't
want him to know. MATT: Okay. Make a
sleight of hand check. AABRIA: Oh, yo!
LAURA: Your little beanie. AABRIA: Why would you make
me roll? Oh, that's good. It's not that good. 19. MATT: 19? Yeah, no, unawares. LAURA: What did you
cast on him? AABRIA: Death Ward.
TRAVIS: Death Ward. (laughter) AABRIA: What? Nothing, it was
nothing. Don't worry about it. MATT: All right.
AABRIA: I cursed him. (laughter) ASHLEY: Bane!
AABRIA: Bane! (laughter) MATT: All right.
TRAVIS: (deeply) Burn. MATT: You all slowly begin
to come to consciousness. You rouse yourselves,
you gather your materials, and pack up for
a day's journey. LAURA: This is the first
morning in a long time we haven't woken up to
Orym doing pushups or-- AABRIA: Who's Orym? TRAVIS: Orym of the Air
Ashari. He's a friend, halfling, capable fighter. ASHLEY: Very capable fighter. AABRIA: Oh, is
he one of the-- But he's still
alive, he just-- SAM: We don't know.
LAURA: We have no idea. CHRISTIAN: I'm sure
they're still alive. LAURA: Yeah. AABRIA: Well, if I
prayed really hard, I could try to use
magic to find him? TRAVIS: Yes, yes.
That would be wonderful. SAM: Please do.
AABRIA: I can try. Sure. LAURA: You can do that? AABRIA: I can try, yeah.
It worked before. Can I attempt a Sending to
someone I've never met before? He's short, I heard he's
short and does pushups. MATT: You probably need
a little more context. TRAVIS: Can I use Minor Illusion
to make a small bust of Orym and his head
rotates 360 degrees? MATT: Yeah.
TRAVIS: There's a little vine that comes up
and grows around his ears. AABRIA: Okay. Okay, I can dial in
on that. That's fine. LAURA: I mean, we tried to do
it a couple times yesterday and it didn't work. But if it works for you,
that would be amazing. AABRIA: Might as well.
If I can help, I'd like to. MATT: Okay.
AABRIA: I attempt a Sending. MATT: Okay, roll
a d100 for me. AABRIA: Oh no.
LAURA: (laughs) TRAVIS: Oh, this is what happened before.
AABRIA: Why would you do that? TRAVIS: This is
what happened before. AABRIA: Nothing
bad will happen. Do I need to roll high or low?
I need to tell my dice. (laughter) LAURA: I rolled 98 and
took psychic damage. SAM: Go low. Go for low.
AABRIA: Okay, cool. TRAVIS: I have to tell my--
AABRIA: Low, please. Six.
SAM: How do you read that? TRAVIS: Damn!
AABRIA: That's a double-- TRAVIS: Double aught.
AABRIA: That's a tens place, that's a one's place. Six?
ASHLEY: Whoa! MATT: I know. We'll show you
how to use dice sometime. (laughter) LAURA: Wait, Sam, if you--
SAM: Those aren't numbers. LAURA: -- don't understand how to do it--
AABRIA: That's my handwriting. Talk more shit.
LAURA: -- how were you rolling d100 before, if you don't know
how to read it? SAM: No, these aren't numbers.
TRAVIS: She's got some dope-ass dice. AABRIA: They're
my handwriting. You have to be able to read
them or it hurts my feelings. MATT: Ah, that's
actually pretty awesome. TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.
MATT: Hell yeah. Okay, so what do you
say when you reach out through the Sending spell
to this Orym figure? AABRIA: I think I
want to reach out and remembering when
I was the ocean, and the people that
have lived and died and loved Orym of the Air
Ashari, and reach for that and send that love forward
to knock on the door. So there's not any words, just
love and hope for connection. MATT: Okay. As you imagine that sense
of being part of that ocean, you remember the
interconnectedness, that odd absence of self that came with that period, and you begin to press
your consciousness beyond the boundaries
of both your memory and who you currently
understand as you are to reach towards somebody
who is unfamiliar to you. But life and
hearts are familiar outside of language. You carry that tether
forward, and as you do, (growing static) this heavy static begins
to fill your ears and your consciousness and that concentration of
yours breaks and you pull away and the spell is lost. AABRIA: (grunts) TRAVIS: Same thing?
AABRIA: Ow! SAM: Are you okay?
AABRIA: Fuck! Is that-- Aw, you
could have warned-- LAURA: Well, we kind of--
AABRIA: I'm fine. MATT and TRAVIS: (laugh) AABRIA: It didn't work. It did not work.
CHRISTIAN: What is it? Are you okay? AABRIA: I don't know,
I think my brain's on fire, thank you very much.
LAURA: There's a heavy static if you try to--
AABRIA: Yeah, fucking sucks. I'm sorry, language. ASHLEY: It's all right.
CHRISTIAN: Are you guys all still feeling that today? SAM: Well, we
haven't tried, but-- TRAVIS: What if it doesn't have
to do with us or where we are? What if it has to do
with where they are? LAURA: It might, I mean
that's FCG was thinking, but it happened when he tried
to contact Dorian, too. TRAVIS: Oh, that's right. LAURA: I have
this circlet on. AABRIA: It's very pretty. LAURA: Thank you.
CHRISTIAN: Oh yeah. LAURA: I'm going to take
it off for a second and try to let the mental walls down and see what happens if
it comes in like a flood or if I hear static,
just trying to listen. MATT: Okay, you feel all
the surface thoughts of your companions,
new and old begin to flood your mind, and a familiar, though
uncomfortable state, and behind it all,
there's this faintest level of static that exists
throughout it, just simmering. (static buzzing) LAURA: Okay. It's there, it's everywhere. It might just be having
to do with communication. AABRIA: Oh, okay. CHRISTIAN: Forgive me,
Imogen, but your hands, the markings are different
than they were when we met. LAURA: You are observant.
CHRISTIAN: I try. AABRIA: You good? Ooh, that doesn't
look healthy. MATT: You see, it's not
like there's a split in the skin at all. Actually, as a point
of order on this, there would've been
no noticeable change from when you met her. This
would've been the first time you've really looked at it
yourself since you arrived here. So you're not certain at
what moment this happened. LAURA: Oh, it might
have happened when-- Oh god, okay.
TRAVIS: When you were (whistles). Okay. MATT: But you do acknowledge
and look at it, and as you do, you can see
there are almost like-- They look like
electrical scars, like when a person's been
burned through electricity. A large amount's going
through the body, but instead of scarred skin, it's just these
lavender-purple markings that weave and entwine and eventually
fade up her arm. You can see some creeping
up the sides of her neck almost reaching
to the ears now. LAURA: Really?
MATT: Yeah. TRAVIS: When you hold
a current to wood. MATT: Yep, yep. AABRIA: Lichtenberg scarring,
I think it's called? MATT: And super dangerous,
nobody should ever do it. There was a really bad,
dangerous trend of that going on the internet
a while back. But whereas previously it
was just that coloration, you can see where
it was thickest, where it had
originally begun, when these changes on your
skin begin to apparate. It's transitioning to
a deep red coloration. Like a second change is
happening where the first began. CHRISTIAN: Is it similar
in color to the moon? Would I notice that it's
similar in color to the moon? MATT: It's deep red, yeah. Based on the questioning line that she brought you
the evening before, you could probably guess. CHRISTIAN: I will say, I want to try and make
this a private moment so as not to embarrass you, if it's a question that
might embarrass you, but-- MATT: Okay, so while
the rest of you are gathering your
things and preparing. AABRIA: Does anyone
want some stew? ASHLEY: Yeah, I'll have
some more, please. AABRIA: Okay. CHRISTIAN: I mean, you've
asked about the red moon and pardon me, I don't want to pry,
but do you have some connection
to the red moon? LAURA: (laughs) You hear in your head: Yeah, a pretty powerful
one, apparently. CHRISTIAN: Can you hear me?
LAURA: Yeah. (laughter) CHRISTIAN: Can they hear me?
LAURA: No. CHRISTIAN: Just you?
LAURA: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: You are
fascinating. LAURA: As are you. CHRISTIAN: Can you hear
everything I'm thinking? LAURA: Not if you
don't want me to. This circlet helps, actually. CHRISTIAN: Okay. If you need someone
to talk to, I'm here, or I'm here. LAURA: (chuckles) All right. CHRISTIAN: I'm going to
think really loudly-- (laughter) MATT: No thoughts, only stew. (laughs) AABRIA: I wonder if I could
add broccoli. That's all. ASHLEY: I'm going to
make a mental note of Imogen's markings since I pay attention to them just to see where they're at. MATT: Okay. As you all finish gathering
up your materials for the day's journey,
you can exit the cave and continue the path. You know the path well,
but you know it very well. This is your return journey. So you all begin the
day's plus foot hoofing in the direction of Uthodurn. You have now crested
into the Flotket Alps and the rest of your journey is going to be a
lot of up and down, a lot of climbs and descents. To that point, I
would like everyone to make a constitution
saving throw to acknowledge your
physical prowess in traversing this dangerous and challenging terrain.
TRAVIS: You're assuming a lot, Matt. You're assuming a lot.
MATT: Yes, I know. SAM: This is a constitution save?
LAURA: Wait, a constitution saving throw? MATT: Saving throw, yes.
CHRISTIAN: (laughs) CHRISTIAN: 17 plus
seven, my brain broke. (laughter)
TRAVIS: Good roll, huh? AABRIA: Yeah.
CHRISTIAN: 20... MATT: You're fine, you're good.
CHRISTIAN: Okay. TRAVIS: I'm hot.
AABRIA: Mm-hmm. LAURA: 26.
MATT: 26, great. ASHLEY: Natural 20.
MATT: Dang! All right. This table side rocking this. SAM: Nine.
MATT: Oof. AABRIA: Four.
MATT: All right. TRAVIS: Showing I still got skills
after two hundo with a 21. (laughter)
MATT: Okay. AABRIA: I don't notice--
(laughter) AABRIA: -- because I
have fallen a lot today. TRAVIS: That's because you're
behind me and can't concentrate. MATT: Fair enough. (laughter)
AABRIA: He's right and I hate it. CHRISTIAN: I would just
like to say that this is also the first morning
in a very long time that I have not been
gifted the Death Ward. SAM: Oh.
LAURA: Aw. CHRISTIAN: As we're leaving
the mouth of the cave there, I'll look and see that that
etching on my arm is not glowing or hasn't been etched again. I will just zero
in on Chetney and assess him, and then zero in on
Deanna and assess her. Then I'll say to the group: I think I'm quite quiet. I think I'm quite quiet. I should probably move
a few paces ahead and make sure that
we're not in danger, and if there is, I can alert
you and sort of travel a little bit in
front of you all to make sure that
nothing jumps out. SAM: Are you going to
be safe up there? CHRISTIAN: Maybe. AABRIA: FRIDA's very good at this.
TRAVIS: I rolled a d100, I didn't die in the
middle of the night. (laughter) TRAVIS: (laughs) LAURA: What number
makes you die? TRAVIS: I won't tell. (laughter) ASHLEY: ♪ I'll never tell ♪ SAM: About this time,
a ding goes off in my belly and I pull out three
mango flavored, four, sorry, I've leveled up, four
mango flavored Bundt cakes. TRAVIS: What?
MATT: (laughs) SAM: I'll pass them,
forgive me, FRIDA. I don't think you
would enjoy this, so I'll give it
to all of the-- TRAVIS: Oh yeah, you got to
get in on the Bundt cakes, they're really good. SAM: Yeah.
