Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 13 | Lying Eyes: Part 1
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Welcome to Legends of Avantras. I'm Mikey Gilder, and you're listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here's what happened last time. The Zentra ban. Zentra's most trusted news source. Gaelstrom.

has all of the sources. He gets all the scoops. He puts out the government-approved message. That's the guy! He took the ring of keys and put it in the front overall. I'll sit down in front of him and be like, listen, we don't have a lot of time. Excuse me, friend? I am you from the future. I'm here. And we only have this evening in order to take care of business. You need to give me your keys back right away. No.

Well, I got the keys everybody. You are in a writer's room. I'm looking after all the pages that look like chaotic I threw them in. Infernal abyssal. Oh my god. A number of figures enter the building and fly in. And you see one at the center holding a book, polished black leather.

and a silver dagger. Oh, Jesus Christ. That one. The one in the front. She's part of the Talon Guard. We have to go. Get into the office right now. Come on, let's go. We're breaking out. Is there a chance that we can make it to the seven heavens tonight? No one notices you.

as the door opens into one of your rooms. - I did not think we were gonna be able to make it here. Well done, everybody. - Good job. - I'll start with the first page. - The cult is amassing more members. The high general grows suspicious of me.

- Oh boy. - Time is running out, but the emissaries from the nine hells have given us an incredible boon. Soon, Moloch will be able to achieve physical form. - Oh, that can't be good. - It is then we will march upon the city.

Zurn will die. The attack will begin and Zentra will fall. - Captain Freewing, I'm sorry. And I lay out the black book with the Talon Guard symbol on it and I pull out my silver dagger and I lay it on the table. - We have found ourselves in Zentra and we have

discovered that there is someone who is part of the Eyes of the Raven who is trying to overthrow the city and calls themselves the mouthpiece of Baphomet, we need to warn the commander. Suppose it is a good thing I called in a favor to Archbishop Aloysius Sicarius. He will be sending a representative to fetch you. Emile, Cyrus, and Anubis to keep you safe.

You all arrived at the city of Zentra, the capital of the great human nation of Korovakia, the land that you've been traveling in for quite a long time. You've arrived there from a strange tunnel that connected to a labyrinth, where you had been slaying the minions of some strange bull cult. You eventually arrived to the hunt via Honeybee, or the Queen Bee rather.

where Captain Revali Freewing, the half-elf that's been acting as your guide and almost a pseudo leader for a month at this point,

He allegedly grew up there. And you realize that you are, through great fortune, you are in one of the eight districts of the city, the nine districts of the city, the Seven Heavens, which were the slums, the lower peasant district. And it happened to be where Revali grew up himself. He guided you to the Queen Bee, and you then learned that where he was guiding you, the safe house, was actually a whorehouse.

And you met some of the ladies that worked there as well as the madam named Madame Delfina, who was basically Revali's pseudo-mother. And...

And it was there you hatched a plan to investigate what the hell was going on. You eventually did some sneaky tricks and learned that the work that was being done in the tunnel was paid for by the company, I forget what the company's name was, but allow me to, the Gaelstrom Newspaper Company, which runs the Zentra banner.

It was a great newspaper that basically is the primary source of news in the city. And you then went to investigate the newspaper main printing facility, the main HQ.

through some very loose talking and fake identities and very close calls, thanks to Twist of Fate, you made your way to Skyreach, the Noble District. And as you got there, you encountered the headquarters of the Zentra banner. And you saw a very well-dressed man leave with a mustache and very, very nice pocket watch. You gathered to be Gael, or Wyland Gaelstrom,

who's the owner of the newspaper, and you eventually infiltrated. And you went into the main office. We're not going to talk about the--

Caprice convinced the guy that his dick would fall off. It was pretty awesome. Hey, I did that guy a favor. He really treated that dick well that night. In some ways, it was the best night of his life. Jesus Christ. Fuck. Jesus. Oh my God. So that's what Caprice did. And while they were investigating, they got some strange papers, some letters that were written in abyssal.

and they gathered it and it seemed as if they had triggered an alarm spell while going through the door. - I really dropped the ball on that one, guys. - And-- - I'm sorry. - Protect magic from now on. - And the window shattered and a group of strange hooded figures armed with bows and spells met to attack.

Felix recognized at least one of these individuals and told the group to run. They did. They used a lot of their resources to get away and escape. And they did. They made their way back to the Queen Bee. And this is all after Iris had sent off Little Thomas, the baby that they had rescued in the labyrinth previous, to her homeland of Siket.

And they made their way back to the Queen Bee and they were trying to figure out what to do next. They then learned that the letters were from an individual that called him or herself the Mouth of Baphomet. And that there was a cult and a number of different labyrinths that were operating against the High General Zarn. And they realized through some context clues

that it may be even one of the eyes of the raven, one of the generals that are basically one tier below the high general that rules the entire country. And Iris sent a word to her father, a great pharaoh in Sikhet, who had a lot of different connections. And he said he was able to arrange a meeting with someone who believes

that they would be able to set up a discussion with one of those Eyes of the Raven, General Portia Paradiso. But before they can do that, they must meet first with Archbishop Aloysius Zacharias. - Ah, that's right. - And that is where we end the session. And that is where we will begin this session. Morning has come to Zentrum. And you are all in your various rooms. I think Iris, I don't know if you still have your room. I forget what the sleeping arrangements were, but you can be wherever you wanna be.

And you've just gotten word from your father that there would be a representative coming from Archbishop Zacharias later that day. The rest of you are waking up and it's morning. It's your, the day is yours. You do not know about this potential meeting. Only Iris does. And you are, it is now morning in the Queen Bee. What are you guys doing? I'm going to get some tea if they have it.

- Okay. - You make your way to the common-- - Try to find Captain Revali drinking his tea. - You make your way, Revali's already up. He's gone when you awake. And you make your way to the main room of this brothel. And you see Brewster, the tall human man, a few words with his thick-rimmed glasses and handlebar mustache and long apron.

serving a large pot of tea and then a large pot of coffee, some teacups and some tin mugs around them. And it seems like there's a table large enough to fit all of you that's there for you. And you see Revali, he's holding his tea and he's drinking it. He's kind of staring off out the window a little bit as the rays of the morning sun creep in. - Good morning, Captain. Do you mind if I sit with you?

Yeah, of course. Why would I mind? Thank you. I hope you slept well. Well, I mean, sleeping hunched in a corner could be better, but I've also been in a lot worse situations. We were all in the same room, right? You're all in the same room, basically. I fell asleep. There you go. I'll approach, and I'll say, Hey guys, how'd y'all sleep?

Like Revali said, it could have been worse. A lot worse. A lot worse. Wasn't too bad. An eventful day. We've had a lot of those lately, but... Where do we go from here? Because we don't know anything about this meeting, right? No. Okay. I mean, it sounds like we should at the very least wait for the rest of the group to wake up. You know, I for one am just going to be happy to enjoy my tea for a minute here and just kind of decompress. I mean, yesterday was pretty...

Over the top. I agree. So that's tea and not coffee? Tea. There is also coffee here. What's the difference? I've never actually asked. What's the difference between tea and coffee? Leaves and beans. There are beans in it? Coffee's made from beans. It looks nothing like beans, though. Isn't it wonderful? It tastes nothing like beans. Have you tasted coffee before? Here, it's Felix. Have you had this? It tastes nothing like beans. You're telling me this is beans? I have, and yes, I am. Can I roll an insane shot? You may.

Do I have to roll like, no, I'm telling the truth. - You're telling the truth, yeah. - I guess that chick said the whole thing, all right. - So, I don't know much about how they make coffee, but it seems, and I don't know where you're from, but I imagine that you would be from an area where coffee is a lot more common.

Are you thinking of beans like, you know, cowboys down on the range, like sweet baked beans? - Well, that's, I mean, since we've been here, there's been a whole lot of beans and that's what I'm thinking of. I don't know if we call them beans back where I'm from.

- Toh, I'm sorry. I should have been more explicit. Coffee beans. Not pinto or baked or green beans, but coffee beans. - You know, even one of the green beans look nothing like beans.

"But I guess those are beans!" "These are all chick's head." - I'm very glad we could come to that agreement. - And I'm never coming downstairs just to continue, so. - Anyway, we'll all leave. - So it was the three lads enjoying their coffee and their tea, discussing whatever you guys want to. Revali turns to you while he waits and says, "Well, if Caprice's translations "of those letters were accurate,

then there is something far darker going on than I even expected. And the fact that it's not even all the way up to the High General is incredibly alarming. The fact that anyone can pull one over on High General Zurn is incredibly concerning. Well, I mean, there's got to be someone we can... Wait, hold on. So we know that... Yeah, we need a recap. Yeah, so we know that Zacharias is...

- You don't know anything, you have no idea who Zacharias is. You do not know the name, you have no idea who this person is. You've never heard of Aloysius Zacharias, only Iris has at this point. We ended the session immediately as soon as she got the word from her father. - Oh, and you, I did not know about the initials on the, nobody told me about the initials on the editor's letter. - Correct.

So that's the other thing that I don't have. - The initials on the editor's list. - No, no, get the fuck out of here. - I like where your head's at. - So at this point, I imagine Iris would have made her way down. She is in elaborate sheer silk pajamas. She has fluffy slippers on her feet.

- Does the fur match your fur? - Oh, of course. She has a mud mask from the silts of one of the main rivers of Nekbet on her face and two cucumbers over her eyes. - Delightful. - As she walks in, having recently just painted her long nails,

and she'll stumble in and lean down on the table, stick her feet up on somebody's seat, who probably Lufty's where she's going to eventually sit, and tell Lufty to sit on the floor, as she just sits down, joins the boys, and says nothing. I lean over to Toa, and I say, where does she keep all that stuff? You know I can hear you, darling. I keep it in my pack. On Lufty's back, of course. Oh, no, Lufty does have a really big pack. No, she has 15 of my packs, and one of her own.

She has really big pecs. - Lufti must be strong. - She is, darling. - She must be. I mean, she can like punch people and kill them. Cut off a car, I can punch people and kill them. It's very impressive. I'm like eight times her size, literally. - Remind me not to make Lufti angry. - I heard my name. Who's talking about me? - Oh dear God, you say her name and she arrives. - You bop down. - Bop down the stairs.

You just cried. Okay. Who called me? I've been summoned. We were just talking about how strong you must be to carry all of Aris's things. Yes, and in that, I need a massage, darling. My muscles are so tired from yesterday. I was carrying a baby for like ten hours. Absolutely. How about some coffee first?

i would love some thank you okay uh brewster cream please just two he just turns his head to you and his looks at you booster how are you did you sleep well have nice dreams he's looking extremely funky today he is looking a little funky it's hard to see through this cucumber no nothing oh okay

- He's still on silent. - He continues to stare at you. - So I'll just like, keeping eye contact, like pull the coffee over and like pour it and then like hand her a cup and then like put it back and be like, okay. - Rooster, I'm going to give you a little bit of advice. If you stay silent with her, she clips her toenails on you.

- I can't answer, but I'm not the nurse. - He's a man that's been very hard to read, kind of keeps a very close hand. And he even cringes a little bit with a look of disgust. And he just gives you a nod, Iris. - You know, Felix-- - Coffee, get you coffee. - Brewster makes coffee for everybody else, but has anyone stopped to think who makes coffee for Brewster? - Well, I imagine he makes the coffee for himself.

Nobody's probably made him coffee in a long time. Maybe that's why he's so down. Does he seem down? I think he seems down. I lean into her and I say, all right, well, maybe if we're still here by tomorrow morning, you can get up extra early and try to make him coffee. That's a great idea. I'll find the beans. I'm kidding. Don't do that. He might kill you. Oh, all right. Say what? It's like milky green beans.

You just grind the beans? Well, I mean, I've... I'll take my maul. I've never made coffee, but yes, I believe it's... You grind them and run the hot water through the grounds, and it creates hot bean juice. The world's a magical place, isn't it? It really is. Man, that's something else. Anyway, so... So I think it feels like we have all this information and nowhere to go from now. What information, Ryan?

The letters that Caprice was able to translate for us. Oh, every time he speaks, I stop listening. What was in them? Oh, you don't know? No, every time he speaks, I stop listening. Well, and I... Yeah. All the colors in the letters. You do this, and you feel very informed. You have the full rundown. I'm, like, so informed. You got a quick rundown and a full rundown, so...

So at this point, I'm going to kick open the front door because I would have gotten up at the crack of dawn probably before most people. I don't know if it would have been before Felix or not. I'm a human, so I sleep the full eight hours. Okay. And she would have been like outside probably hanging out with the animals, petting the oxes and cleaning them and whatnot, just trying to bond with them. There's like a few sickly like milk cows where you'd be like, maybe I shouldn't drink the milk from these animals. I'm like,

- And like a handful of like gangrenous goats. - Gangrenous goats? - Yeah, these are animals owned by . - I will roll up my pajamas and I'll probably have like help try to bathe them and make them less gangrenous. - Make an animal handling check.

I don't think I'm gonna do that. And a constitution saving throw. Against what? Because if it's poison, I get advantage. Gangrene. Is that poison or disease? It's just disease. And just get plus one of that. So that's a three for animal handling. And then a constitution saving throw? Is that a poison? No, it's a disease.

- So 18 for the disease and a three for animal handling. - Okay. You repel the gangrene expertly. - You repel the gangrene just delightfully. - Is gangrene contagious?

Whatever this is. If you had an open wound. Like if I rubbed my open wound on your Gengar's open wound, I'd probably get Gengar. Yeah, just don't eat it and you'll be fine. So you don't get sick from this, but you kind of give them all a scrub. They look a little bit cleaner, but they both are just like coughing. They still do not seem to be in the best condition, but they seem to be in better spirits after you're done working with them.

Okay, well, I hope you guys feel better. And I just give him like a little pat on the butt and I just trot towards the tavern. I kick it open. Oh!

Hey, everyone. Good morning. And I'm still like in my pajamas. I got boots on, but they're covered in mud. My hair is a tassel. I've got like straw coming in. Do we know her? Of course we know her. I don't think I've ever met her in a day in my life. I'm like wiping my hands against my pants. I would never associate with a mud man. Does she still have the cucumbers in her eyes? Oh, for sure. I'm going to walk over and immediately be like, oh!

- Oh, good morning. I already got breakfast and I'm gonna try and-- - I'm gonna immediately slice her with my-- - So it's a contest? - Make a contest. - No, I'm going to attack her. - Oh, so you're gonna let her and she's gonna do it. - I'm still gonna try and get the, what do I do? I'm trying to get her-- - Dex. - Oh, she's letting you do it. So you just grab it and just, you're just chomping down on these cucumber slices. And they can attack-- - Let's see what you see with that armor. - Ooh, 10 plus dex. - Uh...

12. Oh yeah, I hit. The boots count as armor. Yeah, the boots count as armor. Five points of slashing damage. Five points of slashing damage. As you get a little bit rended, and it's probably familiar with some of the animals that you worked with that have been a little bit finicky, and yeah, you get sliced. So I'm chewing on one. You smolder.

muddy beast if you ever take my cucumbers again it will be significantly deeper next time and I'm going to turn around and look away from her I'm chewing the cucumber in her face and I'm licking my wounds and then I just plop on the couch and I just keep chewing on the cucumber you're like actually licking your wounds yeah that's what I like gross dipping the cucumber gross yeah ketchup

It's not aloe vera. At this point Caprice will come down. I'll come down. Oh no! I messed up my nail polish when I scratched the foul creature. Once I'm done with the cucumbers, I'm just going to pump five points of late on hands into me and it'll heal right up.

I'll come down. I feel better already. I'll grab some coffee. Oh, some coffee made from the pit of the coffee fruit. Delicious. All right. And then I'll sit down with everybody. That can't be right. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Please, what did you say? Nothing, nothing. Did I catch that correctly? No, it's not important. Let it go, buddy. Let it go. That is correct. Scientifically, thank you. I looked it up on the Wikipedia. No, that's actually correct. I'm Google.

- So I'm with the group now. - Okay, you're all together. All six, all seven of you are now sitting. You hear that some of the working girls are working and kind of grabbing their morning coffee and going back up to the rooms. They look a little bit tired and they're starting to get their faces on and starting to put on makeup and get ready for the rush of the afternoon. - Well, I'm not sure.

At this point, Captain Freewing, that name's so cool, I just can't get over it. Captain Freewing, do you know anyone in the government at all that, I might have asked you this last session, I don't quite remember, but do you know anyone in the government that we can give this information to? I mean, surely there must be someone we can warn. I mean, ideally we could hand it right to Zurn himself and he'd be like, oh, this guy's a fuck and just, you know, take care of business. I, unfortunately, do not have contacts that high up.

- Well, thankfully my father does. He got back to me last night. We're not taking the dwarf. He got back to me last night and he's sending someone to come meet us. We're going to be meeting with some Archbishop Aloysius Sicarius. And then there's something about, oh God, I can't remember the name. - Aloysius Sicarius? Is this a name that I would recognize? Tell, a history check, please.

- And then I don't have my notes written down from what my father told me. - Oh, plus eight, 17. - Nice. - 17, you would recognize the name have been told of the archbishop of Floch's Roost and being of the grand, stationed at the Grand Cathedral.

