Sophomores Start [Full Episode] | Dimension 20 Live

- Hello and welcome to Dimension 20 Live presents Fantasy High: Sophomore Year. I'm your humble dungeon master Brennan Lee Mulligan, with me, as always, are our intrepid heroes. Say hi, intrepid heroes. - [All] Hi, intrepid heroes! - Starting to my left, Emily Axford. (clapping) - Yay. - Zac Oyama. - No, no, no, no. - [Brennan] Siobhan Thompson. - Is that me, who knows? - Lou Wilson. - Hey! - Ally Beardsley. (laughing) - And Brian Murphy. Could we go around, could you guys kind of tell us who you're playing this lovely game? - I'm Figueroth Faeth. I'm a tiefling. I'm best friends with my non-biological dad, Gilear. I'm a rock star, thank you. - Hi, I'm Gorgug Thistlespring. I am a sophomore this year, as we all are, and I thought we were all best friends, but, I mean. (all laughing) I don't know, I guess Gilear is your best friend. - Yeah, Gilear's part of our group. - Oh, yeah, right. - Don't you say keep adding Gilear to the group chat? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - I'm Adaine Abernant. I am a wizard. And everybody is my best friend and I'm dealing with my mental illness and everything's gonna go great. (Ally laughs) - Ciao, I'm Fabian Aramais Seacaster, son of the recent, or not-so-recently, deceased Bill Seacaster. Yes, these people are my friends. I do enjoy spending time with them. Currently in the midst of putting together a crew to go clear my father's debt, as well as save my beloved. - No. - Yes! Yes. - Hi, I am Ally Beardsley. Today I'll be playing Basrar. (laughing) - That's not-- - I am a ice cream chef. And, no, I will be playing Kristen Applebees. I am from the Church of Yes and I am (Ally laughs) - Figuring out your new-- - And I'm a cleric and I'm figuring out this stack of spells. - Greetings and salutations. I am Riz Gukgak, a goblin rogue. And best friends with everyone, but especially best friends with Fabian Seacaster. - Oh, wonderful. If you're tuning in now and you've got no idea what's going on, that's because this is the continuing adventures of the adventures that started in season one of Fantasy High, which you can see on dropout.tv. You can also catch it on YouTube, with the whole first season available and other than a couple of little live shows that happened as one-offs, this is the continuing story of a group of students at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, the world of Spyre's premier academy for heroes. And the world of Spyre's a classic high fantasy world full of wizards, dragons, goblins, and elves, except for the nation of Solace, which, due to its high level of arcano-tech and its collaboration between all the various classes and species of Spyre, has seen itself advance into a John Hughes-esque, 1980s teen drama kind of country, with elemental cars and hot rods, diners open all night, crystals that operate a lot like smartphones, and all kinds of teen drama going on at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy in the little town of Elmville. Here, in Elmville, we find ourselves in the midst of sophomore year. Now, at the end of freshman year, our intrepid heroes were able to thwart an apocalyptic plot by, hey, by the way, if you haven't watched the first season, spoiler alert, this whole thing is a spoiler. It's a sequel. A sequel's like the biggest type of spoiler there is. So-- - I kinda don't wanna hear it. - Kinda don't want to hear it if you haven't watched it. Hate to bring spoilers, but you are watching a sequel. So, at the end of freshman year, our intrepid heroes thwarted an apocalyptic plot, rescued a number of kidnapped people at the end of a long mystery and thwarted Kalvaxis, dragon emperor of the Red Waste and laid him low after learning he was, big old spoiler, secretly their vice principal Goldenhoard all along! I just saved you an entire season of watching the show. Having thwarted it, we were left with a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the last season, which was, of course, oh, no, the disappearance of the crown of the Nightmare King that went missing sometime in the last chunk of freshman year. We are not going to cut to that time, though. We are going to spin the clock forward, all the way to right before spring break, the Saturday before your spring break of sophomore year. A lot of things have happened in sophomore year. Fig has been touring with Fig and the Cig Figs, along with Gorgug, her drummer. We have a new licensed private investigator in Riz Gukgak. Adaine's been studying all sorts of divinatory practices from around Spyre and the world, as well as fulfilling her role as the new elven oracle, even though she is not in touch with the elven population at large. Kristen has been fulfilling her role as the new prophet of the Church of Yes, a god created during the prompocalypse of the previous year. And Fabian has been seeing to matters that relate to the estate of his late father, William Seacaster, AKA Bill Seacaster. Now, we see that he's been waiting on some things because, though you wanted to go get that crown right away, there have been investigations and researches into what the crown exactly is and who may have taken it. Also, because of the loose armistice but still state of war between Fallinel and the nation of Solace due to the events of the last season. You have not been able to leave the border up until this point, it's also taken Arthur Aguefort some time to remend the privileges of the Aguefort Academy after the year where he was technically dead and in heaven, impersonating Sol, the sun god. Lot of backstory, point being, there's been a lot of things moving and shaking around as you guys have been biding your time. Also, a quick note to our fun friends at home, we just wanted to say that you're tuning in for Dimension 20 Live. I'm literally DJing these tracks from my laptop as we go. We are going to have to, yeah, we're going to have to roll dice and do math. This is a live version of our campaign. We might mess stuff up. We won't necessarily be able to stop. We'll have to count the dice as we roll them. It's a live show. - You can direct message Brennan on Twitter if there are any rules mistakes or anything, just follow up with him. - I think you should get in the comments, right? - Oh, don't use my own catchphrase against me. Point being, this is the closest thing you're gonna get to the sort of, we don't have any Rick Perry battlesets, we're doing this all theater of the mind. We don't have Noah and Aaron, our editors. This is some real homegame D&D. So, as we go along, you know, we want to do that. In fact, I've just been told to close my Slack, which was open on my computer, so that's a fun. We're learning as we go. Everyone, we open on the first Saturday before your spring break. - It sounds like an aquarium, I love it. (all laughing) - A moving truck trundles along with a small car following behind it in Elmville, in the neighborhood of Elmville that is sort of up near the highway, past, sort of near Cravencroft Cemetery, and up on the hill above that area, Havershum Hill, is Mordred Manor. In Mordred Manor, we see a tall, old, Victorian-style manor with little sort of like holes, shingles missing, strange iron wrought gates and gargoyles, it's near Cravencroft Cemetery, and we see a strange, old, haunted manor. There's a ruined chapel off to one side. Old, little private graveyard, a spiraling tower. As the moving truck approaches and the little car comes up behind it and it rolls up to the front of the manor house, which, there's cobwebs, ravens, bats, and things like that, the truck stops outside an old fountain, little gravel area, sort of circle to pull around in front of the house, and stepping out of the moving truck, is Jawbone, who calls out and says, whoo, all right, look at this place! This looks great, I can't wait! For, indeed, Jawbone and Sandralynn, after less than a year together, have bought a home. - When you know, you know. - When you know, you know. - It's fine. - That's love. - Sandralynn? - Sandralynn, Fig's mother. - My mom, I know. I'm really pretty worried about Gilear. I don't think this is the first time that someone's broken up with him and then immediately found their soulmate. (all laughing) Might be a pattern for him. - We see people dressed for moving day here. There's a lot of reasons they wanted to move in, first of all, Jawbone and Sandralynn are very much in love. Jawbone combines a lot of the things that Sandralynn has always looked for in a partner. He's lived a very full life, but he's also a very stable, loving partner. And Sandralynn is able to fully understand all of Jawbone's sordid past and his struggles with lycanthropy. Jawbone is in full hybrid werewolf form, which he almost always stays in, as a kind of political statement, as I'm living with my disease openly and that's something that we should be able to talk about. - So it looks good. - It looks really good. He's got his glasses, but it is moving day, so his normal cardigan is off and he's got a little A-top that's brightly colored in pastel, Easter colors and the jorts that are so short that the pockets kind of come out the bottom. And a little hole that his tail can pop out of. And he goes, all right, great! So we're gonna do furniture first. We loaded it up so the furniture's gonna come off first and then we're gonna do boxes. Obviously, books can go in where books are gonna go, but let's talk about priorities first, getting kitchen set up, the things we're going to immediately need. Let's do it, I love moving day! Who all is here for moving day? Kristen, Adaine, Fig, and Gorgug! Incredible, so the whole fam is here. In addition to wanting to move in together, it was a little bit crowded at Jawbone's old drug dealer apartment and-- - That was the issue with it. - That was the issue, it was a little crowded. - Not the people turning up at three o'clock in the morning. - And him having to explain I'm a guidance counselor now, I don't do that anymore, but why don't you come in and talk and let's talk about what's going on and hopefully I can help you either find the drugs that you're looking for if we feel that's the right choice for you, but let's talk about it. You see that Jawbone looks over. Sandralynn lands, Baxter, her griffin mount (caws), spreads, and lands picturesquely on top of this giant, haunted-looking mansion. Sandralynn sort of Legolas-slides down the steep-sloped roof and lands on the ground beneath. And we see a huge tour bus pull up that has a huge wraparound decal. (Lou laughing) A huge-- - Is it you? - Yes, in fact, it is. That is actually who that is. Hold on one second. We see, as the tour bus pulls up, huge fire decal with Fig slamming on a base guitar. How's Fig doing? You got here just in time to help your mom and her boyfriend move. - I think I make a big show of kicking the door out to get out of the bus and I'm like hey, everyone, I'm home! I just want everyone to know, just approach me like a normal person. Yes, I will do signatures and autographs. - That was a sliding door, why did she kick it? (Emily laughs) - You see-- - Can I have an autograph? - I'm so lonely. - Wait, aren't you on tour together? - Aren't you in her van? - Yeah, can I have an autograph? - Wait, you want an autograph from everyone? - Do you want us to just sign your yearbook, Gorgug? - Well, I didn't know, I missed the time when everyone did it. - Just at the end of the year. - Oh, I'll sign your yearbook. - That's what I'm asking. - Gorgug and Fig both come out. We see Fig's agent, Lola Embers comes out. Lola is a young fire genasi, so her hair is like a short spiral of flame. She's got huge, chunky jewelry and giant, ruby-studded, horn-rimmed glasses. She's also got a giant potion in a to-go chalice, with a mobile order sticker on the side as she comes out. - Lola, where's the merch leftover? The leftover merch? - Leftover merch? Honey, there should be a box in your bedroom in the back of the bus, if it's not there, I will call someone and we can get it teleported over here immediately. - Can I roll to see if she's really annoying? - Sure, give me an insight check. - 13. - You get the sense that, with a 13, yeah, you know what? It's her job to make herself somebody's problem on behalf of the people she represents. Is that okay with you? - That's okay. - Step off, step off, Kristen. - It's okay with me. It's okay. - She looks over at you and goes, hi, honey, you're one of the, what are they, The Bad Kids? - The Bad Kids, I gave you all of their pictures. I said "These are the most important people in my life," pretend like you guys didn't hear that. - Fig, I love it, I love it, I love the whole adventuring thing. It's a huge angle and, honestly, when we book the next tour, that's what we're gonna sell, is this is someone who actually lives the life. This is someone who's writing from a place of knowing. I love it, so you are Fabian Aramais Seacaster. - No, I'm not. - Try again, Lola. - You are Gorgug Thistlespring. - No. - Gorgug's in the band. We literally-- - I understand. Look, it's been a long day, all right, the merch is in the back, let us know. You see that Sandralynn walks over to you, Fig, sweeps you up into a giant hug. - Hi, Mom. - And gives you a kiss on the side of the head, mwah! She says tour was good, I watched every night that I could through the crystal, it looks like you were killing it, sweetie, and Gorgug, you as well. - Thank you, I was. - You see Jawbone looks over and says, oh, all right, hot shot, young miss hot shot. I'm glad you could show up! - Be careful, I'm gonna offer to play karaoke for your opening day at your house. Your housewarming party. - Oh, well, should we be so lucky. Well, all I know is this. Last one to claim their room's a rotten egg and you see that he gets up and starts to, takes a big box of stuff. - I Dimension Door into the best room. (all laughing) - You burn a spell slot? - You guys both (poofs) vanish into the house. - I feel like he should get the master bedroom. - There's one with a tower, right? I'm going for that tower. - I'm going for whichever one has a fireplace in it. - You guys, go ahead and give me, well, the tower, you spotted it immediately, and if you're Misty Stepping there, Adaine, you see that the tower is on some Doctor Seuss level stuff. It is propped up with stilts and rafters and it actually hangs so that the top of the tower isn't even over the main structure of the house. It kind of zig-zags up and off to the side. - That seems really nice and secluded, but I'm actually learning to open up to people more, so I'll take one that's more central. - There's a giant fireplace. - When did you get rude? - What? - Yeah. - I'm sorry, that was a genuine, sincere thing. - I have a question about this whole tour bus. It feels like a lot. - It feels like a lot. - Are you, are you loaded? Do you really need a whole-- - Brennan, am I loaded? - As you guys ask that, you hear (poofs) and Arthur Aguefort appears in his purple suit. He looks at you and says I'm afraid it's much more dire than that, young Miss Applebees. - What? - What do you think she said? - Yeah, what do you think I said? - I'm afraid, young adventurers, that you are all loaded (ringing) and gold coins come out of his sleeves. You see-- (Emily laughing) You see he says it took us the better part of the year, but we have finally extracted the last holdings of KVX Bank