bette oval-badewanne pool

matt: hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight'sepisode of critical role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around, roll dice andplay dungeons & dragons. this week, not in costume, to the joy of all of my players. sowelcome back. we're going to hop in here in a moment, but first, let's get through ourannouncements. first and foremost, this week's sponsor is the continuation of loot crate beingour awesome sponsor. (cheering) matt: thank you so much loot crate. i think weannounced the new theme for this month's loot crate last week, but sam, if you would like togive us a couple of words on our sponsor, please. sam: i am running out of things to say. soinstead, i composed a little song, and i thought

that miss ashley johnson could help me with it. ashley: okay? sam: i'm going to sing a couple of lines, and itwill be very apparent what the rhyming word is, and you chime in with that. little known fact,ashley johnson, beautiful singing voice, she's a soprano. ashley: i am! yes, and? sam: here's a song for loot crate. okay. ashley, ineed you to focus here. it's to the tune of the beverly hillbillies. (singing) well, yeehaw fornerd swag, let's all give a big hoot. you get a pretty crate and they fill it with--

ashley: loot! sam: very good! (singing) with gear and apparelthat'll make you look real cute. you'll even be attractive when your butt makes a-- ashley: toot! sam: very good. (singing) subscribe with the linkthat pops up on your computer. with the dough that you saved, buy some hot wings at-- ashley: hooters! sam: very good. (singing) you'll be all hot andbothered even if you're spayed or neutered. so pull down your skirt, and stick that loot inyour--

ashley: cooter! sam: no! it's in your crate. you put your loot inyour crate. ashley: oh, sorry. sam: that's disgusting. that's disgusting, ashley.jesus! matt: that's really inappropriate. sam: jesus, why would you stick it in yourcooter? ashley: it made all the sense. sam: holy shit! loot in a loot crate. good god! anyway, magiceveryone. sign up and use the exclusive promo

code-- wait a second, there's a new promo code? travis: it's new, yeah. five dollars off lootcrate and loot crate dx if you use promo code chaoticgood. all caps, one word. sam: go check it out guys. i'm done. liam: sam riegel, you are against the law. travis: the code is only good for 48 hours. sam: wait, is that true? travis: it is true. 48 hours only. sam: i should read these before i do the ads.

travis: chaoticgood! matt: thank you, sam; i appreciate it. ashley, youreally need to clean that mouth. ashley: you know, there is only one place to putloot. matt: really, keep it in your crate, guys, highlyrecommended. taliesin, laura, and ashley: keep it in yourcrate. matt: #keepitinyourcrate. so yes. thank you lootcrate for being our awesome sponsor. other announcements: blizzcon this weekend! for thosewho are going to be there, a number of us are going to be there. there are panels friday. who isgoing to be there friday? liam: friday! there.

matt: there you go. me and liam will be therefriday. a number of other of us will be wandering the halls. travis: i will be in the bathrooms. laura: just hanging out. matt: just chilling. just looking to massage folksas they come in? taking tips? travis: ask if they need their hands dried. matt: so look for that at blizzcon. those of uswho have our schedules and have posted them on our twitter, and will probably post it tomorrow aswell, so keep an eye out. hope to see you guys there. also, new gm tips went up today, onyoutube. you guys can check it out; it's every

week wednesday on alpha and then thursday onyoutube. this week's episode deals with trying to get your players to engage more in actualroleplaying, in-character in your sessions. so go ahead and check it out. hopefully it will behelpful for some of you new and old gms out there. and let us know what you think. also, marisha, ifyou want to talk about the new spotify playlists that we have coming up here. marisha: oh yeah! we did those awesome playlistslike a year ago, and if you didn't know, by the way, we did playlists about a year ago, each oneof us, for our characters. you should go and check them out. they are deep somewhere in the geek andsundry website. laura: what's this?

marisha: our spotify playlists. laura: dude, they were so good! marisha: they were really good! laura: and they give really good background intoour characters. marisha: yeah, they actually give a lot ofinsight, if you pay attention. so yeah! go look at our playlists, because we are going to be doing around two, starting next week. because it has been like 50 some odd episodes, and a lot of shit hashappened. travis: mine is just going to be animal noises.(braying) laura: what animal was that?

travis: you wish you knew. check out the playlistto find out! liam: it's just 12 tracks of whale song? (whalesong) (whale songs) liam: (grog impersonation) this is me when i'msad. this is me when i'm happy. travis: he found a tape recorder. matt: it is all sesame street. all the time. allright, well, awesome! keep an eye out for that. starting next week, we will have info available onthe geek & sundry website and our twitter, as soon as that becomes available. anything else thatanyone wants to announce? so glad you could be here with us this week, ashley!

ashley: very spur of the moment. that's it. (laughter) sam: are we going to do this thing at the break?is that happening? what are we going to do? laura: yes! taliesin: oh, that thing. laura: so our critical costumes contest. we areannouncing the winners after the break! liam: after we choose them on the break. laura: no, we have all been looking at them. weall have our personals, but now we have to fight amongst ourselves and duke it out for the winner.

ashley: we need to fight. we are having a realbattle. travis: we have nerf guns. marisha: and jello. taliesin: and sticks! travis: you brought jello? matt: it is going to be fantastic. for the record:you guys are ridiculous! laura: they are amazing! matt: those costume entries, every single one wasamazing! marisha: yes.

taliesin: cats. matt: there were cats in costume! laura: victor cat! matt: i can't even. taliesin: scanlan cat. ashley: can we do one with just animals, sometime?like during the westminster dog show? taliesin: just cats! critical cats! laura: critter critters! matt: we have already lost control. this hasalready gone. we are over it. we have peaked. we

are done. travis: also talks. talks machina will be liveevery tuesday at 7:00pm on alpha. every week, there will be like two to three of us on there,answering questions, giving insight. laura: when does it start? travis: november... all: 15th! travis: it will be on there, and you can find outall of the juicy details, who grog is really in love with. and you can follow @talksmachina on(shouts) twitter! there are so many cool things! there will be gift giveaways and all sorts ofstuff.

marisha: yay. matt: thank you, travis! it's exciting. marisha: it's fun. travis: yeah, it's going to be fun. we are goingto haze brian foster every single week. marisha: oh no, he hazes us, man. taliesin: yeah, it was kind of intense. liam: he's an og d&d player, though, right? likedecades of dungeons & dragons. laura: yeah, he's old school. he's old school. liam: always checking me in my rolls, on mychoices in the game.

laura: he's off-camera laughing at us. liam: who i talk to on any given afternoon. it isall i hear about. i'll do what i want, brian! it's d&d! matt: so you can look forward to more of that ontalks machina. taliesin: d&d: there's no wrong way to play exceptour way. marisha: yeah. matt: indeed. well then, on that note, let's goand bring us onto the happy day-glo lives of vox machina right now, and exandria, as we step intotonight's episode of critical role taliesin: sparkle, sparkle, sparkle, friendship!

[dramatic music] matt: hello, and welcome back. while we were away,we learned much about the anatomy of the basilisk. thank you, liam. liam: welcome! matt: all right. so bringing us into tonight'sepisode. vox machina, in their attempt to take down the chroma conclave, have slain three of thefive dragons. they've made a tentative alliance with a fourth: raishan, the diseased deceiver, inthe hopes of taking down the fifth, and most powerful master of the entire conclave: thordak,the cinder king, who currently resides over the now elementally corrupt city of emon, with theground itself beginning to boil and crack with

fire elemental energy. you all sit withinwhitestone, deciding upon the coming rush to the final battle, considering what allies you have atyour disposal, what locations you want to put this battle in. you've had these conversations. you'verevealed raishan to the rest of your allies within whitestone, and you've previously spoke abouttaking this to fort daxio to the north of emon. and that was where we last left off. as you finishyour conversation with the rest of your current temporary council on the ziggurat beneathwhitestone, you've made the choice of fort daxio as being your next grounds of conflict. what doyou wish to do? sam: you think we finished our conversation,but we have about an hour of more talking to do. marisha: what if we get an airship, and put theziggurat inside of it?

sam: oh, okay! laura and taliesin: what? ashley: i have an idea! laura: we should go to fort daxio then. and talkto them. sam: did we need to send word to all of our alliesthat that is where we are going? has that been done already? marisha: i feel we need to scout the locationfirst? taliesin: let's scout first, let's head there andthen if everything seems copacetic. sam: how do we get there?

taliesin: by airship! laura: by the fabulous keyleth. marisha: let me scry, then we will bamf through atree. sound good? laura: can you scry here though? we are by the orbof death. marisha: no, we have to go. sam: hold on! let me go get pike. marisha: yes! sam: i got her, guys! she's here! ashley: hey! oh man!

travis: oh, pike. good to see you. high five! sam: wow! we almost left without her. ashley: wait, so he said we were going to fortdaxio? laura: yeah. we are totally going to fort daxio. ashley: okay! that sounds-- laura: that's where we are going to amass ourforces. potentially. ashley: i think it is a great idea. on our walk,we talked about it, and i think that it is a really good idea. travis: the monstah has spoken.

sam: now it's unanimous. liam: sure. sam: wait, can she scry? do you need to scry? dowe have scrying things? marisha: i can scry. yeah. i got my scry ball. matt: who are you scrying? marisha: i am-- do we know someone in fort daxio? taliesin: we do! we do. laura: we do? taliesin: because your--

laura: my shit father? taliesin: yeah, your shit father. laura: yeah, he knew somebody there, but i don'tremember who it was. taliesin: oh, shit. hold on. sam: but wait! anyone from like when we were withthe 'fugees? the refugee camp? didn't some of them go to daxio? laura: oh! oh! what about that guy that wasrunning the refugee camp? the leader! bernard, or reginald, or-- marisha: well, reginald is dead.

laura: not reginald. taliesin: most of our friends are dead, let's befair. liam: yeah, we have met a lot of dead people. laura: what was his name? bernard? matt: who are you referring to? laura: the guy who was running the refugee campthat was like a blacksmith, not a blacksmith, but he had stepped up to-- sam: wait! rothfuss? laura: no.

liam: no. i know who you're talking about. laura: yeah. we found his brother? his son? liam: when we left the orc camp, and we headed outinto the snow-- matt: oh! liam: it was close to when we found tyriokwithout an arm. laura: they were heading to fort daxio, weren'tthey? matt: i don't recall if they were heading to fortdaxio. marisha: this was after the goliaths? laura: yeah.

sam: this is the part of the show where we lookthrough our notes. liam: it's d&d! it is a dungeons & dragons game. travis: you guys actually write notes? i just drawpictures. taliesin: they write notes. i draw pictures. liam: i listen to them read their notes. travis: oh, good. ashley: i look over her shoulder and read hernotes. laura: well, they're empty right now. sam: mine are terrible! arbiter brom?

matt: no! sam: tristan the cleric? gern blanston? sam: spireling shenn? travis: orc skull? laura: but you know who i'm talking about. yeah? matt: this will be cornelius. maybe? i'm tryingto-- taliesin: wow! travis and laura: cornelius. sam: oh wait! i got it, i got my page! cornelius!leader of the refugees. he is a bookbinder. drez

vena! magic guy. elowen, the mom. simon, the son.these are people who were in daxio, right? matt: no, these are people who were sent tokymal. sam: shit balls! master quall? matt: also kymal. or westruun. one of the two. marisha: do we not know anybody at fort daxio? matt: no one that you know of. fort daxio-- laura: is allura still here? is allura stillaround? matt: allura is still around. laura: allura, do you know anyone in fort daxio?

matt: "unfortunately, the one member i know is thewarmaster, mikael daxio, the father of riskel. but "as far as i know, he is currently sealed off insyngorn with the rest of the army." laura: right. shit. marisha: okay, hang on, wait. is fort daxio nearsyngorn? laura: no. the army, remember, part of the armygot sent to syngorn, and then syngorn bamfed away. matt: yeah. three of the regiments in fort daxiowere sent to syngorn, with the supposed dragon incursion in the stormcrest mountains. most ofthem went with syngorn when it got pulled back to the feywild, and one regiment still remains atfort daxio. fort daxio is north of emon.

marisha: are there any guards from emon here?because the guards were also the guards from emon went to syngorn. so maybe someone in one of theguards knows one of the guards in fort daxio. laura: this is a lot of work. marisha: yeah. is there an easier way to go aboutthis? matt: you could ask around? marisha: i am going to go and see if i can findone of the whitestone guards. matt: make an investigation check. marisha: oh! i am not good at these. i think thatit's a 12; let me double check my investigation. i don't do this a whole lot. yeah, 12.

matt: okay. you spend the next 30 minutes askingaround for various guards, and the few that you do know that are from emon are like, "i don't reallyknow anyone from daxio. it's very regimented. i "wasn't interested in the military, i wanted tomore sit around the city and get paid to wear armor." marisha: so they're more militant? or like, thearmy? matt: "it is where the military is, yeah." marisha: you don't have any army friends? arethere any army friends here? matt: "i think there are a few here that at leastmight know that, but i am not one of them. sorry." marisha: where? where? point me. matt: (shouting) i don't know! that way!

marisha: (shouting) all right! i go that way! matt: keyleth spends the better part of the nexthour or so without luck, unable to really find anyone to match the description from before. marisha: guys, this sucks! we don't know anyone indaxio! laura: should we just fucking go there? liam: this is like when you're on a level in avideo game, and you run around and around and around. you can't find that thing that triggers tothe next section of the video game. sam: wait, gilmore knows everybody. he must knowsomeone in daxio. laura: i don't know if he knows army people.

liam: well, he knows a lot of people. marisha: all right. if gilmore doesn't knowanybody, then we are going to the nearest location, and then we're hoofing it. sam: kraghammer is near-ish. marisha: all right, let's go talk to gilmore. laura: that's true. matt: okay. as the rest of your council hasessentially scattered throughout whitestone castle since your meeting, gilmore is easy to find,beginning to make his way out of the castle down towards his homestead, and prepare what he has forthe coming struggle. so as you intercept him

walking down the outside, he says: "oh, hi! i'msorry. what did you need?" sam: do you know anyone in fort daxio? please sayyes. matt: (chuckles, sighs) "you know, i believe ihave had a couple of people come through my "establishment." travis: is that what they call it? "come throughmy establishment?" taliesin: yes, that is exactly what they call itwhen you have an establishment. matt: "that is actually exactly what they callit, grog." marisha: i mean, we don't necessarily need to knowanybody if you happen to know a very fast way to get to daxio.

matt: "i mean, there are magics that can get aperson there quickly, but--" laura: are there trees? are there lots of trees?it's grassland. liam: shaun, could you send one of us there? isthat possible by any chance? matt: "let me think." laura: one? why one? liam: because if one of us goes with thegatestone, keyleth can jump over, she can see trees there, she can tree her way back here. imean, i don't know; i'm spitballing. laura: it seems like a really long process-- liam: yeah, all right. where's your great idea?

laura: well, one of us goes there, finds a treeand then bamfs back, and keyleth brings us all over-- sam: no, keyleth can scry on you once you'rethere, and see the tree. laura: fabulous. send one of us over there. marisha: yeah! yeah. matt: he says: "well, i can't. but allura might beable to help with that. ask her?" marisha: all right. back to allura. sam: (sings yakety sax) liam: chickens with our heads cut off, eh? travis: in and out of the doors.

taliesin: like a monty python animation. back andforth. marisha: trip three times. matt: exactly. apparently, gilmore doesn't seemto have access to the type of translocation magic you're asking about. marisha: all right. matt: you eventually find your way to allura inwhitestone castle, who is currently having a conversation with cassandra. she turns back toyou, and as you ask the same question, she responds with a: "i actually do have prepared-- ican bring up to eight other individuals with me." laura: oh! how perfect!

travis: wait, wait. one... somebody else do this. laura: we're good. ashley: i think we're okay. it's just right. marisha: are you fine doing that? matt: "yes. i can only go there, so we have tohave some way of returning, which i believe you "can handle that. all right?" marisha: i can get us back, yeah. matt: "all right. then whenever you are ready, isuppose." laura: great.

liam: now's as good a time as any. yeah. matt: "all right, gather round." she puts her armsout and gestures for you to reach in like a hand circle. ashley: come on grog. sam: are we taking kima? laura: kima! can we take kima? sam: do we want to take kima? matt: "of course! i have to go get her" liam: one too many though, isn't it? laura: no. this is perfect.

liam: i swore she said eight. or eight along withher? matt: "eight along with me." travis: we're just reconning. laura: yeah, it's fine. let's just go. liam: you know, we always take her and leave you.why don't we flip that? matt: "just don't tell her. she gets a bit testywhen she's not included. all right, very well." she takes your hands. some of you close your eyes,some of you don't. that familiar rush of warmth underneath your stomach begins fill-- travis: (fart noise)

matt: your chest cavity... (laughs). grog pootsout the side and it distracts you momentarily, before you watch the ground beneath you; this lineof blue arcane energy begins to link each one of your feet together in a circle. as it does, thesestar-like extensions begin to appear out in the center, and as soon as they all meet into onecrystalline structure, there is a flash of light. your vision goes white, and as it slowly adjuststo the daylight, this light breeze soothing you, you look around and see yourselves now standing inthe othendin pass, which is this large rocky ravine that rides up on each side of you to thesetall, cliff side edges of the very very southwest side of the cliffkeep mountains. this is far northof emon. while you see the ground itself is very cracked land, you can see dry and long deadbushes, you can see bits and pieces of dead trees

that have for a long time been petrified, brokenover or been left without much of an actual fertile ground to exist in. you glance off to theeastern side of your direction, and you can see a very large cluster of reddish-brown trees; aforest there that has long died, or at least is definitely in the fall season type of colorchange. but the vegetation around here is very sparse, very scrub and in some cases very dry anddead. you do see to the immediate northwest of your current location, clinging to the side of themountain cliff, what you assume is fort daxio: a massive stronghold, built of gray and brown stone,an outer wall perimeter that completely surrounds it, buttressed against each side of the cliff, andwithin, you can see a multi-tiered fortress structure within, built specifically for defendingagainst any sort of army siege or incursion.

laura: wow, that is way bigger than i expected itto be. taliesin: that's what i'm talking about. travis: can i check the skies? anything flyingaround? matt: make a perception check. travis: hey! this will go well. three! matt: you begin to look up, and you see a smallbird, and it's really small and it'ss really cute, and your eyes watch it, and you watch itfling off that way. travis: (gasp) pike! ashley: oh lookit.

travis: what? ashley: it's a little-- travis: it's tiny right? ashley: it's so cute. travis: yeah, he chirps i bet. ashley: it's a little thorbilly. travis: can you make thorbilly land on your fingerlike a disney princess? ashley: can i? this is so dumb. yeah, i'm goingto try. sam and taliesin: animal handling check!

matt: i was going to say. make an animal handlingcheck. laura: wow! have we ever rolled this? sam: one! we have done one. taliesin: we have done one? sam: one. i don't remember why, or who did it. laura: oh my god, you've got really good animalhandling! ashley: well, all right! travis: and you rolled a dick. laura: is it a dick?

