Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 41 | Dream of Mirrors: Part 1
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Hey men, welcome to Legends of Aventress! I'm Toa Komonui and you're listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here's sort of what happened last time. You all had stood around a reforged Rod of Law, but reforged and enhanced into something called the Rod of the Se- er, the Glaive of the Seven Laws, which combined

not just this incredibly powerful artifact, the Rod of the Seven Parts, but also a silver blade made with a special ritual that apparently was from the 13th Order itself. And you then unfortunately saw that Herja had fallen to corruption from Misk of the Wolf Spider after being slain by him, the first party member to fall.

You then whisked her away as a golden lotus came to grab the glaive, and Herja was then started to be healed by golden lotus and her father Torvald Ambleheart.

You then went back to your dwellings and found that Revali was even more devoted to the Eternal Blossom and to Golden Lotus and to the Orcs of Mogur Kai than ever before. And with a little bit of sneakery, you had found that there were now fleshy tendrils on his chin, just as you had also learned there were fleshy tendrils on the chin hidden in Torvald Anvilheart's beard as well. That's an oofta. A big oofta. That's a big oofta.

As the Horned Legion marched upon the city, you were invited to a private dinner with the Warchief as they finished preparations. It was there that the dinner was interrupted by a halfling.

The halfling was Kargash, who you had met in Folsong, the village where he had been corrupted and then killed by you, and then reincarnated by Iris, or Anubis, I suppose, into a halfling. He finally arrived on his goat. He was almost going mad by being that close to the avatar of Baphomet for so long, but he was warning the Warchief and all of you of a plan for Baphomet to cut through the city, cut through the forces, and get to the seal.

Not the Arf-Arf seal, Derek, I cut you off there. Not an Arf-Arf seal, the glowing seal that imprisoned Tharizdun, the Chained God. And you took that into account and prepared for the final battle. It was that evening where Caprice made a deal with Glossia, his...

his patron, the arch devil that owns his soul. And he decided to go against his party and try to steal it, steal the Glaive of the Seven Walls in the middle of the night. He then did it. He managed to actually sacrifice his lucky tuning fork to grab onto it and some sort of soul transfer and something happened. However, as he was getting ready to make off with it, he was put to sleep by a strange presence.

And woke up in his bed, no glaive, seemingly failing his mission. And then the battle the next day with Warchief Shingoro Frostfang leading the charge. But you all were stationed near the palace, which is where, beneath which the seal had been, was definitely kept.

And you then, after the battle started, as the Beastmen crashed against the walls of Mogra Kai, Baphomet revealed his true plan, sacrificing a number of devils that had been imprisoned. His former allies, the minions of Moloch, who had been carried all this way,

All of them were sacrificed and a massive ritual was enacted and a colossal labyrinth arose from the earth. Ancient charred stone erupted and sent the city crumbling to the ground and he and two massive Gerishro generals thundered through. You then met him in combat and protected the seal the best that you could and

delayed as long as you could, slaying the Geristros, but taking some heavy blows from the avatar of the Demon Lord. And then you're seemingly tired of the battle. Baphomet's

paralyzed all of you and was going to slaughter you when it was interrupted by Kargash himself riding over with his goat and his sword, interrupting the channeling but then unfortunately losing his life in the process. He begged you to gain vengeance and you managed to continue the battle and weaken Baphomet enough and delay him long enough until Hisaki could fly above carrying Golden Lotus, Persia,

Torvald and Warchief Frostfang. Warchief Frostfang needed an opening, you provided him that, and he tore down the center of the avatar, the massive minotaur of Baphomet, and the power of the blade caused the beast to just completely explode into gore and viscera. However, in the process, it claimed the soul of Warchief Frostfang.

aging him very quickly and killing him. As the glaive landed on the ground, it pierced the ground of the seal and somehow absorbed the final remaining conduit, breaking the seal, absorbing its power as you all were paralyzed from the resulting explosion. And Golden Lotus arrived, claimed the glaive,

Not just the glaive of Warchief Frostfang, the glaive of the Seven Walls, but also the glaive that was wielded by Baphomet, the Heart Cleaver. And in the process revealed her true form, she transformed into an ancient gold dragon. She claimed both weapons and stated her name was Rajani, the Eternal Blossom. There was no goddess. She was a dragon enacting

throughout this entire time. And she claimed both of the weapons and with the power of Torvald and Herja, attempting to forge them together into a super weapon that could spread, combine Beast Plague, but with her own control and spread it across the entire continent, maybe even further. And she flew off to her lair. And with that, that's where we all start. So you all know

are recovering from your paralysis. The formerly pulsing, gyrating, energy-filled chamber of the seal, the seventh seal to you because you know this is the seventh seal that has been broken, as far as you know, is now dormant, quiet. The only sound around you is the distant sounds of the battle that's still going on.

between the orcs and the horn legion. But you can tell from the grunts and the roars that these armies know that the avatar of its demon lord has been slain, and there seems to be confusion and chaos and panic. A surprising response from such hardened, vicious, evil monsters. But that seems to be what you can hear. The entire chamber is coated in the gore of Baphomet.

coating your bodies and you can feel its horrible, demonic, chaotic corruption over you. And it's sickening. And the smell is almost as bad as the look. It's not just blood, it's this putrid, blood of a putrid color. And as your body, having been paralyzed so often by the strange power of the seals, you finally

regain control of your bodies. And for what feels like the first time in so long, a relative calm in the midst of this battle washes over the chamber. What do you all do? Oh my goodness. You can move again. Is everyone all right? I think so. Are you okay? I'm a little bruised. I'm really hurt.

This is the seventh seal that's broken. Something really bad could happen now. Something really bad almost did happen. I almost died. Didn't you see that? I think we all almost died. It's a good thing that we didn't die, but clearly this... Who's just gone now? Well, if you remember, I did tell you that this was all going to

Yes.

Figure out what to do next. I need a minute to. I'm going to sit down. I'll sit down and begin flipping through my spell book. I will cast a 6-level Mask Heroine. I accept right away. A healthy slap would make me unconscious right now.

Oh, I would cry over your lifeless body and hope that Anubis accepts you into his realm. I don't think he would. I don't think so either. Anyway. I'm going to do my ritual. Okay. As you do that ritual. I'm also going to cast a fifth level mask your way. Oh, lols. Okay. Is that instant? Yeah, there are two actions. Ooh.

- Ooh. - Ez? - But you know what? 'Cause I'm at seven hit points. I'm also going to, I wanna combine three things if the DM will allow. - When the DM says Ez, Ez. - I'm also going to cast a Beacon of Hope so they're all at max healing. - That's a great play. - And so it will be a total of, hold on, can you ask me? - So you would like to blow your load? - Yes. - Mm, blow your load on us.

Sorry, what? I know when Iris blows a huge load all over us. 78 plus 10. And that's max. 78. Oh, 70. I don't think she said 70. No, no, no. 58 plus. 56, 66. Plus 10, so 66. Yeah, everyone heals for 60. Not 60, 60. 66. Definitely puts me in full. 66.

I'm not close to full. When everyone is done calculating, please let me know. Maybe I need my character sheet. That would be charming. Okay. Iris. You... You kneel down and you...

pull all of the rest of the power after this weary battle, as you call to Anubis for a beacon of hope in this, after this horrible turn of events. And this pillar of golden light emerges and beams down, not just on you, but all of your allies. And you all feel that familiar sensation of warm sands and desert winds as the light

the light flashes over you and your wounds start to heal and you feel the presence of Anubis. And all of you look as Iris is at the center of this chamber and Iris' eyes flash brighter, utilizing this incredible power, this divine power. And you see her eyes flash forward as they roll back and she crumples to the ground. Iris, you feel your own wounds healing.

as you call upon the power of Anubis to heal your friends, you've done this, but in such a great, in such a short period of time to call upon this power, you've rarely done that. And as you feel Anubis' power channel through you and heal yourself and your allies, you feel a presence all around you. You feel his presence, his divine presence, stronger than

than you ever have besides the moments that you've actually been faced with him. You've been face to face with him. And then you also feel an absence that's alarming, that's sickening. The loss of the seal, you almost feel the weight of what's just happened. As suddenly you close your eyes and when you open them again, you feel fine, but you are no longer in the chamber of the seal.

You feel the scalding, abrasive heat of desert sand, the howling wind around you, dark, roiling, looming clouds barely visible through the sand being whipped through the storm. And from what you can see of this landscape, you see massive dunes. And something about this feels somewhat familiar.

It feels similar to the relative landscape of your home in Nekbet, deserts that surround Sekhet. But everything about this feels more grand, darker, something unnatural or supernatural about wherever you are. And you realize that through the sand directly ahead of you, there is a small, a small triangle shape.

of stone, of bricks. It's no more than several feet tall. And as your eyes adjust, it glows with silver light and shoots a beam into the sky. It pierces the cloud cover as it swirls around, forming a ring through the silver beam, piercing the sky of this place. And suddenly, you almost lose your footing as the sand begins to shift all around you.

and you feel a great rumbling from beneath your feet. As the sand clears away, pouring away from just this very small statue of stone becomes larger and larger and larger as you get pulled away with the sand as it falls around. And before you in a matter of moments, an absolutely colossal pyramid is before you. You see huge steps flanked by statues

of jackal-headed men and a door, a large stone door, above which is a hieroglyphic symbol that resembles an owl, and flanking it is the carvings of chains as it all begins to pulse with silver light and silver energy and silver magic. And

You see as all of the brickwork now that builds this mighty pyramid, far larger and more grandiose than anything that you've seen at home, all the brickwork is now pulsing with a chaotic silver light, as if it's something inside is threatening to break free, and the magic that surrounds this place is attempting to contain it. And you now see along with the chains that they are

Only six lights and dim, very dim, are seven. And then suddenly you feel a presence behind you and you hear a rumbling voice as you suddenly gain control within this horrible desert. Do you now see why I called you to this land, my child? You hear the voice of Anubis. What do you do? I...

will turn but keep my head down, not making eye contact. As I buckle my knees and sink to the ground, I bury my hands in the sand, push them forward and place my forehead at the tips of my fingers. And I will say, "I heard you call in my dreams, and I have followed you every step of the way." "You have, my child. But now, what?"

I have attempted to prevent, can no longer be stopped. The seventh seal has broken. The power of the land of Striga, the power of death, the power of the owl, the power of the goddess herself, the power of the prime, can no longer hold what is entombed ahead of you. We must now prepare for the chained god to become unchained.

I will do as you wish. Order it and it will be done. This land is a godless land of false idols. A land of death. One connected to where you and your companions have found yourselves. This is where he has been imprisoned. You must muster all of our weapons and power against him.

the Chain God, the Seven Angels, the Rod of Law, and then you must lead your allies east. What awaits us in the east? It is there, the land to the east, the land of the Elves of Dusk, is the land most connected to the realms of death, to the realms beyond the mist. It is there,

you'll be able to act as my vessel in these godless lands. I am the only one, the only divine force that can even peer into this place. But I do not have power here. I will do what I can to hold Tharizdun at bay. But this land is hostile to the divine, and so it will be hostile to you. But you must

Gather your friends, gather your power, and do what must be done when the Chain God is finally free. As you will it, so it shall be. In mind and body, I am yours. So you always have been, and so you always shall be. As above, so below. And you will always walk in my shadow.

