Beneath

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

[clink] [clink] Pickaxe. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah, you're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you don't gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity comes a new film. It's your first job? I know what I'm doing. I'm a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. The Instigators, rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+. This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else.

Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Only on Peacock. Howdy folks. This episode of Dungeons and Randomness is brought to you by Dice Envy. With the holidays coming up, you might be looking for presents. Or maybe you just want to get yourself something nice for the season. So why not a new set of dice? Dice Envy doesn't just have the monthly boxes, but also individual gorgeous sets of dice.

My favorite, the Alliance Blue, is a breathtaking set of blue and gold metal dice, which are currently on sale at the time of recording this. So I highly suggest those. And they did not tell me to point that out. I went to their site, picked my favorite set of dice, and they just happened to be on sale. So head on over to DiceEnvy.com, get your friends or yourself some awesome dice, make sure to let them know we sent you, and enjoy this episode. [groans] Let's do that thing where we go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, I'm the Dungeon Master.

Going around the table, starting with Val. Hello, I am Valerie and I play Elena, the human fighter. And Jamie. Hi there, I'm Jamie, I play Tatiana, the human rogue. And Alex. Hey, I'm Alex and I play Braelyn, the halfling bard. And Ian. Hey, I'm Ian and I play your muddy buddy who's no fuddy duddy, Kalden Halek. Yes. [laughter] Now you guys gotta show us up. [laughter] I don't know if that's a show up, but it is on the recording, so you're welcome. [laughter] And Karen! Hi, I'm Karen, I play Callie, elven druid. [sighs] Well, you've all been briefed on your situation.

Anybody who remembers what happens at the end of the last episode knows that you are in what appears to be an empty city. Before we get started today, I would like... Let's see... Elena. Uh oh. Give me a flat D20, please. A flat D20? A flat D20. Okay. [hums] That's a nine for everybody out there at home. Thank you. We're gonna pocket that for just a little bit. There's only nine people left alive. [laughter] Out of a possible 20. So, standing inside this city, what's the general feeling kind of washing over the group? Because we kind of made some jokes at the end of the last session and everything.

It was more meta than anything, but what would everybody be thinking and feeling? Because this is highly irregular. When you come to a big city like this, you can hear the noise from far away. The rain would usually dampen that, but there's nothing going on here. What would everybody be thinking? Goopy. Golden Scoopy, covered in mud. Got kicked by that horse. Oh, I forgot about that. All covered in mud. [laughter] Does it look like town was set up at one point? You know how sometimes markets will bring out their little carts and then at the end of the day they'll bring them back.

Are those things set up at all? It doesn't look like it from here, though you're kind of far away from the town center, the town square. It doesn't look like there's any little fruit stands or vendors or anything like that set up. Isn't it nighttime? Yeah, it's middle of the day. Oh. It's just dark and gray, or it's raining. Yeah. I've got a question. Does the town look abandoned, or does the town look like everyone's gone to rapture? Right, that's kind of what I was asking. Yeah, I think, yeah, okay, yeah. Parts of it look abandoned, where you could tell that people just left their homes, or something like that, a door will be open, something like that, you'll hear it kind of swinging in the breeze.

Then there are some houses and buildings and shops that just look pristine, like they're fine. There's just no lights on. There's nothing populating them. Brandon's going to look around, and he's going to look specifically if there's a town hall or a keep, I guess, because I don't think I've ever been to this. Donhurst? Yeah, Donhurst. I've never been here. Yeah, basically, you'd be heading north. And where was the smoke coming from? Yeah, there's this inky smoke on the horizon. Yeah, it's kind of on the horizon. It looks like it might be outside the city, to be honest.

It's pretty far away. Huh. What the fuck? This is so spoopy. Spoopy, that's the feeling. I'm so spoopy. I mean, I guess we walk into town proper, right? We're not just going to stand here? Yeah. Yeah, Cauldin will tie up the horses in a place out of the rain, or if there's someplace covered, get them out of the rain, whatever, and then follow the group. Alina wants to walk around with her sword out, just in case. Very good call. Makes sense. Yeah, because we did find that note that said something was happening, but it didn't say what. Oh, right, right, right, right.

What was on that? Do you remember her, Karen? It just said that there was something going on, and that was like four days ago. Four days ago, okay. Yeah. A couple of bits of information here. One, this rain is going to let up a little bit to a light, light drizzle. So that's some good news. And you're going to hear a knock coming from behind you at the front gate. Oh. Brandon's going to look at the group. Do we answer? Is there a peephole? There's a little sliding door type thing. Look through it, Karen, look through it. All right, Callie is going to go over, and she's going to just slide or just fold down?

Slide. Think like a nightclub. Like open just a little bit. Not like full Wizard of Oz. Jameson, you are up. So you'd see somebody standing there who would be covered head to toe in armor, a big helmet, a lot of chain mail armor, some plates in places, big, probably about six and a half feet tall. He's wearing a tabard and a couple holy symbols of Arathis, and he's just kind of standing there waiting for the door, kind of looking around. You said he had a helmet on? Mm-hmm. Okay. Is that nothing like -- I don't want to be meta, but like nothing that has like Fang symbolism on you at all?

That's what you're looking for first. No. Are you dressed like a bad guy? Yeah. Because honestly, like they weren't that far away. That's true. He did say Arathis. You said Arathis though, right? Yeah, he's symbolism. Yeah, like three or four places. He's got like a half gear symbol, I think. He's wearing like a blue and white tabard. He's got a blue and white pattern on his shield. Okay. I think Calli would just be like, "Hi." And kind of jump back a little bit. Oh, hello. You're not a guard. Calli. Calli. She'll like turn back. Yes, Calvin. Hello? There's somebody out here.

There's a lot of armor on him, but I don't think he looks... He doesn't look like a Donhurst guard. Brandon's going to look around Paladin maybe, right? Like they got a lot of armor. He looks at Elena. Do Falada fighters wear tons of armor? I don't know. I've only met like you and like maybe one other one. Do what fighters? Falada? I just heard Falada. The other armors wear armor. He's going to look really frustrated. Like, you know, chainmail, stuff like that. Or did he just prefer to dress like you? Like maybe a couple pieces. Ask him his name and what his business is here.

So Calli will turn back and she'll ask him or them because... She'll just say, "Do you live here? Do you live in Donhurst?" Yes. What's your name? Yes, he takes a minute and kind of steps back and looks at the guard towers. And kind of looks around and then looks back at the opening and says, "I'm Larg." Hi, I'm Calli. I'm going to be honest with you. We just got here. I have some friends, but there aren't any guards around here. So I didn't know if you lived here and could tell us what's going on. What do you mean there's no guards? Where did they go? Oh, I don't know.

We just got here and we had to climb the fence. You can mess up at the fence. But there's always guards. Yeah, that's the problem. There aren't any. Can I come in? Oh, yeah! Yeah, she's going to open the door for me. [laughter] Still talking through the smallest sliver of the thing. It is raining. So she'll open the door for her. Larg. And he'll kind of duck in through the door. And then look at the others. Kind of look back at her. Thank you. Yeah, so as you can see, there are no guards. She's going to gesture around. When did you get here? What's going on? Like, five, ten minutes ago.

We just got in. Been traveling a long time, you know. Make sure to get that door barred back up. What was your name? Larg, you said? Yeah, Larg. Help us with this. Help us barring this door. There's people coming here and we don't want them in. Are they the guards? Galdwin will like, look at everyone and be like, "No." Bralyn's going to have the Jackie Chan and Mean Face. What? The heads above his head, like heads near his brain. Well, I don't know. You said they weren't here and there's people coming. It might have been them. And then he'll just turn around and put the bar back on the door.

Himself? Just like, "Ugh." Oh yeah, I think Bralyn would be really impressed. Like, "Oh, whoops. Shit." You know what? Do me a favor. Larg, give me a strength check. This would be interesting. I want to see something. Your first roll. First roll. Yay! Uh, yeah. Um, so... I don't think it would be too insanely difficult for Larg to pick this up. Yeah, so he just rebars the door without thinking much of it and turns around and he's like, "So, is it just the guards or where is everybody else?" Uh, we don't know. Like Callie said, we just got here. You said you're from here, right?

He'll kind of stand there for a second and... I mean, he's got a helmet on so you can't see any facial expression. He just kind of stands really still for a minute and then... He starts walking forward. He says, "Excuse me, I need to check something." And then he's like, "I'm here." And he's gonna start walking very quickly toward the Temple of Arathas. Uh, where are you going? I want to see. I need to see if they're there. I mean, I'll follow him. Yeah, Reimann's gonna look back to the group and kind of do that sideways shuffle. Like, are we going with him or what?

Yeah, yeah. I think as we follow them, like if we pass any buildings or shops or anything, Tatiana's just gonna open the door and peek in to see if there's any sign of people at all. So she's just gonna like almost like you see in movies where they're looking at each bathroom stall. Sort of do that with each door. Okay, here's something I'd like. Do me a favor and give me perception with advantage. Okay. That was wonderful. There's a lot of sights and sounds and such that's gonna hit you guys as you walk through here. Because walking through a large city that's empty like this is surprisingly eerie.