And he's been an older man who's been there for many, many, many years. That is basically one step below Portrait of Paradiso. So you said Archbishop of Phloxroost where? So he's the Archbishop of the Church of the Raven Queen. It was that big church that we saw. Right, I just didn't hear what the second part of that, what you said. You said Archbishop of Phloxroost in something, something, something.

- Second only to-- - Second only to Per Portia Paradiso. - That is something else. You mentioned another place, but that's okay. - And did my father say anything about Portia Paradiso? - That he said he may be able to arrange a meeting

with you and Portia Paradiso, but he needed to speak to you all first. - So Portia's like the head church person? - She is the general. So you've all learned that basically the state religion is tied to the military. Every aspect of life is tied to the military and the ultimate leader of each of these is Xearn, but beneath him, each aspect of Zentrian life all ladders up to one of the Eyes of the Raven, each of them having a general title.

That's a name that I recognize. I would hope so, if you're from this area. However, he said we have to meet with this Archbishop of the Phloxroost, whatever that is. Sounds disgusting. A bird's poop. It's horrible. Cats don't. Nor do T'Paxi. However, after such, he's going to try to arrange a meeting with us, with some Portia Paradiso.

Anybody from here, does that name, is this person trustworthy? I heard of Prosciutto before, but I sure haven't heard of Paradisio. Maybe we're confusing our needs? Yeah. I mean, this is one of the eyes of the, of whatever. Does Portia sound like a feminine or a masculine name to me? I've never met this person before.

So, I mean, I guess if your father trusts him, or her, him? Oh, he said nothing of trust. Would I know? So all you know is that these are the leaders. I don't know their gender? Oh, no, you know their gender, but as far as whether they're trustworthy. Of course it's a female. It's a feminine. That's what I thought. I just didn't want to assume. The issue of trust is...

Yeah, I don't think we should trust this Archbishop right out of the gate. I mean, with a name like Nicarius, it sounds pretty nefarious. Or Pogelius. I know. That was good. I think that rhymed a little better than what you said.

- I throw her my viola. I leave the group. - I thought that she could be a bit of a bop, but I didn't say it. You knew what I was intending. - Evandra sweats and walks. - I just had to sit and like throw dreamy eyes across at Toa. - I cast friends. - That my eyelashes- - I cast friends on you.

I'll fail, sure. It's not a, oh yeah, yeah, Charisma. No, no, you can't fail. It just, it happens. Does it? No, there's no... It's a cantrip, right? It's just an advantage on a Charisma check directed towards one creature. It's not even a saving throw. But then I'm hostile at the end of the turn. Yeah, yeah. What did you cast? Friends. Come on, friend. You

It's Caprice. Caprice, you're wonderful. We've jammed so much. Thank you very much. You're so charming. Can we just hang out? We're hanging out right now. I mean, like, we should really hang out. Do you want to jam right now? All right, sure. What do you want to play? You're so charming all of a sudden. I'll spend 58 seconds playing a food before leaving. Hey, fuckface! Fuckface!

don't make me burn

- I would like to bonus action Bert. - I would like to Bert. - Take it easy, big guy. Take it easy. - Oh, this is not me, Bert. I feel like it's some magical hostility coming over me. - Take it easy, Bert. I mean, tell her. I mean, tell her. - Oh no. Don't make me better, tell her. - Are you saying that you can get a meeting with Archbishop Sicarius?

I'm saying that I believe we will have a meeting and we're just waiting for one of my father's members of his entourage or whatever he does to come. Do they know you're here? They're going to come find us, yes.

How is it in the back of the house? The great thing is that there will be... because I communicate with my father. Oh, of course. I'm so stupid. Do you think that Pharaoh Jasper of the Sands would not know how to find his daughter? Well, I was just afraid that like people were following us. Please stop talking. I can get there. Okay. So, as I was saying... That's my concern. Is this safe? I mean, people know where we are. I mean, there are people... If my father knows where we are, then we're fine. Yeah, that's true. But do you think my father is going to come in and kill you? Well, maybe, if you slight me. I should message him about the dwarves.

Is that the one? Yes, the one that took... The strange one that just showed up out of nowhere that I've never met. The one that smells like a banya? Yes. She took my cucumbers.

Where's Hersha? I'm right here. I'm on my couch. Oh, that strange dwarf is speaking again. Someone should go up to the room and find Hersha and tell her there's another stranger. And it is accosting me and I don't appreciate it. Maybe she speaks dwarf. Maybe she can talk to it and get it to leave. Oh, I could sure use another. Speaking again. I'm so confused. I'm confused too.

Anyways, Felix, I mean, I think... Are you going to be okay just walking in? No, my point is I've talked to my father and let him know where we were so that he could get someone to us. It's not like he's following us. But if he wanted to scram, he could. He could always know where I am. This powerful priest at his disposal. At all times. I just worry about them saying, Oh, Felix, he's that guy that... Do you think my father gives a flying shit about Felix? Not your father. I just mean if we meet anybody that recognises him.

But then we don't bring him. We have to bring him. We can leave. This is what we'll do. We'll get Herrscher from upstairs. We'll leave Felix with this strange dwarf. And then we'll go without him. I'm not staying here. I'm going with Toph. Felix needs to come. I won't go without Felix. Then he's going to have to do

I'm going to Bart Simpson melt into the shadows and get up from the couch and tiptoe up the stairs and go take a bath or something and then try and be ready to go around by the time she goes up there. I don't notice that she leaves.

You do this and Iris, you're completely, you're completely on air. And as you're all discussing, Herja slips away and Revali pours himself another cup of tea and he kind of rubs a hand over his face. And he says, I don't think I should be going to this meeting. There are people in Flox Roos who will definitely recognize my face and recognize some of the people that I know.

And if that connection happens, it could endanger the rest of you. - No, I completely agree. It would ruin, if something happens and we need a place of refuge, we would no longer be able to use this area. 'Cause they would immediately know where we were. Keeping you after this is very wise. - 100%. And I apologize that in my younger years, I spent a long time running with very rough crowds. And we ran into a lot of trouble with the church. So...

This may be something where I can do some investigation on my own. I can run around in the underbelly and try to tap my contacts, but anything high and holy, I think I should stay out of. I think you should do whatever you feel is best, especially given the danger at hand, and there are very many innocent lives at stake. So I think whatever you think will best protect these people is what you should do. And anything that you can do in the meantime would be more than helpful.

Well, I'll tap some of my contacts and see if there's anything I can gather. Dealing with Gaelstrom and Diamante. I just can't believe that the newspaper's been operating like this for who knows how long. How far that reaches across the entire country. Do we know if... Have we gotten any sense that, like...

the newspaper that what's his name? Weiland? Gale Wildstrom. Gale Wildstrom. Do we get any sense that Weiland Gale Strong. Do we get any sense that Weiland is like a member of the cult or is he just like wants the money and he's fine? It was difficult to tell but like the fact that it was in Infernal and it was in his desk you probably get the sense that he was in the cult. Okay. Got it.

Because he was telling groups in the cult to mobilize through Gaelstrum. Oh, that's right. I just think, do we just sit and wait then for your contact? Honestly, if you do tell me what to do, I'm going to hang out here and just enjoy a nice day freshening myself up. All right, well, once Caprice gets down here, I'd like to have a little chat with him.

Is he no longer birding? No, I don't believe so. I'm staying out of this. He's angry with you. Do I pass you on the way up? Are you like hiding at the top of the stairs? I'm on the balcony, like right at the top floor, I'd say, like looking down, sort of peeking. Do I see you? Sure. I guess, yeah. Oh yeah, he's fine. He can go down now. Oh, great. Thanks. Yeah. Hey guys. Hey man. How's it going? How's it going? You want to jam? Yeah, sure. What do you want to play?

- I don't know, just give me a cool progression, I'll just play along. - Okay, hmm, why am I blanking right now? That's mind blowing. We'll play... - Whatever. - Both of you make a performance check.

- I think I'm proficient in, no I'm not. 11. - 28. - Caprice is leading very well on his viol. Toa, you're trying to keep up. It sounds a little jarring. - Tootin' Toa. - Yeah, but it's passable, it's passable. - I'm not made at you anymore, by the way. I just, I'm fine. - No, I'm not gonna do that ever again, I promise. - Well, I mean.

I'd prefer if you don't, you don't really need to do that because I'm friendly anyway. It just, it's that whole magic like it was, you were weirdly charming. It was scary and I don't know how I feel about it. I mean that's just like, that's the lowest amount of charming I can be. Don't show me what you're really capable of. I won't. All right, all right, that's fine.

And I'll just-- What do you guys want to do? Do you guys want to-- I'm-- Do you think we're in any danger if we were to, like, go out and, like, go shopping or-- Yeah, I don't know. We did a lot of, like, the gates and, you know, just sneaking around. I think it's always a risk. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I'm laying low. I'm not going to allow anyone to see me. My honest opinion on this is that right now we do not have the protection of anybody. Mm-hmm. And if we choose to walk the streets, we should wait until we have the protection of the cat. Yeah.

And I agree. Because they're less likely to do anything to harm us if they know that there is another army that

they would be enraging. But right now they have nothing to dissuade them from throwing us in a dungeon cell. - Or just secretly murdering us. - Counterpoint, it is stuffy and boiling here and it smells like whore. - Well then you should probably leave. - Oh shit. - It's good. You want to go, please? On to town? - Yeah, it seems like Revali, Lubin, I'm sorry, Revali. - Revali.

You know the area better than any of us. Is there a shop where one might procure thieves tools or potions or other magical items? There is a shop. Potions, I think you would have to go into one of the other districts. That's not a good question. Alexander and Sons is not too far from here. It's a general store. It should have

what you're looking for. Oh, family business. I love to support family businesses. Let's shop small. Let's shop small and shop smart. I will lead the gang, whoever wants to come out with me, to Alexander and Son. Who has the abyssal? Like all the writings? I have all the writings in my pack. Do you mind, if you're leaving, if I could just peruse the writings and take a look at the language itself? I'm just interested in seeing what I can...

I don't read, but maybe with your help, you might be able to help me start to piece together this language a little better. You seem like a smart guy. If you can find anything that I couldn't find, then that's... No, I just... I'm more interested in learning, and I feel like I've got a knack for languages in general, and maybe with your help, I might be able to start to...

understand a little bit. - I'll take out a piece of parchment and I'll do like A equals the symbol for abyssal, B equals the symbol for like abyssal B and I'll like, here's an alphabet and you can go to town, I mean. - This is incredible, thank you. - No problem. - If you guys are heading out, I'm gonna stay in the room for the day, I guess. Just come get me if you need anything. - Yeah. - Well, before you deal with that, I cast Tones on him so he can read any language for an hour. - Okay.

- Well. - Bad ass. - While I appreciate this, and it defeats the purpose of learning. - Well now you can actually learn. - No, actually I think that it will help you significantly more because you can look at what he gave you, read it on the paper, and you're going to have a better understanding. You'll learn a lot quicker. - Sure, whatever you say. And I head up to the stairs.

I'm bathing. At whatever point, I will at some point change and come back downstairs. Having a horse bath? Yeah. I'll just spend the next hour really trying to... I'm just going to hang out with Toadette. Yeah, I'll just hang out with everybody, whoever's downstairs, trying to really master the Mario underground theme, because I think that's probably where I fucked up the most. It was when it really changes, and it probably threw Toad off, so I'm going to really practice that keychain.

- I'm gonna try to teach Toa some like classic Nek Beshin folk songs. And every time he gets them wrong, I'm gonna get really mad at him. But continue to try and teach him. - Walk like a tabaxi. - I love that song. - So what are you guys looking to purchase?

- I wanna find thieves tools if I can. - Okay. - And if they are not in a shop, like look around and see if anyone like is selling thieves tools 'cause like it's the streets of the slums. That seems like an obvious item that I could find. - I would say that you arrive at Alexander and Sons. - It's fine. - And there you were able to find thieves tools and whatever kind of standard items that you would care to provide. It is a

- It's a small shop, it's a little bit dusty, doesn't seem to be that well frequented, but there definitely is basically any of the standard items that you would care to purchase. - Any of the adventuring gear that I might need. - Any of the adventuring gear that you may be looking to purchase will be here. And so I would probably say it would be maybe one silver piece for thieves tools. - One silver piece? Sweet Christmas, why didn't I do this a million years ago? - Sweet Christmas.

I charge 200 gold in my campaigns for that shit. Well, maybe I fucked up. That's right. All right, yeah, here you go, absolutely. I hope that your sons will eat well tonight, and then I leave. Thanks, Alexander. Is there anything else that you want to do, Lufti? No, I'm just looking for, like, street food and, you know... There is a lot of street food. It's...

It's kind of like just like very basic meat pies and just, and these people that are just carting out there, a lot of like women in hoods that might be like wives are just going out and they're baking bread and then meat pies and things and trying to just sell it to workers that are walking around the streets on their way to or from jobs. So I would say probably for like three copper pieces, you're able to get a pretty good meal.

- I'll enjoy whatever she's having. Could I have grabbed also a blank book to write my songs into? - Yeah, we'll just say that's another three copper pieces. - All right. And then we'll return after however many hours out that took. - That's probably about like an hour and a half. What are you guys doing while they're doing that? So you guys have just said what you're doing. Is there any conversation that you guys wanna have?

No, I think, well, at least I was practicing. We're sort of just hanging out. I know Felix is reading. Forbathing, changing. We'll come back downstairs at some point. Okay, so you all arrive back into the Queen Bee and

and you all reconvene and Revali, when you all get back, Revali is putting on a large coat and he grabs this wide brimmed hat and he puts it on and he tilts it down and he looks around at you and says, "Well, I'm gonna spend the rest of the day looking around, seeing what I can learn."

If you need anything, you know how to reach me. That symbol is still good. Just press it and I'll be alerted. And likewise, if I run into trouble. And he pulls up his collar and leaves. Did he just give us one? Yes. Who has it?

I don't know. I don't remember. I think you do. I think you might have. I'm like 90% confident you have. Okay. So, you... What the hell is that? This is ringing in my ears. Ten minutes. So, it is... Yeah, after you pronounce that. So, you all are enjoying and you were enjoying just the evening or the day and at around a little bit past noon...

you hear some footsteps kind of shuffling along the ground of the rough wooden floors of the brothel.

And whoever's in the main area, the common area, would see a man of middle years, this kind of rough brown hair, but thinning for sure, and just a kind of a patchy brown beard wearing very simple gray robes. You see that there's a long chain with the symbol of a raven's head on it. As he shuffles forward and he says,

"I'm looking for Iris of the Sands." "I'm over here, darling. I'm not hard to miss." "You seem to be Iris of the Sands." And he shuffles over. My eyes go really wide. "Yes, observant, aren't you?" Archbishop Zecorius says he knows your father Jasper of the Sands. "Yes, darling, he does." I'm just speaking really slowly.

He doesn't seem to notice that you're mocking him at all. - Oh no. - He says, "I am Matthias Brill. I will take you to the cathedral. Bring your vessels if you may. Your father mentioned you may have more than several." - Yes, unfortunately.

- What was the name again? - His name is Nathaniel Brill. - Nathaniel or Matthias? - Nathaniel, apologies. - Not Matthias, not Matthias, I apologize. - Not Matthias, what an idiot. - Nathaniel with an N. - N-A-T-A-K, Nathaniel. - I apologize if I said Matthias. - That's okay. - Nathaniel what? - Brill, B-R-I-L-L. - Darling, I think you're going to have to give me at least like 30 minutes to round them up. They've all scattered. - I'm here.

Yeah, I'm-- Oh my god, where did you come from? I don't know, I just thought this guy was Toad's Brill. You've been gone for like 20 minutes. I'll be right back. I'm going to run to the room and just knock on the door. Hey, Phoenix. Yeah, Toad, what? Are you ready to go? Oh, sure, sure, sure. And I'll shuffle the papers up and I'll stick them in my pack for now. Do you need to disguise yourself? What's the plan? I haven't really gotten that far yet, but...

I'll figure something out, don't worry. I've got some ideas. Okay, let's go. I'll run up and just knock on the, "Hersha, you decent?" And I'll just bust in the door before she answers. Oh yeah, okay, okay, okay. Are you clean, scoby-dub? I was clipping my toenails 'cause I heard that you like to do that. Yeah, you know, foot health is valuable.

You see a pile of huge dwarven toenail clips. Yep. I'm like, oh! This is impressive. She's like, stack them like Pringles. Oh my god! Too far!

- You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. - You are Derek. Derek. Derek.

- It instantly cures it of the disease. - It actually makes the disease far worse. - That's not possible. - It's the fading goat where it just boop and the hair is down. - Knock it unconscious. Oh yeah, for sure. Okay, so I have like my hair back into French braids and I've already got my armor on. So I just slide on my boots and I scurry downstairs with my shield and my mate and Dakota, my flail. - Dakota. - The moment she gets downstairs,

Oh, there was a dwarf here? Oh, you know, I think you did that to me earlier today. He does go with it. Oh!

