Seven of Them | Exandria Unlimited: Divergence Episode 2

Summary

Critical Role Podcast Summary: Exandria Unlimited: Divergence Episode 2 - "Seven of Them"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Critical Role
• Host/Author: Critical Role
• Episode: Seven of Them | Exandria Unlimited: Divergence Episode 2
• Release Date: February 27, 2025
• Description: Dive into the exhilarating world of Exandria Unlimited as a group of six misfit mercenaries band together to confront supernatural threats emerging from the shadows.

---

1. Introduction

In "Seven of Them," the second episode of Exandria Unlimited: Divergence, listeners are transported to the wild continent of Issylra. Here, six unconventional mercenaries, known collectively as the Reslayers, undertake perilous quests to reslay creatures that defy death itself. Guided by game masters George Primavera and Nick Williams, alongside the engaging cast of Jasmine Buular, Caroline Lux, and Jasmine Shion, the group navigates a world teeming with danger and mystery.

2. Characters Introduced

• Reslayers (Party Members):

  • Crocus: A sturdy and resourceful member, known for his prowess in crafting and combat.
  • Phaedra: A fearless and determined individual, often leading the charge in battle.
  • Garan: The group's tactical leader, skilled in both strategy and physical combat.
  • Nia: A compassionate healer, deeply connected to her companions and their cause.
  • Otto: The resilient and steadfast guardian of the group.
  • Taveen: A nimble and cunning member, adept at stealth and reconnaissance.

• Supporting Characters:

  • Klosara and Nez: Elderly matriarchs who oversee the burgeoning community at Torm's Hill.
  • Bull Ray: A seasoned bugbear elder, instrumental in organizing the group's efforts.

3. Overcoming Initial Challenges

The episode begins with the party enduring severe exhaustion from their arduous journey. As they traverse the magically conjured woodland, the environment becomes increasingly hostile, filled with returning undead creatures. Faced with dwindling resources and mounting threats, the Reslayers must perform survival checks to press forward or risk succumbing to exhaustion and illness.

Notable Quote:

Marisha Ray (Narrator): "[10:10] Assuming your party can move at regular speed. However, if enough of you hit that second level of exhaustion, that three days might turn into six."

4. Establishing Shelter at Torm's Hill

After surviving the initial onslaught, the group arrives at Torm's Hill—a secluded settlement initially protected by thick briars and hidden from external threats. Recognizing the need for a permanent refuge, they collaborate with the local inhabitants to build sturdy structures, ensuring the safety and sustainability of the community.

Notable Quote:

Travis Willingham (Garan): "[85:57] How standards change. You're a survivor. But not just for yourself anymore. You have to survive. For everyone here."

5. Confrontation with the Strife Emperor's Soldiers

The peace is short-lived as soldiers loyal to the Strife Emperor infiltrate Torm's Hill, demanding allegiance or facing execution. A fierce battle ensues, showcasing the group's tactical skills and unity. Through strategic maneuvers and sheer determination, the Reslayers manage to repel the invaders, solidifying their role as protectors of the settlement.

Notable Quote:

Sam Riegel (Tevine): "[279:25] So you say they're okay. Yeah. Absolutely."

6. Building Community and Leadership

In the aftermath of the battle, the Reslayers take on leadership roles, guiding Torm's Hill towards growth and prosperity. They establish trade agreements, repair infrastructure, and foster a sense of camaraderie among the diverse inhabitants. The integration of the Reslayers' expertise with the local knowledge leads to a thriving community capable of withstanding future threats.

Notable Quote:

Travis Willingham (Garan): "[271:33] It's too heavy to flip. I bring it only. I think this was something of fascination to me."

7. Character Development and Personal Growth

Throughout the episode, each member of the Reslayers undergoes significant personal growth. Phaedra grapples with the weight of leadership, Nia confronts her fears to heal others, and Garan finds solace in rebuilding a community he once led astray. Their interactions reveal deep bonds of friendship, trust, and mutual respect, highlighting their evolution from solitary mercenaries to cohesive leaders.

Notable Quote:

Brennan Lee Mulligan (Brennan): "[283:24] Miracles don't come from one person. We did this. You did this."

8. Conclusion and Future Directions

As night falls over Torm's Hill, the Reslayers reflect on their achievements and the challenges that lie ahead. With the settlement now secure and the community united under their guidance, they prepare for future quests to eliminate supernatural threats and expand their influence across Exandria.

Notable Quote:

Travis Willingham (Narrator): "[276:53] This old one's also going to turn. Does he turn to Garan? Or does he attempt to finish Hope in this moment on one who has already fallen?"

---

Final Thoughts:

"Seven of Them" masterfully blends high-stakes adventure with profound character moments, illustrating the Reslayers' journey from weary travelers to community pillars. Through strategic combat, collaborative building, and personal introspection, the episode encapsulates the essence of Critical Role's storytelling prowess, leaving listeners eager for the next installment in the Exandria Unlimited: Divergence series.

Stay tuned for more episodes as the Reslayers continue their quest to shape the destiny of Exandria!

Transcript

[Matthew Mercer]

Hey there Critter Podcast listeners. We have a special new membership service at Beacon TV where you can get early access to all new podcast episodes including Critical Role. For the first time ever. Beacon members also get things like live event pre sales merch discounts, access to a private community discord, and new exclusive series like Critical Role Cooldown. Think of it as our digital Critical Role land. Head on over to Beacon TV to check it out for yourself and start a seven day free trial. Thank you so much for your support for being a podcast listener and for being a part of our community.

[Liam O'Brien]

Hey there Critters. We are so excited to share with you our brand new podcast from the World of Exandria the Reslayer's take In this audio adventure, you'll be guided through the wild continent of Issylra or home to some of the most dangerous creatures here the Slayer's take as the most notorious monster hunting group in the realm. But when previously slain creatures start returning from the grave, it's up to six misfit mercenaries to band together and reslay these supernatural threats as the RE Slayers take. So come follow along these audio escapades as the second coolest monster hunters this side of Exandria battle a growing undead army of dangerous creatures. The party is led by a duo of game masters, George Primavera and Nick Williams, with the main cast including Jasmine Buular, Caroline Lux and Jasmine Shion. Listen to new episodes every Monday anywhere you stream podcasts or become a Beacon member and listen to the podcast two weeks early and uninterrupted by ads. Hey there friends, it's Matthew Mercer and it's my pleasure to introduce you to Exandria Unlimited Diversity, a brand new journey on the Critical Role Podcast Network. Divergence follows everyday folks picking up the pieces of their world in the wake of a cataclysmic war between the gods. As the dust settles, the mortals of Exandria discover how their world has been changed forever. New episodes drop on Thursdays at 7pm Pacific on Beacon, Twitch and YouTube, with the VOD uploaded to YouTube on Mondays at noon. Prefer your adventures in audio form. The podcast version arrives here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after the original broadcast. Or if you want instant access to podcast content, become a Beacon subscriber and get access to the audio version right when it airs at 7pm Pacific on Thursdays. The calamity has ended, but Exandria's story is far from over.

[Marisha Ray]

Enjoying hello and welcome to tonight's episode of Exandria Unlimited Divergence, a story of heroic adventurers dying of exposure in the ashy rain. The first D and D campaign where multiple PCs maybe go down because of pneumonia. Let's get excited. Before we get started, we have a few announcements. Matt, you wanna come take it over and take us away? Let's go for it. Hi.

[Liam O'Brien]

And we recently announced a brand new board game from Darrington Press called Solar Garden. In this, we make games. Oh, my God.

[Marisha Ray]

Isn't that crazy?

[Liam O'Brien]

In this tile drafting game, players take on the role of a visionary architect specializing in carbon neutral engineering to build a rooftop garden in harmony with nature.

[Travis Willingham]

That's awesome.

[Liam O'Brien]

Love to do that anyway. But gather points by building things like solar farms and windmill systems to create tranquil garden environments. Embrace the power of creativity and optimism in Solar Gardens. Coming August 1st at Gen Con. So go take a look for it there.

[Ashley Johnson]

Speaking of games, Allure by Solar Die Set, this is what we have available. The dice are designed by Lea Rondo and.

[Sam Riegel]

And the box artwork is by Nikki Das. And I'm gonna pull them out for.

[Liam O'Brien]

You, my girl Laura.

[Sam Riegel]

They're really pretty, but I roll.

[Travis Willingham]

Oh.

[Marisha Ray]

Natural toy.

[Matthew Mercer]

Natural toilet.

[Marisha Ray]

Guaranteed. They all have natural toilet.

[Ashley Johnson]

No one's gonna believe it. No one's gonna believe it. Cause it's an ad. But it's not. It's look. That's amazing.

[Marisha Ray]

And you get this awesome bag with it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Hi, can I have those?

[Sam Riegel]

Go look for them.

[Liam O'Brien]

Look for them.

[Marisha Ray]

I don't know where they're at, but they're available.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

A woman right there.

[Liam O'Brien]

Brilliant. I 1 love those dice.

[Travis Willingham]

2.

[Marisha Ray]

I think.

[Liam O'Brien]

That concludes our announcements.

[Marisha Ray]

So. Brennan, get back in here.

[Travis Willingham]

How you doing, Brandon? We did it.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Great announcement.

[Marisha Ray]

Wonderful announcements, Matt.

[Travis Willingham]

Thank you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Thank you. I try.

[Marisha Ray]

Ahem. And with that, let's jump right into tonight's episode of Exandria Unlimited Divergence.

[Travis Willingham]

We return to the Riven Mist peninsula in the south of Gwissar, a continent that has not yet earned the name tal'dorei. In an age long past where a group of straggling survivors escape the ruin of the prison of Rybad Kol, headed north towards a whisper or a promise of safety, a community known as Torm's Hill. Pockets of civilization here in the height of calamity are few and far between. It's only been less than two years since you were there, but two years is normally long enough for a group of people trying to survive the calamity to be found and slaughtered. Who knows what you will find, or if indeed you will even live long enough to find it. After the events mysterious, divine, cosmic in Ways and yet oh so very real that unfolded. Shattered stone, lightning and thunder. Roots growing before your very eyes. Lights of some strange insect. So very wild and mundane and yet also so otherworldly. Around the locket of your sister, scattered from the other companions of your gang, sent forward into the unknown. You have been traveling for days, following a stretch of magically conjured woodland, hiding from the eyes of whatever this world now holds. Now that up is down and chaos reigns, we return to the moments after the falling of Starmie and Fiddle Flask and the witnessing of a colossal figure moving across the landscape. Crocus at your feet, made of thick leather cord and clasped in dragon ivory. A gift from a God whose care is as profound as it is fleeting and glibly given. The lightning fades and you are left in dark forest. And you do the only thing you can. Put one weary foot in front of the other. You are three days from where you believe Torm's Hill to be. Some of you have two levels of exhaustion already. Starmion just became rid of his very last now knowing rest that you do not.

[Marisha Ray]

You have three days left.

[Travis Willingham]

Assuming your party can move at regular speed. However, if enough of you hit that second level of exhaustion, that three days might turn into six. So let's see if you all die before even a single combat.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead and give me a group survival check. We need a DC15.

[Sam Riegel]

All right.

[Ashley Johnson]

Who's next to me?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I'm still. You're rolling.

[Marisha Ray]

Still carrying children. But that doesn't affect your survival checks. Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

That affects your constitution savings.

[Marisha Ray]

I will.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Just to say it out loud, I did put on the belt.

[Marisha Ray]

You put on the belt?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

Fantastic.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

As just a. Well, I have a belt now.

[Ashley Johnson]

This is where the belt goes.

[Liam O'Brien]

The reverence that all vestiges deserve.

[Marisha Ray]

If we would have passed it.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh Alex.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There you are.

[Marisha Ray]

Your strength score is 21.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Jesus Christ.

[Travis Willingham]

Not even a full level.

[Marisha Ray]

Not even a full. Yeah, this is a bunch of vestiges. Going to challenge. Rating 18 NPC stat blocks. Let's hope for the best, huh?

[Matthew Mercer]

Survival disadvantage for me.

[Ashley Johnson]

One level of exhaustion doesn't roll with disadvantage, does it?

[Sam Riegel]

Or it is.

[Travis Willingham]

It is.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh wait.

[Sam Riegel]

Fierce.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well, I can't get much lower than that.

[Marisha Ray]

4. 4.

[Sam Riegel]

8. 8.

[Travis Willingham]

16.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

16.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

13.

[Travis Willingham]

13. 5.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

5.

[Travis Willingham]

I'm going to need constitution saves from everybody. But your first of three days is marked down.

[Marisha Ray]

Cause I believe you're being carried by.

[Travis Willingham]

Gond at this point as well.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

True.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

Gotcha.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Natural 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Natural 20. Let's go. Natural 20. In that con. Save 16 16.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

God. You said constitution.

[Travis Willingham]

Constitution safe. Nephi, you take another level of exhaustion. I Believe you have two now.

[Ashley Johnson]

Correct.

[Travis Willingham]

Your speed is halved.

[Ashley Johnson]

Perfect.

[Liam O'Brien]

10.

[Travis Willingham]

10 level of exhaustion.

[Liam O'Brien]

My speed is now happening.

[Sam Riegel]

Mine is nine.

[Travis Willingham]

Another level of exhaustion.

[Sam Riegel]

So I'm at three now you are at three. What happens at three?

[Travis Willingham]

Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws. Uh oh, cool.

[Marisha Ray]

Now, several of you have your speed halved.

[Travis Willingham]

Garan is a lot harder to carry than Phaedra. So you now have four days left of travel. Unless anyone can think of something clever in this moment that they want to do.

[Sam Riegel]

Can me a carry car?

[Travis Willingham]

No. She can.

[Marisha Ray]

Your speed is half too. You need someone to carry you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I don't know how many more people it can carry.

[Ashley Johnson]

I think we're just gonna slow it. I think we're slowed down.

[Sam Riegel]

You're doing enough crocus.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah, I feel pretty good actually.

[Sam Riegel]

That's good. Yeah. How's. How are you liking the belt? Belt looks good on you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Thanks.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I never had a belt before.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, well, I'm proud of you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Thanks.

[Sam Riegel]

Nice belt.

[Travis Willingham]

Next day. Give me another survival check. Rolling with disadvantage.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was good.

[Matthew Mercer]

What is that?

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, this is disadvantage.

[Travis Willingham]

Disadvantage.

[Ashley Johnson]

Great. Sick.

[Sam Riegel]

Gorgeous.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, that doesn't change much. 13, 13.

[Sam Riegel]

6.

[Liam O'Brien]

6.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

6, 6.

[Travis Willingham]

5. 5, 10.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead, start the game. Guys, it's been a really good game. Go ahead and give me constitution saving throws.

[Sam Riegel]

And now I also have disadvantage on this.

[Marisha Ray]

Right.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay. I swear to God.

[Ashley Johnson]

You got it.

[Sam Riegel]

You guys. You guys, I need you.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Nope. I believe that you now have two days left. What do we get for Khan?

[Travis Willingham]

Save 16.

[Marisha Ray]

16.

[Travis Willingham]

You save 12.

[Marisha Ray]

12 saves.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh hallelu.

[Travis Willingham]

17 saves.

[Sam Riegel]

2.

[Marisha Ray]

2.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

17.

[Travis Willingham]

17 saves.

[Marisha Ray]

So some of you are at 3. You're at 3. You're at 2. Exhaustion levels. You're at 2. You're at 0. 0. Still. Crocus is a creature of legend.

[Sam Riegel]

Sweet dragon balls.

[Marisha Ray]

These sweet little kids have not made any saves at all. They've been you carrying them on your back with no exhaustion. And right here we have one.

[Matthew Mercer]

He just doesn't know that he's fucked.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I just don't know. I have no concept of that.

[Marisha Ray]

I'm completely feed trick.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Cartoon rules.

[Marisha Ray]

There are two days left. You are at the fourth level of exhaustion.

[Travis Willingham]

Your hit point Max has halved Nia.

[Marisha Ray]

You see Jasmine, can you describe for.

[Travis Willingham]

Us what Phaedra is looking like?

[Sam Riegel]

Phaedra just looks like a haggard shell. Just cracked, bleeding lips, vacant eyes. At this point, if anyone talks to her, she's not even like she already looks like she's got one foot out of this world. It's bad. I think even you have never seen me in. In this situation, in this state.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You don't look good.

[Sam Riegel]

I don't feel good.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Can I help?

[Sam Riegel]

I don't. I don't know if you can. I think you're doing all the help that you can. You're doing a good job, Crocus.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I don't. Okay.

[Sam Riegel]

I don't want you to worry about me, okay? I'll be.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's my job.

[Sam Riegel]

I know.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Let me share the load.

[Matthew Mercer]

Arrow will kneel down and scoop Phaedra up onto his back. Sort of like piggyback style, so that.

[Travis Willingham]

You don't have to walk scooping you up. This will cancel the disadvantage on any constitution saving throws you have to make.

[Marisha Ray]

If you have to make a constitution.

[Travis Willingham]

Saving through, you will do so with disadvantage carrying her on your back. In Phaedra, you see Arrow, with no fanfare at all, hoist you up on his back to continue trudging through.

[Marisha Ray]

This has been different worlds for you. You're used to.

[Travis Willingham]

You've come up in the prison of Rabad Kol, back in your city life as the leader of this gang, where.

[Marisha Ray]

Your small stature was at some points.

[Travis Willingham]

An inconvenience, but never life or death. There are routes every two to three feet that other people step over absentmindedly that require a tremendous exertion of effort from you to get over. It is a very cruel and unfair world out here in the rain and ash.

[Sam Riegel]

Mm. I think as I'm on Arrow's back, I whisper to you. Or not trying to whisper, but just. I can't muster up more. I just say you. I don't know how you do this. I thought I was strong. I was foolish enough to believe that I understood this world in a weird way. Everything made so much sense before we left Rybad Coal. And now out here, it's just. There's no. There's no logic. There's no order to it. It's just.

[Ashley Johnson]

How do you do it?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

How long were you in Rybad?

[Sam Riegel]

How long was I in Rybad?

[Travis Willingham]

Kohl, you were in there for about four or five years.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, okay. Yeah. Four or five years. Before that, it was just, you know, city living. And it was tough. It wasn't, you know, had to do a lot of stuff to get. Just to make it. But it wasn't like this.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Repetition. Repetition can make the impossible seem commonplace. Maybe I've lived in the Wastes better part of my life.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You learned to Stomach it with time.

[Sam Riegel]

Well, if I do last long enough to do this again, we'll see. And I hope you're right.

[Travis Willingham]

Two days left. Give me a group survival check.

[Matthew Mercer]

Everything's at disadvantage.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, this is. This is disadvantage.

[Travis Willingham]

Oh.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm excited for that.

[Travis Willingham]

Nat20.

[Ashley Johnson]

You're gonna announce to everyone. Liam, that's Great.

[Liam O'Brien]

We got 14.

[Marisha Ray]

14.

[Ashley Johnson]

Dirty 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Dirty 20.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Nat 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Nat 20. Nat 20.

[Sam Riegel]

2.

[Marisha Ray]

2, 1.

[Travis Willingham]

1.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, no. You didn't make me better. I made you worse.

[Marisha Ray]

Nat 20 and a 14. Great. I'm going to need constitution saves. You will not be rolling with disadvantage.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, I am.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, no.

[Travis Willingham]

What's that?

[Sam Riegel]

Please, please, please.

[Marisha Ray]

Ooh, baby. Hi, baby. 12.

[Sam Riegel]

2.

[Marisha Ray]

2.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

All right.

[Liam O'Brien]

12.

[Marisha Ray]

12.

[Ashley Johnson]

17.

[Travis Willingham]

17.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

10.

[Travis Willingham]

10. Level of exhaustion.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

There it is. Finally.

[Marisha Ray]

You two are okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Taste first.

[Sam Riegel]

Exhaustion.

[Marisha Ray]

Level of exhaustion. You're at two.

[Travis Willingham]

What?

[Ashley Johnson]

Five.

[Marisha Ray]

You are at five levels of exhaustion. Your speed is reduced to zero. The last day. The trees get wider and wider. This narrow strip is broadening out.

[Travis Willingham]

Arrow, you are aware of two things simultaneously. The ground is becoming more uneven. Topographically. You're getting higher in altitude. It's been raining for days.

[Marisha Ray]

The threat now, everything that was the threat of thirst is now the threat.

[Travis Willingham]

Of sickness and pneumonia.

[Marisha Ray]

It's the threat of chill. And you can feel on your back.

[Travis Willingham]

Phaedra's speed has been reduced to zero.

[Marisha Ray]

Phaedra is struggling to breathe as a.

[Travis Willingham]

Powerful infection sets in in her lungs.

[Marisha Ray]

She's on the verge of drowning.

[Travis Willingham]

On your back, held up by your arms. Just in her own breath. The feebleness of her own lungs robbing her life from her.

[Matthew Mercer]

You told me last time we gathered that Torm's Hill is relatively close on that map to another place that I know.

[Travis Willingham]

Yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

So I think that Arrow is bad off himself. Nowhere near as bad as his new companion, his cargo. But his vision is going double from time to time. And he's just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and taking some strength from his proximity to old haunts.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus goes over to the children's mother.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Can you take one of them?

[Travis Willingham]

Yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Hands off one of the kids. And then goes over to Arrow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Let me take her.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And just plucks you off and cradles you underneath with one arm.

[Matthew Mercer]

Arrow's going to plant his hand above his head on your peck for a second and just pat it. And then start to hobble forward.

[Travis Willingham]

You can see a. You smell it. With a sort of draconic snout. Arrow's feet are. He's been leading the way the whole time and kind of cutting through the. The first layer of brush getting up through here. And you can see just a thin trickle of blood from where his scales have split from the soaking mud and rain moving forward through this place.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Do you want me to go first? No, I'm familiar with the area. Just keep pressing forward. Okay. Almost there. And you know this one, right? He's trustworthy. He knows where we're going.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes. I. He guided me to where we were supposed to be going before we got captured. I know him. I trust him. Even when we're all a little worse for wear, he's. He's still the guy I know.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I trust you. I trust him.

[Liam O'Brien]

Lean into you. Both of us almost leaning on each other for strength as we hobble forward and fall lockstep with him.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia, she sort of sees how rocky and rough Phaedra is. Right. So I think it's not wise. But she's not a very wise. She is a little bit. But she takes her cloak off and tries to bundle Phaedra if she can just to keep whatever heat that she has close to her.

[Travis Willingham]

You bundle up a halfling who was.

[Marisha Ray]

Wiry and scrawny and scrappy at the best of times and has been walking without food for a week.

[Travis Willingham]

So is skeletal. And the cloak goes around you. And I think also crocus enormous torso is something like an umbrella.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Fiedra holding you underneath. Walking on three limbs now. Just holding one at this point.

[Sam Riegel]

I don't think Phaedra can even get the words to come out of her mouth. But she just looks at you. Thank you.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia nods. Exhausted with her two levels of exhaustion. Doesn't have words back. But there's that thing of like it is unending.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Thanks.

[Ashley Johnson]

Of course.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's gonna be okay, Arrow.

[Travis Willingham]

As you push forward, you begin to recognize these woods. You are. If you were all well, you could be there by nightfall. As it stands, stumbling through the dark and the rain and the mud. You will have one more day of travel to arrive there. And if it is as you remember it, you will get to safety and the ability to actually rest and potentially skirt Phaedra from the very jaws of death. If she can find a warm fire and medicine, just a structure, any structure to get out of the rain. It occurs to you in this moment that that is if Torm's Hill is.

[Matthew Mercer]

Still there to that point when we. Unless you're throwing something at us when we stop for the night, as I have on past nights. Arrow will fall to his knees in the mud and plant his hands in it. And it's slow, way slower than the past times that the group has seen him do this. But he tries to mold the earth into a lean to, and it's so wet and muddy that it takes probably 15 or 20 minutes. But dry earth slowly starts to push up through the mud. And after a half hour, I'll say, he comes up with a crude lean to and then also is able to create a bonfire like he has. But it's small, barely holding on in the weather.

[Travis Willingham]

Fire sputters and burns.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, how would you, um. How do you do that? Part of it is spending so much time out here. But when I was young, a man who was like an uncle to me showed me how. I don't know how to do anything like that. Well. Well, if we make it through the week, maybe I can show you how. Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

You see here by the fire, Phaedra shivering under the cloak. Garan blowing breath on his one hand. You see Kaz as he goes by the green dragonborn looks over at Gond.

[Marisha Ray]

You see Gond has his long bugbear.

[Travis Willingham]

Ears flattened with rain to his head, and he has wrapped up in his clothes cloak Starmion's body. You see Gond going. You see Kaz looks over and goes, you know, Gand, we don't have to carry. And you see Gond just looks up with this pitiful expression. And Kaz thinks better of giving brutal and pragmatic advice.

[Marisha Ray]

I think, you see, Kaz realize on.

[Travis Willingham]

Some level that leaving the body here in these strange woods to rot would be a different kind of death. And that some things that are symbols and stories actually keep you alive in a different way.

[Matthew Mercer]

I've heated and opened up another. And I have not done this every.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Night, but another pinecone and taloned hand.

