King of Cards | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 21 Part 1

Summary

Critical Role: Campaign 4, Episode 21 Part 1 — “King of Cards”

Date: April 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into both the personal and political lives of the party in the city of Dolmakyar. Through rich family scenes, city intrigue, and high-stakes investigation, the characters are forced to contend with the fallout of recent events, search for missing allies, and navigate the complex power structures of the sundered houses of Ahriman. Social maneuvering, family tradition, and magical secrets combine as the party chases after crucial leads—including the whereabouts of the elusive Demidus Blix.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

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1. A Family’s Roots: Orcish Holiday at the Loy Estate

Timestamps: [02:17]–[25:42]

Main Points

• The episode opens with an extended flashback to Dolmakyar in Year 42, during Dzharhaz, an orcish holiday celebrating renewal after the defeat of a tyrannical conqueror.
• Hal (Taliesin Jaffe) and Tysha (Marisha Ray), both 19, are introduced as a couple coming to the Loy family’s home.
• The Loy family is revealed to be a large, respected clan of smiths, engineers, and warriors steeped in history and tradition but not keen on accumulating noble trappings ("We want to stay in the work for money game" – Gorzov, Hal's future brother-in-law, [17:37]).
• Tysha’s grandmother, Siva, is a druid deeply connected to the land and described as the familial and spiritual heart. She imparts blessing and history reflecting the city’s resilience, the costs of war, and the hope of new beginnings.

Notable Quotes

• Siva (Matthew Mercer):
  "Let us not worry of axes and the vines they cut. Let us instead worry only of things that blossom and bloom." [15:19]
• Tysha (Marisha Ray):
  "We bless the conqueror for his honesty. Because of all the gods of Ahriman, Ars was the only one who never lied about what he truly was. For his honesty, we bless him most of all." [24:37]

Memorable Moments

• Tysha leading Hal around, her happiness and innocence shining in contrast to the darker events of the present.
• The family’s ongoing internal debate about making "just one more sword" to fund city infrastructure—a metaphor for the pressures of legacy and economics.
• Siva’s grounding ritual and blessing: an invocation of tradition, forgiveness, and transformation that visibly impacts all present.

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2. City Intrigue & Schemes: The Search for Demidus

Timestamps: [33:08]–[76:38]

Main Points

• The scene returns to the present as the party operates in the complicated postwar city of Dolmakyar and navigates relationships with factions, bureaucrats, and criminal elements.
• Hal and the group secure the release of Misha Undragor, a troupe instructor wrongfully detained as authorities search for missing illusionist Demidus Blix.
• The party splits, some returning home for safety, others preparing for critical meetings with estate staff and looking for signs that they're being watched or tailed.
• Discussion of the political fallout: missing scions, sundered house intrigue, and the use of magical evidence to mislead investigations.

Notable Quotes

• Hal (Taliesin Jaffe):
  "You're just a stepping stone to what they're after. They're grasping at straws, trying to find somebody else." [38:32]
• Azunay (Izek Straz):
  "So just be a homebody. Help yourself to whatever food you find in the kitchen. Relax. There is tea." [46:13]

Memorable Moments

• Hal’s home-coming advice and his anxiety about walking into a potential trap after a visit from cultists.
• The group debating whether to split up or stick together: "I'm getting more and more concerned about us getting caught in something by ourselves." – Delilah [49:11].
• Team strategy and trust on display as party members support each other through social checks, magical guidance, and subtle assists.

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3. Secrets in the Seven Stars: Card Games and Criminal Leads

Timestamps: [54:38]–[153:24] (core investigation & main action)

Main Points

• The party gathers at the Seven Stars, a lively theater-district bar, for a crucial info-gathering mission.

• Hal meets with Romina Roundtree, a domestic at the influential Einfassen estate, to learn about the city’s political climate:

  • A key patron has gone missing, causing growing pressure on the party's ability to mount their upcoming play.
  • Inter-house relations are increasingly strained, with rumors of disappearances, covert power grabs, and the threat of mercenary contracts rising.

• On the gambling floor, Bolaire and Azunay zero in on Pimlee Morne, a smuggler connected to Demidus Blix.
  A tense, skillful conversation in the back room bathroom (and a dramatic use of hold person!) reveals that Pimlee was paid by Blix for safe passage out of town but, feeling the heat, handed him off to the "Crow Keepers" gang.

Notable Quotes

• Romina (Matthew Mercer):
  "Without the Lord Wicander, I don't know how easy it will be to protect the theater... You had someone in your corner that you've lost, and if you can't get him back, I think that there's going to be trouble." [83:50]
• Hal (Taliesin Jaffe), giving thanks for an inside tip:
  "I would sooner give over mine own tongue than betray the trust you've placed in me." [86:53]
• Pimlee Morne (Matthew Mercer):
  "Kid comes from and turns out he's fucking glowing like a beacon, calling every fucking horrifying power the city has to offer... I dumped him. Couldn't pay me. Already knew that the Crow Keepers wanted them. So I collected a bounty from them and I fucking took off." [121:27]

Memorable Moments

• The episode's titular "King of Cards" sequence:
  Bolaire (in disguise as "Delix Blix") bluffs and mingles at the high-stakes table with a colorful cast:
  • Gus, a seemingly gruff mercenary with a secret royal identity (revealed as King Augustus of Timony!)
  • Druspin Fortunada, the haughty aristocratic haberdasher
  • Arnesha, a wizard-turned-would-be professional gambler
  • The abrupt party swap and improvised double-agenting made the scene highly entertaining.
• Game trivia and banter: "Man, I could eat some ass." – Taliesin Jaffe, with the party ordering "donkey steaks" [63:32], and extended joking about ass and food.
• Pimlee’s failed escape from the bathroom and subsequent forced confession under magical duress—an effective mix of tension and dark humor.

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4. Revelations, Royalty, and Next Steps

Timestamps: [144:23]–[153:28]

Main Points

• As the party regroups outside, King Augustus ("Gus") is called away by his attendant, revealing his true identity to Hal and the others. He hints at the city's tension and thanks Hal for his hospitality.
• The leads obtained all point toward the "Crow Keepers" gang, with Demidus Blix having potentially fallen into their custody—a critical and urgent clue.

Notable Quotes

• Gus/King Augustus (Matthew Mercer):
  "The finer neighborhoods are filled with some of the most gifted and studied liars in the world. It's nice to come to a place with a little bit more honesty." [147:02]

• Murray (Marisha Ray):
  "I know where Demidus Blix is." [153:24]

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Major Characters & New NPCs

• Hal (Taliesin Jaffe): Main protagonist, struggling between personal/familial loyalty and political intrigue.
• Tysha (Marisha Ray): Hal’s love interest, young jeweler, and healer.
• Siva (Matthew Mercer): Tysha’s druidic grandmother, anchor of family and tradition.
• Misha Undragor: Troupe instructor, wrongly accused.
• Romina & Inez Roundtree: Staff at House Einfassen, bring crucial information about house politics and the city’s shifting power balance.
• Pimlee Morne: Smuggler, connection to Demidus Blix and the Crow Keepers.
• Druspin Fortunada, Arnesha, Gus (King Augustus): Players at the Seven Stars card table—a melting pot of new information and hidden agendas.
• Crow Keepers: Criminal syndicate, currently holding Demidus Blix.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:17] Loy Family Introduction & Orcish Holiday
• [15:19] Siva’s Blessing and Tysha’s Ritual
• [33:08] Shift to Present; City Intrigue Begins
• [54:38] Arrival at the Seven Stars
• [66:17] Hal’s Meeting with Romina: Einfassen Politics
• [94:00-102:07] High Stakes at the Card Table; Pimlee Exposed
• [112:34–126:27] Bathroom Confrontation: Pimlee’s Confession
• [147:02] Gus Revealed as King Augustus; Royalty in Disguise
• [153:24] Murray Discovers Demidus Blix's Location

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Episode Tone & Style

• Characteristically Critical Role: wry, heartfelt, and deeply collaborative, with quick pivots between laughter and tension.
• Intimate family scenes and friendly ribbing sit side-by-side with noirish cloak-and-dagger maneuvers in Dolmakyar’s criminal underworld.
• The group’s improvisational style and talent for weaving personal and political stakes are on full display.

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Memorable Quotes

• "Let us not worry of axes and the vines they cut. Let us instead worry only of things that blossom and bloom." — Siva [15:19]
• "Man, I could eat some ass." — Taliesin Jaffe [63:32]
• "I dumped him. Couldn't pay me. Already knew that the Crow Keepers wanted them. So I collected a bounty from the Crow Keepers and I fucking took off." — Pimlee Morne [121:27]
• "I know where Demidus Blix is." — Murray [153:24]

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Where the Party Stands

Personal Ties:

• Hal and Tysha’s relationship and Loy family history remains a source of meaning and grounding.
• The party’s connections in Dolmakyar—friends, ex-colleagues, allies in high and low places—are more critical than ever.

Political Web:

• Multiple noble houses in turmoil; missing heirs and rumors of magical malfeasance.
• Mercenary contracts and sudden power grabs shake the city’s foundations.
• The search for Demidus Blix now points to direct conflict with the Crow Keepers.

Immediate Action:

• All clues point toward a dangerous encounter with the Crow Keepers next.
• The party’s ability to operate may hinge on whether they can rescue (or broker a deal for) Demidus before he’s lost—or worse.
• The stakes, both personal and city-wide, are higher than ever as Campaign 4 continues.

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Part Two drops Tuesday. Until then, the city holds its breath—so does the party.

Transcript

[Matthew Mercer]

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[Taliesin Jaffe]

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[Taliesin Jaffe]

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[Matthew Mercer]

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[Marisha Ray]

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[Marisha Ray]

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[Gabby Winde]

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[Marisha Ray]

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[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Why hello there. I'm Brennan Lee Mulligan and welcome to Campaign 4 of Critical Role. Thank you for joining us on this

[Matthew Mercer]

journey as we explore Ahriman, a world

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

of fate, fractured kingdoms, tumultuous rebellion and

[Matthew Mercer]

sorcery that rises from the graveyard of the gods. You're listening to Part one of this

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

adventure, with Part two arriving this upcoming Tuesday. Our episodes typically arrive on the Critical Role Podcast network a week after our initial Thursday night streams on Beacon, YouTube and Twitch. But if you'd rather listen to a full podcast episode of Campaign 4 Right When it airs without any ads, consider

[Matthew Mercer]

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[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

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[Matthew Mercer]

episode of Critical Role.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We return to the city of Dolmakyar,

[Matthew Mercer]

which is beautiful and the gray spires

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

and proud stone arches of this wondrous metropolis shine with hope and promise and

[Matthew Mercer]

of a different time. For indeed, it is not the year 71, it is the year 42, and

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

two 19 year old Orcs walk side by side to a location we have already seen, though last we saw the Loi estate. It was home to the animation of the corpse of one Octus Taconis. We see a Loy estate bustling with activity, joyousness, frivolity. For indeed, this is the afternoon heading into the evening of Dzharhaz, the orcish

[Matthew Mercer]

holiday celebrating the end of the reign of Oscar the Conqueror. And more than that, the blooming of green life that came at this time 42 years ago to the land of Cod that changed overnight from a land choked by ash and the glowering fire of the God of war, war and strife, to instead become a green growing land of promise, bounty and fellowship.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Can we describe these two 19 year olds that approach this family gathering?

[Marisha Ray]

You want to go first?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

No.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

But I will if you want me to.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Go ahead.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Hal is a lanky, tall, but not as tall tall as his companion young lad. He still carries himself with a smile most times at this age, even though he has been doing some bloody work far off from here, he is dressed in pretty simple clothes. He's the son of a soldier and he's the son of a foreign emissary who do not live together. And they get by. And that's just about it. And behind that smile, which never really leaves his face, is a little bit of, if you're perceptive, a little bit of worry behind the eyes.

[Marisha Ray]

Ooh. I think, unfortunately, Tysha's not paying too much attention. She's just so excited. Wrapped around your arm and shoulder and leaning into you, young Tycha has a bunch of very ornate braids that are woven through with bits of silver and ironwork jewelry. Her hands are covered with rings and she's got piercings. She's young and definitely looks softer than we've ever met her. Because this is before any part of her life has called her to step away from this city or what she thinks her purpose is, which is to be a jewelry maker with a really cute boyfriend that she's so excitedly dragging across the river to her house.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Do you have a page on orcsy?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I do, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, it's not so much a page, but I tell my friends to tell friends and then it kind of happens that way organically.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's not really about the money.

[Marisha Ray]

I just need a creative outlet.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hal, growing up in Dolmakyar, the Loy family. The Loys. The Loys. They built the Pariah Blades.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

The Loys.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The Lois. And you met one. Now, meeting Aloy is not hard. They're an extremely large, prosperous family. Your odds of meeting Aloy. Go up with each passing generation and you can hear the noise of an extremely large, gregarious family inside of the estate as you walk up here. But you are still meeting. There are members of Tysha's family that

[Matthew Mercer]

saw active war in the Shapers War,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

which at this point, again, is only ended 41, 42 years ago.

[Matthew Mercer]

Walking through the gate, about to meet

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

your girlfriend's family, you turn around and

[Marisha Ray]

you hear, Are we using labels? It's only been a couple weeks.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

We do whatever you want. I'll follow your lead. Are you sure about this?

[Murray]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

No boyfriend.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Let's go.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Wow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Turning around, you walk in, you see nearby your mother, Tana Loy is directing something. She looks over and says, baby, and comes over and picks you up as someone else comes out and says, it's hot, it's hot. Put it down or keep it up. Put it down here. Put it down.

[Marisha Ray]

I grab it and then kind of

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

put it in your hands. Hands you a tray. You see that? The mother says in your.

[Matthew Mercer]

How

[Taliesin Jaffe]

guilty is charged?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Come on in, come on in. She sort of pushes you, pushing you from the back.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I've walked past this building a thousand times.

[Matthew Mercer]

Why am I in it?

[Marisha Ray]

It's not a building, it's a home. It's a home. It's a home.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You walk in, you see that your sister Kyosha comes over and gives you a big hug and says, hey, what's up? Hi.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Look, he can carry a whole tray. It's so cute.

[Matthew Mercer]

And this is Gazaar. No, this is. No, no.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh my God. Stop. Stop. How?

[Matthew Mercer]

I can't.

[Marisha Ray]

It's been literal weeks.