Oh, you know, I think I was just confusing myself with somebody that, you know what, it doesn't matter. She smelled horrific and her pajamas had a little flap at the butt as if she wore them while she defecated. Yeah, you know, that sounds convenient. No, that sounds terrible. I would never wear...

those kinds of pajamas ever. And I'm swinging my pack around and I'm just stuffing them. - Make a sleight of hand check. - No! - You gotta roll a seven. - Oh, you're such a-- - I got a bad roll, 20. - Why even roll? - I don't care for it. - It's not bad. - You probably can't use a BD, though. - 12, no, I can't. - Damn. - You see her shoving in these strange looking pajamas and you're like--

You fell her, and you took a trophy of your defeat. Yeah, I just, well, I found them on the floor in the hallway. You should dispose of those. You might get an illness. Sure, I'm immune to disease, but okay. I lean to tell her, and I say, how did you find these people?

Well, it's fine. It's a horrible question. Is there a campfire, like a hearth nearby? Who's the crossroads? You know there's a fireplace downstairs, but it wouldn't be lit at this time. I would have made a move to try and throw them in an open fire, but instead I just tried to... Well, I'll burn them later. How about that?

- That's not the time. - Are we ready to go? - I'm ready. - Well, everyone's here. We've rid ourselves of that other strange foul dwarf. So I think it's fine. Let's go. - We proceed. - Please lead the way, Nathaniel Brill. - Okay, Arnus of the Sands. - Strange minion to Archbishop Aloysius Socorros. - Who are your vessels, are any names? - This is Caprice, also known as Capricci.

This is-- I always forget the human's name. This is Toa. Herrscher. Lufti. Obviously, Iris of the Sands. Sorry, I'm Albert "Sunshot" Benedict Powerbottom. Can I reach out my hand? No, we didn't. I don't give you a wink, but I give him a longer stare, knowing I didn't know what to call him. Can you make a deception check for me? Of course I can.

- Albert Funshot Benedict Powerbottom. - He should have been Albus, I'm just gonna put that out there. - What did you say, deception? - Yeah. - Well, this is gonna go very poorly. - Powerbottom.

Hey, 16. Not bad. Okay, he looks at you. Oh, Mr. Powerbottom, nice to meet you. Oh, I'm surprised you were able to pronounce that correctly. Most people don't get it right. He said, Mr. Powerbottom, very well. Yes, that's correct. Okay, oh, it will be a long walk. Let us go. And he leads you out of the building.

And some of the girls are on the railing looking down and you see that they're kind of waggling some fingers down at him and he just looks up at them and just turns his head back down. You can see there's a slight look of disgust on his face as he turns away and guides you to the city. Bye, Florine. And he's like, bye, honey. And then you leave. And she leads you through the streets of the seven heavens.

And as you're making your way to the checkpoint of wherever this is, wherever you would be heading, which I believe is the Conquest Ward, the Conquest Ward, you see that there is that same line that Brill is shuffling ahead of you. And as he is shuffled, you see the long line of people waiting to get in. And he just...

He seems to be approaching right behind one of the lines and he steps to the left and walks in between. And you see the soldiers looking at papers and he pulls out, pulls up his symbol of the Raven's head and just shows it at them. And he gives a thumb back to the whole group of you. And the guards all look at you and you all pass as you make your way through the first checkpoint.

You make your way into the conquest quarter and you see the

The similar scenes of the rising, billowing smoke, the clanging of metal on metal, the churning of wheels and gears, and the smell of strong, the smell of industry. The smell of war. And you eventually make your way around to the next checkpoint. And once again, there's a large line of...

a large line of individuals trying to make their way through into Floch's Roost, and you see him hold up his pendant again as you walk through and walk through, and then these guards seem to give him a nod of acknowledgement, like,

They'll say, oh, hey, how you doing, Nathaniel? And they let him through as he's like, as he just kind of grumbles at them. And, uh, never mind, we're not doing that. And this will devolve into a full Homestar Runner, uh,

- Reference. - Campaign. - Actually, maybe I'll work on that. - Only if I can play the cheat. - Yes. - Oh my God, you're cool. - Anyway. - Anyways, this will be a- - We'll brainstorm out- - And so you make your way through into Phlox Roost.

You hear the tolling of bells and the flocking and the flapping of wings, the calls and croaks of the ravens that are all around and seem to be highly concentrated in this area. Just lines and lines of them sitting on every rooftop and along every fence as he just turns and guides you through. Is there anything else you're discussing while you're making your way?

I'm not discussing anything, but realizing that we are going through what I imagine to be the same checkpoints as we came through, I'm probably gonna have my hood up and try to be towards like the back of the group. You have the ring too, right?

- I don't. - We never decided on it. - We never really decided. - No, Chela took it. - I think I still had it. - That's fine. - I just wanted to establish that. - But I'm doing the same thing she's doing. I'm doing collar up, hat down. I'm not really talking to anybody, my moment. - Being that they spotted me and I'm just trying to keep an eye out for like any guards that I recognize and then try to avert my gaze. - Yeah. I will just say that you would all notice that

basically once they see Nathaniel, that they're not really looking super closely at the rest of you. And they're kind of just keeping an eye on you, but it seems as if when they see him walking, that they're fine with whomever he's bringing. He seems to hold a lot of respect among them. Or at the very least, what's around his neck does. At the very least, if not him.

and he guides you through these streets. It seems to be a very nice district. Far, far, far nicer, the residential area that you pass through are these beautifully maintained houses of varying stories, beautifully maintained gardens, some, the occasional church here, chapel there, and as you see that there are a number of

churches and chapels to a variety of gods and goddesses other than the Raven Queen. - Wait a moment, I sent you a private message. - Got it. - No rush. - And so as you're making your way through, you see the huge gray stone of the cathedral above you. And...

It looms towering and you hear as the hour turns and it gets to about 3 p.m. You hear the loud gong, gong, gong, and it just emanates over the entire district. You feel like you'd probably be able to hear it in some of the other districts as well. It's noon. You said it's noon?

It's 3:00 PM. 3:00 PM, sorry. It's been past noon. I'm sorry, where is the cathedral located? It's in Phloxroost. How deep into Phloxroost is it? It seems to be towards the center. Okay, so somewhere in here. Yeah. Got it. Oh, are we just still walking? You guys are walking, yeah. I'm gonna walk up to Caprice and just very casually, quietly to him say,

I still have the documents. If you don't mind, I'd like to hang on to them to keep studying them. And if I have questions about this language, I may talk to you about it. Is that okay? That's fine with me. If you need them back, you just let me know. I just want to make sure that they stay with us as a group. Agreed. I will protect them with my life. Okay. So...

you all make your way through as this massive looming cathedral gets larger and larger and larger. And you see that as the buildings start to get a little bit more sparse, as a massive circle

at the center of this district opens up in front of you. And as you see just this massive circle with churches and temples all around, but at the very center is this huge stone cathedral and bell towers.

but for at least 100 feet all the way around this cathedral are gravestones and crypts and mausoleums as a massive graveyard surrounds it. And you're being led directly to the center, and you see that there are dozens of steps all the way up.

to the heavy double doors. And you see that there are a number of gargoyle-looking figures all along the tops of this cathedral. And all of them seem to be different as they're all leering down at you. But they all seem to have the heads, no matter what their shape, they all seem to have the heads of ravens and crows and corvids of some kinds. And you see a number of

Individuals in simple robes, some far more dressed. As you pass by, people of varying races coming and going out of different... Where are we? You are at the center. You're going towards the stairs into the cathedral. Okay, gotcha. So you're... So these are people that are inside of the cemetery area. Yeah.

- Oh yeah, so they're just kind of passing you through the main road cuts directly through. - We always talk about that. - And there are people of various races, predominantly human, and you see some people that are in simple robes, others that seem to be investments that are far nicer, made of finer threads, and some that even seem to have religious garb but blended with military decoration.

as he leads you up to these huge stairs that lead to the doors of the cathedral. And each step, he just slowly hobbles up and he slows down very, very much. And you have to kind of wait for him to make up each step. And he, not a steps. - If he seems like he's struggling, I'll run to the, I'll scurry to the front of the group and I'll try to give him a hand or like a shoulder to lean on since I'm shorter than him. - Make him a squeezing tap?

- Oh, I'm proficient in that.

- Oh man, I'm so sorry there, Mr. Brill. Let me help you out real quick so that we can get up here with a natural one. Oh geez, man, I'm sorry. That would be a six. - He holds up his hand and he says, "I have climbed these steps for many years." As he seems to kind of have a bit of a stiffness to his gait as he leads you up. And as he approaches, you hear,

as the doors start to open. - I put my hand up to everyone. Now, I've traveled with you for quite a while, and I know that none of you are very respectful in most cases. This is a religious place, and I need all of you to be on your best behavior. Though this is not the goddess I worship, we are in the house of a god. Do you understand? My father has set up this meeting, and you will not embarrass me in front of one of his friends. Are we clear?

- Yeah, you will not be able to. - Darling, you are probably best not to speak most of the time. I'm relying on Felix to help me out with this and potentially Caprice as long as you're not going to talk about anyone's genitalia. - I use Minor Illusion to create a literal zipper across my mouth. - Looney Tunes style. - I just, I nod at Iris.

And I won't say anything at all. You're welcome to. Any of you are, except you do. As long as you're respectful. And you can as well, as long as you're respectful. Her accent fits in more. Maybe they'll feel like, "Oh, she's from here." It might help us out. Well, she is from Kirsten. Yeah, I'm just... You may proceed. Should I say anything? Should I help out at all?

Look at me first and I'll wink if you can talk. I'll just stare at you the whole time. Blink or wink? Blink or wink? If you breathe, you would not. Use your best judgment, darling, and if it is an incorrect judgment, we will dispose of you. Oh, okay. That's reasonable. Mm-hmm.

Let's get out of here. So he continues and the doors are swung open as two young individuals on either side, one seems to be a man, the other seems to be a woman, in very, very, very basic vestments as they heave the door open as they have seemed to have been alerted to...

to Nathaniel Cumming. And as soon as you enter the space of this cathedral, every single step echoes and emanates around you. As you look all around and you see this beautiful stained glass

in varying darker shades of deep blues and whites and grays as the light is being refracted and shining all down into this center area that seems to be a chamber that leads off to various different

various different rooms within this cathedral. And there's a number of priests and worshipers and military personnel just walking around and just the steps and the voices seem to just completely reverberate off of all of the walls and the windows and leading to this almost cacophonous din around you as he turns to all of you, Nathaniel does, and he says, "You can wait here.

I'll go see if the Archbishop is free, and he turns and leaves to discuss amongst themselves, if you care to, while you wait. This looks expensive in here. It's pretty impressive, for sure. I've never seen a church this big. I didn't really have much chance to explore the other districts, especially this place, but I know that there are several, you know, very holy places around here, and it's quite a thing to see.

Can you guys hear the acoustics in here? Like, I would just, I know it would be disrespectful, but I would just love to jam in here. It's just unbelievable. Can you, nope, nope, I'm gonna just, I'm not gonna clap. I just, I just put my hand like on his shoulder and like. Can I tell you guys a secret? Yeah. Do you know what sensation that you get in the pit of your stomach when you go into a library and you just have to let one rip?

Do you need to go outside, doll? I've been holding it in since we got on these stairs. God damn it. I feel like I need to let one out right now. I count silence so that she can evacuate her whatever. Vowels. Air cannons or air cannons? Air cannons.

Silence falls over all of you and you feel very comfortable ripping one. Everyone is staring at you. Is there like a window or is it all enclosed? No, everyone's staring at you. No, literally everyone, the group is all staring at you and you see a couple of the humans are walking through, staring around you. You see a censored bear kind of like...

spewing some incense in your direction and deep billowing smoke hits you and this very potent fragrance swarms around masking a hurried vicious rip I'm so glad this is a dark gothic campaign well you know announcing your plans is a great way to hear God laugh so I'm just like I love it

And I'm just like-- Felix takes several large steps backwards. I let silence fall, having seen her finish. It's gonna smell really bad, I'm sorry, but I feel-- Let's not talk about this any longer. Silence was up for a reason, guys. Smells really bad. Yes, it does.

As it kind of, it melds with Incense of the Censor Bearer of the Raven Queen. - Smells like cream. - This horrible marriage that should never have been. Which is actually a Lovecraft short story. Not actually. - It sounds like. - It does. - You tricked me. - No, that was the joke. And so eventually,

It probably takes about 20 minutes as they're all sitting there watching people coming and going. And it seems to be hustling and bustling. You probably, maybe except for Iris and the great temples of her home continent, have not seen a place of worship this massive.

And as the light refracted through the stained glass windows is kind of shimmering down in this beautiful pattern on the ground, you finally hear the shuffling steps of Brill as he walks through, walks forward and he says, "The Archbishop will see you now. I will take you to him."

and he begins to lead you through. You see several very large archways with these huge thick wooden doors, but there's a smaller one

that is very, very, very finely carved and almost the accents are painted in this beautiful image of a swooping raven. And he goes up to it and unlocks it with a silver key and opens leading to a narrow staircase. - Do I recognize the key? This is a super long shot, but I have a ring of keys now from Dickless McGee. - I would say make an intelligence check.

Yeah, that's gonna be a hot eight. It just looks like a key. Yeah. It looks like a key. So he leads you through each of your steps in this narrow passage. Uh...

echo through the chamber as you walk up and up and up and up and up and it seems like it's going forever and especially being forced to stand behind Nathaniel Brill who's just taking his taking so long and it's a it's a it's barely a two-person stairwell as you make your way up finally to another small wooden door is just as intricately carved as he opens it and leads into a chamber

Oh, thank God. And you see... Bitch, run! It leads into a small chamber where that seems just as amazing acoustics, but far more intimate. There's a very tiny stained glass window at the far end of this long room, and there seems to be a...

a number of small pews and small kneeling areas all around this long chamber. And you see a number of individuals kind of kneeling down or reading these books and praying and it's quiet. And you see the very far end on this large table

flanked by two statues of this, of a female figure shrouded in a hood with wings coming out of her shoulders. You see a man, seems to be a bit past his middle years, a bit past a five o'clock shadow and a thick, thick, thick head of hair shortly trimmed. As

you see that he is wearing a very long, elegant, beautifully crafted rose with a short collar, however, that wraps around very similarly to the uniforms that you've seen. A number of metals and stripes along his shoulders that denote a very high rank. On his head is a

that seems to be a combination of a priest or an abbot's religious hat, but with a brim of a military cap. As he seems to be looking over this massive book with a huge silver threaded thread

or what do you call it, the bookmark that's attached to the bookmark? I feel like there's a word for it. - The tassel-y guy? - The tassel-y thing. - Yeah. - Whatever it is, the bookmark. And Brill turns to you and says, "That is Archbishop Zacharias, Iris of the Sands. He knows you are arriving. I will allow you to do the introductions." - I'm staring intently at Iris.

Thank you. And I'll slowly walk up to him. He nods and turns away and starts opening the door and shuffles down the stairs. You see this man looking over a book, reading. He has a finger running along a passage. You see that this massive book that he's reading, the closer that you get, are just covered with lines and lines and lines that all seem to be inked elegantly by hand. And something that probably would have taken years to fill as you all approach him.

Good afternoon Archbishop Aloysius Zacharias. He takes a moment to register and he listens to your voice and he looks up at you. He has these deeply set light blue eyes as he narrows them and almost seems a bit surprised to see a collection of individuals as ragtag as you are.

And he gets a crook of a smile on the corner of his mouth and he says, "You? You must be Jasper's girl." "His daughter, yes. Iris of the Sands. It's lovely to meet you." "Aloysius Sicarius, Archbishop of the Faith of the Queen."

- I'll mob deeply. - Oh, I'll curtsy. I will also attempt to curtsy with a flail and a shield in my hand. - You are a long way from home, my child. - I am. - And your father says that you may need some help. - We have come upon some information that we would like to get to, I believe it is a Portia Paradiso, and-- - He mentioned that as well. - And he,

suggested that as I am also a woman of the cloth that maybe you would be the person to speak to. Though I am not an avid worshipper of the Raven Queen, I do respect the Raven Queen and all those who worship her as well. I have come to this land by direction of my god, Anubis. As I have respect for Anubis and all other gods of death that are not twisted by the forces of evil,

Al nodded him. I've always had an interest in your people's pantheon, and I appreciate what your father's done for me. But I must stress, Portia's a very powerful and busy woman, and not just anyone can get audience with her. I completely understand, which is why I believe that my father has sent us to you, in the hopes that you may be able to assist us.

I would not begin to assume that we would be worthy to speak with her on our own. That we would need your guidance and your assistance to make something of this nature happen. And with the blessing of the Raven Queen, of course. Make a persuading check at advantage, please. Thank you.