[Matthew Mercer]

Places three of those seeds into Gan's palm. And then I go to the worst of us, not myself, but everyone else, and plants one in their hand.

[Travis Willingham]

Phaedra. With one of these, I will ask you to, even though this is not necessarily how the spell works, to hold onto a D6.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, boy.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I will also give mine to Phaedra.

[Travis Willingham]

Cool. You give yours to Phaedra as well. Next day, final day of travel.

[Marisha Ray]

Let's roll these survival checks.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

One level of exhaustion. Is this a disadvantage for the survival check?

[Travis Willingham]

That one? No.

[Marisha Ray]

Ooh, it's tough out here, folks. 18. 18. Let's do these two really well.

[Travis Willingham]

12.

[Marisha Ray]

12.

[Ashley Johnson]

You said survival.

[Marisha Ray]

Survival even.

[Ashley Johnson]

13.

[Travis Willingham]

13.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, okay. 12.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay. 12.

[Travis Willingham]

This is gonna be Another set of constitution skills.

[Marisha Ray]

So disadvantage, you are rolling straight.

[Travis Willingham]

Not with disadvantage.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm holding straight. Cause I only have two.

[Matthew Mercer]

With two points of exhaustion, which is what I got right now, is that.

[Marisha Ray]

You don't get disadvantage on saves.

[Travis Willingham]

With two.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's a three.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay, so. And with that feature no longer on me, it's a straight roll for me. For Constitution, it was a disadvantage once because I was carrying.

[Travis Willingham]

For her to roll straight, you have to roll with disadvantage.

[Sam Riegel]

No, but I'm. Crocus is carrying.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, Crocus is. You're rolling disadvantage on this.

[Travis Willingham]

Cool.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's a 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, what do we get here for constitution?

[Liam O'Brien]

Six.

[Marisha Ray]

Six. You take another. How many do you have? Three. Three disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Thirteen.

[Marisha Ray]

Thirteen. That succeeds. So you're at two or at three?

[Sam Riegel]

Two.

[Travis Willingham]

You're at two.

[Marisha Ray]

Incredible. Nia's got some spirit within her. That is me and my sister.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm like, listen, girl, I'm coming, honey.

[Marisha Ray]

I'm coming. Edith. Indefatigable.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Thirteen as well.

[Marisha Ray]

Crocus, you succeed as well. So I think you're still at one.

[Travis Willingham]

Still at one.

[Marisha Ray]

Just a monster out of legend.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Also resistant to cold, so.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, well, there you go. That explains it.

[Sam Riegel]

12.

[Marisha Ray]

12.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

You succeed and do not die.

[Matthew Mercer]

All right, good.

[Marisha Ray]

Five levels is the most you can have without dying.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah. Congratulations.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, my God.

[Marisha Ray]

I really wanted to do a series at critical role where a hike through the woods was the scariest. Shit.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

I could succeed.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Nine.

[Travis Willingham]

Nine. You get another level of exhaustion.

[Matthew Mercer]

I'm at three.

[Travis Willingham]

You're at three. Now.

[Marisha Ray]

Your party. You see, Celeste is at four levels of exhaustion. Gond is at two. Coswold is at three levels of exhaustion. Marlath is at two levels of exhaustion. There's a group of you that is just like. No one is walking basically at full speed. The only person who could run right now is Crocus. Where would he run to? Where would he run to? And as you move through.

[Travis Willingham]

You begin to see the forest fan out. And as it does, trees begin to part. Rain continues to fall. And though there are still storm clouds everywhere you look and behold a thicket of briar arrow. You see this enormous, huge gulch of thorns. There used to be a secret passage in here somewhere that you knew about. That secret passage is torn wide open.

[Marisha Ray]

You see there are wagon ruts and muddy boot prints and everything just moving.

[Travis Willingham]

In as fast as they can into these woods ahead of you. In the distance somewhere, you think you hear a clang of something on metal.

[Marisha Ray]

There's a snap of a rope and you think even through the woods as.

[Travis Willingham]

The rain continues to fall, you can still hear what you think are voices even through the dense rainfall.

[Matthew Mercer]

So help me. The briar has been blasted outward or broken toward us.

[Travis Willingham]

Looks non magical.

[Marisha Ray]

It looks like the briar has literally been widened out and pulled apart. This was a place that was supposed.

[Travis Willingham]

To be hidden from emperors of the.

[Marisha Ray]

From soldiers of the strife emperor and.

[Travis Willingham]

Is now something else entirely.

[Marisha Ray]

It looks like any pretense of being hidden is.

[Travis Willingham]

Is gone.

[Marisha Ray]

And you can see just again, as a wanderer, more sets of footprints than you can count. There's a certain heading out, heading in, in. And you look at them and you're looking for soldiers, boot prints. Some of the people that were traveling here were barefoot. You see that. It looks like chaos, just things going.

[Travis Willingham]

In.

[Marisha Ray]

Towards what you remember as torn.

[Matthew Mercer]

And it's raining on us. So does it feel to me that this is. I'm hearing stuff. So this is recent, Quite recent.

[Marisha Ray]

I think some of you guys can clearly hear a voice being in the far distance through the rain and muffled by trees. But a voice being like further, further back, back, back here. Back here.

[Matthew Mercer]

I pull my hood of my cloak off so that. That my gold visage is very clear.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Stay behind me. Let's film people. That we did.

[Liam O'Brien]

He pulls his hammer and clutches it tightly, as tight his hand as he can. As exhausted as he is, but just ready.

[Ashley Johnson]

Mia, following Garan, takes Starmian's letter opener and just sort of tries to hide it, but just in case she keeps it ready.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus stands up after walking on all fours for a while, still holding Veedra, maneuvers the child to be sitting on his shoulder as opposed to on his back.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And then proceeds to put his hand on the shoulder of the dragonborn that sold the other dragonborns out.

[Travis Willingham]

Marlath Marloft.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

He just puts his hand on Marlath's.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Shoulder and goes, come.

[Marisha Ray]

And he walks with you. As you enter, I will describe to you a place that at this moment.

[Travis Willingham]

Exists only in Arrow's memory.

[Marisha Ray]

And I need to describe to you.

[Travis Willingham]

A place that exists only in his memory because I need you to understand how strange. What he now sees is. Torm's Hill was a hill, so named for a single Dwarven smith who lived in what is called by some a strong home.

[Marisha Ray]

Basically a single Dwarven family makes a cottage. But by the standards of other folk, that cottage looks like a tiny castle. Right. Like it's the standard of Dwarven living that to other people that aren't familiar with hill. Dwarves would think, oh, that's a lot for a house. But it was under a hill, so it was sod covered grass and trees grew on it. But you could see a little sort of chimney. And there was work that was done there. That a long time ago, the beginning of the calamity was overtaken by a group of goblins. And after that, the goblins fled to go join the Strife Emperor's armies. And a group of very secretive halflings.

[Travis Willingham]

Came who created the sort of briar wall around it and created a small community that you would have known run.

[Marisha Ray]

By two older matriarchs, Klassara Bandy, an.

[Travis Willingham]

Older halfling matriarch, and her wife, Nez Pilch, a goblin matriarch that basically ran.

[Marisha Ray]

A small community, or not even ran.

[Travis Willingham]

Tended to a large community of survivors, usually about two to three dozen people.

[Marisha Ray]

So whenever you went to Torm's Hill, it was a couple of structures around an old dwarven strong home in deep forest with large briars around it that kept it hidden in a little rill of two legs of the foothills of a mountain series. Hard, hard, hard to see. You'd fly overhead. Couldn't see it from a distance. Couldn't see it through the trees as you walk through. In this area at the very south.

[Travis Willingham]

At the very south of the Stormpoint Mountains, in an area called the Hallowroot.

[Marisha Ray]

Hills, this place that at its peak.

[Travis Willingham]

Housed about two to three dozen people, currently has about 1,200 people.

[Marisha Ray]

Wagons, sleds, bodies on the ground, torches being lit. As you begin to approach through the woods, you see people stumbling. You can see there's an area where they've just piled up hay bales as.

[Travis Willingham]

A mountain of sludge is coming off.

[Marisha Ray]

One of the mountains from the rain, just trying to stop a flood from carrying off one of the lower tented camp areas. You see a lot of these tents at first seem like, oh, my God, there's an encampment of soldiers of the Strife Emperor here. No, these have been liberated tents. These tents have been taken by the people you now see in this place, which appears to be prisoners that have escaped other refugees, just vast and sundry different people. There are Halflings and humans and goblins and hobgoblins. There are what looks to be a lot of goblin peasantry.

[Travis Willingham]

Essentially.

[Marisha Ray]

These are people that were not in the prisons of Rybed, but were in the farmlands that they also were not allowed to leave and were basically Living the same life, you know, being told, look how lucky you are to not be in the prison of Rybad.

[Travis Willingham]

Kol also, we'll kill you if you leave here. Right?

[Ashley Johnson]

This is somehow different.

[Marisha Ray]

This is somehow different technicalities. So you see the central hill, but that is now drowned in brand new structures. I think, Eira, right away you're like, okay, it didn't go from 36 to 1200 overnight because there have been some attempts at order. But it is a collapsing order that is overwhelmed by the mortal need that.

[Travis Willingham]

Is now in this space.

[Marisha Ray]

You hear screams, you hear crying, but you also hear a lot of shouts of people trying, trying to direct and.

[Travis Willingham]

Give whatever help or aid they can.

[Marisha Ray]

But it is a struggling order under overwhelming chaos.

[Travis Willingham]

In the moment that you approach, what.

[Marisha Ray]

Do you do as you begin to approach this scene?

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, I think my first instinct since I have passed through here a handful of times, and Cassandra and Nez know.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Me, and I know them.

[Matthew Mercer]

I don't know if this place is safe. It's chaos around. So I am going to start pushing through the crowds to try to reach that central structure in this chaos and mob that you described. And I think as he's walking, Arrow is struck by the fact that before going to Rybad, he has never seen this many mortal souls gathered in one place since he was a child.

[Travis Willingham]

The world continues to tumble upside down to see this many people in one place and to see them not in chains, not hiding in danger. But part of that danger is freedom.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I drop my head down to you and watching him walk away.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'll stay with everyone. Go.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, I go with Arrow. Cause this is the place that we were on our way to before disaster struck. And I think Nia, although incredibly exhausted, realizes that this is the place where she thought she was going to reconnect with her sister. So there's a bit of wherever excitement can be seen in her posture. You see bits of her back straightens, her shoulders are up. She's still hobbling. But she doesn't want to look as awful as she feels.

[Marisha Ray]

Finding some inner reserve of willpower to.

[Travis Willingham]

Not collapse in this moment. And some deep heroic instinct. In so many times, in the world of Exandria, someone in your state would so clearly be the one in need of aid and rest. And you look and in this moment realize that you are one of the stronger standing here and more at the ready. Crocus underneath you. Phaedra, who has been holding onto her breath. Talk about heroism, refusing to let go of her last rasping breaths. And I Think even on a deep intuition. For one who does not know a lot about the world, you know that she has fought very dearly to survive to this point.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Just a little longer.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay. It's. I know the death hasn't come for me yet. I'm not supposed to die like this. I'm supposed to die getting ambushed in a knife fight by bandits on the side of a highway. No. Cause that one, it's not raining.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That one I can stop. So this is something I can't. So you need to hold on.

[Sam Riegel]

I know.

[Ashley Johnson]

I am holding on.

[Travis Willingham]

Arrow.

[Marisha Ray]

You push forward through the crowd going towards Tormim's Hill.

[Travis Willingham]

There is a small area. Torms Hill didn't used to have roads.

[Marisha Ray]

There were little areas where off towards.

[Travis Willingham]

Some goats in a pen there would be a little less grass, like a natural footpath.

[Marisha Ray]

And now suddenly, in the midst of these couple of structures is a place that.

[Travis Willingham]

That is a crossroads. You can see it's like, oh, this isn't.

[Marisha Ray]

There are no roads, there's no civilization.

[Travis Willingham]

There'S no places to go.

[Marisha Ray]

The world is destroyed.

[Travis Willingham]

But all of a sudden. Yeah. Well, what do you call this thing? In the middle of these four sloppy ramshackle structures other than a town square. It happened maybe overnight just by the.

[Matthew Mercer]

Sheer number of footfalls.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

And you see in the middle, behind her, you see a bespectacled hobgoblin. One of the frames of his spectacle is totally shattered and full of cracked glass. But a bespectacled hobgoblin is holding a little sputtering lantern under a hood over this tiny rotund goblin woman. She's got graying wiry hair and two braids hanging off her back. A little kerchief gown. She's soaked. You see her pants are rolled up under and her skirt is tucked into her belt because she's going through mud that comes up to her knees. She's very distinctive because she's got two big fake silver teeth behind her canines. And her mouth spreads really wide as she yells. And she goes, all right, keep that moving in. They need more rope over at the hay bales. And I arrow.

[Travis Willingham]

And you see Nez before you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

How did this come to pass?

[Marisha Ray]

Miracles abound. We're all about to die.

[Travis Willingham]

Listen.

[Marisha Ray]

And you see that she comes over and just wraps an arm around your waist and puts her head against the outside of your thigh. She's tiny. She has old age shrinkage and wasn't a big goblin to start. So is tiny, tiny little creature. She puts her Head against the outside of your leg and goes.

[Travis Willingham]

I can't believe it. We hadn't seen you in over a year. We thought you'd been taken.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's good to see you, Bilch. Swore I was never gonna come back here. Here I am.

[Travis Willingham]

You said that it was a fool's errand to stay here and that we would all die. And look, we've become more popular than ever.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I am happy to be mistaken.

[Travis Willingham]

All right.

[Marisha Ray]

Are you wet? And she looks down and sees the blood oozing out from your feet and.

[Travis Willingham]

Goes, you need to get to a fire.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I have seen better days.

[Travis Willingham]

All right.

[Marisha Ray]

Do you have any with you that are on the verge of death, that.

[Travis Willingham]

Can no longer walk?

[Sam Riegel]

Well, Fedora just kind of feebly raises. Yeah, you just see a tiny half, like a skinny halfling. Hand raise.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

She needs help.

[Sam Riegel]

I could take some fire right about now.

[Travis Willingham]

All right.

[Marisha Ray]

There's not much space left, but inside of the actual inside of Torm's Hill. Bring her in there. It's piping hot. It's toasty warm.

[Travis Willingham]

But I don't know how much space there will be.

[Marisha Ray]

But luckily she's tiny, so. Oh, there's a shelf we can put her on.

[Sam Riegel]

A shelf.

[Marisha Ray]

You're small, like me.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Someone will have to put her in there. I can't fit.

[Travis Willingham]

All right.

[Marisha Ray]

You see, she says, if you'd be so kind, please.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, I'll try and put Phaedra. She can't walk, but I'm assuming Phaedra can't walk. Nia is not much stronger, but she does what she can to prop up her body weight and try and slowly, slowly move. She nods to Nez, a quick greeting, and follows. I think Arrow's moving. Nia's following.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's time to come down.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And he takes the kid off of him. Finally. What's the last kid on the ground?

[Marisha Ray]

What's the last kid on the ground? Celeste looks at you and says. As Celeste collapses on her knees and scoops up her children, she looks at you. She has not spoken in days because.

[Travis Willingham]

Her mouth is just. You can see that there's some kind.

[Marisha Ray]

Of cough or rasping thing.

[Travis Willingham]

But through a wheezing voice, she goes, you are family to us.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay?

[Travis Willingham]

You saved my children.

[Marisha Ray]

And seeing Crocus unable to meet her gaze, she simply puts a scaled hand against her scaled cheek, brushes your face.

[Travis Willingham]

And smiles and says, I will go see if there is any food to be at.

[Marisha Ray]

And you see that Kaz goes with her to look after the children. Phaedra, you take off you look around and see Gond holding Starmian's body, just looking for somewhere to go. And you see Marlath gazing around, looking at everything under the rain. And you see he looks down at Nez and says, is there food or.

[Travis Willingham]

Drink for those who have just arrived?

[Marisha Ray]

And you see she goes, beats me. We're trying not to die right now. And you see that she just rushes off to go help with this flood coming in.

[Travis Willingham]

For all of you here, you're in.

[Marisha Ray]

A scene of a lot of chaos.

[Travis Willingham]

Where there's a lot of action immediately.

[Marisha Ray]

I know that you guys all have the disadvantage on pretty much everything right now, but let me know if there are any perception or investigation checks you.

[Travis Willingham]

Would make right away. In first being here.

[Sam Riegel]

I would quickly do a scan for the rest of the members of my gang just in case maybe they ended up here.

[Travis Willingham]

Give me a perception check.

[Sam Riegel]

With disadvantage, right?

[Travis Willingham]

With disadvantage. That's right.

[Sam Riegel]

I am barely lucid at this point, I think partially. Phaedra also thinks that she might have died in this. This is the line to get into hell.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

In which case she would also be looking for the fellow members of her gang. So either way, yeah. Bad four.

[Marisha Ray]

You look and see you're looking around for members of your gang. And you see in the rain under.

[Travis Willingham]

The lantern, your mother and father both looking at you. Mom, dad, Crocus. You see Phaedra speak to empty rain as the fever takes hold and you begin to see things that are not there.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Bad.

[Travis Willingham]

Can you hear me moving your hand up? You see, they look and go. We're glad you're here. You're so proud that you're going to see the sun.

[Sam Riegel]

Am I finally joining you again?

[Travis Willingham]

As Phaedra loses consciousness, do you think that she is able to join her parents if only in dream?

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, I think so. I think she hasn't thought about her parents for a long time. And this, for the first time, she's letting herself think about that again.

[Travis Willingham]

Your cunning and ruthlessness gave you life in Rybad Coal. And the absolute ill advised kindness of strangers saw you safely to Torm's Hill. It is a kindness that you have not seen since before your parents passed.

[Matthew Mercer]

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[Liam O'Brien]

Off.

[Travis Willingham]

With an unconscious Phaedra, Nia, you move through the doors of this sort of.

[Marisha Ray]

Dwarven forge home and see there are shelves built in. There's a massive roaring fireplace. As you come in, go ahead and.

[Travis Willingham]

Give me a medicine check if you'd be so kind.

[Marisha Ray]

Rolling with disadvantage as well.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, good. Three and a two. That'll be an eight.

[Marisha Ray]

Eight.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, no, just kidding. Seven.

[Travis Willingham]

Seven.

[Marisha Ray]

You see that there is space. It's literally on a shelf above the fireplace. But Phaedra is small enough that you can put some. You see, as you walk in, there's a big pile of cloaks and other things that have been dried out by the fire. And you, even as exhausted as you are, know that you can get the wet clothes off of Fedra, get her into something dry and literally store. There are other halflings and gnomes up on these shelves because the floor, every inch of the floor is hobgoblins, humans, half elves, these larger folk. And you see that there are a couple what look like healers or other things like that moving in a room.

[Travis Willingham]

Choked with about north of 60 people. There are two people tending to people in the air.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

I get Phaedra into something dry and I think she sees the two people and starts to sort of move towards one of them. She's had a. I don't think Nia's really recognizing what's happening. She gets Phaedra somewhere dry. She's just in her nurse sp brain, grabs her healer's kit, leaves. There isn't much in her bag besides her healer's kit. So she leaves the bag with Phaedra, sort of gives her something to hold onto and keep manipulating. She walks up to one of the two people who are helping in whatever way they can.

[Marisha Ray]

You walk up and you see that.

[Travis Willingham]

There is a little halfling woman who is here. She looks up at you and goes, hon, you have a medicine kit?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. There isn't Much. And there are people who this belongs to. So if you have anything. Bandages.

[Marisha Ray]

Are you skilled in healing?

[Ashley Johnson]

Relatively. Not great.

[Marisha Ray]

But you see, she looks at you. She has this wild little thatch of wavy hair. It's like an Albert Einstein Y poof of hair that goes out in all directions. Tiny little halfling woman.

[Travis Willingham]

And you recognize her having a similar wedding band to the goblin woman you saw out in the street outside. She looks at you and says, all right, you can heal. You need to rest.

[Marisha Ray]

You need to rest here. And you see that she hands you a crust of bread. It's hard as a rock. But she gives you a canteen of what feels immediately warm to the touch.

[Travis Willingham]

And you recognize as being tea smells herbal.

[Marisha Ray]

And she says just pour some on.

[Travis Willingham]

It to soften the bread. Eat that and you have to sleep.

[Marisha Ray]

We need you.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay? Okay. She. She rips it in half, dips some of it in that tea. Gets it back to Phaedra and sort of tries to feed her, I guess. Phaedra. Hey, open up. And she sort of just tries to break down bits of bite sized bits and just is giving a bite to feeder. A bite for her, a bite to feed her, a bite for herself.

[Marisha Ray]

Somewhere in a dream, your mom is feeding you delicious tea biscuits. And you begin to feed them.

[Travis Willingham]

And then you see Klosara, the halfling.

[Marisha Ray]

Woman leads you out back into the rain for a moment again into another building where you see there are a few cots laid out. It's much colder here, but if you're not on death's door, you'll at least.

[Travis Willingham]

Be able to rest here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Wraps her cloak around herself. Conks out, hits that pillow hard.

[Travis Willingham]

Hard.

[Marisha Ray]

Boom.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Unfortunately, that pillow's a rock Concussion concuss.

[Marisha Ray]

For crocus and Garan. You're out there still with Arrow as you see this goblin woman. Get back to work. You've all had some exhaustion as well. But you see that also. Things are going nuts out here. What are you going to do?

[Liam O'Brien]

I think at this point, Zarin's taking in all the chaos around. The ash and sweat streaked elements that the rain couldn't wash over this trek. The beard itself darker stained because of it in places. At first it's just standing stoic before you see this smile crawl through his mouth. This. This hell that some of you had seen for a time. Some longer than others. This is the first time in nearly a century that he's been in a space where people, while in chaos aren't under tyranny. And he's breathing in a sense of Community that he hasn't really been around in a long, long time.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Glances over at Crocus. You gonna be all right? Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Places his hand on the shoulder.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'll be right back. Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

Now, this is a place of dwarven make. It looks like at one point.

[Travis Willingham]

At one point, yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

All of a mountain dwarf in his history, there are maybe some similarities in the subterranean builds. He's going to just start walking through what tunnels he can to where some of the great keepsakes are held by dwarven common folk. Try and recall his days of building simple and intricate abodes. And stumble best he can to where they might keep their finest liquor.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead. We're gonna roll straight. Cause you're still exhausted. But this is stonecunning, so I want you to roll a.

[Travis Willingham]

Well, make it a tool proficiency check, given. It's like a stone cunning.

[Liam O'Brien]

He is a crafter, which means he has proficiency with brewer supplies. But we can go ahead and try and add that.

[Travis Willingham]

Let's do that.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

All right.

[Travis Willingham]

DC 10 gets you something.

[Marisha Ray]

DC 15 is even better.

[Liam O'Brien]

19 work for you.

[Marisha Ray]

19 rolls well, when it counts.

[Ashley Johnson]

Liquor, liquor, liquor.

[Marisha Ray]

Liquor licker. Garon.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I almost high fived you on screen.

[Marisha Ray]

I love it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Bring it.

[Marisha Ray]

Bring it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Go.

[Sam Riegel]

I love it.

[Marisha Ray]

I fucking. I fucking. I fucking love it.

[Travis Willingham]

Garan.

[Marisha Ray]

You begin to move forward from this place.

[Travis Willingham]

And as you do, you are looking out. You hear laughing voices behind you. A distant cousin. Well. And of course, who knows?

[Marisha Ray]

And why shouldn't she have? He says, I have nothing against it. He's a very proficient brewer, as hill dwarves often are. I'm just saying. And he says, you sound ignorant and you sound. A brewer is a craftsman, just like a mason is.

[Sam Riegel]

Right.

[Travis Willingham]

But a brewer ale doesn't last for generations is all I'm saying.

[Marisha Ray]

It's consumed after it's brewed. That's all. I'm trying. And you see that there's a moment.

[Travis Willingham]

And someone puts a hand on your shoulder. And you feel in this moment someone looking at you and going.

[Marisha Ray]

Pop.

[Travis Willingham]

You. Are you all right? You seem lost, like you're somewhere far away.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I Wham.

[Liam O'Brien]

You seem to lick lips that are still themselves cracked and dried even through the rainfall. Split. Curling up the front and almost towards the base of his nose.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm just admiring the ground smell. Have you got beer?

[Marisha Ray]

Get the man a drink. Torm.

[Travis Willingham]

Torm. And you hear the name Torm shouted out. And you hear voices going, I just want those. I just want to be. I just wish I was free. Free again. Free to be with those on and you were headed for Torm's Hill. But you look at the back where it meets the woodline and you see that there's an old stone fence that connects. And it connects at a large standing.

[Marisha Ray]

Rock that's covered in lichen.

[Travis Willingham]

It's really thick with lichen.

[Marisha Ray]

But you look back and there's some.

[Travis Willingham]

Part of you deep down that remembers that stone.