ashley: it 's a four. okay, nine. marisha: that's kind of a dick. matt: you make three (clunks) clomping plate armor. pikesteps before the bird-- [no audio] matt: into the sky. ashley: it was a baby thorbilly. they're a littlemore shy. travis: yeah, no yeah. he was very scared. travis: it's all right. next time. laura: does it look like anybody's in the fortlooking down at us? are we far enough away?

matt: make a perception check. you're a fewhundred yards away. laura: fucking shit balls. 16. matt: 16. okay. best you can tell, you do see someshapes along the top of the outer battlements; the wall that surrounds the structure. however, fromthis distance, you're not sure if they have seen you yet. laura: all right. liam: best you can tell, it's shit-balls. laura: it's shit-balls up there. just lots ofshit. marisha: what's a shit-ball?

sam: hey, if we walk up to the fort, what's ourcover story? taliesin: no cover story. we tell them who we areand what we're doing here. sam: we're dragon fighters bringing the fight totheir town? laura: we're not bringing the fight here. sam: we are looking to fight here. laura: oh shit, we are. that's the plan, that'smy plan liam: it's not a town. it's-- taliesin: it's a fort. sam: well, whatever it is, i don't think weshould tell them that we're dragon fighters bringing

the fight to their fort. marisha: well, actually, that's a good point.whose fort is this? laura: daxio's, who's in syngorn. no, it is! matt: well, that is the warmaster, who has beenassigned by emon. this is technically where the majority of the military of emon is stationed. marisha: so this is emon's military? notsyngorn's. matt: yeah, this is emon's military. laura: and we have got allura with us; she's onthe council. taliesin: and they are at war as well.

ashley: this is already going well. liam: we're protecting the world. laura: super good. marisha: well, yeah. if this is for emon, then it'sfor emon. taliesin: this is specifically where you wantthings to attack, as opposed to towns. laura: but they might be skittish, so we shouldprobably have a little protection as we go up there. marisha: do we have any idea on who we're talkingto? laura: dudes. i think their commanding officersare in syngorn. for the most part. travis: do we need a white flag as weapproach?

laura: sure. liam: do you want to hold up pike, as we walkcloser? ashley: i can whip my hair. all: (singing) i whip my hair back and forth. iwhip my hair back and forth. matt: yeah, it's 5th-level, you can do that. matt: as you guys begin to approach the outside offort daxio, you can see a number of the figures on the wall beginning to move faster and gathering atedges. you can see one of a few defensive ballistae being locked in. allura begins stepping into thefront, and she puts her hand out and says: "don't "worry, let me do the talking for this."

sam: ooh, okay! matt: as you guys begin to approach the gate, youhear a small horn give off this arrival notification. this: (pathetic horn noise). butdeeper and much cooler sounding than that. liam: (air horn) ashley: (air horn) travis: come on, man! matt and sam: (air horn) matt: because i am not a war horn. marisha: i imagine a kid with a kazoo.

all: (kazoo) taliesin: (deep and cool horn) travis: of all the sounds you could make! matt: fort daxio is very sparsely run right now. sam: all their horns were broken in the war. matt: they left the regiment behind with a smallconch shell that is partially broken. taliesin: piggy's got the conch. laura and ashley: (pathetic horn noise) liam: did we just find your achilles heel?

marisha: horn noises? liam: man of a thousand voices: animals,creatures-- can't do horns. taliesin: and no horns. matt: (deep and cool horn sound) matt: there you go! to make you happy. liam: i don't do horns; they sicken me. matt: that's more hit points on thordak. just keepa tally. all right. as you approach, and begin to gather and allura steps forward, she takes a fewmore steps and then stops, puts her other hand up to give you a signal to hold back. she speaks outacross the expanse: "arcanist allura vysoren,

"member of the tal'dorei council, here with alliesto speak with who resides within. will you allow "us passage?" there's a pause. you hear the soundof the ballista crank being loosened. and then you see the two front gates slightly open.she puts her hands down. "very well, walk with me." laura: they didn't even check us out; just lettingus in. be on your guard. they're too trusting. sam: okay. matt: as you guys approach the gates and begin towalk through, you can see there is about 15 guards stationed above the top that all have cockedcrossbows, that are trained on you guys-- laura: never mind! matt: not directly ready to fire, but cautiouslywatching you as you progress. allura leads

through, leading you guys into the main entryway,and as you walk into this front area, the pseudo-courtyard or central area between the walland the stronghold itself, the same cracked exterior. but you can see there is a trebuchetover there. there are countersiege weaponry. some of it unused for a while and probably in need ofsome level of repair. you do see a number of other armored individuals, and the armor you see on themilitary stationed here is much more than the armors of emon, or any of the local guard that youare used to. these are very heavy, regimented plate, tower shields, you can see spears that arevery nasty looking and very strong in construction. a lot of these almost resemble a lotof the dwarven make you saw in kraghammer before. so whether this is an alliance through kraghammerand emon that came to this, or the design was

borrowed to some extent, a lot of the armor ismore square and bulky than the more refined armor you have seen in more southern areas of thetal'dorei continent. immediately, as you step in, while the guards still have their weapons trainedon you on the other side of the wall, you see ten individuals approaching, armored. you can seethese individuals, their shields are large, heavy tower shields, with a goldish, circular symbol onthe front that has an inlay that's almost like a polished mirror. like, a big old oval mirror aspart of the center shield itself. as these armored individuals approach, one of them in the centerhas her helm off, and seems to be leading this push to greet you at that front. you see a woman, verystern look, dark skinned, very short ebony hair and a very tough, dour expression on her face asshe quickly brushes up towards the front, and as

she steps forward, she slams her shield into theground, and gives a nod as the rest of the soldiers stop. she bows her head, and goes:"allura. we finally have answer from the council. "it's been silence for weeks." allura bows herhead, and says, "well, general, let me introduce "you to our allies here. these are vox machina.they are friends. they are--" and the general breaks once more into the conversation, and says:"that's fine! so you are here with your allies. "any word from mikael? any word from the rest ofthe regiments?" laura: they're in syngorn. matt: "still? in syngorn?" laura: as far as we know.

matt: "all right. well." (sighs) you see thetension that's been building in her since she approached you guys begins to slowly fade with thissense of digesting the difficulty of the situation. there's an awkward pause and allurasays, "can we speak in less--" she looks up at the rest of the battlements, "--less armed circles, ifyou don't mind?" the general looks up and nods. "very well. my apologies. i am general ellegorgofon." laura: elle gorgofon? matt: "elle gorgofon. i am the commander of theaegis regiment and i welcome you, for the time "being, to fort daxio. follow me." she turns on herheel and begins to march at a very brisk pace back towards the stronghold itself. the other soldiersturning around as well. allura gives you all a

head nudge to follow suit. sam: okay! yeah! let's go. this is going great. wehaven't even done anything wrong yet. taliesin: give us time. matt: as you're walking around, keyleth, vex, andvax, looking over the number of soldiers that are here, you have roughly 20 or so you see on the topof the wall, maybe 25 to 30 that occasionally are stepping around the base of it or the interior ofthis main courtyard. for the entirety of the army of emon, the regiment that's here, doesn't seem tobe very busy or very well-- marisha: stocked? matt: staffed. there aren't a lot of people here.this regiment is not extremely large. it looks

like this may be the defensive regiment that wasleft behind to guard the fort, when other regiments are sent out on whatever duties. marisha: you said we saw 40? laura: 50 people. matt: 40 to 50 soldiers on the outskirts of thestronghold. you don't know how many are inside necessarily. travis: it's like the alamo. matt: it's fairly lightly guarded right now. travis: which ended well.

taliesin: it depends on who you ask, really. matt: as you guys enter the stronghold, it'sbeautiful in its construction. it also looks like it's been in some level of disrepair. it'sdefinitely built for function. the furniture and decor on the interior is very simple, verypragmatic. it is made for function more than presentation. you're led through two smallhallways to the right to one central chamber where there are a series of benches and chairs, whateverhas been assembled to the area and pulled to the center area. it would be considered a conversationroom or war room in some circumstances, but it's very haphazardly thrown together. you also donotice that there are a couple of rooms that have a foul stench, and as you glance off to the leftinto the inside, you can see there are piles of

folded dark material. laura: toilet paper. matt: it's your favored terrain. but you guys areled into this main chamber. sam: do we just pass by those things? matt: as you begin to walk by, you glance over andsee it as you go. laura: can we see what it is? it looks like darkfolded material? matt: if you want to stop and look behind, you canhave a closer look. it's a hide-type material. it looks folded, and then as you walk in, you can seeit's actually a series of piled corpses of some sort of leathery creature or creatures that havebeen pushed into an area there.

taliesin: i'm going to take this moment to changeout my attunement for my gloves from my sword. i'm going to put my gloves on and unattune to mysword. matt: okay. laura: general, how many soldiers does this fortsupport? matt: as she enters the chamber ahead of you andturns around and sits in her chair, her shield set to the side. "we currently now, as the aegisregiment, have a grand total of 225 soldiers." sam: pretty good. laura: and how many can be here? matt: "as far as all the regiments?"

matt: "we're looking at, between how many surviveor return from syngorn, close to 2,000." laura: (quietly) all right. sam: so you have 225 here currently? matt: "we do." sam: and how is morale? everyone have enoughsupplies and ready to defend the fort if needed? matt: "to be perfectly honest--" and the doorcloses behind you as two of the guards step in front and watch it as you all find your seats orat least stand in the space. general elle goes, "to be perfectly honest, we are very low onsupplies. any of the trade routes to and from "kraghammer have been constantly harried by wyvernriders. we've had to defend our location a couple

"times by some errant wandering sentinel wyvernriders. it's been-- (sighs) we're on the edge of "starvation." travis: shit. pardon my bluntness, but any flybysby thordak himself? matt: "thankfully, no. he would tear into thisplace in but an instant. we only have bits of "information we've had from few scouts we've sentsouthward. we've had some conversations to and "from emon, but only half of them have evenreturned, and those that have say that it's a very "dire situation, so we've been awaiting any word wecan from mikael-- sorry, from the warmaster-- and "nothing. so as far as i know, and have known, weare on our own and left possibly to die while the "rest of this entire country burns to the ground.so seeing some seemingly friendly faces--" and she

nods towards allura, "--is the best news i've hadin a very long time." laura: in your warmaster's defense, it might bebeyond his control to get back here. taliesin: things are dire. marisha: thordak is changing the entire landscapeto be very similar to the fire plane. laura: and he's stuck in the feywild. matt: "who's stuck in the feywild?" laura: the warmaster, here. matt: "mikael?" laura: yeah, mikael.

marisha: all of syngorn, actually. sam: are we telling them this? laura and taliesin: why not? matt: "well, at least i know that they weren'twiped out, and that's good news. but still, we're "not enough to even attempt an incursion on emon byour own." taliesin: well, that is true, and that is thepurpose for our visit. travis: we may be able to help, though. at leastwhere resources are concerned. taliesin: oh, i would say so. we have to. thatwill be job one. marisha: how is the land around the fort? do youhave any farm land currently?

matt: "what little bit grows here is not of theedible variety. we have to rely on the farmlands "of emon for most of our produce, and those havedried up, so we've been left to hunting and "slaughtering what is available, which is not muchthese days, as we're constantly in battle with the "giants of the north to keep some semblance of foodintake to keep our soldiers fed and living." sam: (quietly) we can help a little with that,right? taliesin: oh, yes. and we'll have to. laura: maybe throw some food through a tree whenwe open it up, just chuck some corn. taliesin: sandwiches! laura: take some spaghetti!

travis: could we load up a cart, though, and wheelit through? sam: well, but can't keyleth make some farmland,right here in the fort? little small garden sort of a thing? marisha: it takes eight hours, but it seems likewe might have to do some field trips anyway. taliesin: the airship will be heading here anyway.we can load it with supplies as well. travis: to here? taliesin: to here. everything will be coming here,if things go the way that we hope they will. travis: general, can i ask, are you close withmikael? matt: "i've been under him for 15 years, yes."

travis: consider yourself friends? matt: "friends?" liam: you're the worst. travis: i mean, it didn't even take a second. notone second. have you no decency? taliesin: i specifically looked left, hoping. matt: (clears throat) laura: sorry. you've been under him for how long? matt: "15 years." laura: 15 years. long time.

travis: pick a fight. pick a fight with thegeneral, then. good. that's good. matt: "allura, are these trusted?" and alluranods. "very. they have a thought. more of a plan. "a plan that if it works should put us in a muchmore advantageous position in the conflict with "the chroma conclave. please, give them your ear.give them your respect. they've proven time and "time again to be capable." marisha: forgive us, we've just been through a lot,elle. taliesin: we've actually already killed three ofthe five chroma conclave. matt: she leans back in her chair. "is thistrue?" marisha: i reach in and i pull out one of theteeth and throw it on the table.

taliesin: you can't just keep giving those away. matt: she catches it in the middle. she gives youa very stern look, and eyeing you over, trying to give you a read and then slowly it goes from groupto group. "well, then perhaps this is our "salvation." throws the tooth back to you. marisha: did you see that? laura: that was a good catch. marisha: thanks, guys. taliesin: before we get ahead of ourselves, ourhope is that we think we can lure thordak out of the city, and we think we can get him into a pieceof terrain that gives us the advantage. we were

hoping this would be where we consolidate ourforces and make a stand against him. matt: "you wish to bring the cinder king here?" sam: not just the cinder king. we would also bringallies to support you and to buffer your forces and hopefully with enough planning time to get youand your men back on their feet, well fed and ready for a fight. laura: we're hoping we'll be able to bring mikaeland syngorn's army back as well. sam: mikael's navy. liam: yes. taliesin: i hate you all. we either face him inhis home, in his terrain, with his guards

everywhere, with people we cannot trusteverywhere, or we lure him out and we bring him somewhere where we know the terrain, where we haveplaces to hide, where we are prepared for him. matt: she nods and leans forward, putting one handover the other and her elbows on the edge of her knees on her chair. "and what makes you think acreature of such power and intelligence would ever "leave such an advantageous position to bevulnerable?" sam: to kill us. we are the bait, and we are alsothe dragon killer. so he will come here to kill us, or to at least investigate our whereabouts, wehope, and when he arrives, we'll wait in ambush. matt: "very well. if you're confident, you havefort daxio and the aegis regiment behind you. i "just hope you know what you're doing."

travis: oh, we do. we've killed, like, a number ofthem and none of us have died yet. laura: not even a little bit. travis: we started with this many, and this manyis still here, is what i mean. sam: i mean, technically, we started the day withthis many, that's for sure. several: yeah. marisha: what's unconsciousness? (nervouslaughter) matt: you can see her expression drop a little bitinto a curled eyebrow of confusion. laura: three down. taliesin: there's no guarantees, but this is thebest bet. this is the best place for us at this

point. i'm sure you understand. there are noguarantees. laura: do you have underground facilities?something that guards against dragon fire? marisha: we noticed a few of the trebuchets whenwe walked in. how many of those do you have? matt: "functional? three." taliesin: we can work on that. marisha: percy? laura: how many non-functional? matt: "12." matt: "very not functional. look, siege warfarehasn't been necessary for a very long time, let

"alone counter-siege. fort daxio hasn't been underattack in close to 200 years." laura: it could happen. when was the last timeancient dragons took over the land? matt: "which is exactly why we don't have anydragon fire-protected subterranean tunnels. my "apologies, but, you know, even our budgets arelimited." taliesin: well, we can get to work. we can getpeople in. we can start making this place ready and we can start making a plan. we have a lot ofpower and a lot of energy at our disposal. travis: yeah, it's a montage waiting to happen. matt: "how soon do you imagine this totranspire?" laura: the montage?

marisha: oh, we can get started right now! matt: "no, i mean, call-- wait, wait, wait!" shewaves her hand and interrupts the montage. "wait, wait, wait, wait." travis: (singing) going to build some tunnels,make them look real cool! sam: it will take us a few days, if not weeks, tosummon all of our allies here, and we'll need to get your forces ready as well. is this somethingthat you can fully support? would you rather fight bravely against a dragon than die a slowstarvation death? matt: "we exist here as protectors of emon and thecouncil of tal'dorei. with the current state of "things, what's left of those things we choose andhave given ourselves to protect, if we can we

"will. so yes." taliesin: well, step one is food, then. travis: yeah, resources and food. marisha: what time is it here? just creatingfarmland all over the world. matt: i'd say it's midday. laura: we need some source of water, too. sam: we have one pitcher of water whenever we needit. travis: yeah, baby! taliesin: actually, they might already have a wellhere.

marisha: yeah, like a well? matt: yeah, it still rains here, and it haswatershed elements that come through the othendin pass from the cliffkeep mountains. it's the groundin this particular valley, like elements of the cliffkeep in the north, it isn't very fertile forany sort of vegetation to take root. taliesin: there's no food you can growunderground, is there? travis: i saw this movie called the martian. if weshit all over everything, it'll grow. yeah, lots of potatoes grow from shit. ashley: maybe if we could make a composting systemfor them. sam: so you can't grow anything right now?

marisha: can i get someone to take me to acourtyard, or something like that? matt: the courtyard is the area between the outerwall and the fortress itself, which is all built into the side of the mountain. marisha: can i do some sort of druidy soil test?ph test, or something like that? matt: make a nature check. marisha: see if i can grow stuff here? with aplant growth spell. just a nature check? 15. matt: 15? i mean, it doesn't take too much for youto find out that the dirt here, the land itself, is very nutrient-devoid. it is a near salt androck land, which is why a lot of it does not facilitate--

marisha: can i not fix that with a plant growthspell? matt: do you have a spell that could fix that? marisha: does plant growth fix that? matt: let's read the spell. taliesin: we have options. sam: for at least a day, i could create a soupkitchen. people could come in and take a bowl and leave. laura: could they have something with veggies,too, though? matt: plant growth affects plants that alreadyexist, as opposed to the actual land itself. marisha: all plants in a half-mile radius--

laura: isn't there something that turns the landfertile? ashley: poop. taliesin: that's like, 5th level. ashley: do you have horses? lots of horses? liam: but i mean, scanlan, until we are ready topull the trigger-- sam: yeah, i mean i could create a soup kitchen,basically. liam: once a day, yeah? sam: sure. yeah. we can have a bread line going inand out. travis: in the meantime, percy could take a lookat some of the weaponry. maybe look at building a

tunnel, or a bunker. sam: general, when's the next feeding time foryour next shift of men? matt: "we've had to relegate it to just morningand afternoon meals to help ration our supplies. "so i would say four hours til dusk, that would bethe next allotted mess time." taliesin: can this actually work? can we use thespell this way? sam: what, the mansion? sure, i think so. right? matt: it's a unique way of utilizing it, but idon't see why not. laura: it's a sizzler. i like it. (phone ringing)

sam: oh, shit! shit balls! i can't-- matt: we talked about this. sam: sorry. i had an alarm to take off my shirt. laura: oh, you did? sam: i have to wear four shirts tonight because ofreasons. travis: really? sam: yeah, it's an anal thing. i've worn 70different shirts on 73 episodes of the show, so if i wear four tonight, that's one for everyepisode. travis: oh my god.