- No, they didn't. - Oh, look at that. - Almost puked. - What's your natural? - I'm okay. Well, it's a 19 out of five. So my persuasion is 25. - 25. - Nice. - He turns and says, "I can offer my assistance, "but to see General Paradiso in matters of the faith, "you must be blessed not by me,

by the Raven Queen herself. I can assist you in that process, but it is a trial. It is very difficult and takes the strength, the will, sometimes the lives of many a young ambitious cleric. Do you understand that? - I do believe that I understand. Trials are difficult. I had to undergo one myself to become a priestess of Anubis, and I am willing to undergo this trial

for the blessing of the Raven Queen, should she believe that I am worthy. I cannot speak for my comrades, but I respect your God and I would be honored to undergo this trial. - He nods, we'll keep that persuasion. He nods, says, he looks around to the rest of you. Your friends, are they trustworthy? - They haven't let me down so far. But yes, I do believe they are. - And I'll just be like. - They have been there for me in dark times.

and they have not let me fall. Anubis... I have spoken with Anubis on occasion and he has... in only a few words given me reason to believe that the path I'm on with them is the correct one and I don't believe he would tell me that if he did not see goodness in them. That is what I'm thinking as well. I would perhaps like to speak in private after these trials.

to understand what Anubis has shown you to bring you to Korovarkia. For when a death god sends anyone to these dark lands, where he knows the Raven Queen flies over, it is not for no reason. I do not believe it is for no reason. I had whistled your tune that you would be familiar with, taking inspiration. Can you? Ooh, nice. Any group of gods, like the...

- Circassian pantheon that includes not one, not two, but three gods of death is of interest to me. I've spoken with your father, but I've never had a chance to have a private conversation here on these shores where I feel like there are no spies watching, no offense to you or your people. - We are a cautious folk. - You are, and I respect that, so are we. But I'm willing to trust

that you will earn the blessing of the queen herself. And how you do on the trial will depend on how much General Paradiso trusts you initially. So you must take it seriously. - Is this a deadly trial? - It can be, yes. - I look at Felix as like a--

Confused. What would I have heard of this trial? Right. Would I have ever heard of it? No. So is this strictly a cleric priestess thing? Yes. So then I give him looking at me worryingly, I try to give him like a reassuring nod, but like-- Would I have heard of anything from being in the monastery? No. So what you were dealing with was Tulap Gorn, the god of drink. So this is specific to Ravenclaw. This is specific to the Ravenclaw, it sounds.

He turns to all of you and says, you may have varying connections to your own gods beyond this one here, but anyone who walks in the lands of Korovakia must at least pay heed to the Raven Queen. It does no one justice to be rude to a god, especially in their lands. I agree.

And this is why General Paradiso requires anyone that receives counsel is blessed. Now, as I mentioned, I am more than willing to embark on this trial, but I will not speak for my friends. When death is on the line, they have to choose it themselves. I'll step forward and I'll look at Iris and say, I've got your back, no matter what. And I have yours. I'll step forward too and I'll say,

By Murd and Shield. I've got your back to- I love you guys. And I don't want anybody to die. So I'm coming too! And I'll step forward. The sweetest Goliath that ever be. Jesus. We're totally too good for this world. Right? Seriously. Holy shit. We don't deserve you.

Yeah, well, how hot can it be? And I'll just bop up in line with everyone. And it's like a little hop. Hello! Well... Caprice, are you going to join us? This blessing, it doesn't come with any ramifications or is it just sort of like...

I'm not a very godly person, and I just want to understand a little bit more about what that entails. Do we have to worship her as part of the trial? I do not want to do this in any disrespect whatsoever, I've just... If you complete the trials and succeed, the Raven Queen will have everything that she needs to allow you to walk beneath her shadow. You do not need to worship her.

I'm in it for you guys. I think we were going to make you do it anyway. I would never make him do anything he did not want to do. Well, you would not because you're sassy. And I would not allow you to, Lufty. Yes, that's true. This is a decision we all have to make on our own. I could probably use all the godly blessings I can get. Because, I mean, look at me.

And it seems very useful. It should come in handy. Do you have like a literature on the Raven's Queen that I could like understand her a little better? Or does that take like a common, like every Sunday morning kind of deal?

We prefer for those performing the trials and those that are interested to attend our hours of worship. - Okay, that's fine. Yeah, no, I'm in, let's do it. I'm excited about the plan, let's do the plan. - If you are all committed, I will meet you at the Sepulcher of Nera. - One more time. - The Sepulcher of Nera. - Nera. - N-E-R-A.

- In memory's rest. - You mean like the fupulture? - Sepulcher? - Sepulcher. - How do you spell that? - Oh. - I don't know that. - Lots of Cs and Hs and stuff. - S-E-P-U-L-C-H-E-R. - Thank you. - It's like a mausoleum or a crypt, right? - Yes. - A sepulcher? - Yeah. - Sepulcher? - Just another word for that. - It's a fancy name. - But in memory's rest, it's literally on the other side of the Zentra. - Yep.

So good luck to us. And he looks at all of you and says, after we will have over a day of repair. One day? Make peace with yourselves, with your families, anyone who may miss you if you fail. I'm sorry, you said one day? It's one day, so it's not tonight. I didn't hear what he said. It's the following evening.

- And he didn't ask for any of our names or anything, did he? - Nope. - Okay. Sorry, I'm being paranoid. - He seemed to have been satisfied with, he seemed to have an element of supreme respect for Iris's father. - Got it, got it. Good. - As his eyes survey over all of you, this icy blue almost,

As he leans forward and he says, "This will not be easy. You'll be dealing with all of the varied aspects of our all-powerful goddess. But if you are worthy, I have no doubt you will succeed. I will make it happen tomorrow evening, just past sundown.

I'm sorry to interrupt, but will Nathaniel be taking us to Memory's Rest? Will we have an escort? Would you like an escort? If we could, I don't want to impose or anything like that. Make a persuading check advantage. Woof. 17. 17, okay. He... I should lift that up to freeze. He nods and says...

I can arrange for an escort, if that's what you seek. That would be great, thank you. You should have nothing to fear in this city, as long as you follow the laws and the customs of our people. Of course. I'm no stranger. And do not work against the High General. I say, nervously.

- Never. - Oh, never. - Once it is completed, I will arrange, and you all succeed, I will reach out to General Paradiso myself and arrange a meeting and whatever information you have should be for her eyes only. I'd very much like to-- - Just kidding. - Discuss Anubis's will. - I would be honored to have a private conversation with you and speak about our gods together.

"Very well. I wish you Raven Queen's blessings. Now you walk beneath her shadow." And he just turns back down to his butt, places his finger onto a line, and just continues reading.

And I'll just motion them and we'll just-- Thank you very much. Just walk backwards doing this until I like exit the door. I've gone very deeply. Almost fall over. I'm bowing and walking backwards at the same time and like tripping over like shit and falling to the mass. Are there like Raven Queen's blessings that I would have been taught in the military?

there was a there's a variety like the very basic ones but i know them so it wouldn't be uncommon if somebody like gave me a blessing i would know what to say in response yeah yeah yeah yeah

May the call be with you. Right, and also with you. Right, of course. Do I understand, as Caprice, that the private meeting isn't now? Like, you're coming with us. Yes. You're going to talk privately with him after? After we don't die. If we don't die for the trial. He did seem, although he seemed to be, have a level of respect for the Secession pantheon and for the pharaoh and the like, he seemed to

be eager to see whether or not you would succeed. And he would not be willing to kind of speak super privately and candidly until you had received the blessing of the Raven Queen. I'll say that would be probably easy to deduce. So are we just making our way out of the temple? I'm going to walk up to Iris and say, I'm sorry I jumped in. I didn't mean to, but I just figured an escort would be best based on how quickly Nathaniel was able to make it through the checkpoints.

Any chance of us getting maybe another escort? Because he is so slow. I think we need to take what we can get at this point. I mean, we've already had several run-ins with the law here that have almost been deadly. No, I think that was a really good call. He's got that pendant on him. If anybody gives us shit, he can just flash his raven. Exactly. I think people will take it to more... I find flashing often helps when you're trying to get through quickly. I like that Sicarius. What? Flashing, like the raven, the pendant.

- It's also not like the butt pajamas. - Oh. - Oh no, that's a bad flush. - Oh, okay. - It's a good flush, bad flush. - I like that Sicarius guy. - I would like to get out of this temple when we're talking about butt pajamas. - Agreed. - I would say you're eventually able to easily, no one disturbs you. You all make your way down the large steps and you see a number of priests and priestesses wearing similar vestments to what Nathaniel had been wearing.

walking around, some are walking alongside you, some a bit quicker, some a bit slower, as the doors open, the young altar boy and altar girl is kind of pressing aside as the doors open and you're welcome to leave.

It's just Sakares that have, like, really elegant robes. Are all the other ones, like, super plain? All the other pieces? They're varying degrees. Okay. I'm gonna, as we're walking down the steps of the... I'm assuming Nathaniel is not with us. No. I... I hate to suggest this, but there is no way that we can make it back to...

the seven heavens tonight. - No, I believe we should probably find a place to sleep here. - Iris, you read my mind. - I believe that with our connection, luckily with Nathaniel, as well as the Archbishop,

that we would be able to sleep here safely. - Let's just find, let's secure a place to stay and wait here until our escort takes us to Memory's Rest tomorrow evening. - I agree. - I don't wanna risk anything. - And before we leave, I'll let one of the priests know that we're going to find a place to stay here. - Okay. - So that he can let Nathaniel and the Archbishop know that we will be in this quarter when they come to collect us tomorrow. - Okay. - You all make your way into Flossroost. - But I have Spell Roost. - That's not good.

and you find that there's a variety of different areas, smaller kind of sub-districts. Some are more related to like, oh, there's a smaller little district or an avenue of similar sun gods like Pelor and Mothandr and the like. And there's a variety of different Shrining Areas, but there's also some slight commerce. There's some small libraries.

A lot of residential districts as well. It seems to be like this entire city has large bits of residential areas. With such a massive city, there just need to be tons of places for people to live. So I'll just say that you eventually find an in about the modestness that you would enjoy.

off to the side called New Bahamut. That is a... - I know him. - I clap when I heard him. - I know him, I clap. - The New Bahamut? - New Bahamut. - New Bahamut. - New Bahamut. - And what was this? This is an area or an inn? - It's an inn. - It's an inn. - It's connected to a small religious gift shop.

- Ooh! - With a small group of gift shops. - I love gift shops. - Bookstore, gift shop, that sort of thing. - Beam gift shop. - As you enter, you see not a human, but a silver dragonborn standing at the counter.

and it seems to have feminine features. And she... - Is it in the bookstore? - This is connected, but the main desk. - Of the inn. - Exactly. - All right. - As you see a silver dragonborn and she looks at you and she says, "Ah, it is very, very, very nice to meet you. How long will you be staying?" - I believe we'll only be staying one evening for now.

But would it be too much trouble if we needed to extend our stay? No, not at all. We have vacancies. There is much competition. Well, then, as Iris says, for one night so far. How many rooms? I believe two rooms would be adequate. Two rooms? Okay, very well. That would be six silver pieces for one night. For both rooms? For both rooms, yes. I will pay for it. Iris, are you sure? I mean, we have money. I'm...

You are following me on this journey, so I will pay for the room. Thank you. This is so generous. You can pay for me. You can pay for your portion later. She's going to Venmo you. I'll Venmo you. I'll Venmo her the full six. I'm just kidding. Love it. Love it. So she...

- She hands you each key to a separate room. She tells you where the rooms are and it's approaching sunset at this point. And as you see the orangish rays of the setting sun coming through the windows of New Bahamut, you are welcome to do whatever you'd like while you have the rest of the evening. - I'm checking out the gift shop. - I'm with Caprice. - I'm also gonna do that, yeah.

Cause I'm interested in if they have books that are just, you know, Raven Queen slash Bahamut centric, or if there are books that are not just, you know, like gift books, you know what I'm saying? I want to look for, I'm a nerd. I'm not going to go and do that, but I'm going to ask him to pick me up a copy. If you find something similar. Yes. All right. I'm going to say, uh,

- Just to clarify, I'm looking for books that are not just gifts. So anything of interest that Iris and I may want to learn more about. - More about lore. - Yeah. - Got it, got it. So I guess I'll look for like a pamphlet about the Raven Queen. - Okay. - You see that most of our- - Do you have anything that might be like free here that I could just take for my own bruising? - While they're doing that, I'm just gonna find a place in the ladies' room and I'm just going to spend the evening praying to Anubis. - Okay.

And asking for guidance, et cetera. So you all check the shop. It seems like there is a small section on things for the Raven Queen. You assume that that is probably the...

- That is probably the standard for most of these shots, but this seems to be mostly focused on Bahamut. As there are mostly a lot of like trinkets, pendants, necklaces, small statues of platinum dragon, these are probably fake platinum, pendants, symbol of the holy symbol. - Do any of the pendants look like what Nathaniel had? - Yeah.

As far as the penance, nothing seemed to be that elaborate. It seemed to be just very small little trinkets. Kind of like when you go to a Catholic bookstore and they have fancy rosaries, that kind of thing. So if I don't find anything of value

that Iris or I might care about, then I'm going to retire to our room and continue to study the abyssal letters with the key that you gave me. I misclutched Matthias. I'm sorry. Oh, Caprice. That Caprice gave me. Hey, Felix, before you go, check out this tiny trinket. It's a glass orb, but the tiny bubbles create a three-dimensional Raven Queen. Isn't that cool? Whoa! Whoa!

- That's so funny. - No, it's just a piece of, 15 gold pieces? Get out of the fucking of my face. - So I'll just head back to the room and I want to continue studying the Abyssal.

I'm just going to spend as much time as possible looking for any Murd and paraphernalia at all. So it seems to be that this is particularly for, they have a bit for the Raven Queen, but the rest of it is Bahamut. There's a small few books of like teachings and sayings. Uh, some of it are like, you know, Oh, uh,

Bahamut worship around the world. So you have some from Nekbet, some from Yulong and the like of how people worship in different cultures in different areas in the world. But nothing for Moradin. So Bahamut is not to be confused with Baphomet? Baphomet. Okay, different. Baphomet, Bahamut, and then technically Bahamut, but we colloquialize it to Bahamut. Apparently Bahamut is also Bahamut. Oh, it is? So Bahamut, have I ever...

I've heard that term before. Make a religion check. That name before.

Oh, not bad, not bad. Religion, I am proficient in. That would be an 18. 18. I would say that it's fairly commonly known that Bahamut, the platinum dragon, is the primary deity of the chromatic, not the chromatic, the metallic dragons. So the good god of light, and I don't know if it's light, but it's goodness and law.

and war and the like. Okay. So it's pretty, it's a commonly worshipped, I would say that, you know, if you've encountered dragonborn, especially metallic ones, you would know, you know, have encountered symbols of Bahamut. You haven't gotten that question in a while. Do I, knowing with dragons and,

dwarves and mines and dragon hordes and all that nonsense do I get like a good sensation thinking that he's a good god he's a good god yeah I think it's a very common thing that he's the good god on the opposite side of Tiamat who is the evil god is he lawful good I believe he's lawful good okay I think belief Tom it uh

Bahamut is not Thomas, what the fuck? - That's my son! - Thomas, Thomas the Platinum Dragon. - After all of my praying, once the evening happens, I'm gonna go down and set up and get a table put together for everyone to eventually trickle in for dinner. - So you sit down and you pray.

Is there anything that you're specifically-- - No, just basically just praying and showing him like I'm here, I'm following your stuff, you know. Please guide me through this trial. Let me know if this displeases you and I will back out last minute. Please don't ever leave me. - Could you please make a, just a religion check advantage for me, please? - Oh, sure. - Do not leave Felix to complete the trial.

Yeah, well, I honestly could not have rolled worse. She had cold pods. Well, you could all have. I just said you could not have rolled worse. You should have taken that. We do have four of them. We have four of them. We do have four of them. Well, I also have an inspiration that Mikey gave me forever ago, so I think I'm actually going to use that because I rolled a one and a two. Okay, let's do that. Yes, please. 19. Yay!

- 23. - No, I used my own inspiration. I wanna use a twist of fate for something where it's like super important. - Agreed, cheers. - I would say that with a 23 as you're praying and you're used to like varying different degrees as a cleric, but you feel a sense of goodness and comfort wash over you and you feel like you're on the right path. And it feels like there's a sense of approval from your God.

So yeah, it is with that that I will feel emboldened and I'll go downstairs and it's kind of a thank you for everyone being so willing to rally around me. I'll communicate with the kitchen staff and get a table set up and some food ordered and

and I'll pay for all of that so that they can come down and try it. - So when you all are getting fresh enough and all of that, there's a table, okay, go ahead. - I was gonna say Felix doesn't know, he's just, he's been studying. - I saw the other Goliath in the four winds, right? Not Phlox Roost? - Yes. - Okay. Would I get the sense that there would be anything

- Probably not. Anything related to like wind spirits or spirits in general that aren't necessarily gods, but kind of like ancestral gods or spirits. - I would say that you

- Make a religion check, just straight religion check. - Make a religion check. - So a 20. - A 20, I would say that if you took your time, you could try to, but I would say that for the level of worship that you have in like the great spirits, it definitely seems as if the people in this district, you get the sense

that there is a standard, that they're probably more focused on the actual gods of the upper planes. - Got it. - Maybe of some of the neutral plane, or rather, I guess the one neutral plane that there would be.

So more of the upper planar gods that they would be watching. What was the question that you had asked? Just if they would... If I would get a sense that there would be anything related beyond full gods, kind of like the wind spirits or ancestral spirits. No, I am twitching. Different...