[Marisha Ray]

Remembers this ancient tall dolmen or Menhir stone. And as you go to touch the lichen you see that there are dwarven runes underneath it. It's very common for hill dwarves as a way of sanctifying and protecting supplies. Especially things that can go bad to place them within sight of a sacred stone like this. On that 19 you look see where the stone touches. See this sort of earth and sod at the back lip of the mound.

[Travis Willingham]

And there it is poking up out of the grass.

[Marisha Ray]

You miss it even in bright daylight, let alone during the rain.

[Travis Willingham]

The very tip of a ringed brass handle on a door that maybe hasn't been opened in who knows how long.

[Liam O'Brien]

Stumbled forward catching it to hold my weight up with what little strength.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Let's see if I can give it a tug.

[Marisha Ray]

You pull back open.

[Travis Willingham]

12 massive dust covered barrel of ale. And hanging from the roof salted beef and pork. Huge rations.

[Marisha Ray]

These may have been here for years.

[Travis Willingham]

But dwarves know their craft and know it well.

[Marisha Ray]

And the dwarves that smoked and cured.

[Travis Willingham]

This meat and brewed this ale and sealed it under black wax in ancient oaken barrels.

[Marisha Ray]

Sealed here in this place.

[Travis Willingham]

You know this will have kept O Hammer.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Miracles abound indeed.

[Liam O'Brien]

And just starts cry. Laughing on the ground. Falls to his knees and laughs.

[Marisha Ray]

You laugh and laugh and as you do this miracle unfold before you. Arrow. What are you up to?

[Matthew Mercer]

I think that arrow has an inverse reaction to Gar. A lifetime spent wandering in the ashes of this landscape and only spending short amounts of time in any gathering of people. He has come to distrust gatherings as places that are perilous. Time and again he made attempts in his life to settle. And those all evaporated through his fingers. So to see this many people and his fear response or anxiety has deadened over the decades. So he's never really thrown or upset in a way that he feels an apprehension right now. And I think he's both scanning the. We're in view of the mountain here you said, right?

[Travis Willingham]

Yes you are.

[Matthew Mercer]

He is both looking at scenes around him of people helping wounded friends or family and people laughing in the face of tragedy. And just so much life around him. That he is part of him is in another place a long time ago where he saw scenes very much like this. And then the other part of him not trusting his surroundings, is scanning the mountainsides for the kind of danger he's used to avoiding his entire life. And I think his gaze eventually falls on one particular peak and it stills him to a degree. And after allowing himself that indulgence, turns to Crocus.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I don't think that we would have made it this far without you. Oh. Okay. This is not something I would tend to ask. Can I lean on you? Yes. I think I need to rest.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And Crocus sits and hunches down and lets Arrow lean on him.

[Travis Willingham]

You sit and hunch down. So exhausted. Hearing frantic activity. Arrow. You feel this strength pouring out from Crocus. And he's even stronger than he was before. If that can be said. This enormous belt on him. But you also wonder if whatever magic now moves upon your companion is a gift to him. Or if it simply clarifies a gift he already had. As you finally rest, another harrowing escape from near certain death delivered once again from a fate worse than death. Your eyes do what they have always done, which is move to the horizon. You have to stay ready. How long does Garan stay laughing at the entrance? And what does he do after he has finished?

[Liam O'Brien]

He laughs until he. He physically does not have the strength. That wordless phrase. He does something he hasn't done in a hundred years.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And he taps a keg.

[Liam O'Brien]

He cherishes, drinks hungrily as it is. And the finest of ales a meal. But then carves a fair piece of meat. Fills what could serve us as any sort of a nail skin. He would probably have to go find, if not close the door. Doesn't make it known for fear of a panicked rush of unknown support. But returns to probably more connected and organized heads to decide what to do with this bounty. But returns to the rest of the troupe with what meat he can salvage in secret.

[Travis Willingham]

Having carved off a piece for you and your companions. You walk by Nez, who is organizing people again.

[Marisha Ray]

You see that she's speaking to Eight.

[Travis Willingham]

Absolutely soaked. He looks like a.

[Marisha Ray]

Sorry, he looks like a sort of tiger folk.

[Travis Willingham]

He has white and black stripes in his fur.

[Marisha Ray]

But just like a wet cat. You see, he's there going sort of speaking and going. The river's completely flooded. There's no. If the scouting party's still out there.

[Travis Willingham]

Then they're not going to be able.

[Marisha Ray]

To make it back to town. And I'm worried about that and you just sort of once again dealing with this chaos. But again, the people here, at least the ones that are in charge, look rested and sharp of mind enough to be able to handle this. As you walk up to her, she looks up at you and clearly seems.

[Travis Willingham]

Like the one in charge. If you were going to tell anybody, she looks over and goes, all right.

[Marisha Ray]

We need to find some way to deal with the river. But with years without rain. And now rain comes and it's incredible and it's a miracle and it's going to kill us all.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Mace. Mace, yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

Taps her shoulder gently with his cap. Gets her attention. His other arm is clutching the meat underneath a half cloak that he's thrown over. He's like, if we're looking to dam.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Something, I might be able to aid at least a bit of focus. But for the time being, you have many mouths to feed and you've been sitting on a bounty unmoon.

[Liam O'Brien]

I give a nudge in that direction.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Walk with me if you have but a moment.

[Travis Willingham]

All right, briefly. And she walks with you.

[Liam O'Brien]

I don't take too much of her time, but I say, you don't know.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Who to trust and how to disseminate. But this belongs to you. This belongs to everyone here. See to it.

[Travis Willingham]

She looks in the open cellar behind the hill that's been hidden under the sod for who knows how long. And you've never seen someone go complete.

[Marisha Ray]

Radio, dead in the brain while weeping as hard as possible, mouth open eyes.

[Travis Willingham]

You're a sorcerer. Miracle.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Just an old drunk.

[Marisha Ray]

And you see, she goes, well, I.

[Travis Willingham]

Love this old drunk.

[Marisha Ray]

Big hug around the waist, she says.

[Travis Willingham]

Thank you for telling me discreetly. This will be shared and shared equally. But we, so many of the people here are new faces and we trust that they are good of heart. We trust that they are good of heart, all of them. And you see that she puts her head down and struggling with the meaning of those words, she walks back out.

[Marisha Ray]

To the center of the town, closing.

[Travis Willingham]

The door behind her and rushes off.

[Marisha Ray]

To and you see a couple of young strong people coming back here to.

[Travis Willingham]

Set up and start to inventory what.

[Liam O'Brien]

They have to share. Going to nod and watch that for a minute, bite off a little piece.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Of meat.

[Liam O'Brien]

And begin to walk towards where they went ahead and took Phaedra.

[Travis Willingham]

Incredible. We are going to move through time as you have skirted death.

[Marisha Ray]

Congratulations, heroes of the divergence. You have made it to somehow. Somehow. And we will say here, normally it.

[Travis Willingham]

Takes multiple long rests to stave off exhaustion, but I think here in the beginnings of the divergence. We will awaken the next morning. With your exhaustion gone, the food and drink that you have and sort of awakening that next day, Phaedra, you come to against all odds, alive. And I think Nia, it's the next.

[Marisha Ray]

Day still rain clouds overhead. But the rain is very light as it's coming down now. But it's constant enough as it's coming down that the skies maybe somewhere it goes from a black storm cloud to.

[Travis Willingham]

A little smudge of gray like God. Is there something I've never seen on.

[Marisha Ray]

The other side of that, however.

[Travis Willingham]

Looking.

[Marisha Ray]

Throughout the room, you see that there is a very small little medicine medicinal tankard of ale that has some medical tools in it. Just enough alcohol to hopefully sterilize a little bit. Let's not think too hard about that. Let's not think too hard about that. But you see Nia here as well. And up along one side of this new encampment, you see that there is a bunch of hay bales with ropes. That was the rope snapping you heard was just the flood literally snapping a cable as hay bales pushed through it really quick.

[Sam Riegel]

I'm so sorry. Am I still holding Nia's bag that she gave me?

[Ashley Johnson]

I probably.

[Sam Riegel]

Or no, you took it.

[Ashley Johnson]

I probably in changing you and getting that. But once I got the bread and tea to you, I probably took it on my way to go knock out wherever she knocked out then.

[Sam Riegel]

Never mind. I'm not stealing your Then I then yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

It would have been a more interesting story. Sorry friend.

[Marisha Ray]

You're good.

[Sam Riegel]

I was in out of the full night.

[Ashley Johnson]

This is the very next day, though.

[Marisha Ray]

This is the very next day. As you awaken and the day stretches.

[Travis Willingham]

On and you start to get active again, you can see unfolding around you.

[Marisha Ray]

Where the chaos meets the community.

[Travis Willingham]

Where the chaos meets the kindness.

[Marisha Ray]

It stinks here in this community. There's a lot of waste everywhere. There are a lot of sick people. The next day you awaken and look at this room where every sick person has been packed into a hot smoky room room together with almost no ventilation. There are some tents and other things around. And you can see this next morning there is a sort of porch on a thatched roof little shanty building that both Nez and Klosara are speaking with an older bugbear who you see that bugbear has what looks like injuries sustained.

[Travis Willingham]

From public punishment under the rule of.

[Marisha Ray]

The Strife Emperor, but looks to be like a peasant leader of essentially a lot of bugbears and hobgoblins and goblins.

[Travis Willingham]

That have fled here and whatever the chaos.

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, you remember seeing just whole.

[Travis Willingham]

Plains of ash wiped out in the floods before, and whoever could make it here has made it here.

[Marisha Ray]

But you see, that's the group that.

[Travis Willingham]

Sort of seems to be talking about, about what is to be done.

[Marisha Ray]

And Nez and Klassara both wave over.

[Travis Willingham]

At Yu Arrow that next morning with an open invitation to come speak with them.

[Marisha Ray]

Other than that, it looks like there's some loose people trying to fix the flood wall. And there's this thing called the Larksbrook, which is this little river that is just enormous and engorged. It's broken its banks off towards an.

[Travis Willingham]

Edge of the community. But you guys tell me what you do the next day here in this new kind of freedom and uncertain safety.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I think after Eros woke up and removed himself from, Crocus has been just pacing near the doorway, waiting to see if Future wakes up. And as is waiting just outside, that's his only care.

[Sam Riegel]

Phaedra gets up with a start and immediately thinks, crocus, get out. Jump off that little shelf. Trying to find stability back on my legs, and it's been a rough past few days, so I stumble a little bit and then I immediately make a beeline for the door to try and find Crocus. But before I do stop in my tracks, look back at that little mug that has all the medical instruments in it.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

Is there anything in there that I could potentially use as a weapon, Like a little knife or something?

[Marisha Ray]

Give me a. Yeah, give me a.

[Travis Willingham]

Little sleight of hand. Check.

[Sam Riegel]

A little sleight of hand. Nat 20. Plus 5.

[Marisha Ray]

These guys are not working with the finest surgical implements. So on a nat 20, you pull out a full working dagger. Bad for surgery, but great for what you need it for.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, yeah. So I just take that out mine.

[Marisha Ray]

But I'll say on a Nat20 as well, you pull out. It's actually a stiletto, which is why.

[Travis Willingham]

It'S being used here.

[Marisha Ray]

So it's this long, thick, thin blade. And I'll say that as part of its design, you can add a 1D four to attack rolls against heavily armored opponents. It's like four. Finding the little neck joint in the armor there. Okay, plus four. Plus one D4.

[Sam Riegel]

One D4.

[Marisha Ray]

Plus one D4. Two attack rolls there. So, Phaedra, you were down but not out. Next morning, back up stealing already.

[Sam Riegel]

You're so fucking bad.

[Marisha Ray]

You're so fucking bad. And you, you walk out the door and see Crocus.

[Sam Riegel]

I Say, oh, my God.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And Crocus immediately drops to all fours and puts himself lower than Phaedra is like, that's. Cause he's. That's just his normal.

[Sam Riegel]

I say, oh, my boy. How are you?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Fine.

[Sam Riegel]

You're good? I knew you'd be good.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm fine. Are you?

[Sam Riegel]

I'm fine. It's gonna take a little more than rain to get me.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm in a.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It was more than rain, true.

[Sam Riegel]

But you. You did real good out there, you know, not just with me, but with taking care of those kids and. No, no, I. I did a lot of thinking, or at least I tried to, you know.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

And just. There's just so much about your heart that changes the second that you have a bodyguard. And I'm so proud of you. My bodyguard. And maybe one of these days you'll have bodyguards of your own to be just as proud of.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I. What?

[Sam Riegel]

I just pull you into a big hug.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

He lets Friedra hug him around the neck. And then he stands up with her hugging him and puts his hand underneath so that she's standing, but he stands up again and is holding her and is just looking around.

[Marisha Ray]

Now, as you look around, you see rushing up out of the crowd towards both of you, Crocus unmistakable here with a little bit of dim light. So it goes from the total chaos of a rainstorm and pitched night to light rain during smudgy dark. So everyone's sort of like in those partially concealed, foggy half shadows during a daytime thunderstorm. You look and see two shapes, massive shape, stumbling through the mud. And hear, boss as this shape starts moving. And you see another guy running as rain touches a sizzling head of Tavin going, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Just rushing through. And they get through. Otto just scoops you both in an enormous hug. Toveen is there as well.

[Travis Willingham]

He goes, boss.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, my God.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, my God. My boys.

[Marisha Ray]

What the fuck happened?

[Sam Riegel]

What the fuck happened with you? Where did you go? What happened when everything exploded?

[Marisha Ray]

Everything exploded?

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Well, here's the thing. You were making this special dinner, and then some guys came and said, if any of you are hiding hands in the soup. And then we said, we gotta go get that hand. And we both fell. You know those giant crucibles?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Everything collapsed and the crucible smashed out of there, but we were fine. Cause it's basically a giant helmet. So we were under there for a while and we were trapped in there. And it rolled for a long time and we. Both of us and Kef, and we were kind of you know, if you were like inside a ball, you could run. Trying to think how to paint a picture with words.

[Sam Riegel]

You're doing a wonderful job. I can see it. I can feel it. I can smell it.

[Marisha Ray]

We got badly hurt, but we got out of there. And I think that. I think the reason. I think hiding in the pot is the only reason we're still alive.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah. I mean, hey, that's what us roaches do, right? We survive.

[Travis Willingham]

We survive.

[Sam Riegel]

We make it out.

[Travis Willingham]

Make it out.

[Sam Riegel]

What happened to Kef?

[Travis Willingham]

You.

[Sam Riegel]

You said Kef was with you.

[Marisha Ray]

They both turned to look at each other.

[Travis Willingham]

Well, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

A couple days ago, we were traveling on the roads out, trying to get back to harbor as best we could. Kef? Sort of. We met up with some friends of Kef from.

[Travis Willingham]

I think he might be, like, 200 years old.

[Marisha Ray]

I don't know. We ran into some friends of his, and they were kind of going a different speed from us, I'd say. Yeah, he's kind of fallen in with a band of.

[Travis Willingham]

I don't know.

[Marisha Ray]

He took a bite out of a guy's face in front of a bonfire. And people were talking about how the gods are dead and we're the new gods. And he got naked and he walked into the fire and started burning and laughing. We left. Yeah, we simply left.

[Sam Riegel]

Wow.

[Marisha Ray]

It was a different, you know, Taveen's.

[Travis Willingham]

Like, I consider myself a dangerous, violent.

[Marisha Ray]

Man and am proud of the crimes.

[Travis Willingham]

I do.

[Marisha Ray]

And I wished for no part of what I saw.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, no, that. Kathy, that tracks 100% not. So. He's still out there somewhere.

[Marisha Ray]

He's.

[Travis Willingham]

Don't say that.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah. No. As much as I. You know, as much as I did not like having him around a whole lot, I'm now realizing that the alternative is much scarier.

[Marisha Ray]

I'll never forget that he exists and.

[Travis Willingham]

That he's out there somewhere.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, I.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And I point at Malireth to articulate.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That guy. We gotta keep an eye on him.

[Marisha Ray]

That guy.

[Travis Willingham]

What's his deal?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

He sold out a bunch of Dragonborn.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Shady guy from Money.

[Sam Riegel]

Does he have any belongings on him?

[Travis Willingham]

No, he was a prisoner.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah, okay, but Justin, because I told him. Veedra, I'm telling you, we have to keep an eye.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah. Keep an eye in general. I mean.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

We don't know who's here.

[Marisha Ray]

As you point at Marlath, Marlath actually.

[Travis Willingham]

Is going to walk up to you.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Krokus will stand all the way up. So his six foot, six is.

[Travis Willingham]

You see, Marlath walks Up and goes.

[Sam Riegel]

Hello.

[Travis Willingham]

Hello. I'm very sorry to interrupt your.

[Sam Riegel]

No, of course not. No. What's going on?

[Travis Willingham]

I'm given to understand that your coterie. I was aware briefly of the existence of the roaches.

[Sam Riegel]

Many are.

[Travis Willingham]

Was understanding of your. Your command of the kitchens of Rybat Cole. The word had reached me that you lived rather a higher lifestyle than many of the prisoners of Rybad Kul, due to your. I would love to speak with you if I could.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, well, I'm not.

[Marisha Ray]

You know.

[Sam Riegel]

I just almost died. Not super in a speaking mood.

[Travis Willingham]

But you are a woman of resourcefulness and skill.

[Sam Riegel]

I can be. Who's asking for what?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Malrath.

[Sam Riegel]

Thank you.

[Travis Willingham]

He looks and says this is chaos.

[Sam Riegel]

I agree.

[Travis Willingham]

And therefore represents a tremendous opportunity if there is word going around the camp. Some believe that the Strife Emperor was victorious in battle. Others are saying that he was destroyed. But regardless of the truth of the matter, a new order is soon to impose itself here on this town. And I cannot help but notice but two plump, matronly older women are sort of scuttling around and engaging in various acts of charity. And that seems to be the entire organizational structure of events here in Torm's Hill.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes, Very astute observation. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Why?

[Travis Willingham]

I am a man of letters and had some position prior to my incarceration amongst the administration of the Strife Emperor and his empire. There are people here who. Things within the camp are being shared and relied upon, and it's chaos. And of course, this is happening because it's life or death, and there are floods and things of that nature. But things will revert here. It will not always be a state of emergency. And when the dust settles, I would love to work with you because I believe we may be able to create structures that the people here rely on together.

[Sam Riegel]

No, you make a very convincing argument. But there's a bit of an initiation process that you're gonna have to go through. Maybe we can discuss it at a later time. But until then, thank you for your advice.

[Travis Willingham]

He's gonna try to make an insight check to see if your words feel genuine to him.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Marisha Ray]

If you would like to make either persuasion or deception. Okay, go for it.

[Travis Willingham]

You're trying to beat a 15.

[Sam Riegel]

Dirty 20.

[Marisha Ray]

What would you like Marlath to believe?

[Sam Riegel]

He believes that I am being genuine about. That's very interesting information. Thank you for letting me know. And he believes that. Oh, you know what? Fedra is genuinely going to. He thinks that Phaedra is recognizing his value and is thinking Maybe this is actually a good alliance to make. I think this is smart.

[Travis Willingham]

Lovely.

[Sam Riegel]

That is.

[Travis Willingham]

That's what he believes.

[Marisha Ray]

That's what he believes. He looks at the stiletto at your side and you see he smiles and.

[Travis Willingham]

Says quickly armed, I need to find some parchment, ink and quill so that I may be likewise armed.

[Marisha Ray]

And he's kill that guy.

[Sam Riegel]

Kill that fucking guy.

[Marisha Ray]

If he put him down 1000 him.

[Liam O'Brien]

Through the milk carton.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

You say anything and I'm on him.

[Marisha Ray]

I am for the rest my whole job.

[Sam Riegel]

That fucking guy.

[Marisha Ray]

I like it. I'm affecting Sellia's ability to be in character at the table. Nia wouldn't do it, but Celia damn sure would kill the lawyers for the rest of you that next day. And we can be fungible also with time here. If you feel like your actions would occur not over the next day, but over the next week or however long.

[Travis Willingham]

That'S also fine here.

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, day one, I know you said that the matriarchs of this settlement signaled me, but let's say before we get to that Arrow would have, I think that we hunkered down and passed out undercover of rain, but still outdoors. And I think Arrow, who his first up always did not sense you leave and just sort of comes awake in his little bit of COVID outside watching the day already started and people moving about. And he wants to find everybody that first moment. But most of all he wants to find Nia. So he spends the next 20 minutes asking around at the settlement if they've seen her, anyone that looks like her, until I wind my way to her.

[Travis Willingham]

Give me a investigation or give me.

[Marisha Ray]

Investigation or perception and do it with advantage as you've been to Toram's Hill.

[Travis Willingham]

Before and know your way around.

[Matthew Mercer]

Fuck these ones. That's a dirty 20.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

The other one was a one.

[Marisha Ray]

Asking around for Nia. Someone explains like, oh, Nia's already working.

[Travis Willingham]

With Klosara taking care of the injured and sick.

[Marisha Ray]

So you're directed to her very quickly.

[Travis Willingham]

As you are though a woman behind you speaks and goes, I'm so sorry, are you mentioning Aeniya? Is that short for Rhaenyia?

[Marisha Ray]

It is turning around absolutely soaked in a. There's a traveler's disguise cloak, but underneath.

[Travis Willingham]

It you see a shimmer of actual white well made fabric, a kind of fabric that is not common to see.

[Marisha Ray]

And you see that there is a.

[Travis Willingham]

Beautiful tiefling woman, swooping horns that come up, white robes underneath this traveler that.

[Marisha Ray]

Are sort of frayed and destroyed at the bottom. But near the top. Lovely stitching and embroidery in the vest and cowl of the robe you see.

[Travis Willingham]

Openly on her chest.

[Marisha Ray]

And as stunned as you were by.

[Travis Willingham]

This amount of people, here's another stunning moment for you. She openly wears a symbol of the Moonweaver on a holy symbol around her neck.

[Matthew Mercer]

And you said horned tiefling.

[Travis Willingham]

A horned tiefling, yes.

[Marisha Ray]

You see that? She appears to be a tiefling. She looks like she could be a priestess or a cleric. But seeing open clerics of the prime.

[Travis Willingham]

Deities, maybe that's going on in Vasselheim.

[Marisha Ray]

But out here in the south of.

[Travis Willingham]

Gwessar, near the domain of the Strife.

[Marisha Ray]

Emperor, that is crazy to behold. And she looks at you and says, erinia.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Aye.

[Travis Willingham]

Greetings. I am Luz. I am helping Tend. I'm a friend of Klassara and Nez. And I was a friend for a time of Lyanna. Of her sister for a time. She has departed from Torm's Hill, but I was to remain.

[Matthew Mercer]

He has a split second heart attack at the word departed. Before the sentence is completed, she, to.

[Marisha Ray]

The last of my knowledge was alive.

[Travis Willingham]

She waited here for many months, but.

[Marisha Ray]

Waited for many months here for her.

[Travis Willingham]

Sister, but believed she received a vision. And she departed to the northwest of here and points towards the mountain that occupied your dreams the night before and parted for the Snowgrave. Pass. And you know that pass. And you know it very well.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Are you free at the moment?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

Yes. I've been tending to the ministrations of those here. Praise the Moonweaver.

[Marisha Ray]

And just has a moment of crying as she says the name of her goddess out loud in public.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Come with me. Yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

And as we field the crowd, I'm not going to recount it because everyone here lived it, but I tell her the story of our exodus from the ruins of that prison place to arrive here. While searching.

[Marisha Ray]

She.

[Travis Willingham]

Moves with you. And as she does, she says. All right.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

My God.

[Travis Willingham]

They'Re doing it. I feel so sorry. As in the events you've recounted. She says that poor. That poor old man in his dying, that the last execution at Ryebad Cole, a priest of the Changebringer who had the last laugh then. I just wish that he had stayed alive to see it. Oh, all right. A miracle that you are here. And a blessing. Strange things are afoot. Great danger veils this place. Change is coming. Change is coming. She moves with you towards Storms Hill.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

So I think the last time, I think I lost track of her entirely. So it's just based off of. Someone pointed me in the Right direction already.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, towards the. So there's the matriarch speaking on the porch. And then you also see where Nia.

[Travis Willingham]

Is working at Torm's Hill, at the actual dwarven strong home under the hill.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay, so with this tiefling in tow, roll up on your spot.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia is being as helpful as she possibly can. Her locks are tied back. She has been waiting for a moment of stillness so that she could look for her sister. There has not been said moment. So she's just bandaging what she can, setting things, just trying to do her. She's sweating and frantic. But there is a routine that she is falling into that is providing some comfort. She's remaining helpful, she's remaining useful and yeah, cloak, bag, bundled up together somewhere safe. But she is working and working and working and working. She woke up and has not sat down since she has been awake.

[Travis Willingham]

Go ahead and give me a medicine check with advantage if you'd be so kind.

[Ashley Johnson]

Hot Show 11 Medicine 16 On a.

[Marisha Ray]

16 medicine check, you see that on a 16 medicine check you are currently.

[Travis Willingham]

Treating this beautiful woman. You realize that she has dark deep skin, almost like the water at the bottom of the ocean and you can sense almost annoyance.