And you see now that Anubis does not stand before you, but the massive shadow of a jackal-headed man looms over you, and you feel his presence. And as his rumbling voice fades, suddenly your eyes open. You are on the smooth stone ground of that dormant seal chamber. Oh, I have a... What happened, pretty kitty? I have had a vision from Anubis.

Well, I didn't see anything. What did he say? As far as doom, we'll be free. What do you mean, we'll be free? The seventh seal has been broken. Only six remain. I saw the dim lights on a pyramid of death. We have to find the rod. We will need it. We need the power of the seven angels. We must muster them.

And we are tasked to head to the east, to a land of dust elves, to a land of mist. And I fear you may have to travel into the land of death itself. Whoa, whoa, hold on a second. So what you're saying is that the seal's breaking is inevitable? There's nothing we can do? We have failed. But that does not mean we cannot stop the worst of what is to come. We must be quick. We cannot dawdle on this.

More than half of the seals are broken, and Anubis cannot hold him at bay forever. Did he say how much time he needs? Well, let me check my diary. Did Anubis give me a date and- No, he did not! Toa! Oh, I just figured he may be- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for asking. He did not sound. If a god knows fear, I'm afraid he may know it. It's not good.

So if we have time, it is not much. Would Lufty and I know about the Dusk Elves? Yes. You would know that Skaerthornel is the northeastern nation of Dusk Elves. And these are Shadarchai, but the humans have called them Dusk Elves. Those relations can't be good.

They're not. They are the worst of the relations. They are the most mysterious, they are the most hated. And you saw how much Korovakia hated the orcs and the Aarakocra. The relations with the Dusk Elves, with the Shatterkai of Skaerthraniel are... it's very, very bad. Listen, Iris.

I'm in this as much as I can be. I'm not going anywhere, but... Are you sure we have to go to where the Dusk Elves are? Have you been there before? We are not going to be well received there. I mean, I'm usually down for anything, but... Even I don't like that. ...that we've been well received anywhere we've been. Every place we've traveled, whether we meet people who are kind at face value or not, we've been met with nothing but lies and deceit.

Only Anubis tends to hold truth. The Desk Girls are gonna make this past stuff look like a picnic. How do you know that? Just because Xehan told you? It was probably lies. It's not just Xehan. And yes, it could be lies, but there's a lot of history, Taa. A lot of history.

Or maybe we'll disguise you as an elf. Look, I'm maybe an owl person. I'm not worried about that. I'm just saying it's going to make things really difficult. And if Thor's doom breaks free and we do that? Well, we're all dead anyway. All of Aventress is gone. So, why are we arguing about the Dusk Elves? I don't think we're arguing. We're bracing ourselves. Horace makes a good point. Everyone that we've been led, every person that has tried to lead us, even though we've

been able to stop devastating threats. We've been fooled, we've been tricked, we've been... Xur has been guided by a six-eyed bird just like everyone else! Anubis is the only... guide that we can trust. You pronounced God wrong. God? God? God? God? He said "guy". Oh. He's a goat. I meant "guide". Guide.

God? Did I mean God? I can't do this right now, Jo. I have a throbbing headache. The point is, I trust Iris, and I understand what needs to be done. I'm just warning everybody. That's all. Be prepared. It's gonna get our way. Where do we start? Well, we've got to get Zoran back. Yes. And... And rescue her, Jo. Yes. Oh, yeah. That too. Caprice, are you okay?

That was a tough fight for me. I didn't care for that. I'm sorry also for chomping you with my T-Rex mouth in the middle there. I was a little confused. Well, I wasn't going to bring it up, but since you did, poor taste. It was a poor taste. Did we see what direction she flew off then? Yes. You saw that she flew north, basically directly north.

What do we do now? We can't keep up with Hisaki. And there's... We have no means to follow them. But they can't be going very far, right? She said that they were going to the lair, maybe?

You got the sense that they were going to the lair, and that there were, like, preparations that needed to be done. So you get the sense that it's not like, probably isn't like an immediate thing that's going to happen immediately, but it's underway. Well, what I would say is I'm not quite familiar with dragons, but I would imagine if I were a dragon, and I were trying to manipulate and control an entire populace of people, I would keep my lair closed. So I tend to bring things to date.

Of course, down on the commute. Yes. If that's the only lead we have, then we gotta follow it. Do we have a way to fly? I look at Felix. Do you have a way to fly? Whoa! Have you ever seen me do that? I don't know. You do lots of stuff. You make me really fast. Maybe you can make me so fast that I can leap into the air and start flying around. Oh, Tela. And I just pat him on the shoulder. I reach out and I pat him on the shoulder. I guess not.

Could you send Beatrice to scout, at the very least? Absolutely. She's certainly not as fast as Sasaki, but if she can scout out the area, it might take a few hours or even a day, but I'm absolutely willing to try. I think that is probably our best bet. If she could pinpoint the location we're traveling to, it's better to wait and head in the proper direction than to blindly leave and have to backtrack. Right.

and I will call on Beatrice and she'll appear and land on my finger and I will whisper to her directions to fly north, you know, the descriptions of what we're looking for and, uh,

You know, that's about it. Roger that. So she nods with that strange kind of animal sentience that familiars tend to have, you know, and she fully understands what you're asking of her. And she gets the sense that it's, you get the sense that it's going to be probably a pretty major undertaking and may not be successful, but she's going to give it her best shot. So

So you see the little blue bird fly off into the air and fly north. And can I get a perception check for Beatrice for her whole...

Her whole biz. You can in a minute. I believe it's at an advantage. I will get back to you on that. Is that all right? Yeah, yeah. At some point. We'll just move forward and I will let you know what it is as soon as... So you all watch the little bluebird fly off into the sky as you hear the sounds of battle behind you to the south. Starts to get a little bit...

a little bit less chaotic as if it is dying down. And yeah, that's what you hear. - Do I hear any signs of like troop movement within the vicinity? Like, is anyone like, do I get a sense that there's any battles happening near this whole network? - I would say make a perception check for me.

Oh, that was almost a natty 20. I was going to say, I saw that. Skills. Perception. That's not very good. Oh, no, that's not bad. 20. 20. I would say that you sound like the battle is getting further away from you.

as if, and you get the sense that most of the voices that you're hearing are orcs shouting to each other as if, and it sounds as if like perhaps they're routing or driving away the horn legion. - It just gets to 24. - 24, you got that. - Oh my goodness. - You rolled a natty 20. - I did. - Nice. - You gotta give it up. - I have made a note of the natty 20, the 24.

Well done, Beatrice, well done. The birds can get natural 20s because of flares. She rolled very well. I would like to negate that. How far away is Beatrice? Luckily a skills check is not a crit. Not today! Exactly right. Okay. So I sit down on the ground and I say: I need to take a little bit of a rest before we continue, but

It sounds like the orcs have won the day, but I worry. Are they our enemies now? I'm very confused. I hadn't thought about that. Well, if we're going north and then east, not a problem, yeah? Well, I just mean as far as getting north, are they going to...

How in communication is this dragon with, I guess, her troops now? Well, I think that depends. Does she want to continue to pour the wool over their eyes and make them believe that there is a golden lotus that is some kind of deity? Or does she want to continue... Or does she want to tell them flat out? My guess is subterfuge.

In which case, she's going to have to deal with Persia first, so we probably have the evening, if we're lucky. I could be wrong, of course. In which case, we could die in our sleep. We should definitely keep a low profile and go from there. But I don't think that it would be safe for us to return to the city. Our best bet might honestly be to stay on this broken seal. Well, I mean, the city's pretty much entirely destroyed, I think. There can't be much of it left.

And we'd have to get our way out of this maze too. - Do we know what's north of us from the point that we're in? - It's basically mountains. - It's just mountains. - Yep. It's basically mountains and it's not been anything that you've traversed. You saw that the view from your little area looked north and there was just these beautiful kind of like fog and mist shrouded valleys and mountains going north for sure.

Well, we could just go into the mountains, like right on the side of the battle. Get out of it, you know? Take a country vacation, if you will.

I think you're right. I... I just... I don't know anymore. I feel like I'm trying to be so trusting. And everyone is a bad guy. Oh, Toa. Give him a hug, please. Look at your friend. All right. Are you a bad guy, Felix? And I hug him. Even though he's way taller than me. That's so sweet. I love to see this friendship between people. The little and the big. Wouldn't that be ironic if Felix did end up being...

The BBEG. What's that? A BBEG? Well, it means Big Bad Evil Guy. Oh, that's weird. Didn't you think so, Toa, that that would be quite ironic if you trusted Felix from the first moment that you met him? Oh, yeah. He was with you every day of this journey, and at the very end he turned on you. I don't think that would be very ironic. That would be sad. They're not mutually exclusive. Well, as far as I know, I'm not evil.

I mean, I've done some pretty horrible things in the past, but I'm trying to fix that. I'm trying to make up for that. I wouldn't betray you. Is that your know-of? Well, sure. I mean, but nobody can know anything. What if you're being controlled by some ultimate power? Well, I mean... How many eyes does Beatrice have? Only two. I haven't looked lately. Just two. Are you sure? Did you check just now? Did you, like, confirm that she only has two eyes? Yeah, of course. All right. And they're definitely not red. And, I mean, any one of us can be controlled by some higher evil or power.

But all we can do is stick together and not cause anything to come between us. We all look at Cooper. Ding, ding, ding, ding. I'm just tuning my vehicle here. The point is, I'm not going to betray you. And we've all become really good friends. And we're really all we have for each other. So nothing's going to stop that now. And we can't let anything break us up. You're right.

I actually have friends all over the world, but, I mean, you guys are cool. I do enjoy you. I don't believe her. Why not? Why? Does she... Do you think she has any friends? No, it's just a hunch. Oh. I don't think you do, Lufty. Oh, you didn't have to say that out loud! Ah! Well, Tawa, now I have one less friend. Oh, no, I mean, that's what Felix said! Too less! I didn't... I can confirm that Lufty does know how to...

Gain an ally. Oh, you... Could you teach us how to do that? I'm sure she can. Yeah, with lots of practice. You'll start training soon, huh? Yes, yes, I would love that very much. You will. Somebody will.

We'll all be able to hear how much you enjoy it. Very much looking forward to that. Throw up my teacup. Do I notice that Caprice tuning his viol or violin does not have his tuning fork anymore? Ooh, make an insight check. Would it be insight or perception? Oh yeah, perception, yeah. Not good. Not good. Seven. You're oblivious. Yeah.

You big dumb rock. I'm literally a rock. Can we say that we took a short rest? I would say at this point, you take the short rest and you actually start to hear the footsteps and marching of troops and

and boots getting a little bit closer. And you now look around and you see directly, basically this entire time, you see the withered, shriveled corpse of Warchief Frostfang as it's still on the ground. And you remember that crackling helmet that he had now has kind of clattered to the side as he's almost kind of withered out of it.

- I would have, I feel at this point, 'cause I would have seen it. I would have started tending to him and started to prepare like a burial or something. - Yeah, so you clean all of the horrible gore off of it. And so you get him all situated. You probably put the helmet back on if you cared to do that and get him kind of turned over in a way. And you get the sense that like, this looks like,

an orc who was far, far, far, far older than he ever should have been when he died. And now it looks as if his age has caught up with him from whatever sort of sacrifice or soul transference he had used in order to take the power of Baphomet and the seal into this weapon that

that the Eternal Blossom Rajani... I would like to cast Reincarnate. Oh, I'm just kidding. Oh my god. It's canceled. It fails. It fails. It fizzles. Now you die of natural causes. You can't be re-created. That's an interesting point. Yeah. Ah. Learn something every day. Um... I'm sorry if I asked this already. What time of day is it? It is... It's evening. Okay.

