Beneath Dark Wings | Ep. 50 | Hungry Like the Wolf: Part 2
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Welcome to Legends of Avantris. I'm Felix Ackerman and you're listening to Beneath Dark Wings. Here's what happened last time. The head of this vulture-like entity stares down with his wicked glee as...

as it looks onto the castle. And you see now Escher in his clothing now is whipping in the wind as his hair, his following suit completely drenched now, as the rain drenches all of you. As you hear the voice boom out again and it says, "Captain Kreskov,

Now you see the price of your betrayal. You see that me destroying your castle is not at all as delicious as stealing your daughter. My name is Count Escher Kreskov. I come seeking Count Alexei Vanzarovich to warn him of the dangers that his...

Thundering towards Barovia. We mean you no harm. Quite the opposite. And you see the one at the lead steps forward and reaches up and grabs the helmet and pulls it off. We see shining, shimmering blonde hair fall out.

at about shoulder length, as a middle-aged man who is very strikingly handsome, with strong features, looks at Escher and then at all of you. "Well, you have found me. My name is Alexei Von Zorovich, the Count of this valley." And looks back and says, "Are you going to be all right?"

Yeah, we'll be fine. I think we've escaped burning with that, so it's all built from here. Yeah, it's pretty normal for us. Pretty good talking to people. So, one of the guards stays behind, and as you see, the knights all take off as they ride into this village that surrounds the castle.

It's sprawling, it really looks like a city as they ride off. And the knight that stays behind gives you the directions to

to where the Vistani camp is, the primary one, and tells you that there's a, basically a town, a small town, that's, you know, despite it being mostly tents and temporary structures, it's pretty built up, and that you can just walk in and you'll be welcome before allowing you to go about your evening drink. Unless there's anything you'd like to ask them about. I got nothing.

as the inquisitive one. I feel like the respect that I want to show is not trying to pry away all of their questions. I just want to be like, okay, thank you for the hospitality, and we'll keep on our way. We'll do, we'll just try not to make any trouble. Are we going to be safe here? Are there any customs we should abide by?

The guard assures you that you will be safe, that they are friendly, and that the Vistani are the humans of the city of New Zarevich, the town, the city that is around Castle Barovia.

is that they're becoming increasingly more nervous and skittish as rumors about abductions and howling in the surrounding hills and the Beastwood, as it's come to be called in recent years, has been getting more intense and people are very much on edge.

- And do we like have a sense that the Beastwood is that kind of circle of forest that the black trees? - Yeah, you're able to do this very easily. And I'll just say it, right? Is that the lizard cultists have basically been like sneaking in probably for a long time, tapping them of all their dragon fire oil, which kills the tree, gives it the face and you realize now the true nature of what they were doing.

And that they've been able to do that and now they're obviously all dead. But that was... It seemed... You get the sense that it would have taken decades to...

to tap as many trees as they had. But basically the remnants of that sprawling, mixing in with the classic dark black forests of Sceathronel really kind of create this forest called the Beastwood. - As we are moving towards the Vistani camp, what would I know about werewolves? - How about...

History? Well, yeah, history check. Up to you. An advantage. Fuck me. Being... That's a 20. History will be a 29. We're still rolling like hot fire. We really are. I would say... This is orange dice. That you think back to when you first encountered Count Vazcar. And you thought about and saw that thing. And you thought about all of the lore.

and what you had known about vampires and it being such a part of the stories told. As children, you knew that they were real, very similar to what was. You know that these are humanoids that can take animal shape, wolf, wolf shape, not just in just the, you would always wonder.

And the stories always were that there were large wolf packs not that far from Kessel Femmel.

And you would tell Milo when he wasn't behaving that those were werewolves out, that the howling that he heard would be the werewolves who would snatch him up and tear him limb from limb. And maybe you wouldn't have done that, but it would be a scary story. It would be a scary story that would be told. And basically the classic folklore that most that's common knowledge amongst us would be common knowledge in Korovakia as

As well as all sorts of spooky creatures. So then my only other question is how often did these things leak from Scythranil into Korafakia and that the Talon Guard would have to deal with things like that? Often, not very often. I would say that you've never heard of an actual werewolf sighting. I would say that you know historically that werewolves...

I would say that historically with that, with the role that you got, that werewolves you knew historically would have been, that they were in Corvacchia and that they especially were in Sceathruin. And that there hadn't really been any sightings in a very long time, especially since you've been in life. Got it. Cool. And

Yes, I would say... I would say with that role, you would have known that several centuries ago,

that there was a common, uh, relatively common that the border towns would have to deal with lycanthrobrades. Particularly werewolf raids. And some towns entirely got wiped out. But, um, ever since then, in recent years, that there haven't been any sightings at all.

which, you know, having to deal with the nightmares from Skaffanil was obviously a relief to me. So whether we're being escorted or we're just walking as we move towards this sunny camp, I would be... You're not being escorted. I'm saying basically you were able to talk. So we're just walking. I would just be in an overly matter-of-fact way, not realizing that it's kind of like a horrifying fact. I'd be recanting this history and just like trying to pass the time.

and like looking at the like Toa's face as I'm like talking about like lycanthi- lycanthropy raids and things. It almost doesn't register to me that it's like actually a scary thing. I'm just like telling history and trying to tell stories and like give some backstory as we travel. Yeah, friends.

That sounds terrible. I mean, I'm glad that when you were growing up, they weren't really a thing, but I mean, it was sort of like a boogeyman that at least kept you out of the woods, right? I mean, I guess you're right. I never really thought of it that way. I guess I just kind of accepted it as a story, as a part of history, and it was just the way things were. But no, I mean, I personally have never seen one

Yes, the history of the sightings have been long before I was ever alive, so I guess that's kind of a good point. I mean, if that girl had just been afraid of werewolves or some other kind of boogeyman, maybe she wouldn't have been captured. I mean, even I had a boogeyman growing up. Really? Yeah. What was it? His name was Hector Mancrab. What? Hector Mancrab. Hector Mancrab? Yes.

It was very terrifying. Yeah, and you were scared of this Hector man-crab? Very scared. Imagine a man-crab, a crab the size of a man or a goliath in this case. And his name was Hector? His name was Hector, yes. And why, is there a story behind him? There was that, we used to sing a song about him.

- This is a song about Hexen and Kraken. - I would love to hear it. - Who, who? I'd say pull out my ukulele. Are you sure? It's kind of scary. - I mean, we've got a lot of time to kill. - It's very scary. - I think we can handle it. We fought a golden dragon.

Just get ready to be very scared. All right. All right. Hector Mancrab. I'm ready. Provide a little background. Who lives in the coconut under a tree. Hector Mancrab. You can join in with me. Oh, I didn't realize there was audience participation. Cotton, chitinous, orange, and angry is he. Hector Mancrab. If keeping your fingers is something you wish. Hector Mancrab. Then stay close to shore and feed him some fish.

Hector Mancrab! And then the rest is just Hector Mancrab. Hector Mancrab. Just a few more times. Hector Mancrab! I just want to ask you a question, and I don't want you to be offended. Are you still scared of Hector Mancrab?

I don't think he exists. Well, I've never seen him. Yeah, so then you don't know that he doesn't exist. I think they just told us that so that we didn't go out into the ocean and die and drown. Yeah, I need to talk to you. I need to ask you a question. When is the last time that you...

- Since I was a boy, I mean, I was very young. I mean, it made me fish a lot. I like fish every day and I would just throw right up in the ocean to feed Hector Mancrab. Although he lived in a coconut under a tree. Why did I?

Out of character, how tall is Toa? He is close to eight feet. He's like seven and a half, eight foot tall. Toa, again, I don't mean to be rude, but you're nearly eight feet tall. You weigh something like 600 pounds. You could literally tear me in two pieces, and you're scared of a crab that's like the size of a man. Well, if I could tear you into two pieces, imagine what a man crab could do to me. Okay.

Think of it, he's probably twice my height. He could slip me in half with one claw.

If he exists, I mean, I don't think he exists. I think he just kept me safe and out of the water so I didn't go, you know, out in the ocean at night and have a cramp and drown after dinner. Well, thank you for sharing that tribal tale with us. That was very kind of you for sharing some of your history with some of my history. I'm just saying it's, you know, it's

I don't think he exists. Well, maybe we can rely on Caprice to come up with some sort of werewolf awareness song that maybe will prevent future kidnappings. I mean, I would be all for that. A werewolf?

A werewolf. That is a great working title. You are a master of poetry and the written word. I'll get to work on it. Well, you could use, I mean, if you wanted to do it to the tune of Hector Mencreb, I mean, that'd be fun. I wouldn't be... It would definitely be a new one in Corvacchia and Scephala. You could be like, who lives in the beastie wood, under some trees, there's a star. I'll think about it. I mean, no pressure. You know, there's just like the lives of innocent children at stake.

Anyway, I just want to... He's in a creative mode. Well, I'm just saying that the existence of some kind of boogeyman is very important for young children, and I think we should establish some horrific, terrifying thing that will rip you from the limb. As long as we don't upset the Count, all right? We are in his...

in his village and he's watching over these people and we do need to respect that. I would think that you would be gung-ho about that. Yeah, of course. Of course. We can talk about the aware wolf song later. No, he said it, not me. Oh. It was all him.

Well, he said it first? Yeah, he said it first. A werewolf. Oh, the werewolf. Like, aware. Oh, I thought he was just talking about a werewolf. No, he said it. And you said, oh my God, it's a pun. Well, I... Puns aren't really your thing. They're more Caprice's. I was... That's why I said that he's a mastery of poetry in the written word. He's truly a clever individual.

Anyway, we should probably just get to camp. We're just like standing there in the middle of a study camp having this conversation, like not realizing we arrived. The rest of the entire walk, I'm humming Hector Mancrat. You walk. The location of the camp is not far. Not too far.

And as you finish the discussion about Hector Mancrab, you see that while the rest of the valley, as it's approaching midnight, has gone to sleep, that it's mostly dark to sleep, very faint and few and far between lights that dot this valley, there is a warm glow.

emanating from this clearing in these beautiful dragon flame trees, not too far from the village that is just down the road. And you can see one of the guard towers of this walled town off down around a bend in the road.

And you actually realize that the terrain of this, uh, this road is, um, or this valley is far less, um, treacherous. It is still treacherous, but not nearly as brutal as the rest of Scythrin now. And, um...

And despite that, you still get the sense that it would be difficult for most of the horses that you've seen in Corvacchia to traverse, especially the speeds that Alexia and his knights have made it. You get the sense that whatever horses that they had been riding are able to handle that kind of terrain.

And you see the warm glow, and then as you approach, you hear the sound of music sailing through the air on the cool night breeze. You hear the drums, and you hear these stringed instruments and various horns playing as the smell of cooking food hits your nostrils, drifting just like the...

the music and the smell of a large, roaring fire, the ash and coals drifting through the air. And it seems so inviting as you see these large tents of brilliant colors erected in this clearing, as you hear the voices of singing and cheering and laughing people.

as you see that there are no walls.

to this camp that the night was right in. It looks like a town, but of all these tents, you hear the sound of hooves on the ground and the occasional whinnying of horses as you make your way to this large encampment. As you hear the creaking of wheels, as someone

As someone passes you, leading a horse, there's a wagon full of all sorts of strange looking relics and artifacts and knickknacks. And despite your strangeness to this valley, they don't even give you a second look. As you enter the Vistani camp... What's a girl gotta do to get a second look around here? I don't know.

I think we should take that with a little bit of grace and be happy that we're not drawing unwanted attention. But more importantly, I smell food and it smells really good. And as much as I appreciate Escher's hospitality, this smells like really, really good.

I mean, they'll probably maybe perhaps feed us dinner if we could pay them for it too. I mean, of course. Let's go buy some food. Absolutely. Yeah, we have to do that. I'm starving. I'm really hungry. I agree.

look around and you see that they're, uh, you have to dodge out of the way as you hear laughing as three children are chasing each other, um, despite it being close to midnight. As, uh, they're laughing and you see that one is, um, that the one in the back has a shaggy

The female looks almost like a wolf pelt over his head as he's raising up his hand, "I'm going to eat you up!" And he's chasing these two girls that are laughing as they're running away. "Hey, that kind of looks like Loopy." And you see them running off as you then turn towards the smell of food.

and you see that there's on this large fire, that there's several spits, and on one is a hole of goats, and you see another one that has a hole of boar.

that are just roasting, and there's these large ovens that seem to have rows and rows of baking bread. Oh man, Toa, look at that! Oh! Isn't that cool? I feel like we haven't had a hot meal in a while. I haven't had a whole bowl roasted over a fire since I left home! And then you hear a voice shout out. You keep hearing voices.

And one shouts out very clearly in your direction. It is Toa Kamanoi! It is. You turn and you see a large...

a large man with dark hair and olive skin and all sorts of rings and jewelry and colorful clothing as he has a huge belt, all sorts of trinkets and knickknacks. I slowly reach my hand into my cloak, my jacket. I look like I'm tuning my... And he goes...

And you see this large man that is not quite as tall as Toa, but definitely taller than the rest of you. As he walks forward, and you see that he has dark hair and a great big bushy beard.

as he looks forward and says, "You are heroes of legend! I have heard your stories in Eerios! I recognize the group of you! I have heard the feet of the Elder Tempest and Flamebender who rose from the ground!" "What do we?"

And you, your great, the sacrifice of your mother that saved Kaviri from the dragon fire of the cult of the dragon god that protects her very, very, warped and corrupted his wishes were.

I have seen and heard your stories in the great masquerade. We're famous! Are we famous? We're famous! I did kill a guy named Flamebender. I did, he was a big volcano guy at the end. Hold on, hold on. How do you know all of this? But you're listening! We're famous! There was a great play with all of your deeds in Caeliri. I just returned from Eerios.

With my family and friends we performed. There was a... I met the patron who invited us and gave us one of the most generous donations.

It was... It was... It was a... It was a vaccine just like you, Iris of the Sands. Warrior's Heart! She invited us in and then we... We went to Corvacchia and they did not care for us. Very bad. No one wanted us to perform or... It was a bad decision. Warrior's Heart lives in Celeri now, like up in the trees? Yes.

She said she was visiting. So let me get this straight. You put on the play? Oh, I saw the play. Who put on the play? It was Herakle Kryne and there was lizardfolk and I saw some gnomes and tabaxi and it was a beautiful sight. I guess they must be telling... There was a bugbear that played you.

And no one believed you. Well, that's kind of weird. You're taller than I would have expected. Yeah, I'm like a human male. I'm like almost six feet tall. I tell people I'm six feet tall, but I'm not quite six feet tall. The point is, they must be telling the story of what happened while we were there. Are they celebrating us? I don't want people just telling people about us. That could be dangerous.

What are you talking about? We're famous! I don't know if being famous is a good thing, Lufty. Why not? Because we've been doing a lot of really important and dangerous work. And part of that has been us keeping a low profile. And now, somehow you know our names. I don't know. It doesn't sit right with me.

So change your name, it's easy peasy if you're so nervous. I guess I could go back by whatever it was, Sundew Powerbottom, or whatever it was. Oh, I was just looking through my notes, I have it. It's Albert Sunshot Powerbottom. It was something like Albert Sunshot Powerbottom.

I can maybe check on the third in case that's too soon what I was using before. This is great. No, a reputation, Felix. This is fantastic news. What's your name, friend? My name is Alessandro. Alessandro, my name is Capriccio De Sesto. You can call me Capri. I'm sorry, I completely forgot my manners. I didn't mean to freak out. Felix Ackerman. I know who you are. I'm sure you have not heard of me.

It is a great honor. I am but a humble magician. My tricks and the magic that I perform is nothing compared to the greatness I have heard. Is it all or are all these stories true? Well, I mean, from what you've told us, it certainly sounds like there hasn't been any embellishment and everything that happened was factual and to history. Tch.