- The kind of societies don't necessarily worship gods, some will worship sort of spirit-y type of stuff, and so is there a presence of that here? - You get the sense that you haven't spent a lot of time in this district, so you're not sure, but from what you've seen, it's mostly been established gods of certain pantheon, primarily the Raven Queen, and the other ones well below that would be super major gods like Bahamut or Lathander or the likes.

And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies,

a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. You are all, you've had some time to read. You've checked out the bookstore and the gift shop and all of that business for Bahamut. There's a table of food and drink waiting for you. Iris will say it costs like three gold pieces. Okay. Three gold pieces for, probably five gold pieces actually. Okay. For the whole thing. Thanks for the brandy. Cheers. Oh yeah. You sure you don't need any help with payment? I had already paid before any of you would come down.

- Okay. - Okay. - I enjoy the meal. - Yeah, I'm gonna just take like a big jug of something and just- - Unless anyone deliberately came for me, I'm not there. - Okay. - Does anyone know where Felix is? - Well, who else has shown up? I thought I was the only one at the table so far. - I just sat down and thank you for the brand. - I would have left with Caprice from the gift shop to sit down with him. - Yeah, I'd be there.

We didn't find any material on the Raven Queen. I figured if we were going to get some blessings, we should probably know a little bit about her. I assumed that if that had been the case, that Felix would have come to let me know. Well, I wonder what he's doing.

Yeah, I don't know. He's probably crying. It's nice when you can cry sometimes. Whoa! We all get a little sad sometimes. Except for me, I don't have any. I think he gets a little sad more often than most. Hey guys, it's alright to cry. I'll kind of like...

you know, swoosh along with it. I do kind of am feeling a, what's, what, like a tabaxi? What's like a tabaxi? I want to hear that before the end of the session. I'll find a way. Yeah. Well, should somebody go get him? I don't want him to miss out on dinner. I believe we're all going to need it before whatever is going to be thrown at us tomorrow.

- Sure, I'll go get him. And I go loud scooch of my chair back and I start starting up the stairs. - You would think for such a small creature, she would make less noise. - And my thighs slap loudly together as I blow away. - I choke on whatever I'm trying to do at the time. - You hear a loud clap of thighs as the dummy thick dwarf, one to six thunder damage. - Oh shit. - And you all take one thunder damage, okay.

From the sheer, this, the sheer, everyone is like, they bite your hand, piercing damage to your hand and your face. - Yeah, that's what it is. - And also we enjoy a short rest. - Yeah, you all enjoy a short rest. - Hooray. - And my inspiration goes up to the room where Felix is. - Oh, that's right.

- I was so distracted by it. - What am I doing? - I'm like staring, I'm like standing in front of-- - Herja walks up to the door and goes AFK for a moment. - She does, she stares down at her thighs in amazement at just how much noise that makes. - And actually I don't even knock, I just slap my thighs together and I... I knock.

Yes, I'm sorry, who is it? I is Hersha Felix. You want to come down and have some grub? Oh, yes, thank you, thank you. I appreciate, yes, I'll be right there, thank you. I'm going to need a time frame for how long you're going to be because I feel like if you don't tell me, Iris is just going to send me back upstairs again. As she's talking, I open the door and I'm like...

Lead the way. Can you read my mind?

We're just catching on a little bit. I love it, I love it. Come along now. I appreciate you letting me know, thank you. And I capreciate you, and I turn to him and say, "My turn." Oh. If you need a moment for that. The whole party is now at the table, eating food and drinking, and may discuss whatever they like in preparation for the trial of the following demon.

Iris, I'm sorry, the bookshop, which, to be fair, I didn't really expect to have anything of value. It's all souvenirs. There's nothing of knowledge. But I can maybe attempt to answer some of your questions. It was more just a general knowledge to kind of prepare myself. I don't have any specific burning questions. I just wanted to

Do a little bit of research, especially if I'm going to speak to Archbishop. I don't want to go in knowing absolutely nothing about his works. If you think of any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer. I'm certainly no cleric, but I am a worshipper. I will write them down on one of my scrolls. You worship the Raven Queen? Pass it to me. I do. Oh. Oh, you do? I did not know that. Well, I have a few simple questions. Is there a Raven Queen? I mean, a king? No.

- Would I know that? I mean, I'm basically gonna look at Mike for all of this shit. - I would say that you've never heard, yeah, I mean that, yeah. - That's not something I'm aware of, Caprice. It sounds like you're taunting me. - No, no, no, I genuinely know nothing about the Raven Queen and if she's a queen, then is she a queen of the Ravens or is it just a title that, what is she queen of? I have so many questions. - Well, is she a Ravens that is a queen?

I think you forgot to pick up that Raven Queen pamphlet in the gift shop. I looked for a Raven Queen pamphlet, but it was just an image of a raven doing this. But also the other side, the raven dabbing on the other side. You flipped it over. Two gold? I'm sorry if I gave you all the wrong impression that I wasn't someone who worships the Raven Queen, but

Being a part of the military, it's something that they more or less encourage very strongly and something that I grew up knowing here in Kovakia. So it's more like a forced... Unfortunately for some people, yes. That's unfortunate. I wonder how she feels about that. You know, I have to be honest with everything that I've told you guys. I certainly am not necessarily a man of faith. I'm more of a man of science and study and...

I don't know what to think either. I mean, these are things that have crossed my own mind, but I'm often, you know, don't want to just say it. Well, that's sad. I can't speak to the strange way that you...

in this land choose to worship your deities. Understood. I will say, however, that I have no idea what to expect in this trial, to be quite honest with you. And it means a lot to me that all of you would stand up by my side and choose to embark on this endeavor with me. Well, you were there for me, and I certainly intend to be there for you.

Thank you. Basically ditto. I mean, like I said, I... What is a ditto? Oh, a ditto, it's like a doppelganger, but smaller and fluffier. That sounds cool. It is. Now, what I'll say is I'm not really... Do you own one? No.

No, I do not, unfortunately. Your value to me has decreased. Make a point. You should procure one. Yeah, no, I just, you know, the church wasn't really there. Pelor Church wasn't really there for us when I was born. In Pelor. Yeah, Pelor, exactly right. And I've never really been much for the deities. They haven't really been there for me. I mean, look what happened to me. It's not like...

Thank you darling. Bless you. What? There's something on my face? Maybe, I don't know. Oh, then why would you say that? It should be though, I think it's all polar whiskers and stuff. Oh, ouch! No, you ripped one out! It belongs there. Yes, that belongs in my face. As I was saying, I just, I'm here for you guys. I think that we're all kind of in this together. So fate threw us in the same basket, you know?

I felt like it was inappropriate to ask since there were no signs of Muradin paraphernalia in this gift shop, but I've been meaning to talk to some people about whereabouts of my dad if they've seen any dwarves kind of walking through here, but you know, I don't know where to start really. I don't believe that anyone who worships the Raven Queen would look down on you or be upset that you're talking about Muradin, but... This might not be the right

Just maybe just see, if you get the opportunity, keep an eye out and describe him. Religion may not be an important part of it. I don't know and I don't want to assume, but no one will be upset with you for worshiping a different god. I tend to agree with Felix.

When the Archbishop himself seems interested in another god, I imagine that it is probably commonplace. You consider this inn itself as an inn designed around another god. And so in this, at least, sceptre, it feels like this is a place where other gods are allowed to be worshipped. So I don't think it'd be...

uncommon for you to ask. I think that maybe asking with the title of Blessed of the Raven Queen might get you a little further than just unknown dwarf that smells slightly putrid. While I... I took a bath. No, he gets those strange under things in your pack. Is there a hearth nearby? There's a small fireplace, yeah. For sure. I take out my... It's got like little piggies on them. While...

I forgot what I was going to say. Hold on, I want to find out what she's going to do with these piggy pajamas. Yeah, that's fine. Give me a minute to read. They have little piggies on them with the butt flap. Thank you. Well, you know, Iris, I'd be more than happy to throw this in the fire. No, darling, just wash them. Oh, okay. I can do that. I cast silence in the cathedral, but that did not end the smell. You sleep in those, and I've heard you in the evening. Flatulence is your middle name.

No one here perhaps has prestidigitation, do they? Sorry, I do not. Okay, well, I'll go scrub my hands. It's an arcane ability. It allows you to clean things. I've seen some of the folks in Siketch do it. We're more about utility in the military and not so much making things look nice. Okay, well, I'll go find some soap when we go to bed. I stuff it back in my pack. Did you know that Hoosier's middle name was Fletcher Lentz? Ha ha ha!

I didn't know my middle name was that either. I look at Tala. We're two gays, two girls. I look down at my plate and I say, no, Tala, I didn't know. Tala, I feel like this is really not dinner conversation. Oh, I didn't, oh, dwarves are very secretive of their names. No, they're not at all. I would be more than happy to talk about my farts around you any time, any day. I just mean that just by the look on Felix's face, I don't think he wants to talk about my butt or what comes out of it right now.

How does that have to do with your middle name? Savage. It's flatulence. Does that have something to do with farts? Chilla. Chilla darling. Yes? Sweet boy. Sweet boy. Bless your heart. Yes, bless your soul. May Anubis guide you to judgment fairly. Oh, shit. You are quite dim, but cute.

Do you know what flatulence is, Tera? It's who's just middle name. No, no, no. Do you know what the word means if it were not her middle name? I guess. Like it's not a name? It's me. It's a... Don't go off on me so soon. I'm going to help him. And I'm helping Felix in turn. Flatulence is farting. And then when you say that, I mean it and I go...

It's a word, it's not a proper name. It is a more elegant or eloquent way of saying farting.

And it was a joke, darling, because Herrscher Foss, oh my God. Oh, I just figured that it was her middle name. Yeah. Because you just said it was her middle name, so I chose that it was her middle name. It was a joke. So from now on, I will ask Felix whether you're joking or not. And I just kind of pat him on the shoulder and go... Well, I thought that it was going to get us further than it did. I actually think I made it worse. Was that a joke? LAUGHTER

Not this time, Diane. I'm sorry. No, she was being serious. Now, I've been thinking a little bit about your dad, Herja, and I honestly don't think that he's in the city. Just because of the information that we learned from that weapons master, the guy who forged all the different blades and pikes and whatnot for the army, he said that business was down. And if your dad has been, I hate to say it, but if he's been captured, then I worry that he might be in the hands of those who speak abyssal.

Again, I don't want to assume, but it sounds like if they have some sort of stronghold, it wouldn't be anywhere near Zentra. Especially if they're trying to get Zentra to fall. I mean, I'd be willing to go out with you and to look at the different buildings here and see if there's a church of Morrigan. And if we could maybe talk to them, that'd be fine. But I...

There hasn't been a single trace of them since we got in. I do want to walk around and see if that's a possibility, but I don't want to get discovered either. I don't want to be recognized. And I honestly think, darling, that that is my main concern, is that you were seen, and you are going to be the most conspicuous of all of us. And so I think that you laying low, I know that it is difficult for you.

Well, I'm pretty short. I can get pretty close to the ground. Oh my god, I'm surrounded by it. If you took the ring that Toa had and we just took an hour to sort of walk the streets and what have you, I could boop myself into a hooman and we'd be fine. I think it's shaboop. Shaboop. Toa, if you don't mind, I'll start looking at the ring and kind of... Tomato, tomato. Getting attuned to it. If that were a thing... If that were a thing... I suppose I could...

I'll give it back to you, I promise. It's fine, Tara. I'll put it on and start attuning myself to the ring because I don't think I have previously. You do that. And again, if we find any sort of news about some sort of bestial stronghold, then maybe that's where we first take a look for your father. I mean, there's nothing saying that once we do what we have to do here, that we can't move on to find him. I just...

We just gotta do what we have to do here first. That's all. Do I still have the papers that I found in the labyrinth of the construction? Oh yeah, we've got those. Because I shared them with Revali, but we kept them. That's the thing, we have dots, right? There's blueprints. Your dad doesn't have engineering skills in a big way. He just made weapons, right? He didn't write these? This isn't your dad's handwriting? I'll take a look at the blueprints just in case I recognize. Absolutely not. Your dad was a very...

very skilled blacksmith, but this is engineering of a horrible otherworldly ability. So yeah, it would be way above his ability, at least as of you know, what you know. Sure. Well, no, he was a really good blacksmith and he taught me everything I knew. I mean, that's how he made Dakota happen. I mean,

Oh, wow. Your dad made Dakota? Yeah. Wow, that's pretty amazing. That's impressive. He made Dakota for me. So as being a forge cleric, he does have ability to infuse weapons with magical abilities and magical powers. But no, I don't. I'm looking at this now. This isn't his handwriting. I just want to make sure we leave no stone unturned. Well, Herjel, what I can say is that though you and I have not necessarily gotten along, he...

I will leave it at that. I do appreciate you standing up for the group and for shooing away that very awful dwarf yesterday. Or was that this morning?

Time sure does fly. It was horrible, horrific looking. Its face was contorted. It was definitely old, very old. Shorter than your average dwarf. I'm just staring at the ground, holding my mug of coffee like this is fine. Constitution for vicious mockery. But that is neither here nor there. With Anubis' blessing going forward, I would do everything that I can to help you find your father.

Though I know nothing about Moradin, I believe that every god who seems to be good deserves worshippers of any kind, and if he is a man of the cloth, then he has my allegiance. Yeah, he's a good god and he's served us well, and as long as we've served him well, he hasn't smited us where we stood, so... That's all one can hope for. Good signs. That's a good sign so far. You worship some strange gods, if that's your fear.

So I'm not saying that I'm scared because I'm not. One might say I'm never scared. But should we focus on the task at hand? No, I completely agree that we should. I set up this dinner specifically for that so we can talk through it. Lufdy, that is the smartest thing you've ever said.

You know, I feel really smart, and that's because I'm next to you. So we have-- I'm feeling affection, and I don't like it. We have 24 hours, correct? 24 hours. Yep. A little bit less now at this point. Now, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Oh, no, I'm just saying for Herrscher, maybe--

We all stay together this evening and we communicate around the table. We get some sleep and then should she want to venture out in the morning to query about her father, she could do that before we go to do our trial. No, I think I'll just stay. I really don't. I have like a bad juju feeling about going out before the trial and I really don't want to put the bad juju on any of us. I'm not sure what a juju is. It's just like a, just a bad juju. Like an omen. Yeah. Hmm.

I concur. I think that's wise. I was going to suggest or say that I would certainly never stop her from doing what she needs to do, but I don't intend to leave this building. As long as there's any chance that I or her should be discovered, or any of us be discovered, I guess minus Iris with protection, but...

I don't... I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving here until we have an escort. And quite frankly, I have plenty to study between what we found and questions that I can ask Caprice about Abyssal, because we've encountered this multiple times and I feel like it's something I should know. Honestly, it's not like we've had much downtime to be able to even talk about the things that we've encountered. We've really tried to filter through them. True. I agree.

I agree. So why don't we talk about those horrible plans that we found? Have we really studied them yet? Does anyone... Do any of us know how to utilize plans like that? I remember rolling some sort of it check on them, but like, I'm not a builder, right? It was just a matter of whether or not I could understand what they were.

Yeah, so I'll just kind of refresh everyone. These were documents... It was an artillery thing, right? Yeah, so these were plans. They were not written in Infernal, which Caprice could also read. So it was the language of devils versus demons. Does it look like something an artificer would have utilized? It could potentially be something like that. So you're familiar with things like siege weaponry and things like ballistas and catapults. So you recall that these things were horrible machines that...

almost looked... I don't know why this trailer is in my playlist. I need to get rid of that. I apologize.

There's like voices. I can't wait to see Aladdin either. With the genie played by... Never mind. It was there. No, in the second one, it looked so much better. Except for Jafar sounding like a little boy. Well, anyway. Neither here nor there. He's blue, but then he goes into human form and be like, hey. That's called smart decisions. Yeah. But we're not talking about that. We're letting the DM tell the story. I'm excited about that. So, your...

these were these large towering machines. So these are these tall towering figures that seem to be on wheels, but these horrible inventions of technology that none of you were aware of.

And these horrible faces built in with flaming eyes and flaming mouths that seem to have the same kind of infernal burning furnace type business that you would experience with... Oh, shit. Yeah, with all of the shit which we can talk about as far as Moloch. Right. And all of the iron...

the iron, the ashes. The bowl. And the brass furnace with these machines that seem to go on wheels that seem almost just as much... And you saw living constructs as well in the labyrinth below. Yes, yes. And so they seem to be living constructs that are these machines of war.

So it's literally not just an artillery device. They are living constructs. It seems like they have a face and they have a huge mouth. It seems to do things, but... I did not catch that the first time. I may not have been super descriptive, but now we'll say that's the case. Well, no, I mean, that's the point, right? We're studying them. You're studying them. And so you're not sure. There's nothing in there that implies... All of the writing on it is shorthand. Even Caprice being able to read Infernal is not able to make sense.

Well, because it's... Right, right. Yeah, it's technical. It's all very technical. And so it seems to be some kind of infernal devices with blueprints and the like that these devils had been bringing and showing to somebody that they were waiting for. This may be a reach, but I would like to maybe study these with Felix and with my proficiency in land vehicles. Like this?

and my proficiency in smith tools and my Forge Maiden background, can I gather, even though I don't understand Infernal, where weakness points may be in the construction of this, where if I ever came across one, I would know exactly how to disarm it or what peg to pull to get it to collapse or like-- Make a-- make a-- Archive check disadvantage.