AABRIA: Did you just make this? TRAVIS: Yeah. SAM: I've modified my form to
be able to cook, bake things, SAM: I've modified my form to
be able to cook, bake things. CHRISTIAN: That is incredible.
SAM: This will give you a little extra boost
if you eat it. AABRIA: Is it good? SAM: I don't know, is
it good? I can't taste. MATT: Roll a d20
and add your-- SAM: Perform--
MATT: No, wisdom modifier. LAURA: Where
did you get mango? SAM: I got a whole bunch of--
AABRIA: What's a mango? SAM: When we were
in the kitchen, I took a whole bunch
of baking supplies. TRAVIS: Where has it
been sitting until now? (laughter)
AABRIA: Oh no. SAM: That's a natural 20.
LAURA: (gasps) MATT: It tastes
fucking delicious. TRAVIS: Come on.
ASHLEY: Oh my gosh, this amazing, FCG.
TRAVIS: Interior refrigeration unit. SAM: Can I just have a nibble?
ASHLEY: This is delicious. Yeah. AABRIA: Can he just do that all the time?
LAURA: This is the best-- SAM: Nothing. Nothing. LAURA: This is seriously--
I think this might be better than the cookies. SAM: I will remember this
one for next time then. LAURA: You should
write this down. CHRISTIAN: All of their
reactions seem authentic. AABRIA: You made this?
MATT: (laughs) SAM: I did, yeah. AABRIA: It's so good.
It's so fluffy. SAM: Well, I was given
a book of recipes. I'm just following-- CHRISTIAN: And you can't taste them?
LAURA: Do we get temp hit points from that? SAM: You get three temporary
hit points unless that's-- MATT: I'm going to make it
four with a natural 20. LAURA: Ooh!
AABRIA: Oh my gosh! TRAVIS: Thank you. CHRISTIAN: But you've never been
able to taste what you make? SAM: No, I keep trying. Yeah, I keep trying, but nothing really
tastes like anything. ASHLEY: Sorry. Well, that's why--
SAM: That's okay. ASHLEY: -- I was asking
you if you could taste, because I was just seeing
if maybe you could and-- SAM: Oh, you all
get a plus four, so this would be a plus five. MATT: Plus five temporary hit points.
SAM: Temporary hit points. AABRIA: What? ASHLEY: All right!
SAM: Yeah, I've leveled up. TRAVIS: Dang.
AABRIA: I've never had a better cake in my life. ASHLEY: Yeah,
this is delicious. SAM: FRIDA, when you play
back sounds that you hear, how do you access that? Is that something that
you can just sort of think and it comes, is it a
specific part of your--? CHRISTIAN: It feels like
a programming function, and it sort of happens
innately, automatically. I feel as if there's insight into what you all would
call a soul in laughter. into what you all would
call a soul in laughter. One sound, Deanna's laughter, reminded me of who I may
have been before all of this. But it's just a
feeling, like a word you can't quite remember, but it's on the
tip of your tongue. SAM: Your tongue.
CHRISTIAN: Mm-hmm. LAURA: Your fleshy,
fleshy tongue. CHRISTIAN: Mm-hmm.
That's disturbing. AABRIA: Why does he
have a fleshy tongue? CHRISTIAN: Oh.
TRAVIS: (laughs) ASHLEY: Do you have
any memories prior to-- TRAVIS: Being woken up?
ASHLEY: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: I have developed what I imagine are memories. It was an odd
sensation at first, and I asked
Deanna what it was. I believe you
call it dreaming. SAM: You can dream?! CHRISTIAN: Well--
AABRIA: You can bake! CHRISTIAN: Yes.
(laughter) SAM: All right, all right. TRAVIS: It's all
about perspective. CHRISTIAN: Yes, I wish
I could taste as well. But I have the same dream over and over. The dream expands, I suppose, a little bit each time. Not much, but it seems
the more I dream, the more whole the
picture becomes. Do you dream? SAM: No, I don't. But I've experienced
other people's dreams. CHRISTIAN: How so? SAM: Like Imogen, I can
connect with people mentally. CHRISTIAN: Oh.
AABRIA: Seems invasive. SAM: With consent.
AABRIA: Mm. Imogen has very vivid dreams, if you don't mind
me sharing that. LAURA: Not at all. SAM: I've been
able to ride along and see what they're like. I haven't experienced anyone
else's dream, though, so I don't know if they're
all like that or-- LAURA: You should try it. SAM: Maybe, if you're
comfortable with it, maybe I could see. CHRISTIAN: I'd be
interested in trying. I'm fascinated to see if you
could be there while I dream. I've never dreamt
with anyone else. TRAVIS: That's a great idea.
LAURA: That's a really great idea. ASHLEY: Just two Aeormatons
just taking on a dream. CHRISTIAN: Sounds fun.
ASHLEY: Yeah. TRAVIS: Aeormaton dreaming. SAM: Okay. Well,
later, obviously. We're moving now, but.
MATT: Yeah. Which, to the point, both of
you have a point of exhaustion for the day's journey.
(groaning) MATT: (laughs)
AABRIA: Ugh. MATT: Are you
pushing on carefully or are you pushing
on at max movement? If you go max movement,
at the end of the day will require another
constitution roll, but you might get to Uthodurn before it gets too
late in the evening, or it'll take a
secondary day of travel which comes with
its own challenges. So the choice is yours. CHRISTIAN: If you want
to go far, go slow. AABRIA: Hmm.
TRAVIS: (laughs) SAM: Great advice. Great advice.
TRAVIS: Yeah, it's great. SAM: I'm going to remember that.
MATT: All right. Then I would like a group
stealth check, please, as you carefully make your
way through the mountains. ♪ Makin' our way ♪
ASHLEY: Pass Without a Trace. TRAVIS: ♪ Making my way ♪
(gawking) MATT: Oh, look at that. CHRISTIAN: That's what, plus 10?
TRAVIS: Excuse me? AABRIA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Pass Without a Trace? LAURA: Oh, this is a thing, Fearne.
TRAVIS: Hot shit. ASHLEY: Oh, me? MATT: All right.
CHRISTIAN: 17 plus 12 is 29, plus 10 is 39.
I am the night. MATT: (laughs)
LAURA: Shut up. MATT: 39? CHRISTIAN: 39.
LAURA: 39? ASHLEY: What?! MATT: You stealth
out of being a guest. (laughs) You're just gone.
CHRISTIAN: I'm gone. MATT: All right,
that's great. All right, so 39. Imogen? LAURA: Jesus. CHRISTIAN: I got really lucky.
LAURA: 21. MATT: 21, okay. Fearne? ASHLEY: I forgot because it's--
(laughter) ASHLEY: It's 23.
MATT: 23, all righty. FCG.
SAM: I actually did okay. 22 with the Pass
Without a Trace. MATT: 22, all right. AABRIA: I kind of forgot to tell
my dice to roll high again, and I got a natural one. MATT: Okay, natural one. That's
still a failure on that end. All right, what have
we got over here? TRAVIS: I hold my hand up
for FRIDA, 36. MATT: Oh damn.
TRAVIS: Pow! CHRISTIAN: But no one sees us.
ASHLEY: Dang. (laughter) AABRIA: I felt a
high five happen. But I think I'm drowning in
snow, so who could say? TRAVIS: We just "Endgame"
turn into nothing. AABRIA: (laughs)
MATT: Yep, perfect. CHRISTIAN: I'd like to remain
in the front a few paces. MATT: Yeah.
CHRISTIAN: To keep my wits and make sure-- Yeah, cool.
MATT: With that roll, sure. Keeping eyes forward,
you end up traversing two large mountains throughout
most of the day's journey. A heavy trek, but the
recent snowfall means that the soft
powder is beautiful, and aside from a handful
of natural game creatures that live in this part
of the mountain, no immediate danger that
seems to catch your attention, or you've caught
their attention. Eventually, the day
draws to a close, still a little ways
out from Uthodurn, and you make camp
for the night. You find, with you
out front as well, a small half alcove that sits within part of a
mountain cliff side that can comfortably
fit you all with about a 10-foot distance from the actual mouth
of the entrance where you can set a fire and
keep warm for the evening. But nevertheless, you
can rest well here. Is there anything you
wish to accomplish before you call it
for the night? TRAVIS: I'll try and find
my way over to Deanna. Can I-- do you mind--
could I sit? AABRIA: Yeah, go ahead.
TRAVIS: Okay. I got to admit, this is one of the stranger
but cooler things. 200 years is a long time. It doesn't feel like it,
it really doesn't. It feels like yesterday. AABRIA: (quietly) Yeah.
TRAVIS: Look. Thanks for saving our
asses, first off. I'm sorry to hear about
everything that happened. I'd be lying if I said I
wasn't a bit curious about you and what happened
after we-- AABRIA: (laughs) TRAVIS: -- you know. How was your family? AABRIA: (clears throat) Well, I was-- They were pretty
young when I-- So they ended up leaving Uthodurn
at some point. Last I heard, they've got
families of their own. But Dustel didn't stay. He didn't stay around
to raise them. Just left them with
his sister, so. TRAVIS: No!
AABRIA: Yeah, but, you know. I was kind of the home one. AABRIA: They're fine.
TRAVIS: You said you came up to Uthodurn for-- AABRIA: Look. I have to admit, our
time together was-- Look, I know it was a fling. I know what it was.
I was on vacation. CHRISTIAN: (laughs) AABRIA: Sometimes you
just let it... I had a hard time
letting it go. TRAVIS: Oh.
AABRIA: So I wanted to kind of see where
you were from, and maybe just get a
little perspective, and then I stayed, and I made a home. Even now, I have a second chance
at everything, and I still feel pulled
back there, you know? Not like you, I like home. Even though it hasn't been
my home for that long, all things considered, it
still feels like it is, so I keep going back. TRAVIS: Yeah, it's
a good place. It must've been a good
place to raise a family. It's wild we never
ran into each other, but then again,
it's fucking huge. AABRIA: Wait, were you there? TRAVIS: Yeah!
AABRIA: (yells) Oh god! TRAVIS: I know, I was there for a long time.
AABRIA: How did I not run into you? TRAVIS: Well, I was on
the Deliberation Disc. AABRIA: Oh my god!
It's fine, it's fine. TRAVIS: I know.
AABRIA: Water under the bridge! TRAVIS: Yeah.
AABRIA: It's fine. TRAVIS: But also-- It is a great place. I kind of
left on bad terms. AABRIA: Wait, why? TRAVIS: Well, I--
AABRIA: Chetty. TRAVIS: Okay, I established a
really good woodworking trade with a focus on toys.
AABRIA: Mm-hmm. TRAVIS: Do you know Oltgar's
toy shop on the Deliberation-- AABRIA: Yeah! TRAVIS: Yeah, so me and
him were real tight. We were putting out
some good stuff. AABRIA: Okay. TRAVIS: Then there was a guy
that came in and tried to fuck all that up, and I might've
stabbed him in the knee, and Oltgar in the hand, and I ran.
AABRIA: (laughs) Puppy. TRAVIS: Yeah, so the
Glassblades chased me out, and I hid in the Savalirwood.