Well, well, you will be my, you can stay with me and my family. You are welcome here. It would be a great honor. Would you like, are you hungry? Would you like? Yes, yes, if you're offering us. Certainly. Yeah, we were just actually looking for some raps.

And you don't have to put us out for free. We don't want to impose upon you. We're happy to... But if you do, we wouldn't say no. ...to pay or to trade or help or something. We're actually here to help. There's a whole thing we're trying to figure out. But that's neither here nor there. The point is, food would be great and we appreciate your hospitality. If there's anything we can do for you while we're here, we're happy to help. Mm-hmm.

Yes, of course. The rest of my family is sleeping. We not too long ago arrived back from the long journey from Korifaki after performing in Ereos, and one of our own went missing, and it's been hard on the rest of us. Was it the Woods of the Beast over there? Yes, of course. We've been hearing that a lot. We're really sorry to hear about your loss. It was...

It's my fault. I thank you. You are too kind. We should have pushed through. The horses were tired and I made the decision to not push through. The night when we camped not very far from the valley that is when she disappeared.

There's no way to know that that was the reason for any of that. You may have been raided. Perhaps more likely to have lost if you'd been tired, which ruined their life. My decision was the leader of that caravan. And now there are two of us missing. Her mother. Anyway, no time for such sad things. No, I... But we have been... We have just recently stopped looking for you.

That is why this and my family are filled with sorrow and are in for really bad. I am here. I am your humble host. I don't want to open up any wounds that are working on healing or belabor the point, but if you tell us who these people are and just keep this between us, we're looking for missing people. And if you describe them, we will absolutely look for them.

I don't really know. We don't know what's going on here, but I'm dedicating myself to finding these people. We know that there have been children missing, and my own brother is missing, and I'm not going to rest until I find him or these kids. And anybody else you may have gone missing. So if you just describe them, we can try to help. Would you really do that? Of course. Even for Ravistani? It doesn't matter who. The point is that these people are...

Whatever's going on is evil, and it's really bad, and we're gonna get to the bottom of it one way or another. You droon are heroes. You have an eternal friend in Alessandro Takash. I don't know about heroes. He grabs your arm and he shakes it. Come, come, do you prefer pork or goat? Both. Pork for me.

And he... He triple-triple servings for my friend, Toa. Oh, I know! And he... You will make yourselves comfortable. And he pulls out... And you see there's actually a great number of...

wooden benches, this large man who grabs one end and he waves his hand and a magical purple hand appears in thin air and helps him carry the

carry the bench and place it down and he calls over some friends who are playing music and they start to perform a song and they're all laughing and dancing and he waves his hand and the purple hand continues to float and carve off a large, just two massive trays of sliced pork and goat with bread and

And basically, these small tables get pulled, dragged in the middle of all of you. And this kind of communal style of eating as some of the Vistani come in and grab some as well. And they're whispering and they say, they'll come up and they shake your hand. The ones seem to have, the story seems to have spread. As soon as that caravan got back, they had been telling the story that they had seen. How...

accurate is the story in this play, like, from what we're hearing? Does it sound embellished at all? Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. It sounds like the-- it sounds like H'lyri had literally burnt to the ground, and then when Al'Khira, the Thunderfury, emerged, the trees re-grew, and the city and everyone was raised from the dead. And it sounded like that

the story of the fist fight with Toa, or not a fist fight, the one-on-one between Toa and Makutu. Thank you. I don't know how I went through my notes. I do all the jokes in a different book. Is that when he transformed, the rest of you didn't join in, and Toa transformed into a giant sea elemental. It was basically volcano versus ocean and wind. That's pretty cool. It's kind of cool.

- I don't know what that is. - And very similar embellishments. And it seemed like there was a great leader of the group as Warrior's Heart, who seemed to be the leader of the group in that situation. - I see, I see. - And everyone liked it. She was really the coolest and everyone really loved her. And everyone said that they weren't as strong as she was. And that was a little bit embellished. - Of course, of course.

And then obviously the bugbear Zorbak got was, there was basically constant, constant for all of it. And actually there was basically a full C plot of a romance that they had. - Oh! - God, the caprices are ripping out his hair! - I can't power word explode. - He's so mad! He's so mad! - And what is the name of this trick that is putting on these plays?

He steals the Bag of Holding, pulls out a portable hole out of his jacket and goes . So yes, it's very-- The Kaliri treetop players. That's actually the name of it. Yes! Kaliri treetop players, yeah, 100%. The Kaliri treetop players. What was the name of our--

I'm trying to, I haven't been able to find it. Of the guy who turned into the Tempest? You mean? No, no, no. That was Commodus. The young owl that we like. Oh, the young guy. You know, I actually forget. That was what I was looking for, too. I honestly forget. Defected, basically. Yes, he's basically the new leader. His mother was the dumb one. You get the sense that he didn't know. He wasn't dumb. He was kind-hearted. He was Tempest.

Yeah, he was very timid. He watched his matriarch of his family get murked by Commodus. We had to reconfirm it. I was looking for that. I don't know how long ago this was. You're pulling back stuff that happened in like May 2018 and shit. It's like crazy. Yeah. I got my house.

Obros. Obros, that's right. Thank you. Obros Minerva. Yeah, thank you. And you get the sense that Alessandro and his troupe

and his caravan didn't really necessarily mingle with the current nobility, but the... And he tells you that a great number of elevators and ramps had been installed in this point, and there was actually

And that many of the forest dwellers were also now living, or the forest floor dwellers were living in C'lyri and the other towns as well. And there was a lot more intermingling and he excitedly, but was a little bit more trepidatious about mentioning several of the, something that probably gave you a little bit of a pause as he's telling about his time in C'lyri.

is the number of Korvacian soldiers that seem to be there as well. Like, around the city? Yep. And you know that there had been peace. Right. And a treaty that had been signed. And the ravens flying around as well. So...

But it is very highly embellished. And you're able to enjoy a great feast of a meal. He brings out a huge... Yeah, basically a big clay jar of wine. And he fills up all of your cups. And he...

He sits down and he takes a plate for himself. And he's like, I cannot believe that my own time soup thing and breaking bread with me is after the heroes. Where is his heart?

It's the love story with Zorbik! It was beautiful! It made me weep! I would just take my hat off and like... He runs his fingers, his ring fingers through his beard as he thinks and his face is almost overly dramatically filled with tears. Fake tears. I, um... She has, uh...

She's doing her own thing? She's on her own path right now. She's with her father. Yes, she's with her father. I don't know if they... I know that that was what she was looking for. I am so happy for her. There you go. Uh...

thing with Zorbek. Then finally, they can all live together. Oh, it is a beautiful thing to see. No, Zorbek, he also is on his own path. They unfortunately had to part ways. That is not what he plays in, but you lived it. Well, no, I mean, when does the play exactly stop telling our story? Because we're still alive and having adventures.

I mean, it's a good point. I mean, a lot's happened since... Everyone leaves happily ever after, and the treetops, and they all took a bow. The players, oh, it was beautiful. I wish... I'm going to start making costumes to tell the same story and put on the same play here. Well, if you want, I think one of the very small ways that we could pay you back for all of this hospitality is...

Maybe tell you some of our new adventures that nobody's really heard about yet. And maybe you... Is equal! Perhaps another arc or another act. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you could tell more tales. That's...

We will put on a far better and more accurate representation in production than the three top players! And he extends his hand, and there's a big poof of firework-looking sparks of magic as it swirls around. And he...

He's beaming at you and his large gut is almost swaying as he moves. This large, reverious man as he is immediately...

He immediately, uh, uh, pulls up a, a, um, a chair with, uh, this very plush pillow on it. And he says to them, you must tell me all of your adventures. I will commit it to memory. Um, I, I, I have an idea. And, and I huddle up and I say, uh,

Caprice, if you want to take the lead in actually telling the story and maybe adding some music and you can back them up with the ukulele and put in some things here and there and Lufty, maybe do some interpretive dance and add your own little flair to it. Ah,

I have an idea of what I can do with the campfire. All right? Where are we? There's so much information that we can't reveal. Just give her, give them the gist of the epic battle with Rajani and how we learned that she was this horrific cult leader. And, you know, then we can tell the story of defeating the dragon. That's a classic.

Goldrider. Got it. Okay. So my goal is while, uh, while we do this, this joint storytelling, I want to basically, uh, control flame at the part of us fighting Rajani and have like the, the fire, uh,

dance and turn into like a flaming dragon with us like dancing around it and like fighting it and like trying to do like a cool little control flame thing to like help Caprice tell the story of the epic battle with Rajani and while you know everybody's doing their thing it would be impossible for me to tell the story in nothing but like

prose or, like, rhyming prose or song. Like an epic poem. It would absolutely be epic poem style, and I could start with us traveling over land from, um...

the university, uh... Kaliri. Kaliri, thank you. Kaliri over the mountains, fighting a yeti, and arriving at the orc town. Our defense is being down, you know, trusting this person implicitly in these kinds of details. Oh, Captain Freewing lost his hand!

And then that god turned into a... Otter's turned him into a gnome. Remember that part? You know, maybe we can tell a story and they can choose to keep whatever parts they want to keep. Oh, we definitely do the resurrection moment for sure. The reincarnation moment. And that moment could use a little pizzazz, perhaps a green gnome.

Oh, he doesn't know? Is that more exciting? Well, yeah, wait till you hear his story. Well, yes, Green Gnome's great. Green

- Green knows great. - I cannot wait to see how he lives happily ever after! - I look at Caprice and I'm like, - I can't tell that part of the story. - I would like you to make a performance check advantage as Felix is helping you with, both of you are using magic. - Dancing flames, and Lufty's interpretive dance, and, and, uh,

I'm playing some ukulele. Your music, right, backing up... Yeah, just very lightly, you know what I mean? A performance check advantage? Yep. 29. 29. Alessandro is absolutely enthralled by the story. He is laughing, he is crying, he's cheering. As you're telling the story, you all are able to...

to tell and embellish however much you want. And he probably knows that you're embellishing, but he doesn't care. He's all in and offers ways to embellish it himself. And obviously, Herja exits the story as the golden dragon, captures him up the father and

- And her final words to you is, you know, I will return to you my love, Caprice, and Zorbek really sucks. - And I just made that a really nice poem. - I want everyone to know that Zorbek sucks. - And he's smelly, but fair. - I know. - I know.

Yes, I would actually tell him it was a gnome because he was actually a halfling. I wasn't sure if you told him it was actually a gnome. I didn't remember that. Fair enough. If he was transformed into a halfling, I guess we would have kept that act.

Okay. I wasn't sure if that was a deliberate idea. That was probably just us forgetting. It's two years ago. Yeah, I would say that we would just be spending the evening trying to entertain these people who are being so hospitable to us as a way to thank them in a minor way.

Yes, okay. And you do that. And afterwards, the plates are empty. The meal, it is delicious. And for as delicious, as surprisingly delicious, as Brutus' cooking was, there's something about the Vistani cooking, as simple as it is, that just makes it feel all the more heartwarming.

And you feel a warmth, and despite, you know, traveling on the backs of these massive gargoyles in this land of death, there is life here. And all of the Vistani that see you, there is no sort of strip, they don't seem to care at all that you're a Goliath at the backseat, that you're not, that we're Korovaki, right? They welcome you into the camp all the same.

And, um, are we like celebrities? Like, are people like whispering? Yes, we are. Oh, yeah. That would make Felix so uncomfortable. I'm weirdly picturing the, like, um, uh, in Return of the Jedi when after, after they finally make peace with all the, um, fuzzy Ewoks. Ewoks. I was trying to say Wookiees, but that's not right. All the Ewoks at that point, they're just like so about them and just talking and I don't know. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And, uh, afterwards, uh, Alessandro, uh, uh, he slaps his knee and he looks at all of you and says, "I... Misha is going to lose her mind when she gets to meet you. I almost want to wake her up right now, but I'm glad that she's able to get some sleep. I think she has been down lately. Not her normal self." What's wrong?

She was very good friends with the child who went missing seven weeks ago. And Sofiana was like another mother to her. She was like an aunt. She was like a sister to me. What's the name of the kid? Name's... Well, it's... I hope she will turn up. Valeska. So again, if you can keep this between us, because we don't want to spread fear or confusion or any kind of false hope,

How are you looking for the last guy? Well, from what we understand, she's just one of the many children who have gone missing.

We are going to retire. Thank you all very much. I'm fine, okay. And he guides you all into one of the tents that's there. Strike the set, everybody. And you see that several of the musicians go off to sleep, but there are a couple that still continue to play a little bit together. And they still seem to be lingering in the camp. It is probably approaching two in the morning now.

as there is some that's coming to this camp, but there's still life here. And you see that there's a series of tents and one seems to be completely dark and another that's not too far from it. Alessandro leads you into and it's filled with this...

this rich burning incense is glowing with this strange shimmering purplish light as he snaps his fingers and waves his hand as the tent illuminates and you see that there's a number of pillows sit around and a table and he places the jug of wine and has his floating magical hand pour a ladle out another drink for all of you

Uncharacteristically, I've been imbibing all evening. Because I'm swept up in the fanfare and the really just lovely atmosphere. So we sit down and I say, I don't know why, but you can ask my friends. I'm usually a pretty distrustful person, but I feel like I can trust you. This wine is really fantastic, by the way. It is very good.

And I want you to... It's from the Wizard of the Vine. Before you leave, I must send some away with you. That would be lovely. I know Lufty's favorite thing in the world is wine. Wizard's wine? You're a wizard. I am a wizard. It's for you, Felix. Maybe I could make this. We're getting distracted. Do I have to see the... Uh... This would be ill. From the...

Monster. I want to say that we pranked all of that. Well, she had the unlimited wine skin. Yes, but that was not. Well, no, I thought it had like special properties and we used it up. Actually, I might have some left. I will say that for all of you, I still have a little cask left. I have a cask of Lop Lord's Ravelry. Bingo.

Oh. So it is the special wine. Well, it's a beer. It's a beer. Do you want to break into this? I've carried it a really long way, so, I mean, you know. I mean, look inside. I mean, this is, like, really trippy stuff. Don't get too close. Don't put your hand there.

We're getting distracted. Yeah, I just, they're being so kind to us and sharing all these wonderful things. I just, you know, let's trade. I mean, I wouldn't say no if we wanted to just crack into that too. I know this isn't like the happiest party time, but. Well, I bet it could be. It could.

I keep looking at this guy. Trading gifts and culture between new friends is one of life's great friends. Yeah. Thank you, my new friends. Cheers. Cheers. I am feasting and drinking with heroes. I have always wanted to go to Kirstein.

and never had the chance. It is beautiful. And he chugs the entire thing, and a literal tear comes to his eye and runs into his great big bushy dark beard. I know, it's good. It is delicious. It makes my mouth to leap.

I'm sorry. No. No, no, no. No, it's fine. I... Again, I feel like I'm repeating myself. I don't want to cause worry or... I don't... So I think you should keep this between us. But we...

As we understand it, many children have been going missing. And that's why I set out all those many, many months ago. My brother's been gone for a very long time. And I think there might be some connection. But the point is that our paths cross with Valeska's path. And we understand that her mother is also missing. Is this... Sofia, is that what you said? Sofiana. Sofiana. Okay. I'm with you. Right. Then we know...

We've been made aware of their disappearance and we have an idea of where they might be headed. And we're hoping that we can head them off or find them before any harm befalls them and get them back and figure out what's happened to all the other kids as well. I think I know who Sofiana is now. If she still is alive. Yeah. Any information you have at all would be helpful. And he says, I am...