liam: that makes sense. that's time well spent. travis: liam and i will give you a dunking in thebathroom after the break. liam: you'll get a swirly forthwith. liam: are we going to double back to dad? laura: we have to, right? liam: yeah, soon. taliesin: we have to at least send word. that'sthe first thing we have to-- laura: i don't know how we send word to thefeywild without going to the feywild. marisha: i can plane shift us there after we sleepand i learn it the next morning.

liam: now that you've brought us there, do youthink you could get us closer? marisha: i could take us straight there, yeah. travis: percy, what do you think of looking at allthis weaponry? taliesin: i'm going to look at the battalions. seeif i can drudge up some people who actually know how these things function and start seeing howdifficult it would be to get the ones that are broken working. marisha: can i figure out if the ground is sturdyenough if i start digging little bunkers, that would be okay? matt: bunkers for?

marisha: underground bunkers for hiding from aflaming dragon breath. matt: i mean, you could, probably. it's hardpacked, very solid ground. westruun, is where you did it. marisha: westruun. we did the bunkers. laura: didn't we do underground stuff inwhitestone, too, though? marisha: i did a bunker under the sun tree, kindof. taliesin: we do a lot of bunkers. matt: at this point, keyleth almost has aburrowing speed. marisha: it's like that fallout minigame thatthey came out with, the app. basically that.

travis: do we want to crack out the mansion? sam: yeah, sure. i'll crack out the mansion. whereshould i put it, general elle? matt: "i'm not entirely certain as to what you'reattempting to do here." sam: oh, i'm sorry. through magical means. we areall, not to brag, we are all super powerful. we're like a band of traveling superheroes. one of thethings that i can do is make a room or a home, a magical home, where everyone can go in and get aquick meal and then go back out to work again. so with your permission and a location, i can createthis magical dwelling. matt: keeping her eyes trained on you, she leansover towards allura. "i can't tell, is the little "man fucking with me?"

taliesin: he gets that a lot. matt: allura goes, "usually, yes, but no, he'sbeing completely honest right now." "then, by all means, yes." sam: is there a spot where you would like your mento-- matt: "follow me to the mess hall." she seemslegitimately spooked and unsure what to make of you, but leads you on anyway. sam: most women are. matt: but yeah, you can set up in the mess hallentranceway. there is a large hall with long tables and she says that would be probably themost optimal place to go ahead and set up shop there.

marisha: question. matt: yes? marisha: legi-- logi-- (fumbling words) logisticalquestion. that's the word i was looking for. matt: there you go. liam: stuff and things. marisha: stuff and things. things and stuff. theyare low on meat because they're low on animals? matt: most of their food was being brought by thetrade routes. since then, they've had to hunt for food and go off of whatever stock and store theyhad, and even that's running really low. they're hard-pressed to maintain.

marisha: could i do a conjure woodland beings andconjure a bunch of deer? travis: fuck yes. marisha: and then we could play shooting range? laura: do they disappear when they're dead? marisha: oh, right. they disappear. matt: yep. they would watch that meat go (poof).sorry. marisha: oh, that's mean. no, i don't do that, bythe way. i was asking ahead of time, because that would be mean. never mind. travis: also awesome.

matt: this one druid got to level three and thenopened its own hunting emporium and never became an adventurer again. travis: supply for days. matt: yeah! so you're setting up the mess hall.you're checking in to see-- go ahead and make an investigation check, taliesin, if you don't mind. taliesin: ew. seven. matt: seven? asking around over the next couplehours or so, it appears that most anyone who would be a specialist in any sort of siege weaponry waspart of the other regiments that are no longer part of daxio. even so, some of the weaponry thatwas here looks like it was ordered partially just

to get the money in. a lot of the trebuchets thatare functional are very dry-rotted and have seen many rainy winters and haven't really been keptup, and you're not even sure if they'd fire. the ones that have broken down, a lot of the woodrotted. there isn't a lot of weaponry. it looks like the three could be fixed up and befunctional, but the ones that aren't, it would take you weeks with new lumber and new materialsto even get them remotely functional. taliesin: all right, we can make do. we can makedo. i will definitely start making plans for the three that are functional to get them in tip-topworking condition. matt: with successful tinkering checks on this,with a few borrowed hands for manpower, you could probably repair one per day of work. that's a fulleight-hour day of work. so be aware of that.

taliesin: all right. how many more of them weredisheveled and broken? matt: about 12 of them. taliesin: and they each had their own spot? matt: the three that are still semi-functional arepulled back about 60 or so feet from the edge of the walls, and then the rest of them have actuallybeen wheeled over into the corner and have all been jammed up on the edge, unused and not to takeup space. taliesin: okay. that'll start, at least. i'm goingto look for any improvements that can be made in defensive measures against flying creatures in anyway. if we use some stone shape, we can make this even more defendable against flying creatures, etcetera.

travis: general? just because, like, i'm aninquisitive mind, what is the travel time from here to emon on foot, on a beast? those two. matt: "on foot, i'd say it would put you at aboutfive to six days. horseback, straight through "without sleep and running the beast into theground, you could do it in a day." travis: wow. cool. good deal. marisha: are you trying to think of bringing backsupplies? travis: no, i was seeing if i could run there in anight and back. marisha: just to scout it out? travis: no, i'm not fucking running over there.are you crazy? i was just curious.

matt: anything else anyone else is looking to do? marisha: i guess i can start on the undergroundbunker. for tonight, i guess. taliesin: i'll start on one of the-- oh god, mybrain has completely turned to mush. matt: trebuchet? taliesin: trebuchet, thank you. i love the word. matt: go ahead and make a tinkering check. sam: what are you guys going to do? travis: that mess hall-- is there a gatheringquarters for the soldiers? matt: there is a barracks built into thestronghold where many of the soldiers sleep. where

there is a common area, with general tables, cardgames, and things to pass the time. there is a small library, with various books. you get thesense here as you begin to walk around and see the soldiers, since these guys are essentially thedefensive reserve for fort daxio, and daxio doesn't see a lot of military action, it's verymuch a train-and-wait type circumstance. and many of the soldiers, though they have grown a littlegaunt in the face from lack of resources, also appear to be emotionally drained from havingnothing to do. and this constant stressful uncertainty about their future fate has this airof very low morale within the fort. travis: general, please don't take this the wrongway. do you trust your men? matt: "i do. i trust their ability. i trust thatthey've stayed with me in the face of all this

"opposition and believe that my orders andrequests to stay vigilant in the face of such "possible destruction, having been met withcontinued agreeance that they will follow me as "needed to our end." travis: and there are none that you worry about,none that have expressed a lack of confidence, none that you're keeping your eye on? giving you aweird feeling? matt: "none that live." travis: i like that answer. shit. sam: oi, twinsies. laura: oi.

sam: maybe you should fly up, and if thordak'sgoing to attack from the air, see where the spot is that he would attack, like a spot of weaknessfrom above? liam: well, that's not a bad idea. we're thinkingabout tomorrow, though, as well. in the morning, yeah. laura: maybe we should pop into syngorn. liam: could you take the two of us, keyleth? laura: but yeah, we'll fly up. let's do that. matt: all right, so you guys go ahead and coastup, to do what? liam: to see if there's anything of use, see ifthere's anything to be gleaned from a bird's-eye view. laura: because it's on the cliffside, right?

matt: yeah, if you look at the large ravine thatis carved through this portion of the mountain there. from your perspective, looking at the mapdown this way. it is on the western side of the ravine, against the mountain. you guys coast up,looking up. matching the very height of the mountain, the bluff that leads down into the ravineitself, and you can see over the edge the ocean of the ozmit sea that heads off westward. you can seea little bit of the light as the sun comes down to a sunset. you can see it glittering across thewaves in the distance. you can see the little mountain range to the north of emon, peering overthe edge. and you can see a little bit of a dark spot in the very distance, over the horizon thatyou can gather where emon is. you can see it from this high up. even though it is but a small spot.

laura: (sings) from a distance... liam: (shouts) what? laura: (shouts) it looks peaceful up here. liam: (shouts) sure. laura: what are we doing? do we see anythinginteresting? liam: not enjoying the view, i start to look downaround, is there anything? laura: that seems useful, for, like, if we putsomething on the cliffside or something? maybe a hideout, somewhere to hide from view, somethinglike that? liam: is there anything we didn't see coming up?or is it all plain to view?

matt: both of you guys make an investigation. laura: almost awesome. 19. liam: 23. matt: you guys take the next hour or so coastingalong the edge of the mountain range, the top of the ravine itself. laura: is it a mountain? matt: there are, it is a mountain range and theravine itself carves through a portion of it, so the right and left side, yes. liam: at the 59 minute mark i fly over and sit onthe back of my sister's broom

laura: is it favored terrain? matt: is your favored terrain mountains? matt: then yeah, you get advantage on that. laura: 20. matt: but still. you do have the advantage at thetop of these mountains of a wider range of view. it's good for somebody who's expecting anincursion from flying creatures. it'd be a great place to put a scout, as a warning system, shouldanything begin to make its way towards the fort from emon or beyond. there are places where youcould in theory drop things down the edges of the mountain that would use the ravine almost like abowling alley, essentially, large boulders and

rocks. which is a favored tactic of many stonegiants and other giants who use mountain terrain to their advantage. but beyond that, there's noother terrain that you think would, outside of you coming up with a creative use of it, there'snothing that is glaring to you as an advantage in the coming fray. laura: we could put somebody in a hidey-hole uphere. and if they see anything, they drop a stone down to a designated area and let people know. liam: yeah. they could throw out one of thoseflare-like gem-y thingies. ring a bell. laura: oh yeah! we have those. a bell is probablythe best idea. liam: any of those. you want to take us down? thisbroom always rides up my ass when i ride on it.

laura: oh, because your little wings are dead? liam: yes, they are. laura: all right. i'll float us down on myever-flying broom. liam: ow! matt: okay, so you guys descend. laura: i go down pretty slow to make this last alittle bit longer. liam: getting close though, yeah? laura: what? liam: what?

laura: to take out all of this? liam: yeah. liam: kill 'em, or die trying. laura: that's right. matt: both of you guys, make a perception check. laura: oh, that was so close to a one, but itwasn't! 20. liam: 22. matt: 22, okay. as you guys come down-- laura: oh, wait, no! 26! my math was wrong.

matt: that's okay. as you guys come down into thebottom of the ravine you make it down safely into fort daxio to gather with the rest of yourcompadres for the evening. you at this point, by the way, scanlan. you are currently, because youhave to be present to designate anybody who can enter your mansion. you are like the one-personhomeless shelter. you are bringing through soldier after soldier into there. and they all lookconfused, bewildered. and many of them stop and be like, "what's going on?" sam: name on the list? what's your name? matt: (stuttering) "i am--" sam: name?

matt: (stuttering) "are you--? what is--?" sam: listen, man. do you want some food or not?what's your name? i've got a big list here, there's no girl with you. matt: "trevian simtin. please, i'm hungry." sam: do you have a plus one? matt: "i have a plus?" sam: you're in." matt: "all right!" one after another, afteranother. some of them seem genuinely spooked and freaked out by the spiritual servants, andavoiding them as they go on. the smell of food

hits them, though. the ever-smell of chickencooking through does catch them. and they all seem to eventually get past their fear of the servantsas the fantastic meal of relatively neutral flesh is served to them in your dining hall. laura: there's still no veggies, huh? theycould probably use some vegetable nutrition. sam: i'm sure they boil the chicken in like anonion sort of water. laura: do they? or is it like a chicken broth thatthey boil them in? sam: they have the fusaka now. they put a littlebit of that in. spices it up a bit. travis: they've got a 300-year supply. matt: all right, keyleth. explain the bunkeryou're building for me, if you could.

marisha: should i do it on the inside? in thecourtyard, make an underground pod. think fallout. matt: right. is it closer to the wall, or closerto the actual fortress itself, the entrance that leads to the underground pathway? marisha: i imagine closer to the fortress, right?on the inside. laura: deep in there. matt: so you have a gradual decline near thefortress, in the courtyard, that goes underneath. and then mirrors the curvature of the wall? ordoes it travel perpendicular to it and go underneath the wall?

marisha: i imagine we wouldn't want to gounderneath the wall. matt: right, so here's the fortress. with themountain. fortress, and here's the wall around it. you're essentially building it in the samecurvature parallel to the outer wall. matt: okay. so you build this bunker, you take thebetter part of the evening, and probably the next morning or so to complete whatever the spell'smaximum effort is. matt: okay, cool. i need you, with the manpoweryou have, possible with you, taliesin. go ahead and make a tinkering check. this is going to bewith strength. it's very large physical activity. this is less about your intellect or your manualdexterity, this is about tools and having to apply it. you do have advantage because you have othermen helping you with this. but the dc is

relatively high. taliesin: that'll do. 25. matt: 25, okay. while the rest of you arefinishing up your events of the evening and preparing to go to sleep, percy is workingtirelessly into the wee hours of the morning. you finish, probably like two hours after midnight,with the rest of your crew sore, sweaty. but you have one functional trebuchet that looks like itcould handle many, many shots within one battle and still be serviceable. liam: shirtless, covered in soot. marisha: mm-hmm.

sam: he wipes his brow. matt: as he slowly takes his glasses off-- travis: yeah! takes the water skin and just-- matt: all the soldiers are like-- laura: oh, percy! matt: there you go. you guys take your evening torest. the next morning, you find yourselves awake. spells restored. hit points restored. allura comesin and greets all of you. "all right, so! i can "also bring us back to whitestone. i've restoredthe teleportation spell that i had. thus, what do "you wish to do now?"

laura: number one. (whispers) never say"whitestone" in public, ever. taliesin: around us, especially. we could stilldo work here. here's what has to happen now. we need to send word to as many people as possiblethat we are meeting here for the final confrontation. we have to make sure that workcontinues here. and then, if there's time, while our forces assemble and things prepare, we haveseveral things we can do in the meantime. travis: right. keyleth is necessary to get to thefeywild. laura: or allura. marisha: could i theoretically open a tree andsend people in? laura: to the feywild? but how would we get back?

marisha: no, not to the feywild. if we need to seesomeone to-- sam: whitestone? marisha: yeah, or marquet. or wherever. taliesin: we have the stone, as well. travis: so it's going to be keyleth and one of thetwinsies go to the feywild, right? sam: can you do any plane shifting things, pikeypike? ashley: i don't have it prepared. travis: i don't have it? travis: you know, there is that fire elementalplane with the last vestige, eh?

taliesin: we could. that is absolutely on thetable. marish: could we? do we have time for that? sam: sure! taliesin: it's going to take us a week to get thisplace even remotely ready for this confrontation. matt: allura at this point, by the way, says, "aweek? i don't know if we have a week." travis: why? taliesin: what happens in less than a week? matt: "the minute that the information ofvorugal's death finds its way to thordak, what do "you think is going to happen? their vengeance isgoing to fall."

taliesin: it's going to take a few days for thatto happen, to be set in motion. marisha: are you kidding? i don't know. it couldbe any minute now. they've been spying on us this whole time. what makes you think it will take afew days? sam: also, throwing it out there. if you guys goto the feywild, isn't there a chance that you don't come back until a month later or somethingcrazy like that? doesn't time shift weirdly? matt: make an intelligence check. add yourintelligence modifier. sam: oh! 18. matt: 18. and you could technically add-- sam: i did.

matt: you added your d12 to it? sam: oh, no, not my d12. matt: you could use one of your bardicinspirations to inspire yourself, if you wanted to. sam: sure, why not? i'll do that. all right, 22then. matt: having journeyed once to the feywild, andwith the little bit of research you've done since then. there have been people who have been to thefeywild who do speak of some sort of temporal anomaly when traveling to and from. so yes, youare certain that there can be some sort of flexibility as to the time spent there versus thetime that has transpired in the prime material plane. not a sure thing, but there is somevariation to that.

travis: what's life without a little risk? laura: maybe syngorn will have control over that.they can transfer back when they want to. taliesin: let's see what we can do. laura: they have a huge army. travis: and they've got werewolves in theirwoods. laura: i don't know how we'll be able to get wordto them. travis: you howl. matt: allura sneaks in a bit and says, "my onlysuggestion here is make sure that you do the "things that are absolutely necessary for thisbecause we don't know when this is going to kick off."

laura: well, we have to get armies here. matt: "then let's do it." laura: that's what we're trying to do. matt: "all right." sam: well, wait. don't we need to send word toother places as well? how do we do that? travis: yeah, i don't know how to reach my herd. sam: isn't there a big horn you blow orsomething? travis: no, they wander to and fro. sam: you could find them, probably?

laura: they were wandering somewhere specific,though. into the riverlands or something? sam: we can scry and find out where they are andthen send someone as mist-form you, or something, and go catch up with them. laura: we'll spread the fuck out and then thordakwill attack and then none of us will be here! taliesin: stop rolling, that's reallydisconcerting when you sit there and roll at us. marisha: well, how do we know that thordak willeven come here, by the way? he has no reason to come here unless he's deliberately looking for us.which we have no reason to believe that he cares to come find us. sam: quick list, people. quick list! who do weneed to contact, slayer's take?

laura: -ish. yeah. bottom of the list, because idon't think they would-- sam: ravenites? laura: yes. liam: syngorn. sam: syngorn. that's a big one. that's a biggieright there. laura: and that's a biggie because it's also gotthese soldiers. sam: the wolf pack? laura: also there. we can howl. travis: the herd.

sam: the herd. travis: the platinum dragon. laura: bahamut? sam: j'mon sa ord, sort of? -ish? marisha: we've got that thing-- laura: yeah, we've got that whistle. what aboutbahamut's people in vasselheim? matt: that's the platinum sanctuary. laura: yeah, what about the platinum sanctuary? travis: that's what i'm saying.

laura: oh, i thought you were talking about-- travis: no, no. i said the word "platinum." i wasthere. and you robbed me of it. i did it right. laura: sorry, grog. you're so smart! sam: is there anyone else who's pledged theirallegiance to us? any other band of traveling idiots? taliesin: we could ask for help from kraghammer,as well. laura: yeah, it's so close. marisha: i could ask, potentially, my father andthe air ashari. i'd have a hard time asking the fire ashari, there's so few of them.

travis: didn't the werewolves want to leave thefeywild, right? they wanted out. laura: i think so. i don't know. i think they justwanted out of those woods, but-- maybe we could find artagan while we're there. maybe he could popover and we'll have an archfey helping us. marisha: we also have a 2,000 person capacityhere. i mean, we can always push it and make encampments on the outside, but what's our idealnumber we're trying to hit? sam: 2,000. laura: a jillion. as many as we can. liam: it feels like it's a risk, but the most bangfor our buck, our gold piece, is syngorn. there's the most people there.