[Matthew Mercer]

What are you talking about? This is not Gizar. This is.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

No, this is. Nice to meet you. I'm Kyosha. I'm Tycha's older sister.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Let's see if I can do it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Woo.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You're already learning. Hello. You walk over, you see that Tysha's sister is beautiful. She's got her hair tied up in a coil of braids on top of her head. Comes over Gorzov, who is a rotund, muscular. But you see that he looks like classic blacksmith shit. He just hoists you up and makes the seat for you on his shoulder as he looks over and says, how's it going? What's it, Hollis? What's your name?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Hallendier.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

What's up? Nice to meet you.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Call me Hal. I'm gonna set these over here.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's where they go. Hey, nice to meet you. He gives you a thick handshake. He goes, nice. You're serving in the great battalion, right?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah, been back.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You in Timony or are you out east or where are you serving?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Out east.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You've seen some real action?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Afraid so.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see, he turns around and says, I got something. Hold on. And you see that? He puts you over, puts you on your dad's shoulder, who turns around as you see your dad is outside grilling on this massive steel contraption that you see he has built from as a smith himself. He looks in and you see that it is burning under this. As he opens a crown on the side, this blast furnace comes out and flash fries a series of steaks. He goes, they only need about 3 seconds. Keeps them red in the middle. Sweetie.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Hi.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm just kissing the back of his head. You see that? Still six' four.

[Marisha Ray]

Let me be clear. This is a giant woman being passed.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

How big is dad?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There's not an orc here that's under six feet.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that the Loy family are prosperous. They were back in Dolmachyar of the past. They were to have had the resources

[Matthew Mercer]

to craft the plan that they did. The city of Dolmachyar relied on them

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

not only for their smithing, their feats of engineering. So the Loy family, if you're going to have warriors, you have to have them be able to fight war.

[Matthew Mercer]

And the level of knowledge that the Loy family accumulated back in the past was prodigious.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see, this is a family that are proficient warriors and smiths and engineers. You see that looking over, the brother Gorzav looks out and goes, oh, do you have standard issue? Can I see your sword for a second?

[Marisha Ray]

Sure.

[Izek Straz]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see, he takes that out, looks

[Matthew Mercer]

at it, says, okay, we can do better than this.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see, he says, give me a second. And you see, he walks up into a corner and you see that? He says, can you move the steaks over to the side? And you see that dad says, don't Smith on the grill.

[Marisha Ray]

It's gonna make the steaks taste weird.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that?

[Marisha Ray]

But do it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You hear a voice behind you, Tysha say,

[Matthew Mercer]

tycha. Who's this?

[Murray]

Grandma.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hi.

[Marisha Ray]

Scramble off of my father, who's maybe three inches taller than me, so not that hard to do and embrace my grandmother, Siva.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Siva gives you a warm hug. As she does, you see that she puts your face against your shoulder, big long embrace. And you can see that around you

[Matthew Mercer]

you can hear the buzzing of bees going off to make honey. And you feel a sort of wind Blow past and you smell almost every element of rich earth, wrought iron, green leaves. The wind blowing, smell of grain and fruit. This woman is anchored to the heart and soul of ahriman. She is 108 years old. She has seen the face of a God towering over her city. And right now the only thing on her mind is her wonderful granddaughter.

[Marisha Ray]

Hi. I think this is like the one time Tycha pauses and it's not that the, it's not that the smile drops because it's no longer sincere, but there is something when she's close to Siva that she feels everything get louder around her. She becomes more aware of everything she can say and taste in the air and the wind. And in those moments, especially when she's hugging her, she can't ignore it. Like she's been ignoring it since she was a little girl. And it's a little off putting, but as soon as the hug breaks, she can kind of shake it off again.

[Matthew Mercer]

She pulls away from you, smiles, says,

[Marisha Ray]

hi, I brought Hal. He's very important to me and not like the other ones.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

She looks at you give me an

[Marisha Ray]

insight check with my cool 20 stat.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I don't have that yet.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, there we go.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's a nine on the die and I want to live by the die.

[Matthew Mercer]

She says, you're bringing. Oh, you're bringing only Hal.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that? She turns over and goes, it's very

[Matthew Mercer]

nice to meet you.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Freeze frame.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I think that Hal in this moment is a really out of body because he has been out in the shit for quite a while. He's back in the city, he has met this beautiful young woman and everything has changed. And in this moment he's standing in the home of an institution in the city. And he also doesn't come from a large family, doesn't have a lot of siblings, is sort of drinking in all of the, the siblings energy and all the hustle and bustle of this remarkable household. And the only thing that is grounding him and keeping him from floating away is this beautiful, charming, hysterical, beautiful woman. And in this moment in time, as her grandmother is coming over, he can't help but have his pulled to the side. And he is suspecting that he wants to be with this woman for the rest of his life. Ma', am,

[Matthew Mercer]

Mr. Fang, it's very nice to meet you. I am Siva. I am Tysha's grandmother. You're from Dolmanachyar?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yes, Fang, born and raised.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's very lovely to hear. I am from Dhulmakiar and I'M glad we could make it out here for this. Tejahara's happy Tejahs to you actually.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Catch her hand and place a hand on top of it. It's an honor to be in your home and an honor to meet the woman I have heard a great deal about. It is clear to me where your granddaughter gets her streak of nobility and early wisdom.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that she looks over to

[Matthew Mercer]

you and goes, I know, right?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

She gives you a kiss on the

[Matthew Mercer]

cheek and says, we'll get you fed. I know that you've probably been eating rations for some time. Let us not worry of axes and the vines they cut. Let us instead worry only of things that blossom and bloom.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that she takes you and walks away as she does. You see that your brother and sister are talking. You see that Kyosha looks over at

[Matthew Mercer]

you and says, they want to make another sword. Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see your brother turns to you and says, we don't want to make another sword. But there are.

[Matthew Mercer]

The family funds are, you know, and

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

there's a lord in.

[Marisha Ray]

There's always a lord. I know there's always a lord that wants a little sword.

[Matthew Mercer]

I'm saying that we don't have to make it a good sword. We don't have to make it a.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We don't have to make. I'm not saying that we should arm these petty nobles.

[Marisha Ray]

The sword that Hal came in with, if you just put your name on the bat, it's fine.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's a war of attrition. That's a losing proposition over time. The swords need to be good. And you see, Kyosha just goes, well, why do we need to do this whole bridge project anyway? And you see that he turns and says, if one sword could pay for all these bridges, that land needs to be irrigated. The river is flooding pretty much once a year during the rainy season. And you see, they begin talking. Your family engages in this big debate because basically, anytime the coffers get dry, you guys make one sword. And some king in a far off land pays through the nose for a loy blade.

[Marisha Ray]

I definitely lean in and I'm trying to do the live translation of just keeping you caught up. The bridge project's actually very cool, but we're not getting a lot of other public funds, so we figured we could kind of bootstrap it ourselves.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Is this the day to day in here?

[Murray]

Yeah, kinda.

[Marisha Ray]

You know, we all get together and figure out how to spend the time. You're doing great.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that in this moment, gorzov looks over at you and says, we. Our name is as famous as any noble's name, but we don't own castles and land and stuff.

[Matthew Mercer]

We own a castle.

[Marisha Ray]

I feel like we could have one castle.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We shouldn't. We don't want to get in that game.

[Marisha Ray]

I know, but like, we want to

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

stay in the work for money game.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay, well, there's a lot in a name, and the Loy name carries much.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I appreciate that.

[Matthew Mercer]

I appreciate that, Hal.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see, looking over, Siva dings a little glass together. You see there's two older uncles that are talking to each other. You see one of them. There's the politics, conversation happening over by the wine. Someone going like, well, it was due to the bloodiness of the war.

[Matthew Mercer]

Because of that, the guilds, when the blooming happened, obviously so many had died

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

in the wars, actually made their labor worth more. I'm sorry to say it, but it's the fact of being able to work meant a lot when suddenly the land was all. And you see over here, you see there's kids running through the blood red leaves of the trees.

[Matthew Mercer]

Siva looks out and says, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Family.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Family and guests and wonderful friends of the family and beloved ones.

[Marisha Ray]

I think the moment she says family, I just instinctively grab your hand. She's already jumped so many steps. It's been weeks. It doesn't matter. You were always meant to be here.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Just sort of looks over and stares unabashedly.

[Matthew Mercer]

Dezharaaz, the blooming. We are here to celebrate the day in which Kahad bloomed. And I see many promising buds out here in this place. And you see that flowers grow around the garden. Siva being a member of the circle of ancients and the only druid here in the family of smiths.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you can see the Loy family

[Matthew Mercer]

with this intense pragmatism and curiosity and jocularity, and this one matriarch who brings this kind of spiritual weight to these proceedings.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hal, in this moment, you're here celebrating

[Matthew Mercer]

an Orcish holiday that is at this

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

point only 40 years old.

[Matthew Mercer]

Circle of Ancients survived in hiding for thousands of years and has had to stand up on its feet and provide meaning and comfort for people in the span of less than half a century.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Did Hal grow up particularly religious? Did he observe a lot of Druidic

[Matthew Mercer]

customs in the rookery or here in

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

this big sort of urban place?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I don't think. I don't think that he landed on any one faith, certainly not of the shapers, but he's so well read, both of our own history here and the history from afar. And his own mother has seen to that. She's brought him no shortage of materials to read from abroad. And it is so interwoven with the long history of Kahad that he loves the lore and the value of it to our people and our community. And it is intoxicating to see this whole family and this young woman who embodies the meaning of the land.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that?

[Matthew Mercer]

Siva looks over and says, After the fall of the Conqueror was a great farav given for the fallen soldiers, those that had surrounded and protected Shay Claw before she laid the smiting blow upon the dread tyrant's brow. There in that place, the druid Igari shadow walked from the darkness and gave the first farav under the sky in thousands of years to celebrate the honored dead as part of the Farav, could any in attendance ask for a blessing, as was the custom and still is. Blessings for the honored dead, for their family, the land, the mountains, the rivers, the sky. Tafkazi dying on the field. The last war priest of Osgra at the end of the Farov bellowed out, demanding a blessing for the fallen conqueror. Seeking in his last breath to despoil and blaspheme. Asking for the first druid to speak in front of a crowd of orcs wishing for a better world, he sought to ask for a blessing for the conqueror to despoil that moment and bring ruin to it. Ash on the ground, fire overhead. Elgari said nothing could be easier. And you see that Siva looks out and looks to you, Tycha. And with a moment of asking if you would want to do the reading here in this moment or not, I

[Marisha Ray]

think there's no hesitation. But she also doesn't step forward in any way. She's still holding your hand, but I think there's something in that, as she kind of goes away and isn't looking at her mom or her family, is just remembering this important memory of the world. I think whatever rings are on her hand begin to go hot in your hands. Not in a way that burns or a way that she would even notice if you brought it up later. But yeah, she'll start. She's looking down in the grass, and I think the wind kicks up a little bit. She's not a druid yet, but I think this is the beginning of the world speaks for her and with her. He that seeks to destroy you is your teacher. And so we bless the conqueror for his lessons which were many. We bless the conqueror for his craft. For he shaped us not as children, but as weapons. And a weapon knows no doubt or hesitation. We bless the conqueror for his hunger, for his appetite. In his appetite, he saw Ahriman forever changed from what it was to what it might be. A blessing to him then, that the Runani reject peace in favor of a dream. And we bless him above all else for his honesty. Because of all the gods of Ahriman, Ars was the only one who never lied about what he truly was. For his honesty, we bless him most of all.

[Matthew Mercer]

The garden blooms. The wind blows. Siva speaks at the final word of the blessing. Did the skies crack and peal in thunder? God knew. Rain that healed the land. Light of sun and stars and green and growing. Things bloomed here as never before in the world of Ahriman. So we celebrate our blooming. She gives you a kiss.

[Marisha Ray]

I think Al would have said it better. He's like a really good actor.

[Matthew Mercer]

An actor? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know anymore, dear.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that she.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Please don't hold it against me.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Not at all. I'd be interested to hear what kind of shows you like to put on. And she smiles at you and says, I'm just kidding.

[Matthew Mercer]

And then she pauses for a moment and says, congratulations.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And that's all for this scene. That's all. Oh, my gosh.

[Murray]

We'll see. Incredible. Incredible.

[Marisha Ray]

She's the best great grandma in the world.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And that's all for this scene. We'll continue with our schemers tonight on

[Matthew Mercer]

another episode of Critical Role.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Wow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hello, friends, and welcome back to the critical role announcement Puree House. Tonight we got some quick announcements to get to before we jump back into Aramad. Liam, you're up. Don't get me.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I'm gonna get the papers. Get the papers. Coming next week on April 7th from our friends at Dark Horse, Vox Machina Origins Omnibus series one and two. This omnibus includes series one and two of Vox Machina Origins, written by Matthew Colville, illustrated by Olivia Sampson, colored by Chris Northrop and Msas Ek, and lettered by Ariana Mar, all in collaboration with us. Available at your local comic shop.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah, when it first came out, this is.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yep, it's the og.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's the original set.

[Izek Straz]

He's too busy with other stuff.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

You shut your pretty face. Available to your local comic shop and darkhorse.com,

[Delilah Briarwood]

i think.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm pretty sure that concludes our announcements, so. Pretty sure that there closes our announcements. So why don't we all just get back into Aramon?

[Murray]

That looks so slapping it, slapping it, slap it. Thank you.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Cut it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Cut.

[Matthew Mercer]

Ram. Sam.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Hey, hey, Liam here folks. I am a professional working nerd on the go. I usually have zero time to play when it comes to locking down lunch. My meals tend to be quick and easy as possible. But you know, sometimes I do want to slow down a tick and make something nice to eat for a change. And I've been able to use HelloFresh to do that. They've actually helped me whip up some home meals that feel like they were made by a chef who knows what they're doing, because I don't. With HelloFresh, savoring new flavors from around the world isn't just delicious. It's simple and it's wholesome. Choose from more than 80 global recipes every month, including Vietnamese, Moroccan, Caribbean and more. Nothing beats home cooking, both in the

[J]

doing and the eating.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I've been on a bit of a salad kick lately and with the stuff hello Fresh has sent me, I have made stuff above and beyond the standard mix green usual.

[J]

Do you know you can put steak in salad?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Who knew? And the recipes are still simple as heck. They just know what tastes good. So if you're curious, go to hellofresh.com criticalrole10fm now to get 10 free meals plus a free NutriBullet Ultra plus two in one compact kitchen system. A $189.99 value on your third box. Free meals applied as a discount on the first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. Must order the third box by May 31, 2026. Get cooking people.

[J]

Spring is basically nature's permission slip to

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

clean out your closet.