There's a few reasons. One, obviously you're used to seeing tons of people. Sometimes cities are so loud that you have a hard time collecting your own thoughts or hearing the conversation that's happening right next to you. But this is empty. You're gonna hear shutters and doors every once in a while. Creek in the wind. There's this gentle breeze. Now that the rain has died down a little bit, it's not as stormy outside. It's still gray, still drizzling, but not as bad. Now that that's let up, you can hear exactly how empty the city is right now. On top of that, these shops, a lot of these doors aren't even locked.

Every once in a while you'll go to grab a door and it's locked. I'm not exactly sure how you'd like to proceed from there, but the ones that are unlocked if you pop your head in, there's gonna be a shop coming up called the Crafty Compass. That door is definitely locked. Interesting. So are you telling a rogue that there's an unattended shop in the city? I guess I am. Well, I mean, I'll take a crack at opening this door. You know what I want you to do? Mm-hmm? Give me Dex check. Dex check? Can I use my thieves tools? Well, of course you can. Yay! That's so much better!

Damn! It's just a hammer. Whoa! Just break the knob off. My thieves tools. Damn! Wait, wait, how's our skill called thieves tools? Where's that at? At least because I'm a rogue. It's only on ropes? Yeah. It's an extension on the table. It does everything for you. It's a little... Yeah. Oh my god. Impressive. It's time proficiency. That is gonna wildly succeed. So much so that it's like, okay, walk up to the door, and I'm in. Like very deftly, quickly. And anyone paying attention to that would be like, wow, okay, I'm gonna have to hide my possessions maybe. Jesus. Branden takes note and is like, I gotta get a chain wallet.

Walking into this shop, you're gonna see that a lot of the items have been stripped from the shelves. It looks like either someone packed up in a hurry, or this place was looted. But that doesn't fit in with the door being locked. Hmm. Interesting. But that does prove one thing. It proves that whatever happened here, it didn't happen so suddenly that people didn't have a chance to get goods out of the city. Right. So it's been completely looted is what you're telling me? Not completely, but many of the items have been taken off the shelves. There are some rations.

There are a couple of items of note. Is Tatiana doing this in the open brazenly as they're just walking, or is she like trying to be sneaky about it? I mean, there's nobody around, so I don't think she would try to be sneaky. Branden would walk, follow her in, but not go in. He would like step by the door and like whisper, "What are you doing?" And she'll quickly look back over him, and she'll say, "I'm investigating." "Oh, yeah, yeah. Let me help you." And he gives her like a wink. Oh my god! And he'll help whatever, like if she's rummaging in one side, he'll go through the opposite side.

He doesn't want to get in the way of her looting, or her pile. He doesn't want to get in the way of her stuff. Could, uh, I'll tell you what. Give me, I want one more roll from Tatiana. Okay. Give me an investigation roll with advantage, because you got, you got Braylin helping you out. Oh, thanks, Braylin. Got it. Hey! Ooh, you dropped a two. Nice! Behind the counter, there's gonna be, uh, it's kind of hidden by a blanket. But if you pull it down, there's gonna be this mannequin. This mannequin is sporting a gorgeous set of leather armor. We're talking beautiful.

Like this set would probably sell, uh, as is. It would probably sell for quite a lot. But there's something about it that's extra interesting. The bits and pieces of it that aren't leather that are binding everything, uh, have a, have a sheen to them. This, this, this shiny quality, it kind of draws the eye. And it appears as though this, this particular item might be magically enhanced somehow. Hmm. I think, is it human sized? This would, this would be able to fit a human. Yeah. I think she would probably hold up the mannequin and be like, "Hey, Braylin, check this out." He's gonna turn around and look at it.

Whoa! He's gonna like, he probably has something like junk in his hand. He's gonna drop it. Like it breaks on the ground, whatever it is. And he walks over. Oh, that's nice. I used to have a nice set like that. Mine was dragon scale, of course. But yeah, this one looks pretty cool. It does look pretty cool, but I mean, it was left behind, so it's probably garbage, right? Yeah, they didn't want it. I think it's free probably. Like, you know, no one's gonna come back for this. Obviously, the door is locked, so they didn't, you know, it's whoever gets in deserves it.

That's what I would think. And I think slowly she's gonna start to sort of unfasten this from the mannequin. Yeah, yeah, I agree. They're probably actually looking to get rid of this, I would think. I mean, they just left it behind. Yeah, you said you found it behind the counter, or where did you find it? Yeah, it was behind the counter. Was it like, was it advertised? Or, uh, what was going on? Like, how did you see it? And she'll sort of look around the room. Well, I don't see any signs anywhere, so I don't really think it's for sale. Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah, probably just throw away.

You're right. Yeah. You know, we should do him a favor. I think I'm gonna get rid of this for him. Mm-hmm. Hey, that's a good move. You're a good person. Thanks, Braelon. I appreciate it. He's gonna just give you finger guns. And she'll unfasten the rest of the armor from the mannequin. Do you know what you have in your possession right now? I don't. You have a set of +1 leather armor. Ewwww. A set like this, if you were to walk into a shop and say, "I would like one of these, please," could cost you, depending on the town, anywhere between 1200 and 1700 gold pieces.

Oh my god, okay. I mean, she's gonna put it on, so... Oh, okay. Braelon turns around and, whoops, doesn't look. I'm sure there's a changing room somewhere. So let's get you outfitted with your new armor. Oh, cool beans. What a surprise, Braelon, this fits perfect. Mm-hmm, yeah, I'm sure it does. He's like, "Damn, I should've found that." He's thinking, "I picked the wrong pile." "I picked the wrong part of the store." Hey, count me down. Kaldin, could you do me a favor? Sure. Could you give me an Arcana check, please? Oh, yes. Woohoo! Very nice. While you guys are in the shop doing your thing, Kaldin's gonna get this strange feeling overcoming him.

It's kind of a dark, foreboding feeling, and it's definitely tied to magic. There is something, some sort of magical event that occurred here that was big time. Like, huge time. In the town or in the shop? In the city itself. It doesn't feel like it's in the shop. It feels like it might be maybe a little closer to town square, somewhere in there, but you're definitely feeling it. This is like a wave that's gonna wash over you, like a "whoa." Ooh, okay. Like a feeling of dread. Essentially, yeah. Definitely some spider-senses-tingling action. Can I ask everybody else what they're doing while this would be going on in the shop?

Is Lark still marching? Yeah, he's pretty much beelining it. Very interesting. Okay. Was the, uh... Oh, sorry, go ahead. I was just gonna, I think Calli would just be like, still following him, because she wants to see like, where he's going. Yeah, and like, if Elena looked back and, you know, saw Tatiana and... Braylin? Is that who it was? Or Kaladin? No, it was me. It was me, right? Braylin, okay. If she saw that they were together, then she'd probably like, look back and be like, "Okay, we're still in pairs," and keep going, keep following Lark. Okay, so we have split the group in half, just to make sure we understand.

Whoops! Oopsies! I have a question. I have a question that will... Is the... Just a clarifying question. Is the Temple of Arathis the temple that Ripley was talking about? That is the large temple in Dawnhurst, yeah. Okay, okay. Then I think Kaldin would be following Lark. Okay. And Calli and Elena. Okay, let's do that. Let's catch up with... This feeling of dread. Yeah, 'cause I imagine it's gonna take a while to take off the other leather armor and put it on. You guys are exploring the shop. Probably gonna get a little lost in the moment. It's like, "Holy shit, free stuff!" That type of thing.

So let's leave those two to their own devices here. Not free stuff, okay? They're throwing it away. Exactly, it's garbage. You're just recycling. When we did that Arcana roll, I thought it was gonna be 'cause it's cursed or something. Oh, me too, me too. I thought it was like an alarm. I thought it was like an arcane alarm and it's gonna be like, living armors showing up, like, "Halt, do not move!" Like, "Aw, shit." You have 20 seconds to comply. My halt passes right here! Eventually, you guys are gonna get to the Temple of Arathis, and its front doors are wide open.

What would you like to do? So as they were getting closer, and it was more and more clear that there was nobody around, Larg would have basically gone from walking to walking fast to kinda jogging to basically as much as you can sprint in full armor. So he'll go straight in through the doors and then start calling out for people, you know? Specifically, he's calling for a woman named Ellen. So Larg's voice is gonna just echo and reverberate inside this temple. No one's gonna answer back. And it doesn't appear as though anyone's done anything too terribly recently in the temple.

Kind of a chill where the doors have been open and you can tell the breeze has just been blowing in. The front of the church is a bit flooded because the rain has just been pouring in. It doesn't look like anybody's been here in a while. But you will see... Do me a favor, Ashley, give me a perception check. So there's this roped-off area. There was this display case that clearly had something in it, but it's gone now. And anybody who's from Donhurst knows that that's where they displayed the Bell of Vecna. That was a pretty big tourist trap kind of thing.

It's like, "Oh, look at this ancient relic. Come see it. It's really cool. Here's the legends say that it does this and that." It's very much the focal point of the temple. The temple was almost a museum at this point. So Larg having been at that temple for a while, he knows about the bell. He knows... Okay, so he's going to go over to where it was. Is it smashed? Does it look like it's just been opened? It looks like it was opened. Okay. Yeah, and he's just kind of standing there very still, just kind of staring at the container, at the case. What would everyone else be thinking?

I think Cauldron will come up to him and just sort of looking around. And if this is indeed a display, some kind of relic display, he'll come up and look at Larg and say, "Is this where they were keeping it? The bell?" This is where the bell was, yeah. Well, it doesn't seem like anyone's here and it doesn't seem like anyone took it or thefted it. This person you're looking for, do you think they might have it? I think his head is going to kind of straighten up a little bit, as soon as he says that, as if he hadn't thought of that. And then he's going to start sort of marching off again toward...