- It is, so they attacked at sunset and it's probably been a couple hours at this point. So it's into- - Does it sound like they're making their way toward us or further away? - It sounds if like- - Does it seem like it would be safe to camp here for the night? - So you get the sense that the,

that some of the troops, I would say that you'd be able to do this pretty easily. That a lot of the troops have been pulled from the front line as they've been routing the Horned Legion are now starting to fan out to the city to check on what's going on. And I would say you don't even need to roll a perception check. You see where there had been massive charred stone walls of the labyrinth

have now all crumbled to dust with the death of Baphomet. So the wreckage is all still there, but the labyrinth is now gone. But you get the sense that at some point, it is probably likely that there will be people checking in on you, or checking in on the chamber and the ruins of the palace. And you see that very...

that beautifully gilded roof is kind of falling down towards the side and you see the head of one of the statues of Warchief Frostfang kind of tipped forward in the ruins of the palace above you. Have I been to Rajani's like hut or whatever building in the city? All of you have, yeah.

You went through it to get to that glade where you had teleported to Limbo. And you told Beatrice to go north, right? To follow, yeah. Go in the direction of where Rajani had gone. I will kind of kneel down during the short rest and I'll take my figurines out and place them as close as I can, north, west, east and south. And I will say, "Experience."

We may need your aid in the coming battle. Perhaps you can help right now. And I'm going to pray and use clairvoyance to place a... to consult the spirits and...

Send one of my ancestors or spirits or however you can flavor it however you want into the Glade to see the fate of the Glade currently now that this has all happened. Like is it still, is it like totally destroyed by the maze or is it somehow protected? Do I see anything happening? Okay, how does clairvoyance work? Is it just, is it scrying? I create an invisible sensor within range of one mile. So it's within one mile.

That sensor remains for the duration of 10 minutes. It can't be attacked or otherwise interacted with. When I cast a spell, I choose seeing or hearing. I can use a chosen sense through the sensor as if I were in that space. I'm gonna choose seeing.

And I can switch between hearing and seeing as an action. - I would say that you consult the spirits and your tattoos once again glow and your eyes flash with that same color and your senses are transferred to the glade of the eternal blossom and you see the wreckage

of the hut that the Golden Lotus, Rajani in disguise had been staying, but the glade itself is entirely untouched and pristine. And there's a bit of a breeze through and the wind whips around as your sensor emerges, whipping around north. And you see the several of the petals fly off of the trees and land onto that beautiful shimmering pool. - In no sense of,

Any movement or any-- No, besides just the trees and the wind, that's basically what you see for the entire duration. And you see that the-- Obviously it's night, and the moonlight is enough to illuminate this glade, but you see that the fog is kind of rolling in, the mist is getting a little bit thicker north, but that's about all you see.

Well, she destroyed her own home here in the city. I guess she didn't, but the Horned Legion did, but the Glade is entirely undisturbed. Perhaps through chance, or maybe it's somehow protected, magically. Hmm. It's impossible. It could be somehow linked to Elin, and that's why it's not. She would have had to have a way to get to O'Lear from the city.

It's certainly possible. Maybe some sort of a teleportation circle or some sort of, you know, magical link. It's a good suggestion. Couldn't she just fly? If she didn't want to draw attention to herself. She manipulated everyone by telling them that she was simply a servant of the god. A higher being, at the very least. The magic would be instant. There wouldn't be any kind of flight time. Fair point. I don't know, really.

First we need to figure out how we're going to get out of here. Is there like any way that we can climb out or? - It's not like down, isn't it? - So yeah, you're underground and you get the sense that you might be able to like scramble up some of the wreckage in order to get up. There are enough footholds to climb up if you cared to. - Are we ready to start going? - Yes. - Yeah.

I feel pretty good now. You feel okay? I feel... yeah. I'm not gonna die anytime soon. Are you fine, sir? I'm alright, yes. Yes, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling refreshed. Um, worried. And hopefully no more betrayals, right guys? Yeah, we'll see. Yeah, we will see. But just keep an eye on that one, yeah?

You don't have to worry about me, Toa. I got your back. Honor, honor, honor. Should we do anything for Mr. Frostfang before we go? Yes. I have prepared the body. If Felix would do the honor of lighting it ablaze, I think it is time we send his sword to rest. Sure. Oh, wait, wait. I'll pull out my wine skein.

Is it my saying that right? Skin. Skain? Skin. Skin. Wine skin. Skeen! Skeen. You could say skeen, I mean... Isn't it spelled skeen? I think so. Skeen. Skeen. Is it I-E or E-I? Skeen. Skeen. It's gonna be a skin. I'm gonna pull up my wine skin and take a drink and then pour some of the wine over the top of the body. Take a step back. Are we ready? Yes. It is his time. One for the road.

I'll walk up to the body and with just a simple wave and a snap of my finger, I will press to agitate some flame. Okay. To light the ceremony.

You do that. The funeral pyre. As soon as that little wick of flame hits the body with the wine and the preparations that Iris has made to the body, it goes up in flame and probably...

and how shriveled and withered that the body is as well. It burns very quickly. - It basically can burn. - It effectively was, yeah. - Come on! - And you see that where it had once been that rich,

slightly green-blue. It is now just kind of this very pale faded blue and then it goes up and soon the body is entirely engulfed in flame and it's really just almost an empty husk inside of that armor. And as it burns, all the armor and clothing burns and smoke billows up from the hole in the roof of this chamber.

And as it burns, you see that everything catches fire except for the helmet that seems to be impervious to the flame until there's really nothing more than just ashes and the helmet where his head had been. Well, we're ready. All right. Should we take this? I'll pick up the helmet. You grab it. It's a pretty large helmet. This was an incredibly massive orc in his prime.

What do we do with this? It feels weird just to kind of leave this here. Is it... I'm assuming it's, like, too big for Toa to wear? I guess it's probably about the same size, decent for Toa, perhaps. No, that would be disrespectful. Yeah. A jawbone clamors out. Jeez. The only part that didn't incinerate. As you are looking around and getting ready to leave and with the helmet, you hear...

You hear what sounds like footsteps, but it sounds like almost heavy slamming, and it seems to have a strange gait, what sounds like a beast is approaching. As you hear heavy breathing, it almost kind of sounds like the howling of wind. As a shadow looms over and peers through the smoke, and you see the face of a slavering yeti.

as it looms over, as you see behind the yeti's head, an orc who seems to be riding this beast looks down into the chamber below through the smoke. And you recognize this orc as Beast Lord Harthak. As he looks at all of you and then at the helmet and at the whole patch of ash and he calls out, "What has happened here?"

Your chief, he fell. He was tricked by Golden Lotus. Tricked by Golden Lotus? Yes, yes. We just gave him a proper burial, but he killed the beast without realizing that it would end his life as well. The Warchief is dead. The Warchief is dead, yes. Yes.

The ground slightly rumbles as the yeti leaps from the top of the roof and slams down in the center of the space and looms over you as the orc riding it peers down at the helmet, especially at you, Toa. We were told by Eternal Blossom

To trust her. There's no way that she has been... She has betrayed our Warchief. She told us that all was well. The Eternal Blossom doesn't exist! Golden Lotus is the Eternal Blossom. An ancient gold dragon. You have been duped as has your Warchief. Not disrespect his death by fighting against the truth when it stares you so plainly in the face. With his final breath, he cursed her name.

He called her a witch. You should know that. Make a persuasion check of advantage. Who? You would like to. Fine, I'll do it. I'm the most persuasive as a rock. I'm still tuning, but I'll... You said at advantage. I'm going to give you inspiration. No, you're not. You have never given me inspiration, so that's a lie. I don't recognize you.

I don't remember what my inspiration is right now. Is it a D, eight or ten? It's gotta be an eight or ten, yeah. It's gotta be a ten. Wa-wa-woo-ah. Ten's pretty high. You know, if you had D and D beyond. It's what? Why wouldn't I write that down? Jesus. It starts at six, eight, ten, twenty-four. It's gotta be ten.

It doesn't start at four, right? It starts at six. It does start at four. I think it starts at four. Inspiration. No, no, you get, not the level, the die. No. Because as a third level bard in prime, I have d6s. Oh, shit. Well, color me surprised. And as you talk, well, Caprice looks that up. Unless it's a certain subsection. As you talk to him, you see that there is, that the,

that the Yeti that he's riding is moving around erratically a little bit and his eyes are looking a little bit wild and then subdued. And it reminds you of what you had seen happen to the beasts when Baphomet and the Horned Legion had marched closer to the city.

Yeah. I think we cash that in. I think we do. I think we do indeed. Just based on her laughing, I think we're cashing in on a twist of fate. We have them for a reason. Let's average this out. I've got a three and a six for my 2D20s. I got a one on my D10. We're going to twist that. Thank you, Chad. Yeah.

I got an 8. Better than nothing. So that's 9. Plus 9, 18. 18. See? Well, there you go. That's very persuasive. You see with the wildness of the Yeti, its eyes are bloodshot as well.

And you look up and through the horned helmet, clearly made of yeti hide with yeti horns, this beast lord looks at you with eyes that are somewhat similar. As you all look around at yourselves too, at each other, and you actually look that there's a bit of

through the gore of a Baphomet that you had cleaned yourselves off of. - It's 16, it's 16. - 16. - 16. - My math is really bad, it's a 16. - Got it, got it. And he looks at all of you and he kind of closes his eyes and then, and closes his eyes and covers his face. - No, there's no way that's possible. - Stance to reason, no.

No. And he's kind of gripping, he's kind of gripping his tendrils on his chin. And you see now that they're, that you had, you seen them the previous evening and that they, that when you had seen them, they were certainly longer than they are now.

They're just only probably three inches long at this point, as the tendrils on his chin. They're receding? They have seemed to have receded from the previous evening. Interesting. And he... There's no way that is right. If you all are with...

the helmet of my warchief and all I have is your word versus the word of the eternal blossom a goddess herself the only rational explanation is that you assassinated him

And his eyes kind of go back and forth, and they almost look to... It reminds you of the wild beasts that had been in a similar state the previous night. And the Yeti starts to get a little bit panicked as he is kind of looking back and forth, and he kind of stops towards you. The Yeti then stops towards you, Toa, and then stops even closer, and he leans forward.

What do you guys do? I would immediately dagger in hand, like defensive stance, prepare to... But then, wait a minute. Not let Toa get eaten. Why in the world would we want to kill him? There's no reason for it. Luffy's right. You have to believe us. This doesn't have to go any farther than this.

And that gigantic beast, Baphomet himself, he's defeated. He's gone. Your warchief was successful. It might have taken his life, and that's not something that we can fix. But he did what he set out to do. And think about you. If you were to assassinate somebody, would you just sit around and stare at your good work? Or would you hightail out of there like Golden Lotus did? That's a very good point.

I would say make a persuasion check. Again, for inspiration. As the words stop him momentarily, he pulls up on the reins of this massive yeti. And this yeti is large, but it's not as... The orc. That's an orc on top, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Does he seem like...