More helping. So we'll just say straight. And add my proficiency. Arcana. Oh boy. That looks like a single digit. It is a single digit. So yeah, none of this is not going to do anything. It's a five. You know how land vehicles work? There are axles that wheels are on. It's difficult to see if this thing has even any axles on it. And so it's...

You maybe, if you got, if you encountered one of these things and maybe saw as a trailer plays, I don't know what the fuck is, I'm getting very irritated. I need to address, during the, we have a break, I'll address the playlist. You may be able to try to get a better look if you saw one of these things in real life, but from the plans, it doesn't even seem to follow any kind of laws of standard mechanical, like carts and land vehicles that you're used to driving. Worth a shot. Yeah.

Okay. Thanks, DM. Just looks like one of those Jetson ships that they fly around on. Yep. It looks exactly like that with a scary face. Well, I-- Okay, so engineering plans.

There's some kind of a beast plague, right? Because there are regular people turning into beasts. There's also the what we saw in Butcher's Bluff, right? There's this like infernal or abyssal type creatures turning using a crown to transform minotaurs and other beasts and monstrosities into more stronger beasts and monstrosities. Ogres and trolls.

And... We know that there's a betrayer amongst the, um...

The mouth and the eyes and the different parts of Shedahab. The eyes of the raven! Yeah, the eyes of the raven is another huge... The six generals! The eyes of the raven, right? The... The six eyes of the raven. It's Kujata, right? Yeah, I mean the eyes of the raven. That's the whole thing. I think what we feel pretty confident about our guess as to who is the betrayer... Well, it's the mouth.

Well... Yeah, it's Diamante Kujala. How do we know that for sure? We don't know for sure, but we're pretty certain. Because of the initials. This has come up naturally, but... We should probably keep our voices down while we're in the city. Wait, wait, wait. Why are we talking about Diamante? Oh, we're just going over everything we've experienced together. Why don't we give it a different name? Why don't we call it Donkey Kong?

No, no, no. So hold on. Konky-dong? Hold on. Yes, Konky-dong. Oh, and his little sidekick friend would be... Kitty? I love where your head's at. We're all terrible people for not knowing this. Oh, jeez. No, no, no, no. Nope. Why are we talking about Diamara?

Uh, Di- wait, was it Di-mata or Di-monte? Di-monte. Di-monte. Why are we talking about Di-monte? Because you don't. If you- and I'll hush. If you remember- No! Derek! Oh no. Derek, you are out. I didn't do anything. You're out. You can't be our friend anymore. Oh my god! No, Derek! Well, that's one session. Good night, ladies and gentlemen. No, Derek! Before Twitch shuts us down.

Good run, y'all. Good run. Anyway. Inappropriate. Oh, Felix, you might not have seen this, but then perhaps we forgot to tell you, but in all of these letters, it was signed with DK on it.

What letter? What? All of the writings. From Gaelstrom and his drawers. Whoa. So you're saying the night that we ran into the Talon Guard, you guys found documents with DK's initials all over them? Yeah. You were looking at the same documents. I was not.

The abyssal letters weren't the ones that said DK over them? No. They were line notes in the editorial. It was the other room. Oh, the editorial line. And so DK wanted to have the reports of the drums and the flames out in the forest. DK didn't want that getting out. It's in the editorial notes. I communicate this to Felix now. That's not bad.

Oops. Everything that went... Yeah, I mean, everything went really fast that night. Listen, listen, I understand. I'm not blaming anybody, but that's an important detail. I can't believe I missed it. I didn't show you the editatorial... It's no one's fault. I just wish we could have talked about this earlier. Then let's talk now. So what does that mean? I mean, do you have some kind of additional context you could provide? Well, I mean, it just... Look, I don't know for sure, but knowing...

All of the generals that we've talked about, there's a good chance that Portia may still be trustworthy. I mean, if we only think that there's one of these top generals that is betraying Xearn and all of these things, then we might be okay. If we've labeled the one mutineer, that's not the word I want to use, but that's the only word that I can convey what I'm thinking.

Traitor! Thank you! You're welcome. Then we may still be okay going to Paradiso. We might be okay. I hope so, yes. I think that was the reason we chose- well, we didn't really choose her. My father said this is- But I know that you were concerned. I know we were all concerned about her truthworthiness. Oh, I still am. Well, and it's valuable to still, you know, express some sort of skepticism, but

But I mean, this is good. We have an idea of who's controlling the strings at a bare minimum. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that that's exactly right. Yes, I imagine that was the entire reason we had set up this plan. I feel so terrible that you came along today and offered your services and you were completely in the dark about the whole thing. Yeah, I mean, that just means he's so sweet.

That does mean that's very kind of you. While I prefer to be let in on certain things like this, the moment was hectic, as I said, and I understand that this may have slipped through the cracks, but... I just expected that Caprice would have told you. I do talk a lot. If there's anyone to be disappointed in, it's Toa. The bottom line is that I need to survive and I need to find my brother, and I'm going to do what I can to help you guys regardless. And we've been together for a while now, and...

I feel like I have no choice but to trust you. What I said to Hersha stays true for you as well. I will do my best to help you in the search for your brother. I guess, did anybody see any fresh posters while we were making our way? What's a poster? It's one of those pieces of paper or parchment that you slap onto like a post and it is a poster.

And it's got messaging on it. Do you remember the posters that we were in the 7th Heaven? That was about like, don't trust any strangers, stranger games, that kind of stuff. I would call that a poster. And did we see any posters on the way out of 7th Heaven that may have changed? And do I think that I could go get a newspaper real quick to see what the news might be after our shenanigans? And also like, would we have seen anything going out just shopping in town?

I would say... Propaganda? I would say that you being able to go and get a newspaper, but they seem to be all over the place, that you are seeing a similar style on a lot of these posters and these bulletins that's saying that there are, you know, don't trust strangers, be very wary of everyone that you meet, keep an eye, report, report, report anyone who looks remotely suspicious. So no actual pictures, though? No drawings, I should say. Obviously no photographs. And any mention of the...

paper factory being broken into. Well, let me go run and get a paper. There might be news of this. I'm going to go and I'll be right back and I'll shaboot myself into what looks like Antonio Banderas. Into a who-man. And I'll run out and I'll find the nearest paper boy with his newsy hat and what have you. He's yelling extra, extra. I'll throw him however much the coinage is.

It's two copper. I'll wait for Caprice to come back, but I owe all of you an apology nonetheless. For what, Felix? In the heat of the moment of the Talon Guard finding us, I made a call. I made a decision to run, and while I don't think that that was a battle that we wanted to pick, I don't think that we could have fought it. And I'm not saying it's the right decision, but it was one that I made at the time, and...

I don't know. Well, I think we'll never know if it was the right decision. I think with all of us with our powers combined, as they say, I think we could have killed those guys slickety quick, but... I don't think you understand what we're up against. That could be true. That could be true. But I think either way, we're doing the best we can, and the fact that we made it all the way through here without being stopped means at least... I'm just... I'm sorry for risking us, but...

I don't think fighting there was the right decision and you're right, we'll never know. But you don't know what the Talon Guard goes through to train. I mean, I barely made it in and anybody who's been there... I spent 30, almost 30 years of my life training to be one of these, one of this Talon Guard. Anybody who's been there for any significant time longer than I have would have no problem killing all of us. Well, you'd be easy to kill, so...

I think that in that case, even if they'd been there a little bit longer, the six of us could have easily destroyed them. I was actually more worried. If your skill and talent is the barometer of their skill and talent, then I think it would have been a cakewalk. I'm glad you think that this is funny. Oh, no, I don't. I'm being completely serious. Okay.

All right. I was actually more concerned that you were leaving Beatrice on my shoulder and that we were both out in the open. Well, to be fair, Beatrice would have been fine either way. Great. That's good to know that you would have just left me there.

I had to scoop my little butt across the hallway, thankfully. Oh no, we all saw it. Your butt is not little. It's one of those situations where when... If we come across any number of Talonguard again, it's going to be everyone for themselves to make sure that they're okay. Well, I just want to let you know that I'm not going to let Beatrice get hurt. Thank you. And this is not a slight...

This isn't, uh, I don't like you, this isn't, uh, it has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with survival. They will kill us instantly. I think we've gone through a lot, and next time, if we happen to encounter more, I think I'm going to try to kill them. Because I think that, you know... And if that is the choice you make, Toa, I will be right there behind you, making sure that you are safe. I agree. I'm not going to leave any of you, and I apologize for panicking, but...

It's just you need to be well aware of what we're up against. And that's fair. It may not be winnable. And that may be true. But if we think that, you know, if there is danger and we need to fight, I won't be afraid to fight.

I just wanted you all to know that. If you see me running headfirst into a guy with a weird beard, do they have bird masks? What kind of masks? It was a hood that kind of had metal, like a little beak and some eyes. So they weren't covering their faces? No, no, no. So their hoods were up. You could see faces of a human in there. But it looked like a very nice kind of raven-style hood. Okay.

then I apologize for being so hasty and again, maybe making the wrong decision, but I think it's better to survive than die in some newspaper factory. And I think that's fair and we've fallen so far.

And like I said, we'll never really know the... or perhaps we'll find out at some point. But we haven't been stopped yet, and they saw Hoosier plain as day. So maybe it was some kind of secret sect of Talon'gar that was working only for Kujata. It wouldn't surprise me. They are responsible for a lot of covert or lesser-known operations. I mean, they're very, very powerful mages and warriors.

Well, I just think that no matter what, we can take on a lot, so I think let's not sell ourselves short. And I think with this trial, we're going to be just fine. The power of friendship will win the day. At the end of the day, it boils down to this. It was a situation that we got ourselves into. I appreciate your apology, but there's no going back at this point. And I think that we are all aligned in that, should we be engaged in combat, that we will...

We will support each other and then we will help each other through it. And if you run from it, then Godspeed, I hope you don't meet any alone in an alley somewhere because I will be there to help whoever stays to fight.

As long as we understand that if we stand and fight, it could be the last time. That's all. I think we'll get a sensation that if we're losing, that running is not... People sometimes think that engaging in combat means you have to stay until death. It does not. Sometimes you have to take that chance. And if you see that the fight is over your head, then you make your escape. And I think that with our powers combined...

that we are more than capable of getting out of a sticky situation. All right. I understand. I think that we're smart. I also think you are smart. I also have to make sure that Dakota doesn't get soft. So she needs that. You know that your weapon cannot speak. No, she speaks to me.

No, it's all in your head, darling. No, it's not. My dad let me speak to her. But she can't speak back to you, darling. She is a sentient weapon and she'll be addressed as such. She's not a sentient weapon, darling. I literally cast a spell to see if she was and she's not a sentient weapon. You can't convince me because my dad did and I know him well. You're just visibly sweating. LAUGHTER

- Hey everybody, I came back with today's paper. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. - I know what's going on. - Impolishing Dakota. - She said she had to tell me that you were. - We got, uh, stocks are up. Golf scores are down. - Oh my God. - Oh wait, let's see. Someone named Benedict Powerbottom, oh wait, no. - That's my name.

And you see that the wars on all fronts are heating up. Things are very safe in the country, but all of the enemies on all sides are...

Wait, this is the propagandized version? Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, it was soon, right? Things inside the country are safer than ever. Right. But the other nations on all the borders are heating up their efforts and have employed dwarven spies.

- Oh my God. - Oh no. - Kill her, Zell, kill her! - Dwarves have infiltrated and keep an eye on every single dwarf that you see. - Oh fuck. - And they are spying for all of the enemies. And there's really no way to be sure

that you can trust is a horrible dwarf. All right, there's no reason to panic. I don't think you're terrible. No, this is why we asked for an escort. They can't touch us while we have the Raven Queen's blessing. Yeah, maybe we get her like a platform boot

No, give her the ring. Give her the ring. I think we also need to be careful about things like that. If someone is capable of discerning that she is not in her true form, the fact that she is a dwarf disguising herself as something else is immediately going to cause red flags. It is immediately going to make our ability to talk ourselves out of it significantly more difficult. I agree. I think that we have my father's blessing.

and his protection for now. We have the trial tomorrow, and hopefully that will lead us through it. And if all else fails, I have a zone of truth where they can ask her, are you a spy? And she will not be able to tell a lie within it. I have that tool. I think that idea is very, very good. But to your point, I've been using a fake name.

And if push comes to shove, I may need to escape. I can always rendezvous with you guys at a later point, but I don't want to put you in danger. Because while everyone else may be true to themselves, I...

I can't. Do you mean your name's not Felix or that, are you talking about- My name is not Albert Sunshot Benedict Powerbottom. Please don't yell that in public. I'm sorry. Powerbottom, Powerbottom, Powerbottom. Echo. Echo in the chamber as you hear, you hear, you, uh, the slight quiet turns and there's like this, uh, larger man with a mustache who can turn and go, ooooh.

And ignoring this happening, I center myself and I say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Caprice, I apologize. I'm a little tense. I don't want to risk any of your lives, especially Toa.

He's done so much for me, I can't risk it. You want my spell scroll of them? Briskett? You talk a lot about briskett, I've gotta meet this guy. I pass her some briskett that I ordered for dinner. It's delicious. I gotta meet this guy. You want my spell scroll of mage hands, or to work out those kinks, you know? It only lasts for a minute. Weirdly enough, it's something I already can do. Ew. Gross. I'll keep the scroll.

I want to go home. Michael Buble starts playing. Teach me that one. I'm getting it. Yeah. Should I be worried? Oh, I feel really bad now. But weren't there dwarves in one of the districts? No, I feel like there

Iris made the best point that she could have possibly made here. We're fine. We can prove your innocence. I know, but I feel bad about the other dwarves now. They're in danger. They're in danger now. Like we said, it's... Honestly, I imagine that they are specifically looking for you.

More than likely these dwarves are going in, they're seeing that they don't have quite the thick thighs that you have, and they're letting them go back. But the papers say all dwarves! Of course, because they're trying to filter all the dwarves to the military. So they're having them all come in to be able to find her. This is propaganda! And it's best! But because we have proof that you are not a spy, we have a way to prove that.

And you are under my father's protection as well as going through the trial. I think he'll be fine. Let us not worry about it until you are forced with the situation. And as I asked before, if anything happens strangely regarding me, just play along. If I disappear momentarily, just play along. Unless you're gone. Away. Who knows? He might need some me time.

Unnecessary panic leads to the worst decisions. We must not unnecessarily panic. Alteja, you have five of us at your side. It'll be fine. Thanks. I'll keep the ring on and then you guys just tell me if I need to use it. Hopefully they catch that disgusting dwarf from this morning. Yeah.

- It's definitely bad. - Bad dwarf. - Needless to say, I guess for the next, if we're going to sleep in the evening, I'm gonna spend all day tomorrow still studying the abyssal. - Okay. - Searching for the footie pajamas with the butt clap. - If I've seen the news article now showing that they're on the hunt for dwarves and clientele are potentially walking in and out of this

brothel, I'll probably make my way upstairs and take residence in our room until it's safe. So you all do that, you all go to bed and you all enjoy a long rest. You wake up the next morning and you know that you can arrive at the Cathedral for an escort from that gentleman from Brill.

Nathaniel. Nathaniel Brill. Oh, Nathaniel. And that Nathaniel, not Matthias, is, you can enjoy an escort, but unless there's anything you want to do, you can go meet him and it'll be closer to, you'll probably have to meet there a few hours before sunset, I want to make sure that you arrive with enough time. Oh, right, it would take a few hours to get across the city. It might be a little bit more dangerous, so if you're attuned to that ring, did you still want to go out and

Look at... No? Okay. Let me know. I just don't want to draw too much attention, especially so close to her trial. I feel like if I fuck this up, then we're losing our chance of talking to Portia. That's very honorable of you. Thank you for being understanding.

Thank you. So you're going to make yourself look like a human name with the ring? Well, only by Iris's direction. I don't want to put on some sort of disguise and potentially be seen through and then made even more suspicious. So if Iris wants me to change into something else, I don't mind. I think we go with what Iris has to say here. My opinion is that they know that a dwarf is in our

whatever, whatever Nathaniel said. And we can prove it. We can prove it. We can prove, like she said, we can prove that Hersha is innocent. I'll leave it up to Iris.

I'm attuned to the ring now, so whatever you guys want me to do. Yeah, I mean, just use it as you see fit, but I think the general consensus that Iris said was for now, just cruise. I'll cruise. So I think if we're all ready to just meet Nathaniel or his escort. You all arrive, and you would probably remember that they all knew you as a dwarf.

They all knew you as a dwarf, and so showing up as a different human or something would be very suspicious. Right. You all eventually make your way to the cathedral, and waiting at the base of the steps is Nathaniel. And you see him just kind of waiting, looking off, not at anything in particular. As he sees you all approach,

He says, "Well, are you open prayer then?" We are. Yeah. Just lead the way. Yes, sir. "Very well. Let's hope you survive." And he shuffles off. I'm so ready, it's not even funny. He hobbles.