He's going to head toward Ellen's chambers or her room or whatever it was where she lived. Larg? Larg? Hang on, I'm doing something. I think Cauldron will just quietly follow behind him. How about we catch up with Brelin and Tatiana? I think Brelin would look after Tatiana found that armor, he would look around like, "Okay, I can't find armor." He kind of had the finger on his chin. And he'd look if there's a container of maybe vials or bottles, and he'd look around there. It looks like a lot of the smaller items, a lot of the stuff you could grab and take with you has been gotten to.

The armor was probably there just because it was either people didn't find it... ...or it was too big to take in the moment, maybe. So you're telling me the shelves are empty? They're pretty damn empty. Think Walking Dead where they raid the pharmacy, where there are a few... There's some aspirin and some different stuff like that, but nothing huge, right? Nothing big time. Yeah, nothing big ticket. Okay, well is there any extra rope around? Yeah. No, there's regular stuff. There's some rations and rope and things like that. Okay, I think Brelin would take the rope, he'd be like, "Well, I have been doing a lot of this, using a lot of this." So he's gonna take the extra rope.

And then if there's any caltrops, he'll try to find some of those too. Ooh, let's see. Nope, I'm gonna say no. Curse rope. His dream of being a ninja is over. Aww. He's like, "Then we're done, everything here is garbage." He just walks out. Do me a favor, give me a perception check, Brelin. Oh boy, here comes a cursed armor alarm. In the distance, you're gonna see someone pacing. Pacing around. It almost looks, um... It almost looks frantic, like they're searching for something, like they're looking for something. It's pretty far down the road. How far from...

So I'm assuming because I'm stepping out the door, right? Yeah. So I'm gonna immediately, as I'm like, he's like, "Mm-hmm-hmm," walking out the door, he's gonna like reverse, "No, no, no, no." And then like peek as far as I can, like without revealing myself fully, past the door side. Mm-hmm. And I'm gonna whisper, "Tatiana!" And Tatiana is like feeling herself right now, like she's looking down at this armor, and she's just like, "Man, I am hot shit." And she's gonna be like, "Oh, hi, Brelin, I forgot you were there. What's up?" He's gonna go, "Shh, come here, come here, come here." And I'm gonna tell her, "Come by the door, be quiet." What?

And she'll sort of like creep up behind him because she's taller than him, and she'll peek over his head. So what you're gonna see is this appears to be probably 30, 40 yards away, something like that. And this person is not facing your direction, they're facing the opposite way, and they're moving back and forth and around this pile of what looks to be furniture. It looks like maybe someone started a fire at some point. And this thing is, whatever it is, if it's human or whatever, it looks humanoid, at least from here. It's pacing back and forth like frantically, like they're distraught.

Can we tell if they have a weapon? It doesn't look like they're carrying anything. Okay. Tatyana will whisper down to Brelin, "Should we go see what's going on?" Brelin is shaking his head like, "I don't know. I mean, people here, that's the first person we've seen besides the big head over there. He's gonna point back towards where the temple is. But what do you think?" "I mean, we could get some answers." "Yeah, yeah. You should go first though." "Well, yeah, obviously I'm fucking invincible now." And she's gonna step outside. Yeah, he's gonna agree. He's gonna shake his head.

"Mm-hmm. Yep, yep, yep." Well, moving a bit closer, it looks like this individual is wearing armor. Let me ask you a question. What exactly are you going to do here? What's the sequence of events? I mean, I think if Tatyana and Brelin decided that they were gonna go approach this person, Tatyana would probably step out. This might be dumb. She would probably step out into the middle of the road and raise her hand and yell out, "Hi, friend!" And the person's not going to turn around or anything like that, but gonna continue to pace around this area, kind of raising its arms frantically.

Its arms, JC? Well, that's the thing. When you get to a certain point, it is going to stop dead and snap its head back. Toward Tatyana. Tatyana's gonna get a really good look at this thing for the first time, and what appeared to be armor from far away is actually the strange plating that's covering it. And it looks like bone. It doesn't appear to have any eyes. Oh. So Tatyana's going to ruin her new armor by pissing her pants, and then I think once she realizes that this isn't a human, she's probably gonna do one of those quick back-up like, "Oh shit!" and she'll run back into the store.

This thing is going to unhinge its jaw and let loose this scream. [Screaming] It's ear-splitting and somehow bassy all at the same time. And it's gonna start to run. And you're gonna hear it. You're gonna hear it behind you. Big, thumping bass, just like, "thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump." It sounds faster than it should be. Do me a favor. Give me an athletics check. But why? Okay. If I do cartwheels back to the store, can I do acrobatics? You might get your chance if you get close enough to the store. Okay, well here we go. Oh, wonderful! That didn't show up on the table.

It didn't show up, but do you want me to tell you what it was because I'm an honest person? Yes. It was a one. [Crying] I... I appreciate you, Jamie. Good dog. She pees. She pees everywhere. She pees everywhere. But wait, does the other party hear the scream? Because we can switch back to that if you want. Not quite yet. Let's finish this up. Let's not run away from this thing quite yet. So Tatiana's gonna take a spill right into this mud puddle. Just... just wipe out. And I'd say Breland's gonna see this. And this thing is going to barrel. Just barrel toward Tatiana.

Breland's gonna jump out of the shop and under his breath say, "Holy shit." And I'm gonna... can I reach her from where I am or no? Before the monster does. Uh, I would say with a one, I'm gonna say she's kinda far away. So if you'd like, you could try an athletics check to see how quick you would be. Let's do it. Damn, I'm so bad at athletics, though. Me too. Yeah! That's a 19! Are you kidding me? That's amazing! Plus zero, though. So I'm gonna say before... just the fact that you see this thing taking off in the first place and Tatiana's running. Before she even trips, you are out the door.

Just the instinct takes over. You are on it. And you're gonna reach Tatiana and help her up. Also, as I grab her and pick her up, I'm gonna say, "If it gets me, keep running." And I'm gonna cast Invisibility on her. No! So let's take a look at Invisibility here. What are we talking? It's one action time. Last an hour, but I have to concentrate while I have it on, and the creature I touch becomes invisible until the spell ends. Anything they're wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it's on their person. The spell ends after the target attacks or casts a spell.

Interesting. Let me see something. Okay, you're gonna have a nice little head start here, because what's gonna happen is this thing is momentarily gonna stop. It's gonna stop right at the puddle where Tatiana fell down. And it's going to tilt its head, and then it's gonna take off running again toward Brailin. Good, good. Is Brailin going to run? Absolutely. 110%. Do me a favor. Give me an Athletics check. Oh, now I'm gonna fall, though. Or not! The hell you are! That's a 20, everybody at home. I'd say the two of you are going to race down the street and just run back to the shop.

Are you shutting the door behind you? Yes. Yeah. Or slamming that thing shut. Alright. This thing is going to continue to sprint, and it is not breaking stride. It is running directly toward that door. Tatiana's up against the door. So that's what I was gonna say. You guys have a choice. You can try to hold the door shut, or make a break for it. Now, getting a good look at this thing, it's humanoid, but bulky. And clearly not human. It's walking on two legs, but it is thick and faster than it probably should be. Sounds like Robocop, almost, while it's running.

I mean, I don't think Tatiana would know, but is there any role that maybe Brailin, if he would know, could make to figure out what this thing is? I mean, I guess I would know a lot of songs and stories. Would I know of a story or anything that reminds me of this thing? You can give me a history check, but it'd be high. God damn it, again? I'm getting all the ones that don't have any scholars. Oh my god. That's not bad. Sixteen's not bad. There are things in the dark that people tell stories about. We're talking deep underground. We're talking drow life here.

From the glimpses that Brailin's been able to catch at this thing, this might be a cliqueur. These things essentially are said to be part demon or part summoned by demons. Something like that. Something foot soldiers, essentially. They are incredibly fast and strong. They can be hard to kill, but they have limitations. They can't see or hear anything. But they can feel you move. So is this like a T-Rex situation? Are we Jurassic parking right now? Feels like it. Okay, so Brailin, as he's holding the door, he would tell her, like, this thing can feel us move.

That's the only part he would be able to, like, spit out, I guess, in time while they're bracing the door, because I'm assuming it's going to hit it, like, any second. Yep. Yeah. That's the only thing he would spit out before he starts looking around the room, looking for, like, a desk or a shelf or, like, a bookshelf or, like, a store shelf that can be moved. Well, let's see. Let's see if you can handle the initial blow first. So here's what we're going to do. You guys are going to be bracing this door, right? So it's going to have a certain amount of hit points, and it's going to be aided by you holding this door.

Now, let's see how much damage this thing would do just by hitting it. So you holding this door back, this thing is going to just collide shoulder first into it. The door itself is going to creak, almost, almost splinter. You can hear it just, "Gang!" But it's going to hold just enough. You guys get one chance to do something at this point, and whether that be take off, whether that be try to brace the door further, it's up to you. But it looks like it's backing up to take another swing at it. So we see the door, like, splinter? Yeah, just like in the center of it, just kind of crack.