Looking at him with my clerical abilities, is there something I could roll to determine whether he seems to be under some kind of mental enchantment? Hmm. How about make an arcana or medicine check your choice? Okay. Can you pick a die that's going to not suck butt when I roll it? Blue, yellow, or designs. Designs. I don't know. That's not the play. That wasn't. It was a natural one.

You're welcome. We have twist for a reason. We're twisting it. Butt suckers. Thank you for the twist, chat. Thank you, chat. Suckin' on butts. I think blue is always a choice. Suckin' on butts. Suckin' on butts. Suckin' on butts.

Huh? That's right, Mike. Do with it what you will. I'm going to let Iris roll this and see what she does. It's a five, but I'm going to... I want to see what this one would have rolled better. The rest of you are shot. It wasn't in the cards. You've been shunned. And you said Arcana or Medicine. Yep. Medicine's fine, pretty good. I hate my dice. Oh, that's pretty good. Okay.

It's difficult to tell. There seems to be some sort of strange conflict going on there, but you're not really sure what it is. That's all you can really determine. Well, I will still decide to do the thing I'm going to try and do. Hey guys, is it just me, or is his kindness flap starting to... As he turns to you, Lufty, as you try to talk to him, and he says, She said that outsiders would try to...

play with our minds and turn us against each other and against her, but we have achieved everything because of the eternal blossom. And the yeti snarls, and you are pelted with this putrid saliva of this beast. It stomps towards you now, away from Toa. As Iris, what are you doing? I am going to use my feline agility and my cat's claws to scale the wall. Kitty cat.

And I'm gonna climb as, I'm gonna just try to get to a place where I can touch him.

And I'm going to cast... Oh, he's on the ground there? Oh, I thought he was up there. He jumped down. Oh, I was imagining the Yeti like up looking down at us. I'm like, oh God, the Yeti's going to break my head. The Yeti's going to break my head. Oh, well, in that case, no cat's claws, no feline agility. I am just going to like use my feline grace to zip around him. I'm going to touch him and I'm going to cast a spell evil and good.

What is that? How does that work? I'm going to use the break enchantment as my action. The creature I touch is no longer charmed, frightened, or possessed by a creature that is a celestial elemental fey fiend or an undead.

No dragon. Oh, is a dragon something different than that? I don't know. That would have been my guess. Usually they include dragons in those lists. Oh, I didn't even think about that. I think you're going in the wrong direction. I mean, try it. Well, you gotta get to him first. Why do you? I would say, as you run around, we're going to do an athletics or acrobatics contest against the Yeti. Oh, dear God. You should win yourself. I'm about to get smushed. This Yeti is gonna smash my head. Shit. Shit.

- Oh, why? - Yeah, not the way you're-- - When you said acrobatics or athletics? - Yeah. - Why? - 13.

13. Well, I rolled a natural 1 for the yeti. Yay! He only has +14. Nah, nah, he's still a beast. And so you see as the yeti snarls as you attempt to sprint towards the Beast Lord, as the yeti raises massive hands, slams it down, its white fur, its white shaggy fur whips through the air and

But you are able to dodge out of the way and reach up and grab the leg of Beast Lord Harthak, and you channel the power of Anubis. And you see now, as you get close, that there is the, you see that there's a struggle

in the Beast Lord's face, as he glows with the power of Anubis, that you feel the warm desert wind on your skins, it whips through and it whips the hair of the yeti back and forth. As his eyes go wide, the bloodshot eyes, as black fur starts to grow on his face, and then-- Oh shit. As his tendrils start to shrink back, and then it

It returns back into his face and the tendrils extend longer and longer and then back and forth and back and forth until he's completely engulfed in golden light and suddenly as his tendrils sink into his chin and his eyes return to normal and he's just an orc in front of you.

And you see that the golden light has flashed and engulfed the Yeti as well. And where there had once been conflict and panic, now it seems to have returned to normal. And the Yeti collapses, exhausted. And the Beast Lord falls off and rolls down. And his eyes kind of flutter. And he...

heaves himself up. What did you do to me? I released you from whatever hold was on your mind. Are you okay? Do you feel a little better? Not so cranky now? Or do you feel the opposite? More cranky. And we should just go. I am so tired. Oh, yeah. What did you do to my Yeti? What? What? What did you do? I used Anubis' power to break...

Whatever enchantment was washing over his mind. I couldn't be sure there was one, but if there was, I could sever it. And it worked! It was worth the risk. Though it has left me feeling very weak. How do you feel? Tired. Confused. I don't know if I can trust my own mind anymore. I feel anger. Confusion. I want you...

Submit no longer. That's good. Yes, and you should focus your anger and your rage and sense of justice against Rajani, the Eternal Blossom, which is actually a dragon. I fear that everyone you know, they're still under her control. Or whatever, if not her, whatever controls your, whatever controlled your mind. They will still be under it. Though your mind is clear, though you do not want to submit, they do.

And they will. You should flee from here. I will not flee. I am a proud orc. The Dancing Blade. I felt my mind at war. Once I returned from battle, I felt myself struggling. Two sides. Mind, heart. I felt that I could almost get control of it. But you helped me along. You helped me see. That cat was a witch, wasn't she?

Yes. A dragon, but also a witch. A dragon witch. And kind of a bitch. Yes. And now the war chief and the high overlord are dead and I am all that is left of the leadership of my clan. Well. Because of her. You're the war chief now. And I pass them the helmet.

- Yeah, Frostfang saw the light just before he went and now you see the light too and you can change their minds. You can be the leader. - He looks at the helmet. I would say make a persuasion check advantage whoever would like to. - My dice are broken. - Well, I'd say, yeah, it's either luck now or it's either luck to your riding toa. - The DC is adjusted now from everything that's happened. - It's gotta be toa. - Oh, it shouldn't have been toa. - What is wrong with our dice today?

- I'm gonna get two natural ones. - We need to take a group trip and buy some new dice. - All right, let's twist it. - I'm gonna roll my good die. I should have done that in the first place. - My best dice are my cheap, cheap, cheap dice that I picked out of a fishbowl. Always roll individually before-- - That's devastating. - The seven that I rolled previously is my best and my persuasion. - Seven. - Plus one, so that is an eight.

Ayayay. He looks at the helmet and he turns away. I do not deserve the mantle of Warchief. I do not deserve to hold the power that Sengoro did. Why not?

You have to believe in yourself. It's not a matter of deserving. You're the one who... The mantle's being thrust upon you. You're the one who has to take the helmet in order to keep the tribes united, keep peace across the domains. Otherwise, this whole thing falls apart. It shatters in all directions. You've got a city to rebuild. You've got a...

people who were today. Yes, exactly. I'm going to step forward in front of him and look up at him because he's an orc so he's really tall. He's a big fella. I would say he's shorter than Toa but he's still a big fella. My father did not choose to be born a king. The universe chose for him but he has worked every day of his life to be worthy of the crown that he holds and so shall you.

You may not be ready now, but you see unlike the rest. And if not you, then who? And though you do not want to hold the power, should you walk away from it, the power is still yours as you doom them all. First we're going to check the advantage. Yes! Finally. Thank you. We broke ten. Thank you. Yeehaw. He's in persuasion. Yeah.

25. 25, okay. Well played. He looks at you. Everyone's so scared to roll dice in my life. I know. He looks at you, and he looks back at the helmet, and without a word, he reaches forward and grabs it out of your hands. Toa, I think, is what I have. Yeah, I have. So I'm still holding it out. And he looks down at the ashes of his warchief.

And he kind of looks forward with this uncertainty, but somewhat determined expression and says, I pray to whatever gods are real, that it was not just a bewitchment that united our tribes, that we can still survive this betrayal under my leadership as war chief. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Sorry to interrupt. No, no, no. There's a bunch of ash inside. Have you ever seen that telescope gag? Just let me clean. I'm going to just quickly take some cloth and get in there. It was going to be all over your face. I'm sorry. We're going to look ridiculous. You really can't start to lead a people. Okay, there you go. Exactly. How embarrassing that would have been. Thank you. He takes it and he puts it on and it shimmers with that same kind of crackling magic that's on this helmet.

Lovely. And he stands up. And he stands up tall. Shut up in here. And mighty now. You're taller than he is. And he looks at his yeti, and the yeti almost sensing his will. He's the beast lord of this clan after all.

heaves itself up and stares with clear eyes now at his master and with a single motion Harthak mounts his yeti mount and looks at all of you and says I do not know how but I will free my people from this bewitchment or I will die trying you are welcome to stay here

And he looks down and there's a tabard that's

that's around him and he takes his fist and rips it off and he wraps it around his chin i will do what i can to convince them perhaps if i one of their own their new war chief shows them the truth the power of their own minds will be enough to free themselves but at the very least iris proved that it's curable it can be fixed or broken or whatever i think you can do it i will try

Good luck to you. Also, how many people know this chamber exists? I did not even know it existed until I happened upon it. I had put together that there was something that the war chief was hiding, a place he would seclude himself to, a burden that he carried, but that is all.

I would highly recommend if you could get some trusted friends and just a few people that you trust with this knowledge to come here and hide this again. We may, who knows, one day come back and try to rebuild this area or something. Just, you know, keep it secret, keep it safe, you know.

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You can also go to thecrookedmoon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tome for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all of the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies, a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. You see Beast Lord Harthak, helmet now the helm of the Warchief on his, on his head.

He's mounted atop of his Yeti, and he looks at you all one last time and says, I may call upon you for your help to convince my people if I cannot alone. From your first-hand account, wherever you are, I will find you. But I thank you for all you have done for my people, even outsiders, even Korovakians. And he looks at you, Felix. I did not expect this, but...

I thank you. And if we don't cross paths again, safe travels and keep your head high. And he turns. Good luck! And the yeti lumbers out, effortlessly climbing up the rubble out of the chamber. The second that he is like gone and without like outside of earshot, I immediately reach into my pack and pull out a notebook and a quill and some ink.

Oh, sweet Raven Queen, did you see that? When Iris was fixing it, it was like between the dragon curse and Beast Plague. I mean, I've never seen anything like that before. And I'm like furiously scribbling notes and, oh, this has to be some sort of new evidence. We've never seen anything like that before. Did he have Beast Plague? I don't know, but I definitely saw it. Tell me I'm not the only one who saw the Beast Plague. No, I saw it too.

It sounds... I don't understand. I don't either! I mean, every time we seem to get more information, we just get more questions and we're not getting to the bottom of anything! You are so cute! When you're learning and you're writing in your diary! Oh my goodness! I mean, this is pretty important. This is not really a time to be messing around. It's so important! I know! Write some more. Oh!

No, do keep writing, and I mean it genuinely, not sarcastically. Oh no, I meant it very genuinely as well. You know, darling... It's just my voice. You know, the more you passionise him, the less he's going to crunch. It's so easy for you to manipulate the minds of the men you don't care about. Once you start liking them, you chase them away. Mm.

Iris, do you have any input on this? On what? Lufty's strange attraction to you, you tiny, spindly man? No, no, no, no. The Warchief's condition. The thing you fixed. Oh, I thought we were talking about your relationship with Lufty. What? See? No. No, no, no, no, no. You can do it, though, darling. The Warchief! I think he's just scared of you. The new Warchief. A powerful woman. Frightens you. And the patronizing. Oh, yes, that too. Mm-hmm.

I'm definitely not listening. He was shaking. He was sick, but you fixed it. But he seemed to be sick by multiple things at once. Stumbling over his work. Or maybe it was all the same thing. Maybe the Beast Blank, instead of...