travis: and as far as we remember, the people ofvasselheim. their general temperament is vasselheim takes care of vasselheim. liam: yeah, that's what it felt like when we werethere. matt: vasselheim and the continuation ofcivilization, and that being the dawn cradle, the city that's existed for as long as civilizationhas, is to be protected at all costs. so while they do and can offer aid occasionally outside ofit, not to the detriment of their own defense. travis: right. laura: is that it? is that everyone? travis: we could go talk to that earthbreakergroon.

sam: where is he? laura: vasselheim. this is a lot of differentplaces in like a day and a half. taliesin: we could write an awful lot of letters. laura: yeah. and hopefully they'll show up likegame of thrones at the last moment. we'll think we're overrun, and then all of a sudden anotherarmy shows up, and it's wonderful! marisha: allura, do you have some way of messagingpeople and sending messages like super quickly? sam: an instant message app? matt: "actually, depending on who it is." taliesin: fassbender?

marisha: fassbender. he's with wilhand. matt: "to be perfectly honest, if it's a creaturethat i'm relatively familiar with, i could send it "to them instantaneously. any distance. across theplanes." sam: how many people per day? marisha: across the planes? matt: "across the planes." sam: how many times could you do that per day? matt: i could probably muster it three times. laura: oh, this is major! this is huge!

liam: allura, did you ever meet with our father inemon? matt: "yes, many times, actually. yes, he was aninteresting individual of the council. especially "back when sir gregory was with us. but they werefriends. yes, i did meet him." taliesin: well, dwell on that one. well, thatwould save us an enormous amount of energy. marisha: that would be great! and me, twoseventh-level spells. matt: sir gregory fence. that was when you firstcame to emon. he's the gentleman who was part of the council. you were hired by their father to goand inspect because he went missing. laura: remember demons in the succubus' house? marisha: it'll take me a 7th-level spell to getthere, and then i'll have to burn my 8th-level

spell to get back. laura: well let's send word to them. then save usthe talk. matt: "all right, so. you require word to yourfather?" matt: "who else?" sam: who's next on the list? marisha: bigger allies. sam: the ravenites? the herd. what about theherd? marisha: i don't think she knows anyone. sam: well, we can describe them?

laura: it's got to be somebody she knows. matt: "i have to have met them." sam: kraghammer? laura: have you ever met somebody in charge inkraghammer? matt: "i have a number of individuals i've metthere, yes. i cannot guarantee they'll be eager to "jump into this fray. i can try." taliesin: that's possible, let's put that on thepossible list. sam: what about that town that we saved fromdissolution? taliesin: westruun, they have the--

marisha: westruun was decimated. taliesin: they have fassbender, they could send asoldier with the fassbender. laura: yeah, they have fassbender. sam: the air ashari? do we need to talk to any ofthem? you could do that. marisha: theoretically. sam: the ravenites? you don't know any ravenites,do you? marisha: i was going to say, what about tooma?who's the dragonborn in vasselheim? liam: tofor! marisha: tofor!

laura: wow, nice pull! marisha: do you know tofor? matt: "tofor? yes. tofor's in emon right now. " travis: she is? laura: yeah, she is. matt: tofor is a member of the tal'dorei council.she's one of the council members, one of the survivors who is currently working with--apparently, from what you've heard-- laura: the clasp. marisha: is the person at the slayer's takevanessa?

sam: vanessa, from the slayer's take, do you knowher, allura? matt: "i've not met vanessa, no." laura: well, who do you know that's reallypowerful, that also maybe has an army that could help us? anyone you know that we don't? matt: "i think we've tapped out most of ourresources at this point! i've reached out to "members of the arcana pansophical, but many of themhave their own issues to deal with." laura: they're dicks, aren't they? matt: "no, they're just busy." laura: oh, that one guy we met, he was a realdick, though.

sam: any underdark-y type people? do they likeus? liam: long, white hair. laura: purple eyes. he was in marquet. is thatwhat we're thinking of? am i thinking of a different place? matt: "i don't know if he's a member of thearcana pansophical." laura: just kidding! sam: let's start with syngorn and then see how itworks, all right? marisha: have you ever met my father, korren ofthe air ashari? matt: "i've had no correspondence from the airashari. my apologies. i'm doing what i can."

marisha: yeah, no, you're great. taliesin: you've saved us a trip to the feywildand back. send word that if they can contact the werewolves, the werewolves owe us a favor, isuppose. not that they would help with that. matt: "if that's the information you need sent,that would require me to make two messages. just "to cover both those bases. to their father--" sam: let's just get the father. matt: "what was his name again?" liam: syldor. matt: "syldor. syldor, right. two messages, togather the army of emon. and syngorn, to return

"and head towards fort daxio." laura: yes, if they could get pop syngorn over tofort daxio, that'd be killer. matt: "i don't know if that's how the magic works,but i'll put a message in there for that and to "look for werewolves." taliesin: as part of the message, that if there'sa pack with the werewolves--- sam: is that vital? should we care about that? travis: he fucked some shit up. sam: all right, sure. yeah. why not? secondmessage: bring-- what was his name? travis: spike!

sam: indala. liam: michael j. fox. travis: ukurat. laura and marisha: ukurat! matt: "all right. and i'll enquire about bringingukurat and the werewolves. all right! i've got "some messaging to do." taliesin: and when you're back in whitestone, sendthe airship our way loaded with food and supplies if you can. matt: "very well."

laura: tell them to be on guard! sam: put kima on there, too? taliesin: and anybody who wishes to come fight. travis: kash, kima. laura: on the airship? or send them through atree. sam: or zahra! liam: when you write to our father, will you tellhim his children need him? travis: gross! matt: "i can do that, yes."

laura: i don't know if that will help at all. matt: "i'll call for kima, i'll bring our allieswith us. either me or shaun have to stay behind to "maintain the illusion, so your choice." sam: shaun. travis: yeah. matt: "all right, so shaun will stay behind--" sam: wait. taliesin: yes. sam: that's certain death.

taliesin: staying in whitestone is the exactopposite of certain death. laura: he's protecting everyone. matt: "our purpose is to stay to make sure thatthey do not see whitestone." taliesin: that is the opposite of certain death. matt: "all right, i'll get these messages off." laura: oh my god is this happening right now? matt: she takes two steps back and puts onefinger in the air, and as it curls her eyes glaze over with crackling blue energy. and you watch hertongue click across her mouth like she's speaking quietly to herself. her eyes come back. "allright, i've notified your father, syldor." once

again her eyes glaze over with crackling blueenergy. her fingers trace in the air, and it looks like she's speaking-- sam: quick, everyone hide when she's doing this!so when she comes back, we'll all be-- travis: yes. laura: she goes back we're like-- liam: it's like she's putting on a vr helmet. matt: "all right." her eyes return. "both messageshave been delivered to your father. who else "should require a message?" sam: you don't know anyone else on our list, doyou? the slayer's take, you don't know.

laura: it might be smart to send one to warmastermikael as well. i know he's in syngorn as well, but it might be good to have a couple of peoplethere bringing word. liam: that's not a bad idea. matt: "i can do that." with that, once again theenergy crackles and you can see she's trying to find the location of someone's presence. it hits,and she begins to speak quietly to herself. finishes. "very well! the army's been notified." sam: just one more message! matt: let me see if she can. sam: but wait, what about the clasp or something?

matt: nope! that is all that she can do. actually,no. she can cast at a higher level, so she can do more. sam: the clasp? do they like us or hate us? laura: they hate us, but-- taliesin: i think that the clasp are going to befar more useful once they figure out the dragon has left the city. and i don't even think theynecessarily need to be notified of such a thing. laura: if the dragon leaves the city. sam: all right, then we're good for now. we justkeep buffeting up this place? do we have to plan an ambush? how does this work? travis: we go in. emon, right now. full ball.

sam: all right. you and me. travis: full blush. taliesin: we could go to the fire plane reallyquickly. liam: we're hoping to tempt him here. taliesin: yes. travis: why are you so anxious to go to the fireplane all of a sudden? taliesin: there's an object. it's from the fireplane. we are facing a fire dragon, which means it's something unbelievably useful or not usefulat all. we need ice weapons, we need cold weapons, and we don't have any.

marisha: and you think that we're going to findthose in the fire plane? taliesin: either that or in that ship that we leftbehind. matt: you have knowledge of dragons quite well,actually, vex. you do know that red dragons are not vulnerable to cold, by any means. they're justresistant to fire. laura: they're just resistant to fire. taliesin: so it doesn't matter, then. laura: are they vulnerable to anything that i knowof? travis: insults, cheese. ashley: love.

marisha: peanuts. travis: bruised bananas. matt: (laughs) bruised bananas. travis: hey, pike! did you know that we have allthe vestiges except for the one in the fire plane, and you'll never guess what it is. ashley: what is it? travis: what is it? i forgot. sam: some plate armor? travis: it's some plate armor!

laura: of the dawn martyr. ashley: what?! laura: which might be clutch for you. ashley: that might be a long-- i don't know.allura was saying we don't have time-- sam: one day! what's one day? marisha: you don't know if it's going to be oneday. sam: well, when we get there we'll find out! ifit's taking too long, we'll pop back! these messages are going to take a while to deliver. marisha: i'm not like a wonka-vator, man!

laura: we'd have to spend the night there. ashley: that makes me a little nervous. sam: all right, one night. they've all eatentoday. we're fine. matt: as far as you know, no there is novulnerability-- laura: fuck, really? matt: just fine with fire. travis: just pure death and destruction. taliesin: well, at least that's a bonus in thatmeans that anything will work as well as anything else. travis: that's true.

laura: right. liam: can we go back to the plan about how weintend to get thordak here? we were playing with the idea of fooling thordak into thinking thatraishan had been killed. taliesin: raishan was going to feed him theinformation that he thought that we were here, and then vanish. liam: and that's it? we think that's going topull him out? taliesin: i think raishan will be clever enough togive him just enough to get him here. liam: do you think raishan would be willing to letus hack off a little bit of flesh to send? laura: you'd have to ask raishan.

taliesin: you'd have to ask raishan. she might bewilling to let me do such a thing. travis: did we establish a way to contact her? marisha: we have no way to contact her. sam: no wait! didn't we send her on a mission? travis: oh, we did! she was checking on-- sam: she was going to bring us back some dude. andwe're not even there! laura: oh, fuck! asum was going to come back! sam: to not where we are right now! laura: fuck.

travis: it was two things. it was asoon and... liam: asoon? travis: bassoon, whatever. and what was the otherthing? laura: some other guy. was it some other guy? travis: oh, shit nails! sam: the last time we talked to raishan she said,"all right. i'll be back in a day." and then we got out of there. laura: well it's still a day. it hasn't been a dayyet. we haven't spent the night here yet. sam: yeah, no. we haven't spent the night yet.

travis: oh she was going to emon to hold up thebluff that everything was cool was thordak, right? she was going to bluff, and then she was alsogoing to try to bring back seeker asum. taliesin: it's all right. we can head home fromhere. someone has got to go home. laura: somebody's got to go. marisha: some of us can go, and some of us canstay. laura: well, all right. sam: all right, i'll go talk to raishan. liam: and you can't leave because you're building,or can you go? taliesin: i can leave, we've got one working. if istay, i'll have two working. if i stay longer,

i'll have three working. but i'll go where we'remost useful. ashley: but you want a chunk of her? or like, alittle piece of her? liam: something, like a claw or something to dropat thordak's feet. it'll help with the bluff. marisha: what makes you think that he would leadthe charge to come find us? in his eyes he could just send one of his peons to come smash us. travis: thordak? taliesin: he's sent all of his dragons andnothing's worked. laura: that's the goal. we kill the peons, andthen he comes. taliesin: and the more he sends, the more wekill.

travis: what if we go mess up something on theedge of emon, and then we're like, "yeah! fuck you!" and then we take off. or like bamf back. taliesin: i don't believe he'll suffer that muchindignity. marisha: if we tell thordak where we are he'llprobably come with that wyvern army that almost took out whitestone, correct? laura: that's why we need to have a lot of peoplehere. to fight them. travis: yeah, to balance that out. taliesin: and that also means that the clasp willhave an opportunity to take back the city. marisha: while he's gone?

taliesin: if he leaves with his army, yes. if heleaves his army to actually manage the city-- laura: that's what we talked about. taliesin: either way, it's stretching him thin. travis: is it a bit of a practice round if we goto the fire plane? let's say we get there and it's a total shit show, right? nothing but deathwaiting for us. we change our mind, we leave. but at least we see where thordak's been all thistime. marisha: and the other thing that we could gleanfrom the fire realm is possibly figuring out a little bit more about the connection he had withit and to the heart stone, ember seed thing? laura: all right. allura, can you send a messageto gilmore, or cassandra, or kima even? maybe just

those three. they're the only ones who know aboutraishan. let them know that raishan is bringing back asum. taliesin: they were there. laura: i know, but just to make sure everything'sfine with that. sam: and then we're going to the fire plane? travis: yeah. just give it a look-see. sam: just pop on down for a bit to the basement. travis: yeah! i've got a timeshare there. it willbe killer. marisha: i'd like to bring raishan with us to thefire plane.

sam: no fucking way. laura: no. what are we going to do? she's notgoing to come. taliesin: she's not going to come to the fireplane. marisha: she knows it better than anybody else. taliesin: she's not going to come to the fireplane. but you're right, she does. if i were her i wouldn't come. laura: would you want to go, allura? matt: "what, to the fire plane? i mean, i can. myskills are probably better used elsewhere. but "whatever you think is wisest."

taliesin: we need agents on the ground right now. travis: true. taliesin: things need to move forward here. laura: okay, then you stay here and keep runningthings. taliesin: if opportunities present themselves tobring more people here or to gather more allies, take them. sam: let's pop on down! marisha: my gosh, you guys, the dawn martyr is inthe city of brass. which i'm pretty sure is overrun with fire elementals.

travis: it's just a "myth," though, right? andthat was probably written a long time ago which means shit could have totally changed. sam: plus now we have a lot of money. we can buyour way through the fire plane. taliesin: that works. laura: is this stupid? are we going to die in thefire plane? liam: i think it's a bad idea. i don't think wehave time. travis: never tell me the odds! laura: but there's a vestige there for pike. marisha: i mean, we can go. we can hit the fireashari first and see if cerkonos is there and

maybe see if cerkonos wants to help us out? liam: if we're all alive in two weeks i'd be happyto go and get armor for pike, but there's dragons on top of our backs right now. marisha: allura, you're certain as soon as hefinds out about vorugal's death that he's going to seek retribution? matt: "i'm not certain, but as soon as he foundout about umbrasyl's, that's when he sent things "looking for us near whitestone. that was whenvorugal and the rest of the armies swept through. "that was two days after umbrasyl's fall." liam: we've also totally spilled our spaghettiwith raishan. she's not going to wait, she's going

to push things forward. i don't think we havetime. travis: all right, vax. do you have a suggestionin place, then? liam: i think that we talk to raishan. these twochuckle-heads convince her to let us take a pound of her flesh, or ten. somehow dump it insultinglyat thordak's feet and brace for the worst. travis: i'm okay with that, but how do we get intouch with her? sam: we can get in touch with her when she goesback to the place that shall not be named. but all of that is going to take days. and we can't dothat until the armies have arrived here in fort daxio, which could take another few days. i don'tknow where syngorn lands when it comes back to this plane. i assume it's not next door. they'regoing to take days to get here.

laura: the thing is, thordak's going to send outlook-sees like he did over whitestone, as soon as he finds out umbrasyl is dead. it doesn't meanhe'll launch an attack, because where is he going to attack? he doesn't know where we are. sam: yeah! and if he's searching for us, whatbetter place to be than on a different plane? travis: let's go to a different plane. marisha: do you think he went to the place whichshall not be named because raishan tipped him off that we were there? travis and taliesin: no. marisha: why did he go to the place that shall notbe named, then? why did he look there?

travis: vorugal? taliesin: it was a place to be looked at. and theyflew over and didn't see it. marisha: you think they were just scanning? taliesin: i do. sam: all in favor of the fire plane, say "aye." sam and travis: aye! sam: that was only two! wow, that's pretty rough. travis: no, that was four. they're pansies andwon't say anything with their voice. ashley: i don't know.

sam: all in favor of staying say, "cooter." taliesin: that's not fair. sam: two to one. travis: let's go! even if it sucks, we can justcome right back. laura: we just bamf right back! marisha: we can always come back. and i would liketo maybe see if we could find out more about the ember seed. fire plane! liam: i mean there's nothing else we can do today,is there? travis: right. no.

sam: feed more soldiers. taliesin: supplies are on the way. soldiers are onthe way. travis: cows eat hay. taliesin: do what you can-- cows eat hay, neigh neigh.hey! so we say. liam: gather ye rosebuds, while ye may. voxmachina is dying. laura: if you hear back from anyone in syngorn oranyone anywhere, will you send us a message? matt: "yes, and i will notify the general of theseplans before i head on that way. very well. good luck." laura: pretend like we were never here. let themknow. pretend like we were never here. matt: "understood."

matt: "stay safe, friends." she turns and leavesthe room. laura: we are so stupid. this is going to be fun. taliesin: yes! i love it. travis: do we hold hands again? marisha: oh boy! laura: no, it's a tree stride. marisha: nope, well, okay. if we are-- liam and sam: plane shift. marisha: hang on, do we want to stop off at thefire ashari, and pick up cerkonos? i think it's

not a bad idea. sam: no. marisha: we are not going to bring along ourally who knows the fire plane better than anyone alive? laura: no, i think we should. because they werethere. liam: yeah, and you said we can instantaneouslyjump over, grab him, and shift-- marisha: once i tree stride we can, there's thatportal there, and we can go through the portal. travis: yeah, yeah. i am a big fan of the tourguide. marisha: the tour guide. all right. we're going totree stride to the fire ashari. matt: all right. most of the trees near or withinthe courtyard of the fort are thin, and maybe like

a foot to a half a foot wide, and-- ashley: get skinny, get skinny! matt: you did see that cluster of brownish-redforest canopy across the ravine. but that's the only real-- marisha: across the ravine? matt: yeah, on the opposite side. travis: let's hoof it. i need to stretch my legsanyway. marisha: well, how big was the ravine, likecrossing the grand canyon? sam: how long to get there?

matt: it's about a third of the width of the grandcanyon, maybe? it's a big ravine. laura: can you plane shift us over to the ashari?it has to be to another plane. marisha: it has to be to another plane. liam: scanlan, can you turn us into a bunch ofhummingbirds, or something? sam: i can turn a couple of us into some things. laura: just something little? so that we can popto the tree? sam: you two can fly, right? matt: it would take you a handful of hours to walkto this. laura: oh, yeah. so let's fucking do it.