Oh, shit. Brann's going to look at Tatiana, or he can't because she's invisible. He's going to look at the air where he knows Tatiana is. He's going to say, "We can lure it in and then we can try and kill it." Knowing that Brelin is the one that knows this thing and Tatiana doesn't know anything about it, even though Jamie does not want to fight this thing alone, she'll say, "If that's what you think is best." Okay, Brann's going to say, "Get ready. Go somewhere. Not too far, but where you can see it with your weapon." And then he's going to back away from the door and I'm assuming the counter hop?

Like, the shop is not directly in front of the door, but maybe a little off center from where the door is? Yeah, sounds about right. Yeah, so he's going to hop on the counter, pull out his rapier, and his eyes are going to glaze over, get ready to cast a spell when it comes in. I don't know, can we still do ready actions? In this amount of time? Hmm, I'd say this would be like a split second. Like, this is the difference between him hitting the door, backing up a few steps, and running into it again. Okay, just enough time to hop on the counter? I'd say yeah.

Alright, I'm hopping on the counter. Alright. Did Brelin say anything about it not being able to see, but it can see our movements at all? Yeah, I told you it can feel us. It can feel us moving. Okay, so Tatiana is going to back away from the door too, and she's going to say, "Should we stay still?" I'd say yes, but then he knows that the thing is going to bust through the door. I'm not looking at her, I can't see her, but I know where her voice is coming from, but he's not even going to look at the door. His hand is quivering with the rapier. Okay, so Tatiana is going to ready her weapon and try to stay as still as possible.

Oh boy. Let's move on to the other thing first. One moment. Damn it, I'm so scared. This thing is going to barrel through the door. This door didn't have a chance on the second try. And it is going to slide into the shop and stop dead in the middle of the place. Let's catch up with everyone else really quickly. Thank fucking god. Here's the thing. You guys are pretty far away. But what I would like is for everyone to make a perception check. And with a 14 or higher, you're going to hear this. Oh, good lord. Okay, good. I'm not the only one. But like that was like super loud, right?

It was loud, but you're pretty far away. Good lord. Larg and Kali are going to pick this up. It does not sound human, definitely. Larg is definitely going to pick up exactly where it's coming from with a crit. That's coming from back the way you came. So Larg is basically like mid-March further back into the temple. He hears this, like the shrieking howl, right? And he basically like spins 180 on his heel, grabs Kaladin by his robe and like drags him behind. He'd be like, "Gotta go right now." Yeah, and then Kali would like make a sharp turn back too, because like that's where we came from.

And like we know that Tatiana and Brelin are still back that way, so. Yeah, he basically like reaches for his weapon. He's got a big war hammer tucked into his belt. And he's like something bad. And he starts running. Larg! Larg! Larg! So time can be a little funny here. So by the time you guys hear this noise and start running back, what we're going to do is we're going to roll a d4. Who would like to do that in the party that was in the temple? I think that's got to be... Yeah, there we go. Yeah. Okay, so let's pocket that three for just a moment. Brelin, Tatiana, do me a favor, roll initiative.

Oh, damn. 2v1? We got this. Okay, be safe though. Oh no, never mind. We don't. We don't. Wow, that was an instant look. Oh man, I don't know. This thing seems like it could be fast. Oh, oh, oh. Well then. Psych! Crit missed on its initiative roll. There it is. Clicor. Twinsies. Yeah, but you're faster than me technically. Plus four. If we were to draw guns in the middle of a town on High Noon, you'd get me first. High Noon. So Tatiana, this thing's going to burst into the shop. Just huge, loud BANG. The door's going to splinter everywhere. What's Tatiana's... What's she thinking?

What's she feeling? What's the game plan? That's a great question. I, as well as Tatiana, am terrified. First of all, does this thing see us since we're being completely still? I would say in the moment you wouldn't know yet. Oh great. I honestly think she would delay. Can we do that in 5e? Uh, yeah. So this is one of those things where it bursts in and you're just like, "Oh please, Brelin, be right." Brelin? I hope I'm right. This thing, so I can... Going over what I know about it, I know it can't see. It doesn't appear to have eyes. And it can't hear from the stories I've heard, right?

Well then I'm fucked because everything I do to hurt it requires the thing to hear me. So Brelin's going to, as he's piecing in his head, he's going to be like... He's not going to say it out loud, but in his head he's going to think, "I'm screwed." And he's going to look around. Is there a piece of junk on the counter that's near me? Something close by near my feet or maybe a couple inches away? Something like that? Yes, actually. There'd be, let's say an empty jar or something like that. Okay, empty jar. I'm going to try and pick it up as stealthfully as possible and slowly.

I also want to see its reactions as I'm reaching down to pick something up. Okay. Could you do me a favor and roll a stealth check, please? Ahhhhhh, damn. Whoops. Ahhhhhh, damn. Okay. God damn it. I'm going to say as you go to reach for it, because you're keeping your eyes locked on this thing, right? So you're just, you're kind of like out of the corner of your eye you see that there's this empty jar. And you're reaching for it. It's like right in front of you, just bending down. And I'm going to say your fingers accidentally bump the jar and it rolls off the counter.

That's nice. And smashes right in front of you. Okay. I'm going to throw a dagger at it and say run or kill it. And then just throw the dagger. Okay. Oh, you need a map. Let's get you guys a map. Is Tatiana still invisible? Yeah. But he can't see anyway, so. Oh. Just, if you guys get there in time, you won't be able to see me either. Oh no, it already got her. Where the fuck's Tatiana? I'm terrified right now. Like this is the first time I've felt dread and fear. Even fighting those demons. I was like, nah, we got this. Right? I don't know what it is. Yeah. Okay. And I got hooked the second time.

No, when I got hooked the second time, I was like, okay, I'm going to die. It's okay. I want to make a monk anyways. But 5e, it's like, I don't have another guy in 5e. I like, I like Brelin. And I'm going to get eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. That's the size of like a dog. It's the way Jason explained this creature that I can't say. I'm like literally shaking. It's horrifying. It was standing on two legs. Let me explain to you what that three is. The three is the number of rounds it's going to take the rest of the party to get to you. I figured, I figured as much.

I figured as much. We're booking it. We're booking it to you guys. So you threw a knife at it. Let's see if that hits. Let me target it. That is going to miss. What's going to happen? You remember how I said it kind of has this bone plating all over its body? It is going to ricochet off of one of those bones. And you're going to see its entire body reflexively sort of hunched down like it's getting into a, like a rabid animal. This is going to be bad. Okay. I can't take any more actions. I can do a reaction. But I'm going to try and maybe hop behind the counter and get some distance.

Okay. So I'll go one, two. I'll go here. And I don't have a bow on my items I don't think, right? But I got one from the, that was like a rental. The one at the carnival was like a rental. Don't you have a crossbow? No, I don't have one here. Oh. I think it was like, it was like a rental, right? From the, like that game. Do you not have any ranged weapon? I'm with a dagger. Oh God. Yeah. I could have sworn I had one, but maybe I was wrong. Okay. Well, as my turn ends, I look around for a crossbow. I'm looking for like something that's arranged. Okay. You know what?

Let's roll a saving throw. See if there is one. All right. Nope. Oh, so unlucky. Yeah. Okay. That's the end of my turn. Oh man. All right. This thing is going to lower its shoulder and sprint toward Braitland. It is going to shatter the bar in front of it. Just, just rip right through it. Now the good news is that is going to slow it down just a tiny bit. So when it gets to Braitland, and it will get to Braitland, it is going to perform a shoulder charge with disadvantage. Because it's gonna, it's gonna make its approach really clumsy and really kind of not very elegant.

Oh, check this out. It's going to crit miss. Nice. Which means we get to roll in the fumble table. It misses because Braitland is so tiny it thought it was a regular person. It's going to really screw up its, its leg here. Right? And it's going to use half its movement speed for two rounds. And that will be its turn Tatiana. So this thing closing in on Braitland, what's going to happen is, I imagine Braitland kind of crouched down. This thing is going to shoulder charge through the bar and slam into the wall just above Braitland. Okay. I'm just reading this one ability thing that I have.

So I do think Tatiana is going to move over towards this klakor. Am I saying that correctly? Kla-kor. And she's going to get up on the bar, which won't cost any extra movement because I have second story work as an ability. And I think she's going to attack it. Alright, let's do this. I have the high ground Anakin. And it's going to say. That's better than the actual line from the movie. That is going to hit! Sweet. Yeah. Well, okay. Hey. I mean. I don't want to hear that this thing can half slashing damage Jason. Ah, well good, because I'm not going to tell you that.

Slipping in between these bone plates, Tatiana is going to plunge her dagger into it. And it's going to kind of tense up and reflexively kind of let out this noise like that. Is there anything else? Sorry, it's a sword, not a dagger. I'm an asshole. Is there anything else you'd like to do? No, there's nothing else that I can do. However, I don't think we've ever been in this situation. So are we flanking? Is that a thing you're flanking? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. This is advantage. Sweet. Absolutely. We have advantage. Nice. So you've proven you can hurt it. Braelen, your turn.

I'm going to use the... What's the action? Evade? Is that the one to get out of there? No. Disengage. Disengage. Thank you. I'm going to disengage. And I can move my full speed on disengage, but I just can't attack, right? Right. I don't get another action. That's Sucksores 2017. But it's half the movement, so I'm going to disengage. What's my speed? 25, of course. I'm half the movement. I'm talking about 5, 10, 15, 20. And I'm going to hop on the table if you let me. Sure. Okay. I hop onto the table. Just always be like, I need to get a clear vantage point. As I get up there, I'm going to quickly scan the room and look for my dagger.