Did we see what the dragon looked like, Rajani? Yes. No. Right? Based on how close I was and seeing how it was moving from the fur to the tendrils, and that I saw and was questioning the tendrils on Herja, could I make the assumption that she was in some way manipulating Beast Flake?

I would say, how about you make an Arcana or Medicine check? It'll be Arcana for sure. At advantage. Oh, Medicine? No, it'll be Medicine for sure. So what I mean to say is we saw the Golden Dragon, right? We saw Rajani. She transformed in the... Did she have little tendrils? She had tendrils herself, exactly right. So she had tendrils herself. 14? 14.

I would say that you got the sense as if the effects of... With everything you have, I will say that with that, you were able to get the sense that the Beast Plague or the effects of Baphomet

The chaotic effects of Baphomet were basically directly at war with the controlling lawful effects of Rajani. Damn. And these orcs were basically whatever was being in the battle of all of these beasts has effectively tainted them, but in a way that allowed them to suddenly...

back and forth where there's basically a battle now. There was a battle in the Beast Lord's mind between what was it that he had. Oh, so it doesn't look like it's something she's doing to them. No, the beast plague or the beast aspect was very clearly from Baphomet and that what Johnny was doing was controlling. I meant more so that what she was doing to them with the tendrils is similar magics to the beast plague. You

I would say that you get the sense, and she had kind of alluded to the fact that her ultimate goal is to basically have her effect, her lawful corruption, but have it be as, be able to spread as, like the Beast Plague. Basically to combine them. And so she, it's not, it is similar in the fact that it is controlling,

And it changes physically and mentally. - But it's not utilizing the same magic. - It's not utilizing the same magic, exactly right. And so that is her current plan, is to basically spread, not Beast Plague, but the-- - Tendril. - Her tendril bit. - Tendril bit. - To make basically everyone lawful and everyone follow, you know, basically submit to order.

And now she has both the Glaive of Law, or whatever we're calling it, and the Heart Cleaver. So she has a Lawful thing and the Beast Plague thing, and she can just smash them together. The intention is for Torvald to forge them together into a mighty... And Heart Cleaver was the weapon that Bathen was wielding. So basically, she sucks.

Big time. Finn is a bee. She's a big stinky bee. She's a big ol' stinky bee. On Kerr Fort. She's a stinky bee McGee, they call her. Exactly right. I don't like that. I don't know why. Something about that is just...

Unpleasant. Oh, and Felix, when you said earlier that that helmet could have been mine, unfortunately I'm not allowed to wear helmets. It's against the barbarian code. I didn't say that, Tala. I think you imagined that. Oh, was that out of character or non-canon? Yes, if we're going to break the fourth wall, that's exactly what it was. Oh, okay, all right. It was a guy named Andy who thought that. Oh, okay.

I'm glad I gave him that helmet that I found. No, I think you did the right thing. That was great. I mean, these people need a leader, and we've got to cure them. They could already have Beast Plague, and whatever Rajani was doing is just keeping it in check. Well, I'm hoping that the Warchief can...

do his best because we don't have time unfortunately to worry about the orcs right now maybe eventually save urja i just hope that if if the warchief is going around breaking golden lotus's mind control that they don't just start turning into beasts i guess that's right i don't know how does that work without iris's magic maybe they would just turn into beasts have we done a terrible thing potentially yes i mean it needed to be done the warchief needs to get his peoples back and they need to be free we just don't know enough

Well, either way, we need to find a way to start going. Well, they gave us permission to stay here and sleep for the evening. We're waiting on Beatrice to give us a destination of where to go. Seems safe. Safe as it's going to get. Well, we don't want to sleep down here in the dirt, do we? Would you prefer to sleep up there in the dirt? I don't know. It's ruins. It's all ruins. Let me just take a look. I'm going to use my, um...

- Your levitate. - No, your run-up walls. - My run-up walls, which I can't remember what it's called. My narrative skill. I don't remember what it's called. Step of the wood? - Step of the wood. - I don't know, I'll figure that out later. I'm gonna basically run up the wall and I wanna take a look around the elevated area. - You see Lufty run up, or if you wanna do the Aang and the little air ball, you ride up.

And you see her just zip up the wall effortlessly, seemingly defying gravity, as she bounds up the wall. And Lifty, as you see, you would have been just running along the walls of the labyrinth just hours ago, and now they all crumbled into just dust.

And you see now the ruins of the city, orcs, both civilian and military personnel, picking through the rubble, trying to find survivors. And you see the effects of the battle. The walls have been smashed to pieces.

The walls of the orcs have been smashed, but you see the field of corpses, orc and the horned legion as well. And it's absolutely covered in bodies. And it's a horror show. And the entire city is basically, there's not a single building that remained unscathed. Some are still standing, but damaged. But most of the buildings in the city have been completely collapsed.

Okay, I'm gonna go back down into the crevasse. Well, yeah, maybe down here is good. It's better. It's more private and we can just, you know, have a nice night together in close quarters. Sure. And not go up there at all.

Yeah. All right. We'll get some sleep. And like Iris said, we'll wait for Beatrice. But if she takes a while, we should at least start heading north. And she'll find us. I don't know how far she's going to have to go or how long it might take her to find any info. So in the morning, we'll reevaluate. We can always start heading north. Okay. Is there any sense of urgency for trying to travel through the night? I don't think so. Or do we think Persia will be safe if we sleep?

Well, she seemed to be under control of Lady Dragon, and as long as she's being good and, you know, I don't see there's any reason for her to harm her. I guess you're right. Yeah, I mean, if she was gonna do anything to Herja, I think she'd probably have done it already. Why did she take her with her just to... I mean, maybe she needs Herja's dad for more fortune. If she wanted to. If we were to...

Travel through the night exhausted and weak. And arrive at the lair of the dragon and find her wounded. What would we do? Hold off. Oh, you're right. We're weak. We need to rest. Gain our energy back. Besides, we might be able to... I mean, does anyone know what happened to Revali? He's still somewhere in the city, right? Is he okay? Should we look for him? Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that guy! Captain Freewing!

I mean, he had the little gym, the gym leaves, right? And I'm going to just like start going up the rubble and I'm just going to start looking to see if I can figure out like where I remember us staying. Okay. Uh,

I would say that, yeah, you don't need to make an athletics check. You're able to scale at maybe stumbling a little bit as some of the rubble gives way underneath your foot. I'm right behind Toa. And you join Luffy, and I guess Luffy had to come back down, but you guys are able to look and see. And you remember that whatever dwellings that you had had were relatively close to the palace. And I say, Toa, make a perception check. Why don't you?

I swear to God, Mike, I swear to God, be very careful about what your next sentence is going to be after this roll. 21. Channel that fate fairy dragon energy. No, do not. Do not. What was that? 21. 21. Oh, okay. I would say as you look through and you just see a sea of destruction and destruction

Despite calm having returned to the city relatively, it's no longer a battle, now there's every effort to heal as many people who have been horribly wounded. And through the throng you look and you see orcs and orcs and orcs. And you see probably about 200 yards away, you actually see the broken, brutalized body.

being dragged through the streets of an orc. - Oh. - Helping shoulder this orc is the much smaller framed Revali free wing, limping himself, but joining the orcs as they carry a horribly wounded soldier to a makeshift,

sickbay is not the right word, but a medical tent. Captain Freewing! I don't know what it's running up to. This poor guy, Rivalia, just gets injured in fight after fight. By the end of the campaign, it's just going to be a rib cage and a head. Yikes. I hope not. I'm going to be okay. It's fine. Captain Freewing! Um...

and you thunder through, and all of the orcs that you're passing, they look at you, not really sure what to do, but they are just all preoccupied with other things.

And Revali gets to a medical tent and lays it down in this makeshift bed of straw and pelts as they lay down the brutalized orc. And you get the sense that whatever happened to this warrior, they're not going to make it, very clearly. There are several gore marks and horrible bite marks, pieces of the flesh missing.

It's bad. But they lay it down anyway, and Revali turns to you, and you see that his leg is pretty badly torn off.

as he turns towards you, but there's some blood on his face. You see that there's a slash mark across his face that is caked with blood and he turns to you and you see very clearly now there is no scarf, that there are two tendrils from his chin, flesh tendrils, but they seem to be a bit shorter than what Lifty had described previously.

as he turns and looks at you and you see that his eyes are also bloodshot and he seems to be distracted. As his eyes make contact with you,

His much smaller half-elven body is dwarfed by your size, but there seems to be an incredible, the strength of will that's behind that expression. Something going on within him is immediately apparent as he looks at you and says,

Toa, you're alive. I'm right behind Toa. You're alive. I'm so glad. Are you okay? Your leg looks really bad. Do you need help? No, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. How many winces and pain? He says, I have to help. I have to help. I have pledged myself to these...

No, you look really bad. Aris is in that big pit back there. Let me take you there. What big pit? There's a big pit. I'm fine. In the ground. He turns away from you and starts hobbling. Hold up, hold up, hold up. Uh-oh, Rivalios. And I'll cast Cure Wounds on him at 3-0.

You tap his leg as he's walking away, and it flashes with the sound of the music as his wounds close up a little bit. He kind of shoves you off Caprice. Caprice is...

Now's not the time for your songs, as he limps away and he tries to swat you away, Tom. I can tell you're not thinking very clearly. Let me help you, please. I'm sorry. And I'm gonna just grab him around the midsection and just lift him up and keep him at arm's length, and I'm just gonna start running him towards where the rest of us are. There you go. I will say we'll make an acrobatics versus athletics check, and you're at advantage because he's horribly wounded and you'll be at disadvantage. Mm-hmm.

Big money. Big money! Toa, stop. Yikes. My liver. I don't know what it is with Rich and licking everything. Is it going to turn a page in a book? Of course. 28.

- 28. One of them was a natural 20, but he's disadvantage. So it is not hard. And the orcs, they're not even paying attention to you really, as they're just focused on bringing as many wounded to this medical area. And you just grab him around the midsection and he attempts to dodge out of the way. But that incredible half-elven grace that you remember is no longer here. And it's not even just his wounds necessarily. You feel that

that there's just a level of distractedness that he's barely even registering that you're there and you just pick him up and just turn and start huffing it back. And he's just, "Toa, no, I have to get back. Toa, what are you doing?" And he's like, he's flitting around. - I'm sorry! I'm flitting around, I promise! - He kicks you a few times, but,

You get the sense that as he realizes that there is nothing that he can do with your... You are so much stronger than he is, especially right now. He just kind of slumps forward, humiliated. His black hair kind of swings in front of his face. - Is he wearing a maid outfit? - He's not, he's not. As he says, "I guess I don't have a choice. Where are you taking me?"

to the pit that I mentioned earlier. - It's a chamber, it's a chamber. - He's wearing a maid outfit in my head cannon. - It's your imagination, this Dungeons & Dragons. - Well, it's now Dungeons & Bad Dragons. - Oh my goodness.

Exactly right. And as you all eventually arrive back down to the chamber, Toa holding Revali, you need to kind of sling him over your shoulder in order to scale down, but you're able to do that. I'll take him to Iris. Fix him, fix him, fix him, fix him, fix him! Fix him, fix him, fix him! Toa, you found Captain Freewing! Where did you find him? Oh, he looks terrible. Why are you carrying Captain Freewing? He is the... Yes, I see that.