AABRIA: Okay. TRAVIS: I haven't been
back in a while. AABRIA: Oh, is it going
to be kind of a thing? TRAVIS: I don't know what
kind of a memory span the Glassblades have, or
if Oltgar's still around, or if the homie that
got kneecapped is going to have a
bounty out or whatever. AABRIA: Why the kneecap? TRAVIS: Because it was
right at eye level. (laughter) AABRIA: That makes perfect
sense. No, you're good. Okay, you took someone out at his ACL.
TRAVIS: And you miss a knee, you know? AABRIA: You do.
TRAVIS: You miss a knee. AABRIA: Look, we were
walking all day long. I tore my meniscus way
back in the day. TRAVIS: That's a
long rehab period. AABRIA: Yeah, oh my god. If you don't really rest it
up, it fucks you forever. TRAVIS: It does.
AABRIA: Yeah. TRAVIS: But look, I've changed. Not in a, hey, we-- More of a, I've had
a fundamental change that I want you to be aware
of, because you guys seem-- AABRIA: I'm going to cut
him off and hug him. MATT: Okay.
AABRIA: Hey, bud. It's okay. It's really good
to see you. TRAVIS: It's really
good to see you, too. You're kind of like
a time capsule. It's kind of magic.
AABRIA: Yeah. (clears throat) Not to make it weird, but you're kind of the first
thing from my life before that didn't hurt to
see again, so thanks. I'm going to be very
clear, all that stuff I could do before, that
was 10 years max for me. I still got it. No pressure or nothing, but
I need you to know that I, knee aside and former
agility in the snow aside-- It doesn't matter.
It's good to see you. I just do the three pats. MATT: Chetney.
TRAVIS: Yeah? Please don't make me
roll for a heart attack. MATT: No, but I do
want you to roll-- AABRIA: I want him
to die in my arms! MATT: I do want you to roll a
wisdom saving throw for me. AABRIA: Oh no. TRAVIS: Why? Against magic?
AABRIA: (laughs) MATT: No.
TRAVIS: Okay. AABRIA: I try to kill him!
SAM: Against love. TRAVIS: Seven. MATT: In everything
that's been happening, both the evening perspective of the weaves of magic in the sky--
TRAVIS: Mm-mm. MATT: -- the cloud
cover during the travel that's been transpiring,
there's a facet that hits in the
center of the solstice with the full,
complete alignment, when everything comes
together, that involves the larger moon
to become full. TRAVIS: Bro! AABRIA: (whispers)
Am I going to die? TRAVIS: Do I... see it?
AABRIA: (laughs) MATT: In the midst of this
wonderful, calm moment, as she pats you and pulls
away for a minute-- TRAVIS: Matt Mercer, man. MATT: You feel that--
(growls) TRAVIS: I'm so sorry, I had something--
MATT: (growls) TRAVIS: Excuse me, I
have to find a bush. AABRIA: What's wrong?
TRAVIS: I'll be back. I just-- (rapid footsteps) As fast as I can.
AABRIA: What'd I do? LAURA: A bush! SAM: In the snow.
AABRIA: No, my stew's perfect, so it's not me.
MATT: Chetney just runs out of the cavern into the night.
TRAVIS: Dead into the middle of the night. LAURA: Wait, is it
nighttime or is it day?
SAM: No, it's day. MATT: No, no, no, you guys
have set down for the evening. LAURA: Oh, this is camp.
MATT: This is camp. SAM: We already walked all day?
TRAVIS and MATT: Yeah. SAM: Oh wow.
ASHLEY: Did we see-- MATT: That's why the
stars are out, bro. SAM: Oh wow.
AABRIA: You have to look at the-- There's one. A window!
SAM: Amazing. TRAVIS: I'll be like-- (growls)
LAURA: Do we see him take off? MATT: Most of you are
bedding down, yeah. You see Chetney dart
out into the night. LAURA: Did he have the shits?
TRAVIS: (quick footsteps) AABRIA: I don't think so. I think I said
something wrong. TRAVIS: Oh, what--
ASHLEY: No, no, no, no, no. He gets diarrhea a lot. TRAVIS: (laughs)
MATT: At about this moment-- TRAVIS: That is not-- (laughs)
MATT and SAM: (laugh) AABRIA: I am not going to interrogate
that. Okay, thank you. TRAVIS: I am not there
to defend myself! MATT: No, but you do hear loudly and echoing
through the canyon below this side
of the mountain, around this moment, a heavy, echoing,
wolven howl. ASHLEY: Huh.
LAURA: Oh. TRAVIS: (howls) CHRISTIAN: What do you mean, oh?
AABRIA: Why're you saying oh? SAM: I mean, is it our place to share?
LAURA: I don't know if it is. SAM: Chetney-- AABRIA: Is there something
wrong with Chetney? CHRISTIAN: He's a werewolf.
SAM: Not wrong with! AABRIA: What?
SAM: Special about. AABRIA: A what?
SAM: What'd you say? CHRISTIAN: He's a werewolf.
ASHLEY: Wait, how did you know? SAM: Very perceptive,
very perceptive. ASHLEY: Very smart. AABRIA: Yeah, I know,
but how do you know? LAURA: Wait, you know
he's a werewolf? AABRIA: No.
LAURA: Oh. AABRIA: How do you, what?
What are we-- That's nothing.
TRAVIS: (laughs) MATT: You did,
last night, watch, as you're watching the
sky and everything, Catha was on
the cusp of full. AABRIA: The fuck is a
werewolf? Like the stories? CHRISTIAN: You've never--
LAURA: You've never seen a-- SAM: Turns out-- AABRIA: Why the fuck would
I see a werewolf? LAURA: Well, I don't know!
I really don't know! SAM: Just have an open mind,
because when he comes back, he might look different.
AABRIA: Don't tell me how to feel. SAM: No, I'm just saying
that it might make him feel uncomfortable if he
comes back and you-- AABRIA: I hugged him and he
turned into a werewolf? What the fuck?! SAM: It probably wasn't you.
ASHLEY: Maybe he got a little excited. LAURA: You know, maybe, yeah. Maybe it made him
feel real good, and he lost control of those primal sort of urges.
AABRIA: I feel like I'm being condescended to, and I'll take it. LAURA: No, really not.
AABRIA: No, I need it. I need the boost. ASHLEY: I think he probably
just got a little-- (shudders) Then he had to--
LAURA: All things considered, I mean, for the most part,
Chet seems really proud of the fact that he's
a wolf, you know? ASHLEY: Mm-hmm.
LAURA: So I don't think-- CHRISTIAN: He won't harm us? LAURA: Not--
SAM: Well-- LAURA: Mostly no.
AABRIA: What?! SAM: I mean, he has before. AABRIA: What?!
LAURA: But only when he was really-- SAM: Only when
the moon was full. AABRIA: Okay, so
here's the thing. You're a murderbot. He turns
into a wolf that kills people. I've never fucking
seen you before. You're beautiful, but
kind of freak me out, and you've got shit all over
you that you seem not-- LAURA: What do you
mean all over me? It's just on my arms, all right?
AABRIA: No, it's on your neck. Look, can you feel it?
SAM: It's not shit, it's just, it's moon stuff.
LAURA: It's my face? What, is it on my face?
AABRIA: It's kind of on your neck. Look, feel right there.
Can you feel it? LAURA: Can I feel anything? MATT: The very faintest bit
of texture, you can see, has now moved up, and
it's starting to caress just beneath the earlobes.
ASHLEY: It looks beautiful. AABRIA: A little lotion or
something, but y'all are wild. SAM: Yeah, well, we're having
a rough time right now. AABRIA: I'm sorry.
SAM: We lost half of our friends, and we don't know what's going on.
LAURA: They could be dead, we don't know. AABRIA: I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
SAM: We don't need this added stress! Go easy on us.
AABRIA: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry!
SAM: Go easy on him, he's had a rough time, too. ASHLEY: I feel like Chet was
probably trying to protect you, if he felt the urge. AABRIA: Okay. You don't have
to comfort me in this moment. Thank you. I'm sorry.
LAURA: Fearne, do you have a mirror in all your pouches? ASHLEY: Yes, I have-- AABRIA: I'm sorry. I
spoke out of turn. ASHLEY: I have silver teapot?
SAM: I can't connect with my god. LAURA: That'll work.
SAM: Are you there, Changebringer? TRAVIS: Oh no. LAURA: Oh my.
SAM: No. What's going on?
(laughter) AABRIA: This is really
bad, and I'm stressed, and you said it's because
of an Applebee's Solstice, and I don't know what
that means, really. You were explaining it
when we were in Eiselcross, and I was real stressed
out and I don't remember. TRAVIS: In the distance,
you hear-- (snarling ferally)
SAM: Do you guys have Applebee's? LAURA: Do I have purple titties?
(laughter) ASHLEY: Do you
need me to check? SAM: GM, does she have
purple stuff on her titties? MATT: Are you looking?
LAURA: I'm looking! SAM: She's looking.
ASHLEY: I'm looking! AABRIA: Do you need a light?
I cast Light on her sweater. ASHLEY: You probably can't see from that angle--
MATT: A little bit. ASHLEY: -- so I should probably check.
TRAVIS: Too much. SAM: You have purple
shit on your titties? LAURA: It's all over me! I got lightning titties! (laughter) MATT: Yeah, a little bit.
LAURA: All right, you know. MATT: Hints of red once
again peeking through at the source places.
LAURA: Great. CHRISTIAN: Imogen, I think.
LAURA: Yes? CHRISTIAN: Please
be honest with me. LAURA: Mm-hmm. CHRISTIAN: Are we in
danger traveling with you? LAURA: Me? No.
CHRISTIAN: All of you. LAURA: No! No no no,
not at all. AABRIA: Can I insight check her?
LAURA: Honestly-- SAM: Yes.
LAURA: -- if anything, we're trying to help. AABRIA: Fuck!
LAURA: We're trying to help-- TRAVIS: Goodbye. AABRIA: Don't worry about it.
LAURA: -- people. We're trying to-- SAM: Imogen.
ASHLEY: No, no, no. You're so perfectly safe. SAM: You might be.
LAURA: No. SAM: You might be!
LAURA: No! SAM: Everywhere we've gone,
everything we've done, we've been surrounded
by danger and people trying to stop us, hurt us.
AABRIA: Stop you from what? SAM: We're deep into things
that we don't understand that involve people that
are eons old maybe, and gods, and all
sorts of stuff that we don't
even understand, so we would
totally understand if you don't feel safe with
us and want to separate. We-- I-- I don't want
to speak for you. I think that you two
are very nice people, and have been so kind to us, and I don't want anything
bad to befall you. So if you don't want to
be with us, it's okay. Maybe just point us on
our way, and we can split. AABRIA: No. I'm sorry.
CHRISTIAN: I don't think I can. You may be the
closest thing to family besides Deanna that
I will ever encounter. SAM: Well, are
you two scared? AABRIA: Oh, no. We don't let being
scared stop us. CHRISTIAN: I'm always scared,
which is a new sensation. AABRIA: I'm sorry for freaking out.
SAM: It's okay. It's very normal.
AABRIA: That's on me. ASHLEY: No, no,
it's totally fine. AABRIA: Is there
anything I can do to help?
SAM: No, no, no. No. CHRISTIAN: Will Chetney
be okay? SAM: I mean--
LAURA: Yeah, it usually wears off after a little bit. ASHLEY: Yeah. Yeah. SAM: He might go kill
a possum or something. LAURA: Yeah, sometimes he comes
back having hunted, you know. But it's usually just--
ASHLEY: Little snacks. CHRISTIAN: Forgive me, this
may be a silly question, but does he-- Does he grow when he--?