and as the slayers of the mighty dragon, you are entitled to a share of the wealth. - This is dire? - What? - Yes, money corrupts, absolutely. Your souls are in jeopardy. - Yeah, I don't want any of this money, honestly. - Too bad. - Do you know how many people need food just in the swamps alone? - You can spend it on food. - Oh. - You could give it to them. - Oh, right. I can be anti-money, but I can still accept the money and make sure it goes to the right place. - I don't know what it is you think about swamps that people don't have food-- - I did a trip. I did a humanitarian trip to the swamps over the summer and I built homes, I gave out food. The homes did sink almost immediately, but we are gonna go back for take two, build a home on top of the sunken home, and that will probably prop the second home up. - That'll hold the homes up. - Yeah, see, thank you. - You're building swamp Venice. - I am building swamp Venice, yes. - Okay. - Yes. - In any case, each of you is, as of today, it's finally been cleared. The funds were transmitted to the Aguefort Adventuring Academy and now to you. Each of you shall be the proud recipient of 20,000 gold pieces! - What?! - You killed a dragon. You guys remember that? It was wild. I came back to life. - Okay. - Remember when all of the gold blew up out of the bank? - Now I have 20,010 gold pieces, so. - Yeah, exactly. - I was just thinking that. - Very well. Now, you are minors, so I would recommend that you talk to your parents about the most responsible way to spend this money, putting it into the bank, et cetera. However, are Mr. Gukgak and Mr. Seacaster here? Their funds have also been transmitted. - No, they're probably hanging out somewhere. - They decided not to help move. - With that, I also wanted to say, in addition to you guys getting treasure for your last kill, because we are now moving to a livestream game of D&D where we're gonna be here every week playing together, we are moving away from milestone and back to experience point play. Everyone's going to get 3,000 experience points for defeating Kalvaxis-- - What? - Which I believe should bring you to, unless I'm much mistaken, 37,000 experience points? So look that up and make sure that I got that right. In any case, as you guys are doing that-- - Professor, I was wondering if I could bring a emotional support familiar to school? - Of course, absolutely. An emotional support familiar sounds like an excellent way of bolstering your spirits while you are at Aguefort. What are you thinking? Something sort of cuddly and soft that would make you, help with your anxiety? - Yeah, like a frog, I was thinking a frog. - An emotional support frog, aw. - That's precious. - Well, my young friend. If a slimey, expressionless frog fills you with a sense of wholeness and wellbeing, who am I, a man who regularly has sex with a phoenix, to tell you that you're wrong? - What? - Extremely regularly. - Which iteration of the phoenix? Ash or the one that spreads its wings? - Yeah, the ash. (laughing) - I need to write something down. Very well, ahem. But, yes, we should get Mr. Seacaster and Mr. Gukgak here to resolve that issue. - That's daily, right? Very regularly? That's daily. - Anything more would require, well, spells, salve. - Its autobiography was very spicy, so at least daily. - We cut over to the neighborhood of Ballaster. There is a short, four-story stone building with some old, musty offices in it and a police car pulls up outside. Exiting the police car with a box of stuff is Detective Sklonda Gukgak, and with her, is her young son Riz Gukgak. Sklonda looks up. You received word about your newfound financial situation earlier today, having defeated the dragon, and, as a result of that, your mother, as a gift for all of your hard work, has asked that some of that money you put aside for your college education, but also your tiny apartment in Strongtower Luxury Apartments has not been able to hold your conspiracy board for some time and up two short flights of cracked, musty, character-filled, marble steps, is a frosted glass door with gold lettering on it, saying "Riz Gukgak, Private Eye." - It's beautiful, mom. I think I'm really gonna spiral here. (all laughing) - That's not what I want to hear. I don't want to hear spiral. The point is for you to have a place where work can stay so that when you go home, you can rest and eat and get sleep. - I think I'm just gonna spiral here, ma, but like in the romantic, kinda, you know. - Look, you're 16 now. I have two short years to try and get some spin on this ball that is careening wildly out of control. You are a good detective. You cracked the case. There is a point to this. Look, the work of a hero is never over and if you're gonna be an adventurer and investigator, you have to find a way to pace yourself because if you burn out and then the next apocalypse happens, you're no good to anybody. So let's use this office as a way to prioritize workspace and work time and private space and private time. Right? - Right, I have a sleeping roll on my back. Yeah, no, that's cool, yeah. - You see that she goes and helps you carry your stuff up and you see, it's like a classic detective's office. There's a little wooden desk with one of those lamps that you pull that gold chain on for a receptionist. There's one small office to one side that could be for a partner or could be for file cabinets and storing stuff and then there's another one with a little window and a wooden desk that you could put your feet up and have a cup of coffee. There's a bunch of math department, sliding blackboards and then wheeling corkboard bulletin things around here. Yeah, it's a whole investigator's office. - So cool. I start putting weird stuff up on the wall. (Ally and Emily laughing) - So you've been working for the better part of the year because you've been waiting on clearance to basically get started, so you've been working on the Nightmare King's crown investigation for a long time. - Can we say that I also privately hired him to investigate Porter, the barbarian teacher? (Brennan laughs) So he has at least a commission? - I know so much. He just went to the gym, he has a family. Seems like a really good guy. - It doesn't add up. - You are welcome to give me an investigation roll for Porter if you would so choose. - Ooh, 16. - 16, cool. What are you investigating about Porter in general? - I am, I couldn't turn down the money at the time. I think I just followed him around, like with binoculars, in a car. - Okay-- - I don't have my driver's permit, so I had my mom drive and park the car, and then I would stay in her car. - I think every time you send me an update on the case, I'm always like, you're fucking half-assing it, man! - What you see following Porter around, basically, is, so your mom only gives you 15-minute stints here and there. - Right. - He takes a lot of trips to Fantasy Vitamin Shop. He has-- - A lot of protein powder. - A lot of protein powders, a lot of supplements. - Some creatine. - He takes a lot of trips to, he has a community gym that he's a part of. - He keeps it tight. - Keeps it tight. Where it's like they have, it's not just about working out, they have a movie night where they watch a movie. - It's a real community. - Who watches a movie at a gym? - He just cares about the community, I don't, he seems a better than average person, honestly. - Incredible. So, you start setting up your office here. You have a ton of Nightmare King stuff. I can give that to you, you can make rolls for that. I can also give that to you more as you join up with the rest of the gang. - Yeah, I think I'm texting these guys and sending them videos and stuff, just being like, ready to get back to work, gang! There's desk space for everyone! - And from there, your mom goes to drop you off over at the new Mordred Manor, the new place where Sandralynn and Jawbone and gang are gonna be living. From there, we cut over to downtown Elmville. (dramatic music) - Is there a Chipotle? (Brennan laughs) - Fabian's at Chipotle. - In a back alley with his letter jacket, eye patch, sword of the Seacaster at his side, and the rumbling engine of The Hangman next to him, Fabian Aramais Seacaster is approached, in the dark, near a small side street by Seacaster Manor by a whistling halfling postman who comes up to you. As the postman approaches, you see Bud Cubby look up and say, well, hey, there, Fabian, how's it going, pal? - What's going on, Bud, how are you? - Oh, you know, I'm doing good. Daisy's doing great, she's been pulling a couple doubles over at the diner, so that's great. Listen, bud, I got your message and I did a little bit snooping here and there on the inside, I made some copies of some top secret letters and stuff like that and so I got your information from the state department, there was a fascist stooge who we found some of his info and I'm happy to share that intel with you. Gosh, you know, we would love a donation if you're able to. Just because, you know, we're trying to get some more balaclavas and we're trying to get the encrypted crystals and, you know, the whole nine yards. - Bud, you know I'm all about the resistance. 100 gold pieces sound good? - Oh, beautiful, that's great, that's generous. I appreciate it, bud. - All yours. - You toss 100 gold pieces his way and he hands you a dossier of elven intelligence files. You've finally got a location. Aelwen Abernant is being-- - Oh, yes. Oh, this is the best first scene of all time. - You're writing that down on your character sheet. - You're writing it down-- - It's okay. - Where it says flaws! (all laughing) - This goes in flaws. I'm also going to write it again in ideals and a third time in personality traits. - Giant letters, you write Aelwen Abernant on your flaws. - I was gonna say you were doing it like this. - Scratch it into the rocks so it's never forgotten. - You see The Hangman goes, sire, we finally have the location of your beloved. She's in prison. We can break in there and you guys can make out. - Hangman, stop, all right, you're getting me all. - You guys can make out. - Well, yeah, of course we're gonna make out. - Let me smash the wall and you two can make out! - Oh, I swear, Hangman, nothing gets me more revved up, huh? (engine revving) Yeah! - Is The Hangman 16? Is its soul also 16? - The Hangman is thousands of years old. - This is inappropriate, Hangman. - So Bud is watching a 17 year old talk to his motorcycle about making out with? - Ah, gosh, young love, you crazy kids. Well, I wish ya the best, I really do. - Hey, thank you so much, Bud. I'm sure we'll be in touch. - Oh, absolutely. And, again, if you need any help breaking those people out of prison, there are a lot of people in that elven prison that are political dissidents that were arrested because they spoke out against the powers that be and gosh knows we got a bunch of halflings with long, sharp knives who would love to go and take 'em to task. - Oh, I love to hear that. - All right, bud, you have a great day. Hey, give my best to the rest of the gang. We all tuned in to Fig's show. We loved it, we had a great time. - Incredible, right? I mean, she's unreal. And Gorgug, I mean, he's doing it. He's doing it. - Oh, sure. He's on there, he's on the ones and the twos or the threes and the fours. - Who knows? - All the dang numbers. Ya know, I love it, okay, pal, well, you have a great time, okay? And you see that he walks off down the alley. The information you have says that Aelwen is being kept in Calethriel Tower, which is southeast of the elven capital of Stelamere, in the mountains, which is the capital of Fallinel. So you finally have a name of the prison, you have an exact location, which has been one of the big stumbling blocks up into this time, which is that Fallinel's a huge country and she could have been in any number of places. What's Fabian up to after that? - I think I'm headed to the manor. I don't understand why they wouldn't just pay people to carry their stuff, but, whatever. (Brennan laughs) I'll go hang out and just dream about kissing my girlfriend. (all laughing) - Fabian's a loser. - I'm not a loser, all right? I've made out with more people than most of you guys, so. - That's not true. I make out with a dwarven doctor somewhat frequently. - Yes, deeply disturbing. Now, so riding up on The Hangman is Fabian and Sandralynn arrives with Riz as well. You also see that the two Thistlesprings show up and they go, well, hi, there, bud. You were so great on the tour. - Aw, thanks, Mom, thanks, Dad. I'm carrying a giant box of books that's just hurting my back so bad. - This huge box, they're like, oh, well, let's give you a hand here, and you see they come and can't even reach the box. - I'm holding them up holding it. - Yeah, it's just one in each hand holding up this stuff. You guys see that a reeking, towering, stitched-together flesh gollum, sort of made together of sewn-together body parts with a strange, bulbous eye, weird, green alchemical beakers pumping fluid into his head, comes out in a snappy kind of blue blazer and he stumbles out and goes, hello, is this O'Shaughnessy-Faeth, the new owners of the house? I'm Golsum hello, I'm the proprietor of the estate. So happy to have new owners coming in. And you see he introduces himself to some other people. - I'm Figueroth, I'm the daughter. - Hello, hello, nice to meet you. - It's good to meet you. - Hi, Golsum, pleasure. So, we're so excited to have you guys moving in. I just want to show you some of the amenities now that you guys are here, show you around the place. Again, this place hasn't had tenants in about 40 years. It is severely haunted and I do mean that as a literal term, so. - I'm actually really good friends with a ghost, so, I'm excited. - Wonderful, wonderful. That's great, that's wonderful. - Is this a bad haunting or? Just like people who knock over books or? - One man's tomato is another man's tomato. - So bad haunting, okay. - Can I-- - Can I do an insight on him? - Yeah. - 23. - 23, he seems to be on the level. And you see that, in fact, Jawbone comes over, and you see he goes, oh, let's go, get over here, bud! And gives him a big hug. You see Jawbone looks over and says, you can imagine, it's kind of hard for a werewolf to nail down, you know, a lot of banks won't let you take out a mortgage, so Golsum here, this is one of the few properties that I could, you know, get my hands on. - I think it's smart to buy a fixer-upper. - I agree. - Yeah. - You guys have looked at the property. You find your lofty wizard's tower, which is great, 'cause you've been in a tiny little bedroom. It's a perfect spiral staircase, where the spirals goes up, there's walls lined with empty shelves, so it's like a giant cylinder of shelf space. - I'm Mage Handing books into it. I have very meticulously organized boxes, so I know exactly where everything is going to go. - I'm trying to be more open with people in my life, so I think I'm just gonna set up my bedroom in the living room. (Brennan laughs) Yeah, I'm just really accessible. - Your bedroom, it's like a giant, plush velvet bed, near a roaring fireplace, and just two large archways, 'cause this is clearly a public room. - I'm trying to get a drink and I have to crawl over Fig's bed. - Can I cast Enlarge/Reduce just to make it a little bit too small? - Your bed? - Yeah, to make your bed, like not so small that you notice