travis: told you. matt: at a brisk pace on foot you'll get there inthree hours. travis: i put pike on my shoulders because i'mgetting ready for my rocky training montage. taliesin: we'll get as many of us on the carpet aspossible. marisha: (groans) rip the carpet. taliesin: you should feel bad! liam: i should feel bad? matt: all right. you guys eventually make your wayto the outside of the forest here in the othendin pass. you can see, it's a living forest. but thetrees themselves, it looks like there was a

waterfall that actually breaks down off the top ofthe cliff that comes down and forms a small pool. most of it's dried up, but the ground here isdamp. and the forest does seem to exist in this climate. however, a lot of the leaves have turnedand they're hitting the delayed end of winter, a few months after the winter's crest festival. youfind a number of trees that are perfectly serviceable for your spellcasting. you guys waitas keyleth completes her ritual. you can see the tree suddenly shifts open on the opposite end. youcan see the caldera itself, where the pyrah ashari exist on the top of this mountainous volcano. youall step through and find yourself now on the cracked, dark, ashen ground landscape amongst thevarious rock-like structures that house their people. you can see the cinder grove in thedistance. nowhere near as tumultuous as the last

time you encountered it. and you now stand amongstthe remaining pyrah. you do now see the survivors that you met earlier, and a few other survivorsthat previously had not been found have gathered. and whereas previously you only thought maybe alittle over 20 existed, it looks like maybe there's a good 50 or 60 that actually arebeginning to rebuild the fire ashari. taliesin: we're going to blow it up again, woo!table flip! laura: look at that! keyleth! there's so many morepeople than you thought! marisha: there's still kids! matt: like two. marisha: like two kids! one of those days theymight grow up.

taliesin: we're going to take like, 20 of them tothe fight. and they'll be fine. marisha: (nervous laughter) come on, kids! have asword! liam: that's a big "if." matt: it doesn't take you long to find cerkonos,who at this point in time has regrown his arm. marisha: yeah, i knew he'd be all right. matt: he approaches now, his darkened skintattooed, his long hair past his shoulders. he approaches with an expression of surprise and mildconfusion. "it is good to to see all of you. i "ask, what brings you to the doorstep of the pyrahashari?" marisha: cerkonos, thordak has taken over emon.and in the time that he has broken out of the fire

plane, it seems there is a certain magic that isallowing him to essentially turn emon into a second fire plane. we believe he still has somesort of connection here based on the binding magic that was used on him in the past. something calledan ember seed. have you heard of this? matt: "this does not stir my memory reserves. i'msorry." marisha: do you remember if raishan, when she wasmoving in and out of the fire plane, do you remember her mentioning anything about it? oranything suspicious about wanting to learn about the connection to the fire plane? matt: "there were inquiries, yes. i was surprisedby one so young seemingly to be so interested in "the inner and outer planes and their interactions.she found much of her time in solace in the cinder

"grove. she was not quick to pick up the druidicmagics, but her research was in depth. she spoke "with many elders, myself included." marisha: where is the cinder grove? did we passthrough the cinder grove? matt: the cinder grove is in the center of thecaldera. that's the petrified forest that is surrounding where the actual tear in the boundaryis. where the fire ashari hold vigil. laura: wasn't the ember seed connected to the--didn't we knock down some pillars when we came to the fire plane the last time? isn't that part ofthe reason his hold was broken? marisha: it was opened more. the portal got weakwhen it was around the solstice. laura: right. but remember, we were here foryour--

marisha: we fought cerkonos, who was essentially agiant elemental. i don't remember us breaking anything. matt: no, when you first came here it was part ofyour aramente, and you guys just passed through the tear. and you battled cerkonos and the otherdruids in elemental form as part of a test. there was some stones on the other side but there wasnothing-- laura: okay, maybe you just thought that and werefreaking out a bit. marisha: yeah, i got a little panicky at onepoint. yeah. thordak was connected by the soul gem. and we know he busted through. you know the fireplane better than anyone. we are also looking for the plate of dawnmartyr in the city of brass.

matt: when you say the city of brass, you watchhis demeanor change. his arms cross, and he leans back into himself. "that is not a place for theashari. it is a place of tyranny and greed. it is "a unique mix of those who exist there, and if youare intent on going, i am happy to escort you, but "it is a different experience than we are used to,and perhaps yourself as well." laura: is it a large city? matt: "it is quite big, yes." taliesin: this is the direst of situations.extreme measures must be taken. matt: "the choice is yours. you have come thisfar." marisha: how long is the journey to the city ofbrass?

matt: "from the tear, it is about three days' foottravel." your plane shift spell can bring you directly to a location as long as you're aware ofit. marisha: right. sam: we can go right there. be right in the centerof the city. land right in main street, next to the reebok store. liam: i have a sweater. i've hidden it inmanhattan. go find it. matt: yeah. travis: let's do it. laura: it feels like it's going to be reallyhard.

travis: i mean, everything we do is, right? i meanevery time we've faced a dragon, we go find another vestige. it feels like the rhythm is right onthis. let's go! marisha: here's the worst-case scenario though.we're gone, we come back, thordak has obliterated everything, including fort daxio. sam: yeah, but good news. we're still alive. travis: we're alive! high-five, scanlan! taliesin: the stones don't work across planes, dothey? liam: the gatestones? no. taliesin: but allura's ability to send messagesdoes.

matt: this is true. from what she said, yes. taliesin: so if things start going very haywire,we can let her know that she is to call us immediately and we will drop what we're doing. sam: she could probably figure that out on herown. laura: yeah, whatever we're doing. even if we'rein the middle of fighting some really big fire elementals we just-- taliesin: plane shift. liam: of course, we'd have to get a message to herto tell her that. sam: she would probably figure that out.

travis: yeah, she'll figure it out. and we'vegot an amazing tour guide. it's set up for us. can't fail. 0% apr. liam: you big lovable lug. i still think it's avery bad idea. i'll go if you all want to go. matt: cerkonos turns to you, grog, and says, "i donot mean to be misunderstanding. i will take you "to the city, but i will not enter it." travis: yeah. i'm good with that. i mean you'lltake us there, right? you'll give us a couple of warnings, maybe point at something if it'sterrible, and then you've got to go because it's going to mess with you? matt: "i am of no use in that city."

travis: now why is that, like you've got feelingsabout it? or you're afraid of it? or you'll be powerless there? matt: "most of all of that." travis: powerless? matt: "there are many powerful entities that existin the city. i am not a man for cultured places." travis: you've been before? matt: "i've been near." sam: let's just pop in, pop out, guys. what couldgo wrong? taliesin: we're gathering forces at fort daxio tofight this dragon. and if you can lend any of your

power, or have any power you can send, we'd beforever grateful. marisha: do you think you could reach out tokorren? matt: "i could. how soon?" taliesin: soon. that is where we will headimmediately when we are done here. matt: "all right. then i will lead you, if youchoose to go to this city. and then i will call "for your father, we will send what we canspare." marisha: well, if you don't want to go inside, ican plane shift us there. we don't necessarily need you, i guess? i mean, we need you, but i'mwondering if you'd be better here. matt: "no offense taken. if you wish to continueyour journey, i can go and try and round up the

"ashari that can fight." sam: let's do that. marisha: do you know anything of where thordak washeld? matt: "i did not know thordak existed until hetore through our people. so unfortunately not." marisha: is there anyone here left that raishanspoke to the most? a confidant? someone who might have been aiding her? matt: "it's hard to tell. many who were near thosediscussions were slain, i'm sorry." marisha: well, that's fair. travis: we're good.

laura: scanlan, will you be able to do the mansioninside of the fire plane? or did you already use it-- sam: sure, right? i can do my magic wherever. ihave no idea, i've never been to the fire plane. laura: no, i mean, but did you already use ittoday? sam: no, i used it yesterday. matt: correct, you would still have the ability touse it today. taliesin: all right. i think we've done anenormous amount towards getting prepared for this. laura: does everything over there fight withfire? matt: "not everything. but many things there havefire by nature. or at least, the ability to live "among it. there are many parts of the fire planethat you should not traverse. it would destroy you

"immediately." laura: the city of brass sucks, but we'll be okaygoing there, ish? matt: "it's one of the few places that can supporta city, so yes." liam: kind of hot? matt: "it is very hot there. the longer you stay,the more difficult it is for such frail beings as "us to exist." travis: speak for yourself. laura: in and out. travis: pull the trigger, travel agent.

marisha: let's do this shit. matt: "stay safe. i will see you soon at this fortdaxio." laura: thank you so much. sam: this was a worthwhile trip already. liam: i'm setting my armor to fire resistance. ashley: is there anything else we need to know, tobe safe, to look out for while we're there? matt: "nothing which you haven't already seen.just know there are many denizens there that enjoy "the tyranny, so be careful. don't start anywars." laura: can i say while this whole talk's been going on,that i've been unattuning my coldsnap armor and

reattuning my bracers of archery? matt: sure. it will take you guys a short rest todo all that. plus, with your reattune there. you guys take a short rest while cerkonos takes acouple of the other nearby pyrah with him and they head off towards the cinder grove. presumably, tocommunicate with your father. marisha: cool. laura: can i ask you a question? matt: yes. laura: if i have two bows that are awesome, andi'm attuned to both of them, how easy is it to switch in a battle?

matt: if you have two bows that are attuned toyou? laura: yeah. if i chose to attune to the skysentinel and fenthras instead of the bracers? matt: i mean, it's possible. but the idea ofhaving one wielded and one on your back, pulling it out. you're not proficient and fast inbow-drawing. laura: it'd be an action to switch them out in abattle? matt: maybe. probably. you could drop one, butthen pulling the other one out, getting it around you, arrow out. it would probably take you anaction. laura: cool. sam: let's just go, man.

travis: yeah, i'm standing there with my eyesclosed and my hands out. laura: hey! that all happened in a millisecond. iwas considering things in my brain. travis: i'm showing my willingness to go. marisha: let's go. city of brass, yo. matt: all right. so focusing on the city of brass.you all gather hands. as keyleth concentrates, you feel the already warm air of the cauldron of thisvolcanic mountain. you feel a blast of heat surround you, this whirlwind of hot air thatcauses your eyes to close instinctually. you feel the edges of your skin, the hairs begin to curl.your brows begin to singe. as you close your eyes instinctually, you open them again. and lookingaround you see a familiar broken landscape of

shattered stone rock, reddish and iron-like incoloration. you see various stone obelisks that are jutting out of the ground from broken and atsome points seismic earth that had been pushed up from underneath where gouts of flame occasionallyspill out and burst into the sky. the air itself carries a sulfuric and ionized scent to it. youcan see darkened clouds of smoke and soot that slowly shift in the distance. way off towards thehorizon, almost the equivalent of a darkened storm in the distance, except it's a sheet of roaringfire. just taking up an entire quarter of the skyline, miles and miles away from you. you don'tknow if it's coming closer or further away, but it's frightening. as you glance over yourshoulder, you see behind you a glimmer of whatever source of light this land takes into itselfreflecting off of dozens upon dozens of reflective

metallic buildings and towers and domes. and onelarge, dark metal wall that surrounds the exterior. you see upon this, what you assume to bethe city of brass. and that's where we're going to go ahead and take a break. travis and marisha: shit. matt: be right back here in a few minutes! laura: oh, right! with the announcement of ourwinners! matt: it might be a little bit of a longer break,we'll be back here shortly, guys. be patient, see you in a minute. [break]

matt: welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. beforewe get into the game, we're going to go ahead and announce our winners for the critical costumescontest we ran! matt: once again, every costume put out therewas fantastic. seriously, you guys, it was one of the coolest things to see, a bunch of charactersin our silly little d&d game realized, physically, by other people is crazy. liam: it's also, i amass everything and i couldn'tget in all the awesome, even into what we put into the slideshow in the episode and in the gallery ongeek & sundry today. there were so many good costumes and we're blown away by-- i mean, it wasa massive amount. marisha: a lot came in at the eleventh hour, too,so if you didn't see yours in the slideshow-- we

still probably saw, but that would be why. laura: yeah, because we've been looking at thehashtag like crazy. matt: which, by the way, if you haven't lookedyet, go look at the hashtag criticalcostumes and marvel at how many awesome, talented people outthere made crazy halloween costumes. so do it. we're going to go ahead and begin with ourpersonal choices, across the bay. you want to start over here? travis: sure! i chose @couple_cosplay for hiswhite, muscular version of grog. grog got abs, y'all. ashley: i chose the most lovely and wonderful@kinnvelier. her picture of pike had the perfect pose, the most wonderful costume, everything wasthere. winner, winner, chicken dinner.

laura: my personal choice was @sara-rokhov! idon't know if i said that right, but she did the costume that was closest to the outfit that wewore in the opening credits, which is really cool because i know that's really intricate, and isaw the sleeves. there was crazy pleated sleeves happening on that costume! marisha: yeah, she got, like, real close. laura: it was awesome! liam: i'm going to cheat. i'm giving mine to@missbelletrist and @miss_riahne for doing vex and vax throwing money around and flipping daggers andclimbing trees. great photos, great costumes, great attitude.

laura and ashley: yeah. marisha: i'm going to go with woodson schindleraka @criticalcorrupt for his manleth. he did a bearded keyleth. marisha: oh yeah, it was legit. and his eyeshadowwas on point. i just want to say. so @criticalcorrupt, you're awesome. taliesin: wow, okay! i'm going to go with karinrindevall, @karrey over in gothenburg, for the amazing percy being very, very busy and at workand reading. laura: upper crust? taliesin: and very upper crust. very fancy. thefanciest. so fancy.

sam: my choice was an obvious one. it's@cat_cosplay for the cat version of scanlan, or as i call him, cat scan. and for those asking, we'renot putting up these pictures right now because we literally just picked them one minute ago, butwe'll be retweeting our current, our personal picks of the evening. so you can watch ourtwitters, or maybe @criticalrole can tweet them out or something? okay. matt: yeah, well done. my personal choice is@jettiebettie who did an amazing ripley. not just costume and presentation, but the intensity ofexpression, the personality. it was a fantastic capturing of the character and the minute i saw iti was like, oh, there she is. liam: straight out of central casting.

matt: yeah, it was amazing. awesome job. liam: so those are our personal picks and we alsoall picked a third place, a second place, and a first place. marisha: overall winners. liam: (dramatic voice) overall winners. here theyare. number three: (normally) @kwwins, who is also an artist for us all the time, was chosen fornumber three for her minxie/keyleth transformation pic. laura: that was so cool! good concept. marisha: that was so well done. liam: number two goes to @norfrosch who did theamazing victor with crazy eyebrows.

laura: so good! matt: yeah, it takes a lot to shame my victor. notreally, i threw mine together. and then that one, the day after, i saw that picture and went, "well,damn. i lose." it was amazing! marisha: he was like, "oh, she did way better thani did." matt: it was amazing. liam: and in first place-- marisha: we have to go to a commercial break! staytuned. matt: no. liam: loot crate!

laura: close up on all of us looking at each otherlike, who's it going to be? matt: oh, god. liam: yeah, so for an amazing percy in bird mask,both an amazing photo, amazing costume-- laura: amazing weapon. liam: amazing weapon, @calahammer is our firstplace winner. ashley: that one took my breath away a little bit.rad. travis: (singing) take my breath away... (a capella version of take my breath away) matt: and a gathered round of applause for allthose amazing costumes. everyone did an incredible

job. seriously. laura: and just so you know, all of you winners,@criticalrole on twitter will follow you so you can dm your mailing address and get your wonderfulprizes. sam: some of the prizes include shirts that i'veworn on the stream, some of which i have laundered. laura: oh, god. some prizes may include part of mydice hoard. taliesin: we're going to send a weird littlehalloween cornucopia of weird. it'll be great. marisha: we're going to raid our closets. hook youguys up. travis: hook it up!

sam: all right. matt: all righty. laura: oh no, oh no, oh no! okay, city of brass,city of brass, here we go. taliesin: (singing) city of brass! city ofbrass-- travis: nobody's with you. sam: (singing) city of brass! taliesin: thank you! just one doors fan. matt: as you guys take in the intensity of theatmosphere, looking up at the one blaring, bright sun in the sky, locked in that reddish-orangeatmosphere above you, you look around as the wind

picks up, the heat carrying ash and black sootthrough, forcing you to wince and keep your eyes somewhat closed. you immediately begin to pullscarves up in front to try and filter this aggressive and caustic air. marisha: i'm going to go ahead and cast protectionfrom energy on myself with fire. sam: good for you. laura: yeah, right? it's a concentration spell, orelse i would've taken it too. you can't do it with anything else. matt: looking as to where that giant wall of fireacross the horizon is, you see it begin to merge closer and closer, the edge of that sea, untileventually it comes to the city of brass, which

you see behind you-- this large, amazing, vastcity of various reflective, metallic surfaces. you see pointed spires, round domes, and hundreds andhundreds of these buildings that sprawl out beyond the wall that you see on the outside of it. whatwould you guys like to do? travis: before we go any farther, if we want topull the ripcord, what does that look like? sam: what do you mean, if we want to go back? marisha: we have to, i think, be in a fairly safespace and give me a minute? travis: one minute. marisha: let me double check before i say that. sam: are we already backing out of this, grog?

travis: no, i'm making sure that we're not like,"oh, we've got to go! oh shit!" marisha: nope, i lied. it's instantaneous. travis: but we all got to be touching? marisha: me and up to eight willing creatures wholink hands in a circle. laura, ashley, and travis: okay. laura: what's our jenga? marisha: yeah, what's our code word? sam: super jenga! laura: "super jenga" means everybody run towardseach other and link hands.

liam: so "jenga" means "i fucked up, my name isvax." and "super jenga" means we have to link hands and bounce. travis: "duck, duck, goose" means it's playtime. sam: let's walk into the city of brass. matt: all right. as you guys begin steppingtowards this, and it is hard to gauge distance on this city's size, even from just arriving in thisplace.the more you walk, the slower its arrival comes as you begin to take in the sheer immensityof its sprawling expanse. you see little occasional bursts of flame off from the oppositeside of the wall, some small shapes coasting over, a little glow pass. and as you get close enough,i'm going to have everyone roll a perception check.

travis: i got this, you guys. laura: 27. marisha: 25. taliesin: 15. liam: 27. travis: 12. sam: bullshit over here. ashley: 21! matt: okay. keyleth, what did you get?

matt: 25, and you got--? matt: all right, so keyleth and the twins. youguys, looking ahead, you're beginning to see these darkish shapes moving towards the edge of one ofthe first gates that you notice amongst the reflective surface of the outer wall. it is asolid door, like two large doors that are affixed to each other with a cross-chain circumstance. yousee six figures currently mounting, shifting, and walking along the side of the wall. as you getcloser still you can make out: they look humanoid: two arms, two legs. it's hard to make out theirsize in respect to where you are, and in paying attention as you approach you do notice that someof them have varying shades of colored skin. they wear loose silk outfits: wide, baggy air-filledpants with long robes or vests that dangle below.