ASHLEY: Yes. LAURA: He does.
CHRISTIAN: Oh, okay. ASHLEY: He does.
SAM: All over. CHRISTIAN: Oh.
MATT: (laughs) TRAVIS: That's not necessary. (laughter) LAURA: Rolling!
ASHLEY: (laughs) AABRIA: I just smirk in
monsterfucker. Like, okay! (laughter) AABRIA: I'm having a normal
reaction to this. (grunts) ASHLEY: Sometimes, you know, there's differences,
you know. When the Catha moon is full,
that's when he gets-- Right?
TRAVIS: Haven't had one yet. This is the first Catha. LAURA: The Catha full moon,
the last time was-- ASHLEY: I just started
saying it, and I'm like, that's
not right, actually. TRAVIS: The biggun. ASHLEY: When the red moon gets
full, he gets a little wild. But he can turn.
There's differences. CHRISTIAN: All of you are
affected by this red moon? SAM: No.
ASHLEY: Well. LAURA: No, FCG isn't.
CHRISTIAN: No? SAM: No, I'm not,
but they are. ASHLEY: I'm not.
LAURA: That's not true. You had little red bits
flying off you out there, too.
SAM: You did. AABRIA: Oh no!
LAURA: You know that, right? ASHLEY: I did? LAURA: Yeah, there was
a little bit of red mist coming off of you.
AABRIA: Ooh. SAM: At this event
that we were all at, they started to sort of
melt a little bit. AABRIA: Oh! Shit.
ASHLEY: I'm going to write it down. SAM: I mean, not melt,
but they-- LAURA: I don't know
what it was. SAM: Red something was sort of
floating off of them and they were--
LAURA: How did it feel-- SAM: -- becoming one with the moon.
LAURA: -- by the way, when that happened?
AABRIA: Oh no! LAURA: Did it feel like our bodies were
being disintegrated? What did it--? MATT: You hadn't had
a moment to really sit on the memory of the
sensations in that moment. It was overwhelming,
from a sensory standpoint. But remembering back on it, it felt for a moment like you were
connected to something that had been missing
your entire life. TRAVIS: Whoa. LAURA: Did it feel good? MATT: It felt fateful. ASHLEY: Did we all feel that?
SAM: Did she feel that way? MATT: You felt it
a little bit, too. TRAVIS: Never a good thing
at this table. AABRIA: Ah! MATT: It's like a-- Not good, but
I'd say the satisfaction of when something fits
just where it's supposed to when you're organizing, and everything just
goes perfectly. LAURA: Getting the
five rows on Tetris. MATT and ASHLEY: Yeah.
AABRIA: Ooh. CHRISTIAN: You felt-- It sounds peaceful. LAURA: Yeah. Yeah, there were people
that are looking to, speaking to what you were
saying earlier, actually, to remove the gods as we know them.
CHRISTIAN: Good. AABRIA: Okay, now. CHRISTIAN: What? AABRIA: The gods are-- CHRISTIAN: Unnecessary. AABRIA: But they exist.
LAURA: Well. CHRISTIAN: Because-- AABRIA: Speak your mind. We've had this fight a lot, so
you can be a part of it now. If they don't exist,
what replaces them? LAURA: That's a good question.
CHRISTIAN: Us. AABRIA: No. CHRISTIAN: I have never
believed in anything more than I believe in you. LAURA: If the gods
aren't there, if the Matron of Ravens
isn't there, what happens when we die? AABRIA: Oh, well,
let me be very clear. I think, and this is
sort of my opinion, and I understand it comes
with some extra context because I was dead
for a while. LAURA: Yeah. AABRIA: The afterlife
and the gods don't have that much
to do with each other. LAURA: But doesn't she
guide you to the afterlife? SAM: And didn't the Dawnfather--
AABRIA: But it's not hers. SAM: -- bring you
back to life? AABRIA: Look,
our relationship, mortals and gods, it's not like a
parent and a child. We're not their children.
We're their batteries. Our faith and our devotion
feeds and sustains them, gives them power, and they
see fit on occasion to give sips of
that power back, I think in order to
inspire further faith. I know how that sounds as a
cleric of the Dawnfather. It's night.
I don't give a shit. But the afterlife, if the
Matron of Ravens guides us, she guides us to a place
that existed before her and that will
exist after her. It's like being
a little kid, and you think that
your parents are gods, that they're the whole world,
that they're the sun and moon, and then you get old
enough to start asking who made your
parents, you know? CHRISTIAN: A hypothetical
question. If you couldn't sleep
for thousands of years, wouldn't you just
want to go to sleep? We keep them turned on by believing in them to be more than us, but, maybe we should give
them the gift of rest. LAURA: Well, this isn't
a gift of rest, what the people that we've been
fighting are trying to do. They're not trying
to allow them to sleep. They're trying
to destroy them. They're trying to
eat them whole. AABRIA: I'm sorry,
did she say "eat"? SAM: She did. We sort of learned
about a god eater. It's all very complicated,
but also, it's put us in a very
weird position where we're trying to
protect these gods that we don't
even know about, and for most of us,
except for me, don't really care about. My god is the one true god. (laughter) AABRIA: You can say that
to SunnyD's fucking face. TRAVIS: (laughs) SunnyD!
SAM: But other than me, no disrespect
for anyone else, we're in this weird position where we're essentially
trying to protect the gods from something that we
don't even care about. I mean, not for our
own personal reasons. AABRIA: Quick question, do
the gods, especially yours, "the one true god--"
SAM: Yeah? AABRIA: Do they know
about the god eater? SAM: Do you know
about the god eater? AABRIA: God fucking damn it.
SAM: That's another no. I'm starting to
get the idea that the communication
is just severed. She ain't home right now. LAURA: Have you tried
communicating with the Dawnfather? I mean, I don't know how
much he speaks back. AABRIA: We're not-- It's not that kind
of relationship. CHRISTIAN: It never is. They only appear when
they want to appear, when they think it's of benefit.
SAM: (sneezes) CHRISTIAN: Bless you. AABRIA: He can sneeze?
LAURA: Changebringer bless you. SAM: Oh!
(whispers) Thank you. MATT, AABRIA, and SAM:
(laugh) CHRISTIAN: Has this god
eater been released? LAURA: I'm not sure.
SAM: Maybe. CHRISTIAN: Perhaps the
connection is severed because they're already
under attack. LAURA: No, they are under
attack. It is under attack. That's where we came from.
They were attacking. ASHLEY: So maybe that's why you
don't feel your connection.
LAURA: They were trying to release it. AABRIA: No, I think it's
a little worse than that. SAM: What? AABRIA: I thought he was
just kind of leaning away. But maybe the thing
I felt was fear. Dread. I didn't know they
could feel that. CHRISTIAN: Did you see the
thing they were trying to release? LAURA: Well, no. Not really. Have you looked in the sky?
Is the moon in the sky? MATT: Make
a perception check. AABRIA: She keeps
fucking looking up! Maybe if you stop looking up,
you wouldn't have shit all over your neck.
LAURA: God, wait, I can't roll. Anybody else want to look at
the sky? Do you see Ruidus? ASHLEY: I'm going to
give it a looksie. MATT: It's--
ASHLEY: It's not there? MATT: It's not a super high DC.
LAURA: Real low rolls. AABRIA: Up is really hard to check.
TRAVIS: But still, somehow, your toes are your focus.
LAURA: I rolled six. MATT: Rolled a six, yeah.
TRAVIS: Aw, baby. MATT: With the help
of your friends doing a full scan
of the skyline-- SAM: No, it's up! LAURA: Oh, I was
looking, shit. AABRIA: It's the only way
your controller can't go. TRAVIS: Who inverted the Y-axis? Fuck!
LAURA: I'm spinning in a circle, looking at the ground. MATT: Who put
this on southpaw? AABRIA: Yeah! (laughs)
TRAVIS: (laughs) ASHLEY: Me! AABRIA: Same. MATT: This is the second night
really paying attention, and there's been no
sign, day or night, of Ruidus in the sky, which
you would know as individuals that traversed this
path before and utilize the positioning of the moons
and the stars to guide you during evening and late
day treks and such, now that it's been
pointed out, that's odd. LAURA: Are the leylines still looking
very active in the sky? MATT: Yeah. AABRIA: (whispers) The what?
ASHLEY: The leylines. LAURA: The Apogee
Solstice only-- AABRIA: Y'all keep saying new
shit all the fucking time. LAURA: -- lasted for
three days, right? ASHLEY: That's what all
these wiggles and stuff are. LAURA: It's ending. I mean, it's going to be over,
and we're missing it all because we're in the snow. SAM: Should we press
on through the night and try to get to Uthodurn? LAURA: What good is
it going to do? SAM: Maybe someone there
can reach out. Maybe someone there has
a skyship, I don't know. CHRISTIAN: We'll be
there tomorrow. I think it'd be dangerous
to travel tonight. ASHLEY: Imogen--
MATT: You hear once more the wolf howl in
the distance of the nearby ravine.
LAURA: We don't even have Chet with us.
SAM: We can't press on through night. We don't even have our old weirdo.
ASHLEY: No, Imogen, do you think maybe you could try to contact one
of them through your dreams? LAURA: I don't even know
if the dreams will work if Ruidus isn't
there any more, but I can try, we can try. SAM: Oh.
LAURA: What do you think? SAM: I was kind of
looking forward to-- LAURA: Oh, right.
SAM: No, no, no. This is more important. Yeah,
this is more important. This is more important.
It really is. LAURA: I can just go, and you
can share a dream with FRIDA. SAM: No, no, no, I want to see
if our friends are alive. ASHLEY: We'll do that maybe
tomorrow night, or-- CHRISTIAN: No rush here.
ASHLEY: -- vice versa. Doesn't matter. LAURA: It might not even work.
SAM: It might not. CHRISTIAN: When we
arrive at Uthodurn, we should check in with the
temples, the various clerics, and see if there's
been a disturbance-- LAURA: In the Force.
CHRISTIAN: In the Force. AABRIA: In the what? Y'all
keep saying new shit! MATT and TRAVIS: (laugh) AABRIA: I'm not even southern.
This is just stressing me out! (laughter) TRAVIS: It's catchy.
AABRIA: It's catching! I cast Greater Restoration to use my original
character voice. (laughter) MATT: All righty, so what's
the plan of action? Are you casting--
TRAVIS: Dream walk. MATT: -- dream walk with her?
SAM: Shared Dream, sure. MATT: Yeah.
CHRISTIAN: Can I Bless? Yes, I will Bless
both of you. MATT: Okay.
SAM: Thank you. CHRISTIAN: Yes.
LAURA: Thank you. You want to
come with, Fearne? ASHLEY: Sure. CHRISTIAN: How many people
can you bring into a dream? LAURA: Oh, do you have to
cast at a higher level? SAM: I don't, I don't.
No, I can do-- LAURA: (mumbling) Higher level?
SAM: Let's see here. It doesn't matter.
We're going to sleep. AABRIA: What's that mean?
Oh yeah. I know how spells work.
SAM: I can get at least Fearne. I know how spells work.
SAM: I can get at least Fearne. Maybe someone else, too,
if they want to come, but I don't want to be inviting
people into your head. AABRIA: Is that weird? Is it helpful for more people,
or is it kind of weird? SAM: I mean, we just met.