[Marisha Ray]

She appears to be a water genasi shaved head, but is very, very ill.

[Travis Willingham]

In this moment just from exhaustion. It's just like collapse sort of nervous system collapsing body. And on A16 her eyes flutter open and they look like these deep sapphire blue eyes without pupil or iris to them. And you see that she looks up.

[Ashley Johnson]

And just goes, hey, there you are. Welcome back. Hi, I'm Rhaenyia.

[Travis Willingham]

Rhaenyia. I don't believe in an afterlife, so if these are the halls of paradise, I owe you an apology.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia laughs and she says, not paradise yet, but if you knew me well, this is paradise compared to where I once was. How do you feel?

[Travis Willingham]

Absolutely awful. But better.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'll take better. She lets. Oh, actually what can I call you Ondetra Undetra. Pleasure to meet you, Ondetra. And continues to bandage and try to warm her freshly conscious body.

[Travis Willingham]

Go ahead and give me an insight check as you do so.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh good. Eight.

[Marisha Ray]

Eight.

[Travis Willingham]

Cool.

[Marisha Ray]

You see that? She looks up and just goes. As you tend to her, there's most of what you're doing here is treating a couple of actual flesh injuries in her legs. You see that she did not come through that road.

[Travis Willingham]

She walked through Briars to get here. Her legs are torn apart.

[Marisha Ray]

As you're treating those injuries and also just basically taking some of that tea and helping her breathe. Because the smoke, you can tell, is really affecting her.

[Travis Willingham]

But she's gotta be near warmth in this room.

[Marisha Ray]

So you're letting her have a wet rag near the fire. Bring it over so she can breathe something humid that has herbs in it. It's like a poultice that's coming through. She looks over and says.

[Travis Willingham]

This is. This is saving my life.

[Marisha Ray]

Do you get that a lot.

[Travis Willingham]

Is that special for you? When you save someone's life?

[Ashley Johnson]

Every time is special. But it feels. It's funny to feel the special things feel common. But again, if you knew me. Well, yeah, it's kind of what I do.

[Travis Willingham]

It's a contradiction. If something is common, it can't be special. So you've contradicted yourself. You don't make any sense.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, no, no, I don't. None of this makes sense. I think to make sense in a. You would have to be a real particular kind of crazy. Not my kind.

[Travis Willingham]

Arrow enters this place with Luz behind him.

[Matthew Mercer]

I don't think she sees me coming. I think I see you at work in the middle of this conversation. And come up behind you. And you hear a familiar voice say, so.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, contradicting is kind of my thing. I mean, one day it works, one day it doesn't. And she's just rambling. Rambling. Flustered. You said shaved head, dark skin.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, flustered.

[Sam Riegel]

He is flustered.

[Ashley Johnson]

He is absolutely flustered. She's just trying to, like, tend and be normal. But, yeah, contradictions are actually a funny thing. Cause, you know, when you're a healer, it's sort of common for you to be saving lives. But every life is so precious and so special.

[Marisha Ray]

So.

[Sam Riegel]

I mean, you. Of course.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, you're. And so, yeah, it's sort of my thing.

[Marisha Ray]

You a little flustered?

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

Got it. I'm a little flustered, too. I just have a funny way of showing it.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, so.

[Matthew Mercer]

And I think we're all a little flustered these days.

[Ashley Johnson]

Whip, hand, arrow. You're okay. Gets up, scrambles. And then sees Luz and. Oh, my God. And goes to hug Luz, weeping. But cry, laughing. And out of that one place into this other very precious place. Luz. Hi. Hello.

[Travis Willingham]

She gives you this huge embrace, holding you to her. I cannot tell you how strongly I wish that I could tell yourself.

[Ashley Johnson]

Lyanna. Where is she?

[Travis Willingham]

Lyanna received a vision.

[Ashley Johnson]

Is she here or where?

[Travis Willingham]

She received a vision of your parents. Your parents were here more than a year ago. They journeyed from here to where?

[Marisha Ray]

I cannot say I was on a.

[Travis Willingham]

Scouting expedition when they left. And the exact manner of their departure was unclear to me. But Lyanna received a vision and believed that they headed in the direction of Snowvale Pass.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

It is wonderful to see you.

[Marisha Ray]

She was well.

[Travis Willingham]

She was whole. She was healthy. And she left fed and armed.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

There's every reason to believe that she knew what she was doing. How are you? Are you well?

[Ashley Johnson]

As well as one can be at a time like this. I'm moving with a partner. Arrow. Have you told Luz the. How are you? My goodness. Hi. Good morning. Hello. Here. And she clears out a place for Arrow to sit. After taking care of Phaedra. I passed out here. I met Klassara.

[Travis Willingham]

Klassara.

[Ashley Johnson]

Klosara. And. And we've been working to patch up what and who we can.

[Matthew Mercer]

I'm still.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm still getting my bearings.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. She gleaned that. That's why she's trying to get you seated. And immediately is going to pay attention to the conversation. But is checking him. Seeing how he's doing. Giving a little cursory scan of her friend.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I told you I'd get you to Torm's Hill.

[Travis Willingham]

Thank you.

[Matthew Mercer]

And you've seen him. You see something that you have not seen before. You've seen him smirk. You've never seen him smile.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm just sorry that took such a roundabout way of getting here.

[Ashley Johnson]

It's okay. It's okay. We got here.

[Sam Riegel]

We got here.

[Ashley Johnson]

And we got here whole. We got here. Well. And she goes to grab Luz's hand. I told you change was coming.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Undeniable.

[Ashley Johnson]

She just is reeling. After all the information that she's gotten her sister as well. She goes to make sure that her locket is still in her bag. It's still there. It's still there.

[Travis Willingham]

Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Wonderful. Yeah. Nia is. Is untying her hair. Getting ready to. You said Snowgrave Pass is where she may be.

[Travis Willingham]

Mm.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

We must move.

[Travis Willingham]

I'm familiar.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

There's no grave.

[Ashley Johnson]

How far is it? Days. Can we get there quickly? Can I make it there and back?

[Travis Willingham]

Days.

[Matthew Mercer]

No.

[Travis Willingham]

It's okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Properly outfitted. Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Have you seen the roach gang or Garan this morning?

[Ashley Johnson]

Have I seen Garan this morning?

[Travis Willingham]

No. I think you've probably been. Unless Garan thinks you have.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I don't think so.

[Ashley Johnson]

Then I think the.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Let's find Garn and everyone. And Luz holds her hand. How can I be helpful to you? Do you want to come with us?

[Travis Willingham]

For right now? I think that my place is here. In Torm's Hill. There's much to be done here.

[Marisha Ray]

You hear a commotion outside as a.

[Travis Willingham]

Faint cheer goes up.

[Marisha Ray]

And you hear a wagon trundling into the camp. Half hearted, hey, hey.

[Ashley Johnson]

Half hearted cheer.

[Marisha Ray]

And as it does so, you see.

[Travis Willingham]

Luz says it is, I believe, my task to remain here. The Moonweaver's blessings are required for the people gathered in here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes, of course.

[Travis Willingham]

And it is due to the Moonweaver's workings that these people have thank the Moon. The Moon.

[Marisha Ray]

As you say that you.

[Travis Willingham]

See below on Detra leveled says, if you're going to converse, could you do so outside?

[Marisha Ray]

And looks up, I see. Looks up at Lugh's specific with a.

[Travis Willingham]

Look of utter scorn and distaste.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia sees that, or sees that hides her offense and her confusion. Nia is. She is so sweet. Sweet baby is really confused and off put by the energy that she's giving is, I've done this for you and you spit at my friends. Very well, very well. Takes Luz and does not leave, but moves to a corner, hopefully out of earshot of this once hot now meeting.

[Sam Riegel]

Still hot.

[Marisha Ray]

But no, you were hot.

[Travis Willingham]

And then you became mean.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, yes, yes. We've all been there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So.

[Sam Riegel]

Sure.

[Ashley Johnson]

She says once more, a little louder, a little bit more confidently. Thank the Moon to see you on.

[Travis Willingham]

Detra takes it as given and averts her eyes down and goes somewhere in.

[Ashley Johnson]

Her head, okay, I let her.

[Travis Willingham]

Luz looks at you and says, I will remain here attending to the people in this place.

[Ashley Johnson]

Gently passes her hand over the emblem on her chest. Is Klosara somewhere in here? Yeah, Klosara, Klosara. If I could take a break for a moment, she says, oh yes, all.

[Marisha Ray]

Right, go feed yourself, go eat, get water.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'll be back soon.

[Travis Willingham]

Yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

I haven't seen her yet though, so I'm going to trundle over and take a knee.

[Ashley Johnson]

Arrow.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, are you faring all right?

[Ashley Johnson]

I can't believe you're here.

[Marisha Ray]

I'm faring all right.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Your digs are looking a little different.

[Travis Willingham]

Well, you know, it's gotten very in demand in a way that I could never have anticipated.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Sustainable.

[Travis Willingham]

No, no, not without some more miracles. But they seem to be going around.

[Ashley Johnson]

Sort of the Nia being very nosy in this conversation. This is sort of the miracle hub of this space, so.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, but outside you actually hear shouting and you hear Nez shouting, you lunatics, what's the matter with you? And you hear like, sorry, Ma, we just did it. We thought it was the Right thing to do. So we done it. And outside, what has Garan been up to this morning?

[Liam O'Brien]

So Garan fell into the deepest sleep he's had in a long time that lasted about four hours before he shot up in the corner somewhere where he had slightly drunkenly passed out and goes the river, right, and immediately charges out and goes off to where that river swell was threatening to continue to fall, flood and take out some of the elements. And looks to see whoever's trying to be in charge of the damning efforts or the redirection efforts of this. Who did he see when he was.

[Marisha Ray]

You look at probably. So you see as you go out there, Nez and also this older bugbear that has some evidence on his body of public discipline goes over. He's got these long arms that go down past his.

[Travis Willingham]

His knees.

[Marisha Ray]

There's a lot of.

[Travis Willingham]

He can rest.

[Marisha Ray]

He can crouch down and put an elbow to the ground and still rest his chin on his hand. He looks over as you begin to walk over. He looks and says, well, I don't.

[Travis Willingham]

Know how managed to get anything over.

[Marisha Ray]

They're lost on the other side of the water there.

[Travis Willingham]

I don't know how.

[Marisha Ray]

As you approach him, Nez looks over.

[Travis Willingham]

And says, I didn't get you your name last night, my friend.

[Liam O'Brien]

Garan.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Garan.

[Marisha Ray]

Saint Garan the miracle worker. Garn, finder of ale and salt beef. You see, the older bugbear looks over.

[Liam O'Brien]

You and says, bore bore clasps and it is one thick meaty hand on a stretched forearm kind of wrapped around it almost.

[Marisha Ray]

You get his wrist, he hits your forearm.

[Travis Willingham]

A pleasure, friend.

[Marisha Ray]

The meat is going to.

[Travis Willingham]

That's an incredible.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Never mind the meat. This river is swelling. It's floating right?

[Travis Willingham]

Yes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

All right.

[Liam O'Brien]

Glancing around, are there any as might have been common with some of the hill dwarves there. Are there any decorative outer waist or shoulder high walls that may have fallen or weathered with time?

[Marisha Ray]

You look out and see buried under moss and foliage, an old farmer's wall. Big thick slabs of stone, moss covered off in a corner for a long since defunct pasture.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

As he's looking out past that, still holding onto the bugbear forearm, thinks of all the years that his skills have put towards the subjugation of others. And a bit of inspiration hits to finally turn his craft towards its original intent and looks back into the eyes of this new friend and ally and.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Goes, all right, I'm going to build a new wall. Get your men. I'm going to teach you a little bit about masonry.

[Marisha Ray]

You see? He turns around and says, all right, ladies, look lively. And Garan just taking a stride, I think as you guys exit out, you look and see Garan as you step to start grabbing those stones, you see a carriage pulls in with three young halflings. All of them look absolutely devastated. They're skeletal thin. All of them also have visible brands on their face. You can tell from some of the cities of the Strife Emperor because the Strife Emperor still wishes to conduct business and trade and all sorts of things like that. All of them have a T on one cheek, which is for thief. And they have another brand score into their skin HD for habitual drunkard. And they have a wagon being pulled by some oxen. You can see that they have two pulling the wagon and there's a couple more clearly rustled or stolen. And there's a big wagon up front. You see Nez is shouting at them, you lunatics. And there appear to be what looks like recovered lumber. And you see that in the back there are tin pails. There look to be some loose tools like little spades and shovels and things like that. But you can tell they've got it from somewhere. And looking at it, it all looks like this sort of abundance would be from a work site of the Strife Emperor. So it looks like they've gone out and done something potentially really stupid. But they've got buckets of tools. They've got some rotting, some partially rotted, and some more okay lumber. As Bull Ray stands side by side with you. Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

And so I'd say probably when you've come upon them, he's probably begun or partially through an instruction to likely bulrae about.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

See, the stones are heavy. It's not about lifting them. It's about leverage.

[Liam O'Brien]

It's about using just going through baseline instructions of large scale.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Leverage.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yeah. Garan, you come in. As you do this, you see these three halfling lads sort of jump off the back of the wagon. And as they come up with these big things of tools, Bull Ray gets a lot of his goblin and hobgoblin sort of peasantry to start grabbing these tools. One of these kids who you can see has a permanent from where he was branded. It got too close to his eye. And you can see that it's a little bit warped on an eyelid. It's kind of leaking some tears and it has sort of a permanent blood spot on the white of his eye down in the corner. But you see, he looks. All three of them look a little bit. There's a twinge of madness. In their eyes. And a little bit of risk taking. And he comes off and he's like, roy dead. Get it off, get it off the back of the car. And he comes over and you see Nez, says Bowdlies, addressing them as a group, make sure don't give the tools to Bullray and he'll distribute them. Don't just give them to your friends. And you see all of a sudden there are tools. There's some oxen here in places. And you see some of these bigger stones, that wall ends in some other larger plinths or hitching post stones that you can tell go deep enough into the ground that they might be 8 to 10ft in length if pulled up out of the ground. What is Garan instructing people to do?

[Liam O'Brien]

I think he's going to go ahead and start looking at the angle of the river and where it swelled beyond the banks and the direction where it's threatening to overtake the hill and into where a number of these communities have set up temporarily to start relocating the stones to offset where that is. Densely pack them deep into the muck and try to basically be a barricade, a full on dam that'll carry the river beyond the point of danger and further into the valley where it's supposed to go.

[Marisha Ray]

You have the most help action a person could have as these halflings and hobgoblins and Bull Ray starts to direct his community and he's like, all right. He's like, boudleighs, go get the oxen. He says it just worked all night. Why can't they have a little time off? And he's like, we're all in it together. The oxen are in it with us. So they start hauling stones.

[Travis Willingham]

Go ahead and give me a mason's tools check with advantage.

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, this helps stacks.

[Marisha Ray]

This helps stacks. There you go. Call it DC10 for something. DC15 gets you the best result you're looking for here.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's gonna be a 20.

[Marisha Ray]

A dirty 20. Dirty 20. I will say this. Over the course of that day, Garan, you are striding around. Hearty claps on the back from Bull Ray. You see that these three halflings look really industrious and they want to help. But you can tell these three halflings have never known an honest day's work in their life. Their task is better suited to going and getting the goods by means unclear to you. And as they are passing tools and things off to people and Bullray is there, I think you are busy with that bridge there. You see that Marlath comes and gets on the wagon as the bowdies are passing stuff off. And you see that he has sort of covered this as the rain kind of fades, and instead sort of a mist comes up right as the badlies are starting to pass stuff off. Marlath says, name. What's your name? All right, two hammers to you. And just begins to keep track of what's being passed out to people.

[Matthew Mercer]

Bureaucracy is born anew.

[Marisha Ray]

And starts to take a ledger of names and who got what and who went to whom. And the Bowdleys sort of look over and you can see Marlath sort of speaking candidly with the Bowdley brothers as.

[Travis Willingham]

He marks down what's going where.

[Marisha Ray]

Garan, on that 20, a wall comes up overnight. What was hay bales and rope becomes replaced with solid stone mortared with earth. And I think that you see as these stones go over, you actually look.

[Travis Willingham]

And see out there in the river, there is in the middle of it a standing stone that's about maybe 10ft.

[Marisha Ray]

Out and splits the difference. You think you could probably get two of these stones anchored on that rock out in the middle and get a bridge out to the rest of the forest. On that dirty 20, the wall goes up and a passage out to the forest. And I think Arrow and Nia, with your wanderer ability, that's the forest that has game. It's higher up in altitude. There's probably food out there.

[Travis Willingham]

There's ability to trap and hunt and things like that.

[Liam O'Brien]

I think as this is going on too, there's moments where people are either losing focus or misaligning things out of a lack of knowledge. And Garn steps up and begins giving shouts and overarching instruction to how to fix, correct these things and work it properly. As happens, time to time, his brain wanders to memories of giving these same instructions as they were carving out the deeper hillsides and mountain abodes of Uthor. And he catches himself and steps back a bit and withdraws from a position of authority that he began to step into out of instinct, and instead turns back to Bull Ray and puts the remainder of his effort teaching Bull Ray and lifting him up as leader, as opposed to being that, but still takes pride in this endeavor.

[Travis Willingham]

As you show the working of the stone, how to build a foundation, where the pressure, what the relationship of the weight is to the rest of the structure, how to be the person that knows how to do this intuitively and deeply.

[Marisha Ray]

You see, after, there's this moment later on in the day when the first, because getting the first stone out there is easier. You just get it up, leverage it. You have ropes. It goes nice and solid. It's getting that second stone across that larger standing stone to make a little footbridge over the raging water. And you see as that goes, it's tipping. People are getting it into position, ropes. It's a little bit more precarious.

[Travis Willingham]

And boom.

[Marisha Ray]

Falls exactly where you said it was.

[Travis Willingham]

Going, to a cheer.

[Marisha Ray]

And this one, not ragged, this one just as it goes up. And you can see as that cheer.

[Travis Willingham]

Goes up, there's a moment and a pause. And from deeper in the woods as.

[Marisha Ray]

Another cheer of this lost party goes up and everyone starts to freak out going, you see that one guy who's way too exhausted and injured to be yelling this hard, just sort of faints and gets lifted back up. Get him back to the infirmary. He cheered too hard. He passed out. And you see this bedraggled, coughing, exhausted search party comes back with barrels and barrels of herbs and medicinal greens from the woods up ahead. And just baskets and baskets of berries from further up on the hillside comes in. And what would have been a raging torrent finds a bridge waiting for them.

[Travis Willingham]

And as Bull Ray looks, he goes, you've. You've changed the world. This didn't used to be here. And now it is. That's something like a miracle.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Miracles don't come from one person. We did this. You did this. And it's just the beginning, you see.

[Travis Willingham]

He smiles and looks out and goes, you know, you're talking about the weight of the stones. Long time ago. I remember there was a woman in the my village before I was taken from my family and sent to work here in the Ashfields by the Strife Emperor's soldiers. And the rulings and edicts of the Emperor, the gauntlet raised on high, Our ruler, our sovereign. When I was young, I believed in him because it's what we were allowed to believe in. Gotta believe in something. This girl who came through our village, beautiful. Long ears, nut brown fur, shining like starlight. So I've heard. Starlight shines. And she. She said. I referred to the Strife Emperor as our leader. And she corrected me. She said, our ruler. And I said, what's the difference? And she said, a ruler goes on top and he points to the stones and a leader goes underneath. Gets under something, a town, a family, a cause. A person who leads finds a way to hold the weight that others cannot hold. To be sturdy and strong. I never knew what she really meant. It seemed so impossible to matter like that. But I do Know one thing. When she carried a hammer, you all hear a scream from elsewhere in the village. A terrible scream as you turn. And having arrived, walking through the chaos of the encampment, unseen in the fog, shrouded in darkness, armored in full black cast iron plate, removing a cloak armed to the teeth, is a captain of the Strife Emperor's guard, with six fully armored soldiers behind him.

[Marisha Ray]

Who calls out, this gathering is at its end. All of you will kneel to the Strife Emperor's will, or you will be executed on the spot. Return at once to your lands and.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Service to your Emperor.

[Travis Willingham]

You see the six soldiers slam their swords on their shield as several lie dead at their feet. Cut down already. That's where we'll take our break.

[Matthew Mercer]

Greetings, adventurer. This is Liam O'Brien. If you'd like to support the show, consider checking out our sweet, sweet Exandria Unlimited Merch in the Critical Role Shops. Links to all of our regional online stores can be [e-mail].

[Travis Willingham]

Hello and welcome as we return to our tale here in Torm's Hill, where things are getting a little bit tense.

[Marisha Ray]

Spicy, spicy, I would say. Our heroes, where are you standing? As this group of Strife Emperor soldiers emerges in the center of the most structures where you met Nez last night with the lantern up, that's where you are right now. There's a little makeshift paddock for some livestock. Over here there's a couple little buildings. The new bridge is over that way. Torm's Hill. The actual structure is farther past you to the left over here. They're kind of in the center of.

[Travis Willingham]

All the new people here.

[Marisha Ray]

And you can see that there are three bodies on the ground around them.

[Travis Willingham]

That they have just cut down in this moment.

[Marisha Ray]

As they turn, the captain in the center calls out, I see a wagon and oxen belonging to the Strife Emperor and his servants. Where are the thieves that absconded with this? What are you all doing here? Are there any in this rabble that have an answer for your lord and sovereign?

[Travis Willingham]

You see. Do any of you speak?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I'm still holding Phaedra up, so she's eye level with everyone else. So I'm just waiting.

[Matthew Mercer]

Also, it's six soldiers and their captain.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Captain.

[Travis Willingham]

So there's seven of them.

[Marisha Ray]

Arrow, as you look around, there are.

[Travis Willingham]

1200 people in this camp.

[Marisha Ray]

There's about 40 some odd right in.

[Travis Willingham]

This area around the soldiers.

[Marisha Ray]

But you can see people are hearing shouting elsewhere. But it's a busy camp. Past a certain edge of camp, people might not even know that there's something happening right here.

[Travis Willingham]

Right.

[Matthew Mercer]

How ringed in are they with the.

[Marisha Ray]

Crowd pulled back with the people that they just killed? Everyone has moved about 20ft away from them, and everyone. And what you see is you're looking at the tired, the bedraggled, the sick, the exhausted. These people, just the strongest people here, just spent all day building a fucking bridge with their hands. There's exhaustion and panic. And you see these soldiers there give.

[Travis Willingham]

Me an insight to check.

[Marisha Ray]

Call it DC12.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I know what I want to do.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, that's good. That's 22.

[Travis Willingham]

Everyone around you is terrified.

[Marisha Ray]

All of that joy, all of that.

[Travis Willingham]

Laughter was so loud and exuberant and urgent because everyone knew it was too good to be true. And now the soldiers are back and it's all about to be taken away again.

[Marisha Ray]

That's what you would get on a 12.

[Travis Willingham]

On a 22, these soldiers haven't eaten in three days.

[Matthew Mercer]

Knowing that things are on a knife's edge and can go in either direction, and people need something to believe in. Arrow is going to quietly walk up from the side, hopefully slightly back at an angle, plant a hand on one of the soldier's shoulders, turn.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yeah. Roll initiative. I fucking love it. I fucking. Hell, yeah. All right, let's go.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's a nat 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Nat 20. Do you add anything to that? That's awesome.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, I add my constitution.

[Marisha Ray]

Or your dexterity.

[Sam Riegel]

Dexterity.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, that's it.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay. Dirty 20 or nat 20. What do we got here, Matt?

[Liam O'Brien]

18.

[Marisha Ray]

18 for garum. What do we have here? 18, 18 for crocus. These are some good initiative rolls. What are we doing?

[Sam Riegel]

19.

[Marisha Ray]

19.

[Travis Willingham]

Oh, we were so ready.

[Marisha Ray]

I fucking love Ariel. What do we got?

[Matthew Mercer]

Oh, 10.

[Marisha Ray]

10. Okay, so the way we are gonna do this is give me a stealth check and I'll tell you the number you're trying to beat here. As you get up, you're trying to beat.

[Travis Willingham]

That's a 10.

[Marisha Ray]

I think you're only trying to beat a. You're trying to beat a 10 on a stealth check.

[Matthew Mercer]

16.

[Marisha Ray]

16. So you got the surprise round. So you're just, like, doing the natural ranger thing, which is you don't sneak like this.

[Travis Willingham]

You just move as soft as you can.

[Marisha Ray]

Pad foot. I'm gonna bring the map out. No.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Never done a thing that had a map.

[Ashley Johnson]

Me neither.

[Marisha Ray]

Here.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Like, this is the first time I get to have a map.

[Sam Riegel]

I'm excited.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So excited.

[Matthew Mercer]

The fire freezes in midair. And then we cut to the captain going, you're probably wondering how I got here.

[Sam Riegel]

Yep, that's me.

[Travis Willingham]

Oh, no.

[Marisha Ray]

Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hell yes. Now I have to ask where all of you are with your minis. Garan, my boy. Here we go. Rainyo.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh my gosh.

[Marisha Ray]

Miniature crocus sticking. Hello. Unbelievable.