You're going to find it over, right over by the door. Wow. I missed big time. Okay. Thank you. Klykor is going to turn around and just start swinging wildly where Tatiana's space is. So at Tatiana, but it only knows it's like pain coming from here, like that type of thing. And it's got these weird bony protrusions all over its hands. So when it makes a fist, it's kind of covered in these sharp bony claws, kind of all up and down its forearm. Does it take disadvantage since I'm on the bar? There's no bar there. You kind of smash through it, right? You kind of smash through the bar, actually.

Yeah. Oh, I'm trying. So it's going to take two attacks at Tatiana right now. Boop. Before you say anything, I'm going to expend a Bardic Inspiration to roll against it to subtract from its attack roll. Okay. Sorry, I only interrupted because it says that I can't hear you tell me if it succeeds, then I can't use it. Okay. So that is going to miss. So the first one's going to miss. And here's the second one. Second one's going to miss. Yes. I'm going to roll against that 13, though, because he didn't tell me. I just wasted it. Well... That's on purpose. Obviously, that's how the power works.

Right. Yes. Thank God for this new armor. Just saying. So this is the last round here. You guys don't know that, but yeah. Tatiana. So this thing is going to swing wildly, and it's just going to swing into spaces around you. It's trying to desperately hit you, and it's just failing all over the place. Awesome. Tatiana's going to try to hit it again. Alright, let's do this. That'll hit! If we do that. 6 damage to the Cacur! Anything else? I think... I'm trying to decide if she wants to disengage or not. I don't think you can. I have Cunning Action. Rogue stuff. Oh, re-rogue, what up?

Nice. I think she probably would, because Brailin left. Right. So she doesn't want to face this thing alone. I think she'd probably try to attack and then disengage. I wouldn't leave you alone. I'm just looking for something to throw at it. No, I know where you're behind me. I don't see you. I'm going to throw you into the fucking chair. That would be hilarious. Honestly, like 10 minutes ago, I was thinking, or like when I ended my turn, I was like, I'm going to throw one in the fucking chair. She's just going to... Back off? Alright. Brailin, your turn. The dagger is too far, so I will grab a chair.

I was trying to throw at this little guy. I'm so happy right now. Do you have proficiency with chairs? This is called an improvised attack, Jason. Yes. And you know me, Master of Improps. Yeah, he took all those classes at the Grambling. What attack would that be in my little workbook here? That is an interesting question. We haven't done this before in 5e. It's got like a base stat. It's not very strong, but... Right. Let's see. It might be an unarmed attack, and I don't know what the damage would be. Probably like maybe a d6 or something. I'm looking in the weapons section and it says, "See weapons for improvised attacks." I'm like, this is worse than the public library back in the day, man.

We don't even have unarmed attack here on the... Okay. Found it. So it's 1d4 damage if it hits. Goddamn it. Okay. But it's based off my dex, yeah? I don't feel like that's right. Yeah, it's based off your dex. The 1d4, like you're... Okay, I feel like that should come with... Like if you're whipping a jar at the thing, yeah, 1d4 sounds right. But this is a chair. I'm gonna say 1d6. I'm gonna make a ruling. I mean, think about wrestling, right? Still chairs. That's like 1d6 damage to the cranium. This is wood, but yeah, totally. Okay. So I guess that would be the throwing dagger again?

No, I'm not proficient with it, so it'd just be +3 then. Yeah. Not proficient with chair. How do you add 3? What's the adjustment? Oh, modifier at the bottom. What do I press to make it +3? You just type it in. Oh, really? Yeah, you could also roll up with your mouse wheel. Oh, and if I just throw dice, it's gonna do it right now? Yes. Whoa, what? Well, that's a 10. That is gonna miss, no matter what. So you're gonna whip a chair at this thing, and it is going... It's gonna go wide. This is probably to touch down. This looks great. Like, I threw the dagger, I miss, and I throw a chair, and I miss.

But Berlin's just gonna, like, after the chair goes wide, he's just gonna go... Fuck. I'm so happy you threw a chair. That is the best. So good. Anything else? That's the end of my turn. Yeah, that's the end of my turn, because I'll keep the other bardic inspiration in case it tries to hit me or her again. Okay, so while this chair is airborne, the klaklor is going to run toward Tatiana and try and perform a shoulder charge. And miss. It is going to totally miss. Nice. And let's see here. It is rolling low. That is amazing. By this point, the party's going to arrive.

I would like everybody... Let's get you on the initiative tracker. And let's have you roll initiative. Oh, beautiful. So arriving, let's get you into the building here. There. Everybody get seen? Okay. So, boom. Arriving, you're gonna... This thing is obviously monstrous and not human, but definitely trying to hurt both Brelyn and... Well, Brelyn, you're not going to see Tatiana. No, they can. They can? Oh, you're not... Yeah, because she made the attack the first time she came out of the shadows. Oh, never mind. Which is great, because I was worried about needing healing.

Nobody could see me. So, Kaladin, what would you do? He's gonna come in here, getting pulled along by Larg, and as they rush in the room, he's gonna see this thing, this smashed up bar, and Brelyn, he's gonna whip around and see Brelyn on the table, and Tatiana right in front of this thing. And there's gonna be that heartbeat, you know, like... And he's just gonna get that flashback of Brelyn and him on the boat, and he begins these hideous, dark, horrible things, and it's gonna like... And cut into his eyes, and he's gonna see it and just go all out, like as soon as he sees this thing.

I'm gonna spend two sorcery points to do a Quicken spell on my Ray of Frost, and I'm also going to fire some magic missiles at this thing at level two. Good lord. So... Oh no, all my spells went away. Alright, there we go. Okay, so the Ray of Frost is gonna go wide. Okay, and then magic missiles is an automatic hit. I'm doing it at second level, so there'll be four missiles that come out. Alright. One sec. Here we go. Okay, so... 10... 15. So that should be 15 damage. Yes. In total. And so he points his finger, and this ray of ice comes shooting out from his working arm, and as it does, these icicles form up and twirl around, and they begin to spin around this ray, even though the ray goes wide and it creates this sort of like ice cannon almost, and the ray just sort of like flies off wide, but all of these icicles hit the chitinous stuff of this creature.

Oh yeah, that's gonna hit him firmly in the chest, just boom, boom, boom, over and over again. The back of this bar is going to freeze just a bit as the Ray of Frost goes a little wide, but yeah, the glacore has definitely been hit. Anything else? I'm gonna move into this room a little ways, and that's my turn. Larg, your turn! Alright, so Larg is going to basically come skating into the room, let go of Kaladin's cloak, and pull up his shield and warhammer and go charging directly at this thing. So he's gonna go right here, and he's gonna hit it. And he's not gonna hit it.

Sadly, that's gonna miss. Alright, but what he's gonna do then is he's basically gonna position his shield so that Tatyana is more behind it than he is, and he's gonna just hold his ground. Alright, speaking of Tatyana. That's me! She is going to attack again, and she's not gonna usually, she would probably say something to the party, but she is real scared, so she's just gonna keep hitting until it dies. Hopefully. That is gonna hit. You are having a fantastic evening. I am! It's this armor, man. It must be lucky. Oh well. Maybe not with damage, but with hitting, definitely.

That's another five damage. Anything else? That, unfortunately, is my turn. Brailein! Okay, seeing the party get all up in the combat, he's like, "Okay, it's safe to jump down now." And I'm gonna scream like, "Aaaah!" Whenever Rocket Raccoon sounds like screaming, that's what Brailein sounds like. He's screaming. He's gonna hop off the table and go, "1, 5, 10, 15, 20." Right around here, and I'm gonna use my rapier. Oh, please, no. That's gonna miss. I just come at it, "Aaaah!" And then I try poking and it bends the thing a little. That's the end of my turn.

Okay, so, you know, she runs in with everybody and sees this thing, and it's, you know, something she's never ever seen before, but, you know, she knows that she has to jump in and help. So she's going to run around the right of it and end up here on the right side of it. She is going to try and slash at it with her longsword. And if it hits, I'll tell you another thing I'm doing. Okay. See if this hits. That is gonna miss. Oh, do I have advantage? That's true, you do. Swing again. Okay. That is exactly the same. Okay. Elena is gonna look pretty dejected. And she's gonna end her turn.

Callie. What would Callie be thinking, looking at this thing? She'd be terrified, because it's really... Like, it's all bony, you said? Oh, yeah. It doesn't have any eyes. It's like this crazy monster thing. And that's not anything that she's ever encountered before. Like, usually it's like, "Oh, a bear!" Or, you know, like normal foresty things. This is not. So she's going to reach out her hand and it's going to cast Moonbeam. So like this silvery beam is gonna like center down on this creature. And it doesn't do anything right now, but it has to make a Constitution saving throw when it starts its next turn.

Which is after me. So I think I have to target it though. Hold on. And... Okay. Did that work? Yes, it succeeded on the saving throw. Great. Well, it has to do that every turn, so... But if it succeeds, it takes half damage. So I can... If I just roll a damage die, it'll do it automatically, right? Maybe? Let's see. It definitely did it. Cool. Alright. Sorry, I just wanted to explain it. So like when it starts its turn and it makes its Constitution saving throw, whether like even if it succeeds, it gets damaged or whatever. So like these like silvery flames like engulf it and like burn it.