Glad that you gave me this before I... before I... recount our story. Sofianna, the mother of sweet Valeska, after her daughter was taken, she knew that it was... was the silver pine pack. The... what? The... count and the order of the feather

would like us all to think is that there are no werewolves. Near Barovia, about- Ooh! You hear the loud howl that seems to echo and boom over as a lonesome, melancholy wolf howl as it boons and fades. That was not him. Yeah. Oh. As you hear a wolf howl,

Does it sound like a wolf, or does it sound different than, like, a normal wolf howl? Sounds like a wolf howl. Okay. I'll say that it just sounds like a wolf howl. See? You can hear it. They are close. You... You understand that we are, um... We are at the age of the go. This is how we prefer it, but... To the... North and east, that is where they hunt.

Innocent people, I know. Such a shame. There's no reason why we cannot all be friends. No reason why we cannot survive and live together. Isn't it hard enough in this world to live, to create a good life with our families, to be separated at odds? It is not hard enough. But my decision to care

The howling was incessant that night. I even thought it was strange. I saw a pack of scared deer and heard the howling. I thought it was just a normal wolf pack, perhaps dire wolves, hunting. I believe it was the silver pine. I truly believe. When the little Velasca was gone that next morning, I knew it would not be long until Sofiano

She's been coming back and forth. She's scoured

The beast would have been surrounding mountains and hills and moors. She says she, last I saw her was almost four days, five days, four days ago. She said she had found the cave entrance. She believed that there was a great cavern system where they lived. She was going to find her little girl. This is a

And just for my own mental image, Fabiana, does she have a blonde hair? No, no. She is. Well, she is not my sister by blood, but she is my sister all the same. And people believe that we are related. Perhaps we are. And this name, the Silver Pine Pack, is that just a local term that you guys have for it? Or where does that name come from? The name comes from the pack leader.

It's been told with whispers. It's called Old Scratch, but it's the run-in that we've had. The Sofiana has had. The interrogation that she's done. She says that they call themselves the Silver Pine, named after the Alpha. She is the monster slayer. She is the one who fights the creatures of the night and protects us.

I do what I can with my magic, but it is her who equals the greatest blade against the darkness of the shame. It's possible she could still be alive, is that right? Of course, I mean of course, that's why we're here. Oh, my nose is tingling. It's okay, it's not a dumb question, there are no dumb questions.

This might be a- Are you okay? Oh yeah, I feel kind of sleepy. It's alright, just have another glass of wine. That's what I'm gonna do. If you feel like you're gonna get sick, leave the town. No, it's just fun. This might be a dumb question, but why would these packs be interested in children in the first place? I mean, have they been- Well, okay, sorry. My mind's a little loopy. The whole reason we're here is because the children are missing.

So we know that there's a reason that they're looking for children. Do we know... Do you know if the Silver Pine Pack is working for anyone? Or do they have a reason that they might be doing this? I do not know. We always knew that there was the pack out there. How they stay so out of sight, away from the gaze of the Count.

I did not know. I knew they were there and I was hoping that one day we could resolve differences and live together as friends and break bread like we do now. But it's only been recent. The past several months the children have been missing. Even with the howls and the hunting, decades of hunting, it was just them. The only ones that had to worry were the goats and the boars and the elk. But

Humans! Or any mortal human. I do not know. I know that there have been children recently who wandered into the world. It has become an unfortunate game where they feel so protected by dragon fire trees. They will wander out as a game into the beast world. Who is the bravest?

I'm glad my precious Misha has not played such games. At least that I know of, she knows. But I hope that all the children of the demon are great as the warrior. If they could not stay with their family. Sorry to bring these stories in these sad times. No, it's very important. It's important we talk about these things. And if there's any consolation, I don't think they're being eaten.

I think that we can find them. No, I think that... And forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, but I think this Count Vorok is somehow using these Pax werewolves to get these children. That's what I think. And I haven't cracked open why yet, but... That's an important point. And to Lesbeth, I assume you knew her very well, not from her. Yes, from both of us. She was...

She was like a niece to him. She was my, she is my niece. Was there anything unusually special about her? Magical abilities, perhaps? Or origin, in terms of like birth, month or day? Or unusual circumstances? Besides, it called her the golden child because of her beautiful hair.

But besides that, she's a beautiful, healthy little girl. And she and Misha were like this. Like this. The people who have her seem to think that she's called the Raven Child. And I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. Has anybody ever referred to her as the Raven Child? No, the Raven Child is the order of the feather of our web, Raven Child. Before we work with the Count and her... Wait, what?

They're were-ravens? Yes, yes! They've been at odds with the werewolves for centuries! Oh my god! What if all this time we've had it wrong? What if it's not THE raven child? What if it's just A raven child? Like one of these children that can turn into ravens? But little Galeska was not a were-raven. She was not the Order of the Few. She was not from the Mordekov line. Are you sure? How could you know?

I think I would know! I saw-- I was there with the day she was born! I held her minutes after she was born! I need no offense. I'm just saying at a certain point, once we've eliminated the things that can't be possible, whatever's left over... could be possible! I need another drink.

I mean, I could be wrong. I've had a lot of wine. And I don't even really know where I am right now. Well, we're in the Latin, the Latin? We're in a camp. You're right, the wine. That's some strong wine. I begin to pour myself another glass. Okay. The town. Where ravens? They're the ones? The ones what? Are we to understand that the...

That the Count is somehow in league with the King? No, no, I don't think that either Counts that we're talking about, there's so many Counts. Oh, goodness. Count Escher Kreskov. It is the King, the Counts. Yes, Count Kreskov Escher, who we know, and who we just met, Alexei Vanzarovich, are the Counts. Uh-huh.

What I'm saying is that the King Vorok, I think, I think, and again, this could be the wine speaking, so correct me if I'm wrong. I think the King Vorok is somehow working with these packs of werewolves to steal children. Now, that being said, this new information that there are people who can turn into ravens,

We thought this whole time that it was the Raven Child, the Raven Child, as if it was some sort of special individual. But what if they just are looking for the children of the people who can turn into ravens? A Raven Child! A child who is also a raven! And we don't learn that we're raven people. Yes!

Yes, of course. They are the protectors of Barovia. Forgive our ignorance, but we're not from around here, and quite frankly... Of course, I do not... I mean no judgment or derision, my friend. You feel exactly... Even knowing that there were werewolves and vampires, I never would have imagined that there were were-ravens. Oh, there are many like-it-alls. This is mind-blowing. Maybe you could use the were-ravens to...

as a boogeyman to tell your children not to go into the woods. Or maybe if you could use Hector Mancrab as well, if you'd like to use him instead of... This is the first time you've mentioned Hector Mancrab. Hector Mancrab, who is they?

Have you faith? Is this a great monster to be faced? Yes, he's a crab. You can see that he's drunk, he's had a lot of wine. He's a crab as big as a Goliath man. Big Goliath crab! Hector man crab! He's probably 40 feet tall and he lives in a coconut under a tree.

That is terrifying! Oh no, he's over in... Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait. He's 43 tall? How does he live under a coconut under a tree? How big is the coconut? How big is the coconut? I guess it's a really big coconut. I never really thought about that. How big is the tree?

Well, I mean, what's the definition of under a tree? Maybe just like under a palm frond, you know? Like if it was as tall as the tree. Maybe. And so anyway, he's big and he's orange and he's angry and...

Anyway, you could use Hector Mancrab if you'd like to take him instead of wherever he is. But you should tell your children about Hector Mancrab so that they don't go into the woods. Or really stay close to shore, which doesn't really... We try to tell children not to fear the werewolves. But it is little Valeska always wanted to see one.

Because the order of the feather, the count, they say over and over that the verbals have left Barovia. But not just people. Just supplies go missing. There is a whole wagon of flour that just disappears overnight.

- A wagon of flowers. - Flower, no, flower like-- - Maybe they're bee people. - What? - Like were-bees. - You think there are were-bees? - If they like flowers and they stole them-- - Wait, so maybe it was some type of thing. - What if there were were-bees and were-ravens? - I mean, he mentioned that there were tons of lycanthropes. - And they're locked in an eternal battle of lycanthropes? - Yes, yes, exactly. - I never heard of were-bees.

I mean, at this point anything's possible. Well, yeah, okay. No, but I do think he said flour, a carton of flour to make bread. So, wait, what would they have purpose for that? I do not know. Wait, are there any streams or lakes around here? Lakes? Sorry. We are not far from lakes out of each. Wait.

Oh no. What's wrong, Doa? What if Hector Mancrab's behind all of this? What? Hector Mancrab? Wait, hold on. What if he's behind all of this? Wait, can't we just feed him some fish and he'll be fine? Yeah, but they haven't been feeding him fish because they don't know about Hector Mancrab, so he might have been... How far is Lake Vonsarvich? Well, they have big as a swamp.

What? Several hours long. I mean, we could go feed him fish if you're that worried. I think I would like to feed him fish before we go to bed. It's fine. It's a few hours one way, it's a few hours back. We can make it before sunrise. Okay. That sounds good. Can you hold off for just a moment? I do not think there is a man crab in the lake. There is something down there, but not a crab.

Are you sure it's not a crab? Is there a coconut anywhere? I mean, if you listen to the song, all we have to do is feed him some fish and it's all... No, there's not a climate for coconuts. You just have to stay close to shore and feed him some fish and he won't steal your children anymore. If you just listen to the song, it'll clear it up. I think that any man crab. There is no... There is a rare crab that I am not aware of. It's just food for thought. But I think it was the silver pie.

I think that they, the cards of medicine, they have been... I do not know how they are getting past the dragonfire trees. I don't know how, but I believe it is the silver pine. Why they are deciding to take the children after only in recent months, after centuries of relative peace. Would they have any way of knowing which children are from the Order of the Feather and which are not? I would...

We'll say no. Maybe they're just indiscriminately grabbing the kids. They kept to themselves. But all I know is that Sophie Hammond says that she thought she found their lair. She was hiding there and I... Did she say that twice? Yes, she did. She did. She said it was in the northeast and not as far as you'd expect. Well, he didn't.

No, neither. So I guess really the only question that we have to ask ourselves is whether or not we think that these horrific insect creatures are also using this cavern system. And if it's worth checking out or, you know, maybe we talk to the count first. There are a lot of moving parts, but... My head's going just a million miles in the air. Well, let me... First of all, Toa, can you write... My name is Toa right here.

Yeah, yeah. You can use my quill. Thank you. Now, I love you too. Yeah, it's fine. You can put it on my back if you need to. Yeah, um... I think that's our next move. The cavern system? I guess what I'm... I'm just worried that if... If Valeska is already with King Vorak...

I'm running out of time. And that's all I worry about. And then maybe the Count, when we talk to him in the morning, can shed some light on the situation. Like an onion. We can't think of the center of the onion, where the kids are and where this kid is and where all the answers are without going down through the exterior layers of the onion. Why are there kids in the onion? Because it's medical.

Yeah, but there's nothing like else inside the onion. And a real onion is just more onion. You really are the man's poet, Caprice. I don't tell you enough. Thank you. Thank you. I'm just saying, I think that this silver pine back is the outer layer of the onion. We gotta go. We gotta...

figure out what's going on there unravel that mystery if their caverns are connected to what the bodies are using maybe we can get there quicker we can follow their footsteps right oh thank you here's what i'm mapping out oh my goodness

Caprice, what's the matter? I just roll up the parchment and put it into my bag. Uh, you know, it's not important. Okay. Okay.

Holy shit, this rendition is funny. Oh my god. I forgot that it's not autofocus. That is so funny. Oh!

Okay, thank you. Will you be able to recognize this if I show it to you again, Showa? Yes. Okay. That's all I wanted. Okay. All right. Do you want any water or sleep, perhaps? We need to go feed him. We just got back from doing that. We did? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've already fed all of them. We fed Ectomancrab. Yeah, yeah. Aren't you tired? We saved. That was really a lot of...

I've never fished so hard. I think I'll just lay down right here. Just wake me up when it's time to see you take dementia. And I'll lay down. In a comfortable position. Are you saying... Yes, you are welcome to sleep here. There's plenty of cushion for all of you to fit. Are you saying that it is the...

Carrion King that is responsible for all of your children. There's a hypothesis here that I'm starting to form, which is these children are going missing all over the place. We think that the Carrion King is involved or responsible or perhaps both, and therefore he would have his irons in many different fires.

Silver pine pack, maybe one of those irons and there may be just a few degrees from them. We can work our way up that ladder. We could do the same kind of heroism that you saw us do in the stories you watched when you were in Cthulhu. Count Delirium. When he said, "I do not know why the Count does not send his army and his crusaders to smash that terrible city. I do not know why we wait."

Why not reach out to the Silverpine? But I do... I may perhaps say I'm too optimistic for the future. Well, I... Especially if the Carrion King is in league with the Silverpine, we'll have to do it. I don't think it's ever too late. I think we can fix things, and Count Kreskov is currently talking to Count Bonzarovich, and we'll meet with them in the morning.

And then we can talk to them about these things. Maybe it is worth reaching out to these werewolves. The Silver Pine Pack. Maybe it's worth it. And we'll see what Count Bonsarovic says. Well, he is wise for his stern and how strictly he rules. He rules wisely and justly. And I trust his judgment, even if I do not understand myself. You are powerful.

Warriors and heroes, yes? Nah, we're not heroes. We're just... We're just trying to help people and make up for the wrongs in the past. I do not wish to ask much. But if you do get a chance, you at least look. At least look for Sofiana. You have my word. Bring her home if you can. Absolutely. She's incredibly strong, but an entire pack...

It's the absolute least that we can do after everything that you've done for us. I thank you. I will meet you tomorrow for breakfast. Yeah, I'll have a song prepared for you, for the kids, to start off the next story, as you make your rendition of what we shared with you this evening.

Misha will be so thrilled! Thank you, Caprice! And he gives you a big hug as he stands up. He's definitely very clearly feeling it as well. Make yourselves at home, all of you. You are one of us. Not just tonight, but as long as I draw breath and all of them out there, we continue your story. You are our family. That's what we always say. As long as we draw breath...

Don't you hear that? You are a true hero, Mr. Lamp. No, I... No, no, no. I just... No, we're just trying to help. Well, if we are not able to save her, we will sing the story of Sofia Habelikov and Litov Alaska Habelikov.

I assume he's starting to make his way out. Yeah, he's getting ready to leave. It's like my grill is somewhere. Bellacombe. Bellacombe. To wake me up. Or if anyone out there is still awake, and then the people awake over all hours of the night. As a sort of quietly, um, have a good night, have a good night, Alessandro. I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of that.

I will. I will sleep easier now, even with the house. And almost as if on cue, you hear the... That is weird. That never happens until you say something. It sounds like it does. It's like they are listening to us. As you hear... And as he begins to leave, he says, Just be careful. Sleep well. You are safe. Thank you. There's always someone awake.

Good night. He turns and leaves and closes the curtain and you feel warmth and comfort. There's all sorts of sleeping cushions all around. We're able to do plenty of room.

Can you, uh, immediately do that, uh, alarm thing? Oh, yeah, I mean, well, they always told us when we were studying, don't, don't magic and drink, but here I am, and I begin to try to, uh, cast alarms. That's not what they told me. I'm casting alarm along the edge of the tent, uh, you know, in a perimeter, uh, as I'm listening to whatever, you know. Now those are the proximity mines we're going, am I? Pfft!

My arm, like, you know, splatters across. Yes, I begin cast- ritually casting Alarm along the perimeter of the tent while we're done hanging out. What do you think?

I mean, I think you're on to something. I was thinking, knives only, places to kill. What? Is that why you wanted all those knives? From poor Major Domo? You can play some fucking Goldeneye, goddammit. Oh, sweet. Guys, I don't even know what that means. I swear to god, if any of you play, I'll jump. I don't know how to aim down. Okay? I don't know how to aim down. Pavilion 3 is just as tall. The sneaky secret of Goldeneye. Anyway, um...