[Sam Riegel]

She's got healed by drag girl.

[Ashley Johnson]

Good.

[Marisha Ray]

And arrow. Here we go, baby.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh my gosh.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Wow.

[Sam Riegel]

Let me see my big boy. What a scary boy.

[Ashley Johnson]

Wait, let me see you. Wait, can I see yours?

[Matthew Mercer]

We just need 20 more minutes.

[Marisha Ray]

Look at all your minis playing with our toys.

[Ashley Johnson]

Wow.

[Marisha Ray]

Play with your toys. Do your thing. Any questions?

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm so deeply obsessed.

[Liam O'Brien]

Which direction is the bridge that we have?

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, where's Nia? Where's Nia?

[Marisha Ray]

Right here. This direction. Over here. Bridge over here. 20 tors over here.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's a fear.

[Sam Riegel]

Do I have to auto intervene with me?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, I believe you do have auto.

[Sam Riegel]

Feel like I would. Yeah, I would.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So where?

[Marisha Ray]

Where?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So we were all talking right outside of Tors Hill, right?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, you were. You were all driving right outside of Torm's Hill. We're going to make that auto and we're going to find a little T somewhere around here too. Make that ta. Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

Really?

[Ashley Johnson]

I've never had him in.

[Marisha Ray]

That's awesome. So you guys were doing your shady stuff. Here's. This is the wagon that was brought in by the fellas. So you might be somewhere back in this area over here. So there's Otto and Tavine right there. You're over here with Phaedra. Hell yeah. So I'll tell you guys right now, this is a. The, like the story reality we are in matches the mechanical reality, which is this is not a fair fight. These are soldiers. They have powerful weapons and armor and shields and everything like that. Everybody else here on the battlefield is a commoner. So the reason you guys all started in Rybad Cole is that a group of soldiers would instantly slaughter. And not without question. So this moment is as tense as tense can be. However, Arrow is going to kick things off with us. So we're going to move Arrow. So in the surprise round, we move through everybody's round. So all of you come out of the surprised condition. You can all act normally on your turn. And it gets to Arrow and you can pop all the way off, my friend.

[Matthew Mercer]

All right, So I think what happened was once this guy started shouting in the middle of this new town square, I just sort of turned on a dime and walked away from Nia and started just moving through the crowd. So I wasn't coming Directly on and then popped out by that well. And just quietly walked up without any fanfare and breath. Weapon is a 15 foot cone or a line. I think it's most beneficial if I do the cone and get 1, 2, 3.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, my God.

[Matthew Mercer]

And they have to make a deck save.

[Marisha Ray]

So you're gonna get the captain and both soldiers right now. Unbelievable. What a way to pop up. Okay, what is the DC on that deck? 13.

[Matthew Mercer]

Big 13.

[Marisha Ray]

We're gonna roll for these soldiers first. Not the most dexterous. They need 12s or higher. One succeed, one fails. The one right in front of you fails. We're gonna roll for the captain. Captain succeeds as well. So they're gonna take half damage. You can see the one right in front of you is getting the brunt of the flame as it erupts from you. Go ahead and roll.

[Travis Willingham]

Damage.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, it's a one. No, 10.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's a one out of 10. Well, they can't get half, so they all take one.

[Marisha Ray]

They all take one. Boom. Boom. Fire moves out in all directions as they raise up their shields and armor. That is your action. I will ask as well as you spray fire everywhere. The fire erupts. Everyone screams as one of them walked up and breathed fire over everybody. Is there anything you say or do in this moment? Cause you can feel that knife's edge. You have selected violence for you and possibly everybody here. Is there anything you say or do in this moment? Because you can feel a stink of a nearby predator.

[Travis Willingham]

You can feel confusion.

[Marisha Ray]

That thing that gets people killed more than anything else as people do not.

[Travis Willingham]

Know what they are supposed to do.

[Matthew Mercer]

He shouts after spitting fire. And they rear back.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Seven overlords or 1200 of us.

[Marisha Ray]

Give me persuasion with advantage.

[Travis Willingham]

And I would also like you to.

[Marisha Ray]

Roll with a D12.

[Travis Willingham]

Die of inspiration.

[Ashley Johnson]

Mm.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's that guy. Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

The total is. Oh, I have no persuasion bomb.

[Marisha Ray]

And you're rolling that inspiration die as well.

[Matthew Mercer]

21.

[Marisha Ray]

21. Amazing. As you shout that out, go ahead and select five commoners nearby you who are gonna be activated to act.

[Matthew Mercer]

This strong man with a blade in his hand.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

Great.

[Marisha Ray]

He's gonna rush forward and join you.

[Matthew Mercer]

This guy who looks like he's about to breakdance.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

Right here.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Ninja in the village.

[Marisha Ray]

He's gonna rush over. Hell yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

The chef.

[Marisha Ray]

Chef is running forward.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yep. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

[Marisha Ray]

One of the kids. Okay.

[Matthew Mercer]

I see a guy with this. This one with the hammer in their hand as well.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah. Great.

[Ashley Johnson]

Little bit.

[Marisha Ray]

Time you learn.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, not the Guy with the flute.

[Matthew Mercer]

Am I out?

[Marisha Ray]

You're at one more.

[Sam Riegel]

We can change their minds with the power of song.

[Matthew Mercer]

Little Kenu on the other side, I'm going to say this dwarven woman with a. With a. A farming sickle over her shoulder.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes. Okay. She's gonna rush out here and join you. So as you call out seven overlords, 1200 of us, a group of people who you can see are the ones that were the most predisposed. Like, they were basically, there's five people in the crowd that had your same exact idea. And you beat them to the punch and they rush. And maybe even the dwarven woman was like, it could have gone either way, but now that it is violence, it better be us violence. Like, if you're picking violence, do violence hard as you can. What I'd like you to do now, you have five commoners. These are commoners, man. They do two damage on a successful hit. Me too. Go ahead. I just want you to roll five D20. You're gonna roll five attacks for me. Go ahead and roll the two next to you first. They add two to hit 17.

[Matthew Mercer]

17 is a hit and a seven.

[Marisha Ray]

17. Okay. So rushing up to the soldier right in front of you, you see the guy with the blade who just has like, literally, he just has a farming shovel, rushes up to a guy in full half plate and jams a gardening implement under his helmet and scores under his fucking collarbone. That's him. Go ahead and give me three attack rolls for these guys. Rushing up to that.

[Matthew Mercer]

So that gets us 17. 17 hits 4 and a 20. Dirty 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Dirty 20. Okay. They reach up to that soldier once again. You see, one of them has a hammer they've been using to help build the bridge. Coming up from the bridge area over here. Runs up, clocks the guy across the helm. And the other one just runs up and gets a hand in through the armor and begins to try to strangle the guard standing. Just like, get your hands in, get your hands in. That is your turn. We go to the top of the initiative order. You see, the captain comes out of the surprise and says, kill them all. And that is going to be da, da, da. That's the commoner's turn. A bunch of the other commoners are holding their initiative in shock and dismay. Nia, that's you.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia's probably is that. I don't know where the med area would be that she was leaving from. I'm assuming she's.

[Marisha Ray]

Torm's Hill is this way. So you might be over in this part of the.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. If you could find me a place to probably hide. I don't know.

[Marisha Ray]

And this is Luz right here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, wonderful. I'm going to tell her to hide or take that moonweaver emblem off her just because that's probably not a good thing to have on your person right now.

[Sam Riegel]

And.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, gosh, she doesn't have. I don't. Wouldn't be smart for her because she has no weaponry to go up and try and get into the fight. So I think. Are those like two kids, two small pictures?

[Marisha Ray]

Those are halflings.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, those are halflings. I think she's going to hold her action. She doesn't have any weapons. I think her instinct is to get the more vulnerable people away from the fray. And the worst of it, the most exhausted, the most sick, the most unable to fight in a time like this, she would probably be moving them away from you.

[Marisha Ray]

Give me a persuasion check.

[Travis Willingham]

Do so with advantage.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. Persuasion is a 1919.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay. Pick four. That look the most vulnerable to you. And you pull them to safety.

[Sam Riegel]

Hacha.

[Marisha Ray]

Maybe Luz is gonna be one of them.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, Luz definitely. I'm gonna get her to safety.

[Marisha Ray]

She rushes to safety.

[Ashley Johnson]

Maybe old boy with a guitar behind that tree. Yeah, yeah. Or the liar. And I can't tell if any of these people are youths or elderly. I'll say this person with a mug. He can probably stay. Maybe though this.

[Marisha Ray]

These two right in front of you?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, those two.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Great.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, those can be moved. And then probably this gentleman on the left of her.

[Travis Willingham]

Great.

[Marisha Ray]

So you get everyone behind you?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, everyone behind me.

[Marisha Ray]

Everyone behind you. Great. That's awesome. Are you going to hold your turn to potentially act later?

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm gonna do that and then hold the rest of my turn.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, you let me know. Cause you're descending your initiative down the river road.

[Ashley Johnson]

She has Starmian's letter opener. She might go if she could. She's going to hold. She's going to hold. She knows she has that letter opener, but she's going to wait until probably somebody more vulnerable or weaker gets in her way.

[Marisha Ray]

Great. Phaedra, it's going to be your turn. You let me know when you want to insert your turn in the initiative.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, I. I look at my boys and I say, you know the drill. Sic em, crocus.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus immediately puts her on the ground.

[Marisha Ray]

Y'all got it?

[Sam Riegel]

I love it. Yeah. If we could all just, I guess, charge the guy who's closest to us.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Great. Crocus goes literally right after you okay, great. This guy is uncircled right now. You're the whole roach gang can just charge that dude right now.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, you rush forward. Boom. Boom. Tevine and Otto.

[Ashley Johnson]

Kev, at a time like this.

[Marisha Ray]

Incredible. Phaedra, do you want to go ahead and take your attack?

[Sam Riegel]

I will. Okay, so does this soldier have heavy armor?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, he does.

[Sam Riegel]

So I get my plus 4, you.

[Marisha Ray]

Get your plus 1D4 or 1D4.

[Sam Riegel]

4 is what I meant. Okay, do I add my dex?

[Marisha Ray]

You add your dex. Yes, you do.

[Sam Riegel]

And your proficiency. And my proficiency. So that's a 21 to hit.

[Liam O'Brien]

21.

[Marisha Ray]

Fuck, yes. Okay, so you're gonna go ahead and add 1D4 plus your dex modifier.

[Sam Riegel]

1D4 plus dex. Okay, so that is good. I don't know. I'm not gonna use that one. Cause is evil.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Roll a D4.

[Sam Riegel]

D4. I don't know what I was doing. D20, you know, that's a one. But my dex is three. So I do four points of damage.

[Marisha Ray]

Four. Twice as much as one of these commoners here. Phaedra, as you see the rush happening here, I think you also give me an insight check, if you would. As I describe as you. You rush up smaller than everyone here. You were almost killed by the rain and nature, but people have been fucking with you your whole life. You know how to take care of people. And you run up and stiletto blood gushes. You run up and get him right in the femoral artery, the main artery inside the leg. Boom. And feel, as you have many times before, a gush of blood over your forearm as one of these giants towering over you is about to be brought low.

[Sam Riegel]

I'm doing great. I got a nine.

[Marisha Ray]

You got a nine on inside. Okay. You're gripped in battle frenzy. You run up, stab this guy. Boom. And the rest of your crew is rushing up as well. Crocus, go ahead. That's gonna be you.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So as soon as she says. As soon as she says get him, essentially, Crocus puts her down. He looks at the guard, the dragon eyesights go and just become needles and almost roll back in his head. And the claws on his head, hands extend. And he just bulldozes at the guy and is going to make a claw attack. Yeah, just big tail behind him, down like a dinosaur running. Just gonna slam into him.

[Sam Riegel]

So that's just this coming at you at full speed.

[Liam O'Brien]

Can you use that as the mini?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

That is a 16 plus 7 to hit.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, Alex, that'll do it. That'll do it, man. Yeah, for sure, for sure.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus is good at it.

[Ashley Johnson]

That we know of so far.

[Liam O'Brien]

I think he's done well.

[Ashley Johnson]

He's a very capable boy.

[Matthew Mercer]

He gives excellent piggyback runs.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Oh, okay. He does nine points of slashing damage.

[Marisha Ray]

Jesus. Unbelievable. Jasmine, could you please roll two attacks for Otto and Toveen? They are slightly more dangerous than your average commoner. They roll plus three to hit.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, okay. Not super great. One got a 14 and one got an 11.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay. Both of them miss. So you see, they rush forward, just hacking at the armor so only you and Crocus hit. You slash into his leg, Crocus, one of your claws as you rip a pauldron off the armor and all of the skin of his shoulder comes off with it and you claw.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I just press the front of my forehead just against his helm and just terrify as I'm holding the pauldron in my hand.

[Marisha Ray]

We hate it. We absolutely hate it.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

The non working breath weapon, when I get into this state, just starts foaming like snow. Foam out of his just dripping between his teeth and splattering on the ground.

[Liam O'Brien]

Grotesque.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

I love it.

[Marisha Ray]

Garan, that is going to be your turn.

[Liam O'Brien]

Okay. Garan was a bit far from the whole center of this chaos. So he's going to.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Let's see here.

[Liam O'Brien]

Garan's going to go ahead and move 30ft up to here as he's rushing up there, feeling the hammer's weight in his hand and his fingers starting to dig in to prepare for what's coming, especially at these spots of violence that has erupted here.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

All right, I guess we're doing it this way.

[Liam O'Brien]

Anna's going to go ahead and step alongside this person. Individual here. Yeah. Is this somebody who looks capable or frightened?

[Travis Willingham]

I think everyone here has both fair.

[Marisha Ray]

And, you know, ultimately these people aren't warriors, but if they do not become warriors, they will live under the decree of warriors.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm going to move past them and.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Say if I fall, step into my place and keep going.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm going to go ahead and dash action.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

And just get as close as I can to that fray. To be one of many targets, preferably better than somebody else.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

You want to get up here in between these two?

[Liam O'Brien]

If I can get there with a.

[Marisha Ray]

Movement, yeah, Yeah, I believe you can.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

With 30ft, I can do that.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah. Great.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, you rush forward. Nia, you have sent your turn forward initiative.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

The soldiers have been surprised, but they.

[Travis Willingham]

Are about to act. Give me an insight check.

[Ashley Johnson]

19.

[Travis Willingham]

1919 Garan rushes forward.

[Marisha Ray]

So far, the people that have rushed forward are a few of the bravest. It looks like here in the crowd there were some that have known violence and conflict. Everyone here has known cruelty and injury. But the people that have rushed are.

[Travis Willingham]

People that have hit someone before in their life.

[Marisha Ray]

The roaches, Arrow Garren, people like that. The soldiers are about to take their turn.

[Travis Willingham]

Not one of them has fallen. I think that on a 19 insight, the crowd rests on a knife's edge.

[Marisha Ray]

And the reality is.

[Travis Willingham]

There is a distinction between the rest who are standing back and those that have charged forward. Those that are standing back have a hope in their heart. The hope they have in their heart is that the world might be saved without any danger, fear or risk on their part. And many of them are weak.

[Marisha Ray]

And it should not be asked of.

[Travis Willingham]

Them to be brave. If they are not asked to be, it is possible that they will watch the brave quickly die.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. I think Nia is amongst people who are like minded. She sees her braver, stronger friends going into the fray. She knows herself. She's not. She's not quick to violence. She's very much a wordsmith. She talks and talks and talks and talks and talks. But with that ability to speak, I think she's going to see the people behind her. She's gonna look too loose, actually. And she's going to. Even with this chaos in front of her, she's going out. Will you fight or will you flee?

[Travis Willingham]

You ask this of Luz. Yeah. She looks at you going, fight.

[Ashley Johnson]

And so Nia, she raises her voice to the people among her. If you cannot be brave, fake it and try anyway. Fake it and try anyway. And yeah. Nia's gonna take Starmion's letter opener and she's gonna try and hurt somebody.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah, you rush. If you had merely said that, you.

[Travis Willingham]

Would have made a persuasion roll.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

As you charge forward with an office tool in your hand.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

You will make it with advantage.

[Ashley Johnson]

Cool.

[Marisha Ray]

People want to see what they are supposed to do.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, follow me.

[Marisha Ray]

Rolling. Persuasion. 10 gets you somebody. And then you get more and more the higher up. You go from 10.

[Ashley Johnson]

How about 17?

[Marisha Ray]

17 gets you 10, 12, 14, 16, you get four more commoners with you. Okay, so you're gonna rush this guy right here.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Boom.

[Ashley Johnson]

I see old boy with a cleaver.

[Marisha Ray]

Where is he? Right here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Cool. But behind him.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, behind this guy here.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, right, the guy in front of him. Yeah, this guy. I think that's a cleaver in his hand.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, he's gonna rush up and join you right here.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

What's happening to that guy?

[Liam O'Brien]

He's a rougher go than most.

[Marisha Ray]

Right here.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, the first guy you grabbed the first guy here.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, first guy. This guy right here. Oh, sorry.

[Sam Riegel]

This guy.

[Ashley Johnson]

That one. And then the guy with the hammer that you just touched. Those three. That's two, actually. That one buddy with the hammer.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, that's your four.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, then that'll make four.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead and roll. Go ahead and roll me an attack roll for knife guy.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Knife guy.

[Ashley Johnson]

Knife guy.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I always love knife guy.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, knife guy gets. Do I add anything?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, plus two.

[Sam Riegel]

Four.

[Ashley Johnson]

Knife guy gets a four.

[Marisha Ray]

Knife guy gets a four. Oh, we got four on the attack roll. Knife guy misses.

[Ashley Johnson]

Go ahead, knife guy.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead and roll for the other to roll two more dice for the two. Oh, sorry. Wait. No, you got four, right? Oh, so you actually do get one more guy. Sorry. Oh, then man with jar.

[Ashley Johnson]

Man with jar. Or does Luz still have that moonweaver thing? I feel like Luz has something within her that she's ready to unleash.

[Sam Riegel]

Sure, Luz will roll forward, but does.

[Ashley Johnson]

She have that moonweaver thing still on her?

[Marisha Ray]

The holy symbol? Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, yeah, sure. It's an interesting story. Go ahead, Luz. Godspeed.

[Marisha Ray]

All right, you're rolling 3D20. These are all attacks I might have.

[Ashley Johnson]

Just fucked over, my friend. That's a plus two for. That's an 18. A woo. And a not 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, shit.

[Ashley Johnson]

A 16, a 17, and a 20.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, my. All of them hit and one is double damage. Cool. Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Luz does double damage.

[Marisha Ray]

So that is incredible. So that's gonna be eight damage, and then that's your attack. So go ahead and roll your own attack.

[Ashley Johnson]

Cool. Imagine they all out before me. Barely natural 19. So that'll be a 21 to hit.

[Marisha Ray]

21 hits. Yeah, go ahead. So you're gonna roll one. You're rolling one D4 plus your dex modifier.

[Ashley Johnson]

One D4 plus my nothing dex modifier. Come on, honey. That's a three.

[Marisha Ray]

Three damage. Yeah. You rush up with a bunch of. You rush up with a group of four people that have never hurt anyone in their life. And the soldier seeing a priestess in gowns and a young traveler kind of laughs, which allows someone to grab the front of his arm or pull him to a knee. And all of you see that Luz just goes and just gets a finger into his eye and starts tearing. Just literally. As everyone realizes they will kill all of us and put us back in Rybad. Coal rushes forward. That is going to Be the soldier's turn.

[Sam Riegel]

Sorry, Luz.

[Marisha Ray]

Love you too much.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I just want to make it clear. Forgot my character's name.

[Marisha Ray]

Crocus. Crocus, yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Is trying to very much, in his very direct way. He's the thing you need to hit. He's trying to put himself in front of everybody, all his gang around him to be the target. He's trying to tank this guy.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah. We will go with this wounded soldier right in front of Arrow. Arrow, you were the one who decided to be brave. He's coming right for you.

[Ashley Johnson]

Fake it or try anyway.

[Liam O'Brien]

Fake it or try anyway.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm blacked out.

[Marisha Ray]

What is your armor poster?

[Liam O'Brien]

It is 11 motivational poster, I think.

[Matthew Mercer]

Pretty easy to hit.

[Liam O'Brien]

I need that framed in my office.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Like a cat in the snow or something.

[Marisha Ray]

It's like, how many hit points do you have?

[Matthew Mercer]

Eleven.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's legitimate.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Thank you.

[Marisha Ray]

You take nine points of damage. He takes a swing at you and connects for nine points of damage. This badly injured soldier is going to take a swing at Crocus.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

That is a miss. Thank God.

[Marisha Ray]

That is a hit.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I have an AC of 14.

[Travis Willingham]

AC of 14. That is a hit.

[Marisha Ray]

He deals you six points of damage. What are you at?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I am down to four hit points.

[Travis Willingham]

Four hit points.

[Marisha Ray]

This guy is going to step forward, take a swing. That's a hit. He drops. Otto goes forward. Otto falls to the ground. And he's going to take another step forward as well to close with the rest. This one's going to swing on Garan. What's Garan's armor class?

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, seven.

[Travis Willingham]

Seven.

[Liam O'Brien]

He's an older fellow.

[Travis Willingham]

Garan.

[Marisha Ray]

You take 10 points of damage. This one cuts down both of the ones in front of them. Two strikes of a sword. And then we move to this last one here. Who's going to take a swing for Rhaenyia.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. Ms. Motherfucker.

[Travis Willingham]

That is a hit.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, Rhaenyia, you take six points of damage. Fierce. What are you at?

[Ashley Johnson]

Something less than 6.

[Travis Willingham]

4.

[Liam O'Brien]

4.

[Marisha Ray]

4. So for the first time, maybe in your life, a sword travels across your arm and you feel a shatter of bone. Something fractures. And there has been much conflict and violence in and around you in your life. But this is the first time that you have run up, done something brave.

[Travis Willingham]

And in the stories about brave things, they are rewarded by the gods.

[Marisha Ray]

And you are hit with a tempered piece of steel that if it had been six inches in another direction, would.

[Travis Willingham]

Have ended your life on the spot.

[Marisha Ray]

That is the soldiers. We get back arrow. That is your.

[Travis Willingham]

Your Turn again.

[Marisha Ray]

You go before the captain who had to come out of the surprise condition and rolled bad on initiative. But you can tell he is of a different class than these already formidable soldiers.

[Matthew Mercer]

I've already seen in the blink of an eye people go down. And they are. I know that I'm leading the charge into danger. I think that people will prevail here. But the responsibility is on my shoulders for starting it. So I'm going to walk through these two gentlemen here. He's bleeding profusely. I'm going to slap a hand down on the captain's shoulder and say no.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Bent knees today, I'm afraid.

[Matthew Mercer]

And I will use my second and final charge of attack to cone these three.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

Go for it.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's Dex save 13.

[Marisha Ray]

Dex save. Captain fails. Yes. These two soldiers fail as well. Get cone four damage. The captain takes four points of damage.

[Travis Willingham]

And that's D and E take four.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, four points of damage. Four points of damage there. This one is looking very hurt right here. That is your turn.

[Travis Willingham]

The captain is going to turn to you. Your Armor class is 11.

[Matthew Mercer]

I'm getting hit.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, you're not. No, you're not.

[Marisha Ray]

I'm gonna roll this in front of the board. Oh, yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

No.

[Marisha Ray]

He's gonna make two attacks.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, no.

[Marisha Ray]

He hits on a seven or higher.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, no.

[Matthew Mercer]

15.

[Marisha Ray]

15.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Marisha Ray]

And he deals you seven points of damage down. No arrow goes down on your turn as you go down.

[Travis Willingham]

Do you want to make one final persuasion check for me as you rush forward? Or do you?

[Marisha Ray]

Or only if you wish.

[Matthew Mercer]

If the crowd for a split second hushes at the sight of this dragon, this gold dragonborn who kicked off this fight just for a split second. And you can hear croaking out of his voice.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Change is coming.

[Travis Willingham]

Give me a persuasion with advantage.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Where's my dice?

[Matthew Mercer]

I'll just roll it twice. Persuasion. 16.

[Travis Willingham]

16.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah. Pick four more to run up on your turn and join you.

[Matthew Mercer]

Let's do Mr. Claw Hand here.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

He'll rush forward over here.

[Travis Willingham]

Great.

[Matthew Mercer]

I think this little raven individual will join.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

He's gonna rush forward and fill the gap.

[Matthew Mercer]

We'll have that black and white haired.

[Marisha Ray]

He'll rush forward.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

And then this guy with the stein is gonna come try to break that crockery on somebody's head.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah. Okay. He's gonna rush up over here. Go ahead. Give me two attack rolls for those closing in on this soldier over here.

[Matthew Mercer]

Natural 20. And then what do I add for these guys?

[Marisha Ray]

Two. Yes. You add two 11 for the second. Second doesn't hit. However, this soldier right here, this little sort of Kenku looks at you, rush forward and say, change is coming. And just goes forward. The one that is face to face with you looks at you and goes.

[Travis Willingham]

You'Re going back in the cage, big boy.