[J]

And if you're anything like me, that pile of I'll figure this out later clothes has been judging you since November. So this is the moment. And this is where Quintz comes in. I recently got their European linen drawstring beach pants and linen relaxed short sleeve shirt for a trip I took with my family to the beach and they were both great. I loved them. They were light and stylish. What I especially love about quints is that they cut out the middlemen and work directly with ethical factories. So you're paying for the actual quality of the clothes, not some brand name on a tag. Everything is designed to last and make getting dressed feel easy. Or which. Honestly, that's all I'm asking for. Refresh your wardrobe with quints. Go to quints.com criticalrole for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com criticalrole for free shipping, and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. Quints.com criticalrole when you're starting off with something new, it seems like your to do list keeps growing every day with new tasks, and that list can easily begin to overrun your life. Finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything can be such a game changer for millions of businesses. That tool is Shopify. With Shopify, you can tackle all those important tasks in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and more. No need to save multiple websites or try to figure out what platform is hosting the tool that you need. Everything is all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother Now. We here at Critical Role have been using Shopify for years and it has brought wonderful efficiencies to our business, especially its robust point of sale system. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com critical go to shopify.com critical that's shopify.com critical did you

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Delilah Briarwood]

Talk about time consuming.

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[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hello and welcome back to another thrilling

[Matthew Mercer]

episode of Critical Role.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We return to the schemer's table here with their schemy schemes here in the city of Dolmarchiar.

[Matthew Mercer]

As the sun sets on the city

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

of Shields, we find that our companions have been oh so busy setting up various internship programs, talking about obfuscating through paperwork and just liberating the arrested master of Dramatis Arcana at the hallowed Ren

[Matthew Mercer]

Misha Undragor, with a split lip, has been pulled from the holding cell at

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

the Brethren hall, having been arrested by

[Matthew Mercer]

an associate of Azune Nayyar Shahmad Al

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Khafsara, who had arrested Misha on suspicion of collaboration with Demidus Blix, who they got a report, had been seen stealing from Obramus Manor, the home hall here

[Matthew Mercer]

in Dolmakyar of the sundered house of Taconis. Your adventures in our last episode saw an investigation within the Palazzo Divinos with

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

some arcane abjurative scrubbing of the magical

[Matthew Mercer]

events that you knew for a fact took place there. With some intercession on behalf of the Lieutenant Nyar and some quick arcane illusion work and enchantment on the part of

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Marie Magnessen and Baler Lothalia, the Inquisitor

[Matthew Mercer]

Grotto was made to see a false vision of true events and reported to the Lord her that there had been foul play.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

This in fact was no journey into Faerie, but was instead something far more foul.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

The murder Amityville Horror of that motherfucker.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Love a biopic.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Love a biopic. Sometimes fiction must be rendered to find the truth. And speaking of fiction rendering truth, Hal released his cast early, having everything's going well, rehearsals are going well for the play, but Misha never showed up. On arriving, we also saw some investigation

[Matthew Mercer]

into this paint that was brought to Hal's doorstep by his late brother Thiazi.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And with a massive group effort, our actually unanimously arcane table was able to

[Matthew Mercer]

piece together that under the minor illusory

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

residue of some very high quality quality

[Matthew Mercer]

paints, the background hum of the cosmos Ahriman rippling with powers of conjuration and necromancy.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

While the ultimate effect of this was

[Matthew Mercer]

not gleaned, some really interesting theories were posited that seemed to align with the available information. Our arcane Marshal Azune said some of this may be, if it doesn't seem to be a finished spell, the nature of components. And seeing in fact before her divinatory eyes, Marie Magnussen saw that, yeah, there was something missing from this as after all, a stage can only be set, but the play's the thing that finishes the spell. Looking at the ripples of magical tapestry before her, Marie could only sit in awe and reverence and say this is gonna be a damn good show.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

After which you guys thundered out across

[Matthew Mercer]

the city to go and find, as we have stated, Misha Undragor, who'd been arrested and were able to piece together some pieces of this Demidus Blix mystery. This young gnomish illusionist who we had seen in memory.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Meet Bolaire, who he even named his little soapbox. He performed his marketplace allusions on the Bellaire center for the Performing Arts. This lovely young gnome, who you had offered to look after as best you could, had lost his ability to perform in the marketplace, and therefore, it seemed,

[Matthew Mercer]

perhaps had maybe taken a job, one that he perhaps should not have. However, hope remains. As if your enemies are searching for him. That can only mean one thing. They don't yet have him.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We return to Dolmakyar.

[Matthew Mercer]

Here, outside the Brethren hall, in the Fray, just south of Rubblecliff, as you exit with Misha, who howl you have invited to stay with you at your home in the rookery. Misha looks out at all of you. Those marshals certainly meant business. Hal, are you certain it's all right for me to stay with you?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah. Yes, in fact, it's sort of required. So, just for the foreseeable future, you and I are tighter than normal.

[Matthew Mercer]

All right? Understood. I didn't do anything,

[Taliesin Jaffe]

old friend.

[Matthew Mercer]

I didn't even cast a. We were nowhere near the marketplace and I didn't even cast a spell. We were just talking about theory. That's not illegal.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

You're just a stepping stone to what they're after. They're grasping at straws, trying to find somebody else.

[Matthew Mercer]

The kid.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Well, I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what's going on, but I know you.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, I don't like this one bit,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Lieutenant.

[Matthew Mercer]

For whatever it's worth, I'm sure if Demidus was somewhere that he shouldn't have been. Obermus Manor. It has to have been a misunderstanding. I'll say anything if I hear anything. But he's a good kid.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He grew up in the city.

[Matthew Mercer]

He's been coming to shows since he was. I don't know, before he was even a teenager.

[Izek Straz]

We're not doubting the character of him. We're going to see what we can do. I think the less you talk, the better. If you need to. If anybody comes, tell them you've already spoken to me.

[Matthew Mercer]

All right, Lieutenant Naira. I'll tell him exactly that.

[Delilah Briarwood]

And if you do hear anything,

[Matthew Mercer]

keep

[Delilah Briarwood]

it between everyone in this room. For starters, don't spread word to anyone that we don't know.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me a persuasion check. PolAir.

[Delilah Briarwood]

25.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that?

[Matthew Mercer]

Misha nods and looks around. He has a sort of furrowed expression on his brow as he looks at

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

you saying, Keep it just between the people in this room.

[Matthew Mercer]

He's looking at a museum curator and

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

a university professor and an officer of

[Matthew Mercer]

the law and his old friend and employer and the leader of his troupe.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So there's a lot of institutional openness. And who doesn't like museums and universities and playhouses and someone who's trying to detect arcane threats in the city. But there's a way in which you are communicating. Tell just us in this room that makes him look around in that way where you're, like, swimming and you're like.

[Matthew Mercer]

I assume I'm in a pond. I'm in the ocean.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's the same Treading water. But a sudden feeling of impossible depth. And how. How haunting that request is washes over him.

[Matthew Mercer]

Got it. I'll tell just us all people I can trust. That makes sense.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It makes a lot of sense.

[Matthew Mercer]

All right.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, should I keep company with you?

[Matthew Mercer]

Or am I. All right.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Where are we going now? I know I have to keep that appointment with. With Roundtree. See if we can figure anything out about where ironfasten is coming from in all of this.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I would like to stop by my apartment. Leave a message for Blix in case he decides that my home would be a place worth crashing out in. May not you for that.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah.

[Murray]

I could slide by his dormitory.

[Marisha Ray]

Tori

[Murray]

be willing to bet money he's not there. That would be incredibly stupid of him. But we might be able to uncover some clues as to where he's gone.

[Delilah Briarwood]

We were talking about if he went deep underground.

[Murray]

That's where I would go.

[Izek Straz]

It's the only place to go if he's on the run from those people that are in power. I would be sure.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

What all they say about the young man. Places they've already looked and failed. Anything stand out?

[Matthew Mercer]

They threw me around the room. They said that they. They said they already knew that he. At first they were talking like they already had him in custody. And they were trying to ask me questions about how I had helped him. And then they started to ask

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

if

[Matthew Mercer]

I knew his whereabouts. And then I was confused because it seemed like they'd already had him. But, you know, they might have just been saying that to try to get me to say more.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

What they seem to know already. There was a. They said that they knew that he had been at the Taconis estate at Oberlin. Ms. Manor. And I asked where. And they said it wasn't my place to Ask any questions. So I stopped. But I'll be honest, to whatever degree I can be a judge of. Of character. They didn't seem to have any details. They seemed frustrated. So I said, what was he there trying to steal? And they told me to shut up. But I don't think they knew what he was there trying to steal.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I don't know how worthwhile his dormitory would be at this point. I'm sure it's already been flipped. If anything, they would probably be watching to see who stopped by. Yeah, that would be my thought.

[Murray]

You have any tea at home?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah.

[Murray]

Aren't we home? Are we.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Are we home?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You can be. You guys can walk on back over to the rookery, right? Which is like, because it's near seven

[Matthew Mercer]

stars where your mating's gonna be.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So if you guys head back to the rookery and drop off Misha there.

[Izek Straz]

Yeah, let's escort him.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Let's assume.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, yeah,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

you go and escort Misha. Do you do anything as you're approaching Hal's home?

[Murray]

I had sea invisibility up at the end. I don't know how long that lasts, though. Let me look right now.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I mean, I think probably it makes sense to try to stay kind of low key upon approach and at least try to see if any of our friends from the other night are casing the spot.

[Delilah Briarwood]

So we're being followed.

[Murray]

We might be seeing visibility last for one hour.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay, go ahead. And anyone who wants to give me a perception check, I mean, might as well.

[Izek Straz]

Yeah, I mean, I imagine on approach, we already have precedent.

[Matthew Mercer]

Cool.

[Murray]

20 total.

[Izek Straz]

30.

[Matthew Mercer]

20.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

With that sea invisibility, you guys head

[Matthew Mercer]

up the street and do not see a carriage parked outside. Sea invisibility doesn't register anything for you, but it's more just the practice of realizing there may well be someone waiting for you there.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Doesn't look like they are. Which means that also those two mercenaries

[Matthew Mercer]

down at the corner appear to be gone as well as you walk up here. So

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

as you guys approach, you drop Misha off.

[Matthew Mercer]

Says, all right, I'll make myself at home. And she walks in and says, oh, Thiazi's body is.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

We're going to see to things tonight.

[Matthew Mercer]

All right, that sounds good.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Small going to keep it with the family.

[Matthew Mercer]

Understood? Understood. And he leaves you guys to your business.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

You know what? Do me a favor. I think we should all assume that we're being watched pretty much all the time. So just be a homebody. Help yourself to whatever food you find in the kitchen. Relax. There is tea.

[Matthew Mercer]

I'll Put on a kettle wax. He goes and gets a kettle up. Started with some tea.

[Izek Straz]

Hal. Returning to this place where I had that encounter with the member of the Candison Creed, it reminds me of the meeting that you've been summoned to with House Halabar. And I have a sneaking suspicion that since we have Taconis taking the Pentaveral Cormoray taking the Museum, Einfassen taking the Revolutionary Guard, someone who is the head of a cult might take great interest in where stories are told and where theater happens. Think they're going to try to lay claim to you

[Taliesin Jaffe]

a little bit? Feels like walking in the lion's den at that place after our visitors the other night. But that's every side. Every side.

[Matthew Mercer]

Now,

[Taliesin Jaffe]

what time of day are we at? Ish.

[Matthew Mercer]

Last few minutes of sunlight. Probably getting close to 4:35pm Sunset's a little bit early here.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay. And I'm trying to remember where we arranged the Roundtree meeting.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Seven stars.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Seven stars.

[Delilah Briarwood]

All right. So I'm looking at the map.

[Matthew Mercer]

We're there.

[Delilah Briarwood]

There's your house.

[Izek Straz]

Seven stars is not far.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Yeah. No, you're right around the block.

[Izek Straz]

Yeah.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Where's my place?

[Izek Straz]

Where is your place?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Is it on the map yet?

[Matthew Mercer]

Not put it on the map.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You're in Sir Ogremock's marketplace.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yep.

[Delilah Briarwood]

There we are.

[Murray]

Well,

[Taliesin Jaffe]

okay.

[Delilah Briarwood]

That's not too terribly far.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The rookery is. And also the rookery is on the

[Matthew Mercer]

east side of the river, which tends

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

to be the much quieter side of the city. The highway on the western side is a. That side of the city is much larger. There's a lot more action.

[Matthew Mercer]

So this is a nicer, quieter place

[Delilah Briarwood]

to have a little map. The map is so nice.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's really nice.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Shout out to.

[Matthew Mercer]

I believe. I think Jared put this working here. It's really nice.

[Delilah Briarwood]

It's perfection. It's great.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I feel like talking to Romina Rountree about the estate she works in is the easiest thing to check off the list. And I want to just clear decks.

[Izek Straz]

Yes.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

We can start talking about bigger swings after that. Whatever they may be. Do you all want to come with? Or are you talking about heading by school?

[Murray]

I guess that's a question for you. Do you feel like she might not be as open and minimal to sharing secrets if it's.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I know.

[Murray]

To a council of four of us. Oh, we could do two and two. We could split the party.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'm getting more and more concerned about. About us getting caught in something by ourselves.

[Izek Straz]

Right.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Staying together.

[Murray]

I'M also getting concerned about us running

[Delilah Briarwood]

out of time at both points. Well, how long do we have before this meeting?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I mean, it's soonish, right?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Izek Straz]

Well, we can probably waiting for you soon.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'll say too. You guys do actually. I mean it's very funny to bring this up in a D and D campaign.

[Matthew Mercer]

You guys do need to eat dinner.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Guys have been running around all day and ours has food. Some of us need to eat dinner. But he's constantly snacking. But in other words, stopping by the Seven Stars to take care of business and get a quick bite is on

[Matthew Mercer]

your way to pretty much everything else.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You could make the decision to even

[Matthew Mercer]

split the party after doing that.

[Murray]

I could use a short rest.

[Izek Straz]

Then let's.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Well, I'll tell you what. Why don't you guys just. Because I am a little concerned to approach this situation with even a small crowd around. This could be a total dead end. But if it isn't, she's going to be trepidatious. Even if it's just me. So why don't we just keep it me and you three grab a bite to eat. Grab something to eat downstairs.

[Izek Straz]

We'll be right back.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I will say and I just. I hate to put this in your head, but if you get the sense that she's holding back, I might be able to help as a last resort. In fact, I could probably help as a last resort.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay. Just in a benign manner.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I suppose that depends on one's perspective. It wouldn't be terrible. In fact, she wouldn't feel bad about it at all if I do it properly.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

All right. Noted. Noted. But she is one step removed from family.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Which is why I ask and don't just.

[Murray]

Thanks.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Thank you.

[Izek Straz]

So we should all head to the Seven Stars.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give you space with her.

[Izek Straz]

And we will rest up a little and gather our thoughts.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah. Why don't I head in ahead the of you.