muscular. the skin on a few of them appears to bedeep crimson or orangish-red. two of them, the skin actually almost goes to more like a black, adeep soot and ash color. you begin to see more details in the skin. you see horns and large fangsfrom underneath. you see large, scimitar-like blades to the side. you've seen one of thesecreatures before. it emerged from the tear in the fire plane last time you were there. there are sixefreeti that are currently standing guard outside of the gate to the city. liam: genies. laura: basically. they're really powerful. ashley: they're very smart.

sam: think we can talk to them? travis: yes, let's parlay. laura: should we go and talk to them? travis: only one should talk. sam: why are you all looking at me?! liam: because you have the gift of gab. laura: you are really good. go talk to them,scanlan. be super cool. sam: greetings! hello! hi there! travis: oh shit, you're doing it.

matt: as you say this haphazardly from thedistance, you see three of them all of a sudden, their attention right over in your direction. twoof them immediately begin to lift up off the ground and their legs vanish into a plume of flameand smoke as they (whoosh) almost like rockets in the sky, heading over in your direction. the otherone goes into a run towards you. laura: oh, jesus! sam: are they attacking? liam and matt: you don't know. laura: i keep a hand on the bow, just in case. ashley and laura: steady.

matt: as you all very nervously sit there andwait, the two that are cruising through the sky go slamming into the ground to the immediate rightand left of scanlan, not far from you guys, leaving these small craters. the flaming smoke,the lower portion of their body poofs outward, scattering ash as you see now their legs, muscularand thick like trunks of reddish-black muscle. they both stand and glance downward at this tinylittle gnome by comparison, each of them standing about ten to 12 feet in full height. laura: oh, fuck! marisha: the efreetis? matt: the efreetis.

laura: they're so big. matt: the one that's running eventually catches upto you and slows his gait and puts his hands behind his back, puts his chin up, and beginswalking. you can see now he has these two long tufts of black hair that are braided into thislong braid that floats gently as the heated breeze continues to blow past you. as he begins toapproach, he looks out among the rest of your group and then down at this tiny gnome that hasstepped up to greet them. sam: we request passage into your city. matt: "what is your business?" sam: we are travelling salespeople and we are hereto sell our wares.

matt: "what wares are you here to sell?" sam: one item in particular, which could be ofmuch value to the people in your city. matt: "then show me this item of value." sam: i don't think you want to see it. matt: "then you don't want to enter the city." sam: all right. it's a pet of ours that we've beentravelling with. it's right back there. and i point behind us to an empty space. matt: he glances over towards the empty space. sam: you don't see it? oh, i forgot. we've made itinvisible. let me drop the spell. and i will cast

major image, and i am making a goristro, rightbehind us, that looks a lot like yenk because that's the only one i've ever seen. travis: oh, i love you. sam: 20 feet tall, snarling, growling, just afucking nightmare. matt: okay. so is it just standing theresnarling? sam: yeah, looking real mean and ornery with spitcoming off of him. matt: okay. all right. at this point, the threeefreeti are glancing in that direction. first off, go ahead and make a deception check. liam: this is the weirdest day.

laura: ever. sam: 28. marisha: you don't think the day when we were cowswas far weirder? that was pretty weird. matt: they glance over. they all very intenselyinspect from a distance this goristro that has now appeared, that is snarling approximately how faraway from you? the range is 120 feet in the spell. sam: let's say 60 feet back. matt: all right. the central one looks to theefreet to his left, or to the right of you, gives him a nudge, and that efreeti-- that efreet beginsto step away. sam: ah, ah, ah! you don't get to touch our pet.please allow us entry to your city and we will find

someone who can afford to touch him. matt: "hmm." the efreet that you halted takes afew more steps, not paying heed as the one that's in front of you goes, "so you're looking to sellthis as a servant. this beast will work as a "servant, or does it work in servitude?" sam: it works for me, for the moment, and i canget it to work for someone else for a price. but if your man goes over there, he's going to die,because i will tell my goristro to kill him. matt: "hmph. it is rare to see something so smallable to control something so vicious and "dangerous." and you see him leaning in now, closerto you. you see these tiny little burning beads of red flame as the center of his eyes, against ablack iris. you see, as he gets closer, the grin

begins to curl across the rows and rows ofsharpened, white, gleaming teeth. he says, "you, "such a small, easy-to-crush creature, can seem tohold dominion over something that exists in places "that would rend your mind asunder." taliesin: i reach into the bag, and i'm going tograb a little chunk of dragon and a chunk of the previous goristro that we still have some bits of,and drop them in front of him on the ground. matt: (dull thud) (sniff) sam: those were my other pets. matt: (slurping) (spitting) he throws them to theground. he begins speaking in a language that you don't understand. it sounds very much like theslow, rolling fire-bursts of magma pouring down

the side of a mountain. laura: what is it? marisha: can i recognize it, as a druid who hasspent time as a fire elemental? matt: you recognize the type. it is the samelanguage spoken by the fire elementals, but you do not speak the language. but the efreet thatstepped away has stopped and is taking a moment to look from about a 40-foot distance from thegoristro. laura: (distressed sounds) matt: (loud sniff) and begins walking back towardthe other efreeti. the one before you, whose face is still up in front of you, is reading you. hishead is about the size of your entire body. and he goes--

sam: i'll put my hands behind my back and stand upa little taller to meet him. matt: "if you wish to walk the city, then pay thetoll." sam: how much would the toll be? matt: "how much do you think the toll is worth?" sam: vex? matt: "if the toll is insufficient, and i findoffense at the offer, then you will have bigger "problems than entry. but generosity goes a longway." laura: so like, money? is it money, then? sam: the money that we carry with us is from afar-off land. will it still be good here? it's

gold and platinum. laura: or would you rather gems? matt: "gems are good as well. money is money. wework and deal with many creatures from many places "here. what do you offer?" laura: should i just, you know what, fuck it? i'mgoing to put the 20-pound bag of gems in his hand. matt: he takes it and closes the fingers of hishand around it, then shakes it a little and listens. sam: 20 pound? matt: he begins to pour the gems out. he takes avery keen look at them-- travis: who are you and what have you done withvex?

laura: the world is fucking ending, you guys. howelse am i going to use these things? sam: who are you right now? matt: he pulls the tiny drawstring taut onceagain. "may you enjoy your time in the city of "brass. now, i suggest your wineskins be full." andhe turns around and the efreeti all begin to walk away towards the entrance to the city. sam: loudly and conspicuously i say: stanley,invisible! and then he poofs away. laura: scanlan, i think you let a little bit ofscry on the ground there. sam: let's just get in the city and buy me somenew pants. taliesin: i pick up the dragon scales and put themback in the bag.

liam: (stan lee voice) greetings, true believers! travis: we pick up the dragon parts and we moveinto the city. taliesin: that was a very good call. sam: i throw up a little. ashley: you did really well. taliesin: always tip the doorman. liam: i'm patting scanlan on the back and wipinghis mouth. sam: great, now we're inside this stupid city. nowwhat do we need to find, a wall? marisha: no, we have to-- hang on. let's do aquick refresher on the impossible needle we have

to find in this haystack. laura: oh, wait! because i took a spell. sam: a 'find item anywhere' spell? laura: locate object. sam: holy fucking shit. marisha: hang on, hold. i brought that spell aswell. laura: oh, okay. marisha: it has to be within 1000 feet. 1000 feetisn't a whole lot in this really large metropolis, correct?

travis: we go to the front door, we do it once, goto the middle, we do it again. totally covered. sam: if you guys go 2000 feet apart, that'sessentially a mile spread. laura: right? how many miles is the city? matt: you have no idea, you haven't walked inside!you've got no idea. taliesin: we are walking towards the door. what dowe know? marisha: so wait, there's a beacon of protectionfor the chosen of pelor. it is gathering dust on a wall somewhere in the city of brass. it was atrophy won by a fire giant in a card game from the suutan bloodline that once donned it. travis: fuck. we got to go find--

marisha: it could be hanging on a pub wallsomewhere, correct. travis: no, it's a trophy. it's too valuable to bein a pub. marisha: do we know where fire giants might hangout? or anything about the suutan bloodline? travis: it's on somebody's wall as a trophy. laura: maybe we should ask somebody. marisha: i mean, it could be in a noble's house,for all we know. liam: do we see anyone who looks remotely like us,who's not from the fire plane, here? matt: well you're just now approaching the frontgates where the six efreeti currently stand. as the three that have returned, the central onetakes his hand up and does this with his finger.

and as he does, you watch as the criss-crosschains that hold the gate shut suddenly shift, and you watch dust and ash get shaken free from thechains as they're all suddenly pulled upward through these rings to the very top, and thedoors shift open very slowly, giving just enough space for people of your physical width to passthrough. grog, you have to squeeze a little. taliesin: good sir, one question before we enteryour city, since you are such a good friend and we look forward to possibly being friends againsomeday. where would one find people who enjoy the sport of watching large creatures battle? if youcould think of such a thing? matt: (laughs) "welcome to the city of brass." taliesin: i love your answer.

matt: as you guys walk in, the doors close behindand you watch as the chains that were pulled free, that now dangle loosely, automatically, ontheir own, strike up like snakes, instantly, and flash back through on the other side. you can hearthem retying themselves between the ring-loops to seal off the doorway once again. liam: we are in a city where everyone is going todespise us. laura: not necessarily. act really fucking tough,dude. marisha: yeah, everyone wants to kick our ass. travis: should we get some jail tattoos before wecontinue? scanlan: i can make us all look really rough andragged.

taliesin: i think there's a lot of magic here.well, no, let's-- matt: so as you say "let's" and it trails off, youall take a moment to look into the city around you. marquet offered ank'harel, a very beautifulcity of ornate culture. this city has been around far longer, and has been constructed by far moreintricate artisans since. you see hundreds of buildings of different sizes, all constructed fromvarious types of materials, many of them metallic and brass or bronze in color, reflecting theever-present sunlight from the sky. you can see buildings carved from dark black obsidian. fromother forms of darkened stone you can see natural rock formations of blackened rock and stonejutting outward, where, crafted from that, you can see communities of maybe dozens of buildings andhomes that have been constructed from it. you can

see towers that are impossibly high, hundreds offeet up in the sky, some broken from previous conflicts and never constructed since. you can seea series of streets that intertwine out before you with these tiny little cobblestones that all seemto have a matching, ruddy, brownish earth tone with a dusting of ash and red earth scatteredacross them. you see throughout here human beings occasionally. you see dozens upon dozens ofefreeti, walking around, crusted with jewelry and wearing fine robes and linens. you can begin tonotice quickly that many of these efreeti walk along with some of these humans, these humans walk at theirsides, some in chains. all: oh, shit. matt: you can see a number of individuals pedalingsmall carts through, also in comparable levels of

enslavement. but not all are enslaved. there areindividuals from other areas you've never recognized, various features. you see twohumanoids that walk around by themselves, their features are human but not. there's somethingabout them that's a little off, but you can't quite pick up what, and they walk off in thedistance. there is a gathering of many cultures that make their way through here, but definitelythe dominant culture here appears to be one ruled by the elemental fire djinn that you've alreadyencountered. liam: the servants, the humans, and i don't know ifthere's any elves, dwarves, halflings, or anything in the mix, but people who are not from here, howdoes their health appear? matt: fine, if perpetually uncomfortable in thecurrent weather, which is, for the record, we're

hitting somewhere between 110â°f to 120â°f in theair at all times here. i'd say, actually, in fact, at this time, i'd like everyone to make aconstitution saving throw. marisha: do i get advantage because of the fireresist? matt: you're fine. and actually, you havingfire-resistant armor, i would say you do not have to make it, vax. you feel naturally morecomfortable in here based on the resistance you've given your enchantment. marisha: do i have to roll? or am i good to go? matt: no, you're fine. taliesin: six! i'm going to use one of myresolves.

taliesin: and slightly better: 15. laura: 15. ashley: seven? travis: 19. matt: okay. for the time you've been here, it'sbeen an unwelcoming atmosphere, but not one that has been so harsh as to press down upon yourphysical constitution. you all seem to withstand the current atmosphere for now, but you do gatherthat the longer you are here, the more difficult it will be to endure this atmosphere withoutdetrimental effect. marisha: i meant to note i wanted to put my ringof protection on and put the cloak away when we

took that short rest. i don't know if i said thatout loud. matt: you did not say that out loud marisha: can i do that now? matt: sure. marisha: and it takes some time. matt: it's fine. so what do you wish to do nowthat you've gained entry into the city of brass? laura: let's find that armor. travis: keep walking. let's keep walking and seewhat we see. laura: yeah, we walk the fuck forward. should weget a little farther into the city or should i

cast it right now? taliesin: i think the city's huge. marisha: hang on, how long does that spell last? taliesin: that's the other question. marisha: grog, could you recognize fire giants ifyou saw one? are they akin to stone giants? travis: i don't think so. i don't think i've everseen one. matt: you have not seen a fire giant in person inall the time that you've spent on this plane. travis: i bet i can pick it out, though, ifit's giant and it's made of fire. marisha: and you're like, that's a fire giant. allright, yeah, totally.

taliesin: ten minutes-- and the other question isif you can change into a flying creature. liam: are there any humans around right now wholook like they're not slaves? who look well-off, relatively? matt: right now, you have not encountered any.you've literally just walked into the city and this is your first glance at the first street thatyou've encountered. as you guys begin to walk farther into the city, one thing that you donotice, too, is there are these stationary torches that meet at various crossroads. and at the top ofthese torches there is a ball of flame that is flickering and shooting off spurts here and there,and every now and then you hear one go (flaring) in the distance and that's what you were seeing onthe other side of the wall. these flames cause

this dancing light source effect throughout theentire city due to the vastly metallic nature of the building construct here. and so as you-- sam: sorry. laura: oh, wow. that might be the worst shirtyou've ever worn on the show. sam: yeah, i'm out of shirts, guys. 74 fucking shirts. how many do i own? 74. liam and laura: wow. laura: you'll be shirtless. liam: i'm bringing you a new shirt for yourbirthday, man.

travis and ashley: "okay, i farted. it was me." liam: holy moly. bring it back, people. i'mspecifically looking for a human who is not a slave, who looks reasonably well off. taliesin: i'm looking for social gatherings, pubs,and otherwise. marisha: i'm going to talk to vex as soon as weget a hot second, whenever that falls. matt: okay, so as you guys are walking, keepingyour eyes out before yourselves, you guys engage in conversation as you continue into the city. marisha: all right, so we both have the locateobject spell. it lasts for ten minutes and we can both fly. we could both cast it and maybe do likea perimeter run, maybe?

sam: wait, how long does it last? marisha, laura, and taliesin: ten minutes. sam: we can get a long fucking way in tenminutes. marisha: yeah, if we're flying. laura: as long as, you know, nothing attacks us.right. that's clutch. marisha: well, i could also potentially polymorphinto something or beast shape into something that-- has there been any type of creatures? laura: flying creatures here? travis: in the air?

laura: maybe wyverns or something? matt: you haven't seen any, at the moment. youhave seen, so far, efreeti being capable of flight, both from your previous encounter and thetwo at the gate that just jettisoned off in your direction before landing. marisha: okay, are they considered humanoid-ish?to where i could alter self to look like an efreeti? laura: a teeny, tiny efreeti. marisha: teeny, teeny efreeti? no? matt: no. from your alter self ability? no. theyare far too different in size, physiology, and appearance to pass off as an efreet.

marisha: are there any humanoids like, like-- taliesin: a fire elemental? marisha: or like dragonborn, or like what's thething that zahra is? i'm drawing a blank right now. sam: wyverns? lizardpeople? laura: tieflings? marisha: tieflings, are there like any tieflingsaround? matt: you can keep an eye out as you continuewalking forward. you don't see any yet. marisha: i want to look for the most unsubjugatedhumanoids. matt: okay, so you keep an eye out as youprogress. and you're looking for--?

liam: anyone who looks like they're not a servant,who looks like they're maybe getting by well. marisha: yeah, kind of the same thing. matt: okay. continuing farther into the city. thiswhole city has this vibrant life to it, from the way it reflects light from the ever-changing,flickering skylight from the sun, to the flames that adorn every single conjunction of roads thatmake their way through the city, to occasionally, you will see cracks in the ground where a flamewill flare out then retract within. go ahead and make a perception check. laura: can we also keep an eye out for anythingflying? i want to see if anything's flying around the city at all.

matt: 22. no more than maybe five minutes intoyour walk into the city, you do notice two efreeti have begun to follow you from about 20 feetbehind. they're both walking and talking to themselves, keeping an eye on you guys. well,they're about 25, 30 feet behind. as you continue walking forward, you do bring your attention aheadand at the next street junction, which is more like two alleys that collide, you do see twoindividuals that walk out. one of them is a similar humanoid as to the strange-looking onesyou saw go walking by there. they have a thin figure, sallow, elongated features, their hair iswild and red and stringy and upward behind them. their eyes tend to have a non-human appearance tothem, the iris a light-orangish color. they have long white and gold robes and are walkingalongside a tiefling of similar red skin to the

color of the efreeti here, with deep gray, longhair that goes behind a ridge of horns that curl into almost like ram horns in the front, and thelong, gray hair extends to the mid-back. they both walk along side by side, their arms within theirrobes-- both are wearing matching white and gold robes-- and they each step out from the alley andbegin to walk ahead of you guys about 60, 70 feet. liam: so it's these two strange beings withstrange eyes and a tiefling. matt: there's one entity that's the strange beingand the other is a tiefling. liam: oh, okay. so one is one and one's another,thank you. i'm going to walk up to the tiefling, like ten feet away. excuse me! sorry, can itrouble you for a minute? i've just come to town. i know, that sounds ridiculous, it is, i'm astranger in a strange land. could i borrow you

just for a minute? matt: make a persuasion check. sam: i just got to hell, haven't even unpacked mybags-- laura: no warning, huh? liam: that's a 20. matt: 20. they both turn and look towards you witha curious glance. the strange, alien-looking one gives a half-cocked grin and shakes his head. thetiefling looks you over for a second. "stranger, i "mean you no offense, but--" and as he looks pastyou at the rest of the group walking behind you. "you know what, follow me."

marisha: oh, shit. taliesin: well, here we go. matt: they both continue to walk in the directionthey're walking. liam: they're together, right? matt: they're together, but they face away fromyou. he's just, "follow me." and they both continue walking ahead of you guys. liam: all right, so i trip along behind them, and theni turn around and to the group i go-- taliesin: i'm all right with this. this is a greatway to die. sam: we're following along behind them.

laura, ashley, travis, and marisha: yes. marisha: can i do like an insight check, like sizeup this tiefling from a distance and see what they might be about, get any idea about what they mightdo or be? matt: go ahead and make an insight check from whatvery little bit of body language you can see. it's going to be very hard to read anything. marisha: that's really bad. that's the gil dice.15. matt: 15? unfortunately, at the distance thathe was from you, about 60 feet or so, and what little bit time he was faced away-- his interactionwith vax was so short, it's a blank slate. nothing you can read off of him.