[Marisha Ray]

And opens his mouth, and you can see a knife coming up through his tongue as a tiny little Kenku says.

[Ashley Johnson]

They can't stop us all.

[Marisha Ray]

And the first soldier goes down. Unbelievable. Okay, as that happens, you have two more attacks to make. Okay, so go make the one for the Stein friend over here and go make the one for the tiger folk that's joining Garan over there.

[Matthew Mercer]

Stein friend only rolled a three. Oh, three and a four.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, no problem. It's just the crowd is rushing. Rushing.

[Ashley Johnson]

Come on.

[Marisha Ray]

You see that? Tiger folk says we have to stop them now. As just people start rushing. And you can feel this fevered pitch of fear turning into excitement, turning into rage. And that is going to be captain. So that all happens on your turn. The captain is going to step. The captain is going to step over you. He's going to make an attack on.

[Travis Willingham]

Luz.

[Marisha Ray]

On a six or higher. He hits seven. Oh, my God. How could the moon weave? Luz looks up and goes. You see, as you fall, you look at Luz. She touches the moonweaver symbol, looks up, and as she looks up, the caftan of the Strife Emperor looks forward.

[Travis Willingham]

The amulet comes out, and he centers his blade right for the holy symbol coming in. Horizontal severs the cord. The holy symbol goes flying. She drops to the ground.

[Marisha Ray]

That is going to be. That is the captain's turn. Back at the top of initiative. We have one.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Two.

[Marisha Ray]

We have.

[Travis Willingham]

We have one. These ones have fallen. 1, 2, 3, 4.

[Marisha Ray]

We have four fallen commoners so far.

[Travis Willingham]

I'm gonna roll.

[Marisha Ray]

Death saves for them.

[Travis Willingham]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

It was the half swallow that got me.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

All right.

[Marisha Ray]

As the soldiers begin, they have cut down four, and you have managed to drop one. We move through initiative back to Phaedra with a 19.

[Ashley Johnson]

Did I shoot a Nat 20?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, sorry. What's that? I got a Nat 20 that you sent your initiative.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, that's right. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

We remember that.

[Travis Willingham]

We do.

[Sam Riegel]

We do all remember that.

[Marisha Ray]

Phaedra, it is your turn. I will also say this. As that Kenku rushes up alongside Crocus and you. That soldier falls to the ground, his sword clattering to the ground.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, get that sword. Should I. Can I use a sword?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, you can use it. Or you can give it to One of your companions. It's up to you. You can absolutely use it.

[Sam Riegel]

Tevin has nothing.

[Marisha Ray]

Tevinne has nothing right now.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay, I'm gonna make Tavin grab the sword.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

I think. I don't know if that's part of my turn, but I am gonna yell to the few remaining people who are behind me, try to do a persuasion check, and I'm gonna yell, guys, you know, it's either us or them. Let's make it them.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead and give me persuasion with advantage.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay, 17.

[Marisha Ray]

17. Hell yes. Hell, yes. Go ahead. Four are gonna rush up alongside you. Go ahead and pick four. These guys, this crew right over here, if you want.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, I think just like these first, these four. So these two, and then those two who are standing right in front of there.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yeah. Yeah, go ahead. As these ones rush up in this throng of people, go ahead and make their attack rolls. Seeing the crowd of commoners around them, they just start picking up rocks and just start throwing them at these fucking soldiers.

[Sam Riegel]

Hell, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead.

[Sam Riegel]

There's four of them.

[Marisha Ray]

Give me four attack rolls.

[Sam Riegel]

Four attack rolls, and you get another D20. I'm sorry. And I add what to these?

[Marisha Ray]

Plus two.

[Sam Riegel]

Ooh. Okay, we got a four and a six, which I'm assuming don't hit. Then we have a 16 and a.

[Marisha Ray]

21, both of which hit. Hell yes. You see that? This uninjured soldier right here gets a rock right in the teeth and stumbles backwards through the opening in his visor as he. He says, captain Drakkar has fallen. Just yelling back at one of his things. Taveen now kneels down quick. His hair catches on fire. He grabs the sword and he says, when they drop, get their shit and leaps forward.

[Sam Riegel]

Go ahead.

[Marisha Ray]

Give me an attack roll for Tevine. Now, if he hits, he deals 1d8 plus 2 damage.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, Davine, kill that guy. Good boy.

[Liam O'Brien]

Take his sword.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, that was bad. He did not. Did two.

[Marisha Ray]

You see, his lifelong burglar just takes a massive way telegraphed swing. Yeah, I don't practice with these, but keeps advancing. You see, he's gonna step over and close the gap here so that people can come in behind him. And he just gets in between two of the soldiers to make it a true fucking brawl. Phaedra, your attack.

[Sam Riegel]

Can I also. Okay, awesome.

[Marisha Ray]

Absolutely.

[Sam Riegel]

Then. Okay, so plus four to attack versus armor. That is a 20 something.

[Marisha Ray]

That is a hit.

[Liam O'Brien]

Hell, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

1D4, plus your dex model. All right, and you can go for. I would say you can go for this guy. Right here. Or this one.

[Sam Riegel]

I'm going for the guy. Who's that guy? Is the one that the other two villagers just hit.

[Marisha Ray]

Just hit? Yeah, that's correct.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay, I'm go for the same guy.

[Matthew Mercer]

Let's go killer.

[Sam Riegel]

That is five.

[Marisha Ray]

Five damage.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

You run up and right in the stomach. That soldier gets a bad bleeding wound that spills out over him. Blood gushing everywhere as he looks down at this halfling. You are now wading through fallen bodies. Just standing on people's chest armor to get solid footing with this little again, this tiny thin dagger. Phaedra, that is your turn. Crocus. That's you.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So Kenku stabs up through the chin of the person I had my head pressed against. They fall and I see past that you've fallen right behind and that the captain is right there. And Crocus. Yeah. Unknowing he's doing it. Is going to use his action and activate the second part of this belt.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Just because he's raging essentially. So for a minute I become a storm avatar.

[Marisha Ray]

Lightning. We gave challenge rating 18 NPCs. A vestige of divergence.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So lightning just starts crackling across his scales and he's just like trailing out of his eyes. And he goes charging up behind the captain. And it's gonna put a hand on his shoulder and spin him towards him.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Whoosh.

[Marisha Ray]

You rush spin this captain around. Hell yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crackling with lightning. And then I'm gonna use my bonus action. And I can. As a bonus action. You can choose one creature you see within 30ft to be struck by lightning. But instead it's gonna come from Crocus mouth.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Breath weapon.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Like a Godzilla breath.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

It's just gonna zap right out of.

[Ashley Johnson]

The front of him.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So he has to make a 15 dex saving throw.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes. These guys are not Dex. They're heavily armored dudes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Fuck em up.

[Sam Riegel]

Crocus.

[Marisha Ray]

Would you believe in that one if I told you? Hell yeah. Okay, that's 2.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

5 is 10. 15 points of lightning damage.

[Marisha Ray]

Jesus Christ.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

We get the Gathering.

[Marisha Ray]

This veteran of the Strife Emperor's wars moves from virtually uninjured to bloodied and near death's door in a single mighty smiting of your lightning breath. This action on your part, without that it is hard to see how you succeed in this. I will just be honest. With the amount of hit points this captain had and how terrible he was, this is the thing that maybe means people will survive. This group of seven soldiers walking in.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Here just standing there just Lightning shit across. And he just goes.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes. Hell yes. Garan. That is going to be you, my friend.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'll say. Garan, who's on the opposite side of this as the bolt strikes through, puts up his hammer defensively. And the bolt kind of hits his hammer and now kind of like also disseminates through his fingers. Go numb for a second from the dissolution of that energy. Looks at it, Sees the captain stumble back a bit. Looks around the crowd and goes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Some wait for miracles, but we make.

[Marisha Ray]

Them with our own hands.

[Liam O'Brien]

He goes rushing into the back of the Captain to see if he can possibly flank on the opposite side of Crocus.

[Marisha Ray]

Absolutely flank. Go ahead and roll with advantage.

[Liam O'Brien]

All righty.

[Matthew Mercer]

Let's go.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

A natural one and a natural 17 or a 23 to hit.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes. 23 hits. Go ahead and roll damage.

[Liam O'Brien]

All righty. That's going to be 10 points of bludgeoning damage.

[Marisha Ray]

Jesus Christ. A dwarf. Old though he may be, with muscles that this advanced age are more like the stone he works than flesh itself. Thunders and sees the shoddy craftsmanship at the back of this captain's armor. Crunches in as the armor buckles and the captain drops to one knee. He is within an inch of his life as he stumbles before Yugarin. As you look up and meet Crocus eye on either side. Unbelievable. So fucking badass. Rainea, that's gonna be you.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Just completely blank eyes. Just lightning courses.

[Marisha Ray]

We'll unpack this later. Nia, you see before you. The captain on death's door loses blood still on his blade as he is beset between Garan and Crocus in front of you. There are still soldiers around, but you see that captain is right in front.

[Travis Willingham]

Of you as well.

[Ashley Johnson]

Luz's holy pendant fell. Right?

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia's gonna pick that up and attempt to bludgeon the Captain's. Oh, he's on the ground. Right. She wants to just sort of. And use that to hopefully kill him.

[Liam O'Brien]

Bludgeon him with the symbol.

[Ashley Johnson]

Bludgeon him with the moon weaver symbol.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah. What are you feeling in the moment that you pick up that holy symbol?

[Ashley Johnson]

I think Nia is such a frantic, shaking person. She is constantly needing to use her hands to keep her mind still. When she picks up that moonweaver symbol, a calmness and a serenity washes over her unlike anything she has ever felt. The world almost gets quiet. She picks that up. She feels the weight of her sister's locket in her bag. She steps over anyone in between her and this captain. And she just looks at him, almost feeling sorry for him, Understanding that he has put himself in a position of. It's 7 against 1200. He very well could have decided to join us to build a better world, but he decided to be an obstacle. And so Nia does what she does with obstacles, and that is push it out of her way.

[Travis Willingham]

To respect the free will of all beings means to respect when one has made themselves an obstacle to a kinder world. With no malice or hatred in your heart, you take the beautiful symbol of the Moonweaver from where it lies in the mud and ash, the rain subsiding, fog roiling. You lift it on high, Move forward. I would like like you to make an attack roll with advantage. Because Crocus and Garan stand side by side, your companions here making a roll of advantage. You will add your proficiency bonus. And you will add your wisdom bonus. Because as of this moment, you are a first level cleric.

[Ashley Johnson]

Level one.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, gosh. Level one never feel so good. Oh, gosh. Make your attack roll.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's a natural 17. Proficiency is 2. Wisdom is 3. So that's a 22.

[Marisha Ray]

22. Yeah. Please roll 3D10. Radiant damage. As you cast, inflict wounds.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, yeah. Oh, my.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm like. I'm shaking.

[Travis Willingham]

We can see what's happening here, Sally.

[Ashley Johnson]

And the person is shaking. Holy cow. Okay, I'm gonna faint. Where's the 10? What do tens look like?

[Liam O'Brien]

There you go.

[Ashley Johnson]

You got that one. Crazy stuff, guys. Wild things are happening. That's a one, a four, and a six.

[Marisha Ray]

So that is 11 with 10 hit points left.

[Travis Willingham]

How do you want to do this?

[Marisha Ray]

Here we go.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia. The calmest she has ever been feeling. So emboldened by the people around her. She is so far from her family and has yet, in this moment, feels an incredible sense of. Of belonging. She looks at arrow down. The man who. Well, the being. Excuse me. Who got her to the point of where she's trying to go. The person who promised to lead her back to this point. And she feels the earth underneath her feet, under her breath. She says, change is coming. And I am change. She brains him she may like. Even as she's down, she's like. There's a frantic joy within her, and she just bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Until she feels as though now is a proper time to be done.

[Marisha Ray]

Garan and Crocus. Crocus, you just activated some crazy magic power that you've never seen before. Garan, your hammer's still crackling with it. And wreathed in fog and moonlight, the holy symbol of the moonweaver shining in her hands. Rhaenyia lifts it aloft as though to invoke a miracle. And the miracle she invokes is making the thing glow as she bashes this fucking guy's hand head in with it.

[Travis Willingham]

Boom.

[Marisha Ray]

Boom. It is a magic that is at once mystical, but profound in its mundanity.

[Travis Willingham]

This was not a moment where an obstacle would be removed invisibly or with the rough edges cut off. Miracles, when they touch the real world, get dirty. And this captain is going to be eating ash and. And mud in rainwater. In the final moments of his consciousness.

[Marisha Ray]

Captain defeated. Rhaenyia. What a turn. Unbelievable town.

[Ashley Johnson]

This is my favorite game.

[Marisha Ray]

Incredible. Okay, there are soldiers here standing. One is going to to take a leap at Garan. That is a six, which is a miss.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

And that is a five, which is a miss. One of them's coming for Crocus. That is a hit. That is a miss. Crocus. You take four points of damage down. I'm out. Crocus goes down.

[Travis Willingham]

Boom.

[Marisha Ray]

That's Crocus.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

This one giant lizard falling into the mud.

[Marisha Ray]

Drop. Boom. This soldier is going to move here.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Exactly the amount of hit points I have.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

No question for you, Brennan. Nia knocks that captain down, can she take whatever weapon he has?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

Cool.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia takes. Hell yeah. If she can fit the moonweaver symbol onto her, she will pocket that and then take whatever weapon he has and get ready for her next turn.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Sorry.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

Didn't interrupt.

[Travis Willingham]

So it's going to take two swings. Our beloved Kenku friend falls.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, no, not the Kenku.

[Marisha Ray]

This guy's totally surrounded.

[Travis Willingham]

That's a miss. That's a hit. Drops this guy.

[Marisha Ray]

Jesus. Soldiers. Hacking through these commoners in front of them as fast as they can.

[Travis Willingham]

Arrow, we come to your first death saving throw.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, fuck.

[Matthew Mercer]

Fail.

[Ashley Johnson]

No.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

All right, all right.

[Marisha Ray]

Let's go.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, no, no, no. This will not happen. This will not happen.

[Travis Willingham]

Arrow, that first failure you see around you feet in the mud. You feel life leaving you. But you watch that captain fall. There's people around. You see Garan's feet. You see the light from Rhaenia's first spell. You don't know if you will succeed or fail here, but there's something bubbling up. It's not an idea, even though it can express itself like one. It's a feeling. What do you call a mix between a feeling and an idea? I guess A belief. Succeed or fail. Does Arrow think It was worth it to stand up to these soldiers here.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

In these moments.

[Matthew Mercer]

His mind wanders back to that lake where men dressed so similar to these robbed him of what.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Little joy he had in this world. And that day, he fled. Today.

[Matthew Mercer]

He wasn't sure as he uttered the words, changes coming, that he himself believed it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

But on this day, where he stood.

[Matthew Mercer]

Instead of fled, as the rainwater seeps into the side of his mouth.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Maybe he won't see it, but finally he believes it.

[Travis Willingham]

And, Phaedra, it's your turn.

[Sam Riegel]

Seeing Crocus go down.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I'm dead.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah. It's the guard on this. Or. No, which was the guard that took him down just now?

[Marisha Ray]

This guard. Right.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, that guard.

[Travis Willingham]

Okay, cool.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay, that's still a little ways off. In that case, is there a way I could get Tevine to try and grab that guard from behind?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, for sure.

[Sam Riegel]

And hold him?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, absolutely. Give me a grapple check for him.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Sam Riegel]

Come on, Tevine. Come on, Tevin.

[Marisha Ray]

You're just trying to beat an 8.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, no. 4.

[Marisha Ray]

He does not succeed. Taveen. Come on, Taveen.

[Sam Riegel]

Get out the gun. Okay, well, that's fine. He doesn't need.

[Marisha Ray]

That's it. Right now you have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 soldiers standing, all in various states of injury. But there are many commoners still fighting right now. If you want, you can roll for some of those commoners to attack first and see what is available to you.

[Travis Willingham]

To do then, if you'd like.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, okay. Wait. Sorry, I was in. Roll an attack or roll a persuasion for more commoners?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, you can roll a persuasion for more commoners right now if you want.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, okay.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

I say they're okay. Yeah. Phaedra calls back and says their captain has fallen. Okay, let's send the rest of these fuckers to join him.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So understated.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yes.

[Sam Riegel]

Get up.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes. Hell, yeah. Go ahead and give me your persuasion check. All right, Go ahead and roll with advantage.

[Sam Riegel]

That is a 21.

[Marisha Ray]

Wow. Okay, this whole. So people. These guys all rush. You get 1, 2, 3. People see their companions going down. They are not gonna take that. Not gonna take that line down. And then these two rush up over here. Go ahead and give me three attack rolls for this one right here.

[Sam Riegel]

All right. All right. Come on, commoners. I believe in you. One of them got an 18. Wait, I'm sorry. I feel like I asked this every round. I add plus two to them.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay, we got an 11, a 12, and a. A 20.

[Marisha Ray]

An 11, a 12, and a 20. Hell, yes. Okay, so that's two points of damage to this soldier right here. And you can go ahead too. Cause you have some other people that have joined you. These ones are gonna rush up into the fray. One, two. And they're gonna take attacks. So go ahead and give me three attacks on this one right here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Ooh.

[Sam Riegel]

That is two 14s and a 19.

[Marisha Ray]

19 hits. That one takes another two points of damage. Boom. It is your attack.

[Travis Willingham]

Please.

[Sam Riegel]

All right, and then I'm just gonna try and stab that one guard. Do I get any sort of advantage by being behind him and sneaky?

[Marisha Ray]

You wanna get this guy right here?

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

You can jump in next to Taveen and flank him.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, go for it. And then roll with advantage.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, roll with advantage. Okay, cool. And then this.

[Travis Willingham]

So 20.

[Sam Riegel]

Not a 20, but a dirty 23.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, 23 is a hit. Go ahead and roll damage for me.

[Sam Riegel]

All right, go ahead. Oh, that was missing four.

[Marisha Ray]

Four damage. Not awful, but four damage. Unfortunately, he has five hit points left, so you're gonna have to roll that first die of sneak attack damage because you are a first level rogue.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

D6.

[Sam Riegel]

D6.

[Marisha Ray]

D6. It automatically does at least one damage. But let's see what you roll anyway. Here you go. Five.

[Ashley Johnson]

Five.

[Marisha Ray]

Phaedra, how do you want to do this? Describe how he goes down.

[Ashley Johnson]

Put that bitch in the dirt.

[Marisha Ray]

This is the one that dropped Otto.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, this is the one that dropped Otto. I come up behind him with the stiletto and I think, put it right against this guy's neck. And I just whisper into his ear, you. You don't mess with the roach. And just.

[Marisha Ray]

You open up a second smile under his chin. And he drops to the ground dead. And immediately another one of the commoners here picks up that long sword and just howls for blood. Incredible, Phaedra. Great. Okay, that one is toast. That is going to be death. Savings were From Crocus.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Natural 20.

[Marisha Ray]

You gotta be fucking kidding me. You have got to be fucking kidding me. You are unkillable. Croak is the monster. A distant voice rumbles like thunder.

[Travis Willingham]

You're gonna take that lying down.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Okay, so just clarification. This means I can stand up.

[Marisha Ray]

Correct. You have one hit point at the beginning of your turn.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Yeah, at the beginning of my turn.

[Marisha Ray]

Wow.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So I would like it to just be that he's laying there on the ground. He's crackling, he falls in the. He's laying in the mud, comes around, and all of a sudden a bolt of lightning just goes. Just basically defibrillates. Him back up.

[Marisha Ray]

You would have been related. By the way, I don't know if everyone can see where we're headed here. You absolutely gained your first level on that NAT 20 death saving throw a million percent. And our I believe your class is fighter, right or no?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

No, we were going. It was. I think we were going Monk. Yeah, we're going monk.

[Marisha Ray]

I think on that death save you. You come back feeling centered in a power and focus like you have never felt in your life before. It is at the beginning of your turn. You may act.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So I just get shocked and the lightning comes across. Technically that'll be the end of the. Because it would go away when I passed out. But I'll just say that's the last of it. He stands up and just is look which guard is closest to me there where I would stand up.

[Marisha Ray]

As you stand. You've got. You've got this one right here and this one right here.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And he just stands up, eyes still looking. He just looks at him and goes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You're dead.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And just rushes and just clamps his jaws over the front of his face plate.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Like a giant crocodile.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yeah. And you definitely have flanking on these guys. Now all your commoners have surrounded them. Roll your first attack with advantage.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

That would be a 18 to hit.

[Marisha Ray]

18 hits. Go ahead and roll for that first attack.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

And as a first level monk, you have a bonus action martial arts attack.

[Travis Willingham]

I do indeed.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh my God.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So where the hell is my actions? There it is. Now it's 1D 1D6 plus 5.

[Marisha Ray]

1D6 plus 5.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Come on.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So that's 1D6 plus. So that's my brain. Nine points of damage. The first hit.

[Marisha Ray]

Are you doing it to this guy?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

That guy right there.

[Marisha Ray]

That guy right there. Okay. Nine points of damage. That one miraculously has been uninjured largely for the battle. And now is on death's door once again.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crunches the helmet in his jaws. Just crunch. And then just is going to take take with his bonus action. The claws in the front and just grab into the front of his chest. Try and pull out just whatever he finds.

[Marisha Ray]

Gonna pinata this soldier of the strife Emperor. Roll with advantage.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

That is. Oh, that was upset. That is 19 to hit.

[Marisha Ray]

19 hits.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And then that's another nine points of damage. Slashing damage.

[Marisha Ray]

Let's keep this train rolling. Alex. How do you want to do this? We'll just go through.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Runs up behind, takes his jaws, clamps them around the helmet. Just starts crushing the helmet. And the guy. Blood is coming out from under the helmet. He just takes his claws, slams it into the guy's chest, pulls out just a hunk of meat that was in there and just rips it out, Cascading blood across, just landing all over the white scales on his body. And then guy limp with. He's just holding his head in his mouth, and he's looking at the next guard.

[Marisha Ray]

Unbelievable.

[Ashley Johnson]

How do they feel about that, Brennan?

[Marisha Ray]

They feel pretty bad. At the beginning of their last turn, there were six of them, and there's now three of them. That's not good. You don't like when the chart goes in that direction. You want that line to go the other way.

[Liam O'Brien]

Cannot believe I rolled a natural.

[Marisha Ray]

That is fucking insane. I can believe it. Alex, that's amazing. Garan, that is your turn.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, my goodness. I mean, seeing this trend, watching arrow fall to the ground, the instinct is to rush, but it's not a safe time or moment to do that. Hopefully there'll be a moment to tend to that. But right now, there are two soldiers that are my right and left. Which of them looks the most wounded?

[Marisha Ray]

The one to your left is far and away the most wounded.

[Liam O'Brien]

Okay, so what I'm going to do is the one that's to my right. I'm going to hold the hammer up in an offensive way as I withdraw and lean this way and then swing around and try and use my cap to the back of the helmet of the one that's facing the opposite direction and see if I can strike it.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yes. That one is flanked as well.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Go for it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Ooh, that's going to be 24 to hit.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead and roll. Damage.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's going to be another tank. 10 points of damage.

[Marisha Ray]

Dice. I don't want this to become the Hollywood handshake from great British bacon, but numbers are numbers, Matt. How do you want to do this?

[Liam O'Brien]

So in what was attempting to basically try and confuse and draw attention, his cap slams into the back of that soldier's helmet. As he spins around to see where the impact is from. The momentum of his head spinning meets the side of my hammer.

[Marisha Ray]

Whack.

[Liam O'Brien]

And with a massive smashing crunch sound, the front of the helmet just caves in with the hammer itself delving about three inches into it, his body crumbles, and Garn falls forward with him holding it there. And as he's still clutching the hammer wedged in his face as he stands over.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We have hope now, and I hope you tell your master how it feels.

[Liam O'Brien]

He wedged the hammer from his face.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yes. Hell, yes. Rhaenyia. That is your turn. Two soldiers stand. It is chaos here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Arrow is down.

[Marisha Ray]

Arrow is down.

[Ashley Johnson]

I don't have it in front of me, but I'm hoping that this recent clerical.

[Marisha Ray]

You have cure wounds prepared. And you have another first level spell.

[Travis Willingham]

Slot at your disposal.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm going to cast cure wounds on Arrow.

[Travis Willingham]

Incredible.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. As you have wielded the destructive powers.

[Travis Willingham]

Of the Light and of the magic that flows through all of Exandria, even before the danger is yet past, you embrace the other side. Destruction, creation, preservation.

[Marisha Ray]

These are truths of the world.

[Travis Willingham]

They are neither bad nor good. Obstacles present themselves, they must be brought low. And also, when something is threatened with destruction, whose time has not yet come, great miracles can intercede on its behalf. Go ahead and roll 1d8 plus your go ahead and roll 1d8 plus YOUR wisdom modifier.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, good. Four.

[Marisha Ray]

Four. Okay. Arrow, with the possibility of death on your next save. If you rolled a natural one, you instead sputter to life once again. As you do, Rhaenyra, you see Arrow's eyes open.