that it's smaller, but when you get into it, as a prank. - Sure. - No, I'm not telling you. Just as a prank when you get into the bed. - What, why are you trying to be more open with people? What's this new Fig? - Well, because I realized that I push everyone away. I didn't let people in and I've learned-- - I really feel like you let everyone in-- - You wore your heart on your sleeve. - All up in your business. - You always say, "I know I don't usually do this," but then you would pour your heart out. We know you, I probably know you better than-- - This is the power of friendship. You guys are telling me what I think I want to hear, but I know the truth, I know the truth. - You weren't a closed book. You were crying, you were letting us know how you were feeling. - Thank you. - Does this mean I put the couch in a bedroom? What are we doing with the couch? - You see Sandralynn says I don't, I don't know. I think yes. - Put a dresser in here? - You see the Thistlesprings are going around and, they have a bunch of weird contraptions. Closets are being opened up and weird specters are like (gasping) I will and you see the Thistlesprings go (whooshing) and just suck the ghost into a box and they're like we're gonna let these guys loose over in Cravencroft so they're not causing any trouble or a ruckus to nobody. - It's very catch and release. - Catch and release, exactly, you know. - Trap, neuter, release the ghosts. (Emily laughs) I guess I should do, can I do an investigate check? Just kind of walking around. - Yeah. Give me an investigate check. - Oh, yeah. Can I look for any hidden passages or anything like that? - Oh, I got a nat 20. - I got a 24. - Every single room in this manor has a secret passageway to every other room in this manor. - Hell yeah. - Wow. - The reason this house is, this house should be a quarter of the size. Its bulk is accommodating all of the secret passageways in the walls. There's far too many. And that's not even accounting the trap doors and secret bookshelves. There's one grand piano that fully flips upside down into just a bowl that holds the piano. It's not even for anything other than to flip the piano and make it kinda disappear. - Okay, I move my bed into that. (all laughing) - The piano becomes your bed? - Riz tries to help you and gets trapped in the bubble for an hour. No! - Adaine's there. Tracker shows up as well. - Oh, cool. - You see that Tracker goes hey, Kristen. - Hi. - How's it going? I haven't seen you since we got back from the mission. - Yeah, how have you been? - Good. - How are you? - I'm super good. - Cool. - Do we want to talk about, do you think they would, my uncle would let us share a room here or is that weird to bring up? - Yeah, I think we should, we're like adults, I think it's like-- - You're 17 now. - Yeah. - Like, yeah. - [Ally] We should, yeah, we should split a room. - [Brennan] Is that weird? I just feel that's like weird or no? - [Ally] I always have a key to your place, so why not have it be a key to also my place, you know what I mean? - Right, yeah, exactly. And you crashed at the old apartment a lot. - All the time. - You see that Sandralynn sort of walks out with her bow slung over her shoulder and says hey, Kristen. - Hey. - Hey, sweetheart. - Hi. - So you guys, I have your rooms picked out. You're gonna be in the southeastern wing and Tracker's gonna be up in the northwestern, okay? - Okay, sounds good to me, yeah. - Cool? - That's great. - We understand each other? - I think that sounds so cool. - Yeah. You see that Jawbone looks over and says hell yeah, hey, more fun when you're not supposed to. (laughs) Jawbone. - What?! Whoa, I, wait, I pull Tracker aside, I'm like, I cracked, I'm sorry, I cracked. (Brennan laughs) It's just that frequency of a mom's voice. You just want to be like become sexless, you know? - I've been a wild child for the past five years and I don't put my elbows on the table when Sandralynn's eating with us. - Yeah, she just has that presence. - No, for sure, 100%. What rooms, so you find this sort of-- - The bubble, I live in the bubble. - You live in the bubble. Does Kristen look for a particular room in a wing of the manor or no? - Yes. I would love a room with a view (laughs). - The living room is open now. - 'Cause you're in the bubble? - Yeah. - You find, so there's two places. One, there's a higher bedroom that overlooks most of Elmville. There's also an old, ruined chapel over in the corner, which has a broken shine and some wreckages of old, stained glass around this old stone chapel, which is pretty goth, but those are the two rooms that are available for you in the house right now. - It sounds triggering and I'll take it. (all laughing) I'll sleep in the old chapel. - Incredible. Mordred Manor starts to come together. You see a lot of the ghosts, when they get wind of what the Thistlesprings are doing, just agree to be cool and hang out and, actually, Adaine, from up in your window, you see, it's hard to see him in broad daylight, you see Zayn Darkshadow, with his little ghostly Edgar on it, this little ghostly, goth wizard elf with a little ghost box, a translucent ghost box, moving into the smaller graveyard back over here. Jawbone's been taking care of Zayn. He waves up to you. Hey, Adaine! - Hi, Zayn. - Could have called it, nice tower. - Thanks, isn't it cool? - It's awesome here. - Do you want to see? - Yeah! - Can you come up? - He goes (gasps). Well, he puts his stuff in there, his eyes glow for a second and he says, eternal, shall I stalk the manor of Mordred. (poofs) And with a little blast of energy and he becomes anchored to this house. And he goes, sick! And then floats up and he says, oh, it's awesome in here. Do I have the oracle's bidding to tread upon her sanctum sanctorum? - You may absolutely tread upon my sanctum sanctorum. - Are you guys gonna do it? (all giggling) - No! - Why are you in here? - Sorry! (all laughing) - You see Zayn says this is tight, this is cool. I really like it here. Zayn has become so much more friendly and bubbly since he became undead. - Oh, yeah, 'cause it's like he wanted to be goth and now that he's dead-- - He has ascended. - He doesn't have to try so hard. - He's not a tryhard about it anymore. - Yeah, yeah. - This is tight as hell. It's great for studying, but you got a bead on the neighborhood. - And the view is great. - You see, he looks up at a sort of fallen, like where the roof has collapsed a little bit, he looks up and says, honestly, I wouldn't even cast Mending on that, 'cause that could be a nice astronomy place, get a telescope in there. - Mm. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna cast Mending on it, but-- - Yeah, for sure, hey, honestly, your sanctum. - But yeah. - I hear you, I hear you. - I just, rain. - Yeah, for sure, I get it. But honestly, a little bit of rain, if the rain came through and was sad and you could cross your arms and sit in it and just be like. - Right, yeah, I get it. But I feel like that's more your aesthetic. - I'm gonna do that in the graveyard. - Great. - Yeah, for sure, absolutely. (Emily laughs) Cool, you see-- - Gorgug just comes in with the couch. (all laughing) - Why are you in here?! How did you get that up the stairs? - It took a while. - Yeah, on your own? - Yeah, I mean. - Do you want help? I can help you. - I come in behind Gorgug with just one book. I think this is, belongs to her. All right, I'm gonna go get some more stuff. - So you're saying not in here? - Thank you, but no. - Okay. - That's the living room. - The living room actually opened up. So you can bring it there. - Okay. - And then real quick, I text Gilear and I say, "The living room is open, I put a trundle in there for you." - He texts you back and he's like, he texts you back, "Dearest daughter." - In a text? - So formal in his texts. - "I appreciate the offer. "I will not be staying in the beloved home of my ex-wife "and her extremely personable new boyfriend." (Emily laughs) "I will remain here, in the garage, of Hallariel Seacaster "where I have been staying "until I earn my place in her bed." - It's honestly the only good thing about him living there is that he hasn't earned and he never will. - You've gotta give your mom over, okay? You gotta give your mom over to Gilear. - I'm not, no, okay, did you hear yourself? Did you hear yourself when you said it? I have to give my mom over to? That sounds awful. - Yeah, that was weird. It's really weird. - You have to trade Gilear, though. - I'm sorry, I used all my eloquence for really good-- - You're carrying the largest bed and you're struggling with it on your back a bit and suddenly it gets much lighter and you see Gorthalax with his little coach whistle and cap, his Owlbears cap, and he says, oh, hey, there, let me get the back for you, bud. - Awesome, oh, thank you so much. I'm pretty strong but I'm so tired (laughs). - Yeah, it seems you've been doing a lot. He comes in, he looks over, and he, unlike Gilear, is Mr. Magnanimous, so he's like, Sandy, I gotta say, the place looks incredible. I'm so happy for you and Jawbone. - She has a type. (Brennan laughs) She has a type. Gorthalax, Jawbone-- - It's that voice. It's the voice. - It's the kind of gritty-- - You see immediately, Jawbone and Gorthalax are in the kitchen just hanging out and drinking very shortly thereafter. You see Sandralynn is helping you set up your room in the piano room and she looks over and is like I'm glad they get along but that, they don't have to be that friendly, you know what I mean? Very-- - It could work out to your benefit. - I don't know. You see a moment later, you see Jawbone comes over and he was like Gorthalax, that guy rules. He is a great dude, I love that dude, he's really, we should have him over for a game night. And Sandralynn's like, yeah, maybe. (all laughing) - Are we gonna have a game night? I love game night. - Me too. - Did somebody say a game night?! - Did someone say game night?! - It's a big old party. Tracker gets her room in another place which is an old, creepy, like House on Haunted Hill sanatorium that you can chain yourself and she's like-- - That's hot. - It's a very BDSM-y kind of vibe. - Yeah, we're gonna, game night sounds fun, but I'm a little busy! - You guys see that Professor Aguefort appears right as the pizzas get here, so it's a big moving day, a bunch of pizzas arrive, you guys are chowing down, having a great time. - You're not a pizza guy. - What's that? - You're not a pizza guy. - Me? - You're Aguefort, right? - Yes, that's correct. But pizza can happen if you wish for it, right? - I think he just arrived at the same time. - He just happened to get here at the same time. - He just always tries to trick us, so I was just-- - Is that gonna be your thing this season? You're not a pizza guy. (all laughing) - Hang on. - So Professor Aguefort looks at all of you-- - Roll for pizza guy. - And says, well, why doesn't everyone here grab a slice and sit down with me in the foyer? We have terrible business to discuss. - Can I do a perception check on this pizza? - Yeah, go for it. - Riz is already eating. - Well, I got a five. - Fabian takes all the cheese off his and is just dabbing at it with a paper towel. - Oh, no, Mr. Macros. - All right, it's important, all right? I have to keep this physique tight for-- - For what? - It's a 14. - Kissing. - 14 perception? - What? - Nothing, nothing, what, I'm sorry, anyway. - You see that Aguefort looks over to you and says, ah, I see that you have performed an act of transmutation, turning your pizza into a thin, damp focaccia. - I mean, you can call it whatever you want, all right, it's just, don't need those unnecessary calories. - I can call it whatever I want. Children. Listen to me now. We have finally been declared at peace. Solace and Fallinel have moved from armistice to full peace, the war is over. A cold war though it was, the borders are once again permeable and myself and the faculty have finished the legal matters of clearing your wealth, so, as I've said, 20,000 gold pieces is your share of the dragon's hoard. - We can move again? We can leave? - You may leave. - Do I have to leave? - You do not have to leave. Although, I will say, of course, that the elven government still desperately wants you back in Fallinel. Now. - Well, they can respectfully suck it. - What's that? Respectfully what? - Nothing, nothing. - Huh? - Sorry. - If you've done a bit, I would like to be alerted to it. - Next time, I'll tell you. Now it feels a little late. - Ah, except that perhaps it is never too late when you control time itself! (whirring) He rewinds, that exact moment happens, but he leans in to catch and it goes (laughs) They can suck it. (all laughing) If you feel queasy, I have reversed the flow of time to catch that joke. (retching) - Pizza's everywhere. Just vomited pizza everywhere. - On Fabian's pizza. - Okay, great. - Wow, how many calories are in that? - Zero, I'm not eating this (groans). - Now, for the rest of you, that has been cleared. As you may be well aware, normally, a dragon's hoard would simply be collected and divvyed up by the adventurers but because this hoard was hidden in a bank, that coward, Kalvaxis, we had to go through a lot of legal red tape and eventually engage the Seven Dark Executives of KVX Bank in mortal combat and by slaying them all, finally release your funds into the school account, and cut those checks to all of you. So, you are substantially wealthier. However! I would recommend investing that money wisely, for, indeed, the quest of the crown of the Nightmare King now unfolds before you. Yes, Adaine? - Yes, if they cut us checks, why did you spew gold at us? - For effect! - Oh, okay. - I'm gonna tithe 10% to the swamps. They need every cent that we can give them. - I'd like to invest in swamp Venice, it sounds idyllic. - Great, I'm doing 10%, I don't know what you want to do? - I'll do 10%. - Great. I'll put you down for 10. - I've got a money guy through my dad if anyone is trying to, you know, diversify your portfolios. - I would recommend divesting yourself of that money as soon as possible. The wealth, the filthy lucre of a dragon's hoard has been known to drive adventurers mad. A little taste of gold can send one over the edge. - Is that a risk in giving it to other people then? Are we gonna drive other people crazy? - I was gonna try to work on a van. - Cool. - And I was just wondering is that gonna make me go crazy? - I don't know, maybe. The quest that lies ahead. The quest, my children. The crown of the Nightmare King, as you are well aware, went missing some time after the events of last year's cursed prom. Which, by the way, we can now have again, because it was, you know, the prophecy already happened, so that's fun. Point being that the borders are now permeable once more. I believe that it's your quest, lined up, the Seven Maidens, of course, including young Zelda, have adventures of their own to attend to, so I just wanted to tell you that you have the funds now to finance your own transportation for how you would like to go on this quest. You may also, of course, conduct the matter of hiring hirelings, which we do love in classic adventurer fashion, you know, people to tote your stuff around. - Oh, I've got a whole tour bus. We can use my tour bus. - Oh. - Oh! - It's a little flashy, it kind of announces us anywhere we go. - Yeah, can we-- - I obviously wouldn't