LAURA: Yeah. AABRIA: I'm sorry. Oh my god, that's so rude of me!
LAURA: No, not at all. AABRIA: I'm just like,
hey, can I be-- LAURA: No, not at all.
AABRIA: -- in your dream? My god! SAM: Oh, you're
getting married? Can I come?
AABRIA: Yeah! MATT and ASHLEY: (laugh)
LAURA: Seriously, it's not at all. I'm used to people being
in my head, believe me. But it's actually kind of a
danger to anyone that comes in, depending on what
we run into. I would hate for you to get
trapped in some other state. AABRIA: Is that a thing
that could happen? LAURA: It's happened. AABRIA: Damn, y'all are wild. TRAVIS: (howls mournfully)
LAURA: Oh, he seems sad. TRAVIS: (howls mournfully) LAURA: Oh, he's a sad wolf.
AABRIA: Sad wolf. TRAVIS: (snarls)
SAM: Oh! CHRISTIAN: That sounds
like he killed something. LAURA: He's a hungry wolf. AABRIA: Okay, well,
why don't-- SAM: I'll take Fearne.
LAURA: Okay. SAM: We'll go, maybe-- AABRIA: I'll watch out for you
all here. Your bodies stay, right? SAM: Yeah, but also maybe
watch out for Chetney. There's a slight chance he'll come back and try
to murder us all, so. CHRISTIAN: We should go find him.
AABRIA: I got Chetney. I'm not worried about Puppy. Oh, now it's funny that he's
called puppy. That's funny. CHRISTIAN: If I could feel
uncomfortable, I believe I would. (laughter) AABRIA: Yeah. Hey, FRIDA? CHRISTIAN: Yes? AABRIA: Be safe, okay? CHRISTIAN: You, too. AABRIA: I can't lose you. CHRISTIAN: I'm going to go
look for Chet, I think. LAURA: You're going to go look?
MATT: Okay. LAURA: Oh jeez. CHRISTIAN: Well,
he's important to her. Yes, I'm going to. Yes.
MATT: Okay. We'll get to
that momentarily. You prepare yourself
for a rest. What intent are you going
into this rest with? LAURA: I'm going to
try to find Laudna. TRAVIS: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. MATT: Okay. LAURA: But should I-- I should try to see
what's going on with-- SAM: Don't you have to direct--
LAURA: I should probably see what's happening-- SAM: Do you direct
towards a person? Do you direct towards
a place? A feeling? LAURA: Before, I
directed towards my mom. SAM: And it brought
you where she was. LAURA: To the Key, yeah.
SAM: Do that with Laudna, I guess. TRAVIS: Damn, tough.
LAURA: But it might be smarter to try to find out
what's going on with-- TRAVIS: The Key?
LAURA: The Key. TRAVIS: If it's there.
If it's even there. LAURA: If it exploded, if
there's anything around. TRAVIS: Who knows? SAM: We got to find out
if our friends are okay. LAURA: Okay, yeah, I'm
going to search for Laudna. TRAVIS: Nothing we can
do about it anyway. MATT: Okay. So you lay down. You cast your spell.
SAM: Mm-hmm. MATT: The two of you coming along?
ASHLEY: Mm-hmm. SAM: Yes, please.
MATT: Okay. You breathe quietly
and concentrate on your friend and the
connection you hold. LAURA: I'm going to touch
the yarn around my wrist. CHRISTIAN: (whispers) So cool. MATT: You're pulled into
the current of a stream far stronger than
you were expecting, you immediately slip
into a dream, and you feel your
consciousness not directed towards your intent, but
pulled, dragged, yanked, the two of you
pulled alongside like you are tethered
and chained to something that is being
carried away by a flood. You're all of a
sudden being torn through the multicolor
strands of the sky. You are being dragged
across the weave of leylines and magical
energy in Exandria at a speed you can't comprehend
until they all go red, where everything is
pulled towards, where all streams
are directed. The singular nexus of all
magic in Exandria, here. The strong column
of red energy, the beam that still holds, piercings upward from
the center of Marquet into the now locked,
unmoving moon of Ruidus. There, it looms in
the sky above, between the ground,
the bridge. You are pulled into
and are fighting from the force of
being dragged into it. Make a perception check. LAURA: (babbling nervously) I'm going to do
the Ruidus die! ASHLEY: Can I Guidance her? LAURA: That's good,
that's good. Do I still get my Bless, too? CHRISTIAN: Yes.
MATT: I'll allow it for this. I'll allow it.
LAURA: What does that do? MATT: Plus a d4.
CHRISTIAN: Plus a d4. LAURA: I can't believe
I didn't remember that. Come here, you! Hee hee. ASHLEY: Hee hee. LAURA: Perception?
MATT: Mm-hmm. LAURA: 19. Wait, yes, 19. MATT: 19. As you're resisting this
continuously funneled flow of magical energy that is
being brought into the place right above where
the Malleus Key sits, the energy then
being redirected, this continuous
string upward, and simultaneously downward,
both passing past each other, you withstand and glace up,
and you can see where it intersects
with the red moon, the faint imagery of a
weave of golden thread that is ever so gently
broken and pulled apart where that beam has
passed through. As you glance back down towards where
the Malleus Key is, there's a faint red
storm gathering of dust, swirling around like
a slow moving cyclone right here in the center
of the Hellcatch. For a brief instant, you swear you can see
people down there. Dozens, maybe 100 or so people. They're not people, at least
not how you know them. Their red skin.
LAURA: No, they're the red people! ASHLEY: The Reilora.
SAM: (gasps) MATT: At which point
you feel yourself being pulled closer and
closer into this nexus. It's getting loud in
your ears, the sound, the static growing stronger
and stronger still. You have very little mooring
at this point. What do you do? LAURA: Oh god. SAM: We're getting pulled up?
ASHLEY: May I try to grab her? MATT: You can certainly try. ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: Go ahead and make, in this instance,
make a d20 roll and add your wisdom modifier. This is not a physical connection.
This is pure willpower. ASHLEY: Come on, bitch. Natural one.
LAURA: Oh no! AABRIA: Oh no.
ASHLEY: Fuck. MATT: You are shunted
from the dream. You feel yourself dragged back--
TRAVIS: Oh shit! MATT: -- through the ever
growing weave of energies in the sky above and come
back to consciousness. AABRIA: Are you okay? What's wrong, what's
wrong, what's wrong? ASHLEY: I saw something
really bad. MATT: Imogen,
what are you doing? LAURA: Oh. MATT: (whooshes) LAURA: Can I try to use
all of my telekinetic force and push myself away from it? MATT: You can certainly try. Roll a d20 and add your
charisma modifier. ASHLEY: I am going to cast
Earthbind on Imogen. SAM: On her physical body? ASHLEY: On her physical body. MATT: Okay. AABRIA: Can I cast Guidance
on sleeping Imogen? I don't know if
that does anything. MATT: I think
in this instance, she's physically and spiritually
in separate places. LAURA: Is it my charisma saving
throw or my modifier? MATT: Your modifier. LAURA: 11.
MATT: 11. You feel yourself
losing ground. Wherever your
spiritual essence is, it's being pulled closer
and closer still. You begin to feel the scattering
of energy 100 feet away, 80 feet away, 50 feet away.
LAURA: No, no, no! MATT: It feels like it burns. It feels almost like the
sun is burning your skin, but it's not heat,
it's just energy, and a weird part of you
wants to just run into it. That little voice in
the back of your head that tells you to
jump from the cliff when you're near the edge
is just telling you, "Go. "Run into it. Embrace it. "Take yourself into it. "Become one with it."
SAM: Is she getting farther from me? MATT: Yeah, and you're being
dragged slowly along with her. You're tethered to
her consciousness. SAM: Oh god, okay. But I'm not touching her
physically, right? MATT: No.
SAM: Okay. In the dream, if I can,
I'm going to shoot my grappling hook at her and try to latch on tighter. MATT: You will that,
and there is no arm. There is no grapple.
SAM: Shit. MATT: You are just a
mote of spiritual energy in the middle of this
dream, tethered to her. SAM: Then I will try
to just, again, with my will, try to pull or
push us out of the stream. MATT: Make a wisdom check, please.
AABRIA: You got this! SAM: Pretty good.
Wisdom check? MATT: Yeah, so add your
wisdom modifier to it. SAM: 17. MATT: 17. You lock into place, and
as opposed to pushing her out of the way, you at
least become an anchor. As you hold in there,
you feel that tether between the two
of you go taut, and you are now maybe
40 feet from her, watching this endless wave, this beam that you
can't even conceive how large it may be
at this proximity. It almost fills your
periphery to the front, to the side to side,
and it's little bursts of red energy up and
down, up and down, and occasionally you see
what looks like entities. (whooshes) You don't know if it's
just bursts of power or if it's people,
what it is. You can't quite grasp it,
but a little part of you just wants to
break that tether. A little part of you
wants to just let go. LAURA: FCG!
ASHLEY: I'm going to go stand over Imogen.
AABRIA: What are you doing? Wake her up! ASHLEY: I'm going to slap
her in the face. AABRIA: Okay!
ASHLEY: I'm going to scream, Imogen! Wake up! MATT: I need you to make
a wisdom saving throw. AABRIA: Oh shit. LAURA: Am I trying
to succeed here? Whoa.
AABRIA: (laughs) LAURA: Should that count, because
it just escaped out of my hand? AABRIA: Bless
the Changebringer. LAURA: Wisdom saving throw, 19.
MATT: It's too late now. MATT: 19, okay. At the moment that
you feel yourself begin to even consider giving in to this primal urge that's telling you to
just release and embrace, you feel this shock
of pain in your head and you have just enough strength
in the back of your mind to pull out of
that primal urge, acknowledge where you are,
and embrace the pain and the sound of your
voice being shouted, recognizing the sound of
Fearne's voice cutting through. In that moment, you put all of your frontal
focus into escape. With that moment, you both
are yanked from this vision and back into your
conscious minds. AABRIA: What the fuck? ASHLEY: Right?
CHRISTIAN: (laughs) AABRIA: Are you
okay? Are you okay? SAM: You were happy. AABRIA: (weak laugh)
Good dream. SAM: You wanted to go there. LAURA: It felt amazing. CHRISTIAN: Oh, buddy. LAURA: Thank you. SAM: Well, should we
have let you go? LAURA: I don't know. I don't know if-- Would I be gone? ASHLEY: No, we shouldn't
have let her go! SAM: Well, if that's where
her heart wants to go... ASHLEY: No, that's not-- LAURA: Did you see
all the people there? ASHLEY: They weren't people. I mean, not to be rude,
those were the things-- LAURA: What if that's what
we become when we give in? LAURA: What if that's what
we become when we give in? What if-- What if that's what
my mama is now? Do you think? ASHLEY: I don't know, Imogen. LAURA: It's tethered. It's tethered in
Marquet, Ruidus. That's why we can't see it. TRAVIS: Mm. AABRIA: Okay. Context clues sounds like
that's real fucking bad? LAURA: Yeah.
AABRIA: Are you okay? LAURA: Yeah. AABRIA: Are you
just saying that? LAURA: I don't know. No, I'm not all right.
No, I'm not all right. AABRIA: Is it okay
if I touch you? I want to go over
and she's medium size, so I gesture for you to kneel and I want to grab your face. For whatever it's worth, I want to cast
Greater Restoration. MATT: Okay. AABRIA: I don't know
what's going on. This is all a much bigger, I'm new to this, and it's fucking
bad, I think. But I know you're not and I'm sorry, for
whatever it's worth. MATT: You make contact.