[Travis Willingham]

The man who promised you he would get you to Torm's Hill. What does he see in the moment that his eyes open?

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia has her eyes closed. She's in a deep state of focus. And she goes. We make our own miracles. You are my miracle. Be made again. Rise.

[Travis Willingham]

And a magic that has flown, a magic that has flowed through you before in a different chapter of your life, returns in this moment as a cleric moves that healing power through you. And you feel life and your wounds knit closed. Incredible.

[Matthew Mercer]

His mouth sputters in the mud and water on the ground. He doesn't even lift his head, but just one eye. A complete mess turns up. And their eyes meet in a split second.

[Travis Willingham]

Two soldiers remain. They know the battle is lost. What they were counting on more than anything was that 1,200 people would be so afraid of being the eight who have fallen. That's what they were counting on. For all of you to be afraid, for no one to be willing to fall into the mud like Arrow was. Now Arrow is back. These two soldiers that are on either side of Rhaenyia see and know that their day has come. But they also know what it is when a cleric of a prime deity stands before them. A cleric of the light. And they have enough belief in this trifemple that they will not suffer that to pass. So even if this is their final moment, they will make it count.

[Ashley Johnson]

I got the moon on my side, bitch. Try me.

[Travis Willingham]

Your armor class is 10. Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Something like that.

[Travis Willingham]

That's a miss.

[Ashley Johnson]

Fantastic.

[Travis Willingham]

That's a miss.

[Ashley Johnson]

I got the moon on my side.

[Sam Riegel]

Vince.

[Marisha Ray]

Try me another guy.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Hold on.

[Marisha Ray]

It's another miss.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm gonna worry about it.

[Travis Willingham]

I'll roll this in front of the board. Okay. Let's do it.

[Ashley Johnson]

This is what I get for getting cocky.

[Travis Willingham]

They add. They add a plus three to hit for why? On the seven or higher.

[Ashley Johnson]

The soldier.

[Travis Willingham]

On the seven or higher. They hit 16.

[Ashley Johnson]

Gorgeous.

[Marisha Ray]

Whoops.

[Travis Willingham]

One D eight plus two.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That's right.

[Ashley Johnson]

Gorgeous.

[Travis Willingham]

Eight damage.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yep. I'm down.

[Travis Willingham]

Sword flashes through with that last attack. That old one's also going to turn. Does he turn to Garan? Or does he attempt to finish Hope in this moment on one who has already fallen? Garan. We'll leave it up to a roll of the dice. 1. 2. 3.

[Marisha Ray]

4.

[Travis Willingham]

5. 6. 4.

[Marisha Ray]

Thank you. I'll say.

[Liam O'Brien]

In this distance, I see the blade starting to come down. And an attempt to finish this.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And Garnish goes.

[Travis Willingham]

Hey.

[Liam O'Brien]

And just push the hammer up and goes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I am what you want, boy.

[Marisha Ray]

And he's going to take his last swing at you.

[Travis Willingham]

Armor class of seven.

[Marisha Ray]

He gets on a four or higher.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, that checks out.

[Travis Willingham]

Four.

[Liam O'Brien]

I bring it.

[Travis Willingham]

I bring it.

[Marisha Ray]

Nine points of damage to Garan.

[Liam O'Brien]

So here's what I'll say. I try and make that final push to distract. It doesn't work. The drive to finish this job is there. And Garan leaps forward and covers her body with his and takes the blade to his own back.

[Travis Willingham]

As he. You feel the steel go in between your ribs. There is a moment, both of you horizontal. You covering Rhaenyra with your body, who has healed you so many times. You look over and see on the ground Arrow, who you have traveled with for so long. And Arrow. You look and lock eyes as you come out of unconsciousness. And you see Garan entering it. There is a moment where you lock eyes together. Having wandered this world for so long.

[Liam O'Brien]

Angel smiles before he faints.

[Travis Willingham]

Arrow. Hell yeah. It is your turn. And I would also let you know as you stand up, the one who stood forward and said, it will not be like it has been. It is your turn. And you may take it as a first Level Ranger. Yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

Can I grab one of the soldier's swords up out of the mud as I rise?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes. You absolutely. Hell yes.

[Matthew Mercer]

And just roars into the air from his gaunt, golden dragonborn frame. And I'm going to swing it into their attacker.

[Travis Willingham]

Hell yes.

[Marisha Ray]

Go for it. Go ahead and roll. You are flanking so you will have advantage as you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

What do I add?

[Matthew Mercer]

What do I add as a ranger?

[Marisha Ray]

Your proficiency plus either your strength or your dex modifier.

[Matthew Mercer]

Strength or dex.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

That is a 15 total.

[Marisha Ray]

15 total. Hold on one second. 15 total to hit.

[Travis Willingham]

Let me get their armor class here real quick.

[Marisha Ray]

15 total does not hit the armor here, unfortunately.

[Matthew Mercer]

Okay.

[Marisha Ray]

But you have access to also any.

[Travis Willingham]

Of your first level spells that you have here.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Now, I'm level zero.

[Marisha Ray]

You have your stat block in front of you. As you take a swing with that sword.

[Travis Willingham]

You also.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Hunter's mark is also available to you.

[Travis Willingham]

I think, as one of your.

[Matthew Mercer]

Right.

[Travis Willingham]

That is extra damage, I think. Yeah.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Not extra hit.

[Matthew Mercer]

That's that.

[Marisha Ray]

Then you take a swing. Clang. Connect there. With the armor holding the sword aloft, we move from Arrow's turn. The captain is dead. Phaedra, it is your turn once more.

[Sam Riegel]

All right. I and Tavi. And then. Do I still have a little army of commoners?

[Marisha Ray]

You do. Yeah, absolutely.

[Sam Riegel]

We are all gonna fucking mob the guy that got these two.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, yeah. And actually, by the way, some other people had also summoned some commoners on.

[Travis Willingham]

Their turns as well. Right.

[Marisha Ray]

Nia and them. Let's make sure we resolve that as well. I realize you guys, commoners should make attacks also. Nia, as you drop, you have, I think. I think these four over here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Shoot.

[Marisha Ray]

So go ahead and give me four attack rolls there, if you'd be so kind.

[Ashley Johnson]

And These are all 20s, right?

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Just let me know if any of.

[Travis Willingham]

Them get a 14 or higher on the dial.

[Ashley Johnson]

One of them gets a 19. The other miss.

[Marisha Ray]

Two damage to that one. Still up. Looking so bad.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Arrow, you. You also have some over. Oh, wait, no, sorry.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was only three. I got four.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, go ahead and roll.

[Ashley Johnson]

I get one more. That's two.

[Travis Willingham]

Two.

[Marisha Ray]

So, Arrow, you have your original four.

[Travis Willingham]

Over here that are all still fighting as well.

[Matthew Mercer]

They're rolling much better than me. That's a 17 hit. A 12, a 7, and a 10. So probably only one hit.

[Travis Willingham]

Only one hit. Boom.

[Marisha Ray]

Phaedra, that's you. Do you want to roll for your commoners first?

[Sam Riegel]

Sure.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell, yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

I have how many?

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead and roll for Tevine. He's got the longsword still. Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, Tevin, Tevine, please do. Come on.

[Matthew Mercer]

It's all on you.

[Sam Riegel]

No, he rolled a nine, which. Well, doesn't he get a plus?

[Ashley Johnson]

Plus two.

[Sam Riegel]

It's plus two, then, right? Yeah, I don't think. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, sorry. Oh, yeah. He does not get. He only gets A plus three. So he does not hit. Roll. You have three more commoners then.

[Travis Willingham]

Three more commoners.

[Sam Riegel]

All right, come on, one of you guys, please. Ooh, they rolled really well. One of them does not hit because that's a five. But we have a 18 and a 21.

[Marisha Ray]

Both hit. Four damage. These last two soldiers are at death's door. Roll your own attack.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, that is a 19 to hit.

[Marisha Ray]

19 hits.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

And then roll.

[Marisha Ray]

Sneak attack damage too.

[Sam Riegel]

Sneak attack damage. Wait, that was. Oh, that's a six. I'm done. And then plus dex, right? Yeah, that's 10 damage.

[Marisha Ray]

You rush up to this one, slit his throat. Gone dead. One soldier remains. Phaedra, you've killed two of these guys. Now just disembowel. You hear the intestines hit the mud. And that is Phaedra's turn. Crocus, that's gonna be you. Okay, so now, last soldier standing.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So Crocus still has the other guy in in his mouth and looks directly at the last soldier, catches his eye, just goes and just snaps. The guy just cracks the skull, drops him, and is just going to run at him. And what I want to do is he runs at him and he's going to take a swipe with his claws. And then as the bonus action attack is going to spin and slap him with his tail.

[Marisha Ray]

Hell yes.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Is there flanking?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, you have flanking here as well.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

The first hit.

[Travis Willingham]

Ooh.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Not hit. It's 12. So I miss.

[Marisha Ray]

Miss the first one. You still have your bonus action.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

So it glances off the armor, uses the momentum to spin and is going to slam him with his tail. That is a 17. 7. So I assume that hits.

[Marisha Ray]

That is a hit. Go ahead and roll damage.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

That's 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 points of damage.

[Travis Willingham]

That first claw misses and the soldier steps back thinking maybe I can get this monster freaking.

[Marisha Ray]

My last blow rears back and doesn't see that the mist attack is already part of the follow up and roiling this massive crocodilian tail. You hear his spine crunch like popcorn. And falls to the ground dead. The last soldier defeated. We are going to stay in Initiative because people are dying. So we're going to move from this onward as fast, continuing on. Garan, I'm going to need a death saving throw from you.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yes, you do. That's a three.

[Marisha Ray]

It's a fail Failure from Garan.

[Travis Willingham]

Rhaenyia.

[Marisha Ray]

Death saving throw from you.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's a five.

[Travis Willingham]

That's a fail arrow.

[Matthew Mercer]

It returns to your turn Throw the and scrabble down into the mud. And try to press my hands against the wound on Nia's side. Try to stabilize.

[Travis Willingham]

You go to stabilize. And feel true power coursing through you. You can make a medicine check here or you can cast cure wounds.

[Marisha Ray]

What does it feel like? Arrow, you are of the world.

[Travis Willingham]

You are a wanderer in this world. You've been molding earth with the secrets of Druidic power that were taught to you. But this is awakening something deeper within you. What do you feel in the moment that this power avails itself to you?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Matthew Mercer]

That very simple connection to the earth that was learned through practice, through someone very important, now surges with inspiration and belief.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Impossibility again. And.

[Matthew Mercer]

The power of green and good and living draws up through my knees in the earth and passes through my core and out my hands into this singular person, Rhaenyia.

[Travis Willingham]

You open your eyes.

[Ashley Johnson]

I think she looks at you and you can barely hear it, but she goes, there's my miracle.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Thank you for helping me find my way again.

[Ashley Johnson]

It is unending.

[Travis Willingham]

Phaedra, we return to you.

[Sam Riegel]

Garan is still down.

[Marisha Ray]

Garan is down.

[Travis Willingham]

Otto is down. Luz is down.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Yes, Otto's been down long time.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, he did full rounds.

[Sam Riegel]

Otto's probably, well, okay, I should say that.

[Marisha Ray]

Is he dead?

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Don't worry about him anymore.

[Sam Riegel]

I honestly. I yell out to the crowd. I think I yell, it's over. We have injured.

[Marisha Ray]

Can anyone help you see that? As you yell at Phaedra, you immediately go into gang boss mode and start getting people as you've been the whole battle. Just getting like more bodies. Hit them, hit them. You look out and see immediately that as you rush forward, Klassara and Nez heed your command. Right away, both of them are gonna rush over. One of them is gonna rush to Otto. Klosara is gonna rush over to Otto. Otto has a death save failure already.

[Travis Willingham]

And I haven't rolled.

[Marisha Ray]

He may, if he rolls a nat.

[Travis Willingham]

One already, be gone.

[Marisha Ray]

Cool.

[Travis Willingham]

17.

[Marisha Ray]

That's a success, Otto.

[Sam Riegel]

Yay.

[Marisha Ray]

And Klosara's gonna roll. She adds a plus 4 to her medicine and just needs a 10 to stabilize him with the menace check.

[Travis Willingham]

So 6 or higher.

[Marisha Ray]

13. She rushes over. Otto looks up and goes.

[Travis Willingham]

This one was bad. Worse than most. Worse than most.

[Sam Riegel]

It was. But we still fucking got him.

[Travis Willingham]

We got him.

[Marisha Ray]

You see, he looks. Otto looks over at you, Arrow. You haven't met him before from your time in the prison.

[Travis Willingham]

He goes, you're fucking crazy. I love you. You're fucking crazy.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Pace yourself.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah, I'LL never be brave again. That's the last time.

[Marisha Ray]

You see. And Nez is going to rush over. Who's the other healer here she's going to rush over to?

[Ashley Johnson]

She's.

[Travis Willingham]

She sees Luz. Luz rolled a NAT one on her first roll for two death save failures. Which means that on a nine or lower it is too late for her.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, I can't do anything about this.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, I'm going to roll to see cause Nez is doing triage between Garan who has one and her that has two. Or we need to see.

[Travis Willingham]

Oh my gosh, please. What's happening with Luz? Nez rushes over to Garan once again on a six or higher. Stabilizes 15.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Garan, you sort of feel yourself once again.

[Travis Willingham]

You see these quick goblin hands go to work. As she says. Easy now. There's ale and salt beef and all the good things in the world for you still to have, my friend.

[Liam O'Brien]

Her voices kind of mingle through the memory and the echoing sounds of laughing children, dwarven voices and blurry mingled memories of generations past. Not seen in a long enough time. Where the faces themselves don't crystallize until eventually half conscious can see the blurry expression of Nez.

[Travis Willingham]

You swim back with Crocus. It is your turn.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus isn't aware enough to know the guy he was fighting is dead. So when he fell on the ground, Crocus immediately stomped on him, grabbed him, picked him up and whipped him into that well like into the side of the well there and is just is making this noise that is like. There's this noise that crocodiles make that's like this kind of like clicking deep in there that's like kind of like. And he's just making this noise and foam is just dripping from his mouth and he's just blank eyed and he's looking for like. He's just looking around at everybody he has. Everybody around him is the same and he can't bring himself out of it. He's just whipping his tail around and looking at everybody, everybody around him. He's at one hit point and has just lost his mind at this moment and is a danger to anybody who gets near him at this point.

[Marisha Ray]

Yet people begin to give you a wide berth just seeing you summoned something deep and otherworldly. These people have not seen a. The handiwork of the gods is not.

[Travis Willingham]

Widely seen even during the height of the calamity.

[Marisha Ray]

You with whatever you summoned in that power and your own natural state is a fearsome, fearsome warrior.

[Travis Willingham]

Give me a perception check.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Not good.

[Travis Willingham]

Well, my perception would be.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Natural. 20 plus 2.

[Marisha Ray]

What?

[Travis Willingham]

Alex, you crocus on a nat 20. You feel the rage. You are frightening. You are monstrous. Everyone is frightened of you. You're barely even a person to some of these people because of all the things that you've done and all the things that have happened to you. And on that 20, you look and see cowering behind the well Sell and Saltria, the two little children that you carried all the way here from Rybad Kol. They meet your eyes and both of them step forward slowly, softly. And put two little scaled hands up and put their heads against your head just as you did moments ago to one that you meant tremendous harm to. You see that both of them breathe slow and steady, crying from fear, so afraid that their lives were about to end after knowing even a moment of joy. And you hear Selldria's voice so soft in your ear. It's okay. You don't have to be scared.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

And he just kind of sits on the ground.

[Travis Willingham]

Both of the kids wrap their arms around you. You can tell you're scared. We're scared too. It's okay. We're gonna be okay. You got em. We're not gonna. They're not gonna take us away.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay. Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

You feel another pair of of hands gently press your head against her chest as Celeste covers you and puts her head over you and whispers in draconic.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Which I don't understand because I don't.

[Marisha Ray]

Speak it because I raised her.

[Travis Willingham]

The words over and over in a language you can't understand. And seeing your expression change again to one of confusion and understanding. You see Selman looks up and smiles. His little hand on your cheek. It means you saved us.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

Garan. Stable once again you are unconscious. But your body, perhaps the hands that shaped exandria made in you something too much like the land and stone. For you simply will not quit or perish from this earth lying there. Arrow. You send that energy and heal Nia. Phaedra. You look to and fro as the people here under your command go to attend to the fallen. And there is a moment that is so small in passing that it's hard to even feel it or understand it. But Klosara, this little halfling matriarch, walks past in your command to see to the injured, puts a hand on your back and smiles and gives you this little pinch on the shoulder that you immediately recognize that your mother gave you the same thing. A little you're doing exactly what you need to. And you look at a community that rather than glowering over you, causing you to be ruthless in the shadows, is looking at you in the open town square for answers and guidance.

[Sam Riegel]

I say to them, this was great work that we've all done here. Every single one of you. Remember, we look out for ourselves. We have each other's backs. And that is how we're gonna make it through this.

[Travis Willingham]

You see that? Taveen turns to look at you. No biting remark, no quip, no turn of phrase to preemptively put someone on guard. To not tangle with your sharp wit or cunning and instead just open support and encouragement of people that desperately need it. And Taveen smiles. Or Taveen maybe internally smiles, but more just looks, seeing a side of you he has never seen before. And Nia, as people move, you turn and see loose.

[Ashley Johnson]

She mia's seen a lot of messed up bodies. She's seen people on death's door. There have only been. This may be the second time she has seen one person kill another. And her instinct is to just go to Luz and to try. Cause Nia has done miraculous things before. And she just tries to bring her back. She is not even bothering to check a pulse. She's just pressing and pressing. And you can see on her white robes little splotches of tears as Nia is crying. There's something she can do. There is something she can do. This cannot be how the story ends. It's the three of us. It's me, it's Lyanna. It's her. She has to come back. She has to come back because Luz is the only person. She's the last person who saw Liana. She has to come back. She has to come back. And she's just pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing. And she may do that for until she hears that she may be making a terrible situation worse.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Arrow's hand rests on your shoulder from behind.

[Ashley Johnson]

This can't. This cannot. No, I. No, no, no, no. And she's now banging on Luz's chest, feeling like such a failure. She thinks back to earlier, earlier in combat where she had so many options to call on other people and she at some point was like, no. Let loose hide. And the quick change of that thought is the thing that she's blaming herself for. She should have followed her instinct.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Nothing will take this away. But when the world is so impossible, give yourself some little bit of grace. We do the best we can.

[Travis Willingham]

In.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The Shadow of the gods.

[Ashley Johnson]

Can she see the sky? Can she see the moon at all? Nia.

[Travis Willingham]

Do you think you can? Do you believe you can?

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia looks up and even if she can or cannot see the moon, she. Because of the clouds and the rain and whatever time of day it may be. And she clocks in and finds it, feels its gaze on her. And she looks to the moon and.

[Marisha Ray]

Says.

[Ashley Johnson]

Have this one. But you keep my sister. You watch her. And you make sure I do not make this mistake again. She gets up and tries to find a place where she can perform some sort of burial for her. For her friend and Starmion, who still is with us somewhere.

[Travis Willingham]

Starmion, Luz. Two others that fell in the brawl and battle here in Torm's Hill are laid to rest. Arrow Nia moves so quickly with a sense of the rage and injustice moments after embracing a light eternal. And move so quickly to the work of honoring the fallen dead that she misses what you see, which is for the first time in maybe decades.

[Marisha Ray]

The.

[Travis Willingham]

Clouds part for a moment and you see a glimpse of star and light. They twinkle there, far off in the nighttime sky. And for a moment, sailing as sharp as a sail is the crescent of the moon. Gotham moves through the sky, and just as quickly, the clouds cover it. She knew exactly where it was. The battle subsides and the honored dead are buried. Some measure of ale is imbibed in their honor, and a wounded Otto stands by. Taveen. Tyveen looks over at you. Phaedra. What's the. What's the angle, boss?

[Sam Riegel]

You know, I've been trying to figure that out, and I'm not. Not sure I have it yet, but. Well, we're all here again. Yeah, we did a pretty good. Good fucking job.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

He just kind of walks up and hunches down next to them.

[Sam Riegel]

I think we might be able to really make a change here, you know?

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

Okay. Garan, you are propped up somewhere recovering next to Otto. Arrow, you are there nearby, as the rain finally subsides. It's still cloudy, but my God, you saw a patch of sky for a moment. And you see that for the first time. Once the bodies are cleared, you see that Your friend Bull Ray, the sort of Bugbear elder goes. We followed them back out, but there's no sign of any other scout, so none of them escaped. They'll not know where they went or how far. These ones already had eaten through their rations, so it's. You've saved us. The people that are here will be safe because of what you did. I know we lost some, but we honor them. It is all we can do. So many are now free that might have marched for cause of fear. Back into the chains of oblivion and tyranny. We thank you. And we thank the honored dead. You see Klosara in Nez come over. And Phaedra, that you are once again.

[Marisha Ray]

Reassuringly pinched by these older matriarchs.

[Travis Willingham]

Who.

[Marisha Ray]

Who make sure that you are fed for the first time.

[Travis Willingham]

There's an area where now that the rain is gone. They build an outdoor fire. And there's a fire burning.

[Marisha Ray]

And people can get warm.

[Travis Willingham]

And there's a chatter through the camp. For the first time. Many see that the soldiers of the Strife Emperor were defeated. That the Strife Emperor did not appear. And lay 1000 people low. With a mighty swing of a morning star. Instead, there is freedom. Dearly paid for. But freedom nonetheless.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus is gonna.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Did you get hurt?

[Sam Riegel]

No, not at all. Okay.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's fine. I'll be right back.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

He's gonna go walk to the river. And just wash the. The extensive amount of blood that is all over him off of him. And just try and clean himself.

[Travis Willingham]

In the sort of. After you go to wash yourself. You see that? Klassara and. And Nazareth speaking to you. Arrow right in the arrow guard and you propped up, they say. We're worried about Nia. We'll keep an eye on her. Luz was one of the few old family friends that she had left in this world. Of which we all have precious few. I'm afraid it's a bitter loss for her. Do you think you will leave at once, Arrow, or tarry here a while?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think we will stay for a spell. I had originally thought to move on fairly quickly. But my thinking has changed somewhat.

[Travis Willingham]

We would love to have you stay for a while. It would be an honor. And there may be a life for us to build here. But I know that there is a conversation for you to have with Nia. Who may wish to travel on as quickly as possible. And if she does, I would hate to think of her going alone.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

That will never happen.

[Travis Willingham]

She smiles. Nearby.

[Marisha Ray]

Phaedra.

[Travis Willingham]

With you and the rest of the Roach gang. Sort of tending to a recovery. Otto, you see, Marlath walks up to you. Who you did not see at all in that conflict.

[Sam Riegel]

I was wondering.

[Travis Willingham]

He walks up to you and says. Phaedra, my friend. Could I speak to you in private for a moment?

[Sam Riegel]

I'm not going anywhere without my bodyguard. Can you come?

[Travis Willingham]

Yes, of course.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I mean, I'm down by the River.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, so he's gone down by the river at this point.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay. I say, well, anything you can say, you want to say to me, you can say in front of Otto and Tyveen. So let's hear it.

[Travis Willingham]

I've spoken with the Bowdley brothers.

[Sam Riegel]

Bowdley brothers?

[Travis Willingham]

The Bowdleys. The three halfling lads with the branding marks on their face. Connor Owen and Rowan Boudley.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

They are enterprising young lads who were handing out the tools earlier. I've kept a log of everything that was given away by the lads and of what use it was given and to whom it was given to. And I've approached them and spoken about the possibility of, shall we say, going into business together. The tools were taken with no discussion thereabouts. But in logging, what people took and how they had it. I believe that those who have taken those tools have incurred something of a debt to the Power Tillies. And it is possible for us to join forces with them such that we might be able to capitalize upon that debt. Those tools are of incredible utility and the boundaries are not necessarily worldly. So some of these concepts, it was difficult to explain to them. But by working alongside them, we may be able to entrench ourselves in what is about to become a burgeoning place of industry. And tools will need to be sold here in some degree or another. And I cannot help but notice the prowess that you and your companions possess in establishing order in a place like Torm's Hill. It can behoove one to work side by side with those who are able to establish order when and if it need be done.

[Sam Riegel]

Hm. You know, I think I underestimated you. You had a good head. Good with this kind of stuff.

[Travis Willingham]

What can I say? I'm a man of no skill at arms, but vision, certainly.

[Sam Riegel]

And you wish to share that vision with the Roach gang?

[Travis Willingham]

I assume my intention would be to employ your services, such as they are.

[Sam Riegel]

Well, then, perhaps we can have a little discussion. A private discussion.

[Ashley Johnson]

Sundown.

[Sam Riegel]

Behind Torm's Hill, perhaps.

[Travis Willingham]

Lovely.

[Sam Riegel]

Bring the ledger with you.