hate that. I obviously think that's cool. - Can we cast Disguise Self on just the photo of you on the side of the van? - Yes, I would like to do that and make it look like Goldenhoard. - I mean, it does have, also, your literal name on it. - Yes, that should be no-- - Can we cast Disguise Self on my name? - If your adventure sees you remain within the boundaries of Solace, then that tour bus should be no problem. If your tour goes farther afield and, indeed, if the crown has been taken from Solace in total, I remind you that the nations outside of Solace have not been exposed to our strange arcanotech. If those peasants, out in their fields, in the dark realms beyond Solace, were to hear you play rock music, think of what could happen. - Are you saying that my destiny is to bring rock to the peasants? - No. - Your words, not mine, young lady. - I'm up to the task. - I just feel like it's not that, rock music, that's, I don't want to speak out of turn, but it just feels like a thing a grandparent would say, right? - What? - Just that-- - Gorgug, we're in a band together. - No, that it's not that big of a deal. - Yeah, I get what you're saying. - Okay. - Do you have any idea what happened in Solace when rock music was invented? Do you have any idea what you're talking about? - I'm not sure, I never heard the story. - The first electric lute was invented 350 years ago. And when it was first played, every single person of the 225 people in attendance, regardless of gender, became pregnant. Do you understand the power that rock music yields? - I didn't know that. - Do you have any idea? - I'm sorry. - Sometimes when you talk, it really pisses me off. - I've realized that. And it seems like a newish thing, but I'm sorry. (Ally laughs) - So there was 225 immaculate conceptions? - In the same day. - Was their dad the flute? - Hm? - Was their dad the lute? - The lute? - Excuse me, the lute. - Conjecture holds that it could have been the bard themself or that it could have been the lute. - What did the babies look like? (overlapping chattering) Did they have big, round bodies? - Like a lute? - No, no. The children all looked mostly like the species of the carrier, of the parent that took the pregnancy to term except for they had awesome mohawks or long hair and some of them were born with denim jean vests. - Like they came out of the womb? - No pants, just a denim? - I mean, a baby with pants is a little weird, but a baby with a vest is pretty cool. - And with patches on it already. - Wow. - Wow. - Honestly, fuck the Nightmare King's crown, I want to find one of these babies. - Well, you know, on their 18th birthday, they all ascended to the other planes. It's rumored there is a 17th outer plane, beyond the 16 of the Great Wheel, there is a 17th made of pure rock. - So there's about 250 adult babies flying around on rocks? - Adult babies, they're just adults. Babies grow up, Gorgug, be reasonable. - I'm sorry. - Use your head. - I'm sorry. - Use your head. - Wow. - Do they still have the denim vests? - I'm sorry about him. - Do they still have the denim vests? - I don't think they fit anymore. - Yes, is it like their skin? Does it grow with them? - The vests grow with them. - No, they just had denim vests. It's not on them. - Look, I don't have the time to go through every piece of Solace's incredible lore with all of you. All of this is available in the library if you chose to crack the books at Adventuring Academy and if you attended bard classes, this is in the history of bardic curriculum. (Emily laughing) What's so weird about a baby born with a vest with a mohawk?! - Well. - Right, that's not the weirdest part, the other part-- - 225 immaculately conceived babies grew up and went to rock heaven! I don't know how much more clear I can be. - They ascended. It was the 18th birthday part. - It kind of sounds a little tragic, too, for the people that gave birth to them. - Yes! Many of them were never okay again. There was no warning. There was a rock show, a benefit, on all of their 18th birthdays. Did I mention that not only were they conceived at the same moment, they were born at the same moment. - Wow. - Wow, this all checks out. - Okay, good. - Okay, I understand the power of rock now. - Good. - But I'm still gonna bring it to the peasants. - Well. - So, if we leave Solace, do we have to then ride horses and stuff? - Yeah, I was gonna say, should we have a covered wagon? - Yeah, because I'm not leaving The Hangman behind, all right? - No, well, I think, generally, the Solasian council of relations understands that there is a discrepancy. However, it is not uncommon knowledge that our technology and magic far surpasses those of the neighboring realms, so what I would say is this. There is a general rule to not (sighs) fracture the domes of those that dwell in the lands beyond with how rad our whole deal is. But you gotta do what you gotta do. So, at the end of the day, if you want to bring The Hangman, go for it, all right? - They'll have to catch us first, right, Fabian? (Brennan laughs) - Yes, The Ball, that they will. - Laws are a fiction designed to inhibit the powerful, so. - Riz, are you wearing one half of a friendship necklace? - It's just a necklace. - Is there another? - It's a regular necklace! - It's Be Fri. - It's a regular. - Be Fri. - And it's not Christmas yet, so why are we talking about the other half? - What's the other half in your hand? - It's not Christmas yet? - Why are you sneaking up on? - It's April. - Hey, what are you doing behind me, Ball, get off me! - Relax! - Hey, I think we should get outta here. We can finally leave. - Okay, you know what? - Tonight? - I think-- - Tonight! - There is-- - I'd like to commission some sort of animal. - Commission an animal? - Like a painting? Of an animal? - I'm sorry, are you asking me to create a brand new, never-before-seen animal? - Yes, I'll pay you gold. - Done. - Okay, yeah, instead of my tour bus, I think I'll ride a never-before-seen animal. - Can we all ride on it? - You guys all have money, you just have to ask-- - You're saying I need to use strange magic to create an animal capable of bearing six people. - Yeah. - Into combat. - It can be like a catbus. - And a motorcycle. - Is that copywritten? - Important question about this. - Yes? - Are you going to be on the motorcycle riding the thing or are you and the motorcycle both riding the animal together? - I mean, if it's a challenge for you to create an animal in which I can be on a motorcycle in the animal, you know, have at it. - Challenge accepted. I'm going to get to work inventing something truly terrible. - So I'm just picturing a skin suit for a motorcycle. (all laughing) - Now. - You can send the invoice to Lola. - Very well. Yes, I'll go through your agency. - What's her deal? - I don't know, I'm trying to figure it out. - I don't like this industry types that are kind of like (chatters). - She's very good at her job. I've seen her, people have tried to get backstage before and she straight up killed them. - She killed them? Because they were trying to get backstage? - I mean, I've killed a lot of people and that sounds bad. - Yeah. - Have I killed anyone? - Yes. - I did kill our football coach. - It was absolutely tragic. - I still think about that. I have nightmares of The Ball standing over Daybreak, just gunned, bam! It was just everywhere. - So our options are big animal that replaces a car. Also, sort of an animal that holds a motorcycle. (Lou laughs) And I just want to throw out, maybe, I don't know, maybe my parents could help us tinker up almost like a disguise, kind of like a hologram-ish thing. - I'm also fine riding a horse. I grew up in Fallinel. I can ride horses. - Yeah, and now that I'm gay, I would prefer a horse. (all laughing) - Is that part, is that? - If they're all doing horses-- - You hear Tracker upstairs go, yeah, that's part of it. - Okay. - All the sudden, I got, in the mail, a sourdough starter, horse feed, and really cool boots. Just really cool boots. - They are cool. - Thank you, thank you, I wear boots. I had sandals on for a while, that's why my dex is negative three, but now I have boots. - We should get a druid to awaken your sourdough starter. - Professor Aguefort looks at all the rest of you and says, however, I must end with a most dire piece of news. The crown of the Nightmare King has indeed gone missing. An ancient and powerful artifact tied to one of the most sinister and powerful villains the world of Spyre has ever known. Retrieve, what, who? Yeah, the Nightmare King. The crown of the Nightmare King. - Gorgug, Gorgug. - I don't know, he could have a name. I'm with Gorgug on this one. - This quest to retrieve the crown of the Nightmare King and return it to the Aguefort Adventuring Academy matters more than you know. For not only does its release upon the world represent a threat of a magnitude I cannot describe, but also, it represents 60% of your grade-- - What? - I drop my pizza. - For the entire year. - What? - Enjoy your spring break, students, for, indeed, your entire sophomore year depends on it. (poofs) And he vanishes. - What? - We've already been through over 60% of the year. - This feels like quite a wrinkle, all right? I mean, I've been failing all my other classes 'cause I don't go to them. I hang out in the parking lot and smoke cigarettes. - Me too. - I mean, I have 5.2 grade average so far, so I feel like if we do fail, then I, oh, no! - Do we just bring the crown back and we all get a good grade? - I think so. - Yeah, actually, you know what? I'm thinking about-- - It's sort of a pass-fail situation, but-- - Honestly, this seems like it could be good. - Yeah? - Well, it's good for the people who didn't do any work. I worked a lot. - Yeah, right. - You went on tour. - This is gonna be awesome. Let's do it, guys! - I tried really hard. - You tried. - I was gone a lot. But what I was doing was also part of my grade. - Yeah, I feel like I also have been helping Riz with the Nightmare King stuff because I love the library. - Mm-hm. Yeah, and, actually, if you guys want to make some investigation or arcana rolls, we can absolutely do that now. - Can I do some sort of, since I've been touring, have I heard anything, any gossip around the Nightmare King? - If you guys want to do some skill checks right now, because obviously the trail went very cold because of these external factors, but now that all that red tape has come undone and all these drawers have opened, you guys definitely have months of work with you, so I'm actually gonna say that all of these rolls, because you've been doing it for months, roll with advantage. - I just got a nat 20. - Yeah! - Nat 20. - I got a 26. - 26, great. - I got 27 on investigation. - Whoa! - 15. - 15. - What are you looking for? - I got a 14. - Investigate? - Investigate, yeah. - I love Gorgug trying really hard. - So we've been stuck in Elmville, right? - Yeah, you've been stuck in Elmville. - And, what? (Lou laughs) - Except you snuck out to the swamps. - Except I have been doing a lot of humanitarian work. - You could have been killed, Kristen. - I understand that, but what's more important, hm? - We should have a musical festival at swamp Venice. - Wonderful. Let's start with this nat 20 here. - Yeah, I got a nat 20. - What type of information would Fig on tour have been looking for, as it pertains to the crown of the Nightmare King? - I think I'm just trying to, I'm rubbing elbows with a lot of people, probably a lot of influential people. I want to know what the hubbub amongst the elite is about the Nightmare King and where the crown went. I think it's like any time I'm at a party and someone says Nightmare King, I kind of perk up and listen to it. - Yeah. Whenever someone's talking about the Nightmare King, so, as you can imagine, there's this giant forest, it's called the Forest of the Nightmare King, you heard a conversation between some elves that come to a concert one time that were old enough to have been around during the time the Nightmare King was mostly active, which was obviously a long time ago. What you hear them talk about is several servants of the Nightmare King. There's a bunch of names that they drop. One of the names they drop is the Shadow Cat, which doesn't seem particularly like meaningful to you other than they were like the Nightmare King mostly didn't cause mass bloodshed, they were not like Kalvaxis, they were not coming in and burning towns. A lot of what they did was a more corrupting influence on the world of Spyre. So the stories you hear of the Nightmare King is like there would be an academy of clerics that had hundreds and hundreds of years of religious tomes and doctrines and night would fall, something would happen in the monastery, and upon waking, the monks would have scrawled on all the scrolls and either burned or destroyed them, would have either disappeared into dreams. A lot of weird things where all the children in the town would go (snaps) missing. Weird stuff that was more horrifying than terrifying, if that makes sense. It was like the aims and goals of the Nightmare King were always a lot more obtuse than Kalvaxis that was like burn towns, get money. Right? (Brennan laughs) - I'm about that. - About that. - You're about burning towns? - If need be. I mean, to get money. - Gorgug, we have a song called "Burn Towns, Get Money." - Oh, that's what that's about? - So you talk with them. I will also say that you would know for a fact that the people that you've talked to, the Forest of the Nightmare King, you've talked to a couple of people that are actually from towns and cities that have venues where they would love you to come play. The Forest of the Nightmare King is still extremely dangerous and covered in nightmare shadow magic and stuff like that, but it wasn't always a corrupted forest and there are efforts by, especially communities of wood elves, that are trying to go and reclaim that. Your mom was from a group of diaspora, dispossessed wood elves, living partially in Fallinel, but Fallinel is ruled by the high elves, so there are always communities of more independent-minded wood elves that used to live in the Forest of the Nightmare King and now are trying to, bit-by-bit, reclaim it, although only the forest at the edge of the forest is livable and survivable right now. So that's what you get from your tours. It's less deep lore and more like you have a lot of social connections that are all, you know of places to go and stay where you have friends in that part of the world. - Cool. - Did anyone get a 20 or above? - I got a 26. - Cool. 26, info dump, info dump! - Info dump, info dump! - That's another one of this-- - Info Dump is a song that we do. - But it's kind of about her dumping on info. - I feel weird telling you about this, but-- - It's taking a dump in a library. - My emotional feelings. - Here's what you find with that 26, that awesome 26 arcana. You find reference to the Nightmare King in a lot of tomes and books. The Nightmare King is referenced in fae tomes as not being fae. They refer to him by the name Rieashling Olc. - O-L-K, Rieashling-- - O-L-C. - Okay. - R-I-E Ashling, Olc, O-L-C is the name they give him. Although, you can easily tell, I don't know if you speak Sylvan, but you're also doing Comprehend Languages. - I do. I don't speak, I speak Elven, but I don't speak Sylvan. - So this book was written in