[Matthew Mercer]

All right.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Buy a few.

[Izek Straz]

Okay. I would like just one moment to before you walk in with you just to help you with something. Let's head there together. You can enter on your own.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay.

[Izek Straz]

And I'll follow you towards the Seven Stars.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I need your help with a candle during food.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Candle?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Yes. We need a candle of a particular color.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Izek Straz]

The flame or the candle?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Not the flame. But I would like to let it burn as much as it needs.

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[Marisha Ray]

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[Matthew Mercer]

He loves it cool.

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[Murray]

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[Taliesin Jaffe]

All right. I assume we're nearing the spot you

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Guys, head out from your house, leaving

[Matthew Mercer]

Misha to set up some tea, make himself at home, and head around the

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

corner towards the Seven Stars, once again, a lovely theater district establishment, where you see there's a lot of people out here playing and gallivanting. Seven Stars always manages to have a

[Matthew Mercer]

pretty broad assortment of folks in here. It's like a lot of, you know,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

well to do orcish working people in the city. And there are also, I think, a lot of off the beaten path types. The Rookery still has plenty of eccentrics

[Matthew Mercer]

that live here, so this tends to be a pretty lively and colorful establishment.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You walk in and you can see as you have looking ahead of everybody

[Matthew Mercer]

else, that Inez is waiting near the door. This is a muscular, athletic, seasoned orcish woman who you see as you walk in, looks to you and says, hal, I just heard about Misha. What the.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

He's fine. It's not good, but he's all right. He's at my house. Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

Ramin is here.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

I just told her that you wanted to talk. Not about anything.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Sure.

[Matthew Mercer]

So I want to let you get the first, however you want to describe what it is you want to talk to her about.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Well, I thought it'd be good if we talked to her together.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Would you sit with me?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, absolutely. Do you want to sit here in the common room or do we want to go somewhere more private?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

No, I've a private room here. I think this is better. Without eyes and ears.

[Matthew Mercer]

Great.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

She walks over. You see that there, sitting at the

[Matthew Mercer]

table is a woman who is clearly related to Inez. Facially. They have some familial resemblance, but is maybe 8 inches shorter than her.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So one of them got all of the athletic prowess and the other sister got almost none. But she looks much still kind of broad shouldered. And she's got. You can tell her hands are like cowl.

[Matthew Mercer]

She's been working her whole life.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

But you see, she looks up and has a bag next to her that

[Matthew Mercer]

clearly has her change of clothes. She has a maid's uniform in a

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

satchel beside her, but now it has been done up for a night of drinking. She has some earrings on and has

[Matthew Mercer]

some nicer clothes on. She looks up as you approach and says, hal, a long time no see.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

It's a pleasure to see you, Ms. Roundtree. Thank you. Thank you for agreeing to meet on such short notice. Been a few months.

[Matthew Mercer]

It has been a few months and. Oh, God, I'm so sorry. You. There's nothing I can say, but I,

[Taliesin Jaffe]

minute by Minute. Taking it as it comes.

[Matthew Mercer]

You know, I always remember growing up in the neighborhood. There was one time that I got picked on because I wasn't. I had a hard time. We were playing hopscotch, and I couldn't make it the last big jump. And I was getting teased. And your brother threw. Threw a rock at Gregor's face and hit him in the nose and got a bloody nose. And I was horrified. I screamed and was horrified. But after. I don't like that kind of violence. But afterwards, it was very touching.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I love my brother. I have a lot of good stories. He definitely could be a bit of a shit.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah. But he was our shit.

[Matthew Mercer]

And we'll miss him very dearly.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Our shit indeed. Pardon me. I'm so sorry. I am going to step out just for a second. I want to. I have a lot on my mind, and I just want to get all my ducks in a row. Inez, would you take your sister? Ask the proprietor. There's a room upstairs. He'll know what I'm talking about, and I'll be there in two minutes. Have you eaten? Do you need anything? Would you like.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, I will.

[Matthew Mercer]

I was planning to eat back at home, you see. Inez sort of takes the COVID and says, please, no, Romina, let's have some food here. They have a wonderful kitchen. I'll get us something ordered.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

We'll be upstairs. Okay. I scuttle back out and pop out. And I assume you're still out there.

[Izek Straz]

I'm probably with a menu in hand.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Oh, you're in. Okay.

[Izek Straz]

Just looking at what they might have since we're here to eat.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Well, I walk over near the table, but I don't look at you at all and say, all right, I'm going to figure out what I can figure out. Anything on your mind before I go in.

[Izek Straz]

How come? Just you got something on your. And I'm just going to brush your forearm. And in doing that, I'm actually casting guidance on you. You feel like a Rolodex of memories go through your mind, and you settle on one that calms you. And you feel it absorbed in your mind and your body. I'm guidancing your persuasion.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay. I am remembering a time where I had to talk my little shit brother out of a real bit of trouble in the neighborhood after he broke somebody's window and pulled it off. That's what comes to mind. And then I turn. Turn on my heel and swing by the bar, pay for a bottle of wine and carry it upstairs with me.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Beautiful Lockmare is here and says, ah,

[Matthew Mercer]

there you are, One of our fine vintages. Middle shelves.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Keep your top running.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You head upstairs for the three of you.

[Matthew Mercer]

Where do you head?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There's a big common area with some tables are rapidly filling up as it's approaching dinner time.

[Matthew Mercer]

Where do you guys all sit?

[Murray]

Is there one that's in the corner someplace a little bit. A little bit off the way?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Give me a. I'll say.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me a little investigation check. Low D.C. we call it D.C. 10.

[Murray]

Okay. Dirty 20.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You look around. I think there are two places. There's a little corner with a window that's facing the street, which is always nice.

[Matthew Mercer]

You can see who's coming or going, but you'll be visible to people on the street.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There's another back corner that hasn't filled up yet that you'd have to probably, like, sweet talk your way into because

[Matthew Mercer]

it's, like, for a bigger party, and it's, like, about to be a dinner rush. However, that one also has vantage on this lower sunken area.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

This place has a main dining room, a couple outdoor seats, and then around

[Matthew Mercer]

a corner, there's a little sunken level

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

which has sometimes live music.

[Matthew Mercer]

And they also have.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There are no dealers here. It is not a casino, but they

[Matthew Mercer]

permit gambling between people in the back

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

room, so you can play your own game of poker.

[Matthew Mercer]

They have a table for billiards back there and stuff like that.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And that corner table sees both rooms.

[Murray]

Okay. And that's the bigger one. You said the bigger one. All right, I'm gonna go to lockdown. Lock, mirror.

[Matthew Mercer]

How are you doing, professor?

[Izek Straz]

How you doing?

[Murray]

I'm great.

[Gabby Winde]

We would love a little bit of dinner.

[Murray]

Is it okay if I take that. If we take that back table, you say I've got. I think I got, like, a little

[Matthew Mercer]

bit of a bella what's going around. It's deadly.

[Murray]

Is that true?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, my goodness.

[Matthew Mercer]

Do you have bellows fever?

[Murray]

I don't think it's that bad yet. I just don't want to. You know, I think if we're a little bit off of, you know, away from the crowds, I wouldn't want to get anybody else sick.

[Matthew Mercer]

Go ahead and give me a persuasion check.

[Murray]

Okay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Don't anyone to touch your nasty.

[Murray]

Don't want anyone to touch my nasty. Persuasion.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Persuasion. Wow.

[Murray]

We're gonna get in a fight, and I'm gonna roll.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes.

[Murray]

Dirty 20.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Dirty 20.

[Murray]

He goes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He goes. Of course. So take.

[Matthew Mercer]

Take the big table over in the. In the corner.

[Murray]

Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Don't Cough on me, please.

[Izek Straz]

I'm looking at the menu. I approached with you. I'm looking at the menu as you're leaving. Lock my hair.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Do you have.

[Izek Straz]

I'm looking at the items that you have. Do you serve ass?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes.

[Izek Straz]

Good.

[Murray]

Do you serve ass?

[Matthew Mercer]

Right.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Donkey steak.

[Izek Straz]

You have a pallet for that, don't you? Oh, I figured I'd get. You've had a long day. I figured I'd get you something that is to your liking. Two ass steaks.

[Matthew Mercer]

Lovely.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'll cook that right up. I'm not sure if bolea au boave enjoys that. That's why.

[Murray]

What a callback,

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Man. I could eat some ass.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I love a good ass as much as the next man.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Three ass steaks and one for you. Chef's recommendation or temperature.

[Izek Straz]

That's the house liking. So certainly he can have some of mine if he.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'll have a plate as well. Better spend money using the table.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Try anything once.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Should I or twice. How did you get the table?

[Murray]

Talking real good, huh? Yeah.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I would have just said I had bellows or something.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah. I take my seat. You take your seat.

[Matthew Mercer]

Join the boys.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I may take a quick. If you think it's a reasonable idea. I may take a quick walk outside and make this vanish for a moment.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yes.

[Delilah Briarwood]

So I'm gonna find a. I'm gonna step outside for some air and many faces myself into something a little less. I'm gonna keep the.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The face I had earlier. Great.

[Delilah Briarwood]

And just make. I'm basically just gonna do a palette swap with Hal's outfit. More or less.

[Matthew Mercer]

Great.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Just a little. Just still in the black and red because I do love it. And just still with a little bit of the curl. But it's much gorgeous. I'll head back inside.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, all three of you with these lovely ass steaks coming to the table can take a short rest. Wonderful. That's ass. What do I get from this?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Well, certainly you get ass.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So good start.

[Murray]

Do a little arcane recovery situation.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Lovely.

[Izek Straz]

I'm so jealous.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

How as you also let me know if any of you, by the way, don't want to for whatever reason, take a short rest.

[Matthew Mercer]

If there's anything.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

If some of you are like. It doesn't make a difference.

[Izek Straz]

It doesn't make a difference to me. And honestly, I don't know if he has got the right temperament to be able to relax enough.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Relax enough.

[Matthew Mercer]

Cool.

[Delilah Briarwood]

It does nothing for me either.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hal, heading upstairs.

[Matthew Mercer]

You get up to the beautiful little aviary.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see there's some candles lit

[Matthew Mercer]

romina and Inez are up here.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Lockmir follows you in to take everyone's d. Dinner order.

[Matthew Mercer]

You see that? Ramine looks up and says, I'll get the pot roast, if that's okay. And you see, don't hold back anything on the menu. Oh, gosh, can I. I'll do the grilled sprouts with bacon.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that? She says, this is so kind, Hal.

[Matthew Mercer]

Thank you so much for treating.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's very, very. I'd very appreciate it.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

It is the very least that I can do. Boy, Ines, thank you for facilitating this. I'm almost embarrassed of myself to even broach this with you. So thank you for taking time out of your week to come by. And yes, it has been a trying couple of days. And I'm juggling everything at the hollow round, of course, but much larger on. My mind is lost. And, you know, I'm hanging in. Family's hanging in. So all that to say, I appreciate you helping me in this moment. So as much as I'd like to spend the week just reflecting on family and my brother, I have to worry still a little bit about my business.

[Matthew Mercer]

So your opening night is in a week.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Very, very close. And I'm just going to say outright and confess my motives for bringing you here tonight are absolutely selfish. Or at least for the theater, for the troupe. I'm sure I don't need to point out how unstable things have felt in recent weeks. It's just coming out of the stones of the city, and I've been working many years to reach this very week to put on this very show. And a lot of things have been put in place and contracts and agreements with the city have been put in place, and I've had an understanding. Sorry, I don't want to bore you with the details. With the city for the type of stagecraft and the small amount of magical sprinkling we do on our work here, and everything has been given a go ahead, but it feels like in the last few weeks that is becoming a little more slippery than it's been. And I just don't know. I haven't known if I could rely on that. And with. With so much at stake, I'm trying to understand if we are good to proceed. And I maybe would have hung back, but today my main instructor from the rookery, who I believe you've met through your sister once or twice, Misha was hauled in. Misha hauled in today and put some hard questioning put to. And we got him out, but it was pretty unpleasant and I Am trying to get my brain wrapped around where the guard are at. And I know it is asking a lot. But I know where you work. I know you surface in an Iron Fassen estate. If you don't know anything, we can share this bottle of wine and have a meal. And I look forward. I hope to see you at the play in a week. But if you would feel comfortable sharing anything you might have heard around the house about the guards headspace or the Iron Fassen family. I'm just trying to protect and I look to Inez in this moment, I'm just trying to protect our family. Our theater family.

[Matthew Mercer]

Go ahead and give me a persuasion check. And you can also give me an insight check too.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Insight check too. And you had guidance on persuasion.

[Murray]

Guidance.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay, so I'll put that on persuasion. Yeah. 14 plus. Okay. That is a total of 25.

[Matthew Mercer]

25 persuasion.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

And then back that up with a much worse insight.

[Matthew Mercer]

10. 10 insight. Typically I set difficulties. A good guideline I go by is bronze medal at 15, silver medal at 20 and gold medal at 25 with a 25 point persuasion. Romina looks at you. You have a very hard time reading her. And realize that Romina has a plastered on face of polite acceptance. And realize that that's maybe why she's been able to hold down a job at the Einfasen estate for about seven years. She looks and goes. You're nervous. You're coming to me because the Lord Wakander has gone missing, right? I mean, I know that he was who, that all of the clearances, that the. How I. I only hear a fraction of what goes on. But I know that you got approved for the hallowed round because House Hailuvar was pulling for you. That effectively there was one that the young scion of the House, the heir to the Fotarch, was a friend of yours or.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Sure, yes, a new colleague. We'll say

[Matthew Mercer]

if he has suddenly stopped answering your messages or you can't get him on call anymore, get audience with him anymore, you may not have lost favor with House Haylovar. He's been missing. He's been missing for about two days.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Two days?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah. I know this is insane, but the Fotarch came by. The Stahlkeep came by the Einfausen estate. It's chaos. They don't know where he is.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Are they floating any reasons to why or who?

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, they're pretty upset that their scion has gone missing the same day that the Royce family decided to return to Faerie. No one knows what the. Forgive the Language. What the. What the f. Is going on?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Does Einfasin have a response?

[Matthew Mercer]

No, I have never. I think that any Ein Fassen response in my time working with the Einfausen, responses are delayed until they can be overwhelming. They are not gonna do anything until they can do it with such overwhelming decisiveness and force. So this is where and how they hate to operate is not knowing there was an arrest made at the behest. Sorry, Hal. I.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I don't want you to divulge anything that would put your bacon in the fire,

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay? I'm not. I can't always be the best. I was talking to Greta about this, about gossip and everything else like that. If. If word came back to you. I. I just need you. I don't know. I want to tell you what's going on, but if anything ever comes back to me, I'm in a tremendous amount of danger.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Maybe we don't need names.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay. Maybe. The thing would be, if I tell you something, who else knows about it?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Meaning if you tell me, where is it being shared?