[Travis Willingham]

I shall.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

I will do so. It had occurred to me as well. Something of fascination to me.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

The structures here, in terms Torm's Hill, were built as auxiliary structures and now are dwelling places for those that have arrived here in Torm's Hill. But there is no established deed of title or ownership to any of the buildings herein. So, in other words, those that dwell here are dwelling here at the welcome as guests, essentially, of Klosara and Nez. There are Possibilities for, I think arrangements that could be made with those here who would certainly have done nothing to earn these dwelling places.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay.

[Travis Willingham]

It's too heavy to flip. I bring it only.

[Sam Riegel]

So you're saying that perhaps, maybe there may be a way to leverage these.

[Travis Willingham]

Look at it this way. None of these people built these structures that they now dwell in. If we were to go and simply offer to care for the structures in exchange for a deed of title, should anything come up, a roof has hole for the rain to come in, we'll repair the roof and all they need do is simply acknowledge the deed of title and we move forward from there.

[Marisha Ray]

You must understand.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

Some order is going to emerge from here. And it will either be an order determined by two elderly grandmothers, or it will be an order determined by those with an understanding of how to structure a place like this that requires structure.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay. Those with understanding, like you as one example, certainly.

[Travis Willingham]

But also by those such as you, who know the proper and practical applications of force when required.

[Sam Riegel]

Very interesting. Well, we'll talk more at sundown. Very excited to hear all those visions of yours.

[Travis Willingham]

I'll bring the ledger book.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

Listening.

[Matthew Mercer]

Back where Klosara had spoken to us and Garn was there as well. As soon as she walks away, Arrow will lean against the same building that Garn is sitting against and with a wince, slide down and sit next to you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hey. I don't know if you're feeling your age, but I certainly am. Been feeling it for a century. I'll tell you, it has been a difficult week. But I wouldn't be sitting here licking my wounds if you hadn't broken me out. Prison back there. It's not one of the four. Thank you for it.

[Sam Riegel]

Hey.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hard pressed to say that we're all fairly even if we're keeping count. But I'm bad at adding and subtracting. I appreciate you all putting any faith in these old bones. I'm left here wondering how much more I got here. Me. To be honest, I'm not a fighter. I'm a maker.

[Liam O'Brien]

He looks down at his hammer himself, like the stone somewhat pockmarked from the blast of remaining divine energy that unexpectedly fired from his friend.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I can't help but feel like I'm a bit small for these bigger things. Well, you could have fooled me. You showed us equal measures of both. I am slow to offer trust. Been that way for a long time. But from the second I laid eyes.

[Travis Willingham]

On you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You had it. Can't even really say why. Sometimes you can read a person who's got nothing to lose and wants for nothing to gain.

[Matthew Mercer]

He claps his hand on your shoulder.

[Travis Willingham]

Ah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Gives you a lot scu guys. Oh that hurts.

[Travis Willingham]

Let's see.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Maybe we can find some of that ale you were talking about for now. Gonna go find Rhaenyra so I'm just gonna. Just give me a little more time.

[Matthew Mercer]

He limps away okay.

[Travis Willingham]

You go to find Rhaenia. Where is Rhaenia in this moment?

[Ashley Johnson]

Still at her friend's grave site. Nia's not. She's still putting the pieces of everything together and finding some way to blame herself. Any onlookers would see that she has taken some of her friend's robes and has turned it into some. Or she has wanted to turn it into some sort of pouch for that moonweaver symbol that she will not be keeping for herself. She's sitting there just next to it with her hand in the earth squeezing, squeezing and releasing and squeezing and releasing. Just lost in thought and regret and is trying to come up with some plan to make this loss worth it.

[Travis Willingham]

Near your friend Rainey's grave. I'll ask Alex. Do you think that this area of the graves is near to the river?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'd say it probably is.

[Travis Willingham]

I think Rhaenyra, as you're meditating here at the gravesite you hear a splashing in the river that is just now starting to come down. And that choking muddy torrential flood is actually starting to get a little bit translucent. Maybe some of the ash of centuries of war between the gods is actually starting to turn into what centuries ago was a clear and babbling alpine stream. Funny how things change.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus has never seen a river before. He's lived in the city his whole life and this is the first time he's ever. And then he went immediately to prison as if he's never seen a river. He's just kind of like if there's a part of it that naturally pools and isn't quite in a rapids he's just standing in it and like moving his feet around and washing his hands of the blood and everything but not with purpose. Just being a child in a pool of water kind of. And just standing there.

[Ashley Johnson]

She lets the sound of her new friend splashing for the sake of it. She listens to that and just. She hasn't talked in a while. It almost looks like she isn't breathing because how dare she get that and her friend not.

[Travis Willingham]

I think Crocus. You look up see Nia near the graves there.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

She's going to get out of the water and kind of slowly walk up towards where she is.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm sorry about your friend.

[Ashley Johnson]

Me, too. We're similar, you and I.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

I don't know where my family is either.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

My own. I am Phaedra. Phaedra has raised me. I don't know who my parents were. Had my egg.

[Ashley Johnson]

So I guess it's just me who doesn't know where my family is.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Sorry to.

[Ashley Johnson]

Don't.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

You deserve each other. And Phaedra, as elusive as she can.

[Travis Willingham]

Be.

[Ashley Johnson]

She cares about you.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

I miss the person who cared about me.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

His sister.

[Ashley Johnson]

She. Her body sort of cracks and clicks in a way. She goes to reach in her bag for that locket and she pops it open and shows Crocus a picture.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Sister? Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

She's a day's travel. I hope to leave tonight.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, bad.

[Marisha Ray]

Everything's bad.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Could be better.

[Ashley Johnson]

Closes it, puts it in her pocket and just goes back to squeezing the.

[Travis Willingham]

Earth, I think Arrow. You walk up at about this. This time.

[Ashley Johnson]

She hears Arrow. She knows the sound of her friend's feet. She's heard him try and be sneaky behind her before.

[Travis Willingham]

I think in the distance, too, you hear Tavine's voice going, crocus.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Don'T let her leave.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

He walks away, back to town.

[Matthew Mercer]

He stops you just with a little fist on your arm. Just gives you a little knock.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Just goes back to town.

[Matthew Mercer]

Miro.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Just stands by you for quite a long beat without saying anything.

[Ashley Johnson]

You have to go get her. I don't want to sleep here another night. I want to go get her. I've been distracted. I've been naive.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, then, that's what we'll do. I have some idea what you might be feeling right now. And there's nothing I can say or anyone else who can talk it away, but I will be here, sitting quietly by.

[Ashley Johnson]

I think she reaches for him and just tries to get him to sit with her so she can lean on his shoulder. And she feels the weight of what he has said and knows that she has so many questions about him and his history and that line on his throat that she's tried to ask about artfully and has still not gotten an answer for. But in this moment of shared grief, she understands just a bit more.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I can't take the pain away. But if you know where you want to go, go. I will get you there.

[Ashley Johnson]

Where do you want to go? What do you want when you let yourself want.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think I want to know something different. Again. Again.

[Ashley Johnson]

Let's go find something different. She Gets up, brushes herself off. Takes some of that earth from her friend's sight. Just presses it into one of her locks to keep a bit of her friend with her. I can do two more nights here. Get our rations, get some water. We should make for Snowgraves Pass as soon as our friends can come with us.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

As you wish.

[Liam O'Brien]

Same little ways made her in the town, hobbling as much as walking. I think Garan has retrieved a small personal mini barrel that he had stashed from the discovered chamber and tucked it away somewhere where no one would find it. And figured this is a time as any to enjoy. As he wanders into the streets, catching a glance of Phaedra almost taking a parallel path. And gives a look over.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hey, Phaedra.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Why don't we all join for a drink and celebrate everything.

[Sam Riegel]

You got enough for four?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think we can manage. I don't have any cops, but that's fine. You can hold this up.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, we can manage.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

We'll go find the rest. Here, I. Well, I got your attention.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You're a survivor.

[Sam Riegel]

I mean, we all are.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Aye, but like you, I mean. I mean.

[Liam O'Brien]

Came pretty close points. The tattoo on your arm.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You know who you are. You endure. Not just because you have the will, but you have the mind. You have the clever wit. And you have the instinct to continue.

[Sam Riegel]

I've tried. Sometimes it seems like it doesn't do as much good to me in this world as I thought it did. Especially these days.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

But I don't know if you saw the look in the eyes of those that saw you today. They themselves found a little bit of that survivor in themselves because of it. That's responsibility.

[Sam Riegel]

I know. I felt that too. I felt. I felt something. And you know, I've always believed in looking after my own people. And I think these are my own people.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You felt something?

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's the first thing I've felt in a very long time.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

So just. You're a survivor. But not just for yourself anymore. You have to survive. For everyone here.

[Sam Riegel]

I know. It's not a responsibility that I take lightly. Mm.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Let's go off a dream.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Travis Willingham]

The roaches and Garan have a long drink. Nia. Do you take yourself to just find rest to prepare the next day? Make your preparations to get to Snowgrave?

[Ashley Johnson]

I think I try and find Garan so I can thank him. I think. I don't know how much she got to see after she was struck low. I think part of her knows that Garan prevented something really catastrophic.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

So I think she keeps her things on her and tries to go find Garan.

[Liam O'Brien]

It's not too hard to find. You hear the sound of some laughter not far from the edge of the riverbank where he was working earlier. You hear, looking to.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Here we go.

[Liam O'Brien]

Well, round two starts passing the keg around Garan.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

She sees the gathering here.

[Sam Riegel]

A word real quick. Is it sundown yet?

[Travis Willingham]

It is sundown.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, well, thank you so much for the drink, Garan. We have a little appointment, but you guys have fun. And me and the boys, we, I.

[Travis Willingham]

Think, yeah, the roaches go head over behind Torm's Hill. You, Crocus, you Toveen Otto. All gather.

[Marisha Ray]

It's now nice and dark.

[Travis Willingham]

There's multiple bonfires. For all the sorrow and heartbreak, the vast majority of Torm's Hill didn't see the fight even. It happened so fast, you know, probably about 100 to 200 people actually got eyes on it. And then word spread through the camp. And the word spread through the camp was, it's very sad for people we lost, but we will not go back into the darkness. You behind Torm's Hill, see Marlath walk up. You see he's gotten some nicer clothes for himself. He's not dressed in the rags of a prisoner anymore. Walks up with his ledger book and he goes, friedra, good to see you again.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I would like to position myself in a place where he doesn't seem.

[Travis Willingham]

It's very easy.

[Marisha Ray]

He ignores you.

[Travis Willingham]

You're not a very eloquent person.

[Marisha Ray]

So he barely regards you at all.

[Sam Riegel]

So do you have high perception? Decent perception? I would also. I think as soon as Marleth walks up, I would have discussed this plan with all you guys already, but can he do a perception check to just make sure he wasn't followed or anything? Like there's no one else around except.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Roll the 19 stealth check to just be kind of where he walks up. I'm.

[Marisha Ray]

Give me a perception to see if.

[Travis Willingham]

He'S being followed by anybody. Gigantic monkshit.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Oh, I don't know.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Hard to see.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

That's a six.

[Ashley Johnson]

And this may be a bit audacious.

[Travis Willingham]

No.

[Ashley Johnson]

But since Crocus doesn't see that he is being followed, I don't know where our conversation happens, but I very much wanted this conversation to happen within eyeshot of this moment.

[Marisha Ray]

Great. I think they will. Gotcha. Okay, so you guys are in the dark, and I think you see them at a campfire pretty distant from closer to the river.

[Ashley Johnson]

How many feet would you say?

[Marisha Ray]

Maybe, like, read Lips. May I ask.

[Travis Willingham]

May I ask why?

[Marisha Ray]

Do you want to cast some magic?

[Ashley Johnson]

No, she doesn't want to cast some magic. I think she is. I think she's just trying to keep. She's lost friends already by not keeping a close enough eye.

[Travis Willingham]

Gotcha.

[Ashley Johnson]

I think she wants to keep.

[Marisha Ray]

I think you stay vigilant. You are with Alpsidis. You're within earshot.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, cool, cool. I'll take earshot. I have observant feet.

[Travis Willingham]

Gotcha.

[Ashley Johnson]

Which, yeah. If I can see a creature's mouth while it's speaking a language I understand, I can interpret what it's saying by reading its lips.

[Travis Willingham]

Gotcha.

[Marisha Ray]

Would you want to read Phaedra's crocuses.

[Travis Willingham]

Or Marlath's lips or just anyone? Someone who's in there just reading Kokos.

[Sam Riegel]

Lips is so funny. I'll say.

[Marisha Ray]

No, we'll move with this. And if you want to hear something, we'll make it happen.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

David, take me off to comic converse.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm like, yeah, I think something is charged within her. She's like, I've traveled with old boy, this shaky, shaky guy for long enough. And seeing him alone with Phaedra.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Not because I'm worried about what she's doing. I'm worried about what he wants to do.

[Marisha Ray]

Gotcha. You know that it features with Crocus.

[Travis Willingham]

And with Taveen and Oscar as well.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, they're all together.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, we're all together.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. I thought it was just her and him.

[Sam Riegel]

It's the whole gang.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, then.

[Travis Willingham]

Yeah, yeah. Marlath walks up to you and says, friedra.

[Sam Riegel]

Yes.

[Travis Willingham]

Splendid. May I show you something?

[Sam Riegel]

Of course.

[Travis Willingham]

He opens this ledger book and moves through it, and you see, he says, the earlier plan I discussed. Now, the Bowdely brothers are, I think, a matter largely resolved. I worked with many fine merchant guilds in my time, serving under the Strife Emperor in his grand and imperial ministries. And what I found is that the manner in which those soldiers came through, obviously that was a garish and violent display, and I think you were quite right to dispatch them post haste. Now, the Boundary brothers were already, I think, on board with the idea that their service they're providing to the camp absolutely should be honored. It should not be given freely. The goods they are providing, the community relies on, and that which is relied on must be paid for. So I've offered to go into business with them as a majority stakeholder. And I think that what we can do is, I would love to hire you for your services. Credit at first, but quickly for actual specie to follow currency.

[Sam Riegel]

Very interesting. May I. May I take a look?

[Marisha Ray]

You see, he opens and says, this.

[Travis Willingham]

Is quite a clever thing here. I went and found some of the families living in the structures closer to the river and brought up the flooding that had occurred and simply was able to say.

[Marisha Ray]

And you see that he has the book. He shows you.

[Sam Riegel]

He slowly try to take the book out of his.

[Marisha Ray]

He shows and says, by acquiring the.

[Travis Willingham]

Deed of title for the structures, I simply imparted to them that should a catastrophe befall their house, they would not be charged with its repair. As the owner of the house, I would be charged with its repair and would be more than happy to provide that service. And that their lease of dwelling within would be quite a generous five years. Which for people who've been wandering the wasteland.

[Sam Riegel]

Right.

[Marisha Ray]

Should get 5 years of free dwelling.

[Travis Willingham]

Inside of a place that I'm providing the care and maintenance for.

[Sam Riegel]

Okay. Marlath. Marlath.

[Travis Willingham]

Yes.

[Sam Riegel]

Let me tell you something. All this is very impressive. And I think you're ready.

[Travis Willingham]

Ready?

[Sam Riegel]

I think you're ready to become one of us.

[Travis Willingham]

Oh, I've been thinking about your generous offer.

[Sam Riegel]

Right.

[Travis Willingham]

Tattoos are not necessarily in my.

[Sam Riegel]

Oh, we don't have to do it. We don't have to do a tattoo. There's plenty of ways of initiating someone. Boys, can we hold him?

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Crocus comes out of the shadows behind him. Does this Dragonborn have a tail?

[Travis Willingham]

Yes, he does.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Stands on the tail.

[Sam Riegel]

And Otto. And his hand, presumably. I would have told them about this plan.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Jaw open the mouth.

[Marisha Ray]

Holding him there.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Go ahead and give me a grapple. You have to beat a six.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

That is 23.

[Marisha Ray]

You open.

[Sam Riegel]

I say, oh, Marloth, you know, one of the core rules that we like to live by is that we look out for our own. You know, that means all this shit we do, we do it. Cause we have people we're looking out for. I got Crocus, I got these boys. You know, we don't take too kindly to selling people out. Betraying your own kind, taking advantage of poor survivors who are trying to get you out of a shitty situation. You know what your problem is? Is Tarlath. Barlath. Barlath.

[Ashley Johnson]

Get his name wrong, too.

[Sam Riegel]

Whatever. Whatever the fuck your name is. Your problem. You talk too much. And I take out the stiletto and I cut out his tongue.

[Marisha Ray]

You cut his tongue out of the androgas.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Goes and shuts his mouth and holds it.

[Sam Riegel]

I take the ledger from him and I say, pleasure doing business with you. We'll be in touch. And then I think we all walk off.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

I let go and go.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You should get that looked at.

[Marisha Ray]

Bleeding on the ground. Searching in the dark grass for his tongue. You take Marlath's ledger book and walk out. You see Otto looks as you're walking about. Otto looks at Crocus and you have fully covered it and goes, you're not a very nice man. And kicks him in the stomach, hard. You guys walk out of there with the ledger book in hand. Do you hold onto it?

[Sam Riegel]

I absolutely hold onto it. I just keep it on my person. I think.

[Marisha Ray]

Incredible. You walk away from there. Fucking yeah. Garan and Nia and Arrow. I think that you all are you guys just drinking.

[Liam O'Brien]

You pulled me aside for a while.

[Sam Riegel]

I did?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. Nia sitting by the campfire, realizing that Phaedra is not alone. And therefore I feel confident enough to sort of not pay attention. But this is what.

[Sam Riegel]

Wow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Does this smoke egg you ever drink?

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. Nia takes this, tries to like she spills ale in her hair, hates herself for it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Don't have to put embrace it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. Drinks, hands it back to him and says, thank you for what you did out there. I was down and I do the swimming the haze of it all I saw you cover me and take that blow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm old.

[Travis Willingham]

Yes, you are old.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

A lot more to live for than I do. And besides, you've saved more lives than I can count to years my own a few times. I've had the opportunity to pay a little bit of that back in recent week. And thank you for that.

[Ashley Johnson]

I have a feeling we'll be thanking each other for a long time.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I hope so.

[Ashley Johnson]

Give me this. She takes a bigger drink as you.

[Liam O'Brien]

Hold it for a second there. He kind of like sits there and as you quietly sit there next to each other in darkness.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I didn't really get a chance to know her. This loose woman. But I'd like to know about her. Why don't you tell me?

[Ashley Johnson]

Nia tells the story of Luz and her sister and herself. The three of them old family friends. Our families were friends for a very long time. And she taught me about the moon and the moon Weaver. Me and my sister used to think that we could connect with each other in dreams and visions. And we would always meet on the moon.

[Sam Riegel]

Luce.

[Ashley Johnson]

I had such dreams for the world. She dreamt of ease and joy and laughter and serenity. And even in the dark time, she always made sure my sister and I kept hope alive. Sort of shifting, sloshing the ale in its little jar. I just wish she was able to see the future she painted for me and my sister.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The strange thing about dreams is they're infectious. And if we're lucky, they last long after we're gone. And wherever she is, under the light of Catha, I can guarantee you she'll see the world as it changes. After all. It's coming.

[Travis Willingham]

The clouds part once more. This time fully. Nia. You look up and see in a twinkling ocean of stars. A crescent moon smiling down at you. For the first time in your life, you are bathed in a light not of this world pouring in from the sky, moonlight surrounding you. Seated around a warm campfire. The tired and exhausted and for the moment, full and fed and free denizens of Torm's Hill. Fire keeps the soles of your feet so warm, Crackling warm kind of warm on a campfire, that means you have to twiddle your toes or they'll get too hot. It's easy enough to fall asleep right here. With your back to a bench or a stone or a bale of hay with a cloak thrown over it. Sleep comes, rest as it must. Phaedra and Crocus, you, Otto, intervene. Find a place of comfort and rest. Take turns. Been out in the open, busy here for the first time in your life, be being out in the open is the safer place to be. The people here are looking out for each other. They were shown how to do that, how to look out for each other. You think everyone here falls asleep and gets a good night's rest?

[Marisha Ray]

For once, I'm at one hit point.

[Celia Keenan-Bolger]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Crocus is gone and snoozing.

[Travis Willingham]

Phaedra, you feel your bodyguard's massive form for you to rest against. Out by the campfire, you see Klosara walk over and hand you another little mug. And she says, you're fearsome. Little whirlwind.

[Sam Riegel]

Look at what you've done. Look at this place we've tended to.

[Travis Willingham]

A place. You know, you make a tankard once and you wash it a thousand times. There is a care and tenderness that goes into maintaining. But every once in a while, someone has to step in and do some dirty work. And very glad you were here to do that for us.

[Sam Riegel]

It's our honor. And I promise you, if there. If there's anything that we can ever do to help you, to protect you, to look out for you in the way that you've looked out for us. Me and my boys, we got your back 100%.

[Travis Willingham]

You can look out for me by Getting a good night's rest. See? She taps and looks at the ledger under your hand and squints for a second because she's seen that book moving around the camp today. Not in your possession? Yes. Oh, it's that book that that robed gentleman was writing names and numbers in.

[Sam Riegel]

Yeah. Could be something interesting. I thought maybe it's a little reading. Maybe not tonight, but thought I'd get some reading done.

[Travis Willingham]

Ah, well. You're very frightening.

[Marisha Ray]

Smart girl. Q snooze with crocus as Otto, who's resting, was being tended to medically is like, I'm good.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'm awake.

[Travis Willingham]

I'll keep watch.

[Marisha Ray]

Nia, you get some of that ale in you. I think you're God too. You've got dropped today.

[Ashley Johnson]

I think she tries to find. I hope that arrow came with her to the fire. I think she wants to keep eyes on him. Eyes on Garan.

[Matthew Mercer]

Well, I think perhaps arrow lasts later into the night than most. And where he ultimately ends up is back at the river in spitting distance of the bridge.

[Travis Willingham]

He.

[Matthew Mercer]

Yeah, the newly built bridge. And he brings to life a little bonfire of his own. And he molds the earth to hold himself, drawing his tattered cloak around him. And he just spends a few hours gazing at the nearby mountain peaks crowned in stars.

[Travis Willingham]

Of our heroes. Garan is the only one that has not attained his first level as an adventurer. So I'll turn to you here, Matt, and I'll ask you a question. As Garan returns to his strength that night, do you think he feels a younger strength return to him in this moment? Or instead, does some connection or secret of the earth come to him in his dreams? And I will leave that choice to you. And you may choose whichever of them you wish for that secret wisdom to come to you. Or for that wisdom old strength to return.

[Liam O'Brien]

Given the things that he's experienced in the most recent of times, I'd say as he drifts into a nice and buzzed, exhausted and grossly sore stupor, the crackling fire and the comfort of his friends being the last thing he sees before he drifts. Drifts away. I think the memory of the distant halls he once built comes again.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The pride of the craft.

[Liam O'Brien]

While he was never a man of strong faith, you can't shake from his cultural upbringing the presence of the All Hammer. Whether it be colloquially spoken or just a symbol of pride in one's craft, the act of creation is something special and something he lost for a very long time. And seeing these people come together, see, seeing this community come together, seeing people rebuild. A word that he said, the first word that he really said and felt he was fully behind. After stepping out of the ash of the destruction of Ryback Cole, he thinks of the scarred hammer he held in his hand today. And it reminds him of that symbol. And I think probably for the first time in his life, in the presence.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Of divinity.

[Liam O'Brien]

Faith in each other and faith in the future.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Faith and change.

[Liam O'Brien]

Maybe he hopes to hold a bit of that sight of the All Hammer upon himself.

[Travis Willingham]

Our dear friend Garan, tough as nails, old as dirt, does not seek that younger strength and seeks that wisdom instead. And so, instead of leveling up, something becomes true about this world. You sleep and snore. Ale and little crumbs of bread in your beard. Arrow yellow. You stay by your bonfire. And for the first time in a lifetime, you feel the rays of the rising sun come through the clouds like the warm embrace of a long lost brother. The sun rises and an arm reaching, a hand holding the embrace of sunlight. It returns to Exandria as it hasn't in centuries in this land. And you look out as the fog parts and see that Torm's Hill stands at the edge of a vast valley. The mountains shaped here by hands long ago that shaped the mountains themselves. All these people and the many survivors that come after them unbeknownst to them, stand at the beginning of a vast valley. The approach of the wildmother having raced through it, the rain of the Stormlord having fallen back down upon it. This land will not know ash or shadow again. And instead a valley shaped as if by careful hand and wise design to make a land rich with life. Where all of the people now here can see under sun, light is green and growing, ready for the work of living things to make a world anew in hope and wonder. The most beautiful valley you've ever seen. Waiting for lives to be built here by hand. That's all for this episode of Exandria and L Divergence. See you next week.

[Marisha Ray]

What day is it? Thursday yet. That's what you have to say. You have to say, is it Thursday yet? That's what you have to say. You guys better remember next time. I'm tired of telling you.

[Liam O'Brien]

This is Matthew Mercer. Thank you for listening to Exandria Unlimited on the Critical Role Podcast Network. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave us a review on the podcast app of your choice. Your review might inspire someone to give this adventure a listen. There are unlimited stories to be told and we can't wait to keep telling them. Is it Thursday yet.