Sylvan. - But I do have Languages. - Comprehend Languages? - I have Comprehend Languages. - Cool, so you have to read that, 'cause at first it comes across as a name, and then on second reading, you realize that it's also a title. It just means, it means King of the Dark Dreaming, right? Now, what's interesting is the fae give him a fae title but refer to him in a way that makes you think they don't regard him as being fae. In undead books that he has reference to, because a lot of the ways that he's physically described makes you think he would probably be undead in terms of what he looks like, but the undead refer to him as being fae. Which is very interesting to you, which also makes sense to you on just a practical, magical level, because the Nightmare King tends to work what you would guess is a lot of divination, illusion, enchantment magic and most necromantic entities don't mess with illusion at all. They're not about, most undead don't even sleep, let alone dream, right? The Baatezu, that are the devils of the Nine Hells, you read some ancient historical texts from the Blood War, which is the ancient war between demons and devils that is sort of in the underworld, they refer to him as fighting on behalf of the demons, of the tanar'ri. This entity has fought on behalf of chaotic evil entities in the past, right? There is reference to him being a lieutenant of Kalvaxis and one that was summoned by him. It seems like that in serve to Kalvaxis, his role as a lieutenant was never mustering forces, it was almost like he was a consigliere. Like, in return for Kalvaxis bringing him into the world, he solved a lot of spellcasting problems for Kalvaxis. Broke wards, did magic stuff. So it seemed more like a quid pro quo, like you bring me back to the world, I'll take care of any arcane blocks that are in your way. - So he predated Kalvaxis, but then Kalvaxis brought him back? - Correct. The last thing you find on that 26 is that the Forest of the Nightmare King was originally called Sylvare, a place ruled by a group known as the Chord of Elders, which was the representatives of the four main gatherings within the Forest of the Nightmare King, which were centaurs, treants, sprites, and wood elves, and the fifth member of the Chord of Elders was the Great Unicorn, which did not represent all unicorns, but instead was just the eldest of their number and protected that place and was kind of the defacto, the Great Unicorn was almost like a demigod type figure but that just didn't receive worship. It was just revered passively by the people of that land. - Where is Sylvare now? - Sylvare became the Forest of the Nightmare King. - Okay, that's what I thought. - 850 years ago, the Nightmare King took over after the Chord of Elders was fractured in the last Sylvan War. So 850 years ago, the centaurs, treads, sprites, and wood elves went to war against each other and during that chaos shortly thereafter, the Nightmare King rose, took over the forest, and corrupted it. - So are the treads, sprites, and centaurs still in the Forest of the Nightmare King? - They are in a similar position to the wood elves where the ones that survived left. We don't know what's happened to the ones within the wood. We do know that a lot of things became corrupted. So there were weird, centaur shamans and forests of animated trees, like evil, nightmare trees would show up, and, of course, there were sprites and dream beings that were almost like unseelie type fae that showed up on behalf of the Nightmare King. In the cosmology of this world, there were not really dark fae. There were dark fae, like fae of moonlight, fae of the night. But still benevolent. The first really evil fae show up after the corruption of the Nightmare King. - Okay. - After the Nightmare King took over the land of Sylvare, that was the last time a unicorn was seen. - I know what I want Aguefort to make me. - A pentacorn. (Emily laughs) Five times as powerful as a unicorn, with five horns and 20 legs! - And you're gonna make this to make us less conspicuous than a tour bus? - Was that one? - Yes. - Was that a part of it? An invisible 20-legged unicorn. - So I just float through the air. - But you hear (crunching). - Riz, with that 27, here's what you know. - Okay. - The crown went missing from Aguefort's office at any time between prom and 43, any time between prom, because you guys do remember seeing the crown there. - Mm-hm. - You were worried it could have gone missing before, but you guys checked in with each other. It could have gone missing before. Could have gone missing anytime between prom and 43 days later, at the beginning of summer vacation when Aguefort noticed it was missing, right? However, the likelihood is very slim that it went missing during those 43 days. Arthur re-enchanted his office the night of the prom, when he was taking care of the feds that showed up and yada-yada-yada, he went and put the wards and bindings back on his office. Odds are the person that grabbed it was somebody who did it in that window of-- - Of on prom night? - Of on prom night, during the fight with Kalvaxis. - Who wasn't at the fight? - Well, most of the students. - Remember that one dude who was by the food that we kept beating, does he know any heals? Is he a med student? - The vulture who-- - The vulture. - The vulture stole the crown. - You were able to collect residue samples from the dust on Aguefort's desk. - Wow. - And run them through the lab. Your mom put them through the lab and got you the kit back. The crown is a cursed magical object. So whoever did take it would either have tried to return it directly to the Forest of the Nightmare King or had a way of breaking a curse on themself, right? So, in other words, if a schmoe took it, they would have immediately been taken over by the thing. The type of magical object this came back as is called a talisman, which is very similar to a phylactery that a lich would have, except that talisman also obviously has a common part, some people just call things talismans, right? But the technical terminology for it within the world of Spyre is that a talisman serves a similar purpose to a phylactery but rather than animating a lich, it takes an extraplanar being and anchors them to a world to make them effectively, and for magical purposes, native to that realm. So, in other words, if an extraplanar creature wants to be in the material realm and doesn't want to constantly get banished or abjured or warded, they can create a powerful artifact called a talisman that is almost like a magical way of being anchored to that plane of existence so that you can't necessarily get rid of them in those extra easy ways, right? So this thing is a talisman and it's a cursed talisman. - Do we know, was the Nightmare King defeated? So Aguefort had his crown. - Correct. - Does he need his crown? Does the Nightmare King need the crown to live, do I know? - The Nightmare King needs the crown to remain here. So, with that investigation check, and, also, this would only be a DC 15 arcana check, after Kalvaxis toppled and Solace was created, all of Kalvaxis' lieutenants kind of had to go into defense mode and probably about 20 or 30 years after that, a group of adventurers, including the people who, some of the people that had killed Kalvaxis just went to the Nightmare King and were kind of doing a clean up mission of his lieutenants. A very badly structured D&D campaign, they took out the big bad and then kind of were like, well, this is lower stakes, but you don't have to watch that campaign. - Yet. (Brennan laughs) - So they went and did clean up. The Nightmare King couldn't, in their records, the Nightmare King couldn't be killed, but what they could do is they managed to successfully do a complex, massive teamwork spell to dispel the crown off his head. It was like a combination of Remove Curse, Break Enchantment, a couple other spells had happened. They'd pried it off and after that, when they killed him, it seemed that instead of dying, he just returned to whatever out plane or whatever transitive plane that he is from. - Is there any way of killing him or is he just always gonna be either here and messing with us or living on this extra plane? - If we can get to his plane. - That is an untried avenue. Now, what seems interesting about all this, again, is with his crown out of the forest and kept safe, it seems like whatever Kalvaxis did to summon him involved the crown bringing him back and as soon as he's got the crown on his head, he's home free here. But when he's separated from it, he's very weakened and can be killed, although it's unclear how that killing could actually stick rather than just expelling him and having him be unable to reenter this plane. So after his defeat, he was gone and things didn't keep coming out of the Forest of the Nightmare King, but it also is still a deeply cursed, dangerous forest, so it's like his presence is still very much there in that forest, oozing out of whatever rift is there, even though he's definitely not been, it's conjecture. Is he unable to show up? Or is he just not showing up and this oozing eminence is because he's sending his aura through whatever rift is there? It's unclear. That's the info dump. - Fabian is full asleep. Fully asleep. (Emily laughs) Fully disengaged. - Gorgug's setting up the karaoke machine behind, with all the cords like, that's crazy. - The drummer slash roadie. - I'll just handle it. - Would I have known anything in my time of being Helioic about the Forest of the Nightmare King? - Yeah, give me a religion check. - Yeah, sure. 13, 11. Live. - I'm having a snack. What you would know about the Nightmare King on a 13-- - 11. - Is that he is included on lists of false idols, so like worshiping him is a sin, but-- - Same with worshiping-- - Helio. - Caffeine. I mean, there's just so many false idols. - God bless coffee, thank God it's Friday. - It seems like every culture sort of sees him as not of their own and possibly an enemy of them, like it's like maybe he's their fear. - But it seems that the fae and the undead and the Nine Hells have a special place for him. - At the same time-- - You are not of us. But we also-- - He's our ally or our enemy but not-- - The devil thought he was demons, the fae thought he was something else. - Undead. - And the undead thought he was fae. - But I guess that makes sense if you're extraplanar. - Or if you're fear itself. - What was the timeframe of when our homes were attacked and the prom? Was that the same day? - That was the same day. So it could have occurred during that because you guys didn't go back, you guys went from Aguefort's office to the library where you met the old elven oracle, back to Goldenhoard's office, then he came over the PA, then you guys went and had your scenes at your homes. It's been a year-and-a-half of real time since we played this, then you guys went straight to the gym. - Got it. - To work out. - Adaine. Do you think it's, you don't think your family could have had anything to do with it? - With my family? - 'Cause they kind of disappeared the day that-- - I mean, they'd already left by the time that we were there, apparently, but, I mean, I don't know, I don't trust my dad but I've also never heard him talk about the Nightmare King. - Give me a raw intelligence check. - Intelligence, oh, with, 20, not nat. - As you're saying that, what you're saying is true, your parents left long before, 'cause Fallinel had declared war back when you guys were still doing stuff at the arcade, before you guys went to prison. You remember detecting a faint residue of teleportation when you drove by your house. - Right. Maybe. - Those elves that I head talking about the servants of the Nightmare King, were they speaking with reverence, what was their attitude towards it? Were they speaking in hushed tones, were they just gossiping? - They were speaking with that overly performative confidence of people who want you to know they're not scared. Does that make sense? Like, they're in Solace, it's Solace, this is the place that makes adventurers, we're at a rock show, we're VIPs hanging out with this young rockstar. It'd be like, "Man, if I ever saw the Nightmare King, I'd," you know, it's like, you know? - When people are like, "I don't need therapy!" - Yeah, Ally, a lot like that, yeah. - "I just work out." (Brennan laughs) Ricky! - If we're talking about all of this fae stuff and everything and then Adaine's family went missing around the same time, it could be connected, maybe-- - I know someone who's trying to find Aelwen. - No, no, no, Aelwen is definitely not gonna help us. - I mean, if there's even a chance that, you know, getting in touch with Aelwen might-- - I'm sorry, you think that Aelwen will help us and not lie? - It doesn't matter if she wants to help us-- - She's a liar. - This is a lead. - I'll help you break into a prison. - You don't have to break in-- - Oh, hell yes! I pull the dossier out and I slap it down on the table! Guys, here it is! Let's go! - Riz looks really hurt for a second. Fabian, you had evidence of something and you didn't tell me. - I Mage Hand to grab it and like-- - Can I make an athletics check to grab it before the Mage Hand gets it? - Just give me a straight attack roll, dexterity proficiency. - Dexterity profic, so what are you asking? Plus eight? - Plus eight, yeah. - 13. - Give me a dexterity-saving throw. - A dexterity saving throw? But it's Mage Hand, all right. Well, I was too slow, that is a two. - (whooshes) You grab it out of the air. - No, no, this is very important to me. - I think the people in the prison would love to hear about Yes. - I agree. - Yes? - We could relocate them to swamp Venice. - Oh, guys, I gotta say, I'm loving the energy in this room right now. - You know, there are murderers and stuff. - You know, Riz. - Oh, please! - Look at this dossier, maybe I should have talked to someone else about Porter. - Hurt people hurt people, Riz. - He's a nice man! - Hey, the Ball, I mean, I'm sorry, I just got this information today, all right? - Takes time to gather information, but-- - Okay, well, I'll do that next time. - Oh, I forgot I told Tracker to rig herself up to that side wall. Should I go say bye to her? - Oh, what are you guys gonna kiss and stuff? Are you guys gonna kiss? - No, we kiss all the time, dude! - Oh, man. I can't wait until I'm kissing all the time. Anyway. - Speaking of which, I gotta stop by the hospital. - Oh, you getting your kisses in? - Make a quick stop by the hospital for you to get your kisses in. My sweet girlfriend is tied to a wall, I gotta go. - You see Sandralynn goes what, hm? What? - Oh, yeah, she's tied to a wall. - Probably gonna take me another-- - It's kid stuff. We're not vaping, come on. - It's like Twister. - It's just like Twister. - Hey, Kristen? - Mm-hm? - I love you and I'm so glad that you're gonna have your own room here and a place to stay and I really mean it and, actually, to all you kids, I know that, you know, it's been a crazy year. You had a crazy first year at Aguefort. Couldn't be prouder of you all. And you're all welcome here, not just the people that have rooms here, everyone is welcome here whenever they want. You make a move for that room, it's trouble between you and me. - Can I cast Banishment on her? No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. (all laughing) - Guys, can I say something