This thing is in pain, you could tell. It is not enjoying this. So it's going to target Tatiana and it's going to try to make two attacks. It has disadvantage on those attacks because I am going to use my protection on her. Okay, let's do this. Good lord, it rolled a Critmas again, but there's no need to jump on... wait! There is a need to jump on the Fumble Table. Hold on a second. It rolled a three on that. This thing is not doing well against you guys. Oh, it gets disadvantage. So. And one more. Another crit won. What? I'm telling you, this armor is magical.

You just got the best armor in the game. Wow. Automatically. Let's call it Larg. Wow. Let's do a plus one OP. So yeah, it is going to drastically miss twice and that'll end its turn. Normally it would hit an ally, but there are no allies, so yeah. Kaldin, your turn. Kaldin is going to see that his like this bolt missed and that these guys are sort of like hacking up on it and he's going to raise his arm and Frost is going to sort of like cover his hand, but at the same time it is also going to cover this creature as well. Just sort of like along its chitin plates and stuff.

And did it save? It looks like it saved. It saved, yeah. Okay, so this Frost will come up on it, but just sort of like melt away and Kaldin will shake his hand off. Shake the Frost off and that'll end his turn. And you're shaking off like the spell effects that you're trying to put on it. Like it is, it's pretty damn tough. Larg, your turn. Alright, cool. So yeah, Larg is going to hold his hammer up in the air and it's going to glow with a white light and that light is going to move to Elena and to Tatyana and to Brailin. And they are now blessed, which means all of their attacks and saving throws can add an extra 1d4 for the next long while.

So we can target people here. Well that is handy. Do you say any words? Are there any like bless, like a prayer or anything? Yes, he does. But it's muffled because of his helmet. It's like a bad broken drive-in. And God's like, what? I think it's bless? Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm going to go with bless. Gesundheit? Oh, I said a number four. A number four. D4? What? And if there's no time to attack after that, he'll just resume his defensive position. Okay. Tatyana, your turn. Alright. Keep on keeping on. She's going to attack again. That's going to miss. Darn it! First time!

Okay, that will end your turn. Alright, Brailin, your turn. So you guys have this thing surrounded, right? You are just clubbing and bashing, throwing chairs at it and shit. Filling the new blessing. Brailin's going to be like, whoa! He's going to like mess around with the rapier and try and stab him again. Like flinging around like someone who thinks they're a pirate, but they don't know what they're doing. And let's go. 23 will hit. Okay, cool. That is 10 damage with the rapier. That's it. He'll just like finish the attack. He'll realize he actually hit it.

He's like, ooh! And like pull it out. Yeah, this thing's going to let loose another scream. Like you are hurting it bad. Alayna, your turn. Okay, she will try and hit it again. That'll hit. Perfect. So I am going actually... Okay, nevermind. Nevermind the attack? No, no, nevermind. Nevermind the thing after the attack? Yeah. I'm just going to do damage. Eight damage. This thing does not look well. It looks like it might be on its last legs. Anything else? No, that is it. Calli, your turn. Okay, I'm going to move a little bit further into this door. Just because I'm like in the doorway and if other things come in, I don't want to be there.

Well that's just paranoid thinking right there. Uh, okay. And then... So the moonbeam is not concentration, I believe, so I can do something else and it'll still be there. I'm going to throw some fire at it. How's that sound? Literally, just going to throw fire. Hey, that'll hit! Yeah! It's not much, but... Guess what? This thing is going to burst into flames. It reacted violently to this fire. Oh, oh, oh. And it is going to collapse on the ground in front of the group and cease moving. I think Tatiana would double steps back and look towards the group and she's just going to say, "Thanks guys." I mean, Braylon and I had it covered, but thank you for stepping in.

I appreciate the assistance. Are you guys okay? Braylon didn't look at the chair that he just threw and when he threw it and missed and looked back at Kaldin. Uh, yeah. We're okay. What was that? Well, I don't remember the name for it exactly, but there's been tales I heard when I was learning some stories and songs. It's like, I don't know, things that they can't see you and it can't hear you, but it knows when you move kind of deal. Can I make a religion check on what this is? Sure. That's pretty damn good. So there are, there's a hierarchy to demons and the K'Klor is really, really, really low.

Barely a demon, honestly. Foot soldier is a great name for it. And this, along with a host of other things, tend to be in areas where there's demonic activity. And when I say that, I mean that there is a demon strong enough to command them. That's not good news. So Larg is panting heavily, like he's really out of breath. He sort of drops down to a knee and pulls his helmet off to try to get some air. And he's a half-orc. He's got kind of sweaty brown hair, kind of matted on his forehead. And he's kind of panting, trying to catch his breath. He says, "This is a demon, but it's just a soldier.

There's something bigger here." When Larg says demon, Braelon's going to look at Khaldun really quickly. Khaldun is going to be looking out of this window here, or whatever thing. He is looking to see if there are more of them. Did you just say demon? He'll nod and kind of sit back on the floor, just trying to catch his breath. Alina's going to look at Braelon and Khaldun and say, "Wait, so all that stuff that you talked about before, that all actually happened?" Braelon's going to drop his rapier and be like, "What do you think these are?" He's going to pull the scars up.

"These are not just for fun. These are real. Everything we've been saying is real." He's going to drop off the... Oh, no, I'm not on the table anymore. He's just going to walk towards it like, "We wouldn't lie to you. We wouldn't bring you guys along and lie." "Okay, maybe we lied about the loot and stuff, sure, but this is the real deal." He's going to be pointing at the carcass. I assume there's still some pieces left. Oh, yeah. Whole body just kind of charred. He's going to continue, "These things, let me tell you. If he's saying these are small fries, he's right.

Because the ones Khaldun and I saw were four times as tall as this." "They're small. Everyone's taller. But they were big. Bigger than these." Where did you see more? "Oh, it's a boat. It was like two years ago. Long story. We saved the world. Don't worry about it." Braelon's going to stare and squint. Braelon, you don't think the Black Hand sent these out before the Fang, do you? An assurance? Braelon's going to think about it for a second. And then it's going to hit him. Well, if that's true, that means they didn't trust them? She didn't think they were going to get the job done?

Or do you think it's because they're chasing us? I don't know. I don't know if these are the things that have cleared this town out. From what we've seen, it looks like they had some kind of warning or were able to get away. Some kind of notice before. You guys didn't find anybody? We were interrupted. We heard this. How do you know so much about what's happening here? I don't know if we have time to explain all of it, Larg. But I'll tell you this. We are looking for the bell. The bell that was here. In this town. In the temple. We're looking to get a hold of it before some other people of ill repute can get a hold of it.

And we need to find that artifact or the person who has it. Do you know if this bell was taken or if this city was under attack? Do you know where they would take something like that? A safe house or somewhere to go? Would the temple have that kind of procedure? If Ellen's alive, then she has it. And Jason, would I know where, like, if there was some sort of evacuation procedure? Not for the entire city. Well, for the temple. Yeah, there's like an "incase of fire" type of thing, obviously. But normally people would either go back to their homes and kind of batten down the hatches, or it's kind of an all hands on deck situation.

It's like, let's put out this fire. There's never really been something... I mean, orc attack used to be a big thing before the walls and gates and stuff, but that hasn't been a thing in a long time. I will say this, the magical feeling I told you about, for Keldon, that did not go away. As you guys were moving further into the town, you would have felt it a bit stronger. He's gonna look at Braelyn and just say, "I got a bad feeling about this." He's gonna tilt his head sideways. Well, that's not usually good. There are a few different places you could visit in Donhurst, and Larg would know about a lot of these.

Now, there is a mine on the edge of town that has been something of note in the last few months, because there's a grouping of people who believe that there's buried treasure, essentially. Like an ancient, forgotten ruin somewhere beneath Donhurst, somewhere. And that's been something that a small grouping of people have thought for years, but only in the last several months has anyone ever really thought to dig deep for it. There's also a castle that is in the foothills high above Donhurst. And that's Castle Larrarath. And I don't know how much Larg would want to fill the party in, but it is rumored, at this point it's rumored, that there's a Countess that lives there in that castle that is a pretty damn old vampire.

Stuff of real ghost story type of thing. No one goes to that castle. No one from the castle has ever really visited anyone living in Donhurst. But it's one of those things where, if you listen on a clear night, there are some people that swear you can hear screams coming from those foothills. Kyle and I are vampire hunters. I'm not gonna be lucky or not. We have the jackets and everything. They give you a patch. You gotta send it by raven though. They send their fastest raven. It's a guy named Raven in a cart. Abril is gonna look to Larg and be like, "Look, if there's anybody here, we gotta know where they are.

This is your home turf. You would know. What's our best bet? Where would they go?" So he'll kinda push himself to his feet and put his helmet back on and just kinda think for a minute. He'll say, "She knew where I was. She knew when I was coming back. So she might have left a note or some sign. I need to check. I need to check my quarters." Okay, great. He's gonna clap his hands. Let's do that. Little piece of advice. He's gonna look at everybody. He's gonna look at Tatiana. Especially for me and you. Nobody strays. He's gonna have his hand sideways, open like, "Okay?