- Okay. - And leads you through. - I've prepared my spells, I'm ready. - You may need it. - I am nervous. - Yeah, Lord knows. - And so, he leads you-- - We ate him, Papa Kennedy, we ate him. - For the sake of brevity, he leads you through all of the various districts around the Citadel of the Queen's Conclave until you arrive at a district that I believe you have not been to. - Oh, right. - Memories rest. - No, none of us have been there. - No, none of us have been there. - Yes, yeah.

And the Garrison Quarter. So I'll just kind of briefly describe these quarters. And the Black Rose District, right? No, you're not there quite yet. Oh, because we're going... And that's the only one I've been to. Yes. Until this adventure, that was the only one that Felix had been to. And so as you arrive to the Garrison Quarter, you see basically rows and rows and rows of buildings that look almost identical.

as you just look out and you see seeds of soldiers, armed in swords, pikes, axes, maces, and all sorts of varieties of weapons, as it just seems to be a sea of residential, but predominantly we see

the area where the garrison of the entire city is captured. Right. Where there are soldiers that are just, that are ready to mobilize if the city is attacked. They all seem to be poking around, bored out of their minds. And it seems as if that there are a bunch of soldiers, but not quite as much as you would expect. And there seems to be a quiet over this area. And you see, however, that as you're walking through, you see the occasional, uh,

the occasional kind of rolling of siege weaponry. You see a large ballista and some instrument that might be fastened to the walls and the like at some point. You make your way through the garrison, then you arrive at Memory's Rest. And this is the most quiet district of all. As you arrive through, and once again, each district, they're allowing Nathaniel through without question, not even a word. As you arrive, this is the most quiet of all.

You look out and it seems to be a sea of mausoleums, crypts, resting places. There's a number of very small churches and some residential buildings, but it seems as if potentially almost everyone, most of the people that have died within the city for the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years or longer has been put to rest in this area. You however see

As Thangol turns down a main thoroughfare, and you get closer and closer and closer to the center of this district, a large looming stone structure that seems to be where you're headed. And you eventually arrive at this enormous crypt. Seems to be of similar make to the huge cathedral that you had seen.

but far more modest and with only the occasional decoration of raven and mastodon. Large, large heavy stone doors and this seems to be the least populous district that we've been.

And eventually you arrive, and as you approach these large stone doors, the quiet kind of settling over, very few people pass you. You see large brimmed hat, the military vestments of Archbishop Zuccaris. The patchiness of his facial hair seems to be even a bit fuller.

than it was the previous day. As he sits there waiting, and as Iris, as you all approach at the head, his eyes lock with you. As you all step up, and Brill bows very deeply, Nathaniel bows very deeply, and without a single word, he looks up to the Archbishop and just bows and steps away. Hmm.

Decorius looks at all of you and says, None of you have lost your courage. I appreciate that. But you may yet still. Are you all prepared about what you will see in the Seville Cup? Not even one bit, but we're ready for whatever may come. Now I know that you are prepared. Now I know that you understand truly what you're up against and that

You are the first step of being worthy. You may worship a god of death, or even pay homage to the Raven Queen, but you will learn down there her true nature, encounter her domains, and must face your own demons. Well then, may the light of the Shadow Lady guide us.

They should guide you as well. And with that, he waves a hand and almost as if on command, a huge stone door slide open and a long stone stairwell down into the darkness leads him.

I would immediately cast a Mage Armor on myself. I didn't mention it, but I'm wearing my ceremonial robes with my Anubis headdress. Got it, okay. So you have ceremonial robes, you see the large jackal head, the pointed ears, this beautiful black and gold and teal turquoise? Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Turquoise. Tur

words, but we'll say turquoise for this incense. And fully in her ceremonial robes. And the doors open and Archbishop Zakaria stops you before you all enter. And he says, The Raven Queen is a goddess of memories, of knowledge, of winter, of fate, and of death. ...

and of ravens. She was of the Feywild before she was of the Shadowfell and of a god. You must encounter all of these in triumph if you are to receive a blessing. I wish you the best of luck and may you walk proudly beneath the shadow.

And he steps out of the way. Beneath dark wings. Beneath dark wings. I will bow to him and then just turn directly towards the door and just walk straight in. Okay. I'll fall upon. You do this. And as you all walk down the... Runny Mervis. Runny Mervis. Runny Mervis. Where do we go? You make your way down...

the stairwell. The steps, each of your steps echo. And you hear your foot, your feet hit the smooth stone stairs. And it feels incredibly ancient. As you make your way down, you see an open archway ahead of you at the exit of this staircase. No door. You hear...

at the doors at the very top of the staircase closed shut. How small is the space that we're in? It's very narrow, a single file. Did you all know that the Raven Queen was the goddess of all these things?

Winter, memories, knowledge, death, ravens? I had an idea, yes. I did just ravens. I don't even know what the Feywild is. Ravens seems like pretty... Would I know what the Feywild is? I would say make an arcana check. Let's do a carrot though. We got another do the thing. Give me one second. I mean like knowing... Okay. All right.

It really bugs me that these aren't... Oh, no, actually, that's a 12. I would say that you've heard of the phrase of the Feywild, but as far as the connection to the Raven Queen, you know that as a Corvacian, that the connection is to the Shadowfell.

And we don't teach much of the history of the Raven Queen or anything. That's fair. Very reasonable. We've heard of it as a separate plane, but anything beyond that... I'm aware of its existence. I may not know the connection the Raven Queen has there. Okay. Do you think we can turn around

It's a little tight in here. We can just, you know, do you talk this quickly every time you get nervous? We've literally just stepped down into the pit. Alright, I'm just going to close my eyes and put my hand on your shoulder and just go, wait, tell me when we get to a big space. I just hold on to Caprice then and like guide him. Wait, is this super dark? Ah.

It is dark. I cast Darkvision. Okay. So then I can lead Caprice. Okay. So it is very dark as you make your way in. You cast Darkvision. You're all able to see...

as you make your way down further and further and you arrive at this hard twelfth. God, that's a level, that's a second level slot. That sucks. All right. No, I don't want to undo it. That's what Felix would do. Okay, there you go. I'll put my goggles on. Eyes adjust. I can't see shit. As you arrive at a chamber that has...

It seems to be made of a similar stonework to the rest of it, of the rest of the sepulcher of Nera that you've experienced. And let's remove some of these map businesses. Oh, shit. We'll add the DM. We'll add the DM to that.

So as long as you guys are within 10 feet of me, give plus two to your saving throws because of my aura of protection. Oh shit. If you're scared, Capricci, just gotta be next to me. You feel my arms wrap around your waist. Reg, can you cast a people's spell?

Wait, is it +2 or +3? It's +2 because my charisma is shaked! Oh, it's a charisma-- God, that made me jump and almost pee myself. I'm sorry. Where's Caprice? My con is higher than my charisma. I'm gonna do that before. I'm gonna start pouring points into charisma after this. Persia's gonna be out here. I'm gonna be out here. I took shield maps. So who came to become-- So you're entering right there. There's a door right here. Around you...

are, is a small, are five on each side. On either side of you to your left and your right, five small circles, almost like tiny gravestones around on either side. And directly ahead, a very small patch, small square directly ahead of you with words written. As you approach, you see that it's a small patch of dirt

The only tiny square opening that is not perfectly paved with stone. And words written. All must lay their memories to rest here. Oh, shit. Is this a riddle?

I'm not sure it's a riddle as much as it is. I describe what we're seeing to Caprice. Oh, Caprice, we're in a big room now. Or bigger room. This isn't so bad. All right. No, I'm with you. I'm back. I'm back. All right. All right. Oh. I'm concerned we need to do something with the...

Gravestones. So I'm gonna go to one of the gravestones and inspect it. One of the five gravestones. You make an investigation check. Can I walk up and just be next to her, protectively? Yeah. 17. 17. You look around and these stones seem to have the remnants of markings. Names long lost.

worn and weathered. And each of them, in each of the circle, seems to have like where writing used to be, but it's been so long it's worn away until there's nothing that remains. Not a faint memory that's lost. I'm honestly not sure. You think we're supposed to write our own stuff on the thing? Not sure what we would write. What was the actual phrase? "All must lay their fears to rest"? "All must lay their memories to rest." Memories.

So does it mean here is in the little patch of writing here? Or does it mean... Are they all... So I'm gonna walk over here, I'll just start checking on this side to see if there are any left. They seem to be similar things. There seems to be remnants. And they're stone, they're tomb-like tombstones. Toa, don't go too far. I'm just checking, they all seem to be the same. So...

I just think really hard on a memory. Are you gonna say anything or are you gonna... Initially, no. I want to see if anything happens. What memory are you gonna think about? I will think about the first time I started to learn to sail. Okay. And kind of on the kind of catamaran style boat with the sail and I was young. I was probably, you know, 10 maybe and just kind of

Thinking about that experience and kind of how scary it was, but exciting at the same time, and how I wanted to sail for so long, and just feeling like I could do anything now. You think hard. You think, and you think. You look around, and everyone seems to just be watching you try to think, and it's all in your head. Nothing happens. Taro, are you alright? Yes, I'm fine, I'm just...

Perhaps it needs to be out loud. I have a memory from when I was quite young and learning to sail for the first time. It's kind of a rite of passage for my tribe. And it was exhilarating and scary at the same time. And I would fall in the water, but then swim right and just jump right back on. And I thought I could die doing this, but it just, it was exhilarating. And I feel like

in the moment that I could do anything. I remember the wind blowing through my hair and once I finally got the hang of it and over the years learned and got better at it and starting to really master the craft, I remember that first time thinking that my whole life was ahead of me and my future was kind of endless in that moment. Does anything happen? I look around. As you finish saying that, you hear...

a very faint humming as the two circles on either side of the door begin to faintly hum with a very faint glowing light. A very faint glowing light of it seems to be a slight silver color as it radiates. Absolutely brilliant, Tova.

So it seemed to be working. Well, we won't know unless we illuminate them all. Is someone else going to try? Should I do all of them? I'm not sure how this works. I imagine we all have to contribute to the blessing ritual. It does say all must lay their memories here. Yeah, exactly right. Well, there's ten tombstones and there's six of us and if he did two with his memory, then that would equal 14.

That is absolutely correct, Hersha, and I think you should go next. Holy shit. It's Hersha with the magic! Well, I need a quiet mouthful of coffee. That was very fucking funny. All over our mics. Splashing my coffee over here. Where's Shamanu? Well, I'm kind of terrified what's going on with these tombstones.

Can I walk over to the one that's humming nearest me? Yeah, do that. And just inspect it to see if it looks any different stonework-wise than the one that wasn't humming in front of-- Make an investigation check and add your provisions. You're double lit if you do not have a-- Can I double it with my stone knowledge? With your stone, yep. Okay.

Natural one. Oh, shit. So that'll be a four, five, and seven. I would say it's pretty plain to see that the stonework itself hasn't changed. And you just see these kind of faint...

Remnants of lettering are glowing and there's this soft silver light all around the ring of gravestones. Is there new writing or is it just the remnant writing that's there? It seems to be just glowing very faintly. Nothing, no new additional writing or information has appeared. And this is all written in what? You would not be able to tell what language it is. Okay.

All right, well, I have no idea what this says. And the stone looks as suspicious as every other tombstone in here. So thinking back to, I guess, the first time that we opened up our little tombstone,

alms and anvil and alms business it's not really a business it's kind of a like a soup kitchen and so um while the forge was still hot from uh my dad's day of busy blacksmithing ma would come in and she'd uh she'd bake up some bread and boil up some soup and whatever we had left over we opened up the the forge in the evenings for uh for anyone that needed food and that needed help

So, you know, it kept the bill down each month, but it also allowed us to give back to our community that gave so much to my ma and my pa for their business. So I remember the first day we opened that and Alms and Anvil and, you know, we had a line out the door, but everyone got a little bit of food that day. It warms my heart as much as it warmed that forge today.

just thinking back on that and I always feel really good about it. And to this day, Ma still keeps that forge hot in the evenings even with Dad not being there and you know, I really hope I can find him because I feel like he's missing as much in my life as he is in hers and in our communities. With that, you hear the humming grow louder as the next two on either side hum and glow with a faint

Silver sleigh. That was beautiful, Herrscher. Now please, tell us how many of these tombstones are left. Eight. Found you in my mouth right. You are absolutely correct. Fuck. I got a tombstone sleigh.

I'm so sure of myself. There's eight left. Do I... I just put a hand on his shoulder and just say, hmm. With that, Hesha, why don't you choose who goes next? Oh, yeah. I heard Caprice say he has a memory. I like the idea that we just pass the ball from person to person, hot potato style. Hmm. Hesha, you get to decide who goes next. Hmm.

Capricci, why don't you share? Oh yeah, sure. Let's see, if we're sharing memories, I can remember the first time I ever went to a tavern to perform. I was pretty young, you know, I wasn't, I was not young, old enough to drink yet, but I had heard about sort of an open mic, sort of stand-up, like comedy type operation. I didn't have to play any music, and I thought, you know what, I can tell a joke or two, and just sort of

get the performance out of me and it makes me nervous just thinking about it i uh i'm standing behind stage and i remember all the comedians going up past me just watching them and listening to them and everybody laughing and it was really it's really an amazing experience to

have to confront the initial stage fright that you experience. Those butterflies that you get, I don't get them anymore, but man, at the time, my heart was just beating, beating, beating in my chest. And I remember going up the wooden stairs and getting out there and looking at everybody in the crowd. And I started, in my first joke, I just thought, I dive right in. I have an inferiority complex.

And that's when I passed out. I never even got to the punchline. I just passed out and I'm told that I face planted directly into the table, which itself flipped and threw a bunch of glasses and started a whole fight while my unconscious 13 year old body was just lying down at the base of the stage.

That was my first experience in a tavern, performing, and I didn't really ever experience any stage fright, because I figured that's the worst it's ever going to be. I guess there's really nowhere to go but up from there. Exactly right. Wow. 100%. As soon as Felix says, "Wow," you go, "Wow." Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Next two, hum and glow and shit, and so we're like, humming is louder. Herja, how many are left, darling?

Six. You are so good at this. Caprice. Oh, I get to go again? No, you get to choose who goes next. Oh, my apologies. You wanted to play slightly warm potato. Potato. Potato. Minor illusion style. Coughlin. Fine. My story is not nearly as interesting, I would say, as yours, but for me it is one of my greatest memories.

When I was but a wee tabaxi, my father used to take us out on one of his ships. And it was my first experience with one of the main rivers running through Negbet. And I was scared of the water. I was afraid of getting my fur wet. And my father was always a very stern man. And being a pharaoh came first, even when it came to famine. But it was those days that he would head out with only a few of his men.

a few of the priestesses and priests and his armed guard only the most loyal and he would wear the most menial of linens we looked like commoners it was amazing i loved it and he would play in the water with us and it is because of those times with him and with my siblings and my mother that i do not fear the water like a lot of the tabaxi do and it was lovely and we would spend all day and we would

eat by the side of the river and we would play in the water and then we would make our way back beneath the veil of the stars. And the very next day all would be as it were. Those memories, they shine for me. As soon as you finish speaking, you hear the humming louder as the next two glow with a silvery light. Lovely. Hersha, how many are left?

- Well, now I'm confused, 'cause I only see two, but I swear to God, it was four. So I start walking towards the back. - I see two too! - I start walking towards the back, and I'm like, patting around, looking for another set of two pillars. - You find none, as you do this. - What is your answer, darling?

There are invisible pillars here, that's all I can say. They're somewhere around here. It was a very lovely story. That's gotta explain it. It sounds like a lovely time. It was. Maybe one day I'll take you out on the river. Lufthi. Please, regale us. Yeah, well, um, so the other day... No, you have to take the potato from my hand. Oh. It's not real. Oh, potato. Oh, potato. It's an illusion of a potato, but it's there. Yeah. Oh, I wish I had a potato. You can't eat it. It's not real. Oh. Do I have to hold it?

Hold my potato for me. Oh, thanks, I would love to. One minute. So, I remember the other day... You... You're really going to cop out on this? No, I guess not. Well... You know, I have to say I just don't remember that much because I just kind of flit about and, you know, have a good time, but... I remember, like, the first things that I really remember. And it's really not much of anything at all, but I remember...

I'm looking and there was like this woman, I guess, I don't know. She was like blue and she had black hair. And I remember looking at her. I don't know if maybe I was drunk, I was on the ground or something, but I was looking up at this woman and she's blue and she has black hair and everything else is just kind of fuzzy. And I'm looking at her and I remember being pretty happy. You know, I was good time, having a good time. And then all of a sudden,

She just kind of like turned my face away, you know, and then I saw like some other guy and then I looked back and she was gone. And it was the weirdest thing. And I looked back and there was this big guy, he was just smiling at me and I was like, "Well, okay. Okay." And then that was like the first thing that I ever remember. I'm gonna reach out and grab Lifty's hands.

Do you know how big your body was at the time, darling? No. I'm gonna just kind of pull her in for an embrace.

It's okay, Dundee. Don't think on it too much. I think that was good enough. And I'm gonna give her like a really like probably the only real hug I've ever given her. As the two embrace in the only real hug I've ever had I'm gonna like be freaking out while this is happening. And you hear the humming and it gets louder and louder as they all hum around you and they all blow.