to just The Bad Kids? What if we pooled our money together to get a little love pad in the city? - A love pad? - So we can-- - So we'd all be there kissing at different times? - Why is everyone-- - Everyone goes in and takes their kissmate and they'll kiss and stuff? - That's disgusting. - I have a tower, I'm fine. - Guys, there's so many cool adventures. Why does everyone care so much about kissing? - That's just 'cause you haven't been kissed, The Ball. - Clearly you haven't been kissed yet. - You've been kissed one time. - It was hard, though. - Actually, I'm dating somebody in the Baronese. - What? - Yeah? - What, The Ball, you're? - What's their name? - Yeah, who are you kissing, The Ball? - The Ball, you kind of looked at a map when you said that. - What's their name? - Baron. - Oh, Baron from the Baronese. - That's a pretty hot name for a girl or a guy. - What are you guys, the pizza happens, karaoke happens, the movie finishes. Gorgug, you get a little text from Zelda asking if you want to hang out. - Oh, yeah, and just invite her to come over here? - Kisses! - Zelda-- - Little chicken wings. - Stop. - You're thirsty, man, you're thirsty. - It's sad. - You're in a desert. - I'm just (laughs). - You're doing the chicken dance on behalf of someone else maybe kissing? - Fabian, you're really cool. - What happened to Fabian? - This is reading very sweaty. - You used to be so cool. - Maybe you should find somebody else to kiss. - No, this is what we do, we get excited about stuff. - I've been spending too much time with The Ball. - We go like this when we get excited. - You're doing a bad version of it. You're doing two different things. - No, this is what we do. - Two very different animals. - We get excited. - Fabian, you have strong Gilear energy right now. - No, all right. - Okay, raise your hand if you kiss on the reg. - Wait-- - I doubt that. - You can't do that sideways. - I will be here. - I would say I only do it once a month because I feel really morally conflicted about it. - I have hardcore sex regularly. - Yeah, I don't do that. - Somehow, I'm the one, I'm the sweet one with the heart of gold. - You're the one saying that. - You see Zelda comes in and, as she normally does, gets immediately kind of intimidated and goes, hey, how's it going, guys? - Hey, Zelda. - Hey. - Hey, Zelda. - Hey, how's it going? - Welcome to the crib. - This place is awesome, this is super awesome. Is it cool if Ostentatia and Penny come by or? - Yeah, we've just been doing karaoke. - I don't live here. - No, they can. - They can come? - Anyone who is a friend of the drummer is welcome wherever I am. - Cool. Ostentatia's having kind of a hard time. She and Skrank broke up. - Skrank? Our bird friend? - Yeah. - She was dating a bird named Skrank? - You remember, from the AV club. - Yeah, from the AT club. - Oh, right, Biz's friend? - Yeah, Biz and the turtle person. That whole squad. - That's so sad. - Was it mutual? - No. Skrank, he's kind of, I don't know. Skrank kind of ended it and Ostentatia didn't want it to end and we're just dealing with it in the, I shouldn't talk about my adventuring party outside of the adventuring party, but-- - Respect. - Yeah. Skrank's interested in somebody else. (all gasping) - Who, just tell us. - Honestly, who? - Can I try to convince her? - Do an insight, yeah? (Siobhan giggles) Is that a nat one? - Yeah. - Is that a nat one? - Yeah. - You tried to pick it up-- - Skrank ran into you at a water fountain at school. Skrank's into you. (all laughing) - I, I just feel like I've been so clear with everyone. You know, you come out and you have to come out with so much force and kind of all you talk about is how gay you are for the first year, 'cause you're-- - And you got those boots. - And I got those boots and I've just been making sourdough loafs, I, I want you to know that nothing would ever happen between me and Skrank. - Kristen. - Oh, it's not you. - What? - It's not you Skrank-- - Who is it then? - You see, she puts her-- - I can take care of this problem. - No, don't kill Skrank. - Wasn't suggesting. - I think she was gonna kill the person that Skrank likes. - No, I wasn't gonna kill anyone-- - Don't kill me! (all laughing) We're in the same adventuring party. - Sorry, what were you saying? - It's okay, I'd rather, I'm honestly, she starts blushing and is like, I should stop talking about it. - Hey, Zelda, what's your final project this year? - Oh, for us? We were gonna go back into the Red Waste because there's a bunch of captured, there's different dragon eggs that were the offspring of Kalvaxis, so they've just been sitting there and most of them are dormant so, we're just gonna go grab the dormant ones and try and keep them somewhere safe, so. - Cool. - But it'll be good to make sure that someone doesn't bring back a spawn of Kalvaxis and they're like I'm Kalvaxis Jr. and stuff like that. - Right, and then he starts hitting on Fig again. - Hey, when you're in the Red Waste, if you see any places that maybe some homes could be built. - The Waste, Kristen? - Let me know, 'cause that's something that I've been doing a lot. - Wow, Waste Venice. - Waste Venice, I like this! - You guys spend the rest of the night in celebration. When Zelda finds out that you guys are gonna be maybe going on an adventure, give me an insight check, Gorgug. (Siobhan laughs) - Just seeing if that one was a seven. - 10. - 10? 10's not too hard. Zelda gets a little bit sad. You guys have been kind of here, in Solace. You guys had so much stuff that you guys went through in your freshman year. The Seven Maidens have already gone off on a couple of field missions, so she's been out of town a couple times, but something about when you're talking about maybe leaving, she gets a little quiet, more so than usual. - Yeah, so, I mean, we'll probably be gone for a little bit. - Yeah. - Is that... Is that okay? - No, well, I mean, you're an adventurer so, you leave, I get it. - Well, you're an adventurer, too. - I'm trying to sign to Gorgug like, you gotta open communication, you gotta listen, and you gotta be really-- - You're talking out loud. - What?! - It's fine. Like, of course, you're an adventurer. You're a great adventurer, you guys got Kalvaxis. Like, of course, it's crazy to imagine that you wouldn't go on an adventure. Do you know if, 'cause when we go, we don't have crystal service-- - Oh, really? - Out in some of these places. Yeah, some of them don't have service, so, but there's, I bought a generator so you can sometimes generate it or something, just 'cause if you were gone, I would want to-- - Yeah, maybe my parents-- - 'Cause I've made a point of really trying to stay in touch when I'm not here, so. - Totally. I can ask my mom and dad and maybe they can help me figure out a generator situation. - Yeah. - I want to keep talking. - Yeah, absolutely. I'm not worried that you won't, whatever. Pizza (gurgling). You see she eats some of the cardboard off the box with it. - I hold up one of the Gorgug thongs from our merch. Do you want to give this to her? - Zelda sees that and you see that her eyes spiral red for a moment. She's like yeah, I saw those thongs. I saw some people throwing those up on stage. Why would they do that? I'm gonna go outside. And you see she walks outside. - Was it not her size? - I don't, how do you, is there a? - So you want to use I statements when you're talking to your girlfriend. - Is there a label with size on it? - Oh, I guess it's just this thong is the size. - It says thong size thong. - She doesn't generally wear pants. - See a car trundle up to the house and Gilear steps out. You see-- - I break out the red carpet. - Deeply humiliating. (Emily giggles) Children, hello. - Hello. - Hi, Gilear. - Fabian, your mother is-- - I cock back. - (mutters) Please don't hit me! - Introducing cat and new cat to each other. - Your mother has told me that she is going to be at her scroll club for longer than expected and I tripped and dropped my keys down a storm drain. (Emily laughs) If you get (laughs), if you get free, could you open the garage for me? I left some chili on a crockpot and I think the setting is too high and I realize that I left some loose straw above it and if the chili dries, it could start a fire. - When you tripped, did you kind of stumble for a second or did you kind of beef it? - No, I was carrying an armful of skateboards and I dropped one and-- - When you say chili? - Mm-hm? - Is it actual chili? - Well, I make mine with a healthy dollop of yogurt to start it off and I find the culture, it's sort of a sour cream with-- - Is there not a lid on it? Why would it get dry? - I broke the lid when I was getting the skateboards. - I don't understand, you have a bunch of skateboards? - Well, a bunch of the dwarven youths skate by the house and they made a game of taking old skateboards and throwing them at my head when I'm out in the garden trying to relax. - That's fantastic. I love to encourage them. - It is deeply hurtful and ruinous to my mental and emotional wellbeing. In any case, I also was told to come by and facilitate whatever tools you would need to expedite your adventure. You have spring break, so time is of the essence, I'm afraid. - All right. - Yeah. - I guess the first thing's first, we have to hire people to, we need hirelings and, I mean, I think I'm looking at mine. - What? - Wait, do we each get a hireling? - Yes, is that how, I'm not sure that's how hirelings work? - Maybe you could just be our hireling? - You could drive for us. - Oh, I don't know about that. - It's spring break. - You've gotta come, Gilear. - Oh, I don't know about this. - Spring break with Gilear. - Gilear-- - Yes, that sounds great-- - No one needs spring break more than you. - Come on. - Oh, Fabian, you missed it actually, when you were gone, Gilear dressed up as you and it fooled me. - Oh, I saw. - Very convincing. - I saw it on all the crystals. Everyone was texting him. - Did you watch the live crystal of that? - I watched the live crystal of it. - Fabian, you must understand, I did my best to uphold your good name. - Oh, yes, oh, talking about how much I love The Ball, how much me and The Ball hang out, which is partially true. - Which is totally true, so it's weird that-- - It's partially true, but I don't like to put it out there in a big way, The Ball. - Yeah, we keep it secret, man. - Honestly, let's bring Gilear. I'd love to go outside of state lines with Gilear, where things can happen and the government doesn't need to know about it. - That sounds like a glowing recommendation, are you in? - We live in a town filled with powerful adventurers. I am an anomaly in that I neither can cast magic nor fight. - Actually, this is great, because if something happens to Gilear, something happens to Gilear. So, Gilear, you're coming. - Or we could hire somebody useful. - Let's just do both. - Every side of this debate hurts my feelings. - Look, I need your experience, you experience as a lunch lad means that you've made meals for us. - Gilear, hold this bag. - He takes the bag from you. - I feel like you can do it. - Wow. - No, no, no, this can't be it. - This has to happen. - Unfortunately-- - Can I look up hireling? - I am already employed as the vice principal of the Aguefort-- - It's spring break. - I've also just been fired. - What?! - What did you do? - It says, "You are fired hereby immediately, temporarily," kissy emoji, Arthur Aguefort. He signs his texts. - Oh, he's doing it so you can come with us. - Gilear is in. - My life is a trap from which I cannot escape. - We are all wildly rich now, did you know that? - Oh, yeah. - It'll be you and a bunch of rich children. You're carrying all of their things. - We're only bringing lembas bread. - I got credit card scammed again this week. (Emily laughs) - Gilear, think about it. - You have to report that. - Again? - You can't just let your-- - I think it's the same people getting him every time. - Also, change your pin number. We all know what your pin number is. - One, two, three, four. - Yes. - Yeah, you mouth it every time you punch it in at the grocery store. - But it's hiding in plain sight. - No. - No? - Sometimes it's just plain sight. - I got pre-approved for a credit card on the street by a man with a long black duster. - No. - He came up to me in the middle of the night. I woke up in a ditch after getting hit by a skateboard and he told me I'd been pre-approved-- - Says that hirelings specifically are useful. - I vote that we bring Gilear even though he can't really do anything, but then we can maybe also ask Basrar? - Basrar, yeah. - Basrar, right. - Jace? - Or who? - Jace, the sorcerery teacher. - Yes. - Can we bring teachers? - You see Gilear speaks up and says, potentially, you could bring teachers with you but, for the most part, I think they will be busy with their own faculty demands. - Can we bring Zayn? - You are welcome to bring Zayn if he is able to leave these grounds, but there is slight danger, also bringing a ghost with you will create some problems in the places that you will travel to. - Is there any cool people I've been interviewing for my crew? - We're your crew. - No, well, for side adventures, you know. - What about Rog? - Rog might be dope. - What about Rog? - You see, he says, if you would like to enlist Rog as a hireling, you are more than welcome to do. - I see Rog a lot at bars. - What about the turtle guy? - Sheldon Turtleperson? - Shelford Turtleperson. - What about the bird? - That Skrank. - I don't know who-- - Skrank is very annoying. - We just heard a lot about Skrank. - Yeah, true. - Shelford's cool. - I like Shelford. - To me, I'm happy if we want Shelford. He's deeply insecure and I'm wondering if that's going to-- - That's right, we had a big moment, yeah. - We're in group together and he's actually really been working on it. - Gilear looks and says you're welcome to spend your own money on hirelings, but you should actually know that the school will pay for your first three. - Oh. - So if you want to narrow it down to three, you won't have to spend any of your own money on it. - And can we bring other students or are they busy on their own quests? - You're welcome to extend something to a student. Normally, in that case, they would be paid out a share of any wealth as well, whereas your normal hirelings, for example, any treasure you find on this adventure, I will not be entitled to because I am a true hireling. A fellow student would be entitled to a share, but if that's not a problem to you, then that's fine. - What do we think? - I mean, Basrar sounds very cool. - Or Bud. - Bud! - I was talking to Bud today. He might be down. - I'm trying to think if we know anyone-- - What about the skater girl? - Oh, yeah. - Yes. - Which skater girl? - One of the dwarf-- - Torak Wellgrinder, who you guys fought at the Mithral Factory is now a freshman at Aguefort. - Oh, very cool. - She's pretty rad. - Yeah. - I mean, I'm down. Bud could be pretty dope. I mean, I just feel like he's ruthless-- - I like his energy. - Yeah, me too. - And he's a family guy, so I feel like I like that balance of ruthless but also loving father, but also ruthless. - Do we want to take him? Would he want to be away from his government job and also his children? - Oh, here's an idea. If he's available, Bud. Rog. Torak. And then we just, maybe, Gilear, we could pay for your meals. - It's like a work-for-hire. - You