You boomers. You boomers. Look, I think we're on to something. I think you're on to something. You made some good points. We'll talk to both counts tomorrow morning. I'm sure they're going to have a lot to tell us. Listen, I'm scared. I'm real scared. Because I...

I thought we were okay with Camp Zarbis. Hector Mancrab is a real... No, no, no, no, no. I don't trust a fucking soul. I don't know if I trust Los Andres. I don't know if we trust... What? I just told them all that stuff. Yeah, well, we haven't told them everything. Why didn't you say that earlier? When was I going to say that? I don't know. Call for elbow somebody. That would have just been coughing and elbowing. You wouldn't have been like, oh, maybe I should stop talking. There's no way to...

Well, then I would have been like, oh, Caprizo, you okay? And he would have said, oh, no, like, help me outside, please. I think I'm going to vomit. And then he'd tell me this. Okay. So remember... Maybe I had options. That's fine. However... Yeah, continue! I just... They...

We're looking for Valeska. She got stolen away. And she was being, how did she go from these werewolves to a coffin in a catatonic state being carried away by the Shadarchai? How do you feel about that? That's my hypothesis about the Carrion King. They met up with some of his liaison. They're working together. That's what I thought.

To Alessandro's point, he asks, why don't we make peace with the silver pines? Why don't we all go around and raid in or fight the carrion king? Those are two yellow flags, at least, that maybe Zarevich has some reasons not to do that. Well, if they're stealing... He's with Escher right now. Is Escher okay? Well, first off, the man is undead.

There's not much that can kill him outside of, in my studies, my understanding, sunlight and some other stuff. That's a pretty big weakness. All he has to do is be like, hey, go up to the top of the tower and then close the door. It's the middle of the night right now. And then morning comes around. Look, I think your concern is justified. What I'm saying is tomorrow morning,

First, let's see if Escher shows up. Okay? If he doesn't, then we have reason to maybe fight back. All right? All right. But until then, we can't really do anything. Well, I don't think we can do anything. I'm just sharing perhaps unwarranted paranoia. If for some reason what I was going to say was if for some reason these werewolves are stealing flour and medicine and supplies, maybe they don't have a choice. Maybe they're under duress and they're doing what they have to do to survive. And maybe...

Me too.

Also, did you see Pitbull let Toa main? Look at this. Isn't this hilarious? I look over to see if he's like completely passed out. Totally, just totally zonked. I asked him to write his name and he drew his greatest fear. Oh, sweet gods. Here you go. Can we even confirm that he knows how to write? Maybe he doesn't know how to write his own name. Oh, that's interesting. Look, I think that Toa, you have to understand that I love Toa like my brother.

But I don't know, maybe he can't write his own name. And to be fair, he couldn't stop talking about Hector Mancraft for the last six hours. Well, you know what? I think he's really scared. Well, to be fair, I'm starting to get kind of scared. And I know that Hector Mancraft's not real. I've been jamming with Toa for a year and he's never brought that song up once. It must be really deep in there.

That fear. Something really awakened the fear within. Maybe this is something that you should talk to Iris about. I just feel like maybe I'm not equipped to handle this. Iris can't hold her liquor at all. Well, either way. I don't know. I think tomorrow... Man, this wine is good. I think tomorrow we see what happens with the Counts. I think we have a good meeting with Count Banzarovitch. Mm-hmm.

And then maybe this cave system is our next stop. Because like you said, if it has anything to do with the spiders or anything, or the Carrion King, there might be some overlap and there might be a better way to get into...

- I think we're on the same page. Just wanted to make sure we talked it out. - I know, I'm glad you said something about not trusting anyone. You never know. And again, I don't know why, I just felt so trusting of that man. He just was so kind. And the wine is so good. It kept calling us heroes. - Yeah, that was nice. That was very nice. I enjoyed that a lot.

I'm gonna go to bed. Oh, before you go to bed though, I know something I wanted to talk to you about. Can I help? Well, yeah, I mean, the more we've been hanging out, the more I realize that you really are a man of the people. And you have this unbelievable way with language and words. Thank you. So I... Says the person with 13 languages to... No, that's nothing. That's nothing.

I wanted to run something by you. Yeah. I had an idea for a novel. Oh, yeah? I thought maybe you might be able to help me out. Well, what kind of novel? All right, so don't tell anyone because it's a little secret. I feel very vulnerable by telling you this. Luffy, I suggest you go to sleep.

Oh, yeah. I am so... I'm gonna go to sleep and I'm gonna just roll over and like... No, I cast a ghost on you. Oh, man. But

I mean, you could probably beat it. Yeah, if you want to fight it. This is a lot for just a bit. We got to play by the rules here. Naturally. He is a bard, by the way. Oh, no, it's a spell save? Okay, well. Just kidding.

I take it all back. But I do pretend to go to sleep. Yeah. Roll over. You pretend that the suggestion actually works. I do. And you keep an ear out. There isn't a lot of room for creativity in the military, but it's been on my mind for a really long time and I think I'm onto something. Mm-hmm.

So the main character, his name is John Everyman. And he works at just, you know, the inn on the corner. And it's almost as if he represents me and represents you. And he feels like he's... He feels as if he's destined for so much greater. And I bore Portia.

poor Caprice for hours about this horrifically cliche Writers 101 Creativity Story 101 novel. Creative Writing 101 novel and asked for his input before I realized that he's nodding off before I even get to the third chapter. And it was his father the whole time. Laughter

I got it all written down. I'm going to go now and write another song because I promised Alessandro one. I look, I just I just I really think there's something here. And, you know, maybe we can mull it over and workshop it a little. I think that there could be something in it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll work on it. Okay, thanks. We'll figure it out. Thanks, Caprice. It's my pleasure. Oh, boy. I just, I feel so good. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow. Don, I assume you go to sleep. Yep. I have a song to write, so I'm going to spend the next 20 minutes being like...

Why doesn't it make me a responsible one? Coffee break? Let's take a break? Oh no. So you all go to sleep and Felix, as you rest peacefully

And you feel the, or rather you don't feel this because you're sleeping, have pleasant dreams of the beautiful music and food of the pastani. And then suddenly the alarm goes off in your head. Someone has entered the tent.

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We all enjoy long rest. Well, no. I will say you do enjoy long rest. Oh, thank fucking god. You do enjoy long rest. Doesn't change too much. And after you enjoy the long rest, however...

Your alarm goes off in your brain, Felix. We don't all hear this. I don't know. How does alarm work? No, just his head, right? Well, I thought it was anybody you choose to have it. Hold on, hold on. You know what? Let's clarify, because I think we can all hear it in our brains, but let me make sure. A mental alarm alerts you with a ping in your mind if you are with one mob of the warded area. When you cast a spell, it does make creatures that won't say. You also choose whether the alarm is mental or audible. No, it's me. It's just me. No. No.

But I can choose who triggers it. So it's obviously anybody who would not be part of our gang. Yep. So, Felix, the alarm goes off ringing like crazy. Someone has crossed the threshold.

So this is basically something that I am so used to and also not used to and basically gives me PTSD from my time on the run from the military that I immediately roll out of bed basically completely undressed.

No hat, you know, no jacket, just a Talon guard dagger. Like it's almost automatic that I pull it from my side. I roll out of bed, screaming, yelling, "Oh, oh, Jack, you're alone! "Oh my God, get out of this room, there's an intruder!" - Oh, what? - As soon as you do that, you see,

A massive mane of curly black hair. And you see it's attached to a little girl that's just as much hair as she is body. And she just looks at you.

And she's like, "Wow, you're even more scared than you were in the play. Breakfast is ready." So dagger is blue, like hand is on fire, and I'm like ready to incinerate her. God! My head! What in the nine hells? You see?

- You slowly upgrade yourself. - Are you guys really the heroes? That is the coolest thing! Hello? - I'm sorry. - Do you really cry as much? - Yeah, he does! - That's really sad. - It is so sad. - I don't cry. - And you see a little girl and she has that same olive skin and this massive mane. It goes down past her hips as she looks and it's like,

- Wow, I can't believe I'm meeting real famous people. - I know, it's Jay-Z. - This is the coolest day of my life. - First, can you stop screaming?

Please, just keep it down a little bit. All right. Well, that's great. He's very excited. No, you're being very loud, and it's very early. Hey, hey, hey, kid. My name is Misha, by the way. I was going to ask what your name was. Oh, you're Misha. Oh, well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Misha. We met your mama last night. Yeah, he's the one that told me. You need to learn about knocking before you walk into...

- You need to learn about what you can do when someone else is 10 and tell the owner where they should go and not go. - If I sing you a song, will you leave? - I know. - It better be a good song. - Yeah, that'd be a good song. - ♪ Call Mr. Bart ♪ ♪ That's my name ♪ ♪ That name again is Mr. Bart ♪

- That's like a four out of 10 at best. - Breakfast! I just woke up because of you! - Well, you're welcome! Breakfast is ready! You have the countess here to meet you. You are very impressive people, goodbye! And she turns around and she leaves. - Oh god. - Anna gives five. - My food! - My food is so good, huh? - Please stop yelling at us. - My mouth is dry.

My head feels like I am... it's splitting too. You've got the bottle flu. Very common. Oh god. They drank too much. You guys drank too much. What? You drank a lot last time. Did I drink it? What did I drink? Did I drink too much water? Do you remember drawing this?

Oh my god, I remember that. I remember that. It's the hand grab. The prophecy has come true. Are you sure I drew this? Of course, I asked you to draw it because I wanted it to be an anchor for me to understand how much information you got last night so I would know how much I needed to explain when you woke up. He asked you to write your name down. Do you guys know who this is? Yes. There's a whole song about this guy. You know the song. You told us the song. He's the man-crab. Oh, I did?

Mani? What happened last night? Man check. Mani, the man grab. Hector! Hector, damn it. I remember walking to the camp and then... I thought for a man as big as you, you would be able to hold your booze a bit better. It's embarrassing. I'm like five feet and I'm burning. Isn't it more about like, use it or lose it? Isn't it more about like... I don't know. The more of a lush, the less of a...

Flush? What are you saying? What are the words that are coming out of your mouth? I don't drink that much. I mean, I don't know. Well, you have to practice like anything else. It's a muscle. No, don't do that. I'm just going to swear off it. Yeah, here, hair of the dog. I'll pour him a cup of beer. No, no, no. I'm good. I was in performance mode last night. I didn't have that much to drink, and you guys really went over for it. It was hilarious to watch. Uh...

Some tea might be nice. I don't think I can stomach anything. I'm gonna try to eat every egg. I'm gonna get up and I'm going to shuffle. I don't recommend that. Are you gonna Rocky Balboa it? I'm gonna shuffle over. I'm not gonna pick my feet up at all. I'm just gonna shuffle towards breakfast.

Thank you for coming to get us. She's gone. Yeah, I shoot her away. With the scamp. She was a scamp. Bye-bye! I get ready, and I put all my things on me, and I have my viol, and I'm ready to go. I put on my, like, clothes and, like, my jacket, and I look like hell. I'm like a stumbling bum.

I'm disheveled, dirty, gross. And I'm just gonna try to find some sort of a campfire. Because I just want to sit by the fireball and prepare my spells for the morning. And eat myself. You make your way out of the tent, and you see that you hear the sound of many horses, and a lot of chatter. But it's not nearly as lively.

as the scene was the previous evening. As you see sitting around a large plate, a really metal tray of food, and there's basically a giant, almost like a vat of just whipped egg, scrambled egg, basically, and all sorts of sheets of pork.

and a number of delicious looking patients. You smell the food and it hits you. It's glistening and it smells. You see that there is a number of armored knights

all sitting around eating food. There's some tin cups of coffee or tea or something. And you see that around the central campfire area, sitting, eating a plate of food is Count Von Zarmich. And there are actually some, there are five chairs around him.

There's this large teapot in the center that's crackling on a fire, and there's a lavish feast. There's fresh fruit out, and he has a plate. He's already eaten. As I stumble out of the tent, it looks like you could blindfold me with dental floss. Um.

I'm squinting so hard. And I see him and I realize, oh, oh, oh my God. Sir, I'm sorry. Felix Ackerman reporting to duty. I'm sorry. We're here. How long have you been here? You... Alexi looks at you and says, looks like you had...

any entertaining night. I have not been here long. I promise this isn't normally me. I got carried away with the food and the wine. Oh, gods. If you know Alessandro, he's a very charming man. Yeah, he's not a fag. He's very hospitable. Hey, Blue, he is a good man. You see Alessandro as he's standing by his family tent. He looks at you and he gives like two thumbs up.

as he says, thank you Snuggie! Thank you Snuggie! 21 months, unbelievable. Lurking and sending the love to all you sexy people. 21 months, amazing. Thank you. Back to the sexy Snuggie.

He just lurks, yeah. Just creeps, yeah. And Count Bonsarovich gestures and he says, I saved you all enough, hopefully enough, for a cup of coffee for each of you. Oh, coffee. I'll fit immediately. Yeah, I think I'll try that.

I like take the cup and I just like immediately like down it all. *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grunts* *Grun

And you see a little floating purple hand that brings over a cup of water and levitates. And you see he's like Alessandro's in the back waving his hand. Thank you. And do not be alarmed, Count Kreskov wanted me to tell you a

Series of passwords so that you would know that he is alive. I do not know what they mean. I shoot him. I shoot a look at him. Yeah, bang! He says, what? Loopy, lascivia, Gerald, cannibal. I mean, that's probably it. Yes, that was it.

Those were the five passwords he said that you would know what that meant. Thank you. He is a strange man, even more strange than I had surmised from our correspondence and our letters, but he surprisingly trustworthy for undead. I can see why my ancestor trusted him and let him leave this land alive.

Is there like food just food out? Oh yeah, no, there's a whole... It's a grand tray and like a full fruit basket. Is there any salad in it?

There's a fruit set. There's no solution. - Well, no, I wanna clarify it's spelled C-H-O-P-T. - Yes, exactly. - Chopped, it's not, you know. - And scrambled eggs. - Exactly, and scrambled eggs. And yeah, and it's very much like a VIP spread. And you see that there's the Vistani, they're all looking around and they were very chummy with you, but as the, effectively the royal knights all sit around a spread on their own and the Count of the Land

eating with these famous celebrities that have joined the camp they're all just kind of keeping to themselves and looking around it looks very much that not everyone is at ease the kids are all being quiet and walking around like as as respectfully as possible it seems that they're not on these because they're surveilling this meeting or because they just are on these because of the counts well just because of the counts there and there's like 12

- 11 of his knights. - Right. - And so you get the sense that that is the case. And thank you Snuggie for the gifted sub! - Thank you! - 24 gifted subs. - Wow, 24 gifted subs. - Wow.

Yes, so just because you just followed him because you've become a sub now We do a thing called adventures in chill after every stream session. We do a subscriber only stream So we've had a lot of give this up today since it is September So stick around and we do like a little work on a Q&A session and we do an you know a post session therapy So that's you know coming, you know, hang around Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you um

And so yeah, that's why they seem a little bit in a lodge. And you see that there's just as many horses as there are people in this camp. Now it's easy to see where the horses were kept off in the darkness of the outskirts of these camps. Now in the greatness of morning, you can see more and you actually realize it's morning.

Wow.

And you look up and there's not a cloud in the sky except for on that ring around the valley above you as the bright light of morning shines down.

I'm gonna go eat all of those eggs. But we have to talk to the count. And I get up and I shuffle over. We have an important call. And I just take my hand and I just take all the scrambled eggs and put them onto my plate. I love it with your hand. That's the best part. And I just walk back and I sit down.