[Matthew Mercer]

Where is it being shared?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

If you need it to be kept to me, it will be.

[Matthew Mercer]

What I would love is if I tell you something and you think that it is going to spread beyond you, please tell me that and I'll just try to say maybe if you tell people how you know something, make something else up. There was an arrest in Riesengerdle of the forces of House Royce, Davinos, Elbrandi, several of the Royce vassal houses. They were arrested at the behest of House Taconis. They said that there was a traitor in their midst. And my lord's uncle, Lord Horondas uncle, Lord Otto, the head of House Einfausen, has been trying to work out a follow up on where that information has come from. And it's been a few days. There's already been a pigeonback from Riesengerdel and there's. But within all of it there was a visit that was paid to the Stahlkeep, which was from the young Lord Etherynd Taconis, who was apologizing because Lord Primus, who had been in residence at Obermus Manor, had to leave the city suddenly and won't be back for several days in the midst of all of these goings on. But the Lord Otto has requested an audience that an immediate audience is needed with the heads of all of the sundered houses.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Any idea of how soon that would be transpiring?

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, I think that's what the young Lord Ethern was responding to. He said that he can't even get in touch with his father. So there's incredible urgency from one of the heads of the Sun Hundred houses. And the response has been effectively a polite way of saying we don't know where our head of house is, which is staggering. I mean, the Sundred houses have holdings over the vast breadth of pacitar. The amount of coordination that's required is staggering for your own child to not know where you are or how to find you. So I don't know that Lord Arondis frankly believes that. But why the stalling? I don't know. I don't know.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

So a little bit of unrest at the top there.

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, and a little bit of unrest and a little bit of what do you need time for? I think the Hailifars are, forgive the pun, incandescent with rage.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

That was pretty good.

[Matthew Mercer]

Thank you. You know, if you ever need a

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

writer,

[Matthew Mercer]

she says, I also know that word.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Sorry.

[Matthew Mercer]

I also know that word. I've been bidden to report the minute that a pigeon comes back from the Golden Orchard reaching out to the lady Maia Divinos who's in residence there while the Lady Erinass is traveling. And there's been no pigeon back from the Golden Orchard, not even one to say that the lady. I mean, just no response. So, you know, the time is very, very short. It's possible that there's been a storm. Patient was waylaid. We're still within the region reasonable timeframe that maybe a response is still on its way back. But.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

And as you said at the beginning of this conversation, Hailuvar home, one of the hail of ours has become a bit of a patron of the arts. Apparently it's missing now. So I would hope that his opinion holds well with the family. But I'm again trying to weigh what we're allowed to do at the theater. And it feels like the law is starting to tighten around the rules and practitioners. Have you heard anything about any kind of friction between Hayluvar, where my patron stems from, and the police? Oh, from House Hailuvar Einfossen to Haylevar or reverse or both. Just trying to understand that the forces around me.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well,

[Matthew Mercer]

all I know, I don't know where the Lord Wicander has gone, but I know that he was the loudest voice within the hail of our family for the arts. Rumor has it that he actually fell in love with. With an actress, if you can believe that. That's a bit of snowbutt.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

That's it can happen,

[Matthew Mercer]

she says, but in terms of friction between the Einfassen and the. Well, there had been some meetings about the Sons of the dawn, which I had overheard the Lord Felonious talking to Lord Einfassen about. There was to be a delay on one of the Lord Einfassen's plans until the Haylovar family was prepared to. I believe that the Hailovar family was gathering financial resources together to be able to acquire a tremendous amount of mercenary contracts.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay,

[Matthew Mercer]

but I don't.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'm.

[Matthew Mercer]

You know, every coordinated.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes. Relations between.

[Matthew Mercer]

I would say the relations between the Hail of Arts and the Iron Fasen are quite positive. From my reading the Fo Tark, I only overhear bits and pieces. I never stay in a room long enough to hear the full context of a conversation. But I know that. That the Fotarch was upset with Lord Einfausen in a way that to me registered as honesty, if that makes sense. I've worked around nobles for seven years. When it's all smiles, that's when I stay out of the way.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

All right, all right. Well, that was a lot. Very, very helpful, Romina. Thank you. Thank you.

[Matthew Mercer]

I will keep an ear hot if I hear anything about this lord. Without the Lord Wicander, I don't know how easy it will be to protect the theater. The rumor that I've heard going around from staff everywhere is that the Lord Wakander was a deeply kind and conscientious man, that he treated his staff and servants with kindness, that he. Some of the other Haelovar cousins don't exactly follow the rules of their faith very diligently. And that is not what I've heard of the Lord Wickander. So you had someone in your corner that you've lost, and if you can't get him back, I think that there's going to be trouble, because I don't think. From what I've heard, the Lord Wicander's older sister is not in the practice of doling out favors without expectation of an extreme return on her investment.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Well, that is not the reassuring news I'd been hoping for. But it does confirm some suspicions, though. Him missing. This is the first that's reaching my ears. Are they keeping this on the down low?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yes. They haven't announced anything to the guard or anything like that that I. When the Fotarch was speaking with Lord Horondas, they were mentioning the last that the Taconis had communicated to everybody. They were desperately searching for a wayward son of their family, I think, who's actually a student here in Dolmachyar, and people were putting out feelers for that. And there had been a rumor that came actually from a friend of mine who had been dropping off supplies for the gala over at the Plaza Divinos, that someone had seen Noctus Taconis there. I don't know if that's actually true or not, but suffice it to say, a lot of have gone missing in a very short amount of time. The Lady Erinessa Royce appears to have returned to Faerie, and I just heard the foetarch mention the doors to Faerie opening. And there was an aside she made to the Lord Horondas about her grandson and what the Taconis might know. I don't know what's true. Have you seen a lion, man?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I have, yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

I mean, not just out in the world.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

No, no. Fresh in my mind. An old friend of my brother's came to pay his respect when we had everyone over at the house,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

we actually had to.

[Matthew Mercer]

To explain to the candescent crew to the Lord Felonius Haylovar, who's been searching for. I didn't overhear the name, but they've been searching for Anama Warrior, because we actually have Anama staying at the Stahlkeep right now. The Lord Horondas is hosting a small envoy from Argosia at the moment that just got into town. The. And one of the Lord's minister is a Nama diplomat. But. That. I'm rambling. I'm just so nervous.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

But.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Well, I tell you what, Obviously, if. If you feel that you've given me so much, and I would sooner give over mine own tongue than betray the trust you've placed in me. And I don't need to share it with anybody. It's just trying to get a better footing for Inez and the family here at the round. But if you think of anything, you can always send word through your sister.

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, I'll be back there later tonight in the dead of night for a little graveyard shift. Not that they'll be paying me overtime hours, but we'll be on a. Yeah,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'll be back there a lot.

[Matthew Mercer]

I've been cleaning falcon shit off of Einfausen uniforms for what feels like 48 hours straight, so I'll be around. I. All I can see in my mind's eye is that rock sailing through the air, the one that hit that bully in the nose. And just thinking about. It's been so awful. And the other maids, while we're in the laundry room, they keep talking about how it's gone too far and it's all going to swing back. They keep saying it like it's an article of faith, like it's too far. Something's going to happen to push it back. And I just think about Thiazi throwing that rock, and I wonder if. It doesn't push back on its own. Someone somewhere picks up a rock. So if this is me picking up my rock, then I'm happy to do it.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I appreciate your honesty and your bravery. Please, please be safe. As far as tonight's concerned, you and your sister just came here to get a bite to eat.

[Matthew Mercer]

I won't mention anything to anyone, and maybe. Yeah, I won't mention anything to anyone. And if I hear anything, I won't send word to you. I'll send word to Inez.

[Izek Straz]

Okay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

All right. Well, hopefully everything's all smiles, at least to the end of the week. We can get this show on its feet. And please, come join us.

[Matthew Mercer]

I will. I'll come join you. Lash is playing the main character, right?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Murzot.

[Matthew Mercer]

Murzot.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Murad himself.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He's great.

[Matthew Mercer]

Is he Murzot or Lash?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Lash.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Lash. Yes. Yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

I actually don't know the history of

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

super well, but yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

Let me know if there's going to be something after the play as well.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

There is. There always tends to be. I'll introduce you to Lash.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

What?

[Matthew Mercer]

Where did that come from?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay. Well, that's really sweet. That's great. Thanks, Hal.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Thank you. All the gratitude is mine.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that, Ines?

[Matthew Mercer]

Thanks, Hal. If you're busy, we can finish up dinner here.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah, I'll head to it. I'll head downstairs.

[Matthew Mercer]

We cut from there back down to

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

our table with our friends who are

[Matthew Mercer]

short resting or who is not short resting here.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm not.

[Izek Straz]

I think I'm just. If I would have done anything, with time passing, I would have very anxiously sat at the table, eating a little bit, A little bit ass.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And looking around. Just a dollop.

[Izek Straz]

Just a dollop.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Dollop of ass.

[Izek Straz]

How's your ass tasting?

[Murray]

Very tender.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Yes.

[Izek Straz]

Mine's undercooked.

[Murray]

Oh, no. You would have sent it back.

[Izek Straz]

It's a little too rough,

[Murray]

too pink.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I would have joked.

[Izek Straz]

Tried to.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I can't even recall the first beat of this. So this is all new to me. It's Marisha's fault, for the record.

[Murray]

The RA or something.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Excuse me, could I please get a different ass with a little more season?

[Izek Straz]

Yours looks really buttery.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

That's how I like it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay. If I could have, I would have

[Izek Straz]

managed It I would have tried to have a detect magic ritual activated.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

But I don't know. Killer, I think that's no sweat. You can have detect magic up. Okay, give me a. I am keeping

[Delilah Briarwood]

an active look on people.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Both of you give me either perception or insight.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

It's really hard to eat ass when you wear a mask.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Don't knock.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Try it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

People have not.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay, this is what the rest of the game is about.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Honestly.

[Delilah Briarwood]

It's the undertone.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

22, 21, 22, 21. I think both of you looking around on that perception can see that Murray is fundamental. I think, Murray, you're doing your arcane recovery. So you're reviewing some spell stuff. You might even be reviewing some of the. Those internships.

[Murray]

Look at internships. EOD by the end of the day. Eod, baby.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Eod. But for the two of you, you look around. The game room is actually quite. The game room is actually quite smoky. There is not only a small fire

[Matthew Mercer]

burning in a little chimney area, but

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

a lot of people just happen to be smoking pipes. And it's a little bit sunken. You can see that there are even some stone archways along the ground.

[Matthew Mercer]

Like it was an old maybe wine

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

cellar that got bricked up back here or something like that. You see that there? It's a rowdier room. There are a few people playing billiards. There are a few people playing billiards here. And the card tables are all full. You see there is one four person card table. There's one four person card table. That's right sort of in the back on that 21 and 22. I think

[Matthew Mercer]

you guys look and see a kind of staggering amount of money has been put out on that table. There's a lot of coin riding on that table.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There looks to be four people that

[Matthew Mercer]

you can see playing there. There is what looks like a sort of dashing. Either a human merchant or aristocrat or something like that. To his left there is this hulking bruiser. A thick biceps, thick fl.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Looks to be human as well. Leather vest. He's got a broadsword at his side. Around the table from him there is

[Matthew Mercer]

a gnomish smuggler who Azuna you would actually recognize as Pimley Morn. Pimley Morn. Pimley Morn,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

who appears to be putting up some pretty serious lucre. He's got a big stack behind him. And then across from the big human

[Matthew Mercer]

bruiser there is an orcish woman who looks to have a spellbook at her side. Looks to be a traveling wizard.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And I think you just see this game being played here in front of everybody. And I think what. There's a lot of tables filled with

[Matthew Mercer]

all sorts of eccentrics here in the rookery, here at the Seven Stars.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

What catches you is that this human

[Matthew Mercer]

aristocrat is sort of speaking very openly to the bruiser.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see, the bruiser's got salt and pepper beard, a shock of salt and

[Matthew Mercer]

pepper hair, and a big scar that runs over an eye deep down into his cheek.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that? The aristocrat talking to the bruiser goes like.

[Matthew Mercer]

And, of course, I mean, you know,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

in the marketplace, something like this occurring. You have magic being cast openly. You're trying to sell your wares and someone is reading your mind or otherwise enchanting you. It's really untenable. I think that the Chamber of Lords Advisory is completely within their right to

[Matthew Mercer]

outlaw magic in the marketplace.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Do that at the university, if you

[Matthew Mercer]

want to do it anyway.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And appears to be having a very

[Matthew Mercer]

political conversation at the table.

[Izek Straz]

Do those on the receiving end of that conversation seem to be on board with what he's saying, or is there.

[Matthew Mercer]

Or is it tense or are they looking paid?

[Izek Straz]

Yeah, that too.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that they do not actually

[Matthew Mercer]

give me insight checks, both of you.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Okay,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

10.

[Izek Straz]

18.

[Matthew Mercer]

18.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Azaneh.

[Matthew Mercer]

No one looks paid.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

They all look fed up with this human aristocrat.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay, great.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that?

[Matthew Mercer]

The bruiser goes, it's fascinating. That is. Do you. So they're outlawing it because it's fundamentally dangerous. How do you feel about that on these shows? Because you said you're from Delmarchio originally,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

and you see that the woman across goes,

[Matthew Mercer]

I spent some years here as a young girl, but I'm not from here originally. You see? He says, do you agree with this outline of magic in the marketplace? See, she shrugs and says, as a wizard, it is probably not best for

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

me to say openly how I truly

[Matthew Mercer]

feel, but I will just say that the law in the. Its majestic equality forbids the rich and

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

poor alike from stealing bread. And you see that the aristocrat goes, exactly.

[Matthew Mercer]

And you see that she sort of rolls her eyes and you see that

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

the bruiser turns over to the gnome

[Matthew Mercer]

and goes, my friend Pimlee, you said you're. You see that Pimlee sort of sweets up and goes, I'm a merchant. And you see it says merchant. Yeah. So this. This is probably best for you that I've outlawed magicy in the marketplace, or do you not work in the marketplace? You see, the Pimley says, no, I Work.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I work around. I work in the marketplace.