basically intern for us. - Yes. - Oh, I actually love this. - Vice principal lunch lad intern. - So we can pay them out. - Yes. - Hey, no, but you will be our rock star. Understand, you are killing the game and you can ask us questions about anything and we'll answer it. - Think about all the experience you'll get. - We'll give you one spec script and one script, one sketch packet. - You do need to have a car. - Yeah, you'd have a car. - That you pay for. And HBO. - My car was repossessed by the rideshare app that I was working for. (Emily laughs) - So you rented the car through the rideshare app? - No, I didn't read my contract very closely. It was my car and at the end of my service with them, I had lost so much money on the rides that I had given that they took the car. - How did you lose money on rides? - I guess maybe you could just rent a car and then we could pay for it then you could pay us back. - Yeah. - How about this, I'm also rich, so I'll get you some really nice armor. - What? - Some really nice yogurt. - Yeah, we'll just put you up in plate. - That sounds like it, that's it, right? No, Basrar, I really like Basrar. - I like Basrar, I'm just confused as to what he can do. - He's so powerful now. We freed him from that curse where he could only grant ice cream. - Well, how about this. Not everyone will be able to say yes. So why don't you each go ask someone, your list of people you ask can be a little bit longer than the list of people that end up coming but we should plan on leaving right away. There's a limited amount of time. Where do you intend to go? What's the lead you intend to follow? - I think we're-- - You're the one who knows people in that direction. - Yeah, I've got some contacts up and down this town. - Are we gonna talk to Aelwen? - I think we were talking about-- - I don't know any other leads. - Breaking Aelwen out of prison. - You said that the Shadow Cat was one of his people, right? - Yes, the other lead is, we've got, I heard something about a Shadow Cat as being one of the people that worked for the Nightmare King - Give me an investigation check. - A servant of the Nightmare King. - 11. - Can I give you a help action? - I'm gonna actually give you my eight divination rule. - Eight? That's what I just got. - Oh, you did? - Oh, no, no, that was way better, 16. - Great. - Thank you. - The name Shadow Cat triggers something in your head. It's not something from your recent notes or anything like that, but there's some, it does something to you, you're like, God, that name sounds so familiar. But you're so deep in your current investigation that you don't know what that could be. - Okay. - What's your current investigation again? - Plus eight, but I got a 16. - No, I mean actual investigation. - Meaning the Nightmare King. - Of the Nightmare King. - Yeah, the crown, I'm trying to find it. I'm also curious about Skrank 'cause-- - Yeah. - As a freakin' nerd, Skrank is very not cool and the fact that Skrank-- - Broke up with Ostentatia. - Dated somebody and broke up with them-- - Ostentatia's very cool. - Weird, yeah. - So, I want to find out who he has a crush on now and then disguise myself as them and try and find out what's going on with Skrank. - That's a good idea 'cause the Nightmare King's crown makes people act strange, so, I don't know. - Should I ask Zelda? - Yeah, do you mind? - Well, you guys were saying you're both in-- - Yeah, we're in the AV club with Skrank. - You could go talk to him. - So maybe we can just go talk to him. - Cool, so you guys are gonna go talk to Skrank at the AV club. Do other people want to try to grab their hirelings? - Yes, I'll ask Basrar, I guess. - Basrar, cool. - I'll ask Bud. - Cool. - Do we also want to ask Rog? - I'll ask Rog as well. - Cool, awesome. - Who else was there? - Torek. - Torak. - I'll talk to Torak. - Do you want to talk to all three? - Me and Gorgug'll handle the hirelings. - Gilear, we could always send Gilear to ask someone. - Gilear would make a mess of that. - Cool, so we'll go, we'll go AV for the moment. So Riz and Adaine, you guys roll over. It's the first day of spring break. There is a huge, crystal LAN party happening at, happening over-- - The new hourly? - So sick. - You see that, indeed, also, they have crystals set up to broadcast, it's like competitive play. So you see Skrank going (caws) all right, everyone watching, we're gonna try to do a speedrun of this level, we're pretty excited. You see Shellford says, uh, speedrun? More like (sighs) slowrun. Cha boy. - Right. (Brennan laughs) - You guys walk into Skrank's place. You've been over here a couple times before. You see he gets up from his thing, he takes a little break and goes (caws), oh, hey, there, how's it going, guys? - Hey, Skrank. So, what's going on? Spring love, huh? - I think you're really handsome. I think you're great. I don't know if there's something here between us, but I'm really flattered. - I meant, you know, kind of heard around the old rumor mill-- - Yeah, Riz has an unclarified boyfriend or girlfriend in the Baronese, so. - That's right. - Baron. - Baron, how are things going with Baron? - Things are going good. - Are they still from the Baronese? - Uh-huh, yep. - Great. - I'm thinking about going out to the Baronese to see Baron soon. - Cool. (Emily laughs) - We don't know how he met them because the, you know, it's been hard to get out of Solace. - Pen pal. - Oh, it's a pen pal. - And then once it opened, we decided. - Great. - So, going pretty good over there. What's new with you? - Well, LAN party. I'm a little bummed today. Kinda broke things off with Ostentatia. You know, so that's-- - Oh, that's sad. She's great. - She's great, yeah. She's really great. - But she's not the one and you're looking for the one? - Yeah, well, I don't know. I just sort of feel like, you know. Things aren't-- - That's kind of what me and Baron have. - Wow, congrats. - Yeah, thank you. - Yeah, I don't know, I just sort of, you know, can I ask why you guys are asking? - We just decided-- - We're just good friends. - Yeah, it's spring break and we're like AV club. - Pretty rad. - Club. - Yeah, no, right. He takes his wings. Yeah, well, you know, Ostentatia's great, but, I don't know, I was sort of, well, I don't know. I'm flirting a little bit with, do you guys know Danielle Barkstock? - No. - Danielle Barkstock is one of the other members of the Seven Maidens. (all gasping) - No, that's, that'll mess things up. - Well, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's confusing, I guess, I don't know. - Was she flirting back? - Can I help you guys, what's sorta going on? - No, we're just buddies hanging out. - Yeah. - Yeah, I mean, I don't know, it feels weird. I know that she-- - How do you play video games? Because I was never allowed to do that. - Oh, it's really great. Well, how do you play them? Well, there's, you know, an interface, depending on the console, I'd be happy to show you. - Sure, yeah. - He goes and starts showing you how to play video games. - Riz is furiously shaking his head. Don't get him started. - Great. We're gonna go to, who's dealing with the hirelings. - You're going to see Basrar, we're going to see Bud, Rog, and Torak. - Torak, yeah. - Torak. - Cool. So you go to Basrar's ice cream place. You see that Basrar is there, genuinely very happy, serving ice cream to people. He goes and says, ah, hello, Kristen. It is so good to see you. - Thank you. - How can I help? - I want some sort of dark chocolate sea salt and caramel. - It's so fun to do now that it's not the only thing I can do. - Yes, I'm so happy. - It's about choice, you know? Because I genuinely love to make ice cream. But if I can only make ice cream. - Yes. - It's a prison of the heart. - Totally. - You know? - Totally, yes. - (whooshes) This dark chocolate sea salt caramel gelato shows up. Perfect. Please give my regards to young Adaine. I owe her my newfound life. It is incredible. - Yes, and on that note, I wanted to know, you know, now you have a choice, you can move around, you don't just serve ice cream all the time. We are going to go on a big adventure and we need people to be in our crew, so I was wondering if you wanted to come with us. There would be me, Adaine, Riz, Gorgug. - Give me a persuasion check. (Lou laughs) - What? - Give me a persuasion check. - It's a 10. - Oh, you are so sweet to offer. I so appreciate. I am sadly very happy and busy with my ice cream parlor, now that I can really run it like a true business and I have my freetime, I am part of a bocce ball league. - Cool. - Fun! - Well, you would be carrying all of our bags. - I don't want to do that. (all laughing) - Okay, great. - I am a proud business owner and an adult man, but I super appreciate. It's one of those things-- - And I get that. - You know, I do understand the trope of you free someone from their servitude and then they're like, wow, now I choose to serve you, but that's kind of bull. - Yeah. - You know? - Oh, I didn't mean to, I was just so-- - No, for sure, like, thank you for my freedom, now I'm going to use that to live the life I want, you know? - No, I understand, yeah, I get it. I also feel a little weird about someone carrying my bag, so I kind of feel in that way, I might try to carry that person's bag, actually, this whole trip. - Well, if you'd like a bag to carry (whooshes), and you see there is a scintillating, frosty, white-blue pouch and as it opens, you see a perfect ice cream sandwich comes out and he says from this you can make as many ice cream sandwiches as you would like. In good health, use them on the trip. This is my token to you. - Thank you so much. - So that's gonna have the same features as an ever-smoking bottle or a bottle of infinite water, but it's ice cream sandwiches. - Ice cream sandwiches? - So you can roll, put that in your inventory. We're gonna cut over to Gorgug. - Holding on the back of Fabian's motorcycle. - It's too tight, it's too-- - I'm scared, what if I fall off? - You're not going to fall off, all right, just be cool. - Hold tight as I can. (Lou groans) - Cool, you guys head over. They're actually at, it's spring break. But they're over at a little clubhouse that's been built on the Aguefort property grounds, which is the LGBT Student Union, so you see that Torak and Rog are actually both there hanging out, kind of putting up decorations, there's gonna be a party tomorrow night there. So you come in and Rog goes what's up, cap, come on! - What's up, good to see you! - Good to see you, dude, what's up, bro? - What's up, dude? - Yeah, man, I love it! What's going on? - My good sir. - We have a offer for you. - A big one. One of the largest offers you might receive today. - An absolutely huge offer, you might say. - You guys are both flexing. - You might say that, indeed. Now, question is, are you into, are you good enough? - Are you into adventure? - I've been waiting for an Aguefort Owlbears three MVP, threeway makeout sess for longer than I can imagine and you guys finally got the nuts to come here and make it happen, brother, let's go! Let's go, hoot, growl, hoot, growl, hoot, growl, hoot, growl-- - Hey, Rog. - We've got things twisted. - So a slight wires crossing. - We would, you've been working out, I'll tell you that-- - Hell yeah. - And that sounds like a cool idea. - I put on mass crazy fast. I have a hard time getting cut, but I put on mass like crazy. So what I've been doing is I've just been putting on lots of mass. - You put on 20 pounds this week, is that right? - Yeah, 20 pounds this week, dude. I eat 10 steaks every hour on the hour, dude. - That's awesome. - Wow. - Yeah! - Incredible. - I have to poop 13 times a day, average. Some days it goes up, most has been 25, least has been 4. - I get an elven oracle twinkling and I text them maybe we don't bring Rog. - The Bad Kids, see that, after, I put my phone back. The Bad Kids need you now. - We need you. - More than ever. We're going on a big adventure to recover the crown of the Nightmare King and we want you, Rog Barkrock, to be along for the ride. (Brennan shouts) - Brother, I am in. I'm gonna put my shirt back on. You've got Rog, baby! - All right, good. We're actually talking to other candidates right now, but you are high on the list, if not number one, number two, so we just need to finalize some things, but then we're gonna lock you down. - We sorta circle, we gotta talk to everybody, then we'll figure it out, but we think you're great. - Honestly, you know, last year, the guy I thought was my best friend that I had a lot of repressed feelings for that Jawbone's been helping me work through, he was my old adventuring partner, and I had a lot of love for him, but he was a very bad person. He was also deeply hateful and a bigot and it really messed me up and I have a lot of trauma that I'm working back through, so I haven't had an adventuring party this last year, so, honestly, even being asked, dude, tight as hell. - Awesome, hey, I just thought of something. This is, just out of curiosity, do you remember, were you with them at all, the day prom happened, before prom? Like you didn't see them go anywhere near Aguefort's office or anything? - Give me an insight check. - It's still what it was? That's a five. - Five. - Rog is your dad. - We concluded this bit at the end of the last episode. You look at Rog with a five insight. With a five insight, you, your dad is Digby Thistlespring, your biological father is Gorbag, we know this. You, with a five insight, realize that Rog doesn't know who his dad is and probably is grappling with the possibility that he might be his own dad, and you've been there. - So we're just kind of wondering what you were doing-- - Sorry, one second. (Emily laughs) - Rog. Just know. I really feel like I got a peek at something. - What? Give me the insight check, Fabian. - There was a time in my life when I felt very confused about who my father was. - 15. - And who it was was such a challenging part of my life that I was looking everywhere and then at one point, I felt like I found a mirror and I looked into that and I thought, for a second, that I was my own dad. And I want you to know it's okay to think that you're your own dad. That's okay. - Rog starts crying. He gives you a big hug. It's so good to hear that. - Yeah. Because what, I mean, I don't know. - Yeah, who knows? - If you don't know your dad, why can't you be your dad? - Why can't you be your own dad? - Magic's real. - Magic's real. You do magic to be your own dad. - Yeah. - I text Adaine back, oh, yeah, yeah, maybe not. (all laughing) - With that 15, when Gorgug says, "I noticed something," you see a brief flicker of paranoia or fear on Rog's face, a little bit. That's all you get, though. But Rog says he's down. You see that Torak walks up, again, Torak is long, braided blonde beard, she's got the shaved sides of the head, sort of skater, punk-looking. She goes, so what, you're gonna take Rog away from me are ya? - Not necessarily because we-- - There's a chance, why am I acting so weird?! I was cool last year. Sorry, I want to know if you want to come with Rog on the adventure of a lifetime? - Are you, you're getting your group of Bad Kids or what? You want to get me on your quest? - Well, we're looking for a couple of hirelings. - Do I look like a hireling to you? - You're a freshman. - Oh, lad. - You'd be very lucky. - Well, that didn't stop you