There's some rice there as well, and all sorts of... You can toast the semi-gag a little. And I start... shuffling the eggs into my mouth. And we regret that you, I think, were not able to join us, but as you can see, this land is for all of its...

benefits, it was dangerous for him to move about during the day. So he's okay? He is in Castle Barovia. Yes, he is. I have brought him the artifact of my ancestor that he requested and he is spending time with that. He believes it holds a key to averting whatever it is

What? Zolbeck?

You really are just a Hagenach guy, huh? No, no, no, I thought that the world was... I do not know the creator, but it is a family heirloom that has been in my generation for my family for generations. It was gifted, survived, the only thing to survive the destruction of Castle Ravenloft. My ancestor, Sergei, was actually the first one.

Count of Brovia, the Scefnil, gifted it to a half-nuff who kept it with her until she died. And we left it in her residence, so to respect. Right, right, her residence. And that was here in the city of Brovia? In Nuzarvich. Nuzarvich, my bad. Yes, formerly built from the ruins of the old town.

Borovia village, if you know the history. I don't. That's why I'm asking. No, I always presume... You don't know what time it is. I've been bound here. History lasts here. I wanted to know what Aja was up to, that's all. All for goodness sakes. You know, I hate to change the subject, but being from Korovakia, I almost don't know what the sun looks like anyway. But being in Scephronal, I've forgotten what the sun looks like, so what is going on here? Is it because of Tallowed Ground?

Well, that's okay.

Clerics, Crusaders, all of us. I mean, do you think it's something with the Carrion King's power growing, or is there something happening in the Morning Lord? It's not the Morning Lord. It's not the Deacon. It's the strength of the horrible, horrible atrocities he has committed. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. No, you're not. You're not being... You're not being so scared. I know that I was...

That's understandable. Trust me. I don't blame you. We're very sorry about that. I'm sure you were... Very convenient.

You come here to help my people and I thank you for making me do it. Very strange. Very strange. I don't know what you're doing. Kels is doing squats right off camera. Yeah, in the corner of my eye, I see squats happening and I'm just like, ah! I mean, it's rich, man. It is quite frightening. Shut up. Shut your mouth. Um, so...

Will you help us? You have an army, we could really use your help to take out this king. The reason why I am here is because I swore that I would meet you and I am a man of my word despite how busy I am. Well, thank you. The thing I am waiting for is to see what Count Kreskov

his governors. If I am convinced that there is a hope, then I will consider sending my crusaders to bring the mormon to Castle Bloomberg. But I will not send my men and women off to die for no reason, because they hope. We are just a very small army. The numbers are not great enough, even with the

bulk of the scaffolding military at the front lines. We do not have numbers, we have the power of our god. We have skill in battle. But we are outmatched and outmatched. When did Escher, I'm sorry, Count Kreskov say that he would be done inspecting this artifact? He says I could 100% count on tonight, but

He is a very... cocksure man. I am not sure if he overestimates his own abilities. So it could be a warrior. I did not know. I am here to tell you that I am not swearing any world beings of a single life until I am certain there's a good chance that there is a weapon.

There is a plan. I want to make myself very clear of the respect for all of you. I think that's an incredibly reasonable take. The only thing that I would ask is if you have any information that could aid us in the meantime. We have a couple of leads and we have some things that we can do in the meantime, but if there's anything that you know, you should tell us up front. That's the least you can do.

What would you like to know? What information? You're the one coming to bring information that I did not have to me. I can tell you the Order of the Feather has seen more movement in the Peace Booth. Sure. Creasing every night. That's a good start. All right, a little bit about the Order of the Feather might be good. They are an order of their ravens that protect

Barovia, they are my eyes and ears. And they make very good wine. As I can see that you know. No more. Never again. They're up at the vineyard? There in elsewhere, yes. Who's their leader, if you don't mind my asking? I think that I would let them tell you that it is a secretive order. You have to earn that respect. That is not my place.

I think I have two questions that you might be able to answer. The first is, do you know anybody that's gone into Zerakosa and come back? Not a single person. I do not know many who have gone to Zerakosa. I did have a young knight who was incensed by the ghoulish use of ghouls in Necromancy.

Good God, Zane! Well, no one will be alone this time.

And if we join forces and we all work together, there hasn't been a force that we haven't been able to stop so far. So if you need time and Count Kreskov needs time, then maybe we can spend today looking for the girl's mother. Well, that was exactly, that's exactly right. I was going to lead to my next question. What can you tell us about the Silver Pine Pack?

He looks and says, keep your voice down. Sorry. I feel like everyone's yelling. I think it's just you yelling. I think it is just you. They are remnants. They pack the various that have been in these lands for centuries. We first thought that they were extinct. But in recent years, they're making themselves more known.

And there are recent weeks of disappearances. Mostly children until he looks around the camp. There's a bit of sadness in his face. The first disappearance of an adult when she bit off a rope. So, Alessandro did tell you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some of it. And he told us a little of, if I could use a...

A metaphor. Metaphor? Just an alternative name. Allegory. You just said that because I said that. Oh, yeah, if you said it, I didn't hear it. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

I think it's quite literally the opposite of that. That's exactly my point. I just don't know what we're talking about. Oh, I see. So he has told you, yes. Okay, yeah. That is... We don't want to get him in any trouble. That is the only driver that we have here. I do not think it is worth risking the lives of my knights.

to investigate this. Going beyond the Dragonfire Threes is unwise, especially in Skafranium. That's fine. Leave it up to us. That's what we were going to do to occupy our time for a day or two. Whatever it takes for Count Kreskov to figure out

what that thing is. We have some leads and we'll follow up on them. You're going to willingly go into the Beastwood? Of course. Yeah. We're going to go find her. She's not far from here. Why wouldn't we? We're going to look for something on them? Yes. We have some time. I'll introduce you to the kind of press office instead. When it's the right thing to do. And it's the only reason that we're here and it's the only way that we can pay back these people and you for your help, which I know you're going to give us.

That was a little aggressive, Felix. I forget myself. If you find Sofiana, bring her back. Yeah, we will. I care about all of my subjects equally, and I do not want to see any lives needlessly lost. I will reward you if you do find her.

no need of reward, we just wanted to find... He made it sound like she was coming back and forth a little bit. She hasn't been back in a few days, is what he said, right? Yeah, that's exactly... If we have not heard from her, she is in trouble. She is very capable. She has gained on her own access to holy artifacts and relics to fight the creatures of the night that are...

known to lurk and stalk the caravans as the Estani come and go. She sounds very strong in the game for them. Maybe. She is, so it is very serious or she is dead and is all lost. I hope that is not the case. I do not want to lose any more Elborovians. We will find her, I'm sure of it. We're confident. Easy peasy. You will have my sincere thanks and anything I can do.

I swear it. I swear on my life. We could find a needle in the haystack. All we'd have to do is catch fireballs. That's a great idea. Oh, wouldn't it look interesting? Save them. It would mean much to me that you would risk your lives and your safety

for one of us. And if we don't return, you'll still have the Congress box and the information that we've given you, and you can make a wise choice with a little more knowledge. Correct. And if there's anything else that you can do that would make my decision easier, anything you find out will help in my determinations. We'll see what we can find out. We could come back empty-handed. No problem. But we...

We tend to come back full handed. For all of our sake, I hope you do not come back empty handed. And I just want to make this clear that... No, I didn't come out of the mouth part. We don't do this for a reward. We're doing this because we need to and we're not in it for the reward. That's all I'm trying to say. All right. You can help us by giving us resources and information. We will help you by making sure that the citizens of this county are safe.

Also undying love and appreciation and praise is welcome. You will see the nature of your return. Anything is on the table. I am a man willing to negotiate.

And thank you very much, LordCoyote2000. Thank you for the follow! LordCoyote2000. And thank you, Nose, for the sub, the resub, 27 months. 27 months. Nose! I don't like that guy. I can't believe there was 1,999 other LordCoyotes.

- There's a lot of-- - Welcome on in. Thanks for the support, everybody. - Thank you. And with that, you see that he takes this slice of some sort of melon and pops it in his mouth and finishes it. He downs the last bit of his coffee as he stands and

looks at all of you, and as soon as he stands, all the rest of the knights stand. Some are half finished with their breakfast, but they all put down their meals as they then begin to walk back to their horses and start mounting. I'll stand immediately with the count. You're not my subject. Just relax. Thank you, sir, or count. I really appreciate your willingness to help, and we'll make sure we help you in return. Yes, and just...

As a personal request from me, if you are encountering other Barovians, just do your best not to hurt Moriah. Of course. He nods. I hope we meet in next unhappy circumstances. Well, you certainly know what melon we eat. The honey melon? That's the money melon, as I always say. It is very sweet. Good luck. May the morning Lord shine upon you.

and he turns and goes back to his horse and he mounts up and immediately with a single

single motion, his horse takes off, and the eleven knights that are with him follow in formation, and they ride off, and it's the thundering of hooves and rumbling. And then as soon as they're decently enough away, the Vasani basically start to congregate in the middle, there's some music starts to play, the voices become louder and more at ease, and you hear laughing, and it's a little bit more like how it was.

The previous one. Well, I think we've got a full day ahead of us. What's our... Do we need to do anything here or should we just immediately start making our way? I think we should do it... We know where to go? Yeah, we need to go northeast, through the dragonfire woods, into the beast woods. Keep our eyes peeled because it's hidden. And we have to peel our eyes. And then...

And then we'll find a cave of some sort, and on the route we'll look for clues for Sofiano, and if we find her in the cave, or we find the trail of her and we follow that, we'll be able to make a decision. Oh, uh, well... It's a very simple eight-step program. Well then let's go northeast! For step one! You're not allowed to leave yet because my papa said that you were going to put on a good show for me before you left.

and you turn and you see that there's that same girl. She looks to be about 11 or 12. As she looks at all of you very expectantly. And... Yeah, and what kind of show did Papa say we were going to put on? He said you were very good at performing and telling stories and just doing really cool stuff, and I saw you guys on stage and you did really impressive stuff. Can you turn into a big wave man? Well, kind of, sort of. I mean, I could...

I can summon Miko, my wee friend. But I'm not going to do that here because I can't do that all the time. And I may need him later. That's not very fun.

Make a persuasion check.

Natural 20. Wow. God. We rolled two dice. I don't know what I'm arguing for. I'm sort of being coy about whether or not I'm going to perform it. You'll see. As you say that, you see her kind of turn. The bravado that she has kind of breaks a little bit. And she says, well, you know.

Papa says you might be able to find Valeska. Is that true? You can save the song just to please look for Valeska and find her and bring back Sofiana. That is what I care about. That's exactly what we're trying to do here at Faculty of Arts. Don't do that. And you sing your song.

Don't cry! Okay, just- just- you can save it for tonight, 'cause Papa's tending to the horses now, and he'll want to hear it. I don't want to- he's done so much. He's not giving him a sleep later. If we're not gonna be back tonight, we'll be back the following night. It'll be a day or two, but we'll be back. Don't correct her! No, I just want to set expectations. Yes, and the longer you're a meddlesome, bothersome little child thing, the more likely she's going to die. So we're off. Oh!

Iris! That's not very nice. It's the truth. And she must learn it also if the werewolves howl don't go to them. Do you understand? Oh yeah, don't man it. Whoa, I'm in. I'm going to look at her and I'm going to say this family's not safe. We need to grow up. Get rekt, kid.

Intimidation, you say? I'm not intimidating. I was intimidating. 19. 19, okay. I think I rolled an advantage for some reason. I don't know why. It's fine. I'll roll it again. It's the same thing. She takes a step back and is like, man, you're almost as mean as you were in the play. Darling, I get much meaner. Now go tend to your father.

Well, I need the goat water, the horses, and yeah, man, I'm going to help Papa. Good luck, don't die, please. Please find Sofiana and then Valeska, goodbye. I don't have anyone to boss around without Valeska. And she turns and she grabs a large bucket and starts to carry it off. Hi, Valeska. What's with your tail in a knot? Why are you so mean to her? She's noxious.

So are you a little bit. Yes I know. So am I. Oh yes I know. I know but you don't mean things to me because you're a little bit. Do you know what happens to the best girl? No. She wandered into the woods and she was stolen away. We saved her, she was stolen away again and she might die. No. That child is being coddled. I don't want to see her killed. And if that makes me a bitch then I'll be one.

But she needs to fear something for a moment until we can clear the land of that heinous carrion king so that she can have a happy, healthy childhood and she doesn't need mean old kitty Iris to put her in her place. Yes, you do. I'm going to pout away. Am I wrong? No, for what it's worth, I think you're right. And I don't think you're out of line.

And for what it's worth, if that little girl was stolen, I would go to the ends of the hills and back to make sure she was safe. We're gonna find him. I'm with you 100%. We're gonna find him. It's gonna be alright. Oh god, I wish my head was pounding. Oh, alright. And I'll cast Lesser Restoration on him and cure his hangover. Yeah, you suddenly feel like a million bucks. Oh my god! You can just do that?! Yes.

Why do you think we're best friends? I was gonna swear off wine forever, but now you're telling me that, like, I can just enjoy alcohol and you can just fix it? Yes, of course.

You just simply have to ask. Don't babar, Felix. I mean, I've been so uptight my whole life, I just, you know, I can loosen up a little bit. Iris, thank you. Don't be babar. I felt like my brain was just in molasses all morning, and now I'm like, I'm ready to go.

We can go save those people. Yes, we need you in tip-top shape to make sure the children are safe. Perfect. Do we know where the cave system is? Let me talk to Alessandro. It's northeast. It is northeast past the Dragon's Fire Woods, and we need to look for a trail. Perfect. You make your way to the outskirts. Where does the breeze go? Before we go do anything, I run to Alessandro, and I give him a piece of parchment that says, have your musicians practice this so we can perform it when we get back.

I'll give you the lyrics when we get back, but this is just the note. This is the preface, all right? And then I run away. You see that he's actually... He has a pitchfork. It's a two-pronged pitchfork as he's heeding hay into a large trough. And there's probably at least, as you look around on the edge of this camp, that he's tending to probably about 20 horses a day.

varying ages and sizes and colors. As you look at them, and you actually get the sense that the horses that Sergei and his knights were riding were Vistani horses. And that's probably why they were able to just traverse

the treacherous landscape as well, as effortlessly as they did, and that seemed to be one of Alessandro's things. And as he, he goes, "Ah, you are awake, everyone is doing fine, thank you, Misha, I think is going to learn a little bit of respect, I apologize for my little girl, she's just--" - No, no, no, no, it's nothing. - "Thank you, and here, take this." And he said, "I'm glad you found me before you left, I thought I'd be done by the time you all made yourself

made your way to the Bistro. - If we have a sense of urgency about this, we're gonna go and take care of business. - Yes, that is where I think from what Sofiana had told me, that's my best guess. Look in that area and--

Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. There's a lake. There's Lake Zorovich. The mountains is up towards there. Apparently, hidden away behind a very dense thicket behind deep into a ravine. Okay. Yeah. I think this is clear. Appreciate it. We'll be back. Work on the story and...

We'll be back as soon as we can, honestly. You can practice things as soon as our morning chores are done. Be safe, my friends. Cheers. I run back to the group and join up wherever we can count. You see the mage, Han, he's using prestidigitation and magic to help him in his training. Nice Biden, by the way. And I return to the group. You all join. I have a map, and we can do this on foot. We can do this on foot, or we can walk. How far does it look?

Well, I can tell you right here. Wait, did you just say we can do this on foot or we can walk? Because I feel, Caprice, that those are the same things. Well, the third option is that we can go on foot, yes. How far does it look on the map? It looks like it'll take you probably, from your rough estimation, by the time you think it'll take you to get there, probably if you hoof it about three hours. Three to four hours. Does hoof it mean on foot?