laura: are they looking and talking to each otherat all? matt: they're not talking to each other, they'relooking, facing away from you, and walking the same pace they were. however, vex, since you werelooking up in the sky, you do see, for a brief instant, a large, avian-like entity-- laura: what does "avian" mean? matt: bird-like. laura: oh, got it. matt: --but massive. and it looks to leave somesort of flame-like trail behind it as it (fiery whooshing). liam, laura, and marisha: (whispering) a phoenix!

ashley: what! laura: harry potter! travis: fawkes! matt: make an intelligence check. laura: okay! oh. intelligence? laura: ew. eight? matt: eight? yeah, it's a flaming bird! laura: that's a fucking bird, y'all! marisha: so they have birdies.

sam: so is it one of those-- what were theycalled, ashley? laura: ah! natural 20 on the-- ashley: always. matt: just don't do that because it doesn'tmatter! all you're doing is killing yourself, laura! laura: every time. matt: all right, as you guys continue to followthese two-- liam: yeah, where are they leading me? matt: do you guys keep the same distance? do youcatch up with them, do you stay behind, what are

you doing? sam: how far back are we? matt: you're about 60 feet behind them. sam: someone should-- laura: get a little closer. liam: i'm going to wave them away a little bit. travis: i think we're cattle. i'm going to lag.i'm going to drop another 20 feet back from the group. matt: okay. as you drop back from them, you comepretty close to the two efreeti that are following you from behind, and one of them puts his hand outand grabs you by the shoulder and pats you and

goes, "so friend, you are--? you are--?" matt: "who are you?" travis: i can't hear you. sam: oh no! taliesin and marisha: no. matt: make a deception check. travis: 17. matt: "heh. i like this one. we'll keep him." andhe pats you on the shoulder and they both walk-- travis: hey! and i smash the titanstone knucklestogether and i cast enlarge.

matt: okay! you guys hear what sounds like a smallcrack of thunder behind you (thunder crack sound). as you glance over you can see grog has swollen tohis enlarged size and is now walking shoulder to shoulder with the two efreeti that began to flankfrom behind. they both take a step back. "i double "down on my statement. we keep him." and they keepwalking shoulder to shoulder to you. they're not doing anything, they're walking shoulder toshoulder. marisha: i stop and turn around and wait for themto catch up. ashley: yeah. sam: oh god. i hang back as well. matt: all right, so you guys, hanging back--

laura: i'm going to try to keep a little closer tothe two in the front and try to see if i can overhear their conversation at all if they talk. ashley: i'm going to hang back until they comeup. taliesin: i am not hanging back; i am right in themiddle. i'm trying to, like, be that middle point that keeps everything connected. laura: this is like when your friends start todrink at the ren faire and you're like, should we keep going forward, or what do we do, do we wait? marisha: we'll meet you at the axe-throwing, justgo ahead. liam, taliesin, and marisha: to the oubliette!

liam: just put it all out on the table. travis: so are they keeping pace with me, or arethey standing next to me? matt: they're keeping pace with you as you'rewalking. you're walking shoulder to shoulder as the rest of you begin to slow down and catch upexcept for vex, vax, and percy, who continue forward. we have pike, keyleth, and scanlanbeginning to catch up with grog, and as you guys eventually get to the point where you're walkingslow enough that the two efreeti catch up behind you, they keep walking with you. marisha: i light up my flame hand and i turn toone of the efreeti and i go: fist bump. laura: oh no.

marisha: pound it, man. pound it. matt: make a persuasion check with disadvantage. laura: oh, it's at disadvantage. come on,keyleth! liam: roll high, come on. marisha: what did you want? persuasion? matt: persuasion. marisha: ten. matt: he looks at your fist and flicks it. it doessting a little. it doesn't do any damage but the flame goes out. in fact, it's strange. normallythe flames would stay, but it's almost like he

willed the flame in your hand to extinguish. laura: oh shit. ashley: i have a question for one of you finegentlemen. sam: oh boy, we're all getting in it. matt: the other one on the other side of grog,that wasn't interacting with keyleth, grunts. "hmph." ashley: do you guys--? sam: (imitating efreeti) we're both women. ashley: oh, i'm so sorry. anyway. do either of youhappen to know where the temple of pelor is? matt: they both slowly look at each other andgrin. and slowly nod their heads.

ashley: you do! matt: they turn back and one of them goes, "yes,we do, actually. would you like us to take you there?" ashley: you can just show us where it is. ithink there's going to be a couple more spots we're going to stop. matt: "you seem like you are not from around here.it is dangerous to wander these streets unaccompanied." ashley: well, i got this guy. matt: "this one?" travis: yeah! hi! marisha: man, we've been here five minutes.

matt: he extends a hand next to you, a very largehand, and he says, "come. i will carry you to your destination." ashley: i don't like to be carried. i don't liketo be made to feel smaller than i am, thank you. matt: "then let us continue to walk. we will wantto take a left at the next big juncture." they both keep walking alongside the two of you. whilethis is happening, you guys are keeping behind and glancing over your shoulder and seeing the rest ofyour party slowly gather at the knees of these two walking, haughty-looking djinn. liam: (clears throat) yeah, i was hoping for alittle bit of advice about town. this is starting to feel a little kinky. where are we going? idon't need to talk that bad. where are we going? matt: this is to the tiefling?

matt: the tiefling looks over his shoulder towardsyou and goes, "we are going to-- (groans). all "right, this just got very-- if you look ahead, onealley, we are going to dart to the right. follow, quickly." liam: follow you to talk right now? matt: "yes!" laura: okay. i go. matt: so they begin taking up their pace a littlebit, quickening their walk, almost like a light jog. liam: okay. matt: do you guys keep up? liam: yeah. what the fuck are we doing?

laura: i don't know, i don't fucking know! matt: okay. you guys look ahead and you see theother three members, the rest of your party, beginning to get farther away from you at a fasterpace. laura: so it's me and you. are you coming? are youstill in the middle? taliesin: i'm keeping pace, but i'm trying to beat the back end of it. what's happening? liam: percy, we're going to go in the alley upahead to the right. laura: dart to the right. taliesin: well, all right. marisha: i'm going to keep pace with grog.

sam: i'm with them, yeah. travis: (exclaims) just trying to be even simplerthan i am. maybe then they won't want me. marisha: you're probably making it worse. travis: oh, no. matt: okay. following up at pace with them, youget past a couple of small intersections and the two figures dart off into this small alley, rightoff to the side. laura: i go. liam: i'm going to stealth. matt: stealth by going into the alley?

liam: before going into the alley. i mean, i don'tknow how dark this is. matt: what are you stealthing behind? liam: are we in broad daylight? matt: it's a pretty-- heh. i'm not going to sayit, but the sun is high in the sky. liam: yeah. okay. sam: (mccree voice) it's full sunlight. taliesin: (mccree voice) it's lunchtime. liam: okay, so no changing in lighting in thesmaller alley. matt: correct.

sam: (mccree voice) it's just turned to pm. laura: the efreeti behind us, are they payingattention to us, or are they completely distracted by all of the-- matt: it's hard to tell. they don't seem to bepaying any mind, and when the two figures darted off in the alleyway, there was no-- laura: anything? liam: and how far away from the other group are weat this point? matt: at this point, you're about 80 feet in frontof them. liam: all right, i stop her and stop at the cornerand look around. do i even see them if i look

around the corner? matt: the two figures that darted off? matt: yeah, they're about 15 feet back and they'reboth waiting. liam: we saw them dart to the right. i don't knowwhat's in there! i go running in with my eyes closed. that's how i do. matt: okay. percy, do you follow suit? taliesin: oh, yeah, i follow suit, yeah. i'mrunning in there. matt: okay. the three of you dart in. you guyswatch as the three of them vanish into that alley. marisha: do the efreeti react to them vanishing?

matt: no, but that's about two intersectionsahead. the ones immediately before you, the efreet goes, "turn left. to pelor's temple." taliesin: for god's sake, you two, tell them thatyou have to meet your owner! travis: oh! do it. tell them that we've got tomeet our owner. matt: "left to pelor's temple, small one!" as youguys are coming to the intersection-- ashley: i'm so sorry, what did you say? left atwhere? matt: "right here." ashley: we're supposed to meet out master at thetemple of pelor, so-- matt: "then i am taking you. take a left."

ashley: i'm going to cast a zone of truth and askhim some questions. matt: well, hold on a second. taliesin: yeah! ashley: is that a bad idea? taliesin: there are no good ideas anymore. marisha: it's all bad ideas in dungeons & dragons.it's really true. liam: well, what i would have done was-- marisha: sometimes you get lucky with a bad idea. taliesin: that's all the game is is getting luckywith bad ideas.

sam: we're cubs fans walking down clevelandboulevard. matt: well, as you begin casting your spell--because casting a spell is a very physical thing-- you begin to whisper your various divineincantations beneath your breath, and your holy symbol of sarenrae begins to glow, thoughdiminished this far from the prime material plane, still effective. you get partway through yourincantation before the two efreeti who are flanking grab grog by the shoulders and forcefullypush, like a giant wedge, trying to shove your entire group to the left down the street. you,being at the immediate brunt of that, basically are getting shoved in the shoulder and off to theside. i need you to make a constitution saving throw to see if you maintain concentration on thespell.

ashley: okay, okay, okay. marisha: you busting out the hand cone? sam: i'm busting out the hand cone, ready to go. ashley: seven. matt: okay, yeah, so as you're partway through theincantation before it gets completely scattered halfway through and the spell is lost. you stillused the spell slot, though. ashley: okay. matt: but they're now using grog as the base pointand all three of them are pushing you all to the left forcefully. scanlan, what are you doing?

sam: are these humanoids? matt: nope. sam: okay, i'm going to start singing. i pick one,the stronger of the two, and i'm going to sing at him. or her, i don't even know. matt: you turn around and sing in their face. sam: yeah, yep, singing at them. (singing) i makeyou want to leave the one you're with, start a new relationship with me. that's how it's going to be,make you go-- travis: usher! usher from 1999! sam: a little usher. i'm going to cast dominatemonster on it.

matt: oh shit, okay! laura: oh god. do they know they're beingdominated? sam: of course, but hopefully it'll give us agetaway. matt: what's the dc on this? sam: well, it's my spell, right? 21. matt: jesus christ, dude. taliesin: that's the angriest thing i've everheard. matt: fucking scanlan. let this be a lesson to alldms out there: be careful about creating magical items that increase spell dc.

so that's a wisdom saving throw-- sam: you can always break it or something. matt: let's not break it, but be careful, bemindful. all right, so, wisdom saving throw. two on that. all righty. the efreet that is on theleft side, the one that is directly behind you-- the other one that's pushing pike off to the sideis separate-- the one that's behind you, as you turn around and begin singing up to it, it stopsin its tracks and nods its head to the beat as you're singing and its eyes half-close for asecond, and you get the assertion that the spell has taken effect. the other ally is still pushinggrog and pike and basically scooping you guys into this alleyway to the left.

ashley: can i cast hold person on that one? ithink i can do it on a humanoid. liam, laura, and travis: but he's not a humanoid. ashley: he's not humanoid, never mind! that's whatyou literally were just talking about. sam: can i command him? marisha: all right, am i standing by scanlan? arethey in front of us now? matt: no, they're behind you, basically you gotlike shoved off at the point. scanlan turned around and did that as pike's being shoved off tothe side. and grog, they're both shoulder to shoulder shoving you in that direction. so thatwas your action. sam: i can't also command him to do anything?

matt: hmm? sam: can't i command him to do something? matt: you can, i'm getting to that point. all ofthis is happening simultaneously. as you're doing that, singing in the face of that efreet, you justgot knocked out of your spell, so you're going to have to take a moment to do that. keyleth, grog,what are you doing? travis: i'm going to trip and fall flat down ontothe ground. matt: okay, so you (grunting) and intentionallyfall prone on the ground. all righty. keyleth, what are you doing? if anything. marisha: oh, i don't want to do something i'mreally bad at, which is talking to people. i have

ideas. okay, is this what i want to do, i'm goingto do alter self and i'm going to change myself into a tiefling? marisha: and then i-- oh god this is reallyterrible, oh my god, i am really bad at deception-- i'm going to turn around and say, i'msorry, there seems to be a miscommunication. these are my slaves. they are already owned and myproperty. release them immediately. matt: okay. so as scanlan's in the middle ofsinging a song, and the one efreet stops in their tracks, you turn around and your form shifts. whatdo you want your tiefling to look like? marisha: you know, i don't have a lot to go off ofexcept for zahra and that one that was in front of us, so i'm going to do zahra, like a red. youknow, a red, with like devilly horns, definitely

give it a tail. i want to look intimidating. iwant to look like you wouldn't want to meet me in a back alley, but that's where we are. ashley: a bad bitch. marisha: a bad bitch. matt and marisha: bad bitch tiefling. matt: which is still, like, an eighth asintimidating as an efreet. but you whip around and you say this, i'm going to have you go ahead andmake a deception check. laura: come on, keyleth! you got it. marisha: it's just a straight roll. oh, god. ohjesus christ. nine.

matt: okay, as you're talking up to the one on theleft, as grog falls forward, he's looking off down and he's going to reach for him as you shout inhis face. (scoffs) and palms you in the face with his hand, and i need you to make a strength savingthrow. marisha: a saving throw. oh, that was almost sogood, that was almost great! 13. matt: 13. basically his hand grabs you and, like,his fingers close around the back of your head, holding you like a ball, and lifts you a littleoff the ground and throws you into the alley. so as keyleth gets chucked off to the side of thealley, you're finishing getting pushed off. scanlan, what are you doing with your command overthe efreet? sam: i say to him: hey sweet baby. look at me.it's all going to be okay if you yell at your

friend to let us go. matt: the efreet that you control turns around andgoes, "hey! this is not our business. we need to "let them go." the other efreet goes, "what are youtalking about? they're at our disposal!" he looks back at the first one who goes, "it doesn'tmatter. let them go. now." the other one looks down at you and looks at the other one. that'scocked. and glances down at you, scanlan, and goes, "what have you done to my friend?" sam: i say to him: i'm just a mere slave and--kill him! kill him now! kill him right now! laura and taliesin: oh, no! matt: i need to make a-- actually, for dominate--

laura: get up and run, you guys. you betterfucking run away. travis: is anyone else in this alley? matt: right now, from what you can see-- you can'tsee anything, you're on the ground prone right now. you're surrounded by everyone shouting at eachother at this moment. from what you can see, nobody else is in this alleyway at the moment. laura: it's crazy city, people fight all thetime. ashley: they're used to this, this iseveryday life. liam: yeah, there are fights on every corner. matt: okay, yeah, so the efreet that you control,who's still staring at the friend, looks at you as

you shout this, grins, and grabs the other efreetby the throat and slams him into the wall. marisha: run! matt: you just go running? matt: down the alleyway? marisha: i want to go catch up with them! matt: so as it's holding the other efreet againstthe wall, his thumbs pushing into his throat like (choking), it's reaching up and grabbing the backof the hands, its legs flailing as bits of smoke and ash being cast off, keyleth runs past, thistiefling fucking running as fast as you can down the alleyway. what are you guys doing?

travis: can i pop up, grab pike, and start runningafter keyleth? matt: yeah, so you grab her by the back of thearmor and lift her up off the ground. pike, you start running, but all of a sudden your feet areoff the ground, you're running in the air, as grog is like bounding with you. travis: and i'm hoping that as we get towards thedoor i can shrink back down to go through any doorway that they're headed towards. laura: we're heading towards an alleyway. matt: there's an alleyway, is what you can see,that keyleth darts off into. travis: good deal.

matt: scanlan, what are you doing? sam: i am staying put until my friends are faraway. i'm watching them, watching them, back and forth. matt: okay, you watch as the one efreet holdinghis friend against the wall there is like (strained grunt). the one that's being chokedgoes, (choking) "what's this?" he reaches down and pulls a blade out of the side and beginsjabbing it into the arm of the guy who's holding him. ashley and taliesin: run. run! matt: which does six damage there, and he gets tomake a saving throw because he took damage. so he's like, stabbing him in the arm repeatedly. theother guy's like (grunting), still pushing into his throat, and he takes him, lifts him up, andslams him into the other wall, causing him to drop

the dagger in the other hand, and begins to pushhim down towards the ground. you can see his eyes, still intense, but controlled by the spell as he'spushing the other efreet into the dark stonework and you can see it cracking and breaking againstthe force. the other efreet now is being held against their-- (foreign language) and beginschanting something beneath his breath. sam: oh, shit. they do magic shit? taliesin: yes, they do. sam: i thought they were just big and scary. taliesin: no. matt: so he's currently chanting under his breathand you watch as the words begin to emit, his form

begins to shimmer and change. sam: how far have my allies gotten? matt: if you're glancing around the alleyway, atthis point in time, full pace, full round, you see grog and pike have just now disappeared around thecorner of that alleyway. sam: and keyleth is gone? matt: keyleth is gone. she got there before theydid. actually, you guys would have caught up pretty fast because of grog's speed. so keylethwould have gotten a head start and then grog bypassed her, so you just see keyleth disappear behindthe corner of the alleyway. travis: i'll snag keyleth, too. i've got themboth.

sam: all right. so my work here is done, so i'mgoing to tip my beret, good day to you both, and i'll dimension door into the alley with them orwherever they went. actually, i don't know that alley, so i'm going to go in that direction thenumber of feet i think it is. matt: okay, so you'll be appearing at the mouth ofthat alleyway and you can dart into it. i would say go ahead and make a stealth roll to see if theone who is currently casting even has a glance of seeing you out of the corner of his eye. sam: oh, wow! that's the best roll i've ever done.21! stealth! matt: okay. at the moment as you disappear intothe door, you watch as the efreet that's being choked, his form turns into reddish-white gas,like a cloud of mist, and escapes the grip of his

friend, who then looks up and-- let's see here.okay, yeah, he's going to go ahead and angrily look up and his legs turn into that burst of flameand begin to rise up. and he begins clawing at the gaseous cloud as you disappear and vanish, leavingthem both still fighting. you pull into the alleyway and you guys are all there for a moment.you see the rest of them further down the alleyway now. you continue following them, i imagine? sam: yeah. laura: do we need to hide? marisha: yeah, do these alleyways connect? does itblock around? matt: the one that you were pushed into,essentially as you were walking forward, is to the

left. you guys continued forward past two morealleyways and then went to the second one to the right that way and so this one continues down andseems to curve around after about 100 feet or so through a series of buildings that are built rightnext to each other, giving you one pathway that curves out of sight. laura: let's go as far away out of sight as wecan. matt: okay, so you guys continue forward down thatalley. you hear in the distance the muffled sounds of some sort of weird, echoey scuffle and it seemsto vanish into the rest of the atmospheric sound of general wind being blown through tight passagesand the occasional flare of flame. you all turn the corner as it begins to curve and suddenlythere's another splinter alleyway that descends

into stairs and, you guys following the twohumanoid individuals you originally followed, continue down that path and they lead you into asmall, enclosed room. there's a door that's partially ajar and they've shoved their way intoit and disappear inside. do you follow? laura: i think that's the option. everybody'srunning for their lives right now. matt: all right, so you guys all dart into thissame room. as you guys all charge into here-- sam: we all die. matt: yeah, it's filled with spikes and fire. asyou go charging into this room, immediately it's much smaller that i think you all anticipated andit would be vex and vax getting there first. you guys charge into the room and your darkvisionhelps you as you adjust to the change of light,

just in time for you to run into the twoindividuals that had led you in there. this is some sort of a storage room, filled with a series ofmetallic boxes. and this room could comfortably fit five people. and as soon as you charge, youram into their shoulder and before you can turn, all of a sudden, you watch as grog with two otherpeople comes slamming in and you've all very tightly squeezed into this dark space. laura: sorry. ashley: i climb and sit on top of grog. matt: as scanlan comes around the corner-- sam: right in behind grog's butt. just smooshed onup.