then, did it? - What? - When you were freshmen, you were running around and getting into all kinds of scraps. - I don't know that we would have turned down being hirelings, no one ever offered us of being hireling? - Give me a persuasion check. - What's your persuasion? - Plus five. - Can I give you a help action? - Sure. - That's gonna be 21. - She looks at you and says, right, well, and this goes for Rog as well. You know that we're fellow students at the Academy, if they're brought on as hirelings, they get a full share, so that goes for me and that goes for Rog as well. - Yes, we are aware of that. - All right, I'm in. - Right, we're still looking at candidates. - We kind of have to talk to everybody first. - So, we're gonna circle back, but you're definitely number one and number two on our list. - Cool, you guys split from there. You text Bud. Bud hits you back real quick and you see he sees, "Hey, bud, first of all, "even with the encrypted crystals, "let's not talk business over text, and second, "gosh, I'd love to help ya out, but I got my kids at home, "and besides, you know, think global, act local. "I got enough problems trying to take down this government "let alone governments other places." - Word up, winky emoji. - Can I text everybody, "I've been thinking about this "and I feel like we should be thinking "a little bit more strategically "about who we want to be our help person. "For example, none of us speak any of the languages "of the Forest of the Nightmare King, "and while I can "use spells to maybe do that at some level, "it would maybe be useful for us to have, "for example, a wood elf to come with us." Gilear is a high elf, right? - Is Sandralynn a wood elf? - Sandralynn's a wood elf. - I believe Gilear is canon wood elf. - Oh, okay, so Gilear does-- - Gilear speaks-- - So he is useful, damn. (Emily laughs) - Hell yes! - Could be wrong, but I believe, no, because the Abernants, when he went to your family's house, did not treat him very well because he was a wood elf, not a high elf. - Right. - So you see that, yeah, Gilear speaks Sylvan. - Oh, yes. - What a point you've made. - Are there any-- - Good point. Gilear is useful. - There any centaur students? - Cool, so that's Bud. But you guys do have Gilear, Rog, and Torak as your three yeses. - I was wondering, if you guys feel like we should just leave this mystery of what's going on with Skrank, we can, but I was thinking that, I was thinking the bigger mystery is what Danielle is up to. 'Cause what's Danielle Barkstock like? Is she kind of cool? - She's one of the Seven Maidens. She's a half-elf druid. - It seems really weird that she would compromise her own thing, so I was thinking I should go as Skrank to her? - Having a druid when we're going to a forest environment might be also super useful. - But they're going to the Red Waste. - Right, but maybe is there, do we know any other druids? - Yeah, can I do an insight to see if I know-- - Well, we know that stoner kid, but I don't think he's around. - Right, yeah. Also, he's not reliable. - Does anyone else think it's really weird that Danielle is flirting with one of her fellow maiden's boyfriends? - Yeah. - So I feel like we should maybe get to the bottom of that. - Fig, why don't you talk to her real quick, but other than that, I feel like we have a good team here. I think we don't want to go too far out of the family, as it were. - Yeah. - I wonder if we should, yeah, do that, and I can ask Zelda if that makes sense. Do you think someone is impersonating? - Yeah, you should probably tie things up with Zelda, probably, right? - Yeah, maybe just check in with Zelda about this Danielle Barkstock thing. - Okay. - Cool. You are here to go talk to Danielle Barkstock. - Well, I was thinking I would go pretend to be scrying and see how she responded. - I think that's smart. - Okay, cool. Yeah. - Go ahead and give me a deception check as you walk up to her as Skrank. - Okay, I have Actor, so I get advantage. Okay, 26. - Cool. You see that Danielle is a lovely, she has a very soft, gentle expression. She's a half-elf, she's got long, kind of dirty, either sandy-brown or darker blonde hair that's tressed with vines and flowers, sort of broad-shouldered, little bit taller, and you see that she's out on the Aguefort grounds talking to her animal companion that is a young gray fox. - But you see that, as you walk up as Skrank, correct? (Emily caws) She says, hey, Skrank, how's it going? - Good, I'm ready to be your lover. (Lou laughs) - What? - Skrank, Skrank, you can't keep saying that. Okay? - But you put out the signs. I thought we had something. - Look, I've never had a boyfriend or had a kiss or anything like that, but you and Ostentatia... (Brennan sighs) It's so stupid. I told her that I liked you and she dated you anyway. Give me an insight check. You can roll with advantage. - 13. - You suspect this is teen drama. - I turn back into Fig. Hey. - Make a dexterity-saving throw. - 10. - You are immediately entangled by vines. Danielle stands over you with a staff. - So so sorry. - This is so wrong! - So so sorry! - You are a bad person! Do you sleep with an adult doctor? At the hospital, that's the rumor. - Okay, look, the rumors are only partially true. I just go and I get my kisses in. That's all. - Gross! - I've never taken it any further. I just, it's companionship-- - You have totally-- - Do you know how hard it is, to be yourself, to think anyone would love me for who you really are? So, yes, do I take some solace in feeling loved as the medical student that I'm not actually? - You walked up to me, impersonating a guy who I'm in a really complex situation with. - It's the only way I know how to interact with people emotionally, is to be someone else. But, yes, I totally, I absolutely betrayed your trust. - Okay, then we're done here. - Okay. I just, look, I'm gonna be straight with you, okay? And this is me, now, as myself. - Yeah, fully restrained by magic vines. - Yeah, uh-huh. But also restrained by my own internal vines that keep me from other people-- - I so don't care! - I'm gonna get to the point. I was worried. Look, we all have our missions, you know we're going to do our spring break missions, I was worried, we were all really surprised that Skrank broke up with Ostentatia. I was worried that maybe you were enchanted and a servant of the Nightmare King. That doesn't justify what I did, I'm not saying that. That doesn't justify what I did, but it does contextualize it, right? - So because of the thing that you're doing that's got nothing to do with me, you thought because my friend got dumped by a guy that I had been mind-controlled by the Nightmare King? - Ostentatia's just kinda out of his league and so are you. So that's why we were very surprised that he would be the center of a love triangle. - Skrank's slept with a lot of people at this school. - Holy shit. What? - Do you not know that? When Skrank was a freshman, he slept with a senior. - And you're on me about having a fictional kissing relationship with a dwarven doctor? - I like Skrank! He's nice. - Okay, okay, okay. Look-- - I liked him before Ostentatia liked him. - Yeah, yeah, that's kinda messed up. I don't know, deepest apologies, here's some VIP passes. - I will take these. - Yeah. - Thank you. - So you can bring anyone you want. Maybe Skrank, right? - Okay, that, all right-- - I'm good now, I'm good. (Brennan laughs) I text the group, "Strong talking to Danielle, "she's gonna back down." (all laughing) - Incredible. That night, you guys are getting ready. You get word from Arthur that your creature will be ready tomorrow morning, in time for you guys to leave bright and early. Do you want to-- - I guess, if there's time, to talk to Zelda, just... - You send a text to Zelda. She peeled off after a little while when you were going and doing your business. You send a text to Zelda, it's not immediately returned. - Do you have read receipts on like a maniac? - I don't think I do. I take off my Skrank costume. - Yeah, let's all go in one by one. - Okay. So, yeah, it's a little bit weird, but you go to bed that night. - Can I throw out one more thing before? I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling a little bit weird about bringing Torak, just because she's a 13 year old and is learning a lot. - Yeah, I could see that 'cause we might get into drugs and stuff and do we really want to-- - We're not gonna do drugs. - I'm open to drugs. - My maid, Cathilda, is pretty badass, she kicks ass. - Oh, 'cause you want to bring your maid on a-- - Oh, what about your mom, can we bring your mom? - What is she like, what is she? - You guys remember Cathilda, Cathilda is the halfling maid who gave you all snacks when you stayed at Seacaster Manor. She also is a whirling Dervish dagger fighter. - Yes! - I'm 100%, I also, I'm not gonna lie, don't want to split that 200 too many ways, like six is already a lot. - Again, if we can maybe bring somebody who has any skills in the outdoors, none of us do. - She is a snack captain-- - No, no, no. - Like number one, I mean, kippers on deck. - Okay, but can she read maps? - Danielle's actually-- - Can she talk to trees? - Danielle's actually clear. I don't know that she wants to hear from me again. - Right, also, she is already in an adventuring party. - We don't know-- - What about your mom? - Can I text Cathilda? - Cathilda or? - Cathilda texts you back right away and says, "Master Fabian, I've spoken with the lady of the house "and Hallariel has seen fit that I "would absolutely be allowed to take the time off." - Hey, you guys, Cathilda is down. - Okay. - I would also like to ask my mom. Mom, hey. I know you just moved in, bad timing but if you wanted to, you know, hang out a little more than we have in the past, would you consider coming along? - Give me a persuasion check with advantage. - Nat 20. - Your mom looks at you and says you wouldn't feel embarrassed going adventuring with your mom? - No, I'd actually feel honored. - She wells up with tears. She says, well, I'll check with Baxter's schedule. I'm in. I would love that. - Cool. I actually should warn you that Gilear's coming. - Oh no! Cool, so give me your guys' three, if you'd be so kind. - So we could take Sandralynn. Wait, does Gilear count as one? - Gilear counts as one of them. - Why are we burning a slot? - You guys also have money, you can pay for more if you want. - Oh, we have a ton of money, let's bring more. - The only reason I thought Torak was good is just because she can heal. Oh, yeah, she's a cleric. - I've got Healing Word. - You do have Healing, I forgot. - And she is rad. - Maybe we just buy Gilear a bunch of potions. - Oh, yeah. - All right, guys, let's call it. What do we want to do? - Gilear. - How is he the top of the list? - Number one. - Gilear. Probably Rog, right? - I kind of want to ask Rog some more, so it might be good to bring her along. - Saralynn? - Sandralynn. - Sandralynn and Cathilda. - And Cathilda. - Oh, and Cathilda. - That sounds good. - We going four. - All four. - So that's everyone but-- - Gilear and then Rog we wouldn't pay but he gets a cut. - Yeah, cool, so you get three hirelings and then you're cutting in Rog. Great, totally fine. - And not-- - Not Torak. - Not Torak. Cool, Sandralynn's great with Sylvan. Sandralynn is a wood elf, speaks Sylvan, is a ranger, great with wilderness stuff. - I want to pledge myself to Jawbone and say if I see any funny business between Gilear and Sandralynn, I'm gonna make sure to put the kabash on it. - I'm poly. - Cool, I'll tell Gilear. - Yeah, I guess if they're gonna fool around, just send me a text. - Okay. - Yeah, I mean, I've been very open with Sandralynn. - Great. - I'm very happy to be monogamous because that's what she's asked for, but that's not how I swing normally. - Okay, well, I won't actively try to "Parent Trap" them is what I'm saying. - Oh, sure. I mean, it's a big house. If Gilear wanted to move in, let's get everyone to move in. Big old family. - All right, great. - Family, see what you find, you know? - You rule, yeah. - Do I get a vote on whether Gilear moves in? (Emily laughs) - You do but I hope that you'd vote with an open heart. (all laughing) Wonderful. You guys all go to sleep that night. I need everyone here, so you're gonna have your creature the next morning. You have the location of Aelwen's prison, where you believe that there is information waiting for you there about the arcane dealings of the Nightmare King and his crown. You also know that Aelwen clearly had information that KBX would have had. She was working side-by-side with Kalvaxis for a long time and the Nightmare King was his lieutenant. - It's a good lead, guys. - You're gonna enter creature tomorrow, you have your hirelings that you're bringing. I need everyone here to roll for me a wisdom-saving throw. Let me know what you get. - Oh, is this from the gold? - Or the house? - 14. - I got a 10. - 17. - 14, 17, what did you get? - 10. - 10. - 12. - 12. - 13. - Five. - Five. - What did you, I mean, does it make any difference? - I rolled a three. - Yeah. - And Riz, are you sleeping that night or do you go back to your office? - I guess I'll go back to my office. - I would like a charisma-saving throw with disadvantage. - Yikes. That would be a three. - And you got what? - Five. - The next morning comes. You awaken in your lovely new oracle's tower. You have a lovely night. You have some strange, you rolled a 10, right? You have some dreams of a choppy ocean and a couple dreams of drowning. - Fabian, what'd you roll again? - 17. - I prep Water-Breathing. - You have dreams of a, not anything too upsetting, but you have dreams of an engine underneath you and being in total darkness with the sensation of falling astride The Hangman into nothingness. - 12. - 12. You are standing in a room with blank sheets of paper trying to draw the face of someone that you know and you can't draw their face. Over and over again. - Oh my god. - 13. - 13. - Gorgug, you're standing on a cliff overlooking a choppy sea, Rog is there. Rog turns to you and looks at you and you see that his eyes are completely covered in blood and it's oozing out of his face and down his cheeks. He looks at you and says are you my dad? - No, but I get it. - Riz, you are up very late working. Fig, you have a dream of glory, fame ever-lasting and you feel, for a moment, a crown being put on your head. Fig and Riz. The rest of you all wake up the following morning to get ready for your adventure. Fig and Riz don't wake up at all. Tune in next week for the continuing adventures of Dimension 20 Live, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year. - Wow. Cool. - I died peacefully in my sleep. - We just spent 10 hours talking about-- - I'm sorry, what? You're not gonna kill them. - Is this because I chose a bubble as my bedroom? - You suffocated in the bubble. - No, the bubble was rad. - Wow.

Channel: Dimension 20

Views: 980,211

Rating: 4.9674234 out of 5

Keywords: Dimension 20, emily axford, zac oyama, ally beardsley, brennan lee mulligan, brian murphy, lou wilson, dimension 20 live, siobhan thompson, reunions, moving, housing, money, games, fantasy, magic, nerds, teens, high school, tabletop rpg, adventures, sequels, investigations, evil, kissing, rock and roll, ghosts

Id: J5D0ij7cv-c

Length: 139min 43sec (8383 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2019