No, no. If we set out immediately, we can make it in no time at all. That's totally doable. Do you want me to go back and see if I can get some orphans? I don't want to put these people out anymore. They did have like 20. I don't think that's necessary. I'm worried that if we're going to where there are werewolves, that horses could be in trouble. Maybe we'd be a little safer. I'm glad you said that. It's only a few hours walk. Let's leave right away. Agreed. Toa, you all right?

- I ate a lot of eggs. What does that mean? I ate too many. - I take a few steps, very large steps away from Toa. - I sigh heavily and I walk over to Toa. I put my hand on his stomach and I cast Lesser Restoration. - Counterspell, counterspell, counterspell! - I'm too tired, Iris. - Please do not lose the gallbladder. - Oh my god, Iris! Iris!

Iris! Iris! Oh, I feel so much better, thank you! You're welcome. That was real close. There was like a life or death. I saw my life flash before my eyes. Or I saw a gross of eggs. How many eggs are on a gross egg? It's 144. I probably had three gross eggs.

What's the plural of gross? Grosses? Grosses. More than one gross. Groose. Or perhaps a grease. Well, if a mouse is a mouse, is it right? Exactly right. I think it's gross. I think you're right. I think you're right. Oh, that's horrible.

Iris, I think what Toa is trying to say is that we both overdid it a little bit last night and we're sorry. And we won't make you use Anubis' divine power to cure our hangovers anymore.

I'm happy to do it. No, no, no. You have better things to be doing, and Anubis has better things to be doing than during a hangover. But I appreciate it, and I won't be putting you in that position anymore. You slept well last night, didn't you? I don't know if I did. I had some horrible nightmares, and then that ringing in my head, that damn alarm. And that poor girl, I almost turned her to ash. Yeah.

That would have been horrible. - Yeah. - It's common though.

Don't cry over... You probably didn't even need to use a spell. You could have just punched her in the face and she would have died. I would never do that. You could say, I cast punch. I don't know that. I don't punch people. That's not really my thing. I think I usually get toted on four. When Felix punches, it's like zero damage. It's at least one point of damage. Like hurts his hand more than it hurts the person. We've gone over this again and again. No, I mean, it's one plus you modify it, but if you modify it negative...

Minimum one! I mean, if I had to put a number on my modifier for strength, it's zero. So I'm pretty sure that if some random jackass in a bar were to challenge me to fight, I could punch him many times and I would... I'd punch you a bunch of times, you'd be dead. Felix, you know what's crazy? Is that at level one, I could have punched you once and knocked you out. LAUGHTER

Look at you! You're like made of rock! I wouldn't refute that for a second! You could punch Looptie right now and probably knock her out! No.

I'll take a few punches probably, but... Alright! I bet you could do it in one. Well, let's see. Yeah, my money's on Toa. Would you like to bet? Don't pick that up! I'm not really a punchy kind of guy. What's that supposed to mean? Now I've talked you up. I put 100 gold on Lupti. To what? To beat Toa? Yes. I'm a pacifist. To knock him out. I don't fight my friends. I'm not going to fight you. You're a pacifist. I'm going to punch Toa right in the chin.

I can't reach your chin. I'm gonna punch you right in the gut. And then all three groats of eggs come back up. Which would be like, what, 101?

Don't waste my Elizabeth's Reservation. 444 eggs. Is that right? No, that's not even close. That's not even close. 550, I'm guessing. Can I do a hundred and nineteen? Oh no. I'm a hoarder. I'm the best. 144 times three. Oh!

I actually wasn't that far off. 432. That's not bad. I'm gonna just listen to this conversation thinking about how, like, you were a soldier and at least they made you do push-ups. So you having a zero versus my negative one is absolutely hilarious. Everybody jokes about me being this, like, weakling. But yes, compared to Toa, I'm horrifically weak. But, like,

I could still punch a commoner to death. Like, that's unironically. I could still beat the ever-living fuck out of some dude in a bar if he picked a fight with me. Like, I'm still a soldier. It's just I'm not Toa strong. I'm not like, you know. Iris strong. How strong are you? I have plus one. Oh, bullshit! I have. Bullshit! I'm only plus one.

So, but with Lofji and Iris, they're strong. I just, yes, only, only technically until I learn Tensors Transformation. Hold him down and tickle him until he throws up. Once I learn Tensors Transformation, though, I can even rip Toa's head off. Ooh.

Felix's torso just like triples in size. I don't know if we're just standing at the edge of the camp. I'll say you're walking. Thank God. You've been walking through the dragon flame forest. I'll be singing the entire time as per usual. Just, uh,

making the walkthrough that much easier by whistling and coming up with fun lyrics, telling stories. At this point, you look and you're getting towards the outskirts of the Dragonflame Forest and you see where it gets its name. You see a group of skeletons in a clearing where

It seems as if the grass in the underbrush has recently been burned away, and you see charred skeletons of... they seem to all be humanoid, but probably about six of them in a pile.

I'm not gonna lie, as soon as you said we saw a group of skeletons, I assumed they were all just like hanging out. Standing around. And like, hey Jim, like, oh, we're skeletons today. Skeleton Jim! We walked into the wrong forest and now we're a bunch of skeletons. One has an upright base. Yeah! Hey Jim, do you want to go into the camp? No, I don't have the guts. Doing the bone dance.

- Exactly, exactly. - And one says, "Hey, Boob Daddy, I got a bone to pick with you." - I'm really glad that they're in a pile and not doing a stand-up jazz. - You get the sense that this one is-- - Not doing anything, really. - And you see that there's a orc skeleton and an owlfolk skeleton as well. You get the sense that perhaps a shatter kai and a number of ghouls attempted to scout out this area and got it. - By the trees. - That seemed to be the implication.

Allegedly. We should be really nice to these trees. I've never seen a tree that could light things on fire. You would think that a tree wouldn't light fire very much. But you know Felix. What? He's skinny like a tree and he lights things on fire. Okay, well first off, that is really rude. Second of all, we heard that voice. He's a liar. Thank you. When we were with Escher, we heard something about...

It being okay that we walk amongst the trees. Yeah, that's true. I think we've been given some sort of pass, and I think it's all because of Escher. We know that the forest can talk, so hello, forest. Good morning, if you can hear us. And we hope you have a very lovely day as a forest.

You hear a voice. I'm casting Minor Illusion. Thanks, Toa. Really appreciate your time. Have a great walk. Oh, thank you. Oh, that was nice. I think the forest won't exist. How do you be nice to a tree? You just, I don't know, you don't like...

You cut it down, you don't... You hug it. You don't collect firewood. You could hug it, I guess. I mean, you could just, you know, be mindful of it, you know? You put some of your water on it, so it has a drink. Water. You... The nice breeze whips through the dragonflame forest.

and you feel safe and at peace. The morning sun turns, gets closer to noon as the sun, or rather, rises in the sky, and it feels pleasantly warm. It's a huge change from the time you've spent in Skaathrenil lately. However, the pleasant walk through these woods comes to an end sooner than you'd like.

Although it is closer to your destination, as you see that tree line of the Beastwood ahead of you. You make your way into the forest of gnarled branches reaching up to the sky as if begging for absolution. And despite being barren of many leaves, it still casts a great shadow.

as you are covered in more darkness than you were beneath the canopy of those brilliant dragon fire trees, as you see the faces equally begging for that help, wailing as if whatever last moments those trees had were in absolute agony, if those really are indeed the faces of the trees. And you proceed. Jeez.

You hear the occasional far-off animal, very occasional howl that echoes through the valley. You hear rocks fall down and you look over as you see a sickly-looking deer, looks a little bit emaciated, trying to root around in the

and the earth. You see a little blade of grass coming up from the ground as it bites at it, and then as you approach it looks at you and bolts away. As you continue to make your way and you walk through the beast world for about three hours, and you have the map that Alessandro gave you, and

You attempt to follow the best you can as the... you make your way through the outer ring of the Beastwood, and now it's mixed in with just the same standard large, dark trees of the Black Forests of... of Skefridon, as you're away from that ring of tapped trees for that precious oil that the cult had so greedily harvested.

and I'm going to need everyone to make a survival turn now. - Oh boy. - At advantage because you have a map. I'm gonna do a group survival and see how long that map is. - Oh, advantage is-- - Another natural 20. - Wow. - Geez. - Oh boy. - Natural 20. - Wow, okay. - Well, I got a 16, so I got an 18 total, so I'm actually pretty happy with that. - I got a 16.

- Dude, his dice are rolling like hot fire! - He's rolling really well tonight. - 11 plus five. - It was like looking prime! - This table is fire, apparently. - I know. Hot fire. - It's been a hot table for a while. - 19. - Somebody did something to this table. - Yeah. -

It was all that Welsh we... Oh, I thought it was abyssal. We summoned some kind of table demon. It turns out that abyssal... I have to do today to deegan! Silly gogogog. Giggle, wiggle, giggle, wiggle. Gogogogog. Poor Mike, he was like trying to DM. I'm sorry about that. After about three hours, you arrive to where you think the point on the map is. You see... Gogogog.

You see the bit of Lake Zarovich as the elevation increases through the ring of the dragon flame, the dragonfire trees, as you...

cross-referencing it, you see this massive mountain rising up and the smaller mountains all around it forming this valley, and you look and you see... You use the... You're tracking the ground and actually, as you follow the map, you find some tracks. And it's unmistakable in the Earth, a series of canine-like feet.

and dozens of cents. And you see that there's actually going in the direction of very dense thicket of both these dead trees of the Beast Village, also these barbed dense black forest trees. And you continue to make your way, and you see as the elevation increases, you think you might be going in the wrong direction. Then eventually there's a dip. You see a very narrow ravine

go deeper as the elevation descends. And then you see a canyon open up in a large ravine with trees densely packed on all sides, as if shading it from the skies above, perhaps with watchful wearings.

And you see now in this, almost as if the earth itself has been hollowed out, but it is a natural phenomenon. You see an entrance along this cliff face, the mountain rising high up. And you see now that at the very end of this open space with the mouth of a cave and jutting out

From the top and the bottom of it are stone formations that look like the maw of an enormous wolf. You all are able to hear them. Okay, all right, it's fine. We kind of expanded this. Let's just all go carefully. Beep.

Should we, like, announce ourselves, or...? We should stage whisper. Yeah, that's fine. We can stage whisper. Did I not do that? I thought I was doing... No, I think it was me that wasn't doing it. Well, I think everyone seems quiet to me. We can talk a little bit more. So... That's fine. Quietly! What? Oh, I'm sorry. Speak to him. I never know in these scenarios if we should sneak up on the person that we're trying to sneak up on, or if we should just be like, Hey...

Let's be upfront about it and say hello. - I think we should sneak and try to get some more information. Maybe like hide behind a rock and like look over and then they'll be discussing some important plan probably when we get up there. - Oh yeah?

You think that's what's going to happen? I mean, you never know. I mean, maybe. Do you speak werewolf? You described this ravine as rubbly and then some sort of out of perimeter. Yeah, so basically, like, you're all just draw, like, a loose thing, right? I love drawing loose things. So basically, you know, there was a small ravine that went down and then basically this is large and this is basically the mountain faces going on up.

And then you see kind of, here's like the wolf snout, right? And then, so here's the kick. - We are doing it live, friends. - And then it's loose rubbly and then the ravine opens up to this large area. - And it's all filled with trees. - And it's, no, this is barren, but on the ravine above you. So it's probably about 20 feet up. There's trees that are going, growing up. - Like leaning over. - Leaning over and almost, you see roots coming down, like, and growing out.

We hear movement, snarling, scratching. You hear echoing. There's a lot of echoing that sounds like wolf-like things that's coming from, you know, it's a large cavern, so there's a lot of echo. So it's not like it's difficult to presume that there would be noise. Is it apparent to me that we would be able to get up to the wall or get in?

to sneak, you know, it seems like an open space. Yeah, it's open. It's pretty loose rubble and earth and dirt. So, I know this is gonna be a shot in the dark. I know that you can go on Visible Caprice, and if you'd like to check it out and maybe go ahead, I can go with you because I still have a little bit of Dusted Disappearance. Oh yeah? That seems like a great idea. That way you're not going alone. We can just take a quick look.

and we'll come right back. I mean, if you're sure, it could be dangerous. Of course. That's why we're going to go in a pair. And worst case scenario, I can get Caprice and I out of trouble a lot faster than Caprice can get himself out of trouble. Well, you should have some kind of code word to yell or shout so we know to rush in if you need help. Just one moment. Sure. Do you want the... Would you like it to be something like Hector Crabman? Let's see.

- What is that? You're gonna throw him into hysterics again. - Then you'll know that it's super dangerous. - What do you know about Hector Mancret? - I know everything. - Did I tell you everything? - You told us everything. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. You even sang the song. - You really did. - You got up here. - You sang us a song. You drew the picture. - I don't want to associate these werewolves with Hector Mancret in case they aren't nice werewolves. - All right, what would you prefer?

our dangerous code word to be. No, no, no. We don't need a code word. I've got an idea. Okay. All right. You've got your club... What do you call it? Totem. Your totem. Yeah, sorry. I couldn't think of the word. Okay. What I'm going to do... You just have to concentrate on not fighting the spell I'm going to cast on you. Okay? Now, what I want you to do... I suggest that you hold this outstretched. Okay.

your totem and you fail i fail i choose to fail you choose to fail all right uh now um if something happens to me or we need to i'll break concentration you'll drop your your totem and then you'll know to run with us that's actually kind of pretty oh wow oh that's a great that's great and look at the end of the day if things really go pear-shaped i can get carissa and i out in the

Flash of an eye. Yeah. I never understood that saying. I love pears. Pear shaped? Yeah. What's wrong with a pear? There's nothing wrong with a pear. Especially things that are pear shaped. I don't want to get into that right now. I don't want to explore the inner workings of... They're sweet and delicious. Anyway, the point is... And I pop open the Dust of Disappearance.

This isn't gonna last too long. I got a few minutes, all right? You got a few minutes? Yeah. Oh, I was gonna do this for eight hours. All right, let's go. You were gonna leave Toa like that for eight hours? No, I mean, I've got an hour to zoop and make myself invisible. Oh, sweet. And I pour the dust and disappear. My arm's already really tired. Oh! I got seven total minutes.

Okay. We don't have a lot of time to go to this part. I need to make a stealth check at advantage as you begin to huff it. You see both Felix and Caprice. Toll the good advantage. That was destined to be what it was. No, mine was absolutely butt. I got a six. Butt poop? I got a six. Or perhaps my 19 will help. Hub!

Um, as, as, do your thing, but as we begin to steal, I, I whisper to Caprice, uh, just hold my hand, alright? Because if we have to get out of trouble in a flash, I can do it, alright? Can you just hold this?

What the hell is that? Ah, sweet Raven Queen, stop it! Give me your hand! No! Stop! What is that? Your tail? I assume it's his tail. But it's some fleshy appendage that I'm not okay with. Your hand, Caprice, your hand! Touch my teeth, fling flap, fold. No, no! Touch my-- Caprice, please! Please! Okay, okay, okay. Okay? And then don't let go, because we have to get out in a heartbeat.

I can get us out and far away very quickly, but you have to be holding me. - Just by the hand. - Well, as long as we're touching. But the hand is safest. - All right. - Hit me hard. - Lead the way, you're the one with the timer. - No, no, you lead the way. - Okay, let's both go together. - Fine.