matt: and you do. sweaty cheek. reverse motorboat.it's a terrible thing. liam: is it tight enough that the two strangersare smooshed in as badly as we are? matt: yeah, they're like, (strained) "okay--please-- " marisha: is this dark? matt: it's dark. there's no light in here, yeah. marisha: i lift my hand and i light it up to giveus a little bit of light. travis: could we close the door? taliesin: scanlan, close the door! sam: (muffled) why are we in here?

travis: are there any windows or anything? matt: no, there's just the door you guys entered.it's a storage shed. liam: this is a little more than i think i wasasking for, but what is there to see in the city of brass? matt: you're asking this right now? he looks atyou. "you're asking this right now?" liam: so we're out of sorts. we're not from here,obviously. laura: hi. liam: hi. that's my sister. you can tell becauseshe looks just like me. marisha: aw, grog.

travis: it was pike! ashley: that's not true. marisha: it's a very small room! liam: you don't look like many of the largerfolk-- thank you, dear-- that we've seen around here either. are you from here? are you strangershere? laura: how are you not slaves right now? liam: that. matt: let me change this to a bit of a calmercircumstance, here-- the tiefling says, "shh!" matt: "shh! close the door!" and it is like--

laura: can i climb up on one of the boxes to givemore foot room? matt: as you all inhale, the door finally closes.vex climbs up. a minute of quiet passes. eventually, as silence passes for a bit, you heara voice, a very soft and gentle voice that you haven't heard yet, break the darkness. he goes, "ithink it's safe to speak now." the lithe-looking individual you saw earlier with the wiry red hairand the somewhat reddish-black eyes says, "well, "it was uncommon to see individuals wandering thiscity with a look of absolute victimization." sam: (muffled) we don't look that bad, do we? laura: i pick up scanlan and put him up on a box. liam: those aren't pillows!

sam: i don't think grog wears underpants! travis: who does? matt: "i'm senokir. this is uten, my businesspartner. we are jewelers here in the city of "brass. and if i'm not mistaken, you now owe us afavor." liam: maybe we could do a bit of business.percival, you were looking for a jeweler, right? taliesin: well, it's a little far away at themoment, but we could do a bit of business because we have other business to attend to. marisha: what caught your attention on us, asidefrom the utter look of pathetic-ness? matt: "favors are more useful when you're not inchains."

laura: yes, this is true. matt: "so. let us wait here about ten, 15 moremoments. let any immediate chance of you running "into those thugs pass. we'll have a more privateconversation at our place of business, if you "don't mind." laura: why do you wear those white robes? do theysignify anything? matt: "they signify our freedom." marisha: were you once in chains? matt: "few that come here manage to escape thatfate immediately. we found our way." marisha: that's ominous. can i do an insightcheck? does that mean he murdered a lot of

fricking people? matt: make an insight check. marisha: let's go druid dice. oh god. ooh, it's an18! what was it, insight? right? 29. laura: whoa, you've got really high insight. taliesin: she know shit. sam: whispers! loot crate, everybody! loot crateis a wonderful sponsor, a fine, handsome company. laura: magic! sam: their theme is magic. you'll get a box ofmagic shit. taliesin: doctor strange is part of this one.

laura: and i think magical beasts. sam: these are movies that i will never see,because i have children. taliesin: in about 15 years, we're going to sitdown and show you everything. it's going to be great. marisha: which one was the tiefling, and which onewas him? matt: the one that's been speaking to you is theother humanoid of strange racial origin. marisha: senokir is the humanoid? matt: yeah, senokir is the humanoid. marisha: who is, something's off about him? matt: something's different. you don't recognizehis race or background.

marisha: uten, how long have the two of you beenin business together? matt: "shh, let us wait. we will continue thisconversation at our establishment." laura: is this your room? matt: "no." laura: whose room is it? matt: "i have no idea. which is why we shouldn'tstay long." ashley: do you know where those thugs were tryingto take us? or have an idea? matt: "i have no idea, but i imagine they wouldhave called in some friends to meet you and you "would have found yourselves in a very toughposition."

liam: all right, it's really starting to smelllike grog in here, so why don't we go-- matt: "a few more moments, please." travis: it was really hard not to fight, man. i doterrible when i don't fight. matt: "shh." you wait in awkward silence for thenext five minutes, with any sort of sound, utterance, or conversation being immediatelyshushed by senokir. eventually-- ashley: (fart sound) matt: --senokir perks up and the slightly pointedears of his form seem to almost twitch. "i think "passage is safe. very well, open the door. followus, please." as you guys filter out, they continue, a quick pace, and lead you through aseries of winding side streets and momentary

pauses to pass as a number of other creatures andindividuals walk by. passing efreeti, passing occasionally some sort of giant, winged, redcreature that stalks down the street, dragging behind it a large cart that has bars in it. youcan see a number of smaller, almost, i wouldn't say fey-type creatures, but things that aredefinitely not of this realm, that are all bound by neck irons. you do also see a few smallfamilies wander through, laughing, that appear to be humanoid, but once again their physicality isvery similar to the individual senokir. eventually, you are led back to a simple exterior.it's a back entrance, leading away from this main street. they both enter to this iron doorway.senokir pulls something from a pocket and glances at the rest of you. he pricks his finger andplaces it to the edge of this object, some sort of

a disk, and it has a small point on one end thathe uses to prick his finger. once he's smeared his blood on the disk, he presses it against the door,and the iron door opens up a little bit. places it in his pocket. "come inside, so we may speak,please." taliesin and liam: all right. laura: i want to look in his eyes as we are aboutto go through and see if-- how honest he looks. liam: i mean, everybody in this city wants us asslaves, so it's not really any more dangerous in there than it is-- sam: kind of flattering, really. laura: 21.

sam: it's like one of those beefcake slaveauctions for charity. matt: glancing at him, he's a very hard individualto read. he has this awkward, stilted conversational cadence to his way of speaking, andwhenever he speaks to you, he's not quite looking at you. laura: hey, my eyes are down-- matt: he doesn't seem dishonest, just hard toread. laura: all right. i like your hair. and i walkin. matt: okay. as you guys enter, these wall sconcesbegin to come to life on their own across the walls. on the inside, you can see this gorgeousworkspace for all sorts of small-level metallurgy

and metalcraft. percy, you really appreciate this.you see small furnaces and a number of metals laid out in ingots, some used in different volumes.many substances and things that you've never seen before. a couple of small boxes to the side ofrough, uncut gems, currently at this distance-- taliesin: my word. laura: i walk up and smack percy on the ass andsay, "feel like making a home here?" and walk past him. taliesin: i'm certainly thinking of some plans. matt: as the door closes behind and the twoindividuals walk in, they rummage around and begin finding some small stools and arrange them so theycan present to you more like, treat you like a guest. he sets them down. "please, sit, and weshall speak."

travis: okay! laura: how long does locate object take to cast? sam: well, that's not something you would askhim. i think he's just our host here. matt: "i have no idea these words you speak." allright, locate object. locate object is one action, so it takes six seconds to cast. laura: can i try to cast it as we sit down and seeif it's in our vicinity? sam: you can cast that shit all the time? taliesin: how often can you cast it? laura: well, it's a 2nd-level spell, so i can doit a bit.

matt: so as everyone's sitting on your stools andgetting ready, you close your eyes for a second, concentrate, mutter beneath your breath. youextend your understanding in this dark space around you, waiting for the warmth of any sort ofcall to the dawnmartyr plate. eventually your mental expansion reaches the limitations of thespell, with nothing coming back. laura: tight, tight, tight. matt: as you've all sat down and assembled,senokir sits as well, hands crossed very pleasantly in front of him. very up straight,strange head cocked a little to the side. "so "you've found yourselves here, out of place, andwe've helped you once. we will discuss the terms "of our repayment for our aid. but before then, imust ask why you would come here so unprepared."

marisha: so unprepared? does the name thordak ringa bell? the cinder king? it's a pseudonym, maybe? matt: "i have heard this name." sam: alias. laura: did he hang out around here? matt: "no. he stayed mostly over the sea offire." laura: hmm. anywho! sam: what about that plate of--? no? maybe? imean, i don't know, what are we here for? matt: "what are you here for?" marisha: thordak has escaped into our realm--

matt: "good. keep him away from here." marisha: all right, that's what we want as well. liam: you have a distaste for the wyrm? matt: "no, i just don't trust dragons." taliesin: he's currently still linked to thisrealm. matt: "hmm." taliesin: we are trying to take care of as much ofit as humanly possible. matt: "heh. humanly." taliesin: as much as humanly possible. perhaps alittle bit more. we are here for the little bit

more. we seek powers to help us defeat thedragon. matt: "perhaps i can be of aid. what powers do youseek?" laura: what powers can you do? matt: "i asked my question first." sam: so creepy! taliesin: perhaps it is time to lay it on theline. time is of the essence. liam: sure, go for it. taliesin: let's make a deal. liam: if this goes south, we can just wrap it up.

taliesin: we seek a set of plate armor. laura: a trinket, really. nothing huge. somebodywon it in a game of poker, i believe? cards? sam: a card game of some sort. taliesin: the plate of the dawnmartyr. marisha: it used to belong to the suutanbloodline. matt: "suutan, now that i am aware of." marisha: yes? matt: "does it still belong in the possession ofthis suutan?" laura: i don't think so.

sam: our information says it does not. marisha: it was won by a fire giant. matt: "a fire giant within this city?" taliesin: that is our belief. sam: are there any fire giants in this city? matt: "that narrows it down. there are only threethat live here--" sam: oh, well that's great! matt: "--not under subjugation." sam: happen to have their names?

laura: do people under subjugation own a lot?" matt: "generally, no. those that own them, ownwhat they own. so maybe it's one of them. we can "go ask." sam: are they close? matt: "relatively. depending on which one you askfirst." sam: you could just give us their addresses orsomething and we could go check it out. if you had a thomas guide--? laura: where's uten? what's uten doing? matt: uten is sitting back, arms crossed.

laura: he seems totally chill? this is the waythis dude talks all the fucking time? (laughing) matt: completely unfazed. taliesin: depending on how things go, we may evenspeak of perhaps commissioning some pieces. your work is astounding. matt: he suddenly leans forward, steps up from thestool, and walks over to you and begins to look very closely over your clothing. "can you affordwhat i make?" taliesin: possibly. i would like to think so.depending on how the next few weeks go, there will be much to celebrate, and your work iscelebratory.

laura: do you require monetary compensation, or isit something more? matt: "depends. i have plenty of money, but youowe me, and if i help you find this giant and this "armor you're seeking, you will owe me even more.so. to keep this interesting, how about we go find "this armor?" liam: you don't even want to hint at what you'relooking for? matt: "where's the fun in that?" liam: you cheeky bastard, matthew mercer. matt: "so. to the giant?" laura: should we make ourselves not look like us?should we maybe look like something different?

travis: yeah, how will you keep us from beingharassed in the streets? matt: "well, i mean no disrespect, but--" he liftshis hand and snaps the fingers. you watch as uten goes, "oh, right, sorry. i got you." he goesrummaging through a case and you hear what sounds like the dragging and clanging of many pieces ofsmall metal. procures a series of chains and neck irons. senokir looks up. "there's not much else ihave to offer but, for the most part, you won't be "bothered." ashley: oh, you love it. taliesin: let me put forward a theory for you. travis: you son of a bitch.

taliesin: i hate those eyes. i can't look at them.i hate you. whatever deal we make with you here, for the record, none of us will be staying. we maybe coming back to fulfill some service, we may be coming back to fulfill some favor, and we will ifthat is the deal we make. matt: "if that is the deal we make." taliesin: but the deal we make will not includeany of us. is that understood? is that agreeable? sam: unless it's for a one-time sexual favor ofsome sort. taliesin: only with him. laura: in which case, take your pick. sam: i'm up for that.

travis: i'm up, too. taliesin: oh my god, you people. matt: "i think you will find our arrangementsagreeable." taliesin: and i may have some things to excite youwith, as well. stop it! i know you've been doing it all game! ashley: that was me. marisha: he said in accent. matt: "it seems we've found some semblance of anaccord for the time. come, place these gently upon "yourselves and we'll be on our way."

laura: don't you have any white robes you can giveus instead? matt: "i'm sorry, no. those come with station, andstation requires recognition. none will recognize "you here. you'll be found out immediately." sam: should we chain ourselves to each other, orto you? how does this work? laura: check out those chains and see if they'remagic? marisha: a few of us could look like you, to keepall of us out of chains? maybe a few exceptions? laura: you can get big and then look like anefreeti? marisha: i can look like one of them. very simply.i think we'd all feel a little bit comfortable if some of us were free.

matt: "sure. if you are confident." marisha: i study him and i change to like a-- laura: maybe somebody that is better at talking? marisha: i don't have to talk, i just have to looklike someone else. that's not that hard. taliesin: oh for god's sakes. sam: i'm going to go look at the chains and arcanacheck them. matt: go for it. marisha: i change myself to look like one of him.i'm like, eh? eh? passable? sam: oh, 22! no, just 20.

matt: just 20? the chains appear to be mundane.they are heavy, they are thick, they are definitely functional, but they are notenchanted. sam: i'm going to slap some on. liam: i'm going to slip on my ring of invisibilityand spend the next 20 minutes attuning to it. matt: he looks you over. "impressive. i think youwill get no concern from myself when the other "genasi cross your way." marisha: (slowly) do all of you talk like this? doi also need to talk like this? matt: "i don't know what you mean." marisha: never mind.

travis: i go put the chains on, as well. taliesin: i put the chains on. laura: i want to put them on, but i don't want toclick them. i want to hang them and make them look like they're attached, but i don't want to attachthem. matt: okay, make a sleight of hand check. sam: they fall to the floor! ashley: are they wrist or-- matt: there's one for each wrist and then a neckiron. laura: 11?

sam: i'm familiar with these because i have a setin my room. matt: of course you do. the idea is, your handsare chained, and the chains attack to the neck iron about there, so you don't have a whole lot ofarm movement, and then the neck iron has a chain from the back that is held. and actually, utenbegins to gather all the chains at the very back and runs them to a singular ring, which is held byhim. ashley: can i put on, if i put on my glove ofstoring, does that mean i have to take off one of the gauntlets? matt: glove of storing, yeah. you wouldn't be ableto have both attuned because they're both on the hand. ashley: can i wear one?

matt: no, sorry. taliesin: just for insanity's sake, before i slipthem on, i'm going to take a little bit of gunpowder out of my pouch and sprinkle a littlebit in the locks and have some on my hands. laura: you're going to blow your little handsoff. taliesin: oh, it's going to be awful. matt: (victor voice) "learn from my mistakes!" taliesin: not enough to blow a hand off, but yes. matt: okay. vex, you manage to get them clickedon, and as soon as you feel confident, they go (clank) and hang open.

laura: oh. i must have not attached them quiteright. sam: do you want me to do it for you? laura: oh, no, that's okay. travis: please? matt: as all of the chains are attached, some timehas passed. you've attuned to your ring. what have you un-attuned to? liam: my boots have gone slack. matt: so you have the ring on. you're maintainingyour altered appearance. uten takes all the chains and clinks them onto the one ring. gives it a tug,just to check, and you all feel the tug from

behind. "very well. it seems we are prepared.come, now, let us all go speak with whaska." liam: he didn't chain me, though, right? am ichained? there's no invisible floating chain? matt: no, he doesn't seem like he's intent onchaining all of you. he just chained those that couldn't pass. sam: whaska the giant. whaska the giant, right? matt: "yes." liam: is vex chained? laura: i am. liam: i tweak her nose and give her a wet willy,and then dart six feet back.

laura: you fucking dick! matt: (chuckles) matt: "now come! uten, come." and he walks out thefront door, this time. as you guys are led through the two front doors, as they open, as senokirpushes them, you see this wonderful thoroughfare in front with a giant fountain that has thismolten rock, this lava fountain, that pours out into this large, open pit that descends intodarkness below. you see these giant, black, obelisk-like pillars that jut out in the center,and probably about two dozen entities from all walks of life walking through and havingconversations and talking, many of which having their own chained slaves at their side. thisappears to be one of many central social civil

places within the city of brass. and that's wherewe'll end tonight's session. travis: did the people that have the people inchains, are they wearing the white robes and stuff? matt: different outfits. it appears that it isn'tlike, the white robes signify that a person is free. just for these two, it's a level of station,it seems, in the way they've described it. sam: had we stopped in one more minute, i wouldhave had to take off this shirt, revealing nothing underneath. matt: shit! taliesin: not even his bare chest, just nothing.the void. sam: lava pouring in.

liam: we'll grab ashley, run into the fire plane,the armor will be right there, for her visit, and then it'll be done! one shot. matt: you're not filming next thursday, are you? ashley: i hope not. that's the first day of thatnext episode, so i don't have the schedule yet. matt: let me know. if you're not scheduled, we'lltry and skype you in, because i would still like you to continue this. ashley: i will. i'll have to skype, but-- matt: that's fine. just having you here. travis: good to have you back, man!

liam: it's better when you're here! ashley: oh, well, okay! sam: it's really better when you here. it's notgood when you're not here. in fact, don't watch when she's not here. ashley: i felt like, maybe to everybody watching,but i didn't feel like we were playing that long. so you ended the game and i was like, "no! what?we just-- oh." matt: it's been four hours! i know. well, guys,thank you for watching. i hope you had fun, as we do, in this insanity. ashley: i love this character so much.

taliesin: he's my new favorite. the week afterhalloween? the week after? matt: that's just how it worked out, guys! taliesin: i'll never see victor again. i have anew best friend. matt: guys, you're awesome. you're awesome. i'mgoing to go home and sleep. thank you, loot crate, once again. thank you to all you amazing crittersin your amazing halloween costumes. still blown away by all of that. have a wonderful night, andis it thursday yet? see you next week. [music]

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