Can you... I told you I was exhausted. I have nothing left in me. Can you heal his legs? Or leg? Yes, I can heal him. You'll feel really good tomorrow morning, Captain Frewing. I'm sorry I had to do that. Unfortunately, Captain Frewing, we won't be able to allow you to leave the pit. You won't stop with us this evening. We're...

You're alive, that's a good thing. Where's Herrscher? Where's the Warchief? What happened here? The Warchief is dead. Herrscher's been taken by an ancient gold dragon. We're waiting on an imaginary bird to tell us where to go, and my god has asked me to rest. That last part is a lie, but I am tired. Tell her if he tries to book it. Just hold on to him. I kind of want to try something. He's going to stay here, don't worry. Caprice, why don't you explain everything that we've learned so far?

I explain everything that we've learned so far. While Caprice is doing this magnificent performance and entail of what we've learned thus far, I'm going to stand behind Revali and focus on him and concentrate very, very hard and attempt to dispel magic.

on him to see if I can learn more about this enchantment curse thing and see if I can dig in there and see if I can find any kind of mystical stuff to dispel. Okay.

- As I will say, as he's distracted, he's listening to me. - 50 points of healing. - 50 points of healing. - I use three spells. - It keeps flashing. He barely notices as his wounds close up and he actually starts to stand more comfortably now. - If for some reason, whatever it is, it's a spell, I may need to roll. - I think for this instance, he's distracted by Caprice.

And as you're explaining the effects of the betrayal, the effects of everything that's been learned, and his eyes start to kind of get wider, and you can kind of... He starts to breathe a little bit more, and he winces in pain a little bit. He's so distracted, Felix, that you are able to stand behind him, and you cast a spell magic. His head flashes, and he grabs, and he...

Make an Arcana check at advantage. And that's going to affect the saving. And that's when Warchief Frostfang came flying down. It was anime as fuck. Okay, skills. Arcana. It's going to be 28. 28. That is going to affect a DC of a saving throw that he's going to make right now. Okay.

That'll be a natural 20 for Revali. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know. But something smells like bacon. As he... His brain's just cooking. As you cast Dispel Magic, and you get the sense that there is something magical. Your innate knowledge of the arcane, there's something magical about what is going on in his mind.

as you feel that you haven't dispelled it, but he grabs his head and his eyes go wide and he starts panting like a beast and then he just totally snaps forward as the tendrils start to grow and there's kind of a back and forth and he says, "No, I believe!"

Freedom! And he breathes and he says, no! And suddenly the tendrils on his chin retract fully and his eyes are clear as he, did you do that? I'm not sure. Whatever it is, this is pretty serious.

serious grab on his brain. I may not last. Y'all right there, Revali? Your little things are gone. If you're going to get him all excitable this evening, and I will slam my staff into the ground, I will flip it, point it directly at him as a beam of golden light shoots out of the tip of the head of the scarab where the two arms come to a point, and I'm going to cast Greater Restoration on him and use the last bit of my staff.

You do that, and as there's a bit of a haze, it blasts him in the face. And he's like, why is it my eyes? And he... I stumble, I blind feel it. And a warmth washes over everything. And then he stands there as he blinks and looks at all of you, and he grabs his chest over his heart. What do they do to me?

Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that. No, no. You will deal with him now so I can catch an advantage? Yeah, please. You've done enough. Thank you. And I crumble to the ground and just pass out. No, those are the ashes. As he stumbles forward and he falls to his knees. Captain! And you manage to catch him before he falls forward as he's breathing heavily. Is my mind that weak?

Give yourself a break. Give yourself a break. Whatever this shit is, it did it to every single orc in this entire area, this whole city. No one was able to survive this. It's fine. Besides, your tendrils are gone. They snapped back into your face. You look like 100% less gross now. We're dealing with some pretty serious magic here. I kneeled like a groveling

Servant. That's true, but... But you don't now! Look! You're okay!

Because I fixed your leg. You didn't kneel. The magic kneeled. It wasn't you at all. You were under control. There's lots of excuses. There's a very specific excuse. Easy. I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know what I'm saying.

- Got him! - That's the best I can do. - Zipper. Roasted. - And everything, this is real, right? - Yo. - So you think you could have a dream this good? - Caprice explains that it's real.

This is gonna be a passive RP table from now on. Felix confers with Caprice. I need to sleep. And you see him slump forward in your arms, Felix, as he falls asleep gently. Let me just get him comfortable. I'm gonna, like...

place him down gently and try to like, you know, make him as comfortable as I can. - No, not in the asshole! - He gets covered in sin as well. As you manage to find a softer spot where some of the stone in the chamber has been broken, it's softer earth beneath, and you lay him down and there seems to be

peace about him, real peace. Not that strange eeriness beforehand, real peace as he sleeps soundly. Do you feel a little better now? You've got your friend back. Yeah, and we learn more about what's going on. I mean, this is huge. It's not just some disease or anything like that. I mean, there's a heavily magical element to this.

I think we can beat it. Did you write it in your diary? Of course. Oh, good. What did you think I was doing while... Lofty, it's a general...

Oh, that's right. I'm so sorry. Felix tells me there's a difference. What is the difference? Oh yeah, Felix, what is the difference? I couldn't even begin to get into the difference right now. We don't have that kind of time, all right? You can't or you won't? I can't. It would take hours. And we're all very tired and we need some rest. And I have more studying to do. Let's all get some sleep and we should keep watch.

I can take the first watch unless you want to take the first watch. I'll probably be up for a few hours anyway, I don't mind. Then I'll take second watch. And Lifty can take third and Caprice can take fourth. I would probably help build a fire. Don't volunteer me for things. Okay.

And you actually see that Revali's actually shivering a little bit as he sleeps, and so as you start building the fire, it starts to calm down a little bit as the warmth starts to fill this chamber. Poor Revali. Takes on the action of sort of packing against his body to warm him up. Lifty, would you like to take third watch? No. Caprice, would you like to take third watch? No.

I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get to sleep, like I'm exhausted, but I am also wide awake. I'll take third watch. I'll try to rest, sure. Lifty, would you like to take fourth watch? No. Is there anything I could do to encourage you to take fourth watch? I don't know. Is there? I don't know. Is there? Why are you asking me? I'm not sure I understand.

Okay, maybe I will take fourth watch, but you have to put me to bed. Okay, I just did that to Captain Freeway. Would you like a similar treatment? I don't want to be put to bed in the remains. Find me somewhere nice. We call them cremains. It's more respectful. Oh.

Is it creamy? Okay, well, I'll stay away from the creamings. Thank you. Is that right? And I'll take like a piece of broken stone and just lift it up so that it's just the earth underneath. I got a nice, flat, soft piece of earth. There's definitely some drugs in there. Yeah, like a one. An evangelist. An evangelist. Thank you. I'll take my bedroll out and I'll lay it down and I'll say, is this good?

Yeah, that looks nice. I'm ready. Oh, and I'll think back to what I did for Captain Freeman. I guess I'll like lift up Lufty. Here you go. Oh, and I'll throw a blanket out. Now will you take fourth watch?

Do I look snug as a bug? Tuck me in! Oh, oh, you're right, you're right, oh, I didn't tuck Captain Freewing in! So... I'll very gently tuck Lufty in. Not too tight, I squirm. I'll loosen it a little bit. Is that good? It's pretty nice, I'm pretty snoopy. I'm not. And a little, a little sound of a bird. What kind of sound? I don't know.

I have to do everything around here? You can't even think of a song for me before bed? I don't feel like I can do this fourth watch. Um, I'll put you in my pack and pull out a ukulele and I'll just play a couple chords. There you go, here you go. It's very nice and happy. I'm immediately in a drunken sleeping stupor. Uh, lufty?

I'll rush over to Captain Freeway and then tuck him in, make sure that he's good. As you leave, the stone that you pushed up falls on you. Oh no! Anyway. All right, well, Felix, don't hesitate to wake me up if anything happens. Yeah, of course. Of course I will. You'll be the first one to know. Good night. I immediately...

get out of the pit and try to secure the perimeter with many ritual casts of alarm. - I would say you do that and you're able to, it takes you maybe an hour. - Oh, that takes me back. - Yeah. - I forgot about alarm. - It takes you a while, but the size of the hole is small enough, it's pretty large, but small enough that you're able to make sure that the entire perimeter is secured.

Cool. And as you're all settling in, you... Most of... Lufti's fast asleep. Most of you are just settling in, getting ready, maybe not necessarily falling asleep yet. And as you're... And the night gets quiet. And then there's a point where it almost gets too quiet. And then suddenly the fire...

that you've built erupts into a massive pillar of chaotic flame, casting shadows

all around the entire chamber. Whose watch is this on? I would say that this is just starting, and most of you probably aren't asleep yet. Oh, thank God. Oh, Iris has been asleep for like 20 minutes. I don't have the mental capacity to do that by myself. So Caprice, Felix, and Toa are awake at this point. As you fire...

ignites and casts shadows all over, and it lets out this roaring sound, and if that would wake up Lufty and Iris, they're more than welcome to wake up. But it is a roaring pillar of flame as you all see the shadows dancing around this chamber. Felix, are you doing this? No, no, this isn't me. It's not me either, I swear. I was sleeping so sound.

And as you see... Watch your iris. LAUGHTER

I am going to swipe at him with my claws. Not hard, but I'd be like... You break three ribs accidentally. I'm literally going to destroy him. As you see the fire roaring around you... What's going on? Caprice, you are now realizing that it's been probably exactly 24 hours since you made the deal with Glazia.

Oh, sweet mother of pearl. What on earth are you kicking me for? Oh my god, what is happening? I'm sorry, look! Felix? Now the shadows all around you, as the fire, the sound of it goes completely silent, and the shadows all around the room start to coalesce and form a shape, a shadow, incredibly shapely female form.

with long arms and fingers that extend into almost claw-like nails as it slinks around the chamber. And then you see as it then looms up high above Caprice. Capriccio, do you want to introduce me to your friends? Who does? How does he know your name? This is the...

This is the person who made me who I am. Oh, no. This is... Do I know her name? You've shared it with us. This is Glacia. This is who I see in my dreams every night, all right? Don't say her name again. You didn't say she was so... What is she doing? Garvey. Are you all afraid of me? Have you heard about...

What I have on Caprice. What I have of Caprice. I'm far too tired for this. No.

Caprice, do you care to explain what she's talking about? I would much rather hear it from you than from her. She owns my soul because my great-great-great-granddad... great-great-great-great-granddad... made some deal with her hundreds of years ago. Then yes, we know the story. There's a little bit more. I was feeling real low. I agreed to get her the glaze. Which glaze? What?

- The glaive that was just stolen? - He didn't tell you? - No. - Oh! - You didn't know the glaive? - Yes, no, he promised. He swore he stole. - The glaive was stolen. - So that I could be free. - He would betray all of you? - No, I-- - And bring the rod of law to me? - I didn't promise to betray anyone. I promised to bring you the glaive. There's a very important distinction. - That seems like a betrayal. - And then with the scope of everything that's going on, doom your friends to the big bad chain god.

But you couldn't even do that right, Caprice. Could you? And so you had an opportunity that I gave to you and you let it go. You betrayed your friends and what? Do you know what that seal did? The claim of your soul on it was wiped by the seal and now it's gone. You failed. You're saying I no longer, we no longer have a connection with the Glaive? No. He let it go.