When she touches your face, you feel this warmth, this, you feel this warmth, this, for lack of a better term, spiritual embrace
come over you, and the anxiety, the fear, everything that you're
processing in that moment, just for now, washes away. You know probably
not forever, maybe not even for more
than a few minutes, but in this brief moment
it's just you two and a welcome calm. LAURA: Thank you.
AABRIA: Yeah. Oh, sweetie. LAURA: Thank you.
AABRIA: Yeah. MATT: FRIDA.
SAM: Oh! MATT: I'd like you to roll
a stealth check for me, if you don't mind. TRAVIS: Oh no.
AABRIA: Roll a 49. LAURA: Thank you.
CHRISTIAN: 16 plus 12, so 28. AABRIA: Goddamn!
MATT: I'd like you to roll perception for me,
with advantage. TRAVIS: Oh no, come on. MATT: Because it's
through scent and hearing. AABRIA: If you eat my friend,
I'll fucking kill you. TRAVIS: I believe it. 13.
MATT: 13. You spend the next hour
or so following sounds, following bits of the snow
where it's been messed. Streaks of blood
and cracked bone and the mostly devoured husks of squirrels,
rabbits, a deer. SAM: (laughs) MATT: There are just murder
sites after murder sites surrounding you here in nature.
TRAVIS: (low growl) MATT: But it is a very
easy to follow trail for a person that
knows how to track. Roll survival check for
me, if you don't mind. I'll say advantage on this because he is leaving
quite a trail. CHRISTIAN: I think that's a nine.
Is that a nine or a six? SAM: Doesn't matter,
you'll get a better roll. ASHLEY: That's a nine.
LAURA: That's a nine. CHRISTIAN: Well, that's
with advantage, so that would be a
12 on the first one, and a 10 on the
second one, so 12. MATT: Okay. It takes you a little
longer than you would hope. He's moving quick, and
his hunger is guiding him in sporadic directions.
SAM: Fucking brutally bad. MATT: You quickly figure out that there's not a direction
or a path to this, it is impulse. And you lose him for a while. CHRISTIAN: Can I do something, DM?
MATT: Mm-hmm. CHRISTIAN: I've never tried this,
FRIDA has never tried this. So rather than
projecting laughter, could I attempt to
project Fearne's voice? SAM: Ooh, cool, cool, cool.
LAURA: Oh, shit. MATT: Yeah, yeah. CHRISTIAN: I will say-- MATT: Now, so these
are recordings. CHRISTIAN: I will say: Chet! Chet! ASHLEY: Chet.
CHRISTIAN: Chet. (laughter) TRAVIS: It's that AI shit. AABRIA: Ooh.
TRAVIS: (laughs) MATT: (shudders) AABRIA: Bro, you got deep faked!
ASHLEY: Chet! AABRIA: It's a
horror game now. MATT: Blood, not enough.
Not enough blood. More, taste the iron,
the iron taste. More, stomach still empty. Feast, kill, tear, kill. Familiar. Familiar, near. (grunting) You follow the voice
and you hear the slightly growing sound of growls and claws. CHRISTIAN: I will go
somewhere very visible so I can see him
when he emerges. I will project Deanna's voice and the recording
of her saying, "This is the first thing from
my past that hasn't felt--" "This is the first thing from
my past that hasn't felt--" AABRIA: That didn't hurt.
CHRISTIAN: "-- that didn't hurt," when he emerges. I'll say that over and
over when I see him. I will not be aggressive. MATT: Okay. TRAVIS: Oh man. ASHLEY: That's so cool. MATT: The first time it
goes through, silence. Lost him. The second time, you think you
hear a twig snap. You turn and look and
you don't see anything other than the
light of the moon hitting past this
one batch of bushes, and catch two eyes reflecting
it in the darkness. TRAVIS: (low growling) MATT: You hear
the voice, familiar. A combination of twisted self-loathing, but hunger, fighting,
fighting. What do you do? TRAVIS: It's confusing
even in that state. MATT: It's confusing. We'll see based on what-- TRAVIS: I think it's
the nose down, low crouch, slow crawl out
from behind cover, smelling at FRIDA, with the little head
turn when a dog is trying to figure out
what the fuck he's hearing. MATT: He's certainly
not pouncing yet. But for what you've
gotten to know of Chetney, in the past couple
of days of journeying, this is a
formidable predator. CHRISTIAN: Well, you don't
turn your back on a predator. So whereas FRIDA's
movement in battle and sort of while
ranging is very fluid, the more dextrous
human things the more dextrous
human things are a little bit clunkier
and feel more robotic. Chet would see
a sort of clunky unclasping of the
jacket as I widen it. I will kneel,
maintaining eye contact. I'll hold my hand
out and I'll say, I'll echo again
Deanna's words, and then it'll be my voice. I'll say: I know you're
in there, Pock O'Pea. My friend needs you now. Please come back. MATT: Rip, tear, eat, bleed, sunder. TRAVIS: It's that
one, it's bleed. I'm led by my nose,
and though the sound is like a distant
memory, familiar, the smell isn't there. MATT: There's no blood, either.
TRAVIS: Scent. MATT: Do you wish to resist
or attempt to resist this murderous urge? TRAVIS: I would say I
crawl all the way out. I get to his hand,
give it a sniff, and then rear up
on my hind legs and stare into his eyes and try and resist. MATT: Make a wisdom saving throw
for me, if you don't mind. AABRIA: Oh, that's very
cool. That's real good. TRAVIS: 13.
MATT: 13. CHRISTIAN: Can I-- MATT: I would like you
to make a persuasion check. ASHLEY: Come on. MATT: With advantage.
SAM: Ooh! MATT: Because you
have been using-- TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: -- Deanna's voice. AABRIA: Why did I give
the dog Death Ward? (laughs) CHRISTIAN: It's a three. AABRIA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: With advantage? LAURA: No, no,
no, with advantage. CHRISTIAN: Yeah, see.
LAURA: That's a five. LAURA: Oh no, negative one.
CHRISTIAN: No, it's a minus one. (laughter) AABRIA: Laura,
you made it worse. Go away!
TRAVIS and ASHLEY: (laugh) AABRIA: Damn,
that hurt extra. CHRISTIAN: As if
the five, though. She was like, "No, no, no." ASHLEY: "No, no, no, it's
better than-- Never mind." (laughter) MATT: Hunt. LAURA: (laughs) MATT: I'd like you both
to roll initiative. (exclaiming) AABRIA: This fucking slaps. CHRISTIAN: That's an 18 plus--
SAM: Robot versus werewolf. TRAVIS: I had the poo rumbles.
SAM: This is high fantasy. TRAVIS: Yeah.
(laughter) AABRIA: I've written this spec
script and it was not good. (laughter)
MATT: What you got? CHRISTIAN: 26.
MATT: 26. TRAVIS: 21, he goes first. AABRIA: Goddamn!
MATT: All right. So you notice in that moment, that brief moment where
you see that glimmer, that faint spark
of humanity vanish, that faint spark
of humanity vanish, and there is just the beast. You can see in
that split second, your reflexes that
are already attuned to facing off against
natural terrors. You know this is about to
go to blows. What do you do? AABRIA: Don't you
hurt his coat. CHRISTIAN: Okay. I realize this is
imminent danger. (laughter)
AABRIA: Good. CHRISTIAN: I'll
release the blunderbuss and shoot straight
into the air and she would know
what that sounds like. AABRIA: Yeah. CHRISTIAN: So I crack
one into the air. SAM: (mouth fart)
(laughter) CHRISTIAN: It's exactly that.
(laughter) MATT: We are children.
(laughter) AABRIA: Morning toot! CHRISTIAN: Then I
would take off-- (lingering laughter) CHRISTIAN: I would take
off left, or no, I'd take off
back towards camp. MATT: Okay, so you do a back track.
CHRISTIAN: So I'm going to slowly back away, fire, and as I fire,
turn and run. MATT: Bolt. All right.
TRAVIS: Damn. MATT: The creature's going
to run, the hunt is on. You do get an
attack of opportunity as he runs out of your range.
AABRIA: Oh no! TRAVIS: Okay. I'll take a swipe
with my just regular claws. TRAVIS: Yeah, this
is full claws here, there's no conscious use of
weapons here, you are a beast. TRAVIS: No, it's 24.
AABRIA: I swear to god, if booty call kills my friend, I'm
going to be so fucking mad. CHRISTIAN: That hits.
MATT: Roll damage. TRAVIS: Okay. AABRIA: Travis, if you send home
a guest on the first night, that's fucked up.
TRAVIS: I ran to go shit in the woods... (laughter) TRAVIS: It's eight points
of slashing damage. MATT: You feel the impact,
and a part of you is like, fuck, the jacket. TRAVIS: Not the jacket!
ASHLEY: Not the jacket. MATT: But you continue
into a run. What's your movement speed? CHRISTIAN: 30 feet.
MATT: Great. What's yours? TRAVIS: 35.
CHRISTIAN: Shit. SAM: Oh god.
LAURA: Uh-oh. SAM: But you used an action, can't you dash or something? CHRISTIAN: I can bonus
action dash another 30 feet. MATT: Okay, so
you immediately-- This is a quick creature,
but this hunt is thrilling. TRAVIS: (laughs) Oh no.
MATT: Your turn. What are you doing, Chetney? TRAVIS: Yeah, I'm going
to try and catch and-- I like the hunt, so I'm
going to swipe for a leg instead of a pounce, see if
I can get it to trip up. MATT: Okay, okay. So you're just going
for a shove attack as opposed to a claw?
TRAVIS: Yeah. See if I can knock
it off its feet. MATT: Okay, go for it. So that would be athletics versus athletics
or acrobatics. As you hear behind you
(galloping) and a sweep towards you. TRAVIS: 11.
CHRISTIAN: 10. (exclaiming)
ASHLEY: Oh my god. MATT: Your leg gets yanked
out from underneath you and you watch as night
sky turns end over end before you land
in snow and slide about two or three more feet
before the beast is upon you. about two or three more feet
before the beast is upon you. Does that finish your turn? You still have another
attack if you want to. TRAVIS: Sure,
I'll take a swipe. MATT: Okay.
AABRIA: Yeah. No quarter, baby.
TRAVIS: At this thing that doesn't smell
like it has blood, but let's find
out if it does. AABRIA: Oh!
TRAVIS: 17 to hit. CHRISTIAN: Meets it. MATT: Go ahead
and roll damage. TRAVIS: Eight again. MATT: Eight points
of slashing damage. Takes a big old, not even
a slash across your body, jamming it into the front
of your chest armor and it sinks about an inch
into it before it pulls up. You see what you
expect to be blood, and there is a liquid
that comes out, but it's a black
oil-like material. It has a weird smell.
You're not used to it and it sets you off for
bit, it confuses you. This is new blood,
this is new blood. TRAVIS: (gruffly) New blood. MATT: What are you doing? CHRISTIAN: As I feel the
pressure of that second strike and I'm sliding back, I will
tumble onto my feet and rise and I'll say: Bad puppy. In her voice.
(laughter) ASHLEY: Awesome.
CHRISTIAN: My eyes will glow white and I will Guiding Bolt Chetney from my eyes
straight into the center. LAURA: Oh, sick!
MATT: Great! That's awesome! ASHLEY: That is so cool.