Lockstep style, we make our way down through and into the mouth, or looking into the mouth. Under my breath, but a little too loud, I say, "Time is tall." From my heart skipping, as you make your way through, you see the large wolf-like snout emerging on both the top and the bottom.

as you peer in and you see that this is a cave that immediately starts going down and opens up, and you can see that this space is so large and it's illuminated by torchlight.

that are staked into the ground. And you see very clearly at the front that there are four huge wolves that are just in the cliff face. Two are sitting up and two are lying down as you

as you continue to make your way, and you see now that as you peer in, it's difficult to see as the space opens up and it's just dim in the torchlight, the silhouette almost of what looks like a sturdy female silhouette that seems to be walking, that is armed probably with some sort of crossbow and sword.

as you see that and she seems to be basically the edge of your sight down into this tunnel that then begins to open up.

Does it look like the wolves are so close that we wouldn't be able to silently, even invisibly, get past them without a noticed sound or footprint embedding itself in the dirt? As you make your way through, you're trying to discern that you might be able to squeeze by in some pretty large areas.

cliff face and you see that there are a couple of bones strewn about. You see now that there's actually bones that are in the gravel and rub, not rubble, but the stones. And they all seem to be animal bones. You see that one of the wolves is gnawing at a tiny little bit of sinew that one of the wolves is actually, one of the wolves is lying down trying to get its tongue around and try to scrape off of maybe like a leg bone of an elk. I'm picturing the dogs with swords down the road. That's great. Yeah.

And as you approach, however, you're trying to discern that. I would say we're moving quickly. You're moving quickly. I'm pulling on Felix's hand. Yeah, and you are pulling on the hand. And with... You hooked it indeed. I got a sense. As you begin to... Just fuck my shit up, man. As you begin to approach, you hear...

and a growling as the wolves look back at each other and there's very clearly ascensions there as they start to growl. And you then hear growling above you as some shadows appear

from the tree line above you start to appear as more huge wolf-like shapes stick their heads through over the cleft as they all seem to be scanning

the ravine. Where we are? No, no, no. The ravine where they are. The ravine in front of the mouth of the cave. And these are rolls of thick, dark grays and dark browns and blacks. Yikes. And they're scanning some look to be scarred up. And...

Clarification, is it the mouth of the cave or the cave at the mouth? Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Fine distinction.

Felix! Ah! I can smell it! Come on, let's get into the cave so it's a passage! Leap the way! Go, go, go, go, go! I'm gonna actually, instead of slowing down with this information in my brain, I'm going to speed up and try to get past him so it's like, oh, the smell is on the wind. I'm actually gonna push Felix and I to get deeper into the cave as quickly as we can. Um, I would, okay, I will say I need to make another, uh, another stealth check.

at advantage and we're gonna make another perception check for the goal and and they get high alert better i got a nine this time man i suck i miss vandra 17.

And you're pulling Felix. - I'm tugging on him to try and get through. - And Felix is trying to follow behind you and you hear the rubble as it kicks. And a bunch of gravel and stones are kicked across. And you hear a rough female voice call out. "Are you the elves coming to make the trade?"

Who goes there? We can smell you.

- I think it smelled minor. - Well, so here's the thing. I was gonna say, Preston Digitation lets you make an odd odor, but it's only 10 feet range. So it's not like I can tell them where we are. - And the growling starts to get louder as you see a silhouette of the woman. She steps more into the light as she steps towards the cave of the mouth.

And she has a braided red hair, and her face is all scarred up as she scans this ravine in front of the commander. I'll stop and just... Yeah, yep, yep, and I would do the same. I'm holding Caprice's hand and I'm following his lead. Can you save us?

- What? - Stay to his birth, I can't hear you. - How many minutes would you-- - I would say we get accomplished a lot in eight minutes, but we don't have a lot of time. - We don't have a lot of time. - That's the idea, right? We were hustling, but we don't have a lot of time. What was your actual question? - Oh, my actual question was, can you Xanthus into the cave? - Yes.

I want you to see if that's, if you're saying that to him out loud. I mean, I'm pulling real close. He's whispering it. But I would say make a stealth check. Absolutely. Because, you know, they're on guard here. Oh, damn it. It's gotten worse and worse. I'm gone. 14. 14. 14. You hear the...

the destruction of gravel behind you. As rocks kick the back of your boots. As three massive wolves leap from the cliff face behind you and land and begin to sniff around, getting closer as all four wolves from the mouth start to sniff around as well as they're beginning to pincers you on either side. And they say...

Ooh.

Who? What was his name? Ivar. Ivar. I-V-A-R? I-V-A-R, you got it. I'm so scared. Do we see this happening? Are they far enough away? I would say this is very clear now. The wolves have jumped down. They're shooting at that now. And, no, they just made it to the... We basically made it to the mouth entrance, essentially. You may have got a knife in the close reception. I will...

Knowing that I'm certainly blowing my heart cover even further perhaps, I'll just quickly go, "Bop us in or bop us out, but either take us back to the group or take us deeper than we need to." So him asking that question of whether or not we can get to safety or go deeper, I would have looked around and just tried to see if there was a spot deeper within the cave.

that is undercover or, you know, someplace that we can hide behind or whether or not if that doesn't exist, we have to get back where we came from is what I would try to perceive. Okay. I need to make a quick perception because quick disadvantage. Sure. Um,

I am rolling everything just straight up the same way. I don't hate the idea of twisting it. Twist it! I don't even know, is perception an inch? It's whiz. Yeah, let me grab all twisters. Bang! Right here, thank you, Chad. And let me give this one another roll. It will never be found again.

It will disappear forever. Okay. So I actually got an 18 total on my perception check. Thank you. Yeah, that's pretty good. You look and you see that although there are actually... This cave seems to actually be some sort of network of tunnels and caves.

And there seems to be different rooms and tunnels that go out further, all with torches on these large stakes that illuminate it. There's such a long, very long entranceway with, you see now that there's at least three humanoid shapes that are also armed that are stepping to join this scarred female.

So do I feel that deeper into the cave there's anywhere to hide? I would say where you think you could go, probably not. It's all very open, and it seems to be as if they're on very high alert, as if they've been loitering around the entrance of this cave waiting for someone. So then what I would say was with that...

- Assessment. - Yeah, it's very quick, that's all you need. - I would very quickly in one motion, holding Caprice's hand in one hand, with my other hand, I would about 10 feet away, make Prestige's head a really foul odor.

It's just a sensory thing that they can smell. And then my verbal command would be looking towards where I think Caprice is and say, hang on tight and Dimension Door us back where we came from. Okay. I need to make a deception check. Sure. And I'm going to make an insight check. He's a good one. Make an insight check here.

Not bad. Not bad. Not bad. It's going to be a 16 total. 16. They got a 13. As you see that she's getting on edge, she steps in, and she is very broad, incredibly muscular. And she's...

Why are you doing this? We had a deal! And suddenly this incredibly disgusting odor appears. Like rotten meat. Or rotten meat, disgusting. And all six of the wolves leap forward towards that direction as you are able to bolt in the other direction. And she pulls out a heavy crossbow and just shoots in the direction towards the smell. Oh, shit.

And then, so I would say that we basically have 500 feet, you know, if we've gone down or whatever. Yeah, 500 feet, we would go back up to where we started. I'd say you're able to, they're distracted. And we land and... We got out. We're good. We're good. Let's get out of this group.

as you hear shouting voices and the uh the wolves are now sniffing around uh incredibly distracted by this as uh three more humanoid shapes uh one one woman and two men uh they all have uh

big scruffy looking hair and facial hair for the men, as they're all looking around as some two have axes, another one has a sword, as they're now starting to look around with, you see one more with a skulking along the top of the ridge, probably coming in your direction. So I would say we run back to the rest of the group. Yeah, you're now in, Felix and Toad now peer with the rest of you.

- What did they find out? - So good news and bad news. The bad news, part of the bad news is that I'm not as stealthy as Caprice is and that they probably are aware that we're here. The good news is that they were already expecting somebody anyway and we're on really high alert so we really didn't do that much damage to the situation. - No, the real pro here is that they're all together in the same floor of area. - Right, and we couldn't really sneak past them or get deeper into the cave without confronting them regardless. - We also learned the name Ivar

And that they made a deal with, uh, presumably the Shadar guy. The Shadar guy that we're asking is like, "Hey, elves, we made our part of the deal. Why haven't you left up your part of the deal?" So they're working with King Warrock, then? It's certainly presumable. Well, now I won't feel bad if I kill them! We can incinerate them all. Well, uh, maybe not go that far. Maybe try to knock them out first.

Sorry, I'm still really hooked up on the fact that they're stealing the kids and probably killing them. No, I think we have a foot in the door here. We go to them and we say, the Shadar car has fucked you. There's no deal. You're never going to get it. Join us. Let's go see if we can make a deal with... I like that idea. It's a great idea. Just... I haven't dropped the contract yet.

Oh! Do you know how many moments, Caprice? I'm going to be worthless for the rest of the day, just so you know. I mean, it's another seven and a half hours. My boy needs his death.

Visibly?

Fine! You told me they're up to shady business, it sounds like. The shouting voices, as the smell dissipates, they start to turn and get closer as you see the looming shape of a dark grey wolf. I also completely forgot to mention that before we left, I may have left the smell of a horrific fart. I knew that would come after the second you said it. I'm like, well, here it comes. Yep, there it is.

Why don't we all go? We send a representative. I think we send Caprice. I'll go. Fine. Well, it could be more conspicuous than a fart. It was like rotting meat.

That's not any butter. There are like a hundred other smells you could have chosen before. My guide is pretty extreme. Or rotting meat. You're just Geralt from the Witcher 3. No, I thought... It's just fucking milk and cheese and stuff. Raw meat. Literally. Could have been a skunk. No, no. I thought that I wanted to go with the rotting carrion. I mean, they're meat eaters. I wanted to go with like a rot. No, but like think about things that would naturally occur in a furrow. Do you want to play Felix?

Because I only trust Nikki to play Felix. I drop concentration as the totem falls to the ground. Why the fuck would there be a skunk in a goddamn wolf cave? That's probably what they're eating. I can get you out. Go. Be our representative. I'll save you if I have to. Thank you kindly. And then I will...

I will turn and I will steal myself. I have let Toa work the kinks out of his arm. I pick up my totem. You did this for eight minutes, which is actually pretty hard. Maybe not for you, actually. It's a heavy totem. It's a heavy totem. I turn and I will have a hefty jog. Okay.

This is gonna be so good. And just be like, all smiles and make my way towards the wolf pack. Presumably a dozen plus this one scarf woman. Yes, the wolves. And so you're just going in plain view. I'm now, yeah, I'm gonna use the center of the path. I'm walking down. Hey, hey, hey there! Hi! Hello! And...

And you see as I even get a quick persuasion check. I just want to see how convincing this is from a charisma standpoint. I'm walking in confidently and bravely. And with a persuasion check, you say? Yep. Give me a 24. Oh, hell yeah. Let's go.

As you see the woman step forward with the three more lycanthropes behind her, as she's taken aback, and she raises her heavy crossbow and reloads it. And says, what are these games? Did you have Fiona or not? I don't know who that is. I come from...

I come from across the forest. I come from the city of new Zerobakia, Zervich. And I come with good tidings, with an olive branch to say hello and to make a deal, something of an alliance. My name is Capriccio DeCesco. You can call me Caprice. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm a bit of a troubadour.

I talk a little too much, but you know, this is a little scary when you're having a crossbow pointed at you. I just want to say while this is happening, I am very much keeping my eye on Caprice and waiting just in case I have to go and do my thing. You hear...

As you do that, I need to get Persuasion check. And as you step forward, you see motion from the cliff all around you as three more wolves stick their heads out and you now see one, two, three, four, five crossbowmen. All point their crossbows at you. And what did you get? 26. 26. She looks at you and she seems confused.

Are you expecting me to believe you're not with the Ghoul Eaters? The timing is just chance. The Ghoul Eaters? No, no, I don't know who that is. I, I, I... Look, look, you...

Don't shoot. I was given a map straight here based on where we thought you might be. And I've come alone just to say hi. We've learned some important information and we understand that you're a very powerful group. We think that there's a chance for us to help both parties. But I'm basically an ambassador, an emissary of yours.

What do you want? And why shouldn't I shoot you right now? Well, you shouldn't shoot me because I wouldn't be able to go back and organize the meeting that we want to talk through, uh, uh, uh, uh, sort of, uh, uh,

What's the word? No-fire treaty type operation where we get to know each other and maybe we have some common interests in mind and we treat you nice, you treat us nice, you're growing respect. We grow both of our powers. I don't know. You seem really on edge, but honestly, I'm just here for this one purpose. What are your dreams, Erkani? Me?

Oh, this... It's not really good. She... Roll a five. She... She stops and she thinks for a moment. This is not the day for this. Ivar will know what to do. You're coming with me. Do you have anyone with you? I'll know if you're lying. Ivar will hear you out. Because if I shoot you and I wasn't supposed to...

I've all given me hell, and I'm not gonna make that kind of decision when I need to be keeping out for elves. Do we hear this?

Yes, this is echoing through. I immediately rush. Oh no, he has friends. He has friends. Here we are. And I drag Felix out with me. There's a few of us. We're here. We're just keeping an eye on him to make sure that nothing happens. But everything that he said, we also agree with. We want to be friends. Damn it. I'm worried.

- Should we, we have to pierce. - You do that and you're like, - Iris and I are conquering in the shadows. - You immediately get pulled and she points at you. - Are you with the Feathers? - What? What does that mean? - Ravens. - Oh, no, no, no, no. We're not with the Order of the Feathers. We haven't even met them. We don't know, we know they exist. That's it. - Are you missing someone important to you?

The whole thing is getting back people that are taken. It's a very complex situation which we're very willing to explain. So if you need help getting back Fiona, maybe we can help you out and get her back. If we could help get someone else back. We're putting yourself at your mercy here because we think that there's actually a lot of aligned planets where we all walk away very happy. You're talking about elves? Are they fucking you over? Because maybe we can help. They have the packiest daughter.

Me? Yep, me too. Okay, alright, it's all starting to come together. We're supposed to be bringing her back today. Right, so maybe we all just have a quick conversation, explain where we're coming from and maybe we can help you out as well. We could help you, we could wait until they show up and then we could just kill them all real quick and get her back. They're going to deliver her. We've already fulfilled our end of the bargain. It doesn't matter. We're not going to risk any more dark sorcery.

There's no dark sorcery. We just want everybody who belongs to the people that they belong to to be returned to home safely. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. We'll see what Argus says. Of course, he's the smart one. Fine, fine. We need to have a conversation. That's all I'm trying to say. Come. Come with me. Welcome to Nightbane. Thank you. Um, what's your name? Marla. Marla.

- Marvel. - It's a beautiful name. - Sorry. - I would be behaving just like you if I were in your shoes. Take a sidebar, let's sit down and have a little powwow. - Lufty and Iris, can you please join us?

There's a tabaxi in the genasi right up there. They should come with us, I think, because we're all friends. Oh, dear. He really just called us out. Are you still drunk? I know, darling. What are we doing? She looks absolutely bewildered, and she's very on edge.

And you can see now that she's starting to crack and there's a wildness to her eyes as several of the wolves from the cliff face and two of the crossbow men start to walk along the end. We have to run forever and we never see these fuckers again.

Oh, we go. What do you think? I'm up for either. How fast can you run? I mean, so fast. Let's go. Like, up long. Can you imagine if just Iris and Lifty were gone from the campaign because they ran all the way out of Scytherin Elm? No way! They just fucking ran. Fuck you!

Oh my god, what a fantastic end. I think we need to make sure that they're going to be okay. I don't want to be in the woods alone just in case they get attacked by the elves. You're still holding me, aren't you? It's very dangerous for them to be alone. I don't want to be like those fucking dudes.

We've never seen these fuckers ever again! I think we should run. And as I say that, I'm going to step very loudly, accidentally, on a tree branch that cracks and...