You failed, and I am so very tired of trying to have you be useful to me. And so, here's your problem now, Capriccio. I don't blame you for this bad deal. I blame Maximo. Maximo made a very good decision, and it was a bum deal on my end. But, as a part of every deal gone bad,

There are consequences! And you see as the entire chamber around you erupts into the image of shrieking, wailing souls and fire. I'm gonna lean towards Toa, and at a volume that he can hear, I'm gonna say, if this starts to go south, I'm gonna need you to give me an opening, all right? All right. But now, Capriccio, you don't have to worry. Ah!

arrangement has come to an end. What? I hope you too enjoy the rest of your short life. For once it's over, your soul, your family's soul, and all of your descendants

will be experiencing the agony of hellfire. Nice doing business with you, Caprice. The pillar erupts into flame, beating everything in glowing light, and then shrinks down and snuffs out. And there's nothing but darkness. Oh, thank God! Are you okay? What does that mean? What is she talking about? Oh,

How did you do that to us, Caprice? We asked one thing of you. Honesty. And you lied to us. By your omission, you lied. I've done everything in my power for you. To help you. To walk beside you. I'm disappointed in this friendship I thought we had. Why didn't you just ask for help? What other option did I have? This was an opportunity for me to...

To free my family's souls, my own soul? If I had just let things continue, it would have been no change. Just a sliver of hope. I made a bum deal. I'm sorry that I hurt you, but you don't understand what it feels like to be in this position. Ah, fuck it. Really? Do you think Lufty had a choice to grow up without a mother? No.

Do you think I had a choice being born in the middle of my family, with people telling me what to do, where to go, how to be? Do you think Toa chose for the wind spirits to be stolen from his island? Do you think Felix chose to have his brother ripped from him? No, none of us. None of us chose for our lives to be this way. But what we did choose was honesty with our friends. I do not begrudge you your choice.

I begrudge you your line. I'm going to bed. Deal with it. Iris out. I'm going to get down into the fucking ashes and I'm going to go to sleep. God damn it. Do a little like circling. Yeah. They just get scattered all around. And someone clean up this mess. Fuck. Seems awfully disrespectful. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Chief. From what Glacio said, did Caprice get the sense that

His soul and all the souls of his family are still owned? Yes. Okay. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna like lay down and close my eyes, but I'm gonna wait to actually fall asleep just until it seems like things lie down in case I am needed. Roger. But I'm gonna pretend to sleep. And it's really convincing. Really convincing. Roger.

Had you told us before that she was also holding your family's souls or just yours? I don't remember. That was like two years ago. IRL. I think you told us the general story. I would say we probably had the overall. We just had no idea about the Rod of Law. Right. Right. Do you... You were going to give her the Rod of Law before even it's special?

I snuck out the night before the battle, and I got pretty close. I was able to pull it from a locked chest and put my hands on it, and then I just sort of blacked out. I think it was something to do with...

golden lotus she was protecting i had no idea she was that powerful i thought in and out get the get the glaive get it out of here bingo bango done well you couldn't have known what she was then you shouldn't have lied but i can't say i don't understand why you did but think about the consequences had a devil had the rod of law instead of the war chief

We never would have... we would all have been killed by Baphomet. All of us. It could have been much worse had it worked. Other things are good now, but... Things are not good now. They're not good now, but I think we would be dead right now. I see that. I... I don't know, I... There's no use crying over spilled wine. He didn't steal it. You failed. Shame on you. Good for us. Well, now I... now I'm done.

I, there's, there's no chance for me to, I mean, I understand what Iris was saying about destiny and the things that are thrown upon us. But for all of you, there's a, there's a, another place where you can go and be free and your own soul and the whole thing. I was staring an eternity of torture down. No, I can't get out of that. I, I, I know I fucked up. I'm sorry I lied.

I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll go if you want me to. I'll stay and fight or sacrifice myself or do whatever I can. I'm done. It's game over. I accept your apology. Luffy's right. What happens in the past, we can't change that. Trust me, I know. I understand. I'm not happy with you, but like Luffy said, I get it. But I wouldn't count us out yet.

Come on. It's not over. Well, none of this is over until we stop breathing. You made a bad deal. When you lose the bet, you double down. She's gone. I can't make another bet. The casino is closed. I bet she'd come back. If there's more to wager. Caprice, I was just earlier worried that one of you would be a bad guy. I'm sick of being betrayed. And...

I don't know who to trust or who to believe. But we've killed a demon before. We just killed a demon. Why couldn't we kill a devil too? That's kind of what I thought. How are you going to do that by yourself? By doing what she says? You've no better shot than working with your friends. That was my mistake. So learn from it. Don't call it quits. Not yet. I'm going to call it quits tonight. Tonight I get to just be a give-up blob.

I'll see how I feel in the morning. Thank you. You guys are way too nice. Some wine? Not to play. I'm sorry. It's okay. I don't know if I can get to rest, but I'll spend all of my energy now making this up to you and to Iris. She'll come around in the morning. She's just tired. And we'll see if we can stop this

God who's changed. And we'll reseal the seals. And we'll make world peace. It'll be easy. Done. No problem. One thing at a time. Get some sleep. I don't know if I can. Do you promise that you won't do bad things anymore? No more deals with bad people or devils or demons or... All of you. Can we all swear...

On our lives, on our friends' lives, on all of our lives. That we're going to help each other and no one else. No evil beings, no deals or bargains. Yeah, of course. I'm in. You've got all of me. I really don't have anything left.

This is it. I'm in. I could still gamble, yeah? Well, this is more of like a metaphor kind of thing. Anubis is the big... I just kind of function on deals. That's how I get around the world. Are you going to make a deal with the devil? With the demon? With a dragon? With some big bad evil guy? With a god? With a... None of that. We have to rely on ourselves. Okay...

I'll try. That's good enough, I guess. I'll at least tell you if I'm going to do that. That works too. Yeah, that's a deal. I promise. Alright, well, I guess it's still my watch. I guess we should all try to get some sleep. Yeah, I'll wake you up, I guess, if I have to.

I'm gonna get back in my dirt patch. I would specifically spend my time, my watch time, reviewing all of my notes of the time that I spent in the library in Sentra of all the research that I did of devils and demons. Okay.

Before I go attempt to sleep, I will quickly approach you and just say, "I know it's a little dark, but maybe you have been doing this already and you were about to. Maybe we do it in the morning. Is this seal different in appearance and arcana symbols and stuff than any of the other seals we've seen so far? Are they all identical?" I'm just trying to think ahead. If there's an unchained god coming,

We have to know how to re-chain. That's a great point. I haven't really had a chance to take a look at this one yet, but I've got some time, so I'll do that. Change of plan, I do what Caprice says. And I spend my watch examining the seal.

Got it. And I will cast Suggestion on myself to say go to sleep and I instantly pass out. That's a great use of that spell. Go to sleep, Caprice. You do that. And you are all able to enjoy a long rest. Who's final watch? Me! This one.

Provided she doesn't screw us. I mean, it's Lufty. Lufty, you are woken up by... Who's third watch, Toa? Or Caprice? I was, yep. You enjoy, and we'll put a little bit of Mocha Kai music on. The best part of waking up is knowing you're not dead. Yeah! And beetles in your cup. You have an uneventful watch, Lufty.

How boring. I hate being on watch. The noise of the city around you, the sounds has died down as you see the first rays of dawn creep up

in the sky and there's that beautiful glow of oranges and pinks and purples and the mornings out here, for whatever reason, just seem to be a lot prettier than what you've been seeing, especially in a land that's generally as gloomy as Striga. And I need you to make a perception check for me. - Oh boy. - 13. - 13.

As you are looking up through the hole in the beautiful glimpse of morning, you see what looks like on the periphery of the hole just a tiny little bit of extra gold, and then it's gone. On the periphery of what? The hole. Oh, oh. That's it? Yeah. Hmm.

Like flash what looks like gold and that's it. That's weird. But pretty. Wake up the rest of your friends. Guys, I'm bored. Wake up, okay? There's nothing happening. Is it already morning? Yeah, it's been morning for like five minutes. I mean, what am I just supposed to sit alone all day? Wake up. All right, all right, all right. Everything uneventful?

Yeah, I mean the sun's rising, the sky is gold, it's beautiful. Just come on. Alright. The sky's gold? Yeah. Is the sky gold? It is not gold. What do you mean? It was. It was orange and, you know, pink and then a flash of gold and... That's not how that goes. How am I supposed to know? And...

In Kirchstein, it's just, you know, you wake up and it's dark gray and then a little bit lighter gray and gray and gray and gray and then a little bit of blue gray and then until it just starts to get dark again. I assume this is normal? Well, I don't even know where to begin with this.

It was kind of pretty. But it was gold. Like, uh... Yeah. Like gold, gold? I hold up the golden scale that I've got. Yeah, like... Oh, oh. Like this? Yeah, just like that. Mm. Uh-oh.

It was just a flash, and it's not here now. Where did you get that? Where did you get that? Well, when I was going to go and steal the glaive, I had to open a magical chest, and for whatever reason, the only thing that worked was my tuning fork, which...

was destroyed, which is devastating to me for the rest of my life. And when I woke up, this was in my pocket. And it seems to be doing the same work as the tuning fork did for me. It feels like a charm. And I can use it as a pick.

Oh, that's nice! I think even though you could play it like that. You probably can, I'm just making up musical instruments now. No, I think you can. You did it just now. You've done it. Well, uh, yeah. I don't really know what to make of this. Is it safe to keep around if Rajani gave you that? That's who it was!

I'll bet you that's what Daglua was. Yeah. It's a golden scale. Like, dragons have golden scales. Yeah, but I got it, and then we fought her, or fought Baphomet, and then the reveal happened. I didn't put the two together. That's just... Oh, yeah, she could be watching and listening to us right now.

Great. I want to scramble up to the top of the... That's disgusting. Don't chew on that. He doesn't know what that's doing. Of the pit and look around and see if I can see any other flashes of gold. Make a perception check for me. Ooh, it's a 17. A 17. I would say that you...

You creep up and make a... Are you being careful? I just creep. It's Koa. No, I'm not. I would say that you climb up and as you stick your head out and you look around, you...

You scan out towards the city and you see that a lot of the fires, all the fires have been put out, and there's wreckage and there's attempts to rebuild. And as you turn towards the rubble of the palace, you look and you see that there's this large tree, and very clearly behind it, you see what looks like gold, and you see white hair.

as you very clearly see the outline of a massive Kirin that's attempting to hide behind the rubble and the tree and not doing a very good job at all of it. Hey guys? What's up?

- Hizaki is here. - What? - Yeah, he's trying to hide behind a tree, but he's very clearly visible. - I would immediately try to scramble off the side of this pet. - Oh, the run up. - You scramble up and...

And as you look up, you're able to, the three of you are able to see very clearly that it's very much Hisaki. His horns are, he's trying to bury his head in a low bush and his horns are sticking up and he's not very well-hidden at all. He's a bad guy, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure. Hisaki. Yeah. What are you doing?

As soon as you call out, you hear a gasp. And make a persuasion check. Oh boy. Thank you for the reminder. I'm not dangerous. Oh, I see a long rest. Persuasion. Well, I guess you should. Persuasion. Oh, sweet Jesus. Come on. Come on. I'm just on fire, baby. 22. 22. Love that. Someone used to be. You...