TRAVIS: Ocular blast! LAURA: That's a pulsar beam! (laughter) LAURA: Oh no.
(laughter) ASHLEY: Come on!
(laughter) ASHLEY: Get that out of here.
LAURA: Get rid of it. AABRIA: Give that die,
give me that die. CHRISTIAN: I don't hit him. MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: What did you just roll?
CHRISTIAN: That was a one on the die. SAM: (groans)
AABRIA: It was a fucking five. LAURA: He just chucks it back.
CHRISTIAN: So that's my action. MATT: So yeah, you lean
forward and blast, and you at the last
second see this flash and duck low and go
in for the under lunge. What do you do? CHRISTIAN: I'm running
right at him. AABRIA: (laughs
nervously) No. CHRISTIAN: Yeah.
MATT: Okay. CHRISTIAN: I'll run
right at him. I'm going to bonus
action run right at him. TRAVIS: Oh no.
MATT: All right, so you you charge straight into melee distance,
does that finish your turn? CHRISTIAN: Yeah.
MATT: All right. TRAVIS: I will admit, when you
run at a predator like that, it usually causes them
to go, what the fuck? And start flanking around, so I'll turn and flank on
him, but I'll keep my eyes, and I will lunge and try
to make another swipe. MATT: Okay, go for it.
TRAVIS: I would try and make a bite, but would that be
an unarmed strike? MATT: It's just flavor
to your claw attack. TRAVIS: Okay, cool. Yeah, let's just do that. 17 to hit. CHRISTIAN: That hits. AABRIA: Hey, do I hear
the gunshot, Matt? TRAVIS: 12 points
of slashing damage. MATT: Another heavy chunk
of a wound put upon you. Does that finish your turn? TRAVIS: No. With the
second one, with the hit, I'm going to try and
bite down on a limb and see if I can
get it to like-- I'm going to dog throttle.
MATT: Full-on dog thrash? Yeah, yeah, all right.
AABRIA: You're full-on my dog, it's so important. MATT: So if you're trying
to hold him there, this would be a grapple.
TRAVIS: Cool. MATT: So this will be
another athletics versus athletics
or acrobatics. ASHLEY: Come on. SAM: Are you trying
to rip his arm off? TRAVIS: Well yeah, you can eat
it easier if it's off the body. CHRISTIAN: Eight.
SAM: (groans) AABRIA: You'll love it. It
just falls off the bone. TRAVIS: 12.
MATT: 12. TRAVIS: 14, 14. MATT: You feel the jaws of
the beast clamp down onto you and you are currently
unable to pull away as you're being
thrashed around, to the point where you're
lithe and nimble enough to move with the
thrashing motion to not sustain any
immediate damage, but you're currently
held and pinned. The rest of you, you
hear the gunshot go off, and it's a little ways away. (echoing gunshot) TRAVIS: Oof!
SAM: Are we still dreaming or are we out of the dream? LAURA: We would've
been out the dream at that point.
MATT: You've been out of the dream. Yeah, you probably had
a moment to communicate and this is maybe two minutes after you came out of
the dream when this happens. LAURA: Chet! AABRIA: There's no delay. LAURA: Just take off running?
AABRIA: Deanna's taking off. LAURA: Same.
MATT: Okay. You all dart out
into the night, the bright white
light of Catha above almost alighting everything with a silver gossamer
layer over it. SAM: I'll cast Light out of my eyes-- MATT: All right.
SAM: -- and shine headlights forward for us.
MATT: Okay. You're not sure which direction
they are at the moment. All right. Coming back to
you, that finishes your go. You're currently
clamped and held. What do you do? CHRISTIAN: (quick exhale) Okay. Rather than trying
to move away from it, I'm going to lean
into the bite and make eye contact
with this beast. AABRIA: Oh my god. It's too much.
MATT: Okay. CHRISTIAN: I'm going
to be speaking to him in Deanna's voice, calling
him puppy, puppy, puppy, while shifting my arm
into the blunderbuss. I will-- I will Dazing Shot. So I'll burn a grit point. TRAVIS: Ooh!
MATT: Okay. TRAVIS: Oh, grit
point. Grit points! SAM: We haven't seen those in a while.
CHRISTIAN: Please hit this thing. AABRIA: (laughs)
LAURA: As we ran out-- TRAVIS: Yeah.
LAURA: I will have cast Fly on myself-- AABRIA: Thank you.
LAURA: -- and Deanna.
MATT: Deanna. MATT: (whooshes) As you
see her take off, you feel this
energy come over you. You don't quite understand
it until you look down and realize your feet
are two or three inches off the ground. AABRIA: Oh shit! I wish I could register this was cool!
LAURA: That gives us 60 feet movement speed.
MATT: Yeah. So you both arc up to get
a better vantage point. CHRISTIAN: That's a 26. MATT: 26 to hit!
CHRISTIAN: Mm-hmm. MATT: All right.
TRAVIS: That hits! MATT: So roll damage on that. CHRISTIAN: Yes, and
the Dazing Shot, "If it takes damage, it
must make a con--" so damage. That is 2d8 plus four. MATT: Con save on his point? CHRISTIAN: Yes. MATT: Make a constitution
saving throw, Chet. TRAVIS: 16. CHRISTIAN: 11 plus four. 15.
LAURA: 15. CHRISTIAN: What do you want?
MATT: So 15 points of piercing damage, but reduced to half because
you are in your wolf form. TRAVIS: Nerp! CHRISTIAN: What did
he roll on that? MATT: 16. TRAVIS: Eight.
CHRISTIAN: I believe that meets it. MATT: (sighs) Resist the Dazing Shot. As much as the blunderbuss
point blank would daze a less hardy creature, this beast is
in predator mode. CHRISTIAN: Cool. I will reload and
take a second shot. MATT: Go for it. CHRISTIAN: Oh, so close! LAURA: That was so close! CHRISTIAN: 13. MATT: 13, I think,
unfortunately, misses. Or instead of missing, one of the claws, it's still holding
you in the grasp. You put the gun there, the claw forces it
up out of the way, right as it fires and (blasts) shoots
off in the air. You hear another series
of shots go off. I'll need you both to make
perception checks, please. AABRIA: Fuck me! 16. MATT: 16.
SAM: Echoes! Lots of echoes! MATT: Up above, you see
the flash (whooshes) down and it's a ways
down the mountain. It'll take you
a couple rounds of full double action
speed to get there. But you can see where the source
of this battle's happening.
LAURA: We can move twice as fast as we normally
would be able to with the double fly speed.
MATT: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. At full 60 feet of movement, double to a dash movement, you'll get there
in two rounds. TRAVIS: (whooshes) LAURA: I'll send Dazzling Lights, my little light globies,
out in front. MATT: Okay, and they're
gliding along, moving.
LAURA: Dancing Lights, yeah. MATT: Okay. All right. Coming back to you, Chetney. TRAVIS: The shot goes off. (growls) Plus the fucking taste of
this thing is just weird! But it's fun! (growls) So I'll pick it up
and thrash it and throw it back
down again. MATT: (thumps) Is this going
to be a slam attack onto the ground? TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: Okay. So another athletics versus
athletics or acrobatics. TRAVIS: Oh god! Jesus! So sorry! (laughs) It's a 27. AABRIA: Oh my god! CHRISTIAN: 22.
AABRIA: Hey, bro! MATT: 22, 27. ASHLEY and MATT: Oh!
AABRIA: You going to chill the fuck out for two seconds! TRAVIS: I'm trying! AABRIA: No, you're not! MATT: You try and pull away
from the grasp of this and, instead, once again,
feel yourself lifted up off the ground and
then (impacts) slammed down into a
pile of snow with a rock just
below the layer that you feel the (cracks)
crack of something. You automatically feel
this tingling sensation that runs through you as you sustain a bit
of a shock and impact and you are prone. CHRISTIAN: Mm-hmm. (exhales) MATT: Does that
finish your turn or you have another attack?
TRAVIS: Yep. MATT: You good? All right.
CHRISTIAN: How many points of damage? MATT: That just knocks you prone.
CHRISTIAN: Okay. I'll start laughing, but
it's Deanna's laugh. AABRIA: Oh! (sobs) SAM: Oh god! Brutal! CHRISTIAN: I'll use half my
movement to stand up and-- MATT: Well, you are
currently still grappled, which means your
movement is zero. So you can't get up. CHRISTIAN: Okay.
MATT: Because you're literally prone
and cannot move while you're in the jaw. So you have to try
and break free, which is an action. CHRISTIAN: I don't want to. I'm going to use a grit point to-- Oh my gosh! I will use a grit point to-- Dead Eye, which would
give me advantage. Right?
MATT: Mm-hmm. CHRISTIAN: But I have
disadvantage because I'm prone. So it's just a regular roll? MATT: Yep. CHRISTIAN: I'm going to
try and get the muzzle back into his mouth. MATT: Okay. Into the mouth! AABRIA: Oh gosh! Oh! So true! LAURA: Oh, so close! It was so close! CHRISTIAN: That is a 15. TRAVIS: Misses.
ASHLEY: (groans) TRAVIS: You're getting them out--
CHRISTIAN: Advantage! TRAVIS: Oh, that's right! LAURA: Oh, oh! Yeah!
MATT: Well, you said you had disadvantage because you're prone.
CHRISTIAN: Oh, so it's just a straight roll.
MATT: So it's just a straight roll, yeah. CHRISTIAN: Okay.
AABRIA: (laughs) CHRISTIAN: I rolled a
19 for the second shot. I just rolled now. I rolled a 19.
MATT: I'll allow it. Yeah. CHRISTIAN: Okay, so that's a 29.
TRAVIS: That does it. That does hit. AABRIA: Aw. You going to take some damage now, buddy?
CHRISTIAN: 2d8 plus four. TRAVIS: Just a little! CHRISTIAN: Nine plus four,
13 points of damage halved. MATT: 13 points damage.
TRAVIS: Seven. So you take seven. Six, technically because it's rounded down.
TRAVIS: Six? Okay. So another shot goes off-- SAM: Looking pretty rough!
MATT: -- a third shot. (laughter) CHRISTIAN: I, amateur,
but I need to pee. (laughter)
SAM: Oh no! TRAVIS: Yeah, yeah. No! MATT: No worries!
SAM: Oh no! MATT: In the interim, you
guys are coasting down. You see a few more flashes going off down there, below. ASHLEY: Booking it.
Booking it over there. SAM: I'm just, yeah, rolling. MATT: Yeah.
SAM: (whirs) LAURA: How far away is it at this point?
SAM: Nice and slow. MATT: At this point?
About 120 feet. LAURA: Okay! I'm going
to use a sorcery point, two sorcery points to
double my distance. MATT: Yeah. LAURA: I'm going to hit
Chet with a Calm Emotions. AABRIA: Ooh! Nice! MATT: Okay. Chetney, make a
wisdom saving throw. TRAVIS: Advantage because
it's against magic? MATT: Yep. TRAVIS: (groans) 19. LAURA: Oh fuck!
AABRIA: Ooh! MATT: The beast is strong in its mind.