[Matthew Mercer]

Sometimes. Sometimes I'm elsewhere, you know, Work, work where work comes along.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

But I say the law, you know, let the law do. You gotta let the law do what

[Matthew Mercer]

it's gonna do, you know, it's like, that's the rules.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So you gotta follow him. Let's play cards, guys. What do you say? Huh? And you see that the big bruiser

[Matthew Mercer]

guy looks over at him and says, you get to get there. Cause you got a winning hand, don't you?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that the gnome looks at him, and you see that the

[Matthew Mercer]

big bruiser goes, yeah, little bitty. You're gonna get back to play, all right?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I fold and puts his cards in. And you see, the gnome goes, fuck, God. And you see, as he says that, you see the bruiser again looks at

[Matthew Mercer]

him and goes like, you shouldn't yield like that because it's actually still to unleash you. You could have taken more of her money.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah. So that's the conversation you see unfolding

[Matthew Mercer]

at the table here.

[Izek Straz]

Interesting.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I will want to fuck with it, but, yeah, hold on.

[Izek Straz]

Well, you're seeing what I'm seeing, aren't you? Across the line.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, yes.

[Izek Straz]

I wonder if they're underbelly of the city types and if they might be able to answer some questions about where someone may have gone off to.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Underbelly of the city types?

[Izek Straz]

Well, maybe all minus one, maybe two

[Taliesin Jaffe]

of them for sure.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Do you play cards? Me?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Mm.

[Izek Straz]

I play. I didn't do.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You don't.

[Matthew Mercer]

You're to look at that.

[Izek Straz]

No, but I always make it a point to make sure I'm proficient in a gaming set.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

In a gaming set.

[Izek Straz]

And I'm not.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Are you proficient in yu gi?

[Izek Straz]

Oh, no, I don't play anything. Apparently, I don't have any fun. We're not allowed to have fun.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I will allow you to be proficient in a gaming set.

[Izek Straz]

Oh, thanks.

[Murray]

Thank you.

[Izek Straz]

Dungeon.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'm taking beyblades.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm seeing a thousand comments right now going, op. Op. The GMTF. How's her name? How to be proficient in gaming sets. How did I miss that? Yeah, you can be proficient. You can be proficient in cards if you like.

[Izek Straz]

Okay, I'm proficient in cards.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I will probably say just like that to you, actually.

[Izek Straz]

Clearly, yes. I've played a game or two. You want to challenge him to a game?

[Delilah Briarwood]

I don't know. I'm so curious about this. Part of me just wants to humiliate him terribly.

[Izek Straz]

Well, go for it. I don't know how much they'll like in our king marshal approaching them and asking them to play some cards.

[Delilah Briarwood]

How much money do I have on me? That's a question. Probably a bit, but not a ton. How much money is being thrown at this table?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You look and see on that last

[Matthew Mercer]

hand, like 20 gold pieces went up

[Murray]

high rollers.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I know I'm gonna look just cause I'm curious if I actually have anything in my money wise, if I actually have anything in my box or if I've not dealt with it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I don't think I've dealt with it.

[Delilah Briarwood]

That's okay. How much? Oh, actually I do. I have 38 gold.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yep.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Okay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Anything left in your box after eating so much ass.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I was hoping. Thank you. Thank you for being you. I need it so often.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Keep an eye out.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay.

[Izek Straz]

I mean, I feel like you are demonstrating interest in them and that's satisfying me enough. If you have something that you want to do with them, by all means.

[Matthew Mercer]

Is there any candlelight here?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There is.

[Matthew Mercer]

There's a lot of candlelight here, actually. I'm just gonna see.

[Izek Straz]

I'm gonna sort of lean back, take the room in a little bit more. And I'm going to. I'm gonna cast control flames.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Mm.

[Izek Straz]

And I'm going to whatever source of light is more central in the room. I'm gonna change the color of it to blue. The same blue that we saw.

[Matthew Mercer]

Lovely.

[Izek Straz]

And I just want to see if anyone reacts to that.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me an insight check.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

16 in sight.

[Matthew Mercer]

The gnomish smuggler. His eyes. His eyes dart frantically in a way that is not filled with whimsy and delight.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Everyone reacts to it.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's like a sudden.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Ooh. A little lovely illusion happens. But it just seems like this is like a theater bar for magical bards. So people are casting dancing lights here and color changing stuff and little prestigations all the time. There's like a guy working at the stage in the back room right now

[Matthew Mercer]

who's doing sleight of hand.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There's like. But that shade of blue, the one

[Matthew Mercer]

you pick on a 16 insight. Pimley Morne looks at it with a look of recognition.

[Izek Straz]

You hear in your mind. I'm bringing that to your attention. That gnome knows where the gnome that we're looking for, he knows something about him. Knows something about Blick.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Ooh, Pimle. You said the name was Pimlee.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, right.

[Izek Straz]

Pimlee Morne.

[Matthew Mercer]

Keep an eye out.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Let's see what happens.

[Murray]

And he's like a smuggler merchant. Is that what you said, would I know who he is?

[Matthew Mercer]

Pimlee give me history with.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Right, because you tapped the black mark arrow.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me history with advantage.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay, let's go.

[Murray]

Okay. 21.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You know pimli Morgue.

[Matthew Mercer]

Pimlee is a.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Pimlee's a smuggler who specifically helps get

[Matthew Mercer]

arcane components into the city for big spellcasting.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He's someone who, if you look up and clock him right now, I think

[Matthew Mercer]

you'd be surprised to see him at a high rollers table. That's not, like, pit loop.

[Izek Straz]

And I will have messaged into your mind exactly the update that I gave him.

[Murray]

Okay.

[Izek Straz]

He knows something about who we're looking for.

[Murray]

I'm just going to kind of

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

look

[Murray]

at Pimle, see if, like, look at him long enough to see if he makes eye contact with me eventually. Know when you're at a party and you're trying to get someone to pay attention to you, but you don't want to?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Just waiting to catch their eye.

[Murray]

Yeah, you're just waiting to catch your eye.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So I kind of just kind of

[Murray]

keep looking up at him as I'm going through my papers.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You look up.

[Matthew Mercer]

Pimley

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

does actually look up and make eye contact with you at a certain

[Matthew Mercer]

point and kind of freezes there for a second looking at you.

[Murray]

Just give him a little head nod and a wink.

[Matthew Mercer]

He raises a tankard to you, drinks it and goes. And nervously laughs and goes back to playing his game. Give me an instant sight check. Okay.

[Murray]

It's gonna come back to haunt me. I hate that I'm rolling this good. And I know that sounds weird. 18.

[Matthew Mercer]

Moment of fear on his face as he saw you were looking at him. That appears to have been dissuaded by the pleasant looks you gave him. He was reading you very closely. He wanted to see if you were suspicious of him. And he's not someone that knows you well.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

This is a guy that. I think. I think you guys did business 15 years ago when he was a lot

[Matthew Mercer]

more honest and you were a lot dirtier. Does that make sense?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah, totally. You know, like, the penteveral was on the up and up, and whatever he was doing was on the down and

[Matthew Mercer]

down, and it has only continued in that way.

[Murray]

Do we want to talk to Pimlee?

[Izek Straz]

Well, I think one of you two should. I'm not sure if the arcane marshal should take point on this one, but I will be standing at the ready to back you up.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Do you want me to go to the table, or do you want to Try and get him to leave.

[Murray]

I think you should leave the table. I don't think we want to mess with these guys personally.

[Izek Straz]

Are you going to approach?

[Delilah Briarwood]

If he knows you, you can bring him into a corner.

[Murray]

I'm gonna get up and go to the loo.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Love that you go to the loo.

[Murray]

And as I walk by, I'm gonna just run my nail across my teeth and I'm gonna cast a message to Pimlee. Meet me in the bathroom.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, give me persuasion. Poopies.

[Murray]

Poopies? Is that what you said?

[Izek Straz]

Every time I'm like, I should have. I should have could have touched you.

[Murray]

Giving you guys vision. Okay, 18.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Wow.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Wow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

As a great.

[Murray]

That's so weird. No, no, no, wait. I was looking at performance. I was looking at the wrong one. Dirty 20.

[Delilah Briarwood]

There is a I'm gonna die that has the line. There's an art to the building of suspense. Though it can be done by luck alone.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Speaking of good plays, Pimley roasting, rancing on the stream. Pimle. You guys watching outside? See, Pimle, look around, check around places.

[Matthew Mercer]

Gets up and goes, ah, right.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, it looks like I busted anyway.

[Matthew Mercer]

Just won the fucking ante, so I'm gonna go piss.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see the bruiser looks at him

[Matthew Mercer]

and goes, goes, we already dealt the cards, mate. Here, your cards.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see, he says, ah, fucking whatever, just put him back in the deck.

[Matthew Mercer]

Bruiser goes, that's not how it works.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that Pimmy looks up at him and goes, all right, hey, anyone wanna play my hand? And he looks over and I think he looks up at your guys table.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, I come in.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah. Oh, there's an open seat.

[Delilah Briarwood]

God, I was hoping it would be one.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Incredible. You go and sit at the table as Pimlee gets up and moves to the bathroom. You see, quietly did the two of you. You are now sitting across from the aristocrat who looks at you and says, pleasure. Welcome to the table. Thank you for playing Mr. Morne's hand for him. The seed is yours for as long as you'd like it. Given that he rudely excused himself from our game. I am Druspin Fortunada. Drespin Fortunada. Wow, what a name. And what might I call you, my good man?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, you can call me Delix.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Delix.

[Matthew Mercer]

Delix Blix.

[Delilah Briarwood]

It's pleasure.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see, he looks and says, deluxe. Blix. Pleasure. Give me insight, Blitz.

[Delilah Briarwood]

You heard me.

[Matthew Mercer]

Why not?

[Marisha Ray]

Why not?

[Matthew Mercer]

No.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Well, that was cocked. I'm gonna. That was cocked. That was not cocked insight. Dirty 20.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Dirty 20. The name Blix doesn't ping any of

[Matthew Mercer]

the three people here.

[Delilah Briarwood]

No, it wouldn't.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So you see that he says. Mr. Blix, we're delighted to have you play with us. Are you familiar with this version of

[Matthew Mercer]

the game we're playing?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Eziri Holden, Am I familiar with this

[Matthew Mercer]

version of the game?

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'm familiar with this version of the game.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Splendid. Well, then you'll play the cards as they were dealt to Mr. Morne. Do you accept? Oh, before looking. Of course.

[Delilah Briarwood]

What is the buy in for this?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The anti.

[Murray]

Right.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Now, you see that? The bruiser looks and says, small is

[Matthew Mercer]

one, big is two gold.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Well, go big, I suppose. And I throw two gold down.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that? The bruiser sort of smiles and says, welcome.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's a lively game. We're not playing like we got a great sense of urgency, mind you, but we're here mostly to enjoy each other's company and play a little bit of game of fortune.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that?

[Matthew Mercer]

Arnesha the wizard sort of says, I don't know about you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

This is not true.

[Matthew Mercer]

I am extremely trying to.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Wizardry does not pay the bill.

[Matthew Mercer]

So I'm trying to try my hand as a professional gambler.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, how's that working out so far?

[Matthew Mercer]

Terribly.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm down 40.

[Izek Straz]

Oh, dear.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

You, you

[Delilah Briarwood]

brick wall of a man. What is your name?

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh la la. You flirt that hard, you're gonna get in trouble. Gus. Gus.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Pleasure. If Delic says too much, you can call me Del.

[Matthew Mercer]

Del, I Love the name.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Mr. Blick goes. Blix goes as well.

[Matthew Mercer]

Mr. Blix.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

All right, Mr. Blix. Well, you're big, so bet and see you.

[Matthew Mercer]

Arnisha, why don't you kick us off?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you, we're gonna move to the bathroom.

[Murray]

I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing.

[Marisha Ray]

Let me take a second.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I don't know what I'm doing. Seem like you knew what you were doing.

[Matthew Mercer]

Start setting up a lot.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see? Oh, no. You see, Pimley Morne walks in a single.

[Murray]

Single stall, single room, bathroom.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm assuming there's a small area that has three single stalls, but they have a little wash basin so there's like, space. It's not just a toilet behind a door. It's like a wash basin and a

[Matthew Mercer]

toilet and a little like, towel hanging from a little bit of like, linen hanging from a hood.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

The machiar got inside plumbing.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Inside plumbing, baby. The whole city is built on a Slant with a river. That's easy. Get this shit out of here, man.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

You do not want to live down there.

[Murray]

Shit does, in fact, roll downhill.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Aqueduct.

[Murray]

Of course. I'm gonna do a quick check and make sure we are alone.

[Matthew Mercer]

Hell, yes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Give me a perception check.

[Murray]

Just. Just open all the doors. Make sure no one else is in here. Okay. 15.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Skadoosh.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

15. You don't detect anything untoward in here?

[Murray]

I am gonna kind of position myself to where I'm gonna be kind of up against the wall so that when the door swings open, I'm a little bit hidden.

[Matthew Mercer]

Cool.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You tuck behind out of line of sight.

[Matthew Mercer]

Pimlee walks in, turns to you. He

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

sees you and goes, oh, hi, Murray.

[Murray]

Shut the door and lock it.

[Matthew Mercer]

Roll initiative.

[Murray]

Are you fucking for real right now?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Roll initiative.

[Matthew Mercer]

Excuse me.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

A lot of things. Did you roll high?

[Murray]

I did roll high. I did roll high. My initiative is bad, though. Cause I'm clumsy. 16.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Da, da, da.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Wow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I didn't know that was gonna happen. Oh, God. What are you looking at? Okay, 16. He also rolled a 16. So it's gonna be rollies again. All rollies here first Rollies. Five plus two is seven.

[Murray]

Ten minus one is nine.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Murray, Murray. You guys are acting a split second apart. All you know is that he's about to cast a spell.

[Murray]

Oh, he's about to cast a spell.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You go to lock the door, and he's about to cast a spell.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Doesn't necessarily mean aggressive spell, but it could

[Murray]

hold person.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, oh, here we go.

[Izek Straz]

Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay. Your difficulty on this spell is A. Is a 14. It's a wisdom never.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Shit.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Will you eat? It's a 14. Which means our dear friend Pimlee needs to, with a minus one to his saving throw, needs to hit a 15 or higher on the die. Okay, 14. One away. He is held.

[Matthew Mercer]

Whoa.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Describe what happens as Pimlee. You see, as you had locked the door, he started suspicious. And that suspicion was allayed by you smiling from the table like everything was okay. Seeing a hand go to lock a door. This smuggler has not kept his skin for 20 years of doing dirt. By not acting fast, however, you're acting a little bit faster.

[Murray]

I imagine it's like a quick draw moment. As soon as I see his fingers twitch, I'm just going to be a little bit faster and just hold him.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yep. And watch him give me Arcana with advantage.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Keep rolling that same die. Why change?

[Izek Straz]

Yeah, right. Oh.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh.