Everyone okay with that?" Sounds good. So Larg will make his way out of the room. He doesn't really walk around the broken furniture. He just walks through it. Doesn't really have time. Branagh just watches him walk through the furniture. He just nods. "Mm-hmm. Okay, yeah, that's about right." Hey, Jason. Did that demon thing leave behind a weapon at all? Its body is kind of a weapon. Oh, okay. Sorry, Branagh. I was trying. It's okay. He's gonna look at the messes. Like the carcass and the smoldering bits. He's gonna remember when he grabbed the hydra's eye or tried to.

Or he tried to grab that squishy eye and didn't work. He's gonna shake his head like, "No, no. Not again. Not this time." This is kind of a long shot, but can I maybe go over to it and just sort of like... I want to sort of see if I can key into this magic signal, you know? Like, at all. If it's something that maybe Cauldron has felt before or might give a clue to, I don't know, maybe it's summoning or something? Because you've already gotten a couple of pings, I'll let you do that. But two conditions. One, you gotta touch it. Okay. Two, this could cause Cauldron some pain.

Yeah, so Cauldron will go over to this smoldering mass and just look down on it and put his fleshy arm on it and just sort of reach out and see if he can, using the inert magic in him, if he can feel what this is. And this would be unexplained to the party. You're just going to walk up to it and it's like, "Okay, let's do this." Yeah. Yeah. God damn it, Cauldron. Do me a favor. Give me an arcana check. Well, here's what's gonna happen. Okay. Cauldron's gonna get a few flashes. One is gonna flash to this demon that you guys just got done fighting, but just... there is more than one of them.

This is a split second, just kind of an image in Cauldron's head, but it looks to be 20, maybe 30 of them, something like that. All just encased in darkness, though. Then, Countan's gonna get another vision. Something hovering above them, kind of non-corporeal looking, just again, a split second, a flash hovering above them with its hand outstretched. Then another flash of the Bell of Vecna. And you're gonna get this feeling that whatever happened radiated outward almost from the center of town. You were unbelievably close to where this went down. Whatever happened.

It is also gonna cause you a tremendous amount of pain. Six hit points, to be precise. So this is gonna be like a migraine, like a really sharp headache. Owie! Ow ow ow ow ow! What would you relay to the rest of the party? So you see Cauldron and he touches this thing and you just sort of see him staring in the middle distance for a split second and then he recoils back and grabs his head like he's got some pain. And he's like, "I saw it. I saw the bell. I don't know where it is, but I saw it. And I think I saw the thing that's controlling these things, but it wasn't clear.

Whatever it was, it came from the center of town. That's where I think this erupted or was conjured. I'm not sure. Perhaps it's worth looking at. After, of course, Larg, we visit your chambers." So Larg would have been pretty much halfway out the door when Calton did this, but he would have stopped and turned around to listen to him. And then at that point, he just sort of shakes his head and goes, "No. We'll go there first." And then he basically changes direction and starts going to the center of town instead. Brelin's going to run over to Calton, sing a little song for him, give him some healing words.

Oh, thank you. It's only six hit points. Well, I know that's probably like one third of your life. Yeah. He's going to sing "You are the wind beneath my wings" very softly. And cast healing words. Do I roll or does he roll it? You roll it, I believe. I'm not going to target him, but let's see what I can do here. Healing word. How do. Oh, right there. How do. How do word. Five. Five. Five hit points. That's almost the whole headache. Almost. Almost. Yeah. Sorry. Couldn't do it all, buddy. Your word, like your song, like goes through and like is very soothing, but there's still this like, this like hum in his head.

It's just like pressing his hand on it. But he's he's like, thank you. Thank you, Brelin. And I swing the lute around my back again and say, let's catch up with the big guy. If Calton were to follow that feeling, there's a house in the center of town here. And it's it's kind of paired up with a bunch of other houses. It's pretty nondescript, but the door is closed. The shutters are open and much like the other buildings in the city, it doesn't look like there's anyone inside. But that is where Calton's vision would lead him. What would you guys like to do?

And Lark does this. I'm assuming he went in the same direction we went. He just sort of like stumped up to the center of town. I'm assuming you guys are all together. You just kept walking. He did just go right through that furniture. So maybe there is like a large hole through different walls, buildings, walls. No, Calton, I guess we're standing outside of this thing and be like, Lark, is there any significance to this house or this point in town at all? Would he know anything about the person who lives here or this area? Give me a flat D20, Lark. Not really, no.

He'll be looking at the door and just shake his head. I don't know who lives here. So he's going to give the door a swift kick and try to break it down. Yeah, the door is going to come open easy. Nothing about it reinforced, anything like that. Just going to pop right open. It's not going to look like there's anything on the other side here in terms of people. Now, this is a pretty modest home. It opens up into a small living area and then there's like a kitchen and there's a table sitting a little dining area type of thing. There's a note sitting on that table.

Beyond the table, there's a set of stairs leading up. It doesn't look like anybody packed anything or all the furnishing still here. There's clothing and food. But other than that, yeah, there's not too much interesting in this little house. Hello? No answer. Brandon's going to come in to Callie. This guy's great. We didn't have to check for traps or anything. This guy just literally kicked on a door. I love him. I'm going to send you a little something on Skype real quick. Oh, God, he. I love this. No secrets are very nice. Colton is going to look at this letter and say that, Canon.

No, just kidding. Colton is going to look at this letter and just start reading it aloud to the group. Father, I've made a terrible mistake. If I'm correct, then everything that has happened to this city is my fault. I only wanted to bring her back, but I fear that I have unleashed something beyond words. The bell. I thought it was the only way. The only thing I could do to save her. I fear that I incorrectly performed the ritual. I was a fool to treat that level of magic so trivially. Now we may all be doomed. I think I may have awakened something in the mind, something unspeakable.

More people disappear every day. What was once a thriving city has become a ghost town, a living nightmare. I will explore the mind tomorrow morning when no one is looking. It will be my best hope of finding out if my suspicions are true. If I'm right, then there is a demon beneath Dawnhurst, something ancient and strong. I have no hope of stopping this by myself. I failed once while using the bell, but I know it's the key to stopping this. In my research, I stumbled across a counter spell. I'm not skilled enough to use it, but perhaps I can find someone who can within the mine.

They can't all be dead. If you're reading this and there is still no one in the city, then run. Pry up the floorboards under my bed, take the bell, and flee from this cursed place. The city was furious when it meant missing from the church, and that hardly seems to matter now. Do not follow me into the mine. If I have not returned by now, then I'm not coming back. I love you, Mox. And he's going to look at Larg and say, Did you know this person? Mox? The name doesn't ring a bell, does it, Jason? Maybe just tangentially. Mox hung out at the temple a lot. Kind of an impetuous kid magic user, wanted to solve a lot of problems using magic, and was reared away from that type of thing.

But it may only be like flashes. Like, I've heard that name before. Like, if you have an animal, like a pet at home, you're like, Get off the counter, Mox! That type of thing. Ellen told me that Mox likes shortcuts. He never did the work. She told me that he had the right questions and the wrong answers. If he took the bell, this is so bad. And he looks at him and he says, The floorboards, right? And then he heads upstairs. I think Braylon and everyone outside, will we be able to hear the reading of the note? I mean, are we all inside or do we stay outside?

I figure everybody is crowded around it. We're all in Reddit for everyone. Okay. So Braylon is going to look at everyone else who's the largest upstairs, but he's going to look at everybody else like, Should we follow? He seems to know this person. He might know the floorboards he's talking about. Yeah, let's go. Someone should watch the door. And then Braylon is going to look through the door and is like, Oh, I'll make sure if I see anything, I'll call you guys. So it sounds like you're ripping up these floorboards. Yeah, there's a lot of smashing going on.

So while Braylon is watching the door, you're just going to hear kind of a thumping, hammering, shattering upstairs. Elena is staying downstairs. Okay. Thank God. Thank you. I think Callie is going to stay downstairs too. Like you don't need four people if they're destroying stuff. Cauldin is going to take a lighter hand approach and just sort of like, see if there's maybe like, like a squeaky floorboard or something that maybe sounds different when he walks on it or something. So the whole area under the bed is just whole, whole, whole. And then I'd say the two of you working together, you're going to find you're going to find this pretty, pretty quickly.

Laying under the floorboards under this bed is going to be a small handheld black bell. Do I know if it's okay to touch it? Everything you'd know about it, it has to be used in some sort of ritual. It's not, it's not a, it's not as simple as ringing the bell or, you know, if you drop it, something bad is going to happen. But it was always a thing of be careful if you had to touch it, just because if it were to be destroyed, there's no replacing it. It is a priceless artifact. So he's got to sort of look at the others who were up there and kind of very slowly kneel down and pick it up.

Next to the bell, by the way, there's some scrolls and books and stuff, which if you were to put two and two together is probably the research that Mox was talking about in the note. And now Larg is holding the Bell of Vecna. And we'll, we'll reach down and like pick up the research notes and stuff like that. Try and like look at them. I'm assuming it's like maybe instructions on how to like do this ritual or something, right? Yep, pretty much. It is some high grade mojo. Like it has to be performed precisely. He's going to look at Larg and say, perhaps you should let me hang on to that.

It'll be a really long pause and kind of hold onto it. He'll come. It seems this thing is incredibly powerful. And the notes here are incredibly intricate. It is magic that is strong, old and ancient, and not something I myself even fully understand. I'll give it to you on one condition. As long as you have it, I don't leave your side until it's back at the temple and everything is normal. And then, like, Kaldun will just nod his head, like not giving him a serious nod. And then he'll hand it over. Kaldun will take the bell and put it securely. Is there something in the room he can wrap it with?