Oh. Where's the growl? Okay. Oh, here we are! Oh, yes! Yes! Oh, we're here. We're there, Mom! We see up there! Hello! Is this fungus ever again? I'm going to give you one chance. Is this the rest of us? Yeah. One moment. One, two, three, four, five. Yes. Hands to my chest. Yeah, hands to his chest. Hope to...

very blessed I hope you're blessed you're terrible terrible as uh she points the crossbows at you and uh as well as the rest of the crossmen they aim uh directly at you as uh

I feel like we made the wrong decision. Two of the men that, uh, that one has an axe, one has a sword, you see their, you hear a sickening pop and a shifting of flesh as they grow hair and morph into giant wolves and, uh... Don't care for it. And, uh, follow behind you as Marla, uh...

urges you to enter the cabinet. Do the guys that just shifted into wolves look like the other wolves? Yep, they're all the same. So we could probably presume that they're all werewolves and it's not a mix of werewolves and... I would say that you can make that as a deduction.

Goodness gracious, thank you. All right, well, just take us to your leader and we'll have a nice chat. Yeah, I would hands up follow. Yeah, and we were not hiding. We were just... There was an ambassador who came along to start the initial negotiation. I don't know if you know this. You probably don't know this, but Iris is royalty. So it's like we can't just walk her into your...

Love the cave. Oh, okay. You shut up! No, you! You have to shut up. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'll shut up. But you!

And you... I love you. The answer to that question is answered. As you make your way in and you see as the torches start to illuminate the walls and the different tunnels that go off, and then the space starts to open up, and...

you see as there's, um, seems to be as you pass a, what looks like a kennel with these iron bars and wolves gnawing at some bone that seemed to be considerably smaller than the ones that had, um,

that are surrounding you, escorting you. As two more, they stand back up and walk side by side as human figures behind you. And you hear the shouting of voices and some are laughing, some are yelling at each other as it echoes through this chamber, as it then opens up and you see pathways down. You hear the running of water as...

as there is a stream, and it opens up to what looks like a verifiable city within this cavern.

As you see now, there's a huge cavern system where that built and carved into all these walls are doorways and windows and flanked by torches. You see a waterfall from this cavern making its way as there's a stream of the bridge over it. As you wind through, you see...

You see that there is a larger cavern space that you're making your way towards. As you see all of these wolves and humans, and then you actually look and you see there seems to be one creature that is a hybrid. A creature?

of the two, standing on two legs with an elongated snout covered in hair as it just snarls down at you. As Marla is giving threatening glares at some that are looking around. "Give me a taste, just a little taste." And some of them actually start to look

And you now see that the meat is sticking to the ribs on some of these. Human form, wolf form, and hybrid. As they're staring, you see now as what looks like a little wolf puppy

scampers and makes its way alongside one of the higher levels of this internal cavern city and then goes behind the leg of a woman staring down and then in a shift later it's a little girl no older than five grabbing onto the dress of her of her mother as you

You then make your way to what looks like a grand hall. There is a ton of torches surrounding this place, and there is what looks like several elevations of a natural stalagmite that has been carved to form some sort of strange throne.

with a large table, uh, strewn out, sitting at this, uh, stone slab, on the, on which is covered the, the carcass of what looks like a, a, uh,

a goat of some kind, but it looks to be skinny and sickly, and just bits of sinew left, as you see a man with large gray munchers and salt and pepper hair, as it's roughly just, not combed back, but just kind of hangs back as he tears off a bit of sinew from this goat leg.

And you see now as you enter this chamber what looks like a throne which is very clearly built for a path leader and is at one end with many rows of seats surrounding this whole space. You see at the far end, even taller than this throne, is what looks like a statue of a woman in robes.

And standing tall in, with arms folded, seems to be a female silhouette, but where a head should be, there seems to be the skull of a goat with horns rising to the ceiling.

And the goat skull is wearing the head of a wolf, as if it's wearing the wolf's health. It goes down its back. And you see this massive statue looming above you as you're brought before this human.

is tearing into the goat leg, and his eyes immediately jot up at you. And you see now he has these golden eyes, the eyes of a predator, as he surveys you. And he puts down the leg of the goat, and he looks, and he looks at Marla, and he looks, and he says, "What the fuck is this, Marla? "Intruders, not the elves, they don't have Fiona. "Well, I have my men keeping it all out.

Excuse me? Maid Witch? Are you guys werewolves or are you swearwolves? I cast Power Word Explode on Tower. No, Tower! As he looks absolutely stunned, and he looks to the side and he looks to the other side.

This fucking day. Marla, get the fuck out. If any of you move, you're under chains. You understand? 100% Understood. And then, if you move again, I have all of my hungry wolf pack tear you in from fucking web. Do you understand that? Absolutely. Yeah. Understood.

Okay. You see now as although this man stands, he's incredibly muscular, and he seems a little bit past middle age. And although he is a man, his canines are sharp, and he effortlessly tears a little bit of flesh from the leg of his goat and puts it down. You come in peace, you say. You have to forgive me.

for being skeptical. Today I'm supposed to get my daughter back from those fucking boonies. A bunch of freaks show up to my cafe. - Freaks? - We may look like freaks, but we are-- - We don't look like freaks. - To the eyes of Ivar, Ivar it is.

I've lost silver to the lion. Oh, silver climbing, terrific. You're the one we wanted to talk to. Yeah, we do not look like thieves! We're a neutral party. He walks around the slab as he begins to descend the stairs from this throne that's been carved out of a natural formation. Um, I have a question. You can put your arms down. Okay.

"What's that?" And I point at the horrific statue. Oh dear. He looks at you and says, "That's really why you're fucking here."

No, that's not why we're here. We're here to see if we can maybe gain your help and help you in return. That's why we're here. That is a useless fucking statue of a dead girl. What Toa is trying to say is that it's an incredibly complex situation and we're more than happy to explain our side of the story. Go ahead. I'm waiting. Oh, oh, just... Your daughter is missing?

Your niece? She's not missing. She's stoned? She was taken. And you are providing other hostages in exchange for someone who's important to you, yes? No judgement? We already did. It's done. The deal's done. And you think that these elves will not see this weakness and use it against you again? Knowing full well all they need to do is take what is close to you to get you to do their bidding?

That is not what we come here for. We come to do the opposite. To offer our help first. An allegiance. We do not put you at the heel of our boot like the elves do. We come as friends, as allies, to help you get back that which is yours. Make a pleasure check advantage. Couldn't have said it better myself. Normally. Persaging? Persaging.

Um... Uh... 20... Yeah, but I can't do math. 23. Yeah, thank you. 23? Okay. He stops. He looks at you. Really good. Stunned. You understand the irony. It's a fucking cat.

- You know, have a seat, have a seat. - I'll raise you up. - I don't have anything to feed you. I mean, we got some hardtack. - Would you like a laugh? - We have some rations. I mean, honestly, you can share if you want to have some cranberry granola. - Are you guys hungry? - Towa, put your hands down.

Well, he said we could put them down, and this is downer than it is. You look ridiculous putting your arms down. What are you going to do to me? Look at where you are. I'm not threatening. You have a point. I'm interested. I like the cut of your jib. I do. Thank you. Why don't you make everybody 23,000 loaves of bread? Do you eat bread?

What? Yes, that's why we have to steal fucking flower-like food. I snap my fingers and I create a shit ton of fucking bread and water. It explodes! Technically. A ton of bread. As Ivar steps back.

And actually, as it explodes, you see him step back and say, as he turns into his hybrid form, as you see this deep, deep, deep, dark gray wolfman step back, these incredibly long, razor-sharp claws, as his clothes stretch and slightly rip to accommodate his size, as he looks back, and then he relaxes.

and stays in this form as he continues to talk to you. I can feed your entire pack for this evening, at the very least. Do we get the sense that he did that because he was scared? Probably. He's going to basically tear apart, and there's actually one loaf that is completely shredded, and he... So he's hungry. He grabs one, and he immediately tears it in half.

You, get in here, start distributing this. Children first, get the pups fed, then you can fucking eat. Don't sneak a goddamn mouthful. I'll cast it three times so that there's enough for the entire clan. As...

In abundance. You see as a number of humans come in and start heaving away, and you hear the creaking of wood. It's a really ramshackle sound.

cart gets dragged in and they start piling all of the bread and then start pushing it back off into the broader city structure. I cast Sneakily Poisoned Bread. I swear to God I will end you. I missed that spell. I missed that spell. I don't think that's a thing. I'm just gonna say it. You best use that. If there are any that are wounded, I contend to them as well. Yuck!

We would be happy to assist in any way that we can. And she will. She'll do anything. We all will. Yeah, she will. This is why I talked to Marlon. Why we approached. We want to hate you.

We find a place where all of our common interests align. I know it's hard to believe, but we're looking for the missing children. We want everyone to return home to their families. This transcends balance. We need everyone to be safe. We are. And we are looking for a missing mother as well. Sophie Armour. And it sounds like you've already delivered her to the elves. Needles. You mean the monster hunter?

- Yes. - We have heard that phrase bandied about when it comes to the topia. - Yeah, we took all of her holy love, but she's in our, she's in our chair. - She's alive. - But she's alive and she's okay? - She's fine. Taking, not letting her leave until I get Fiona back.

Then we'll cut her loose in the forest. But we need to talk to her. She has information. You can do that once my Fiona is back with me. No, we need to talk to her first. No, we don't. What was your end of the bargain that you already did then, if you don't want me asking? I am not sure. Well, I... Me neither. I'm sorry. I stole...

You stole a couple kids, gave them over to the ghoul eaters. They took them. I don't know what they did with them. I don't ask questions. All I know is that they took my little girl and I did whatever it would take. I steal all the kids and I don't get to get her back. I don't think that's unreasonable. You obviously love your daughter very much. Whether it's reasonable or fucking not. Did they take your child before you took these other kids?

We've been hunting sickly fucking deer and boars and goats for centuries. Yeah. You can ask fucking Barrowmans. We didn't come close to those dragon trees. Well, what... Yeah, that's not what I asked. Why not? I mean, wouldn't you have a more successful life and hunt if you lived inside the trees? Feathers...

Rather keep us out here. We've been at war for generations. And on set, this useless fucking guy might still keep the statue because I'm afraid of what could happen if I tear it down. As soon as we, our people, are ripped out of where we were for hundreds of years and turned into this elf-infested fucking place,

She had power there, and then she disappeared. Stop listening to her, please. Stop. The goddess right there? Mother Night. Man, this whole, like, Morning Lord and Mother Night, is there gonna be, like, an afternoon chat? She used to be worse than that. Not a single...

Not a single prayer answered and I still pray every day. I see those pups, I see their ribs as they fight over bones, scraps of men. And if it were possible to come to a truce with the Lord of the Land, if someone or someones were able to get you

An audience with the Count. If you help us, we might be able to do that for you. You do not seem like you are bad people. You seem like you might be misunderstood. You mean awful. I don't know. Who cares if the Morning Lord? Is that what you're suggesting? Is that what I said?

I said that I see in you a strength you do not seem to see yourself. You have value. You could provide something to this land that the Count could use. That is not groveling. That is showing him your worth and expecting payment for it. Land for it. Food for the bellies of the children in this cave. That is not weak.

Are you a leader? I am a leader of a pack. Our army, our horde is more than what he has. We have hundreds of mouths to fill. Full strength we can tear apart. Thousands of these fucking goons. But I need my girl back first. That's why as much as she shrieks and says she will cut my head off, pump me full of silver bolts,

So if we were to bring your daughter back, if we were to do you this kindness, would you relinquish the monster hunter to us? And at least consider an audience with the Duke. Or Count, whatever he is. Make him a stranger. At advantage. At advantage.

I'm convinced. That's probably the truth. Come on. Natural 20. Let's fucking go. What the fuck? It's still a 27. What's going on? What in the hell? He stops and he looks at all of you. And he says, I think I've made it clear that I will do anything for Fyodor.

Anything. I've done terrible things to get her back after they fucking took her. I won't go with my tail between my legs and my ears behind my fucking head. But I am not so proud of an alpha that I won't hear a man out who wants to make a good faith effort. Like I said, I was gonna as much as she wants to kill me. And I don't blame her. I wasn't gonna cut her loose.

out in the woods, unhauled. I was gonna even give her back her little fucking trinkets and her whip, her axes, all of her relics. Even if she came back, once I get Fiona back, you understand? I prioritize. But, if Fiona returns to me and she shouldn't be arriving any minute, you can do more of that. And he points to the bread being carted out and distributed. I am not so proud. If we can eat

They want to ride with us, I consider having the beginning of the Starfall conversation to work. If, if, there's a need for a carrier case, as magic is strong, maybe we'll find Starfall in this hole. Or maybe you're starving in this hole because he knows if you are fed, you would be stronger than even he could imagine. Maybe he keeps you weak.

Maybe he fears your alliance with the Count. Maybe it would be right to fear me at full strength, even without her. He points to the statue of a strange goddess called Mormon, who seems to be no longer here. And he nods as he steps forward. It's kind of hard to realize you've been talking to a wolfman this entire time.

where not just a man, and he has the same life and mannerisms, but as he talks and the voice is just slightly more guttural, as suddenly there's a commotion, a celebration, and excited voices.

As you hear the pads of many paws and the scuffing of leather boots on the stone of this cavernous city. And you hear Marla's voice call out,

We got her! We got her, Ivar! That's not a sysmose. What was it? Yeah. We got her, Ivar! We got her! Fiona! She's a little tired! We got her! And you see Marla holding the...

the form of what looks to be a 13-year-old girl with long brown hair that seems to be draped around her face as she looks very pale. And she looks very pale, but she is stirring as Marla brings her over.

And immediately Ivar just completely ignores you and just sprints forward and pulls this girl out of Marla's clutches. And Marla knows to step back as the massive lycanthrope hybrid form takes his daughter. "Oh, my little girl, you're alive. You're with me. You're okay."

everything I did was worth it. And you see that in his beastial wolf-like form,

tears are streaming down his face as dozens and dozens of lycanthropes in various states in both human, or rather in human full wolf and hybrid form start to kind of flood in the sides. And she looks up

As the eyes flutter and this 13 year old girl opens her eyes, she has these beautiful silvery irises. As she then looks up, she makes eye contact with her father and she seems weak and she says, "No."

No! And she screams and her eyes flash and blaze with silver light. As her mouth starts blasting with silver light, as all of the lycanthropes and werewolves start howling and screaming in pain and rearing back. As I change music...

What in the hell? Oh my god. It's like basically a, like, it's like a basically a werewolf nuke. Can I count herself? It's terrifying. It's fucked up. There's no spell. She's basically a nuke. It's awful. As Ivar drops Fiona to the ground. As she's screaming and suddenly her whole body is blasting with silver light. As

as all of the werewolves are sprinting out of this chamber and in very clear pain as their bodies locked up and stunned and Ivar stumbles back and collapses in the side of the room as you see Fiona's small humanoid body start to shift and start to grow. And she's like, ah, ah!

and she lets out this horrible, disgusting howl as she turns into a wolf form. She starts to... Her body starts to form several extra limbs as her body starts to bulge. Several? Several extra limbs that grow out of her as you hear cracking as her jaw splits as there's a three...

a three-sided jaw, as her eyes bulge with silver light and disgusting fleshy protrusions start to grow as they all pulse with silver light that blast out and start falling off of the body and start to form into these disgusting silvery globules that then start making their way towards the city as she grows into a massive monstrosity.

that looms over you into a horrible mutated wolf. It looks like the work of Ravinovia Vatsarovic is a horrible, flesh-crafted abomination that once was Fiona Silverpie. It lets out a horrific howl.

and stares at all of you with malice. And that's for one session. Yikes. It's 11:30. We wasted too much time playing board games. I blame Caprice, like always. Damn!

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