[Murray]

Arcana with advantage is gonna be 20 total. Nope, 21 total.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

21 total. Our good friend Mr. Morn is halfway through the components of a misty step spell.

[Matthew Mercer]

Ah, okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah, but he is frozen. So

[Murray]

now why are you trying to leave so soon? That's rude. Look, I just want to talk. I know we've had our times in the past. It's been a while. It's been a while. But I honestly just want to talk. I don't have any beef with you.

[Matthew Mercer]

His mouth is unable to. But you do know that the message cantrip will bypass the condition that he's currently in.

[Murray]

All right, well, holding him. I'll send him a message.

[Matthew Mercer]

Cool.

[Murray]

Where's Diminus?

[Matthew Mercer]

What the fuck is the matter with you?

[Murray]

You know Pamlee, so many things. I think somebody asks me that at least three times a day.

[Matthew Mercer]

At this point, I don't know shit about shit. Okay? Murray, the kid is gone. I don't have him anymore.

[Murray]

If I let you go, if I drop this, will you promise not to fucking leave? Promise.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me a persuasion check.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh man.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Have him anymore.

[Murray]

I will use my port. Can I use my portent now? I have to do it post pre.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

No, you can replace a roll with portent.

[Murray]

I will replace this roll with portent. You said this is a persuasion check?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Murray]

Okay, so I'm going to use my last portent for 16.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He says I'll talk.

[Matthew Mercer]

Drop the swirl. Drop the spell.

[Murray]

You promise?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I promise. What do you want me to do?

[Murray]

Drop the spell. Why were you trying to run?

[Matthew Mercer]

Trying to lock the door?

[Murray]

Yeah, I just wanted a little bit of privacy.

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, who's.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Who, who's pulling the blue candle?

[Murray]

Well, I saw you had a little bit of a reaction to that now didn't you?

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, I didn't know who was after

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

to the kid, did I?

[Murray]

But you know something's going on with him. You know, for sitting at a high rollers table playing Azrael hold.

[Marisha Ray]

You have a real shit poker face.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, fuck you. We want to fucking. Okay, fine.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Get your shots in. Why? Cause you now you're fucking running for the Taconus. You got the big guys at your back. Okay? Full court press to find this kid. Look, what do you want me to say?

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay, look, I've been doing some work with the fucking. He looks over and goes, I've been supplying some stuff for Tan Von Nendash over at the. The Toad stuff. It's an apothecary. So. I mean it's not a licensed apothecary, but they do some apothecary work and the kid comes in there a lot for. He's got the fucking iris thing, the

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

irisent, you know, the middle part of his eye is see through, right? So the kid gets crazy fucking migraines. And especially if he's doing a lot of magic.

[Matthew Mercer]

So he comes in there, he gets some eye drops for the migraines and

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

he gets the fucking.

[Matthew Mercer]

He gets a little. When he can afford it, he gets the shit for growing a beard in a little bit.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

But,

[Matthew Mercer]

you know, he knows that I get Tanvar, the stuff that he kind of can't get for himself, and he knows that I have ways of getting around the city guard, especially with the fucking new marketplace laws. So he. He showed up at the apothecary after closing time. When did he show up? It was. It was. This would have been last night, I think.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He looks and says the.

[Matthew Mercer]

He goes, yeah, this would have been last night. Which, you know, would have been the night of the cleanup. The cleanup. He showed up around one in the morning asking.

[Murray]

After the cleanup?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, after the cleanup.

[Murray]

Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay.

[Murray]

Yeah, okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

Showed up around one in the morning, looked fucking, you know, terrified, and he was exhausted. I'd been casting spells all night. And he said, I need you to help. I need your help. Get me out of the city. I'll give you any amount of money. And I told him, there's a misunderstanding. I said he had to pay up front. He said he couldn't pay up front, you know, I said, all right, well, we'll figure something out. You know, I'll help you out. So I got him in the. The. I got a secret compartment in one of the carriages I used. We were going to move him out of the city. And as I had him in the back there, Tanvar came out and told me that some news had come in that they were looking for this kid, that there were Taconis looking for the kid. Now, look, I don't stay in my line of work for just any old fucking reason. So I turned the carriage around. The kid had borrowed money from the Crow Keepers, all right? So I knew that he had that loan to them. I took him over to Zagi, who. You know, I'm not fucking proud of it, all right?

[Murray]

But I had left him out dry. Did you fuck him? Turned them over to the Crow Keepers? Is that what you did?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I wasn't gonna turn him over to the Taconis. Kid wants to get out of Dodge, go deal with the people you owe money to, all right? And. And I wasn't gonna take him out of the city because he couldn't fucking pay me. Well, I gotta be A charity. Now I gotta take people that have the fucking Sunda Houses coming after him, and I gotta ferry him out of the city myself.

[Murray]

Keep your voice down, please.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Kid comes from and turns out he's fucking glowing like a beacon, calling every fucking horrifying power the city has to offer.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, I dumped him.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Couldn't pay me. Already knew that the Crow Keepers wanted them. So I collected a bounty from the

[Matthew Mercer]

Crow Keepers and I fucking took off.

[Marisha Ray]

Jesus.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay.

[Murray]

Oh, Pimley. All right, all right. So you said you dropped him off with Zagi?

[Matthew Mercer]

Zagi, yeah.

[Murray]

Zagi. Is Zagi, like one of the leaders of the Crow Keepers?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes, I think you would probably. You've heard that name. Go ahead and give me a history check.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay,

[Izek Straz]

so it begins.

[Murray]

11.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I actually don't think you might have heard of Zagi, which means that they're

[Matthew Mercer]

probably not big in the arcane.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Your dealing with the underbelly is fully arcane.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Murray]

All right. Did he happen to tell you anything else? I mean, you just rattled off a bunch of shit without me even asking any questions, so clearly you're in the thick of it.

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, you fucking froze me.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I don't know.

[Matthew Mercer]

I want it communicated to you. Tell your bosses that I don't know shit, okay? I don't have them anymore. As soon as I found out they were looking for him, I got rid of them. I would have brought him to the Teconises, but they can't know what I'm doing. Everything I'm doing is against the fucking law.

[Murray]

Yeah, that makes two. Mutually assured destruction between the two of you. So you understand that, right?

[Matthew Mercer]

I love working with everybody, Pamlee. I got no.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I have no. Everyone is my friend. I don't have any enemies. I love what everybody does.

[Murray]

Yeah, everyone. Being your friend is exactly why I'm a little bit nervous that you're gonna run your mouth. You.

[Matthew Mercer]

Look, nobody can keep a secret like me. I don't just run my mouth and say a bunch of shit.

[Murray]

Okay, Confirmed. Absolute bullshit.

[Matthew Mercer]

What do you want me to say? What do you want me to do?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

All right.

[Matthew Mercer]

The Crow Keepers saddled me up with the bounty they had on the kid. If they want to turn him over to the Taconuses, that's their business, all right?

[Murray]

Besides, what's a low life like you sitting at a table with Drespin Fortunata?

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, well, I was trying to clean him out of his fucking money, but keeps getting pointers from this Gus character.

[Murray]

Got any aces up your sleeve? Cheating?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

A little.

[Matthew Mercer]

No.

[Murray]

He's lying, right?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

No.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, no, he said my sleep. I have a jack ace is obvious. You don't want to throw too many aces around.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Look, the point is this.

[Matthew Mercer]

I agree the. And there the. I made some money keeping my house in order. I gotta work with the Crow Keepers every day. They get protection money from everybody. There's not a smuggler in the city that doesn't have to run things by them. They just got a bat. They just had their fucking guild master assassinated in broad daylight. So you know, they're on the back foot. They're looking for a win, okay? And they're gonna try to find friends where they can. And if they know they can count on me, that's for the best. I heard Taconis and I said, I gotta get this kid off my hands like a fucking hot potato. And I did. I'm sorry I'm not a hero.

[Murray]

Yeah, I don't think there's room for heroes and Del Machia right now.

[Matthew Mercer]

So you called me in here for this?

[Murray]

What did you think I was calling you in here for? A little happy ending?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I thought we had a couple years ago. I thought we had a flirtation.

[Matthew Mercer]

I thought we had. I don't know, I thought it was nice. You got a nice beard. It's cute.

[Murray]

Thanks. All right, I'm gonna go around. I'm gonna turn. I'm gonna start to unlock the door.

[Matthew Mercer]

So that's a no? Okay. I axed.

[Murray]

Not over my dead fucking body. Hey, I'm gonna close the door again, though, and I'm gonna get kind of up in his face. If you fuck me, Pamlee, and I don't mean in the way that you wish. If you fuck me, you're gonna have taconuses on your head faster than anything that you've ever witnessed before. You in? I don't understand.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me deception or intimidate.

[Murray]

They're the same. So I'm gonna go with intimidation.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Let's go.

[Matthew Mercer]

Here we go.

[Murray]

Let's go. This. You know what? Let's go with the Fuck Me, Fuck youk Day.

[Matthew Mercer]

Let's see.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Alaska.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Nine.

[Matthew Mercer]

Nine. He looks at you on that nine and goes, why would our destruction be mutually assured?

[Murray]

Well, I imagine just by having this little clandestine meeting puts me in a little bit of a vulnerable position, wouldn't you think?

[Matthew Mercer]

Why people not know you're doing this, Murray? Oh, Ben Lee, don't kid a kidder, all right? I didn't make you walk off to the straight and narrow. Now you're trucking around with academics and bureaucrats. That's your World don't stay out of the sty for 10 years and try to roll around in the mud with the rest of us like you ain't got Rusty. You gonna let me out of this bathroom or. I'm gonna finish that spell.

[Murray]

Kinda crack my neck a little bit. It's a pleasure catching up, Emily.

[Matthew Mercer]

Likewise. Open the door and he scurries out very quickly.

[Murray]

Fuck.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hal, I think you make your way down at this point, okay. And see Azunaid alone at the table with Belair playing. Go ahead and give me a gambling check, if you'd be so kind.

[Delilah Briarwood]

What is a gambling check?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'd like you to give me. It's either wisdom or charisma, depending on your playstyle, plus proficiency. If you're proficient with this gambling set.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I am not proficient with this gambling set.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

This will be raw charisma or raw charisma. Raw charisma or raw wisdom.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Raw charisma. Ooh. Seven.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Seven. You draw. You draw a queen in your first two cards before the first spread hits the table. The common cards. What does Baler bet with a queen in his hand?

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'm going to bet another two gold.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You go for it, a couple different cards land and you get.

[Matthew Mercer]

There is a king and an ace and a 10 on the board in the opening three cards, which means with

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

a jack, you would absolutely. With a jack you would absolutely clear. But you have a Queen and A4. You see that you. But there's gonna be some more common cards drawn, and if any of them

[Matthew Mercer]

is a jack, you're gonna have a straight.

[Delilah Briarwood]

So. Dresbin. That's the name.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, Druspin.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Druspin. Excuse me. New money or old bunny?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

What a forward question. Would it be gauche to say both?

[Delilah Briarwood]

It's fascinating to say both. It certainly, I feel, leads to a

[Matthew Mercer]

bit of a story.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I've never heard that before.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, let's just say that I don't

[Matthew Mercer]

sit on an ancestral fortune idly. I've put mine to work.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hmm.

[Delilah Briarwood]

What sort of work, if you don't mind me asking?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Haberdashery.

[Matthew Mercer]

Fine clothing.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I work with tailors.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh.

[Delilah Briarwood]

You know, I know a few tailors in town.

[Matthew Mercer]

Really? Yes.

[Delilah Briarwood]

What were their names? Oh, dear. A pair of brothers of.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

If I recall, you don't possibly mean the twins?

[Delilah Briarwood]

The twins, that's right.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes.

[Delilah Briarwood]

It's very difficult. I can never tell them apart.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The Mercknard. Oh, delightful. What gentlemen? Yes, absolutely.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Do you work with them out of curiosity?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I do. I supply many of the fine fabrics that they use in their tailor. Shop and many of the finished garments. As tailors, of course, they often fit to size. We just. I just sewed them.

[Matthew Mercer]

The longest vest I've ever seen. I seemed to be my own two eyes.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Oh, I think we know about that.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's essentially a gal.

[Murray]

Yes.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Perhaps there's some sort of sentient, charismatic snake in town. I have no idea.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You're a God.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, bless you. Sadly, at the moment that is to be seen.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Delightful. You see that Gus turns to you

[Matthew Mercer]

and says, what's your trade?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Antiquities, actually.

[Matthew Mercer]

Antiquities. Fascinating. That's a very fascinating trade. Do you work in a private shop or with a collection?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Mostly with a collection. Although I'm sort of in between collections at the moment. Things are a bit topsy turvy times being what they are. But I do a little bit of business with mostly above board. And that's what I'll say about that. You are also a fascinating character.

[Matthew Mercer]

Who, me? Yes.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Did you come in with Ms. Despin or are you.

[Matthew Mercer]

No, I only just met. I came in here to play some cards. Travel.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And three tame.

[Matthew Mercer]

Only here for a short time.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, what for, if you don't mind me asking? Reasonable, if it's none of my.

[Matthew Mercer]

Travelling for some business with the Revolutionary Council. Just in town for a short time? No. Oh, my.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

A former soldier.

[Matthew Mercer]

But now I've gotten myself involved in politics.

[Delilah Briarwood]

So you've decided it's time to get your hands dirty.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's exactly right. I believe Ms. Vane is waiting on

[Matthew Mercer]

you to make your bet, sir.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, yes.

[Izek Straz]

Two gold.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The betting continues around. Another common card comes up. This one's just a five. The betting's back to you.

[Matthew Mercer]

You still have another chance to make that straight.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Six gold in. All right. I haven't played in so long and either way, this is a little nerve wracking. Jasabyn, what would you do in my situation?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, that's hardly sporting. I'm playing against you.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Well, I just assumed you would have a decent opinion.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see, he says, well, I think that Gus is bluffing. He seems a shady character to me. You see that Gus goes, excuse you. And you see that Arnesia looks and says. It says, perhaps it is best for you to fold.

[Matthew Mercer]

Huh?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that Gus looks and

[Matthew Mercer]

says, only you can play your cards, mate.

[Delilah Briarwood]

See, I was worried about her because she seems like the smart one.

[Matthew Mercer]

She's 40 gold down. I don't know.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Well, sometimes it's about taking a risk. And I put in four more gold.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You put in four gold? It goes around the table.

[Matthew Mercer]

It gets to Gus.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And he calls it.

[Matthew Mercer]

You're now the only two in the hand. The last card comes up and it's a seven. You don't have the jack because we know who does.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Correct.