Like maybe a pillowcase or something? Just something so it's not rattling around basically. Oh, totally, yeah. He reaches out with his hand and puts the bell on the bed and just folds it with one hand to cover it and then puts it carefully in his pouch or something along with the research notes. And he looks at Larg and says, until it's safely back at the temple. Huh. I guess I'll enjoy the company. I think we all will. He just sort of turns his attention, I guess, and is like, we should, I think we should go to the cave. From the letter, the mine? Is the source of these atrocities?

It's not going to stop. How far away is it? And where does it lead? Have you been there before? Mmm, Jason? It's on the edge of the city. It's been one of those little landmarks that it's like, oh, that's the old abandoned mine. No one goes down there. And then again, recently it's seen some, it's seen some pretty heavy activity. And since Larg's been gone, it's definitely seen some activity. Is it still just Kaldun and Larg upstairs? Sounds like it so far. Okay. I just, I need, can I, I just really want to check the temple first before we go. Of course. Yes. I should look these notes over and see if I can glean any other information.

I think, I think we should discuss and figure out what our best plan of action is before going in there. But of course we can go, we can go to the temple. Larg, do you know who Mox was trying to bring back? The person from this letter, the person that they lost. Do you know anything about them? No. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe there's something else. Another journal. I don't know. There's a lot in this town I don't like. There's a lot going on here. There's too much to uncover. And we have wolves at our back. Let's go down and meet with the others. Let's go to that temple.

Okay. And then we'll go down. The other thing is he'll, he'll take this letter as well that was left for this, you know, like the letter on the table. He'll take that and fold that up with the, with the research and come downstairs and, and look at the party and say, especially Braylon, be like, we found it. We found the bell. Well, from what it sounds like it does crazier things than we imagined. It looks like it summons things. If done incorrectly, maybe rips a portal. This is definitely not the Black Hand. This was some horrible accident. And I don't know if it's going to stop.

So what do we do? Well, I think the first thing that we do, and he's going to look at Larg, is we go to the temple. Right? I just need to see. And he'll look around at everybody else. I'll say you can all wait here if you want, or you can come with me, but I don't think it'll be long. I just need to see. Graham's going to jump in. No, no, no, no, no, big guy. Come on. You're not going anywhere by yourself. You saw that thing. Right? Could be more. We, uh... So I'll get squished. Yeah, thankfully. We got, we got pretty lucky. I mean, if I didn't throw that chair, who knows what would have happened?

He's going to have like a little smile on his face. He's going to get Tatiana. But, we'll go with you. You don't seem like, you don't seem like a murderer. You see my eye with me. We got your back. He'll nod and just say, "Okay, let's go." Take the temple? Yep. Alright. So you got the bell and tell, I'm guessing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just checking. Yeah, we got the bell. In fact, I mean, Cullen will take it out and like show it to everyone too. Just so that everyone can see it. It's, you know, he's not like hiding it or anything. He's like, he like holds it out.

Well, I guess he like rolls it on the table and just sort of like shows everyone this like black bell. It's gonna take you a little bit of time. But getting back to that temple, I'm guessing Lark is full on investigation mode, checking things out, living quarters, like you said before. Yeah, the main places he wants to hit is just his own quarters, Ellen's and then any other sort of senior clergy or anything like that. Well, it does look like this place had a lot of activity at some point. Maybe people got really superstitious or just things got bad.

And if you're going by the note that was left, it's not really a shocker. You're gonna find some journals and all of them are pretty much lockstep with each other in terms of there's a lot of outrage when the bell goes missing. There's a full investigation. People are looking around the clock for this thing. Because not only is it a to people outside the temple, it's a big it's a big tourist trap and it's this really neat thing. How dare someone steal it? You know, to the people in the temple, they understand the importance of the artifact. And if it were to fall in the wrong hands and it does the things that it says it does, that could be very dangerous.

Obviously, it was. Over time, that turns into just plain panic and fear. People start going missing. There are strange sightings in town. The town guard is trying to suppress outright riots and panic, you know, panic stricken masses, that type of thing. So they try and put a cap on this. More and more people start disappearing. They lock people in the city to make sure that they can't get out. It's not about that no one allowed. No one from the outside of the city is allowed in. No one from inside of the city is allowed out now. The curfew never used to work that way.

Time goes on and things just keep getting worse and worse until there's no one left. It looks like journal entries stop after a while. We were just gone. Is anyone watching the doors? Yeah, I think Brelin would start taking the semi-guard duty as best he can. Okay. The only good thing to take away from this so far is that it doesn't look like there's evidence of foul play here. It doesn't look like any that there were signs of a struggle. It doesn't look like anyone was hurt in the temple. As a matter of fact, if you start thinking back, there's very little signs of any struggle or no blood spatters, no bodies, no corpses, nothing.

Which could either be a very good indication or a very bad indication. While we're in the temple, Cullen's going to try and like maybe look for an instruction manual or like some maybe some like like text documents or something like that. Right. Well, the scroll specifically goes into a step by step if you were to sit and really read this. Yeah, he'll take a look at it. I don't think he has the time to like delve deep into it now, but he'll take it out and like take a look. Do me a favor, roll an arcana check for me? So that's not great, right? But you ever have something break in your house and normally you'd call a repair person for this or send it off to someplace, but you're looking to save money.

And you kind of look at the project and go, I could rewire that outlet. You could you could you kind of go, Yeah, I could I could do that. I could. How hard could that be? Reading over these documents, there's enough information here that I don't want to speak for, Calvin, but there might be a tinge of that, like this makes sense to me. The words make sense. I've never performed anything like this, but I understand it. I see. OK. Kind of like watching a YouTube instructional video type of thing. Yeah, yeah, where it makes it look sort of doable. Yeah, I get you.

Yeah. Colton will like look at this and just be like sort of like pondering over it. And this is this is like the is this the ritual to. This will be the counter spell to undo what was done. OK, gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Hey, Breland. Yes. Let me see something, actually. Oh, boy, I'm about to get snatched up. Uh huh. OK, that's what I thought. OK, so Breland's going to hear a noise outside. And if Breland were to take a look. He would see a figure lurching around the corner. The term monstrous is is used a lot in the game that we play, but that is the only word I can think to describe what is coming around the corner and moving toward the temple.

It was a person at one point. It looks like it. Maybe several people, because it appears to be several beings stitched together. And it is shambling. Some of its skin falling off, some of it is it is it is a crude mockery of what a person should be. And it is not alone. Several more of these things are going to come into view. And they are most definitely closing in on the temple. Hmm, interesting. Breland's going to quietly cast invisibility on himself. Hey, guys, I think that's a good time for us to stop for the evening. Really? We just started. No, this was so fucking good, though.

The story to Warcraft three. We hope you enjoyed that episode here at Dungeons and Randomness. We are supported by all of the lovely listeners over on Patreon. As you may know, Patreon has made a few changes lately that not a lot of people agree with that I'm not going to discuss here. But we did talk about it on a Twitter where we posted the exact letter we sent to the folks over at Patreon. And we posted a rather long and ranty opinion piece on Patreon itself. So give both of those a look if you're interested in what we think. And for something a bit more fun, here's a clip from last month's Living in Theria on the Warforged.

It was a very difficult thing to try and describe because having this construct walking around so far removed from humanity, like people, as we know them, it's a very difficult thing to try to describe. So there was stuff that came up early on like, "Oh, they have oil and stuff." Like jokes. There were more jokes than there were, like eventually I had to sit down and go, "Okay, what is joke and what is joke?" It's like, what is joke? It's the same thing happened with The Wild Inn where on Facebook I had to clarify to someone because they were like, "Okay, but what is a Wild Inn?" Because you guys seem to be all over the place.

It's like, you gotta separate the jokes from the reality. We say that Kaluna bleeds maple syrup. No, Kaluna bleeds blood because Kaluna is like a person. They are very closely related to humanity. It's just like camouflage, essentially. Whereas, yeah, we're gonna joke about the maple syrup thing. We're gonna be like, "Oh, how does Kaluna sweat?" But Kaluna is a human-like humanoid creature at the end of the day. And it's, haha, Ironhide's a Decepticon and Transformers and all that stuff. And you have to get down to the nitty-gritty of like, picture basically a walking suit of armor that there are certain things that need to be in place for the ritual to make the gems for eyes or things.

So if you targeted the gems, both of those are busted, boom, no Warforged. Do they tend to have visors to protect those? No, actually. A lot of the times, no. Although, they can wear armor. They can wear a helmet, I guess. Something like that if they wanted to. A helmet over their helmet. That's adorable. It'd have to be custom for the most part. It depends on how the Warforged are designed because the originals were kind of larger and clunky. Someone should talk to the engineers and own a call. Oomn-Yar. Yeah, someone should talk to our engineers because visors really should have been like a number one priority.

That's like the Death Star thing. Why was there... anyway. I don't think they cared, one. It's like, yeah, we'll make more eventually if that comes to that or whatever. Then, there was never a chance for a Mark II. There was never a chance for it to be like, "Okay, let's work on the second big batch of Warforged." It was an embarrassment to the city eventually. If you like what you just heard and want to learn more about the world of Tharia, or want your questions to be heard on this month's episode, which is all about the Rod of Wonder, head on over to Patreon, help us out by donating, and ask your questions over on our special Patreon Discord server.

Thank you all so much for listening, and we'll see you next week.