You see... You hear a gasp as he sticks his head up and looks around and he looks at you, and the fact that all three of you are looking at him, his eyes go wide, and he's...

I'm supposed to be Spock, I mean, no! And he darts around behind the rubble and he, rather than zip him off though, he stops and you see that his tail is still hanging out from behind the rubble and then he turns around and you see his snout as he's like trying to look around to look at you guys. And it's right at that moment that a poof

a flash of blue emerges on your shoulder. - Brown. - Yeah, a flash of brown. As Beatrice lands on your shoulder and she communicates telepathically that she has found with that perception that it took her all night, but in the early hours of the night,

the first light of dawn, she found a beautiful gilded terrace out in the mountains that was adorned with statues and effigies of gold dragons and blossom designs. Okay. I take all that information and still looking at Hisaki, I'll... Hisaki, you do understand that we're potentially enemies right now, right? Don't tell him that!

And he kind of, he leans forward and you see a snout coming out. He says, "That's why I'm spying on you!" Well, did you find anything interesting? What are you going to report? I'm going to report if you try to leave. Oh, I see. Well, you have my scale. And you can see he leans forward and you see there's actually very clearly one single scale missing from his shoulder. Oh, this is yours?

Yeah. Go along now.

Wait, could you maybe take us somewhere? I'm gonna slowly climb up. I was trying to do a morning ritual, Hizaki. Well, I'm very sorry for interrupting you, but I'm spying now. Why do you follow the Golden Lotus, the Atomic Blossom? What does she have over such a magnificent creature as yourself?

Isn't it obvious? He kind of peeks his head out. I have, like, any opportunity to talk about the Eternal Blossom. It's not because you're so stealthy, mentally and physically. I barely saw you there in the underbrush. It's because she's more magnificent than any other creature. She's the most beautiful, loving, kind, sweet being on the whole planet. I see. Are you okay? She just... I just love her so much.

And that's why I'm spying on you. Well, you don't have to spy from back there. You can come hang out.

Make a persuasion check in advantage of Kelsey Nunes. I was inspired to crack open it. Yeah! It even has... It even has... Here we go. Go ahead, stream deck. It even has the Kirin on there so you can get an idea of some Kirin art. It's like a little dragon horse deer feller. Legends of Adventress, brought to you by Kirin Ichiban.

Thank you for sponsoring. I rolled an eight, so 22. Love that. Wow. I'm with you, brother. Never gets any better than that.

And you see as he hesitates a little bit and he snorts out. It's difficult to tell what exactly. There's a combination of dragon and unicorn and deer and there's a little bit of canine. It's hard to tell as he slowly struts out, almost like a nervous deer, trying to get a drink of water in an open glade where there might be hunters. And he steps forward very slowly and deliberately. Yeah.

And says, well, I guess if I keep an eye on you, then I can spy from anywhere. Yeah, you can hear us much better if you come close. Honestly, if you just stay with us, then you'll always know where we are.

And you realize that the sheer size of this creature, it's massive, it's not nearly as large as Rajani, but still, it is a huge creature by the definition of Dungeons & Dragons, is huge. As he steps forward and he trots a little bit, and you realize, and you remember that as he's trotting and trying to trot stealthily as if he's

as if he's trying to not have his hoofs hit the ground hard, you realize that his hooves never meet the ground anyway. So he's just doing this pointlessly. - He's such a goober. - He's wonderful. - He's a goober. - As he's doing it pointlessly. - Physical embodiment of a goober. - As he says, "That's a good point. "And if I can keep an eye on you "and always find you with my scale, "you can't get away from my eyes."

Well, if you keep your eyes wherever we are, we can't get away from your eyes. She's right, you know. Yeah, it's like wherever you go, there you are. And wherever you go, there we are. So you always know where we are. Yeah, I guess that's a good point. And then you don't have to sneak. But you are so good at it. But you don't have to anymore. That's what Rajani tells me. I'm really good at sneaking.

As he continues to trot through the air towards you. And he starts to circle you and circle the hole. And his massive shape is completely unmistakable. And he's not being remotely stealthy at all. Given that he's flashing with gold and there's a little bit of the hint of rainbow catching off of his mane. Simple boy. He does that. Well...

Uh, yeah. I mean, you know, now what? Do we just take him with us? I believe that, as Iris was saying, we've been bested. And maybe that's the best course of action. We can't possibly get away. We should probably head to the Golden Lotus.

as we have failed, and we should give ourselves up to her. - Right. - Is that true? - If only we knew the way. - We should have kept better watch. We should have set alarms.

But we failed. So many things we could have done better. We can't resist. If, you know, Hezaki took us to the Golden Lotus and, you know, was like a prisoner, then Hezaki would be rewarded beyond measure and we'd be screwed. Imagine having to wait all those days of walking.

to get there and get your reward. Oh my gosh. And all the time, Golden Lotus just waiting and waiting. Alone. Alone. Holding that love. Worried for her most faithful friend.

- Kieran. - Oh well, what can you do? - I guess we'll just have to walk there ourselves. - I begin to pack up my things. - Decide a fair story. - I'm dragging my feet slowly walking. - Well, let's go turn ourselves into the golden lotus then. - Make a, whoever would like to make a deception check an advantage, please. - Caprice would like to do that.

Is this cocked? Yes, that is highly cocked. High cocked. Okay, what's worse? 16 plus... So roughly 34. That's going to be a 30. As his eyes go slowly wider and wider, as a little sly smirk comes to his face. You are all my prisoners now.

What? That's right. So you surrender without a fight? I didn't think that you would stand up to me. Not at all. Are we really going to surrender, Felix? I don't know how we have no other option, Toa. We've been bested. We have? Yes. We can probably kill him very easily. He's an extremely powerful creature. Look at him. Look at how big and gold he is. I can't believe all of you just... Oh, but the goldness of him. And so big. Huge even.

"Am I not getting something, Felix?" "It's okay, we have to surrender." And I give him a wink, like a wave, so that Hisaki can't see. I'm like winking at him. - Oh, you're right, oh. - There's nothing we can do. - Nothing at all. - So we surrender? - Of course. - Currently, like right now? - We already have, we could have done. - We don't wanna lose our lives. - Yeah. - Oh, oh. - The war chief has been killed.

The city is in shambles. What other choice do we have? It's all for the greater good. That's what I've been told. I see that now. I'll use minor illusion so that you hear a small voice of Caprice just inside of your right ear. Just in case this doesn't go the other way, we're not actually surrendering. But we're pretending we are. I'll give Caprice a big wink. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. What they all said.

Great. Well, I'm glad that you finally see the light. We do. And that you realize that this is all for your own good and for the greater good. And that the Eternal Blossom, Rajani, is the most wisest, prettiest, amazing creature on all of Avengers. And exactly. All of the planes beyond. Yes, exactly. I've been to all of them. Well, except for, well, you know, I've been to most of them. And she's just the most amazing creature.

So now what do you do with your prisoners? I guess you'll have to walk alongside us. Unfortunately, we are but simple humanoid creatures. Next try. You're going to get on my back and take you right to her lair. No! We're not emotionally prepared. Too bad. I'm too young.

- I guess we have no other choice. - How can we withstand you and your presence and your goldenness? - Well, I will mount your back now and I'm gonna jump on his back. - All right, I think I'm almost ready. - Shotgun. - I cast Mage Armor on myself and then I climb onto his back. - Hisaki looks at all of you, "Well, you don't have a choice. "And you're my prisoners and we're gonna go "right to the terrace."

and you're not gonna complain about it, okay? We'll try not to. To be fair, we're pretty scared. - Yes, very scared, and I'll say as I get on his back. - Felix, do we have a plan once we get there? - I think we're gonna play this one how we always do, a little loose. - All right.

Listen, if you get worried, just think about the time that we were in the trees as owl people. Everything worked out fine. Oh, you're right. They went flawlessly. We improvised and it couldn't have gone any better. You're right. Nobody pooped their pants. Well... Because we weren't wearing any paint. Fair enough. I'll hop on to...

Miyazaki as well. Hazaki. You love your movie. Now fly! You see his shape poke its head up and you see his Revali kind of looks up and says, What are you guys doing? We've been captured, unfortunately, by this magnificent Kirin. We're doomed. We had no choice but to surrender. He looks at the whole scene and he blinks.

Yes, so the Kirin here is going to take us immediately to the Golden Lotus as prisoners. Got it. Well, good luck with that. And he climbs up and he looks around. I'm going to help the new war chief deal with his people and tell them how you all helped me. Bit of advice. See if they can just lose the war. You know, chief, simple, compact.

I don't think I have that kind of pull, Caprice. Just throw it out there. You never know what could happen. He looks up at you and says, well, prisoners, good luck. And thank you for helping me get my freedom back. And I am going to do the same for all these good people. They are good people. Good luck. Don't get caught by a Kirin. I'll do my best. And he steps away.

Don't lose any more body parts. Yay. I'll do my best. And he turns and he looks back one more time and says, I have a feeling you'll survive this, but if not, it's been an honor. Likewise. Good luck. Goodbye. You too. I guess if you don't survive, then I'll be again. So maybe this is the last free day that I have. Good luck, guys.

and he turns and he starts walking off. And, uh, uh, Hezaki looks at him and Nero's eyes, well, I guess I've

I didn't have to look after him. He's not a prisoner. He's free to go. You're free to go. He's already gone. He's gone. Revaalai just raises his hand, like, you know, okay. As he continues to walk off. And is everyone comfortable? I mean, not like I care if you're comfortable or not. We're all incredibly uncomfortable. That's good. You don't have a choice. It hurts very much. Okay. You're my prisoners now.

Let's go. And as you, uh, immediately rocket through, uh, through the sky. Do we have five minutes to use the bathroom? As, uh, as you, as you rocket through the sky, as, uh,

As Hezaki takes you, and you've experienced this once before, as he zips around the mountains, the beautiful mist of dawn just painting the entire land beneath you in these beautiful colors.

as the sun rises in the sky, as you make your way through the sky and you're not sure how fast you're going, but it just seems it's very much inhuman and what you're used to riding on his hockey stick. - Oh man, I can't wait to reduce him to ash.

No. As you make your way through certain... Around certain mountains, and as you make your way further north, you get closer to the coast. It starts to actually get warmer.

as the chill of the morning air gets warmer and warmer, and then as you get closer to where Hizaki's taking you, you can actually see beyond the ridge of mountains, the sea sprawling north, far beyond Striga.

As you see where he's heading, as the rays of morning catch and a brilliant rainbow forms. As you see now the mist turning shimmering gold. As you smell saffron and incense. As you rocket through the mist. And all of a sudden, you see before you the tallest mountain in this entire range. In what looks like a beautiful...

a beautiful hidden valley.

that stretches on with these beautiful willows and cherry blossom trees as they dot the landscape. And you see jutting out of the tallest mountain, a terrace that is of pure white marble and golden adornments with a large natural cave at the far back,

built up to be a gloriously carved and adorned dorm that just juts out of this mountain face. And you see as on either side, there's the statues of these massive golden dragons on either side that looks unmistakably like Rajani herself. As you rocket

towards it, you see that this whole area, it's hard to believe that this is a naturally occurring beauty. It is almost otherworldly and celestial. The picturesque scene that you see as you finally come to a sudden stop as Hisaki quietly and softly and gently lands at Rujani's lair.

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