LAURA: Ugh! TRAVIS: (gruffly)
The beast is strong! MATT: (laughs) AABRIA: I'm both horrified,
and also, how fun! (laughter) AABRIA: This is very cool! TRAVIS: However. AABRIA: What? TRAVIS: The laughing
was fucked up. AABRIA: (laughs) Yeah. TRAVIS: That goes
somewhere deep. So in between (blasts) (laughs as Deanna)
the laughing, Chet backs off for a second and starts to sniff again because the taste is
wrong, the smell is wrong, and that laugh sounds
like something. So I will again try and
push towards that sound because everything else is
registering as off right now. MATT: That makes
sense. Make another wisdom saving throw for me to try and resist
the beastly urge. TRAVIS: Natural 19
for a dirty 20. SAM: Ooh!
AABRIA: Damn! MATT: Natural 19
for a dirty 20. As you just managed to pull away, try and clear your
mind for a second, you glance up, looking for partially
an escape route. That urge to flee kicks
in as well as that need to pounce as well as
the sudden sensation of magic cruising
past your mind, a familiar but yet
alien sensation of something pushing
into your will. It's all so much at once and the laughter peeks
through one more time. You, in your beast form, look down and see. You now begin to
acknowledge for a moment a new friend, hurt. You did this. You lost control. You hurt a friend. Other friends are coming. Shame hits you, deep shame. What do you do? TRAVIS: No! No! (growls) I tear off into the woods, (thumping gallop) as far as I can, arcing wide. MATT: Okay. You watch as
Chetney bounds off into the dark shadows
of the Flotket Forest. Do you pursue? AABRIA: What is he doing?
Where is he going? LAURA: Take care
of your friend. AABRIA: I make a
beeline to FRIDA. LAURA: I'm going to see
if I can track Chet, flying overhead, see
where he's bounding to. MATT: Perception check,
stealth check. ASHLEY: I'm going to Wild
Shape back into a shoebill and I'm going to start
flying alongside Imogen. MATT: You got it.
SAM: (caws) LAURA: A nine.
CHRISTIAN: (laughs) TRAVIS: 26.
LAURA: (laughs) I swear I'll be able to--
TRAVIS: (howls) LAURA: Hold on!
Just give me a second. He's gone. MATT: You realize
after a few minutes that the beast has escaped and Chetney is beyond
your grasp for now, though, at least, the current scuffle
has come to an end. ASHLEY: Wait, do I get to
see if I can see him? MATT: Yeah. Make a perception check to--
AABRIA: Come on, shoebill! (laughter) SAM: They have night vision, I think.
AABRIA: (caws) LAURA: But she's
not polymorphed. Right? It's different
than a polymorph? She uses her own abilities?
ASHLEY: It's different for Wild Shape. MATT: Yeah, Wild Shape,
she gets to use her own. SAM: Great! ASHLEY: Perception, you said? MATT: Yeah. ASHLEY: 23. LAURA: Aw! TRAVIS: 26. AABRIA: Damn, dude!
ASHLEY: Fuck! MATT: Yeah. SAM: (laughs)
TRAVIS: (deeply) Peace! MATT: (laughs)
ASHLEY: (sighs) Get out of here!
AABRIA: Dunkst upon by a wolf! MATT: So you keep searching
before you eventually come to the realization that he
doesn't want to be found. ASHLEY: (caws) (laughter) ASHLEY: That's what
I have to say. MATT: There you go. You rush up to the
side of your friend and you approach shortly
thereafter, eyes glowing. FRIDA, you still
processing the scuffle that you'd gotten into, but you immediately are
approached by Deanna. AABRIA: The moment I land, it is like the noon day
sun as I Channel Divinity and put all 45 points of Preserve Life into FRIDA.
TRAVIS: Damn! SAM: Channel Divinity? AABRIA: Yeah. SAM: Whoa! CHRISTIAN: The metal
will start to fill the gaps and the
gashes that he left, but my jacket is still torn. SAM: Oh no!
LAURA: Oh! CHRISTIAN: But
I grab your face and I say-- AABRIA: I'm so sorry!
CHRISTIAN: He's in there. AABRIA: I'm sorry!
CHRISTIAN: It's fine! AABRIA: Fuck him!
CHRISTIAN: He's in there. No, no, no! He was trying to fight!
AABRIA: I'll get him out. I'll get him out the
old fashioned way! Where the fuck did he go? LAURA: Wait, what do
you mean the old--? Are you going to fuck
him or are you going to-- AABRIA: No!
(laughter) LAURA: I'm sorry!
I just wasn't sure what the old-fashioned way was.
ASHLEY: Because you probably should wait until he's out of wolf form.
AABRIA: I'll tear that geriatric gnome outside of the little wolf that he's running around in! You're going to be down one more fucking party member!
SAM: Well-- LAURA: Well--
AABRIA: What? Yeah, calm me the
fuck down right now! CHRISTIAN: No, it's okay. It's okay. I'm fine!
SAM: I mean, we could. LAURA: Oh, right.
AABRIA: You could absolutely try! LAURA: I'm going to
Calm Emotions on you. SAM: We'll both cast Calm Emotions.
AABRIA: You can both try. (laughter) TRAVIS: Double the-- MATT: Make two wisdom
saving throws for me, please.
AABRIA: Yay! TRAVIS: (tranquilizer darts)
(groans) AABRIA: The first
one is a 23. LAURA and SAM: Ooh! AABRIA: Oh, second
one's bad, though. 13. SAM: Mine's a 15 save. LAURA: Mine's an 18. MATT: In spite of the fury, you do have a
moment of clarity. It doesn't absolve
you of how you feel, but at the very least, you're now focused on
the words of FRIDA. CHRISTIAN: He's fine! I mean, he's in there.
AABRIA: Okay. CHRISTIAN: I mean,
it was a fight. AABRIA: Yeah.
CHRISTIAN: I went easy on him. I think maybe he went easy on me.
AABRIA: That's very kind of you! CHRISTIAN: But he's there. He has more control
than I think he knows. AABRIA: Sure. Everything
you're saying is so good and I appreciate so much, whatever this is. It doesn't
intellectually change. Like, I'm going
to be very calm-- SAM: Sure.
AABRIA: -- when I rip his spine out. LAURA: Right.
AABRIA: I'm going to chew it with my teeth.
LAURA: But now you'll enjoy it. AABRIA: Aw! I think that actually
does break tension. (laughter) AABRIA: Oh my god!
You were in a dream and it was weird
and then you got-- This--
SAM: It's a weird night. Yeah.
AABRIA: Yeah! LAURA: We should get back--
AABRIA: Fuck! LAURA: -- to the camp just in
case Chet does come back around. AABRIA: Where did he go? LAURA: I couldn't--
SAM: He just goes off. We don't know. AABRIA: Okay. LAURA: Hopefully, it
ends by the morning. I've never seen him--
AABRIA: What if it doesn't? CHRISTIAN: He feels like an
apex predator out here. I think he'll be fine. AABRIA: Why are you
being so cool? CHRISTIAN: Well, I infringed on his--
AABRIA: I'm being calmed by magic, and I want to lose my mind! CHRISTIAN: But I'm really
happy that you're not! AABRIA: I'm so-- (laughs) CHRISTIAN: I just think
he needs that sometimes. It felt like he did. But he was there!
I saw in his eyes! AABRIA: Oh, he needs to
vent off some tension? CHRISTIAN: Wow,
you're really angry. AABRIA: We don't need to make
excuses for his very bad behavior. He hurt your jacket. CHRISTIAN: He did hurt it.
LAURA: I'm just scritching you. SAM: Hey, look! There's
a bird over here. AABRIA: Why is there a bird?
TRAVIS: Head scritches? LAURA: It's Fearne.
AABRIA: What is happening? ASHLEY: These are my feets! (laughter) TRAVIS: You are not
role playing your feet! (laughter)
TRAVIS: Come on! LAURA: This is the cutest
bird I've ever seen! Seriously, Fearne!
You look so good! TRAVIS: You're doing
the head shakes! AABRIA: The cognitive
dissonance off of this group of people--
TRAVIS: Look up that horn bill head shake. AABRIA: -- is going
to kill me. Mm-hmm. CHRISTIAN: Would
he attack you if he saw you? ASHLEY: (caw)
LAURA: He attacked you before when this happened, didn't he?
ASHLEY: (squawks) (laughter) AABRIA: I feel like
I speak shoebill. SAM: I've attacked
us before, too. It's not a--
LAURA: It's true. CHRISTIAN: It's a
rite of passage! SAM: We're all a
little on edge. CHRISTIAN: Okay. ASHLEY: I'm going to
drop my shoebill. SAM: Oh!
MATT: Okay. AABRIA: No, this
is the funny part, is you were absolutely like, "It's actually dangerous
and you should walk away." We were like,
"No, it'll be fine!" It's not fine! It's not fine!
ASHLEY: He's attacked me pretty badly. CHRISTIAN: So it's just something he does.
ASHLEY: Yeah, it's kind of a thing. CHRISTIAN: That's okay. ASHLEY: It's one
of those traits-- SAM: You're very
understanding about this. CHRISTIAN: Well, you all
were here to help. TRAVIS: (deeply) We all go a
little wild sometimes. No, I'm just kidding!
(laughter) AABRIA: Yeah, good!
Guiding Bolt! TRAVIS: Ah!
(laughter) MATT: You all slowly ponder over the events that
just transpired. But do return
to your campsite, deciding to leave Chetney
to his evening romp and hope to maybe gather
him in the morning light while you wrestle
with the beast more than you
have in a while, alone in the
shadows of nature. FRIDA, could you roll a constitution saving
throw for me, if you don't mind?
CHRISTIAN: Oh! I can. LAURA: (gasps) ASHLEY: No!
SAM: (gasps) CHRISTIAN: I mean,
I'm all for it! SAM: (gasps)
AABRIA: Oh, shut the fuck up! ASHLEY: That! LAURA: (gasps) CHRISTIAN: It's a 10. MATT: All right.
ASHLEY: That dice! SAM: 10--
MATT: We're going to end the session there. AABRIA: No!
(exclaiming) ASHLEY: No! No! No! TRAVIS: (laughs)
ASHLEY: Matthew! (laughter) CHRISTIAN: I don't want to--
AABRIA: Oh my god. If that's what I think it is--
LAURA: That's why you bit! CHRISTIAN: I'm down. LAURA: Oh my god! LAURA: Can you do that
to an Aeormaton? CHRISTIAN: We'll have to find out.
TRAVIS: I don't know, but-- AABRIA: That's so cool!
TRAVIS: I was just waiting for Catha. AABRIA: Do you guys remember--
CHRISTIAN: That's my dream come true! AABRIA: Do you guys
remember in 1994 when you could have
a little robot dog that would flip
and roll over? We're going to have one! MATT: (yips)
AABRIA: We going to have one! MATT: (yips) AABRIA: Oh!
ASHLEY: (yips) SAM: Oh my god! LAURA: How is that possible? ASHLEY: Holy moly! LAURA: Magic! CHRISTIAN: Ruidus. Yeah.
AABRIA: (laughing) Magic. CHRISTIAN: Woo!
SAM: Fancy. MATT: We'll figure it out. We'll see what
happens, if anything. But nevertheless, we'll
see you next time with the continued adventures
of this crazy-ass bunch. First off, once again,
welcome, both Christian and Aabria.
(cheering) TRAVIS: Christian and Aabria!
AABRIA: Big swings! MATT: Yeah! AABRIA: Oh my god!
MATT: Only big swings! That's the only way
to play this game! TRAVIS: This is fucking fun!
MATT: Ugh! All right. Well, thank you
so much for joining us. We love you very much,
and is it Thursday yet? Good night!
(cheering)