[Matthew Mercer]

Looks at you. Bettings to you, my friend.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Now I am afraid I must fold.

[Matthew Mercer]

He says, terrible hate when a lady breaks your heart.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And he puts his hands out and draws all the gold into himself.

[Matthew Mercer]

Correctly guessing that you had a queen in your hand.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that Hal. You enter and see Azunay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah. So I'm going to say you threw in that I came in a little while ago. So I would pitch that I came in as soon as I left the Roundtree sisters.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Instantly starting to feel anxiety about even asking. And I'm absolutely worried for her safety and worried that I'm going to bring doom down on somebody's head. But I've had time to take in the room. And I see Izuni at the table.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

But I catch Bolaire deciding to be at a gambling table tonight. And he's seated with Motley Crue. Motley crue. Can I ask you something? Is there anything that stands out about Gus? Because Liam believes this is king Gus from out of town, from Timony. Is there anything about this man?

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me a perception with advantage. Ouch.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Terrible. That is a 12 on a 12.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You overhear the name Gus. This man does not seem regal. He has thick biceps, broad back. He really. And he has a fucked up face like he's been in combat. He looks like a mercenary. I would allow you to give me another check, but you'd have to move

[Matthew Mercer]

to the table to get a better look.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I will go and sit with Izune, who. That's in 10 or 15ft.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay. If I hearing the name Gus, I think Hal's. His thought process is like, oh, that's weird. I just met king Gus. Retinue. I just recommended this place. There's a guy named Gus. Couldn't be. And I sit down at the table.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You sit down at the table and watch these guys continue to play. Azuna, you've also been probably overhearing the conversation.

[Izek Straz]

Yeah, I've been trying to. And I've been having an eye on where Murray went towards the bathroom. As soon as you join, I'll just quickly catch you up to speed.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

How did this happen? Why is it happening?

[Izek Straz]

There's a fourth member that hopefully is about to return from the bathroom after having had a conversation with Murray, who is a gnome that knows something about Blix. Murray. Murray Went to have a conversation with him.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Someone here in this box tonight.

[Izek Straz]

Someone here. The person that was playing cards with them that Bolaire stepped in to play on behalf of. Yeah, a lot happened while you were

[Taliesin Jaffe]

gone, and I. I can't process all that. So I just go back to watching this card game for a moment, and I'm staring at this guy with the scarred face.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me one more perception check.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Come on.

[Matthew Mercer]

Come on.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Support me.

[Matthew Mercer]

Support me.

[Murray]

Ooh.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yeah. It's 21.

[Matthew Mercer]

The pommel of his sword is a snarling dog's head.

[Murray]

Oh.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Busier night.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Wow.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay. I'm not going to interrupt. I just walked in. I don't know what's going on.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that? As the car game continues, Gus looks

[Matthew Mercer]

over at you, bolaire, and says,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Mr.

[Matthew Mercer]

Blix, I'm a traveler in town. This is my first time in Dalmarchia in a while.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We've been conversing. Politics in faith, and all those things

[Matthew Mercer]

that strangers are supposed to avoid. Dull, dull. What's of interest to you? I'm acquainting myself with your lovely town.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Art, philosophy, history, storytelling. I like knowing the core of what people think, not the things that hide them.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I like the truth, Especially truth that

[Delilah Briarwood]

is wrapped in a tale or a lie.

[Matthew Mercer]

My word. But this is a town of academics. Well, then, here's to the truth. Hidden or plain to see.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Cheers to that.

[Matthew Mercer]

Cheers to that.

[Delilah Briarwood]

If my money has to go to anyone at this table, I'm glad it is you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Money hard to come by in the antiquities business.

[Matthew Mercer]

Or is business good?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Business is chaotic at the moment. No one knows what heads or tails are. Things are. Things are complicated. There is an order to the. There's an order to the world. And when you shake it, for good or ill, people get hurt. I'll ask a question of you. I tend to find that this is a fundamental way of understanding anybody that you're at a dinner party with or table. If you had the power to command very fundamental forces of the universe to say that anybody caught committing a crime who was guilty was punished and caught and had to pay completely for their crime, whatever proprietary that might be. But in return, one out of every 50 of those people were, in fact, innocent?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Or would you have a world where

[Delilah Briarwood]

every innocent person who is caught and convicted of a crime is let go and found to be innocent, except one out of every 50 of those people was, in fact, guilty? What world would you want to live

[Matthew Mercer]

in, Mr. Blix, if we lived in a world where only one in 50 guilty men walked free. What a marvelous world that would be. My care is always for the innocent.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Anyone else at the table care to weigh in?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I wasn't paying attention. What'd you say?

[Delilah Briarwood]

That does not surprise Murray.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think you leave the bathroom at this time. You guys see Pimlee mourn. You recognize Pimlee, who sees you and just goes, ah, fuck. And then darts out into the. Just like, gets. He's out. He leaves the seven stars. And Murray, you return.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh, I'm.

[Murray]

I think I'm gonna come out of the bathroom and I just kind of lean up against the door jamb a little bit, and I just look at Izune.

[Izek Straz]

How far away are you? 60, 80?

[Murray]

I'm going to maybe 20ft.

[Izek Straz]

Messy to your brain. How'd that go? Should I chase him?

[Murray]

No, but I know where Dimitus is.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh.

[Izek Straz]

I will nudge how and direct him to Murray. And I will just whisper to you, mission accomplished. Murray knows where Demetus is.

[Murray]

And I'll say back.

[Matthew Mercer]

What are you.

[Izek Straz]

Are you okay?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I think so. I think so.

[Izek Straz]

How are you?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Sorry, there's just a lot of moving pieces in this.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Is it what happened tonight, Is it

[Izek Straz]

because of what happened to Misha?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Mm, that is a big part of it. Yes. Yes.

[Izek Straz]

You want me to do something to him? The lieutenant?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Oh, I don't know. Let me mull that one over. Polaire.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I actually don't even know if you

[Matthew Mercer]

would know it's me.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'm actually.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Oh, are you.

[Delilah Briarwood]

That's right.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Or changed out.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Izek Straz]

Okay.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

No, no, no. I won't say that if you're not. Yeah, I don't actually.

[Izek Straz]

Well, I did point you out.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So you know that he's Blair, but you wouldn't call his name out because you know he's in disguise. Yeah.

[Izek Straz]

Gotcha.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Okay, well, I think I may have to take my leave. I was only supposed to be here for a hand or two. While you're friend, I'm not even going to assume.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You see that Draspin says, where is Mr. Morne? You see that? Gus just goes.

[Matthew Mercer]

He's run off. And left quite a stack of gold on the table to do.

[Delilah Briarwood]

So I think that belongs to all of you. I will take my leave. Trespin. It's been something, my lady. I hope your luck does change. And Gus, was it?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I hope that politics do not stain your character.

[Matthew Mercer]

Amen. That's a worthy prayer, my friend.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I have a friend at the museum. If you're ever in the mood to take A look at a few things. I have many friends there. But just look up Bellair Lothalia. I think it'll be worth your time if you ever want to see things around.

[Matthew Mercer]

Give me the sense of things.

[Izek Straz]

No.

[Matthew Mercer]

8 you see says well dealer of

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

antiquities, I shall be sure to take

[Matthew Mercer]

you upon your offer.

[Murray]

I'm going to look at Izune.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Goodbye. Goodbye.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

And you,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

you guys join at the table.

[Murray]

I'm not even going to sit down because I don't want to implicate them just in case he's. So I'm going to just message Izune and say meet me in the alley out back and I'm going to head out back.

[Matthew Mercer]

Cool.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I'm going to head out the front door. If I see everyone, I think you

[Matthew Mercer]

two guys as you're about to head

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

out from your table, presumably you guys see walking through the door an extremely

[Matthew Mercer]

put upon hound you recognize earlier as

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Martin walks in looking around and walks into the back room right past your guys table. As he does he goes oh Mr. Fang, hello.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I see you've taken me up on my suggestion. Welcome to the Seven Stars.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes, thank you. I wasn't planning on coming here tonight but that's fine. And you see that he says excuse me, walks into the gambling area and goes, you Majesty, your presence is required back at the estate with your sister, the duchess and the prince your nephew. If you'd be so kind, we should be on our way. Thank you, your Majesty. And you see that Gus stands up as Drespin goes what the devil is

[Matthew Mercer]

the meaning of this? Your Majesty.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And you see that Gus says most pliant and just shovels the gold into a bag. Like this guy and turns around and walks past. You see that Martin as he's walking with the guy out the door says, you Majesty, this is the benefactor who spoke to your sister who gave that recommendation that she absolutely should not have knowing that you would immediately take her up on it when we have pressing matters. And you see that Gus turns and

[Matthew Mercer]

says Helen Dilfang, is that right?

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Augustus King Augustus.

[Matthew Mercer]

As in the flesh as Christ come from Timony.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yes, well that is the great thing about Dol Makyar, sir. We get the most fascinating guests in all the world within our walls. Most of them make a run for the finer neighborhoods. The smart ones spend some time with us common folk.

[Matthew Mercer]

He puts a hand out. I take it he shakes your hand. It's a pleasure Mr. Fang. I appreciate the recommendation. The finer neighborhoods are filled with some of the most gifted and studied liars. In the world. It's nice to come to a place with a little bit more honesty.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Come see us at the theater in a week. We'll try to deal you some truth.

[Matthew Mercer]

I will do the best I can. I'm afraid that my. My time here will hopefully be more limited than that. If you see me in a week, it will be because things have gone horribly awry.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

So you're right. And you told me. Well, here's hoping against hope.

[Matthew Mercer]

I appreciate it. You see that? He looks over and says,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

we are

[Matthew Mercer]

staying at the estate of merchant Harving Bowsprit. Feel free to send some tickets past. Perhaps some of my retinue will stay in the city and wish to see the show.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The name Harving Bowsprit is familiar to

[Matthew Mercer]

you as someone that knows. Elodie.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Elodie. Okay, got it. Your Majesty, for your visit, I would be doubly on guard. The city's a little tense at the moment.

[Matthew Mercer]

Hmm.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You.

[Matthew Mercer]

You recently, if I'm understanding, worked with the Chamber of Lords advisory to come by the deed to your theater.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

That's correct, yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

Your work with the Candescent Creed. It's a positive relationship.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

It's newer. Have still been feeling. But I have a few there who are supportive of what we do in the hallowed realm. Should have read the fine print. But it's true of the world around.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's always the way, innit? Well, a kindness deeply appreciated. And yes, I'm sure some in my retinue would actually love a chance to see a great work of theater here in Dolmarchia. So the kindness is appreciated even if I'm not able to make it myself.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He looks over and sees you, the people that are standing here with Hal.

[Matthew Mercer]

He nods.

[Izek Straz]

I give him a very deep and respectful nod.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I turn and go like,

[Izek Straz]

how tall is he?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He's like six, four. He's a tall. He's a very tall, muscular looking dude.

[Matthew Mercer]

He

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

looks a little bit old. Probably early 50s

[Matthew Mercer]

or maybe. Yeah, maybe like mid to. Yeah.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

This is a soldier turned monarch.

[Matthew Mercer]

Soldier turned monarch. Yeah.

[Izek Straz]

Yeah. If I can study how I think I'm looking at his. Whatever, battle scars, I can read off of him. Like there's stories there. Yeah, that's a language I speak.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Give me a investigation check.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay, that's cool. Do it with advantage because you're doing it on battle scars.

[Murray]

Oh,

[Izek Straz]

23. Oh, 20.

[Matthew Mercer]

23,000.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

20, 30, 20. A lot of things you'd expect to see. The one across the face should have killed him. It's wild that he Survived that.

[Izek Straz]

Wow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's a last minute turn. That's someone going for the head. And catching a corner of the helm at the last minute. And glancing off to the side,

[Matthew Mercer]

you

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

see that he's got a bad burn

[Matthew Mercer]

on his arm that you recognize as

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

not a battle scar. It's a square. It's a rectangular thing. That comes to a finer point. It's of kind.

[Matthew Mercer]

Clearly a poker. A fire poker.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Oh.

[Matthew Mercer]

He looks to you and says, soldier. Part of the Revolutionary Guard?

[Izek Straz]

Yes. Lieutenant of the arcane Marshals, Izuni Nayard.

[Matthew Mercer]

Good man. Appreciate the amount of arcane goings on in a city like Dolmarchia. So I imagine that's not an easy job. Also understand that you probably just wished a farewell to a lot of your comrades.

[Izek Straz]

Yeah, I did.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Yes.

[Izek Straz]

There was quite the dismissal that happened.

[Matthew Mercer]

Understood. Well, best of luck to them and appreciate the recommendation. Very well. And he smiles and takes off

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

with

[Matthew Mercer]

the hound in tow.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

A good boy,

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think. Murray, you're also standing there. Oh, no. You went outside?

[Marisha Ray]

I went back.

[Murray]

I'm waiting in the alley back.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes. So they head out. You two guys, I think, join your companions outside.

[Matthew Mercer]

Absolutely.

[Delilah Briarwood]

I've already cracked my glass face off, so I'm back to normal.

[Izek Straz]

And if we're not at the alley yet, I will lead everybody to the alley where Murray told me she would be.

[Murray]

I think Murray just swiped a bottle of wine off of the table on her way out from someone. And just taking big swigs from the bottle of wine. Stress drinking.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

I walk up and take it from you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Belt back.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

So much happened in the last hour.

[Murray]

That was so much.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Okay, notes. Compare notes. Is anyone around who wants to kill us?

[Matthew Mercer]

Always.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Go ahead and give me a perception check.

[Delilah Briarwood]

We can throw one in there.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

It's a 14.

[Matthew Mercer]

14?

[Delilah Briarwood]

Not better. Well, actually a 15.

[Izek Straz]

We have a room upstairs if we need to confront. Maybe that's better than the alleyway.

[Delilah Briarwood]

All right, just to save time, we could start heading to my apartment just to get that going. And you said something about a lead.

[Murray]

I know where Deminous Blix is.

[Delilah Briarwood]

Well, there we are.

[Matthew Mercer]

And with that, we'll go to Break.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Keyword. Keywords. Divinus, Blix.

[Taliesin Jaffe]

Break.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Fuck. Okay, okay.

[Izek Straz]

Croaky first, huh?

[Murray]

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. We're gonna have to try. I'm gonna get everything in order in my head.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Get everything in order in your head? We'll come back from break and pee, you sneaky Pete.

[Matthew Mercer]

And that's where we'll leave our story for now.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Part two of this episode of Campaign 4 drops this Tuesday. Thanks for listening and we'll see you

[Matthew Mercer]

soon for more critical role Foreign.

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[Taliesin Jaffe]

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[Taliesin Jaffe]

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