I'm gonna walk up to the two in bracing and while I'm still holding the imaginary potato in one hand, I'm gonna come up behind Lifty and hug her around the waist in my short stoutness. I don't know why you are being so sweet right now. I love it! I don't know what's happening. I'm not sure that it is necessarily important. I just wanted to give you a hug. I don't know what's going on. You guys smell real good.

I just run and I give hug as many people as possible. This is fun. Why don't we do this more often? This was not what I was expecting. I try to lure Felix over by extending the potato.

He just shakes your hand and then walks off. Goes up. I don't know what's happening here. I think that it may be your turn. I think, yeah. Maybe Herja was right and there are invisible tombstones. Oh, does something happen to the door? I look around. Do I notice anything happening? Seem to just be that all ten...

Circles of stones are illuminated. I walk up to the ground plate and it says, "All must lay their memories to rest." All must lay their memories to rest. All. I'm gonna be honest with you guys. I've got plenty of memories, but none that I'm gonna lay to rest. These are things that drive me daily. I'm not laying anything to rest here. Well, I mean, it's not like when we fed the memory we forgot.

So you can keep the memory. You just have to also give it some, you know, rusty action. It's just taking a nap. It'll wake up in like an hour or two. Once it gets over the hangover. The Kierstein ale.

Is this a memory that has to be the most important, or just a memory? No, just any memory. I mean, I had a very pleasant memory that I gave, and it seemed to work. I did not pick my most important memory, I promise. I picked a pretty important memory, and that was probably a mistake. I picked more memories that are far more impactful and important than the one I chose, but...

I think the memory just needs to have some sort of meaning to you in some way. All right, one second. Sorry. Sorry, sorry. I'm consulting my Google Docs that Mike sent me many, many weeks ago. Yeah, I got mine in for me. Well, while he does that... Sorry. The punchline to the joke that I was trying to tell when I first started my report was, I have an inferiority complex, but it's not a very good one. LAUGHTER

I don't get it. It's not a very good inferiority complex. Like, an inferiority complex is that you think down on yourself, so even your inferiority complex is also not legitimate. I was totally in character. Oh yeah, I don't get it, Mary. Alright!

Oh, here we go. Okay, I got it. Alright, fine. I'm not laying this memory to rest, but someone who was very dear to me back in Castlefield, Mr. Mendel. And I do hope that he rests in peace, but he took care of me and my brother and...

All I can say is that I will very forever be very in debt to him and I hope that he finds peace. Ooh. Thank you for sharing your memory, Felix. I don't know if it's going to work because you said you weren't laying it to rest. That's my fear. No, I won't ever. I won't. Well, pick any memory that you're willing to lay to rest because I think that's a requirement. I recognize that he will rest in peace, but I will not lay it to rest. How about just like one of the things you did with this guy?

He took care of us. He took care of me and my brother for many years and I will forever be in debt to him and that's all I can say. Felix, strength sometimes comes with not beating your head against a stone wall but relenting to it. Sometimes you need to learn when to cave and when to push.

And I see a lot of strength in you, both mentally and potentially physically someday. But you are going to have to learn how to use both sides of the coin. You came into this place knowing that the challenges were going to be hard and they were going to be many. This is the first trial and if you cannot do it, introspection may be needed from your part. You may not be as strong as you think you are, but I believe that you are even stronger than you know.

It is hard, but anyone in here can do this. I know that you can. And I'm going to give him guidance, though. We'll do absolutely nothing because it's a roll. But I'm going to give it anyway! Do you feel very strengthened? Even more so than whatever you normally feel? I suppose. I hope. And I know that Mr. Mendel is resting in peace. And I appreciate the...

reassurance and what you've said. I appreciate your words and I respect him and I hope that he is resting in peace and I appreciate more than he can ever know the things that he did for me and my brother. And I hope that that's enough. I won't have the ability to tell him myself, so I hope that he knows. I'm sure that he does. And as you say that, you hear a light hum and they flare up even more and then go...

quiet and all the light gets snuffed out of the tomb and then you see another light directly above the square above you shine down slightly and it shimmers down on this small square this tiny patch of earth that seems to be just this perfectly pristine bit of soil and suddenly some the wall across from you

lights up very slightly in four separate panels. You see four separate images that seem to be the continuation. In the first, on the far left, there's a woman walking through trees. Okay, like she... In a row? It's one, two, three, four on a row. On the... She's walking through trees in all of them. There's the same shape of the woman on each one. On the far left...

Trees all around her, bright and full of leaves, blooming. Blooming with these beautiful flowers. And you get a closer look at the woman. She's wearing long robes and cloaked in feathers. Her face is indescribable. Almost looks like she's wearing a mask. Two tall, pointed ears stand on either side of her head. The next, the...

Blooms on the trees have dissipated. But she walks through the forest. Great, great green. You can start to see bits of color. Great green boughs of the trees all around her. The next, the trees are less full. You start to see even more color. Bright shades of orange, yellow, red on the leaves. She starts to walk through the boughs less full.

and on either side are leaves along the ground. And then finally, you see her in the forest, the trees are bare, dead, branches rising to the sky, snow she trudges through. And what you see is this shimmering light shines down over the small patch of dirt. Maybe this goes back to what the Archbishop was saying. Maybe this is the Raven Queen when she was still part of the Feywild. That's interesting.

Based on what you're looking at, it looks like they're transitioning through seasons, but I would guess that is the Raven Queen based on all the different depictions of her we've seen and that sounds more likely than her just walking for a very, very, very long time. Are these depictions that either Lufty or I would recognize?

I would say it definitely seems to be one of the various depictions that you've seen. You know, you realize that every time that the Raven Queen is depicted, it never shows any kind of specific face. Sometimes it's blank, sometimes it's hooded, sometimes it's a mask, but it's never any specific humanoid face. But we would get the idea that that is the Raven Queen. You get the sense. I would say that that's fair. Is it clear that she's like an elf?

I would say that the tall pointed ears are Elton, for sure. So then I would just, I would just, um, strengthen what Caprice said and basically, you know, basically say, yeah, I get this. This is absolutely...

A depiction of the Raven Queen. You're correct. And so the panels on the wall, they're just like... Mosaics or light? Yeah, what's it look like? Paintings? It is basically these carved bas-reliefs, basically, of this. And then sometimes you get glimpses of light, of color as you look, but sometimes it comes and goes. They're shifting. They're not totally static.

Yeah, as you look at it, it's kind of hard to tell. Is it the tricks of the light shining above is playing a trick on your eyes, or is it actually shifting? Does anybody feel blessed? Do you think that's it? I don't think so. He said you'd have to address all of these things. Yeah, I mean, I always kind of feel good, but maybe not blessed. Have you been drinking? No.

Don't touch me. I'm feeling significantly less gassy, but I feel like with just enclosed spaces like libraries, it's just a matter of time. Oh, is that what that is? No.

No, I haven't let anything out yet. I'll let you know. I'd like to walk up and just touch the last relief. So I guess to the... I assume that would be to the right. Move me next to her. Just kind of like touch it. And as you feel it, you just feel the smooth stone work. Seems to be cool and hard. As you feel it, you run your finger along some of the grooves and it follows, but

Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary besides the fact that it's glowing faintly. Is she walking in the same direction in all of them? Yep. She's walking through. It seems to be going from left to right.

But she's depicted in each one. Correct. Each one is her walking from left to right in a different scene. Is she, like, actively walking? Like, is it animated? She's on the road. She's not moving. It's not animated. Okay. So it's just, like, the colors are kind of animated. They come in and out. Basically, there's an occasional flash of color in this picture. Herja, walk alongside me, if you will. Excuse me, guys. I'm going to start at the first, in what I can only assume to be the spring section, and then I'm going to...

try and walk alongside the reliefs as if I'm making the transition. I'll mimic him, trying to keep in stride. I would say you do that. You walk. You make your way from spring to summer to autumn to winter. And...

Nothing seems to change. Well, it's worth a try. Should we go beyond the last painting? Maybe there's something that opened up over there in that corner. So she's going in that direction. Yeah, I mean, I touched it and I did not feel anything, but I just, I really liked this one. Maybe she walked past it. Yeah, let's check out that corner. Go in that corner. You go. I'll say that you use inspect it. You don't find anything has changed. Well, there's this pile of dirt. Maybe there's like a tunnel down here or something.

Should we dig around? So there's the pile of dirt like in the middle there that said "Glay" or... While everybody's exploring, I'm gonna take 10 minutes to ritual cast Detect Magic on the general area of the Bastard Leafs. Okay. It's around you, so you can walk with it. Okay, all right. Well then I was standing at the written thing anyway, so I'll do it and then I'll move around as necessary. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, no problem.

Anyone else have anything? Take ten minutes. Maybe the memory that we need to lay at rest last is the Raven Queen's memory. She would remember moving from spring to autumn to summer to autumn to winter and transitioning from the Maywild to the Shadowfell maybe? Hello? How could we know what she remembers though? Well you just said it. Perhaps that's all we have to do.

And I listen. Well, I think the important thing to remember is that the very first thing we came into contact with was memories. And if you remember what the Archbishop said, he said we were going to encounter memories, knowledge, winter, fate, death, and ravens. Well, he said she was the goddess of those things. And the very first thing we came into contact with...

to contact with were memories. So it's a possibility this has something to do with knowledge.

Or maybe even winter, which is shown in the very last of the images. Does anyone have the arcane ability? You do illusions. Can you make the illusion in front of each one of these images of what's depicted in them? Like maybe the falling of leaves for autumn or the falling of snow. Yeah, let me give it a shot. Or like mini skirts for summer. It's my fever part. Maybe like sunlight for summer. Walls of time. I want to invest in your dress. Or mini skirts. Okay, make an association chart.

- Not good. - Not good. - Five. - Four. - It looks like a patch of dirt that seems to just kind of just be dirt. - Is there anything in it? - Are you gonna dig around in it? - Yeah, I'll sort of dig around in it. - Okay, so I would say with a five, it'd be very easy to see as you feel around, your finger hits small, almost feels like a bulb or a seed planted deep into the dirt.

Guys, I think there's a plant in here. There's a... like a plant? Well, not like a plant, but perhaps there's like... Have you ever seen a seed?

Yeah, like a cotton pit. Oh yeah! Yeah, I guess, perhaps. Like, you know, if you were to plant a coconut, it would grow into a tree. It's sort of like that, just small. I don't think that's true. Is that true? What? Can you plant a coconut and have a tree? Yeah, that's the scene. That's how it works? Yes, that's the scene of a palm tree. Oh!

Yeah, you plan to cook that. But it's much smaller. Maybe we hit... So I'll take my hand out and I'll say, perhaps we need to water it or give it fertilization somehow? Well, bring it to the surface so we can at least look at it and make sure it's not like a child's skull or something. Are you sure it's a bowl? Oh.

I don't want to disturb it if the whole point is we need to make it grow and then make it kind of transition through all these seasons. Oh, that's genius. All right. Well, you know what? I've got my water still right here. Here, let's water it together. I'll take some water out of it. So. You want me to shit on it? As this happens. I tried.

Both of you pour this water over it from the water scan. And as the water seeps in, it almost starts to shift and turn into little droplets of rain.

that pour down. And Felix, right as they're doing this, your detect magic goes off. And you detect magic humming from this patch of dirt. And it's the school of transmutation. Oh, there's transmutation magic here. And as this happens, the water almost transmutes into droplets of rain as it soaks the soil and suddenly you see the dirt start to rumble.

and a little sprout appears immediately growing out of the dirt. And suddenly, what was just very faint on the wall, the first panel illuminates with a glowing pink light that illuminates the portrait of Sprout. Does the Raven Queen look any different? She... Everything around her seems to be illuminated. She is totally dark.

Interesting. Perhaps is it a door now? Does it look like a doorway? No, I think that we have to do something to emulate each one of these panels. We grew the tree, like in spring. Maybe if someone has the ability to cast sunlight or something, we could utilize that on the tree to enhance its growth for summer. I'll use the cantrip light. Okay.

So, you, uh... Make it yellow. You raise your hand and cast a light. Your hand glows as the light appears. But as the light shines down onto this patch, you see the shift in chain and look at the rays of the sun.

peering down. Suddenly the sprout starts to shoot up and grow and a small tree emerges, a trunk and leaves all around it, directly in front of you. It grows and there's a small miniature tree around you with this bow of green leaves as the panel directly next to the pink one, you know, starts to glow with a faint green light.

And once again, the Raven Queen is completely dark.

But the second baster leaf has now started to glow with a green light, so there's pink and green glowing. Everybody, get on one side and help me blow like the wind. Oh, I can help. Yeah? Oh yeah, she can do that. Yeah, I can hold my breath forever. Just don't do it too much, because we don't want to go straight to winter and fuck it up. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, use like 50% blow. Okay, yeah. Okay, and so I'll just, whatever that's, unending breath or something.

Whatever makes sense, whatever that's called. Is there something you're- Yeah, I can't remember what it's called. Features and traits. It is called unending breath. I was right. Okay. I'm going to use unending breath. Can I- Okay, so it says I can hold my breath indefinitely. Could I also like blow out indefinitely? I would say- Derek is nodding enthusiastically.

The old man. Unending breath. The old man. I would say that unending breath means that you're able. It doesn't. It's about not needing air. Okay. It's not about producing air. Well, not producing. Okay. It's not going to stop you from trying to produce air, though, if you'd like to blow on this plant. Is that what fall's about, though? Fall? Don't you have that thing where you can make a cloud or something? Perhaps that's kind of windy air.

I want to try the blow idea and if that doesn't work, I'm going to put on a light jacket. If that doesn't work, we can try something else. I agree with Caprice and I have wintry tricks up my sleeve, but the transition from spring to winter requires something else. So try what you're thinking.

Okay. So I'll just blow on this thing for like a while. Okay. Why don't you make a performance check? A.K.A. go fuck yourself. Or a constitution check, actually.

Why am I getting fucked? Air Genasi can't blow air. Seems logical. The air is Genasi. Horrible. Touché. Oh shit. Okay, so that was a six. So this will be better. So six is the good one. So eleven is my performance check. Eleven.

I would say you breathe in very deeply and you blow. What are your racial traits, by the way? I believe it doesn't don't energy Nazis get special abilities?

Unending breath was one of them. Yeah, it was mingle with wind and with breath. You can cast levitate. So as you breathe onto this, you breathe very deeply and you start to blow and you start to see that it almost feels like there's some sort of level of empowerment in your chest. You blow and as your breath moves, as soon as it crosses over the patch of dirt by this tree, it starts to whoosh, whoosh, whoosh and whip up and as the

the wind blasts past all of the leaves of the tree turn and shake and turn to a golden orangey and brownish color and suddenly the third bas-relief lights up with an orange glow well I'm I did it I'm happy to do the last one how would you do it frostbite oh that seems reasonable would that kill it

Probably, yes, but it's-- I guess it's the point. Don't you have Chill Touch? Yeah, Iris would know better than anybody that's just the cycle of life. Cycle of life. Is that the same as Chill Touch? So I walk over to the-- it's a small-formed tree at this point, right? Yeah. And I just hold up my hands and cast Frostbite on the tree. Okay. How does that work, by the way? Just remind me. Frostbite is a constitution saving throw for 2d6, con 16. Okay.

As you see Felix's hands glow an icy blue, and suddenly frost starts to creep up its bough, and it starts to form more and more, almost as if all around it transmutes into falling snow. As the leaves shake around and all drop off, you see the trees stand up completely bare now, wither and die.

As the snow erupt, as the snow continues to fall, the final panel on this bachelor glows with a bright blue light. And suddenly the snow around the area gets larger and so it's spread out until suddenly the entire room is bathed in snow almost in the blink of an eye. It is frigidly cold.

as you are all bathed and you feel like you're in at least ankle deep in snow as wind and snow blast you as you are in a it's hard to see and suddenly directly over where the plant was a shimmering figure starts to appear and you all look at it a spectral form starts to materialize and Iris you see a tabaxi woman

Strain, black fur, patchy, old, decrepit, withered, eyes full of regret. Toa, you see a goliath, weak, shriveled. Felix, an old human man, lonely, lofty. You see an Erdonasi, completely abandoned, haggard, injured, weak. Caprice, you see a tiefling.

Eyes full of misery and regret. Persia. Dwarf. Woman. And it seems to be broken down, full of hopelessness, having given up. As each of you sees something that looks like a version of yourself, all in the same figure, standing there. As a voice emanates out. And each of you hears it in your own respective voice. You. You.

have conquered the trials of memory, knowledge, winter, and death. But nothing is more powerful than fate. See if you can change it. And as this creature grows larger and larger, it shifts back and forth as you see that it seems to be you, but then it shifts back to the spectral form with a head, avian and raven-like.

with six eyes, and it shifts back. I need a little more punishment. - Oh! - Oh! - Turn, turn, turn. - I screw, I'm sorry! - Sweet, and Rismas. - Oh, God almighty. - I did it worse. - No, you couldn't have. - Well, I mean, with my modifier maybe, but-- - No, yeah, with your modifier, there's no way.

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